A School Principals Recommendation Letter for a Teacher

A School Principal's Recommendation Letter for a Teacher SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips According to the State Department of Education, there were 24 applicants for every one teaching position in Connecticut last year! Teaching's a competitive field, so a stand-out letter of recommendation can go a long way. In the sample letter below, a principal recommends an art teacher applying to another school due to budget cuts. Check out what the principal has to say about this teacher, and then read on for an analysis of what this letter does well. Sample Letter #2: Written by a Principal for a Teacher Mr. Henry NicholsSchool PrincipalCityville Middle School1 School RoadCityville, NJ 08008 Dear Principal Nichols, It’s my honor and pleasure to provide this letter of recommendation for Julia as she pursues an art teaching position with Cityville Middle School. As the principal of Townston Middle School, I’ve enjoyed having Julia on the teaching team for grades 6 through 8. We’ll all miss her and her contributions to our school community. Unfortunately, budgetary restrictions have forced us to reduce the art teaching faculty, and as the most recent hire, Julia will no longer have a position with us next year. This decision in no way reflects on her skills, and I wholeheartedly endorse her candidacy as she seeks a position elsewhere. It’s my wish that she finds a school with the resources to support her talent for teaching art. Julia started her teaching career with us fresh out of graduate school two years ago. She brought with her a solid training in pedagogical methods and art history, along with great energy and enthusiasm. She introduced several new projects that are now a part of the curriculum, including a self-portrait assignment that asks students to reflect on their identities, a stop-motion animation project using clay and iPads, and a papier-mache â€Å"sled challenge† that resulted in fun races down the hill beside the school. Julia also contributed to the â€Å"3D Printer Build-a-Thon,† a weekend-long event during which students, educators, and community members came together to assemble over 20 3D printers. Julia brings exciting new ideas to life; I’m confident that she will continue her momentum with her next school. Julia also impressed me with her commitment to lifelong learning. She successfully collaborated with her mentor, took advantage of several professional development opportunities offered in the district, and took classes on digital technology and special education over the last two summers. She also went out of her way to elicit feedback from her students, inviting them to share their experiences at the end of each semester. It’s this commitment to growth and her students’ well-being that makes Julia an outstanding educator who empowers her pupils. Julia is charismatic and creative, and she thinks outside the box. She has shown excellent classroom management skills and developed a rapport with students, colleagues, and parents that is characterized by mutual respect. At the end of last year, I had a parent come to me specifically to praise Julia's teaching and the impact she's had on her son. Beyond her strengths as an art teacher, Julia’s also a talented artist and has some of her oil and acrylic paintings displayed in a nearby gallery. Julia has my highest recommendation for the position of art instructor, and I look forward to learning more about the accomplishments that lie in her professional future. If the circumstances were different, I would strive to retain Julia on our art department teaching team. Please don’t hesitate to contact me for any further information. Thank you for your time. Sincerely, Elsa SkoolsSchool PrincipalTownston Middle Schooleskools@townston.k12.edu(866) 8-5546 Will this letter convince Principal Nichols to make room for Julia and her paintbrushes? Recommendation Letter #2: The Breakdown Like the first sample, this recommendation letter represents a common relationship between letter writer and candidate. It starts out with a strong statement of support with, â€Å"It’s my honor and pleasure to provide this letter.† This statement is then quickly followed by an explanation of who the letter writer is, thereby showing why she’s qualified to recommend Julia. Principal Skools explains why Julia’s applying elsewhere and makes sure to state that she would retain her on the teaching team if the budget allowed. She goes on to describe Julia’s contributions with specific examples of projects she introduced and community events to which she contributed. The writer uses highly positive language to describe Julia, calling her creative, energetic, and committed to continuous improvement. She also touches on her personal talents as an artist. The letter’s structured to describe three main points: Julia’s accomplishments at the school, her commitment to learning and improvement, and her relationships with teachers, parents, and colleagues. In her glowing endorsement, Principal Skools gives specific examples of the achievements Julia'smade and will continue to make in her next art teaching position. What's Next? What experience do you need to become a teacher in the first place? Find out what degree you do (or don't) need to teach in this article. On to the next! Click here to read our third recommendation letter sample written by a restaurant manager for a part-time employee. Are you looking for a different type of sample letter? Head back to our original recommendation letter guide to find more samples and learn about the key features of outstanding reference letters. Want to provide a strong recommendation for your employee, but don't have the time to craft the perfect letter? PrepScholar's new recommendation tool, SimpleRec, takes you from good intentions and a blank page to a fully written and formatted letter of recommendation in under 5 minutes. All you need to do is give us some simple pieces of information about your employee and your experience working with them, and we'll do the rest. Try out SimpleRec risk-free today:

Leadership Does measuring leadership help productivity of the Coursework

