Discussion for online Healthcare HRM Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Discussion for online Healthcare HRM - Essay Example Human resource in the healthcare setting interacts with a group of people who are highly sensitive to the environment around them due to their respective health complications. On the same note, all the stakeholders in the health care setting work towards promoting patient welfare, and so should the attitude and perception exhibited in this setting. In this respect, the realized performance outcomes rely on the basis of interaction between healthcare practitioners and the patients, thus making attitude and perception direct influential variables on performance. The integration of attitude and perception into an evaluation process should account for the links and relations between the human resource and all the other parties present in the healthcare setting, especially the patients. While this would be a positive move, the legal aspect of the matter could be highly bureaucratic, thereby slowing down the integration process and challenging the basis of operation of the evaluation system. On the same note, the likelihood of discrimination issues against human resource arising could be relatively high (Flynn, Mathis, Jackson & Langan, 2007). Moreover, the need to set measurement variables for the purpose of undertaking the evaluation becomes

Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words - 8

Marketing - Essay Example According to Walker (2009), in 2012, over 20,000 e-bikes were sold in United Kingdom. Support for greener transport continues to grow thus making e-bikes become a trend, and giving a higher advantage to the stockers of e-bikes. This is a marketing plan in the field of sustainable mobility. The success factor in electric bicycle is that it has several benefits in comparison to conventional forms of individual mobility. E-bikes business has been selected because electric bicycles mitigate accessibility problems and reducing energy use and most relevant emissions of commuter traffic. These issues are the success factors of Manchester e-bikes Inc. because e-bikes will reduce environmental degradation, as well as offer cheap transport options. This plan focuses on the company’s growth strategy, suggesting ways in which Manchester e-bikes Inc. can build a large customer base, develop products that are differentiated from the already existing brands in the market. This plan will also provide information regarding the external environment in which the Company will operate in order to provide it with a good startup strategy. Since Manchester e-bikes Inc. will market its products directly to its customers, it is considered a business-to-customer (B2C) marketer. This marketing plan seeks to promote consumer awareness of the e-bikes and to motivate and entice them to purchase e-bikes. An outline of the strategies through which the e-bikes will be marketed will be given in this marketing plan. A substantial research will be undertaken in order to develop viable assessments that will help Manchester e-bike Inc. to determine the marketing and image branding direction for their products. Every business is rooted in a particular macro environment. An instrument that is used to scan the macro environment is the PESTLE analysis (Andler 2008, p. 197-198). This analysis will be conducted in consideration of the political environment, economic

Business Level Strategies Versus Corporate Level Strategies Business Essay

Business Level Strategies Versus Corporate Level Strategies Business Essay INTRODUCTION Automobile industry is named the industry of industries by Peter Drucker. Since its humble beginning the automobile industry has involved very much with the times. The industry which is dominated by Europe, US and Japan is currently going through extraordinary changes. After a period of steady growth the industry started to decline in 2008, and declined further in 2009. Currently Toyota holds the majority market share of 10.9 per cent; Volkswagen holds 9.2 per cent share while Ford holds 7.2 per cent of the market share. (Datamonitor, 2009) This report explores the business level and corporate level strategies of Honda Motors and also critically evaluated its process of reconciling dichotomies with reference to product related and process related core competencies. The report examines the Mergers and Acquisitions (MA) in the industry, and the impact of debts, potential synergy and new technology has on MA are investigated with current examples. How automobile players have been dealing with the corporate social responsibilities and its impact on the firms are also discussed. The leadership models by the Japanese management model and Western management model are compared and contrasted. APPLICATION OF STRATEGIES Business Level Strategies Versus Corporate Level Strategies Pizam defined business level strategy as the approach taken by an organization to compete in its chosen markets (2005, pp. 54) Micheal Porter (1980) classified strategies into three generic types; cost leadership, differentiation and focus strategy (cited in Pizam, 2005, pp. 54) Each strategy assists the firm in gaining a certain competitive advantage in a particular competitive scope. However Micheal Porter identified unique features for business level strategies for international businesses (Appendix 