Introduction

            Law requires that all public companies present financial statement at the end of every financial period. Financial statements presented by corporations are as results of proper book keeping and independent auditing. According to Scharff, (2005) company’s strength and survival is demonstrated by the financial position and the level of profits in competitive market structures. Scharff, (2005) states that, the qualities of financial statements or reports have been eroded by individual interests. Previous cases have left investors and regulators looking for answers like how can creative accounting be stopped, how it start and who is to blame when its revealed in their companies. Generally, these entire questions seem to be answered by putting liabilities to management for failure to comply with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP). Again, failure to detect fraud can be a backlog of independent auditors for failure to apply Generally Accepted Auditing principles (GAAP) accordingly. To counteract these frauds, regulators, corporations and government have instituted various professional ethics and liability laws to reduce such cases. This paper tries to bring forth answers and the application of fraud accounting in a real company. WorldCom and Enron law firm are among recent reputed and large companies to be implicated with such accounting frauds. The paper takes a case of WorldCom.

WorldCom background

            WorldCom forms the paper focus of exploring issues related to organization fraud accounting. According to Moberg & Romar, 2010, Enron Corporation demonstrated the first ever large fraud and WorldCom communication followed suit with very different situation although with similar extent. For a period of approximately two decades, WorldCom grew from a small corporation to a large telecommunication company using its traditional aggressive acquisition strategy. The company was formed in the year 1983 as Long Distanced Discount Service provider not until 1989 when it changed from private ownership to a public corporation (Moberg & Romar, 2010). Long Distanced Discount Service (LDDS) changed its name in 1985 to WorldCom after aggressively acquiring Advanced Telecommunication Corporation in 1992, Metromedia Communications Corporation And Resurgens Communication Group in 1993, IDB Communication Group in 1994 and Williams Telecommunication Group Services Operations in 1995 (Harrison, 2002). The company recorded one of the largest takeovers in history by anticipation to acquire Sprint Corporation in year 2002. In 2002, the company filed for bankruptcy protection where accounting irregularities was revealed. Through this suit file, the company disclosed all the inflated profits and capitalization of expenses. Its fraudulent financial reports had triggered much financial inefficiency.  Serving the false financial statement would have made federal governments, courts or regulatory commission make wrong decisions. Similarly, investors had to invest in inefficient stock markets and inefficient stocks acquisition.

Nature of the fraud

            Up until the year 2000, WorldCom the then largest internet provider and Telephone Company in the United States recorded the largest and unique accounting fraud through which Enron stated as the creative accounting. For over 15 years the company had grown significantly and became the largest corporation in the telecommunication industry through its acquisition strategies. The nature of the fraud was similar to that of Enron though of different magnitude. In 2000, the company suffered stiff competition, end user price wars, large over capacity bandwidth, and rise in mobile phone penetration in the market (Moberg & Romar, 2010). In addition, WorldCom corporation managers ignored the impact of new entrants in the market through mobile phone communication and this caused rise in local competitions which was characterized by falling rates (Moberg & Romar, 2010). Yearly profits reporting in June 2000 resulted into mix up where overstating of earnings for approximately 4 billion dollars was revealed. Since expenses are immediately subtracted from revenues and the capital expenditures are subjected to extraordinary expenditures such as depreciation and amortization, this resulted to false spreading of operating cost thus overstating profits (Kuhn & Sutton, 2006). The first man to be attached to the case was the then CEO Bernie Ebbers, who resigned from the company in late May 2002. In 1999, the group shares were trading excellently by $64 and the company was spurring for an economic boom. When the CEO resigned in 2002, the company executives declared it bankrupt and with that effect filed a bankruptcy protection to guarantee its creditors ultimate recovery. The situation unraveled that the company share prices were not worthy, there was accumulation of debts and the expenses were capitalized to assets inflating profits of the year. The accounting fraud became largest accounting fraud in the history of United States. In addition, employees and investors became culprits of indoor trading, and this was contributed by the company’s organization structure and unethical culture which triggered fraud.

Fraud whistleblowers

Fraud detection is not necessarily the duty and obligation of the obvious and recognized agents such as investors, SEC and the independent auditors; rather it is the obligation of community which includes the media, industry regulatory actors, and the company employees. Zingales et al, 2008 supports that incentives to become fraud whistle blower is attached to many influencing factors. Unfortunately, having adequate access to accounting information or rewards is noted to have attached benefit in becoming fraud detector and whistle blower.  Monetary rewards and reputation rewards are among probable incentives that increase willingness to reveal accounting malpractices. Historical frauds related cases identify various whistle blowers and detectors. To arrive to the detectors of fraud, it is important to first recognize the source of information and incentives that increase detectors willingness to bring such frauds to light (Zingales et al, 2008). According to the research conducted by the Kuhn & Sutton, 2006 whistleblowers defer in their capacity to detect frauds. Essentially, the research indicate that, under legal duties and obligations, the independent auditors and the security regulators are the primary detector agents while on the other hand  residual claimers (shareholders and  lenders) and the analysts have a mandate to reveal some frauds. According to Kuhn & Sutton, 2006 securities regulators accounts for around seven percent while the auditors account for 10 percent. In the spectrum of corporate governance the non-residual claimers are not considered vital in blowing fraud whistles. This is opposite of reality where detectors are mostly employees, non-financial regulators and media  who play a significant role in shedding light on fraud issues in public corporations.

In the case of WorldCom Corporation, European and United States industrial regulators blocked merger of Sprint Corporation and the WorldCom Corporation in 2000. Kuhn & Sutton, 2006 argues that analyst and observers in the telecommunication industry detected the stagnation of the earning ratio of WorldCom for a specific period. According to the analysts, WorldCom management manipulated all accounting information to maintain the consistency and this was a clear indicator of malpractices. Some of the approaches the company utilized included classifying expenses as capital expenditures thus would not appear in the income statement and writing down future expenses as acquired assets (Kuhn & Sutton, 2006). Also, management reclassified value acquired MCI assets as goodwill which is intangible and amortizable (Kuhn & Sutton, 2006). These techniques impacted to increasing profits and reducing key earnings ratios suggesting viability of the company and strong financial base. Basically, internal auditors and employees were not involved in WorldCom fraud detection rather independent auditors and financial analysts via the security regulators in Europe and United States were involved in unraveling the company’s accounting malpractice.

