TQM Research Paper

TQM Research Paper Introduction The past two decades have witnessed the rise and fall of countless short-lived fads. Some have attracted a flurry of book, articles, and seminars; others have been completely discredited. Businesses have realized that there is a need to restructure their business practices and become more customer-focused. All recent business approaches and techniques have generally aimed at improving performance, increasing profits, gaining market share, and most importantly satisfying the customer who has become more educated and more demanding than ever. In the last two decades two organizational development models have dominated the business world for a considerable period of time namely Total Quality Management (TQM) and Business Process Reengineering (BPR). Statement of Objective This paper aims to shed a novel light on the two most recent and prominent management approaches, namely TQM and BPR. In an attempt to examine the interaction between radical BPR and incremental TQM with respect to change management, I shall briefly discuss the two constructs and contemplate the roots and basic tenets that underlie each. BPR has been referred to in the literature as the successor of TQM and has been treated as an equal. I shall treat the similarities and common grounds among the two, as well as the differences between them. Next, I shall touch upon the weaknesses and highlights that distinguish each, and then move on to construct an integrated model in an attempt to reconciliate the two opposing camps. In this model, BPR cannot withstand, but be an integrated part of the more comprehensive TQM effort, which is the broader platform for organizational change. As such, BPR is rendered as a technique to be employed under the more exhaustive TQM approach. I shall support my presentation by recent books and articles that have dealt with the issue, in addition to examples and case studies from the literature that have implemented change programs based on TQM and BPR principals. This research paper gains significance, as the debate is more heated than ever concerning the survival, decline, or assimilation of the two strategies. Total Quality Management Over the past 20 years, quality has been hailed as the key factor for success. However, the organizational world has been increasingly moving away from the traditional quality concept, as a function of inspection, control, audit, and review, as these are all now seen as non-value adding. Some of TQMs basic concepts came out of Bell Telephones labs in the early 1920s. Refined and developed by Deming, Juran, Crosby, and then Ishikawa and Taguchi, and later on others TQM calls for continually improving quality by using statistical measures to track, both, problems and the results of efforts to fix these problems. Edwards Deming, the guru of the quality approach, describes quality as having no meaning other than that defined by customer needs and desires. A satisfied customer is not enough, says Deming in one of his early lectures of the 1950s in Japan. Business is built on the loyal customer, one who comes back and brings a friend. A more recent definition of TQM offered by Almaraz in 1994 maintains that: TQM refers to a management process directed at establishing organized continuous improvement activities, involving everyone in an organization in a totally integrated effort toward improving performance at every level. The TQM philosophy provides the overall concepts that foster continuous improvement in an organization. This philosophy stresses a systematic, integrated, consistent, organization-wide perspective involving everyone and everything. It focuses primarily on the total satisfaction for both, internal and external customer, within a management environment that seeks continuous improvement of all systems and processes. The TQM philosophy emphasizes the use of al people, usually in multifunctional teams, to bring about improvement from within the organization. It stresses optimal life cycle cost and uses measurement within a disciplined methodology to target improvements. The prevention of defects and emphasis on quality in design are key elements of the philosophy. The elimination of losses and reduction of variability are important aims. Further, it advocates the development of relationships between all parties: employee, supplier, and customer. TQM provides a flexible, responsive managem ent approach able to act and react to all the forces of todays and tomorrows economic world. It focuses the resources of an organization on identifying and acting on the internal and external forces that will influence an organizations operations. TQM gears an organization toward continually improving quality, increasing productivity, and reducing costs to ease economic pressures. It focuses on total customer satisfaction through highest product and service quality at lowest life cycle costs to compete in the global environment. TQM stresses constant training and education, downsizing, and service value. A further understanding of Total Quality Management comes from the terms that make up the name. Total means total comprehensive participation, i.e., the involvement of everyone and everything in the organization in a continuous improvement effort. Quality is total customer satisfaction, whether internal or external customers. Management is the leadership of an organization that creates and maintains the TQM environment. The basis of quality in TQM is a process-based structure consistent with the Deming PDCA Cycle: Plan, Do, Check, Act. Although it has been recently suggested that TQM is Ð ¡outÐ ¢ or that it was essentially a 1980s phenomenon, the interest in TQM has scarcely subsided . Today such diverse practices are being done under the name of TQM that it seems to have lost its boundaries. Some consider TQM as a management attempt at cultural transformation and treat it as synonymous with cultural change and excellence. (12) Others consider it a method of cutting losses and, among other things, reducing waste and scrape while boosting customer satisfaction. There is no one agreed upon definition for TQM. Total Quality Management is both a philosophy and a set of guiding principles that are the foundation of a continuously improving organization. The terminology differs from one organization to another; however, there are four essential elements of all definitions of TQM and these are: continual improvement, people orientation, quantitative methods, and, last but not least, customer focus. TQM integrates fundam ental management techniques, existing improvement efforts, and technical tools under the disciplined approach focused on continuous improvement. TQM has been especially remarkable for its long tenure atop the heap and has been labeled King of the Hill. Business Process Reengineering Business reengineering is the concept of changing the fundamental way work is done in order to achieve radical performance improvement in speed, cost, and quality. The term BPR first appeared in the Information Technology (IT) field and was then used in the broader context of organizational change processes to refer to the use of modern information technology to radically redesign business processes. BPR will shatter assumptions and simplify processes utilizing IT as an enabler. According to its originators, Hammer and Champy, reengineering refers to the fundamental rethinking and radical redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed. BPR can be better understood by analyzing the terms of its original definition. Fundamental rethinking is the reconsideration of the basic questions of why do they [organizations] do what they do? And why do they do it the way they do? Radical redesign means uprooting the old and creating new structures and processes. As such reengineering is about reinventing the business and not improving or modifying it. Dramatic refers to the achievement of quantum leaps rather than incremental improvements in BPR application, which demand blowing up of the old and replacing it with something new. Hammer and Champy define the fourth term, business process, as a collection of activities that takes one or more kinds of input and creates an output that is of value to the customer. BPR is, above all, an improvement philosophy. It aims to achieve step improvements in performance by redesigning the critical processes through which an organization operates, maximizing their value added content and minimizing everything else. This approach can be applied to an individual process or to the whole organization.(the essence of BPR:20) Povey explains that the basic premise of BPR, the rapid redesign of critical core processes of an organization, generates breakthrough improvements in the performance and result in a competitive advantage in the global market place. Hammer and Champy speak of three types of organization that undertake reengineering.. The first is the desperate type, in which crisis management has taken control in an organization whose costs keep piling up, products and services keep falling behind, and nothing seems to be going right. The second type is the organization that is not facing any immediate threat, but would want to improve its status before b eing caught up in the storm. The third type includes organizations that are ambitious and aggressive. They want to enhance their performance and get a better leverage over their competitors. Reengineering requires a shift to process orientation, teamwork, IT, and customer focus. Some good BPR tools include process mapping, value analysis, and half-life principle. The reengineering effort is characterized by focusing n process mapping, product and process elimination, process simplification and integration, process improvement, teamwork, and the active leadership and participation of top management in change. Recent field studies have provided evidence that reengineering, is applicable, without any variations to the concept, to all types of organizations, be they manufacturing, service, non-profit, private, or public. I. TQM BPR: Common Grounds and Similarities Before trying to point out the differences between TQM and BPR, it is more useful to find the similarities. These points represent a wide viewpoint and are meant to highlight the broad commonalties between the two approaches, not to suggest that BPR and TQM are similar in their application methodologies. It is worth to note that while BPR and TQM share many of the same dimensions and goals, the two are not mutually exclusive and need to be done jointly. A. Quality Improvement and Process focus: Both, TQM and BPR, are quality movements that seek to enhance an organizations capabilities for the future. Quality goals concentrate on the reduction of variation in processes and the application of effective measurement systems. Customers play a central role in being the determining factor of the standards of quality. In todays world, quality is in the eyes of the beholder, i.e., the customer. It is the customers perception that counts. BPR has much in common with TQM in hs respect. The definition of the process to be reengineering is in part a technical matter, concerning judgements about where the problem actually lies in the light of available information. Within the organization, this customer-defined quality is translated into process-focus. At the heart of TQM is the idea that improvement comes from addressing the processes, which deliver the defective or inadequate end-results, rather than on concentrating on the results themselves. As for BPR, the process focus is an intrin sic paradigm of the reengineering strategy. Critical success factors are used to identify the organizations core processes, which will undergo redesign. Conformance quality (meeting customer requirements) and perceived quality (exceeding customer requirements) improve profitability. Reducing waste and increasing productivity are natural by-products of a systematic process of quality improvement. As such, both TQM and BPR aim at improving an organizations operations to enhance its ability in delivering quality products and services with the ultimate aim of augmenting productivity, increasing profitability, and gaining market share. B. Top Management Support: Setting the stage for quality