Law Enforcement Code of Ethics Essay

The way in which police treat citizens have a ripple effect on community opinions, as these citizens impart their experiences to friends, family, and neighbors. One’s moral principles on right and wrong behavior are a form of discipline. Morals and ethics are often used interchangeably, and everyone has his own value system (Thomson and Wadsworth, 2005). Moreover, the code of ethics is an officer’s behavior of his credibility and validity. The officer must uphold the law regardless of the offender’s identity. According to Sykes (1989), a law enforcement informal code of ethics generally covers several aspects. The most important one being the principle of fairness and justice: An officer must uphold the law regardless of an offender’s race, social status or identity. One must not abuse his powers to take advantage or give special treatment to citizens, which turn out to be the main source of solicitation and acceptance of gratuities (pp. 141-142). In addition, a precinct with a value system empathizing crime control may allocate resources differently from one with a value system promoting community-oriented policing (p. 139). In fact, officers within these two precincts would be rewarded differently, and the formal culture of the agency would encourage different behavior patterns (Thomson and Wadsworth, 2005, p. 140). According to Scheingold (1984), law enforcement typically forms a homogenous social group in a closed social system. This leads to the extreme nature of police (formal ethics) subculture (p. 144). The three distinctive codes: First, the perfect professional, second, guidelines or his principles, and third, mandatory rules that serves as discipline. For example, an oath of duties and the sacred trust of an officer. An individual officer’s code of ethics is more specific to his behavior, whereas a professional code allows discretionary practices and unique issues of that particular profession (Thomson and Wadsworth, pp. 139-140, 2005). One knows that unpleasant experiences with the police affect individual opinions. Ideally, an officer’s decision-making is based on his code of  ethics. However, within many grey areas, the issues of loyalty force and discretion makes the process very difficult. Sykes (1989) states, â€Å"Professional ethics is extremely crucial to the image of law enforcement as a professional† (pp. 141-142). An officer has a responsibility to the whole community in a manner such as will inspire trust and confidence. References Axia College of University of Phoenix. (2005). Chapter 7: Corruption and the Code. Retrieved September 1, 2008, fromAxia College, Week Three reading AXcess, ADJ 235- Ethics and the Administration of JusticeAxia College of University of Phoenix. (2005). Chapter 6: The Ethics of Social Control. Retrieved September 1, 2008, fromAxia College, Week Three reading AXcess, ADJ 235- Ethics and the Administration of Justice

Australian Democracy Essay

Australia is run by a democratic system at all 3 levels of government (Federal, State and Local). Democracy means in Greek â€Å"rule by the governed†. A democrary has key fundermentals that sustains that type of leadership. In a perfect democracy every citizen has equal accessible amount of power and freedom. In Australia everyone Australian citizen over the age of 18 has a single vote to elect persons seeking election to the relevant level of government. This is one great example to the world community of fair rights and freedom. Although a prime minister governs Australia, their power is indirectly only accessible through the people’s vote Australia has grown since the first settlement on the Indigenous lands, we have created states and territories, education for our people and developed a safe community for people to live in. We have grown as a community and we have embraced our culture from this land and from the migrants to the country. In the beginning there were conflicts between the British and Indigenous people as the settlers occupied their traditional territory. This occupation issue has been festering over the years and has resulted in land claims similar to what has happened in Canada. From convicts to well educated and harmonious citizens we have become one of the most respected and multi-cultural communities, unlike other countries where there is discrimination of other cultures or totalitarian regimes in power. These along with lack of education are major reasons that lead to conflict and subsequent war within a country. In Australia we embrace our multicultural society and advertise this as an advantage for migrants to come to our country to boost our declining birth rate and ageing demographics. Being an Australian citizen you have guidelines and responsibilities that you have to follow they are: – Obey the laws and fulfil your duties as an Australian citizen – Enrol on the Electoral Register and vote at federal, state, territory and local government elections and referendums – Serve on a jury, if called upon – Defend Australia, should the need arise From these guidelines you have to respect the law, vote for your leader, become a concerned citizen and defend your country if it is needed. These rights express the freedom and voice that you have in Australia. If an unelected leader ruled you, you wouldn’t have these rights and freedoms, which Australian citizens have. The powers of the federal government are outlined in the constitution. The constitution also outlines the role of States, Judiciary and the Governor-General. This constitution can only be altered by a majority of the states having a majority of voters approving the proposed law, only 1 alteration to the constitution has happened in over 100 years and that was the granted of suffrage to the aborigines. Comparing the Australian system to another country with a totalitarian regime ruling for example in China, there is an estimated 500,000 people that are currently enduring punishment without charge or trial. Whereas in Australia you would go through court to be judged by a jury to receive the punishment required (This is exemplified by the detaining of David Hicks in Guantanomo Bay without a trial, even though he may have committed serious crimes, he should have at least had a fair and proper trial shortly after his arrest). There has been harassment, house arrest and abuse of human rights in China due to protests against the government, an issue that Australia does not face. Another interesting comparison is Fiji a place I have visited. Whilst there I noticed the non-integration of the Fijians and Indians. Consequent to this there is always tension between the two races and that is why there have been many coops over the years. The army has too much power and is able to topple the government, a situation that would be intolerable in Australia. The main issues facing Australia in 2008 are the distribution of wealth, positioning Australia for globalisation, the poor socio-economic status of our indigenous people and subsequent poor health and living condition of the indigenous people, the ageing of Australia and subsequent global warming and its subsequent impacts on the economy and the ecology. With the distribution of wealth, the government has introduced welfare to work measures and due to this and the robust economy 600,000 people have returned to work from welfare in the last 10 years. People on Centrelink payments are basically living day to day and need more money to be able to live a reasonable life style. The downside of this booming economy and persons working is the affordability of housing being an all time low. With globalisation Australia is finding a great proportion of manufactured goods being made in China. In addition our Call Centres are being staffed by more and more overseas staff (mainly Indians). Australia is lucky to be endowed with abundant resources, but this employs very few people. Due to the high cost of our labour market compared with 3rd world countries we need to continually establish niche industries that require highly educated people. The Howard government introduced a taskforce to tackle the problems faced by indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory Emergency Response was primarily initiated to give the aboriginal children a better and safer future. It is early days on this initiative, but this may be a starting point in addressing this imbalance in our society. Australia like many 1st world countries is experiencing an ageing workforce. Couples are having fewer children and later in their life, to assist couples the government has introduced a Baby Bonus payment, increase Child Care payments and has an immigration policy targeted to supplement the declining birth rate. This essay has outlined all the current positive aspects of Australian society, but we need to address the future and the sustainability of our environment for our grandchildren. The federal government is addressing this issue by introducing a carbon-trading scheme. This carbon trading scheme, where the tax on carbon producing goods and services go into a positive influence on the environment, for example planting trees. The Australian government is following leads by other countries in this circumstance. Australia may have its problems e. g Obesity problems, homeless persons, cost of housing. But these pale into insignificance when compared with issues faced by countries with civil wars and health epidemics (such as Aids in Africa). Australians give money to overseas charities, a great example of this was the tsunamis experienced South East Asia. Following this catastrophic event the Charity Organisations were inundated with money. In addition the Federal Government gives substantial sums of money to our Pacific neighbours. Australia although not a power on the world stage can impose a lot of influence in the Pacific Islands. Australia is a far from perfect country but through a democratic system anyone of voting age can do things to address the problems that they see as an important issue. This can be illustrated by the election of the Rudd government on its environmental and workplace relations’ platform. The Howard government argued that without India and China aboard any carbon trading scheme would not work. They are probably right in this issue, so the Rudd government needs to set up a fair and equitable trading scheme and find some way on imposing a carbon tax on any goods and services we get from countries that do not have a scheme in place. Research Essay on Democracy and Citizenship in Australia â€Å"Australia is an excellent example to the world of a democracy which values the participation of its citizens in all levels of government. Discuss† In this essay I will examine the development of Australian society and subsequent rights given to Australian citizens, thus addressing the guiding question as quoted at the top of the paper. Australia is run by a democratic system at all 3 levels of government (Federal, State and Local). Democracy means in Greek â€Å"rule by the governed†. A democrary has key fundermentals that sustains that type of leadership. In a perfect democracy every citizen has equal accessible amount of power and freedom. In Australia everyone Australian citizen over the age of 18 has a single vote to elect persons seeking election to the relevant level of government. This is one great example to the world community of fair rights and freedom. Although a prime minister governs Australia, their power is indirectly only accessible through the people’s vote Australia has grown since the first settlement on the Indigenous lands, we have created states and territories, education for our people and developed a safe community for people to live in. We have grown as a community and we have embraced our culture from this land and from the migrants to the country. In the beginning there were conflicts between the British and Indigenous people as the settlers occupied their traditional territory. This occupation issue has been festering over the years and has resulted in land claims similar to what has happened in Canada. From convicts to well educated and harmonious citizens we have become one of the most respected and multi-cultural communities, unlike other countries where there is discrimination of other cultures or totalitarian regimes in power. These along with lack of education are major reasons that lead to conflict and subsequent war within a country. In Australia we embrace our multicultural society and advertise this as an advantage for migrants to come to our country to boost our declining birth rate and ageing demographics. Being an Australian citizen you have guidelines and responsibilities that you have to follow they are: – Obey the laws and fulfil your duties as an Australian citizen – Enrol on the Electoral Register and vote at federal, state, territory and local government elections and referendums – Serve on a jury, if called upon. – Defend Australia, should the need arise From these guidelines you have to respect the law, vote for your leader, become a concerned citizen and defend your country if it is needed. These rights express the freedom and voice that you have in Australia. If an unelected leader ruled you, you wouldn’t have these rights and freedoms, which Australian citizens have. The powers of the federal government are outlined in the constitution. The constitution also outlines the role of States, Judiciary and the Governor-General. This constitution can only be altered by a majority of the states having a majority of voters approving the proposed law, only 1 alteration to the constitution has happened in over 100 years and that was the granted of suffrage to the aborigines. Comparing the Australian system to another country with a totalitarian regime ruling for example in China, there is an estimated 500,000 people that are currently enduring punishment without charge or trial. Whereas in Australia you would go through court to be judged by a jury to receive the punishment required (This is exemplified by the detaining of David Hicks in Guantanomo Bay without a trial, even though he may have committed serious crimes, he should have at least had a fair and proper trial shortly after his arrest). There has been harassment, house arrest and abuse of human rights in China due to protests against the government, an issue that Australia does not face. Another interesting comparison is Fiji a place I have visited. Whilst there I noticed the non-integration of the Fijians and Indians. Consequent to this there is always tension between the two races and that is why there have been many coops over the years. The army has too much power and is able to topple the government, a situation that would be intolerable in Australia. The main issues facing Australia in 2008 are the distribution of wealth, positioning Australia for globalisation, the poor socio-economic status of our indigenous people and subsequent poor health and living condition of the indigenous people, the ageing of Australia and subsequent global warming and its subsequent impacts on the economy and the ecology. With the distribution of wealth, the government has introduced welfare to work measures and due to this and the robust economy 600,000 people have returned to work from welfare in the last 10 years. People on Centrelink payments are basically living day to day and need more money to be able to live a reasonable life style. The downside of this booming economy and persons working is the affordability of housing being an all time low. With globalisation Australia is finding a great proportion of manufactured goods being made in China. In addition our Call Centres are being staffed by more and more overseas staff (mainly Indians). Australia is lucky to be endowed with abundant resources, but this employs very few people. Due to the high cost of our labour market compared with 3rd world countries we need to continually establish niche industries that require highly educated people. The Howard government introduced a taskforce to tackle the problems faced by indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory. The Northern Territory Emergency Response was primarily initiated to give the aboriginal children a better and safer future. It is early days on this initiative, but this may be a starting point in addressing this imbalance in our society. Australia like many 1st world countries is experiencing an ageing workforce. Couples are having fewer children and later in their life, to assist couples the government has introduced a Baby Bonus payment, increase Child Care payments and has an immigration policy targeted to supplement the declining birth rate. This essay has outlined all the current positive aspects of Australian society, but we need to address the future and the sustainability of our environment for our grandchildren. The federal government is addressing this issue by introducing a carbon-trading scheme. This carbon trading scheme, where the tax on carbon producing goods and services go into a positive influence on the environment, for example planting trees. The Australian government is following leads by other countries in this circumstance. Australia may have its problems e. g Obesity problems, homeless persons, cost of housing. But these pale into insignificance when compared with issues faced by countries with civil wars and health epidemics (such as Aids in Africa). Australians give money to overseas charities, a great example of this was the tsunamis experienced South East Asia. Following this catastrophic event the Charity Organisations were inundated with money. In addition the Federal Government gives substantial sums of money to our Pacific neighbours. Australia although not a power on the world stage can impose a lot of influence in the Pacific Islands. Australia is a far from perfect country but through a democratic system anyone of voting age can do things to address the problems that they see as an important issue. This can be illustrated by the election of the Rudd government on its environmental and workplace relations’ platform. The Howard government argued that without India and China aboard any carbon trading scheme would not work. They are probably right in this issue, so the Rudd government needs to set up a fair and equitable trading scheme and find some way on imposing a carbon tax on any goods and services we get from countries that do not have a scheme in place.

