Irony in Edwin Arlington Robinson’s Poem, Richard Cory :: Richard Cory Analysis

In Edwin Arlington Robinson’s poem â€Å"Richard Cory,† things are not what they seem. People saw that Richard Cory had wealth, power, education, fame and good looks. They thought that all this brought Richard happiness. They all wanted to be like him . No one got to know who he was but only knew him for what he had. It seemed that he had everything yet it was not enough to make him happy. His wealth did not give him happiness nor did it bring him friends. Richards’s loneliness is what makes him kill himself. What seems to be true is not actually true underneath it all. In the beginning of the poem, Richard Cory is described as a person who seems to have everything: â€Å"And he was rich†¦/ And admirably schooled in every grace:†(9-10) so he was wealthy, powerful and good-looking. These are things that everyone wants to be. It is thought that money can buy happiness but it can not. It seems as if Richard would be happy with the things that he has but it was not as it appeared. The people and Richard Cory have their differences. While Richard was â€Å"richer than a king-†(9) the people â€Å"went without meat, and cursed the bread:†(14). The people were too poor to afford meat and despised their lives. They wanted to be like him and wished that they â€Å"were in his place.†(12) They thought they would be happy if they were rich like Richard. The â€Å"people on the pavement looked at him:†(2) as if he was above them. The pavement showed that they were below him and it emphasized the next line that he was like a king. The people seemed to keep their distance from Richard because of their differences. This makes him lonely, which leads him to his death. At the end of the poem, it is bluntly stated that Richard Cory kills himself because he was unhappy with his life. â€Å"And Richard Cory, one calm summer night, / Went home and put a bullet through his head.†(15-16) He shot himself because he was lonely having

Brave New World State Motto :: Essays Papers

Brave New World State Motto Community + Identity = Stability In a world based on the motto â€Å"Community, identity, stability,† every aspect of society follows that phrase. In the Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World, everyone belongs to everyone else. The people live in one community, follow their pre-destined identity and lead stable lives as a result. The whole society in Brave New World is based on community. No one is ever alone. Solitude and loneliness are unheard of. Everything, as well as everyone, belongs to everyone else. There are constantly community gatherings, such as Orgy-Porgy and community-sings. Depending on what caste you are part of, Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta or Epsilon, you attend different events. Community is the basis of life in the civilized world. Every citizen of the Brave New World has a pre-destined life already planned for him. From the moment a person is decanted, their caste, career, thoughts and fears are picked out for them. Infants are brainwashed into what they are destined to become. Basically, your identity is chosen for you and it is your job to fulfill it, which isn’t difficult because that’s all you know. A person is trained to love their lifestyle and their role in the world and to think they have it better than everyone else. Betas can’t imagine life as an Epsilon, while Epsilons would never dream of being Beta. The result of a strong sense of community along with pre-destined lifestyles is stability, the third part of the Brave New World’s motto. No one has to think for himself or make choices on their own; the government does all that.

Albert Camus Essay

How Aschenbach and Meursault in Death in Venice and The Stranger respectively, are driven by mind initially then change to being driven by the heart as the result of a key event In both The Stranger and Death in Venice, the characters change as the book progresses. There is mainly one action that sparks this drastic change. In The Stranger, this action is the murder of Raymond’s mistress’ brother, and in Death in Venice this critical moment occurs when Aschenbach has the sudden urge to travel. Aschenbach and Meursault are both characters that move from one extreme to the other. They begin as characters who make decisions based solely on what their mind tells them. As the novel develops, these characters move to the other extreme, which is making decisions based solely on what their heart tells them. This transition from extreme logical thinking to extreme emotional thinking is what leads to the downfall of both Aschenbach and Meursault. As the novel begins, Thomas Mann introduces Aschenbach as a fairly likable German writer. Initially the reader sees Aschenbach as a normal character anyone can relate to. He lives a very stable life, and has never traveled before. Aschenbach is a character who is extremely involved in his work and one who organizes his entire life based on how he can best achieve quality in his work. At this point in the novel Aschenbach makes all his decisions using his mind rather than his heart. While taking a stroll, Aschenbach sees a man with red hair as well as long teeth. It is this man that pushes his mind in to traveling. Aschenbach begins to change as soon as he sets his mind to travel. In his daydream regarding his adventure he envisions a â€Å"†¦ landscape, a tropical swampy region under a vapor-laden sky, damp, luxuriant and uncanny; it was like the portrait of a primitive world of islands morasses and slit-laden rivers† (pg 3, Mann). The symbol of Aschenbach’s departure on this journey is the sign of the beginning of his decline. It is from this point on that Aschenbach transforms from being a normal man who makes logical decisions with is brain, to one that makes decisions with his heart. As Aschenbach’s journey progresses, he notices many men with red hair and long white teeth like the one that inspired him to travel. This shows the constant rapid declining of Aschenbach. His first sight of Tadzio in the hotel marks the beginning of the