Impact of Byod (Bring Your Own Device)

Impact of BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) on Enterprise Mobility: What is Enterprise Mobility? Definition: To put in simple words Enterprise Mobility (EM) is the technology that enables organizations to allow its employees to access the Enterprise data (such as company reports and presentations) and enterprise applications (such as CRM, SFA, emails, calendar, project management etc. via mobile phones or tablets from anywhere at any time. Giving them more flexibility at work, it allows employees to download company real time data, access and updates enterprise applications, participates in virtual meetings and teleconferences from anywhere, any time. End result of which is increased productivity of work force for the company and better service output for the customer. Rational for EM adoption and benefits?The growing number of mobile user base, availability of sophisticated smart phones, improved telecommunication infrastructure and fast adoption of mobile technology by employees/consume rs [35% of the employees globally are estimated to be mobile by 2013 (Satagopan and Mathai 2011)] all these factors together are setting up a stage for growth in EM adaption in near future [â€Å"EM market is expected to grow from  $67. 21 billion  in 2011 to$181. 9 Billion  by 2017 with a CAGR of 15. 17%† (MarketsandMarkets 2012)]. The CoIT (consumerzation on IT) has opened the door to the possibility of using the consumer mobile technology for enterprise purpose and the benefits of EM to an organization are tremendous. The most important benefits of effective EM strategy to any organization are; * Fast information flow: The EM can facilitate supersonic flow of the information within the organization.It can open various communication channels that can facilitate fast flow of information between the employs and between various departments of the company empowering the decision making process within the organization. Ability to share a real time data/ information with em ployees and fast decision making process can mean more efficient service output and opportunity to provide best customer care in the industry. Flexibility and comfort: The successful implementation of EM strategy will also provide work flexibility and comfort to the employees; resulting in the better work culture that companies can further promote to acquire and retain the best talent in the industry. In nut shell the EM strategy is win-win situation for both the employees and the organization. The successful EM strategy implementation holds a key for an organization to achieve the competitive advantage over its competitors and to become proactive to the environmental change.Barrier to the successful EM adoption: The cost associated with the corporate use licenses, purchase and maintenance of mobile devices is the biggest barriers for successful EM adoption. Depending up on the size and the number of employees of the company the cost of purchase and maintenance of the mobile devices could vary form an organization to organization, however it still could be a significant amount for a management of any organization to not to decide to walk on EM path.Could BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) be the solution to overcome the Barrier to EM adoption? What is BYOD (Bring Your Own Device)? Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) is trend where people who love there I phone, I pad or other smart devices wants to bring them to work for various reasons And the enterprises allow (with Caveat) the use of such personal devices at work.The reasons why people want to bring/use their devices at work may include (but not limited to): * Comfort: Rather than learning to operate new device (provided by employer) employees feel it’s easier and comfortable for them to use their own devices at work [53% of the employees use their mobile devices for work (Gillett F and et al. 2012)]. * Changing work pattern and work schedule: work places are becoming more and more competitive.Cut throat competit ion at work means no excusive (even if they are genuine) and working out of hours, on weekends and from home which would require use of both company and personal devices such as home pc. * Social media sharing and Constant desire to be connected with friends: no one has survived the social media wave and almost every one (just a figurative statement) today has profile on some social media site and want constantly to be in touch with friends and relatives [68% employees and 71% prospective employees want to access social media at work (CISCO 2011)]. Multitasking: The trend of multitasking has picked up in a recent few years. To make the work environment more attractive and friendly the work restrictions are becoming weak and activities such as listening to music, messenger chat, online gaming are the common activities that employees want to do alongside their duties. * Brand loyalty: more and more consumers are becoming brand loyal and would not typically like to work on a device man ufactured by other company [apple received 2 million orders in the first 24 hours of the new phone launch. Times of India 2012)]. Allowing employees to bring and use their personal devices at work provides number of benefits to the company (some are discussed below). However along with the benefits BYOD often brings enterprise data security concerns. This skepticism about data security and some of the other fall back of the BYOD concept (discussed below in the report) are the reasons why despite the tremendous benefits BYOD can bring to the organization the company managements are very cautious about the BYOD model and not fully convinced to adopt/accept it.Incentive for an organization for adopting BYOD policy: In addition to the benefits of EM strategy that we have discussed earlier in this article, the most important incentive/benefit the BYOD model can provide to a company is the significant cost saving. As the devices used by the employees are owned by themselves the cost of pu rchase, insurance, maintenance, upgrade and ongoing support are paid by employees. That can save the huge cost which otherwise the company would have to bear.The other significant benefit to the company is the IT work force can focus more on supporting the IT requirements of the organization rather than purchasing and implementing the devices (Information service group 2012). Down falls of BYOD The most important downfall of the BYOD model is data security concern. In the event of the device loss the enterprise sensitive data can get exposed if the device falls in to wrong hand. Though the companies can wipe any such data from the device using remote wipe or lock down the device still such incidence (which are very common to occur) can expose the organization to the significant amount of risk.The other down fall of the model is as the employer has no choice on the make or the company/brand of device that an employee can bring to work. The IT department will have to support the devic es simultaneously which are running of various platforms such as iOS and Android and that could be daunting task for IT personnel. The most important argument that advocates the use of BYOD model is that it can save huge cost of buying and maintaining the device however the stipend or reimbursement towards the service plan used by the employees can increase the company cost in many folds than the coast of acquiring and maintaining the devices.Conclusion: In nut shell, the EM and BYOD concept are evolving concepts. Though the environmental factors and market trends suggest that the EM and BYOD will shape the future of the businesses and will change the way business operate today. It would not be wrong to predict that these concepts will take their fair share of time to evolve as mature concepts before business can accept them with eyes shut. References: 1. CISCO 2011, The Cisco Connected World Technology Report, Cisco Company. 2. CISCO 2011, The New Work Place Currency Report, Cisco Company. 3.Gillett, F, Mines,C Warner,J, Bartels,A, Schadler,T Yates,S, Sehgal,V, Huynh,S, Yamnitsky, M 2012 Forrester reserch 2012, NFO WORKERS WILL ERASE THE BOUNDARY BETWEEN ENTERPRISE AND CONSUMER TECHNOLOGIES – A BT Futures Report,Forrester reserch. 4. Information service group 2012 Bring Your Own Device [PowerPoint slides]. Reterived fromhttp://www. slideshare. net/slideshow/embed_code/14265374? rel=0 5. MarketsandMarkets 2012, Bring-your-own-device (BYOD), Consumerimization of IT (Co-IT) and Enterprise Mobility Market – Global Advancements, Business Models, Market Forecasts & Analysis (2012 – 2017), MarketsandMarkets Company Pune. . Satagopan, M and Mathai,P 2011, Ringing in change, Facts of mobile technology adoption in manufacturing, Wipro Councile for research. 7. Times of India 2012, iPhone 5: Apple pushes delivery time to October Sep. 12 2012 Times of India Bibliography : 1. Bridge soft inc 2011, What is Enterprise Mobility? Bridge soft inc, 19/09/20 12, http://www. brigadesoft. com/what-is-enterprise-mobility 2. Darragh Delaney 2012 Implementing a BYOD policy on your network, Computer World, 19/08/2012 http://blogs. computerworld. com/20227/implementing_a_byod_policy_on_your_network 3.Das K, 2012, Bring your own device bugs IT companies despite ban, The Times of India Indore, 9/09/2012 http://articles. timesofindia. indiatimes. com/2012-06-17/indore/32281223_1_device-personal-laptops-security-concerns 4. Malcom Harkins 2011 BYOD: Manage the Risks Intel's CISO on How to Reap the Benefits of Mobility, Govinfo Secutiry 19/09/2012 http://www. library. uq. edu. au/training/citation/harvard_6. pdf 5. Phil Johnson 2012 BYOD from the employee's POV BYOD for the employee has lots of benefits – and drawback, IT world 19/09/2012 http://www. tworld. com/it-consumerization/291968/byod-employees-pov 6. PHILIPPE WINTHROP 2012, CONFUSED ABOUT BYOD? IT’S NOT YOUR FAULT, the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, Inc, 19/09/2012, http://t heemf. org/2012/03/30/confused-about-byod-its-not-your-fault/ 7. PHILIPPE WINTHROP 2012, COULD THERE BE A BETTER WAY TO COPE WITH BYOD IN THE ENTERPRISE? , The Enterprise Mobility Foundation, Inc, 19/09/2012,http://theemf. org/2012/02/13/could-there-be-a-better-way-to-cope-with-byod-in-the-enterprise/ 8.PHILIPPE WINTHROP 2012, UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOBILE DEVICE MANAGEMENT AND MOBILITY MANAGEMENT, the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, Inc, 19/09/2012, http://theemf. org/2012/02/23/understanding-the-difference-between-mobile-device-management-and-mobility-management/ 9. PHILIPPE WINTHROP 2012, UNDERSTANDING THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE CONSUMERIZATION OF IT AND BYOD, the Enterprise Mobility Foundation, Inc, 19/09/2012, http://theemf. org/2012/02/09/understanding-the-difference-between-the-consumerization-of-it-and-byod/ 10.Shashidahr J, 2012, Work shifts to ‘Bring your own device' culture, The Times of India, 9/09/2012 http://timesofindia. indiatimes. com/business/in dia-business/Work-shifts-to-Bring-your-own-device-culture/articleshow/16444032. cms 11. Singh S, 2012, ‘Bring Your Own Device' is most radical shift in enterprise computing since the introduction of the PC: Gartner, The Economics Times, 9/09/2012 http://articles. economictimes. indiatimes. com/2012-08-28/news/33450634_1_byod-mobile-devices-enterprise-applications 12. Stefanie Mosca 2011 What is