improvement involves everything that the business does from becoming aware of the need for significant change to establishing a commitment to actually follow through. The desire to actually deliver quality involves senior managements initiation and continued commitment, constituting the basic drive behind the whole process. It involves goal setting, barrier reduction, training, and leadership. Setting the stage means that one must create an environment in which business improvement is encouraged and nourished. A vision of change for quality must accompany such efforts and be dispersed through out the organization. As management establishes the vision of what it wants to accomplish and where it wants to go, it must put in place support systems to help employees understand and implement the forthcoming change. To ensure positive results, steering performance must be consistent with the vision. Without executive sponsorship, the quest for quality, whether in TQM or BPR, is a joke. Leadership is the most important ingredient for launching and sustaining a quality improvement process. Leaders of firms need to establish clear, result-oriented goals and communicate their expectations. Management has the total responsibility for effective management of its quality campaign. Top management must take part in a companys quality operation and to guide its quality systems. Executive commitment is not only about management, but also about leadership. Leaders establish unity of purpose, direction, and create an environment in which people can become fully involved in achieving the organizations benefit. The role of management can be sensed in every step along the way. It provides leadership, develops the vision, establishes objectives, pursues strategy, establishes and monitors planning, monitors implementation, provides policy, conveys commitment, assures resources, eliminates barrier s, participates, appoints responsibilities, assures customer satisfaction, presents information and the list goes on and on. Senior managements role is to lead the change, not to manage it. It is responsible for shaking the barriers, i.e. removing road-blocks set up within the organization by people opposing change. Senior management must provide inspirational vision of the ultimate goal to be achieved C. Serious investment in the human resource: Empowerment, Teamwork, Training For any quality campaign to be successful, you need top-down active leadership that facilitates real change and a bottom-up quality management improvement process in order to achieve real sustainable bottom line results. Managements role is to invest in the campaign by motivating and involving others through broadening the ownership base of the idea. Only when employees develop a sense of ownership, will they embark upon it with true enthusiasm and motivation. Ownership must ultimately rest with the line operations in terms of engagement and accountability, for it is this human element of the organization that will ultimately deliver the quality and present the organizations image to the final customer. Delivery of quality implies a commitment and dedication, not only by senior management, but also by every single person within the organization, and sometimes outside of it. Harnessing the skills and enthusiasm of everyone is conditioned on providing employees with the adequate skills, tools, and authority to adapt to and adopt their new roles. TQM and BPR rely for their success on an active subject with interpretive powers. Empowerment and other associated ideas such a participative management, delegation of authority, and decentralization are based on placing responsibility for making decisions in the hands of workers. As one CEO put it: we are only as good as our employees and our employees are as good as we allow them to be. Despite the risks associated, such concepts have proved to boost job satisfaction, increase motivation, reduce absenteeism, lower turnover, and improve the work environment. Empowerment is not optional, rather a pre-requisite and can be considered one of the basic pillars of both technique. Hammer and Champy assert that empowerment is an unavoidable consequence of the reengineering project. Nevertheless, such concepts are under u sed during application phase of BPR, resulting in various people related problems. From the concept of empowerment follows the concept of group-work or teamwork. Teamwork is a technique where by individual members of a team work together to achieve a common goal. Teams are an essential structural ingredient of both approaches. Teams are needed to meet the challenges of the environment. The increased value placed on empowering employees as a means of improving productivity while simultaneously improving employee satisfaction leads to increased reliance on teams. Employees need to work together to meet new challenges. The theme is central to both TQM and BPR, as it aids communication, improves cooperation, reduces internal competition and duplication of effort, and maximizes talents of employees on a project. Teams are a vital management tool given that collaborative decision making allows for creativity. The need for fewer layers of management and more information for better communication and more efficiency will arise. Decreasing hierarchy will also remove organiza tional blockages to critical change. Hence, employee empowerment will facilitate and quicken the pace of work. Jack Welch, CEO of General Electric and leader of its rebirth in the 1980s and the 1990s, has become the spokesperson for organizational change. He described the critical importance of cross-functional teams and project teams in the new flattened architecture of GE with fewer layers of management. Cross-functional teams are essential to implement the new managerial role to yield increased value to customers. Teams go hand in hand with managements assumptions of its new role and flattened organizational culture. As such, reorienting an organization towards quality requires teamwork, both horizontally and vertically, given the fact that teamwork can be very powerful as weaknesses and strengths of individuals are balanced, brainstorming enhanced, and skills and knowledge concentrated. It is vital to build profound knowledge in teams about the business, customers, associates, b est practices, technology, and other factors related to the organization. As such, training is a must. Learning must precede thinking and a solid foundation for creative thinking need be established through benchmarking. In his book, The Circle of Innovation, Tom Peters speaks of the eraser mania. The problem with moving on is not about learning new things, but about forgetting the old ones. Organizations are so intent on pushing forward with the new that they forget to help employees let go of the old, thus, overlooking the personal losses of employees involves with change. They often hold on, resisting change. The reasons for this resistance include perceived loss of identity, value and worth in the eyes of the organization, disorientation, and the risk of failure. Continually training and educating employees is necessary due to the pace of change in todays world, not to mention a TQM or BPR undertaking. Providing training is imperative, especially in the area of team member effectiveness that focuses on skills of active listening, resource sharing, conflict resolution, negotiation, and interpersonal skills including how to handle contributions, input, and feedback from others about the work. At th e same time, upper level management may require training in self-directed team activities to understand what their employees are doing. While an organization may have had in place an extensive training program prior to TQM or BPR, there is no guarantee that the program in place will focus on the skills and abilities needed after the change has occurred. Training should focus on both the technical abilities in the new roles as well as interpersonal skills. Training on teamwork, trust, and decision-making must be emphasized to aid employees in adapting to their new roles. Enhanced individual skills and attributes will better enable teams to be more flexible and responsive to change. Successful change attempts are heavily dependent on training the human resource. An organization stands and falls with the people in it. It is therefore imperative to understand and anticipate individuals expectations, emotions and behavior. This includes managing for fear and resistance to change. Communication is crucial factor not only to an organizations employees, but also to all its stakeholders, including owners, external customers, suppliers, press, Еetc. These aspect are frequently neglected in implementation of TQM, and more so in BPR. While these are intrinsic aspects of the Total Quality Approach, they are only marginal where BPR is concerned. In comparison with TQM, BPR under-rates the Ð ¡humanÐ ¢ dimension. C. Metrics and Measurement: The selection and application of relevant performance metrics is critical to achieving success. Performance metrics must fit the business objectives and must be customer focused and driven. Todays quality standards are defined by the customers whose needs, desires, and expectations vary considerably. As such, a company should use the same measures as their customers in order to create a common ground for evaluating performance. Results should be directly measurable in terms of customer satisfaction, process cost, process quality, process speed, and ultimately in increased shareholder value and capital creation. II. TQM vs. BPR: Strategy Differences A. Radical vs. Incremental The major substantial difference between TQM and BPR, it has been argued, is the principle of radicalization. This Ð ¡radicalÐ ¢ element of BPR change is a striking departure from the incremental change of TQM projects. Process reengineering approaches process improvement in a drastic manner wiping out the old and putting in place new processes. While process management is based on the concept of continuous, evolutionary improvement, process reengineering searches for breakthrough improvements and revolutionary methods for doing work. To encourage a radical organizational rethink, the starting point for reengineering is a blank sheet of paper. The reengineering effort tears apart the current process and systematically rebuilds it. Continuous improvement of TQM responds to growing customer needs and expectations and ensures a dynamics evolution of the quality management systems in a slow, but sure mode. The pace of reengineering is ambitious, in comparison with TQMs conventional cha nge programs. B. Innovation vs. Improvement: The other major difference between TQM and BPR has to do with the level of change. A number of authors view organizational improvement activities as points on a continuum ranging from incremental improvement to radical change. Due to its focus on existing processes, TQM will rarely lead to radical innovation; rather it brings about change in a snowball effect so that the end result shows significant departure from the initial state of affairs; but still change and improvement are no more than incremental. It is within this context that the debate arises as to whether or not BPR, as a vehicle of radical change and innovation, is becoming a substitute for the incremental improvement of TQM. The logic behind it is that as the external environment is becoming more volatile and a more radical approach to change is needed. The clean slate approach in implementing BPR is in itself a thrust for creative thinking. Separating those responsible for scrutinizing the process from those charged wi th identifying the role of IT guards against any biases or hindrances created by current system limitations, processes, people, or activities. The above argument leads to another theoretical debate concerning implementation and the relative merits of clean slate verses a dirty slate. While, in theory, the clean slate allows projects to be modeled without contamination from the status quo, the dirty slate approach is regarded as more pragmatic. Michael Hammer advocated beginning the reengineering process with a clean slate ignoring past business approaches and working toward a complete redesign of the entire organization. While