Principles of Organization and Management Essay - 1

Principles of Organization and Management - Essay Example Two major sub-groups of the classical theory are scientific management by Taylor and bureaucracy by Weber. Taylor’s (F.W.Taylor) scientific management theory thoroughly evaluated the attitude of the employees from the starting of operations, the introduction of action decomposition, and the core concept of division of labor, job standardization, and strict management control. In the  "factory management†, he summed up the four principles to improve work efficiency: 1. Everyone should have clear working days; 2. To complete the work required to provide a standardized work environment, equipment and tools; 3. Where a person has a high score should give a higher remuneration; 4. Where the loser will lose pay and job status. According to Frederick Winslow Taylor who is regarded as the Father of Scientific Management, the management of the firm should organize the work in a manner which will make optimum use of the workers, by dividing the work and introducing efficient met hods for making a product. Taylor’s concept focused mainly on hierarchic organization structures and task specialization. Taylorism states that there is a best way for each task and it can be learnt through proper training and development. In the domain of "Principles of Scientific Management,"  Taylor further proposed the following principles: 1. The study of each unit of work a worker should be treated with the scientific method; 2. Workers should use scientific methods in the selection, training and education; 3. Should be sincere cooperation between workers to ensure that all work can be handled in accordance with scientific principles to; 4. Between managers and workers, to implement the division responsible for the manager's job at not to workers. Taylor advocated piecework system, requiring workers to work within a fixed unit of time to complete, according to the low-paid piecework, and the excess workload, follow-paid piece work.  Taylor believes there is a differ ence this reward system can maximize their people's enthusiasm for work.  In order to ensure the implementation of this scientific management, Taylor considers it necessary to strengthen the management and control of operations.  Undoubtedly, Taylorism pursuit of efficiency, operating decomposition, standardized management, performance rewards and other measures are designed to increase output efficiency.  Together these management tools are the "pipeline operations," which provides a way for large-scale scientific management standardized production.  Taylor's scientific management ideas were accepted and the use of public management, because it is the bureaucracy of philosophy coincide.  Division, classification, standardization, processes, performance pay, strict management control, but also the value of the traditional concept of public administration pursued.  Scientific management has played a dominant role in public administration for the period 1910 to 1940, so th at the field of public administration to become an academic study.  So, people use "Taylorism" to describe the impact of scientific management generated. Moreover, this effect has been extended to today's very popular new public management, as Taylor emphasized incentives or performance-based pay and other management tools, now turned into a broader connotation of performance management (Smith & et.al,

Infosys Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Infosys - Essay Example Infosys is facing a lot of global marketing issues especially in the past decade or so. The issues are related to business model as well as strategy. Infosys is globally perceived as an IT Technology company which provides low cost advantage to its clients due to global labour arbitrage. A lot of IT companies in developing countries have been using this model to earn handsome revenues (NASSCOM, 2007). Infosys has been consciously trying to come out of this image and move up the value chain (IBEF). This was evident because of its focus on end to end solutions in the late 1990s. During this phase, Infosys developed some highly successful industry solutions such as Finacle (Finacle, 2011) and SAP retail (SAP Retail, 2011) products and marketed them well. However, a major challenge has been to go one step further and provide high end consulting services. Infosys has developed the capabilities required to do so by hiring fresh and qualified talent over the past years but marketing the same has been a challenge. The major reason for this is the presence of well reputed competitors in the market who were early movers in this domain. Infosys has always believed in maintaining long term relationship with its clients. This has resulted in client loyalty and satisfaction. However, 80% of Infosys’s revenues come from existing clients. No doubt, retaining old customers is very important but it is equally important to acquire new clients for continuous progress and to increase bargaining power while negotiating contracts. Infosys has shifted its focus towards business domain excellence. While it is of no harm, most of the clients over the world believe in best of breed approach where they outsource their operations in parts to most suitable vendors and also avoid hundred percent sharing of data with a single vendor. Therefore, business domain excellence may not prove to be a very fruitful idea. For further analysis of the global marketing issues, it would be justified to consider the various aspects of Business and Business marketing and the issues Infosys is facing in each of them (Boon, Kurtz): I. Product In B usiness to Business marketing, as in the case of Infosys, the products are highly technical in nature (Boon, Kurtz). Their form is not fixed and may vary from supplier to supplier. Especially in Business to Business Services marketing, this holds true. Infosys has primarily been providing outsourcing services at low rates. But over the years it has developed end to end products which are high performers in the market. Infosys is also known for its services. It has always exceeded client expectations on the 3 evaluation parameters i.e. Quality, Timeliness and Reliability. However, Infosys has struggled in marketing its high end services over the years. It wants to address this issue in its dealing with PFS. II. Promotion In Business to Bu

Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Literature - Essay Example Othello’s being an Alien in Venice and the gulf of culture, race and complexion—that exists between him and the Venetians—in an important theme in the tragedy in Othello. The theme of race and the themes of isolation and alienation can be combined because it is because of the race that the character of Othello considers himself alienated from the Venetian society. Shakespeare forced his audience to see Othello with the â€Å"bodily eye† of Iago. Othello tries to attach himself to the Venetian society on the basis of universal virtues such as love and loyalty. However, Iago’s attempt in realizing himself as an alien makes him to a step that takes him to his tragedy. Therefore, it is quite clear that Othello has evidently awareness of his race and color as different to Desdemona. This racial difference becomes a cause for his consideration that Desdemona has illicit relationships with Cassio. He also considers himself alienated from a society, which is not his. He tries to be a part of that society but he is always aware of his being different due to which, he is alienated and isolated. Like Othello, the themes of isolation and alienation in Everyday Use can also be assembled with the theme of race. The family of Maggie and Dee has an African background while Maggie remains stick to her traditions and culture while Dee wants to stay away from her culture, which is quite impossible. Dee belongs to African culture and she cannot deny this fact. Dee makes many friends, out of which, no one is sincere to her according to Maggie. Due to this fact, Dee is alienated from the society in which, she lives because of her racial identity for having an African background. Dee wants to connect to another culture and wants to leave her due to which, not only she becomes an alien to the new culture she wants to adopt but to her own culture

Infosys Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Infosys - Essay Example Infosys is facing a lot of global marketing issues especially in the past decade or so. The issues are related to business model as well as strategy. Infosys is globally perceived as an IT Technology company which provides low cost advantage to its clients due to global labour arbitrage. A lot of IT companies in developing countries have been using this model to earn handsome revenues (NASSCOM, 2007). Infosys has been consciously trying to come out of this image and move up the value chain (IBEF). This was evident because of its focus on end to end solutions in the late 1990s. During this phase, Infosys developed some highly successful industry solutions such as Finacle (Finacle, 2011) and SAP retail (SAP Retail, 2011) products and marketed them well. However, a major challenge has been to go one step further and provide high end consulting services. Infosys has developed the capabilities required to do so by hiring fresh and qualified talent over the past years but marketing the same has been a challenge. The major reason for this is the presence of well reputed competitors in the market who were early movers in this domain. Infosys has always believed in maintaining long term relationship with its clients. This has resulted in client loyalty and satisfaction. However, 80% of Infosys’s revenues come from existing clients. No doubt, retaining old customers is very important but it is equally important to acquire new clients for continuous progress and to increase bargaining power while negotiating contracts. Infosys has shifted its focus towards business domain excellence. While it is of no harm, most of the clients over the world believe in best of breed approach where they outsource their operations in parts to most suitable vendors and also avoid hundred percent sharing of data with a single vendor. Therefore, business domain excellence may not prove to be a very fruitful idea. For further analysis of the global marketing issues, it would be justified to consider the various aspects of Business and Business marketing and the issues Infosys is facing in each of them (Boon, Kurtz): I. Product In B usiness to Business marketing, as in the case of Infosys, the products are highly technical in nature (Boon, Kurtz). Their form is not fixed and may vary from supplier to supplier. Especially in Business to Business Services marketing, this holds true. Infosys has primarily been providing outsourcing services at low rates. But over the years it has developed end to end products which are high performers in the market. Infosys is also known for its services. It has always exceeded client expectations on the 3 evaluation parameters i.e. Quality, Timeliness and Reliability. However, Infosys has struggled in marketing its high end services over the years. It wants to address this issue in its dealing with PFS. II. Promotion In Business to Bu

Critical Paper Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Critical Paper - Movie Review Example Through this, the complex conflict and relationship between modernity, tradition and human emotions between the western and eastern, aspects of the globe will be highlighted. The 1994 released movie â€Å"To live† directed by Gong Li and Zhang Yimou is a film that is basically about an experience of a family during a particularly challenging and hard time, it also helps bring out the journey of the Chinese people towards their revolutionary stage( Zhang, Wr and Lu Wei 2). The more pronounced theme is that of change and divergent ways of coping with it. This aspect is similar with the other two films like in Wedding Banquet the main character figured out a strategic way of sorting his problem and in the Eat Drink Man Woman Chef Chu, found alternatives to his problems through food as elaborately brought out. The change theme was introduced both on societal and individual level. The difference in the change is on the fact that on the individual level it was influenced by the indi vidual own doing namely Xu Fugui, which if compared by other two was not due to their own actions. The film also shows the changes on a societal level that were happening on the Chinese society and various ideologies and political systems that were initially imposed on the Chinese people. This is also seen in the film Eat Drink Man Woman where there had to be a specific order to marriage and in Wedding Banquet the society expects some things to be common like in choice of marriage partners. With the societal changes consequently happening, all the characters in the three films experience effects that correspond to their lives. In this context, the societal changes that are happening and the individuals involved no longer have, any control over the issues for it was already the external factors that influence and operate and affect their individuals lives (Chan 1). The 1993 film the Wedding Banquet, which is about a Taiwanese immigrant man that is gay and marries a mainland Chinese w oman to get her a green card and to placate his parents. Although with his parents arrival in the United States his plan backfires since they decided to help with the wedding banquets planning (Wu, and Lixing 1344). The story combines so many issues of today and it is a great example of modern day life namely; cross-cultural life, sexuality, modernity/tradition, younger generations vs. old school parents, gay couples and multi-racial couples, love and family values, immigrants and gay Asian Americans. This themes discussed above correspond well with the other two films, since they all discuss societal current issues since, they directly bringing out the very different and distinct cultures in the film concurrently namely; the 90’s representation of the gay couples and Asian American. The film also uses the theme of change to bring out and comment on groupings and social stereotypes without blatantly doing so (Bishop, John, Haiyong and Lester 4). There is a similarity in the t heme of change in the other two films since they all discuss societal change. They embrace of sexuality by discussing gay relationship, revelation and change from the traditional Chinese cultures and a more entailed analysis of family issues and solutions derived as the families find adequate solutions on how they break from traditional and societal norms. The films help bring out the change theme by adequately capturing

