The player Maradona Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The player Maradona - Essay Example Which clubs did Maradona play for in his active football life? What are the awards that Maradona has won in his professional football life? Which clubs has the former football player managed after his retirement from playing football? I used research materials available on the websites as quoted in the reference section of the paper. The research materials describe the football career of Diego Armando Maradona from his youth career until he retired from professional football. The research is confined to the football career of Diego Armando Maradona to both the football career of Diego Armando Maradona both at club level and international career. Several parts of the search bogged me down. One of them is time limitation. The time allocated for this research was not enough that made me, as the researcher, to work under pressure. Moreover, I was faced by the limitation of insufficient materials with reliable information from where I could obtain the data. Several parts of the research p rocess sparked a breakthrough. One of them is that I was able to retrieve information from other sources that are not available on online media such as the books in printed form. Moreover, I was able to obtain information from newspapers available from the libraries that had sections focusing on the football career of the player. ... From the research, I realized that, Diego Armando Maradona began his professional football life at the age of 16 with Argentinos Juniors where he played between 1976 and 1981. At the club, Maradona scored 115 goals for the club in 167 appearances and helped the club win several awards including the league title. After 1981, Maradona was transferred to Boca Juniors football club in Brazil for a fee of 1 million pounds ( Maradona and Weinstein 5). In 1982, Maradona and Boca Juniors Football Club won their first league championship title. An English club, Sheffield United, made a bid for $180,000 for the services of Maradona but the bid was rejected. In 1982 after the World Cup, Maradona was transferred to FC Barcelona for a record fee of $5 million. The club won Copa Del Rey, a Spanish annual national cup competition by beating Real Madrid in the finals, and won the Spanish Super Cup the same year after beating Athletic Bilbao in the finals. Maradona won the respective awards for his e fforts in helping the club win these competitions (Deutsch 5: Cockcroft and Cardona 2). According to Burns, 47, after a series of wrangles at the club, Maradona was transferred to Napoli Football Club for a record fee of $ 6.9 million in 1984. It is at this club that Maradona reached the peak of his career. At the club, Maradona became an adored figure and a fans favorite where he elevated the club to its most successful era in history. He helped the club win the Serie A Italian championship in 1986/87 season as well as the 1989/90 Serie A Italian championship. Moreover, Diego Maradona helped the club to emerge as the first runner up in 1987/88 and 1988/89. Apart from the league, Maradona helped Napoli Football Club to win

Holistic Living Guidelines Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Holistic Living Guidelines - Research Paper Example Examining the concept of holistic living as well as how it is attributed to the way in which one responds to conditions while maintaining health can also create a deeper understanding of how to moderate one’s lifestyle for better responses and conditions. The results which are obtained consist of new and positive effects which an individual can experience for balance within their lives. Introduction The concept of holistic living is now becoming more acceptable in medicine and in the assistance of individuals living a balanced life. Holistic living is defined by combining the mind, body and spiritual needs that one has for a well rounded and healthier lifestyle. This is combined with the concept of self – care and preventative medicine. An individual that carries lifestyle habits for complete health through the mind and body while living a specific lifestyle then it offers a holistic living style. This consists first of the basic needs of a human, which is inclusive of physical health as well as peace of mind and comfort and safety (Eliopoulos, 2009). Doctors are now finding that this approach to healthy living is also one which can assist with medicine and works to balance out the needs of an individual and to change the way in which they live. When preventative care is given with physical and mental needs, it also is able to help with prevention of diseases. If one is suffering from a physical ailment, then combining the lifestyle needs and changes with medicine ensures a better response (Eliopoulos, 2009). Examining the importance of holistic living as well as how it can be used with changing physical and mental needs also points toward better health of an individual. A Health Promoting Diet The first step to living holistically is to begin to eat differently and to promote a health diet. The dietary recommendations now have moved outside of the ideology of eating a balanced diet of the five food groups. Instead, it has been found that a larger quantity of fruits and vegetables and the initiation of a rainbow diet of plant type foods are known to assist more with the healthy eating. This is combined with cutting back on meat and animal foods to balance out the diet. If meat is eaten, then it should consist of lighter meats, such as fish or eggs. The change in consumption lowers the amount of trans fats while balancing out saturated fats, which are known to be healthier for consumption. This diet is also high in dietary fiber and has fatty acids which are needed for balance. The fruits and vegetables eaten should also be high in antioxidant nutrients and phytochemicals while having carotene rich compounds, most which are found in fruits and flowers. It is known that this type of diet decreases intestinal transit time, delays gastric emptying, decreases caloric intake, increases digestive enzymes and benefits the intestinal microflora while increasing the production of short – chain fatty acids and decreasing serum l ipid levels (Lock et al, 2010). The change in the health is one which is now being noted because of the several problems which are arising in society. The diet which many have is leading to metabolic problems, obesity, kidney stones and diabetes. There are also cardiovascular and colonic difficulties arising, most which are based on the low amount of fiber that individuals are eating. When altering this, there is also an increase in antioxidants, carotenes, coumarin and isoflavoids. Immune functions begin to increase while other receptors

Advantage And Disadvantage Of Fixed Budget Accounting Essay

Advantage And Disadvantage Of Fixed Budget Accounting Essay However from a birds- eye view, budget can be defined as a management tools that put the managers in control of a finical health of the organisation. The objective of the budget is to measure of the financial structure of the organisation and budget is a tool that forces management to be accountable in a structured and objective way. How manager manage the budget is key to their value. Budget facilities the planning and resources allocation and help to estimate, itemised, analysis and examined the entire product and service that organisation offers to customer. (Seer, 2000, p.187). Budgeting is a simple process of consolidating budget and adhere them as closely as possible (Maitland,2000). It is a process turns manager attitudes forward looking to the future and planning; managers are able to anticipate and react accordingly to the potential problem before it arises. Budgeting process allows manager to focus on the opportunities instead of figuratively. The budget system provides sustainability to business process within an organisation. It is an utmost important process to the management. In other word by some researchers few business plan to fail but many of those that collapsed failed to plan (Horngren, C. et al., 2000) The aim of budgeting is to give management an idea how well the organisation is projecting the income goals and how well the organisation managing the working capital. The budgeting exercise should able to increase the profit, reduce inappropriate expenses and it also helps to expand the markets (Thomsett, 1988, p.5). To achieve the budgeting aim, the management needs to build a budgeting system (Viscione , J. 1984). A budget system varies from organisation to organisation and it is not unitary concept. The fundamental concept of budget system involves estimating future performance of the organisation, comparing the actual performance to the budget and analysis the deviation of actual result against the budget. The factors that determining the type or style of an organisation depend on the type of organisation, the leadership style, the method of preparation and desired result (Cherrington Cherrington, 1973, p.226) In general budgeting can be categories into two primary categories (Cohen, J. et al., 1994) which are operational budget and financial budget Operational budget covers revenues and expenses which involve day to day core business of the organisation which is normal operation activities. The main elements of the organisation operational budget include sales, production, inventory, materials, labours, overheads and R and D budgets. Financial budget controls the organisation financial aspect of the business. These budgets disclose the influences of the operational budget on the organisation, financial position and potential revenues. Financial budget include cash budget, capital expenditures budget, balance sheet and income statement. There are many available methods of budgeting are available and it is important for the management to decide the correct methods that suits the organisation. Generally, management choices on how to start preparing budget fall into one of three major approaches (Rasmussen, Eichorn, 2000, p.19) which are: Top-Down, Bottom- up and Top-down/bottom up. Please refer to figure 1 for Top-down and Bottom-up approaches. Figure 1: Top-down versus Bottom-up approaches Source: Rasmussen, Eichorn, 2000, p.20-25 Main Body Part A (i) Budget approaches adapted by United Consultancy United Consultancy had presently adapted the approach of static budget while preparing the budgeting. Static Budget is also known as fixed budget. Accordingly to Chartered Institute of Management Accountants of England, a fixed budget is a budget outline to remain unchanged irrespective of level of actual activities attained. A static budget will reflect the expected result or revenues of a budgeting year (Hansen and Mowen, 2011) of a responsibility centre for one level of activities. Normally fixed budget will be prepared in advance before the financial year as the cost classified as fixed and it will not very in direct proportion of the level of activities. Fixed budget approaches are widely adapted by service industry (Reeve and Warren, 2007) and partly by some administrative functions of manufacturing companies such as purchasing, engineering and accounting. Fixed budget is used as an effective tool of cost. If, the level of activities attained are varies from the budgeted activi ties then fixed budget become ineffective. Comparatively, fixed budget is only suitable for fixed expenses. A fixed budget is appropriate under static condition. Advantage and disadvantage of Fixed Budget Small business and service industries needs an overall budget to survive Fixed budget is most widely used by service and small industries as it help to track on control the spending. At the same time fixed budget can cause more problems rather than giving a solution. A fixed budget will capitalised the calculation fixed expenses and help to forecast the bills to be paid by the business. For the variable expenses, fixed budget provides maximise spending limits and it helps to control the finances. The advantage of fixed budget is to help the business to prioritise the expenses. Fixed budget clearly distinction between the businesses needs and wants by forcing the business to remain consistent, it will also ensure that the bills are paid on time. The disadvantage of fixed budget as its operates to one level of activity- the planned activity and it does not account for the business unpredictable activity. The actual always will be captured by a level of activity which is significantly difference from the planned activity. For example, to compare the actual production cost increased at production levels of 1000 units against a standard based on planned activity of 500 units could be misleading. Management will mislead thinking into that the production costs are out of control. An increase in production cost is avoidable as volume increases and it does not means that there is problem on increase cost occurred. Hiring Consultant for Future budgeting for United Consultancy A consultant is who has a position to have a certain level of influences over an individual, a group or an organisation but who has no absolute power to make or to adapt changes into the organisation. It is the employee of the organisation has the power to decide whether to accept and implement the changes into the organisation. The consultant brings specialised skills, knowledge, expertises or accessing certain information into the organisation. Scott Hascall (2002) had analysed the advantage and disadvantages of consultants and United Consultancy need to consider before hiring consultants for involving in preparation of future budgets. Advantage of consultants The consultants are import and hired to fill competency gap in the organisation. According to Drucker (1979) suggested management consultant is an extraordinary and indeed a unique phenomenon as consultancy has the management skills, techniques, knowledge are best learned through exposures to and experiences with many industries as the typical executives lack of this kind of exposure. As Drucker notes, The executive works with same organisation or most with very few. Executives lack exposure and cannot gain it nor can be stimulate it. Consultant will able to transform the organisation and gain the exposure at the same time will add significant value by reducing the problem resolution cycle time (Hagedorn, 1982). United Consultancy will be hiring consultant for preparation for future budget as it will bring new Idea, proficiency and impartiality objective (Gattiker and Larwood, 1985). Ifinedo (2011) had surveyed the impacting factor of consultants such as management, support, business, vision and external expertise. The result was found that all these factors influences the business system but the effect of external quality expertise was more important compared to the other factors Disadvantage of consultants An organisation hiring a consultant to bring as it will bring the required expertise, knowledge and experience to the organisation. Accordingly to Kelly (1979) hiring external consultant will be expensive as the payment will be based on their specialised skill in the respective field compare to internal consultant. An external consultant will not available at the right time and not easily accessible to the organisation as the internal executives. At the same time, and they are lack knowledge of organisation culture and working environment. Nonetheless consultants have the great level influences the senior management. A research by Norbck and kerblomMaster (2003) had highlighted that engagement of uncommitted management and inexperienced executives would lead to give an opportunity to consultants to take advantage of the situation and act to their benefit and attaining their own goals. There the experiences and capabilities of management consultants are critical for successful on management of consultants. One of most important factor to take into account when hiring consultants was mentioned by Luo and Liberatore (2009) which examined consultants objective and goals. The organisation main objective is to improve the performances while the consultants other goals such as knowledge acquisition and business growth. To overcome the situation, the organisation must well coordinate with consultants to achieve the desired goals. Part A (ii) United consultancy using Activity- based costing (ABC) for the allocation cost based fixed and varioable expenses. An effective planning of fixed and variable cost as follows: Planning to determine the variable overhead activates that add value for customers using the product and service Effectively planning to use the cost drivers in different level of activities. At the start of the fiscal year, a substantial percentage of fixed overhead are predetermined compare to variable. When the United Consultancy budget the fixed overhead cost, they should select the appropriate level of activity that will benefit the United Consultancy over long terms. This is a strategic decision. The key differences are how fixed costs are fixed to level activity and variable costs are allocated to level of activity. Actual Costing Standard Costing Fixed Cost Actual Prices Actual inputs are used Standard Prices Standard inputs allowed for actual output Variable Cost Actual indirect rate Actual inputs used Standard variable cost allocation rate. Standard quality of cost allocation base allowed for actual output. Activity- based costing has involves the following stage: Identify the level of activity that resources and cost to be associate. Identify the cost drivers linked level of activity. A cost driver is any factor that cause on drivers and activity cost. Calculate a cost rate per cost driver. Each activity should multiple cost drivers Assign cost to products by multiplying the cost driver rate by volume of cost driver units consumed by the products. Indentify level of activity that resource is most engaging and challenging which based on activity based costing. A cost advantage rules that companies identify most important activity. Non Value added activities will be identified and these can be eliminated to improve the efficiency and profitability. Majority of the cost drivers are related either to the level of activity or the complexity of the production or marketing process.