this is the ideal approach, Hammer concludes that it may not be feasible in some organizations where limited resources demand that reengineering proceed one division at a time, beginning with the area of the organization that is most amenable to change; Davenport explains that while restricting possibilities for process innovation, and although more difficult in design, the dirty slate approach is more realistic, financially viable, and easier to implement. One thing is for sure, BPR, most definitely, does not mean tinkering with what already exists or making incremental changes that leave basic structures intact. C. Risk and Pay-back Period: The pace of reengineering is ambitious, in comparison with TQMs conventional change programs. As such, high risk due to radical change is a natural consequence of BPR. Reengineering programs promise significant benefits higher margins, lower expenses, and improved productivity, to name a few. But these efficiencies are seldom gained without trade-offs. The sweeping changes brought about by reengineering cannot fail to influence a companys risk profile. Risk managers need to devise training programs that will help minimize the impact of change. Reengineering without training and education is unthinkable. Risk management is an inherent part of reengineering. Companies must assess the risks associated with changing business processes. TQM, in contrast to BPR, if of a much lesser risk. It involves neither the radical nor the dramatic changes that are an intrinsic part of BPR; rather TQM addresses the organization from a cultural standpoint that works on changing attitudes and behaviors over a long time period. A short-term focus in TQM weakens the organization and rarely ensures that the ultimate goal is achieved and sustained. It frustrates the people involved because they quickly realize that it takes time to develop the skills, attitudes, and knowledge required to make a difference to customers and to the bottom line. A long term focus, however, signals strong unwavering commitment and eventually wins over the people who must make it all happen. A long-term focus and a sense of urgency are entirely compatible attitudes in TQM and, in fact, are the right ones. BPR, on the other hand, is a one strike or one shot thing. Its relative short time frame results in quick outcomes, which renders it even more risky. TQMs incremental improvement-oriented changes are a long-term investment. Miraculous results will not appear overnight, especially because TQM is addressing a culture issue. Changing attitudes, behaviors, and beliefs is the most difficult and lengthy process and organization can undergo. D. Focus: Strategy and Customer TQM programs have highlighted the role of processes in delivering quality. In his book Out of Crisis, Deming stated, I should estimate that in my experience, most troubles and most possibilities for improvement add up to proportions like 94% that belong to the system and 6% to special causes. Peppard and Rowland explain that the systemÐ ¢ here refers to the process, i.e., the way things are done, and not who does them. However, TQM programs have placed greater emphasis on the people and techniques aspects rather than on the process elements. TQMs process focus is towards control and measurement so that variation could be eliminated and quality raised. Implementations of TQM programs, in addition, have often reinforced functional boundaries, overlaying the concept of the internal customer as a means of improving the process interfaces between departments. The clear focus of BPR is processes and minimizing the non-value added content in them. In his book Beyond Reengineering, Michael Hammer speaks of the shift to process centered organizations and explained that such a shift is about eliminating non-value adding work and establishing higher performance. Becoming process oriented is all about being customer outcome oriented. BPR seeks to generate ideal processes either from a clean slate design, or from systematic redesign of existing processes. The target of the organizational change is the business process, and not the organizational culture, as is the case with TQM. The effectiveness of the change effort can, thus, be assessed with respect to the performance of those processes, not with respect to changes in attitudes, values, and beliefs. As to the customer focus, Peppard and Rowland assert that while BPRs primary concern is the external customer, while TQM has introduced more than one type of customer s through the concept of the internal customer. III. Advantages and Disadvantages While most researchers and practitioners agree that failures of TQM and BPR, in most cases, are mainly due to misapplications, this does not abolish theory pitfalls. A review of the literature reveals the major strengths and weaknesses of TQM and BPR. Both approaches have their advantages and disadvantages and bring about improvements, as well as handicaps. BPR rates highly in terms of innovation and IT utilization, while TQM provides the best practices for continuous improvement and customer satisfaction. A. BPR In addition to its dramatic quantum leaps, innovative opportunities, and short time frame, BPR possesses the privilege of exploiting Information Technology capabilities. However, its revolutionary nature can be very stressful on the human component of the organization and financially exhaustive. 1. Information Technology: BPR was the first large-scale systematic application of Information Technology (IT) to management. Information technology has become a key enabler for organizational change and is conceived as a mandatory component of all reengineering efforts. It is viewed as a one of the tools for achieving business process redesign. Information technology can provide help in managing large amounts if information efficiently. It can also provide significant improvements in operational performance by short-circuiting supply chains and industry value systems, and it can allow companies to re-consider their business scope. On an operational level, technological solutions can reduce manual work by creating electronic workflow and automating clerical routine tasks. IT also plays an important role in supporting knowledge workers by delivering information timely and accurately, and by facilitating communication and networking. 2. BPR and Downsizing BPR calls for making major changes to a businesss fundamental operations, with cost reduction as the primary goal. Because change associated with BPR often calls for reducing the number of workers, it has been closely associated with concepts like downsizing and rightsizing. The terms have been so confused, that many criticize BPR as resulting in corporate anorexia and hollow-shell-corporations the terms referring to organizations that have viewed BPR as a short-term way to boost profit by gutting a companys work force that it has lost its essential functions by such trimming. During implementation, BPR often translates into wholesale staff cuts. However, while downsizing may be an often-cited by-product of BPR projects, it definitely does not summarize the reengineering effort. Hammer did tackle this issue and has explained that downsizing and restructuring mean doing less with less, whereas reengineering means doing more with less. It is worth noting that, cost cutting approaches is a means for improving efficiency, but does not necessarily elevate effectiveness. 3. Neglecting the Human element The threats and risks that BPR brings along are scary to the people of the organization. Obliteration of existing processes as advocated by Hammer in his very first article on BPR is not only impractical, but also potentially disastrous and doomed to failure in the absence of a culture of change that soothes employees. Reengineering can impose a cultural upheaval on a company. In the absence of a clear vision, fear and turf protection become the main drivers of behavior as people worry that their skills become obsolete or will not be utilized in the new organization, thus loosing their jobs. Most cited BPR downfalls have been due to a failure of adequately addressing human resource questions and a general lack of management understanding and commitment to the reengineering effort. Such failures have been categorized into four elements: failure to translate the future vision of the company into appropriate cultural and behavioral expectations that can be communicated to all employees; the absence of systematic means to benchmark current practices against those required to achieve the vision; the lack of a focused development process to help individuals close the gaps between their current levels and those required by the reengineering vision; and the inattention to the supporting HR systems that must maintain the vision. Reengineering neglects to deal adequately with the people of the organization who ultimately determine whether reengineering works or not. The horrific effects of typical reengineering efforts on the morale and motivation of the survivors are often overlooked. Initiatives often fail because focus has been concentrated on the processes and ignored the people who make them work. Common long-term losses include moral problems B. TQM Total Quality Management has also been claimed to have its own pros and cons. 1. Functional Culture TQM possesses the asset of an effective culture that emphasizes the role of the customer, whether internal or external. It is well known that corporate culture can have a significant impact on an organizations economic performance. The culture that has resulted in an organization that has undertaken a quality campaign is greatly conducive to corporate goals and strategies. The customer, as well as process focus, the prevention versus inspection policies, fact-based decision making, the highlight on feedback, and most importantly, the care bestowed upon employees install an open responsive culture. The weight placed on continuous improvement through continual learning is significant. Today, organizations have become information-processing networks capable of enhancing their positions only through learning. Learning is a major core value for an organization seeking excellence, as it has become synonymous with quality. A total quality management campaign entails a complete involvement o f the entire organization in a management led attempt to achieve success. In such a culture, the employee is king, as he/she is viewed as the ultimate pronouncer of quality. Employees are trained and empowered to take responsible decisions and are considered as collaborates in organizational work. It is such a culture that distinguishes flourishing organizations and allows them to acquire the competitive advantage necessary in order to compete. 