Pros and Cons of Globalization

Susan McCormick PLSC323 The Pros and Cons of Globalization Starting out, I would first like to define globalization. It is† The worldwide movement toward economic, financial ,trade, and communications integration. Globalization implies the opening of local and nationalistic perspectives to a broader outlook of an interconnected and interdependent world with free transfer of capital, goods, and services across national frontiers. However, it does not include unhindered movement of labor and, as suggested by some economists, may hurt smaller or fragile economies if applied indiscriminately. †(Parikh,Jan. 010) Globalization has become one of the most debated subjects of the 2000's. It has been said that it is one of the best things to happen to the world by its proponents, and its opponents are labelled at is neo-imperialism. According to CNN†Globalization and localization are two sides of the same coin. More than ever, local communities are the secret of economic succ ess. In the coming decades, the number and strength of America's brain hubs will determine whether, as a country we will prosper or decline. Physical factories will keep losing importance, but cities with a large percentage of nterconnected, highly educated workers will become the new factories where ideas and knowledge are forged. Supporting growth in America's innovation hubs while arresting the decline elsewhere is the real challenge that we face as a nation. †(CNN today, October 9,2012) There are numerous pros and cons of globalization of which I will attempt to talk about both in the upcoming pages. I am beginning with the pros: Productivity grows quicker when countries produce goods and services in which they have a comparitive advantage. Some argue that globalization gives a rise to new industries and more jobs in developing countries.It also gives organizations access to cheap resources and labour in developing areas in the world. It leads to greater employment opportu nities for the people and also consumers get quality goods at competitive rates. Transport and distribution systems are also more efficient than ever before, making it much easier faster, and cheaper for businesses to deliver their products to consumers. Electronic transfers also make making and receiving international payments more secure and faster. Companies also have more flexibility to operate across borders therefore they can profit through domestic as well as international nd also they can have access to much cheaper capitial from other countries if the rate of interest is low. Globalization gives you a larger market therefore you can sell more goods and make more money. Global competition and cheap imports keep prices low and steady, so inflation is less likely to interrupt economic growth. The products are improved due to global competition. Cooking styles, languages, customs have all spread due to globalization. The spread of education worlwide is also affected meaning you can go anywhere in the world and get the education you seek. Foreign trade is impacted on an conomy, the WTO controls the way things are handled throughout the world. Comparitive advantage is a factor. Politics are merging and decisions that are being made are actually beneficial for people throughout the world. We have become more social and open and tolerant towards other countries, and we don't treat people from other countries as aliens. There are numerous other pros to globalization, but I will end there. The cons are just as much as the pros. Some of the cons are that smaller domestic firms lack the resources to compete with the big international companies and may be forced out of business.All the traveling of the people and the goods from country to country could spread infectious diseases that are extremely deadly. One of the biggest complaints about globalization is that it makes the rich richer and the non- rich more poor. Opponents say that globalization makes it easier for those rich companies to act with less accountability. Claims have also been made that countries' individual cultures are being taken over by Americanization. Exploitation of labor is another problem. Prisoners and child workers are used to work in inhumane conditions, and their safety is being put in jeopardy in order to produce cheap goods.There is also an increase in human trafficking. The social welfare schemes are under enormous pressure in developed countries because of deficits and other economic ramifications of globalization. Multinational companies and corporations which were held back from commercial activities are increasingly influenced the political decisions. Most people think that there is a threat of corporations to rule the world because they are gaining power due to globalization. As far as jobs go, millions of Americans have lost their jobs because of production or imports shifts abroad. Most find new jobs with less pay.Other millions of people are afraid to l ose their jobs at the companies operating under competitive pressure. They also face pay cuts from employers which most of the time threaten to export jobs. The white collar jobs are increasingly vulnerable to operations that are moving offshore. Some of the poorest countries in the world,such as Africa may get even poorer. They do not have the education or the new technology that we do. It can cause unemployment in industrialized countries because companies move their factories to places where they can get cheaper workers. Globalization also can lead to environmental problems.Say a company wants to build a factory over in a poor country in the Third World. That country because of the new factory may have to cut down more trees to sell wood, and also take up the land which they use for resources such as food and supplies. Being of disadvantage,the under developed countries most of the time have to do what the developed companies tell them what to do. As far as poorer countries go th eir chance at fair trade is hindered, forcing the developed countries to produce export foods wanted by wealthier companies instead of producing food for locals to feed their own population. The bigger companies develop rchards and plantations and once again reduce the land for the production of local food supplies. When it comes to whether or not I am pro or con globalization I would say I am on the fence. I do not agree with the work conditions that the people in the factories are subject to. Inhumane treatment is unfair and jusat plain cruel. I was watching the news a couple of weeks ago and watched people jumping out of the Apple building windows commiting suicide due to the horrible work conditions. There are also what they call â€Å"suicide nets† placed outside of factories due to the window jumpers from poor condtions. The spread of life threatening iseases also concerns me from the back and forth of import and exports. The fact that countries that are bigger and more powerful can overrule the less fortunate and smaller developing countries seems a bit unfair. The taking of Third World companies land to benefit or make profits and deprive them of their resources by also building factories on their land also does not sit well with me. The unemployment rates in industrialized countries is caused by globalization because firms move their factories over to places where they can get the cheapest laborers. With globalization we must also keep in mind that we want to make ure that both sides are profiting from the exchange of goods. I also think that we should as a more technoligical and educated country give back to the third world better education and and resources to more technology so that they can gain more profit from globalization. I am also not happy with the way the economy is playing out. On the plus side, I am pro as well. I love the fact that I can open up my computer,click start and get to just about any product in the world and sometimes even cheaper than I can get from the United States. For instance,I do not have health insurance.I have certain conditions that I have to be on medication for otherwise my health will will fail. In the US at any pharmacy my medication costs me over 400 dollars! I then was turned on to a Canadian pharmacy that I could get three months worth of my medication for a little under three hundred dollars! Without globalization this would never happen. I also love exotic food and fruits that are imported into the US from other countries. I like the fact that we are friendly with other countries and are able to trade without any political problems. I can go to another country and get just as good of an education or even better over there.Export jobs produce more income than other jobs. Globalization gives us a wider market which means you can sell more goods and make more money. The more globalization the cheaper the products become, and the faster they get to us. Bibliography: Business Week, â€Å"The pros and cons of globalization†, April 2000 University of Western Sydney â€Å"The Impact of globalization† Manufacturing. net, â€Å"Saving American Manufacturing†, by Mike Collins,6/28/2010 Letslearnfinance. com,†Ad vantages and Disadvantages of globalization† Taking Sides,†Clashing views on Global Issues†,fourth edition,Hart and Lombardi,2007

Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides in Humans

Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides in Humans Antimicrobial peptides Introduction Cationic antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) are gene-encoded peptides of the host defence system made up of 12-50 amino acids, with at least 2 positive charges conferred by lysine and arginine residues and about 50% hydrophobic amino acids (Hancock and Scott 2000). They are produced from gene transcription and ribosomal translation and often, further proteolytically processed (Zhoa 2003). The peptides are folded so that non-polar amino acid side-chains form a hydrophobic face and polar, positively charged residues form a hydrophilic face (Robert and Hancock 1997). Expression of antimicrobial peptides can be constitutive or inducible by infectious or inflammatory stimuli like cytokines, bacteria and lipopolysaccharides (LPS) (Cunliffe and Mahida 2004). They have diverse structures to effectively kill a wide range of microbes at prone sites e. g the skin and lungs, and in secretions such as sweat and saliva (Yeaman and Yount 2004; Santamaria 2005). Many mammalian antimicrobial peptides rouse the host’s innate immune system (Jenssen et al 2006) instead of directly killing the host. Peptides which are found in living organisms from bacteria to plants, insects, fish, amphibians to mammals including humans (Kamysz 2005) are recorded in numerous existing databases e. g. AMSDb (Eukaryotic peptides) (Tossi and Sandri 2002), BAPDb (bacterial peptides), ANTIMIC (natural antimicrobial peptides) (Brahmachary et al 2004) and APPDb. Currently, 1831 peptides are hosted by the Antimicrobial peptide database with 99 antiviral, 453 antifungal, 100 anticancer and 1179 antibacterial peptides (The Antimicrobial Peptide database 2010). In humans, antimicrobial peptides are produced by granulocytes, macrophages and most epithelial and endothelial cells. They boost the immune system, have anti-neoplastic properties and help in regulating cell signalling and multiplication. Amphibian AMPs have been discovered from the skin of frogs from families ra nging from Iomedusa, Pipidae, Hyperoliidae, Ranidae, Hylidae, Discoglossidae, Agalychnis and Litoria. The structure of these peptides as unravelled by CD spectroscopy, NMR spectroscopy and molecular modeling (Suh et al 1996) have been found to be generally 10-46 amino acid residues long (Rollins-Smith et al 2005), mostly linear and simple-structured, (Conlon et al 2004) the majority being hydrophobic, cationic and possessing an amphipathic a-helix in nature. Following production, they are stored in the granular glands (poison glands) of skin dermal layer to be secreted in response to injury (Bovbjerg 1963), or as defence against pathogenic bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites. Biologically active molecules including antimicrobial peptides are produced as large proteins harbouring a signal and an acidic propiece which get cut off to give an active peptide prior to or at secretion from the poison glands (Amiche et al 1999). Cationic peptides are also expressed in the gastric mucosa cells and in the intestinal tract (Kamysz 2005). The best-known peptides isolated from frogs are caeruleins, tachykinins, bradykinins, thyrotropin- releasing hormone (Barra and Simmaco 1995), brevinins, esculentins, magainins, ranatuerins and temporins (Conlon et al 2004). In the past, peptides were extracted using solvents like methanol or acid from the skins of amphibians after sun-drying but with concomitant dwindling of many frog species, other alternative techniques have emerged, one of which comprises stimulating the frog using mild electricity and collecting the skin secretion; 2-4 weeks after, the secretion can be re-collected after replenishment of the glands (Barra and Simmaco 1995). Large amounts of small peptides and their analogues which are resistant to protease cleavage and contain D-amino acids can be chemically synthesised while larger peptides can be expressed in a prokaryotic host from cloned cDNAs coding for a fusion protein (Piers et al 1993). An efficient means of producing therapeutic peptides in transgenic mice red blood cells has been explained by Sharma et al (1994) whereby the required peptide is collected from proteolytic cleavage from the fusion protein where the peptide is at the C-terminal end of human a-globin.

Role of The Nurse Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Role of The Nurse - Essay Example According to the study a nineteen year old was presented in a dazed and confused state to the emergency ward, as a result of an automobile accident. Physical and radiological examination suggested that there was internal abdominal haemorrhage that would require immediate surgical intervention. The teenager refused treatment and wanted to go home. The emergency physician instructed the emergency nurse to get the boy readied for surgery and the formality of the consent form could be dealt with later.. The emergency nurse refused saying that there were legal and ethical issues involved. The consent form was not a formality, but reflected the dignity of the patient.From this paper it is clear that  the emergency nurse did act as an advocate for the young boy. Patient advocacy by nursing professionals has the tendency to enhance inter-professional conflicts in healthcare and yet, as advocacy is an integral part of nursing, the nursing professional has to stand up for these rights of the patient and expect support from the healthcare system.  From an administrative and legal perspective beneficence is subject to autonomy in other words the patient needs to be convinced that the treatment procedures are in the individuals best interests and be a part of the decision making process and hence the need for informed consent. The Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) code is evolving, with the NMC code 2006 expected in 2008. Till then the NMC code of 2004 continues to be effective.  

