Lesson Learned in Organizational Leadership

Lesson Learned in Organizational Leadership Gong Chen Abstract This paper include an assessment of the organization Im currently working for with definitions of and detailed analysis on how that organization applies the lessons learned in the course, including fundamentals of leadership, organizational culture and climate, high performing teams, problem management and decision making, ethics and professional codes of conduct. This paper also includes an overall organization of document with an introduction, body and conclusion. Keywords: leadership, organizational culture, team, decision making, ethics Assessment of My Organization An Application of Lesson Learned in Organizational Leadership Organization Overview My organization (the firm in this article) is a multinational professional services firm headquartered in London, UK, Ernst Young (EY). EY is one of the largest professional services firm in the world and is one of the Big Four accounting firms. The organization operates as a network of member firms which are separate legal entities in individual countries. It has 231,000 employees in over 700 offices around 150 countries in the world. It provides assurance (including financial audit), tax, consulting and advisory services to companies. In 2016, Fortune magazine ranked EY as 49th of the 100 Best Companies to Work For, and in 2016, EY is the 11th largest privately owned organization in the United States. During my days working at the firm, I observed several concepts applied by the organization that are closely related what I have learned from this class so far. This paper will focus on and provide a detailed analysis of the following five major areas. Fundamentals of Leadership The firm understand that strong leadership is what required to achieve our ambition and fulfill our purposes. Professional with leadership traits at every level of firm are the keys to the change and growth. Specifically, there are four fundamental categories of leadership the firm had defined for our people business leadership, client leadership, team leadership, and personal leadership. In a firm that people culture was emphasized every day and everywhere, personal leadership is the most important trait among others. This means communicating with confidence, humility and integrity to build trust and support others, actively maintaining your personal well-being, energy and enthusiasm and exhibiting curiosity and self-awareness to adapt your behavior and connect in diverse contexts. As business leaders, they enhance our reputation and standing in the market through applying financial, operational, risk, sector and global insights to make business decisions in dynamic markets, leveraging the firms business development practices to responsibly achieve market leadership, collaborating widely within the firm and externally to bring new ideas. As a client leader, they ensure that our people are connected, responsive and insightful by bringing all of our clients with the right people in the right locations, building trust and enriching relationships, being proactive, visible and timely sharing our experiences and a point of view tailored to the clients, thereby advancing their thinking. As a team leader, they have a fundamental role in building and supporting the high-performing teams by articulating a bold, clear vision that engages and inspires everyone, selecting, respecting and developing a diverse mix of talent with the right skills at the right time, setting the high standards expected of our profession and enabling each individual and team to deliver quality results. On the other hand, in my opinion, even though there are plenty authoritative-type of leaders, the firm has leaders that are very different in leadership style. They tend to inspire other people, especially younger professionals to unleash their potential to achieve better. They also tend to identify others with purpose, building robust partnerships that enhance our impact and inspire those around them to see the bigger picture. Additionally, these leaders lead our professionals and serve the clients by leading inclusively and being open-minded for new perspectives that help us thinking creatively and lead to better answers. This will help solving our clients challenges and build trust and confidence in the industry. Even more, our leaders also achieve our purpose by making an impact in their careers beyond the firm and helping the industry to work better in businesses, communities and organizations across the globe. After all, leadership is about everyone at the firm, not just people at the top. However, as role models, it is important to lead by example and exemplify our leadership behaviors. High Performing Teams From my observation, high-performing teams at our firm demonstrates three kay characteristics common vision, balance, and quality results. Common vision means the team articulate a bold, clear vision that engages and inspires everyone. Balance means the team select, respect and develop a diverse mix of talents with the right skills at the right time. Quality results means the team sets high standards expected of our deliverables and enable each individual and team to deliver quality results. Specifically, there are five winning behaviors that are commonly observable drive consistent positive outcome and team experience. Trust is the foundation of a high performing, cohesive team. Trust is the confidence among team members that their intentions are good, and that there is no reason to be protective or careful around the group. Confront conflicts Teams that trust one another are comfortable debating key issues to produce the best possible solution. All opinions and ideas are put on the table and considered. By confronting conflicts, teams will solve problems efficiently, have lively, productive discussion, and utilize all opinions of all team members. Focus on results High-performing teams at the firm are able to set aside their individual goals and agendas and focus exclusively on the teams collective accomplishments. By focusing on results, teams could not only accomplish the results they set out to achieve, but also avoid distractions by making their results a priority and stay focused by clearly defining their targets and keeping them tangible. Accept accountability High-performing teams that commit to decisions and standards of performance hold one another accountable for adhering to those decisions and standards. Members of great teams are willing to challenge their peers on performance or behaviors. By accepting accountability, teams enhance alliance by setting high expectations for each other, expect team every member to deliver, and have low tolerance for mediocrity. Commitment This is a result of two things: clarity and buy-in. Clarity is the removal of assumptions and ambiguity from