Media Management Manual

 A HANDBOOK FOR TELEVISION AND RADIO PRACTITIONERS IN COUNTRIES-IN-TRANSITION Media Management Manual John Prescott Thomas A HANDBOOK FOR TELEVISION AND RADIO PRACTITIONERS IN COUNTRIES-IN-TRANSITION Media Management Manual John Prescott Thomas  Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual Media Management Manual A Handbook for television and radio parishioners in countries-in-transition By John Prescott Thomas  © UNESCO 2009 ISBN No. 978-81-89218-31-7 Printed by Macro Graphics Pvt. Ltd.Published by: Communication and Information Sector United Nations Educational Scientific & Cultural Organization UNESCO House B-5/29 Safdarjung Enclave New Delhi – 110 029 Tel : + 91 11 2671 3000 Fax : +91 11 26713001 /02 e-mail: [email  protected] org Disclaimer The designations employed and the presentation of material throughout this publication do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of UNESCO concerning the legal status of any country, territory, city or are a or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.The author is responsible for the choice and the presentation of the facts contained in this publication and for the opinions expressed therein, which are not necessarily those of the UNESCO and do not commit the organization.  Contents Chapters Foreword Introduction 1 What’s the media game? 2 What are the media for? Media legislation, regulation and governance 4 Management structures and organisation 5 Strategic planning and financial management 6 Programme planning and production 7 Resource planning and resource management 8 Editorial management 9 Managing people Conclusion Appendices A A code of editorial principles and practice B A line-management structure for a typical broadcasting organisation C A plan for restructuring a broadcasting organisation D A glossary of financial terms E A guide to allocating overhead costs to budget centres F A guide to the financial aspects of a business plan G A matrix for a risk-management strategy H An outline format for a programme proposal I An outline format for a programme budget J An outline format for a resources booking form K An outline format for a management information system report L A checklist for programme review of a news-magazine format M A form for the authorisation of covert recording N A format for a job description O A format for an appraisal and career-development form Case Studies Case-History 1: How enforced radical change transformed a strategic plan Case-History 2: How alternative thinking made a successful series possible Case-History 3: How television and radio can work in partnership Case-History 4: How investigative reporting served the public interest The author Page 6 7 9 12 18 31 46 59 70 76 84 89 90 98 100 105 106 108 114 116 118 120 122 124 125 126 128 130 134 136 137 138  Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual ForewordToday, Public Service Broadcasting, whether run by public organisatio ns or privatelyowned companies, is not only challenged by political interests, but also by increased competition from commercial media. The advent of the digital age has ushered in an array of commercial satellite-to-cable channels that threaten public service broadcasting audience loyalties. If viewers are to be retained, there is a pressing need for more dynamic and innovative public broadcasting. Free from political interference and pressure from commercial forces, Public Broadcasting’s only raison d’etre is public service. It speaks to everyone as a citizen. Public broadcasters encourage access to and participation in public life.They develop knowledge, broaden horizons and enable people to better understand themselves by better understanding the world around them. With its specific remit, which is essentially to operate independently of those holding economic and political power, public service broadcasting provides the whole of society with information, culture, education and entertainment; it enhances social, political and cultural citizenship and promotes social cohesion. In the past ten years, UNESCO has been actively engaged in exploring more deeply the concept of public service by specifying the functions, particularly in the fields of education, science and culture, which it is meant to perform, and the means required.Member States called upon the Organization to support public service radio and television broadcasting so that it can fulfill its cultural and educational mandate. UNESCO has continuously supported capacity-building of media professionals, responsible for production, and programming, particularly in issues related to editorial independence, ethical standards and effective and dynamic management. It is in this context, and upon the request of a great number of developing countries media managers, that UNESCO has initiated this handbook. The manual is designed with a specific focus on Public Service Broadcasting, but it co uld be used by every interested individual or media practitioner. It’s a straightforward guide that can help make a broadcaster’s programming more vibrant and engaging.It also offers advice to media executives on how to refine their management structures and practices, to keep their companies operating smoothly. What’s more, it provides practical tips on how to create sustainable financial plans which will help propel public service broadcasters into the future. We believe that this reference book can enhance both the economic and the civic competence of journalists and broadcasters. We hope that it will promote a free and pluralistic journalism and assist broadcasters’ companies in becoming more independent and sustainable; both of which are fundamental for modern democratic societies. Armoogum Parsuramen Director and UNESCO Representative to Bhutan, India, Maldives and Sri Lanka Introduction If you’re looking for a theoretical textbook full of t rendy management jargon – or for a technical buffs’ guide to the latest electronic wizardry – this isn’t it. Nor will it give you a universal blueprint for the ‘right answer’ or the ‘best method’ – panaceas for which I’m repeatedly asked at international conferences and seminars but which don’t, I’m afraid, exist. What it will provide is a repertoire of practical management tools – approaches, structures, systems and techniques – which have been proved to work in a variety of broadcasting contexts and which are particularly relevant to countries-intransition. For whom is it intended?Though it includes a chapter on media institutions and governance, it’s not primarily concerned with the constitutional and political aspects of media management, which are already wellcovered in many other publications. Rather, it’s a hands-on guide for senior and middle managers who want to see their operations flourish and succeed in a rapidly-changing and increasingly competitive environment. Its aim is to help them make the most effective use of whatever levels of resources, money and staff are available within their own organisations. Rich-country colleagues who are already into HDTV, multi-platform distribution, large-scale webcasting, podcasting, mobile reception, interactivity, ‘quadruple-play bundling’ and the rest may find some of it old hat to them.I can say only that more than twelve years of working with broadcasters in countriesin-transition – many of whom have no real tradition of pro-active management and would envy the resources you had decades ago – have shown that this is exactly the kind of practical guidance they want and need. That’s not, of course, to imply that the latest technologies should be inaccessible or irrelevant to countries-in-transition. Indeed, given the speed of change, some of them may be in a position to ‘skip a technological generation’ in broadcasting, just as they have in adopting mobile telephones ahead of land-lines. But the basic management principles in the manual apply to them too. I’m indebted to many organisations and individuals for their contribution to developing these ideas.To the BBC, of course, where I spent most of my working (and therefore my learning) life. To Westcountry Television, for the experience of starting-up from scratch a completely new and ground-breaking operation and for introducing me to the world of commercial broadcasting. To the Cabinet Office Top Management Programme and its remarkable tutors, for some revelatory insights into modern management principles and practice. To the Thomson Foundation, the British Council, the UK’s Department for International Development, the Council of Europe and the OSCE for opportunities to work with broadcasters and governments in some  Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual we nty countries-in-transition; their assignments have been the source of much of the material in this manual. To UNESCO for making the manual possible. And to the very many professional colleagues and friends with whom I’ve been privileged to bat around ideas and opinions over more than forty years. Particular acknowledgements are due to Dick Bates and Zofair Ammar for their input on financial management and to Phil Speight for his suggestions on editorial and production practice. If there are errors in the manual the fault is, of course, mine alone. The terminology I’ve used is generally that of British broadcasting conventions and practice. (‘Regional’, for instance, usually efers to regions within a country, rather than to wider geographical groupings of several countries – like the Middle East or the South Pacific. ) Where that might risk confusion, I’ve tried to clarify what’s intended. Because its operations are more complex, many of the illustrations are taken from television but the principles are manifestly equally applicable to radio. We’re facing an era of change on an unprecedented scale and at unprecedented speed. Let’s together ensure that the media lead the way down the road of management reform and progress. That way the development of broadcasting can also bring with it broadcasting for development.John Prescott Thomas Bristol 2009 9 1 What’s the Media Game? 10 Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual T he truth is that nobody really knows – yet. The only thing that’s absolutely certain is that the old certainties have gone for good. The BBC was designed in the 920s on the pattern of the British civil service to run a monopoly. If it had stayed that way, it would now be as dead as the dodo. As will be any broadcasting organisation which fails to adapt to the new media environment. (And, sadly, the dodo doesn’t even know that it’s extinct: none o f us gets to read our own obituary. ) There’s no market more dynamic and fast-moving than that of the media.New technologies – and convergence among existing ones – are causing monumental shifts both in consumer behaviour and in the potential for content providers and distributors. Some will emerge as big winners; but the actual take-up by consumers is by no means universally assured and is constantly changing. (Viewers with access to 24-hour television news services currently watch them for only nine minutes a day on average; in Britain, ITV has already closed down its rolling-news channel. ) As digital technology brings with it a previously unimaginable proliferation of media outlets, the audience share of any individual broadcaster must inexorably fall.The figures are already a fraction of what they were even ten years ago: programmes once watched by  or 20 million viewers are now lucky to attract five million and the figures are still falling. In fact, in this new media world, to speak of broadcasting in its traditional sense may become an anachronism. Though people are still spending a lot of time in front of their screens, they’re devoting much less of it to viewing broadcast schedules. In 2006, internet use in Britain exceeded broadcasttelevision viewing for the first time; at the time of writing, Google’s UK advertising revenue has already overtaken that of the terrestrial commercial television channels. So content providers are increasingly integrating terrestrial transmission with satellite, cable, broadband and telephony.And with print: the web-sites of newspapers are increasingly indistinguishable from those of broadcasters; which raises interesting questions for regulators in countries where, historically, the regulatory regimes for the two means of publishing are significantly different. For broadband distribution of similar content, which rules should apply? DVDs, video-on-demand, interactive channels and vid eo games are all transforming the traditional viewing experience. PVR (‘every viewer his or her own scheduler’) enables the audience to by-pass commercial breaks, with major consequences for conventional advertising revenue. With the spread of broadband, the internet is becoming a distribution network on a scale inconceivable when its only access was by slow and expensive dial-up links.Mobile reception is making significant inroads, suggesting that ‘place-shifting’ will be the next step-change beyond (now long-established) time-shifting: viewers will be able to watch their own television on a laptop or other device anywhere in the world via the internet. And the simplification – and the cheapness – of authoring equipment and software means that anyone can now shoot and edit their own material and blog and vlog it world-wide over the net. (You can already 11 buy an Apple PowerBook loaded with Final Cut Pro for less than ? 200. ) The use by the professional media of more and more so-called UGC (user-generated content), both on-screen and in print, suggests that the ‘citizen journalist’ is becoming a reality.We’re seeing a democratisation of the airwaves – a major shift from a channelbased to a network-based world, from ‘push’ to ‘pull’ consumption. That doesn’t mean, of course, that ‘linear’ broadcasting will disappear; indeed, it’s likely to remain the principal content-source for very many people. But it will have to learn how to co-exist with many other competing outlets and to survive with much-reduced audiences. In the face of this revolution, what can conventional broadcasters with limited resources do? The answer is: stop being conventional. Even if many of the new opportunities are not realistic options for you, get rid of outmoded ideas, dismantle old-fashioned structures, abandon bureaucratic procedures and build in flexibility and f ast-moving adaptability.And even if (or, rather, especially if) you’re a publicly-funded outfit, learn the cost-saving lessons of successful commercial operations and apply them internally. Get competitive by optimising operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness. That or, I’m afraid, wave goodbye to your audience. You don’t actually need state-of-the-art technology to do this, though of course it’s nice to have. Nor do you need to have mastered the works of the latest management-speak gurus. What you do need is a different way of looking at things and the will to put that new thinking into practice. That’s what this manual is all about. 