Sew what free essay sample

How do information technologies contribute to the business success of Sew What? Inc.? Give several examples from the case regarding the business value of information technology that demonstrates this conclusion. Ans: Sew What? Inc. , a small company founded in 1992 by Megan Duckett from Australia, is a theatrical drapery manufacturing company. It was the business operated in tiny home kitchen and specializes in making custom theatrical draperies and fabrics for stages. Initially, she has grown up her business from tiny kitchen and operation by â€Å"world to mouth†. She lost a big contract due to lack of credibility in her business as mentioned by her potential customer. She realized that it was failure due to lack of information technology in business. Here are some examples that justify the contribution of information technology to the business success of Sew what? Inc: By the use of information technology, business earned the credibility and having more clients. We will write a custom essay sample on Sew what or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page When she launched her website people started noticing her firm and her business getting growth. Information technology helped Since Sew what? Inc provides really good costumer experience through a very convenient way to its customers. Organization’s site in different languages helped the people speaking different languages around the world to know and understand the business which helped the business to grow worldwide. Website of organization contained the details of everything they did. It was through Information Technology, Duckett come to know about the National Federation of Independent Small Business Award. Sew what? Inc won several awards mostly because of use of information technology in convenient and effective way for the development of the business. Use of information technology has helped the organization to reduce the cost of operation. Hence, By using information technologies, Sew What? a very small business started from a kitchen became popular around the globe . Information technology has been very important tool for its success about. If it had not been for information Technology Sew what? Inc would have been limited in the kitchen. b) If you were a management consultant to sew what? Inc, what would you advice Megan Duckett to do at this point to be even more successful in her business? What role would information technology play in your proposals? Provide several specific recommendations. Answer: It’s apparent that she has wisely been using IT for providing best customer service. However, she fails in using IT for in-house process. If she could capitalize the use of IT in both â€Å"employee† and â€Å"customer† related strategies, she could have gained competitive edge over the competitors. Therefore, the manual practice of sign-in and sign-out should be replaced by automated sign-in and sign-out sheet. The new system would help trace her employees’ actual performance that would give a clear insight of the hours worked by the employee and no hours worked are taken into account. This will reduce operation costs that will add the value to the firm and ultimately to the â€Å"customer†. Not to limit the incorporation of IT into employees’ spreadsheet only, she should also work out on including IT as Operations Support System and Management Support System. That is to say, she should design a system to monitor and control industrial process and to support team workgroup and enterprise communications and collaborations which is not visible in her current business system. In addition, such system would help Sew What? Inc. emerge as a knowledge creating company that keeps the company way ahead of their competitors. Furthermore, she should also acknowledge the benefit of integrating IT in the value chain that ultimately aims at providing customer satisfaction. Since intranet and extranet do not exist in her company, she should focus on these technologies, being essential elements of value chain system. The system should be employee friendly so as to give all employees a complete view of each customer regarding preferences and profitability. I would suggest Megan Duckett to use IT in the following ways. Use IT to substantially reduce the cost of business process. Use IT to lower the cost of customer or suppliers. Develop new IT features to differentiate products and services. Use IT features to reduce the differentiation advantage of competitors. Use IT features to focus products and services at selected market niches. Use IT to create virtual organization of business partners. c) How could the use of information technology help a small business you know be more successful? Provide several examples to support your answer. Answer: In this competitive world, information technology is regarded as an asset for survival and success of an organization, smaller or bigger. It helps management in decision making which requires the IT to be the interface with employees as well. That means, all the employees along with the owner should make proper use of IT in the day to day business activities. One of the grocery stores, I know, is doing very good business. However, it has not made any provision of IT in its business. Had it installed IT in its business, the success and the profitability of the store would have gone up to the great extent. It’s been operating its business manually that has restricted its success and profitability to a certain limit. It has not yet realized IT as the critical factor to gain competitive advantage over the other stores, locally as well as globally. Though it has realized the value of customers and is trying to avail customer-focused services to its customers, it has not been able to succeed at the business due to failure to effectively use the IT in its store. It has neither a system to record and track the inventories in the store, nor a system to process customers order. It should manually count and check the inventories level in the store. There is no system to automatically track the level of inventory and thus the shortage in the store cannot be detected in a timely basis. That might result in lower customer service since the store may not make available of goods at right time. Therefore, it should design a proper customer and transactional database backed up by the intranets, extranets and internet technology. Such customer database segmented by preference of and profitability from each customer should be accessed by all the employees. Intranets facilitate every employee to get each customer’s profile. Similarly, transaction database through internet and extranet should facilitate each customer to place order directly, and check the order history and delivery status. If possible, the store should also build a Web community of customers and the employees that would make the customer feel special and delighted. The following figure will explain how the use of information technology would help the store be more successful:

