Financial Theory and Corporate Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Financial Theory and Corporate Policy - Essay Example Similarly, 'economies of scope' is also varied in nature: Cost-based economies of scope, revenue-based economies of scope, and diversification-based economies of scope. Reduction in Expenses - A merger must result in adoption of new technologies, goals, strategies, and operational approaches in such a way that they cumulatively lead to cost reduction in delivering the services and thereby make the merged-entity more competitive in garnering increased sales and net margins. Enhanced Market Power and Reduced Earnings Volatility - It is obvious that the acquired business should either add to the market share of the company or create a fresh niche market of its own, so that volatility in earnings can be minimized and profitability is sustained. Earnings are sustained only when sales performance constantly improves and that is where mergers come handy in creating that extra "edge" over the competitors with the least loss of time. Smooth Privatization - The ongoing sovereigns' love for deregulation and privatization resulted in cross-border movement of capital mostly into developing economies for acquiring controlling interests in companies being privatized. Indeed, many developing countries could attract fresh capital and modern technology into their otherwise obsolete public sector businesses and make them competitive through cross-border mergers/acquisitions. Competency Buildup - In today's deregulated markets, "competency" of domestic businesses has become a must, to face the onslaught from multinationals. In this regard, mergers have come handy for consolidation and buildup of requisite "scale of economies" and "scale of scope", to maintain the revenue stream with least volatility (Houston 2001). Tax Gains- Mergers and acquisitions attract capital gains tax in the hands of the amalgamated company/acquired company on the sale of its assets and shares. However, the treatment of taxing capital gains is not the same globally. A few countries such as Singapore and Malaysia, tax capital gains on real estate or shares in real estate at special rates, while Hong Kong exempts capital gains. Indonesia and Thailand tax the capital gains arising on the sale of shares and other assets at the normal rates of tax. 2. What sort of problems commonly result in mergers failing to achieve all of the promised efficiency gains Failure to anticipate a problem before the problem actually arises - Managements may unwittingly administer a merger process hoping to reap synergy or they may initiate a disastrous step hoping to bring cultural fusion between the acquired and the acquirer. One common underlying reason behind these acts could be that the acquirer firm may have no experience of such problems and thus are not sensitized to such probabilities. It is only in the hindsight that the analyst could say today that merger of copper business was a mistake, unless one increased its production capacities, to enjoy operating leverage. There are umpteen reasons as to why companies may fail to anticipate problems: Failure to perceive the problem, when the problem does arrive - Once a merged unit faces unanticipated problems, the immediate requirement is to address the issues that became a hurdle for realization of anticipated benefits. But in reality, managements seldom perceive the problem that has actually face and reasons for the same could be many: One, the

Racial Disparity in Criminal Justice Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Racial Disparity in Criminal Justice - Essay Example Death penalty or execution is the most severe sentence that the United States and other countries use particularly for rape and murder cases. Military laws and federal states have also bestowed capital punishment for other crimes like espionage, treason, kidnapping, desertion from military service and robbery. The fact that state prisons are full of a disparate number of inmates who are people of color and who are on death row is a clear indication of racial disparity in sentencing. In other words, today’s capital punishment is a system that vents the anger of society over crime crisis on a select group. As far as death penalty is concerned, the contagious existence of racism has not slackened with time and this crisis is not confined in one area. One of the possible causes for this abiding problem is that the juries who make the critical decisions on death penalty in the United States are almost exclusively white. An empirical study at Law School in St. Mary's University indi cates that in the U.S, there is only one percent African-American District Attorneys in counties that use the death penalty while the other chief District Attorneys are white with a percentage of almost ninety-eight.

Who is to blame for the Deepwater Horizon rig incident?

Who is to blame for the Deepwater Horizon rig incident? On the 20th of April 2011 explosion at Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico killed 11 workers and led to the largest oil spill in the petroleum industrys history. Apportionment of blame is likely to be contested in the law courts for years to come. Who i.e. which stakeholders do you consider has to share some responsibility for the accident or do you consider it an ultimately unpreventable accident, in todays global economy? Trying to get out of the PR wars on the oil spill, 4 month after the tragedy on September 8th, 2010, BP issued its own internal 234-page report. BP cited at least eight errors of judgment and equipment failures that caused the explosion that sank the rig. BP concluded that a complex and interlinked series of mechanical failures, human judgments, engineering design, operational implementation and team interfaces contributed to the incident. The company accepted only shared responsibility for the explosion and pointed fingers at its contractors Halliburton, which provided cement for the blown-up Macondo well, and Transocean, the owner of the Deepwater Horizon. Transocean assailed the BP report as self-serving, contending that BPs fatally flawed well design set the stage for the rig explosion 50 miles off the Louisiana coast. Halliburton, which did the well cementing, said it found a number of substantial omissions and inaccuracies in the report and remains confident that all the work it performed was completed in accordance with BPs specifications. BPs internal investigation report was met with criticism by watchdog groups who questioned the companys motives. Wenonah Hauter, executive director of non-for-profit organization Food Water Watch told IPS News Agency: BP is distributing the blame and deflecting responsibility for the incident so they can justify their continued operation in the Gulf. Rather than accept the blame and financial consequences for its disaster, BP is continuing to point fingers at everyone it can, said Kieran Suckling, executive director of the conservation group Center for Biological Diversity. BP is clearly trying to limit its financial liability by blaming other companies and denying there was criminal negligence, Suckling said. If the Department of Justice concludes that BP was criminally negligent, its fines under the Clean Water Act will quadruple from 1,300 dollars per barrel to 4,300 dollars. That is more than a 10- billion-dollar difference. One month after the accident on May 21 President Barack Obama established the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling. The Commission examined the relevant facts and circumstances concerning the root causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion and developed options to guard against, and mitigate the impact of, any oil spills associated with offshore drilling in the future. This included recommending improvements to federal laws, regulations, and industry practices. A final report on the Commissions findings was presented to the President on January 12, 2011. According to the report, the Macondo blowout was the product of several individual missteps and oversights by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean, which government regulators lacked the authority, the necessary resources, and the technical expertise to prevent. Halliburton and BPs management processes did not ensure that cement was adequately tested. Halliburton