Effects of Evaluation and Monitoring of Ecde Programmes Essay

The researcher will attempt to investigate the background information, statement of the problem, purpose of the study; objective of the study, significant of the study, limitation of the study and delimitation of the study. The period between 0-6 years is also referred to as formative years. According to guideline series (2006) children are extremely dependent on the people for life sustaining support for example in provision of food, shelter, clothing and attention. Through interaction, punishment and rewards children turn to be individuals whom teachers, parents and other care givers want them to be. This period is very important for children because it is the foundation of their total life. Experiences of these years continue to influence the individual throughout life. It is also a period of the fastest growth and development in all aspects. The brain of the child is most malleable at this stage and hence influences such as care have greater impact. It is therefore very important to invest in early years of a child because research findings show that holistic development of an individual is during thee years Ragor(2008). Most recognized psychologist like Freud and Piaget came up with their theories after many years of observing infants in their formative years. In the united states of America(USA), the CCB is dedicated to enhancing the quality and affordable child care services for all families that was according internet(July 2001). CCB administers federal funds to states territories and tribes to assist low income families in accessing child care service while parents participate in education or training activities. CCB also funds a network of Technical Assistance projects that promote quality and strengthen programme administration. It also shares research findings and help policy makers, programme administrators, communities, caregivers and parents to understand and make good decisions about child care. In Mauritius ECDE is under the Ministry of Women Rights, child development, family welfare and Ministry of Education. 0% of pre-school are run by the state. In 1998 Ministry of Education Acts put the teacher pupil ratio of 1:19. The sector is dominated by untrained caregivers with no minimum qualification. There are three types of staff for example school directors, teachers, and assistant teachers. Teachers have a general education of specific training for pre-school teaching provided by credited Mauritius institute of Education. Teachers and their assistants are paid by the government. Teachers, helpers, learners and auxiliary staff are paid by Parents Teachers Association (PTA). The researcher found that in Kenya after independence the government got directly involve in education activities of young children. Nursery schools and Day-care centres were established. They became directly under the Ministry of Health and Home Affairs. These ministries inspected schools that were stated at that time. The responsibility was later shifted to the Ministry of Education. Many seminars were held which covered all areas including co-ordination, supervision, provision of materials, research and sources of finance. Training programmes were organized for trainers and supervisors so that they could monitors and evaluate ECDE programmes in the grassroots level. However currently according to Ngaroga(2006) the government to contributed to the current expenditure on early childhood development education (ECDE) is 0. 1% where as the primary education is free. At the county level, the ECDE teachers are employed and paid by different employers namely community, parents, local authorities or Faith Based Organizations (FBO). This combination of emotional security and stimulation does not just happen. Those developing and implementing curriculum should bear in mind the ways in which they will create these. Active planning of good routine and activities as well as toys and equipment that will encourage children to play and explore is fundamental. Teachers, caregivers and parents ought to have knowledge skills and attitudes towards helping children to acquire them. Despite government vision to have education for all by the year (2015), quality education has never been realized since the ECDE sector has not been given the attention it deserves. Ngaroga(2005) states that little has been done about educational assessment which should be conducted by various professionals in order to establish the educational needs of the child. This involves very thorough examination of the child in relation to the capabilities and handicap the child is identified to be having. This assessment involves various personnel in different fields. Evaluation and monitoring motivates the learner and measures his or her achievement of the intended objectives and progress. It also enables teachers to give an objective report of an individual child’s performance and determine the usefulness of the method used in teaching children. Thus provides the basis for improving educational programmes.

Prejudice in “Of Mice and Men” Essay

â€Å"Prejudices are the chains forged by ignorance to keep men apart.† – Marguerite Gardiner. In society, both modern and in the past, prejudice has been a tool of thinking and labeling a group of race, people, class and culture in order to distinguish ones superiority and dominance from one another, but is simply a way to judge without gathering valid facts. In Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck, we see that prejudice was just as rampant in the 1930’s. In the novel, prejudice is demonstrated on 3 different levels: racial, sexual and social. It is shown how these prejudices generate false perceptions that although meant to aid, do no such good as their end result is clouding the truth. Racial prejudice is most significant when describing Crooks, who happens to be the stable buck for the farm. Crooks is also a Black man with a back disability, hence the reason he is called â€Å"Crooks†. While most of the other workers live in the same area and attend to jobs that are quite similar, Crooks is forced to live by himself, work alone in the stables and is almost never in contact with any of the other characters. People such as Curly’s Wife go as far as to ridicule Crooks and even look down at him simply for the fact that he is a Black man with a disability who is a laborer. In one instance, Curly’s Wife threatens Crooks by telling him â€Å"Listen, Nigger, you know what I can do if you open your trap, I could get you strung up on a tree so easy it ain’t funny† (Steinbeck, 98). The open brutality of this comment shows that even a woman, who would normally not have much or any say during this time in the 1930’s, is still considered higher in social class than an African-American man. Nothing is known about him as a person by any of the other farm attendants, but the prejudices that in this case are completely false help propel a gap between them, when one does not need to be. Although he may be physically handicap, he is just as capable as any of the others. As a result of being an outcast at the farm, Crooks has become very isolated and disengaged with the other members. When Lennie enters Crooks cabin in order retrieve the puppies, Crooks lashes out and tells Lennie â€Å"I ain’t wanted in the bunk room and you ain’t wanted in my room† (Steinbeck,124). This comment shows that Crooks has become bitter and alone because of the prejudice constantly being aimed at him when there is no reason for the way he is treated. He is a great overall example of racial  prejudice in Of Mice and Men and society, both past and present, in which a African-American male, who is as capable as any man of another color is denied the same opportunities because of stereotypes and perceptions which can only be supported with biased false facts. Sexual prejudice is strong when Curly’s Wife is a part of a scene. Curly’s Wife also happens to be the only female that is currently occupying the place of work that the novel is set in. Curly’s Wife is presented as a character who tends to be very friendly with all the men on the farm and enjoys the attention she gets because her husband, Curly does not give her the amount of attention that she wants, so she finds it with others. Curly’s Wife is often avoided by all other who work at the farm because she is a woman who could get them in a lot of trouble. Curly is the boss’ son and Curly’s Wife being the daughter-in-law always gets her way and can have any man in the farm fired without reason. â€Å"She got the eye goin’ all the time on everybody. I bet she even gives the stable buck they eye. I don’t know what the hell she wants† (Steinbeck,51). Being a woman, there is already significant amount of sexual prejudice directed to her and the fact that she is very flirtatious with the other men further strengthens their perception of her. They all try to remain as calm as possible, careful not to give her the wrong idea cause they know the trouble that she could get them in. In actuality it appears that Curly’s Wife only craves attention from the other men and nothing sexual because of the lack of her husband to give her the attention that she wants. The idea of her wanting something only sexual and not spiritual shows the prejudice associated with gender in this novel and how its falsehood prevents a lonely woman from engaging and connecting with others on a mental level. Equally important is the Social prejudice towards characters such as Candy and Lennie in Of Mice and Men. Candy is very old and not capable of doing much around the farm but is still kept around to do the simple chores that the others are seen as more of a waste of time for others. These simple chores are envied by others and this jealousy helps create a division between Candy and the others. Candy also has a dog that in many ways is similar to him â€Å"[The] dog ain’t no good to himself. I wisht somebody’d shoot  me if I got old an’ a cripple (pg. 45).† They are both described as being old, withered, confused and in many ways more of a nuisance who would do more good dead than alive. Socially being hated by the majority of the men at the ranch shows the prejudice that is directed without any reason, but simply motivated by jealousy. In the instance of Lennie, social prejudice is strongest evident in the perception others have of him because in their eyes, all they see is a big oaf incapable of accomplishing anything intelligent and only kept around for his strength. Before meeting Lennie and even engaging him in conversation, his position has already been established at the Ranch. With Curly we see that â€Å"[He’s] like a lot of little guys. He hates big guys. He’s alla time picking scraps with big guys. Kind of like he’s mad at ’em because he ain’t a big guy† (pg. 26). Regardless of his ability to be of help at the farm, Curly already establishes his position on Lennie even though he has had no significant direct contact or enough time to accurately depict Lennie as a person and not just a big man physically. Not only Curly, but other members of the farm also have decided Lennie’s place at work before fully knowing him. He is left out of card games, left back at the ranch when George and the others go out to hand more important jobs. Being considered a simple minded men with little use who spend their days playing with and day dreaming about rabbits or sweeping after others, Lennie and Candy have become outcasts in the sense that one of them is perceived to be mentally unstable and added to the fact that he is physically strong, while the other one is a nuisance who many could live without, make them both isolated and all the more reason to be avoid and singled out. â€Å"Of Mice and Men† is a brilliant novel in demonstrating that prejudice is a tool that people use to become more familiar with other individuals in order to overcome the fear of uncertainty. However, the ending result is that it puts distance between the person and the one they judge because it is not fact, but perception that is completely untrue. Prejudice is simply the reasoning of a fool to make themselves feel secure.

