The Bribery Scandal at Siemens AG Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Bribery Scandal at Siemens AG - Case Study Example The practice of bribery is perceived advantageous to parties involved since it enables them acquire business gains without having to meet expected standards, developing relationship with foreign officials or being favored by potential customers. In other instances, they can also benefits from reduction of the payouts involved, thereby resulting to increased profitability for the company. Other benefits derived by these companies from the practice of bribery are such as opportunity cost since money offered as a bribe in not considered to be in productive use. Siemens AG was involved in a case of corruption that involved bribery in 2006 and 2007, whereby this scandal involved company’s employees, who had established slush fund meant for facilitating acquisition of contracts. For instance, Siemens managers were convicted of embezzling company funds amounting to six million pounds in order to bribe foreign officials to acquire a contract involving natural-gas turbine (Akana, 1). H owever, the perception of the executives towards this case was that getting involved in bribery practice was worth it, since the employees were willing to break the law in order to gather huge profits. Other employees argued that this act was not a violation of any laws since it did not result to any personal gain; instead, it was aimed at enhancing Siemens’ positioning strategy. Nonetheless, their notions were not rational since breaking the law can never be for the right purpose; thus, despite, focusing on the benefits that to be derived from practice of bribery for the Company. Question number 2: Was the Board right in not extending Kleinfeld’s term even though he had performed well and was not personally implicated and explain? What virtuous and/or virtuous behaviors did he show with observable facts? Decision of board whereby they failed to extend Kleinfeld’s term can be considered personal due to lack of rational reason associated with the bribery scandal. This judgment is made based on considerations of the challenges that Kleinfeld was faced with as the CEO willing to rescue the company from the bribery scandal in order to sustain their growth. On the other hand, Kleinfeld had gained confidence on issues such as labor and management in the Siemens AG. Besides, there is need to understand that the scandal caused by bribery practice was not entirely Kleinfeld’s fault; in fact, employees were the once involved in the practice. The entire company should have taken the blame; instead of laying the whole burden on the CEO. The board should have considered that engagement into these practices was due to the influence increasing competition among companies, hence these illegal payments aimed at winning international contract was the only option for these employees in the emerging economies. Furthermore, Kleinfeld was not directly implicated in the scandal; thus, by the fact that he was responsible for behaviors of the employees, thi s case was out of his control. In fact, Kleinfeld was unaware of the unlawful practices that employees were engaging in within the company. In addition, the practice of bribery was hard to notice since there was commonality of spending funds amounting to four hundred and twenty million and they were unnoticeable or unquestionable (Akana, 1). Kleinfeld’

Music & the Liturgy Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Music & the Liturgy Paper - Essay Example The Psalms feature strongly, prefiguring the life of Christ, and particular festivals bring into focus scenes such as the Nativity and the Passion of Christ which were then the subject matter of hymns and sequences. The major festivals of Christmas and Easter create the setting for the composing of new sacred music, and many of the great composers produced multiple settings of the same texts, giving the world a rich collection of variations which, when compared, give an insight into the subtle changes in Christian musical and religious sensibility through the ages. This paper considers in particular three settings of one of the world’s favourite Latin hymns known as Stabat Mater Dolorosa. The origins of the text itself are obscure, but scholars date it to the thirteenth century. The essence of its meaning is a reflection on the sorrowing figure of Mother of Christ, standing beneath the cross and weeping for the death of her son. The subject matter is emotive, and yet in its li nkage of suffering with the path to salvation, it has a positive message for believers, encouraging them to bear their troubles bravely and look to a blessed future with Christ in Paradise. This text has been reworked many times, using elements of secular music through the ages to enhance its relevance in successive generations. The reasons for the diverging approaches to Church music in different parts of Europe are linked to the cataclysmic events surrounding the Reformation. At the heart of this debate lay fundamental differences in the way that the Biblical text was perceived. In the protestant parts of Europe there was a growing desire to centre the literal text of scripture as the source of fundamental truth, and to place human additions such as preaching, music and the use of other devotional aids including the liturgy as secondary aids to the interpretation of this main truth. Polyphony in this context was an opportunity to explore hidden meanings in a text, having different voices express different aspects of its message for example. Emphasis and amplification could be achieved in this way. In the Roman Catholic tradition, on the other hand, the holy scripture was combined with apostolic traditions as the source of truth, leading to a higher status for the liturgy and a tendency for musical contributions to become bearers of the doctrine as much as the readings from the Bible itself. It is this emphasis on the importance of the liturgy that caused the Roman Catholic Church to clamp down on secular influences creeping into worship. The lively motet tradition, with its celebration of secular and even bawdy themes was seen as a negative influence, and this is why a return to the purity of Gregorian chant was advocated by the Church authorities. The role of the Stabat Mater was a cause of much debate in the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries because it was at the same time much loved by the population but also clearly non-Biblical in content. It became pa rt of the feast of Our Lady of Sorrows at in 1413 at the Council of Cologne and this hymn became part of the liturgy in Northern Europe from that time onwards. In the south, however, the piece was sporadically performed, but did not become such a firm part of the liturgical programme. It has been noted also that some such pieces were performed on the edge of the formal