Leadership Does measuring leadership help productivity of the Organisation - Coursework Example A number of examples of organisations have been provided in this context. The subject of leadership has gained tremendous interest in the sine the past few decades. Leadership is considered to of critical interest for adding value to the organisation. It is important to measure the effectiveness of leadership and its influence in driving the performance of employees and the organisations. A leader has a much bigger and important role to play than just being a person who is the biggest or the most powerful. The term leader has been interpreted as a person who sets the direction with an effort to influence individuals to follow the direction. However, the term leader needs to distinguished form that of a manager. It is different from planning, coordinating and organising and is more concerned with the power to influence people and guiding them through the direction of attaining organisation goals and objectives (McNamara, n.d.). It is important to assess the quality of leadership devel opment programs to identify the possible actions which can be taken towards improving the quality of the programs. It is also important to assess the short term as well the long term impacts of these programs to find out the extent to which the organisations provide support or behave as barriers for transferring the leanings to performance (Martineau, 2006, p.1). However, the assessment and evaluation of the effectiveness of leadership should not be restricted to just the management programs. Overall, the objective should be to capture the essence of the term leadership and what it is all about. It requires to be evaluated if the leadership is able to bring about the changes as per the objectives. Leadership should be measured at various levels of the organisation and at all positions. This project aims at bringing out the purpose of measuring the effectiveness of leadership at various levels of the organisation. Literature Review The importance of measuring the effectiveness of lea dership can be viewed from different perspectives. It has an impact on the performance measures, on the followers, and finally at the bottom line of the organisation. In order to make leadership effective, the leader must have all the critical data at the point of his fingertips which would allow him to have the best understanding of whatever is going on in the organisation. The evaluation of leadership involves identifying whether leadership is being effective in finding the solution to a problem through collective efforts or by combining the efforts of the people to promote survival and success. The leaders’ performance may be evaluated on the ground that it can influence the people towards contributing towards the betterment and good of the group. It can also be measured by understanding how the organisations objectives are attained and achieved through the combined efforts of the group members. However, it must be noted goals vary between organisations. The goal of Genera l Motors is different from that of Microsoft, Wal-Mart or other organisations. However, all of them work towards the common goal of attaining the maximum output and profits. Organisations remain competitive towards each other for attaining the scarce resources and having the maximum return on their assets (Kaiser, Hogan & Craig, 2008, p.1). Some traditions follow the measurement of leadership through evaluation of

SMC Orchestra Concerto Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

SMC Orchestra Concerto - Essay Example The first piece was Overture to â€Å"Don Giovanni,† K.257 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with the conductor of the piece being Fang-Ning Lim. The piece authored by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in 1787 consisted of ten instruments each connected to the other. In the first part, the conductor introduced the andante with the flute 1 being the instrument of choice with the part ending in C major with a flute 2. Conversely, the second pair of instruments used in part was oboes, with oboe one starting in the andante while oboe 2 ended in D major. After the oboes, the clarinets started with the first clarinet in A major starting whereby the oboe 2 ended. Thereafter, the second clarinet took over in F major. Other instruments used in the piece were two bassoons, horns, violins, trumpets, horns, timpani, violas, cellos and basses. Importantly, slow movements all through marked this andante and the entire piece and by the end of the piece, I had a feeling that the show had just started. After the first piece, the second piece introduced by James Martin was Keyboard Concerto in D Minor, BWV 1052 by Johan Sebastian Bach. James Martin told us that Johan composed the piece in 1734. Importantly, the piece included three movements, which are allegro, adagio, and then back to allegro with the piano as the instrument of choice in this piece, which was played by Yuko Terashima playing the instrument. This movement is marked by a tempo that is faster than the tempo in the first piece. In effect, the tempo made the place and the hall livelier, and it was evident that those attending the concert were beginning to appreciate the show as I was doing. After the first movement, an adagio followed the allegro and the tempo became more leisurely. In effect, I experienced a relaxed feeling and I appreciated the good music playing all along. The conductor, Fang-Ning Lim introduced the third piece as the Double Concerto, which is played in E Major and was composed by Max Bruch in 1734. April Sh ih played the violin while Douglas Rezende was playing the viola. With these two instruments, I expected the tempo to be relaxing and slow since the movement of this piece was moderato. I realized that the tempo progressively rose with the shape of the volume increasing in a crescendo. I I felt calm as this piece played while I was also filled with enthusiasm and anticipation at the same time. After the piece was over, the next piece followed since the conductor was the same although the violin was the only instrument used. In this case, the piece was Concerto in G Minor composed by Max Bruch with Lim telling the audience that the piece was composed between 1739 and 1738. Paul Lee played the only instrument in this movement, which was the violin with the movement being in andante allegro. In this case, the violin played in a slow tempo at the beginning and ended in a tempo that were fast and energetic. I realized that many people who had attended the concert were singing in apprecia tion as the movement progressed to a fast tempo. The fourth piece was the Concerto in D Minor, K.466 composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1785 as Lim told the audience. In this piece, Aidan Short played the piano in the movement that was an allegro. The movement