Climate Change, Environmental problem Essay Example

Climate Change, Environmental problem Essay Example Climate Change, Environmental problem Essay Climate Change, Environmental problem Essay Name: Instructor: Course: Date: Climate Change, Environmental problem Question 1 It is agreeable that climate change is an environmental justice issue. The major reason of this argument is based on the definition of environmental justice. This is the equal treatment and participation of all people regarding implementation enforcing or developing laws, policies or regulations concerning the environment. This means that all people, regardless of their origin, race, ethnicity, gender or income should be part of this environmental issue. Environmental justice also entails people sharing both benefits and burdens of an environmental aspect (Sandler Pezzullo, 55). Climate change effects are being experienced globally. It is not fair when only the environmental department is left to handle them alone. Climate change was caused by global human activities. These activities were emitting CFCs gases, deforestation and other activities. All of them were done by people all around the world. The climate determines the survival of human beings among other activities. This is why every individual in the world should take part in mitigating the effects. The laws, policies and regulations therefore, should be enforceable to everyone. It is important for people to understand the need to take up the responsibility of preserving the environment. It plays a big role in determining climate pattern. Today, the climate pattern has changed negatively because the environment has been degraded. Climate change should be an environmental justice issue and everyone should participate in enhancing it. Scientists have confirmed if the environmental degradation continues the climate change will become worse and unsuitable for life existence (Sandler Pezzullo, 60). Question 2 Global warming is an environmental problem in the world. The earth’s temperature has been riding gradually since the end of nineteenth century. It has increased with about 0.8 degrees centigrade. The main cause of this problem is emission of greenhouse gases. They are produced by burning fossil fuels and using aerosols with chlorofluorocarbon gases. Global warming has caused floods, depletion of ozone layer and rising of the ocean (Simon, 90). Some of the solution is using sustainable energy like wind and geothermal power. Toxic gases should be detoxified before released in the air. People should also use alternative methods instead of burning fossil fuels. Several environmental justice questions surround this problem. The most important is whether the people are complying with laws concerning this problem. Environmental Protection Agency has formulated standards for mitigating global warming. Another vital question should be enquiring what the people are doing to regulate global warming. They have a responsibility of participating in controlling global warming. They should learn the causes and solution for them to understand this problem. People should avoid activities causing global warming and they should implement solutions (Simon, 122). Environmental justice is important in discussing this problem because it involves participation of all people. It was caused by human activities and it is fair if all of them took responsibility. All people are entitled to enjoy benefits of the environment. Similarly, they should bear the burden of the shortcomings it brings. For this problem to be solved, people need to contribute positively. Some of the activities involved in environmental justice of this problem include abiding by the laws protecting the environment, preserving the environment and avoiding any causes of global warming. Environmental issues should involve the community since the environment is part of life on earth (Sandler Pezzullo, 112). Sandler, Ronald D Phaedra C. Pezzullo. Environmental Justice and Environmentalism: The Social Justice Challenge to the Environmental Movement. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2007. Print. Simon, Seymour. Global Warming. New York: Collins, 2010. Print.

