Edwin H. Colbert - Profile of the Famous Paleontologist

Name: Edwin H. Colbert Born/Died: 1905-2001 Nationality: American Dinosaurs Discovered: Scutellosaurus, Staurikosaurus, Effigia, Lystrosaurus, Coelophysis About Edwin H. Colbert During his long life, Edwin H. Colbert made his share of major fossil discoveries; he was in charge of the team that unearthed a dozen Coelophysis skeletons at Ghost Ranch, New Mexico, in 1947, and he also named Staurikosaurus, one of the earliest known dinosaurs of the late Triassic period. For 40 years, Colbert was a curator at the American Museum of Natural History in New York, where his mentor was the distinguished fossil hunter Henry Fairfield Osborn, and he wrote a series of popular books (including 1945s seminal The Dinosaur Book: The Ruling Reptiles and Their Relatives) that helped introduce baby-boomer kids to paleontology. When he was already past 60, Colbert accepted a post as curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Museum of Northern Arizona. Today, aside from Coelophysis, Colbert is best known for his 1969 discovery of the skeleton of an early therapsid, or mammal-like reptile, Lystrosaurus, in Antarctica. Before Colberts expedition, various Lystrosaurus fossils had been unearthed in South Africa, and paleontologists had come to the conclusion that this creature couldnt possibly have been a good swimmer. Colberts discovery proved that Antarctica and South Africa had once been joined in a single southern continent, Gondwana, thus lending support to the theory of continental drift (that is, that the earth’s continents have slowly been joining, separating, and moving around over the last 500 million years or so).

ZZZZ Best Company Fraud Case Study - 1772 Words

ZZZZ Best Company Fraud Case Study 1) At an early age, Barry Minkow was introduced to the carpet cleaning industry by his mother who worked part time as a telephone solicitor for a small carpet cleaning company. This insight of the industry allowed Minkow to understand that the carpet cleaning industry was one which had very few barriers to entry, no licensing requirements, and required only a small amount of capital to enter. Also, because of these few barriers to entry, the industry has historically attracted a larger number of faulty startups in comparison to other industries. At 16 years old, Minkow started his carpet cleaning company under the name of ZZZZ Best Company. Right away he had a difficult time with customer†¦show more content†¦3) There were two external auditors mentioned in the case that dealt with ZZZZ Best. The first was not a firm that was included in the Big Eight accounting firms at the time. George Greenspan was the sole practitioner who performed the first full-scope independent audit for ZZZZ Best. Greenspan insisted that he had properly audited Minkow’s company, and testified that while planning the audit he had performed various analytical procedures to identify unusual relationships in ZZZZ Best’s financial data. Greenspan’s procedures reportedly included comparing ZZZZ Best’s key financial ratios with its industry norms. Greenspan identifies â€Å"unusual relationships† but does not go into detail in order to explain these unusual relationships. This shows that Greenspan did not show enough professional skepticism while conducting the audit and just blew off these unusual relationships. Also Greenspan testified that he had obtained and reviewed copies of all key documents that pertained to the false insurance restoration contracts. It would have been hard for Greenspan to uncover the fraud through the contract paperwork because Minkow and Morze went through such great detail in creating false documents in order to cover the false contracts, but finer details were overlooked by Greenspan. A journalist found one of these finer details which caused the domino effect leading to the destruction of ZZZZ Best. This shows that the first auditor,Show MoreRelatedCase Study Examination And Ethical Questions1646 Words   |  7 PagesCase Study Examination and Ethical Questions Fraud in financial statements is one of the most common types of financial fraud committed by organizations. Tactics are utilized to inflate or deflate revenues and expenses to arrive at the desired financial position of executives of the business. Fraud, however, is not something derived from years of experience. As is the case of ZZZZ Best, the perpetrator of fraud in the case of this organization was its 15-year old owner, Barry Minkow. CaseRead MoreZZZZ Bests Story 2733 Words   |  11 PagesZZZZ Best, Inc. The start of ZZZZ Best: ZZZZ Best started as a carpet cleaning company. Barry Minkow founded ZZZZ Best in his parents’ garage in 1982 when he was only sixteen years old. Due to high competition in the industry, low enter barriers, and bad internal control, this young entrepreneur started to have cash flow problems, and a shortage of working capital. Pressure Leads to Fraud: Under financial pressure, Minkow started to commit fraud. He forged credit card applications, stagedRead MoreDifference Between A Review And An Audit1238 Words   |  5 PagesZZZZ Best Case 1. Difference between a Review and an Audit. The review is much less in scope than an audit, it mostly involves inquiries of client’s personnel and analytical