Stakeholders Involved And Related Ethical Issues Information Technology Essay

Stakeholders Involved And Related Ethical Issues Information Technology Essay We also had on a local well known blog attacks and insults of a ferocity which would never have been gratuitously made in a face to face situation. We tend to feel more unconstrained on the net and often seem to revel in the support which fellow bloggers of the same thoughts tend to give us in an immediate thread response. Examine this situation in the context of the assignment specification especially from the defamation and virtual privacy invasion point of view. Introduction Unethical behavior over the internet is becoming more common. Ranging from private discrete stalking termed cyber-stalking to public defamation, it is becoming increasingly imperative to analyze the ethical issues at stake in these situations. For a personal gain, the stalker makes use of the internet to harass and defame his victim by publicly posting private sensitive information about his victim or spreading false rumors. Facts about Online Stalking Due to the spreading of the Internet across all institutions worldwide, it has become much easier for stalking to take place. Every person probably has personal data available on the Internet, either being on a personal web page or profile; or else being available to search for in government, institutes and organizations databases. Online stalking is much easier than traditional physical stalking due to various reasons: The person being stalked would probably not be aware of such a fact until the stalker initiates contact with the victim Cyber stalking can be done from the comfort of the stalkers home, or from anonymous locations such as a public internet cafà © or an office environment (1). The most crucial fact is that it is done remotely and not by confronting the actual victim. The ferocity and malicious intent would probably be greater as the aggressor feels more unconstrained on the net than in a face to face confrontation. Several online technologies can be used to stalk online (cyber-stalking). For a stalker to research about the victim, traditional search engine as well as profiles on social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace can be used. To make direct contact with the victim, the stalker may make use of Instant Messaging (IM) services, online forums, and chat rooms. Alternatively the stalker may try to elicit a response from the victim by using techniques such as publishing defamatory statements about the victim in public places such as a web site, message boards, or a fake blog run in the victims name (2). Cyber-stalking and cyber-bullying is much more aggressive than if done face to face. The term cyber-bullying is more commonly associated when teenagers are involved in stalking and bullying online, while cyber-stalking is used for stalking involving adults. Dr. Bamford in (3) explains that the anonymity of the stalker greatly reduces traditional social and contextual attitudes such as tone of voice used and relevant body language. Anonymity can be achieved either by submitting comments in public places such as forums without an ID to trace back to the poster, or else using an alias with the aim of masking the aggressors identity. Without these attitudes, social norms and constraints are neglected, and further like-minded people might participate with the stalker in harassing the victim. Anonymity can also be easily achieved by using an anonymous remailer service (4). This would be specialized software aiming to achieve anonymity in the sending of emails. It strips the originating address from an email message and forwards it to its intended destination. All header information that might be used to track the sender is removed. According to U.S. statistics in 2007 (5), the majority of stalking victims are female at 78%. On the other hand, the majority of stalkers are male at 87%. Victims of stalking can range from a single person to whole organizations. A previous failed relationship can be a motivator for harassing a single person for emotional gain, while possible financial gain is a motivator for harassing groups or an organization. It is to the stalkers advantage however if the victim is singled out, making stalking on a single person more common than harassing a group of people. The main motives of stalking, as identified in (1), are: Stalking an ex-partner of a sexual relationship even after the relationship comes to an end. This can be due to a certain party not willing to accept that the relationship is over. Stalking however also takes place during a relationship. In a research by Tjaden and Thoennes in (6), it was concluded that nearly 60% of females are stalked by their male partner, while 30% of males are stalked by their female partner. Stalking with the aim of vengeance on the victim. This type is the most dangerous as the stalker is probably premeditating a violent attack on the victim due to a previous grudge. It is to be noted that the majority of this type of stalker are male. Stalking due to mental illnesses, ranging from delusional stalkers suffering from depressions to harasser stalkers suffering from a certain attention-seeking personality disorder. After obtaining the necessary vital information, in most cases the stalker exposes it publicly to defame his victim. Such public places include chat rooms and more commonly community areas such as online profiles and forums. The stalker may assume the identity of the victim by posting inflammatory and probably fictitious information in the name of the victim to elicit a response from the community (5). This type of action, termed Masquerading, is discussed later on. There are several defamatory actions that are viewed as illegal and prosecuted, some of which, as mentioned in (4), include the sending of malicious and threatening private messages over the Internet to the intended victim, libel at the intended victim, as well as the publication of messages in public places such as on a web site that show malicious intent to commit acts of hate-motivated violence. Cyber bullying is common in adolescent teens. In a survey carried out in (7), it was reported that 43% of U.S. teens have experienced some form of cyber-bullying in the previous year. This may be due to a lack of knowledge about the reason and the ways to protect private information. The internet and virtual communication environments in general, provide a perfect medium for a cyber bully to defame the victim constantly, even after school hours. In June 2003, a twelve-year old Japanese girl ended up killing her classmate after the latter defamed her on the Internet by the posting of certain messages (3). An example of group bullying is what happened to Canadian boy David Knight (3), who was a victim of a hate campaign when school mates built an online web site entitled Hate David Knight. The website contained defamatory pictures and abuse towards the victim. The group also encouraged the global online community to join their hate campaign. Another form of cyber attacks that is common amongst teens is Masquerading (3). This term refers to either when the stalker/attacker poses as somebody else who is close to the victim, or as the victim itself. In the first case, one can make use of the victims closest friend mobile phone to send harassing messages in the name of the friend, for example. In this way, the harasser remains anonymous while at the same time confusing the victim. In the second form of Masquerading, the stalker may obtain the victims login details for personal places such as personal blog, webpage or Facebook profile. This exchange of passwords amongst teens is very common, as it is considered a sign of true friendship and trust (3). The stalker would then proceed to defame the victim by posing as the victim himself/herself, producing a creditable and real scenario for fellow online friends to witness. Suicides due to Cyber-Stalking and Cyber-Bullying The