1); factors of production, demand conditions, related and supporting industries and firm strategy, structure and rivalry (Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson, 2007, pp. 218) A business level strategy of is its research and development. Hondas product development process is respected within the automobile industry for its sheer speed. Reducing lead time, combining productive efficiency with human dignity, mass production reducing the cost and achieving the expense of product variety are some examples of Hondas RD accomplishments. Honda has a wide international production network; with 89 production facilities (Wit Meyer, 2004, pp. 665) Business level strategies determine the number of plants or production facilities and the locations. Corporate level strategies is to identifies which businesses and industries a company should compete in, which value creation activities it should perform in those businesses and how it should enter of leave those businesses or industries to maximize its long-run profitability (Hill Jones, 2009, pp. 285) Corporate strategy in global context focuses on the scope of diversification, both product and geographical. (Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson, 2009, pp. 220) Hitt, Ireland Hoskisson also states that corporate strategy dictates business level strategies in order to standardize the firms products and sharing of resources across countries (2009, pp. 220) While western management assumes that there is bound to be trade-offs between product quality, cost and delivery; high quality meant high cost etc. However the Japanese developed a right-first-time approach which Honda adopts, which is a corporate strategy dictated to enhance the quality, reduces cost and differentiate the products hence a business level strategy. Honda is the first Japanese firm to manufacture automobiles in the North America when it opened its assembly plant in Ohio is also a business level strategy dictated by corporate level strategy. Other corporate strategies include venturing into the vehicle production from producing auxiliary engines for bicycles and venturing into foreign markets too. While they are product-related diversification here is an example of geographical diversification. Shareholding with European company British Leyland (now known as Rover Group) which was one of the least capable automobile manufacturers is a corporate strategy. Honda has production facilities at 33 countries, (Wit Meyer, 2004, pp. 665) it is also a corporate level strategy of geographical diversification (Peng, 2006, pp. 390) The Managing of Dichotomies by Honda Motor Core competencies refer to firms internal attributes that provide a basis for competitive advantage (Peng, 2006, pp. 77) Core competencies provide access to a wide variety of markets, contributes significantly to end products benefit and are not are not easily imitated. (www.quickmba.com) Prahalad and Hamel define a competence as collective learning in an organization especially how to coordinate diverse production skills and integrate multiple streams of technology (1990, pp. 82) Core competence is often acknowledged in the form of tangible and intangible assets. Organizations should pay equivalent amount of attention to its employees competencies once it starts to pursue core competences track (Bergenhenegouwen et al.,1996) Tangible resources and capabilities are financial, physical, technological and organizational (Peng, 2006, pp. 78) For example, the ability to generate internal funds, ability to raise external capital, location of plants, offices, and equipment, access to raw materials and distribution channels, possession of patents, trademarks and copyrights, formal planning, command and control systems, integrated management information systems (Peng, 2006, pp. 78) Hence tangible resources are those which are directly involved in the manufacturing of a product. Intangible resources and capabilities include human, innovation and reputational (Peng, 2006, pp. 78) Examples of intangible resources are knowledge, trust, managerial talents, organizational culture, a supportive atmosphere for new ideas, research and development capabilities, capacities for organizational innovation and change, perceptions of product quality, durability, and reliability among customers, reputation as a good employer and reputation as a socially responsible corporate citizen (Peng, 2006, pp. 78) These factors are mostly involved in the production process. One of the core competencies Honda is famous for is in the advanced internal combustion engines which power the whole range of its products. The case of CVCC (compound vortox controlled combustion) engine designed so in such a way pollutants are not created. While the rest of the industry was battling with ways to clean up the emitted pollutants, Honda designed so that no pollutants were created to clean in the first place. The dichotomy was reconciled in a way there was no trade-off. Refer to Appendix 2 for the framework to integrate markets, platforms and competencies. In the case of VTEC (variable valve timing and lift electronic control) controlled fuel injection electronically, control the ratio of fuel to air according to driving condition, hence what the process required, hence reconciling the dichotomy of fuel economy vs. engine power. Honda is known for its technologically