Cognitive Disorder

Cognitive Disorder

Name:

Affiliation:

Course:

Instructor’s name:

Date:

Cognitive Disorders

Michael Fred Phelps is an American former competitive swimmer. He is known to be the most successful swimmer of all time. Michael Phelps has twenty-eight medals for this. However, do not think that things were easy for Michael Phelps at any point in life. This is because he was struggling with ADHD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder) from a very young age. He is a perfect example that ADHD should not deter anyone from being successful in life.

Anyone can get ADHD. In fact, today it is one of the most common conditions that affect children. It may be caused by a number of factors. One of the factors is when one’s part of the brain that control attention and activity cease to function as they should. It is also possible for a child to inherit the condition from the parents (Swanson et al. 2006). Other times one may be get a head injury that may interfere with the part of the brain controlling attention and activity. A child born premature is also more likely to get the condition. Mothers are advised not to take drugs such as nicotine and alcohol as this infects the child by increasing their risk of getting ADHD (Barkley, 2014). For Michael Phelps, there was no obvious cause for his condition. His parents did not have the condition. His mother also did not smoke or drink while she was pregnant.

People with this condition can barely concentrate or have a very low concentration span. They also tend to fidget, repeat their words a lot and be impulsive. Like all other children with ADHD, Michael found it very difficult to concentrate in class. He was constantly finding other things to do. His teachers could not understand him and ended up treating him differently. Other teachers even told him that he would be a failure in life because of his he behaved. Teachers in different grades continued to complain about Michael and how he never seemed to improved in his studies. It was a challenge and struggle for him all through. He was depressed and had anxiety due this condition.

His mother decided to take him to a professional and he was diagnosed with ADHD at the age of nine years old. Phelps started going swimming at an aquatic club nearby. He noticed that he loved doing this. Even though he could not concentrate in class, he was able to concentrate while swimming. He started wining medals at a very young age because he was exceptionally talented.

Much of Michael Phelps success can be attributed to his mother. His mother helped by establishing a routine that was meant to help him in his concentration. She implemented more strategies such as decreasing his intake of sugar that would help him be more successful. Her mother believed that swimming helped him through his condition. By seeking the help of a professional, they advised on how they would manage the condition. Many parents would have stayed silent with their children’s condition due to fear of stigmatization. Michael Phelps also took stimulants to assist him with his concentration in school. He had to carry them to school even though he was not comfortable with this.

Michael Phelps admits that dealing with his condition was not easy at all. He was constantly angry and depressed. In spite of his condition, he believed in himself and pursue his dreams. People should talk more about cognitive disorders and assist those who have the conditions. They can also become successful and happy if they accept who they are and work on themselves every day.

References

Barkley, R. A. (Ed.). (2014). Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: A handbook for diagnosis and treatment. Guilford Publications.

Swanson, J. M., Volkow, N. D., Newcorn, J., Casey, B. J., Moyzis, R., Grandy, D., & Posner, M. (2006). Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. Encyclopedia of Cognitive Science.

Closing Argument

Student’s name

Professor

Course

Date

Closing Argument

In any law proceeding, there are different parts of the proceeding. There is the introduction while the closing marks the end of the trial as the lawyers and other individuals wait for the statements of the judge of the jury. Therefore it is an important part of the case proceeding which if done in the proper way a client is likely to win. the lawyers who are given the work of representing the client are the ones tasked with this work of making sure that the closing arguments are the best and that in as much as it summarises the evidence and the case in general it is also drawn towards favoring the client they are representing. Therefore it is a very important aspect of law (Kennedy, 2006).

Therefore the main and the major purpose of the closing argument is to summarise the case from the introduction to the other parts in the middle to make sure that the closing statement is very moving. However, it is important to more that it is not a wise idea for a lawyer to keep the best arguments for the closing argument instead of providing all the information and evidence to help their clients during the case proceedings. Most of the jurors decide the case when it starts at the introduction or in between the other case proceedings. Therefore even though the closing argument is very important and it makes a lot of impacts it may not make a very strong impact to make the jury change their decision. Therefore it is an important part of saying goodbye to the case in the most moving manner but at the same time expecting anything about the decision of the jury (Zulanas, 2015).

The closing argument may include; summary of the evidence provided, reasonable inferences are drawn from the evidence, an attack on the opposing sides and highlighting their weaknesses, a summary of the law for the jury and in a creative way telling them to follow it and lastly a closing arguments can in a very creative way plea with the jury to take a specific action or judgment (David Adelstein, n.d). Even though it has limits like a lawyer cannot come up with a summary of the evidence which was not presented it still has a very great effect on the case and it is one of the most important parts of any case.

References

David Adelstein, (n.d.) Purpose of Closing Argument – ProveMyFloridaCase.com. Retrieved April 23, 2021, from https://provemyfloridacase.com/purpose-of-closing-argument/Kennedy, K. C. (2006). Closing argument: Through the eyes of a trial advocate. Am. J. Trial Advoc., 30, 593.

Zulanas, C. (2015). How to Deliver an Effective Closing Argument. Am. J. Trial Advoc., 39, 365.

Clothes as part of global commodity chain

Clothes as part of global commodity chain

Student’s name

Institution

Clothes as part of global commodity chain.

Different clothes are made from different countries. China is the leading producer in that it supplies about 16% of most items which were under research. Mexico is the second country which provides about 8% of the things which were under study. Other countries which produce the things are Honduras which contributed about 5%, Vietnam which adds about 5% as well as Indonesia which provides approximately 4.5% of the items. Also, only about 7% of the commodities under research were made in America.

The following is a list of items under research and countries where they are made.

1. Flannel shirt- India.

2. Orange tank- Vietnam.

3. VCU sweatshirt- China.

4. Sweater from target- China.

5. Black dress from target- Cambodia.

6. Vneck shirt from target- Guatemala.

7. Formal attire- the Philippines.

8. Leather boots- Brazil.

9. Dressy top- Turkey.

10. Camisole from express- Indonesia.

According to the research, most of the clothes which were under study were from China as well as Vietnam. The inquiry held showed that the clothes had no detailed on where the gears were assembled or made. Many countries appeared more on the clothes originality while others had no representation. Many of the costumes worn have the same nationality of origin as well as corresponding factories. One of the plants which made Targets, as well as Old Navy’s merchandise, had the reports that there was overwhelming noncompliance by Haitian export garment factory with the legal laws minimum wage in the country. There were articles which were written concerning the theft of the salary in the Haitian apparel industry.

One of the brands of the cloth, Danskin, as per the research had some concern on labour rights violations more so the areas of the freedom of association of the rights of women, benefits, wages, occupational health as well as safety. However, the problems were resolved later which included pregnancy discrimination about unfair termination as well as not allowed to access to adequate restrooms as well as health clinics. However, even when the problems were resolved, there are other problems which remain intact and involves short-term contracts for employees who risked termination before. (Hassler, 2003).

A company by the name LL Bean which is located in Thailand was reported to have an unsafe as well as an unhealthy working environment for its workers. The company didn’t warn its workers to wear protective clothing while working concerning the work areas which had higher noise levels. Also, the restrooms which were designed for the workers were not maintained in clean conditions which are required. As per the reported taken after the research revealed that LL Bean company failed to meet the minimum requirements of good practice more so in chemical labelling as well as the provision of material safety data sheets. (Bair, 2005)The company was found that it didn’t put labels on the chemicals in the screen printing area on how they should be handled, store, or treat safely when exposure occurs. The company was considered as to have been violated the Thailand law speculations.

In the November 2001, workers who worked in six countries basted and boycotted from working. The research showed that those workers sewed their work as the company owed the workers hundreds of thousands of dollars as their minimum wage as well as the overtime payments. They also sawed the company due to poor working conditions which were unsafe for their health as well as long working hours. Some workers who aired out the matter were fired immediately by the company making the case to be worse. The research revealed that there were efforts which were put forward to fix the problem as well as reinstate the positions those of those who were unjustly fired. However, the problem was familiar to many factories which need an uprising.

According to the research, most of the brands which were the favourites by many people such as Target, Old Navy, Danskin, LL Bean as well as Forever 21; none of the clothes were sweatshop free. Many people cannot avoid buying the clothes as there are limited options of wearing clothes which were affordable to oneself with the lack of sweat labour.

The research which was held enables the students to learn mapping lessons after the mapping exercise. The students can realize that they are connected in rather intimate ways with other people all over the world. Furthermore, the research enabled the students to learn that the connection which they had with people; who earned little even after working for about 12 hours a day in the factory. In that, they wore clothes which were made by the same plant as well as a similar country although of different designs and time. The research which involved mapping to arrive at the writing of the conclusion revealed the global commodity links. The links give the form as well as the meaning of the abstract concept of economic globalisation. Moreover, the exercise gave the students a better view concerning the global perspective of where the clothes they wear come from as well as how they are made.

Reference.

Hassler, M. (2003). The global clothing production system: commodity chains and business networks. Global Networks, 3(4), 513-531.

Gereffi, G. (1994). The Organization of Buyer-Driven Global Commodity Chains: How US Retailers Shape Overseas Production Networks. Commodity chains and global capitalism.

Bair, J. (2005). Global capitalism and commodity chains: looking back, going forward. Competition & Change, 9(2), 153-180.

Gereffi, G. (1999). A commodity chains framework for analyzing global industries. Institute of Development Studies, 8(12), 1-9.

Cloud Computing

Case Study #4: Cloud Computing

Insert NameCSIA 412 6381

INTRODUCTION

According to Kundra (2010), the United States government is the world’s largest consumer of information technology and yet its poor project implementation and lack of upgraded technology has led to decreased efficiency and a lack of productivity. To mitigate these issues through upgrades can be costly, however, there is another way to address the issues plaguing the technological departments of the federal government. Cloud computing. Cloud computing is a movement within the IT field that allows organizations to increase or decrease the capacity of what is essentially a shared folder as needed without having to update their technological devices or invest in hardware storage devices (Kundra, 2011). The following case study presents to its readers the benefits of ten case studies as well as the reasoning for the benefits identified in a specific study. This case study is designed to analyze ten cloud computing case studies and share the benefits organizations can experience through the use of cloud computing.

