Parent Interview Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Parent Interview - Essay Example Joe is labeled as having autism; however he is also taking medication for attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (i.e. ADHD). Currently, Joe is going to Harrison Elementary School in Livingston, Virginia. This school has grades from kindergarten thru sixth grade and in located in a middle- class area. Joe is in an autism self-contained class, and his classmates range in educational levels from third through sixth grade. Joe is in the fourth grade. He has been going to this school for five years and has been in the same autism program with three of his classmates for all of this time. Joe is well-known and liked around the school because he is very talkative and social. He also lives in a middle class neighborhood near his school. Joe is a very smart boy, but he is considered to be lower functioning because his test scores place him below grade level. Joe does not take the standard of learning tests (i.e. SOL); however he does qualify to take the Virginia Alternative Assessment Program test (i.e. VAAP). In school he does participate in general education activities, such as art, physical education, and music . In addition, he also has his academic work that is done in the general education classroom and his class. At this period in time, Joe has an Individual Education Program (i.e. IEP) in which he has several goals that he is working on, besides his general education activities and curriculum. His individual goals are in the areas of communication, fine motor/ writing tasks, classroom behavior, math, language arts and reading. Joe interacts socially with his peers and teachers. He responds to questions willingly, participates in all activates and has an average sized vocabulary. However, he likes to use words that begin with the letter s, which sometimes impedes communication. Joe’s goals include

Lab Report on TLC analisys of Analgestic Drugs Essay Example for Free

Lab Report on TLC analisys of Analgestic Drugs Essay In this experiment, thin-layer chromatography (TLC) was used to determine the composition of various over-the-counter (OTC) analgesics: Anacin, Bufferin, Excedrin, and Tylenol. The TLC plates were first viewed under ultraviolet (UV) light and then treated with iodine vapor in order to visualize the spotting. Experiment Scheme Initially, sixteen capillary micropipets were created in order to spot the TLC plates. Two TLC plates were then obtained and marked with pencil for spotting. A line was drawn 1 cm from the bottom of each plate, and five small, evenly spaced marks were made along those lines (see Figure 1). Each mark indicated where a substance would be spotted. All compounds used were in solutions of 1g of each dissolved in 20 ml of a 50:50 mixture of methylene chloride and ethanol. The first plate made was the reference plate. Capillary micropipets were used to spot the first four marks with acetaminophen, aspirin, caffeine, and salicylamide (in that order). (See figures 2-5 for chemical structures.) The last mark was spotted with a reference solution of all four chemicals. The second plate made was the sample plate. The first four marks were spotted with Anacin, Bufferin, Excedrin, and Tylenol. The fifth mark was spotted with a reference solution of all four drugs. Figure 1. Prepared TLC plates Figure 2. AcetaminophenFigure 3. Aspirin Figure 4. CaffeineFigure 5. Salicylamide A development container was created with a wide-mouthed screwcap jar. It was filled with the development solvent, which was .5% glacial acetic acid in ethyl acetate, so that the solvent was approximately . 5 cm deep.The first TLC plate was then carefully placed into the development container. Great care was taken to ensure that the plate went in evenly so that the solvent could rise evenly up the plate. Once the solvent front had reached approximately 1cm from the top of the plate, the plate was removed, the solvent front was marked with a pencil, and the plate was allowed to dry. The second plate was then placed in the development chamber in the same manner as the first. Once the solvent front reached approximately 1cm from the top of the plate, the plate was removed, the solvent front was marked with a pencil, and the plate was allowed to dry. Each plate was then viewed under the UV light. Any spots that were seen were lightly circled with a pencil, and their color was noted. The orders of elution (Rf values) were calculated by dividing the distance from the baseline to the center of the spot by the distance from the baseline to the solvent front. After all observations and calculations were made, the plates were placed in a jar containing iodine. The jar was warmed with hands so that the iodine vaporized. The plates were then removed from the jar and observed. The reference and sample plates were then compared to determine which compounds the drugs on the sample plate contained. Data

