Health Essays Medical Errors Hospitals

Health Essays Medical Errors Hospitals Medical Errors Hospital Disclosure of Medical errors in every day clinical practice. Introduction Medical errors are very common in every day clinical practice. Even taking serious caution does not make the error free hospital any where in the world. According to British Medical Journal ( cited in Adams 2005), â€Å"about 850,000 medical errors occurs in National Health hospitals every year resulting in 40,000 deaths†¦. Adverse events occur in 10% of all hospital patients (p. 274). Today’s times 2004 ( cited in Adams 2005) claims a cost of 2 billion pounds per year due to medical errors. The data shows the magnitude and the significance of the problem. In fact medical errors are preventable in most of the cases. But the sad part of the story is these errors are not disclosed to the patients or the family. Disclosure of medical errors is a very big issue for the leadership and management of a hospital in terms of institutional ethics. This paper will discuss about medical errors, the issue of its disclosure , its outcomes, current trends regarding disclosure of errors , application of theories and implementation in our context. Medical Errors Albert , Cavanaugh, Mc Phee , Bernard , and Micco ( 1997) define medical error as â€Å"Commission or omission with potentially negative consequences for the patient that have been judged wrong by knowledgeable peers at the time it occurred , independent of whether there were any negative consequences† (p.770). In this regard understanding of the error and realization that it is an error is very important. The issue is if it is internalized that error has occurred, then should it be disclosed or not. Non disclosure of medical errors There is a very strong culture of a number of hospitals world wide and the hospital where I belong to that health care professionals hide and do not disclose medical errors to the patients or their families. Errors come on the picture if by any means the patient or their family comes to know about the error. Kaldijan ,Rosenthal, Reimer, and Hillis (2005) did literature review of 316 articles on medical errors and came up with four categories which include attitudinal barriers, helplessness from the institution, uncertainties about how to disclose and its outcomes, and fears and anxieties. In addition to it, risk of ruining person’s as well as the hospital’s reputation, legality issues, low self esteem in the profession, mistrust of the patient and the family, and hindrance in professional progress are also some of the very important barriers to disclosure. (Boyle, Connell, Platt, Albert 2006, Fischer et al 2006, Albert et al 1997). Besides organization’s culture, policy and the colleagues’ attitude also impacts error disclosure. Non disclosure of errors can have some beneficial effects for the patients as well as for the physician. Patients do not become emotionally upset on hearing the news of occurrence of unexpected event during the hospitalization. Boyle, Connell, Platt, and Albert (2006) have cited that American college of physicians has given the liberty of not disclosing the error if the disclosure can cause more harm than benefit as in the case of psychiatric or depressed patients. But the worse part of it is this concept of deception for the benefit of patient is misused in the name of the health care personnel own interests. Similarly risk benefit ratio of disclosure should be calculated or in ethical terms beneficence versus non maleficence should be judged. Furthermore health care personnel do not have to fear for legal issues and the reputation. However they suffer emotional distress if they do not disclose. Disclosure of Medical Errors Medical errors should be disclosed as an ethical and moral responsibility of the health care personnel and the institution as whole. JCIA and JCAHO has made it a standard in 2001 that disclosure of errors should be implemented in hospitals. (Connell, White, Platt 2003, Henry 2005, Gallagher, Studdert, Levinson 2007). In addition The code of ethics of American Medical Association, The American College of Physicians and the National Safety Foundation have also emphasized on disclosure of errors.( Boyle, Connell, Platt, and Albert 2006 ). The standardization of disclosure by so many international organizations particularly JCIA and JCAHO gives the message that the culture and the approach towards the issue of disclosure is changing. These bodies are international standardized bodies and the change in the approach must be evidenced based. If disclosure was not that important it would not have been the part of these quality improving bodies. Literature supports disclosure of errors. According to Connell, White, Platt (2003) , response of participants who attended the workshop about disclosure of medical errors was 90% affirmative . In a study done by Hobgood, Peck, Gilbert, Chappell ( 2002) on patients and their familys’ perspective of error disclosure gave interesting results. 258 surveys were filled in an emergency department and it revealed that 76% of patients wanted disclosure in case of any error, and 88% felt to its full extent. This clearly indicates the significance of disclosure as an issue and patients need regarding the issue. Disclosure of medical errors has many benefits. Initially the reaction of patients may be negative as error could never be expected from patients’ side. But later they get settled .Studies show positive outcomes from patient as well as the health care personnels’ angle because of disclosure. Error disclosure helps patients to get any compensation in the form of additional treatment or financial help. Most of health care personnel believe that disclosure can ruin their relationship with patients and can bring law suit as well as their image down among their collegues. However according to Witman ( cited in Boyle, Connell, Platt, and Albert 2006 ) patients felt to claim law suit if they were not disclosed about errors. In addition University of Michigan Health System reported that â€Å" the cost and frequency of litigation decreased substantially in 5 years after implementation of an open disclosure programme , with annual litigation †¦reduced from $3 million to $1 million and †¦ claims by more than 50%† ( Gallagher, Studdert, Levinson 2007 p. 2716). Error disclosure also brings a positive impact on learning for the person who did the error as well as for others in the organization. Hence mistakes done once may not be repeated next time , system improvement and therefore improvement in the quality of patient care. ( Albert 1997, Mazor 2005, Boyle, Connell, Platt, and Albert 2006 ). Moreover patient physician relationships do remain intact in most of the cases. Trends in application of disclosing errors and comparison in our context Disclosure of medical errors is gaining its significance in so many health care organizations because of the outcomes of it as well as the realization of doing disclosure. Gallaher, Studdert, and Levinson ( 2007), have stated that 2002 survey of institutional risk mangers showed that 36% of the institutions have adopted disclosure policy and the percentage increased to 69% in 2005. They further quoted that Austarlia and United Kingdom in 2003, National Quality Forum safe practices and Harvard in 2006 emphasized and provided guidelines for full disclosure of medical errors to patients. The trend shows that awareness for disclosing medical errors is gaining its popularity. If we compare the scenario in Pakistan, we have a culture of not disclosing errors in most of the hospitals. In addition to the reasons discussed in the literature regarding non disclosure of medical errors, most of the times it is taken as for granted by the health care professionals that the patients belong to low socio economic status, less educated, low level of understanding and therefore errors need not be disclosed. It has been observed in clinical practices that errors are considered most of the time as side effects and untoward result because of certain treatment and there is no internalization that it is an error. In addition there is also a misconception that since the error did not bring any harm to patient so need not to be reported to the hospital management team and therefore no disclosure to the patient. It is interesting to know that most of the hospitals in Pakistan do not have any policy for disclosing error. However in Aga Khan University Hospital (AKUH) the polic y for disclosure of errors exists and it is mentioned in the sentinel events policy that there should be disclosure of medical errors and it is mentioned in the patients’ bill of rights that patients have right to have all information .( Multi disciplinary policies and procedures sentinel events policy no: MDP-S-002). But the sad part of the story is there is no proper implementation of the policy as well as proper explanation of patients’ rights to them. In fact there is no such culture for the individual to share errors to their supervisors as an ethical and moral responsibility until the error is identified by someone else. Reviewing the issue in the light of Theories To support that medical errors should be disclosed, we will be utilizing the following theories of ethics as well as leadership and management. Kant’s Theory of Deontology Immanuel Kant a German philosopher has given the theory of deontology or duty based theory. According to Kant (cited in Bernstein and Brown 2004), act should be done on the basis of the duty or obligation regardless of the consequences. He also believed that the intention behind the act justifies the action done. If we try to understand the disclosure of medical errors from Kant’s perspective, disclosure should be done as it is the duty of the health care personnel. It is the right of the patient and duty of the personnel to share all information including the errors if occurred. Kant believes in telling the truth which is the duty in all conditions and deception is un tolerable. The debate that if truth telling causes harm should be told to patients or not , goes against Kant’s philosophy. If health care professional feels that deception of the truth will give more benefit than there should be a very strong rationale for it and should not be taken as for convenience. K ant (cited in Bernstein and Brown 2004) has discussed about one’s conscience which play a major role in making right decisions according to his duty and states, â€Å"consciousness is an internal court †¦before which a human being’s accuse or excuse one another†¦an internal judge, and this authority watching over the law in him is something that he himself makes, but †¦incorporated in his being† (p.172). Heifetz’s perspective on Ethical leadership Heifetz ( cited in Northouse 2007) explains that leaders help followers to help resolve conflicts by using their authority. He further