procedures and is usually performed on a quarterly basis, whereas audits are done annually. However, the main difference is in the level of assurance that the reports are providing. While both required to perform inquiry and analytical procedures, the review produces limited assurance, that there are no material modificationsRead MoreEssay on ZZZZ Best Company, Inc.: Case Study1340 Words   |  6 Pages------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------- ZZZ Best Company, Inc. ------------------------------------------------- Case Study 2 ------------------------------------------------- Due Date: March 30,2010 ZZZ Best, Case 1. Ernst amp; Whinney never issued an audit opinion on financial statements of ZZZZ Best but did issue a review report on the company’s quarterly statements for the three months ended July 31, 1986. How does aRead MoreAuditing Cases22626 Words   |  91 PagesAdditional Cases for the Course The case readings have been developed solely as a basis for class discussion. The case readings are not intended to serve as a source of primary data or as an illustration of effective or ineffective auditing. Reprinted by permission from Jay C. Thibodeau and Deborah Freier. Copyright  © Jay C. Thibodeau and Deborah Freier; all rights reserved. 1†¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢Ã¢â‚¬ ¢ ( Case 61  ® Enron Enrori’s First Few Years hi~ 1985 Enron had assets along the three major stages of the supplyRead MoreCase Analysis : Zzzz Best Company, Inc.1688 Words   |  7 Pages 1. Read Case 1.9, ZZZZ Best Company, Inc. in your text. Answer questions #1, 2, and 4 found at the end of the case. Question # 1 A review is like an audit yet is less in extension and just gives restricted affirmation with respect to the financial statements. This varies with an audit that gives sensible affirmation that no material mistakes or illicit acts are detected. The goal of an audit is to give a sensible freedom of expressed opinion the money related proclamations taken all in all. ARead MoreFraud Triangle Not Good Enough3956 Words   |  16 Pagesto find ways to set fraud in motion – and a new breed of offenders is finding cunning ways to do so. After more than 60 years, the classic fraud triangle of three elements or events that motivate an employee to cross the line has morphed â„ ¢ into Crowe’s Fraud Pentagon. Company boards and senior management must take an offensive stance against the five conditions that precipitate fraud with a clear plan that limits the opportunity for fraud and minimizes the impact when fraud does occur.† JonathanRead Morewall board12806 Words   |  52 Pagesin which the auditors accepted a forged bank confirmation that was allegedly faxed to the auditors by Parmalat client personnel (a copy of the actual forged Parmalat fax is included in these instructor notes for instructor use in debriefing the case). Notice of Erratum: The first printing of the fourth edition includes a minor error in the audit program (schedule C 2). The reference in step three should be to schedule C 14 rather than to schedule C 13. This error will be corrected in subsequent

Wisdom Virtue and People Free Essays

My friend Lili is probably the only person who I could really turn to for advice and her wisdom and knowledge has always helped me through the rough times and the good times. I remember meeting Lili one day at school and asked if I could borrow a pencil from her during math class. When I returned it back she said I could have it but to try not to lose it since it is an obvious writing instrument to have. We will write a custom essay sample on Wisdom: Virtue and People or any similar topic only for you Order Now Well, after a few days I noticed she would sit alone during lunch time so I asked her if she wanted to join my friends and I for lunch, ever since we have been best of friends. According to my reading in my Positive Psychology books in Ch. 10 Table 10. 2 Classification of virtues and character strengths wisdom and knowledge is cognitive strengths that entail the acquisition and use of knowledge. The defining strengths describe her or what she possesses: creativity, curiosity, open-mindedness, love of learning, and perspective. She has always been creative since day one when I asked to borrow a pencil. During that time we were learning how to make a cube out of paper and Lili knew how to do the cube without even asking how to make it. She could make things to be productive. I could recall during a camp out with a bunch of girls how to make things out of sticks with leaves and such. It was amazing on how much she knew without really knowing how to do it in the beginning. Her open-mindedness was well respected in our little time of knowing each other. One of the attributes I think I develop most was learning to give good advice to those who come to me to talk about anything. She taught me how to give the best advice, but to give the advice I would give myself. Listening to people is a way to open your heart and let the people you love in. I think there are many reasons why she is wise. For example, the way she talks and gives advice to other people and also the attitude she has it’s so passionate and loving. I don’t know what it is about her that people go up to her and trust her with everything I find it