extreme heart-driven Aschenbach. His description of Tadzio clearly portrays his obsession. â€Å"With astonishment Aschenbach observed that the boy was perfectly beautiful. His face, pale and charmingly secretive with the honey-colored hair curling around it, with its straight-sloping nose, its lovely mouth and its expression of sweet and divine earnestness recalled Greek statues of the noblest period, and, along with its extremely pure perfection of form, it was of such unique personal charm that the onlooker thought he had never come across anything so felicitous either in nature or in art† (pg 20, Mann). Once Aschenbach begins to follow Tadzio’s every step, the reader notices that Aschenbach is becoming more and more indulged in Tadzio’s life rather than his own. â€Å"His head and his heart were drunk, and his steps followed the dictates of that dark god whose pleasure it is to trample man’s reason and dignity underfoot†. Even when Aschenbach learns of an epidemic, he realizes that if he dies along with Tadzio, they will be able to meet in heaven. Aschenbach loses total control of his mind and gives in to Venice, a â€Å"city, half fairy tale and half tourist trap, in whose insalubrious air the arts once rankly and voluptuously blossomed, where composers have been inspired to lulling tones of somniferous eroticism. † Even when given the opportunity to leave Venice and escape cholera, his love for Tadzio weighs him down. Aschenbach then has fantasies about everyone else dying, and him being left alone with Tadzio. Now it can be clearly seen that Aschenbach’s passion is coming directly from the heart, and no thinking is being done on his part. This extreme obsession from Aschenbach’s heart immediately leads to his downfall. He dies in his chair, and it is hours before anyone notices. Albert Camus introduces Meursault as a character people are quite taken aback by.

Principles of safeguarding and protection in health and social care Essay

1.1 Define the following types of abuse: †¢Physical abuse involving contact intended to cause feelings of intimidation, injury, or other physical suffering or bodily harm. †¢Sexual abuse is the forcing of undesired sexual behaviour by one person upon another. †¢Emotional/psychological abuse may involve threats or actions to cause mental or physical harm; humiliation; isolation. †¢Financial abuse is the illegal or unauthorised use of a person’s property, money, pension book or other valuables. †¢Institutional abuse involves failure of an organisation to provide appropriate and professional individual services to vulnerable people. It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour that amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness, stereotyping and rigid systems. †¢Self-neglect is a behavioural condition in which an individual neglects to attend to their basic needs, such as personal hygiene, appropriate clothing, feeding, or tending appropriately to any medical conditions they have. †¢Neglect is a passive form of abuse in which the perpetrator is responsible to provide care, for someone, who is unable to care for oneself, but fails to provide adequate care to meet their needs. Neglect may include failing to provide sufficient supervision, nourishment, medical care or other needs. 1.2Identify the signs and/or symptoms associated with each type of abuse: †¢Physical abuse when you have Bruises, pressure marks, broken bones, abrasions, and burns may indicate physical abuse or neglect. †¢Sexual abuse can be bruises around the breasts or genital area, as well as unexplained bleeding around the genital area, pregnancy, STI’s may be signs of sexual abuse. †¢Emotional/psychological abuse can be unexplained withdrawal from normal activities, changes in behaviour and unusual depression may be indicators of emotional abuse. †¢Financial abuse can be no money, food, clothes. Large withdrawals of money from the bank account, sudden changes in a will, and the sudden disappearance of valuable items may be indications of financial exploitation. †¢Institutional abuse can include poor care standards; lack of positive responses to complex needs; rigid routines; inadequate staffing and an insufficient knowledge base within the service; lack of choice, individuality. †¢Self neglect can be bedsores, poor hygiene, unsanitary living conditions, and unattended medical needs may be signs of neglect. †¢Neglect by others can be failure to take necessary medicines, leaving a burning stove unattended, poor hygiene, confusion, unexplained weight loss, and dehydration may all be signs of self-neglect. 1.3 Describe factors that may contribute to an individual being more vulnerable to abuse: If an individual is not mobile, is confused, has dementia, or is aggressive or challenging then this can increase the risk of abuse as the carer might not know how to deal with this, get frustrated and might take it personally and abuse the individual. 2.1 Explain the actions to take if there are suspicions that an individual is being abused: If I suspected any kind of abuse I will record the facts on appropriate paperwork and let my manager know. 2.2 Explain the actions to take if an individual alleges that they are being abused: If an individual alleges that they are being abused, I will record the detail of all allegations that the individual tells me using the individual’s own words, I will not ask any questions or make any judgements about what I have been told. I will take the allegations seriously and reassure the individual that they are right to tell me as their safety is the most important. I will make sure that I record the date and time when the abuse was report it to the manager. 2.3 Identify ways to ensure that evidence of abuse is preserved: †¢Record the facts immediately †¢Report immediately †¢Do not tamper with evidence 3.1 Identify national policies and local systems that relate to safeguarding and protection from abuse: †¢National policies – Safeguarding Vulnerable Groups Act 2006, the Vetting and Barring Scheme run by the Independent Safeguarding Authority (ISA), Criminal Records Bureau, Human Rights Act 1998. †¢Local Systems – Safeguarding Adults Boards, Safeguarding policies and procedures for vulnerable adults.’ 