intelligence Essays -- essays research papers

Intelligence is the level of competence, ability to learn or to some people it is how well an individual performs on an IQ test. The structure of intelligence is best subdivided into two significant categories. They are environmental and hereditary influences. Environmental differences can be divided into different factors. The deprivation model of social class and intelligence consists of three variables. These variables explain, in terms of environmental factors, development and performance which are correlated with social status. The first of these variables consists of the combination of birth order, nutrition, and prenatal care. Children who are first born, on average score better on mental tests. There is a definite higher number of first born children among higher socioeconomic groups as opposed to lower socioeconomic groups. According to Bruce Eckland, children of higher economic class tend to be brighter, on average, than children of lower economic groups (65). Both prenatal stress and malnutrition, impair development and are found much more frequently among lower socioeconomic classes. According to Philip E. Vernon, the fetus can have lack blood supply and growth of the fetus can be disturbed if the mother takes certain drugs or suffers from certain diseases. Severe stress on the mother can also be hazardous to the fetus (84). These conditions expressed are both genetic and or resulting from environmental conditions and are known to as constitutional factors. The second variable of the deprivation model which helps exhibit differences in performance is the cultural variable. It seems that lower socioeconomic classes experience a unique pattern of behavioral and psychological traits which impair development in children raised in these conditions. The last environmental variable that accounts for differences in the cognitive development is the social cultural variable. This variable includes deprivation which involves socially structured inequalities in education and other social opportunities for improving performance. Sidney W. Bijou states that in order to help development, an ample supply of physical stimuli for cognitive development is favorable along with the people who have to manage these stimuli in contingent relationships after the birth of the child (230). Another environmental contribution to intelligence, which Bijou points out is th... ...ort the conclusion that both genetic and environmental components have a significant effect upon the intelligence of the child. There has also been some research done on identical twins who live in different environments. They have been compared with siblings who are not twins but live in the same environment. The correlation results for twins who live apart is .75 and .24 for no-twin siblings who do live together. It seems that together, these two correlations almost add up to 1.00 which is the total phenotypic variance. Vernon points out that the effect of genes is much more powerful than that of the environment. Even though the precise values of the correlations are of dispute, analyses of kinship data, concludes Vernon, provides the most convincing demonstration of genetic influence on intelligence. Undoubtedly ,the subject of intelligence can be defined in many ways. To better understand intelligence psychologist have rendered two main influences as cause for variable intelligence levels. These two main influences as discussed previously cannot be explained as one being the main determinant of intelligence. This two influences are environmental and hereditary influences.

Do Curfew Keep Teens Out of Trouble Essay

Even with a curfew teens will do what they want to do. If that means sneaking out, lying or skipping school or etc. sneaking out gives a teen a thrill and like they are invincible. That just makes them more likely to do much more dangerous stuff. Also, having a curfew just adds stress on a teen, because they will freak out about running late and traffic causing them to be late. If anyone says that kids will be too scared to sneak out, well wouldn’t they be to break an actual law? Does curfew really keep teens out of trouble? Curfews give teens the chance to change and it works because they have less time out to cause the trouble and get Pregnant do vandalism, go stealing take drugs, smoke Cigarettes, and have under age sex get involved with the police and Intimidating Behavior. That’s the reason many people believe curfews are a good idea however giving your child a curfew is not going to stop them from doing all this stuff. They may not do it during the night or during their curfew but they may be doing it at day time or even skip school and go get in trouble. Having a curfew does not decrease crimes. Numerous articles by credible sources such as the (National Center for Policy Analysis, the Center on Juvenile and Criminal Justice, and the US Department of Justice) all unanimously agree that curfew, in fact, does NOT lower young crime rates of any kind. Also, I found that the amount of arrests in young for breaking curfew greatly outnumbers the amount of arrests for any other crime in young. All of this goes to show that curfews in fact have no effect, and that teaching young teens to have morals and know what is right and what is wrong is greatly more effective than curfews. I’ve had my share of sneaking out, and staying out WAY past the time my parents set before me. It’s only because if you say I can’t do something, I want to prove everyone wrong and say that I can do that, and you can’t do anything to stop me. Curfew is just a fence that can be climbed and jumped over. It won’t keep teens out of trouble regardless of what people want to belie ve. Its denial and you know it. Just because they have a curfew it doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to get in trouble. It may limit the things they do. Which in turn limits the trouble they get in, but it doesn’t stop them from doing things to get them in trouble. (Wylie Tanton said on April 11, 2012 â€Å"I personally think teens shouldn’t have a curfew because whether or not they have curfew teens still get themselves into trouble, not only during the night. http://www.collegenet.com/elect/app/app?service=external/Forum&sp=42891) Almost never it’s extremely rare that a curfew will keep a teen from what they want to do. Whether they blatantly ignore you and just walk out the front door or sneak out, they’re going to go there either way. If you try to prevent any of that by grounding or forcing them to stay, it just makes them more willing to do it. By making a curfew, you are making the teen more tempted to break it. On (debate.org) 32% of the people said curfews do keep teens out of trouble and 68% of the people disagree curfews keep teens out of trouble. Actually depending on how early a curfew is, the curfew might be no more than a pothole in a teenager’s plan. Most teenagers have no problem finding trouble at any time during the day. If it’s out there, it will be found by someone. As long as you know where your child is, let them go during weekends and the summer. How will your child ever learn to be independent, without ever having an opportunity to be out on their own? Parents are responsible for their children, so if they know where they are and who they are with, no real strict curfew should be needed.

Role of Operations Management

Role of Operations Management Operations management is the design operations and improvement of systems that create and deliver a company’s products and services. In other words, â€Å"is the process of taking input such as raw material and component and turning it in to out put by adding values† (Shaikh, 2010). Any activity that relates to the management of the entire business process that produces goods and services falls into the operations category. Competition among today’s organizations has become immense and is getting tougher and tougher day by day since more new companies are starting businesses in the same industry.Whether they are from the manufacturing sector or service sector, the need for cutting the unnecessary costs, achieving maximum efficiency, and implementing operations management strategies is increasing with the passage of time. Therefore, more focus is being laid on Supply Chain Management these days by the businesses in order to set up cer tain operations approaches, distribution systems, and capacity layouts that not only reduce redundant costs but also provide better quality goods and services to the customers.This paper will discuss two operations approaches for each of these sectors manufacturing and service and would relate those approaches to quality control and efficiency that can be achieved by the businesses. Operational Approaches for Manufacturing Organization There is no wonder to know that the manufacturing organizations deal with the inventory much more as compared to the service organization. The inventory includes raw materials, complementary parts, actual or finished products, and other packing materials therefore, the two most used operational approaches for by these organizations are Lean manufacturing approach and Outsourcing.Lean manufacturing is the approach that identifies and minimizes waste by adopting continuous improvement to satisfy the customer’s demands. It ensures maximum quality by examining each part of the good after its production to identify the flaws that might be there (Blacharski, 2010). Second approach is outsourcing where the organizations that are not efficient enough in producing a certain product or material, assigns that production task to some other company, entity, business, or vendor that actually possesses the skills, mastery, technology, and resources to produce and deliver it.Operational Approaches for Service Organizations Just-in-time approach and the Balance between Degree of labor and degree of customization are the two operational approaches that are often used by the service organizations. Just-in-time or JIT system is designed and implemented in order to produce or deliver services just as they are needed. In this approach the raw material or inventory (potatoes or chicken) is delivered to the service department or facility such as, Mc Donald’s restaurant just at the time when it is needed.And secondly service organizations often try to maintain the balance between the degree of labor employed for the provision of services and the degree of customization based on the needs and wants of the customers. Advantages and Disadvantages The advantages of Lean manufacturing include reduced set up times, less lead times, lower expenditure of materials, simplification of materials for easy identification, reducing wastes, standardizing operating procedures, sustaining better environment and results, good maintenance, and safe practices (Heizer & Render, 2010).Disadvantages can be excess time spent on cleaning and identification purposes, also with the use of resources and money. Advantages of outsourcing include reduction in inventory costs, reciprocity, preserve supplier commitment, better production results, and offsetting the lower technical expertise and capacity the company has. Disadvantages include increase in expenditure, high production costs, and the company might not obtain desired quality or core comp etence. Advantages of JIT include reduction in inventory costs, storage costs, handling costs, cutting costs of quality, and improving quality.There is one major disadvantage that can be the stoppage of production or delivery of services if inventory is not delivered at the right time. The degree of labor and customization provides better customer satisfaction, customer loyalty, increased ordered and sales, less wage costs, and service variety. Disadvantages might be the increased costs in setting up new technology or method for providing unique or customized service for different customers, their maintenance costs, technology costs, and increased layoffs.In conclusion, I think this will improve my approach as in one day starting my own business to understand how operations management can be beneficial to a wide variety of organizations, both big and small. Operations management plays a vital role in the daily functions of an organization whether the company has identified this or n ot. Every process that a company employs to meet its strategic goals is a result of operations management.Operations management aids a company in becoming well-organized, operating more efficiently and productively, staying competitive and improving customer relations. Nationwide Business Interview I expect to learn what is fundamental to achieving and more importantly sustaining a career and business success, particularly within a competitive sales and marketing environment. The most challenging task is to motivate and manage employees to get on the same page and get something planned and completed on time and within a budget.The most critical skill you need as a manager is to understand and manage through tough current economic conditions, such as planning and executing, cost-control, developing and motivating employees and communicating and managing change. To have great communication skills for sales, negotiaton and networking also leadership skills is essential in order to reac h your goals. . A big part of surviving in business is about solving problems fast and effectively. An manager needs good problem solving skills.The important trend I have experienced is and crucial is customer experiences scanning our consumer trends, you will be able to understand where your industry may be headed, or even better, shape its direction yourself, by introducing new products and services that catch the competition off guard. The steps I take to organize my task for today is to first make a list of all tasks that you have to do. At the start of the day I select my most important items and start working on them. If a new task comes up during the day, I keep working on the current task unless the new task is more important.When deciding which tasks take priority when completing a project is deciding what needs to be completed first and it depends what is critical to meet deadline. To be effective in a business crisis your communication plan must be and easy to reference document that contains decisions, action, resources and contacts you and your team will need to represent your organization in the high pressure of a crisis. Employees should always keep in mind the interests of the organization and realize the company standards are more important than the customer’s nterests to bend the rules.Bibliography 1. Blacharski. D. (2010). What is Lean Manufacturing. Retrieved on November 13, 2010. From http://www. wisegeek. com/what-is-lean-manufacturing. htm 2. Heizer. J & Render. B. (2010). Operations Management. Eighth edition. Pearson Education, Inc. Prentice Hall. Dorling Kindersley India Pvt. Ltd. 3. Shaikh. S (2010). Operational Approaches. Retrieved on November 8, 2010. From http://safeshaikh. com/business/supply-chain-management/operational-approaches/ Role of Operations Management This paper describes operations management and how it is applied in the banking field. Operations management is fundamental for any business seeking a competitive advantage in productivity. The role of operations management is to efficiently and effectively produce quality goods and services to create wealth. Bank operations management is the foundation of banking. Processing daily transactions, controlling and managing trades and sales and supporting front and back officers is part of the many functions of operations management. According to Chase, Jacobs, and Aquilano, 2006, operations management is defined as the design, operation, and improvement of the systems that create and deliver the firm’s primary products and services (p. 9). Bank operations are behind the scenes and commonly referred to back office operations because it does not handle front office sales. However a bank cannot move forward without operations management. Thus operations strategy is vital to banking to function at its optimal level. By definition â€Å"operations strategy is concerned with setting broad policies and plans for using the resources of a firm to best support its long-term competitive strategy† (Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006, p. 24). Typically a strategy breaks down into three major components: operations effectiveness, customer management, and product innovation. It is important that a firm’s strategy aligns with its mission of serving the customer. JPMorgan Chase, the bank with which I am familiar, strategizes into three major components: operations effectiveness, customer management, and product innovation. A strategy must always align with a firm’s mission statement to make sure goals are attained by focusing on customer service. In the banking business some of the many competitive dimensions are the following: cost or price of service or product, quality, and speed. JPMorgan Chase bank is a recognized national bank that integrates competitive dimensions in business strategy. Some of the services offered are free checking accounts with fee waiver requirements. Read also Exam Operations Management The starting fees are $12 a month for some checking accounts but there are fee waivers that some customers qualify for to waive the monthly fees. One common fee waiver is a recurring direct deposit totaling $500 or more each month. Price is an important factor for some customers but quality is an even greater concern for others. Because Chase bank offers high technology banking through Quick Pay and Quick Deposit at no cost to all customers, a monthly service fee for a checking account may be less important for customers seeking convenience and quality products. The next dimension Chase focuses on is speed and delivery of online payments. Chase is dedicated to providing the best customer experience in all areas of banking, including online and mobile banking. Chase bank is mainly focused on customer service, which is the reason for business growth. There are three dimensions of value by which businesses differentiate themselves in the marketplace, according to Chase, Jacobs, & Aquilano, 2006. The three ways are through: product leadership, customer intimacy, and operational excellence. Chase strives to keep a proportionate balance of all values to maintain the good reputation and strong name. All the competitive dimensions mentioned above are controlled and managed by back office operations. Therefore operations management is the cohesiveness of the banking business as a whole. It interconnects all functions of banking to maximize productivity in the most effective and efficient manner, creating wealth. Without back office operations support, JPMorgan Chase bank would not have the ability to excel in the banking business.