CASE STUDY ELEMENTS

Case Study Title Benefits

DoD US Army AEC (Example) Assets will be Better   Utilized, Efficiency Improvements will Shift Resources Toward Higher-Value   Activities (Example)

Department of Defense US Army AEC Faster application upgrades, increased efficiency, reduced hardware and IT staff costs, increased productivity.

DOD PSDT USAF Improved asset utilization (increased 70%), improved productivity in application management, focus shift to service management

DOE Cloud Computing Migration Linked to emerging technologies, purchases only the services needed, can increase capacity at any time, improved productivity in network

HHS Supporting Electronic Health Records Near-instantaneous increases in capacity, quick response to urgent agency needs, improved productivity with end-users

Department of the Interior Email Aggregated demand and accelerated system consolidation

GSA USA.gov Purchase and use of needed services from the cloud provider only, near instantaneous increase in capacity, focus shifted to service management, more responsive to urgent agency needs, improved productivity in network.

NASA World-Wide Telescope Quick response to urgent agency needs, near instantaneous increases and reductions in capacity, accelerated system consolidation, improved productivity in application development and network.

NASA Become a Martian Improved productivity of the network, purchased only the services needed, near-instantaneous increases in capacity, focus shift to service management,

SSA SOASK Increased productivity, service management, tap into private sector innovation, purchase of only services needed, ability to respond quickly to urgent agency needs, aggregated demand

FLRA Case Management System Tap into private sector innovation, improved productivity in application management, quick response to agency needs, improved asset utilization (time of app to deploy is 25% of original time), better linked to emerging technologies.

CLOSER LOOK

HHS Supporting Electronic Health Records

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has employed the use of cloud computing in order to support and enhance the implementation of its Electronic Health Records (EHR) system (Kundra, 2010). In the table above, the benefits that HHS has experienced are outlined and now the reasons why these benefits have been identified will be shared in the table below:

Benefit Identified Reasoning for identification

Near-instantaneous increases in capacity The system can be updated as centers begin using it and future updates are expected to quick and seamless, providing more storage capacity or decreasing as is necessary.

Quick response to urgent agency needs The review process that was conducted to determine how long it would take to implement the technology necessary determined that over a year would pass before HHS would have access to its new systems, however Salesforce (the cloud computing agency) was able to implement their solution in less than three months.

Improved productivity with end-users Implementation of EHR systems is coordinated through this system, streamlining the process for all involved and Salesforce works collaboratively with the end user in order to provide the services needed.

CONCLUSION

Cloud computing is a service that can enhance the performance and productivity of any organization when used correctly and through secured access points. The case studies above give various examples of how organizations from various backgrounds can benefit from the same type of system by tailoring it to the needs of their consumers. While HHS consumers were able to benefit from the uniform implementation of EHR systems, customers of the SSA were able to greatly benefit from the cloud based website created and maintained by the SSA by bypassing long wait times and receiving near instant answers. Whether cloud computing is a service the organization is considering for internal purposes only or it is a service that will be used to benefit the individuals it serves as well, it is a system that all organizations should take into consideration. The increased efficiency, productivity, and storage coupled with the decreased need for continuous technological upgrades and increased staffing, cloud computing is a strategy whose benefits exceed its disadvantages when properly implemented.

References

Kundra, V. (2010). State of public sector cloud computing. CIO Council. Retrieved from: https://cio.gov/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2012/09/StateOfCloudComputingReport-FINAL.pdf

Kundra, V. (2011). Federal cloud computing strategy. Washington, DC. Retrieved from: https://learn.umuc.edu/d2l/le/content/47852/viewContent/2363992/View

CMIT-321-Executive-Proposal

2703830-252730Executive Proposal

00Executive Proposal

2703830-9525Assignment#01

Student Registration #

00Assignment#01

Student Registration #

327660043815000centercenter9500095000

327660043815000centercenter9500095000

2447925262255Security Testing Software for ADVANCED RESEARCH

00Security Testing Software for ADVANCED RESEARCH

280035055880 Submitted By:

Date of Submission:

OCT. 4, 2014

00 Submitted By:

Date of Submission:

OCT. 4, 2014

Executive Summary

Security testing software is a very important entity for many organizations as it provides security to a company’s network by identifying and testing vulnerabilities before potential hackers can exploit them. Advanced Research has been the victim of cybercriminal efforts to take intellectual assets and sell it to their competitors. It is assumed that our network of corporate documents has been infiltrated by illegal sources more than once.

The following is a plan for implementation and purchase of the CORE IMPACT pro for the protection of Advanced Research. The software product, IMPACT pro, is used internally to test the security of web applications, our network system, wireless networks, endpoints, and also many emailed based social attacks of engineering.

In short, IMPACT pro addresses penetrations by testing essential components to the infrastructure. The software also works to identify vulnerabilities and assess weak points in nearly all organizations networks that deal with cybercrime landscape, the production of layered security items. IMPACT pro also intermingles with the rising demand for the tangible metrics which are used to measure the development in security programs and to share these results with business management and IT.

All these factors have motivated the extensive adoption of comprehensive vulnerability management technologies by many companies. IMPACT pro uses advanced scanning systems and defensive tools which interact with individual dangers to deliver lists of potential weak aspects, or Security Management Systems that make use of algorithms in order to calculate theoretical threats. IMPACT pro’s capability to put on a wide array of real world threat situations allows organizations to test their networking assets and IT. Once a network has been compromised, any and all devices connected to such network have the potential to be compromised as well (Murphy, 2013). In short, IMPACT pro will assist Advanced Research in order to evaluate its most significant compliance-related and security risks.

The Requirement:

The main objective is to prevent access to the intellectual property of Advanced Research Corporation, available through our company’s network, from cybercriminals. Advanced Research is still a fairly young company and because of this, management has been hesitant to budget for expensive security projects in the past, which has resulted in the loss of millions of dollars in the form of research data stolen from its corporate network by cyber thieves. Due to continued potential loss, there is a need to purchase the necessary testing software. After much research, I have found CORE IMPACT pro to be the best solution for Advanced Research. Core Impact is rapidly becoming the standard in vulnerability scanning and penetration testing. This top of the line software features various penetration tests, including remote host-based and network-based, as well as web-based penetration tests, and Wi-Fi network (Stephenson, 2013).

The Proposed Solution:

CORE IMPACT Overview:

Core IMPACT pro will enable Advanced Research to complete independent, proactive penetration analysis on our applications, systems and end uses. It will allow us to replicate malware, data theft techniques, and real world hacking while gaining actionable material that will assist us in finding and fixing our most pressing security weaknesses. After using this product, we can determine the way our awareness policies and defensive security measures detect, react and prevent future attacks.

IMPACT pro will enable us to test:

Critical OS facilities and desktop and server operating systems.

IPS, IDS, network security solutions and firewalls.

End point security solutions such as anti-malware, anti-phishing, antivirus, prevention systems and host based intrusion.

End point applications such as web browser, instant messaging, email readers, business application. Media players and productivity tools.

End user awareness of spam, phishing and social engineering.

Core Impact Pro

The Benefits of IMPACT Pro:

The reasons for recommending Impact Pro, in order to satisfy the security requirements of our organization, are mentioned below:

It can be used efficiently by current internal staff:

We can use this product with our existing skill sets and staff. Its training requirements are slight, provided by the vendor, and easy to implement. It will also allow us to assess our security status as we upgrade, add and update endpoints, web applications, servers and other IT assets on regular basis.

Product stability, quality and security of network:

IMPACT Pro is a commercial-grade security testing software. It tests security against malware, hacking and data crack attempts using that same techniques that the cyber criminals apply. However, this software ensures a network is secure and safe without putting stability of networks, applications or endpoints at risk.

Enabling repeatable and consistent security testing:

IMPACT Pro allows a user to schedule endpoint and network penetration testing and vulnerability validation. This ensures reliability of testing programs by allowing more organized approach to an assessment with strong metrics in order to measure improvement over time.

Testing of web applications and heterogeneous infrastructure:

IMPACT Pro is the only commercial-grade programmed web applications testing software in market. It allows the user to verify both proprietary and commercial web applications that are secure against threats that search for SQL injection, Cross-site scripting, and PHP file insertion vulnerabilities. It can also help to identify weaknesses across many operating system platforms, service packs and versions existing on systems throughout network.

Constant updates for testing against latest attack trends:

A combination of continuing technology acceptance, increasing connectivity, persistent cyber criminals and modification means that security landscape is continually evolving. Core Security also offers regular updates that check for newly exposed vulnerabilities in services, operating systems, wireless networks, end-user applications, web applications and other different possible points of exposure.

How IMPACT Pro varies from other Vulnerability Scanners:

IMPACT Pro conducts continuing research into malware attacks and cutting-edge vulnerabilities, allowing companies to keep its software up-to-date with timely and new testing competences 20 to 30 times per month. Unlike many testing tools that only report potential vulnerabilities for analysis, CORE Pro allows to test present security position across majority of IT infrastructure in order to find real exposures that can be threats to operations.

The software solutions of CORE serve as self-regulating form of dynamic self-assessment. This self-regulating system allows companies to authenticate the efficiency of various security points and determine whether or not they are working correctly and protecting the company. Specific competencies of CORE Pro comprise the capability to test for different types of vulnerabilities across:

Network Systems

Endpoints

Web Applications

Email Users

Wireless Networks

By doing practical testing across all of the aforementioned access points we, as an organization, can separate failure points in our security structure and report these problems rapidly. Advanced Research can also obtain the ability to evaluate efficiency and ROI (Return On Investment) of broadly deployed layered security tools like firewall, anti-virus, data leakage protection, authentication, IDS/IPS, security management systems and compliance on a continuing basis to measure the value of systems and validate past and future spending plans.

