Important Output Computer Devices in Accounting

Considering the input devices required in setting up the office, The major computer gadgets that will be focused on are the Keyboard and Mouse. These input devices are going to play a major in the insertion of data into the office system. The keyboard is the computer input device that enables the user enter data into the computer . The keys in a keyboard are classified into †¢Alphanumeric keys-consist of letters and number ,which helps in keying in and calculating data that are inserted into the system. Punctuation keys-consists of the period,comma,semicolon,etc †¢Special keys-this keys consist of the function keys, control keys, arrow keys, caps lock key etc. Looking at the account office, the accountants needs the type of keyboard that enables them work effectively with ease. As an accountant, normally when entering a data, you type all the data with your right hand and have always have to stop and use your left to hit the tab key which is completely inefficient and discomforting. In order words in providing a solution for the discomfort, the R-tab Keyboard will be used in the office setup. the R-tab keyboard has the tab key on the right of the number pad, which makes it easier and more efficient for an accountant to use. So instead of having to interrupt the left hand to hit the tab key, the right hand stride wont be breached while typing . This r-tab keyboard will improve the efficiency of the office by 25% higher than the usage of an ordinary keyboard. The longer the accountants use it. The longer their productivity will increase. Accountants that have used the r-tab keyboard found out that they were able to finish data and numeric entries much faster in a much quicker manner. The mouse is the computer input device to which controls the location of a cursor on a video display that is connected to a computer. Generally in categorizing the computer mouse it is of two types which is the mechanical and optical mouse. Being an input device that pinpoints and sends command into the system it is a major input device that will and always a major vital role in any computer system setup. In my analysis of the computer mouse, the best mouse that will be in tune to the satisfaction of the accountants is the Logitech Performance Mouse MX. The Logitech Performance Mouse has a general use functionality which is sculpted for the right hand only. It has a number of interesting features, which includes the darkfield tracking, which enables the mouse to work on any surface. It has a unifying technology which connects six devices to computer(this particular feature helps the members of the office access and gain control of a system from wherever they are within the office range). With the sophisticated features and performance of the mouse MX the user can easily spin into a document and scroll incrementally when navigating images and slides. These are the two major input devices that yield great productivity in an office, without these the employees productivity will become a major waste and any computer gadget that’s supposed to ignite greater yield should be considered carefully before choosen. So in order words the R-tab keyboard and the mouse MX are the best and suitable input devices required for the office setup.

Biases

Person-positivity bias is the tendency to evaluate an object more favorably the more the object resembles an individual human being. Generally, the more a comparison target resembles a specific person, the more familiar it will be. However, groups of people are considered to be more abstract concepts, which leads to less favorable judgments.With regards to the optimistic bias, when people compare themselves to an average person, whether someone of the same sex or age, the target continues to e viewed as less human and less personified, which will result in less favorable comparisons between the self and others. false-consensus effect or false-consensus bias is a cognitive bias whereby a person tends to overestimate how many people agree with him or her.There is a tendency for people to assume that their own opinions, beliefs, preferences, values and habits are ‘normal' and that others also think the same way that they do. [l] This cognitive bias tends to lead to the perception of a consensus that does not exist, a ‘false consensus'. This false consensus is significant because it increases self-esteem. The need to be â€Å"normal† and fit in with other people is underlined by a desire to conform and be liked by others in a social environment.Counterfactual thinking is a term of psychology that describes the tendency people have to imagine alternatives to reality. Humansare predisposed to think about how things could have turned out differently if only†¦ , and also to imagine what if?. Counterfactuals are conditional propositions, containing an antecedent and a consequence (e. g. , If Matt had run, he would have caught the bus. )

An offer can be made in oral form, written form or conduct

An offer can be made in oral form, written form or conduct Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by our Law Essay Writing Service . You can view samples of our professional work here . An offer can be made in oral form, written form or conduct Question: How is an offer terminated? Please provide examples and case law in order to support your answer. Offer, Acceptance and Consideration are the three main components to form a legally binding contract. And before any contracts are being made, there must be reasonable and proper means of communication between parties. An offer is a definite and specific promise made by the offeror to an offeree of which there is an intention to be bound on specific terms if it is accepted. An offer can be made in oral form, writing form or by conduct, noted that it should not be vague but definite. In order to terminate an offer, there are five ways to do so which will be shown below: 1. Rejection There are two forms of rejection to an offer. The first form is that the offer is simply rejected by the offeree for not willing to be bound by the terms of the offer through communication, this will permanently destroy the offer. The offere e cannot change his/her mind afterwards and purport to accept the offer again. For example, Jean wanted to buy Peter’s car and offered him a price of $32,000. Peter then replied to say that $32,000 was below his expectation. In this case, Peter had rejected Jean’s offer and the offer no longer existed. Therefore, Peter could not change his mind and tell Jean that it was a mistake not to accept the offer. But then he can now sell the car to Jean by making a new offer, and Jean is free to accept it, contract will therefore formed. The second form of rejection to an offer is that the offeree rejects the offer made to him/her by a counter offer. This counter offer will destroy the original offer and introduces a new offer. In this case the original offeror may accept or deny this new offer. According to Hyde v Wrench (1840), where â€Å"A†, the offeror offered to sell an estate at a price of 1000 pounds, â€Å"B†, the offeror replied that he was willing to pa y 950 pounds only. The offer was refused, but afterwards, â€Å"B† sought to accept the initial offer. It was held that the offer has already terminated by the counter offer of 950 pounds, therefore no contract could be made at the time â€Å"B† tried to accept the initial offer as it no longer existed. However, it should be noted that a mere inquiry about the terms of offer to make the bargain more favourable, while he is willing to accept the offer is not a counter offer nor rejecting the offer. This principle lied in Stevenson v. McLean (1880), where â€Å"A† offered to sell iron to â€Å"B† for cash. â€Å"B asked if they could have 4 months credit. He has no intention to reject the offer made to him. 2. Revocation The offeror is free to withdraw or revoke from an offer at anytime given that the offer has not been accepted by the offeree. Given that revocation will not be effective until it is communicated to the offeree. Communication is not necessa rily made by the offeror himself provided that the offeree has been brought to notice of the revocation through a reliable source.

Global Business in Emerging Regions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3500 words - 2

Global Business in Emerging Regions - Essay Example Ltd (OGES) Present market: USA and European market Emerging market: overall Africa and especially Nigeria Cause of moving out: Over saturation in the present market and poor economy Advantage: Business expansion and market diversification Main challenge: Poor infrastructure and political problem Entry strategy: agency formation and hire- purchase strategy News Link: The assignment has taken a clue from news with the headline â€Å"Africa’s Richest Man Bets Big on Oil Refinery† published in Wall Street Journal. (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304607104579210322347689090). The news tells that a Nigerian man Aliko Dangote, the richest man in entire Africa for last two decades is going to step in oil refinery business. The estimated investment is $9 billion for coming two years to construct the largest private refinery in Nigeria. It is expected to produce more oil compared to any African country. PART A Company & Industry Analysis Company overview: In this case it is supposed that the certain organization (OGES) is a manufactures of tool and machineries, which are used in oil refinery business. The organization manufactures valves, liquid level gauges, digital flow meters, intube exchangers, electrically heated exchangers and many more equipments used in refinery facilities. Basically it is an ancillary company of oil and gas exploration and refining sector. Industry/Sector Overview: Many big companies across the globe are present this business. Companies which are making equipments for oil and gas refineries like Armstrong Engineering Associates, Inc. John C. Ernst Co., Inc and Shangqiu Jinyuan Machinery Equipment Co Ltd. are the competitors of the business. The level of competition is fair and health. These peer organizations have an association in the form of chamber of commerce to discuss and address the sector specific problems. The company has operation in the US and European market. Saturation in the Present Market: It is known that the US and European market is highly saturated and overcrowded. Manufactures from other areas like Chinese and Indian companies are giving tough competition in the US and European market. More over the economies of these two areas are not growing. So much so that dome countries are reporting negative figures. The problem has started in 2008 with the initiation of sub prime crisis. It is nearly six years; the problem has not been solved. It is very difficult to run a business in such a country which is not growing. Limited expansion opportunities and limited marketing scopes restrict the business to grow further. But if a business is not growing it is actually lagging behind its competitors because they are growing. So if a particular market or region is not working favorably, it is advisable to focus on other areas. Market diversification and product diversification should be the regular agendas for a successfully running business over a long period of time. Identificatio n of Emerging Market: But it not only diversification it wants to spread its wings in others areas as well. In this contest, Nigeria, a Sub-Saharan-African country is considered as the destination. Because the organization thinks that Africa in general and Nigeria in specific can be viewed as the emerging market. The growth of overall African economy is much better than the US and European economy. It is always advisable to bet on something which is rising or growing rather that which is facing

Retention and Diversity in HR Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Retention and Diversity in HR Management - Essay Example Slide 2. It is important for the management to retain their valuable staffs, who contributes the organization’s activities at their best level. Hiring is a complicated process because it is really difficult to find the right candidate  . However in case of resigning, HR manager should immediately react on the situation and understand an employee’s problems, discuss them focusing on the retention of a certain employee. Additional training promote employee’s development and are always a advantage for retaining an employee. Slide 3. Good compensation package would be a considerable advantage for the organization. For the employee, it will be one of the reasons to accept the job offer and stay with the certain company for a longer period. Positive and friendly environment is also important for most employees. Along with it, if the company provides professional development and supports its staff, it plays favorites for it, retaining more professionals. Slide 4. Businesses perceive diversity in the workplace as a business strategy, which increases productivity and meets the needs of consumers. The human resources are the first echelon of establishing connection between the employees who mirror the needs and preferences of customers and the organization strategy. With the growth of diversity value, companies recognize employee’s uniqueness and appreciate their perspectives. It ensures an inclusive operating environment with awareness and respect to different cultures. Moreover, diversity ensures flexibility inside the company, strengthening its ability to react to rapid changes of the global economy. Slide 5. Diversity is not only human resources responsibility. It requires partnership and collaboration of all functional areas within the company. The most successful companies create all possibilities for

