Manipulating creation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Manipulating creation - Essay Example Therefore, while technology plays an important role in creating easy and comfortable lives for humanity, it is important to observe boundaries that maintain the balance of life. In the creation stories, there is a concept of God creating everything for the comfort of humankind. For example, man is in charge of all life on earth (Herzfeld 91). The implication is that man has the authority to shape the world to a shape that suits all his need. Therefore, the desire to change the nature of creation is justified by the position of man in the universe. However, this is a utilitarian view. An alternative view would mean that man has the responsibility to maintain creation as it is. In addition, changes would imply dissatisfaction with the work of the creator. Therefore, such changes would be wrong in a religious context. The illustration of the initial desire to change the nature of metals to suit the needs of humanity exposes the nature of man and his position in creation. For example, in an economic argument, the limited amounts of Gold make the metal valuable. It its quantities were to increase, its value would reduce. In addition, the other metals have more u se in building, tasks that gold cannot be used for. Therefore, the current model of creation fits the needs of humanity by availing materials in the amounts required by humankind. Therefore, the provisions of nature create a balance that makes life easier by providing the requirements of humanity at the required amounts. However, the argument of presence of diseases and other genetic disorders that complicate life and create suffering is used to challenge the principles of nature. For example, in the proposed models of nanotechnology, it is possible for doctors to remove tumors that were recently fatal to man (Herzfeld 96). In addition, the principles of alchemy were instrumental in brewing

Critical Analysis On Organizational Change Management Management Essay

Critical Analysis On Organizational Change Management Management Essay In recent years organisations are required to make changes for their survival. It is very important to response quickly to the modern technological advancement and competition to internal and external levels (Edmonds, 2011). So change is the regular experience in private and governmental organisation for its development. The purpose of this study is to analyse the issues of managing organisational change by various approaches. The essay will argue in brief on resistance to change and how it is handled for successful implementation of a change programme by reviewing related literature on the issue. It will more study on the ability of successful management of organisational change. In this paper, there are three main sections. First of all, change is defined on the basis of development. Then influencing factors and resistance to change are briefly discussed in two following sections. Finally, managing resistance is discussed before conclude. What is change and why change? Change is defined as any alteration of the status quo (Bartol and Martin, 1994;199). Organisational change may be defined as new ways of organizing and workingà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.. (Dawson, 2003; Cited by Hughes, 2006). Breu and Benwell (1999), Ragsdell (2000) as well as Bamford and Forrester (2003), define organisational change as the process of moving an organisation from some present status to new status whether it is planned or unplanned. Organisational change is a form of difference from its long term old position to introduce a new idea and action for better performance and adjustment of new environment (Schalk et al.,1998). From different perspectives , we can observe different types of changes but in generally organisational changes can be classifieds into two types- incremental and radical (Ragsdell, 2000; McAdam, 2003; Milling Zimmermann, 2010). Literature argues that the incremental change is a small scale change on its present structure and functions which is continuous, on the other hand radical change involves a large-scale basic change (McAdam, 2003; Cunha, et al, 2003; Romanelli Tushman, 1994). Furthermore, Beugelsdijk et al (2002) argue that, organisational change process initially begins with radical change and follow the incremental change that creates a prospect or a threat. In contrast, Del Val and Fuentes (2003) state that change is a general procedure of response to organisational settings because real changes are not only incremental or transformational but also a mixture of both. However Bamford and Forrester (2003) have further classified organisational change as planned and emergents.The planned approach organisational change highlights the different status which an organisation will have to shift from an unacceptable position to recognised desired position (Eldrod II and Tippett, 2002). The emergent approach change suggests that it is an unpredictable and undesirable continuous process of adjustment to changing circumstances (Burnes, 2004). But uncertainty of circumstances create emergent approach more significant than the planned approach (Bamford and Forrester, 2003). So, it is import to any organisation to identify the requirements for its prospects, and how to deal with the required changes and it is the inseparable strategy of an organisation (Burnes, 2004). Managerial proficiency is very much needed for successful change (Senior, 2002). Although for the existence and effective competition successful management of change is highly required (Luecke, 20 03). Influencing Factors : Hughes (2006) argues that, different factors can influence organisational changes, from the effect of internal control, to external rolls in consumer behaviour, or changing the business settings. The most common reasons are: Legislation, incorporation or attainment, competitive market, world economy, Structural change, technological advancement and Strategic re-organisation. Moreover, Haikonen et al (2004) argue that different important internal and external factors which influence change as policy, structure, control system, organisational culture, and power distribution. Moreover, Saka (2003) state that the external factors as national or international rules and regulations influence the organisation to accept new strategies to survive in changed situation. Furthermore, many other factors related to market competition, economic growth, and living standard also oblige organisation to commence change programmes for update and manage the external forces (Beugelsdijk, et al, 2002; Breu Benwell, 1999; Carr Hancock, 2006). Consequently, the technological advancement creates internal and external demands to generate the capabilities of organisations and assess their strategies regularly (Harris Wegg-Prosser, 2007; Ragsdell, 2000; Shaft, et al, 2008). Moreover, Eisenbach et al (1999) also recognized different factors that compel change such as innovation, new technology, workforce, productivity and working quality. Similarly, McAdam (2003) and Mukherji and Mukherji (1998) emphasize that availability of skilled employees, changing customer behavior, free flow of information and cultural change make very impact on organisation for modification on their activities and compel it to readjust or large scale change for transforming from deadlock to effectiveness. Finally, internal change factors like leadership, organisational culture, employee relationship, workload, reward system, internal politics, and communication system compel the organisation to take up change strategy (Bhatnagar, et al, 2010; Potter, 2 001; Van Marrewijk, et al, 2010; Young, 1999).On the whole, Breu and Benwell (1999) as well as Rees and Hassard (2010) emphasized the development of capabilities of managers to evaluate the situation exactly from different factors to effective management of resistance to change programme. For that reason, all managers are necessary to give appropriate concentration on this. Resistance to Change Resistance is a phenomenon which affect the change process by slowing down its starting, obstructing its accomplishment and rising its costs(Ansoff, 1990; Del Val Fuentes, 2003; Young, 1999). In contrast, resistance is a manner that tries to maintain the status quo, so it is comparable to inertia which tries to avoid change (Maurer, 1996; Rumelt, 1995). Similarly, Jansen (1996), Potter (2001) as well as Romanelli and Tushman (1994) argue that organisational change permeates resistance from the persons as their calm sector are influenced by creating stress, insecurity and uncertainty. Moreover, Ford et al (2002) as well as Reissner (2010) support that resistance comes about since a change program threatens existing status, or causes fear of supposed consequences like trouble in personal security and apprehension about new capability and skills to perform in the changed surroundings. On the other hand, resistance by workforce may be seen as a general part of any change process and in this manner a valuable source of knowledge and useful in learning how to manage successful change process (Antonacopoulou Gabriel, 2001; Bhatnagar, et al, 2010; Bovey Hede, 2001). Furthermore, Antonacopoulou and Gabriel (2001) and Lamb and Cox (1999) argue that unusual community will resist any change program for various reasons including misunderstanding, inconvenience, negative rumor, economic proposition, low tolerance for change and fear of the unknown. However, the observation of annoyance in long standing custom associated with change initiatives finally contribute in the appearance of resistance, mainly from middle managers who resist for the reason that of the fear of threat to their current position and supremacy (Marjanovic, 2000; Ragsdell, 2000; Saka, 2000). In addition, Pardo del val et al (2003) suggested that the sources of resistance classified into five factions which affect both formulation and implementation stages of change program. It includes wrong preliminary perception, low motivation for change, lack of creative response, political and cultural stalemate to change and shortage of the essential qualifications to implement change. Moreover, in manipulative business environment, where major focus is on productivity and centralisation, occurrences higher rate of resistance than manipulative business units having a more open culture, giving freedom to explore new capacities and technologies (Mirow, et al, 2008; Valle, 2002).Accordingly, Lamb and Cox (1999) and Trader-Leigh (2002) indicate that dispute of resistance in public sector is much higher than that of private sector.However, Bovey and Hede (2001) as well as Del Val and Fuentes (2003) discover that when change principles and organisational principles are usually different then the workers show resistance to change while individual anxiety, ineffective management, failure precedent, little inspiration, insufficient tactical vision and pessimism are several sources of resistant. So, if the ground of change is not well planned and competently managed then the employees may prevent the change initiatives and they will apply protection policy to resist because of apprehension that they will be oppressed by others (Bovey Hede, 2001; Perren Megginson, 1996). Nevertheless, Jones et al (2008) argue that employees do not generally resist cultural issues to obtain a distinct policy for successful implementation of change.(Diefenbach, 2007; Lamb Cox, 1999). However, Mabin et al. (2001) argued that resistance to change sometimes have positive features and objectives and it may helps to take better decision for the interest of Organisation. So in general, resistance is not a negative idea. Because change is not always useful for organisation. Moreover, resistance might prove change managers convinced characteristic which are not accurately considered in change process (Waddell and Sohal, 1998). Managing Resistance: Resistance to change is an important matter in change management and participatory approach is the best way to manage resistance for successful change(Del-Val et al., 2o12). Potter (2001) and Ragsdell (2000) support that resistance to organisational change have to be observed as a prospect and preparing people for change as well as permitting them to vigorously participate in the change process. Furthermore, Conner (1998) affirms that the negative effects of resistance occurred from major changes can be minimize by open discussion. Moreover Judson (1991) asserts that effective change can be committed and resistance can be reduced by commitment and participation of employees. Del-val et al (2012) suggest that Participation of stake holders show the way to commitment and commitment keeps away from resistance. So involvement of all people to change process may overcome the resistance but they argue that it is also time consuming. If there is enough time to change then participatory meth od will be very effective way to reduce resistance and have successful change to an organization (Lenz and Lyles, 1986). Generally, there is no universal proposal to avoid resistance to change, however, Del- val et al (2003) suggest that managers can pay a vital role to minimize the resistance to change. Firstly, they have to consider organizational culture related to change objectives and take necessary steps to fill the that cultural gap. Another thing is training which can overcome communicational complexity to avoid resistance occurred by communicational difficulties and achieve the required capabilities to attain successful change. In addition, contemporary managers required to examine and categorize all the stakeholders as change worker, impartial, conservatives or resistor as per their function in resistance to change so as to apply obligatory approach upon the definite form of people so that they feel like accommodating the change program willingly (Chrusciel Field, 2006; Lamb Cox, 1999). Moreover, it is essential to engage people in all stages of the procedure for successful completion of ch ange where effective communication of change objectives can play one of the most important roles (Becker, 2010; Beugelsdijk, et al, 2002; Frahm Brown, 2007; Lamb Cox, 1999). Accordingly, Potter (2001) as well as Van Hoek et al (2010) suggests that for managing resistance to change successfully, organisations must build up the capability to predict changes and working approaches to the changes and thereby engage the employees to face the challenges sincerely with complete preparation. Similarly, Caldwell (2003) and Macadam (1996) propose that smooth running of organization managers should be open for involvement of employees at every steps of decision making process and productivity. Moreover, usually resistance happens as a result of misinterpretation among peoples and hence, in each change program it is essential that everyone concerned realizes the reason following the change from upper level to the lower level where training and cooperation may speed up the procedure (Beugelsdijk, et al, 2002; Johnson, 2004; Taylor, 1999). In addition, at the moment of crisis and ambiguity people require results, accomplishments and successful communication which will assist reduce anxiety and eventually produce enthusiasm for change amongst the employees (Hill Collins, 2000a; Potter, 2001). Consequently, the new public management emphasizes new type of policies which presume a flexible, open and more creative structure and therefore proactively illustrative targets, setting superior examples and creating exciting position might be regarded as a number of core leadership capabilities essential for routing change (Beugelsdijk, et al, 2002; Chrusciel Field, 2006; Harris Wegg -Prosser, 2007). Moreover, Aladwani (2001) rationalizes that opening human abilities of the workers by permitting them to use their intelligence being innovative at work takes place to be important where the function of managers have to be renamed from manager to trainer as to donate continuously on self-confidence building all over the business. Furthermore, alongside the background of rapidly growing technological improvement and deregulation since the early 1990s, ritual approach can no longer arrange the modern perception of shocking ambiguity and insistent change relatively dispersed organisations are probable to authorize the employees (Caldwell (2003; Harris Wegg-Prosser, 2007). In addition, Andrews et al (2008) and Caldwell (2003) have the same opinion with Frahm and Brown (2007) that not like the conventional top-down bureaucratic systems; the present managers must receive bottom-up participatory strategy by discussing with stakeholders. Caldwell (2003) more recommends tha t change managers should uphold possession of the change approach along with the stakeholders by connecting them in the process, who distinguish the authenticity of the business and it is usually they who grasp answer key to the problems. Lastly, as contextualization is the main element of any societal and organisational change, in the twenty-first century circumstance, the status quo is not a suitable preference and organisations must get slant and vigorous for the modern world of digital convergence (Carr Hancock, 2006; Harris Wegg-Prosser, 2007; Milling Zimmermann, 2010). Additionally, Bamford and Forrester (2003), Diefenbach (2007) and Eisenbach et al (1999) consent that in the growing approach to managing change, elder managers transform themselves from administrator to facilitator and the major accountability of execution vest on the middle managers. Also, Diefenbach (2007) more highlights that middle managers should cooperate with peers, divisions, consumers, dealers and also with the senior managements as if they are the key player of organisational change programs. Furthermore, Bamford and Forrester (2003) as well as Diefenbach (2007) consider Lewinà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã… ¸s (1958) three step model of freezing, unfreezing and refreezing, have supported that prior to effective implementation of any new manners, the old one has to be untrained. Consequently, the notion of applying linear change plan is a conventional observation but complex up-to-date position is that four different kinds of change factors- specifically top managers, and middle managers, ex ternal performers, consultants, and teams- everyone having various experiences and perspectives- must be engaged in any specific change process (Andrews, et al, 2008; Caldwell, 2003; Frahm Brown, 2007). At last, Burnes (2004) concludes that in the gradually changing world, the capability to make internal change of an organization with the help of the external factors is very much essential for its survival. Recommendations for Further Research: Drawing the attention on change agenda in general, there may be basic requirement of an appropriate outline for organisational change management. Due to shortage of experimental study on change management in organisations, it is recommended that more research into the character of change management will be conducted. The primary step in this course may be to complete investigative studies to enhance the understanding of organisational change management. The significant success factors can be identified by these studies for the change management. Moreover, it is very much essential to determine success rate for creating a suitable structure for change management. Therefore, techniques of determinations should be designed (Todnem By, 2005). Conclusion: It is clear from the article that change is a pervasive factor which affects all organisations. Therefore, sskill is very much essential for successful change management (Todnem By, 2005). By reviewing the related literature on organisational change management and considering different views and arguments connected with the issue, this article has found out that resistance to change is an important reason to consider in any change process, since an appropriate management of resistance is the solution for a successful change . (Del-Val et al., 2003). However, resistance to change develops from various sources and as it is a complex area of management discipline, there is no particular solution generally applicable in the approach of directing change (Bamford Forrester, 2003; Trader-Leigh, 2002; Young, 2009). Perhaps, ensuring extensive participation of employees at all levels in the change procedure might be the best way to resolve resistance to organisational change but this is cert ainly very difficult considering various factors having persuaded on the organisation directly or indirectly mutually from internal and external accumulation (Del Val Fuentes, 2012). On the whole, the managers require increasing particular capabilities to facilitate managing change by taking into consideration time and space as well as irrational factors in the change program (Carr Hancock, 2006). Moreover, this essay agrees with the idea that change program completely depends on the managers who involve from the initial stage to final stage of change initiatives (Antonacopoulou Gabriel, 2001; Hoag, et al, 2002). Furthermore, it has determined that individuals resist change mostly from the observation of loss, uncertainty and apprehension about their self benefits, organisations should make clear the objectives of change program to all stakeholders to get the support for performing on change (Andrews, et al, 2008; Potter, 2001). In addition, this study illustrates that a planned change program fail mainly for the lack of organisational willingness and the mangers should have the capability of being more practical, more flexible and more adventuresome in this context (Judge Douglas, 2009; Newman, 1998; Young, 2009). Finally, this essay has critically analysed different views and arguments related to change management searching a number of excellence resources presented on the topic and briefly discussed by isolating it into introduction and definition followed by three sections that is factors influencing change, resistance to change and managing resistance before concluding. To finish, considering all arguments this paper concludes that the organisational capability to achieve any change is always more important strategic demand and essential for survival s(Edmonds, 2011).

