Fitbit Marketing Plan Essay - 2524 Words

2012 2012 Marketing Plan Marketing Plan Executive Summary FitBit is dedicated to helping people live healthier and more active lives. The company aims to create innovative, inspiring products and online services that combine the power of new technologies to make people more aware of their diets, daily activities and motivate them to do more exercises. FitBit is a wireless health and sleep tracker. The company’s goal is to provide a unique product, rich features at a highly competitive price. Target segmentation includes athletes, students, professionals and other groups in Australia. The product will be distributed to most of the electronic specialty stores and online. The tiny device will help people taking advantage of their†¦show more content†¦Expected technological advancements in health products are likely to contribute to greater spending on health. The FitBit as a technological health device shall greatly meet local consumer’s needs. Technology The number of Australian households using computers and accessing the internet has significantly increased during past a few years. In 2008-09, nearly six million Australian households (72%) had internet access. There are nearly 10 million Facebook users in Australia which takes almost half of the population. Latest information about products and services can be spread quickly through the social network, which means the FitBit can use it to increase the brand awareness. Legal requirements Australian’s international trade activities are regulated by TRIPS and WTO settlements. Intellectual property is an integral part of global trade which is paid enough attention by the Australian government. In 2009-10, value of intellectual property reached $170 billion. Therefore, FitBit as an innovative product and its crucial technology will be well protected by the local government. Environmental Australian government issued carbon tax aiming to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide. 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Romeo and Juliet Movie Comparison Free Essays

string(65) " lost a child the same age as Juliet, and also lost her husband\." In Franco Zeffirelli’s 1968 version of  Romeo and Juliet, is a traditional adaptation of Shakespeare’s original Romeo and Juliet, with some variations. Baz Luhrmann directed the 1996 version, also known as the MTV  Romeo †  Juliet. This version is very modernized, but keeps the language intact with few changes. We will write a custom essay sample on Romeo and Juliet Movie Comparison or any similar topic only for you Order Now There are many differences between Zeffirelli’s  Romeo and Juliet  and the Signet version of  Romeo and Juliet. Romeo’s entire speech that begins â€Å"Alas that love, whose view is muffled still, Should without eyes see pathways to his will! † (at act 1 scene 1 line 174) is deleted. With the deletion of these lines, the audience, is not privy to his longing for Rosaline. Even though Friar Lawrence mentions Rosaline later in the movie, we are not shown Romeo as a boy whose heart is easily captured, but rather, ready to be caught. In Luhrmann’s version of  Romeo †  Juliet,  this scene, even though cut in some ways, is shown with Romeo writing in his diary. He talks of his love, but he does not seem like he’s in love, but rather a repressed adolescent or a typical teen. Romeo doesn’t confide later to Benvolio as in the Signet version. In the MTV version of  Romeo †  Juliet,  the Nurse’s role is cut considerably. Her speech about â€Å"weaning† Juliet, and Juliet falling with her first steps, and the reference to the earthquake are deleted. This is a major change because it completely changes the dynamics of the relationship between the Nurse and Juliet. We do not get the same sense of closeness between the two as we do in the Zeffirelli film. We also do not see the scene where the Nurse tells about Romeo’s banishment and Tybalt’s death. The reason for this is because of the speed of the film. Luhrmann keeps the pace of this film at very high speeds, and when you look back at the text, the Nurse’s role slows the pace considerably. She’s older, she’s slower, and she’s trying to extend her importance to Juliet and Romeo, but in the MTV Version, her role is cut drastically, which only contributes to Juliet’s isolation. In both movies, the presence of Paris at Juliet’s grave is discluded. This is probably for the better. While reading the play, it seemed like overkill, like just one more obstacle to prevent Romeo from getting to Juliet. Even though the audience know the outcome, they are still anxious to see Romeo get to her. Plus it helped keep the movies within two hours, give or take some. We also do not get the lamentation speeches from Juliet’s family after her fake death. Both films go straight to the funeral. The film allows directors to keep the audience from investing too much grief for the family by swiftly showing the funeral. The lamentation speeches of Shakespeare’s plays were needed, because they did not have the same visual choice that the filmmakers of today have. Romeo, being one of the protagonists of  Romeo and Juliet, is played very differently between Leonardo De Caprio and Leonard Whiting. While Leonard Whiting plays the typical adolescent to a tee, Leonardo De Caprio has much more depth and expresses his anguish in much more dramatic ways. For example, when Romeo being played by De Caprio is challenged by Tybalt he knows the consequence of his fighting and tries with all his might to prevent fighting with Tybalt, even though Tybalt is kicking his butt. We get the impression that he is truly trying to befriend him and make him understand that fighting should be left aside and that there will be great regrets. In Zeffirelli’s version, Leonard Whiting plays a younger spirited Romeo. When Whiting is challenged by Tybalt, he is playful and does try to prevent a fight, but it is more with playful words and not because he knows the consequence of the fight or duel. We also get the feeling that De Caprio is much more mature than Whiting. While Whiting plays a lovesick kid from an upper class family, he still appears to be naive and does not grow to the depths that De Caprio does. From the very beginning, De Caprio is seen as a street smart, savvy, mature young man. His writing in his diary shows us depths that does not show on Whiting, where he is only twirling a twig of flowers. The balcony scene is another scene that shows the differences between the two actors. In the ’68 version, Whiting is very childish and playful. He plays around in the trees while he’s waiting for Juliet. This reminded me of the young Kevin Costner in  Silverado  when he was swinging from the jail cell bars, showing his youth. He is also like a puppy, very young and immature; he seems unconcerned about his safety; he only has eyes for Juliet. We can see that is his only thought or concern. When he leaves we see him jumping and skipping, and once again we are aware of his youth. Leonardo De Caprio shows much more passion and desire. We do not get the sense of immaturity with De Caprio, but rather a sense of manhood. His eyes show deep desire, like he knows what she looks like naked. He also is very sure and thrilled, he is aware of the danger by his presence and takes caution to be careful. Whiting seemed oblivious to his danger. His only concern is his love and desire for Juliet. De Caprio is more aware of the consequences of their love; Whiting is only aware of his love. One of the most important relationships in  Romeo and Juliet  is the relationship between the Nurse and Juliet. In Act 1, Scene 3 we are introduced to the most vivid character of the play, the Nurse. With her speech that begins â€Å"Even or odd, of all days in the year, Come Lammas Eve at night shall she be fourteen. † (1. 3. 16-48), we learn that she nursed Juliet, she lost a child the same age as Juliet, and also lost her husband. You read "Romeo and Juliet Movie Comparison" in category "Essay examples" The Nurse’s role is very important to Juliet. The Nurse is the one that is there for Juliet, she is her confidant, she is her friend. This is especially important near the end of the play when Juliet realizes she is alone after the Nurse tells her to go ahead and commit bigamy and marry Paris. In Zeffirelli’s  Romeo and Juliet  the Nurse plays the role of the Nurse as it’s written in the play. She is affectionate; she is giggly, and loving. We see Juliet and the Nurse being openly affectionate with each other and can tell from this film that Juliet depends on the Nurse. This is especially so when Lady Capulet tells Juliet about the marriage to Paris. After Juliet gives her â€Å"I’ll look to like, if looking liking move† (1. 3. 97) speech, she looks to the Nurse for approval. After the Nurse smiles back at Juliet, we see relief and trust in Juliet’s eyes. In Luhrmann’s version of  Romeo †  Juliet,  we get a very different version of the Nurse, and a very different version of Juliet because of the changes. The Nurses speech about how she weaned Juliet and the reference to the earthquake are omitted. The affection that is so apparent in the Zeffirelli version is non-existent in the MTV version. This changes the character of Juliet considerably. She is perceived as more isolated and alone from the very beginning. We see her as a teen that does not have someone to confide in other than God. When the Nurse tells her to commit bigamy, we do not get the same sense of betrayal as we do with the Zeffirelli version. There Juliet was extremely pained and had to take a stand for herself, by herself, for the first time in her life. As the Nurse is Juliet’s confidant, the Friar is Romeo’s trusting friend. In the MTV version of  Romeo †  Juliet, Pete Postiethwaite plays a very different Friar compared to the 1968 version and the text. Pete Postiethwaite plays a tattoo bearing, Jerry Garcia-like horticulturist who is Romeo’s only confidant. Milo O’Shea’s version of the Friar is very sympathetic and caring. He only has the best of intentions in mind. Friar Lawrence is very important to Romeo. The Friar is the one who guides him and also picks him up when he is down. Even though both Friars are different in appearance and personality, I believe they both portray a very sympathetic, caring friend to both Romeo and Juliet. The Friar may ultimately be the one to blame, but he only led Romeo and Juliet because he believed their union would bring the feuding families together. I believe both played a regretful Friar when it all ended. The ’96 version shows Friar Lawrence frantically tracking the express letter. He is sweating and projects urgency into his voice, albeit his role in the church is omitted. In the ’68 version, when the Friar sees the Page outside the tomb, he frantically rushes to Juliet’s side. He is careful with Juliet but in the end must abandon her to escape blame. Once again Juliet is abandoned. The most dynamic conflict is between Tybalt and Romeo. Tybalt is not nearly as literate or well spoken as Romeo, plus he harbors much hate for Romeo. In both films we get the sense that Tybalt might be aware of Romeo’s and Juliet’s love during Capulets party, even though it is not played out any farther, but may be the fuel for Tybalt’s challenge. In Zeffirelli’s film, Romeo, Leonard Whiting, is oblivious to Tybalt’s challenge and when he is called a â€Å"Villain† he does not seem fazed, while Tybalt, played by Michael York, is extremely perplexed. He does not understand why he is not getting a reaction from Romeo. He came ready to fight, and when Romeo does not face his challenger, Tybalt tries to provoke Romeo by slapping his hand away and smelling his own, as if Romeo has a stench. But Romeo is still not provoked, and his friend Mercutio steps up to the plate for him. The fight between Mercutio and Tybalt is light hearted and playful. The crowd is laughing and cheering them on. The only one who sees the seriousness is Romeo, who is trying to stop them. Once Mercutio is killed, Romeo is fueled and goes after Tybalt. The conflict for Romeo is revenge for his friend’s death. The fight between Romeo and Tybalt takes on a much more serious tone; the crowd is no longer cheering and laughing. The anger and hatred show in both characters. They are fighting till the end. In Luhrmann’s version, Tybalt, played by John Leguizamo, is very much like a gang member whose mind is set on destroying Romeo. He appears much more dangerous and dark and looming. When Romeo, De Caprio, appears, he is instantly aware of Tybalt’s hatred and is concerned for both their safeties. Tybalt is determined to go after Romeo, whether or not Romeo wants to fight. When Romeo tries to shake his hand, Tybalt slaps it away and attacks Romeo from behind when Romeo starts to walk away. Romeo keeps yelling to stop, he does not want to fight, but Tybalt is relentless. It isn’t until Mercutio steps in that the scene changes to their fight and Mercutio’s death. Mercutio’s death is what fuels Romeo to fight and go after Tybalt. Romeo shows courage and hate, and he’s screaming at Tybalt. It is highly emotional and charged. Romeo is aware of his consequences if he goes farther, but Tybalt pushed him to the limit. Then he kills Tybalt. De Caprio instantly regrets his actions. The setting for Zeffirelli’s film is in classical Verona. The set has many domineering walls and tons of concrete. It gives the feeling of coldness. The only warmth is the balcony scene, with the trees and soft lighting. The setting keeps the audience’s attention on the actors and helps them to see the actors as Shakespeare may have directed them. In Luhrmann’s version, the town is called Verona, but resembles downtown Los Angeles more than Italy. The set is current and up to date. It did not try to recreate Shakespeare, but rather, to show how Shakespeare evolves. The physical location of this film helps to understand the story better. It uses our own experiences and our own visual setting, and even though the language is still hard to understand, the setting brings it all together. Luhrmann handles the death scene very differently from the text and Zeffirelli’s  Romeo and Juliet. Luhrmann’s version is much more intense and more tragic. It begins with Romeo, De Caprio, fleeing from the cops. There is a lot of action, with noise and intense music, to keep the audience in suspense. We even see the apothecary scene which is deleted from the ’68 version. When Romeo gets to the church he takes a man hostage before he enters the church. This also adds to the suspense. Once inside the church, and not a tomb, Romeo shows many of his emotions through his facial expressions. We can see the fear and foreboding in his eyes. The church is tacky with neon crosses and lights shaped as candles. When Romeo finally reaches Juliet, Claire Danes, he shows concern and anguish in his eyes over her death. He is crying, and the audience can see his pain. He lies next to her,   pets her and cries uncontrollably. We can tell he understands that death is final. Juliet begins to awaken from her self-induced sleep right as Romeo takes his deadly poison. We want Romeo to see Juliet is still awake, but he is too late. The look in his eyes as he becomes aware of Juliet is heart wrenching. It’s that realization that he has made a mistake. While Romeo is still alive, Juliet whispers her line â€Å"O Churl! Drunk all and left no friendly drop to help me after? I will kiss thy lips† This final kiss is so sweet and so desperate. If only Romeo saw Juliet’s hand move. Juliet’s choice of weapon in this movie is a revolver, rather than a dagger. She blows her brains out. In Zeffirelli’s  Romeo and Juliet, the scene is not changed much from the text, except we do not see Romeo, Leonard Whiting, go to the apothecary. As mentioned previously, the only omission is Paris as it is in the Luhrmann film; otherwise, it is true to Shakespeare. Romeo breaks the door of the tomb down with a rock. We do not get the same sense of urgency as we do in the MTV version. The tomb is dark and dingy and full of dead people. When he sees Juliet, Olivia Hussey, he is still very childlike and actually smiles. This gives the audience a sense that he does not realize the finality of death. He tries to awaken Juliet with soft, cooing words. He does not seem serious until he sees Tybalt, who is not present in the Luhrmann film. At this point, he makes his final speech and says good-bye to life. This is where we get the feeling that Romeo is finally getting it: death is the end, and there is no turning back. When he takes his last kiss from Juliet, he cries for the first time and does show anguish. In the Zeffirelli version, the Friar comes into the tomb right as Romeo dies. This scene is omitted from the ’96 version. The Friar sees the outcome of his actions. He takes responsibility for the fate of these children. When Juliet wakens he tries to protect her from the news of Romeo’s death. He pulls her gently away from where Romeo is lying. But he fails to protect her, and she finds Romeo all the same, at which point the Friar leaves. Juliet looks at Romeo with concern and confusion. She kisses him, and then cries like a child at the fact that he is gone and she is there. She kisses him all over his face; she does not want to give up, but then she hears a noise and finds the dagger. The final scene with them dead seems to embody them; they will be eternally beautiful. How to cite Romeo and Juliet Movie Comparison, Essay examples

