Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 6

Discussion - Essay Example There is a lot of corruption in the world which causes people to forget about the main problem, which is health. Third-world countries increasing population makes it harder for governments to focus on one major aspect which is good health and proper sanitation. Poverty, corruption and uncontrolled population are some clear reasons for the lack of a healthy life in many parts of the world. However, the notion that all is well in the First World and things are irredeemable in the Third World is an overstatement. While healthy habits and personal hygiene are better looked after in developed countries thanks to their economic stability, the fact that medical services have become extremely expensive in these countries poses a threat to common people when they are required to take prolonged treatment for their illnesses. Moreover, the after effects of recession make it difficult for people in developed countries to buy quality food in the global market, while those in the Third World are still able to have healthy food on daily basis thanks to the local markets that don’t charge exorbitant prizes for meat, fish, fruits and vegetables. It is true that in places like India, the idea of hygiene in public places have to evolve in order to mee t international standards. However, large scale pollution from industrial areas that harm the entire world comes mainly from the First World, as they move blindly towards profit. When compared to this catastrophe, a lifestyle change among common people in the Third World would be easier, with proper awareness programmes. Issues of poverty can somehow be managed, but the other two problems, of corruption and population, are to be addressed more seriously, and a farsighted approach to minimize them should be the priority of governments. 2. Providing the means of a healthy life to the world’s people is too costly. Poor decisions are made everyday when it comes to feeding our families in order to avoid such an

How Homework can Help with Your Academic Success Essay Example for Free

How Homework can Help with Your Academic Success Essay Homework is an important part of the academic curriculum and it also plays a major role in ensuring academic success for the students. Let us talk at length about how homework can help in bringing about academic success. Homework primarily helps in building five skills which assist in attaining academic success. Those skills are as follows: Organization: Being organised is an essential ingredient in the recipe of academic success. One has to be meticulous in planning a study routine to ensure that all topics of all subjects are paid equal attention. Also, enough time for practice should be baked in the routine. It is this aspect that homework helps with and gives enough opportunity to a student to practice his/her lessons, which then paves the way of gaining mastery over a topic or subject. In addition keeping track of one’s homework makes a student more organized. Time management: Optimum utilization of time is the key to success in the field of academics. Often at times, one feels flustered and overwhelmed with the vast study syllabus or curriculum. Therefore, dividing one’s time efficiently and as per one’s strength and weakness is a matter of great importance. Homework provides the student with an opportunity to manage time. While doing the homework of a subject which is one’s weak area, he is devoting more time to that subject, which will help him in understanding the concepts better, thereby saving the student’s time as he need not revisit this subject again and can spend the rest of his time in doing other activities or can devote to other subjects. In addition, learning to plan his work well in order to submit the assignment or homework on time will help him/her build time management skills. Prioritization: The skill of being able to prioritize one’s task does not only help with academic success, but is a skill which will come handy throughout your life. If a student is confronted with multiple assignments or homework in multiple subjects, he/she needs to prioritize it based on some factors like submission date, the complexity level of the work, his/her proficiency level with the subject etc. While doing so, they will learn to identify elements based on the urgency and importance levels. Concentration: Undivided attention and wholehearted commitment to one’s study time are per-requisites for academic success. While doing one’s homework with complete focus, a student has to ensure that he is cut off from any kinds of distractions or interruptions and should devote all his stamina and attention in completing the homework effectively. Such single minded focus on completing one’s homework helps a student build his concentration, which proves to be very useful while studying during the time of the assessments or exams. Motivation: A student has to believe in self and has to remain motivated all the time to be successful in academics. Self-confidence is of prime importance for academic success and it can be built and retained only if an individual is motivated to achieve success. If one does his/her homework successfully and wins accolades for the same back in school, then he/she will be motivated to do well consistently, as nothing attracts success more than success itself. To summarize, if homework is done with seriousness and sincerity, then it can prove to be a very useful tool in achieving academic success.

Great Exhibition Building in Dublin Essay -- Architecture History

Dublin 1853 Main Hall This image is a beautiful color lithograph, measuring 25 by 35 inches, which features the main hall of the Great Exhibition Building in Dublin in great detail. The hall was 425 feet in length by 100 in width, and 105 in height. In the back there is a large organ. Displayed high on the walls are flags from different countries. The building is best described by The Illustrated Dublin Exhibition Catalogue, which says: Presenting a front to Merrion-square of 300 feet, the main or centre feature of elevation consists of a semicircular projection, which forms the Eastern termination of the Central Hall. This in a noble apartment of 425 feet in length, and 100 feet in height, covered by a semicircular roof trellis robs, in one span of 100 feet. On each side of the Centre upon trellis ribs, in one span of 100 feet. On each side of the Centre Hall, and running parallel to it for the same length, are two halls 50 feet wide, with domed roofs, similar to that which covers the main nave or hall of the building. The Height from the floor to the roof of each of these halls is 65 feet. They are approached through passages from the Centre Hall. In addition to these three halls are four compartments of 25 feet wide, running the whole length of the building; two are placed between the Centre Hall and the side halls, and two on each side of the latter; divided into sections of 25 feet square, forming convenien t divisions for the purposes of classification. Over these compartments are spacious galleries, also running the length of the building, which not only afford increased space for exhibition, but form an agreeable promenade from whence the effect of the three halls may be seen to greater advantage. To the south ... ...or, which made its splendid halls themselves, examples of an incentives to something higher and grander in design than had before been attained (Sproule). "The Building itself was perhaps the most successful novelty exhibited, both in Art and Manufacture (Sproule)." No information on the fate of the Great Exhibition Building, other than it no longer stands and no attempt was made to rebuild the structure with more permanent materials. Works Cited: Findling, John E., editor, Historical Dictionary of World's Fairs and Expositions, 1851-1988. New York: Greenwood Press, 1990. p. 10-11 Ingram, J.S., The Centennial Exposition; Described and Illustrated. St. Louis: Hubbard Bros., 1876. p. 31-33 The Illustrated Dublin Exhibition Catalogue. London: Virtue, 1853. p. v Sproule, John. Irish Industrial Exhibition 1853. London: William S. Orr & Co., 1854. p. 27-41.

The Art of Speaking and the Science of Imitation :: Language Expressions Papers

The Art of Speaking and the Science of Imitation The underlying thesis examined here maintains that meaning is simply subjective value which has been presented (i.e., enlarged or made explicit) in words or in some other plastic or static medium. This presentation of meaning consists in the extending of what is felt by the creator-subject to the other subjects. Although this extension of the primary agent may be the very thing which ultimately creates the space from where reflection might occur, the act of expression itself is not explicitly reflective. In other words, one might say that integral meaning is not reflective but rather is purely informing, while reflective meaning has to some degree lost its integrity. Working from these basic claims, I will examine how quality (or qualification) and quantity (or quantification) are related as functions of the languages of art and of science. PART ONE: The Distinction The use of language both as an art and also as a science, i.e., physics, biology, chemistry, mathematics, geometry, etc., is the explicit formulation of knowledge (as information), but can we make some clear distinction between these two ways of using language? Is it possible to separate those values as presented through natural language in dialogue from those values as represented by scientific discourse? One way to make such a distinction explicit is to divide the domain of formulation into 'presentation' and 'representation.' Dialogic language use at its most effective appears to express itself in our spontaneous conversation without the "reflecting will" of a knowing subject.(1) Such is not the same sort of language use involved in a scientific articulation. While the aim of science is to accurately represent its area of study through descriptive measurements and mathematical formulae, a true conversation is the creative attempt to present values which are felt by the speakers.(2) In such everyday discourse, the values of the conversants are not per se re-presented, but rather, it is through articulation in language that these meaningful affects can originally be 'broadcast' beyond the aesthetic, emotional, or perceptive life of the speaker.(3) Language becomes the 'living palette' which in fact helps to create the "ideas" (and in further consequence to produce a reflective "subjec t") in direct response to certain felt values. Without the language, there would be no way to express these integral values apart from the specific physical acts of the individual or reflectively in the chaos of dream experiences.

Alliance Nissan & Renault Essay

Founded in 1999, the Renault-Nissan Alliance has become the longest-lasting cross-cultural combination among major carmakers. This unique partnership is a pragmatic, flexible business tool that can expand to accommodate new projects and partners worldwide. In the past half-decade, the Alliance has emerged as a buffer to protect partners during regional downturns, and it has accelerated Renault and Nissan’s momentum in some of the world’s fastest growing economies. Renault holds a 43.4% stake in Nissan. Nissan holds a 15% stake in Renault. The cross-shareholding model ensures that both partners have a mutual selfinterest and encourages each to pursue â€Å"win-win† strategies that benefit both. Formed on March 28, 2002, Renault-Nissan BV is a company incorporated under Dutch law and equally owned by Renault SA and Nissan Motor Co., Ltd., responsible for the strategic management of the Alliance. The Alliance has helped Renault and Nissan outperform historic regional rivals, elevating both companies into an elite tier. Together, Renault and Nissan rank in the top three car groups globally.  Based on cross-shareholding and mutual self-interest, the Alliance business platform maximizes synergies without destroying brand identity. In order to achieve competitive economies of scale, many automakers are embarking on collaborations similar to the groundbreaking partnership that Renault and Nissan established 13 years ago.

How to Write an Exploratory Essay on Globalization and Minority American Communities

How to Write an Exploratory Essay on Globalization and Minority American Communities An exploratory essay on globalization and minority American communities is very different from the traditional argumentative essay as you must write to convince your audience that your problem is important to them. Not only do you have to prevent this problem but you need to provide some conclusions as to how the issue can be solved. There is of course another aspect to an exploratory essay on globalization and minority American communities which is just as important. This is a retrospective form of writing which means you have to work through a problem. You have to state when certain research was completed and how. You really have to be introspective about the thinking process which led you to any conclusions you present. When you are writing your exploratory essay on globalization and minority American communities there are a few questions you have to ask yourself. Have You Set up the Context? You have to make sure you have all the general information about your main topic and the situation is explained to your reader so that they can make sense of the issue and know what question you are going to answer. Have You Stated Why Your Main Idea Is Important? You have to tell the reader why they should care about the topic of globalization and minority American communities and why they should keep reading your paper in the first place. Your goal here is to create an educational paper which is clear and compelling. When people read your paper they should want to act upon it. Have You Stated Your Research Question? You need to compose a question or two which communicate what you are going to discover by reviewing globalization and minority American communities and why you are interested in the matter. With this in mind, it is time to start drafting your work. Like any traditional essay, this one should have an introduction, body, and conclusion. Use an outline to make this process more efficient; with an outline you can write out the first draft in no time because all of the right sections are already covered. Editing When you go to edit the first draft of your exploratory essay on globalization and minority American communities it is important that you make sure every proper element has been covered. This is done by asking yourself a few questions including the following: Did you identify your problem? Did you mention any possible solution to your problem? Did you provide the reader with any different points of view relating to the topic? Did you explore the strengths and weaknesses associated with your topic? Did you make sure to introduce your research question? Did you review the causes of the problem and all contributing factors? Did you present to the reader all of the people or institutions involved in the situation and have included the decision makers? This guide should give enough insights on the matter in order to write your own exploratory essay on globalization and minority American communities. Feel free to also check our 20 topics and sample essay on the subject along with selected facts list for some solid data.