Sahara Desert Essay -- essays research papers fc

Sahara Desert The Sahara Desert is the world’s largest desert area. The word Sahara comes from the Arabic word sahra’, meaning desert. It extends from the Africa’s Atlantic Ocean side to the Red Sea and consists of the countries of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad, and Sudan. It is about 5,200 miles long. Overall, the Sahara Desert covers 3,500,000 square miles. The geography of the desert is varied. In the west, the Sahara is rocky with varied elevation. It does contain underground rivers, which sometime penetrate the surface, resulting in oases. The central region of the Sahara has more elevation than the other areas, with peaks such as Emi Koussi and Tahat. Even though the area lacks rainfall, these peaks are snowcapped during the winter. The Eastern part of the Sahara, the Libyan Desert, is dry with very few oases. The Sahara's landscape features include shallow basins, large oasis depressions, gravel-covered plains, plateaus, and mountains, sand sheets, dunes and sand seas. Sand sheets and dunes cover over 25 percent of the Sahara’s surface. The most common types of dunes include tied dunes, blowout dunes, and transverse dunes. Within the Sahara are several pyramidal dunes that reach over 500 feet in height while others reach over 1,000 feet. Researchers have for many years tried to figure out how these dunes were formed, but the case remains unsolved. The boundaries, however, are not clearly defined and have been shifting for millennia. The Sahara was once a fertile area; millet was cultivated there over 8000 years ago. About 10,000 years ago, the Sahara was used as land for grazing in which elephants, giraffes and other animals thrived. It is estimated that in 4,000 B.C., the climate began to get drier. The fertile landscape dried up and the desert widened, creating the form that appears today. As conditions gradually became drier, however, and desertification set in, farmers abandoned their land and the animals migrated to other areas. The Sahara’s climate is very hot and dry. Although it is very hot during the day, it does become cold at night. On average, it only has 8 inches of rainfall per year. The Sahara's climate consists of b... ... whole, the Sahara is one of the harshest environments known to man. The majority of the people living in the Sahara Desert are nomads, which means that these people continuously move from region to region in search of better living conditions. It is believed that the first nomadic peoples came to this region after domestic animals were introduced to the Sahara 7,000 years ago. Evidence suggests that the Sahara accumulated diverse groups that quickly formed dense populations throughout the region. The majority of the groups lived separately, but depended on each other for trade. One of the main problems that are happening to the Sahara desert is the continuing development of the boundaries of the desert. This is known as desertification. As global warming continues to increase, the probability of more desert regions becoming bigger is more likely. Bibliography n.a. http://library.thinkquest.org/10898/sahara.htm. â€Å"Sahara Desert† ThinkQuest 1998. n.a. http://library.advanced.org/~16645/the_land/saha_cl.shtml â€Å"People and Places: Sahara Desert† 1998. "Sahara," Microsoft ® Encarta ® 97 Encyclopedia.  © 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation.

