Story of Moses in Exodus Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Story of Moses in Exodus - Essay Example he particularity experienced by those whose heritage is distinctively Jewish---it can still have meaning for such outsider communities who embrace the Old Testament stories as a spiritualization of their own struggles, which is ultimately sustaining, respectful, and prestinating others' lives. Here it will be examined why Moses was chosen, what life was probably like for Moses as an exile, and what it was like for Moses to be a chosen leader. One of the purposes of Moses being chosen, was that it was a way to perpetuate the life of the children of Israel. In Egypt, they may have perished if they had continued under the Pharaoh, since Hebrew infant males were being killed. And, it was through this chosen agent of Moses that God, in essence, saved the children of Israel. For the purpose of this paper, here the focus will be given to select verses in Exodus 14 which deal with the parting of the Red Sea. The children of Israel passed through the waters and didn't have to worry about the waters closing in on them, while the Lord made the vehicles in which the Egyptians were pursuing the Israelites (so that they could enslave them again) to disintegrate. "He clogged their chariot wheels so that they turned with difficulty. The Egyptians said, 'Let us flee from the Israelites, for the Lord is fighting for them against Egypt.'" (Exodus 14:25) "Thus the Lord saved Israel that day from the Egyptians; and Israel saw the Egyptians dead on the seashore." (Exodus 14:30) In Ada Maria Isasi-Diaz's book Mujerista Theology, she examines an article called "By the Rivers of Babylon: Exile as a Way of Life." We can only imagine that life was similar for Moses and his people in exile after they crossed the Red Sea. Isasi-Diaz describes her expulsion from Cuba and how she had to struggle with the aspect of having been basically thrown out of her country. She seeks to reclaim this part of her by still remaining faithful to the idea that she wants the flag "draped on her tomb" when she dies, even though she is sin patria (without a country) and sin amo (without a master); she elaborates that "the multi-layered oppression made possible and sustained in all aspects of our lives by sexism, racism/ethnic prejudice, and work to become agents of our own history-the challenge to be self-defining and self-actualizing [human beings]-as an intrinsic element. For this challenge to be met, we know that we have to develop and strengthen our moral agency."1 It is important to note that, much like Ada Maria under Cuban rule, Moses and his people faced all kinds of oppression under the rule of Pharaoh-and once they became exiles they faced different kinds

Conflicts of the Twentieth Century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Conflicts of the Twentieth Century - Essay Example Through World War I, World War II, and the Cold War, the nations of Germany and Japan played critical roles. In the years before World War I, Germany's nationalism reached full tilt. The Germans were proud of their empire, military, and industry. They were keen to defend their empire against others, especially the British, who were shocked to find Germany's industrial output topping their own. In 1905 and 1911, competition for colonies brought France and Germany to the brink of war. Diplomacy prevented the outbreak of war then, but Germany did gain some territory in central Africa (Blum, Cameron, and Barnes, 1970, 320). Militarism in Germany also helped drive the world closer to war. The public viewed war with romantic eyes, and the notion of Social Darwinism suggested that, if a nation could become powerful enough to take what it wanted, then it ought to have it. As nations spent more and more money to create grand fighting machines, it must have seemed almost a shame to them to have no excuse to use them - much like a new yellow belt in a Tae Kwon Do class who is eagerly waiting for the school bully to give him an excuse to practice his martial arts. Germany's army and navy swelled in size to protect its empire and homeland, and other nation's reacted accordingly. Germany's military leadership encouraged aggression. Helmuth von Moltke, a high-ranking strategist, declared, "The German people must be made to see that we have to attack because of enemies' provocation. . . . [W]ar must seem like a deliverance from the great armaments, the financial burdens, the political tensions. . . ." (Snyder, 196 0, 377) Germany's participation in the alliance system also helped create the conflict of World War I. Kaiser William II encouraged Francis Joseph to take a firm stand against Serbia. The alliance system affected the nations of Europe and America, too. What should have been a small, localized conflict turned into a deadly contest between Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy on one side, and France and Britain (and eventually the US) on the other side (Unger and Unger, 1990, 257). Germany's role in World War I had direct effects on Americans. Unrestricted submarine warfare by the German's helped draw America into the war. Americans on European vessels such as the Sussex and Lusitania would be killed while crossing the Atlantic. (They had been warned not to cross on those European ships, but this detail is often omitted in our national memory). America would be "threatened" from the south as German leaders encouraged Mexico to launch an attack against the US to regain its land lost in the Mexican-American War. The Zimmerman note sought to bring Mexico into the war. Germany forced America to decide between isolationism and a defense of democracy (Unger and Unger, 1990, 145). Likewise, Germany's role in World War II is hard to overstate. They were well-equipped for war, with plenty of material resources and a new leadership that captured public attention. Taking advantage of political instability and a fear of communism, Hitler speeded the rise of the Nazi Party. Concentrating on the unfairness of the Treaty of Versailles, the Jewish "problem," and a bad