Leadership And Governance Reed Hastings NetflixÂÂ

1. Analyse the following questions based on the case scenario. You need to present andEVALUATE the facts and explore the hidden leadership principles behind these facts. o How did Hastings change his use of communications in sending and receivingmessages from Pure Software to Netflix?o How did Hastings change his use of feedback from Pure Software to Netflix?o How did Hastings change his use of coaching guidelines from Pure Software toNetflix?o Which conflict management style did Hastings tend to use at Pure and Netflix?o In making a deal with Epix, which conflict management style was most likely used byNetflix? 2. How would you improve Netflixs product offerings (i.e., what things cant you watch that youwould like to watch) or processes (i.e., how can it improve its delivery or service)? 3. Which level or levels of analysis and leadership paradigm are presented in this case, and didHastings use the management or leadership paradigm? 4. How did Hastings Big Five model of personality leadership traits change from Pure Softwareto Netflix? 5. Which University of Iowa leadership styles did Hastings use at Pure Software and Netflix? 6. Explain how power, orgorganizational politics, networking, and negotiation are, or are not,discussed in the case. Introduction Wilmot Reed Hasting, an education philanthropist and entrepreneur, is known for serving over the boards of Facebook, CEO of Netflix and a number of not- for- profit companies. In the year 1997, Marc Randolph and Hastings contributed in co-founding Netflix that offers film rental- by- mail at a flat rate or price to the customers in the entire United States of America. With the headquarters in California, the company of Netflix has been amassing a collection of more than 44 million subscribers for almost 100,000 titles. Hastings is known for being ahead in the curve of technology. He also possesses the quality of anticipating the preferences of the customers. In consideration with this quality, it had been anticipated by him that in an eventual manner the customers will show preferences towards getting movies instantly being delivered through the sources of the internet (Musek 2007). Even though the organization is now being criticized by a number of individuals in the market, the org anization had been able to achieve success in the initial period and in recent times due to the leadership style of Reed Hastings. Hence, the leadership style of Reed Hastings is extremely important for the purpose of this report and will be the key focus of the research as well. In the beginning of the year 2005, the analysts of Wedbush Securities Stock had place a price targeting at 3 dollars, the trading of which was being done at the price of approximately 11 dollars (Loftus 2011). In this particular report, analysis will be done on the case study that questions and doubts the position of Reed Hasting as a number one businessman or entrepreneur. With respect to certain aspects, this report will be analysing the scenario in terms of human resource management and leadership perspectives at Netflix. Hastings Change in Use of Communication In the beginning of the year 2005, the analysts of Wedbush Securities Stock had place a price targeting at 3 dollars, the trading of which was being done at the price of approximately 11 dollars. However, there had been a change in the scenario after Reed Hasting had introduced certain changes within the system of the business. Majority of the success at Netflix is on the basis of the fact as to how the company had been built on culture that was eager to take risks and hard- driving as well. Netflix had managed to initiate change in the model of its business by the cannibalization of its own customers (Loftus 2011). This change had been made in a quick manner without much consideration of certain facts and was initiated in the plans of subscription that resulted in causing a widespread outrage amongst the base of customers. The company had been catching vicious backlash events from the customers who subscribed the organization after the announcement had been made to separate its services of live streaming and providing DVDs through e-mails. The CEO of the company realized that the mistake lied in the way in which communication of the message had been done with the customers (Loftus 2011). The CEO realized this as there had been cancellation of subscriptions by a number of customers and involvement of a number of negative comments along with the plummeted stocks by 50 per cent. In order to rectify the mistake, the CEO had sent an email to 24 million customers of the organization for apologizing stating I messed up and I owe you an explanation. Further announcement had been made that the service of providing DVDs through e-mails will now be known as Qwikster and the organization will be only available for the activity of streaming. This instance can be considered as an evidence for the change that took place in Hasting, in comparison with what had been in the case of Pure Software. This change of communication, as stated by Reed Hastings had not been a tactic of marketing but an expression for the sincere and genuine regret regarding the way in which communication had been handled with the customers (Musek 2007). However, there had still been certain flaws in the way in which communication was being done. Hence, with the changes in its way of communication, the CEO had been introducing transparency in their relationship with the customers. As showing preferences towards communication, Netflix had utilized its services with a consent to receive electronic communications from the web site of Netflix in relation with this acco untability. Hastings Change in Use of Feedback Netflix had managed to initiate change in the model of its business by the cannibalization of its own customers. This change had been made in a quick manner without much consideration of certain facts and was initiated in the plans of subscription that resulted in causing a widespread outrage amongst the base of customers (Loftus 2011). The company had been catching vicious backlash events from the customers who subscribed the organization after the announcement had been made to separate its services of live streaming and providing DVDs through e-mails. These feedbacks had been used by the CEO, Hasting as a source for understanding the perception and expectations of the customers. The CEO then considered making moves for responding to the feedback obtained in a different yet significant manner. This instance can be considered as an evidence for the change that took place in Hasting, in comparison with what had been in the case of Pure Software. The sources of feedback now seem to be involving emails being sent to the email addresses that have been provided in the duration of registration or to post communication over the service of Netflix or on the page of Your Account. This page will be including notices regarding the account such as authorizations on payment, changes in the method of payment or password, confirming e-mails and a number of other information related to transactions. This has resulted in creating a relationship with the organization of Netflix as an important stakeholder of the company (Loftus 2011). In the beginning of the year 2005, the analysts of Wedbush Securities Stock had place a price targeting at 3 dollars, the trading of which was being done at the price of approximately 11 dollars. In this particular report, analysis will be done on the case study that questions and doubts the position of Reed Hasting as a number one businessman or entrepreneur. Hastings Change in Use of Coaching Guidelines Majority of the success at Netflix is on the basis of the fact as to how the company had been built on culture that was eager to take risks and hard- driving as well. Netflix had managed to initiate change in the model of its business by the cannibalization of its own customers. This change had been made in a quick manner without much consideration of certain facts and was initiated in the plans of subscription that resulted in causing a widespread outrage amongst the base of customers (Musek 2007). The coaching guidelines are available on the web page of the company and is one of the most viewed document. By the introduction of these coaching guidelines, the CEO of Netflix had made an attempt of shaping the culture and motivating the performance of the workforce at Netflix. Ideas were being introduced for the management of talent that was highly successful for the organization. This particular change in the coaching guidelines had been considered compelling for the culture and talent of the organization for a number of reasons (Loftus 2011). As stated by the CEO, the derivation of this approach had been done on the basis of common sense. These coaching guidelines have helped in attracting, retaining and managing talent. Considering the leadership of the CEO, it can be stated that he believed in hiring, rewarding and tolerating only those adults who were fully formed. Over the passage of time, it has been observed that if one asks an individual for relying upon common sense and logic rather than the formal policies, majority of the times, one ends up getting improved results and at a lower amount of cost. If a leader becomes careful for hiring an individual who will be putting the interests of the company at first place, who will be understanding and supporting the desire for a workplace with high performance, 97 per cent of the employees at the workforce will be doing the right thing. When it comes to behaving like an adult, Hasting believes in expressing the issues with the colleagues, subordinates and the boss openly. Conflict Management Style of Hasting After the failed experiences of Hasting at the Pure Software, the CEO of Netflix had been showing concern towards the issue related to growth. His public goal was to build a company of entertainment and his personal goal was focused on building a company that grew at a rapid pace without the loss in the spirit of entrepreneurship within this particular process. Netflix had been a bed for being tested in consideration with these theories of the CEO. The model of conflict management, being followed by Hasting at Netflix has resulted in affecting the expectations of the viewers. By the introduction of these conflict management styles, the CEO of Netflix had made an attempt of shaping the culture and motivating the performance of the workforce at Netflix. Ideas were being introduced for the management of talent that was highly successful for the organization (Loftus 2011). This particular change in the style for the management of conflicts had been considered compelling for the culture and talent of the organization for a number of reasons. As stated by the CEO, the derivation of this approach had been done on the basis of common sense. This style for the management of conflict have helped in attracting, retaining and managing talent. This instance can be considered as an evidence for the change that took place in Hasting, in comparison with what had been in the case of Pure Software (Musek 2007). This change of communication, as stated by Reed Hastings had not been a tactic of marketing but an expression for the sincere and genuine regret regarding the way i n which communication had been handled with the customers. However, there had still been certain flaws in the way in which communication was being done. Hence, with the changes in its way of