Big D :: Personal Narrative Disabilites Papers

Big D A couple weeks ago, exactly four days after Christmas, I woke up thinking about my uncle Dennis. I loved him very much, but I have never woken up thinking about him. After a few minutes, I realized that three years ago, exactly four days after Christmas, was the day he died. My uncle Dennis was an unforgettable man. He had sparkling blue eyes and a sweet smile. When he laughed everyone else in the room couldn't help but join him. That's not what made him unforgettable, though. Dennis was tall, around 380 pounds, and anoxic; he had brain damage. He never learned to cook, ride a bike, or properly operate an appliance. He required 24-hour a day care from the time he was born until the day he died at age 40. This is not an exaggeration. If Dennis was awake and no one was around to stop him, he consistently caused trouble. Forty years ago, fetal heart monitors were not routinely used in the labor room. Today, a heart monitor aids in the detection of problems such as a pinched umbilical cord, which what caused Dennis's brain damage at birth. Because the pinched cord was not detected, a cesarean section was not performed, and Dennis entered the world mentally retarded because not enough oxygen reached his brain during the birthing process. The small part of the world he entered was Milwaukee. My grandparents had a house which has since been torn down and replaced by projects. In the early fifties about 60% of the residents were black. A large portion of the rest were immigrants. My grandparents were from northern Wisconsin. My grandfather was then working as a boilermaker engineer in a tannery downtown. In addition to staying with Dennis, my grandmother stayed at home with my Uncle Mike, 3; my mother, 2; and my Uncle Tom, 1. Four more children would soon follow. The youngest, Patrick, had Downs' Syndrome. Eleven cousins lived just down the block. A house of prostitution was across the street. Saturday was laundry day. The three older children would eventually be hired as babysitters for Dennis. On Saturdays they would keep an eye on Dennis and play in the backyard while my grandmother did the week's wash. At the end of the day the three young nannies got to split a dime between them at the grocery store on the corner.

Application to Clinical Psychology Paper Essay

Introduction ~ Deme Science with all its marvels and wonders continues to press forward making extraordinary breakthroughs. Psychology plays a key role in many of sciences steps forward, each branch of psychology focusing on a specific techniques and theories. In the document the center of attention is surrounding the application of clinical psychology, this branch of psychology is unique as it all realms of an individual’s issue. Specifically speaking, anxiety is the psychological disorder that is under review through the processes of a clinical psychologist, thus concentrating on the biological, psychological and social factors of the disorder. Discussion of what routes of treatment is best for this particular disorder, what outside sources (friends, family , and co-workers) might be involved in the treatment plan, and how would this plan be presented to individual. All of these explorations and others will be answered as we journey into the application of a clinical psychologist such as the ca se of Little Albert. Brief Overview of Little Albert ~ Patricia The case of little Albert was an experiment that was conducted by behaviorist John B. Watson who carried one of the most influential psychology studies out in 1920, which is also known as the Father of Behaviorism. The Little Albert experiment was also conducted by a graduate student Rosalie Rayner, who accompanied John B. Watson during the demonstration, which took place around Little Albert ninth month of growth. During the case of Little Albert, Watson, and Rayner often expose the child to several series of various stimuli to see the reaction of the child. In the experiment, Watson and Rayner would bring out different objects toward Albert to see if he would have any anxiety toward a white rat (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). Although, Watson, and Rayner were both interested in the study of Little Albert, they both were reward a grant to study reflexes, and instinct in  infants. During Watson’s experiment, he exposed Little Albert to white lab rat to see if the child wou ld react to the lab rat in fear. The next time Albert was exposed to the rat, Watson made distressing loud noise while hitting a steal bar with a hammer creating how emotional response could be conditioned or learned. At first response the child seem to become frighten by the loud noise, however, at second response the child began to cry after repeatedly hearing the loud noise (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). While the experiment took place, Little Albert was soon introduced to a white rat combine with a series of other stimuli, which included a rabbit, burning news paper, and a mask. During this process of experimentation, every time Little Albert was shown the white rat pairing with the loud noise, he would begin to cry. The instant the rat was shown to Albert the second or third time, he would began to cry at the sight of the rat alone. Watson wanted to determine if Little Albert would become