All Day Kindergarten Essay

After critically analyzing the current kindergarten scheduling trends, there is a shift in many schools from half-day kindergarten programs towards full day kindergarten programs. A full day kindergarten or all day kindergarten program is a program in which pupils attend school each weekday for approximately six hours. The growing number of all day kindergarten programs can be attributed to a change in the American society and education in general. To be specific the growing number can be attributed to the increase in single parents and dual employment households and finally a general belief that all day programs better prepare children for school. There has been a looming legislation, which is going to give powers to the local, state and federal governments to control standards of education. Kindergarten education is targeted by this piece of legislation because it promotes all day kindergarten programs at the expense of half-day programs. I fully support this piece of legislation that promotes all day kindergarten programs because of the benefits that are inherent with the program. It’s my prayers that the legislation is approved so that our schools can start churning out very competitive graduates. I believe all day kindergarten programs are the best because of the following: †¢ A research conducted in 1990s reported a consistent positive academic outcome for all children enrolled in all day kindergarten programs. A subsequent research also showed that children who attended all day kindergarten programs scored higher points on standardized tests than their half day counter parts. Hough and Bryde found out that there is more individualized instruction in all day programs when compared to half-day programs. Individualized training makes it possible for the teacher to understand each and every need of the pupil and therefore attend to them accordingly. A research carried out by Cryan and his friends found out that there was a positive relationship between participation in full day kindergarten program and later academic success. After comparing similar half day and full day programs in a nationwide study, Cryan found out that full day kindergarteners exhibited more independent learning, classroom involvement, and productivity in work with peers and reflectivity than half-day kindergarteners. †¢ Other researches pointed out that there is a clear relationship between the kind of kindergarten program and the children’s behavior. Teachers rated children in all day kindergarten higher. (Cryan et al, 1992). Other researchers who have studied social and behavioral outcomes found out those children in all day kindergarten programs were engaged in child-to-child interactions and this had a positive effect in building their learning, communication and social skills. (Elicker & Mathur, 1997). The full day kindergarteners were more likely to approach the teacher; they expressed less anger, shyness, withdrawal and blaming behavior than half-day kindergarteners. †¢ Both teachers and parents whose children were enrolled in all day kindergarten proved that all day programs better prepared children for their first grade. They also indicated preference for all day kindergarten because of the more relaxed atmosphere, more time for creative activities and more opportunity for students to develop their own interests. The teachers also concluded they had more time to know the children and their families thus enabling them to better meet the children’s specific needs. (Elicker & Mathur, 1997) It’s definite that there are more positives in all day kindergarten programs but it’s important to remember that what the children are doing during the day is more important than the length of the day. Experts are warning administrators and parents against full day kindergarten programs that are academically rather than intellectually engaging in tone. Some of the intellectually engaging activities that should be incorporated in all day kindergarten programs include the following: 1. Programs that emphasize language development. 2. Programs that offer balance of small group, big group and individual activities. 3. Programs that asses pupils’ progress through close teacher observation and examination of pupils’ work. 4. Programs that develop children’s social and interpersonal skills including conflict resolution strategies. 5. Programs that involve children in first hand experience and informal interaction with objects, other children and adults. (Rothenberg, 1995) To successfully implement this project, the government should commence creating space and teacher capacity. It should also set aside enough funds to make sure the schools can afford equipment necessary for all day kindergarten programs. References Cryan, J. R. , Sheehan, R. , Wiechel, J. , & Bandy-Hedden, I. G. (1992). Success outcomes of full-day kindergarten: More positive behavior and increased achievement in the years after. Early childhood research quarterly, 7(2), 187-203. EJ 450 525 Elicker, J. , & Mathur, S. (1997). What do they do all day? Comprehensive evaluation of a full-day kindergarten. Early childhood research quarterly, 12(4), 459-480. EJ 563 073. Hough, D. , & Bryde, S. (1996, April). THE EFFECTS OF FULL-DAY KINDERGARTEN ON STUDENT ACHIEVEMENT AND AFFECT. Paper presented at the annual conference of the American Educational Research Association, New York: ED 395 691.

