The answers on questions on accountability Essay

The answers on questions on accountability - Essay Example The feeling of accountability amongst the government personnel has been critical in Britain ranging from previous decades in history. Many people have gone to greater extents and in situations where decisions are difficult to make to the extent of resignation from their various responsibilities. Individuals feel that the situations might be unfortunate yet they have to do what is to be done. In normal situations, the conventional understanding of ministerial accountability, in which ministers are answerable to Parliament and departmental administrators emerge before parliamentary committees on behalf of their minister, works well (Smith 2006). Â  This shows that the accountability feature among the officials in a given department or sector is transferrable and should be handled throughout the system as a dependent factor on all attributes. To confirm on this claim, there is a valid rationale in posing that accountability should be evaluated as to originate from all the politicians a s well as the departmental heads associated with the observable practices. According to Smith, accountability is a factor that should involve no discrimination in its evaluation and this forms one part of argument of this paper that is subject to argument basing on critical reasoning from the logics displayed. Real accountability is observed as being precise in identifying the source of mistake observed in the management and departmental administration. In a given department, there are individuals with different abilities and hence performance output in various sections. An individual, research or evaluation process cannot assume that the fault from one area in the department is always a fault from every official (Smith 2006). Moreover even if a fault in a single sector of the administration attributes to detrimental effects on other parts, the analysis by the commission should identify the ultimate source of the fault and deal with it independently. The magnitude of liability can t herefore vary on the actual source of the fault. For instance, in a situation where a mistake from one individual or department leads to errors in several other departments or the whole ministry, the liability cannot be compared with the case where a fault leads to an error in a single and smaller section of the department (Osbaldeston 2005). In case the situation goes out of hand, nevertheless, and when public disagreement results, some start to query this perceptive of ministerial responsibility. The non directional questions associated from divergent sources implies on the prevalent notion on the conception of accountability in the government. Recent arguments, such as the need for the review of the considerations of accountability arose with the support initiative and the Human Resources and Development Canada grants and donations program, have resulted in disappointment over determining who was responsible and thus in the end accountable. Â  This has resulted into some individ uals to question whether there is need to be higher accountability of senior public servants, most notably deputy ministers, before parliamentary committees. Â  Opinions on this matter are classified, and the government has constantly protected the traditional perception of accountability (McGrath 1985). The question pertaining to the reality or mere inspirations of account

The role of the Nazi medical professionals in the Holocaust Essay

The role of the Nazi medical professionals in the Holocaust - Essay Example The id is the violent, animalistic side that comes to the fore in moments of stress and also within wars, when the power of the superego (laws, norms etc.) becomes diluted (Jones, 1955). The case of the Nazi medical professionals, who indulged in a series of experiments that ranged from the nominally 'medical' to the outright sadistic, seems to suggest that given the opportunity, many people, and even those who are meant to be dedicated to caring for people will allow the id that has been lurking within them to fore. This essay will deal with both the general tendencies of Nazi rule that led to the doctors' involvement in various atrocities, from euthanasia of infants to selections of those to go to the gas chambers to medical experiments, together with the specifics of some of the people involved. The questions of "how" and "why" are often linked within this study. As will be seen, many of the doctors seemed to be able to convince themselves that what they were doing was at least nominally in the interests of medical science. William Shirer (1959) presents the situation very well. He states that Thus the Nazi medical experiments must be considered not only from the relatively small number of doctors who actually took an active part in them, but also the tens of thousands other doctors who passively endorsed the experiments through their silence. This overall complicity of the German medical community within the Holocaust in general may be partially explained by the indoctrination to Nazi principles that had occurred with the steady development of Nazi hegemony within Germany. As Robert Lifton (2000) puts it, "the oath of loyalty to Hitler they took as SS military officers was much more real to them than a vague ritual performed at medical school" (p.207). Even for those doctors who were not members of the SS there was a sense of loyalty to the state that was perhaps much more real than the Hippocratic oath they had probably taken decades before. As with many of the atrocities committed by the Nazis, those performed by doctors did not start at the extremes, but rather gradually developed. Thus medical doctors were first used to perform the "mercy killing" or "euthanasia" of the mentally handicapped, the physically handicapped and those that were terminally ill or otherwise regarded as a burden to the Nazi state. This started with the killing of "idiot children" and the severely "mentally ill" (Lifton, p.180). Such killing was also accomplished through essentially letting newborn babies with defects die. Doctors argued that "there was no justification for keeping such a child alive" (Lifton, p.51). It is interesting to note that the act of killing is transformed into a more passive definition of "not keeping" the child alive. In these initial stages of using doctors within the Nazi plan for dominance, the Nazi hierarchy, on Hitler's explicit instruction, was careful to consider the sensibilities of those involved with the killing. Thus a