Answer to Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Answer to - Assignment Example Blood related measurements included hemoglobin A1c concentration, HDL, LDL, fibrinogen, and triglyceride levels. Demographic data, diet information, and medical history were also obtained at baseline. The researchers used factor analysis models to determine the extent of the alcohol-CVD relationship through the evaluation of intermediate variables. The results show a J-shaped relationship between alcohol and CVD events. They also found that the reduced risk of CVD found in moderate drinkers is mostly explained by the effect of alcohol on intermediate health factors such as lipids, metabolism, inflammatory agents, and blood pressure. Appropriately, the authors suggest that these findings will need to be tested across populations in order to clarify the mechanisms involved in the relationship model. The quality of this research is strengthened through the large sample size included for analysis. It would have been an improvement to offer a breakdown of the results based on the obtained demographic data, though the task may have over-complicated the results. Overall this research presents worthy information that should prove

To what extent are our sexualities fixed at birth Essay

To what extent are our sexualities fixed at birth - Essay Example Significantly, scholars have debated on whether one's sexuality is fixed at birth or not, and one dominant argument is that being a man or a woman is not a fixed state, as it is a becoming or a condition actively under construction. According to major French feminists like Simone de Beauvoir, one is not born, but becomes, a woman. "So we cannot think of womanhood or manhood as fixed by nature. But neither should we think of them as simply imposed from outside, by social norms or pressure from authorities. People construct themselves as masculine or feminine. We claim a place in the gender order - or respond to the place we have been given - by the way we conduct ourselves in everyday life." (Connell, 4) Therefore, one's sexuality is not completely fixed either by birth or by upbringing, and it is fundamental to realize to what extent are our sexualities fixed at birth. This paper makes a reflective analysis of the question to what extent our sexualities are fixed at birth. Gender is not fixed by nature alone, i.e. one does not completely assume one's manhood or womanhood by birth. It is also determined by what is imposed on an individual from outside, including the social norms and pressure from authorities. Understanding gender is essential to realize to what extent our sexualities are fixed at birth and it is common that people claim a specific place in the gender order which they enjoy in their daily life. Significantly, most of the people willingly accept this gender order and enjoy the gender polarity. It is also important to realize that sexual pleasure is frequently organized around gender polarity in Western culture. However, there are also several cases of gender ambiguities and there are masculine women as well as feminine men. According to psychological researches, the great majority of people combine masculine as well as feminine characteristics, rather than being all one or all the other. Therefore, a thorough understanding of the sexuali ty of human beings - as it is created at birth and as it is formulated all through the stages of development in human beings - is essential and a clear understanding of the term gender is also crucial. "In its most common usage, the term 'gender' means the cultural difference of women from men, based on the biological division between male and female. Dichotomy and difference are the substance of the idea Gender is, above all, a matter of the social relations within which individuals and groups act. Gender relations do include difference and dichotomy, but also include many other patterns Gender is the structure of social relations that centres on the reproductive arena, and the set of practices (governed by this structure) that bring reproductive directions between bodies into social process." (Connell, 8-10) Therefore, it is important to recognise that one's sexuality or gender refers to the structure of social relations based on the reproductive arena and it is a set of practices which determine the reproductive distinctions between men and women. A reflective analysis of the definition of gender confirms that there may be striking difference in the gender patterns from one cultural context to another. It is also essential to

Is it morally defensible for doctors to offer treatments that will Essay

Is it morally defensible for doctors to offer treatments that will enhance human capabilities (mental or physical) Discuss - Essay Example Abnormal genes will be replaced with normal and well functioning genes through homologous combination while selective reverse mutation will ensure that abnormal genes will return to the normal function (Sandel, 2007). Spindle transfer approach will ensure that the entire mitochondrion that is defective is replaced with normal mitochondria. Basically, there are two types of gene therapy that are Somatic gene therapy and Genetic gene therapy. Somatic gene therapy entails the transfer of genes in the somatic cells of the patient except the undifferentiated stem cells (Burley and Harris, 2002). On the other hand, Genetic gene therapy entails modification of the cells including the sperm cells of the patient and these genes become inheritable by the offspring of the patients thus preventing the passage of the disease to the offspring (Becker, 2000). Gene therapy has attracted intense ethical debate and controversy with the opponents asserting that it is not natural while the proponents as sert that it improves the living standards of the patient and offspring (Wartburg and Liew, 1999). According to Aristotle’ ethical theory, all the scientific technique must aim at certain good and there is absolutely one final end of all sciences. The absolute end of sciences should be happiness which all sub-ends aim at attaining (Wartburg and Liew, 1999). In this case, Aristotle ethical theory is clear that happiness entails thriving life and living well. Accordingly, happiness of patients encompasses the external goods that include wholesome children and personal beauty (Burley and Harris, 2002). According to Aristotle, gene-therapy is necessary since it leads to high standards of health care thus leading to happy patients and wholesome children (Vaughn, 2009). Accordingly, the death of a patient will cause unhappiness to the friends and close family

The Intranet Technology Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The Intranet Technology - Case Study Example He focused on the four major points of IT responsibilities: Keeping these points in mind, Mr Goody gave me a comprehensive view on the various applications that were being currently used in the bank and the optimization methods required to develop the business functioning and achieve faster deadlines. The main application that Mr Goody explained needed improvement was the Intranet website that had to be made more efficient and user friendly. - Conventional format: The Intranet website of the bank, as I saw it, was just a lot of text information about the bank from the web developers. It looked very conventional with some introduction about the bank along with some highlights on the main page. The other web pages were organized department wise such as IT, Wholesale banking, Consumer Banking, Human Resource, Transaction Banking, CEO , all displaying their latest achievements, current affairs and future plans in their respective pages. - Distributed information: The information on the website was not properly centralized and composed, for e.g. Every department website had their training and elearning documents displayed on their respective pages but instead, these documents should have been organized under one banner "Training" or "E learning" so that it would be easier to access to any kind of training material. - Restricting User right: The web developer was only responsible for any website text addition, modification and deletion which had both its positive and negative aspects. Positively, the website would be safe and secure without allowing any user to add some malicious content that could compromise the intranet thus threatening the network. Negatively, the users cannot publish any of their informative and important documents, so which has to be done only through the web developer. But then a lot of times we need to make changes in our documents and due to the restricted rights, publishing those changes cannot be done time to time. - Unimpressive design: The feedback from the bank employees indicated that a lot of flashy images of the bank logo and improper navigation tools made the website quite unattractive and boring for the users to bother visiting. A company website can convey its Hamid, 3 message strongly if the website has organized information and more navigation bars which can allow the users to visit the website more frequently and participate in the bank online activities. Solution Proposed: Understanding the requirements of the bank's intranet needs, I knew that I had to propose a solution that can not only help in centralizing the information but also allow the employees to interact with each other on a common platform for business needs. Microsoft Share point server 2003 application is a reliable, scalable and easy to deploy platform, designed to organize the distributed data from various sources and provide a common portal for the users to interact and share tasks. Following are the main

The law and the media Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The law and the media - Essay Example When defamation is established, there is a legal presumption of deceptiveness (Defamation). A report by the Washington post related to a weight lifting coach, Mr. Bob Hoffman stated that the coach sold valueless protein supplements called Hoffman’s high protein tablets. The article also clearly depicted that Hoffman also drove a Rolls Royce car and many of his athletes were discovered later to be using the banned anabolic steroids. Hoffman sued the newspaper stating that the news gave an impression that he supplemented himself by selling the protein tablets. The newspaper made counterclaims that the statements they collected were from individuals and there is no case of defamation. The law of defamation fully states or recognizes that truth is a complete defense, but defamation cases which are not direct, as in the above case always smudge the line between truth and fabrication. An article which is factually correct will omit or may imply falsely a material fact that will make the article harmful like a truly false report. Even though the weight lifting coach sold p rotein enriched tablets to his athletes, the fact that it contained anabolic steroids had no evidential support. The newspaper had published the article without undergoing scientific trials to establish the truth of their claim. Therefore the article was truly a case of defamation. Even courts have struggled to give a clear and true verdict to this matter. The media cannot defend false statements as facts. It is also not possible to defend on the basis of an omitted fact. The case of defamation against Mr. Hoffman is a true case of defamation because the newspaper has published false statement that caused loss of name and reputation for the coach in front of the public. The media should not use its influence and coverage to gain undue weightage among its readers by publishing defamatory articles (Cohn). Privacy can

Bussiness communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Bussiness communication - Essay Example Hence, skill of interpersonal communication plays an essential role not just in resolution of conflict but also in achieving overall success in life. Introduction Communication is a means of sharing your ideas, emotions, feelings, goals, thoughts etc., with other people around you. Healthy and open communication pattern are the foundations of healthy, strong and positive relationships (Krizan, Merrier, Logan, and Williams 2008, p.366). However, problems in communication lead to problems in relationship. Once the relationships are hampered, then it becomes difficult to achieve those goals for which the relationships were created in the first place. Achievement of goals depends on compatibility and bonding with other people involved in relationship. Sadly, due to incompatibility in goals, most of the relationships end up in conflicts. Conflict in relationship is the major reason for failure to achieve goals, both in personal and professional life (Krizan, Merrier, Logan, and Williams 2 008, p.378). Hence, to avoid conflicts, it is essential to have a skill of interpersonal communication (Krizan, Merrier, Logan, and Williams 2008, p.366). However, as human personality is a combination of different aspects like emotions, thoughts, behavior, attitude etc., it is not possible to handle the conflict situation only with single skill. Hence, interpersonal communication skill is the only skill that can help human beings to manage conflict effectively and positively, as interpersonal skill is a combination of different skills which teaches people how to make communication successful by catering to every aspect of human personality and behavior. Definition Interpersonal communication is defined as an effort by two or more people, to create and sustain shared meaning through the process of exchanging the messages with each other (West and Turner 2009, p.10). However, interpersonal communication is not as easy as it sounds. For successful interpersonal communication, one not only needs to be clear about his own goals of communication, but also needs to take care of not hurting other people involved in the communication. According to scholars, only those people who have the ability to carry out effective and appropriate communication with others, depending on the situation, are competent in the area of interpersonal communication (Wood 2010, p.32). People communicate and interact with others with a purpose and goal in their mind. When a particular interaction leads to achievement of the goal of that interaction, then the communication is considered effective (Wood 2010, p.32). If the goals of communication are not achieved, then the interpersonal communication is considered ineffective and incompetent. Very few people have the ability to achieve the goals of communication because interpersonal communication is a ‘skill’ and not a natural ability. It is a part of social skill as it enhances the productivity and meaning of professional and per sonal relationships in life. However, the good thing is that, it can be learned and practiced by everyone who desires positive communication in their lives. Importance of Interpersonal Interpersonal communication is a part of social skill. Hence, people in the field of medicine, psychology, counseling, religion, education, military, human resource, business management etc., are being trained in social skills through different training programs (Hargie, Saunders and Dickson 1994, p.ix). This is