amazing. Another example would be the past she has been through has made her smart about life and about people. Going through bad and good times and taught her a lesson about life and about everything. She didn’t have a life like every child had, she had a difficult life that made her suffer a lot. So I look up to her because I know she knows what she is talking about and how she deals with life. Also she does not depend on any one with anything, she has always done things on her own. I think that the one attribute that I need to learn the most is listening to people before giving them my opinion because I have this habit that I usually make assumptions before hearing or knowing what the person is going through. This is the one that I need to gain so I can be there for people like my best friend has been there for people. Knowing what people have been through will help me be there for people and also help them out through the good and bad times. I am the type of person that I love being there for people even if I am struggling with my own problems because seeing how people deals with there problem helps me gain confidence about myself and solving other peoples problems as well. I can’t say I’m good at giving advice but I know that I could at least give someone a good advice or even I could take some one’s opinion to learn. So seeing my friend and the way she is there and how she helps me, the love she gives and how she gives company when I need someone makes me want to be that person as well. I know by this I will become a better person. How to cite Wisdom: Virtue and People, Papers

Common Problems Faced by Organizations †MyAssignmenthelp.com

Question: Discuss about the Common Problems Faced by Organizations. Annswer: Introduction Globalization has resulted in accumulating pool of candidates from different background and diversified culture to work under the same umbrella. Talent management and employee retention has become the greatest challenges in this competitive environment as according to Festing and Schafer (2014), expectation of associates is not limited to fringe benefits. However, there has been some common problems such as managing current assets, poor operational cash flow and poor debt management due to which organizations are not able to invest more on human resource development. This essay will primarily focus on the common current problems that organization is facing, which impacts on its performance and profitability. Later, strategic roles that the HR can play in developing human resource base will be discussed. This will comprise of recruitment and selection complexities, employee training and development, performance management system and succession planning. Common Problems faced by Organizations, their impacts and possible recommendations According to Collings (2014), recruitment and selection is considered as one of the toughest challenges faced by the organizations as finding candidates who are having the right blend of personality, attitude, attire, behavior and talent are quite hard to filter. It has been found that getting candidates of right qualification is not an issue at present, however diffusion of correct personality traits that would be suitable for organizational culture is extremely hard. Moreover, Cappelli and Keller (2014) pointed out that market competition has been the major cause of selecting the most suitable candidates as their expectation is beyond salary and monetary benefits, which organizations might not be able to bear. While considering the viewpoint of Stone and Deadrick (2015), it can be said that training and development is required in continuous basis for employees when working in this competitive environment. Due to the change in operational procedure to meet customer demand, organizations change their service delivery pattern but for that adequate training is often not provided to associates. The common reasons for the organization are lack of adequate fund and capital for continuous training and development and unavailability of required number of trainers. Such reasons are the common cause for poor performance and profitability of organizations. Aruna and Anitha (2015) pointed out that employee retention is the toughest challenge for businesses in the 21st Century as HR needs to create the right balance between remuneration, incentives and company culture. Remuneration fulfils the basic requirement of employees, whereas incentives create a sense of motivation due to lucrative additional benefits that they might get while outperforming. However, Nolan and Garavan (2016) highlighted that companies fail to create the right balance between remuneration and incentives as compared to their competitors. Eventually, employees of the organization who are getting better remuneration and other fringe benefits are switching their existing employer. This has resulted in poor talent management as employers of the organization are failing to retain experienced candidates. The above-mentioned reasons are the most common challenges faced by the organization, however some other problems are managing workplace diversity, lack of performance management system and proper career planning. OReilly et al. (2014) pointed out organization culture creates the comfortable place for