explains that â€Å"Heifetz’s perspective is related to values of workers, organizations and communities in which they work† (p. 347). In the light of this perspective, leaders need to have a clear idea of what is the value of the organization which in all circumstances is the best quality care given to its customers and taking care of their wishes and doing what is right. Leaders need to persuade people to do the right thing and therefore the culture of disclosure of medical errors should be inculcated by the leaders. Burn’s perspective on Ethical leadership Burns gave the theory of transformational leadership in 1978. According to Burns (cited in Northouse 2007), leaders have an important role in motivating people to identify their values and to help them reach to a level where the principles of â€Å"justice, liberty and equality† should be incorporated in practice. This clearly indicates the moral aspect of leadership which leads that disclosure of errors should be done as moral obligation of the organization. Significance of medical error disclosure from leadership and management perspective The issue of medical errors disclosure is very important from leadership and management point of view because this issue is not confined to a particular institution but it is a global issue. As discussed above that leaders have a very important role in pursuing and motivating people to follow morality in practice. Ethics has a very important place in leadership and organization. Leaders give direction to the followers or subordinates. They have a very strong impact on their followers. Therefore if leaders will have strong value on creating an environment and culture whereby every individual gets rights and do their duties, then this gives rise to an organization following ethical principles. This is only possible if and only if the leader values that act. In the issue of medical errors disclosure, leaders should play their role to first get the issue internalized and get it inculcated in the organization’s culture. Implementation of disclosure of errors in our context In order to address the issue in our Pakistani and in particular AKUH the most important aspect is first internalizing that the error occurred and not getting defensive. Internalization can be done by leading seminars, discussions, conferences and bioethical grand rounds where issues of error disclosure can be discussed and health care professionals can clarify their misconception about errors. They should have a very clear understanding of what are medical errors. Once the understanding of error is there, the next step is reporting of errors in the organization through the in built system of error reporting. Unfortunately AKUH Karachi does not have a very good system of error reporting. Errors are reported when someone identifies it but the person involved rarely reports the error. On conversation with clinical affairs person of AKUH , centralization of errors reporting is under process. At present if errors are reported it is not centralized to one place. Centralization will assist in getting the picture of medical errors occurring in the hospital as a whole. There should be reinforcement at the academia level of medical and nursing education about errors and its disclosure .Adams ( 2005) has given a very practical approach towards identifying our own errors. He has shared his example how he started writing all the errors which he identified during his practice and it was interesting to see that the identified errors were between one to six per week for 29 weeks . This data was for those errors which he identified himself and may not have captured all the errors done. This practice will help us identify and internalize that how many errors are made by health care professionals. Besides , voluntary electronic reporting of medical errors can also be implemented . The results of one study where 92,547 reports from 26 hospitals were evaluated showed that 47% of the registered nurses did voluntary reporting of errors compared to intern doctors which was 1.4%.( Milch, et al 2006). Jones, Cochrane, Hicks and Mueller ( 2004) asserts that success of voluntary error reporting depends upon the organizational culture where confidentiality is maintained and a â€Å"non punitive culture† exists which promotes error reporting. Once the error is reported, the question comes for the disclosure of error. Henry (2005) asserts that there should be clear policy for disclosure and this helps in creating an open organizational culture for disclosure as well as promotes patients autonomy. He further adds that managerial support should be there and as leaders they should be promoting disclosure in their organization. Organization’s culture needs to be formulated which best supports the disclosure policies. Giganti( cited in Henry 2005) claims that â€Å" one must approach culture change with systems thinking†¦.organization’s culture is built up over time and is based on the assumptions , beliefs and values that drive the organization† (p. 132). Hence the cultural change involves evaluation of systems to see why there is hesitancy and reluctance in disclosing errors to patients and their families. Persons should not be blamed instead system should be analyzed .Cultural change at the institut ional level will lead the policy makers to consider it at the health ministry level because there needs to be law to address this issue. Disclosure is not an easy task keeping into considerations the so called consequences afterwards. There needs to be special trainings in this aspect. Hobgood, Hevia and Hinchey ( 2004) suggest for disclosure in terms of promoting safe environment to the patients and that there should be open conversation during disclosure expecting any reaction from the patient. Therefore communication plays a very important role. Furthermore Connell, White and Platt ( 2003) have given the steps for error disclosure which includes â€Å" apologize and take responsibility†, â€Å"determine who will be involved†, and â€Å"be proactive in addressing the patient’s financial needs† (p.27). However the concept of becoming proactive in identifying our system gaps and root cause analysis of the problem will promote a safety culture and hence less medical errors and therefore less issues of disclosure. Conclusion Medical errors cause huge number of deaths which can be prevented. Medical errors do occur every day in our clinical practices but there is under reporting of the errors. And if reported there is culture of non disclosure of errors until it comes to patient’s knowledge by any means or the outcomes of that error are such that it cannot be kept hidden. The reasons identified through experiences and literature are fear of destroying relationships with patients, loss of patients trust on heath care personnel, legal issues , loosing the credibility in the profession, shame , guilt and not realizing to disclose considering it better from patients perspective. However recent trend suggests that institutions who developed and implemented disclosure policy had very positive results . Patients felt that they were apologized for that and were brought into confidence. This led to less law suits and decrease in the cost given for legal issues. Besides patients were able to participate in t he compensation or adjustment for the loss due to error. Hence the above mentioned literature and practical experiences suggest that medical errors should be disclosed. Leaders need to help their subordinates or the followers to apply Kant theory of deontology but justify if they feel error should not be disclosed. Moreover it is the responsibility of the leader and each and every individual of the team to help creating an open environment of disclosure and to follow it. References Adams,H. (2005). â€Å"Why there is error, may we bring truth.† A misquote by Margaret Thatcher as she entered No 10, downing street in 1979. Anaesthesia, 60 , 274-277. Berstein, M. Brown, B.(2004). Doctors’ duty to disclose error: a deontological ethical analysis. The Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences,31, 169-174. Boyle, D., O’Connell, D., Platt, F. W., Albert, R. K.(2006). Disclosing errors and adverse events in the intensive care unit. Critical Care Medicine,34 (5), 1532-1537. Connell, D. O., White, M. K., Platt, F. W. (2003). Disclosing unanticipated outcomes and medical errors. JCOM, 10(1), 25-29. Fischer,M. A., Mazor,K.M., Baril,J., Alper, E., Demarco,D., Pugnaire,M. ( 2006). Factors that influence how students and residents learn from medical errors. Journal of General Internal Medicine , 21, 419-423. Gallagher, T. H., Studdert, D., Levinson, W. (2007). Disclosing harmful medical errors to patients. The New England Journal Of Medicine,356, (26), 2713-9. Henry, L. L. (2005). Disclosure of medical errors: Ethical considerations for the development of a facility policy and organizational culture change. Policy, Politics, Nursing Practice, 6(2), 127-134. Hobgood, C., Hevia, A., Hinchey,P.(2004). Profiles in patient safety: when an error occurs.ACAD Emergency Medicine,11(7), 766-770. Hobgood, C., Peck, C. R., Gilbert, B., Chappel, K., Zou, B. (2002). Academic Emergency Medicine, 9(11), 1156-1161. Jones , K. J., Cochran, G., Hicks, R.W., Mueller, K.J.( 2004). Translating research into practice: voluntary reporting of medication errors in critical access hospitals. The Journal of Rural Health, 20 (4), 335- 343. Kaldijan,L. C., Jones , E. W., Rosenthal, G. E., Reimer, T. T., Hillis, S. L. (2006). An empirically derived taxonomy of factors affecting physicians’ willingness to disclose medical errors. Journal General Internal Medicine, 21, 942-948. Mazor, K. M., Reed, G. W., Yood, R. A., Fischer, M. A., Baril, J., Gurwitz, J. H. (2006). Disclosure of medical errors: What factors influence how patients respond? Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21, 704-710. Mellisa, A. F., Mazor, K. M., Baril, J., Alper, E ., DeMarco, D., Pugnaire, M. (2006). Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21, 419-423. Milch, C. E., Salem, D.N., Pauker, S. G., Lundquist , T. G., Kumar, S., Chen, J.(2006).Voluntary electronic reporting of medical errors and adverse events : an anlysis of 92,547 reports from 26 acute care hospitals. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 21, 165-170. Northouse,P. G. ( 2007).Leadership Theory and practice .(4th ed).Sage Publications: London. The Aga Khan University Hospital Multi disciplinary policies and procedures. Retrieved March 22 , 2008, from http://intranet/jcia/jciapp/searchpolicy.asp Wu, A. W., Cavanaugh, T. A., McPhee, S. J., Lo, B., Micco, G. P. (1997). To tell the truth: Ethical and practical issues in disclosing medical mistakes to patients. Journal of General Internal Medicine, 12, 770-775. Winslade, W. McKinney, E. B. (2006).The ethical lawyer. Journal of Law, Medicine, Ethics, Nantechnology, Winter, 813-816.

