Inequality Essays - Discrimination, Hatred, Racism, Poverty

Inequality The myth of a classless American society coupled with social stratification impedes race relations in the U.S. far more than any racial differences. The never ending struggle of the have-nots to become one of the haves produces a frustration and feeling of oppression that acts as a catalyst for spawning racial tensions. Minorities see the majority of wealth in the hands of the white population and feel that the wealth is unevenly distributed. Whites hear of government programs for minorities and feel as if they are lazy or just looking for a handout. This occurs and stereotypes are formed. Combine all of this with the United States system of dual welfareand the perfect environment for racial strife is created. In our classlesssociety of false hope the working class and poor are continually seeking opportunities to excel that just aren't there. They have been led to believe that intelligence and ambition are key contributors to one's success. This belief lays blame on the unsuccessful themselves, even if they do possess ambition and intelligence. These people are in a never ending cycle of struggle, followed by minimal rewards, which eventually produces a frustration that sometimes leads to desperate measures. Cornell West expands on this with the following statement : . . . homicidal assaults by young black men on one another are only the most obvious signs of this empty quest for pleasure, property, and power (Race and Racism p.123). This statement shows the extremes one will go to in his empty quest for a better life. This is not only happening 2 to blacks by blacks. It is happening to all races by all races. People hear of events like these and categorize them as a racial crime or a racially motivated crime just because the victims may be of a different race. As West's statement demonstrates the killings occur as a means to an end, the end being a better life. In our ever diversifying melting pot of a country, same race victim and criminal crimes are becoming less and less statistically likely anyway. Events such as these don't occur because of race. They occur because of the frustration and desperation bred by the false hope that hard work and determination leads to success. It is no mystery that most of the wealthy people in America are white. West again points out (Race and Racism p.124) that 86% of the wealth in the United States is owned by only 10% of the population. In this 10% the number of minorities is minute. The wealth owned by this few is there because they have kept it in their families throughout the generations. These are the same super-rich bloodlines as that of 150 years ago. These families were rich when no minorities (and hardly any whites for that matter) were. Almost everyone was working class or poor besides them. Minorities are aware of this uneven wealth distribution and this leads to resentment. Our government tries to compensate for this through special programs for minorities. When this occurs whatever groups are not receiving compensation see the other as lazy or as taking a handout. In 3 turn this leads to resentment. Different groups begin stereotyping each other due to the resentment which evolved through unequal wealth distribution, which itself is a product of our classless system. So in turn stereotypes that Mexicans are lazy, African Americans steal, Whites cannot dance and White men have small penises, Jews are ultra- thrifty, Lesbians are men haters, Gay men all like antiques, and Asians are shrewd at business and all stick together, are in all probability (definitely) unfounded. Despite the fact that these stereotypes are unfounded, much of the resentment may not be. Here in the United States as much, if not more, money is spent on programs for the rich as is spent on programs for the poor. Donna Langston points this out with the following statement: We have a ?dual welfare' system in this country whereby welfare for the rich in the form of tax- free capital gain, guaranteed loans, oil depletion allowances, etc., is not regarded as welfare (Race And Racism p.129). Here Langston compares the welfare of the poor (food stamps, w.i.c., medicaid, etc.) with the welfare of

How Many Times Can You Take the ACT

How Many Times Can You Take the ACT SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips If you keep improving every time you take the ACT, should you take it as many times as you canto get the highest score?Even though you can take the ACT up to 12 times, that doesn't necessarily mean that you should. Let's look at when you should retake the test, and when it's time to pack up and call it a day. How Many Times Can You Take the ACT? You are allowed to take the ACT up to 12 times. Of course you're limited by time and test dates, so actually taking the ACT 12 times would involve multiple retests every year. The ACT is administered seven times a yearin September, October, December, February, April, June, and July. Most of you reading this are probably wondering, "Why on earth would I take the ACT 12 times?!" I agree that this would be a bit excessive, but there are definitely good reasons to take the ACT at least more than once. Why You Should Take the ACT More Than Once The fact of the matter is, students almost always improve when they retake the ACT.But why? For one, sitting for the real test is valuable experience. Doing this helps you gauge your level and identify your areas of weakness so you'll know exactly what you need to study in order to do well. The real test also gives you experience with handling test-day pressures, fromwhat you need to bringto managingyour time on each ACT section. If you get stressed out about the test, you can use your experience to figure out ways to calm your nerves and stay focused. If you end up scoringmuch lower than expected on the ACT, you might have had a fluke test day. Maybe you were tired or ill that day, or got unlucky with the reading passages or essay question. If this happens, you should register to take the test again on the next available test date. Since the ACT lets you choose which score reports you send to colleges, you generally don't have to worry about your colleges seeing fluke test scores or how many times you sat for the test. You can just send the scores from your best sitting. Some colleges superscore the ACT if you send score reports from multiple sittings, meaning they'll take your highest scores by section and recombine them to make a new, highest composite score. Schools that do this include Tufts, MIT, Boston College, and Amherst College. If your schools have a superscoring policy, you might want to build up your score by focusing on one or two sections at a time. You could really focus in on Math and Science on one test date, and then do most of your prep in English and Reading for the next date. That said,you shouldn't completely dismiss the other sections,as large score fluctuations could raise red flags. Another reason to be wary of neglecting a section is that some schools, even those that superscore, request to see all your scores. Only a small number of schools want you to send all your scores from every time you took the ACT and trust that you'll abide by this expectation. These schools include the following: Yale Boston University Pomona Stanford Columbia Brown Cornell Washington University Hamilton College Research your school's standardized testing policy to find out exactly what they want to see. If they want you to send all your ACT scores, you might think twice about taking the ACT more than six or so times, as this might send the message that you're not taking the test seriously or are really struggling to improve your scores. Besides how it might look to schools with "send all scores" policies, what are some other reasons to be cautiouswhen you answer the question, "How many times can I take the ACT?" How to Avoid Taking the ACT Too Many Times For most students, I would say that taking the ACT more than six times might be taking it too many times. If you find yourself registering to test again and again, pause to reflect on your approach. Are you dissatisfied with your scores? Are you not taking itseriously? Instead of taking the ACT again and again, here are some tips for what you can do instead. #1: Focus On Effective Test-Prep Methods If you continue to be unhappy with your ACT scores after repeated attempts, reevaluate your approach to test prep. While taking the ACT is a valuable experience, it is not going to take you far if you don't couple with it with purposeful, efficient studying. Start bycustomizing your studying so that you're identifying your weaknesses and filling in any gaps in knowledge. Rather than studying everything at once, zero in on the concepts and practices that are most significant to you and most relevant for improving your scores. Are you weak in geometry? Doyou have trouble writingtimed essays? Do you often run out of time in Reading because the passages take too long to get through? The key here is to identify your areas of growth and the concepts or strategies you must learn in order to get better. #2: Follow an ACT Study Plan As you use effective test-prep methods, you'll also want to have a long-term ACT study plan to help you stay on track. Building a study plan has many benefits and allows you to do the following: Familiarize yourself with all aspects of the ACT,from itsquestion types to its structure Spread out your practice tests so that you're not taking them too often or not enough Spend time prepping for each section, with a slightly bigger focus on your weaknesses Pace yourself in your prep so that you're not wearing yourself out too quickly