2. Lack of Strategic Impact TQM has been criticized on many accounts. Some have argued that the element of continuous improvement mentality inhibits learning. Others have condemned it on the grounds of lacking innovation and radical capability, stating that Ð £incremental change isnt enough for many companies today. They dont need to change what is; they need to create what isnt. Yet, others have denounced it as deficient in IT focus and utilization. However, the most captious criticism of TQM has been its lack of strategic impact. VI. Reconciliation and Integration It is apparent that that there are major problems within the foundations of each individual approach. However, there is also a clear opportunity to unite them to fill each others gaps. In an attempt to re-conciliate the two approaches, two theories have erupted. The first integrates BPR under TQM by using the former as a tool or a subset of the latter. Leach considers TQM more likely to lead to success and concludes that BPR is more of a designed tool for TQM, but it is not a substitute. The agreed upon view in this camp is that it is more constructive to incorporate BPR as a valuable tool within the framework of TQM. As Macdonald put it, TQM provides the essential cultural framework to enable BPR. The second camp, on the other hand, entertains the idea of applying TQM after BPR as the latter builds the platform and prepares the stage for the former. TQM can be used to continually improve the company after BPR has radically changed it. Many supporters of this view have summarized it with the cliche revolutionize and then evolutionize. But even so, BPR cannot stand on its own without follow up. This follow up is incorporated in the continuous improvement offered by TQM. While both approaches offer valid arguments, there seems no need to adopt an either/or position. Practitioners can create an integrated model where both incremental and quantum improvements are possible within a continuous improvement environment. In such a model, the building blocks are an integration of the best practices of the two methods building on the strengths of both and eliminating most of their individual weaknesses. TQMs stable culture, people participation, and evolutionary nature can be used to eradicate or neutralize the stress and fear caused by BPRs revolutionary nature. The changes commensurate with BPR usually scare employees and de-motivate them. For true success in todays environment, management needs to consider employee participation, for which TQM creates the proper cultural milieu for change. BPR, on the other hand, provides the quick strike and innovative capabilities, in addition to the best practices of IT. TQMs main contribution would be a continuous change and improvement methodology, without which the solutions that BPR offers will bear little fruit. Both kinds of change can and should be pursued, even though their requirements are different. A. Common Weaknesses: Nevertheless, the two approaches fail to address some common weaknesses, which, if left un-addressed, become weaknesses of the integrated model, rendering it insufficient and ineffective. 1. Lack of strategic impact: Not conducting strategic business planning to set the future direction of the company prior to starting the TQM initiative has caused major failures. The inherent lack of strategic integrity embodied within TQM is considered to be one of its main flaws. Similarly, in most cases BPR is undertaken to achieve medium-term cost and time saving rather than longer term strategic benefits. A greater focus on learning at the expense of the preoccupation with cost and time could increase the strategic impact of many BPR applications. 2. Lack of `people focus: The survey conducted by the authors (1998) suggested that TQM offers more people focus than BPR. However, the impact of change on people, and the way organizations are dealing with their people, is still considered a problem within both. The failure of many recent large-scale efforts at corporate change can be traced directly to employee resistance, lack of support, lack of enthusiasm and generally lack of the right culture to support the framework. Managing business productivity has essentially become synonymous with managing change effectively. To this end, companies must not only determine what to do and how to do it they, but also need to be concerned with how employees will react to it. It is becoming increasingly clear that the engine for organizational development is the people who do the work. Without altering human knowledge, skill, and behavior changes in technology, processes, and structures is unlikely to yield long-term benefits. Human development has been viewed as a more suitable alternative to `traditional organizational development in a strategy for bringing about dramatic performance improvements. The new work pattern is flexible working hours, knowledge workers, working from home, etc. So while these patterns emerge, organizations must change the way they deal with their people to yield maximum benefits. The success of an organization lies more in its intellectual capabilities than in physical assets. The cap acity to manage human intellect and to convert it into useful products and services is fast becoming the executive skill of the age. Thus, the model to be developed will be people oriented where high performance can be achieved only through people. B. The Proposed Model for Performance Excellence: Organizations are unique and each must find its path to success by continuously learning and customizing best practices. Thus, this model shall be set up in such a way so as to present a broad framework of generic ideas applicable to all organizations. The model can be considered a recipe; a mixture of best practices from BPR and TQM. However, it is not suggested that such a model will be a silver bullet. Its effectiveness depends on thoroughly understanding the business and the people in it. The aim of the model is to help organizations achieve performance excellence by ensuring a healthy balance between stability and continuous change. Stability comes from a bedrock of culture and values shared by organizational people, supported by a stable strategy, and systems that change only in a `creation or reorientation effort. Continuous change comes from continuous learning, and both aspects rely on fully committed and educated people. Hence, the objectives of the model will be to focus o n delighting the customer, to emphasize organizational people as the main competitive advantage and to develop a commitment to continuous learning and improvement. The model proposes turning organizational attention from cost-cutting and staff reduction to employee well-being by proposing an equal emphasis on the three main pillars of organization development, i.e. process, people, and information technology. The `process and `IT aspects, however, are continuously changing subject to daily improvements, and can easily be copied by competitors. Thus, the only source of competitive advantage is the organizations people (96.7% of the respondents agreed that having trained, motivated and well-led organizational people would result in performance excellence). According to John Jr. Welch, CEO of General Electric, the pace of the 90s will make the 80s look like a picnic a walk in the park. Competition will be relentless. The bar of excellence in everything we do will be raised everyday. Successful organizations in the next century will work on the edge of chaos where they must be spontaneous, adaptive, and alive. This, in turn, suggests the need for human and system flexibility and continuous learning within an organization held together by consistency of purpose, through a clear shared vision and open communication. Processes and people surround, and work for, the customer, and are held together by a clear set of organizational values and goals. As such, the main building blocks of the model are as follows: 1. Customer obsession: Past attempts to achieve and retain competitive advantage have largely looked internally within the organization for improvement. However, more so in the future, a major source for competitive advantage will come from more outward orientation towards customers and competition will focus on superior customer value delivery. The customer who should enjoy all the attention is the end user, as opposed to internal customers, suggested by TQM. 2. Vision and values: is he substance that binds the organization together. This includes the strategic planning and management capability, and outstanding leadership. The model proposes integrating the latest techniques of strategic management and thinking within the planning, implementation, and assessment stages. It is also suggested that the main competitive advantage for which organizations must aim is creating a `self-renewal learning culture, with the main competitive weapon being its people. The function of strategic planning in the new management model is to align all the efforts of the organization to customer satisfaction, quality, and operational performance goals. Companies use their strategic planning processes to drive the whole improvement process. 3. Business process excellence: Process excellence combines the incremental improvements of TQM and the more revolutionary steps associated with BPR. The major enabler for the coming century will be IT. Potentials of IT cannot be left unrealized by an organization aiming to survive in the future. However, businesses must creatively integrate IT with human expertise to meet customer needs. 4. People: Organizational people development should be the focal point as the source of future success. Workforce development is a top priority because it is the leverage of an association. The model aims to set out best practices in a culture of participative management, team structure, reward, training and development, recruitment, motivation, commitment, communication and knowledge management. TQM is based on a set of philosophies that emphasize continuous improvement in processes to increase customer satisfaction. To accomplish this objective, TQM requires flexibility and cross-training, cross-functional team problem solving, employee empowerment and ownership of the process. These are also essential to reengineering. For managers and employees ignorant of TQM and its requirements, a jump into the reengineering bandwagon may spin out of control. Reengineering is certainly risky, but it should be a calculated risk. Professionals experienced with TQM possess the skills necessary to organize and plan the changes designed to increase customer satisfaction, and are, thus, better prepared to utilize those skills on a large scale. In the external environment, for any company, change has become the only constant. Technology changes, information change, competition changes; everything changes and the organization itself need to change. In the midst of this flux rises the need for another constant to counter the effect of change, and that would be a culture of change: a culture that adapts the organization to new trends, introduces innovations, fosters creativity, and above all prepares its human element to the turbulence of change paving the way and soothing along the way. An Example: BTNI, a semi-autonomous unit subsidiary of British Telecommunications plc. is regarded as having a leading edge in managing quality and change. The company is an example of an organization that believed reengineering in a crisis situation is inappropriate as crisis in itself promotes fear, confusion, and panic, none of which is conducive to focused BPR. As such, BTNI undertook a number of change strategies before embarking upon BPR, namely BS 5750 / ISO 9000 accreditation, total quality, and finally process redesign. Senior management views incremental change brought about by TQM as greatly valuable, but on its own is not enough. They note that TQM has introduced some surface changes to behavior, while underlying processes, which maintain sub-optimal performance, remained untouched. Sometimes shots of radical change that can only be brought by BPR are also necessary. BTNI also notes that upon embarking upon the BPR project, teams made great use of already documented end-to-end proces ses as part of the TQM efforts. The reengineering implementation teams had to take risks in pursuit of excellence, relying on change management skills and techniques acquired from the TQM experience. (7) VII. Conclusion: TQM and BPR have arguably been so influential due to the amorphous and comprehensive nature of their philosophies. All things considered, TQM, as well as BPR, are applicable to all business sectors, encompassing all aspects of the business and touching upon all corners of an organization without any constrictions. Neither approach guarantees success. It is not a case of follow the rules in the book and youll hit the jackpot. It all depends on organizational intelligence and ability to adapt either approach to its own size, form, products, and management. This research paper has presented an argument for integrating BPR and TQM. The individual strengths and weaknesses of each have been shown to complement one another. From the evidence presented, it can be concluded that the way forward for organizational development is an integrated model, one that builds on the best practices of BPR and TQM and adds strategic planning and a stronger focus on people. Although processes and Ð ¡ITÐ ¢ (the main focal areas in TQM and BPR, respectively) are crucial components for success, they are the easiest to perfect in an organization, and can be easily replicated by competitors, thus, providing little competitive advantage. People and knowledge management are perceived to be the main sources for competitive advantage in the future.