Product Cost:

Price of IMPACT Pro starts $30,000/year. The product payment includes:

Software License

All upgrades related to version

Systematic Product Updates

Training.

Customer Support

Reference:

F, B. (2013, July 30). Network Penetration Testing and Research. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=20140002617

Penetration Testing with Core Impact Pro (Attack Intelligence, Vulnerability Prioritization & Consolidation) Retrieved September 30, 2014, from: http://www.coresecurity.com/core-impact-pro

Replicate Real-World Attacks and Reveal Critical Security Exposures. (2012, January 1). Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.coresecurity.com/files/ attachments/CORE_Pro_product_overview.pdf

Stephenson, P. (2013, February 1). Core Impact Professional. Retrieved September 30, 2014, from http://www.scmagazine.com/core-impact-professional/review/3791/

CMIT-425-Discussion-Questions

Week 1 DQ 1

Each of us have own reasons for pursuing our CISSP certification.  Why did you choose to pursue yours?

The reason I am looking to get my CISSP is for job security reasons and the fact that will get me in a Technical 3 level when it comes to being compliment with DOD’s 8570. I also would love to have a fun job catch hackers with the F.B.I. so the CISSP will put me in the running to get one of those jobs. I also think there is a good pay raise that comes when you have a cert of this level. I was also looking into the CASP because it seem a little bit easier.

Week 1 DQ 3

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

After viewing the video on IT Governance, describe the IT governance model and discuss its importance in instituting a comprehensive security program. What are security blueprints?

In your own words, describe the personnel best practices of mandatory vacation, separation of powers, principle of least privilege, and job rotation. Give an example of where you have seen these practices applied from your own experience.

Mandatory Vacation is when upper management has to make an employee take a few days off this. This is done for auditing purposes. If the person works and don’t take any time off they could be doing things on the system that people are unaware of and the security team might need some time to examine their system to make sure everything is copasetic.

Separation of powers or what is called separation of duty is used to compartmentalize a job or an organization. This is used to make sure one person is not a single point of failure or that one person does not have too much power. “Designed to prevent error and fraud by ensuring that at least two individuals are responsible for the separate parts of any task. (Wigmore, 2014) ”

Principle of least privilege is to make sure that everyone only has access to what they need and have the lowest access control to folders and files and places. Most state the rule for least privilege is to deny everything and then as a person needs access start opening up rights. “If all processes ran with the smallest set of privileges needed to perform the user’s tasks. (Merrifield, 2014)” So the first step in hardening an account is to deny all.

Job rotation is used to make sure people don’t get to relaxed in their jobs so every so often they have you do another job this is kind of a way for companies to use a checks and balance system. That way if you are doing anything wrong in your job the other person will see it and maybe report it to upper management. “Job rotation is an operational control to detect errors and frauds. (Kokcha, 2012) ”

In my day to day life I have never had a madatory vacation because I take off a good amount of time every year. I have created user accounts before at an ole job so I totally get the process of least privlege. When creating an account they tell us to lock down the account and have the users TASO tell you what that person should have access to, I would stat that most of these accounts where on a role based system.

 

Works Cited

Kokcha, R. (2012, 05 16). Job Rotation. Retrieved from http://security.koenig-solutions.com: http://security.koenig-solutions.com/blog-home/job-rotation

Merrifield, J. (2014, 10). Using a Least-Privileged User Account . Retrieved from http://technet.microsoft.com: http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/cc700846.aspx

Wigmore, I. (2014, 01 01). segregation of duties (SoD). Retrieved from http://whatis.techtarget.com/: http://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/segregation-of-duties-SoD

Week 2 DQ 1

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

What are the different Access Control Models available to secure access to resources? Give an example of one that you have used in a work situation or if that is not possible, one that you’ve read about.

Identify the Access Control Categories and give an example of one that you have read about or have knowledge of from your own experience.

Describe threats to the Access Control domain from what was covered within the reading and give an example of each.

What are the main goals of access control and what are the best practices recommended to help in achieving them.

What are the different Access Control Models available to secure access to resources? Give an example of one that you have used in a work situation or if that is not possible, one that you’ve read about.

RBAC which is also known as Role Based Access Control – This access control gives people access based on their role in the organization. An example of that is let’s say the base commander was leaving and there was a new one coming in you would mirror the new base commander’s access to the old one. I have had to do then when creating accounts in AD and group email accounts.

DAC which is also known as Discretionary Access Control- This access control restricts access to data by placing users in different groups and giving the group access to parts of the network. Also there are data owners in the group who can change the level of access each person in the group has. An example is when someone gives another person access to their outlook email account and the owner of the account can dictate weather they won’t the person to have rights to send on the behalf of the email account.

MAC which is also known as Mandatory Access control – This access control method gives the data a sensitivity labels or classification and if the users does not have the classification level they are denied access to the data. “Is a system-controlled policy restricting access to resource objects (such as data files, devices, systems, etc.) based on the level of authorization or clearance of the accessing entity, be it person, process, or device. (Rouse, 2008)

Works Cited

Rouse, M. (2008, 12). mandatory access control (MAC). Retrieved from http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com: http://searchsecurity.techtarget.com/definition/mandatory-access-control-MAC

Week 2 DQ 2

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

What are the challenges that an Identity and Access Management system helps overcome? What benefits does it provide?

In your own words describe the four main activities that comprise the System Access Control Process. What guidelines must be followed within the Identification phase?

Identify the Information and Access Management Technologies and describe one that you are familiar with either from your own experience or give an example of one that you’ve read about.

Describe the three factors that can be used in authentication and give at least two examples for each.

Describe the three factors that can be used in authentication and give at least two examples for each.

The Three factors of authentication are something you know, something you have and something that you are.

Most networks have some type of authentication process for user’s login this is to make sure the user has the correct access to the objects that they need and also this is used for Identification purposes also.

One way to sign into the network is with a user name and pin. This is the least secure method because there are serval ways a hacker can gain access to a user name and a password. They could use social networks and guess what the password might be or they can you things like dictionary attacks or brute force to crack the password. This method is also called something you know.

Another authentication is something you have this is a little bit more secure then something you know cause you have to physically get something that the users has such as a token or a smart card. I use a multi factor log in method at my work place and we need to have a CAC to log into the network along with a pin. Ways that people can get around this is by taken the token but or duplicating the smart chip in the CAC but these ways are much harder to do.

The best type of single authentication would be something you are. These are things like” Biometric methods provide the something you are factor of authentication. Some of the biometric methods that can be used are fingerprints, hand geometry, retinal or iris scans, handwriting, and voice analysis. Fingerprints and handprints are the most widely used biometric method in use today. (Gibson, 2011)” I worked at a help desk where the walk ups could come and reset there biometric log in or change the method of login in this was very interesting the processes and why the scanner works. This method is a hard way to gain access but it is not impossible.  

 

Works Cited

Gibson, D. (2011, jUN 6). Understanding the Three Factors of Authentication. Retrieved from http://www.pearsonitcertification.com: http://www.pearsonitcertification.com/articles/article.aspx?p=1718488

Week 3 DQ 1

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

Identify the malicious threat sources to physical security and their corresponding countermeasures.

Describe the main components of a CCTV system. What are some of the concerns with CCTV deployments?

Describe three perimeter intrusion detection systems from the physical security domain and give an example of one that you have seen deployed either at work or another location that you are familiar with.

The main components of a CCTV system consist of cameras, transmitters, receivers, a recording system, and a monitor.  The camera captures the data, transmits to the recording system, and then displays on the monitor. One of the concerns with the deployment of the CCTV system include the circuit not being tamperproof whereby this would allow attackers to compromises the companies CCTV system this is a problem that compromises the devices integrity and manipulating the video feed to play back recordings from another recording timeframe. Also depending on the system the feed could be easily hi jacked. Also vandalism could be another problem it CCTV faces the camera is behind a harden plastic cover but if someone mess up that cover it is hard to see though.  Another concern would be choosing the correct lens. The lens should have the proper focal length that covers the entire area or depth of focus, and having the capability to adjust the lens. Light is another concern with the CCTV system, deploying a light-sensitive camera which “allows for the capture of extraordinary detail of objects and precise presentation.” (Harris, 2013) Using the use of an auto iris lens can regulate the amount of light that enters the lens.

Reference

Harris, S. (2013). Alll-in-One CISSP. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Week 3 DQ 2

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

Describe the functions of hubs/repeaters, bridges, switches, routers, and gateways. At what layers of the OSI model does each device operate?

Describe the different Wireless standards within the 802.11 family. What is a rogue access point, and what do we have to worry about?

Describe the differences between bus, ring and star topologies. List the various wiring standards that are available for use within these topologies.

From the videos, pick one hacker profiled and describe the types of attacks they used in exploiting vulnerabilities of the networks that they targeted. What opening did they gain access through? How were they detected?

HubRepeater operates at the physical layer. They repeat incoming frames without examining the MAC address in the frame.

Bridges connects “two or more media segments on the same subnet, and filters traffic between both segments based on the MAC address in the frame. They divide a network into segments to reduce traffic congestion and excessive collisions” (Harris, 2013) by connecting two networks and passes traffic between them based only on the node address, so that traffic between nodes on one network does not appear on the other network.  Bridges operate in the data link OSI layer.