fearful as a loud sound of the hammer would create a distressing noise near the child that present how classical conditio ning can be use to condition, and emotional response (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). However, Albert fear of the white rat was not the only conditioning, but he was introduce to a wide variety of similar objects as well, such as a white rabbit, Raynor’s furry white coat, and a mask that symbolize Santa’s white beard. Watson had conditioned a fear response in Little Albert during this process to see if the same response of fear would transfer to other objects. During his experiment, Watson discover that Little Albert f ear did in fact extend to other furry animals, and objects, however, before Watson could remove any of signs of phobia, Albert’s mother remove him from the hospital (Meyer, Chapman, & Weaver, 2009). Biological, Psychological, and Social Factors ~ Kimberly According to most research that has been done on the case of Little Albert, it does not seem that there are many biological factors that affect the case. According to Web MD (2012), a mental illness caused by a biological factor includes an abnormal balance of special chemicals in the brain called neurotransmitters. It can also be genetics, brain defects, or even prenatal damage (2012). Little Albert seemed to be normal in that sense to most. However, evidence collected by several researchers say that Little Albert was not a healthy and normal infant as Watson had described (Beck, Fridlund,  Goldie, Irons, 2012). Analysis of the film of little Albert suggests that Little Albert had substantial behavioral and neurological deficits (2012). It was suggested that in these films Little Albert’s unresponsive nature was like that of severely mentally challenged child (2012). So while some may think biological factors played no part, they actually may have. Psychological factors play a huge role in the case of Little Albert. Psychological factors can include psychological trauma suffered as a child, such as emotional, physical or sexual abuse (WebMD, 2012). While Little Albert was not physically or sexually abused, he was in a sense emotionally abused. He was purposely conditioned to be scared of first a noise and then of a rat and the noise. Anytime he saw a rat or anything that resembled a furry object he was scared. He was taken away from the hospital before the conditioning could be reversed. This is something that was a trauma to him and therefore the reason why psychological factors play a huge role in his case. Social factors also played a role in the case of Little Albert. The main social factor that sticks out in this case is that of family. Little Albert’s mother allowed him to be in the hospital and have these experiments to take place. With that being said, she is at fault for Little Albert having the phobia that he did. His mother also took him from the hospital before there was any chance to remove the phobia (Meyer, 2009). Intervention of Little Albert~ Jeffery Since there is no evidence of any biological factors that were evident in the case of Little Albert, then there is no way to implement any biological interventions for him. But we can see that psychological factors played a significant role in his anxiety and as such Cognitive –Behavioral Treatment could be effective in helping him overcome his disorder. Cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) of various Anxiety disorders is based on the presumption that the disorder is a result of constant perceptions that there is a need to be afraid of a particular object or item, which then results in the an increase in maladaptive and habitual interactions among cognitive, behavioral, and physiological response systems. Maladaptive cognitive  responses include a pre-attentive bias to threat cues (Mathews, 1990), negatively valenced images and worrisome thinking (Borkovec & Inz, 1990), and cognitive avoidance of some aspects of anxious experience (Borkovec, Shadick, & Hopkins, 1991). Maladapt ive behavioral responses include subtle behavioral avoidance (Butler, Fennel, Robson, & Gelder, 1991) and slowed decision-making (Metzger et al., 1990). In the case of Little Albert he was definitely conditioned to be afraid of rats and certain noises which then led to fear and anxiety over anything that reminded of these objects. In treating a person for anxiety the therapist would build a relationship with the patient thus instilling trust and alleviating a certain amount of fear and anxiety at the beginning. As this trust increases the therapist would teach the patient to the idea of self awareness, where the client begins to recognize subtle changes in their anxiety levels and recognize what is triggering this anxiety. Such things as poor thinking, external cues, physiological activity, and then as they recognize these cues implement newly learned intervention techniques to help lower their anxiety levels. This form of treatment then focuses on both the psychological and social factors that the individual must learn to deal with. Since it was the mother that was responsible for these tests being done on Little Albert and then pul ling him out of treatment before any therapy to correct the anxiety was able to be performed, Family Systems intervention could also be beneficial to helping them deal with his