communication, the CEO had been introducing transparency in their relationship with the customers. As showing preferences towards communication, Netflix had utilized its services with a consent to receive electronic communications from the web site of Netflix in relation with this accountability. Improving Product Offerings at Netflix The CEO of the company realized that the mistake lied in the way in which communication of the message had been done with the customers. The CEO realized this as there had been cancellation of subscriptions by a number of customers and involvement of a number of negative comments along with the plummeted stocks by 50 per cent (Bakker 2010). In order to rectify the mistake, the CEO had sent an email to 24 million customers of the organization for apologizing stating I messed up and I owe you an explanation. Further announcement had been made that the service of providing DVDs through e-mails will now be known as Qwikster and the organization will be only available for the activity of streaming. This instance can be considered as an evidence for the change that took place in Hasting, in comparison with what had been in the case of Pure Software (Block 2010). The organization of Netflix had been too slow in offering the services of placing orders through mails that resulted in reducing the number of customers of Netflix. However, the factor of surprise was the subscriptions for mail DVD had been increasing continuously by the year of 2011. So it can be stated that both of these services, in combination, had helped in making Netflix highly successful. Ideas were being introduced for the management of talent that was highly successful for the organization. This particular change in the strategies had been considered compelling for the culture and talent of the organization for a number of reasons (Fleeson 2011). As stated by the CEO, the derivation of this approach had been done on the basis of common sense. These strategies have helped in attracting, retaining and managing talent. The Paradigm of Leadership The philosophy of leadership that the organization of Netflix involves three strategies for the management of people. These strategies will be discussed further ahead. Performance of Reward, not effort This might seem to be harsh but in accordance with Hastings, employees who had been producing work of B- level, even if they had been putting forth an effort of A- level, should end up letting go, with a severance of generosity in package. The workers at A- level, in a converse manner, should be given rewards, even if there have been production of great work with the comparative minimum level of efforts (Hans 2012). A worker who is talented does not need to be putting in a specific duration of hours, while working at a desk. Netflix had been espousing a flexible schedule at work, and does not seem to be restricting the number of days on vacation that can be taken up by the employees every year. This is considered as long as there is production in the work of quality. Protecting the Freedom of Employee As there is growth in the businesses, they often have been taking an increased number of employees, lowering their standards for the talent, and implementation of policies that are more strict for compensation of this absence of autonomy amongst the employees (Ian 2012). It does not seemed to be having the way that is insisted by Hasting. Instead, the organization ought to be raising their standards related to the autonomy for the employees and the standards of talent as the organization has been growing in size. In this way, instead of the development of a highly complicated series of policies towards the work of police, the growth in the business can end up remaining highly flexible and highly competitive within the place of market (Keinonen 2003). The conventional form of wisdom that have prevention in error that is cheaper that can be fixed. This does not seem to be holding up the businesses that are fast, big, and highly flexible that is an ideal form of the trifecta. Big Five Model of Personality Leadership Traits In terms of psychology, the big five model of traits related to personality leadership are five key wide dimensions or domains related to personality that are utilized for description of human personality. The theory on the basis of the big five factors is referred to as the five factor model. The five factors are neuroticism, agreeableness, extraversion, conscientiousness, and openness. The model of big five has the ability of being accountable to a number of varying traits within personality that overlaps (Loftus 2011). On the basis of empirical research that has been conducted, the case of Netflix seems to be showing consistency in being self- described and observed. The openness or exposure towards experience appreciates the category of experience, curiosity, unusual ideas, adventure, emotion and art. This factor of openness reflecting the degree related to intellectual creativity, curiosity and a preference related to variety and novelty a person has. There is also a description as the limit towards which an individual is independent or imaginative, and depictions can be seen in an individual preference for a category of activities over a routine that is strict (Lussier N.D.). A tendency for being dependable and organized, act dutifully, showing self- discipline, aiming on achievements, and prefer the process of planning instead of spontaneous behaviour. Iowa Leadership Style With respect to the leadership style of Hasting, democratic leadership, also referred to as participative leadership is being followed. This is a category of leadership style within which participants of the group taking a more role of participation within the process of making the decisions (McAdams 2005). It has been found by a number of researchers that style of learning is mostly the one that is more effective and results in higher level of productivity, improved contributions from the members of group, and increased morality of group. Negotiation, Networking, Organizational Politics, and Power If a leader becomes careful for hiring an individual who will be putting the interests of the company at first place, who will be understanding and supporting the desire for a workplace with high performance, 97 per cent of the employees at the workforce will be doing the right thing. When it comes to behaving like an adult, Hasting believes in expressing the issues with the colleagues, subordinates and the boss openly. This instance can be considered as an evidence for the change that took place in Hasting, in comparison with what had been in the case of Pure Software (McRae 2012). The sources of feedback now seem to be involving emails being sent to the email addresses that have been provided in the duration of registration or to post communication over the service of Netflix or on the page of Your Account. This page will be including notices regarding the account such as authorizations on payment, changes in the method of payment or password, confirming e-mails and a number of oth er information related to transactions. Conclusion Considering the leadership of the CEO, it can be stated that he believed in hiring, rewarding and tolerating only those adults who were fully formed. Over the passage of time, it has been observed that if one asks an individual for relying upon common sense and logic rather than the formal policies, majority of the times, one ends up getting improved results and at a lower amount of cost (Musek 2007). If a leader becomes careful for hiring an individual who will be putting the interests of the company at first place, who will be understanding and supporting the desire for a workplace with high performance, 97 per cent of the employees at the workforce will be doing the right thing. When it comes to behaving like an adult, Hasting believes in expressing the issues with the colleagues, subordinates and the boss openly for effective results. References Bakker, A.B., 2010. The General Factor of Personality: A meta-analysis of Big Five intercorrelations and a criterion-related validity study. Journal of Research in Personality, 44, pp. 315327. Block, J., 2010. The five-factor framing of personality and beyond: Some ruminations. Psychological Inquiry, 21 (1), pp. 225. Fleeson, W., 2011. Towards a structure- and process-integrated view of personality: Traits as density distributions of states. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 80, pp. 10111027. Hans, J.E. 2012. Four ways five factors are not basic. Personality and Individual Differences, 13(8), pp. 667673. Ian, J., 2012. Correlates of personality trait levels and their changes in very old age: The Lothian Birth Cohort 1921. Journal of Research in Personality, 46 (3), pp. 2718. Keinonen, M., 2003. Broad versus Narrow Personality Measures and the Prediction of Behaviour Across Cultures. European Journal of Personality, 17, pp. 413433. Loftus, T., 2011. Netflix Customers: Sorry Doesn't Cut It, Pal. The Wall Street Journal. Lussier, A., N.D. Leadership: theory, application skill development (5th Ed.), South-Western Cengage Learning, pp. 222-223. McAdams, D. P. 2005. What do we know when we know a person? Journal of Personality, 63(3), pp. 365396. McRae, K., 2012. Reply to Eysenck. Personality and Individual Differences, 13 (8), pp. 861865. Musek, J., 2007. A general factor of personality: Evidence for the Big One in the five-factor model. Journal of Research in Personality, 41, pp. 12131233.

Salon William Steinmeier free essay sample

Unfortunately she isnt very good at coming up with ways to promote her business or come up with new revenue streams in order to keep profits up during a down economy. 3. If Jamie wants the promotion at the Riverview Mall Salon her customer and staff relations will be very beneficial. The Riverview Mall Salon location is already well established and thriving so her human skills will be very important. She will have to keep and exceed the customer service standards that have already helped the establishment be successful.She will also have to work very well with the staff, her reputation should help but anytime you have a management change you have the potential for conflict. She may have staff that like the way things have always been and wont be very receptive to change. I think her lack of vision is the thing that will hinder her the most. We will write a custom essay sample on Salon William Steinmeier or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page She has not been good at finding ways to remote, sell or change her current business in order to increase profits during a down economy. 4.Jamie should not have gotten upset in Margarines and customers presence about Holly and Carol Jean calling in sick. She should not have ordered Marianne to call Holly and Carol Jean that is not appropriate, if Jamie wants to handle her staff situation she need to make that call herself. Jamie should talk with Holly and Carol when they get back to work and see what the deal is. If they simply called in sick for a concert hey should be officially warned or if they have been before they should be terminated.Jamie should let Victoria take care of the situation with the irate customer. She is the assistant manager and if you dont think she can handle these situations she shouldnt be in the position. Jamie should not worry about losing the Mall position to her subordinate, she is the one who promoted Victoria which is a positive mark on Kamikazes record and should work in her favor.

