Roman Fever: A Brilliant Display :: Roman Fever Essays

Exposing Gender Stereotypes in Roman Fever    Definitive criteria for judging the success or failure of a work of fiction are not easily agreed upon; individuals almost necessarily introduce bias into any such attempt.   Only those who affect an exorbitantly refined artistic taste, however, would deny the importance of poignancy in literary pieces.   To be sure, writings of dubious and fleeting merit frequently enchant the public, but there is too the occasional author who garners widespread acclaim and whose works remain deeply affecting despite the passage of time.   The continued eminence of the fiction of Edith Wharton attests to her placement into such a category of authors: it is a recognition of her propensity to create poignant and, indeed, successful literature.   The brevity of her "Roman Fever" allows for a brilliant display of this talent in it we find many of her highly celebrated qualities in the space of just a few pages.   "Roman Fever" is truly outstanding: a work that exposes the gender stereotypes of its day (1936) but that moves beyond documentary to reveal something of the perennial antagonisms of human nature.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   From the story's first sentence, upon the introduction of two women of "ripe but well-cared-for middle age," it becomes clear that stereotypes are at issue (Wharton 1116).   This mild description evokes immediate images of demure and supportive wives, their husbands' wards.   Neither woman is without her "handsomely mounted black handbag," and it is not until several paragraphs into the piece that Mrs. Slade and Mrs. Ansley even acquire first names (1117).   Thus, without even disclosing any of the ladies' thoughts to the reader, Wharton has already revealed a great deal of their personal worlds.   They live in a society which expects women to act largely as background figures, thoroughly engaged with furthering their husbands' careers and the constant struggle to remain pretty.   Indeed, little else is desired or even tolerated3/4and Grace Ansley and Alida Slade appear, at first glance, to conform to this image perfectly.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As the workings of the characters' minds are revealed, the extent to which they have internalized these values becomes apparent.   Each, in their brief description of the other, mentions that her acquaintance was quite beautiful in her youth.   Alida recalls how much she enjoyed having been married to a famous lawyer; she misses being   "the Slade's wife" (1119).   Startlingly, now that their husbands are dead, we find that the women consider themselves to be in a state of   "unemployment" (1118)!