Concepts of Abnormal Behaviour

Concepts of Abnormal Behaviour 1.1 Normal behavior is known as behavior that is widely accepted as the prescribed norms of a particular society. For example, it is normal for an American to greet someone by shaking hands. Adhering to normal behavior satisfies individuals’ need to fit into society. The ability to behave normally also allows one to fulfill the innate need to interact with others. Abnormal behavior contrasts normal behavior in that it is unacceptable behavior which is outside of the norm of functioning behavior. Abnormal behaviors could range from minor deviations from societal norms to very severe behaviors that are considered taboo, or forbidden. There is a dilemma in defining how these concepts are defined in that behaviors which are known to be acceptable in one culture may not be tolerated in another. No single culture can determine a paradigm for normalcy within another society, since this would imply that another culture’s societal rules are incorrect. Instead, it is necessary to consider behaviors in the appropriate cultural context, as suggested in an article entitled, Epidemiology of major depression in four cities in Mexico. [1] 1.2 To effectively treat the underlying pathological disorders that cause abnormal behaviors, researchers have created paradigms that describe possible explanations for psychopathology. The Biological Paradigm of abnormal behavior states that mental disorders are the result of biological processes. For instance, research in the field of Behavior Genetics describes how genes play a significant role in individuals’ behavior. Also, irregularity in the amount of neurotransmitters released between neurons is the root of some disorders, such as Depression and Manic Disorder. Another model is the Humanistic and Existential Paradigm. It holds that people who suffer from abnormal behavior lack insight into their life issues (Davison et. al., 2003). [2] Paradigms such as the ones described above are invaluable in working with individuals who suffer from pathological behavior. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) is a universal diagnostic tool that categorizes models of abnormal behavior and provides clinicians with information about a client’s mental functioning (American Psychiatric Association, 2000).[3] The DSM lists specific criteria that are required for an individual to either have features of a particular mental disorder or further, be diagnosed with one. The DSM also incorporates portions of the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) manual that pertain to mental disorders. The ICD is typically used by medical professionals. The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) outlines categories of disorders according to the Multiaxial Assessment Model, which breaks up disorders into five axes of functioning. Axis I includes clinical disorders such as Depression, Manic Disorder and Schizophrenia. Axis II encompasses personality disorders such as Histrionic Personality Disorder and Borderline Personality Disorder. It also includes Mental Retardation. Axis III is comprised of medical disorders. Axis IV contains Psychosocial and Environmental Problems such as life problems not attributed to a clinical, personality or medical disorder. The last axis encapsulates an individual’s Global Assessment of Functioning, which is a rating system that represents a person’s overall level of mental health. The classification system for mental disorders is comprehensive in covering various areas of mental disorders and symptomology. However, most studies that have assisted researchers in gathering the information included in the DSM were performed by homogenous researchers and did not include diverse study participants. Thus, applicability of the DSM to other cultures is disputed by professionals. Details about the inapplicability of Western cultural values upon other cultures are displayed in an article titled, Mental health issues for Asian Americans, by Lin and Cheung.[4] In order to attempt to deflect this shortcoming, DSM collaborators decided to include popular disorders of other cultures within the DSM. For example, the DSM incorporates Taijin kyofusho, a Japanese disorder described in an article titled, The place of culture in psychiatric nosology: Taijin kyofusho and DSM-III-R.[5] Although this approach is somewhat helpful, results of a study titled, The place of culture in DSM -IV, focused on better integrating diverse populations encourages statisticians to integrate multicultural issues into diagnostic systems.[6] 1.3 One of the greatest struggles a mental health professional faces in diagnosing a client is differentiating which disorder a client may potentially have. Spitzer portrays this difficulty through research titled, The DSM-III-R field trial of disruptive behavior disorders.[7] The difficulty lies in categorizing symptoms into only one disorder. For example, â€Å"sleep disturbance† is both a symptom of depression and anxiety. Although there are notable difficulties in diagnosing a client, differentiation is an important component of diagnosis, and eventually in administrating the appropriate treatment. If a client is misdiagnosed due to lack of scrutiny during the assessment and diagnosis period, the results could be detrimental. 2.1 Mental illness is a complex subject with various facets. However, there is a major similarity in the mode of treatment options allowed to people suffering from mental illness. In many cases a person’s quality of life can be sustained by managing the illness through therapeutic means and possibly psychotropic medication. Regrettably, however, there are a percentage of people who may not receive the full benefits of treatment. An examination of the differences within mental illness is required in order to grasp a better understanding of why this is so. Mental illness is divided into two major categories: neuroses and psychoses. Neuroses represent those mental illnesses that cause a person distress; however, there is opportunity to remedy the source of distress based on a person’s level of insight into the illness. Mood, anxiety, attachment, eating, and personality disorders are some of the illnesses encapsulated under the category of neuroses. Psychoses are similar to neuroses in that they also cause a level of distress that hampers daily functioning. Conversely, however, psychoses also encompass disorders that include delusional and hallucinatory features. In result, a person suffering from a psychosis lacks the insight to understand that these psychotic features are of a pathological nature (American Psychiatric Association, 2000). Disorders under the neuroses category include schizophrenia, delusional disorder, and psychotic disorder. While treatment options for neurotic disorders are vast and prognosis for long-term ment al health possible, the outlook for treatment and prognosis of psychotic disorders is not optimistic in many cases, as suggested in the article, Recovery from mental illness.[8] 2.2 Several types of psychopathological disorders have been identified over time. These disorders are now categorized in the DSM according to what areas of functioning are affected and symptomology. For instance, one category includes mood disorders. Bipolar Disorder, Anxiety Disorder and Depression are found under this heading because all of them affect mood. A second category, eating disorders, includes anorexia and bulimia. Psychotic Disorders are most severe and include disorders such as Schizophrenia and Delusional Disorder. Schizophrenia is one of the most studied psychotic disorders and deserves further explanation. Based on the DSM, criteria for diagnosing a person with the disorder are that it last for at least six months and contain at least one month of active-phase symptoms. These symptoms include one or more of the following: delusions, hallucinations, disorganized speech, grossly disorganized or catatonic behavior, and negative symptoms (such as affective flattening). Other symptomology that is common with Schizophrenia is severe social and occupational dysfunction, which incapacitates important daily living skills. Additionally, there are three subtypes that more clearly identify which symptoms are most prominent within individual sufferers: Paranoid Schizophrenia causes the sufferer to experience delusions and hallucinations in a paranoid state. In result, the person may accuse another entity or person of wanting to harm the sufferer. Disorganized Schizophrenia is diagnosed when a client is ha ving difficulty expressing himself properly. Both thought and speech may be disorganized and incomprehensible. A person with Catatonic Type Schizophrenia displays very little facial expressions, body movements or other normal physical movements and speech. Every client’s symptoms and any applicable subtype may vary. This variation within the disorder makes diagnosis and treatment a difficult task. 3.1 Based on the severity of symptomology, the forecast for effective treatment is not hopeful. However, some treatment options are available. One approach is called Psychosocial Rehabilitation, and is a popular form of treatment for sufferers of schizophrenia, as described in the study, Psychosocial rehabilitation services in community support systems.[9] This model consists of reintroducing clients to basic living skills in order to function in society and in effect, avoid being institutionalized, as stated in the study, Psychiatric and social reasons for frequent rehospitalization.[10] Additionally, the Humanistic Theory is utilized often with this population due to its introspective nature. Theorists who utilize this modality attempt to teach the client to become increasingly self-aware and gain insight into their behaviors and illness. The irony in using this approach is that it is precisely the type of treatment the client needs but has most difficulty applying. Medication is also used as a mode of treatment, mainly to decrease psychotic symptoms. In The Texas medication algorithm project, a study by Chiles et. al, the researchers created an algorithm for administering medication to patients with Schizophrenia.[11] The article details the type of psychotropic medication that should be used, including a â€Å"decision tree† model for administration. The article also details various types of medication used with patients with Schizophrenia. Medication such as Risperidone and haloperidol is mainly used for psychotic symptoms while __________ is used for symptoms related to depressive symptoms as a result of the schizophrenia. 3.2 The types of therapy outlined above can be relatively effective for clients with schizophrenia based on extensive research and application. However, some important factors regarding the implications of therapies and treatment should be considered, particularly due to the nature of the client’s symptoms. Most importantly, it is crucial that there be a positive client-therapist match. The therapist should have the ability to build rapport with the client, be knowledgeable about Schizophrenia, and remain professional in spite of irrational thoughts and processes displayed by the client. Moreover, the therapist should be invested in the client long-term, due to the nature of this type of therapy. There is no timeline for resolution of the client’s problem in the case of Schizophrenia, but rather maintenance of well-being and management of symptoms. This tedious therapeutic process could become increasingly frustrating. However, the onus is upon the therapist to handle this frustration with a sense of beneficence, thereby, remaining emotionally available and dedicated to the client. Once a trusting relationship is established, it is important for the therapist to consider what therapies will realistically be effective. Many modalities can be used, such as group, family and individual therapy; support groups; and various others. However, great importance must be placed on the individual client’s needs. As stated earlier, people who suffer from schizophrenia have very little insight into their behaviors and symptoms. It is important to address the client’s current stressors in a practical and resourceful manner. For instance, if a therapist is dealing with someone who suffers from paranoid schizophrenia, a group setting may be difficult for this client. In many cases, medication is also applied as a treatment approach, although carefully. Though many of the recommended medication that exists for schizophrenia seems to work quite effectively, there are long-term side effects. Because schizophrenia is a life long disorder, medication may only make matters worse by igniting damaging side effects. Additionaly, it is important to know whether clients can accurately assess whether a certain medication is helping or hurting. At times, they may not be able to determine this objectively. Professionals have the responsibility of advocating for their clients so that clients are not misled or disadvantaged. Also, both clinicians and psychiatrists must collaborate closely due to for client’s need for both medication and long term therapy. As several studies show, any of the two given alone would not be as effective (Chiles, 1999). Ultimately, professionals must make decisions that are most beneficial for the client. There is opportunity for this population to be taken advantage of quite easily due to their lack of understanding about their circumstances. Unfortunately, sometimes therapists decide not to terminate therapy even though they believe the client has learned appropriate life skills and does not need therapy at the time. Psychiatrists can prescribe medication to a client only because they are promoting a certain type at the time, although the medication might not be the most compatible. Due to disheartening situations such as these, it is important for professionals who are dedicated to the field to work beneficently for the client while considering the most practical and ethical modalities of treatment (Davison, 2003). Bibliography American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. Anthony WA. (1993). Recovery from mental illness: the guiding vision of the mental health system in the 1990s. Innovations and Research 2(3):17-24. Chiles, J, Miller, A., Crismon, M., Rush, A., Krasnoff, A., and Shon,S. (1999). The Texas Medication Algorithm Project: Development and Implementation of the Schizophrenia Algorithm. Psychiatric Services, 50:69-74. Davison, G; Neale, J., Kring, A. (2003). Abnormal Psychology with Cases, 9th Edition. California: John Wiley Sons, Inc. DeSisto MJ, Harding CM, McCormack RV, et al. (1995). The Maine and Vermont three-decade studies of serious mental illness. British Journal of Psychiatry 167:331-342. Harding CM, Zahniser JH. (1994). Empirical correction of seven myths about schizophrenia with implications for treatment. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 90:140-146. Kent S, Yellowlees PM. (1994). Psychiatric and social reasons for frequent rehospitalization. Hospital and Community Psychiatry 45:347-350. Kirmayer L.J. (1991). The place of culture in psychiatric nosology: Taijin kyofusho and DSM-III-R. Journal of Nervous Mental Disorders. 179(1):19-28. Lin, K., Cheung, F. (1999). Mental health issues for Asian Americans. Psychiatric Services 50:774-780. Mezzich JE, Kirmayer LJ, Kleinman A, Fabrega H Jr, Parron DL, Good BJ, Lin KM, Manson SM. (1999). The place of culture in DSM-IV. Journal of Nervous Mental Disorders, 187(8):457-64. Rogler LH. (1996). Framing research on culture in psychiatric diagnosis: the case of the DSM-IV. Psychiatry, 59(2):145-55. Roshel Lenroot, M.D., Juan R. Bustillo, M.D., John Lauriello, M.D. and Samuel J. Keith. (2003). Integration of Care: Integrated Treatment of Schizophrenia. Psychiatric Services 54:1499-1507. Slone LB, Norris FH, Murphy AD, Baker CK, Perilla JL, Diaz D, Rodriguez FG, de Jesus Gutierrez Rodriguez J. (2006). Epidemiology of major depression in four cities in Mexico. Journal of Depression and Anxiety. Spitzer RL, Davies M, Barkley RA. (1990). The DSM-III-R field trial of disruptive behavior disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29(5); 690-7. Thakker J, Ward T. (1998). Culture and classification: the cross-cultural application of the DSM-IV. Clinical Psychology Review, 18(5):501-29. Footnotes [1] Slone LB, Norris FH, Murphy AD, Baker CK, Perilla JL, Diaz D, Rodriguez FG, de Jesus Gutierrez Rodriguez J. (2006). Epidemiology of major depression in four cities in Mexico. Journal of Depression and Anxiety. [2] Davison, G; Neale, J., Kring, A. (2003). Abnormal Psychology With Cases, 9th Edition. California: John Wiley Sons, Inc. [3] American Psychiatric Association. (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition, Text Revision. Washington, DC: American Psychiatric Association. [4] Lin, K., Cheung, F. (1999). Mental health issues for Asian Americans. Psychiatric Services 50:774-780. [5] Kirmayer L.J. (1991). The place of culture in psychiatric nosology: Taijin kyofusho and DSM-III-R. Journal of Nervous Mental Disorders. 179(1):19-28. [6] Mezzich JE, Kirmayer LJ, Kleinman A, Fabrega H Jr, Parron DL, Good BJ, Lin KM, Manson SM. (1999). The place of culture in DSM-IV. Journal of Nervous Mental Disorders, 187(8):457-64. [7] Spitzer RL, Davies M, Barkley RA. (1990). The DSM-III-R field trial of disruptive behavior disorders. Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 29(5); 690-7. [8] Anthony, W. (1993). Recovery from mental illness: the guiding vision of the mental health system in the 1990s. Innovations and Research 2(3):17-24. [9] Barton, R. (1999). Psychosocial rehabilitation services in community support systems: a review of outcomes and policy recommendations. Psychiatric Services, 50:525-534. [10] Kent S, Yellowlees PM. (1994). Psychiatric and social reasons for frequent rehospitalization. Hospital and Community Psychiatry 45:347-350. [11] Chiles, J, Miller, A., Crismon, M., Rush, A., Krasnoff, A., and Shon,S. (1999). The Texas Medication Algorithm Project: Development and Implementation of the Schizophrenia Algorithm. Psychiatric Services, 50:69-74.

Metallic Hydrogen :: essays research papers fc

Hydrogen: the most abundant element in the universe. Normally it has been considered to remain a non-metal at any range of temperatures and pressures. That is, until now. Recently this year, hydrogen was changed into a metallic substance, which could conduct electricity. An experiment conducted by William J. Nellis et al. at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory accomplished this feat. Hydrogen was converted from a non-metallic liquid, into a liquid metal. The likelihood that the most abundant element in the universe could be converted into metallic form at sufficient pressures was first theorized in 19351, but tangible evidence has eluded scientists in the intervening decades. "Metallization of hydrogen has been the elusive Holy Grail in high-pressure physics for many years," said Bill Nellis, one of three Livermore researchers involved in the project. "This is a significant contribution to condensed matter physics because a pressure and temperature that actually produce metallization have finally been discovered."2 Livermore researchers Sam Weir, Art Mitchell, and Bill Nellis used a two-stage gas gun at Livermore to create enormous shock pressure on a target containing liquid hydrogen cooled to 200 K (- 4200 F). Sam Weir, Arthur Mitchell (a Lab associate), and Bill Nellis published the results of their experiments in the March 11 issue of Physical Review Letters under the title "Metallization of Fluid Molecular Hydrogen at 140 GPa (1.4 Mbar)." When asked about the significance of the work, Nellis had this to say: "Hydrogen makes up 90 percent of the universe. Jupiter is 90 percent hydrogen and contains most of the mass in our planetary system. Hydrogen is very important to a lot of work done at the Lab. Hydrogen in the form of deuterium and tritium isotopes is the fuel in laser-fusion targets and how it behaves at high temperatures and pressures is very important to Nova and the National Ignition Facility."3 By measuring the electrical conductivity, they found that metallization occurs at pressure equivalent to 1.4 million times Earth's atmospheric pressure, nine times the initial density of hydrogen, and at a temperature of 30000 K (50000 F). Because of the high temperature, the hydrogen was a liquid. The intense pressure lasted less than a microsecond. Optical evidence of a new phase of hydrogen has been previously reported using an experimental approach that involves crushing microscopic-sized samples of crystalline hydrogen between diamond anvils.4 However, metallic character has not been established. Metallic character is most directly established by electrical conductivity measurements which are not yet possible in diamond anvil cells at these pressures. The Livermore team's results were surprising because of their methods, the form of hydrogen used and the pressure needed to achieve the result (which was much lower than previously believed). Virtually all predictions surrounding metallic hydrogen have been made for solid hydrogen at