Free Essays on The Hobbitt

and a knife the trolls were carrying. The travelers come across the Secret Valley. There they stop at Elronds’ Last Homely ... Free Essays on The Hobbitt Free Essays on The Hobbitt Hobbit The book begins with Biblo Baggins enjoying a pipe after breakfast. This is one of his favorite pleasures and he feels quite content in doing so. He is middle-aged, and resides in a burrow in the ground. One morning Gandalf, a wizard stops by to talk with Biblo. He tells Biblo that he is looking for someone to go on an adventure with him. Although Biblo is tempted he declines, but not before inviting Gandalf for tea the next morning. The next day Biblo hears his doorbell and he remembers inviting Gandalf for tea, but instead of the wizard at the door, there is a group of dwarves, thirteen in all. Thorin son of the dwarf king starts to outline a plan on how to regain the treasure stolen by the dragon Smaug. Biblo is shocked to realize these plans involve him. He then realizes that Gandalf has tricked him by inscribing on his door that he was a burglar seeking a job with lots of excitement. With all this talk of quests and glory Biblo decides to join the party after al l. Gandalf reveals a key and a map of their journey, which ends at the Lonely Mountain. It is there that the treasure of Thorins’ ancestors is guarded by Smaug. The quest begins and the party meets at the Green Dragon Inn. From there they venture into the Lone-lands. As heavy rains begin to fall, Biblo notices that Gandalf is missing. When it starts to pour they stop to investigate a light. Their Biblo finds three trolls grumbling about food. Biblo decides to live up to title of burglar and attempts to pick one of the trolls’ pockets. However they quickly capture him. The dwarfs see what's going on and try to save Biblo but all of them except Thorin are caught. Thorin formulates a plan to free them but fails. Gandalf returns and occupies the trolls till dawn, and then they turn into stone. The group takes the two swords and a knife the trolls were carrying. The travelers come across the Secret Valley. There they stop at Elronds’ Last Homely ...

7 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving You Probably Dont Know

7 Fun Facts About Thanksgiving You Probably Dont Know Thanksgiving is a holiday that brings people together. Regardless of what your race, religion, gender, or sexual orientation is, it’s a time when we can all get together, enjoy good food and share what we’re thankful for. To get you prepared for this year, we’ve compiled an infographic with some fun facts about Thanksgiving you might not have known.

Arthur Millers Death of a Salesman Essays -- Death of a Salesman Arth

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman was written after the second World War while the American economy was booming. Society was becoming very materialistic, and the idea that anyone could â€Å"make it† in America was popular. These societal beliefs play a large part in Death of a Salesman, a play in which the main character, Willy Loman, spends a lifetime chasing after the American Dream. Willy was sold on the wrong dream. He was enamored with a myth of American ideals and chose to put aside his real talents in pursuit of a fantasy. In several instances of the play, we see that Willy is a skilled carpenter. He wants to redo the front step just to show off to his brother, and he is constantly fixing things around the house. However, he doesn’t see carpentry as an acceptable occupation. It entails hard work and there isn’t any glory in it. Instead, he chooses to follow the dream of being a successful salesman. The problem is that Willy doesn’t seem to have any of the skills needed to be a salesman. He deludes himself into thinking that he is â€Å"vital in New England† but we find out during his meeting with Howard that even during his good years he wasn’t doing as well as he thought he was. He has convinced himself that he averages one hundred and seventy dollars a week in commission, but Howard tells him otherwise. This is a sh ock to Willy; he’s not used to having reality forced upon him. Willy sees being a salesman as a worthy profession; he apparently puts a lot of effort into his sales pitches. His ideal fate is the same as Dave Singleman’s; to be so â€Å"well-liked† that he can make sales over the phone and to have hundred of people attend his funeral. Willy is blind to the he tries to tell Happy that Willy didn’t know himself. Unfortunately, Happy is still living in a world of illusions, and he becomes angry with Biff and says â€Å"He had a good dream. It’s the only dream you can have – to come out number one man. He fought it out here, and this is where I’m gonna win it for him.† Ironically, Willy killed himself so that Biff could carry out his dreams of success, but Happy is the one who actually believed in Willy’s dream and vows to â€Å"win it for him†. As Linda looks over Willy’s grave, she tells us that the house has finally been paid off; that they are finally out of debt. If only Willy had been willing to take a job from Charley, they could have been living an easy life. But, Willy’s illusions of being a good salesman and his pride in false beliefs would not allow him to. Willy has died chasing the illusion of the American Dream.

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

Mng - Essay Example Specialisation is the first criterion that is to be taken into account in the case of Bentley University. Based on its organisation structure, it shows that the tasks are subdivided into separate jobs. It is important to consider that in organisation theory, an extensive specialisation will allow employees to perform only a narrow range of tasks (Daft 16). At the top level next to the President and the executive assistant, Bentley is composed of seven operating divisions namely: business and finance, information services and operations, enrolment management, advancement, student affairs, marketing and communications and academic affairs. The university organises these divisions under the direct supervision of the President. If the office of the President will employ all the functions involved in the seven divisions, the entire university will eventually not work at its best considering the point that it has to do multi-tasking or perform a narrow range of tasks. Such situation will n ot allow any chance for the appropriate division of labour in order to optimise the capacity of the university to provide a high quality and standard service offering. In other words, specialisation is viewed to exist in the case of Bentley’s organisational structure, considering that it has subdivided the operations into seven divisions. It is however noted that the first and second divisions are under the direct control of the Vice President for Administration and Finance. Business and finance and the information services and operations are two divisions reporting directly to the VP for Administration and Finance. It makes sense that the business and finance department should be directly reporting to the office of the Vice President for Administration and Finance. It even makes sense that the information services and operations will also have to do the same. The reason is straightforward. The

Creatity idea work Scholarship Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Creatity idea work - Scholarship Essay Example The alcohol control bodies also streamline the abstinence from excessive drinking through taking the victims through reliable measures of withdrawal and abstinence. The alcohol and drug control agencies ensure that rehabilitation programs work and are adequately resourced (Cornett 2009, p. 34). Consequently, the factors, which lead to alcohol engagement, are eliminated. For instance, low-income status and domestic conflicts result in the involvement of the people in alcoholism. The victims are also responsible for the predicaments. They are the ones to take the initiative to ensure that they abstain from overdrinking. Moreover, the society is negatively affected by the binge drinkers. The alcoholics also consume national resources, which are supposed to enhance developments. For instance, the funds spent by the government in the rehabilitation process cost the government much (Carr 2011, p.56). There are counselors needed to guide and counsel the binge drinkers and encourage them to stop the drinking habit even if they have become addicts. Additionally, the pills provided for abstinence cost the government much funds. The society also suffers because the binge drinkers always cause domestic chaos because the alcohol compromises the thought process of the victims. The physical factors influencing the aspect of binge drinking include a negative effect on health of the affected individuals. The proposal on the resolving of the prevalence of the binge drinking practice among the youth is sound. However, many factors must be considered in order for the remedy to apply efficiently. The idea proposed is viable because it is important to isolate heavy drinkers from the rest of the people in order to prevent the spread of the practice among other people who do not drink heavily. Additionally, the attention given to the heavy drinkers is vital especially in the rehabilitation process. It is plausible for the

Principles of Economics 3. part 6 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Principles of Economics 3. part 6 - Essay Example Prices of goods and services do not change proportionately over time. This means that some prices rise more than others and consumers substitute products and services that have become relatively less expensive. CPI overstates the cost of living by excluding the possibility for product substitution. When the quality of a good deteriorates, the value of the dollar falls, and vice versa. Because changes in the quality are hard to measure, the basket calculates prices on the assumption that quality is constant, which distorts the CPI measures. Although the CPI is not perfect, together with other indexes like GDP deflator or PPI, it gives a relatively useful indication about the cost of living for consumers. CPI and other price indexes are used to compare dollar values over time, by taking into account the effects on inflation. Reference: Mankiw, G. (2004) "Chapter 24. Measuring the Cost of Living" Principles of Economics pp.