Intercultural Communication: Globalization Essay

Globalization has had an effect in all aspect of our lives. However, these effects have not all been positive and it becomes important to consider both sides of the coin while trying to understand the phenomenon that is globalization. Globalization is a movement that seeks to establish more global integration especially in matters pertaining to trade and governance to increase prosperity and reduce conflicts. In this regard there was a strengthening of international institutions especially the UN and the signing of various treaties that abolishes tariffs and protectionist measures. This makes trade between countries easier and makes it possible to make capital and labor mobile across countries. Therefore, globalization also affects culture due to increased interaction of foreigners and the growth of the communication sector including the internet. Most of these effects have been positive allowing societies to benefit from each other. Nonetheless, other negative impacts have been exported leading to an erosion of indigenous cultures and a spread of vices like pornography and human trafficking. The most important aspect of globalization is the ability of companies to outsource their businesses to areas that have cheaper labor. This makes productivity cheaper since countries can set up factories in countries whereby labor is in plenty and wages are low. Furthermore, these countries have weaker laws and regulations making business easier and further reducing the cost of production. This translates to increased profits for shareholders and allows companies to survive stiff competition and bad economical times. Moreover, these benefit these developing countries to grow and provide a livelihood to the citizens of these countries. In addition, these countries provides new markets for companies who wants to sustain their growth in profitability and this has seen companies like Wal-mart to venture into markets like China (Martin & Nakayama, 2007). It also allows for work specialization since manufacturers can make various components of their products in different companies a classic example being computer manufacturer. These firms manufacture the various components of a computer in different countries and are finally assembled in one country. However, business outsourcing also has its disadvantages but the positive outweigh the negative. Since colonial times, the erosion of culture in several countries across the globe has continued. Colonization saw European countries impose their social, economical and religious cultures upon the native inhabitants. However, colonization came to an end but neo colonialism continues due to globalization occasioned by growth of the communication sector and increased interaction of people of different nationalities. Television has allowed people all over the world to view program most of which are made in the West. This together with secular music from western society has had a significant impact on other cultures. Most of these influences have been negative with many disregarding their cultures and blindly following the actions depicted on this popular media. Some countries like India has seen many youths engage in immoral behavior like premarital sex, cohabitation of unmarried youth and drug abuse, a trend associated with western values (Sundaram, 2007). This has increased the prevalence of Aids and crime due to the effects of drugs and immorality.

American Beauty Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

American Beauty - Movie Review Example In the 1920s Jung wrote a paper on 'The spiritual problem of modern man' addressing what he saw as an inevitable psychological/cultural response to an over-emphasis on the spirit or psyche as opposed to the body during that time. Feeling that the young profession of the cinema was very much a part of this response - a symptom of the imbalance, in a way - he wrote: The cinema, like the detective story, enables us to experience without danger to ourselves all the excitements, passions, and fantasies which have to be repressed in a humanistic age. It is not difficult to see how these symptoms link up with our psychological situation. The fascination of our psyche brings about a new self-appraisal, a reassessment of our fundamental human nature. We can hardly be surprised if this leads to a rediscovery of the body after its long subjection to the spirit - we are even tempted to say that the flesh is getting its own back. (Jung 1928, para. 195) Jung thought that all psychological life expressed itself in binary oppositions, and that a process of something turning into its opposite was common - and indeed was to be expected when it had gone too far one way, as his quote indicates. Jung also held that psychological health lay in allowing the psyche to bring about its own balance via the transcendent function - the process of 'holding and transcendin g the opposites' - something Blake attempted with his Songs of Innocence and of Experience. I want to put forward the following idea: two people can be in such a relationship with each other that they seem to stop themselves from actually being (or continuing to be) a couple, even though they appear, from the outside at least, to be one. Or rather, they act to stop the psychological development that being in an adult couple relationship will have triggered as part of the individuation process. Guggenb hl-Craig (1977) in his book Marriage - Dead or Alive puts forward a rather pessimistic view of the impact of marriage on the capacity of a man or a woman to individuate, which at first sight seems to endorse this view of the couple relationship. However, Guggenb hl-Craig's version seems to me to attend too little to the details of the unconscious interactions between the couple, preferring to focus instead on a broader-brush view of the needs of 'salvation' for one or other of the marriage partners. His work could be compared, unfavourably from my perspective, with that of Lyo ns and Mattinson (1993) who make use of the concept of the opposites and Jung's idea of marriage as a psychological relationship (Jung 1925) to look in detail at the interactions of a particular couple, Mr & Mrs Turner, who illustrate the individuation process in the couple in detail. At the Tavistock Marital Studies Institute, where Lyons and Mattinson worked, we are accustomed to think of couples as a kind of system. When we see a turning away from change and development by the couple, we think not so much of individuals each with powerful narcissistic defences operating separately but simultaneously, but more of an unconscious 'agreement' between the couple to stifle growth, for whatever reason. We focus on a shared interaction between them at an unconscious level: each one acts upon and relies upon the other to maintain a 'shared couple defence' against a

The Influence of Using YouTube to Improve English for EFL Students Essay

The Influence of Using YouTube to Improve English for EFL Students - Essay Example According to the paper access to great positions and attractive pay rates requires English capability to communicate. In countries where English is not, the first or main language used there has been a growth in teaching English as a Foreign Language (EFL). Due to this worldwide demand, there has been a growth in teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) in countries where English is not first or main language. Therefore, the education system in Saudi Arabia is containing English as one of the most significant majors nowadays. This study highlights even though the government through its Ministry of Education has outlined the objectives of the English language, the goal is yet to be achieved. The ministry aims to ensure improvement in students’ listening, reading, writing and speaking skills abilities. Furthermore, the ministry endeavours to assist students acquire the necessary linguistic competences relating to life. However, these and other objectives encounter challenges as the one stated above. The ministry’s goal is to equip and develop development skills to the students rather than just the role learning. In essence, EFL implies that the English language is not viewed as a primary language, and that the locals have their first language. In these cases, countries tend to use their first language even in the learning, meaning students seldom perform well in English-related tasks, including speaking and writing. When learners become less acquainted with the English language, the end-result is that their competitive advantage especially in the international affairs is adversely affected. Surprisingly, some countries use the first language in the education sector up to university level.  

Cutting the budget to the education system will do more harm than good Essay

Cutting the budget to the education system will do more harm than good - Essay Example The recent case of the state of California grants insight into the immediate impact of budget cuts on education systems. As of 2009 the California government had enacted budget cuts of about 12 billion, with an additional 1.2 billion proposed (O’Connell). This has led to â€Å"class-size increases in Pasadena† and â€Å"the expected laying off of 2250 teachers,† both linked to lower graduation rates (O’Connell). The consequences, however, reach farther than immediate effects on classroom quality and graduation. Lower education rates seem to lead to lower economic performance. According to Business Weekly, even at current rates decreases in educational performance could lead to a cut of as much as 2% of GDP due to changes in demographics and expected graduation rates (Symonds). With the growth of global markets and the precedence placed on economic performance in the burgeoning economic powerhouses of India and China, for instance, the United States must wo rk harder to compete. Symonds warns of the possibility of â€Å"more US white collar jobs [moving] offshore† as high school graduation rates in the US’ competitors increase. We cannot neglect the other side of the budget cuts.

The basic characteristics of literary journalism Essay

The basic characteristics of literary journalism - Essay Example Chronology refers to the arrangement of scenes or events in order in which they take place in a particular eventful situation from the perspective of journalism. Within this context, it can be deduced that this arrangement can be of two types: scenes or observations. In the scenes, there is a particular sequence or arrangement of carefully arranged scenes because this sequence is highly important as it retains a required level and type of structure which is the base of any particular theme involved in the scenes. A sequence of observations can also be used to describe a particular events leading to a meticulous outcome or other effects. Simultaneously, within this context, both types of chorology have different objectives and outcomes as the entire piece of literary journalistic writing is based on the factual or real-life situations in which a particular arrangement of scenes retains a specific type of chronology. As a result of in-built chronology, the piece of journalistic writing becomes able to create an impression of depicting or portraying reality as if it is happening in front of the reader. In the literary journalism, parallel structures are those storylines in which story have more than one causal chain of events and have two different stories are highlighted simultaneously.It can be said that the use of parallelism can increase the level of suspense and adventure in the story in which a particular perspective or use of chronology can be included to make effective.

Learning how to do sitting in volleyball Term Paper

Learning how to do sitting in volleyball - Term Paper Example With the number, percentage of disabled people rising from 10% of the total world population, sitting volleyball has gained much emphasis in the current decades of the 21st century (Katalin, 2008). Sitting volleyball is fundamentally aimed at athletes with ‘lower extremity impairment’ and supposed to play a significant role in building their personality features in a positive manner (HÃ ¤yrinen & Blomqvist, 2007). The skills most demanded in this kind of sports are the discrete skills and skills to ensure continuous practice of the game that would enrich motor learning of the participants. It is in this context that the mechanism of control mostly used in sitting volleyball is based on the notion of motor learning (Vute, 2005). Motor learning is commonly referred as the process of learning through experiences. With significance to its application in the training and coaching systems that are used in sitting volleyball, Vute (2009) argued that success of such processes, depend largely on the psycho-motor abilities of the players along with their motor behaviors. Vute (2009) also argued the different forms of disabilities that might hinder performances of players in sitting volleyball, which include locomotor disorders, amputee, cerebral palsy and poliomyelitis, which may give rise to varying results from motor learning attributes incorporated in the coaching programs in the game. Nevertheless, it must be noted that the application of motor learning in sitting volleyball had been studied with limited significance until date, wherein its wider applicability is observed among normal volleyball players. Katic, Grgantov & Jurko (2006) argued in this regard that motor skills in learning new winning techniques in volleyball depend largely on explosive strengths and the degree of agility among the players, especially when concentrating on female athletes. Emphasizing a similar concern, Milic, Grgantov and Katic (2012) asserted that the influence of motor learning

16th Century Travel PowerPoint Presentation Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