Big Time Toymaker Case Scenario Essay

1. At what point, if ever, did the parties have a contract? I do not think the two parties involved ever had a contract. In the scenario, the parties reached an agreement only three days before the end of a 90-day deadline set in the original negotiation contract. In the original negotiation contract, it states that there would be no distribution contract unless it was in writing. When the BTT manager sent the e-mail to Chou, he mentioned the terms of a distribution agreement, but it does not make the email a contract as neither party signed it. Only an oral agreement was reached. Without a legally binding draft and the signature of both parties present, no contract existed. 2. What facts may weigh in favor of or against Chou in terms of the parties’ objective intent to contract? BTT had paid Chou $25,000 for the exclusive negotiation rights to his board game which lead Chou to believe they were serious about coming to an agreement on a distribution contract. This is a fact that would weigh in favor of Chou. However, both parties only made an oral agreement, and not a written contract to show this fact. Since the contract was not drafted within the original 90-day period, the new management was not obligated to distribute the board game and therefore, had every right to turn Chou away instead of honoring the oral contract. 3. Does the fact that the parties were communicating by e-mail have any impact on your analysis in Questions 1 and 2 (above)? No, it did not have any impact on my analysis of the situation. E-mail is a form of electronic communication, not a written and signed contract. While both parties may have communicated their intentions and terms of the contract, they never printed and signed any form of a written agreement. This factor makes all of the difference when it comes to enforceable contracts. What BTT and Chou had was not a binding or enforceable contract. 4. What role does the statute of frauds play in this contract? Under the UCC, the statue of fraud applies to a contract for the sales of goods in excess of $500. The negotiations between BTT and Chou were over $500, so the statues of fraud would apply here. Under UCC laws, the statue of fraud applies when a contract cannot be fulfilled within one year’s time. Under these stipulations, the statute would apply. 5. Could BTT avoid this contract under the doctrine of mistake? Explain. Would either party have any other defenses that would allow the contract to be avoided? BTT would not be able to avoid this contract under the doctrine of mistake. A mistake is defined under contract law as the belief that is not in accord with the facts. A â€Å"mistake† was not defined anywhere within this scenario. BTT has only one real defense and that would be that no contract was ever reached in writing nor signed by both parties. The fact that no signatures on a contract ever existed would be a defense that Chou never agreed to the terms and conditions. Chou could argue that there was no existed agreement due to the time passed between communications of the two parties involved. 6. Assuming, arguendo, that this e-mail does constitute an agreement, what consideration supports this agreement? The fact that BTT gave a check for $25,000 for the exclusive negotiating rights shows that BTT intended to reach a contract with Chou. The two parties also reached an oral agreement, but oral agreements are hard to enforce in court. BTT had also sent Chou a fax asking him to send them a draft of a contract for the distribution agreements. At the end of the scenario, BTT states that it is not interested in distributing Chou’s new strategy game, Strat. Assuming BTT and Chou have a contract, and BTT has breached the contract by not distributing the game, discuss what remedies might or might not apply. Equitable remedies may have applied in this case. Chou would be able to seek compensatory damages for his losses. These losses could include out-of-pocket expenses and even loss of potential profits had BTT honored their portion of the contract.

Sop communication engineering

The heart of human excellence often begins to beat when you discover a pursuit that absorbs you, challenges you and gives you a sense of meaning, joy and passion. I have found that one thing that helps me to live peacefully on this glorious planet is â€Å"successful engagement in meaningful work† keeping in my mind where my hands are. An intrepid dream by the Wright brothers to give the humankind wings to fly, an intrepid dream by few thoughtful men to let the human race take the first step on the moon.I think hat it is the gift to dream, the ability to ponder beyond facts and the intelligence to make thoughts into reality that sets us apart from the rest in the tree of evolution. From the wheel to pacemaker, history is replete with events where a simple, yet brilliant idea has changed the way future generations live for decades, and even countries. I believe in seeing dreams and giving my best to realize those dreams that will be a step forward in the betterment of the human race.Dreams are what made the world, what it is today. In an era of competition and excellence, engineering has taken strides which our forefathers never even dreamt of. To be an excellent instrument for the development of our world we must be educated, cultured, refined and thoughtful. Knowledge is what elevates man to a disciplined being. To be an erudite is not only about possessing education but also having skill to implement it in a practical world.An aspiration to become a pioneer in the field of Electronics prevailed right from my childhood. The desire of gaining in-depth knowledge and my enthusiasm and curiosity to understand the mechanics of electronic devices and about communication systems led me to hose Electronics and Communication engineering as my undergraduate study. During my undergraduate studies, lectures delivered by eminent people who are leaders in their field exposed me to the needs and aspirations of the industry. Id my summer in-plant training in Airports A uthority of India, where I was engaged in learning various functional aspects of security and communication equipments such as X-ray baggage Inspection System (SIBS) and CATV camera used for surveillance purpose. During my third year of undergraduate study had the opportunity to visit Doorman's Achaean, which is the Indian's largest public broadcaster. Had a great experience working with the technicians in this platform where I had a thorough knowledge about the working mechanism in Production control room, Master control room, earth station and transmission process.To implement practically what had learnt in my three years of undergraduate study, I did my final year project which is about â€Å"Implementation Of tamper proof ATM and weapon identification system. † Looting money, ATM robbery/ burglars damaging the money vending machines have become common. So, n order to save the lives of common people I had used a vibration sensor and inductive proximity sensor which will al ert the cops using a RFC transceiver.Hence, this is an added protection to ATM itself. In addition to the above projects, I am currently pursuing a course on â€Å"CAN (Switching and Routing)† that validates the ability to install, configure, operate and troubleshoot medium-size routed and switched networks. I believe this course is supportive for any communication engineer to know more in depth about NETWORKING and also hope that this course will be beneficial for me to attain an internship experience in your laboratory.To further my knowledge in the field of Communication Systems, I wish to pursue my higher studies and excel in a graduate school that stands for high quality teaching and infrastructure which could help me realize my goal of becoming a lead engineer in the field of communication systems. Nanning Technological University (ANTI) is likely to provide me just that through its Communication Engineering program. The course listings under this program with subjects such as Digital communication systems, Optical fiber communications,Computer networks, Antennas and propagation for wireless systems and all other courses provides me a great platform to further my ideas. This knowledge shall help me in design an effective, efficient and safe system, play a significant role in long-term planning and help me to become a successful communication engineer. I strongly believe .NET is the place that provides the path towards my destination. NUT has one of the topmost ranked graduate programs in Communication Engineering in terms of experienced faculty and state-of-the-art infrastructure and research facilities.

Job Design and Personal Contributions

Job Design and Personal Contributions Introduction Job design is defined as the arrangement or rearrangement of work activities where the main objective is to reduce job dissatisfaction among employees and also reduce employee alienation within the work place.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Job Design and Personal Contributions specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Job design also refers to the organizing of responsibilities and work duties so as to make sure there is productivity amongst the employees of an organization. Job design addresses the content of jobs and how this content affects the performance of employees (Mathis Jackson, 2008). The identification of the major components of a job is an important part of job design and many companies today have conducted job design activities to ensure that their employees meet the organization’s goals and objectives. The three major reasons that have been used by companies the world over to conduct job design activities include improving the performance of the company where job design influences the performance of certain work duties especially those that require high employee motivation such as customer service and customer relations. Another reason is that job design affects the job satisfaction of employees as people are more satisfied with particular job configurations that they find to be suitable to their skills and knowledge. Employees who find themselves in non-demanding jobs while they have technical skills might experience job dissatisfaction as their technical knowledge and skills are not being utilized to the maximum (Mathis Jackson, 2008). Personal contribution with relation to job design involves the activities that an individual employee or worker in an organization performs to ensure that they achieve job satisfaction in the course of performing their duties. The personal contribution of an employee would be to change their behavior or attitude towards work where an employee who would report late to work or would record a high rate of abseentism might decide to be punctual for work and not miss any work days. Another personal contribution of an employee towards job design would be to create a set of activities related to the work tasks that would suit the individual needs of the employee.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More For example, a secretary might decide to use a manual filing system rather than a digitized filing system because they are comfortable filing documents in the manual way. An accountant might decide to use online QuickBooks rather than the paper QuickBooks because they view them to be more efficient (Gibson et al, 2006) Classic Approaches to Job Design The most common approach in job design or re-design is the technique of simplifying the tasks and responsibilities of a job to be more manageable. This is referred to a s job simplification and it is mostly suitable for entry-level workers or graduate employees who have no prior experience with the job position. Job simplification is suitable for such types of employees to ensure that they are not overwhelmed by the tasks and responsibilities that come with the job. A major disadvantage of job simplification is that it removes the challenging aspects of a job making the tasks too easy to perform. Another disadvantage is that the job might become boring at some point and loose its appeal because of its simplistic nature (Gibson et al, 2006). There are several approaches that can be used by companies and business to ensure that job design and re-design has been conducted in a successful way. One of these approaches is job extension where the job design attempts to widen the span of the job by increasing the duties and tasks that come with the job. Job enlargement is usually performed on job positions that have limited tasks and duties and where the p erformance of the employee within the organization is limited as a result of the work tasks and responsibilities. Another approach that is used in job design is job enhancement that involves escalating the profundity of a job through incorporating activities such as the addition of organizing planning, and controlling responsibilities (Daft, 2008). Managers within a company might decide to conduct job enrichment activities by promoting work variety as well as providing employees with more managerial responsibilities to ensure that they grow personally within the organization. Managers might also decide to give their employees more freedom and authority to perform their work duties in a way they find most suitable to them. Increasing the employee’s accountability for the work they have performed within a business unit by reducing external control pressures especially from managers and supervisors might also lead to job enrichment within an organization.Advertising We w ill write a custom essay sample on Job Design and Personal Contributions specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Another way of achieving job enrichment within an organization would be to expand employee assignments to ensure that they are able to learn various strategies that they can use to perform new tasks. Providing employees with direct feedback would also ensure that they can be able to derive job enrichment from planning and organizing activities (Daft, 2008). Another approach that is used in conducting job design or redesign is referred to as job rotation where the monotonous cycle of work is broken by shifting an employee from one work position to another. A major advantage of job rotation is that it enhances the development of an employee’s ability to perform different jobs within an organization. This means that in the event a position within the organization becomes open, they can be able to fill in that position without going f or outside hires. A major disadvantage of job rotation is that it has a minimal effect on an employee’s work performance especially if they are shifted to a boring job (Daft, 2008). Managers need to liaise with their employees when they are choosing which job design approaches to use in the design process. This will involve assessing the personal contribution of the employee in selecting the most suitable job design approach. Managers and employees who want to change their attitude towards work might select the job enrichment approach where employees who have limited work duties are given more assignments to ensure that they have job satisfaction. Job enrichment might also be used when trying to achieve job satisfaction within an organization by increasing the motivation of employees (Gibson et al, 2006). Characteristics of Jobs in Job Design A good job design depends on the characteristics of a job that are relevant to a particular group of people within an organization. Som e common examples of job characteristics include skill variety which refers to the extent to which a job has several different activities that are needed to successfully complete the work duties. If the work duties require the involvement of more skills, the job will become more meaningful to the employee. The personal contribution of the employee in skill variety would be to acquire additional skills that would be used to perform the different activities of the job.Advertising Looking for essay on psychology? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More â€Å"Another example of a job characteristic is task identity which is the extent to which a job has an identifiable unit of work that can be able to produce a visible outcome† (Gibson et al, 2006). For example if a customer care officer possessed customer care skills as well as technical skills, they might be able to help customers set up technical equipment without having to refer them to the technical support team Another characteristic of a job is task significance which is defined as the impact that a job has on other people within and outside the organization. A job is said to be significant if it is important to other people for the same reason that it is significant to the person who is performing the work duties. For example a soldier might find their job to be more significant when they are defending their country from a real threat rather than when they are preparing to face threats that might arise in the future. Job autonomy is another important characteristic o f a job where autonomy refers to the extent to which an employee within an organization has the freedom and discretion to perform their work duties without any interference from managers or supervisors. Job autonomy is an important characteristic in job design as it ensures that employees have more personal responsibilities to perform their work in the workplace. Job autonomy ensures that the employee can be able to contribute to their performance within the company (Mathis Jackson, 2008). Conclusion The discussion has dealt with job design and personal contributions within the organization. Job design or redesign is an important activity for organizations as it ensures that employee productivity and performance within an organization has been improved. The research findings within the essay have revealed various approaches that can be used in performing job design activities which include job enrichment, job rotation, and job enlargement. The discussion has also focused on the var ious job characteristics that are needed to perform job design activities. The aspect of personal contributions within the essay has dealt with the activities that an individual employee can perform to affect their own job design. Personal contributions in job design are usually driven by the personal behavior and attitudes of individual employees. References Daft, R.L., (208). Organization theory and design. Ohio, US: Cengage Learning Gibson, J., Ivancevich, J., Donnelly, J., Konopaske, R., (2006). Organizations;  behavior, structure, processes, 12th Edition. Chicago: McGraw-Hill. Mathis, R.L., Jackson, J.H., (2008). Human resource management. Mason, Ohio: Thomson South-Western