Generalized Framework For Mining Web Content Outliers Research Paper

Generalized Framework For Mining Web Content Outliers - Research Paper Example With the advent of social networking web sites, micro blogging as well as an increase in usage of the net over mobile phones added an avalanche of data over the web, which varied in context and attracted all sorts of interest groups. This constant increase in information has created a great need of fast, relevant and mature content search methods that can sift through information, understand and generate search results in the shortest possible time. This requirement resulted in the development of revolutionary search engines like Bing, Google, etc. These search engines not only perform rapid searches over provided query from the user, however, they also maintain huge repositories of data classified into specific categories. There are several challenges that exist within such classification processes, and which can cause imprecise search results if they are not dealt with properly. Several methods have been proposed to match the most relevant web content with the user's query, however , this is a matter of debate that whether search engines should only generate the directly matched results or also provide some relevant results? Both methods have their own significance and a mixed kind of approach is in practice by different search engines. Google's page rank method got great popularity and has been modified by others for different purposes, for example the importance or relevance of a page is not measured for the top query results generation however several other kinds of processes are associated with this page ranking method. For instance, the computational advertisement industry has grown to a $20 billion industry this year and is expected to go further and big search engine groups are leaders in this industry so far. Advertisements are supposed to be placed on relevant pages so that they are viewed by the relevant i.e. targeted customers, which not only increases the revenue for their customers in terms of return of interest, however, moves towards personalize d or behavioral targeting. Out of several

Gas Prices and the Law of Supply and Demand Essay

Gas Prices and the Law of Supply and Demand - Essay Example The fluctuation of oil supply is largely credited to the increasing demands of an increasing world population (Campoy and Russel, 2009). Furthermore, our oil mineral deposits are slowly being depleted; oil minerals are not something which can be manufactured or replaced once used. The next best thing for oil companies and prospectors to do would be to look for new sources of oil. However, this is only a temporary remedy to the oil shortage issue. If alternative sources of energy and fuel would not be found, the prices for oil would continue to rise and the supply for oil would continue to decrease. The price of gas as ruled by the law of supply and demand must be controlled and managed. The consumers have recognized the fact that they would not be able to afford the rising oil prices if they do not conserve their fuel consumption (Campoy and Russel, 2009). In this regard, consumers opted to cut back on their driving and save their fuel consumption for essential use only. As a result, gasoline was able to regain its supply gap and consequently push up the depressed oil prices (Campoy and Russel, 2009). Since the price of oil is very much dependent on the law of supply and demand, there is an element of managerial strategy which will always hover over the determination of oil prices. Such strategy may sometimes be attributed to the practice of hoarding or controlling the amount of oil released to the market. To some degree, this practice has been speculated by various analysts and scholars as the cause of oil price increase with oil companies seeking to gain the most profit from oil (Fessler, 2009). This speculation has not... This essay discusses the field of management in oil product companies. The researcher states that today there are different events which the manager needs to comprehensively understand the market in order to ensure that the company or the organization he is managing would not collapse or fail. These events or processes often dictate the direction of the organization and were discussed in the essay. It id mentioned, that on a larger scale, these processes are affected by, and they also have a great impact on other organizations and even global managerial dynamics. In the article of Ana Campoy and Russel Gold, entitled ‘Gas Demand Edges Higher, Lifting Crude,’ which the researcher analyzed in the essay, the relationship between gas prices and the law of supply and demand are established and discussed in details. This article plays a major role into the authors’ analysis and discussion that was presented in this essay. This essay discusses the different elements of t his article in relation to the managerial principles discussed during the managerial classes attended by the researcher. In conclusion, the researcher gives his opinion on managing ang gives several recommendations as for what managers can do to enhace the success of oil corporations and companies today. It is stated that, in applying strong managerial skills, managing oil prices in accordance with the law of supply and demand, has to be in line with ethical practices, as well as the actual state of our oil supply and demand.

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

Research paper - Essay Example His sculptures are still being studied to this day as there is yet to be an in-depth analysis of them He came from a family of artists. His father and grandfather dealt in picture frames and table decorative, that they had made themselves, while his godfather was a painter. Daumier went to a middle class school but found no interest in education. His parents introduced him to Alexandre Lenoir, a well known actor, as a beginner. Alexandre had a collection of the best medieval and contemporary sculptures that Daumier drew motivation from. After his father was debilitated due to madness, Daumier set out to look for a paying profession. He worked as a messenger for a bailiff and familiarized himself with the workings of the law. Later, he abandoned this to follow his dream of being a painter. He started selling lithographs that he had made while still a child as well as getting paid to make portraits as means to supplement his works of art. He started as a lithographer, cartoonist but en ded up as an impressionist painter in his later years. He lived through three generations and saw France be transformed from a monarchy to a free republic. He began his career by sending caricatures to a weekly anti-monarchist magazine called ‘La Caricature,’ owned by a print publisher named Aubert. ... Below the commode, favorites of the King were picking leftovers and wastes from the king’s bounty. He spent six months in prison. After Daumier’s release, Aubert and his son-in-law had started another monthly magazine called L’Assocaition mensuelle lithographique. Daumier was unrelenting to create caricatures for this magazine as well as La Caricature and Le Charivari. It was from his piece for L’association mensuelle where most of his popular masterpieces can be found. One of these masterpieces is the lithograph called Rue Transonain made in 1834. He had depicted a poor family who were mistakenly shot dead in their home by men from Philippe’s army. Daumier got himself into trouble again. The king tried to confiscate and to destroy all the copies of that magazine issue. The French government later abolished the publication of any caricature that depicted the government. From then, most of Daumier’s caricatures revolved around societal issues. He made caricatures about the development going on in the country such as the trains, steamships and how they increased the gap between the rich and poor. Daumier was fired then by Le Charivari during this period of censorship. After the revolution that saw Louis-Philippe dethroned, Daumier was rehired and began to make political caricatures again. The first president of the republic, Napoleon III was very lenient when it came to freedom of the press. His earlier works reveal the impressionistic style that he used. From his workings since 1848, spectators can see the use of contours that shoe the angle of light. Historians were unaware of this feature of Daumier’s work as they had paid him little concentration. Some of his workings had been discarded when

Gas Prices and the Law of Supply and Demand Essay

Gas Prices and the Law of Supply and Demand - Essay Example The fluctuation of oil supply is largely credited to the increasing demands of an increasing world population (Campoy and Russel, 2009). Furthermore, our oil mineral deposits are slowly being depleted; oil minerals are not something which can be manufactured or replaced once used. The next best thing for oil companies and prospectors to do would be to look for new sources of oil. However, this is only a temporary remedy to the oil shortage issue. If alternative sources of energy and fuel would not be found, the prices for oil would continue to rise and the supply for oil would continue to decrease. The price of gas as ruled by the law of supply and demand must be controlled and managed. The consumers have recognized the fact that they would not be able to afford the rising oil prices if they do not conserve their fuel consumption (Campoy and Russel, 2009). In this regard, consumers opted to cut back on their driving and save their fuel consumption for essential use only. As a result, gasoline was able to regain its supply gap and consequently push up the depressed oil prices (Campoy and Russel, 2009). Since the price of oil is very much dependent on the law of supply and demand, there is an element of managerial strategy which will always hover over the determination of oil prices. Such strategy may sometimes be attributed to the practice of hoarding or controlling the amount of oil released to the market. To some degree, this practice has been speculated by various analysts and scholars as the cause of oil price increase with oil companies seeking to gain the most profit from oil (Fessler, 2009). This speculation has not... This essay discusses the field of management in oil product companies. The researcher states that today there are different events which the manager needs to comprehensively understand the market in order to ensure that the company or the organization he is managing would not collapse or fail. These events or processes often dictate the direction of the organization and were discussed in the essay. It id mentioned, that on a larger scale, these processes are affected by, and they also have a great impact on other organizations and even global managerial dynamics. In the article of Ana Campoy and Russel Gold, entitled ‘Gas Demand Edges Higher, Lifting Crude,’ which the researcher analyzed in the essay, the relationship between gas prices and the law of supply and demand are established and discussed in details. This article plays a major role into the authors’ analysis and discussion that was presented in this essay. This essay discusses the different elements of t his article in relation to the managerial principles discussed during the managerial classes attended by the researcher. In conclusion, the researcher gives his opinion on managing ang gives several recommendations as for what managers can do to enhace the success of oil corporations and companies today. It is stated that, in applying strong managerial skills, managing oil prices in accordance with the law of supply and demand, has to be in line with ethical practices, as well as the actual state of our oil supply and demand.

Online Education for Adults Essay Example for Free

Online Education for Adults Essay Online education provides the perfect remedies for adults’ needs for further education as it is flexible, cost-effective and wide-ranging. One of the most obvious advantages of online educational program is flexibility. Jobs, working condition, and domestic compulsion do not allow an adult to attend classes physically and at specific times. Online education supercedes these ‘time and space’ boundaries. As compared with traditional on-campus programs, online education is economical. So an adult can manage his education alongside fulfilling personal and family obligations. The most important benefit of online education is its wide-ranging programs that suit one’s interest. One needs not to move across the country to find a university or college with a program that suits one’s interest.