Current Situation Of Gsp Belgrade Company Tourism Essays

Current Situation Of Gsp Belgrade Company Tourism Essays Current Situation Of Gsp Belgrade Company Tourism Paper Current Situation Of Gsp Belgrade Company Tourism Paper A ABSTRACT In this essay my ends were to show the current state of affairs of GSP Belgrade Company which operates in concern field of public transit and service. My program was to foremost show the state of affairs in which the GSP Belgrade Company and their organisational construction and civilization. As good, the selling of GSP Belgrade is presented in its different types. Using PEST analysis every bit good as SWOT analysis I wanted to show the possible actions that GSP Belgrade may prosecute. Introduction GSP BelgradeA is aA public transitA company for the metropolis ofA Belgrade. The acronym GSP stands forA Gradsko saobraA†¡ajno preduzeA†¡e ( English: A City Transport Company ) .A The company was funded in 1892 when the first Equus caballus ropeway line began runing in Belgrade centre. Nowadays, GSP Beograd operates in whole metropolis and it s environing. There are 145 lines, out of which 12 are tram, 8 are trolleybus and 125 are bus lines. Service operates daily between 4am and midnight, with a limited dark coach system. It is estimated that over 1,000 vehicles are in operation on workdays.GSP has about 7,000 employees. Organization of concern ( Leadership and direction ) Since GSP Belgrade is a controlled by authorities and it s meant for public usage, the organisation of concern is established and managed by a group of MPs ( Members of Parliament ) who where specifically assigned to pull off and run the GSP Belgrade company. The GSP Belgrade is organized inA A criterion concern model.A The caput of the company is itsA CEOA who overlooks hisA managersandA executivesA whose occupation is to command theA staff, the drivers and the coach fix service staff. The GSP has one chief hard currency income and that is the every twenty-four hours sale of conveyance tickets.The GSP Belgrade company is really reliable on their lone stockholder, the proprietor the authorities, A A because of its political and economical state of affairs and possibility of alterations of authorities budget which would enable the GSP Belgrade to run as usual in sense of covering their employees wages, the cost ( the disbursals ) of every twenty-four hours fuel ingestion and the monetary value of conveyance vehicle mechanic fixs. All of that disbursals can be covered by authorities money and in bend of that the GSP will refund that money in installments to a authorities. ( The highest income, the most of the whole income for the GSP Belgrade is in first hebdomad of every month when citizens top up their metropolis conveyance tickets because they expire at the terminal of every month. ) MAIN BODY A Aims The primary aim of the GSP Belgrade is to guarantee that all citizens with a valid passport tickets can safely utilize the populace conveyance which is available to them every twenty-four hours during the on the job hours of Belgrade s public transport.A A Availability means that every line has a conveyance vehicle ( a coach, a ropeway or a trolley coach ) A that operates in specific clip and it is really of import that none of those vehicles is late. The safety of public conveyance travellers is one of the most of import undertakings for GSP Belgrade company. OrganizationalA planningA andA decisionA devising The end of GSP company is to increase the figure of clients of public conveyance to its maximal degree. Approaching to this program, the company will hold to look at their current situation.A A professional service expected from them: Time truth of vehicles runing on its lines, professional experienced drivers, hygienic cleanliness in public conveyance vehicles every bit good as maximal safety for riders inside of public conveyance vehicle. TheA A direction teamA A will be tasked to show GSP as a modern, hygienic, accurate and safe public transit. It is needfully for direction squad to take on selling actions that would near citizens to the vision of modern urban conveyance Human resource planning The GSP Belgrade has about around 7 000 employees and that figure seems to be all right consequently to the figure of workers requested to be active during day-to-day public conveyance service. The chief undertaking for the GSP Belgrade HR section is to see for occupation merely extremely experient drivers in sense of procuring the riders that use and travel with public conveyance vehicles. The HR has figure of trials that any possible occupation applicant needs to successfully go through. The standard process is to guarantee that the hereafter driver is physically able to work / thrust and besides to be mentally stable and confident worker.A A A Motivation MotivationA is literally the desire to make things.A A It is a psychological characteristic that arouses you to move towards a coveted ends that you set. Motivating your employees is one of the best ways to do them make a all right occupation and give their best at it. There are twosome of ways of how to actuate your employees In GSP company most of the material is working for more than 10 hours per twenty-four hours and the monthly wage they get for it is in the mean rate for the state that they live in. The fact is that 10 hours per twenty-four hours displacements do nt do does workers happy. They are sometimes really tired and it is rare to see a motivated employee who is experiencing rested and happy with his work. It is one of the jobs that HR has to confront with. The inquiry is how can GSP company actuate their staff? A There are some ways in which the staff might be motivated to make work. They can be fiscal and non-financial wagess that can actuate employees. In both instances it is considered that the workers will put more attempt in what they do and that they will hold better public presentation at their workplace. Measuring the impact of fiscal wages bundles on occupation satisfaction, motive and productiveness In instance of that direction squad decides to give a spring a fiscal wages and to thank to those who have gave themselves in their occupation, the fillip money will be given to them as the grasp for their difficult work and attempt that they have invested. That would every bit good be noticed by other workers who might wish the same thing to go on to them so they will go more active while their displacement is on so it might look that everybody in the company will make hard and demo great attempt in order to be rewarded. Measuring the impact of non-financial wages bundles on occupation satisfaction, motive and productiveness In instance of that direction squad decides to give a give a non-financial wages and to thank to those who have gave themselves in their occupation besides makes sense as the fiscal wages does consequence the motive of employees. A twenty-four hours off would look as a really nice wages for the given attempt cognizing that the GSP is a public conveyance company and their staff does nt hold many yearss off during whole twelvemonth so enjoyingA at place for one twenty-four hours might look as worth of the invested attempt Giving wagess to workers who show more attempt than others will promote other workers to demo their best and to be more active as good in order to acquire excess money or a twenty-four hours off, free from their work. Motivated workers are the best thing that a company can hold in its field of internal dealingss. Herzberg Herzberg developed a two-factor theory of motive based on motivational demands and hygiene demands. His hygiene demands are presented as the things which are necessary for worker to acquire started but they are non something that leads the worker to win: work conditions, wage, position, security, internal relationships with co-workers, personal life. The incentives are presented as the more of import thing and that is the work itself and the duty of the worker. Corporate civilization The term of corporate civilization refers to the experiences, beliefs, attitudes and values of organisation. It can show the manner that a persons of the company dresses and in sense of that, they might reflect the civilization of the organisation of the company. The GSP Belgrade does hold a uniform for it s workers who are working as drivers of public transit vehicles but it does nt look that it is out to come at your workplace and merely drive a vehicle without a uniform that company has for its employees. That image shows a missing of professionalism that reflects in sense of less regard for the GSP Belgrade as a well organized company. On the other manus, the organisational construction is really easy to understand. The workers, most of them working as a drivers, have merely one duty and that is to ever be on clip and to drive safely. Their uniform or the insouciant apparels that they wear does nt look to be a job. Serbia was socialist state and the old civilization still prevails. Peoples used to hold secured occupations and were really relaxed. Now the passage period that came after the new political party which changed the socialist government required new values. The GSP Belgrade Company had troubles in implementing new values and people still experience safe with their occupations and such thing is maintaining the GSP Belgrade Company from non turning in bigger and better concern manner. A Beginnings of finance Since that GSP Belgrade company belongs to the Republic of Serbia, the chief beginning of finance is from the authorities s budget. When GSP is considered, it is clear that such company will ever hold a particular intervention because it transports about one and a half million people on day-to-day footing, and the metropolis of Belgrade has about 2 million citizens. The primary beginning of finance is the authorities which is invariably puting in GSP company and in its program to overhaul by purchasing new conveyance vehicles which besides presentsA a GSP as a modern company with good machinery and engineering in their vehicles. The authorities gives a involvement free loan to GSPA so they can able to work usually in day-to-day conveyance service that they offer to citizens.A A A A Selling The selling standing of GSP company is on satisfactory degree. Since that the GSP is the figure one trade name from those in concern field of public transit it is non unusual that their direction squad is largely working on selling / leasing the infinite destined for commercial at the interior of theirA public conveyance vehicles. By and large they offer a possibility to tape their vehicle with a commercial posting. Paying a rent for such an advertizement, A most of the companies are in that manner straight presented to the populace, the citizens who use the public conveyance every bit good as those who do nt because the coachs and ropewaies are traveling all around the metropolis and their advertisement postings are available to everyone to see.A A The company is publicizing threw Television adverts on Serbian National Television. It is a channel followed by most of the people populating in the state. The GSP Belgrade has made to go a known and recognized company for its advertizements on most watched Television channel and it seemed as a really good move of GSP Belgrade s selling squad. The GSP Belgrade besides has another manner of advertisement and act uponing immature people to utilize public transit. They send coachs to drive childs do schools and their operations in such selling program have its cost. But the monetary value for such influence on immature people is payed back cognizing that since GSP Belgrade company s selling squad has come to thought of such publicizing the figure of childs that are utilizing the public transit of GSP Belgrade has been extremely increasing since company s coachs started to drive kids in schools for free. Environmental analysis In order to cognize and acquire the current image of company and its concern it should be analyzed and presented by SWOT and PEST analysis. A SWOT analysis: A Strengths: A -A A A A A A A The GSP company is the taking one in its concern. It is the biggest and most widely dispersed type of public transit. Their workers are professionals and that one of their most of import facts in concern. The rivals see the GSP as the taking company in their concern type so they will hold to carefully analyse the program of how to vie with them Failing: -A A A A A A A A quite figure of GSP conveyance vehicles are older than 10 old ages, some of them even more than 15. The inquiry of security and safety should non be necessary A to set up in well-organized company but it seems that GSP still does nt hold an reply for this. Generally their vehicles are all right but they ca nt make the mean safety degree that would be considered as satisfactory. Bettering their vehicles safety is one of the aims. Another thing that the company has to be cognizant is what do their clients demand and expect.A Mostly they are satisfied with company s work but they do mind the hygiene in the vehicles. As every twenty-four hours they are driven around the metropolis for about 18 hour it is obvious that person has to clean it after every displacement. But it does nt go on every twenty-four hours and it may happen to clients to happen sometimes something on the floor of the conveyance vehicle. In general, they mind it. A Opportunity: -A A A A A A A A The chance for public conveyance of GSP to increase its concern by offering better monetary values to the users of its conveyance seems as a good thought in sense of wholly taking over the market from little private coach line drives. Their rivals are still non on the degree that they should be considered as existent menace but GSP should still seek to acquire every bit much clients as they can in order to wholly rule the concern. Menaces: -A A A A A A A As mentioned the private coach companies, they do show a menace for GSP s concern. Their program is to pull clients by offering better monetary value for transport tickets or the better possibility of travel for the same monetary value as GSP charges tickets. The chief menace of rivals is that they might make a joint venture. Another menace is the authorities itself. It is good known that the old authorities had lacked of aid to GSP Belgrade, whose proprietor it was. The GSP Belgrade has been in place to about declare a bankruptcy but during all of the difficult old ages that the company was working hard seeking non to ruin the staff did nt left the company even though that their wages were nt merely reduced but every bit good they did nt acquire any for several months. Besides that, the staff did nt left the GSP Belgrade because they were retrieving and esteeming the old times when all of them had a safe occupation, a satisfying wage and a payed holiday. PEST analysis: Political: The political state of affairs in Serbia is stable and the authorities is the proprietor of GSP Belgrade Company. However the state passed through period of passage and each authorities had its ain thought of how to pull off GSP Belgrade Company. The new authorities is particularly traveling in for doing a GSP Belgrade to be a one modern and good organized company. Their investings in GSP Belgrade guarantee everyone that the authorities is acute on increasing the satisfaction of their citizens by offering them a modern twenty-first century conveyance vehicles in which their safety will be placed on highest degree every bit good as with hygiene. Economic: -The company is really reliable of gasoline monetary values and the authorities itself needs to guarantee that the monetary values of gasoline wo nt drastically alter. -The consumers are willing to pay merely the lowest monetary value for the transport tickets. Since that, the GSP Belgrade could confront a loss of clients if they decide to increase their monetary values. Sociable: Turning population and Numberss of visitors/tourists/immigrants imply increasing demand for conveyance services possible positive impact on the public conveyance industry since the Belgrade as a metropolis is going more interesting to tourers. Technological: Buying new modern vehicles the GSP Belgrade follows modern tendencies of holding new vehicles with new engineerings. Besides, put ining picture surveillance will guarantee riders every bit good as staff ( drivers ) for their safety while they travel in public conveyance vehicle. CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS In this essay I have concluded that the GSP Belgrade Company has a high figure of users. The fact is that although there are many users the GSP Belgrade has to alter their organisational construction. Their safety steps and hygienic are nt considered as all right and that is what their clients largely agree with. The selling of the GSP Belgrade is making really good since the GSP Belgrade is presented as the most celebrated trade name in its state in concern field of public conveyance service. Their staff is extremely experient and in general, the GSP Belgrade Company seems as a all right working company with merely one thing needed to alter, that s their corporate civilization that effects their trade name name. A A