effects of cyber-stalking on the victim can be quite damaging. We analyze two such cases where victims ended up committing suicide after being stalked or harassed over the Internet. The first case is the suicide of Megan Meier, a thirteen-year-old teenager that committed suicide on 17th October 2006 after being cyber-bullied on MySpace, a popular social networking website (8). A fake profile was set up on MySpace in the name of a 16-year-old boy named Josh Evans who wanted to befriend Megan. On the day of the suicide, Megan and Josh had an argument online. Some other participants also joined in and in no time, there were messages and bulletins being sent to friends and schoolmates containing false accusations about Megan about her physique and sexual tendencies. This led to Megans suicide. From this case we can see how dangerous such a situation can be over the Internet, where like-minded people join with the stalker and behave unethically and inappropriately to the detriment of the victim. The second suicide case took place in Abu Dhabi when Emma Jones, a British teacher killed herself (9) after being defamed on the social networking site Facebook. The responsible harasser was her ex-boyfriend, who posted naked photos of Emma on Facebook. Allegedly he had obtained the photos illegally from Emmas computer. This public defamation coupled with the fact that she was working in an Islamic country that is very restrictive on such issues contributed to Emmas suicide. Stakeholders Involved and Related Ethical Issues At first glance, the stakeholders in cyber-stalking are mainly the stalker and the victim. However, it may not always be that clear to identify all stakeholders. The victims near family can become a stakeholder due to the victims possible actions, such as suicide, after being the victim of a privacy invasion or of public defamation. The controlling authorities of mediums that aided the stalker in retrieving sensitive information about the victim are also stakeholders. This however cannot be stated conclusively as legislations vary across various jurisdictions. In a certain jurisdiction, an action may be considered legal while in others it may not. In a case study of internet stalking (10), a twenty-year old girl named Amy Boyer from New Hampshire was murdered in October 1999. The murderer, Liam Youens, used to stalk her on the internet by searching for her personal information. Using search engine tools that are readily available to everyone, he was able to go through online databases and learn where his victim lived, worked and other personal details. He then set up two web sites, one of which publicly exposed all of Amys private details he managed to get hold of. On the other site he explicitly described his plan of murdering Amy. In this case, Amys immediate family members are stakeholders as they have to suffer her loss. The involvement of organizational entities as potential stakeholders is subject to ethical dilemmas. For example, the ISPs hosting the web sites might have a responsibility of monitoring the contents it hosts to avoid such cases. Also, the users reading the web sites might have an ethical obligation of informing the relevant authorities and assist the victims. We can therefore conclude that it is not always a clear-cut answer when identifying the involved stakeholders. They vary according to the case as well as what we judge as ethically right or wrong. In the case where the stalker is still an adolescent, the parents and teachers are also stakeholders as they are responsible for the development and education of the person in question. When they however see the deficiencies of laws and technology to deal with such issues, they realize they are quite powerless to avoid such a situation. As regards laws related to cyber-bullying, they are ambiguous and poorly put into practice (3). One reason for this is the lack of technical expertise and resources on the parts of the authorities such as the police, which would make it difficult to actually enforce the laws. The authorities would not have a clear understanding of a certain situation if necessary education and training has not been provided beforehand to deal with such situations. If we are to ethically analyze the shareholders in various situations concerning the internet, we first have to know who supposedly is in control of a situation and who has to take responsibility (11). Internet infrastructure companies such as Cisco and Oracle are considered as shareholders by some as they provide the internet network. However although these companies may provide the backbone structure, they would have limited interest in the content on their infrastructure. One can direct the blame on the ISPs, however these host limited content. Most newsgroups and chat rooms are nowadays hosted independently not by ISPs, and are not always easy to trace. It can be argued that a paradigm shift of Internet content has occurred from locally to globally (11). Whereas previously we had specialist ISPs hosting and providing all the content, we moved on to an era where the content is provided by the general end users. Examples of this are personal blogs and Twitter feeds. ISPs cannot be relieved of all the blame though. Even though one cannot expect them to pre-check content posted by their users, they should be willingly able to help should they receive a complaint or notification about particular content they are hosting or malicious users making use of their ISP services. Roger Darlington in (11) suggests that we first should understand what the word ethics means and represents in the context of the Internet before we can conclude who is a stakeholder or not. To have a better understanding of who is responsible for what on the Internet, he suggests that: We should accept that the Internet is not a value-free zone. We should act in a civilized manner as in the end it is us (the end users) who shape the Internet when providing content and services. Our actions on the Internet should be consistent with what we do in the real life. We should comply with laws when making use of the Internet in the same way as we do practically. The author suggests that we do not invent a new set of laws and values for the Internet; instead we apply the laws we are used to in the physical world for issues including discrimination, pornography and copyrights to name a few. We should be aware that the Internet is used by people from different cultures, religions and ethnicity. Where possible we should thus try to accommodate as much of the Internet society as possible. We should be responsive and accept feedback from the Internet user community. Ethical Issues One should make a discrepancy between what is legal and what is ethical. An action might be considered legal yet unethical. There is no law stopping a divorced man from setting up an online profile pretending to be a middle-aged woman who wants to befriend his ex-wife. Most people however would consider this behavior unethical. Although ethics are only moral guidelines and are not imposed on us like law is, they are more worldwide in judging if an action is right or wrong. As we already mentioned, various jurisdictions have inconsistent laws about similar issues concerning private information. In some countries, it may be legal to accumulate personal data on its citizens and store them in a public repository, while this practice might be illegal in other countries wishing to protect the citizens privacy. Ethical dilemmas arise in such a case. A stalker citizen living in a country that protects privacy can use a paid service that operates in a country where there is no privacy protection to obtain information about his victim that lives in the stalkers country. The service is not illegal as it operates from a different country, however such action borders on whether it is ethical or not. It is difficult to deal with such ethical issues due to a lack of technological understanding from certain authority parties. Political