Assignment Internal Audit Essay Example for Free

Assignment Internal Audit Essay Q.1 Critically evaluate the qualities of an Auditor in the wake of recent scams Ans:- What should be the qualities of Internal Audit Personnel? There is no universal answer to this question. We can only generalize about the qualities of internal Audit Personnel. It has been observed that internal auditors and independent auditors often belong to the same professional organization and are subject to the same professional regulations. Hence apart from professional qualification and experiences, the qualities of audit personnel should be same. The Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) has issued â€Å"SA-220-Quality Control for Audit Work† with an objective to establish standards on quality control as to the policies and procedures regarding of an audit firm for audit work generally, and procedures regarding the work delegated to assistants on an individual audit. The standard is equally applicable to an internal audit department also. The head of internal audit department should regularly review the quality of audit work based on the standard mentioned below. Important extract of SA 220 are given below. Important terms a) â€Å"The Auditor† means the person with final responsibility for the audit. b) â€Å"Audit Firm† mean either the partners of a firm providing audit services or sole practitioner providing audit services. c) â€Å"Personnel† means all partners and professionals staff engaged in the audit practice of the firm. d) â€Å"Assistant† means personnel involved in an individual audit other than the auditor. Audit firm 1. The audit firm should implement quality control policies and procedures designed to ensure that all audits are conducted in accordance with the standards on auditing. 2. The objectives of the quality control policies to be adopted by an audit firm will ordinarily incorporate the following: a) Professional requirements: Personnel in the firm are to adhere to the  principles of independence, integrity, objectivity, confidentiality and professional behavior. b) Skills and competence: The firm is to be staffed by personnel who have attained and maintain the technical standards and professional competence required to enable them to fulfill their responsibilities with due care. c) Assignment: Audit work is to be assigned to personnel who have the degree of technical training and proficiency required in the circumstances. d) Delegation: There is to be sufficient direction, supervision and review of work at all levels to provide reasonable assurance that the work performed meets appropriate standards of quality. e) Consultation: Whenever necessary, consultation within or outside the firm is to occur with those who have appropriate expertise. f) Monitoring: The continued adequacy and operational effectiveness of quality control policies and procedures is to be monitored. 3. The firm’s general quality control policies and procedures should be communicated to its personnel in a manner that provides reasonable assurance that the policies and procedures are understood and implemented. Individual audits 4. The auditor should implement those quality control procedures which are, in the context of the policies and procedures of the firm, appropriate to the individual audit. 5. The auditor, and assistants with supervisory responsibilities, will consider the professional competence of assistants performing work delegated to them when deciding the extent of direction, supervision and review, appropriate for each assistant. 6. Any delegation of work to assistants would be in a manner that provides reasonable assurance that such work will be performed with due care by persons having the degree of professional competence required in the circumstances. Direction 7. Assistants to whom work is delegated need appropriate direction. Direction involves informing assistants of their responsibilities and the objectives of the procedures they are to perform. It also involves informing of matters, such as the nature of the entity’s business and possible accounting or auditing problems that may affect the nature, timing and extent of audit procedures with which they are involved. 8. Audit programme is an important tool for the communications of audit directions. Time budgets and the  overall audit plans also helpful in communicating audit directions. Supervision 9. Supervision is closely related to both direction and reviews and may involve elements of both. 10. Personnel carrying out supervisory responsibilities perform the following functions during the audit: a) Monitor the progress of the audit to consider whether: i) Assistants have the necessary skills and competence to carry out their assigned tasks; ii) Assistants understand the audit directions; and   iii) The work being carried out in accordance with the overall audit plan and the audit programme. b) Become informed of and address significant accounting and auditing questions raised during the audit, by assessing their significance and modifying the overall audit plan and the audit programme as appropriate; and c) Resolve any differences of professional judgment between personnel and consider the level of consultation that is appropriate. Review 11. The work performed by each assistant needs to be reviewed by personnel of at least equal competence to consider whether: a) The work has been performed in accordance with the audit programme; b) The work performed and the results obtained have been adequately documented; c) All significant audit matters have been resolved or are reflected in audit conclusions; d) The objectives of the audit procedures have been achieved; e) The conclusions expressed are consistent with the results of the work performed and support the audit opinion. 12. The following need to be reviewed on a timely basis: a) Overall audit plan and the audit programme; b) Assessment of inherent and control risks including the results of tests of control and the modifications, if any, made to the overall audit plan and the audit programme as a result of tests of control; c) Documentation of the audit evidence obtained from substantive procedures and the conclusion drawn there from, including the results of consultations; and d) Financial statements, proposed adjustments in financial statements arising out of the  auditor’s examination, and the auditors’ proposed observations/report. Conclusion The personnel qualities required of the internal audit personnel can be summarized as follows: 1. They should possess required qualifications, training, experience and competence. 2. They should have a continuing awareness of development in the field of accounting and auditing especially internal auditing. 3. They should perform their duties with due professional care, paying due attention to the role assigned to them by the management. 4. They should maintain their professional independence. 5. They should be completely impartial and unbiased in their reporting. 6. They should possess highest quality of ethics and integrity. Q.2 What is social audit? Is social audit taken seriously by the corporate world? Give examples of corporates undertaking social audit. Ans:- The social audit is also called social responsibility audit. A business organization exists in society. Hence, it owes certain responsibilities toward society at large. As Lord Denning has observed: †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ the directors of a great company should owe a duty to those who are employed by the company to see that their conditions of service are proper. They should owe a duty to the customers, to the people to whom the goods are supplied, a public duty perhaps, not to expect excessive prices. They should owe a duty also to the community in which they live, not to make the place of production hideous or a nuisance to thos MF0013 [Internal Audit and Control] Set1 Q2 Q.2 What is social audit? Is social audit taken seriously by the corporate world? Give examples of corporate undertaking social audit. Ans: Social Audit:- The social audit is also called social responsibility audit. A business organization exists in society. Hence, it owes certain responsibilities toward society at large. As Lord Denning has observed: The directors of a great company should owe a duty to those who are employed by the company to see that their conditions of service are proper. They should owe a duty to the customers, to the people to whom the goods are supplied, a public duty perhaps, not to expect excessive prices. They should owe a duty also to the community in which they live, not to make the place of production hideous or a nuisance to those who live around.† Social audit is mainly concerned with social accounting. It may be noted that social accounting is still in early stage and so social audit also. Social audit also called Social Responsibility Audit is mainly concerned with social accounting. A continuous audit is basically a perpetual audit, where auditors and his staff constantly engaged in checking the accounts throughout the year. Annual audit is done at the end of the financial year when finalization of accounts has been completed and books of accounts closed. A Balance Sheet audit is mainly concerned with the verifications of items appearing in the Balance Sheet such as share capital, reserve and surplus, current liabilities, fixed assets, current assets, investments etc in detail. Importance of the Social Policy: The phenomenal growth of Socially Responsible Funds (now 20% of funds invested in the US), the growing difficulty to attract qualified employees, and the rise of non-governmental organizations able to sue or boycott unethical businesses, demonstrate the vital importance for any business of a well designed Social Policy. The Ethics Policies will attract long-term investors, increase market shares for the ethical product, strengthen partnerships, and make the employees proud. The Labor Policies will attract and keep a qualified workforce, and increase productivity, while opening new markets (ethnic minority customers are sensitive to the anti-discrimination policies in the work place). The Environmental Policies will attract customers interested in the protection of the environment, and investors who fear the risks linked to bad environmental practices, while sometimes reducing the costs with cost-effective modifications of production processes. As for most other components of the Social Policy, serious Environmental Policies will attract Socially Responsible Funds and a qualified workforce (nobody likes polluters!). The Human Rights Policies, also, will attract Socially Responsible Funds and a qualified workforce. Its most important role, however, is defensive: to prevent boycotts or campaigns of protest that could seriously tarnish the reputation of the company accused of practicing (or being an accomplice of) human rights abuses, and the resulting falling stock prices, loss of market shares, and low-moral work force. The Community Policies will not only create roots in a local base for the company, it will also increase the productivity of the work force involved in the projects (by developing their leadership and customerservice skills, building pride and loyalty with the feeling of being useful). The Society (or Extra-Community) Policies boost not only the products linked with the policy but also the image of the company. Cause Related Marketing is extremely appreciated by customers because it makes them feel good (allowing them to support charities without spending their time or money), as long as the charities are well chosen and the percentage is not too small (or the ceiling too low). The Compliance Policies are part of the Social Policy for two reasons. First, by complying with the law, the co. demonstrates it is socially responsible. More importantly, Compliances Policies often go beyond the legal requirements, in order to show concerns for social matters (health, labor, environment, etc.). In many cases, companies build their social image by doing only slightly more than what is required by the law. Creation of a Social Policy: Most companies (if not all) already have elements of Social Policy. Often, these are independent pieces of regulation and practices. Most of the time, they are not part of a unique strategy, they are not managed by powerful senior executives, they are not reviewed before any business decisions are made, and they are not used in ways that would produce their full benefits. The first step is to have an Independent Social Audit, either Defensive (to prevent lawsuits and boycotts), or Productive (to increase productivity, market shares and long term investment). The audit will identify the stakeholders; clarify the components of a Social Policy that would address the concerns of these stakeholders at either the Defensive or Productive level, or make recommendations on the necessary measures to build the Social Policy. The company must be totally involved in the Audit. The Independent Social Audit is neither an inspection (for which the company would dissimulate important pieces) nor is it a situation where the Auditor brings his one size fits all solutions. The Auditor is only the coach of a team, composed of senior executives of the company who are working at gathering the information and finding solutions. The Auditor provides the directions, merges the information to create a whole picture of the social situation, and gives advice on the method used by the company to build its Social Policy and on its different aspects. Ultimately, it is the leadership of a company who builds its Social Policy, and then decides on the best way to run the policy (for instance, nomination of a person or creation of a department dedicated to Social Policy issues). Scope of a Social Audit The identification of the stakeholders is generally the first task of an audit. However, a Social Auditor does not study each group of stakeholders separately. Stakeholders