Gender Equality In Australia Is Fiction Sociology Essay

Gender Equality In Australia Is Fiction Sociology Essay Gender equality linked with women remains a contemporary issue in Australia. The debate over gender roles is not about what men or women should or should not be doing- its about people having freedom of choice to act constructively in society, and to have their contribution to society respected and recognised. (Linden, 1996) Even though Australia was one of the first countries that watch over women rights, now days it seems that they have stop searching for that equality, like if they frozen and other countries like Norway, Finland and Sweden have pass them in the development of female role in society. Australia, along with New Zealand, was highlighted as leaders in closing the gender gap. Based on the W.E.Fs benchmarking tool (2010), the Gender Gap Index (G.G.I.), Australia achieved a rank of 23, out of 115 countries. Perhaps unsurprisingly the Report has prompted considerable debate in Australia as to the status of women and, in particular, their economic well-being. Whilst many women have benefited from access to education and health, persistent barriers continue to hinder womens economic opportunities and political empowerment within the Australian context. At a time when other countries are integrating gender into the policy development process and adopting programs to monitor womens labour market outcomes Australia appears to be moving in the opposite direction. In Preston and Barns (2009) words, when compared to the 1970s and 1980s it is apparent that the climate within which gender equality is pursued today has significantly chilled. More women are still working in women area  jobs, such as teaching and nursing. Engineering and computering attracts 25% male student applications, and only 5% females (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006). Despite years of legislation and changing social attitudes, the  opportunity  for females to achieve at the highest levels of many professions and occupations seems to be very challenging. The gap between men and women earings has fallen over the years. Pay equitity is about providing equal remuneration for work of equal value. That means paying men and women equally for work that is of equal skill and responsibility, and is performed under comparable conditions. Ensuring that all workers have the same access to benefits, superannuation, allowances and other disectionary payments. Women have to find their equal place in political life throughout the world. It was in 1893 that New Zeland became the first country in the world to legislate for the right for women to vote in free elections, Australia followed in 1902. It was until 1918 that the United States and Great Britain approved this legislation (Oldfield, 1992). Before these time women were not considered important enough or intelligent enough to exercise this power. It was felt that their husbands, fathers or brothers no matter how ignorant they were, had a much better understanding and ability to decide on issues of the date. It was a long and hard battle for women to achieve this legislation, but when women from all areas of society united to demand their rights, law-makers could not deny it any more. With the vote came gradual recognition of womens rights as full members of society. Legal protection was slow and unreliable to begin with, because the laws were debated and passed by men, who as a group were not necessarily interested in the injustice made to women. According to (Linden, 1996) custody of children in divorces became commonly awarded to women, and most unlikely to all, moves were made to ensure they would be paid the same amount as men for doing the same work; this particular point is still a big issue now days. During the Second World War, women were required to take  on jobs  that were previously occupied by men. Women worked in factories and drove buses; and upon the mens return from war, many women refused to relinquish this new found freedom Prit says (2008). In order to make women to go back to their housework and let the men to occupy their jobs wages for women went from 90 per cent of men rate to 75 per cent, a rate fixed in the 1950s by the Arbitration Court (Graig, Lewins, White, 2003) arguing that men have a bigger responsibility with his children and wife so they should received a higher wage. Through this what the government wanted was to established the Australian way of life that is that women stay at home in the suburbs taking care of the children and cook while the man of the house go to work . In the 1960s according to Prit (2008) was when feminist campaigns began to ask for equal pay, equal  opportunities, anti-discrimination, child and maternity welfare, divorce laws and childcare. They also demanded freedom of choice for women, not only for education and  employment, but for marriage, contraception and abortion. The Feminist Movement shocked many older, conservative womens organizations, such as the Country Womens Association. The feminist movement continued to grow and in 1969 there was an important case The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union Others v Meat and Allied Trades Federation of Australia Others. Before this time womens wages are set substantially lower than that of their male equivalent. The introduction of equal pay is prompted by a number of factors, including the ILO Convention on Equal Pay, increasing female employment, and the abolition of the Basic Wage in 1967. The 1969 decision grants equal pay for equal work, The Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission rules, however, that equal pay is not applicable where the work in question is essentially or usually performed by females but is work upon which male employees may also be employed. By the time of the 1972 equal pay case, figures are produced to show that only 18 per cent of women workers have benefited as a result of the 1969 decision (Fair Work Australia, 2010). As Australian society moved towards an acceptance of gender equality, it was important that political and legislative policies reflected that change. There have been legislations passed, such as the 1984 Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act, that have shaped equality for women. The Act came after Australia signed the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. It says that it is illegal to discriminate people because of their sex, maritial status, pregnancy, sexual harassment, and family responsibilities (Equal Opportunity Commission, 2010). The 1990s saw an increase in women holding high profile leadership positions, with Jennie George becoming the first woman to be appointed President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions and Carla Zampatti the first woman appointed as Chair of SBS (Australian Government, 2010). At the turn of the century, the ageing population dilemma and the need for skilled labour was high on political agendas, and is almost certainly one of the most powerful forces forging the way for Australian women now, with a new found focus on barriers to work for women; focusing on the need for appropriate childcare options in order to facilitate workforce participation, the concentration of policy in lowering effective tax rates for working women and the increased bounty of government payments for working families. A survey of the Inter-Parliamentarian Union in 1993 showed that women held just 10 per cent of the worlds parliamentary seats. What made this figure even more warring was that five years earlier it had been almost half again as high, at 14.6 per cent. The Australian Labour Party was the first Australian party to establish a quota for women. On 27 September 1994 it voted to commit at least 35 per cent of winnable seats to women by 2002. The business of how a candidate actually gets up is something that is rarely gone into in detail. Parties say that candidates should be committed, knowledgeable, and have voter appeal (Linden, 1996). In the Forty-First Parliament of Australia (2004-2007) there were 23 female senators and 38 women in the House of Representatives. On 24 June 2010,  Julia Gillard  became the first woman to lead one of the major political parties at the federal level as Leader of the Australian Labor Party, as well as the first female Prime Minister of Australia (Australian Government, 2010).In politics matter, women have little by little gone further, they made the way up to the top. They have earned the respect of people and governments, and have proved that they can handle a mens job. But these equality seeking have some sacrifices, women are putting apart their other important role as mothers to grow as professionals. The report findings highlight the challenge for women to maintain a work life balance and it found that women are still doing the majority of the child rearing and housework. Women with children employed full-time spend on average 78 hours a week in paid and unpaid work while full-time men with children spend only 74 hours a week according to NATSEM University of Canberra (2009). The differences can be found in the amount of time men pitch in to help with the kids and housework. Full-time women with children spend 15 hours per week doing the cooking and cleaning compared with only six hours per week for men. For a part-time mother the reality is even harsher a part-time woman averages 74 hours a week in paid and unpaid work, 23 hours are spent with the kids and 20 hours on the housework, while part-time men with children work 58 hours in paid and u npaid work, and 14 hours of that is spent with the kids and nine hours is dedicated to the housework (NATSEM University of Canberra, 2009). So its little wonder really that the report made by NATSEM in 2009 found that half of employed women feel rushed or pressed for time compared with only a third of employed men. Not surprisingly women are choosing education and career and then maybe baby, which has seen an increase in the age of first time mothers to 29 . Fertility has declined considerably since the Baby Boomer generation; however, more recently there has been a slight improvement in total fertility rising to 1.9 children in 2007 from 3.5 children per woman in the Baby Boomer generation. Regardless of the advances in equal opportunity in the workplace 22 per cent of pregnant working women said they faced a workplace difficulty in relation to their pregnancy and some said they had missed out on training, development and promotion. The report found that once the baby is born women are taking all the paid leave available to them and they are even resorting to taking unpaid leave. Results show that over half of professi onal women took paid maternity leave compared with just eight per cent of elementary clerical, sales and services workers. And 76 per cent of public sector women having babies took paid maternity leave, in contrast to 25 per cent of women in the private sector. In  conclusion, prior to the 1960s females only received 54 per cent the wages males earned. Although women are allowed to equal wages today, on average women only receive According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006), 84 per cent of what men earn . Women are less likely to be promoted, receive bonuses and not often expected to fulfill the requirements to be employed in a stereotypical male job. The historical conflict about social differentiations and varying levels of power and authority between males and females has come to a point where co-operation between the two genders would be favorable. Equality of  opportunity   can be better achieved though support and focus on unity rather than differences. Australia play a leading role in promoting women`s increase participation. There is still progress to be made to achieve equal outcomes and opportunities for men and women. Gender equality and the rights contained within legislation rely on the overall legal system, as well as cultural attitudes for execution and enforcement. However, gaps do exist in the treatment of legislation, and in the way by which it is enforced. Taking concrete action to advance human rights and support opportunity and choice require a combined effort across the entire of government, in addition to the important constant role of specialist human rights monitoring and complaints mechanisms.

Essay --

Las personas tenemos que pasar por varios procesos a lo largo de nuestras vidas. Probablemente el mà ¡s crà ­tico de ellos, sea nuestro proceso educativo. Pasamos 12 aà ±os aproximadamente, dentro de un sistema educativo con el que no siempre estamos de acuerdo. Nuestros padres suelen ser los que toman la decisià ³n acerca de nuestros colegios en base a lo que ellos consideran mejor. Quizà ¡s tomen esta decisià ³n por tradicià ³n familiar, por cuestiones econà ³micas, o porque està ¡n convencidos que en aquella institucià ³n vamos a recibir la educacià ³n que ellos creen que es la mejor para nosotros. Esperemos que al momento de tomar una decisià ³n tan crucial para el desarrollo de la persona, los padres en verdad analicen cuà ¡l es el tipo de educacià ³n que su hijo va a recibir en aquel lugar; quà © y cà ³mo va a aprender, bajo quà © mà ©todos y tà ©cnicas. En este ensayo, exploraremos el modelo constructivista de la educacià ³n, y como puede beneficiar a los estudiantes que lo utilizan frente a aquellos que no tiene este tipo de metodologà ­a en su formacià ³n. Ademà ¡s, se analizarà ¡n cuà ¡les son los modelos de enseà ±anza mà ¡s comunes en la educacià ³n de hoy en dà ­a y por quà © se han vuelto populares entre los educadores,  ¿son estas las maneras mà ¡s apropiadas de llegar a los alumnos? Como fin principal, queremos que al leer esto se entienda la diferencia entre simplemente enseà ±ar algo y enseà ±ar a pensar.  ¿Es preferible que el alumno solo memorice hechos, o despertar en à ©l cierta curiosidad para que siga aprendiendo sobre ciertos temas? Por medio de experiencias tanto personales como de allegados, o casos famosos, podemos adentrarnos en las distintas maneras de enseà ±ar y las repercusiones que tienes sobre los alumnos que por su forma de ser, no vienen... ...la pasan ni siquiera en supletorios. Esto causa no solo que se sienta inservible o con capacidades limitadas frente al resto cuando sus capacidades son solo distintas; si no tambià ©n provoca que se atrase un aà ±o completo por culpa de una sola cosa que no es lo suyo, o que no le han sabido dar las herramientas correctas para comprender ese tema. Por experiencia personal, podemos decir que los alumnos que trabajan mayormente con su memoria y no siempre con su razonamiento propio, son a los que les va bien en las secundarias tradicionales. En estos lugares solo se debe cumplir cierto tipo de examinaciones que son de dar respuestas exactas para demostrar que està ¡s apto para el siguiente nivel. Quizà ¡s, una opcià ³n mà ¡s interesante hacerle al alumno preguntas que le hagan analizar sobre lo aprendido en clases, no solo completar con fechas y nombres exactos.

The color purple :: essays research papers

The story really begins in about 1903 with the killing of Celie's father by jealous white guys. Celie's mother goes insane but marries a man who is just using her. When Celie is 14 this stepfather, who she thinks is her dad, begins to rape her, causing the birth of two children which he gives away to a missionary friend of his. Celie's mother dies angry at Celie and, because she's been warned by her stepfather not to tell anyone (but God) who fathered her children, Celie writes letters to God. Later, when her younger sister, Nettie, runs away from home, she comes to the house Celie shares with Mr. ______, her abusive husband who was going to marry Nettie but her stepfather said no, who married Celie so that she could look after his kids from his first marrage. Because Nettie rejects him, he kicks her out of his house and Celie sends her to the same missionaries (Samuel and Corrine) who have unknowingly adopted her children, Olivia and Adam. Nettie goes with them to Africa as a missionary, where she stays for thirty years, faithfully writing letters to Celie, never knowing if she's receving them. After years of abuse, Celie begins to become more optimistic when Shug Avery, a blues singer and old lover of Mr. _______'s, is brought home by him because she's sick, so that Celie can nurse her. Celie and Shug fall in love, and Celie leaves Mr. _______ to go with Shug to Memphis. Here, Shug makes a good living singing and Celie starts designing and sewing pants for Shug, this hobby finally spawning a business. Then, Celie finds out that Mr. _______ had hidden all the letters Nettie had written to Celie over the years. In the letters, which she finally gets to read, Nettie's life is revealed. She and Celie's children, Samuel and Corrine live with the Olinka in a small village in West Africa. They all teach and nurse and Samuel preaches. Corrine lets her thoughts about how strong the resemblance between her adopted children and Nettie fester and, with help from a tropical fever, agonizes herself to death. After she dies, Samuel and Nettie decide to get married. During this all, the Olinka's village is destroyed by an English company, and the Olinka are forced off their land. Adam marries Tashi, an Olinkan, and they all return to America.