12 Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual Whats the Media Game? 2 What are the Media for? 13 I you’re a commercial broadcaster, the obvious answer is to earn money for your shareholders. But it’s not as simple as that. Even if you’re commercially-funded, you may well have public-service obligations written into the terms of your broadcasting licence. And even if you’re state-funded, you may have to supplement your income from public money by raising commercial revenue from advertising or other sources. There are now very few public-service broadcasters which are financed wholly and solely from public funds; the BBC, Japan’s NHK and ABC in Australia are the only major ones. The first two funded by a licence fee and the third by a government grant.So, one way or another, you’re quite likely to be operating in a ‘mixed economy’. Where do you sit in that market? As the range of digital opportunities grows, the argument that the spectrum is a scarce resource requiring firm regulation becomes less sustainable (more on this in Chapter Three). So we’re likely to see commercial broadcasters acting more and more as dealers in a commodity and radio and television stations finding themselves free to adopt an engaged editorial line, as newspapers have done for decades. The first signs of these changes are already with us: Fox News is a strong example of the second, with an explicitly-declared political agenda; examples of the first can be found almost everywhere.But, in news at least, it seems likely that ‘due impartiality’ will continue to be a requirement for broadcasters which are publicly-funded. Of course, most countries-in-transition aren’t there yet. How might their media position themselves? Let’s start from first principles. Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 19 states: Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes the freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information through any media and regardless of frontiers. Very many countries have signed up to this declaration. So in how many of them is Article 9 observed?The answer is that only 20% of the world’s population live in such free-media societies. The ‘least free’ media environments are in Asia, where many governments see dissent and opposition as ‘not conducive to the general good’; in such countries We need to establish that free media are an essential element in civil society. That’s an idea which it’s still difficult to get past what we might call the ‘Ministry of Information mentality’. 1 Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual there’s a long way to go. But nor should western democracies feel complacent: in the 200 press-freedom league-table issued by Reporters Without Frontiers, while the Nordic nations led the field, Britain ranked 24th and the United States only 44th.We need to establish that free media are an essential element in civil society. That’s an idea which it’s still difficult to get past what we might call ‘the Ministry of Information mentality’. While governments will rightly have their own press and public relations operations, we should maintain that it’s not right for them to control directly – still less to monopolise – national broadcasting institutions. Even where they’re publiclyfunded, broadcasters should be free to treat information from government agencies exactly as they would treat information from any other source (with one or two exceptions, like dealing with national emergencies or natural disasters, which are considered in Chapter Three).Though western European nations haven’t, historically, been at all immune to the politicisation of broadcasting, the role of the media should nowhere be to act simply as a mouthpiece for the government of the day. Rather, their duty is disclosure in the public interest: the revealing of information and the holding to account of public institutions and individuals for their statements and actions. (Remember the old definition of news as ‘something that someone, somewhere, woul d rather you didn’t know’. ) It follows that public-service media should, overall, represent properly and fairly all voices in society. In particular, when a majority view has prevailed, they should be able to ensure that the views and interests of minorities are still safeguarded and find expression. Is this an utopian ideal? No – because it already exists in many countries.And because the ‘Ministry of Information’ model is becoming, in practice, less credible and sustainable almost by the week. Here are just five examples: n In an East Asian country, the authorities are anxious to ensure that the internet isn’t used to spread ‘incorrect’ ideas – so they apply filters in order to police web traffic. But inventive bloggers have got round this by devices such as spelling ‘democracy’ – a trigger-word – with a zero instead of an o. Anyone can read and understand it but the computer doesn’t re cognise it. This then becomes a cat-and-mouse game, with each side manoeuvring to keep one jump ahead of the other; information suppressed on one web-site also quickly pops up somewhere else. In an African country some years ago the government banned an issue of the major national newspaper which included an article critical of the authorities. This achieved little other than to make the government look foolish, because the article had already been published electronically and was available world-wide on the web. n In a country in the Caucasus, the state broadcaster made no mention for three days of a ferry disaster in which many had died. Meanwhile, everybody had heard about it on the grapevine and people were already demonstrating outside the ferry company’s headquarters, wanting to know what had happened to their relatives. (The demonstration wasn’t reported either. n In the Arabic-speaking world, some state broadcasters operate restrictive 1 regimes; but satellite broadcasting takes the independent voice of al-Jazeera to a television audience of many millions of their people in a common language. n In the former German Democratic Republic, long before satellite transmission was common, many television aerials in border areas were regularly swung towards the west to receive alternative sources of information and opinion. All this suggests that one of the best arguments for persuading politicians of the merits of free media is that imposing direct control doesn’t ultimately work. The sheer volume of web-traffic, for instance, will in the long term make it un-policeable.There are already more than 7 million servers in the world and that number is growing by a million a month; the world-wide web has 3,000 billion pages and another 2,000 are added every hour. China has already given up trying to control the Wikipedia web-site. Even where governments are rigorous in suppressing free expression, the idea that by doing so they control the w ay people think is often illusory. In the Soviet era, the two major state media mouthpieces were Izvestia (The News) and Pravda (The Truth). Among the Russian people, a well-known joke was that v Pravdye nye izvestia; v Izvestiye nye pravda: ‘There’s no news in The Truth and no truth in The News’.When people know that information is being suppressed or manipulated, they become contemptuous of the official media and find their own alternative sources and means of expression. And even when governments profess to act from the best of motives – maintaining national unity in the drive to development, for instance – the results can be counter- productive. The financial scandals of the 990s in South-east Asia showed how, far from protecting decent values, restrictive control of the media simply served to conceal massive corruption. If governments really want the media to be a tool for development, that should include being a tool for democracy.It’s therefore important for media practitioners to persuade politicians and officials that, in the modern global context, they have more to gain than to lose by promoting media freedom. Before 980 the Kenyan government tended to view the institutions of civil society more as competitors than as partners in development. There was deep suspicion of any organisation with the potential for developing an independent power-base – which included the media. The government was able to ensure that the population was only partially-informed by discouraging the coverage of civil action organisations: equipment would be confiscated, publishers would be detained and vital advertising revenue would dry up for fear of offending the authorities.But, as the country progressed from single-party rule to multi-party democracy, politicians began to accept that the state alone simply didn’t have the resources to deliver the development initiatives promised at independence. So the 989 Developm ent Plan finally acknowledged that non-state bodies had a part to play alongside government and that the role of the media was crucial in promoting the wider public interest. The lesson is clear. If a government imposes direct control on the media, then civil society will indeed become a rival rather than a partner; and the more restrictive 1 Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual the control, the more opposition elements will seek to exploit alternative outlets for their political advantage.Ultimately, governments are therefore better-served by public-service broadcasting which is firmly established outside the political arena. And, from the management point of view, it becomes increasingly difficult for a broadcaster to compete with rival outlets unless it has the credibility which comes from editorial independence. The experience of South Africa in 994 is perhaps the most positive recent example of a fundamental change in the government / media relationship. The South Afr ican Broadcasting Corporation, once an institution deployed explicitly in support of the nationalist government’s apartheid policies, was transformed into a force for democratic expression in which the broadcasters were given independent editorial responsibility.As one observer commented: For the tens of thousands who stayed glued to their screens for Election 94, the image of non-racial, non-sexist harmony and goodwill that was beamed into their living-rooms held out more hope for South Africa than many of the parties could offer. In Thailand, privately-owned newspapers gave crucial support to democracy in the free elections of 99 and went on to bring public opinion to bear on making politicians accountable and endorsing the rule of law. In 1996 the first non-government television station began broadcasting, with an emphasis on news and documentary output. Radio became even more daring in giving a voice to alternative views – to the extent that even the state media began to change. Sadly, such freeing-up of the media can be short-lived.In 1990, for the first time, two non-political appointments were made to the chairmanships of the state television and radio corporations of one central European country – and for two and a half years its broadcast media were actually among the most independent anywhere in Europe. It didn’t last: by 993 the government had won a ‘media war’ which removed their autonomy. It’s also ironical that, in the same country, some dissident publications which were actually tolerated in the later stages of communism have since been forced to close under the financial pressures of the new free-market economy. If the media lay claim to freedom of expression in the public interest, it follows that they must in turn conduct themselves ethically and responsibly if that reedom is to be justified (see Appendix A, Section 1). If they don’t, there will be many forces at large only too ready t o take their freedoms away. It’s also important to persuade politicians that media coverage is most effective when it starts from the audience’s point of view, not from the establishment’s. I was once in an Asian country when the government announced a plan to ensure that all its children should be immunised against polio – a marvellous initiative which deserved universal recognition. So how did the state broadcaster deal with it? By covering a press conference at which the minister extolled his government’s (admirable, I repeat) enlightenment.But what did the audience really need to know about the innovation? If you start from their point of view, you get quite a different order of priorities. What’s important to 1 them is: n The nature of the danger n What immunisation will do for your child n It’s universally available n It’s free n It’s safe n It’s painless (oral, not injection) n Here’s where to get i t. The Americans have a good term for this kind of information: news you can use. Politicians (who often don’t really understand how the media work) can be slow to realise that it’s an approach which would win them more accolades among their people than any amount of PR posturing.We practitioners need to work constantly to sell these messages. Whats the Media Game? 3 Media Legislation, Regulation & Governance 19 Media institutions Since the framework within which we work largely determines what we can and can’t achieve as managers, it’s worth considering the pros and cons of different systems. Designing a framework within which the media operate is a multi-layered process. Some elements will need to be specified in primary legislation; others may be delegated to an independent regulator with devolved statutory powers; media operators themselves will have their own internal codes of practice; and professional bodies may also endorse codes of ethics and sta ndards.One way or another, the framework needs to cover, essentially: n Media governance n The registration of media outlets n The licensing of media outlets (including licence fees) n The ownership of media outlets – particularly foreign- and cross-ownership n Licence award procedures n Licence compliance procedures n The regulation of media practice n Legal constraints on the disclosure of information be governed by regulatory codes which can be readily amended as circumstances change. An act of parliament, for instance, might establish the basic principle of observing acceptable standards of taste and decency but it’s the regulatory body’s code of practice which would interpret this broad intent in terms of the specific use of images, language or techniques. The regulator can then amend the rules in the light of experience without having to refer the matter back to government. Regulatory bodiesThis principle of regulation at arm’s-length from governmen t is also a safeguard against the media’s becoming a tool in the direct control of politicians: an aspect of the ‘separation of powers’ principle which is crucial in democracies. In Britain, politicians (of all parties) will from time to time fulminate against some perceived transgression by the BBC; but, historically, the minister responsible for broadcasting (again regardless of party) has always replied that the BBC is not a government agency, that he or she doesn’t exercise direct control over it and that the complainant should take the matter up with the BBC’s own (independent) Board of Governors. The Board of Governors has therefore acted as a ‘buffer’ between politicians and media practitioners: it has made the BBC a selfregulating body. In many parts of the world this is an alien concept.While working with British colleagues in one country-in-transition, we were told unequivocally by a minister that, if he’d had his way, we’d never have been invited to give advice: ‘I’d have chosen Primary legislation The media scene is developing at an extraordinary pace. Any system therefore needs to be flexible enough to accommodate rapid change without the need for the constant revision of primary legislation. So instruments such as broadcasting acts should do no