Human Resource Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Human Resource Interview - Essay Example This is in a bid to have a point where employees can be recruited, selected, trained, and given the necessary guidelines to pursue their responsibilities. This paper summarizes an interview I conducted with Kevin Warns the HR manager of Wabash Valley Power Association (Price, 2011). Kevin Warns is the Human Resource (HR) manager at Wabash Valley Power Association which has its headquarters at Terre Haute, Indiana. Kevin lives in within Delaware, Indiana with his family and his address is Delaware, Indiana 569034-001 and phone number is (302) 654-0000. He can be reached through the office email address kevin@wabashvalley.org as the human resource manager who has been with the company for the past 5 years. Kevin involvement in human resource development stems from various companies and he has eleven years of experience, Wabash Valley offers wholesale circulation of power in 28 cooperatives within Indiana, Illinois among others. Kevin duties and responsibilities include ensuring that Wa bash Valley Power Association generates efficient programs that enhance the reputation of its employees. This means focusing on ensuring that Wabash Valley employees have the right skills, attitude and expertise to complete their jobs efficiently. This means that he coordinates recruiting, selection and hiring employees while at the same time training as well as guiding them to fulfill their duties efficiently. It is his duty in coordination with the training manager to evaluate, monitor, and counsel employees so that they can achieve their full potential. In addition, he takes the responsibility of ensuring the employees are working in a safe and secure environment. This means guaranteeing that they have the right tools and equipment necessary for completing their tasks efficiently (Price, 2011). Kevin has the role of creating compensation plans, appreciation policies, direct compensation, and reward as well as punishment. It is imperative to deal with job-related accidents, employ ment lawsuits, and any unresolved conflicts among employees. Kevin uses his tools and abilities to foster growth in employees within the company. For instance, he focuses on encouraging employees to maximize the level of sales using training procedures, enhancing engagement levels, and sending focused workers to educational seminars. It is clear from the interview that Kevin preserves management procedures by, modernizing, and endorsing human resource polices that have the potential to accomplish goals of Wabash Valley. Kevin indicated that he participates in team effort to complete result oriented duties that are essential to the company (Sims, 2007). Kevin argues that HR manager requires various competencies, skills and knowledge to successfully achieve human resource development, the first competence is having knowledge of the business and its operations. It is paramount for HR to realize the business strategy, how the business generates money, technological practices involved, a nd organization potential among others. The HR manager ought to have understanding of various business fields like finance, marketing, Information Technology, operations and management. Kevin suggests that HR director should have awareness of â€Å"Best Practices† necessary to deliver quality services. In this way, continuous process of enhancing expertise in their filed and awareness of high tech best practices in recruiting, development, compensation, performance execution among other HR duties. Kevin emphasizes the need to deliver exceptional skills of people management and focus in a bid to take the business to its next level (Price, 2011). In addition, Kevin indicates that HR manager must have the capability to change management skills in a flexible manner.

Case Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 11

Case Analysis - Essay Example   This is due to low costs, and a new  division  is rapidly taking root. This paper will focus on a SWOT analysis of ISHR firm (Anja 1). Strengths of ISHR lie in the fact that they are a highly profitable firm. The company records excellent profit results from its business undertakings. The company also enjoys the benefit of having large companies such as Coca Cola and General Electric as their clients. The company lacks a chief financial officer to control and manage its finances. The company’s website is also not well built. The company has a poor marketing strategy that relies on word of mouth and no face to face marketing. Poor marketing strategy ensures that the company has a poor relationship with its clients. ISHR firm recorded double digit growth in 2008, and this signifies that the company can improve and continue its growth financially to enable its sustainability. The company can also strengthen its business acumen by enabling a proper and robust website for prospective clients. ISHR  firm’s total sales, nearly eighty percent, come from two large  corporations. The company over relies on these two clients for its financial success. This provides an extensive threat towards the company since if the two clients pull out; they face a significant financial collapse. ISHR firm should focus on improving its website to allow for a more user friendly interface that enables for easier navigation. The company should focus on networking for clients using its two prominent clients. This will ensure that they are able to spread the source for their sales. They should not rely entirely on the two corporations for the majority of their sales. The company can also use social sites, facebook and twitter, to reach out to prospective clients as a marketing tool. The company should develop a business plan which will detail on their business activity, goals, objectives, vision and mission. A business plan

Employment in America Essay Example for Free