a task. Buy-in means taking the ownership of a task. By showing commitment, teams could establish clarity around direction and priorities, obtain buy-in from all team members, learn from mistakes, commit to deadlines, and move forward without hesitation. After all, this is the essence of the firms high-performing teams: the unique code that will enable us to achieve better and faster. Organization Culture and Climate Our culture and value define who we are we are people who demonstrate integrity, respect, and teaming; people with energy, enthusiasm, and the courage to lead; people who build relationships based on doing the right thing. In my opinion, our organization really focus on building a people culture. This is easily understandable considering were a professional service firm where people is the most significant asset. Therefore, for my organization, globalization and underlying demographic trends imply that competition to attract best people is raising sharply. Top employers are adapting to the trend by building globally experienced leadership and equipping their people with the skills to lead in the future. We aspire to have a leading people culture everywhere in the world. Creating an atmosphere that attracts and retains the finest minds and helps they thrive leads to better service for clients. We are focusing on inclusiveness, development, and engagement of our culture that enhance what is important to our clients and our people. The firm also focus on improving the teams capacity for collective action and aligning individuals motivations around high level missions, and a shared set of values that build commitment and inspire passion and creativity. Additionally, coaching and mentoring is always one of the top things for our organization. Internally, it is always important to help team members to find a sense of personal fulfilment from their missions. Externally, we were also encouraged to build collaborative relationship with other firms in the industry for mutual support. The organization also seek to build collaborative partnership with clients and the community. Problem Management Decision Making In this highly interconnected and competitive industry, the firm believes the ability to make the right decisions, at the right time, has become a core advantage. Our people are faced with constantly complex and multidimensional decisions.ÂÂ   We must be able to react to sudden shifts in the business environment, in real-time. The firm has invested a great amount of effort to improve our decision-making efficiency and level of insight to improve performance. First of all, the firm narrowed down some common challenges faced by our people in decision making. For instance, we were lacking confidence in making strategic decisions sometimes. We sometimes made decisions based on intuition and experience, spent too much time on mechanical tasks rather than analysis, and focused on unnecessary detail. We were expect to be adding more value through better use of leading indicators, conducting root cause analysis of issues, and linking strategy with resource allocation, planning and reporting. Therefore, the firm has been focusing on implementing a driver-based decision making process at every level. Most other processes out there include a discussion or even a listing of drivers. However, this conceptual listing does not typically build out the driver insights to a deep enough level to really drive decision-making. Our process emphasized drivers should be quantified, built into a mathematical model, with correlations among the drivers, enabling planning and root cause analysis at the driver level. Specifically, we developed a driver-based framework to evaluate each initiative on a consistent set of driver inputs. The driver methodology enabled comparison of driver assumptions for accuracy as well as a repeatable way of prioritizing initiatives. This could be demonstrated by a simple example. For instances, if a revenue target was missed, the driver-based analysis could help our reveals the roost causes. Revenue decline may be due to units, not price, and unit decline is due to smaller market size, but market share has exceeded plan. That means the firm is still growing share while maintaining price. In this case, our strategic focus should be whether the market size could recover. No matter what the answer is, we should always focus on generating high-performance share growth to maintain our revenue. On the contrary, if a revenue target was exceeded, the driver-based analysis could help us define the contributors. Units might be twice the projected number because the market size is three times the planned size, but market share is lagging plan despite aggressive discounting that has driven down net price. In this case, our strategic focus should be whether to invest more in this growing market. As this approach becoming more commonly used at the firm, we believe this is a very effective and suitable decision making method for us because drivers enable fact-based evaluations of business alternatives, as well as ability to run risk-specific scenarios. Additionally, drivers enable 1uantitative analysis to hone in on upside opportunity and downside risk at an actionable level. Ethics and Professional Codes of Conduct Our firm is one of the worlds most respected organizations, and were aiming to make us one of the best places to work. That reputation is the result of our professional skills, and integrity, embodied in our strong values and our Code of Conduct. As a public accounting firm, professional integrity is our greatest asset. Acting with integrity means complying with laws, regulations and standards that apply to our professional conduct. It also means complying with the firms policies and procedures, including competing for business, serving clients, documenting work and reporting hours and expenses accurately. Objectivity and independence are critical parts of making sure the investing public has confidence in our services. Failing to embody these values puts our professional reputation at risk. We embrace the rules and policies regarding professional independence. And we avoid activities that might have even the appearance of impropriety. Citations: Ernst Young. In Wikipedia. Retrieved March 23, 2017 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernst_%26_Young Our people and culture. Ernst Young Global Limited, About us. Web. March 23, 2017. Retrieved from http://www.ey.com/us/en/about-us/our-people-and-culture/2020-vision_our-people-21st-century-workforce Our Value. Ernst Young Global Limited, About us. Web. March 23, 2017. Retrieved from http://www.ey.com/us/en/about-us/our-values Creating an ethical culture. By David Gebler. May 2006. Strategic Finance. Living Our Value. Ernst Young Global Limited. March 23, 2017. Code of Conduct. Ernst Young Global Limited. March 23, 2017.

