The Importance Of Critical Thinking In Six Sigma Methodology free essay sample

Six Sigma is a method many organizations utilize for enterprise process improvement, which employs scientific and tactical method to reduce defects and variation in production processes and/or products. As a robust business improvement methodology, Six Sigma focuses the organization on customer requirements, process alignment, analytical rigor and timely execution (Dyad, 2010). Fundamental in its approach is the application of certain problem-solving methodologies such as DYNAMIC and root cause analysis.DYNAMIC, an acronym which abbreviates Defining Measuring, Analyzing, Improving and Controlling (opportunities and performance), is a means of measuring variation and defects and improving laity. Another methodology used by Six Sigma practitioners is an approach referred to as the 5 Whys, which is a method of isolating the root cause? of process variation and/or defects by asking What caused the problem? followed by Why? five consecutive times. After the fifth response is rendered, it is assumed that root of the problem will have been revealed. We will write a custom essay sample on The Importance Of Critical Thinking In Six Sigma Methodology or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Six Sigma seeks to improve business processes through the use of DYNAMIC as its approach, with the outcome of identifying root causes of opportunities and/ or defects, and improving corporate performance. Dyad, 2010). It depends upon business statistics and numeric data analysis to drive a course of improvement. By virtue of its systematic approach, the Six Sigma methodology does employ certain levels of Benjamin Blooms six educational objectives (Ellis, 2013), such as Understanding, Applying, Analyzing and Evaluating.However, it is the means by which and extent to which it does so that necessitates further inquiry. For example, as Watson points out, analysis is conducted to identify which steps in a process map add value and which do not. For those steps that add value, statistical optimization techniques are applied. Those steps which do not add value are either eliminated or minimized (Watson, 2004).While process improvements can be achieved in this measured, formulaic manner, Six Sigma does not, at its core, evaluate its effect on outcomes which may be more difficult to measure using its methodologies, such as morale, culture, corporate politics and power (Dyad, 2010). For example, although reducing a given process to its most fundamental elements may maximize process efficiency, it may also result in vanishingly boring or stressfully fast-paced work experience for the teammate carrying out the task.This may lead to an impact on employee morale so negative that the results may inveigh the efficiency benefit of adopting the new process. Similarly, deploying a new, highly efficient process ma y result in the corporate culture to shift from a culture in which employees, highly loyal to the organization, become disgruntled and less enthusiastic about their overall work experience. Additionally, while in theory, the 5 Whys may seem to enable the Sis Sigma practitioner to get to the root f the problem, does it take into consideration concerns the teammate may have about providing the wrong information.After all, merely utilizing the 5 Whys does not guarantee that the responses elicited will be honest or accurate. And an employee desirous of impressing the boss, or at a minimum, keeping oneself out of hot water, may not have as his/her primary objective, that of being honest and forthright. The integration on CT in employing Six Sigma methodology imparts a framework for thinking, not merely for advancing corporate strategic initiatives.It demands a more universal perspective on the possible causes, contributing factors, and climate for the development of the problem. CT brings to bear a focus on evaluating the impact of the problem and the implications of various methods of addressing the problem. Applying CT not only addresses the issue in a tactical, short-ter m manner, as does Six Sigma methodology, it also involves strategically examining whether the course of action determined to be the solution will be sustainable for the future, a consideration not addressed in Six Sigma.

