Paragraph About Elasticity and Inelasticity

Elasticity is the degree to which demand for a service or a good varies from its price. What happens most of the times is that when there are price decreases, sales increase and viceversa. This is known as elastic demand. For example, bicycles, sodas, jeans, cars have elastic demand because when they are cheap everyone wants to buy them, but when the price increases, people stop doing so (demand depends on the price). This happens with products such as this because they are not totally essential on people? s lifes (one can live without it); instead of gas (which is a product classified in inelastic demand) because people will always need it.Elasticity is important because it helps organizations decide on the best course of action regarding the service or the product. Also, it helps the government impose a new tax (when a new tax is imposed, the prices rise). If the demand is very elastic it will considerably fall when the price has risen and the government will not be able to earn ex pected revenue. Affects monopoly as well, If demand is very elastic, the effect of monopoly on prices is quite limited. In contrast, if the demand is relatively inelastic, monopolies will increase prices by a large margin.Hence, elasticity helps both companies and government understand is what is being done produces results or not. In order to measure the rate of response of quality demanded due to a price change, there is the Price Elasticity of Demand (PEoD): (% change in quality demanded)/(% change in price). Factors that can influence this calculation include costs of switching between products, and the importance of the good (is it necessary? ). Moreover, we have what is known as price elasticity of supply, measuring the relationship between change in quality supplied and a change in price.The formula for calculating: is (%change in quality supplied)/(%change in price). There are also factors that can influence this calculation, such as spare capacity, stocks, time periods, etc . Therefore, the income elasticity of supply is the response of quantity demanded and supplied due to a change in consumer disposable income. Also, it is very important to have in mind the cross elasticity of supply. This is the acceptance of the supply of good A to the change in price of the good B. For example: a farmer grows potatoes and carrots.The cross elasticity of supply of carrots against potatoes is how much supply of carrots will change is the price of potatoes changes. Furthermore, inelasticity is a situation where the supply and demand for a good are unaffected when the price of that service or product changes. Even if the price goes higher, the demand will remain the same because people need of thee in order to survive. As I mentioned before, this is the case of gas since people need it, even if they complain about it prices they would, still need to buy it. Other examples of products with inelasticity are bread, medicines, milk and water (most of them are recurring).

Overview of the Social Costs of White-Collar Crime Essay

How much white collar crime actually exists in the society is determined by the organizational resources available to uncover, investigate, and prosecute it, and more generally, enforce what most experts already regard as inadequate laws aimed at its control. Increase rates of white-collar crime produced social costs that is rooted from individual professional employees which is later on promulgated to the rest of the organization and the society as a whole (Rosoff, Pontell, & Tillman 136-137). Social costs can be classified on either monetary or non-monetary level. Financial loss will surely impact those inside and outside the organization. In addition it can also be viewed that social costs of white collar crime may also be related with the economic costs (Rosoff, Pontell, & Tillman 95). It causes devastation to the entire community as compare to lone bank robbery victim. The impact last for many years since it is not only the money being stolen from the company but company services as well (Salinger 177). Victims are affected even for their entire life because they are deprived of their lifetime savings. Identity theft causes victims to be ridiculed by other people because they are misjudged for having criminal records and huge bank credit statements which they did not purchased. Thefts on the other hand commits something that violates not only the law but trust from other people as well. White collar crime damages social relationship. It loosens the morale of people and leads to ample disorganization (Salinger 190). A common white collar crime is tax evasion, which has a very specific effect: taxes are hiked for the poor, to cover for the costs that companies won’t cover. Increased economic hardship for the average citizen and consumer (Rosoff, Pontell, & Tillman 136-137). Crime increases the cost of doing business, and any such increase in business costs is ultimately passed on to the consumer through increased prices and decreased services. Social workers party are also formed as a sign of rebellion to unjust regulations within the company which results to more complex development in businesses (Rosoff, Pontell, & Tillman 252). Deliberately inadequate services and deficient products incur costs. Injury, illness, disability, and death with their attendant psychological suffering are all too common by-products of certain types of white collar crime. This service quality greatly affects the work efficiency of people since manpower is decreasing and may lead to worker’s death (Rosoff, Pontell, & Tillman 136-137). Totality of white collar crime results various social costs. Because workers are underpaid, has no/low insurance and are underprivileged, it has a domino effect that is passed on to other people until it consumes the whole society.

The Roller Skating Rink

The Roller Skating Rink Adolescents like to have a place they can call their own. In the 80’s and early 90’s, teenagers would hang out at the mall, the arcade, or many other spots. When I was a little girl, growing up in a small town, meant you had to travel to the city next door in order to find your weekend excitement. Usually that would be roller skating with your friends at â€Å"Skate World†, while listening to the favorite group of the month. Having never done this as a child, my sister decided one afternoon that she would take me roller skating. I was amazed to find a little world filled with life blooming on a 70 X 160-ft cement slab known as a roller skating rink. As soon as we entered the building which housed the rink, the warm, nostalgia scent of popcorn hit that part of my brain where dusty cobwebbed memories live, memories of my own childhood. We made our way past a group of exuberant teenagers at the snack bar until we reached the skating rink. Skinny, hard benches, made for small butts, lined one wall. We took a seat and scanned the rink. My eyes paused to read a sign; white, block letters on a black background warned, â€Å"Skate At Your Own Risk. As my sister smiled back at me, I paused for a minute and thought, what have I gotten myself into. Meanwhile, two young men swaggered past us: confident, heads held high, eyes focused on their destination. I leaned over, looking down the long row of benches, curious to find out where they were going. Their confidence lagged a bit as they approached a large group of their peers, including several young ladies. All of them exhibited signs of discomfort as the girls crossed their arms over their mature bodies and the boys tried hard not to stare. Suddenly a silent signal sent the entire group to the benches. Pairs of nimble hands laced up skates as quickly as possible, while other hands aided in conversation that only the listener was allowed to hear. I was struck by the intimacy of this scene. They all knew each other well. They had come together in the freedom of this one place to share and explore without the encumbrance of parents, teachers, or any other adult. I sat bolt upright, feeling very uncomfortable as I realized how much I really didn’t fit in. Then as I attempted to recover from my embarrassment, I was suddenly startled by a noise†¦music, perhaps? It must have been music, because I glanced down to find my foot tapping away to a beat long forgotten. Then as if on cue, people from every corner of the room flocked to the rink. The awkwardness their bodies had expressed off the rink had been replaced by a grace not unlike a baby bird. They were clumsy in their approach to flight, but once airborne, they were a soaring sight to behold. After carefully watching, I was mesmerized by the effortlessness of their movements, weaving in and out, endlessly circling. Skates became a blur of color: green, purple, blue, pink, and red–speeding by fast and furious. I felt the rush of wind on my face as I caught the musky scent of cologne mixed with sweat. A swirl of communication was taking place, none of it involving speech. The tactile sense had kicked in: punching and shoving of young lions trying to impress their ladies of choice, bodies brushing by each other, and the gentle touch of hand on arm. A statuesque blond, six inches taller than her partner, slipped. â€Å"Catch me, I’m falling on purpose,† her body language seemed to say. Eye contact was prevalent. Most skaters continually scanned the rink, found the one they were looking for and BAM!!! eyes quickly darted away. This testing of emotional waters went of for several hours; boys and girls trying on relationships of men and women like kids playing dress up in their parents’ clothes. At last, I remembered the sign, â€Å"Skate At Your Own Risk. † At the time, I had worried about broken arms and legs, but as I watched the dance unfold on that skating rink, I realized that these young people risk so much more. The pain and rejection, the fear of making fools of themselves, and the devastation they feel when they believe that they have; makes life for these teenagers a risky business. Perhaps the sign should have read, â€Å"Live At Your Own Risk. †

Logistics Planning Case Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Logistics Planning Case - Essay Example Organization should take into consideration customers supply chain and their logistic operations. The company should be a factor in the requirements of the market and the needs of the customers so that organization can avail goods and services to the customers at the right place, condition and at the right time (Crammer, & Wegfahrt, 2006). Therefore, the study focus to identify whether customers drive location of the business and how it may affect logistic planning in various industries such as beer, clothing, and automobile industry. The company selected for the purpose of this study is Empresas Polar, a Bear Manufacturing Corporation in Venezuela. The company location decision has been compared regarding distribution and retailer location as discussed. Empress Polar is a private beer manufacturing company located in Venezuela in Caracas. Mendoza Lorenzo started the company in the year 1941. Since then, the company has grown significantly. It has expanded its operation to numerous parts of the world. The location of Empresas Polar is important because it faster delivery of goods and services to the consumers at the right time. It also ensures that unnecessary delay in delivery of products and services have been eradicated. The company distributes five different brands of bears in its various distribution centers. Some of the alcoholic brands of beers being distributed include; Solera, Polar, Negra, Verde, and Azul. There is also one non-alcoholic drink commonly known as ZERO.

Leading in a changing world Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Leading in a changing world - Assignment Example Herminia Ibarra and Morten Hansen (2011) discussed the theory of collaboration as a process in which diversity brings broader results to decision making. They state that â€Å"Research has consistently shown that diverse teams produce better results, provided they are well led. The ability to bring together people from different backgrounds, disciplines, cultures, and generations and leverage all they have to offer, therefore, is a must-have for leaders (Ibarra and Hansen 2011: 71). Leading in a collaborative environment is the best possible way in which to create highly innovative solutions and products at an elevated level of performance. Difference can bring more balance to the results and a good leader will inspire collaboration. Phillips (2008: 251) discusses the concept of congruent teams. These teams are created with the intentional assignment of roles so that each team member puts into the group work their own expertise. The best results, however, come when the input of each team member cannot be predicted, thus they come up with creative additions to the work through their expertise, but also through their ability to contribute unexpected concepts and ideas. In order to get to this type of diversity and congruency, the leader must know how to inspire collaboration. Collaboration comes when ideas begin to spark further development between team members. The theory that supports this type of leadership is in creating teams through structural interdependence and emergent interdependence that comes together through cognitively diverse team collaboration. Structural interdependence comes from roles that require the skills of a diverse team which are then matched with emergent interdependence as roles are defined with framed tasks. The ‘magic’ occurs as the use of the members and their skills have been ‘misunderstood’, bringing surprising results that will vastly improve

Community Health Project Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Community Health Project - Coursework Example With this concern, the community of Minneapolis MN can be determined as one of the largest cities in the United States with more than 387,000 citizens situated in the banks of the Mississippi river. The demographic description of Minneapolis signifies its increasing population which has been considered as one of the most populated areas among the 906 cities in the state of Minnesota. The average household income of Minneapolis can be estimated as USD 46,075 in the year of 2010. In the similar context, the median age has been estimated as 31.4 years old young people involving white, black and Hispanics within Minneapolis ethnic/racial groups (Cubit Planning, Inc., 2012). Windshield Survey The windshield survey of any community involves the collection of subjective data in a personal observation about any population or community. With this regards, the surveyors implement his/her good judgments in data collection process. In the context of conducting windshield survey for Minneapolis c ommunity, the assessment will be comprised with the comprehensive study of significant informational areas where the population or community resides. ... ding to systematic plans The general condition of the housing in the community were mostly traditional and hence require regular maintenance Open Space The space location within the community can be considered in a proper way of using open space among each building The open spaces are constructed noticeably in safe and attractive forms in Minneapolis community Common Areas The common areas for hangout in Minneapolis are the banks of Mississippi and Stone Arch Bridge The families, schools and college students spend their weekends in various attractive hangout areas within the community as well Transportation The transportation facility in Minneapolis consists of bus services, personal vehicles along with car rental facilities Moreover, the inhabitants use their motorbikes and bicycles as an efficient source of transportation Social Service Centers The community is surrounded with more than 25 healthcare institutions, both government and private as well Various healthcare facilities to cure different health issues are rendered to the locales A sufficient number of recreation centers along with special treatment centers and medical institutions are also present within the community Stores The resident shops in Minneapolis are mostly situated in the major streets of the community The shoppers of the community use personal as well as commercial vehicles during shopping The shops mostly serve with fresh food items including, groceries, fruits along with other necessities Street Scene The street environment of the community is significantly efficient due to a proper arrangement of shops and other business complexes There are no stray dogs and cats or â€Å"watchdogs† found on the street of Minneapolis community Condition of the Area The community can be considered as well-kept

Analysis of Intermodal Transportation Research Paper

Analysis of Intermodal Transportation - Research Paper Example However, in most cases, it is applied to the freight transportation. Though it may be time-consuming, the transport system is popular in the contemporary world (Coyle, 2011). Intermodal transportation is implemented using two or more inter-linked transport modes. It applies best in such situations when circumstances such as convenience and distance force one to employ the use of various transport modes. The modes supplement one other over a wide range of geographical space (Kardar, Rezapour & Farahani, 2011). Intermodal transportation system functions through a set of closely coordinated networks between modes and means of transport. The system implies that one transport mode inextricably links to another with proper logistic coordination at the terminus. The process may be cyclic in nature, in which case goods and services may move from one point to the other. There are changes in forms and characteristics and come back as the completely new product or a more modified version of the original product. For instance, a farmer harvests coffee that he or she transports to the nearest factory by road. The processed coffee gets to the nearest port for export th rough rail transport ten carried overseas through water transport. The product may follow the same channel as it finds its way back to the farmer to inform of new products such as chocolate (Coyle, 2011). The main rationale for the use of intermodal transportation system is to consolidate goods, people and services for efficiency in long-haul transportation. It serves to enhance the efficiency of delivery operations during transportation. Intermodal transportation is not limited to cross-border exchanges. Parcels and other mail documents also take this form of transportation as they move from place to place (Konings, Priemus & Nijkamp, 2008). Â  

Organizing Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Organizing Paper - Essay Example Human resources An organisation’s success is greatly dependent on the human resources employed in that particular organisation. The talent and professional abilities inherent in the human resource is demonstrated by tact in duty performance. Starbucks has invested in ensuring that it has the right talent and ability in place perfected by professionalism. The company also banks on the motivation of employees to realize its profitability. It has greatly relied on its baristas and other frontline staff to getting the best customer. The recruitment process at Starbucks outlines the need for hiring the right people to the organisation, where right people are placed in the selection and training of new employees (Dess, Lumpkin, & Eisner 20). According to Barney (18), the diversity of the management team and the organisational commitment to training of its staff makes the company to be a market leader in innovation in market differentiation. The company competitively remunerates its employees to maintain them and avoid staff turnover. The company has continuously strived to give an unrivalled work environment by means of offering strong management and benefit packages that are above the industry set standards (Dess, Lumpkin, & Eisner 16). ... the employees get time to meet and exchange their experiences they are able to learn between themselves new skills and tact on ways of meddling through the daily business activities. Knowledge The company’s knowledge about what strategy to put in action is instrumental to the success of the company. The various strategies to be applied at particular times are a key antidote to the progress of the company. Horizontal integration used by the company to gain market dominance and presence, this has been achieved through acquisitions of Seattle’s best, Torrefazione Italia and Coffee People all these have been major coffee shops. The knowledge of the significance of acquiring these shops was important in making the decision. Market penetration is crucial to a company presence; the company has established this through differentiation and product placement. Outside the retail stores is also a unique strategy not adapted by other shops. The company’s knowledge of consumer s shopping and consumption habits is important in designing and packaging its products in a manner that consumers find appealing. The company has greatly utilised this information in ensuring that it concentrically diversifies its bottled drinks, ice creams and liqueur (Barney 22). A market has to be developed continuously in order to ensure continued growth of the company. This has been facilitated by the knowledge of the firm to diversify its market by educating its consumers of the value of its products and the speciality of the coffee the company sells to its consumers (Dess, Lumpkin & Eisner 27). The shops are also well versed with the various tastes of consumers as pertaining to music and movies such that the company stands a good ground in offering these to its consumers as they visit their shops,

