Saturday, September 7, 2019
Using surveys to conduct research Essay Example for Free
Using surveys to conduct research Essay What are the advantages and disadvantages of using surveys to conduct research?            Surveys have been used as methods of collecting data for as long as can be remembered. In practically all scientific fields, surveys have proven invaluable in obtaining data that would otherwise be impossible to gather. As a method of determining certain behavioral aspects of society and man, surveys have also proven to be beneficial to all research in that field. Yet as with everything in this world, there will always be advantages and disadvantages.  This short discourse will outline the advantages and disadvantages of using surveys to conduct research.            First of all, the advantage of having a survey is that it allows the researcher to gather more date in a shorter amount of time. The questions in a survey are able to address a multitude of issues that would require a researcher more amount of time in lieu of a survey. Aside from the ability to allow access to more information, surveys can be specifically designed to elicit objective responses. This lends to its value in highly quantitative research that deals with hard data instead of non-quantifiable aspects. In short, surveys are advantageous because they allow the researcher to obtain the information that is required much faster and more efficiently than other sources.            The problem with surveys, however, is that it is difficult to construct an accurate survey that removes biases or false data. Surveys are prone to providing the wrong information. Another problem of surveys lies in the fact that it is not as accurate when gathering qualitative aspects or figures. Opinions or sentiments are very hard to capture and quantify in surveys. As such, as a method of conducting research, depending on the subject matter involved, surveys can be very disadvantageous. Surveys may not always represent the mean of every sample. Surveys must be given accurately in order to obtain an approximate cross section of the sample used. The disadvantage, therefore, lies in making an accurate survey that will lead to the correct data.
Friday, September 6, 2019
Recording, analysing and using HR information Essay Example for Free
Recording, analysing and using HR information Essay It is beneficial for a business to collect a variety of data to gain an understating of its performance to satisfy compliance legislation. However the information collected needs to be useful, relevant and selective. Raw data collected can be converted into useful information. It is important for human resources (HR) to collect data to meet legal requirements, keep necessary contact details of employees, records all contractual arrangements and to provide supporting information in the event of a claim that may be made against an organisation. It also supports an organisation when making decisions. Data can be collected in two different types of formats within an organisation. These are quantitative and qualitative. Quantitative is data collected numerically which allows for data to be measured and calculated. Quantitative is a descriptive method of collecting data. This type of data can be observed but not measured. These two different types of data support HR practices in a number of different ways, such as, showing patterns of absence relating to employees, highlighting any learning and development requirements that an individual may require, trends’ in staff turnover and key performance indicators. Customer feedback can also be obtained to allow a business to improve it services and costs can also be easily monitored. HR data can be stored by a number of different methods each having advantages and disadvantages. Data can be stored electronically and non-electronically. Storing data electronically can be beneficial as it is easy to access, can be shared easily and takes up less space. Online HR systems are available to employees where data and information can be added and updated by an individual and also can be accessed by one or more people such as line managers. This is useful for appraisals and monitoring performance. Storing data electronically through databases is also more secure than manual documents. Sorting data manually such as diaries, word processing documents and paper based surveys also has its benefits as it can be more cost effective to a business and cannot be easily lost where electronic data could be. Also employees require less training to store and organise manual data. There is an array of different UK legislations currently enforced relating to data and legislation is in place to enforce correct storing, recording and accessibility of data. One of these UK legislations are The Data Protection Act, The information commissioner has produced a code of conduct relating to the data protection act. This applies to personal data held and the legitimate grounds for this being held, which information is classed as sensitive and cannot be gathered without explicit permission. Another type of current UK legislation is the Human Rights act. This confers the right of respect of privacy on individuals and provides for employees in the public sector to take legal actions against their employer of they consider their rights infringed.
