Using information from the case, select who you believe to be the five (5) most important stakeholders and provide a rationale for your decision.

AMP case study questions – Each question is worth a total of 10 marks. A guide as to the appropriate word length is also provided.

Question 1(a).

You have been appointed by AMP as a change manager. One of your most important tasks before considering any change initiative will be to undertake stakeholder identification and management. Using information from the case, select who you believe to be the five (5) most important stakeholders and provide a rationale for your decision. (5 marks – 500 words)

Please type your response below

Case Study: AMP

Introduction

In August 2020, media headlines in Australia named and shamed AMP as a corporate bully and warned it is “a company that kills careers”. The vehicle for this reputational crisis is a culture of sexual harassment and sexual discrimination, which has dogged AMP for over 20 years and continues to do so in 2021.

The spotlight on AMP’s culture and leadership was red hot in 2020 after a public outcry by staff and shareholders on the appointment of Boe Pahari to the top job of CEO at AMP Capital (AMPC). In 2018, Pahari allegedly sexually harassed a former employee at AMPC, Julia Szlakowski, and was penalised by AMP with a 25 per cent reduction in his annual bonus, which amounted to $500,000 (Khadem, 2020). But despite that transgression, Pahari’s promotion was sanctioned by the AMP Board, which was intent on driving up profits, after the disastrous Royal Commission of 2018. (NB: The Royal Commission found AMP had misled the corporate regulator multiple times over the charging of customers for “no advice” (Gardner, 2018), and the company’s profit/dividends plummeted in 2019).

To staff and shareholders the issue around Pahari’s promotion was not money, but morality. Industry analysts savaged the company’s choice stating it was indicative of the way AMP operated: “The company went from being an inward looking mutual that existed for customers, to a profit-hungry beast focused on expanding globally” (Grieve & Knight, 2020). And according to Schmulow (2020) its focus on money over trust is central to the failures and scandals that have trashed its reputation and share price. Schultz (2020) argued that for AMP “cash is key” and its response to the outcry against Pahari revealed the board’s narrow focus. “They were managing the shareholder risk but not the rest of the risks … In their minds, it’s all in the dollars and cents,” said former executive director of the Australian Institute of Employment Rights, Lisa Heap (Schultz, 2020).

The problem is not just one of strategy, it is also AMP’s organisational culture. To understand AMP’s systemic cultural problems, Grieve and Knight (2020) provided some context. In 1998, the then CEO, George Trumbull told his top ten male executives at a lunch meeting, that a recent delegation of women executives had nominated sexual harassment and sexual discrimination as the biggest problems in AMP, and “five of the biggest offenders were seated at that table”. And in 2003, as his three-year reign as AMP chairman was drawing to an unceremonious end, a bitter Stan Wallis complained to close associates that “this company destroys people”.

Company Structure

Founded in 1849, AMP is a wealth management company with a growing retail banking business and an expanding international investment management business. It provides retail clients with financial advice and superannuation, retirement income

and banking and investment products. AMP also provides 1) corporate superannuation products and services for workplace super and self-managed superannuation funds (SMSFs); and 2) institutional clients with investment management services across a range of asset classes, both in Australia and globally.

A brief summary of AMP’s divisions is provided below:

AMP Wealth Management (AMPWM)

AMPWM assists clients to save for, and live well in, retirement. It facilitates this through extensive retail and workplace superannuation products, and self- managed superannuation funds services, as well as retirement income solutions and investments for individuals.

AMP Bank (AMPB)

AMPB provides clients with residential and investment property home loans, deposit and transaction accounts and SMSF products. It also provides loans to AMP-aligned financial adviser practices. AMPB clients have access to AMP Bank products via a variety of channels including digital and online, phone, through AMP financial advisers and home loan brokers.