innovative engines, refusal to accept taken-for-granted trade-offs characterizes all aspects of Hondas strategic approach to technological change (Wit Meyer, 2004, pp. 673) Honda also developed an innovative strategy for the planning of production, a strategy which exhibits characteristics of both the traditional dichotomous poles; one pole is large-lot mass production and the other pole is the one piece flow (Wit Meyer, 2004, pp. 675-6) Hondas own innovative strategy overcame this dichotomy and obtained the advantages of large-lot production which is simpler logistics and quality control, fewer chances of error, easier programming of production schedules. (Wit Meyer, 2004, pp. 676) And also the advantages of small-lot production were obtained, those being ability to offer a wider range of products to consumers and greater worker involvement and satisfaction (Wit Meyer, 2004, pp. 676) MERGERS ACQUISITIONS Mergers are commonly characterised as the consolidation of two organizations into a single organization (Schraeder Self, 2003) Acquisitions are the purchase of one organization from another where the buyer or the acquirer maintains control (Borys and Jemison, 1989) Car-making may be one of the worlds most competitive big industries, but rival producers have always been ready to cooperate on expensive new technologies and products when the cost or risk of going it alone was too high (www.ft.com) The search for partners is now heating as automakers pursue to build scale, lower costs, and pool efforts in zones like small cars, vehicle electrification, and new or emerging markets (www.ft.com) Automotive mergers and acquisitions take place to increase market share, attain economies of scale and augment product ranges (www.reportsure.com) Figure 1; driving factors of Mergers Acquisitions for the years 2007, 2008 2009 Source: KPMGs Global Auto Executive Survey, 2010, pp. 20 Too much Debt and Risk of Bankruptcy Companies believe that a rising rate of MA will be driven partly by crisis factors, and partly by the long-term imperative of finding and developing new technology solutions for a changing market (the continued high stress that companies place upon new technology development KPMGs Global Auto Executive Survey (2010, pp. 20) KPMG predicts that indebtedness will be the top of M A. Also states that all cost pressures now seen as less significant (KPMGs Global Auto Executive Survey, 2010, pp. 20) According to the survey (KPMG Global Executive Survey, 2010), the specific global drivers of alliances, mergers and acquisitions will be driven by crisis factors such as too much debt and risk of bankruptcy 89 per cent (Car Magazine, May, 2010) Ford Motors partnered with Mazda since 1970s to raise cash and to focus on its own brand/ business. (www.ft.com) PSA Peugeot Citroen Toyota produces small cars in Czech Republic. (www.ft.com) As the surveys, too much debt and risk of bankruptcys impact on Mergers and Acquisition (MA) is very high and it is one of the driving forces of MA. Volkswagen in December 2009 announced its plans to buy 19.9 per cent of Suzuki which is to take a stake of approximately 3 per cent of Volkswagen. (www.ft.com) General Motors owned an equity stake in Suzuki from 1991 to 2008 Potential for Product Synergies Companies in auto industry merge to gain product synergies. GM has a contract with Renault to produce vans in Luton, England since 2001 to 2013 (www.ft.com) Daimler announced strategic partnership with Renault and Nissan April 2010; three companies are to build small car engines and vans together. BMW and PSA Peugeot Citroen produce petrol engines together. (www.ft.com) PSA Peugeot Citroen corporates with Mitsubishi Motors on cross over vehicles, electric cars and a joint plant opened in April 2010 in Kaluga, Russia. They also announced that they would work together to develop a compact sport utility vehicle (www.ft.com) Access to New Technologies and Emerging Markets Nissan has OEM (original equipment manufacturer) / supply deals with Mitsubishi, Suzuki, Mazda and Chryslers Dodge brand (www.ft.com) Volkswagen currently owns 49.9% of Porsches sports car business, and Porsche owns 51.1% of Volkswagen. Talk of full-fledged merge is taking place (www.ft.com) Porshe corporates with Volkswagen and its luxury marque Audi sports vehicles. (www.ft.com) PSA Peugeot Citroen with Fiat produces light commercial vehicles and vans. (www.ft.com) New products and new technologies have moved higher among their highest ranking concerns, from an already high leading position in last years survey (KPMG Global Auto Executive Survey, 2010) ROLE OF CSR IN THE AUTOMOBILE INDUSTRY A happy convergence between what your shareholders want and what is best for millions of people Kofi Anan (2001) Corporate social responsibility raises consideration of, and response to, issues beyond the narrow economic, technical, and legal requirements of the firm to accomplish social benefits along with the traditional economic gains which the firm seeks (K. Davis, 1973 cited in Peng, 2006, pp. 484) Carroll (1999, p. 286) suggests that social responsibility covers the conduct of a business so that it is economically profitable, law-abiding, ethical and socially supportive. Global automotive makers and suppliers are also seen to be more corporate responsible now. Going green is a common term in the industry now. Each company in the