The Insecurity of Shakespeares Macbeth :: GCSE English Literature Coursework

The Insecurity of Macbeth  Ã‚   Macbeth, the main character in William Shakespeare's tragedy, Macbeth was not secure in his manhood.   This insecurity led to the downfall of Macbeth because he felt the need to prove himself to Lady Macbeth. After he proved himself by killing Duncan, Macbeth became desensitized to killing. In the beginning of the play Macbeth showed his love for Lady Macbeth in many different ways. He told her his feelings toward her "My dearest love" (act I, scene v, l 58). Macbeth listens to what Lady Macbeth has to say, and takes her advice into consideration every time he makes a decision. He also has great love for her and tries his best to make her happy no matter what it takes.   Lady Macbeth convinced Macbeth that he wasn't a man unless he went through with the murder of Duncan. She threatens his manhood by saying When you durst do it, then you were a man;/ And to be more than what you were, you would/ Be so much more the man (act I, scene vii, l 49-51). Slowly Lady Macbeth manipulated his mind to think the right thing to do was kill Duncan. Macbeth had decided in order to prove his manhood he must go through with this horrible act. After Macbeth had committed the crime he felt that his soul could never be cleansed no matter what he did. He said They pluck out mine own eyes!/Will all great Neptune's ocean wash this blood/Clean from my hand? No; this my hand will rather/The Multitudinous seas incarnadine, /Making the green one red (act II, scene iii, l 58-62). This shows that he really didn't want to kill Duncan, but he did it in order to prove himself to Lady Macbeth, and to become the king. By the end he had no fear, and had killed not only Duncan but also many other people. He now had different views from which he had in the beginning of the play. Macbeth realizes that he is no longer afraid "no, nor more fearful. (Act V, scene vii, l 9). He is now considered a man, but he doesn't like the fact that he has killed all these people.

Creation Science Essay -- essays research papers

Creationism is a religious metaphysical theory about the origin of the universe. It is not a scientific theory. Technically, creationism is not necessarily connected to any particular religion. It simply requires a belief in a Creator. Millions of Christians and non-Christians believe there is a Creator of the universe and that scientific theories such as the the theory of evolution do not conflict with belief in a Creator. However, fundamentalist Christians such as Ronald Reagan and Jerry Falwell, have co-opted the term 'creationism' and it is now difficult to refer to creationism without being understood as referring to fundamentalist Christians who (a) take the stories in Genesis as accurate accounts of the origin of the universe and life on Earth, and (b) believe that Genesis is incompatible with the Big Bang theory and the theory of evolution. Thus, it is commonly assumed that creationists are Christians who believe that the account of the creation of the universe as presented in Genesis is literally true in its basic claims about Adam and Eve, the six days of creation, and not an allegory. Creation science is a term used by certain creationists to indicate that they believe that Genesis is a scientific account of the origin of the universe. Reading the Bible as if it were a scientific text contradicts the Big Bang theory and the theory of evolution. "Creation scientists" say those theories are false and that scientists who advocate such theories are ignorant of the truth about the origins of the universe and life on Earth. One of the main leaders of creation science is Duane T. Gish of the Institute for Creation Research, who puts forth his views in conjunction with attacks on evolution. Gish is the author of Evolution, the Challenge of the Fossil Record ( San Diego, Calif.: Creation-Life Publishers, 1985) and Evolution, the Fossils Say No (San Diego, Calif.: Creation-Life Publishers, 1978). Another leader of this movement is Walt Brown of the Center for Scientific Creationism. Neither Gish nor Brown seem to understand the difference between a fact and a theory. They loudly proclaim that evolution is just a theory and that it is false. Scientific theories are neither true nor false. They are explanations of facts. That species evolved from other species is considered by 99.99% of the scientific community to be a scientific fact. How spec... ... act unscientifically, to be dogmatic and dishonest. But the fact that one finds an occasional oddball in the history of science (or a person of integrity and genius among pseudoscientists) does not imply that there really is no difference between science and pseudoscience. Because of the public and empirical nature of scientific debate, the charlatans will be found out, errors will be corrected and the honest pursuit of the truth is likely to prevail in the end. This will not be the case with pseudosciences such as creation science, where there is no method needed for detecting errors (since it can't err) much less of correcting them. Some theories, like creationism can't be refuted, even in principle, because everything is consistent with them, even apparent contradictions and contraries. Scientific theories allow definite predictions to be made from them; they can, in principle, be refuted. Theories such as the Big Bang theory and the steady state theory can be tested by experience and observation. Metaphysical theories such as creationism are "airtight" if they are self-consistent. They contain no self-contradictory elements. No scientific theory is ever airtight.