Education Week 8 #11 Example

Education Week 8 #11 Example Education Week 8 #11 – Essay Example Heavy Spending Towards Education Presently, the U.S. Department of Education (ED) allots $69.9 billion in discretionary appropriations. Its elementary and secondary programs cater to about 14,000 school districts and 56 million students every year. Assistance, such as grant, loan, and part-time work, is also given to over 15 million college students. President Obama has created the â€Å"Race to the Top Program† which aims to reform public schools. This has helped in improving standards for teaching and learning. (U.S. Department of Education, 2011) In February 2011, budget in education made way for new investments on â€Å"early learning, reform and innovation, teachers and leaders, and college completion.† (U.S. Department of Education, 2011) ED had to cut budget on certain education programs in order to invest in the aforementioned areas. This was a part of the proposed 2012 education budget. To make the program sustainable, the Obama administration suggested saving costs by removing subsidies to graduate students with loans as well as the giving out of two Pell grants within the same year to students. The Administration also eliminated 13 programs and reduced $265 million in career and technical education. Education Secretary Arne Duncan believed in the importance of career education, though the need for program strengthening and reformation should be given more priority over expansion. (U.S. Department of Education, 2011) Let us not fail to acknowledge the efforts made by the Administration to continuously improve the education system. The Administration should, however, ensure that every penny of the education budget is efficiently spent, and that policies and programs are strictly monitored. References:U.S. Department of Education. (2011, February 14). Retrieved February 2, 2012, from www.ed.gov: ed.gov/news/press-releases/education-budget-makes-tough-choices-allow-new-investments-early-learning-reformU.S. Department of Education. (2011, February 14). Retrieved February 2, 2012, from www.ed.gov: http://www2.ed.gov/about/overview/budget/budget12/summary/edlite-section1.html

CEO Interview Report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

CEO Interview Report - Essay Example Pursuant to expectations, the interviewee validated aspects of the theories, but unexpectedly and quite importantly, other subjects and themes were explained by Mr, J from a more pragmatic perspective which made complete sense while being consistent with fundamental assertions of the theories. The interviewee qualified what is meant by being humble in the sense of Level 5 Leadership, how leaders should deal with being incomplete leaders without being ignorant leaders, and how luck should be anticipated not only in the positive but also in the negative direction (i.e., good as well as bad luck), so good luck should not be relied upon. The more important quotes from Mr. J were selected and incorporated into the interview report. The research resulted in a wealth of insight from a person whose practical experiences were reconciled with the themes in the article, in a manner that rendered the theories more understandable and their application more plausible in the practice of business. I ntroduction This interview report is the result of a one-hour face-to-face interview over Skype with Mr. Erik Junginger (henceforth Mr. J), the chief executive of a medium-sized sports and rubber shoe manufacturing firm. The idea to conduct the interview online was the interviewee’s own preference, which the interviewer agreed to. Mr J’s company, EBJ Footwear, Ltd., makes shoes on outsourced orders by larger brand-name shoe manufacturers who regularly outsource some of their less specialized product lines. There are approximately 1,000 employees, 80 per cent of whom are in the various stages of the manufacturing process, and the rest in the administrative, human resources, and marketing functions. The interview undertaken in this assignment intends to draw parallels between the story of the executive being interviewed (i.e., Mr. J), and the central themes discussed during the course, specifically from the material in Landing in the Executive Chair and HBR’s 10 M ust Reads on Leadership. The aim of the interview is to find if the case validates the central themes chosen, or if the case provides a new perspective on the same themes. The topics chosen were the self-perception as well as perception of the work force, of the executive’s leadership style, F2 Leadership, and luck in leadership (topics from Landing in the Executive Chair), and Level 5 Leadership, Crucibles of Leadership, and Incomplete Leadership (topics from HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Leadership). Self-Perception of Leadership Style When asked to describe his management style, Mr. J paused for a moment and after some introspection, replied that he felt his management style was somewhere in between the democratic and autocratic styles. He justified, ‘Since I lead a business with more than 1,000 rank and file workers mostly in a manufacturing environment, I am concerned that a show of too much liberality will convey the idea to the workers that they may slacken in th eir performance.† Mr. J explained that the nature of the job is one of precision. ‘If one section of one plant, say the section that makes the shoes’ uppers, does not deliver the proper quota or the right quality, then that means that the PVC injection section will not

Managerial decisions Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Managerial decisions - Term Paper Example More revenue will be generated at a lower cost of production, which is an additional advantage to the company. Contract workers are paid less money than full time employees, and this will be a great advantage to the company as a whole. Introduction According to Kotler & Armstrong (2004), the elements of supply and demand in business are interrelated, and in some cases, they also affect the price of a certain market offering. However, in this case it is assumed that the price is constant and the aim is to establish how supply can be increased in order to meet the rising demand of certain goods without offsetting the prevailing market trends. Economically, if the demand for a certain product increases, then its supply also increases. This relationship will be illustrated using a supply curve later in the paper. Therefore, this paper seeks to explain in detail the relationship between supply and demand in detail and show how this can affect managerial decisions. In some cases, managers need to make decisions that do not affect the viability of the organization in the long run, trying to meet the rising demand for a certain product. ... products offered in the market remains the same, but this issue of the rising demand has to be addressed in order to cater for the needs of customers, who are valuable to the organization. It is also assumed that this increase in demand may not be permanent, and hence the need to put effective measures that do not impact negatively on the operations of the organization. Therefore, the main question to be answered in this case is: Should our company hire temporary or hire new workers to handle the increase in demand for our products? Essentially, there is a need to maintain production costs at a lower level while increasing the supply of the product offered by the company. This is meant to ensure that the company remains viable and that it is also able to operate profitably since the price is not going to change in this particular case. The only thing that will change is the supply of the products offered. An increase in supply entails that more sales are likely to be generated. This also means that more revenue will be realized from the operations of the organization. As such, a holistic approach has to be taken in order to make sure that the workers who are going to be hired will not greatly increase the operational costs, which may impact the viability of the organization. Factors or costs There are various costs that need to be taken into consideration when making managerial decisions that have economic implications on the operations of the organization. Hiring temporary workers impliedly means that the company will not incur a lot of labour costs because of the following reasons: The organization has the autonomy to determine the wage rate of the contract workers. The company does not have the burden of paying fixed salaries to these workers since this may increase

Why did Republican Arizona lawmakers pass SB 1070 at this particular Essay

Why did Republican Arizona lawmakers pass SB 1070 at this particular time OR Why has the economy not yet fully recovered from the recession, in spite of the government stimulus package - Essay Example ollowing measures of production; investment spending, gross domestic product (GDP), household incomes, capacity utilization, inflation, and business profits. Often recession occurs when spending falls following adverse supply recessions. Since recession has adverse effects such as increased rates of unemployment, reduced business profitability, and negative social effects like family instability, most countries usually put measures in place to prevent it from occurring. In the event that it occurs, governments usually respond by adopting macroeconomic policies such as decreasing taxation, increasing government spending, and increasing money supply (Samuelson and Nordhaus 14- 15). Since the recent recession began in late 2007, the United States economy is yet to recover fully from it. This is despite numerous efforts by the government such as the economic stimulus package. There have been debates among scholars, economists, government officials, policy makers, and the public on what could be the reasons behind delay in recovery despite the fact that government has put efforts towards recovery such as the stimulus package. The debates have been stirred further by the fact that other large economies such as China recovered long time ago and are on the path of growth. Besides, there are worries that even though US has witnessed various minor and two major recessions since its independence, the most recent recession may be the longest to recover from and the most difficult in US history (Whoriskey 1). All major measures of the health of the economy namely industrial production, employment, output, and incomes still indicate that US is yet to recover fully and tha t the growth has been significantly weak despite the fact that, technically, the recovery begun in June 2009 (Rampell 1). This concern has captured the attention of Barrack Obama, the US president and has been on record saying on 6th August 2011 that he acknowledges the challenge and that the country’s urgent

Organizational Behavior - Interpersonal skills and manegerial roles Term Paper

Organizational Behavior - Interpersonal skills and manegerial roles - Term Paper Example For transformational leadership to take place, leaders must elevate and broaden interests for their employees. It may also occur after acceptance and awareness of purpose and mission for the specific group has been generated. The leaders may also stir his or her employees and look beyond self interests to cater for the group. Mutual capacity and commitment help in leading greater productivity and additional efforts (Lawrence, 2010). The major components of transformational leadership include intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation and idealized influence. All of these components play an important part in the work place which is ridden by problems such as employee dissatisfaction, poor performance and low morale. In this case, as the honorable committee is aware of the problems facing the organization. Therefore, it is recommendable that the manager should use his leadership style which can have beneficial impact on the workers by helping them to feel encouraged as they work (Hedrick, 2007). Transformational leadership allows the people in charge to challenge the status quo and allow subordinates to innovate new ideas. This style of leadership does not only identify the problem, but also provides the alternatives which are useful in solving the problem. This is summed under the intellectual stimulation component. This type of leadership is really necessary for an organization as employees express their discomfort with their current supervisor without fear. The major complaint against the supervisor may be that he is too rigid and not ready to change. In fact, such leaders do not like people innovating and even if their effort yielded good results, he wants them to go by the rules of the book. These leads to boredom and employees start to openly criticize the way their immediate supervisor is leading them. In order to