Understanding Finance and the Current Crisis The WritePass Journal

Understanding Finance and the Current Crisis Abstract Understanding Finance and the Current Crisis ). Credit Booms The other area of relevance is seen to be the areas of credit and how the credit markets influenced the financial behaviours leading up to and during the financial crisis (Brusco and Castiglionesi 2007). To a large extent, it can be argued that the increase in the asset price of housing across the US and UK was due to relatively easily available credit conditions that allowed a wide variety of individuals to purchase properties that were stretching their financial position to such an extent that, when fundamental factors changed, such as employment, the asset price could no longer be maintained. Based on the research, it has been suggested that the recent economic crisis was, in fact, down to a credit situation within the financial markets and not necessarily the asset itself, namely houses. Immediately prior to financial crises, there is indication that there was also a rapid increase in the amount of credit being made available, and during the recent financial crisis, the focus has been on credit availability for the purposes of purchasing property. However, similar issues have also emerged in short-term credit, such as personal loans and credit cards allowing individuals to gain access to credit streams that their income would not necessarily suggest should be available to the rational lender (Calomiris and Kahn, 1991). Interestingly, research has indicated that a credit boom will often happen as a result of a prolonged period of positive economic shock or following from a particular, economic growth in a region or market. This will suggest that where there was a great deal of growth and buoyancy within the housing market, this was a precursor to the credit boom (Claessens et al., 2010). It is also argued that monetary policies are also seen to be linked to the credit crisis, and that an understanding of the financial decision-making within the financial market can have a detrimental effect on whether or not the credit boom takes place. For example, it is suggested that low interest rates encouraged the US housing market and that more people were able to borrow money, at this lower interest rate. This shows an indication that a monetary policy decision, namely to reduce interest rates can have a knock-on effect on asset prices and credit availability, all of which has been arguably fundamental when it came to the recent economic crisis (Lansing, 2008). This type of activity has been referred to as financial liberalisation, whereby investors of every kind are more inclined to take financial risks and to pursue new financial opportunities, such as purchasing property. This type of liberalisation could also be seen as inherently linked to the willingness of banks to lend to customers and to have less stringent lending criteria which would appear to be linked to the volatility within the housing market, as having such financial flexibility within the banking sector allowed for the housing assets to boom, at an irrational level. This again suggests the notion that external factors and policies can ultimately change behaviours of agents within the financial markets and the decisions that they make, in terms of their own investments and their own decision-making (Dell’Ariccia, Igan and Laeven, 2012) Combined Impact on Financial Markets Having identified that there are the two factors in the unnaturally high price of assets, namely housing assets and the lenient credit conditions which were placed on the market through policy decisions such as low interest rates and low interference with banking regulations that have been deemed to be inherently linked to the recent credit crisis, it is unsurprising that a wide amount of research has been undertaken to look at how these factors came together to create the shift in the financial markets that have occurred, in recent years. By looking at the combined movement within the credit markets and within the housing market, it was established that there were substantial differences between the movements experienced as a result of external factors during a period of economic crisis and the reactions of similar changes during periods of stability. This suggests that the financial markets behave differently during a crisis, something which may be very relevant to how policymakers should behave when looking to navigate their way out of the financial crisis period. It has been identified that one of the key factors linked to a bust which is likely to result in a credit crisis can be seen in the volatility of the movement within the financial markets. Having identified that the two issues of available credit and the increasing house prices are inherently linked and that both factors led to the credit crisis, the researchers largely moved on to identifying how these factors have created the behaviours seen within the economy, in the last few years. Banking institutions have been perceived to be central to this, as these were the institution that lent the money and made credit available in the first place and also the first institution to suffer when the asset price dropped from the exceptionally high level and borrowers began to default. Research has looked at the way in which the banking institutions operate under these conditions, as it is perceived to be a particularly important means of determining the impact that the financial market is having on the credit crisis and the potential recovery. An argument has been presented which suggests that, where borrowing and lending is collateralised in some way and the market price of that collateral changes for the negative, the organisation simply cannot rely on this collateral, in order to continue its operations (Schleifer, 2000). In this case, collateral is deemed to be housing assets, although many of the financial institutions use complex arrangements in order to bundle the deb ts and sell them on to third parties, although fundamentally they were linked to the housing assets which were dropping as a result of changes in monetary policies and increasing concerns over the sustainability of house prices. Crucially, it is therefore argued according to rational behaviours where investors (in this case house buyers) opinions on the likely future for the assets and their own ability to sustain the assets change, so do the financial markets surrounding these assets, something which is particularly exacerbated when policy decisions result in an increase in interest rates and fears relating to employment levels, all of which creates a spiralling situation and potentially volatile reactions from investors. Implications of the crisis A large portion of the research and the literature in this area looks at the causes of the economic crisis and attempts to identify patterns that could offer explanatory value as to why the crisis happened in the way that it did. However, it is contended in this literature review that the real value comes from identifying the implications of the asset and credit crisis, in terms of the reactions of financial institutions and how this can potentially be used as a means of recovery for the future. Specific research looking at the reasons for the financial bubble indicated that banking institutions were central to the crisis, in terms of encouraging excess lending and therefore also encouraging the unnaturally high house prices, which became unsustainable, in the long run. Some of the literature has focused almost entirely on the economic crisis and the impact that this has had on longer-term economic activity (Claessens, Kose, and Terrones, 2012). Research has indicated that, whilst the economic crisis itself created problems in the housing market, it also ultimately led to greater widespread recession than would normally be expected in the typical cycle associated with the performance of the economy. Various different research approaches have been taken in order to compute the precise impact that the recent economic crisis has had on financial markets and how this can ultimately be used to pave the way forwards. The approach taken by Claessens, Kose, and Terrones, 2012, used traditional methodology of analysis the business cycles, in order to identify whether or not a recessionary period is being entered into. This theoretical approach argued that recessionary periods, which are associated with a form of asset crisis, in this case a credit and housing would cost more to the economy overall than any drop associated simply with equity prices, e.g. as part of the traditional business cycle. Of perhaps more interest regarding this topic, going forward, is the way in which the financial markets are likely to recover from the period of recession, with research suggesting that recovery will typically be low and weak in comparison with the volatility of the drop, in the first place (Kannan, Scott, and Terrones 2013). This body of research is deemed to be highly relevant, as it not only looks towards linking the concept of credit crisis with the way in which the financial markets are behaving, but also explores how these two factors can interact, in order to deal with the recovery, in the most appropriate way, something which is likely to be of interest to policymakers and those within financial markets, for the future. Future possible research and conclusions Despite the myriad of different research papers which focus on different aspects of the credit crisis and have looked at the interaction between credit and housing, as well as external monetary factors, the real value comes from understanding the reactions and behaviours of an economic crisis, as a means of improving recovery prospects. One particular area of research that would be beneficial in this regard is the way in which the financial markets fluctuate, even where there is no ultimate crisis. This is deemed to be important, as there is a cycle that emerges within the financial markets which must necessarily be understood, if the true measure of a crisis is to be established, in the future. Without understanding what is perceived to be ‘normal’, it is simply impractical to appreciate the cause and effect of abnormal periods within the economic cycle and how these can be reduced or mitigated, in the long run. References Blanchard, O. J., and M. W. Watson, (1982), â€Å"Bubbles, Rational Expectations and Speculative Markets,† in Crisis in Economic and Financial Structure: Bubbles, Bursts, and Shocks, P. Wachtel, ed. Lexington Books: Lexington Brunnermeier, M. (2001). Asset Pricing under Asymmetric Information: Bubbles, Crashes, Technical Analysis and Herding, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Brusco S. and F. Castiglionesi (2007). â€Å"Liquidity Coinsurance, Moral Hazard and Financial Contagion,† Journal of Finance 62, 2275-2302. Calomiris, C. and C. Kahn (1991). â€Å"The Role of Demandable Debt in Structuring Optimal Banking Arrangements,† American Economic Review 81, 497-513. Claessens, S., G. Dell’Ariccia, D. Igan, and L. Laeven, (2010), â€Å"Cross-Country Experience and Policy Implications from the Global Financial Crisis,† Economic Policy. A European Forum, April 2010, Vol. 62. PP. 269-93 Claessens, S., M. A. Kose, and M. Terrones, (2012), â€Å"How do Business and Financial Cycles Interact?† Journal of International Economics, Vol. 87, pp. 178-90. Dell’Ariccia, G., D. Igan, and L. Laeven, 2012, â€Å"Credit Booms and Lending Standards: Evidence from the U.S. Subprime Mortgage Market,† Journal of Money, Credit and Banking, Vol. 44, pages 367-84. Garber, P. M., (2000), Famous First Bubbles: The Fundamentals of Early Manias, Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Gorton G. and G. Ordonez, (2012), â€Å"Collateral Crises,† NBER Working Papers, No. 17771, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. Kannan, P., A. Scott, and M. E. Terrones, (2013), â€Å"From Recession to Recovery: How Soon and How Strong,† in S. Claessens, M. A. Kose, L. Laeven, and F. Valencia, eds., Financial Crises, Consequences, and Policy Responses, forthcoming. Keynes, J. M., (1930) The Great Slump of 1930. London: The Nation Athenà ¦um. Lansing, K. J., 2008, â€Å"Speculative Growth and Overreaction to Technology Shocks,† Working Paper Series 2008-08, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco. Marazzi, C. (2010) The Violence of Financial Capitalism, NY: Schleifer, A., (2000), Inefficient Markets: An Introduction to Behavioral Finance, Oxford University Press, Oxford Zheng, Z., (2005) From Rationality to Bounded Rationality, Australian Economic Papers, December, 455-474.

