French Canadians, and English Canadians Essay

Throughout the 20th century, the relations between the French and the English in Canada had a significant negative impact on Canadian history. The defining moments that changed French-English relations in Canada were the WWI conscription crisis, the creation and the governing of the Union Nationale Party in the 1930s, and Quebec’s Quite Revolution in the 1960s. The WWI conscription crisis considerably weakened the relations between the French and the English in Canada during WWI. By 1917, the casualty rates at the front in France and Flanders exceeded 109 4891 soldiers. As the number of volunteer soldiers was only about 64 3392 men, the lack of reinforcements forced Prime Minister Robert Borden to make conscription or compulsory military service a law for Canadians to ensure victory in war. However, many French Canadians opposed forcing men to enlist in the armed forces because they did not want to get involved in a European war and felt no obligation to defend France who had abandoned Quebec to defend its culture and language on its own in 1759. On the other hand, the English felt an obligation to defend Britain and could not comprehend why Quebec had only provided twenty percent3 of the volunteers in proportion to its population to defend France. As a result, the social unity of the French and the English in the country was threatened. The vote for conscription was split fifty-fifty4 along linguistic lines and the tragic outcome of this crisis was that civil war almost broke out in Canada when the French rioted in Montreal against fighting a foreign war. The demonstrations and protests in Quebec against conscription and the mistrust of the English who felt that a vote against conscription was a vote for Germany’s victory proved that conscription was disastrous to French-English social relations because of national unity had been destroyed for only 45 0005 recruited soldiers. Similarly, the long-term effects of the WWI conscription crisis caused extensive damage to French-English unity and proved to be a disaster in politics for the Conservative Party. Because Robert Borden and the Conservative Party passed laws such as the Military Voters Act and the War Time Elections Act to make conscription a law during WWI by giving votes to soldiers and women, the French turned against the Conservative Party because they saw them as the representatives of the English. These long-term political disasters that resulted from conscription crisis continued to demonstrate the weakened  French and English relations to this day since Quebec had no Conservative Party premier for the past hundred and fifteen years.6 Because of the violent social conflicts such as riots and bitter political catastrophes such as the French mistrust of the Conservative Party, the WWI conscription crisis strained French-English relations and created bitter feelings that would affect the peacetime. Another defining moment in Canadian history that greatly weakened French English relations was the creation and the government of the Union Nationale Party in Quebec in the 1930s. During the Great Depression, the agricultural industry’s prices plummeted, forced over fifty percent7 of Quebec’s population to migrate to cities and search for work. In 1936, Maurice Duplessis from the newly formed Union Nationale Party became Quebec’s Premier and took seventy-two of the ninety seats8 in the government, with his promises to help French rural society and improve labor rights for the French factory workers who were struggling in the cities. However, during its time in power, the Duplessis government resisted change and encouraged the preservation of French values and traditions by adopting nationalistic policies and continuing to allow the English to dominate the majority of Quebec’s business. The Duplessis government ruled in an almost totalitarian manner to protect the French culture and managed to hold power of Quebec until 1959. They vigorously protected French values and beliefs during the Great Depression, but they failed to protect the French and English business relations that quickly weakened. They promises of the Union Nationale to provide protection for French workers with better labor laws such as higher minimum wages, workers’ compensation, and pensions quickly raised English suspicion and mistrust toward the French because these capitalists owned and ran most of the corporations in Quebec. The fact that the Union Nationale saw the English corporations as exploiting the poor and wanted certain labor rights for French workers did not strengthen the economical relations between the English began to distrust the French as they saw them nationalizing and beginning to pose threats to their business profits. In addiction to that, the English and French were further divided by the social conflicts caused by the governing policies of the Union Nationale. This occurred because the Union Nationale government encouraged the Catholic  Church to control education and other social programs in Quebec, obstructed to federal encroachment on provincial rights during WWI, and preserved traditional values and beliefs of the French such as the nobility of the plough to prevent them from being assimilated into the English culture. This destabilized French English political, economical and predominantly social affairs in Canada because the French withdrew into a defensive shell and viewed any English intrusion and change to Quebec as harmful to the preservation of their culture. Therefore, the governing policies of the Union Nationale in the 1930s created greater French nationalism and the desire for separation from the rest of Canada to preserve their culture and weakened the relations between French and English Canadians by planting the seeds for another major conflict that would arrive suddenly and once again disrupt the nation’s unity. Indeed, the arrival of the next conflict that split the French and the English in Canada did arrive suddenly between 1950-66 and was marked as Quebec’s Quite Revolution, which was disastrous for the nation’s unity. When Maurice Duplessis of the Union Nationale Party died in 1959, Jean Lesage became Quebec’s new Liberal Premier, winning fifty-one and a half percent9 of the popular vote. This ended Quebec’s isolationist policy and started Maitres chez nous or Masters in our own house policy, which served as a strategic base for the upcoming changes in Quebec. The Quiet Revolution was a period of non-violent steady reform, modernization in Quebec, and the redefinition of the role of French Canadians who wanted equality with the English within Confederation. However, the end of this peaceful movement came suddenly in 1966 with the creation of nationalist groups such as the Parti Revolution who adopted separatist ideologies and took control of the province of Quebec that was desperately seeking equality. Although the goal of the Quiet Revolution was to make French equivalent within the Confederation, its own ideology failed to strengthen the social and economical relations with the English Canadians. The new Liberal government refused to accept federal funding to modernize education, improve the labor code for French workers, and nationalize hydro-electric facilities in Quebec. As a result, the provincial taxes on individuals and corporations in Quebec became the third highest10 in Canada. Consequently, bitter social and  economical conflicts occurred between the English federalists and Quebec’s business owners who became infuriated with the French because they refused federal funding in order to achieve greater power and therefore equality within Confederation. Furthermore, even greater political and social conflicts between the French Canadians and English Canadians were result of Quebec’s Quiet Revolution. These major arguments were initiated in 1964 when the Liberal Party forced the Federal government to grant Quebec the right to opt out of thirty11 of the country’s cost sharing programs with full compensation. The English in Canada as well as the federal government were greatly angered since only the province of Quebec was given this special status and their political differences with the French widened because the French did not see their special status as privilege, but rather as a way to gain more control and improve their position within Canada. Therefore, Quebec’s Quiet Revolution was a catastrophic failure for French-English unity in Canada as it caused conflicts between federalists and nationalists in Quebec and in the federal government and failed to make any two provinces equal within Confederation. Throughout the twentieth century it was evident that the French and the English engaged in severe social, political, and economical conflicts that prevented Canada from merging as a country. The WWI conscription crisis in 1917 bitterly split the nation at a time when national unity was important to ensure victory in the war as it made the French feel like a minority and caused great mistrust of the English who viewed them as being unpatriotic to the country. The government of the Union Nationale during the 1930s caused even stronger breakdowns to French-English relations as it build a defensive shell around Quebec and isolated the French from the rest of Canada in an attempt to protect their traditions. Subsequently, Quebec’s Quit Revolution from 1960-66 failed to bring an end to these conflicts as it caused greater English mistrust and resulted in the formation of militant groups in Quebec who believed that only a violent revolution would finally allow them to achieve total independence and equality within Confederation.

Customer Experience

Customer experience is practically the complete make up of a client’s transaction over the internet. It is the general span of a customer’s behavior on how he perceives the products and services, how much he avails of these commodities and how he reacts passively to the presented info on the company’s websites. One more approach to regard customer experience can be pointed out in the way clients tend to integrate their objectives in the overall product presentation of the business entity. Apparently, Web companies are very concerned about the customer experience principles because these factors readily provide the big picture of the firm’s performance. The main reason is that when they provide better customer experience they tend to retain their existing clients instead of acquiring new ones. Add to that that the advertising mileage benefits if a client’s customer   experience is good as being considered in â€Å"customer advocacy† of promotion to their fellow consumers (Allen, 2005). This is true since they consider losing a client to a competitor is just a click away. In the modern age of internet commerce, there are different types of data that online companies use to evaluate their respective customer experience magnitudes. One example is by collecting data which reflects the shopping activities of consumers. Another form of data being collected by Web firms is the kind of activities visitors do in their Web pages. These data can help evaluate the overall behavior of the clients while inside the company’s domain. Most shopping websites use software to track the actual inventory of their products as reflected by the number of purchases done online. One more data value being used by Web firms is in the aspect of passive customer satisfaction after sales. Some companies conduct small but efficient surveys in order to track the progress of the company whether it actually retains old customer, increase their numbers or losses them. These surveys are being presented through non-spam e-mails or ready to use platforms in the company’s web page. The new sets of technologies available today for customer experience development are almost always in the platform of computer software. Since Web companies do their transactions online, the only possible way to promote good customer experience is to provide clients with Web interface functions for their convenience. For example, the software SAP AG of TeaLeaf is being used by U.S. Airways to detect typographical errors in order entry. This helps the customers provide accurate data for ticket dispensing. Another example is by introducing do-it-yourself features in customized purchasing. The satisfaction of a client may now be tracked using ForeSee and iPerceptions platforms by asking survey questions from them. One more type of technology is the one that empowers customers to find answers through built-in search parameters like â€Å"FAQ† (Frequently Asked Questions) link. Kana Software makes it possible to increase the level of search hits of a customer who needs a quick answer to an inquiry. In summary, the Web firms are insinuating that their previous goals to enhance customer experience are actually paving the way for a more beneficial result in terms of their performance. With the technology and techniques in customized marketing, they have been experiencing a complete growth of sales and service requests from old and new customers. The US Airways ticketing sales have doubled while BasePro increased its revenue by 10% due to customized e-mail ads for its clients. They are now measuring success by considering how much of the customers are still doing business with them as well as how other clients are being drawn towards their Websites due to new technology make ups. References Allen, J., Reichheld, F., Hamilton, B. 2005. The Three â€Å"Ds† of Customer Experience. Working Knowledge-Harvard Business School. Retrieved May 13, 2008 from