Isolated figures denied Essay Example for Free

Isolated figures denied Essay Isolated figures denied the fulfilment they crave by forces that appears to conspire against them. To what extent is this true of the characters lives from your understanding of The Melancholy Hussar of the German Legion? This short story is based on two love triangles, at the apex of both being Phyllis, a secluded young woman who lives alone with her father, a failed doctor in an isolated farmhouse outside Weymouth. It is described as an obscure island nook which encapsulates the fact that there was no fresh work for the failed doctor, Phyllis father. One day Richard Gould, a failed businessman, turns up at her door and after a short courtship asks for her hand in marriage. The father immediately accepts this offer as he gets the impression that Gould is of higher social status than him and as the sole benefactor he would profit from their marriage. However, his intentions were well made and although convenient, Goulds act had forced her father into a mistaken calculation. In his pursuit of illusions, he misses several points, such as the fact he had made her fathers acquaintance before he made hers, giving the impression that he was looking in desperation for a bride. Despite of first impressions, Gould is, in fact, poor as a crow but he gives an impression of having class status. The marriage arrangements were not based on love but were simply a convenience, which results in it being for material security rather than a romantic affair. Gould is then forced to leave to for Bath, an excuse about his father covering up his pecuniary condition leaving Phyllis bemused. The date of his return passed and winter arrived. This change of season is a metaphor, which represents the colour of Phyllis mood, described now as lonely in the extreme as she had no knowledge of why her husband to be had delayed his return. The change back to spring represents a change in Phyllis fortunes. Although Gould had kept in contact with her through regular yet formal letters, there was still an uncertainty in her condition. Phyllis loyalty however did not waver, which is meant to represent the passivity of women at that time in a male-dominated society. At this change, however, a new influence invades her life, which charged all youthful thought with emotional interest. This is the presence of the York Hussars, a military regiment taken from Germany to serve in Britain. They were renowned for their foreign air and mustachios which drew crowds of spectators wherever they travelled which shows Hardys evident eye for detail that appears time again throughout the story. Phyllis was sitting on top of a wall at the base of her garden, apparently a favourite spot for her from childhood, when she sees an alien figure walk up the path. One of the soldiers from the Hussars camped nearby was walking up the path, with the manner of someone who wishes to escape company. He is in contrast to the splendid men who usually are the visual front to the Hussars and it seems as though this soldier wished to escape the rigours of military life. The soldier notices Phyllis on the wall, who was dressed in white raiment typically the colour of innocence and inexperience. She is captivated by him and falls in love at first sight. After a few days of this they start talking. She finds out his name is Matthaus Tina and how he was forcibly removed from his home to join the army and had quickly reached the rank of corporal. He was well educated and had soon proved himself in the strongly class-based society of the army. These interviews occurred on a daily basis; soon the conversation spread to his life at home and his longing for his mother. Hardy introduces a scholarly influence by comparing her pity of him to that of Desdemona, a character from Othello, a tragedy by Shakespeare. This is an apt comparison, as the piece itself will eventually turn into a tragedy full of mistaken judgements, well-intentioned actions and undeserved misfortune. The wall is a metaphor for the boundary between them; it is described as being in disrepair, which indicates the unstable base for their romance and the lack of unity. All through the story this wall remains between them until finally when Phyllis attempts to break free. She learns that although the regiment appears happy in fact it was pervaded by a dreadful melancholy powered by a longing for the return for their home showing a background of natural prejudice. This need was driven for a hatred of their English officers and English attitude in general. Matthaus is said to suffer one of the worst from this home-woe and Phyllis pities him but still declined any form of physical contact or even permit him to cross the boundary line of the wall. Coincidentally news reached Phyllis of Gould through the village of how he only had a half-understanding of their current arrangements and that it was still not finalised. Now as this was still a rumour, it would be indecent of Dr. Grove to approach Gould but it overshadowed all previous thoughts of marriage. This rumour was also backed up with the fact that Goulds letters had become more infrequent. Phyllis heart sank within her as she recognised the fact that her engagement had come to nothing. Despite of this father had noticed her attachment to Matthaus, he warned her not to go outside the boundary in her purpose of pursuing him, effectively making her a prisoner of her own home. However, she had no intention of leaving the garden however and the meetings continued as before. Then one evening an unforeseen accident destroyed her plans said to be decided by fate. She had been delayed by chance and Matthaus waited at the gate for her. The time he was due back in camp came and went but still he stayed. When she finally met him he was extremely late and on his return she heard that he had been stripped of his rank. The tragic consequence of this was that the chances of her father letting her marry him if Gould did not materialise had been slim but now they were practically nil. It was at this point that she makes one of the greatest decisions of her life. Matthaus had suggested that he was planning an escape from the army with several close companions and return to Germany and his mother. At first she seems amazed but then uncertainty steps in I fear I am ruining you and your prospects. However eventually she was persuaded but questions their route to freedom and how they propose to achieve it. Their scheme included stealing a boat and crossing across the channel to France. Here they would hike to Germany using their army wages to buy food and shelter. He asks to meet her just off the highway (symbolic of a turning point in her life) from where they should flee. He tells her that a friend of his, Christoph would also join them along with two others not named but who detested British authority. Coincidentally when she returned home, however, she found out that her father had spotted her with Matthaus. A confrontation occurred but her