Digital Marketing Bagel Nash report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Digital Marketing Bagel Nash report - Essay Example Their bakery range provides bagel bars and bagel to both food service as well as retail customers (Bagelnash, n.d.). Bagel Nash is the highest search term on Google. There is limited digital presence as the digital communication is done through the company website only and it does not invest a lot of money or time in digital marketing. However, it has its existence on Facebook , Instagram as well as on twitter but does not have its own app. A complete analysis on the digital presence and strategy of this company will be discussed later in this report. The main purpose of this report is to provide a marketing strategy to achieve the planned digital objectives to benefit Bagel Nash in the field of improving their existing digital presence. A comprehensive micro as well as macro analysis is conducted. The report also encompasses implementation plan to give details of the activities and when those activities are to be executed. The key findings of content analysis are: Focus is on the internal and external factors which have affected the Bagel Nash; they should also pay attention on the human resources for successful packaging and service; a test was conducted in order to witness the experience of customers when they are trying to collect the information from the Bagel Nash website; total number of visits made on each device and on every mobile gadget within the last month has been shown. It indicates that desktop version has received the maximum number of new users as compared to the mobile and tablets. Moreover, it was also found that maximum number of new users is generated from Apple iPhone to view the Bagel Nash website. The facebook page report shows that the target customers are mostly youngsters but it was also noticed that the people of middle age group are also enjoying the fast food offered by Bagel Nash. The main aim of competitor scrutiny is to present a complete

Interviw with nurse in indiana state university health center Assignment

Interviw with nurse in indiana state university health center - Assignment Example The stage involves developing a comprehensive job description for the nursing position and formulating a hiring procedure. These two crucial aspects are outlined in detail in the subsequent sections. The eligible candidate will oversee maintenance of accurate and complete patient reports, as well as, medical records. The nurse will also be responsible for adjusting patient treatment regimen on the basis of respective patients’ condition and response to treatment. Further responsibilities include observing, recording and reporting changes in patients’ state while supervising and directing healthcare personnel with fewer skills in medicine. The nurse will also be expected to consistently monitor patient characteristics, including dietary, physical and physiological aspects, and to prepare patients for examinations by doctors or other medical specialists. The nurse will also shoulder the task of offering advice to individuals, families and groups on subjects like health education, disease prevention, and childbirth thus aiding in the development of suitable health improvement programs. The process of hiring provides an organization with a unique opportunity to align staff members’ skills with initiatives that foster growth. Proper planning and evaluation of the hiring process is, therefore, instrumental to the achievement of this success. The first step involves formulating interview and reference questions, as well as, criteria for interview assessment. The second stage in the hiring process entails development of a recruitment strategy, which would allow the hospital to map out a plan to attract and select the most competent candidate for the nursing position. The third step in the hiring process involves selection of a search committee. This group, equipped with the interview and reference questions, as well as, candidate assessment criteria, will ensure that

Operation management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Operation management - Essay Example rations (chemical, mechanical, assembly, electrical, transportation, assembly, inspection, etc), number, and sequence are usually specified for each and every input. In this case, the output will be chemicals, complete parts/products etc. the production function illustrates the relationship between an organization’s inputs and outputs. The maximum output which can be realized with specific inputs or resources can be determined by studying the production function; this is dependent on factors like the available technology among others. Relationship between Production Function and Operations Management Both operations management and production are essential in achieving an organization’s desired goals and objectives (Heizer and Render 2001, pg. 26). The core essence of any organization/business is to satisfy the needs of its customers through the provision of goods and services, and consequently solve their problems and create value for them. Production function and opera tions management are about applying management and business organization concepts in the creation of goods and services. When applied together, the production function and operations are very essential and influential in realizing an organization’s goals and meeting objectives. In order to create and supply value for customers in services and products, it is imperative that a company identifies customers’ preferences and then convert them into specific products or services (quantity of products needed for a known period of time). An organization must also conduct backdating (backward working) so as to know the raw material needs; this is based on the requirements of a particular product. Finally, using operations management, it is necessary to involve internal and external retailers with the...The Nature of the Relationship between Operations Management and other. Operations management facilitates collaboration among operation management professionals and other executives and managers in order to establish how operational planning can improve and sustain an organization’s long-term marketing strategy. This planning may include identifying policies and goals for marketing management, support services planning and budget management. Operations management (with the assistance of the operations manager) ensures that the marketing department is fulfilling its expected responsibilities within the company by meeting budgetary guidelines and productivity goals. In service operations like Heathrow’s, customers frequently participate in the conversion process. Manufacturing operations like Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s employ very sophisticated and complex techniques for gauging resource consumption and production activities during the conversion process. Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s operations, for example, take into consideration the manufacturing layout. In Nestlà ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢s manufacturing environment, operations managers are in charge of the processes required to convert raw materials into finished products. In Heathrow’s service operations, operations managers delegate duties to workers in order to make the handling of customer demand easier. Manufacturing and service organizations usually face many similar challenges that affect the eventual result of their operations.

When Buddhism was the dominant tradition in India Essay Example for Free

When Buddhism was the dominant tradition in India Essay Indian historical periods are related to the Buddhists Thought in terms of social ferment and intense intellectual social and cultural beliefs. The periods of how the religious groups evolved during the authority of the Vedas and their concept of the god they believed in. These periods range from the times at which there was consequential progress in the development of the religion in India. There were in certain hereditary statuses restrictions that had cast castle mobility of the implications of the rituals associated with the efficacy of Buddhism. The first periods of evolution of Buddhism started as early as 246 B. C in the northern parts of India. It then developed through very many empires and rulers to become a religion that is appreciated even today in all parts of the World. This paper will therefore analyze the periods of evolution of Buddhism and how it dominates the religious beliefs and minds of the ancient Indians and other people around the region. It will also look at how the religion was affected by the entry of other religious teachings including Islam and Christianity. It will find discuss the implications of the Thought of Buddhists with regard to the teachings of the founder of Buddhism by emphasizing the negative and positive aspects of the religion in the ancient and current Indians. Philosophical relevance of Buddhism to ancient India. Some sects associated with the religion are greatly contributing to the unified philosophical system of the cultural beliefs of the Indian population both in the past and in the early and mid twentieth centuries. Some critics both in India and other neighboring countries who had adopted the religion are pointing out several problems which prevent its acceptance by all people. They argue that Buddhists have in the past and still reject past action of deterministic behavior which keeps on changing as the technology changes . It is also considers that the soul and the body are inseparable and that it is not possible that the soul cannot survive death as claimed by some sects within Buddhism. Such kinds of teachings are considered to be mythical in nature and not the actual ones developed by Buddha himself at the time of conceiving the ‘knowledge’. While ethics and morals had to be emphasized during the time of Buddha, it should be done through judicial procedures which is currently overtaking the power and authority that religious leaders are having in their beliefs to punish offenders to some extent. Some scholars also believe that the views as expressed by the Buddhist religion are too advanced to be adopted by all societies considering the current diversity of societies, cultures, and religion. It evident that society has not reached a point where education needs to be universal and the society need to be developed further in the sense of prevalent superstitions and irrational beliefs. In this era where the society is limited when it comes to concepts and nature, religions are becoming increasingly controversial especially when it deals with patent issues of families, obedience, faith, God, life after death etc. the scholars also continue to analyze the impacts with which Buddhism has had on the current development of India when compared to the other cultures in other regions at the time of Buddhism in India. History of Buddhism Prince Siddhartha Guatama founded Buddhism in the kingdom of Shakwa in Nepal at the foothills of the Himalayas in the 500A. D which is approximately 2,500 years ago. It is believed that Siddhartha Guatama left his luxurious life in the palace to look for ‘better life elsewhere’. Buddhism was then conceived after the Prince moved around and met the poor who were suffering. After seeing this, Siddhartha Guatama recognized the fact that something was wrong with the societal order and it should be addressed very urgently. He therefore decided that he shares his wealth with the poor in the society with a view to making them equal with him. He spent most of his life doing this and God blessed him with immense knowledge that he got a revelation of life and the meaning of suffering. With this he was sure that he knew the real meaning of living. Thus the realization of Buddhism and the Buddhist Thought. The prince got the Buddhist Thought while sitting under the tree known as the papal tree and from that day, he was acknowledged by not only his admirers but also by other sympathizers of different religious beliefs. In the final barriers, Guatama achieved knowledge and he experienced a lot of truths that is all about suffering and life. The four noble truths as revealed by prince Guatama are; †¢ All of life is suffering †¢ The cause of suffering is desire †¢ Desire leads to suffering †¢ Desire can be ended by means of mediation and path discipline. Buddhists Thought With the achievement of this knowledge, Guatama was now the awakened one-Buddha meaning the birth of Buddhism. He thus spent most of his life traveling around India spreading the gospel of Buddha and the meaning of Buddhism in the ancient life of the Indians at the moment. More and more people continued to adopt the culture of the teachings of Buddhists while integrating the relevant principles of the religion to their daily needs. The principles of Buddhism encourage the teachings of Mahayana, Hinayana, Vayajarana teachings. These teachings encourages the upholding human life and assisting people to become equal in terms of food provision, culture, obedience, respect and punishment . Indian merchants and loyalty resulted and patronized monasteries for centuries after the introduction of the Buddhist Thought. In this period, hemispherical stone structures were erected in remembrance of the founder of the religion after he died after eighty years. Various temples were also built to signify the importance of the teachings to the ancient Indians. This is the first development of the Buddhists Thought impacted very strongly on the lives of the ancient people not only in India but also in neighboring countries that had received the message from the missionaries of Buddhism. Buddhism is also considered an organized religion with high philosophical orders within the Indian society. During the early twentieth century for example, Buddhism dramatically came back to spur a combination of philosophical interests and European antiquarian activities as practiced by the devotees available by then in the northern parts of the Indian region. This meant that all issues that were perceived to be supernatural to the normal man were enough to be adequately addressed by the Buddhists Thought and the principles as stated by Buddha. Forms of Buddhism The Himalayan communities practiced a form of Buddhism that shared same fundamental principles as those practiced by the Tibetan communities. This form of Buddhism is considered as promoting spiritual advancement, enhancing intercession, and enlightening human beings on their role on earth. Most of the forms of Buddhism are Adopted by different countries depending on their own understanding of the teachings. The ‘Doctrine of the elders’ is the most followed form of Buddhism that traces its origin to the first principle of the Buddhists Thought. It is being adored by the Indians and it traces its origin to scriptural traditions of the Pali community of eastern India. This doctrine stresses a more advanced human-like Buddhism that is coated with a democratic path which enables its followers to embrace unity, marriage simplicities, and abolition of marriage expenses, increased sense of identity, self-esteem, self-worth, and reducing alcoholism. Spreading the Buddhism Thought The religion from its inception in northern India spread to other parts of the country and within a short period of time it had spilled over to countries such as China, Korea and Japan. It is also believed that within India itself, Buddhism flourished against backdrops of various rulers in India who viewed it as a threatening and extreme religion which would interfere with their ruling capacitates. It is particularly believed that it was taken to higher levels by the emperors of Ashoka, Milinda, kanishka and Bimbishara who had all found the teachings of the religious practice useful top the Indian community and the whole societies at large. Around the thirteenth century, Buddhism disappeared slowly but not after leaving a legend on the religious beliefs in India. In fact, it is known that the prince who founded Buddhism did not even contemplate appointing a successor to continue with the teachings and the spreading of the religion. He rather advocated for each and every individual follower to maintain a personal form of salvation in which individuals regard all human beings as equal and worth in the eyes of the almighty. This meant that all followers of Buddhism had the moral responsibility of maintaining their own integrity as advocated by Buddha in his teachings in the eyes of other people. The main reason why Buddhism thrived and flourished in ancient Indian country was the support it received from the local kings and emperors such as Kosala. Guatama was known to be an intense austerity practitioner in that he was able to deny himself lots of luxuries and even starve himself to death if need be. At one point, he decided that self torture had weakened his mind for as long time and things needed to change. By failing to advance his enlighten status; he was reduced to a certain style of renunciation through dedicational mediation. Since Buddhism existed in the oral traditions only, it was necessary to have some kind of mechanisms to ensure that practices and doctrines of Buddhism are maintained. It was seen necessary to have a Council of Buddhists to do the job. These councils had their individual responsibilities. The first council This council arose out of Maha’s concern for the future of all Indians and the fate of the Buddha’s dependents. In this first council, the monks were required to deal with the disciplines within the Thought of Buddha. This first council was also to make recommendations and agreements on the controversial issues as singled out by the ancient rulers and scholars in India. The role of this council; became so complicated that after a couple of years, a second council was formed. The second council The responsibilities of the second council were to iron out differences that had arisen from the disagreements between the elders of the order and the monks. The monks had wanted to get exclusive powers to apply rules and regulations with regard to the believers who did not conform to the teachings of Buddha. This council was given the authority to iron out differences at all levels of leadership. However, most of the monks did not agree that the most attainable position would be the Arhat and that there would be other positions that can be attained by any other individual. Arhat was not measurable to Buddha and that is why it not possible to claim that Arhat is the highest point of holiness. The misunderstandings between the two groups of leaders led to the development of two Buddhist traditions. These are; the Great way and the Way of the Elders. Despite the fact that the two groups of the traditions give ultimate respect to the teachings of Buddha, they differ on issues such as monastic disciplines, Buddha-hood and obedience to the teachings. They were designed to meet challenges of misunderstandings of leaders in the councils The third council This council was held during the empire of emperor Ashoka who led the Buddhism monarchy at the third century B. C. It was held at the palatipultra reigns where most non-Buddhists joined the religious group mainly because they felt that it offered them some kind of royal patronage. Although most of the new members were finding it difficult to meet the expectations of their new religion, they had in some way retained their old beliefs. This third council was being formed at the height of increased membership to enable people disregard their old practices that do not conform to the teachings of Buddhism. The fourth and the fifth councils were all formed to counter moves by other religious groups to ouster Buddhism and its spread in and outside of India.