Women and Gender Studies: the Yellow Wallpaper

The stories of The Yellow Wallpaper written by Charlotte Perkins Gilman and A Room of One’s Own by Virgina Woolf are important to view in their historical contexts. Both novels demonstrate that there are limits placed on women that prevent them from living complete lives. This demeans women and does not give them the same rights and privileges as men. The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrates the attitudes during the nineteenth century that concern female mental and psychical health.Whereas A Room of One’s Own explores whether women are capable of writing great literature and the obstacles that they are faced. Each story demonstrates an common idea that women are viewed as unequal to men and that they must work a lot harder to achieve the respect they wish to gain. Within each of these two novels the authors place the settings with great relevance to the stories morals. Within The Yellow Wallpaper, the narrator uses the wallpaper to symbolize an interpretation of something that affects her directly.As the story goes on, the wallpaper gains more and more significance. In the beginning it seems unpleasant, as it is ripped and is an â€Å"unclean yellow† (pg. 2). The pattern of the wallpaper fascinates the narrator due to its formless pattern, which the narrator tries to figure out how it is organized. She does so for hours and hours until she sees a ghostly pattern which one can only see in certain light. Once this pattern comes into focus she sees a desperate women who is looking for an escape from behind the main pattern, this resembles the bars of a cage.The narrator sees many women behind these bars trying to escape. This wallpaper represents the structure of women lives, their families and tradition. Gilman uses the wallpaper to show the domestic lives of many women who are trapped in their roles. Like wise to A Room of One’s Own, Woolf describes throughout her narrative that every women needs a room of their own, something that women are able to enjoy without any question by men. This room provides a woman with time and space to write and do things they are passionate about.During Woolf’s time, women very rarely enjoyed these types of luxuries. Women’s art was unable to be shown because women did not have a safe space to express themselves. She used the room as a symbol for much larger issues such as a women’s privacy, independence and the inequalities between men and women. As Woolf says within the story, until these inequalities are gone, women will remain as second-class and all of their literary achievements will go unnoticed. There are many gender inequalities presented within society even today.Within these two stories the inequalities between men and women are significant in the authors writing. Throughout The Yellow Wallpaper Gilman allows her readers to view the position of women within marriage and their economic dependence on men. when this story was officially published, people took it as a tale about women not a true reality of what women faced. With the domestic functions of a female and active work of males, women are remained as second-class citizens. This story reveals that gender division keeps women from achieving their full potential.John’s assumption that he is superior leads him in the misjudgement of his wife as he tries to â€Å"help† her. The narrator has no input into her own life and the only place she can control anything is within her mind. Inequality is also found throughout A Room of One’s Own, women are treated unequal within the narrators society as they have produced less literature then men. The narrator creates a women named Judith Shakespeare, who is the twin sister of William Shakespeare. She does so to show how society discriminates against women.Judith is seen to be equally as talented as her brother William but because of her gender she is not encouraged by their family and society. As Judith writes she is secr etive and feels very ashamed for writing. Men have dominance over women as shown throughout both stories, when Judith asks her father to not be married; her father beats her until she eventually commits suicide. Due to women being treated so differently, Woolf shows that even though Judith is just as talented as William she will never be as successful because she is a woman.The Yellow Wallpaper is a type of story where the narrator writes to herself. Her descent into madness is both seen subjectively and objectively as the narrator portrays. If Gilman had told her story in a traditions first-person narration the events that are from inside the narrators head would not be able to be told and the reader would not know what she is thinking, and the women inside the wallpaper might seem to actually exist. If told in third-person narrative then the political symbolism would not be seen.Gilman also uses a journal to give the story intimacy and allow the narrator to put down thoughts and f eelings. Whereas in A Room of One’s Own, the author gives the narrator a place where she can write what she thinks without any input or bother from society. A place for women to put down their thoughts and express themselves. The Yellow Wallpaper demonstrates the nineteenth century attitudes concerning female physical and mental health. The narrator is confined to a room where she was driven mad. With the use of symbolism, Gilman allows the reader to see how women were treated and how unequal society may be.A Room of One’s Own explores whether women were capable f writing great literature and demonstrated obstacles that a female writer is faced with. Woolf confronts many aspects of being female ans the idea of madness. According to Woolf, a woman needs a room of her own in order to express herself through literature. Both novels demonstrate that there are limits placed on women that prevent them from living complete lives. This demeans women and does not give them the same rights and privileges as men.

Forms of economic dangers that threatened members of the lower classes Essay

Forms of economic dangers that threatened members of the lower classes of Europe in 19th century - Essay Example This paper investigates the many forms of economic dangers that threatened members of the lower classes of Europe during the first half of the nineteenth century and the measures they took to avoid or deal with these dangers. There were various economic dangers that various people from the lower classes of Europe faced during the first half of the nineteenth century. During this period most young people moved from rural areas to cities looking for work which resulted to high population growth in the cities. Although the economic life of the lower class in Europe had always been inferior, it greatly deteriorated during the early part of the nineteenth century. The key economic threats they faced included, starvation, unemployment, poor living conditions, lack of good sanitation and water, overcrowding, deskilling, low wages as noted by Etienne Bede in his first job (Traugott 52), poor working conditions, lack job protection, and social and political tensions (Zeydel). The rapid rise i n population due to the impact of the industrial revolution as well as the movement of people from rural areas to urban areas, resulted to food shortages in the early nineteenth century with most of the lower class people facing starvation and not able to afford food. Furthermore, Poor food (cereal) harvests and the potato blight that attacked potato crops in Ireland resulted to wide spread food shortages and food riots, and a sharp in food prices way beyond the means of the lower class (Vanhaute, Paping, and O’Grada 2-5). Norbert Truquin in his biography recounts of near starvation spells as he barely earned enough and the food prices were high (Traugott 263-265). In early nineteenth century, life was penurious for the lower class. There was no protection of jobs and a person could easily lose their jobs. While factories attempted to provide steady work to their employees, where there wasn’t much to be done, the factories would close up. Or in Truquin’s case, h e found it hard to find work since factories had closed. And when he did find work, it only lasted for twelve days, earning barely enough to support him (Traugott 281-283). Furthermore, the political and social tensions were prevalent, and greatly presented a threat to the workers sustaining their daily jobs. Etienne Bede recounts of his fear in working as well his hesitation to open shop at his home town due to fear of being arrested for abandoning the army (Traugott 56, 58). Furthermore, worker class actions in protest of poor working conditions and low wages for most made things even worse for low class working persons. This can be noted in Truiquin’s case where ran out of money within four days after taking part in a demonstration against the government for unemployment and bad working conditions (Traugott 280-282). Furthermore, Suzanne Voilquin reiterates that most periods after restoration as exceeding depressing and distressing for worker (Traugott 101). For the workme n of organized trade such as Perdiguier, jobs tended to be seasonal and hence they had to travel looking for work

Management of the Natural Resources by the Government of Botswana Dissertation

Management of the Natural Resources by the Government of Botswana - Dissertation Example This research will begin with the statement that despite initial success, that took place just when the post-colonial era started in African continent during the 1960’s and 1970’s, in the modern context, Africa is on an on economic downslope where poverty and hunger is persistently increasing in many of its States, with a universally accepted pessimism regarding its future economic prospects Various reports show that the general Sub-Saharan countries are turning poorer at a faster rate, than any low-income country worldwide. The average economic growth rate has been persistently in the negative from round 1965, with an average 35-times difference in the US and the African per-capita income level. However, amidst this depressing picture of low economic growth one African country has performed better than any other nation in the world, in the span of the last 35 years, which is Botswana. Botswana â€Å"had a PPP-adjusted income per capita of $5,796 in 1998, almost four t imes the African average, and between 1965 and 1998, it grew at an annual rate of 7.7 percent†. In 2002, we find that Botswana â€Å"exported some US$ 2 billion of diamonds, nickel, copper, gold, and other resources—over 80 percent of its total exports†. The presence of diamonds had significantly backed Botswana’s strong economic growth, until the late 1990s, after which the average growth rate has fallen slightly owing to the recent diversification of the economy, where we find Botswana is now not dependent purely on the revenues that are earned from its natural resources.It is a general belief that economies that are wholly dependent on natural resources, tend to have a slow economic growth, which is often referred to as the â€Å"resource curse.† Botswana, however, did not have a favorable start right after its independence and was considered a poor country with little chances of elevation in their economic conditions. It is here that diamonds ha ve played an important role and currently account for almost 40 % of the country's natural resource output. Even though we find that Botswana had in the past experienced strong growth owing to its rich natural resources, however such growth, as predicted by many economists, is not sustainable on a long-term basis. This is owing to the fact that the mining industry does not offer too many job opportunities. Figures show that in Botswana while the mining sector contributed almost 40 % to the total national GDP, it created only around 4 % employment opportunities. The present economic diversification has already started showing a negative impact on the national economy, and it is as Iimi framed it â€Å"specific and intensified capital investment in the primary sector has restrained Botswana from benefiting from forward and backward linkages and labor market externalities†. Besides this factor, it has been contended by many experts that geographical location where a country is f ar from the sea, makes it difficult to create the strong economy that is based only on the abundant natural resources. Products from the natural resources are generally exported to other countries by the sea route, thus leading to very high shipping charges. A look at the African resource-rich countries will show us many of them are landlocked, including Botswana. Almost all experts universally acknowledge the fact that Botswana achieved this unprecedented economic growth and development by adopting effective management policies, and with a stable basic legal system that functioned reasonably well.â€Å"