3.2 Explain the roles of different agencies in safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse: Safeguarding Adults Boards Role: The overall objective of the board is to enhance the quality of life of the vulnerable adults who are at risk of abuse and to progressively improve the services of those in need of protection The Police Role: Serving the community, respect and protect human dignity and maintain and uphold the human rights of all persons. CRC Role: We monitor, inspect and regulate services to make sure they meet fundamental standards of quality and safety and we publish what we find, including performance ratings to help people choose care. 3.3 Identify reports into serious failures to protect individuals from abuse: †¢October 2013: Police have arrested 7 care workers from the Veilstone Care Home in Bideford in Devon over alleged abuse of people with learning disabilities. †¢February 2011: Julie Hayden was designated safeguarding champion for the London Borough of Hounslow’s older people’s team at the time the thefts were reported, but failed to follow correct safeguarding procedures in either case. †¢August 2012: The serious case review into events at Winterbourne View, near Bristol, comes after 11 ex-staff members admitted offences against patients 3.4 Identify sources of information and advice about own role in safeguarding and protecting individuals from abuse: You can obtain information from Care Quality Commission, Local authority Adult Services Department like Social Services and Independent Safeguarding Authority. Can get advice on own role from my manager, care workers and my company’s policies and procedures on safeguarding from the office. 4.1 Explain how the likelihood of abuse may be reduced by: Working with person centred values: Person-centred values include the individuality of the person, the rights of the individual, the individual’s choice, the individual’s privacy, the individual’s independence, the individual’s dignity and the individual being respected. Encouraging active participation: Active participation is a way of working that recognises an individual’s right to participate in the activities and relationships of everyday life as independently as possible; the individual is regarded as an active partner in their own care or support, rather than a passive recipient. Promoting choice and rights: Individuals are supported to make their choices in anything they want like in choosing food or drink, in what to wear, whether to use hot or cold water to bathe. No individual will choose what will hurt him or her therefore abuse is reduced to the minimum. Individuals’ rights are promoted throughout the service. My service user has the right to do anything that they wish to do and if it is what they want as long as it is not dangerous; a risk assessment is then done to stop any abuse happening. 4.2 Explain the importance of an accessible complaints procedure for reducing the likelihood of abuse: †¢The complaints procedure gives the complainant the right to be heard and supported to make their views known. An accessible complaints procedure is understandable and easy to use. It sets out clearly how to make a complaint, the steps that will be taken when the complaint is looked into. It also provides flexibility in relation to target response times. †¢An accessible complaints procedure resolves complaints more quickly as the complainant feels that they are being listened to and their complaint taken seriously. This sets up an open culture of making sure that abuse will not be tolerated in any form and encourages the complainant to not accept this. 5.1 Describe unsafe practices that may affect the wellbeing of individuals: †¢Unsanitary conditions can spread infection as cross-contamination can occur and can affect the well-being of the individual and others. †¢Dirty kitchen surfaces and equipment can spread infections. †¢Improper hand washing can also pose a risk. †¢Staff not recording in care plans about a service user’s wellbeing and health and not monitoring them. †¢Staff not checking when a service user is ill or unsteady on their feet. †¢In terms of health and safety not having risk assessments in place when a service user hurts themselves. †¢leaving a service user on the toilet too long, ignoring or not listening to them. 5.2 Explain the actions to take if unsafe practices have been identified: If I identify unsafe practices, I must follow the whistle-blowing procedure and immediately report to my manager or if it involves my manager then to another appropriate person. 5.3 Describe the action to take if suspected abuse or unsafe practices have been reported but nothing has been done in response: †¢If suspected abuse or unsafe practices have been reported but nothing has been done in response or if it has to do with my manager then I will report to the next level or manager. †¢If it has to do with my manager then I will report to management,  then to the social worker and safeguarding team and to the care quality commission and even to the police depending on the response I get. Principles of communication in adult social care settings. 