have to be considered as a whole, because their concerns are not limited to the defense of their immediate interest. As a result, the Social Auditor will work on the components of a companys Social Policy (Ethics, Labor, Environmental, Community, Human Rights, etc.), and  for each subject, the Social Auditor will analyze the expectations of all stakeholders. The scope of the audit generally includes the following policies: Ethics: values the company vows to respect. Policies include the pledge not to participate in (nor engage in business with people involved in) a series of activities that are deemed offensive. This list of unacceptable activities often includes exploitation of children, unethical treatment of animals, damage to the environment, and dealings with undemocratic regimes or with bad guy industries (fur, tobacco,guns, etc.). Labor: creation of a working environment allowing all employees to develop their potential. Policies include training, career planning, remunerations and advantages, rewards linked to merit, balance between work and family life, as well as mechanisms that ensure non-discrimination and non-harassment. Environment: monitoring and reduction of the damage caused to the environment. For instance, policies of reduction of emissions and waste. Human Rights: making sure the company does not violate human rights nor appears as supporting human rights violators. Community: investment in its local community. Policies include partnerships with voluntary local organizations, with financial donations, donations in kind (computers for education, food and clothes for the poor), and employees involvement. The company may initiate or participate to a major project such as the regeneration of a poor neighborhood plagued with unemployment, poverty, low education and racial tensions. Society: investment or partnership beyond the community. For instance, Cause Related Marketing (partnership with a charity to market a product while giving a small percentage of the sales to the charity). Compliance: Identification of all legal obligations and of the means to comply. Policies must deal with changing rules related to its work force (Labor), its products (Health, Environment, Intellectual property, specific regulations), its administration (Business, Tax), its dealings (supplier and customer liability, Criminal actions). MF0013 [Internal Audit and Control] Set1 Q3 Q. 3 Explain the Code of Ethics for Internal Auditor. Explain them in context with blacklisting Price Waterhouse Coopers in Satyam Scam. Ans: Code of Ethics for Internal Auditor In his book â€Å"Practical Guide for Internal Audit† R.S. Adukia has scholarly explained about the code of ethics for internal auditor which is as follows: â€Å"This code of ethics sets the minimum requirements for the performance and conduct of internal auditors. This code applies to all internal auditors but does not supersede or replace the requirement on individual to comply with ethical codes issued by professional institutes of which they are members or student members and any organizational codes of ethics or conduct.† There are four main principles: 1. Integrity: The internal auditor should demonstrate integrity in all aspects of their work. Their integrity establishes an environment of trust, which provides the basis for reliance on all activities carried out by the internal auditors. 2. Objectivity: Objectivity is a state of mind that has regard to all considerations relevant to the activity or process being examined without being unduly influenced by personal interest or the views of others. Internal auditors should display professional objectivity when providing opinions, assessments and recommendations. 3. Confidentiality: Internal auditors must safeguard the information they receive in carrying out their duties. There must not be any unauthorized disclosure of information unless there is a legal or professional requirement to do so. 4. Competency: The internal auditor should make use of his/her knowledge, skills and practical experience necessary for auditor’s activity performance. They should not accept or perform work that they are not competent to undertake, unless they have received adequate training and support to carry out the work to an appropriate standard. Achieving compliance with code of ethics i) Security integrity: The internal auditor should: a) Perform his/her job honestly, diligently and with responsibility. b) Perform his/her profession in harmony with the acts and other generally binding regulations. c) Avoid any illegal activity and performing any activity discrediting the internal auditor’s profession. d) Respect the legal and ethical objectives of the organizations. e) Take care that his/her integrity should not be compromised. ii) Objectivity: The internal auditor should: a) Avoid taking part in activities or relations which may damage, or might be understood as damaging his/her unbiased assessment including activities or relations which may be in conflict with public interests. b) Avoid accepting anything that may damage or might be understood as damaging his/her objective professional assessment. c) Protect his/her objectivity against political influence. d) Disclose all substantial facts known to him/her that being undisclosed might misrepresent the conclusions on activities or events assessed. iii) Observing Confidentiality: The internal auditor should: a) Be careful when using and protecting information he/she gathered when auditing. b) Avoid disclosing and making use of the information obtained during the auditor’s activities performance in order to damage the interests of other person or organization. c) Avoid making use of the information obtained during the auditor’s activities for personal enrichment or in a way which would be in conflict with the law or which would damage legitimate and ethical interests of the organization. iv) Demonstrating Competence: a) It is a pre-requisite that all internal audit staff is aware of and understand: 1. The organization’s aims objectives, risks and governance arrangements. 2. The purpose, risks and issues affecting the service area to be audited. 3. The terms of reference for the audit assignment so that there is a proper appreciation of the parameters within which the review be conducted. 4. The relevant legislation and other regulatory arrangement that relate to the service area to be audited. b) The internal auditor should keep educating himself constantly in order to have a good command of internal audit techniques and auditor standards necessary for obtaining, examining and evaluating the information. v) Maintaining Audit Independence: Internal auditors should be independent of the activities they audit. Internal auditors are considered independent when they can carry out their work freely and objectively. Independence permits internal auditors to render the impartial and unbiased judgments essential to the proper conduct of audits. This is achieved through organizational status and objectivity. Independence stands for an internal auditor being able to take a stand and report on materiality issues, uninfluenced by any favors coercion or undue influence. Satyam’s auditors:- So what were the auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, doing? There was no cash within the companys banks and yet the auditors went ahead and signed on the balance sheets saying that the money was there. Not just the cash, even they even signed off on the non-existent interest that accrued on the non-existent bank balance! Auditors do bank reconciliation to check whether the money has indeed come or not. They check bank statements and certificates. So was this a total lapse in supervision or were the bank statements forged? No one knows yet. The cops have already raided the PwC office in Hyderabad, but details of what they have found are yet to emerge. The company officials said they relied on data from the reputed auditors. But PricewaterhouseCoopers, stung by this insinuation hit back at Satyam. In a statement to the media, the firm said: The audits were conducted by Price Waterhouse in accordance with applicable auditing standards and were supported by appropriate audit evidence. Given our obligations for client confidentiality, it is not possible for us to comment upon the alleged irregularities. Price Waterhouse will fully meet its obligations to cooperate with the regulators and others. (Extracted from Rediffmail.com). MF0013 [Internal Audit and Control] Set1 Q4 Q.4 As a senior audit assistant of M/s. Asutosh Associates, you are in charge of internal audit team of M/s Rajesh Technologies involved in the manufacture of plastic tubes. From the information you obtained you find the company is facing liquidity problem for the last two years. You are required to prepare working paper indicating the internal audit problems you would expect to face and how you plan to overcome them. Ans: There have been many accounting scandals over the years which resulted in more traders showing interest in learning how to analyze a companys financial statements. When companies do declare bankruptcy, it is usually because they cannot pay their debts. So let’s take a look at the importance of corporate debt and go over how an investor can analyze a company’s liquidity. Economic theory says that the mix of debt and equity in a company’s capital structure is irrelevant, that the value of a firm should be independent of its debt ratio. In the real world, companies and investors have to worry about things like taxes and the risk of default, so a companys capital structure can be relevant to its long-term survival. Long -term creditors can also put restrictions on the company such as preventing it from taking on additional debt or paying higher  dividends. Most public companies have at least some debt, and the biggest reason to take on debt is to leverage the equity (much like buying stock on margin). Return on equity is very important to investors. But the greater the proportion of debt to equity on the balance sheet, the higher the business risk. Since a lot of corporate debt tends to be short-term, there can be a real risk to the company if investors lose confidence in it. It is not unlike a run on a bank, where liabilities (loans) have a longer duration than their assets (deposits). If everyone suddenly wants their money now, the bank will not be able to meet the demand and be forced to close. That is why it is important to look at a company’s debt and liquidity. Liquidity in the option markets refers to the volume of contracts changing hands in a day. There is lots of liquidity in the options of companies such as IBM and Microsoft, since there are many buyers and sellers. However, liquidity means something very different at the company level. Here we are referring to whether or not the company has, or can generate, enough cash to keep operating if they had to pay off short-term debt quickly. Banks use liquidity analysis to assess the risk of a company not being able to repay them in the short term. Agencies rate a company’s debt according to the perceived threat of default. Still, crises periodically seem to emerge from almost nowhere to cause the sudden collapse of companies that seemed solid only weeks before. Once investors lose confidence, as companies such as Enron, Qwest and WorldCom learned, liquidity can mean the difference between survival and death. That is why investors should always take a little time to check debt and liquidity ratios before entering any trading position. Most investors are familiar with the corporate bond market. When a ratings agency such as Moody’s or Standard and Poor’s downgrades a company’s debt, this certainly causes the company’s bond holders some distress, as the value of the bonds will drop. Still, since corporate bonds are primarily long-term debt, this is not usually the source of liquidity problems (unless a large  amount just happens to be nearing expiration). No, it is usually a company’s short-term debt that gets them in trouble. When a company runs into financial problems, their debt rating is usually quickly downgraded. Investors demand a higher premium to lend to the company. If they lose confidence altogether they will simply refuse to lend at any price. If the company does not have liquid assets available, even temporary cash flow problems can quickly become life threatening. Of course, the banks most companies up in the short term. Before investors will buy commercial paper, they usually require a commercial paper back-up facility with a bank. This gives them a bit more security that they will be paid. However, this facility is not meant to be used, and drawing on it is an admission the company is having severe liquidity problems. This is what happened to Qwest about two years ago. When Qwest had trouble borrowing in the commercial paper markets, they had to draw down their $4 billion credit line with banks. It was a stop-gap measure that put off a financial reckoning for a few months, but credit agencies responded by cutting the rating on its outstanding bonds to near junk status. $4 billion is a lot of money to come up with in short time. By comparison, their market capitalization was $16.4 billion at the time, they had annual revenue of about $20 billion, and a loss of $4 billion the previous year. So one of the first ratios an investor should look at is the company’s debt to its total capital. Total capital is all their debt plus equity. This ratio should be compared with what is normal in their industry and not simply against all other businesses. The next thing to look at is a companys ability to meet its debt payments. This is measured by a ratio called â€Å"times interest earned†. Times interest earned is a company’s earnings divided by their total interest cost. For the earnings number you could choose to use EBIT (earnings before interest and taxes), or the more aggressive EBITDA (which adds back the  non-cash costs of depreciation and amortization).