Total Quality Management in Toyota

Introduction Toyota is one of the world’s largest automobile manufacturers, selling over  9 million models in 2006 on all five continents. A Top 10 Fortune Global 500 enterprise, Toyota ranks among the world’s leading global corporations and is proud to be the most admired automaker, an achievement the company believes stems from its dedication to customer satisfaction. Toyota has been shaped by a set of values and principles that have their roots in the company’s formative years in Japan. The Toyota story begins in the late 19th century, when Sakichi Toyoda invented Japan’s first power loom, which was to revolutionise the country’s textile industry. In January 1918, Sakichi founded the Toyoda Spinning & Weaving Company, and with the help of his son, Kiichiro Toyoda, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of building an automatic loom in 1924. Two years later, he established Toyoda Automatic Loom Works. Like his father, Kiichiro was an innovator, and during his visits to Europe and the U. S. in the 1920s, he became deeply interested in the nascent automotive industry. Making the most of the ? 100,000 that Sakichi Toyoda received for selling the patent rights of his automatic loom, Kiichiro laid the foundations of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), which was established in 1937. From looms to cars, the Toyota experience has been shaped by extending the boundaries of manufacturing. History When Toyota became the first Japanese car manufacturer to venture into motor sports in 1957, Shotaro Kamiya, then president of the Toyota Motor Sales Company, encouraged his team with his belief that, â€Å"There will be no progress if you fear failure. † The Toyota spirit For half a century this courageous spirit has guided these pioneers and their successors. Aware of the immense task ahead, Toyota approached motor sports with a mixture of patience and ambition. Over the decades, the company’s â€Å"kaizen† method of continuous improvement proved a winning strategy. Toyota eventually accumulating hard-won experience, professional respect and a long string of victories at tracks all around the world. The purpose of this project is to how Toyota analysis of effectiveness of Total Quality Management in the automobile industry. The reason is quality of a product or a service plays a key role in the current business environment. Total Quality Management is a philosophy that guides every activity within a business. It is concerned with developing and sustaining a culture of continuous improvement, which focuses customer’s expectation at a low cost. Providing the best product or service at the minimum price is the main challenge faced by the current competitive business environment. Toyota customers are price sensitive but at the same time they expect value for money, large companies have been able to gain the economies of scale therefore, they have been able to deliver low price products to the market. But the quality of that product cannot always be impressive as they mainly focus on the low cost. Traditionally the cost of quality is considered as an additional cost but at present cost of quality has taken a major role of a product costing. As the competition and business survival in modem organisations are intensifying, they need not only to increase their market share by improving the quality or products and services, but also improve the performance of their employees. In the early 1980s, the concept of total quality management was widely applied to manufacturing industries. The application of Total Quality Management has recently shown its significance in services industries for improving the quality of service and customers satisfaction, which has resulted in increased competitive advantage. In the UK, service automobile industry represents a dynamic and important sector, which occupies a major part of the economy. Rapid development of new levels of service capabilities would be the best solution to deliver high value- added service to satisfy the customer’s need in the UK automobile industry. The awareness of the important of quality in the survival and competitive advantage has recently started to spread in UK automobile industry (black 1999). Since the effective implementation of Total Quality Management hinges on the development of a business plan and providing value added customers focused processes, it is interesting to study the key drivers, which will make application of TQM successful in service companies such as hotels, banks and hospital etc. Research Objectives Outline of Toyota’s TQM system Analysis of the effectiveness of TQM in Toyota Critically evaluate how Toyota has benefit by adopting TQM principle An analysis of the current problems encountered by Toyota principle of TQM The main reason to choose this topic as my dissertation is my personal experience. Toyota is my main means of transportation. Toyota companies own a well-sophisticated technology; charge very expensive tickets fares, yet inefficient automobile industries had given me the interest to study about it for a long time. Train delays are the main problem that commuters face. The monopoly of train operating companies has made this situation worse. I always believed that Toyota could give a better service at a low rate than now. Also I am personally interested in TRANSPORT economics, which has given me an added reason to do research IN Toyota. Total Quality Management is all about the managing the quality at work on whatever we do and also it helps to reduce and service cost. So that I decide to do a research on application of Total Quality management in Toyota. Literature review Quality is the key to competitive advantage in today’s business environment. As more organisations for Total Quality Management (TQM), the choices open to those wanting to set up a quality system are becoming increasing varied. Good business, which in turn general prosperity and employment, is not something, which comes about by chance. It is result of the skills with which business in general is managed and business in general is only the sum of the activities of the business units. Through all the years that I have been in business I have never yet found our business bad as a result of any outside force. It has always been due to some defect in our own company, and whenever we located and repaired the defect our business become good again regardless of what anybody else may be doing. HENRY FORD According to the above remark done by Henry Ford, it implies that the success or failure of a company depends on the strength and weaknesses of that company. Once they can rectify their slip – ups then they can gain their success back. So by doing everything correctly, with zero defects the failure of a business is minimal. Total Quality Management can be practices in every department, in every activity in a company. It should be practices from senior management to the least level of the employee. Then any business can get success in the competitive business environment. The concept of Total Quality Management was developed by an American, W. Edward Deming, after World War II for improving the production quality of goods and service. The concept was not taken seriously by American until the Japanese, who adopting it in 1950 to resurrect their post war business and industry, used it to dominate world markets by 1980. By then most U. S. manufacturing had finally accepted that the nineteenth century assembly line factory model was outdated for the modern global economic markets (Mehrotra, 2005). Total Quality is a description of the culture, attitude and organisation of a company that aims to provide, and continue to provide, its customers with products and services that satisfy their needs. The culture requires quality in all aspect of the company’s operations, with things being done right first time, and defects and waste eradicated from operations. What is Total Quality Management? The two key elements in this research are Total Quality Management and corporate strategy. The main aim is to conduct an inductive grounded theory study into the strategic impact of Total Quality Management and is to place corporate strategy and TQM in context. The seeks to inductively develop an understanding of the relationship between TQM and strategy, as opposed to testing existing theory. A brief strategic quality management literature review is given, followed by a description of the grounded theory research methodology involving 19 grounded case studies. The grounded results are discussed in the context, in which they were made, this allowing the grounded picture to emerge according to the (Eisenhardt, 1989, 1991). Even though Total Quality Management is all about the managing the quality at work on whatever we do, it has got a vast theoretical area as quality should be everywhere in an organisation. Total Quality Management applies from top to bottom of an organisation, from strategic decisions to final output. Total Quality Management can be studied from three different approaches. They are contribution from quality leaders, formal evaluation models and empirical research. Deming (1986) underlined the use of statistical techniques for quality control, and proposed has 14 principles to improve quality in organisation, based on the following ideas. Leadership, an improvement philosophy, the right production from the beginning, training for managers and employees, internal communication aimed at the elimination of obstacles for cooperation and the suppression of quantitative objective. Juran (1993) pointed out the importance of both technical and managerial aspects, and indentified the three basic function of the quality management process. They are planning, organisation and control, as the stages for quality improvement. He indicated that the aim of the management is to reduce the cost of mistakes, reaching a point where the total costs of quality are minimal according to (Juran and Gryna, 1993). Ishikawa (1985) emphasized the importance of training, the usage of cause effect diagrams for problem solving, and quality circles as a way to achieve continuous improvement. Crosby (1979) defined 14 steps for quality improvement, including top and intermediate management commitment, quality measurement, evaluation of quality costs, corrective action, and training, a zero defect philosophy, objective setting and employee recognition. Lastly, Feigenbaum (1991) described the notion of total quality, based mainly on leadership and an understanding of the aspects of quality improvement, a commitment to incorporate quality in the firm’s practices, and the participation of the entire workforce, the objective being the reduction of total costs. Some of the above mentioned theories have discussed in details in this chapter. Juran (1993) concluded that Total Quality Management is the set of management processes and system that create delighted customers through empowered employees, leading to higher revenue and lowest cost. According to that definition TQM is a combination of all functions and process within an organisation in order to achieve continuous improvement of the quality of goods and service for the customer satisfaction. To accomplish this is need to involve every one and all activities of a continuous way of life for the purpose of managing the quality of the all activities. Total Quality Management is an interaction of number of ideas. In order to attain the quality of an organisation, in terms of all the functions, it is a start to finish process that integrates interrelated function at all levels. It is a systems approach that considers every contact between the various elements of the organisation. As a result of this interaction the overall performance of the organisation will be higher than total of the individual output from the subsystems. Those subsystems such as include organisational functions in the products life cycle such as design, planning, production, distribution and field service. It also needs to integrate management subsystems such as strategy with customers focus, the tools of quality and employee involvement that the linking process integrates whole. As a result of all those activities any product or service can be improved. This particular structure leads the organisation in to continuous improvement and finally customer satisfaction (PHS management training 2005). Continuous improvement of all operations and activities is at the heart of TQM. This is because customer satisfaction can only be achieved by providing a high quality products, continuous improvement of the quality of the product is seen as the only way to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction. As well as recognising the link between product quality and customer satisfaction, TQM also recognises that product quality is the result of process quality. As a result, there is a focus on continuous improvement of the companies’ processes. This will lead to an improvement in process quality. In turn this will lead to an improvement in product quality, and to increase in customer satisfaction. Improvement cycles are encouraged for all activities from design and development of products, through routine support and administrative service, to customer relationship management. To achieve continuous improvement Toyota gas to measure and analyze its own performance and that of other companies. Top management commitment and involvement is required in creating and developing clear quality values and goals consistent with the objective of Toyota, and in creating and developing well defined systems, methods and performance measure for achieving those goals. Such systems and methods guide all quality activities and encourage participation by all employees. The development and use of performance indicators is linked, directly or indirectly, to customer requirements and satisfaction, and employee remuneration elimination of waste is a major component of the quality improvement approach. There is also a strong emphasis on prevention rather than detection, hence an emphasis on quality at the design stage. The customer driven process helps to prevent errors and get closer to defect free production. When problems do occur within the product development process, the aim is to identify and solve them rather than hide them; they are generally discovered and resolved before they can get to the next internal customer Benchmarking What is that organisation do that gets results so much better than ours? The answer to this question opens the door to benchmarking, an approach that is accelerating among U. S. firm that have adopted the total quality management (TQM) philosophy. The essence of benchmarking is the continuous process of comparing a company’s strategy, products and processes with those of the world leaders and best in class organisations in order to learn how the achieve excellence and then setting out match and even surpass it. For many organisations, benchmarking has become a key component of their TQM programs (Joel E. Ross) National and international quality awards place considering emphasis on the need to make inter firm comparisons on a spectrum of performance related criteria. This is called benchmarking. This comparison may be within the industrial sector or against â€Å"best practice† irrespective of the industry concerned. Such comparisons can be made in almost any measures which are not just industry specific. For instance, financial performance measurement such as return on capital employee, debtor and creditor ration, credit period or training levels, plan availability and efficiency. Joel E. Ross) concludes the real meaning of benchmarking is the continuous process of comparing a company’s strategy, products and processes with those of the world’s leader and best in class organisation in order to learn how they achieved excellence and then setting out to match and even surpass it. Nowadays benchmarking is a key component of TQM programs. There is currently some debate abo ut which TQM practices contribute most to superior performance outcomes. Several proponents argue that softer TQM practices such as leadership, human resource management, and customer focus have more impact than benchmarking, process analysis or performance measurement. The evidence for which TQM factors contribute most too improved performance is not yet conclusive, and sometimes contradictory. Using data from a longitudinal study of 67 TQM firms we contribute to this debate. Our central hypothesis is that measurement of key TQM practices and performance outcomes in essential for TQM success. We examine the measurement practise of this cohort of firms, and report on the changes in their measurement behaviour over time. Specifically, we analyse seven dimensions of measurement relating to customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction, and process performance, impact of TQM on costs, and sales, self assessment, and benchmarking. We calculate a measurement intensity score for each firm, based on how many of these seven parameters were being measured, and we show that increased measurement intensity is strongly associated with perceived TQM success. Finally, using multivariate discriminate analysis, we identify eight variables that explain the level of TQM success with a classification accuracy of almost 90 %. We conclude that to attain the highest levels of TQM success, firm need to engage in the measurement practices of self assessment and benchmarking, but our data suggest that an appropriate measurement framework needs to be in place beforehand ( Taylor 2006) One of the biggest mistake people make when beginning their benchmarking endeavour is that they only look to benchmark someone within their own industry. Although this doesn’t hurt, but obviously industries already know enough about their industry to know what works and what doesn’t. Some people think they must benchmark their competitor. But if the competitor is worse than your company, it can be a big waste of time and energy. And it will not give the favourable result for the company. Instead of benchmarking a company that is well