1.1 Identify different reasons why people communicate? †¢expressing and sharing ideas, feelings, needs, wishes and preferences †¢obtaining and receiving information †¢getting to know each other 1.2 Explain how effective communication effects all aspects of working in adult social care settings? †¢service provision †¢teamwork †¢participation, support and trust †¢empathy and shared understanding †¢recording and reporting 1.3 Explain why it is important to observe an individual’s reactions when communicating with them †¢to understand what an individual is trying to express †¢to meet the individual’s needs †¢to identify any changes in an individual’s needs †¢to enable effective communication 2.1 Explain why it is important to find out an individual’s communication and language needs, wishes and preferences An individual is someone requiring care or support Preferences may be based on: †¢beliefs †¢values †¢culture Importance of finding out an individual’s needs, wishes and preferences may include: to enable effective communication †¢to understand what an individual is trying to express †¢to understand an individuals’ needs, wishes, beliefs, values and culture †¢to avoid the individual feeling excluded †¢to avoid the individual becoming distressed, frustrated or frightened †¢to support the individual to be fully involved in their daily life 2.2 Describe a range of communication methods Communication methods include: Non-verbal communication: †¢written words †¢facial expressions †¢eye contact †¢touch †¢physical gestures †¢body language †¢behaviour †¢gestures †¢visual aids e.g. flash cards, pictures, symbols Verbal communication: †¢vocabulary †¢linguistic tone †¢pitch 3.1 Identify barriers to communication Barriers may include: †¢not understanding or being aware of an individual’s needs, wishes, beliefs, values and culture †¢not making communication aids available or checking they are working †¢a noisy environment †¢an uncomfortable environment e.g. lighting, temperature †¢a lack of privacy †¢different language, use of jargon 3.2 Describe ways to reduce barriers to communication Ways to reduce barriers may include: †¢understanding and being aware of an individual’s needs, wishes, beliefs, values and culture †¢supporting individuals to communicate their needs †¢avoiding using jargon in written documents and when speaking †¢speaking slowly and clearly †¢ensuring communication aids are available and working properly †¢showing you are listening and interested †¢providing a quiet and private environment †¢making sure the environment is comfortable 3.3 Describe ways to check that communication has been understood Ways to check may include: †¢observing the person you are communicating with †¢Ã¢â‚¬Ëœreading’ facial expressions and body language †¢checking with the individual that they have understood †¢asking questions, re-phrasing †¢consulting others 3.4 Identify sources of information and support or services to enable more effective communication Sources of information and support may include: †¢individual’s care plan †¢individual’s communication profile †¢individual’s communication passport †¢individual themselves †¢colleagues †¢key worker †¢translator †¢interpreter †¢speech and language therapist †¢advocate †¢family or carers Services may include: †¢translation services †¢interpreting services †¢speech and language services †¢advocacy services 4.1 Define the term â€Å"confidentiality† Meaning of confidentiality may include: †¢keeping information private and safe †¢passing on private information with the individual’s permission †¢only passing on information to others who have a right to it and need to know it 4.2 Describe ways to maintain confidentiality in day to day communication Ways of maintaining confidentiality may include: †¢keeping written records safe †¢not leaving written records in places where others might see †¢ensuring confidential information is passed on only to others who have a right to it and who need to know it †¢password protecting electronic files †¢checking the identity of the person before passing on information †¢not discussing personal information about individuals outside of work †¢providing a private environment 4.3 Describe situations where information normally considered to be confidential might need to be shared with agreed others Situations may include: †¢when working with others †¢when a criminal act has taken place †¢when an individual or another person is at risk of danger, harm or abuse †¢when an individual or another person is being placed in danger, harmed or abused Agreed others may include: †¢colleagues †¢social worker †¢occupational therapist †¢GP †¢speech and language therapist †¢physiotherapist †¢pharmacist †¢nurse †¢specialist nurse †¢psychologist †¢psychiatrist †¢advocate †¢dementia care advisor †¢family or carers 4.4 Explain how and when to seek advice about confidentiality How to seek advice may include : †¢the organisation’s confidentiality policy †¢speaking with the manager When to seek advice may include when: †¢confidential information needs to be shared with agreed others †¢clarification is needed

Discourses in Childhood Essay

What is a discourse? Describe two competing discourses of childhood and suggest the ways that they can have an impact on children’s lives. The concept of discourse is the key to understanding a social constructionist approach to childhood. A discourse is an independent set of interrelated ideas held by a particular ideology or worldview. The social constructionist approach tries to describe the different ways in which knowledge of children and childhoods are constructed. Different discourses of childhood have different ideas of childhood which has different implications on the way in which children are treated. Within the social constructionist theory there are 3 main discourses – romantic, puritan and tabula rasa. This essay will look at 2 of those discourses, which directly compete with each other – the Romantic and Puritan, and suggest ways in which they impact children’s lives. The romantic discourse of childhood suggests children are naturally good. InRousseau’s (1979) view childhood and innocence go hand in hand – children are born pure and innocent. He believed children ought to be given freedom to be who they are, that their childhood should be carefree, and that their innocence should be protected. Rousseau believed children only learn evil and misbehave because they have been mistreated or corrupted in some way. This is contrary to the Puritan discourse, which believes children are born wicked, are amoral, without conscience, and if left to their own devices will resort to savagery. According to Hobbes (1588-1679), who supports this discourse, children should be controlled and disciplined by adults – even if it causes the child unhappiness, short-term pain or distress. Unlike the previous discourse, the Puritan discourse sees children as being responsible for their actions. These discourses of childhood are seen constructed in the media. The Peugeot television advert (Video 1 Band 3, page no’s 239 – 256)gives an example of a man driving a car fanaticising about being a hero andsaving the little girl pictured from being run over. The advert tries to construct the image that  the Peugeot is the type of car that will appeal to a â€Å"hero† and one who is a ‘protector.’ The advert is constructed in such a way to encourage the viewer to form an image of an innocent, vulnerable child and to treat children as people needing protection. (the man is the hero protecting the child from danger). It is obvious that this advert reflects the Romantic discourse. One further advert constructed around the romantic discourse is the Evian water advert (Video 1 Band 3, video page no’s 256 – 257 & 266 – 268) featuring babies swimming in water. From this the viewer is meant to construct an image of the baby as being pure, and unspoiled. This advert is designed to encourage the viewer to think of pure Evian water and a ‘pure’ baby, suggesting that babies are innocent because they are pure. As already said the romantic and puritan discourses are directly competing. The Puritan discourse can be seen through the following 2 film clips. Thefirst is from the film â€Å"Leon† (Video 1 Band 3, video page no’s 271 – 297) which is a story of the friendship between Leon, a professional assassin and Mathilda who is a young girl who’s parents and young brother have been killed and who asks Leon to teach her to kill so that she can avenge her family’s death. The film has constructed an image of Mathilda as an unruly, sinful, and wicked child which is how the puritan discourse describes children. â€Å"Leon† shows that childhood in this case is not a time of innocence and that bad things, like violence and death are witnessed – and caused – by children. It shows a child – as Mathilda is obviously still a child – who has not had her childhoodprotected. The final film clip (Video 1 Band 3 p 333-339) is that of â€Å"American Beauty† portraying a young girl named Angela who is a friend of Lester’s daughter’s. Angela is depicted in a way that makes the viewer think she is sexuallymature and like Mathilda in the previous clip – ‘knowing’ and not innocent. This challenges the viewer’s ideas of childhood being a time of sexual innocence as here is a young girl oozing sexuality, definitely not innocence – but as a child lacking in morals, mirroring the puritan view of childhood. However in a scene where Lester thinks his fantasy of Angela is about to come true, Angela reveals that she innocent in her knowledge of sexual matters, reminding viewers that she is still a child in need of protection. This film clip began as depicting an amoral, sinful, ‘knowing’ young girl in line with the puritan discourse and ends by depicting children as people in need of protection and who are innocent, and as childhood as a time which adults should be protecting the child from anything that will shatter the child’s innocence. In a sense, the end of the clip depicts the adult’s job as to be the hero, saving the child from ‘evil’ much the same as the man in the Peugeot advert mentioned earlier. These discourses affect our views of children which in turn affects how children are thought of and therefore treated. In adopting a Romantic view, you will see children as innocence which in the 2 media clips, was associatedwith vulnerability and purity. According to Rousseau, children should be protected from the adult world, and everything should be done to make their childhood a happy carefree time. As already seen though through the 2 film clips, the Puritan discourse treats children as being unruly and in need of control. They are treated as being responsible for their actions and therefore they should be punished when they do wrong. Having shown how romantic and puritan discourses can be seen in contemporary childhood through the use of the media, I will move on to look at a true life example – that of the murder of 3-year old James Bulger in1993. This little boy was badly beaten and left on a railway line after being abducted from his mum whilst on a shopping trip. His killers were two 10-year old boys. (Asquith 1996)To adopt the romantic discourse of childhood in dealing with the those two boys who killed James Bulger would be to suggest you believed the boys to be naturally good but corrupted by adults and therefore should be forgiven and given rehabilitation – not punishment. On the other hand, to agree withthe competing discourse – that of the puritan discourse  then you would seethose boys as being inherently evil and responsible for their own actions and therefore deserving punishment. Therefore it is clear that whichever discourse of childhood is chosen in dealing with children, it has implications on the way in which children are treated. So far this essay has looked at the social constructionist approach to childhood, but will now consider another approach – the applied. Whenstudying childhood from an applied approach, the main interests are the effect which practical issues like the children’s upbringing and development will have on the children’s lives. Within this approach there are 2 models ofhow the law can deal with young offenders, like the boys in the James Bulger case. According to Asquith 1996 there are two models within the appliedapproach that give different opinions on how to deal with young offenders. These are linked to the discourses already mentioned within the social constructionist approach. The welfare model uses social and individual factors in explaining why children do wrong – it is because they have been mistreated or deprived in some way. This mirrors the Romantic discourse in the sense that both see children as being innocent and blame other factors for children’s wrongdoings. It believes, therefore that children do not deserve to be punished but ought to be shown forgiveness and deserve to be cared for in order to overcome any disadvantages they have faced. In following this model, children should not be dealt with in a court of law but by means of rehabilitation and by