Factors Influencing Conflicts in Schools

Factors Influencing Conflicts in Schools FACTORS INFLUENCING CONFLICTS IN SCHOOLS.AN EXPLORATORY CASE STUDY OF PUBLIC SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN TANZANIA. BY: BONIPHACE, M. FASILI. INTRODUCTION: Organizational psychologists start with the view that there is ,or can be, a genuine conflict between a human being and his or her job of work, between the satisfaction of the needs of the individual worker, and the needs of the employing organization. However, some common ground between them is that: people have needs and, consequently, motives for doing things. These needs and motives, therefore, do affect peoples behavior, and their behavior c an be explained,(Chris, A.). There can be conflict between the goals of the organizations and the goals of people working for those organizations. The way to avoid such conflicts in practice is not by offering bribes and sweeteners to the workers, nor is it by offering them massive welfare programs, but is by changing the very structure and goals of the organization to accommodate peoples personal goals,(Chris, A., in Kooontz ,H. and C. ODonnel,1976). While other thinkers suggest that, the best type of organization is one which succeeds best in achieving the accommodation of peoplesÂÂ   personal goals by promoting worker participation in decision making, enabling workers to fulfill themselves and use a wide variety of talents, management by objectives rather than by authority, and finally, good communication and expressive supervision. Schools as organizations are said to be influenced by a combination of factors and have their own organizational culture of change and development,(Mbiti, D.M.,1974).In most cases, school development implies the management of planned change. These changes may at times be consistent or not consistent with the organizational culture.Unplanned changes are no more than accidents. An attempt to redesign a school organizational culture in the way that will adapt to the changes within and in the external environment or to effectively achieve the goals sometimes result into conflicts, Mosha, H.(1994).This may be caused by shifts inÂÂ   the interest and perceptions of the organization members, fear of change ,self interest, perception of the organization goals strategies by teachers or long for good old days. The school management has to overcome these factors if it is to accomplish the planned change. BACKGROUND TO THE PROBLEM Schools have traditionally been expected to teach children academic skills. The school has the responsibility to develop in each child a favourable attitude towards learning.Schools are also places where students interact with one another, their teachers and educational administrators. Many educators believe that student behaviour affects academic achievement (Boothe,Bradley,Flick,Keough, and Kirk,1993). Traditional disciplinaryÂÂ   practices include various forms of punishment based on the assumption that if negative behaviours are eliminated, the classroom climate will be conducive for learning,(Canter Canter, 1992). Critics of traditional disciplinary practices believe that the emphasis on punishment thwarts development of student responsibility, leadership, independence and interdependence(Dreyfuss,1990, in Mahduri Pendharkar,1995). Tanzania like any other developing countries is at the forefront to make socio economic transformations to achieve some laid down principles in the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs). Some major transformations have been directed towards improving the management and performance of educational institutions including more enrolment in both primary and secondary schools, and prioritizing girls education,(TDREG 1989).The period between 2000 t0 2005 have showed an increased school enrolment. This has also impacted on recruitment of more teachers and increased government expenditure in education,(BEST 2005). While improvedÂÂ   performance in education is expected, training for management is frequently neglected. The impact has reflected on frequently and repeated conflicts in schools manifesting in boycott, riot, drop outs, as well as breakdown of managerial capacities and accountability in some schools. Whereas, conflict resolution skills for teachers or students in most schools is not emphasized. In most schools in Tanzania there are discipline masters, Patrons and Matrons whose traditional role is to suppress negative behaviours of students. Some of them were appointed on the basis of certain personal attributes rather than the required skills. Most of them lack conflict management skills. As a result students hate them. This is impacted by lack of conflict resolution skills in schools. The emphasis is on rigid rules and discipline. Lyons and Hathering (1992) pointed out that, organization health is characterized by high levels of trust, low conflict and friction, respect for differences, personal freedom and individual autonomy in patterns of supervision and control. Conflict in schools need to be properly managed in order toÂÂ   create a healthy organizational climate that is so important for effective learning and performance of responsibilities. Mosha, H.J.(1994) stressed that, some conflicts in higher learning institutions occur due to lack of proper diagnosis leading to crisis. Conflicts in schools are either not understood or not managed properly. Burton (1969) suggested for conflict management which include deterrence strategies aimed at avoiding escalation of conflict while maintaining control without giving way. Burton further suggested that if conflict builds towards crisis successful management should be able to turn the conflicting forces towards a constructive rather than a destructive direction. However, teachers training programs in Tanzania have not provided for greater flexibility for teachers to manage conflicts other than becoming disciplinarians. Mismanagement of conflicts in schools has resulted into increased government intervention leading to closure of schools and increased expenditure. Meanwhile, effective teaching and learning programs are always impaired leading to further crisis in schools and the government in general. The situation also creates burn out to some teachers to change their career. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM: The purpose of this study is to investigate on the factors influencing conflicts in schools in Tanzania. Several conflicts have been reported to have devastating impacts. There are frequently and repeated conflicts in most schools in Tanzania. The scientific explanation about the nature of these conflicts is not well established neither documented. It has also been reported that those conflicts involve school administrators and teachers, teachers and students, students and the school administration, as well as students themselves. At some levels conflicts escalate to involveÂÂ   the external school environment. The impacts of these conflicts have resulted into loss of lives of some students, demolished school buildings, riots, boycott and increased hostilities in the workplace, lack of conducive teaching learning environment, dismissal and suspension of students, administrators and teachers. This study therefore, is an attempt to investigate on the nature of conflicts in schools, and possibly come up with the real explanation as to why they frequently occur, as well to establish approaches that can be applied to harmonize the situation. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY: (a). ToÂÂ   identify the nature of conflicts in public secondary schools in Tanzania. (b). To establish means to minimize conflicts in schools. (c). To contribute and extend knowledge and skills in conflict management for schools teachers and administrators. (d). To influence the government policy in education, conflict management is an integral part of the contemporary school environment. RESEARCH QUESTIONS/HYPOTHESES: SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY: This study is intended to be broad spectrum in nature. It is expected to come up with possible explanation of the sources of conflicts in schools as learning and work places in Tanzania. It will also establish possible preventive conflict management approaches that are so essential and could be applied in resolving conflicts which arise in the school environment. Whereas, the study is expected to contribute the generation of new insights, knowledge and skills in management in general, and form a baseline for school administrators, managers, teachers and students to reflect on during situations of problems leading to conflicts. This study is perhaps the pioneer one as far as conflict management in schools is concerned. It is expected to influence the policy of the government. Conflicts in the contemporary school environment are becoming part and parcel of the total education system. Finally, the study will impact on other broader dimensions of the social systems in Tanzania. LITERATURE REVIEW: This section reviews and examines briefly some literature on relevant scholarly work. Mosha, H.J.(1994) describes conflict as an interactive opposing behavior between two or more people, organizations or systems over incompatible goals, interests, scarce resources, values, belief system, power and prestige, nature of relationship as well as performance. He further states that, conflicts behaviours may range from intellectual jostling or malicious gossip all the way to use of physical force to cause destruction of property or physical injury. Mosha,(1994) further suggests that conflicts are integral part of any social system they need to be properly managed in order to create a healthy organizational climate that is so important for effective performance of responsibilities. Whereas, Lyons and Hatherly, (1992) comment on organizational health that is the state in institutions characterized by generally highÂÂ   levels of trust, low conflict and individual autonomy in patterns of supervision and control. Lyons and Hatherly further insist that in health organizations relationships are honest, there is high degree of trust, poor performance is confronted and joint solutions sought. People feel free to signal problems and participate in finding solutions. Murphy and Saal(1990) in Mosha,(1994) stated that conflict management is a process of becoming aware of actual or potential conflict, diagnosing its nature and scope and employing appropriate methodology to diffuse the emotional energy involved and enable disputing parties to understand and resolve their differences. While, Burton(1969) adds on conflict management that include deterrence strategies aimed at avoiding escalation of conflict while maintaining control without giving way. According to Gray and Starke(1990) traditionalists conceived conflict as being intrinsically bad. Under this school of thought members of the organization who caused the conflict were regarded as emotionally disturbed, otherwise they should not have caused the conflict. Thus, to eliminate the conflict and thereby solve the problem it was necessary to fire or get psychiatric help for the responsible employees (Jandt and Gillettee,1985). The modern theorists according to (Gray and Starke,1990) in Mosha,(1994) argue that organizational conflict is neither good nor bad per se, and that it is inevitable. Conflict is inevitable and not necessarily harmful. Indeed, they continue to argue that you can not have an organization, community or society that is free from conflict. However, Mosha, H.J.(1979:169) argues that competence should be the major criterion for participation as educational problems have ramifications that require attention and specialized assistance is useful in mobilizing needed knowledge and judgment. At another scale of looking at leadership styles, Bennis,W.G.,(1989) was of the view that the challenges confronting organizational leaders are daunting even to the most intrepid. Bennis further comments that organizational restructuring has bulldozed away much worker morale and loyalty, along with many levels of management and thousands of jobs. The loosened bonds between workers and organizations have increased worker disaffection and raised turnover. Bennis, W.G.(1989) further commented on achieving styles, cultures, values, rewards and discontinuities that organizations have their special achieving styles, styles that their cultures, consciously or unconsciously inculcate in their members. That is, organizations characteristically reward certain kinds of achieving behavior and punish or ignore other kinds. Organizational culture both comfort and control its members. It comforts them by generating a familiar context for organizational life and offering membership to those who conform. At the same time, organizational culture controls members by constricting the range of behaviours and attitudes that are valued andÂÂ   rewarded. Furthermore, Max Weber(1864-1920) examined the organization and came up with the opinion that the term organization meant the ordering of social relationships, the maintenance of which certain individuals took upon themselves as a special task. Weber, further maintains that the presence of a leader and an administrative staff was a characteristic of an organization, which in fact was them who preserved the organization. Hence, basic to WebersÂÂ   ideas was the notion that human behavior is regulated by rules. The existence of a distinct set of rules was implicit in the concept of organization. On management, Henry Fayol (1916) stated that to manage is to forecast and plan to organize, to command and to co-ordinate and to control. While G.A. Cole(1994) proposed a working definition for strategic management as a process directed by top management to determine the fundamental aims or goals of the organization and ensure a range of decisions which will allow for the achievement of those aims or goals in the long-term whilst providing for adaptive responses in the short term. The above implies that, if the management is not successful in dealing with resistances to change and if it still wishes to change and continues to implement the change program, conflict will eventually arise, Mosha,(1994). Whereas, Ekval, G.(1993) cautioned that where antagonistic groups, divisions and camps exist the work climate is bound to be poor.