Benefits Of Leadership Promotion Within Organizations Management Essay

Benefits Of Leadership Promotion Within Organizations Management Essay There have been numerous arguments as to whether business leadership should be promoted from within or outside the organization. This project was aimed to ascertain whether leadership promotion within organisation may benefit the overall performance of the organisation or if leadership promotion or recruitment from outside will help an organisation to do better, the case of Nestle Ghana Ltd. OPOKU BOAKYE table of contents 1 INTRODUCTION 4 1.1 BACKGROUND 4 1.2 RESEARCH MOTIVATION 4 1.3 Aims and Objectives of the Study 5 1.4 The research question 5 1.5 significance of the study 5 2 LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 6 2.1 INTRODUCTION 6 2.2 UNDERSTAND THE CONCEPT OF LEADERSHIP 6 2.3 THEORIES OF LEADERSHIP 7 2.3.1 PSYCHODYNAMIC THEORY OR LEADER-MEMBER EXCHANGE (LMX) THEORY 7 2.3.2 CONTINGENCY AND SITUATIONAL LEADERSHIP THEORY 7 2.3.3 NEW LEADERSHIP THEORY 8 2.4 ORGANISATIONAL CULTURE AND LEADERSHIP PROMOTION 9 2.5 LEADERSHIP PROMOTION IN ORGANISATION 10 2.5.1 LEADERSHIP PROMOTION WITHIN ORGANISATION 11 2.5.2 LEADERSHIP PROMOTION OUTSIDE ORGANISATION 11 2.6 LEADERSHIP PROMOTION IN SUPERMARKETS 12 2.7 SUMMARY 12 3 METHODOLOGY 13 3.1 METHODOLOGY OF THE RESEARCH 13 3.2 RESEARCH STRATEGY AND DESIGN 13 3.2.1 RESEARCH STRATEGY 15 3.2.2 RESEARCH DESIGN 15 3.3 SOURCE OF DATA 16 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS 16 3.5 ETHICAL CONSIDERATION 17 4 DATA ANALYSIS AND DISCUSSION OF RESULTS 18 4.1 INTRODUCTION 18 4.2 BACKGROUND OF RESPONDENTS 18 4.3 RELEVANCE OF LEADERSHP IN ORGANISATION 19 4.4 LEADERSHIP AND ORGANISATIONAL BEHAVIOUR 20 4.5 LEADERSHIP PROMOTION IN ORGANISATIONAL 21 4.6 SUMMARY 22 5 CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS 23 5.1 CONCLUSION 23 5.2 RECOMMENDATIONS 23 5.3 LIMITATIONS 24 5.4 REFERENCES 25 Appendix A Questionnaire for Staff 28 appendix B: semi structured interview questions for staff 30 Chapter One Introduction 1.1 Background Leadership can be described as a dynamic process in a group, whereby one individual influences others to contribute voluntarily to the achievement of group tasks in a given situation (Gill, 2009). It has been observed that, in many organizations, leadership promotion is done outside the organizations. Some critics like Goldsmith et al (2003) have observed that lack of confidence on the part of some leaders; make some companies promote potential leaders from outside their organizations. However some critics have argued that leadership is the lifting of peoples vision to a higher sight, the raising of their performance to a higher standard, the building of their personality beyond its normal limitations (Goldsmith et al, 2003). By this, it could be vital for organisations to promote leadership from within. Leadership involves diagnosing situations, determining what needs to be done and marshalling collective efforts sufficient to achieve a desired future or avert significant problems. Therefore if individuals are promoted within an organisation, since they understand the organizational culture and know its structures, they can promote whatever vision or mission the organisation have to a certain height. Effective leadership entails the use of power and persuasion to define and determine the changing and ongoing problems within an organisation and, any other opportunities, while working to address solutions and actions needed to cope with the situation (Goldsmith et a l, 2003). 1.2 Research Motivation The motivation behind this investigation came up as a result of my observation in leadership promotions in many organizations that I have worked as a factory operative or part-time staff member. What was observed over the period is that, instead of organizations promoting their leadership from within the organisation, the promotion was made externally. In other words, each time there is leadership vacancy, the position is advertised and potential job seekers, who have leadership qualities being sort, apply and the recruitment is made from the applicants. Some critics have argued that, some of the leadership priorities are concerned with ensuring continuity, development, improvement, monitoring, and evaluation both for the work being done and for those involved in helping those objectives to be achieved. Therefore if leadership is promoted within an organisation, such continuity is not curtailed. If leadership is promoted from outside an organisation, it has a lot of serious consequences as pointed out by Mendenhall et al (2008). For instance, if staff members notice that there are potential members who possess the same qualification and employment experience as those recruited from outside, the recruited leaders work or efforts may be sabotaged, therefore opening the door of failure ajar. In some cases they may decide not to corporate or intentionally put up lackadaisical attitude to weaken his/her leadership. It is against this background that this investigation becomes very important for organisations such as Nestle Ghana Ltd, to understand the benefits that could derive from leadership promotion within it rather than getting potential leaders from outside the organisation. 1.3 Aims and Objectives of the Study Aims: The aim of the study is to ascertain some of the benefits that will be derived from leadership promotion within organisation rather than recruiting people from outside the organisation to lead the teams within the organisation. Objectives: To achieve the above aim, the study will be achieving the following objectives; To investigate the reasons behind why organisations need leadership instead of managers To assess why leadership promotion within organisation may benefit the overall performance of the organisation To analyse some of the difficulties involved in promoting leaders within an organisation rather than from outside the organisation Understand how organisations could enhance its performance through internal promotion of its leadership. 1.4 The research question The research is aimed at answering this research question; What are the benefits involved in promoting leadership from within an organisation, and what are some of the challenges associated with this approach? Answering the above questions will help in the achievement of the objectives; and through that, some recommendations will be suggested for the formulation of policies to address some of the leadership promotional challenges. 1.5 significance of the study This study will benefit all stakeholders in both large and small scale businesses as a result of effective recruitment decision making by organisations. Chapter Two Literature Review and Conceptual Framework 2.1 Introduction Chapter one talked about the introduction which gave a clear background of the study and how it has become very important for such an investigation to be carried out. In this chapter, the various themes that underpin the study will be reviewed in more detail. The concept of leadership and leadership theories will be made very explicit. Organisational culture and leadership promotion will also be examined in more detail. The chapter will end by looking at the relevance of leadership promotion from within or outside organisations. 2.2 Understanding the concept of leadership Leadership can be described as dynamic processes in a group whereby one individual will influence the others to enable them make voluntary contribution to the achievement of a group or organizational tasks in a given situation (Mendenhall, et al, 2008). Leadership involves diagnosing situations, determining what needs to be done and marshalling collective efforts sufficient to achieve a desired future or avert significant problems. It entails the use of power and persuasion to define and determine the changing nature of an organization and solving its problems, as well as making use of all opportunities, finding solutions to its problems and taking actions where necessary and helping it to cope with any given situation (Goldsmith, et al (2003). Leaders are supposed to set their organizational vision knowing where the organization is and where it is suppose to go. They also set the longer term vision for the organization. A leader in an organization is also a member of that organization, company, institution, etc whose purpose, vision, and values are for the benefit of the entire organization and its stakeholders, and those values and vision are shared by the entire organization. He or she is supposed to see his/her members as not just followers, but also as stakeholders striving to achieve that same purpose, vision, and values. The leader mobilises, motivates, inspires or encourages others. He/she must be exemplary in his or her dealings. Leaders must be able to motivate, inspire and energize their members (Gill, 2009; Fulop et al, 2004). To ensure that teams voluntarily follow and resources are attracted to the cause, ideas must be translated into simple, direct and positive statement of what the leader is going to do, how and why this is to be achieved and the benefits that it will bring to others (Mendenhall, et al, 2008). Leadership therefore become the most influential aspect of an organization; so a good leader is suppose to ensure that success of his or her organization is paramount and achievable, even within turbulent times. 2.3 Theories of leadership Theories of leadership have been used to explain the characteristics of those whom we expect them to be leading or are seen leading their organizations. There are many leadership theories, but most leadership theories explain how the style of leadership help shapes organizational culture. According to Gill (2009), there are so many types of theories of leadership. He stated psychodynamic theory or leader-member exchange theory, contingency and situational leadership theory and the new leadership approach which comprises of visionary theory as some of the theories that this study will be looking at. 2.3.1 Psychodynamic theory or leader-member exchange (LMX) theory Psychodynamic theory, or leader-member exchange theory as some writers explained, looks at the effectiveness of leaders as a function of the psychodynamic exchange that occurs between the leadership and the group members following the leader (Gill, 2009). Leaders are supposed to provide direction and guidance for the organization or the members through their influence given to them by members or management or the organisation. In some cases it is the board members who give the powers to those who are supposed to lead the organization, but the leaders will be influencing certain decisions depending on their power of influence. The LMX approach defines the effectiveness of the leaders and as a function of the psychodynamic exchange that is occurring between the leaders and group members that is, the followers or sub-ordinates. The leaders provide direction and guidance for the organization through influence permitted to them by members. Exchange theories focus on the characteristics of the leader, their individual followers and how they relate with their followers. In contrast to leadership-style theories, LMX theorists argue that leaders-member relations are sufficiently variable and it is suppose to warrant on each pair of leaders and their members in a separate dimensions; and that the members may differ markedly based on their descriptions and how they perceive the leader (Dansereau et al., 1975; Graen, 1976; Graen et al., 1977). The essence of psychodynamic theory is the understanding of oneself and others and in terms of results and performance of the organization; and the transactional nature of the style of the leader and the leader-follower relationship (Stech, 2004). 2.3.2 Contingency and situational leadership theory Contingency and situational leadership theories suggest that there is no one best style of leadership (Graen, 1976; Graen et al., 1977). They explained that successful and enduring leaders use different styles according to the nature of the organization they lead, the situation at stake and the followers. A condition or situation may compel a leader to change his/her behavior, while some of the situations political, social or economic may compel some leaders to their style, sometimes making them become authoritarian leaders, due to certain circumstance. Graen et al. (1977) noted that contingency theories suggest that there is no one best style of leadership. Nevertheless, successful and enduring leaders use different styles according to the nature of the organizational culture, the situation they may be handling and the followers. Such leaders know how to adopt a different style for a new situation, regardless of how effective any one particular style has been in the past. The effectiveness of a particular style of leadership depends on the relationship between the characteristics of the leader, the followers and the situation as suggested by Graen (1976) and Graen et al (1977). Bass et al, (1975) found that specific leadership styles are associated with different ways in which organization operates, the task at stake, personal and interpersonal characteristics or relationship. Hodgson and White (2001) argued that effective leadership is by finding the best fit between good behaviour, context and need. Contingent and situational theorists therefore argue that, there is not acceptable form of leadership, rather, the situation will justify what type of leadership is appropriate and must be applied. This means those in leadership position must be able to change their leadership style based on the situation. 2.3.3 New leadership Theory The new leadership theory comprises of visionary, charismatic and transformational leadership theories. Transformational leadership occurs when leaders raise peoples motivation to act and create a sense of higher purpose as explained by Graen (1976). He further noted that it is distinguished from transactional leadership, because it involves an exchange between the leader and the followers with an emphasis on correction mistakes from requirements and providing a material or extrinsic reward systems in return for compliance with the leaders orders or wishes. The new theories also place emphasis on strategic leadership and pragmatic leadership styles. Burns (1978) explained that vision, charisma and transformation are some of the keywords for the New Leadership theory. The concept of transformational leadership arose from a study undertaken to understand rebel leadership and revolution form of leadership that occurred in the early 1970s (Downton, 1973). However, others also argued that it was James MacGregor Burns who was seen as a political, historian and biographer, who in a seminal book published in 1978 first described transformational leadership and blended it with transactional leadership style (Burns, 1978). Transforming or transformational leadership as he explained them occur when both the leader and followers raise each others motivations to a sense of higher purpose. Transactional leadership on the other hand is a form of transaction or exchanges that occur between a leader and followers, such that it provides material or psychological reward systems in return for followers compliance with the hope of accomplishing their wishes. According to Sashkin visionary leadership, concerns itself with transforming an organizational culture such that it falls in line with the leaders vision it has for the organizations future (Sashkin,1988). Sashkin and Rosenbach have also suggested that there are three personal attributes that guide the leaders behavioral approaches. They include self-efficacy, power orientation and cognitive capability (Sashkin and Rosenbach, 1998). Cognitive capability therefore concerns itself with understanding complex that is cause-and-effective chains to be able to take action at the right time to achieve organizational desired outcomes (Streufert and Swezey, 1986). Very good leaders are often perceived as charismatic or born leaders, because of how they are connected with their followers. They inspire them and encourage them to follow their cause. Charismatic leadership may be found at most levels within the organization, though they are frequently found at top most part of the organization (Bass, 1992; Sashkin, 1992). They further noted that it is associated with greater trust that members or the followers will have in the leaders and achievement that have been noticed among followers. The charismatic leader weaves a spell outside that of the organization; and may attract shareholders, customers and investment in troubled times, as argued by Flynn and Staw (2004) the French researcher. Waldman et al. (2001), however, in a study of senior managers in Fortune 500 companies in the United States, also noted that charismatic leadership is associated with net profit margin registered with some organisations, but only under conditions of environmenta l uncertainty. Charismatic leadership appears to be dysfunctional in predictable conditions, perhaps because it may generate unnecessary change. 2.4 Organizational culture and leadership promotion Culture has been described in many ways, and it has become very difficult to find a consensus or a common and clear definition. Some critics have argued that culture describes what an organization is about or how organization conducts itself (Smircich and Cala, 1987). Leigh and Maynard (2000) see culture as a heady combination of organisations vision, its values, tradition, ethos and its self-image. While the Work Systems Associates (1996) also describe culture as the lifestyle of the organization; its main core values, its hidden assumptions or beliefs, systems, policies, programmes and procedures, and the way it conduct its business everyday and its relations with stakeholders. Linstead (2004:107) has argued that, leaders can exert a powerful influence on the culture of their organization, especially if they are the founder, for that matter can play a very significant role in promoting those expected to be leaders or to lead it. Understanding the organization culture and how leaders influence promotion of leaders within it become very significant for the organization. While some of the organizations have a culture of promoting leaders from within it, others prefer getting leaders from outside. The later is preferred because some schools of thought argue that, if leaders are promoted within an organization there is little respect for those who will be promoted, while exercising their authority also become difficult because of familiarity with members. The ability to perceive the limitations of ones own culture and to develop the culture adaptively is the essence and ultimate challenge of leadership. The most important message for leaders at this point is how they have to understand the organizational culture, give what is due, and ask how well the culture could be understood which the leadership is embedded (Schein, 1992). The need for leaders to create and manage organizational culture is consistent with the increasingly becoming accepted part of organizational-wide leadership concept or become an expert of distributed leadership style (Ashkanasy et al., 2000). With regards to leadership style, and how culture may influence its promotion, significant, indirect pervasive effects on organizational performance could also be very significant (Gill, 2009. Linstead (2004) has explained that, since leaders can shape the culture of their organization more especially if they are the founder, promoting leaders could be very easy, because they have direct influence on the culture of the organization. The culture of an organization and how leaders are promoted therefore could be very significant because every organization has a way of conducting itself and how it may decide to promote its leaders. Ogbonna and Harriss overall conclusion was that organizational culture mediates the relationship between leadership style and organizational performance and in effect has a positive role to play in promoting leaders (Gill, 2009). 2.5 Leadership promotion in organization Leadership promotion takes place, of course, mostly on the job and in many organisations. In fact most of what we know about leadership and leadership promotion and how it can be done is learned through experience in real life rather than in the classroom. Formal training in general, and leadership development programmes in particular, aim to enhance organizational development and performance through a well managed organization. Leadership promotion could serve as a learning process for those who may have the potential and skills to become future leaders. Examples of leadership promotion in an organization could be to rotate job responsibilities, taking on the leadership of special projects or assignments, deputizing others of for the bosses and leading in a cross-functional team (Economist, 2001d). The value of real experience is well demonstrated by the way in which some of the top consulting firms have become a rich source of CEOs, through leadership promotion. It is almost as if the experience and ideal leadership program exist within such organizations, because of how the leadership promotion is well nurtured to develop future leaders (Linstead, 2004). Leadership promotion becomes very important for organization to effectively manage its affairs. Most organizations prefer to promote staff onto higher position within their organizations, while others promote from outside the organization. However, even though some organizations may prefer promoting from within others also prefer to do their promotion from outside the organization even if there are skillful individuals to serve as leaders within it. 2.5.1 Leadership promoting within organization Leadership promotion within organization means instead of getting people from outside an organization to occupy leadership positions, organization promote its own staff that it considers to be very effective or have the leadership potential or skills that are needed and get promoted. One may argue that such a move is very good and that, since members in a company are used to the way things operate and understand the system very well, promoting such individuals is a form of continuous process. That is since employees know the system already, if they are promoted internally, they are familiar with the situation so they will know what to do from day one. It might be a change of position, but continue doing what they already have an idea of how it is done. Linstead (2004) has argued that, when a company is small, and the leaders are easily seen, the influence they can have in the development of the company can easily be seen, than if it were to be a multinational company. Promoting leaders from within a small company although could be bringing some benefits as explained by Linstead; familiarity which will bring contempt could also affect the leaders performance and his or her ability to exercise his or her full authority and powers as a leader. While some critics also argue that, promoting from within is the best way because most members that are promoted from within an organization are familiar with the job, the culture and structure of the organization. This will serve as a good foundation for those promoted to be leaders from within to have a basis to begin their leadership assignment. 2.5.2 Leadership promotion outside organization Promoting leaders to higher positions is another way that many organizations or institutions have to adopt as a means of motivating their employees. It is not just to promote them because they have to be motivated in one form or the other, but when staff gets promoted within their organization, they feel motivated to work very hard. Like promotion within an organization, other critiques also argue that, promoting within an organization is very bad and support promotion from outside an organization. They are that, since individuals become stagnant and too familiar with colleague when they have worked in the same place for long, making become seniors in the same workplace may not enhance respect being given to them by other members. 2.6 Leadership promotion in supermarkets Leadership promotion is very crucial in every organisation. It is not only supermarkets that need to promote leaders in their organisation, although leadership promotion is very vital for organisations to remain competitive and improve. Supermarket like any other organisation also must improve or develop its leaders so as to make the organisation move forward. Every organisation should have those who can set its vision and communicate the vision to the members to enable them support it. 2.7 Summary It can be said that effective leadership place a central role in the success of every organisation, regardless of the size, form or structure. Leadership therefore needs to be effectively promoted such that all stakeholders will feel part of the organization and therefore promotes its standings within todays market. Chapter Three Methodology 3.1 Methodology of the Research There are three main methodologies, which can be used to undertake research in the real world; they are quantitative, qualitative and mixed methodologies (Kumar, 1996; Robson, 2003). The study will adopt both qualitative and quantitative methodologies to ascertain the relevance of managing across cultures and the techniques managers need do so effectively, which according to critics like Flick (2002) and Kent (1999) will give the researcher to gather good data. To do so successfully, employees from selected organisations will be interviewed alongside managers and chief executive officers to seek their views about the topic under investigation. The interviews will be conducted on a one-on-one basis for both ordinary workers and some individuals in management positions. Some employees will also be made to answer questionnaires to triangulate the interview data Forms methods such as observation participants or non-participants will not be suitable for the data gathering. According to Kent (1999) looking at non-participant observation method for instance, although it may be suitable for the research, position of the researcher and his/her inability to probe whatever may transpire makes it difficult for adequate information to be obtained from the respondents. Besides, clarification cannot be done during data collection. Respondents may also exaggerate their activities if it becomes obvious that the researcher is amongst them gathering data. While others may also decide to withhold information, that will enhance the degree of biases that may affect validity of the data. These reasons have made it very important to adopt both questionnaire and interview and will neglect the other methods. 3.2 Research Strategy and Design Nestle Ghana Ltd Nestlà © started in the 1860s by Henri Nestlà ©, a pharmacist, whose initial aim was to develop food for babies who were unable to breast feed. A study by the Institute of IDE-JETRO (Institute of Developing Economies, Japan External Trade Organisation), Nestlà © is not only one of Switzerlands largest industrial company, but also, currently, one of the worlds largest food companies. They products include Perrier, Nescafe, mineral water, pet food. It is also fast increasing its share of the ice cream market.   The study continued that Nestlà © Ghana Limited is one of the divested businesses by Nestlà © whose origination dated back in 1957 under the trading name of Nestlà © Products (Gh) Limited with the importation of Nestlà © products such as milk and chocolates. It was incorporated as Food Specialties (GH) Limited to manufacture and market locally well known Nestlà © brands in 1968, however, in 1987, it became Nestle Ghana Limited. Services and Products Nestlà © Ghana Limited has numerous well-known brands including; IDEAL Full Cream Evaporated Milk, CARNATION Filled Milk, Carnation Tea Creamer, MILO, CEREVITA Porridges, CERELAC Maize/Milk and CERELAC Wheat/Milk. Nestlà © Ghana also imports and distributes brands such as: NIDO Milk Powder, LACTOGEN Infant Formula, NAN Infant Formula and NESCAFE Soluble Coffee among others. Number of Employees Nestle Ghana Limited employs 1,000 people. Financial Information Nestle Ghana Limiteds turnover in 2008 was US$173,491 and net profits US$18,499. Market Share Nestlà © Ghana limited is ranked 437 in the Top 500 Companies in Africa 2009 and as one of the top ten companies in Ghana for 2009 (6th position overall and it is the only company in the food industry category on the list of top 10). Business Objective Though Nestlà ©s business objective is to manufacture and market the Companys products in such a way as to create value that can be sustained over the long term for stakeholders, however, Nestle Ghana Limiteds aim to be the number one company not only in business terms and the highest profit making business but also the best employer, the most socially responsible citizen and ethically sound company. Ownership of Business Nestle Ghana Ltd owns 76% of the business with 24% belonging to the Ghana Government.   Benefits Offered and Relations with Government The numerous business and social activities undertaken by Nestlà © Ghana Ltd is hailed as a direct contribution to the Ghanaian economy. Aside aiming at maximising profit, they also undertake series is of activities which promote the growth of Ghanas workforce. For example, Nestle Ghana Ltd promotes medical students in health sciences, supports child education and social events as well as sports. These achievements have earned them a place by the Ghana Government who qualifies the company as a responsible citizen. Source: Jetro, I. ().  AGE (African Growing Enterprises) File.  Available: http://www.ide.go.jp/English/Data/Africa_file/Company/ghana04.html#anchor1. Last accessed 11th Oct 2012. 3.2.1 Research Strategy The use of Nestle Ghana as the only company being used for the study justifies the case study approach being adopted. As it has been argued by May (2001), the exploratory study helped to develop understanding and analysis of the issue under investigation. However, according to Gray (2004) research in real world could be carried following the qualitative, quantitative or a combination of two research methodologies. Robson (2003) and May (2001) explained that, the choice of methodology depended on the research question that were answered, the nature of organisation and also the respondents who were involved in the study. The study utilized the survey questionnaires to generate data from employees of Nestle Company and their understanding of how BSC could be applied in the organisation to enable it measure its performance. In the process of finalizing the questionnaire survey, informal discussions with those knowledgeable about BSC or measurement of organisational performance was carrie d out. The survey instrument used for this research was a carefully designed. 3.2.2 Research Design The data collection tools were designed in a way that could make it possible for the research objectives to be achieved. One of the ma