International Policy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

International Policy - Essay Example Poverty and how to reduce it has been a concern from the time of Adam Smith until today. My view is that poverty can not be eradicated; it can only be reduced to certain levels. To ensure that all countries globally are developed is ideal. The plan of the Canadian government, being one of the developed countries, is to aid the developing countries to eradicate poverty. There has been great improvement in human development through the implementations of the MDGs. A significant number of people are living on more than a dollar a day for example, the number of people who lived below a dollar a day decreased by 50% in East Asia and reduced by 7% in South Asia ( Canada International Development Agency). Prevalence of hunger has reduced by half in 57 countries in the last three decades. I believe that if MDGs are followed, the world will have fewer people suffering due to poverty and diseases like HIV/AIDS, TB, and malaria. Canada, joining other developed countries in fighting poverty, is a way of enhancing decency and fairness all over the world. With the MDGs implementations, literacy levels have been seen to increase. A majority of the women and young girls have attained basic education. Women play a vital role in developing a nation. Thus the high literacy levels show that developing countries will start experience high Gross National Product or Gross Domestic Product (GNP/GDP) as long as the women and girls are gaining from the education. Criticisms Regarding the International Policy Statement Trying to eradicate poverty globally has many obstacles. From the time of Adam Smith, economic, social and political policies have been a major source of concern. First of all, giving donor aid to the developing countries has been nothing but a failure since it started. There is no single developing country that has come up by being given grants and loans. The developing countries have had a challenge of repaying the money given to them by the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank due to increasing interest rates and low or negative GDP levels. They are unable to pay the money because: The money is never used for its aimed purpose. The money usually lands in the hands of politicians who use the money for their own self interests and most countries cannot account for it. There is so much corruption in the leadership of the countries. Money does not trickle down to those who truly need it because the leaders take it and use it for their own personal needs. The money is given with strict conditions. The country in need ends up spending money to improve what the donors think they should improve and not what the people really need. For instance, a country will be told to prepare roads to enhance its transport system but what it really needs are boreholes to get water for its citizen's daily use. The money never trickles down to the citizens of the particular country. This is so because the donor country comes in with its machinery and workers leaving citizens of that particular country unemployed. The donor country ends up paying its own citizens instead of using workers and machinery in the developing country. Aid heightens the levels of dependency. The developing c

IT - System Testing Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

IT - System Testing - Research Paper Example 1. Functional Testing System functional tests overlap with acceptance tests such that the same tests can apply for both categories. They are both a demonstration of the systems functionality. They are performed to ensure that the behavior of the system is consistent with the requirement specifications set out earlier in software development. All the functional requirements that are set out for the system must be achieved by the system (Burnstein, 2003). A good example is where a financial system is required to allow customers to set up accounts, add, modify, and delete entries into the account, and make printouts. The functional test must ensure that the system can perform these tasks effectively. The functional tests are black box in nature such that the focus is on the inputs and proper outputs for each of the functions that are identified earlier in the requirements. It also takes into consideration improper and illegal inputs which must be tested on the system and their results o bserved to be consistent with the required functions (Myers, Sandler, & Badgett, 2011). ... 2. Performance Testing There are two types of requirements for systems: the functional requirement that describes the functions that the software should perform and the quality requirements that describe the quality level expected for the software such as memory use, response time delays etc. The aim of performance tests is to find out if the software meets the performance requirements (Burnstein, 2003). These tests also tell the testers if there are any other hardware factors that might impact on the system’s performance. It allows for testers to tune the system i.e. optimize the allocation of system resources and to predict future performance levels for the system and this is especially important in planning for subsequent releases (Craig & Jaskiel, 2002). It is important that performance objectives be clearly articulated by the user in the requirements document and also in the system test plan. These objectives must be quantifiable. At the end of the testing the tester will know for example, the CPU cycles used, the actual response time in seconds etc. These are then evaluated with reference to the requirement objectives (Myers, Sandler, & Badgett, 2011). Resources for performance testing must be allocated in the system test plan. The resources include the following: a source of transactions to drive the experiments, that is, a load generator; an experimental testbed that includes hardware and software the system-under-test interacts with and these include special laboratory equipment and space that must be reserved for the tests; instrumentation or probes that help to collect the performance data. The probes may be hardware or software in nature; and a set of tools to collect store, process, collect and interpret data (Gomaa, 2011). 3.

Strategic management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 9

Strategic management - Essay Example Some of the strategies used by hospitality enterprises to achieve competitive advantage include Strategic Planning, Market Research. Business Planning, Retail Growth Strategy, Meal Plan Strategy, Sourcing and Procurement Strategy, Concept Development, Health and Well-Being Strategy, Information Systems Strategy, Food Facilities Planning and Design. Accommodation and food services makes up about 8.1 percent of all employment. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Employment in the accommodation and food services industries is predicted to grow 18% between 2002 and 2012, adding more than 1.6 million new jobs. (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). Of the 8,740,000 total workers employed in the accommodation and food services industry in 2003, 5,343,000 works full-time (61%), while 3,397,000 work part-time (39%). (Annual average for 2003, according to the Current Population Survey, a joint project of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau). The Total Industry Investment is $1,765,000 and the total leveraged resources are $5,900,000. Profit and average room rate at the UK’s chain hotels continued to increase in November, according to the latest HotStats survey from TRI Hospitality Consulting. Across the total UK sample of 462 hotels, income before fixed charges (IBFC) – also known as gross operating profit – rose by 5.6 per cent to  £52.81 per available room. Average room rate increased by 7.4 per cent to  £95.03 in November, a similar rate of growth to the 7.2 per cent achieved during the year so far. In London, profit grew by 7.9 per cent to  £82.19 per available room. London’s hoteliers continued to achieve rate growth at near annual levels with an 8.9 per cent increase taking average room rate to a new high of  £125.85. The capital outlay needed for starting up the operation in this industry is huge ($60 – $70 million), since the leasing expenses and the taxes are high. The capital

Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Middle Range Theory Application Research Paper

Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia Middle Range Theory Application - Research Paper Example The tasks of caring and the promotion of human dignity are the central philosophies on which Swanson’s theory of caring is anchored. Swanson’s theory expands the aspect of nursing beyond the mechanics of professional processes between the caregiver and the patient to incorporate higher levels of commitment and responsibility on the part of the nurse. The caring theory entails a marked departure from conventional and traditional theories such as the medical model, the Nightingale model, and other theories that place the process of nursing within the province of professionalism. This theory acquires its relevance from the fact that it involves fewer concepts. The theory is also considered as user-friendly in the sense that it involves adaptable concepts. The adaptability of its concepts are essentially important in the task of maintaining some substantive approaches towards the management of multiple health challenges. This theory shifts the focus of nursing from the casual skills of the caregiver to the personality, character, and resolve of the individual nurse. The theory of caring promotes a special kind of relationship between the client and the nurse in a way that unites the entire healing process into a meaningful whole. This theory is based on specific aspects of healing that require some inner connection of processes that provide the healing force to the client. This theory distinguishes itself from other theories of nursing in the sense that it infuses some element of behaviorism.... This theory distinguishes itself from other theories of nursing in the sense that it infuses some element of behaviorism within the entire discourse of nursing. The relationship between the nurse and the client is revised to one that captures some aspect of utilitarian kinship between the two. Notably, this theory invents new concepts to incorporate into the aspect of healing. The theory invents the essence of the environment as a complex and fluid environment that determines, to a significant degree, the levels of success in the nursing process. The environment, as defined in this theory, is not limited to the physical essence of the term. The environment, according to Swanson, is situational. It could vary from the definition of an individual to a community. Furthermore, the meaning of the environment could be altered to capture the body of the client as it relates to other parts of the same. On this note, this theory sought to situate the meaning of environment from the convention al sense of the term in order to give broader meaning to the element of value nursing practices. The environment, as understood within this definition, has the potential to affect and be affected by the client. The complexities of nursing are explored as consequences of the interaction between the environment and the nursing process. The processes that determine the nature of professionalism between the nurse and the client must take place in a supportive environment that provides the synergies that operationalize the various aspects of the process. Swanson’s theory lays emphasis on the aspect of informed nursing. In the theory of caring, it is important for

International Trade - Exporting and Importing Essay

International Trade - Exporting and Importing - Essay Example Some of the popular tractors manufactured and exported by the USA are, John Deere, Ford Son and Kubota. The companies engaging in international trade have to face various barriers before they can market their produce to oversee countries. The export of tractors from the USA to Chile or Thailand is affected by the following factors; The demand for the product is the principle factor in the determining the viability of the country to export the product to. An example is the tractor which is used for tilling to produce crops for local and foreign consumption. Chile produces lumber, fruits and vegetable, grapes, pears, onion, wheat, corn, oats, peaches, garlic, asparagus and beans. Its major agricultural exports are fresh fruits, canned vegetables and wines. The government of Chile is encouraging more export from Chile to boost the country economy. Thailand on the other hand is a main exporter of rice. Due to this, tractors, which are used for tilling in large scale farms, are usually in high demand. Before considering whether to export the tractors to another country. Careful evaluation must be done to ensure that the country does not have the technology or enough facilities to manufacture the product being exported. If the country has the means to produce the same product, then the exporter will be faced by stiff competition by the local manufacturers who may offer the same product at a cheaper price. The existing trade blocks can p... , Ecuador and Peru; if these countries have the ability to produce tractors then Chile would be obliged to purchase the tractors from the other member countries. This in turn would limit the exportation of tractors to Chile. Chile has signed bilateral trade agreement with the USA, Singapore and Jordan, this trade agreement encourages trade between USA and Chile, tractors can hence be exported to Chile with ease and the manufacturer can succeed in exporting tractors to this country. Thailand on the other hand belongs to the ASEAN trading blocks. The countries in this trading block are Philippines, Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. The free trade agreement between the USA and Thailand have not yet materialized hence the tractor exporter may have difficulties exporting to this country. Internet According to Rajib (166), the internet and E-commerce has led to the globalization. Customers from all over the world can search the internet and find products of their choice. Upon identification of the product to purchase they can pay online and also carry out other transactions through the internet. The firm seeking to export tractors to Chile and Thailand can use the internet to advertise the tractors. Bilateral trade agreements These are trade agreement between two countries, the agreement dictates what a country will export and import from its partner. These trade blocks can either promote or hinder trade between two countries. If two countries sign bilateral trade agreement then exporting and importing goods becomes relatively easy due to reduction of barriers and excessive import tax. However, these agreements may hinder other countries from exporting products to those with bilateral trade agreements. Exporting tractors from USA to Thailand may be hindered by lack