considering what would be best for the child. The justice model is in contrast to the welfare model and sees child offenders as being responsible for what they’ve done and deservepunishment and dealt with in a court of criminal law. The justicemodel mirrors the puritan discourse, as they hold similar beliefs thatchildren are innately evil and ought to be held responsible for their own actions and deserve to be punished accordingly. This essay has looked at 2 competing discourses of childhood – the romantic and the puritan. They are competing in the way that they view children and  childhood which in turn has a direct implication for the way that children are treated. Within the Romantic discourse, children are constructed as being pure, innocent and their childhood should be protected and kept carefree. This discourse competes with the puritan discourse which sees children as being innately wicked, unruly and lacking in moralsIt stands to reason therefore that these competing discourses have different implications for the way children are treated. In adopting a romantic discourse children will be forgiven for wrongs, protected from evil and offered rehabilitation when they do offend whereas in adopting a puritan discourse children who are â€Å"naughty† do so because of their innate evilness and deserve to be punished. REFERENCES Book 1 Understanding Childhood,Chapter 1Block 1 Study Guide and Audio-Visual Notes, Unit 1Video 1 Band 3 â€Å"Representations of Childhood†

Enron Corporation Essay

I  Ã‚   The Beginning When Enron Corporation declared a Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2001, it left the public especially its investors and stockholders reeling from such financial scandal and collapse.   Enron had allegedly overstated its profits by $586 million since 1997 in order to protect the firm’s balance sheet and practiced insider trading as well fraud and conspiracy. Enron had been the seventh largest company in the United States and had been one of the largest financial contributors to the Presidential elections, especially the Bush family. To the outside world, Enron portrayed a picture of success.   However, upon closure inspection on the inside, Enron was on the brink of collapse. When Enron’s stock price hit its highest at $90, the executives who allegedly knew of the offshore accounts of Enron started selling their respective shares and to encouraged the public to continue buying the said stocks.   However, the executives knew that the stock prices would not increase anymore but still reassured the public and its investors that the prices of stock would reach a high $130-140 per share. By August 2001, Enron’s stock prices had dropped from $90 to a measly $42. It became evident that the company had fraudulently induced and fooled the public, investors and stockholders to buying the company’s stocks and shares. Amidst all these, Enron founder and former chairman Kenneth Lay continued to reassure the public to remain calm, and asked the investors to buy the company’s shares as the company will regain its profits in the succeeding months. Nonetheless, in October of 2001, the stocks plunged to $15 but the investors saw this as an opportunity to buy Enron stocks at such low prices. But the truth about the company’s financial standing became public and the stock price finally hit rock bottom at $1 per share. II   Basis of the Charges Stockholders and investors gathered and instituted a class-action suit against Enron and its officers in order to recover the millions of investment they made on Enron as result of the false representation and fraud by the company. Enron top executives specifically its Chief Executive Officers, Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were charged and convicted with the collapse of the energy giant. Kenneth Lay faced seven counts of fraud and conspiracy while Skilling faced 31 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors about Enron’s financial position. In 1987, Enron auditors found out a billion-dollar oil trading scandal in its New York offices.   Traders had been engaged in this kind of practice – falsifying transactions in order to boost their volume and profit thereby fattening their bonuses as well. Although CEO Kenneth Lay knew of this, he did not fire the traders nor contacted the authorities in order to cover up their problems. But this incident did not deter the traders and six months later, competitors began to grow suspicious because if word got out, Enron’s trading partners could have demanded that the company cover its positions with cash, which the company did not have (Fowler).   Thus, the traders were fired and charged but not until they were able to transfer million of dollars into their personal accounts.   Enron for its part was able to get away by bluffing the market and reported $85 million in loss but sources claim that the loss totalled to at least $135 million. CEO Jeffrey Skilling, who joined Enron in 1990, did not care much about the expenses incurred by the company as long as the margins looked good.   He was also more concerned with the revenues increases and widening profit margins instead of the cash flows which was practiced by his predecessor. So enamoured were the top executives in increasing business profit that when a deal failed or fell apart, more effort was placed into hiding the consequences instead of rectifying and owning up to the problem.   After taking over as chief operating officer, he renewed the almost non-existent post of chief financial officer and delegated many of the management responsibilities. In theory, Enron had mechanisms that would assess risk and accurately report financial numbers. These mechanisms required that deals should be strictly analyzed which included review by the legal department of the originating unit, the corporate legal department, chief risk officer and chief accounting officer.   However, due to the insidious practice of the company, auditors and accountants were bullied to over ride the system and departments were able to determine the total value of their proposals by manipulating the long-term price of whatever product was sold or bought.   