Employment in America Essay The United States is amongst the global states which are embracing low rates of unemployment. Except for the Latin America which is fiercely allied to high informal employment the rest of the American continent is having a low unemployment rate which goes as low as 3% compared to 55-60% for most Asian and African countries. Broadly, the effects of law rate of unemployment in the US can be allied to the interaction phenomena in both the macroeconomic and microeconomic structures which have acted to influence the broad array of the economic growth. The state of the economy is stable with few challenges into the inhibitors of poor states of economy. Over decade of years, US have enjoyed the superiority context into a stable state of the economy with elsewhere high purchasing power of the American dollar. Across the global imagery, it has enjoyed various economic benefits and economic integrations of its stable state of economy and strong purchasing power of its currency. High state of economic activity have been the launching pad and the benchmark into high capital inflows from other states through foreign investment in America and the economies allied to favorable balance of payments enjoyed by the America. From the favorability in the economic structures, America has continued to embrace the economic structures of a macroeconomic capacity which provide instruments for high rates of employment. For states within the Latin American region, the high rate of informal employment is much functional and beneficiary with even better wages than most formal employments in the developing countries. Broadly, the high rate of employment/low rate of unemployment in American can summarily be explained by the operation interlinkage between various macroeconomic and microeconomic structures. However, the great deal behind this situation can be credited to the macroeconomic variables which are captured in the broad economic equation. Elsewhere, the fiscal and monitory variables in the functional outlay of the American system provides an adequate pursuit for moral sense of high rates of employment. (Riggs, 2004) At one level, microeconomic variables lobby in to define the factors at an individual level which influence and determine the state of employment. This is mostly credited to the reciprocating factors in the relationship between household income and the levels of consumption and savings. Generally, the economic model of personal income is described as a function of consumption and saving. The relative changes to one another gives the respective marginal propensities (to consume and save). The two are reciprocals of one another where a decrease in one will increase the other. However, within America, the individual population has high marginal propensity to save due to the high income obtained from the formal employment and informal cases. With high saving ratios, the population is able to finance investment cost for new investment structure. The general investment portfolio within the US is highly favorable and highly growing to shoulder in the relatively high employment requirements. High investment structures provide an adequate room with which the broader human population is able to be absorbed within the employment structures. (Riggs, 2004) Macroeconomic influences provide a great refuge for creating employment opportunities. Such macroeconomic tools can be defined in terms of the economic environment to yield adequate economic conditions for a high rate of employment. Generally, the fiscal economic variable does a lot to provide adequate environment for ensuring high state of economic activity. Generally, the federal government has done a lot about its spending to the public. High government spending has been a benchmark in the foundations of high states of economic activity which does not compromise high employment rates. Government spending has been of a diverse nature in which it has provided various insurance allowances to the unemployed above other social structures allied to the public population. Government spending has helped to increase the broad income supply within the public. High expenditure has been an instrument in to the provision of capital for investment by the people. Elsewhere, the federal government has been in the forefront in instituting various structures aimed at providing adequate environment in its investment in government investment. Fiscal policy has also been promoted by various adequate systems in its taxing structure. Consequently, the taxing system has provided a comprehensive package of desirable rate of taxes which are less prone driving out investors from the economy due to losses through government taxation. Through adequate levels of taxes which include tax exemption and rebates for various persons within the economy, the people and investment bodies have embraced the value consequence allied to such law rates of taxes. (Riggs, 2004) Within the America, the monitory policy does a lot in providing an adequate environment for high rates of employment and the reduction of various unemployment inequalities borne of the people. The strong sense of the monitory policy provides a structure with which capital inflow is available. Indeed, America is amongst the global states in which case capital inflow is subordinately of high scale and encompassing no monitory rigidities. Broadly, the American monitory policy can be described in terms of the state of money supply and the demand for American dollar. However, the two sides (both the demand and the supply conditions) show a concrete rigidity in their equilibrium level. The state of money supply is equal to the relative demand which helps to provide an attractive state of equilibrium. With equilibrium in the money market, the American dollar has embraced a high state of purchasing power. Economically, such high purchasing power has been the backbone of facilitating high capital inflows within the states. High purchasing power has provided economic advantage in the international symmetry of economic integrations. Through favorable conditions of economic integrations, America has embraced high capital inflows from its trading partners. (Riggs, 2004) Alternatively a positive challenge into the monitoring system has been a solid factor for the influence of a positive balance of payment. Economically, desirable conditions and states of the monetary marketing are discretionally importance factors in determining the state of employment. Every high employment is an in depended variable of the state of monitory policies. Conceptually, stable monetary economy defines the stability in the economic integration and the parameters of balance of payments. A stable economy is discretionary important for providing structures aimed at improving the state of employment. For every essence of capital inflow within America, this has been a foundation aimed at improving the export level and decreasing the state of foreign imports. Every aspect of high exports than imports helps to improve the state of employment. To America, the low rates of unemployment are counter factors determined by the existing state of high export than imports. Stability in the economic state and the purchasing power of the currency has helped to improve the state of capital inflow within America High capital investment from the foreign world which has helped to improve the existing state of employment states. Summarily, the low state of unemployment in America can be allied to the prevailing economic structures existing within the American economy. The same has favored the stable state of investment which has on the other hand helped to increase the rate of employment within the state.