MGMT 670- STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

MGMT 670- STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT - Assignment Example The possession of a very strong brand name as well as image, which will boost the company’s growth and the reach to the customers. The establishment of a very good supply chain management capability, which will help the smooth inflow and outflow of the retail products along with good customer service. The presence of a very good and attractive customer base and a global presence through a wide global network, that is ready to buy the products available in the retail outlet. The possession of the capabilities and also the competencies by the organic foods retail outlet, which very well matches the key success factors of the industry. The five competitive forces that are the weakest in the Organic foods retail industry are: Product differentiation from those of the rivals. There is no need for the possession of superior technological skills amongst the different competing organic food retail outlets, since they are not in the process of manufacturing products but are involved on ly in the selling of the finished products. Joint ventures with the other firms for possession of superior technology is not required in this case, since the organic food retailers only requires good marketing and advertising skills that are needed for selling the product.

Demonstrate the evidence of activities Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Demonstrate the evidence of activities - Essay Example I made it certain for this day to mark as the beginning of a lasting bond. 1b. Demonstrate an understanding of factors that influence how students integrate into practice Our work requires being up on your toes and having those same toes stilted by nothing less than education, skill and confidence. I believe that my student will best attain these if I were to groom my pupil following the strictest standard of well-roundedness, discipline and competence. For this reason, I introduced my student to my co-workers and permitted the creation of working relationships amongst them so that my student will have an alternate source of training and instruction. I believe that allowing my student to assist other nurses and health practitioners will provide her with the necessary consciousness necessary for her to ascertain her commitment and passion for the job. 1c. Provide on-going and constructive support to facilitate transition from one learning environment to another With my student gaining enough foothold to consider her as being able to adapt well into the responsibility required in this field, I talked to her and made her promise to come see me anytime she feels uncertain or hesitant about a particular duty. I also gave her instructions to feel free to ask her superiors and not be intimidated and reticent to voice out her concerns or questions. My student and I chanced upon an opportunity to talk and I told her of the time when I was starting in on my career and had to undergo everything that she is going through including the uncertainties, misgivings and exhaustions. I told her that she is free to come up to me anytime and that I would not hesitate to lend my support and even willing to see her as a friend to help her through and not her mentor. Domain 2 – Facilitation of Learning 2a. Use knowledge of the student’s stage of learning to select appropriate learning opportunities to meet their individual needs Before commencing on the mentorship progra m, I have already created an outline detailing the tasks that would comprise the duties and responsibilities in the field. I listed down the tasks according to its degree of difficulty and I endeavoured to group together the tasks that are manageable and packed them in one or two days, while the more difficult task, I opted to spread out into more days. I believed that indoctrinating my pupil with the obligations in the field in a gradual manner would enable her to perform better as she would be able to have mastery of the tasks at hand. Allowing her to gain sufficient knowledge in performing assignments in phases would allow her to adapt and cope with the life in the field better and more effectively. 2b. Facilitate selection of appropriate learning strategies to integrate learning from practice and academic experiences With the relative acceptance and assistance that my mentor and I get from the other staff members, I was able to gain insight as to how to handle my pupil as would enable the best manner to instil certain matters into her training. I realized, from a remark made by a co-worker that my pupil is actually very hard working and is set on learning new things. She remains objective even during toughest and critical moments and she seldom gets nonplussed even when under extreme duress. Furthermore, I was able to observe that my pupil responds positively to commendations

Nursing Education Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Nursing Education - Assignment Example A recommended long term approach for narrowing this credibility gap is closer collaboration between the organization’s HR department and its department managers. Fallon and McConnell (2007) explain that a key aspect of this collaboration is assembling a group of personnel from both departments. The major function of this group is to review the nursing scheduling practices of both the departments, and replace the existing rigid practices that are currently used to schedule nurses, with creative alternatives. In addition, the new nursing scheduling practices must reflect the realities of the organisation’s workplace and the nursing marketplace. Basically, this approach will help realign the goals and values of the two departments to avoid pronounced differences. In this way, the two departments will be in one regarding the recruiting, hiring and scheduling of nurses and decision made on the same will reflect the expectations of both departments. When such scheduling practices are in place, there will be no acceptable reason for rejecting the application of a qualified nurse during the time of staff shortages. The most difficult part of managing employees in a hospital setting is diversity management. Disparity in group affiliations that are most likely to affect the hospital workplace mainly involve identity, or cultural groupings based on national origin, ethnicity, race, and religion. Diversity could also result from the job-related functions, for example, the presence of hospital administrators and various healthcare professionals in one setting. If diversity is not managed well, it leads to the problem of â€Å"us† verses â€Å"them† in the workplace. A diverse workforce is critical in meeting the patient healthcare needs and thus diversity is a big issue where employees are required to work together. Such a situation requires that hospital managers should be highly skilled in turning employee diversity into a resource by creating an environment that works for all employees. In order to develop this skill, managers should be sensitive or develop sensitivity to cross-cult ural issues in communication and values (Lenora, 1998). This will help them to deal with marked behavioral differences among various groups and develop ways of assimilating groups that seem un-assimilable. In this way, the managers will develop an inclusive employee management strategy and workplace culture that ensures that there is a good interaction among employees. The culture and strategy developed will reflect or at least accommodate to the greatest possible extend the expectations and values of the various workforce groups. This is very important in the development of successful work teams. The Importance of Transforming Nursing Education The idea of having an improved education system that promotes seamless academic progression among nurses is important in ensuring an improvement in patient safety and quality care. Such kind of an education system will ensure that nurses are more competent in dealing with the current healthcare demands and the needs of the patient than befor e. In addition, it will ensure that nurses are able to respond to the changing trends of healthcare practices for example the use of technology. Nurses who have achieved higher levels of education are also more effective in implementing evidence-based practices that are meant

Mark Pinsky religious comparing to the movie Finding Nemo Essay

Mark Pinsky religious comparing to the movie Finding Nemo - Essay Example n of the world of Walt Disney in order to assess the ways in which the philosophies have formed a value system and informed culture, through children, on how to values into human experience. However, in the postmodern world some of the concepts that originated the Disney belief system have been challenged as prejudices and stereotypes are being broken and a new system of acceptance through intellectual assessment of the gray areas has begun to emerge. Through an examination of the film Finding Nemo, the theories that Pinsky has presented can be assessed and understood, while addressed through the postmodern cultural constructs that are challenging the good and evil paradigm. The history of Walt Disney is constructed from myth, the propagation of which is intended to extend the brand in order to build the business end of his career. Despite the incredible talent with which Disney created his world, he also had the business sense to understand that through image, his world could become an empire. Therefore, it is the myth of the man that is as important as the fantasies of the stories. The myths even extend to a ‘resurrection’ myth as there is a belief that he has been cryogenically preserved for the day when he will be revived by future advances in science. An analytical take on the nature of religion can be seen through a dual purpose structure in which belief and power are achieved by spreading philosophy in order to perpetuate the status of a leader. Power has come from the economic success of the company, the branding successful to the point of the construction of a socially mythic set of icons that promote consumption. Belief, through the Disney experience can be appreciated through two different sets of concepts. The first can be observed in the belief that is seen through the eyes of small children as they watch the magic of Disney animation, their trust in the sweetness, villainies, and triumphs of the characters building a sympathetic resonance that

Marketing to consumers in saudi arabiawhich facets of their multiple Article

Marketing to consumers in saudi arabiawhich facets of their multiple identities do they use when - Article Example Despite the fact that cross border trade of various entities like people, products, ideas, etc. have resulted in cultures getting mixed up and losing their core identity, yet the foreign element in the home culture has not fully revamped the local culture anywhere in the world; the glimpse of the home culture remains there no matter how much the foreign culture influences it. However, this phenomenon does lead to the outcome that culture is no more a static variable but is dynamic and continues to grow as embedding of culture takes place. This dynamicity and the cross border trade has actually led individuals into behaving differently in a differing set of circumstances or simply put, they tend to portray different culture or cultural identities in different situations. Observations reveal that this is a major issue with immigrants in particular as they face dual challenge; adapt to the local environment and retain their identity. Subsequently, the arising phenomenon leads to the out come that consumers tend to utilize varying facets as they come across different situations. The purpose of this research is to analyze and differentiate between situations and circumstances that make consumer use one of the facets and prefer one over the other defining a varying consumer and consumption pattern. This research is to be conducted in the environment of Saudi Arabia. In particular, this research is aimed at investigating and highlighting the cultural variables that derive the process of marketing communication, perception of quality of service, and choice of consumption in the various categories of products and/or services. Consider the example of a young lady in Saudi Arabia; the first consideration when going out would be towards religious concerns in terms of meat and choice of restaurants. The same lady would definitely move beyond religious considerations when choosing an institute to study, for example. Even when the female goes towards shopping, the consideration and precedence for fashion and societal acceptability might be on the higher side. Similarl y, her attraction to an advertisement may be totally opposite to what her clothing or religion or institute depict her personality to be. Understanding, comprehending and investigating the variables that derive these patterns of choice and consumption is the underlying aim of this research. Saudi Arabia has a different and unique set of characteristics that are associated with its dynamics and other variables. Some of these are listed as below: Firstly, the population constitutes various nationals present, and some of them tend to be influential due to the background or their strength. Secondly, the fact remains that Saudi Arabia is an expatriate driven economy, and the expats there have strong affiliation with their nations as they cannot gain the citizenship status therewith. Thirdly, Saudi Arabia nationals have this tendency of traveling overseas and interacting with individuals from various customs, backgrounds, religions, cultures, norms, etc. Another point of consideration is the tremendous growth that is currently