anxieties. This systems intervention approach is different than other approaches in that it includes the family unit in the counseling and treatment sessions. So in a case such as little Albert, both he and his mother would be in the treatment program. This treatment then helps the individual understand how their disorder is impacting others and helps the family understand what trigger points are and how to recognize them so they can help their loved overcome the disorder. As these sessions continue the past is explored as to what may be the cause of their anxiety and how they have impacted each section of the family and how each family can contribute to helping overcome the disorder. In the case of Little Albert the Therapist would help them to focus on the psychological causes and the social causes of this disorder and to learn new thought processes and support systems to correct his way of thinking. Conclusion ~Deme In closing, our case study â€Å"Little Albert† who had been subjected to classical conditioning using a stimulus to promote a certain behavior – fear and anxiety. In the practice of clinical psychology is imperative to get all parties involved for successful treatment. The approach of intervention is sensitive and clinical psychologist makes every effort to move forward with hopes of the case study not relapsing. In the case of treating Little Albert and the treatment for his fears and anxiety through the application of clinical psychology, however, no real conclusion for this case study was ever provided; therefore, we can only suggest the steps of the clinical psychologist according to the specific structure for treating individuals. References: Craske, M.G., Barlow, D.H., & O’Leary, T. (1992). Mastery of your anxiety and worry. Albany, NY: Graywind Publications Incorporated. Fridlund, A.J., Beck, H.P., Goldie, W.D, & Irons, G. (2012, January23). LITTLE ALBERT: A Neurologically Impaired Child. History of Psychology. Advanced online publication. doi:10.1037/a0026720 Goldfried, M.R. & Davison, G.C. (1969). Clinical behavior therapy. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston Inc. Meyer, R. G., Chapman, L. K., & Weaver, C. M. (2009). Case studies in abnormal behavior (8thed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education/Allyn & Bacon. WebMD. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/anxiety-panic/mental-health- causes-mental-illness

Today reflecting on the day, this has got to be one of the best in my nearly fifteen years of life

I was very wary about coming face to face with it all. Nobody told me that I had a whole other family. A mixture of feelings surrounded me. Why did nobody tell m? Why was I wrapped up in cotton wool? It all started off the same old thing, get up and get ready. The grey dingy sky of another I could see sunny day coming through (not) why was it England was always cold, dull, and rainy. I thought back to my summer holiday last year. All I can say is that it was total bliss. The sun kissing and warming my skin, a warm feeling spread through my body at that moment. A click back to reality as the morning news filtered through one ear and out of the other. Oh how I loved to hate getting up and ready for school. The walk to school was torturous I could not handle these things. A dreadful storm of rain pouring on my head the bitter cold hitting my skin with great force. What a good start to another school day? First lesson, first enemy if you ask me. Monday morning blues meant that I could not take part in PE The day dragged on lesson by lesson. The seemed to be stuck as it looked like it was never moving. Just trying to torture me I bet. I was estatatic at the time to go home. I got home and thought about what programmes I was going to watch on T.V. I heard my mum and dad talking. I picked up a bit of the conversation. I ran up the stairs and to my surprise my mum and dad was furiously packing. I immediately asked what was going on. My parents gave me instructions to pack for a hot holiday. As you can imagine I was very contented I loved holidays. I found out we were going to the magical island of Capri. Situated just off the Italian coast. I asked how long we were going for and I was told as long as we want. After a fatiguing flight we got there. It was phenomenal, I could not believe I was there. There were pretty lush patches of greenery scattered everywhere. I could see a glimpse of the coast. It was unbelievable. After the initial shock of a surprise trip to an enchanting island a thought played on my mind. What exactly were we doing here? I pursued this to my dad and he told me there was somebody I should meet. I looked round to a massive mansion. A complex should I say. Pretty well looked after gardens. Immaculate white fences to enter through. What was going on I wondered? This whole family stood there and smiled at me like they knew me. Who were all these people I wondered? They introduced themselves they were my dad's side of the family that we were told never to talk about. They were all incredible nice. The biggest shock of all, I found out that I was to inherit a small fortune. I felt like never before so shocked, amazed and happy. The day ended with a massive party in order of this good news. I just could not believe it. I knew that I was going to be happy here for a while, however long I stayed.