Stakeholders affected by the fraud

            As indicated in the above paragraphs, financial statements users are the major beneficially of true and fair financial statements. Conversely, they become losers if malpractices or manipulation is done or when reporting disregards the Generally Accepted Accounting or Auditing Principles. Users of financial reports range from employees, government, suppliers, customers, shareholder and potential investors. The WorldCom fraud case impacted on the investors’ wealth and the employees’ job security (Ethics institute of South Africa, nd). In addition, lenders who were motivated to provide capital to the company suffered losses due to the bankruptcy (Ethics institute of South Africa, nd).

Corporation and government response

Once fraud is detected, there are various acts that proceed and comprise of initial discovery, interviewing, public record search, legal prosecution, and a forensic auditing to discover more in the documents and the individuals involved. All this triggers a number of internal and external responses. Most important is the manner the corporation reacts to frauds and the government response to minimize such cases in future. From this accounting crime, United States has spent several years in deregulating the telecommunication industries. In addition, the fraud of WorldCom and Enron Corporation triggered the government to address the situation by developing and implementing various anti-fraud laws. The first response of the government and corporation was to block the anticipated corporation merger. The intention of the fraud was basically to make rival Corporations exit competitive market environment or give up for acquisition or merger. Since the disclosure of WorldCom’s massive fraud was one of the major shocks exhibited by federal communication commission of United States, the government focused on developing appropriate laws to curb such cases in the business arena. Therefore, Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) Act 2002 was formulated and implemented into law.  The Act was spurred by corporate scandal among them being Enron, Global Crossing and the WorldCom accounting frauds. As stated by Thorne et al, nd, the main provisions of the act included; increase SEC enforcement on the existing laws and regulations, banning sale of securities by key management executive and reorganize control and management as separate functions. Again the law required investors to be first provided with timely, accurate and scrutinized information before any merger or acquisition. In addition, the law required increase in penalty for securities fraud, document malpractices, and executive crimes. Again, the Act prohibited loan giving to company’s key personnel (Thorne et al, nd).

Fraud Mitigation

According to Kuhn & Sutton, 2006, the best practice that could have mitigated fraud in WorldCom was to adhere to ethical practices in accounting and reports presentation.   Continuous auditing and assurance could have been a great approach in curbing such fraud. Implementing a continuous assurance tool in the company through Enterprise Resource Planning Systems could have assisted in detecting the vice in its early stage. The system provides timely, integrated, and automatic business processes that provide real time information (Kuhn & Sutton, 2006). Also Kuhn & Sutton, 2006 add that, the system provides a room for a continuous assurance and monitoring procedures other than the periodic financial auditing.

 

Conclusion

Organization staffs have a duty to maximize shareholders wealth and attract potential investors. Ultimately, investors are impacted largely by improper accounting and the erosion of code of ethics in financial reporting. In fact, hardly a year goes without complaints of organization fraud through erroneous, understating or overstating financial records to strengthen their financial position and attract investors. In most instances, false accounting takes place with certain hidden agenda which include; defrauding organization or strengthening organization falsely. Among them include; to hide losses, to attract lenders, to inflate share prices, attracting customers, cover fraud, to realize false bonuses, or/and to report false profits.

 

References

Ethics institute of South Africa. (nd) WorldCom Case Study. Brooklyn Square, 0075, South Africa. Retrieved from

Harrison, B. (2002). Does the WorldCom Bankruptcy Put My Telecom Service at Risk? Implications for WorldCom Customers and Non-Customers. Epicom Corporation. Retrieved from

Kuhn, R. & Sutton, S. G. (2006). Learning from WorldCom: Implications for Fraud Detection through Continuous Assurance Journal of Emerging Technologies in Accounting. Vol. 3. pp. 61–80

Moberg D. & Romar, E. (2010). WorldCom. Retrieved from http://www.scu.edu/ethics/dialogue/candc/cases/worldcom.html

Scharff, M.M.  (2005). Understanding WorldCom’s accounting fraud: did groupthink play a role?  Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies.  Spring

Thorne, B., Stryker, J. & Michelson, S. (nd). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act Of 2002: What impact has it had on small business firms?. Stetson University. Deland, Florida.

Zingales, L., Morse, A. & Dyck, A.  (2008). Who Blows the Whistle On Corporate Fraud? University of Toronto & University of Chicago, NBER, & CEPR.

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Process-Analysis: Baking a Cake

            The first step involves the preparation session and therefore begins by reading the recipe to identify the various ingredients and utensils require for the baking process. It is good to ensure that you assemble all the identified requirements on a single location like in the kitchen workspace to lessen movements once the processes begin.

Next, pick the cooking pan and oil the interior to ensure that the cake does not stick to the sides upon baking. Measure the oil as one teaspoon and spread the same on a paper napkin; the napkin should be used to apply the contents in the pan. Ensure that this is done throughout the interior of the pan. Then, measure one or two tablespoons of flour and sprinkle it uniformly over the oil layer. Shake the pan gently in a circular manner for an even spread and tilt it upside down to get rid of extra flour in the pan.

Ensure that the cold ingredients namely margarine and milk are moved from the refrigerator at this point and place them with the other non-cold ingredients, which include water, flour, baking powder, oil and sugar. Recheck the whole list once more to ensure that all ingredients are present before the mixing section.

The fourth step will need you to heat the oven to the specified hotness as indicated on the recipe. Note that, the temperature ranges in accordance to the volume and type of cake being prepared and therefore it is very important to set the specified temperature to ensure that the cake is not overcooked or undercooked.