Social Policy Essay Example for Free

Social Policy Essay This essay will use the McPhail family case study. The essay will look at the Functionalism and Feminism theory in relation to the case study family and show the effects of two sociological perspectives and there importance in assisting the social care worker to understand the family. The essay will also look at social policy on how it is developed and he issues of private and public issues. This will include how four sectors of social care will aid the case study family and how these organisations are funded. In today’s society, there are many different family structures and these structures are interpreted differently depending on the individual. There are five main ‘types’ of family structures and these can change throughout the life span of the family. In the case of the McPhail family, their family structure can be ‘labelled’ differently depending on when the family is viewed. The McPhail family consists of a grandparent John (68), parents John (42) and Betty (42) and their children Billy (25), Michael (23), Sandy (20), Lisa (15) and Charlene (12). This according to the family structure types this family would fall under the heading of ‘Extended’ family due to grandparent John being cared for by the family. But this can change or take on multiple family types. For example, Parent John’s work pattern, who works away from home with his two eldest sons. So using structure types John would become a ‘Lone Parent’ of his sons that are with him and this could also be applied to Betty with the remaining children in her care. There is also when grandparent John goes into respite, the family structure becomes a ‘Nuclear’ family. This shows that in today’s society there is no longer a normal family structure and with changes within the family is no longer stable. Their roles in their society are deemed different from normal society. As the John (42) and his two eldest sons are the workers of the family, they are known as the providers, like a lot of families the males of the family will go out to work. This leaves Betty (42) as the carer of the family that brings up the children and nurturing their traditional norms and values on the children. But there is a difference which in todays society is deemed different and that is that Betty although labelled the Homemaker has no say on the financial decisions of the family, which is the responsibility of John (42). In society today this is not so common within families, as typically both parents have the financial obligations to the family unit. And within the travelling community money is not spoken about to others and  with the women of the family. The use of sociological perspectives can also explain the workings of this family within society. In the case of the McPhail family there are two of the sociological theories that fit this family. The first being Functionalism Theory, which this theory sees society as a system with a set of interconnected parts that together work to provide for the family needs. According to Functionalists, the family is an important positive role in developing the next generation. The McPhail family parents nurture the children by entrusting their norms and values, which according to Functionalists is how the family should work but only if the gypsy society was the dominant society. As they are not and our society is seen as the ‘correct’ society then this family is now deemed as ‘Dysfunctional’ which the gypsies/ travellers community are seen as different and do not follow the norms, values and roles of our society but for this family their norms and values have been passed down through generation to generation and are seen as ‘normal’ within the gypsie society. The McPhails have strict cultural values that of the gypsy community are very strong and not always seen as acceptable in todays society. This sociological perspective shows how their behaviour, experiences and life chances are affected. The travelling community are strict on family unit and moving around the country has an effect on the life chances, through disrupted education, socialisation out with the family unit and behaviours expected by the non-travelling community. For example the males of the family are taught trades by their fathers and male relatives, and sent out to gain employment to provide for their family but without the academic certification this proves to hinder their life chances. The other of the sociological perspectives is Feminist Theory. For example the females of a traditional gypsy family are educated to be homemakers and thus academic education is not an essential requirement and usually females leave school at fifteen/sixteen, marry young. This highlights that the women of the travelling communities have less standing than men in their community as they are seen as only homemakers. This does not allow women to travel and experience other cultures and life situations such as living alone or sharing with non family. Lack of education also causes limitations on working careers though this is not deemed acceptable but maybe essential for the family to survive. This also has a substantial affect on the behaviour  of the women in the travelling communities by asserting dominance of other women within their community. This has an effect on their behaviour, experiences and life chances for both the males and females of the travelling community. Their behaviour is different dependent on their gender, for example the males are more dominant over the females and the females are to follow strict rules on how to ‘behave’ with and to men and what are expected of them as wives and homemakers. Although this theory allows the social care worker to understand how the McPhail family operates. It also emphasises gender based differences that woman is the nurturer and the man is the provider/breadwinner. This creates generations of sexual inequality. And maintains male power throughout adult society, As a social care worker, both these perspectives can provide useful insight as to how the McPhail family operates but also provides background information for assisting them to settle into a society that in many ways is different to the society they have been brought up in. For a social care worker having a clear understanding of the functional/dysfunctional theory can allow them to sensitive