Thursday, September 5, 2019
Why Software Engineering Is Important Information Technology Essay
Why Software Engineering Is Important Information Technology Essay Software Engineering is the discipline providing methods and tools for the construction of quality software with a limited budget and a given deadline, in the context of constant requirements change. It involves the elicitation of the systems requirements, the specification of the system, its architectural and detailed design .In addition, the system needs to be verified and validated, a set of activities that commonly take more than 50% of all development resources. Testing techniques and tools, at different levels (unit, integration, and system) are needed. Software development being a human intensive process, management and quality control techniques are also required to run successful projects and construct quality systems. In most systems, including telecommunication systems, software is the overriding component in terms of cost and complexity. Good software engineering practices and tools can therefore make a substantial difference, even to the extent that they may be the driving force of the project success. What is the role of SE in Telecom and System engineering? Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more difficult when dealing with large, complex projects. Systems engineering deals with work-processes and tools to handle such projects, and it overlaps with both technical and human-centered disciplines such as control engineering and project management. System engineering deals with all aspects of computer-based system development. Software engineering is a part of system engineering. System engineering is to identify the roles of hardware, software, people, database and other system elements involved with that system which is going to be developed. Software engineering is to tell the practicalities of developing and delivering useful software. From its beginnings, software engineering has helped shape modern systems engineering practice. The techniques used in the handling of complexes of large software-intensive systems has had a major effect on the shaping and reshaping of the tools, methods and processes of SE. Before software can be engineered, the system in which it resides must be understood. To accomplish this, the overall objective of the system must be determined, the role of hardware, software, people, database, procedures, and other system elements must be identified, and operational requirements must be elicited, analyz ed, specified, modeled, validated, and managed. It is these activities that are the foundation of system engineering. During system design, developers define the design goals of the project and decompose the system into smaller subsystems that can be realized by individual teams. Developers also select strategies for building the system, such as the hardware/software platform on which the system will run, the persistent data management strategy, the global control flow, the access control policy, and the handling of boundary conditions. The result of system design is a clear description of each of these strategies, subsystem decomposition, and a deployment diagram representing the hardware/software mapping of the system. SECTION A: Question 5: Hypothesize a rationale for the following design decisions: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The ticket distributor will be at most one and a half meters tall. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The ticket distributor will include two redundant computer systems. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The ticket distributor will include a touch screen for displaying instructions and inputting commands. The only other control will be a cancel button for aborting a transaction. Answer: The ticket distributor will be at most one and a half meters tall. Every person can purchase the ticket including children and people with short height. The ticket distributor will include two redundant computer systems. Alternative In case if machine fails to work. Ticket distribution not to be interrupted. For data backup. To achieve a high level of availability. The ticket distributor will include a touch screen for displaying instructions and inputting commands. The only other control will be a cancel button for aborting a transaction. Enable substantial modifications to the interface. To enhance interactivity. Easier interface easily used by anyone. To let users stop their transactions any time. Question 7: Specify which of the following decisions were made during requirements or system design: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The ticket distributor is composed of a user interface subsystem, a subsystem for computing tariff, and a network subsystem managing communication with the central computer. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The ticket distributor will use PowerPC processor chips. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ The ticket distributor provides the traveler with an on-line help. Answer: First and second lies in system design decision while third one is requirements design decision. Question 9: A passenger aircraft is composed of several millions of individual parts and requires thousands of persons to assemble. A four-lane highway bridge is another example of complexity. The first version of Word for Windows, a word processor released by Microsoft in November 1989, required 55 person-years, resulted into 249,000 lines of source code, and was delivered 4 years late. Aircraft and highway bridges are usually delivered on time and below budget, whereas software is often not. Discuss what are, in your opinion, the differences between developing an aircraft, a bridge, and a word processor, which would cause this situation. Answer: Requirements are non-sequential i.e. a new requirement may invalidate prior requirement. No visible progress at end of day. Non-deterministic demands results in change of design. Many bridges and aircraft are simply refinements of other existing artifacts. This reduces the proportion of the overall effort that is dedicated to design. Budget changes with every single change in requirement and with increased number of refinement cycles. Use of mature technologies and well defined processes in case of bridges, airplanes, etc. Innovative piece with no precedence.