16th Century Travel - PowerPoint Presentation Example With the domestication of animals that can bear people on their backs, people found it more convenient and, during that time, more time efficient to ride animals to get where they were going than walk. Consequently, people started to journey using horses, donkeys, camels and even water buffalos. The distance did not matter although horses were more commonly used for long travels because of their speed. Land transportation soon saw another change. Mostly on horses, man decided to find a much easier way to bring their crops or goods. This brought about the development of rough sledges and sleds on snow. The rolling drag was used for regular ground. Logs were placed under a platform so that the platform moved along whenever the logs rolled. Later on, the log was sliced and a hole was carved out from its center. This was the called the wheel. The use of the wheel made transportation even faster and more convenient. It also made traveling more comfortable. Even before the beginning of the modern era, the wheel had given rise to carts, chariots, wagons, carriages and coaches. Carriages came with four wheels and a rounded top and were pulled by two or four horses. The decoration and the materials used in making the carriages defined what class of people used them. Even before domesticating animals, man had already developed a way to move on water. â€Å"The origin of the dugout boat is one of history’s great mysteries.† (The History) Later on, a piece of cloth was added to the boat and this was called a sail. In the 16th century, explorers and traders alike would spend a lot of time on the descendant of the simple boat. From the junks of the Chinese to the caravels of the Mediterranean and the caravels of the Europeans, men of the 16th century saw themselves moving across the seas aboard huge ships. The caravel was the most commonly used water vessel in the 16th century due to the fact that the built and strength met

Three Bases for Government Essay Example for Free

Three Bases for Government Essay In government, the Lao-tzu says, it is important that â€Å"the people be kept constantly without knowledge and without desires† (Blythe 1992). Not to be misconstrued as a kind of political technique designed to manipulate or coerce, this means that they be allowed â€Å"to safeguard their true nature.† Government must in the final analysis abide by naturalness and nonaction. The sage ruler naturally never puts himself first or claims credit for his accomplishments. Consequently, the people are not aware that he has brought order and well-being to the world, assuming that the good fortune they enjoy has come about spontaneously. Ultimately the ruler himself must embrace nonaction so as to establish a model to transform the people that is, to enable those under the spell of desires to reclaim their true nature. Specific policies or techniques of government are secondary and must be â€Å"forgotten† if nonaction were to be realized. Government by nonaction is not â€Å"mysterious,† however. It does not involve mystical or esoteric practices, but rests on the claim that the transforming power of Tao, defined in terms of naturalness and exemplified by the ideal sage-ruler, would spontaneously permeate the mind and heart of the people. There is perhaps a degree of optimism to this view, but one which to Wang Pi is well justified. This is because the all-encompassing order of tzu-jan extends to the sociopolitical level. The institution of family and state is not extrinsic to nature. More specifically, the hierarchical structure of sociopolitical institutions reflects the principles governing the Taoist world. This explains Lao-tzus claim that Taoist self-cultivation, which Wang Pi again relates to realizing ones true nature, has a direct impact on the well-being of the family and the country (Blythe 1992). In this light, such concepts as nonaction, quietude acquire a more concrete meaning. In the Ho-shang Kung commentary, these concepts are subsumed under the rubric of â€Å"securing the One† (shou-i). In the Lao-tzu itself, the expression â€Å"embrace the One† (pao-i) is used twice; but Ho-shang Kung prefers the word shou to emphasize the importance of â€Å"securing† what has been â€Å"embraced.† In other words, ideal government, both politically and with respect to the interior life, depends on the rulers ability to acquire and to maintain the â€Å"One,† and to guard against harmful influences. For the ideal but practical, new democratic state, Jefferson coined the word sociocracy. Jefferson’s ideal government is neither individualistic nor collectivist. It consists of a dictatorship of three wise men who represent the technological, the temporal, and the spiritual spheres. Final veto rests in the spiritual officer in whom alone are found wisdom, philosophy, and moral ends. The temporal power, however, acts according to the laws of nature expressed through the social forces, and is guided in all things by social science. Jefferson was fundamentally right in believing that unless sociologists controlled the state, the social problem would never be solved. The first step toward the ideal government, therefore, was to indicate just what the social sciences are, and what they have to contribute to the knowledge of human problems and social progress. Jefferson insisted that the present order is the result of defective knowledge, neglect of moral teaching, and of anarchical habits of egoistic living. To erect the ideal state, the temple of humanity, there must be a consensus of organized philosophy, reformed morality, and permanent nonsupernatural religion. Capital must be moralized, the marriage institution renovated, and every other institution spiritualized by the awakening of the sympathetic instincts enlisted in the service of humanity. To lead and control the positive state, Jefferson offered his philosophy of science which is a scheme of education, a method of government, a school of wisdom, and a form of religion— in brief, a synthesis of mind, feeling and action, crowned by the religion of humanity. Carter also defended his ideal government on the grounds of economic and ethical principles which are closely associated with ach other and with the political principles which formed the basis of the ideal government. His aim was to achieve political and social solidarity through an economic but ethical revolution which would make the introduction of the new order possible and which would sustain and reinforce it after it had been established. The underlying principles of his state are, therefore, as tightly interwoven and as interactive as his aims and this was as it should have been, for Carter regarded society as an organism of the whole-and it was for the achievement of a unified, harmonious whole that he sought a solution. Because of the doctrine of evolution, Carter believed that man could not be considered as an individual apart from his surroundings, for he was born into an environment from whose effects there could be no escape. The problem, therefore, was to adjust mans conduct to the social organism, the whole, of which he was a part or to adjust the social organism so that it would further right conduct and the achievement of action that would be for the good of the whole. Ethics, therefore, became a sociological search â€Å"for right conduct† which was to be defined as the â€Å"stable adjustment of the part to the whole† (Blythe 1992).    References Blythe, J. M. 1992. Ideal Government and the Mixed Constitution. Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press.

Ethics Of Should Abortion Be Legal Philosophy Essay

Ethics Of Should Abortion Be Legal Philosophy Essay Remember a long time ago when women died because they could not or did not want to have an infant and they attempted to terminate their pregnancy by themselves or with the help of other unprofessional? Should abortion be legal? Do you believe in Pro-Life or Pro-Choice? What do you do when circumstances come about that is not of your control or wiliness? I believe that both pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints have valid arguments.  These are the questions that we will examine briefly and what has happen since it became legal in the Roe vs. Wade Supreme Court decision case of 1973. It is important to know all that is involved with abortion before you can make a rational choice. It is not whether it should be legal, but when it should be allowed. Abortion allows women to have the choice and can save thousands of lives of women that have tried to do it on their own. I feel that it should be legal, but only to an extent. That is what pro-choice is all about. Pro-choice is the position that also is known as pro-abortion In the United States and in China, where law requires sometimes abortion and it is also known as anti-abortion. The purpose of the pro-choice movement is to ensure that all choices remain legal. The movement argues that a human person cannot be proven, prior to the point of viability and the government does not have the right to impede a womans right to decide whether to continue a pregnancy.(Head, 2010 )   Ã‚   I do not believe in permitting abortions after ten to twelve weeks of pregnancy, because at that time is when a fetus can represent potential life.   Now do not get me wrong, I still think that we should dissuaded women from abortion, and that we should be taking more measures to prevent unwanted pregnancies. Last year over 15,000, women had abortions because of rape, incest, health or just unwanted pregnancies. Most circumstances have come about that is not of your their own control or wiliness. It is because of the Roe vs. Wade case of 1973, states that a woman and her doctor can decide when and if to abort a pregnancy but only during the first trimester. After that, the government can restrict abortion to protect the viability of the fetus. This preserves our constitutional right under our privacy rights (Roe v. Wade , 1973). In addition, another thing we do not think about that how it affects by most of the population is the ignorance when it comes to a very serious illness of mental retardation. About three percent of the people that are considered as mentally retarded and some people have adopted many slang terms, one such as retard to insult them. A lot people do not understand about their mental disabilities and so this is their way of calling them stupid, but really, they are stupid within themselves because they do not understand. Mental retardation is a term used when someone has limitations in their mental functioning and these limitations cause a child to learn and develop slower than an ordinary individual or in some cases, dont develop at all (123HelpMe.com/76990, 2010). I believe in a combination of both pro-life and pro-choice viewpoints. This brings us to the pro-life choice that does not believe that the woman has any rights to have an abortion, no matter what the circumstances are. What they are saying is that they are taking away a womans right to freedom of choice.   A woman should have the right to choose if she wants to have an abortion. They do not think about the consequences of having a child that is not wanted or as some people call them forgotten children. Pro-Life says that the government has the right or the obligation to preserve all human life. In the Catholic Church and other similar groups also prohibits, Euthanasia and assisted suicide, the death penalty and War, with only a few exceptions. In cases where the pro-life ethnic conflicts with the personal autonomy, as in the cases of abortion and assisted suicide, it is conservative. In The cases of ethic, where the pro-life have conflicts with the government policy, as in the cas e of the death penalty and war, it is liberal(Head, 2010 ). Pro-lifers also do not believe in teaching sex education; where pro-choice believes that, we should educate our children on how to handle and in the consequences that fails with proceeding with their urges that they will have in their coming of age years. The primarily conflict of pro-life and pro-choice movements are on the issues of abortion. Pro-life argues that it protects the unborn human life by the government and should not be legal, also that it is murder to abort. Have you ever looked up the definition of murder? It states that when pro-life activists call abortion murder, they are suggesting that abortion fits the definition, namely, illegal killing with malice aforethought. However, this definition fails for two reasons. First, is that abortions are not illegal and secondly, mothers hardly feel malice towards their own unborn children (123HelpMe.com/9909, 2010). The Bible, especially in the Old Testament of Deuteronomy or Exodus, there are laws that command that people be killed for lots of ridiculous reasons. There are countless examples of mass murders commanded by God including the murder of women, infants, and children. The following are a very small amount of the passages approving of murder in the Bible. They are divided into three parts: 1) Capital Punishment Crimes, 2) Gods Murders for Stupid Reasons, 3) Murdering Children, and 4) Miscellaneous Murders. This list is long, but it barely scratches the surface of all the murders approved of in the Bible.(123HelpMe.com/78161, 2010) In conclusion, the arguments of the pro-choice and pro-life movements are both valid arguments, with the evidence that the Bible, with some exceptions, that every child should be born wanted, supports abortion. Under the right circumstances, abortion should be legal with the right medical care and in the proper time and way. Know body has the right to say in the case of a rape or incest whether you have to keep the unborn child. Alternatively, that the unborn child has to come into the world with this hanging over their head from the start. This was because of a malicious act was done and not of your own choice, but therefore neither you nor the child should be penalized for it. These happens so often in cases of pro-life and say for instance, a twelve year old girl is victim of rape that as a result of it becomes pregnant. This has already ruined that girl in the trauma that she has to overcome that has happen to them. Those circumstances is not written of the laws that prohibit abo rtions. Nor are the mothers that might die if they proceed with their pregnancies. Is that not taking one life for another? The only difference would be that one is breathing, where the other has not done so yet. In 1973 in a review of the CSA Discovery Guides, the Ragsdale litigation led a case to the most significant judicial ruling since Roe that resulted in a settlement in which plaintiffs secured the right to a legal clinic abortion during the first 18 weeks of pregnancy. Although, a similar law today might well survive constitutional scrutiny, the case was settled to the satisfaction of pro-choice advocates (Mezey, Susan Gluck; Tatalovich, Raymond; Walsh, Michael, 1994). This at least gives the child and us a chance to do what is best for all. We have enough forgotten children in the world that if we can prevent just one unhappy child or tormented soul, they will bless us all. I still believe the best way is to be careful in the first place and stop before we have to make the choice.