Can Legalistic mechanisms be effectively used to promote organizational safety

Can Legalistic mechanisms be effectively used to promote organizational safety Can legalistic mechanisms such as corporate liability be effectively used to promote organizational safety? Use two specific cases to illustrate your argument. In the era of globalisation and battle of business for expansion to foreign markets, large organisations in a form of legal entities (i.e. corporations) is seem to be taking the dominant role over the worlds economy. The growing size of corporations, their complexity and control of immense resources provides ground for misconduct that often results in adverse effects to both individuals and the community. Great numbers of incidents that resulted in a large scale harms caused to society in the past decades has brought the responsibility of corporate misbehaviour and the way they treat risks to many debates both in professional and lay public. The idea of attempting to manage organisational risks is recognized as a relatively new concept (Institute of Lifelong Learning, 2006: 5-6) and the complexity of social interactions of individuals that constitute organisations adjacent to fast development of advanced technologies in contemporary society may prove for identification of hazardous circumstances that affect safety within organisations, extremely challenging. As observed by the Institute of Lifelong Learning (2006: 5-6) there are some acknowledged professional and academic courses in Britain, but since the management of organisational risks is not a mature activity, it does not possess the same level of legitimacy that some other institutionalised concepts do. It appears that legal reforms in Europe and some other countries intend to make it easier to impose legal sanctions on corporations for serious wrongdoings. One might suggest that such reforms are logical consequence of some mayor harms produced by corporations that were later unsuccessfully prosecuted under existing laws and deemed insufficient to protect the public interests. In the United Kingdom (UK) some large scale accidents such as the train crash at Paddington, the fire at Kings Cross underground station, the capsizing of the ferry Herald of Free Enterprise are few that were catalysts for reforms making it easier to impose strict liability on corporations for physical injuries or deaths. The adoption of Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 might be perceived as an important indicator of these reforms. This paper will examine a much controversial aspects of the extent to which risk management regimes should be more or less blame orientated (Hood et al., 1996: 46) and, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ whether, in the event of an avoidable accident, the company as well as (or perhaps rather than) identified individuals might or should be held morally or legally responsible for an act or omission (Institute of Lifelong Learning 2006, 4-22). The essay question opens a much discussed notion of corporate liability which this paper will discuss in the context of organisational aspects of health and safety as an integral part of managing risks in organisations. The essay will also discuss legislative aspects that are regulating corporate responsibility. However, the intention of the author is not to summarize the arguments on legislation basis in detail. It needs to be recognized that legislation that regulates corporate responsibility varies worldwide. Therefore, the paper will discuss some of the broader aspects that might affect health and safety compliance in organisations. Finally this essay will throughout the discourse provide an argument that strict financial and legal liability posed on corporate bodies can significantly contribute to a better organisational safety. This will be achieved by using two specific cases for discussion in order to support the argument. The case studies used in the discussion are the fire at Kings Cross underground station in London, UK in 1987 and the fire of the cable car in Kaprun, Austria in 2000. Definitions of terms For further discussion the key terms from the essay question needs to be defined. Bergman, (2000: 20) in his critical perspectives on corporate responsibility in UK uses the term company and corporate in the context of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦companies set up with a view to profit that have been registered under the Companies Act 1985. In the same explanation, he further also considers a set of those companies that befalls under variety of other legal provisions, including a number of organisations in public sector. Despite some important distinctions can be made, this essay considers the term of corporation, company and organisation in the same context, with potential to produce a certain kind of harm. According to online dictionary a corporation is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦a large company or group of companies authorized to act as a single entity and recognized as such in law; and liability is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the state of being legally responsible for something (Ask Oxford, 2010). In order to merge the terms, this paper will use the definition on corporate liability of another internet source, namely Wise Geek (2010), which defines corporate liability à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦as an assessment of the activities that a corporation may be held legally liable for in a court of law. The general point to be made here is that in principle a corporation can be held legally liable as a single entity for corporate activities (acts or omissions) that is breaching the law through the group or an individual it employs. Such breaches of law might have severe adverse effects on society, resulting in harm to health and safety of either the people or environment, where health is regarded more in the context of wellbeing of people. For further discussion the definition of the term safety is taken from a dictionary. Shorter Oxford (1973; quoted in Institute of Lifelong Learning, 2006: 4-11) regards safety as: The state of being safe; exemption from hurt or injury; freedom from danger the quality of being unlikely to cause hurt or injury; freedom from dangerousness; safeness. In order to merge the terms health and safety in the context of organisational structures and their legal responsibilities, the example is taken from an explanation provided by the Institute of Lifelong Learning (2006: 4-7), which argues that the term is not only about enforcement of legislation related to protection of employees. The argument goes à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦It is much more of a generic concept, which has developed the status of an ethos, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦which is demonstrated by the use of the term `Safety Culture for the attitude of an organisation towards risk-taking. One might already observe that targeting the essay question in the context of effectiveness of corporate liability towards organisational safety in an affirmative manner might be considerably narrow. It becomes