industry is coming up with a better plan each day. GM has promotes a building greener car, electric car experience and also teach green campaign. (www.gm.com) Toyota has numerous CSR activities as development of environmental vehicles, design for recycling, pedestrian safety campaign, vehicle safety, and customer first, support of art to name a few (www.toyota.com) Refer to Appendix 3 for overview of Toyotas CSR activities. Apart from producing many models of hybrid cars, Honda has devised a Honda LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) system. Honda is determined to measure, assess and analyse the full impact of its products on the environment. Honda LCA will monitor its products entire life cycle from the development and production stages to the final disposal at the end of its life. According to Honda, this will help them identify specific issues at each level of corporate activity and set corresponding targets for action. CSR helps to create shareholder value, increase revenue base, helps in strategic branding, operations efficiency, provides better access to capital, enhance human intellectual capital and also lower business risks (www.csrsingapore.org) Today investors are more aware of corporate governance and social responsibility, associating a firm to these features promote the image of the company and hence better access to capital and other such advantages. Therefore, organizational performance increases. Financial advantages sought in the name of corporate social responsibility are creating shareholders value, increased revenue base, better access to capital and lower business risks. Non-financial benefits are enhanced goodwill of the organisation, strategic branding, and operation efficiency and enhanced human and intellectual capital. While the players of automobile industry focus so much on CSR, the companies are being criticized too. Polonsky and Jevons (2009) states that criticisms has been raised in regarding to global automobile manufacturers who endorse fuel-efficient vehicles of various descriptions, while also producing fuel guzzling SUVs targeted at inner-city users. CSR is a very serious matter. CSR is not only associated with responses to crises, but it has also led to many crises, due to negligence of responsibilities as a corporate citizen. Non-compliance can be expensive and can even push corporations into existence threatening controversy- poor labour relations or public hostility. (Keinert, 2008, pp. 103) And threatening government or civil society action can lead to a slump in sales, lost market share and even withdrawal of capital (Keinert, 2008, pp. 103) LEADERSHIP; JAPANESE STYLE VS. WESTERN STYLE Japanese and American Management are 95% the same, yet differ in all important respects Takeo Fujisawa, founder of Honda Motor Company. In the early 1960s to the 1990s, Japanese management claimed a prominent place in the consciousness and management discourse of the west. Western management involves mass, standardized and fordist production while the Japanese prefer lean, flexible and post-fordist production. A mass production system focuses on producing a single product for a mass market, where else lean production focuses on producing a finite set of standard products designed for a segmented markets demand (Swamidass, 2000, pp. 451) Fordism is the transformation of the economy from agricultural to industrial to mass production to mass consumption. (www.willamette.edu) Where western management model is based at this, the Japanese management mode is post- fordist, the period after that. Mass production equals to fordist standardized production and lean production creates flexible and post-fordist creations. In the work process, western models are taylorist, do workers and unskilled workers. The Japanese work process consists of post-taylor, think workers and polyvalent. Taylorist is a means of detailing a division of labor in time-and-motion studies and a wage system based on performance (www.vanderbilt.edu) which western work process adheres to. The workers are do workers as in, they do what is asked, and thinking is not necessary nor is skilled workers. While the Japanese are post-taylorist, their workers are thinkers, they are to think and come up with ideas for the tasks they are entrusted with. Also under Japanese management style, workers are multi skilled. Production, organization and logistics involve large-lot production, just-in-case method of inventory management and push system. The Japanese management model focuses on, small-lot production, just-in-time and pull system. Just-in-time method is a fool proof method where production, purchasing and distribution all happens just-in-time. In western management model is just-in-case method is more popular. (www.leanmanufacturingconcepts.com) Pull models strive to persistently expand the choices offered while at the same time assisting people to find the resources that are most applicable to them unlike push models treat people as passive consumers (even when they are producers/workers) whose needs can be expected and shaped by centralized decision-makers. (www.johnhagel.com) The organization structure is vertical with fragmented duties and individual as responsible. In the Japanese management model, the structure is horizontal, with broad duties for employees and group is responsible for success of failure. Labour