Wednesday, September 4, 2019
Terrorism and the Fight for Freedom Essay -- Exploratory Essays Resear
The Fight for Freedom    Most of the time, when thinking back to the sixties, people remember hearing about things such as sex, drugs, and racism. However, what they often tend to overlook is the large emphasis "freedoms" had on the era. This does not just refer to the freedoms already possessed by every American of the time. This focuses on the youth's fight to gain freedom or break away from the values and ideas left behind by the older generation. While some authors when writing about the sixties give serious accounts of the youths' fights to obtain these freedoms, others tend to take a different and more dramatic approach to showing the struggles involved in these fights. Yet, all of the authors have the same basic values and messages in mind. They all, more or less, aim to show the many freedoms which their generation was fighting for. These fights were used to help push for freedoms from areas such as society's rules and values, competition, living for others first, and the older generation's beliefs as a whole including the freedom to use drugs. The younger generation just wanted a chance to express their own views rather than having to constantly succumb to the values and rules left behind by the older generation.      The two different approaches used by authors to express these views are often representative of the two main systems used by youths to help gain their freedoms. The first approach, taken by the Port Huron Statement and authors such as Gerzon, Reich, Revel and Gitlin, follows the ideals of the New Left. The New Left represents youths striving for political change through cultural means. People are encouraged to work for their ideal... ... The freedoms may not be fully there, but many of the beliefs and values behind the struggle to acquire those freedoms are still there.                          WORKS CITED    "The Port Huron Statement." The New Left: A Documentary     History. Ed. Massimo Teodori. New York: The Bobbs-     Merrill Co, 1969.  Reich, Charles A. "The New Generation." American Values in     Transition. Ed. Robert C. Bannister. New York:     Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1972.  Rubin Jerry. "Our Leaders Are Seven- Year Olds." American     Values in Transition. Ed. Robert C. Bannister. New     York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1972.  Rubin, Jerry. "We Are All Human Be-ins." American Values in     Transition. Ed. Robert C. Bannister. New York: Harcourt     Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1972. Terrorism and the Fight for Freedom Essay -- Exploratory Essays Resear The Fight for Freedom    Most of the time, when thinking back to the sixties, people remember hearing about things such as sex, drugs, and racism. However, what they often tend to overlook is the large emphasis "freedoms" had on the era. This does not just refer to the freedoms already possessed by every American of the time. This focuses on the youth's fight to gain freedom or break away from the values and ideas left behind by the older generation. While some authors when writing about the sixties give serious accounts of the youths' fights to obtain these freedoms, others tend to take a different and more dramatic approach to showing the struggles involved in these fights. Yet, all of the authors have the same basic values and messages in mind. They all, more or less, aim to show the many freedoms which their generation was fighting for. These fights were used to help push for freedoms from areas such as society's rules and values, competition, living for others first, and the older generation's beliefs as a whole including the freedom to use drugs. The younger generation just wanted a chance to express their own views rather than having to constantly succumb to the values and rules left behind by the older generation.      The two different approaches used by authors to express these views are often representative of the two main systems used by youths to help gain their freedoms. The first approach, taken by the Port Huron Statement and authors such as Gerzon, Reich, Revel and Gitlin, follows the ideals of the New Left. The New Left represents youths striving for political change through cultural means. People are encouraged to work for their ideal... ... The freedoms may not be fully there, but many of the beliefs and values behind the struggle to acquire those freedoms are still there.                          WORKS CITED    "The Port Huron Statement." The New Left: A Documentary     History. Ed. Massimo Teodori. New York: The Bobbs-     Merrill Co, 1969.  Reich, Charles A. "The New Generation." American Values in     Transition. Ed. Robert C. Bannister. New York:     Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1972.  Rubin Jerry. "Our Leaders Are Seven- Year Olds." American     Values in Transition. Ed. Robert C. Bannister. New     York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1972.  Rubin, Jerry. "We Are All Human Be-ins." American Values in     Transition. Ed. Robert C. Bannister. New York: Harcourt     Brace Jovanovich, Inc., 1972.