Essentially, by using a well-thought-out plan, you can rest assured that you are studying everything you need to know for the ACT, and are studying it as effectively as possible.In turn, this will likely reduce the number of times you take the test. #3: Treat Every ACT Sitting Seriously Besides taking control of your test prep, make sure you're taking every opportunity to test seriously. In other words, don't treat any ACT sitting as a "throwaway" test! Every test is an opportunity to achieve strongscores for your college applications,and if you are applying to a "send all scores" college, admissions officers might not look highly on the fact that it took you six or more tries to hit your target scores. If you're really afraid of a school seeing one of your poorer score reports, you might want to considercanceling those scores. On a similar note, multiple sittings and large score fluctuations could raise red flags for ACT scorers, and your scores could even be withheld if ACT, Inc.,suspects possible cheating. To avoid this worst case scenario, approach every test with the intention of doing your best in all sections. #4: Devote Energy to Other Admission Factors, Too Along with taking the test seriously,make sure you're devoting energy to your other pursuits, all of whichmake up your college application in important ways. While test scores are an important part of your applications, so are your grades, your activities (such as clubs, sports, and community service projects),and your relationships with your teachers and counselor who might eventually write you letters of recommendation. All in all, don't drop everything in pursuit of the bestACT score. You don't want to stress yourself out too much by throwing things out of balance. #5: Take a Deep Breath Takingthe ACT is a nerve-wracking experience for most, if not all, students. Taking the ACT several times can be a great opportunity to learn how to calm your anxiety, clear your head, and focus on the test. However, you probably don't want to put yourself through the experience too many times! Thus, by prepping effectively and taking every test seriously, you'll conserve mental and emotional energy, not to mention bothtime and money! #6: Be Strategic About Your Score Reports Unlike the SAT, the ACT doesn't send a summary report of all your scores to your colleges. Instead, you have to send individual score reports from each test sitting (that you choose to send). It costs $13 per test date per report. If you took the ACT upwards of 10 times, thiscould add up to well over $100 to send all your test scores to a single school! Given all these considerations, you want to approach the ACT with a plan,both in terms of your test prep and your testing schedule. Read on for my recommendations for how to schedule your time and design a study and testing plan for the ACT. Quick Guide to Your ACT Testing Timeline This timeline works well for a lot of students. It gives you multiple test dates to retake the ACT but avoids excessive test-taking and lets you spread out your studying over the course of a year. This guide answers the question of how many times can you take the ACT while still leaving time and energy for all your other interests and responsibilities. Prep for the ACT the summer before junior year. You can draw on a variety of resources, including online courses, ACT Questions of the Day, official practice tests, prep websites, and ACT prep books. Register and take the ACT in the fall of junior year (September or October). September might be preferable, as your summer studying will be fresh in your mind and you won't be too busy with schoolwork yet. Depending on your scores, you can register to take the test again in the spring. Prep in the winter of junior year, and take the ACT again in the spring. The spring of junior year is the most popular time for students to take the ACT. If you aren't satisfied with these scores either, you can prep throughout the summer before senior year and take the ACT a third time in September or October, depending on your college application deadlines. If you still feel you've fallen short of your target scores or were unlucky and had a fluke test, you might be able to takeone more crack at itin December. Before registering and taking this test, though, check with the admissions officers at your colleges to make sure they will accept these test scores. Assuming you put in the effort to prep before the previous test administrations, hopefully you'll be able to focus on completing and submitting the other parts of your college applications in December of your senior year and won't find yourself retaking the ACT during this busy time. With this plan in place, you should be able to achieve your target scores within four tests. If you're ambitious and feel you have the skills to achieve your target scores earlier, you could move this schedule up a year and take the ACT as a sophomore. This way you'll be all set with your test scores and can focus on everything else going on in your life and with your college applications. Taking the ACT is valuable trainingexperience that can help you build up your scores, so try to leave yourself enough test dates to retake it if you wish. Just make sure you find balance between taking the ACT, crafting your college application, and making the most of your high school experience! What's Next? Has your test date snuck up on you, and you need to get in some last-minute studying? Check out our guide forraising your ACT score by 7 points with just 10 days of prep. Are you taking the ACT as a freshman? What about as a sophomore? Learnabout good ACT scores for 9th and 10th graders, and how these scores can predict your final scores. What's a good score on the ACT? A bad score? This article will help you figure out exactly what scores you should be aiming for in each section, and what you need to do to achieve them. Want to improve your ACT score by 4 points? Check out our best-in-class online ACT prep classes. We guarantee your money back if you don't improve your ACT score by 4 points or more. Our classes are entirely online, and they're taught by ACT experts. If you liked this article, you'll love our classes. Along with expert-led classes, you'll get personalized homework with thousands of practice problems organized by individual skills so you learn most effectively. We'll also give you a step-by-step, custom program to follow so you'll never be confused about what to study next. Try it risk-free today:

Applying Organizational Management to Work and Life Term Paper

Applying Organizational Management to Work and Life - Term Paper Example 2. Corporate culture also affects talent management and the overall success of the organization. B. Explain the effect of power and influence on leadership 1. Effective leaders use their personal power rather than position power. C. Explain the centrality that ethics has to leadership within organizations 1. Ethics provide a set of principles that guide leaders in making decisions. III. Viewing the course learning outcomes in light of my experience in the army A. The U.S. Army follows the transformational leadership style wherein a leader can influence followers to transcend self-interests and commit themselves to excellence. B. Not all managers are leaders. C. A good leader is one who can switch instinctively between leadership styles based on the people and work that they are dealing with. IV. Applying the course learning outcomes to my personal and professional goals A. Use my influence and power to provide the best qualified LNLs who can assist military units in Afghanistan in th eir varied and complex missions. B. Ensure that the corporate culture within the organization encourages creative talent, sincerity and trust. C. Be sensitive to cultural differences and maintain ethical responsibility. V. Insight that I gained from this course A. The organizational culture established by leaders is key to organizational success VI. Conclusion A. Organizational management is a complex process. However, its success rests on leaders who provide a supportive culture for employees to feel committed to achieving organizational goals. Applying Organizational Management in Work and Life Organizational management has been a subject of great interest to me. Since I have worked in the army for twenty two years in a supervisory role and I am currently working as a site manager for the linguist program in Afghanistan, I have been able to look back at my experience and compare and contrast it with what I learnt in this course. In simple terms, organizational management is define d as, â€Å"the process of planning, organizing, leading and controlling the efforts of organizational members and resources to achieve stated organizational goals† (Schermerhorn, 2002, p. 9). As part of their roles, organizational managers need to achieve certain specified goals and thereby ensure that each person does their part in unity and integrity. To achieve this, managers need to make decisions and resolve problems on a daily basis. These decisions are made to benefit the organization and improve organizational performance. Although, organizational management is an extremely complex process, organizational success depends on leaders who establish a supportive culture within the organization to ensure that employees are committed to achieving the goals of the organization. Three course learning outcomes important to me After reviewing the course learning outcomes, I feel that the following three learning outcomes are very important because they form the foundation, bas ed on which a leader would try to find solutions to address any given problem in an organization: 1. Analyze the ways leadership is affected by corporate culture, personal values, globalization and outcomes performance According to Rue (2001), a noted ethicist and educator, â€Å"Values are the essence of who we are as human beings. Our values get us out of bed every morning, help us