Marketing Business Analysis of Costa Coffee Company Term Paper

Marketing Business Analysis of Costa Coffee Company - Term Paper Example Costa is currently the leading coffee chain in the UK in an industry that is highly competitive and rapidly growing. In spite of the current contraction forces within the global and UK economies, Costa has been able to expand sufficiently in the emerging economies as well as in its domestic market in the UK. Costa's brand focus on its various renowned coffee brands has been equaled with portfolio growth and development into new areas of service. Costa operates from the civil parish and market town of Dunstable as its main headquarters, situated in Bedfordshire England. Although leading its major competitors in terms of physical stores, it comes second to Starbucks regarding market share. Costa is completely owned by Whitbread. Among its major competitors, it has cut out its market niche by being the only coffee chain that offers hand-made coffee products to its clients. Costa Coffee has many brands, among them Miscela, Macinatura, Macchina and Manna. Costa specializes with Italian made coffee as their products suggest. All Costa coffee shops have been installed with Italian made Espresso machines. All these machines have been perfectly tuned to a long period to attain wide volumes of flawless coffee. Their special blend of Arabica and Robusta coffee is slowly roasted to perfection, much to the satisfaction of their clients. Towards the end of the year 2010, Costa acquired a market share of 37.7% to become the biggest coffee franchise within the UK. Bruno Costa and Sergio started the company in the year 1971, which later became part of the Whitbread franchise in 1995.

The role of the Nazi medical professionals in the Holocaust Essay

The role of the Nazi medical professionals in the Holocaust - Essay Example The id is the violent, animalistic side that comes to the fore in moments of stress and also within wars, when the power of the superego (laws, norms etc.) becomes diluted (Jones, 1955). The case of the Nazi medical professionals, who indulged in a series of experiments that ranged from the nominally 'medical' to the outright sadistic, seems to suggest that given the opportunity, many people, and even those who are meant to be dedicated to caring for people will allow the id that has been lurking within them to fore. This essay will deal with both the general tendencies of Nazi rule that led to the doctors' involvement in various atrocities, from euthanasia of infants to selections of those to go to the gas chambers to medical experiments, together with the specifics of some of the people involved. The questions of "how" and "why" are often linked within this study. As will be seen, many of the doctors seemed to be able to convince themselves that what they were doing was at least nominally in the interests of medical science. William Shirer (1959) presents the situation very well. He states that Thus the Nazi medical experiments must be considered not only from the relatively small number of doctors who actually took an active part in them, but also the tens of thousands other doctors who passively endorsed the experiments through their silence. This overall complicity of the German medical community within the Holocaust in general may be partially explained by the indoctrination to Nazi principles that had occurred with the steady development of Nazi hegemony within Germany. As Robert Lifton (2000) puts it, "the oath of loyalty to Hitler they took as SS military officers was much more real to them than a vague ritual performed at medical school" (p.207). Even for those doctors who were not members of the SS there was a sense of loyalty to the state that was perhaps much more real than the Hippocratic oath they had probably taken decades before. As with many of the atrocities committed by the Nazis, those performed by doctors did not start at the extremes, but rather gradually developed. Thus medical doctors were first used to perform the "mercy killing" or "euthanasia" of the mentally handicapped, the physically handicapped and those that were terminally ill or otherwise regarded as a burden to the Nazi state. This started with the killing of "idiot children" and the severely "mentally ill" (Lifton, p.180). Such killing was also accomplished through essentially letting newborn babies with defects die. Doctors argued that "there was no justification for keeping such a child alive" (Lifton, p.51). It is interesting to note that the act of killing is transformed into a more passive definition of "not keeping" the child alive. In these initial stages of using doctors within the Nazi plan for dominance, the Nazi hierarchy, on Hitler's explicit instruction, was careful to consider the sensibilities of those involved with the killing. Thus a