Factors Affecting Participation with Sustainability

Factors Affecting Participation with Sustainability Participation is an essential component of development and the degree of participation in development programs is a key determinant of success or failure. According to Bagherian et al. (2009) the activites and factors which contribute with success of particiption still unkown and remind a mystery. But some researchers and scholars studied peoples participation and affecting factors in development projects they found some key factors which affect people’s participation. There are a variety of factors affecting local participation in development programmes and projects such as economic, political, legislative, administrative, socio-cultural, and geographical factors. Furthermore, isolation and scattered habitat of the poor people; work load, especially for women, weak health condition, low level of education and exposure to non local information, weak leaders and lack of know-how to move in this direction in order to promote their interests. (Heck, 2003;Cohen Uphoff, 1980; UNDP , 2007; Oakley, 1991). Heck (2003) added some factors and constraints of implementing and support agencies: centralized planning, decision making and implementation, lack of skilled staff to promote participation and pressure from the side of implementing institution and supporting organizations to produce visible results quickly. Economic factors: Mohammad (2010) asserts that economic factors extremely affects peoples participation, which they are bound to live and adjusted. He added that socially poor, minorities and underprivileged communities rarely asked for participation in government lead programs and projects. For the best result, it could be crucial to consider and engage individuals and minorities from different levels in the leadership structure of the community. As Wall et al. (2005) cited that â€Å"Leaders must make every effort to recruit and involve people of both racial and ethnic diversity and with lower socioeconomic status as their interests and concerns should not be ignored† (155). Political factors: Political factors affect peoples participation in different ways. One of the main causes of apathetic situation of people participation in developing countries is political obstacle. Samad (2002) explained that beside of the socioeconomic stance, political background of stakeholders has been an influential factor in the form of participation consequence. He added that those stakeholders, who are politically, socially and economically dominate, for their own interest may frustrate the participation of others (cited in Mohammad, 2010). Heck (2003) stated that in number of countries the rural and urban elites influence the political and administrative structures to turn the policies in their favor. Socio-cultural factors: In some communities, culture directly affects people participation in development projects. Afghan community is one of them, which culture is a big challenge for minorities especially women’ participation. Likewise, Cohen and Uphoff (1980) hinted in their compressive model of people’s participation in rural development that culture is one of three big challenges which affect people’s participation in development initiatives. Beyond all these factors in some cases, people do not want to participate in development projects. For more effective participation some practical steps are very important which include: demanded-led idea for project or program, ensuring that the design is thought of as an investment in a successful outcome and thus given adequate time and other resources, the design incorporates specific activities and resources needed to implement participatory strategies, distinctly specifying the target group who and which groups to be participated and who will benefit, defining the type and level of participation to be achieved and selecting skilled team in participatory approaches (AusAID, 2010). Brahmi and Thakur (2011) undertook a study to find socio-economicfactors which affecting peoples participation in the Hariyali project in Himachal Pardesh, India. For study data were collected from 71 people who were involved in the project and 428 farmers through survey. The study findings showed total 22 factors noticed by respondents which affects people’s participation from these 22 factors 18 were socio-economic factors. The key factors were: lack of awareness about programmes, poor economic conditions, illiteracy, lack of faith in government programmes, village politics, subsidy culture, lack of exposure visits, low interest in money contribution, lack of demonstration and transparency. About 90 percent of the respondents perceived that lack of awareness (i.e. Knowledge of project concepts, objectives and their benefits, guidelines and responsibilities of the user group) were the most challenging factors. The study also revealed some program related factors such as lack of entry point activities, lack of flexibility in expenditure according to field conditions, variation in wage payments and lack of provision of advance payments. Similarly, Nxumalo and Oladele (2013) examined factors affecting farmers’ participation in agricultural program in Zululand district, South Africa. Three municipalities and 90 people were randomly selected. Data were collected through structured questionnaire, frequency count, percentages and the probit regression model were used for analysis. The study showed that farmers were inclined to participation, but luck of fund, unavailability of land, limited resources were major factors for participation. Bagherian et al. (2009) conducted a study to trace the factors which influencing local people’s participation in Watershed Management Programs (WMP) in Iran. Two hundred respondents were questioned through personal interview, correlation and multiple regression were employed for data analyses. The finding demonstrated that the level of people participation was moderate. Regression findings showed five factors had impact on the level of participation of people in this program. These factors were: level of people’s satisfaction of prior programs, people’s attitude toward WMP, people’s knowledge of WMP, their monthly income from alternative occupation and their expectations of WMP. Despite of many problems in Afghanistan two main obstacles have been encountered by National Solidarity Program (NSP) which highly effects people’s participation. First, security problems, due to ongoing conflict in some parts of the country, it has been difficult to contract facilitating people’s participation in such areas has been in danger. This has resulted in a slow pace of programme implementation. Second, local governments and elite of communities, in some regions have interfered in development projects which have brought obstacles for people’s participation (NSP, 2010). Dufour and Antezar (2003) carried out a research to analyze participation and consultation of affected populationin Nahrin district, Baghlan, Afghanistan. Data were collected from the local population, Afghan aid workers, international aid workers and the Afghan interim authorities. For data collection different tools were used such as interview with formal and informal focus groups, visits, participation in meetings, and review of secondary sources. The study showed some contextual factors, for instance security, geography, social characteristics, cultural factors and interference of local power holders. The key factors which affect sustainability have been grouped under nine main headings, namely: partner government and donor policies, local participation and ownership, management and organization, finance, awareness and training, technology, socio-culture, environment and external political and economical factors (AusAID, 2000). Sahee foundation[1](2008) conducted a study to find sustainability of rural development projects in Swaziland. Fifty six rural development projects were surveyed correlation had been tested, used the Kruskal-Wallis test and the Kendall Rank correlation. The findings revealed that the project is not an effortless way to earn wealth with little effort and input. People awareness about their responsibilities, working of knowledgeable persons hand to hand with other members of the project for achieving the common aim likely lead projects to sustainability. Furthermore, the study showed that cooperation between implementing NGOs, beneficiaries and local authorities were mostly satisfactory or even good. Despite of these positive points achieving stable membership was one of the big difficulties in most of the projects. In most cases the membership shrank until a small core group remained. Some projects ended because NGOs had stopped visiting projects after completion due to lack of fund a nd the beneficiaries had no possibility to improve their skills and develop their project. [1] Sahee: Sustainability for Agriculture, Health, Education and Environment (2008)

Character Analysis of Fluer Pillager Essay -- essays research papers

Fleur Pillager 1 Character Analysis of Fleur Pillager Fleur Pillage is the most extraordinary character in this story. She is not only physically powerful, but also spiritually strong. She is strong willed and resolute to live her life as she wants to. She never listens to the town or tribal gossip about her and let it repress her. People pretty much stay out of her way because she is extremely diverse. They are too afraid to try to understand her or get to know her. Her life force is drawn from the milieu. Her spirit seems to be analogous with nature. The immense energy of nature is a mystery and Fleur seems to have some power to control it, this also make her an ambiguity. The two traits that I most admire about her are the fact that she is an enigma and that she has a supernatural am...