Mark Pinsky religious comparing to the movie Finding Nemo Essay

Mark Pinsky religious comparing to the movie Finding Nemo - Essay Example n of the world of Walt Disney in order to assess the ways in which the philosophies have formed a value system and informed culture, through children, on how to values into human experience. However, in the postmodern world some of the concepts that originated the Disney belief system have been challenged as prejudices and stereotypes are being broken and a new system of acceptance through intellectual assessment of the gray areas has begun to emerge. Through an examination of the film Finding Nemo, the theories that Pinsky has presented can be assessed and understood, while addressed through the postmodern cultural constructs that are challenging the good and evil paradigm. The history of Walt Disney is constructed from myth, the propagation of which is intended to extend the brand in order to build the business end of his career. Despite the incredible talent with which Disney created his world, he also had the business sense to understand that through image, his world could become an empire. Therefore, it is the myth of the man that is as important as the fantasies of the stories. The myths even extend to a ‘resurrection’ myth as there is a belief that he has been cryogenically preserved for the day when he will be revived by future advances in science. An analytical take on the nature of religion can be seen through a dual purpose structure in which belief and power are achieved by spreading philosophy in order to perpetuate the status of a leader. Power has come from the economic success of the company, the branding successful to the point of the construction of a socially mythic set of icons that promote consumption. Belief, through the Disney experience can be appreciated through two different sets of concepts. The first can be observed in the belief that is seen through the eyes of small children as they watch the magic of Disney animation, their trust in the sweetness, villainies, and triumphs of the characters building a sympathetic resonance that

Persuasive presentation Speech Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Persuasive presentation Speech - Essay Example generates 160 million tons of trash, in particular, the legally dumped garbage. This amount of garbage constitutes adequate metal that may be used to fabricate two million automobiles; paper that can publish America’s daily newspapers; wood that can build a million homes; and bulk aluminum sufficient for rebuilding American air fleet a couple of times. It is apparent that the American population is drowning in Trash. Americans have a responsibility to counter the current trends by recycling the trash; otherwise, there will be no tomorrow for us. As such, recycling is the most appropriate method for tackling the problem. A. Recycling concept fits appropriately in the current waste situation in U.S. as well as other parts of the world. The perceived recycling attempts are yet to achieve the requisite standards. People’s misconceptions about the process such as recycling being time consuming as well as a bother are some of the reasons why Americans lag behind in recycling their wastes (Saddleback Educational Publishing 5). C. The negative effects of landfills to the environment are attributable not only to their closure but also to implementation of recycling as an appropriate alternative. It is apparent that landfills result in serious water and air pollution (Griff 2). E. Recycling contributes to reduction of pollution, and saves energy. Several countries, including Japan are enjoying substantial benefits relating to cost-effectiveness and reduced energy consumption, by recycling their waste. It appears that recycling is turning out to be the next big thing internationally. Different institutions and the public are increasingly adopting recycling as an alternative method of disposing waste or trash. Recycling household commodities is considerably easy and requires little time. It is the responsibility for all to promote environment sustainability. As noted, disposal of waste in landfills is detrimental to the environment; therefore, it is important to