Legal Aspects of a Business Essay Example for Free

Legal Aspects of a Business Essay Introduction When starting up a new business it is very important to look at the legal aspects which will influence the company in the future. In this part of the information file there will be the most important legal aspects for running a student company. First there is the selection of business form, in which there will be a compairison between the different possible forms. Afterwards a description of how the student company will work with contracts and partners. And finally there is an explanation of the typical dutch legal aspects such as profit tax and dividend. Business form Most important before starting the actual business is to compare the different possible legal business forms to make sure that it suits the intentions of the entrepreneurs. First the expanation per legal form will be given and afterwards a choice will be made for the student company itself. There are three basic legal business forms which can be chosen when starting up a new company: sole proprietorship, partnership and corporation. Each will be described shortly and afterwards the form of the student company will be given. Sole proprietorship The sole proprietorship is the oldest, most common, and simplest form of business organization. A sole proprietorship is a business owned and managed by one person. The prevalent characteristic of a sole proprietorship is that the owner is inseparable from the business. Because they are the same entity, the owner of a sole proprietorship has complete control over the business, its operations, and is financially and legally responsible for all debts and legal actions against the business. Another aspect of the same  entity aspect is that taxes on a sole proprietorship are determined at the personal income tax rate of the owner. In other words, a sole proprietorship does not pay taxes separately from the owner. A sole proprietorship is a good business organization for an individual starting a business that will remain small, does not have great exposure to liability, and does not justify the expenses of incorporating and ongoing corporate formalitie. Corporation A corporation is a business entity which is owned by an individual or group of individuals and they run a business that legally exists. A corporate body is formed to regulate and manage business. People work as a unit in a corporation and produce the value that will generate income. A lot of employment is generated by corporations and they have now a big impact on economic growth and the social development of any country that operates in the free market system. A corporation has rights and responsibilities just like people have, and can also be liable to the processes of law just as an individual can. The characteristics of a corporation are the limited liability of shareholders, management being delegated to a board of directors, ownership by shareholders, transferable shares and that it has a separate legal personality. Relevance to Student company The fact that the student company will sell shares and therefore will be owned by the shareholders, the student company will be a corporation. Big advantage of this legal form is the spreading of the potential business risks because of the large amounts of shareholders. Disadvantages for the entrepreneurs is the limited power within the company because of the â€Å"voice† of the shareholders and sharing the possible profit with the shareholders. Within shareholder meetings important decisions or problems will subject and together with the entrepreneurs the business strategies are set. Contracts with other parties Because the student company will be a trading company it is very important to make clear arrangements with the suppliers, customers and the entrepreneurs  itself. This will split the the risks of the entrepreneurs as well as the business partners in the buying cyclus. Because it is still not clear what kind of product or service the student company wil sell, this will be researched later on in the market research. Laws and taxes When somebody wants to start up a company within the netherlands this person should notify the Inland Revenue as soon as they know when their company plans to start business. If this person starts as sole trader, a partnership, a limited partnership or a partnership under common firm, he or she can register the company for the Inland Revenue and the trade register at the same time. This can be done at the Chamber of Commerce. It is to your advantage to provide this information at an early stage: new companies which have made investments in their business often receive money back following their first value added tax return .This is because a new business often pays more value added tax in the beginning than it has actually charged. Value added tax It is almost always compulsory for businesses to charge clients value added tax. Businesses are nearly always liable to charge value added tax to their clients. The rate is 6% or 19% depending on the type of product or service. The value added tax which a company receive from the client must be paid to the Inland Revenue. The value added tax which the company has paid out itself to the suppliers can be offset against this. Value added tax is paid either monthly or quarterly, depending on the type of business and the level of turnover. Corporation tax If the company is a private company with limited liability, the owners will be liable to pay corporation tax. Corporation or corporate income tax is levied on companies established in the Netherlands and on certain companies not established in the Netherlands, which receive income from the Netherlands .In this context, the term company includes companies with a capital consisting of share, co-operatives, mutual insurance and credit companies, foundations and other legal persons incorporated under civil law, when they administer an enterprise, funds for common account, and most  publicly-controlled industrial and commercial undertakings. Basis of assessment Profits in the widest sense, with a number of additions or deductions. The determination of the taxable profits corresponds largely with the determination of profits taxable under personal income tax, including the deductibility of losses from other years. Exemptions Legal persons whose activities are of a social or charitable nature or otherwise in the public interest are exempted from corporation tax. Exempted categories of profit are those corresponding to the relevant exemptions under personal income tax. Furthermore the participation exemption applies to all dividends, gains and losses related to the holding of at least 5% of the shares in a subsidiary. This rule, preventing economic double taxation, is in general equally applicable to dividend deriving from domestic and foreign subsidiaries. The loss related to the winding-up of a subsidiary is, under certain conditions, deductible by the parent company. The deductibility of interest paid on non-functional loans and loans related to a reshuffle of participations within the group is restricted to certain circumstances. Another amendment permits companies to depreciate loss-making participations of 25% or more during the first five years after acquisition. Special features Fiscal unity: a company which holds 100% of the shares in a Dutch subsidiary may request to be qualified as a fiscal unity. However, certain conditions apply. It is possible for a fiscal unity to be consisted of more than two companies. The subsidiaries are considered to be absorbed by the parent. As a result, negative results of companies belonging to the unity can be compensated horizontally with positive results of the others. Interest paid to a group company in respect of the acquisition of shares in Dutch operating companies cannot be set off against the profit of these operating companies. Regime for investment funds: provided that all current income is distributed to shareholders and a number of other conditions are met, an  investment company or fund is entitled to add capital gains on securities and real property to a reinvestment reserve and to a rate of nil per cent on the remaining profit.