had insufficient controls in place to ensure that laboratory testing was performed in a timely fashion or that test results were vetted rigorously in-house or with the client. In fact, it appears that Halliburton did not even have testing results in its possession showing the Macondo slurry was stable until after the job had been pumped. It is difficult to imagine a clearer failure of management or communication. BP, Transocean, and Halliburton failed to communicate adequately. Information appears to have been excessively compartmentalized at Macondo as a result of poor communication. BP did not share important information with its contractors, or sometimes internally even with members of its own team. Contractors did not share important information with BP or each other. As a result, individuals often found themselves making critical decisions without a full appreciation for the context in which they were being made (or even without recognition that the decisions were critical). Decision making processes at Macondo did not adequately ensure that personnel fully considered the risks created by time- and money-saving decisions. Whether purposeful or not, many of the decisions that BP, Halliburton, and Transocean made that increased the risk of the Macondo blowout clearly saved those companies significant time (and money). There is nothing inherently wrong with choosing a less-costly or less-time-consuming alternative-as long as it is proven to be equally safe. The problem is that, at least in regard to BPs Macondo team, there appears to have been no formal system for ensuring that alternative procedures were in fact equally safe. The report summarized that the accident of April 20 was avoidable. It resulted from clear mistakes made in the first instance by BP, Halliburton, and Transocean, and by government officials who, relying too much on industrys assertions of the safety of their operations, failed to create and apply a program of regulatory oversight that would have properly minimized the risks of deepwater drilling. It is now clear that both industry and government need to reassess and change business practices to minimize the risks of such drilling. BPs claim about disaster in the Gulf of Mexico to be the unavoidable accident was actually driven by a reckless pursuit of profits and selfish disregard for our planet. QUESTION 2: If you were Tony Hayward, how would you have acted in the immediate aftermath of the accident? It is easier to say what I would have done being a CEO of BP after analyzing what Tony Hayward did wrong during the incident in the Gulf. BPs handling of the Deepwater Horizon crisis under its former CEO Tony Hayward may be seen as a textbook case of how not to manage an enterprise in a period of reputational crisis. On June 17 Tony Haywood stonewalled the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation by refusing to provide information he knows as chief operating officer. He was recorded telling a camera man to get out of there during a photo-op on the shores of Louisiana. Haywards summer of PR disasters culminated in his public declaration that Id like my life back, and he went to participate in the JP Morgan Asset Management Round the Island yacht race off the Isle of Wight in the UK, while Gulf residents struggled with the effects of the spill. He was widely criticized for his comment which was perceived as selfish and he later apologized for it on BP Americas Facebook page. President Obamas chief of staff Rahm Emanuel wryly observed on American network news that I think we can all conclude Tony Hayward is not going to have a second career in PR consulting. In an interview on NBC on 8 June, 2010, Barack Obama said that Hayward wouldnt be working for me after any of those statements, referring to the remarks BP CEO made following the spill. In a lecture at Stanford Business School in May 2009 Hayward declared to the business students that our primary purpose in life is to create value for our shareholders. Later his statements that focused only on the individual corporate remit have also been quoted outside the context of the full lecture. Haywards point of view is in line with Milton Friedman who wrote in his famous 1970s article in The New York Times Magazine, that the one and only social responsibility of business, is to increase profits for shareholders. General idea of Friedman was that only people can have responsibilities, but not businesses. The people who are hired by business owners have a responsibility primarily to their employers, to meet their desires which in most cases are profits. General public view the company as a whole representative and if CEOs mistake leads to an error is social judgment, the public will judge the whole company, not just this person. It has been proven time and whilst CSR has yet to be harnessed to create a significant positive difference to profits, a negative policy can destroy profits. The costs BP saved by taking risky decisions at Deepwater Horizon have finally gone to many other stakeholders residents of the Gulf, government, business owners. BP cut corner after corner to save a million dollars here and a few hours there, said Henry Waxman, whose committee was investigating the Deepwater Horizon accident in the US. And now the whole Gulf Coast is paying the price. Some theorists believe that CSR stops businesses performing to their full potential and crippling the economy. My opinion is that an effective CSR policy together with efficient marketing and clear business strategy could help a business grow to larger profits whilst also benefitting society. Ironically enough, Tony Hayward was one of the key proponents of CSR in 2005, giving a speech about corporate responsibility and its increasing importance at BP. This was when Lord Browne was CEO and CSR was gaining more attention. But since mid-2007 many factors have weakened under Tony Haywards leadership, including contractor fatalities and greenhouse gas emissions. Environmental and safety fines spiked upward in 2009 and hydrocarbon flaring has nearly doubled since 2007. Summarizing the answer, if I was a CEO of BP I would spend all my time in the US to see whats happening on a regular basis and actively communicate with US administration for coordination of clean-up efforts. I would not lie about the size of catastrophe from the beginning and will not try to bribe ecologists in attempts to hide the actual result of the oil spill. The leader is always needed at the time of crisis which Tony Hayward has failed to be. QUESTION 3: If you were a member of the BP board what would you be recommending at this point that BP should do about the disaster unfolding in the Gulf of Mexico? BP lost $95 billion in market capitalization within a few weeks of the Deepwater Horizon explosion, with its stock priced back to 14 years. There was a clear disproportion between the companys market losses and even the most pessimistic estimates of cleanup costs that never exceeded $30 billion this was an indication of the costs of this reputational risk crisis to BP. While firms today recognize the value of brand definition as a competitive advantage in the marketplace, reputation remains an often underestimated component of a companys value. Corporations experiencing a public crisis, such BP in 2010 undergo what is termed reputational distress. This concept was first coined by Stephen Greyser, Professor Emeritus at the Harvard Business School, and describes the critical period following a crisis event when a companys management is at risk of losing the confidence of the markets. Reputational distress can result in significant impact upon a firms market capitalization, as well as its corporate reputation, in correlation to how the crisis response of the firms management is represented in the markets and the mass media. Brand Finance Plc, the worlds leading brand valuation consultancy, estimated that the fallout from the explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig has caused BPs brand value to plummet by $7.4bn, representing a 61% fall (or  £72m per day). Having spent many millions on promoting its Beyond Petroleum strapline and positioning itself as the most environmentally friendly of the oil companies, this disaster has had a highly detrimental impact on its brand value globally, especially in the US. In contrast to BP, the actions