Czech Political Parties Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Czech Political Parties - Essay Example The upper house, or Senate, elects members every two years for six-year terms (81 total); the lower house, or Chamber of Deputies, has 200 members who are elected for four-year terms. The political parties often join together in coalitions to form a majority or other bloc of votes in the government. Five parties have 10 or more representatives in the Chamber of Deputies; one deputy is an independent (Czechcentrum.cz). More parties hold seats in the Senate, but only two hold more than 10 seats, the Civic Democratic Party (ODS) and the Coalition of Four (tykoalice), a coalition of four smaller political parties. The country's oldest political party is the Czech Social Democratic Party (CSSD), formed in 1878 under the old Austro-Hungarian Empire. According to the official Czech government website, the CSSD helped in the formation of Czechoslovakia after WWI and merged with the Communist Party in 1948. It favors a "social market" economy but has also led the drive to privatize former state-owned industries, including the country's large telecommunications system. It is considered left-of-center. The CSSD is most popular with working-class voters in industrial centers, trade union members and public service employees. It is similar to the Social Democratic Party in Germany and the British Labour Party and strongly in favor of the European Union, which the country joined in 2004.

Tanglewood casebook Essay Example for Free

Tanglewood casebook Essay The store associate position is one that mainly deals with assisting customers, be it to find certain products, deal with issues, or to just make their experience a pleasant one while dealing with the daily operations of the store. The open method to recruiting means that we are casting a wide net to catch any applicants that we can and see what we get. It’s possible that we may get exactly what we are looking for, but it’s possible that it may just be wasted resources. I recommend the targeted method to recruitment, which means that we are going to go for a specific group of people with specific KSAOs. By using the targeted method we will address some of the staffs concerns about hiring new store associates. The first concern was to reduce turnover; by casting a smaller net, but getting more qualified individuals we may eliminate some of the turnover. This will also help with the lag time, which was the second issue, in that there will be less applicants to sift through, thus letting us get to the more qualified candidates more quickly. This will help us target the applicants we want, which were college to middle age individuals with at least a high school diploma, preferably some college course work, with retail and customer service experience. By getting employees that already have customer service experience, they will already know what they are getting themselves into and what the expectation may be. Hopefully this will also help to acquire people who fit into the culture and are looking for a career and not just a job. By using online applications with specific requirements we will better be able to target these applicants. The same goes for staffing agencies, though costly, we will more effectively acquire qualified individuals. Employee referrals may be a good way to keep up employee relations and morale, but it may not lead to the type of individuals we need. The same goes for open applications. 