Principles of Business Phase Essay Example for Free

Principles of Business Phase Essay In the aspect of business management, there are several elements and characteristics that organizational leader take into consideration when analyzing the condition of the economy of a certain society or nation. These elements are mainly the certain advantages and disadvantages of each society compare to others in terms of production, resource consumption, and economic benefit. Ideally, business leaders analyze each society based on the economic advantage they posses thus, establishing its fundamental business characteristic for market selection. In the application of this concept, consider the following scenario and the characteristic of the economic advantage each respective has for market analysis and selection. a) A nation has companies with the capacity to make stereo equipment at a much lower price than other national producers because of lower cost labor. The stereo equipment is of the same quality as other international producers. The characteristic of this society is mainly absolute advantage as their production nature possesses more benefits than the other in terms of resource consumption. Ideally, each business leaders desire to have better and effective production with lesser expenses to gain greater profit. Because this society can produce the same quality standard for their product similar to others while having cheaper production cost, their have absolute advantage than the others in terms of production and market selection. Indeed, business organization will desire to utilize the absolute advantage that this nation has for greater profit. b) A country mines for a high-demand precious gem only found within that country’s borders and distributes the gems to jewelry dealers all over the world. The principle for the economic characteristic in this scenario can be considered as absolute advantage mainly because the highly demanded resources can also be produced by their society making it their concrete advantage over the others. Likewise, this characteristic can also be considered as a comparative advantage scenario as the society can also be viewed as not the most efficient producer only that they are the only possible producers. Considering their condition, they might not be the most efficient producers for other products however, they can find certain advantage through specializing and focusing on the highly demanded product, which can only be found in their resource area. c) An overseas country passes laws to protect certain business practices that other countries may find unsuitable and perhaps unethical. The protection of these business practices are not seen as abusive or exploitive within the overseas country and are also consistent with national social standards. The business principle applied in this scenario can be considered as national competitive advantage as the law passed by this nation becomes their significant advantage over the others namely their concern for protecting certain business practices. Other societies might consider this protection perhaps unethical yet this specific nation implemented them while maintaining their adherence to the national standard. As such, business organizations who see much benefit from this protection will take consider applying their production operation in this nation. Thus, the law they passed protection business operation will become their significant advantage though not absolute above others. Bibliography Johansson, Borie Karlsson, Charlie Stough, Roger (2002). Regional Policies and Comparative Advantage. Edward Elgar Publication, USA. ISBN-10: 1840648341. Porter, Michael E. (1998). The Competitive Advantage of Nations. Free Press Publication, USA. ISBN-10: 0684841479.

My Skills and Talents Essay Example for Free

My Skills and Talents Essay Listening to advice from others will play an important part as it helps to get an outside point of view. It could save me from making decisions which may not be in the best interest of my business, as well as allowing me to use the advice I have been given to improve on any problems I may have or ways to bring more customers. If I were to stick to my own ideas all the time then and follow them through I could end up with a big loss if something goes wrong. Being persuasive is important in a business as it would allow me to convince people so buy/sell certain things. I may feel I am paying too much for my stock in that case I can try and convince my supplier to give me a better deal possibly allowing me to buy more. Being persuasive my also help if there is any completion and I can try and find out what their business plan is and then find a way to attract more customers then them. One way to go about this is to be friendly and to just really try and get the information you are looking for or convince people to give me what I am looking for. I need to be pretty ill before I take time off. No This can be positive or negative, if I am not feeling very well I can not work as hard as I normally would or I could cause further problems for my self if the illness does not go away. On the other hand taking time off work every time I feel a bit sick will end up causing a larger work load for my return and a loss of sales for that day. I must make sure to only take time off work when it is 100% necessary so as to avoid increasing my work load for the day in which I return back to work. I will be looking at all of my skills and talents which I could use to affect my business. This will allow me to see the problems and advantages each of them will cause to my future business, after this I will then look at situations in which they can be used to aid me with my business and for solutions for the problems that they may cause. This skill can aid me with my business as you learn to get along with others and how to work as a team, as playing doubles requires very good communication in this particular sport. This can aid me in my business as I know how to work with others and communicate with them, it will allow me to hopefully get alone with my employees and communicate with them, it also allows for a company team for example which would help build a bond between me and my employees. On the other side it could have negative affects on me and my business because I may spend too much time focused on playing or arrange to go play a game when I should be concentrating on work that I have to do, as a result it may lead to work being done late or not up to a certain standard. It may also cause me to be tired when going into work if I went to play a game late in the night so during that day I wont be as focused as normal and it will cause my work to suffer. To avoid these problems I should always make sure that my work is done before I decide to make time recreational activates and to make sure I get to sleep at a certain time everyday so as to avoid being tired during work. Good knowledge of Microsoft Office programs. This an important skill as it is needed to run a business, knowing how to use programs such and word, excel, PowerPoint are needed to make presentations send letters and crate accounts. I can also teach my employees how to use these programs so I can delegate work onto them if I feel I have too much work to do. The negative side to this is that if I teach another of my employees these skills and them leave them with work that needs to be done they may run into difficulties thus resulting in work not being done properly or being done late, it also takes a lot of time to teach someone full use of these programs time of which I may not have enough of. To make sure I do not come across these problems I should make sure I only give my employees work which I know they can get done in time and properly, and I should also make sure I have time to teach them how to do new things with these programs as sometimes it may just be faster if I just do it myself and delegate something know they can do upon them as this will give them a sense of responsibility and possibly motivate them to learn other skills on their own. I like to keep up to date with new technology. This is an advantage as knowing the new technology out there is important for the business to survive, as most of them time it allows the business to achieve greater economies of scale and become more efficient. They also may be able to carry out certain tasks which in turn will allow me to save money by replacing employees whose jobs these new machines take over. The down side there is the risk of these now technologies do not work out as expected or there are problems with them which cannot be solved easily thus resulting in a large loss for my business. To make sure these problems occur I can look into new machinery to make sure no problems can occur that could lead to problems for me and my business. I enjoy talking and meeting with new people. These very important as I will have to handle customers, it will also help me communicating with my employees old and new as this is needed to get work done and can help with getting new idea for my business which could allow me to improve. The downside is some people may find I come across to strong and this may push them away or not want to speak at all. To avoid this I must make sure that I know when someone is willing to be willing to speak and when they rather be left to themselves and not be bothered by others.