relations are job control focus, cross-company unions and hire and fire strategy. In the Japanese model labour relations are employment conditions focused, enterprise unions and job-for-life employed. Western organizations have separated firms and there are distant inner-firm relations, where else in the Japanese management model it has Keiretsu families and there is close inter-firm relations. There is no better or worse model among the two, as it depends on the situation. And there is no single good method, the situation and the issue in question should be closely examined before choosing the most appropriate model. Just like Honda Motors has, it does not practice one style of management model, the model chosen depends on what the best one is for the firm, given the situation. CONCLUSION The performance of the industry is forecast to accelerate, with an anticipated CAGR of 11.5% for the five year period 2009-2014, which is expected to drive the industry to a value of $2,526.6 billion by the end of 2014 (Datamonitor, 2010)

Tradition in William Faulkners A Rose for Emily and Shirley Jacksons

Tradition in William Faulkner's A Rose for Emily and Shirley Jackson's The Lottery People throughout the world do things for many different reasons. Religion, peer pressure, or tradition are some of the reasons the people do things. In the U.S. we have many traditions such as Christmas. Some people have strange or out of the ordinary traditions. The two short stories ?The Lottery? and ?A Rose for Emily? both portray tradition.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In ?The Lottery?, tradition is showed in three main ways. First, Old Man Warner says, ?there has always been a lottery (Jackson 11).? The town people accept The Lottery because there has always been a lottery. The older people in the town such as Old Man Warner keep the tradition alive with their ideals. Second, The Lottery is held every year. Tradition is upheld in this way because it introduces the younger generation to the tradition. This shows that the lottery is a tradition because traditions happen over and over again. Lastly, tradition is shown with the parifanilia used in the story of ?The Lottery?. The black box used to draw names is a duplicate of the original. The black box is a symbol of what was in the years past.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In ?A Rose for Emily?, tradition is also shown in three main ways. First, Emily does not get courted by anyone. This would not seem to be a normal tradition but in the story her father did not want Emily to become involved with anyone. Emily?s father was not following tradition when doing this because normal t...

Native Americans in the United States and Patrick J. Buchanan Essay

In the introduction, Patrick J. Buchanan notes that Queen Elizabeth II went to the settlement of Jamestown in 2007, the town’s 400th anniversary. The Queen had been there before, when Jamestown was founded and again in 1957. Buchanan uses the Queens visit to Jamestown as a firsthand experience of how much has changed in Jamestown since its founding. He quotes the Queen, â€Å"Since I visited Jamestown in 1957, my country has become a much more diverse society just as the Commonwealth of Virginia and the whole of the United States of America have also undergone a major social change. † Buchanan mentions how different not only Jamestown was 400 years ago but also how different her citizens were. For example, the citizens massacred Native Americans and enslaved Africans. Jamestown was not yet built around the ideas of democracy and equality. The American Revolution was another key example; it was fought for freedom and distance from Britain and not for equality. The only persons of power at the time were rich white men. Buchanan makes the point that America 400 years ago was not based around democracy, equality and diversity, so why should we value that in the present? In 1957 the Queen visited Jamestown, Virginia. The changes noted by the Queen were extreme. â€Å"Virginia has indeed become a radically changed society. No longer does Richmond proudly call herself the Capital of the Confederacy. Lee-Jackson Day is out. Martin Luther King Day is in. The Confederate flag flies nowhere. † This demonstrates how much can change in 350 years. Buchanan believes that 2007 Virginia is ashamed of 1957 Virginia, and the state should be proud of who she was in 1607. America in 1607 was did not celebrate diversity or multicultural beliefs, so why should they now? Buchanan describes early American settlers as having an â€Å"us-or-them† sentiment. For example, the early settlers thought that their Christian faith made them superior beings and those who opposed them were inferior. Another point that Buchanan makes is when other culture such as Native American, African, or Spanish cultures were introduced to Americans they were not only rejected, but fought against in a violent manner. In 2007 Virginia culture and diversity is not only welcomed, but celebrated. Buchanan believes that this is not what the Founding Fathers of America had in mind during the creation of our country. In his concluding thoughts, Buchanan remarks that America is a changing nation especially in the areas of diversity, democracy and equality. No longer is religion taught in schools, and with it dies the beliefs that founded this nation.