The eNotes Blog The David Foster WallaceDictionary

The David Foster WallaceDictionary When David Foster Wallace died in 2008, he left behind a legacy of three excellent novels, several short story collections, and numerous essays. But what many of his fans may not be familiar with is Wallaces secret preparations for (perhaps?) another project, a dictionary. Thanks to The Telegraph, some of those notes are now available online. If youre anything like me, youll find comfort in the authors shared  frustration  with words like utlization (Kill it! Kiiiill it!) and curiosity at the paradoxical nature of adjectives like colloquialism. I only wish someone else would take up the flame and create a very biased dictionary, complete with personal commentaries in the manner of DFWs. Sure, some quirky collections are out there (Foyles Philavery is one I particularly enjoy) but I crave that Wallace zing found below. Any takers? Read on for some excerpts of David Foster Wallaces amusing views on parts of the English language. Utilize A noxious puff-word. Since it does nothing that good old  use  doesn’t do, its extra letters and syllables don’t make a writer seem smarter; rather, using  utilize  makes you seem either like a pompous twit or like someone so insecure that she’ll use pointlessly big words in an attempt to look sophisticated. The same is true for the noun  utilization, for  vehicle  as used for  car, for  residence  as used for  house, for  presently,  at present,  at this time, and  at the present time  as used for  now, and so on. What’s worth remembering about puff-words is something that good writing teachers spend a lot of time drumming into undergrads: â€Å"formal writing† does not mean gratuitously fancy writing; it means clean, clear, maximally considerate writing. Pulchritude A paradoxical noun because it refers to a kind of beauty but is itself one of the ugliest words in the language. Same goes for the adj. form  pulchritudinous. They’re part of a tiny elite cadre of words that possess the opposite of the qualities they denote.  Diminutive,  big,  Ã‚  foreign,  fancy  (adj.),  classy,  colloquialism, and  monosyllabic  are some others; there are at least a dozen more. Inviting your school-age kids to list as many paradoxical words as they can is a neat way to deepen their relationship to English and help them see that words are both symbols for real things and real things themselves. Mucous An adjective, not synonymous with the noun  mucus. It’s worth noting this not only because the two words are fun but because so many people don’t know the difference.  Mucus  means the unmentionable stuff itself.Mucous  refers to (1) something that makes or secretes mucus, as in â€Å"The next morning, his mucous membranes were in rocky shape indeed,† or (2) something that consists of or resembles mucus, as in â€Å"The mucous consistency of its eggs kept the diner’s breakfast trade minimal.† Myriad As an adj.,  myriad  means (1) an indefinitely large number of something (â€Å"The Local Group comprises myriad galaxies†) or (2) made up of a great many diverse elements (â€Å"the myriad plant life of Amazonia†). As a noun, it’s used with an article and  of  to mean a large number (â€Å"The new CFO faced a myriad of cash-flow problems†). What’s odd is that some authorities consider only the adjective usage correct - there’s about a 50-50 chance that a given copy editor will query  a myriad of  - even though the noun usage has a much longer history. It was only in 19th-century poetry that  myriad  started being used as an adj. So it’s a bit of a stumper. It’s tempting to recommend avoiding the noun usage so that no readers will be bugged, but at the same time it’s true that any reader who’s bugged by  a myriad of  is both persnickety and wrong - and you can usually rebut snooty teachers, c opy editors, et al. by directing them to Coleridge’s â€Å"Myriad myriads of lives teemed forth.† Unique This is one of a class of adjectives, sometimes called â€Å"uncomparables†, that can be a little tricky. Among other uncomparables are  precise,exact,  correct,  entire,  accurate,  preferable,  inevitable,  possible,  false; there are probably two dozen in all. These adjectives all describe absolute, non-negotiable states: something is either false or it’s not; something is either inevitable or it’s not. Many writers get careless and try to modify uncomparables with comparatives like  more  and  less  or intensives like  very. But if you really think about them, the core assertions in sentences like â€Å"War is becoming increasingly inevitable as Middle East tensions rise†; â€Å"Their cost estimate was more accurate than the other firms’†; and â€Å"As a mortician, he has a very unique attitude† are nonsense. If something is inevitable, it is bound to happen; it cannot be bound to happen and then somehow e ven more bound to happen.Unique  already means one-of-a-kind, so the adj. phrase  very unique  is at best redundant and at worst stupid, like â€Å"audible to the ear† or â€Å"rectangular in shape†. You can blame the culture of marketing for some of this difficulty. As the number and rhetorical volume of US ads increase, we become inured to hyperbolic language, which then forces marketers to load superlatives and uncomparables with high-octane modifiers (special  Ã‚  very special  Ã‚  Super-special!  Ã‚  Mega-Special!!), and so on. A deeper issue implicit in the problem of uncomparables is the dissimilarities between Standard Written English and the language of advertising. Advertising English, which probably deserves to be studied as its own dialect, operates under different syntactic rules than SWE, mainly because AE’s goals and assumptions are different. Sentences like â€Å"We offer a totally unique dining experience†; â€Å"Come on down and receive your free gift†; and â€Å"Save up to 50 per cent†¦ and more!† are perfectly OK in Advertising English - but this is because Advertising English is aimed at people who are not paying close attention. If your audience is by definition involuntary, distracted and numbed, then  free gift  and  totally unique  stand a better chance of penetrating - and simple penetration is what AE is all about. One axiom of Standard Written English is that your reader is paying close attention and expects you to have done the same. Focus Focus  is now the noun of choice for expressing what people used to mean by  concentration  (â€Å"Sampras’s on-court focus was phenomenal†) and  priority  (â€Å"Our focus is on serving the needs of our customers†). As an adj., it seems often to serve as an approving synonym for  driven  ormonomaniacal: â€Å"He’s the most focused warehouse manager we’ve ever had.† As a verb, it seems isomorphic with the older  to concentrate: â€Å"Focus, people!†; â€Å"The Democrats hope that the campaign will focus on the economy†; â€Å"We need to focus on finding solutions instead of blaming each other†. Given the speed with which  to focus  has supplanted  to concentrate, it’s a little surprising that nobody objects to its somewhat jargony New Age feel - but nobody seems to. Maybe it’s because the word is only one of many film and drama terms that have entered mainstream usage in the last decad e, e.g.,  to foreground  (= to feature, to give top priority to);  to background  (= to downplay, to relegate to the back burner);  scenario  (= an outline of some hypothetical sequence of events), and so on. Fervent A beautiful and expressive word that combines the phonological charms of  verve  and  fever.  Lots of writers, though, think fervent is synonymous with  fervid, and most dictionary defs. don’t do much to disabuse them. The truth is that there’s a hierarchical trio of zeal-type adjectives, all with roots in the Latin verb  fervere  (= to boil). Even though  fervent  can also mean extremely hot, glowing (as in â€Å"Fingering his ascot, Aubrey gazed abstractedly at the brazier’s fervent coals†), it’s actually just the baseline term;  fervent  is basically synonymous with ardent.  Fervid  is the next level up; it connotes even more passion/devotion/eagerness than fervent. At the top is  perfervid, which means extravagantly, rabidly, uncontrollably zealous or impassioned.  Perfervid  deserves to be used more, not only for its internal alliteration and metrical pizzazz but because its deployment usually shows that the writ er knows the differences between the three  fervere  words. Feckless A totally great adjective.  Feckless  primarily means deficient in efficacy, i.e., lacking vigor or determination, feeble; but it can also mean careless, profligate, irresponsible. It appears most often now in connection with wastoid youths, bloated bureaucracies - anyone who’s culpable for his own haplessness. The great thing about using  feckless  is that it lets you be extremely dismissive and mean without sounding mean; you just sound witty and classy. The word’s also fun to read because of the soft  eassonance and the  k  sound - the triply assonant noun form is even more fun. Noma This medical noun signifies an especially icky ulcerous infection of the mouth or genitals. Because the condition most commonly strikes children living in abject poverty/squalor, it’s a bit like scrofula. And just as the adj.  scrofulous  has gradually extended its sense to mean â€Å"corrupt, degenerate, gnarly†, so  nomal  seems ripe for similar extension; it could serve as a slightly obscure or erudite synonym for â€Å"scrofulous, repulsive, pathetically gross, grossly pathetic†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ you get the idea. Hairy There are maybe more descriptors for various kinds of hair and hairiness than any other word-set in English, and some of them are extremely strange and fun. The more pedestrian terms like  shaggy,  unshorn,  bushy,  coiffed, and so on we’ll figure you already know. The adj.  barbigerous  is an extremely uptown synonym for  bearded.  Cirrose  and  cirrous, from the Latin  cirrus  meaning â€Å"curl† or â€Å"fringe† (as in  cirrus clouds), can both be used to refer to somebody’s curly or tufty or wispy/feathery hair - Nicolas Cage’s hair in  Adaptation  is cirrose.  Crinite  means â€Å"hairy or possessed of a hair-like appendage†, though it’s mainly a botanical term and would be a bit eccentric applied to a person.  Crinose, though, is a people-adj. that means â€Å"having a lot of hair†, especially in the sense of one’s hair being really long. The related nouncrinosity  is antiquate d but not obsolete and can be used to refer to somebody’s hair in an amusingly donnish way, as in  Madonna’s normally platinum crinosity is now a maternal brown.  Glabrous, which is the loveliest of all hair-related adjectives, means having no hair (on a given part) at all. Please note that  glabrous  means more baby’s-bottom-hairless than bald or shaved, though if you wanted to describe a bald person in an ironically fancy way you could talk about his  glabrous domeor something.  Hirsute  is probably the most familiar upmarket synonym for  hairy, totally at home in any kind of formal writing. Like that of many hair-related adjectives,  hirsute’s original use was in botany (where it means â€Å"covered with coarse or bristly hairs†), but in regular usage its definition is much more general.  Hispid  means â€Å"covered with stiff or rough little hairs† and could apply to a military pate or unshaved jaw.Hispidulous  is mainly just a puffed-up form of  hispid  and should be avoided.  Lanate  and  lanated  mean â€Å"having or being composed of woolly hairs†. A prettier and slightly more familiar way to describe woolly hair is with the adjective  flocculent. (There’s also  floccose, but this is used mainly of odd little hairy fruits like kiwi and quince.) Then there are thepil-based words, all derived from the Latin  pilus  (= hair).  Pilose, another fairly common adj., means â€Å"covered with fine soft hair†. Last but not least is the noun  pilimiction, which names a hopefully very rare medical disorder â€Å"in which piliform or hair-like bodies are passed in the urine†. Outside of maybe describing some kind of terribly excruciated facial expression as  pilimictive, however, it’s hard to imagine a mainstream use for  pilimiction.  Tomentose  means â€Å"covered with dense little matted hairs† - baby chimps, hobbitsâ€℠¢ feet and Robin Williams are alltomentose.  Ulotrichous, which is properly classed with  lannate  andflocculent, is an old term for â€Å"crisply woolly hair†. Be advised that it is also, if not exactly a racist adj., certainly a racial one - AC Haddon’sRaces of Man, from the early 1900s, classified races according to three basic hair types:  leiotrichous  (straight),  cymotrichous  (wavy) andulotrichous.