Is Globalization Good or Bad Essay

Is Globalization Good or Bad Essay Through the global interconnectedness among people, globalization has been appeared. Globalization refers the integration of global economies, societies and cultures through the communication, transportation and trade. During this period of this process, one question has been raised whether is globalization bad or good? And according to this question, it is proved that globalization is playing a fundamental role to make progress to many sections including economies, culture and religion, public services and living standard, and technology. In economics, Globalization refers to the increasing interdependence of world economies as a result of the growing scale of cross-border trade of commodities and services, flow of international capital and wide and rapid spread of technologies. It shows the market expansion and integration, and it is an unchangeable tendency for international economic development. In economy, globalization is playing a significant role to make advancement to this sector over the world. Globalization has created widely the international economy, integration of markets and the flow or movement in the world, all of which make escalations in global movement. There are many importance of globalization on economy for many years. Improvement in technology has a essential effect in decreasing the costs of transportation, communication and commodity also lowering the price of data processing and information storage. There is a sign of the modern technology like electric mail, the internet, and World Wide Web. And with technological development, laptop computer in contemporary time is more powerful than the very large powerful computer in twenty five years ago and the price level in 1990 was only about 1/125 compared to that in 1960. Later on in 1998, the computer price wars reduced about 80% more. Furthermore, because of the advancement of technological innovation, we see that the price of ocean transportation is only a half compared to that in 1930, recent aircraft transpo rtation 1/6, and cost only 1% in telecommunication today. At the same time, the price of international trade and investment are decreased by the effect of improvement of technological creativity. Thus, global production is available to manage and coordinate. For instance, Fords Lyman car is designed in Germany, its gearing system made in Korea, pump in USA and machine in Australia. It is undeniable that the development of technology make available of these global commodity. Moreover, a large number of enterprises are grown rapidly with the progressing of networking-based economy, making unimportant of the principle of national boundaries and distance of economic action (Michael, 2003). Globalization makes trade liberalization or economic liberalization available and this has reduced the trade protection and become liberal world economic system. In World War II and the Great Depression this process has been delayed severely. And later on, after the end of World War II through the tendency to trade liberalization and the participation of General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade(GATT) that has developed into the World Trade Organization (WTO), this trade liberalization happened again. With this reemergence, the tax and many barriers were decreased to make ease to the goods transportation and services. Furthermore, liberalization has a active role to increase the capital flow and production movement. It has been recommended by some economists and historians that world economy in this contemporary time is not better than that in late nineteenth century and early twentieth century. During that period of time, many economic countries relied on the international trade and bu siness as part of colonial system. As a result, with the openness of the border, there was a great migration of people and large international capital movements. This is an opinion of British scholars during the British occupation as a colonial power over world economy. However, in this late nineteenth century did not prove the advancement of technology that makes the world economy globalized like today (Michael, 2003). Globalization has made important effects on national economies. First is the development of foreign direct investment (FDI) at the incredible rate that is more significant than the growing of international trade. In fact, the technological movement, industrial organizing and the creation of world enterprises which have a marvelous effect on national economies have been stimulated by the foreign direct investment. Second is the effect of globalization on the advancement of technology. As indicated before, technological progress acts in an active role in globalization, but technology has become more progressive and widespread rapidly because of globalization and encouragement of marketing competition in foreign direct investment. Third is the acceleration of services, concluding financial, legal, managerial and information services. And this has become the most important section of the international business. In 1970, the service exportation in foreign direct investment was less than c ompared to that today and it is anticipated to increase further in the future. During the growth of services in national and international market, some people called this period the age of competence that underline the educational significance and human capital business in economic sector of every countries. However, globalization also makes some problems on international economies. Globalization creates regional or world economic fragility and vulnerability because of mutual interconnectedness of economies on the world. For instance, downturn in finances and exchange rate that started from Thailand 1997 had a bad impact on Southeast Asian economies and even Southeast Korea. But this problem above can be solved effectively by the improvement of new institution, many organization and international cooperation. Many institutions especially the International Monetary Fund (IMF) could mitigate even address efficiently on this problem through the promotion to the countries that have faced or discovered the national economic fragility and instability. For example, in the period of peso crisis in Mexico, IMF played a critical role to help as well as promote on this nation. Furthermore, during financial recession in East Asia, IMF made an accord to support South Korea. Thus IMF increased substan tially its resources to ensure that these problems could be addressed in transparency. International cooperation also plays a valuable role to the practice of Tobin Tax that is a small tax on foreign exchange business. Tobin Tax has an effect on the limitation on the trading of weak currency. Meanwhile, Tobin Tax also allocates the fund to the international organization. Globalization has promoted to the escalation of the marketing competition on the international economies. We see that the marketing competition brings many advantageous purposes in resulted in the augmentation of quantity and quality of production. On the market system, Adam Smith and many classical economists stated that the specialization and the division of labor were formed by the marketing expansion the rivalry. With specialization and the division of labor, production is augmented not only in a country, but also in the international basis. Other importance of specialization and division of labor is the decrease of the costs of commodities and services, and this condition allows the continual advancement in economic sector. With the advantage of globalization, both parties such as individuals, firms other organization, nation, trading bloc, continents or other entities can get benefits in the economic exchange. For many years, globalization has promoted the augmentation of produ ctivity through the rationalization of production on a world scale, the technological expansion and creativity-needed competition on the international basis. In general, globalization has formed the marketing competition that has significant influence in enhancing all groups position, with the scope of increased yield or better salaries and higher living standard. Thus, with these benefits, the potential of human welfare has been improved worldwide. On the other hand, globalization has been proved as unpleasant impact on the sovereign government. It has been stated that the globalization forces are jeopardizing the sovereign nation because the management of the national economic sector has been changed from national government to other institutions, including multinational or international companies and international institution or organization. This transformation can make a sovereign state lose its capacity to determine on policies of its economies. However, the globalization requires not making loss to the national sovereignty. In fact, sovereignty of a country or state and the proper duty of the political leaders remain stable because of the international cooperation. It is like the side being divided separately into two sides. One side for the governmental leaders and other side for international organization, multinational or international company. Moreover, the presence of these institution in addressing the problems or r isks stemming by the globalization forces has supported the government leaders especially in politics to keep and even to determine its position in the world economic society. Furthermore, cooperation between the sovereign state and international institution can lead to the progressing through cooperative action. In general, there are many methods of cooperation in addressing with the problems of globalization. First is the keep the existing organization and institution stable and strong. Second is the formation of new institution, as in the case of the World Trade Organization (WTO), to settle the disagreement especially stemming from the globalization. Third is the foundation of larger institution such as the European Union (EU), G-8 or the Asian Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). Thus, according to the proof of globalization benefits mentioned above, we can conclude that the process of globalization is really fundamental in promoting the economic advancement not only in a natio n but also in the whole world. Globalization also has a lot of impacts on culture and religion around the world. It spreads from countries to another through Medias and import of production. The media, of course, owned by developed countries that tried to introduce their culture into the other countries around the world. This spread of cultural treads is the most effective way than the others. Ex, people amazed, interested, and inspired by the foreign culture through TV, radio, and especially internet; people, especially teenager, around the world quickly adopted the foreign cultures. Globalization also introduced the Modernization into developing countries which made them consume more luxury production. Those demands of production required the import of other production into their countries. This trade of production also helped to spread foreign culture into other countries too. Ex, the uses of other production differed from their culture would made them try to adapt to the natural culture of the production, such as the way they eat in luxury restaurant, the use of mobile phone, etc. Moreover, Globalization also suggested Democracy to other countries too. Democracy promotes human rights, equality among men and women, freedom of press and expression, and the rights to vote to choose their leaders. Because of these prosperities and freedom of Democracy, it attracted millions of people to realize and demand for justice, freedom, and changes in policy of autocratic states. Ex, In Burma, people hate the autocratic system of government and they love democracy, so they protest against the government to change the system or resign from the position. This spread of foreign cultures also affected the indigenous religions that had been rooted thousands of years ago in most Asian countries. Most people cant stand the cruel treat of some religion that have done to them, so they wanted to let go of their religion and adopt foreign culture or religion. Ex, In Islamic states, women have to wear mask to hid e their face when they go out in public. And other example is that men can marry as many wives as they want too. Most Islamic people in Iraq and Afghanistan believed that become the suicide bomber for the sake of their country will bring them to heaven to live with god. All of these treatment to people is cruel and unfair for them that why people want to change and get away from it. All in all of the effects of globalization in culture helped to promote peace, cooperation and unity among people around them by understanding each other through the same culture. However, some people believed that the spread of globalization gradually made them lost their cultural identities. Of course, the spread of globalization changed some of their culture and belief but globalization didnt force them to do so. It is all up to people choices to choose their way to live their life. People adapted only the culture that they believed to suit them well and they forbad the inappropriate culture. Some oth er people continued to argue that globalization made Asian people disrespect the elder and tended to commit more crimes. But these activities got nothing to do with globalization, in fact, controlling the behavior of people and children are the duty of their parents and government. Living standard also promoted by globalization through the education and health care. Education is necessary  for people to  sharing experiences, skills and intellectual assets. According to Sadegh and Shajar (2006), globalization is creating opportunities for sharing knowledge, technology, social values, and behavioral norms and promoting developments at different level including individual, organization, communities and societies across different countries and culture. Moreover, people can articulate human right through the education. If  all  people can know clearly about human right, it will decrease the violation in the country. As Sadegh and Dhajar stated that, education also means that populations became aware of their right and obligation as citizens and management of life in their communities. In addition, globalization leads to have modern materials for people  to study. Nowadays, people can search books or any topic of assignments through the internet, it facilitates student to reduce time  for  going to the libraries. By using LCD, it can make teachers to explain more easily and it doesnt waste time to write on white board. As well as, globalization can increase access to education for women and poor people, unlike the history that women cannot go to school or go outside, they can do only housework. According to United Nations, to follow the role of UNDP, government ought to build up human capital through education and ensuring that the poor have access to education (2001). But Bloom said that, the need for higher education in developing countries is going largely unmet. In much of the developing world, higher education delivery is woefully unsuited to the demands of globalization (2002). Furthermore, another point that can improve living standard is health care service. Because of globalization, people can get advance technology of surgery ad innovative medical.  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  When the health care increase, people can consult for their health easily, improve treatment and prevention of all kinds of illness and disease. These also lead to increase life expectancy. Moreover, through globalization,  the country open freely for all organization to set up there. Some organizations are providing health care to people like WHO. The World Health Organization aims to assist government to strengthen health service and its role is promoting health to all men kind by providing  technical support and building sustainable institutional capacity. However,  some author stated  that globalization promoted health care for people, but its also the one who spread diseases. Like Woodward, Drager, Beaglehole and Lipson response that globalization offers the potential both to improve the health effects of globalization itself and to provide broader benefits to health worldwide. Thus, education and health care offers vast potential for improving living standard through gl obalization. As we move further and further into the 21st century, we can clearly see that technology is changing into a new dimension. Technology plays an important and significant role of globalization through its many ways. Technology promotes the development of a global telecommunications infrastructure and greater cross-border data flow by using Internet, communication satellites, fiber optic cable and wireless technology. We can see the advantages of globalization in the Internet. The integration and merging the people of the world have been emerged over the past decade and make the true global communication exist through the Internet technology. For example, someone in the United States can talk or email to someone in Cambodia. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦the emergence of the Internet as a tool of low-cost global connectivityà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦This sudden revolution in connectivity constituted a major flattening force (Friedman, 2007). Internet allows us to take our own digital contents and send it anywher e at very low cost or sometimes for free so that people around the world could share whatever they want to share to the world. Through the Internet technology, social media such as social networking and online conference also bring a big impact on globalization. Social networking such as Facebook and Twitter has integrated people around the world and their community with many advantages for them. For instance, some people have formed new business, enhanced their existing business and sold products through marketing on social networking. Some people also received assistance from their friends or others when they are in trouble, and they also make new friends and improve the friendship through chatting, commenting, posting, calling and video calling. They could also read news and join any contests available on the social media. In addition, the impacts of technology on globalization also include modernization and business field on a global base (Zunairah, 2008). The process of electro nic transaction is being improved with business integration, and broadcasting of information over the Internet makes people gain instant access to new information and communication technologies. In business, many companies are enjoying many benefits from the technological research and innovation. For example, business meeting or business production process can be communicated through the Internet and it is possible to communicate with other people and companies across the continents and oceans. The Internet turned into an important part of doing business. Instead of face to face meeting with clients, the managers or chairman could see communicate remotely to their clients via the Internet. However, if there are any mistakes on the communication process through the Internet, many people will suffer and lost benefits from their business. According to BBC News, Skype, which is the most dominant software that many companies use it to communicate with their clients, was crashed by the so ftware bugs and server overloading. Millions of Skype users around the world cannot log in for several hours and it was very disappointing to those users because they suffered and lost some process of their business. Thats why the communication through the Internet is very important for business. Open-sourcing also integrates the people of the world. It involves self-organizing communities or groups that modify and improve open software so that it can be accessed by anyone around the world. For example, Wikipedia uses the open-sourcing principle so that anyone is able to add and edit it. Linux or Mozillas Firefox web browser is also open source software that is free to download. It also has the power of cooperation that everybody can work together to solve a given problem. However, globalization on technology cannot reach or benefits the less developing countries. They dont have Internet connection or sometimes telecommunication. Therefore, these disadvantages can be reduced if the flow of the Internet and Information Technology are introduced to those less developing countries and they can develop their progress in the future. There can be a wonderful impact on globalization as communication process between individuals, institutions and states in different areas of the world and promote the political, social, economic, and cultural aspects of a state. In conclusion, globalization has critical effects on the advancement on economies, culture and religion, public services and living standard, and technology not only in a nation but also in the whole world. Although globalization shows a manifestation of disadvantage effects, the benefits of globalization still remain as priority in the international society.