to the needs of the family. For example, the education of the younger children. Putting them into the correct school that has the provisions to assist with the lack of education that these children have had due to the continual movement of the family. Placing them into a school that has educational support unit to assist them in catching up with the mainstream classes. These units will also assist with the behavioural issues that the children have when interacting with teachers and other children within the school. This also has an effect on where the family is housed, as they will need to be close enough for this type of school. Social policies are a set of rules, laws or legislation that governs social issues within society and are also set out to resolve these issues. Social policy has a major impact on the everyday lives of individuals by controlling certain behaviours and situations. Social policy is usually born from a private issue that is common to many individuals within society and when noticed by the government through politicians or people with power they then become a public issue which when it becomes public can be easier to solve and policies are put into place to resolve the issues. There are many different factors or influences that can lead to the development of a social  policy, and they can also be shaped by the influence of European, National and local government. For example, economics of the nation has a major influence on social policy. This has for Scotland provided free prescriptions. This came about when in the 1950’s the British government introduced prescription charges which created millions of pounds that the government used to fund statutory agencies but when the Scotland re-formed its government, the prescription charges where reduced and finally abolished in 2010, thus enabling families on a low income to receive medication otherwise unavailable to them due to the prescription charges. Another example of influences that form social policies is demographics. Looking at the national census, it shows that the growing population and the fact the people are living longer due to the advances in medical science and positive live changes of individuals. But looking mainly at the elderly population, in previous years, the elderly died younger due to lack of income to support them with medication and care but with changes in legislation influence by national and European government has provided free care and benefits. This was done by establishing the Community Care and Health (Scotland) Act 2002, which provides free nursing and personal care with benefits to the elderly population. There is also the influence of the media. As society has progressed with technology so has the availability of information through media coverage. Individuals are finding out more on what the issues of the individuals are and how they can affect them. The media uses many different means of influencing the country but the main channels are television, internet, radio and newspapers. By broadcasting issues of concern, this raises public interest and can insight policies to be made to combat these issues. For example the Patients Rights (Scotland) Act 2011, this came about after a news report on the waiting times of local hospitals where publish. This information became public knowledge on a wider scale and got the people that have an influential say demanding for action to be taken. Which for this issue, it has had a beneficial effect but there are issues that may not such as, if a sex offenders details are available to the public. This has a domino effect as these issues change public opinion on matters of care and families, which is another influence on how social policies are created. Public opinions are brought to the attention of the government by pressure groups or lobby groups. For example MIND is a charitable organisation  that campaigns the government to makes changes to legislation that creates awareness and better rights for individuals with mental health issues. This can be seen through their campaign of the Benefits and Welfare Reform. MIND are campaigning to protect individuals on benefits with mental health issues and their campaign is to provide better assessment tools, changes to Disability Living Allowance and the cut backs, creating more user friendly language when applying for benefits and changing the contents of the new Work Programmes that are being set out by the government. Social policy and the influences that create our policies have an effect on all everyday families and in the case of the McPhail family, their private issue of discrimination of their family by the people living around them has came to the attention of the local authority. The Anti-Social Behaviour etc (Scotland) Act 2003, this act protects the McPhail family through their beliefs and way of life. This acts aim is to protect the family and allows the local authority and local police to intervene on their behalf to stop the issues that are causing them alarm or distress. This can cause social exclusion. Most individuals have a social support network, but for the McPhail family this does not seem to be the case. There are organisations that provide services to assist the McPhail family with the daily living in a community that is unfamiliar to them. These organisations are provided by four main sectors. Firstly there is the statutory sector, which in the case of the McPhail family provides assistance with housing for the family and home care for both Betty (42) and Jacob (68). This sector is funded by the government and provided by the local authority. There is the voluntary sector such as Cornerstone which can provide support to Jacob (68) and the family coming to terms with his terminal illness. This organisation is funded by private donation, fundraising events and can also be funded through government grants. There is also the private sector with agencies such The Richmond Fellowship that provides services such as care (personal care or waking night care) and support (days out and shopping trips) but this service comes at a cost to the individuals as this service is paid for by the client. Finally there is the unpaid or informal carer, which in the case of the McPhail family is Betty (42) who looks after Jacob (68) and provides all his care needs when there is no assistance from the local authority or any other care organisation. This is generally unpaid and  considered within their family as Bettys duty.