The Bonus Army Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The Bonus Army - Essay Example The Government considered the cash-payment redemption to be inflationary and impractical increasing the budget deficit for two million dollars (Kingseed). As the atmosphere of frustration and despair was worsening the American Communist Party found and an opportunity to complicate things more sending John Pace to instigate a riot. Though the role he played is quite ambiguous the historians agree that the veterans were getting more aggressive and the Government was alarmed with his presence. As the consequence the tensions dramatically escalated up to physical violence. Starting with the police clashes the fear of the communist presence led to the military force involvement. When the fire was opened by the police and the situation went out of control the President Hoover took an advantage of the incident and directed to unleash the military in order to expel the marchers from the capital. At this point Douglas MacArthur assumes the role of the key actor of the eviction operation. Havi ng ousted the veterans from the downtown his mission was completed, but for whatever reason MacArthur decided to break the explicit instructions and continue coming down to Anacostia flats where resided the marchers and putting on fire the entire camp. Giving a press conference MacArthur justified his harsh action by the necessity to confront the communists, claiming that the Reds were plotting the revolution representing a threat to the government. Both Hoover and Macarthur believed that the majority of the rioters were communists. This assumption probably can explain the over-action. However, according to the numbers revealed by the Veterans Administration the president’s presuppositions were overestimated. Communists did not exceed 6 percent of the marchers (Kingseed). Wyatt Kingseed in his article The ‘Bonus Army’ War characterizes the MacArthur’s actions pay attention to his personality and problems with subordination saying that his â€Å"ambition p roved too great an obstacle for history to erase its view of his performance against the Bonus Army† (Kingseed). Nevertheless, while the government reaction was undoubtedly too harsh it should be considered in the complex with other events (like hunger march in Detroit auto plant) and difficult conditions of the Great Depression which suggested the growing communist sentiments in the society and subsequent threat to the capitalist system. The incident obviously could not help influence the presidential election in the fall of 1932. By calling the army to interfere and then being forced to support the MacArthur’s actions to suppress the veterans unrest Hoover was not able to do anything with the public opinion. The other president candidate from the Democratic Party Franklin D. Roosevelt though did not support the immediate cash-payment of the bonus either, understood the significance of the order to resort to force. Consequently the Bonus Army incident brought him to th e victory on the election. The next year the veterans came back to Washington to press the same question again. Roosevelt applied completely different strategy to handle the issue and sent his wife to speak with them. He took certain measures to resolve the problem: first producing the Economy Act that advantaged mostly a disabled veterans; creating

Legacies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Legacies - Essay Example It wanted to free itself from the United States. This led to a bloody war between these two parties for four years. The Confederacy  was disadvantaged  in this war. This is because the U.S. government had  support  from twenty five  free  states from the north and the borders. They had a tremendously strong population base that helped them to  defeat  the Confederacy. Abraham Lincoln’s Republican Party was against the promotion of slavery into other states that it never existed. The Republicans were victorious in their campaigns. This led seven states to  declare  secession from the U.S. federal government. These states united and formed the Confederacy States of America in 1860. The war began in 1861 after a U.S. military base  was attacked  by Confederate forces.  The U.S. federal government called on other states to  volunteer  their armies to fight back.  Both parties formed strong armies that fought against each other. There was a bloody  war  for four years (the American civil war). After the war, slavery  was brought  to an end. Slaves from the border and other Confederate slaves  were freed  by the state. There were numerous and tireless efforts to  reconstruct  the U.S. All in all, many historians today are of the opinion that the reconstruction was never a  success. It was a complete failure because many issues still remain unresolved.

SOCIAL WORK (ETHICS AND VALUES Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