Women in the Workplace and the US Economy Essay

Women in the Workplace and the US Economy - Essay Example The number of female CEOs, leaders and entrepreneurs has increased several times1. It does not mean that women have become more man-like or that their abilities have improved. The cause of this change is that women have been finally noticed by man-ruled world. According to statistics, women's share in administrative and managerial positions (year 2000) was approximately 30 percent. Moreover, United States has the highest share of women in decision making related to national economy. The gap between men and women work participation fell from 50 percent in 1950 to only 15 percent in 1998. As it was noted at the International Women's Policy Research Conference, "without dramatic infusion of women into the workforce, the economic expansion of the last 50 years would not have been possible; the economy would have been plagued by a shortage of workers.2" In addition, the labor costs would have add to the inflation - the fewer workers would lead to the decreased family incomes and federal revenues. Further, the production level would drop and lead to the economic deficit. Women participation in workforce has the same positive impact on the American economy today as it had in 1950s. In few years the baby boomers will start to retire, working wome n will become the foundation of economic expansion. Even if the workforce will grow at 1 percent per year, the ... Nevertheless, these dramatic projections can be avoided, as economists note, if women participation in workforce is encouraged and supported. Looking back on the historical role of women, they have increased the workforce by 30 percent after the WW II and have laid the foundation for the sustained employment gains during that time3. In addition to the general contribution of working women to American economy, there are also numerous advantages women bring to the success of national companies. Today more and more companies are recruiting and promoting women into senior positions. Women succeed not only in positions and industries historically considered appropriate for them, but in the areas which were always male dominated - manufacturing, engineers and especially financial services. Half of the Fortune 500 companies have women on their corporate board of directors4. There are several reasons why women are being sought for leading positions. First, they represent the previously unnoticed pool of talents. Second, they bring the new dimension to the management of group. Third, women bring alternative perspectives to the table. As the result, the increased number of women in the workplace creates the competitive advantage because 80 percent of all consumers spending in American is done by women. Thus female leader s understand better the needs of customers. Increased spending is good not only for the company's revenues, but for the whole economy as well. In addition to being successful leaders of corporations, women have proved to be highly skilled in operating small firms. The majority women-owned firms are growing at the rate twice the American average. These firms contribute $1.1 trillion in revenues to

School segregation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

School segregation - Essay Example By the 1970's attention focused on trying to desegregate elementary and high schools. Here a problem arose, for if schools were blind to race, then the racial mixture of the student body should parallel the racial percentages of the community. Consequently, as school districts might not necessarily be segregated, they could easily be a larger percentage of a certain ethnicity, schools were hardly heterogeneous. If nothing else, wealthier communities frequently had, if not necessarily better education, then certainly more access to updated teaching supplies. To overcome this inequality, federal and local governments promoted "court-ordered busing", known as "forced busing" by detractors. This essentially distributed students sometimes miles away from their home, and frequently by several much closer schools, in order to create a balanced integration over the widest number of school districts. This program met with varying levels of success, yet remained effective through the '70's up until the late '90's. The desegregation is said to have peaked with the federal overturning of mandatory busing in 1991, directly due to a large migration of Caucasians to suburbs, the creation of magnet and charter schools, and larger enrollment in private schools. While magnet and charter schools can draw students to otherwise minority oriented neighborhoods, their degree of integration ultimately boils down to the selection process. The Harvard Civil Rights Project claims that the largest focus of segregated schools is now in the Midwest, with schools in the Northeast following behind them. Re-segregation has been addressed most recently because of proposed laws in Omaha, Nebraska, which would divide the school districts into three segregations: black, white, and latino. Ernie Chambers, Nebraska's only African American State Senator, claims that the proposed law, which would go into effect in 2008, would "let minority-led school boards run the schools that educate minority children since white-run schools have failed to improve black and Latino graduation rates and reduce dropouts nationwide" The law would simultaneously erase the integration busing has established, which has returned to racially predominant segregations since the end of busing, according to Jonathan Kozol author of Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. His statistics indicate that by the academic year 2000-200 1,in 87 percent of public school enrollment in Chicago was black or Hispanic while less than 10 percent of children in the schools were white. Other cities revealed similar trends: Philadelphia and Cleveland were 78 % black or Hispanic, 84% in Los Angeles, 88% in Baltimore, and nearly 75% in New York City, respectively. John Jackson, education director for the NAACP, interprets the busing reversal this way: "The implications are the same as in the '50s: Minority students in high poverty areas are not getting a quality education." Why should the public be concerned by school integration Firstly, because segregated schools perpetuate inequalities in learning abilities and widen the gaps in academic success for children of different race. The UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research finds that "Test scores, college attendance rates, and employment outcomes have been found to improve for students from integrated schools

Organizational Behavior - Interpersonal skills and manegerial roles Term Paper

Organizational Behavior - Interpersonal skills and manegerial roles - Term Paper Example For transformational leadership to take place, leaders must elevate and broaden interests for their employees. It may also occur after acceptance and awareness of purpose and mission for the specific group has been generated. The leaders may also stir his or her employees and look beyond self interests to cater for the group. Mutual capacity and commitment help in leading greater productivity and additional efforts (Lawrence, 2010). The major components of transformational leadership include intellectual stimulation, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation and idealized influence. All of these components play an important part in the work place which is ridden by problems such as employee dissatisfaction, poor performance and low morale. In this case, as the honorable committee is aware of the problems facing the organization. Therefore, it is recommendable that the manager should use his leadership style which can have beneficial impact on the workers by helping them to feel encouraged as they work (Hedrick, 2007). Transformational leadership allows the people in charge to challenge the status quo and allow subordinates to innovate new ideas. This style of leadership does not only identify the problem, but also provides the alternatives which are useful in solving the problem. This is summed under the intellectual stimulation component. This type of leadership is really necessary for an organization as employees express their discomfort with their current supervisor without fear. The major complaint against the supervisor may be that he is too rigid and not ready to change. In fact, such leaders do not like people innovating and even if their effort yielded good results, he wants them to go by the rules of the book. These leads to boredom and employees start to openly criticize the way their immediate supervisor is leading them. In order to

School segregation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

School segregation - Essay Example By the 1970's attention focused on trying to desegregate elementary and high schools. Here a problem arose, for if schools were blind to race, then the racial mixture of the student body should parallel the racial percentages of the community. Consequently, as school districts might not necessarily be segregated, they could easily be a larger percentage of a certain ethnicity, schools were hardly heterogeneous. If nothing else, wealthier communities frequently had, if not necessarily better education, then certainly more access to updated teaching supplies. To overcome this inequality, federal and local governments promoted "court-ordered busing", known as "forced busing" by detractors. This essentially distributed students sometimes miles away from their home, and frequently by several much closer schools, in order to create a balanced integration over the widest number of school districts. This program met with varying levels of success, yet remained effective through the '70's up until the late '90's. The desegregation is said to have peaked with the federal overturning of mandatory busing in 1991, directly due to a large migration of Caucasians to suburbs, the creation of magnet and charter schools, and larger enrollment in private schools. While magnet and charter schools can draw students to otherwise minority oriented neighborhoods, their degree of integration ultimately boils down to the selection process. The Harvard Civil Rights Project claims that the largest focus of segregated schools is now in the Midwest, with schools in the Northeast following behind them. Re-segregation has been addressed most recently because of proposed laws in Omaha, Nebraska, which would divide the school districts into three segregations: black, white, and latino. Ernie Chambers, Nebraska's only African American State Senator, claims that the proposed law, which would go into effect in 2008, would "let minority-led school boards run the schools that educate minority children since white-run schools have failed to improve black and Latino graduation rates and reduce dropouts nationwide" The law would simultaneously erase the integration busing has established, which has returned to racially predominant segregations since the end of busing, according to Jonathan Kozol author of Shame of the Nation: The Restoration of Apartheid Schooling in America. His statistics indicate that by the academic year 2000-200 1,in 87 percent of public school enrollment in Chicago was black or Hispanic while less than 10 percent of children in the schools were white. Other cities revealed similar trends: Philadelphia and Cleveland were 78 % black or Hispanic, 84% in Los Angeles, 88% in Baltimore, and nearly 75% in New York City, respectively. John Jackson, education director for the NAACP, interprets the busing reversal this way: "The implications are the same as in the '50s: Minority students in high poverty areas are not getting a quality education." Why should the public be concerned by school integration Firstly, because segregated schools perpetuate inequalities in learning abilities and widen the gaps in academic success for children of different race. The UCLA School of Public Policy and Social Research finds that "Test scores, college attendance rates, and employment outcomes have been found to improve for students from integrated schools

Importance of Early Childhood Education Essay Example for Free

Importance of Early Childhood Education Essay With the economy currently in such a terrible position now it is’s no wonder why that people everywhere are being laid off, and companies around both the country and the world are jobs are laying off and choosing to keep staff to a minimum. Unfortunately, the positions that are kept are held by those who have the educational background that has essentially securedd their position from the beginning. There once was a time where an individual could apply for a job and their lack of educational experience was not held against them, but. N now, it seems as if there are extremely few reputable jobs are ooffered where only a high school diploma and some college is sufficient. But However, the economy is not who shouldto be blamed. The question instead that we should be asking that should be asked is, â€Å"where does it start? † Although it is understood that education is needed to surpass stay ahead throughout our lifeves, the importance of early education is frequently overlooked. Childhood education, as in Pre-Kindergarten thru fifth grade, is not about learning the simple or basic parts of education, but instead rather itsis about introducing young children’s minds to new and more complex things that will prepare them for a successful future. Some may choose to believe that pushing a child to learn a multitude of things at a young age would be considered cruel. Some may also believe that spending too much time learning would take away a child’s â€Å"childhood,† and that children should be allowed to stay children for as long as possible. , and should be allowed to play as much as possible. On theWhile the importance of imaginative play is alsovery important,contrary, if you were to analyzeing the circumstances it makes it would be clear as to why so many children have chosen a path of uncertainty in education. For example, take a five year old child who is being introduced to school for the first time. He or she would learn the basics; counting, coloring, reciting the ABC’s. Now take a child who has been introduced to a pre school program (normally around the age of four) as similar to that ofin First Step or Head Start. By the time that child will have entered into Kindergarten he/ or she will have already been introduced to a level of learning that is above any child that has not take advantage advantage of early learning programs. Thise will enable them to excel above their classmates. Children’s minds are truly like sponges; when a child is still young their mind’s this should be the time when their minds sshould be â€Å"crammed† with an abundance of knowledge. Sean Brotherson, a family science specialist, gives the example of a child’s brain being like a house that has just been built. He says, the walls are up and the doors are hung. You bring supplies to the new house and set them on the floor, but they will not work until everything is wired and hooked up. He goes on to explains, â€Å"wWhileexplain, â€Å"while learning later is possible, it usually is slower and more difficult. Some improvement in most skills is possible throughout life. However, providing children with the best opportunity for learning and growth during the periods when their minds are most ready to absorb new information is important†. From the time a child is born he/she is learning. A disinterest in learning at an early age is something that may follow him or her throughoutu their school age life, and is something that can haunt them for their entire lives and may hinder their ability to succeed in the real world. If a child shows no interest in adding and subtracting from the very beginning, it’s is often likely that child will continue thru school disliking Mmath throughout school. . and that This is something that can hold a child back from their potential. It also started at a young age. Children need to believe that learning is fun and, at the right age, is something that can help them progress farther. in life. In most Pre-Kindergarten classes in the United States, children are being taught to button their clothes, tie their shoes, or count to ten, and introduced to letters and shapes for the first time. These are all good tools to learn, just not in school. If you were to look at schools in other countries, they are far beyond what the U. S. is teaching our Preschoolers. Elaine Wu, with The Kapi’o Newspress, did an article on the failing education in the U. S. She found that according to a study done by UNICEF, the U. S. was failing when it came to international education rankings. Studies showed that other nations in the â€Å"developed† world had a more effective education systemsmore effective education systems. How wrong could it be to give our children a little more to think about, or giving them a problem that may take a little longer to solve?. Being that the children that attended my hHigh sSchool were approximately 75% mMilitary â€Å"brats,† it wasn’t not rare to have a new kid transfer in. There were kids from all places over the world but the ones that stood out were the ones from different countries. I took special interest in where they came from, but what interested me more was the fact that they were being placed into mostly advanceds classes. So with that curiosity I would start a conversation, usually beginning with â€Å"where are you from†? aAnd usually often times they were from another country or from somewhere where education was an important factor in their community. I am now 26 years old and am finally deciding to finish school. Things like what I just described makes me wonder about the course my life has taken. ifIf I had beenwere pushed into the books and encouraged to learn when I was younger would my outcome in school be different?. Here is another example. I look at my I have a fourteen year old nephew who is now in 9th grade. He is a straight A student and plays basketball (coincidently at my same high school). His grades are monitored by his parents but the transition wasn’t was not always easy. He came from New Orleans, Louisiana, where he lived with his mother. New , whichOrleans has one of the worst school systems in America so his early education was a struggle. When he moved to Hampton, trying to get him to open a book and study was next to impossible but. Wwith a lot of perseverance he now knows how important school is and where it can take you. But imagine if he had beenwas excited to learn from the beginning. If he had been given the opportunity, the transition may have been easier. I am now 26 years old and am finally deciding to finish school. Things like what I just described makes me wonder about the course my life has taken. If I had been pushed into the books and encouraged to learn when I was younger, would my outcome in school be different? I don’t expect society’s children to be building rocket ships at the age of eight. But putting more thought in to teaching children things that broaden their minds wouldn’t be such a bad thing. WWork Cited Brotherson, Sean. â€Å"Growth of the Mind†. Online posting. August 2001. www. nbsu. com Wu, Elaine. â€Å"Failing America†. Kapi’o Newspress. 25 April 2001 .