Next, measure in the flour and baking powder and ensure that you have mixed them thoroughly. On a separate bowl, break the eggs and add in the sugar, oil and milk. After that, use an electric mixer to ensure that all the given elements blend in together smoothly. Add the blended contents into the flour and add in water slowly while mixing lightly throughout until the required texture is acquired. As the contents tend to splash to the sides during the mixing process, ensure that at various instances you use a spoon to scrap the side mixture into the main bowl for further mixing so that uniformity maybe achieved in the overall blend.

The next step will involve the transferring process where you will empty the contents from the bowl and into the prepared pan. Ensure that the mixture fills the pan by only two-thirds in order to leave the unoccupied one-third for the rising during the cooking process. Scoop out any left mixture from the bowl using a spoon from the blending bowl into the pan. Then, lift the pan and strike it against a hard surface gently to ensure that trapped air bubbles are eliminated from the mixture.

The seventh step will involve the placement of the pan into the heated oven for preparation. It is advisable that you use the center rack and ensure that the pan is also placed centrally since this will offer a balanced form of heat circulation to the mixture form all directions.

Next, shut the oven and set the time regulator to the duration given within the recipe directions. Incase the baking duration offers a range, then get the average of the upper and lower time limits and set it as the cooking time. For instance, if the lower time were given as forty minutes and the upper time as forty-four minutes, then the average being forty-two minutes would be the preparation duration.

Upon the completion of the preparation time, push a dry toothpick or fork into the middle of the cake and pull it out gently. If the toothpick or fork is laced with few cake crumbs then the cake preparation is complete and may be pulled from the oven. However, if the surface of the toothpick and the fork appears sticky, then reset the cake back into the oven and bake it again for three or four minutes. Ensure the testing criterion is employed severally until the cake is successfully cooked.

Next, transfer the cake on a rack and allow it to cool for at least fifteen minutes. The upper cooling duration should be thirty minutes. The removal process should be achieved gently to ensure that no damage occurs. You should therefore use a blunt knife to release the cake round the pan, then cover the opening with the rack and overturn it. Tap gently on the bottom of the pan to remove the cake completely.

Lastly, decorate the cake after the cooling duration and serve according to your preferred style.

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The conversation made between two people always has more going on other than the conveying of the message from one person to another. For instance, most of the time the language used is always influenced by social factors. Therefore, social factors such as discrimination and stereotyping define the relationship between the two different people or group.

Discrimination

Discrimination is the manner in which individuals are treated negatively, differently or adversely because of their race, age, culture, religion, or gender (Sue and  Sue, 2008),. However, used in human rights laws as creating a distinction between particular people or groups based on their background. Discrimination promotes negative attitude thus may also cause poor development of in a society if not prevented early. The process of socialization enhances the ability of a person to acquire the ego identity. This is because ego identity is a vital aspect in the daily life because it promotes understanding of each other and their views. Therefore, a person self-ego may change for better through frequent socializing with others.

According to Sue and Sue (2008), a person’s environment determines his or her general attitude and the psychological development. For instance, an individual brought in an environment that promotes positive views concerning different issues in this case discrimination, that person is most likely to develop a positive attitude toward each other and thus, improve in his her self-ego.  On the other hand, if a person is brought up in an environment that portrays negative feelings on discrimination, the person will grow up in such direction thus poor self-image.

According to Nabuzoka&Empson (2010), the practice of discrimination in any society results to poor image of a society. Discrimination leads to denial of a certain group of people from using the resources available to the other people. The practice may not be thought of at the beginning, but if not noticed in advance may develop into a huge problem. Discrimination may be in terms of culture, which prohibits a person from a different culture to enjoy life due to disillusionment. Cultural diversity encourages persevering each other’s differences, supporting, and nurturing each other. Through this, new ideas, issues, and cultures are enhanced (Nabuzoka&Empson, 2010). Therefore, the impact of discrimination on such individuals may not work because this group works together as one.

The practice of discrimination leads to psychological distress to an individual who the act is in his or her direction. A person becomes distressed when discriminated on either cultural basis or race. This is because discrimination may deny an individual a chance to participate in different activities or even interacting with others. Distress is generally defined as the condition of suffering or a feeling of pain by an individual through a person’s basic encounter of unpleasantness and aversions related to harm. Therefore, when a person is socially discriminated, he or she may end in isolation due to the feeling of rejection. Isolation and rejection leads into a distressful life in a person’s life. Therefore, discrimination may just enhance such feelings in person’s life thus, making it worse.

Discrimination in culturally diverse individuals is seen to be high in leading to psychological distress because it becomes hard for an individual from a close group to be isolated due to discrimination. Most of the time individuals with positive thoughts encounter psychological distress when faced with discrimination. Discrimination results into cognitive issues such as low self-esteem and lack of actualization hence, cause extreme behavior change.  Lack of self-esteem promotes isolation, which   leads to poor interaction with others and thus psychological distress.

Generally, discrimination has a negative impact on the culturally diverse individuals because it leads to isolation and rejection of some members (Jensen, 2010). As a result, these impacts may make an individual being isolated to develop or to suffer emotional pain, which leads into psychological distress (Nabuzoka&Empson, 2010). People should ensure that discrimination is fought and prevented in its early stages in any organization, society, or institution. This is because it is difficult for any organization to grow and develop with the presence of discrimination. Discrimination generally breaks the unity of the people working together hence reducing the chances of having new ideas and opinions being brought it in from different cultures and race. Discrimination is a big hindrance to the development of any society and the general behavior of people. Someone’s behavior may be influenced either positively or negatively. A person raised in a highly discriminative society has a great chance of growing up with such a discriminative behavior.