French Canadians in NE essays

French Canadians in NE essays The French have a lengthy history on this continent. The French became interested in the "New World" in 1524 when King Francois I sought wealth for his European domain (Brown 19). Expeditions were underwritten by the crown. It was eager to compete with other European powers in search for riches. Included in the early voyages were trips by Frenchman Jacques Cartier. Cartier discovered the Gulf of St. Lawrence in 1534 (Brown 21). He made further excursions toward the heartland of the continent, resulting in vast land claims. Another early visitor to America, Samuel de Champlain, organized colonies on the mouth of the St. Croix River in 1604 and at the present site of Quebec City in 1608 (Brown 78). France quickly spread its influence from Quebec to New Orleans. Though sparsely populated, the land that France claimed was astounding in size. While the English colonies were developing along a strip of the east coast no wider than 210 miles, the French laid claim to much of the territory b etween the colonies and the Mississippi. Trappers, traders, and explorers during the 17th and 18th centuries, the French were present in the new land. The intent of French exploration was the search for riches; gold and silver. However, failing to produce such wealth, France settled for revenues from the fur trade. Although the search for riches was the initial goal of the French in the new world, the main intent became to spread the Catholic faith. In 1642, French missionaries contributed to the founding of Montreal (Brown 72). In the following years the missionaries would spread like wildfire. The devout Catholicism is evident in American French communities even today. King Louis XIV made Canada a royal province in 1663 (Brow The French have a lengthy history on this continent. The French became interested in the "New World" in 1524 when King Francois I sought wealth for his European domain (Brown 19). Expeditions were underwritten by the crown....

Brainwashing Cases and Freedom of Religion

What is the primary question addressed in this article? What can we learn from this article? Primarily this article delves into detail about certain court cases involving high tolerance sects, referred to as â€Å"cults† and ex-members attempting to sue said cult for various different reasons. The most detailed cases described by the author are of cases in which the plaintiff is accusing the so-called cult of brainwashing the person into joining; seen in cases such as George v. ISKCON (International Society of Krishna Conciousness) as well as Molko and Leal v. The Unification Church [Richardson (1990): 3, 8]. The foremost problem that this presents is whether or not brainwashing is a successful practice that members of sects or â€Å"cults† use to bring in new members. A key person in most cases using the accusation of brainwashing in order to bring a case against a cult religion is Dr. Margaret Singer [Richardson (1990): 3]. She has been used to examine plaintiffs for their emotional distress, symptoms of mental disorders, and come to conclusions if indeed they were brainwashed. Many psychologists and sociologists disagree with her positions, having posted amicus curiae briefs in appeals courts attempting to limit use of â€Å"brainwashing† accusations in cult cases. These scholars claim that psychologists like Dr. Singer ignore a large portion of studies done on new religions that reveal it is unlikely that new members are coerced into joining [Richardson (1990): 2-3]. It represents the research that scholars have put into participants joining new religions voluntarily, for whichever reasons they feel to choose using their free will. This includes the fact that in the 1960’s many people chose different lifestyles that some would refer to as â€Å"hippies† or â€Å"beatniks† instead of what they believe is a hypocritical path following the Second World War and other stresses of the world. The brief also applied that groups such as the Hare Krishna and Unification church have a small number of members and have high drop-off rates; which if brainwashing were true means that they would be expanding rather than contracting [Richardson (1990): 9-10]. The George v. ISKCON case was successful in collecting emotional distress damages and wrongful death of the father (who had heart failure soon after his daughter was returned), totaling $2. 9 million for the plaintiffs. However, now in many courts the position of brainwashing is not accepted as an argument for cult cases [Richardson (1990): 8-9]. What is the next question this article may lead one to answer? A tempting question that this article may lead one to think about is whether or not such circumstances as those presented in court cases against religious sects takes away from their freedom of religion. It does not appear that a Catholic church would be taken to court for handing out pamphlets to spread word of their religion, nor Jehovah Witnesses for walking door to door with the same idea. However, whatever methods smaller sects use to gain more members seem to ultimately deal with lost members claiming them to have used mind control or coercive persuasion to attract the member. In the George case, the claim was that since the Krishna sect helped hide the 15 year old girl from her parents, they were in a sense kidnapping her. This does not take into account that the girl was physically abused and mistreated by her parents, even chained to her bedroom to restrain her from trying different religious practices [Richardson (1990): 6]. While that may not necessarily make the Krishna sect heroic, it does seem to provide insight that the girl was unable to explore religious freedom. In essence, she was not given the choice by her parents of which religion she would like to join, which is exactly how it was argued that ISKCON had brainwashed her; by not giving her freedom of choice. This has to deal with the economics of religion philosophy that humans will make rational choices depending on their knowledge, tastes and preferences. Whether George made a rational decision to join ISKCON in the eyes of her parents, it was a decision she was not obligated to make. Three Finals Questions 1. Name and briefly explain three positions that Dr. Margaret Singer took in the George v. ISKCON case that seem to contradict popular psychologist and sociologist opinion. Singer claims that brainwashing and coercive persuasion used by the accused cults can be likened to that of Korean prisoners of war and those of Chinese Communist reformers. However, there is notable difference that ‘cult brainwashing’ uses psychological coercion while Korean prisoners of war were physically coerced through torture and other extremes. Singer even argues that psychological coercion is more effective despite tons of research that points the opposite [Richardson (1990): 10]. Singer discounts the impact on behavior from George’s parents’ negative reaction to her desire to join the church including the physical abuse she was given. Discredited ISKCON by not recognizing it as a religion having religious practices, that the case did not involve freedom of religion at all, despite the plaintiff George’s claim that she did convert to the religion. Did not accept that the plaintiff may have biases or ulterior motives for the court case, despite only spending a small session with her and claiming that she believes the plaintiff was â€Å"trying to be honest† with her [Richardson (1990): 4]. Does not believe the time in which a patient is examined after the ‘brainwashing’ event is important [Richardson (1990): 6]. 2. Explain what arguments were made by scholars in their amicus curiae briefs in the appeals of cult/brainwashing cases. The Scientific Community agreement argues that a large portion of studies have been done on new religions that reveal it is unlikely that new members are brainwashed [Richardson (1990): 2-3]. This represents the research that scholars have put into participants joining new religions voluntarily, for whichever reasons they feel to choose using their free will. The brief also applied that groups such as the Hare Krishna and Unification church have a small number of members and have high attrition (drop-off) rates; which if brainwashing were true means that they would be expanding rather than contracting [Richardson (1990): 9]. . Explain why these cases provide trouble for the perspective of freedom of religion. Unreliable sciences such as the psychology used by Dr. Singer tend to contradict the majority of scholarly research on small sects, including the study that youth who have joined such a group normally turn out to be in better psychological health individually afterward [Richards on (1990): 10]. It seems as though because of her reputation as a professional psychologist, Dr. Singer can claim whatever she wants to about a religion, using her bias or simply a lack of knowledge, and collect a paycheck for it. Krishna leaders of India fear that â€Å"paying such a large judgment would force the Hare Krishna to sell most of its United States assets, thereby severely limiting its activities here, or even leading to closure of its operations† [Richardson (1990): 9] Cases successful in accusing a small sect of brainwashing can send a negative view to the general population of cults. According to a Gallup Poll, more Americans in a nationwide survey would be less comfortable with sects or cults as neighbors than any other ethnic or religious group in the survey [Richardson (1990): 17]. The general population appears to fear what they believe is brainwashing being done to children of the society and wants to attack religions they are unaware of.

Introduction to the Bacteria Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Introduction to the Bacteria - Research Paper Example Bacteria differ in their nature as some contain additional features such as flagella, which helps them in moving and protecting the slim capsules. They also exist in varying shapes and sizes because some are rod-shaped, round, comma-shaped and spiral. Some bacteria cause diseases while many others are important to human beings as they support them in living healthily (Storey 339). The useful bacteria exist on the skin surface, genitals and in the intestines. The bacteria found on human skin are important because they clean the waste material on the skin surface hence preventing dissimilar skin infections. The bacteria in the intestine help in the breaking up of food molecules, thus allowing the body to absorb important nutrients (Storey 340). Cause of disease and the interaction Bacterial diseases occur in different forms, therefore, for a person to avoid it, it is vital to have the knowledge concerning the disease. The bacteria cause different types of diseases ranging from skin dis eases to tuberculosis and bubonic plague. It is easy for an individual to get bacterial diseases because bacteria are single-celled microscopic organisms, hence, seeing them with a naked eye is impossible. Bacterial diseases occur because of harmful bacteria, also called pathogenic bacteria, getting into the human body. These bacteria can get in the human body through contamination of bites, eating unhygienic food, sexual contacts with the infected person, sharing needles and touching dirty areas. When these bacteria get into the human body, they initially enter the blood system, where they find a good environment with optimal conditions for growth. Even though their growth rates are low when in blood, they reproduce considerably within a few days (Storey 342). A bacterium is capable of causing diseases such as throat and ear infections to children. In addition, the bacteria can also cause other diseases to adults, for example, tuberculosis, plague, syphilis, and cholera. Bacteria c ause disease because of varying aspects, which include their toxicity, autoimmune activity such as destroying the human body tissues while others can reproduce, hence increasing their presence in the body. This affects the body working mechanisms. Bacteria become harmful to the human body because too many of them produce toxins that have chemicals that cause inflammation and kill nearby cells. These toxins are capable of causing diseases because the bacteria producing them reproduce, hence, increasing the amount of the toxins. Therefore, these bacteria create holes within the cell membranes, killing the cells. Such bacteria negatively affect the immune system of the human body thus leading to internal bleeding and damage to the body. Pathogenic bacteria also culminate in varied infections and diseases in human beings. The bacteria infect the human body, multiplying and reproducing at a very high rate within different vestigial organs (Storey 343). The bacteria also stick on the cell membranes, destroying them and spreading infectious diseases among individuals. In addition, the bacteria found on the skin of humans are also capable of causing different types of diseases. These bacteria are responsible for causing and spreading infectious diseases, which include bubonic plague, a life-threatening disease. Bacteria of Yersinia pestis variety cause this disease. Bubonic plague occurs in different forms commonly spread by rats and fleas and then transferred to the blood system of the human body. The incubation rate of this infection ranges from two to seven days (Storey 343). Cholera is also among the common diseases resulting from bacterial infections.  Ã‚  