SOCIAL WORK (ETHICS AND VALUES - Essay Example The crying is a symptom that an unfavourable situation cropped up. Rajiv disliked being rushed. Similarly, Lola disliked waiting excessively for Rajiv to finish his food. Lola must implement absolutism ethics (Royakkers, 2011). Absolutism states that there are absolute ethical or morality standards. People must obey the ethical or moral standards, without exception. There are no excuses or exemptions in the compulsory implementation of the moral standards or ethics standards. In the current case, Lola should not rush Rajiv’s eating. Lola’s personal issues or problems should not affect or reduce the social workers’ required minimum social work performance. Lola should be penalized in order to prevent a repeat of her unethical behavior. Surely, absolutism ethics dictates Lola must wait until Rajiv finishes his meal. Lola must implement relativism ethics (Hales, 2011). The concept focuses on the individuals forming his or her diversely unique ethical standards. Other individuals influence how a person’s ethical standards are formed. Other societies can affect how a person’s ethical preferences are crafted. Consequently, one person’s relativism ethics may differ from another person’s relativism ethics. One’s cultural upbringing influences the person’s relativism ethics preferences. For example, people in the United States insist that it is morally right to eat beef. On the other hand, people in India insist that eating beef is immoral. Lola’s forcing Rajiv to uncomfortably rush his eating is not Lola’s workplace’s work ethic. Obviously, Lola must incorporate the social work community’s relativism ethics, imitating the other social workers’ making life for the patients more comfortable. Lola must implement deontology ethics (Tannsjo, 2013). Deontology ethics focuses on duty. It is the duty of every person to obey all ethics standards. There is no exception to the strict implementation of the ethical standard.