Perception of Politics in the United States

Perception of Politics in the United States Are you happy with the United States political environment right now? Pew  Research says that 77% of Americans are not. Aristotle was a great Greek philosopher  and he thought of politics as The center for human debate and theory. Do the citizens  of the United States value politics in the same way Aristotle envisioned? As humans of  the world, politics should be a safe place where tough decisions are made by the  people. Political issues should be discussed in the open, with ethics at the forefront. At  the end of reading this, you will understand why politics should be focused on ethics,  and the issues should be ethical dilemmas that we can all agree need to be fixed.   The modern word political is derived from the Greek word politikos. The Greeks  believed that politics, religion, and culture were intertwined. Greekcitystates, like  Athens and Sparta, architected their infrastructure after this idea. Creating town  epicenters where political debate could take place as theatre, and social events could  be held to discuss ethical issues. Aristotle believed that politics should be used as a  practical science, enriching all citizens lives in a transparent way. Aristotles ideas  about politics formed the foundation of todays Political Scientists. Political Science is a  study of the tasks a politician must undertake. Put yourself in the shoes of a political  scientist; How hard are the problems that politicians are responsible for today? How  would you advise them to solve those problems? These critical questions must be asked by the citizens of the United States in order to empathize with politicians, and ultimately progress as a cou ntry.   To help myself understand what the current perception of politics in America, I  asked members of my family two questions: 1) What is your perception of politics in the  United States? 2) Regardless of that perception, what things would you change about  politics in the United States? My side of the family is very right wing, republican, and pro  trump. My wifes side is very left wing, democrat, and pro Obama. The range of answers  I received was wide, but they mostly had a common theme; America is doing just fine,   but we want fair treatment and inclusion for all citizens.   Lets start with the first question. Right side responses were mostly positive,  stating that the country is trending upwards and things actually getting done by  politicians. Left side responses were positive as well, stating that government has a  good system of checks and balances in place, but that it is being tested. Both sides  have an overall positive view of our country. I did have outlier responses however. One   family member who identifies as a republican stated their current perception of politics is  corruption and intolerance. They would like to see transparency and accountability for  actions taken by government officials. Another family member who identifies as  democrat noted that their current perception of politics has not changed almost their  entire life, no matter the president. They advocated for the importance of local  government and the affect it has on our lives.   The responses to the second question were much farther from each other on the  right and left. Right side responses mainly focused on term limits for all politicians. They  want a constant cycle of politicians so that we dont have career politicians, and so that  we can have a steady turnover and broad representation. Left side responses varied  from each other. One member saying they wouldnt change anything because we have  adequate checks and balances in place to handle problems. Another member  advocating for citizens proactivity in politics, wanting to make it a holiday on election  days, and encourage people to get involved in local government.   These responses to my inquiries are interesting. During their interviews, most  family members stated that they want the division between our country fixed. Its  interesting that the overall theme of their responses was similar. Maybe if we all took an  approach similar to what Aristotle suggests, making politics the center of our cultural  lives, we would be able to understand each other better, and put aside social  differences to focus on ethical issues. Social Issues divide the country; ethical issues  unite us all. Ethics is defined as moral principles that govern a persons behavior or the  conducting of an activity. Political issues usually come in two different types; Ethical, or  Social. Social issues are things like: Should we give more funding to inner city  schools? or Would incentivizing diverse business hires improve our economy?.   Whereas ethical issues are things like: Do we need to act on climate change? or  Should women be allowed to choose when they receive an abortion?. The difference  is simply this: Ethical issues deal with what is right, Social issues deal with improving a  specific part of society. Are you starting to understand why Aristotle says that Ethics  should be the core of politics? Aristotle wanted politics to be used for the happiness of man, he says The  science that studies the supreme good for man, is politics (Living Ethics, 92). The  Supreme Good is often referred to as ethics in todays culture. Aristotle believed that  ethical issues should be the center of politics. I believe if we focus on ethics and  combine cultural aspects into local political discussion, the social issues can be solved  by the people, while ethical issues could be solved by the government. Ethical issues  are usually the most debated problems. Some examples of ethical issues today are:  Poverty, Education, Immigration, Sentencing, Environment, and Climate Change. Both  left and right politics have strong views on how these ethical dilemmas should be  handled, but both sides agree that they are in fact problems that need to be addressed.   What do you want from government? As a citizen of the United States, I want  government to solve ethical problems while taking input from citizen representatives. As  a member of society, I would like to see more social outreach and involvement from  everyone so that we may come together to solve social issues. As humans of the world,  politics should be a safe place where tough decisions are made by the people. Political  issues should be discussed in the open, with ethics at the forefront. Aristotle believed in  this, and so do the citizens of the United States today.

Anti-Voucher Point of View Essay -- essays papers

Anti-Voucher Point of View The idea of school vouchers sounds like a wonderful idea to get children the best possible education, until the issue is analyzed more closely. In reality, this system is hurting more children than the ones that they are helping. The people and institutions that do not support the use of vouchers believe that by taking away funds from the already failing public school system, it is causing a decrease in the level of education for children in public schools. With new initiatives like the â€Å"No Child Left Behind† campaign causing and the greater demands on teachers and children there is not room for a cut in funding (Traub 13). There are also increasing amounts of standardized tests, with guidelines that teachers must teach to, and that students must pass in order to show proficiency in the subject matter. The last thing that the public school system needs is funds taken away and distributed to the education of children in private institutions. There are not enough text books , computers, technological resources, and teachers in the public school system to meet these new high demands. When the standard is set so high and is unattainable it is not logical to take away funding from an already failing system. Every parent has a choice to send their child to a public school; if they choose to or not is their personal decision. A free public education is a right that is granted to every child in the United States. Children are required by law to attend school until they are at least sixteen years of age. Whether or not a child’s parents choose to send them to public or private school is their choice. Parents have the right to send their children to public school at no extra cost to them, whether they pay tax... ...sin. It discusses how the vouchers have moved into use in religious schools, and why people are upset about this. Chan, Swell. (2004 Sept. 1). The Washington Post. Retrieved on November 23, 2004 from: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=7&did=000000686712711&SrchMode =1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&T S=1101223405&clientId=41150 (DC VOUCHERS CHAN) Traub, James. (2003 Dec. 21). The New York Times Magazine. p13. Retrieved November 30, 2004. From: http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb? index= 0&did =000000507793821&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=6&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD &RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1101794958&clientId=41150. Shultz, Fred, ed. Education. Guilford, CT: McGraw-Hill/Dushkin, 2004. Collins, John William and Nancy Patricia O’Brien, ed. The Greenwood Dictionary of Education. 1st ed. 2003.

Stephen Edwin King :: essays research papers

Stephen Edwin King The second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King was born on 1974 in Portland, Maine. His name was Stephen Edwin King. After his parents serpertion as a toddler, Stephen and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Stephen, David, and their mother lived in Fort Wayne, Indiana, which was where Stephen's father's side of the family lived. They then moved to Stratford, Connecticut, that was where Stephen King spent most of his childhood paying frequent visits to his mother's side of the family that resided in Malden, Massachusetts and Pownal, Maine. Around his 11th anniversary Stephen's mom moved to Durham, Maine, along with Stephen and his brother, to take care of her parents, whom were to old to take care of themselves. Stephen's school days were spent in the Durham Grammar School. He then attended Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. He went to college at the University of Maine at Orono, at which, during his spophomore year, he worte a weekly column for THE MAINE CAMPUS. During his years at college he was opposed to the war in Vietnam, declaring it unconstitutional. After his graduation in 1970 Stephen had aquired a Bachelor of Science in English and immediately was qualified to teach at the high school level. As a student Stephen worked at the Folger Library, which was on the University of Maine at Orono's campus. While working he met a fellow employee named Tabitha Spruce, who he married in Janurary 1971. Stephen King's first publication was a short story he wrote and sent to a men's magazine. This is where his first profit from writing came from, throughout the few years after his graduation he worte stories and sold them to men's magazines. All of these short stories would be later gathered into a collection known as the "Night Shift collection." In the fall of '71 King was hired as a teacher at Hampden Academy, a public high school in Hampden, Maine. He still found time to write short stories and work on his novel on the weekends and evenings. King's first big break came on the spring of 1973 upon the acceptence of Doubleday & Co. to publish Stephen King's novel Carrie. After learning from his new editor, Bill Thompson, that a major paperback sale would make him financially secure enough to quit teaching, Stephen moved his now growing family to southern Maine because of his grandmother's ever growing sickness. During the writing of Salem's Lot