The Enron Managers’ Mistakes

Looking for mistakes is a very difficult thing to do, especially if the case in point is something which is as successful in one point of its existence such as the Enron. Companies such as Enron employ the best managers because work at these levels leaves very, very, very little room for error; unless it was a calculated and deliberate error in the part of the erring managers.If such was the case, then it would lead to the identification of malice and fraudulent motivations in the part of the managers, since no manager wants to commit knowingly a mistake. The identity of the ‘mistake’ shifts now from what used to be as poorly thought-of action plan made individually and independent of other people’s orientation and influence resulting to losses to the general course of action, attitude and mental alignment of some the managers in Enron that made the collapse as something which is highly improbable.Still there were mistakes in general, and still, it will be manager s at the end of the day who will be answerable and liable for these mistakes, from what was claimed as accounting processes that are bogged down by innocent human error, to deliberate cover ups and last minute action recourse that was a minute too late always people are thinking that at worst, it was a well schemed, well planned, internal sabotage. Yes, they made mistakes. And former Enron Corp.Chairman Kenneth Lay himself was among those who ‘admitted to mistakes’ which are by and all bereft of malice as he insisted that despite the mistakes, any wrongdoing in running the energy giant was not part of his activities while servicing Enron (Emshwillerm, McWilliams, 2006). Companies and business management executives adhere to a particular paradigm or accepted practice in the daily undertaking of business and commerce because it is a necessary tool in the check and balance system that guarantees that the interests of the company, the investors and the public are protected. The main idea behind the collapse of Enron Corporation is its managers’ deviance from these paradigms due to fraudulent intentions, and because of this, investors and the public in general placed Enron’s managers and chief executives as the one who erred and the ones who are criminally liable, leading to one of the most controversial debacle in Wall Street history.Enron willingly or unwillingly, knowingly or unknowingly kept analysts, investors and other people from the business industry outside and in the dark. Some of their actions made them accountable according to the letter of the law while some can interpret the entire fiasco as a mere case of incapable and incompetent managers.The partnership and the role of these partnerships and the failure to see how it will work out in the long run is one of the biggest mistakes of Enron and its managers along with i5ts move to inflate its reported profits and manipulate its profits, and at some extent the managers knew of t hat this move was a potential mistake but the earnings are just to tempting for them not to wager and give it a try, providing Enron suddenly with a way to hide the true amount of its debts through these partnerships with companies who are people and managed by the same executives found in Enron (Rouleau, 2002).The managers’ mistakes are assessed using two perspectives – first, their mistakes that contributed to the downfall and worsening of Enron as a company, and second, the mistakes that they made that lead to the conviction of the criminal charges that were slapped on them. What did they do wrong? Many.Just for starters, Smith (2006) wonders about the foolhardy risk of Enron in booking profits using means which are considered as generally volatile, risky and perfectly lawful and legal; this alongside Enron’s racking up of â€Å"mark-to-market† gains, a steady real-cash influx based model for accounting, as reflected on the company’s trading boo k which do not reflect the use an accounting system which is based on the flow of actual money like the accrual system,CRIMINAL LIABILITIES – The mistakes of Enron’s managers are reflected on their criminal records as their miscalculated mistakes led them from blue chip executive managers to criminal convicted felons, which may have cast light on the guilt of certain crimes of the Enron managers but was unable to bring to light fully other important details.And by 2006, Smith (2006) still considers that it ‘isn't clear how much Enron made or lost off its vaunted energy-trading, energy-services and broadband units’ or the extent of the earnings of Enron over what Smith considers as the exploitation of ‘the California electricity market during the 15-month crisis’ which started in the spring, year 2000 (Wall Street Journal, pA9).And when several business mangers that are all capable and willing to commit criminal acts to the company and its inve stors are housed inside one company, it is the perfect recipe for an impending financial crisis. To be able to analyze the mistakes of Enron’s managers that lead to the collapse of the company, it is important to take a look at two things – the crimes for which every manager was accused of, and for the alleged crime that they made but were acquitted from.The management and the managers were, after all, responsible for letting Enron be ‘dependent on paper trading gains’, which, according to Smith (2006) actually had ‘little real cash attached to them and so vulnerable to credit calls that made it incapable of riding out a crisis’ (The Wall Street Journal, pA9), something which is not very much explored since the trial focused on the liabilities of the leaders and managers who kept on insisting throughout the trial that Enron was merely a ‘victim to a run on the bank’. Smith, A9). Before making a scrutiny overall individual mistakes by Enron managers, one of the mistakes of the board of directors should be mentioned since it was symbolic to the law-bending and law-twisting nature of doing business inside Enron that put them in this mess in the first place.This particular incident which symbolizes the many other similar erratic actions and costly mistakes made by the board of directors is about the time when the board of directors opted to waive the aspect of conflict of interest and allowed Enron's very own Chief Finance Officer Andrew Fastow to head a business that is directly in dealing with Enron since the board of directors may have seen the merit, however temporary, of the strategy that allows Fastow's LJM to acquire by buy out Enron's assets which it considers as underperforming, in truth the company of Fastow is no more than a smokescreen so that the debt of the Enron is shielded and the profit improved on paper. The most significant person and Enron manager who made the most telling mistakes en route t o the downfall of Enron is no other than Kenneth Lay.Others were just a notch lower than Lay’s stature in the mismanagement department, and these include