K-degree-l-diversity Anonymity Model

K-degree-l-diversity Anonymity Model Abstract Privacy is one of the major concerns when publishing or sharing social network data for social science research and business analysis. Recently, researchers have developed privacy models similar to k-anonymity to prevent node reidentification through structure information. However, even when these privacy models are enforced, an attacker may still be able to infer one’s private information if a group of nodes largely share the same sensitive labels (i.e., attributes). In other words, the label-node relationship is not well protected by pure structure anonymization methods. Furthermore, existing approaches, which rely on edge editing or node clustering, may significantly alter key graph properties. In this paper, k-degree-l-diversity anonymity model that considers the protection of structural information as well as sensitive labels of individuals. A novel anonymization methodology based on adding noise nodes has proposed. New algorithm by adding noise nodes into the original gr aph with the consideration of introducing the least distortion to graph properties. Most importantly, completed the rigorous analysis of the theoretical bounds on the number of noise nodes added and their impacts on an important graph property. Extensive experiments used to evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed technique. Introduction The complexity of current software systems and uncertainty in their environments has led the software engineering community to look for inspiration in diverse related fields (e.g., robotics, artificial intelligence, control theory, and biology) for new ways to design and manage systems and services. This endeavor, the capability of the system to adjust its behavior in response to the environment in the form of self-adaptation has become one of the most promising research directions. The â€Å"self† prefix indicates that the systems decide autonomously (i.e., without or with minimal interference) how to adapt or organize to accommodate changes in their contexts and environments. While some self-adaptive system may be able to function without any human intervention, guidance in the form of higher-level objectives (e.g., through policies) is useful and realized in many systems. The landscapes of software engineering domains and computing environments are constantly evolving. In p articular, software has become the bricks and mortar of many complex systems (i.e., a system composed of interconnected parts that as a whole exhibits one or more properties (behaviors among the possible properties) not obvious from the properties of the individual parts). The hallmarks of such complex or ultra-large-scale (ULS) systems are self-adaptation, selforganization, and emergence. Engineers in general, and software engineers in particular, design systems according to requirements and specifications and are not accustomed to regulating requirements and orchestrating emergent properties. Ottino argues that the landscape is bubbling with activity and engineers should be at the center of these developments and contribute new theories and tools. In order for the evolution of software engineering techniques to keep up with these ever-changing landscapes, software engineers must innovate in the realm of building, running, and managing software systems. Software-intensive systems m ust be able to adapt more easily to their ever-changing surroundings and be flexible, fault-tolerant, robust, resilient, available, configurable, secure, and selfhealing. Ideally, and necessarily for sufficiently large systems, these adaptations must happen autonomously. The research community that has formed around self-adaptive systems has already generated many encouraging results, helping to establish self-adaptive systems as a significant, interdisciplinary, and active research field. Self-adaptive systems have been studied within the different research areas of software engineering, including requirements engineering, software architecture, middleware, and component-based development; however, most of these initiatives have been isolated. Other research communities that have also investigated self-adaptation and feedback from their own perspectives are even more diverse: control theory, control engineering, artificial intelligence, mobile and autonomous robots, multi-agent systems, fault-tolerant computing, dependable computing, distributed systems, autonomic computing, self-managing systems, autonomic communications, adaptable user interfaces, biology, distributed artificial intelligence, machine learning, economic and financial systems, business and military strategic planning, sensor networks, or pervasive and ubiquitous computing. Over the past decade several self-adaptation-related application areas and technologies have grown in importance. It is important to emphasize that in all these initiatives software has become the common element. That enables the provision of self-adaptability. Thus, it is imperative to investigate systematic software engineering approaches for developing self-adaptive systems, which are—ideally—applicable across multiple domains. Self-adaptive systems can be characterized by how they operate or how they are analyzed, and by multiple dimensions of properties including centralized and decentralized, top-down and bottom-up, feedback latency (slow vs. fast), or environment uncertainty (low vs. high). A top-down self-adaptive system is often centralized and operates with the guidance of a central controller or policy, assesses its own behavior in the current surroundings, and adapts itself if the monitoring and analysis warrants it. Such a system often operates with an explicit internal representation of itself and its global goals. By analyzing the components of a top-down self-adaptive system, one can compose and deduce the behavior of the whole system. In contrast, a cooperative self-adaptive system or self-organizing system is often decentralized, operates without a central authority, and is typically composed bottom-up of a large number of components that interact locally according to simple rules. The global behavior of the system emerges from these local interactions. It is difficult to deduce properties of the global system by analyzing only the local properties of its parts. Such systems do not necessarily use internal representations of global properties or goals; they are often inspired by biological or sociological phenomena. Most engineered and nature-inspired self-adaptive systems fall somewhere between these two extreme poles of self-adaptive system types. In practice, the line between these types is rather blurred and compromises will often lead to an engineering approach incorporating techniques from both of these two extreme poles. For example, ULS systems embody both top-down and bottom-up self-adaptive characteristics (e.g., the Web is basically decentralized as a global system, but local sub-webs are highly centralized or se rver farms are both centralized and decentralized). Building self-adaptive software systems cost-effectively and in a predictable manner is a major engineering challenge. New theories are needed to accommodate, in a systematic engineering manner, traditional top-down approaches and bottom-up approaches. A promising starting point to meet these challenges is to mine suitable theories and techniques from control engineering and nature and to apply those when designing and reasoning about self-adaptive software systems. Control engineering emphasizes feedback loops, elevating them to firstclass entities. In this paper we argue that feedback loops are also essential for understanding all types of self-adaptive systems. Over the years, the discipline of software engineering strongly emphasized the static architecture of a system and, to a certain extent, neglected the dynamic aspects. In contrast, control engineering emphasized the dynamic feedback loops embedded in a system and its envi ronment and neglected the static architecture. A notable exception is the seminal paper by Magee and Kramer on dynamic structure in software architecture, which formed the foundation for many subsequent research projects. However, while these research projects realized feedback systems, the actual feedback loops were hidden or abstracted. Engineering Self-Adaptive Systems through Feedback Loops 51 Feedback loops have been recognized as important factors in software process management and improvement or software evolution. For example, the feedback loops at every stage in Royce’s waterfall model or the risk feedback loop in Boehm’s spiral model are well known. Lehman’s work on software evolution showed that â€Å"the software process constitutes a multilevel, multiloop feedback system and must be treated as such if major progress in its planning, control, and improvement is to be achieved.† Therefore, any attempt to make parts of this â€Å"multiloop feed back system† self-adaptive necessarily also has to consider feedback loops. With the proliferation of self-adaptive software systems, it is imperative to develop theories, methods and tools around feedback loops. Mining the rich experiences and theories from control engineering as well as taking inspiration from nature and biology where we can find systems that adapt in rather complex ways, and then adapting and applying the findings to software-intensive selfadaptive systems is a most worthwhile and promising avenue of research. In the remainder of this paper, we therefore investigate feedback loops as a key aspect of engineering self-adaptive systems. Outlines basic principles of feedback loops and demonstrates their importance and potential benefits for understanding self-adaptive systems. Control engineering and biologically inspired approaches for self-adaptation. We present selected challenges for the software engineering community in general and the SEAMScommunity in pa rticular for engineering self-adaptive computing systems. Existing system In Existing system forced by the recognition of the need for a finer grain and more personalized privacy in data publication of social networks. In this paper we implement privacy protection scheme that not only prevents the disclosure of the disclosure of selected features in users profiles and also for identity of users. The features of her profile she wishes to conceal by an individual user can select. The users are nodes and features are labels in social networks are modeled as graphs. The Labels are denoted either as non-sensitive or sensitive. In Existing system the background knowledge an adversary may possess, as sensitive information that has to be protected in both node and labels To allow for graph data to be published in a form such that an adversary who possesses information about a nodes neighborhood cannot safely infer its identity and its sensitive labels in this we present privacy protection algorithms that. The goals of these algorithms transform the original graph into a graph in which nodes are sufficiently indistinguishable in these algorithms are designed. While losing as little information and while preserving as much utility as possible. The algorithms preserve the original graphs structure and properties that’s why we evaluate empirically the extent to which. In Existing system that our solution is, efficient, scalable and effective and while offering stronger privacy guarantees than those in previous research. Proposed system k-degree anonymity with l-diversity to prevent not only the reidentification of individual nodes but also the revelation of a sensitive attribute associated with each node. If the k-degree-l-diversity constraint satisfies create KDLD graph. A KDLD graph protects two aspects of each user when an attacker uses degree information to attack A novel graph construction technique which makes use of noise nodes to preserve utilities of the original graph. Two key properties are considered: Add as few noise edges as possible. Change the distance between nodes as less as possible. The noise edges/nodes added should connect nodes that are close with respect to the social distance. There exist a large number of low degree vertices in the graph which could be used to hide added noise nodes from being re-identified. By carefully inserting noise nodes, some graph properties could be better preserved than a pure edge-editing method. MODULES Data Collection. Reduce Node Degree. Add Node Degree. Add Noise Node. 1. DATA COLLECTION In this module the employee data is collected. Each employee has unique Id, Name and Sensitive Label Salary. Each employee links with number of other employee. Based on the employee data construct the Social Network Graph: a social network graph is a four tuple G(V, E, ÏÆ', ÃŽ » ), where V is a set of vertices, and each vertex represents a node in the social network. is the set of edges between vertices, ÏÆ' is a set of labels that vertices have maps vertices to their labels. 2. REDUCE NODE DEGREE For any node whose degree is larger than its target degree in Pnew, decreasing its degree to the target degree by making using of noise nodes. 3. ADD NODE DEGREE For any node whose degree is smaller than its target degree in Pnew, increasing its degree to the target degree by making using of noise nodes. For each vertex u in G which needs to increase its degree, to make its degree reach the target degree. First check whether there exists a node v within two hops of u, and v also needs to increase its degree. Connect n with v. Since v is within two hops of u, connecting v with n will not change the distance between u and v. After this step, if n’s degree is bigger than the minimum degree in Pnew but does not appear in Pnew, recursively deleting the last created link until the degree of n equals to a degree in Pnew. Otherwise, leave n for processing and continue adding noise to u if u:d 4. ADD NOISE NODE In this module the noise node will added to the original data set. After that adding noise node add new degree for that noise node. For any noise node, if its degree does not appear in Pnew, some adjustment can happen to make it has a degree in Pnew. Then, the noise nodes are added into the same degree groups in Pnew. Conclusions In this paper, k-degree-l-diversity model has implemented for privacy preserving social network data publishing. Implementation of both distinct l-diversity and recursive (c, l)-diversity also happened. In order to achieve the requirement of k-degree-l-diversity, a noise node adding algorithm to construct a new graph from the original graph with the constraint of introducing fewer distortions to the original graph. Rigorous analysis of the theoretical bounds on the number of noise nodes added and their impacts on an important graph property. Extensive experimental results demonstrate that the noise node adding algorithms can achieve a better result than the previous work using edge editing only. It is an interesting direction to study clever algorithms which can reduce the number of noise nodes if the noise nodes contribute to both anonymization and diversity. Another interesting direction is to consider how to implement this protection model in a distributed environment, where diffe rent publishers publish their data independently and their data are overlapping. In a distributed environment, although the data published by each publisher satisfy certain privacy requirements, an attacker can still break user’s privacy by combining the data published by different publishers together. Protocols should be designed to help these publishers publish a unified data together to guarantee the privacy. Future Enhancement: Privacy is one of the major concerns when publishing or sharing social network data for social science research and business analysis. The label-node relationship is not well protected by pure structure anonymization methods. k-degree-l-diversity anonymity model that considers the protection of structural information as well as sensitive labels of individuals. Adding noise nodes into the original graph with the consideration of introducing the least distortion to graph properties.