james montgomery flagg :: essays research papers

James Montgomery Ward   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  James Montgomery Flagg was born on June 18, 1887 in Pelham Manor, New York. As a child, Flagg loved sketching with pen and paper. In fact, his first published painting was at the age of twelve by the then popular magazine St. Nicholas Magazine. By the age of fourteen, he was a regular contributor to Life Magazine. A year later, he was hired to be on the staff of Judge Magazine. Flagg continued to contribute by drawing famous celebrity portraits for the popular magazines front covers. Although Flagg went to the prestigious Art Students League, he attributes most of his knowledge and talent in art to the many drawing he saw by others working with the magazines. In 1916, Flagg turned in a painting he was commissioned to do for Leslie’s Magazine. The cover read, â€Å"What are you doing for preparedness?† After seeing this, the U.S. government asked Flagg to adapt the man to a war poster. This figure later became known as Uncle Sam. There have been numerous questions as to Uncle Sam’s true identity. As far as the physical appearance goes, it is indeed James Montgomery Flagg himself. Flagg usually posed for himself to save money on not hiring models for his artworks. As for the pointed finger, Flagg borrowed that idea from a British propaganda poster featuring Lord Horatio Kitchener with the same pose asking the same question. The character itself has two stories about it. The first states that Uncle Sam was indeed a real person named Samuel Wilson. Samuel Wilson was a meat packer during the war of 1812. Sam would donate generous amounts of meat to the soldiers of the American army. People say this character was perfect to uphold the values of the United States which were fairness, reliability, and honesty. The other story behind the Uncle Sam name is that it matches the acronyms for the United States (U. james montgomery flagg :: essays research papers James Montgomery Ward   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  James Montgomery Flagg was born on June 18, 1887 in Pelham Manor, New York. As a child, Flagg loved sketching with pen and paper. In fact, his first published painting was at the age of twelve by the then popular magazine St. Nicholas Magazine. By the age of fourteen, he was a regular contributor to Life Magazine. A year later, he was hired to be on the staff of Judge Magazine. Flagg continued to contribute by drawing famous celebrity portraits for the popular magazines front covers. Although Flagg went to the prestigious Art Students League, he attributes most of his knowledge and talent in art to the many drawing he saw by others working with the magazines. In 1916, Flagg turned in a painting he was commissioned to do for Leslie’s Magazine. The cover read, â€Å"What are you doing for preparedness?† After seeing this, the U.S. government asked Flagg to adapt the man to a war poster. This figure later became known as Uncle Sam. There have been numerous questions as to Uncle Sam’s true identity. As far as the physical appearance goes, it is indeed James Montgomery Flagg himself. Flagg usually posed for himself to save money on not hiring models for his artworks. As for the pointed finger, Flagg borrowed that idea from a British propaganda poster featuring Lord Horatio Kitchener with the same pose asking the same question. The character itself has two stories about it. The first states that Uncle Sam was indeed a real person named Samuel Wilson. Samuel Wilson was a meat packer during the war of 1812. Sam would donate generous amounts of meat to the soldiers of the American army. People say this character was perfect to uphold the values of the United States which were fairness, reliability, and honesty. The other story behind the Uncle Sam name is that it matches the acronyms for the United States (U.

The Importance of Dinosaur Discoveries Essay example -- Anthropology E

The Importance of Dinosaur Discoveries When a paleontologist makes a discovery about Dinosaurs it is usually a celebrated event and will appear on all sorts of covers of magazines and even newspapers, with good reason. These discoveries are often quite exciting for a few reasons. The whole experience of finding a fossil that is hundreds of millions of years old is quite an adrenaline rush, but the fact that each discovery has the ability to answer questions in relation to evolution is quite amazing. Each finding of Dinosaur remains can help answer questions of how that certain species evolved from another. If our species can fully understand how Dinosaurs evolved, maybe in the future we can learn something about our evolution. Without discoveries from the past how is our society supposed to persevere and learn from mistakes that may lead to our own extinction, and who to learn better from than perhaps the dinosaurs that have gone through many stages of evolution and have faced extinction. The finding that will be discussed is the discovery of a new type of long- necked Sauropod Dinosaur named Rapetosauras, in the country of Madagascar (National Science Foundation). It was found by two groups of scientists. One group was headed up by Dr. Catherine Forster of SUNY Stony Brook and the other was led by Dr. Curry Rogers of the Science Museum of Minnesota (National Science Foundation). The paleontologists in total found a skeleton that possessed a set of 80 to 90 vertebrate from the neck all the way down to the tail (National Geographic). The two teams also discovered two nearly complete skulls, one from a young Rapetosauras and another from an adult (National Geographic). The Rapetosauras is a type of Dinosaur called a Titano... ...4 (Primary Source) Hartman, Joseph, Krause, David, and Rogers Raymond. †Stratigraphic Analysis of Upper Cretaceous Rocks in the Mahajanga Basin, Northwestern Madagascsar: Implications for Ancient and Modern Faunas.† The Journal of Geology vol. 108 (2000) : 275. Parsell, D.L. â€Å"Skeleton of New Dinosaur â€Å"Titan† found in Madagascar on National Geographic.com.† 1 August 2001. National Geographic News. 4 April 2004 â€Å"Brachiosaurus† Enchanted Learning.com. 2004. 4 April 5 2004 â€Å"New Long-necked Dinosaur Discovered in Madagascar.† Office of Legislative and Public Affairs. 1 August 2001. National Science Foundation. 5 April 2004

Lord Of The Flies :: essays research papers

Throughout The Lord of the Flies, the author shows how different Simon is from the rest of the savages on the island. He is much more innocent and pure than the others and has a religious demeanor. Light, very commonly a symbol of holiness and purity, is used quite often during Simon’s â€Å"funeral†. In the last four paragraphs of chapter nine, â€Å"A view to a death†, Golding makes clear the use of light imagery to suggest the apotheosis of Simon.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  During chapter nine, the sky and water are used to convey a sense of innocence during Simon’s glistening funeral. For example, the air becomes clear as the rain ceases, indicating a calm and peacefulness. When the â€Å"silver tide† comes in and washes away his blood and â€Å"streaks of phosphorescence† mend his battered body, it is as though Simon’s body is being prepared for ascension into heaven. â€Å"Lamps of stars,† â€Å"bright constellations,† and the moonlight provide much radiance. In addition there are brilliant flashes of lightning from the still lingering storm. The luminous sky provides light while the clear, silver water works on restoring Simon’s body after he has been savagely killed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Simon’s body and the creatures around it also show his holiness. Light images of the creatures that surround Simon glorify his body, and as light falls on his corpse he is transfigured into an icon of expiation. Also, the water covers Simon in a â€Å"coat of pearls† and â€Å"creatures† (interpreted to symbolize angels) begin to spread a layer of silver over him. The apotheosis of Simon is complete, as he becomes completely silver.

California State Law Essay

What Bidders Edge did may be considered as an innovation in the emerging electronic commerce industry. Linking as what was specified in the article made thinks easier for bigger websites such as e-bay to be viewed in by a lot people. Summing up the intention of Bidders Edge, we could conclude that what the company did is to provide the buyer’s the best price possible for anything that they want to buy. In the process, Bidder’s Edge would obtain choices from various auction sites which consequently included e-bay. I believe that this one mattered to e-bay not entirely on the sense that Bidders Edge would trespass per se on e-bay servers but the latter would serve as a threat for e-bay in the future. Simply put, traditional trespass involves the manipulation, distribution, or access of private data or property without the approval of its owner. In this particular case, e-bay is a public domain with open access to everyone who has internet access. On the other hand, personal property means that anything that is movable as distinguished from real estate. In the case of e-bay and Bidders Edge, the latter did request fro legal access but was denied by the former. One thing where Bidders Edge made a wrong move was when they created proxy users in order to access e-bay servers thereby giving in legal grounds for e-bay to file a lawsuit under the provisions of California state laws on intellectual property infringements against Bidders Edge. Under California state laws, â€Å"Various things can be copyrighted: literature, drama, music, sound recordings, computer software, advertising copy, motion pictures, choreography, pantomimes, and architectural works†(Witkin, Witkin Legal Institute., & West Group., 2005). This gives e-bay the basis to file suit against anyone who intends unauthorized use of their servers. This is in contrast with the usual textbook definition that trespass to personal property may be altered if the medium may be proven as a public domain. Reference: Witkin, B. E., Witkin Legal Institute., & West Group. (2005). Summary of California law (10th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Witkin Legal Institute.      

Government Assistance on Welfare Programs

S. B. 311 will reform the current system of welfare. The reform of the national system is based on the Wisconsin Works or W-2 bill. The bill makes it necessary for people receiving financial, medical, and other various types of government assistance to work for what they receive. The goal of this bill is to eventually get everyone off of the current welfare system. This bill requires everyone who is currently receiving welfare to find employment or enter a job training program. The part of the W-2 bill that will be included is the part that deals with job location. Every participant would have to meet with a financial and employment planner, who would help develop a money and time management program for that person. They would also determine which level of employment or training the participant is ready for. Here are the levels from top to bottom: Unsubsidized Employment: People entering at this level will be offered the best available and immediate job opportunity. If the job does not provide a high enough income to support oneself, income credits, food stamps, Medical Assistance, and child care may be accessible for 6 months. This period of time is given to the participant to locate a higher income job. Trial Jobs: These jobs are designed for people who are not able to locate unsubsidized work. The bill would cover added costs to the employer for training an employee which might need extra support in job training for the first 3-6 months. These trial jobs should result in permanent positions. While a participant is working at a trial job the would be eligible for all of the current assistance programs. If a person quits a trial job they will be ineligible for any further financial or any other type of assistance. Community Service Jobs: This category is reserved for people who do not have the job skills necessary to be hired by a regular employer. CSJ workers would receive $700 per week for up to eight months. During this period, a participant would have to work 30 hours a week and have 10 hours of educational training a week. After the eight months, the participant would be transferred to a trial job. Transition: Transition jobs are only for those people unable to perform self-sustaining work. These participants would receive up to $700 a week for up to a year. During this period, a participant would be required to have 30 hours of work and/or developmental training a week and 10 hours of educational training a week. Participants would be eligible for all assistance programs and would be required to move to the CSJ category after a year. These are the measures that would be taken to help people find employment and permanently get them off of welfare. The current national system that is being used for work requirements is TANF. TANF stands for the Temporary Assistance to Needy Families. The required number of monthly hours of participation in the program is 25 hours for 1999. Job skills ttraining, education related to employment, and secondary school or GED completion does not count towards the first 20 hours of participation. They can be in the program for up to 24 months and can receive all of the current welfare benefits. Then job searching is allowed for an additional 3 months, while participants still receive benefits. The only punishment this programs implements for able adults that do not work is that the adult would only receive foods stamps for 3 months out of a three year period. However, the person would still be eligible for other assistance benefits. The current national system seems like a joke. It is practically encouraging people not to work. It has a basis for some practical ideas, but the requirements are far too small and there is virtually no motivation for a person to work. Everyone is not given an equal chance to get a job growing up, but that does not mean working Americans should have to support them. S. B. 311 proposes a practical working plans for unemployed citizens and also has rigid standards. The expectations are high of the participants, but it is time that unemployed people have to work for what they receive. The bill proposes a plan which provides adequate assistance for people receiving job training and assistance to those who are starting unsubsidized work. On the other hand, the guidelines of the bill were designed not to tolerate an unwillingness to work. If a person chooses not to work, or to go through the levels of job training, they will receive no government assistance. This seems harsh, but who wants to support someone who refuses to work? The participants of this program are given more than a fair chance to find employment and if they choose not to work, they will suffer the consequences.