Management By Objectives Business Essay

Management By Objectives Business Essay The management by objectives is the best way to get more out of an employee in any organization. It is the way of dealing the problems by defining prior objectives for each employee and then to compare and to direct their performance against the objectives which have been set for each of them individually. It helps in increasing the performance of the organization by matching organizational goals with the objectives of subordinates from top level to the bottom level in any company. In normal cases the employees are asked to find out their own objectives and then they are evaluated by their superiors and will be added any extra if they do not meet the requirements or deadlines which are already preset for project completion. MBO includes tracking of the continuous changes of the processes and providing feedback to reach the objectives. Term coined by Peter Drucker: Management by Objectives was first introduced by Peter Drucker in 1954 in the book written by him, The practice of Management. According to DruckerManagers follow two rules without their knowledge Rule 1: With active involvement in the current activities,Managers come under a trap namely activity trap to successfully complete those jobs. Rule 2: As they are continuously involving in current activity it is quite common that they will lose their vision on long term goal. One of the concepts of Management ByObjectives was that instead of just a few top-managers, all managers of a firm should participate in the strategic planning process, in order to improve the implementability of the plan. According to Peter Drucker all managers (which implies both top as well as middle level) should: participate in the strategic planning process, in order to improve the implementability and practicality of the plan, and implement a range of performance systems, designed inorderto help the organization stay on the right track. Another concept of Management by Objectives was, that managers should implement a range of performance systems, which are designed to help the organization to function well without any problems. Clearly, Management by Objectives can thus be seen as a predecessor of Value Based Management. MbO Main Principles Cascading of organizational goals and objectives, Specific objectives for each and every member, Participative decision making, Explicit time period, and Performance evaluation after an activity and provide feedback. The SMART Objectives: The SMART goal era of the 1980s and 1990s provided some helpful criteria about what makes goals more or less effective in shaping behavior. By definition, a goal that doesnt shape behavior is ineffective. The theory went on to suggest that SMART parameters were good predictors of influential or effective goals. As an example, goals that were not specific or measurable were less likely to shape behavior than those that were high in these characteristics. Using a play on words, you were smart to include these characteristics in your goal and objective definition. Management by Objectives has also introduced the SMART method for checking the validity of the objectives, which should be SMART: Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic, and Time-related One of the almost important impressions of SMART goals is that they are pointed; they have an edge, often a sense of energy created by the specificity, the time limits and the measurement. Non-SMART goals seem flat in comparison (ie. Improve productivity); bureaucratic, like one more strategic plan thats going nowhere. While the enhancement to goal definition was a helpful direction, it did not address fundamental weaknesses in this model. In the 90s, Peter Drucker put the significance of this organization management method into perspective, when he said: Its just another tool. It is not the great cure for management inefficiency Management by Objectives works if you know the objectives, but 90% of the time you dont. The MBO style is appropriate for knowledge-based enterprises when your staff is competent. It is appropriate in situations where you wish to build employees management and self-leadership skills and tap their entrepreneurial creativity, tacit knowledge and initiative.Management by Objectives (MBO) is also used by chief executives of multinational corporations (MNCs) for their country managers abroad. Famous innovation management policies: MBO followed at Intel A Managers Guide at Intel provides the following directions. Start with a few well-chosen overriding objectives. Set your subordinates objectives that fit in with your overriding objectives. Allow your subordinates to set their own key results to enable them to meet their objectives MBO followed at Microsoft By: Bill Gates, Founder of Microsoft Prevent the missions or objectives that are competing against each other. Review Mechanism The review mechanism enables leaders to measure the performance of their managers, in the key result areas: marketing; innovation; human organization; financial resources; productivity; social responsibility; and profit requirements All individuals within an organization are assigned a special set of objectives that they try to reach during a normal operating period. These objectives are mutually set and agreed upon by individuals and their managers. Performance reviews are conducted periodically to determine how close individuals are to attaining their objectives. Rewards are given to individuals on the basis of how close they come to reaching their goals. . Setbacks of Management by Objectives: 1. May lead to suboptimalization: which means people are not ready to look beyond their own objectives and help each other. 2. Innovation cannot be seen anywhere. 3. Involvement of the time and paperwork. 4. Potential misuse by superiors who simply assign the objectives rather than asking their opinion. 5. Subordinates may try to negotiate easy goals. 6. Watch out for unrealistic expectations about what can be reasonably accomplished. 7. Inflexible and rigid. Solution: The Scheduled Project Management Drawing upon the influence of MBO theory that is to set clear objectives, build an action plan, andmeasure progress and Demings work (optimize processes and products by identifying andpracticing listed best practices behaviors), emerged the project management movement. Ineffect saying, 1. Yes set clear objectives, and get key stakeholder buy-in and definition for the participantthrough explicit requirement setting 2. Yes, put together a series of best practices action steps in the form of a work breakdownstructure. 3. But, what primarily helps people achieve their objective, is the planning, securing,scheduled deployment of resources and the completion of tasks. Project management is an evolution of MBO theory. Management by Objectives (MBO) (All about the goal) In the 60s, 70s and 80s it seemed like a good thing to manage work efforts by goals, hence theterm management by objectives. The idea was to improve management and workproductivity in general by being more clear visioned about the intended outcomesMBO principals contained many precursors to the basic building blocks used by current projectmanagement tenants. The basic MBO principles include the following activities: 1. Establishing a set of top level strategic goals. 2. Creating a cascade of organizational goals that are supported by the lower level definitiveobjectives and action plans. 3. There should be participative decision making in developing an organizational role and mission statement, as well as specific objectives andaction plans for each member. 4. Establish key results and/or determined performance standards for each objective. 5. Periodical measurement and assessment of the status or outcome of the goals. The assumptive strength behind the MBO model, as commonly practiced, is the notion that if adesired outcome is defined as a goal and progress is measured towards reaching that goal, thenthe chances of reaching that outcome are enhanced. Mission Statements and MBO All organizations have their own mission statement or vision statement that tries to encapsulate the overall strategic management of their company. Such statements are designed to implicitly state the organizations objectives in the broader sense. Yet this often fails to capture the true meaning behind the meaning of mission. A mission is an objective that needs to be managed, i.e they are the short term goals to be achieved. Therefore it should be specific to elements that make up the whole; thus flexible, dynamic and responsive to both the internal and external environment. Each mission needs a main effort an overriding factor that underpins the purpose of the mission. This should be communicated to all those involved it is the desired outcome that must be achieved. Expressed in this manner the objectives are clear, unambiguous and the employees are told what needs to be achieved not how to achieve them; thus encouraging new methods of innovation, flair and problems solving. SUMMARY: Successful management consists of settingup the good objectives and making the rightchoices towards the fulfillment of those objectives. Thosewho fail these two basic tasks, fail asmanagers. Management by objective is ageneralized procedure which lends itselfwell to that portion of management capableof being systematic. The remainingportion of management which is not systematic cannot be followed easily either in theory or in practice.