What does Hobbes mean by sovereignty Is his understanding of this Essay

What does Hobbes mean by sovereignty Is his understanding of this concept still relevant today - Essay Example In addition, a modest relationship between subjects executing expected obedience and a sovereign who extracts obedience to none also exists. This vertical construction of sovereign and subjects, rendering to this theory, is similar to the pillar of a man. The structure establishes a vital component of any human society which owns a system of law as the support comprises a vital part of the man. Where this structure exists, we may legally speak of human society pegged with its sovereign. Therefore, as a single independent state, we may also voice its law. In situations where this structure is vague, we cannot lawfully apply those expressions. This is because the relation of the sovereign to the subjects constitutes part of the very connotation of those expressionsThomas Hobbes' philosophy of government Hobbes stated a clear personal sureness in his point as the 'author or inventor of a reliable political science'. Published in 1647 in De Cive, Hobbes made a maiden and cautious claim t o have exposed a way of 'rationalising investigation into political activities hence creating a 'new science'. The mechanical resemblance became for Hobbes both apposite and inevitable. Civic struggle was translating to disaggregation of the modern 17th century English state. As a result, it demonstrated to him that the endorsements which held it composed, were neither undying nor 'natural (Morris, 1999). Hobbes was mainly intent on the formation of an unbiased, notional science of government that would stress the importance of truth above the pleasures of rhetoric or the value of propaganda (Fukuda, 1997). He emphases his attention on rudimentary principles rather than altering institutions or systems of government. Leviathan can, consequently, be seen as a political person that can exhibit noble, republican, monarchical or autonomous features (Sim and Walker, 2003) Thomas Hobbes and his renunciation of the principle of right reason. Hobbes's first squabble in support of the principle of absolute sovereignty is fundamentally the dispute against right reason. This is described as the idea and the heart of Hobbes's ethical and political attitude (Zagorin, 2009). His doctrine of complete sovereignty is derived principally from the denial of this doctrine. Almost everything that we can learn in his concept of sovereignty can be established in his negation of this squabble. It is worth noting that this argument that leads to his deduction that it is crucial for the sovereign to be unconditional, and to possess actual enforcement or intimidating powers. Hobbes is predominantly concerned with the central problem of human life in the commonwealth. This is pegged with the way in which conflict ascends from those numerous, plans, schemes and desires, which cause the individuals action. He sets out to institute that, if each person were to be permitted the liberty to shadow his own conscience, then in the occurrence of an assortment of such principles, peace and synchronization in the commonwealth would be momentary. This is due to an all universal tendency to divergence, and the attendant danger of civil non-compliance (Fukuda, 1997). Problems created by men existing in a civil society do not only

Effects of Marginalizing Social and Environmental Reporting

Effects of Marginalizing Social and Environmental Reporting AIM The aim of this research work is to observe and analyze the implications of marginalizing Social and Environmental reporting and explain how such reporting can be strengthened. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES Problem statement Conventional accounting reports place more emphasis on the financial performance of reporting entities compared to their social and environmental performance. Guidance on social and environmental reporting is currently provided by organizations outside the accounting profession, such as AccountAbility (AA) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI). We are going to discuss the implications of marginalizing social and environmental reporting. We will also shed light on how such reporting can be strengthened. Objectives To shed light on the above we will try to find out the following in our project: Identify what has impelled the need for social and environmental reporting. Identify how and why Social and Environmental reporting is being incorporated by entities into their reporting. Identify the alternative approaches to Social and Environmental reporting. Illustrate the relevance of the guidelines presented by organizations such as AccountAbility and Global Reporting Initiatives on Social and Environmental Reporting. Discuss the nature of voluntary disclosure. State the implications of marginalizing Social and Environmental reporting. Outline how such reporting could be strengthened and be effectively incorporated by reporting entities. RESEARCH METHODS The following methods were used to gather information to compile this project: Literature review was done. Previous working papers and journal articles of different accounting professionals and authors were analyzed in order to attain information that was both relevant and reliable in regards to social and environmental reporting. We also interviewed Mr Napolioni Batimala (Audit Manager à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" PWC) to derive the current information available regarding the issues concerning social and environmental reporting and its current stand. Case studies on three Fiji companies were conducted, in order to determine the situation in Fiji regarding Social and Environmental reporting. A qualitative data analysis of the results was carried out. These were selected based on their extensive environmental (FSC) and social (BAT) impacts. FMF was also considered, as it is the largest, manufacturing company in the country. British American Tobacco Fiji Ltd Fiji Sugar Corporation Flour mills of Fiji Library research was also conducted. Extensive archival research and literary research from respective journals was carried out in order to find extensive views and analysis and to get insight on past research and current thoughts on this topic. Annual reports were analyzed such as: British American Tobacco (2005 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2007) FSC (2005 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" 2008) Flour Mills of Fiji (2005-2008) Internet research was conducted as well. Proquest references were sourced to get hold of electronic journals for the issues of journals that USP library does not hold. The access of Internet references provided more up-to-date statistics and secular information that were available in library references. The South Pacific Stock Exchange (SPSE) website was also extensively visited. Corporate websites for these companies were also visited. This project was compiled from discussion generated in our group during meeting in which information obtained by the methods mentioned above were extensively analyzed. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The research topic we undertook reflected the social and economic reality of many countries. It no doubt is an indication of the future of many companies in Fiji itself. This project would not have been possible without the contribution of the following authorities and individuals for providing us with latest information and their views on social and environmental reporting. We are very appreciative to: Mr. Tevita Veituna Our Tutor Mr. Nacanieli Rika The Course Co-coordinator Mr. Napolioni Batimala à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" Audit Manager (PWC) The organizations and individuals who have contributed information We would like to take this opportunity to thank anyone else who contributed towards the project in any way possible. DECLARATION OF ORIGINALITY We, Rieaz, Moreen, Priya and Zafeen hereby declare that the information presented in this project is our original work and correct to date. All the working papers especially used in the literature review or in guidance of this project are clearly referenced in the bibliography with in text referencing given after the various quotations used. RATIONALE With the emergence of many social and environmental problems globally including gender discrimination in the workforce, and excessive use of child labor, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the thinning of the ozone layer and global warming, deforestation, species extinction, waste disposal, energy usage land, air, and water pollution, usage of toxic chemicals, and resource scarcity together with the occurrence of significant environmental disasters such as the Exxon Valdez oil spill and the Bhopal gas leakà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Lodhia, S., 2004: p.111) and the growing power of the media to air these issues worldwide together with the apparent popularity of vocal special interest groups such as Greenpeace and Amnesty International, has resulted in à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“increased community attention towards the identification of approaches to deal more effectively with these concernsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?