Siemens Change After Corruption Scandal

Siemens Change After Corruption Scandal This change management report is intended to present the boundary condition of culture change efforts at Siemens after corruption scandal came to light on November 2006. Even prior to corruption scandal, Siemens had a system of rules, policies and procedures; however it had not done enough to entrench its values, policies and procedures into company practice. They lacked in subsequent leadership and culture, inconsistent communication, training and company did not take adequate measures to punish conduct in breach. Siemens understood that they have to make some changes to its business to bridge the gap between theory and practice. Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a one of Germanys largest publicly held corporations and Europes largest engineering conglomerate by sales. Siemens is a global powerhouse in electronics and electrical engineering, operating in the industry, energy and healthcare sectors. It activities include cross sector businesses and services, equity investments. The company has around 405,000 employees working to develop, design and install complex project and tailor a wide range of solutions for individual requirements. Siemens has built his reputation and world class with its technical achievements, innovations and internationality over 160 years, generating a sales volume in excess of â‚ ¬75 billion with communication division at the heart of business (Siemens, 2010). Up until 1999 bribing foreign officials to secure contracts was not only authorized but tax deductable in Germany. Siemens were allowed to pay legal fees for employees who got arrested or prosecuted abroad for bribery. Corruption is a part of a countrys culture, so is Siemens. It maintained a culture in which corruption was a likely business strategy to enter into emerging markets. In addition Siemens had grown closer to government (Rawi Abdelal et al., 2008). A culture of corruption in a dominant organisation does not occur accidently. Why would workers willingly commit an offence? The only likely explanation is if the organisation rewarded such behaviour. Siemens is not the kind of organisation where tens of thousands of slush funds gets unobserved. It is conceivable, certainly plausible, that Siemens top management knew anything about the bribes and corruption scandal. But as top officials they share responsibility for the widespread see-no-evil-hear-no-evil corporate culture in t heir organisation, which suggest that Siemens lacked a corresponding leadership and culture. So it is evident that culture at Siemens was illegal and unethical. Klaus Kleinfeld appointed as CEO of Siemens in January 2005-a conglomerate with 75 billion euros. He was called as wunderkind among shareholders of Siemens after turning the operation of communication division and making profits of 569 million euros or (3.2%) increase in sales. Later on November 2006, Klaus Kleinfeld announced that Siemens net income went up by 38% and sales growth were up by 16% from previous fiscal year (Rawi Abdelal et al., 2008). Leader will go wrong, if they jammed in single metaphor (Esther Cameron Mike Green, 2009) and this is what Siemens witnessed. Despite knowing the corporate culture of the organisation, he broke accustomed consensual management style, instead he threatened to sell or restructure if they didnt hit targets. Kleinfeld focused only on the colossal task of strategically restructuring the division and ways to improve the company growth. According to business daily Suddeutsche Kleinfeld gave lot of attention about the financial markets demand a nd restructuring the company. Spiegel particularly concentrated more on Klaus Kleinfelds tactical errors: Possibly his biggest failure was to underestimate the impact of bribery scandal (Rawi Abdelal et al., 2008). He seemed to not fully take control as bribery scandal kept whirling around the company. This shows that Kleinfelds recklessness and negligence. This body of work presents the boundary conditions of the Siemens change effort. It has been believed that organisational leadership and culture, with in the present organisations business environment, are the most critical aspects that determine the dynamics of organisational change. Siemens had policies in place, but they were not lived up to the expectation, the corporate values were not incorporated and leadership has failed miserably, resulting cost of â‚ ¬ 660 MM fines and â‚ ¬ 650 MM attorney and consultant fees (Frank Schmidt Kenny Mok, 2008). Reputation and trust were battered due to the series of corruption scandals which rocked Siemens. Siemens was blacklisted in Nigeria by Federal Government of Nigeria (Felix Onuah, 2007). As a result reputation and trust were battered due to the series of corruption scandals which rocked Siemens. So to keep hold of business, Siemens were in the position to change their culture and leadership style in order to get rid of corruption . Corruption Scandal: But one of the major concerns with Siemens was corruption kept escalating. Siemens has been at the middle of a very serious corruption scandal, since November 2006. Siemens officials have been investigated and scrutinized in a bid to clarify uncertain payments totalling some â‚ ¬1.3 billion ($2.07 billion). In 2006 Siemens was at the middle of one of the Germanys biggest corporate corruption scandal. In November 2006 around 270 police and other German officials