visible that managing safety in organisational framework requires further examination in a broader context of Risk, Crisis and Disaster management, if complementary progress on safety through imposed strict liability measures on corporations desires to be achieved. However, before the discussion on specific case studies, the term safety culture requires additional attention, since it was illustrated that it might play an important role in attitudes towards risk taking in an organisational context. Explanations of the term safety culture flourish. A very concise one was given by the CBI (1990) as the way we do things around here. Pidgeon et al. (1991: 249) define safety culture as those sets of norms, rules, roles, beliefs, attitudes and social and technical practices within an organisation which are concerned with minimising the exposure of individuals to conditions considered to be dangerous. As such defines individuals attitude and beliefs about organisations, their perceptions of risks and the importance, practicality and effectiveness of controls regarding organisational safety. The case studies The case studies used in this paper are both disastrous events caused by the sudden occurrence of fire which resulted in fatal outcome to many involved. The first, fire at Kings Cross underground station in London in 1987 claimed the lives of 31 people and injured many more. The fire followed a number of less serious hazardous fire incidents on the London Underground. The official report concluded the immediate cause of the fire as a failure to clean and lubricate the running tracks of the escalator where the fire took place after the match fell (Department of Transport, 1988; quoted in Bergman, 2000: 24). Kletz (2001: 116) argued that approximately 20 fires per year between 1958 and 1967 were à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦called smoulderings to make them seem less serious. Similarly, the November 1988 Public Inquiry report observes the London Underground managements reaction to earlier escalator fires from 1956 to 1988 as imperfect, describing the managements approach as reactive rather than proactive (Department of Transport, 1988; quoted in Bergman, 2000: 24). In particular, the report summed up in the evidence of the then Director General of the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents, that many recommendations after previous fires: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦had not been adequately considered by senior managers and there was no way to ensure that they were circulated, considered and acted upon. Londons Underground failure to carry through the proposals resulting from earlier fires such as the provision of automatic sprinklers, the need to ensure all fire equipment was correctly positioned and serviceable, identification of alternative means of escape and the need to train staff to react properly and positively in emergencies was a failure which I believe contributed to the disaster at Kings Cross. (Department of Transport, 1988; in Bergman, 2000: 25) Despite the fact that the report recognized collective failure for disaster from the level of most senior managers downwards over many years to minimise the risk of fire outbreaks, the sound blame was placed mainly to senior management of the company. The official report into the disaster claims the responsibility of management systems as playing a significant role in development of precipitating causes that triggered the disaster (Fennell, 1989; in Institute of Lifelong Learning, 2006: 3-5). However, was the applicability of existing legal instruments effective enough to reach the corporate decision makers and to what extent? Apparently, at the time of the accident there were sufficient instruments in place to find the London Underground legally liable for a criminal act of manslaughter or for a lesser offence under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (Bergman, 2000: 29). Regardless sustainable grounds provided for legal punishment, the London Underground and its senior managers gained immunity from any form of criminal accountability (Bergman 2000: 29). It is beyond the scope of this paper to examine further in details all the failures that led to disaster and the debates that followed in the aftermath. Though, the failures summed above can already pinpoint that organisational safety culture was poorly maintained. The November 1988 Public Inquiry report specifically stated that the London Undergrounds understanding of statutory responsibilities for health and safety at work was mistaken and that many of the shortcomings which led to the disaster had been identified in earlier investigations and in reports by the fire brigade, the police and the Railway Fire Prevention and Fire Standards Committee (Department of Transport, 1988; in Bergman, 2000: 24-25). This exemplifies that the London Underground management was made aware of non-compliance with safety standards. Even though a history of small fire outbreaks was excessive, the London Underground failed to consider reported hazards seriously and to introduce safe guards to minimise t he risk of a fire with a potential for large scale loss of life. Such a conclusion stands much in favour of those who argue that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦effective risk management depends on the design of incentive structures that place strict financial and legal liability onto those who are in the best position to take action to minimize the risk (Hood Jones, 1996: 46). The claim is that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if liability is not precisely targeted on specific and appropriate decision-makers, a poorly designed institutional incentive structure will allow avoidable accidents to occur. Without close targeting of liability, there will be too little incentive for care to be taken by those decision-makers in organizations who are capable of creating hazards, and (the argument goes) risk externalization will be encouraged. Policies should, therefore, aim to support expanded corporate legal liability, more precisely targeted insurance premium practices, and regulatory policies that have the effect of criminalizing particular management practices and of laying sanctions directly on key decision- makers within corporations, rather than trusting corporations as undifferentiated legal persons. (cf. Fisse Braithwaite, 1988; in Hood Jones, 1996: 46) Was the looseness of regulatory and legal instruments in hands of the safety investigators that did not make it possible to enforce the London Underground to remove the identified hazards and that led to the disaster, this paper was not able to fully determine. However, it is of believe that strict liability imposed on those who represent a guiding mind and will of the company for non-compliance with safety regulations, would be effective to prevent an avoidable accident to occur. An absence of criminal charges against the senior company managers might to some extent support a positive answer on the essay question with Bergmans argument in criticising the authorities of their failure to prosecute directors. He suggested that it is often argued