Online Privacy at What Cost Essay -- Essays Papers

Online Privacy at What Cost When the constitution was written over two hundred years ago, our founding fathers probably did not have the Internet in mind. Since then, United States citizen along with their elected officials have tried to keep the rights of each American sacred, no matter what the cost. The major right that has been fought over since the dawn of the USA, has been that of the freedom of speech. Now, with the beginning of the twenty-first century, a new freedom of speech is again being examined. This newest freedom of speech is that of Internet privacy, more directly; how much privacy is too much privacy when on the Internet? To explore this question I will be looking at three areas; the freedom of speech of American citizens, the protection of children, and the protection of the United States' government. Should the freedom of speech protect the users of the Internet to write and print whatever they want? The Internet is a great place to interact with the world, since we are all connected as one and have the ability to share our unique cultures with each other with just a type of the keyboard. As long as the material being written is to help enlighten and learn about other places and peoples, then the Internet is a marvelous place for learning. It is when the Internet is used for more perverse propaganda like the neo-Nazi regime or pornography sites that use underage children to arouse its user. When the Internet is perverse with such corrupt material, this is when the Internet should be reexamined as if it should still retain the right of free speech. The privacy of the user into such inflammatory propaganda sites as the 'Aryan Nation Will Rule America', should be monitored, for it is no longer a question o... ...en our children and our national security, there should be none. Today, there are millions of web sites with millions people logging onto them for everything from information to entertainment. The Internet can be a great source of connection with the outside world, but when it contains such inflammatory articles like how to build a nuclear bomb and where would the best place to set it off to cripple America, then it is a matter of protection that the net is monitored. Otherwise, America may wake up one too late, to terrorist at all fronts knowing our secrets, and ready to takeover. Works Cited The Watchman by Jonathan Littman. Little Brown and Company Limited: 1997. Anarchy Online by Charles Platt. HarperCollins Publishers New York, NY: 1996. Cyberwars by Jean Guisnel. Plenum Trade New York: 1997. epic.org www.privacyrights.org www.privacy.org

Kofi Annans effects on Canada trip :: essays research papers fc

Introduction Mr. Kofi Annan is, I feel, one of the most important people in mankind today. He is the Secretary-General of The United Nations. Last March, he came to deliver a speech on Canada’s position in the world. He thanked and congratulated us on what we have done in the world. He also admits that more needs to be done by rich nations like us. This I feel will spark some controversy because I feel Canada has done enough for the world and the UN should be satisfied with their efforts. I feel Mr. Kofi Annan’s speech will inspire and motivate the rest of The United Nations (it’s countries) and even us to keep committing or even add even more to what each and every one of us do. The proposal by Mr. Kofi Annan may bring many different advantages in helping our mixed up world. First, I feel it may get countries like the USA to get up off their stubborn behinds to start helping other nations instead of calling war on every one of them. The USA may feel that they are slowing or stopping terrorist activities worldwide, but they are only increasing the number of terrorist activities since they declared war on terrorism. They decide to concentrate places where there isn’t very much terrorist activity or even any hostility. Places like Afghanistan or Iraq may have had militants but they were not an immediate threat to anyone. They should have occupied places where help is needed most like in the Middle East where clashes between Palestinians and Israel h ave been numerous and brutal to this day. Maybe by listening to the speech the USA will see that there are other ways of helping the world besides bombing anyone they don’t like.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This speech may let Canada know that they’re role in the world is greatly appreciated which may lead to a greater participation with The United Nations and other poorer nations. We have been an outstanding part of the development of many developing nations such as Afghanistan, Iraq and some African nations. When we realize that we had not been just making our selves look good politically, we were making a huge difference. I can just see in the future Canada getting world support in the event of a crisis just as we have aided many others. I can just see the Chinese, the Russians the Germans, the French and the English running to our aid in the event of a disaster of any kind.

Happiness and Christmas

Does the spirit of Christmas bring meaning to your life as Christian-Catholic-Muslim? a) As a student As a student, Christmas means a good long vacation. To be able to share and cherish with old friends, new found friends, to our families and to everyone that’s been part of our lives. It’s also a time to forgive and forget about all the pain and trouble caused by our classmates or instructors. So let bygones be bygones so to speak. It’s the best time to be merry outside school pressures and give oneself a break like going to places for vacation or visiting a relative, experiencing life beyond school zone.Even a student deserves a merry Christmas and enjoy every moment of it for all its worth. b) Your family â€Å"The best Christmas of all is the presence of a happy family all wrapped up with one another. † Every family has it’s own traditions and habits. Every family is made up of a group of unique people who have one thing in common – a shar ed love and care for each other’s well-being. Christmas is an opportunity for people of all ages to stop and think about the priorities in your life, about the people that matter most.This is why Christmas can be a painful time for some people because they see other people’s happiness at a time of bad memories and loss. This is also why Christmas is a time for family. No-one should be alone over Christmas. Christmas means many things to different people. What is true for all is that Christmas is a time for family. Christmas is a time for giving and receiving, for caring and sharing. Christmas is a time for making an effort to be with those who are important to us.It allows us to be together and do things that don’t happen every day, to bond deeper and appreciate each other even more. Whatever we think of Christmas, Christmas is about spreading love to everyone. It’s a perfect time to be happy and cleanse our heart and soul. c) Your faith Christmas can be a season of great joy. It is a time of God showing His great love for us. It can be a time of healing and renewed strength. Christmas is when we celebrate the birth of the Christ child, God sent His Son, Jesus, into the world to be born. His birth brought great joy to the world.It is also a time for the completion of masses, a way of showing our great love for Jesus. We can truly be happy at Christmas! No matter what may be happening, we can know that we are His children. We then become sons and daughters of God. Whatever our beliefs, we should look at Christmas in a new way this year. This is the year to invite Jesus into our hearts. We will then have a â€Å"Merry Christmas. † The joy and peace we will receive will last all year as we look to God for all our needs to be met. Jesus Is The Reason For The Season†¦.