Financial Liberalization of Pakistan Essay example -- Economics Financ

In 1974 all banks of the country were nationalized, with the objective of providing the capital for top priority projects or investments, and to ensure the depositor's capital safety. Although this step was taken for the socio-economic benefits, however, the required results could not be obtained. And under the public sector's ownership and supervision the banking sector proved inefficient (Haque 1997), which leads the lower saving and investment, so as a result economic growth decreased (khan and khan 2007). Besides other problems, the lower range of financial products and unavailability of consumer and mortgage financing also included in nationalization system (Haque 1997, Limmi 2002). So, to prevent from financial crises and for efficient working of financial markets, a strong and effective supervisory system was necessary (Caprio and Klingebial 1997). So, after a decade of nationalization the need for some change in the financial system was felt. It was fore step for new reforms, and at the end of 1980s the reform program was initiated. However, the major reforms came in 1990s. In 1990 seven domestic and seventeen foreign banks were working in Pakistan, these seven banks have public sector ownership with a broad network of branches, and more than 90 percent assets of banking sector (as shown in Table: ). In that period there is not a single private bank, while seventeen foreign banks had only forty-five branches and less than 8 percent of total banking assets, their major concern was to deal international trade. (SBP) In 1990 there were three regulatory bodies i) State Bank of Pakistan; the major tasks performed by SBP are conducting the monetary policy, issue directives to commercial banks regarding reserve requirement an... ...ing Companies Ordinance (1997) were repealed through promulgation of Banking Companies (Recovery of Loans and Advances, Credit and Finance) Ordinance (1997). To increase the role of SBP as regulator government divides it into three organizations, i- SBP as central bank ii- SBP-banking services corporation (SBP- BSC) iii- National Institute of Banking and Finance (NIBAF). Works Cited Caprio, G, and Daniela K, (1999), Episodes of systematic and borderline financial distress, Manuscript, The World Bank. SBP (2004) â€Å"Financial Sector Assessment†, Research Department, State Bank of Pakistan. Karachi Haque, Ul N. (1997) â€Å"Financial Market Reforms in Pakistan,† The Pakistan Development Review Part-II, pp: 839-854. Limi, A. (2002), â€Å"Efficiency in the Pakistani Banking Industry: Empirical Evidence after the Structural Reforms in the Late 1990s† Unpublished

Corporate Social Responsibility and Business Law Essay

Introduction Our assigned topic deals with a phenomenon that has taken the corporate world by storm rather recently, particularly in Pakistan. It entails the dilemma that every corporation faces when they have to make decisions regarding the firm’s profitability and their corporation’s social responsibility. The term â€Å"corporate social responsibility† came into common use in the late 1960s and early 1970s after many multinational corporations formed the term stakeholder, meaning those on whom an organization’s activities have an impact. It was used to describe corporate owners beyond shareholders. The field of corporate social responsibility (CSR) has developed exponentially in the last decade. Nevertheless, there remains a lingering debate about the legitimacy and value of corporate reaction to CSR concerns. There are different views of the function of the firm in society and disagreement as to whether wealth maximization should be the sole goal of a corporation. An escalating number of shareholders, analysts, regulators, activists, labor unions, employees, community organizations, and news media are asking companies to be accountable for an ever-changing set of CSR issues. There is rising demand for transparency and growing expectations that corporations measure, report, and continuously improve their social, environmental, and economic performance. According to Business for Social Responsibility (BSR), corporate social responsibility is defined as â€Å"achieving commercial success in ways that honor ethical values and respect people, communities, and the natural environment.† Each company is at variance in how it implements corporate social responsibility, if it does so at all. The differences depend on such factors as any particular company’s size, the particular industry involved, the firm’s business culture, stakeholder demands, and how historically progressive the company is in engaging CSR. Some companies focus on a single area, which is regarded as the most important for them or where they have the highest impact or vulnerability—human rights or the environment, for example—while there are others who endeavor to incorporate CSR in each and every one facet of their operations. For successful execution, it is fundamental that the CSR principles are part of the corporations’ values and strategic planning, and that the management and employees, both are committed to them. Furthermore, it is important that the CSR strategy is aligned with the company’s specific corporate objectives and core competencies. As CSR comes into contact with many of the problems conventionally addressed by government, like human rights and community investing, there is strong censure that societal problems are best solved by freely elected government bodies as the resources of a corporation are poorly matched for addressing those social problems, and therefore, it is argued, they should not be misallocated. According to Friedman (1970), in a free society, â€Å"there is one and only one social responsibility of business—to use its resources and engage in activities designed to increase its profits so long as it stays within the rules of the game, which is to say, engages in open and free competition without deception or fraud.