Measuring Construction Industry Performance Essay

Measuring Construction Industry Performance - Essay Example Revenues from constructed buildings are not keeping pace with escalating cost of equipments, transportation and other economic factors. The prices of related construction items are quietly unrelated to the expenditure put in constructing, transporting materials, processing and selling. Floods and droughts have made the established businessmen to become debtors though they have borrowed money and invested the same in equipment and land. There are delays in getting government funds, which are in adequate to meet these types of natural calamities. Though there are private insurance companies to cover insurance of these investments from weather-related catastrophes they are not that much helpful. The small players who solely depend on their investments are the losers of these natural calamities. Like any other traders or businessmen, investors can ensure long term growth and stability through proper planning in changing market conditions during the periods of floods, drought and in price downsizing and also taking the help of key performance indicators (KPI) or benchmarking so that they may not depend on the assistance and support of government. Sharon McClements et al (2002) concluded that the Construction Best Practice Programme, have developed a benchmarking gateway known as KPI zone. In construction fi In construction field, many problems are attributed to UK consumer's refusal to recognise and pay for value added to the products produced by the small investors. Because of this, the investors are not able recover their investments and expenses through sales which tends them to expect government subsidies to support them. The investors are not in a position to bear the smallest price increase in power tariff. There are two types of economic nationalism. The first protection in trade is represented in establishing a system of rates and tariffs in favour of domestic production and discourages foreign imports. This kind of protection is desired to encourage establishment of industrial base in UK by saving small and infant industries against the competition of larger and well-established firms in abroad. The second economic protectionism is a post world war -II phenomenon that is related to the proprietorship as UK businesses by foreign traders and investors. Multinational companies have been set up after world war-II due to immense investments of foreigners in UK business. Multinational companies thought that they could evade tariff restrictors in UK by introducing their own branches plants and subsidiaries, which allowed them to go to markets, mobilize resources and capital and get favours with UK government. These kinds of investments have created to the economic nationalism due to expansion of multinational companies. The foreign owned companies could not take central position over economic decisions from their head office from outside UK. The economists in UK are compelled to demand for bringing out a legislation to oversee the activities and restrain the growth of foreign ownership in UK economy. UK is one of the members of many international groups; one amongst them is G-8, the eight largest industrial democracies. The G-8 countries heads of governments

Information Technology Ethics Essay Example for Free

Information Technology Ethics Essay Definitions -the right to be alone – the most comprehensive of rights, and the right most valued by people. (Justice Louis Brandeis, Olmstead v. US, 1928) -the right of individuals to control the collection and use of information about themselves. Legal Aspects Protection from unreasonable intrusion upon one’s isolation. Protection from appropriation of one’s name or likeness.  Protection from unreasonable publicity given to one’s private. Protection from publicity that unreasonably places one in a false light before the public. RECENT HISTORY OF PRIVACY PROTECTION Communication Act of 1934 -it restricted the government’s ability to secretly intercept communications. However, under a 1968 federal statute, law enforcement officers can use wiretapping if they first obtain a court order. Wiretapping the interception of telephone or telegraph communications for purpose of espionage or surveillance. Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) (passed -1966, amended-1974) provides the public with the means to gain access to certain government records such as the spending patterns of an agency, the agency’s policies and the reasoning behind them, and the agency’s mission and goals. Fair Credit Reporting Act (1970) this act regulates the operations of credit-reporting bureaus, including how they collect, store, and use credit information. it is designed to promote accuracy, fairness, and privacy of information in the files of credit reporting companies and to check verification systems that gather and sell information about people. Privacy Act (1974) declares that no agency of the U.S. government can conceal the existence of any personal data record-keeping system, and that any agency that maintains such a system, must publicly describe both the kind of information in it and the manner in which the information will be used. the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the law enforcement agencies are excluded from this act. the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) â€Å"Fair Information Practices† are often held up as a model of ethical treatment of consumer data for organization to adopt. Summary of the 1980 OECD privacy guidelines Principle Guideline Collection limitation Limit the collection of personal data. All such data must be obtained lawfully and fairly with the subject’s consent and knowledge. Data Quality Personal data should be accurate, complete, current and relevant to the purpose for which it is used. Purpose Specification The purpose for which personal data is collected should be should be specified and should not be changed. Use Limitation Personal data should not be used beyond the specified purpose without a persons consent or by authority of law. Security Safeguards Personal data should be protected against unauthorized access, modification, or disclosure. Openness principle Data policies should exist and a â€Å"data controller† should be identified. Individual participation People should have the right to review their data, to challenge its correctness, and to have incorrect data changed. Accountability A â€Å"data controller† should be responsible for ensuring that the above principles are met. Children’s Online Protect Act (COPA)(1998) The law states that a website that caters to children must offer comprehensive privacy policies, notify their parents or guardians about its data collection practices, and receive parental consent before collecting any personal information from children under 13 years of age. European Company Directives 95/46/EC (1998) requires any company that does business within the borders of 15 Western European nations to implement a set of privacy directives on fair and appropriate use of information. Summary of the European Data Privacy Principle Notice Tell all customer what is done with their information. Choice Give customer a way to opt out of marketing. Onward Transfer Ensure that suppliers comply with the privacy policy. Access Give customer access to their information. Security Protect customer information from unauthorized access. Data Integrity Ensure that information are accurate and relevant. Enforcement Independently enforce the privacy policy. Better Business Bureau Online (BBB Online) and TRUSTe independent, nonprofit initiatives that favor an industry-regulated approach to data privacy which concerned about the government regulation that could have a negative impact on the Internet’s use and growth, and that such regulation would be costly to implement and difficult to change. The BBB Online Seal adheres that the website has a high level of data privacy. The seal program identifies online businesses that honor their own stated privacy policy. The TRUSTe’s main rule is that websites should openly communicate what information it gathers, its use, to whom it will be shared, and does the consumer has a choice of opting out. Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (1998) -this act required all financial-services institutions to communicate their data privacy policies and honor customer data-gathering preferences by July 1, 2001. This was to make them take actions to protect and secure customers’ nonpublic data from unauthorized access or use. KEY PRIVACY AND ANONYMITY ISSUES GOVERNMENTAL ELECTRONIC SURVEILLANCE Federal Wiretap Act (U.S. Code Title 18 Part 1, Chapter 119, Wire and Electronic Communications Interception and Interception of Oral Communications) it requires processes to obtain court authorization for surveillance of all kinds of electronic communications, including e-mail, fax, internet, and voice, in criminal investigation. A court order must be issued based on probable cause before a wiretap can commence. roving tap government authority to obtain a court order that does not name a specific telephone or e-mail, but allows them to tap any phone lines or internet accounts that the suspect uses. Electronic Communication Privacy Act of 1986 (ECPA, U.S Code Title 18, part 2, Chapter 206) standards for access to stored e-mail and other electronic communications and records. ECPA amended Title III (Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968) extended the title III’s prohibitions against the unauthorized interception (use of person’s oral or electronic communications). -this act failed to address emerging technologies such as wireless modems, cellular, data networks, etc. thus, this communication can still be legally intercepted. Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (FISA) allows wiretapping of aliens and citizens in the U.S. based on a finding of probable cause that the target is a member of a foreign terrorist group or an agent of a foreign power. Executive Order 123333 (U.S. Pres. Reagan, 1982) legal authority for electronic surveillance outside the U.S. It permits intelligence agencies to intercept communications outside the U.S. without a court order. Communication Assistance for Law Enforcement Act (CALEA, 1994) it covers radio-based data communication. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) required providers of Internet phone and broadband services to ensure that their equipment can allow police wiretaps. USA Patriot Act of 2001 Gives sweeping new powers to Domestic law enforcement and International intelligence agencies. It contains several sunsets that gives the government much more surveillance capability. Sunset provisions – can terminates itself or portions after a specific date unless further actions is taken to extend the law DATA ENCRYPTION Cryptography – the science of encoding messages so that only the sender and the intended receiver can understand them. Encryption – the process of converting an electronic message into a form that can be understood only by the intended recipients. Public key encryption system uses two keys Message receiver’s public key readily available Message receiver’s private key kept secret Private key encryption system Single key to encode and decode messages RSA (named after Rivest, Shamir and Adleman) – is a public key encryption algorithm, the basis for much of the security that protects Web consumers and merchants. PGP ( Pretty Good Privacy) – uses 128 bit encryption that represents a total of 2128 . DES (Digital Encryption Standard) – the standard for encryption, it employs a 56 bit key that represents 7.21016 . (It can now be crack using brute methods) AES (Advanced Encryption Standards) – requires crackers to try as many as 1.11077 combinations. IDENTITY THEFT occurs when someone steals key pieces of personal information to gain access to a person’s financial accounts. fastest growing form of fraud in the United States. Phishing – is an attempt to steal personal identity data by tricking users into entering the information on a counterfeit Website. Spear-phishing – is a variation in which employees are sent phony emails that look like they came from high-level executives within their organization. Spyware – is a term for keystroke-logging software that is downloaded to users computer without adequate notice, consent, or control for the user. It creates a record of keystrokes entered into the computer with or without internet and will send to the email of the spy when internet connections are available. Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998 the congress passed this act to fight identity fraud, making it a federal felony punishable by a prison sentence of 3 -25 years. researchers estimated that 1 of 700 identity crimes were led to conviction. CONSUMER PROFILING Companies openly collect personal information about Internet users. They also obtain information without users permission through the use of cookies. marketing firms uses this information in building databases that contains consumer behavioral data. They want to know about who the users are, what they like, how they behave, and what motives them to buy. Cookies a text file that a website puts on your hard drive so that it can remember your information later on. Affiliated Websites – is a group or collection of websites served by a single advertising network. 3 Types of Data Gathered POST – it is entered into a blank fields on an affiliated website when a consumer signs up for a service. GET – it reveals what the consumer requested product in a specific store. Click-Stream Data it is the tracking of the information the user sought and viewed. 4 Ways to Limit/Stop deposit Cookies Set browsers to limit or stop cookies or browse the web using the incognito browsing mode which will remove all marks of your browsing. Manually delete cookies in your hard drives. Download and install cookie management program. Or use anonymous proxy websites to browse websites. However, some websites lock users to browse in their page when cookie is disabled. Personalization software – it is used by marketers to optimize the number, frequency and mixture of their ad placements. It is also used to evaluate how visitors react to new ads. Types of Personalization Software Rule-based – used business rules that are tied to customer provided preferences or online behaviors to determine the most appropriate page views and product information to display. Collaborative Filtering – offers consumer recommendations based on the types of product purchased by other people with similar buying habits. Types of Personalization Software (Continued) Demographic Filtering – it augments click stream data and user supplied data with demographics information associated with user zip codes to make product suggestions. Contextual Commerce – associates product promotions and other e-commerce offerings with specific content a user may receive in a new story online. Platforms for Privacy Preferences (P3P) shields users from site that don’t provide the level of privacy protection  they desire. Instead of forcing users to find and read through the privacy policy for each site they visit, P3P software in the computers browser will download the privacy policy for each site, scan it and notify users if the policy does not match their preferences. The World Wide Web Consortium, an international privacy group whose members include Apple, Commerce One, Ericsson, and Microsoft, created P3P and is supporting its development. TREATING CONSUMERS DATA RESPONSIBILITY -Strong measures are required to avoid customer relationship problems. Code of Fair Information Practices – most widely accepted approach to treating consumers data responsibly. Guidelines of Code of Fair Information Practices and the 1980 OECD an organizations collects only personal information that is necessary to deliver its product and services. Company ensures that the information is carefully protected and accessible only by those with a need to know, and that consumers can review their own data and make corrections. Company informs customers if it intends to use it’s information for research or marketing, and it provides a means for them to opt out. Chief Privacy Officer (CPO) executive to oversee data privacy policies and initiatives. Duties of CPO Avoid government regulations and reassure customers that their privacy will be protected. Stop or modify major company marketing initiatives. Training employees about privacy and checking the companies privacy policy for potential risks. Figuring out if gaps exist and how to fill them. Developing and managing a process for customer privacy disputes. WORKPLACE MONITORING Employers monitor workers – Ensures that corporate IT usage policy is followed Fourth Amendment cannot be used to limit how a private employer treats its employees. – Public-sector employees have far greater privacy rights than in the private industry. Privacy advocates want federal legislation – To keeps employers from infringing upon privacy rights of employees. SPAMMING the transmission of the same email message to a large number of people. Spammers target individual users with direct email messages, building their mail list by scanning Usenet postings, buying mail lists or searching the web for addresses. extremely inexpensive method of marketing. used by many legitimate organizations. can contain unwanted and objectionable materials. Controlling the Assault of Non-Solicited Pornography and Marketing(CAN-SPAM)  the act says it is legal to spam provided that the message meet a few basic requirements: (1) spammers cannot disguise identity, (2) there must be a label in the message specifying that it is an ad or solicitation, and (3) include a way that the recipient can stop the receiving of spam. The act failed to slow the flow of spam but instead, it actually increased the flow of spam by legalizing it. ADVANCED SURVEILLANCE TECHNOLOGY Advanced surveillance technology provide a new data gathering capabilities, however, these advance can also diminish individuals privacy. Advocates of the technology argue that people have no legitimate expectations of privacy in a public place. Camera Surveillance is one of the most common advanced system used in surveillance nowadays. It has the capability to record events, detecting unusual behaviour, automatically capturing important events, and used in monitoring day to day events in different places. Facial Recognition Software There have been numerous experiments with facial recognition software to help identify criminal suspects and other undesirable characters. It has been first tested by the Rampart Division of the Los Angeles Police Department and yielded a result. Global Positioning System (GPS) These are chips placed in different devices to monitor locations of the  users. It is useful in locating callers of 911, parents monitoring their children, etc.