Clausewitz in the 21st Century Essay

The work of Carl von Clausewitz continues to bring about heated debate in the 21st Century. While many scholars see Clausewitz’s On War as an indispensible military thought in the modern times, others view it as an obsolete or morally repellent argument for unlimited, unrestrained and brutal warfare. [1] Notwithstanding the opposition of present times, this renowned work is considered incomplete and its lack of prescriptive contents has subjected it to interpretations and discourses. Facing this encumbrance, the study of On War has to go beyond textual analysis to an appreciation of the historical context which influenced the author’s thinking and the evolution of the book over time. Fortunately, with the enduring efforts of numerous historians, we now know that Clausewitz’s experiences in the Napoleonic Wars and his study in the age of Frederick the Great (and beyond) allowed him to create a unified, all encompassing theory of war. [2] To date, much literature has been written to attest to the relevance of Clausewitz’s theories in modern warfare and assert the timelessness of On War. This paper examines the insights gained from the great studies on Clausewitz’s works and re-confirm the continued relevance of his theories by: (1) identifying the character of 21st Century warfare, followed by (2) an interpretation of Clausewitz’s theories and his underlying thinking, and finally (3) examining the relevance of the theories concerned and determine how they can be applied in the 21st Century. The 21st Century Warfare The character of warfare has evolved since the passing of Carl von Clausewitz 180 years ago. The likelihood of massive clashes between onventional forces seems to be diminishing and the world has seen the dawn of non-state actors challenging established states with asymmetric warfare[4] techniques. William Lind aptly chronicled the evolution of warfare in four generations, which began with the Peace of Westphalia in 1648. He described present day warfare as fourth-generation warfare (4GW) that is characterized by a universal crisis of legitimacy of the state, where militaries had to fight against threats that are transnational in nature and are very difficult to deal with. 5] The capabilities of these threat entities stem from the effects of globalisation that have enabled further, faster, deeper and cheaper means to reach around the world. [6] In addition to the physical reach, today’s information technology has also brought about various modern communication avenues that allow collaboration and ready access to information. Consequently, this also allowed rapid access to media pipelines enabling belligerents to exploit them to further their cause. These have bestowed transnational terrorist organisations such as Al-Qaeda, and the more sophisticated Hezbollah[7], with the abilities to acquire equipment, knowledge and instruments that rival those of the traditional state to wage wars. According to Lind, 4GW also brings together the relevance of mass firepower dominated by artillery in the second-generation warfare and manoeuvre concepts of third-generation warfare, making it more complex than ever before. Therefore, we can conclude at this point that 21st Century strategists and war-fighters have to contend with both conventional threats from traditional states and unconventional threats from non-state actors, both whom are capable of waging wars. Intricacies of Clausewitz’s Work To grasp how Clausewitz’s theories can be applied in 4GW, it is necessary to decipher the underlying thinking of the author’s work. Many of Clausewitz’s theories articulated in On War are remarkably well integrated despite the fact that On War is an unfinished book. Without going into details, this can be illustrated using Clausewitz’s famous paradoxical trinity. The constructs of the trinity comprises three interrelated components of war, namely â€Å"the commander and his army†, â€Å"the people† and â€Å"the government. †[8] Clausewitz connected each of these human actors to three sets of forces: (1) The commander and his army are paired mainly with non-rational forces of riction, chance and probability, (2) the people are paired mainly with irrational forces that refers to the emotions of primordial violence, hatred and enmity, and (3) the government, which is less of a concern in this paper, is paired mainly with the rational force of calculation and reasoning. [9] As illustrated, Clausewitz has unified many ideas and concepts he developed over the period of study in his own youth and middle age. The following discussion will examine the specific ideas and theories concerned. The Irrational Elements Irrational forces† is one of the three forces that were interpreted by Bassford to provide a symmetrical representation of dominant tendencies in Clausewitz’s trinity. [10] While the three sets of forces were paired with each component of the trinity, it must be stressed that Clausewitz actually used the word â€Å"mehr†¦zugewendet† in his original German manuscript, which means â€Å"mainly,† in the associations. [11] Thus, it is clear that the author did not rule out that any one of the forces can be present in all components to some variable extent, and that this is the reason behind dialectical relationships between components. Indeed, looking at the real world, military men and politicians are also members of â€Å"the people,† given that they may belong to different parts of society. In that sense, irrational forces are linked to all human actors and therefore its dominant beliefs will provide the fuel for political decisions[12]. This in turn may shape the outcome of a military campaign, which is consequential based on Clausewitz’s argument that â€Å"war is an instrument of policy. † In his book, Clausewitz contended that the â€Å"[population is] an integral element among the factors at work in war†[13] and conceived the idea of â€Å"People’s War,† defining it as a state-sponsored insurrection by armed civilians against an invader in support of action by army and the regular forces of allies. [14] This phenomenon was observed during the Napoleonic period where enormous armies that were raised using conscripts led to overwhelmed defending states to adopt â€Å"another means of war† by arming their people. 15] When a state has to wage a People’s War, the significance of irrational forces heightens and the interplay amongst the three components of Clausewitz’s trinity become more distinct. In the light of this discussion, it implies that the irrational elements in war can be referred to both the human actors of Clausewitz’s trinity, predominantly â€Å"the people†, and also, what Clausewitz called it, the â⠂¬Å"blind natural force† of primordial violence, hatred and enmity. [16] Friction, Chance and Uncertainty The concepts of chance, uncertainty and friction can hardly be examined independent of each other. When Clausewitz himself introduced friction, he brought in chance as the key subject to friction in war: â€Å"This tremendous friction cannot†¦be reduced to a few points, is everywhere in contact with chance, and brings about effects that cannot be measured, just because they are largely due to chance. †[17] For Clausewitz, friction is neither extrinsic nor abnormal[18]; it is the reflection of the effects in the real world. Friction can be generation internally within the military â€Å"machine†[19], as in physics, and externally by the collision of two opposing armies. [20] Thus with the concept of friction, Clausewitz conveyed that one can never fully anticipate how the battle will unfold, and it is only through a good military system and the strong will of the commander that friction in war can be counteracted. [21] Throughout On War, apart from Clausewitz’s pervasive mention of chance, its definition can nowhere be found. Beyerchen aptly brought in the three forms of chance conceived by the late nineteenth-century mathematician, Henri Poincare, to explain Clausewitz’s interpretation of chance. The first form is a statistical random phenomenon whereby Clausewitz referred to the role of possibility in a commander’s assessment. While some statistical analysis can be used, this form of chance requires the judgment of an experienced commander in war. The second form is the amplification of a microcause, where Poincare explained on a system point of view that certain deterministic system can cause disproportionately large effects at later time. Clausewitz work has embedded this idea in his very articulation on uncertainty and friction where the various contact of chance at the micro level, which may be concealed, can develop and produce effects at the macro level. The third form is the function of analytical blindness which is a result of simplifying the real world phenomena by people and making war seems like a linear concept instead of a complex and nonlinear state of affairs[22]. With all the complexities involved, Clausewitz stressed that the play of chance goes beyond the commander’s simple calculation of probability to a need for an intuition that allows him to exploit chance to his advantage. Culmination of the Attack Clausewitz defined culminating point of the attack as â€Å"the point where [the attacker’s] remaining strength is just enough to maintain a defence and wait for peace. † Moving beyond that point exposes the attacker to counterattack from the enemy â€Å"with a force that is usually much stronger than that of the original attack. [23] According to Clausewitz, losses will usually be greater than the gains in an attack. As the army advanced, its lines of communication will be stretched, forces will be pulled aside to control areas and other situations may be developed which will turn against the attacker. [24] As a result, the attacker has to stop at some point to rest and adopt a defensive posture for a period of time before proceeding. This is the point where the commander has to decide and exercise his imagination, as Clausewitz concluded, â€Å"what matters therefore is to detect the culminating point with discriminative judgement. †[25] Center of Gravity Antulio J. Echevarria II, a lieutenant colonel in the U. S. Army, observed that center of gravity (CoG) appeared more than fifty times in On War, and explained Clausewitz’s conceptualization of the centre of gravity as being based on mechanical sciences, just as he had conceived his theory on friction. [26] Clausewitz described CoG as a focal point, â€Å"the hub of all power and movement, on which everything depends. †[27] By this, which is often misunderstood, he does not mean that the CoG is the source of power. In fact, it is the centralizing function that holds power system together, and in some cases give them purpose and direction. Clausewitz qualified that CoG is valid only when the enemy, â€Å"whether a single state or an alliance of states, have a certain unity and therefore some cohesion. †[29] When the enemy’s CoG is identified, Clausewitz advocates that all â€Å"energies should be directed† at this point to defeat the enemy. [30] Relevance of Clausewitz’s Theories in the 21st Century Thus far, the paper has briefly built a foundational understanding on present day warfare and some of Clausewitz’s brilliant ideas. Already it is quite obvious that many of Clausewitz’s thoughts still stand in present day context and are potentially applicable in 4GW. This proposition is contrary to what many critics have suggested; On War as bloodthirsty, misguided and obsolete. [31] These comments can easily be dispelled because they are often made on the superficial understanding that went little beyond the textual analysis of the book, and often built upon erroneous readings from others. Nevertheless, the fact remains that On War was written almost two centuries ago where the political, social, economic and technological evolutions of today could not be foreseen by Clausewitz. Therefore, in order to render Clausewitz his deserved place in the today’s modern age of technology, the following discussion on his ideas and concepts will not be critical towards the material changes in the 21st Century. Significance of Irrational Elements in 4GW It is axiomatic that conflicts nation-states engage in today relate closely the effects from irrational elements. Following the September 11 attacks, the world saw invasions into Afghanistan in 2001 followed by Iraq in 2003 by coalition forces. In the case of Operation Enduring Freedom (the war in Afghanistan), the cause of war stemmed from worldwide public uproar and support to root-out terror. Given the mandate by the people, the governments gain legitimacy and political will to commit their armed forces to the enduring global war on terror (GWOT). On the other hand, Operation Iraqi Freedom presented a case of â€Å"unconvincing† invasion of Iraq. As seen from how the operation unfolded, the war lost its popularity amongst the populace due to controversies that were presented as a result of the prolonged and seemingly unending war. Pressures began to be exerted by the public on their governments to draw down their armed forces’ involvement. After three years of coalition occupation in Iraq, it was found that majority of the British and Canadian people believed that the war in Iraq was unjustified. [32] A poll conducted on by the BBC World Service in January 2007 had also shown that 73% of the world population was against the handling of the Iraq War by the U. S. [33] It is thus arguable that the large-scale withdrawal of coalition forces which followed in 2009 was largely a result of public disapproval. Therein, it aptly demonstrated the significance of irrational elements, even in the context of the GWOT. Another noteworthy case in the GWOT will be the utility of â€Å"force† by terrorists. Their strategy resembles the â€Å"People’s War† which Clausewitz described. Despite being technologically and numerically inferior, Taliban operatives in Afghanistan are able to capitalize on the people, the natives of the land, to solicit like-mindedness through provocation and propaganda of the deed. [34] Until the NATO coalition is able to sever linkages between the terrorists and the natives, a repeat of the U. S. efeat in Vietnam War remains in prospect. This is an arduous task but nevertheless is in progress. It is thus clear that irrational elements of both sides (own and the native population) have to be part of the strategic and operational considerations in the 4GW. Without due considerations to pacify and buy-over the irrational elements will result in an unbalance trinity and ultimate defeat. Influence of the CoG in 4GW The wide recognition and various adaptations by various militaries of the CoG concept allow this paper to further examine on how this concept influenced the conduct of modern wars. If the current war in Afghanistan is a People’s War, like the paper has suggested, the native population becomes a logical focus. Indeed, the new strategy adopted by NATO since 2010 has placed the Afghan people as the CoG in this conflict. [35] Two of the main thrusts announced by NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander, Admiral James Stavridis include the protection of the Afghan people and to conduct effective strategic communication to win their hearts and minds. [36] Correspondingly, the U. S. ’s Af-Pak strategy that is in effect since early 2009 also focuses on the protection of Afghan people as a top agenda. Over the past one year, U. S. counterinsurgency (COIN) efforts have been more deliberate in their intelligence gathering and analysis to ensure that the most appropriate actions are taken, even at the lowest tactical level. In essence, the enhanced intelligence work effectively supports the traditional hunt-the-enemy role and at the same time, prevents unnecessary collateral damage thereby keeping the population safe. [38] With this brief account of the coalition effort in Afghanistan, it suffices to show that tremendous energies from all levels are directed at the CoG. Therefore, it can be concluded that the CoG concept remains relevant in 4GW and once it is identified, it produces consequential downstream effects that influences operations at the operational and tactical levels. Relevance of Friction, Chance and Uncertainty in the Technological World While it was earlier noted that Clausewitz would not have envisaged the technological development of today, his arguments on the variables of war – friction, chance and uncertainty – had not been altered. In fact, the element of uncertainty has now been compounded by the introduction of a new dynamic variable – technology itself. The advancement of technology has brought about chain of effects, impacting the social, political, bureaucratic, managerial and psychological systems. All these caused a quantum jump in the complexity of warfare. [39] Correspondingly, this led to the increased specialization and compartmentalization of the military which in turn create internal friction. If the contact with chance creates friction, like what Clausewitz suggested, with the existing military technologies today that enable longer range communication and observation capabilities, the amount of contact with chance increases and hence friction from external sources. Take for instance, intelligence collection – with so much information that can be acquired with the use of today’s technology, that is far from being unreliable as during Clausewitz’s time, the commander may be overwhelmed and become paralyzed just by trying to sift the relevant data from the trivial ones. As Clausewitz put it, â€Å"We now know more, but this makes us more, not less uncertain. †[41] While technology today may have eradicated many of the old-time difficulties, it created new problems. Among the problems, include a tendency of over-reliance on technology which may hinder the development of intuition and readiness to accept risk,[42] the qualities of commander that are necessary to exploit chance and counter friction. Hence, in today’s military context, friction that arises from both external and internal sources should be dealt with.