of Johnson Johnson in the case of the Tylenol tampering scandal represent a best practices example of how a firm can successfully manage reputational risk. Employing a crisis strategy defined by aggressive transparency, Johnson Johnson retained public and market confidence, resulting in the value of its shares quickly rebounding from immediate losses and the Tylenol brand actually becoming the industry leader shortly thereafter. Reputational risk management can therefore represent not only a challenge, but an opportunity. Traditionally in CSR the Bottom Line refers to the financial and economic responsibility of the company that is making profits. Recently introduced by John Elkington (1994) Triple Bottom Line model gives a wider view of responsibilities of organizations which obviously encompasses financial aspects and also environmental and social impacts of the company. The utilization of the triple bottom line allows companies to evaluate their success not only in their economic field but also in the environmental and social ones. BP currently remains a member of United Nations Global Compact. This is a high-profile CSR scheme, which requires firms to adhere to 10 principles which require to take a precautionary approach to environmental challenges, promote environmental responsibility, and encourage the development of clean technology. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico appears to provide evidence that BP has not adhered to the principles and could undermine its credibility as a signatory to the Compact. According to Mary Ann Ferguson, professor of PR at the University of Florida, when a company has a good reputation, people will appreciate its high-fit CSR program. But if BP tries to use high-fit CSR to further its public image, it may do itself more harm than good. Before you develop any high-fit CSR program, evaluate your companys reputation first so you dont just wreak further harm. Once the company name is tarnished, high-fit CSR tends to produce only skepticism. In other words, it backfires. If I was a member of the BP board at the time of the scheduled board meeting in London in May 2010, first of all I would recommend that the board meeting should be convened in Louisiana, preferably carrying part of it on one of the support vessels, engaged in the oil spillage liquidation operation, so that all board members can see for themselves, what has happened and received first hand information from the emergency operations crew. The second part of the board meeting should have been carried on the shore in Louisiana, and representatives from the key stakeholders in US such as regulators, environment protection agencies, NGOs, fishing community, should have been invited to this meeting. This little step, which wouldnt cost much would have helped to change the public perception of the companys approach to the problem. Secondly, Tony Hayward should have been removed by the board at this meeting, and a new interim CEO with specific drilling and disaster management experience should have been appointed at this time, showing BPs dedication to liquidate the disaster, thus bringing someone with hands-on approach instead of discredited CEO. At this time I would also suggest that the company start providing accurate estimates of the amount of oil spilling from the well, instead of trying to deceive the media and professionals. BPs move with lowering estimates of the oil spillage has done more damage than good. The inconvenient truth is less harmful that the sweet lies. The next step would be stop putting blame on subcontractors Halliburton and Transocean and start working together trying to find fast and solid solution of the problem. BP looked really silly with its biased internal report which has put most responsibility for the disaster to its contractors. Wasnt it BP the owner of the rights to the well, who selected those contractors in the first place? I am sure that BP has done their due diligence before hiring these companies. Last, but not least is to start paying serious attention and investing significant funds into disaster liquidation in the communities along the Gulf. BP has to draw attention of primarily US as well as world media to the efforts which company is undertaking in the sea and on the ground along the affected coast. Capping the well is no doubt a high priority, but dealing with the local stakeholders and environmental damage is no less important task, which provided to the company as being one of the most difficult ones. Stakeholder management is equally important, and saving the environment and providing other opportunities to the people which have lost their income source is critical. If I was a member of the board of BP at that time, I would put as much efforts and funding into this exercise as I would into capping of the well, if not more. Such proactive approach would help BP in the future when dealing with individual or class lawsuits, coming their way, as US is one of the most liti gious countries in the world. QUESTION 4: Why do you think BP attracted such opprobrium? Hayward, and BP in general, initially downplayed the spill, stating on 17 May 2010 that the environmental impact of the Gulf spill would likely be very very modest and calling the spill relatively tiny in comparison with the size of the ocean. On 27 May, Haywood changed his assessment, calling the spill an environmental catastrophe in an interview with CNN. Hayward earned the nickname Tone-Deaf Tony for his far from the truth assertions. Then after the explosion, BP denied there was a leak until it became painfully obvious. When they could no longer hide that fact, they low-balled the estimate of the leak at 5,000 barrels a day, which is probably low by a factor of 20. When Hayward met with members of the U.S. Senate shortly after the accident, he asserted that BP intended to meet its obligations up to its $75 million liability cap under the U.S. Oil Pollution Act. Haywards assertion that BP was protected by limited liability under U.S. law, coming at a time when thousands of fishermen and tourism workers in Gulf states were being laid off due to the oil spill, so angered the senators with whom he met that within days legislation was introduced in the U.S. Senate to raise the damage cap facing BP from $75 million to $10 billion. BP sprayed more than 1 million gallons of chemical dispersants Corexit 9500 and 9527 into the Gulf since the oil spill began in a reckless effort to make the oil disappear from public view. BP threatened clean-up workers theyd be fired if they spoke to the media, also the company ordered workers showing up with respirators and other protective gear to remove it or be fired. Cleanup workers have been complaining of dizziness, nausea and other symptoms ever since then. Dispersants only alter the chemical and physical properties of the oil, making it more likely to mix with seawater than deposit on the shoreline. So what the dispersants do is re-direct the oil, making its impact perhaps less so on birds and shore-dwelling animals, but more so on fish, coral reefs, oysters and other marine life that live in the deeper waters. Also, when the dispersants mix with the crude oil, a third far more toxic product is produced called dispersed oil which has been shown to be more toxic than the sum of its parts. Toxicologists can only guess what the full extent of the damage will be, and its likely it wont show up in full for years or decades. Before BP could stop the oil leaking at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, it unleashed $100 million in ad spending, largely on network TV, to stem the damage to its image. But it also started spending heavily where it had never spent much before: buying ads in Googles search results. Nearly $3.6 million in the month of June alone were spent by BP, which pushed the company into the upper echelon of search advertisers, in a league with ATT, Expedia, Amazon and eBay. When people searched for oil spill theyll be directed to BPs damage control page that shows the companys Gulf of Mexico Response and cleanup efforts, instead of the massive amounts of damage that was still ongoing. In the CNN interviews, Deepwater Horizon workers described a corporate culture of cutting staff and ignoring warning signs ahead of the blast. They claimed BP routinely cut corners and pushed ahead despite