The Nuremberg Trials Essay -- Essays Papers

The Nuremberg Trials On June 22, 1945 representatives from France, Great Britain, Russia, and the United States started to plan the prosecution of the main Axis war criminals. These representatives had to establish a fair way of trying the criminals because the world had never seen a situation like the one at hand. The result of the meeting was the International Military Tribunal. The Tribunal’s constitution set forth the principles the defendants were subject to. The panel of Allied representatives decided to hold the trial in Nuremberg. Nuremberg was chosen because the city served as the center of Nazi activities and offered nice facilities (Keeshan 3). Lawyers from the Allied powers submitted an indictment to the Tribunal on October 18, 1945. The indictment charged twenty-four Nazi leaders with crimes committed during World War II (Keeshan 9). The trials were set to start in the middle of November in 1945. Allied troops with the help of some German citizens restored the city because the city was in ruins prior to the scheduled starting date of the trial. The Nazi leaders were incarcerated in Nuremberg in August 10, 1945 (Keeshan 13). A defendant named Robert Ley committed suicide two weeks before the start of the trial. Therefor, an Allied guard was placed at the door of each Nazi leader’s prison door to stop them from killing themselves. When the November trial date finally arrived the city was restored, the defendants were secured and the trial was ready to begin (Keeshan 20). The brutal crimes that the defendants were on trial for revolved around the "Holocaust." It is important to understand the meaning of the word holocaust when viewing the defendant’s case. The definition of hol... ...onot 498). The rest of the guilty defendants were sentenced to life imprisonment including Rudolf Hess. Hess was the deputy to the Fuehrer and successor to Hitler after Goering. Hess hung himself in 1987. The men sentenced to death were killed on October 16, 1946 and their ashes were put into a river outside of Munich. Symbolically, "the center of the Nazi movement became the grave of its leaders (Conot 507)." Works Cited - Bosch, William. Judgement on Nuremberg. Chapel Hill, NC: U. of North Carolina Press, 1970. - Conot, Robert. Justice at Nuremberg. New York: Harper & Row Press, 1983. - Keeshan, Anne. Justice at Nuremberg. New York: Marvel Press, 1950. - Rosenbaum, Alan. Prosecuting Nazi War Criminals. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1993. - Smith, Bradley. The Road to Nuremberg. New York: Basic Books Publishers, 1981.

Islam and the Challenge of Democracy Essay

Dr. Khaled Abou El Fadl is the most prolific of the Islamic thinkers of today’s world. He is a great Islamic jurist and scholar, and is now a Professor of Law at the UCLA School of Law giving the students knowledge of Islamic law, Immigration, Human Rights, International and National Security Law. His Islam and the Challenge to Democracy is the quest to find out numerous questions and varied answers in establishing the relation between the principles so enshrined in Democracy and Islamic political and religious tenants. To propound the relationship between the Islam and democracy is not a straightforward as it involves the deep and thorough understanding of the religious and political structures of the Islamic world and Democracy in its entity. Dr Khaled says that issue of democracy in the Islamic world of today is being hotly debated and there are both pro and anti versions to this issue that compete with each other and the biggest challenge before the advocators is to promote the vision of social justice and faith. The very first section only of his most profile book Islam and the Challenge of Democracy straight forwardly says that he does not believe as what other Muslim advocators say that Islam has given birth to Democracy but various elements of Democracy are very well present in the Islam and we can say that Islam too supports Democracy. In this endeavor, he defied the view of radical Islamists as well as hardened Islamophobes who say that as God is sovereign master of whole Universe, therefore the principles of Democracy do not hold true for the Islamic world. El Fadl poises that there is no doubt of the fact that the God is the sovereign power in the Universe yet this is God who has bestowed upon the humans, the power to envisage the right to form rules to govern themselves in the form of deputies or khulafa. In-fact Islam also believes in a form of government, that gives power to the people, transparency in the decision making through shura’ and there is a toleration for any disagreements and disputes arising out of any rule and rules are accountable to his subjects for any actions. El Fadl believes in the formulation of the basic ethical values, and rights for all human beings on this Earth. He focuses that Islam should formulate the laws through ijtihad on which shari‘ah doesn’t have anything to say. He emphasized on the importance of formulating the maslaha or the ‘public good’ and ahkam al-shari‘ah or ‘expediency laws’ to envisage new thought process to develop the understanding of giving equal rights to every one. He admits that any interpretation of Islamic tenets, which has been construed by Islamic religious heads or Islamic religious leaders cannot be held as mere will of the divine power or God. He vehemently opposes the formation of the Islamic state that has all the rights to form the Shari’ah, because he is fully aware of the fact that no human being can interpret the will of the God or divine power. If this is done, it will lead to misunderstanding or very limited understanding of the link or relation between the Islam and will of God and this in turn would mean trying to become equal to God and that’s the biggest sin. This will further lead to authoritative and oppressive state. He said that although Muslim jurists defined and formulated number of political systems, yet there is nothing specific mentioned in Qur’an about any form that Government wishes to take. But Qur’an does recognize social and political values which form the basis in an arena of Muslim politics. Three values that are so enshrined in the Islamic testament: â€Å"Are: pursuing justice through social cooperation and mutual assistance (Qur’an 49:13; 11:119); establishing a non-autocratic, consultative method of governance; and institutionalizing mercy and compassion in social interactions (6:12, 54; 21:107; 27:77; 29:51; 45. 20)†. (El Fadl, Democracy and Divine Sovereignty, 2) Overall Muslims should form the government that would help in endorsing these values. As he said, â€Å"Qur’an says that God has bestowed all human beings a divine power by making them viceroys of God on this earth: He says, â€Å"Remember, when your Lord said to the angels: ‘I have to place a vicegerent on earth,’ they said: ‘Will you place one there who will create disorder and shed blood, while we intone Your litanies and sanctify Your name? ’ And God said: ‘I know what you do not know’† (2:30). (El Fadl, The Case for Democracy, 3) Institutionally it can be pointed out that the ulama, or Jurists can act as interpreters of the words of God and define what is moral and what acts are immoral for the humans. Every word of them is the voice of the God. But the law of the state demands that no religion can be imposed on the working of the state because laws of the state have been formulated by the humans according to their own whims and state itself. And therefore in his own words, â€Å"Democracy is an appropriate system for Islam because it both expresses the special worth of human beings—the status of vicegerency—and at the same time deprives the state of any pretense of divinity by locating ultimate authority in the hands of the people rather than the ‘ulama†. (El Fadl, Shari‘ah and the Democratic State, 20) Finally he says that educators try to enthuse in the soul of the people the moral values of Qu’ran and induce the society to turn towards will of God. But in this world of today, if a person is morally strong but cannot imbibe by full majesty of God but still believes in the fundamental rights of individuals, still have to be answerable to the will of God. It’s not just the mirage of the El Fadl’s views but also the vision of the several scholars on the most crucial and complex subject, Islam and the Challenge of Democracy. The second section of the book consists of short responses to El Fadl’s essay by several scholars. Nader A. Hashemi says that the most prominent aspect to El Fadl is his belief that Democracy can be possible in Islamic countries, with this he proved false, the wildly held belief that Islam is not compatible to democracy. He further said that this idea has gained immense popularity after September 11. He states that biggest challenge in front of the Islamic nations is the choice that they have to make between the modernization and fanaticism and the future of the Middle East all depends on which of them will go for a longer period. John Esposito espoused that El Fadl indicates complex and multiple manner by which Qur’an can be interpreted by the religious fundamentalists, fanatics and politicians to fulfill their various social and political motives. Jeremy Waldron appreciates El Fadl’s study of the theory of the Islamic democracy. Jeremy says that El Fadl conceptualized in the most articulate way the issue of the Islamic tradition and the way in which he poises about the politics and the rule of law in the milieu of the medieval age and how these thoughts were so prevalent in the early modern thought in the Christian era. Also, how the moral and ethical values in the context of good governance had to struggle to make its place in front of scriptural authority and theocratic rule. The most enduring thing was that these ideas not only grew out of the abased environment but also actually kept on presenting itself by religious ideas and ecclesiastical practices. Muqtedar Khan talks about the â€Å"Pact of Medina†, which was signed between the Prophet and Jews and the pagans of the town. This pact he said could be utilized to give the Islamic world the model for democracy and pluralism. In this pact, all the parties were guaranteed equal rights and equal responsibilities. Echoing El Fadl, he pinpointed that Islam should be made a symbol of ethical values and moral principles and should solve all the problems from the new outlook and new democratic perspective. But Saba Mahmood criticized Fadl on the point of liberalization. She says that very concept of liberalization is full of contradictions and the limitations that follow. She further says that he focused more on rights of individuals than on community as a whole. El Fadl also ignored the human rights violations that follow liberalization, which are most popular in the most liberalized states like United States of America. Even Kevin Reinhart revokes same voice as Saba Mahmood by saying that El Fadl ignored the vital point of what the Western nations learned from their liberalized approach in their relations with the other countries including Islamic nations. The whole liberalized approach depends on polices of Westernized nations and the military interventions of the USA in Islamic countries jeopardized whole concept of democracy and liberalization. William Quandt too said that the absence of democracy in the Islamic countries do not lie in their religion perspective but the problem lies in the presence of monarchical or dictatorial regimes in these countries, which partially or all are backed by the Western powers. In William Quandt views lie the whole thrust of the problem in the Islamic countries. The requirement is the political and structural changes in the Islamic world that would bring about social and economic upliftment from the vision of democracy, which El Fadl, all the intellectuals and scholars agree won’t be welcomed by either the ruling regime or the Western allies. All in all, Islam and the Challenge of Democracy is the most thought provoking book ready to be explored and pondered in every religious and political arena of the Islamic world. WORKS CITED El Fadl, Abou Khaled. Islam and the Challenge of Democracy: Can individual rights and popular sovereignty take root in faith? Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004.