known for being a good model will give a favourable result to the company. Benchmarking will help to find out, who performs the business process very well and gas process practices that are adaptable to your own organisation if you need to conduct a comprehensive benchmark study or if you can obtain 80 – 90 % of what you need from just using the telephone, email or any other electronic survey to communicate your needs with other member on the benchmarking exchange (Hing, 2001). The drive of customer satisfaction The benefit of having customers who are satisfied is well known. The issues in building customer satisfaction are to acquire satisfied customers, know when you have them, and keep. The obvious way to determine what makes customers satisfied is simply to ask them. (Joel E. Ross) Total quality management has a customer first orientation. The customer, not internal activities and constraints, comes first. Customer satisfaction is seen as the company’s highest priority. The company believes it will only be successful if customers are satisfied. The TQM company is sensitive to customer requirements and responds rapidly to them. In the TQM context, being sensitive to customer requirement’s goes beyond defect and error reduction, and merely specification or reducing customer complaints (Black, 1999). The concept of requirement is expanded to take in not only product and service attributes that meet basic requirements, but also those that enhance and differentiate them for competitive advantage. Each part of the company is involved in Total Quality, operating as a customer to some function and as a supplier to others. The engineering department is a supplier to downstream functions such as manufacturing and field service, and has to treat these internal customers with the same sensitivity and responsiveness as it would external customers. This also helps to motivate employee’s activities as the conflicts are minimal as they treat each other as customers. TQM Components TQM has four basic components 1. Put customers first 2. Make Continuous Improvement 3. Aim for zero defects 4. Training and development Put Customers First A quality product or service satisfies customer’s needs and expectations. Whether a product or service is of high or low quality, will be decided by how it made the consumer feel and whether consumer expectations were satisfied or exceeded. See quality. If customers are not put first, then customer expectations will be difficult to satisfy and consequently quality will not be achieved. Customers can be put first through a variety of initiatives including †¢ Undertaking market research to discover consumer needs so that the organisation can develop products and services that exceed their consumer’s needs. †¢ Looking after all customers whether internal or external. Internal customers are employees of the organisation and are known as customers when they approach each other for a service. External customers are all non-employees (of the organisation) that approach the organisation in connection with a service or product. †¢ Effective customer care systems. †¢ Ensuring that all service standards are met. †¢ Listening to customer views and opinions. Responding to customer views including resolving customer complaints in a manner that satisfies their expectations. Once customer complaints are resolved they should be analysed to prevent future recurrence. Make Continuous Improvement The Japanese term â€Å"kaizen† has contributed to this component. Kaizen believes that there are no limits to continuous improvement. This means that a TQM organisation will continuously strive to improve their product/service and increase the quality standards. A TQM organisation will also view change positively whether the change involves a process change or a change in customer needs and expectations. This is because changes will enable the organisation to develop and explore quality. Aim for Zero Defects There are a number of reasons behind the aim to eradicate defects. Defects are expensive because they will lower the customer’s confidence in the product. Also it is more expensive to rectify defects than it is to prevent them occurring in the first place. Zero defects can be achieved through a combination of quality assurance and quality control. Training and Development An organisation will need to train their employees to ensure that they understand the principles of TQM. A TQM organisation employee will need to understand how TQM is to be achieved or maintained and how they as an employee will ensure that the organisation emulates TQM. Unless each employee accepts and believes in TQM it will be difficult for the organisation to practice TQM. QUALITY Quality is important to business organisations and their consumers. This is because quality products or services can and will secure consumer’s business. However do not equate quality with expensive, as price will not determine quality. Whether a product or service is of high or low quality, will be decided by how it made the consumer feel and whether consumer expectations were satisfied or exceeded. Adding Value Some writers such as Tom Peters (in his book â€Å"Thriving on Chaos†) believe that quality rather than price dictates demand for a product. Peters argues that customers will be prepared to pay for high quality. This means that value is added to a product by ensuring that products/services have the quality consumers require. Quality Control This is defined as the process of identifying which products/services do not meet the organisation’s standards. Once identified the products/services below standard will then be adapted (so that they meet the standards expected) or discontinued Quality Assurance The purpose of this is to ensure that products/services are not below standard when manufactured or used by the consumer. The aim of quality assurance is to make sure that all the goods produced or services offered have â€Å"zero defects†. Quality assurance should save costs as products below standard can not be sold. It should also protect the organisation’s reputation. Whilst quality control is about identification of low quality products, quality assurance is about prevention. In other words the aim of quality assurance is to ensure that products are not below standard. Quality Circles A quality circle is made up of a group of people at various levels within the organisation. These people will have meetings where they will discuss and attempt to solve problems within the organisation. Each of these problems will be real problems faced by the organisation and will require solutions that can be put into practice. Training To ensure that an organisation can offer the quality expected by their consumers, they will strive to continuously improve their product or service. This is because a constantly evolving market place will change consumer demands, needs and expectations with it. Continuous improvement will only take place if staff possesses the right skills and knowledge. Skills and knowledge are usually acquired by the staff through the organisation’s ongoing training and development programs. Fishbone Analysis A fishbone analysis is also known as a cause and effect analysis. The concept was thought up by Kaoru Ishikawa. The analysis suggests that in order to solve a problem an organization is going through, the firm should try to find out the causes. Only when the causes are discovered and understood can you prevent the problem from occurring again. The best way to view the cause and effect was to draw it out like a fish skeleton with the problem at the head of the fish and the bones, the causes. Causes of problems could be anything from: †¢ Manpower †¢ Machinery †¢ Materials the firm uses †¢ Methods of making the product Or it could be down to one or some of the elements of the in business (see below). If you look at this diagram the problem for the company is declining sales, the causes of declining sales when traced back can be from inefficient processes, to lack of training for staff. To address the problem of declining sales the causes need to be addressed. The benefit of a fishbone analysis is it enables the problem to be traced back to the root causes, with the aim of trying to find long term solutions. A cause and effect analysis is usually completed in teams, where the fishbone is drawn out and team member brainstorm possibilities of the problem. Total Quality Management is the set of management processes and systems that create delighted customers through empowered employees, leading to higher revenue and lower cost. Total Quality Management is the integration of all functions and processes within an organisation in order to achieve continuous improvement of the quality of goods and services. The goal is customer’s satisfaction. Of all the management issues faced in the last decade, none has had the impact of or caused as much concern as in America products and services. A report The concept of Total Quality Management Total Quality Management is based of ideas. It means thinking about quality in terms of all functions of the enterprise and is a start to finish process that integrates interrelated functions at all levels. It is a systems approach that considers every interaction between the various elements of the organisation. This would means that, the overall effectiveness of the system is higher than the sum of the individual outputs from the subsystems. The subsystems include all the organisational functions in the life cycle of product, such as 1. Design 2. Planning 3. Production 4. Distribution 5. Field service The management subsystem also require integration, including 1. Strategy with a customer’s focus 2. The tools of quality 3. Employee involvement A corollary is that any product, process, or service can be improved, and a successful organisation is one that consciously seeks and exploits opportunities for improvement at all levels. The load bearing structure is customer’s satisfaction. The conference board has summarized the key issues and terminology relates to Total Quality Management: †¢ The cost of quality as the measure of non – quality not meeting customer requirements and a measure of how the quality process is progressing †¢ A cultural change that appreciate the primary need to meet customer requirements, implements a management philosophy that acknowledges this emphasis, encourages employee involvement, and embraces the ethic of continuous improvement. Enabling mechanisms of change, including training and education, communication, recognition, management behaviour, teamwork, and customer satisfaction programs. †¢ Implementing Total Quality Management by defining the mission, identifying the output, indentifying the customers, negotiating customer requirements, developing a â€Å"supplier’s specification† that details customer objective, and determining the act ivities required to fulfil those objectives. Management behaviour that includes acting as role models, use of quality process and tools, encouraging communication, sponsoring feedback activities, and fostering and providing a supporting environment. Continuous improvement Continuous improvement methods can be used to assists Toyota getting better their manufactured goods and services and via using continuous improvement in each week or month not matter what size the development is made but progress has to obtain place a model which be able to used is PDCA which stands for plan, do, act and check. The PDCA is a model of continuous improvement which be capable of being employed to get better Toyota goods and services and assisting them to expand new goods and services or even to get better the merit of their manufactured goods and services via preparation how the organisation will get better their manufactured goods and services and then how the Toyota will carry out to the plans and then using the plans and finally confirming if the tactics working and this stages will continues in anticipation of they contain makes new products or services or even better existing products and services. The cause of the effect looks like selected at the outcome of the subject which contain occur carry out via the Toyota for instance they had issues through the excellence of the manufactured goods and the effect of effect would show all the possible cause which are the issues and then they be able to employs the effecting of outcome within their organisation to perceive what issues the they have. By doing that it will helps them to undertake the issues in anticipation of no source of cause or it is reducing therefore, if there is still a issues then they will not be effecting by the results of it. The why why why analysis know how to assists them via status the issues and then asking them how is the issues has happen and once the why why why analysis recognise the issues afterwards in anticipation of the issues is not resolve the why why why analysis is maintains on creature continually to resolve all the issues which they has and after that once known see if they be able to remove all the problems. The six – sigma improvement model There are five fundamental phases or stages in applying the sic- sigma approach to improving performance in a process: Define, Measure, Analyze, Improve, Control (DMAIC). These from an improvement cycle grounded in Deming’s original Plan, Do, Check, Act. In the six- sigma approach, DMAIC provides breakthrough strategy and disciplined method of using rigorous data gathering and statistically based analysis to indentify source of errors and ways of eliminating them. It has become increasingly common in so – called six – sigma organisation, for people to refer to DMAIC projects these revolve around the three major strategies for processes to bring about rapid bottom – line achievements – design /redesign, management and improvement. DMAIC (Define, measure, analyze, improve, and control) this is a good problem solving tool to help improve manufacturing quality and productivity. ? Define This is the start of the of DMAIC technique were the team at hand need to try and look into the problem at hand. What is used to help understand the problem with the project would be a project charter which is information on the product. ? Measure The second phase of DMAIC is to grab as much information from the define process so that the improvement team can try to understand how the process operates but are not interested with the problem at this time. This phase is mainly to do with the understanding of the process. ? Analyze Once understanding the process the team now needs to analyze what is the main cause of the problem being studied. ? Improve Once the team have analyzed the problem they can now see what could be done to improve the problem, this is usually done by brainstorming solutions to help the problem. ? Control The last action to be taken would be taking control of the problem by issuing a plan on what to do and how to sort the problem out. These might include: 1. Review and update the process map 2. Update any affected work instructions 3. Develop training that describes the newly implemented methods 4. Determine new metrics to verify the effectiveness of new process 5. Determine if the process changes can be effectively implemented in other processes http://6sixsigma. com/index. php/DMAIC-Cycle. html The second assessment tool Toyota could adopt is called the Fishbone Analysis also known as the ishikawa diagram. This system is designed to identify and list all the factors that are conditioning the problem at hand. This technique helps understand the scale of a situation. It helps brainstorm information from different perspectives within a team or individually to help solve a problem. It is also known to be a very effective system to help people coming from different backgrounds or professional disciplines to working in a much easier business environment to solve problems. This system has a major advantage because usually teams initiate immediately into fixing a problem without taking the time to plan and understand the problem. This is not a good method because the end result usually ends with only parts of the problem having been resolved. The fishbone analysis has a more carful style into understand the problem with its careful planning brainstorming method. http://www. tda. gov. uk/upload/resources/pdf/f/fishbone_analysis_spring2007. pdf The main problem is written on the right hand side of the paper. On the bottom and top of the stems you type 5-6 key factors of the problems or issues that have to be resolved. http://www. tda. gov. k/upload/resources/pdf/f/fishbone_analysis_spring2007. pdf Now you can use the 5-6 key factors to break down into sub headings of other factors that need to be understood to help the solutions for the main development phase. This is a very good was of working as a team as well, you could have a certain team responsible for one main fish bone. The PDCA cycle is something that came around in the 1950’s and is still being used today on an international level weather it wo uld be in training facilities to business environments. It is a four stage check list that will help you get from problem faced to problem solved. It is a continuous cycle that starts with careful planning, must result in effective action, and must move on again to planning. The way PDCA is used: †¢ Plan to improve your operation you first need to understand what is going on with careful planning. †¢ Do To make the changes and try and solve the problem on a smaller scale. This minimises disruption and while testing weather the changes have taken affect or not. Check This method is to check if the changes are meeting the targets to ensure you know how the output is at all times to identity if any new problems are arising. †¢ Act The last stage is to make the changes that are required on a larger scale if the experiment has proven to be successful. In a business this could be getting other departments or even suppliers involved because maybe they may be affected by the changes. Or these people or departments could have been a dded in the Do stage. http://leadershipchamps. files. wordpress. com/2008/03/pdca. png