AMP Capital (AMPC)

AMPC is the investment arm of the AMP Group of companies. As part of the AMP Group, it shares a heritage that spans almost 170 years. It has more than 250 investment professionals in 19 locations around the world (with a large presence in Australia) working collaboratively to share the latest insights and discover the best possible investment opportunities for its clients. AMPC’s strength in Australia and New Zealand has facilitated growth internationally, and today it operates in Dubai, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, India, Ireland, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and the United States. Working with a network of global investment partners, AMPC leverages shared capabilities to provide greater access to new investment opportunities. It operates across all major asset classes, with a particular focus on real estate and infrastructure. Its asset class specialists, investment strategists and economists manage AUD$189.8 billion in funds under management across a range of single sector and diversified funds.

Background

The key players in this case study are as follows:

The controversies

Pahari

The most recent example of AMP’s poor behaviour centred around the case of former executive Julia Szlakowski, who in 2017 bought a sexual harassment complaint against Pahari who was then AMPC’s Head of Equity and Infrastructure. AMP hired employment law specialist Andrew Burns QC to oversee the matter in 2018, and he concluded Mr Pahari’s conduct constituted a “relatively modest breach” of the company’s code of conduct. The independence of this report was questioned by legal experts as AMP refused to provide key documents before releasing it publicly. Following the investigation, a confidential settlement was reached with Szlakowski (who then left the company) while Pahari was penalised $500,000.

Despite an acknowledgement of serious wrongdoing, in 2020 the AMP Board decided to promote Pahari to one of the company’s highest-paid and most strategically important positions as CEO of AMPC (Roddan, 2020a). His promotion signalled AMP’s single-eyed focus on future profits of the business and also recognition that Pahari had generated much of AMP’s fortunes. AMP Group CEO, Francesco De Ferrari, who had been appointed in late 2018, formulated a strategy to halt the deteriorating operations of AMP in response to the structural changes in the wealth management industry because of the decline in the financial advice and superannuation businesses (Roddan, 2020b). However, in the 9 months that followed his appointment, AMP continued to hemorrhage with AMP’s share price losing nearly 70% of its value in 2019 (Letts, 2019).

Pahari’s financial acumen paled against the public outrage at his promotion and some commentators labelled his appointment as ‘corporate kryptonite’ because he and the AMP Board neglected to pay attention to cultural change sweeping through corporate Australia in the wake of the #MeToo movement¹ (Hewett, 2020).

Media outlets were flooded with commentary from staff, shareholders, industry analysts, and other corporates calling for change while De Ferrari, AMP Group’s CEO, stayed in the background and was conspicuous by his silence on the issue. It was left to AMP Director, John Fraser, to justify Pahari’s promotion but his interview was universally hailed as one of the great train-wreck interviews of Australian corporate history. Fraser declared the AMP board had made a unanimous decision to promote Pahari because he had ‘‘made a lot of money for the company and its employees’’. The comments left corporate Australia aghast. ‘‘They handled it very badly, in talking about how valuable he was,’’ said one highly regarded chairman. ‘‘That’s a shocking message. It suggests there is a trade-off between doing the right thing and making

1 According to Gordon (2020), the #MeToo phrase was first coined in 2006 by Tarana Burke, an advocate for women in New York. Burke wanted a way to empower women who had endured sexual violence by letting them know that they were not alone—that other women had suffered the same experience they had. The phrase was reintroduced in 2017 by actress Alyssa Milano as a way to encourage women and men to share their sexual harassment stories across many different social media platforms, accompanied by the hashtag #MeToo.

money” (Maley, 2020). On August 24, 2020 both AMP chairman David Murray and fellow Board member John Fraser resigned. Despite the negative publicity Pahari has received over the past two months (which has been like no one else in corporate Australia), he survived the purge and obligingly returned to his previous and lesser role as Head of AMPC’s infrastructure equity business.

There was widespread astonishment in the industry that Murray and Fraser quit the AMP Board. However, a high-profile board member of AMP believes it was telling that the two directors that felt the most commercial pressure to deliver were the ones who departed. Murray’s failure to appreciate why he and the board made a mistake is, arguably, symptomatic of AMP’s management for at least two decades. Simon Mawhinney, managing director of asset manager Allan Gray, which holds almost 7 per cent of AMP, said Mr Pahari would be unable to carry out the role, to which he was promoted on July 1, and hit out at Mr Murray’s board for failing to come clean over the harassment allegations. “Given the continued lack of transparency from AMP, it is difficult to know whether AMP’s cultural and moral compass is on a sustainable footing,” Mr Mawhinney said (Roddan, 2020b).