Terror and repression were essential elements in establishing

Each communist regime, although In different countries have remarkable similarities In how they were seized ND governed. A lot of propaganda was used during these times. The people were all forced to believe in things that weren't exactly true and if they decided to rebel and stand up for their rights, they would either be killed or held in captivity for the rest of their lives. I have chosen two countries which I will go into more depth on and they are Hungary and Poland.In my opinion these two countries struggled the most through terror and repression, and were helpless during their communist regimes but both countries against all the odds were hungry and willing enough to tend up in the end and fight for their freedom. At the end of the second world war, Budapest in Hungary was in war with soviet soldiers, the streets of Budapest were a war ground, and people took to the streets to try to fight against these soviets.However the soviets were victorious in their quest and took contr ol of Hungary. Mantas Razors who was loyal to the soviets and the communism regime, had his own political party and had backing from the soviets. Rascal's alma was to convince communism was the way to go for Hangar's future. In 1947 a free election took place and people had the possibility to freely vote who they anted to run Hangar's government, but Rakish still managed to come into power, due to terror, repression, intimidation, trial and fraud.Arrack's first aim in power was to eliminate all threats that could of cause Rakish problems, and his first assassination was the head of the Catholic church. Rakish wanted complete power and anyone who spoke out against the communists were arrested, put on trial and imprisoned for life. This reign of power continued and by the 1949 elections in Hungary there was no opposition left to stand up against Rakish and his soviet ways, he country was now run by soviet lines. It was a tragedy for the Hungarian people. Rakish like most dictators use d propaganda methods to keep control of his people.He embedded the message of how he would lead Hungary into a wonderfully bright targeted everything good that Hungary had and ruined them with his corrupted mind. Rakish changed the Hungarian school system, everybody was forced to learn off Russian as a language, everyone also were forced to Join the young pioneers, which was the equivalent of a scout group which was organized by the soviet union for the gees of children from ten to eleven years of age. The young pioneers was founded in 1922 and stopped in 1991, the pioneers attended biblically run summer camps and learnt methods of cooperation.Rakish used a lot of propaganda methods to control his people. Rakish used advertisement to trick the people of Hungary, many ads were shown on Hungarian television promoting the soviet's in a positive light in everyday possible they showed happy Hungarian smiling and laughing, an example of an ad that was shown at this time was a commercial s howing the soviets in a positive light giving over big well bred ax's to the poor peasants of this liberated country for them to make an income and feed the Hungarian people.Another example was a commercial about cotton, and in the ad it showed soviet cotton being delivered to Hungary to feed Hangar's textile machinery, so the freezing worker's of Hungary could cloth themselves in warm material. They also had an ad about the soviets finding new found grain fields which await Hungary, and this would provide Hungary with better quality crops and quick reproduction. These were all great commercials and it really made it seem that communism was he way forward for Hungary, so many more commercials like these were made.The Hungarian were completely and utterly bombarded by news real and advertisement, on their radios, their TV's and even when they went to the cinema to see a film. Of course these were all fake lies, the ox's that were shown in the ad were originally Hungarian ox's and the Russian's did not give them to the poor peasants, they actually took them from Hungary and brought them to Russia. Workers were also not given free clothing, it took a average paid worker three months wages to build up enough income to purchase one decent coat.The new found grain fields, didn't exist anywhere near Hungary the fields belonged to Russia and remained in the hands of Russian farmers. The happy smiling faces of the people in the videos were Just hiding the sad grim reality of what was actually happening. The Russian's also took enormous amounts of food out of Hungary and they imported it into their own country and distributed it to Russian markets all around the country. Hungarian off didn't realize this was happening until months rolled on and Hungarian shops began to have shortages of food, such as potatoes and vegetables which they had ever had a shortage in before.This began to be a serious problem in Hungary as people were left in hungry. People were at the time no w aware of what Rakish was doing but they were simply unable to stand against him due to fear of being imprisoned or even sentenced to death he had stuck terror into the eyes and souls of the Hungarian citizens and had All the people could do was remain in silence and were made to deal with the new circumstances. People were forced to praise to this corrupted evil man.Rakish gave speeches to the people about communism and his plans for the future of Hungary ND how he has plans to make Hungary a new independent country, the people of Hungary knowing what he was saying wasn't true still were forced to clap and cheer his name and show him praise because if they didn't they knew there would be consequences. Rakish wanted Hungary to go through industrialization. He wanted Hungary to be a country of ‘Iron and Steel' these being his very own words. However Rakish wasn't a patient man he wanted his country to miraculously change over night which was very ambitious.The process of Indus trialization takes time and Rakish did not give time to anything while in charge. Rakish announced he was going to industrialist Hungary in 1950, and this announcement pleased them greatly, they were very grateful as the Hungarian people thought this would provide employment and wealth for Hungary and this would be the answer to their poverty sticker country. Rakish set his targets high, his ambition lacked the raw materials which they very much needed. High production targets were set.Workers were given quotas which must be met, and if the employee's did not reach the quota set they were ‘an enemy of the people' and if u somehow managed to met the quota, you were praised as a DOD communist. Rakish hailed two workers as he said they has supposedly reached these high production targets that Rakish desired, this was again another lie to put on the pile of Arrack's bundle of lies. They had not really reached the targets but word soon spread around the industries in off Hungary an d employees in the factories became bitter and envious toward these two men.This was a piece of tactical genius by Rakish. He then started to demand more work for such miserable wages. Soon work rate began to increase phenomenally but at a cost.. Workers found it impossible to met the quotas and they mound the only way that they could even come close was to cheat. For example workers hammered nails into washing machines instead of screwing them to save time. Although quantity of goods produced, quality of the goods plummeted. Shoes bought which cost a worker a couple of months wages came apart within days.Hungary had it an all time low. Terror and repression was defeating the poor Hungarian. This whole time the communist machine told the citizens of communist victory. People applauded Rakish due to the terror he had embedded into the minds of the Hungarian and the fear they had of him was not worth the risk of imprisonment or death. Rakish had secret undercover police everywhere cal led the AVOW, they walked around listening in to people conversations, everybody was left paranoid of them being behind their back.They listened to every whisper nobody could say anything negative about the communist regime without fear of been arrested and exiled to concentration camps on the outskirts of Hungary. The AVOW kept files on everybody, and nobody could be sure who the informers were they were trained to require and maintain stealth at all times in all their operations. Even the fear alone of knowing Between 1951 and 1952 thousands of people were deported to the mines, state farms or concentration camps by the AVOW. In 5 families had at least a member of their family or close friend taken away from them, it was impossible to escape the terror. If one family member was arrested, the whole family would be taken away by the AVOW and watched. This fear and paranoia drove people to insanity, which then led to a lot odd suicide's and during this time 2000 people were executed. Many hated Rakish and the Soviet Union, instead of indoctrinating their generation with the ideas of communism, they sold the seed of revolt.Poland was another country in Eastern Europe that suffered great terror and repression from 1945. Although the Nazi's were expelled from Poland in 1945, Poland still remained off controlled by the Soviets for another 1 1 years after until 1956. When the Nazi's were out of the picture, Poland therefore changed in many manners . In 1946 a referendum was held, they did this instead of holding their promised parliamentary elections and this was test to see if the communist rule was still popular in Poland.However the communists still one the battle of votes due to successful pole rigging, which was so easily done as people feared the communist parties as they were violent and they never show any remorse. Once the communist were in control of Poland their first plan of action was to eliminate all threats that opposed them. So the communist put a ba n on miscounts parties. Any sign of citizens of Poland in anyway shape or form who did oppose the communist regime would be exiled. This terror and repression used by the soviets in Poland was the very same as what was used in Hungary.Polish citizens were afraid to stand up against this regime as they eared for their lives and also their families lives, as one person in a families actions could have a detrimental affect on the rest of the family. However in 1947 the Polish United Worker's party the only left allele party formed. They had their first chance at parliament in the 1947 parliamentary elections, this allowed the party to come up against the Communist, they were shot down very quickly though, as they were powerless to the new placed government controls which were very strict.The election was won by the Communists and the candidates of the Communist party won the majority in the parliament. This ended all opposition to the Communist. Many members of the allele party left th e country as there was no hope for them. An AK organization, known as Hollows I Neoclassic meaning Freedom and Sovereignty in English was set up, but it was not set up for violence or combat, it's main aim was to help some AK soldiers make the transition of being partisan to a civilian of Poland.Although this group did not have many resources to face up to the Soviets they did very well and were successful in showing resistance to the Soviets. The Soviets felt they still needed to abolish all of these groups even though the AK organization was disbanded in late 1945, which probably prevented a civil war from taking place. However, many small groups decided to stay united and the Soviets were never going to be happy unless all their allies were disbanded as this would allow them to have complete control over Poland.