ransacked Siemens offices. Six executives were arrested, including CFO of telecommunications division. German officials alleged that the suspects had diverted some 200 million euros through secret bank accounts in Liechtenstein, Switzerland and through shell companies, paying bribes for winning contracts in Iraq, Venezuela, Bangladesh, Italy, Israel, Russia, China, Argentina and Greece (Rawi Abdelal et al., 2008). Repercussions of the Scandal: Siemens identified the expenses of corruption as very high, through slowing down financial growth, rising levels of poverty, foreign investment misallocation, reducing tax revenues and additional government costs. Siemens concentrated on some of the key areas where they lacked quality in order to get rid of corruption. It is also very imperative to keep up their brand name and reputation to do good business and compete against their rivals. After the corruption scandals were unveiled at Siemens, the management started many initiatives to reinforce its compliance controls and corporate governance. New Governance Structure: One of the most important challenges an organisation faces, apparent leadership is crucial if an organisation is to make sure that the board and employees are not engaging in bribery and corrupt practices. It is really imperative that the board members do not transmit mixed signals; urge officials and managers to follow strict codes and high standards. Siemens supervisory board members Huber, Ackerman and Cromme were against their former CEO Kleinfeld, although profits had increased by about a third and sales by about 10%. As a result Kleinfeld was asked to step down because the image of the company was in tatters. For the first time ever in the history, board members turned to an outsider as chief executive officer-the Austrian Peter Loscher (Rawi Abdelal et al., 2008). Siemens implemented new managerial board position for compliance and official matters. Peter Solmssen, Hans winters and Andreas Pohlmann were appointed as General Counsel, Chief Audit officer and Chief Compliance off icer respectively (Dietrich G. Moller, 2009). Loscher was in a position to develop a power base for him and then make sure his acceptance. Unlike Kleinfeld, Loscher made sure to maintain co-operative relations with unions and employees. Understanding culture is desirable for leaders in order to lead and to make a successful change. For e.g., what the leaders pays more attention to, controls and measures on a regular basis, how do they respond to crises and critical situations, how do they assign limited resources, promotions, rewards and status, all these factors informs the culture that has been developed in an organisation. Training: Since Siemens was listed on New York Stock Exchange, it was expected that Security Exchange Commission (SEC) would interrogate the scandal and might impose higher fines than authorities of German, whilst the U.S justice department would launch a criminal probe (Rawi Abdelal et al., 2008). To meet the challenge, Siemens had restructured the Compliance and started a comprehensive compliance program. So Siemens hired a cofounder of Transparency International to consult on compliance and hired the well-known United States law firm of Debevoise Plimpton to investigate the bribery scandal. Top officials and divisional heads were asked to submit joint bids for projects, a measure designed to remove corruption. (Andreas Pohlmann, 2008) Compliance program focussed on three important factors Siemens concentrated on providing training, propagating awareness and understanding and implemented a control system in order to overcome substantial deficiencies. Training is very imperative to make sure the exact implementation of the controls. To avoid unethical business practices, the Siemens provided anti corruption programs as a part of training for more than 15,000 employees. In addition, Siemens launched a web based anti corruption training program for more than 120,000 employees (Andreas Pohlmann, 2008) This graphs shows that training is gradually increasing from the year 2008 to 2009 and Compliance staff increasing from 86 in 2006 to 598 in 2009 (Dietrich G. Moller, 2009). Siemens thought, compliance is the common platform and the moral responsibility to sustain the mutual set of morals for which the firm stands: superiority, creativity and accountability. Detect: Siemens relied on the loyalty of their employees towards the company, to detect and Identify potential problems at the early stages. They motivated and encouraged their employees to actively participate in developing a culture of reliability by not allowing anybody to violate in the organisation. They launched a helpdesk with Tell us and Ask us functions, so employees were asked to inform the helpdesk if anybody violates the rules (Dietrich G. Moller, 2009). According to Ask me helpdesk, around 3000 questions were raised regarding particular compliance problems, and many individual violations have been reported at the helpdesk. Respond: Siemens has started responding to non-compliance, violation and misconduct through regular and proper sanctioning across each and every departments of the business. Siemens had enforced more than 550 penalizing measures in fiscal year 2007 (Dietrich G. Moller, 2009). Communication Communication is an imperative factor for Siemens to incorporate its new strategic direction of superior ethical behaviour, corporate social responsibility and transparency. Siemens has