Performance †Dance Essay

Content: the performance we saw was a very simple setting with surprising contemporary dancing. It was a group of 6 dancers but 7 including the choreographer. Some very impressionable moments were when they would do the lifts and floor work all together I felt it was very strong and interesting. Interpretationconnection: three important things I feel the audience should know about the performance is that the piece was a very different modern type of dance, it was based on animal instinct, and there was no specific genre of dance used for the performance to be based on. The most impressionable moment or me was when the dancers were each lined up separately with their backs towards the audience in between the pillars on the back wall up stage, I like this moment because I thought the lighting and spacing really caught everyone in the audiences eye. I felt the modern aspect, the theme of animal instinct and there being no exact genre of dance made me more open to the performance as art because I didn’t try to compare it to anything else I just watched it for what it was. For example at first I felt it was very weird but as it went it went on I grew to be more open to it. Elements of dance: shape- The use of shape in the performance was unlike anything I have ever seen, they used every shape humanly possible but still made it look effortless and keep the audience watching. Space- The performance was well spaced at many times they were perfectly spaced between the large lines on the floor which was very cool looking. Time- There was no specific time ever really used because they has music that had no set beat or time. Dynamic- they used a large amount of emotion for this performance it was unique and really brought the piece to life through there dancing. Overall impression: My impression of the performance is I thought it was a very unique and strong piece of dancing. I liked the use of shape and spacing I thought they were done very well, but I didn’t like the music I didn’t really think it was the best for the dancing and they could have chosen much better music since the dancing was so strong. Overall I thought it was a strong and well done performance.

An Example of Success In A Competitive Market Research Paper

An Example of Success In A Competitive Market - Research Paper Example In order for us to answer this question, it is imperative for us to have a clear knowledge about the challenges that face a firm in a competitive market. Things like competition, changes and ramification; these are the factors that stand as a challenge to any firm, new or old. Strategic plans and business techniques of different leaders and companies worldwide have been questioned due to the advent of the transformed competitive landscape. Changes in technology, the reorganization of industries due to internationalization as well as the growing environmental awareness recently are just some of the changes that need response to all firms. The ramification or complexity on the business operations occurred as a result of environmental concerns. Different industries, most especially the manufacturing industry, reformed their packaging, toxic waste management and greater drive for the recycling of materials. Solutions to these challenges are often quite simple and common sense. First, solutions would always start at the tail end of a determined problem. Because of the inevitable surge of technological revolution, coping up with the changing time is the best solution. There were revamping and restructuring of business models by the institution of new development in technologies in operations. Second, due to the technological advancements, dire political issues, and economic developments, it creates ramification within a certain market. Also, because of internationalization, the degree of communications and centralized operation has become more complex; hence, companies started to outsource their functions and the erection of relational allies that created virtual assembly. Lastly, as what I have mentioned, the market is overpopulated with firms of duplicating services incrementing the level of competition. Added to that is the entry of new markets in global setting, imposing a menace that cannot be discounted.

Humanitarian Action Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Humanitarian Action - Assignment Example Hieronymi main logic or deduction from his research is that interests and values based approaches to humanitarian action are not entirely mutually exclusive. However the effective combination of the two vices can significantly strengthen the arguments that are formulated in humanitarian’s action favor. Hieronymi supports this logic by referring to the humanitarian imperative. This is the value and ability engrained deep into the human soul that enables him to clearly distinguish between right and wrong.1 He argues that in everyday life, human beings are faced with various moral dilemmas. These dilemmas can be of varying nature and human beings are therefore placed in a precarious position where they have to decide whether to take action or not. For example when one witness an instance of child cruelty, there is the obvious urge to take intervene. However in certain circumstances, moral consideration may be out rightly rejected. This may be due to various political philosophies , for example in states under dictatorship where human cruelty may be a common norm. This is obviously a clear violation of human values and principles. Hieronymi uses various historical situations in the past to further support his argument. Hieronymi also elaborates on the interests that humanitarian crises touch and which inadvertly stimulates human beings to take action. The first one is the nature and values of the universe that the human being so closely covets. The second interest is the ‘importing’ of the suffering and trouble risk. The final interest is the aftermath costs of the crises, which would have been avoided had prevention measures been effected. Hieronymi further argues that when deciding whether to take humanitarian action, the interests of both the victims and the individuals or organizations of the people taking the action must be taken into consideration. There should therefore be a convergence of both interests. Hieronymi concludes his logic by s tating that values and interests are therefore the two most significant vices that govern humanitarian action consideration. David Rieff’s point of view in his publication A Bed for the Night is that humanitarian action may pose more problems if solved realistically. This is an opinion which clearly concurs with other critics like Waal, Michael Maren, Bernard Hours, and Peter Uvin. He argues that humanitarian action is a futile enterprise whose effects may be fatal and this makes him unique from other literature writers because he first acknowledges the complexity of the issue call for a proper preparedness. His writing seeks to attack the common approach of relief programs and advocacy initiatives that are increasingly being applied by humanitarian agencies.  

Job description Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Job description - Essay Example responsible for the management of social media sites by tracking and monitoring the companys presence in the social media including Facebook, Twitter, Google plus and others. He or she ensures that only valuable and engaging information is shared to the social sites. He or she monitors the changing social media trends to ensure that the company stays on top of its competition. He or she bears the responsibility for designing and writing protocols, report forms for cases and consent forms used in clinical trials. He or she approves the Ethics committee, develops recruitment strategies for the increment of patient randomization into trials, and manages clinical trials. He or she ensures compliance of the Good clinical practice (GCP) by providing training during start-ups and initiation meetings for the clinical trials. He or she is responsible for the planning and implementation of activities necessary for conducting and monitoring clinical trials. He or she coordinates monitoring of trials by selecting and managing qualified personnel. He or she keeps CVs and training materials for each protocol, and also submits documents that are necessary for initiating the study including CVs and Food and drug administration forms. He or she identifies audit procedures and ensures that only clean data is entered into the clinical database in the appropriate time (Clinical research manager). Social media director can work with the head of human resource department in management of staff within the company. The social media director is responsible for the identification of the companys social media staff and thus may work in the Human resource department as recruitment manager or in the interviewing panel. The human resource department is responsible for personnel activities including the staffing, development, training, rewarding and performance evaluation in every department of the company. The social media director works with the human resource department to ensure that

Culture, Ritual and Religion, International Development in the Research Paper

Culture, Ritual and Religion, International Development in the Democratic Republic of Congo and Sierra Leone - Research Paper Example In Africa, countries have experienced recurrent and various forms of armed conflicts and violence due to power struggles and control over natural resources. Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo have bore the brunt of violence and armed conflicts in past decades, a fact that has led to development mishaps and stagnation. This paper examines the role of ritual, culture and religion in the shaping up of the social, economic and political stability of Sierra Leone and Democratic Republic of Congo. It further explores the role of violence and conflicts in the development process. Sierra Leone is located on the west Coast of Africa on the Atlantic Ocean and it is bordered to the North with Guinea, Liberia on the Southeast and Atlantic Ocean on the Southwest (Harris, 1992). Different ceremonies were held in Sierra Leone as part of the culture and religion of the people. One of the ceremonies that were more conspicuous was the movement in rings or circles during ceremonies to honor ancestors (Harris, 1992). The movement of people in circles during ceremonies defined the art and religion of most communities in Sierra Leone. It is reported that the culture and tradition was seen as heathen by the missionaries and as such, they searched for strategies of eliminating and eradicating the practice. The missionaries did not succeed in eradicating the practice due to the strong influence that culture had among communities in Sierra Leone. ... e purposes included story telling, singing of songs, drumming and dancing, pouring of libations, cleansing ceremonies, proper burials, respect for the dead and forgiveness (Kaarsholm, 2006). The traditional cultural practices and rituals have played significant roles in the development process of Sierra Leone. Modern development strategies have incorporated traditional cultural practices in various health and human welfare initiatives such as fight against HIV/AIDS, ending of harmful traditional practices such female genital mutilation, understanding of human rights and other initiatives that are associated with human welfare and development in Sierra Leone (Burnell, 2008). The uptake and use of various traditional cultural practices and rituals in modern human development initiatives in Sierra Leone has been premised on the notion that the use of culturally appropriate interventions that are drawn from the experience and knowledge of communities has the potential of increasing the l ong-term self-reliance of communities, families and children (Francis, 2006). In addition, the use of traditional practices and rituals encourages community members to take active roles in identification of development problems that affect them and formulation of strategies and solutions to mitigate such problems. The role of culture and traditions of Sierra Leone communities was relevant and instrumental in the truth and reconciliation process that paved way for political stability and tranquility. Most of the healing activities and initiatives were based on the culture and traditions of the people of Sierra Leone. The Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission of Sierra Leone relied on the assistance and help from traditional and religious leaders in resolving conflicts and promotion of