Conflict & Stress Management Essay Example for Free

Conflict Stress Management Essay 1.0 INTRODUCTION Stress and conflict are two major issues any organisation faces. They are inevitable in all facets of life, be individual or organisational. If not handled well they can be a hindrance for the company performance. Conflict and stress both varies according to the organisation and its culture. But both need to be managed well to avoid unnecessary problems. Conflict is a perception. Surveys show that employees spend as much as 42% of their time engaging in or attempting to resolve conflicts and 20% of managers’ time is taken up by conflict related issues (Gupta, Boyd, Kuzmits, 2011). This valuable time can be utilised in making the organisation a more efficient and an effective one. Organisations which fail to address conflict have the risk of losing their competitive advantage. Conflict can be viewed in many ways and there are different management styles which can deal with conflict. The leadership of the organisation must be involved in dealing with conflict as they would have to negotiate and bargain in order to overcome conflict. Stress is a major concern with today’s working people. This is because the world is developing in a faster pace which requires constant adaptation. Stress not only affects ones work-life balance, but also their personal life which creates chaos for individuals. According to some estimation, humankind losses 100 million workdays every year due to the aftermath of stress (Treven Potocan, 2005). Work stress needs to be managed well so it can actually improve the well being of the individuals as well as the organisation. Both of these factors will be viewed in the context of Nippon Lanka and will be analysed thoroughly on how they overcome these issues to maintain a healthy relationship with employees. Improvements and recommendations for the current methods will also be discussed. 2.0 OVERVIEW Nippon Lanka Pvt Ltd (NPLK) is a joint venture (JV) between the Nippon PLC Japan (NPJ) and Silicone Coatings Pvt Ltd (SC) Sri Lanka where the NPJ brought over 60% of Silicones shares. This joint venture is advantageous to both parties where NPJ is able to use this as an entry method and SC as an opportunity to be a part of a global industry. Formation of this JV took almost a year where Nippon Lanka studied SC and the relevant industry as whole to get an idea of the present market conditions. It was found that there was no better time to enter the Sri Lankan market due to the post war era development. Therefore SC was considered due to their strong presence in the market. Today after about three months from successfully forming the JV the company is going through a transition period. There aren’t any major changes to positions in the hierarchy but there are role changes and employees are finding it difficult to adapt to their new roles. Example: The Managing Director (MD) of the company who was the owner of the company still is the MD how ever to day the person is a salaried employee. The General Manager who was reporting directly to MD today has to report to the Board of directors where MD is just one out of the five directors. When examining the company culture towards conflict, the company culture and the value system which has been there for 35 years from the date of the establishment is now being changed. SC was established in 1979, as a small scale manufacture and a distributer of paint related ancillaries. By the time Nippon approached SC it had grown into the largest local player in the market where it was second only to the global giant Akzonobal by a 3% margin. It is evident that SC has been a one man show up to the time of the JV, the full value system and the operational procedures were laid down by the founder himself and not most of the managers found it enticing to be part of. Therefore the HR turnover was such that on average about six key resources left the company. In this back ground let’s see how the conflict and stress management function takes place within the organization. 3.0 CONFLICT AND CONFLICT MANAGEMENT 3.1 Conflict Management Styles Conflict can be defined as the process that begins when one party perceives that another party has negatively affected, or is about to negatively affect, something the first party cares about (Robbins S., Judge T. Vohra N., 2011:441). It is that point in an ongoing activity when an interaction crosses over to become an interparty conflict. Conflict can be seen as good and bad with corresponding positive and negative outcomes where this would all depend on how one views conflict. There are three basics views of conflict. These are the Traditional view, the Interactionist view and Managed conflict view. The traditional view sees conflict as bad and something that must be eliminated through the use of authority. Poor communication, lack of openness and failure to respond to employee needs could be seen as few of the causes. The interactionist view is that conflict is desirable, necessary for high performance teams and should be encouraged. The contemporary view is that conflict is inevitable and it may be positive or negative but it must be managed to be beneficial. Nippon Lanka follows a more interactionist view where conflict is encouraged and the company is of the view that a perfectly cooperative, harmonious group would hinder dynamism, creativity and innovation where a minimal level of conflict is needed to prevent a lacklustre, uninterested attitude among the group. As mentioned earlier, not all conflicts are good, and this view only supports functional conflict. Functional conflict is a constructive form of conflict that supports the goals of the group and improves performance. The type of conflict at hand would distinguish a functional conflict from a dysfunctional conflict. Although these are distinct types of conflict, the occurrence of one type of conflict can lead to a conflict of another type taking place. For example, the process of costing has been kept confidential, and this has led to the tension between the sales team and the costing team. 3.2TYPES OF CONFLICT PRESENT IN NIPPON LANKA 3.2.1Relationship conflict Conflicts between two people are known as relationship conflicts. These conflicts arise as a result of miscommunication, disagreements or misunderstandings between people. One such situation at Nippon Lanka arose between the Brand Manager and the Marketing Manager. The Brand manager has been with the company for 5 years and has previously worked with two Heads of marketing. Once the new marketing manager was appointed, it was found that the latter was less experienced and was not willing to corporate with the Marketing Head. This triggered huge problems for the new comer. The management was aware of this, but wasn’t able to remove him from the position due to the valuable connections the customers. However, the Marketing Manager understood this inferiority complex of the Brand Manager. Having gone through the initial hardships the new marketing manager somehow managed to win the trust of the Brand manager. Now they are working harmoniously, directing all their efforts towards the benefit of the company. 3.2.2.Data Conflict This occurs when decisions are made without adequate information. At Nippon Lanka, the costing department works in isolation. They do not consult the sales and marketing team when arriving at the costs, so more often than not, the cost of the product is either too high, depriving them of valuable orders and potential growth, or at times its too low depriving the opportunity for the company to charge a premium price on an innovative product or to achieve efficiency through specialisation. 3.2.3Interest Conflict Conflicts of interest mainly deal with psychological issues, where an individual or organisation behaves in a certain manner, with the aim of meeting a particular interest which is not shared by everyone else. The JV with the Japanese company was not disclosed or made public, even though doing so would have been acting in the best interests of the company. The MD did not like the idea of publicising the 60:40 JV that was taking place, as it would be viewed as a takeover. However, the rest of the company felt that some amount of public awareness would have positively impacted the companys future performance. Another example would be when the HR department wanted to minimise the over time cost they imposed a rule where all sales vehicle needs to be back at the HO by 5 pm. As an example what the Sales representatives would do is when they need to deliver goods up to Negombo, covering Wattala, Ja-ela, Seeduwa and Negombo. They would turn back from Seeduwa at 3.30 pm in order to make it back to office by 5 pm, without covering their full distance to Negombo. What followed was a delay in the delivery and travelling additional mileage, having to revisit incomplete routes taking the same path. 3.2.4 Structural Conflict Structural conflict arises from unclear and undefined roles and reporting lines. The RD and the production manger are directly reporting to the MD. The other managers report to the GM, where the GM reports to the MD. Currently when a sales representative needs to develop a sample for a particular customer, the sales representative will not have the adequate support since the request from the sales rep will not be taken seriously from the RD manager and the GM cannot question them for not doing it right. Only 10 out of 1 samples are successful and yet the RD manager has managed to survive, distracting the control and supervisory system of the top management since there is no clear reporting structure. 3.2.5 Value Conflict A value conflict comes about when two people or groups have dissenting views on moralitythat basic understanding of what is naturally right or wrong. As mentioned earlier, the cost manager considered himself and his department superior than the other departments, with the notion that the information handled need not be disclosed to anyone else. At present, the cost manager is in prison, facing charges of fraud. Although the environment helped the person to carry out fraud, this is a clear example of conflicting values. 3.3 THE CONFLICT PROCESS Figure 1: The Conflict Process (Source: Robbins S., Judge T. Vohra N., 2005:444) 3.3.1Stage I: Potential opposition or incompatibility The first stage talks about the conditions that are needed for conflict to arise. They may not directly lead to conflict, but they need to be present for conflict to surface. They can be referred to as the causes of conflict and can be condensed into three general categories, namely communications, structure and personal variables. Communication, either too much or too little information passed between members can result in potential opportunities for conflict to arise. At Nippon Lanka, the manner in which the costing of the products is carried out is not communicated to the members in the other dept and this has been the initiating factor for conflict to set in. Structure includes several variables such as size, degree of specialization in the tasks assigned to the group members, role clarity, member-goal compatibility, leadership styles, reward systems, and the degree of dependence among groups. The sales and promotions manager at Nippon Paints follow an aggressive, predator style of leadership where excuses were not tolerated and was only interested in the achievement of results and targets. An example would be, the samples taken from the production team that is used for sales and promotion does not meet the required standards of quality where 9 out of 10 samples would fail. Same time, the Sales and promotions manager would also be very demanding of the sales representatives in terms of getting the desired targets. In some cases, employees have resigned due this demanding nature. Personal variables are mainly due to differences in personal traits of individuals. Diverse issues such as prejudice and disagreements over ones contribution to the group, as well as the rewards one deserves. For example, at Nippon Paints, the General Manager is prepared to hire new trainees at Rs. 15,000/=, whereas the Sales and Promotions Manager feels that the market rate of Rs. 30,000/= should be paid to them. The low salaries have deterred attracting the talented individuals and therefore not achieving the fullest potential. 3.3.2Stage II: Cognition and Personalization If the conditions mentioned in stage I negatively affect something one party cares about, then the potential for opposition or incompatibility surfaces in the second stage. One or both parties must be aware and perceive that these conditions exist. However, just because it is perceived does not make the conflict personalized. It may not have an effect on either or both parties. The conflict has to be felt, for individuals become emotionally involved, leading to anxiety, tension, frustration or hostility. 3.3.3Stage III: Intentions Intentions get in the way of peoples perceptions and emotions and act as decisions for them to react the way they do to the situation at hand. They are important, as one has to make inferences of the other partys intentions to know and understand the reason behind that partys behavior and to respond accordingly. Conflicts tend to escalate at this point merely because of the wrong inferences being made. Sometimes a behavior might erroneously reflect the persons intentions. Two dimensions are used, namely cooperativeness (the degree to which one party attempts to satisfy the other partys concerns) and assertiveness (the degree to which one party attempt to satisfy his or her own concerns) to identify five conflict handling intentions. This has been attached to Appendix 1 with the styles explained. 3.3.4Stage IV: Behavior This stage includes actions, statements and reactions made by the conflicting parties. Intentions of each party are implemented through these behaviors and can be seen as a dynamic process of interaction. Conflicts usually start slow; characterized by indirect rather subtle forms of tension and escalate as the tension builds. At this latter stage things could become highly destructive where such conflicts are almost always dysfunctional. 3.3.5Stage V: Outcomes Behavior would lead to outcomes, where some are functional in that the conflict results in an improvement in the groups performance or it may also be dysfunctional in that it hinders group performance. Functional conflict can be beneficial for the company as it provides a medium through which problems can be aired and tensions released. This improves the quality of decisions, stimulates creativity and innovation, encourages interest and curiosity among group members and it forces and environment of self-evaluation and change. Some companies discourage conflict as they prefer yes-men, loyal to the higher ups to the point of never questioning company actions. As for dysfunctional conflict it would reduce group effectiveness and group cohesiveness. At the extreme, conflict can bring group functioning to a halt and potentially threaten the groups survival. Refer Appendix II for the example of a conflict Process at Nippon paints. 3.3 NEGOTIATING AND BARGAINING Before the organisation starts negotiating they should be aware of the nature of the conflict. There is a certain process that needs to be followed in negotiation. Negotiation is by definition the management of crossed demands, where each one of us expresses requests hoping the other will try to fulfil them (Lempereur, A. 2012). As it is said â€Å"Everything is negotiation in life†, so every party involved in the process would like to take the best out of it. 3.3.1 Bargaining Strategies There are two bargaining strategies that could be discussed. Distributive bargaining and integrative bargaining. In the current context what is more obvious is integrative bargaining which makes both the parties involved satisfied creating a win-win situation. An example for this was when a sales representative requests for a personal vehicle they need to achieve a certain level of sales targets. If they maintain the sales targets for a sustainable period they will be given a personal vehicle. But by any chance if they do not keep up to the said targets their salaries will be reduced in accordance with the cost of maintaining the vehicle by the company. Through a situation like this, what is created is a long term positive relationship for the company. As a company, they increase the sales levels and the employees will also be satisfied as their needs are also met. 3.3.2 Negotiation Process Negotiation can happen in 5 steps; these are preparation and planning, definition and ground rules, clarification and justification, bargaining and problem solving and closure and implementation. Some do not have a positive ending or a closure. But negotiations that have an effect for the organisation will go through a process. An example of this would be when the company needs to host certain function in hotels they would negotiate with them for the best bargain. As they have cost constraints, there are certain limitations and getting the best bargain with the best outcome would be the perfect scenario. Before the start of the negotiation with the relevant hoteliers the in-charge person will prepare the list of things that need to be discussed. These would be the pricing, menu items, additional services that are required and assess what the other party goals and prepare well for them. In this instance a budget per person would be Rs. 3,000. But the relevant hotels cost was higher. Then the menus for these relevant amounts will be compared. In the Sri Lankan context rather than a 4 or 5 course meal, action stations with koththu and hoppers have a vibrant feeling and also cost less. So in the negotiation table the other alternatives will be put across. Since information is all gathered, the representative will develop a strategy. The person will also determine the Best Alternative to a Negotiated Agreement (BATNA). So here the BATNA will be to get cost per person at Rs. 3,000 having action stations with cocktail menu. The person will determine when and where to have the appointment. The ideal place would be at hotel premises because then the ambiance where service capacity can also be viewed. The meeting would be planned in the best time where both parties are not strained with other commitments and can concentrate for a best outcome. Once the initial stance is made then there will be further clarifications and explanations. Then both parties will try to come up with concessions in order to make a decision. Once both parties are satisfied they will formalize the agreement. In this process Nippon Lanka representatives will stress on the fact that if one event is made a success; then the hotel is winning a long term corporate client. This enhances their business. 3.3.3 Third Party Negotiation This is crucial for Nippon Lanka as they deal with lot of suppliers and customers. Advertising is a crucial part for this organisation and dealing with media is important to get a good advertising deal. Earlier they were dealing with the television and radio stations by themselves and it was quite strenuous. Getting a good deal that is worth their money was tough and time consuming, having deal with different organisations, so they decided to obtain third party involvement. The outcome was to get a consultant to act on media buying for the organisation. A consultant is a skilled and impartial third party who attempts to facilitate problem solving through communication and analysis (Robbins S., Judge T. Vohra N., 2011:457). They are there to improve the current status and to get a win-win solution for both parties. When Nippon started using a third party advertising firm to do media buying, they were able to get good deals from media as they have a high bargaining power. 4.0 WORK STRESS STRESS MANAGEMENT Stress is a dynamic condition in which an individual is confronted with an opportunity, demand, or resource related to what the individual desires and for which the outcome is perceived to be both uncertain and important (Robbins, Judge Vohrs, 554). Most of the time stress is discussed in the negative contest but this is not true at all times. Stress can be taken into the system as an advantage. In the current organisation stress factor is not talked openly even though people are put under stress levels it is not considered as value adding option for the organisation. In the organisation currently what is seen is the challenge stresses but sometimes these same factors do become hindrance stressors for the employees. 4.1 Sources of stress The main sources of stress in the organisation comes from environmental and organisation factors. When it comes to environmental factors; the three types of uncertainties are economic, political and technological. These play a minimal role compared to organisational and personal factors. In considering environment factors; the workers are stressed on the technological aspect. Research and development team is always under pressure in getting a new product development before their competitors. Organisation heads are concerned about the Political uncertainty. Whenever a new rule or regulation is passed by government with regard to the consumer protection or protecting environment this takes a toll in the organisation activities. They must be aware of the new laws and how to tackle them, this adds a lot of strain in the management as they need to alter or change certain decisions according to political scenarios. Change in economic policies and recessions or booms in the economic cycle create stress on the organisation. Current economic down turn have made a toll in the sales teams as consumers are spending less and government projects have considerably reduced. At the same time government is not paying their debt and collections have become harder. Organisational factors are the ones that are created by the organisation which creates stress on employees. Task demands such as collecting debts in 90 days have a strain on the employee. This increases the job pressure. Role demands relate to pressure that occurs due to the job role. Managers and above have high role related pressures compared to subordinates due to the heavy work load which needs to be performed in less time. Most employees complain that they are given more work than they can handle and it stresses them out a lot. At the same time many complain the targets given are not practical. There is a minimal level of interpersonal demands where other employees are not supportive. Personal factors which increase stress are different to every individual. But this does create a hindrance in the organisation performance. All or some of these factors create a high turnover or absenteeism, reduction in productivity and decrease in job satisfaction. Sadly Nippon Lanka has not recognised the importance of stress management in order to curb it or cure it. The main organisational stress come comes from the current management change, this is because the task and role demands have changed and employees need to adjust to the new roles. Personal factors too trigger stress level of the employees. 4.2 Managing Stress at Nippon Lanka Pvt Ltd Based on the study, it is visible that Nippon Lanka uses stress as a positive motivator, but at some points it goes out of hand where it depletes the collaboration and coordination amongst the teams and also inter department. Based on the job roles, the department heads can think of the stress levels which can be imposed on the team members to get results and to meet targets. However the stress levels should be correctly managed so that it motivates results and not deplete and impede the team building and performance drive within the teams. As it is observed, some amount of stress comes from the non-alignment of the reporting lines. Therefore the suggestion is to relook at the reporting lines so that stress does not occur due to incorrect alignment of the business structure which has a negative impact and which creates unnecessary types of stress within teams. Together with the Job role enrichment, reporting lines should also be re-aligned so that the company will only be left with stress which causes the company to perform and not to impede. 5.0 CONCLUSION In conclusion conflict, negotiation and stress are all visible in Nippon Paint. Conflict is unavoidable at the organisation due to the dealings they have among the departments and the third parties. To overcome conflict certain understanding among employees and stakeholders must be implemented. It can be seen that conflict, negotiation and stress are interlinked with each other on some level. Organisational conflict styles may shape an organisations social environment, affecting the level of ongoing conflict and thus the level of stress among employees. Nippon Lanka to a great extent follows an integrative style of conflict management which leads to lower task conflict, reducing relationship conflict, which reduces stress. However, there are many instances where the management has not come up with a solution to the conflict at hand, where they are not willing to step in and the employees are left to resolve the matter, which at most times remains unresolved. The recommended improvements with regard to this has been discussed in Section 3.4. It is important that with the JV taking place, the new management plays an active role in resolving these long running issues so that the organisation and its performance does not get affected. The current JV could also trigger new conflicts and stress levels within the organisation where it is crucial that these issues are identified and resolved. The new management must take this opportunity to place greater prominence of recognizing the on-going stress levels within the organisation and deal with them appropriately. Improved management of conflict, negotiations and stress would benefit the individuals and the organisation in terms of high performing, content, dedicated employees who deliver results.