started concentrating on more direct discussion between the employees and Managing Board in both directions. Through this way, Siemens communication of morals and values can be sustained right through the business, without being lost in transformation. Siemens has placed tactical significance on making its anti corruption strategies and compliance guide easy to read, this would help the employees to understand better (Article 123, 2008). Approaching Change: Altering the culture of an organization may be the toughest job a CEO will ever take on. The culture in an organisation or department is shaped over years of relations among organization members. The change process requires statistics, cautious study and good consideration of results. Scheins Organisational culture model: Culture is the pattern of basic assumptions that a given group has invented, discovered or developed in learning to cope with its problem of internal integration and external adaption (Schein, 1990). Culture is not only about programmes and initiatives, it is everywhere in the company (Cameron Mike Green, 2004). Thus culture gives a sense of organizations norms, values, beliefs, rituals and language; the way in which things are to be done around. To understand organisational development, learning and planned change, culture is considered as primary resource (Schein, 1999). Though Scheins model has been criticised (e.g. Collins 1998, Hatch 1993, Parker 2000), it specifies the main aspects of culture, namely its partly learned and unconscious nature. Organizational culture, consequently, is not simply a single new entity which illustrates organizations and which can be also identified from the other entities that impact an organization performance. Scheins assumes culture as a set of shared postulations, which can examined at three important levels. The first level of Scheins culture model consists of perceptible organizational process and various artefacts that can be heard and felt by uninitiated observer. First of all, the fact that will shape the entity of this investigation is culture itself (Schein 1992). Artefacts consist of any physical or tangible elements in a company. Dress code, furniture, history and architecture all represent organizational artefacts (cf. Reason 1997). According to Schein, it is really difficult to understand the true meaning without detailed study, since it symbolizes the most superficial cultural phenomenon i.e. only reflections of the exact business culture The second level of Scheins model consists of the companys espoused values. These are very comprehensible in, for example, the companys objectives, declared values, operating philosophy and norms. However, espoused values do not always reflect an organisations daily functions and businesses. Most key and imperative in terms of functions is the in-depth culture level, i.e. its principal assumptions (Schein 1985, 1992). Actions and behaviours of a successful individual employee in the organisation become benchmarks on which other employees refer to. Such historical behaviours and actions become organizational key values. Third level of Scheins model consists of basic assumption and underlying values. The essence of culture is characterized by the fundamental underlying values and assumption, which are difficult to distinguish as they present at an unconscious level. Underlying values is a array of decisions that form the culture further. Therefore, they are not static (Schein 1985, 1992). Basic Assumptions are considered as an ultimate source of actions and values. Analysing culture: Assessment (What to look for) In order to assess the culture, Siemens has to identify their artefacts. Artefacts can be identified by conducting surveys, group meetings or personal interviews that asks the employees to list their reactions to various artefacts. A pattern for identifying artefacts include: level of formality in relations, working hours, dress codes, rituals, ceremony, myths and how decisions are made (Scheins, 1999). Secondly, espoused values should be examined. This can be obtained easily since every organisation has their written values. According to Argyris Schon, the best word is espoused values, since most of the organisations have written values but act out different values (Scheins, 1992). Finally, underlying assumptions should be identified. Possibly the best way to spot basic assumptions are through progression meeting where all the artefacts are listed, underlying values and assumptions are reviewed (Scheins, 1992). Analysing culture: Analysis (Congruence Test) Using the assessment Siemens can compare the cultural artefacts to the stated values to check if the stated values are congruent with physical materializations of the organisation. Second level is to compare the espoused with the actual value of the Siemens. Then, analyse the type of culture that enhances the mission of the Siemens. Find out the new value and implement it in order to accomplish the companys mission and goal. Finally, culture can be compared to the employees. Here, the employees would be observed in terms of personal ideas, values of what is significant, and personal decision making procedures. Analysing culture: Implementation (Finding changes Final step is to figure out the changes in the organisation to accomplish the mission. Whilst execution of cultural changes is a colossal undertaking that changes sensibly conceived, but conventionally fail (Bolman and Deal, 1997), the gaps