Busi 650-ILP Final Essay

Table of Contents I. Abstract II. Organizational Setting III. Key Concepts a. Quality b. Total Quality Management c. Innovation d. Strategy Map e. Balanced Scorecard f. Six Sigma g. Bench Marking h. Inventory Management IV. Conclusion V. References Abstract The main purpose of the Integrative Learning Project (ILP) is to introduce an authentic or fabricated company/industry to research. The company’s organizational setting includes the mission statement of the company, who the internal/external customers are, what aspects can be contributed to achieve the organizations mission, and what role Christianity has with the organization. The research includes using eight different concepts learned throughout the course, explaining in detail how these concepts relate to the organization and the benefits the concepts offer to the organization, and what needs to be done to implement these concepts into the organization  successfully. This ILP will prove that a successful business can be run effectively and efficiently when implementing the key concepts. Organizational Setting Dover Saddlery, Inc. is a leading specialty retailer in the English-style horseback riding industry in the United States. The company offers a large selection of quality and premium equestrian products to care for, ride, train, and compete a horse. Founded in 1975 by Jim and David Powers, the company has grown to be the largest multi-channel marketer of premier equestrian products by selling through direct and retail sales. The company serves the English rider through Dover Saddlery and the western rider through Smith Brothers. The company sells their products using catalogs, the internet, and retail stores. The product line includes a variety of items such as tack, horse clothing, horse health, footwear, and specialized apparel. Dover Saddlery, Inc. is headquartered in Littleton, MA, including a warehouse and call center facility. The company has 18 retail locations in Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolin a, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, and Virginia. The company’s third quarter 2013 total revenues were $63.6 million, a 6.4% increase from the $59.7 million achieved in the corresponding period. Dover Saddlery, Inc. stock trades on the NASDAQ Stock Market under the symbol DOVR. The company’s mission is to grow the business by providing a broad variety of quality and most advanced equestrian apparel, equipment, stable, and horse care products to all equestrians, while operating efficiently and being profitable. The company carries 5,800 items comprising of approximately 28,000 different SKU’s. The company carries entry-level price points to the premium high-end price points to meet the wide range of customer needs and expectations. The company carries a distinctive and broad selection of need-based and high quality products at competitive prices with prompt order fulfillment ability. The company differentiates itself from competitors by their large inventory consisting of non-branded products, private label products, and premium brands. The current equestrian products market is  estimated by the American Horse Council at $7.6 billion with an estimated 9.2 millions horses in the United States. American Sports Data estimates that over 16.8 mill ion people ride horses. The equestrian industry has many indicators that the equestrian products industry will continue to grow. The company is known for their excellence in customer service and large comprehensive selection. The company promotes a culture of courteous, knowledgeable, and prompt customer service representatives. 90% of the sales and customer service representatives are horse enthusiast. The company offers customers a 100% satisfaction guarantee. The company has one of the largest detailed customer databases. The database consists of customers that have purchased items with the last 12 months and their demographic information. The use of the catalog, internet, and retail stores has enabled the company to capture customer information, cross-market products, and provide a convenient shopping experience for customers. The company’s customers are primarily females with a passion for the riding sport. The customers are affluent and luxury oriented who tend to choose to buy from the company for the high quality and premier products. The customer base shows high repurchase rates and has been ve ry loyal customers. The role Christianity has in this organization is customer service is essential and Matthew 10:31 states, â€Å"Fear not, therefore; you are more value than many sparrows† (ESV). In the service industry, customer satisfaction is key and the company has to recruit the right people and reward them for there expertise. Colossians 3:23-24 states, â€Å"23 Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, 24 since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving† (New International Version). Another verse that can be applied in this organization is 1 Peter 4:10, â€Å"As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace†. The company uses the gifts God gives us and pass them on to consumers to benefit from. The role of Christianity plays a great role in this company. Key Concepts The first key concept that is applicable to Dover Saddlery is Quality. Quality has a huge impact on the quality of products and the success of the organization. According to Dinh, Igel, & Laosirihongthong (2010), â€Å"quality, considered a key strategic factor in achieving business success, is more than ever required for competing successfully in today’s global marketplace and it has become the key slogan as organizations strive for a competitive advantage in markets characterized by liberalization, globalization, and knowledgeable customers† (p. 931). The design and performance of the product are two very important concepts of quality. Quality should start with the customer, the experience the customer has with the product or service will impact the customer’s satisfaction with the total experience. The management and control of the quality of the products and services is very important to the success of the organization. It is very important for organizations to implement a quality assurance program (QAP) to ensure the quality of the products and services. According to Rouse (2007): In developing products and services, quality assurance is any systematic process of checking to see whether a product or service being developed is meeting specified requirements. Many companies have a separate department devoted to quality assurance. A quality assurance system is said to increase customer confidence and a company’s credibility, to improve work processes and efficiency, and to enable a company to better compete with others. Quality assurance was initially introduced in World War II when munitions were inspected and tested for defects after they were made. Today’s quality assurance systems emphasize catching defects before they get into the final product (Quality Assurance). There are many advantages for the company to have a QAP in place, include a competitive advantage, increase in sales and market share, increased customer sat isfaction, better management control, clearly defined organizational tasks, structure, and responsibilities, more effective recalls, and price premium (Aramyan, Meuwissen, Oude Lansink, van der Vorst, van Kooten, & van der Lans, 2009, p. 624). According to Yang (2006) â€Å"several studies on quality management have demonstrated that delivering superior service quality enhances productivity, reduces costs, increases customer loyalty, improves market share, and brings other general benefits to a service organization (p.1129). The QAP helps fulfill the needs  and expectations of the customers and improves the quality of the products and services. The second key concept that is applicable to the company is total quality management (TQM). According to Richards (2012), TQM can be defined as an integrative approach to management that supports the attainment of customer satisfaction through a wide variety of tools and techniques that the end result is higher quality of goods and services (p. 37). TQM is an organizational-wide concept of continuous improvement to ensure the products and services exceed their customers’ expectations. According to Richards (2012), â€Å"this kind of quality management requires the company to always check to make sure that product or service is at the standard that both the company and customer wants is maintained† (p. 37). Exceeding the internal and external customers satisfaction is a key focus of TQM. According to Talib, et al. (2011), TQM â€Å"has received a great attention due to its effectiveness in achieving sustainable competitive advantage and enhanced business performanceâ₠¬  (p. 1331). TQM is â€Å"a total look at the quality of the organization† (Richards, 2012, p. 41). â€Å"All service industries should seek to adopt and implement TQM so that proactive identification and response to needed changes can lead to continuous improvement† (Talib, et al. 2011). â€Å"Quality-conscious companies normally have a strong quality culture, which is helpful for achieving customer satisfaction† (Delgado-Hernandez & Aspinwall, 2008, p.1016). The practice of TQM can grow a company to have a sustainable advantage in local and international markets (Richards, 2012, p. 36). The third key concept that is applicable to the company is innovation. â€Å"In the modern business world, innovation is just as important as quality, so they must go hand and hand and one complements each other† (Perodomo-Ortiz, et al. 2009, p.5088). Innovation is one if the driving forces of a successful business and allows an organization to introduce new and improve products in the market place. According to Bigliardi (2013), innovation is a complex phenomenon that involves the production, diffusion and translation of knowledge in new or modified products or services, or the development of new production processing techniques. Innovation is very important to the  success of an organization, it creates jobs and promotes the growth of organizations. The fourth key concept that is applicable to the company is the strategy map. As a strategic part of the Balanced Scorecard (BSC), a strategy map provides an organization â€Å"with a tool that helps them better monitor important details about their strategic business processes, thereby enhancing their employees’ understanding of the strategy interactions, which in turn facilitates implementing the business strategy† (Meredith and Shafer, 2013, pg. 99). According to Kaplan and Norton (2004), â€Å"the strategy map provides the visual framework for integrating the organization’s objectives in the four perspectives of a Balanced Scorecard† (pg.45). According to Markiewicz (2013), a strategy map is a tool integrating the developed strategy with operating activities of various organizational units operating in an organization. A specific feature of strategy map is that it describes in a clear manner the process of creating values in organization by indicating a number of cause and effect relationships between four perspectives (learning and growth, intemal-business-processes, customer, financial) and goals adopted within these perspectives. (pg. 161-162) The four perspectives a strategy map addresses include the financial perspective, the customer perspective, the internal business process perspective, and the learning and growing perspective. According to Markiewicz (2013), a strategy map â€Å"enables illustration of cause-and-effect relationship between the processes in all four perspectives and performance indicators at the organizational level. Strategy map and performance indicators at the organizational level constitute the basis for different departments when preparing their individual effectiveness indicators† (pg. 160). The top of a strategy map is the goal that has been specified by management, the next step is how the goal be accomplished, and the remainder of the map shows the cause-and-effect relationships that manag ement has developed on how the goal can be accomplished. The strategy map is used very frequently by all organizations as a simple strategy development tool by management to report the progress of the strategy implemented in their organization to achieve its vision or mission.  