more than establish the institutions and embody fundamental principles; their detailed application should 20 Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual someone from South-east Asia, where they know how to make the media serve the government’s interests. I also remember talking with the Minister of Information in a West African country who was under pressure from his fellow politicians to ‘stop the media doing what they’re doing’. With remarkable enlightenment – and bravery – he was trying to wean his colleagues away from the expectation of media manipulation and towards a culture in which th e government should expect to make its case to the people alongside alternative views. Sadly, he went in the next coup. A consultancy report on the state broadcaster in the same country showed how damaging political interference could be: Two factors are militating constantly against true professional independence: the formal relationship with the government and the limitations of resources, which are also funded by the government.These are having profound distorting effects, both editorially and financially. The country’s FM radio service is already proving an attractive vehicle for advertisers and has the potential to mitigate some of the financial problems. But government interference means that the organisation is not in full control of its own airwaves and cannot therefore plan its schedule for maximum audience-effectiveness. So, if there is a political requirement to carry at length a live event like a party rally, there are consequences both for the editorial balance o f the output and for revenueearning capacity. The regulatory system for commercial broadcasting is usually different from hat of the public services. In Britain, the government has delegated the overseeing of the industry to an independent regulatory institution – OFCOM, the Office for Communications, which governs the entire communications sector, including telephony and spectrum management (as does AGCOM in Italy) – with statutory powers to award broadcasting licences and to police the conduct of the operators. Again, regulation isn’t seen as a direct function of the state. But the British system is in the process of significant change. There has long been a view that it’s unacceptable for the Board of Governors both to govern the BBC and to sit in judgement on its performance.The BBC has therefore already been made answerable to OFCOM for a number of regulatory issues and that list is growing; the BBC has since re-constituted its Board of Governors as a more independent Trust. Many voices in the industry see this as no more than a holding measure and the beginning of the end of the Board of Governors concept. There are arguments that there should now be a single common regulator for all broadcasting outlets, whether publicly-funded or commercial, so that everybody is obliged to work to the same standards and be held to account in the same way. This would require the internal role of the BBC Governors to be fulfilled by non-executive directors sitting on a single corporation board, as with any other enterprise.That argument is becoming increasingly persuasive in a changing media world and this manual suggests that it offers a sound regulatory model which can be applied in most contexts. One of its advantages is that it can ensure equity of treatment for the three tiers of broadcasting – public, 21 commercial and community. (In South Africa, commercial and community broadcasters successfully lobbied the regulator to impose o n the SABC detailed public-service obligations which would reduce what they saw as unfair competition on their territory. ) Registration and licensing There can be no real objection to the principle of registering media outlets: the requirement to register a newspaper, for instance, can hardly be described as an interference with the freedom of the press.Indeed, it’s right that members of the public should be able to identify the owners and publishers of a newspaper – if only to know whom to sue if they think they’ve been mistreated in its pages. Registration is accepted pretty well universally. But it should be a right as well as a duty – not liable to refusal or withdrawal at the discretion of politicians or officials and not requiring periodic renewal. The licensing of newspapers is quite a different matter. Because it places the ultimate control of periodicals – and therefore of what they report and how they comment on it – in the hands of the licenser, it is indeed potentially a denial of press freedom.The only real purpose I can see for granting such licences is to have the power to revoke them and so, under that threat, to keep the media compliant and subdued. Because there’s no finite spectrum for the publishing of printed matter (as there is with broadcasting), the argument for ‘rationing’ a scarce resource isn’t sustainable. In fact, in most democracies, the licensing of printingpresses disappeared two hundred years ago. But in countries like Malaysia and Singapore the right to print newspapers and periodicals is still granted only by government permit – and the permit may be withdrawn if the government doesn’t like what the media are printing. Broadcasting does present a different case.We might say that a free press should be constrained only in the same way that a private citizen is constrained: by common laws governing issues such as libel, slander, contempt of cour t, trespass, copyright and so on. But the allocation of broadcasting frequencies is determined by international agreements among governments and it’s therefore not only reasonable but also essential for those governments to have mechanisms for controlling their domestic allocation. While, in principle, any citizen might have access to a printing-press, access to the airwaves still requires a ‘gatekeeper’. In a development context, the media have a vital role to play in educating the public, making people aware of their rights, encouraging participative democracy, exerting pressure for enlightened governance and exposing wrongdoing. 22Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual Though, as we’ve seen, digital technology is making a vast multiplicity of outlets technically possible, many economies will be unable to sustain unregulated commercial competition on a very large scale – certainly if there is to be any concern for diversity, quality and publ ic service. This has already been seen in some Balkan states, where political change was accompanied by a headlong rush to set up literally hundreds of commercial stations in countries with tiny populations and a very low GDP. Needless to say, the advertising market couldn’t support this volume of output and many of them didn’t last long.On the commercial front, there are those who argue that’s fine: a free market should indeed be left to find its own level. Few countries-in-transition are likely to agree that such an approach will meet the real needs of their people – particularly of the poor. In a development context, the media have a vital role to play in educating the public, making people aware of their rights, encouraging participative democracy, exerting pressure for enlightened governance and exposing wrongdoing. The development of regulatory and licensing systems in some countries of the former Yugoslavia was also able to mitigate tendencies to u se the airwaves to inflame ethnic hatred.Universality, independence and diversity are key to this concept of public service. Indeed, a colloquium conducted by the New Delhi Centre for Media Studies concluded that: The official media, increasingly market- and consumer-orientated, are out of tune with the values needed to promote broadbased human development. Development communication is most effective when practised as part of social action locally, rather than delivered top-down by media professionals. And here’s another quote from a media conference: The country needs a non-profit information consortium which would provide the kind of information that society needs but which commercial broadcasting is not providing †¦..The gaps which need to be filled are in education, public issues, culture, the arts and children’s programming. A contribution from a country in the developing world? No: in fact the views of an American delegate commenting on the media scene in th e United States. (There’s more about how to ensure you’re really in tune with your audience in Chapters Six and Eight. ) A market-driven commercial sector alone is therefore, for quite understandable reasons, unlikely to meet all the needs of a society, whether rich or developing. So it’s right that there should be a system for awarding broadcasting licences and ensuring that any public-service requirements in the terms of the licence are delivered.It should be clear that what’s being licensed is the provision of a specified service, not just the use of a specified frequency (though that service may, of course, be devoted entirely to sport or to entertainment, if that’s what you want; the classic definition of public-service broadcasting is, after all, that it should ‘inform, educate and entertain’). How should the licences be awarded? Not directly by a ministry, we should maintain, but by that independent regulatory body operating at arm’s-length from government. 23 In most contexts, a straightforward tendering system for granting licences will be perfectly appropriate; but the process must be open, transparent and representative of the public interest. It’s therefore also right that the terms of the licence should be properly demanding.We should expect them to include at least: n Commercial ownership of the broadcasting organisation n Frequencies allocated n Transmission coverage to be achieved n Technical standards n Nature of the service and minimum hours of transmission by programme category n Minimum percentage of locally-produced programming n Minimum percentage of programming commissioned from independent producers (if relevant) n Maximum minutes of advertising material per hour n Compliance with the regulatory codes of practice n Mechanisms for dealing with complaints For multiple-channel distributors such as cable companies there may also be what’s known as a ‘must-carryâ€⠄¢ requirement: that their ‘bundle’ of services must include certain specified channels.This is usually applied to ensure that there’s a free-to-air public-service element in the total offering. programmes and its treatment – it should always be a non-governmental body which is responsible for monitoring and judging performance. So, in most cases, it will make sense to entrust both kinds of activity to the same independent body. It’s important too that, as well as dealing with compliance and the ethical responsibilities of the media, the regulatory body may be given a duty to protect their freedoms and to speak out when they come under threat, from whatever source. Independent regulatory bodies How should such a body be set up and the members of its governing board appointed?Ultimately, even if indirectly, this is bound to be a function of government or, preferably, of some kind of cross-party mechanism. But there are ways of ensuring that the nomin ees are not just politicians’ cronies or political placemen. In some countries, vacancies on regulatory bodies have to be advertised and, in principle, anybody may apply and selection is overseen by an independent public appointments commission; that’s the UK’s system. In others, particular interest groups (industry, trade unions, religious bodies, arts organisations, the education sector and so on) may have the right to nominate candidates; that’s the case in Germany.And South African law requires the members of its Independent Communications Authority to have ‘suitable qualifications, expertise and experience in the fields of, among others, broadcasting and telecommunications policy, engineering, technology, frequency band planning, law, marketing, journalism, entertainment, education, economics, business practice and finance’. Compliance with licence terms In ensuring compliance, it may be that the quantitative aspects of the licence terms (the elements which can be measured objectively and aren’t matters of judgement – such as transmitter coverage, hours broadcast, percentage of local programming and so on) could be ensured by a government agency. But in qualitative matters – the content of 2 Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual A tall order, you may think.But even when the appointments have ultimately to be endorsed by a minister, such measures may at least ensure that the regulator is broadly representative of society in general. Under the South African system it is parliament, rather than the government, which oversees the appointments process. Appointments are also made on a rotating basis – so avoiding ‘clean-sweep’ change at politically sensitive times such as the run-up to elections – and the regulator’s independence is constitutionally assured; legislation limits ministerial powers to broad policy directives (which must be published) and exclude s any government involvement in particular licensing decisions.All of this challenges ‘the Ministry of Information mentality’. In other countries, even where the transplanting of patterns of parliamentary government and elections have established a formal framework of legitimacy – as in some South-east Asian countries – the habits and attitudes required for a healthy civic culture and true participatory democracy have often remained undeveloped. The regulatory body will, of course, also need a team of professional full-time staff to implement policy on the ground. They are likely to require regular reports and returns on quantitative compliance and may sample-monitor output or conduct spotchecks on qualitative matters, both editorial and technical.And there will usually be an annual assessment meeting at which the broadcaster will be held to account for its overall performance. responsibility not only for awarding licences but also for ensuring compliance with their terms. Unless with this responsibility comes the power to impose sanctions on transgressors, the regulator will be a toothless creature. The government should therefore also delegate to the regulator the power of applying sanctions: for instance, to admonish broadcasters, to require them to broadcast corrections and / or apologies, to fine them, to suspend their licences – or even ultimately to revoke a licence altogether. (A commercial broadcaster in Britain was once cautioned for a breach of the productplacement rules.A second flagrant violation of the code brought it a fine of ? 00,000. More recently, a broadcaster was fined more than ? 