Switches operate at data link layer. A multiport bridge that performs filtering based on MAC addresses can process multiple frames simultaneously, guaranteed bandwidth to each switch port. Switches offer guaranteed bandwidth. (Webtycho, 2013)

Routers assign a new address per port which allows it to connect different networks together. Also discovers information about routes and changes that take place in a “network through its routing protocols; and filters traffic based on ACLs and fragments packets.” (Webtycho, 2013) Because of their network level, they can “calculate at the shortest and economical path between the sending and receiving hosts” (Harris, 2013). Routers operate in the network OSI layer.

Gateways- can be a combination of hardware andor software that connects individual LANS to a larger network and can act like a translator. This usually involves converting different protocols. For example, a “gateway could be used to convert a TCPIP packet to a NetWare IPX packet”. (Webtycho, 2013) Gateways operate in all seven OSI layers.

Reference

Harris, S. (2013). Alll-in-One CISSP. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Webtycho, U. (2013, October).Network Course Content Material . Adelphia, Maryland.

Week 4 DQ 1

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

Describe in your own words the differences between steganography, digital watermarking, and digital rights management.

Choose three of the basic cryptosystems and give an overview of each.

Describe the operation of a one-time pad (OTP) and give an example of a device that uses an OTP either from your own experience or from research.

A one-time pad (OTP) uses a pad of random values, where a plaintext message that needs to be encrypted is converted into bits. The encryption process uses a binary mathematic function exclusive-OR (XOR) that is applied to two bits and when combining the bits, if both values are the same the result is 0 (1 XOR 1=0)m, but if the values are different from each other the result is 1(1 XOR 0=1). For instance when User A and User B “produce a huge number of random bits and share them secretly. When User A has a message to send to User B, User A retrieves a number of random bits equal to the length of User A’s message, and uses them to be the message’s key. User A applies the exclusive or operation (xor) to the key and the message to produce the encrypted message. The key must be exactly the same size as the message. The key must also consist of completely random bits that are kept secret from everyone except User A and User B. When User B receives the message, User B retrieves the same bits from his copy of the random bit collection. User B must retrieve the same random bits in exactly the same order that User A used them. Then User B uses the sequence of random bits to decrypt the message. User B applies the xor operation to the message and the key to retrieve the plain text.” (Cryptosmith, 2007) An example of a device that uses the one-time pad would be a mobile phone.

 

Reference

Cryptosmith, (2007). One-Time Pads, Retrieved from: http://b.cryptosmith.com/2007/06/09/one-time-pads/

Week 4 DQ 2

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

What are the strengths and weaknesses of symmetric key cryptography? Give an example of where this type of cryptography is used. What are the strengths and weaknesses of asymmetric key cryptography? Give an example of where this type of cryptography is used.

What are the types of message integrity controls and what benefit is provided by them? Give a short description of the various secure email protocols that are referenced in the Shon Harris book and the Course Content.

What benefit do digital signatures provide and what are their characteristics? In your own words, what does non-repudiation mean? 

The types of message controls and their benefit include, The One-Way Hash, the benefit it provides a fingerprint of a message by taking a variable-length string and a message and produces a fixed-length value; HMAC, the benefit it provides data origin authentication and data integrity.  A symmetric key is used and concatenated to produce a MAC value that is appended into a message and sent to the receiver; CBC-MAC, the benefit it provides is that the message is encrypted with a symmetric block cipher in CBC mode and the output of the final block of ciphertext is used as the MAC; Hashing, this has various algorithms such as MD2, MD4, MD5, SHA, HAVAL, Tiger. The benefit it provides is that it generates messages digests to detect whether modification has taken place; Digital Signature, the benefit it provides is that it encrypts the sender’s private key.

The various secure email protocols are:

Privacy-Enhanced Mail (PEM) – an internet standard that provides secure-email over the Internet for in-house communication infrastructure that provides authentication, message integrity, encryption, and key management.

Pretty Good Privacy (PGP) – a freeware email security program that was the first widespread public key encryption program. PGP is a complete cryptosystem that uses cryptographic protection to protect email files.

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extension (MIME) – a technical specification that indicates how multimedia data and email attachments are to be transferred; and a mail standard that dictates how mail is formatted, encapsulated, transmitted, and opened.

Harris, Shon. CISSP All-in-One Exam Guide, Sixth Edition. McGraw-Hill/Osborne. © 2013. Books24x7. <http://common.books24x7.com.ezproxy.umuc.edu/toc.aspx?bookid=50527>

Week 5 DQ 1

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

What are the steps in the business continuity planning process? Why is a clear understanding of a company’s enterprise architecture critical to this process?

Describe the steps in a Business Impact Analysis (BIA).

What different loss criteria types can be associated with threats identified during the Business Impact Analysis process? 

The following are the steps in the business continuity planning process. It is extremely important to have a clear understanding of the company’s enterprise architecture because you have to know what you’re protecting and how it would affect the organization and its stakeholders if those assets identified were damaged or destroyed.

Develop the continuity planning policy statement. Write a policy that provides the guidance necessary to develop a BCP, and that assigns authority to the necessary roles to carry out these tasks (Harris, 2013).

Conduct the business impact analysis (BIA). Identify critical functions and systems and allow the organization to prioritize them based on necessity. Identify vulnerabilities and threats, and calculate risks (Harris, 2013).

Identify preventive controls. Once threats are recognized, identify and implement controls and countermeasures to reduce the organization’s risk level in an economical manner (Harris, 2013).

Develop recovery strategies. Formulate methods to ensure systems and critical functions can be brought online quickly (Harris, 2013).

Develop the contingency plan. Write procedures and guidelines for how the organization can still stay functional in a crippled state (Harris, 2013).

Test the plan and conduct training and exercises. Test the plan to identify deficiencies in the BCP, and conduct training to properly prepare individuals on their expected tasks (Harris, 2013).

Maintain the plan. Put in place steps to ensure the BCP is a living document that is updated regularly (Harris, 2013).

Reference:

Harris, S. (2013). CISSP All-In-One Exam Guide, Sixth Edition. [Books24x7 version] Available fromhttp://common.books24x7.com/toc.aspx?bookid=50527Week 5 DQ 2

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

Describe the differences between the hot, warm, and cold site methods of facility recovery.

Define the full, incremental, and differential backups and describe the differences between these data backup types.

Describe the differences between disk shadowing, electronic vaulting, and remote journaling. What is disk duplexing and how does it differ from disk mirroring? 

Effective data recovery plans must include hot sites, warm sites and cold sites. When the capabilities of each site is considered, companies are better able to predict the recovery time following a disaster. Knowing how long it will take until systems begin running again is vital. A hot site is considered “proactive”. It allows a company to keep servers and a live backup site running incase a disaster occurs. This is unlike a warm or “preventive” site which enables the pre-installation of a company’s hardware and it allows the company to preconfigure bandwidth necessities. In a warm site, all a company would have to do is simply load software, as well as data in order to restore the business’ systems. Cold sites are also referred to as ‘recovery’ sites. These sites include data center space, power and network connectivity that is available whenever a company may need it. In these facilities, a company’s logistical support team would assist in the moving of hardware into the data center and get the company back up and running. This process may take an extended period of time, unlike a transition into a hot site where there would be immediate cutover if disaster were to arise. Hot sites are essential for mission critical sites (Core X Change, 2014).

References

Core X Change. (2014). Disaster Recovery Hot, Warm and Cold Sites: Key Differences.Colocation & Connectivity by Zayo. Retrieved from https://www.corexchange.com/blog/disaster-recovery-hot-warm-cold-sites-key-differences

Week 6 DQ 2

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

What is a View-based access control in database? What is a Data warehouse? What is Online Transaction Processing (OLTP)?

What is Change Management and how is it used to control security breaches? What is Configuration Management and how is it used to control security breaches? What is Patch management and how is it used to control security breaches?

In a database, to control security, lock controls are implemented and tested using the ACID test. Explain the following terms for each letter within the ACID method: Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation, Durability. 

The ACID method consist of atomicity which divides transactions into units of work and ensures that all modifications either take effect or none takes effect- where the database either commits or is rolled back; consistency is where a transaction must follow the integrity policy developed for that particular database and ensure all data are consistent in the different databases; isolation is where transactions execute in isolation until completed, without interacting with other transactions; and durability which pertains to once the transaction is verified as accurate on all systems it is committed and the databases cannot be rolled back.

Week 7 DQ 1

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

Describe the administrative management practices of separation of duties, job rotation, and mandatory vacations and their role within operations security.

Describe the differences between the following sanitization methods of media control: clearing, purging, zeroization, and degaussing. What is data remanence? 

The difference between the following sanitization methods of media control are:

Clearing – a process of removing data from media that it is not readily retrieved using routine operating system commands or data recovery software.

Purging –method of removing the data on media making it unrecoverable even with great effort.)

Zeroization- method of overwriting data on media with a pattern designed to ensure that the data cannot be recovered

Degaussing – the process of magnetically scrambling the patterns on a tape or disk that represents the data stored on the disk and destroying the media through either shredding crushing, or burning-

Data remanence is the residual physical representation of data that remains on the drive even after the data has been removed or erased.

Week 7 DQ 2

After reading/viewing this week’s materials, please respond to one or more of the following questions.

Describe the different methods of RAID. What is RAIT?

Define the different types of trusted recovery. What is meant by the term “fail secure”?

Describe three of the following attack types in the Operation Security domain: man-in-the-middle, mail bombing, war-dialing, ping-of-death, teardrop, and slamming-and-cramming 

The different methods of RAID consist of RAID 0 which deals with data striping, RAID 1 handles mirroring, RAID 2 where data parity are created with a hamming code which identifies any errors, RAID 3 is considered the Byte-level parity, where data is striping over all the drives and the parity data is held on one drive, RAID 4 is where parity is created at the block-level, RAID 5 is where data is written in disk sector units to all the drives-this is the most widely used because of its redundancy, RAID 6 is the fault tolerance, which is a second set of parity data written to all drives, RAID 10 is where data are simultaneously mirrored and striped across several drives and can support multiple drive failures.