Wade

Ironically, just weeks before Pahari’s demotion back to Infrastructure Equity and while he was still AMPC CEO, there were further explosive allegations made against the CEO of AMP Australia Alex Wade. Wade was the subject of several complaints regarding his conduct including sending explicit photos to female colleagues. A number of AMP staff have relayed complaints about Wade (both personally and through AMP’s whistleblower function) to AMP’s senior management.

Those allegations were taken to Francesco De Ferrari, AMP Group CEO and the AMP board. Pahari was extricated from a scheduled board meeting to join an emergency meeting with the rest of AMP’s global leadership team to discuss the matter. Following a further meeting between De Ferrari and Wade and AMP’s Head of People and Corporate Affairs Helen Livesey, Wade was given 24 hours to submit his resignation (Roddan, 2020d). ‘‘I arrived at my decision to resign from AMP in the interests of all parties,’’ a spokesman said on behalf of Wade in response to a lengthy list of questions. ‘‘My focus now is on a period of personal reflection and the relationships that are most important to me.’’

Despite several AMP sources confirming that multiple complaints had been made about Wade, and that AMP had previously discussed matters of conduct with Mr Wade, AMP elected not to answer any questions about the matter and associated issues. This lack of explanation about the departure of Wade, who only joined AMP in January 2019, left staff feeling frustrated.

Senior staff in internal AMP meetings have since refused to comment on employee questions, including one senior employee who told staff the situation was ‘‘like our last matter [Mr Pahari]; they’re sensitive issues’’ in response to questions (Roddan, 2020d).

This debacle has once again turned the spotlight on AMP’s handling of employee concerns.

Toxic corporate culture

JANA (investment consultants) chief executive Jim Lamborn stated: ‘‘The marketplace looks to the board and senior management to set the culture, values and behaviours of quality companies, and in this instance it appears the board has seriously misjudged the expectations of staff, clients and the market (Roddan, 2020c). There is no doubt that the AMP affair has exposed major fault lines in corporate Australia (Maley, 2020) and the silence from the male-dominated ranks at the top of corporate Australia remains deafening (Roddan, 2020d). Both Male Champions of Change, a group of 230 business and government leaders established to advance gender inequality, and former Australian Sex Discrimination Commission Elizabeth Broderick, who launched Male Champions of Change, declined to comment on the AMP matter.

So it is left to the current leadership group in AMP and their collective conscience to right the perception that the AMP Board and senior managers appear to be tone deaf to the cultural issues at play (Roddan, 2020b). To add weight to this perception, staff were only informed of Pahari’s appointment and the allegation of sexual harassment through a news article published by the Australian Financial Review (Roddan, 2020a). Following its publication, Head of HR Helen Livesey hosted her weekly virtual town hall meeting, which normally is a general question-and-answer session for about 100 staff, many working remotely. The meeting focused on Pahari’s appointment with the majority of staff expressing their displeasure. One staffer wrote:

“The press today surrounding Boe has been very upsetting and demotivating. We are all focusing on building a great culture in AMP, however the fact that Boe being promoted to CEO and that we have only found out about this through an AFR article says to me, as an employee: culture kind of matters, but if you are making the big bucks then you can still get ahead in this place, even with serious accusations of misconduct. How does this make you feel as a senior female leader in the organisation and how should we position our culture when we are dealing with external talent knowing this out in the market?”

These comments and others were leaked to the press and suggest staff didn’t feel their concerns would be acted upon by management. JANA said it was concerned about the ‘‘reflection on the AMP Group’s culture from the multiple leaks of information including the details of internal meetings to the media’’, which it said ‘‘may be an indication that some staff believe that internal mechanisms for expressing views and ‘being heard’ are inadequate’’ (Roddan, 2020e).