Just-in-Time Production and Total Quality Management

JUST-IN-TIME Production and TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT Introduction In today’s competitive world shorter product life cycles, customers rapid demands and quickly changing business environment is putting lot of pressures on manufacturers for quicker response and shorter cycle times. Now the manufacturers put pressures on their suppliers. One way to ensure quick turnaround is by holding inventory, but inventory costs can easily become prohibitive. A wiser approach is to make your production agile, able to adapt to changing customer demands. This can only be done by JUST IN TIME (JIT) philosophy. JIT is both a philosophy and collection of management methods and techniques used to eliminate waste (particularly inventory). Waste results from any activity that adds cost without adding value, such as moving and storing. Just-in-time (JIT) is a management philosophy that strives to eliminate sources of such manufacturing waste by producing the right part in the right place at the right time. Features JIT (also known as lean production or stockless production) should improve profits and return on investment by reducing inventory levels (increasing the inventory turnover rate), reducing variability, improving product quality, reducing production and delivery lead times, and reducing other costs (such as those associated with machine setup and equipment breakdown). The basic elements of JIT manufacturing are people involvement, plants, and system. People involvement deal with maintaining a good support and agreement with the people involved in the production. This is not only to reduce the time and effort of implementation of JIT, but also to minimize the chance of creating implementation problems. The plant itself also has certain requirements that are needed to implement the JIT, and those are plant layout, demand pull production, Kanban, self-inspection, and continuous improvement. The plant layout mainly focuses on maximizing working flexibility. It requires the use of multi-function workers†. Demand pull production is where you produce when the order is received. This allows for better management of quantity and time more appropriately. Kanban is a Japanese term for card or tag. This is where special inventory and process information are written on the card. This helps in tying and linking the process more efficiently. Self-inspection is where the workers on the line inspect products as they move along, this helps in catching mistakes immediately. Lastly continuous improvement which is the most important concept of the JIT system. This simply asks the organization to improve its productivity, service, operation, and customer service in an on-going basis. In a JIT system, underutilized (excess) capacity is used instead of buffer inventories to hedge against problems that may arise. The target of JIT is to speed up customer response while minimizing inventories at the same time. Inventories help to response quickly to changing customer demands, but inevitably cost money and increase the needed working capital. JIT requires precision, as the right parts must arrive â€Å"just-in-time† at the right position (work station at the assembly line). It is used primarily for high-vPolume repetitive flow manufacturing processes. History The technique was first used by the Ford Motor Company as described explicitly by Henry Ford’s My Life and Work (1922): â€Å"We have found in buying materials that it is not worth while to buy for other than immediate needs. † They bought only enough to fit into the plan of production, taking into consideration the state of transportation at the time. If transportation were perfect and an even flow of materials could be assured, it would not be necessary to carry any stock whatsoever. The carloads of raw materials would arrive on schedule and in the planned order and amounts, and go from the railway cars into production. That would save a great deal of money, for it would give a very rapid turnover and thus decrease the amount of money tied up in materials. With bad transportation one has to carry larger stocks. They followed the concept of â€Å"dock to factory floor† in which incoming materials are not even stored or warehoused before going into production. This paragraph also shows the need for an effective freight management system (FMS) and Ford’s Today and Tomorrow (1926) describes one. The technique was subsequently adopted and publicised by Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan as part of its Toyota Production System (TPS). Japanese corporations could afford large amounts of land to warehouse finished products and parts. Before the 1950s, this was thought to be a disadvantage because it reduced the economic lot size. (An economic lot size is the number of identical products that should be produced, given the cost of changing the production process over to another product. ) The undesirable result was poor return on investment for a factory. Also at that time, Japanese companies had a bad reputation as far as quality of manufacturing and car manufacturing in particular was concerned. One motivated reason for developing JIT and some other better production techniques was that after World War II, Japanese people had a very strong incentive to develop a good manufacturing technique which would help them rebuild their economy. They also had a strong working ethic which was concentrated on work rather than on leisure, and this kind of motivation was what drove Japanese economy to succeed. Therefore Japan’s wish to improve the quality of its production led to the worldwide launch of JIT method of inventory Toyota Motors The basic elements of JIT were developed by Toyota in the 1950’s, and became known as the Toyota Production System (TPS). The chief engineer Taiichi Ohno, a former shop manager and eventually vice president of Toyota Motor Company at Toyota in the 1950s examined accounting assumptions and realized that another method was possible. The factory could be made more flexible, reducing the overhead costs of retooling and reducing the economic lot size to the available warehouse space. Over a period of several years, Toyota engineers redesigned car models for commonality of tooling for such production processes as paint-spraying and welding. Toyota was one of the first to apply flexible robotic systems for these tasks. Some of the changes were as simple as standardizing the hole sizes used to hang parts on hooks. The number and types of fasteners were reduced in order to standardize assembly steps and tools. In some cases, identical subassemblies could be used in several models. Toyota engineers then determined that the remaining critical bottleneck in the retooling process was the time required to change the stamping dies used for body parts. These were adjusted by hand, using crowbars and wrenches. It sometimes took as long as several days to install a large (multiton) die set and adjust it for acceptable quality. Further, these were usually installed one at a time by a team of experts, so that the line was down for several weeks. Toyota implemented a program called Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED). With very simple fixtures, measurements were substituted for adjustments. Almost immediately, die change times fell to about half an hour. At the same time, quality of the stampings became controlled by a written recipe, reducing the skill required for the change. Analysis showed that the remaining time was used to search for hand tools and move dies. Procedural changes (such as moving the new die in place with the line in operation) and dedicated tool-racks reduced the die-change times to as little as 40 seconds. Dies were changed in a ripple through the factory as a new product began flowing. After SMED, economic lot sizes fell to as little as one vehicle in some Toyota plants. Carrying the process into parts-storage made it possible to store as little as one part in each assembly station. When a part disappeared, that was used as a signal to produce or order a replacement. JIT was firmly in place in numerous Japanese plants by the early 1970’s. JIT began to be adopted in the U. S. in the 1980’s. Requirements JIT applies primarily to repetitive manufacturing processes in which the same products and components are produced over and over again For Example Cars, Fast Food Chains The requirements for a proper just-in-time management are: STANDARDIZATION: Where the supplies are standardized and the suppliers are trustable and close to the plant. As there is little buffer inventory between the workstations, so the quality must be high and efforts are made to prevent machine breakdowns. Those organizations that need to respond to customer demands regularly this system is also being able to respond to changes in customer demands. SOFTWARE: For JIT to work efficiently Supply Chain Planning software, companies have in the mean time extended Just-in-time manufacturing externally, by demanding from their suppliers to deliver inventory to the factory only when it’s needed for assembly, making JIT manufacturing, ordering and delivery processes even speedier, more flexible and more efficient. MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY In JIT workers are multifunctional and are required to perform different tasks. Machines are also multifunction and are arranged in small U-shaped work cells that enable parts to processed in a continuous flow through the cell. Workers produce pars one at a time within cells and transport those parts between cells in small lots. CLEANLINESS Environment is kept clean and free of waste so that any unusual occurrence are visible. SCHEDULES: Schedules are prepared only for the final assembly line, in which several different models are assembled at the same line. Requirements for the component parts and subassemblies are then pulled through the system. The â€Å"PULL† element of JIT will not work unless production is uniform and lot sizes are low. Pull system is also used to order material from suppliers (fewer in numbers usually). They make be requested to make multiple deliveries of the same item in the same day, so the manufacturing system must be flexible. QUALITY: Quality within JIT manufacturing is necessary, because without a quality program in JIT, the JIT will fail. Here we think about quality at the source and the Plan, Do, Check, Action with its statistical process control. Furthermore, techniques are also very important. The JIT technique is a pull system rather than a pull system, based on not producing things until they are needed. The well known Kanban card is used as a signal to produce. Moreover, integration also plays a key role in JIT systems. JIT integration can be found in four points of the manufacturing firm. The Accounting side, Engineering side, Customer side and Supplier side. At the accounting side, JIT has concern for WIP, utilization and overhead allocation and at the engineering side of JIT focuses on simultaneously and participative design of products and processes. Just-In-Time Total Quality Management Just-In-Time Total Quality Management is the mean of market and factory management within a humanistic environment of continuing improvement. Moreover, it means continuing improvement in social life, and working life. When applied to the factory, Kaizen means continual improvement involving managers and workers alike. When it comes to Total Quality Management, Japans strong industrial reputation is well-known around the world. Total quality control is the system, which Japan has developed to implement Kaizen or continuous improvement. The traditional description of Just-In-Time is a system for manufacturing and supplying goods that are needed. There are several important tools that are important for total quality management control, but there are seven that are even more important. These are relations diagram, affinity diagram, systematic diagram or tree diagram, matrix diagram, matrix data analysis, process decision program chart, and arrow diagram. When used properly, these seven tools will help the total quality management system by eliminating defective products. Moreover, they will help in assisting to improve productivity, complete tasks on time, eliminate waste, and reduce lead time and inventory cost. Pros and Cons of Just-in-Time Pros of Just-In-Time: Goals of JIT can vary, but there are a few that should be constant in any JIT system:   1. Increasing the organization’s ability to compete with others and remain competitive over the long run is very important. 