† The idea is that the state should address social problems, supported by the argument that an executive, by taking money and resources that would otherwise go to owners, employees, and costumers, and allocating them according to the will of the minority, and will fail to serve the interests of her or his principal. In this way, the executive imposes a tax and spends the proceeds for â€Å"social† purposes, which is insupportable, since she or he has neither the skills nor the jurisdiction to do so. On the other hand, there are many demands by others for corporate adoption of the CSR principles. Although the government is chiefly responsible for addressing those issues, the contribution of private firms can be substantial. There is also the argument of the shifting balance of power. According to the Organization of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), of the 100 largest global economies, as indicated by their respective GDP, 51 of them are US corporations, and only 49 are nation states. So economic supremacy has shifted to the corporations; they, therefore, should have an increasing role in and accountability for addressing social problems. For example, the government sets the regulations and the minimum standards for the workplace, but a company can further improve the work environment and the quality of living of its employees. A firm cannot stay oblivious to the problems of the environment in which it functions. The poverty of a nation state’s citizens, political unrest, and the exhaustion of natural resources can have destructive effects for a corporation. For example, resources that are inputs in the production process and which, at the foundation of the industrial revolution, were plentiful are now scarce, polluted, or diminishing in many regions of the entire planet. As one would expect, this imposes an extra cost to the corporations and may force them to reposition or to cease operations. From one perspective, companies may be poorly equipped to address some of the social or environmental problems, but from another perspective, no matter how poorly equipped, companies may still be best positioned to improve the problems. Undoubtedly, adopting the CSR principles involves costs. These costs might be short term in nature or continuous outflows. They may involve the purchase of new environmentally friendly equipment, the change of management structures, or the implementation of stricter quality controls. Since being socially responsible involves incurring costs, it should generate benefits as well in order to be a sustainable business practice. A corporation could not continue a policy that constantly generates negative cash flows. The shareholders invest their money in a corporation, expecting the highest possible risk adjusted return. Therefore, being socially responsible should have bottom-line benefits in order to be sustainable. Socially responsible corporate performance can be associated with a series of benefits with the final outcome. But in a lot of cases, it seems that the time frame of the costs and benefits can be out of alignment—the costs are in the near future, whereas the benefits are not often realized until long periods of time have lapsed. Nevertheless, many benefits can be identified. Firstly, socially responsible companies have enhanced brand image and reputation. Consumers are often attracted towards brands and companies with good reputations in CSR related issues. Therefore, a corporation’s brand equity is automatically enhanced. A company regarded as socially responsible can also benefit from its reputation within the business community by having increased ability to attract capital and trading partners. However, reputation is hard to quantify and measure; it is even harder to measure how much it increases a company’s value. But since companies have developed methods to measure the benefits of their advertisement campaigns, similar methods can and should be able to be applied in the case of corporate reputation. Socially responsible companies also have less risk of negative rare events. Furthermore, companies that adopt the CSR principles are more transparent and have less risk of bribery and corruption. In addition, they may execute stricter and, thus, more costly quality and environmental controls, but they run less risk of having to bear in mind defective product lines and pay heavy fines for excessive polluting. They also have less risk of negative social events which damage their reputation and cost millions of dollars in information and advertising campaigns. The scandals about child–labor and sweatshops that affect the clothing industry are two fine examples. Thus, socially responsible businesses should have more stable earnings growth and less downside volatility. Since companies that adopt the CSR principles carry less risk, when valuing those companies, a lower discount rate should be used. In the company valuation this lower tail risk should be taken into account. There are also other cases in which doing what is good and responsible converges with doing the best for the particular business. Some CSR initiatives can dramatically reduce operating costs. For example, reducing packaging material or planning the optimum route for delivery trucks not only reduces the environmental impact of a company’s operation, but it also reduces the cost. The process of adopting the CSR principles induces executives to reconsider their business practices and to seek more efficient ways of operating. Companies perceived to have a strong CSR commitment often have an improved ability to attract and to retain employees (Turban & Greening 1997), which