(Wilmshurst Frost, 2000). This is what the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (2001) has to say, A combination of growing awareness of environmental issues by the general population and increased non-governmental organization (NGO) pressure and activity has led many corporations to reflect on and revise their corporate environmental responsibilities. This heightened anxiety amongst the members of society over the adverse effects of business operations on the physical and social environment has culminated into what is referred to as social and environmental reporting, or synonymously, corporate social responsibility reporting (CSR). Social and environmental reporting as acknowledged by Deegan (2006) is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“reporting that typically involves the provision, to a range of stakeholders, of information about the performance of an entity with regard to its interaction with its physical and social environment, inclusive of information about an entityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s support of employees, local and overseas communities, safety record and use of natural resources.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? This seminar paper endeavors to report on the main issues concerning social and environmental reporting. Thus, it will seek to address the following issues in relation to social and environmental reporting: how specific accounting theories help us to understand it, its perceived benefits to the reporting entities and society and some alternative approaches to social and environmental reporting such as AccountAbility and Global Reporting Initiative. It is important to note that in Fiji, social and environmental reporting is voluntary in nature. Furthermore, the implications of marginalizing social and environmental reporting is also discussed together with suggestions on how this type of reporting can be strengthened. INTRODUCTION Conventionally, the accounting function of business organizations have been based on the accounting entity, measurement of economic events in financial terms and users of reports who are only concerned with the financial implications of entity on business position and performance. However, there has been emerging a new focus in business reporting in this era where there are now various stakeholders who are demanding information on social and environmental performance of entities to be disclosed as well as financial performance. These demands have increased pressures on entities to use social and environmental issues in the decision-making process. This is particularly vital for the South Pacific Island communities, which have been plagued by a range of environmental problems culminating in sea-level rise and unexpected climatic change in the Islands. These issues are also critical in Fiji and in recent years growing public awareness has resulted in closer scrutiny of the activities of the major industries that may be contributing to environmental degradation. The oil spillages in Suvaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s major industrial area, Walu Bay (Fiji Times, 19 April 1998; Fiji Sun, 2 Feb 2000) and many activities as such have provoked the need for appropriate environmental and social legislation in Fiji. Many companies throughout the world publish reports that discuss their economic, environmental and social performance. This evidently shows that companies today are now embracing sustainability as a corporate goal, rather than simply aiming for profitability. These practices represent moves towards sustainable development by these organizations, which require these entities to unequivocally consider various aspects of their economic, social and environmental performance. ( Deegan 2006 p.327) Such disclosure includes that in-printed form such as- Examples standalone environmental reports, triple bottom line reports, sustainability and annual reports. In addition information that is disseminated on the Internet via corporate websites. (Hooks van Staden 2007 p.197) These social reporting practices are often referred to as corporate social responsibility reporting, or sustainability reporting. The latter covers aspects of both financial sustainability and performance, and social and environmental sustainability.(Deegan 2006 p.329) The moral arguments for greater corporate social responsibility arise from the increases in size, power and spread of multinational companies, as well as an increased awareness of the impact of companies on the environment and local communities.(Adams 2004 pg.731) This increase in awareness has been brought about by the media, the Internet, and the action of non-governmental organizations. These social reporting practices are often referred to as corporate social responsibility reporting, or sustainability reporting. The latter covers aspects of both financial sustainability and performance, and social and environmental sustainability.(Deegan 2006 p.329) The moral arguments for greater corporate social responsibility arise from the increases in size, power and spread of multinational companies, as well as an increased awareness of the impact of companies on the environment and local communities.(Adams 2004 pg.731) This increase in awareness has been brought about by the media, the Internet, and the action of non-governmental organizations. Social and environmental reporting developed as stakeholders began to demand information on other aspects of an organizationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s operations, apart from their financial performance. Stakeholdersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ expectations and needs have extended to the entitiesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ social and environmental performance. These were in the form of widespread interest of stakeholders in terms of demand for social reports of entities, pressure from environmental lobby groups to increase environmental disclosures, and also the increased competitiveness of the business environment where stakeholders today demand more accountability and transparency from organizations, concerning the utilization of their resources. Our project will basically emphasize on social and environmental reporting by business firms. We will also shed light on the organizations outside the accounting profession namely, AccountAbility (AA) and the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) who are providing guidance on social and environmental reporting. It also incorporates the implications of marginalizing social and environmental reporting and how such reporting can be strengthened and effectively be incorporated by reporting entities. The various theories relating to voluntary disclosure are looked at, such as the legitimacy theory, stakeholder theory and institutional theory etc. How the information is reported and what implications it might have on the users of social and environmental information, in helping make decisions is also discussed. An analysis on some Fiji companies has also been undertaken to determine the extent of environmental and social reporting. However, social and environmental reporting in Fiji, is voluntary in nature to this day. THEORETICAL UNDERPINNINGS The different theoretical perspectives need not be seen as competitors for explanation but as sources of interpretation of different factors at different levels of resolution. In this sense, legitimacy theory and stakeholder theory enrich, rather than compete for, our understandings of corporate social disclosure practices. (Gray, Kouhy and Lavers 1995 ) Specific accounting theories help us to understand social and environmental reporting, by seeking to explain why many organizations publicly release information about their social and environmental performance, even with the general lack of regulation in this area. That is, it helps us understand what motivates entities to release this information voluntarily. LEGITIMACY THEORY According to Lindblom, legitimacy is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“a condition or status which exists when an entitys value system is congruent with the value system of the larger social system of which the entity is a part. When a disparity, actual or potential, exists between the two value systems, there is a threat to the entitys legitimacy.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?[1] This theory asserts that organizations continually seek to ensure that they are perceived as operating within the bounds and norms of their respective societies (which change over time), that is, they attempt to ensure that their activities are perceived by outside parties as being legitimate. Information disclosure is therefore vital to establishing corporate legitimacy.