Espn Is The Leader In Sports News Media Essay

Espn Is The Leader In Sports News Media Essay ESPN is the leader in sports news and entertainment across the globe, providing the most comprehensive coverage of sports and the events occurring around them. ESPN dominates the sports and sports news genre of the cable network with a total of six different channels to choose from, and their flagship program Sportscenter, which averages up to 115 million viewers a month (ESPN Corporate). ESPN also dominates the sports world online, with ESPN.com capturing 30 percent of all minutes spent on sports websites in 2010 and introducing five local ESPN web pages to major cities across the United States. Although ESPN has dominated the sports world in terms of news, analysis, and coverage of current events, they still have not claimed dominance concerning historical data. In 2009, ESPN unveiled their solution to this lack of leadership by introducing ESPNDB. ESPNDB is an acronym for Entertain and Sports Programming Network Database. ESPN took it upon themselves to combine archived and current data, articles, and media and create a specialized database for this collection. This specialized database was then made accessible to the largest network available, the World Wide Web. This is not only a collaboration of a database with a network, but the database itself is a collaboration of text, video, and audio. The database sets itself apart from other databases in similar fields not only through its collaboration of text, video, and audio, but its accurate and certifiable information. Web based databases such as Wikipedia, let users add information to their database. This interaction can be useful but also harmful. It was noted in a study by Communications of the Association for Computing Machinery determined that 11 percent of Wikipedia articles have been vandalized at some point in their life (Potash). ESPNDB uses information that is certified by its experts to ensure that all information presented in their database is accurate and verifiable. This accuracy attracts the average sports fan that is searching for information to utilized ESPNDB rather than taking their chance with information from a database with a history of questionable information posted as valid facts. Although ESPNDB was not created to allow any common individual add information to the database, which ensures its accuracy, it still was designed to be an interactive tool. The database was built to allow users an opportunity to post their thoughts, opinions, and their counter arguments to any statistics, videos, audio files, or columns posted in the database. This interactive section of ESPNDB allows the experts to review any disputed information, and search for the most accurate response possible. The creation of ESPNDB was a milestone for the ESPN company. ESPN brought their resources together to create a comprehensive, certifiable, and interactive database. This database, with proper time and focus put into updating and inserting new information topics, has the possibility to become the one and only sports database any sports fan or individual may every need to use. The rise of a two-click solution for finding sports information online via a search on Google and then a click-through to Wikipedia cannot be understated as an impetus for ESPNDB (Goetzl). ESPNDB is potentially a web based database that could have the power to overtake other websites, such as SI Vault, and become the most valuable tool for journalists, bloggers, and other types of sports reporters across the nation, perhaps someday the world. The only thing that could stop ESPNDB from becoming the dominant force of all sports based databases across the internet is itself. As stated, ESPNDB is undoubtedly the most comprehensive sports database available. Not only does ESPNDB cover a topic by providing current statistics, statistics from the recent past, and historical statistics, but ESPNDB digs deeper into topics than any database has before. With ESPNs vast collection of archived video analysis and interviews, archived audio files of both analysis and interviews as well as actual game casts, and their vast collection of images ranging from the most historic events in sporting history to images of players warming up in the bull pen, the database compiles every possible resource ESPN offers that relates to the topic and includes that resource in the database. This complexity of the ESPN database is a timely and exhausting process that has limited the production of the database, thus creating ESPNDBs major boundary of their own thoroughness. The same item that is a boundary to ESPNDB is the same item that makes this database such an important and useful asset to its users. This database allows any user of the internet the access to the immense collection of information that ESPN has to offer on particular topics. The average sports fan can benefit from this database by relying on its accurate information while researching a topic, but also see what commentators, columnists, and experts in that particular field had to say about the topic beyond just the statistical numbers. Journalists, bloggers and other sports writers now have an information database to retrieve data from when researching for articles and columns that they do not have to question and can rely upon. Also, they will have the capabilities of seeing what their colleagues have said about that particular topic in the past with the collaboration of media types in the ESPN database. Also, the common sports fan will be able to use the database to understand the basis and history behind particular sports or sporting events in a more useful manner. It was written that understanding new topics has become problematic with the increasing bits of information accumulating in every field of knowledge making comprehensive understanding difficult if not impossible to achieveà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦we must depend more and more on specialists (Finn). ESPNDB will offer that average fan an in-depth look at the history of sporting events with explanations and analysis from specialist and experts across the sporting world. This new, easy to access, understandable and comprehensible information database is a valuable asset to ESPN because it will peak the interest of the common fan, which will in turn promote the ESPN family as a whole. ESPNDB being introduced to the sports database world through the network of the internet has allowed the possibility of ESPN becoming the most valuable asset to any individual, professional or amateur, researching a sports topic. Its interactive nature and collaboration of media with text, and certifiable information make it different from all databases surrounding it, and put ESPNDB at the forefront of the sports database world. History Ever since ESPNs humble beginnings in 1979, they have continually had great success and prosperity within the sports world. As of 2010, ESPN had over one hundred million subscribers in the U.S. alone along with more than six thousand employees. Also, they own over fifty television channels, featuring almost every sport imaginable, and they have a global presence, as they have viewers in all seven continents. If that was not enough, ESPN airs hundreds of radio shows, has multiple website links, and even has its own magazine (ESPN Perspective). Even though ESPN already has its name staked to many things, they decided to expand their horizons to a whole new level when in 2009 they created ESPNDB. This database was created by ESPN editors to try and accompany and enhance ESPNs presence within the global sporting world. In order to stay up to date with Wikipedia and other sports websites, ESPNDB knew that they had to create a database that they could place onto the internet. They needed s omewhere, where they could place all of their historical data and information without it interfering with their current website; ESPNDB can be found through ESPNs search tab, but it also comes up as a separate website when using a search engine. They began testing the waters by placing information regarding only the NFL draft and NBA finals on the website. Many everyday users commented on the effectiveness of the website, most notably regarding their struggle in navigating and finding information time efficiently in the website. These comments hurt the credibility of the nationally recognized organization and led ESPN to begin by doing revisions and changes that are still being done to this date. At the current time, ESPNDB is still a work in progress website and only contains the two parts mentioned above. Editors and programmers are working hard to build a system that can one day hold its own with regards to sports data. With the aid of advertising and social networking websites, along with the needed attention from the ESPN staff, ESPNDB has the potential to take over the sports database world and become a strong supporting website. As EPSNDB began their website, they had multiple contributions from their own affiliate, ESPN. To begin with, probably the biggest advantage that ESPNDB has is that it has its name associated directly with the biggest name in sports media. While it would be easy to take this fact for granted and forget about it, this may actually be what makes or breaks ESPNDB. As long as ESPN continues to provide reliable information and has such a large presence globally, ESPNDB has an improved chance of having a respected and well received website. Instead of taking months or even years to get started and have a strong viewing community, ESPNDB should be able to start off with many viewers who will check out its website, because they have heard its name through the ESPN grapevine of fans. Having its name staked with ESPN, should also help bring advertisers that will help ensure the profitability and success of ESPNDB. Knowing that ESPN has helped companies advertise with success, many companies wi ll be willing to sacrifice their advertising dollars on a relatively new website. ESPN brings well trained and qualified professionals to help build and upkeep the ESPNDB website. Since many of these professionals have helped with the design of ESPN, ESPNDB will be lucky because their content will be thoroughly fact-checked and will come from professionals (Beutler 1). The development of this website is unlike many others, because ESPNDB will have the ability to use the past experiences and hardships of ESPN to better shape their website. ESPNs website designers will know what works well together and what does not, without having to go through all of the trial and error to figure it out. The ESPNDB can pick and choose what they like from ESPN, including features like the visual appearance, the social networking interaction, and the account signup, to give them an edge over many websites that are forced to start from nothing. ESPNs contributions to ESPNDB cannot be expressed with wor ds, as their nationally known name will have a strong positive effect on the future of ESPNDB. While ESPN had a strong role in contributing to ESPNDB, it would also be beneficial to look at some of the limitations that ESPN has and the ways that ESPNDB will seek to fix them. One clear negative to ESPNs website is their lack of historical data. When searching throughout their website, it is evident that information is only recorded back to 2002. While for the average sports fan this amount of information is acceptable, it would be more beneficial to all sports fans and bloggers if there was a way that they could access data dating back to the start of each professional sport. Therefore, EPSNDB plans to use their industry-best Stats and Information Group to provide fans with information dating back to the beginnings of every major sport (Beutler). While this idea has not been put into play yet, it is the hope and plan of ESPNDB to be the leader in providing quality data dating back many years. Also, ESPN lacks the in depth coverage of certain players, teams, coaches, and games t hat is necessary to dominant the competing companies. ESPN does have statistics on these but does not go into enough detail with them. ESPNDB will provide ways to compare players, teams, and coaches so that an individual can see how their favorite player compares to another player from the present or past. ESPNDB will also give more space to remember the greatest games and moments in the past; they will provide articles, discussions, and videos. ESPN realizes that it contains limitations and therefore has created ESPNDB to give more detail and precision to the areas of historical data and more in depth player, team, coaches, and game statistics. Along with ESPN there are numerous other sports databases that have their limitations. Sports Illustrated is another big name sports website that tries to compete within the areas of professional sports. Unlike ESPN, Sports Illustrated does have a historical section that dates back to 1908. Unfortunately, this section is only limited to Major League Baseball and does not apply to every other major sport. Also, Sports Illustrated is limited in its videos, articles, and journals about certain players. Whereas ESPN has a whole page with multiple links dedicated to each player, Sports Illustrated only has one single page that contains statistics of each season and game played, as it pertains to that individual player. Similar to ESPN, Sports Illustrated does not give any space on its website to talk about individual coaches and specific games or playoffs. This is a huge hole that can be filled by ESPNDB. Finally, Sports Illustrated has a limitation in that it gives information on a large number of professional sports, which hurts them in their ability to relate a lot of information about each sport. Sports Illustrated prides itself on offering a wide variety of information but not necessary a large quantity of it. Therefore, ESPNDB will have the benefit of focusing on just a few major sports and having an enormous and detailed amount of information for each one. Like ESPN, Sports Illustrated has a few weaknesses pertaining to their historical and detailed information of players, coaches, and games, along with their small amount of information relating to each sport. SportsDatabase.com is the second website that an individual comes upon, when searching for sports databases through the Google search engine. Sportsdatabase.com is unlike ESPN and Sports Illustrated in that it does not have a widely known name. This is a huge disadvantage, because many times people use what they know of, instead of considering switching to a different website for their information. This website is widely used for individuals who gamble and contains trends and data that will mostly help someone as they choose who will win a game or how a player will do during a game. Consequently, the website does not contain much information that would be relevant or helpful for the average fan or writer. Sportsdatabase.com is also extremely unappealing and does not contain graphics or color that would help grab the viewers attention. This website does a poor job in the area of appearance and usability, both of which should be strong characteristics in ESPNDB. One of the largest database websites to come about in the last decade has been Wikipedia. While is not normally known for its sports information, it does contain it and should therefore be examined. The biggest limitation with Wikipedia is that it is not credible in the information that it contains, since anyone can place or edit information on the website. This is a disadvantage that EPSNDB has considered, when they decided to have professionals only input data. ESPNDB has allowed fans to comment and blog on their information and articles, but it will not allow users to alter the data. Wikipedia also does not give the option to search or compare multiple players at one time, which is a huge downside for many fans. Another limitation to Wikipedia is that it does not contain much information on its site, but rather gives links