1 million for the fleecing of viewers during a phone-in competition. ) But the more extreme penalties should seldom, if ever, need to be invoked, if only because of the broadcasters’ instincts for self-preservation. The regulator will probably draw up more than one code with which broadcasters must comply if they’r e to retain their licences. There’s likely to be, for instance, a technical code and a code governing advertising practice. But the most vital will be the programme or editorial code, which embodies the rules by which the station’s day-to-day output will be judged.Provided that broadcasters have in place proper systems for ensuring compliance with the codes (such as the principle of ‘referring up’ – see page 82), they can be a powerful shield in the face of criticism, whether from governments or from other sources. Appendix A suggests how such a programme code might work. It’s not an example from any single source but a compilation and a distillation of sound principles from several Regulatory codes The regulatory body has devolved to it the 2 The regulatory body has devolved to it the responsibility not only for awarding licences but also for ensuring compliance with their terms. Unless with this responsibility comes the power to impose san ctions on transgressors, the regulator will be a toothless creature. contexts – both from regulatory instruments and from broadcasters’ own internal codes of practice.Nor is it a formula for universal application: any such code must be drawn up with proper sensitivity to the culture of local society. But it’s not a bad summary of the kind of standards to which we should, as professionals, aspire. The acknowledgement of cultural differences is essential – and this isn’t an issue only between (as it’s often now presented) the Muslim and the nonMuslim world. Western nations too have their own taboos and nuances of acceptability. American programmes have often to be adapted for transmission in Britain because of what’s seen as excessively violent content; on the other hand, American audiences tend to have a rather more prudish attitude to sexuallyexplicit content than do Europeans.In its coverage of a terrorist bomb incident, Italian tele vision felt able to show much more horrific illustration of the carnage than did British television – though both had access to exactly the same footage. At an educational television conference (admittedly some years ago now), the Danish delegation showed a teenage sexeducation programme which addressed menstruation in a frank and open way. The broadcasters from Southern Europe, including Bavaria – and also, interestingly, those from Israel – said at the time that it would be impossible for them to transmit such a programme to schools. Repeatedly, the model code emphasises the need to protect children from inappropriate, manipulative or potentially corrupting material.Some regulators aim to achieve this by imposing a mandatory ‘watershed’ in the schedule – a time (usually around 2:00) before which all broadcast material should be suitable for family viewing and listening but after which more ‘adult’ treatments are acceptable. Su ch a watershed is likely to be variable at times of rapid social change. Some would argue that, in the video age, it’s also become unrealistic. Many primary school teachers can tell horror-stories of how even very young children have been able to view at home material they would never be allowed to see in a cinema. Again, this is a matter which has to be resolved within the local context, with on-air warnings where appropriate. Editorial freedom and disclosure Day-to-day editorial management is covered  Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual in Chapter Eight. But there are two aspects with legal implications which we should consider here. The first is the disclosure by the media of ostensibly confidential information which they acquire through leaks. The model code in Appendix A makes it quite clear that leaking is generally done not by the media but to the media, often by politicians themselves (or by companies, or whatever) or by their representatives. Any entity wit h a vested interest may quite sensibly want to keep some of the information it possesses under wraps and to invoke sanctions against employees who leak it. But maintaining that ecurity is their responsibility, not the media’s. If such information should come the way of the media, it’s their role in civil society to disclose it for public consideration in the public interest (think of Watergate). This principle was well put by one of the most famous editors of The Times, John Thaddeus Delane, as long ago as 82: The first duty of the Press is to obtain the earliest and most correct intelligence of the events of the time and instantly, by disclosing them, make them the common property of the nation †¦.. The Press lives by disclosures; whatever passes into its keeping becomes a part of the knowledge and history of our times.In countries with strong freedomof-information laws, such as the Scandinavian countries, the United States, Australia and New Zealand, this prin ciple is clear and explicit and is a significant enabler of investigative journalism. On the other hand, a law such as Britain’s Official Secrets Act of 1914 (passed as a panic measure, with little debate, in the run-up to the First World War) made even the possession of restricted official information a criminal offence. Effectively, it allowed a journalist to be imprisoned simply for doing his or her job. That’s not, we should maintain, an appropriate use of the criminal law. The second issue is the protection of sources. In some countries (in Sweden, for example) media practitioners are protected by law from being compelled to reveal the sources of their information.But almost everywhere, even without such legal protection, they accept a moral and professional obligation not to disclose a source when they’ve given their word not to do so. Journalists have gone to prison rather than betray this confidentiality: in 2005 in the United States a federal judge jail ed Judith Miller for refusing to confirm the source of leaked information in the Plame case; in 2006 Lance Williams and Mark FainaruWada were sentenced to 8 months for contempt of court for a similar refusal in a case involving alleged drug-taking by professional athletes. Without that assurance – and the confidence that it will be honoured – much journalism in the public interest would be impossible.Lord Denning, when he was Britain’s most senior appeal-court judge, put it like this: If the press were compelled to disclose their sources they would soon be bereft of information which they ought to have. Their sources would dry up. Wrongdoing would not be disclosed †¦.. Unfairness would go unremedied †¦.. Misdeeds in the corridors of power – in companies or in government departments – would never be known. 2 (Please note that these are the words of a senior member of the judicial establishment, not of some wild-eyed, gung-ho media revolu tionary. ) The case-history on page 37 gives an example (from India) in which investigative journalism discovered serious criminal activity, exposed it in the public interest, enabled the criminals to be brought to justice and initiated significant improvements in health-safety practices. Media ownershipThe media are an industry and media development is a global phenomenon. Driven by technology and the market, media industries are everywhere proliferating, fragmenting, combining and diversifying. No country can insulate itself completely from these trends. And, indeed, foreign ownership can bring important inward investment to the country, in the media as in other fields. In some countries it may also provide some guarantee of media freedom. There can clearly be no universal formula for what degree of foreign ownership is acceptable or desirable but any limitation should certainly be included in the terms of the licence; 15% to 20% is a common figure.The terms should also ensure th at foreign ownership should not traduce the interests, culture and heritage of the host country. More than one government has sold off the seed-corn of its frequency spectrum to foreign providers, only to see the local audience sold short. When television was first launched in Fiji, the government granted the New Zealand company TVNZ a monopoly for twelve years of its only terrestrial channel. In a small developing country, the broadcaster’s rigorously commercial plan was, unsurprisingly, based on low capital investment, minimum operating expenditure and a high level of low-cost imported programming from Australia and New Zealand.Locallyproduced programming accounted for only 0% of the output and there was no adaptation even of international commercials for local audiences. There was nothing at all underhand in any of this: it was all clearly spelt out in the business plan which the government accepted, But local dissatisfaction with the service lasted for many years. Cross- media ownership is another matter. It would self-evidently be unhealthy for democratic pluralism if a single provider were to own, say, all the major newspapers and all the radio and television outlets in any country. Restrictions on such crossownership are clearly in the public interest and should be part of the terms of the licence; again, 20% is a common limitation.Indeed, there’s a good case for setting the permitted levels in the primary legislation. The funding of broadcasting This is another area in which the tectonic plates are shifting. Public-service broadcasting is generally funded through a statutory levy on households equipped to receive its transmissions. There are many ways of collecting this fee. In Britain, viewers have to purchase a licence by mail, at a post-office or on-line. They may pay it by instalments; but, if they own or rent a television set, they must have a licence even if they never watch the public-service channels it funds (the publicly-funded radio services are free). Not to pay is actually a criminal, not a civil, 2 Broadcasters’ Media Management Manual ffence. The licence fee is thus effectively a regressive poll-tax – though one to which, historically, there’s been little public resistance. That may soon change. Other countries use different methods of collection: in France it’s now added to the annual bill for local property taxes; in Macedonia it’s an addition to the monthly electricity bill. In other countries, as in Australia, it comes in the form of a government grant paid for through general taxation. In most countries public-service broadcasters are now subject to hybrid funding, whereby a proportion of their income comes from public sources but much of it has to be raised commercially.Hybrid funding can lead to tensions between public and purely commercial broadcasters when it leads the former to chase ratings and revenue at the latter’s expense: allegations of unfair ly-subsidised competition and a dilution of the public-service mission are very common. In the United States, the stations of the Public Service Broadcasting channel supplement their core income by seeking, through energetic on-air campaigns, free-will donations from the people of the communities they serve. Commercial broadcasting has a wider range of funding options. Historically, the most common source has been advertising revenue, derived from selling air-time for commercials in slots between and during programmes across the schedule.The proliferation of outlets is inevitably diluting this as a source of income. And, as technology enables viewers to ‘skip’ the commercials if they want to, it provides a less and less secure income stream. Another source is sponsorship, when an organisation pays to have its product or identity associated with a programme or with a broadcast event. Sponsorship too is going through a process of change. Whereas, in the past, it was regar ded almost as the equivalent of a donation, it’s now much more aggressively brand-orientated. In the future, as the market fragments, it’s likely to shift its emphasis even more closely to the individual consumer.An area of some controversy is product placement when, rather than buying advertising air-time, an advertiser pays to have the product included prominently within the editorial content of a programme; it’s long been an accepted practice in feature films. For years, ‘undue prominence’ of this kind has been prohibited by broadcasting regulators (and by self-regulating public-service broadcasters); but the new ability of viewers to evade the commercial breaks is making such placement an attractive alternative – and probably unstoppable, at least within fictional and entertainment formats. It should, however, have no place in news and current affairs programmes, where it would clearly jeopardise editorial independence. Then there is subs cription, where a viewer or listener pays a monthly fee for access to a specified ‘bundle’ of channels which are otherwise encrypted and so unobtainable.An alternative (or a supplement) is pay-perview, whereby the consumer accesses and pays for only the individual programmes he or she wants; this can also be used for video-on-demand services. And then there is the internet, initially used by broadcasters only as a supplementary service to their main channels but now increasingly a production and distribution medium in its 29 own right. As with newspaper web-sites, most internet broadcasting is still free to the consumer, as it’s seen as a spin-off from the core business – even if it costs the supplier a great deal of money. At present most providers mitigate those costs by selling advertising on the website but we may well see new kinds of subscription and pay-per-view extended to these services too.Nor should we forget the programmes themselves as sources of funding. Through co-production, several broadcasters may contribute to the production budget in return for the right to transmit the result. It gives the participants access to formats and scales of production they couldn’t individually afford. Programme sales of completed productions to other broadcasters can also provide a significant revenue stream for high-volume producers and there may also be a market for retail sales to the public of cassettes or DVDs. The use of premium telephone lines in audience-participation formats such as phone-ins can generate a useful supplement to mainstream income, as can SMS messaging.Small local stations may also compete – or even collaborate – with the local press in classified advertising (‘small-ads. ’). Where programmes – particularly longrunning series – attract large audiences, merchandising can be a significant revenue-earner. Apart from recordings of the programmes themselves, spin-off pr oducts such as tie-in books, toys and games can thrive on the publicity generated by the original broadcasts. Branded products promoting the identity of a broadcaster or a channel can also increase consumer awareness, particularly if they are distributed as part of a presence at public events. The governance of media organisationsIf we assume a single, common regulatory body for all broadcasting (see page 20), there’s no reason why public-service and commercial broadcasters shouldn’t also adopt a common kind of corporate structure, based on normal company practice. This requires that there should be a board of directors and an executive (or board of management). A public-service broadcaster will usually operate under some form of charter and licence; a commercial company will have its own memorandum and articles of association within which the board must operate. The directors effectively constitute the company and are legally responsible for its conduct. They approve its strategy, assure its financial viability, oversee the work of the executive and are answerable to stakeholders for the company’s performance; but their role is essentially to set policy, not to micro-manage the operation.In the case of a commercial company, their prime responsibility is to the shareholders who have funded the company and who expect a return on their investment; in the case of a public-service operator, it’s to th