The strategy map is a powerful technique that can be applied to any type of business from a public sector organization to a non-profit organization. It is very important to organizations because it encourages its managers to think logically about the elements of their strategy and how the strategic elements interact. This effective tool ensures the managers understand the role of the strategy and how the effective strategy embraces all of the organization’s activities. According to Umayal Karpagam and Suganthi (2012), the strategy map describes â€Å"how the four perspectives: financial, customer, internal process, learning and growth are linked and how they create a balance between the more tangible outcomes through intangible resources† (pg. 7). The fifth key concept that is applicable to the company is the balanced scorecard. Kaskey (2013) says the balanced scorecard â€Å"provides an organization with ways to develop and evaluate strategic objectives and goals† (pg. 22). The balanced scorecard uses financial and nonfinancial strategic information and is â€Å"an accounting report that includes the firm’s critical success factors in four areas: financial performance, customer satisfaction, internal processes, and learning and growth† (Blocher, Stout, Juras, & Cokins, 2013, pg. 11). The benefits of the scorecard include ability to implement strategy, ability to track the process of the organization in their achievement of the strategic goals, the organization’s ability to determine manager’s compensation, achieving organizational change, and the ability to achieve the critical success factors. According to Werner and Fuyuan (2012), â€Å"when the score card is adopted, employees become awa re that their performance will be judged based on these measures and targets. Accordingly, employees will act to achieve the established performance targets† (pg. 92). The balanced scorecard is a critical tool for organizations in todays challenging and competitive business environment. It is very important for organizations to achieve its critical success factors to help the overall performance of the organization and to stay competitive. The sixth key concept that is applicable to the company is Six Sigma. This concept is a strategy to increase employee engagement that will then increase customer satisfaction. According to Meredith and Shafer (2013), six  sigma is a comprehensive and flexible system for achieving, sustaining and maximizing business success. Six Sigma is uniquely driven by close understanding of customer needs, disciplined use of facts, data, and statistical analysis, and diligent attention to managing, improving, and reinventing business processes. (Page 129) This method is an inspiring factor for employees and employees have to be completely engaged in the program for it to be successful and impact employee satisfaction. Six Sigma has been embraced by many organizations, that drive’s improvements in processes, products, and services. When implementing the Six Sigma approach, first provide necessary leadership and resources, implement a reward system, provide ingoing training, select early p rojects, break up difficult projects, and avoid employee layoffs. â€Å"Six sigma’s popularity and success is catching fire throughout the service industry across the globe as no other process improvement (PI) movement before (Sunder, 2013, pg. 34). The seventh key concept that is applicable to the company is benchmarking. According to Cruceru (2013), benchmarking is â€Å"viewed as a continuous process of evaluation of products, services, processes and performance of competitors in order to obtain competitive advantage, benchmarking involves knowledge of all elements occurring when implementing in practice† (pg. 6). Benchmarking is a strategy where the desire to be competitive is a challenge for managers to become knowledgeable and analyze their competitors in the industry and implement competitive strategies to be successful. According to Meredith and Shafer (2013), benchmarking is used for a variety of purposes, including the following: Comparing an organization’s processes with the best organization’s processes. Comparing an organization’s product and services with those of other organizations. Identifying the best practices to emulate. Projecting trends in order to be able to respond proactively to future challenges and opportunities. (pg.133) Benchmarking involves three steps: the first step is concerned with preparing the study, the second step is collecting the data, and the third and final step is what was learned to improve the organization. This process has become one of the most valuable processes to identify performance improvement areas. Benchmarking allows an organization to analyze and improve performance, profitability, business  processes, and market share. There are many types of benchmarking including: process benchmarking-compares business processes and operations, product benchmarking-compares products and services, strategic benchmarking-compares organizational structures, internal benchmarking-internal comparison, competitive benchmarking-comparison of direct competitors, functional benchmarking- comparison of organizations in the same field, and generic benchmarking- comparison of the best com petitor in other fields. According to Cruceru (2013), â€Å"those competitors who will know to focus on benchmarking implementation in management and marketing activities of the organization will achieve increased performance and competitiveness in terms comparable to the best competitors of the time† (pg. 9). Appendix A In order to implement benchmarking in Dover Saddlery the following steps are needed: 1. Understand the company’s current process performance gaps. 2. Obtain support and approval from the executive leadership team 3. Document benchmarking objectives and scope; document the original process. 4. Agree on the primary metrics and put them in writing. 5. Agree on what to benchmark. 6. Develop a data collection plan. 7. Identify research sources and initiate data gathering. 8. Determine how to contact and screen companies. 9. Design a detailed survey to gather information. 10. Decide if gathered information meets original objectives. 11. Conduct a site visit. 12. Apply the learning to performance gaps. 13. Communicate to the executive leadership to ensure continued support. 14. Develop a recommended implementation plan with process owner. 15. Know when to update and recalibrate. The eighth key concept that is applicable to the company is inventory management. Inventory management is extremely important for the success of a organization and having the correct number of items in inventory that is necessary for operation is vital for inventory management. According to Chen (2011), â€Å"the inventory in an organization may contain a large amount of items. A logical inventory classification is necessary for managers to have efficient plan and control of the items† (pg. 1702). Inventory management can be a challenge for any business, but can be even more important for businesses with changing product life cycles or product needs. The development of information systems, has eased some challenges faced with inventory management. The introduction of advanced information system, which aim at better performance than manual product identification and inventory data-keeping procedures, hold much promise for the reduction of inventory inaccuracies. Inventories include work-in-process, raw materials, finished goods, component parts, and so on. By eliminating storage space to business is not only saving on space but also removing defective parts from being hidden until no one knows who had made them (Meredith & Shafer, 2013, p. 176). Appendix B Inventory An additional way that we differentiate ourselves from our competition is through our breadth and depth of inventory. We believe our inventory is deeper than our competitors with $10.1 million in on-hand inventory as of December 31, 2005 and more than 5,800 items comprising approximately 28,000 different SKUs. With our extensive inventory position and rapid fulfillment capability, we have historically been able to fill approximately 95% of the items ordered within an average of 1.5 business days. Based on our inventory management systems, continuous monitoring of the products we carry and the fact that we carry very few fashion products, we have historically had very little obsolete inventory. Despite the high level of inventory we have historically maintained, we have turned inventory approximately four times per year and we historically have had no material inventory write-downs. All of the products that are presented in our catalogs are available online and customers can use our websites to enter orders, shop online and check order status and inventory availability. On average, our retail stores stock inventory items represent over 70% of the merchandise  sales we make available through our direct sales channel. All items are available to customers entering our stores by either direct shipment to a customer’s home or for in-store pickup. Conclusion Dover Saddlery is a company that prides on their success and always providing 100% customer service to their customers. Utilizing these eight key concepts, along with successful implementation into the company’s initiatives, they will produce overall success and a winning organization. References Aramyan, L. H., Meuwissen, M. M., Oude Lansink, A. M., van der Vorst, J. J., van Kooten, O., & van der Lans, I. A. (2009). The perceived impacts of quality assurance systems on tomato supply chain performance. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 20(6), 633-653. Bigliardi, B. (2013). The effect of innovation on financial performance: A research study involving SMEs. Innovation: Management Policy & Practice, 15(2): 245-256. Blocher, E. J., Stout, D. E., Juras, P. E., and Cokins, G. (2013) Cost Management: A Strategic Emphasis (6th Ed). McGraw Hill: New York, NY. Chen, J. (2012). Multiple criteria ABC inventory classification using two virtual items. International Journal Of Production Research, 50(6), 1702-1713. Cruceru, A. (2013). Benchmarking – a method of improving organizational competitiveness. Romanian Journal Of Marketing, (1), 6-9. Delgado-Hernandez, D., & Aspinwall, E. (2008). A framework for building quality into construction projects – Part I. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 19(10), 1013-1028. Dinh Thai, H., Igel, B., & Laosirihongthong, T. (2010). Total quality management (TQM) strategy and organizational characteristics: Evidence from a recent WTO member. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 21(9), 931-951. Inventory. (2011). Appendix B of Dover Saddlery, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.hotstocked.com/companies/d/dover-saddlery-inc-DOVR-description-52723.html Kaplan, R. S., & Norton, D. P. (2004). How Strategy Maps Frame an Organization’s Objectives. Financial Executive, 20(2), 40-45. Kaskey, V. L. (2013). The Balanced Scorecard: A Comparative Study of Accounting Education and Experience on Common Measure Bias. Advances In Management, 6(7), 22-25. Markiewicz, P. (2013). Methodical Aspects of Applying Strategy Map in an Organization. Business, Management & Education / Verslas, Vadyba Ir Studijos, 11(1), 153-167. Meredith, J. R., & Shafer , S. M. (2013). Operations management for MBAs (5th ed.). Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. Perdomo-Ortiz, J., Gonzalez-Benito, J., & Galende, J. (2009). The intervening effect of business innovation capability on the relationship between Total Quality Management and technological innovation. International Journal Of Production Research, 47(18), 5087-5107. Richards, J. (2012). Total Quality Management. Business Management & Strategy, 3(2), 36-42. Rouse, M. (2007, Feb). Quality Assurance (QA). Retrieved from http://searchsoftwarequality.techtarget.com/definition/quality-assurance. Sunder, V. (2013). Six Sigma— A Strategy for Increasing Employee Engagement. Journal for Quality & Participation, 36(2), 34-38. Talib, F., Rahman, Z., & Qureshi, M. N. (2011). Prioritising the practices of total quality management: An analytic hierarchy process analysis for the service industries. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 22(12), 1331-1351. Umayal Karpagam, P. L., & Suganthi, L. L. (2012). A Strategy Map of Balanced Scorecard in Academic Institutions for Performance Improvement. IUP Journal Of Business Strategy, 9(3), 7-16. Werner, M. L., & Fuyuan, X. (2012). Executing Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard. International Journal Of Financial Research, 3(1), 88-94. Yang, C. (2006). Establishment of a Quality-Management System for Service Industries. Total Quality Management & Business Excellence, 17(9), 1129-1154.