Redundant Array of Independent Tapes (RAIT) is similar to RAID but it uses tape drives instead of disk drives. In RIAT data is striped in parallel to multiple tapes drives with or without redundant parity drive.

Week 8 DQ 1

As the course wraps up this week, please share your reflections on this course, including lessons learned. 

What are you goals moving forward?Though a very challenging and fast-paced class, I learned quite a bit in each of the CISSP domains. It is easy to see why an exam of this level is contingent upon five years of job experience in at least two of the domains (although you can take the exam without the experience and only achieve SSCP) ((ISC)2, 2014). 

From the perspective of taking the exam, I will likely take another couple months to circle back to each domain take more practice tests, and really focus on topics that need more attention. Though this was an eight week class, the scope of the CISSP is very large and requires a lot of attention. 

I haven’t yet received feedback on my risk assessment paper, but I’ll say that it was a challenging yet rewarding assignment. It was great to take the topics we learned in class and directly apply them to a project, which isn’t far from what is in the real world. If I wasn’t a procrastinator, I could have easily doubled or tripled the length of this paper, given the topics I learned in this class that I wanted to apply to GFI’s, such as writing more detail about a security policy, vulnerability management, etc. I’ll have to leave that for a other courses, which I hope to be able to take. 

All in all, this was a great class. I would have much preferred not to have taken it online, and take it in a 16 week session, but there is still a lot I’ve learned that I will be able to apply to my current job to make me a better Information Assurance Auditor. 

Good luck to you all in your future studies!

Works Cited

(ISC)2. (2014). How to Get Your CISSP Certification. Retrieved 12 14, 2014, from (ISC)2: https://www.isc2.org/cissp-how-to-certify.aspx

CMIT-425-Week-1-Assignment

An ISP is a detailed plan in which the company measures its risk. Most ISP assessments looking at a company’s strategic, Tactical and Operational plan. The plan also rank and assess amount of risk the company is taking these documents normally take account for contain such as Privacy, Policy, audit, Compliance and technical security and Access control. This plan also details how to protect the company’s information. And also should have a roster of people in the organization.

Strategic has organization and Authority. Enterprise security framework and Security vision and strategy. (BCP, Back up servers)

Tactical has Policy, audit & compliance, risk management, privacy, awareness and education. (Training, user agreements and checks and balances.)

Operational access control, monitoring, assets and physical. (Gates, PTZ and turnstiles)

The stuxnet virus made an Iranian nuclear facility lose the availability of their nuclear reactors when the virus made raised the RPM of the rotors spin so fact that they physically broke. So at that point they had no way to use the reactor until it was fixed.

If some way was to comprise an email hash and was able to change around the message then that would damage the integrity of the message because we don’t know what the original message looked like.

By someone giving up secret information they could out us Assets and unveil spies confidently. Well the amount of data can be counted in risk assessment in a qualitative manor. There is no way to really but a number price on to lost data also when it comes to human loss of life. But when it comes to something like damaged computers you can assess that in a quantitative manor. You can place a number on that and say that it cost an dollar amount and if need be it can be replaced.

Climate Change Facilitates and Exacerbates Animosity Among

Name

Professor

Course

Date

Climate Change Facilitates and Exacerbates Animosity Among Communities Living in the Sub-Saharan African Region

Introduction

Sub-Saharan Africa comprises more than two-thirds of the African nations. Besides, Sub-Saharan Africa accommodates people from varying socio-cultural, political, religious, and ethnic backgrounds. Unfortunately, more than 40 percent of the countries in the region have encountered instances of civil war. As such, Sub-Saharan Africa could be treated as a war-torn region. Subsequently, several people have lost their lives while others have been displaced from their original places of residence. In 2015, more than 8,300 people died within two months in Sub-Saharan Africa following the insurgency of a militant group called Boko Haram (Villiers). The deaths occurred in five countries, including Niger, Somalia, Sudan, Cameroon, and Nigeria. Besides, an Al-Qaeda liked group called Al-Shabaab has been terrorizing different countries in East Africa. Al-Shabaab appears to be waging religious wars as it strives to establish Islamic states in the region, especially in Somalia (Chiluwa 218). Precisely, various factors that entail religious and political affiliations and socioeconomic aspects trigger civil wars and conflicts in the region. For instance, socio-economically disadvantaged, unemployed, and uneducated persons constitute the majority of the Boko Haram and Al-Shabaab militants (Villiers). Moreover, Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing adverse impacts of climate change that entail prolonged droughts, severe floods, and a rise in atmospheric temperatures. Subsequently, varied diseases, shortage of food, and destruction of crops and animals are common occurrences in the region.

Statement of the Problem. A significant decline in the intensity and frequency of organized political wars in the region has been witnessed between the 2000s and 1990s (Straus 180). However, conflicts over basic resources that entail water and land, as well as electoral violence, tend to rise and become persistent over time.

Statement of Purpose. This study serves to accomplish two purposes:

Determine climatic factors that trigger conflicts and violence in Sub-Saharan Africa

Establish social changes that happen due to climate change

Hypothesis

Null hypothesis: Climate change does not exacerbate or facilitate conflicts and civil wars in Sub-Saharan Africa

Alternative hypothesis: Climate change exacerbates and facilitates the growth of conflicts and civil wars in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Research Questions

How does climate change impact on the availability of arable land and clean water in Sub-Saharan Africa?

How do communities living in Sub-Saharan Africa respond to the adverse impacts of climate change?

How do communities living in Sub-Saharan Africa protect their valued natural resources, especially water and land?

Significance of the Study. This research study would unravel vital information regarding the link between climate change and hatred among communities living in Sub-Saharan Africa. Specifically, findings from the study would elaborate on how climate change facilitates conflicts among such populations. As such, interested parties would utilize the information to develop appropriate strategies for preventing or addressing the undesired effects of climate change on the social wellbeing of the residents.

Limitations. This study would rely only on critical analyses of secondary sources of information. Accordingly, the levels of accuracy and originality of such secondary sources would dictate the quality of this report. Besides, personal judgment and inferences would primarily inform this study and shape the final outputs, conclusions, and recommendations.  

Assumptions. It is assumed that available information would adequately represent each nation within Sub-Saharan Africa. Besides, it is assumed that communities from every part of Sub-Saharan Africa would exhibit similar responses to the impacts of climate change.

Literature Review

The review of the existing literature would provide a strong foundation and guideline for this study. Accordingly, relevant resources would comprise those that focus on conflicts and wars in Sub-Saharan Africa. Although varied factors could encourage disputes and civil wars in different parts of the globe, the adverse impacts of climate change in Sub-Saharan Africa could be linked to the relatively rampant and possibly increasing cases.

Sub-Saharan Africa has been experiencing rampant cases of civil wars and conflicts due to particular reasons that include economic dependence on natural resources, failed political institutions, and high levels of poverty (Elbadawi and Sambanis 253-54). According to Elbadawi and Sambanis, the relatively widespread assumption that religious and ethnic diversity trigger wars in the continent could be misleading (254). Some political institutions cannot adequately control and encourage appropriate politics. Instead, some of the institutions could allow the growth and use of militants by rogue politicians. Besides, high-levels of poverty in the region could trigger conflicts and civil wars in specific ways. For instance, desperate individuals could join militant groups and accept to be abused by rich politicians. Also, reliance on natural resources as the primary source of income and economic growth attracts unhealthy competitions that end in conflicts and civil wars. Most of the inhabitants of the region exploit natural resources such as forests, rivers, and lakes as their primary sources of income. Therefore, various factors other than religious and ethnic diversities facilitate violent conflicts and civil wars in Sub-Saharan Africa.     

Moreover, diversity in communities living the Sub-Saharan countries trigger civil wars. Specifically, religious, cultural, ethnic, and political factors serve as the main forces behind the relatively many civil wars in Africa. Some categories of people try to express their superiority through fierce competitions and wars (Fearon, and Laitin 4). Unfortunately, the significant variances among the communities in the region could drive them to view and perceive each other as an enemy. For example, Islamic communities and Christians could treat each other as enemies due to their theological differences and beliefs. Likewise, persons from one community could treat each other as brothers and sisters while taking those from other communities as enemies. Hence, diversity has been a key contributor to the rampant civil wars and conflicts in the region.

Further, religious extremists serve as one of the major forces behind the rampant conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa (Basedau 3). Different religious factions have been linked to conflicts and wars in different parts of the region. Varied groups of people uphold strong stances in specific religious identities and theological understandings. Unfortunately, such variances could end up in conflicts that may attract fierce wars as each religious group strives to attract more followers and gain dominance. For example, Islamic groups have been fighting with Christians. Every religious group believes that its actions are righteous and acceptable.

Additionally, European imperialism and colonialism that led to the establishment of artificial borders in Sub-Saharan Africa contribute to the constant chaos, conflicts, and wars in the region (Okumu 280). Initially, residents of the region used to travel and settle with little or no restrictions. As such, each group of people would determine their most preferred areas for settlement. For example, farmers would look for places with climatic and soil conditions that are suitable for farming. Unluckily, the colonialist introduced undesired restrictions that rendered different sections in the region appear as individual belongings. Subsequently, every nation and community strives to protect the new borders. Unluckily, conflicts, chaos, and civil wars would occur when those treated as outsiders attempt to enter other communities’ territories. Therefore, people in the region could still be sharing the natural resources if not for the European-imposed boundaries.

From the above analytical literature, a key question emerges: How is climate change linked to the conflicts and civil wars in Sub-Saharan Africa?