Learning and memory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Learning and memory - Essay Example Senator and a ruthless political operative, played by Angela Lansbury. By programming his memory in this manner, the Koreans are able to program him into a killing machine. The cards function as the hypnotic device, while the Queen of Diamonds is the direct conditioning stimulus. Once he has killed, the soldier fails to remember his actions when the hypnotic spell is broken and his mind is wiped completely clear of any memory of his criminal acts in killing others. In effect, he suffers from a case of partial amnesia whenever he is conditioned and primed by the stimulus of the cards, so that the events occurring during the spell when he is conditioned are completely wiped out of his conscious memory. Implicit memory also plays a role in this film. Implicit memory is a separate kind of memory in which a person’s previous experiences may aid in the performance of a task without a conscious awareness of these previous experiences (Schacter, 1987). This is the case with the character of the soldier programmed to kill, as played by Laurence Harvey. He has been taught how to kill without scruples during a hypnosis session involving all of his team mates. In ordinary circumstances, his sense of ethics and morals could have functioned as a bar to indiscriminate killing and he would have found it acceptable to kill only in a war situation, being a soldier. However, under a state of hypnosis when he is in a temporary state of amnesia, his explicit memory of killing as a soldier serves to enable him to perform killing tasks with unimpaired ability because he always visualizes himself as being in a collective, combat situation with his team mates. However, these memories do remain as a part of his unconscious memory and the film deals with how one of his team mates helps him to break the amnesia that is cast upon him through conditioning. In the case of the character of Marco played by Frank Sinatra, the collective programming of memory that has

Question Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Question - Essay Example Naturalistic observation does not require active involvement with the environment from which the data is being collected from; the latter does. The second choice is the period of observation. The observation can be carried out once or repeated for a number of times. The third choice pertains to data recording method. The data can be recorded or notes short notes taken as the data is gathered. Observation can also be done and the data computed after the observation process. The fourth choice relates to the scope of observation. The observation can be done on a single environment that best treats the variables of the data being gathered, or a number of environments can be integrated into the observation process. Another choice is made on the variables to be observed at a go. Observation can be done at once for all the variables constituted in the data gathering procedure, or observation data for each variable be considered one at a time. The scale contains numerical values, but the importance of the scale is to gather data that is of importance over and above the numerical values. Descriptions of what the numbers mean are valuable to the respondent because it allows the respondent to express his or her true opinion in regard to the issue in question. Different respondents have different experiences and may not rate their experiences the same way. Outlining the meaning of the numbers identifies the respondent to each category of numbers given the response required. Purpose of the interview- The goal and objective of undertaking an interview determines the scope of the interview. All encompassed variables of the interview should be considered before the interview questions are developed. Phrasing questions- Questions should be direct to the main idea of the interview. Proper language should be used in regard to the identified participants. Simple questions are favorable, and each question should be asked