employees to perform with satisfaction and mutual cooperation. However, often the employers are found to disrespect common objectives and organizational values, due to which prevailing culture gets affected. Donnelly (2015) argued that managing workforce diversity is the most impactful challenge as associates with different behavior, attitude, class and background can never be expected to be driven towards common organizational objectives. Moreover, Men (2014) opined that lack of satisfaction among employees due to poor incentives, bonus and allowances is one of the main reasons for poor productivity. Finally, Spurk et al. (2015) argued that organizations fail to develop career planning for employees, which would otherwise help in long-term employee retention. Furthermore, poor succession planning is the challenge as newly recruited employees from different background find it hard to accustom with organization culture. Strategic roles that HR needs to play must start right from the starting of employee recruitment. Considering the common challenges that are discussed earlier, it has been evident that HR needs to focus on strategic role right from the time of recruitment and selection. In order to reduce the complexities considering workforce diversity at the time of recruitment and selection, Burt (2015) pointed out that HR considers talent to be the prime theme for selection. This is because for selecting diversified workforce behavioral and psychological parameters will be variable from candidate to candidate, whereas qualification and talent will be constant. On the other hand, Nabi et al. (2015) brought forward different recruitment process such as ways through which biasness can be reduced irrespective of various diversity. In such process, HR asks for past achievements and experiences, which helps in creating idea of the candidates skills. Moreover, HR focus on the specific credential such as degree, diploma or degree. Finally, through the type of discussion with candidates the HR is able to get idea of communication skill, decision making ability and confidence among candidates through which selection process is followed. Therefore, it can be said that in order to reduce the recruitment challenges HR try to focus on talent and skill among candidates specifically and candidate background is given the least concern. Strategic importance of careful selection indicates right talent management and long-term retention. Collings (2014) pointed that 51.22% of newly recruited employees are found to resign within first 3 months of employment. Therefore, great amount of capital is wasted for both hiring process and training and development course. Therefore, careful selection is extremely important for employee retention. With the series of selection screening process, the best suitable candidates are recruited, for which considerable amount of capital is consumed. Strategic importance is to recruit the best suitable candidate who does match with organizational culture and required talent for business sustainability. Stone and Deadrick (2015) opined that organizational workforce is the primary key for delivering products and services and getting the optimum productivity depends on how well the employees perform. Therefore, careful selection indicates recruiting such employees who are well experienced and have the urge to deliver according to target. Moreover, Burt (2015) pointed out that candidates must be recruited on the basis of psychological and behavioral attributes that guide him towards positive productivity. Careful selection ensures selecting candidates through psychological tests, aptitude tests and emotional tests, which help in getting ideas of decision making ability, working under stress and judgements of candidates. Importance of Training and Development indicates employee growth and progress with course of time. While considering the viewpoint of Sung and Choi (2014), it can be said that training and development is one of the most effective ways through which employees can be retained for longer period because they are able to gather knowledge and skills as per organizational procedures, which eventually helps them perform better. Ultimately, employees become satisfied and gain confidence to outperform in future. On the other hand, Dhar (2015) highlighted that through training sessions employees are groomed for career planning, which makes them understand the importance and significance for serving longer term. According to Barker, Lencucha and Anderson (2016), considering Kolbs learning cycle, a learner can get the best knowledge of either a new situation or an existing experience through the four stages, which are concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. The need for such learning cycle is that the learner is given knowledge of how to handle a situation prior to which he had negligible idea (refer to appendix 1). After that the learner is given time to self-access whether there has been any gap between new experience and understanding. Finally, the learner is able to reduce the gap through training process and apply new experience in job role. On the other hand, Rumson (2017) argued that Honey and Mumford Learning Styles determined some specific categories of learners over Kolbs learning