concerns about safety. The rig survivors also said it was always understood that you could get fired if you raised safety concerns that might delay drilling. CNN interviews also revealed that BP had ordered a shortcut on the day of the explosion designed to speed drilling, as the rig was five weeks behind schedule and one day of its operation had an estimated cost of $750,000. All these facts are not surprising as BP is no stranger to environmental crime. Over the past two decades, BP subsidiaries have been convicted of three crimes in Alaska and Texas, including two felonies. Also BP holds the dubious honor of receiving the stiffest fine in history for work safety violations 760 fines as of June 2010, while Exxon Mobil has had just one. In 1991 BP was cited as the most polluting company in the US based on EPA toxic release data. The company has been charged with burning polluted gases at its Ohio refinery (for which it was fined $1.7 million), and in July 2000 BP paid a $10 million fine to the EPA for its management of US refineries. During the last couple of years before the Gulf accident BP became more profitable: Tony Hayward received a 40 percent pay increase in 2009 based on BPs improved performance. The company announced earnings of $5.6 billion for the first quarter of 2010, more than double the same quarter in 2009. But BP failed to fix the one problem that continues to get it into trouble: a reactionary management culture that puts an emphasis on cutting costs and efficiency while neglecting preventative maintenance. BP has been chronically unable or unwilling to learn from its mistakes according to analysts, competitors and former employees. QUESTION 5: Looking ahead 3-4 years, how do you think the disaster will affect BP? Will it: (a) have no significant, long-term impact on the business? (b)Result in BP becoming a much smaller company? (c)) Result in BP being bought by the Chinese, Qataris etc ormerged with another international oil company? (d) Be the catalyst for BP to move irrevocably beyond petroleum and becoming a new form of global energy business, based eventually in renewable energy? The BP oil spill has set a new precedent for both environmental damage and corporate irresponsibility. According to BP official there was a good reason why the Macondo well was being drilled in the first place. Its because the world badly needs the oil and gas that reside beneath the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and other oceans in order to meet inexorably growing energy demand. BP pushed technology to the limit in the remotest reaches of Alaska and the deepest waters of the Gulf of Mexico the tough stuff that others cannot or choose not to do, as Tony Hayward once put it. Last year there was a serious debate as to whether the Deepwater Horizon incident will lead to bankruptcy for BP. Project failures such as the Deepwater Horizon can have enormous consequences on the value of BP shareholders, including many pensioners in the UK and current and past employees and may even jeopardize survival of the enterprise. BP have been paying not only for all environmental and economic damages from the blowout, but will also be facing years of claims, negotiations and litigation. The company is still facing legal suits from Edinburgh and Merseyside pension funds for the loss of value that emanated from an Alaskan pipeline spill in 2006. Gulf of Mexico claims will last much longer. According to Bloomberg, BP took charges totaling US$40 billion in the second and third quarters of 2010 to account for the cost of the Gulf spill. The company announced in July 2010 it would sell between $25 billion and $30 billion of assets, and has sold fields in Argentina, Colombia, Pakistan, the U.S. and Vietnam. BP interests in Algeria, Alaskas Prudhoe Bay and Canadian pipelines may be next up on the block. According to offshoreenergytoday.com, since taking charge in October, new CEO Bob Dudley has taken asset sales to $22 billion to pay costs from the worst US oil spill, reorganized management and cut the deal with Rosneft to give the company access to Russias untapped Arctic reserves. The share price has recovered about 60 percent from Junes post-spill low, in part on expectations that the dividend will return at 50 percent of the previous level. Recently BP has reinstated the dividend that was suspended after the spill as higher oil prices and improved refining margins lifted its earnings. It is unlikely that BP will be acquired by other major oil companies ExxonMobil or Royal Dutch Shell. BP executives held talks with a number of sovereign wealth funds including funds from Abu Dhabi, Kuwait, Qatar and Singapore, for creation of a strategic partnership to avoid takeover. Now BP continues to be Europes second-biggest oil company and the biggest producer of oil and gas in the US. Financial Times said that before the accident, the US had been the principal focus of the groups strategy, with deepwater oil production in the Gulf of Mexico at its heart. It was a source of oil and gas reserves in a region with an apparently stable legal and tax framework, and was a place to develop techniques that could then be deployed around the world. The BP oil spill has brought attention to the issue of greenwashing. This term was coined by New York environmentalist Jay Westerveld (1986) and means deceptive use of green PR or green marketing in order to promote a misleading perception that a companys policies or products are environmentally friendly. BP entered the greenwashing playing field spending 200 million dollars on rebranding the company in 2000. BP TV ads were focused on themes of biofuels, alternative energy and carbon footprints, closing with a green, flower-like logo and the slogan Beyond petroleum. According to Kate Sheppard, a writer at Foreign Policy (3 May 2010), despite all BP has spent on rebranding, the company hasnt done nearly as much to move beyond petroleum as its campaign implies. In fact, BP has been turning away from investments in nonfossil energy, last year cutting investment in alternative sources from $1.4 billion to $1 billion. Weeks before the spill, BP announced that it was shuttering its solar manufacturing plant in Maryland, it closed the doors of its much-hyped UK Alternative Energy headquarters in 2009. The company brought in $73 billion in revenue in the first quarter of 2010, but only about $700 million of its business was alternative energy sources like wind and solar. The company has also spent a lot of time and money convincing political leaders that offshore drilling is clean, safe, and environmentally friendly while at the same time actually fighting against safety measures that might have prevented the horror in the Gulf. Green Energy Reporter said that BP plans to invest $1 billion in 2011 in its renewable energy business, roughly the same amount it invested last year. In 2008 BP was awarded a satirical prize, the Emerald Paintbrush award, by Greenpeace UK. The award was given to BP in order to highlight its alleged greenwashing campaign. Critics point out that while BP advertises its activities in alternative energy sources, the majority of its capital investments (more than 90%) continue to go into fossil fuels linked with major environmental challenges on a global scale. BP will definitely not make steps to becoming a new form of global energy business based on renewable energy until it can get the same tremendous profits from oil and gas. After the incident Bob Dudley has identified improving BPs safety practice and performance as one of his highest priorities. As it mentioned in BPs internal investigation report, it was possible for BP to drill deepwater wells safely. It is vital for the companys future that it can live up to that aspiration. In his latest speech on March 08th 2011 at CERA Week Conference in Houston Bob Dudley said: BP is sorry. BP gets it. BP is changing. Were strengthening safety, growing value and working to earn trust. The lesson for large companies is that whilst cost and time savings are certainly key initiatives, senior management and the Board need to ensure that they do not happen at the risk of brand and stakeholder relationships. Only by remembering this disaster and pushing for the truth to be brought to the surface the truth about what BP was hiding we can prevent a similar event from occurring in the future.