Where next for Grant Garden Centres Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Where next for Grant Garden Centres - Essay Example primarily located in the Farmoor village in South East London. The company is headed by John Grant. Jane and Malcolm daughter and son of John are also a part of the family business. The study looks to analyze and find out the key pain points of the business with respect to core business areas such as marketing, HR, finance and operations and provide a probable solution to overcome the hindrance caused by the pain points. During the course of the study various strategic and analytical frame works such as PEST analysis, SWOT analysis, etc has been used to get the desired outcome (Henry, 2008, p.89). External environment Analysis External or Macro environmental factors include factors that cannot be controlled by the organization and yet those factors tend to have a major impact on the business operations. Hence, an organization should keep a close eye on the developments of those factors and develop or modify business operations accordingly. The external environmental factors include P olitical, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors of (PESTEL). In the context of the present study two key factors in the form of Environmental and Technological has been chosen. Environmental With the rising threat of global warming people, government as well as corporate entities have become a lot more environment conscious. Keeping in mind the product is being produced by the company it provides a great opportunity to the company. This can help the company to grow business by targeting both B2B and B2C customer segment. Technological Technological changes have affected the business operations of companies round globe. Now days most of divisions in a company are IT enabled. Also rise of digital media has made sure that a website of a company becomes the face of the business. If a company does not have a website then it is equivalent to business suicide. Therefore, it is very important for Grant Garden Centres to become familiar with the technological facto r and use them to the fullest advantage. SWOT Analysis Strengths John’s passion for gardening Expansion of business to two different locations Revenue growth in 2005 to 2009 was 20% which indicates sustainable growth. Weaknesses Autocratic Attitude of the business head Lack of formal recruitment and selections process High Employee turn over Marketing and communications activity are not up to the mark. Lack of appropriate job delegation Lack of customer service and product training Lack of IT enablement Absence of company website Profitability and liquidity position are poor. Opportunity Customers as well as the governments have become a lot more conscious about environment There lies scope to use IT facilities to make the business operations a lot more robust in nature The company can achieve economies of scale if it reduces the operating cost and liquidate stock faster. Customers will prefer cash purchase if the company increase the promotion in effective way. Threats Recen t opening of a DIY store is a major threat considering the unstructured business operations. Losses of customers as there are very little customers that are repeating to the centres. 40% of the customers are over 55; i.e. the company is positioned as a youth oriented brand due to the traditional business outfit. Product diversification by other chains Under utilization of the land available. Recommended Action Plan From the above analysis it is quite clear that Grant Garden Centres needs to work upon each of the key business areas including Marketing, HR, Operations and finance. Therefore while delivering the recommended action plans each of the areas have

The Study Of Error Analysis | Essay

The Study Of Error Analysis | Essay S.P. Corder is the parent of the scientific method that focuses on the errors learners make. He is considered as one of the main exponents of Error Analysis and that actually became a recognized part of applied linguistics. In Corders article (1967), entitled The significance of learners errors, the author investigates error analysis from a completely different perspective. Whereas, before Corder, errors used to be seen as defects that needed to be eliminated without giving too much attention to their role in second language acquisition, with Corder we begin to see how errors are indispensable for the learners themselves. In fact, according to Corder, errors could be regarded as a device the learner uses in order to learn the language. He states, we interpret his incorrect utterances as being evidence that he is in the process of acquiring language (p. 165). Lightbown and Spada (2006) agree with Corders claim that error analysis sights to discover and describe different kinds of erro rs with the intention of understanding how students attain a second language. Corders argument that learners errors are signals of actual learning is supported by another researcher of error analysis, James M. Hendrickson (1978), who points out, not only do all language learners necessarily produce errors when they communicate, but systematic analysis of errors can provide useful insights into the processes of language acquisition (p. 388). Thus, they both celebrate the fact that errors are significant and essential in the study of Second Language Acquisition. Corder demonstrates that not only do errors play a crucial role to the individual who can learn from these errors, but also to the teachers as they are able to track each students progress, and even to the researchers as they demonstrate how a language acquired and what strategies the learners use. Related to this, is the concept of how many errors are due to the fact that the learner uses structures, which derive from the native language. In Corders view, the possession of ones native language is facilitative, as errors in this case represent evidence of ones learning strategies. Dulay and Burt (1974) in their study maintain the same idea. In other words, they endorse that the childs errors are not indicators of faulty learning nor a need for instructional intervention (p. 135). To put it succinctly, they emphasize that making errors is vital in the learning process, and learners need to know the kind of errors they utter. Hence, before moving on the next notion that Corders article researches, it is essential to report the distinction that the author makes between systematic and non-systematic errors. Unsystematic errors occur in ones native language; Corder calls these mistakes and asserts that they are not significant to the process of language learning. On the other hand, he defines errors the systematic ones that are likely to occur repeatedly and that are not recognized by the learners. Such insight plays a significant role in linguistic research, and in the way linguists look at errors, understand them, and apply their outcomes to improve language competence. Moreover, Corder suggests that when a learner makes an error, the most efficient way to teach him/her the correct form is not by simply giving the correct answer to him/her, but by introducing a self-correctability criterion, in which the learner has to discover and find the correct linguistic form. In this way, learners should be given ample opportunities and sufficient time to self-correct. The standard way of thinking about error correction is that its purpose is to improve learners accuracy and language acquisition. I have always believed that providing students with immediate corrective and constructive feedback would have helped them acquire a new language better. When I was in high school, I used to think that it was the teachers responsibility to offer us, learners, corrections of our errors and that we were supposed to follow teachers instructions firmly. However, as a teacher, I have a totally different point of view. I support the idea that the audio-lingual approach to teaching a language is helpful in the sense that we learn grammar through memorization of dialogues and drills, but I find Corders argument of making language teaching in a more humanistic and less mechanistic way to be more persuasive. With this new trend comes the idea of learners different needs and styles. I currently learn basic Cantonese and Spanish through behaviorist theory. I am not yet a fluent speaker of those two languages but I put more efforts to acquire these language strands via repetition and mimicry. Although I find this to be an interesting and fascinating learning process, on closer examination I admire the idea that language teaching now follows more modern theories, which take into account students needs and wants. Because students are different from one another, they may react differently to their teachers error correction. Therefore, it is extremely critical that we, as language teachers, create a safe and supportive classroom environment in which our students can feel confident and at their ease about expressing their thoughts and ideas freely without suffering the threat or embarrassment of having each one of their incorrect language utterances corrected. As Mark R. Freiermuth (1997) advocates in his essay, errors are inevitable in the language classroom, but they should be addressed in a rational and consistent manner (p.6). In conclusion, although the study of error analysis is still quite speculative as we do not have a well-defined answer for who should correct the errors, when they should be corrected, and how they should be brought to the learners attention, we should keep in mind that there are techniques and strategies for error correction that we ought to implement in our classrooms. Interestingly, as I mentioned earlier, Corder views errors deriving from the learners L1 not as inhibitory, but as something that could aid to their learning growth, whether the learners are children or adults. As we studied in this class, many could count as factors for the L1 transfer errors in the acquisition of English. Among these are age, motivation, intelligence, time of exposure to the target language, place and purpose of learning English. Those can surely influence SLA and in some cases they can obstruct communication. It is our job, therefore, to provide our students with constant support and guidance, and ensure a pleasant and growing ambience.