Evidence Law

UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI FACULTY OF LAW TAPE RECORDED LECTURES THE LAW OF EVIDENCE LLB II 2003 LAW OF EVIDENCE Lesson 2 RELEVANCE & ADMISSIBILITY RES GESTAE ‘Res Gestae’, it has been said, is a phrase adopted to provide a respectable legal cloak for a variety of cases to which no formula of precision can be applied’. The words themselves simply mean a transaction. Under the inclusionary common law doctrine of Res Gestae, a fact or opinion which is so closely associated in time, place and circumstances with some act or event which is in issue that it can be said to form a part of the same transaction as the act or event in issue, is itself admissible in evidence. The justification given for the reception of such evidence is the light that it sheds upon the act or event in issue: in its absence, the transaction in question may not be fully or truly understood and may even appear to be meaningless, inexplicable and unintelligible. The importance of the doctrine, for present purposes, is its provision for the admissibility of statements relating to the performance, occurrence or existence of some act, event or state of affairs which is in issue. Such statements may be received by way of exception to the hearsay rule. Res Gestae forms part of hearsay. R V. BEDINGFIELD [1879] Vol. 14 Cox C. C. 341 A girl was living with her boyfriend until the relationship turned sour. The boyfriend allegedly cut her throat. She managed to run out even with a cut hroat and managed to say ‘see what Harry (Bedingfield) has done to me’. In court the question arose as to whether this statement could be admitted in evidence. Lord Justice Cockburn was emphatic that it could not be admitted. He said that it was not part of the transaction, that it was said after the transaction was all over. (The transaction being the cutting of the throat) The Judge held that it was not admissible as part of the Res Gestae since it was som ething stated by her after it was all over. The girl said after it was all over. Under S. 33 of Law of Evidence Act, this would have been admitted. 33. Statements, written or oral, of admissible facts made by a person who is dead, or who cannot be found, or who has become incapable of giving evidence or whose attendance cannot be procured, or whose attendance cannot be procured without an amount of delay or expense which in the circumstances of the case appears to the court unreasonable, are themselves admissible in the following cases— ) When the statement is made by a person as to the cause of his death, or as to any of the circumstances of the transaction which resulted in his death, in cases in which the cause of that person’s death comes into question and such statements are admissible whether the person who made them was or was not, at the time when they were made, under expectation of death, and whatever may be the nature of the proceeding in which the cause of his death comes in question; R V. Premji Kurji [1940] E. A. C. A 58 In this case the accused was charged with murder, the deceased had been killed with a dagger and there was evidence that the accused had been found standing over the deceased body with a dagger dripping with blood. The prosecution adduced evidence that a few minutes before, the accused had been seen assaulting the deceased’s brother with a dagger and he had uttered words to the effect that ‘I have finished with you; I am now going to deal with your brother’. The question was whether this statement was admissible as forming part of the transaction. Is that part of the same transaction as the murder? Were the words uttered parts of the same transaction? It was held that they were part of the same transaction because when two acts of an accused person are so interwoven as to form part of the same transaction, it is not proper to shut out evidence of one of the acts even though it may involve introducing evidence of the commission of another offence. R V. RAMADHANI ISMAEL [1950] ZLR 100 A Girl was living in the village with her parents and she was allegedly raped by the accused. After the rape incident, she unlocked the door and ran over to her parents’ house, a few paces away from the accused’s house. She got hold of her father’s hand and took him to the accused house. She pointed to the accused person and said ‘daddy, this is the Bwana’ and the question was whether this statement was part of the transaction. The transaction here is rape, which is already finished by the time she goes to call her daddy. Is it admissible? The court held that it was not part of the transaction. The transaction was already over. Different courts have different conception of what forms part of the transaction. The court in this rape case adopted a conservative view of what formed the transaction. TEPPER V. R [1952] A. C 480 In that case there was a fire some place and a house was burning and the lady was heard to ask somebody who looked like the accused some minutes later ‘your house is burning and you are running away’ the question was whether this statement was part of the transaction as the fact in issue the fact in issue being Arson. It was held to be part of the transaction. R V. CHRISTIE 1914 AC 545 The accused was convicted of indecent assault on a boy. The boy gave un-sworn evidence in which he described the assault and identified the accused but made no reference to any previous identification. The House of Lords, by a majority of five to two, held that both the boy’s mother and a constable had been properly allowed to give evidence that shortly after the alleged act they saw the boy approach the accused, touch his sleeve and identify him by saying, ‘That is the man’. Evidence of the previous identification was admissible as evidence of the witness’s consistency, ‘to show that the witness was able to identify at the time’ and ‘to exclude the idea that the identification of the prisoner in the dock was an afterthought or mistake. THOMPSON V. TREVANION 1693 Skin L. R. 402 This case had to do with statements made by participants in or observers of events. Thus in this case it was decided that what a wife said immediately upon the hurt was received and before she had time to devise or contrive anything for her own advantage was held to be admissible in evidence. ALL THE ABOVE CASES HAVE SOMETHING TO DO WITH WHETHER THE STATEMENT IS PART OF THE FACT OF IN ISSUE. R V. RATTEN [1972] A. C 378 Ratten was charged with the murder of his wife. He offered the defence of accident. He said that he was cleaning his gun and it accidentally went off injuring his spouse. There was nobody else at the scene of crime or at the point where this incident occurred and the prosecution sought to tender evidence of a girl who worked with the telephone exchange who said that a call had had been made from the accused house at about the time of the murder. The girl said that the voice on the phone betrayed emotion, she was begging to have the police called over and before the operator could link the woman with the police the phone hang up on the woman side. The question was, was the statement by the telephone operator admissible as part of the transaction? Did it happen contemporaneously with the facts in issue? The court held that the evidence of the telephone operator was admissible and in explaining why the Privy Council explained that the important thing was not whether the words were part of the transaction. The important thing was whether the words were uttered during the drama. The court also said that the particular evidence of the operator contradicted the evidence which was to the effect that the only telephone call outside from his house during the murder was only a call for an ambulance. Section 7 â€Å"7. Facts which are the occasion, cause or effect, immediate or otherwise, of relevant facts or facts in issue, or which constitute the state of things under which they happened or which afforded an opportunity for their occurrence or transaction are relevant. † They will be those facts which will afford the opportunity to the facts in issue. The occasion may not be a fact in issue but it helps us understand the fact in issue or relevant facts. CAUSE/EFFECT John Makindi V. R EALR 327 The accused in this case was charged with the murder of a boy over whom he stood in loco parentis (foster father) to. In his defence the accused averred that the deceased was epileptic trying to explain away the injuries on the boy and how they may have occurred. Medical evidence showed that the boy had died due to severe bleeding in the head and a doctor testified that there were blood clots in the boy’s head which had opened causing a lot of blood to flow from the deceased’s head and therefore occasioning his death. The prosecution tendered evidence that the accused had previously beaten up this boy and had previously been convicted for beating up this boy and he had threatened the boy with further beatings on account of having been convicted. The question was whether evidence of previous beating was admissible. The court held yes that the evidence of previous beatings was admissible in the circumstances? Could the court admit the evidence of past beatings? The court held that the beatings of earlier beatings was dmissible because having taken the evidence of blood clots at the head, it was important to know the cause of the blood clots and the evidence of the previous beatings was admissible as a fact leading to the bleeding and ultimate death. The cause of things or relevant facts or facts in issue will be admitted to explain the cause of death. E. g. the opening of the blood clots and loss of lots of blood. The previous beatings showed us the cause and was thus admissible, so the cause of thi ngs and the cause of relevant issues will be admitted. They explain the cause of death like in this case. STATE OF AFFAIRS R V RABIN & ANOTHER [1947] Vol. 14 E. A. C. A 80 In this case there was a charge of corruption and the prosecution tried to lead evidence of a previous shady dealing in which the two persons whose conduct was in issue were involved. The question was whether the evidence was relevant. The court held that the evidence of the previous shady dealings was relevant because it gave the state of things under which the bribe was given. It explained the state of things in which the transaction occurred. The transaction which is the fact in issue. OPPORTUNITY R V Premji Kurji R. V. (1940) 7 E. A. C. A. 40 The case shows that the accused had opportunity to commit the murder. This case discusses Res Gestae. The deceased had been killed with a dagger, and evidence was admitted at the trial of the fact that just prior to the death of the deceased the accused had assaulted the deceased’s brother with a dagger and had uttered threats against the deceased. It was held that the accused had an opportunity, he had used the dagger only a few minutes before he used it to commit the murder. Section 8 8. Any fact is relevant which shows or constitutes a motive or preparation for any fact in issue or relevant fact. † Facts which relate to motive, preparation or conduct of any fact in issue will be relevant. Motive is that which makes a person do a particular thing or act in a particular way. For instance a person who is accused of rape may be motivated by lust or desire. A person who says they killed in self defence will be motivated by fear. Motive is what influences a person’s acts or conduct. For all voluntary acts, there will be a motivation and you need to look at a person’s conduct to explain away the motivation. Similarly any fact that would constitute preparation for a fact in issue is also going to be admissible. The planning or arranging means and measures necessary to commit an act or to do something. If it is a crime, it will be the type of measures one takes to help achieve the committing of that that crime. For example if you intend to steal there will be surveillance involved. Hiring implements required to commit the crime. Similarly any fact which shows the conduct of any party to the proceedings is relevant. Section 8 (4) 8. (4)The word â€Å"conduct† in this section does not include statements, unless those statements accompany and explain acts other than statements. † Statements are expressly excluded. You are not talking about statements but preparation. Under section 8 you are dealing with things that people do and not things that people do. If you want to bring in a statement, it would have to be associated with an act. Section 9 9. Facts necessary to explain or introduce a fact in issue or elevant fact, or which support or rebut an inference suggested by such a fact, or which establish the identity of any thing or person whose identity is relevant, or fix the time or place at which any fact in issue or relevant fact happened, or which show the relation of parties by whom any such fact was transacted, are relevant insofar as they are necessary for that purpose. † Facts, which e xplain or introduce facts in issue, are relevant. It is only phraseology of Section 9 that differs from factors that have been explained in Section 6,7 and 8. 10. Where there is reasonable ground to believe that two or more persons have conspired together to commit an offence or an actionable wrong, anything said, done or written by any one of such persons in reference to their common intention, after the time when such intention was first entertained by any one of them, is a relevant fact as against each of the persons believed to be so conspiring, as well for the purpose of proving the existence of the conspiracy as for the purpose of showing that any such person was a party to it. † The legislator is said to have been acting Ex Abundante Cautella. Out of an abundance of caution. This section deals with conspiracies. If there are reasonable grounds to believe that there is a conspiracy, then whatever is said or done by any person in reference to their common intention, after the time such intention was formed, is a relevant fact. What does a conspiracy entail? It is where people sit and agree and form a common intention to do something. Common intention is the defining factor of the conspiracy. It is relevant to prove 1. That it is a conspiracy; and 2. To prove that persons were parties to the conspiracy. R V. KANJI 1949 VOL 15 EALR 116 It is stated with reference to S. 10 that a person who joins a conspiracy in law is responsible in law for all the acts of his fellow conspirators done in furtherance of the conspiracy whether done before during or after his participation. It is only after common intention is established. STANLEY MUSINGA ET AL V. R [1951] 18 EACAR 211 Here the court said that â€Å"A person who joins a conspiracy is responsible in law for all the acts of his fellow-conspirators done in furtherance of the conspiracy, whether done before, during or after his participation. † The time when, by act or declaration, reference is made to the common intention is not important so long as it is after that time when the intention is first entertained by one of the conspirators. R V. MULJI JAMNADAS ETAL 1946 13 EACA 147. The defendants were charged with a conspiracy to effect a lawful purpose by unlawful means, in that they toured the neighbourhood in a lorry to recruit labour for the Company’s Sugar Works, and that acting together they did on a number of occasions compel persons by the use of force and threats of force to get into the lorry and submit to being carried away on it for labour at the Sugar Works. The defence argued that intimidating labour into employment was not an offence known to the criminal law of Uganda, and did not, therefore, constitute â€Å"unlawful means†. The Court noted, however, citing from ARCHBOLD, that a tort which is not a criminal offence is sufficient to satisfy the provision as to â€Å"unlawful means†, and upheld the convictions. Section 11 – Facts which are inconsistent with or which affect the probability of other facts. 11. Facts not otherwise relevant are relevant— a) if they are inconsistent with any fact in issue or relevant act; or b) if by themselves or in connection with other facts they make the existence or non-existence of any fact in issue or relevant fact highly probable or improbable. What kind of facts are relevant S. 11 (b) is the epitome of all that is found relevant in a fact in issue. Read S. 5 along with S. 11. Section 12 12. In suits in which damages are claimed, any fact which will enable the court to de termine the amount of damages which ought to be awarded is relevant. † Section 12 – Deals with the facts which affect the quantum of damages. This Section is said to be a boon to ambulance chasers. E. g. contributory negligence your participation affects the amount of damages you receive. If the plaintiff in a civil suit claims damages as compensation for injuries suffered, the amount of damages which will compensate him naturally becomes a fact in issue. Evidence which helps the court to determine the amount of damages is relevant. The following cases show various types of facts which the courts have considered in reaching an assessment M’IBUI V. DYER [1967] E. A. 315 (K) â€Å"Wounding in course of arrest by private person on suspicion of felony. Psychological factors of malingering and â€Å"compensationists† taken into account, as well as aggravation of damages by element of injury to reputation. † MU WANI [1964] E. A. 171 (U)WANGA V. JI â€Å"The deceased was an African child and the court considered the amount of damages for the loss of service to the mother and grandparents, the father being deceased. † Section 13. Bf 13. Where the existence of any right or custom is in question, the following facts are relevant— a) any transaction by which the right or custom in question was created, claimed, modified, recognised, asserted or denied, or which was inconsistent with its existence; or b) particular instances, in which the right or custom was claimed, recognized or exercised, or in which its exercise was disputed, asserted or departed from. If what you have in issue is your right in custom, 13 (a) factors that show when customs were created, whether it is relevant and what kinds of arguments were made for the custom. Locus classicus) Relevance and admissibility SIMILAR FACTS EVIDENCE: The definition Similar facts evidence can only be led if there are similar facts to those under consideration. There has to be substantial connection or similarity of what the person did. The court has a number of questions should ask Is it relevant? Can the offence be proved without similar facts evidence? What othe r purpose does the evidence serve other than cause prejudice against the accused person? Section 14 and 15 deal with similar facts evidence. Section 14 and 15. 14. 1)Facts showing the existence of any state of mind, such as intention, knowledge, good faith, negligence, rashness, ill-will or good-will towards any particular person, or showing the existence of any state of body or bodily feeling, are relevant, when the existence of any such state of mind or body or bodily feeling is in issue or relevant. 15. (2)A fact relevant within the meaning of subsection (1) as showing the existence of a state of mind must show that the state of mind exists, not generally, but in reference to the particular matter in question. 3)Where, upon the trial of a person accused of an offence, the previous commission by the accused of an offence is relevant within the meaning of subsection (1), the previous conviction of such person is also relevant. 1. Can we infer that something was done by human beings because similar incidents have been occasioned by human beings in the past? Can we rule out natural occurrence when something happens because similar things have happened before? 2. Is it legitimate to infer that the accused person has committed the act under investigation merely because it is shown that he has done similar things in the past? It is notable that when you are dealing with similar facts, the general principle of law is that it is not legitimate to infer that an accused person committed a particular offence merely because he had committed a similar offence in the past. The reason is because; 1. Firstly there is the policy of consideration of fairness to the accused person. 