father had already decided she should go to her aunts to resist the temptation. He had still not given up faith on Gould, as he believed it was in best interest for her to marry him showing a paternal domination of his family. Her heart died within her as she heard this news and the house became like a prison to Phyllis, so she let her mind fly to the prospects of Matthaus scheme. Her confidence in Matthaus was fulfilled. On her return, she arranged to meet him at a junction off the main road the following week and when the time arose she waited just off the road hidden in a position where she could see any passers-by. The symbolic junction of the main road represents another turning point in Phyllis life where she has an option of which path to choose. She then hears a carriage come down the hill and stop nearby and as fate would have it Humphrey Gould, long awaited, stepped out. The carriage came down the hill as though Gould was lowering himself to Phyllis, in terms of class status. He talked to the driver about a present he had bought for Phyllis and he admits to treating her rather badly. In a rush of indecisiveness, Phyllis tries to make up her mind; should she be loyal to her father and Gould and return home or follow her instincts and leave to a new life. This again represents Phyllis lack of decisive action and passivity of women at that time and this concept is repeated several times throughout the story. At this point Matthaus climbs over the gate behind her and presses her to his breast. This is the first time that the metaphorical boundary of the wall has not divided them in their relationship. Phyllis left with them and after a long night of travelling to the coast they meet with the friend, Christoph, just before sunrise. At this point Phyllis makes her final decision and they separate for the last time on a hill overlooking the sea, dooming their relationship itself a metaphor as the sea represents freedom and this is simply describing how close she has come yet as it is dark she is still blind to it, her future an uncertainty. After she returns to her house, she finds Gould with an expensive gift a looking glass which won Phyllis admiration and until that point she had regretted leaving Matthaus. However, things were to take a turn for the worse tragically after Matthaus had left. She finds out that whilst he had been away he had met a new lady, who would be a much better choice as she came from the same upper class background as Gould yet another example of class distinction which was obviously very powerful at that time. This shows how the value of money dictates Goulds priorities. It is an irony that she finds this out on that day, as she would then not have hesitated to run away with Matthaus. Phyllis was shocked at this because she viewed Gould as a person who would confide every last detail of truth with her judging by the information in his letters. She retreated to the only place where she could be alone the old wall-where she dreams about what her life could have been like had she taken the other route. One morning those dreams are brought to an abrupt halt. On a morning described as being broke in fog and mist behind which the faint outlines of tents and the camp were visible from the wall and this is against the permanence and regularity of the natural landscape. The mood is also set in an almost slow-time as Hardy describes in minute detail the landscape, such as every blade of grass was weighted with little golden globes, an image captivating the idealistic morning. As she watched in melancholy regard she sees a procession led by an English colonel, who represents the cultural background of Anglo German hostilities. Two prisoners are led in front of a firing squad, clearly Matthaus and Christoph. After a prayer, they were executed in front of the entire regiment and their bodies ordered to be turned out of their coffins as an example to the men by the English Colonel, resented by the men. Tragically it turned out that they had stolen the boat as planned, and at first sight of land thought it was France and went ashore. It turned out it was Guernsey and the men were arrested and sent back to England so it was ironic that this mission that this mission seemed doomed to failure. It was simply undeserved misfortune they had arrived in the wrong place and a fault in navigation. On arrest, they had sacrificed themselves for the two other comrades by claiming to be ringleaders. Whilst the others had received a flogging, the punishment for desertion was death and so this order was carried out. As a consequence Phyllis symbolically died of a broken heart and was buried near where the two men lie. The idea of the love triangles that was stated at the start of this essay are the heart of the story. At the centre of both is Phyllis but on one is Gould and Dr. Grove her father. On the second is Matthaus and his mother, who Phyllis longs to be with. This story is an example of the number of external factors that can shape peoples destinies in life. It shows how chance events, such as Phyllis sitting on the wall at the time of Matthaus arrival along with tragic circumstances that arise, can affect the course of change. The idea is that we are powerless to control our destiny, and seeming coincidences may appear to be pre-ordained but fate is out of our control.

Black and Minority Ethnic People in Prison

Black and Minority Ethnic People in Prison For every Afro-Caribbean male on campus there are two in jail. (Phillips, 2004). Sir Trevor Phillips memorable claim is interesting on two levels. First, in how it highlights the strong evidence that Black or Minority Ethnic (BME) persons form a disproportionately high section of the prison population in England and Wales. Secondly, as an example of the polemical terms in which this question is often debated. In this essay I will seek to get behind the rhetoric. Whilst Sir Trevor may have chosen (or embellished) his statistics for rhetorical purposes, there is a disproportionately high number of BME prisoners. Home Office statistics  [2]  show some 27% of the prison population in England and Wales identified themselves as being from ethnic minority groups  [3]. These figures should be approached carefully if one is trying to consider incarceration rates in the resident population. Foreign nationals accounted for 38% of the BME prison population (Ministry of Justice, 2009). However, even excluding the impact on the statistics of foreign nationals, the differences in incarceration rates are startling, particularly for British nationals who self-identify as Black  [4]  : 6.8 per 1,000 compared to 1.3 per 1,000 for White people  [5]   more than five times more Black people in prison per head of population than White people. Similarly, there were more people of mixed ethnicity in prison per head of population than White people, with a rate per 1,000 of 3.7. However, this substantial overrepresentation was not shared by other non-White ethnic groups. People from Chinese or Other Ethnic backgrounds were least likely to be imprisoned, with a rate of 0.5 per 1,000. The rate for people from Asian groups  [6]  was also higher than for White persons but significantly lower than for the Black or Mixed groups at 1.8 per 1,000 