Examining The Life Of Influential Leaders History Essay

Examining The Life Of Influential Leaders History Essay What is meant by leadership? Leadership has been described as an influence relationship between leaders and followers who intend real changes and outcomes that reflect their shared purposes (Lim Daft, 2004, p.6). Good leaders are made not born. They grow through their experiences in their life. Therefore, to examine what makes a leader, this essay is going to discover three different people with their name as a legacy of leadership. Great Modern Leader Tun Dr. Mahathir bin Mohamad was the fourth Prime Minister of Malaysia for 22 years. He was the longest serving Prime Minister in Malaysia and also Asia who held the position from 1981 to 2003.  He had a humble beginning of his life. He experienced through World War II when the Japanese invaded Malaya and the return of Britain after the war. These are among other incidents over the course of his youth which has shaped him to become a Prime Minister that came from a modest social background first in the country. What really made Tun Mahathir a leader? Tun Mahathir is known as a man full of ideas and visionary who predicted Malaysia to become a developed country by the year 2020. In such a way, he is a man with a high openness to experience personality. During his tenure as prime minister, he came up with many policies such as Look East Policy and the concept of Sogo Sosha. He developed Malaysia into a modernize nation with these ideas. Moreover, one of the highest buildings in the world which is the Petronas Twin Towers was also his idea. Thus, he has been granted the name of Father of Modernisation. Another profound personality of Tun Mahathirs is his high conscientiousness. He was always an achievement oriented person. This was obvious even when he was young where he obtained excellent results for the Cambridge School Certificate, and later in the medical degree. As prime minister, he wanted to make Malaysia internationally recognize, so he embarked on various large scale national projects such as the production of the first national car, Proton Saga. He was so achievement driven, he ensured that all his endeavours worked out. According to Fiedlers contingency model, Tun Mahathir is a task-oriented leader. If he were given the questionnaire based on the least preferred co-worker (LPC) scale, he would be more uses negative concepts to describe other people and places greater value on task activities than on people. For example, he described his former protà ©gà © Anwar Ibrahim as an impatient man to grab power (Loh, 2009). Malaysia fluctuated between highly favourable and highly unfavourable times when Tun Mahathir still tenure as prime minister. Leader of the  Civil Rights Movement Mahatma Gandhi was the pre-eminent political and ideological leader of  India during the Indian independence movement. He had known as a simple man who wore the traditional Indian  dhoti  and shawl. Gandhi swore to speak the  truth  and propose others to follow. Therefore, he influenced many people included important leaders and political movements. Gandhi helped free the people of India from British rule through non-violent resistance, and got his name known as the Father of the Nation in India. The most dominant trait of Gandhi was his emotional stability personality. In his whole life, he was put into prison for many times both South Africa and India. However, no matter how many times he was imprisoned, his passion for India to independence from British never died. He was jailed for total of 2338 days. He could give up from his goal. But, he was decided to take the pain and worked hard without any complain. Main objective of Gandhi is to seek independence for India. During his early years in South Africa, he protested unjust laws such as discriminatory law. When he returned to India later, he began to organize many other non-violent protests such as the freedom of press (Fischer, 1954). Gandhi was a conscientious person. He was very persistent in ensuring that peoples rights and the laws to be fair. Based on the study of Hersey and Blanchards Situational Theory, Gandhi has taken a directly standpoint which was the Telling style. When he led the mass civil disobedience on salt tax, he knew the consequences of his actions. Yet, his followers were felt insecure because they did not know what would be the results from the Salt March. Therefore, he had to explain to his followers how it works since they had low readiness in how civil disobedience works. Then, he made the first step by selling off a pinch of salt he had made (Fischer, 1954). In the preparation of a strike by the labourers in Kheda, Gandhi put forward four conditions to ensure the success of the strike. In his autobiography, Gandhi wrote that he told them never to resort to violence, never to molest blacklegs, never depend upon alms, and to remain firm, no matter how long the strike continued (Gandhi, 2005, p. 392). This incident shows that even the need for a strike or protest, violence is not the behaviour of Gandhi. Hence, he was a role model of the ethical leader. One of the factors that led to the success of Gandhi was that he had the opportunity to be exposed to gain new experiences and knowledge. He began to read religious books when he studied law in London. He had personally experienced discriminatory criteria that, as a coloured man, he did not get the luxury to sit in the first class coach of a train in South Africa. This is one of the incidents that made Gandhi to be a better person and it led to the beginning of his pursuit of fairness in the law (Gandhi, 2005). Legacy of Courage Leader John Fitzgerald  Kennedy was the  35th President of the United States, serving from 1961 until  his assassination  in 1963. He was the commander of military service during World War II in the South Pacific. After he came back from the war, he desires to turn into political. As President of the United States, Kennedy was the only president has won the Pulitzer Prize. Kennedy had a strong emotional stability personality which was evident during the Cuban Missile crisis in 1962. It was the time that the Soviet missiles under construction in Cuba. Next step of Kennedy was crucial because it may lead to nuclear war between the Soviet Union and the United States. Anyhow, Kennedy did not make any invasion of Cuba such as drastic measures but he spent more diplomatic stance with them. Reflective insights I realized that all leaders no matter what of their race and religion are distinctive in their identity. Their degree of dominance in personality is differentiating them from others. In addition, it seems that the dominant personality will always stand out such as Mahathirs openness to experience and even Gandhis emotional stability. Next, the simplicity of contingency theories is difficult to explain all the variables because in each theory are always shortage in certain areas. It cannot fully explain the effectiveness of leadership in the ideal situation. On the other hand, comparing the personal qualities of purely rational versus ethical leaders is one of the problems. Conclusion Leadership is not easy to achieve. Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, Mahatma Gandhi and Bill Clinton are all great leaders. So, what makes a leader? For me, leader means an individual with ability to solve problems at first and requires a lot of patience and special characteristics.