Reflective Statements of Competence: Competency Essay

To maintain a commitment to professionalism. To maintain a commitment to professionalism in preschool classroom you should set a goal for yourself. My goal in my classroom is to set a standard of excellence with in the room and to commit myself to the growth and development of each child in offering a positive, kind, loving, and safe atmosphere. I have respect, not only for myself but, for my class, each child, and their families. I keep all parental information shared with me confidential. I also uphold all health and safety regulations and make children’s well-being my top priority. I also respect family diversity. This includes but is not limited to cultural differences, orientation, or economic status. I encourage individuality in children. I treat each child with respect and help them to build a positive self- image. Being informed is being ready to assist any child with any need they may have. I feel it is important to always stay positive and keep a smile on your face. Stay on top of new regulations for the school as well as updated laws and other developments within early childhood education. Always making sure to have information to help parents that have children with additional needs. I feel I am a kind and loving person and am genuinely concerned about the growth and development of each child entering in the class. I want to give them every opportunity to grow and learn in a safe environment. I love working and being around children not just in a group setting but also a one on one setting. I became an early childhood assistant teacher, because I enjoy working with preschool children. And looking forward to be a teacher. I enjoy guiding and watching them as they explore the world around them. Children are filled with curiosity. In class, I get the chance to say â€Å"It’s okay, you can do it!† all the time. I will maintain a commitment to professionalism by pledging to be a live long learner and to take advantage of the many opportunities to further improve my competence in early childhood education and development, and better understand the needs of families and the children in my care. I will use what I have learned through the education I have received to make educated decisions while working with young children and their families. I pledge to practice what I preach and perform to the best of my ability every day to  ensure that all children in my care will be receiving the appropriate educational foundation that all children need and deserve, and high quality care. I can only hope that my passion and love for caring and educating young children encourages others to find out what they’re truly passionate about, gain an education, and pursue what they love to do. I don’t think there is an occupation more fulfilling or gratifying than this. My deepest desire is to make a difference in the lives of the families and children I care for and pray that they go on to live happy, healthy, successful lives; partly due to the early educational foundation I had a hand in building

Battling over bottled water

Spring, which is on a private deer-hunting ranch, to the bottling plant. Locals are questioning whom the water Nestle is pumping belongs to. The argument is that although Nestle owns the land, the water is a public resource. Within the Utilitarian theory, in the eyes of the Nestle Company, their actions can be deemed ethical for the fact that the bottling plant has created a substantial amount of jobs for the locals. It was stated that the 262 million gallons of water being pumped are less than one percent of the annual charge rate of the local watershed.The sacrifice of a small percentage of the public body of water to create jobs and bottled water is ethical within the utilitarian theory. In Robert Nick's entitlement theory, you are entitled to as much property as you want, as long as it was acquired the right way. Sanctuary Springs is viewed as a public source of water. Which means Nestle is completely entitled to use the water, whether that means drinking it or pumping it to a bo ttling plant. Nestles actions are completely ethical within Nick's theory.Under John Rails theory of ethics, Nestles actions are ethical as well. Rails theory states that the action must benefit the weakest members of society. The company has built bottling plant that employs about a hundred people. Town ship supervisor Maxine McClellan is has stated â€Å"This is probably the best project we've ever brought into Mascots County†¦ A diversified economy where our kids don't have to move away to find jobs.