The Mysterious Vanishing Frogs of North America Essay -- Environment E

The Mysterious Vanishing Frogs of North America I have a passion for all things slimy, wet, and creepy-crawly. Some of the best times of my life have been spent on my knees, digging in the dirt for earthworms, traipsing back from ponds with buckets of putrid swamp water teeming with tadpoles, or chasing fat little toads in knee-high grass. I love the outdoors and all of the ugly animals that inhabit it. I like to catch them, watch them, and – especially – photograph them. For the longest time, lizards have been the main focus of my photographic endeavors, but last summer, inspired by a book on frogs from the local library, I set out to document the lives of these often overlooked amphibians. I live in southern Florida near the Everglades, and I remember catching, mating, and raising dozens of frogs as a kid, so I didn’t expect to have to lug my tripod and lenses very far to find a suitable subject. But much to my dismay, I didn’t find a single frog in an entire afternoon of searching. In fact, in the ye ar and half since my initial search, I’ve seen only four frogs. I immediately assumed that pollution had decimated the populations of my favorite amphibian. I have no hard evidence, but I believe that this is a common belief shared by many fellow lay naturalists. This makes scientific sense; frogs spend most of their lives in water, have thin, easily permeable skin during all stages of their lives, and lay their gelatinous eggs in water. Pesticides and other pollutants accumulate in water, where they can easily diffuse into the thin skin of frogs. It all seems perfectly logical. The catch is, this perfectly logical and widely believed answer is probably false. While there are never any absolutes in ecology, there is a l... ...y/froglog/FROGLOG-24-4.html Explanation for Naturally Occurring Supernumerary Limbs in Amphibians Stanley K. Sessions and Stephen B. Ruth The Journal of Experimental Zoology 254:38-47 (1990). http://www.hartwick.edu/biology/def_frogs/trem/Sessions&Ruth.html Sessions’ research group’s web page http://www.hartwick.edu/biology/def_frogs/Introduction/Introduction.html Morphological Clues from Multilegged Frogs: Are Retinoids to Blame? Stanley K. Sessions, R. Adam Franssen, and Vanessa L. Horner Science 1999 April 30; 284: 800-802. (in Reports) http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/284/5415/800 University of Wisconsin BioLab http://bioweb.uwlax.edu/zoolab/Table_of_Contents/Lab-4a/Trematode_Life-Cycle/trematode_life-cycle.htm Stanley K. Sessions Science 1998 January 23; 279: 459 (in Letters)