3) In Western Washington, the highest one year retention rate compared to the amount of applicants hired was by job service agency, followed by employee referrals. This seemed to be effective for them, because the most qualified individuals fell into the referral category, however the total cost was significantly higher for employee referrals at this site, though after a year of survival ended up being the most cost effective method of hiring. In Eastern Washington, the referral method came out the most effective as far as retention rates went, followed by the kiosk method. Following the same trend as the Western Washington region, these individuals seemed to be the most qualified. Again similar to the previous region it also was the most expensive as far as total cost went, but the most effective as far as cost per first year of survival. In Northern Oregon, the agency method had an extremely high retention rate after the first year of hire, followed by the kiosk method. In this region the kiosk method was the most expensive followed by hiring agencies. The hiring agency was the most effective after the first year of hire. In Southern Oregon, a similar trend happens compared to Northern Oregon. The agency method has a the highest post one year retention rate, followed by the referral method. And similar to Northern Oregon, it is the second most expensive as far as total cost goes, but the most effective as far as post first year hire cost is concerned. 4) It would be ineffective to follow the same hiring methods for all four regions in that in both Oregon based regions the best recruitment method seems to be agency based and in the Washington regions the referral method is most effective. If the company attempted to force all regions to have the same hiring standards they would incur higher cost, less effective recruitment methods, and would obtain less qualified individuals. 5) It has proven true for the company that cheaper is not always better, therefore getting the cheapest labor will not yield the most effective customer service. It would be beneficial to rate employee performance in accordance to high, middle, and low performers and to discuss with them how they feel they are doing in conjunction with suggestions on yielding better performance. Better performance should come with some type of reward, for example an extra vacation day, a more desirable assignment, or an annual pay increase. It also would be beneficial to employees to have additional training in customer service issues in order to prepare them for what issues they may run into. As far as the bottom line hiring requirements go, at least a year of customer service related experience should be required for employment. As previously stated this will ensure that these new candidates will know what to expect from their job, and what expectations an employer would have of them. (Please refer to question 2 for how managerial concerns will be addressed.) 6) The targeted method would be aiming at a specific group of candidates. They may say that they are searching for a candidate with some completed college coursework and customer service experience looking to work as a store associate at Tanglewood. It also should state that if the associate seems promising they may be put on the fast track to management if they desire. The realistic method gives a real view of what the job would entail. It may say something like dealing with day to day store issues including customer complaints. It gives an employee a real look as to what they may be doing, but some argue that it may turn away good potential candidates before they actually have the opportunity to experience both the good and the bad. The branded recruitment strategy is searching for a candidate that will fit into your brand. They may say looking for a self starting individual who wants to be part of not just a company, but a family. By doing this employees feel a tie to the company’s brand and want to work for the company and not just the job. Work Cited Heneman III, Herbert G., Judge, Timothy A., and Kammemeyer-Mueller, John D. Staffing Organizations: 7th Edition. Middleton: Mendota House, 2012. Print. Kammemeyer-Mueller, John. Tanglewood Casebook for use with Staffing Organizations: 7th Edition. Middleton: Mendota House, 2012. Print.