Accounting fraud Essay

Accounting fraud can be defined as knowingly falsifying accounting records in order to increase sales revenue and net income. Accounting fraud is committed in corporations by means of showing false information, using funds for illegal purposes or inflate expenses, overstating revenues, understating expenses or overstating the value of corporate assets. All these activities are entirely unethical. Behaving ethically depends on the capability to recongnize the ethical issues and to believe on their existence. This ability to respond ethically at workplace related more to attributes of corporate culture than to attributes of individual employee Individuals often fail to realise their moral obligations at work and by being subject to world’s temptation fails to tread on their set ethical standards and behave unethically. People especially of todays generation are so much engrossed in their own different criterias of their lives that they almost forget to confine themselves to ethi cal boundaries that is why ethical decisions are always difficult to make and its foundation is based on several factors however if we talk about the decision by considering moral philosophies of a person; that depends on whether the person is making a work-related decision or personal-life decision. See more: Basic Economic problem of Scarcity Essay A person in the business sector might view of the problem by thinking differently beacause of the outside force and under the work pressure. However, the same decision might be unacceptable to him outside the work. The second reason of people changing moral philosophies could be the corporate culture where they work. Rules and personalities of a business culture person eventually effects on the person and exerts pressure to conform to the firm’s culture. Edward Hall (1959), described culture as a silent language, and defines it as â€Å"that part of man’s behavior which he takes for granted, the part he doesn’t think about, since he assumes it is universal or regards it as idiosyncratic.† Geert Hofstede (1993) defined it as â€Å"the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes one group or category of people from another.† (P.489) A culture followed in corporate or on industrial level is known as Meso- culture and every organisation has t heir own set agendas regarding ethics because work ethics plays a pivotal role at work place to rein employees to behave ethically and keeping into account the ethical dimensions. In most of the organizations, there are set rules and policies specifically formulated to make ethical environment. Every  organization has a culture which mainly comes from the side of upper management and the rest of the employees follows the set trends and culture of their own corporate sectors. The culture of the organization varies from organization to organization because of the different perceptions of the chief executive officers (CEO) and the Board of Directors (BOD). Individuals in practical lives tend to take decisions according to their own moral values and set standards however, in business it changes and is quite the other way round. People get pressurised often and take decisions whatever is percieved as right or wrong in their surroundings and also choose on producing the greatest benefits with least harm. Individuals cannot simply enforce their personal perspective, though they are responsible for their actions but the idea of middle- management or entry level employee to have the freedom to take decision on their own at the work place is unrealistic.For example, if an employee can attract more customers by giving bribe to someone in the business, his decision would rely on whether complying with company policy or requirements is an important motivation to the individual or not. So for that purpose, according to Drake and Drake (1988), â€Å" there is a necessity for the development of training programmes to implement corporate values. These programmes must explain the ethical and legal principles to the employees and show practical examples which can be used as a guidance.† (p.111) Thus, the set principles and policies regarding work ethics in an organization and in addition to that the training programs can guide, govern or direct the employees to follow ethics and helps in institutionalizing organizations. According to ethics consultant David Gebler, â€Å" Most unethical behaviour is not done for personal gain, it’s done to meet performance goals†. Mostly people are of the view that individual moral philosophies plays main role for the ethical behaviour in business. Although moral philosophies learned through family, religion and education are important but it is only one factor which helps in decision making; it is not sufficient to prevent ethical misconduct especially in the business sector. Studies show that the reward for meeting performances and the corporate culture are the main drive rs in ethical decision making because the companies have a life of their own and the individuals working in the company are transcended by its corporate culture and with the passage of time, these patterened activities become instituionalized within the  organization. Peer influence also effects to some extent in the decision making; employees can be lulled by each other in making unethical decisions or when facing with ethical dilemmas nonetheless, everything still surrounds around the corporate culture and its strict policies for the ethical behaviour because when the policies will be strict, every employee would strive hard for the performance goal. If I fit myself in a situation where I can easily inflate my account on company’s expenses, I would be swayed by the company’s culture. I might not even think of committing any fraud or inflate the expense on company’s account, if the company is strict in its policies. But at times, it also depends on an individual moral values of a person in taking decision which is transmitted normally from families. According to my vantage point, individual moral development for taking a decision is a secondary factor; what drives first instantly to the person to behave ethically is the corpo rate culture since a company cannot rely on every individual to behave ethically on their own. â€Å"They can’t just stand in front of people and say they want them to have a good attitude and be excited,† says Pecos River president Elizabeth Wilson. Taking decision in practical life and in work life differs. People in their work lives are driven by some targets and goals which are triggered in them by the organisation where they work and that effects on their performance. Similarly, when they take decision in their work lives , they are not driven by their own values, the company’s formulated culture effects their decision making. Nevertheless, if a person takes any decision without any concern or reflecting on the ethical dimensions; these sort of misbehaviours are referred to as â€Å"unethical business practices† (eg Garrett et al.,1989; Giacalone and Jurkiewicz, 2003 ; King, 1986).According to Murphy (1989), â€Å"Ethics should be followed in corporate sectors in the form of corporate creed and ethical code. The former establishes the organisational ethical values whereas the latter is a specific set of guidelines which must be developed in all functional areas of the firm.† To conclude, business ethics plays a pivotal role in developing a corporate culture. Although, all the implementation of principles and ethics is a bit difficult procedure but it impacts on the employees in the organisation in higher degree and rein them from involving in unethical activities. â€Å"It is obvious that in principle individuals are more ethical if a corporation has a written, formal code and  less ethical otherwise.† (Vitell et al.,1993,p.336). Hence, according to Vitell, the idea of a formal written code for ethics works well in corporate sector. In addition, moral values of an individual which are mainly effected by religion, personal cognitive approach, family, beliefs, education et cetera also plays an important role in preventing the employees in taking any unethical decision, however, it is only a secondary factor for an employee has a performance goal in his mind while working and the decision forms according to a corporate culture and the ethics followed in organizations since a company cannot rely on individuals individually to have e thical standards and beliefs. For that purpose , there is a necessity of a corporate culture which work as the main driver to act ethically in a work- place and in situations related to corporate sector. REFERENCES: Arunchand, C H; Ramanathan, Hareesh N. Organizational Culture and Employee Morale: A Public Sector Enterprise Experience, Journal of Strategic Human Resource Management2.1 (2013): 1-8. Mickalowski, Kyle; Mickelson, Mark; Keltgen, Jaciel. â€Å" Apple’s Iphone Launch: A Case Study In Effective Marketing The Business Review, Cambridge9.2(Summer 2008). Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed 29 September,14 Caulkin, S.: 2002, ‘Good Thinking, Bad Practice’, The Observer (7th April), 11 Claver, Enrique; Llopis, Juan; Gasco, Jose L. International Journal of Value – Based Management15.2 (2002): 151-163 Drake, B. H.and E. Drake, (1988), â€Å"Ethical and legal aspects of managing corporate culture† California management review 30 (2), 107- 123 Fritzche, D. J.: 1995, ‘Personal Values: Potential Keys to Ethical Decision Making’, Journal of Business Ethics 14(11), 909–922. Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed 5 May,14 Garrett D. E., J. L., Bradford.,R. A. Meyers., J, Becker :1989 Issues Management and Organizational accounts: An analysis of Corporate responses to Accusations of Unethical Business Practices, Journal of Business Ethics 8 (7), 507- 520, Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed 6 May,14 Geert, H., Bond, M. H., & Luk, C. L. (1993). Individual Perceptions of Organizational Cultures. Organization Studies, 14(4), pp. 483-503. Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed 11 may,14 Hall, E.T. (1959). The Silent Language, New York: Doubleday Lincoln, D., M. M. Pressey and T. Little: 1982, ‘Ethical Beliefs and Personal Values of Top Level Executives’, Journal of Business Research (10), 475–487 Murphy Herta A., Effective Business Communication (7th Edition), Herbert W. Hildebrandt , Mc Graw- Hill. Nakano, Chiaki. Asian Business & Management, suppl. Special Issue: Japanese Business & Society in a Global Age6.2 (Jun 2007): 163-178. The Significance and limitations of Corporate Governance from the perspective of Business Ethics: Towards the Creation of an Ethical Organizational Culture, Retrieved from Proquest Database, viewed on 10 May, 14. Vitell, S. J., et al, (1993), ‘Marketing Norms: The influence of personal moral philosophies and organizational ethical culture’ Journal of the academy of marketing science 21 (4), 331-337, Retrieved from Proquest Database, Viewed on 12 May,14. Yallapragada, RamMohan R.; Roe, C. William; Toma, Alfred G.: Accounting fraud and white collar crimes in the US, Journal of Business Case Studies8.2 (2012): 187. Retrieved from Proquest Database, Viewed on 7 May,14.