Classify the business according to its ownership †McDonalds Essay

The business I have decided to choose for this assignment is McDonald’s. McDonald’s ownership is a franchise. McDonald is a large business with more than 30,000 restaurants in over 100 countries, serving more than 38 million people each day. * Overseas comparisons indicate that franchising is the fastest growing form of retailing and McDonald has grown quickly by granting franchises. The term franchising has been used to describe many different forms of business relationships. This form of business ownership was first introduced in the U.K. It is a form of business organisation that is becoming increasingly popular in the United Kingdom. * A franchise is an agreement between two parties. An entrepreneur (franchisor) and franchisee. The franchise agreement grants to the franchisee the right and authorisation to operate a specific McDonald’s restaurant, at a single address. The franchise term is usually for a period of 20 years. These franchise rights include the use of McDonald’s trademarks, restaurant dà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½cor designs, signage and equipment layout, the formula and specifications for menu items, use of McDonald’s method of operation, inventory control, book-keeping, accounting and marketing. * A separate franchise lease covers the right to occupy the restaurant premises. In returns, the franchisee agrees to operate the business in accordance with McDonald’s standards of quality service, cleanliness food safety and restaurant safety. The franchisee is expected to take a ‘hands on’ role in operating the business, and to be involved in local civic and charitable activities. * Throughout the franchise term, the franchisee’s sole business interest should be McDonald’s. Franchising is really the ‘hiring out’ or licensing of the use of ‘good ideas’ to other companies. A franchise grants permission to sell a product and trade under a certain name in a particular area. For example if I have a good idea, I can sell you a licence to trade and carry out a business using my idea in your area. McDonald’s is a big example of brand franchising. McDonald’s has grown its business in the United Kingdom through franchising outlets. Explain the benefits and constraints of the type of ownership. In order to succeed it is necessary to consider the benefits and constraints involvement in franchise. There are clear benefits to this: * You don’t have to come up with a new idea. Someone else had it and tested too! * Large, well-established franchise operations will often have national advertising campaigns and a reputable, well established trading name. * Good franchisors (BFA) will offer comprehensive training programmes in sales and indeed all business skills. * Good franchisor can also help secure funding for your investment as well as e.g. discounted bulk-buy supplies for outlets when you are in operation. * If you are aware that you are running a franchise customers will also understand that you will be offering the possible value for money and service – although you run your ‘own show’ as a part of a much larger organisation. Benefits for franchisor: * Low capital expenditure — franchising is an excellent method of expanding your business with a limited amount of ready capital. Franchisor takes a share of profit without taking risk. Low risk route to expansion. * Personal commitment and motivation from franchisees is greater than from employees, the reason being that they have more accountability and responsibility than an ordinary employee. * Reduced daily involvement — it is a method of obtaining conscientious and dedicated personal who work hard to a safeguard their investment. Benefits for franchisee: Some of the advantages of franchising to the franchisee are that it gives them the opportunity of sharing some of the benefits of a large business such as: * An established reputation * A known brand name and image * Skilled management * Large scale advertising programmes which are usually paid for by an advertising levy * Economies of scale, producing on a large scale is termed economies of scale. McDonald’s does this by trying to keep low cost through economies of scale. They try to select suppliers, which will give the company value for money. * Franchising also offer much of the independence of a sole proprietor In this way a small business benefits from the economies of scale That comes from being part of a large company organisation. Constraints of franchising * Limits on product price – they can’t change their product price up to wherever they want. They have limits for price. * Limits on variety of product – they can’t have variety of products. Customers get confused if they’ll keep variety of product they have to keep certain products. * Limits on freedom- they can’t do whatever they want. They have to follow owner’s instructions to run their business. Franchisees have not much freedom. * Limits on the title of their business- they can’t even change the colour of their title. As you can see they have same colour and title style wherever their branches are. Task 2: A Clear description and explanation of the objectives of the business. The objectives of businesses can vary enormously. Companies may have a number of objectives. In general, the objectives pursued by a business tend to vary according to its size, ownership and legal structure. Small businesses are more likely to focus on survival as an objective as they tend to lack the financial resources to cope with adverse trading conditions. Larger businesses may aim to maximise profits. As being one of the larger businesses McDonald has the following objectives: * Profit maximisation * Survival * Market share * Growth * Providing exceptional customers care * Remaining an efficient and quality producer offering high value to customers (according to company’s policy) Profit maximisation: Profit maximisation is likely to be an important objective for most companies which shareholder including McDonald’s owns. Profit refers to the extent to which revenues exceed costs, so profit maximisation occurs when the difference between sales revenue and total costs is greatest. Companies such as McDonald’s seek to maximise profit to cover up their costs and to provide high returns for their shareholders. McDonald’s does this by trying to keep cost low through economies of scale. They try to select suppliers which will give the company value for money. In order to maximise sales they have various sales promotion throughout the year. The basis for their profit is low cost rather than high price. Survival: Survival is an important objective for many businesses. According to the business writer Peter Drucker: It is the first duty of a business to survive. The guiding principle of business economics, in the other words, is not the maximisation of profits; it is the avoidance of loss. Business enterprise must produce the premium to cover the risk inevitably involved in its operation. And there is only one source for this risk premium: profits. Most recently established businesses like McDonald’s have survival as objectives. This is because often they have intense competition in the market so they have to spend heavily on their advertising to attract customers. They have to ensure that they remain the Market leader in their industry. Growth: Growth occurs for the company when there is an ongoing increase in an economy’s production of goods and services. McDonald’s pursues growth through selling more franchises all over the world in order to have a presence in most countries in the world. They can achieve this by increasing the overall size of the business by merging or joining other firms of buying them out through a take-over. McDonald’s recently went into a joint venture with prà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½t a manager in order to enter another segment of the U.S market and gain a greater share of the market Increasing sale or market share: Growth occurs when there is an ongoing increase in an economy’s production of goods and services. Many businesses pursue growth strategies because their managers believe that this essential for survival. If the firm grows, it grows with more customers, earn higher profits and begin to establish itself in the market. Growth offers: * Increased returns for the owners of the business * Competitive salaries ( and more job security ) for employees of the business * A wider range of products for the business exists and potential customers it is increasingly common for mangers’ pay packages to successful managers can earn substantial incomes if that is reflected in the company’s share price. Increasing market share is an important objective for McDonald’s. It is likely to be a key objective any business operating in a market which is not growing. For example, the market for traditional beers in the U.K is not growing – indeed there are signs that it may be declining. As the market is not increasing the size, brewers of traditional ales can only increase sales by taking market share from competitors. Market share is also important for McDonald’s because that considerably from producing on a large scale. They use expensive equipment and the financial advantages of producing on a large scale are termed economies of scale. Where these economies exist, firm will attempt to take a greater share of the market. This allows them to sell their product at lower price, increasing their competitiveness. Task Three: Every organisation will need to acquire, use and change factors of production in order to produce goods and provide services. McDonald’s has several functional areas that exist in the business to help the business meet its objectives and to provide goods and services as well. And each of which is supported by a particular administrative office. The administration of each function is based on its offices. There are many administrative offices each with a specialist responsibility and function. The functional areas McDonald’s has are as follow: * Finance * Production * Human resources * Marketing * Research and development * 1) Finance Function: The finance director George Mackay is responsible for finance department. The main activities of finance function are: * To keep record of all business transactions, keeping of cost and revenues and setting target through budgeting. * To provide information about services. * To develop new product that satisfy customer’s expectations. * Quality assurance * Supply chain * Measure the financial performance of the business. * Increase market share so they can make profit and give money to their shareholders. * Control the finances and cash flow so the business stays solvent, i.e. does go bankrupt. * Take timely decisions by comparing the predicted performance with actual performance. This chart shows the structure of finance department. Finance Director Finance Information services New product development Quality assurance Supply chain According to McDonald’s finance director accurate financial information allows them to achieve their most important goals to increase profits by expanding, sustained growth and charitable objectives. McDonald’s not only invests much of its profit in extending its own business but also set aside millions of dollars each year to fund charitable activities. Not only this, McDonald’s also provides different type of support to other organisations and schools. * McDonald’s has invested considerable sums in restoring old buildings, often putting back architectural details that have been lost. * McDonald’s supports the Groundwork Trust, an environmental urban regeneration programme. * McDonald’s is a major sponsor of international football. * McDonald’s donates million of pounds towards community, educational and charity programme. * McDonald’s also provides salary and benefits to its employees and reviewed on regular basis. As for most of the time McDonald’s made consistently high profits around $3,633 million and have grown successfully by making good profit and still planning to grow more further (according to the McDonald’s book). 2) Production Function: The function of the production department is to change inputs into outputs, which means produce goods and services are to be brought by the customers. McDonald’s is committed to maintaining and developing the best food products in the quick service restaurant market. And this is what production department is responsible for. In order to deliver on this, the company has made commitments: to food safety, food quality and to nutrition. Company systems and procedures must be continuously updated to ensure the highest standards of hygiene and safety. All staff receives proper training in food safety. McDonald’s food is made from the basic commodities: red and white meat, fish, eggs, milk, grain and vegetables. All raw ingredients are produced to exacting specifications and the highest possible standards and quality and safety. McDonald’s highly trained workers work with suppliers to maintain and develop product quality. McDonald’s recognises the importance of a balanced diet, lifestyle and health therefore provides hot, less fat and fresh food to their customers. McDonald’s invest a lot of money in new technology. Thus, improving the quality food preparation and helps achieving company’s aim of growth in the fast food market. * Controlling production methods and planning the scale of production * Controlling costs and working efficiently * Meeting the specific needs of customers McDonald’s is working hard to develop their products and provide their customers a variety of differentiated products, which helps to meet another important objective satisfying customer needs because increasingly customers expect to buy the product that meet their exact needs. Developing efficient methods of production to reduce cost is helps to make profit and growth because a fall in the cost of production resulting form an increase in the size of a business, which is called economy of scale in the language of business. When outputs rises, the cost of production per item-the unit cost-falls, and the business can reduce the price of its goods. With the lower price, it will get more customers and so benefit from the even lower unit costs. This will make it more competitive and can easily increase market share. McDonald’s has raised standard through out the food processing industry. 3) Human resources: Human resources department deals with staff recruitment, training and development. Human resources is a very important function for the business because it selects the workforce (the right people for right job), provides training and development of staff, which improve their skills, performance and relates to the aim of McDonald’s, which is the best service for its customers. Efficiency helps a business run more smoothly, effectively and profitability. Efficiency begins with developing ways of working that are easy to understand and do not waste time or energy. Division of labour, in which each workers carries out a specific job, increase speed and the more people you serve each day the more profit you make so it helps to maximize profit as well as expand the business. McDonald’s have their employment policies. McDonald’s employs some of the best, most ambitious people on the job market. Whether they join as hourly paid staff or management trainees through gradua te or a high standard recruitment, they have the opportunity to develop a career, which can take them to the very top. Above all, McDonald’s values people with a positive attitude towards customers, themselves and other employees, and strive towards delivering the highest standards of quality, service and cleanliness. The ability to understand and adopt McDonald’s customer-led culture is as worth as the more usual career entry requirements of GCSE and university degree. The company is an equal opportunity employer and 1992 set up an equal opportunities group to help foster a diverse workplace and highlight equal opportunities as an important part of the company’ s ethos. McDonald’s commitment to equal opportunity extends beyond race, gender, ethnic origin, marital status, colour, nationality or disability, to compass people with very different backgrounds and experience. Whether university graduates and those without formal qualifications, first jobbers or those who have worked for decades, what binds employees is the knowledge that the opportunities are as great as an individual’s ambition and ability allow. And if employees are happy with the opportunities they are getting form the company they work hard for the company and try to provide best service in the world. It is important to retain talented staff and staff who have become skilled through training. By recruiting quality staff who are committed to the business, thus reducing recruitment costs by not having to recruit too often. McDonald’s also provide benefits with salary to its staff. Hourly paid staff benefits: * Free meal allowance * Paid holidays (4 weeks per annum) * Free life assurance (value dependent upon service) * Private health care (for employees aged 19+with 3 years service) * Sponsorship Programme * Stock purchase scheme * Employees discount card * Service awards (at 3, 5, 10, 15, 20 and 25 years service) * Stakeholder pension Apart from good rates of pay, McDonald’s try to provide good working conditions and incentives. This also helps McDonald’s to meets its objective of expanding and providing best service to the community. 4) Marketing: According to the research about McDonald’s marketing is the whole process by which goods get from producers to buyers. More people work in Marketing than in production. Marketing involves marketing research, distribution, pricing and promotion. As last week McDonald’s was offering 2 normal fries, hamburger, drink for only à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½2 and that offer was only for limited period. Marketing department deals with advertising, promotion and improving the image of the product and services to attract more customers. The fast food industry is in which many companies compete for customers. McDonald’s provide a better product, give better value for money, provide a superior service, better at distributing and selling its good and services and making them known through advertising and publicity. There is no doubt that McDonald’s do a lot of advertising and promotion activities. One of them is mentioned above. Recently McDonald’s announced that Kay Napier, Procter & Gamble marketing veteran, vice President/General manger, has been hired as a senior Vice President of marketing. McDonald’s marketing director said, â€Å"I am delighted to add this kind of marketing talent to our team at McDonald’s. This is another step in elevating one of the world’s great brands to an even higher level of marketing strength and value. This will also help them to achieve their objective, which is growth. Customer can be attracted through good eye-catching advertisement, advertisement has this tremendous ability to shift demand curve to the right. As customer increase income rises which helps achieving company’s aim of making profit so that they can cover their cost more easily. McDonald’s also meets its objective which is satisfying customer need by knowing what customer want and how much they are willing to spend on their food. To achieve this objective marketing department employees special research team for the test products do surveys with customers to taste new product and answer questionnaire about them. According to McDonald’s policy McDonald’s will not work with any supplier who does not adhere to the standards required by UK and EU legislation regarding animal welfare, transportation, husbandry, inspection, and quality & hygiene. This policy helps McDonald’s to meet its o bjective of Providing best food, beat competition and improve the company’ image. 