Tuesday, September 3, 2019
Chapter 5 of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein :: Free Essay Writer
Chapter 5 of Mary Shelley’s novel Frankenstein. I will be looking at why Frankenstein has become such a well known novel and reasons why Mary Shelly. I am writing an essay on one of Mary Shelley’s novels â€Å"Frankenstein†, this is unique to Mary Shelley because from a very young age she has had gothic horror involved in her life â€Å"she entered the world like the heroine of a gothic tale†. Gothic horror was so popular because people were starting to read and watch horror novels. I will be focusing this essay on chapter 5 of Mary Shelley’s novel â€Å"Frankenstein†. I will be looking at why â€Å"Frankenstein†has become such a well known novel and reasons why Mary Shelly chose to write a novel like this. Mary Shelley wrote this novel due to many set backs in her life such as; her mother dying at such young stage of Mary’s life, and the suicide of her half sister Frankenstein’s experiment was important to Mary because it was Mary wanted to do all her life; conquer death. The novel is written in the 1st person to make it look like Frankenstein’s series of events like a diary. The setting of chapter 5 is where Frankenstein has completed the monster and hates his creation so much. Frankenstein gives a vivid image of what is creation looks like; he shows all emotions in this chapter. Frankenstein is the main character in this chapter because it’s all his feelings and emotions. â€Å"I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health†, I feel this is effective because it shows how bad he feels towards and about his creation. Mary Shelley shows how Frankenstein had dreamed of this nearly all of his life but that all goes wrong; â€Å"I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart†, this emphasizes his disgust with the creature and himself. Mary Shelley describes the creature in a lot of detail to give a vivid image of what Frankenstein has created and that some things of Frankenstein’s creation were life like but others made it the monster it was; â€Å"His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! -- Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but
Monday, September 2, 2019
Multimedia The Wide Spectrum Essay -- Essays Papers
Multimedia The Wide Spectrum In this paper, I will endeavor to provide you with a basic overview as to what multimedia consists of. I will also delve into the visual aspect in the wide spectrum of multimedia to show what it consists of and for a better understanding as to how it fits in. Multimedia first began with games but Web pages, interactive courses, and catalogs with sound and video have now dominated the stage. Not long ago, the term â€Å"multimedia†referred to a room full of slide projectors, tape decks, and movie projectors. Multimedia presentations were hard to put together and even harder to run. Many of them took weeks of preparation and they were then shown only once (Curtin 217). The computer has changed all of that. With multimedia, it is easier to stitch together the various elements and, once finished, the multimedia presentation is available to be shown over and over again. Multimedia is widely used in the entertainment and education fields. For entertainment, you can play computer games that seem almost alive with sound and motion. In education, interactive multimedia programs allow you to study and progress at you own pace and branch into areas of interest when you want to. You can even be a multimedia developer simply by using traditional office applications. Sounds and videos can be embedded in spreadsheet or word processor documents so when recipients click an image or click an icon they get and explanation of key points. Multimedia has entered and clung to the mainstream because of its attention-holding capabilities and effectiveness. It is used everywhere from business presentations to museum exhibits. Holiday Inn, for instance, uses it to train employees. When they click on topics, the system â€Å"talks†to them. It has reduced training time on a new property management system from 14 to 6 days (Curtin 218). Though history, and over recent years, various media have been developed that inform or entertain: paintings, books, magazines, newspapers, movies, radio, and photography ("Multimedia"). Using computers, multimedia fuses two or more of these media together on the premise that the combination is better than any of the individual components. Hence the term â€Å"multi†media. Multimedia can be used for entertainment, corporate presentations, sales presentations, education, training, kiosks, digital publi... ...oth. When done as a series of steps, an animation shows the girl growing old. To make morphing realistic, certain areas of the image, such as the eyes, must be overlapped on the first and last images and locked into place. This way, other parts of the image seen to transform around these fixed points (Curtin 223). Works Cited Curtin, Dennis P., et al. Information Technology: The Breaking Wave. Boston: The McGraw-Hill Companies, 1998. Geiken, C. â€Å"Multimedia Design for the World Wide Web.†NCSA. 17 Dec. 1998. 1 Dec. 1999 http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/General/Training/AdvHTML/multimedia.design.html. Hajicek, Donald J. Design Post. 1 Dec. 1999 http://www.designpost.com/defaultflash.htm. â€Å"Integrated Services Digital Network.†Bell Atlantic. 1999. 3 Dec. 1999 http://www.bell-atl.com/federal/html/isdn.htm. â€Å"Multimedia.†PC Webopaedia. 1998. 2 Dec. 1999 http://webopedia.internet.com/TERM/m/multimedia.html. â€Å"Partial Project List.†Platinum Pictures Multimedia, Inc. 1999. 4 Dec. 1999 http://www.3dcafe.com/ppm/projects.htm. â€Å"Platinum’s 3D Art Gallery.†Platinum Pictures Multimedia, Inc. 1999. 4 Dec. 1999 http://www.3dcafe.com/ppm/gallery.htm.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