Research Method

This study would rely on a qualitative research method to facilitate the generation of more details through the use of personal inferences and understandings from available information (Rahman 104). Accordingly, this study relies primarily on secondary sources of data. Following the nature of this study, reliance on secondary sources of data serves as the most suitable approach to ensure timely completion and delivery of a quality report. Thus, purposive sampling would be employed to determine the most appropriate and highly-relevant resources of data using specific search terms that entail climate change, Sub-Saharan Africa, civil wars, and conflicts. Besides, critical analysis and evaluation of existing literature would be done in an attempt to elaborate on how climate change facilitates and exacerbates conflicts and civil wars among communities living in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Findings and Discussions

As climate change unfolds, highly-valuable natural resources that entail arable land and clean water become scarce. Specifically, Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing climate change that has attracted undesired outcomes that entail extreme weather conditions (prolonged droughts, floods, and a rise in temperatures). Accordingly, the different communities residing in the region endeavor to sustain their lives, their crops, and livestock by protecting the available resources (Tadesse, and Dereje 43). People with access to clean water and arable land would like to preserve and protect such resources from invasion by other communities. Unfortunately, the communities that do not have access to the limited resources would fight for them. Thus, civil wars prevail as communities compete for ownership and access to the available resources.

Climate change exacerbates poverty among communities living in Sub-Saharan Africa. The unpredictable and extreme weather conditions have rendered agriculture unfruitful. For instance, extended droughts would result in the destruction of crops and the death of livestock (Ahmed et al. 144). As a result, affected communities could opt to invade and rob their neighbors because they do not have other resources, especially finances, for purchasing basic needs such as food. Unluckily, such acts could attract more conflicts that may facilitate fierce wars. Communities whose crops and livestock succumb to extreme weather conditions would be left in dire poverty that demands immediate reactions for survival. As such, the affected communities would do virtually anything and everything to secure basic needs. Unfortunately, their unwanted acts of stealing from their neighbors could lead to retaliatory attacks. Eventually, the involved groups would treat each other as an enemy, a perception that could be transferred from one generation to the next.

Adverse consequences of climate change could prompt authorities to provide relief foods and other basic services to affected communities. Unfortunately, a rampant is the issue of corruption in the region could facilitate inefficiencies and unfair distribution of the services and products (Murshed and Saadat 188). Specifically, leaders could provide and care for their ethnic groups, relatives, and family members. Besides, corruption would trigger the provision of excess products and services to particular groups of people. Subsequently, the neediest and vulnerable individuals may not receive the vital services, while those who do not deserve assistance benefit from the donations. As a result, each group of people would be competing and fighting for government-sponsored products and services. Since the competition is not healthy, conflicts and wars could ensue. Weaker communities would treat the dominant and superior ones as their enemies.     

Moreover, climate change would facilitate the migration of people within and out of Sub-Saharan Africa (Serdeczny et al. 10). Precisely, the adverse weather conditions that include a rise in temperatures, prolonged droughts, and floods would displace people from their initial areas of residence. For instance, people would be moving out of flooded regions and those experiencing high cases of malaria due to heavy infestation by mosquitoes. As affected persons move from one point to the other, they meet with other people. Besides, the migrants would struggle to secure better and safer places of residence. Similarly, rural-urban migration would intensify as people try to find alternative sources of income and livelihood. As a result, urban centers would be congested by persons from varied cultural backgrounds. Unfortunately, such practices could facilitate the growth of conflicts, especially where the migrants make a forceful entrance into specific parts of the region. That is, the initial residents could find migrants as unwelcome intruders. Persons from varied religious, ethnic, political, and cultural backgrounds would converge. As a result, chaos and wars could ensue due to their diversities.

Similarly, more instances of conflicts and animosity would prevail in densely populated parts of Sub-Saharan Africa following the fight for basic social amenities including, schools, churches, and hospitals (Baumann and Kuemmerle 680). Since the adverse impacts of climate change would affect several people, social facilities would be congested while vital services and products like drugs may become more scarce. For instance, hospitals would be receiving numerous patients due to the rising cases of malaria and other infectious diseases, malnutrition, injuries from floods, and other related ailments. As a result, people would be struggling to gain access to the necessary facilities and benefit from their services. Unfortunately, the corrupt could take advantage of the situation to serve particular individuals while leaving the rest to fight for their lives. Besides, residents would be fighting for the establishment of additional facilities at nearby locations. Also, some patients could perceive that healthcare providers are unwilling to assist and treat them. Collectively, more conflicts and animosity would develop as each person and community struggle to acquire limited services and social facilities.

Additionally, authorities attract further animosity as they respond to the impacts of climate change. For example, some countries, including Kenya, have been forcefully evicting forest encroachers in an attempt to restore forest cover (Cavanagh et al. 309). Unfortunately, most of the authorities do not have suitable strategies for resetting the evictees. Instead, the involved governments could use excessive forces to evict the encroachers and leave them without basic needs, including shelter, food, and clothing. As a result, most of them end up being landless and more impoverished. Subsequently, the evicted communities would perceive that their governments and proponents of the evictions do not value and dislike them. Thus, the evictees could attack their neighbors or hate them in retaliation. Therefore, if not for climate change, people could be staying in peace and harmony at virtually every corner of the Sub-Sahara region.

Conclusion and Recommendation

Climate change would attract adverse social impacts on Sub-Saharan Africa by exacerbating animosity among the affected communities. Even so, the adverse effects of climate would indirectly facilitate the growth of hostility through various ways that include a decline of natural resources such as clean water and arable land as well as a further scarcity of social amenities and relevant services and products. Factors that include a rise in the number of infectious diseases like malaria, an increase in casualties, and victims of natural calamities such as floods and migrations would lead to congestions and stiff competitions. As a result, communities living in Sub-Saharan Africa could encounter more conflicts and hatred as they struggle to access and acquire the limited resources and services. Similarly, governments’ efforts to respond to adverse impacts of climate change would trigger hatred and conflicts among the affected communities. Also, unfairness and acts of corruption during the distribution of state-sponsored products and services would exacerbate animosity and disputes in the region. Accordingly, interested parties and governments falling within Sub-Saharan Africa should establish suitable strategies for preventing and addressing conflicts that may emerge. Specifically, the engage parties should endeavor to fight corruption to ensure fairness with regards to the distribution of government-sponsored services and products. Moreover, communities living in Sub-Saharan Africa should strive to understand and appreciate their diversities to facilitate better social-wellbeing and togetherness. Every person in the region should exhibit high levels of humanity to ensure that they assist each other during instances of natural disasters and calamities.

 Suggestion for Further Research Studies

Findings from this study assert that climate change act as one of the leading causes of conflicts and civil wars in Sub-Saharan Africa. Accordingly, further research studies should be conducted to determine the extent and frequency at which each impact of climate change influence animosity in the region. Besides, more studies should be conducted to find out if every part of Sub-Saharan Africa experiences similar social impacts from climate change.

Works Cited

Ahmed, Haseeb, et al. “Economic burden of livestock disease and drought in northern Tanzania.” (2019).

Basedau, Matthias. “The Rise of Religious Armed Conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa: No Simple Answers.” GIGA Focus Afrika, no. 4, Aug. 2017, pp. 1–11. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=afh&AN=124960547&site=ehost-live.

Baumann, Matthias, and Tobias Kuemmerle. “The impacts of warfare and armed conflict on land systems.” Journal of land use science 11.6 (2016): 672-688.

Cavanagh, Connor Joseph, et al. “Critical ecosystem infrastructure: Governing the forests–Water Nexus in the Kenyan Highlands.” Water Justice (2018): 302-315.

Chiluwa, Innocent. “Radicalist discourse: a study of the stances of Nigeria’s Boko Haram and Somalia’s Al Shabaab on Twitter.” Journal of Multicultural Discourses 10.2 (2015): 214-235.

Elbadawi, Ibrahim, and Nicholas Sambanis. “Why Are There So Many Civil Wars in Africa? Understanding and Preventing Violent Conflict.” Journal of African Economies, vol. 9, no. 3, Oct. 2000, pp. 244–269. EBSCOhost, doi:https://academic.oup.com/jae/issue.

Fearon, James D., and David D. Laitin. “Ethnicity, insurgency, and civil war.” American political science review 97.1 (2003): 75-90.

Howard, Rhoda E. “Civil conflict in sub-Saharan Africa: internally generated causes.” International Journal 51.1 (1996): 27-53.

Murshed, Muntasir, and Syed Yusuf Saadat. “The Impacts of Corruption on the Efficacy of Public Expenditure on Health: Evidence from Bangladesh.” Proceedings of the 2nd International Conference on Sustainable Development, Dhaka, Bangladesh. 2018.

Okumu, Wafula. “Resources and border disputes in Eastern Africa.” Journal of Eastern African Studies 4.2 (2010): 279-297.

Rahman, Md Shidur. “The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches and Methods in Language” Testing and Assessment” Research: A Literature Review.” Journal of Education and Learning 6.1 (2017): 102-112.

Serdeczny, Olivia, et al. “Climate change impacts in Sub-Saharan Africa: from physical changes to their social repercussions.” Regional Environmental Change 17.6 (2017): 1585-1600.

Straus, Scott. “Wars Do End! Changing Patterns of Political Violence in Sub-Saharan Africa.” African Affairs, vol. 111, no. 443, Apr. 2012, pp. 179–201. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1093/afraf/ads015.

Tadesse, Gezu, and Moges Dereje. “Impact of climate change on smallholder dairy production and coping mechanism in Sub-Saharan Africa-review.” Agricultural Research & Technology 16 (2018).

Villiers, Shirley. “FACTSHEET: Conflict-Related Deaths In Sub-Saharan Africa”. Africa Check, 2015, https://africacheck.org/factsheets/conflict-related-deaths-in-sub-saharan-africa/. Accessed 2 Mar 2020.