population. The differences in these rates are so marked that there is clearly a question to answer here: why are Black people, and certain (but not all) other ethnic minorities more likely to be incarcerated than their White fellow-citizens? Three broad explanations present themselves as possibilities: disproportionate criminality: that persons of BME ethnicity commit a disproportionately high percentage of crimes; disproportionate detection and prosecution: that they are disproportionately more likely to be caught, charged or prosecuted with such crimes; and disproportionate conviction and sentencing; that they are more likely to be convicted, or if convicted more likely to be imprisoned or imprisoned for longer. Of course, the truth could combine these explanations but it is important to establish which of them is most salient, and to delve more deeply into the causes underlying such explanation. Are BME people just more likely to offend than White people? The simplest explanation for the disproportionately high number of BMEs imprisoned is that BME individuals are more likely to commit crimes. If we assume that there is a direct relationship between arrests and criminality, and we accept police reported crime levels, there is strong evidence to suggest that BMEs are more likely to commit crimes than Whites. (Here we are using the Home Office crime definitions, encompassing violent crime, intimate violence, acquisitive crime, vandalism and criminal damage, fraud, racially or religiously motivated crimes, and drug offences.) In 2007-8, 82% of all arrests were of people of white appearance, with 9% Black, 5% Asian and 1% classified as Other (Ministry of Justice, 2009). This can be compared the governments estimates for the ethnic makeup of the general UK population in 2006/07 where 88.7% are White, 2.7% Black, 5.5% Asian and 1.5% Other (Gask, 2008). Whilst the arrest numbers for White, Asian and Other ethnicities were roughly proportional to their prevalence  [7]  in the population, Black people were 2.5 times more likely to be arrested than the population as whole. If we accept a strong correlation between arrest and criminality rates, then we may conclude that Black people, but not other ethnic groups, are more likely to offend than Whites. This requires an explanation and broadly three types of explanation have been propounded: socio-economic, family factors and historical/cultural factors (including policing strategies). The association between socio-economic disadvantage and involvement in crime is well-established (Home Office Report). According to Beckers (1968) analytical framework, crime rates reflect the risks and costs of being caught, and the disparity between potential gain from crime and the associated opportunity cost. Those with least to lose are more likely to offend. Economists have interpreted measures of income inequality as indicators of the distance between the gains from crime and its opportunity costs (Fajnzylber et al, 2002). This view is supported by statistics associating UK homicide rates with poverty (Dorling et al, 2005). Black African and Caribbean groups make up approximately 2.5 times the proportion of the population in the most deprived areas of the country as for England as a whole (Jacobs Tinsley, 2006). Relative poverty appears to provide a good explanation why Black people might be more likely to commit crime, and in particular economic crime  [8]. It seems likely also that the unemployed are more likely to engage in criminality. The adage that the devil makes work for idle hands is supported by the literature  [9]. It is therefore significant that Home Office statistics on unemployment rates found that Black men suffered almost three times more unemployment than White British or Irish men (Home Office, 2005). Poor educational achievement is a symptom and cause of socio-economic disadvantage. Some argue that educational underachievement is also independently a major cause of criminality. The failure of the education system to educate our black boys provides a breeding ground for disaffection that undoubtedly leads many (not all) to seek alternative means to obtain a good standard of living or gain respect from their peers (Home Office, 2003). Certainly poor education is associated with delinquency. Maguin Loeber (1996) showed through their meta-analysis of studies of this relationship that children with low academic performances offended more frequently, committed more serious offences, and persisted in their offending. However, whether poor education is an independent cause is not established the merely correlational role of education was argued by pioneering analysts in the 1830s (Feldman, 1993). It may be that poor education affects delinquency indirectly by limiting employment opport unities, which in turn leads to more probability of criminal behaviour. If educational underachievement causes criminality then it is pertinent that Blacks participate far less in higher education than Whites (Bhattacharyya et al, 2003)  [10]. Furthermore, Black people are far likelier to be excluded from school (Department for Education and Skills, 2006)  [11]. There is an established association between school exclusions and involvement in crime  [12]  and, whilst it is unclear whether criminality leads to exclusion from school or vice versa, either way the evidence of more school exclusions amongst Black people supports the proposition that Black peoples disproportionate incarceration arises from disproportionate criminality. If education is a factor, however, it is unclear whether fault lies with the educational opportunities available; the allegedly low value that Black (or more specifically Afro-Caribbean) males place on formal education or other factors. Family and parenting factors provide another possible explanation of the overrepresentation of BMEs in prison. BME children are more likely to grow up in single-parent households; for example, 54.5% of mixed White/Black Caribbean children grew up in lone-parent households (Home Office, 2003). This has been shown to have a negative impact on later life outcomes. Kellam et al (1982) found that Black children from mother-only families were more likely to be judged by their teachers as maladaptive, than other groups. More specifically, a high proportion of BME children are born to teenage mothers (Higginbottom et al, 2005).  [13]  Jaffee et al (2001)s 20-year longitudinal study showed that the offspring of teen mothers are at particular risk for adverse outcomes including early school leaving, unemployment, early parenthood, and violent offending. Another possible family factor is that, the high proportion of BME adults already in the criminal justice system may feed back into offend ing behaviours among young people. Criminal and antisocial parents tend to have delinquent and antisocial children  [14]. Furthermore, concentrated incarceration in impoverished communities breaks familial ties, weakens parents social-control capacity, weakens economic power, and sours attitudes towards mainstream society, increasing the likelihood of offending (Clear, 2007). Taken together these socioeconomic, educational and family factors seem to provide a fairly full explanation of any greater level of criminality among Black or BME groups. However this has not prevented other theories being advanced. One suggestion is that we should blame urban Black culture, especially music and film, for providing role models who glamorise violence, and encourage criminal lifestyles. The Home Office suggests (Home Office, 2003) that active social exclusion comes about when young people lay claim to particular identities and make choices about lifestyles which compound their disadvantage and their existence on the margins of society, and quotes evidence that the arrival of American TV on St Kitts led to a sharp rise in gang violence, drugs and murders  [15]  and of links between music videos and criminal behaviour, especially gang behaviours such as of South London gangs having music production arms advocating violence against rivals. Pitts (2006) reports how gangs film robberies and use the footage to promote their music. However, as an explanation this is not as convincing as those discussed above. It is not obvious why BME youths should be more susceptible than White youths to music glamo urising criminality. It seems more likely that a popular culture that gives endorses criminality is a reflection, rather than a cause  [16]. Others prefer to blame White society, or more specifically colonialism. During the 1960s Fanon popularised a model which conceptualised the relations between Blacks and Whites in post-colonial societies (Fanon, 1963). The model has recently become revived by scholars such as Agozino (2003) and Gabbidon (2010). The colonialist model argues that past colonial repression, can cause crime in the present. Tatum (1994) argues that the victims of social, economic and political oppression will develop feelings of alienation to which the criminality and violence is an adaptive response. The model predicts that the colonised will become estranged from their own culture, and begin to self-hate both as individuals and at the group level. Racial groups become estranged from each other, and racial violence increases, based on a mutual lack of trust and as individuals try to fight back and reclaim their culture and identity (Tatum, 1994). Pouissant (1972) argues that this internalisation of anger c an explain the increasing Black on Black violence in Afro-American societies in particular. It is certainly easy to see that past colonialism, can be linked to social structures of oppression that persist into the present (Feagin Feagin, 2003, p. 35). Past economic, political and social subordination has left lasting imbalances in post-colonial societies and these differences in status, cause segregation, which leads directly to a negative impact on crime and perception of crime level (Massey Denton, 1993). Crime rises as the ethnic minority becomes increasingly separated from good basic services and employment opportunities (Wilson, 1998). However, it seems easier (and to accord better with the principle of Occams razor) to attribute greater criminality to greater disadvantage, and the greater disadvantage to history than to rely on group-wide psychological theories based on historic grievances. Direct tests of the components of the colonial model only show limited support (Austin, 1983) for the theory (although proponents of the theory argue that colonialism should be seen as an antecedent variable, and thus these tests may lack reliability (Bosworth Flavin, 2007)). Besides the difficulty testing this theory, the colonial model does not explain the diverse responses different groups have to similar forms of alienation why would ethnic minorities feel more alienated than lower-class Whites? Nor do they explain why a society that produces Malcolm X can also produce a Martin Luther King. Are black and ethnic minority individuals more likely to get caught and charged with criminal offences? After exploring reasons why BMEs might commit disproportionately high levels of crime, it is important to note that the statistics showing disproportionate criminality are highly contested. I began the previous section with the important caveat If we accept a strong correlation between arrest rates and criminality rates, but this proposition is contentious. Any statistics generated by criminal justice agencies provide only partial information about the nature of offenders, as the vast majority who commit crime are never caught or processed by the criminal justice system: individuals diverted from the criminal justice system will not feature in such statistics (Ministry of Justice, 2009). There is evidence to suggest that there is reporting bias in the reporting of certain crimes amongst certain ethnic minorities. Although some authors have suggested that mistrust of the criminal justice system may lead to less reporting of intra racial crimes, especially within ethnic minority groups, other evidence suggests that racial biases lead to disproportionately greater crime reporting in BME groups. For example, statistics suggest a higher propensity for black women to report sexual offences. Although this could indicate higher levels of sexual crime in Black communities, equally it could reflect lower tolerance of sexual misbehaviour by Black women or underreporting of sexual offences in the wider community (Home Office, 2003). Furthermore, statistics are also often skewed by the focus of law enforcement. A crack down on street crimes in BME-dominated areas, will distort the statistics (Chambliss et al, 2004). One way to evaluate the validity of the arrest data, and answer our second question is to consider discrepancies between self-reported and official crime rates. If such discrepancies are found, the most likely explanation would be a racial bias in the police force or Crown Prosecution System. Unfortunately the evidence here is inconclusive. Sharp Budd (2005)s analysis of the 2000 Offending Crime and Justice Survey seems to evidence a disparity between self-reported, and official criminal activity: White respondents and those of mixed ethnic origin generally self-reported the highest levels of offending  [17]. Asians and those from Other ethnic groups reported significantly lower levels of offending  [18]  than Whites, or those of mixed ethnic origin, on all offences, except robbery (Sharp Budd, 2005: 9). Black respondents were significantly less likely to self-report offending than White respondents across all offence categories, except burglary and the supply of drugs  [19 ]. White respondents and those of Mixed ethnic origin self-reported overall similar levels of offending, but those of mixed ethnicity were more likely to be serious offenders 27% versus 21%, although this may be subject to some non-response bias (Sharp Budd, 2005: 9). However, such self-report surveys suffer conceptual and methodological difficulties. Respondents may be untruthful and there may be an ethnic bias to the extent to which answers are honest. Whilst in the UK it is generally accepted that self-report surveys are reliable and valid measures of delinquency (Farrington, 2001), studies elsewhere suggest that ethnic minority groups are less likely to provide accurate answers to questions on criminality. Hindelang et al (1981) found that Black males were three times less likely to admit to offences, even when they were already