that only when proper action is taken against directors-with a real threat of imprisonment-will other companies take notice (Bergman, 2000: 90). Though, some wider perspectives of corporate liability in relation to organisational safety need to be further discussed before any conclusions drawn. This brings the discussion to the next case study, where all the regulations were complied and yet the disaster occurred. The second example that this essay considers is the fire of a funicular train in a tunnel that happened near Kaprun, Austria in November 2000. The fire on a Gletscherbahnen Kapruns funicular railway, carrying 167 people up to the Kitzsteinhorn glacier claimed lives of 152 passengers on board, the driver of the second train in the tunnel and two people near the top portal of the tunnel. In total 155 people lost their lives, injured not tallied (the total number of people involved in the incident varies throughout different articles. Figures presented in this paper are matching the majority of them). The 12 survivors who managed to escape out of the train through smashed windows were those who fled downhill away from the smoke. Others who fled uphill were overcome by smoke and fume. Those survived witnessed that smoke was emanating from the rears driver cabin before the train entered the 3.5 kilometres long and 3.6 meters wide tunnel with an average incline of 45 degrees. The immediate cause of the fire was a leaky tube of hydraulic oil that came into contact with a glowing heater at the rear cabin, nearby wooden panels and isolation materials. After the heater caught fire, the hydraulic line exploded and the oil was sprayed into the flames. This was stated as the reason why flames spread so quickly. The official results of the investigations confirmed belief of the experts that fire was caused by an electric heating ventilator, which was illegally installed into the drivers cabin (Transit Cooperative Research Program, 2006: 26-28; Beard Carvel, 2005: 6; Faure Hartlief, 2006: 31). Although the train driver reported the blaze to his base station, the train continued and stopped 600 meters into the tunnel. Following, as the Transit Cooperative Research Program (2006) suggests that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the fire continued and the steep tunnel acted like a giant chimney, sucking air in from the bottom and sending toxic smoke billowing upwards. Despite an alarm signal and contact with the base station instructing the driver to open the doors, the train stayed at the location with its door sealed. Later investigation revealed that this was the immediate cause of death of most of the passengers. (Transit Cooperative Research Program, 2006: 27) Some observed that the accident has parallels with the Kings Cross fire. As Transit Cooperative Research Program (2006: 28) suggests that the Kings Cross escalator shaft at the centre of the fire had a 30 degree incline that, like the Kaprun fire created a chimney effect. The Kaprun blaze moved faster because of the steeper incline. Though, unlike the Kings Cross disaster, where several small fires were excessively observed before the accident, in the Kaprun case a regular inspection of an independent civil technicians performed two months before the first day of skiing season and also the day of the accident, has found no safety breaches or non-compliances with safety regulations. However, does that make the existing safe guards to prevent the accident sufficient and, nonetheless, the Gletscherbahnen Kaprun any less culpable for the disaster? As Tyler (2000) put forward à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦there was no sprinkler system to put out the flames in the tunnel, fireproof emergency refuges or an evacuation tunnel through which the passengers might have escaped. The BBC News (2004) stated that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the blaze was worsened by the fact that the tunnel was not lit, had only one narrow service stairway and the doors of the train could not be opened by the trapped passengers from the inside. Another author (Beier, Unknown: 3) in his paper claims that there were no emergency exits, lights or a method to pull the burning train out of the tunnel. Similarly the Transit Cooperative Research Program (2006: 28) stated that the train did not have enough fire extinguishers and that an evacuation drill never took place. The listed above illustrates that significant safety measures were ignored downwards many years of operating the Gletscherbahnen Kapruns funicular train. In recognition of that, sixteen people including company officials, technicians and government inspectors were arrested and charged with criminal negligence. The centre of the prosecution was to claim liability for those responsible for installing and servicing a non-regulation heater in the drivers cabin, which sparked the blaze by leaking oil. However, on February 19, 2004, Austrian court acquitted all sixteen with explanation of the judge in Salzburg that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦there was insufficient evidence to find the 16 train operators, suppliers and inspectors responsible for the blaze (BBC News, 2004). The appellate court in Linz in 2005 confirmed the verdict of the Salzburg court with the decision that no criminal acts were demonstrated despite the obvious failure to take care. The defendants had complied with the regulations ( Beier, Unknown, 3). Many affected announced that they would continue with civil proceedings. Though, these cases are still pending. The main problem was that designers of the electric heater complied with the existing regulations. However, the regulations failed to distinguish required standards for different types of trains. The design of the heater installed was inappropriate for a train in a tunnel and obviously different hazards were not foreseen. As Beier (Unknown, 4) argues: A horrible risk caused entirely by the design and construction of the technical system had slipped through the entire legal and regulatory system because everyone focused on the compliance with the regulation not whether the system was safe. As he suggested in the paper, no one thought about a fire nor did regulators ask anyone to think about it (Beier, Unknown: 3). One of the conclusions drawn by Beier (Unknown: 4) on Kapruns accident is that even major companies will do only the exact minimum to comply with regulations and that compliance with regulations does not guarantee a safe outcome. It is important that, he as many argues that simple product can create extremely complex risk systems and assuming that risks in technologically advanced -complex systems can be effectively managed by regulations they might prove as inefficient as in the case of Kaprun disaster. However, short before the accident in Kaprun took place, there were several occurrences of disastrous events that befell the road and rail tunnel users in the Alps and elsewhere (BBC News, 2000). Therefore, it should not be neglected that the Gletscherbahnen Kaprun managers together with the authorities inherently failed in the management of organizational risks by, as Toft and Reynolds (1994; quoted