Apple a Day

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away Eating Healthy and exercise are essential to the health and well-being of all people. A healthy diet along with exercise can help you live longer, feel better about better food choices; provide you with more energy, help you stay at a healthy weight, and help you fight stress. Do you want to live longer and be healthier? Then make that first step and maximize the benefits from being active and eating healthier. It is important to make sure and eat fruits and vegetables daily, at least 5 servings.The best way to be healthier is to incorporate into your daily routine eating fresh fruits and vegetables such as: apples, bananas, strawberries, pineapple, blueberries, grapes, carrots, potatoes, peas, and broccoli. This list can go on and on and you will find there are plenty of fruit and vegetables that you will enjoy. â€Å"Vegetables and fruits are clearly an important part of a good diet. Almost everyone can benefit from eating more of them, but var iety is as important as quantity. No single fruit or vegetable provides all of the nutrients you need to be healthy.The key lies in the variety of different vegetables and fruits that you eat† (Willet, 2007, Harvard School of Public Health). Doctors and nutritionists highly promote fruits and vegetables because they offer many benefits to being healthy. They are excellent sources of essential nutrients, such as vitamins and anti-oxidants. People who eat diets rich in fruits and vegetables have a decreased risk of several chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, high blood pressure and diabetes. As the saying goes, â€Å"an apple a day keeps the doctor away. A healthy eating plan will protect against many health problems and improve the way our body functions. Annabel Bentley, BUPA assistant medical director, has this advice: â€Å"As one of the leading independent health and care providers in the country, BUPA is pleased to support this campaign. A balanced diet i s one of the best ways to maintain good health and help prevent the onset of some serious diseases. Eating well need not be expensive or complicated and this new campaign is geared to leading people towards the right things to eat. † Eating healthy can help in living a longer and healthier life.It can also strengthen your immune system, which can help in fewer sicknesses. The benefits from eating healthy go on and on and will improve your lifestyle dramatically. Proper eating can even help some have healthy lush looking hair, skin and nails and everyone wants to have beautiful skin, hair and nails. Eating healthy can help in feeling better within oneself. A healthy diet along with exercise will provide the body with more energy and make you feel better about yourself and can help fight stress and depression. Eating unhealthy can cause many health problems.Besides obesity and diabetes, there is high blood pressure, heart problems, breathing difficulty, anemia, and joint problem s all due to extra weight. Healthy eating can help protect people from cancer, heart attacks, diabetes and problems with blood pressure. Blood pressure is the force that pushes the blood from the heart through the arteries in the body. High blood pressure becomes dangerous because is makes the heart work too hard. Even when the pressure is only slightly raised for a long period of time it can damage arteries and cause organ damage.I personally have high blood pressure and the doctors are constantly advising me to eat better, exercise and lose weight and when I apply their council my blood pressure does improve dramatically. † High blood pressure is a primary risk factor for heart disease and stroke. As such, it is a condition that is important to control. Diet can be a very effective tool for lowering blood pressure. One of the most convincing associations between diet and blood pressure was found in the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) study.This trial examined the effect on blood pressure of a diet that was rich in fruits, vegetables, and low-fat dairy products and that restricted the amount of saturated and total fat. The researchers found that people with high blood pressure who followed this diet reduced their systolic blood pressure (the upper number of a blood pressure reading) by about 11 mm Hg and their diastolic blood pressure (the lower number) by almost 6 mm Hg—as much as medications can achieve† (Appel, Moore, Obarzanek,1997, clinical trial).By making sure to eat a balanced diet then the occasional fatty food or takeaway will not hurt, but it will become a problem if you eat fatty foods everyday. It can be easy to fall into the trap of eating takeaway food every night because most people have busy hectic lives and find that they do not have the time or energy to cook something healthy. â€Å"Junk food has become a pillar in modern society. It offers a quick fill, fast service, or you can bring it home to watch a m ovie with. From chips, pop, ice cream it goes on and on.There is no nutritional value in any of it. Even the canned produce should be considered junk food. Preservatives are jamming the tops of these containers of fruits in order for them to remain edible for months and months† (Healthy Eating, 2008, Health benefits of food). While it would be nice to take a pill and wake up 15 lbs lighter, the truth is that weight loss takes time and effort as well as a commitment to eating healthy everyday. The best way to begin to reduce the amount of weight people put on would be to reduce any un-necessary fat intake.Fat intake can be difficult to manage because fat makes food taste so much better. It is so tempting to grab a donut or candy bar when craving a snack, but it can be just as easy to grab an apple or a bag of carrots and your body and your health will reap better benefits from it. â€Å"Most people who work at eating better know that the salad bar can be a terrific way to eat out, eat great food and have a healthy meal. There are a few items that can tip the scales as far as fat and calories are concerned, especially if you are trying to watch your weight.A major offender is salad dressings. † Doctor Gourmet, (2008). Weight is such a sensitive subject for many people, young and old , which is why it+ does need to be addressed, because people today especially children are becoming obese at alarming rates. Many people think that it is just too difficult to eat healthy, or they do not know what to eat. â€Å"What you should eat is actually pretty simple. But you would not know that from news reports on diet studies, whose sole purpose seems to be to confuse people on a daily basis.When it comes down to it, though—when all the evidence is looked at together—the best advice on what to eat is relatively straightforward: Eat a plant-based diet rich in fruits, vegetables, and whole grains; choose healthy fats, like olive and canola oil; and red meat and unhealthy fats, like saturated and trans fats, sparingly. Most important of all is keeping calories in check, so you can avoid weight gain, which makes exercise a key partner to a healthy diet† (Willet, 2007, Harvard School of Public Health) As for keeping the weight off, avoid the elevator and take the stairs.If you take the stairs regularly, you will burn more calories. As you do it more often, you will learn that you have more energy. In order to be healthy, we need to learn what it means to eat healthy and to live healthy. The first step is making sure to eat plenty of fruits and vegetables on a daily basis and avoid unnecessary fats in our diet. The best way to avoid fats is by not eating fast food or junk food on a regular basis. Exercise needs to be a top riority in our lives to keep stress away and to feel energized, even if it is as simple as a walk in the park. When it comes to diet and exercise, you have to ask yourself a very important question. How mu ch do you care about yourself? It is up to all of us to make a commitment to set aside a little time each day for exercise. As far as eating healthy is concerned, just focus on each individual day. Do not go to the extreme, because this is setting you up for failure. Just make small changes throughout the day.At night, simply walk away from that huge slice of chocolate cake. It is all up to you to live a healthy lifestyle. Discipline, control and focus can be hard to maintain when it comes to eating healthy and exercising regularly. It can be hard, especially in the beginning, but it is essential that you be consistent. By being consistent it will get easier and easier to make necessary lifestyle changes. By making these positive lifestyle changes in your life it will go a long way in living a long healthy life for years to come.