Frontpage - Microsoft’s Net Solution :: essays research papers

Frontpage - Microsoft’s Net Solution You know about the Vermeer story right? Never heard of Vermeer? Really? So the story goes, as I am usually lounging around with others who have migrated into the vast world of the web, these questions generally come up†¦ Vermeer was the company who silently pioneered FrontPage, and was quietly and expeditiously merged into â€Å"the empire† at Microsoft. It evolved into two key MS technologies, the Personal Web Server (PWS) and FrontPage, now widely utilized at homes worldwide as a key component of Office 2000.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alas the story continues, as I tread the waters deeper and find other so-called web developers around Cebu creating pages and sites for the vastness of the net. I usually silently snicker inside as they tell me how they learned FrontPage at â€Å"so and so† institution and have been a professional web developer ever since. Rest assured, I think to myself, they’ll be attending a class or two of mine soon†¦ However, not for nothing, us professional developers (you know these guys, the ones who are making integrated solutions for the guy next down AND several [er, thousand] kilometers away.) usually have little to do with FrontPage nowadays.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  FrontPage, long ago the â€Å"cream of the crop† silently sits in wait as we tear away with apps such as Ultradev 4, 1st Page, Flash 5, Adobe PhotoShop, XML-Spy, and the Top Style CSS editor. Us â€Å"big boys† are playing with such things as .asp, .php, ColdFusion, ActionScript, XSLT, and a myriad of other acronyms that will leave your head spinning. On top of that, we’re all scrambling to learn more Java (for server pages and COM building), PowerBuilder, and of course, XHTML. This is not to the fault of FrontPage , it still is functional, but has lost it’s functionality as we deal with interactive web sites and most (over 85%) of the servers in Cebu can’t run FrontPage’s Server Extensions (That’s what JavaScript is for anyway you say†¦). But don’t fret, they have just breathed life into this ailing creature, redirecting it’s path from the tangent path of obsolescence. Enter the next generation o f FrontPage, a powerhouse of fury packed under the soon-to-be-released Windows OfficeXP umbrella. XP standing for experience, something we’re all going to have to sit down and do ourselves†¦ but for now, here’s the primer†¦. What’s OfficeXP all about? Here’s the marketing pitch: Whether you are a small business user, a user in a larger organization, an IT administrator, or a user working from home, Office XP is the essential tool to maximize your productivity. Frontpage - Microsoft’s Net Solution :: essays research papers Frontpage - Microsoft’s Net Solution You know about the Vermeer story right? Never heard of Vermeer? Really? So the story goes, as I am usually lounging around with others who have migrated into the vast world of the web, these questions generally come up†¦ Vermeer was the company who silently pioneered FrontPage, and was quietly and expeditiously merged into â€Å"the empire† at Microsoft. It evolved into two key MS technologies, the Personal Web Server (PWS) and FrontPage, now widely utilized at homes worldwide as a key component of Office 2000.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alas the story continues, as I tread the waters deeper and find other so-called web developers around Cebu creating pages and sites for the vastness of the net. I usually silently snicker inside as they tell me how they learned FrontPage at â€Å"so and so† institution and have been a professional web developer ever since. Rest assured, I think to myself, they’ll be attending a class or two of mine soon†¦ However, not for nothing, us professional developers (you know these guys, the ones who are making integrated solutions for the guy next down AND several [er, thousand] kilometers away.) usually have little to do with FrontPage nowadays.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  FrontPage, long ago the â€Å"cream of the crop† silently sits in wait as we tear away with apps such as Ultradev 4, 1st Page, Flash 5, Adobe PhotoShop, XML-Spy, and the Top Style CSS editor. Us â€Å"big boys† are playing with such things as .asp, .php, ColdFusion, ActionScript, XSLT, and a myriad of other acronyms that will leave your head spinning. On top of that, we’re all scrambling to learn more Java (for server pages and COM building), PowerBuilder, and of course, XHTML. This is not to the fault of FrontPage , it still is functional, but has lost it’s functionality as we deal with interactive web sites and most (over 85%) of the servers in Cebu can’t run FrontPage’s Server Extensions (That’s what JavaScript is for anyway you say†¦). But don’t fret, they have just breathed life into this ailing creature, redirecting it’s path from the tangent path of obsolescence. Enter the next generation o f FrontPage, a powerhouse of fury packed under the soon-to-be-released Windows OfficeXP umbrella. XP standing for experience, something we’re all going to have to sit down and do ourselves†¦ but for now, here’s the primer†¦. What’s OfficeXP all about? Here’s the marketing pitch: Whether you are a small business user, a user in a larger organization, an IT administrator, or a user working from home, Office XP is the essential tool to maximize your productivity.