The Irony of Abortion :: Argumentative Persuasive Topics

The Irony of Abortion It is ironic that, in a nation that defines individual rights as supremely sacred, the most basic right to life is being systematically denied 1,500,000 persons each year. This is not done in the name of God but in the name of choice, pro-choice to be exact. Admittedly, too many young mothers find themselves in unwanted situations which carry with them very difficult and painful decisions. This we cannot overlook. They deserve our mercy, compassion, and love rather than harsh words and uncharitable judgment. Nonetheless, their difficult plight can never warrant an unwarranted solution; the extermination of their defenseless baby. Eliminating the problem resolves nothing, but instead often triggers a long path of guilt and depression. In a haste to solve the problem, we ignore the long term consequences for both mother and child. Both will inevitably suffer. Ours has become a culture of death for the child..and the mother. One dies physically, the other begins dying spiritually and emotionally. Thus under the banner of freedom we enslave souls. In a thirst for "rights" we respect no one's rights. And in a frenzy to respect a woman's choice, we impede her from making a choice according to the truth which would free her from a false sense o f liberty, from the lies of propaganda, convenience, and our me first generation. Most especially, however, the rights of the Creator are snubbed. The child who exists in the womb - as well as the parents of the child - were created by God in a pure act of love. He responded in love to the union of a couple by giving them the gift of an infant. You see, it takes three to have a baby; the mother, the father, and Almighty God. They give the material element, while He gives the spiritual. They co-create with Him. He unites a soul to the matter which they have given. So when parents decide to abort their newly conceived child, it is a horrible infringement on the rights of God. He alone is Master of life and death, not we. We have no inalienable right to choose when someone will come into existence (we can do all in our power to bring about a child, but if our Lord does not respond, then nothing happens.) Nor do we have the right to decide when someone will cease to exist on this world.

How Does the Author Present Human Nature in Lord of the Flies?

Lord of the Flies is a novel written by William Golding, it was published in 1954. It is an allegorical novel in which Golding uses many powerful symbols to present his ideology about human nature. In this novel human nature is seen as a theme which runs through the entire novel. In this essay I will give examples of how Golding presents Human Nature in Lord of the Flies. The quote â€Å"where’s the man with the megaphone? † connotes Human Nature. When the boys land on the island after greeting one anther they ask for others. This shows Human Nature because naturally they are curious about their surroundings; this is developed in each human from a very young age. Looking for other people when you are lost is a common thing to do. Human Nature is presented through the pronoun â€Å"where† because as most humans would do when they are lost, they are questioning things. â€Å"We’ve got to have rules and obey them. † When Ralph starts to desire rules it is the beginning of civilization on the island. Rules are a way of keeping everything under control so that everyone behaves and all rights are equal. The noun â€Å"rules† represents Human Nature. It connects with the principle of Human Nature where naturally rules are desired to keep everything in line. Rules have been made dating back to biblical times to restore law and order. Without rules there is chaos, the fact that this boy has recognized that rules are needed to be made and obeyed shows the impact not only human nature but society has on all of us. The conch is a strong symbol of rules and rules relate to civilization. The conch was one of the first set of rules made on the island. No boy may speak unless he is holding the conch and once he is holding it, he cannot be interrupted. The boys have imposed this â€Å"rule of the conch† on themselves, and thus the conch represents society’s rules. We have rules so that we act civilized, desiring to be civilized is simply part of our Human Nature. Human Nature is presented through the event of Jack killing the pig. â€Å"His mind was crowded with memories; memories of the knowledge†¦.. taken away its life like a long satisfying drink† this quotation gives the reader chance to explore the mental state of Jack in the aftermath of killing his First Pig. Jack is overjoyed by kill and is unable to think straight as his mind is â€Å"crowded with memories†. A flaw of Human Nature is the feeling of power it’s something all humans desire unfortunately the lengths some people will go for power can be extreme. Golding explicitly connects Jack's exhilaration with the feelings of power and superiority he experienced in killing the pig even If it is not a good thing. Jack's excitement stems not from pride at having found food and helped the group but from having â€Å"outwitted† another creature and â€Å"imposed† his will upon it. Ralph Wept for the end of innocence, the darkness of man’s heart† this is at the end of the novel when Ralph realizes that although he is saved from death on the island. He will never be the same again. He as well has lost his innocence and learned about the evil that lurks within all human beings. The phrase â€Å"darkness of man’s heart,† talks about the pres ence of evil instincts lurking within all human beings, no matter how civilized you may be. This connotes Human Nature as it talks about something that is within all humans naturally just that some people are able to suppress the evilness. The question that rises in this novel is whether these boys where evil all along or whether it was the effect the environment had on their nature. Human Nature is presented in the novel as the protagonist Ralph and the antagonist Jack. It is clear that when they both land on the island they both appear as immature kids who wanted to get back home. It is part of their Human Nature to return back to where they came from, which is what they try to do. â€Å"You’ll get back to where you came from† here Simon talks and acts almost as if he was a prophet, as if he knows truly that they were going to go home. It is in their nature to go somewhere knowingly that eventually they will go back to where they came from. Golding’s use of words in the novel and the way he presents Human Nature through different techniques makes us question Human Nature. The novel mostly focuses on Humans Nature being the cause of Society’s Flaws. The novel makes you think about Human Nature as a whole and whether these boys were capable of killing each other from the beginning or whether it was due to their surroundings. It also makes you think about yourself; someone who is affected by human nature; if you were left on an island at a young age to tend for yourself what would become of you. In this novel Jack the antagonist has his first experience of killing a pig at first he couldn't do it, but eventfully he did. This urge then took over his innocence and turned him into a murdering savage. It is clear in Lord of the Flies that Golding believes Human Nature to be evil.