The company also used a â€Å"mark-to-market† accounting system pushed by Skilling which allows a company to report as current revenue the total value of a deal over its projected lifetime (Fowler). This system made earning appear good which in turn pumped up the stock prices and increased the value of stocks which executives received as bonuses. III Trial As the stunned investors witnessed Enron’s stock prices plunged, the government began a massive crackdown on the executives who were responsible for the collapse of the company, and would end up in the conclusion of convincing and proving to the jury that Lay and Skilling, the two top executives of the company, where guilty of massive fraud and were thus guilty. Government prosecutors were at first overwhelmed with the girth of the corporate fraud.   Nevertheless, they began to take measures to respond to these kinds of crimes and a barrage of criminal and civil investigations and prosecutions began to surface.   Thus, in 2002, the Presidential Corporate Fraud Task Force filed criminal charges against more than 900 defendants, of which 60 are chief executive or president level and successfully prosecuted or convicted 500 of them. The case against Lay and Skilling were heard by US District Judge Sim Lake and lasted nearly four months while the jury deliberated for six days.   The defense counsel initially attempted to persuade the judge to move the trial away from Houston, Enron’s hometown as they were afraid that the jury might be influenced by anger due to the resulting loss of jobs and money and would see them as a way of revenge. Kenneth Lay faced seven counts of fraud and conspiracy fraud and conspiracy while Skilling on the other hand, faced 31 counts of fraud, conspiracy, insider trading and lying to auditors about Enron’s financial position.   Although both asserted their innocence of the charges against them, they were convicted for a total of 29 criminal counts as well as conspiracy to hide the failing health of the company by selling boosterich optimism to Wall Street and the public (MSNBC). Lay, who was convicted to 6 counts of conspiracy, securities and wire fraud in the corporate trial and 4 counts on separate personal banking trial, surrendered his passport and posted a $5 million bond secured by the family.   His sentence also carried a maximum penalty of 45 years in prison for the corporate trial while 120 years in personal trial respectively.   Ã‚  Skilling on the other hand, was convicted by 19 counts out of the 28 charged as well as one count of insider trading while being acquitted with the remaining charges. The charges against   these Enron top executives prospered as other executives turned the table and plead guilty in their respective charges in order to receive lower sentences than that prescribed.   Among the former employees who testified against Lay and Skilling was Ben Glisan who is now serving a 5-year prison sentence after pleading guilty to a charge of conspiracy.   According to Glisan, both Lay and Skilling knew that the company was in deep financial trouble but tried to hide it instead. Ultimately, the jury rejected Skilling’s defense that no fraud happened at Enron save for those committed by a number of executives skimming millions in secret side deals, while bad publicity and poor market confidence resulted in the collapse of the energy giant. III. Effects of the Enron Collapse As the jurors found that these once-wealthy and powerful executives repeatedly lied to cover up the real position of the company by covering up accounting and auditing failures which eventually led to its collapse in 2001, the left a devastating effect in the business world as well as the lives of the investors and shareholders.   The demise of Enron wiped out more than $60 billion in market value, almost $2.1 billion in retirement savings and costs more than 5,600 to lose their jobs. The anger of the public over the recent corporate scandals led to the passing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which was designed to make company executives more accountable. Although public distrust for white-collar trial could not actually reverse the damage done to investor confidence, the Lay and Skilling trial however has become a start of a healing process for public-investor relations to be righted again. IV Timothy Belden    Apart from the other key witnesses who were former Enron employees and who testified against the top two Enron officials, Timothy Belden particularly made the charges against Lay and Skilling stick, ending in their conviction.   Belden who was the first person to be charged in the manipulation of Western Energy markets, initially engaged in lengthy dance with federal officials over his plea and eventual cooperation in testifying against Lay and Skilling.   He pleaded guilty in 2002 to conspiracy and admitted that he gave false information to California’s electrical grid operators.   Belden is also said to be the â€Å"mastermind behind the strategies described† in memos that spelled out how Enron manipulated the California market (Schreiber). Beginning in the mid-nineties, California was among the first states to deregulate electricity.   The deregulation occurred just as when companies were leaving the state in numbers thereby creating a recession. The deregulation was supposed to reduce the ten percent of the tax payers’ bill while breaking the old methods of greedy companies.   As California deregulated the wholesale side of its energy markets, it also kept price caps in the retail side. It coincided with the State’s decision to bar utilities from signing long-term cheap fixed prices which forced them to into an unpredictable market.   Thus, the utilities were made to pay exorbitant prices but were not able to pass on to their consumers the prices they incurred.   