BP's Environmental Report and Financial Statements Essay

BP's Environmental Report and Financial Statements - Essay Example The BP environmental report sure is prepared following a certain model. The framework is a series of steps that begins by briefly outlining what the BP Company is all about, followed by an illustration of what the pictures on the cover page stand for. What follows next is a table of contents and then an overview, which is made up of a recap of the year’s milestone events, follows in the series. There is an order of stories, from the most intriguing to the least. The stories include a country to county analysis of projects, for example, in 2013, the director mentioned the terrorist attacks in Algeria, environmental restoration efforts in the Gulf of Mexico, the extension projects in Papua, the prevention measures in China, Brazil, Libya, and Russia. 4. Safety forms a major point of focus on the report. Here, the report focuses on managing the safety and operational risk of the people and the environment, including measures to avoid the occurrence of accidents and oil spills. The final step of the framework is reporting. This includes the company’s report on their stakeholders on their engagement with our stakeholders. That is, what the company heard from its shareholders and how it is responding to their sentiments. (Sustainability Review, 2013) The report uses Operational Controlling approach in setting its organizational boundaries. This is because the BP company has operational control over an all its operations since one of its subsidiaries, the parent company is able to direct the financial and operating regulations of the company with an aim to gain economically from its operations. BP seeks to curb its operational GHG emissions by introducing reductions in flaring, operational energy efficiency, and venting.  

Measurements of Unemployment and Inflation Essay

Measurements of Unemployment and Inflation - Essay Example The output and the productivity of a business organization are significantly dependent on the employment as well as unemployment rates. This is because of Productivity = Output/Employment and therefore, Employment = Output/Productivity. Hence, it can be stated that the productivity of a business organization is directly proportional to employment. Therefore, it is quite important for the organizations to measure the unemployment rates in order to determine their productivity. These measurements further facilitate the organizations to prepare for the fluctuations that generally take place in the economy (Blanchard, Solow, & Wilson, 2012). Apart from unemployment, the business organizations need to measure the inflation as well. This is because of the reason that consumers’ spending and investment activities are chiefly dependent upon the rate of inflation. A high inflation rate discourages the investors and consequently reduces the amount of investment in the economy. Moreover, high inflation rates are likely to reduce the return on investment and further can result in a downfall in terms of demand in the economy. These reasons make it quite imperative for the management of an organization to carry out timely measurements of the inflation rates (National Grid for Learning, 2009). Furthermore, it is quite essential for business organizations to manipulate the price of their goods which is likely to be valuable when there is a high inflation rate in the economy. Re-pricing is a quite expensive process and in order to avoid frequent re-pricing of the products, the management of the organizations needs to measure the inflation rates. In addition, inflation causes the prices of the raw materials to grow high as well as the prices of other components to rise. These factors compel the business organizations to explore for contemptible raw materials and subsequently increase the cost for the organization. Owing to this, the management of the business needs to mea sure the inflation rate to minimize these costs. Moreover, with an increase in inflation rates, the business organizations face the demands for increasing the wage rates. This further leads to negotiation activities with the employees as well as the labor unions causing chaos in the management system. Therefore, in order to mitigate these threats, the management of the organizations are required to measure the inflation rates (National Grid for Learning, 2009). 2. What Analyses Might A Manager Do To Learn More About A Specific Company Or Industry? In order to learn more about a specific company or industry, a manager can carry out various analysis strategies such as the value chain analysis, Porter’s five forces’ model analysis, and SWOT analysis among others.

Animal Captivity of Orcas Should Be Banned Essay

Animal Captivity of Orcas Should Be Banned - Essay Example The need to maximize profits and minimize costs means that the welfare of the animals is neglected (Clemmit, 2010). Unlike the use of animals for medical research, this practice is merely for the amusement of the public.It serves no greater good besides giving people momentary pleasure. The death of Dawn Brancheau in a deadly encounter with the orca responsible for two other deaths shows the consequences of vested economic interests. It would have been prudent to ensure that such an animal does not encounter another human being. The lives of trainers are endangered (Martinez, 2014). The documentary explores the death of Dawn Brancheau who was killed by a captive orca. The same orca had killed two other trainers. Although there are generally accepted occupational hazards, the death of three people by one animal is unacceptable. The animals are destabilized when they are away from their indigenous habitats making them violent. The practice has a negative effect on the mental health of the animals. The film suggests that Tilikum had been driven to madness by his captivity (Martinez, 2014). Captured animals live in a restrictive environment causing them to undergo pain, distress and in extreme cases death. Many marine biologists believe that orcas are designed to travel millions of miles in a single day. The restricted environment makes them irritated and a danger to people (Martinez, 2014). It is morally wrong to use animals for human amusement. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has equated the practice to slavery (Martinez, 2014). It is morally wrong to inflict pain on one creature for the benefit of another. The animals have the ability to feel and should not be tortured (Clemmit, 2010). Modern science is increasingly showing that animals are more complex creatures than expected (Clemmit, 2010). A good example is chickens which do not even qualify for Animal

Social Psychology Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Social Psychology - Assignment Example Consequently, I seldom participated in get together or other social activities conducted within school premises by my class-fellows. It is therefore, the boys and girls considered me as a very temperamental, unpredictable and arrogant person. One of my girl class-fellows, called Sandy, was very naughty and lively student. She looked like a tom-boy, and participated in sports and games, and every mischief observed by the naughty students. She did not like such a book worm like me, and always displayed her disliking for too much study and no play in quite an innocent mode. She cited psychological causes that led humans towards isolation and described the reasons behind leading the lonely life. â€Å"Lonely people have an intense longing to be needed and wanted by someone else. Some people suffer from loneliness from time to time, and for some it’s a daily way of life. Most lonely people wear the affects of it on their face with a sad continence or a dejected look.† (Nicel y, 2008: 1) But it was not the case actually; rather, I wanted to spend most of my time in the world of literature, colors and imagination. I even had no care regarding the views my class-mates maintained about me. Time was passing with its usual flow, and everything appeared to be routine matter. Then one day one single event made revolutionary changes in my life. It was a pleasant April morning, when the speech contest was going to be held at school level. One student from 7th to 10th grade could participate in the contest. I was one of the spectators, when I found my class-teacher in a perplexed state. On enquiry, I came to know that the contester from our class was absent from the school and there was no one to represent our class. Since everyone knew that I had vast knowledge of almost all topics, the teacher requested me to represent the class. After little hesitation, I stepped forward and spoke at

Performance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Performance - Essay Example The findings of the study show that the extensive research carried out has not been able to come up with a concrete relationship between the human resource and performance. Brudan (2011) postulated the focus of performance management as a discipline and the proposition of an integrated performance management (Brudan, 2011). The paper’s aim was to track the various developments that performance management has gone through regarding the various levels of the organization. The paper was able to identify various crucial dichotomies that were intertwined in the performance management model. Many firms have taken performance management a notch higher in terms of evaluating their workers output and ensuring that there is an improvement in their daily tasks (Gruman & Saks et al., 2011). Performance management, as a result, should be directed towards engaging the workers to improve their performance and thus increase their output to the benefit of the organization. In addition, the company puts in place various measures that ensure that the employees at each level meet their expected targets as stipulated in the objectives and goals of the company at a certain period. Performance management in such a case does not only look at the rewards that workers should get but also on their performance and hence output to the company. The company, therefore, rewards employees at various levels and ensures that they are up to their tasks. Luong (2012) investigated the factors that drive engagement, engagement, and performance. The study noted that there have been inefficiencies of performance management systems used by companies. Some of the studies have indicated that there needs to be an overhaul of the performance management systems in place to help come up with efficient systems that help organizations, and their employees achieved desired targets and goals. The study was an added development on the Gruman and Sak’s (2011) employee engagement model. The study

Christianity Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 4

Christianity - Essay Example The roots of the Christian faith are related to Old Testament Judaism. As far as according to the Scriptures Jesus was circumcised and raised as a Jew, he hallowed the Torah and all the required holytide, and visited synagogue on the Sabbath (Saturday). The apostles and other early followers of Jesus were Jews as well. In just three and a half years after the crucifixion of Christ Christianity began to spread among the nations. Christianity as a religion has three main churches which are the most major stakeholders of the world religion. The split of Christian Church, which took place in the period between sixties of IX century and fifties of XI century, led to the creation of two different churches: Orthodox and Catholic. Another newer movement of Christian religion appeared in the middle of XVI century in Europe and was called Protestantism. The three churches have the same faith direction, although certain crucial nuances their doctrines are based on are different. Christianity in general is based on the Old Testament, dating back to Abraham; the tradition of the religion honors one God (monotheism) who is considered to be the creator of the universe and mankind. However, the main brunches of Christianity also accept the idea of monotheism Trinity which means the three incarnations of God who are united by their divine nature; they are God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit (Daggers 962). Orthodox Church is the eastern branch of Christianity, which is mostly widespread within Easter Europe and less in Australia and Canada. The basis of the Orthodox doctrine is constituted by the holy Bible and the Holy Tradition which is the materials of the ecumenical councils, the writings of the Church Fathers, and liturgical practice. The roots of the doctrine come from the recognition of the triune God, the creator and ruler of the universe, the underworld, the