parties demanding that there should be more control on hosted content such as newsgroups and chat rooms would most of the time have limited knowledge about how these are hosted. Also they ignore the fact that it is a near impossible scenario to monitor and control all the information exchange that takes place. Even when laws are not in place, a responsible party such as a web hosting company should have a moral responsibility to control the content it hosts. For example, if a company hosts a web site about how to make or detonate a bomb, it should not walk away claiming to not be responsible if such information is made use of by members of the public for malicious purposes. Roger Darlington in (11) proposes some useful solutions to prevent ethical problems on the internet such as cyber stalking and cyber bullying. Laws should be modernized to reflect changing times and to make them in context with the use of the Internet. They should take into account new crimes that are not possible in the physical world such as grooming of under-age girls in chat rooms as well as cyber stalking to name a few. Such actions should be punished by crime fighters who are specifically technically trained for such high tech situations. These fighters should possess all necessary resources to tackle such cyber criminals. As already mentioned, most of cyber stalking and bullying takes place in open online communities, where the harasser can defame and expose his victim in front of a large audience. Due to this fact, these spectators witnessing such unethical behavior should be morally obliged to take action and help the victim. In the United Kingdom, the Internet Watch Foundation (IWF) runs a hotline where Internet users can confidentially report such criminal behavior or contents. These foundations would be equipped with knowledge and techniques how to deal with such situations by judging the legality of the cases and identifying the culprits. If the content is deemed illegal and is hosted within the foundations jurisdiction area, they can issue a notice to the relevant ISP hosting the material to take action by removing the content (11). Maltese Law In 2002, the Data Protection Act (12) was amended in Malta to protect private data from getting into the hands of cyber-stalkers, cyber-bullies, harassers, and all those with a malicious intent to defame or invade the privacy of a victim. The document contains a number of clause articles that help protect private data. The seventh Article ensures that when data is processed, it is processed fairly and lawfully. The data collected should be specific and used for explicitly stated legitimate purposes. This clause protects the subject from revealing more data than is necessary or required. Article nine of the document clearly states that the subject must give consent before such data provided can be processed. The subject also has the right to revoke his/her consent to sensitive data processing providing legitimate grounds for the revocation. This is specified in Article 11. Cyber-stalkers wishing to learn personal information about a subject can illegitimately pose as a third-party company that makes use of this sensitive data for marketing purposes. Article 10 of the Data Protection Act specifically protects the subject from such third-parties by having the choice not to disclose his information with such parties. Article twelve focuses specifically on Sensitive Personal Data, and states that the processing of sensitive data can only take place if the subject gives consent or else has made this sensitive data public. This latter case is one which stalkers profit from, as they make use of already publicized data to defame an individual without any needed consent from the subject in question. They would not have obtained the information illegally as it would be publicly available, for example on the victims Facebook profile. One can easily view pictures of the victim and read personal information such as locality and workplace if the victim has not adjusted his/her privacy settings accordingly. Only in extreme cases, such as if a subject is being investigated or is an issue for national security, public security or the defense should secrecy restrictions be temporarily lifted. This is stated in Article 23. The Data Protection Act also prevents third parties with possible malicious intentions from processing and accessing personal data. In fact, Article 25 specifies which persons are authorized to process data. In the previous section, we discussed whether it is ethical if a stalker citizen living in a country that protects privacy can use a paid service that operates in a country where there is no privacy protection to obtain information about his victim that lives in the stalkers country. Article 27 deals specifically with such a case, whereby the transfer of sensitive data to a third country is subject to it having adequate levels of protection for this data. So if this third country does not protect the data as resiliently as the citizens country, then the third country would have no right in requesting for such information. Ethical Analysis: Consequentialist Theory A consequentialist ethical theory is a theory that focuses on the overall general consequences arising from an action. This type of ethical theory judges the rightness or wrongness of an action by analyzing the consequences of such an action. In fact it can be defined as a general normative theory that bases the moral evaluation of acts, rules, institutions, etc. solely on the goodness of their consequences, where the standard of goodness employed is a standard of non-moral goodness. (13) Utilitarianism is an example of a consequentialist ethical theory. In Utilitarianism, an action is considered ethically right if it results in the best consequences. Jeremy Bentham, an ancient philosopher and advocate of utilitarianism, defines a right action as that action is best that produces the greatest good for the greatest number (14).   However it is not always clear how a quantitative measurement of right or wrong due to an action can be defined. Also it is difficult to compare utilities as they are subject to individual interpretations. One can argue that harm done to a man and a tree should be treated equally as bad, while others argue that harm done to a human is more wrong than harming a tree. The utilitarian theory does not state that no wrong consequences can result from an action. It is only concerned with the greater good, so if a small minority of people suffers great harm while the vast majority enjoys a small benefit, the overall action is considered as ethically right. Apart from being concerned with the consequences from an action, Utilitarianism can also be applied to laws and rules. This type, called Rule Utilitarianism is concerned with the consequences from a rule. A rule is considered good if it satisfies the majority of the people. Applying this ethical theory to the concept of cyber-stalking and harassment over the Internet, we must decide if an action is morally right or wrong by analyzing the consequences it has on the respective shareholders. The amendment and enforcement of legislation against cyber-stalking is ethically right in a consequentialist view. It harms the minority that go against it, however the majority of the Internet society benefit from having a safer environment. The same argument can be applied to the already-mentioned ethical issue about whether ISPs should monitor the contents they host and act if a complaint is received. By controlling the content they host, ISPs would be punishing those who post malicious messages or information by banning them from posting for example. The greater good is ensured though, as the Internet society as well as the potential victims of such harassers would have a safer future experience on the Internet. Ethical Analysis: Duty Theory A duty ethical theory, or Deontology, is rather different from Consequentialism. In Deontology, an action is right