leads to reduced turnover, recruitment, and training costs. Employees, too, often evaluate their companies CSR performance to determine if their personal values conflict with those of the businesses at which they work. There are many known cases in which employees were asked, under pressure of their supervisors, to overlook written or moral laws in order to achieve higher profits. These practices create a culture of fear in the workplace and harm the employees’ trust, loyalty, and commitment to the company. Companies that improve working conditions and labor practices also experience increased productivity and reduced error rates. Regular controls in the production facilities throughout the world ensure that all the employees work under good conditions and earn living wages. These practices are costly, but the increased productivity of the workers and improved quality of the products generate positive cash flows that cover the associated costs. Thus, firms may actually benefit from socially responsible actions in terms of employee morale and productivity (Moskowitz, 1972). Literature review CSP is a global concept that encompasses those of Corporate Social Responsibility and Corporate Social Responsiveness. It provides a coherent framework to explore business-society relationships by looking at the social impact of corporations with business criteria of performance measurement, such as quality, efficacy, effectiveness, innovation (Carroll, 1991; Wood, 1991). The challenge for corporate social responsibility (CSR) in developing countries is framed by a vision that was distilled in 2000 into the Millennium Development Goals—‘a world with less poverty, hunger and disease, greater survival prospects for mothers and their infants, better educated children, equal opportunities for women, and a healthier environment’ (UN, 2006: 3). The penetration of the social realm into corporate strategy has gathered momentum in the last years. The movement for CSR has â€Å"won the battle of ideas† (Crook 2005). By now, most well managed companies have adopted th e practices and certifications mandatory in their industries, having gone through what Zadek (2004) calls the â€Å"defensive† and the â€Å"compliance† stages of CSR. Managing the social and environmental footprint of economic activity is generally accepted as part of the cost of doing business. But much remains to be done. If companies are to move their CSR activities from satisfying behavior and take their commitment to society and the environment to the next level, they will need to rethink their current approaches to CSR, tapping into the creativity of every individual. CSE, like all entrepreneurship, is not about managing existing operations or CSR programs; it is about creating disruptive change in the pursuit of new opportunities. It combines the willingness and desire to create joint economic and social value with the entrepreneurial redesign, systems development, and action necessary to carry it out. Accelerated organizational transformation faces a host of obstacles well-documented in the change management literature. Some people argue that media pressures the corporate managers and directors to behave in ways that are â€Å"socially ac ceptable†. Sometimes this coincides with shareholders’ value maximization, others not (Zinagales, 2002). Although there are several contested notions of what CSR should be and how it should work, there is some agreement upon what it broadly entails. A number of concepts and issues are subsumed under the heading of CSR, including human rights, environmental responsibility, diversity management, sustainability, and philanthropy (Amaeshi & Adi, 2006), meaning that it is a complex area with an interdisciplinary focus. It is generally agreed that CSR involves corporations voluntarily exceeding their legal duties to take account of social, economic and environmental impacts of their operations. Consideration of the social, economic and political context demonstrates how CSR forms part of a wider strategic direction being taken internationally with regard to market relations and the pursuit of a range of objectives and goals. The context is in part provided by concerns about the numerous examples of irresponsible behavior on the part of corporations, ranging from colluding with oppressive regimes and in the overthrowing of governments (Alston, 2005) to issues relating to working conditions and the impact of unethical marketing practices (Richter, 2001). Such examples have demonstrated the need for the worst excesses of business to be curbed. The globalised economy is understood to raise important issues for businesses and governments due to changes in patterns of production and consumption. In particular it is noted that the manufacturing of goods is â€Å"highly mobile† (Cassell, 2001:263) and that supply chains are often dispersed in various countries, creating difficulties in terms of legislation and regulation. Moreover, economic globalization presents challenges to the ability of states to protect people’s rights (Cassell, 2001). The notion of corporate social responsibility is part of the ‘third way’ (Gond & Matten, 2007), where the role of the state is now to provide â€Å"steering for the promotion of social development and social justice† (Giddens, 2001: 6). There is increased involvement of the private sector in traditionally statutory provision through privatization and public/private partnerships (Meehan, 2003). Economic policies have created a need for markets and business to self-regulate in order to continue to pursue an international free market economy, but also to ensure sustainability of economic, human and other resources, and of the environment. CSR is seen as a solution to these problems of regulation. The private sector is increasingly seen as a key