Humane trapping essays

Humane trapping essays Humane Trapping is the capture of a animal without pain. Humane trapping is really up to the trapper. If you have a good skilled trapper who respects animals, the animals he traps will feel little or no pain. If you have a trapper who doesnt care about the animals the animal will probably feel excruciating pain. The animal rights activists videotape the animals that the bad trappers catch. Trapping is the capture of animals by means of a physical system or device. A trap may be designed to kill, injure, or preserve the captured animal; those that use nooses are also known as snares. Frequently the trap makes use of a lure such as food (including live animals) or-particularly for insects-a species-specific sexual attractant. Humane traps really aren't all that humane! Surprised? You shouldn't be if you have read this far. The fact is that so called "live traps" can really be quite cruel. For example, a squirrel trapped in a box trap (we don't call them live traps because it is too vague a term; in fact footholds and sometimes snares are live traps). Squirrels often panic and will actually die from fright in the cage. Of course we haven't even mentioned the situations where squirrels freeze to death in the winter cold. So what would be more humane? A kill trap placed over the squirrel den opening, where it has a reasonable chance to die quickly? Or a box trap where it has the chance to die from exposure? Foot-hold traps are more selective than we are telling you. In my prospective, every trap is ultimately non-selective. That is every trap can potentially capture a non-target animal. Just like every hunter can potentially shoot an unwanted target. However, the problem isn't as bad as animal rights activists would like you to believe. They conveniently forget that the trapper is half of the trapping equation. animal rights activists consistently ignore how the experience of the trapper impacts the effectiveness ...