Ethical System Table

Directions: 1. Fill in brief definitions of each primary ethical theory. 2. Identify alternate names or variations of each ethical system based on your reading of the text and supplemental materials. Match the real-world examples listed below with the corresponding systems. The first one has been completed for you in the table. a. I believe people should be able to eat sand if they like the taste of it. b. I believe that if sand is going to be eaten, it should be available for everyone to eat. c. I believe people should be able to eat sand because it is the right thing to do. . I believe people should be able to eat sand because it is good for one’s health. e. I believe people should be able to eat sand if they decide they want to, regardless of whether it is someone else’s sand. f. I believe people should be able to eat sand if they want to because they are free to make the decision themselves. g. I believe I will eat sand because it is the standard meal for my communi ty. 3. Develop your own workplace example that fits with each system. Present each workplace scenario in a substantial paragraph of approximately 40 words. Although the table field will expand to accommodate your workplace examples, you may list them at the end of the table; make a note in the table to see the attached examples, however, so your facilitator knows to look for scenarios below the table. 4. Format references according to APA standards and include them after the table. |Ethical Theory or |Brief Definition |Other Names for Theory |Real-world Example|Workplace Example | |System | | | | | Duty-based Ethics |Regardless of consequences, |Deontology, pluralism, |C |It is my duty to follow through with | | |certain moral principles are |moral rights, rights-based|I believe people |instructions my boss gives me, even if I | | |binding, focusing on duty rather | |should be able to |do not agree with the concept. It is my | | |than results or moral obligation |Categorical imperative |eat sand because |moral obligation to respect authority | | |over what the individual would | |it is the right |figures. | | |prefer to do (Trevino & Nelson, |Golden rule |thing to do. | | | |2007, Ch. 4). | | | | | | | | | | |In ethics, deontological ethics, | | | | | |or deontology (Greek: deon meaning| | | | | |obligation or duty), is a theory | | | | | |holding that decisions should be | | | | | |made solely or primarily by | | | | | |considering one's duties and the | | | | | |rights of others. Some systems are| | | | | |based on biblical or tenets from | | | | | |sacred. | | | | |Consequence-based |â€Å"†¦an ethical decision should |Consequentialist Theories |B | | |Ethics |maximize benefits to society and | |I believe that if |I know that we signed a contract for a big| | |minimize harms. What matters is |Utilitarianism |sand is going to |new client but we can’t announce it until | | |the net balance of good | |be eaten, it |next month. The benefits to morale of the | | |consequences over bad† (Trevino & | |should be |company and employees outweigh the | | |Nelson, 2007, Ch. 4). | |available for |consequences of making an early | | | | |everyone to eat. |announcement. I should make the | | | | | |announcement. |Rights-based Ethics |Rights are considered to be |Contractarianism |A | | | |ethically correct and valid since |Social Contract |I believe people |Employees have the right to expect a safe | | |a large or ruling population | |should be able to |working environment since that is part of | | |endorses them (Ridley, 1998). | |eat sand if they |the social contract in modern America. | | | | |like the taste of | | | | | |it. | |Human Nature Ethics |Ethical values that are hard coded| |D | | | |into people as being part of the |â€Å"Common Courtesyâ₠¬  |I believe people |A co-worker has the need to switch shifts | | |human race. Natural tendencies | |should be able to |to care for a sick family member. If the | | |instead of man-made law for making| |eat sand because |other individual doesn’t have a pressing | | |decisions. | |it is good for |engagement it would be nice to switch the | | | | |one’s health. |shift and help them out. | | | | | | |Relativistic Ethics |Moral disagreements are caused by |Moral Relativism |F | | | |the fact that everyone in theory | |I believe people |Based on the position someone has in a | | |is right in their own way. |â€Å"When in Rome, do as the |should be able to |company it may not be appropriate for them| | |Individuals only have to be true |Romans do. |eat sand if they |to have visible piercings or tattoos when | | |to themselves and no one else. | |want to because |a more professional demeanor needs to be | | | | |they are free to |maintained. Others may be able to since it | | | | |make the decision |doesn’t affect their performance or the | | | | |themselves. |company image in their position. | | | | | | |Entitlement-based | | |E | | |Ethics | | |I believe people | | | | | |should be able to | | | | | |eat sand if they | | | | | |decide they want | | | | | |to, regardless of | | | | | |whether it is | | | | | |someone else’s | | | | | |sand. | |Virtue-based ethics | | | | | | |The virtue ethics approach focuses|Community ethics, |G |The quality control team in our company | | |more on the integrity of the moral|professional |I believe I will |has to carry food handlers and safety | | |actor than on the moral act |responsibility |eat sand because |cards. I should be able to trust that food| | |itself. In virtue ethics, |The Disclosure Rule |it is the standard|provided as sample meets the standards of | | |character is very much defined by | |meal for my |the guidelines that they accepted when | | |one’s community (Trevino & Nelson,| |community. |getting that certification. | | |2007, Ch. 4). | | | | Reference Trevino, L. K. , & Nelson, K. A. (2007). Managing business ethics: Straight talk about how to do it right (4th ed. ). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley. Ridley, Aaron. (1998). Beginning Bioethics. New York: St. Martin's Press.