Feedback Loops Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Feedback Loops - Assignment Example Kane (2010) argues that reinforcing loops speeds up the pace of the system as opposed to the initial pace. Feedback in the Air Force will involve the members of staff in decision making, as growth of a system does not occur without application of an effort. In the Air Force as well, balancing loops is important since if the effect dampens, there is need to motivate the staff towards reviving the organization’s set policies. The organization being complex needs to have responses to the feedbacks given. In regard to organizational strategy, feedback loops is of benefit since the organization will have a better chance of steering towards the present. Of essence, the vision and mission of the organization will only be effected through clear communication with the staff, which is only possible through feedback loops (Kane, 2010). Balancing the feedback loops will indeed make the work easier for prospective managers, and in our case, top executives in Air

Research into the reality of having a True Distributed Computer System Essay

Research into the reality of having a True Distributed Computer System - Essay Example A distributed computer system is a set of organized independent computers (also known as terminals) that comes into view to its users like a single logical system. Distributed computer system offers a well-organized means to deal with fault-tolerance as well as proficiently share system resources like that memory units, processing fundamentals, data files, plus various resources. An effective and successful implementation of a distributed program typically necessitates one or more of the data and communication resources that exist on numerous terminals located at distant places of the Distributed computer system (Xing & Shrestha, 2006). This paper presents a detailed analysis of some of the main aspects of the reality of having a true Distributed Computer System. In this scenario this paper will assess some of the main aspects of the development of true Distributed Computing Environment which can offer appropriate co-operating subsystems. The main and core objective of this research is to assess important factors on which the development and establishment of a true distributed computer system is presently feasible and based upon these available systems and technologies. The effective implementation of numerous computer systems will need attention collectively to the structure of physical design in addition to the selection and accomplishment of an appropriate system’s setting in that to build and run system applications. A systems arrangement is foundational upon the domain structure. The domain structure limits the allocations as well as exchanging of data items. This feature eases the major problem in the application of a capability technique to uphold domains in a structure without combined memory that is a main stand of potentials to be required. It as well formulates the organization of the non shared items similar as they are able to be required simply at one computer at a time. Necessary sharing is as well managed

Capital Punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words - 2

Capital Punishment - Essay Example He says: â€Å"Contrary to major media bias, most Americans support the use of capital punishment.† Americans were of the view that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev should be sentenced to death if found guilty of bombing the Boston Marathon. The Americans also wanted James Holmes and rapist Ariel Castrol to face capital punishment if found guilty. Several politicians and governors in the United States have tried to repeal death penalty but citizens support it. These two authors have based their arguments on some specific aspects to support their stands and opinions. Capital punishment in other states The author who is against the death penalty in the first article says that capital punishment should be abolished in the United States because a majority of the world states have eliminated it. A research was done by Amnesty International and they found out that the United States is among the very few states that still practice this penalty. He is the view that the United States is against fundamentals of a civilization by saying that: â€Å"The fact that the United States is among this percentage should be disturbing to anyone who believes in the basics of a civilized society.† The author against capital punishment does not care whether the act is practiced in other states but he is majorly concerned with the idea of the free world or rather a freedom. He is after protecting the civil society and ensuring that every individual in the United States enjoys the freedom which is a fundamental human right.

Network design Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Network design - Coursework Example The following is an analysis of the new network design solution for the Storage and Logistics Company: BACKGROUND DESCRIPTION Scenario: The business scenario of this analysis is based on a storage and logistics company located in London. The company has twenty vans that make deliveries in the Greater London area. The company also has one warehouse located directly outside of London. In this case the company goal is to offer temporary storage and delivery to customers with the best quality of service. Company Profile: The Storage and Logistics Company is a warehousing and delivery corporation located in London. This corporation was first established in 1932. It manages the flow of goods and information for several prominent clients. The company has eight warehouse locations including seven in the surrounding Greater London area and one located directly outside of London. The current warehouse borough locations are Harrow, Hounslow, Kensington and Chelsea, Waltham Forest, Sutton, Lewis ham, and Barking and Dagenham. The United Kingdom location is Sunbury. The company operates on a mid-sized level employing four-thousand, five hundred employees corporation wide. Of these five employ three delivery vans, two employ two, and one employs one. Competition Evaluation: Based on what information will go into this case the United Parcel Service and Federal Express could initially be competitors for this company. These companies employ the same geographical techniques that will be employed by the Storage and Logistics Company. REQUIREMENT ANALYSIS Currently, storage and logistics companies need to establish a system that is of low cost. These systems also need to allow the company to expand with the growth of demand. The information technology (IT) system that the company uses should possess the following qualities as directly cited by the IDC (2006: 1): 1. Simple and scalable solutions for painless and low cost storage consolidation that also accommodates the performance r equirements of diverse application. 2. Intelligent storage solutions that enhance the reliability and pace of data migration and data protection across multiple tiers of storage. 3. Storage management systems that boost IT staff efficiency and reduce the time required for administrators to configure and manage expanding storage assets. These strategies toward technologies will allow the client to grow at any desirable rate by while being able to manage large and complex accounts. An upgrade in technology will enable the company to track and deliver the desired accurate information for the client at better than acceptable speeds. Competitiveness from this aspect will be unmatched due to efficient and reliable transportation of data. NETWORK ARCHITECTURE AND DESIGN For the purposes of the intended company functions, several implementations should be made on all tiers. These implementations should be established in order to centralize all company data and extend the reach of all compan y departments. The following are the suggested IT upgrades for the Storage and Logistics Company: 1. A wireless scanners and data input systems should be implemented in all storage facilities. 2. A Delivery Information Acquisition device (DIAD) IV should be implemented into all delivery vans. 3. An online transaction processing system (OLTP) should be arranged for the new IT system. 4. An Extended Enterprise Resource Planning System (ERP) should be integrated into the company’