Hiv Prevention And The Prevalence Of Human...

Running head: HIV PREVENTION IN PAPUA NEW GUINEA AND AUSTRALIA 8 HIV Prevention in Papua New Guinea and Australia Diana L. Brown HCM350 – History of Healthcare Worldwide Colorado State University – Global Campus Dr. Evelyn Shinn April 30, 2015 The emergence of Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) and the prevalence of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) in the early 1980s initiated widespread global panic, but not every nation took action to combat the pandemic. Control of this relatively young disease process has been addressed in different ways in countries worldwide. Depending on the cultures of the region or the political system in place, some have made tremendous strides to reduce infection†¦show more content†¦A research specialist for the CDC, Dr. James Curran, stated in July of 1981 that no cases have been reported to date outside the homosexual community or in women (Altman, 1981). That may have been the case in that moment of time, but much changed over the course of only a few months. Between July and December of 1981, another population was identified as suffering from the illness that had no name. This was the population of injecting drug users (IDU) and it was no longer limited to the United S tates, as Great Britain had its first reported case in that same month (AVERT, 2015). With the HIV/AIDS outbreak achieving a trans-continental status, efforts were ramped up to identify the source of transmission. By the end of 1982, reports of cases with similar symptoms were coming from several European countries, Uganda, and Haiti which reflected the widespread nature of the situation (AVERT, 2015). In just one year, the number of cases reported in the United States alone went from 41 to 452 and from just 2 states affected to 23 (CDC, 2015). It became a global health concern due to the wasting effects and rapidity of onset to death. Finally identified as being a blood borne pathogen, AIDS became the name and transmission linked to exposure to blood by sexual relations, needle sharing, and even blood transfusion. By October 1983, the World Health