between artefacts and espoused values, assumptions and espoused values, workforce and culture or culture and mission are identified in the analysis stage. Implementing Change: Kotters eight step model: Kotter established eight steps and he believed that these 8 steps would lead to successful changes. He has developed an 8 step model where the first four levels focus on unfreezing the organisation, the next three levels focus on what needs to be changed , and the last level refreezes the company with a brand new culture. When organisations need to make huge changes effectively and significantly, these are the eight steps to be followed in sequence. Establish a sense of urgency: For change to take place, Siemens really have to develop a sense of urgency. In order to do that Peter Loscher and other board members have communicated to their employees about the need for change and significance of acting without delay. They examined the market strategies, competitive realities, reputation, how to prevent corruption and potential problem of the failure. This is not merely a matter of just telling employees about the corruption, poor sales statistics or discussing about increasing competition. Board members explained about the drawback of corruption and why corruption has to be removed. It is really imperative for Siemens to spend significant energy and time to develop the urgency in order to lead the change. Form a powerful guiding coalition Team: Top management of Siemens should shape powerful corporate governance with enough leadership skills, authority, credibility, communication ability and energy to lead the change. Leaders should be able to convince the employees that change is necessary. So Siemens appointed Peter Loscher as their CEO in 2007. Siemens implemented new managerial board position for compliance and official matters. After joining the company Peter Loscher communicated both his and shareholders expectations, and to set comprehensible compliance targets based on values of responsibility and integrity for all firm departments, units and levels. Develop a clear vision and strategy: The mission is to create a culture of openness and honesty right through the business, evidently driven from the board. The first step will typically be for the CEO to make a presentation to the board, possibly after review by board committee or risk management function. The important lesson learnt at Siemens is that a cadre of managerial positions is necessary at organisations to make sure the reliability, operation and integrity of the organisation. The frequency and level of bribery and unprofessional behaviour had significantly increased until Peter Loscher took over; top management, board and employees realised that they wanted to change their culture when world largest corruption scandal came to light. Tone from the share holders after corruption scandal The tone from the shareholders is Only Clean Business is Siemens Business! Everywhere Everybody Every Time! Compliance as Part of Corporate Responsibility is 1st Priority! Peter Loscher and board restructured the corporate governance and enhanced the compliance department. Communicate the Vision: In this step the new vision and strategies should be communicated in every possible ways to employees. Make sure that everybody in the organisation understand and accept the strategy and vision. After identifying the strategies, Siemens communicated those strategies to the employees by the compliance department and anti corruption programmes. To avoid unethical business practices, the Siemens provided anti corruption programs as a part of training for more than 15,000 employees. In addition, Siemens launched a web based anti corruption training program for more than 120,000 employees. Training is very vital for altering the mindset and developing a culture of integrity and responsibility. Siemens vision is to remove the corruption and change the culture, because Siemens understood the cost and impact of corruption and were very desperate to get rid of corruption. Empower others to act on the vision: They motivated and encouraged their employees to actively participate in developing a culture of reliability by not allowing anybody to violate in the organisation. They launched a helpdesk Tell us function, so employees were asked to inform the helpdesk if anybody violates the rules. It is really imperative for Siemens in order to get rid of obstacles. So they enforced around 500 disciplinary measures in the year 2007, mostly the cases of violation, and corruption. Create Short term wins: Changing the culture, either good or bad, it is not going to happen overnight. Siemens achieved their short term goal when their employees began to realize that they were anticipated to do their duties in a professional and ethical manner. Siemens monitor the progress of the compliance program by conducting employee survey. Survey results include: Positive perception of compliance program, compliance communications understood and well regarded. Siemens thought that compliance issues have changed the economy and society and it has changed Siemens. Consolidate improvements and producing still more change: Siemens engaged in variety of co-operative initiatives with international organisations committed to fight against corruption and sustaining and establishing freedom of competition. Siemens continuously improved their compliance program by co-operating with international and non government