Great 20th Century Inventions From 1900 to 1949

Great 20th Century Inventions From 1900 to 1949 Technology, science,  inventions, and re-inventions have progressed at an accelerated rate during the hundred years of the 20th century, more so than any other century. We began the 20th century with the infancy of airplanes, automobiles, and radio, when those inventions dazzled us with their novelty and wonder. We end the 20th century with spaceships, computers, cell phones, and the wireless Internet all being technologies we can take for granted. 1900 The zeppelin invented by Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin.Charles Seeberger redesigned Jesse Renos escalator and invented the modern escalator. 1901 King Camp Gillette invents the double-edged safety razor.The first radio receiver successfully received a radio transmission.Hubert Booth invents a compact and modern vacuum cleaner. 1902 Willis Carrier invents the air conditioner.The lie detector or polygraph machine is invented by James Mackenzie.The birth of the Teddy Bear.George Claude invented neon light. 1903 Edward Binney and Harold Smith co-invent crayons.Bottle-making machinery invented by Michael J. Owens.The Wright brothers invent the first gas motored and manned airplane.William Coolidge invents ductile tungsten used in lightbulbs. 1904 Teabags invented by Thomas Suillivan.Benjamin Holt invents a tractor.John A Fleming invents a vacuum diode or Fleming valve. 1905 Albert Einstein published the Theory of Relativity and made famous the equation, E mc2.Mary Anderson receives a patent for windshield wipers. 1906 William Kellogg invents Cornflakes.Lewis Nixon invents the first sonar like device.Lee Deforest invents electronic amplifying tube (triode). 1907 Leo Baekeland invents the first synthetic plastic called Bakelite.Color photography invented by Auguste and Louis Lumiere.The very first piloted helicopter was invented by Paul Cornu. 1908 The gyrocompass invented by Elmer A. Sperry.Cellophane invented by Jacques E. Brandenberger.Model T first sold.J W Geiger and W Mà ¼ller invent the geiger counter.Fritz Haber invents the Haber Process for making artificial nitrates. Bettmann Archive / Getty Images 1909 Instant coffee invented by G. Washington. 1910 Thomas Edison demonstrated the first talking motion picture.Georges Claude displayed the first  neon  lamp to the public on December 11, 1910, in Paris. 1911 Charles Franklin Kettering  invents the first automobile electrical ignition system. 1912 Motorized movie cameras invented, replaced hand-cranked cameras.  The first military tank patented by Australian inventor De La Mole.Clarence Crane created  Life Savers  candy in 1912. 1913 The  crossword puzzle  invented by  Arthur Wynne.The Merck Chemical Company patented, what is now know as,  ecstasy.Mary Phelps Jacob  invents the bra. 1914 Garrett A. Morgan  invents the Morgan gas mask. 1915 Eugene Sullivan and William Taylor co-invented Pyrex in New York City. 1916 Radio  tuners invented, that received different stations.Stainless steel invented by Henry Brearly. 1917 Gideon Sundback patented the modern  zipper  (not the first zipper). 1918 The superheterodyne radio circuit invented by  Edwin Howard Armstrong. Today, every radio or television set uses this invention.Charles Jung invented fortune cookies. 1919 The pop-up  toaster  invented by Charles Strite.Short-wave radio invented.The flip-flop circuit invented.The  arc welder  invented. 1920 The  tommy gun  patented by John T Thompson.The  Band-Aid  (pronounced ban-dade) invented by Earle Dickson. 1921 Artificial life begins the first  robot  built. 1922 Insulin invented by  Sir Frederick Grant Banting.The first 3-D movie (spectacles with one red and one green lens) is released. 1923 Garrett A. Morgan  invents a traffic signal.The television or iconoscope (cathode-ray tube) invented by  Vladimir Kosma Zworykin.John Harwood invented the self-winding watch.Clarence Birdseye invents  frozen food. 1924 The dynamic  loudspeaker  invented by Rice and Kellogg.Notebooks with spiral bindings invented. 1925 The mechanical television a precursor to the modern television, invented by  John Logie Baird. 1926 Robert H. Goddard  invents liquid-fueled rockets. 1927 Eduard Haas III invents  PEZ candy.JWA Morrison invents the first quartz crystal watch.Philo Taylor Farnsworth  invents a complete electronic TV system.Technicolor invented, which allowed the widespread creation of  color movies.Erik Rotheim patents an  aerosol can.Warren Marrison developed the first quartz clock.Philip Drinker invents the  iron lung. 1928 Scottish biologist Alexander Fleming discovers  penicillin.Bubble gum  invented by Walter E. Diemer.Jacob Schick  patented the electric shaver. 1929 American, Paul Galvin invents the car radio.Yo-Yo  re-invented as an American fad. RapidEye / Getty Images 1930 Scotch tape  patented by 3M engineer, Richard G. Drew.The  frozen food  process patented by Clarence Birdseye.Wallace Carothers  and DuPont Labs invent  neoprene.The differential analyzer, or analog computer invented by Vannevar Bush at MIT in Boston.Frank Whittle and Dr. Hans von Ohain both invent a  jet engine. 1931 Harold Edgerton invented stop-action photography.Germans Max Knott and Ernst Ruska co-invent the  electron microscope. 1932 Polaroid photography invented by  Edwin Herbert Land.The zoom lens and the light meter invented.Carl C. Magee invents the first  parking meter.Karl Jansky invents the radio telescope. 1933 Frequency modulation (FM radio) invented by  Edwin Howard Armstrong.Stereo records invented.Richard M. Hollingshead builds a prototype  drive-in movie theater  in his driveway. 1934 Englishmen, Percy Shaw invents  cat eyes  or roads reflectors.Charles Darrow claims he invented the game  Monopoly.Joseph Begun invents the first tape recorder for broadcasting - first magnetic recording. 1935 Wallace Carothers  and DuPont Labs invents nylon ( polymer 6.6.)The first canned  beer  made.Robert Watson-Watt patented  radar. 1936 Bell Labs invents the voice recognition machine.Samuel Colt patents the Colt revolver. 1937 Chester F. Carlson invents the  photocopier.The first  jet engine  is built. Monty Rakusen / Getty Images 1938 The ballpoint pen invented by  Ladislo Biro.Strobe lighting invented.LSD  was synthesized on November 16, 1938 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann of Sandoz Laboratories.Roy J. Plunkett invented tetrafluoroethylene polymers or  Teflon.Nescafe or  freeze-dried coffee  invented. 1939 Igor Sikorsky invents the first successful  helicopter. 1940 Dr. William Reich invents the  orgone accumulator.Peter Goldmark invents modern  color television  system.Karl Pabst invents the jeep. 1941 Konrad Zuses  Z3, the first computer controlled by software.Aerosol  spray cans invented by American inventors, Lyle David Goodloe and W.N. Sullivan.Enrico Fermi  invents the neutronic reactor. 1942 John Atanasoff and Clifford Berry  built the first electronic digital computer.Mueller designs a  turboprop engine. 1943 Synthetic rubber invented.Richard James invents the slinky.James Wright invents  silly putty.Swiss chemist, Albert Hofmann discovered the hallucinogenic properties of  LSD.Emile Gagnan and  Jacques Cousteau  invented the aqualung. 1944 The kidney dialysis machine invented by Willem Kolff.Synthetic  cortisone  invented by Percy Lavon Julian. 1945 Vannevar Bush proposes  hypertext.The  atomic bomb  invented. 1946 The  microwave oven  invented by Percy Spencer. 1947 British/Hungarian scientist, Dennis Gabor, developed the theory of holography.Mobile phones  first invented. Although cell phones were not sold commercially until 1983.Bardeen, Brattain, and Shockley invented the  transistor.Earl Silas Tupper patented the Tupperware seal. 1948 The  Frisbee  Ã‚ ® invented by Walter Frederick Morrison and Warren Franscioni.Velcro  Ã‚ ® invented by George de Mestral.Robert Hope-Jones invented the Wurlitzer  jukebox. Glow Images / Getty Images 1949 Cake mix invented.

Memorable Quotes From Lord of the Flies

Memorable Quotes From 'Lord of the Flies' The Lord of the Flies, by William Golding, was first published in 1954 and became instantly controversial. The twisted coming-of-age story tells the tale of a group of schoolboys stranded on a desert island after a plane crash. Its by far Goldings best-known work. As the boys struggle to survive, they devolve into violence. This book is a commentary on human nature that shows mankinds darkest undertones. The novel is now sometimes considered something of a companion piece to J.D. Salingers coming-of-age story The Catcher in the Rye. The two works can be viewed as flip sides of the same coin. Both books have themes of isolation, with peer pressure and loss featuring heavily in their plots. The Lord of the Flies is one of the most-read and most popular books for high school and college students studying youth culture and its influences. Piggys Role Concerned with order and doing things in a civilized way, Piggy is doomed early on in the story. He tries to help keep order and grows distressed when the boys cant even manage the basic task of building a fire.   Chapter 1 They used to call me Piggy! Before this statement, Piggy tells Ralph  I dont care what they call me...so long as they dont call me what they used to call me in school. The reader might not realize it yet, but this does not bode well for poor Piggy. His weakness has been identified and when Jack breaks his glasses soon after, readers have  already started to suspect that Piggys life is in danger. Ralph and Jack Battle for Control Chapter 2 Weve got to have rules and obey them. After all, were not savages. Were English, and the English are best at everything. This is a central point of The Lord of the Flies, and is Goldings strongest commentary about both the necessity and the futility of trying to impose a structure on a world inhabited by people with base instincts. Jack, who later becomes the leader of the savage group of boys, cant conceive of a world without British dominance.   Chapter 4 He began to dance and his laughter became a bloodthirsty snarling. This description of Jack in chapter 4 shows the beginning of the tendency toward savagery. Its a truly disturbing scene and sets the stage for the brutality thats coming next.   Chapter 5 All this I meant to say. Now Ive said it. You voted me for chief. Now you do what I say. Ralph still has some semblance of control as the groups leader at this point, with the rules still somewhat intact. But the foreboding here is clear, and its obvious to the reader that the fabric of their little society is about to tear.   And you shut up! Who are you, anyway? Sitting there telling people what to do. You cant hunt, you cant sing... Im chief. I was chosen. Why should choosing make any difference? Just giving orders that dont make any sense... This exchange between Ralph and Jack shows the larger dilemma of earned power and authority versus power that is bestowed. It can be read as a debate between the nature of a monarchy versus elected rulers.   The Beast Within? Chapter 5 Maybe there is a beast...maybe its only us. As the doomed Simon and Piggy try to make sense of whats really happening on the island, Golding gives us yet another larger moral theme to consider. With the world in The Lord of the Flies at war, and Goldings status as a war veteran, this statement seems to question whether humans are their own worst enemy. The authors answer is an emphatic yes.

Business in its cultural Environment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Business in its cultural Environment - Essay Example The material and human resources at its command are considerable, and their various orientations and expertise a veritable potential source of wealth. However, the same is also a source of difficulty for a company that has to cope with the imperfections of all human endeavor. Usually when the size of the undertaking is bigger, the imperfections become magnified, as the case appears to be here. In this case, the Airbus had difficulty integrating and coordinating among its multi-national components. The fact that the various components of the Airbus A380 were manufactured in centers located in the different countries already present logistical difficulties. However, it was the cultural divide amongst the groups of workers in the collaborating countries that posed the more serious challenge. There appear to be two general levels of cross-cultural inconsistencies in the Airbus organization. Neither of the types of problems Airbus is encountering has any bearing on racial discrimination, so much as technical mismatch. For instance, the case cited the wiring problems that materialized due to the difference in the versions of the CAD software used by technical personnel in France and in Germany. Such a problem does not bear on deep-seated cultural traits, and may be addressed by adopting standard technical systems (not just measurements or verbal language) that are consistent th roughout the organization. The case study shows that these are lapses caused by company attention being focused on power plays in internal company politics (â€Å"jostling for positionâ€Å"), and the human resources diverting its efforts to resolving legal issues rather than operational problems. Simply put, the discrepancies were the result of negligence. The second problem is more inherent to the way Airbus SAS is organized, and was highlighted by the failure of communication and coordination besetting production and design. Because of inefficiencies in operations, the