known to the police. To overcome this problem Sharp Budd (2005) asked respondents how truthful they had been in completing the survey. Although there was little difference by ethnicity in the percentage of respondents claiming to have been honest (around 95%), slightly fewer older Black respondents said they were totally truthful, and overall, Black individuals were less likely to report honesty when answering problem s about drug use. Of course, answers to these questions could themselves be affected by a social desirability bias individuals may not want to admit to lying but, these general trends replicated the findings of other self-report studies, such as Flood-Page et al (2000). Another flaw in this evidence is that it shows only the percentage of individuals involved in any kind of crime. It may be that the smaller than expected percentages of BME individuals admitting to offending, commit a greater percentage of crime and therefore provide more opportunities to be caught. The evidence, therefore, is not strong but does suggest that BME people are less likely to be involved in criminality than Whites and yet are arrested disproportionately. We must ask then why would BME individuals be more likely to be caught and charged with criminal behaviour? Bowling Phillips (2002) suggested that this could be explained by institutional racism amongst the police. The charge of police racism has been levelled particularly at the Metropolitan Police.  [20]  The finding of institutional racism made at the Stephen Lawrence enquiry was generally accepted and TV documentaries such as the Panorama series have helped establish this as a wide-spread perception that is obvious and self-evident. For example the former Home Secretary, Jack Straw pronounced: Any long-established, white-dominated organisation is liable to have procedures, practices and a culture that tends to exclude or disadvantage non-white people. (Straw, 1999) Other commentators dismiss the idea that the police are institutionally racist. The earlier (1981) Scarman report supported a bad apple theory: that racial prejudice occurred amongst only a minority of officers (Neal, 2003). Racial prejudice does manifest itself occasionally in the behaviour of a few officers on the street. It may be only too easy for some officers, faced with what they must see as the inexorably rising tide of street crime to lapse into an unthinking assumption that all young black people are potential criminals (Macpherson, 1999: 16). Whilst the bad apple theory is not now prevalent, it is important to be careful not to extrapolate individual (or group action) or racism towards the whole institution. Some argue that reports such as the Morris Report (2004) have conflated individual racism to institutional racism (Lea, 2000; Stenson Waddington, 2007). Lea argues that the Stephen Lawrence inquiry, in particular, examined the specific actions of individual officers a nd unscientifically extrapolated from this a conclusion that the police force itself is racist. It has been argued that the negative interpretation of institutional racism has further increased tension between police and ethnic minorities (Foster et al, 2005). In fact, the direct evidence that institutional racism leads to disproportionate arrests of BME people is mixed. Jefferson, Walker Seneviratne (1992) studied differences in treatment in individuals arrested in Leeds, and found conflicting evidence. By analyzing the (police-perceived) race, sex, age, offence and address of everyone arrested or stopped in the city over 6 months in 1987, they found that Blacks were over-represented (7% of those arrested, compared to 3% in the population), Asians were proportionately represented and Whites were under-represented. However, when the neighbourhood ethnic balance was controlled for, Blacks were only over-represented in White areas. In Black-dominated areas, Whites were in fact over- represented. However, the information was based on where offenders lived, not where they offended. Furthermore, the low Black arrest rate in Black areas maybe due to mistrust of police in intra-racial crimes (Jefferson et al, 2002). If we turn to indications of differential treatment by the Police in relation to actions other than arrest, patterns do emerge. Newburn, Shiner Hayman (2004) analysed the propensity to be strip-searched in custody, finding that on average, Afro-Caribbeans suffered twice the number of strip-searches as Whites, whilst Arabic or Oriental people had a virtual halving of the probability of being strip-searched (Newburn et al, 2004: 689). Other studies have considered possible police ethnic biases in relation to stop-and-search arrests. Overwhelmingly the data suggest that BMEs are significantly more likely to be stopped than Whites. In 2006/2007 Blacks were seven times more likely to be stopped and searched, and Asians were twice as likely to be stopped as Whites (Jones Singer, 2008). However, the validity of these findings can be questioned. Bennetto, 2009 observes that police officers may just be more likely to record stops made of BMEs than those conducted on White people, but it seems unlikely that such misrecording would persist so consistently across forces, and over the last five years, particularly with the strong incentives on the police not to display racism. A more telling criticism is that stop-and-search data involves an invalid comparison it compares the ethnicity of the whole population with that of those stopped, rather than looking at the proportion of those stopped within the available population those who are out at times, and in places where stops are likely to occur (Fitzgerald Sibbitt, 1997). Indeed, Jefferson et al (1992) found a statistically significant low-to-moderate correlation (r=0.20) between number of evenings out and annoyance with police. Although Pavey (2008) counters this by arguing that it is unlikely that Black people are mo re available to be stopped in some areas than others, it is not outlandish to suggest that in some cultures may be more normal than others for people (particularly young men) to hang round on the street rather than staying in. Others counter this criticism by observating that, even if the ethnicity mix where and when the searches are made is different to that in the general population, it does not disprove police racist motivation the police might have chosen when and where to conduct such stops is based on where BME youths congregate (Home Office, 2003). This argument would be convincing if it could be backed by evidence that police decisions on where to operate are based on something other than their assessment of when and where crimes are most prevalent, but I am not aware of any such evidence. Are Black and Ethnic minorities unfairly dealt with by the justice system? The evidence of institutional racism in the justice system is also mixed at best. Although Hood (2008) argues that the over-representation of Afro-Caribbeans in prisons is a direct product of their over representation among those convicted of crime and sentenced in the Crown Courts, a recent study of almost 16,000 jurors found that although BME individuals are 3.5 times more likely to face a jury verdict, relative to their representation in the global