Hip hop Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Hip hop - Essay Example It was very entertaining using dictionaries to write rhymes and rapping about science and issues that affected the society.Hip hop is made up of four basic elements: DJing,MCing, Breakdancing and Aerosol Art (Graffiti).AfrikaBambaatana, popularly known as ‘Godfather of Hip-hop,’ pioneered the first artistic battles that incorporated the four elements of hip-hop as a tactic in substituting violent disputes. Discussion In the recent times, gangster rap has grown to become mainstream and thus influencing children so much that they don’t have interest in listening to hip-hop that fails to mention pimping, smoking of blunts or drinking(Holmes&Brad,2008). Media on the other hand has played a major role in fusinggangster rap and hip-hop. Gangster rap is classified under MCing, and this is just one –fourth of what hip-hop is made up of. It is therefore not logical to define hip-hop basing on gangster rap since it does not address the contribution made by the other three elements. However, gangster rap has been glamorized by the corporate media(Holmes & Brad, 2008). They have managed to use it in marketing of their products and labeling it ‘Hip-hop.’ It is beyond any doubt that in our recent society, hip-hop has proved to be very marketable hence being used as a marketing strategy for selling products ranging from clothes to shoes to liquor to dolls, just mention but a few. Most corporate companies which use hip-hop to advertise and promote their products have led to the emergence of postmodern generation of youths with massive buying power. These corporate companies are on the fore front in theorizing pedagogies of consumptions as a way of appropriating the differences facing the youths in different locations and sites. For instance, Co-cola Company used a famous song ‘Waving Flag’ by a Somali born musician K’naan. The song received lots of attention from the youth all over the world because of its strong mess age and entertaining rhythm. Coca-Cola Company must have chosen the song because of its richness in culture and the energy. The song mixes the Ethiopian culture with that of other parts of the world. K’naan’s song is rich in language and very interestingly combines the Canadian accent with the Somali accent. In this case, the song has managed to bring the two languages together and thus the youths coming from the two locations appreciate each other’s language as well as culture. Being a Somali born and living in Canada,K’Naan has managed to bring people from different races together with his song. The song was unanimously acclaimed by people from different races since it did not look down upon other races. Coke successfully managed to use K’Naan’s song as a campaign song for the 2010 Fifa World Cup tournament in Africa. The music captured the host-continent’s spirit and the celebratory mood associated with soccer in stadiums. Coke wan ted a song that could cross borders easily and capture people’s heart. They needed a song that would be in line with its world marketing strategy, a song that would open happiness and bring joy to its target group. The artist was also to have an inspiring backstory(Duane, 2010). Coke’s marketing team fell in love with K’Naan, his multinational upbringing and the sweeping melody and chorus of his song, â€Å"Waving’ Flag†. The song talked of K’

Social media has negatively changed our culture Essay

Social media has negatively changed our culture - Essay Example The aim of this paper is to examine some of the popular accusations of social media and explain that the positive consequences of social media for the culture outweigh the suggested threats. At present, the world of social media is broad and presented by the variety of widely available networking sites that provide opportunities for socialization. The most popular among them can be considered Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and other actively used by people across generations and social groups. All together they created the new digital arena for maintaining relationships, communicating, making business, or sharing news. (Sawyer, 2011) Obviously, such extensive popularity and influence which social media managed to gain in relatively short period of time could not leave one ignorant of the possible consequences of the tendency to spend time online instead of the real-life alternatives. As a result, the possibility of both positive and negative outcomes of social media is recognized. Both sides have elaborated particular set of arguments that seemingly contain the grain of truth and common sense, therefore, they need to be closely and thoroughly examined in order to formulate a personal position in this regard. The base of arguments of people who are trying to prove that social media represents a destructive force for a culture is the long one, but, to my mind, includes issues that can be prevented by careful use and conscious approach to social media. Among such negative claims can be mentioned disregard of privacy and sharing too much personal information that can be used for inappropriate goals. Also, much is being said about cyberbullying, online harassment that make people feel insecure and treat peace in the society. ("Technology can have,") Apart from that, social media is often blamed for promoting the culture of narcissism – excessive interest in oneself and one’s appearance. ("Technology can have,") All

Building construction for the fire service essay 2 (Brannigan &

Building construction for the fire service 2 (Brannigan & Corbett, 2008 - Essay Example In addition, transporting or moving the fire fighting equipment to the building can be a problem as well (Schottke, 2012, p 34). High-rise fire requires huge resource requirement allocation. This is because a balance has to be achieved among a number of factors at play. For instance, achieving a balance between evacuating the occupants from within the building as well as allocating the necessary resources to curb the fire before it grows and destroys the property or causes loss of life. It is important to acknowledge that high-rise building fire fighting requires a huge number of experienced fire fighting personnel’s as well as sophisticated fire fighting equipment that are very expensive. A lot of coordination between the fire fighting personnel’s is also required (Schottke, 2012, p 35). Time is an important factor in fire fighting. The shorter the time of fire evacuation, the better the result and the vice versa. High-rise buildings pose a challenge to get water on target. This is simply due to the height involved, and in addition, a lot of time is lost when coordinating the various steps before the actual fire fighting commences. This increases the impacts of the fire. It is also important to note that the water is applied vertically in most cases and hence reducing its effectiveness (Schottke, 2012, p 35). Fire fighting in high-rise buildings is a dangerous undertaking. It should be carried out by skilled personnel’s and only after careful planning and consultation. The necessary equipments should as well be at play and should be used by specialized

Arab - Islamic Culture and Civilization Research Paper

Arab - Islamic Culture and Civilization - Research Paper Example The west side viewers have disguised the term Sufism, by denoting it as â€Å"Islamic esotericism† or â€Å"Islamic mysticism.† This kind of terminologies is imprecise and often provides a negative impression of the term. It also discourages people who consider the Sufism as something quite suitable in accordance with the predetermined criteria. 5 The literal meaning of the word Sufi is the â€Å"one who attires wool (in Arabic wool is termed as á ¹ £Ã… «f).† (Voll & Ohtsuka, 2014). This word was used for the Muslims on the basis of their attire, which was woolen, as they liked to wear the woolen dresses especially in the 18th century. With the passage of time, It became the signature style of a group, which was used to wear it to represent themselves as different from others on the basis of Quranic and Sunna traditions and practices. After this, it was the time of 19th century, when the people belonged to this group designated this practice as â€Å"Tasawwuf†, whose literal meanings were â€Å"being a Sufi† or it is also called as Sufism. It was their own designated word to make them differentiated from others. And nowadays it is famous as the Sufism (Ernst, 1997; Hourani, 1991). 5 Sufism is regarded as the mystical side of Islam due to a number of reasons. Generally, Sufis are such people who try to purify themselves, not externally but internally. They emphasized over the meditation in spite of the deeds, divine development rather than the legalism, the refinement of their soul or inner side instead of the societal relations (Voll & Ohtsuka, 2014). The Sufis have strong beliefs with regard to the compatibility of the Sufism with Quran and Sunna, as they argued that the Quran and Sunna has some undisclosed, obscure, connotation and representations. Rather than using the literal way of â€Å"interpretation of Quranic Verses and Hadiths, they employed the metaphorical way, which tries to find some