Give Me Liberty: Chapter 17 Outline Essay

Populists or people’s party members were part of this era’s greatest political insurgency. It evolved from the Farmers’ Alliance, where farmers across forty-three states banded together to remedy their condition. The people’s party not only attracted farmers but also included all the â€Å"producing classes.† Their lasting legacy comes from the populist platform of 1892 and also from the fact that populism came close to replacing the two already existing parties. Explain how a system of racial segregation was established in the South: Since populism failed in the south, it was open to the induction of a new racial order. As much of Reconstruction was undone as possible by the Redeemers, so called because they believed they saved the region from alleged misgovernment and impending â€Å"black rule.† New laws were created that jailed anyone without a job, and the punishment for petty crimes was increased tenfold. Of course, the black population suffered the greatest after this. Then, convict laboring became popular which basically put blacks right back into slavery. Blacks continued to be denied high paying jobs, but a black middle class began to arise in the urban communities consisting of people with professions such as teachers and professors. Blacks in politics declined also, though not abruptly. They eventually lost their right to vote. In Plessy v. Ferguson it was made legal to segregate public places. Lynching also rose in popular ity again. Describe what ways the boundaries of American freedom grew narrower in this period: At the end of the 19th century, the thought process of Americans changed quite a bit, towards the idea that freedom should not be offered equally, only to the right and supposed deserving people. An Ohio newspaper stated that the influx of immigrants was overrunning cities, and that they â€Å"have no appreciation of the true meaning of liberty.† Most of the immigrants in this period came from Italy, Russia, Austro-Hungarian empires, and other countries in Southern and eastern Europe. Immigrants were looked down upon as horrible excuses for people who are inclined to steal and commit crime from birth. People started to look for a way to limit the rights of these people, and also prevent more from entering. In Boston, the immigration restriction league was formed and proposed that literacy would be required to enter the country. This was adopted by many states. Blacks also continued to see less and less rights in the South, as well as disenfranchisement. Suffrage was becoming more of a privilege in America, instead of a right. Explain how the United States emerged as an imperial power in the 1890’s: America started out slow as government officials and business owners decided the land and resources they had weren’t enough. At first, proposals to annex other countries were vetoed and over-sea focus remained mostly on trade. Then, a group of late nineteenth century thinkers proposed an idea of updated manifest destiny, and that the most beneficial thing to do for the world was to impose the Anglo-Saxon traditions on uncivilized societies and turn them into consumers of American goods. This was outlined in the book Our Country by Josiah Strong. Alfred T. Mahan took advantage of the time at which western expansion ended, as all land was finally claimed by a state. He published a book that urged American expansion to move outward because we could no longer capitalize on our own land. This book influenced James Blaine, secretary of state during the presidency of Harrison. Harrison requested the construction of four new battleships, while Blaine encouraged the president to push for Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Cuba to be set up as naval bases. The depression further exacerbated these ideas and plunged the country into a period of aggressive nationalism, where newspapers containing sentiments of nationalism views sold like hotcakes. Vocabulary: The Farmer’s Alliance – Farmer’s in the early 1890’s felt disenfranchised, so they banded together to aid each other. Spread across 43 states. The Populist Party – Evolved from the farmer’s alliance, except it included all working classes. Their platform still remains a classic American document. They sought to redefine the idea of freedom in the contemporary government. It attracted many followers, including a large number of women who wanted suffrage, and a small number of blacks. Populist Platform – Consisted of six main items: 1. Direct election of U.S. Senators 2. Government control of currency 3. A graduated income tax 4. Low cost public financing for farmers 5. Legalize unionizing 6. Public ownership of railroads William J. Bryan –Second candidate chosen by populists for president. He was supported by democrats as well and ran as democrat even. He condemned the gold standard, and advocated free silver and unrestricted minting of silver money. He hoped it would help relieve farmer debts. He was also devoutly religious. Coxey’s Army – A band of several hundred unemployed men led by Ohio businessman Jacob Coxey demanding economic relief. They marched to D.C. where they were forced to disperse by soldiers. Pullman Strike – Workers in a company owned town called Pullman called a strike due to low wages. The idea spread and the boycott called by the American Railway Union crippled national rail service, government injunctions were imposed to force laborers to work. Eugene V. Debs – Charismatic leader of the rail-worker’s union and the Pullman strike, was jailed for contempt of court. On his release, 100,000 people greeted him, and he called them lovers of liberty. He said that state and national government was going to take from the weak their birthright of freedom. Free Silver – Unrestricted minting of silver money, Supported by Bryan because he hoped to circulate more money to aid farmers. Election of 1896 – Won by William McKinley, the republican candidate. Bryan who represented the democrats lost by about 6 million votes. Bryan is noted to have driven many republicans to McKinley because of Bryan’s call for inflation and speeches against corporate arrogance. Northeast and Midwest industrial states voted republican, while less populous states voted for Bryan which is why he lost. William McKinley – Former Ohio governor and republican, won the election of 1896. His campaign manager Hanna created a political machine that flooded the states with pamphlets and other propaganda. The Redeemers – Claimed to have redeemed the southern region of misgovernment and black rule. They were able to impose their racial order due to the failure of populism in the south. When they gained power they quickly undid as much as they were able of Reconstruction. New laws incarcerated people for the simplest of crimes, and then convicts were bought and sold and used as a cheap form of labor, much like slavery. The Kansas Exodus – 50,000 blacks migrated to Kansas in the belief they would find political equality, freedom from violence, access to education and economic opportunity. Pap singleton handed out flyers portraying Kansas as a utopia. However, most blacks didn’t have the capital to farm so they ended up getting stuck there with low paying jobs. Decline of Black Politics and voting – Black people gave up their interest in politics after reconstruction, and they sought more fulfilling careers in business, law, or the church. This turned out to be their worst mistake because then their voting was taken away in the south as soon as it was possible. Poll taxes and other voter restrictions were enacted that were aimed at blacks but still lawful. Jim Crow Laws – State and local laws mandating de jure racial segregation in Southern states. Examples: Created the poll taxes, literacy tests, and the grandfather clause. Blacks were denied access to many public and municipal facilities such as parks, theaters, housing, and mass transit. Various economic sanctions were placed on blacks in order to maintain their status. Plessy V. Ferguson – Upheld the constitutionality of state laws requiring racial segregation in public facilities under the doctrine of â€Å"separate but equal.† Lynching – The murder of a person, usually black, and then hanging them on a tree to ridicule them. Authorities seldom involved themselves in the conflicts even though they knew about them. Chinese Exclusion Act – The first major legal restriction on immigration to the U.S.; prohibited further unskilled Chinese immigration in order to reduce competition for jobs. Booker T. Washington – Former slave who promoted economic independence and a slow transition for blacks into free society; founded the Tuskegee Institute. American Federation of Labor – Alliance of skilled workers in craft unions; focus was bread-and butter issues such as higher wages, shorter hours, and better working conditions. It was led by Samuel Gompers. Alfred Mahan – Author who argued in 1890 that the economic future of the United States rested on new overseas markets protected by a larger navy; wrote â€Å"The Influence of Sea Power Upon History.† Josiah Strong – Author of Our Country: Its Possible Future and Its Present Crisis, in which he urged Anglo-Saxons to â€Å"civilize and Christianize† the American West. Annexation of Hawaii – American sugar plantation owners began the annexation by overthrowing the country’s queen successfully, which was followed by American military action. McKinley requested a joint resolution of annexation because it was popular amongst Americans although not among Hawaiians. Spanish – American War – Caused by suspicions of the Maine, support of Cuban independence, economic depression, and Yellow Press Journalism. The effect it had on America was that it pushed it into imperialism, after the war was won by the U.S., they received three new territories. Teller Amendment – Promised that America would not annex Cuba after winning the war. Yellow Journalism – Journalism that exploits, distorts, or exaggerates the news to create sensations and attract readers. Open Door Policy – Allowed free flow of trade with Asia, while still barring Asians to enter the country. The Philippine War – Began after Filipinos incorrectly thought that they would self govern after independence from Spain. McKinley decided he still wanted the islands though, so they revolted and lost. â€Å"White Man’s Burden† – Poem by Rudyard Kipling outlining the contemporary thoughts of the government, which is it is our duty to civilize the lesser races. Anti – Imperialist League – Argued that an empire and democracy cannot coexist.