Chaucer’s Use of Clothing: an Effective Rhetorical Device Essay

Chaucer’s Use of Clothing: an Effective Rhetorical Device In Literature, as in real life, characters are sometimes judged by their appearance. The description of clothing provides detail and comment on those wearing them. Chaucer’s uses of artifice in The Canterbury Tales function as gauges of the social status and economic wealth, and emotional condition of each pilgrim. Artifice effectively provides a badge of humanity, symbolic of each character’s fallibility. Yet clothing simultaneously imposes upon the characters literary stereotypes, which they consequentially adopt. Unable to transcend these ascribed roles, the pilgrims sometimes find themselves bound by literary stereotypes and narrative function, which they tend to fulfill rather than reject. Although Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales transcend a Romantic stereotype, his characters often do not. They find themselves bound to the conventions of Romance, as they are bound by the clothes that define them. Chaucer’s materialistic focus enhances this metaphor and d econstructs the purism of Christianity throughout their physical journey. This aspect of characterization functions to illuminate the meanings inherent in the costumes of the secular pilgrims, revealing the extent of their conformity, through their dress, to 14th century social, political, and religious norms. The General Prologue provides a great deal of information regarding the Knight’s appearance. The Knight entitled by rank to wear the finest of garments and clothes, is dressed in armor that is shabby, rusty, and possibly useless. The fact that he humbly adorns the uncomfortable suit, and even carries his bloodstained sword, indicates the knight’s sense of honor and tradition, but also shows the means by which... ...ce his own disapproval. His criticism is apparent, yet he doesn’t make harsh or subjective judgments. Instead, Chaucer simply describes what each character looks like physically and what they’re doing; and then leaves the reader to question what the character should be, compared to what they are. Chaucer explicitly chose to describe the pilgrims and make them the focal point of the entire pilgrimage, as opposed to the journey itself. Further, the minimal presence of beneficial divine intervention emphasizes the significance of each characters’ decisions (as they apply to their own ascribed roles). Materialistic metaphor functions to convey these roles, and ultimately evaluates each pilgrim. Consequentially, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales provides clarification of his sociological perspective on Romanticism, through the observation of humanity’s adherence to moral norms. Chaucer’s Use of Clothing: an Effective Rhetorical Device Essay Chaucer’s Use of Clothing: an Effective Rhetorical Device In Literature, as in real life, characters are sometimes judged by their appearance. The description of clothing provides detail and comment on those wearing them. Chaucer’s uses of artifice in The Canterbury Tales function as gauges of the social status and economic wealth, and emotional condition of each pilgrim. Artifice effectively provides a badge of humanity, symbolic of each character’s fallibility. Yet clothing simultaneously imposes upon the characters literary stereotypes, which they consequentially adopt. Unable to transcend these ascribed roles, the pilgrims sometimes find themselves bound by literary stereotypes and narrative function, which they tend to fulfill rather than reject. Although Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales transcend a Romantic stereotype, his characters often do not. They find themselves bound to the conventions of Romance, as they are bound by the clothes that define them. Chaucer’s materialistic focus enhances this metaphor and d econstructs the purism of Christianity throughout their physical journey. This aspect of characterization functions to illuminate the meanings inherent in the costumes of the secular pilgrims, revealing the extent of their conformity, through their dress, to 14th century social, political, and religious norms. The General Prologue provides a great deal of information regarding the Knight’s appearance. The Knight entitled by rank to wear the finest of garments and clothes, is dressed in armor that is shabby, rusty, and possibly useless. The fact that he humbly adorns the uncomfortable suit, and even carries his bloodstained sword, indicates the knight’s sense of honor and tradition, but also shows the means by which... ...ce his own disapproval. His criticism is apparent, yet he doesn’t make harsh or subjective judgments. Instead, Chaucer simply describes what each character looks like physically and what they’re doing; and then leaves the reader to question what the character should be, compared to what they are. Chaucer explicitly chose to describe the pilgrims and make them the focal point of the entire pilgrimage, as opposed to the journey itself. Further, the minimal presence of beneficial divine intervention emphasizes the significance of each characters’ decisions (as they apply to their own ascribed roles). Materialistic metaphor functions to convey these roles, and ultimately evaluates each pilgrim. Consequentially, Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales provides clarification of his sociological perspective on Romanticism, through the observation of humanity’s adherence to moral norms.