Pros and Cons of the current Alcon IT management system Essay

Pros and Cons of the current Alcon IT management system - Essay Example Another major disadvantage of the management at Alcon is the autonomous operation of each of the business groups in the execution of their activities. They have adopted a culture of independent operation for each of the group and minimum cooperation among the groups. This leads to the independent execution of tasks from each group. Cooperation among different business groups in any organization helps in providing support and improves work handling. The position of Corporate Director of IT plays a vital role in the management hierarchy of the organization (Stair & Reynolds). Its long vacancy has affected the operation of the other groups below it in the hierarchy because they were operating without corporate governance. This put the organization at such a disadvantage that they had to create a new position to help with the situation. The decentralization of the management process can also play as a strength for the organization. This is in the sense that, with their own management of operations some groups will execute their operation better that others, hence singling out the poor performing branches. This can serve as a wakeup call for the improvement of the poor performing branches. The decentralization of operations also improves accountability in the dispensation and use of funds. With every branch allocated its own budget, accountability for the use of these funds in achieved more comprehensively The Alcan management also outsourced a lot of the work. This made then unaware of some of the workings and utilization of resources. The new enterprise architecture management system The vice president of Corporate Information Technology, Robert Ouellette had a vision of how he wanted to run the management at Alcan. After being brought on board, he performed an analysis and decided to come up with a new way of operation. His main target was to achieve cohesion and cooperation among the business groups. This was to be achieved at different levels. The new system, a lthough with advantages, did not come without a few setbacks. The main advantage of his system was development of better working relations among the departments. This helped improve work execution, although as a disadvantage, the lesser performing groups could easily go unnoticed, because their work seems complete. To tackle this, he made it a requirement, that in every team, the head of department and their officers were to report on the progress on their activities to higher management. This immensely improves accountability. The other major problem was the definition of roles in the management hierarchy. Due to unclear definition of roles, some activities were not properly executed. The advantage of Robert’s system is that, it clearly defines the roles of each position. Robert looked to reorganize the operations of the major braches in the organization. This was to be achieved by the implementation of the enterprise architecture. The architecture ideally centralizes operat ions and integrates the business activities of the organization with the IT infrastructure (Anderson). This greatly improves coordination among all the functions. This will lead to the creation of a centrally shared business center for the Information Systems within the organization. The disadvantage of this change is that implementation is mostly achieved at the management level; hence, the human resource at the

Cases of cyber attacks Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Cases of cyber attacks - Case Study Example The historical landscape of how wars are fought changed drastically when Information Technology was used by developed countries to attack one another.Instead of bullets and guns, critical websites of government and news agencies are hacked or defaced to express political statement and display of IT power. In this paper,a comparison of three cases of cyber terrorism would be discussed to enable people understand the nature, power and threat caused by cyber attacks. Likewise, the governments’ initiatives to response to similar threats in the future are also included in this report. The case of the cyber attack in Estonia. In 2007, Estonia experienced a massive DDOS attack which paralyzed most of its government websites. Although Russian authorities denied the attack, the Estonian government highly believed that it was from Russia. The attack happened after a political issue which involved removing Estonia’s transfer of a Soviet war memorial in Talinn to a military cemeter y ( A cyber riot, The Economist.com). The cyber attack is considered a DDoS or Distributed Denial Of Service. According to searchsecurity, techtarget.com, DDoS happens when â€Å" a multitude of compromised systems attack a single target, thereby causing a denial of service; hence, the target system is forced to shut down which prevents legitimate users to receive service†. The main targets were banking institutions, schools, government websites and other institutions; however, the first launch targeted government sites. The government’s response was to shutdown all mobile phone networks as well as banking systems which really caused a lot of inconvenience to the public. The event was catastrophic enough to prompt NATO security experts to head to Estonia and investigate on the matter. A youth group known as Nashi meaning â€Å"Our† claimed the attack through its spokes person Konstantin Goloskokov which was funded by private business groups ( Shachtman, Wired.co m). Estonia has reacted by creating a Cyber Defense League composed of specialists. It also came up with a Cyber Security Strategy in 2008 that would provide as framework for improving its defense against cyber attacks. Ossetia’s cyber-attack on Georgia in 2008 In 2008, Russia was accused by Ossetia for hacking its government and commercial websites. The attack on Georgia was believed to be a part of Russia’s military support in South Ossetia. The target of the attack included government websites according to a report on smh.com.au, the cyber attack included: 1. The Georgian Parliament main website has been defaced. The website content showed images of Adolf Hitler which replaced the picture of then Prime Minister Saakashvili; 2. The servers of Azerbaijani Day was disabled; As a result, some of the government’s website like Ministry of Foreign Affairs created a temporary site on the Google Blogger to safely disseminate information. Even news agency servers were attacked that time which really alarmed other countries. The main culprit of the attack was South Ossetia Hack Crew which came from a group of programmers from Russia. Today.az reported that â€Å"Russian intelligence services â€Å"were responsible for the attack (today.az,2008). The cyber attack is similar to the DDoS attack that happened in Estonia in 2007. As aforementioned, a DDoS attack would force the target to shut down which denies the legitimate users to access the site. After the attack, different governments such as Ukraine, Poland and Estonia helped Georgia by mirroring the web pages, it was a historic moment in history when Estonia came to the aid of this country (Schachtman, 2008 July). Indeed, Georgia learned a valuable lesson like Estonia which prompted its government to focus on cyber security measures. The National Security Council of Georgia created a Computer Emergency Response Team that can immediately respond to cyber attacks. Similarly, it has been enhancin g security measures by continuously monitoring government websit

Development of a new product Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Development of a new product - Essay Example From this research it is clear that the modern world has witnessed tremendous developments in all fields of life in the wake of fastest technological advancements, which have modified the very scenario of lifestyle in general. The advanced countries are considered to be the beneficiaries of globalisation, though every nation has taken advantage from this process. Although these advancements have brought marvellous comforts in human life, yet work hours have observed a constant increase, and leisure hours are shrinking swiftly. Since the rise of the Information Age, the concept of the office has not been confined to the four walls of the building of work place any more. Rather, people remain busy at work on computer on holidays too at home. As a result, the maintenance of equilibrium between work and life is becoming a dream only, and holidays are also being spent in the completion of professional tasks and assignments. â€Å"If workers of the modern times were overworked, those of the post modern times are not only overworked but also over managed, employers appearing eager to try the â€Å"flavour of the day† in order to increase the financial performance of their companies†. Imbalance in lifestyle can be witnessed in the unevenness of diet, which adversely affects the health of the workers. At this precarious state of affairs, there is an urgent need for developing and presenting a perfect and hygienic liquid diet that could immediately restore the energy level, which is lost while spending time in different professional, personal and domestic activities at offices, fields, residences and playgrounds. Keeping in mind these challenging factors, Ailasia Inc. has launched a new drink that would be helpful in restoring the energy level of the individuals particularly during their work hours, and would not let them feel tired or exhausted. Hence, the drink, Energy-R, will increase the work proficiency of the industrialists, consultants, workers and managers alike, and will lead them make progress in their business or career. Statement of the Problem The management only hires the services of intelligent, brilliant, healthy and fit personnel and workers, which can pay extra heed to their organisation. If the work force appears to be exhausted and inefficient, it would become almost impossible to meet with the targets and achieve the goals determined by the management of the organisation. Since an overwhelming majority of a population is involved into economic activities in one way or the other, there is an immediate need of an energy boosting supplement for improving their work efficien cy. Hence, Energy-R will serve as a wonderful drink for the people working at any place for the recovery of their energy level, and the product will suddenly capture the attention of millions of people even outside the UK. This drink may be an excellent antidote to the problems and changes caused by the Information Age. Research Aims and Objectives It is a fact that is beyond dispute that economic prosperity is always dependent of the diligence and commitment to one’s work, which is only possible provided people are efficient and are able to spend more time at work than others for their individual and collective progress. With the increase of the use of computers at the office and lengthening of the work day, people have less energy to be productive. It follows that one way to increase the amount of economic success stories is through the use of a powerful energy drink. The next section focuses on the objectives of the study followed by a section on literature review. Based o n the literature reviewed, the fourth section would analyse the data collected for the present study. The fifth and the final section would consist of a conclusion and suggestions and would point out the appropriate marketing

Urban Geography of Tokyo City Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Urban Geography of Tokyo City - Essay Example    Development of Tokyo can be linked to its demographic and economic structure. The demographic structure is the study of a given population relating to employment, age, income, relation, and population among others. However, economic structure defines the balance of output, employment, and income among other factors relating to the economic sectors. Economic sectors include primary, tertiary, secondary, and quaternary sectors. Since Tokyo's is a metropolitan, its urban geography can be analyzed by comparing its population to that of Japan, focusing on its aged population, and considering its industrial sector.  In 2012, Tokyo’s population was approximately about 13.216 million. The population is a tenth of Japans’ total population. It is, therefore, the most populous prefecture out of the forty-seven ones that make up Japan. Tokyo has an area of approximately 2,189 kilometres squared which is equal to 0.6 % of the area of Japan. The figure makes the population den sity of Tokyo to be about 6,038 people per kilometres squared making it the most densely populated Japan’s prefecture. The statistics make Tokyo extremely populated compared to Japan. The population of the aged persons in Tokyo exceeds the standard set by United Nations. According to the United Nation's standard, the aged society in a given country should not exceed the 14 % mark.The Tokyo's "aged population" is approximately 20.14 % of the total population of the city. The percentage exceeds the recommended mark by 6.14% that is a huge margin.