Path Goal Theory

Path Goal Theory In order to encourage, support and motivate their followers, Path Goal Theory requires a leader to take into account situational factors when adapting a leadership style. Successful integration of situational factors with a leadership style can lead to maximized satisfaction and effort from the follower. The Path Goal Theory states leaders must: †¢Forge a path for followers to obtain their goal through coaching and direction †¢Remove roadblocks and obstacles that are preventing followers from accomplishing goal †¢Increase rewards and incentives along the way 1.Subordinate Factors (Follower Characteristics) A. Ability: A follower’s self-efficacy and self perception of competence in performing tasks to achieve goals. B. Authoritarianism: is defined as the degree to which the followers seek structure and task clarity. C. Experience: Knowledge of or skill in achieving a goal. D. Locus of control: How one perceives how much they can control events th at affect their goal achievement. Those with low internal locus of control seek to participate and engage in decision making. On the contrary, those with a strong external locus of control like to be directed and provided structure.Coach Lengyel has a diverse group of followers with a variety of contrasting personal characteristics. Due to their lack of experience, youth and general â€Å"rag-tag† composition, the players on the team lack confidence, ability, cohesion and self efficacy. Given these characteristics, these players have a high external locus of control and yearn for task clarity and guidance. In contrast, Coach Red Dawson and Interim President Donald Dedmon have more autonomy and have established themselves more in their respected roles.Lengyel adjust to the varying characteristics of these followers by engaging them more in the decision-making process and seeking their advice on certain issues that arise. 2. Environmental Factors: A. Task structure: A leader ne eds to analyze the elements and nature of a task a follower is responsible for and identify and remove any difficulties it could pose to the follower. B. Formal authority: is the power position of the leader which can affect the satisfaction of a follower. If directive leadership and a highly formal authority system are in place, the redundancy can cause follower dissatisfaction.C. Work group: Group dynamics and relationship among followers. In situations where team cohesiveness is low, followers need supportive leadership. Where a group is more established and talented, a directive or achievement oriented style is more optimal. The players face significant environmental challenges in both their task structure and work group dynamics. First, the vast majority of the team consists of freshmen or students who have never played organized football. Learning the complex play schemes and the intricacies of the competitive collegiate game in such a short period is certainly daunting.Moreov er, positions players such as the punter do not fully comprehend everything their roles entail. Since almost all the players haven’t played with each other, the team lacks the camaraderie and cohesion of their competitors. The confluence of these factors and the physically demanding tolls of the game have created significant roadblock in accomplishing their goals. The fear of embarrassing the community and university with poor performance on the field and the stress of the tragedy compounds the challenges the team face and weighs on them greatly.As a result, the players are more sensitive and an overbearing and authoritarian leader will only exacerbate the situation. Similarly, the stress of the tragedy is also weighing significantly on both Coach Dawson and Interim President Dedmon. After losing colleagues and players he coached and recruited from the tragedy, Dawson has significant doubts about whether he can be around the game anymore. The drastic changes with Dawsonâ€⠄¢s workgroup and formal authority figure are daily reminders of the tragedy that occurred with the team.The tragedy wears on him and he has a significant effect on his confidence and motivation to fulfill and execute the tasks associated with the assistant coaching job. With Dedmon, the opposition by some in the community to rebuild the football program has made Interim President insecure and timid when approaching tasks with the job. Furthermore, Dedmon’s confidence erodes initially when numerous coaches around the country turn down the offer to coach the Marshall team due seemingly insurmountable challenges facing the program. Dedmon has to adjust o a changing environment surrounding the university and to Coach Lyngel’s energetic and enthusiastic style which contrasts greatly with his own. 3. Leader Behavior: A. Supportive leadership: Consider the needs of the follower, showing concern for their welfare, being approachable as a leader and creating a friendly working environment. This approach is best when the work is stressful, ambiguous and or hazardous. B. Directive leadership: Telling and providing leaders with structure, task clarity while giving appropriate guidance along the way.The leader sets clear standards of performance in order to decrease role ambiguity. This form of leadership can be helpful when the follower is inexperienced. C. Participative leadership: Effective when followers are autonomous. This form involves consulting with followers and making them an integral part of the decision process. This approach is most effective with followers who are knowledgeable and skilled and have a high internal locus of control. D. Achievement-oriented leadership: Setting challenges goals, both in their work and in self-improvement.The leader establishes high standard of excellence and leader shows confidence in the capabilities of the follower to succeed. This approach is best when the task is complex. Lengyel has to question whether the f amous sports tenet, â€Å"Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing† is applicable to the season Marshall is about to embark on. His predecessor, like a majority of other coaches led with predominately directive and achievement-oriented styles. Due to the nature of the sport and the intolerance of role ambiguity in the game, Coach Lengyel also exhibits a directive style of leadership in some scenarios.The players’ perceptions of their abilities are relatively low and Lengyel helps them by clarifying and directing them how to do their tasks. For instance, this directive style of leadership is evident when Lengyel instructs and clarifies the position players like the punter and offensive lineman how to do everything that their role entails. Given the players desire for task clarity and guidance, the directive style would most likely be the most effective leadership style with inexperienced players in most scenarios.The most important factor however that impacts the follower characteristics and environmental factors is the stress and pressure resulting from the tragedy. Realizing the enormity of the tragedy, Lengyel utilizes a supportive style that provides psychological support and concern to his followers by their acknowledging the pain and frustration. Knowing that Dawson is in a sensitive emotional and mental state, Lengyel isn’t too aggressive in his pursuit to have him on the coaching staff and always carefully listens and assesses Dawson’s objections and feelings.Lengyel’s pregame speech at the resting spot of six of the players from the Marshall team also exemplifies his exceptional ability to collectively assess both characteristics of his subordinates and the environmental factors when trying to motivate and instill confidence in his team. In the speech he addresses the tragedy of the past, the current team’s shortcomings and even mentions how the team they’re facing has more ability and talent. He declares if they give maximum effort they will not lose and will reach their goals of honoring the memory of the teammates killed in the plane crash and making the community proud.Lengyel realizes that due to the circumstances, that leading with the directive and achievement oriented styles isn’t the most conducive approach. To motivate the players on the team, Lengyel has to utilize a Supportive style that taps into and emphasizes with the emotions of the players and tries to alleviate the stress and pressure of the situational factors. While some other leaders and his peers ultimately fail in certain circumstances for their stubbornness, Lengyel’s biggest leadership strength in contrast is his flexibility.As mentioned, with the players on the team Lengyel’s demonstrates mostly directive and supportive styles. In regards to followers with contrasting characteristics of the players, Lengyel is able to successfully adapt his leadership approach to eng age and accommodate them. After assessing