Health care

Health care is a sociopolitical factor that takes charge of people’s normal state of wellbeing.  This means that a person becomes free from diseases and mental illness. Health care is thus defined as the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of any disease, illness, injury, and other physical or mental human impairments (Jensen, 2010). Health care is therefore directed by various people from different departments of the health care. This include medical practitioners, health care providers, nursing, care providers among others. Health care accessibility is normally enhanced or affected by economic and social conditions occurring in different communities. As a way of developing the health care facilities, some policies have been adopted as a determinant of the health care settings of the individual society.

Even though countries have the right to create their own policies on the health care objectives and targets, the health care settings and policies of these countries are largely dependent on the guidelines stipulated by the world health organization (WHO) (Jensen, 2010). The organization describes a suitable health care  in a country as one with a strong financial capacity, adequately equipped in terms of facilities as well as the workforce and with a reliable source of information, which acts as a platform for policy formulation (Jensen, 2010).  The health care facility should also be characterized by logistics that ensure provision of high quality health care technologies and medicines.

In culturally diverse individuals, healthcare is an important factor in psychological development. It makes the foundation for a sound mind that enables an individual to make important decisions concerning his life. Because healthcare is an essential element in the physical development, the health of an individual influences greatly on personal psychological development. A person suffering from high blood pressure may develop a negative psychological development because of the uncomfortibility created that hinders him or her from encountering a positive personal psychological development. This mostly enhanced through the effect of fear a person encounters due to his or her health challenges.

Health care has the responsibility to ensure that the health care needs of the society and the country at large are met through extreme and quality health care services. They have the duty of providing appropriate facilities such as medical tools, provide the right drugs to the patient, carry out diagnosis where necessary as well as offer curative solutions to health problems affecting the society. The health care system is also supposed to formulate policies that ensure health care services are affordable to every member of the society ranging from the rural settings to the urban settings.

Poor health care services create psychological distress to the members of the society, especially to the culturally diverse individuals. The health care facility has the duty to ensure that individual’s health is addressed urgently as required to reduce the desperation and stressful condition caused by the inability to meet personal health care needs by the culturally diverse individuals. Healthcare is also an important tool in managing stress through the application of emotional psychology management. Health care department changes people’s ways of living a society. This is achieved through maximizing on the productivity of the society members. This results from individuals having a sound and healthy atmosphere from their personal health to that of their immediate environment (Nagayama, 2009).

Healthcare providers thus, ensure that there is creation of awareness to individuals concerning their health care needs to avert the psychological torture of members. This in turn changes the behavior of individuals to a more responsible personality in terms of individual and environmental management. Through education provided by the health care givers, individuals develop a positive attitude toward stuff that could enhance their health. For instance, a society’s behavior toward maintaining a clean environment as a way of promoting health may change drastically. In addition, individual’s eating habits may also change for the best for example feeding on a balanced diet and participating in physical exercises to avoid certain diseases such as obesity and high blood pressure. Therefore, behavior of people in a culturally diverse society may be changed for better.

Stereotyping

Stereotype is the process of putting people into groups and generally creating assumptions based on prejudices (Nagayama, 2009). Normally,  young children face it in their everyday lives because they experience this type of social factor especially in school institutions.  Stereotyping is a daily event that happens in people’s lives from different places. For instance, they range from the way people dress, walk, and talk. This type of social factor encourages grouping people according to how they dress or talk. Using such a social factor in judging the people of the assumed characters that are assigned to a specific group. This type of grouping may be based on either the positive side or the negative side, depending on the behavior or characters portrayed by the members (Nagayama, 2009). Therefore, a group may be treated or admired by other people when it portrays good characters. Stereotyping does not allow an individual to be judged because it only views a person to have the same character as the other group members.

This type of social factor has been enhanced even further due to the current development of technology. Currently, the society is called upon to learn the different cultures to make it easy concerning interacting with the culturally diverse individuals. This is because meeting with people of different cultures and background in the current world cannot be avoided (Brewer, 1999). Therefore, to avoid wrong perceptions from other people, it is advisable that through these culturally diverse groups, better characters should be developed so that the group may be judged right.  It is obvious that each person in the community has different values, believes that influence his or her behavior and each person is motivated differently. Therefore, stereotyping may affect the individuals depending on how they judged by the society.

A person may have positive behavior or character, but because he or she belongs to a certain group, he or she may be misjudged .Through the culturally diverse societies, positive stereotyping can enable individuals to develop positive and well thought evaluations of him or her particularly where one is not sure on what to do. It should be noted that some ethic and gender stereotypes are often accurate such as women being caring. By motivating such positive traits, they contribute to positive development of an individual for the betterment of the country. A person’s behavior is also likely to be affected through stereotyping process (Nagayama, 2009). In most cases, different people tend to copy or learn from others. Therefore, if a person belongs to a group known to portray negatives or bad behaviors, he or she is likely to learn such manners for the group. However, a group with positive characters molds a person to be respectable.

Conclusion

The society is advised to take great measures to eliminate discrimination practices because discrimination is an enemy to the growth and development of any society. Health care measures should also be put in place to enhance the health of the people. The society should aim at judging each person according to his behavior but not clustering people and judging the entire group in general terms. This will ensure that each person is able to learn his or her weak areas and correct than when judged as a group.

References

Jensen, L. A. (2010). Developmental Phases and Culture. Bridging Cultural and    Developmental Approaches to Psychology, 233-235.

Nabuzoka, D., &Empson, J. M. (2010). Culture and psychological development.     Basingstoke England: Palgrave Macmillan.

Nagayama, G. (2009). Multicultural Psychology. New York, NY: Prentice Hall.

Sue, D., & Sue, D. (2008). Counseling the culturally diverse: theory and practice. Hoboken: John Wiley & Sons.