Implications of Information Technology in Developing Countries Essay

The survival and growth of organizations in an increasingly turbulent environment would depend upon effective utilization of information technology for aligning the organizational structure with environmental preferences and for creating symbiotic interorganizational structures. How can IT help the organizations in responding to the challenges of an increasingly complex and uncertain environment? How can IT help the organizations achieve the flexible organization structure? These are the topics that remains to be a matter of question for many developing countries. Although Information technology is still a .black box . technology for developing countries, it is largely applied in industrialised countries to the disadvantage of the majority of developing countries. This paper will try to illuminate the aspects and the impact of Information Technology in managing organizational change and its implications for developing countries. 1. Introduction The rate and magnitude of change are rapidly outpacing the complex of theories. economic, social, and philosophical on which public and private decisions are based. To the extent that we continue to view the world from the perspective of an earlier, vanishing age, we will continue to misunderstand the developments surrounding the transition to an information society, be unable to realize the full economic and social potential of this revolutionary technology, and risk making some very serious mistakes as reality and the theories we use to interpret it continue to diverge..-Arthur Cordell(1987). We have modified our environment so radically that we must modify ourselves in order to exist in this new environment..Norbert Wiener(1957) The survival and growth of organizations in an increasingly turbulent environment would depend upon effective utilization of information technology for aligning the organizational structure with environmental preferences and for creating symbiotic interorganizational structures. How can IT help the organizations in responding to the challenges of an increasingly complex and uncertain environment? How can IT help the organizations achieve the .flexible. organization structure? These are the topics that remains to be a matter of question for many developing countries. This study will try to illuminate the aspects and the impact of Information Technology in managing organizational change and its implications for developing countries. 2. Aspects of Information Technology Information technology (IT) may be defined as the convergence of electronics, computing, and telecommunications. It has unleashed a tidal wave of technological innovation in the collecting, storing, processing, transmission, and presentation of information that has not only transformed the information technology sector itself into a highly dynamic and expanding field of activity – creating new markets and generating new investment, income, and jobs- but also provided other sectors with more rapid and efficient mechanisms for responding to shifts in demand patterns and changes in international comparative advantages, through more efficient production processes and new and improved products and services (e.g. replacing mechanical and electromechanical components, upgrading traditional products by creating new product functions, incorporating skills and functions into equipment, automating routine work, making technical, professional, or finan cial services more transportable). The development of IT is intimately associated with the overwhelming advances recently accomplished in microelectronics. Based on scientific and technological breakthroughs in transistors, semiconductors, and integrated circuits (â€Å"chips†), micro-electronics is affecting every other branch of the economy, in terms of both its present and future employment and skill requirements and its future market prospects. Its introduction has resulted in a drastic fall in costs as well as dramatically improved technical performance both within the electronics industry and outside it (Malone and Rockart, 1993). The continuous rise in the number of features on a single micro-electronic chip has permitted lower assembly costs for electronic equipment (each chip replacing many discrete components), faster switching speeds (thus faster and more powerful computers), and more reliable, smaller, and lighter equipment (fewer interconnections, less power and material). Similar dramatic falls in costs occurred in the transport and steel industries in the nineteenth century and in energy in the twentieth, associated with the emergence of the third and fourth Kondratiev cycles, respectively. The potential effects of microelectronics are thus very far-reaching, for its use in production saves on virtually all inputs, ranging from skilled and unskilled labor to energy, materials, andcapital. All sectors of the economy have been influenced by the development of IT applications: information technology opens up greater opportunities for the exploitation of economies of scale and scope, allows the more flexible production and use of labor and equipment, promotes the internationalization of production and markets, offers greater mobility and flexibility in capital and financial flows and services, and is frequently the precondition for the creation of innovative financial instruments. Information system developments are constantly being applied to increase the productivity, quality, and efficiency of finance, banking, business management, and public administration. In manufacturing, and to some extent in agriculture, many processes have been automated, some requiring highly flexible, self-regulating machines, or robots. The engineering industry has been transformed by computer-aided design and three-dimensional computerized screen displays. The pace of technological change in IT will most likely accelerate the already observable growth in the interdependence of international relations not just economic or financial, but also political and cultural. National economies have become more susceptible to the effects of policy decisions taken at the international level, and domestic economic measures are having increased impacts on economic policies of other countries. World markets for the consumption of similar goods are growing, and so are common lifestyles across national borders. The advance of telecommunications and computerization has recently enabled large companies to use information systems to transmit technical and economic information among numerous computer systems at different geographical locations, subjecting widely dispersed industrial plants to direct managerial control from a central location; this affects the international division of labor and production and international trade, changing the patterns of industrial ownership and control, altering the competitive standing of individual countries, and creating new trading partners. It is the integration of functions that confers on information technology its real economic and social significance. More than just a gradual and incremental technological evolution leading to improved ways of carrying out traditional manufacturing processes (i.e. simply the substitution of new technologies for existing systems and the rationalization of standard activities), IT offers the opportunity for completely new ways of working through systems integration. Rather than applying one item of new technology to each of the production functions now performed at distinct stages of the production process, i.e. design, production, marketing, and distribution (in what could be called â€Å"stand-alone† improvements or â€Å"island automation†), having evolved in to new technologies, i.e. Enterprise Resource Planning systems, IT offers the possibility of linking design to production (e.g. through programmable manufacturing, measuring, and testing equipment responding to the codification of design), planning and design to marketing and distribution (e.g. through a variety of computer aids and databases that sense and collect changing market trends), production to distribution (e.g. by automatically incorporating orders and commissions by customers and suppliers into the production process), etc. The complete integration of all these production subsystems in a synergistic ensemble is still more a long-term trend than a reality, but use of automated equipment to link together individual items of equipment belonging to hitherto discrete manufacturing operations has already made IT a strategic issue for industry. More technical advances are expected soon in the automation of telecommunications and the linkage of computers by data transmission that will enhance the possibilities of systems integration. Such â€Å"programmable automation,† or computer-integrated manufacturing (CIM), has the capability of integrating information processing with physical tasks performed by programmable machine tools or robots. CIM offers radical improvements in traditional problem areas confronting manufacturers, such as: – reduced lead time for existing and new products; – reduced inventories; – more accurate control over production and better quality production management information; – increased utilization of expensive equipment; – reduced overhead costs; – improved and consistent quality; – more accurate forecasting; – improved delivery performance (Miles et al., 1988). These features characterize information technology as a new technological system, in which far-reaching changes in the trajectories of electronic, computer, and telecommunication technologies converge and offer a range of new technological options to virtually all branches of the economy. Moreover, IT forms the basis for a reorganization of industrial society and the core of the emerging techno-economic paradigm. The reason for the pre-eminence of the new technological system clustered around information technology over the equally new technological systems clustered around new materials and biotechnology is the fact that information activities of one kind or another are a part of every activity within an industrial or commercial sector, as well as in our working and domestic lives. Almost all productive activities have high information intensity (some involve little else, such as banking or education). Further more, along with the premier of internet technology and e-business architectures; powerful concepts like inventory control, supply chain management, customer relationship/service management, and management resource planning through the internet under the name of Enterprise Resource Planning have enabled IT to be capable of offering