Two Leaders S. Jobs and R. Branson Essay Example for Free

Two Leaders S. Jobs and R. Branson Essay This project report is based on comparison made between two leaders knows as CEO of Apple Company Late Steve Jobs and CEO of Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson. In this project report both Leaders have been compared and contrasted according to their leadership qualities, skills, attitudes, personalities and value system owned by each of them. According to this given project report comparison made between both the leaders shows that Richard Branson is considered as an effective Leader because he is participative and charismatic in nature. He possesses several leadership, managerial and entrepreneurial skills and qualities. Sum up, according to analysis of given project, this report provides some recommendations regarding the Leadership styles and qualities to be followed in organizations. * There is no single style of leadership to be followed by leaders because leaders must change their styles according to required situation. * An effective leader has qualities such as honesty, loyalty, responsibility, excellent communication, enthusiasm, motivation, competence and etc. * Successful Leaders are required for managing conflicts, framing appropriate decisions, thinking strategically, empowering employees, and designing team based structures (Mind Tools Ltd 2013). * Steve Jobs and Sir Richard Branson both applied similar approach of being a transformational leader and valued factors such as quality and innovation for creating a successful and sustainable business. * Steve Jobs Late CEO of Apple Company was an autocratic and transactional leader. He was having excellent communication and technical skills for applying it to new technologies but he lacked interpersonal skills with him. * Richard Branson CEO of Virgin Group is considered as participative, charismatic, and leader. He possessed skills such as interpersonal, communication, negotiation and persuasion for diversifying several brands under a single virgin group. * Sir Richard Branson is compared and contrasted according to certain attributes such as personality, values, emotions and leadership qualities and is found more effective as compared to Steve Jobs. Table of ContentsPage No 1.0Introduction Leaders are typically thought to be individuals who create a strong influence on others. For an example in global business environment Leaders have been creating difference with their qualities and styles followed by them. The effective Leaders have qualities such as honesty, responsibility, loyalty, enthusiasm, determination, creative, adaptability, good communication, empathy, competence, respect and acting as a source of motivation for the followers. In an era of globalization Leaders are creating an edge over their competitors by applying leadership Qualities. 1.1Aim The aim of this project report is to compare and contrast two global Leaders such as Steve Jobs and Richard Branson. It will highlight similarities and dissimilarities between two leaders and their leadership styles. Among two leaders, best Leader and his Leadership qualities followed by him to lead the organization is being explained in this report. The effective leadership skills and qualities making them successful are described in detail. The factors that can make a successful Leader, manager and entrepreneur in any situation are explained in this project report. In this project Report, Steve Jobs and Richard Branson have been defined as Leaders from Business perspective. Both the Leaders have been compared and contrasted according to their Leadership qualities. Among the two Leaders one of an effective Leader is identified by comparing and contrasting the leadership qualities. 2.0 Who is a Leader? To begin with the discussion, Leaders need to be defined in detail. A Leader is one who leads from front and has got an ability to influence others for getting the work done successfully (Macmillan Publishers Limited 2012). In an organization Leaders are required for managing the conflicts, framing appropriate decisions, thinking strategically, empowering employees, and designing team based structures. Leaders possess knowledge, skills and expertise regarding several fields. Several Leadership styles can be followed by Leaders such as participative, directive, charismatic, transformational and transactional style. Participative leaders are those who support the employees by providing them resources and helping them. Directive Leaders are autocratic in nature and want the employees to complete their task in given time frame. Charismatic Leaders are those who can inspire employees to follow his instructions. They are the vision creator for an organization. Transformational Leaders are those who can create self interest within employees for achieving the objectives. Transactional Leaders want employees to achieve the set goals and targets. This report is provided fair analysis of Leadership qualities and styles followed in Business environment globally. There is no single style of leadership which is considered the best one. According to situations Leaders must have an ability to adapt particular leadership style (MGR Consulting 2006). However, there are many examples which highlights that Leaders are developed in organization by implementing Leadership development programs. 3.0Discussion 3.1Two Leaders as Steve Jobs and Richard Branson In this project report the two Leaders Steve Jobs and Richard Branson are being explained. Steve Jobs was the Late CEO of Apple Computers Inc (Leadership with You 2012). He was born on 1955 at US and was a Board Member at Walt Disney Company. He was innovative and critical thinker in nature which helped him to climb the ladder of success. He created one of the most valuable companies of world. Steve Jobs loved to experiment with electronics products which helped him to create a niche market for apple products. Apple is a leader in I-pod and I-phones which attract the youths. The competitors of Apple used re-positioning strategies immediately after launching of their products. Richard Branson is the chairman of Virgin Group and was born on 1950 at United Kingdom. He started his career by recording and latter he owned Virgin Airlines. He is being addressed by giving title as â€Å"Sir† listed in the list of wealthiest entrepreneur’s of Britain. Virgin is one of the most reputed brands existing in more than thirty countries of world, and it is diversified into several segments. Steve Jobs Richard Branson both are treated as global leaders for following their respective leadership qualities and styles. 3.2 Compare and Contrast Two Leaders The two leaders know as Late CEO of Apple Steve Jobs and owner of Virgin Group Sir Richard Branson is being compared and Contrasted in this paragraph. * Comparison between two Leaders Steve Job was autocratic in nature and wanted to work with likeminded people. He wanted himself to be involved in each and every detail for getting expected result from his employees (Richard Hughes, R Ginnett, Gordon J Curphy 2009). He was a transformational and transactional leader too. He acted as transactional Leader, by creating vision for Apple Company and encouraging all employees to link their performance for achieving set goals and targets. He acted as a transformational leader by focusing all around Apple’s technology and motivating employees to create self interest for making it one of the most valuable and appreciated Brand all across the Globe (Conceivably Tech 2012). He carried such as personality which will be remembered in terms of technology for many years. Richard Branson and Steve Jobs worked with passion and dedication to get effective results for creating things which could make them feel proud. Sir Richard Branson also worked with people for creating difference in similar manner as Steve Job created. He believed in creating something which worth for quality similarly as Steve Jobs did for Apple. Richard Branson and Steve Jobs acted as transformational Leader for striving best qualities among their people. In brief both Leaders positioned their organization all across the globe by providing superior quality of product, services with strong Brand Image. * Contrast between Two Leaders The difference between both the Leaders and their Leadership styles are being listed with bullet points. * Steve Jobs was an autocratic Leader and followed an Authoritarian Leadership style. He believed in getting excellence from his employees whereas Richard Branson is participative and delegative in nature. * Steve Jobs had a personality to be centre of attraction for getting any activity being done at Apple whereas Richard Branson provides complete autonomy to his employees for getting things done in a better manner. * Steve jobs acted as a good communicator where as Richard Branson believe in listening others for avoiding mistakes (Finnie, Scot 2011). * Steve Jobs believed in holding power in his hand whereas Sir Richard Branson believe that distribution of power is effective for diversifying the business. * Steve Jobs used concept of firing and forcing for employees to deliver the desired outcome whereas Sir Richard Branson believe that an organization is created and developed by people. * Jobs believed that Business can be managed with great ideas whereas Richard Branson stated that fun should be created, employees should be rewarded for their ideas. According to skills, qualities and attributes required by the Leaders, effectiveness of Richard Branson as a Leader will be explained in this project report. 3.3One of the Effective Leader’s According to both Leaders, Sir Richard Branson can be considered as an effective leader. The leadership qualities possessed by him are being researched and explained in detail. Richard Branson is the figurehead of Virgin Group. According to researchers, the three factors which highlight the leadership traits of Richard Branson are smile and work with friendly approach, enjoy fun at work, and appreciate the ideas of employees. According to (Paul Beeston 2010) there are certain attributes which is being possessed by Richard Branson. They are segmented below. Personality: Richard Branson Personality states certain attributes such as he is a charming, caring, sensitive, frank and enthusiastic Leader. Values: He applies attributes to value system for growing the business at Virgin Group. It includes factors such as quality, working in team, competition, reliability, fun and innovation. Emotions: He is emotional and applied attributes by being good listener, encourager, and communicator. Leadership Attributes: Richard Branson is a charismatic, participative and transformational leader who could create vision of Virgin Group and diversified it by being participative. He applies principle of time management and valued contribution of employees at Virgin Group. He is having and ability to find right talent and create an environment where he can fit them. According to Branson, Learning takes place by committing mistakes and negotiation takes place by persuading others. He is a true motivator for employees at Virgin group by encouraging informality. He believes in building interpersonal relationship, accepts the challenges by experimenting things. Therefore from the above attributes which are being highlighted it can be stated that Richard Branson is more effective as compared to Steve Jobs while applying Leadership qualities. However Richard Branson we will explain the skills being possessed by Steve Jobs and Richard Branson in this project report 3.4 Skills Demonstrated by Both the Leaders. The leaders need to demonstrate certain skills for marking their presence as Leaders in Business environment. To grow the business effective communication should take place. Steve Jobs had a good communication and an entrepreneur skill. He acted as a good team Leader and implemented strategies upon the team members. He worked with perseverance skill and focused on providing quality products. He had innovating skill and technical skills which was applied for designing new technologies to make apple a reputed brand all across the globe. According to him Continuous Learning is required for a Leader and his employees of Organization to create a valuable Brand. He believed in hiring loyal people which shows that he was ethical and loyal towards Apple Company. However, Steve Jobs lacked to build better interpersonal relations because he had autocratic leadership skills. He had entrepreneurial skills which helped him to bear the risk at Apple (Mansueto Ventures LLC 2013). Virgin Group is on e of the most reputed companies of the world. Richard Branson applies several skills to manage the business which is diversified into more than 300 brands. He is a good listener and values employee’s contribution a lot. He believes in learning from the past mistakes so that time could be saved from committing a new mistake in future. People management skill is being applied by him for empowering the employees at Virgin Group. He applies interpersonal skills to build relationship with customers, stakeholders, and suppliers of virgin group. He possesses additional skills such as being flexible, selling skills, negotiation and appropriate leadership skills. However he also applies leadership and management skills by being participative, charismatic and transformational. Thus it can be demonstrated that both Leaders possessed different skills to manage the business in global environment. However Richard Branson has got more skills which helped virgin group to grow immensely. 3.5 Reasons making successful Leader, Manager’s Entrepreneur Nevertheless, there are certain factors which affect the business environment such as changing customer demand frequently, technology, and fluctuations in the economies. To cope up with such factors organizations need to develop leaders for sustaining and growing their business by accepting the challenges. Steve Jobs and Richard Branson both became successful leaders in their respective areas by creating ideas and vision for their companies, giving respect to customers, stakeholders and employees, communicating transparently, implementing appropriate decisions during critical situations, assuring accountability, supporting the team based working structures, enforcing the learning attitude among themselves and their employees, and adapting changes made in terms of technologies (Donald Patterson 2009). According to Henry Fayol managers are those individuals who have an ability to plan, organize, coordinate and control the flow of activities for achieving the organizational goals. Steve Jobs and Richard Branson acted as Managers to become successful and created an edge for their organization by coaching and counseling their employees, delegating the work appropriately, valuing each other to motivate the employees, developing and following a proper corporate culture, managing the time, and analyzing the risks with analytical skills (Management Advisory Service UK Ltd 2011). As an entrepreneur Steve Jobs and Richard Branson have qualities such as an ability to take higher risks, enjoy the work, act as a promoter, know their customers, experimenting with technologies, creating an edge over others, grabbing the opportunity, negotiating with stakeholders, and managing the time effectively. As an entrepreneur Richard Branson states that he admired Steve Jobs a lot. According to him, one should hire employees according to need. When there is an unnoticed opportunity to everyone, there are high chances of converting it to the vision in reality (The Branson Centre of e ntrepreneurship 2011). Thus these were the reasons which made Steve Jobs and Richard Branson as successful leader, manager and entrepreneur in their respective business. 4.0 Conclusion From the above report it can be concluded that Leaders have an ability to lead from the front by creating influence upon their employees in an organization. In an era of globalization business has to undergo several changes in terms of demographics, technology, culture and economic changes. To cope up with existing and emerging challenges leaders need to implement the successful qualities such of leaders, managers and entrepreneurs. In this project report Steve jobs CEO of Apple Company and Richard Branson CEO of Virgin group are being compared and contrasted. They have been compared in terms of their leadership qualities, styles being followed, skills implemented by them, personality, values, and emotions with respect to certain attributes. Steve Jobs was considered as autocratic and self centered Leader who focused more on technical skills whereas Richard Branson is considered as charismatic, participative and transformational leader who has strong interpersonal skills for managing the business. Steve Jobs focused more towards work whereas Richard Branson enjoys fun at work. Thus according to leadership, managerial and entrepreneurial qualities possessed by both the Leaders, Sir Richard Branson is considered as an effective Leader because he has ability to diversify business into several segments under a single virgin Group. 5.0 Recommendations However, perfect and effective leaders are those who have an ability to accept the critics and move ahead by managing several changes. The recommendations are listed in bullet points. * There is no single style of leadership which is considered the best one. There are several qualities possessed by leaders and styles must be changed according to required situation. * An effective leader has qualities such as honesty, loyalty, responsibility, excellent communication, enthusiasm, motivation, competence and etc. * Successful Leaders are required for managing conflicts, framing appropriate decisions, thinking strategically, empowering employees, and designing team based structures (Mind Tools Ltd 2013). * Steve Jobs and Sir Richard Branson both applied similar approach of being a transformational leader and valued factors such as quality and innovation for creating a successful and sustainable business. * According to this project report, Steve Jobs CEO of Apple Company was an autocratic and transactional leader. He was having excellent communication and technical skills for applying it to new technologies but he lacked interpersonal skills with him. * Richard Branson CEO of Virgin Group is considered as participative, charismatic, and leader. He possesses skills such as interpersonal, communication, negotiation and persuading for diversifying several brands under a single virgin group. * Sir Richard Branson is compared and contrasted according to certain attributes such as personality, values, emotions and leadership qualities and was found more effective as compared to Steve Jobs. Although Richard Branson admired Steve Jobs a lot but he states that fun should be created to bring new ideas into business. 6.0 References R. L. Hughes, R.C. Ginnett, G.J. Curphy, 2012, Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience, 7th edn, McGraw-Hill Irwin, New York. Macmillan Publishers Limited 2012,†Leader†, viewed on 11-01-2013, http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/leader MGR Consulting 2006,†Why we need Leaders†, Accessed on 11-01-2013, http://mgrconsulting.com/Newsletters/eNewsletter_06_02.pdf Leadership with You 2012,†Steve Jobs Leadership Case Study†, Accessed on 11-01-2013, http://www.leadership-with-you.com/steve-jobs-leadership.html Conceivably Tech 2012,†Defining Leadership: Sir Richard Branson†, viewed on 11-01-2013, http://www.conceivablytech.com/9668/business/defining-leadership-sir-richard-branson Richard Hughes, R Ginnett, Gordon J Curphy 2009, Leadership: Enhancing the Lessons of Experience† Journal of Education for Business†, vol.6, pp-189 Finnie, Scot 2011,Steve Jobs’ Indelible Mark,† Finnie, Scot 2011†, vo l.45, no.19, pp 49 Paul Beeston 2010, Belief Model for the Leadership of Richard Branson,† Change in Mind Ltd†.