Psychological Aspects of Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism Essay

Though the most of the teachings followed by the different sects of Buddhism vary and conflict with each other, the general core values set by Buddha are still followed by all Buddhists. In regard to this we examine two Buddhism sects namely Mahayana and Theravada Buddhism. Whilst Theravada is psychologically oriented, Mahayana is idealistically oriented. The two sects have varying perceptions of the reality and the world besides the concept of being. There are many inherent differences between the two sects of Buddhism though the two seem to broadly agree on the original teachings of Buddha. Firstly, Theravada Buddhism denies the existence of any true being behind any given phenomenon and consequently avoids making metaphysical statements unlike Mahayana which teaches an Eternal Absolute included in many names. In this sense, Mahayana holds that all beings in all forms are identical with the absolute in their cores. Moreover, Mahayana sees Gautama as seeing through the projection of the absolute though it holds or possess a mortal frame of illusion which is frail. On the other hand, Theravada consider Gautama as a natural teacher or a superman at most. In the teachings of Theravada, liberation can only be achieved through an individual’s effort as opposed to the teaching of Mahayana which holds that liberation can be achieved through the help of outside assistance and deliverance through the power of others (Paul, 1999, 45). Moreover, Theravada Buddhism teaches it followers to set their ultimate goal to be the achievement of nirvana as opposed to the case of Mahayana which its ultimate goal is defined in following the ways of bodhisattva in leading all other human beings especially the sentient beings to liberation. In addition, Theravada Buddhism sees Hinayana as the final exit from the world while the same to Mahayana Buddhism is considered as achieving consciousness of an individual absolute nature and gaining mental aloofness state from all suffering. As seen in the teachings of Mahayana Buddhism, it attitudes are organized in such a way that an individual or a follower should endeavor to help the world and unselfish to it. On the contrary, Theravada attitudes are such that it followers should always endeavor to defeat the world through analysis strategies employed on its elements and through using knowledge and experience of an individual conduct. Mahayana Buddhism sometimes referred to as Northern Buddhism or the great wheel (vehicle) is mostly found in china, Vietnam, Japan, Korea and Nepal. It is usually followed by monks and lay. In essence, the Monks follow the rules set by Vinayas and which constitutes the prescriptions for monastic life in the Tipitaka also known to be Theravada sacred canon. However, they do this via the interpretation of Mahayana. In addition, the Monks also take vows to strive attain bodhisattva, with those who pursue esoteric practices of Tantric Buddhism taking Tantric initiations and vows (Michael, 2003, 56). In essence, Mahayana Buddhism is founded on speculations of metaphysical nature in respect to the nature of reality or what can be termed as enlightenment in addition to the core values set by Buddha. The general idea of Mahayana Buddhism is that when one achieves enlightenment, such a person returns to the world as a Bodhisattva to join other human beings. In this context, this branch of Buddhism emphasizes that the duty of a Buddhist who has achieved enlightenment is compassionately work in an effort to help end the sufferings of other Buddhists. In addition, Mahayana Buddhism holds the argument that through enlightenment, all creatures which can be considered as sentiment will finally achieve Buddhahood (Christopher, 1999, 23). Mahayana Buddhism is commonly divided into philosophical schools which are known to be influential not only to the Mahayana Buddhism but also to the Shankara and Advaita Vedanta as well. In this regard, the dialectic school also known as Madhyamika constitute one of the two schools of Mahayana. In essence, this school emphasizes negation of every possible phenomenological reality through logical reducto-ad-absurdum means in an effort to achieve Shunyata which can be seen as ineffable absolute or void and which is considered as the only reality. The concept of Shunyata was introduced in an effort to refute the delusions caused by separate enduring egos. Moreover, the concept was adopted to emphasize the ways in which everything in the universe is connected to each other. The second school is a consciousness doctrine also known as Vijnanavada. This school uses mediation process in an effort to prove that consciousness constitutes the ultimate reality. Unlike the other school, Vijnanavada has a number of occult and metaphysical conceptions including an emanationist which psychologically oriented but similar to Samkhya which is on the contrary cosmologically oriented. Mahayana Buddhism is centered on the noble Bodhisattva ideal which guides the enlightened Buddhists while dealing with the sentimental beings. In definition, a bodhisattva can be seen as a being who is in constant search of means of achieving or attaining Buddhahood in order to benefit sentiment beings. The conception of bodhisattva was developed from the idea of a Buddhist who differs with the ultimate goal of extinction also referred to as nirvana so that such a person can often make his or her way back to the world of suffering and help end the suffering of sentient beings (Michael, 2003, 59). In essence, the idea of bodhisattva is considered as demonstrating selfishness in the doctrine of Mahayana Buddhism largely because a bodhisattva having not reached nirvana, postpone enlightenment so as to help the sentient beings. On the other hand, Theravada Buddhism is seen as the oldest surviving school of Buddhist school and began first in India. It is also known as Hinayana and is relatively close to original Buddhism and conservative as compared to Mahayana Buddhism. Different from the teachings offered by Mahayana, Theravada emphasizes on the concept of Vibhajjavada or Pali which is literally used to mean the teaching of Analysis. According to this teaching, insight comes from the experience of the aspirant coupled by reasoning instead of by blind faith and critical investigation. Despite this teaching, the scriptures adopted by Theravada Buddhism emphasizes on the need to heed to the advice of the elders or the wise. In essence, heeding to the advice given by the elders and evaluation of one’s experience are considered to be the two vital tests on which the judgment of practices adopted by any given follower should be based. In Theravada Buddhism, the cause of human suffering and existence is identified as tanha or a craving which constitutes all the defilements inclusive of sensual desires, anger, ill will, jealousy, fear, hatred among others. In this context, the level of defilement can be coarse, subtle or medium. In essence, the phenomenon of defilement in Theravada Buddhism is seen as arising temporary, taking hold for a short time and then vanishing all together. In this respect, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believes that defilements are harmful not only to the person who commits them but also to others and that they are the force behind all the inhumanities committed by any given human being. Moreover, the followers of Theravada Buddhism holds the believe that defilements constitutes habits which are born out of ignorance afflicting the minds of the unenlightened human beings. Being under the influence of defilements, human beings are believed to cling to them by ignoring the established truth. On the other hand, these defilements are considered to be nothing but taints afflicting the mind of human beings consequently creating stress and suffering. Furthermore, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believes that the unenlightened human beings tends to cling to their bodies with the assumption that it is their self while on the contrary it present itself as an impermanent phenomenon which is formed on air, fire, water and earth. In this context, it is believed that the body will decompose and disperse after death. Moreover, it is believed that the mental defilements’ continuous and frequent manipulation and instigation of human mind prevents it from seeing the true nature of reality. These defilements according to Theravada Buddhism are further strengthened by unskillful behavior and that if a human being follow a noble eightfold path, he or she can weaken or overcome these defilements. The doctrine of Theravada Buddhism believe that those who are unenlightened experience the world through imperfect six senses inclusive of the ears, the eyes, nose, tongue, mind and tactile sense. They then goes on to use the mind which is by then clouded by much defilement in forming their interpretations, perceptions of reality and conclusions. In essence, the conclusion reached is based on the perceptions of these individuals in regard to the reality. On the other hand, the five physical senses are inactive to unenlightened person and consequently, the defilements are further strengthened unlike in the case of an enlightened person where the senses are wholly active thus suppressing any defilement. In order for any human being to overcome the stress and suffering caused by these defilements one must strive to overcome the defilements first. The defilements in this context are believed to be initially restrained through mindfulness in regard to preventing them from taking over the bodily and mind action. To uproot them therefore, one need to undertake internal investigation and to analyze and at the same time understand the experience and the true nature of such defilements through the use of jhana. The process of uprooting the defilements need to be performed on each kind of defilement if optimal results are to be achieved. Consequently, the mediator will realize four noble truths as believed by the Theravada doctrine which will help him in achieving enlightenment