Substance Abuse: Driving Under the Influence

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 16,694 people died in 2004 in alcohol and drug related traffic collisions, representing 40% of all traffic related deaths in the United States. (â€Å"2004 Traffic Safety†¦Ã¢â‚¬  2005) In addition about half of the one million people injured in road accidents were also due to driving under the influence (DUI). These are startling statistics, which underscore the enormity of the problem posed by the vast number of people who drive while intoxicated. Another point of concern regarding drunk driving or DUI is that repeat or hardcore offenders are the cause of a large proportion of traffic accidents with one out of eight intoxicated drivers in fatal crashes having had a prior DUI/DWI conviction within the past three years. (Pena, 2005) As a result, a number of programs have sprung up around the country seeking to rehabilitate the repeat DUI offenders through education, counseling, and treatment. The laws against DUI and rehab programs have resulted in a gradual but steady decline in fatalities from drunk driving since the 1980s. In this essay, I shall focus on such programs that seek to address the problem of DUI, particularly programs for the chronic and repeat offenders. The laws and penalties against driving while intoxicated have been made stricter in the US since the 1970s. The drinking age has also been uniformly raised to 21 years, while it was 18 in several states prior to the 1980s.1 Currently, driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence (DUI) is a criminal offense in most jurisdictions within the United States.2 The punishment for DUI includes jail terms, monetary fines, mandatory DUI programs, and confiscation of driver's license for repeated offenders. Some states even treat DUI as a felony under certain circumstances such as the presence of a very high blood alcohol content (BAC), the severity of the accident caused by the drunk driver, or in cases where the driver is a repeat offender. (â€Å"Drunk Driving-United States† 2005) In case of alcohol consumption, most states laws have designated the legal limit of blood alcohol content (BAC) for drunk driving at 0.08 (i.e., 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood). In cases of driving under the influence of prescription medication or illicit drugs there is no â€Å"per se† or legal limit. Instead, in cases of driving under the influence of drugs other than alcohol, the key factor is whether the driver's faculties were impaired by the substance that was consumed. Due to this reason, the detection and successful prosecution of drivers impaired by prescription medication or illegal drugs is difficult. Besides performing a chemical test (blood, urine, or breath analysis) in order to determine the BAC of the offender, a law enforcing officer may also administer a Field Sobriety Test (FST) on a suspect driver. There are certain standardized FSTs such as the â€Å"Walk and Turn† test, the â€Å"One-leg Stand† and â€Å"Horizontal Gaze Test,† which can reliably determine the level of impairment of an intoxicated driver. (Ibid.) The Transportation Equity Act (TEA-21) enacted in 1998 encourages States to enact Repeat Intoxicated Driver laws providing for minimum penalty for repeat offenders such as: a)Suspension of driver's license for not less than one year b)Impoundment, immobilization, or installation of ignition interlock system on vehicles c)An assessment of the individual's degree of abuse of alcohol and treatment as appropriate d)Not less than 30 days community service or 5 days of imprisonment for 2nd offense and not less than 60 days community service or 10 days of imprisonment for 3rd and subsequent offense. (â€Å"Minimum Penalties for Repeat offenders† n.d.) As mentioned in the introduction, there are a number of DUI programs in the United States that seek to control the menace of drunk driving through education, counseling and treatment of the offenders. Some of these programs are described below: California's Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Program: California was among the first states in the US (along with New York) to introduce laws pertaining to drunk driving. It has also introduced an effective DUI Program, which is governed by legislation enacted in 1978. The State has a system in place that determines the need for DUI program services, licenses DUI programs, establishes regulations, approves participant fees and fee schedules, and provides DUI information. A person convicted of a first DUI offense are required to complete a state-licensed three-month, 30-hour alcohol and drug education and counseling program. Drivers detected with a blood alcohol content of 0.20 or higher must complete a state-licensed sixmonth, 45-hour alcohol and drug education and counseling program. These programs are designed to enable participants to consider attitudes and behavior, support positive lifestyle changes, and reduce or eliminate the use of alcohol and/or drugs. (â€Å"An Overview of California's†¦Ã¢â‚¬  2004) Repeat DUI offenders (second and subsequent DUI convictions) must