Supply Chain Human Rights in Clothing Retailers

Supply Chain Human Rights in Clothing Retailers EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The present report is about the Importance of upholding human standards of the workers both inside and outside their home countries in the large clothing retailers. Human rights still remain to be one of the most challenging issues all over the world because of international variations in politics, history, social and cultural differences. The implementation of human rights, however, does not go unexcused in any place of situation regardless of the circumstances. Upholding of human rights is very important and it is the fundamental right of every human being. This report specifically focused on the Clothing Retailers operating in the United Kingdom. These include: Nike, Gap, Levi Strauss and Marks and Spencer. The task of this report was to examine how these multinational firms uphold human rights in their operations all over the world. The report has found out that among other factors, globalisation also contributed to a great extent for international firms to violate human rights. In the 1980s, shaped by globalization, clothing retailers and brand manufacturers were forced to source their produce and manufactured goods from low-wage, economically less developed countries. These less developed countries were in most cases characterised by child labour, sexual harassment, and intolerable working conditions. Global awareness about inhuman conditions in working places drew together voices of numerous activists from all over the world to divert the trend. During the 1970s, various national and multinational organization, Non governmental organization and trade unions accused these clothing retailers companies for violating human rights. These multinational companies were specifically blamed for their failure to put into consideration the economic level of less developed countries in which they operated. This criticism led to establishment of voluntary labour codes by these companies in an effort to uphold their image. Most of these voluntary labour codes adopted principles in the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions. Among other things, this report examines the historical aspect of clothing retailers and the challenges involved in upholding human rights in their supply chain production. The report further examines the role played by these clothing retailers in upholding human rights in their operations all over the world. CHAPTER ONE: 1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1.1. Introduction Human rights or sometimes referred to as natural rights are free and fundamental liberties entitled to an individual without the interference from any government or group of people for whatever reasons. A persons civil liberties are protected by the constitutions that define them and the organizations that exist to promote them. Under any circumstances the implementation of human rights does not go unexcused in any place or situation. Every individual regardless of his/her social economic status deserves to be treated with dignity. But due to rapid economic development, multinational companies are becoming more susceptible to violating human rights because of increasing international competition, undistributed wealth, and weak national laws (Krage, 2007). The World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization (2004) in one of its reports indicated that the global economy is changing in many ways. These massive changes affect multinational investment, capital markets, technology and business, more specifically impacting companies, consumers, workers and governments. The report further concludes that globalization has led to interdependence in economic relations that has created more opportunities for the advancement in business, investment, finance, organization of global production, and also more social and political interaction between organizations and individual around the world (World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, 2004). It is unfortunate that not all countries are developing with the same pace and outcomes. Some countries specifically the developing countries, cannot utilize these rapidly growing expansion to their advantages (Misol, 2006). For example, there are plenty of evidences that increasing g lobal competition puts workers human rights in jeopardy because company protection standards are lowered and an employees civil liberties are often denied (Christerson and Applelbaum, 1995; Hathcote and Nam, 1999). In the 1970s, considerable criticism was raised against multinational companies regarding their operations in less developed countries. Nongovernmental organizations, national and international trade unions and many host countries raised concern that these multinational companies carried out their activities without giving any considerable and attention to host countries where they subcontracting or outsourcing their clothing factories to the economic and social development of those countries. This endless criticism by a number of activists from all over parts of the world led to the establishment of voluntary labour codes of conduct by these multinational companies (White and Taft, 2004). This report therefore is a result of the search of literature review regarding the upholding of human rights standards by large clothing retailers in their day to day operations, both within their countries of origin and overseas. 1.2 Aims and Objectives The general aim of this report is to examine the trend of large clothing retailers in upholding human rights in their operations with particular emphasis to those operating in the United Kingdom. These multinational large clothing retailers in question are: Nike, Gap, Marks Spencer and Levi Straus. To realize the desired aim, the report focused on the following objectives: Â · To explore the historical background with regard to textile sector and their compliance to human rights. Â · To examine the rise of the ethical business and the effects of Voluntary Labour Standards (Codes of Conduct) in the textile industry. Â · To examine the role played by these multinational large clothing retailers in upholding human rights as well as challenges facing them. CHAPTER TWO: 2. LITERATURE REVIEW, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1.1 Human Rights, Ethics and Business Ethics defined Human rights, ethics and business ethics defined in differently ways by different authors and all the definitions in the essence of the same thing. According to Rory Sullivan, he define Human rights as a moral right that apply to all employees in all nations regardless and acknowledge and protects those rights in the sense that human right are said to be unchangeable. On the other hand, Boddy (2005) argues that human rights means the idea that people have fundamental rights and liberties, and affected, those rights include consent, privacy, conscience, free speech, fair treatment and to life and safe. Similarly, the United National Universal Declaration for Human Rights (UDHR) defines human rights as a way of the incorporated economic, social cultural rights, such as right to work, right for educations, respect for their culture and a decent standard of living (Rude Mares). Crane (2007) refers as the ethics as the study of morality and the application of reason to explain special rul es and principles that determine right and wrong for a given situation at given time, those rules and doctrine are called ethical theories. However Fritz et al, (1999), and Hunt et al (1989) define ethical company as the conduct of conduct which are positively related to employees organizational commitment. Boddy (2005) define ethics as code of right principles and values that guide the actions of people and groups through set standard of the behaviour which is acceptable, especially when an action or decision can harm others. Taylor (1975) define business ethics as the business environment and basis of right decision, principles, and set of laws of the ways of carrying out the businesses activities between different parties within the organization, such as employees, customers, suppliers and the shareholders in the determination of the what is right or wrong to all parties. White and Taft (2004) indicate that ethics have been divided into two main categories, namely: teleological and deontological. With teleological ethics the emphasis is on the consequences or results of actions. This approach to ethics takes no accoun t of whether actions are rights or wrong but rather depends on whether harm or good results from the action. On the other hand, the teleological theories, includes utilitarianism, egoism, and care. The essence of the approach maintain that acts do not have intrinsic value but should be evaluated on the basis of the actions they produce and their effects others. The utilitarianism approach is based on the early ideas from Jeremy Benthams belief in empiricism and that of John Stuart Mill in the 18th century (Rosenstad, 1997; Velasquez, 1998). Utilitarianism takes a societal perspective on costs and benefits of ethical choice, indicating that any action should be evaluated in terms of its consequences. The idea is to determine how much good or harm it causes and the effects it impart on all parties. Utilitarianism is thus meant to promote the welfare of all persons by minimizing harm and maximizing benefits. This approach gives much attention to achieving desirable effects to many people taking into consideration human rights. The recent United States health care policy is seen as one of the utilitarian-driven public policy decision, in which the change is geared to a system that provides fundamental health and illness services to everyone. With deontological approach to ethics, White and Taft (2004) explain that an action or a decision in itself has intrinsically good or bad (or right or wrong) and thus it cant be judged by the mere results. Rights, justice, fairness, truth-telling, and virtue ethics form the deontological approach of reasoning. For example, a moral person would based on what is rights to her or him in making an ethical decision, putting into consideration the moral principles, rules or regulations, regardless of the circumstances of results. 2.1.2 Sourcing in the Textile Industry Christerson and Appelbaum, (1995) pointed that during the nineties there was a massive shift in the manufacturing of clothing to low wage countries throughout the world. International companies sourced products internationally in order to achieve a cost advantage. Traditionally, the framework of competition in the textile/clothing sector is described by dividing operators into two different strategic groups in terms of production management models. Firstly, there is a group identifiable as clothing operators (either manufactures or retailers). This group is primarily concerned with designing, modelling, forecasting and contributing to the development of fashion trends. Firms in this category are busy working on marketing strategies of product designed and proposed long before the actual time of consumption. The second group includes firms that compete with one another on the basis of their ability to adjust to the fashion trends imposed by others. By doing this they ensure speed and reliability to their already secured markets. These firms compensate for the lack of product planning by virtue of a production management model whose main characteristics are rapidity and flexibility. The two groups, therefore, have different factors that lie behind their success. In the first group, priority in their operations is to make sure that they have good command and influence fashion trends associated with a strong brand image. In the second group, the emphasis is on effective marketing strategies (Hathcote and Nam, 1999). Stiff competition, shaped by globalization, clothing retailers and brand manufacturers were forced to sourced their produce and manufactured goods to low-wage, economically less developed countries (Crewe, 2004; Klein, 2000). Consequently the late 1980s and early 1990s saw traditional European and U.S. based garment and footwear companies start off shoring and outsourcing much of their production from developing countries (Jones, 2005). This trend was particularly visible in low-skilled industries, such as the garment, footwear, and toy industries (Christerson and Appelbaum, 1995; Hathcote and Nam, 1999). Under conditions of competition, individuals cannot comply with moral norms. This leads to higher costs which in turn leave them worse off than their competitors. Situations like this systematically lead to an erosion of compliance with moral norms. Via evolution, individuals behaving morally will be signed out. Karl Marx and Max Weber saw this problem clearly. Both pointed out that competitive market makes it impossible for single individuals to follow the calls of morality and self-interest at the same time. The structures of society have changed in modern times, but ethical concepts and categories have at least to a large extent not changed. Most conceptions of ethics still require us to be moderate, to share, to redistribute, to sacrifice. They call for altruism, for the priority of common good and the like. The pursuit of self interest, of individual advantages, is often still ultimately seen as something like and evil drive that needs to be tamed (Christoph, 2005). Globalization has therefore been one of the factors for previous human rights violations in many multinational companies (Misol, 2006). Ambitious to mass super profits, these multinational companies embarked on child labour exploitation, suppression of labour rights in their supply chains. This led to persistence public outcry that helped to amplify global awareness about the injustices and human rights violations done by multinational companies in their chain supply production. 2.1.3 The Rise of Ethical Business and Corporate Social Responsibility There is a wide spread attention and interest in self-regulation, corporate social responsibility that continually press many companies to adhere to human rights in their operations. Ethical business, involving corporate codes of conduct for worker welfare and environmental protection, it is a subject that has attracted significant interest from academicians, the media and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for many years now (Hughes, 2005). (Crane et al 2007) indicate how the importance of business ethics it is, in attracting different massive amount attention for various people example the shouter of the consumers and pressure groups that appearing to have an increasing of the challenging the firms in the asking of the more ethical and reasonably ways of doing business. Ethical business has emerged since the early 1990s as a specific example of corporate social responsibility, most commonly involving the establishment of minimum labour standards for producers in supply chains (Hathcote and Nam, 1999). Blowfield (1999), however, highlights that the issue of ethical business is broadened to incorporate a wider range of standards, including those concerned with the environment. Furthermore corporate social responsibility stand in the implementation for set core values that includes avoiding human rights abuses, upholding the right for the workers to join or form labour unions, elimination of compulsory and child labour and avoiding workplace discrimination (Cavusgil, Knight and Riesenberger 2008) However people like the later Rev. Leon Sullivan had been much concerned about code of conduct of human rights in workplace and in 1999, he developed a set of guidelines for corporate social responsibility, he argue that for the companies operations around the world should support and follow the Global Sullivan of corporate social responsibility. The aim and objectives was to maintain economic, social, and political justice by companies where they are doing business, to support human rights and to encourage equal opportunity at all levels of employment in developed and developing countries (www.thesullivanfoundation.org). Concerns in the early 1990s over child labour, physical and verbal abuse and violations of core labour rights in the production of toys, soccer balls, rugs, and garments marked the beginning of a wave of anti-sweatshop protests and media campaigns (Varley, 1998). Some of the earliest campaigns focused on production in China for companies like Levi Strauss and others, where the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and U.S.