 

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Majority Rule with Respect for Minority Rights

Majority rule is the system of making decisions based on the side that more people support, that is, more than half the population makes the decision. This rule is mostly used in making legislative decisions in democratic nations. On the other hand, minority rights are what the marginalized groups are entitled to in relation to the more prominent groups. In most cases, the minority rights are the rights of the majority. The majority rule and the minority rights are used hand in hand in order to make sure that here is no group that is left out in the ruling of a nation. The majority rule is used in order to administer democracy, and that what the majority want should be given to them. On the other hand, the minority rights are administered so that there is no group or people who are left out. It is meant to make sure that every citizen is treated equally and fairly just like the other citizens are (Lewis, 2008).

The United States Constitution has greatly used the majority rule and the minority acts hand in hand in order to ensure that there is the smooth running of a nation while everybody feels fairly and equally treated. One example is the systems involved in checks and balances. These are mostly incorporated in the constitution. The constitution has the legislature, the executive and the judiciary. Apart from making laws, another role of the legislature is to keep check on the executive. It makes sure that the executive rules for the good of all the people of the United States. Although it is independent, the judiciary can reject laws that show unfairness or advocate for the amendment of laws that do not give equal opportunity to all citizens. This was mostly shown in the ruling of the gay rights by the Supreme Court.

In the preamble of the constitution, the founding fathers noted that this was to promote the overall welfare of the people. Indeed, it was specified in the Preamble

“We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

In order to make this a reality, there were few powers conferred upon the federal government. The other powers were distributed to the executive, the judiciary and the legislature. In this way, no particular arm could favor special groups or people. All people were to be treated equally and fairly. Each arm therefore keeps each other in check. In other words, in as much as the majority is given the privilege of having their way, they cannot pass laws that will favor particular people and leave others not catered for (Lewis, 2008).

The constitution allows the people to choose a representative who represents them in the House of Representatives or in the House of Congress. These representatives go there because they are chosen by the majority. The president is also chosen by the majority as is indicated by the constitution. However, the minority are not left out. These same representatives make laws and make sure that they hear the voices of all the people. For the example, these representatives passed the Women’s suffrage Act of 1920. Women are considered as a minority/marginalized group. Many other laws have been made to protect other minority groups like the physically challenged people, aliens, and children amongst others. All these laws have been made by the same representatives elected by the majority.

As mentioned earlier, the majority are the people who have their representative go to the House of Representatives or the congressional house. The president chosen by the majority also gets to reign. Most laws are passed by the majority rule in the House of Congress. However, these laws must be in line with the interest of all the citizens. For example, the right for all children, no matter their background race, to receive an education is a law passed by the majority in favor of a marginalized or a minority group (Lewis, 2008). Indeed according to the Fourteenth Amendment, Section 1:

“…nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

The majority rule means that most of the people in a given situation want to be led in a particular way. In most cases, the minority have to go with the ruling of the majority and thus blend in. however, it has been verified that the ruling of the majority is to the benefit of the whole country in general. For example, even though the constitution allows the president to be elected by the majority of the Americans, it is important that the candidate have won in the majority of the states and not just the general number of votes in the country. In this way, he would have won fairly and evenly. On the other hand, the other posts should have representatives comprising of all groups and inclusive of women, African Americans, the physically challenged, amongst others.

The laws made by the majority make sure that the minority have a right. The people in Congress make sure that they are representing all Americans in general and not just those who elected them. In the same way, the president represents all Americans and not just those who put him in power directly. The people who feel like they are the majority are put at par with those who regard themselves as the minority through the law. The judiciary has been put in place to ensure that justice is done and everybody is treated equally. The Constitution has greatly incorporated the rights of both the minority and the majority in order to establish that everybody is treated equally and fairly.

 

Reference

Lewis, D. C. (2008). Majority rule: Direct democracy and minority rights. Upper Saddle River, NJ: ProQuest

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Considering the sacrifices required while attaining proficiency in the medical field, passion for my community and its welfare is a pre-requisite. The last couple of years have had me develop a passion for a medical career especially after witnessing the prerogative medicine has on human life. The most imprinted memory involves my asthmatic cousin who after an attack seemed on the way to recovery until the nurse injected him with Ativan. On full circulation of the medicine, he lost all consciousness stirring up so much anxiety in the family and present medical staff.

The following grim moments had us placing our hopes for his live on an intensive care doctor who on immediate arrival and prognosis chemically induced my cousin into a comma. After three days of immense tension and anxiety, my cousin regained consciousness leading to full recovery. The situation created in me a deep appreciation for the medical field because of its ability to restore hope and save lives. I was able to empathize with millions of patients and family members who looked so expectantly on medicine for a glimmer of light and hope as I had in those few days.

Prior to my cousin incident, I had intended to improve the world specifically children in generic manner through formulation of economic policies providing economic security of the welfare of children. I particularly anticipated better economic security in developing or under developed countries since I had grown up in Japan attending an international school. When I came to America, I enrolled in a college and acquired a bachelor’s degree in economics proceeding to work at the World Bank Credit Union. However, the interest evoked by my cousin’s incident had spurred me to look for job vacancy in an ENT specialist’s firm. This exposed me to a medical profession’s perspective of the discipline further fueling my passion for a career in the field.

From my opinion, the medical field offers insurmountable fulfillment derived from service it offers to the community. My deepest longing is to be a part of this service especially in areas and regions of the world where such service seems out of reach. Additionally, the medical field offers continuous learning opportunities given the dynamic nature of the discipline. I am a firm believer in self-directed learning embraced in the medical field as opposed to school-type or coaching. This implies I will always be learning new ways and understanding innovative approaches to improving the health care as well as the consequential welfare of my community.

Studying medicine offers me the opportunity to meet and interact with mature as well as diverse personalities, which is a vital instrument in personal growth and development. The idea of mingling with individuals of common passion and objectives especially in this important aspect is very exciting. It will also serve the purpose of strong motivation in regards to the challenges involved in pursuing a new career. The numerous health and medically issues facing humanity are numerous. I envision integrating medical expertise with the economic exposure I posses to avail solutions providing medical care and welfare to inhabitants of under-developed regions of the world.