A Students Evaluation of Cellular Phone Websites :: Sell Websites Buy Web Sites

A Student's Evaluation of Cellular Phone Websites The rapid development in communication technology in the last few decades has made productions in personal communication devices more cost effective. Personal communications service (PCS) cellular phones have becomes a necessity in the ever-growing society. It is a common thing these days when you heard cellular phones ringing. â€Å"Cellular phone providers in the United States sign up three new users per minute and have a combined customer base of approximately 112 million† according to CNN website (http://www.cnn.com/2001/TECH/ptech/03/29/phone.service.t_t/index.html). However, the trend in portable electronic devices actually just started to become popular about five years ago. Portable devices, such as cellular phones, offered more versatility and mobility for busy people. People love the idea that they are not confined but still able to work and communicate with other people anytime anywhere. Back in the older days, it was difficult to communicate with your spouse or employee when they were out in the site without telephone connection. Today anybody can easily call for assistance when he or she is stranded somewhere in the highway during winter blizzard. Besides communication, cellular phones are also equipped with many other features from camera to personal digital assistant (PDA). In the future the researchers might be able to incorporate the video recorder and personal computer together into a small cellular phone. In order to learn more about what a cellular phone has to offer, surfing internet is the most efficient way since to go. Of course, to find a good deal in cellular phone we have to do some researches and comparing prices. Unfortunately, not every website can be trusted, so be careful when you see an outrageous deal that is too good to be true. There are several tips you can use on finding a suitable wireless provider. However, make sure you know what kind of cellular phone do you want or need. These are the recommended criteria you can use to evaluate whether the websites are giving you the information: 1. Does it provide you with an insight on how to find the right phone? It does not matter how many phones the provider has, leave the website if you have difficulties in finding the phone that you want or need. Most wireless providers work together with particular cellular phone companies for profit maximization. For example, Sprint PCS is working together with Samsung, LG, and several others. In addition, the providers will try to accommodate the customers’ need by selling several different types of phones from PDA phone to a rugged phone with longer battery life.