Whistleblowing and the Consequences
Whistleblowing is an act that has become more prevalent in the corporate and private sectors. A whistleblower is described by Liuzzo (2013) as â€Å"†¦a person who reveals to a governmental authority, or to news media, confidential information concerning some wrongdoing or conduct that he or she regards as unethical†(p. 28). Some of the most notable cases in United States history have involved corporations, utility companies and the President. Some cases have been so extensive that they have brought about the collapse of corporate giants and even garnered the resignation of the President prior to his impeachment.The following will outline some notable cases, reasons why some people decide to â€Å"blow the whistle†and steps that the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) has taken to secure the rights of those who report violations in the workplace. With greater frequency, internal organization constituents such as employees and board members are repo rting issues of wrongdoing by their companies, instead of the reports coming from external auditing agencies (Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005, p. 277).Whistleblowing is further defined as, â€Å"the disclosure by organization members (former or current) of illegal, immoral, or illegitimate practices under the control of their employers, to persons or organizations that may be able to effect action’’ (as cited in Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005). Companies try to anticipate the possibility of unfaithfulness by demanding employees sign an employment contract or non-disclosure agreement, which would render the disclosure of company business a serious offense. Employees who feel an unjust action is taking place within their organization have two channels to approach to address the issues.An internal channel consists of reporting the offense to company management so that they have the opportunity to research and contend with the offense(s). This is the most beneficial to any organization as it allows them to determine solutions and their internal issues stay safeguarded. Instead of lengthy investigations and legal troubles, companies could save thousands of dollars if the employee brings to light an issue internally to management, which provides the information to the people who are best able to resolve the situation.Although internal channels are best for organizations, they may not be the best option for the employee to ensure compliance. External channels would include news media and government officials. People who decide to use the external route are considered whistleblowers. Organizations are least likely to welcome this form of disclosure, as their profits will likely plummet while the bad press spreads. Some employees go this route without discussing the issues with corporate management because they do not know who to talk to or they feel that their concerns will not be addressed. People also go behind their employer’s back bec ause they are afraid of retaliation and being labeled a trader by co-workers.The use of the word whistleblowing actually goes back more than 100 years and had nothing to do with corporate espionage or wrongdoing. The term came about in 1863 in the federal government’s False Claims Act (Eaton & Akers, 2007). The Act was initially enacted to incent consumers to report acts of wrongdoing against the government. According to Eaton and Akers (2007), Congress revived the Act in 1986 and retaliation legislation was added. The Whistleblower Protection Act of 1989 strengthens the protection for employees who disclose waste and fraud.In 2002, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) was added after the collapse of Enron to hold publicly held corporations accountable for their actions. Whistleblowing statutes may vary from state to state. There are some states that only allow protection to a whistleblower if he or she is a public employee or is working for a government contractor (Whistleblower, 20 08). Some statutes allow for only the person blowing the whistle to have protection against employer retaliation, while others allow co-workers that are supporting the whistleblower in their effort protection.This is why it is vital to research the law within the state the injustice occurred. Whistleblowing cases have been steadily increasing year over year since an additional 21 federal laws have been put into place to coincide with the OSH Act 1970. Each law outlines what is considered a discriminatory act and the deadlines around filing a complaint. Due to the protection that these laws provide, more and more people are coming forward and disclosing issues within their knowledge. OHSA protection means that companies cannot take â€Å"adverse actions†against employees for uncovering the truth (Occupational Safety & Health Administration, 2012).These actions