organisations, such as World Bank institute by exchanging knowledge and vice versa. By monitoring the process and receiving the feedback continuously will help Siemens to improve change. Institutionalise the new approaches: Siemens needs to believe a leading role in integrity, transparency and compliance with the clear aim of becoming a respected international organisation in the fight against bribery and corruption. They needed to move towards a value based culture and to bench mark with the best. In order to achieve these objectives they have to inst ­Ã‚ ­Ã‚ ­itutionalise the new strategies and approaches. Conclusion: The above study has looked at the context, content and process adopted by Siemens in order the change their culture after the bribery came into light on November 2006. This study will also give an overview of how Siemens has implemented detailed anti programmes policies on bribery and corruption, altered its management structure to fit its new values and policies, developed a new compliance department and has made changes to their communication with direct conversation between workforce and management. The Scheins model analysis helps us to understand the culture of the organisation and what changes needed to be done, while Kotters model helps us to understand how the change can be implemented. Unprofessional behaviour and violation of rules and standards are something all organisations must constantly be alert of. Eventually, the changes at Siemens have allowed the management to successfully meet its mission, which is an obligation to public safety. References: Andreas Pohlmann (2008) A New Direction for Siemens [online] http://www.enewsbuilder.net/globalcompact/e_article001149152.cfm?x=bd2Hd2m,bb6LfBj8,w [accessed 2 April 2010] Article 123 (2008) Integrating Transparency and Anti-corruption throughout the business [online] http://www.article13.com/UNGC/Siemens%20anti-corruption%20case%20study.pdf [accessed 4 April 2010] Collins, D. (1998). Organizational Change: Sociological Perspectives. London: Routledge. Dietrich G. Moller (2009) The Siemens Compliance Program -A Change Management Process [online] http://russland.ahk.de/fileadmin/user_upload/Dokumente/Events/Praesentation/09-11-18-Siemens.pdf [accessed 4 April 2010] Esther Cameron mike Green. (2009) Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide to the Models, Tools and Techniques of Organizational Change, 2nd ed. London: Kogan page Esther Cameron mike Green. (2004) Making Sense of Change Management: A Complete Guide to the Models, Tools and Techniques of Organizational Change, 2nd ed. London: Kogan page Frank Schmidt Kenny Mok (2008) The Siemens Compliance Program -A Change Management Process [online] http://www.docstoc.com/docs/13221847/Compliance-Program-SlidesSiemens [accessed 4 April 2010] Felix Onuah (2007, December 5) Nigeria to blacklist Siemens after bribery scandal [Online] http://uk.reuters.com/article/idUKL0539089320071205 [accessed 4 April 2010] Hatch, M.J. (1993). The Dynamics of Organizational Culture. Academy of Management Review, Vol. 18, No. 4, pp. 657.693 Parker, M. (2000). Organizational Culture and Identity. London: Sage Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella, Jonathan Schlefer. (2008). Corruption in Germany: Managing Germanys Largest Corruption Scandal. 9-709-006, p1-8. Reason, J. (1993). Managing the Management Risk: New Approaches to Organisational Safety. In: Wilpert, B. Quale, T. (eds.). Reliability and Safety in Hazardous Work Systems. Hove: Lawrence Erlbaum. Reason, J. (1997). Managing the Risks of Organizational Accidents. Aldershot: Ashgate. Schein, E. (1985) Organizational culture and leadership 1st ed, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Schein, E. (1992) Organizational culture and leadership 2nd ed, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Schein, E. (1999) The corporate culture survival guide: sense and nonsense about culture change. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Schein, E. (2004) Organizational culture and leadership 3rd ed, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Siemens (2010) About Us [Online] http://www.siemens.co.uk/en/about_us/index.htm [accessed 29 March 2010] Siemens (2010) Compliance [Online] http://www.siemens.co.uk/en/about_us/index/corporate_responsibility/compliance.htm [accessed 29 March 2010]

History of Electronic Media Essay

The history of providing information has been shaped by innovations and innovators. This paper attempts to chronicle the different factors and events that led to the media landscape of today. 1) Congress and the FCC began deregulating broadcast and cable television in the late 1970s. Describe the ideologies which motivated these deregulations. What changes in the television industry occurred as a result of these deregulations? Include two of the following in your discussion: Financial Interest and Syndication Rules, Telecommunications Act of 1996, media ownership debates in the 2000s and intellectual property regulations in the 2000s. The Financial and Syndication Rules, or more popularly known as Fib-Syn, were implemented by the Federal Communications Commission in 1970 with the objective of increasing programming diversity thus breaking the monopoly of the three major TV networks in the United States: CBS, ABC and NBC. Its rationale was to democratize UHF airwaves making it easier for independent television producers to penetrate the television market. The rules primarily targeted