complete an 18-month multiple offender program. Such programs provide 52 hours of group counseling; 12 hours of alcohol and drug education; 6 hours of community reentry monitoring; and biweekly individual interviews during the first 12 months of the program. A county in California may elect to provide 30-month DUI programs for third and subsequent DUI offenders, which provide longer periods of counselling, education, and community service, i.e., 78 hours of group counseling; 12 hours of alcohol and drug education; 120-300 hours of community service; and close and regular individual interviews. Presently, such services are available in Los Angeles and San Francisco Counties. (â€Å"An Overview of California's†¦Ã¢â‚¬  2004) The California Association of Drinking Driver Treatment Programs (â€Å"CADDTP†) has been formed to help promote understanding of, and improve the role of the DUI programs in California. Most people agree that California's DUI program network is â€Å"the most inclusive, structured, and complex† and its entire programs are self-supporting through fees paid by participants. They have caused DUI arrests and alcohol-related fatalities to decline steadily in the last two decades when it was introduced. (â€Å"California Association of Drinking Driver Treatment Programs† n.d.) Drug Courts for DUI: An American Council on Alcoholism (ACA) Program: In collaboration with the National Association for Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) and the National Commission Against Drunk Driving (NCADD), the American Council on Alcoholism Program (ACAP) seeks to promote and establish courts that focus on alcoholism treatment for drunk driving offenders. This is because ACA believes that the root cause of the drunk driving problem is alcohol abuse and alcoholism and unless we address the root problem of alcoholism, we will not be able to solve the problem of drunk driving. The ACA also believes that traditional means of prevention have had little or no effect on â€Å"hard core† drunk drivers or repeat offenders; therefore it is working for the application of the highly successful drug courts model to cure hardcore drunk drivers of their alcoholism. Drug Court Programs have been found to be highly successful in rehabilitating repeat and hardcore DUI offenders. Recidivism rate in such programs is remarkably low (about 11% v 60% for most other programs). A unique feature of Drug Court is the direct involvement of the judge in the treatment process who remains in direct contact with the defendant and engages in frequent discussion of the progress. The frequent contact between the judge and the defendant creates a paternal-like relationship between them and the judge is able to give positive reinforcement, issue instant reprimands or order incarceration for up to 30 days as the situation demands. (Kavanaugh, 2003). An example of a successful DUI Drug Court Program is the Butte County Revia Project started in 1996 for repeat drinking drivers. The key to this model of treatment is the use of ReVia (generic name: naltrexone) for weaning the repeat DUI offenders from their alcohol dependence. (â€Å"Butt County Revia Project,† 2003) The Century Council3 created The National Hardcore Drunk Driver Project in 1997 in order to coordinate efforts directed towards deterrence of hardcore drunk drivers who habitually drive while highly intoxicated. The Council's main aim is to call attention to the serious nature of the crime of drunk driving and to provide the needed framework in order to close loopholes in existing laws and programs, enact needed legislation, and ensure that the responsible agencies and organizations work together effectively to address the problem. The Council stresses that successful DUI programs for repeat and hardcore offenders should be based on swift identification, certain punishment and effective treatment. It conducts research on DUI and has published a comprehensive source book on the topic, which provides up-to-date data to assist legislators, highway safety officials, law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, community activists, corrections personnel, and treatment professionals in developing programs to reduce hardcore drunk driving. (â€Å"National Hardcore Drunk Driver Project† 2003) There are a number of other organizations in the US as well as many other countries that are engaged in conducting programs for the treatment of chronic and repeat DUI offenders. These include the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)-a support group of alcoholics that seeks to cure alcohol addicts from their addiction through a twelve-step process; the Al-Anon/ Al-Ateen Family Groups–a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope, in order to solve their common problems.4 The Al-Anon programs are based on the belief that alcoholism is a family illness, and that changed attitudes can aid recovery. Convicted DUI offenders can be sent to jail and fined, particularly in case of repeat offenders. Other alternatives to jail sentence, apart from the DUI Programs for rehabilitation that were discussed in the preceding paragraphs