others like Jeffrey Skilling, Greg Whalley, Mark Frevert and Andrew Fastow – they may or may not be included in Lay’s excuse list of what he considers as ‘deceitful underlings’ (Emshwillerm, McWilliams, 2006). For Lay and all the involved Enron managers, their mistake was to wager their career and the future of Enron in exchange for whatever financial gains they experienced resulting from undertaking fraudulent actions and strategies while inside the company and holding key positions in Enron. Lay faced eleven criminal charges as an aftermath of the Enron scandal, all of which he pleaded not guilty.During the sentencing, Lay was found by the jury guilty of securities and wire fraud. This reflects Lay’s two main mistakes which he made throughout his Enron career – the mistakes that he made that caused the downfall of Enron considering that all of the accusations hurled against him are false, and the second mistake, the inability to protect himself for worst case scenario, whether or not he is truly guilty of criminal actions. Another managerial mistake of Lay is his show of support and trust to the operations of Lou Borget, who was later convicted of money laundering. Lay was notorious for undertaking questionable and shady workings that are hardly transparent to those who need to see and understand it.Even before his Enron days, Lay was always full of suspicious and strange actions, like how he still managed to control Internorth despite the fact that it was his small company which the Internorth brought and how insurance companies point to Lay's questionable dealings in foreign countries like Peru where Enron formerly do business in. This resulted to Lay's career being capped with losses, sales of what is otherwise considered as a very profitable operation, emp loyee lay-offs and shady partnership deals which analysts consider as Lay's way of hiding debt. If Lay is synonymous with shady accounts, questionable transactions and strange partnership moves, Skilling seemed to be haunted by a curse which is just as bad as that of Lay – failed business operation. Skilling joined Enron in 1989. Prior to that, his career was inside a banking institution, the First City Bank of Houston, which collapsed as he left.If Skilling’s excuse was that his mistakes were made without malice and as a result of some human error factor, then he was misled and confused at least 19 times, the same number of times he was acquitted for wire fraud and securities fraud. Even with the fact that it is close to impossible for Skilling to have an excuse for such number of instances pertaining to erroneous but not malicious managerial actions inside Enron which can prove that he is innocent after all, his capability as a top tier manager will be put to questio n next, as well as the authority and prudence of those who hired him since Skilling, after all, is close to being moronic with the nature of the job he was signed up to work in, if it is true that he did not have any acts with malicious or destructive nature towards the company for all of the times he was said to have committed securities and wire fraud.This is the case of someone stupid being smart enough to land a position of power, something which is not just convincing and realistic enough as it was plain dumb. Regardless, it is still Skilling’s mistake that burdens him with such load. Andrew Fastow's mistakes was opting to do things which are not designed to answer Enron's brewing financial problem but to provide a mat under which Enron managers can sweep the dirt when business visitors and investors come in for a visit. This is true with the case of Fastow's creation of the so-called off-book entities. Even before Enron crashed, Fastow was already showing the company ho w he is mistake prone. Example of which was the 1996 job that he bungled, described by Barboza and Schwartz (2002) in detail; ‘Fastow†¦ as nearly fired for the poor job he did running a retail unit that aimed to put Enron into competition with local utilities around the country' (The New York Times).The same poor sense of long term outlook despite the innate financial wizardry inside Fastow’s head led Fastow to create an escape for Enron when its Calper’s interests are not being addressed to as planned and expected by Enron his wife's family posing as outside investor and a low level Enron employee who was promised a hefty 10 million profit, the use of Chewco as the hiding place for Enron's debts and as a way to help in the inflation of Enron's profits which were both impossible in the first place, .Again, maybe Fastow was guiltless after all of the crimes stacked against him after the Enron collapse; but the one sure thing is that despite his intelligence, he committed too many mistakes that netted him in a web and be ‘wrapped up in a series of complex transactions that ultimately doomed him' (Barboza, Schwartz, 2002), and the doom that came as a result of his mistakes amounted to an indictment of 78 counts of crimes that included fraud, money laundering, and conspiracy. Paula Rieker was one time the managing director of investor relations of Enron. She was guilty of the criminal charge set against her (criminal insider trading charge) as she was guilty of the mistake of allowing herself to join her colleagues in what was called the exercise of self enrichment inside the company wherein managers use the situation at hand to make the most out of one's profit.Former Enron CAO Richard Causey, Enron treasurer Ben Glisan Jr. nd energy trader John Forney were all guilty of securities fraud as he was guilty of the mistake of failing to do what is right for the company or the mistake of failing to act upon constructively using one's sou rces and capabilities to keep Enron alive. OUTSIDE CRIMINAL LIABILITIES- Aside from the analysis of Enron’s managers that led to convictions to criminal acts, a look at the Enron situation without the malice of fraud will also reveal little things that help compound the growing mismanagement of Enron and made the fall a bit faster. The mistakes of the Enron managers can also be stacked together in either of the two categories – financial management failure and poor people management.For now, the idea that the company may have been sabotaged directly behind fraudulent intentions from the top executives will be put aside in the name of management strategy assessment, and also because of the fact that common sense business dictates that no business entity or individual would risk building a blue chip firm that it will take down so hard so fast. The assessment of the errors is based on the fact that the top executives and managers of Enron did something hugely erroneous an d disastrous for the company sans the malice that some economic and business conspiracy theorists are exploring or what the criminal convictions simply proved.Simply said, Enron top brass made big time mistakes particularly because they are running a big time firm, and