Enron promised to deliver power more efficiently and build new plants that can run on cheaper fuels. Commencing in 1998 until 2001, Belden as well as other executives from Enron devised a fraudulent scheme in order to obtain increased revenue for Enron from wholesale electricity consumers and other market participants in the State of California. The schemes perpetrated by Belden and the other Enron executives required them to submit false information to the companies supplied by Enron and misrepresented the nature of electricity which the company was supposed to supply. Despite being paid to relieve congestion, the company however, did not do so and instead imported as well as exported electricity in order to receive higher prices from the companies they supply. Of particular interest in the course of the trial is a transcript of conversation between Belden and one of the operators of the power plant wherein the two discussed shutting down one of Reliant’s power plants in California to create a shortage in order for the prices to skyrocket. As the scheme worked, causing the power prices to arrive at high and unjust levels in California, it thereby became illegal under the Federal Energy Policy Act. In his testimony, he called California’s post-deregulation power market dysfunctional and said his company bought cheap electricity in the Northwest to sell in California at a profit (Baker). This practice created the appearance among consumers that there was shortage of electricity, thereby having the need to jack up the prices. Enron was able to pocket off almost $1 billion in a period of nine months in 2000 and 2001. Belden admitted however, that he only met with Lay and Skilling once during a colleague’s party.   But nevertheless, Belden’s testimony proved to be a very crucial one as it confirmed and proved that Lay and Skilling knew of what was happening in California but turned to hide it instead. As company vice-president and head of Enron’s West Coast trading operation, Belden supervised a staff of 120 that went from $50 million in earnings in 1999 to $800 million in 2001, while California’s power markets disintegrated into panic and sky-high prices. When one of Enron’s lawyers started investigating these â€Å"irregularities† as a response to the investigation conducted by the California Public Utility Commission. The lawyers found out of Enron’s tactic of using advantage of the energy crisis and revealed through a memo that Enron created false congestion lines, transferred energy in and out of state to avoid price caps and charged for services the company never actually provided (Swartz).   And yet, inspite of the information the lawyer gave to the top executives, and traders have been told to return the money made on improper trading, the executives at Enron still decided against it despite knowing that the practice was illegal.   For Belden and the other traders, sending the money back would mean that the other companies will know what Enron was doing.   Nevertheless, Belden and Enron continued on with the practice.   Skilling, on the other hand, fully knew well of the said practice by the company in 2001 as he was already tipped by one of the executives who learned of the previous investigation. During examination, Belden admitted to US District Judge Martin Jenkins that he did it because he was trying to maximize profit for Enron. Belden claimed that he was only following Enron’s instructions as he handled his trades (CBS News).   According to Belden’s counsel, Enron knew fully well of Belden’s action but was never disciplined nor sanctioned at all. In fact, Belden may have reaped bonus for such practice as revenues from his trading unit climbed from $50 million in 1999 to $500 million in 2000 to $800 million in 2001.     When he was charged with conspiracy, Belden after a long time of dealing and negotiating with the federal government, decided to turn against Kenneth Lay and Jeffrey Skilling, claiming that the two top executives knew of the practice he and other traders did as indicated by the internal company memos which described how Enron took power out of California at a time of rolling blackouts and shortages and how it sold out of state to elude price caps (CBS News).

Managing Organisations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Managing Organisations - Essay Example ld help an organisation handle stress and health and safety at workplace; and economics would provide theories applicable in labour market dynamics and productivity. Managers, even the highly educated would always be seeking for universal, simple management solutions which do not exist because the contingency theory defines each situation need with its unique approach (Pettus, Kor & Mahoney 2009). According to Searle (2003), organisational psychology employs scientifically-based principles in psychology and research methods in the identification and solving of problems at work places. It aims at giving managers the insights into understanding and measuring human behaviour so as to improve employee satisfaction, increase the ability of managers to identify and promote best performers and make the working conditions better. These would be achieved through creation of tests and understanding the evaluation of human factors. According to the expectancy theory, one of the motivation psychological theories, the first step towards the attainment of superior performance from an employee would be through expectancy which describes the level to which an employee perceives that application of sufficient effort would yield successful achievement in a task (Searle 2003). In the second step, referred to as instrumentality, the employee’s concern would be whether successful achievement in a task would yield rewards. Finally, the employees’ value of the reward would also be considered. As a matter of fact, the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, CIPD (2005) points out at the equity theory which suggests that an employee would always compare oneself to other employees according to the contributions made and the reward received. Maslow also contributed to this discussion by defining the work environment and motivational effects where the scholar argued that several critical needs would be fulfilled through work, giving the hierarchy of these needs (Luthans et al.