-China trade negotiations drew special attention to human rights abuses. Bonacich and Appelbaum (2000) mentioned other anti-sweatshop protests that brought remarkable attention regarding human rights violations were those that showed child labour in the production of soccer balls in Pakistan, rugs in India, and garments in Bangladesh and Honduras. One of the most dramatic early sweatshop scandals occurred in the U.S, in the Los Angeles, California suburb of EI Monte. It was there, in 1995, that government inspectors discovered Thai immigrants working as indentured serv ants in an apartment complex, sewing garments to be sold by major retailers, including Montgomery Ward, Target, and Sears (Su 1997). The next year, labour rights activists brought sweatshops further into the American media spotlight, by exposing child labour in a Honduran factory producing Kathie Lee Giffords line of clothing for Wal-Mart, as well as a New York City sweatshop also producing Kathie Lee Giffords brand (Bonacich and Appelbaum 2000). Further to this, the suppression of labour rights in Indonesia, El Salvador, and several shocking instances of physical abuse in other parts of the developing world raised concern. In the early 1990s activists first accused footwear companies like Nike, Wal-Mart, and the Gap of profiting from exploitation, child labour, and the suppression of labour rights in their supply chains. These companies, however, responded by denying the responsibility (Hughes, 2005). According to Cavusgil, Knight and Riesenberger (2008) activists also accused International business specifically in the case of the multinational companies for ignores human rights by exploited workers around the world mostly in labour standard; low wages factories in developing countries by create substandard working conditions, example for the sweatshops in Asia where they imported clothing and auto workers in Mexico. Jenkins et al (2002) argue that the rise of voluntary corporate code of conduct in the 1990s can be linked to some extent to the processes of globalization. They mention the specific drivers of voluntary ethical trading initiatives as being: a) the growth of global supply chains that extend beyond the reach of national governments; b) the rise in the power of corporate brands and reputation, which makes large companies vulnerable to negative publicity; c) an increase in public awareness of overseas production conditions via improvements in global communications; and d) the growing importance to the investment community of ethical performance on the part of public companies. Furthermore, there were various initiatives concerned with labour and environmental issues that were categorized as ethical business. These included: (1) Multistakeholder organizations such as the UK Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), the Dutch Fair Wear Foundation, and the Fair Labour Association and Worker Rights Consortium in the USA, which all set minimum labour standards for producers; (2) labelling initiatives such as the Kenya Flower Council, which cover industry-specific environmental and labour standards; (3) individual corporate initiatives for establishing minimum standards in supply chains (Blowfield, 1999). These early initiatives were among the significant steps in promoting ethical business. Blowfield (1999) and Jenkins et al, (2002) argue that these initiatives also developed within the context of the United Nations Global Compact such as international standards which aimed to promote corporate citizenship in the global economy. Despite the organizational differences between existing ethical trading initiatives, most companies used some kind of code of conduct as the key tool for establishing workplace standards. 2.1.4 Voluntary Labour Standards (Codes of Conduct) Pressures on multinational companies by anti-sweatshop groups, labour unions, shareholders, activists, and consumer groups played an important role for companies to adopt labour standards. Standards refer with corporate code standard mention International by ILO (International Labour Organization) to the extent to which is explicitly or implicitly can either be done through the inclusion of the basic provisions of international organizations in the corporate codes standards (Van Tulder Kolk, 2002). Similarly, there were also greater pressures from governmental campaigns all over the world. Where in European countries, some of the government such as France were be advocating for greater attention to human rights in the sphere of international business. Along with such efforts from various countries, the European Commission had been carried out a research in the international subcontracting companies about the social aspect of textile clothing and footwear firms. Aiming to the extent in which the researches discover that these multinational companies adhered to human rights in their operations (Kolk and van Tulder, 2002). In 1996, President Clinton Launched the White House Apparel Industry on Workplace Standard (AIP), he launched the AIP after seen the violation of human rights in the clothing industries by multinational companies, the aim was to established standards and to ensure apparel and footwear were not made under sweatshops working conditions (Meyer and De Wit (2004). Due to the human right violation in textiles sectors precisely in the sweatshops conditions, The Clinton Administration established campaign against sweatshops in the clothing Textiles worked under sweatshops conditions in USA, the campaign was called No-Sweat and was introduced for the purpose fighting against sweatshops in which resulted to establishment of the Trendsetter List of companies in the Textiles Clothing and Footwear Factories. The campaign was aiming for the Clothing Textiles Factories to respect human rights and labour legislation in the production and marketing activities of the clothing and footwear in general, to make sure that both the clothing companies and their subcontracting companies as are, they must significant put into consideration and respecting these rights. The lack of the about not respect the rights, a number of labour legislation and human rights had been identified by the Department of Labour in the Textiles Clothing and Footwear factories, in subcontracting in particular of apparel production, facing the multinational companies, that was exploitation with a number of cases involving in human rights particularly the immigrant workers in sweatshops established on the United States regional, took steps to clean up the sectors. However, United States boundary put up on the sweatshops issue, took up steps to clean the sector (Elliot and Freeman (2001). Specifically in the area of child labour and, for example, the United States Government took a number of steps to alleviate the problems. Between 1994 and 1996 because of the important of the issue, the Bureau of International Labour affairs managed to organize three public gatherings to have views on child labour. These public platforms brought together a number of activists and the public at large to discuss various issues related to child labour. Specifically, they focused on the worst conditions of child abuse in the less developed countries that they exported products to the United States. A number of resolutions were made but all geared to put to end the merciless violations of human rights and child labour (Elliot and Freeman (2001). The Association of the Clothing Manufacturers of the USA and the Amalgamated Clothing Textiles Workers Union in 1995 agreed to have a National Branch for Collective Agreement. The agreement among other things included: the need to establish minimum standards regarding number of working hours, wages, and working conditions. In addition, the agreement also focused on a number of issues ranging from non-intolerance forced work, child employee, liberty of association, to occupational safety and health (White and Taft, 2004; and Giwerth, 1982). This was a trend in many parts of the world. Several national and multinational organizations and trade unions endeavoured to draw attention to respect human rights. Pressures from activities increased the formation of human rights association and in 1998 established of the Fair Labour Associations (FLA) to the overseas compliance, the Workplace Code of Conduct. The goals of Fair Labour Association (FLA) were for the companies required to monitor t heir own factories and their subcontractors to make sure there is compliance of the Code of Conduct in the textile factories (Meyer and De Wit, 2004). Klein (1999) pointed out that many firms had invested heavily in branding and reputation capital and therefore any high profile scandals and political pressures could tarnish their reputation. In the face of such pressure, it was not surprising that firms adopted voluntary standards to try to deflect criticism, pre-empt regulation, and signal their social responsibility to consumers and investors. The important factor in adoption of voluntary labour codes was to uphold public image which the company wanted to project to its customers, employees, suppliers and shareholders. Thus the clothing retailers public image became important than anything else. These multinational companies worked hard to clear their images and had no option but to promote codes of conduct. The public image was particularly important because it determined the extent to which the companys products could be bought. Given the rapidly growing competition in the global markets and communication in technology, it was essential for a company to improve the working conditions in its operations and retain its good image to customers (Kolk and van 2002). The United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly in 1948 (Schulz, 2001). The declaration proclaims on the issue of the slavery or servitude subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment put them into detention or exile and arbitrary arrest subjected. Moreover the declaration goes on to proclaim that everyone needs to live in liberty and everyone have a right to security, everyone have equal protection against any discrimination, and everyone have a the rights for work, everyone have free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment as a result of discrimination has entitled. The international Labour organization (ILO) was created in 1919 as a tripartite organization of government, business, and union representatives from 174 nations. Since then, it has adopted 177 lengthy labour conventions or standards. Seven of these are considered fundamental human rights, addressing issues such as forced labour, equal pay for men and women, discrimination in the workplace, and the minimum age for employment (White and Taft, 2004). Organizations such as Amnesty International have specified clearly workers right such as freedom of association, the right of collective bargaining and working conditions and soon. The organization is for Human Rights and as Watch Report on human rights well being all around the world and strives to ensure the protection and progression of them as well. Amnesty International is an organization whose vision was derived from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was adopted by the General Assembly Resolution in 1948. It is adopted for the reasons monitoring the protection and standard of human rights as were established in thirty articles that later set the primary foundation to the policies and standard that carried out by NGOs and other agencies with the purpose to protect and promote fundamental rights (www.amnesty.org). The Social Accountability International (SAI), established in 1977, is an organization that for promotes human rights for workers around the world. Its SA8000 standards are obtained from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention. The standards are designed to make workplace more humane and also to offer more benefits for the companies and its employees. Employees that work under SA8000 standards they have profit from the enhanced opportunity of collective bargaining and to organize trade unions. Also, employees become more educated about their rights which in turn, commits to have assurance for a better work environment. The companies as whole, benefits from the SA8000 guidelines because it strengthens and put company values into action and enhances the company reputation (Krage, 2007). The International Labour Organization Declaration (ILO) on the Fundamental Principles at work were adopted in 1998 and was an expression of commitment by governments, employers and workers organizations to uphold basic human rights (Kolk et al 2001).The Declaration covers four areas; liberty of the trade union and the right to collective bargaining, elimination of forced and compulsory work, Abolition of child employee and elimination of discrimination of human rights. The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights were developed by governments of the U.S. UK, Norway, Netherlands and NGOs, who all were have the common interest in human rights and corporate social responsibility (voluntaryprinciple.org). There were six principles that all participants agents agreed on in order to promote and protect human rights in multinational companies. The six Voluntary Principle as stated on their website are as follows: acknowledge that security is a fundamental need; Understanding that governments have the primary responsibility to promote and protect human rights; Particularly those set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human rights; Emphasizing the importance of safeguarding the integrity of company personnel and property; Taking note of the effect of those companies, activities and decisions affect the local community; Understanding that useful, credible information is a major component of security and human rights. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is multi-stakeholder governed institution that provides global standards for the promotion of sustainable development. Judy Henderson, immediate past-Chair, Board of Directors says The GRI is a unique, multi-stakeholder organization founded on the conviction consistent, regular and comparable reporting, provides transparency and can be a powerful catalyst to improve performance (globalreporting.org). There are nearly 1000 organization in over 60 countries that have established their involvement with the GRI reporting framework. This reporting framework guides corporations and organizations on the reporting their sustainability performance to promote company progression and improvement in all area of business. The reporting guidelines contain principles, guidance, and standard disclosures that formulate a structure that cooperating organizations can voluntarily adopt (www.globalreporting.org). The UNs Global Compact is a purely voluntary guide to promoting responsible corporate citizenship. Its two main objectives are: to mainstream its ten (10) principles in business activities around the world and initiate actions to support United Nations goals (www.unglobalcompact.org) 2.1.5 Adoption of Voluntary Labour Standards (Codes of Conduct) by Multinational Companies and their Impact The rapid diffusion of labour standards (codes of conduct) stems from the response to external pressures (actual or threatened) from media, activists, government, and consumers (Shaw, 1999). In a like manner, (H Supply Chain Human Rights in Clothing Retailers Supply Chain Human Rights in Clothing Retailers EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The present report is about the Importance of upholding human standards of the workers both inside and outside their home countries in the large clothing retailers. Human rights still remain to be one of the most challenging issues all over the world because of international variations in politics, history, social and cultural differences. The implementation of human rights, however, does not go unexcused in any place of situation regardless of the circumstances. Upholding of human rights is very important and it is the fundamental right of every human being. This report specifically focused on the Clothing Retailers operating in the United Kingdom. These include: Nike, Gap, Levi Strauss and Marks and Spencer. The task of this report was to examine how these multinational firms uphold human rights in their operations all over the world. The report has found out that among other factors, globalisation also contributed to a great extent for international firms to violate human rights. In the 1980s, shaped by globalization, clothing retailers and brand manufacturers were forced to source their produce and manufactured goods from low-wage, economically less developed countries. These less developed countries were in most cases characterised by child labour, sexual harassment, and intolerable working conditions. Global awareness about inhuman conditions in working places drew together voices of numerous activists from all over the world to divert the trend. During the 1970s, various national and multinational organization, Non governmental organization and trade unions accused these clothing retailers companies for violating human rights. These multinational companies were specifically blamed for their failure to put into consideration the economic level of less developed countries in which they operated. This criticism led to establishment of voluntary labour codes by these companies in an effort to uphold their image. Most of these voluntary labour codes adopted principles in the International Labour Organization (ILO) Conventions. Among other things, this report examines the historical aspect of clothing retailers and the challenges involved in upholding human rights in their supply chain production. The report further examines the role played by these clothing retailers in upholding human rights in their operations all over the world. CHAPTER ONE: 1. BACKGROUND INFORMATION 1.1. Introduction Human rights or sometimes referred to as natural rights are free and fundamental liberties entitled to an individual without the interference from any government or group of people for whatever reasons. A persons civil liberties are protected by the constitutions that define them and the organizations that exist to promote them. Under any circumstances the implementation of human rights does not go unexcused in any place or situation. Every individual regardless of his/her social economic status deserves to be treated with dignity. But due to rapid economic development, multinational companies are becoming more susceptible to violating human rights because of increasing international competition, undistributed wealth, and weak national laws (Krage, 2007). The World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization (2004) in one of its reports indicated that the global economy is changing in many ways. These massive changes affect multinational investment, capital markets, technology and business, more specifically impacting companies, consumers, workers and governments. The report further concludes that globalization has led to interdependence in economic relations that has created more opportunities for the advancement in business, investment, finance, organization of global production, and also more social and political interaction between organizations and individual around the world (World Commission on the Social Dimension of Globalization, 2004). It is unfortunate that not all countries are developing with the same pace and outcomes. Some countries specifically the developing countries, cannot utilize these rapidly growing expansion to their advantages (Misol, 2006). For example, there are plenty of evidences that increasing g lobal competition puts workers human rights in jeopardy because company protection standards are lowered and an employees civil liberties are often denied (Christerson and Applelbaum, 1995; Hathcote and Nam, 1999). In the 1970s, considerable criticism was raised against multinational companies regarding their operations in less developed countries. Nongovernmental organizations, national and international trade unions and many host countries raised concern that these multinational companies carried out their activities without giving any considerable and attention to host countries where they subcontracting or outsourcing their clothing factories to the economic and social development of those countries. This endless criticism by a number of activists from all over parts of the world led to the establishment of voluntary labour codes of conduct by these multinational companies (White and Taft, 2004). This report therefore is a result of the search of literature review regarding the upholding of human rights standards by large clothing retailers in their day to day operations, both within their countries of origin and overseas. 1.2 Aims and Objectives The general aim of this report is to examine the trend of large clothing retailers in upholding human rights in their operations with particular emphasis to those operating in the United Kingdom. These multinational large clothing retailers in question are: Nike, Gap, Marks Spencer and Levi Straus. To realize the desired aim, the report focused on the following objectives: Â · To explore the historical background with regard to textile sector and their compliance to human rights. Â · To examine the rise of the ethical business and the effects of Voluntary Labour Standards (Codes of Conduct) in the textile industry. Â · To examine the role played by these multinational large clothing retailers in upholding human rights as well as challenges facing them. CHAPTER TWO: 2. LITERATURE REVIEW, ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION 2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW 2.1.1 Human Rights, Ethics and Business Ethics defined Human rights, ethics and business ethics defined in differently ways by different authors and all the definitions in the essence of the same thing. According to Rory Sullivan, he define Human rights as a moral right that apply to all employees in all nations regardless and acknowledge and protects those rights in the sense that human right are said to be unchangeable. On the other hand, Boddy (2005) argues that human rights means the idea that people have fundamental rights and liberties, and affected, those rights include consent, privacy, conscience, free speech, fair treatment and to life and safe. Similarly, the United National Universal Declaration for Human Rights (UDHR) defines human rights as a way of the incorporated economic, social cultural rights, such as right to work, right for educations, respect for their culture and a decent standard of living (Rude Mares). Crane (2007) refers as the ethics as the study of morality and the application of reason to explain special rul es and principles that determine right and wrong for a given situation at given time, those rules and doctrine are called ethical theories. However Fritz et al, (1999), and Hunt et al (1989) define ethical company as the conduct of conduct which are positively related to employees organizational commitment. Boddy (2005) define ethics as code of right principles and values that guide the actions of people and groups through set standard of the behaviour which is acceptable, especially when an action or decision can harm others. Taylor (1975) define business ethics as the business environment and basis of right decision, principles, and set of laws of the ways of carrying out the businesses activities between different parties within the organization, such as employees, customers, suppliers and the shareholders in the determination of the what is right or wrong to all parties. White and Taft (2004) indicate that ethics have been divided into two main categories, namely: teleological and deontological. With teleological ethics the emphasis is on the consequences or results of actions. This approach to ethics takes no accoun t of whether actions are rights or wrong but rather depends on whether harm or good results from the action. On the other hand, the teleological theories, includes utilitarianism, egoism, and care. The essence of the approach maintain that acts do not have intrinsic value but should be evaluated on the basis of the actions they produce and their effects others. The utilitarianism approach is based on the early ideas from Jeremy Benthams belief in empiricism and that of John Stuart Mill in the 18th century (Rosenstad, 1997; Velasquez, 1998). Utilitarianism takes a societal perspective on costs and benefits of ethical choice, indicating that any action should be evaluated in terms of its consequences. The idea is to determine how much good or harm it causes and the effects it impart on all parties. Utilitarianism is thus meant to promote the welfare of all persons by minimizing harm and maximizing benefits. This approach gives much attention to achieving desirable effects to many people taking into consideration human rights. The recent United States health care policy is seen as one of the utilitarian-driven public policy decision, in which the change is geared to a system that provides fundamental health and illness services to everyone. With deontological approach to ethics, White and Taft (2004) explain that an action or a decision in itself has intrinsically good or bad (or right or wrong) and thus it cant be judged by the mere results. Rights, justice, fairness, truth-telling, and virtue ethics form the deontological approach of reasoning. For example, a moral person would based on what is rights to her or him in making an ethical decision, putting into consideration the moral principles, rules or regulations, regardless of the circumstances of results. 2.1.2 Sourcing in the Textile Industry Christerson and Appelbaum, (1995) pointed that during the nineties there was a massive shift in the manufacturing of clothing to low wage countries throughout the world. International companies sourced products internationally in order to achieve a cost advantage. Traditionally, the framework of competition in the textile/clothing sector is described by dividing operators into two different strategic groups in terms of production management models. Firstly, there is a group identifiable as clothing operators (either manufactures or retailers). This group is primarily concerned with designing, modelling, forecasting and contributing to the development of fashion trends. Firms in this category are busy working on marketing strategies of product designed and proposed long before the actual time of consumption. The second group includes firms that compete with one another on the basis of their ability to adjust to the fashion trends imposed by others. By doing this they ensure speed and reliability to their already secured markets. These firms compensate for the lack of product planning by virtue of a production management model whose main characteristics are rapidity and flexibility. The two groups, therefore, have different factors that lie behind their success. In the first group, priority in their operations is to make sure that they have good command and influence fashion trends associated with a strong brand image. In the second group, the emphasis is on effective marketing strategies (Hathcote and Nam, 1999). Stiff competition, shaped by globalization, clothing retailers and brand manufacturers were forced to sourced their produce and manufactured goods to low-wage, economically less developed countries (Crewe, 2004; Klein, 2000). Consequently the late 1980s and early 1990s saw traditional European and U.S. based garment and footwear companies start off shoring and outsourcing much of their production from developing countries (Jones, 2005). This trend was particularly visible in low-skilled industries, such as the garment, footwear, and toy industries (Christerson and Appelbaum, 1995; Hathcote and Nam, 1999). Under conditions of competition, individuals cannot comply with moral norms. This leads to higher costs which in turn leave them worse off than their competitors. Situations like this systematically lead to an erosion of compliance with moral norms. Via evolution, individuals behaving morally will be signed out. Karl Marx and Max Weber saw this problem clearly. Both pointed out that competitive market makes it impossible for single individuals to follow the calls of morality and self-interest at the same time. The structures of society have changed in modern times, but ethical concepts and categories have at least to a large extent not changed. Most conceptions of ethics still require us to be moderate, to share, to redistribute, to sacrifice. They call for altruism, for the priority of common good and the like. The pursuit of self interest, of individual advantages, is often still ultimately seen as something like and evil drive that needs to be tamed (Christoph, 2005). Globalization has therefore been one of the factors for previous human rights violations in many multinational companies (Misol, 2006). Ambitious to mass super profits, these multinational companies embarked on child labour exploitation, suppression of labour rights in their supply chains. This led to persistence public outcry that helped to amplify global awareness about the injustices and human rights violations done by multinational companies in their chain supply production. 2.1.3 The Rise of Ethical Business and Corporate Social Responsibility There is a wide spread attention and interest in self-regulation, corporate social responsibility that continually press many companies to adhere to human rights in their operations. Ethical business, involving corporate codes of conduct for worker welfare and environmental protection, it is a subject that has attracted significant interest from academicians, the media and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) for many years now (Hughes, 2005). (Crane et al 2007) indicate how the importance of business ethics it is, in attracting different massive amount attention for various people example the shouter of the consumers and pressure groups that appearing to have an increasing of the challenging the firms in the asking of the more ethical and reasonably ways of doing business. Ethical business has emerged since the early 1990s as a specific example of corporate social responsibility, most commonly involving the establishment of minimum labour standards for producers in supply chains (Hathcote and Nam, 1999). Blowfield (1999), however, highlights that the issue of ethical business is broadened to incorporate a wider range of standards, including those concerned with the environment. Furthermore corporate social responsibility stand in the implementation for set core values that includes avoiding human rights abuses, upholding the right for the workers to join or form labour unions, elimination of compulsory and child labour and avoiding workplace discrimination (Cavusgil, Knight and Riesenberger 2008) However people like the later Rev. Leon Sullivan had been much concerned about code of conduct of human rights in workplace and in 1999, he developed a set of guidelines for corporate social responsibility, he argue that for the companies operations around the world should support and follow the Global Sullivan of corporate social responsibility. The aim and objectives was to maintain economic, social, and political justice by companies where they are doing business, to support human rights and to encourage equal opportunity at all levels of employment in developed and developing countries (www.thesullivanfoundation.org). Concerns in the early 1990s over child labour, physical and verbal abuse and violations of core labour rights in the production of toys, soccer balls, rugs, and garments marked the beginning of a wave of anti-sweatshop protests and media campaigns (Varley, 1998). Some of the earliest campaigns focused on production in China for companies like Levi Strauss and others, where the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989 and U.S.