(Deegan 2006 pg.275) Under Legitimacy Theory, an entity would undertake certain social activities (and provide an account of this), if management recognizes that the particular activities were expected by the society in which it operates. It is part of their social contract, or as is often stated by companies, part of their license to operate. If an entity fails to undertake these activities that are expected by the community, it would be identified as breaching its social contract. This will result in the entity no longer being considered legitimate. Therefore this will have an effect on the support the entity receives from the society, and consequently its survival. Hence, success for an entity under this theory is impendent on it fulfilling its social contract. Lindblom, 1994 and Patten, 2000 state that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“according to legitimacy theory, social disclosure is a means to deal with the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s exposure to political and social pressuresà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (as cited in Freedman Jaggi 2005). Those companies without much regard to environmental and social performance might find it faced with sanctions or explicit regulations imposed on them. In addition, they may also find it very difficult to obtain resources and finance or find the support of the community in which it works in the form of employee dissatisfaction. Legitimacy theory assumes that society will allow an organization to continue operations up until the firm meets the societyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s expectation. And the firm generally meets expectations to avoid further government regulations on operations or bad effects on reputation. But if there are some expectations that the management feels are unreasonable, they may try to change stakeholder expectations or try to justify their actions. Legitimacy theory has been examined in numerous empirical studies with the results being fairly consistent in confirming the theory. For example the Deegan and Gordon (1996) study indicated among other findings, that there was a positive correlation between the environmental sensitivity of the industry to which the corporation belonged and the level of corporate environment disclosure. In addition, another study by Deegan, Rankin and Vought (2000) found that companies did appear to change their disclosure policies around the time of major company and industry related incidents. That is, social disclosure policies in the annual reports of companies tended to change when major social incidents or disasters occurred in the industry. However, legitimacy is not only achieved by the actual conduct of the organization. Legitimacy is gained as long as the society perceives that the firm is acting responsibly. But sometimes, the societyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s perceptions are quite misplaced as information disclosures, which are vital to establishing legitimacy do not give an accurate account of the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s activities. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“An organization may diverge dramatically from societal norms yet retain legitimacy because the divergence goes unnoticed.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?(Suchman, 1995, p. 574) So if society does not know that a firm is not acting ethically, then legitimacy cannot be threatened. Lindblom describes 4 strategies of legitimization that an organization can adopt. The firm may seek to: educate and inform its à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"relevant publicsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ about actual changes in the organisationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s performance and activities. change the perceptions of the relevant public without having to change the organisationà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s actual behaviour manipulate perception by deflecting attention from the issue of concern to other related issues through an appeal to, for example, emotive symbols change external expectations of its performance Hence, we can conclude from the perspective of this theory that, social and environmental reporting may be just a tool that entities use to legitimize or justify their operations. Particularly in the case of entities in industries which have extensive environmental and social impacts. For example, petroleum, oil or gas companies, tobacco producers, pharmaceutical companies, and manufacturing companies. STAKEHOLDER THEORY Stakeholder theory is concerned with how management addresses the various issues associated with relationships with stakeholders. In other words, it is how an organization manages its stakeholders. According to Freeman (1984), traditionally, the firms used the inputs of investors, suppliers and employees to convert inputs into usable outputs which customers use and return to the firm some capital benefit. By this, firms only address the needs and desires of those four parties which are investors, suppliers, employees and customers. Stakeholder theory acknowledges that there are other parties involved, including governmental bodies, political groups, trade associations, trade unions, communities, and associated corporations. This view of the firm is applied to identify the specific stakeholders of a corporation, that is, the normative theory of stakeholder identifies as well as examines the conditions under which these parties should be treated as stakeholders, the descriptive theory of stakeholder. The two make up the modern treatment of Stakeholder Theory. It attempts to describe, prescribe, and derive alternatives for corporate governance that include and balance a multitude of interests. In the ruling paradigm of corporate governance, those who invest their capital into any type of business, and those who risk losing their investment in parts or in total, have a right and a responsibility to govern the business they have invested into. Capital investors or principals either govern the business themselves, or they do so with support of agents or managers who they may appoint. One way to sum up the use of the stakeholder concept in the management literature and stakeholder theories is by reference to the framework suggested by Donaldson and Preston (22). It can be used in a number of ways, they identify a descriptive, and an instrumental and a normative aspect of stakeholder theory that can help understand and classify the different facets of stakeholder theory. They argue that: Stakeholder theory is descriptive as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“it describes the corporation as a constellation of cooperative and competitive interests possessing intrinsic valueà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (p.66). This is also known as the positive approach. Stakeholder theory is instrumental since à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“it establishes a framework for examining the connections, if any, between the practice of stakeholder management and the achievement of a variety of corporate performance goalsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Lastly, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the fundamental basisà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? of stakeholder theory is normative and involves acceptance of the following ideas: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“stakeholders are persons or groups with legitimate interests in procedural and /or substantive aspects of corporate activityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the interests of all stakeholders are of intrinsic valueà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? The difference between the three uses of stakeholder theory is explained by the fact that they imply different types of claims and include different forms of reasoning for their justification. Positive (or descriptive) uses of stakeholder theory make claims to truth and are justified through constative discourses, strategic (or instrumental) uses make claims of effectiveness and employ pragmatic discourses, and normative uses of stakeholder theory can entail different types of claims (rightness, goodness) and be justified through different types of discourses (moral, ethical). However, this research report is limited to explain that the stakeholder theory comprises of an ethical/moral or normative branch also known as the prescriptive branch and a positive or managerial branch. The ethical or normative branch of the stakeholder theory basically deals with fairness, that is, to treat all stakeholders the same. While the positive or managerial approach focus more on the ability of the stakeholders to influence or be influenced by a company. It is primarily a theory of the private-sector firm although the insights can be applied in parts to public sector settings. This is due to the circumstance that public management responsibilities are similar to private sector management tasks not only formally but also concerning the rising network nature of organizations in both spheres. It gives a more refined solution by referring to particular groups within society, that is, stakeholder groups while the Legitimacy theory discusses the expectations of society in general. Stakeholder theory recognises that as different stakeholder groups will have different opinions about how an organization should carry out its operations, there will be a variety of social contracts à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"negotiatedà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ with different stakeholder groups, instead of one contract with society in general. Stakeholder Theory (Normative/Ethical Perspective): The ethical or normative branch of Stakeholder theory argues that all stakeholders have the right to be treated fairly by an organization, regardless of the resources that they individually control or how economically powerful they are. Therefore organizations should consider the rights of all parties affected by the operation of the entity. The definition of stakeholders in this case would include à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s objectivesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? (Freeman 1984). Stakeholder Theory (Positive/Managerial Perspective): The managerial or positive branch of stakeholder theory predicts that management is more likely to focus on meeting the expectations of powerful stakeholders. These are those that have the greatest potential