population, jury verdicts showed only small differences based on defendant ethnicity (Thomas, 2010)  [21]. This indicates that one stage in the criminal justice system where BME groups do not face persistent disproportionality is when a jury reaches a verdict. The evidence that BMEs are likely to suffer more punitive sentences than White people is superficially more persuasive. Black young offenders accounted for 11.6% of custodial sentences, despite only accounting for 6% of total offences (Home Office, 2003). However this does not prove unfairness whilst it could reflect biased sentencing, it could equally have other causes, perhaps that BMEs are likelier to commit crimes that justify a custodial sentence. Jefferson et al (1992) found that apparently racially-based differences in outcome of arrest could be otherwise explained. Although in juvenile cases, Blacks were twice as likely to be tried in a Crown Court as Asians or Whites, most were being tried jointly with an older co-defendant, necessitating the Crown Court, and six of the twelve Black subjects included in this data were arrested in one incident. Also the Home Office statistics say nothing about prior convictions, which may affect sentencing. Although evidence that Whites are more likely to re-offend  [22]  suggests that this may not explain disproportionate custodial sentences for BME people, studies which take account of prior convictions find no evidence of racially biased sentencing. Mair (1986) found that Blacks and Wh ites who had committed similar offences, and had similar criminal records, had the same chance of a custodial sentence. Jefferson et al (1992)s regression analysis of data collected in their Leeds study found that when offence type and previous convictions were taken into account, there were no differences in sentencing or length of custodial sentence between different ethnic groups  [23]. Furthermore, once imprisoned, there is evidence to suggest that there is no racially-explained difference in the availability of parole. Although Hood Shute (2000) found that both Blacks and Whites were less likely to be granted parole than South Asian/Chinese prisoners, this is not necessarily due to ethnic bias. Moorthy et al (2006) argued persuasively that this could be better attributed to other characteristics associated with release. The clearest explanation of the disparity in sentencing is that BME individuals are likely to be engaged in different types of crimes than Whites, and more specifically are more likely to be engaged in crimes that have a high likelihood of incarceration, or even mandatory prison sentences. Young people of different ethnic groups do appear to have different profiles of offending behaviour. Jefferson et al (1992) found that BME individuals were more likely to be arrested under charges of violence and theft, whereas, Whites were more likely to be charged with burglary or damage. This is corroborated by Home Office statistics which suggest that. BME individuals seem to be overrepresented for certain crimes notably robbery and drugs offences (Home Office, 2003), and are more likely to be involved with firearms and gang violence, whereas white people are more likely to commit and be convicted of less serious offences, for example criminal damage or property offences like burglary. The pro pensity for BMEs to be engaged in drug offences in particular goes a long way towards explaining the relatively high percentage of custodial sentences given to BMEs. Drug offences typically have longer custodial sentences than those for even the most violent crimes, even for importing relatively small amounts of drugs.  [24]  There is a substantially higher proportion of Black inmates serving drug-related sentences (Home Office, 2003).  [25]  This is particularly true for female prisoners (Chigwada-Bailey, 2003)  [26]. Of the women in prison for all offences, 40% were convicted of drug offences (Home Office, 2003). Furthermore, this is not only the case for foreign nationals; over half of all Black British women prisoners incarcerated in 2005 were due to drug offences (Fitzgerald, 2007: 56). Although levels of drug use among 16 24 year olds are lower for Black youths than those from White or mixed backgrounds, there is evidence to show that Black people disproportionately misuse certain drugs, specifically crack cocaine (Sangster, Shiner, Sheikh, Patel, 2002). Almost half of arrestees reported using crack cocaine are Black: young White offenders at Feltham Young Offenders Institute are more likely to have opiate problems, whereas Black youths are more likely to have problems with crack cocaine (Home Office, 2005). There is also evidence that cannabis misuse is a particular problem among ethnic minority communities. The 2001/2 British Crime Survey found that people from a mixed white and black Caribbean background were also most likely to have used cannabis in their lifetime (54%), compared with only 30% of Whites (Home Office RDSD, 2008). Furthermore, there is evidence that BME people are disproportionately more likely to be involved in supplying drugs. Despite accoun ting for only 11% of all Londoners, 67% of those accused of supplying crack cocaine are Black (Home Office, 2007). Conclusion The relationship of race to criminality is perplexing. Many commentators in the field have a particular political point to make, and much of the debate is conducted in terms that are more interested in promoting a particular agenda than reaching the truth. Often statistics are gathered for particular reasons. Since 1991, the Criminal Justice Act has required police officers to monitor the ethnicity of people they stop and search and these have been gathered in the context of a force desperately keen to shrug off a racist label. It is difficult to see that this would not have had an effect on the quality of the data. In other contexts, data are deliberately withheld or not collected, for example the Press is discouraged from referring to ethnicity when reporting crime  [27]. Where information is collected, different studies categorise ethnic groups in different ways, some including and some excluding foreign nationals. However with all these caveats, the conclusion that best seems to fit the facts is that in England and Wales, BMEs do as a group disproportionately commit crimes that are more likely to lead to custodial sentences than other ethnic groups but this disproportionality all but disappears if we factor in socio-economic disadvantage, educational levels reached, and family factors, and there is no need to reach for more complex explanations such as post-colonial angst or police racism. In particular, the evidence supporting the pervasive view that police racism causes disproportionate arrests is unconvincing, especially as if it were true it would mean that we would need to find explanations why BME groups must have a lower level of criminality than one might expect given the socio-economic disadvantage, educational levels and family factors that apply. Astonishingly, there seems to be no paper that directly looks at crime rates by race, when socio-economic status is controlled for. Such a paper would be a major step forward to moving this debate from the polemical onto a scientific basis. Of course su