Online Privacy as a Corporate Social Responsibility- an Empirical Study

Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 Online privacy as a corporate social responsibility: an empirical study Irene Pollach Aarhus School of Business, University of Aarhus, Aarhus, Denmark Information technology and the Internet have added a new stakeholder concern to the corporate social responsibility (CSR) agenda: online privacy. While theory suggests that online privacy is a CSR, only very few studies in the business ethics literature have connected these two.Based on a study of CSR disclosures, this article contributes to the existing literature by exploring whether and how the largest IT companies embrace online privacy as a CSR. The ? ndings indicate that only a small proportion of the companies have comprehensive privacy programs, although more than half of them voice moral or relational motives for addressing online privacy. The privacy measures they have taken are primarily compliance measures, while measures that stimulate a stakeholder dialogu e are rare.Overall, a wide variety of approaches to addressing privacy was found, which suggests that no institutionalization of privacy practices has taken place as yet. The study therefore indicates that online privacy is rather new on the CSR agenda, currently playing only a minor role. Introduction Since the 1990s, companies striving to be good corporate citizens have had to devise strategies to address issues such as pollution, energy use, waste production, animal testing, child labor, sweatshops, workforce diversity, or advertising to children.It has become a de-facto standard for very large corporations to publish social reports documenting how they address these issues in the marketplace, the workplace, the supply chain, and the community in order to ful? ll their role as good corporate citizens (Snider et al. 2003). The advent of the Internet has not only revolutionized many business models but has also rede? ned what it means to be a good corporate citizen (Post 2000), as most of the above issues are of little relevance to companies dealing with data and technology.One issue of public concern that has become highly relevant for IT companies is online privacy (De George 2000, Johnson 2006). doi: 10. 1111/j. 1467-8608. 2010. 01611. x Information privacy denotes an individual’s right to decide what information is made available to others (Westin 1967). Privacy is thus guaranteed only if individuals know that data are collected about them and if they have control over this data collection and the subsequent use of the data (Foxman & Kilcoyne 1993, Caudill & Murphy 2000). In the United States, privacy-related legislation exists only for health care, ? ancial services, and children on the Internet (Bowie & Jamal 2006), while many aspects of data collection and user control in electronic commerce are still unregulated (Fernback & Papacharissi 2007). Countries of the European Union, meanwhile, protect privacy more strictly (Baumer et al. 2004), which has proven to be a hurdle for US technology companies operating in Europe. In 2008, for example, technology giant Google encountered problems in several European countries with its data handling practices (O’Brien 2008).Despite legislative efforts in Europe, data privacy violations have occurred in a number of 88 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. , 9600 Garsington Road, Oxford, OX4 2DQ, UK and 350 Main St, Malden, MA 02148, USA Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 large organizations, including, for example, the largest German bank, DeutscheBank (Neate 2009), or T-Mobile UK (Wray 2009). The problems with privacy legislation are that it is dif? ult to identify violations of these laws and that the law may lag behind what is technologically feasible. For the above reasons, global companies have some discretion over how much privacy they grant users and how much they reveal about their data handlin g practices to their users. This discretion adds extra complexity to the moral issue of whether companies take advantage of their powerful position by collecting and using data from users to further their own business interests, for example by sending out unsolicited promotional e-mails or selling user data (Pollach 2005).The discretion companies can exercise when it comes to information privacy and the ethical implications of this discretion entail that information privacy is a question of corporate morality. While theoretical work on corporate social responsibility (CSR) suggests that privacy could be a meaningful addition to a corporate CSR program, little is known about corporate practices. This paper therefore sets out to explore whether and how companies whose core business is based on data and technology are embracing information privacy as a CSR. The ? dings suggest that information privacy is emerging as an element of CSR programs, but that there is a great deal of variety regarding the adoption of privacy as a CSR. The paper ? rst discusses the moral issues behind information privacy on the Internet, reviews the literature on corporate responses to people’s privacy concerns, and then looks at the literature on privacy as a CSR. After describing the sample and the methodology underlying this study, the results are presented and their implications are discussed. The ethics of information privacyThe very core of electronic and mobile commerce revolves around technology, digitization, and the exchange of information, which poses a number of ethical problems (Zonghao 2001). A particular challenge to information handling in electronic commerce is the trade-off between collecting data for the sake of transparency and not collecting data for the sake of privacy (Introna & Pouloudi 1999). Another challenge is the trade-off between collecting data for the sake of pro? ts and not collecting data for the sake of privacy.As commercial transactions on the I nternet or through mobile phones are commonly based on credit-card payments and the shipment of goods to the buyer’s home address, the balance is tipped towards the need for disclosure rather than the safeguard of privacy. However, companies collect not only personally identifying information (PII) from transactions but also collect PII when users register themselves, use online services, participate in sweepstakes or surveys, or send inquiries to the company. In addition to PII, companies collect anonymous click-stream 1/2 data and compile anonymous user pro? es when Internet users navigate the companies’ websites (Kelly & Rowland 2000). Through the collection of IP addresses, PII can also be combined with anonymous click-stream data in order to obtain very comprehensive user pro? les (Payne & Trumbach 2009). The easier access to and increased mobility of data have made information a commodity that is bought and sold by data brokers (Spinello 1998). It is therefore al so possible for companies to buy datasets of user information from data brokers and merge them with the data they have collected themselves.Companies may use the data they collect from customers and visitors on their websites merely to execute transactions, recognize users when they return to the site, and improve their website design based on users’ interests. But companies may equally use such data for purposes other than those they were collected for. For example, they may target banner ads at users, harass users with unsolicited commercial e-mails, or share this information with third parties (Han & Maclaurin 2002). A growing body of literature documents people’s concerns about privacy violations in online transactions (e. . Culnan & Armstrong 1999, Phelps et al. 2000, Sheehan 2002, Norberg & Horne 2007, Norberg et al. 2007). Essentially, these concerns stem from the imbalance in power between companies as data collectors and users as data providers. While companie s have superior knowledge of what user data are collected and how they are r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 89 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 handled, users may not even be aware that data are collected, let alone that they are combined into user pro? les. hus not suited to enhance user privacy or engender trust among Internet users. Corporate response to privacy At the turn of the century, some companies began to introduce chief privacy of? cers (Awazu & Desouza 2004). Their tasks include gathering information about social and legal aspects of privacy, devising the company’s privacy strategy, disseminating information about corporate data handling practices to internal and external stakeholders, and representing the company’s commitment to privacy (Kayworth et al. 2005). Another corporate response to information privacy is privacy policies posted on commercial websites (Sama & Sho af 2002).The original idea behind privacy policies on websites was that companies would disclose how they handle the data they collect from users, while users would carefully read through the explanation of the company’s data handling practices, understand their consequences, and then make an informed decision about divulging personal data or not (Ciocchetti 2007). In reality, privacy policies contain legalese, tech-speak, and other obfuscating language patterns that obscure questionable data handling practices (Pollach 2005, Fernback & Papacharissi 2007).Internet users have been found not to read privacy policies for the above reasons (Milne & Culnan 2004). Privacy policies are sometimes supplemented with privacy seals awarded by private-sector institutions (e. g. BBBOnline, TRUSTe, WebTrust) or accounting ? rms. These seals indicate that companies comply with responsible standards of data handling, as de? ned by the awarding institution (Smith & Rupp 2004). Consumers still have to read and understand the privacy policy, as the seal alone does not guarantee that the data handling practices of the company comply with an individual’s privacy preferences (Rifon et al. 2005).The problem with privacy seals is also that they do not effectively protect users from privacy breaches. The sealawarding institution may not know about a privacy breach or, if it does learn about it, can only revoke the seal, but has no means to help people regain lost privacy (Shapiro & Baker 2001). These measures are Information privacy as a CSR Carroll (1979) categorized corporate social responsibilities into economic, legal, ethical, and philanthropic responsibilities, arguing that making a pro? t is the quintessential responsibility of companies, together with their adherence to legal regulations. According to this classi? ation, information privacy can be categorized as an ethical responsibility, given that legislation is insuf? cient to govern corporate decision making i n all areas of data handling. This is elaborated on by Mintzberg (1983), who suggested that areas where CSR comes into play are those ‘where existing legislation needs compliance with its spirit as well as its letter [and] where the corporation can fool its customers or suppliers or the government through its superior knowledge’ (p. 12). If a company decides to address information privacy, it may not just do so because privacy is an ethical corporate responsibility. Rather, Aguilera et al. 2007) argue that companies accept responsibility for social issues for three different reasons: (1) moral reasons determined by morality-driven values; (2) relational reasons driven by the company’s concern about stakeholder relationships; and (3) instrumental reasons driven by corporate self-interest. Moral motives are enacted particularly by individuals with organizational decision-making power who have strong morality-based values. Relational motives are grounded in a compan y’s desire to promote and balance stakeholder interests, thereby building trust, maximizing stakeholder wealth, and gaining social legitimacy (Aguilera et al. 007). Instrumental approaches are self-interest driven, seeking to achieve greater competitiveness and protecting the corporate reputation (Aguilera et al. 2007). The latter approach corresponds to Jones’ (1995) argument that companies that manage to earn the trust of their stakeholders will be able to secure a competitive advantage through savings on monitoring costs, bonding costs, transaction costs, and search costs arising from managing the various corporate stakeholder groups. Instrumental motives 90 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 can also be driven by the desire to preempt costly government regulations (Aguilera et al. 2007). The strategy literature follows the instrumental approach to CS R, arguing that companies to which a particular responsibility is highly relevant can bene? t from integrating this responsibility into their overall strategies. Burke & Logsdon (1996) list the following conditions in order for CSR to bring strategic advantages to the ? rm: the chosen CSR issue is central to the company’s mission, is voluntarily embraced, brings bene? s to both the ? rm and to the public at large, is addressed in a proactive manner, and is visible to external stakeholders. It has also been argued that CSR initiatives can bring sustainable competitive advantages in the form of a ? rst-mover advantage (Lieberman & Montgomery 1998). However, for this advantage to emerge, the company must not only be the ? rst one to address a particular CSR comprehensively but must also continuously seek to enhance what it has achieved in order to secure this advantage (Tetrault Sirsly & Lamertz 2008).The strategy literature therefore suggests that companies in the information t echnology industry could bene? t from embracing online privacy as a CSR, especially if they make this commitment visible to external audiences. Although theory suggests that privacy could be a relevant CSR theme for particular companies, very few empirical studies have addressed the link between information privacy and CSR. They include Sharfman et al. ’s (2000) survey among managers on how important they consider a number of social issues, including the protection of privacy.However, in the exploratory factor analysis they conducted, privacy was eliminated from further analyses. Fukukawa & Moon (2004) included information privacy as an indicator of CSR in their study of CSR activities reported by companies in Japan. In addition, Chaudhri’s (2006) case study of global citizenship at Hewlett-Packard mentions privacy as one area the company has included in its CSR agenda. In previous theoretical work, Carroll (1998) has highlighted the protection of online privacy rights as one area where the law lags behind ethical thinking and morality comes into play.Finally, Post (2000) examined the changing role of corporate citizenship in the 21st century and pointed to customer privacy as a new issue of CSR. To date, there is no article that empirically studies in what ways information privacy is actually addressed as a CSR. Research design This study explores whether and how companies are embracing online privacy as a social responsibility, focusing on what measures they claim to have taken and how they communicate these to their external stakeholders in their CSR disclosures.In view of the lack of previous research in this area, this study is exploratory in nature. Accordingly, its goal is to identify the variety of corporate practices rather than to compare and contrast companies. The starting point for the analysis are the three processes of CSR included in Basu & Palazzo’s (2008) process model of sense-making: (1) the reasons a company states for engaging in speci? c CSR activities, (2) the kind of behavior a company displays to live up to its CSR commitments, and (3) the way in which a company regards its relationships with its stakeholders.This section ? rst describes the sample and the data and then goes on to explain the methodology that was applied to analyze the data. Sample The sample consists of the largest companies from IT-related industries, as they are most closely intertwined with information through the hardware, software, or services they provide. To them, information privacy could be a meaningful strategic element of their CSR programs in two different