that the players on the team do not have the ability to execute relatively complex offensive schemes and tasks, Lengyel realizes they need to simplify their playbook. In this instance, because the assistants have established themselves in their respected roles, Lengyel engages them in the decision-making process.Utilizing the Participative leadership style results in Coach Dawson coming up with the idea to use the simplified Veer Offense. In addition to building trust and satisfaction from the assistant coaches, the players also benefit as it reduces a significant roadblock for them 4. Outcome: A. Performance: Helps followers reach their peak performance. B. Satisfaction: Makes working to obtain goal more satisfying. By successfully adapting to both the characteristics of his subordinates and of the environment, Lengyel helps his followers exert maximum effort and gain satisfaction from obtaining their goals.Coach Lengyel was able to forge a path for his followers by taking into account the different strengths and weaknesses of his followers. As articulated in his speech the team’s main goal of honoring the memory of the team was to â€Å"lay it on the line† and provide maximum effort. Whether it was the players on the players on the field or even Interim President Dedmond aggressively petitioning the NCAA to let their freshmen play, Lengyel’s followers were clearly motivated by his leadership

Glue out of Cigarette Filter and Acetone Essay

This chapter includes the past related literature / studies and researches, articles and some information gathered to guide in this study or research. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE According to (Marvilde, 1981), Classroom absence is a major factor responsible for falling standard in school education system today. Future of the nation always takes place in schools. School is such an organization, which deals with the betterment of society. According to (Khatri, 2013), School absenteeism has a far-reaching impact on a child’s academic progress and future. Absenteeism creates a dead, tiresome and unpleasant classroom environment that makes students who come to class uncomfortable and the teacher irritable. According to (Segel, 2008), in quality terms, absenteeism is a waste of educational resources, time and human potential. Students who have absenteeism problem generally suffer academically and socially. According to Lotz & Lee (1997), indicated that sustained absences might affect retention as it may degenerate into truancy. The study also revealed that the act of delinquency is more frequent among students who exhibit low grade, have spotty attendance an d later on drop out of school. Many factors can contribute to student absenteeism. Family health or financial concerns, poor school climate, drug and alcohol use, transportation problems, and differing community attitudes towards education are among the conditions that are often associated with a child’s frequent absence from school. According to (Marburger, 2001), It disturbs the dynamic teaching learning environment and adversely affects the overall well being of classes. Absenteeism is the one angle of viewpoint is one of the common causes of degrading performance of the student. According to (Australia, 2004), identified four major dimensions of absenteeism truancy, school refusal, school withdrawal and early leaving. It is important to identify the different dimensions of absenteeism in tackling the problem because they require different interventions. Truancy as the persistent, habitual and unexplained absence from school of a child of compulsory school age, although it can occur with parental knowledge and sometimes consent. According to Bond (2004), included fractional truancy, this occurs when student arrive late or leave early or spend entire days away from school. School refusal differs from truancy in that children refuse to attend schools even in the face persuasion and punitive measures from parents and school. These students stay at home with the knowledge of their parents and school administrators. According to (Mc Shane, Walter & Ray, 2001), School withdrawal means children are absent from school because their parents keep them away from school on a frequent basis. Their parents do not enroll them at school. Early leaving refers to children fewer than 15 who drop out of school before completing their schooling. According to (Williams, 2001), Attendance is an important factor in school success among children and youth. Studies show that better attendance is related to higher academic achievement for students of all backgrounds, but particularly for children with lower socio-economic status. Acco rding to (Epstein & Sheldon, 2002; Ready, 2010), Beginning in kindergarten, students who attend school regularly score higher on tests than their peers who are frequently absent. Chronic truancy (frequent unexcused absence) is a strong predictor of undesirable outcomes in adolescence, including academic failure, dropping out of school, substance abuse, gang involvement, and criminal activity. According to Savers, D. Et al (2005), when the student misses a day of school. Students have lost the chance to hear other’s interpreted and analyze the lessons or joins the introductions within the class. According to Nakpodia and Dafiaghor (2011), â€Å"lateness† can be defined as the â€Å"situation where an individual arrives after the proper, scheduled or usual time. Nakpodia and Dafiaghor attribute lateness or tardiness to a lot of factors or causes. Going late to bed and waking up late next morning is the most common. The authors’ added film watching late at night as a cause for tardiness. The student may forget that he/she needs to be in school the next day. Nakpodia and Dafiaghor as a possible cause for tardiness also consider the distance between the student’s home and school or solely the school’s location. Not just because it takes more time to get to school, but according to the authors, the student is susceptible to more distractions and hindrances along the way. Parent’s untimely tasks and commands are also reasons that students come late to school. Habitual tardiness can also be  learned from other members of the family, especially from the older ones. Lack of a firm and consistent policy on punctuality also encourages students to come late at school since there are no consequences attached to lateness or tardiness. These causes of tardiness will lead to serious effects. Nakpodia and Dafiaghor emphasized that lateness or tardiness is not just the problem of the late student but it affects the surrounding people. A student coming late in class distracts the rest of the students and disrupts the flow of the teacher’s discussion. It is even a burden to the student/s whom the late students ask for what to catch up with. The rest of the effects given by Nakpodia and Dafiaghor are about the welfare of the whole school, its productivity and revenue. Knowing the possible effects of lateness or tardiness, it is necessary for solutions to be executed. Studies have revealed that those students with â€Å"perfect or near-perfect attendance† have good grades compared to those students who miss classes often and latecomers. Nakpodi a and Dafiaghor stated that school administrators must lead by example. They should be punctual in their own meetings and classes to avoid students to think that being late is just all right since even the authoritative persons are doing it. They should as well teach it and integrate it in every lesson. The effort on the remedy on lateness or tardiness does not start and end with the school. It must begin with the parents of the students and the government must take part as well. Transportation must be improved in order to avoid students getting stuck in traffic or encountering other obstacles down the streets. According to Lauby (2009), puts it as a term used to describe â€Å"people not showing up on time†. According to Breeze et al. (2010), contributed by saying that, lateness is synonymous with â€Å"tardiness†, which implies being slow to act or slow to respond, thus not meeting up with proper or usual timing. According to Weade (2004), defined tardiness as â€Å"being late for any measurable length of time past the stated or scheduled start time for work or school.