Several senior AMP employees said they felt compelled to speak out because of their concerns about the perceived mismatch between AMP chief executive Francesco De Ferrari’s public commentary about improving culture, and the company’s internal response to the crisis. AMP had responded by threatening its employees with possible ‘‘termination’’ if they were found to be leaking information to the press, which the company stated was damaging its ‘‘reputation’’. AMP chief risk officer Phil Pakes sent all staff an email warning them against leaking information outside the company. ‘‘It’s a commitment we take extremely seriously to ensure we protect AMP, our clients, staff and our reputation and to ensure we are doing the right thing with data,’’ Mr Pakes said.

One employee said there was a ‘‘huge’’ program aimed at identifying people leaking to the media. ‘‘I think this is a battle for the heart and soul of AMP, in my view. It’s

moving from a culture of harassment to a culture of fear. They are telling us they’re trying to take it seriously, that we have set up all these organisations, and at the very time they’re saying that publicly, really the focus is to try and find out who is leaking,’’ the employee said (Roddan, 2020e).

‘‘The difference between their public response and their internal response – it’s incredible,’’ the employee said. ‘‘Who is interested in the good of the firm? Who is operating in the good of the firm?’’

At the same time in July 2020, investment consultant Jana placed all AMPC’s products on “watch” meaning the firm would not recommend any AMPC strategies to clients or recommend that clients add to any existing investments (Kemp, 2020). The asset manager claimed AMP had more work to do on culture, and it was concerned over AMPs decision making and culture. The ‘watch’ notice continued in August despite resignations from Murray and Fraser because JANA was disappointed with the length of time taken to redress AMP’s poor culture.

AMP response

Following internal outrage and pressure from shareholders, Mr De Ferrari established a taskforce on inclusion; a board-directed cultural working group; a review into workplace conduct; and a revamp of its procedures for whistleblowers (Yeates, 2020). He has also flagged he would appoint consultants to help them achieve the goal and said at AMP’s half-year results, reported on in August 2020, that culture would be his ‘‘number one priority’ (Vickovich & Roddan, 2020). True to his word, AMP in September 2020, appointed diversity consultant Symmetra to review AMP’s conduct, policies, leadership, governance and behaviour in order to accelerate cultural transformation. However De Ferrari’s position remained tenuous. Following the Board coup in August 2020, where David Murray resigned as Chairman, together with non- executive director John Fraser (some believe in protest against Murray’s removal), Mayne (2020) suggested “De Ferrari isn’t out of the woods yet either as he was responsible for Pahari’s appointment as AMPC CEO, as well as recruiting his old Credit Suisse colleague Alex Wade to run the company’s Australian advice business”.

Mayne (2020) flagged part of Debra Hazelton’s stewardship of AMP would be to oversee the departure of both De Ferrari and Pahari before the next annual general meeting in May 2021. And in March 2021, Mayne got his wish with De Ferrari’s resignation to take effect on July 1. For the first time in AMP’s history, it will have both a female CEO – AMP’s new chief executive is 25-year financial services veteran Alexis George, who is currently deputy chief executive at ANZ – and chair, Debra Hazelton (Ryan, 2021).

[NB: Information was sourced from AMP’s annual reports, news and internet

sources, and industry analysis].

References:

Gardener, J (8 May 2018) Banking Royal Commission: AMP says we must look at the context of evidence, Australian Financial Review, accessed 12 April 2021.

Gordon, S (n.d.) What is the #MeToo movement? accessed 12 April 2021.

Grieve, C and Knight, E (22 August 2020) AMP’s curse: the company that kills careers,

Sydney Morning Herald, accessed 28 August 2020.

Grieve, C (27 August 2020) AMP scandal a ‘watershed’ moment, says Sex Discrimination Commissioner, Sydney Morning Herald, accessed 12 September 2020.

Hewitt, J (24 August 2020) What AMP and Rio have in common. Australian Financial Review, accessed 1 April 2021.