two areas to disempower the big networks: freeing television programs from the ownership of the networks after its first run and the introduction of in-house syndication arms in the major networks. The idea was to discourage the networks’ monopoly on tv programs and restricting the networks’ part in syndication. These steps would substantially reduce production incentive and lead to the separation of production and distribution practices in the big networks. The FCC justified the implementation of Fin-Syn as beneficial for independent television producers since it gave them the larger part of production profits and allowing them a foothold in the business of syndication. The democratization of syndication would lead to a wider distribution of shows and prevented the networks from its exclusive use in their affiliated stations. Supporters of the rule envisioned a television industry where innovative and   much more diverse programs would be available to the viewers ( McAllister , www.museum.tv). The Telecommunications Act of 1996 was promulgated by the FCC to address issues regarding the rapid development of telecommunication technologies in the United States. It contained new rules and regulations regarding TV, Radio, Cable, Telephone and Internet services. President Clinton, when he signed it into legislation, proclaimed that the act would â€Å"stimulate investment, promote competition, provide open access for all citizens to the Information Superhighway† (Clinton, White House press release 1996). Upon closer inspection, the Telecommunication Act of 1996 was the final step in disassembling the provisions of Fin-Syn Rule. The act loosened rules on media ownership in traditional media forms such as TV and radio, thus empowering them to compete with emerging media technologies such as cable and the Internet allowing for the development of new and innovative services. However, the implementation of both the Financial and Syndication Rules of the FCC and the telecommunications Act of 1996 met harsh criticisms once they were fully implemented. The introduction of Fin-Syn bred more problems than solutions. Most critics pointed out that instead of empowering independent TV producers, it just shifted the competition from one Goliath to another. Instead of   competing with the big networks, the independent TV producers where now pitted against large production organization such as Disney/ABC and   Warner. In the end, it was these larger TV production companies that benefited financially from producing television shows with independent companies opting to produce cheaper productions such as talk shows and game shows. Thus, it produced more conventional shows rather than innovating the television industry. Eventually, television groups especially television distributors called for a change in the implementation of Fin-Syn which eventually led to FCC totally removing the rule in 1995. Studies showed that although there were periods of diversity on TV programs from 1970s to the 1990s, the general conclusion was that there was no significant changes in the programs in the implementation of the FCC rule (Einstein, p. 5). With the disappearance of the rule, productions and distribution companies started to merge especially in the big three networks. This culminated in the emergence of FOX Network and its merger with Paramount and Warner Bros., a step followed by Disney when they bought and merged with ABC Network. The deregulation that resulted from the implementation of the 1996 Telecommunications Act fueled much debate on media ownership and responsibility. Questions arose on whether the the Act did deliver its promise of innovative media services from increased competition and serve the public interest with increased diversity in media programs and information. Critics cite that the only ones who benefited from the Act were media moguls who were able to merge with other media corporations and in essence creating media monopolies that could have the power to control information. William Melody reveals that media entrepreneurs will always look for profit and economic efficiency leading to media monopolies which threaten freedom of speech (Melody, p. 32). Concerned groups have also reasoned that public interest have always been the core value of media regulation and not profit, and to diminish government control on ownership would mean violating public inters. Deregulating media ownership can only lead to a monopoly of information resulting in less diversity, Neumann noted that the creation of media conglomerates have led to the mass media having similar â€Å"content and world-view† (Neumann, p.130). On the other hand, those who were in favor of the Act identified it as a much needed move in revolutionizing media. By allowing media corporations to merge, it has led to a more comprehensive and cohesive delivery of information. Supporters also point out that instead of eliminating diversity, viewers have had much more program options with th emergence of 24 hours news channels such as CNN and FOX News and specialized channels such as Discovery and History (Compaine, www.reason.com). In fact, Adam Thierer revealed that instead of the lack of diversity of programs, audiences are actually experiencing â€Å"information overload† due to explosion of media options. He pointed out that today’s media environment is â€Å"diverse and characterized by information abundance† (Thierer, p.2). The issue, as FCC concluded in revising the Telecommunication