Quality and Performance Management of MS

Quality and Performance Management of MS Quality is the second of three value components (Finch,Byron J., 2008).The commitment to producing quality in services and products changes process from just producing to producing things customers want. The development of the methods and techniques to manage quality and a culture of employees who want to produce quality is at the heart of any successful business. INTRODUCTION This Chapter contains an insight into what quality and performance management, meeting customers expectations at Marks and Spencer. I will touch on its history and the effect of quality management at the company will be examined. The basis of choosing M S is due to the fact that it is a well established company. More like an institution. Also I work for the company. About MS For 125 years MS has been trusted by customers to offer high quality products at great value. It has grown from a Penny Bazaar stall to become the UKs leading retailer of quality clothing, food and home products. With more than 21 million UK customers, the company is an expanding international force, now in 40 territories. A team of 78,000 people and over 2,000 suppliers form the bedrock of its business, ensuring their brand will continue to offer Quality, Value, Service, Innovation and Trust. These core values are as important today as they ever have been. They are all about doing the right thing which is, quite simply, how they do business (MS, 2009). Michael Mark started the business in 1884 selling items at no more than a penny. The business was subsequently joined by Tom Spencer when the partnership started. The business grew gradually and by 1926 there were about 125 stores. Marks Spencer has been built on the following values: offering customers a selective range of high quality merchandise; encouraging suppliers to maintain high quality standards in production and working environment; store expansion planned for the convenience of customers, with a greater width of product choice; simplified operating procedures; supporting British industry and buying abroad only when new ideas, technology, quality and value are not available in the UK; fostering good human relations with customers, staff, suppliers and the community. (Whitehead, 1994). An insight into quality management Quality is conformance to requirements (Crosby, 1979), with emphasis on zero defects. (Swanson, 1995) however, implied quality management to be the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy given needs. Implicit in this assumption is a customer with needs and expectations to be satisfied. Quality is a measurable result; quality management improvement is more about the journey than the result. What we do and how we do it determines quality and the actionable elements of quality involve the process rather than the outcome. Good quality reduces the cost of rework, waste, complaints and returns and most importantly, generates satisfied customers (Slack, 2007). Marks and Spencer has what is called a golden rule to always take ownership of helping their customers and also getting feedback about their services. Staffs at Marks and Spencer are expected to adhere to the following three principles when serving customers: acknowledge every customer with a hello or a smile build a relationship by talking and interacting with the customer saying good bye and have good day to customers. Some feedback is done through online surveys and some directly with their customers using survey forms. The result from the survey enables MS to review areas of improvement. I strongly believe that quality of services is MSs competitive edge. The golden rules means treating the customers with courtesy, interacting and engaging with the customers doing the sales with a smile, always helping to pack on the till, asking customers if there is still anything else we can do for them. All these are attributes of good customer services. Good customer service provides the likelihood that the customers would still want to come back. Mr David Williams, an MS customer recently stated It makes a pleasant day for me when a staff of Marks and Spencer says thank you for waiting, attending to their customers when there was a long queue. Consistency with these values make the customers always want to come back which goes a long way in a business. Furthermore, from the companys perspective it also means treating their employees with humanely, with dignity and respect. These in turn encourage the employees to be equally sensitive to the needs and expectations of the customers. If staff feels that their efforts are being rewarded and that future effort will also be rewarded, their quality of work is likely to improve. In this way, total quality can be improved. Moreover, where incremental strategic change is dependent on individual members of staff, acting upon, opportunities and threats, the reward system must be appropriate and motivating (Thompson Martin, 2010). From my experience, I have observed that when staff is not happy, they will not be able to deliver a good service to the customers, which may then affect the business. As an employee of Marks and Spencer, I can objectively say we are highly treated well. Staffs are rewarded in so many ways. Some of the incentives are 20% off any items in the store, promotion opportunities, recognition within the organization and pension scheme. Also the company provide bonuses, flexible working arrangement for all mothers and graduate scheme for new graduates. All these rewards and incentives are motivating factors that enable staff to perform to their utmost level in serving customers in a satisfactory way. Rewards depend upon the success of the Organization as a whole as well as individual, contribution to the success (Thompson Martin, 2010). As an employee of Marks and Spencer, one thing that I have noticed was that when customers visits the store, they have the assurance that they are going to get exceptional services. Marks and Spencer are not trading in service quality gimmicks but also focus on giving what we call exceptional basics i.e. listening very carefully to their customers and giving thoughts to their needs and providing what they really need. For example they offer: three items for the price of two collect by cab for customers if the customer require a cab after shopping sending customers special order to them within three working days v effective and efficient refund policy. Marks and Spencer offers full refund to their customers with their receipt or if has been lost, a credit voucher is issued Marks and Spencer credit card points and vouchers are given to all the card holders on a regular basis which I believe would encourage customers to use their Marks and Spencer credit card to pay at the till Marks and Spencer train their staff to take ownership in everything they do. (Thompson Martin, 2010) emphasised on commitment to customers services, quality and continuous Improvement. Its this attention to detail that counts in providing good customer service to the customers. There is nothing more Important to Marks Spencer than their customers and achieving a high quality of service. The company encourages three things i.e., creativity, initiative and attitude. Attitude is one of the key attributes that management at Marks and Spencer imbues on their employees despite the training and skills developed. It is the quality reflection that sets us apart from the competition. Marks and Spencer have improved in their product offerings and looks like they hire people with positive attitude that takes great pride in delivering exceptional service. commented by one of the customers. It is this type of attitude displayed by their employees that leads to innovation and creativity. For example, there was a time a deaf man came into the store for shopping, he wrote all he needed in a sheet of paper. Marks and Spencer already have some employees that help the blind and the deaf for their shopping. After helping him, he was so delighted that he now believes that everybody is treated in the same way without discriminating. Also if a customer likes a particular product which was recommended and is not in store and in order to satisfy the customer, they take total ownership to make sure they make arrangement for more stock to be available for the next visit of the customer in store. Marks and Spencer also track their product through surveys to know how well a particular product is performing. As explained by (Kanji,Gopal K: Asher,Mike, 1996) To understand the process of total quality management (TQM),where all work is seen as process and total quality management is a continuous process of improvement for individuals, groups of people and whole organizations. What makes total quality management different from other management processes is the concentrated focus on continuous improvement. Most of Marks and Spencer customers knows about their quality and are ready to pay more for the value. MS offers all most ever week, just to motivate customers to buy at the stated price of other competitors products like Tesco and Sainsbury just to let customers knows that there price is still the same as others but the quality is different. Marks and Spencer makes these offers to draw customers attention. They have succeeded as shown my consistently increasing their market share. Also there objectives is to exceed their expectation to deliver good quality to their customers and to achieve zero defects. They design their product to try to prevent errors occurring. Though, it is always impossible to prevent mistakes. Knowing the current quality standards of the product or service in your customers hands is the first stage of being able to improve. You can make mistake and you can measure your improvement if you know the base you are starting from. Having the facts necessary to manage the business at all levels and giving that information to everyone so that decisions are based upon fact are the essential aspect of Quality Management (Kanji,Gopal K: Asher,Mike, 1996) Marks and Spencer rarely get formal complaints but when there is any they resolve it with the customer and they always listen to customers complain which at the end customers feels delighted and satisfy. (Kanji,Gopal K: Asher,Mike, 1996) Satisfying agreed customers requirements- relates to internal customers as well external ones it is necessary to achieve successful internal working relations in order to satisfy the needs of the external customers. The key is service recovery; this is why empowerment is so important. (Slack, 2007) Marks and Spencer train their to turn around any negative experiences they may have into positive ones before the customers leaves the store and not to allow the customer to go home not satisfied. Its really worth the effort. Giving exceptional service has always been the motto of Marks and Spencer for years up till now. It is well known to everybody about their good customer services. They also get tremendous feedback from their customers and that is the more reason that most customers always want to come back despite the prices of their products. Older people are also helped with their shopping list by assigning a member of staff to the customer to do the shopping. It gives the customer confidence to know that their shopping is done to their satisfaction. One of MSs customers, Mrs Johnson commented that price is not the determinant factor for shopping at M&S; it is the good customer services and the way staffs attends to me considering I have been shopping here for over 25 years. They are all well mannered, always with a smile on their face, they take ownership and always wanting to help to pack our shopping One of the key tasks of operation management is to ensure that quality goods and services are pr ovided to both internal and external customers (Finch,Byron J., 2008). Marks and Spencer value their customers; queues are monitored and customers are often thanked for waiting and are given the offer to pack their shopping for them. It is more than compensation to acknowledge someone and as a member of staff, I often hear from customers that how grateful and delighted they for the attention that is given to them. The professionalism shown by the MS employees emanated from the training provided and also interacting with customers makes our job more interesting. (Finch,Byron J., 2008) Contends that The best answer to a customers questions can often come only from the employee directly responsible for a good customers services to the customers MS gives customer choice. They have different range for customers, for the older women it is called classic range. This range was developed as result of the survey that was carried out. One of the survey participants, a customer known as Ms. Williams in the survey wrote It fits perfectly ok without any adjustment or complain, I just cannot go anywhere else to buy my clothes than Marks. Another range for the middle age is called Peruna, they are long lasting but very costly. Customers are happy to pay for what they get because of the quality of the finished products and is visible to see said one of their customers. A quality is the degree of fit between customers expectations and customer perception of the product or service. (Slack, 2007) Marks and Spencer respond quickly to customer demand. One key element of quality management is the dependence on empowered teams to document and then streamline processes based on team knowledge and understanding of customer needs and expectation. States customer requirements often fall short of defining