Climate change is a major topic of concern globally

Climate change is a major topic of concern globally. Countries have come together to identify some of the things that can be done to combat climate change and its effects. On the national level, the United States executive headed by the president and its branches has been instrumental in enforcing and implementing laws and policies on climate change. The major branches of the executive that are concerned with climate change are the departments of defense and transport. The Department of Transport oversees the transport system in the whole country. Emission of carbon from the burning of fossil fuels is one of the major contributors of global warming and consequently climate change. The Department of Transportation intervenes on the issue of climate change by setting standards in the fuel that reduce carbon emission and encourage the use of non-fossil fuels such as electric vehicles.

The Department of Defense is tasked with planning for consequences of climate change. For example, events such as wildfires, earthquakes, and floods al pose a threat to the security both nationally and globally. The third department of the executive that is concerned with fighting climate change is the Department of Energy. Fossil fuels are the main source of energy in many countries. The generation of electricity and fuels in motor vehicles release carbon and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The greenhouse effect from these gases contributes to global warming. The Department of Energy implements policies of efficient energy use, such as the use of nuclear energy to generate electricity. Climate change is a collective action problem because everyone contributes and is affected in one way or another, and therefore it takes collective responsibility to address it. It is difficult to encourage people to make changes in their lives to address climate change. The main reason for this is that they think their individual actions make no difference compared to the billions of people on earth.

client’s first draft- work on this

Introduction

Apple Inc. (AAPL) is an American high-tech company. It was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Gary Wozniak and Ronald Gerald Wayne on April 1, 1976, and named Apple Computer Inc., headquartered in Cupertino, California. The current CEO of Apple is Tim Cook taking over as CEO after the death of Steve Jobs. Tim Cook took over as CEO of Apple after the death of Steve Jobs, but not everyone is so optimistic about his performance that there are mixed opinions about him. The purpose of this paper is to explore how Cook’s leadership skills have led Apple to success. To further explore this issue, this paper analyzes Cook’s leadership style and how he achieves social sustainability through diversity. The aim of this study is to examine Tim Cook’s leadership style and discuss the his role in the achievement of organizational objectives and dealing with challenges such as cross-culture, sustainability, CSR, gender pay gap and the impact of this leader within Apple. In order to supplement the gaps in the literature, this paper uses the transformational theory to discuss how Cook’s leadership style optimizes the talent of employees and how to pull into the relationship with employees. This research is more conducive to a comprehensive understanding of leadership style, the impact of leadership on organizations and leadership practices in organizations.

Background Apple Inc. (AAPL) is an American high-tech company. It was founded by Steve Jobs, Steve Gary Wozniak and Ronald Gerald Wayne on April 1, 1976, and named Apple Computer Inc., and changed its name to Apple on January 9, 2007. Headquartered in Cupertino, California. The current CEO of Apple is Tim Cook.Part 1

1.1 leadership styles

Tim Cook’s leadership for Apple since 2011 has contributed positively towards its success. Mr. Cook, who succeeded Mr. Jobs after his death in 2011, has been described as more methodical in his focus on finance and social good than Mr. Jobs’s single-mindedness in design. Apple under Cook has a more relaxed work environment, but is equally demanding and detail-oriented. Katy Huberty (2020) said that the financial data is the best proof, since Cook took over, Apple’s market value has increased by nearly 140 billion DOLLARS, about 500 billion dollars, 100 billion dollars more than Exxon Mobil’s market value. In many ways, Apple has excelled under Cook. Of the billion iphones Apple has sold, 87 percent were sold under Cook. Cook believes diversity in leadership is important. Diversity is not just a consideration for HR departments. In fact, people with diverse backgrounds working together can generate innovative thinking, significantly increase a company’s bottom line, and transparency is the key to all doors. In the face of questions about apple’s working conditions and standards for its employees, Mr. Cook gave the world a look at how Apple people work, which not only raised Apple’s profile but also set an example for other manufacturers. Cook is also good at getting to know customers, spending time visiting Apple stores and reading emails from customers. In the store, Cook has an emotional sense of the store and apple’s image.(Business school, 2013) In addition, Cook pays more attention to environmental protection. Most of the materials of iPhone and iPad are made of recyclable materials. He also pays attention to charity and launches various low-cost educational ipads, which makes Apple have a stronger corporate responsibility.If Jobs was a craftsman who only talked to products, Cook is more of a businessman who listens. Cook has a thorough consideration of the market, so his products will be highly relevant to The Times. The iPhone5s has a 4-inch screen, uses an A6 processor, and has a resolution of 1136 x 640, up from 960 x 640. The iPhone 6 has a 4.7-inch screen, a 1334-by-750-pixel resolution, and an A8 processor. The biggest differences between the iPad4 and the iPad3 are the facetimeHD camera and processor upgrades. Under cook’s leadership, Apple’s culture, especially its secrecy culture, has undergone significant changes. In Cook’s era, Apple is no longer a company full of suspense. At the launch of the iPhone6, for example, although cook mimicked jobs’ “one more thing”, almost everyone knew that he was going to unveil a smartwatch and that the iPhone6 had been revealed months before its release.Tim Cook’s leadership for Apple since 2011 has contributed positively towards its success. Cook is more methodical in his focus on finance. He is also regarded as socially capable compared to Jobs’s focused approach in design. Apple under Cook has a more relaxed work environment, but is equally demanding and detail-oriented. Huberty (2020) quotes financial data as proof of Cook’s success in his time as CEO, citing Apple’s market value having increased by nearly $140 billion. Of the different products sold over the years since Cook took over, Cook’s leadership oversaw the sale of more than 87 percent in sales (Huberty, 2020). Cook believes diversity in leadership is important. Diversity is not just a consideration for HR departments. In fact, people with diverse backgrounds working together can generate innovative thinking, significantly increase a company’s bottom line, and transparency is the key to all doors (Cetin & Kinik, 2015). In the face of questions about apple’s working conditions and standards for its employees, Cook gave the world a look at how Apple people work, which not only raised Apple’s profile but also set an example for other manufacturers. Cook is also good at getting to know customers, spending time visiting Apple stores and reading emails from customers. This is an element of charismatic leadership that was not seen before at Apple. In the store, Cook creates emotional connections with his employees and customers, thereby boosting Apple’s image (Business school, 2013). His transformational style of leadership has led to better employee morale at Apple and considerable positive change in public image of the company.1.2 Changes in management styleTim Cook began overseeing administrative matters such as staff promotions and business reporting structures in 2011. Cook has also stepped up efforts to communicate with Apple employees, often sending numerous emails to all Apple employees calling them “teams” in an effort to bring them closer to the company. Cook reorganized the company’s large education division, which he split into a sales team and a marketing team. While the move smoothen Apple’s organizational structure, it also increased the responsibilities of Phil Schiller, the company’s senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, and John Brandon, its senior vice president of sales channels. (Ma Qiao, 2011)1.2 A Focus on Employees and DiversityWhen it comes to the future of Apple, Cook has made it clear that he believes in the importance of diversity. Three women were appointed to the company’s management team, and the company declared a pledge to actively recruit people from underrepresented minorities. He started issuing an annual report on diversity and inclusion, which he continues to do today. Additionally, Apple has established Diversity Network Associations and collaborated with groups that support the advancement of women in the technology industry. There has been an increase in the amount of female-oriented Apple product releases (Cetin & Kinik, 2015). For the first time ever, commercials for Apple products included a greater diversity of individuals to promote their products. In Cook’s leadership style, openness and transparency are characteristics that distinguish it from the others. Leaders of successful and strong companies that practice democratic leadership are better equipped to comprehend the demands of their employees and customers (Ghasabeh et al. 2015). Employees at Cook’s company feel appreciated as a result of his democratic leadership style, which places a strong emphasis on creating a positive work environment. Cook takes employee concerns into seriously, and the company has policies and procedures in place to ensure that their well-being is taken care of. As a consequence of this element, Apple’s employees are more inclined to be concerned about resolving the problems of others. As a result, Cook has guided Apple in the development of products that are more affordable for those with middle- and low-incomes. A product such as the iPod is an example of this kind of product.1.3 Social sustainability and challenges

It has also allowed the company to achieve social sustainability by adapting diversity concerning gender; race, religion, culture and other aspects helped the company to deal with the challenges of the gender pay gap and cross-culture. Cook sees the future as diverse and believes the most diverse workforce will produce the best products. In 2014, however, apple’s first employee diversity shows male staff ratio reached 70%, to close the gap between employee sex ratio, apple will comb more women specification, so take the initiative to contact the junior middle school, high school and college women, and make the company spend more time to communicate with the traditional black university. Programs like apple’s WWDC scholarship will help attract more diverse people to developer conferences and begin to improve the tech industry’s staggering gender and racial imbalance. (Yang Ting, 2016) On the other hand, Apple narrowed the gap in employee racial and gender treatment by analyzing salary, bonus, stock allowance and other data. In 2015, Apple granted annual stock allowance to sales staff for the first time, which improved the employee diversity.In the complex environment, Apple’s transnational operation and management has to face the management of people, things and things in different cultural atmospheres and backgrounds of strategic alliance companies and employees in different countries. The four layers of apple culture that Cook has established are: self-centered, articulating the company’s values; Clarifying values and adapting them to local cultural trends; Focus on customers, greatly adjust the value of the company to adapt to local culture; Create shared values of third party culture across cultures of global corporate culture.The change in management style and focus of Apple through Cook has also allowed the company to achieve social sustainability by adapting diversity concerning gender; race, religion, culture and other aspects. As a result, the steps taken through management policy changes have helped the company to deal with the challenges of the gender pay gap and cross-culture (Kim, 2020). Cook sees the future as diverse and believes the most diverse workforce will produce the best products. Apple has undertaken several policy changes including corporate social sustainability efforts that focus on diversity. For example, programs like apple’s WWDC scholarship will help attract more diverse people to developer conferences and begin to improve the tech industry’s staggering gender and racial imbalance (Yang Ting, 2016). On the other hand, Apple narrowed the gap in employee racial and gender treatment by analyzing salary, bonus, stock allowance and other data. The issue of social sustainability is important for multinational leaders and managers like Cook to understand since it is a problem that affects the whole planet. Tim Cook, the CEO of Apple, is well aware that the global economy has expanded well beyond its natural borders in recent years. For regions and countries, Tasnim (2018) found that sustainable development is represented by the creation of creative environments, which represents a massive competitive challenge for managers to meet. Leaders of political and think tank organizations should devote more time and effort to ensure that working conditions and game rules are adhered to, rather than concentrating only on particular processes.1.4 Internal Mmanagement

The impact of Tim Cook’s leadership style internally on the organisation is the optimisation of employees’ talents and skills (Kim, 2020). Cook can aim higher by maximizing the potential of his existing employees. The logic behind Cook is: 1. Most people on the team are underutilized. 2. All abilities can be brought to the table with the right kind of leadership. 3. Intelligence and ability can be multiplied without the need for greater investment. When Apple needed a division to grow quickly with constant resources, Cook didn’t expand the sales force. Instead, he spread key talent across different jobs, spent a week studying the problem and working with other departments to come up with a solution. He changed the sales model to a competence-centric approach that made better use of the best salespeople and deep industry experts in the sales cycle. In the end, the department achieved double-digit annual growth without adding a single new employee.