† In most schools, a student is considered tardy when he/she is not present when the school bells rings or when the first teacher starts to give instructional materials for the first subject in t he morning class. A study conducted by Barbara Lee Weade on 2004 tried to â€Å"determine if school tardiness is a predictor of work tardiness†. It provided a lot of literature that observes correlations and factors affecting a student’s tardiness. As cited by  Weade, the 3rd most common cause for the failure of a student is â€Å"excessive tardiness and unexcused absences†. Weade gathered data from the schools of participating students. First and foremost, she asked consent from the students and their parents in order to gain permission to collect their school records. She collected and studied the attendance and punctuality records of these students based on the number of unexcused absences and minutes of tardiness. Her study showed that among high school students, the grade point average is correlated with absences and tardiness. This means that students with better attendance and punctuality have higher grade point averages and vis-à  -vis. Her study was also able to show that attendance and punctuality of students are not consistent throughout the year. There were more absences and tardiness at the latter part of the year. Gender has also shown to be a non-factor in the attendance and punctuality of high school s tudents. The study was very comprehensive in its subject matter. It tackles not just school tardiness but also its implications on work tardiness. It shows that â€Å"students who are on-time for school classes are also likely to be on-time at work while students who are tardy frequently at school will probably also be tardy at work†. The study requires a lot of data but Weade was able to gather a sufficient amount. Though some possible correlations were not established, it is outside the scope of this research. According to (Sprick and Daniels, 2007), It creates problems, not just to the students but also to the teachers. It stated that the range of the teachers’ response was â€Å"from ignoring them to sending them to office†. This variation could lead the students to confusion as to how important it is to be on time in going to class. Another reason is the lack of motivation. Students who come to school on time are not given incentives or rewards. Also, responses to tardiness are lenient, that is nothing is done until the tenth strike or more. Another reason is â€Å"giving the student the impression that they won’t be missing anything if they are late† since in some classes, no important activities or instructions and no lessons are being done for first few minutes. Lastly, crowded hallways could create traffic, thus blocking the way of other students and making it hard for them to pass through. According to (Cowan Avenue Elementary School Community, 2007), Cowan Crier, the official School Publication of CAESC, also states that while having â€Å"occasional tardy† isn’t a big deal, unfailing tardiness  is and it gives students problems including being ill prepared for the job market. According to the results of the study of the U.S. Department of Education on â€Å"truancy†, which is related to tardiness, being present and on time in going to school are big factors on the â€Å"success and behavior† of the students. CAESC has their policy worked this way. Other schools initiated interdisciplinary curriculum that integrates discipline and conduct in academics. According to CAESC (2007) and Zeiger (2010), the most essential learning time of the day for the students lies in the morning, specifically between 8:00 to 9:30 AM. It is because the students are most mindful and observant at this time of the day. It is also the reason why the most important lessons and subject matters are discussed during this time. So when students are late or are not present during this time of the day, they, in effect, miss out most of the important lessons to be noted and learned. Thus, it is a lot important to value time and practice being on time while being a student. According to Zeiger (2010), the results from the survey report conducted by teachers show that students with high tardiness rates have â€Å"higher rates of suspension and other disciplinary measures†. Zeiger stated â€Å"Students who are frequently tardy to school are also more apt to be fired from a job for showing up late†. According to Santillano (2010) stated that psychological theorists considered some â€Å"personality traits, including low self-esteem and anxiety† as triggering factors of tardiness. She also mentioned that while some theorists considered tardiness as an â€Å"inborn quality† since our being early or late is â€Å"partially biologically determined†, which she also agreed, other experts also believed that some people are â€Å"chronically tardy† for the reason that they consciously and unconsciously get good things from it. In the book cited by Santillano, â€Å"Never be late again: 7 cures for the punctually challenged†, the author Diana DeLonzor suggested that some personality traits could most likely lead to a person being often late. Some of the traits included were â€Å"struggling with self control†, â€Å"feeling nervous or uncomfortable with social situations† and â€Å"getting distracted easily†. Santillano also discuss ed about the study conducted by DeLonzor at San  Francisco State University in 1997 in which she surveyed 225 respondents about their habits that makes them late from their appointments. It was also a test on the personalities of the respondents that affect their habits. According to the results of DeLonzor’s study, those respondents that were often tardy apt to be anxious and gets distracted easily. According to Oghuvbu (2008), female students are more likely to be late than male students because of â€Å"their involvement in domestic activities by their parents†. Also, as cited by Oghuvbu, â€Å"distance to school, school discipline, family background and school location†. Another study was the one conducted by Enamiroro Oghuvbu in Nigeria. The objective of the study was to determine the causes of the absenteeism and lateness among the secondary students in Nigeria and to seek for solutions to the growing problem. The study revealed that the causes of lateness among the secondary students in Nigeria were â€Å"going late to bed because of watching films and home movies, resulting into wake up late in the morning, distance to school and keeping friends who are not students†. These results went consistent with the results of Oghuvbu’s reference studies which proves that tardiness among students have been a growing problem and that it is caused, not jus t because of the students but also because of the lack of imposing discipline from the parents. According to (Emore, 2005), are some of the common causes for the tardiness of the secondary students? According to Pimentel and Quijada (2011), focused on the frequency of use by the UP Cebu freshmen students of Facebook and a part of the study tackled about the effect of the famous social networking site to UP Cebu students’ punctuality and academic performance. For their study, Pimentel and Quijada collected 60 respondents and provided them with questionnaires. The questionnaires contained questions that ask the respondents about their use of Facebook and its effects. A certain question asked the respondents if late-night use of Facebook has an effect on their punctuality. According to the results of the study, three out of 60 respondents are always late, eight said they are sometimes late, 12 said they are seldom late and 37 said that they never get late due to late-night use of Facebook. Generally, the results showed that the respondents are seldom late in class because o f late-night use of the social networking site. Ledoux, as cited by Pimentel and Quijada, said that lack of sleep causes neural malfunctions and further affects a person’s  behavior. In the study’s case, it is a student’s punctuality that is affected. According to (Britt, 1988), situations such as â€Å"crowded halls, limited opportunities for social interaction, irrelevant course content, and teacher indifference†. According to (Damico et al., 1990) are also factors that affect a student’s attendance and punctuality. As mentioned by Weade, personal values, financial security and lack of parental guidance. Some schools have already started finding solutions that would effectively minimize and/or eliminate tardiness among students. One of the solutions made by some schools is implementing tardiness policies, wherein they take steps in approaching the students and parents for them to solve the problem. According to Cordogan (as cited by Weade, 2004), said that a school in Chicago, Illinois adapted a similar curriculum and yielded positive results. Students under the interdisciplinary program exhibited more positive behaviors from students not from the curriculum. Interdisciplinary students showed less absences and tardiness, as well as higher grades. Other schools made smaller academic changes such as developing personality works and cooperative learning activities, such as creation of portfolios and tutorial to younger students. These taught the students better goal setting, decision-making skills and time management. In return, students under these behavior modification programs yielded less tardiness and higher grades.