ways. First, they may embrace privacy as a social responsibility in the way they collect and use data.Second, technology does not just violate privacy, it can also enhance privacy. Accordingly, IT companies may engage in corporate social innovation and develop privacy-enhancing products or commit themselves to educating consumers about privacy protection. Clea rly, other large companies, such as retailers, operate online as well, but were not considered for this study, as data and information are not at the core of their activities. Large companies were chosen, as these companies are believed to serve as lead innovators in their industries. All IT-related companies from Europe 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 91 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 and the United States listed among the Fortune Global 500 and the ? rst 1,000 companies of the Forbes 2000 company rankings were included in the sample. Neither of the two rankings includes ‘information technology’ as an industry. Rather, both include a number of industries that deal with information and technology. These include Computer and Data Services, Computer Software, Computers & Of? e Equipment, Network and Other Communications Equipment, and Telecommunications from the Fortune Global 500 list and Software & Services, Technology Hardware & Equipment, and Telecommunications Services from the Forbes 2000 list. A few IT companies listed in these two rankings could not be included in the analysis, as they had been acquired by another company since the publication of the rankings. Also, the two rankings overlap to a substantial extent, so that the ? nal sample amounted to a total of 95 IT companies. On each company’s website, the CSR section was accessed.If there was no such section, sections dedicated to the company background, mission and values, or ethics were accessed. The goal was to download all texts pertaining at least loosely to CSR and, if available, the latest CSR report. An important criterion was that privacy-related information was collected only if it was framed as a CSR issue. Privacy policies, which are a standard element of every commercial website, were not collected, as their existence alone does not represent a commitment to social responsibility. Of the 95 companies in the initial sample, 30 companies mention privacy in their CSR discourse.The analysis is thus based on these companies (see Appendix A). Their texts range from 21 to 2,367 words in length. Methods This exploratory study draws on both a positivist approach and a constructivist approach in order to look at the data as holistically as possible (cf. Jick 1979). When studying textual data, the fundamental difference between the two traditions is that the positivist tradition sees language as a transmitter of information, while the social constructionist tradition holds that people consciously and unconsciously create social realities when they use language. Accordingly, the textual data were ? st studied using quantitative content analysis, which systematically records the frequency of particular content features. Because of its quantitative, systematic nature, content analysis de-contextualizes the words from the discourse that is examined and therefore has no mean s to interpret its ? ndings within a wider context. The ? ndings of the content analysis were therefore combined with a discourse analysis and are presented together. The combination of content analysis and discourse analysis has also been suggested by researchers in linguistics (van Dijk 1985, Herring 2004), sociology (Markoff et al. 974), and information systems (Trauth & Jessup 2000). In this study, the results of both analyses together provide a much richer picture of corporate practices than one analysis alone could furnish. This is important, given the absence of previous research on privacy and CSR. Content analysis systematically condenses texts into content categories by applying a coding scheme that produces quantitative indices of textual content (Krippendorff 1980, Weber 1985, Kolbe & Burnett 1991, Neuendorf 2002).The content analysis conducted as part of this study records in a systematic and exhaustive manner which companies in the sample have implemented which measure s to improve user privacy. The approach chosen for this analysis uses factual codes, which capture precisely de? ned facts, as opposed to thematic codes, which capture themes addressed in a prede? ned textual unit (Kelle & Laurie 1995). The factual codes pertain to privacy measures companies have actually taken, but exclude those that companies plan to implement in the future.With no existing coding scheme available, a preliminary coding scheme was developed from the data by examining the texts in the sample inductively (cf. Strauss & Corbin 1990) for measures that companies have taken to secure user privacy. Overall, 41 different measures were identi? ed. The measures were recorded dichotomously as being either present (1) or absent (0). They are listed in Table 2 together with the results. The qualitative approach chosen here was discourse analysis, following a social constructionist tradition, which views discourse as a social action that is shaped by and shapes the context in wh ich it occurs (van Dijk 1997a).Discourse analysis is a 92 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 method of textual analysis that focuses on how and why language is used in a particular way (van Dijk 1997b). It is based on the premise that people intentionally and unintentionally construct social realities when they engage in discourse. They use language in their roles as members of particular social groups, professions, institutions, or communities but also construct such roles when they use language in social situations (van Dijk 1997a).Similarly, organizational texts can be constructive and constitutive of realities just like text or speech of individuals (Fairclough 2005). Discourse analysis typically pays attention to language features such as repetitions, pronouns, passive voice, nominalizations, modal verbs, agent–patient relations in sentences, and attitudi nal lexis in order to study the roles assigned to the participants in the discourse, the power relations between them, and the foregrounding or the backgrounding of concepts and events.The discourse analysis conducted here examines how companies present themselves as responsible companies when it comes to privacy and data handling. Basu & Palazzo’s (2008) process model of CSR has guided the analysis and therefore also provides the structure of the results section. Accordingly, the results section starts with the companies’ reasons for including privacy in their CSR programs, then presents privacy measures companies have taken as part of their CSR initiatives, and ultimately studies the relationships with the various stakeholders that are affected by the company’s privacy practices.The reasons for including privacy and the stakeholder relationships are analyzed in the form of a discourse analysis. The analysis of the privacy measures is based on a content analysi s, but enhanced with qualitative insights, as needed. Aguilera et al. ’s (2007) classi? cation of moral, relational, and instrumental CSR motives. Table 1 shows this categorization together with the text passages where these motives were expressed.The moral motives found include the understanding that Internet users have privacy rights, which the company wants to observe, and the acknowledgement that the company has the responsibility to protect the data they gather from Internet users. Relational motives include the recognition that customers have a desire for privacy, which the company seeks to meet, and the expectation that privacy protection will help the company win customers’ trust. Ultimately, one company expects to bene? t from its privacy program in that it expects to gain a reputational advantage from privacy protection. CSR behaviorThe content analysis revealed 41 different measures companies had taken to support user privacy (see Table 2). They have been gr ouped into four categories, which are discussed below. One company has implemented 19 of these measures, and nine companies have implemented eight, nine, or 10 different measures. At the other end of the spectrum, there are two companies that have not implemented a single measure, but still talk about privacy in the context of CSR. Further, eight companies have implemented one or two measures, and nine companies have implemented between three and seven measures.Most commonly, a measure was taken by only one company (19 measures) or two companies (six measures). The measure taken most frequently was taken by 15 companies. Thus, there is a broad variety in how companies address privacy. It is also worth noting that it is not necessarily the biggest companies in the industry that have taken lead roles in protecting user privacy. When ranking all companies according to their ranks on the Forbes 2000 and the Fortune Global 500 lists, one can see that the company with the highest number o f privacy measures ranks among the top three on both the Forbes and the Fortune list.The other two companies among the top three in the Fortune and Forbes rankings have implemented only one and three measures, respectively. The three companies Results Reasons for privacy as CSR The texts were examined for indications of why the companies include privacy in their CSR programs. Only 13 companies voiced their motivation for engaging in privacy protection, presenting different reasons why they engage in CSR. The communicated motives have been grouped according to r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 3 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â ‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Table 1: Communicated motives for corporate privacy programs Motive Moral Explanation Three companies acknowledge that people have a right to privacy Quotations ‘To us, the right to privacy includes the right of individuals to have a voice in the use and dissemination of their personal information. ‘A person has the right to control what information about him or her is collected and to determine how that information is used. ’ ‘Con? dentiality and security of consumer data . . . are areas safeguarded by PT in order to respect the freedom and basic rights of each individual’ ‘We feel a strong responsibility to help ensure a safer, more enjoyable Internet, while addressing the challenges to privacy and security posed by today’s new media. ’ ‘Companies have a responsibility to ensure that the information they hold about their customers and employees is protected, stored, transferred, and used i n a responsible manner. ‘Microsoft takes seriously its responsibility to help address the security and privacy challenges of the information-based society, from viruses and spyware to spam and online identity theft. ’ ‘Respect for privacy is part of our commitment to observe high standards of integrity and ethical conduct in all our operations’ ‘Protecting our customers’ privacy is a priority. We understand and respect your desire to protect your personal information. ’ ‘The protection of personal information is a very high expectation among our customers, and to meet it, we . . .. ‘Externally, Sabre is committed to building customer relationships based on trust, and that includes recognizing the importance of protecting personal information. ’ ‘Consumer trust and con? dence is critical to Cisco’s business and to any technology and Internet-related business; as a result, the industry must protect citizensà ¢â‚¬â„¢ privacy. ’ ‘[We] have to acquire a ‘license to operate’ by conducting our business in a decent and responsible way. ’ ‘Security and reliability form the basis of Telekom Austria Group’s stable and successful customer relationships.The Group therefore gives top priority to protecting the integrity and con? dentiality of sensitive data. ’ ‘Main opportunities: Enhance customer and employee trust, . . . support brand/reputation. ’ Four companies hold that they have a responsibility to protect the data they gather from Internet users Relational Two companies recognize that customers have a desire for privacy that needs to be met Four companies view privacy protection as a means to winning customer trust InstrumentalOne company states that it expects to gain a reputational advantage from its privacy program †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. that have implemented the second highest number of privacy measures occupy ranks #77, #87, and #173 on the Fortune Global 500 list and ranks #49, #518, and #782 on the Forbes 2000 list, which indicates that it is not necessarily the biggest companies in the IT industries that embrace information privacy.An investigation of the relationship between the number of measures taken and length of the privacy text on the corporate website revealed a correlation of 0. 77. This suggests that text length is an indicator of how important the issue is to a company. At the same time, it also shows that the companies generally do not talk at length about privacy without having taken relevant measures. One category of measures pertains to the companies’ internal affairs. They address processes, employee conduct, and, to a small extent, suppliers.The measures mentioned most frequently are the 94 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Table 2: The content of corporate privacy programs Internal Physical protection of data Procedural/administrative protection of data Electronic/technical protection of data Privacy policy Privacy is part of the code of conduct Privacy of? e(r) Privacy board/working group Employee training Disciplinary action for employee misconduct Privacy newsletter for employees Employee monitoring Privacy included in employment contract Onl ine resources for employees Ethics hotline for privacy questions Internal privacy campaign Limited employee access to data Online reporting of privacy incidents Regular review of systems and processes Regular review of privacy policy Binding third parties to privacy agreements Reviewing third-party privacy practices Privacy newsletter for customers Guidance/information for consumers Resources for parental control & child safety Privacy e-mail address Integrating privacy into product development Privacy blog Involving stakeholders in design of privacy policy Supporting IS education at schools and universities Publishing privacy research papers Supporting law making Supporting industry self-regulation Working with industry Working with governments Working with NGOs, think tanks Political action committee (PAC) Compliance with laws Exceeding laws Compliance with Safe Harbor Compliance with GRI Privacy seal 6 2 3 15 8 7 3 9 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 3 1 5 3 5 2 1 10 5 2 8 1 1 1 1 2 1 5 6 10 1 11 1 4 1 4 79 External 30 Collaborations 25 Compliance 21 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. existence of a privacy policy and privacy training, privacy being part of the code of conduct, privacy of? cers, physical data protection, and regular review of systems and processes. All other measures taken internally were taken by one, two, or three companies each, for example measures encouraging employees to report privacy violations and to comply with relevant guidelines. Two different measures pertaining to suppliers or other third parties were identi? ed, namely that the company reviews privacy practices of those partners and that these outsiders are bound to a privacy agreement.The second category of measures contains those directed towards external stakeholders. They include r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 95 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 primarily guidance for consumers regarding Internet privacy. Five companies take measures that address parents’ concerns about their children’s privacy. In addition to providing information, companies also solicit consumer feedback on privacy matters. Two companies highlight that they have an e-mail address to which people can send privacy concerns and inquiries, and one company involves stakeholders in the design of its