Foundation Degree (FdSc) in Food Manufacturing Management Essay

Introduction Audit objectives Why Audit? The intentions of this Audit are as follows: Using a recognised GMP standard (UNIDO/BRC) assess and quantify the effectiveness of the current quality system that is in place. Recommend, upon review, strategies for improvement that can be made to meet, and potentially exceed, the minimum retail requirements. * Upon completion, allow the business to set attainable goals and objectives in order to drive the business forward. This is in an efficiency, production and legal capacity. Company Profile Shetland SeaFish (Hull) limited started trading in 1922 as a specialist manufacturer of frozen fish products. The company employs 50-60 staff on site and has a total of 80-100 employees working throughout the group. The group has three factories. The other two are involved in primary processing and fish farming in the Shetland isles. The company supplies supermarkets, discounters, fish wholesalers, frozen food distributors and food service companies. The main market is the UK but the company also has a small export trade. Shetland SeaFish (Hull) limited has implemented a tightly controlled system of operational procedures including a fully documented HACCP system and quality manual. Business Environment The food industry is one under pressure. The fishing industry in particular is an area with its own particular problems which have a direct impact on this company as fish is its primary raw material. Over the past few years, environmental concern over diminishing fish stocks has contributed to increased governmental interdiction to manage fishing quotas. Although this may be the case for the national fishing industry, the world wide catch (up until recently) has been on a steady rise. This company sources raw material from worldwide locals (Particularly the Asiatic areas such as China and Scandinavian Seas) so the impact has been minimal. The way in which the company sources fish may change in the future, as internet auctions are on the increase, and this makes the market more of a volatile entity as prices can fluctuate as events affect fishing procurement. The other main problem with the food industry is the strength of the major multiples over the manufacturers. The major supermarkets to whom most food manufacturers supply, aim to maintain a constant gross profit margin which is typically quite large. To reflect this, the multiples like to pass down on-costs to the suppliers. Offers such as ‘buy one, get one free’ are fuelled by the manufacturer, and come straight from their bottom line. By running a â€Å"BOGOF† offer, it is affectively selling the product at half the unit price for the duration of the offer. One supermarket that this company has dealt with also deducts (on their own accord) a set price to go towards advertising and marketing. For example, a deduction of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½10,000 might be deducted from an invoice to them for product, with the reasoning being that even if that amount is not being used to directly promote that particular product, just by advertising the stores in general, the increased amount of customers flowing through the store, should they say, increase sales to the company’s product. This deduction from the invoice is imposed by the supermarket, and because you do not know how often they are going to do this, it makes costing for business more difficult. Combine this with the fact that at every price review by the supermarket buyer’s, they demand higher quality products, for a reduction in unit price, depresses margins lower than ever. The margin depression brings with it a set of problems. Because a company has to reduce its costs to meet the price points per units, so as to maintain the business with the supermarket, it makes it for a business to remain as profitable as what it would like to be. A smaller margin means that a company does not have the same amount of free capital available to it to make necessary re-investments which would help to procure more sales and increase throughput. In section four of the overview, a specific study of this is discussed in relation to an OEE study on one of the factories lines. There are several technological resolutions available which if purchased would go a long way to increase productivity. Unfortunately there are several financial constraints which place barriers to the procurement of these technological improvements. A brief discussion of ‘Chicken and Egg’ barriers is briefly explained in section four of the overview. The problem lies in the fact that if a new piece of equipment is needed to continue, or to improve production, then the company does not have enough liquid capital available to be able to purchase it outright. This means that the company would have to investigate borrowing facilities. The problem with this is that the company would like to have a secured amount of business from one of, or a combination of customers, in order to take on the risk of borrowing large amounts of money. The reason for this is that a company has to account for a payback period into their costing to cover borrowing and interest as well as machine depreciation. With shortened product placement tenures, the guarantee of continued business for this period is not there, inhibiting the business from wanting to take a risk of this magnitude. Eventually a company has to ‘bite the bullet’ and take a risk in order to increase turnover and throughput. Smaller margins also mean that there may not be enough of an increase in net profits to cover staff requirements. Each year there is a general staff appraisal to discuss the terms of wages and conditions. If the company is reduced in its profit capacity, then this trend is often relayed onto the workforce. f the company has diminished available finances then money is not possible to give staffs the annual increase in wages or to be able to invest in communal facilities. This has a knock on effect on staff morale and motivation if the annual increase is postponed or if it has to be cancelled. It manifests itself in some individuals in a revenge motivation mentality. As the individuals feel aggrieved because the company cannon comply with what the workers feel is a basic right, then they may wish to ‘get back’ at the company. At best this may just be by reducing their amount and quality of work, therefore their loyalty is affected. At worst, it could be resignation, dissention or even some form of industrial sabotage. Without the increase in wages rates it also lessens the difference between that and what the government sets as the national minimum wage. This poses a problem in relation to retaining, and gaining new employees. At one point, working in a factory used to attract a premium, but over time that has decreased to the point to where wage levels between shop workers and factory workers are almost the same. With the current work ethos among new employees (particularly young people) the dilemma of where would ‘I’ like to work arises. Either a (usually) smelly, shift work system, hard work inducing factory, or a shop, where they can go straight out from without having to go home for a shower and change, is less hard work and usually has a set nine until five work pattern. For the same, or similar, wage, most people appear to want to work in a shop. This displays a distinct shift from employment trends from primary or secondary employment to a majority of employment in the tertiary, or services, sector. If a company has a high turn-over of staff, then generally the quality of staffs decreases. This may then affect production output and efficiencies. One way that this can be combated is though an increase in staff training. This not only acts to both increase staff quality, but it also helps to improve the individuals’ job satisfaction. This is through increased competency, increased knowledge (i.e. making an individual more multi-skilled) and the feeling that they are not in a ‘dead-end’ job. In the industry sector to which this company falls, there is an increased amount of governmental grants available for staff training programmes. Within this factory, all of the employees of first tier level have all been through NVQ level 2 training in Food hygiene and handling. Production supervisors have received additional training to NVQ level three in this area. There is also a range of other courses that are being studied that are part funded, or reimbursed by, governmental policies. It is clear that there are some relatively easy ways to increase the efficiency and line throughputs of production. Unfortunately limiting factors come into play to inhibit potential growth as long as margins are squeezed smaller and smaller. This is a self perpetuating cycle. If allowed to make a little bit more profit then this can be channelled back into the business to increase production efficiency and overall turnover making the business more successful. Legal Issues There is a complex mine field of legislation that comes into play when dealing with a food unit operation. There is a whole plethora of acts and regulations which help to control the food industry which helps to protect the consumer from dubious practices and ensure that the final product that is consumed is of the expected substance, nature and quality demanded. There are several levels of legislation: * Acts, which are statutes passed down by parliament. * Regulations – which are made under specific acts * E.C. directives – which are passed down from the E.E.C. The Food safety enforcement officers have various enforcement powers which enable them to ensure that all of the legislation is correctly adhered to. These can be servicing notices, sampling and seizing foodstuffs, and also to instigate criminal proceedings if an offence is made. The main legislation affecting this business are to be listed as following; Food Safety Act, 1990 This act is in relation to the sale of food for human consumption and is applicable to all food premises. This act makes it an offence to: * Render food injurious to health * Sale or possession of food injurious to health, or that is unfit for, or is contaminated. * Sale of food that is not of the correct nature, substance and quality demanded by the consumer. * Give any false or misleading descriptions. The Food Premises (Registration) Regulations, 1991 (SI No. 2825) amended 1997 This regulation requires all food premises to register with the local, or port authority, in the area that they are situated. Every registration authority must keep a register, which can be accessed by the public for inspection. Food Safety (General Food Hygiene) Regulation, 1995 (SI. No. 1763) This act provides general requirements for all food handlers and premises (with specific requirements for preparation areas, moveable and temp. premises, transport, equipment and the like) to be kept clean, facilitate cleaning, and prevent the accumulation of dirt. It also specifies a requirement for all food premises to identify all steps in the business that is critical to food safety, and to minimise these risks. The Food Safety (Temperature Controls) Regulations, 1995 (SI. No. 2200) This determines any matter involving a risk to food safety, in relation to the nature of the food, manner in which it is handled and packed, and processes and conditions under which it has been displayed or stored. No person should keep food that is likely to support the growth of pathogenic bacteria or the accumulation of their toxins. Products of Animal Origin (Import and Export) Regulations, 1996 These regulations govern the origins of animal foodstuffs from countries outside the EEC. Since 1993, foodstuffs imported from other members of the EEC are not liable for inspection due to the open border policy, but they are still subject to the Food Safety Act 1990. Food Labelling Regulations 1996 (SI. No. 1499) These require most foodstuffs that are to be sold for human consumption be labelled with: * The name of the food. * List of ingredients (Quantifying ingredients mentioned in the name of the food). * Best before dates, which indicate minimum durability or perish ability of the food in relation to microbial or product degradation beyond being fit for human consumption. * Any specific storage conditions required. * Name and address of the manufacturer The Quick-Frozen Foodstuffs Regulations, 1990 (SI. No. 2615) amended 1994 Food that has undergone quick-freezing (i.e. whereby the zone of maximum crystallization as rapidly as possible) should be labelled as such. It must be suitably packaged so as to protect it from microbial and other contamination and also to protect from de-hydration. Must be labelled with: * BBE * Storage requirements including temps. * Batch reference * A clear message not to refreeze after defrosting. There are also some specific legislation relating to food poisoning: Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1994 The Public Health (Infectious Diseases) Regulations, 1988 (SI. No. 1546) National Health Service (Amendment) Act 1986 The National Health Service (Food Premises) Regulations, 1987 (SI. No. 18) The Public Health Laboratory Service (PHLS) These pieces of legislation relate to reports of incidences of food poisoning and food borne illness. It empowers officers to investigate food premises on the basis of risk to increased infection, and to identify the source of food poisoning illnesses. Separate to food related issues there are also a number of other pieces of legislation that apply to most businesses. These are: Health & Safety The Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations, 1994 (SI. No. 3246) The Reporting of Injuries, Diseases and Dangerous Occurrences Regulation, 1985 (SI. No. 2023) The Electricity at Work Regulations, 1989 (SI. No. 635) The Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations, 1992 (SI. No. 2051) The Workplace (Health, Safety and Welfare) Regulations, 1992 (SI. No. 3004) The Personal Protective Equipment at Work Regulations, 1992 (SI. No. 2966) The Manual Handling Operations Regulations, 1992 (SI. No. 2793) All of these laws are in relation to keeping equipment in good order; provide all PPE, also in good order, and to report all accidents and medical problems caused by/ at work. There are some new environmental legislation in relation to waste water and effluent, and also the climate change levy. There are also waste land fill laws (After B.S.E. and Foot and Mouth no food wastes can be further processed into animal feeds) It is clear that there are a lot of laws that help to keep the consumer, and employees safe, both in relation to food safety and personal safety. In order to comply with all of these laws, and check with the company’s compliance to these, the office of fair trading and the environmental health office audit the factory on a regular basis. Section 2 Key Findings Summations on Audit checklists Section by section review HACCP System: The company has a very detailed and comprehensive HACCP system following the Codex principles and based on risk assessment for each product type. The latest revision is June 2002. The HACCP documentation includes Introduction (Intro, team, product description, intended use, flow