include, but are not limited to firing, demoting, harassing threats, and reducing pay and/or overtime. Constant up dates to whistleblowing laws are allowing more industries to outline the rights of those who are thinking about disclosing misdeeds. Violations that are being reported include issues with airline and workplace safety, consumer products, food industry safety, and securities fraud. As of March 31, 2012, OHSA has reported a 139% increase in yearly reported cases from 2005 through 2011 (Occupational Safety & Health Administration, 2012).During the same period, only 2% of the cases determined were given merit, 22% were settled and the remaining 77% were either dismissed or withdrawn. These statistics lend credibility to the determination of the people who are blowing the whistle and trying to make the world a safer place for all. Although the constant updates to the laws are beneficial, in come cases anonymity would be advantageous for the whistleblower. The implementation of a whistleblowing policy within companies, organizations and schools is encouraged to avoid damaging public attent ion and loss of internal morale.The Association of Certified Fraud Examiners compiles data every other year on fraud cases both in the United States and internationally. The 2012 â€Å"Report to the Nations on Fraud and Abuse†provides the following statistics for those organizations surveyed between January 2010 and December 2011: (1) 5% of annual revenues are lost to fraud each year, (2) The medium loss to fraud was $140,000, with one-fifth of the cases involving over $1 million, (3) Most frauds occurred for 18 months before detection, and (4) Most frauds were detected through employee tips (Association of Certified Fraud Examiners, 2012).A 5% loss to fraud each year is far from an insignificant amount to a company, and the statistic proves that providing employees with guidelines for revealing fraud can save a company thousands of dollars each year. The creation and inception of a whistleblowing policy is a small price to pay for safeguarding a company against losses to fi nancial and human capital. Whistleblowing happens for a variety of reasons, including identifying corruption, public safety and securities fraud.Sometimes the whistleblower is a direct employee of the company brought under scrutiny, while others have inside knowledge of wrongdoings through a working relationship. Although whistleblowing happens all around the world, the United States has had its share of famous cases that brought about new regulations to control further corruption in business dealings. Three cases and their outcomes are: 1)In June 1972, a break-in at the Watergate Hotel in Washington, D. C. led to the resignation of the then current President, Richard M. Nixon.One of the perpetrators was a former CIA operative and a current security advisor to the President’s re-election campaign. Notebooks containing the phone number for â€Å"E. Howard Hunt (W. H. )†were found on two of the men, and these clues gave rise to intense media attention (Woodward, 2005). The United States Senate started an investigation to determine how far reaching the scandal was. A confidential informant, later dubbed â€Å"Deep Throat†, provided Washington reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein insight into misdeeds by the President and his advisors.â€Å"Deep Throat†continued to tell Woodward & Bernstein to â€Å"follow the money†until they eventually uncovered the illegal indiscretions happening in the White House (Arnold, 2008). On May 31, 2005, Vanity Fair magazine released the announcement that former FBI Associate Director Mark Felt was in fact â€Å"Deep Throat. †Felt was convicted of authorizing illegal FBI searches in 1980 and was later pardoned by President Ronald Reagan. 2)Dr. Jeffrey Wigand, a former vice president and head of research and development for Brown and Williamson, disclosed deceptive practices by tobacco companies in the manipulation of nicotine.He communicated that they knew nicotine was addictive, but failed to act upon it (Arnold, 2008). Jeffrey also insisted that the company ignored research proving that flavoring added to cigarettes caused cancer, along with concealing damaging documents that could be used against them in cases brought by sick patients. â€Å"Jeffrey considered the whistleblowing a great personal risk to himself and his family but still decided that it was for the better good of people and society for the practice to be exposed†(Whistleblower Center, n. d.)Testifying as a master witness, he helped the formation of the 1998 Master Settlement Agreement that implemented a $246 billion settlement against large tobacco giants. Wigand was fired from his position prior to blowing the whistle, and he described his subsequent harassment in an interview on 60 Minutes in 1996. Becoming a whistleblower had damaging effects on Wigand’s life, some of which he has overcome after a great many years. He no longer had any privacy, and his reputation was ruined. D eath threats against him precluded that he needed around-the-clock bodyguards for several years.His wife divorced him and took his two children to live with her in another state. A critically acclaimed movie titled The Insider was made about his story in 1999 and it highlighted the harassment that he endured. After the movie came out, Jeffrey was in demand to speak at schools and health organizations about the dangers of tobacco and smoking (Salter, 2002). Salter also states that Wigand became a teacher and eventually reconciled with his children. 