Business Law Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Business Law - Research Paper Example In later years, the scope of anti discrimination law has been extended to include discrimination in the workplace against individuals other than black Americans. This report discusses the relevant legislation that has been implemented and the impact that they have had in terms of influencing the human resources process at organizations in the United States. Some of the legislation introduced in the United States to tackle the issue of discrimination in the workplace include: (a) Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination in employment based upon age, racial background, colour, sexual orientation or nationality (b) The civil rights Act of 1991, one of the provisions of which is to provide for monetary damages for those individuals who have been intentionally discriminated against. (c) Equal Pay Act of 1963, wherein men and women who perform substantially the same level of work are to be provided with equal pay (d) ADEA OR the Age Discrimination in Employ ment Act of 1967, which protects those individuals who are aged 40 years or over from being denied work opportunities or promotions (e) ADA or Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (as amended) in which Title I and V prohibits discriminating individuals who are disabled from employment in the private sector, local or state governments (f) The Rehabilitation Act of 1973, the equivalent Act to the ADA for individuals with disabilities in the Federal Government, under Sections 501 and 505. (g) The Genetic Information Non discrimination Act of 2008, which under Tiitle II, does not allow discrimination against an employee, former employee or ob applicant on the basis of genetic information about the candidate that may be available. Anti discrimination employment laws have produced a significant impact in terms of making the employment arena a much more equitable playing field for those individuals who are from minority backgrounds or who are disadvantaged in some way compared to the av erage applicant, i.e, through disability, sexual orientation, religious background or other factors. Burnstein and Edwards (1994) examined the impact of employment anti-discrimination laws on the relative earnings of blacks and whites. As these authors indicate early on in their article, citing the views of Gunnar Myrdal, in 1944, the American Blacks were in a wretched position in terms of employment, they were mostly destitute and poor, living in segregated slums. The anti discrimination legislation however, provided an opportunity for blacks to apply for positions that were earlier not accessible to them, such as jobs in public sector enterprises and educational opportunities. Secondly, the legislation provided them an opportunity to seek redress through the courts and by approaching the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission if they were not paid on an equitable basis in comparison with whites. As Burnstein and Edwards (1994) have pointed out, the most significant impact of the anti discrimination legislation has been the improvement in the relative earnings levels between blacks and whites.(Burnstein and Edwa

The signs of Drug Use in Children and impact on famlies Research Paper

The signs of Drug Use in Children and impact on famlies - Research Paper Example with having educational experience prompts children in testing their ability to adapt, beginning peer relationship or support system, and achieving academic expectations. As a result of insurmountable amount of stress and anxiety, children and students succumb to drug/substance use as a way to deal with academic pressure and expectations. According to Doweiko (2012), the 40% to 60% incidences of drug and substance use among children, adolescents, and college students explains the occurrence of accidents, sexual assault cases, fights, losing life, and poor academic performance (292). Therefore, it is essential to identify the different medical models explaining addiction and how it is applied among children, to early recognize signs of drug use among children, and to determine the impact of drug use among children on the families. Medical model rests on the assumption that disease states are the result of biological dysfunction, either on cellular or molecular level. Under the medical model, drug use is considered as a disease because it presents loss of control, progression of symptoms, and potential to cause death. However, clinical research had not support the medical model and had been excluded in the substance abuse rehabilitation. Genetic inheritance theories explain that one has genetic predisposition towards drug use; however, children with genetic predisposition will lose the tendency to succumb to drug use if they never begin to use alcohol or drugs. Thus, genetic predisposition might be a contributing factor of drug use among children but not the only reason why children go to use of drugs. Scientists linked cAMP response-element-binding protein (CREB), ∆FosB, and variant of  µ opioid receptor site to the promotion of drug use among children (Doweiko, 2012, 336). The biological differences theories state that the predisposition to go onto drug use differs in terms of metabolism, biotransformation, and acting (Doweiko, 2012, 337). Researchers also

Risk Assessments in Child Protection