are: Electronic Monitoring (wearing of an ankle bracelet that monitors the whereabouts of the wearer); Work Release-the convicted person works at a place determined by the Probation Department and goes home to sleep; Work Furlough-an arrangement in which the participant keeps his job but returns to a dormitory style facility at night; and City Jail-operated by the local police where the participants spend the night but are released during the day. (â€Å"Jail Alternatives† 2005) Most DUI laws are aimed at deterring driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. One way of deterring DUI offenses is by making policies and laws that change the drivers' attitude towards DUI and by altering their perceptions of the likely consequences as a result of DUI behavior. (Greenburg et al, 2004). Such anti-DUI laws could be enacted and public information campaigns launched that enhance a driver's perception of â€Å"the certainty, swiftness and severity of prosecution† for drunk-driving offenses, or by increasing awareness of the physical dangers associated with driving while intoxicated (Ibid.) Some experts believe that the â€Å"moral component† of the laws is much more important than the â€Å"fear factor† of apprehension and punishment in the long-term control of drunk driving. This is mainly because the likelihood of detection for DUI offenders is very low or uncertain. According to a study quoted by Robin, â€Å"On any given outing, an intoxicated driver has less than a 1-in-1000 chance of being apprehended by the police.† (Robin 1991) Tough laws against drunken driving have a moral aspect that gradually develop a culture in a society that is intolerant of DUI regardless of the perceived legal risks to the driver involved. Hence, DUI laws are more likely to achieve their objective of controlling drunk driving if we emphasize the morality of the law rather than expect the hardcore violators to be deterred by the fear of getting caught. Despite a steady decline in the number of accidents and fatalities due to driving under the influence (DUI) in the US since the 1980s, the numbers are still unacceptably high. It is even more alarming that a large proportion of these accidents are caused by repeat offenders or hard core drinkers. As discussed in this paper, measures taken to control DUI range from stricter punishment to rehabilitation programs aimed at changing the behavior of chronic DUI offenders. Some of these programs have contributed significantly in reducing DUI offenses. However, a sustained, coordinated, and long-term effort is required for further reduction in DUI cases. Substance Abuse: Driving Under the Influence According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), 16,694 people died in 2004 in alcohol and drug related traffic collisions, representing 40% of all traffic related deaths in the United States. (â€Å"2004 Traffic Safety†¦ † 2005) In addition about half of the one million people injured in road accidents were also due to driving under the influence (DUI). These are startling statistics, which underscore the enormity of the problem posed by the vast number of people who drive while intoxicated. Another point of concern regarding drunk driving or DUI is that repeat or hardcore offenders are the cause of a large proportion of traffic accidents with one out of eight intoxicated drivers in fatal crashes having had a prior DUI/DWI conviction within the past three years. (Pena, 2005) As a result, a number of programs have sprung up around the country seeking to rehabilitate the repeat DUI offenders through education, counseling, and treatment. The laws against DUI and rehab programs have resulted in a gradual but steady decline in fatalities from drunk driving since the 1980s. In this essay, I shall focus on such programs that seek to address the problem of DUI, particularly programs for the chronic and repeat offenders. The laws and penalties against driving while intoxicated have been made stricter in the US since the 1970s. The drinking age has also been uniformly raised to 21 years, while it was 18 in several states prior to the 1980s. 1 Currently, driving while intoxicated (DWI) or driving under the influence (DUI) is a criminal offense in most jurisdictions within the United States. The punishment for DUI includes jail terms, monetary fines, mandatory DUI programs, and confiscation of driver's license for repeated offenders. Some states even treat DUI as a felony under certain circumstances such as the presence of a very high blood alcohol content (BAC), the severity of the accident caused by the drunk driver, or in cases where the driver is a repeat offender. (â€Å"Drunk Driving-United States† 2005) In case of alcohol consumption, most states laws have designated the legal limit of blood alcohol content (BAC) for drunk driving at 0. 