in Institute of Lifelong Learning 2006: 5-10) suggest, not taking advantage of the l essons learned by others. Conclusion The case studies revealed serious recklessness of the companies in their regard to safety, which unfortunately in both cases resulted in disastrous events with great losses of lives, many injured and large numbers of grievous families that lost their loved. Despite the fact that great harm was caused to society, neither companies nor their managers were prosecuted or found guilty in front of court for any kind of criminal behaviour. Though, it needs to be recognised that the concept of criminal corporate liability is only one perspective in a broader context of responsibility claimed in case of corporate wrongdoing. In the case of Kings Cross fire it is suggested that strict liability imposed on senior managers could stipulate the companys proactive respond in dealing with identified hazards that later led to disaster. In the case of Kaprun fire the possibilities for cross-organisational isomorphism to cover the gap of being unaware of the consequences that could happen and actually did happen, were obviously missed. In both cases this paper suggest that the companies regarded safety with gross negligence, with the main aim to do only exact minimum to comply with safety standards and regulations. Bergman argues that: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦unlike the minds of individuals, which cannot be re-modelled, the components of a company can be analysed and reformed. New policies can be adopted, new job positions created and new management systems set up. The organisational defects of a company itspsyche can be taken into pieces and put together. Unsafe companies can be turned into safe ones. (Bergman, 2000: 99) Both companies operated in an inherently unsafe manner before the accidents occurred and responded with significant safety improvements only after the disasters. One might argue that such safety improvements were not out of sight in terms of available resources on both sides already before the accidents. With strict financial and legal liability incentives, avoidable accidents might be prevented. Bergman (2000: 90) argues that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦there is a great need to increase the accountability of directors and senior company officers; the backbone of any system of deterrence in preventing corporate harm, must be action against those in control of the company. There are many that are sceptical of such an argument and consider it as possibly ineffective or even counterproductive. Such opponents can point to some other policy areas where criminalization leads to the adoption of artificial legal devices to limit liability, rather than to real changes in behaviour (The Royal Society, 1992: 157-158). Fitzgerald (1986; quoted in Hood Jones, 1996: 62) claims that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦person should not be punished for occurrences over which they could not exercise no controlà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if such targeting is to be implemented, then it must be accurate. Indeed, safety concerns should not be placed in the hands of management only. It should be overall responsibility of all aspects within organisational structures. However, it should be vested at the highest level of each organization (Bergmann 2000: 126). Wells (quoted in Hood Jones, 1996: 60) suggest, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦if safety managers want to make themselves weatherproof, their barometers need to be tuned as much to the pressure of social constructions of accidents as to the legal categories into which they potentially be placed. The managers should exercise whatever is reasonably possible to prevent avoidable accidents to occur. Therefore, incentive structures that place legal liability on those corporate bodies that are in the best position to take action to minimize risks can be an effective mechanism to promote organisational safety. Regular safety audits or inspections could present an important instrument not only to penalize non-compliances of safety regulations, but to expo se hazardous circumstances that could develop into any mayor accidents. Gray and Scholz suggest that: Inspections imposing penalties result in improved safety because they focus managerial attention on risks that may otherwise have been overlooked. It is not the miniscule penalty that makes OSHA inspections effective in reducing injuries, but rather the concern of managers to prevent the costs associated with accidents once they are aware of the risks. (Scholz, 1997: 256)

The Tlingit and Grizzly Bear House-Partition Screen :: Essays Papers

The Tlingit and Grizzly Bear House-Partition Screen The region of the northwest coast was blessed with an abundance of natural recourses for human existence and made it possible for the area to thrive. As a result of this unusual abundance, the area could sustain large populations and a complex social order for many Indian groups. Because of the level of sustainability, the cultures had more time for artistic and intellectual activities and endeavors and over time, art became very important and vital to the complex social structures of the groups of the northwest coast. One such group, the Tlingit, used art to create and portray its rights, privileges, and talents inherited to them and became symbols of tribal importance. As they lived in extended family tribal canoe houses, they used art to decorate and empower their tribe in their social structures and often commissioned elaborate artwork in order to create jealousy within the groups. Because the Tlingit culture believed that they were all descendants of animals, the subject matter of most Tlingit art is a highly stylized representation of their ancestor animal. Though religious belief was integrated into Tlingit artwork, it remained an iconographic representation of a tribe’s lineage serving many roles such as power and protection. The Grizzly bear house partition screen is one such example of important, symbolic Tlingit art. The partition screens were used both symbolically as well as served as a dividing screen for the chief separating his living quarters from the rest of his tribal house. This example is made in an unusually grand scale of 15 x 8 feet and is carved in bold low relief from cedar and was later painted. It artistically and symbolically represents Chief Shakes extended family’s origin, the grizzly bear, with smaller heads of the bear making up other parts of its body such as the eyes, ears, chest, as well as many other sections of the piece. The smaller heads create a highly symmetrical design within the piece as well as further symbolize the important image of the bear. Carved out of the reproductive area of the bear is the doorway for the chief, additionally creating an important symbolic representation of their chief being birthed from the grizzly bear every time he enters and lea ves his sacred quarters. This work exhibits mostly all the characteristics cited by Stockstad as it provided background information into understanding the Tlingit culture and their beliefs.