2. Secondly similar facts evidence is evidence that can bring about a lot of prejudice to the accused person. The offence can be proved without the similar evidence; 3. Thirdly the burden that an accused person has when they come to court is that they have to be ready to defend their whole lives. Evidence of similar facts may be led if there is substantial connection between those similar incidents and the one in issue. You cannot lead evidence of fact just to show connection. There has to be substantial connection in similarity in what a person did. The court should ask whether 1. Evidence of similar fact is relevant; 2. There is a purpose that is served by the evidence other than to cause prejudice against the accused person. Evidence of similar fact helps to establish intention and it can also be used to rule out defence such as honest intention. Even then a Judge has discretion to keep away evidence of similar facts if it is prejudicial to the accused person. The locus classica on evidence of similar facts is Makin V. AG Makin and his wife were charged with murdering a child. It was shown that the child’s mortal remains were found buried in the garden of the Makins. There was no evidence that they had killed the child but there was evidence that the Makins had adopted this child from the parents. There was also evidence that the Makins had also adopted other children who were unrelated to this one. They were being paid after they adopted the children. There was also evidence that the children were never again seen by their parents after being adopted by the Makins. The investigators had found mortal remains of children in gardens of the houses that the Makins had lived in before. The question was, is this evidence of houses and backyards relevant in the trial for the murder of a specific murder. The evidence was admitted though there was not direct evidence to show that the Makins had actually killed the children. There was substantial connection between the activities of the adoption of the other children and the one under investigation. There was striking similarities between the cases and the Makins had the opportunity to murder the children but the evidence of their dealings with other children was taken into consideration because of the similarities that the investigators had found. In that case, 2 basic principles were established and reiterated in the case of John Makindi V. R. The Principles were as follows: 1. You cannot lead similar facts evidence merely to show the accused disposition to commit an offence. Lord Herschell states as follows â€Å"It is undoubtedly not competent for the prosecution to adduce evidence tending to show that the accused has been guilty of criminal acts other than those covered by the indictment for the purpose of leading to the conclusion that the accused is a person likely from his criminal conduct/character to have committed the offence for which he is being tried. † Disposition should not be motivation for leading similar facts evidence. . On the other hand, the mere fact that the evidence adduced tends to show the commission of other crimes does not render it inadmissible if it be relevant to an issue before the jury and it may be so relevant if it bears upon the question whether the acts alleged to constitute the crime charged in the indictment were designed or accidental or to rebut a defence which would otherwise be open to the accused. Essentially the Makin case established parameters for admitting evidence of similar facts. Similar facts evidence cannot just be used to show disposition. The second proposition delimiting evidence of similar facts is found in S. 15 of the Evidence Act 16. When there is a question whether an act was accidental or intentional, or done with a particular knowledge or intention, the fact that such act formed part of a series of similar occurrences, in each of which the person doing the act was concerned, is relevant. The question arose as to whether the defence had to wait until a defence arose to raise similar fact evidence or could they raise it to prevent the accused from even thinking of raising a defence. Had Lord Herschell only given direction on which subsequent courts could built on and in Harris V DPP AC. 394 Viscount Simmons settled the matter . â€Å"It was an error to draw a closed list of circumstances of when similar facts evidence was admissible. He dispelled the notion that Lord Herschell one did not have to wait until the accused person raised a defence of accused or mistake for one to bring up the defence before introducing such evidence. Lord Herschell only gave instance when similar facts evidence could be raised and that Lord Herschell only raised instances. Mohammed Said Akraby v. R. [1956] Vol. 23 EACA 512 It was held in this case that even though the prosecution did not have to wait until the accused raised a defence; the judge had discretion to exclude similar facts evidence if its probative value was out weighed by the prejudicial effect. It was always going to be a balancing act what purpose does the evidence serve other than cause prejudice. Noor Mohammed v. R. [1937] Vol. 4 E. A. C. A The accused was charged with murdering his wife by poisoning. There was no evidence that he had administered the poison but prosecution sought to adduce evidence that the accused had had another wife who died as a result of poisoning in circumstances which suggested that the accused had lured the wife into taking poison as a cure for a toothache. The accused was convicted but on Appeal, the Appeal was allowed on the grounds that evidence admitted by the trial judge was very prejudicial to the accused person. In the words of the court, the probative value was outweighed by the prejudicial effect even though the evidence was technically admissible. Similar facts evidence must have strong probative value weighed against prejudice. R v. Scarrot [1978] 1 AER 672 Discussing further probative value versus prejudicial effect, Lord Scarman stated in this case: â€Å"Such probative value is not provided by mere repetition of similar facts. There has to be some features in the evidence sought to be adduced which provided an underlying link. The existence of such a link is not to be inferred from mere similarity of facts which are themselves so common place that they can provide no sure ground for saying that they point to the commission by the accused of the offence under consideration. † Evidence of similar facts has to have its own persuasive value and not to just have probative value it just not depend on coincidence. Admissible similar facts evidence falls into 3 categories which depend on what it is directed towards. 1. Similar facts evidence to establish state of mind with which some act proved to have been done was done i. e. hat motivated the act; 2. Similar facts evidence to prove the identity of the perpetrator or doer of an act; 3. Similar facts evidence to establish the commission of the act itself and therefore rule out an act of nature or miracle. UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI FACULTY OF LAW XXX LLB II 2003 LAW OF EVIDENCE Lesson 3 Firstly the question of similar facts evidence to establish state of mind â⠂¬â€œ the accused may admit that he committed an act but his state of mind is not discernible. Looking at the evidence it is overwhelming that the accused committed the crime but it is not clear what his state of mind was. Under this circumstance it may be the case that he had no intention to do what he did. E. g. a person could have killed a human being but the case could be that he killed the human being thinking it to be an animal. If the accused person had done similar actions where the state of mind was clear, then it can be inferred that the present act was done with the same state of mind as the previous ones. If however the state of mind in previous actions is unclear, the very nature of those acts conceded along with the present one may lead to an inference as to what the state of mind was. For instance if a student was to be caught during the exams copying from the Evidence Act and in defence says that he did not know that he was wrong to copy from the Act, if there is evidence that such a student has been previously caught in another subject doing the same and has been reprimanded for it, then the evidence would go to show that he is not innocent, the Evidence can be used to infer. R . V. Francis Francis was charged with attempting to obtain money from another person by presenting a certain ring to be a diamond ring. He said that he had no knowledge that the ring he was purporting to sell was not a diamond ring and was worthless. There was evidence that he had previously approached other persons previously who had refused to give him money for the ring when they realised that the ring was not a diamond ring. The question was whether the Evidence of previous transaction with other persons where these people had refused to give him money for the ring by realising that the ring was worthless relevant. The court held that it was relevant to rebut the defence of lack of knowledge. The evidence of Francis’s experience with other people was relevant to rebut lack of knowledge. The evidence of Francis with other persons was relevant here to rebut lack of knowledge. John Makindi V. R Evidence of similar fact in John Makindi was admitted on the ground that it illustrated the hostility and ill-will between John Makindi and his foster child. On state of mind one of the findings explained the cause of loss of blood and the other evidence showed that he had been previously taken to court and had threatened the child with further beating on account of having sent him to prison. Similar evidence can be used to show the intention in which an act was done. You can pin the act on a person because they admitted but you may be unable to establish what the state of their mind was. You use similar fact evidence to illustrate that a person had fraudulent intention. R V. Armstrong Armstrong was charged with murdering his wife by administering arsenic poison on her. This poison was actually found in his house tied up in packets containing a fatal dose. Armstrong claimed that he used the poison to kill weeds as a gardening aid. There was actually no evidence that he had administered the poison on his wife. The prosecution however sought to lead evidence that a few weeks after Armstrong’s wife’s death he had attempted to murder another man by giving him arsenic poison. The question was whether this evidence was admissible. The defence raised the objection that the evidence was prejudicial and irrelevant. The court held that the evidence was admissible and in the words of Lord Hewart â€Å"†¦ The fact that Armstrong was subsequently found not merely in possession of but actually using for a similar deadly purpose the very poison that caused the death of his wife was evidence from which the jury might infer that the poison was not in his possession at the earlier date for an innocent purpose. † R V. Bond [1969] 2 K. B. 389 Dr. Bond was charged with using some instruments on a woman with the intent to procure an abortion. He denied the intent, he said that he was not using the instrument to procure an abortion but the instruments were to examine the woman. The prosecution however sought to lead evidence that the doctor had used the same instruments on another woman occasioning an abortion and the girl on whom he was being accused in using the instruments testified that the doctor had told her words to the effect that he had made dozens of irls happy and could do the same to her. The defence objected to this evidence on the grounds that it was prejudicial and irrelevant but it was admitted on the grounds that it showed the doctor’s intention in purporting to examine the woman and rebutted the doctors’ assertion that he was using it to examine the woman. Achieng’ V. R Achieng’ was a permanent secretary who had an imprest account and was charged with stea ling 76,000/- from that account. His defence was that he had no intention to defraud and that he intended to account for the money but was apprehended prematurely. The prosecution however adduced evidence to the effect that on six previous occasions, Achieng’ had taken money from his imprest account and never accounted for it. The question was whether the evidence of previous occasions was admissible and the court held that it was admissible because it rebutted his defence of intention to account for the money. The Queen V. Harold Whip and Another (1955) 28 KLR The two accused were charged with conspiracy to defraud the City Council. The case for the prosecution was that pursuant to an agreement between the two accused, one of them was a City Council Engineer and the other one an excavator, the 1st accused, certified payments as due to the 2nd accused firm for the excavation of hard rock which the 1st accused knew to be greatly in excess of what had been excavated. The 1st accused had therefore caused excessive payment to be made by the City Council to the contractors. The prosecution alleged that this was done fraudulently and that he had not just made an honest mistake in the estimation of the rocks. The prosecution actually brought evidence that there had been a case where the same accused had overestimated the amounts owed to the 2nd accused an event which had occurred in 1953. The court held that the 1953 transaction rebutted a defence of honest mistake. Essentially showing the state of mind with which he had acted. R V. Mortimer Mortimer was charged with murdering a woman cyclist by knocking her down. He claimed that it was an inevitable accident. The prosecution however adduced evidence that Mortimer had on previous occasions knocked down other female cyclists. It was held that this evidence of the previous incidence was admissible to show that he intended what he had done. It was not an accident. The nature of the event as a whole ruled out coincidence and the conclusion was gleaned from looking at the transaction as a whole. SIMILAR FACTS EVIDENCE TO IDENTIFY THE PERPERTRATOR OR DOER OF AN ACT Where it is shown that a particular act has been done but nobody knows for sure who did it, if it so happens that other acts of distinctive similarity with the one under consideration have occurred and a particular person has been involved, then an inference may be drawn that he was the doer of the act under consideration. It is notable however that for this inference to be drawn the similarity must be very distinct to ensure propensity on its own should not be used to judge a person. For example if handbags disappear and it is known that they disappear during the break and this time a person is caught walking out with a handbag and then it is discovered that this person never comes back to class after the break and a modus operandi is drawn that this person has been taking the handbags and the person has a liking for a particular kind of handbag. Essentially you are looking for similarities. R V. STRAFFEN: In this case a young girl was found strangled by the roadside and it was clear from examining her that there had been no attempt at sexual assault on her person. Straffen had been seen around the scene of crime but there was no evidence that he was directly or indirectly connected with the murder. It was established as a fact that Straffen had strangled two girls at a different place two months earlier and had also left their bodies by the roadside. It was also clear that there had been no attempt at sexual assault on these girls. Straffen had been committed to a mental hospital for the offence and at the time the girl whose murder was under consideration had been killed; Straffen had escaped from the mental hospital and was at large. When the police went to interview him he said even before he was questioned ‘I did not kill the girl’. He was convicted on the basis of the evidence of the other two girls. Again it was established that he had had the opportunity to murder the girl having escaped from the mental hospital and the fact that he had been seen near the scene he had the opportunity and the propensity was so distinct. Thompson V. R Thompson had carnal knowledge of two boys and he gave them a date 3 days later. He described the place of the date as a street outside a public toilet. Thompson met the two boys at the appointed hour. On noticing the presence of strangers, Thompson gave the boys some money and asked them to go away. It turned out that these strange persons were police and when they approached Thompson he told them that they had got the wrong man. On being searched Thompson was found in possession of a few bottles of chemicals and a further search of his house yielded photos of naked boys. The judges relied on this evidence and its use as alleged by the boys. The boys said what the chemical had been used for. In the words of the court, being gay had characteristics that were easily recognisable. It elicited a distinct propensity and was therefore a reliable means of identification. Paul Ekai V. R [1981] CAR 115 Paul was charged with the murder of Joy Adamson a famous conservationist. His defence was an alibi (alibi is assertion of not being at the locus quo). Ekai said that he had been in Isiolo staying with his grandmother. The evidence was that on the material night, one of the 3 trunks of boxes in the deceased tent including the one containing the cash box had been forced open by a person using a bar which had been taken from the workshop at the camp. The intruder had escaped using the animal enclosure. The prosecution gave evidence that 3 weeks earlier, there had been a theft at the camp and on that occasion the box containing the cash box had been forced open with the bar taken from the camp workshop. The intruder on that previous occasion had gone out through the animal enclosure. When Paul was apprehended after the murder, he was found in possession of some clothes stolen from the camp on the previous occasion. Paul was the deceased’s worker and he had a good knowledge of the camp and taking all these factors into consideration it was held that the evidence of the previous theft was admissible in attempts to prove the murder because the acts exhibited a distinct modus operandi. Similar fact evidence can be lead to prove the commission of an act This applies in situations where it is not clear whether the act was done or it happened miraculously. If it is shown that a similar act has occurred caused by human intervention, this is a good ground for inferring that a particular act was actually done as opposed to it just happening miraculously. This is normally in situations where if you look at the acts in isolation, you can dismiss human act and attribute them to nature but when you look at the acts together you can see they had help. R V. Smith Smith married his first wife. He took out an insurance policy on her life in his favour. He made representation to his personal doctor that his wife was epileptic, a few months later his wife’s dead body was found floating in the bathtub and a few months later the insurance paid. Smith proceeded to marry another woman, took out an insurance policy on her in his favour and made assertions that she was epileptic and she too was found dead in the tub and he proceeded to collect insurance and married yet another one whose body was also found dead. He was charged with murdering wife no. on the basis of the subsequent deaths of wives 2 and 3 in similar circumstances. In the words of the court the coincidence was too fantastic to be credible and this of course ruled out the possibility that the drowning of the women in the bath was an accident. In the words of the court the act was done by human hands and the motive was clear so it was not an act of God. Makin V. Attorney General The question arose whether the dy ing of the children adopted by the Makins was coincidental. R V. BOLL In the Republic V. Boll, Boll stayed with his sister as husband and wife when incest was not an offence and they even had a child together when incest was not an offence. After parliament made incest an offence, the two were charged for having an incestuous affair, but they continued living together as man and wife. Even after incest had been made an offence, they still continued to live together as man and wife and the question was whether the evidence of the previous cohabitation as man and wife could be used against them. They were convicted of incest because their previous association ruled out innocence of their subsequent association. The logic was that if two people have previously lived as husband and wife, unless they separate to live under separate roofs they continue to live as husband and wife. The burden is on them to rebut this presumption and they were unable to do that. To summarise similar fact evidence we should look at Section 16 of the Evidence Act â€Å"When there is a question whether a particular act was done, the existence of any course of business, according to which it naturally would have been done, is relevant. † For instance if you are trying to establish whether 2 people had lived as husband and wife. If you can show previous cause of dealing where they were living as man and wife that would be admissible. Admission of similar fact evidence is the exception to the general rule and will only be admitted when it has strong probative value. What is similar fact evidence and when is it admissible? Section 15 and 16 wise sayings of judges and case law. JUDICIAL NOTICE Judicial notice is defined as what judges see or the liberty accorded a judicial officer acting as such to recognise the existence or non-existence of certain facts or phenomena without calling for evidence. On what basis will Judicial Notice be allowed: – 1. The habit or customs of the court and this relates to the authenticity for instance of certain signatures. You don’t have to prove the authenticity every time they come to court. Seals of the court you don’t have to prove their authenticity because the court habitually uses the seal. The names and official designation of high ranking officers past and present; International relations of a country if Kenya is at war with a country judges are expected to know; 2. Where statutes decree that certain things be judiciary noticed e. . certain certificates that judges will decree should be taken judicial notice of; 3. Need to make things workable e. g. the practice of the court, how the court conducts itself is taken judicial notice of. Ordinary rules of reasoning don’t need evidence to be proved. 