2. The competitiveness of the firms is increased by the use of JIT manufacturing process as they can develop a more optimal process for their firms. . The key is to identify and respond to consumers needs. Customers’ needs and wants should be the most important focus for business today. This objective will help the firm on what is demanded from customers, and what is required of production. 4. Moreover, the optimal quality and cost relationship is also important. The organization should focus on zero-defect production process. Although it seems to be unrealistic in t he long run, it will eliminate a huge amount of resources and effort in inspecting, and reworking defected goods. 5. Another important goal should be to develop a reliable relationship between the suppliers. A good and long-term relationship between an organization and its suppliers helps to manage a more efficient process in inventory management, material management, and delivery system. It will also assure that the supply is stable and available when needed. 6. Moreover, adopt the idea of continuous improvement. If committed to a long-term continuous improvement idea, it will help the organization to remain competitive in the future. Cons of Just-In-Time: Regardless of the great benefits of JIT, it has its limitations: 1. For example cultural differences. The organizations cultures vary from firm to firm. There are some cultures that tie to JIT’s success, but it is difficult for an organization to change its cultures within a short time. 2. Also manufacturers that use the traditional approach which relies on storing up large amounts of inventory for backing up during bad times may have problems with getting use to the JIT system. 3. Also JIT is quite different for workers, in the sense that due to the shorter cycle time, lots of pressure and stress is added on the workers. 4. Also the JIT system throws workers off in the sense that if a problem occurs, they cannot use their own method of fixing the problem, but use methods that have been previously defined. 5. Moreover, the JIT system only works best for medium to high range of production volume manufacturers, thus leaving a question to whether it might work for low volume companies. Case in which JIT has failed Just in Time production allows companies to reduce both inventory and the entire production chain. It encourages the removal of all surplus, including surplus factories. Under normal business conditions this is not a problem. However, if there is any disruption at any given point in the supply chain, then all production grinds to a halt. Evidence of the problem with Just in Time production became clear in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, both of which hit the US Gulf coast in 2005. At that time, no new oil refineries had been built in the US since 1976. During that time period, companies actually shut down several refineries to reduce capacity. The old refineries still operating ran at full capacity, so no new refineries were needed according to Just in Time theory since they would only produce surplus gasoline. However, most of these refineries were clustered around the Gulf coast. When the Katrina hit, 15 oil refineries in Mississippi and Louisiana representing 20% of US refining capacity was shut down. Rita damaged another 16 refineries in Texas, accounting for 2. 3 million barrels per day of capacity shut down. The lack of surplus in oil refining caused a shock to the United States. Gasoline prices surged. Had companies not shut down refineries in order to reduce capacity according to Just in Time theory, particularly refineries on the west coast, then it is likely that gasoline prices would have remained stable. US regular grade gasoline prices were $2. 154 per gallon on November 28, 2005, down from a spike of $3. 09 on September 19, 2005 in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane Katrina disaster Case-Study The work described  in this case study was undertaken in a young, rapidly expanding company in the financial services sector with no previous experience with Total Quality Management (TQM). The quality project began with a two-day introductory awareness program covering concepts, cases, implementation strategies and imperatives of TQM. The program was conducted for the senior management team of the company. This program used interactive exercises and real life case studies to explain the concepts of TQM and to interest them in committing resources for a demonstration project. Step 1. Define the Problem 1. 1 Selecting the theme: A meeting of the senior management of the company was held. Brainstorming produced a list of around 10 problems. The list was prioritized using the weighted average table, followed by a structured discussion to arrive at a consensus on the two most important themes — customer service and sales productivity. Under the customer service theme, â€Å"Reducing the Turnaround Time from an Insurance Proposal to Policy† was selected as the most obvious and urgent problem. The company was young, and therefore had few claims to process so far. The proposal-to-policy process therefore impacted the greatest number of customers. An appropriate cross functional group was set up to tackle this problem. . 2 Problem = customer desire – current status. Current status: What did the individual group members think the turnaround is currently? As each member began thinking questions came up. â€Å"What type of policies do we address? † Medical policies or non-medical? The latter are take longer because of the medical examination of the client required. â€Å"Between what stages do we con sider turnaround? † Perceptions varied, with each person thinking about the turnaround within their department. The key process stages were mapped: [pic] Several sales branches in different parts of the country sent proposals into the Central Processing Center. After considerable debate it was agreed at first to consider turnaround between entry into the computer system at the Company Sales Branch and dispatch to the customer from the Central Processing Center (CPC). Later the entire cycle could be included. The perception of the length of turnaround by different members of the team was recorded. It was found that on an average Non-Medical Policies took 17 days and Medical Policies  took 35 days. Customer desire: What was the turnaround desired by the customer? Since a customer survey was not available, individual group members were asked to think as customers — imagine they had just given a completed proposal form to a sales agent. When would they expect the policy in hand? From the customer’s point of view they realized that they did not differentiate between medical and non-medical policies. Their perception averaged out six days for the required turnaround. â€Å"Is this the average time or maximum time that you expect? † they were asked. â€Å"Maximum,† they responded. It was clear therefore that the average must be less than six days. The importance of â€Å"variability† had struck home. For 99. 7 percent delivery within the customer limit the metric was defined. Therefore the average customer desire was less than 6 days and the current status was that of 64 days for non-medical policies and for medical policies it was 118 days. Therefore the problem was to reduce the non-medical policies from 64 to 6 days and medical policies from 118 to 6 days. The performance requirement appeared daunting. Therefore the initial target taken in the Mission Sheet (project charter) was to reduce the turnaround by 50 percent — to 32 and 59 days respectively. Step 2. Analysis of the Problem In a session the factors causing large turnaround times from the principles of JIT were explained. These were Input arrival patterns †¢ Waiting times in process. o Batching of work. o Imbalanced processing line. o Too many handovers. o Non-value added activities, etc. †¢ Processing times †¢ Scheduling †¢ Transport times †¢ Deployment of manpower Typically it was found that waiting times constitute the bulk of processing turnaround times. Process Mapping (Value Stream Mapping in Lean) was undertaken. The aggregate results are summarized below: Number of operations 84 Number of handovers 13 In-house processing time (estimated) 126 man-mins. Range of individual stage time 2 to 13 mins. To check this estimate it was decided to collect data — run two policies without waiting and record the time at each stage. The trial results amazed everyone: Policy No. 1 took 100 minutes and Policy No. 2 took 97 minutes. Almost instantly the mindset changed from doubt to desire: â€Å"Why can’t we process every proposal in this way? † Step 3. Generating Ideas In the introductory program of TQM during the JIT session the advantages of flow versus batch processing had been dramatically demonstrated using a simple exercise. Using that background a balanced flow line was designed as follows: 1. Determine the station with the maximum time cycle which cannot be split up by reallocation 8 minutes. 2. Balance the line to make the time taken at each stage equal 8 minutes as far as possible. 3. Reduce the stages and handovers — 13 to 8. 4. Eliminate non-value added activities — transport — make personnel sit next to each other. 5. Agree processing to be done in batch of one proposal. Changing the mindset of the employees so they will accept and welcome change is critical to building a self-sustaining culture of improvement. In this case, the line personnel were involved in a Quality Mindset Program so that they understood the reasons for change and the concepts behind them and are keen to experiment with new methods of working. The line was ready for a test run. Step 4. Testing the Idea Testing in stages is a critical stage. It allows modification of ideas based upon practical experience and equally importantly ensures acceptance of the new methods gradually by the operating personnel. Stage 1: Run five proposals flowing through the system and confirm results. The test produced the following results: Average turnaround time: < 1 day In-house processing time: 76 mins. There was jubilation in the team. The productivity had increased by 24 percent. Stage 2:  It was agreed to run the new system for five days — and compute the average turnaround to measure the improvement. It was agreed that only in-house processing was covered at this stage and that the test would involve all policies at the CPC but only one branch as a model. This model, once proved, could be replicated at other branches. The test results showed a significant reduction in turnaround: 1. For all non-medical policies from 64 to 42 days or 34% 2. For policies of the model branch from 64 to 27 days of 60% The Mission Sheet goal of 50 percent reduction had been bettered for the combined model branch and CPC. Further analysis of the data revealed other measures which could reduce the turnaround further. Overall reduction reached an amazing 75 percent. Turnaround, which had been pegged at 64 days, was now happening at 99. 7 percent on-time delivery in 15 days. Step 5. Implementing the Ideas Regular operations with the new system was planned to commence. However, two weeks later it was still not implemented. One of the personnel on the line n CPC had been released by his department for the five-day trial to sit on the line but was not released on a regular basis. The departmental head had not attended the TQM awareness program and therefore did not understand why this change was required. There were two options — mandate the change or change the mindset to accept the change. Since the latter option produces a robust impleme ntation that will not break down under pressures it was agreed that the group would summarize TQM, the journey and the results obtained in the project so far and also simulate the process with a simple exercise in front of the department head. This session was highly successful and led to the release of the person concerned on a regular basis. Step 6. Follow-up †¢ The process was run for one month with regular checks. The results obtained were marginally better and average time reduced to 11 days. †¢ Customer reaction: Sales management and sales agents (internal customers) clearly noticed the difference. For instance one sales manager reported that a customer had received a policy within a week of giving a proposal and was so amazed that he said, â€Å"If you give such service I will give you the next policy also! †¢ Adoption of a similar process at the CPC and the model branch for medical policies has already reduced the average turnaround time by 70 percent — from 118 days to 37 days. The corresponding all-India reduction was from 118 days to 71 days — a 60 percent reduction. †¢ The project objective of 50 percent in the first stage has been achieved. A quality improvement story was com piled by the project Leader for training and motivating all employees.