Forget about the Dark Ages

Forget about the Dark Ages Forget about the â€Å"Dark Ages† Forget about the â€Å"Dark Ages† By Maeve Maddox Movie makers and many writers are fond of using the terms â€Å"Dark Ages† and â€Å"medieval† to denote ignorance, intolerance and unspeakable violence. For example, a character in Pulp Fiction threatens his captive this way: Ima get medieval on your ass. Some writers who use the terms Dark Ages, Middle Ages and medieval have a very vague idea of the historical time periods designated by them. A common misconception is that â€Å"Dark Ages† and â€Å"Middle Ages† mean the same thing. So far as the Dark Ages can be acknowledged to be a meaningful term at all, it signifies that time between the breakdown of the Roman Empire in the fifth century, and the establishment of more stable European governments by the end of the tenth century. The Dark Ages were marked by raiding and pillaging. The Middle Ages were a time of architectural, artistic, and literary achievement. The blurb at the beginning of Christian Duguay’s 1999 film about Joan of Arc is a perfect example of the confusion that exists regarding these terms: Once in a time known as the Dark Ages There lived a legend whose coming had been foretold by the great prophet Merlin. The â€Å"legend† referred to here is Joan of Arc (1412-1431). When Joan died in 1431, the Renaissance had already begun in Italy. Joans mother and brothers were still alive when Leonardo de Vinci, Italian High Renaissance Painter and Inventor, was born in 1452. Historians dont use the term â€Å"Dark Ages† anymore. It was a term invented by the Italian poet Petrarch in the 1330s to convey his feeling that the culture of ancient Greece and Rome had been superior to everything that succeeded it. The expression Middle Age for the period between classical civilization and the present came into use in the fifteenth century. The term Middle Ages was first used systematically by a German historian, Christoph (Keller) Cellarius (1638–1707). The historical period designated by the term spans a thousand years. Modern historians divide the Middle Ages into three periods: Early Middle Ages: 500 -1000 C.E. The last Roman Emperor, Romulus Augustulus, was deposed in 476. This was a time of great unrest during which Visigoths sacked Rome, Vikings pillaged France and England, and the energetic expansion of the new religion of Islam threatened the existence of Christianity. High Middle Ages: 1000-1300 C.E. Former rovers and raiders settled down. This is the age of great European cathedrals and Islamic centers of classical and scientific study. The cathedral of Notre Dame in Paris was begun in 1160 and completed in 1345. Avicenna (Ibn Sina) wrote one of the first scientific encyclopedias during this time. Late Middle Ages: 1300-1499 C.E. The age of renewed interest in classical texts in Europe, and the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press. The two precipitated the Protestant Reformation and catapulted the world into the modern period. Like the term Dark Ages, the term â€Å"Middle Ages† was coined as a kind of put-down. The idea is that nothing much of value existed between the classical civilizations of Greece and Rome and the re-birth of the classical ideal in the Renaissance. Writers may wish to take another look at the terms Middle Ages and medieval. They don’t deserve to be used haphazardly as synonyms for ignorance and brutality. Want to improve your English in five minutes a day? Get a subscription and start receiving our writing tips and exercises daily! Keep learning! Browse the Misused Words category, check our popular posts, or choose a related post below:7 Classes and Types of PhrasesIs There a Reason â€Å"the Reason Why† Is Considered Wrong?20 Classic Novels You Can Read in One Sitting

Analyze two pictures Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Analyze two pictures - Essay Example In this image, Nauman uses the literal depicting of linguistic performativity method in order to achieve layers of potential meaning to the viewer. Notions of identity and body, the role played by language, artistic process and the phenomena of spatial awareness and participation of the viewer can be said to be the most recurring themes in the Nauman’s artwork. Comparing the time this photograph was taken and when the â€Å"Self Portrait† by Albrecht Durer, 1500 was painted, it can be seen as a daring art since it is colored and digital, and that time they were considered to be artless and perfunctory in nature. It brings out the notion that the artist of the image was engaging insolently with the limits of discourse and art practice (Danto 149). In comparison with the oil painting, the photography can be identified to represent non-art functions even though it denies the autonomy and authorship of art. With the image acknowledging the representation of language through letters in art and manipulating power of the language, Nauman brings the notion that language in photography can function as a tool for guiding people in the society. Of course, language, images are inseparable from language as representation and can be invaluable source material in any artist’s future works that the pivot of the language instability by use of documentation through the camera. Therefore, this kind of Nouman’s art, transformed the world of art by bringing an installation or digital art. In the Eating my words photography, the tacitly mute Nauman derides the notion that, the image depicts self-expression in the context of art as well as to the public or viewer (Morgan 152). In the photography, language and the way it relates to the visual content of the photograph are seen as the central actors directed cleverly by Nauman. Following an innovative, rigorous approach, Nauman explores vario us means of expression and is considered

Short Article discussion about Sex, Gender and Society Essay

Short Article discussion about Sex, Gender and Society - Essay Example Society establishes many norms, it would seem, as it pertains to gender and sexuality and, in some instances, it would seem that the average person does not consider where these values and norms actually came from. In American society, as described by the article, men often see women’s physical attributes as being objects for manipulation. This is clearly a social construction as described by the article. It is not astonishing, actually, considering that psychology and the domain of sociology reinforces the social belonging is one of the most fundamental and universal needs for improving one’s self-esteem and ensuring healthy social development. Perhaps in today’s society, with such strong norms and expectations about what is acceptable for men versus women, that going along with these social norms and complying with their dominant expectations actually underpins the desire to be accepted at the social level. For instance, when men socialize, they often make either derogatory comments about women’s anatomy or express, as a group, how beautiful and sexy they find these attributes. To not go along with this banter could mean social humiliation or ostracizing. It would seem, based on the reading, that fitting in might underpin conceptions of gender today and only when social belonging becomes less prevalent as a human need will gender roles and expectations evolve as well. Social norms in a society are clearly potent and powerful concepts. It is interesting to consider how stereotypes and biases also fit into what constructs norms and whether they are widely accepted or individual in society. In the domain of social sciences, there is a plethora of literature about cultural differences and how individuals in domestic versus foreign societies see gender roles, group roles, and cultural values in general. For instance, in China, losing face in front of others is a very strong emotional component of behavior and when reputation is lost, people feel

Good Girl Gone Bad and Date Chris Brown Essay Example for Free

Good Girl Gone Bad and Date Chris Brown Essay Rihanna used to be one of my favourite singers back in the days. She started to change not only her image, but her music. I did some research and looked up what made her change this much. Her songs used to be what made her change this much. Her songs used to be much more sex-free. My research shows that Rihanna could have had experiences, or just wanted a change in her. I asked myself, How has Rihanna changed throughout her career?, and I could come up with many assumptions, but I want to make sure my assumptions are correct. I want to talk about her relationship with Chris Brown, her album A Girl Like Me and her album Good Girl Gone Bad. Rihanna started to date Chris Brown, an American entertainer. On February 8, 2009, Rihanna and her boyfriend Chris Brown had an argument that twisted into physical abuse. Rihanna was injured severely with facial injuries. Chris Brown turned himself in to the Los Angeles Police Department in Wilshire. On March 5, 2009, Chris Brown was charged with felony assault and because of making criminal threats. On June 22, 2009, he pleaded guilty and accepted to do community labor, five years probation and domestic violence counselling. He released a video online to apologize for what he had caused and is deeply saddened by it. He repeatedly apologized to Rihanna and accepts full responsibility for his actions. Right after this commotion, Rihanna had her fourth album, Rated R, which was released in November 2009 and was expressed as a very dark and mature impression due to earlier events. Her debut single, Russian Roulette, was a success. It is a mid-tempo pop song that contains famous RB ballad characteristics. According to the lyrics, the song is about a violent romantic relationship that ended unexpectedly. That song received positive reviews about her vocal performance and the song lyrics. Her third global single, Rude Boy, was released and recognized as the biggest worldwide success from the whole album. The song is about a girl who is getting attention from the guys, and they want her. They are probably just teasing her and cat-calling her, but Rihanna is much more like show me what you got. Its about a womans sexual freedom. Rihannas second album, A Girl Like Me, which was released in April 2006. It sold 115,000 copies in its first week and was certified Platinum. It alternates between the sunny dancehall/pop, hip-hop, club, adult music. The songs in this album were hardly about getting back at a guy or having an intercourse. Her songs were simply songs just to dance to, about someone losing her trust, love and compassion. Her lead single in that album, SOS, was number one on the Billboard Hot 100. It was her first single to top the charts of United States. Her second single, Unfaithful, was a major worldwide hit. Songs like these were what everyone used to listen to, and not only people who have had an abusive relationship, or had their heart broken. Rihannas third studio album Good Girl Gone Bad was released in 2007. She wanted to start in a fresh track with the help of some music producers. She changed her image then to a more rebellious image. She dyed her hair black and cut it short. We figured Good Girl Gone Bad was the perfect title because it showed people Im my own person now. Not doing what anyone wants me to do. Im not the innocent Rihanna anymore. Im taking a lot more risks and chances. I felt when I cut my hair, it shows people I\m not trying to look or be anybody else, Rihanna tells MTV News. During an interview on UK radio station, Capital FM, Rihanna explained the meaning and reasoning behind the album title: Bad is not sleazy. Bad has its own term to every individual and in my case it just means Ive gotten a little rebellious on the album, broken out of my shell and Im taking risks Michael Jackson Bad kind of way.