Behaviour Self Management Essay Example for Free

Behaviour Self Management Essay Behaviour Self-Management Project to Increase Studying Behaviour Behaviour Modification is a technique or approach used by behavioural psychologists to modify a particular behaviour and is largely used in a clinical or educational setting, particularly with those with learning disabilities (Atherton, 2011). Moreover, it also considered to be a treatment approach, as it substitutes undesirable behaviours with desired ones through the process of positive or negative reinforcement (Gary, 1988). Furthermore, behaviour modification has been used to treat numerous mental problems such as obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), phobias, enuresis, generalised anxiety disorder, separation anxiety disorder and many more. Subsequently, this technique has also been used to correct maladaptive behaviours by changing undesirable behaviours such as smoking, overeating, nail biting and others, as it aims to encourage the substitution of good behaviours such as studying, weight loss and etc (O’Donohue and Ferguson, 2006). The principles of behaviour modification were first developed by B. F Skinner, who had formulated the concept of operant conditioning. Skinner, had developed the concept of positive reinforcement or punishment, whereby behaviours are changed or encouraged through a reward system. Furthermore, the operant conditioning theory also states that for learning to occur, it is important that the subject is an active participant (Sheldon, 1982). In addition, behaviour modification was also formulated by Ivan Pavlov and is famously known as classical conditioning, as it is merely based on a stimuli-response formula. Besides that, Albert Bandura also contributed to behaviour modification principles, through his theory of social modelling (Baldwin Baldwin, 1981). The theory states that learning occurs as a result of copying or imitating other people, and is termed as vicarious learning. Additionally, the theory also states that external reinforcers are important because it enables learning to occur independently of the reinforcements. Consequently, behaviour modification underlies a number of theoretical positions such that human behaviour can easily be influenced by the presentation of consequences and could be strengthened if the behaviour is followed by rewards, as well as substandard if followed by negative consequences (Guez Allen, 2000). Moreover, human behaviour is not only controlled by internal factors, but is also driven by external factors such as social rewards like praises or gifts. Thus, the principles of behaviour modification is different compared to other techniques in changing behaviours, because it addresses the surrounding factors as well as individual factors that can promote or derail behaviour change. Additionally, behaviour modification has also proved its effectiveness in increasing student’s appropriate classroom behaviours. A study had employed behaviour modification in two second grade Negro girls in a demonstration school for the culturally deprived (Wasik, Senn, Welch, Cooper, 1969). Data collected in the study was based on type, duration, and frequency of teacher’s verbal interactions with the student. The study also had implemented an ABAB design, whereas treatment included positive social reinforcement when appropriate behaviours occurred. Punishment had included the use of timeout from social reinforcements, as these behaviours were contingent on inappropriate attention getting behaviours. It was observed that after 25 days, desirable behaviour in the classroom had increased remarkably from 80. % in baseline to 99. 20% in treatment and continued to remain high even after three months. Therefore, this shows that behaviour modification is an effective method to increase desirable behaviours. Target Behaviour It is essential and important that the target behaviour an individual wants to change is operationally defined. The particular behaviour would also require assessment, through collection of the baseline data. Furthermore, the behaviour that I want to change is to increase my studying behaviour, which is a behavioural deficit. Ever since I was in school, I was always known to study towards the end of the semester and could generally be considered as last minute studying. Subsequently, I would tend to be easily distracted by external stimuli such as watching movies or series on the computer, calling up friends and talking for hours as well as easily persuaded to go out. I have been known since young to be very outgoing, thus whenever friends call and ask me to meet up with them, I am bound to go. Therefore, it usually delays my ability to follow my studying schedule that I have created before the semester starts. Moreover, my main antecedent that unable me to complete my suggested two hours studying per night every weekday is also because I have a tendency to download movies or series on the computer and wasting 4 hours or more watching it. There are also consequences that I face because of my procrastination to study, because after watching these series, I would only tend to study less than an hour or not at all if I am tired. Consequently, I would cram all the materials during study week and end up being exhausted. This also is a reason as to why I tend to get ill during exam week, because it causes me to have high level of stress and in turn would affect my health. Hence, these are valid reasons as to why I feel like I need to change my behaviour and start studying more hours as I should so that I would not be stressed out during exams. Besides that, stress could also cause ulcers and the common cold, which in turn could be a setback to me during exam week as I am prone to get ulcers. Additionally, it would also allow me to focus more to improve my grade ratings to my expectations as I will soon complete my undergraduate program. Other than that, increasing my studying behaviour would also allow me to get sufficient sleep and rest for the upcoming exam and it would also benefit me in terms of managing my time efficiently. Method Design The design that I have chosen for this particular self management project is the ABAB reversal design. This design represents the attempt to first measure the baseline, the treatment that follows the initial baseline, the introduction of the second baseline as well as the reintroduction of the treatment again. Additionally, this method of application helps identify the effects of treatment and measure what happens when treatment is removed. Hence, this research design would help establish whether functional relationship exists between the target behaviour and intervention. Materials The materials used in this project include a structured diary that is recorded in the computer, behaviour contract, handphone, post-it notes, playing cards and reminders. Procedure Additionally, for this particular behaviour modification project, the operational definition is first defined as reading pages from the textbook and underlining as well as understanding sentences in the text and reading notes from the lectures for two hours. Furthermore, the behaviour would be recorded through self monitoring during baseline and treatment period as the behaviour does not occur frequently throughout the day and it only occurs during the period when no one else is around to observe. The observational period is recorded in the natural setting, which is in the study room at my home, and it is where studying behaviour typically occurs. The type of behavioural recording used is the duration recording, whereby studying behaviour is observed for two hours, between 8. 30p. m to 10. 0p. m on weekdays only. Next, in order to increase studying behaviour during weekdays, a generalised conditioned reinforcer, which is the token economy system is used because it reinforces the behaviour and minimises the need to use reactive strategies to deal with setbacks as well as it enables the ability to pair up with a variety of other reinforcers. In addition, the token economy is a playing card with my housemate’s signature on it, and one card would be given each day, whenever the desired behaviour occurred at least 2 hours a day. Furthermore, the acquired tokens would be eligible to trade with certain privileges and would be forfeited if the behaviour does not meet the expected requirements. Hence, a variety of backup reinforces are used in exchange with the accumulated playing cards on every Friday to determine the type of privileges that would be given and further information is provided in the behavioural contract (Appendix A). Besides that, punishment would be provided if I fail to meet the expected requirement. Additionally, the schedule of reinforcement chosen for this particular project is fixed interval, whereby studying behaviour is reinforced only if it occurs for at least two hours. The behaviour occurrence would also be recorded in the computer, as the behaviour occurs at home in the study room. Besides that, during the treatment period, my friends and housemate have also promised to give me social support and reinforcements. In addition, various types of response and stimulus prompts are also used in this project. Verbal prompts such as reminders to study are used by friends and housemates to evoke the desired behaviour in myself. They will do this by not persuading me to go out with them and reminding me to study instead. Furthermore, environmental prompts are also used in this project such as post its on the mirror, computer in the study room and class file that I carry to class every day, as well as using the hand phone to set alarm to study. In addition, within prompt fading was used in the second treatment period, for response prompts, whereby friends and boyfriend provided fewer verbal prompts as the week progressed during treatment period. Next, stimulus fading was also used in the second treatment period for environmental prompts, whereby on the first day, removal of alarm clock would be used and for subsequent days, one post its would be removed from either the mirror, computer or class file until the last day of treatment. Results The baseline and treatment data was collected for a period of four weeks and intervention was applied during treatment 1 and treatment 2. Figure 1: Studying behaviour in baseline and treatment weeks. Figure 1 shows that during the first baseline, studying behaviour did not occur at all for the first two days, one hour for the third, again none on the fourth and two hours on the fifth day. Hence, the average studying hours for the first baseline week is 0. 4 hours or 24 minutes. Furthermore, this could be clearly seen in the structured diary attached for the first baseline (Appendix B). Next, intervention took place in the second week, whereby various strategies were used to increase studying behaviour. Results showed that studying behaviour had occurred for two hours for the first and second day, one hour for the third day, two hours for the fourth day, and none on the fifth day. This shows that studying behaviour had increased to an average of 1. 4 hours a day and that there was an increase of 50% from the initial baseline to the treatment period. Moreover, the self management project had returned to baseline on the third week and results showed that studying behaviour had occurred for 2. hours on the first day, one hour on the second, none on the third and fourth and two hours on the fifth day. Thus, the average studying behaviour was 1. 1 hours a day for the second baseline period. Although the average hours were less compared to the treatment period, however, there was definitely an increase compared to the first baseline period, whereby average hours were only 0. 4 hours. Next, intervention was again applied and the second treatment results showed that studying behaviour occurred for one hour on the first day, 2. hours on the second, two hours on the third, one hour on the fourth, and two hours on the fifth day. Hence, the average studying hours is approximately 1. 7 hours a day. Thus, this also shows that there is an increase of studying behaviour between the second baseline and second treatment period. Besides that, there is also a staggering increase from the initial baseline and second treatment period, that precedes to fluctuate in the second baseline, when intervention was removed. Discussion  The behaviour modification project to increase studying behaviour was definitely a success because the graphs showed an increase in hours of studying as compared to the baseline data, thus indicating that there us a functional relationship between the target behaviour and the procedure. Furthermore, it is clear that the token economy system was a contributor to the success of increasing studying behaviour because once token economy was removed in the second baseline; the target behaviour had decreased tremendously. In addition, the target behaviour had increased when the second intervention was applied in the fourth week. Moreover, the use of reinforcements and punishment also helped me to keep myself motivated and determined to achieve the weekly goal that was set. Besides that, the use of within stimulus fading helped me generalise my behaviour to the subsequent weeks ahead, hence I had gradually adjusted myself with getting used to having less and less prompts throughout the week. However, there were also some limitations in this project, whereby, the duration of treatment intervention is too short to allow the behaviour to fully adjust and be generalised without the use of prompts. In addition, self monitoring was used during observation of behaviour for the baseline data. Observer may not be trained enough to record her own behaviour, hence data may not be as reliable as compared to having an inter rater observation. Moreover, the implementation of reinforcement contingency was my housemate, and sometimes the reinforcements were given a day later because she is not around. This has affected the effectiveness of the token as a reinforcing consequence as some deliveries of the token did not occur immediately after the response occurred according to the expected schedule. Furthermore, due to the delay between the response and token, it could have also affected the connection strength of the behaviour. In conclusion, behaviour modification is definitely an effective treatment method to help increase, decrease or develop new behaviours and it is applicable to use in a variety of problematic behaviours.