player in the achievement of many national and international strategic objectives for governments, which is also enabled by CSR. Methodology To gather information, we used secondary research as our main source of information. Various academic journals and internet sources were pursued to cater to the important aspects of the given topic. Moreover, since we thoroughly researched this topic, personal opinions were formed and using those and logic, we justified our opinions accordingly. How can business persons act in an ethically and socially responsible manner and at the same time make profits? Suppose clear-cutting is profitable and legal, but is nonetheless regarded as environmentally irresponsible under prevailing social norms. Can management of a timber corporation decline to clear-cut its timberland even though that sacrifices profits? One might be tempted to evade the question by claiming that being environmentally responsible is profitable in the long run, either because it preserves the forest for future harvesting or because it maintains a public goodwill that aids future sales. But suppose, in an incautious moment, management admits that the present value of those future profits from not clear cutting cannot hope to match the large current profits that clear-cutting would produce. Or, more realistically, suppose a takeover bid by a firm known to clear-cut establishes precisely that proposition by offering far more than the stock price that reflects the current stream of profits. Can management reject the profitable takeover bid on the grounds that it will lead to socially undesirable clear-cutting? The answers to these questions will challenge the canonical law and economics account on corporate social responsibility, which goes something like this. Unless modified by statute, traditional fiduciary duties require corporate managers to further the interests of shareholders, and thus require them to maximize corporate profits subject to the obligation to comply with independent legal constraints. Ethics and social responsibility are very important values in business ventures. This is particularly essential in decision making process. Ethical conscience reminds business persons to make trustworthy and profitable business decisions. Likewise, the social responsibility component requires business persons to make entrepreneurial decisions that can enhance benefits and repelling harms to the stakeholders. The canonical law and economics view holds that corporate managers do and should have a duty to profit-maximize because such conduct is socially efficient given that general legal sanctions do or can redress any harm that corporate or non-corporate businesses inflict on others. If certain conduct imposes excessive harm on others or merits taxation, then an independent law should regulate and impose liability or taxes whether or not the actor is a corporation, and if the conduct does not impose any impermissible harm or merit taxation, then the most socially desirable thing for corporations to do is maximize profits. Other stakeholders could either legally protect themselves by contract with the corporation or have their legal protection provided by judicial gap-filling of such contracts. Part of what makes this account canonical is that it helps define the boundaries of the corporate law field. It leaves corporate law scholars free to ignore issues about any effects the corporation may have on the external world as topics best addressed by other legal fields, and to focus on more tractable models about which corporate rules would maximize shareholder value.

Thomas Hobbesstate Of War Argument For Human Nature

Phil 332: Philosophy of Law Paper 1, 9/27/17 Thomas Hobbes’ State of War Argument for Human Nature Erin McFarland In Thomas Hobbes’ Leviathan, Hobbes addresses the nature of man and society and their relation to each other. In Chapter Thirteen, â€Å"Of the natural Condition of Mankind as Concerning Their Felicity and Misery,† Hobbes states that without a common authority to keep men in check, humanity would fall into a state of war. The state of state of war, according to Hobbes, is â€Å"during the time men live without a common power to keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such a war as is of every man against every man† (Hobbes, 143). Hobbes ‘State of War Argument,’ claims that mankind’s’ human nature will†¦show more content†¦Hobbes’ State of War Argument claims that mankind can only escape the state of war in two ways: natural force, which means ruling ones’ own family, or subduing others through war; or entering in to a contract, meaning agreeing to give up certain rights, and agree ing to submit to a sovereign power to protect them. Without these, mankind can never achieve peace, being forced to defend themselves and in turn destroying others. Both ways provide a common sovereign power, the only way that Hobbes says humanity can escape the constant state of war (152). Hobbes claims that there are three ways that mankind tires to subdue others. The first cause he mentions is competition. Mankind is greedy and will strive to gain more than what they have to show their power, leading to invasions to gain more land, wealth and security, though Hobbes claims that they will still live in fear of losing what they gain. The second cause that Hobbes mentions is diffidence, which means to defend. Humanity ever endeavors to preserve what is theirs, defending their lives and property from those that would seek to take them. The third cause Hobbes mentions is glory. He claims that mankind is vain, seeking reputation and recognition for accomplishments, to put themselves above others. Hobbes states that without a common, sovereign power, these three causes will cause man to remain in a state of war, every man trying to conquer every