The Struggle of an Outsider Essay -- Race Relations, Native American

Throughout our readings this semester, the theme the outsider has been present. The outsiders in these selections have all had similar roles. One of the main roles was subjection that developed from the feeling of unequal standings. This subjection silenced and forced many from the mainstream. The Native Americans were outsiders to the Europeans. The Europeans had different beliefs and ideas about life which they forced upon the Native Americans. Suddenly with the arrival of Europeans, Indians became strangers on their own territory. They lose the stability which came with knowing the simply pleasures that surround them. They could not longer listen to wind or feel the sun’s touch but they were forced to fight just to keep a place on the land in which now could be owned. â€Å"Could there be a more efficient way to distress and murder them by inches than the way they have taken† (Apess 484).Even if the Indians were successful in keeping a small portion of land, they were afraid of when it would be taken from them. Before the Europeans, they never knew this world. They were somehow â€Å"ignorant of time, either by the sun or moon; nor do they reckon by the month or year. They understand the seasons in terms of the ripening of fruits, the dying of fish, and the position of stars† (Cabeza de Vaca 32). The perplexing thought for most Native Americans was the Europeans claimed to be Christians but seemed so engulfed with hatred toward this people constantly causing destruction to this innocent group of people. William Apess of both European and Native American descent writes of Europeans who â€Å"would think it no crime to go upon Indian lands and cut and carry off their most valuable timber or anything else they chose† (Apess 484).Slowly, the N... ... control. Simon Rosedale is also an outsider in this society although not for the same reason as Lily. Mr. Rosedale Jewish background prevents him from acquiring a position in this society. Although Rosedale is quite wealthy, he cannot advance in this society unless he can marriage a member that has rank in society like Lily at the beginning of the novel. â€Å"Why should I mind saying I want to get into society† (Wharton 200). Mr. Rosedale intentions are obvious and he uses his wealth to try to succeed in obtaining a role in this society. Lily and Rosedale both posses attributes of outsiders trying to earn their way in a vain society. Many of the outsiders in our readings tried desperately to gain acceptance to the inside. They were subjected to the ideas and beliefs of others. They also were forced to take off their identity to gain acceptance in their society.

How major minerals differentiate from trace minerals

How are the major minerals differentiated from the hint minerals? What are 2 factors that can diminish bioavailability of a mineral? What are 3 maps of minerals in the organic structure? Minerals that we need to devour more than 100mg per twenty-four hours see as major mineral, minerals that we need to devour less than 100mg per twenty-four hours is considered as trace mineral ( Bryd-Bredbenner et al. 2009 ) . The bioavailability of a mineral is referred to a step of the proportion of the sum in a diet that is absorbed and utilized for normal organic structure map. The sum of mineral that is absorbed from the GI piece of land determines their bioavailability. However it is different between minerals. Bioavailability is affected by the interactions with other dietetic constituents in the GI piece of land. For illustration, vitamin C enhances iron soaking up but tannins suppress it. Besides, the looks of cellular transporters, which allow the mineworkers to be transported into blood stream from stomachic lms, besides affect the bioavailability. When there is less transported, intending the mineral will hold lower bioavailability ( Harvey, L 2001 ) . Minerals in our organic structure keep the H2O balance in our organic structure. The concentration of the minerals in and out of the cells drives the H2O in and out of the cells. When the concentration of Na is higher in the cell, the H2O will travel into the cell through osmosis. Besides, Na, K and Ca assistance in the transmittal of nervousnesss urges throughout the organic structure. In the absence of Ca, musculus contractions will ne'er happen. Some minerals like Mg, Cu and Se act as cofactors and enable enzymes to transport out chemical reactions ( Bryd-Bredbenner et al. 2009 ) . What are the chief maps of Na and how is extra Na eliminated from the organic structure? Intakes of salt in the Australian diet remain high ; explicate why there is a demand for Na at all in the diet. What are some schemes for diminishing Na in the diet? Excess Na is eliminated out of the organic structure by micturition. When the Na degree is high in our organic structure, we have higher blood force per unit area. This reduces the production of chymosin enzyme by kidney. Therefore, angiotensinogen is less produced, so angiotesin II is non form. Angiotesin II helps in the release of aldosterone by adrenal secretory organ. Since the permeableness of kidney tubule is controlled by the aldosterone, the kidney tubule is non permeable to sodium when the Na degree in blood is high. Therefore, the Na is so excreted together with H2O in the signifier of piss ( Campbell et al. 2009 ) . Sodium helps in the soaking up of glucose and some aminic acids in little bowel. Besides, it is of import in musculus contraction and presenting the nervus impulse through the nervus cells. Muscle contraction and nervus impulse conductivity is conducted by the shifting of both the K and Na ion across the nervus cell membrane. Sodium besides aids in H2O balance. Sodium is the chief solute in extracellular fluid. It regulates the ECF and plasma volume. When the sum of Na in organic structure additions, more H2O is retained in our organic structure until extra Na is excreted ( Bryd-Bredbenner et al. 2009 ) . There is a demand for Na at all in the diet because salt is of import in the agitation of nutrients. Fermentation preserves nutrients for due to the suppression of peculiar types of bugs. Salt inhibits the growing of spoilage bacteriums and Fungis that present in the nutrient. Salt besides helps to pull H2O and sugars out of works tissues during agitation of veggies which reduces O and prevents the growing of lactic acid bacteriums. Salt is besides used in the processing of merchandises such as sausages and restructured meats. The presence of salt solubilizes myofibrillar proteins that are indissoluble in H2O. It helps to pull out these salt-soluble proteins to the surface of the meat and lodge the little pieces of meat together during cookery ( National Center for Biotechnology Information 2010 ) . Schemes for diminishing Na in the diet are to cook the nutrient with small salt. Beside, nutrient can be prepared with sodium-free flavoring such as basil, bay foliages, curry, garlic and ginger. Last, ever choice low-salt merchandise or salt-free merchandises when available ( Rolfes, Pinna & A ; Whitney 2006 ) . Where is most K in the organic structure found? What are 2 serious upsets linked to low K consumptions? Why is hyperkalemia rare? Potassium is largely found in the cells of the organic structure and performs many of the same maps as Na. Low blood K is known as hypokalemia. It is a life endangering disease. Low K can besides do high blood force per unit area. Hyperkalemia is rare because even though the consumption of K is high, the extra K is readily excreted by kidney ( Bryd-Bredbenner et al. 2009 ) . What are the maps of Mg in the diet? Where is Mg in the organic structure found and what are the symptoms of Mg lack. Which groups are most likely to be magnesium deficient? Magnesium is of import in stabilising the ATP by adhering to the phosphate group of this molecule. Magnesium is needed by more than 300 enzymes that utilize ATP, including those required for energy metamorphosis, musculus contraction and protein synthesis. Magnesium is besides needed for Deoxyribonucleic acid and RNA synthesis. Its function in Ca metamorphosis contributes to cram construction to cram construction and mineralization. It is besides of import for nervus transmittal, bosom and smooth musculus contraction. It besides decreases blood force per unit area by distending the arterias, prevents bosom beat abnormalcies and protect against bilestone formation ( Bryd-Bredbenner et al. 2009 ) . Magnesium is chiefly stored in bone. Magnesium lack causes irregular pulse, sometimes accompanied by failing, musculus cramp, freak out, sickness, purging and ictuss. This is due to the damage of Na and K pumping ( Bryd-Bredbenner et al. 2009 ) . Magnesium lack most frequently occurs in people who have been fed intravenously for a long clip, whose diet does n't incorporate adequate Mg, or who are unable to absorb and egest the mineral decently ( Harvey 2001 ) . Describe the function of Ca in the patterned advance of osteoporosis, including in your drumhead an overview of Ca metamorphosis, demands in the lifecycle and Ca beginnings. Further discourse how make parathyroid endocrine and vitamin D regulate serum Ca? Osteoporosis is a disease caused by the low consumption of Ca. When Ca consumption is unequal, organic structure withdraws Ca s from the bone to maintain the indispensable map of Ca. For illustration, Ca is needed to maintain our musculus catching ( Bryd-Bredbenner et al. 2009 ) . Bone formation needs Ca and P and other minerals. As bone begins to organize, Ca salts and phosphorus signifier crystal, hydroapatite, and bind with the collagen fibres. As the crystal become denser ( mineralization ) , they give strength and rigidness to the maturating castanetss. Collagen protein allows the skeleton to absorb impact. When Ca degree in blood is low, parathyroid endocrine is released by parathyroid secretory organ. This endocrine associated with 1,25 ( OH ) 2 vitamin D stimulate the release of Ca from the bone into blood stream to increase the Ca degree in blood. Besides, the endocrine besides increases the consumption of Ca in bowel to increase blood Ca degree. Third, parathyroid secretory organ besides increases blood Ca in association with 1,25 ( OH ) 2 vitamin D to increase the kidneysaa‚Â ¬a„? resorption of Ca which eventually prevent the elimination of Ca. When blood Ca degree is high, the release of parathyroid endocrine falls. This causes the Ca elimination via the piss to increase. The synthesis of 1,25 ( OH ) 2 vitamin D besides decreases, doing bead in Ca soaking up. Besides, thyroid secretory organ secretes hormone calcitonin which prevents the Ca from loss from castanetss. The Ca degree in blood eventually back to norm al degree. Calciums are usually come from yoghurt, milk and cereal ( Bryd-Bredbenner et al. 2009 ) .