Kemp, D (25 August 2020) Culture concerns keep AMP Capial on JANA’s ‘watch’ list,

Investor Infrastructure, accessed 13 April 2021.

Khadem, N (25 August 2020) AMP’s “MeToo” moment raises bigger questions for

corporate Australia about sexual harassment, ABC News accessed 1 April 2021.

Letts, S (8 August 2019) AMP plunges to $2.3b first half loss and asks shareholders for another $650m, ABC News accessed 12 April 2021.

Maley, K (20 April 2018) The curse of AMP, Australian Financial Review accessed 12 September 2020.

Maley, K (24 August 2020) What went so disastrously wrong for Murray at AMP?

Australian Financial Review accessed 12 April 2021.

Mayne, S (24 August 2020) AMP coup: rainmaker stays as old blokes go – and more to come. Crikey accessed 12 April 2021.

Roddan, M (30 June 2020a) New AMP Capital boss accused of harassment Australian Financial Review, accessed 12 April 2021.

Roddan, M (3 July 2020b). ‘Women don’t work again’: AMP taken to task. Australian Financial Review, accessed 12 April, 2021.

Roddan, M (9 August 2020c) Inside Alex Wade’s final month at AMP. Australian Financial Review, accessed 28 January 2021.

Roddan, M (18 August 2020d) David Murray’s ‘tone deaf’ AMP board in shareholders’ sights, Australian Financial Review, accessed 30 September 2020.

Roddan, M (24 August 2020e) ‘Culture of fear’: AMP threatens to sack leakers.

Australian Financial Review, accessed 31 January 2021.

discuss how King’s remarks reflect each man’s point of view. If King followed one of these leaders, which do you think he followed and why?

Description

Washington and DuBois were leaders in the Black community who had very different ideas about how the Black community should move forward. King was at the forefront of the Civil Rights protests in the 1960s. It’s been said that a leader stand on the shoulders of those who came before them. I’d like you to address this idea here. To complete this post, please include the following: Briefly summary BOTH Washington and DuBois’ point of view regarding moving forward. What do they think should be done, and how? Do this in one paragraph. In a second paragraph, discuss how King’s remarks reflect each man’s point of view. If King followed one of these leaders, which do you think he followed and why? This question will reply heavily on quotes to support your stand. This will still need to be in MLA format and include an introduction and conclusion in addition to the body paragraphs. https://www.history.com/topics/black‑history/black‑history‑milestones https://www.slideshare.net/debracohn/w‑e‑b‑du‑bois‑and‑washington?next_slideshow=1 https://www.history.com/topics/civil‑rights‑movement/i‑have‑a‑dream‑speech https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_IB0i6bJIjw&ab_channel=HISTORY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vP4iY1TtS3s&ab_channel=RAREFACTS

How Positive deviance, an aspect of positive psychology, helps students overcome academic stress.

Research Topic: How Positive deviance, an aspect of positive psychology, helps students overcome academic stress.

Positive deviance is an aspect of positive psychology that identifies a specific problem among a group of people and utilizes the success of those individuals, people within that same community or organization, that has overcame those same challenges and implements their success strategies to help those who cannot seem to overcome those struggles. Positive deviant people have unique behaviors or strategies that enable them to adopt better solutions to prevalent problems than their neighbors while having access to the same or less resources. This approach was instrumental in reducing childhood malnutrition in Vietnam from 52% to 6% in the years from 1991 to the 2000s. Between the years of 2005 to 2010, staff from more than 20 hospitals and the largest health care system in the US developed methods which reduced hospital acquired MRSA infections by rates as much as 80% and sustained the improvements. In 2018, women entrepreneurs from Palestine tackled the financial inequality problems and learned from other family members and women just like them on how to generate their own incomes. So how do you determine the seemingly intractable problems? You discover the positive deviants and their way to the solutions. This research paper will analyze how positive deviance can help students overcome adversities in school that lead to increase stress that causes poor academic performance.