4. Basis of judicial notice is that of matters that are known by everybody e. g. judges would know that if you imbibe certain liquids you can get intoxicated this is commonly known. One cannot assume that judges are so ignorant that they won’t know what everybody else knows. The effects of judicial notice Section 59 of the Evidence Act â€Å"No fact of which the court shall take judicial notice need be proved. Judicial notice dispenses with proof. Section 60 enumerates matters that the court should take judicial notice of. 60. (1)The courts shall take judicial notice of the following facts:- a) All written laws, and all laws, rules and principles, written or unwritten, having the force of law, whether in force or having such force as aforesaid before, at or after the commencement of this Act, in any part of Kenya; ) The general course of proceedings and privileges of Parliament, but not the transactions in their journals; c) Articles of War for the Armed Forces; d) The public seal of Kenya; the seals of all courts of Kenya; and all seals which any person is authorized by any written law to use; e) The accession to office, names, titles, functions and signatures of public officers, if the fact of their appointment is notified in the Gazette; f) The exist ence, title and national flag of every State and Sovereign recognized by the Government; ) Natural and artificial divisions of time, and geographical divisions of the world, and public holidays; h) The extent of the territories comprised in the Commonwealth; i) The commencement, continuance and termination of hostilities between Kenya and any other State or body of persons; j) The names of the members and officers of the court and of their deputies, subordinate officers and assistants, and of all officers acting in execution or its process, and also of all advocates and other persons authorized by law to appear or act before it; ) The rule of the road on land or at sea or in the air; l) The ordinary course of nature; Preston Jones V. Preston Jones – Preston went abroad and resided there for 9 months and therefore had no nuptial intercourse with his wife. 3 months after he came back, a baby was born to his wife fully mature. He petitioned for divorce on the grounds of adultery . Relying on the evidence that the ordinary course of nature i. e. that human gestation period was 9 months and not 12 or 3 months. The court held that the matrimonial offence of adultery was not proved. In the words of judges â€Å"though the court took judicial notice of the normal life of human gestation period, it was not completely ruled out that there could be abnormal periods of human gestation. m) The meaning of English words; n) All matters of general or local notoriety; (things that everyone knows) o) All other matters of which it is directed by any written law to take judicial notice. Should we take judicial notice of customary law? Kimani Gikanga The issue arose as to whether in a dispute involving customary law whether customary law should be taken judicial notice of. Judges were of the opinion that the party that seeks to rely on the customary should prove that customary law as a matter of fact by calling expert witnesses. This is because of the difficulty of establishing what the customary law is at any given time since it is unwritten. Section 18 of the Magistrates Act Magistrates are allowed to take Judicial Notice of customary law without having to call for proof for it and if there is a dispute, then it will have to be established by proof. If customary law is a disputed tenet, then there is need for proof. If there are contestations then proof will have to be called. Section 60 (1) (b)Judicial Notice should be taken of the general course of proceedings and privileges of parliament, but not the transactions in their journals. The court need not call for evidential proof of privileges accorded to parliament. These provisions however exempts from judicial notice transactions in parliamentary journals. Whatever is recorded in the Hansard is not going to be taken judicial notice of. Section 60 (1) (c) -Judicial Notice should be taken of articles of war for the Armed Forces. Section 60 (1)(e)-the public seal of Kenya; the seals of all courts of Kenya; and all seals which any person is authorized by any written law to use; Section 60 (1) (f) – The accession to office, names, titles, functions and signatures of public officers if the fact of their appointment is notified in the Gazette; Section 60 (1) (g) the existence, title and national flag of every State and Sovereign recognized by the Government; this is to avoid embarrassment. Section 60 (1) (h) Natural and artificial divisions of time, and geographical divisions of the world, and public holidays; Section 60 (1)(i) The extent of the territories comprised in the commonwealth; Section 60 (1)(j)the commencement, continuance and termination of hostilities between Kenya and any other State or body of persons; Section 60 (1)(k)the names of the members and officers of the court and of their deputies, subordinate officers and assistants, and of all officers acting in execution of its process, and also of all advocates and other persons authorized by law to appear or act before it; Section 60 (1)(l)the rule of the road on land or at sea or in the air; Section 60 (1)(m) the ordinary course of nature; Section (1)(n)the meaning of English words; Section (1)(o)all matters of general or local notoriety; Section (1)(p)all other matters of which it is directed by any written law to take judicial notice. PRESTON JONES VS PRESTON Preston went abroad and resided there for 9 months and therefore had no nuptial intercourse with his wife. 3 months after he came back, a baby was born to his wife fully mature. He petitioned for divorce on the grounds of adultery. Relying on the evidence that the ordinary course of nature, human gestation was 9 months not 12 months or 3 months. The court held that the matrimonial offence of adultery was not proved. In the words of the judges, â€Å"though the court took judicial notice of the normal life of human gestation, it was not completely ruled out that there could be abnormal periods of human gestation. Re Oxford Poor Rate Case: Burns V. Edmund In this case Crichton J. halved the conventional award of damages for loss of expectation of life to the wife of a deceased criminal after taking judicial notice of the fact that â€Å"the life of a criminal is an unhappy one. † UNIVERSITY OF NAIROBI FACULTY OF LAW XXX LLB II 2003 Law of Evidence Lesson 4 PRESUMPTIONS: These are inferences that a court may draw, could draw or must draw. Presumptions are devices that entitle a court to pronounce on a particular issue not withstanding the fact that there is no evidence or there is insufficient evidence. The inference that the court may draw could be affirmative or dis-affirmative (on the yes or on the no) presumptions enable a court to find a fact to exist or to find a fact not to exist. Essentially presumptions will have effect on the burden of proof. If we are saying that presumptions will help the court to find a certain fact to exist, it will have an effect on what burden of proof a person will have. There are 3 categories of presumptions: 1. PRESUMPTIONS OF FACTS these are inferences that may be drawn upon the establishment of a basic fact. The operative word in these presumptions is ‘may’. When you find a basic fact to exist, you are invited to come to court. There is an invitation to the court to draw a certain inference. 2. REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTIONS OF LAW They are inferences that must be drawn in the absence of conclusive evidence to the contrary. A good example is the presumption of innocence, that every person accused of a crime is innocent until proved guilty. Until there is conclusive evidence dispelling the innocence of the accused person. Essentially these presumptions are said to be mandatory until you have other conclusive evidence to the contrary. 3. IRREBUTTABLE PRESUMPTIONS OF LAW: These must be drawn no matter how much evidence exists to the contrary. Once you establish the basic fact pertaining to the presumption then you have to draw the inference that will dispel that presumption. They will usually be drawn from statutory provisions. They are public policy pronouncements, which decree that in the interest of public certain matters are decreed to be a certain way e. g. an 8 year old boy is not capable of carnal knowledge. Section 4 of the Evidence Act defines presumptions of facts and rebuttable presumptions of law 1) â€Å"Whenever it is provided by law that the court may presume a fact, it may either regard such fact as proved, unless and until it is disproved, or may call for proof of it. † 2) Whenever it is directed by law that the court shall presume a fact, it shall regard such fact as proved, unless and until it is disproved. † 3) When one fact is declared by law to be conclusive proof of another, the court shall, on proof of the one fact, regard the other as proved, and shall not allow evidence to be given for the purpose of disproving it. PRESUMPTIONS OF FACTS: (DISCRETIONARY PRESUMPTIONS) They are inferences that may be drawn. Section 4 (1). Evidence Act Section 77(2). The court may presume that the signature to any such document is genuine and that the person signing it held the office and qualifications which he professed to hold at the time when he signed it. † The court is allowed to presume and it is incumbent on the person who argues otherwise to prove their case. Section 92. The court may presume that any document purporting to be a copy of a judgment or judicial record of any country not forming part of the Commonwealth is genuine and accurate, and that such judgment or record was pronounced or recorded by a court of competent jurisdiction, if the document purports to be certified in any manner which is certified by a Kenya consular officer or diplomatic representative in or for such country to be the manner commonly in use in that country for the certification of copies of judgments or judicial records. Section 93. The court may presume that any book, to which it may refer for information on matters of public or general interest, and that any published map or chart, the statements of which are admissible facts and which is produced for its inspection, was written and published by the person and at the time and place by whom or at which it purports to have been written or published. There are certain things that are non-contestable and one should not waste the courts time trying to prove them. Section 113 this section used to help in probate matters but once the Law of Succession was put into being it was repealed. This was important when we would talk about proof of death within 30 years. Section 119. The Court may presume the existence of any fact which it thinks likely to have happened, regard being had to the common course of natural events, human conduct and public and private business, in their relation to the facts of the particular case. (Presumption of likely facts) We are talking about an inference that may be drawn regarding natural events, human conduct and the common course of natural events. You infer from what you see. If a person is caught with stolen goods, it is presumed that he stole them or that he knows who stole them. If they cannot adequately explain how they came to possess stolen goods, then the incumbent of proof is on them to say how the owner came to lose the goods. The ability of the court of law to draw an inference Presumption of guilty knowledge. From experience we can infer that a woman who is in possession of stolen goods after the theft and cannot give account of those goods is either the thief or has received them knowing them to be stolen. We are talking of recent possession. In Zus V. Uganda the question arose, the court here refused to apply the doctrine of recent possession after the accused was found in possession of a stolen bicycle 7 months after it had been recorded lost. The trial court had actually applied that doctrine to convict the thief of both the theft and receiving stolen goods because the accused had not given any reasonable explanation by how he had come upon the bicycle. The Appeal Court held that 7 months cannot be described as recent and consequently the court of appeal quashed the conviction for theft while upholding the conviction for receiving stolen goods. PRESUMPTION OF LIKELY FACTS S. 119 (IMMUTABILITY OF THINGS) A thing or state of things which has been shown to exist within a period shorter than that within which such things or state of things usually cease to exist is presumed to be still in existence. An example is given in the case of Kanji & Kanji V. R. 1961 E. A 411 C. A In this case a sisal factory employee’s arm was amputated by a sisal decorticator in April 1960. An examination done by a Mr. Perkin in September 1960 showed that there was no barrier or fence to protect the employees when feeding the machine with sisal leaves. The firm was held liable for failing to provide ample barriers to protect employees from the machine and this finding was held on the basis of the presumption of the immutability of things. On appeal the factory owner had argued that there was some form of fence at the Factory when the accident occurred in 1960. This barrier was not found to be in place in September when Mr. Perkins did his inspection. The Court held that the Magistrate was correct in presuming that the machine was in the same condition in April as it was in September 1960. It is unlikely that there was a barrier in April which disappeared by September but the factory owners were welcome to bring in evidence to prove that there had been a barrier in April. OFFICIAL & JUDICIAL ACTS ARE REGULARLY PERFORMED (PRESUMPTION OF REGULARITY) It is based on sound public policy which imputes good faith on official and judicial conduct. The burden is on he/she who alleges irregularity to bring the evidence to disprove or establish the irregularity. Looking at how our courts run, this might not be the way to go. For instance if your file gets lost, will you allege that the file got lost by the court. THE COMMON COURSE OF BUSINESS HAS BEEN FOLLOWED IN PARTICULAR CASES The basis of this presumption is business practice. If some business has been carried out pursuant to this common course, it is going to be presumed to be so unless the person alleging otherwise brings evidence to the contrary. If you have a quarrel with the common course of business, it is incumbent on you to prove that the common course of business was not followed. EVIDENCE WHICH COULD BE PRODUCED AND IS NOT PRODUCED WOULD IF PRODUCED BE UNFAVOURABLE TO THE PERSON WHO WITHHOLDS IT: This again is something that you draw as a worldly-wise person. If someone is withholding evidence, it would be presumed that the person withholding the evidence is because It Is against them and it is incumbent upon the person withholding the evidence to show that it is not so. ACCOMPLICES ARE UNWORHTY OF CREDIT & THAT THEIR EVIDENCE SHOULD NOT BE USED TO CONVICT UNLESS IT IS CORROBORATED There are certain witnesses who are held suspect and accomplices are some of these witnesses. The reasons for the unworthiness of the evidence are that an accomplice is a participant in the offence and such a person would be highly tempted to pass the buck. Having participated in the commission of the offence an accomplice is generally an immoral person and their word should not be taken without corroboration. An accomplice is likely to favour the state in hope for a pardon. It is necessary to get independent testimony on material particulars. Davies V. DPP 1954 AC 378 The Appellant together with other youths attacked another group with fists. One of the members of the other group subsequently died of stab wounds inflicted by a knife. Six youths including the Appellant and one L were charged with murder but finally the Appellant alone was convicted. L and the others were convicted of common assault. At the Appellant’s trial, L gave evidence for the prosecution. Referring to an admission by the Appellant of the use of a knife by him. The Judge in this case did not warn the Jury on the danger of accepting L’s evidence without corroboration. On Appeal the Appellant was saying that he was wrongly convicted because of lack of this warning on the part of the judge. The court held that there was no good reason for quashing the conviction because L did not know before the murder that any of his companions had a knife. Essentially the court held that L was not an accomplice in the crime of murder. The court here defined accomplices as persons who are Participes Criminis in respect of the actual crime charged whether as principal participants before or after the fact. It included people who procured, aided or abetted in the commission of the crime. The Court was trying to exonerate L from being a participant. He did not participate in the stabbing because he was not aware that his colleague had a knife. REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTIONS OF LAW: To rebut this presumption you need conclusive evidence. These are presumptions that are decreed by law. A good example is the presumption of genuineness in a document purporting to be the Kenya Gazette. There is also the presumption that a person between 8 and 12 is not criminally liable unless it can be shown that he knew that his action was morally and legally wrong. Once you establish the basic fact, then the person could not be exposed to criminal liability unless you bring evidence to show that he knew that what he did was legally and morally wrong. Section 83. Presumptions as to documents â€Å"(1)The court shall presume to be genuine every document purporting to be a certificate, certified copy or other document which is— a) declared by law to be admissible as evidence of any particular fact; and b) Substantially in the form, and purporting to be executed in the manner, directed by law in that behalf; and c) Purporting to be duly certified by a public officer. 2)The court shall also presume that any officer by whom any such document purports to be signed or certified held, when he signed it, the official character which he claims in such document. To be able to disprove documents under this act you have to bring evidence. Records of Evidence Section 84Whenever any document is produced before any court, purporting to be a record or me morandum of any evidence given in a judicial proceeding or before any officer authorized by law to take such evidence, and purporting to be signed by a Judge or magistrate or any such officer as aforesaid, the court shall presume— a) that the document is genuine; ) that any statements as to the circumstances in which it was taken, purporting to be made by the person signing it, are true; and c) that such evidence was duly taken. The use of the word ‘shall’ documents are presumed to be genuine. Section 85. The production of a copy of any written law, or of a copy of the Gazette containing any written law or any notice purporting to be made in pursuance of a written law, where such law or notice (as the case may be) purports to be printed by the Government Printer, shall be prima facie evidence in all courts and for all purposes whatsoever of the due making and tenor of such ritten law or notice. There is a public policy that such a documents shall be genuine unles s there is conclusive evidence to the contrary. Sections 86, 87 and 88, Section 86:(1)The court shall presume the genuineness of every document purporting to be— a) London Gazette, the Edinburgh Gazette, or the official Gazette of any country in the Commonwealth. b) A newspaper or journal; ) A document directed by any law to be kept by any person, if such document is kept substantially in the form required by law and is produced from proper custody. (2)Documents are said to be in proper custody if they are in the place in which and under the care of the person with whom they would naturally be; but no custody is improper if it is proved to have had a legitimate origin, or if the circumstances of the particular case are such as to render such an origin probable. Section 87. Where any publication or part thereof indicates or purports to indicate the name of any person by or on behalf or under sponsorship of whom, or the place at which or date on which, such publication or any part thereof was contributed, it shall, in any proceedings for an offence under any written law or for contempt of any court, be presumed, until the contrary is proved, that such publication or part thereof was contributed, by or on behalf or under the sponsorship of such person, or at such place or on such date, as the case may be. Use of the word ‘shall’ all publications will be deemed to have been published, edited, printed in the place that they are said to have been published unless you can bring evidence to the contrary. Section 88:When any document is produced before any court, purporting to be a document which, by the law if force for the time being in England, would be admissible in proof of any particular in any Court of Justice in England, without proof of the seal or stamp or signature authenticating it, or of the judicial or official character claimed by the person by whom it purports to be signed— a) the court shall presume that such seal, stamp or signature is genuine, and that the pers