Value Package Introduction in COS

Value Package Introduction in COS Abstract VPI (Value Package Introduction) was one of the core programs in Cummins Operating System (COS). VPI was the process by which the Company defined, designed, developed and introduced high quality Value Packages for customers. One of the key processes in a VPI program was to identify part failures. When a part failure was identified, it was transported to other plant locations. A delay in delivery time from one plant location to another impeded the diagnosis of a part and resulted in a postponement of a critical resolution and subsequent validation. As a proven methodology, customer focused Six Sigma tools were utilized for this project to quantify the performance of this process. Six Sigma was a data-driven approach which was designed to eliminate defects in the process. The project goal was to identify root causes of process variation and reduce the number of days it was taking for a part to move from point of failure to the component engineer for evaluation. The average number of da ys at the start of this project was 137. The goal was to reduce this by 50%. The benefits of performing this project was a reduction in the time it takes for parts to move which impacted the ability to analyze and fix problems in a timely manner and allowed the part to be improved or modified and put back on the engine for further testing. VPI Failed Parts Movement Between Locations Introduction VPI (Value Package Introduction) was one of the core programs in Cummins Operating System (COS). VPI was the process by which the Company defined, designed, developed and introduced high quality Value Packages for customers. The complete VPI package allowed Cummins to continuously improve the product(s) delivered to customers. This project was conducted in an effort to increase the value of these packages. By improving the process of moving parts from one location to another, Cummins has benefited in both cycle time and cost. VPI included all the elements of products which involved services and information that was delivered to the end-user customer. These products included: oil, filters, generator sets, parts, business management tools/software, engines, electronic features and controls, service tools, reliability, durability, packaging, safety and environmental compliance, appearance, operator friendliness, integration in the application, robust design, leak-proof components, ease of service and maintenance, fuel economy, rebuild cost, price, and diagnostic software. These were key factors of customer satisfaction that allowed Cummins to remain competitive and provide quality parts and services to the end customers. This process was essential in surviving among competitors. Statement of the Problem One of the key processes in a VPI program was to identify and resolve part failures. In order to do this in a timely manner, parts needed to travel quickly from the point of failure to the component engineers for diagnosis. Failures were identified at Cummins Technical Center during engine testing. The failed parts were then sent to one of two other locations, Cummins Engine Plant (Cummins Emission Solutions) or the Fuel Systems Plant, where they were to be delivered to the appropriate engineer for diagnosis and part engineering changes. A delay in the diagnosis of a failed part meant a delay in the resolution of the problem and subsequent engine testing. The ideal situation was for a part failure to be identified by the test cell technician, delivered to the engineer, diagnosed by the engineer, and the part redesigned for further testing on the engine. When this did not occur timely, the failed part did not reach the engine again for a sufficient amount of testing. The problem was that parts were either taking a very long time to get into the engineers hands, or the parts were lost. Engines require a pre-determined amount of testing time to identify potential engine failures and associated risks to the customer and the Company. As a result, the opportunity to continually improve parts and processes was missed. Through the use of customer focused six sigma tools this process improved the ability to solve customer problems and achieve company targets. Investigation was required to determine the most efficient process for the transfer of failed parts between different sites within Cummins. Significance of the Problem This process was important in solving part failures. Timely transfer of parts to the correct engineer for analysis reduced the amount of time for issue correction and improved the performance of the engines that were sold to customers. This package allowed Cummins to continuously improve the process and reduce cycle time and cost. This project involved the transportation of VPI failed parts from the point of failure to the appropriate component engineer. The improvements made during this project ensured that parts were received by the engineers in a timely manner which allowed further testing of the re-engineered failed parts. Statement of the Purpose The process of identifying part failures and delivering them to the appropriate component engineer was essential in diagnosing problems and correcting them. Personnel were either not trained in the problem identification area or were unaware of the impact that their work had on the entire process. Communication between the test cell engineers whom identify part failures was important within two areas. First, it was critical that the engineer responsible for the part was notified and secondly, the Failed Parts Analyst (FPA) had to be notified in order to know when to pick up the part for shipping. The partnership between the test cell engineer and the other two areas was a fundamental part of this process in order for it to be successful. Other factors that contributed to the time delay in part failure identification and delivery time was vacation coverage of key employees and training of shipping and delivery personnel. The average number of days for a part to be removed from the tes t cell engine and delivered to the appropriate design engineer was 137 days. Based on the logistics of the locations where the parts were being delivered, this process was improved to be accomplished in less time. The purpose of this project was to reduce the amount of time it was taking for this process to occur. The benefits of performing this project resulted in a reduction in the time it was taking for parts to move which impacted the ability to analyze and fix problems and allowed the part to be improved or modified and put back on the engine for further testing. The improvements derived from this project can be applied to similar processes throughout the multiple business units. Definition of Terms VPI- Value Package Introduction was a program utilized by Cummins in which new products were introduced. It included all the elements of creating a new product such as design, engineering, final product production, etc. COS- Cummins Operating System; the system of Cummins operations which were standard throughout the Company. It identified the manner in which Cummins operated. CE matrix tool that was used to prioritize input variables against customer requirements. FPA- Failed Parts Analyst ; the FPA was the person responsible for retrieving failed parts from the test cells, determining the correct engineer to whom these failed parts were to be delivered to, and prepared the parts for shipping to the appropriate location. SPC- Statistical Process Control; SPC was an application of statistical methods utilized in the monitoring and control of the process. TBE- Time Between Events; In the context of this paper, TBE represented the number of opportunities that a failure had of occurring between daily runs. McParts- Software application program which tracked component progress through the system. It provided a time line from the time a part was entered into the system until it was closed out. Assumptions The assumption was made that all participants in the project were experienced with the software application program that was utilized. Delimitations Only failed parts associated with the Value Package Introduction program were included in the scope of this project. Additionally, only the heavy duty engine family was incorporated. The light duty diesel and mid-range engine families were excluded. This project encompassed three locations in Southern Indiana. The focus of this project was on delivery time and did not include packaging issues. It also focused on transportation and excluded database functionality. Veteran employees were selected for collecting data. The variable of interest considered was delivery time. Data collection techniques were limited to first shift only. The project focusd on redesigning an existing process and did not include the possibility of developing a new theory. Limitations The methodology used for this project did not include automation of the process as a step. RFID was a more attractive way to resolve this problem; however, it was not economically feasible at the time. The population was limited since the parts that were observed were limited to heavy duty engines which reduced variations in the size and volume of parts. Time constraints and resource availability was an issue. Due to team members residing at several locations, meeting scheduling was more problematic. Additionally, coordinating team meetings was a challenge because room availability was limited. Review of Literature Introduction The scope of this literature review was intended to evaluate articles on failed parts within Value Package Introduction (VPI) programs. However, although quality design for customers is widely utilized, the literature on Value Package Introduction was rather scarce. VPI was a business process that companies used to define, design, develop, and introduce high quality packages for customers. VPI included all the elements of products which involved services and information that was delivered to the end-user customer. One of the key processes in a VPI program was to problem -solve part failures, which was the direction this literature review traveled. Methods This literature review focused on part/process failures and improvements. The methods used in gathering reading materials for this literature review involved the use of the Purdue University libraries: Academic Search Premier, Readers Guide, and Omni file FT Mega library. Supplementary investigation was conducted on-line where many resources and leads to reference material were found. All of the references cited are from 2005 to present with the exception of a Chrysler article dated 2004 which was an interesting reference discussing the use of third party logistic centers, a journal article from 1991 that explains the term, cost of quality, which is used throughout this literature review, and two reference manuals published by AIAG which contain regulations for ISO 9001:2000 and the TS16949 standards. Keywords used during researching included terms such as scrap, rework, failed parts and logistics. Literature Review Benchmarking. Two articles, authored by Haftl (2007), concentrated on the mixture of metrics needed to optimize overall performance. Some of these metrics included completion rates, scrap and rework, machine uptime, machine cycle time and first pass percentages. â€Å"According to the 2006 American Machinist Benchmarking survey, leading machine shops in the United States are producing, on average, more than four times the number of units produced by other non-benchmarked shops. Also worth noting is that they also reduced the cost of scrap and rework more than four times.† (Haft, 2007, p.28). The benchmark shops showed greater improvement than other machine shops. â€Å"The benchmark shops cut scrap and rework costs to 4.6 percent of sales in 2006 from 6.6 percent three years ago, and all other shops went to 7.8 percent of their sales in 2006 from 9.3 percent three years ago† (Haftl, 2007, p.28). The successful reduction of scrap and rework costs by the benchmark shops w ere contributed to several factors. First, training was provided to employees and leadership seminars were held. Secondly, these shops practiced lean manufacturing and lastly, they had specific programs which directly addressed scrap and rework. Whirlpool, one of the nations leading manufacturers of household appliances, had used benchmarking as a means of finding out how they rated in comparison to their competitors. They benchmarked their primary competitor, General Electric. As a result, they discovered what improvements they could make that could be managed at a low investment. The improvement processes were especially useful and applied in existing strengths of the company. They rolled out a new sales and operating plan based on customer requirements (Trebilcock, 2004). Quality. An overall theme contained in all of the articles reviewed was that of quality. In Staffs review (2008), hecontended that regardless of a companys size, quality was critical in maintaining a competitive advantage and retaining customers. The Quality Leadership 100 is a list of the top 100 manufacturers who demonstrated excellence in operations. The results were based on criteria such as scrap and rework as a percentage of sales, warranty costs, rejected parts per million, the contribution of quality to profitability, and share holder value. Over 800 manufacturers participated in this survey. The top three manufacturers for 2008 were listed as: #1 Advanced Instrument Development, Inc. located in Melrose Park, IL, #2 Toyota Motor Manufacturing in Georgetown, KY., and Utillmaster Corp. Wakarusa, IN. (Staff, 2008). In an article written by Cokins (2006) the author stressed that quality was an important factor in improving profitability. He informed the reader that quality manage ment techniques assisted in identifying waste and generating problem solving approaches. One of the problems he cited regarding quality was that it was not often measured with the appropriate measuring tools. As a result, organizations could not easily quantify the benefits in financial terms. Obstacles that affected quality was the use of traditional accounting practices. The financial data was not captured in a format that could easily be applied in decision making. Because quantifiable measures lacked a price base to compare the benefits, management often perceived process improvements as being risky. Cost of Quality (COQ), was the cost associated with identifying, avoiding and making corrections to defects and errors. It represented the difference between actual costs and reduced costs as a result of identifying and fixing defects or errors. In Chens report (ChenAdam,1991), the authors continued to breakdown cost of quality into two parts, the cost of control and the cost of failure. They explained that cost of control was the most easily quantifiable because it included prevention and measures to keep defects from occurring. Cost of control had the capability to detect defects before a product was shipped to a customer. Control costs included inspection, quality control labor costs and inspection equipment costs. Costs of failure included internal and external failures and were harder to calculate. Internal failures resulted in scrap and rework, while external failures, resulted in warranty claims, liability and hidden costs such as loss of customers (ChenAdam, 1991). Because co st of control and cost of failure were related, managing these two element reduced part failures and lowered the costs associated with scrap and rework. Tsarouhas (2009, p.551) reiterated in his article on engineering and system safety , that â€Å"failures arising from human errors and raw material components account for 25.06% and 5.35%, respectively, which is about 1/3 of all failures†¦.