The First Red Scare :: American History

Many historians have examined the post-war Red Scare in 1919-1920, but few have explored the continued influence of the anti-red hysteria throughout the 1920s. This second Red Scare was generally more specific in its victimization, targeting mainly the women's peace movement. This opposition to pacifists grew from a post-war conservatism led by right-wing groups. The documents in this study address the question: What groups attacked the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, and how did League members respond to the attacks? After World War I many Americans supported a policy of military preparedness, which they hoped would protect the country from any future attack. The National Defense Act of 1920, which originally specified a peacetime army of 280,000 men and a National Guard of 454,000 men, reflected this sentiment.[1] The Women's International League for Peace and Freedom (WILPF) opposed this act. They believed that government policy and spending should be directed towards international arbitration and the promotion of world peace. Their internationalist perspective became the grounds on which nationalist groups denounced the peace movement as an un-American conspiracy of communists, radicals, and socialists. Secretary of War John W. Weeks was the first public figure to initiate the campaign of slander against the women's peace organizations when he began speaking tours around the United States to counteract the WILPF opposition to the National Defense Act. He encouraged other military men to follow his example and many did, including the director of the Chemical Warfare Service, Brigadier General Amos H. Fries. (For more on the Chemical Warfare service and peace activism see another project on this website, Why Did the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom Campaign against Chemical Warfare, 1915-1930?) In response, WILPF began a policy of sending letters to their accusers, refuting each slanderous claim one by one. Document 2 in this project refutes Fries's claim that WILPF members took an oath against any involvement in war. The Woman Patriot took up the "slacker oath" issue in its pages. Other conservative writers like Fred R. Marvin and R. M. Whitney wrote articles for the magazine that falsely claimed connections between the peace movement and the communist movement, ranking individual members on a color code of radicalism.[2] However, these attacks were not viewed as significantly damaging until the famous Spider-web chart appeared in Henry Ford’s newspaper, The Dearborn Independent, in 1924.

Personal experience

The light shone through the curtains emitting a soft peaceful glow from the designs on its fabric, with my head aching and my eyes barely open I peered through a carving on the curtain and squinted my eyes to see if the weather had changed from its usual continuous downpour, my expectations were drowned and revived for it was dry but frost had added it's touch to the scenery. Following the same routine each week, I threw on some old but very warm clothes and found my way carelessly downstairs, there was a reason for me to be happy today, but I was not fully awake yet to remember why. I passed through the kitchen avoiding the cupboard that I always seemed to knock into in the morning, sunlight shone through the window reflecting the brilliance of the kitchens woodwork, glasses lay shimmering in the light on the drying board beside the sink, I filled up the kettle to make myself a cup of coffee and watched as the steam implanted marks on the beige wallpaper. Looking through the patio while drinking my coffee I had a more broad view of today's weather, Frost had embedded itself on all solid objects in view. Trees, plants even the gravel of the driveway shone in brilliance with this white sheet of frozen dew. As I opened the patio door and hastily put on my slippers a soft, cool breeze blew across my body sending a shiver down my spine and causing the hairs on my arms to stand. I inhaled the cool, crisp air which was waking me better than my coffee, I walked alongside the garden admiring the view and took special interest in the way that the grass sparkled as I swept past which reminded me of jewellery such as diamonds or emeralds. As I went back inside I put down my cold mug of coffee and headed upstairs where I found a bundle of towels, half-wet, half-dry lying on the ground, this was the place they were thrown the last time they were used. Twenty minutes later after a warm refreshing shower I realised I was ready for breakfast, by this time I had realised that the reason for me to be happy today was due to the fact that I did not have to go into work and that later on two friends of mine Stephen and Scott were to come to my house. I threw myself on the couch and relaxed as the enormous cushions sank beneath my weight, I lay there reviewing the week's happenings in my mind and wondering what I should do today, time passed as I lay in this trance and was deeply frightened when I was aroused by the sound of knocking on the front door. I sat upright and headed for the door, on the way grabbing my wallet, keys and mini-disc player. I opened the door which gave a loud creak and slammed it shut with force while trying to fit my keys into the keyhole, I glanced briefly at Stephen and Scott, while saying â€Å"hi† I stroked the cat as I walked past the box from which it was emerging stretching it's legs, no doubtedly I had woken it up while closing the door. After we had conspired the decision was made that we would go to Curry's first as I needed a new pair of headphones for my mini-disc player. After a careful selection process for a pair that were of a good quality standard and cheap in price we headed outside to the