08 (i. e. , 80 mg of alcohol in 100 ml of blood). In cases of driving under the influence of prescription medication or illicit drugs there is no â€Å"per se† or legal limit. Instead, in cases of driving under the influence of drugs other than alcohol, the key factor is whether the driver's faculties were impaired by the substance that was consumed. Due to this reason, the detection and successful prosecution of drivers impaired by prescription medication or illegal drugs is difficult. Besides performing a chemical test (blood, urine, or breath analysis) in order to determine the BAC of the offender, a law enforcing officer may also administer a Field Sobriety Test (FST) on a suspect driver. There are certain standardized FSTs such as the â€Å"Walk and Turn† test, the â€Å"One-leg Stand† and â€Å"Horizontal Gaze Test,† which can reliably determine the level of impairment of an intoxicated driver. (Ibid. ) The Transportation Equity Act (TEA-21) enacted in 1998 encourages States to enact Repeat Intoxicated Driver laws providing for minimum penalty for repeat offenders such as: a)Suspension of driver's license for not less than one year b)Impoundment, immobilization, or installation of ignition interlock system on vehicles )An assessment of the individual's degree of abuse of alcohol and treatment as appropriate d)Not less than 30 days community service or 5 days of imprisonment for 2nd offense and not less than 60 days community service or 10 days of imprisonment for 3rd and subsequent offense. (â€Å"Minimum Penalties for Repeat offenders† n. d. ) As mentioned in the introduction, there are a number of DUI programs in the United States that seek to control the menace of drunk driving through education, counseling and treatment of the offenders. Some of these programs are described below: California's Driving Under the Influence (DUI) Program: California was among the first states in the US (along with New York) to introduce laws pertaining to drunk driving. It has also introduced an effective DUI Program, which is governed by legislation enacted in 1978. The State has a system in place that determines the need for DUI program services, licenses DUI programs, establishes regulations, approves participant fees and fee schedules, and provides DUI information. A person convicted of a first DUI offense are required to complete a state-licensed three-month, 30-hour alcohol and drug education and counseling program. Drivers detected with a blood alcohol content of 0. 20 or higher must complete a state-licensed sixmonth, 45-hour alcohol and drug education and counseling program. These programs are designed to enable participants to consider attitudes and behavior, support positive lifestyle changes, and reduce or eliminate the use of alcohol and/or drugs. (â€Å"An Overview of California's†¦ 2004) Repeat DUI offenders (second and subsequent DUI convictions) must complete an 18-month multiple offender program. Such programs provide 52 hours of group counseling; 12 hours of alcohol and drug education; 6 hours of community reentry monitoring; and biweekly individual interviews during the first 12 months of the program. A county in California may elect to provide 30-month DUI programs for third and subsequent DUI offenders, which provide longer periods of counselling, education, and community service, i. e. 78 hours of group counseling; 12 hours of alcohol and drug education; 120-300 hours of community service; and close and regular individual interviews. Presently, such services are available in Los Angeles and San Francisco Counties. (â€Å"An Overview of California's†¦ † 2004) The California Association of Drinking Driver Treatment Programs (â€Å"CADDTP†) has been formed to help promote understanding of, and improve the role of the DUI programs in California. Most people agree that California's DUI program network is â€Å"the most inclusive, structured, and complex† and its entire programs are self-supporting through fees paid by participants. They have caused DUI arrests and alcohol-related fatalities to decline steadily in the last two decades when it was introduced. (â€Å"California Association of Drinking Driver Treatment Programs† n. d. ) Drug Courts for DUI: An American Council on Alcoholism (ACA) Program: In collaboration with the National Association for Drug Court Professionals (NADCP) and the National Commission Against Drunk Driving (NCADD), the American Council on Alcoholism Program (ACAP) seeks to promote and establish courts that focus on alcoholism treatment for drunk driving offenders. This is because ACA believes that the root cause of the drunk driving problem is alcohol abuse and alcoholism and unless we address the root problem of alcoholism, we will not be able to solve the problem of drunk driving. The ACA also believes that traditional means of prevention have had little or no effect on â€Å"hard core† drunk drivers or repeat offenders; therefore it is working for the application of the highly successful drug courts model to cure hardcore drunk drivers of their alcoholism. Drug Court Programs have been found to be highly successful in rehabilitating repeat and hardcore DUI offenders. Recidivism rate in such programs is remarkably low (about 11% v 60% for most other programs). A unique feature of Drug Court is the direct involvement of the judge in the treatment process who remains in direct contact with the defendant and engages in frequent discussion of the progress. The