Lastly, I intent to pursuer a career in the medical field due to personal convictions of making my life count. Indeed I can not compensate for the numerous and grand contributions the medical field has made to my life and those around me but by aligning my passion as well as convictions to this course will surmount to a worthy appreciation.

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The New Business Human Resource Agenda in Amazon.com

Introduction

Business environments are ever dynamic in today’s markets. Markets are turning complex day in day out. In fact, it is hectic for business to enter and survive the stiff competitions and the macroeconomic dynamics.  Competing successful and surpassing the macroeconomic forces bring forth a challenge to turn firm into learning organizations. According to Sharp et al., (2000) learning organizations have the capability to adapt   and respond quickly to future environment changes. Human resource function in organization plays a significant role in enhancing learning in organizations. In today’s competitive and globalized markets Amazon human resources department headed by Tony Galbato is facing unique challenge in hiring skilled and retaining the workforce. Generally, organization can achieve this through developing high performance teams by enhancing continuous business learning.  As argued by Sharp et al., (2000) learning organization refers to a team of people enhancing their capability to create what the market gap want in a continuous basis. Essentially, definition provide that learning organization can be viewed as philosophy in which a group of people anticipate, react and respond at a relevant pace to markets dynamics, uncertainties  and multifarious factors. Amazon.com human resource department need to, uphold this philosophy to strategically out beat competitors and also to create an internal and external competitive edge. As an employee of Amazon.com, the idea approach would to change organization human resource facets that require change and initiate a cultural change towards them.

Human resource department comprises of leaders and managers who act as pillars of team building and team success. Vital sections to success include; energizing leadership to mobilize people, team building, developing a culture of shared vision and values and developing a strategic framework (Cooper, 2005).  In addition, an organization should be lean and aligned strategically, empower high performing teams, and enhancing coaching as an element to achievement. Besides, leaders in organization should create an excellent working climate and deliver awarded results. Most importantly, Amazon.com can adopt on strategic framework that comprises of team building and creation of working climate though developing a culture of shared vision and values.

Companies such as Amazon.com are holding their own competitive edge in today’s competitive environment. In fact, Amazon.com is exceeding customers’ expectation by maintaining staffs performance and productivity. It is imperative for the organization to increase employee’s motivation and enhance more efficiency and effectiveness to staffs productivity. In this regard, Amazon.com will focus on Team building, shared vision and values, and organization climate as primary functions of organizational commitment to the goals and objectives. Organization commitment demands, conducive working environment, culture, individual and team behaviors and willingness to provide competency to organization through collaborative actions and choices over time and realize objectives. According to Cooper, (2005) leadership is a critical element in catalyzing performance, promoting quality climate and building effective organizational teams. Good leaders create confidence and security to team members and lower employees’ nervousness in work.

Team building, good organization climate and shared vision and values create a strategic framework that makes employees feel a strong link with the organization. Though this, employees will be more committed to the organization, promote organization products and will always have a positive impact to the organization as a result of increased productivity and enhanced customer relationship and skills.

To achieve the required framework, developing high performance teams is much recommended. One of the methodologies to be applied in Amazon.com is first ensuring employees share vision and the values, there is commitment by the seniors who act as leaders, provide organization climate through enhancing direction, communication and motivation. Developing such team will follow four phase process that include the forming/awareness stage, storming stage/conflict, norming stage/ cooperative stage, and performing stage which is the productivity phase (Sharp et al., 2000). Maintain team building and performance will require an incentive that can take the form of awarding towards results achieved.

 

 

References

Cooper, C.  L. (2005). Leadership and management in the 21st century: business challenges of the future. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Sharp, J. M., Hides, M. T & Bamber, C. J. (2000). Continuous organization learning through development of high performance teams. University of Salford-UK: HPO Research group.

 

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Catholicism vs. Judaism

The history and origin of Judaism as well as the founder or the most influential person

Historically, Judaism is an old religion that is known to have originated from the eastern region of Canaan currently referred to as Israel. According to Schwartz (2009), Judaism was established during the 1^st century with the Israelites having their own beliefs and practices they followed. The establishment of Judaism was through a certain person from Israel by the name of Abraham. It was through Abraham that God made His covenant to bless him and all his descendants. God also was to make these people His sacred people to take to the Promised Land.

Judaism is regarded as a tradition developed to meet the religious, ethical and social factors, as they are required. This is proven through the first five books of the bible, which are referred to as the Torah. The existing branches of Judaism are different from the texts in the first five books in the way they are interpreted and applied. However, currently, there are four main movements included within Judaism these are Orthodox, Conservatists, Reformists, and Reconstructionist (Louis 45). All these movements start from traditional, to liberal to religiously spreading of their applications of the first five books of the bible. Judaism mainly concentrates more with practices than beliefs. The most influential people of the culture of Judaism are Abraham as the founder, followed by Isaac, Jacob and then Moses the prophet with whom God gave the Ten Commandments on Mt.Sinai.reseach shows that after Abraham finding out the truth about his father’s faith, he noted that the earth was created by one Creator. This motivated him to start spreading the belief throughout the world.. Therefore, Abraham is shown as a very influential person in the establishment of Judaism.

Three Similarities and three differences between Catholism and Judaism

There are a good number of significant similarities and differences between Catholism and Judaism. All religions share the same belief that God is the Creator of all human beings and everything in the world thus all people are God’s children. The two religions believe that all human beings are equal before God. Both catholism and Judaism have a belief that God’s love mercy and assistance is upon all human creatures. For instance, in Judaism, a person needs to only be ethical to acquire salvation.

However, the two religions differ in several ways including the concept of the existence of one God. According to Judaism, it is impossible for God to be made up of three components even when these components are united. In contrary, catholism believes in trinity of God. For instance, catholism believes in God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. The Jewish believes that God is one thus, they do not agree with the idea that God is divided in three parts the way Catholics do (Steinberg 28).