if it satisfies a principle or moral rule, without any concern for the overall consequences. It is the acts that determine if something is ethically right or wrong, not the consequences as in Consequentialism. Morality is determined according to rationally recognizing ones duties towards others (15). Same as in Consequentialism, Deontology can also be branched into two types: a set of ethical theories concerning actions and another set concerning the rules (15). Both sets of ethical theories however state that the good comes from our own ability to carry out our moral obligations. Kantianism, or Kantian Ethics, is an example of a deontological ethical theory which falls under the deontological set of theories concerning rules. Kant states that for one to act morally right, he needs to act according to his duty, which must be good in itself. The motives of the action ultimately determine if an action is ethically right or wrong. In cyber-stalking, the stakeholders must act according to what their duty is. Taking the ISP ethical issue, the ISP must always seek to satisfy and protect his clients, providing that what they are posting on the Internet is morally correct. We discussed many cases where the stalker or harasser hides behind anonymity to attack the victim. It is the duty of the stalker to respect the victim over the Internet and act in a consistent way as he would when face-to-face with the victim. Failing to do so will result in unethical behavior according to Kantianism. All stakeholders must perform their duty to behave ethically correct. We shall take into example the already discussed case where a citizen makes use of a detective service operating in a third country to discover information about another person living in his country. Law makers and law enforcers in both countries should act ethically and perform their duty in protecting their citizens, by amending specific laws which protect a persons privacy even online. In this scenario, it would become illegal to obtain such information using this service, thus it will be the citizen requesting information who is behaving unethically. In the Amy Boyer case, the general public who read the websites set up by Liam Youens had the duty to inform the relevant authorities such as the ISP hosting the websites. According to the Kantianism view, the complaint by these users to the relevant authorities is the correct ethical action to perform. Conclusion Cyber-stalking and online harassment is a major issue that is ever increasing as more people make use of online facilities to disclose private information. Whether disclosing the data involuntary, by filling forms with sensitive data that ends up being shared with third-parties, or voluntary by posting it on personal profiles such as Facebook and MySpace, it is becoming increasingly likely and easier to stalk a person by obtaining all necessary personal information. Such stalking often has devastating effects on the victim. We discussed several cases where acts of stalking or defamation over the Internet ended up with the victim committing suicide. In most cases, this would be because of the public humiliation suffered by the victim when the harasser and similarly-minded people behave unethically over the Internet. We showed that such people feel more unconstrained when attacking from a safe and anonymous environment than when facing the victim in the physical world. Legislations need to be devised to minimize such cases as much as possible. Locally, the Data Protection Act is one such legal document that protects sensitive data of the citizens. The problem however lies with inconsistencies between various jurisdictions in accepting and implementing such legislations. Only when a set of unambiguous and consistent rules is devised can all the relevant stakeholders in such cyber-stalking issues know what the right course of action to behave ethically is. To help us in our moral and ethical judgment and how we should act in cyber-stalking issues, we discussed and contrasted the two major theories of ethics of conduct: Consequentialism and Deontology. While Consequentialism states that the right action is the one that produces the most intrinsic good for the majority of the stakeholders, Deontology states that the right action is to perform ones duty in the circumstances. For both ethical theories, we focused on Utilitarianism and Kantianism respectively as a practical example. For each, we evaluated how the stakeholders should act when faced with the ethical issues and cases that were discussed.

Management & Leadership

Apple’s Management and Leadership Apple’s Management and Leadership Apples management and leadership have taken the small company in Silicon Valley and transformed it into a multinational conglomerate. From the time of its inception, Apple’s innovation has delivered the personal computer, the Graphical User Interface, the world’s most popular portable music devices and favorite cellular phone. The creation of these products only illustrates part of the success of Apple’s management; the other would be the successful integration into the lifestyle of cultures around the world. Apple has molded the face of personal computing at a global level with its strong and visionary leadership, ability to remain innovative, and its ability to maximize globalization will remain a dominant force organizationally. This paper will investigate Apple’s management and leadership, their responsibility in creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture, the effect of globalization and management across borders and will recommend two strategies to maintain their healthy organizational culture. Management and Leadership Friends Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak established Apple Computer Incorporated in 1976 in California’s famous Silicon Valley (Apple Bios, 2010). The company initially made custom circuit boards for people who wanted to build their own computers. Between Jobs marketing genius and Wozniak’s technical expertise the two realized the potential of the computer and with a little work they created a whole new market; personal computers (Schneider, 2010). Though the beginnings were fairly humble with only $1300 for startup (Funding Universe, 2010) which would soon change. In 1977 the Apple II Personal Computer launched, grossing 2. 7 Million its first year and growing to over $200 million in three years (About. com, 2010). Apple has since revolutionized the world with its personal computing products and creative marketing. Apple’s management has been as innovative in the growth of this global organization as their products have been. A quick glance would leave one to think this Apple is ripe, but the company has only recently started to bloom. Expanding into European and Asian markets in 2003 they have made a steady climb every year, but still have claimed only ive percent of the Windows PC market (Yarrow & Angelova, 2010). To examine the leadership of Apple is to look to its original marketing director, Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was the visionary force at Apple, determining the company’s vision and orchestrating its implementation. He lured executives as John Sculley away from Pepsico (Costello, 2010) and raised funding from former Intel M arketing Director Mike Markkulla Junior (Wikipedia, 2010). The team entered 1984 with a revolutionary new line, the Macintosh. The Macintosh was the first computer to use a graphic user interface. When the company initially launched the Macintosh, it rolled out with a commercial based on George Orwell’s novel 1984 with Apple representing the heroic rebel struggling for freedom (Costello, 2010). The captor was widely recognized as IBM’s business based computer and in the commercial the new Macintosh was destroying the IBM world. Directed by Ridley Scott the commercial cost nearly 1. 