frequent contact between the judge and the defendant creates a paternal-like relationship between them and the judge is able to give positive reinforcement, issue instant reprimands or order incarceration for up to 30 days as the situation demands. An example of a successful DUI Drug Court Program is the Butte County Revia Project started in 1996 for repeat drinking drivers. The key to this model of treatment is the use of ReVia (generic name: naltrexone) for weaning the repeat DUI offenders from their alcohol dependence. (â€Å"Butt County Revia Project,† 2003) The Century Council3 created The National Hardcore Drunk Driver Project in 1997 in order to coordinate efforts directed towards deterrence of hardcore drunk drivers who habitually drive while highly intoxicated. The Council's main aim is to call attention to the serious nature of the crime of drunk driving and to provide the needed framework in order to close loopholes in existing laws and programs, enact needed legislation, and ensure that the responsible agencies and organizations work together effectively to address the problem. The Council stresses that successful DUI programs for repeat and hardcore offenders should be based on swift identification, certain punishment and effective treatment. It conducts research on DUI and has published a comprehensive source book on the topic, which provides up-to-date data to assist legislators, highway safety officials, law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, community activists, corrections personnel, and treatment professionals in developing programs to reduce hardcore drunk driving. (â€Å"National Hardcore Drunk Driver Project† 2003) There are a number of other organizations in the US as well as many other countries that are engaged in conducting programs for the treatment of chronic and repeat DUI offenders. These include the Alcoholics Anonymous (AA)-a support group of alcoholics that seeks to cure alcohol addicts from their addiction through a twelve-step process; the Al-Anon/ Al-Ateen Family Groups–a fellowship of relatives and friends of alcoholics who share their experience, strength, and hope, in order to solve their common problems. 4 The Al-Anon programs are based on the belief that alcoholism is a family illness, and that changed attitudes can aid recovery. Convicted DUI offenders can be sent to jail and fined, particularly in case of repeat offenders. Other alternatives to jail sentence, apart from the DUI Programs for rehabilitation that were discussed in the preceding paragraphs are: Electronic Monitoring (wearing of an ankle bracelet that monitors the whereabouts of the wearer); Work Release-the convicted person works at a place determined by the Probation Department and goes home to sleep; Work Furlough-an arrangement in which the participant keeps his job but returns to a dormitory style facility at night; and City Jail-operated by the local police where the participants spend the night but are released during the day. (â€Å"Jail Alternatives† 2005) Most DUI laws are aimed at deterring driving under the influence of alcohol and drugs. One way of deterring DUI offenses is by making policies and laws that change the drivers' attitude towards DUI and by altering their perceptions of the likely consequences as a result of DUI behavior. (Greenburg et al, 2004). Such anti-DUI laws could be enacted and public information campaigns launched that enhance a driver's perception of â€Å"the certainty, swiftness and severity of prosecution† for drunk-driving offenses, or by increasing awareness of the physical dangers associated with driving while intoxicated (Ibid. Some experts believe that the â€Å"moral component† of the laws is much more important than the â€Å"fear factor† of apprehension and punishment in the long-term control of drunk driving. This is mainly because the likelihood of detection for DUI offenders is very low or uncertain. According to a study quoted by Robin, â€Å"On any given outing, an intoxicated driver has less than a 1-in-1000 chance of being apprehended by the police. (Robin 1991) Tough laws against drunken driving have a moral aspect that gradually develop a culture in a society that is intolerant of DUI regardless of the perceived legal risks to the driver involved. Hence, DUI laws are more likely to achieve their objective of controlling drunk driving if we emphasize the morality of the law rather than expect the hardcore violators to be deterred by the fear of getting caught. Despite a steady decline in the number of accidents and fatalities due to driving under the influence (DUI) in the US since the 1980s, the numbers are still unacceptably high. It is even more alarming that a large proportion of these accidents are caused by repeat offenders or hard core drinkers. As discussed in this paper, measures taken to control DUI range from stricter punishment to rehabilitation programs aimed at changing the behavior of chronic DUI offenders. Some of these programs have contributed significantly in reducing DUI offenses. However, a sustained, coordinated, and long-term effort is required for further reduction in DUI cases.