The Black Jacobins

1. What perspective does C. L. R. James’ The Black Jacobins present on the history of black struggle for freedom? To what extent does it help you better understand the history of African Americans? C. L. R James in The Black Jacobins had gone beyond the recount of an historical event. His work did not only depict the black struggle for freedom but it gives us the opportunity to encounter with various slaves responsible for the fall of the French rule. C. L. R James also offers us the perspective of the empowerment of the black community. Contrary to others authors, James gives us a detailed account of the rebellion of those slaves. He shows us that the slaves (both men and women) were not passive ‘object’ and that they â€Å"constantly rebelled and resisted their fate, whether through organized rebellion, individual violence, or still more subtle means† (Baptist, nd). The Black Jacobins is therefore more that an historical account, it is a heritage that one should take into example and should be proud of. C. L. R James enables us as readers to visualize and participate in the struggle of the black for freedom. He gives us new perspectives and prospects to consider. For example: he shows the rebellious side of the slaves and pay tribute for it. Unlike others authors, James denounces the atrocities endure by the Haitian slaves. In chapter One of The Black Jacobins, he makes a clear account of the punishments that the white owners imposed on the black which he clearly defined as The Property. The various punishments were mutilations, whipping, tortures and death. The author shows that both male and female slaves were tortured and both resisted tortures. They culminated a deep-rooted sense of anguish which lead to resistance. In James’ views, they did not only resist but they struggle too. They attacked their defendless masters, killed them, poisoned them and their wives and made use of Vodou to hurt them. As C. L. R James (1938) states the slaves â€Å"remained, despite their black skins and curly hair, quite invincibly human beings†, whom instinct of survival was to defend themselves by any means available. Another perspective that the author demonstrated in The Black Jacobins is the loyalty and the faithfulness that the Haitian slaves had in their culture and religious beliefs. Even, if they were converted into Catholicism, they remain faithful to their cults and beliefs and continued to practice it into secrecy. Many authors had debated on the role of Catholicism in slavery and many had argued that slaves became submissive and respected the ‘paroles’ of the bible. For example Rodriguez (1997, p165) stated that â€Å"The Roman Catholic Church was firmly established as an expression†¦. Slaves were baptized and instructed to Catholicism, and all subjects were ordered to observe Sundays end church holidays†. However James depicts us another picture of those slaves. Instead of portraying submissive slaves going to the church, he talks about their secret celebrations of vodou which inspired fear to the masters. Vodou was a mean for them to â€Å"cherish a dream of freedom† (James, 1938) and also to some point have a control on their masters who feared the vodou cults. Through those vodou cults, the slaves were able to regroup themselves and thus prepare their revolution. C. L. R James also stresses on the obstacles that the slaves had to face when struggling for their freedoms. He carefully portrays the life and struggle of some particular slaves. One of those slaves is Makandal, an African maroon who attempted a revolution, without success. He also talked about mulattos and their implication in the revolution of the Haitian slaves. Without C. L. R James, those slaves would have remained in anonymity. The author of The Black Jacobins also put forward the perspective that somehow the French were in a way responsible for the revolution of the Haitian Slaves. The French revolution played a significant role in awakening the consciousness of the black. As C. L. R James (1938) stated: â€Å"they had heard of the revolution and had constructed it in their own image: The white slaves in French had risen, and killed their masters, and were now enjoying the fruits of the earth. It was gravely inaccurate in fact, but they had caught the spirit of the thing. Liberty. Equality. Fraternity† This notion of liberty makes them struggle alongside to gain their freedom. C. L. R James also makes a worthy account of Toussaint L’Ouverture’s life, stressing on his contribution in the revolution of the Haitian slaves. In his article C. L. R James and the Black Jacobins, Hogsbjerg (2010) stated that: James demolished the foundations on which over a century of British scholarship on abolition had rested. The Black Jacobins is a book which did not see from the upper class/oppressors perspectives like almost all slavery books. It is a book which enables us to see the revolution through the oppressed one. On reading The Black Jacobins, my visions about slavery changed. Almost every book I read before described slaves as submissive, however The Black Jacobins did the contrary. It helped me understand the courageous and rebellious character that the slaves had. I also acquired a lot of knowledge about the Haitian population, whom in some way resemble the Mauritian population in their struggle. The First chapter of the book, entitled The property is the most touching and also revolting thing I read in my life. Touching, in the fact that, as readers, we penetrated the book and become one of the slaves but on seeing all those atrocities done to slaves, we felt revolted. The Black Jacobins is a heritage which should be forwarded from generation to generation. It did not only talk about struggling in a slave society but it talks about struggling in every day’s life and situation. C. L. R James did not only make an account of the slaves’ tortures and struggle for freedom, he had also make us penetrated in the owners world. Those who dominated society for their own interest. After reading the book, I also become more aware of the humanitarian character of the slaves. Many authors described slaves as objects. But however in The Black Jacobins, we see that those slaves do have feeling. They were in fact jealous, anguish, happy, sad, revolted, etc. To conclude I will say that C. R. L James The Black Jacobins is a chef-d’oeuvre. It revealed the revolt and the true struggle that the slaves had to face in order to obtain their freedom. It is also a tribute to all those who resisted and helped in making the Haitian revolution possible.Bibliography†¢James, C.R.L, 2001. The Black Jacobins. 4th edition. England. Penguin †¢Rodriguez, J, 1997. The Historical encyclopedia of world slavery, Volume 1 ;Volume . California. Library of Congress†¢Hà ¸gsbjerg. C, 2010. CLR James and the Black Jacobins, international socialism a quarterly journal of socialist theory available at < http://www.isj.org.uk/index.php4?id=639&issue=126> [accessed on 23 avril ] †¢Baptist.E.nd. Introduction available through the database of Slave Resistance < http://scholar.library.miami.edu/slaves/index.html> accessed on 23avril]

Top ten reasons why large companies fail to keep their best talent

Top ten reasons why large companies fail to keep their best talent Brief Article Overview The article Top ten reasons why large companies fail to keep their best talent by Jackson Eric sets out to highlight the reasons why major companies find it hard retaining staff. The article begins by stating that while large organizations have vast resources that they can use to retain their best staff, they still fail to keep their most talented staff from leaving.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Top ten reasons why large companies fail to keep their best talent specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Loss of talented staff negatively affects the organization’s performance and for this reason, it is important to know the reasons why employees leave. Jackson (2011) therefore goes on to provide a list of ten reasons for this failure in staff retention by large companies. The reasons articulated range from those that are as a result of the company being large to personal reasons by both the mana gers and the staff. The article concludes by noting that with a scarcity of talent being expected, organizations need to overcome this issues that cause talented staff to leave. List in order of Priority Big Company Bureaucracy Who’s the Boss? The Missing Vision Thing Poor Annual Performance Reviews No Discussion around Career Development Failing to Find a Project for the Talent that Ignites Their Passion Lack of Accountability and/or telling them how to do their Jobs Shifting Whims/Strategic Priorities Lack of Open-Mindedness Top Talent likes other Top Talent How to know if these things are happening Being able to know if these things which cause top talent to leave are happening is of great significance. If the activities mentioned below are taking place, then you will know that these things are happening in your company. The organization has inflexible procedures and demands that a rigid hierarch and chain of command be followed at all times and decision making is entrus ted only to the top company employees. In addition to this, the companys vision and strategy is come up with by the top management and then imposed on the rest of the employees who have no say in the companys vision. The company’s managers are overwhelmed with work and therefore do not have any time to engage in conversations with the employees to find out their passions or even provide feedback on their performance reviews. The company lacks clear goals and objectives and it keeps on moving the top talent to work on the latest project without giving them time to complete previous projects they may be interested in. The organization also lacks any well defined career development plan for its employees and the talented staff cannot see any clearly set out career path for them. Promotions and advances are also given in a haphazard manner and at the discretion of top management.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The company avoids hiring top talent since they demand more competitive payment packages and as a result of this, the company is filled with average employees and a few talented staff who end up feeling frustrated. When hiring managers, the company does not deeply review the competence of the new manager in dealing with high talent. The company also does not providing executive coaching for the new manager and he/she is expected to be adept at working with his staff. Action Plan to prevent the 10 Things An action plan is needed to ensure that the reasons for talented employees leaving are mitigated or eliminated altogether. Decision making should be more decentralized with employees being given an opportunity to voice their suggestions. This will demonstrate that the organization values the input of its staff and appreciates them as valued players in the organization. In addition to this, the organization should inform of even con sult employees when changes that affect them are about to take place. While money is a major motivation for employees, they are also concerned about their professional growth (Donaldson-Feilder, et al. 2011). This is in line with Herzbergs two-factor theory which states that in addition to monetary rewards, work conditions also act as incentives for workers to be more productive. The organization should therefore come up with schedules for career advancement and managers should take on mentoring roles to the employees and encourage growth. The organization should also carry out regular evaluations of the performance of their employees and the evaluations should be focused on improving the productivity of individual employees. Moss and Sanchez (2004) assert that feedback on the evaluations is therefore crucial since without feedback, employees will not be able to improve on their shortcomings. Selection of managers should not depend entirely on skill-based analysis. A competency anal ysis should also be engaged in to ensure that the candidate has solid authoritative personality and prior managerial experience. The managers in the organizations will be encouraged to adopt leadership styles that do not alienate them with the employees. For example, transformational leadership which looks for â€Å"potential motives in followers, seeks to satisfy higher needs, and engages the full person of the follower† will be most appropriate (Harris Nelson 2007, p.356). Such a leadership style will raise job satisfaction and increase employee performance and productivity. Managers will also be required to take time to foster relationships with the employees. Research by Kellerman (2007) demonstrated that when managers showed concern for their staff, the staff reciprocated by increased productivity.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Top ten reasons why large companies fail to keep their best talent specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Measuring Success There have to be specific and measurable goals and objectives in order to tell the effectiveness of the staff retention action plan. The first measure of success will be in the evident behavioral change in the company staff. There will be reduced rates of turnover and the company will be able to attract more talented staff who will express interest in working for the company due to the favorable work conditions. An even more important measure of success will be in the increase in organizations productivity as the talented staff gets even more involved in the affairs of the organization. The companys quarterly financial statements will attest to significant improvements which may be caused by the innovations by the talented staff. The company will become a market leader in innovation as its key talent come up with novel products for the organization. Conclusion In this paper, I have carried out an analyses of the article Top ten reasons why large companies fail to keep their best talent by Jackson Eric. From It, I have learnt the major reasons why top talents leave major organization. Remedies to these problems have been proposed so as to help organization’s maintain their talented staff and hence increase their competitiveness. Some of the major lessons that I have learnt from this case study is that making employees feel valued is of great importance in not only increasing their performance but maintaining them in the organizational workforce. References Donaldson-Feilder, E., Lewis, R. Yarker, J. (2011). Preventing stress in organizations: how to develop positive managers. Boston: John Wiley Sons. Kellerman, B. (2007) ‘What Every Leader needs to know About Followers.’ Harvard Business Review 85, (12) 84-91. Harris, T.E. Nelson, M. (2007). Applied organizational communication: theory and practice in a global environment. London: Taylor Francis.Advertising Looking for essay on communications media? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Jackson, E. (2011). Top Ten Reasons Why Large Companies Fail To Keep Their Best Talent. Web. Moss, S.E. Sanchez, J.I. (2004). Are your employees avoiding you? Managerial strategies for closing the feedback gap. Academy of Management Executive, 18 (1), 34-54.