to influence the firmà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s ability to generate profits, that is have the most economic power and influence over the firm. Under this perspective, management would be expected to undertake those economic, social and environmental activities expected by the powerful stakeholders, and also provide an account of these activities to these stakeholders. (Deegan 2006 p.298) Defining Stakeholders A stakeholder in an organization is by definition any identifiable group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement of the organizations objective (Freeman, 1984: 25). As a broad definition this includes many individuals or organizations for instance, governments, shareholders, creditors, employees and their families, local charities, local communities, media and so forth. It also allows the inclusion of groups such as terrorists and competitors (Phillips, 1997). For clarity this dilemma can partly be resolved by narrowing the definition in a meaningful way, that is, to divide the stakeholders into primary and secondary stakeholders. By following Clarksons argument (Clarkson, 1994), Mitchell et al. claimed that the use of risk as a second defining property for the stake in an organization helps to narrow down the stakeholder field to those with legitimate claims, despite the legitimacy of their relationship to the firm or their power to influence the firm. (Mitchell et al., 1997, 857). Therefore, a primary stakeholder was identified as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"one whose continuing participation to the corporation is vital as a going concernà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. While secondary stakeholders were identified to be à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"those who affect or influence, or are affected or influenced by the corporation but they are not engaged in transactions with the corporation and are not crucial for its survivalà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢. According to Clarkson, primary stakeholders must primarily be considered by management, as they are essential for the survival of a company. Also, in order for the company to succeed in the long run, it must primarily be administered for the benefit of all stakeholders. This definition may be related to the managerial branch of the stakeholder theory that will be discussed later. However, with the focus on primary stakeholders; it is challenged by the ethical branch of the stakeholder theory that all stakeholders have a right to be considered by management. Critiques of Stakeholder Theory There have been a variety of critiques of stakeholder theory from many viewpoints. Weiss (1995) discards the descriptive and instrumental usage of stakeholder theory and comes to a conclusion that the normative use à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“probably might be too limited and has a too weak foundation to be considered as either useful or valid.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Further critiques suggest that business interests are vital in both the identification of stakeholders and prioritizing their demands (Thomas, 1999; Banerjee, 2000). The stakeholdersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ needs and demands may be limited particularly where stakeholders groups have very different social, cultural and political agenda. A great deal of critique has been towards the level of engagement with stakeholders that is, little consultation instead of genuine dialogue and the exchange of ideas. That is, the stakeholderà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s needs are not taken seriously. INSTITUTIONAL THEORY Institutional Theory is a relatively new perspective that assumes that managers of an organization will develop or adopt new practices (such as social and environmental reporting) as a result of a variety of institutional pressures. For example, managers may be concerned that if they do not keep up with other entities in developing new practices, they will risk disapproval from some of their economically powerful stakeholders. SOCIAL CONTRACT THEORY According to Godfrey, Hodgson and Holmes (2003), social contract has been described as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“the interaction between individuals or organizations within society through implicit or explicit boundaries of behaviorà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, where implicit boundaries are moral obligations and explicit boundaries are regulatory requirements. Therefore, the social contract explains the boundaries of acceptable interaction between participants in a society. The social contract is sometimes used to explain the behaviour of firms where productive organizations are à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“subject to moral evaluations which transcend the boundaries of the political systems that contain them. The underlying function of all such organizations from the standpoint of society is to enhance social welfare through satisfying consumer and worker interests, while at the same time remaining within the bounds of justice. When they fail to live up to these expectations they are deserving of moral criticismsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Thus, because of a businessà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ social contract with stakeholders within a community, it is expected to perform only those actions which are desirable and beneficial to the whole society, rather than having to the investors only. This will give the firm acceptance from the society. Hence, management responds positively to environmental and social issues, because it has it has moral obligations to the society and failure to exercise care while carrying out their activities i.e. doing misdeeds towards the community will result in introduction of regulatory requirements to control management performance on environment and employee, for example. POSITIVE ACCOUNTING THEORY: Positive Accounting Theory predicts that all people are driven by self-interest. As such, particular social and environmental reporting activities, and their related disclosure, would only take place if they had positive wealth implications for the management involved. Therefore motives for social and environmental reporting can be a result of a reporting entityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s desire to maximize financial returns for shareholders and (or) managers by using social and environmental reporting as a tool to maintain and enhance the support of economically powerful stakeholders. On the other hand, it may also be a result of an entityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s desire to discharge duties of accountability for the social and environmental impact the organization (potentially) has on a wide range of stakeholders. LITERATURE REVIEW Historical Development: Non-financial disclosure existed in a variety of forms in corporate reports in periods long before the 1990à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s.Studies have found that such voluntary disclosure have existed for a number of decades. For example, Unerman (2000a,b) found evidence of social disclosures in annual reports of the Anglo-Dutch oil company Shell since 1897,with these disclosures becoming more prevalent from the 1950s.Adams te (1998) analysed UK banks and retailers from 1935,Tinker mark (1987,1988) and Neimark (1992) analysed social-type disclosures in the annual reports of the US company General Motors from 1916.Studies by Campbell (2000) and others have examined social and environmental disclosures in companies from the 1960s and 1970s. Thus, the development of social and environmental reporting in the 1990s was a development of non-financial reporting practice rather than a completely new phenomenon. (Deegan 2006 p.331). A review on à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“ Social responsibility and impact on societyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? by Mohamed Zairi (2000) discusses the emerging commitment to address both environment and societal concerns, an area which is growing in terms of significance and proven to impact on business performances, reputation and corporate image. The observation made was that the world wide organizations have staged conferences to debate the relevance of social and environmental reporting on corporations and stakeholders. Also companies have started to make real headway in this area of reporting by proposing a framework that deals with social and environmental reporting and disclosing issues that concerns social and environmental reporting. According to Trevor Wilmshurst and Geoffrey Frost (2000) , they tried to analyze the link between the importances of, as stated by reporters of specific factors in the decision to disclose environmental information and actual reporting practices. They used Legitimacy theory as an explanatory theory of environmental disclosure. The legitimacy t

High School and Personal Hero