Source:

Kövérová, Estera. Conditions for School Success of Young People from Marginalized Roma Communities (MRC) in Slovakia – Looking for Positive Deviance Practices. Positivedeviance.org. 1/4/2021. https://positivedeviance.org/case-studies-all/2021/1/4/conditions-for-school-success-of-young-people-from-marginalized-roma-communities-mrc-in-slovakia-looking-for-positive-deviance-practices. 5/19/2022

David R Marsh, Dirk G Schroeder, Kirk A Dearden, Jerry Sternin, Monique Sternin (2004) The power of positive deviance.  BMJ, vol 329, 13 November 2004, pp 1177-1179.

Wills, Thomas A et al. “Emotional self-control and dysregulation: A dual-process analysis of pathways to externalizing/internalizing symptomatology and positive well-being in younger adolescents.” Drug and alcohol dependence vol. 163 Suppl 1,Suppl 1 (2016): S37-45. doi:10.1016/j.drugalcdep.2015.08.039 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27306730/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4911542/ (free text)

Barlow, Jane et al. “Group-based parent training programmes for improving emotional and behavioural adjustment in young children.” The Cochrane database of systematic reviews vol. 2016,8 CD003680. 1 Aug. 2016, doi:10.1002/14651858.CD003680.pub3 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6797064/)

Positive deviance to improve academic performance: (https://d1wqtxts1xzle7.cloudfront.net/48981906/pdf-libre.pdf?1474363298=&response-content-disposition=inline%3B+filename%3DUsing_positive_deviance_to_improve_stude.pdf&Expires=1654057196&Signature=AZNLFyyDEJ3RF-fqPCB5JgKRU~WS7vQJjDqTcUxuOwnl7yTOEcWlfcRmvy4gBxwfI28GFzy9ZFUQYEN76pCm9B0i98ftB6ghVNu1cYGHxYIRFzmouL-XgTtZXfz524zlaigA8u3j4dveIYe8omMPFeMSilL-BntReQMfjNeMDFwPzQOlgEMg6dAR7uuT5N7LpOwnb0nTDTHEFH6kIUBjZ431LlaKjXGOlj8vEewxGXftGkuu-NMPCeWZmHkPUi1jwY9HjMDsFMbzXosZ~qeeXeKbrSHYOtIMu5Nas9iPMmDKcXVaS300G0HI-JfTFO-QvkDIJN1CG5kiZSIjQNoQaQ__&Key-Pair-Id=APKAJLOHF5GGSLRBV4ZA

Positive deviance and teachers change: https://getd.libs.uga.edu/pdfs/quintero_sharon_c_201512_phd.pdf

Evaluate selected health surveillance approaches and proffer alternative solutions to maximise positive change for health protection in the real-world context.

 Do gender identities have an impact on A-level subject choices?

 Do gender identities have an impact on A-level subject choices?

This research proposal debates whether gender identities have an impact on general subject choices, particularly focusing on A – Level in the UK. Gender identity is the personal sense of one’s own gender, whether that is man, woman, neither or both. Multiple quantitative and qualitative research done by others have indeed suggested subject choices do vary between genders.

Our research relates to other sociological debates surrounding the impact of gender on general subject choices but builds upon previous research by focussing on A-Level subjects in particular. The quantitative research ‘Gender makes a difference’ by John Bell indicates that “boys preferred to take more practical subjects such as maths, physics, computing”^[1] compared to girls who preferred the humanities at A-Level. This research was taken through a “large-scale questionnaire survey”^[2] answered by over 6,000 students from 60 schools. The research provides useful statistics that help build upon our research, directly relation to our question. Furthermore ‘The Gendered Subject’^[3] is a study that explored the statements concerning gender and ability of school subjects, unlike the Cambridge assessment the findings of this study discovered that the majority of students claimed that sexes have the same ability at all subjects and those who argued otherwise concluded that girls have a greater ability of various subjects. The data was collected in a more qualitative process through semi-structured interviews and observations of classes. Although it provides conflicting results to the Cambridge assessment’s conclusions it is useful to our research as it shows the distinct differences between GCSE and A-Level choices. The literature review by The Improving Gender Balance and equalities programme^[4] is a research-informed programme provides evidence of the sex differences in education as well as looking at the influence gender stereotypes has on subject choices. This distinction causes a self-fulfilling prophecy which may influence students subject choices if they feel like they are not suited to a particular subject.