†. â€Å"A rule of thumb is that the nearer the failure is to the end-user, the more expensive it is to correct† (Cokins, 2006, p. 47). Identification of failed parts was a key process of Value Package Introduction and key to identifying and correcting failures before they reached the customer. A delay in the diagnosis of a defective part resulted in the delay or a miss to the implementation of a critical fix and subsequent validation. When a delay occurred, the opportunity to continually improve parts and processes was not achieved. In a journal article written by Savage Son ( 2009), the authors affirmed that effective design relied on quality and reliability. Quality, they lamented, was the adherence to specifications required by the customer. Dependability of a process included mechanical reliability (hard failures) and performance reliability (soft failures). These two types of failures occurred when performance measures failed to meet critical specifications (Savage Son, 2009). Tools and specifications. The remaining articles discussed in this literature review focused on tools and specification that were utilized across the business environment. Specifications were important aspects of fulfilling a customers needs. Every company had its own unique way of operating, so businesses often had slightly different needs (Smith, Munro Bowen, 2004, p. 225). There were a number of tools that were available to help meet specific customer requirements. Quality control systems and identification of failed parts were among these tools. The application of statistical methods was used to make efforts at improvement more effective. Two common statistical methods that were used are those that were associated with statistical process control and process capability analysis. The goal of a process control system was to make predictions about the current and future state of a process. A process was said to be operating in statistical control when the only sources of variation were common causes (Down, Cvetkovski, Kerkstra Benham, 2005, p. 19). Common causes referred to sources of variation that over time produced a stable and repeatable distribution. When common causes yielded stable results then the output was considered to be predictable. SPC involved the use of control charts though an integrated software package. In an article by Douglas Fair (2008), he viewed product defects from the eyes of the consumer. He stated that to truly leverage SPC to create a competitive advantage, key characteristics had to be identified and monitored. (Fair, 2008) The means for monitoring some of these characteristics involved the use of control charts. An article written on integrated control charts, introduced control charts based on time-between-events (TBE).These charts were used in manufacturing companies to gauge the reliability of parts and service related applications. An event was defined as an occurrence of a defect and time referred to the amount of time bet ween the occurrence of defect events (Shamsuzzaman, Min, Ngee Haiyun, 2008). Process capability was determined by the variation that came from common causes. It represented the best performance of a process. Other writers deemed that one way to improve quality and achieve the best performance was to reduce product deviation. The parameters they used included the process mean and production run times (Tahera, Chan Ibrahim, 2007). Peter Roost (2007) favored the use of Computer-Aided Manufacturing tools as a means of improving quality. According to the author, CAM allowed a company to eliminate errors that cause rework and scrap, improved delivery times and simplified operations, and identified bottlenecks which assisted in efficient use of equipment (Roost, 2007). Other articles on optimization introduced a lot size modeling technique to identify defective products. Lot-sizing emphasized the number of units of an item that could be produced without interruption on the machinery used in the production process (Buscher Lindner, 2007). Conclusion In this literature review the importance of failed part identification was presented. The impact that quality and reliability had on this process was indicative of the value that proper measuring tools provide. Through the use of customer focused tools the identification and correction of failed parts was more easily accomplished and allowed a quicker resolution to customer problems. Benchmarking was discussed as a means of comparing outputs to those of competitors. Benchmarking was the first step in identifying areas requiring immediate attention. Haftl ( 2007) and Trebilcock (2004) devoted their articles to benchmarking and the impact it had on identifying areas demanding immediate improvement processes. Staff (2008), Cokins (2006), Tsarouhas (2009), and Savage Son (2009) spent more time discussing the critical requirement of quality and the affects it had on competitive advantage. Lastly, authors Smith, Munro Bowen (2004), Down (2005), Cvetkovski, Kerkstra Benham (2005), Fair ( 2008), Tahera, Chan Ibrahim (2007), and Roost (2007) discussed the different specifications and tools used in improving quality and identifying failures. The articles involving benchmarking were concise and easy to understand. A similarity among all of the articles is the census that quality was important in identifying and preventing failures and that competitive advantage cannot be obtained without it. Gaps identified through this literature review were the methods of making process improvements. Several of the authors had their own version of the best practice to use to improve performance. The articles on tools and specifications were very technical and discussed the different methods. In Fairs article,the author had a different perspective than any of the other articles reviewed. He wrote from the view of a consumer. Methodology This project built on existing research. Documentation was reviewed to determine the methodology used in previous process designs. The purpose of this project was to redesign the process flow to improve capability and eliminate non-value added time. Team members were selected based on their vested interest in the project. Each team member was a key stakeholder in the actual process. A random sampling technique was in which various components were tracked from point of failure to delivery. McParts, a software application program, was utilized to measure the amount of time that a component resided in any one area. Direct observation was also incorporated. A quantitative descriptive study was utilized in which numerical data was collected. The DMAIC method of Six Sigma was used. The steps involved in the DMAIC process were: Define project goals and the current process. Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data. Analyze the data to determine cause-and-effect relationships and ensure that all factors are being considered. Improve the process based upon data analysis. Control the process through the creation and implementation of a project control plan. Process capability was established by conducting pilot samples from the population. In the Define stage, the â€Å"Y† variable objective statement was established- Reduce the amount of time it takes for a failed part to go from point of failure to the hands of the evaluating engineer by 50%. Next, a data collection plan was formed. The data was collected using the McParts component tracking system. Reports were run on the data to monitor part progression. In the second stage, Measure stage, a process map was created which identified all the potential inputs that affected the key outputs of the process. It also allowed people to illustrate what happened in the process. This step was useful in clarifying the scope of the project. Once the process map was completed, a Cause Effect matrix was developed. The Cause Effect matrix fed off of the process map and key customer requirements were then identified. These requirements were rank ordered and assigned a priority factor to each output (on a 1 to 10 scale). The process steps and materials were identified and each step was evaluated based on the score it received. A low score indicated that the input variable had a smaller effect on the output variable. Conversely, a high score indicated that changes to the input variable greatly affected the output variable and needed to be monitored. The next step involved creating a Fault Tree Analysis (FTA). The FTA was used to help identify the root causes associated with particular failures. A measurement system analysis was then conducted. Measurement tools such as McParts software application program as well as handling processes were reviewed. Next, an initial capability study was conducted to determine the current processes capability. Next, a design of experiment was established. The design of experiment entailed capturing data at various times throughout the project. Six months of data was obtained prior to the start of the project to show the current status. Once the project was initiated, data was collected on a continuous basis. Finally, once the project was complete, data was collected to determine stability and control of the process. Once the experiment was completed and the data was analyzed, a control plan was created to reduce variation in the process and identify process ownership. All of the above steps included process stakeholders and team members whom assisted in creating each output. Data/Findings Define. The purpose of this project was to reduce the number of days it was taking a part to move from point of failure to the component engineer for evaluation. Through the use of historical data, 2 of the 17 destination location for parts were identified as being problematic. The average number of days it was taking parts to be delivered to the component engineer at the Fuels Systems Plant and Cummins Engine Plant (Emission Solutions) location was 137 days. Both sites were located in the same city where the part failures were identified. Key people involved in performing the various functions in part failures and delivery were identified and interviewed. Measure. A process map was created documenting each step in the process including the inputs and outputs of each process (Figure 1). Once the process was documented, the sample size was determined. Of the 3,000 plus parts, those parts delivered to the two sites were extrapolated, resulting in a sample size of 37 parts. Parts were then tracked using a controlled database called McParts. From this point, key steps identified were utilized in creating a Cause Effect matrix. The CE matrix prioritized input variables against customer requirements. The Cause Effect matrix was used to understand the relationships between key process inputs and outputs. The inputs were rated by the customer in order of importance. The top 4 inputs identified as having the largest impact on quality were: Incident (part failure) origination, appropriate tagging of parts, failed parts analyst role, and addressing the tag part to the correct destination. The Cause Effect matrix allowed the team to narrow down the list and weight the evaluation criteria. The team then did a Fault Tree Analysis (FTA) on possible solutions. The FTA analyzed the effects of failures. The critical Xs involved the amount of time for filing an incident report and tagging parts, the amount of time it takes for the FPA to pick up the parts from the t est cells once the part failure is identified, and the staging and receiving process. Next, validation of the measurement system was conducted. An expert and 2 operators were selected to run a total of 10 queries in the McParts database using random dates. The results of the 2 operators as shown in figure 2 was then scored against each other (attribute agreement analysis within appraisers) and that of the experts (appraiser versus standard) The next logical step was to determine if there was a difference between the types of test performed and the length of time it was taking a part to be delivered to the appropriate component engineer. There were two types of tests performed, Dyno and Field tests. Figure 6 shows the median for field tests was a little better than the Dyno tests which came as a surprise because field test failures occur out in the field and occur at various locations. The Dyno tests are conducted at the Technical Center. The data drove further investigation into the outliers which showed that out of approximately 25 of these data points 8 were ECMs, 5 were sensors, 7 were wiring harnesses, 1 was an injector, and 4 were fuel line failures. These findings were consistent with the box plot on days to close by group name. ECMs, sensors, wiring harnesses, and fuel lines have the highest variance. The similarities and differences in the parts were reviewed and it was discovered that they are handled by differ ent groups once they reached FSP. The Controls group handled ECM, Sensors, and Wiring Harnesses. The XPI group handled Accumulators, Fuel lines, Fuel pumps, and Injectors. Drilling down further, another box plot was created to graphically depict any differences in the two different tests for both sites. The boxplot then showed that CES dyno had a much higher median and higher variability than CESs field tests and Fuel Systems dyno and field tests. (See figure 7 below) An IMR chart was created for dyno field tests without special causes. The data was stable but not normal. A test of equal variances was run for CES and FSP dyno and field tests. Based on Moods Median there is no difference in medians. This was likely due to small sample size in 3 of the 4 categories; however CES dyno test had a lot of variation and would require further investigation. An IMR chart and box plot was run on the data for XPI and Controls group at the Fuel Systems Plant. The data was stable but not normal. Next, a test of equal variance was run which showed that the variances were not equal. Thus, the null hypothesis that the variability of the two groups was equal was rejected. Next, attention was directed towards the Fuel Systems Plant. A boxplot was created from the data which showed there was a statistical difference between medians for FSP Control group and XPI. Through the solutions derived from the DMAIC methodology of Six Sigma, the project team had performed statistical analysis which proved that there would be benefits obtained by resolving the problems that were identified. The changes were implemented and a final capability study was performed on the data which showed an 84% reduction in the number of days it took a part to move from point of failure to the hands of the component engineer for evaluation. Improvements were documented and val idated by the team. To ensure that the performance of the process would be continually measured and the process remained stable and in control, a control plan was created and approved by the process owner responsible for the process. Conclusions/ Recommendations The goal of this project was to reduce the number of days it was taking to move a part from point of failure to the component engineer for evaluation. This goal was accomplished and final capability of the process shows a reduction in time by 84% from 137 days to 22 days.There were 4 critical problems identified during this project whic