cycle, which are Activist, Pragmatist, Reflector and Theorist (refer to appendix 1). Based on the type of specific learner category the employees are given learning sessions. This helps in developing the individual learner in more directive and actualized manner. Therefore, it can be said that through the learning theories a trainee is able to gather concrete knowledge and experience in stepwise manner that helps in better execution of performance. One of the best approaches for training and development is coaching as Huang and Hsieh (2015) pointed out that the assigned supervisor directly communicates with the trainees through which instructions, knowledge and skills are spontaneously shared. On the other hand, Barrett et al. (2015) pointed out that providing lectures and tutorials help in training group of candidates within short time and in less budget. Furthermore, Dhar (2015) highlighted that practical based training approaches such as role plaining and management games create enthusiasm among candidates through which they learn faster. Therefore, the different approaches to training and development can be listed as coaching, tutorials, on-job-training, role playing, technology-based training and group discussion. Effective Performance Management System ensures both employee satisfaction and retention. After analyzing the issues and strategic roles that HR plays in common, it required to understand and recommend the requirement of effective performance management system. Even though HR tries to filter the best talent for a business, however managing diversity, reducing attrition and employee motivation are the three biggest challenges that they are facing (Tatoglu, Glaister and Demirbag 2016). For making the performance management system to be effective, Buckingham and Goodall (2015) pointed out that the process must be made systematic, which will comprise of planning work and setting expectations among employees and continuously monitor associates performance so that the best can be recognized. Such strategies will be helpful because employees will feel that managers respect their decision and make them as the part of decision making. On the other hand, by recognizing the best performer, it w ill create a sense of competition driven by motivation among employees. On the other hand, Ishizaka and Pereira (2016) pointed out that developing performance-oriented capacity, periodical performance rating and reward and recognition and the best ways that strategically establish effective performance system. Considering the viewpoints of authors, it can be said that an organization need to assign roles to the authorities who directly supervise the employees or workers. The team leader can create a performance report where the customer satisfaction percentage, review ratings and direct appreciations from different internal levels are recorded. It will be the best if an organization has a dedicated operational portal that will record each employee performance, productivity, rating, customer satisfaction (CSAT), appreciation and feedback. In this way, the management will be able to record individual employees historical performance and award the best associate. Moreover, since such dedicated portal will be completely based on real-time data feed directly from clients or from top level managers, hence the possibility of biasness from management side can also be reduced. In this way employees can be recognized and the top performer can be awarded. Career Planning and Succession Planning are the two ways through which employees can be valued for long term. While considering the viewpoint of Hall-Ellis (2015), it can be said that internal recruitment is one such procedure that not only creates motivation among employees in terms of promotion but also reduces the cost of recruitment and selection. On the other hand, Ok and Vandenberghe (2016) pointed out that internal recruitment creates a sense of biasness among potential candidates as not all get the opportunity to be promoted. However, whatever may be the process of promotion, career planning of an individual helps oneself to gather more potential for different roles and responsibilities. Through career planning programs, an employee understands the scope of exposure that he might be getting in future. An employee is groomed to perform in different roles, which makes him fit for getting assigned in higher designation within the organization. Therefore, at the time of internal job posting, the most suitable employees are given the opportunity to get succeeded in higher level. HR needs to assign career planning programs for suitable candidates based on their performance and potentiality. Considering succession planning, HR needs to assign short-term periodic responsibilities to existing tenured employees through which they can be justified for higher job roles. All such activities will help an organization to reduce attrition and create motivation among employees. Conclusion The critical discussion gave various views from different scholars. It has been identified that at present the HR faces issues related to right employee recruitment, talent management due to poor training and development, managing workforce diversity and poor performance management system. Since there is lack of