Risk Assessments in Child Protection Before the introduction of risk assessment methods in child protection in the 1980’s the assessment and prediction of children at risk from abuse was a capricious business: care workers had no theory, or methodology and no strategy by which to determine which children were more at risk than others – they worked almost in the dark. When risk assessment strategies were introduced their enormous advantage was to give some orientation and means of prediction to social workers in their efforts to determine which children were at the highest risk. Moreover, in pre-risk assessment days, decisions about child protection were taken individually by scattered organizations and institutions without any inter-communication. The desperate consequence of this lack of cohesion was often complete confusion about which authority should make the decision about whether to and how to protect a child from abuse. Risk assessment required much closer participation between various agencies and therefore more efficient and individualistic protection care for children. Risk assessment takes into consideration a number of risk factors that affect a child – parental, family, environmental etc., – and analyzes these collectively to produce a total risk overview. Risk assessment has evolved considerably since its introduction in the 1980’s and various methods and theories of risk assessment have been experimented with; this essay looks at several of these methods, analyzing the relative worth of each. It also examines the introduction of schemes such as child protection conferences and child protection plans and evaluates the improvements to child protection brought by these schemes. Finally, this essay will discuss the future or risk assessment and its influence upon government policy and direction. Vulnerable children face five principal types of risk: sexual abuse, emotional abuse, institutional abuse, physical neglect, and non-organic failure to thrive. This essay now details and describes the implications for risk assessment of each of these types of abuse. The NSPCC gives the following definition of sexual abuse: ‘The sexual abuse of children may include sexual touching, masturbation, intercourse, indecent exposure, use of children in or showing children pornographic films or pictures, encouraging or forcing children into prostitution or encouraging or forcing children to witness sexual acts. Children and young people of all ages can be victims of abuse.’ (NSPCC). Children then are at potential risk from all of the types of abuse described in the above quotation; each of which, if undetected and unprevented causes a deep physical and emotional trauma for the child. Physical abuse is defined by the National Centre on Child Abuse and Neglect as The physical injur y or maltreatment of a child under the age of eighteen by a person who is responsible for the childs welfare under circumstances which indicate that the childs health or welfare is harmed or threatened thereby’. Children may also encounter physical abuse by way of domestic violence, and this together with physical abuse is nationally one the most frequently experienced types of abuse against children. The emotional abuse of children is defined by the American National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse as ‘†¦ a pattern of behaviour that attacks a childs emotional development and sense of self-worth. Emotional abuse includes excessive, aggressive or unreasonable demands that place expectations on a child beyond his or her capacity. Constant criticizing, belittling, insulting, rejecting and teasing are some of the forms these verbal attacks can take. Emotional abuse also includes failure to provide the psychological nurturing necessary for a childs psycholog ical growth and development providing no love, support or guidance (National Committee for the Prevention of Child Abuse, 1987). This definition then describes the myriad forms of emotional abuse that children can be subjected to – and thus the inherent difficulties of prediction and prevention in child protection. Non-organic failure to thrive is a further possible risk that children are exposed to. It is defined by the Lucy Packard Children’s Hospital as ‘†¦decelerated or arrested physical growth (height and weight measurements fall below the fifth percentile, or a downward change in growth across two major growth percentiles) associated with poor developmental and emotional functioning.’ Non-organic failure to thrive is often difficult to detect, and risk assessment is vital to guarantee this detection. Institutional abuse is also a broad term, but within its scope are included bullying, racial discrimination, disability discrimination and many ot hers. Risk assessment then has to draw together all of these potential risks and must consider factors that influence them. These factors include parenting capacity, child developmental needs, housing, the child’s family and the child’s environment. This essay now discusses each of these factors succinctly before describing the various methods used to assess them. Parenting capacity and the family environment are intimately connected as factors for assessment of possible risks to a child. A healthy relationship between his/her parents and a stable family environment is extremely important for the physical and emotional welfare of a child.   