Criminal Behavior and Policing in America Essay

Criminal Behavior and Policing in America - Essay Example The definition of criminal behavior also changes with place. In some countries of the world, drugs such as marijuana are outlawed, and possession or use brings serious consequences. In other countries, the drug is sold and used openly. In the United States, California, Alaska, Colorado, Hawaii, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington state all allow the use of medical marijuana, although it is explicitly prohibited by federal law. Recently, a San Francisco Circuit Court of Appeals judge ruled that states can make their own medical marijuana laws, as long as the commerce does not involve any other state.  While ideas about the definition of criminal behavior in a time and place influence policing, political values and social conditions also shape our ideas about policing. Ebbe (2000) suggests that each country forms its ideas about policing based on custom and tradition, historical experience, and international events. America is customarily focused on traditions of individual freedom â€⠀œ but we surrender much of that freedom to policing agencies when serious domestic or international events pose a danger to our collective good. In fact, we are willing to surrender our – and our fellows’ – rights to amazing capacities. In American history, we can look to the Alien and Sedition Acts, the Schenck decision, the interment of Americans of Japanese ancestry during World War II, the House Un-American Activities Committee, and the Patriot Act. The notion that it is acceptable to surrender more authority. to policing agencies is well-chronicled and accepted in our nation’s history. Our history also shows periods of real isolationist sentiment that is

Movie Review Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 4

Movie Review - Essay Example At the immigration desk, he meets an officer whom they converse. Ibrahim tells him of miseries he has underwent to get there and the officer stamp Ibrahim papers and reveal to him he has arrived in a nice city. This was on the tenth September 2001 a day before attacks happens. The Citizen is based on true story of what happened in the 9/11 to Arabs and Arab Americans immigrants. This movie tells of a story of being the wrong person in the wrong place and time. Although Ibrahim makes it through he had undergone many challenges and struggle as he attempts to become a good citizen Series of problem sets in the life of Ibrahim. His cousin who was to pick him at the airport fails to do so but this does not worry him a lot. Some hours later Ibrahim meets Diane lovely American woman whom they become friends. Both Ibrahim and Diane check in to Brooklyn hotel, the same hotel which Diane junky boyfriend has moved out to berserk her. Bad luck seems to keep following Ibrahim even in his new country. From his hotel that morning when he wakes up, he is shocked by what he sees and he is disturbed when he strolls that afternoon. Later that evening as Ibrahim returns to the hotel he is arrested by the FBI, interrogate and jailed. He is not permitted to contact by anybody from the outside world and is told that terrorist cannot get lawyers by a government agent who is convinced that Ibrahim’s travel history is tied to the attack. He is then released after six months, which he finds the outside world to be discriminative to the Arabs and Muslims. This is evident durin g his search for work where Arabs were to change their names to be employed (Stein 6). However, Ibrahim meets Diane again, finds a job as English teacher, and tries to live as a good citizen who has positive intentions. On the eve of him getting citizenship, he is notified that he is going to be deported because his name is the same as one

Bill Clinton and Globalization Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Bill Clinton and Globalization - Research Paper Example Clinton’s main focus was on handling the instability across the world through globalization. The other factors among the list of priorities were innovation and technology, decision making and finance. Integration of the world economy has been one of the prime concerns of Clinton. But the concept of transformation of the globalization into a unified and homogenous structure driven by free trade and capitalism was confronted with serious opposition also. It was said that the entire world has not been able to benefit from globalization and bringing the civil society in the scene was the only way of dealing with the problems. The project tries to bring forth the steps taken by Clinton in initiating outsourcing as a major step towards globalization (Weier-a, 2008). Bill Clinton chaired the â€Å"Global Fairness Initiative (GFI)† (Global Fairness Initiative, 2003, p.1) which was an organization created to introduce and enhance free trade which would simultaneously preserve th e labor, environmental and human rights standards in the world. The promise made by Clinton was to implement responsible investment and trade which would create economic opportunities and jobs across the world and would lead to the improvement of millions of lives while protecting the human rights, environmental and labor standards (Global Fairness Initiative, 2003, p.1). The promotion of outsourcing was one of the major steps towards globalization by Clinton. Outsourcing was considered to be inherent to free trade. Outsourcing was considered to be a new variant and a budget balancing tool which required farming out whenever possible. Clinton recognized that outsourcing would allow firms to provide service at a low cost at a higher quality that which the Government would produce. In the recent years outsourcing has evolved as a positive business evolution which moved towards flexibility and nimbleness Bill Clinton and Globalization It was Bill Clinton’s assumption that global ization was something inevitable. He encouraged the concept of free trade which was a major step towards globalization. He believed that low process would lead to low prices, increased exports and this would eventually build a stronger economy. â€Å"The economic benefits of the tariff reductions we negotiated during the Clinton administration represent the largest tax cut in the history of the world† (Klein, 2003). In 1998, the economic transition which he had predicted long back was actually taking place. The economy was appearing and functioning in such a way that seemed to be beyond imagination few years back. Unemployment rates were falling significantly and the inflation rates seemed to remain at historically low rates. Prosperity was appearing and increasing at all levels of income. The average household income increased by an amount of 35% during the span of eight years that Clinton has remained in office. Technology had changed the conventional notions of time, space and borders. Globalization was able to change the traditional and regular routines of the middle class family. This was a significant transformation according to Clinton (Klein, 2003). He said the globalization would yield a global economy which would have profound effects on workers, their works and their wages. It would

Enabling healthcare through ICT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 8

Enabling healthcare through ICT - Assignment Example In addition, one can tell whether the information is valid and accurate by checking whether there is supporting evidence from scientific studies (Kuo, et al, 2013). However, the surest way is by seeking health officer’s advice on such information. They are better placed to pinpoint accurate and inaccurate information. Â  Community resources are funded by people in a particular local area. The main purpose of such resources is to improve standards of living rather than waiting for the federal and state programs. Most of the community resources entail the provision of services in healthcare and education. However, the state and federal governments are required to offer these services to the community. For instance, federal resources include those that are basic to the community. Programs such as Medicaid and Medicare as well as supporting and funding other programs fall under the federal government. This is aimed at bringing services closer to the people. Nevertheless, the state is accorded greater authority of the federal funding in order to monitor and regulate federal governments spending.

Vincent van Gogh Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Vincent van Gogh - Essay Example Vincent van Gogh lived in the period 1853-1890 and died after shooting himself in the chest at the young age of 37. In spite of the fact that he was a late starter (as aforementioned, he commenced his career as an artist at the age of 27), he was highly prolific and produced more than 2000 paintings in the last 10 years of his life. The style of Vincent van Gogh is very unique but it can be best described as post-impressionist [3]. This style was initiated as an extension of impressionism but, at the same time, a rebellion against its limitations. The use of vibrant colors, thick brushstrokes and real-life subjects were features shared with impressionism. Conversely, the emphasis of geometric forms, the distortion of reality to create an emotional effect and the unnatural use of color were novel and innovative features that allowed the subsequent development of this style into expressionism, of which van Gogh was a pioneer [4, 5]. "Looking at the stars always makes me dream . Why, I ask myself, shouldn't the shining dots of the sky be as accessible as the black dots on the map of France ...., we take death to reach a star" [5]. It was perhaps this kind of thought that urged van Gogh to paint "the Starry Night" (Saint Rmy, June 1889), one of his most iconic paintings. It is oil on canvas and it is currently housed (since 1941 it is part of the permanent collection) in the Museum of Modern Art of New York (New York, USA) [5]. The tree in the painting is a cypress, a species generally associated with cemeteries and mourning. It is in the shape of a flame and helps connect heaven, represented by a lively, striking and vibrant sky, with earth, represented by the little village at the bottom of the painting. At the same time, the village identifies order, while the stars in the sky are a explosion of colour and energy. Although some critics maintain that the village depicted in the painting is not real, others believe it represents views of Saint Rmy (Provence, France) from the neighbourhood of the asylum Van Gogh was confined to at the time the painting was made. This period is often referred to as "the Saint Rmy period". It is characterised by the use of thick, sweeping brushstrokes to create a sea of swirls and spirals, which revealed the mental turmoil he was suffering. The mental hospital was housed in a former monastery a mile and a half out of town, in a area of cornfields, olive trees and vineyards. His time at the hospital gave him the opportunity to reflect about his childhood and the values and beliefs from this time of his life. The church spire is an addition that is believed to be a reference to his childhood and his native land, the Netherlands [6]. The painting favours feeling, emotion and energy and puts aside the impressionist doctrine of truth to nature. However, Van Gogh was never very happy with the painting as he considered it a study, not a finished piece. As he

Ethics Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 9

Ethics - Assignment Example vices to the communities where they have little access to health care by creating awareness campaigns whole sole mission will be to teach the community on regular medical check-up and the emerging issues in the health care system. 6. To give the patients the best medical attention by having good interpersonal skills where the patients will be free to state their problems without the fear of being discriminated. This will increase the opportunity of having a good patient-doctor relationship. Achieving these goals is critical for the profession in the sense that, it is important to abide by the code of ethics to ensure that there is no conflict of interest between the patient and the doctor. However, achieving these goals or statements is not an easy task as it requires adequate financing, especially when it comes to ensuring that all individuals in the society have equal access to health care. Although the government has tried to introduce legislation such as Obama care to help in allowing equal access to health care this has not been achieved. Thus, making it my obligation to ensure that all the patients are catered for when it comes to the delivery of health care. Therefore, in order to achieve this mission statement, I will collaborate with my colleagues in the profession to ensure that the interest of the patient comes first. In relation to educating the society on the emerging issues in the health care profession I will use schools as a foundation of the campaigns because what students learn in school is related to their parents. By so doing, I will create an interpersonal relationship not only with the parents, but also with the children where they will grow up trusting the health care system. This will also create trust between the clinicians and the patients and with the emerging issues in the health care profession (Harman & American Health Information Management Association, 2006). For example, today the health care system has become

Ethos, Logos, Pathos Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Ethos, Logos, Pathos - Assignment Example In his speech â€Å"I have a dream†, he stated firmly that all men were created equal despite other social constructions such as race or color. He swayed and captured his followers by using three devices which include ethos, logos and pathos (Braet, 1992). He represented the ethos quite well in his speech which was his credibility in the speech. Being an African-American, he and other Negroes could undergo various discriminations. He stood firm to change people’s views by giving real examples for the people to judge their conditions of sufferings. Braet (1992) asserts that the rhetorical device of logos which refers to reasoning is another style King made excellent use of. In his speech he narrated the history of America and then used this to explain the reason why he gathered people for the speech I have a dream that day as Braet (1992) puts it. By saying that the time to open the door of opportunity to all God’s children, King uses the style of reason to make a promise that all men black or white is guaranteed the right to life, liberty and happiness. Eventually, was the usage of pathos style which is the heart and emotion of the protest in martin’s speech. King used to go to his audience on the same level as they were on and spoke both his heart and that one of the audience (Braet, 1992). The use of emotion was demonstrated when he spoke of freedom, justice and liberty and the level of his voice and gestures would emphasize this