the paper will try to look at these big time mistakes and how it affected and contributed to the fall of Enron and their eventual conviction. Poor Financial and Overall Management – Despite the fact that companies are indeed legit, it is difficult to prove that 100 percent of all the legit businesses, may it be in the United States or anywhere in the world, operates using strategies and methods that are 100 percent legal. Some of these companies tweak and bend the law here and there, and the reason why some of them are not caught is because they are prudent and good enough that no fall-out in the magnitude of crisis level would result from such law-bending actions.Having established that, Enron and its managers are plainly not good enough to sustain the good financial position of the company and they were not able to balance out with good management maneuver and strategy whatever downside and ill-effect the results of their ‘criminal acts’ has on the company’s performance even before it hit crisis-level. It was just a case of poor financial management. Considering that Enron did not have any fraudulent intentions, the management of the company is still guilty of hiring incompetent individuals which they used to fill in key positions since none of them were capable of salvaging what was left of the fast sinking company. â€Å"Financial fraud is often a team sport. It took a host of banks, lawyers and accountants to hide Enron's problems from investors† (The New York Times, 2007). They are guilty of maneuvering poorly Enron inside the trade and stock exchange landscape with or without the illegal and criminal transactions that they did.They are guilty of sticking to a team of financial executives and their strategies and capabilities even when it appears that these personnel and their strategies are taking Enron nowhere but down, that is with consideration to the fact that again, they did not have any fraudulent intentions in the first place. The fact that Enron was poorly managed is hardly challenged as the proofs are just overwhelming and the tale of the stock price of Enron says it all – before the crisis, Enron shares stood at 90 US dollars; by November 21, 2001 the stock price of Enron is down to just seven US dollars. A week later the price was down to 0. 61 US dollars as the trading day closed along with the withdrawal of Dynegy Incorporated from previous deals with Enron and the awarding of the junk status rating to the company.Adding to these are other happenings that bolstered the claims that Enron was poorly managed before and during the crisis; the debt repayment obligations that amounted to 9 billion US dollars at the clo se of the year 2002, an amount which cannot be covered by the company's available cash at that time, the decimation of five billion US dollars in just fifty days of the amount that Enron borrowed from financial firms and banks which was originally planned for use in buying its commercial paper and other strategies to resuscitate the company's financial standing. Even the pattern of its financial behavior is reeking of the foul odor of poor management – the big third quarter loss followed by the company's announcement that it has actually overstated Enron's earnings in the last four years, and then followed by the making public of Enron's $3 billion obligations to its several partnerships.Questionable Business Strategies – The Enron debacle highlighted not just Enron managers’ poor financial and business acumen; it also showcased the poor people management skills of the managers of Enron reflected by its strategies and its inability to protect the company and its investors from long term and short term losses which they may have failed to predict or foresee in the first place. The only thing it appears they do best is confuse the company, confuse the public and in the end confuse even themselves that even when they wanted to, they cannot explain to the public, particularly to the SEC and to the investors, what is really going on inside Enron.Public Assurance – Credited to the faults of the Enron managers is the fact that the company’s managers were unable to convince the investors in the time of crisis that everything is being done to create or maintain stability. The investors were not waiting to be told that everything at Enron is ok, since they would not believe it if it was said in the first place owing to the fact that the company is not transparent enough to even convince the investors and the public in general that they are even telling the truth. The managers were not able to control the mounting unrest and it was the case because of their refusal to divulge important information that can convince the people about the state of the company.And this attitude is not impossible to think that many of the Enron managers were all in denial on what Enron, their milking cow, their cash cow, has become, ‘Mr. Fastow was reluctant to acknowledge what was happening'(Barboza, Schwartz). Deterioration of Credibility – Another important and noteworthy fault that the Enron managers, particularly Kenneth Lay, committed is that they allow their credibility to deteriorate in front of the public and in the face of the investors. How did they, particularly Lay, do that? Through a lot if different ways that merely exacerbated the situation and compounded the growing negativity of the people towards him owed to his being overly shady and secretive of the many aspects of Enron’s operation and financial status.With the breaking of the credibility of the top management tier of Enron comes the decreasing level of respect the people has for Enron managers, not just because of the result of the impending loss and the financial impact it has on investors some of which has there whole future in it, but because Enron managers themselves are creating inter-personal friction between them and those who are pushing for answers to unresolved questions. This attitude is reflective of how Enron’s top management people like Skilling treated investors who are merely calling for transparency by asking balance sheets and detailed earnings and was instead treated with expletive words over a conference call.Breaking of Ranks – During Enron’s financial battles, one of the aspects that greatly crippled them as an organization is the massive breaking and falling apart of their own ranks. In any battles – corporate or not – it is important that managers and top tier executives show a united front, especially when it comes to addressing the public and providing the assu rance that everything is alright, and that whatever minor problems are being addressed immediately through the unity of the top management brass. In the case of Enron and its managers, it is either top brass people are leaving or they are simply being replaced during the most critical part of the company’s financial battle when senior and long time veterans are expected to hold the reigns and maintain control.