Mercedes Benz Operations Management Essay

Executive Summary Daimler Mercedes-Benz is one of the most valuable companies around the world; it is ranked number ten out of 100 leading brands worldwide (Bestglobalbrands.com, 2014), Mercedes-Benz is part of Daimler AG which is one of the best leaders in automobiles brands. The Daimler AG brand aims to deliver services, value and premium quality to its customers. The company has 14 sub-companies that produce cars, vans, trucks, and financial services. It has more than 100 vehicle models in over 200 countries worldwide, offering high quality products is the company’s strategy and  goal. Daimler Mercedes-Benz cars have sold 1,565,563 million unit with revenues of over 64,307 million euros; with over 274,000 thousand employees in 2013, the company has also invested in plants and equipment worth over 3,751 billion euros (Daimler AG, 2013). This management report includes an in-depth study of the operations management inside the company, by covering the most important parts of the company such as manufacture, assembly line and warehouses management. The aim of this report is to study current issues as well as the status of the company and how changes in demand can be handled. At the end of this report, the conclusion and recommendations offer the company solutions to prevent any issues that they may face during the production life cycle. Part (A) A-I: Operations Management at Daimler Mercedes-Benz  Quality & Material Management Mercedes Benz’ manufacturers use a global quality management system to ensure that their automobile products meeting their standards, which in return increase customer loyalty to the brand. Producing high quality automobiles is the goal of Daimler- Mercedes’ strategy to meet the customer’s requirements, as well as opening a new road for new customers to experience Mercedes automobiles. Recently, the company has aimed to increase quality by adding extra environmentally friendly features to their products to help the global environment (Daimler AG, 2013). However, Mercedes Benz’ customer satisfaction can be damaged by quality worries. Alarms led the company to take the decision to recall over 250,000 cars from the year 2008 until late 2014 for mechanical and safety concerns at the assembly line. Mercedes recalled these vehicles to be serviced immediately for customer safety (Jensen, 2014). On the other hand, BMW had to recall fewer vehicles than Mercedes Benz, for immediate maintenance related to mechanical issues. Such issues could cause a crash due to a power fault in the engine (CBS Miami, 2014). Outsourcing outside Germany had increased this risk for Mercedes Benz, by decreasing the company quality and safety. The company recalled more than 55,000 vehicles that were produced in  China because of a faulty circuit made by the manufacturer (Wantchinatimes.com, 2014). These issues are related to the quality management of the company, and can decrease customer loyalty, which could lead them to consider changing to other brands. Quality and safety issues affect the company’s yearly ranking, which in return can increase or decrease their total revenues. Quality is one of the most important components for the company to keep ahead of the competition. Furthermore, according to (Miller and Lundegaard, 2002) Mercedes’ quality has to be bulletproof as the highest company priority, through closing any gaps that occurred through previous issues. The increasing numbers of sub-model cars can also affect the brand quality through increasing any risk issues once launched to the public. Furthermore, according to (Stephen, 2004) Mercedes customers have high expectations about the high quality promised by the company. In 2003, the company disappointed many customers when they sold over 2000 vehicles with an extra option for a navigation system, which were not ready to be delivered at the right time, also accompanied by other mechanical issues. On the other hand, the company made an announcement about its new high quality hydraulic breaking system, which increased its competitiveness in terms of safety and quality against other competitors in the industry. Our company should make sure that manufacturers deliver products with the highest design specification, in order to be order-winner quality conformance, by delivering products with no defects (Hill and Hill, 2012). Furthermore, improvements in quality lead to a decrease in cost for the company. According to (Evans, 1997) higher quality products lead to a decrease in costs for the company through higher productivity: ‘improvements in quality leads to lower cost because of less re-work, fewer mistakes, fewer delays and snags’ (Evans 1997, P.55). Speed According to (Hill and Hill, 2012), synchronising all supply chain activities through using the same data, and completing production at the scheduled time, coordinated between the manufacturer and suppliers, enables manufacturers to respond quickly to the demand changes. Therefore, synchronisation ensures that our manufacturers are able to deliver products faster and more flexibly to the customers. Furthermore, Daimler Mercedes-Benz understand what customers are looking for, therefore the company is expanding our dealers network to meet the customer requirements for vehicle availability. Our company’s relationship with the current suppliers is improving every day to minimise any risk of supplying defective vehicles (Automotivesupplychain.org, 2013). In addition, working closely with suppliers reflects positively on our brand’s customer service. In 2008, the company faced a problem with one of its suppliers, which caused a delay in one of our products models. The supplier was supposed to deliver special battery materials to the manufacturer’s warehouses (Ireson, 2008). However, the supplier refused to meet Mercedes-Benz’ requirements, which caused a delay in delivery and to use of low quality batteries which were defective. Our company is using the powerful application to manage our suppliers, this application is called SAP, it is making our supply chain management more efficient, flexible, and at the lowest cost. The SAP solves any gaps in the company’s capabilities by using the supply chain fingerprint system to scan all the parts and materials; these technologies is helping the company to reduce any extra cost (mSE Solutions, 2012). In addition, the SAP increases the flexibility of our manufacture as well as increasing the speed of delivery for the customers, through just in time (JIT). It does this by enabling many features for the dealer to calculate the vehicle price of the order during the order stage and at the same time getting an order-number to track the order. All these steps are integrated together into the supply chain management system, and are informed by each stage of the order (Infosys, 2005). This synchronises the information in real-time, reflecting on the company strategy to change with demand. Also, there are advantages in using the SAP application to manage our company warehouses where the company stores materials for vehicles. By sending orders for the warehouse to get ready to deliver an order to the assembly line, this can achieved by using the just in time (JIT) efficient method for manufacturing. In the meantime, this creates an extra space for new materials in the storage area at the  warehouse; the SAP system will already be sending a new order to fill and stack those storage areas for future orders from the system (Bayigen, 2012). All these measures combine to increase the speed, therefore reducing the cost of manufacture, and maintaining dependability in an efficient way. For our company dependability is an important factor of the company’s success, it reduces any ambiguity within the supply chain management (Slack et al., 2012). Dependability and Flexibility Our company had dependability issues in 2014. This dependability issue started after launching the new high quality CLA-Class model at an affordable price. Dealers of Mercedes-Benz could not deliver the new model on time, meaning customers had to wait at least two months until they are available in stock. Not keeping up with high demand could lead to loss of brand-loyal customers or interested buyers who are willing to trade in or paying cash immediately. This makes our company less flexible in terms of adapting to changes in customer demand (Flierl, 2014). Cost Our company differentiation strategy to produce high quality luxury cars is inspiring in itself, in terms of the creation of unique high quality vehicles that exceed our customers’ expectations. Our company charges a premium price for most of its models. This differentiation strategy helps the company to increase the brand image positively in our customers’ eyes, by including high-end technology and unique services (Tanwar, 2013). Also, our company provide different vehicles types with unique colours including high variety and volume to attract new costumers as well as reducing the unit cost from the supplier side. On the other hand, our company variation in demand is high due to the complexity of the production and the way that we keep in touch with the demand. A-II: Process Management at Daimler Mercedes-Benz Process management is a vital part of our company success. According to (Slack et al., 2012), operations and process management can break the whole business at any stage or place when they are managed in the wrong way. Furthermore, processes at Daimler Mercedes-Benz are internationally the same. Our processes include inputs, via a transformation stage, to create and deliver high quality outputs that meet the customer expectations and more. Customers’ orders are processed through the operations system as soon as they ask for a particular model. Types of Daimler Mercedes-Benz customers 1) Customers asking for a particular model through the dealer: Most of the time, Mercedes-Benz dealers have all the models in the showroom and ready to be sold. In the case of high demand for a model, dealers will have to order a new delivery from our company in order to manage the demand. 2) Customers asking for a particular model through the website: The company’s website gives customers details about car models. The website also allows customer to customise their desired car by adding extra features to the interior or exterior of the car model. Furthermore, when the customer is at the order-check out, it will automatically locate the nearest dealer to the customer to confirm the order. Once the dealer confirms the order, the order is entered into the SAP application and sent to the manufacturer. Where our company has already launched the new vehicle model, these models are produced using these processes: Advanced Design Process Daimler Mercedes-Benz’ models are designed by 440 designers from all over the world, from countries including the United States of America, Europe, and Asia. These designers are responsible for designing future cars using their creativity and imagination. Our company has invested millions of dollars into building high technology designing studios to meet the future of these  automobiles. Here, designers are involved in the development of each model through strategic management, to operation management of the vehicle design. Designers at Mercedes Benz control the design process as well as the model’s lifecycle, from the drawing stage to the stage where the interior and exterior meets the company’s quality standards. From here, the design is moved into a virtual digital design on computers, to add features and a superior look. The design process takes a long time, in some cases more than three years (Media.daimler.com, 2010). According to (Slack et al., 2012), designing process types depend on the complexity of the project. Mercedes-Benz vehicles tend to take too long to be designed, making their projects low volume as well as having a high variety of projects. The design process is sent to the board of management at our company with a planned schedule for the production life cycle. Approval is sought from the board of management: this stage of accepting or rejecting the new design impacts on the production process. The production process then involves the body shop and the assembly line. The Body and paint Shop (Raw Materials and Workers job commitment) High technology robots create the vehicle bodies including the metal shell. After the board of management have accepted the new vehicle design, the robots transform the design concept into reality by producing the body parts. Over 1200 robots are in daily operation at Mercedes Benz U.S. International, in order to increase the speed of production. These robots are used to guarantee quality and fast delivery. This means the workers can knows exactly when supplies are coming. This ensures that the line is not stacked with vehicle parts in order to make the process more flexible. Furthermore, the SAP application helps to reduce the chance of late delivery by ensuring that the parts are on time and by checking availability of the materials at the warehouses. Our company ensures that customer quality and safety standards are met by increasing the welding parts to more than 5000 welds on each vehicle. When the process is done, engineers have to check the quality of the vehicle as well as following the ‘just in time’ method in sending them on to the next process. Workers at the body shop are well  trained to meet standards such as safety and cleanliness of the work place (Mbusi.com, 2012). The Assembly Line Implementing innovation in the Mercedes-Benz assembly line is one of its drivers to success. An example of this is our assembly line at Mercedes Benz U.S. International which contains four lines. When parts are finished at the paint shop, our assembly line and its workers are ready to build up the final vehicle shape. Our strategy makes the assembly line moves while the workers are working, which decreases waste in terms of time. Suppliers respond to our strategy to be environmentally friendly by using re-usable plastic packages. At the end of the assembly line stage, there is a new stage of quality checks, including a rattle test, wheel alignment test, roll test, and shower test. These all ensure that the quality meets the company standards. After the quality check results are confirmed (Mbusi.com, 2012), the vehicles are made ready for worldwide shipping by transporting them to the marshalling yard, containing the transportation areas. Customer Service Strategy At Daimler Mercedes-Benz, customer service plays a big role in the brand image. It helps the company to ensure that customers are satisfied and their expectations are met. To satisfy customers, their perception of the product needs to match the delivered product (Johnston et al, 2012). Our company had created a new service called customer service assistant system CSA in order to provide customers with a broad range of services in each country. This customer service assistant system is available 24/7in order to assist owners of the vehicles, so they can be in contact with any issues that may occur. Furthermore, the company is also investing in research for future customer needs. Staff can speak many languages, making the service more efficient and more flexible. The CSA allows customers to complain about any issues relating to their vehicle. The CSA system studies and checks each issue, while also sending the customer to their nearest Mercedes-Benz dealer to resolve the issue as soon as possible. This strategy helps our company to  ensure that the functionality of the customer services meets and exceeds customers’ expectations (sustainability.daimler.com, 2012). The