Whistle Blowing

A whistleblower is someone that raises a concern about a wrongdoing that is happening in their company or organization. There are many things that the whistleblower can reveal such as the breaking of laws, exposing fraud, corruption, or health and safety violations. These allegations can expressed to the people that run the company or organization and they can be expressed to the outside world such as the media or law enforcement. The whistleblower normally faces reprisal from their company, related organizations, or sometimes from the law.Whistle blowing happens when people get caught between business and social responsibility. They have to decide what is best for the business and what is best for the world. In the Insider Big tobacco denies that nicotine is an addictive drug. Jeff Wigand is a tobacco executive and has to decide whether or not give an interview with 60 minutes about cigarettes and if nicotine is and addictive drug or not. Jeff signed a confidentiality agreement with his company saying that he will not disclose any information about nicotine.Even though he is fired and receives death threats, Jeff decides to give the interview and whistle blow on his company by exposing the facts about nicotine that his company was hiding. There are three elements in whistle blowing and when these elements are combined they make whistle blowing very bitter and distaste full. They are dissent, accusation, and breach of loyalty. Dissent is a disagreement with a superior or the majority which can be hard to do in a work environment.Whistle blowing’s dissent is shedding light on a risk and assigning responsibility for the risk. The whistleblower also accuses someone of who is often higher on the corporate ladder than him. When he accuses this person it is like he calls that person a foul and that gets the strongest reaction from that person and they try to defend themselves. The whistleblower is calling out his own colleagues and this is seen as a breach of loyalty because he has certain obligations to his colleagues and this loyalty is put against the public interest.There are many different views on when it is appropriate to whistle blow. Michael McFarland uses a study by Simon, Powers, and Gunneman that there are four factors that must be present in order to morally require someone to go and help another person. They are that there is a critical need for the help, is within the â€Å"network of social relations† which means a person duty to family, friends and so on, the ability to help without damage to self, and the lack of other sources of help.McFarland states suggests that engineers should be held to a higher standard of social responsibility than ordinary individuals but the responsibility should be dispersed among all of the members of the engineering society instead of just an individual engineer. He uses the example of Kitty Genovese. Kitty was murdered and many people in her apartment building either watched or list ened and did nothing. It has been argued that had the neighbors banned together they could have prevented the murder. McFarland uses this example to show that when no other sources of help are available that engineers should take responsibility by banding together.McFarland encourages engineers to change their thinking of individual responsibility to the responsibility of the engineering profession on a broader level. Richard De George states that loyalty to the company is the most important thing for a person to have. He gives three requirements for a person to have permissibility to whistle blow which are as follows. If harm to the public will be serous and considerable, if the person informs their superiors of the problem and nothing is done, and if the person informs everyone above them on the cooperate ladder and nothing is done.George also gives requirements for when whistle blowing is a moral obligation of a person. They include the three previously stated requirements and th at the person has documentation about their concern and that there is strong evidence that making their concerns know to the public will stop the problem. This seems like good criteria for a person to whistle blow but this approach can take a long time to complete because sometimes informing all the people above the whistleblower on the cooperate ladder can be an extensive process. This caused the Challenger disaster.The shuttle that was launched prior to the challenger had many time because of weather and mechanical factors. NASA did not want delay the launch of the Challenger so the launch pad could be refurbished on time and so it would launch at the same time as President Reagan gave his State of the Union address. The Challenger uses solid rocket boosters with solid fuel to overcome Earth’s gravity. These boosters are assembled with four segments that are held together by two O rings. The O rings keep hot gas from escaping from the motor.Heat putty is used to separate th e rubber rings and the hot gases. Engineers discover that the O rings may not be able to keep the boosters sealed at temperatures lower than 40o F and they brought this up to their superiors. The superiors disagreed and thought that the O rings would hold regardless of the temperature. The night before the launch the temperature dropped greatly below the safety limits of the O rings. Ice formed on the pad and some fell on a booster cooling it to 28o F causing the seal to fail. The shuttle was launched and fifty nine seconds later the shuttle exploded.Had the engineers whistle blowed instead