â€Å"strategic† improvements in the productivity and competitiveness of virtually any socio-economic activity. Other than industrial or commercial sectors, information technology is also applicable in education sector and in public institutions. Thus, Information Technology is universally applicable. Probably only a fraction of the benefits derived from information technology-based innovations have so far been reaped and the rest remain to be acquired in the next decades. The shift towards systems integration to capitalize the full potential benefits of IT requires considerable adaptations, learning processes, and structural changes in exis ting socioeconomic institutions and organizational systems. The tradition in most current organizations is still to operate in a largely â€Å"disintegrated† fashion, reminiscent of the Ford-Taylorist management approaches that dominated the fourth Kondratiev cycle: high division of labor, increasing functional specialization/differentiation and de-skilling of many tasks, rigid manufacturing procedures and controls, long management hierarchies with bureaucratic decision-making procedures and a â€Å"mechanistic† approach to performance. Under these conditions, use of IT is restricted to piecemeal technology improvements. By contrast, information technology-based systems offer organizations the opportunity of functional integration, multi-skilled staff, rapid and flexible decision-making structures with greater delegation of responsibilities and greater autonomy of operating units, a more flexible and â€Å"organic† approach enabling a quick adjustment to changing environmental conditions. (Piore and Sabel, 1984.) But this means that information management skills require the ability to make choices about the optimal arrangements for particular situations: unlike earlier generations of technology, IT offers not a single â€Å"best† way of organization but a set of more or less appropriate alternative organizing, staffing, and managing options that may be adopted in different organizational contexts. There is no â€Å"determinism† in the way information technology influences the socioinstitutional framework. Therefore, organizational innovation is a crucial part of the requirement for firms to adapt to survive (Miles, 1988). Unfortunately, this is true for all the institutions as well. Further, it is even more dramatic for the organizations in developing countries because of not being able to properly adapt to this so-called .black-box. technology. No matter how frustrating it is interpreted for these countries, IT still has significant impact on their development. Although socio-economic structure of these countries resists organizational or institutional changes, the complex interrelations between these changes and information technologies have significant implications for the way IT does and will affect the societies and economies of developing countries. As a matter of fact, the negative and positive potential impacts of IT on these countries are a matter of great controversy among economists and politicians. The main short term issues usually discussed are the potential erosion of the comparative advantages of low labor costs, particularly in relation to assembly facilities, and the effects of automation, particularly on internal markets and international competitiveness. Implications of information technology for those countries hold great importance. 3. Implications for Developing Countries The first direct effect of the â€Å"micro-electronics revolution† was the location of production for export in third world countries. While production of mainframe computers continued to be located largely in industrialized countries, production of smaller computers and of microelectronic devices, more subject to price competition, was shifted to low-wage locations, mainly in East Asia, where countries presented low wage costs as well as political stability, a docile labor force, and government incentives. Location of production for local and regional consumption followed, but the countries concerned were mainly middle income: three quarters of US investment in third world micro-electronic industries was concentrated in 11 countries, namely the four Asian â€Å"dragons,† India, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia (Steward, 1991). Export-oriented investments in these countries were associated more with direct foreign investment from larger firms in industrialized countries than with firms producing for the local market; on the other hand, licensing was more associated with smaller firms (Tigre, 1995). The automation of production decreases the relative importance of labor-intensive manufacturing and cost of labor, thereby eroding the competitiveness of low labor costs. For instance, automation led to a sharp decrease in the difference between manufacturing costs of electronic devices between the United States and Hong Kong: in manual processes, manufacturing costs were three times higher in the United States, and the introduction of semi-automatic processes made the difference practically disappear (Sagasti, 1994). Equally, the expansion of automation in Japan has contributed to a reduction of Japanese investments in the Asia/Pacific region involving firms in electronics, assembly parts, and textiles (Sagasti, 1994). The trend to increasing systems optimization and integration is most likely to induce large producers in industrialized countries to bring back a significant share of their production located in developing countries (offshore production). This movement has been called â€Å"comparative advantage reversal.† As integration increases, with functions previously obtained by assembling pieces being incorporated in the electronic components, value-added is pushed out of assembly processes into the components themselves and upwards towards servicing. In addition, the growing technological complexity of electronic devices increases the value of the parts manufactured by firms located in industrialized countries The amount of value-added obtained in offshore assembly has thus been constantly decreasing (Sagasti,1994). Global factories constructed in locations of least cost, often at a considerable distance from final markets, were economically worthwhile because labor was one of the major determinants of costs. Technology and rapid responsiveness to volatile local markets are becoming more important components of competitiveness. The reduction of product cycles due to the growing resistance to obsolescence of programmable machines and equipment has led to a concentration of manufacturing investment in capital-intensive flexible manufacturing, further adding to the erosion of the comparative advantages of developing countries. The assembly of systems will probably continue in some developing countries that have adopted protective legislation for local production targeted at particular market segments (e.g. Brazil), although this is changing very rapidly (Steward, 1991). The types of equipment produced under these circumstances are used largely in internal markets and are hardly competitive on the international level; they tend to be far more expensive than comparable equipment available abroad, and often their installation and use are also more costly because of expensive auxiliary installations, under-use, and lack of management skills. Nevertheless, they may at least provide the country with the capacity to follow the development of information technologies more closely. In other countries, assembly of equipment is taking place from components bought practically off the shelf, but as the level of hardware integration and the amount of software incorporated into the chips (firmware) grow, valueadded will be taken away from the assembly process, reducing or eliminating its economic advantages. The introduction of microelectronics requires certain new skills of design, maintenance, and management, as well as complementary infrastructural facilities such as reliable telephone systems and power supplies. Deficiencies in these factors prevent the widespread adoption of information technology in developing countries (Munasinghe et al., 1985). The more advanced developing countries, with a wider basis of skills and infrastructure and a more flexible labor force, may be in a better position to adopt IT and to increase their productivity and their international competitiveness. But the less developed countries, with inadequate skills and infrastructure, low labor productivity, and lack of capital resources, will find it difficult to adopt the new technologies; they are likely to suffer a deterioration in international competitiveness vis-à  -vis both industrialized and the more advanced developing countries (Stewart et al., 1991). Quality, too, requires an adequate level of skills, infrastructure, and managerial know-how that is generally lacking in developing countries. This greatly reduces the synergies, number of options, faster responses, and more informed decisions that can be implemented in the firm by the optimization of the systems performance. In turn, the composition of the labor force existing within firms located in industrialized countries will further improve their systems performance and further reinforce the advantages derived from automation. The proportion of the labor force employed in production is constantly decreasing in the industrialized countries, implying that performances at the systems level and innovation, not manufacturing, are becoming the key to profit, growth, and survival (Sagasti, 1994). Like biotechnology, information technology is a proprietary technology, vital technical information regarding design engineering specification, process know-how, testing procedures, etc., being covered by patents or copyrights or closely held as trade secrets within various electronic firms from industrialized countries. Many companies in the software area do not patent or copyright their products because it entails disclosing valuable information, and firms are generally reluctant to license the more recent and advanced technologies. Therefore, technology transfer takes place mainly among established or important producers, hindering the access to developing countries. Moreover, the main issue facing developing countries is not so much the access to a particular technology but to the process of technological change, because of the dynamism of this process. Sagasti implies this issue in the book The Uncertain Guest: science, technology and development (1994) that recent trends in int er-firm relationships seem to indicate that this access takes place essentially through the participation in the equity of the company holding the technology.