Admission Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Admission - Article Example Within the campuses, libraries, classrooms and laboratories are equipped with facilities that fulfil state-of-the-art technology. In the final two years of their studies, students take part in a minimum of six experiences in clinical fieldwork (NSU, 2014). Through this, they are not only exposed to practical experience in building their skills, but also potential employers and the professional environment. Further, graduates have the opportunity to proceed to masters and doctoral degrees either at NSU or other institutions. A significant inspiration comes from the therapist that has been supervising my volunteer hours, who is also a graduate of NSU. Through his guidance and support throughout the volunteer hours, it is evident that NSU produces professionals who are passionate about their work. Apart from academics, NSU offers vibrant student and faculty life throughout its campuses which include cultural activities, professional and social events, fitness and wellness clubs and, mor e importantly, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) athletics (NSU,

Meaning of life - 2006 singles Essay Example for Free

Meaning of life 2006 singles Essay Have you ever wondered what the meaning of life is, the purpose of our existence. Life is truly a mystery we know very little of our own selves. Something beautiful as a life is something amazing to watch. A life is considered priceless. Life is a treasure among treasures. I consider it a miracle that I am alive and talking to all of you today. The chances of me being here is 1in 5 million, and yet I am here. The same goes for all of you present here today. All of us should feel blessed that we get to experience the privilege of living. The miracle of life begins with the love of two people because of this love a life is created. One good thing leads to another. They’re maybe time that we are challenged, but we should never yield instead we take these challenges as an opportunity to grow in life. If somehow you fall all you need to do is simply stand up again and again. Life is not just a bed of roses we need to fight for what we want and stand for whatever we believe in. Don’t be afraid to encounter risks. It is by taking chances that we learn how to be brave. Don’t shut love out of your life by saying it’s impossible to find time. The quickest way to receive love is to give; the fastest way to lose love is to hold it too tightly; and the best way to keep love is to give it wings. Don’t run through life so fast that you forget not only where you’ve been, but also where you are going. Don’t forget, a person’s greatest emotional need is to feel appreciated. Don’t be afraid to learn. Knowledge is weightless, a treasure you can always carry easily. Don’t use time or words carelessly. Neither can be retrieved. Our generation is so attached to technology that we become like machines. We spend so much time on our gadgets that we fail to notice the things around us. We fail to see the beautiful world around us. Living is not simply eating and breathing is if we spend so much time on our cell phones and playing computer games then we were never alive in the first place. Our life is the greatest gift we are given. The memories we make with our friends and family. We laugh, cry, love and hate these are the proof that we are truly alive. Each and every one of us is irreplaceable all of us are one of a kind. Don’t think of your life as something insignificant maybe just by the act of living you are making someone happy. There is one thing to remember Life is not a race, but a journey to be savored each step of the way.

Cleanliness is Next to Goldenness Essay Example for Free

Cleanliness is Next to Goldenness Essay Each fall thousands of high school graduates, enter their next phase of life, the college phase. Arriving on campus filled with excitement and waiting for all the hectic college experiences. Finding classrooms, ordering books, late night studying, parties and sleeping in till three in the afternoon. The freedom is nice. A large part of college students are busy doing homework and socializing with others, and don’t have enough time to clean their living environment. By creating a time schedule in which each roommate can clean a certain area in the dorm will overall enhance a healthier living quarters. After the acceptance into a college or university, the next relative question would be, â€Å"Who will my roommate be?† and â€Å"What he/she will be like!† As cited by Romos and Torgler, â€Å"Specifically, when academics see that other academics have violated the social norm of keeping the common room clean, all else being equal, the probability of their littering increases by around 40%† (Romos, J., Torgler, B., 2013). An unclean living area could result in, â€Å"Clutter or filth, clutter can collect dirt, provide a hiding spot for pests, and can cause trips or falls† (National Center for Healthy Housing, n.p.). People would think that everyone’s natural instincts is to pick up after themselves when they see clothes on the floor, dirty dishes in the sink, or a carpet that needs to be vacuumed. But never the less, studies show if one person in the home is careless about his or her things, the opposite person will eventually adapt the careless ro utine. Another viewpoint that could be taking into perspective is, probably the student is to busy to clean, or perhaps their parents cleaned their surrounding for them. Being the bigger person in this type of situation by just cleaning up after them could potentially create an environment of cleanliness and the careless person will catch on. Although, having a dorm room to call your own isnt quite what it’s made up to be. It is in fact ‘your room’. However, students should be mindful that they are sharing their living quarters with others. Bliss stated that, †We came to feel that students really ought to take more responsibility for their own space† (as cited in Chronicle of Higher Education, 1999).  Adjusting to college, sharing a room, living room and sometimes a kitchen can be deceiving. One thing about being apart of the dorm lifestyle is sharing your space. Within that space is your belongings as well as two or more peoples belongings. And by just being in control of your own personal belongings can in the long run result in a more organized environment. Granted, you may have a very heavy schedule, adapting to college could be overwhelming and stressful. You may not have much time to pick up after yourself or clean your surroundings. Be mindful, if your roommate has an unorganized s pace and your side is kept up neatly, do not alter your habits for someone else. If this situation accrues, I highly suggest to sit down with all your roommates to discuss who and when everyone should clean the dorm. Thus, gives you and your roommates the opportunity to vent their opinions as will as solve any miscommunication problems. Becoming an adult can be life changing, there is more things in life that you are responsible for, as stated by Kurtus, â€Å"A person who has a reputation of being responsible is trusted to do things on his or her own, without supervision† (Kurtus , 2001). Taking full responsibility and owning up to all the mishaps that go on in your dorm is vary important. Being irresponsible can lead to a dysfunctional living area and can potentially lead your other friends not wanted to come over, because it’s dirty, unorganized or just filled with clutter. Sharing the responsibility of your room, living room, bathroom and perhaps the kitchen, can ultimately change the way you and your roommates work together. Creating a schedule that can be posted on the wall for everyone to read, with a helpful layout of who and when each roommate will clean a certain area in the dorm. This schedule will effectively mold a healthier and cleaner environment as the semester or year goes. This will c reate an overall respect, responsibility, self control and comfort knowing that the dorm is kept up and clean. Me and my three other roommates personally created a flexible schedule that helped each one of us. Within the first week of school, we sat down and figured out our class schedule and a preferred time frame that everyone was comfortable with. Every two days someone for example, was in charge of the bathroom, and living room. Along with those responsibilities also came with  taking personal care of your bed side such as, picking clothes off the floor, an organized work area and a straighten bed. With my previous personal experience, I came to the conclusion that having a schedule in place makes a huge difference, compared to when I go into another dorm with four other girls and they do not have a schedule. I tend to notice that if there is no schedule in place, the roommates just live day by day lives, without thinking to clean. â€Å"The messy room is emblematic, a strident statement. Feeling entitled to live on his or her own, more independent, â€Å"Its my space, its my decision, its my life† (Pickhardt, 2012). Everyone makes their own decisions, either good or bad. Whether or not it’s choosing to clean, organize or just leave your area dirty, it’s totally up to you. However it will result in major consequences that will effect you in the long run. Affectively, keeping your area clean can create great habits that you will continue to follow in the future. References Chronicle of Higher Education. (1999). Can somebody at least do my laundry?. Chronicle of Higher Education, 46(11), n.p. (no doi or database) Kurtus, R. (2001, April 18). Being responsible shows character. Retrieved from http://www.school-for-champions.com/character/responsible.htm National Center for Healthy Housing. (n.p.). Healthy homes. Retrieved from http://health.nv.gov/Healthy%20Homes/HH_Resource_Booklet.pdf Pickhardt, C. (2012). The messy room. Retrieved from http://www.netplaces.com/positive-discipline/supervision-the-second-factor/the-messy-room.htm Romos, J., Torgler, B. . (2013). Are academics messy? testing the broken windows theory with a field experiment in the work environment. Review Of Law Economics, 8(2), 563-574. doi: 10.1515/1555-5879.1617 Willoughby, B. J., Carroll, J. S. (2009). The impact of living in co-ed resident halls on risk-taking among college students. Journal Of American College Health, 58(3), 241-246. Retrieved from SPORTDiscus with Full Text.