Biology 1322 Lay Literature Article Essay - 736 Words

ARTICLE CRITIQUE BIOL 1322 The newspaper/magazine article I am critiquing comes from: Women’s Health , dated November/December 2005 . (Name of Publication) NOTE: Attach a copy of the article to this report. Answer the following questions: 1. What sort of language does the writer use? Do the words imply sensationalism or conclusive findings? Phrases such as â€Å"startling revelation† or â€Å"now we know† or â€Å"the study proved† are clues to whether the report is a sensational one. Does the author take a tentative approach, using words such as may, might, or could? What do these words imply? I evaluate the language used in the publication as follows: The†¦show more content†¦Where? Does the journal mentioned publish valid scientific findings? I judge the credibility of the item to be: I judge the credibility of this article to be accurate. Although there was no mention of whether or not the information provided is published in a medical or nutritional journal, the author states that the dosages given are the Recommended Daily Allowances. RDA’s easily be verified online through numerous websites and journal articles. 4. How were the results obtained? Can you tell from the article whether this was a case study, an epidemiological study, and intervention study, or a laboratory study? How does that information affect your understanding of what the results have contributed to nutrition science? The methods used to obtain these results were: From this text of the article I conclude that the information provided came as the result of case studies. Knowing that the data has been tested and proven shows me that nutritional science is an evolving field of study. Just like any other science, what works for one person mat not necessarily work for another. These studies produce Recommended Daily Allowances that provide us with a guide to start our individual nutritional plan and then adjustments can be made as necessary for optimal individual health. 5. Does the finding apply to you? Should you change your eatingShow MoreRelated_x000C_Introduction to Statistics and Data Analysis355457 Words   |  1422 Pagesimportance of statistics. Contrived problem situations and artiï ¬ cial data often reinforce this skepticism. A strategy that we have employed successfully to motivate students is to present examples and exercises that involve data extracted from journal articles, newspapers, and other published sources. Most examples and exercises in the book are of this nature; they cover a very wide range of disciplines and subject areas. These include, but are not limited to, health and ï ¬ tness, consumer research, psychology

Rules About Taking Growlers Into Canada

Like other goods that come through customs, Canada has some specific rules about how much and who can bring alcohol into the country.   Returning Canadians, visitors to Canada and people moving to Canada for short periods are allowed to bring small amounts of liquor and beer into the country as long as it accompanies them (that is, the alcohol cant be shipped separately). Its important to note that anyone bringing alcohol into Canada must be at least the legal drinking age of the province where they enter the country. For most Canadian provinces and territories the legal drinking age is 19; for Alberta, Manitoba and Quebec, the legal drinking age is  18. The amounts of alcohol youre allowed to bring into Canada without paying duty or taxes will vary slightly by province as well.   The below chart shows the amount of alcohol that citizens and visitors may bring into Canada without paying duty or taxes (one of the following types,  not a combination,  is allowed in a single trip across the border). These amounts are considered the personal exemption amounts of alcohol Type of alcohol Metric Amount Imperial (English) Amount Estimate Wine Up to 1.5 liters Up to 53 fluid ounces Two bottles of wine Alcoholic beverage Up to 1.14 liters Up to 40 fluid ounces One large bottle of liquor Beer or Ale Up to 8.5 liters Up to 287 fluid ounces 24 cans or bottles Source: Canada Border Services Agency Returning Canadian Residents and Visitors The above amounts apply if you are a Canadian resident  or temporary resident returning from a trip outside Canada, or a former Canadian resident returning to live in Canada. You can bring these quantities of alcohol into Canada without paying duty and taxes after you have been out of the country for more than 48 hours. If youve been on a day trip to the United States, for example, any alcohol you bring back to Canada will be subject to the usual duties and taxes.   Visitors to Canada also are allowed to bring small quantities of alcohol into Canada without paying duty and taxes. Except in the Northwest Territories  and Nunavut, you can bring in amounts more than your personal exemption allowance by paying duties and taxes on  the excess amounts, but those amounts are limited by the province or territory in which you enter the country. Bringing Alcohol When Moving to Settle in Canada If you are moving to Canada permanently for the first time (that is, not a returning former resident), or if you are coming to Canada to work for a period longer than three years, you are allowed to bring the previously mentioned small quantities of alcohol  and may make arrangements to ship alcohol (the contents of your wine cellar for example) to your new Canadian address.   When entering Canada with an amount greater than the ones listed in the chart above (in other words, an amount exceeding your personal exemption), not only will you pay duty and taxes on the excess, youll be required to pay any applicable provincial or territorial taxes as well. Since each province varies, contact the liquor control authority in the province where youll be entering Canada for the most up-to-date information.