-China trade negotiations drew special attention to human rights abuses. Bonacich and Appelbaum (2000) mentioned other anti-sweatshop protests that brought remarkable attention regarding human rights violations were those that showed child labour in the production of soccer balls in Pakistan, rugs in India, and garments in Bangladesh and Honduras. One of the most dramatic early sweatshop scandals occurred in the U.S, in the Los Angeles, California suburb of EI Monte. It was there, in 1995, that government inspectors discovered Thai immigrants working as indentured serv ants in an apartment complex, sewing garments to be sold by major retailers, including Montgomery Ward, Target, and Sears (Su 1997). The next year, labour rights activists brought sweatshops further into the American media spotlight, by exposing child labour in a Honduran factory producing Kathie Lee Giffords line of clothing for Wal-Mart, as well as a New York City sweatshop also producing Kathie Lee Giffords brand (Bonacich and Appelbaum 2000). Further to this, the suppression of labour rights in Indonesia, El Salvador, and several shocking instances of physical abuse in other parts of the developing world raised concern. In the early 1990s activists first accused footwear companies like Nike, Wal-Mart, and the Gap of profiting from exploitation, child labour, and the suppression of labour rights in their supply chains. These companies, however, responded by denying the responsibility (Hughes, 2005). According to Cavusgil, Knight and Riesenberger (2008) activists also accused International business specifically in the case of the multinational companies for ignores human rights by exploited workers around the world mostly in labour standard; low wages factories in developing countries by create substandard working conditions, example for the sweatshops in Asia where they imported clothing and auto workers in Mexico. Jenkins et al (2002) argue that the rise of voluntary corporate code of conduct in the 1990s can be linked to some extent to the processes of globalization. They mention the specific drivers of voluntary ethical trading initiatives as being: a) the growth of global supply chains that extend beyond the reach of national governments; b) the rise in the power of corporate brands and reputation, which makes large companies vulnerable to negative publicity; c) an increase in public awareness of overseas production conditions via improvements in global communications; and d) the growing importance to the investment community of ethical performance on the part of public companies. Furthermore, there were various initiatives concerned with labour and environmental issues that were categorized as ethical business. These included: (1) Multistakeholder organizations such as the UK Ethical Trading Initiative (ETI), the Dutch Fair Wear Foundation, and the Fair Labour Association and Worker Rights Consortium in the USA, which all set minimum labour standards for producers; (2) labelling initiatives such as the Kenya Flower Council, which cover industry-specific environmental and labour standards; (3) individual corporate initiatives for establishing minimum standards in supply chains (Blowfield, 1999). These early initiatives were among the significant steps in promoting ethical business. Blowfield (1999) and Jenkins et al, (2002) argue that these initiatives also developed within the context of the United Nations Global Compact such as international standards which aimed to promote corporate citizenship in the global economy. Despite the organizational differences between existing ethical trading initiatives, most companies used some kind of code of conduct as the key tool for establishing workplace standards. 2.1.4 Voluntary Labour Standards (Codes of Conduct) Pressures on multinational companies by anti-sweatshop groups, labour unions, shareholders, activists, and consumer groups played an important role for companies to adopt labour standards. Standards refer with corporate code standard mention International by ILO (International Labour Organization) to the extent to which is explicitly or implicitly can either be done through the inclusion of the basic provisions of international organizations in the corporate codes standards (Van Tulder Kolk, 2002). Similarly, there were also greater pressures from governmental campaigns all over the world. Where in European countries, some of the government such as France were be advocating for greater attention to human rights in the sphere of international business. Along with such efforts from various countries, the European Commission had been carried out a research in the international subcontracting companies about the social aspect of textile clothing and footwear firms. Aiming to the extent in which the researches discover that these multinational companies adhered to human rights in their operations (Kolk and van Tulder, 2002). In 1996, President Clinton Launched the White House Apparel Industry on Workplace Standard (AIP), he launched the AIP after seen the violation of human rights in the clothing industries by multinational companies, the aim was to established standards and to ensure apparel and footwear were not made under sweatshops working conditions (Meyer and De Wit (2004). Due to the human right violation in textiles sectors precisely in the sweatshops conditions, The Clinton Administration established campaign against sweatshops in the clothing Textiles worked under sweatshops conditions in USA, the campaign was called No-Sweat and was introduced for the purpose fighting against sweatshops in which resulted to establishment of the Trendsetter List of companies in the Textiles Clothing and Footwear Factories. The campaign was aiming for the Clothing Textiles Factories to respect human rights and labour legislation in the production and marketing activities of the clothing and footwear in general, to make sure that both the clothing companies and their subcontracting companies as are, they must significant put into consideration and respecting these rights. The lack of the about not respect the rights, a number of labour legislation and human rights had been identified by the Department of Labour in the Textiles Clothing and Footwear factories, in subcontracting in particular of apparel production, facing the multinational companies, that was exploitation with a number of cases involving in human rights particularly the immigrant workers in sweatshops established on the United States regional, took steps to clean up the sectors. However, United States boundary put up on the sweatshops issue, took up steps to clean the sector (Elliot and Freeman (2001). Specifically in the area of child labour and, for example, the United States Government took a number of steps to alleviate the problems. Between 1994 and 1996 because of the important of the issue, the Bureau of International Labour affairs managed to organize three public gatherings to have views on child labour. These public platforms brought together a number of activists and the public at large to discuss various issues related to child labour. Specifically, they focused on the worst conditions of child abuse in the less developed countries that they exported products to the United States. A number of resolutions were made but all geared to put to end the merciless violations of human rights and child labour (Elliot and Freeman (2001). The Association of the Clothing Manufacturers of the USA and the Amalgamated Clothing Textiles Workers Union in 1995 agreed to have a National Branch for Collective Agreement. The agreement among other things included: the need to establish minimum standards regarding number of working hours, wages, and working conditions. In addition, the agreement also focused on a number of issues ranging from non-intolerance forced work, child employee, liberty of association, to occupational safety and health (White and Taft, 2004; and Giwerth, 1982). This was a trend in many parts of the world. Several national and multinational organizations and trade unions endeavoured to draw attention to respect human rights. Pressures from activities increased the formation of human rights association and in 1998 established of the Fair Labour Associations (FLA) to the overseas compliance, the Workplace Code of Conduct. The goals of Fair Labour Association (FLA) were for the companies required to monitor t heir own factories and their subcontractors to make sure there is compliance of the Code of Conduct in the textile factories (Meyer and De Wit, 2004). Klein (1999) pointed out that many firms had invested heavily in branding and reputation capital and therefore any high profile scandals and political pressures could tarnish their reputation. In the face of such pressure, it was not surprising that firms adopted voluntary standards to try to deflect criticism, pre-empt regulation, and signal their social responsibility to consumers and investors. The important factor in adoption of voluntary labour codes was to uphold public image which the company wanted to project to its customers, employees, suppliers and shareholders. Thus the clothing retailers public image became important than anything else. These multinational companies worked hard to clear their images and had no option but to promote codes of conduct. The public image was particularly important because it determined the extent to which the companys products could be bought. Given the rapidly growing competition in the global markets and communication in technology, it was essential for a company to improve the working conditions in its operations and retain its good image to customers (Kolk and van 2002). The United Nation Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted by the General Assembly in 1948 (Schulz, 2001). The declaration proclaims on the issue of the slavery or servitude subjected to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment put them into detention or exile and arbitrary arrest subjected. Moreover the declaration goes on to proclaim that everyone needs to live in liberty and everyone have a right to security, everyone have equal protection against any discrimination, and everyone have a the rights for work, everyone have free choice of employment, to just and favourable conditions of work, and to protection against unemployment as a result of discrimination has entitled. The international Labour organization (ILO) was created in 1919 as a tripartite organization of government, business, and union representatives from 174 nations. Since then, it has adopted 177 lengthy labour conventions or standards. Seven of these are considered fundamental human rights, addressing issues such as forced labour, equal pay for men and women, discrimination in the workplace, and the minimum age for employment (White and Taft, 2004). Organizations such as Amnesty International have specified clearly workers right such as freedom of association, the right of collective bargaining and working conditions and soon. The organization is for Human Rights and as Watch Report on human rights well being all around the world and strives to ensure the protection and progression of them as well. Amnesty International is an organization whose vision was derived from the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, was adopted by the General Assembly Resolution in 1948. It is adopted for the reasons monitoring the protection and standard of human rights as were established in thirty articles that later set the primary foundation to the policies and standard that carried out by NGOs and other agencies with the purpose to protect and promote fundamental rights (www.amnesty.org). The Social Accountability International (SAI), established in 1977, is an organization that for promotes human rights for workers around the world. Its SA8000 standards are obtained from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Labour Organisation (ILO) convention. The standards are designed to make workplace more humane and also to offer more benefits for the companies and its employees. Employees that work under SA8000 standards they have profit from the enhanced opportunity of collective bargaining and to organize trade unions. Also, employees become more educated about their rights which in turn, commits to have assurance for a better work environment. The companies as whole, benefits from the SA8000 guidelines because it strengthens and put company values into action and enhances the company reputation (Krage, 2007). The International Labour Organization Declaration (ILO) on the Fundamental Principles at work were adopted in 1998 and was an expression of commitment by governments, employers and workers organizations to uphold basic human rights (Kolk et al 2001).The Declaration covers four areas; liberty of the trade union and the right to collective bargaining, elimination of forced and compulsory work, Abolition of child employee and elimination of discrimination of human rights. The Voluntary Principles on Security and Human Rights were developed by governments of the U.S. UK, Norway, Netherlands and NGOs, who all were have the common interest in human rights and corporate social responsibility (voluntaryprinciple.org). There were six principles that all participants agents agreed on in order to promote and protect human rights in multinational companies. The six Voluntary Principle as stated on their website are as follows: acknowledge that security is a fundamental need; Understanding that governments have the primary responsibility to promote and protect human rights; Particularly those set forth in the Universal Declaration of Human rights; Emphasizing the importance of safeguarding the integrity of company personnel and property; Taking note of the effect of those companies, activities and decisions affect the local community; Understanding that useful, credible information is a major component of security and human rights. The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) is multi-stakeholder governed institution that provides global standards for the promotion of sustainable development. Judy Henderson, immediate past-Chair, Board of Directors says The GRI is a unique, multi-stakeholder organization founded on the conviction consistent, regular and comparable reporting, provides transparency and can be a powerful catalyst to improve performance (globalreporting.org). There are nearly 1000 organization in over 60 countries that have established their involvement with the GRI reporting framework. This reporting framework guides corporations and organizations on the reporting their sustainability performance to promote company progression and improvement in all area of business. The reporting guidelines contain principles, guidance, and standard disclosures that formulate a structure that cooperating organizations can voluntarily adopt (www.globalreporting.org). The UNs Global Compact is a purely voluntary guide to promoting responsible corporate citizenship. Its two main objectives are: to mainstream its ten (10) principles in business activities around the world and initiate actions to support United Nations goals (www.unglobalcompact.org) 2.1.5 Adoption of Voluntary Labour Standards (Codes of Conduct) by Multinational Companies and their Impact The rapid diffusion of labour standards (codes of conduct) stems from the response to external pressures (actual or threatened) from media, activists, government, and consumers (Shaw, 1999). In a like manner, (H