5 million, and only aired once in 1983 on a small unknown station to make it eligible for film awards, but news and talk shows replayed it everywhere (Bellis, 2010). Unfortunately, the Macintosh was not well equipped with programs for the business side of the market and though the GUI interface was well received, the company slumped, high tensions between Sculley and Jobs increased, which ultimately lead to a board decision 1985 to give Sculley control of the company, Jobs quite (Schneider, 2010). This proved to be a bad move for Apple’s board of directors, they were left with management but lacked Jobs visionary leadership. This management continued to perform the daily task, making small improvements, they struggled to hold to its small market share as well as its internal talent and managed to do so only because of its small but loyal following. Though Jobs was no longer at Apple in a management position, he retained his seat on the board and had continued to work on an advanced operating system; this new system would become Apples biggest advance in their operating system since the GUI. This software platform would become the new OSX platform and pave the way for Jobs return to Apple in December 1996 (Schneider, 2010). In early 1997 the effects of Jobs leadership were already being felt at Apple as Jobs announced that Apple would start to sell their computers online, and within one week of its launch it was the third largest e-commerce site on the Internet (Schneider, 2010). Inspired by the success Apples board of directors decided to give Jobs the reigns as CEO. The decision to bring Jobs back to Apple and to make him CEO has proven in large to be Apples keys to success. Jobs technical knowledge and innovative thinking have pushed Apple ahead in product development and brought to market the iMac, the iPod, and the iPhone. Jobs understanding of the importance of design and aesthetics have also been felt by Apple and the global market. He has driven the development of functional and elegant products and this leadership has earned Apple and its products a devoted following. Creating a Healthy Organizational Culture In 1984 Bill Gates had caught a glimpse of Apples first GUI product called Lisa, immediately realizing the potential he reworked Microsoft Windows and pitched the platform to IBM (Bellis, 2010). This action quickly developed into threats of a lawsuit between Apple and Microsoft over infringement of copyright, patent, and trade secrets. Knowing that they had overstepped their bounds, Microsoft quickly proposed a license agreement that would allow Microsoft to use similar structures such as tiled windows, a mouse pointer and drop down menus, Apple agreed (Bellis, 2010). In 1987 Microsoft released Windows 2. 0, having the look and feel of a Mac. Apple took Microsoft to court for 170 infringements of copyrights, patents and trade secrets. The court ruled that the license agreement given to Microsoft granted the legal right to develop and market the Mac drop down menus, the floating windows and the mouse point and click environment. Furthermore they ruled in favor of Microsoft on all 170 infringements (Bellis, 2010). This judgment helped surrender Apples technological lead in the computer industry, cost the company potential revenues and forced layoffs. No doubt these events affected the corporate culture at Apple, to this day the company is very secretive of any development the organization works on and takes its secrecy so seriously that employees are timid to give out any information on the company at all. Some authors voice their frustration claiming that employees back out of interviews, refuse to give any detailed information and even refuse to give their name for fear that the company will discover them and take action (Morrison, 2010). Despite this supposed fear, the employees understand the potential consequences financially if product information is leaked; this understanding develops trust in Jobs leadership and with the company’s success in every market it enters reinforces this trust. Apple’s corporate catch phrase is â€Å"Think Differently† (Apple, 2010) and the company has proven to do so by ignoring trends and market research analysis, and triumphantly resisting pressure from other large corporate conglomerates while continuing to increase profitability and bring revolutionary products to market. In his younger years before Apple Steve Jobs had taken a trip to India and returned with his head shaved, wearing traditional Indian clothing and claiming he was a Buddhist (Wikipedia, 2010). This is perhaps one of the biggest influences in Steve Jobs life personally, and though he does not continue to wear the traditional Indian clothing, the Zen influence of meditation and intuition, and minimalism are still very visible in his leadership and the culture at Apple. Additionally Jobs has kept Apples creative talent in an incubator of sorts, deep inside the campus catering to their comfort and privacy (Morrison, 2010). Apples leadership has also brought attention to detail to the forefront, spending tremendous amounts on perfecting minor details in products before they are released. The creative talent at Apple are highly protected and hidden deep with the camp Globalization and Management Across Borders The effect of Globalization on Apple has been tremendously positive. In 2003 the company started expanding into European and Asian markets with products and Apple stores and has experienced growth exceeding 500% (Yarow & Angelove, 2010). Despite this rapid growth CEO Steve Jobs and only a small handful of his top executives see new products in completed form, the rest of the organization develops small parts of the products they built in different locations amidst Apples sprawling global campus (Morrison, 2010). This organization continues to hold its vertical structure with the majority of the important decisions coming from Jobs and his small group of senior executives. Apple continues to maintain its vertical structure in an effort to protect its product development and globalization have to add to its ability to remain secretive in this process. Strategies to Maintain a Healthy Organizational Culture Apple has undoubtedly changed all of our lives with its computers, iPods and iPhones, and with its current leadership has managed to create an organization that does indeed â€Å"Think Differently† (Apple, 2010). The task becomes maintaining this innovative corporate attitude to ensure the companies future success. It is clear that most of the success that Apple has experienced because of its innovative leadership and preserving its leadership is one strategy for maintaining its healthy organizational culture. It’s inevitable that age if nothing else will weaken the current leadership. With this in mind, where as the organization and its leadership are strong, plans to train or recruit future leaders, which are aligned with Apples unique culture, should be developed. These plans should account for Apples maverick attitude and future goals. A second strategy for maintaining this successful culture is to plan strategically. Apple’s products have had profound effects on their prospective markets, decimating its competition; however competitors will watch and learn and begin to implement Apples strategies to compete in emerging markets making strategic planning much more important. Typical strategic planning ranges from three to seven years out and is handled by senior management (Bateman & Snell, 2009, p. 141). This type of planning will take into account foreseeable obstacles that the company may face and provide enough time to respond effectively. Apples history of bucking trends and ignoring fads can still be maintained, and even some low performing products may be endured if the proper strategic planning has been done. Conclusion Apple’s corporate catch phrase â€Å"Think Differently† (Apple, 2010) and their ability to do so is shown in their innovation and marketing. Their innovation, creativity and corporate secrecy all play a part in maintaining their unique culture and will ensure they remain a dominant force globally (Morrison, 2010). Their strong and visionary leadership has changed computing, as we in our lifetime have known it with inventions like the Graphical User Interface, the iPod, and the iPhone. Apple has demonstrated the positive effects globalization and management across borders has had on the company by its move into European Asian markets. These markets have seen enormous growth and still possess plenty of potential for growth. By retaining their innovative leadership as opposed to corporate management and plan strategically they will ensure their place as one of the most uccessful and innovative companies in human history. References Apple (2010). Bios. Retrieved April 15, 2010 on the Apple website: http://www. apple. com/pr/bios/jobs. html Bellis (2010). Inventors of the Modern Computer. Retrieved April 15, 2010 from the About. com website: http://inventors. about. com/library/weekly/aa051599. htm Morrison (2010). How to Innovate Like Apple. Retrieved April 16, 2010 from the BNET website: http://w ww. bnet. com/2403-13501_23-330240. html Schneider, Laura (2010) Tech Careers. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from the About. om website: http://jobsearchtech. about. com/od/historyoftechindustry/a/SteveJobs. htm Thomas, S. , Bateman, S. , & Snell, S. (2009). Management  (8th ed. ). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Wikipedia (2010). Steve Jobs. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from the Wikipedia website: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Steve_Jobs Yarrow & Angelova (2010). Chart of the Day: Apple’s Retail Strategy is Paying Off. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from the Business Insider website: http://www. businessinsider. com/chart-of-the-day-apple-stores-vs-mac-market-share-2010-3 Management & Leadership Apple’s Management and Leadership Apple’s Management and Leadership Apples management and leadership have taken the small company in Silicon Valley and transformed it into a multinational conglomerate. From the time of its inception, Apple’s innovation has delivered the personal computer, the Graphical User Interface, the world’s most popular portable music devices and favorite cellular phone. The creation of these products only illustrates part of the success of Apple’s management; the other would be the successful integration into the lifestyle of cultures around the world. Apple has molded the face of personal computing at a global level with its strong and visionary leadership, ability to remain innovative, and its ability to maximize globalization will remain a dominant force organizationally. This paper will investigate Apple’s management and leadership, their responsibility in creating and maintaining a healthy organizational culture, the effect of globalization and management across borders and will recommend two strategies to maintain their healthy organizational culture. Management and Leadership Friends Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak established Apple Computer Incorporated in 1976 in California’s famous Silicon Valley (Apple Bios, 2010). The company initially made custom circuit boards for people who wanted to build their own computers. Between Jobs marketing genius and Wozniak’s technical expertise the two realized the potential of the computer and with a little work they created a whole new market; personal computers (Schneider, 2010). Though the beginnings were fairly humble with only $1300 for startup (Funding Universe, 2010) which would soon change. In 1977 the Apple II Personal Computer launched, grossing 2. 7 Million its first year and growing to over $200 million in three years (About. com, 2010). Apple has since revolutionized the world with its personal computing products and creative marketing. Apple’s management has been as innovative in the growth of this global organization as their products have been. A quick glance would leave one to think this Apple is ripe, but the company has only recently started to bloom. Expanding into European and Asian markets in 2003 they have made a steady climb every year, but still have claimed only ive percent of the Windows PC market (Yarrow & Angelova, 2010). To examine the leadership of Apple is to look to its original marketing director, Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs was the visionary force at Apple, determining the company’s vision and orchestrating its implementation. He lured executives as John Sculley away from Pepsico (Costello, 2010) and raised funding from former Intel M arketing Director Mike Markkulla Junior (Wikipedia, 2010). The team entered 1984 with a revolutionary new line, the Macintosh. The Macintosh was the first computer to use a graphic user interface. When the company initially launched the Macintosh, it rolled out with a commercial based on George Orwell’s novel 1984 with Apple representing the heroic rebel struggling for freedom (Costello, 2010). The captor was widely recognized as IBM’s business based computer and in the commercial the new Macintosh was destroying the IBM world. Directed by Ridley Scott the commercial cost nearly 1. 5 million, and only aired once in 1983 on a small unknown station to make it eligible for film awards, but news and talk shows replayed it everywhere (Bellis, 2010). Unfortunately, the Macintosh was not well equipped with programs for the business side of the market and though the GUI interface was well received, the company slumped, high tensions between Sculley and Jobs increased, which ultimately lead to a board decision 1985 to give Sculley control of the company, Jobs quite (Schneider, 2010). This proved to be a bad move for Apple’s board of directors, they were left with management but lacked Jobs visionary leadership. This management continued to perform the daily task, making small improvements, they struggled to hold to its small market share as well as its internal talent and managed to do so only because of its small but loyal following. Though Jobs was no longer at Apple in a management position, he retained his seat on the board and had continued to work on an advanced operating system; this new system would become Apples biggest advance in their operating system since the GUI. This software platform would become the new OSX platform and pave the way for Jobs return to Apple in December 1996 (Schneider, 2010). In early 1997 the effects of Jobs leadership were already being felt at Apple as Jobs announced that Apple would start to sell their computers online, and within one week of its launch it was the third largest e-commerce site on the Internet (Schneider, 2010). Inspired by the success Apples board of directors decided to give Jobs the reigns as CEO. The decision to bring Jobs back to Apple and to make him CEO has proven in large to be Apples keys to success. Jobs technical knowledge and innovative thinking have pushed Apple ahead in product development and brought to market the iMac, the iPod, and the iPhone. Jobs understanding of the importance of design and aesthetics have also been felt by Apple and the global market. He has driven the development of functional and elegant products and this leadership has earned Apple and its products a devoted following. Creating a Healthy Organizational Culture In 1984 Bill Gates had caught a glimpse of Apples first GUI product called Lisa, immediately realizing the potential he reworked Microsoft Windows and pitched the platform to IBM (Bellis, 2010). This action quickly developed into threats of a lawsuit between Apple and Microsoft over infringement of copyright, patent, and trade secrets. Knowing that they had overstepped their bounds, Microsoft quickly proposed a license agreement that would allow Microsoft to use similar structures such as tiled windows, a mouse pointer and drop down menus, Apple agreed (Bellis, 2010). In 1987 Microsoft released Windows 2. 