5) Research and development: The purpose of R & D is to enable business to compete successfully and achieve permanently sustainable competition over its competitors by becoming more efficient and/or profitable and giving customers’ added value. To achieve this McDonald’s always and will continue to develop new products that satisfy customer’s expectations for great taste and great value. The company’s new product and development team works with suppliers to expand the menu with new core and promotional food items. The team helps to ensure that all new food items meet McDonald’s high quality and safety standards. As with the existing product range, McDonald’s solicits and carefully listens to customers’ view on any new or promotional products. * McDonald’s offer more and more choices for breakfast by developing new products as more and more customers eat breakfast out rather than at home. * Changing existing products McDonald’s uses conventional food chemicals or additives that add flavour and colour that helps to maintain freshness and make changing in existing products by listening to customers’ views. * Collecting data from worldwide research McDonald’s has special research team to find out what customers want and how much they can spend. McDonald’s also has restaurant development policy: When McDonald’s has local knowledge which is a key to choosing new locations, McDonald’s on discussion with local managers who are closely involved at roots level with their local communities. By keeping customers convenience McDonald’s develop new restaurants. Company is committed to responsible and works closely with local planning and community groups when developing new restaurants. Every bullet point and information is written there helps McDonald’s to achieve its objective of providing good service to the community by attracting more customers and making profit. There are advantages and disadvantages with every functional areas but each functional area helps McDonald’s in one way or another to meet its objectives. Task Four: There are three types of management style and they are: * Democratic * Autocratic * Consultative Management style will describe the different ways that the managers treat their employees and also the way the in charge of the employees. Democratic management style: This type of style involves empowerment. Individuals and team are given responsibility to make decisions, usually with a given frame. The team is then responsible for the decisions that it makes. A manager with this style will feel comfortable allowing others t make decisions. Autocratic management style: This style is where manager gives out instructions, telling people what to do rather than asking employees. The manager is the only person who contributes to decision making. Consultative management style: Consultative mangers are ones who seek to consult other to implement decisions. This type of style wants to draw on more sources of opinion than just her or himself. The purpose of management style is to remember where we started. Business exists to satisfy demand for particular goods and services and in order to do this they need resources; the factor of production. Being the fast food company McDonald’s exists to provide catering service to the community. Management is concerned with planning, controlling and co-ordinating the acquisition and use of these resources. In large concerns like McDonald’s, managers run the business by using people and information. The term ‘managing’ comes from the Latin word for hand, as does the word ‘manual’. It originally meant ‘handling’ things’ but did not originally apply to people. McDonald’s Management is responsible for the preparation, integrity and fair presentation of the consolidated financial statements and financial comments. The financial statement has been audited by independent auditors, Ernst & Young LLP, who was given unrestricted access to all financial records and related data. The audit report of Ernst & Young LLP is presented herein. The Board of Directors, operating through its Audit Committee composed entirely of independent Directors, provides oversight to the financial reporting process. Ernst & Young LLP has unrestricted access to the Audit Committee and regularly meets with the Committee to discuss accounting, auditing and financial reporting matters. McDonald’s has an autocratic management style. A manger takes entire responsibility for decisions and, having set objectives and allocated tasks to employees, expect them to be carried out exactly as specified. Employees are told exactly what, how and when work must be started and finished. It is the kind of management style associated with a corporate culture centred almost exclusively on production. Power is focused at the top, and the centralised decision making is geared to getting the goods out of the company and to customers. The culture of a business can be widely affected by its attitudes, values and beliefs. There are different types of culture McDonald’s is very close to customer driven culture by keeping this culture in its mind McDonald’s works and as it is described before that McDonald’s first priority is its customers. Attention is focused on improving all aspects of the production process down to the minutes detail for the customers’ benefits. Technological culture is focused as well. To improve its technology and develop new products they listen to its customers as well as to their staff. An autocratic style does have some advantages and advantages for McDonald’s. Disadvantages are: * Workers may want some flexibility, freedom, little contact workers therefore little teamwork, can be demotivating. * Disadvantage of having a hierarchical structure is that messages can get distorted or lost from one manager to the next. * There is also poor communication between the different functions. Advantages are: * Need quick decisions, health and safety, clear and consistent approach helps employees * Advantages of the hierarchical structure are that every one knows whom they are responsible to and whom they are responsible for. * This can also shows where specialists are needed in their divisional groups The organisation structure McDonald’s has is hierarchical structure, which you can see on next page. The benefits McDonald’s gets are clear management structure, clear lines of responsibility and control and functions are clear and distinct. Of course where there are advantages there are disadvantages as well. The disadvantages McDonald’s has are many layers of communication and many layers of authority and decision-making. The relationship between structure, management style and culture Structure Management style Culture Hierarchical, many levels Autocratic Based on routine procedures of management, e.g. in and job roles, decisions are large business like McDonald’s centralised. Being a huge company McDonald’s has an Operations Director (Peter Sullivan), Development Director (Peter Richards), Finance Director (George Director), Marketing Director (Matthew Howe), HR & Training Director (Carmel Flatley) and chairman and chief executive (Andrew Taylor) are the most important people in the company. Together with the other directors, they oversee the work of the company’s five vast departments: Operational, technical, real estate, financial and marketing. There are also regional manager senior supervisor and superior supervisor, restaurant manager and assistant manager. The board of directors have senior jobs in the company, overseeing different divisions. These are the executive directors. The board also includes non executive directors, who do not work for the company. They help the board make decisions and look after the interests of the shareholders. McDonald’s also have training and careers or its employers. McDonald’s employs local people in their own community. It is an equal opportunity employer, and women and people from ethnic minorities are represented at all levels. Young people accepted for a position on McDonald’s career programme can quickly climb the promotional ladder. Trainee managers go through a series of training courses at centres set up in their own community. They receive even more important on-the-job training at a McDonald’s restaurant. McDonald’s has an open door policy, which allows staff access to managers from the chairman down. Everyone is welcome to make suggestions or complaints. McDonald’s also holds a frequent meetings called rap sessions where staff can voice their complaints to someone from headquarters or air grievances to a member of management from another restaurant. McDonald’s now has a bureaucracy; senior staff is not even treated with the awe they command in some companies. Even the chairman is approachable. The staff and the public have open access to him through the company’s open door policy. There is a McDonald’s management structure on next page. Task 5: A description of the use of ICT for internal and external communications of the business. Businesses need to communicate with a range of individuals and other organisations including their customers, their suppliers, as well as their own employees. Every organisation will need to be able to communicate effectively with staff at all levels for it to function smoothly and efficiently. These are the reason why communication is important for a business or an organisation whether it is internal or external. The business I have chosen for this assignment is McDonald’s. McDonald’s also has internal and external communication to run its business effectively. McDonald’s has an IT strategy. Information technology is important where it enables a business to achieve its goals. However cost is always important and evidence seems to show that IT is more expensive than firms realise. According to Management Consultants, support cost can be five times the amount estimated. This includes help from other staff and time spent on security and back-up procedures. Other costs can include: * Staff training * Introducing health and safety measures * The need to maintain efficient security Two recent trends in keeping down IT costs are: Downsizing: when we look at human resources management then downsizing means is lying off employees. However in IT it simply means using smaller systems, such as a mini-computer instead of a mainframe, or a PC instead of a mini. This is possible because hardware is becoming more powerful. The other recent trend is outsourcing. Outsourcing: This again is a term used in human resources management Internal and external communications: Internal communication: Internal communication is communication that takes place within the organisation. The three main ways of communicating information inside McDonald’s are intranet, McNews and MDUK and High levels. Methods of keeping In touch with staff: * Intranet Launched in the year 2000, McDonald’s UK intranet provides a fast and up-to-the-minute source of information for McDonald’s restaurant management and office staff. It is a single point of reference administrative requirements, news and marketing materials. * McNEWS AND MDUK McNews was the award-winning magazine published bi-monthly for all restaurant staff. In 2002, McNews was re-launched as MDUK – a lively people-focused magazine, it covers news, activities and events from restaurants around the country. * High levels Published bi-monthly for all management and office staff it is a showcase for best practice, recognising individual’s outstanding practices and achievements, as well as highlighting internal and external awards. * An email system operates in all offices and company-owned restaurants. * Regular staff communication sessions are held in the offices. * Employee satisfaction surveys for both office and restaurant staff are held annually. This is how McDonald’s communicate with its staff. The purpose of internal communication is to communicate with its internal customers, which are employees to run business effectively and smoothly. Provide them information they need time to time. External communication: External communication takes place between the organisation and the outside world. McDonald’s needs to communicate with a range of stakeholders including shareholders, customers, government, suppliers and the community. Communicating with suppliers and customers: * Telephone: The most frequently used form of external verbal communication is telephone. McDonald’s uses this form of external communication to contact with their suppliers. Apart from this McDonald’s has answering machines to keep in touch with customers. Phone answering machines tape callers’ messages, which can be played back from a distance by calling the number and typing in a code. * Business letter: McDonald’s has its address available on it’s every website for their customers and also to obtain your copy of the pack you can contact them by sending a letter. * Website: Most companies have an internet website including McDonald’s. McDonald’s uses this for all external communications purposes and for public relations activities. I also used McDonald’s website to do research for my assignment. * Fax: Fax is a form of external communication. Fax machine is used to transmit and receive suppliers to communicate. The purpose of external communication is to communicate with its customers, suppliers and community. Provide them information about the business they want. Benefits: The benefits of using internal communication are: * The benefit of using intranet to business is that it provides a fast and up-to-minute source of information for McDonald’s restaurant management and staff. * McNews magazine covers news, activities and events from restaurant around the country. * E-mail system is faster and efficient. Information and reports are confidential. The same message can be sent immediately to many people. * Employee surveys helps to get employee views. The benefits of using external communication are: * Telephone is fast and its great benefit is that it allows people who would find it difficult to meet to converse. And a person who can’t read or write can talk over the phone to get information. * The use of business letter saves time for the person whom you are writing to and you can explain in detail. Not everyone has access to internet so if somebody who needs information about the organisation can write a letter to them. * Fax does the same thing its transmitting speed is fast and saves time. Again if somebody need information about the organisation can contact them through fax if has no access to internet. * Website provides a lot of information about the organisation and in detail with pictures and graphs make easier for you to understand. It saves time of both who wants information and the one who is giving. For example if you asking the manager of McDonald about the company but he hasn’t got enough time to give you information in detail so when you have time you can go on to McDonald’s website and look for the information you need in detail. In order to achieve business objectives McDonald’s has created communication channels which all allows the company to communicate effectively both internally and externally. Due to successful communication when looking at the McDonald’s UK financial profile form 1998 to 2001. One can clearly see a substation increase in profit during this period. By using effective communication McDonald’s meets a range of organisational objectives which are crucial for the business such ads being a market leader, no 1 fast food retailer in the world which is due to the excellent reputation built throughout the year by maintain strong relationships with customers, adapting to new environment investing in new technologies and continuously up-grading systems and improving staff training. All this reflected in McDonald’s ability to maximise sales profit and revenues. ICT has an enormous impact on McDonald’s business internally and externally. E-mails replaced the old fashioned methods of communication such as letters and phone calls. The company has a very sophisticated network database which replaced the traditional systems of filing, storing information. Computers are used every where in the business to replace a range of standard operations such as maintaining stock levels, organising deliveries, preparing invoices and recording payments etc. The use of the internet website enables McDonald’s to reach any place in the world and is a very latest link with the global market for example every body can obtain the information from the website in a matter of minutes. The global net exchange enables McDonald’s through electronic data interchange (EDI) system to arrange financials transfer dramatically reducing time, paper work and costs. Poor communication results in mistakes, anxiety, low morale, inadequate control and aggression. Not surprisingly there is concern to improve the quality of communications. First this means improving the communication skills of people within the organisation. Second, it means developing systems of communication. We can identify the skills required by individuals as: o Patience o Discretion o Understanding o Assertiveness —— where necessary. A clear explanation of how the production process and quality assurance / control system employed by the business help it to add value to its product or service. McDonald’s production is a very important process in McDonald’s business activities and it involves: o Processing o Manufacturing o Assembly o Craft-based production Processing: Most of the McDonald’s products are created by processing which includes food and drinks. Processing involves treatment such as washing, cutting, salting, weighting, heating, grilling and frying etc. The raw materials such as meat, chicken, fish and vegetables etc are passed through a series of processes until the desire form product is produced for example chicken fillet is processed into chicken burgers, grilled and then assorted with salad cream. Manufacturing: Manufacturing involves making boxes, cups, sticks and different children’s toys which McDonald’s has special facility to produce techniques include for example producing plastic toys from plastic granules called â€Å"Polietilen† which is put into a machine which is heated and under pressure different shapes are made for toys. The same thing applies for the plastic cups for hot and soft drinks. Assembly: A typical assembly operation for example putting together big Mac and French fries with a cup of soft drink in a paper bag to serve the so-called big meal for à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½4.99. Another example for an assembly is when staff is in the workshop assemble kid’s toys, which go together with the kid’s happy meal. Craft-based production: Craft based production involves making individual products by hand for example a birthday cake for McDonald’s birthday parties where the parent can request a special shape and decoration for the child’s birthday cake. So McDonald’s takes individual offers for special cakes. Especially trained staff has the ability and skill to create imaginative and attractive design that suits the individual needs of customers. Craft production in McDonald’s for example involves working with material such as icing, chocolate, cream, coco powder and baking powder. Quality assurance: McDonald’s is committed to maintaining and developing the best food products in the quick service restaurant market. In order to deliver on this, the company has made a number of other commitments: to food safety, food quality and nutrition. McDonald’s first is always the health and safety of customers. The company believes that the food safety standards required by law are only a minimum and the company continually seeks to go beyond this. Because of this belief, McDonald’s has developed a food safety policy to help keep the focus of the company’s absolute commitment to food safety and quality. – All raw materials delivered to McDonald’s restaurant must be consistently produced to the highest standards of hygiene and safety. – Company systems and procedures must be continuously updated to ensure the highest standards of food hygiene for all customers at all time. – All staff receives proper supervision and training in food and safety. – The equipment used must be the appropriate for the needs of each restaurant, and must be carefully maintained and carefully calibrated. Following its launch in early 1998, McDonald’s continues its programme of sponsoring research grants in food safety. The grants are particularly aimed at supporting the work of researchers in the early stage of their independent research careers, who are working in established UK-based departments and institutions. McDonald’s is committed to serving hot, fresh, great tasting, great value food to all customers, every time that they visit a restaurant. McDonald’s food has made from the basic commodities: red and white meat, fish, eggs, milk, grain and vegetables. All raw materials are produce to exacting specifications and the highest possible standards of quality and safety, The Company will not use any ingredients unless it is clear exactly where it has come from and that it compiles with all relevant regulations and McDonald’s own high standards. Additives are only used to ensure that high quality standards are maintained. Additives are removed or replaced wherever possible, as long as this does not compromise food safety or quality. McDonald’s has a highly trained team of quality assurance whose job includes verifying the company’s supply chain through audits and site visit. These employees also work with suppliers to maintain and develop product quality and to ensure that restaurants consistently serve hot, fresh food. Independent food safety auditors re also used to assess their key suppliers partners. In 1984 McDonald’s became the first UK restaurant company to publish detailed nutritional information on all core menu items. McDonald’s highest priority is for the safety of its customers. The company will not any product or ingredient that does not meet their high standards of quality and safety, or has not received the necessary approval by the relevant UK authorities. McDonald’s will not work with any supplier who does not adhere to the standard required by UK and EU legislation regarding animal welfare, transportation, husbandry, inspection, and quality & hygiene. McDonald’s always and will continue to develop new products that satisfy customers’ expectations for great taste and great value. Around the country, thousands of people form a network of dedicated suppliers involved in the day-to-day operation of McDonald’s business. The responsibility of serving more than 2.5 million customers each day makes quality a consistent goal. McDonald’s work with leading suppliers across the UK – from potato farmers in Lincolnshire and Norfolk to dairies in the south and midlands-to bring the customers the tasty products they expect from McDonald’s. It is McDonald’s policy worldwide to purchase supplies from local producers wherever possible, providing that they can meet exacting product and hygiene regulations, operate responsibly and humanely and are competitive. McDonald’s strives to ensure quality from crop to counter. To that end, McDonald’s requires the highest standards and specifications, not just product ingredients every detail of production, transport, delivery, preparation and service is also exhaustively monitored. McDonald’s also recognises the importance of a balanced diet and lifestyle and continues quality new products, which satisfy customers’ expectations for taste and value. A focus on quality permeates every aspect of the business. McDonald’s standards lead the industry, and will continue to work with government and health officials to investigate improvements. Quality control: Quality control in McDonald’s involves all kinds of inspection system for checking the raw materials, the food processing, customer service and management. The company carries out different types of testing the raw materials as well as the ready made meal and drinks for example the cooking oil in which the French fries are cooked is changed twice a day. Each restaurant manger and supervisor inspects daily the premises, the safety of the equipment and the expiry date on stored product such as milk, cream etc and general hygiene on the premises including McDonald’s car park and the neighbouring areas. In the company mission statement different policies are allocated such as health and safety, food hygiene, manual handling, customer service, litter control, recycling and environmental policy for example McDonald’s is a member of the environment council, the corporate responsibility group of Earth watch Europe, the industry council for packaging and the environment (INCPEN), and greeting the high street, a group of retailers who have come together to develop recycling in the high street. Another example is that McDonald’s takes a sensitive approach to its built environment, working closely with planning and conservation officers to preserve buildings of architectural merit and to improve the townscape. In many towns, McDonald’s has invested considerable sums in restoring old buildings, often putting back architectural details that have been lost. York, Chester and Stratford-upon-Avon are prime examples. McDonald’s has supported the tidy Britain Group’s annual ‘National clean’ activities. Since 1988 and support its campaign ‘just Bin it’. In addition to corporate funding, restaurant throughout the UK organise and support activities to clean up their local environment in conjunction with local youth groups. o McDonald’s is one of the country’s leading sponsors of council litterbins. o All packaging carries the Tidy Britain Group’s ‘Tidy Man’ symbol. o Many McDonald’s restaurant organise litter-related competitions with local schools and youth groups. o McDonald’s was a founding sponsor of ‘Going of Green’, a nationwide awareness campaign for sustainable growth. In 1997 at the TIDY Britain Group’s Queen Mother’s birthday Awards for environmental improvement, McDonald’s received the top award, the Queen Mother’s Birthday Trophy. o 100% recycled used for happy meal boxes, take away bags, take away trays, napkins, kitchen rolls and toilets. o All McDonald’s tray liners are made from 100% fully recyclable and biodegradable materials. o All McDonald’s suppliers have to use minimum recycled content of 50% in their corrugated containers. o All McDonald’s offices recycle waste paper and also use recycled paper. o The majority of McDonald’s restaurants recycle their cardboard and used cooking oil.