company’s current customer services include: Safe-Driving courses for the safety of the owners Rescue services booklet 24/7 emergency breakdown assistance Financial services After-sales services According to (Hill and Hill, 2012), quality is determined by how well a company’s services meet their customers’ requirements and expectations. Our company CSA system is meeting the customers’ expectations by contacting them after their purchase to ensure that they are happy with the service. Including customers by ask for recommendations. This strategy provides our company with extra information about areas that we should cover in the future, which increases the company sales revenue; and decreases vehicle defects, which saves time. Furthermore, accepting customers’ complaints helps our company to look again at how the manufacturer produces car models in the future. This ensures that our customers are satisfied by the services provided. The after-sales services should be prepared for any mistake in the manufacture, by informing customers one-by-one once any issues have been discovered. Inventory Management At Daimler Mercedes-Benz, each region has its own warehouse where the company stores all the parts of the car models. Each region has its own geographic areas where temperatures can range from below zero degrees to over 35 degrees. These parts are either sent to the manufacture or to the after-sales services. Furthermore, our company is the owner of the most warehouses across the world. Our company uses SAP to control these parts in each region. However, the company failed to ensure that the warehouses were ready to send vehicles for its new CLA model. This is an alarm for the company, warning it to look into the system in order to catch up with high demand. It also shows that there was a time-waste issue between delivering  the materials to the manufacturers and new orders for new materials to be stocked in the warehouses. This may cause issues in the future when it comes to high demand orders. There may be an increased risk of unavailable parts. Furthermore, when the inventory management fails to catch up with demand by putting customers in queues, this can make these customers unhappy, which can affect the company’s revenue in other ways (Slack et al., 2012). Purchasing and Supply Chain Management Our company is facing material shortages from the suppliers. These shortages notified our managers to focus more on research from around the world, in order to implement new ideas by finding solutions. At Mercedes-Benz’ our suppliers are local suppliers in each country, working under specific conditions and requirements. The aim in commissioning local suppliers is to reduce time, so materials can be delivered to the ware house ‘just in time’, further decreasing extra costs for the company (BayIgen, 2012). One of the issues that faced our company when a certain supplier was not able to deliver batteries on time was the resulting delay in the production process. This delay affected customer demand, causing customers to look at other products. Therefore, the company is now using the SAP application to manage their suppliers. The Process Chart A-III: Lean Management at Mercedes Benz At Mercedes-Benz, lean management has been in place for more than 15 years; lean management is a vital part of our operation management. This is achieved through using the Mercedes-Benz production system (MPS), which refers to: layout, standards, tools of the production, and the methods for operating our company plants worldwide. Furthermore, MPS is divided into two systems: one for training and the other for support. The MPS training centre ensures that our trained experts are working hard and are well motivated on the production line as well. It also ensures that improvements are made by managers, meeting the minimum company requirements and standards. The  process of training employees and managers at Mercedes-Benz takes more than six months. This involves the employees in the operation processes, in order to deliver the quality of services that our customer expects. MPS trainees receive one type of training that covers the theories and four types of training that put what they have learnt into practice. MPS aims to enhance communications between the plants, leading our company to ensure that lean synchronisation processes are well constructed, in order to eliminate waste. A significant approach to eliminating waste of time is used by our company. When the our workforce understands exactly how important high quality is to the company, each employee has the experience and is well enough equipped with the minimum tools to do the given job role. Then the employee can find the car set up, with the tools next to him and ready to be used (Daimler AG, 2012). A new strategy has been developed by the company to take a closer look at customer demand. This strategy is based on launching our products in public. At the same time the plant has started production of a new model to test and catch up with demand in each country, by applying the lean and just in time principles to reduce overproduction as well as producing what our customer needs at a given time, and delivering a high quality car model (Azok, 2014). This new strategy strengthens our company view on demand as well as producing high quality car models as soon as possible, meeting our customers’ expectations. Other plants around the world are, one by one, each month, preparing to start production. It is clear that the company is doing its best to forecast customer demand. Furthermore, according to (Slack et al., 2012), implementing lean synchronisation in a company operations means that they can produce at the lowest possible cost and the highest quality. This is achieved through delivering exactly what the customers expect from the company. Also, applying this method our plants in other countries, to produce cars at different times, enables our company to handle any mistakes or errors that may occur at the first plant by compensating and changing at other plants. Thus, it will decrease quality issues, since information can be shared between our plants ‘just in time’. In return, this will ensure that efficiency and improvement principles are in place, reducing costs as well as eliminating unnecessary steps. The ‘just in time’ (JIT) concept of Mercedes-Benz is similar to Toyota’s concept. The assembly line at Mercedes-Benz can handle producing new models, reducing the time needed to build a new assembly line and to commission new plants. This represents a cost incentive for the company. Since the assembly lines at our company are able to handle new models, this will decrease the setup time, which in return will reduce waste of resources. According to (Evans, 1997), setup time reduction will increase the flexibility of the production line by decreasing the production time as well as decreasing the inventory; furthermore, it increases company productivity. The similarities between Mercedes-Benz’ production system (MPS) and Toyota’s production system lie in their JIT, pull production and kanban systems. These enable both companies to produce any quantity of vehicles depending on demand. They help the company to use available materials depending on the demand level. At this point, our company is going to replace containers of used materials with new containers by asking our long-term suppliers to send a new order. This uses a high technology card that can be removed from the container and scanned using the MPS system. It then sends the new order to our supplier. In this way, MPS minimises the inventory as well as using minimum inputs to produce the highest outputs (Clarke, 2006). Our company has already received many awards for its lean production as well as for reducing the production of many models from 43 to 30 hours in 2015. This is enabled by our lean production system, which has reduced waste in terms of time (Hamprecht, 2012). Part (B) Capacity Management at Mercedes Benz Daimler Mercedes-Benz’ capacity management failed to chase the demand for our new CLA model. According to (Hill and Hill, 2012), capacity means serving customers by delivering products through matching the organisation’s resources to current demand. Our company could not cope with the high volume of requests for this model due to an inaccurate estimation of demand. The management team needs to be more efficient in chasing demand by tweaking the  output to match the current demand of this model. This would start with hiring more labour and asking workers if they are able to take overtime shifts in order to fulfil the high volume production. This could then decrease the number of customers who were dissatisfied by the delay, waiting for more than three months in the queue. Also, since that our company already has a long-term strategy for achieving high demand, the company should consider asking the nearest plants outside the country whether they have products ready to be dispatched directly. Weak cooperation between those countries could cause delays. The complexity of the operation process affected the delivery of the CLA model. The management team could have waited longer before launching the model to the public, by checking all the available resources. Nevertheless, our company manufacturers were not ready to deliver ready products on time to the customers. This led to a hard decision for managers to decide what is best for both the company and customers. The decision to make customers wait in queues for three months until this model is available is, in the customers’ eyes, harming our company’s image. Furthermore, the warning signs of being out of stock were not checked properly; from this it is clear that our staff should be more skilled. Also, asking for recalls for defective models due to manufacturing issues, affects the quality of the production inside the manufacturer as well as our customers will be unhappy. Quality is a high priority problem, which negatively affects our company relationship with the customers, leading to queues, as with the shortage of CLA models. Lack of dependability and flexibility can decrease our company sales revenue as well as increasing in costs, which in return reduces our lean synchronisation. The company was aware of these risks yet our company decided to launch the new CLA model. Our company is already scheduling our future growth by investing in expanding our capacity. This will lead our company being more flexible in the future, as well as better able to serve high customer demand. Our company has realised that there is a lack of space for expansions in many places, therefore our company is looking to find more locations to build up new assembly lines to enhance our production (Daimler.com, 2013). It is  important that the company should always attempt to catch up with demand to ensure that our customers are satisfied, as well as to increase our sales revenues. An automobile manufacturer should always match the existing material flow with production, and also ensure that the company record the capacity planning in order to get more details about our actual capacity. This will enable our company to control the demand properly. Also, when our company could not control the demand, this led the company to face many challenges relating to our supply chain management. When a company cannot meet customer demand, this makes it more difficult for the company to manage their capacity. This complexity is called the ‘bullwhip effect’, suppliers should expand their current capacity in order to be more flexible to catch up with the high demand on the materials (University Alliance, 2015). Capacity management has many levels. In the case of our company, the capacity level depends on demand, especially as most of the services that Mercedes-Benz offer are related to physical materials such as vehicles and service parts. This is considered to be a mixed long-term capacity which depends on demand. The demand forecast in our company is different from one year to another. Accurately forecasting the demand means that our company has the ability to evaluate uncertain risks that may occur. Also there is a value in operational terms, in knowing our company’s limits: knowing what we can and cannot do. On the other hand, our company already has experts who control our capacity. Controlling capacity means planning at an advanced level for companies to be well-prepared in terms of: responding to uncertain changes in terms of demand; and controlling the inventory and warehouses so that inputs are ready to be transformed into outputs. This will benefit companies and manufacturers in terms of increasing revenues, and through establishing an organisation where high demand places pressure on the parties inside the company (Slack et al., 2012). Part (C) Conclusion and Recommendations Dependability is an important factor that can help the supply chain to deal  with high demand. According to (Slack et al., 2012), focusing on dependability at an earlier point may reduce uncertainty about any risks that the manufacturer may face. This is especially important when it comes to dealing with quantities; our manufactures should focus more on delivering products on time. Dealers should be prepared for such an event and could be warned by the manufacture of high demand in order to be prepared to be flexible at an earlier stage in the order. Covering a high demand of orders from customers is important. In order to satisfy them, our company should be more flexible to reduce the impact of any events that may occur. The company should address quality issues at an earlier stage. The company already conducts high quality checks on each process and stage. It is highly recommended to report any concerns that may appear during the product life cycle. Reporting these at an earlier stage will give our company extra time to find proper solutions. In the case of covering the inventory management, our company failed with the new CLA model. The company should consider looking again at the whole warehouse system. It is recommended that the operations manager should focus on increasing the physical quantity stored in warehouses inside the company, in order to anticipate future demand as well as increasing the company’s value to its customers. Also, since that our company is the owner of most of the warehouses, it is a competitive advantage to never be out of stock, even when the demand is increasing. Furthermore, the warehouses at Daimler Mercedes-Benz should become more efficient through using the SAP application. The company should consider giving more opportunities for the employees to gain more skills and experiences. Since our company is investing in capacity, it is also a competitive advantage for us to always be ahead of demand; this will ensure that the company increases levels of customer satisfaction, whereby products meet customer demand. Being able to forecast the demand on a daily basis will help the company to decide whether they should invest more in capacity or reduce the number of suppliers. Mercedes-Benz should focus more on suppliers’ entry requirements and how a long-term or short-term arrangement can be an advantage or disadvantage for the company. Managing suppliers in an effective way will reduce any extra cost as well as making sure that our suppliers realise the company requirements in terms of JIT. In addition, our company should enhance its relationships with all suppliers. This will ensure that the suppliers are happy when they are dealing with our company and are not likely to provide the company with defective products. 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