0, having the look and feel of a Mac. Apple took Microsoft to court for 170 infringements of copyrights, patents and trade secrets. The court ruled that the license agreement given to Microsoft granted the legal right to develop and market the Mac drop down menus, the floating windows and the mouse point and click environment. Furthermore they ruled in favor of Microsoft on all 170 infringements (Bellis, 2010). This judgment helped surrender Apples technological lead in the computer industry, cost the company potential revenues and forced layoffs. No doubt these events affected the corporate culture at Apple, to this day the company is very secretive of any development the organization works on and takes its secrecy so seriously that employees are timid to give out any information on the company at all. Some authors voice their frustration claiming that employees back out of interviews, refuse to give any detailed information and even refuse to give their name for fear that the company will discover them and take action (Morrison, 2010). Despite this supposed fear, the employees understand the potential consequences financially if product information is leaked; this understanding develops trust in Jobs leadership and with the company’s success in every market it enters reinforces this trust. Apple’s corporate catch phrase is â€Å"Think Differently† (Apple, 2010) and the company has proven to do so by ignoring trends and market research analysis, and triumphantly resisting pressure from other large corporate conglomerates while continuing to increase profitability and bring revolutionary products to market. In his younger years before Apple Steve Jobs had taken a trip to India and returned with his head shaved, wearing traditional Indian clothing and claiming he was a Buddhist (Wikipedia, 2010). This is perhaps one of the biggest influences in Steve Jobs life personally, and though he does not continue to wear the traditional Indian clothing, the Zen influence of meditation and intuition, and minimalism are still very visible in his leadership and the culture at Apple. Additionally Jobs has kept Apples creative talent in an incubator of sorts, deep inside the campus catering to their comfort and privacy (Morrison, 2010). Apples leadership has also brought attention to detail to the forefront, spending tremendous amounts on perfecting minor details in products before they are released. The creative talent at Apple are highly protected and hidden deep with the camp Globalization and Management Across Borders The effect of Globalization on Apple has been tremendously positive. In 2003 the company started expanding into European and Asian markets with products and Apple stores and has experienced growth exceeding 500% (Yarow & Angelove, 2010). Despite this rapid growth CEO Steve Jobs and only a small handful of his top executives see new products in completed form, the rest of the organization develops small parts of the products they built in different locations amidst Apples sprawling global campus (Morrison, 2010). This organization continues to hold its vertical structure with the majority of the important decisions coming from Jobs and his small group of senior executives. Apple continues to maintain its vertical structure in an effort to protect its product development and globalization have to add to its ability to remain secretive in this process. Strategies to Maintain a Healthy Organizational Culture Apple has undoubtedly changed all of our lives with its computers, iPods and iPhones, and with its current leadership has managed to create an organization that does indeed â€Å"Think Differently† (Apple, 2010). The task becomes maintaining this innovative corporate attitude to ensure the companies future success. It is clear that most of the success that Apple has experienced because of its innovative leadership and preserving its leadership is one strategy for maintaining its healthy organizational culture. It’s inevitable that age if nothing else will weaken the current leadership. With this in mind, where as the organization and its leadership are strong, plans to train or recruit future leaders, which are aligned with Apples unique culture, should be developed. These plans should account for Apples maverick attitude and future goals. A second strategy for maintaining this successful culture is to plan strategically. Apple’s products have had profound effects on their prospective markets, decimating its competition; however competitors will watch and learn and begin to implement Apples strategies to compete in emerging markets making strategic planning much more important. Typical strategic planning ranges from three to seven years out and is handled by senior management (Bateman & Snell, 2009, p. 141). This type of planning will take into account foreseeable obstacles that the company may face and provide enough time to respond effectively. Apples history of bucking trends and ignoring fads can still be maintained, and even some low performing products may be endured if the proper strategic planning has been done. Conclusion Apple’s corporate catch phrase â€Å"Think Differently† (Apple, 2010) and their ability to do so is shown in their innovation and marketing. Their innovation, creativity and corporate secrecy all play a part in maintaining their unique culture and will ensure they remain a dominant force globally (Morrison, 2010). Their strong and visionary leadership has changed computing, as we in our lifetime have known it with inventions like the Graphical User Interface, the iPod, and the iPhone. Apple has demonstrated the positive effects globalization and management across borders has had on the company by its move into European Asian markets. These markets have seen enormous growth and still possess plenty of potential for growth. By retaining their innovative leadership as opposed to corporate management and plan strategically they will ensure their place as one of the most uccessful and innovative companies in human history. References Apple (2010). Bios. Retrieved April 15, 2010 on the Apple website: http://www. apple. com/pr/bios/jobs. html Bellis (2010). Inventors of the Modern Computer. Retrieved April 15, 2010 from the About. com website: http://inventors. about. com/library/weekly/aa051599. htm Morrison (2010). How to Innovate Like Apple. Retrieved April 16, 2010 from the BNET website: http://w ww. bnet. com/2403-13501_23-330240. html Schneider, Laura (2010) Tech Careers. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from the About. om website: http://jobsearchtech. about. com/od/historyoftechindustry/a/SteveJobs. htm Thomas, S. , Bateman, S. , & Snell, S. (2009). Management  (8th ed. ). New York, New York: McGraw-Hill/Irwin. Wikipedia (2010). Steve Jobs. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from the Wikipedia website: http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Steve_Jobs Yarrow & Angelova (2010). Chart of the Day: Apple’s Retail Strategy is Paying Off. Retrieved April 15, 2010, from the Business Insider website: http://www. businessinsider. com/chart-of-the-day-apple-stores-vs-mac-market-share-2010-3

Important technical development Essay