and overcome the defilements completely (Prebish, 1994, 67). In essence, the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism consider enlightenment and Nibbana as their ultimate goals. In this sense, Nibbana is thought of as the perfect bliss through which a person is freed from the cycle of birth, illness, aging and death. The doctrine believe that each and every person should be held personally responsible for their own liberation and self-awakening. In this context, every individual is the one responsible for the consequences of his or her actions as well as those specific actions. As such, by simply believing and striving to learn the truth as provided for by the original Buddhism, an individual cannot fully be awakened but rather he or she must strive to know and conceptualize such reality through direct experience. In this regard, the individual has to follow the teachings of Buddha in respect to the noble eightfold path in an effort to individually discover the truth. According to the doctrine of Theravada, gods, Buddhas, or even deities are not capable of offering awakening to any human being and as such are incapable of lifting from freeing them from the samsara cycle of birth, ageing and death. According to the beliefs held by followers of Theravada Buddhism, Buddhas are only teachers while the gods and deities are subject to anger and other forms of defilements (Robinson, 2005, 46). Theologically, Theravada Buddhism is founded on the four noble truths which are also referred to as the four sublime truths. In essence this can be disseminated as defining the problem, the cause of the problem, the solution to such a problem and the methods and ways that must be followed to attain that solution. Firstly, Theravada Doctrine takes suffering or Dukkha as one of the four noble truths. In this regard, we can have inherent suffering which includes all forms of suffering undergone by an individual as a result of worldly things . On the other extreme, we can have suffering that results from change and finally suffering that is caused by one’s failure of recognizing that he or she is an aggregate definite with an identity that is unsusceptible to change. Secondly, we have the cause of the suffering referred to as Dukkha Samudaya and which can be defined as a craving that leads an individual to worldly bondage and attachment thus causing suffering for such an individual. In this regard, Kama Tanha is the act of craving for any given pleasurable object as a result of the body senses. On the other hand, Bhava Tanha is when an individual crave to be attached to a particular ongoing process such as the longing for existence. Still, Vibhava Tanha is when an individual crave to be detached from any given ongoing process such as the longing for self annihilation. The third truth called Dukkha Nirodha can be seen as a cessation for suffering. According to this truth, it is impossible for one to adjust the entire world in order to fit in his or her taste in an effort to free from suffering. On the other hand, one must adjust his or her mind through detachment process so that any occurring change will have no effect on the peace of mind of such an individual. In other words, the elimination of the craving or the cause will help in eliminating the result. The final truth is a pathway to freedom from suffering and is known as Dukkha Nirodha Gamini Patipata. It is commonly known as the noble eightfold pathway towards Nibbana or freedom. It constitutes the right intention, speech, actions livelihood among other right things that an individual needs to do to free from suffering. According to the doctrine of Theravada Buddhism, all conditioned phenomena including physical qualities, knowledge, theories adopted and the physical characteristics are subject to change with time. This is referred to as Anicca which can also be taken to mean impermanence. Moreover, the teachings of Theravada holds that suffering or Dukkha is caused by craving in the sense that whatever is craved for is subjected to change, transition and perishing. In this regard, the impermanence of the craving object causes sorrow and disappointment in the long run. Since individuals are the one involved in labeling the objects to be liked and those to be disliked on one hand and the comforts and discomforts in the world on the other hand, they are the ones who create suffering in the first place. In this context, if an individual succeeds in overcoming the tendency to label thing in the world, he or she will be free from suffering (Prebish, 1994, 68). Still, Theravada Buddhism uses the concept of anatta in referring to the lack of unchanging and fixed identity. In this regard no specific phenomenon constitutes any individuals’ essential and permanent self. In essence, any human being is composed of five aggregate elements. First, there is the rupa which includes the feelings and other forms of sensations also known as vedana, sanna which includes all the perceptions held by an individual, sankhara which is the mental formations arising from the perceptions and vinnana or the consciousness. All of this cannot be identified as ones’ self but rather together forms the core of an individual. The realization of anatta, dukkha and anica enables one to achieve freedom and to reach nibbana, a state in which one is complete and ultimately free. In regard to meditation, Theravada Buddhism sees it as a way of positively reinforcing the mind of the individual in question. In this respect, mediation is categorized into two. Samatha which in literal terms mean making something skillful includes the acts of achieving visualizing or tranquilizing reality through meditation. Vipassana can be defined as insight or abstract understanding through meditation. In essence, samatha helps one to skillfully concentrate the mind while vipassana helps in seeing through the veil of ignorance (Paul, 1999, 47). In conclusion, while it is easy to disseminate the psychological orientation and aspects of Theravada Buddhism, it is hard to identify the psychological perspectives of Mahayana Buddhism. This is because as stated earlier Mahayana is idealism as opposed to Theravada Buddhism which is psychologically oriented. The teachings of Mahayana Buddhism are those of metaphysically assisting other human beings to achieve enlightenment though the one helping need not have fully achieved it himself. In other words, it teaches it followers to be unselfish to the others and to the world as a whole. It teaches its followers to strive to attain enlightenment and to help others who have not attained it do so. On the other hand, Theravada teaches its followers to strive to overcome the world through individual efforts other than relying on external assistance. In essence, Theravada Buddhism encourages its followers to find effective means of overcoming their defilements and thus to free themselves from sufferings. It holds that the suffering undergone by any individual starts with that individual himself and thus he or she is the only one who can liberate himself from such suffering. Work Cited: Christopher Brown. Can Buddhism Save? Finding Resonance in Incommensurability. Cross Currents, Vol. 49, Summer 1999, pp. 23 Michael Pye. Skilful Means: A Concept in Mahayana Buddhism. London, Routledge Publishers, 2003, pp. 56, 59 Paul Groner. A History of Indian Buddhism: From Sakyamuni to Early Mahayana. China, University of Hawaii Press, 1999, pp. 45, 47 Prebish Charles. Buddhism: A Modern Perspective. United States, Pennsylvania State University Press, 1994, pp. 67, 78 Robinson R. Buddhist Religions: A Historical Introduction. Belmont, California: Wadsworth, 2005, pp. 46.

Ethical Management Essay

This essay seeks to identify the study of ethical management on a broad scope, and to specifically sieve out the issues which are common within the banking sector. This would include a case study on UBS and ethical problems which UBS have faced. As ethics cannot be divorced entirely from the study of sustainability and corporate social responsibility, this essay will also feature a look at banks, and their decisions which might be been unethical. The Study of Ethical Management While there might be many reasons why unethical behaviour happens, this essay would be looking at three of them in particular: 1) Personal Gain, 2) Strong Organisational Identification, and 3) Personality. . To examine the relationship between organizations and why ethical issues occur within them, we first define the term â€Å"Business† and â€Å"Businessperson†. The book, â€Å"Business Ethics†, written by William(2008), states that a business can represent and range from a start-up venture by some students, to a multinational corporation. Businessperson might be a sole proprietor running a business for themselves, or a CEO responsible for a multinational corporation. To take a broader view, we view the businesspeople under the personal point of view, and couple them with the other individuals who are within the organization. This would allow us to see why unethical behaviour can derive not only from the top management, but from every aspect of the organization. To expound on the individual, we refer to the book written by Schminke(2010), â€Å"Managerial Ethics†, where he identified â€Å"four individual decision-making styles†. The first belongs to an individualist mentality, this mentality ignores the stakeholders. The second mentality is altruistic, where the benefit of others is of the essence. The third group is the pragmatists, and lastly, the idealist, whose decisions are governed by principles and rules. Common Ethical issues faced in the Banking sector 1) Insiders Trading Insider trading, defined by Cornell University Law School, is when company’s stocks or other securities are traded by individuals who have access to undisclosed and confidential information. These individuals are known as insiders. To better comprehend the concerns of insider trading, we refer to the paper by Yulong & Huey-Lian(1998). Two things must first be addressed. First, who do these insiders refer to? Secondly, how is insider trading illegal? By