According to catholism, Jesus Christ was a son of God who came to the earth to save people from sins. They see Jesus as God’s representation in flesh. However, the Judaism views Jesus as just a human being and not the son of God except in the general sense where all human beings are God’s children. Therefore, they only believe that it is only God who can save souls and not Jesus Christ. Jewish also believe that Jesus never rose from the dead the way the Catholics do.

According to Judaism, human beings have the free will to decide to act or behave in a good manner where this free moral will has the strength to overpower evil spirits. However, with catholism, a person is born in sin therefore they are bad since their birth and sin cannot leave them unless they accept to be saved through the blood of Jesus Christ that was shed for the sake of human being.

Works Cited

Louis, Roberta. Teaching about God and Spirituality: A Resource for Jewish Settings. Springfield, NJ. Behrman House, Inc, 1990

Schwartz, Joshua. Interaction between Judaism and Christianity in history, religion, art and literature. Boston, MA: BrillAcademy Publisher, 2009.

Steinberg, Milton .Basic Judaism.New York, NY: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1997.

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Stereotype, Realism and Struggle over Representation

            The reading in this chapter focuses mainly on what is the reality but most turn a blind eye on. What is real and how it has been represented, are two sides of a coin. The media world, political world and the general social structures are used to telling or to being told to the world. As put clearly, “an obsession with “realism” casts the question as simply one of “errors” and “distortions”, as if the truth of a community were unproblematic, transparent and easily accessible, and “lies” about that community easily unmasked” (Shohat and Robert 178).

According to the author, stereotypes will forever display the reality according to how they want the world to perceive it- their own way. Filmmakers have more than enough times, made the antagonist of a real life situation, be the hero in a film. They have put the characters they want, instead of using characters that resembled what happened in real life. This was ironically displayed in brochures after the launching of the movie Hanto Yo (1979). The movie could not even be shot in America and it was based on American Indians.

The stereotypical way of thinking and doing things is displayed even in the political world. What is “preached” and what is done are completely different things. Marx put it the very best way possible by saying “they do not represent themselves; they need to be represented” (Shohat and Robert 182). This could be interpreted to mean many things. Politicians always tell us that there will be equality. People of all color, race, gender and backgrounds are equal in the “eyes” of the law. Sure, they are all equal but one is “more equal than the other”. The two main parties in the United States are the perfect examples. These two are the Republican Party and the Democratic Party. If the all equal say is true, why do we have the Republican Party with the majority representatives and followers being white while the African Americans and other races follow the Democratic Party?

The current president, President Barrack Obama, was elected as the president through a democrats’ ticket. Although he was elected by people of all races, it was quite evident who had voted for him the most. Whether it is accepted or not, birds of a feather will mostly flock together. People tend to incorporate into their work what they are familiar with or what will bring out their identity. An African American will tend to vote for his or her own, if such a candidate emerges.

The movie Mississippi Burning brought a lot of criticism when the makers of the film presented the FBI as the heroes of the movie, yet they sabotaged the movement, while the African Americans acted as supporting casts, victims of unfortunate circumstances, waiting for the whites to come to their rescue (Shohat and Robert 179). The makers of this movie were whites. Other movies such as Out of Africa (1985), Rio’s Road to Hell (1931) and Cuban Love Song (1931), amongst others have all been ridiculed for portraying a completely different picture from what the real life presents.

In a recent movie Invictus, the main renowned actor Morgan Freeman, acts as the former president and freedom fighter of South Africa, Nelson Mandela. Although the movie has a good story line and the actor is black, why did the filmmakers not pick somebody from South Africa or Africa as a whole? Did they have to choose an American to act the role of an African even though he was an African American? Stereotypes will always speak one thing but present something different on the table. Not what is necessarily real, but what they want to present.

 

 

Works Cited

Shohat, Ella, and Robert Stam. Unthinking Eurocentrism: Multiculturalism and the Media. London: Routledge, 2007. Print.

 

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Costco Product Line

            In a simple definition, a product line comprises of a closely related group or groups of products, which may be of the same function, have the same outlet marketing, have similar customers or are under the same price range. A business can offer either one or more product lines depending on the business’ goals and capability. Like many other businesses, Costco deals with a number of diverse products. Due to its diversity, it had different product lines. It deals with electrical appliances, automotive, health and beauty products, sports and fitness facilities, pharmaceutical products and services, home appliances and décor, jewelry, floral and grocery, hardware, office products, electronics, outdoor facilities, baby and children products, funeral facilities and services and entertainment products (Costco, 2011). Costco’s diverse product lines as a marketing strategy play a major role in its vast growth.

United States’ largest membership warehouse club is Costco Wholesale Corporation. Due to its diverse members, the wholesale deals with such diverse product lines in order to satisfy and serve its members competently. Most companies are known to deal with either one or less than five product lines. Although it puts its concentration on identified products, it limits the diversity of customers, clients or members. For example, restaurants deal with food products. There are restaurants which only deal with fast food restaurants while others only dwell on fine dining. Although these restaurants specialize on these food products, they limit their customers to those who are interested in their specialty. On the other hand, Costco attracts all sorts of members. It attracts those with families, women who are interested in beauty products, people who are interested in keeping fit, people interested in hardware products, people willing to build or upgrade their homes, amongst many other people. They are at a greater advantage.

Product lines allow the customers to have a ‘one-stop shop’ when it comes to dealing with a particular product line. For example, if a consumer is shopping for children’s wear. He/she will not go from one shop to another searching for different kinds of children’s wear. They only need to walk in one store and come out with everything they need. It is at a greater advantage if the store deals with children’s and women’s wear. Costco product lines enable the consumers to have a ‘one-stop shop’ for their needs.

It is significant to note that different product lines place chain businesses at an advantage over businesses that only a few branches in a particular area. For example, if a business deals with funeral products, it would be limited as it would not penetrate into such as the Muslim dominated countries. The diversity in product lines enables a business to increase it market. This is why Costco has been able to increase its market globally. It deals with product lines that will be needed anywhere in the globe even if not all.