It 210 Week 3 Checkpoint Tax Calculation Essay Example for Free

It 210 Week 3 Checkpoint Tax Calculation Essay NetSalary = GrossSalary – BaseTax – (GrossSalary – BaseSalary * AddlTax) If GrossSalary 0.00 1,500.00 Then BaseTax = 0.00 BaseSalary = 0.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0. 15 End if If GrossSalary 1,500.00 3,000.00 Then BaseTax = 225.00 BaseSalary = 1,500.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0.16 End if If GrossSalary 3,000.00 5,000.00 Then BaseTax = 465.00 BaseSalary = 3,000.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0.18 End if If GrossSalary 5,000.00 8,000.00 Then BaseTax = 825.00 BaseSalary = 5,000.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0.20 End if If GrossSalary 8,000.00 15,000.00 Then BaseTax = 1,425.00 BaseSalary = 8,000.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0.25 End if If GrossSalary 15,000.00 Then BaseTax = 1,425.00 BaseSalary = 8,000.00 AddlTax = (Gross Salary – BaseSalary) * 0..25 End if GrossSalary – BaseTax – (GrossSalary – BaseSalary * AddlTax) End CaclulateNetSalary Module DisplayGrossSalaryBaseTaxAddlTaxNetSalary Module Print â€Å"Employee Gross Pay, Tax and Net Pay Breakdown† Print â€Å"Gross Salary† GrossSalary Print â€Å"Base Tax† BaseTax Print â€Å"Additional Tax† AddlTax Print â€Å"Net Salary† * NetSalary End DisplayGrossSalaryBaseTaxAddlTaxNetSalary Module Test Values Input Expected Output Comments Salary = 0.00 Tax = 0.00 Lowest salary in salary range 1 Salary = -1,000.00 Error Message Out of range condition Salary = 1,000.00 Tax = 150.00 Midrange salary in salary range 1 Salary= 1,499.99 Tax = 225.00 Highest salary in salary range 1 Salary = 1,500.00 Tax = 225.00 Lowest salary in salary range 2 Salary = 2,250.00 Tax = 345.00 Midrange salary in salary range 2 Salary = 2,999.99 Tax = 465.00 Highest salary in salary range 2 Salary = 3,000.00 Tax = 465.00 Lowest salary in salary range 3 Salary = 4,000.00 Tax = 645.00 Midrange salary in salary range 3 Salary = 4,999.99 Tax = 825.00 Highest salary in salary range 3 Salary = 5,000.00 Tax = 825.00 Lowest salary in salary range 4 Salary = 6,500.00 Tax = 1,095.00 Midrange salary in salary range 4 Salary = 7,999.99 Tax = 1,425.00 Highest salary in salary range 4 Salary = 8,000.00 Tax = 1,425.00 Lowest salary in salary range 5 Salary = 11,500.00 Tax = 2,300.00 Midrange salary in salary range 5 Salary = 14,999.99 Tax = 3,175.00 Highest salary in salary range 5 Salary = 15,000.00 Tax = 3,175.00 Salary that exceeds the highest salary in salary range 5 by 0.01 Salary = 100,000.00 Tax = 24,425.00 Salary that exceeds the highest salary in salary range 5

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.

The Legend of Pulau Ubin near Singapore :: Urban Legends Ghost Stories

The Legend of Pulau Ubin The story I chose to consider was about one of the small islands that surround Singapore, Pulau Ubin. This is a small island whose main industries are mining and tourism, including trails for biking and hiking. The island has an interesting past, and as a result it now has many legends and myths revolving around it. During the occupation of the Singapore by the Japanese, it was said to be where they had brought soldiers to be tortured. That is a significant reason why people believe it’s haunted. The person from whom I heard the story is one of the students who lives across the hall from me on the 7th floor in La Plata. His family comes from India, but he lived in many places since birth, one of them being Singapore, and now his family lives in New Jersey. Also, he is nineteen years old. I collected the story on the afternoon of October 14th, it was right after we had all finished classes. When I asked the storyteller if he knew any ghost stories or urban legends and myths, he first attempted to respond with, â€Å"Casper†, but I told him no I need real things you have heard. After that he jumped right into the story from Singapore about Pulau Ubin: Ok, when I lived in Singapore, its an island and there were all these surrounding islands, and one was Pulau Ubin. Like it’s not ghetto, but not with fancy resorts. People would go there for hiking and biking, stuff like that. Before, there used to be animals, like tigers, but now there aren’t any. So you would hear about every year, no every two years like you hear of a family disappearing while they went there for hiking, the whole family. They would send search parties and stuff out, and later they would find pieces of meat, like human meat. They’ve searched the island many times for any signs of animals, but they never found any. Pulau Ubin is the site of many supernatural activities from what I gathered, ranging from ghost sightings, to hunts for spiritual burial grounds and graves. Singapore is a place with a great deal of concentrated wealth. Along with this is a massive wealth gap, which often leads to many interesting beliefs and ideas. The way the person I interviewed, told the story with such seriousness that I could tell he believed it.