Directors Duties Problem Question

Directors Duties Problem Question The establishment of Shine Ltd was with the sole intent to produce industrial solvents and cleaning solutions. Appointment of the office of managing director was given to John to cover that post. During this course, the company acquired an agreement with XYZ plc a conglomerate. While still under the directorship of John the company came up with a new super glue. In his capacity as a director, he presented this to the manager with the hope that it would be supported, and the production would continue since he felt it would be a lucrative business. The board of trustees were however of a different opinion, and they ended up rejecting the project. The managing director of XYZ plc is a friend of John, and so he disclosed their intentions not to renew their contract with Shine Ltd. Their reason was that the partnership had not born as much success as they had hoped. He would, however, continue his dealings with John if only he were not attached to Shine Ltd. With this in mind, he resigned and instead formed his company, Flush Ltd. A company that later partnered with XYZ plc. The company also took up the project of manufacturing the glue Shine Ltd board of directors had rejected, and it has proved very profitable. The corporate opportunity dictates that the director is not allowed to take for themselves any business opportunity that otherwise would have been beneficial to the corporation. It falls within the fiduciary duty of loyalty applications. The conditions in the act are clearly stipulated. It becomes limited to the Director, officers, and controlling shareholders (Esser, 2007). The act specifies that it is applicable whether the transaction harms the corporation. That is to say should the director go against this rule in the process make the cooperation benefit it does not mean he gets exempted from having broken particular law. The other part of this rule is that the corporation should not have obtained information regarding the opportunity that was presented. In the case where the board is aware and declines to take the opportunity then the fiduciary would take the opportunity for himself. Should the rule apply however the corporation becomes entitled to the profit earning for the fid uciary from the transaction? Having considered all the activities that took place in case study this particular rule might not apply to John. While being the director of Shine Ltd, he took the idea to the board of trustees and following the rules stipulated in the Company act that would have been his responsibility. In this case, both John and the board of directors were aware of opportunity yet the board choose to ignore. With this in mind, it then becomes apparent that the opportunity would now belong to John. However, that does not mean that he gets to walk (Lowry, 2009). Section 170 deals with the responsibility of the director of an organization. In as much as they are given the top most job, this section dictates what is expected of them from the daily operation of the group. Section 174 deals with the responsibility of the director to exercise care, skill and diligence. Their knowledge needs to be such that they are helpful to the organization. The manager has to handle the activities of the organization about his or her skills in that position. A factor also emphasized in Section 175. The part worth highlighting would be the second rule that specifies that it would be in conflict of interest to exploit information or opportunity gotten as a result of the position they hold in the company. Section 176 talks about Duty not to accept benefits from third parties. Of note is the second part where the aspect of the third party gets explained into details. Anyone who falls within the organization as a partner of an associate falls within this section. S ection 177 deals with the responsibility of the organizations director who might find himself in a conflict of interest. He has to offer the board with a declaration letter to announce the presence of a conflict of interest before they get to discover on their own. Section 178 deals with the consequences of a breach of duty. It highlights that the section 171 to 177 having the same kind of punishment should the director have breached that contract. However, section 174 makes the management have an open idea concerning what can pass as a breach of contract since it is a section open to interpretation. Section 180 deals with the parts that can be considered to be in a position to assume. Having examined the effects and the position that they take make them be applicable or be ignored depending on the location. Examining the case studies the duties mentioned above of the director were never fulfilled by John in his capacity as director of the organization. He stands liable for all accounts of the negligence of functions of the Director. He exploited the chances that they had to make better the body and instead used this privilege to gain as an individual. The company is on the right to take legal action concerning the negligence of duties as director. The seems to be a violation of the equitable principle. That means that the data collected from the manager was wrongfully acquired. The breach of confidence in the English law gives room for a person to claim compensation for the violation of trust. The responsibility of the manager to have the clause of confidence falling within his doctrines translates to having a civil complaint. The rule applies specifically to situations where it would be unfair should the information be revealed. There exist three very fundamental aspects that would determine if a breach has taken place. Before ruling out that the case is worth being given a civil claim the three rules need to get approved to have existed. The information that is being shared should contain a certain degree of confidence. That is to say, it gets classified as being confidential. The provision of the information falls into the category of imposing on the application of obligation confidence. The information received was unautho rized when being used (Payne, 2008). Considering the case study provided it is clear that the above conditions were all fulfilled. Working as the director of Shine Ltd the information that he shared with his friend would best fit this category. The information should not have been disclosed to anyone since the company owned it. While the information was being given he was working as the director of Shine. While there seems to be no documentation on the issue of permission to use this product for profit. Lack of proper authority to present the solution in this case ruling out the possibility that the process was ever legal (Payne, 2008). Section 178 talks about the enforcement of the laws that govern the directors duties. In cases where the company has incurred losses due to the actions of the director then he becomes liable as a person. The director is to be made to restore the property of the company should he have lead to the destruction of any other property under his care. The director will have to account for any of the other profits they might have made while using the secrets acquired from the organization. It, therefore, becomes necessary for the board of directors to take into account section 178(2) when dealing with John (Sheikh, 2013). The director should defend himself on the grounds that he had presented the idea to the board and he had been told it would not be approved. In as far as production of the product it was well in his duty in accordance with section 174, and 175 to take up the deal for himself. When coming up with the verdict for the case study it will be prudent to consider the case of Cooley. In his capacity in the company, he exploited the information he got from the company for personal gain. His conditions, as presented, make a clear example of the exact position that John is in with his company. Following the verdict passed in the case of IDC v Cooley (1972), John should be found guilty of misuse of office and as such ought to pay the profits from the contract. It becomes irrelevant that his actions were not causing the company to lose the deal. The rule of conflict of interest stems from the fact the one might have exploited an opportunity that was rightfully in breach of his position. The opportunity might have gotten it in a way that is legal. The position John held concerning the company gave him the upper hand in the acquisition of the project. He is liable for damages regarding the section of the act that touches on conflict of interest. Following the verdict of Regal (Hastings) v Gulliver, (1942) John should be held liable for his choices. He should pay the company for the damages he inflicted using his profits he accumulated in the project that he got from the deal. The formation of Flush Ltd was for the sole purpose of making sure that the start of the contract with XYZ plc. John created a legal person as a shield against the legal actions with his former company. The action he took the lead to the company losing some of its clients and its long-time partner. All this he did knowing full well that his responsibilities to Shine Ltd would not allow him do what he was doing. The board of shine Ltd should also look into pursuing a lawsuit against Flush Ltd. The reason being that they have violated their position and in the process acquired some of its clients in the process. Following the case of Gilford Motor Co v Horne (1933), the court should grant an injunction against the company from soliciting Shine Ltd clients. References Ashraf, T. (2012). Directors duties with a particular focus on the Companies Act 2006. International Journal of Law and Management , 125-140. Esser, I. M. (2007). The stakeholder debate and directors fiduciary duties. SA Mercantile Law Journal= SA Tydskrif vir Handelsreg , 346-363. Keay, A. (2007). Tackling the issue of the corporate objective: an analysis of the United Kingdoms enlightened shareholder value approach. Sydney L , 577. Lowry, J. (2009). The duty of loyalty of company directors: bridging the accountability gap through efficient disclosure. The Cambridge Law Journal , 607-622. Payne, J. (2008). Legal Capital and Creditor Protection in UK Private Companies. European Company Law , 220-228. Payne, J. (2008). Legal Capital in the UK Following the Companies Act 2006. Sheikh, S. (2013). A guide to the Companies Act 2006. Routledge.