3)One of the most famous whistleblowing cases in recent history involved the collapse of the energy giant, Enron.Executive Sherron Watkins disclosed extreme accounting irregularities to Enron CEO Kenneth Lay and expressed her concern for the collapse of the company (Arnold, 2008). After Lay did nothing and Watkins was demoted, Enron shares fell to $1 in November 2001 from a mid-2000 high of $90. In their book The Smartest Guys in the Room, McLean and Elkind surmise, â€Å"The Enron scandal grew out of a steady accumulation of habits and values and actions that began years before and finally spiraled out of control†(2004, pgs. 132-133).Deceptive accounting practices hid billions of dollars of debt from failed transactions, and Enron pushed auditors Arthur Anderson to ignore and not report them either. Many of the firm’s executives were convicted and spent time in prison. The auditing firm of Arthur Anderson was indicted and found guilty in District Court, but the Supreme Court later overturned the conviction. By this time, Anderson’s reputation had been marred and most of their customers abandoned them. This led to the shutdown of the firm.The lies and deceptions by both Enron and Arthur Anderson helped to create the previously mentioned SOX legislation. Several studies have been done on whistleblowers over the years to determine the motivation behind their actions. â€Å"While results seem t o differ slightly across studies, whistleblowers (as compared with inactive observers) tend to have good job performance, to be more highly educated, to hold higher-level or supervisory positions, to score higher on tests of moral reasoning, and to value whistleblowing in the face of unethical behavior†(as cited in Mesmer-Magnus & Viswesvaran, 2005).This information indicates that someone with a lot of responsibility in an organization will have the knowledge of unethical, internal practices. A person of high moral judgment is more likely to turn in a company for violating various laws and standards, than someone who is okay with cutting corners to keep him employed. Before becoming a whistleblower, a person must have absolute certainty that a protected Act is being violated. The OSHA website contains a list of the Acts and their descriptions to determine which one is being breached. It will also provide the type of communication for the complaint (i. e. telephone or writi ng. )Adherence to the guidelines is important to ensure that protection coverage is available in the case of retaliation by an employer. In addition, weighing the many pros and cons before making a decision to blow the whistle on a company or organization is vital. Whistleblowing should not be taken lightly, and the decision should be carefully thought out. Aggressive documentation of the issues and conversations with company management is extremely important. Researching which authority to approach is highly imperative.Although law protects whistleblowers, they sometimes will incur job loss, harassment, intimidation and even loss of property or life while pursuing the issue and resolution. Long, drawn-out court cases can lead to a loss of income and notoriety. Lengthy investigations can lead to secret personal issues becoming known. Lots of support from family and friends is needed during an investigation because the intense scrutiny can break down a person’s will. A person needs to be certain that they are prepared for an onslaught from the government and media prior to proceeding with their disclosure.Conversely, whistleblowing will give a person a moral sense of pride. Standing up for what you believe in will show people that you are not afraid to fight for what is right. Whistleblowers may also be looked upon as trustworthy since they are looking out for the welfare of others. Sometimes it is possible to obtain reward sums of money from the government for uncovering injustices. Lastly, if a whistleblower is unjustly retaliated against, they may obtain monetary remedies from their companies for retaliation.A recent tax fraud case against the Swiss bank USB AG awarded the whistleblower a record $104 million reward provided by the United State Internal Revenue Service (Temple-West & Browning, 2012). In a rare case like this, the whistleblower spent time in prison for his wrongdoing, but then was handsomely rewarded for turning in his employer for prom oting an illegal act. People have deeply personal reasons for blowing the whistle. Some may see it as a safety concern, while others who have participated in illegal acts have had a guilty conscience that they want to unburden.Hundreds of cases are reported, dismissed and/or won each year with the help of OSHA. Being a whistleblower is not something to be taken lightly as many questions must be raised before proceeding with the act. Numerous laws have made it easier for people to come forward when they witness misdeeds by those in charge, but knowing history and potential outcomes prior to voicing concerns will enable a person to deal with the backlash. Having good moral judgment and standing up for what you believe in will allow a person to live their life with few worries and a clear conscience.
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