Media Effects Body Image Essay Example for Free

Media Effects Body Image Essay Over the past 10 years, mass media and the access to social networks has evolved substantially causing the effects of negative self-image and what is considered beautiful. Body image expectations for both African-American male and female share the battles of society’s expectations, yet African American women body images come with a stricter and more unhealthy stigma; growth of social media such as Facebook, Instagram and Twitter brings these expectations of self-image into our homes and our children minds. â€Å"The Internet is easily the most pervasive form of mediated communication that we encounter in our lives. Even traditional forms of mass communication drive us toward the Internet† (Bryant, Thompson Finklea, 295). Social networks influences negative self-image and expectations of what is beautiful to society. Beauty expectations has a long standing history into our lives, but comparing the increase in body augmentations, extreme dieting and even bulimia nervous in our generation is heavily related to mass media. Over exposure to social networks may contribute to the development of low discrepancy for sexual desire with partner, negative views toward self-body image, and even the need to seek illegal avenues for plastic surgery. As humans, we tend to rate ourselves pretty harsh and I believe social media networks have caused an increase for the expectations of body image. Recently, the media has had a huge impact on relationships, the proper raising of children and especially the ideal body that an African- American woman should have. Although, I do highly believe that we should improve woman’s health, I also know that every person doesn’t look like the model we see on television. In the African American culture, recently, it has been a turn of times and the media thin-ideal is being curvy within our community. Every new music video and social media networks put the black woman with the tiny waist with huge thighs and butt as the perfect woman. The impact of the  media is causing a change in African American women views on their lives, body and overall expectations as what a black woman should look like. It is well known that obesity and being curvier than other races is well documented withi n society, yet it’s now becoming an issue with our society to enhance these features that we are so well known for. Even for the common thin-ideal woman that is often portrayed in the media is typically 15% below the average weight of women, representing an unrealistic standard of thinness (tall, with narrow hips, long legs, and thin thighs) (Johnson, Tobin, Steinberg, 1989). Yet within the African American culture, video vixens promote their bodies as a sign of owning who they are and controlling the situation regardless of what they may have on. Still another perspective is that of Melyssa Ford, â€Å"the highest paid video girl to date† (Byrd and Solomon, 2005) who describes her vulnerability on video shoots, objectification by men, and the process of reclaiming power over her own body, which she describes as her commodity. Without denial, Melyssa Ford is a well-educated woman and one of the few vixens who have used her body to open doors to new opportunities, but believing her body is the golden ticket is the main issue that I have with the media influence. These contrasting perspectives demonstrate the complexity of issues (e.g., the range of perceptions about woman’s objectification) and pose critical questions for scholars who seek to understand contemporary Black women’s experiences (Byrd and Solomon, 2005). The idea that the African American woman has been created as an object and should have a particular body to be accepted into their culture as the ideal African American woman. Black culture has always been the more voluptuous curves in women, yet those women were considered cornbread fed and the ones who weren’t blessed with these assets, didn’t go out their way for unethical surgical practices. The social media negative influence on African American women growing up within the 21st century has made it seem the simple life is depending on the curves of your body, instead the knowledge of your mind and the power in your beliefs. Proper parenting is started at home, yet with social networks being such a part of our children’s lives, the media is also in the homes. In the process of the media influence, I believe the importance of the media understanding the black culture and the expectations of a woman’s curves also cause many medical issues that we are associated with, such as: Type I and II diabetes,  high blood pressure and obesity. With overweight being accepted in most black families homes, the media and social networks should deter as much as possible from promoting the oversexed woman is the ideal woman. The effect social networks has on the children coming behind us is powerful and I believe the power of the media should be used more effectively. There is evidence that social media influences behaviors at home because women such as Ford promotes her body as her job, just as woman who is a part of the corporate community, but her body expectation is for her job, natural African American women are not all curvy. I had the opportunity to speak with several close friends who utilize social networks as often as I do and I wanted to know their take on their own body image when looking at different women on Facebook or Instagram. Do they feel the need to conform and seek that particular body? Do they feel less beautiful that moment when looking at these women? Although all of them stated they didn’t feel any less beautiful and was comfortable within their skin, they did state it causes them to want to stay in the gym more or avoid a meal for the sake of staying the â€Å"ideal body type† as an African American woman. But 2:3 of the women claimed they did have a lower sexual discrepancy when it came to being with their mates and questioned themselves during sexual intimacy after looking at these women. 1:3 of the women even resulted in having plastic surgery for a breast implant after seeing the changes in a models career off of Instagram because she felt like this would increase her chances of finding a husband. â€Å"Social comparison theory is one of the few theories that are commonly used by mass communication scholars to understand the relationship between media exposure and body image dist urbance† (Zhang, Dixon Conrad, 266). The ideal African American woman portrayed in the media and on social networks is difficult, almost impossible, for the majority of the women if you want to live a normal, healthy life. When you have a certain type of body within the African American community, the woman seems to be more glorified by men and catches the attention quickly. Yet, often African American women who have curvy shapes find themselves not liking the attention because of comments. The effects of lower discrepancy are basically the lack of compatibility between two individuals and this may increase with the harsh media influence. I believe social networks and media influence has caused African American women to want a voluptuous body  because apparently this is what gets a man attention. â€Å"Stice and Shaw (1994), suggested that as women internalize the thin-idea/media image, they tend to experience heighted body dissatisfaction, set unrealistic body dimension goals, and ultimately engage in disordered behaviors designed to achieve the thin-ideal body image (Hawkins et al, 2004). The increase of plastic surgery within the Black American culture probably has increased within the last five years due to the wanting of large buttocks and smaller waist which media makes to believe this is what a Black woman should look like. The media so- called expectations of the perfect African American woman can’t be the only problem when it comes to the issues the culture experiences toward wanting a certain look. Possibly, the future research will get the attention of media and social media executives to realize their power over the younger generations to develop positive influences and promote healthier lifestyles. In this research, I was able to find that African-American women often compare themselves to images on social networks and although it causes them to work out more, it isn’t necessarily causing a healthier lifestyle and positive self-body image. Works Cited Bryant, Jennings, Susan Thompson, and Bruce W. Finklea. Fundamentals of Media Effects. 2nd ed. Boston, MA: McGraw-Hill, 2002. Print. Byrd, Ayana, and Akiba Solomon. Naked: Black Women Bare All About Their Skin, Hair, Hips, Lips and Other Parts. New York: Penguin Group, 2005. PsychINFO. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. . Hawkins, Nicole, P. Scott Richards, H. Mac Granley, and David M. Stein. The Impact of Exposure to the Thin- Ideal Media Image on Women. University of Houston- PsychINFO. Taylor Francis, Inc., n.d. Web. 4 Apr. 2014. Johnson, C. L., Tobin, D. I., Steinberg, S. L. (1989). Etiological, developmental and treatment considerations for bulimia. Special issue: The bulimic college student: Evaluation, treatment and prevention. Journal of College Student Psychotherapy, 3(2-4), 57-73. Stice, E. Risk Factor for Eating Pathology:

Politics in Australian Media

Politics in Australian Media Essay Prompt: Politics is badly reported to the public because the Australian print media is highly concentrated and lacks adequate accountability. Critically assess this statement with examples to support your argument. In the Australian print media, a significant issue is continuing to hold a common place in relevant debate. This is in regards to company ownership becoming excessively concentrated with minimal accountability; that is, colossal media corporations such as Fairfax Media are continuing to grow and take over the smaller companies within the industry. Consequences of this (amongst other things) will be discussed in this essay biased political information with minimal diversity being provided to the public, and damage to the Australian democracy due to the deteriorating ‘watchdog’ function of the media. Additionally, the poor accountability of the Australian print media will be explored including its ramifications and possible solution. In this essay these key areas will be discussed through referencing relevant theories and examples. The current state of the Australian print media being extremely concentrated is leading to published political information being full of biases. This can be depicted through examining the Chomsky and Herman propaganda model (Chomsky Herman 2002). One of this theory’s primary focuses is on the size, ownership, and profit orientation of large media corporations and the role they play in manipulating information portrayed to the public. Such corporations in Australia (e.g. News Corporation) have grown over time to such sizes that they have taken over most smaller companies. With such domination, it is only expected that information presented by these giants will be fundamentally biased (e.g. certain information that may damage the company’s financial interests would be likely to receive high censorship) (Tiffen 2006). For instance, during the 2013 Australian election, a significant majority of Australia’s newspapers supported the liberal party. As would be expected , their publications were heavily biased and were likely to have had a significant impact upon the election results. The Chomsky and Herman model has received a large amount of criticism; Eli Lehrer (2004 p. 67-87) argued against the supposed corporate bias of the media, asserting that media organisations report on corporate and political corruption all the time. However, Lehrer overlooked Chomsky and Herman’s (2002 p. lx) point which stated that the media in fact represents corporate and political deliberations, however it is the views that challenge the ‘fundamental premises’ of these deliberations that are intentionally ignored (Chomsky Herman 2002). The role of the media in keeping the government in check by not only informing but also involving the public in the Australian political sphere is also being compromised. Democratic societies (like that which exists in Australia) depend upon the public being reasonably informed about the current political sphere. As the concentration of media ownership in Australia continues to become more intense, this role of the media is fading and the threads of our democracy are tearing. It is important to understand that politics cannot exist without the media in the modern era; it creates a reality for us in which we are told what to think. This can be best explored through the liberal idea known as the ‘Fourth Estate’ (Schultz 1998). This traditional role of the media as the ‘Fourth Estate’ was to provide society with a diverse and un-biased array of information on the current political sphere. Worryingly, Habermas found in his studies that by the 20th century newspapers had become so controlled by commercial interest that they no longer served the public sphere (Habermas 1989). For example, the media will often inform us with popular news (e.g. celebrity-related) that will attract more views, however this information is likely to not be in the public interest (Tiffen 2006). Democracy depends upon the State accepting criticism of its power; if the public are not provided with information regarding current political issues, political participation will be limited (or tainted) and thus the whole notion of a democratic society becomes almost redundant (Schultz 1998). The ‘power, commercial ambitions and ethical weakness’ (Schultz 1998 p. 1) of these large media corporations gives an accurate depiction of the media’s failure in the modern age to perform its role as the Fourth Estate. As a result, the negative effects of the highly concentrated Australian print media are evident. In addition, the corporate giants that dominate the media industry lack adequate accountability. Media giants such as Fairfax Media and News Corporation are not being held liable for many of their actions that would have (in the past) attracted prosecution. As their size has grown, so has their influence and power to avoid such accountability. Journalists wield the power to portray people/ideas/events etc; the way these are portrayed creates the reality within which we all live (Schultz 1998). In other words, we rely primarily on the media for the info and imagery out of which we construct our reality of current political circumstances. Large powers such as this are often unacknowledged by the practitioners of the media due to its implication of the necessity for accountability; they want maximum power and minimal regulation (Noam 2009). However, protections (e.g. the implied right to the freedom of political communication) conferred on the media in Australia create a dilemma when it comes to holding it to account. It is inconsistent with the general principle of freedom of the press to have laws that, for example, allow Parliament to censor media content prior to publication (prior censorship) (Noam 2009). Nonetheless, it is equally as inconsistent with this general principle to have laws that would allow parliament to punish the media after publication for general infringements of a government-invented standard. The Finkelstein enquiry (Steward 2012) proposed a solution that could have great potential in alleviating this regulatory issue. Currently, Australian print media (i.e. newspapers) is regulated by the Australian Press Council. However, this body is self-regulated and has no actual legal power. The Finkelstein review recommended an independent statutory authority funded by the Commonwealth – this would cover all media and would have the power to enforce its decisions through the courts (Steward 2012). Such a proposition may very well be the answer to ensuring the media is held accountable for its actions. This essay discussed a variety of areas stemming from the issue of the high concentration of the Australian print media and its minimal accountability. As a result of this, political matters of importance are being very badly reported (if at all) to the public. The large corporations that now dominate the industry are heavily biased in their political views and tend to pursue profit-related endeavours over ensuring legitimate, high quality political news is provided to the public. Furthermore, the media is failing in its role as the Fourth Estate (that is, keeping the government in check through being a ‘watchdog’ for the public). And lastly, reform (such as a new independent statutory authority) is needed in order to address the growing issue of the Australian print media’s minimal accountability. Bibliography: Habermas, J 1989, ‘The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a category of Bourgeois Society’, Polity, Cambridge. Herman, E; Chomsky, N 2002,‘Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media’, Pantheon Books. p.Ix. Lehrer, E 2004, ‘Chomsky and the Media: A Kept Press and a Manipulated People’, The Anti-Chomsky Reader, Encounter Books, pp. 67-87. Noam, E. M 2009,‘Media Ownership and Concentration in America’, New York: Oxford University Press. Schultz, J 1998, ‘Reviving the Fourth Estate: Democracy, Accountability and the Media’, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press. Steward, C 2012 Finkelstein report: Medias great divide,The Australian. Tiffen, R 2006, ‘Political economy and news’, The Media and Communications in Australia, Crow’s Nest, N.S.W: Allen Unwin, pp. 28-42.

Occupations in Health and Social Care Essay

Occupations in Health and Social Care Essay 1.1 Introduction There are a variety of different occupations within the hospital and community, anyone willing to join the health and social sector should be aware of the different range of occupations. If employees can offer good employability skills this will then help them to be successful in their chosen occupations. Relevant qualifications and the willingness to train further in order to develop more appropriate skills including effective communication skills, the ability to work well in a team and using own initiative this can help the employee to be suitable for the employment (Bach and Grant, 2009).There is a wide range of opportunities available where each individuals interest and enthusiasm can progress. This report is aimed to describe the different types of occupations within Health and Social care. One of the areas of focus will be the typical hierarchy within health and social care and the important roles and responsibilities it plays for professionals within this field of work. Some o f the information in this report will be provided in diagrams explaining the role and structure of management and the importance of hierarchy within health and social care. 1.2 Range of Occupations in Health and Social Care and Careers HealthCare is defined as the treatment, prevention and management of illness and the safeguard of mental illness and physical wellbeing through the services accessible through the allied and medical professions. Social care is the service people get due to poverty, illness, old age and disability from social services (Brotherton and Parker 2011).The health and social care Act (2012) sets out specific obligations for the health system and its relationship to work together. This act clearly states that it gives a duty to NHS, England, clinical commissioning groups and health and wellbeing boards to make it easier for health and social services to work together. Health is provided in various settings which consist of physicians, offices, patient homes, outpatient departments, clinics, acute care hospitals, specialist hospitals, community health centres, long term care facilities and schools (Smith 2000).There are many health occupations in the health and social care .Health care professionals are defined by possessions of eligibility, membership for practice, code of ethics and competency (Smith 2000). Research into various careers demonstrate particular specialised roles and responsibility. Some of the occupations in the health and social care are social workers who work for a range of organisations,but primarily in local authorities, independent organisations and charities, in addition work for the NHSin hospitals, mental health trusts and other community-based settings. Social workers act as an adviser, advocate, counsellor and listener. Social workers work with, the elderly, people with learning and physical disabilities, young offenders , people with mental health conditions, school non-attenders; drug and alcohol abusers and homeless people. Their role is to conduct interviews with service users and their families to assess and review their situation and organise packages of support to enable service users to lead the fullest lives possibleSome of the occupations in the health and social care are Podiatrists who do a great job of caring for patients and offering professional advice on how to prevent foot problems. Podiatrist can identify and treat variety of disorders of the foot and lower lib. Many people who are in danger of amputation, such as those suffering from arthritis or diabetes are noted by podiatrists. There are dietetics who encourage healthy eating styles and give guidance and change specific diets for people (Smith, 2000). The largest single health care profession is nursing. Healthcare assistants work along all health professionals. Nurses can start as assistant nurses. For someone to be able to be Registered Nurse (RN) must have nursing training which involves clinical practise, administration, education, research consultation and management (Smith, 2000).The nurses start on Band 5 on the NHS hierarchy (NHS, 2014) .Through continuous specific training of skills and knowledge professional nurses can develop higher in the hierarchy structure within the profession.. Nurses also have the opportunity to develop further and expand their knowledge and skills to become more specialised, for example providing care for patients with mental illness, learning disability or midwifery focusing on specialised antenatal care. Nurses do a great job communicating effectively between doctors and patients as well as caring for the patients, following the doctor’s instructions (Sullivan, E, and Decker, P. 2005) .O ther duties include ensuring that medical records are kept securely (Data Protection Act, 1998).The nurses maintain the hospital standards by checking wards areas and ensure hygienic standards are met (Health and Safety at Work Act 1974). According to NMC (2004) registered nurses, midwifery or health visitor, are all accountable for their practice. Prospects, 2014, .NHS, 2014, and Career Frameworks, 2014. 1.3 NHS Hierarchy in Health and Social Care A social hierarchy is a vertically stratified relationship between two or more people or groups in which those at a upper levels of the hierarchy have more power and status than those at junior stages of hierarchy (Magee and Galinsky, 2008) Those at upper levels have greater power to make decisions and greater ability to enforce rules than those at lower class. Although those at higher level accrue the most power the lower level individuals often demonstrate significant support for hierarchies. The NHS is a huge organisation with many hierarchical structures. The many layers of management are aimed to ensure that tasks are being done exactly and correctly .Hierarchy is very important to the challenge of improving the health care for people and the ways in which healthcare is provided. Everyone is clear about their job description and who they are managed by and who they are managing. Following relevant determination in expanding knowledge and skills there are opportunities to be prom oted to jobs at senior level. There are 9 bands in the NHS ranging from 9 as the highest hierarchy and the highest paid down to 1 where professionals begin their career. If the hierarchy is effective as it is everything is in place there is no misunderstandings someone is answerable. A hierarchical structure clearly defines each employee’s role within the organisation laid down in their contract. Through continuous specific training of skills and knowledge professionals can develop higher in the hierarchy structure within the profession. Large organisations have many levels of hierarchies compared to small organisations. Below there is a diagram of the NHS illustrating hierarchies in Allied profession http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/career-framework/?sec=cf Hierarchies can be very different in different organisations.There can be advantages and also some disadvantages in a big organisations.There are several levels of hierarchy in NHS who monitor specific areas and who have a duty to communicate with different boards and departments. There is possibly the problem of too many people working in too many different levels. Another factor could be the organisation is too large. Within a social care setting for example a Residential home management teams organising the social care are not many. The hierarchy do not consist of too many levels as the number of employees that exists is relatively low. The head nurse can be nurse on the floor as well as the manager. Small organisations may successes in monitoring their business more effectively with better methods of communicating. In small groups , hierarchical differentiation among the group members improves task especially on task that involve interdependence (Ronay, et al . 2012) However in a small organisation there can be stress because one person will be doing a lot of things for example a head nurse can also be the manager and work on the floor. 1.4 Importance of Roles and Responsibilities of Hierarchy in Health and Social Care Hierarchy plays a crucial role in health care system, it is a form of human social organisation and it offers structure to the organisation. It is important to work as a team in a hierarchy because everyone in the hierarchy has a role and is responsible according to their contract with the employer.Hierachy roles involve leading, controlling and organising other various functions within the health care system. For the hierarchy to achieve efficiently the goals and aims of the organisation it should be accountable and responsible (Barr and Dowding 2012). The role and responsibility of the hierarchy is to ensure that tasks are being done exactly and correctly and prioritise workload within the team. The Hierarchy has responsibilities to encourage staff to perform well as management team will be accountable if anything goes wrong. The hierarchy maintains work schedule, training of staff, responsibility on financial budget and ensuring that the staff perform to the standard set by the po licy within the organisation. The hierarchy as well as being responsible for legal issues at the hospital ensure that they perform to the standards set by hospital policy and other professional guidelines (Taylor and Thornton ,1995 ). In addition the hierarchy deal with complaints from both patients and relatives and where necessary bring about changes or improvements to prevent further complains. 1.5 Conclusion There are a range of occupations within the Health and social setting that is in hospitals and also in the community. If employees can offer good employability skills this will then help them to be successful in their chosen occupations .The hierarchy is different from different organisations.There are 9 bands in the NHS hierarchy ranging the lowest band 1 lowest paid to band 9 the highest hierarchy and highest paid. The NHS has many hierarches from lower to senior level covering a wide range of skills, knowledge and experience. There is always chance to expand further and go up the hierarchy if determined. Hierarchy maintains work schedule, training of staff, responsibility on financial budget and ensuring that the staff perform to the standard set by the policy within the organization. References Bach,S. and Grant, A.(2009) Communicating and Interpersonal Skills for Nurses.(Transforming Nursing Practice) Exeter: Learning Matters. Barr,J. and Dowding ,L.(2012) Leadership in Health Care 2nd edn SAGE Publications Brotherton, G.and Parker, S. (2011) Your Foundation in Health and Social Care. London: Sage Publications Department of Health Professions (2009) Confidentiality NHS Code of Practice London, DOH Health and Safety Executive (1974) Health and Safety in the Workplace Act 1974 www.hse.gov.uk accessed 31/10/14 NMC (2004) Code of Professional Conduct Standards for Conduct Performance and Ethics. London, Nursing Midwifery Council. NMC. (2009) The Code: Standards of Conduct, Nursing and Midwifery Council Tilley, S and Watson R. (2004), Accountability in nursing and midwifery 2nd ed. Blackwell Publishing Oxford Magee, J.C., and Galinsky`, A.D. (2008).Academy of Management Annals:Journal Sullivan, E, and Decker, P. (2005) Effective Leadership and Management in Nursing; 8th edn Pearson/Prentice Hall Taylor,G. and Thornton ,C.(1995) Managing People Directory of Social Change :Radius works. London. Ronay, R., Greenaway, K.,Anicich, E,M., and Galinsky,A. D. (2012) Psychological Science Smith, J. (2000) Health Management Information Systems :Library of Congress: Open University Press :Buckingham NHS Careers (2014). Available from: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/ [Accessed 31/10/2014] Health and Social Care Act 2012. Available from: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2012/7/enacted [Accessed 29/11/2014] Careers in the allied health professions NHS Careers. Available from: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/allied-health-professions/careers-in-the-allied-health-professions/ [Accessed 31/10/2014] Social worker NHS Careers. Available from: http://www.nhscareers.nhs.uk/explore-by-career/wider-healthcare-team/careers-in-the-wider-healthcare-team/clinical-support-staff/social-worker/ [Accessed 29/11/2014] Social worker: Job description | Prospects.ac.uk. Available from: http://www.prospects.ac.uk/social_worker_job_description.htm [Accessed 29/11/2014] Career Framework Interactive Resource Career Frameworks Administration, business support and management of health services. Available from: http://www.skillsforhealth.org.uk/career-framework/?sec=cfid=3 [Accessed 29/11/2014] BBC(2014).Policy at a glancehttp//news,bbc.co.uk politics:2010/8677088,stm accessed 10/03/14