The more the product lines, the more the diversity in the consumers the business attracts. Costco has been able to grow into the large corporation it is today partly due to the diversity of its product lines. Although specialization is significant in relation to a business’ capacity, diversification is as important as a form of marketing strategy. With this day and age where consumers are willing to spend as much little time as possible in activities that consume money so that they can spend more time in activities that generate income, ‘one-stop shops’ are greatly required.

 

Work Cited

Costco Warehouse Corporation. Product Index. Web, Costco.com, 2011. Web. 6 December, 2011. < http://www.costco.com/Browse/MainShop.aspx?cat=24091&eCat=BC|24091&lang=en-US&whse=BC&topnav= >

 

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Lowering the Drinking Age in the US

            Most states in US have set their drinking age at 21 years with some exceptions existing  on state by state basis in which consumption is required to be done at home, or under adult supervisory and or for reasons of medical among many more reasons.   However, this law has elicited mixed reactions from different frontiers, with a section proposing the limit to hold while under opposing that the age limit be reduced to 18.  Every group has their reasons for their stances. Those suggesting lowering of the minimum age to 18 argue that the laws has not stopped teenagers from continued drinking as it has instead, further pushed underage binge drinking behaviors in private and in less controlled environments. This has led to impact of health and unwarranted behaviors among teenagers in their entire lives. On the other hand, the opponents of reducing the minimum drinking age argue that teenagers should not engage in drinking habits because they cannot handle alcohol responsibly as they are likely to cause harm or kill themselves. Their cognitive or mental capability is not strong to withstand the forces of alcohol and therefore by engaging in drinking, it risks their health and their own life’s.

Lowering of drinking age in US has both pros and cons. For instance, pros of lowering drinking are many.  When an individual turn 18 years, constitution recognized him /her as an adult and is liable to face the laws in case of contravening the constitution. Further, such a person receives responsibilities and rights as a citizen to vote and take on duties such as service in the military, can get married, sign contracts and participate in any other activities like any other person. This therefore demonstrates that such a person needs to be trusted and given the freedom to make decisions about alcohol consumptions.   A person over 18 years is an adult and should be able to take responsible of his own actions and decisions. In addition, failure to teach adolescents to drink in moderation results to excessive drinking at later stages. Therefore, these youths should be taught responsible drinking at an early stage in order to be acquainted with the dangers that are associated with heavy drinking. This therefore, means that the age should be reduced to 18 to enable them learn to drink in moderation. One of the reasons for increasing the minimum age in US to 21 was to ensure reduction in road fatalities. However, when US increased minimum age, its traffic fatalities in 1980 decreased les compared to Europe, which has its legal drinking age less than 21(Anne, Laurie, & Bevan, 183). This statistics demonstrates that age does not contribute to some of these fatalities and therefore US age should be reduced to 18 years.

Furthermore, lowering the age will make alcohol to be seen not as a taboo , and will take away the thrill  among young teenager of breaking the law but instead will make alcohol to be  a normal venture that  can be done in moderation. Limiting teenager to drink in public place, bars or restaurant make them drink in private places and in case they are injured, they fear seeking medical attentions for fear of legal implication. This harms them and leads to further complication in their future lives. Therefore, by reducing the age limit it will allow them to drinking supervised environments and lead to responsible drinking. Furthermore, misconception of drinking to be maturity privilege makes young teenagers to want to consume alcohol to appear mature. This misconception can be avoided by reducing the age. Age is just a number and moving the limit to 21 does not guarantee that accidents will reduce. Responsible drinking and driving is the only solution therefore age should be reduced. Drinking among teens is a major problem and to avoid this government should spend a lot of their resource in educating them about the effects of drinking that spend their time enacting laws to increase the age limits.  Furthermore, it is unconstitutional for the laws to discriminate the adult of the age of 18 years.

Cons of lowering the drinking age include.  There will be an increase in accidents and fatal road accidents when drinking age limit is reduced to 18 years. For instance, fatal accidents among people of age between 18 to 20 decreased to 13% saving an approximate of 21,887 lives between 1975 and 2002 when the age limit was increased to 21(James, & Welte, 42).  Another con is that teens are still undergoing many changes in their bodies, face peer influence pressures and other urges and when the age limit is reduced, they will engage in substance abuse, unsafe sex, and violence and in other social mischief. The percentage of underage drinking has also reduced since 1984 with the increase in the drinking age to 21 years. Teenagers, upon drinking behave in a bad way demonstrating their prone to alcohol abuse. Furthermore, such teenagers have a higher chance of failing in their academic hence affecting their academic performance. US teenager drive at a younger age, and by reducing the drinking age, accidents will increase due to increase in consumption of alcohol. More so, those people who begin drinking at an early age, faces risks of becoming alcoholic which may later lead to  suffering from negative withdrawal and  affecting brain development. Early drinking present health implications as it increased unplanned pregnancies among teenagers (Angela, & Tara 737).

To sum up, alcohol drinking age is an important factor in the US Context.  It is imperative that government spend most of its time on educating people on responsible drinking rather than spending substantial amount of time debating on teenage limits. Upon reaching 18 years, the constitution recognizes a person as an adult. Therefore, such person should be given discretion to   make decision pertaining drinking or not. At this age, the mental capability is developed and an individual understands the repercussions of   excessive drinking 

Works Cited

Angela, Fertig, & Tara Watson. “Minimum drinking age laws and infant health outcomes,”           Journal of Health Economics, 28.3 (2009): 737-747. Print.

Anne, McCartt, Laurie, Hellinga, and Bevan, Kirley. “The effects of minimum legal drinking age             21 laws on alcohol-related driving in the United States,” Journal of Safety Research, 41.2        (2010):173-184. Print.
James, York, & Welte, Hirsch. “Regulation of alcohol intake with advancing age,” Alcohol, 36.1 (2005): 41-46. Print.

 

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