When this healthy environment deteriorates because of domestic violence, parental arguments, parental divorce, change of circumstances etc., the child is put at a higher risk of abuse. The influence of extended family (grandparents, aunts/uncles, cousins etc.,) is likewise very considerable and must be considered as a risk assessment factor. Child developmental needs refer to the needs of a child for access to education and social development, and for children with learning disabilities to get access to professional help and services. If this development is negatively affected in some way, then the risk to a child increases significantly. Poor quality housing is clearly a risk factor for the welfare of a child, particularly those with disabilities. Children with disabilities require special facilities and equipment, and all children require basic amenities and utilities depending upon the age and development of that child. Interior and exterior conditions, hygiene, sleeping environment, and local surroundings can all become risk factors if neglected or abused. This essay now examines the three dominant theories or methods of risk assessment in the past decade of child protection: the actuarial model and the theoretical-empirical approach. (1) Theoretical-Empirical (Consensus-Based) Models. Within the theoretical-empirical model risk is determined according to a decided group of empirically grounded risk factors, and by these the social worker produces a total assessment of risk founded upon witnessed combinations of risk factors (Boer, Webster, 1997). Scientific research has demonstrated that the theoretical-empirical model achieves average predictive success. (Epperson, 1998). The inherent difficulty of this method is that the care worker must equate identified risk factors into a recidivism likelihood. The model can therefore be argued to be undermined   by its lack of integration of risk factors (Wolfe McGee, 1994) so important in child protection. Risk assessment for the theoretical-empirical model is founded upon theories about parental abuse of children. The classic model of this type was the Ecological Model of Maltreatment (Brofenbrenner 1979, Belsky, 1993). The idea within this model is that numerous factors and the identification of risk factors determine the likelihood of abuse. The Ecological Model of Maltreatment considers risks related to children themselves, to caregivers, caregiver and child interaction, the family, and wider social and institutional factors. According to the theoretical-empirical model potential risk is determined in the investigation and influences case-choice at the beginning of the assessment process, during investigations, decisions about beginning cases, service strategy, child placement, and at the closure of cases.  Ã‚   (2)PureActuarial Models. These models supply definite principles for integrating risk factors (identified by retrospective empirically founded case reviews) into certain probability figures. The difference with such models is that they are not tethered to any particular theory of child abuse, or theory of parental abuse of children, but instead make use of all factors that are empirically joined to a risk assessment decision and put these in the assessment scales nonetheless. An advantage of such models is that they give specific weights of scale to individual risk factors and so can be transformed into scales that show the important associations between risk variables and the resolution of interest. Thus these associations imply that a particular variable is present, so too is the concomitant variable – though one should not necessarily infer that one variable produces the other. Such a distinction is vital when evaluating whether the aim of risk assessment should be short te rm or long term prediction and prevention, and intervention. Recent scientific investigation reveals that actuarial scales such as these are better at prediction of risk than clinical judgement usually is (Groove Meehl, 1996). Nonetheless, several authorities and risk assessment theoreticians have implied that this actuarial superiority is based upon inaccurate research (Serin, 1995). Sjosted and Grann (2002) have further questioned the methodology of actuarial models.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   (3)Clinically Adjusted Actuarial Models. The essential difference between pure actuarial models and clinically adjusted actuarial models is that the later use an actuarial method to ascertain risk factors as determined by a risk scale, but a medical or care practitioner can vary the actuarial level plus or minus depending upon the factor of his clinical judgement. Thus clinically adjusted models place are more individualistic since they permit the inclusion of possible individual risk factors that were unable to be documented empirically. There is much debate and argument about the strengths and weaknesses of these various methods. Within the actuarial school of thought there is a separate question as to which of the pure actuarial models or the clinically adjusted actuarial models is superior. It is probably true to say that actuarial models (of both types) are now thought to provide greater accuracy of prediction of child risk than theoretical-empirically based models. Clinically adjusted actuarial models are argued to give the best results, combining the advantages of an integrated risk assessment scale with the experience of a clinician and his ability to spot the individualistic risks in particular case that the model may not have noticed. The future of risk assessment perhaps lies then with a refinement of the clinically adjusted actuarial model. Important issues of methodology to be addressed include poor reliability, validity of measures, dilemmas of terminology, lack of base rate information, incorporation of individualistic risks and sensitivity of investigation.  