talent management, the overall productivity is found to have a huge gap from its optimum output. On the other hand, since training and development activities are not adequate, hence retaining newly recruited employees has become quite challenging. Finally, due to lack of strategy for career planning, experienced employees are trying to switch their existing employer. It has been recommended that the strategic role of HR must be improvised so that the performance management system becomes more effective. HR needs to observe, identify and recognize potentiality among best candidates through dedicated portal where individual employee performance-oriented parameters will be highl ighted. Based on performance reward and recognition will be processed. On the other hand, by following the learning theories, training and development activities can be strengthened so that not only succession planning is ensured but also employees can be retained for longer period. Finally, it can be said that with the help of technology-based learning talent management can be made more effective in future. References Aruna, M. and Anitha, J., 2015. Employee retention enablers: Generation Y employees.SCMS Journal of Indian Management,12(3), p.94. Barker, D.J., Lencucha, J. and Anderson, R., 2016. Kolbs learning cycle as a framework for early fieldwork learning.World Federation of Occupational Therapists Bulletin,72(1), pp.28-34. Barrett, A.D., Chamberlain, P., Galindo, A.L., Moore, J.R., Thomas, A. and Bacon, J., Alchemy Systems LP, 2015.Integrated Employee Training and Performance Evaluation System. U.S. Patent Application 14/639,030. Buckingham, M. and Goodall, A., 2015. Reinventing performance management.Harvard Business Review,93(4), pp.40-50. Burt, C.D., 2015. The Influences of Recruitment Processes and Selection Predictors on New Employee Safety. InNew Employee Safety(pp. 55-73). Springer International Publishing. Cappelli, P. and Keller, J.R., 2014. Talent management: Conceptual approaches and practical challenges.Annu. Rev. Organ. Psychol. Organ. Behav.,1(1), pp.305-331. Collings, D.G., 2014. Integrating global mobility and global talent management: Exploring the challenges and strategic opportunities.Journal of World Business,49(2), pp.253-261. Dhar, R.L., 2015. Service quality and the training of employees: The mediating role of organizational commitment.Tourism Management,46, pp.419-430. Donnelly, R., 2015. Tensions and challenges in the management of diversity and inclusion in IT services multinationals in India.Human Resource Management,54(2), pp.199-215. Festing, M. and Schfer, L., 2014. Generational challenges to talent management: A framework for talent retention based on the psychological-contract perspective.Journal of World Business,49(2), pp.262-271. Hall-Ellis, S.D., 2015. Succession planning and staff developmenta winning combination.The Bottom Line,28(3), pp.95-98. Huang, J.T. and Hsieh, H.H., 2015. Supervisors as good coaches: Influences of coaching on employees in-role behaviors and proactive career behaviors.The International Journal of Human Resource Management,26(1), pp.42-58. Ishizaka, A. and Pereira, V.E., 2016. Portraying an employee performance management system based on multi-criteria decision analysis and visual techniques.International Journal of Manpower,37(4), pp.628-659. Men, L.R., 2014. Strategic internal communication: Transformational leadership, communication channels, and employee satisfaction.Management Communication Quarterly,28(2), pp.264-284. Nabi, G., Wei, S., Raja, M.W., Zhao, S. and Ahmed, B., 2015. So far where we Stand in the Recruitment and Selection Studies? A Review Study based on earlier Studies.International Journal of Human Resource Studies,5(2), pp.135-150. Nolan, C.T. and Garavan, T.N., 2016. Human resource development in SMEs: a systematic review of the literature.International Journal of Management Reviews,18(1), pp.85-107. OReilly III, C.A., Caldwell, D.F., Chatman, J.A. and Doerr, B., 2014. The promise and problems of organizational culture: CEO personality, culture, and firm performance.Group Organization Management,39(6), pp.595-625. Ok, A.B. and Vandenberghe, C., 2016. Organizational and career-oriented commitment and employee development behaviors.Journal of Managerial Psychology,31(5), pp.930-945. Rumson, R., 2017.Honey and Mumford four Learning Styles. [online] ELN Resources. Available at: https://resources.eln.io/honey-and-mumford-learning-styles/ [Accessed 15 Mar. 2018]. Spurk, D., Kauffeld, S., Barthauer, L. and Heinemann, N.S., 2015. Fostering networking behavior, career planning and optimism, and subjective career success: An intervention study.Journal of vocational behavior,87, pp.134-144. Stone, D.L. and Deadrick, D.L., 2015. Challenges and opportunities affecting the future of human resource management.Human Resource Management Review,25(2), pp.139-145. Sung, S.Y. and Choi, J.N., 2014. Do organizations spend wisely on employees? Effects of training and development investments on learning and innovation in organizations.Journal of organizational behavior,35(3), pp.393-412. Tatoglu, E., Glaister, A.J. and Demirbag, M., 2016. Talent management motives and practices in an emerging market: A comparison between MNEs and local firms.Journal of World Business,51(2), pp.278-293.