of bringing up the problem all of their superiors then the shuttle may have not launched. While they did not have enough low temperature data to prove that it was dangerous to launch, they also did not have enough data to prove that it was safe enough to launch. Had they gone to the media there may have been enough public support against the launch for NASA to delay it. We will never know. What w e do know is that informing all of the engineer’s superiors took too long and the engineers did not have enough time to try and find another way to stop the shuttle launch.The National Society of Professional Engineers’ Code of Ethics for engineers has six fundamental cannons that state that for engineers to fulfill their professional duties they must, hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public, perform services only in areas of their competence, issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner, act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, avoid deceptive acts, and conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.The first principle states that an engineer has the duty to the public’s safety, health and welfare before a duty to a client or employer. This keeps an engineer protected in the event of whistle blowing. Some c odes even go as far as disciplining or revoking the engineer’s license if the engineer fails to report something that the engineer knew was not in the public’s best interest.Having this principle in the Code of Ethics has help justify whistle blowing by engineers and has the courts often side with engineer, overruling confidentiality agreements and duties to employers that in the past would have prevented the engineer from speaking out. I believe that whistle blowing is a necessary part of being an engineer. It gives the engineer some power over the company or organization that has hired them.If the company fears that the engineer may go and tell the public things that the company does that are harmful to the public, the company will try to avoid doing things that are harmful to the public. While whistle blowing is often times distasteful and hard to do, it is often a necessity. There are companies in the world that only care about making a profit and do not worry abou t the public’s health.These companies need the help of engineers to design their projects which gives the engineers insight that the public will not have. While the engineers have loyalty to the company that they work for, it is also the engineers’ duty to the public to make sure that the company acts in the public’s best interest. And if the engineers can not convince the company that what they are doing is wrong, then it is time to bring the act to the public’s attention. Whistle Blowing A whistleblower is someone that raises a concern about a wrongdoing that is happening in their company or organization. There are many things that the whistleblower can reveal such as the breaking of laws, exposing fraud, corruption, or health and safety violations. These allegations can expressed to the people that run the company or organization and they can be expressed to the outside world such as the media or law enforcement. The whistleblower normally faces reprisal from their company, related organizations, or sometimes from the law.Whistle blowing happens when people get caught between business and social responsibility. They have to decide what is best for the business and what is best for the world. In the Insider Big tobacco denies that nicotine is an addictive drug. Jeff Wigand is a tobacco executive and has to decide whether or not give an interview with 60 minutes about cigarettes and if nicotine is and addictive drug or not. Jeff signed a confidentiality agreement with his company saying that he will not disclose any information about nicotine.Even though he is fired and receives death threats, Jeff decides to give the interview and whistle blow on his company by exposing the facts about nicotine that his company was hiding. There are three elements in whistle blowing and when these elements are combined they make whistle blowing very bitter and distaste full. They are dissent, accusation, and breach of loyalty. Dissent is a disagreement with a superior or the majority which can be hard to do in a work environment.Whistle blowing’s dissent is shedding light on a risk and assigning responsibility for the risk. The whistleblower also accuses someone of who is often higher on the corporate ladder than him. When he accuses this person it is like he calls that person a foul and that gets the strongest reaction from that person and they try to defend themselves. The whistleblower is calling out his own colleagues and this is seen as a breach of loyalty because he has certain obligations to his colleagues and this loyalty is put against the public interest.There are many different views on when it is appropriate to whistle blow. Michael McFarland uses a study by Simon, Powers, and Gunneman that there are four factors that must be present in order to morally require someone to go and help another person. They are that there is a critical need for the help, is within the â€Å"network of social relations† which means a person duty to family, friends and so on, the ability to help without damage to self, and the lack of other sources of help.McFarland states suggests that engineers should be held to a higher standard of social responsibility than ordinary individuals but the responsibility should be dispersed among all of the members of the engineering society instead