Ã‚   In pre-risk assessment days a profound flaw of the child protection system was the failure of various independent agencies to pool together their skills and the knowledge they had acquired about the risk to a particular child; inter-agency communication was poor, and as a consequence many children were harmed, or even killed, who might otherwise have been saved. The advent of risk assessment in child protection improved the co-ordination of information between professional care services, and the recent introduction of child protection conferences have led to a far greater and more efficient sharing of information between agencies. Child protection conferences are convened after social services and the police have made initial inquiries about the health of a child and then seek to extend these enquires. A child protection conference brings together all professionals concerned with the welfare of a child, and thus has the enormous advantage of bringing all possible helpful information together at the same time. The purpose of such conferences is to determine the welfare of the child, to evaluate the risk of physical or emotional harm to the child, and to decide whether the child should be transferred onto the Child Protection Register. Conferences also consider whether legal proceedings ought to be brought on behalf of the child, and whether the police are required to investigate a crime against the child. If it is felt necessary to put a child on the Child Protection Register, then the conference must also produce a Child Protection Plan for the future welfare of the child. Such plans are essential because they explicitly stipulate what the responsibilities and duties are of each agency involved in the care of the child. The usefulness and thoroughness of these conferences is enhanced by the practice of a follow-up conferences after three months to determine progress, and then further conferences after six month intervals if necessary. Moreover, the inter-agency dialogue introduced by child conferences greatly improves the chances of these professionals spotting a specific risk to a child that might be missed by individual agencies. Child protection conferences are vital then to ensure and maximise the accuracy of individual risk assessments.   In short, child protection conferences have improved enormously the co-operation and inter-communication of the various agencies involved in the care of a particular child and so reduced considerably the risk posed to that child.   Ã‚   A further area that needs to be investigated by risk assessment is parental capacity to care for children. It is usually assumed that parents have a right to care for their children in all circumstances; an idea influenced by the normal reluctance of British society to tolerate intensive state intervention into private family life. It is believed that the state should remain at a distance, stepping in only in emergencies or cases of dire need. Professional care workers now argue however that this attitude of non-intervention often ignores the actual capacity of some parents to care for their children, particularly those with intensive needs. Thus this attitude can frequently threaten a child’s safety and security. Future risk assessment needs to develop a theoretical and practical model for possible state intervention in cases where parental ability to care for a child is suspect. The British government will be required to play a significant role here; updating existing legislation and creating new strong legislation to allow for intervention by care services in the most high risk cases of child abuse. This demand upon the government is an outcome of the philosophy of risk now prevalent in the United Kingdom, where it is assumed that the government has the ability to foresee and prevent abuse and maltreatment – and so the government is to be held to account when this does not happen. In the final analysis, it must be seen that risk assessment for child protection has had an   enormous success compared with the vacuum and capricious nature of prediction and prevention that existed before its introduction. Care workers and clinicians now have a theoretical, empirical and practical model by which to best determine the various risks that affect vulnerable children. The future progress and evolution of risk assessment seems to lie with an actuarial model – probably a clinically adjusted actuarial model. Such models at present appear to integrate risk factors most successfully and therefore to offer the best rates of prediction. This said, methodology needs to be thoroughly revised to evaluate and consider reliability of data, reliability of measures, integration of clinical opinion, individualistic risks etc., So too risk assessment needs to develop clear concepts and to push for government legislation to produce a model for state intervention into cases wher e parental ability to care for children is insufficient. Risk assessment theory must seek to modify the attitude of the British public that assumes parental right to care is absolute; showing that in certain circumstances this is not the case. BIBLIOGRAPHY Books Journals   Ã‚   Belsky, J. (1993). Etiology of Child Maltreatment: A DevelopmentalEcological Analysis. Psychological Bulletin. Vol 114, No 3, 413-434. Boer, D.P. Webster, C.D. (1997) Manual for the Sexual Violence Risk 20. Vancouver, B.C. The British Colombia Institute Against Family Violence. Brofenbrenner, U. (1979). The Ecology of Human Development. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press. Corby, B. (1990) Risk Assessment in Child Protection Work. International Conference of Risk Assessment in Child Protection. Epperson, D.L. (1998). Final Report on the Development of the Sex Offender Screening Tool: Presentation at the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers. 17th Annual Conference. Groove, W.M. Meehl, P.E. (1996). Comparative Efficiency of Informal and Formal Predictive Procedures: The Clinical-Statistical Controversy. Public Policy and Law, 2. 293-323.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Kemshall, H. (2002). Risk, Social Policy and Welfare. Open University Press, Buckingham. Parsloe, P. (1999) (2001). Risk Assessment in Social Care and Social Work. Jessica Kingsley, London.    Serin, R.C. (1995). Violent Recidivism in Criminal Psychopaths. Law and Human Behaviour, 20, 207-217.    Sjostedt, G, Grann, M. (2002). Risk Assessment: What is Being Predicted by Actuarial Prediction Instruments. International Journal of Forensic Mental Health. Vol 1, No 2, 179-183. Websites National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty Against Children, (NSPCC).   www.nspcc.org.uk    National Centre on Child Abuse and Neglect  Ã‚   www.nccanch.acf.hhs.gov

film Essays -- essays research papers

The film, El Norte, is a believable portrayal of a Guatemalan family’s struggles in the 1980s. The story is divided into three parts. The first part of the story takes place in a village in Guatemala. The Xuncax family is in danger when the father, an activist leader, helps organize the local workers. Because of the father’s activism and his attempt to preserve what rightfully belongs to them, he is murdered. The mother is then taken away by the army, never to be seen again. The brother, Enrique, and the sister, Rosa, are left behind in the village. They fear for their lives and share the hope of a better life in â€Å"the north.† They recall the stories told to them by their godmother. They viewed pictures and stories in an American magazine, Good Housekeeping, portraying images of the â€Å"American Dream.† So often, this image is presented in such a manner that many readers in the U.S. and in other countries get the message that this dream is easily attainable and close at hand. Rosa and Enrique are also seduced by this false presentation of the U.S. They believed this myth about life in the north, so they fled from their violent situation, only to trade their present set of problems for another kind of intensified conflict as undocumented immigrants.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The director was careful to present a fictional story based on the real life struggles of undocumented immigrants. The authentic portrayal of the people and their story is powerful. The characters are no...

Cheating Quotes Essay

Evidence 1. â€Å"There is too much competition between students, which leads to increased pressure to do well. Cheating becomes a way to get the edge over the other students in the class. In addition, the penalties for getting caught are mild.† 2. â€Å"Today there is more pressure placed on students to do well. They are expected to receive good grades, play a sport, and volunteer if they are to be looked at by a good college. With a B tainting your transcript, a college might not look at you.† 3. â€Å"Students who would usually cheat get sucked into believing it is the only way to get ahead in school: If the cheaters are doing better then they are and not getting caught, then they had better try it.† 4. â€Å"Schools are drifting away from emphasizing learning and are emphasizing the grade instead. When the thirst for knowledge is replenished in the students mind, the desire for the grade without the work will dissolve. Only then will cheating decline.† Commentary 1. Wenke is indicating that the competition to get better grades has increased, and the only way for the students to stay in the competition is to cheat. She also says that because of the competition the pressure increased which causes the students stress, which then pushes them towards cheating. The students have no fear of cheating because the penalties will not affect them or there grades in a major way. 2. Wenke is trying to show us that now education is based around getting good grades and doing well and not about getting a good education and learning. She also is saying that colleges are looking for students with better grades and people with more extracurricular activities and with out A grades colleges may not even look at your transcript. 3. Wenke is telling us that cheating is the only way students can achieve success in school. Some students try their hardest to get the best grade they can achieve, but then see that the cheaters that put in less effort and get better grades. This makes more students want to cheat because that way you could focus on other things and not only schoolwork. So Wenke is saying what is stopping the good students from trying to cheat if the cheaters are prospering while they are not. 4. Wenke is indicating that cheating will only decline if knowledge is a greater quality for students rather than getting a better grade. If all the students want only knowledge and the grades do not affect their education then there will not be as much cheating as there is now. So the end of cheating will only occur if students care more about knowledge instead of grades.