Comparing and Contrasting the Two Major American Political Parties

In the United States there exists largely a dichotomy with respect to parties of political affiliation, and while other parties can and do exist, most people refer to the US as it is now as a â€Å"two-party state. † The two parties, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, have existed in our country for over one hundred fifty-three years each, and the struggle for power in which they both partake has been no small matter, becoming more and more hotly contested as time goes on.While both the Democratic Party and the Republican Party (GOP herein) seem starkly opposite at surface level, the two often have similar goals, aspirations and plans for our country, with the main point of contention being the methods by which such things are brought about. Fiscally, the Democrats and GOP both want a free economy with as little national debt as sustainably possible, but, for the most part, the Democrats favor government action, and the GOP favors private action. With respect to so cial policy, the Democrats favor more progressive legislation, and the GOP favors more traditional legislation.As the US stands currently, in a recession, no American could disagree that everyone’s goal for the economy is to get out of the recession. The real question is â€Å"How do we do it? † Republicans say that we should cut spending, cut taxes and allow those cuts in taxes to promote job creation in the private sector: jobs come from businesses, and when the people who own the businesses have more money, they can hire more people to do more work, which would raise GDP and reduce the national debt.Democrats say that we should raise taxes to increase revenue, and use the increased revenue to sponsor various economic stimuli to promote greater productivity and job creation. This sort of top-down/bottom-up perspective has led many Americans to believe the motivations of the two parties to be a conflict of social classes, with Republicans representing largely the rich , and Democrats representing largely the poor.Undoubtedly, the largest differences between the two major parties exist in the social platforms of each. The GOP is composed mostly of those who are socially conservative, the Democratic Party, of those who are socially liberal, but there are certainly those within each party whose beliefs vary. The Democratic Party generally supports legislation promoting social tolerance, i. e. policies which limit the government’s ability to tell any person what to do, provided that they not infringe upon the rights of others.This amounts to policies in favor of things gay marriage and marijuana legalization and policies opposed to abortion restrictions, welfare drugs tests and public funding of religious institutions and schools. The GOP generally supports social legislation which maintains the status quo, protecting the foundation of America which those before us have provided. In this manner, the GOP usually favors legislation that protects the sanctity of marriage (i. e. ne man, one woman), prevents drug addicts from receiving welfare and prevents people from harming themselves with drug use, and the GOP generally opposes legislation that would allow any of the previous things to occur. Interestingly, however, the GOP strongly supports the exercise of the Second Amendment to its fullest capacity, opposing almost any gun control law, while the Democrats generally favor gun control with respect to some of the more dangerously liable guns such as assault rifles or even some semi-automatic rifles.In terms of demographics and geography, the Democrats and Republicans are quite contrasting. By and large, the Republican Party is most powerful in the South and Midwest, while the Democratic Party gains its power mostly from the North and the West coast. Republicans are more likely to be older, more wealthy, more religious and white (though this obviously does not mean all Republicans are white). Democrats are more likely to be younger, more educated and more ethnically varied than the Republican Party.These snapshots into the average Democrat or the average Republican must be taken with a grain of salt, however, as demographics and geographic are not causes of the party composition, but merely correlations which have been concluded. While the Democrats and Republicans have long been considered bitter rivals, and for the most part it is true, the two major parties in America are not quite as disparate and incongruous as many would think.They both have the same major goals for the economy, but only the methodology differs. They have different ideas for social policy, stemming from the more religious and more secular worldviews which most Republicans and most Democrats respectively hold. With the differences aside from both, the Democrats and Republicans in political offices do come together to prevent the one which they fear most: the success of any third party. Both parties will stop at nothing to maintai n whatever power they each have.