â€Å"A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself†. Heroes are usually superhero, celebrities and historians but the hero in my life is my mother. My mother is my personal hero because she overcame all the struggles in her youth; she has a caring heart and a hard worker. My mom is my personal hero because of how she overcame struggles in her youth. My mom has a strong sense of leadership even as a young child, due to the fact that she practically raised her 10 brothers and 9 sisters.When my mother was very young, her father had an illness that ended up killing him. Her mother tends to care about her man more than her kids. My mother threw away her dream to become a professional soccer player to help provide for her siblings. Also, my mom overcomes her struggles in school when she was younger. Partially junior high and early high school, my mother didn’t think or care about school and how important it was and she decided that providin g for her siblings was the number one priority.As the school years had gone by her attitude toward school changes, she is more dedicated and determines to get her high school diploma. All in all overcoming struggles in her youth has made mom my personal hero. Secondly, my mother is my personal hero because she is a caring person. My mom is part of the minority who make it a part of everyday life to help others. She’s passionate about teaching profoundly mentally handicap children, a job which may be considered undesirable, yet she wouldn’t trade it for the world.She is also the first to offer a helping hand to anybody any time. She has given people a home, a shoulder to cry on, advice, all the help she can give, and most importantly given someone in need the feeling of knowing that there is someone out there who cares. Also, she constantly encouraged me to further my education. She doesn’t want me to go through the same struggles as she went through numerous tim es. My mother knew growing up she was not given the same opportunities as I am today.My mother reminds me that she foresees a future in me and will not let me give up on my education. Therefore being a caring person is one of many reasons why my mom is a hero to me. Lastly, my mom is my personal hero because she is a hard worker. My mother would sacrifice anything she had to, to ensure our happiness and success. She works two jobs, her full time teaching career and her part time job working fast food just so she can afford to have a roof over our heads, food on the table, and some of the luxuries we may desire even though they aren’t ecessities. She sacrifices her time and energy to please us. There aren’t many people out there who are so giving, without asking for anything in return. Also my mom has think of quitting her job many of time because the hours she worked didn’t allow her to spend any time with her kids and husband. She started getting back pain, eat disorder and sleeping less. But that didn’t stop my mother from quitting her job. In conclusion being a hard worker is one of the most important reasons why my mother is my hero.With all the curves and obstacles life throws at us, somehow my mom manages to keep herself together and still manage to be the best mother I know out there by overcoming all the tough struggle she went through as a young child, have a caring personality and working hard. She always strives to do her best for us, and loves us unconditionally. My mom is the most compassionate person that I know. She cares much more for others than she cares for herself and put in time and energy to please us. My mother is my mom, my best friend, but most importantly she is my everyday hero.

Model for free and open university courseware

One of the determinants of creation of FOCI contents is the capacity building which generally refers to developing required competences for creation of FOCI online contents. Dealing with copyright issues may be a serious roadblock even if the intention of the author was meant to provide the resource for free access and use. In the process of preparing contents, instructors research contents from various sources of which some may have various uprights and other restrictions. Instructors may also raise issues of their intellectual property rights.Another determinant is the motivation of instructors; there is no clear incentive of engagement for the faculty to participate in open courseware. The greatest concern is the time that is required by instructors to prepare a course that will be available, monitored, maintained, updated and perhaps re-formulated for new settings and different uses. The open courseware materials provided by the instructor will be Judged by the peers; therefore e ffort in producing quality desired is of essence. Validation Quality assurance mechanism will guarantee that materials are validated for publication.Quality in this sense refers to the relevance of material to the public, compliance to education standards and integrity, organization of contents and compliance to intellectual property rights. The FOCI materials should be intellectual property-cleared, meaning that the university has the rights to make the materials available under open terms and that nothing in the materials infringes the copyrights of others. Secondly, conceptualization and localization of contents trials from course instructors have been designed for their students at the university.If the same contents are to be available for public view, it is important to consider relevance of the contents to other people outside the university in diverse thematic areas of research and training. Quality assurance will involve checking the contents for consistency, pedagogical as pects, compliance to education standards and organization of contents. By publishing materials in the web for open access through FOCI, university is allowing the public to Judge what is offered by the institution.If materials are of poor quality, it may be threat to the reputation of not only the author but also the university. The university should strive to provide best quality material to avoid negative criticism by the public. Reliance should be made on standards and specifications to the extent possible. Lastly, there is need for accreditation which is the official approval of contents for publication in FOCI sites. Dissemination A key component of open courseware is the dissemination of contents whose cornerstone is technology. The technology is based on the CIT infrastructure for publishing the contents.Open courseware technology infrastructure consists of several components, internet connectivity, desktop tools for building course web sites and file conversion, web authorin g tools, workflow, metadata capture and publication tools, content staging infrastructure, content publication infrastructure, content repositories (file storage) Implementation. The technology should be designed to allow the use of a variety of appropriate tools, with a minimum of integration problems. The choice of technology should consider setup and maintenance cost.In our framework we endeavor to recommend use of cheap but efficient technology eatable for Kenya situation. One of the key determinants of dissemination of FOCI contents is the internet Connectivity. The university should be well served with internet and the bandwidth should be sufficient to allow access of not only textual information but also transmission of multimedia contents. Sufficient campus network connectivity is crucial to facilitate easy creation and updating of contents by course authors at the comfort of their offices.Secondly, Contents delivered through open courseware should be easily searchable and w ell organized for open access. Care would be made for usability considerations, which means contents, should be easy to edit or modify (formats, specifications) and should accommodate different kinds of access considerations. There is need for content management systems which provides a means of managing large amounts of contents and at the same time providing room for incorporating other pedagogical aspects.From literature review we found out that a number of content management systems are available and which are suitable for open courseware. Lastly, preparing contents for web access also require inserting metadata information. In most cases, local access of online contents does not pose a big problem to users as the remote access. Some of remote users may access courseware contents using very slow connections given the situation of internet in our country. For example it can be extremely difficult to watch or download video contents using slow connection.Before university implemen ts open courseware it is important to consider the connections of the expected users especially for remote access. In addition, a whole range of delivery modes should be made available for cases where connectivity at sufficient bandwidth would cause a robber. Lastly, criteria for the assessment of outcomes on the user of open courseware should be defined. Feedback mechanisms should be designed and implemented. It should allow users to express their views on their experiences with the courseware. In addition the site should include access counter to tell the number of people who visit the site.Utilization Utilization refers to usage of open courseware materials in the context of our proposed framework . This may entail learners using the materials for additional learning and research, instructors from other institution using the materials in their raining and other people using the materials for personal study. Awareness is thought as one of determinant of utilization in which case t argeted citizenry needs to be sensitizes of the availability of open courseware. The public should have information about what is available on open courseware and benefits of using the materials .The impact of the contents on the learner will greatly determine the utilization of the contents. Care should be taken in that the design of contents. The material should not only be useful to the university students but also majority of the public. Lastly, given that FOCI will be delivered through ‘CT. It is important to consider literacy levels of FOCI users. Basic cit requisite skills are needed for one to be able to search open courseware materials on internet, interact with the site in different ways, save contents and provide feedbacks.Methodology The research adopted a field survey research design whose objective was to establish factors that discourage or/and encourage free and open courseware in public universities of Kenya. The target population of the research was the publi c universities in Kenya. Questionnaire was the primary data collection instrument and as divided into five parts based on the five elements the free and open courseware framework elements; organization, creation, validation, dissemination and utilization. The study involved both qualitative and quantitative approaches. A sample size of 450 students and 150 lecturers was targeted.Data collection took place in August 2010. It was collected from 3 public universities that is university of Nairobi, Kenya and Com Kenya University KODAK). Useful and complete responses were obtained from 392 students representing a response rate of 87% and 1 11 lecturers representing a response rate of 74%. RESULTS On the basis of the analyzed responses the following inferences were drawn Table 4. 