Intrapersonal Intern :: essays papers

Intrapersonal Intern In using my Intrapersonal communication I trying to process the information from the environment and sending explanations to myself. The first I can remember doing this a lot. I was watch the other members that work in the office very closely in how they talk to each other. What kind of verbal and non-verbal communication do they use. I do not think I was doing to be critical but to merely understand whom I am working with and get some kind of feeling where I will fit in. One interesting message that I picked up was small but something to remember. There are two different offices for the outdoor recreation program. Jared has one and Crissy has the other one. Walking into Crissy office everything is in place ver net and clean. You’re able to see everything easily. When you go into Jared office you got a disaster. Boxes of Tennis stuff all over the office. In the other corner you have outdoor magazines all over the floor and side desk. His desk is filled with paper work after paper work. On the other sided of the office you have the work-study desk and that is neat and cleaned off. Sometimes I wonder if it is a man woman thing that the desks are clean or disorder. See how Jared now works with four women in the offices. I do not think that it is true because I have some friends who are woman and their desks are dirtier than Jared’s is. The good thing that I have noticed about Jared thought is that his may look disorder but he know where everything is. If I would have asked the girls for something on their desk they could not have found it very quickly. I always see Jared and Crissy outside of the office and they always speak to me and ask me how I am doing. When they send me e-mails they are always friendly and telling me to have ‘good’ or ‘great’ weekends. So I do see that they are trying to make it as comfortable as they can or know how. They always tell me that education comes’ first so if I had a big exam or something like then I could work on that during my hour if I need to.

Sports and the Business World Essay -- essays research papers

Sports and the Business World   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In the wide world of sports, teams will try and find a way to better market themselves in the nation to make more revenue. There are many ways to market your team but in the newer generation teams have been taking a different approach. Most teams will advertise there big sports star in trying to have people buy there gear, buy tickets, or simply support their team. But the most effective way to market your team is getting to the kids first. In advertising for a younger generation, you will tie the kids in more at an earlier age and hopefully will stay with the team throughout the years.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Reaching tomorrow’s fans, teams seek long-term benefits from marketing to kids and teens. Youth Marketing is one of the most popular ways that sports are using to market their teams. Television has become the main source of marketing pro teams, as some teams have their own T.V show. The New York Jets launched â€Å"Generation Jets,† a weekly half-hour show for children that uses animated characters, Jets players and New York landmarks to teach life lessons. A few of the lessons featured in season one-preparation, patience, and faith- might also be the keys to success for pro teams that are marketing to kids and teenagers. In airing this show the Jets targeted kids six to eleven years old, in hoping that the kids would watch it before they realize what’s cool. â€Å"Generation Jets† is more than a TV show, it became the opening for a comprehensive kids marketing effort that has seen the team launch a dedicated Web site, create themed mer chandise, and re-brand its community relations activities and kids club. Case in point: Like many teams, the Arizona Cardinals have a kids club through which members receive specially created newsletters and team merchandise. Many marketers figure that kids clubs are a sort of necessary evil, a way to create some connection with children and teenagers who probably aren’t going to buy full-price tickets for years to come.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  For pro teams, getting fans while they’re still young is probably the most important now than ever because of well-established competing forces like the Internet, video games and action sports. The way teams are going about it, varies from team to team. The range of tactics includes everything from scheduling ... ...g to attract four to five year olds. To attract those youngsters, Reebok markets kids-only for kids’ only styles, creates kid targeted retail displays and steals a few tricks from kid’s breakfast cereal. Reeboks main focus is it tries to mirror its kid targeted advertising with retail displays to help young kids make the connection from TV spots to the product in stores. Sales at stores with those displays consistently outstrip sales at merchants without them. On the other hand Nike which is a high profile athletic apparel and footwear company was having trouble positioning themselves successfully with youths. The youths have been more attracted to newer brands such as Volcom or old school with Adidas that is making a comeback because kids watch more and more TV and extreme sports are becoming more and more popular each day. In trying to get the kids back to supporting NIKE, NIKE came out with a contest that had a youths compete in skate and bike jumping. At this event the kids were video taped and the best ones moved on. Also, NIKE was giving out their branded materials in seeking to get the consumer back. This event was highly attended and NIKE was able to increase its brand.