Of Mice and Men :: essays research papers

Of Mice and Men   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Of Mice and Men, which was written by Nobel Prize winner John Steinbeck, is a very clever and well thought out short novel. Steinbeck seemed to have a thing for the poor and struggling working class people of this country. His characters in this book are typical low class farm workers, yet they are very unique in their own ways. By the end of the book you feel for some of the characters while others you don?t give a damn about.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The one character that drove the story in Of Mice and Men and made it an unforgettable book was Lennie. The other characters like George, Slim, and Curley didn?t really have anything special or unique about them. There was something special about Lennie though. Lennie is mentally handicapped to put it lightly. He has got some major screws loose upstairs. Through out the book Steinbeck shows Lennie?s low IQ by how this character only thinks about one thing, and that?s that he hope?s George will let him take care of the rabbits when they get their own place, which never happens. Lennie wasn?t just retarded, but he was physically very strong. Lennie was a big and powerful guy. Unfortunately Lennie didn?t know that he was strong or big. All he thought about was the rabbits. Curley?s hand was crushed easily and his wife was killed accidentally by the pure strength of this huge guy. That is why Lennie was the character that made this book.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   I think the one lesson John Steinbeck was most trying to get across in Of Mice and Men was that everyone needs somebody so they aren?t lonely. Other then George and Lennie, the other characters are all very lonely and are looking for someone or dreaming of something better. Crooks said it best; ? A guy goes nuts if he ain?t got nobody?. Crooks felt very alone all through out the book. No one liked him or talked to him because he was black. Curley showed he was lonely through his anger. He was always trying to pick a fight so others would pay attention to him. His wife would flirt with the other guys like Slim and Lennie because she was extremely lonely. Curley?s wife hated her husband, and was never given any attention by him. Being lonely is not a good thing and I think that is a lesson Mr.

Nick Carraway - Biased Narrator of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby :: Great Gatsby Essays

Nick Carraway - Biased Narrator of The Great Gatsby The Great Gatsby, a novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. It is a novel that tells the story of different peoples lives and how they are intertwined with each other. The story is told from the viewpoint of the character Nick Carraway. It is through his eyes and ears that the reader forms their opinions of the other characters. In the novel the characters trust Nick and confide in him quite a bit. He thinks of himself as an open minded non-judgemental, non-partial person. I think that it is almost impossible to live your life and not judge others and also not be partial and judge different individuals with different standards. Nick wants the readers to believe that the way he was raised gives him the right to pass judgement on a immoral world. He says, that as a consequence of the way he was raised he is "inclined to reserve all judgements" about other people (page 5). His saying this makes it seem like we can trust him to give a fair unbiased account of the story that he is telling, but we later learn that he does not reserve all judgements. Nick further makes us feel that he is a non-partisan narrator by the way he tells of his past. We come to see that Nick is very partial in his way of telling the story. This is shown when he admits early in the story that he does not judge Gatsby because Gatsby had a "extraordinary gift for hope, a romanric readiness". This made Nick more loyal to Gatsby than other characters in the book. Nick overlooks the wrongness of Gatsby's bootlegging, his known associations with speakeasies, and with the character Meyer Wolfsheim, a man rumored to have fixed the World Series in 1919. Yet he is disapproving of Jordan Baker for cheating ina golf game. He also says that he is prepared to forgive this sort of behavior in a woman, "It made no difference to me. Dishonesty in a woman is a thing you cannot blame too deeply, I was causualy sorry, and then I forgot" it seems like he can't accept her for being "incurably dishonest" and then he says that his one "cardinal virtue" is that he is "one of the few honest people" he has ever known.

Comparison of Eastern and Western Philosophers

[Comparison of Eastern and Western Philosophers ] Comparison of Eastern and Western Philosophers I will compare the Western philosopher Socrates to the Eastern philosopher Lao Tzu. These two philosophers had some things in common with their ideas and philosophies that they pursued. Socrates was a western philosopher that lived in Athens Greece and Lao was thought to be from what is now known as the Hunan province of China. Socrates Socrates lived in Athens which was a city that taught it was better to solve problems through debate rather than violence. It was because of this environment he grew up in that he became a great debater and strived to discover something important, namely, the essential nature of knowledge, justice, beauty, goodness, and, especially, traits of good character such as courage (McGraw-Hill, pg. 37, 2008) . He believed that power was not attained through wealth or physical strength but rather it was achieved through discussion or debate. The Delphi Oracle is said to have pronounced Socrates the wisest of people. To Socrates this meant he was aware of his own ignorance not that he was the wisest man in the world. Socrates made many enemies after this because he set out to find a man wiser than him and exposed many of them as frauds this brought about his demise as he was sentenced to death for corrupting young men's minds. Even though it is said by Plato that he could have gotten out of prison he choose to remain there because by living in Athens he agreed to live by their laws. Lao Tzu Lao Tzu believed that it was not through intervention but rather through understanding of how it functions. He also believed that the foundation of life was through peace and not through strife. The wise ruler, Lao Tzu believed, understands that violence is a last resort and knows that it can often be avoided by anticipation, by reconciling potential enemies and resolving difficulties when they first arise. Lao also believed it was through deeds done for others and not doing just the things that benefited himself that would define a person. This thought is best supported by a quote from his views on virtue where he stated The superior man hoards nothing. The more he uses for the benefit of others, the more he possesses himself. The more he gives to his fellow men, the more he has of his own (McGraw-Hill, pg. 538, 2008). The absence of selfish desires is the secret to his virtue. What Socrates and Lao Tzu had in common Both Socrates and Lao Tzu thought that even the wisest of humans is still ignorant. Both held that to act on that ignorance under the pretense that it is knowledge is folly that leads not to progress and betterment within the individual and society but to the opposite effect( McGraw-Hill, pg. 536, 2008). Even though both Socrates and Lao Tzu believed in fighting for injustices. Both Socrates and Lao both believed that it is best to settle things through talking and that war should be a last resort because violence only causes more tension and a retaliatory type reactions. In conclusion we can see that there similarities and differences in how these philosophers went about getting their messages across to others Socrates was more open and engaging in his desire to find true knowledge and meaning and used his gift of debate to engage others to find a better solution. Where Lao believed in just letting things happen and unfold as they may and what happens is what is meant to happen. Both of these philosophers were alike in the fact that they both strongly believed in only using force as a last resort. As both of these types of philosophy's have many good points I am more proponed to agree with western philosophy because I think like Socrates it is important to stick to what one truly believes as long as it is not detrimental to anyone else. Because if one's life is going to have meaning then we have to stick to what we believe because at the end of the day what really matters is how we feel about ourselves. If we compromise what we believe because of how others see us then our lives mean nothing. There is a very good poem by an unknown author called The Man in the Mirror in this poem the author states that at the end of the day the only thing that matters is that we can look at ourselves in the mirror and like what we see. References Moore, B. N. ; Bruder, K. (2008). Philosophy: The power of ideas (7th ed. ). Boston: McGraw-Hill.