Guillermo’s Furniture Store Scenario Essay

Financial principles, financial markets, and business ethics construct a major infrastructure for financial decisions that all managers or supervisors must make on a constant basis. The purpose of this paper is to explain the financial concepts found in this week’s readings and how these concepts relate to the Guillermo’s Furniture Store Scenario. According to the text reading, â€Å"the principles of finance, described in this section and the two that follow, are based on logical deduction and on empirical observation† (Chapter 2, p. 20). Until the late 1990s, Guillermo’s Furniture Store retained its competitive advantage in the furniture market. The arrival of a new overseas competitor entering the furniture market, decreased furniture prices, and increased labor costs posed as a new challenge for the organization (University of Phoenix, 2009). For several years, Guillermo’s Furniture Store dominated the furniture manufacturing market with the ideal supply of timber to create a variation of types of furniture. As a result, the owner did not know how to forecast the new challenges that faced the company. As the new competition starts to enter the furniture market, these competitors have developed an advanced technology that produces a more customized product to meet consumer demand. With labor costs rising, Guillermo did not realize these changes and how this would affect his current business. Guillermo’s Furniture Store will need to consider the principle of self-interested behavior to help minimize the risks associated with the changes in the furniture business to meet customer expectations. The concept of the principle of self-interested behavior basically implies that with a level playing field in the furniture business meaning all aspects of the business equals one another, then Guillermo will need to act or perform in the best financial interest of his own company. One option for Guillermo’s Furniture Store would be to purchase a high-tech laser lather operating equipment for manufacturing the product. This would be an example of the principle of self-interested behavior as it is an important corollary of this principle (Emery, Finnerty, & Stowe, 2007). This action will create a more desirable competing action for the benefit of his organization. Guillermo could also consider becoming a furniture manufacturer for a Norway company by facilitating all distributing pathways and this behavior is an example of the principle of valuable ideas. Emery, Finnerty & Stowe state, â€Å"new products or services can create value, so if you have a new idea, you might then transform it into extraordinary positive value for yourself† (Chapter 2, p. 24). This type of behavior is clear if the owner decides to patent the current process for coating the furniture as it creates new ideas. Guillermo will need to consider ways to create value by developing exceptional customer service with the creation of better products and services at the lowest possible price without sacrificing the quality of the product or service. The competition is fierce overseas as a direct result of inexpensive parts and labor. The furniture store will have to create the lowest and best quality product to meet consumer demands. Guillermo will need to meet the competition with its market presence by focusing on remaining competitive with the patent process. In order to make a strategic decision on which process will be best for the furniture store, Guillermo will need to take a closer look at the financial statements to make the financial decision. Strategic analysis of financial transaction is one of the most vital facets of an organization with regard to important business decisions. This type of analysis assists any business owner or manager in deciding which type of alternative or plan would be most beneficial to the company. These decisions should also consider the impact on the market and the competition as well as the organization. Guillermo will need to discover the financial impact of either choice mentioned above to make the best decision. Reference Emery, D. R., Finnerty, J. D., Stowe, J. D. (2007). Corporate Financial Management (3rd ed). Chapter 2: The Financial Environment: Concepts and Principles. Prentice Hall, Inc: A Pearson Education Company. University of Phoenix. Guillermo’s Furniture Store Data. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, Corporate Finance-FIN571 website. University of Phoenix (2012). Guillermo’s Furniture Store Scenario. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, Corporate Finance-FIN571 website

Case study Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 18

Case study - Essay Example The second category is active sport tourism. This category includes activity holidays and active events. The third category is event sport tourism. This includes the active and passive participation in sporting events (Gibson, 1998). Gibson (1998,p.49), further conceptualizes sport tourism to be in three distinct areas; traveling to take part in a sporting event; traveling to watch a sport; or travelling to celebrate, worship, or venerate a sport. More recent definitions of sport tourism argue that it is more than a two dimensional synergetic phenomenon. In a more intricate definition, sport tourism is a social, economic and cultural phenomenon that arises from the unique interaction of activity, people, and place (Weed & Bull, 2004, p. 37). Weymouth and Portland are located on the south coast of England. This area provides some of the best sailing waters in the UK. In addition to this, the area has facilities on land to complement the sailing activities that take place. Before the 2012 Olympic games, the area already had world class facilities but some few enhancements were necessary to ensure that the facilities were suitable enough to host the sailing competition during the main Olympics and the Paralympics (london2012.com). Considering that sailing is both a competitive and leisure sporting event, there were several types of sport tourist expected to be in the area during the Olympic period. Gibson conceptualizes sport tourism to be in three distinct areas; travelling to take part; travelling to watch; or travelling to celebrate, worship or venerate a sport. From his conceptualization, the types of tourists that can and were attracted to visit Weymouth and Portland