Race and Gender Discrimination essays

Race and Gender Discrimination essays __________________________________________________________________________ Analogies between racial and gender discrimination are highly problematic, both theoretically and historically. Discrimination can perhaps be better understood when analogized with cancer. Discrimination, like cancer, kills humanity. Discrimination, like cancer, comes in many specific forms. And each form of discrimination, like cancer, must be recognized treated with specific and focused efforts. The purpose of this paper is to show that when we recognize the differences between racial and gender discrimination we validate history and are more aptly able to end the current oppression of racial minorities and women. Ten years ago one of the most exclusive golf and country clubs in America, Shoal Creek, admitted its first black member after controversy surrounding the club's racial exclusionary policies nearly derailed the club's coveted plans to host the championship tournament for the Professional Golf Association. Today, the National Council for Women is waging a similar war on a different golf and country club. The National Council for Women discovered that Augusta National golf and country club, a private club, and home to a popular Professional Golf Association tournament, excludes women from the ranks of its membership. As such, the National Council for Women is using the same platform used by civil rights leaders to end racial exclusionary policies at Shoal Creek to attack Augusta National and its gender exclusionary policies. Specifically, The National Council for Women requested that corporate sponsors of the tournament including, IBM and Citibank withdraw their financial from the tournament at Augusta National. In addition, The National Organization for Women also requested that CBS refuse to televise the tournament at Augusta National. Furthermore, The National Council for Women has also requested ...

Executive Brief on 'Google in China' Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Executive Brief on 'Google in China' - Essay Example Within 3 years of launch of its website, Google garnered 30% of the share of total web search industry. (Google 2008) Later, due to its reluctance to apologize for allowing certain illegal sites to be obtained through its search results for Chinese users, it faced some regulation process from the Chinese government, banning several features of it. Following that, some malicious attacks on their Chinese servers and Gmail through alleged sources from China, Google reported in January 2010 as putting its operations in China in abeyance. A lot has been discussed about this move and several notions have been posed from several quarters. Decisions are yet to happen in a unanimous manner from all parties. Google’s stand on continuing its operations in China has presented an interesting proposition for analyzing the pros and cons of its decision. The current scenario is such that both the parties could lose out on major opportunities if Google decides to continue its suspended action in China. Google could lose out to its competitors of China and may end up losing out a major stake of its business from the fastest establishing super power of the world. At the same time, China’s rules and regulations are in correspondence to the rule of government, thereby disabling itself from any change of its course with respect to Google. The report aims at identifying the different factors such as the internal and external contributors, providing key inputs on the current strategy followed by both the parties involved, and depicting a possible movement of the market according to the different decisions that might be taken in future. Google established its Google China (Google.cn) in 2006. The first step of its strategy was to obey to the rules of the government prohibiting certain search results accessible to its users. The second step was to

Designer Babies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Designer Babies - Essay Example The author focuses on attracting and maintaining the audience’s attention. The title of the essay, â€Å"Designer Babies†, can elicit the audience’s interest and maintain it throughout the article as they strive to comprehend the circumstances surrounding the designing of babies. The article is logically organized into introduction, body, and conclusion that are crucial elements of a well-structured essay. The thesis statement is found in the first paragraph where the author argues that some people accept sex selection for children, â€Å"Some people already argue that using that to select the sex of your child is fine, or perhaps for medical reasons† (Sandel Para 1). However, researchers have not addressed other issues such as physical appearance and intelligence. Another feature that makes the article rather captivating constitutes excellent transitions between paragraphs and effective use of rhetoric questions. Paragraph transitions are organized in such a way that they answer questions posed in the previous paragraphs, or pose a question for discussion in the paragraph. Questions are vital in this essay as they help in engaging the reader as the article progresses. The writer does not use numbering in the article, but organizes the essay into varying lengths of paragraphs with smooth transition between paragraphs. Long paragraphs are used to explain the author’s ideas, while short paragraphs at the end of the chapters are used to summarize ideas and giving conclusive solutions to the questions. Sandel refers to historical events when discussing his opinions to support his views. â€Å"What’s the moral of the story of the dark history of eugenics?† The author hooks the readers by effectively posing questions in the arti cle. Sandel effectively apply logos, which appeal to the audience’s logical reasoning (Halmari 6). Sandel begins his essay by investigating the morality in selecting the genes that can be used to shape the