car park so I could attach the newly bought product. After I had discarded of the plastic case in which the headphones were contained, I inserted the headphones into the player and wrapped the wire around the player itself, I put it in Scott's bag, as I did this however, I noticed that coming down the hill was a group of six unruly looking ruffians aged from around 17 to 19. I made it clear to Steve and Scott that we should go as the youths were pointing in our direction, as we were about to make off, to our misfortune, a jet black jeep with only two seats which were occupied by two passengers pulled by us. It held two women who were looking for directions, by now the gang who we had spotted had walked past us which came as a great relief to me. After we had helped the two women and they had figured out where their destination was they departed, and we ourselves thought we ought to do the same. With a quick turn I noticed that through the buildings see-through shutters that we were not alone, it turned out that the gang had waited there and started to follow us as we left. Steve and Scott started to quicken their pace quite fast leaving me behind them as they broke into a run and were followed by five shouting â€Å"there he is, get him† they were a good distance away from me so I thought of going back to curry's for help when suddenly I felt a great weight pound on the back of my neck, it struck shock into me as it had surprised me more than anything. One of the gang had stayed behind and strayed a little to clumsy behind me since I was the biggest of the three, unlike him, he was a tall, dark, rough looking character wearing what looked like a ‘hand me down' baseball cap and protruding from the cap was his thick black greasy hair which was curled from the tips upward. His muscular build summed up his attitude so I thought it best to run, and I did, but it wasn't long before I was stopped again. The greasy haired thug sprinted after me in a fit of rage and tripped me up, those few seconds of falling before impact with the ground made me think of the horror which may yet come to be. With a quick glance after a hard collision with the ground I noticed three other thugs were surrounding me, they had given up on the chase for Stephen and Scott and thought that it would be fun to take a kick at me, and they did they kicked me over and over again. They booted me in the back of the head laughing like schoolchildren with a new toy, I was surrounded with no way out, they had formed a circle where each person was able to get a kick in, I waved my arms in the air hoping to block blows that came to my face, I squirmed around trying frantically to escape this vicious circle of attacks while continually receiving kicks in every part of my body. I tried to scramble to my feet, tried to get away but was stopped my another fierce kick to the stomach which had winded me, at this point I hadn't realized that it didn't actually hurt, sure my arms were drenched with blood and my legs weren't functioning properly but with each and every kick I only heard, not felt, like sound vibrations off a pair of speakers each kick was like ripple of sound of a dance beat, maybe the shock of all this had suppressed the pain, or the adrenaline in the heat of the moment. With the attacks coming yet still to the stomach and arms I screamed out as best as I could â€Å"why, why are you doing this, I've done nothing† yet from saying this must have induced a renewed attack from members of the group who were seeming to ease off, laughter was the only reply from which I heard. Even now clearly, I am haunted by the look, from which I was greeted by one of the group, his eyes were filled with malice, hatred, malevolence, but why? Who was he? I didn't know him, â€Å"what have I done†. I screamed as loud as I was fit to, with my voice quivering during the end of the outburst still I relentlessly waved my arm in the air noticing that what was once a blue piece of clothing had turned to dark red with rips all over, at this they scattered, they ran why? I picked myself off the ground, I collapsed under my own weight, I tried again and yet I failed at this attempt, I crawled, squirming my body left and right trying not to put pressure on my arms. I got to the nearest wall and propped myself up against it, I inspected my injuries and only now realizing the pain I was in, when I looked around I caught sight of Stephen and Scott, apparently they had stopped someone on the road for help and were coming towards me, they helped me into the car which they had stopped and surprisingly it turned out to be a friend of my fathers. As he drove me home the increasing pain seemed overwhelming, I drifted away into deep thought as I sank into the seats of the car. Weeks have passed and a formal complaint has been made about the thugs but I have yet to hear from the police, it had turned out that the thugs were after Stephen and Scott because of their religion, they both were protestant. The thugs themselves were catholic and lived in a local estate area which is notorious for crime and supposedly uncontrollable to the law, they had mistaken me for a protestant and I had received the full beating intended for all of us. As I look back on this experience now it makes me wonder what these youths have gone through in their lives to make them capable of committing such an act and thinking in the way they do on the differences in religion, I am continually haunted by that piercing look I received on the day, that look, the look I got was from something not human, it was something else. These people care nothing about what they have done to me and to support their reasons the only response was the fact that they thought I was of another religion, their bias is so thin, so pointless.