Literature Review of Approaches to Strategic Change

Literature Review of Approaches to Strategic Change Organizations require change as they live through time. This change which adjusts according to new demands and procedures is known as Strategic Change. This paper sheds light on the importance and approaches of strategic change as an important part of the strategic management. It studies two models of strategic change management and an organizational example which requires strategic change. Introduction Pasmore (1994) writes that we live in a dynamic environment where change is happening to everybody and everything. He notes that this change encompasses our organizations as well. Pasmore (1994) further notes that many of us, even the organizations usually do not realize this change and this is where they face competitive disadvantage, assuming a non-monopolistic society. To deal with such changes, and also with many others, the educators and researchers of this world introduced the notion of strategic change. Strategic change is a concept involving a reorientation of an organizations resources, both human and physical, products, services and structure. An organization needs strategic changes to, Maintain, or enhance it competition position Grow Growth and stability is an important factor, probably which all organizations strive for. To keep growing then, an organization has to evolve. The market in which an organization exists is pretty much like our environment that surrounds us. Through the process of natural selection those fittest to survive the wrath of the natural change, live. The others disappear into history books. The responsibility of bringing about a change in an organization rests greatly upon the shoulders of the managers of the organization. Because of the variable and highly diversified nature of organizations, the theories and models of strategic change management are numerous. In fact, the truth remains that each manager of the firm can up with a new model to support and direct his organization. Nevertheless, researchers have developed models which basically serve the purpose of enhancing the thinking abilities of to-be or current managers and to actually provide them with a direction. Literature Review To define a complex concept like strategy in a line or two would be unjust to the concept itself (Sadler and Craig, 2003). The concept can however be explained by linking various phrases. According to Saddler and Craig (2003), strategy is the Purpose or mission The policies The decision Implementation of decisions Analyzing and utilizing strengths and opportunities Gaining competitive advantage Basically, strategy is the course of action used to achieve the major objectives for an entity (Brown and Harvey, 2006). Tichy (1983) defines strategic change as the modification in the structure, resources, products and services of an organization. In light of the discontinuous, large scale changes facing the world, organizations will be required to undergo major strategic reorientations.(Tichy, 1983) Because of various reasons, including the shift in technological progress and increase in overall market competitiveness, organizations are finding it increasingly indispensible to bring about strategic change (Brown and Harvey, 2006). When bringing about a strategic change in an organization, the consideration of the culture of that organization is extremely important because the culture of an organization includes basically the set of priorities and values in the air of an organization (Brown and Harvey, 2006). The reason why most strategic changes fail is the inability of an organization to deal with change itself (Hyde, np). Strategic Change: The Models The introduction section of this paper clearly points out that strategic change cannot be explained and executed through any one standard model. In fact, there can be as many models as the organizations in this world and probably more. Some famous models however do exist. This section therefore is going to talk about three of the models. CBA Model of Strategic Change CBA is an acronym for Conceive, Believe and Achieve (Black and Gregersen, 2002). These three are in general the three dimensions of the model. Talking in terms of the model specifically, Conception, Belief and Achievement have been defined as the brain barriers hindering the implementation and the execution of the change (Black and Gregersen, 2002). Conceiving the idea is actually making the employees see its worth. This includes making the employees believe that the current practices, that were right yesterday are not right anymore and therefore must be changed with new ones. This is probably the biggest obstacle that the executives face while trying to bring about a strategic change in the organization. Next comes, Believing! Black and Gregersen (2002) define this as the second brain barrier to bring about a successful strategic change. Under this point, the employees have to believe in the fact that the path they are taking to bring about the change is correct. That is, they should believe that they are doing that new thing rightly. Last is Achieving. The employees should have the sense of achievement regarding the successful strategic change. This factor is important for two reasons. Firstly because, you stop trying when you know you have achieved something. The knowing of the end point thus, marks the successful shift of strategy. Secondly, the sense of achievement is important to encourage undertake further ventures. These might sound like three, unconnected pieces. The binding force for these pieces then is the idea and need of Leadership. CBA model believes that without proper education, training and support of the employees, bringing about a significant strategic change in an organization is not possible (Black and Gregersen, 2002). Furthermore, this model holds that the executives should always be champions of the change. The reason is that the employees would always be as serious about the venture as the executives. Another model for strategic change considers teamwork more important than leadership (Fogg, 1994). This model deems the following factors as important when considering and implementing strategic change. Security of future Provision of roadmap Setup of priorities Optimized resource allocation Get inputs and ideas Gain commitment Coordinate the execution The factors are pretty self explanatory in their own self. The point or the binding force of these factors, according to the team based model is Team Work. According to this, working together and understanding each others needs helps bringing about the change in the true sense. Strategic Change: The Crux It is useful to be reinforced here that the last section, Strategic Change: The Models can go on infinitely. Starting from the day the term, strategic management was coined till now thousand of models for a successful Strategic Change have been made. Thus, it is impossible to fit in all the models in this paper. The crux however of successful strategic change can be defined. Understanding the Culture of an Organization Brown and Harvey (2006) state that the culture of an organization is in effect the values held and shared by the members, which differentiates one organization from another. Further Brown and Harvey (2006) state that the culture of an organization has the following characteristics: Individual autonomy Sensitivity to the needs of the customers Support Interest in developing and carrying out new ideas Openness of communication Risk management Understanding the culture thus, is extremely important because it is the employees of the firm that make up its culture and then again, it is the employees of the form that have to execute the change. Unless all the employees believe and change their working modes, significant strategic change cannot be brought by and any investment that is then done will be in vain. Balogun (2010) points out that the culture of an organization is the interlinked set of organizational subsystems in which the paradigm drives the visible manifestations of culture, such as the organizational symbols, routines and rituals, stories, control systems and structures. These assumptions and rituals then define the type of change that is being brought into the organization. This is to say that a change in these basics of the organization will bring about a transformational change. A change, holding the culture more or less constant is a realignment change (Balogun, 2010). Planning the Change Since the strategic change that is being brought to the firm will affect the future stability and growth of the firm, it is extremely important to take as much time as required to properly plan each and every detail of the change, smoothing out the rough edges by either skillful implementation or incorporation of policies. Fogg (1994) suggests that it is extremely essential for a successful Strategic change to be carefully and consciously tailor the planning course in accordance to the size, complexity, culture and strategic situation of the organization. This planning would be different for a firm in financial and competitive crisis and different for a firm that is seeking expansion. The process of planning according to Fogg (1994) involves three stages: Pre-work: departmental evaluation of the status quo including strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats facing the individual members and also the organization as a whole. Priority setting: Discussion on various proposals with respect to finances, environment, market, customers and the overall reputation of the firm and thus setting the priorities according to which the change will be processed. Strategic planning: Discussion of strategies, plan of actions, resources and communications to strategize the change. Post-work: evaluation of the completed plans. Working as a Team Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson (2009) point out that according to research evidence, the executives who boost about their no mistake making capabilities are more likely to make strategic errors. Thus, when important structural changes are being brought to the organizations, the managers and the executives should work as a team and develop an open communication with the employees. The reason is that it is the employees who really know the work that is going on in the organization. Incorporating them as a team of the bigger picture can help bring about a successful strategic change in the organization. The teams can also be divided into various divisions. Hitt, Ireland and Hoskisson (2009) also mention that the organizations that have a heterogeneous top management i.e. executives with different educational and experiential background, can operate under the benefitting shadow of different perspectives. The idea of working as a team also focuses on the need of a leader for this processing. The leader acts as the central, integrating personality to whom people can deliver their plans and problems. Moreover, the presence of a leader is indispensible lest the entire organization becomes a cookery show where everybody is doing their own cooking and the result is a spoiled main dish. Somebody needs to host the show. Evaluating Finally, as the strategy for change has been implemented, it has to be evaluated. Hyde (np) notes that a change in the behavior of the employees or the general change in the culture of an organization is only visible after the change has been implemented. Thus, once the execution has been completed, the top management should require a proper evaluation of the changed organization. This is important for a lot of reason. The first and the most significant reason is to check whether the results are in accordance to the proposal or not. Punjab University Established by the British in 1882 in Lahore, Punjab University (PU) is the first university to be established in the Asian Sub-continent. It has given to the world gems like Dr. Abdus Salam and Har Gobind Korana. Today, it is a part of Pakistan, still headquartered in the lively, historical city of Lahore. Punjab University has over 500 affiliated colleges and hosts almost 350 examinations for over 450,000 students in Pakistan. Today, even though new universities have come about in Pakistan and Punjab Universitys position has shifted to a competitor rather than a monopolist, it is still a well reputed and looked up to institution in the field of education (Punjab University, 2010). The other side of the coin however is that Islamic Jamiat-e-tulaba, a student union, promoting (rather enforcing) the twisted, orthodox and chauvinist Islamic views in the University. This student body has a hold, stronger beyond imagination. Most of the members of this union are graduates who keep taking up degrees to stay in the campus hostels and thus maintain the hold. This union is funded by the members mostly. They also manage to pull out money from the Vice Chancellors of the University. Moreover, the overall environment of the University is now become conservative. Earlier where the cream of the student body went to PU, it has now become the third or fourth option for students residing in Lahore. Those out of Lahore, place it even down. Most of the professors who are currently educating the youth o Pakistan in universities like Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Lahore School of Economics (LSE), Institute of Business and Administration (IBA) and other started th eir carrier at Punjab University. The loyalties however have changed due to the difference in the salary structure and the general atmosphere of the university. As good professors and promising students choose other universities, the budget of the University for spending on infrastructure and technology has gone down, causing further problems for the status and educational ability of the University. Even though in terms of area and campus, Punjab University still beats all other Universities in Pakistan. It has campuses all over the country. However, in terms of organization, management, educational capability and investment PUs reality has been taken over by other new and well managed Universities in the country. What Punjab University now needs is a well managed Strategic Change. The Strategic Change Proposal It is evident enough that the goal of the change that would be brought about in the university would be to steer it to the same fame and respect it had throughout the 20th century. Following are some proposal for the change. Increase the Budget: for any strategic change that is to be brought in an organization, investment in a must. And what PU requires is a transformational change. This extra amount of fund is proposed to be used on renovating the classrooms, laboratories, libraries and on hiring new Professors. This budget, if utilized optimally can also be used to renovate the hostels for the students who come from outside Lahore. Reduce the hold of Islamic Jamiat: With all the terrorism been listed in the CVs of Muslims, this Islamic student body, watching any un-Islamic acts in the university, fighting and punishing people for mistakes looks like a terrorist group to many people. Parents think twice before sending their child into this kind of atmosphere. Thus, the reduction in the number of excellent students coming in. Especially students, who did their O and A levels instead of the government matriculation program, hardly ever choose to come to PU. One of the contributing reasons to this is the strong hold of a strict Islamic body. Management should strategically remove the hold of this union. Marketing: no matter how good an organization is, people come to know of it mostly when the product is being marketed. The product PU is selling is education and a memorable university life and thus, it should strongly focus on marketing the product. It may require initial investment but the results would be awesome. It can also help in changing the perspective of people regarding the conservative and strict environment of the University. Moreover, students would see PU as a good option in terms of their future. This change can be strategically planned by the board of directors. To improve the process further, one student representative from each department can be chosen to present ideas, demands and existing problems. Through this, the stakeholders i.e. the students wishes and problems will be answered and they will become a part of the Strategic Change process. Moreover to reinforce this idea to inclusion of stakeholders in the process of change, from each campus a faculty member can be selected to represent/department the problems that campus/department. Conclusion Organizations have to grow with time. The last two decade especially saw a remarkable social shift in Pakistan. Media grew and so grew awareness. This it became extremely important from the organizations in Pakistan to grow and change socially but also in terms of the product they offered. One the renowned organization in Pakistan is Punjab University. However it so seems that it has not grown dynamically in the social context especially. Educationally, obviously there have been forms for example the construction of the computer Labs. However, this is not enough. Students come to university, not only for education but also to live a life before they enter into the practical world. For the vulnerable age that the University entering students are in, it is very important to give them a memorable life with sports, social events seminars so that they do not think that they are missing out on the life that other university going students are having. Thus, PU should change strategically to reduce i) the hold to the Islamic union, ii) invest to improve infrastructure iii) focus on marketing.