privacy policy.The inclusion of privacy considerations in product development was embraced by eight companies. Another group of measures pertain to the participation in industry initiatives and collaborations. Ten companies mention a variety of privacy forums, centers, associations, think tanks, and institutes in which they are involved, in cluding for example, the Electronic Privacy Group, the European Privacy Of? cers Forum, or the Liberty Alliance. Some of them also state that they cooperate with other companies and governments. However, the nature of this cooperation remains unclear, and in some places, the cooperating institutions are not even mentioned.Ultimately, a few US companies express their views on privacy legislation. As part of the measures they have taken, three companies take an active stance for either privacy legislation or self-regulation. Both of these viewpoints are visions at this point, as there is neither privacy legislation nor a functioning model of self-regulation in the United States. The two viewpoints are as follows: ‘We also believe that governments must ? nd improved ways to enforce laws against data breach, misuse and fraud, and help consumers pursue those who mishandle their personal information. . . . HP was one of the ? rst companies to embrace the idea of a comprehensive U. S . privacy law. ‘Because disparate and multiple privacy rules place a heavy burden on global companies, we support a model of industry self-regulation (as opposed to government intervention) in which innovative tools give consumers greater choice in both protecting their personal data and understanding how it may be collected and used. ’ they comply with all relevant privacy laws. As compliance with laws is a legal rather than an ethical responsibility according to Carroll’s (1979) classi? cation of corporate responsibilities, only going beyond the law can qualify as a CSR initiative. Dressing up a legal responsibility as an ethical responsibility casts doubt over the sincerity of these efforts.In fact, one of these 11 companies has implemented no other privacy measure apart from legal compliance. There is only one company that vows to exceed legal requirements: ‘HP is pioneering an approach to the protection and responsible use of personal information. This effort goes beyond compliance with the law. ’ Only a minority of companies have adopted the privacy standards of outside organizations, such as GRI or privacy seal programs. Stakeholder relationships The measures identi? ed above relate to a number of internal and external stakeholder groups, including employees, consumers, parents, industry, suppliers, governments, advocacy groups, and the community at large.However, the analysis of the measures does not reveal anything about the relationships with stakeholders, and in some cases, the stakeholder group to which a particular measure was addressed was not even mentioned. This section therefore focuses speci? cally on the stakeholder groups to which the companies express some form of consideration. This could be in the form of protection measures, information provision, cooperation, or merely by expressing an awareness of their stakes in privacy. In addition to an account of these overt commitments to stakeholders, a discourse analysis is used to uncover discursively constructed relationships with stakeholders. Table 3 lists the various stakeholder groups identi? d, together with their stake in privacy, the number of companies that made a commitment toward each stakeholder group, and an example of such a commitment. This table is different from the results presented in Table 2 in that it was not concrete actions that guided this analysis, but the awareness of stakeholder concerns. We ? nd that companies recognize primarily the stakes of their customers and employees, who exercise a direct and economic in? uence on the company and can therefore be labeled Even companies that do not take a stance on the legislation vs. self-regulation debate emphasize compliance with legislation. Eleven companies state that 96 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦.. Table 3: Addressing stakeholder concerns Stakeholder GroupStake # Primary Customers/ Protection of 25 Users their data Employees Suppliers/ Vendors Training Guidelines 14 6 Example ‘In order to help our customers address these issues, we have begun to develop guidance documents to help customers understand which parts of our technology may have privacy applications. ‘We work hard to ensure that Sun employees have the information they need to apply our privacy protection standards in their work. ’ ‘When it is necessary for business reasons to share a person’s information with third parties such as network service providers and marketing campaign partners, we work together to ensure that we main tain the highest privacy standards. ’ ‘We met with government of? cials and regulators in all regions to understand their concerns and initiatives and to help them fully appreciate the potential implications for privacy of new technologies. ’ ‘We are working with other industry participants . . . to develop solutions that help us reach both of these objectives. ‘In 2007, we formed our Stakeholder Advisory Council (SAC) comprising respected experts from a variety of nongovernmental organizations. ’ ‘Symantec is committed to helping parents keep their kids cybersafe. We believe that in the same way that we educate our children about the risks of drugs, smoking, or violence, it is critical that we educate them about the importance of safe computing. ’ ‘We tap this internal resource to offer programs that bene? t our local schools and communities. We are also in the process of implementing an employee-led education program. †™ Secondary Government Industry Advocacy groups Parents Compliance with laws; expertise in data handling Cooperation Cooperation 6 6 3 Protection of 5 their children’s data Expertise 1 Schools/ communities †¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦Ã¢â‚¬ ¦. ‘primary stakeholders’ according to Ansoff (1965). However, there are also companies that talk about privacy in a CSR context, but do not voice a commitment to these two primary stakeholder groups. Of the 30 companies, ? ve do not state that they do anything to improve the privacy situation of their customers and 16 do not make such a commitment toward their employees. Suppliers, who are also primary stakeholders, are addressed to a smaller extent. We can also see that the companies in the sample largely neglect their secondary stakeholders, i. e. those groups who do not directly in? uence a company’s core business (Ansoff 1965).Only a maximum of six companies interact with each secondary stakeholder group, such as parents or governments. On the surface, all companies studied engage in a discourse characterized by care and concern for privacy. In particular, emotion-laden words like help, understand, respect, concern, and safe abound across all texts studied. For example: ‘Protecting our customers’ privacy is a priority. We understand and respect your desire to protect your personal information. ’ ‘And as the 24 A 7 demands of the Internet Age threaten to overwhelm customers with complexity, they need trusted and reliable companies to help them make sense of technology and put it to use to make their lives better. ’The tone becomes even more concerned when companies address their relationship with parents and children: ‘We understand the responsibility and concern of parents who worry about their children’s exposure to inappropriate content and potentially dangerous interactions on the Web. ’ ‘Protecting our children . . . We believe that in the same way that we educate our children about the risks of drugs, smoking, or violence, it is critical r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. 97 Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 that we educate them about the importance of safe computing. ’ In the second example, the pronoun ‘we/our’ adds to the concerned tone by promoting a sense of collegiality and shared affection.The same is also achieved in other places, when companies use this inclusive form of ‘we’ to reduce the distance between themselves and their outside stakeholders: ‘Our individual sensitivities about how our information is tr eated . . . are not uniform’ or ‘Sun is committed to investigating and addressing the privacy challenges . . . associated with our increasingly digital way of life. ’ In such statements, companies reduce the power distance between themselves and their stakeholders. The inclusive ‘we’ is also an indicator of positive politeness (Brown & Levinson 1987), indicating how writers conceptualize their audiences and what kind of distance writers create between themselves and their audience.While some companies use the inclusive ‘we,’ others talk about companies in general, e. g. ‘all businesses are responsible for . . . ,’ which includes themselves only implicitly and distances themselves from these events. Mostly, though, companies make themselves the causal agents: ‘we must address these concerns by helping to protect . . .. ’ Notably, one company draws its audiences into the discourse by always addressing them directl y, e. g. ‘We understand and respect your desire to protect . . .. ’ All together, the different voices present in these texts suggest that companies have different levels of self-awareness and different understandings of their role in this process.Less variety exists in the distance to the audience, which is – apart from one exception – not explicitly present in the discourse. This suggests that companies do not consider their CSR activities to be dialogic in nature. Another kind of discourse is found in 10 of the companies’ texts studied. This discourse reveals that some companies are actually interested in ? nding a balance between users’ privacy interests and their own business interests rather than protecting privacy unconditionally. They seek to achieve a balance between customers’ privacy interests and ‘business priorities,’ ‘business requirements,’ ‘business needs,’ their ‘values,â₠¬â„¢ or their ‘ability . . . to reap the bene? ts of online interactions. Business interests are also communicated implicitly: ‘our goal is simple: to balance the interests and concerns of our customers’ private information with their interest in receiving quality service and information about useful new products. ’ Alternatively, one company mentions only one weight of the balance, without saying what the other weight is: ‘that we are striking the right balance for our customers’ and ‘to reach balanced results. ’ The discourse of balance is a manifestation of the companies’ power, given that it is they who decide when this balance is reached. Interestingly, this kind of discourse has nothing to do with the motivations they express.Two companies, for example, have voiced moral motives, but also engage in this discourse of balance, as does the one company that has indicated an instrumental motive. It is also worth noting that not a single European company in the sample engages in this discourse of balance. Discussion The literature review has highlighted that users are concerned about privacy and that companies do not respond in a manner that eases stakeholder concerns. The companies chosen for this study are all active in the hardware, software, or telecommunications industries, in which data play a crucial role. Thus, information privacy, and in particular online privacy, is a central issue in their business conduct.The content analysis has revealed that only a small proportion of the largest IT companies comprehensively address privacy as a social responsibility. In the sample, we ? nd both companies that have taken a number of relevant actions to address user privacy and companies that have only taken one or two concrete measures, but nevertheless present privacy as part of their CSR program. A substantial proportion of the measures they have taken fall into the area of compliance and employee condu ct (e. g. guidelines, policies, monitoring, and reporting), while measures that stimulate a stakeholder dialogue or represent corporate social innovation are found less frequently.Further, some companies reveal that they seek to strike a balance between their own business interests and their stakeholders’ privacy needs. The sample even contains companies that 98 r 2010 The Author Business Ethics: A European Review r 2010 Blackwell Publishing Ltd. Business Ethics: A European Review Volume 20 Number 1 January 2011 voice moral motives for framing online privacy as a CSR, while at the same time indicating that they are interested in striking a balance between users’ privacy interests and their own business interests. We have also seen that some of the privacy measures are actually intended to ful? ll legal responsibilities rather than ethical ones.Thus, some companies in the sample voice concerns and a commitment to help, but do not take privacy to the level of an ethical responsibility (cf. Carroll 1991). At the same time, companies load their privacy discourse with emotive terms suggesting concern, commitment, and a desire to help. While this kind of language is typical of CSR messages and can almost be expected (cf. Pollach 2003), it is still in contrast to the results of the content analysis, which has shown that comprehensive privacy programs are for the most part non-existent. The ? ndings also indicate that companies have chosen a wide variety of approaches to information privacy. In fact, many of the different measures denti? ed were taken by one, two, or three companies only. Thus, little mimicry and no institutionalized practices have emerged yet. In uncertain environments, companies have a tendency to model themselves after other companies that are more successful or more respected. This mimicry leads to institutionalized practices that help companies to obtain legitimacy (DiMaggio & Powell 1983). The environment in which the sample compan ies operate can be characterized as uncertain, as there is no comprehensive privacy legislation as yet and privacy is, to some extent, at each company’s discretion. For mimicry behavior to occur, it must be clear to the ? m that adopting a certain practice brings competitive advantages (DiMaggio & Powell 1983). In the case of privacy, an institutionalization of voluntary privacy practices could mean that privacy regulation is preempted. However, as not every company in the sample, and maybe in the industry as a whole, is pro self-regulation, some companies may decide not to adopt privacy practices voluntarily, despite the fact that they care about user privacy. Privacy may be on its way to mature from the ethics/compliance focus to a more responsive, proactive focus, but at the moment, it plays a minor role as a CSR. This point is also re? ected in the ? nding that companies address primarily consumer oncerns and step up employee training, while all other stakeholder groups i n privacy play a subordinate role. Companies may not have recognized the bene? ts to be gained from engaging with secondary stakeholder groups, e. g. from cooperating with industry partners. At the same time, companies may have been too occupied with implementing privacy standards internally, so that their privacy efforts do not involve secondary stakeholders as yet. These internal compliance measures are clearly the sine qua non for a company’s external privacy activities, such as participation in industry initiatives. This study is not without limitations. One clear limitation is that the data stem from corporate selfreports, which are problematic (cf.Podsakoff & Organ 1986) in that they are based on what the company reveals rather than what is actually true. This could mean that companies overstate their activities. At the same time, companies may not have mentioned the particular measures they have taken, because they did not consider them important enough. Also, the samp le size could have been larger, but the small sample size also serves to illustrate that privacy is just about to begin to play a role in CSR programs of technology-oriented companies. 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