The most effective methods to use when trying to understand if gender identities have an impact on A-level subject choices are surveys and interviews. Surveys cover a large-scale group in a limited amount of time, giving quantitative data on the general gender differences on the selection of certain subjects. Whilst interviews, allow for a smaller random sample of students to go into descriptive detail about why they selected their A-level options, giving rich qualitative data. This mixed-methods approach allows the research validity to be stronger because there’s data to show numerical differences in subject choices based on gender, and written data revealing what experiences and implications made students pick certain subjects. However, an issue that could arise from interviews is the students choice not to co-operate. The interviews will be one off, preventing students from forming relationships with the researcher, as the students could view the researchers an authoritative figure, preventing them from engaging in an open discussion. When considering this issue, location is a key factor, as Smith recognises ‘a change in setting by some of the students, shared a different research encounter’ (2005,p.235). Implying, when the students are in their own territory, for example in the playground, compared to a classroom, they may feel more comfortable opening up to the researcher.

Our research will be conducted by interviewing current A level students who are 18 or over; We will be interviewing students from two schools located in different areas, one private school and one public school to provide the most accurate and reliable results. Each school will be noticed prior the interview by email regarding if we are allowed to conduct an interview with their students. Indeed, we have given thoughts on only interviewing students from the same school or interviewing students from two public/private schools located in the same area/ different areas. But the results might be too narrow to fully support our argument and research. One downside regarding this interview is that we could only interview students who are 18 or over and most students are only 17 when they complete their A level studies and that only a small portion of students are 18 or over during their studies. It might be an issue because we might not have enough data to support our research. Moreover, some students might refuse to participate in our interview, and they might feel pressured and uncomfortable during the interview.

Beauchamp (1994) notes that there are four principles that should underlie a sociological research process. These are beneficence, that the research should have more benefits than risks to society; non-maleficence, that there is an avoidance of harm; autonomy, that they are complete freedom during the research and justice. However, exploring whether gender identities have an impact on subject choices can raise various ethical issues. One of which is obtaining informed consent. Our study needs to involve a level student, preferably current students, in order to keep our data valid. However, the issue of the standard process of access may make it difficult for us to obtain these results because of the main ethical issue of consent. Consent can be harder to obtain in private locations such as schools because of the gatekeepers such as headteachers. It makes it more difficult because our research group are under the age of 18 so they are seen as more vulnerable and therefore need more caution in order to prevent them from being subjected to harm. Another ethical issue found in our research study are the datasets and how they are represented. Data structures are typically limited to ‘male and ‘female’. Consequently this leaves out part of the population who identify as non-binary which would make our data less representative. This can result in inaccurate data being recorded which questions the reliability of the research. It can also make students involved feel uncomfortable or excluded and alienated from the society and the study which could cause harm to that student, so to prevent this from happening an alternative should be put in place when collecting data on these gender identities and its relation to a level subject choices.

In conclusion, this research proposal demonstrated whether gender identities have an impact on A Level subject choices by reviewing research proposals done by others, showing how we would conduct our own research to backup and support our proposal and finally, pointed out ethical and methodological issues regarding our own research.

^[1] J. Bell, ‘Gender Makes a Difference’, pg 1, Cambridge Assessment

^[2] J. Bell, ‘Gender Makes a Difference’, pg 2, Cambridge Assessment

^[3] B. Francis, 2000, ‘The Gendered Subject: Students’ Subject Preferences and Discussions of Gender and Subject Ability’, Oxford Review of Education

^[4] Education Scotland, 2019, ‘Improving Gender Balance’, Literature review

demonstrate how the social and political conditions in the countries of Europe and North America impacted the lives of their citizens and influenced international relations during World War 1.