customer needs and expectations (Swanson, 1995) If a product was not in store. Marks and Spencer take responsibility to make sure they find an alternative way to get the product and send it to the customer address just for meeting the customers expectation and to make sure they satisfy customer demand. Dimensions of Quality (Finch,Byron J., 2008) identified eight product quality dimensions and five service quality dimensions which consist of the followings: Performance relates to the perceived characteristics of the product. Features the additional or secondary capabilities of a product or service. Reliability ÂÂ ­- measures the dependency and how consistently it achieves the promises given about the product/service. Durability deals how long the product/service last for. Serviceability usually deals with after sales in terms of repairs guarantees and complaints resolution. Aesthetics deals with the appearance and style of the product/service. Response the relationship between the product/service provider and the customer. Reputation deals with the perception of customers on the company. In addition to the above (Finch,Byron J., 2008)also identified five dimensions of service quality which includes: Reliability in terms of the company keeping to its promises. Responsiveness deals with how promptly the company responds to their customer needs. Assurance dealing with trust and confidence between the customers and employees. Empathy deals with how employees are sensitive to the needs of the customers. Tangibles showing care and attentions with respect to the physical facilities and written materials available at the company. Marks and Spencer provides both products and service to their customers and fully conforms to all the service/product quality dimensions mentioned above. This I believe has led to the consistent domination of market share in the retail industry by MS. Cost of Quality Cost of quality relates to the cost associated with assuring quality of the product/services in addition to costs incurred in correcting defective items. (Finch,Byron J., 2008) explained cost of quality as the cost associated with maintaining and sustaining goods/services which can be categorised into primarily internal and external failure costs, prevention cost and appraisal costs. All of these costs are identifiable with MS. An example of external failure i.e. cost incurred after transfer of ownership to customers at MS are the returns made by customers when something goes wrong with the items purchased at the store when replacement would need to be made in additional to employee time involved in dealing with the defective product. Internal failure cost i.e. costs that may arise due to inadequacy of quality before transfer of ownership to customers occurs at MS when inspection staff have noticed a defection in a product line and had to be withdrawn before reaching the floor level. All the costs associated with this defective product including production and distribution costs aggregates to the internal failure costs. The appraisal costs are those cost associated with meeting quality specification which may include inspection, testing and sampling. At MS this category of quality cost are incurred before the products are distributed to various stores. Usually the quality audits are carried taking samples from millions of product items to ensure they meet quality specification. (Finch,Byron J., 2008) stated that a frequent cause of poor quality is the failure of system that are intended to maintain quality. Hence organisations need to ensure their quality system is audited to ensure that they meet their quality requirements and thereby reduce their appraisal cost. The cost associated to reducing appraisal costs can be categorised as prevention costs. Some these costs includes cost of training, improving the process, quality planning activities. Where more effor ts are put in prevention, it should have an impact in reducing the other category of quality costs. However, as can be seen from figure1 below, quality cost increases as quality problems gets to customers. Figure 1 (Finch,Byron J., 2008) Cost of quality Prevention Internal failure External failure Cost of quality from Prevention to external failure Total Quality Management As defined by (Chartered Institute of Management Accountant, 2002), TQM is a programme that ensures that goods or services supplied are of the highest quality. However, (Feigenbaum, 1986) defined TQM as an effective system for integrating the quality development, quality maintenance and quality improvement efforts of the various groups in an organisation so as to enable production and service at the most economical levels which allows a full customer satisfaction. TQM as a process must encompass everyone in the organisation and with full commitment of senior management. (Finch,Byron J., 2008) put forward that TQM is based on three principles: customer focus continuous process improvement and total involvement. With customer focus, the customer defines what quality is. A distinction is required between what is known as internal customers that are employees within the organisation and external customers who buys the products or services. Each employee in the organisation should have a well defined customer so that there is what is known as supplier-customer relationship extending from the internal customers to the final consumer who consumes the product. For instance in MS an output from a staff (internal supplier) then becomes and input for another staff (internal customer). This chain feeds itself into the final consumer. If the process is broken i.e. the supplier-customer relationship and the quality needs of the internal customer is not met, it is bound to affect the ultimate consumer. Continuous process improvement is about reducing or eliminating variability from quality processes. Outcomes from processes should be predictable and when this is not the case it may become difficult to consistently meet customer expectations. Continuous process improvement at MS has a very low variability if all any. Continuous process improvement is part of MS Plan A which is quality management plan that contains a comprehensive set of objectives that governs how MS does business. The plan came into existence in January 2007 and commits to changing one hundred things over five years. Plan A is makes a real change to the environment, customers, employees and people working in the MSs supply chains. Through Plan A, MS have introduced products and services to help customers live in a sustainably way, continued contribution to local communities and with additional profit generated ploughed back into the business. MS engages every one of its 21 million customers by building Plan A quali ties into all of its products and helping customers to develop their own Plan A eco-plans. MS has integrated its Plan A from being a Plan to How We Do Business by integrating it into processes and giving its workforce the skills, tools and motivation required to make a difference. (MS, 2009) I believe that it is the commitment from management and the active involvement of employees in developing and implementing their quality objectives Plan A that have contributed to the success of the company. To continue to sustain the level of confidence of quality assurance, managers need to ensure that everyone consistently adhere to their standards and ensured it is continuously measured and monitored. Where necessary corrective action should be taken as advocated by (Deming, 1982) to use of the Shewharts PDCA cycle (Plan-Do-Check-Act), as an approach to process analysis. This cycle inevitably leads to redesign and improvement in quality. Tools for solving quality problems There are several processes available for quality improvement including DMAIC(Design, Measure, Analyse, Improve and Control) and DMADV (Define, Measure, Analyse, Design and Verify) of Six Sigma improvement projects. DMAIC is used for existing processes where performance is below what is expected while DMADV is for developing new products/service in order to meet the desired quality level. Also there is the PDCA cycle as illustrated by (Finch,Byron J., 2008) where he identified seven steps to quality improvement summarised as follows: Figure 2 PDCA Quality Improvement tool (Finch,Byron J., 2008) Most organisations including MS can improve their quality by implementing any of the available quality improvement processes. Any process used need to be supported by applying appropriate tools for each step. There are various tools and techniques that can be applied as illustrated in figure 3 below Analytical tools Mostly used Frequently used Idea Generation Tools Consensus tools Process Definition Data Collection Analysing Cause effect Analysing displaying data Planning tools Meeting management tools Benchmarking Questionnaires PLAN Problem identification Analysis of current situation Analysis root causes CHECK Selection planning of solution Check result ACT Standardise Conclusion / next cycle Figure 3 Quality Improvement Tools Technique Matrix (Swanson, 1995) In using the above tools and techniques, analysts should list activities to be carried out and the expected output/results of each step. Though not prescriptive in nature employees or analysts can be flexible with the tools they apply depending on the situation theyre faced. The quality improvement models identified above provides an iterative steps but do not provide how the steps are to be prosecuted but there are tools that will aid the accomplishments of the steps identified within the quality improvement model. These tools as identified by (Swanson, 1995) are not exhaustive but majority of them have been converted into a matrix as illustrated in figure 4 below. Idea Generation Tools Consensus tools Process Definition Data Collection Analysing Cause effect Analysing displaying data Planning tools Meeting management tools Benchmarking Questionnaires Figure 4 Tools and techniques matrix Quality Awards and Quality Standards Many customers are quality assured knowing a business has quality award accreditation. It provides the customer with the confidence that they are buying quality product or quality service. In many cases businesses use quality award as marketing tool which are visible in their marketing and promotion. In some cases some businesses can afford to charge at a premium as a result of quality accreditation. A quality award enables a business or organisation to conform to certain specified standard. A standard that must be consistently adhered to and where a business conducts its business internationally, it may well be a requirement to have and internationally recognised quality standard accreditation. Two internationally recognised standards are the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the International Standards Organisation. The ISO is one of the most world-acclaimed quality standard award/accreditation is the ISO quality standards amongst others. According to (International Stand ards Organisation Discover ISO, 2010) the objectives of the standards where implemented, are to enable products/services to be more efficient, safer and cleaner; trade facilitation; assist governments with technical foundation for legislation in health safety; sharing of good management practice; safeguarding of consumers and making life simpler. With the insistence of having ISO quality standard in place, it ensures that certified company have the capacity, capability and infrastructure available to produce quality products/services. (Finch,Byron J., 2008). There are various other specific awards depending on the industry. Marks and Spencer especially in the last couple of years have had several awards in recognition of its performance when compared to its competitors in the industry. Some of these awards include are listed below. Awards Position Environmental Investigation Agencys Supermarket refrigeration table Winner Cosmopolitan Magazine Awards Winner of Most Ethical retailer Carbon Trust standard Certification Pesticide Action Network UK supermarket pesticide league table Winner Ethisphere Worlds Most Ethical Companies Top 100 Consumer Focus Green to the Core supermarket league table Joint Winner Greener Package Awards Retail Leadership Award RSPCA Good Business Awards Fashion Commitment Award Letsrecycle.com Awards High Street Recycling Champion 2009 International Wine Challenge Awards Environmental Initiative of the year Forest Footprint Disclosure Project Best General Retail Sector Performer Business in the Community 2009 Corporate Responsibility Index Platinum performer The Independent Green Awards 2010 Best Supermarket ENDS Carbon 2009 Brand Emissions Leader Figure 5 MS Awards (Marks and Spencer, 2010) Conclusion Most organisations including MS strive to continue to satisfy or meet their customer requirements. MS over years have consistently developed and sell quality products to their consumers. This is reflected as they continue to dominate their industry and the fact that consumers believes that whatever they purchase from MS, it is essentially a quality item. Total Quality Management is a continuous process and must have the contribution of everyone in the organisation from the corporate leadership right down to the shop floor staff in order for the organisation to continue to meet their responsibility in delivering quality. Organisations with quality standards and awards must continually review their processes and find a way to continue to improve in order to maintain their market share and most importantly their profitability and competitiveness.