of just an individual engineer. He uses the example of Kitty Genovese. Kitty was murdered and many people in her apartment building either watched or list ened and did nothing. It has been argued that had the neighbors banned together they could have prevented the murder. McFarland uses this example to show that when no other sources of help are available that engineers should take responsibility by banding together.McFarland encourages engineers to change their thinking of individual responsibility to the responsibility of the engineering profession on a broader level. Richard De George states that loyalty to the company is the most important thing for a person to have. He gives three requirements for a person to have permissibility to whistle blow which are as follows. If harm to the public will be serous and considerable, if the person informs their superiors of the problem and nothing is done, and if the person informs everyone above them on the cooperate ladder and nothing is done.George also gives requirements for when whistle blowing is a moral obligation of a person. They include the three previously stated requirements and th at the person has documentation about their concern and that there is strong evidence that making their concerns know to the public will stop the problem. This seems like good criteria for a person to whistle blow but this approach can take a long time to complete because sometimes informing all the people above the whistleblower on the cooperate ladder can be an extensive process. This caused the Challenger disaster.The shuttle that was launched prior to the challenger had many time because of weather and mechanical factors. NASA did not want delay the launch of the Challenger so the launch pad could be refurbished on time and so it would launch at the same time as President Reagan gave his State of the Union address. The Challenger uses solid rocket boosters with solid fuel to overcome Earth’s gravity. These boosters are assembled with four segments that are held together by two O rings. The O rings keep hot gas from escaping from the motor.Heat putty is used to separate th e rubber rings and the hot gases. Engineers discover that the O rings may not be able to keep the boosters sealed at temperatures lower than 40o F and they brought this up to their superiors. The superiors disagreed and thought that the O rings would hold regardless of the temperature. The night before the launch the temperature dropped greatly below the safety limits of the O rings. Ice formed on the pad and some fell on a booster cooling it to 28o F causing the seal to fail. The shuttle was launched and fifty nine seconds later the shuttle exploded.Had the engineers whistle blowed instead of bringing up the problem all of their superiors then the shuttle may have not launched. While they did not have enough low temperature data to prove that it was dangerous to launch, they also did not have enough data to prove that it was safe enough to launch. Had they gone to the media there may have been enough public support against the launch for NASA to delay it. We will never know. What w e do know is that informing all of the engineer’s superiors took too long and the engineers did not have enough time to try and find another way to stop the shuttle launch.The National Society of Professional Engineers’ Code of Ethics for engineers has six fundamental cannons that state that for engineers to fulfill their professional duties they must, hold paramount the safety, health, and welfare of the public, perform services only in areas of their competence, issue public statements only in an objective and truthful manner, act for each employer or client as faithful agents or trustees, avoid deceptive acts, and conduct themselves honorably, responsibly, ethically, and lawfully so as to enhance the honor, reputation, and usefulness of the profession.The first principle states that an engineer has the duty to the public’s safety, health and welfare before a duty to a client or employer. This keeps an engineer protected in the event of whistle blowing. Some c odes even go as far as disciplining or revoking the engineer’s license if the engineer fails to report something that the engineer knew was not in the public’s best interest.Having this principle in the Code of Ethics has help justify whistle blowing by engineers and has the courts often side with engineer, overruling confidentiality agreements and duties to employers that in the past would have prevented the engineer from speaking out. I believe that whistle blowing is a necessary part of being an engineer. It gives the engineer some power over the company or organization that has hired them.If the company fears that the engineer may go and tell the public things that the company does that are harmful to the public, the company will try to avoid doing things that are harmful to the public. While whistle blowing is often times distasteful and hard to do, it is often a necessity. There are companies in the world that only care about making a profit and do not worry abou t the public’s health.These companies need the help of engineers to design their projects which gives the engineers insight that the public will not have. While the engineers have loyalty to the company that they work for, it is also the engineers’ duty to the public to make sure that the company acts in the public’s best interest. And if the engineers can not convince the company that what they are doing is wrong, then it is time to bring the act to the public’s attention.