Act, â€Å"was whether media companies will be able to dominate the distribution of news and information in any market, but whether they will be able to be heard at all among the cacophony of voices vying for the attention of the Americans (FCC proceedings, p.149) 2) The three broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC did not face a broadcast network competitor until Fox emerged in the 1980s and the WB, UPN and Univision grew in the 1990s. Why did these networks emerge when they did? What regulatory changes aided their growth? How did they differ from the other networks in terms of their relationships with their affiliates? What audiences did they target and what types of programs did they use to do so? How did they change as they grew? You may choose one or more network(s) to illustrate your points. From the 1950s to the 1980s, the big three networks dominated the American airwaves. Independent and local television networks would occasionally penetrate the national airwaves but most of these did not survive due to financial constraints. It was in 1986 however that the first rival to the big three emerged with the establishment of   FOX Network.It started out dabbling in TV business by producing and distributing shows for the three big networks. In 1985, Rupert Murdoch bought 50% shares in the 20th Century Fox   movie and television studios. When Murdoch finally achieved full ownership of the studios, he proceeded to buy television stations owned by Metromedia which gave Murdoch a foothold in the major U.S. cities such as New York, Washington, Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston and Chicago (www.teletronic.co.uk). This move would spur Murdoch to create a â€Å"fourth network†. In a brilliant move, the new Fox network labeled their new venture as a â€Å"satellite-delivered programming service†(www.teletronic.co.uk). This enabled Murdoch, who was not a citizen, to bypass FCC rules such as foreign-ownership and the definition of FCC of a â€Å"network† as â€Å"airing more than 20 hours of programming per week†. These enabled Fox to operate unhindered by the FCC rules on networks, thus being able to still distribute its TV productions to other networks but only airing 2 hours of primetime shows as opposed to the 3 hours of the big Networks. When it was launched in October 1986, almost 96 stations were connected to Fox enabling it to reach 80% of American audiences. Before making it big, Fox had to start from scratch in expanding its audience share. The network first major release was the â€Å"Late Show† with Joan Rivers. They hoped to capture the 11:30pm late-night slot and targeting young audiences. This strategy however failed as ratings fell with viewers switching back to their previous stations. Despite these failures, Fox continued to lure the younger to middle -aged viewers with shows such as â€Å"Tracy Ulman† which won the station its first Emmy, â€Å"Married†¦with   Children† which would be its first biggest hit and â€Å"21 Jump Street† which was its first drama. These shows were some of the first forays of the network into the Sunday prime-time slot. Although they were received lukewarmly at first, these shows would gain momentum in the coming years. The success of Fox would lead to FCC relaxing the Fin-Syn rule and redefining their concept of â€Å"network†, which would finally result in t he elimination of the Fin-Syn Rule in 1995. (www.museum.tv) The success of its first primetime shows would lead to Fox introducing documentary-style shows such as â€Å"America’s Most Wanted† and â€Å"Cops†. But their biggest success would come in when Fox reintroduced animation to the primetime slot with â€Å"The Simpsons†. The animated show would penetrate the top 30 primetime ratings and would then become the longest running comedy show on television (www.teletronic.co.uk). Soon, Fox found its niche by veering away from conventional shows, like game shows and   talk shows, by introducing reality-based shows and shows that targeted the young viewers. Fox owner Rupert Murdoch would change the media landscape when it snatched exclusive rights to air the National Football League in 1993 (Kimmel, p.162). This move would cement Fox’s role in the ratings game. As of today, Fox’s main draw is its reality-based shows such as American Idol that have dominated airwaves since its release in 2002, capturing much of the 18-49 viewer demographic (tvbythenumbers.com). With success comes controversy. Such was the case of the Fox news network as critics accused it of being biased towards the U.S. Republican Party (Greenwald, p.4). Despite these, Fox shows and its affiliated cable channels still rake in much of the ratings with Fox News attracting 2.4 million viewers in the first quarter of 2009 (Gold, www.latimesblogs.latimes.com)

Days of the Month in Japanese

Want to know how to say which day of the month it is in Japanese? The basic rule for dates is number nichi. For example, juuichi-nichi (11th), juuni-nichi (12th), nijuugo-nichi (25th) and so on. However, 1st through 10th, 14th, 20th and 24th are irregular. Japanese Dates 1st tsuitachi ä ¸â‚¬Ã¦â€" ¥ 2nd futsuka ä ºÅ'æâ€" ¥ 3rd mikka ä ¸â€°Ã¦â€" ¥ 4th yokka å››æâ€" ¥ 5th itsuka ä ºâ€Ã¦â€" ¥ 6th muika å… ­Ã¦â€" ¥ 7th nanoka ä ¸Æ'æâ€" ¥ 8th youka å… «Ã¦â€" ¥ 9th kokonoka ä ¹ Ã¦â€" ¥ 10th touka Ã¥  Ã¦â€" ¥ 14th juuyokka Ã¥  Ã¥â€ºâ€ºÃ¦â€" ¥ 20th hatsuka ä ºÅ'Ã¥  Ã¦â€" ¥ 24th nijuuyokka ä ºÅ'Ã¥  Ã¥â€ºâ€ºÃ¦â€" ¥ Click ​each link to hear the pronunciation.