Sun Tzu’s Art of War and Business Strategy

The concepts from Sun Zi’ a Art of War and Business Strategies applied by Carrefour is sufficient and effective, so just keep up with those concepts and Carrefour will do fine in the future. Otherwise, they could also apply some of other concepts from Sun Zi to even strengthen their business and to even secure a more stable success from future uncertainties. Carrefour should open more famous restaurant inside such as famous retailer shop to attract more customer traffic. Besides, they should be discovering more sales promotions to attract customers, such as rebates, premium and so on. This can be done by increasing advertisement in TV to attract more customers. By that, attract workers that they have many languages to communicate with customer in dealing with customer with different religious view. One of those concepts from Sun Zi that Carrefour could apply is the â€Å"To Dictate and Not to Be Dictated† concept. The company needs to create online supply platform, which will have Sears and Oracle. This will allow the company’s retailers and suppliers exchange innovative information through the internet system and maximize the flow of products, hence minimizing their administrative costs. Carrefour also needs to embrace technological advances, which will allow the company venture into new markets where it can increase its customer base. The marketing strategies, which the company can embrace, include online, viral marketing, and sourcing strategies (Nina, 2008). The company needs to streamline its legal aspects to allow its expanding in Asian markets without any hurdles. Carrefour gains of the utilization of emerging technologies can also come in the form of lowered tear and wear on equipment and facilities, which will decrease the maintenance needed for equipment and facilities (Gehlen & Lasserre, 2005). Carrefour has to show an exceptional capacity to adapt its concept to local business environment across the globe. By internalizing the achievement or failure of definite initiatives in one business design, Carrefour is capable to transmit the knowledge of this failure or success transversely in all business departments at little cost to the firm. The company is competent to spread the expertise, which its human capital has gained by sending experts to work side-by-side with local managerial team. This structure enables the spreading of understanding within the firm both downstream and upstream, therefore, creating value for the whole company (Hoskisson, 2008). Besides that, Carrefour could also apply the â€Å"Knowing the Battleground and Engagement Time† concept. Whereby Carrefour could conduct a survey beforehand to determine what are the most suitable tactics and strategies to implement in a certain market. This will bring greater result and a swift success could be obtained. Carrefour should seize the opportunity for expansion to other parts of China, especially the second-tier cities, which have a high growth potential. Since the eastern coastal cities where Carrefour has the majority of the market share are already saturated, there is little value in investing more money in the area. Moreover, it is timely for Carrefour to expand especially when personal income in China has seen a rising trend. This shows that the Chinese consumer market has a high potential for growth, and consumption and demand is likely to increase as disposable income rises. While Carrefour’s main challenge is increased competition as its major competitors also have plans to expand and seize market share, its resources do give it a competitive advantage. Firstly, its one-stop shopping concept is one-of-a-kind. It recognizes consumers’ need for convenience and provides for it. Hence, Carrefour should continue to position itself as a company that delivers superior value offering to customers, as well as the place where one can satisfy most of one’s needs for products, entertainment and other services. Secondly, its management capabilities also give it a competitive advantage over other competitors. Having a decentralized management gives the store managers flexibility to adjust the strategies to meet different local demands and needs in different locations. This allows Carrefour to increase customer value as it narrows down and customizes its strategy to meet the local customers’ needs. Thirdly, Carrefour’s low employee turnover rate gives it a cost advantage over its competitors and also raises overall confidence level of the company. Our recommendations are relative to the market development and are based on an evaluation of the forecast return within the coming 12 months. The forecast return is the difference between the current price and our 12-month price target which includes the projected dividend. The equity market has historically yielded a return of around 10%. When we determine the recommendation for a share we use the 10% as an estimate of the return in the equity market. Since our recommendations are relative and risk-adjusted, it is possible to compare our recommendations across sectors and risk categories. In addition, the potential is stated in absolute terms via our price target. It should be borne in mind, however, that the recommendation is the anchor. A buy recommendation will remain a buy recommendation until changed, even if price increases have taken the price ‘too close’ to the price target. The future and historical returns estimated in the research report are stated as returns before costs since returns after costs depend on a number of factors relating to individual customer relations, custodian charges, volume of trade as well as market, currency and product-specific factors. It is not certain that the share will yield the stated expected future returns. The stated expected future returns exclusively express our best assessment. References http://designit.com/cases/making-quick-check-scanning-simple http://na-carrefour.blogspot.com/2012/05/recommendation.html http://www.studymode.com/subjects/recommendation-of-carrefour-page1.html http://www.exclusivepapers.com/essays/Informative/carrefour-company.php