The most important technical development was the unitization of the liner shipping business. The shipping industry has been so successful at exploiting this technical development that the cost of sea transport has hardly increased. Coal and Oil cost little more to transport in the mid 1990s than in 1940s. Those important causes which are mostly affecting the demand for sea transport are 8 The World Economy : As it was discussed before that world economy with its output and trade is the most important single factor to generate demand for shipping and any crisis in the world economy reflects in the demand for shipping. In table 01 its clear that ups and downs of shipping demand is also proportionate to world trade. There are 03 different aspects of the world economy that may bring about change in the demand for sea transport ,which are- The Business Cycle: The business cycle lays the foundation for freight cycles. Fluctuation in the rate of economic growth work through in to the sea borne trade, creating a cycle pattern of demand for ships. For example, two major recession in shipping business in 1975 and 1981-1983 ,which co-incited with the recession of the world economy. This economic cycles arise from a combination of external and internal factors. The external factors include events such as wars or sudden changes in commodity prices such as crude oil, which cause a sudden change in demand. Internal factors refer to the dynamic structure of the world economy itself, which it is argued, leads naturally to a cyclical rather than linear growth path. Five of the most common business cycles are- I. The Multiplier and accelerator : The main internal mechanism which creates cycles is the interplay between consumption and investment. II. Time-lags: The delays between economic decision and their implementation can make cyclical fluctuation more extreme. The shipping markets provides and excellent example for this. During a shipping market boom, ship owners order ships that are not delivered until the market has gone into recession. When the arrival of the new ships at a time when there is already a surplus, further discourages new ordering just at the time when shipbuilders are running out of work. The result of their time lags is to make booms and recession more extreme and cyclical. III. Stock building : It produces sudden burst of demand as industries adjust their stocks during the business cycle. On several occasion shipping boom have been driven by short-term stock building by industry in anticipation of future shortage or price rises. Examples are the Korean war in 1952-53, the dry cargo boom of 1974-75, mini tankers boom in 1979 and summer 1986. Tanker booms were caused by temporary stock building by the world oil industry. IV. Mass psychology : If people act in an imitative manner a particular trend will build up to a level where they can affect the whole economic system. Their periods of optimism and pessimism become self fulfilling through the medium of stock exchanges, financial booms and the behaviour of investment. V. Random shocks : Random shocks such as wars, weather changes, new resources, commodity price changes, which upset the stability of economic system may contribute to the cyclical process. Its impact on the shipping market is often very severe ,for example ,1930s depression which followed by the wall street crash of 1929. Other two aspects are The ‘trade elasticity’ and The ‘trade development cycle’-which are correlated to business cycle. Other factors which have very strong influence on shipping demand are Transport cost. Transport cost are an element in the costs of production and If transport Costs are low ,its possible for domestic commodities to be substituted for the cheaper goods supplied over great distances, which will create business opportunities for shipping. The globalisation of the world economy has reinforced the inherent and unique internationalism and fluidity of the shipping industry, while over the same period the industry has become vastly more productive, with very much larger, faster ships and new techniques such as containerisation. By understanding and exploiting world economic activities and trade pattern along with all the other factors stated above, which are mostly controlling the shipping demand, ship owners and shipping management can achieve maximum business profit. From table one it is clear that the future growth of world trade and out put will definitely create more demand for shipping. Thus the ‘derived demand’ nature of ‘shipping demand’ creating huge opportunity for ship owners and shipping management to profit from the ups and downs of world trade. References 1. whitepaper of DTLR on British Shipping Charting a New Course ,para-9,obtained from www. shipping. dtlr. gov. uk/cnc/index. html ,or menu-whitepaper, october2001. 2. Chrzanowski I, 1985, An Introduction To Shipping Economics, Fairplay Publications. 3. Abrahamsson B J, 1980,International Ocean Shipping: Current Concepts and Principal, WestView Press. 4. McConville J,1999,Economics of Maritime Tansport,p42,The Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers, London  www.isl.org

The Grading System Is Bad - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 2 Words: 570 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2017/09/21 Category Teaching Essay Type Argumentative essay Tags: Stress Essay Student Essay Did you like this example? The Grading System is Bad by Kok Hiew Lam of AL2 Students who get A’s, couldn’t apply the knowledge and yet, on paper still look more educated than the student who earned failing grades and even if the student could apply the knowledge. Generally speaking, grades do not accurately indicate how much a student has learned in a class. Assessments too should be based on real world application of the knowledge and skills, rather than how well students can memorize information and answer questions on a test. Ways to demonstrate knowledge gained is by grades. On paper this seems to be an awesome idea to be able to put an exact symbol to demonstrate a students development. But does the grading system help our students? No, as there are several reasons why the grading system should be eliminated. The grading system does very little now, but creates competition, stress, and loss of innocence. This is because when students are graded, students tend to compare among thei r friends. Weak students get depressed when being reprimanded by their teachers. On the other hand, stronger students are at constant pressure to strive even harder although they are no longer capable, just to impress those around them. Students are also a victim by parents whom often forget that all children have the different capabilities, they push their children off the limits thus causes children to be stressed out just to meet their parent’s requirements. When students are stress, their self esteem is low. When this happens, it does NOT encourage the student to work hard but causes them to give up instead! Think twice, should the education authorities really enforce competition among children? In addition, the grading system does not encourage students to study for the pursuit of knowledge. By nature, most of us are curious and inquisitive. In school, we are educated out of that curiosity because the grading system focuses off the educational process, and only on the final grading result. With the emphasis purely on grades, students are encouraged to learn just for the sake of grades, are naturally less enthusiastic about the subject, and as a result are less interested in learning for the pursuit of knowledge. What is the aim of schooling if the emphasis is no longer on knowledge? Yes, all of us agree that the grading system encourages competition among students to compete with each other to strive as the â€Å"Top Student†. Hence, students are more motivated to study and strive for success. But without the grading system, a more relaxed environment would be created. Some students may lose motivation, but others might gain motivation. If rewards are implemented instead of symbols, students may find school easier and more enjoyable. Students who are more comfortable with their lives, learn more easily. By, eliminating a large source of stress such as competition, it will NOT only improve childrens education, BUT their lives. As a conclusion, if students are assessed on their proficiency or mastery of a subject, it is fairer. Like any tool, the grading system has its flaws and can be manipulated by the invigilators. These days, most companies don’t even care about grades as they are only interested in capabilities. Grades are overrated. Last but not least, if the emphasis was put on the aspect of trying our best, to learn our best, and be excited about learning, then education would improve. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The Grading System Is Bad" essay for you Create order