Building A Safer Health Care System - 981 Words

According to Err is Human: Building a Safer Health Care System, thousands of Americans die annually due to medical errors and hundreds of thousands are victims of a non-fatal medical errors or injuries (Kongstvedt, 2013). With that being said, health care is composed of three main components: quality, access, and cost (Tabish, 2009). High quality care could prevent many of these fatalities or never events that occur within the health care organization. Historically speaking, many health care changes and improvements in quality of care have occurred due to quality management and quality assurance. To fully understand how quality is achieved and maintained, it is important to dissect these two programs or processes. This paper will analyze the key components of a quality management program as well as discuss characteristics that distinguish a quality management program from traditional quality assurance. Quality Before understanding a quality management program and traditional quality assurance, it is important to understand the definition of quality. Quality is composed of two elements, content and delivery (Brent, nd). Content quality is related to the medical outcome that has been achieved. While delivery quality is based upon the patients interaction with the health care system, also known as the patient s impression of the organization such as its environment, the providers and caretakers, and treatment. Together, content and delivery create quality. (Brent, nd) QualityShow MoreRelatedThe Institute Of Medicine ( Iom )788 Words   |  4 PagesBackground Many health care leaders, authors, and professionals have given their time and effort to write and discuss quality. Quality is now recognized as one of the key aims in healthcare today. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) has had a profound impact on health care in America and the view of quality within health care facilities. The National Roundtable on Health Care Quality met six different times between 1996 and 1998 to look at changes regarding quality in health care. Within their conclusionRead MoreThe Role of Information Technology in Healthcare856 Words   |  3 Pagesanalyses To Err Is Human: Building A Safer Health System (Kohn, Corrigan, Donaldson. 2000) which underscore just how far apart patient and treatment care initiatives are versus actual results achieved. This variation in the potential to deliver quality care and results achieved has been increasingly explained by significant gaps in the use of healthcare informatics and healthcare technologies (Sensmeier, 2008). The i ntent of this analysis is evaluate the utilization of health information technologyRead MoreInstitute Of Medicine Report On Quality1432 Words   |  6 Pagesaimed to evaluate and improve the quality of care for health care systems in America (Bielaszka-DuVernay, 2011 p.2). Consequently, IOM Committee on Quality Health Care outlined strategies to improve patient safety by preventing medical errors that are caused by individual and system factors in a report titled â€Å"To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System† (1999). Furthermore, IOM‘s 2001 report titled, â€Å"Crossing the Quality Chasm: A New Health System for the 21st Century† emphasis the need to designRead More Advancing Patient Safety Essay1350 Words   |  6 Pagessafety in the health care industry reveals a multitude of challenges facing providers and patients alike. A new commitment to providing safe, quality health care to patients is a critical part of reforming the U.S. health care system. B ut to be effective, a new health care discipline (i.e. Patient Safety), needed to be established that would emphasize the reporting, analysis, and prevention of medical errors that lead to adverse health care events. In analyzing this growing health care issue, I foundRead MoreMedical Errors And The Medical Error1595 Words   |  7 PagesPeople go to the hospital when they are in need of medical care when sick or physically hurt, expecting to get well and return to loved ones. Unfortunately health care is not safe in the United States. There are cases where people get worse because of an honest mistake, or because something has gone wrong in consequence of a medical error. Medical errors may be perceived as a well-organized plan that has gone wrong or even getting the opposite results of what was expected. According to the InstituteRead MoreRelationship Between Medical Errors, Nurse Education And Patient Safety And Education1550 Words   |  7 PagesComplex issue arises everyday p utting a hinge on providing quality care. The relationship between entry into nursing practice, education levels of nursing, medical errors, and improving patient outcomes will help shed some light on the adversary’s nurses face every day, whether it be directly or indirectly. The American Nurses Associations state, â€Å"Working together we address critical issues to strengthen nursing and improve health care (Cipriano Berkowitz, 2016)†. Entry into practice have long beenRead MoreThe Challenge For Providers Implementing Ehrs And Achieving Meaningful Use908 Words   |  4 Pagesâ€Å"Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.† The ultimate goal in implementing EHRs is to assist in building an evolving body of knowledge and valuable resources to assist in supporting health care providers and health information tech professionals as they work towards the implementation, adoption and meaningful use of EHR systems in the healthcare system. According to Ivancevich, K.M., Konopaske, R., and Matteson, M.T. (2013), â€Å"Management interventions are the actions takenRead MoreThe Tenets Of Healthcare Quality And Safety995 Words   |  4 Pages Since the release of the Institute of Medicine’s 1999 report, To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System, the healthcare industry has struggled to make substantial headway in improving the quality of care and safety of patients.Continued problems with healthcare quality have caused mounting public frustration. For an industry in which the stakes are high and small problems can mean the difference between life and death, operations tend to be far from reliable. This paper will discuss the tenetsRead MorePersonal Note On Medical Informatics1087 Words   |  5 Pagessimilar to the ones asked by the physicians. These websites also provide the patient with some vital pieces of information which otherwise might have been overlooked leading to more testing and time. Also, some of the diseases like diabetes where the care has to be more on the lines of being continuous rather than episodic, web based solutions where the patient can interact with other patient and share their views has proven to be greatly helpful on a emotional front and how to deal with the problemRead MoreThe Roots Of Patient Safety Essay1667 Words   |  7 Pagesthe importance of hand washing in medical care. Patient safety in the United States came to the forefront in the 1990s and since has developed into a new health care discipline focusing on preventing adverse health care events. The Institute of Medicine (IOM) and other academic research paved the way in brining light to the issue of patient safety in the U.S. One of the first pushes for patient safety was with the introduction of the Electronic Health Record (EHR) then called the Computerized