Description

Post by Day 4 a 2- to 3-paragraph analysis where you demonstrate how the social and political conditions in the countries of Europe and North America impacted the lives of their citizens and influenced international relations during World War 1

Represent the decimal number +00000747 in Base-10 scientific notation without a decimal point.

1. Represent the decimal number ⁺00000747 in Base-10 scientific notation without a decimal point.

[2]

2. Using 16-bit Normalized Floating-point notation having the format SEEEEEEMMMMMMMMM: [8]
3. Decode to decimal integer and/or fraction): 0 100100 101001000 =
4. Decode to decimal integer and/or fraction): 1 011100 110100000 = Encode: -7/32 =    
5. Encode: +12, 3/8 =
6. Using an ASCII Table, decode: [2]

546869732049732053696d706c6521203B6F29

4. On average, a typical page of text holds roughly 2000 characters. Approximately how many pages of Unicode text can a storage media with 1 Gigabyte of free space hold? Show the process of unit conversions and calculation required. [5]

Note: A calculator should not be used in answering this question; only an approximation is required – each prefix unit increases by roughly 1000 times. Also, the result does not include space used for illustrations and the like or fonts and graphic formatting used for WYSIWYG display, which would require some space. Nonetheless, the result gives a good idea of the incredible capacity.

Use the Web to find out how many countries are currently officially assigned a 3-digit ISO 3166 country codes. Which country has the highest numeric ID code number?

1. Use the Web to find out how many countries are currently officially assigned a 3-digit ISO 3166 country codes. Which country has the highest numeric ID code number? How many bits are necessary to represent all assigned country ID numbers; why? [2]
2. Perform the following calculations and indicate the result accurately in the base indicated. [3]
   1. 35278 + 2258 =
   2. A95E₁₆ + 1D9₁₆ =
   3. 1323₄ + 3310₄ =

Please read carefully. Using minimum required number of bits in 2’s complement notation, perform 17110 – 6810 (subtraction by preserving addition). Show all the significant steps in your work by indicating the starting values, sign conversion and the addition operation aligning all numbers including the carry values in each position using the Courier New font. Indicate the final value in Base-10.

Express number 5956 as a polynomial in base indicated

Assignment #1

Instructions:

1. Software:   Office 365 MS Word™ is recommended to construct a standard Word format document, i.e., *.docx. If you use a non-MS WORD compatible program, e.g., Pages™, etc., the file must be saved as *.PDF format.
2. Both questions and answers should be well formatted and presented – including table data. Poor format/presentation will incur 5-mark deduction from your score.
3. All questions should be taken at face value and answered. If explanations are required, state them clearly and coherently.

Questions: [35 Total Marks]

1. Express number 5956 as a polynomial in base indicated. [1]

Example: Base-10: 5 * 1 0 ³ 9 * 10² + 5 * 10¹ + 6

Base-9:

2. Convert the following numbers to base-10. Show your work.[2]
   1. 3761₈ =
   2. D0BE₁₆ =
3. If the number below is a decimal number what is its binary equivalent? [2]
   1. 447 =
   2. 1023 =
4. If the number below is a binary number what is its hexadecimal equivalent? [2]
   1. 11011100111 =
   2. 10111210010 =

Critically analyse the ways in which the practice assessor / supervisor can facilitate learning and assessment in the clinical environment.

‘Critically analyse the ways in which the practice assessor / supervisor can facilitate learning and assessment in the clinical environment’.

Assessing Learning Outcomes: Knowledge 1 and 2 Skills 3, 4, 5 and 6.

Knowledge

1. An understanding of student learning styles and their impact on the student experience.

2 . An understanding of the factors that can contribute to a supportive learning environment.

Skills

1. A proficiency in the formative and summative assessment of students.
2. An ability to analyse strategies which can be used in giving and receiving feedback to students.
3. An ability to evaluate strategies to promote evidenced-based practice.
4. Leadership when applying practice assessor and supervisor skills in practice.
5. An ability to critically analyse the concept of reflective practice.
6. An ability to critically evaluate the reliability and validity of assessment strategies