and references to go to other sites for more information. This can be time consuming and will lead to many people not taking the time to further pursue their se arch interest. State of the Art ESPNDB has created a very complex, but comprehensive database to allow any user of the internet easy access to credible information. ESPNDB will combine the far-reaching resources of ESPN with the unique output of the companys industry-best Stats Information Group to give fans an immersive experience and make use of technologies that harness the collective knowledge of the worlds sports fans (ESPNDB). Because of this vast amount of data and information combined into this database, the production has occurred relatively slowly. Currently, there are only two sections of ESPNDB. There is a NFL Draft section and a NBA Finals section. The NFL Draft section of ESPNDB provides an in-depth historical analysis of draft classes dating back to 1964, which exceeds other sports databases by a great extent. Because ESPN was not developed until 1979, there are only draft logs and statistical breakdowns of the players and teams that were involved in drafts between 1964 and 1979. Every draft since that period, however, is composed of statistics, draft logs, and analyses. The analyses provided are a combination of articles and columns, as well as audio and visual pieces. There are also feature sections of the NFL Draft section. These subsections provide direct comparisons of players as well as experts opinions and analysis of the draft choices, draft classes, and teams overall draft grade. The section also provides a draft tracker. This draft tracker provides real time coverage of each years draft. As players as selected in the draft, they are removed from the pool of prospects and placed in the selecting teams draft log, and their statistics from their college football career are posted beside their profile. The draft tracker allows ESPNDB to not only be a comprehensive historical database, but also a real time tracking device for the NFL draft. The NFL Draft section also allows the common individual without any prior knowledge of the NFL draft to become familiarized through numerous other subsections. One of these sections is a history section, which provides a brief history of the drafts inception and the reason for its creation. There are also subsections describing the format of the draft, eligibility requirements of the draft, and the supplemental draft. Besides the countless sections, each filled with data and media beyond the means of any other sports database, there is a discussion board connected to the NFL Draft section. This discussion board allows experts and fans to interact, making ESPNDB not only the most broad and informative database in the sports genre, but also an interactive database. The discussion board allows fans to post questions and comments, giving experts the chance to respond with educated and edifying answers. This interactive tool is just another reason for fans and internet users to utilize ESPNDB as their source for sports related information. The second section of ESPNDB is the NBA Finals section. This section is formatted very much like the NFL Draft section. Each NBA championship, since 1947, is broken down by year, teams involved in the championship series, coaches involved in the championship series, and players involved in the championship series. Each coach and player who was involved in that years NBA Finals is provided a profile page with their biography, historical statistics, and their statistics from their performance in the championship series. Each championship series from 1979 to present is also accompanied by media relating to the series. There are interviews with experts and players, analyses by experts, and video clips of game casts for each Finals year. There are also subsections connected to the NBA Finals section. These subsections allow users to explore the debate between experts, retired players, current players, and celebrities connected to the NBA over comparing players side by side, comparing past players with present players, comparing past teams with present teams, and comparing decades of basketball against each other. These subsections are filled with video, audio, statistics, and columns relating to these topics, and are accompanied by a discussion board giving the user the opportunity to interact and voice their thoughts and opinions about the topics. The NBA Finals section has revolutionized the way journalists, historians, and fans will retrieve information regarding the topic. This section of ESPNDB only adds to the marvel of ESPNs collaboration of resources into a deep and complex database, a database connected to the largest network in existence, thus an asset of great importance to any user. Though ESPNDB has master the art of creating databases for the sports genre concerning both the NBA Finals and NFL Draft, the database is still trumped by other sports databases in regards to other sports topics. The task of researching Michael Jordans statistics in his first NBA Finals appearance, along with what reporters who were covering the series had to say about the performance, is a simple task that could be performed in a matter of minutes with the use of ESPNDB. A task to find statistics regarding the NHL season, or MLB season, while using ESPNDB is impossible. ESPNDB is a database that concentrates on a specific topic, and digs deeper into that topic than any other sports database has before. At the same time, their horizons are very narrow while other sports databases horizons are wide but the topics lack depth. The combination of resources used in ESPNDB provides a complex and time consuming task for the developers, and as stated before, this thoroughness and complexity has proven to be the largest boundary and limitation in ESPNDBs development and expansion. Though ESPNDB is currently experiencing a stalemate in development and expansion, the possibilities for providing fans the most comprehensive interactive database available through the internet is not a distant fantasy. ESPN is a company who, since its inception, has strived to be the one network needed to for any person to gain sports knowledge or view sporting events. The companys sports broadcasts reach 93 million homes from ESPNs headquartersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ESPN.comà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦gets about 18 million unique visitors a month (Boulton). The companys constant broadcasts are filled with content covering every major sport in the states, and now reaching sports across the world. This overflow of content produced through broadcasting and updating the ESPN primary website has the potential to be redirected and become the foundations of ESPNDB expanding its horizons to cover broad topics, such as the major sports leagues as a whole, but still with the same depth, accuracy, and usefulness as their current sections. Until this stalemate has dissipated, ESPNDB focuses on the concentrated topics at hand, the NFL draft and NBA Finals. The two specified sections in ESPNDBs database are being updated as new data and new media is created and released. The 2011 NFL draft is being updated with media, statistics and columns daily, and the draft tracker for this years draft is fully functional and ready for users to take advantage of. ESPNDB offers updated content of its two extraordinarily impressive sections constantly, which subdues the wait and anticipation for the expansion of the database. Current Applications There are a few professions that will be strongly interested in using ESPNDB to further their knowledge and understanding of sports. Sports historians are one group of individuals that may find ESPNDB to be very helpful in their research. According to Education-Portal.com, sports historians must have excellent research skills, as they search for historical professional sports data. ESPNDB will be a strong aid for these employees, as it will provide faster researching for them and give them more accurate data on past professional sports athletes and coaches. Another profession that it would highly benefit to use ESPNDB would be sports journalists or columnists. By using ESPNDB, their prewriting times will decrease dramatically, as they are able to search and contrast players easier and will be assured with more confidence of their results. Above all us, EPSNDB will be of extreme importance to the average fan and blogger, as they want to locate data and discuss it with other fans. They can be assured that all of the information that they want is on the one site, rather than searching all over the internet for different sites. This is a key idea for many individuals, as time is usually in their strongest interest. ESPNDB will help in many areas no doubt, but these are individuals that it should be of the greatest importance to. People The advent of online databases has revolutionized the way our society obtains and stores information. ESPNDB has had an enormous impact on the people who avidly follow sports and seek out more information about their favorite players, teams, and coaches. Jim Noel has equated the website to a competitor with Wikipedia by stating Wikipedia has experienced tremendous growth over the last five years and we believe that we can offer a better, more definitive, more credible resource for finding facts and figures and information than anybody else (http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticleart_aid=104294). This statement is a bold challenge to the juggernaut that is Wikipedia. ESPNDB still lacks key features which give Wikipedia a significant edge when it comes to user interaction. Unlike Wikipedia, which allows any user to alter information contained within the site, ESPNDB only allows ESPNDB paid employees to alter the websites content. This means that while the inform ation may be one hundred percent creditable, it will lack almost instantaneous updating of information that users enjoy on Wikipedia. This is a potentially serious problem for ESPNDB because they could fall seriously behind in content, and could become financially unsound because the employees are paid, unlike Wikipedia who enjoys an almost unending amount of users willing to update information for free. This factor could significantly affect the people who use online databases because the freedom of use does not exist within the ESPN database. ESPNDB also have a long way to go in developing the type of people driven database that Wikipedia enjoys. ESPNDB is striving to get all sports fans to go to their database to get the most information about all things sports. This will be a problem however because the site only contains only around 500 pages of information. Compared to their biggest competitor which is Wikipedia this could be severely debilitating, when it comes to getting peo ple interested in using ESPNDB exclusively. The chart below shows the vast scope of ESPNDBs largest competitor. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9f/AR_web_all-spreads_24mar11_72_FINAL.pdf When the chart above is considered it becomes very clear that for ESPNDB to have profound effects on people they must exceed the effects of sites such as Wikipedia. They must allow people from all different countries to come together to discuss the information provided and without allowing the users the power to edit the site, and without enough information uploaded to view this it will become impossible for ESPNDB. Process While the effects of ESPNDB will be very important to many different people, the effects on the current business processes of database competitors are even more important. One profound difference between ESPNDB and its competitors is the nature of the staffing involved with the database. ESPNDB only allows paid employees to alter the information and content of the online database. This means that they will have significantly higher costs associated with running the database as opposed to user ran databases on the web. Below is a chart which shows the salaries of these employees. ( http://www.simplyhired.com/a/salary/search/q-edito+espndb/lbristol,+ct) This chart clearly shows that if ESPNDB continues to only allow employees to edit the database then the company is going to incur significant amounts of payroll expense. This means that the database will have to find a way to either offset this cost or change the way their current business process to a cheaper way of operation, such as the user input system in conjunction with volunteer fact checkers that Wikipedia subscribes to. ESPNDB does exhibit a profound difference compared to a database site such as Wikipedia. ESPNDB has chosen specialization over generalization. On a database system such as Wikipedia a user can search any topic from Barry Bonds home town to the history of the royal family. ESPNDB has chosen a different way to build their site. They have chosen to specialize in their specific area of expertise, which is the data of sports. By choosing this particular way of building, they have ensured they can concentrate on providing the best and most accurate information bas ed on their area of focus. This will allow the database to spend significantly more time on the articles they generate and maintain, than a site such as Wikipedia. This also allows the user to more effectively find the information they are seeking, because there are less unrelated articles vying for their attention within the database. Below are pictures of each databases homepage. It is obvious that a user is more likely to go to the sports article they are interested in without being distracted by random articles on the ESPNDB site. While users of Wikipedia are faced with many more unrelated articles when trying to get to the article they seek. Technology ESPNDB will have a profound effect on how different people across the world use technology to access and use sports databases. ESPNDB allows users to access and view the web databases content through cell phones, Ipads, Ipods, computers, netbooks, and interactive televisions. This ease of access using the latest technology will have profound effects upon where and how the database is used and viewed. A popular way to access the database is through social media websites. Twitter allows patrons to post links from ESPNDB to your account and link any articles on the database to your tweets. This allows any Twitter user to have instant access to information that will allow them to prove their friends wrong, or display some kernel of knowledge about their favorite team or players. Below is a perfect example of a Twitter page with linked information. As you can see from the picture above Twitter allows easy access to the ESPN database. The actual link to the database will be located in the tweet that the user posts from the database. By linking the database to their tweet the user allows any of their followers the opportunity to click on the link in the tweet, which takes them directly to the articles location within the ESPN database. This allows the use of twitter, which uses technology that almost every person has access to on the internet, to showcase users favorite sports information and opinions. Even more important to ESPNDB is the use of Facebook. Facebook is available using almost every type of web accessible technology on the market today. This means that using Facebook as an access point to ESPNDB will allow any user to view the database content using all the different technologies that Facebook currently supports. This is very important because this will allow ESPNDB to reach many more people than they would reach just using Twitter. While both social networking sites are viewed through many of the same devices the use and access of Facebook is much more prevalent. The graph below shows that not only is Facebook more popular, but also shows that different people use Facebook than people who use Twitter. ESPNDB is marketing their database toward the teenage to young adult demographic much more than the older p