1. Elements Components Processes Observations Governance & Management -Planning -Setting up testators -Free and open courseware has not so far been implemented in Kenya. No comprehensive plan. Partnership and col laboration Building alliances and consulting Foci partners -Public universities have established some local and international links on open contents provision. Institutional policies Creating policies that support open courseware -Universities policies do not cater for free and open content. Some of universities are errantly reviewing policies. Sustainability Establish ways of meeting the setup and maintenance cost -Difficult to direct university limited funds to free and open courseware project. Low support from Government and Nags Developing knowledge & sharing culture Faculty assassination and advocacy A number of workshops and conferences have been held Capacity building -Improve CIT literacy among lecturers -Training of faculty in E-content development -Creating textual and video contents -Majority of faculties are CIT literate. -Majority of lecturers have not attended training in E-content development -Most of structures contents is not in electronic format -Faculties have not developed video contents of most of lectures. Lecturers have no access to video capturing and editing facilities. -Dealing with copyright issues -Adhere to PR -Set up open sharing licenses -Majority of lecturers obtain materials from copyrighted sources -No clear Intellectual property rights policies in Kenya and particularly in the universities that cater for open sharing. Attitudes -Developing positive attitudes towards open sharing materials Majority of lecturers have negative attitude towards open sharing. However, majority are willing to share heir materials for free under open Terms.Motivation -Establish ways of motivating lecturers Low motivation of faculty. Majority of lecturers indicated that they cannot dedicate their time to embark on contents creation for free publishing without clear terms of engagements. Validation Copyright clearance -Perform copyright clearance Majority of lecturers obtain contents from copyrighted sources. Conceptualizing of contents Perform releva nce check Some of the materials are not relevant to the public Quality Assurance Perform quality assurance Some of the instructor's materials do not meet quality standards for OCW.Accreditation of materials -Get official approval and seek authorization for publishing from faculty No policies available to support accreditation of open materials. Utilization -Awareness -Public assassination -Low awareness level Majority of university students, instructors and administrators are not aware of open courseware. -CIT Literacy Improve cit literacy Majority of learners at public university are CIT literate -Access Improve internet access Internet usage level is generally high by university students.However, majority of students utilize free contents available on the web for research as opposed to buying kooks. -Relevance Maintain high standards and quality in production of open courseware materials Some of the materials are not useful to public 5. 0 Conclusion Results from the study shows th at the concept of FOCI has not been embraced in Kenya. However, it is not an absolutely new phenomenon since some of the universities are sensitivity their faculties on content sharing and aligning their policies to accommodate open contents.Nevertheless, the study reports low awareness of FOCI in Kenya universities among students and faculty members. The study identified a number of issues that pose significant challenges in implementation of FOCI in Kenya based on regression test performed . Amongst, Intellectual property rights and attitudes of faculty towards open courseware have shown significant effect on creation of FOCI contents while quality and relevance of materials shown significant effects on utilization of open courseware. In addition sustainability of FOCI project is another issue that poses a significant challenge to the implementation.The fact that the original design of FOCI is not to generate income for the university or contents providers begs the question of how such project can be sustained. It is encouraging to note that the number of lecturers participating in development of content for online learning is on increase. Universities have also set up repositories for storage of contents e. G University of Nairobi and Kenya University has each two servers for storage of contents and backups and the universities are gradually embracing online learning in their curriculum.Lastly, over last five years internet connectivity has greatly improved in Kenya and currently, the majority of public universities in Kenya are connected through a fiber-based local and external access infrastructure. 5. 1 Recommendations There will be need for rigorous campaign and assassination to raise the awareness level if a university wants to embark on implementation of FOCI. The public needs to get information about the availability of materials, various techniques of accessing the materials online and build confidence about the quality of materials.Study has reveal ed that majority of lecturers utilizes copyrighted contents in preparation of their lecture materials and this poses a significant challenge of sharing the contents to the public. The study identified IP clearance as one the solutions of coping with issue of non adherence to copyright laws. IP clearance is the process that ensures the open courseware publisher has the rights to make the materials available under open terms and that nothing in the materials infringes the copyright of other . Let may involve getting approvals from authors whose contents have been copied and/or removing such contents.It may also involve making sure fair use of other author's contents which involves ensuring that the original authors are properly acknowledged and may involve granting licenses to open courseware end-users to use, reuse, adapt, and redistribute materials for non-commercial educational reposes, in accordance with the open courseware concept. The greatest concern is the time that is require d by faculty from academics to prepare elements of a course that will be available, monitored, maintained, updated and perhaps re-formulated for new settings and different use.Therefore motivation and attitudes of instructors is critical. The study recommends that stakeholders in academia should first demystify the whole issue of free and open sharing of contents through assassination of the faculty. It important for management of open courseware to consider financial rewards of the developers for their time and other forms intrinsic motivation such as recognitions of leading authors by the universities or/and other agencies. Course materials published on FOCI are subjected to public scrutiny.End users will constantly evaluate the quality of content offered by the university. Therefore, quality of content can positively or negatively impact on the reputation of the institution. It is difficult to achieve 100% acceptance of FOCI content in the face of the diverse thematic areas of re search and training, and the different approaches and modes of delivering contents. However universities should strive to make the contents relevant to majority of the public. One of the unresolved issues is delivery methods for remote access which includes off campus accesses.The scope of our study did not carry out assessment on the network infrastructure outside the university. But, results from other studies indicate that, it may be difficult to maintain high speed connection in most of places in Kenya especially the remote areas. Nevertheless, the current Kenya devolution promises to improve the internet connectivity of major towns and increase the internet reach for majority of citizens. It is also important to set up distributed contents servers or mirror servers in various parts of the country especially in major towns to improve speed of access all over the country.Sustainability of the project has shown significant effect on the implementation of FOCI, given the high setup and maintenance cost of implementing. It might be difficult to maintain budget line for open courseware. However, universities which already have an existing and well established online learning infrastructure can easily and cheaply migrate to FOCI. If the university offers online learning for a umber of years, over time published materials will be continually refined and since online learning is income generating Return-on-Investment will have been achieved.