Lil Hardin Armstrong, Early Jazz Instrumentalist

Lil Hardin Armstrong, Early Jazz Instrumentalist Lil Hardin Armstrong (February 3, 1898–August 27, 1971) was a jazz pianist, the first major female jazz instrumentalist, who played with the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band and Louis Armstrongs Hot Five and Hot Seven bands. She also wrote or co-wrote many jazz songs and fronted several of her own bands in the 1920s and 1930s. Fast Facts: Lil Hardin Armstrong Known For: First major woman jazz instrumentalist, pianist, and songwriter married to Louis ArmstrongBorn: February 3, 1898 in Memphis, TennesseeParents: Dempsey Martin Hardin and William HardinDied: August 27, 1971 in Chicago, IllinoisEducation: Fisk Preparatory School in Nashville (1917), Chicago College of Music (BA, 1928), New York School of Music (post-grad, 1930)Credited Songs: Im Gonna Gitcha, Hotter than That, Knee Drops  Spouse(s): Jimmy Johnson (m. 1920–1924), Louis Armstrong (m. 1924–1938)Children: None Early Life Lil Hardin Armstrong was born Lillian Beatrice Hardin, in Memphis, Tennessee, on February 3, 1898, to Dempsey Martin Hardin and William Hardin. Dempsey was one of 13 children of a woman born into slavery; but she only had two children, one who died at birth, and Lillian. Her parents separated when Hardin was quite young and she lived in a boarding house with her mother, who cooked for a white family. She studied piano and organ and played in church from a young age. Growing up, she lived near Beale Street and was early attracted to the blues, but her mother opposed such music. Her mother used her savings to send her daughter to Nashville to study at the preparatory school at  Fisk University for a year (1915–1916) for classical music training and a good environment. To keep her from the local music scene when she returned in 1917, her mother moved to Chicago and took Lil with her. Jazz and Jelly Roll In Chicago, Lil Hardin took a job on South State Street demonstrating music at Jones Music Store. There, she met and learned from Jelly Roll Morton, who played ragtime music on the piano. Hardin  began finding jobs playing with bands while continuing to work in the store, which afforded her the luxury of access to sheet music. She became known as Hot Miss Lil. Her mother decided to accept her new career, though she reportedly picked up her daughter promptly after performances to protect her from the evils of the music world. In 1918, she achieved some recognition as house pianist working with Lawrence Duhà © and  the New Orleans Creole Jazz Band, and in 1920, when King Oliver took it over and renamed it the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band, Lil Hardin stayed around as it gained popularity. Sometime between 1918 and 1920, she married singer Jimmy Johnson. Traveling with King Olivers band strained the marriage, and so she left the band to return to Chicago and the marriage. When the King Oliver Creole Jazz Band also returned to its Chicago base, Lil Hardin was invited to rejoin the band. Also invited to join the band, in 1922: a young cornet player named Louis Armstrong. Louis Armstrong Though Louis Armstrong and Lil Hardin became friends, she was still married to Jimmy Johnson. Hardin was unimpressed with Armstrong at first, but when she divorced Johnson, she helped Louis Armstrong divorce his first wife Daisy and they began dating. After two years, they married in 1924. She helped him learn to dress more appropriately for big-city audiences and convinced him to change his hairstyle into one that would be more attractive. Because King Oliver played lead cornet in the band, Louis Armstrong played second and so Lil Hardin Armstrong began to advocate for her new husband to move on. In 1924, she persuaded him to move to New York and join Fletcher Henderson. Lil Hardin Armstrong didnt find work herself in New York, and so she returned to Chicago, where she put together a band at the Dreamland to feature Louis playing. He also returned to Chicago. In 1925, Louis Armstrong recorded with the Hot Fives orchestra, followed by another the next year. Lil Hardin Armstrong played piano for all the Hot Fives and Hot Sevens recordings. The piano at that time in jazz was primarily a percussion instrument, establishing beat and playing chords so that other instruments could play more creatively; Lil Hardin Armstrong excelled at this style. Louis Armstrong was often unfaithful and Lil Hardin Armstrong was often jealous, but they continued to record together even as their marriage was strained and they often spent time apart. She served as his manager as he continued to become more famous. Lil Hardin Armstrong returned to her study of music, obtaining a teaching diploma from the Chicago College of Music in 1928, and she bought a large home in Chicago and a lakeside cottage retreat- perhaps meant to entice Louis to spend some time with her instead of his other women. Lil Hardin Armstrongs Bands Lil Hardin Armstrong formed several bands- some all-female, some all-male- in Chicago and in Buffalo, New York. She went back to school again and earned a post-graduate degree at the New York College of Music, and then returned once more to Chicago and tried her luck as a singer and songwriter. In 1938 she divorced Louis Armstrong, winning a financial settlement and keeping her properties, as well as gaining rights to the songs that they had co-composed. How much of the composition of those songs was actually Lil Armstrongs and how much Louis Armstrong contributed remains a matter of dispute. Legacy and Death Lil Hardin Armstrong turned away from music and began working as a clothing designer (Louis was a customer), a restaurant owner, and then music and French teacher. In the 1950s and 1960s, she occasionally performed and recorded. On July 6, 1971, Louis Armstrong died. Seven weeks later on August 27, Lil Hardin Armstrong was playing at a memorial concert for her ex-husband when she suffered a massive coronary and died. While Lil Hardin Armstrongs career was nowhere near as successful as her husbands, she was the first major woman jazz instrumentalist whose career had any significant duration. Sources Dickerson, James L. Just for a Thrill: Lil Hardin Armstrong, First Lady of Jazz. New York; Cooper Square Press, 2002.Louis Armstrongs 2d Wife, Lil Hardin, Dies at a Tribute. The New York Times, August 27, 1971.  Sohmer, Jack. Lil Armstrong. Harlem Renaissance: Lives from the African American National Biography. Eds. Gates Jr., Henry Louis and Evelyn Brooks Higginbotham. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press, 2009. 15–17.

Week 5 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Week 5 - Assignment Example such as there is no positive outcome of resolving the conflict, it is too trivial, disruption would prove to be very costly, etc mangers tend to use the avoiding style of conflict management (Schyns & Hansbrough, 2010). Hence, it is first important to understand why the manager is avoiding conflict before confronting them. With the exception of the above two cases, an employee must confront the manager if a conflict is being avoided. It is very important for an employee to trust and believe in his or her manager. It is only when an employee trusts the manger to act in the best interest of the employee that he or she can dedicate completely and work for the manager. In the absence, of this trust an employee will not only lose confidence but also be de-motivated. This will affect both the performance of the employee as well as the overall output of the team. This attitude of the manager to avoid conflicts can disrupt the dynamics of a group as employees do not feel recognised or rewarded with respect to the work they do in comparison with other employees. This can further escalate the conflicts in a group. Also, the feedback given by a conflict avoiding manager can be very diplomatic and does not serve the purpose of a feedback. Employees need to have a clear understanding of where they stand in the workplace and how they can improve. This cannot be accomplished with a diplomatic feedback. Therefore, it is important that an employee confronts a conflict avoiding