Because of Cook’s multiplication logic, it has led to the exceptional organizational success of Apple as it became the first company to reach 3 trillion USD worth (Leswing, 2022).

The impact of Cook’s leadership style internally on the organisation is the optimisation of employees’ talents and skills (Kim, 2020). Cook can aim higher by maximizing the potential of his existing employees. The logic behind Cook is that most people on the team are underutilized. Secondly, he is aware that abilities can be brought to the table with the right kind of leadership. Third, intelligence and ability can be multiplied without the need for greater investment. When Apple needed a division to grow quickly with constant resources, Cook didn’t expand the sales force. Instead, he spread key talent across different jobs, spent a week studying the problem and working with other departments to come up with a solution. He changed the sales model to a competence-centric approach that made better use of the best salespeople and deep industry experts in the sales cycle. Because of Cook’s multiplication logic, it has led to the exceptional organizational success of Apple as it became the first company to reach 3 trillion USD worth (Leswing, 2022). In the end, the department achieved double-digit annual growth without adding a single new employee.Part 2

2.1 The importance of leadership

Leadership has core importance in the success of organizations (Bratton, 2020). As a matter of fact, leadership affects the direction of strategy. If an organization does not have a leadership team with appropriate capabilities and their respective functions, that is, without strong leadership, no matter how good the strategy is, it will fail. For example, to make a merger, a company needs leaders across its business units and functions to integrate best practices and generate synergies while trying to maintain normal operations. In addition, leaders at all levels of both sides of the merger should not regard the merger as merely a technical level of work, but should encourage staff morale and move towards higher goals. Leadership will also form unique values within an organization (Joanne B. Ciulla, 1999). Employees are the shadow of leaders, and the leadership of leaders is the fundamental reason for the formation of organizational culture. With outstanding leadership rather than coerciveness, leaders can make employees see their values and beliefs verified effectively in practice, which can pave a sound and complete organizational culture for their success.

2.2 Transformational Leader Styles

The transformational leader encourages followers by acting as a role model, motivating through inspiration, stimulating intellectually, and giving individualized consideration for needs and goals.( Bass, B. M. , & Avolio, B. J. .,1994) The leadership style of Tim Cook is transformational as he trusts others and empowers employees, which are the elements of transformational leadership (Cetin & Kinik, 2015).Tim Cook has given Apple employees the right to discuss working conditions, working conditions, and compensation in public, and has encouraged any employee who has concerns to raise them in a way that is most comfortable for them internally or externally, including through their managers, any Apple managers, support staff, business partners, or business practices. His goal was to make sure that every employee was paid fairly in order to close the wage gap between men and women and between different races.Under cook, apple has introduced some employees to a new program called “BlueSky”, in which a small number of employees can work on their favorite projects for a few weeks to help solve the flexibility problem. It’s a bit like Google’s “20 per cent time” scheme, where employees can spend up to a fifth of their time working on projects outside their normal responsibilities. At Apple’s press conference, a more humble Mr. Cook went out of his way to praise his employees, much more warmly than Mr. Jobs did. Cook has always given personal care to his employees and helped them grow as they cope with challenges.A transformational leader builds the capabilities of employees to lead (Ghasabeh et al., 2015), As Tim Cook has done for its employees by empowering them for projects and leading the teams. After Jobs’ death, Cook began making changes to Apple’s organizational structure as the new CEO. Apple is led by the CEO and executive team, and at the first level, power is distributed among the CFO, COO, retail, legal, software engineering, and so on. The executive team consists of all senior vice presidents reporting directly to the CEO. At the second level, functions north are further divided into subdivisions, and the SVP further distributes authority to the SVP at the third pole. All important decisions and actions are made with the intervention of the CEO. (M Tasnim., 2018) Organizational business is divided into several sub-units. At Apple, organizational responsibility is led by Cook, and the business is divided into several divisions: control, global outsourcing, Apple’s online store, Apple Care, education, Internet services, marketing, and communications. All of these businesses report to the CEO. Working in this organizational environment, all employees know their job responsibilities and management expectations, and they are professional in their work. In addition, Cook set up an organic structure in the design department, where employees’ decisions and ideas are respected, they have the freedom to use their own ideas in projects and are encouraged to write long letters and create (eWeek,Agu2010), which is why Cook, the underdog after Jobs’ death, still has a large following. And put Apple on the list of $1 trillion companies.The transformational leader encourages followers by acting as a role model, motivating through inspiration, stimulating intellectually, and giving individualized consideration for needs and goals (Bass & Avolio, 1994). The leadership style of Tim Cook is transformational as he trusts others and empowers employees, which are the elements of transformational leadership (Cetin & Kinik, 2015).Tim Cook has given Apple employees the right to discuss working conditions, working conditions, and compensation in public, and has encouraged any employee who has concerns to raise them in a way that is most comfortable for them internally or externally, including through their managers, any Apple managers, support staff, business partners, or business practices. His goal was to make sure that every employee was paid fairly in order to close the wage gap between men and women and between different races. Under cook, apple has introduced some employees to a new program called “BlueSky”, in which a small number of employees can work on their favorite projects for a few weeks to help solve the flexibility problem (Leswing, 2022). At Apple’s press conference, a humbler Cook went out of his way to praise his employees, much more warmly than Mr. Jobs did. Cook has always given personal care to his employees and helped them grow as they cope with challenges. A combination of his charismatic style, democratic approach, and transformative methodology have led Apple to become one of the best firms of the current century.A transformational leader builds the capabilities of employees to lead (Ghasabeh et al., 2015). As Tim Cook has done for its employees by empowering them for projects and leading the teams. After taking over leadership, Cook began making changes to Apple’s organizational structure as the new CEO. Apple is led by the CEO and executive team, and at the first level, power is distributed among the functional groups made up of various heads such as CFO, COO, retail, legal, software engineering, and so on. The executive team consists of all senior vice presidents reporting directly to the CEO. At the second level, functions are further divided into subdivisions, and the SVP further distributes authority to the VP at the third management level. All important decisions and actions are made with the intervention of the CEO (Tasnim, 2018). Organizational business is divided into several sub-units. At Apple, organizational responsibility is led by Cook, and the business is divided into several divisions: control, global outsourcing, Apple’s online store, Apple Care, education, Internet services, marketing, and communications. All of these businesses report to the CEO. Working in this organizational environment, all employees know their job responsibilities and management expectations, and they are professional in their work. In addition, Cook set up an organic structure in the design department, where employees’ decisions and ideas are respected, they have the freedom to use their own ideas in projects and are encouraged to write long letters and create (eWeek, 2010), which is why Cook, the underdog after Jobs’ death, still has a large following. Largely, Cook has been very successful using a transformative leadership methodology that also combines democratic and charismatic styles in dealing with the employees.Conclusion

The conclusion of this paper shows that Cook believes in diversity and believes that employees can fully respect and affirm their ideas and opinions by establishing an organic organization. In order to narrow the pay gap caused by different races, genders and cultures of Apple employees, Apple provides stock allowances and bonuses to employees to narrow the compensation package. Through the in-depth discussion of Cook’s leadership style, it is considered that Cook’s leadership style belongs to transformational leadership style, which is also related to the theory of change. This leadership style allows Cook to empower employees and optimize their talents, which is critical to the success of the organization.

Mr. Cook’s leadership style has lost its intense perfectionism and is more focused on performance, profits and earnings growth. In this case, Apple lost its pride and personality, and became more interested in catering to consumers. If possible, we need to improve the structure of the marketing model, more in the style of Jobs, add innovation, and bring more surprises to Apple customers.

From the discussion provided, Cook believes in diversity and believes in putting the needs of employees first as a company policy. The recognition of the input that employees have on putting Apple ahead is a large competitive edge that has only been realized after Cook took over. His transformation style of leadership combines democratic and charismatic approaches to enable full impact and utilization of top talent where employee ideas and opinions are considered in the management and product development. As a result, employee satisfaction is higher. In order to narrow the pay gap caused by different races, genders and cultures of Apple employees, Apple provides stock allowances and bonuses to employees to narrow the compensation package. The exploitation of the theory of change and specifically for Apple reveals that the organization’s choice in Cook was the right one for Apple. This leadership style allows Cook to empower employees and optimize their talents, which is critical to the success of the organization. Apple lost its intense perfectionism and is more focused on performance, profits and earnings growth. As a recommendation, Apple needs to improve the structure of the marketing model, add innovation, and bring more surprises to Apple customers.Reference

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