definition from the U. S. Securities and Exchange Commission(S. E. C. ), insiders are, â€Å"chairmen, directors, officers, etc. , and principal shareholders with 10 percent or more of their own firm’s common stock†. People in these positions are likely to be able to gain access to the firm’s undisclosed information. However, not all insiders trading are illegal. For example, managers of firms can often purchase its own firm’s stocks to increase their own individual share and voting power within the firm. This train of thought also believes that the more stock of the firm the manager holds, the greater their ownership and thus a higher work morale is derived from it. Insiders are still allowed to purchase its own firm’s stock, if they truly believe that it is a good investment. Insider trading becomes illegal however, when trades are made by insiders with the prior knowledge of an announcement for the investor’s personal gain. When an act as such is committed, insider trading becomes illegal. This action is deemed unethical as it is unfair to investors who do not possess the material information. Other transgressions can include the handling of undisclosed firm’s information from a firm’s insider to a public investor. For a trade to occur under the basis of the privileged information, and for the recipient to have personally gained from the trade, both parties can be charged under the S. E. C. ’s regulation of Fair Disclosure. An example of illegal insider trading within banks can be seen from as recently as January 16, 2014, where David Michael Gutman from J. P. Morgan colluded with Christopher John Tyndall from Meyers Associates. As â€Å"long time close personal friends†, the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority(FINRA) discovered that Gutman had shared material, undisclosed information with Tyndall over a span of 19 months. This information included pending corporate mergers and acquisition transactions, which allowed Tyndall to make informed, no-risk trading using personal and family accounts. Quoting from Cameron K. Funkhouser, he said, â€Å"David Gutman had the keys to the kingdom through his position at J. P. Morgan as a gatekeeper.. †, we can see to how unethical behaviour driven by an individual in the position of power, can taint the image of the firm. Enforcements have been put in place to prevent and to deter insiders from carrying out such behaviours. The SEC has instituted new rules, 10b5-1 and 10b5-2 under the code of Federal Regulations, and the enforcement of these regulations being made global just recently in 2013 after the insider trading inquiry regarding the acquisition of H. J. Heinz Company. 2) Profits before Ethics The relationship between business ethics and profits can be complicated at times. Profits values will sometimes conflict with ethical values which will lead to unethical business behaviour in the manager’s bid to raise profits within the firm, consequentially affecting the firm’s stakeholders. Watkins (2011) brings about the argument that for those who ethics concerns, the chase of pecuniary values creates a potential compromise between social ethics and profitable opportunities, a factor that links to the Goldman Rule. The rule states that the greater the profitable opportunities, the higher the opportunity cost for the firm to consider ethical behaviours. This is further described by Weber (2006), as he states that companies are not evaluated on their success based on â€Å"their reputation for ethics†, but on the basis of profitability. It is plausible now to see why banks are driven by a sole concern for profit and to raise the value of their stock. With that in mind, what are some ethical boundaries a bank could trespass upon? As a corporation whose sole objective is to increase profit, they carries the potential turn a blind eye to internal ethics; explained in the book by Reynolds (2011) titled, â€Å"Ethics in Investment Banking†, which defines internal ethics as ethical considerations in regards to their employees’ welfare and the considerations in the use of the shareholder resources. These transgressions can range in forms of overworking employees, to an audit coverage of losses to portray a higher stock market price. As individuals looking for greater profits either for self or the firm, especially under the investment wings of banks, individuals can turn rogue and make unauthorised transactions which goes beyond the risk limits of the banks in hope of a greater profit. Jerome Kerviel’s case in 2008; where even the hierarchy turned a blind eye to his risks due to the profit he was generating, and Nick Leeson’s famous collapse of Barings Bank in 1995 are two such examples. Investments in environmentally harmful industries Environmentally harmful projects have been a major factor against Global Warming Awareness efforts. Such investments are being funnelled by banks who are less ethical in the area of sustainability. There have been numerous campaigns to counter banks from investing into unethical projects, some of which protestors even boycotted such banks. Citigroup the world’s largest project finance bank has been known to grant loans to these projects, which are harming the environment. Citigroup was indirectly related to the Camisea pipeline in Peru which has at least 5 spillages along the pipeline to date. Which not only damages the local ecosystems, but also detrimental to the livelihood of people around the world and threatens the well-being of mankind via climate change (Hogue, 2002). A glimpse of such unethical activities reveals something prevalent. It destroys our natural environment, by means of deforestation and the release of harmful gases from the burning of fossil fuels. However, Citigroup has yet see that their funding of major oil drilling and pipe laying companies not only worsens the global warming situation but also encourages environmental insecurity. Several other big-scale European banks, such as Dutch Bank and ABN Amro, came up with a policy which prevented funding of these industries. According to (ABN Amro’s) sustainability policy, â€Å"limited to financing of companies or projects related to timber, paper, agricultural plantations, mining and/or oil and gas. The bank would consider exceptions only â€Å"when extractions are delicately prepared, and holds responsibility on issues of national forest management. † A positive example of how banks can fund environmentally friendly projects can be seen from analysing the Banking Environment Initiative (BEI), it aims to lead the banking industry in directing bank investments towards environmentally and socially sustainable economic development. The objective of the BEI is to also unravel ways to invest in clean energy and soft commodities. As quoted from (CPSL, online), â€Å"the group, currently comprises of 10 global banking institutions which stretches across Asia to Europe, the United States and Latin America. † The best way of creating a united force amongst them was if they were acting on behalf of their clients. Consumer Goods Forum (CGF) has the intention to eliminate deforestation from their supply chain. As such they would prefer to form alliances with banks and work together to counter and ultimately eliminate deforestation. Banks have got to find ways to come up with a significant source of funding to finance the journey to sustainability. 4) False Accounting Frauds False accounting fraud, defined by the United Kingdom’s police, is the practice where a business, works in tandem with an accounting firm to overstate or understate company’s asset or liabilities with the intention of making the business appear financially stronger or healthier than it really is. As there are a multitude of reasons to commit false accounting fraud, we will not be listing all. False accounting allows for a corporation to gain higher credit ratings, report unrealistic profits, and hide losses to appeal to potential shareholders with an inflated share price. Some extraordinary cases which occurred regarding the falsification of accounts are such as the Enron scandal in 2001; where the audit and accountancy firm, Arthur Andersen was involved and convicted of assisting in audit fraud and subsequently dissolved. Enron was declared bankrupt and new laws were instituted to increase the accountability of firms who are auditing to remain independent of the clients whom they audit. Didn’t the code of conduct promise proper handling of UBS’s assets? He first began his illicit deals in late 2008, doing it for personal gains while covering his tracks with false accounting to the back office. This led to the back office being ignorant of the unauthorised trades as the regular books did not show it, instead, the profits were filed into a secret account called his Umbrella. Adoboli’s desk colleagues admitted to being in the know of the secret accounts, and his two bosses did not enquire into the suspicion despite the daily trading maximums being exceeded. This breakdown in corporate beliefs at the managerial level led to the unethical trading arising within the ranks of the department, and it going by unnoticed. While the integrity of the individual must be questioned, the work culture of UBS could be a factor to encourage the individual to behave unethically. Since the incident, UBS has taken a few measures to facilitate the new risk management practices. Firstly, the bank has taken step to refrain from proprietary trading. A bank would engage in proprietary trading as it benefits firms to make extra revenue. However, the disadvantage of engaging in this form of trading is that with high returns, often comes high risks. Conclusion In summary, how ethical management is derived has no hard and fast rule. However, implementations such as a Code of Conduct, or a company policy helps in setting the tone right within an organization. Through the paper, it is seen how ethical dilemmas can arise on an individual level or an organizational level. If one were to follow the many trains of thoughts regarding ethical management, they would get lost in the plethora of unions and activist fighting for ethical beliefs.

‘Fire and Ice’ by Robert Frost and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ by Don Mattera Essay

â€Å"The possession of power over others is inherently destructive both to the possessor of the power and to those over whom it is exercised.† George D. HerronThe modern industrialist society, in which we live, has been shaped by people in the possession of power, and the power of passion. The 20th and 21st century’s have illustrated clearly the deadly potential of power, and not just to the possessor of the power but also to those over whom it is exercised. The poem’s ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ by Robert Frost and Don Mattera respectively, perfectly convey the idea of the destructive nature of power, the poems are both concerned with Mortality of Age. The ideal readers of these poems are people old enough to understand how harsh and cruel this world can be. Furthermore, people who can appreciate the sense of grief portrayed in these poems, as both poets investigate deeply the potentially devastating capability of humans to destroy themselves and others. ‘Fire and Ice’, written by Robert Frost, is a carefully constructed poem, which carries a straightforward message that emotions become destructive when they are too extreme, destructive enough, even, to end the world. ‘Fire and Ice’ holds the theme of Mortality and Age, also the destructive power of passion, Robert Frost also describes humans as complacent, throughout the poem. Rather then telling a story or receiving an insight, Robert Frost simply expresses an opinion. While in the poem ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ Don Mattera is telling a story of a place called Sophiatown. This poem is a vivid retelling of the experience that Don Mattera went through, and thus is very personal. The main message delivered by this poem is that power can be very destructive, especially if it is used against people with little or no power themselves. Don Mattera illustrates the struggle of the Africans that lived in Sophiatown, when it was being demolished by white people to make a white settlement. The themes of this poem are Mortality and Age and some protest, which come under the main theme of alienation. Also just like Robert Frost he describe humans as being complacent. In the poem ‘Fire and Ice’, Robert Frost creates a speaker whose conjectures about the world’s ultimate destruction are designed to reveal the deadly potential of human passion. To address his theme, Frost cleverly manipulates  the imagery of the title, ‘Fire and Ice’. Frost requires the reader to think first about the destructive powers of fire and ice, and then relate this to desire and hate. In order to understand the poem’s warning about the equally ruinous potential of unbridled emotion. In the lines: ‘Some say the world will end in fire/Some say in ice’ (stanza 1, lines 1-2), Robert Frost shows two different ways that could lead to the World’s ultimate destruction. These lines relate to the theme of Mortality and Age, because there is an inevitability of death. He then follows on with, ‘From what I’ve tasted of desire/ I hold with those who favour fire’ (stanza 1, lines 3-4), Robert Frost describes the power of fire and its metaphoric companion, desire. In these lines, Frost, has his own opinion of how the world will end, this shows how personal this poem actually is. Robert Frost, thinks that the world will be destroyed from desire and greed. He goes as far as saying that greed itself most probably will end the world. From this we can take that he is writing this as the oppositional discourse, because surely the dominant discourse would deny greed as taking over the world. Without a doubt desire and greed are portrayed intensely in the poem ‘Fire and Ice’ but also in ‘The Day They Came For Our House’. Don Mattera who wrote the poem ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, had the intention to show how dangerous uncontrolled power can be, it can destroy peoples lives and cause serious pain. Don Mattera, just like Robert Frost is writing this poem as the oppositional discourse. This poem is deeply intertwined with that of a protest theme. Don Mattera protests about the arriving whites coming to demolish Sophiatown. He describes their arrival as, ‘Armed with bulldozers/they came/to do a job/nothing more/just hired killers/’ (stanza 2, lines 1-5). This quote represents how insignificant the Africans are perceived to be, by the white people coming to demolish their town. Don Mattera explains no emotion in this stanza. He has done this to show that the white people also had no emotion in what they were doing. In his eyes they didn’t care, it was just another job for them. The lines, ‘We gave way/there was nothing we could do/although the bitterness stung in us’ (stanza 3, lines 1-3). Clearly illustrates the African’s lack of power. They can’t do anything; this highlights the destructive nature of power, and relates to the theme of mortality and age. This is portrayed throughout this  poem, Don Mattera, explains how it is pointless for them to do anything because they have no power. The whites who demolished Sophiatown gave into ego and greed, and used their power against the black Africans. This is a perfect example of power being destructive to those over whom it is exercised. Don Mattera’s cultural background has influenced this poem drastically, because he grew up in Sophiatown, which at the time was a vibrant centre of South African culture. His poem is very personal; this makes it easier for the ideal reader to relate to. Fully understanding this poem requires the readers to understand the hardship and pain that the Africans went through. The lines, ‘We stood/Dust clouded our vision/We held back tears’ (Stanza 4, lines 1-3) exemplify’s some of the pain and suffering that the Africans of Sophiatown went through. The reader of this poem would feel sadness toward the Africans of Sophiatown, and most probably anger towards the white people who demolished their town. But unless they have been through something similar, will not be able to imagine the true extent of the emotions that Don Mattera and the other Africans would have experienced. Similar to ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, Robert Frost’s poem ‘Fire and Ice’ can only be fully understood when the reader can appreciate the grief portrayed in this poem. Although not as personal as Don Mattera’s poem, it is still a depressing poem to read. Robert Frost was born in San Francisco, California. Because he is American his poem varies in the way he has chose to write it, compared to Don Mattera’s poem. In ‘Fire and Ice’, Robert Frost describes a personal apocalypse. He writes about the power of emotions such as desire and hate to destroy the world. Robert Frost would have witnessed greed and hate and heard of wars and all the hate that fills the world while he lived in America. Thus he has made an opinion of his own explaining how he believes the world will end if these emotions are not kept under control. But unlike Don Mattera and the Africans of Sophiatown he would not have had hatred against him from an apartheid government that evicted 60,000 people from Sophiatown and he would not have been undervalued. Therefore he would not have felt what he was writing about, unlike Don Mattera. This also makes it easier to relate to Robert Frost’s poem, ‘Fire and Ice’ compared to ‘ The  Day They Came For Our House’. ‘Fire and Ice’, is also a text that has a very sophisticated style. The poem is written primarily in rhymed iambic tetrameter, although three of the nine lines are in iambic dimeter. The use of such rhythmic patterns makes this poem more musical and memorable. Robert Frost also uses alliteration in his poem, such as ‘favour fire’ (stanza 1, line 4), which shows that Robert Frost is privileging the oppositional discourse because he believes the world will end from desire. Furthermore, ‘Some say’ (stanza 1, lines 1&2), is another example of alliteration. Compared to ‘Fire and Ice’, ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ is a poem that is less sophisticated, it is more of a free verse poem. In a way this emphasises the poet’s case, because it shows the poem has being unbalanced and less structured, which is what Don Mattera would have felt when he was being evicted from Sopiatown. Don Mattera also uses personification in his poem. It is illustrated in the lines, ‘The sun stood still/ in the sullen wintry sky’ Don Mattera has used this to show how Sophiatown was intertwined with the environment. He loved the surroundings of Sophiatown just as much as the people who inhabited it. This makes it a much depressing poem for the readers as it shows his love for Sophiatown, a place that was demolished to make way for a white suburb called Triomf which means triumph in English. In the poem, ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, the last lines sum up the poem’s themes, but also sum up Robert Frost’s poem ‘Fire and Ice’. The lines, ‘The power of destroying/the pain of being destroyed’ is essential to both poems because it demonstrates the underlying discourse that underpins the text. That is, in our modern industrialist society we are all shaped by power whether it is by people in possession of power or the power of passion. I chose the poems ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’, because they reflected the themes of 20th and 21st century very well, themes which are Mortality and Age and protest. Also both were wonderfully constructed poems and both poems appeared simple to read through at first glance. However, upon further reflection, they both presented different facets, which made them more complex and elusive. When I examined both  poems, I could relate more to ‘Fire and Ice’ compared to ‘The Day They Came For Our House’. I do not think I was an ideal reader of the latter poem, mostly because the poet was of a completely different cultural background. I could relate to it in some ways, although I felt almost guilty when reading the poem. I felt like I could not understand the full extent of pain and sadness that the Africans of Sophiatown went through. As mentioned above ‘Fire and Ice’ is a poem that I could relate to much easier, because I understood Robert Frost’s opinion of how desire, greed and hate would be the downfall of mankind. Furthermore it was not as personal compared to Don Mattera’s poem. ‘Fire and Ice’ and ‘The Day They Came For Our House’ by Robert Frost and Don Mattera respectively, through their poems, show the notion of Mortality and Age, protest and essentially Alienation. Although both the poems express the same themes, the authors have chosen different ways to illustrate their feeling towards the subject. Robert Frost uses ‘Fire and Ice’ to simply express and opinion rather than tell a story, which is how Don Mattera illustrates his ideas. His poem is a vivid retelling of the experience that he went through. Both poets position the reader to identify with their ideas. They illustrate the fact that â€Å"The possession of power over others is inherently destructive both to the possessor of the power and to those over whom it is exercised† (George D. Herron). Bibliography Information Obtained From:’Robert Frost’, 2000, The literature Network, www.onlineliterature.com/frost/, viewed 21st May 2008. ‘Don Mattera’, 2001, Wikipedia the free encyclopaedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DonMattera, viewed 21st May 2008. ‘The day they came for our house’, 1999, Don Mattera, http://www.saep.org/Sinethemba/Poetry/studied/Mattera/Mattera.htm, viewed 21st May 2008.