diagram, and verification of flow, controls and hazards), Process flow (product, production process), Hazards, Hazard analysis and Hygiene controls. The site technical manager who is qualified in advance food hygiene leads the HACCP team. The other HACCP team members include the production manager, financial director, business consultant, Q.A. supervisor and H&S officer. They have all received training in HACCP principles. Eight CCP’s have been identified and clearly marked around the site. These include; R.M. intake, band saw room, product storage, packaging storage, coatings, sauce making, sauce buggies, sauce deposition and metal detection. Shetland SeaFish (in conjunction with Cravenglow consultant limited) has produced a handbook for employees entitled â€Å"Understanding HACCP and the British Retail Consortium Quality Award†. This book was issued to all staff before going through their first successful BRC audit, and is issued to new staff during induction. The Handbook explains; HACCP terms and working practices, details the eight CCP’s, How to control potential Hazards, How HACCP works, Different types of Hazard, other important HACCP information and an introduction to the BRC standard Quality Management System: The site operations/quality manual has been fully implemented and indexed in the latest revision (Revision 4 October 2002) to the BRC technical standard version three. Policies and procedures referenced to the HACCP manual and currently cover all of the identified critical controls. Each working area has its own handbook that includes some or all of the following: Factory cleaning procedures Technical terms Key staff Safe working practices Factory procedures QA procedures applicable to the area. A specifications file maintained by the company has a programme of internal audits that cover the entire quality system twice per year. The handling of complaints is the responsibility of the Technical manager. Complaints are referenced individually, by customer, and complaint type. Corrective actions arising from complaints are recorded. An approved supplier list is in operation, deliveries assessed at intake, and supplier performance reviewed quarterly. One of the key findings of this audit has been that although the supplier audit plans clearly defined and laid out, it has not been adhered to. This needs rectifying by the time of the next audit. Factory Environmental Standards: The factory is well located just off the main route into Hull, and has a logical process flow. The buildings are well constructed. Walls panelled with false ceiling and smooth concrete floors. Equipment is industry standard and is be well maintained. There is a planned maintenance system administered by a well-resourced engineering department. Staff changing facilities are provided by separate storage of work wear and personnel wear with staff locker rooms situated well away from production. Work clothing situated in changing facilities on the entrance to the production facility. A dedicated night hygiene crew operate a comprehensive cleaning programme, verified using bioluminescence ATP swabs. This form of assessment is under utilised. By conducting more swabs, a more indicative trend analysis can be compiled. This system could also be extended to incorporate hand swabbing, so as to gauge the effectiveness of the staffs hand washing. A comprehensive pest control contract is in place with â€Å"Rentokil† and no infestation reported. The only addition to this regime would be to introduce catch tray analysis. This is not done at present, although Rentokil have been asked to provide a quote for the service. The reason that catch tray analysis is so important is that various indicator species of insect may help to identify a particular problem within the factory. Another option is that the accountant is a qualified entomologist. The suggestion has been made that they complete the catch tray analysis on behalf of the company. Transport and waste removal are both contracted out services. Product Control: There is a product development procedure detailing the process steps and documentation held for customer driven development work. Development work is mainly restricted to crumbs, batters and sauces and as such, the suppliers of these materials carry out a lot of the work. Product is analysed on line hourly by trained QC staff External chemical and microbiological analyses are carried out at a UKAS accredited external laboratory. The result turn around is typically ten days. There is an investigation into the possibility of bringing the microbiological testing into a feasible in-house solution. The testing procedures preferred are the rapid methods that are now available on the market. These allow for rapid enumeration and identification in unprecedented speeds compared to traditional plating methods. Because of the simplicity of the tests, it reduces the degrees of error that might be entertained in old style methods, and also it helps to simplify the lab quality manual. All of these rapid methods are AOAC accredited methods and are thus suitable for ISO 17025 standards, which is a pre-requisite for the accreditation edicts stated for BRC compliance. Products coded to allow stock rotation, and on-site stock levels kept to a minimum. The cold store has the capacity for approximately 600 pallets, which are on a mobile racking system. Metal detection is carried out on all products at 3.5mm non-fe and 3.5mm fe. Legislation is on the way to incorporate testing using S. Steel rods as well, using the same sensitivity levels. Product is released based on on-line QC testing. A non-conformance procedure is used to prevent the despatch of non-conforming product and its restriction to quarantine. Process Control: Control of sauce cooking and processing is closely monitored by QC and thermographs are in place to verify sauce cooking profiles. QC also regularly verifies process parameters and freezer temperatures. Continuous quantity control monitoring equipment is in place on the coated fish line. Check-weigh systems are calibrated at the start of each day following a detailed calibration procedure. Hourly QC checks and daily taste panels verify process parameters and specifications requirements have been fulfilled and all measuring equipment is calibrated at appropriated frequencies. A small amount of kosher product is processed on site and the delivery processing and despatch of kosher materials is closely monitored. Personnel: Staffs trained to NVQ levels 1 and 2 in hygiene and safe product handling by external consultants. Plans are in place to introduce an in-house training scheme. The Q.A. supervisor holds a CIEH certificate of Advanced Food Hygiene. Once they complete the CIEH professional trainers’ certificate, it will allow them to train new staffs, and re-iterate to current, basic food hygiene and H&S. Hygiene rules are also available in the staff handbook, given at induction. Induction includes hygiene and H&S requirements, fire drill procedures including a tour of the facility (highlighting emergency exits), company objectives and the review of the individual’s accountability level. Staff and visitors complete a basic medical questionnaire before entering the factory. Protective clothing provided and laundered by â€Å"Brooks† based in Hull and only specialising in laundering of food industry clothing. Supervisory staff and line leaders trained to NVQ levels 3. Detailed training records are in place, but not review on a frequent basis. Section 3 Improvement strategy Recommendations on enhancement Why did it fail? What can be done? The overall result of this audit is promising. The main sections that are in need of improvement are the cleaning and management systems. With regards to the cleaning controls one of the biggest deficiencies is that there were no daily cleaning logs in place at the time of the audit. These are necessary to verify that all of the pieces of equipment that has been used during the course of the production shift have been cleaned effectively. This should also incorporate a list of equipment that needs weekly or monthly cleaning, similar to the engineers’ protective maintenance system. Provisions are in place to indicate cleaning frequency, but by combining this with a daily cleaning log a system of records can be obtained to help with any ‘Due Diligence’ defences that might need to be called into play. The preventative step to reduce the microbial and soil loads within the factory are the cleaning schedules, but the due diligence defence are the daily logs. These are a record confirmation that the schedule has been implemented, and also provides accountability of who conducted the particular action that might be in question. It also helps the management team to assess the manning levels required for a particular cleaning regime. By combining these logs with an effective utilisation of the Lightning ATP hygiene verification system it would be possible to more accurately monitor the effectiveness of the cleaning systems that are in place. At present the unit is not used at levels that are going to supply the monitoring team with a set of results that are statistically significant. By increasing the levels of testing with the unit, a better picture of cleanliness levels can be obtained by using the trend analysis software to scrutinize past results and to predict problems that might occur in the future. This system could also be extended to apply to incorporate hand washing checks. This could be done on a random set of checks throughout the week. It might be possible to correlate this to the expected and actual bacterial soap usage rates to see if there is a relationship. This might be an extra way to monitor the effectiveness of the staff in the own personal hygiene in relation to hand washing. The engineers need to keep an inventory of parts as a repair is carried out so that all pieces are accounted for upon completion so as to eliminate the possible physical contamination problem, or at least to identify if there is one. A number of hose pipes were observed around the factory, liberally strewn on the floor. This is not bad GMP; it also creates an impression of untidiness and not caring for not only visitors, but also to other staff. Perhaps the purchasing or some hose reel storage units. If these hoses were kept on one of these units, it would automatically reel in and is then kept neatly on the wall, off the floor and out of the way of people walking around the factory. During the course of the audit the food waste skip was left open. This leaves the door open to many potential problems. The first is that it has a potential to attract pests. By leaving the skip doors open is may provides a food source for advantageous vermin. It was observed that there were some birds on the fence which might have been attracted by the residue surrounding the skip. To eliminate this problem construction of a reaching handle for the skip door should be made. By keeping the skip door closed it prevents vermin from entering the skip to scavenge for food. With the skip door closed, thus stopping pests from gaining a free food store, the area around the skip must be kept clear also; otherwise keeping the door closed is a futile effort. This area not only needs to be swept, but also cleaned down with a detergent to emulsify the fatty residue left from the batter scraps. This would also help to make the area safer for the employees as it would make the area left prone to causing slippages, and this is especially important as there is a small set of steps out there. There is no provision for persons to wash their hands upon re-entering the factory after going to the food skip. There person would have to go to the basins outside the packaging area. A small basin or alcohol station should be installed to prevent this. The main body of the factory was in very good condition. There were a few incidences that need to be rectified in order to improve the grade. Around the sauce making area, the ceiling tiles above them had some signs of mould growth. This is an indication that the ventilation is perhaps inadequate for that area. Some form of steam extraction unit might need to be investigated in that area. In the short term, regular cleaning with a sterilizer (with some form of mould growth inhibitor) would suffice, but this would only deal with the symptoms, and not deal with the route cause. The sauce agitators in this area are in need of recovering. The motors on the agitators have some small areas of paint flaking from them. Even though the paint is blue in colour, it provides a potential physical contamination problem. This needs to be tackled in several ways. The first and easiest to do is to recover the motors. The motors can be covered with a stainless steel covering which would prevent both paint flakes falling into the sauce, but also dirt accumulation on the motor. Another method is to use an alternative agitator motor. There are several on the market, and several of these are not mounted directly above the sauce making kettles. There are also some other methods for sauce production, that if increased production were to be required, then they should defiantly be investigated. Another area in the factory that could benefit from additional extraction/ventilation is directly surrounding the coating line. When the fryer is producing breaded products, then the first stage crumb, which is a fine crumb, causes a lot of dust to be blown in the air. This causes excessive dust accumulation on the pipe works above the fryer line. This needs additional cleaning to remove the dust in this area. Perhaps a form of extraction system should be investigated in this area. As a minor point, there was also a small pool of water surrounding the con-air compressor units. This implies that the floor does not bevel in the right direction. Again this is a situation that has a long term objective, but also has a short term measure. The long term goal is to re-lay the floor in that area to make the floor slope in the right direction (i.e. from the wall to the drain). The short term solution is to have the cleaners regularly squeegee the floor of water. Standing water is a particular problem in that it provides excellent breeding ground for Listeria spp. Bacteria. Listeria is a food borne bacteria that is naturally found in the environment. By providing pools of standing water, it magnifies the problem and opens the potential for increased incidences of Listeria monocytogenes poisoning. It is a strange practice that although there are manager and team leader meetings on a regular basis, there were no supervisor meetings held. This is a gross deficiency, not for GMP, but for the lack of communicational strokes that are missed from these meetings. By conducting these meetings a dialogue can be maintained between the higher levels of management and the junior levels. During these sessions company objectives can be relayed, problems considered, and grievances examined. It is also an excellent opportunity to provide motivation to the staff and to keep them apprised of important happenings within the company, such as potential sales, production turnover, NPD and the direction of the company. These meeting should be implemented effectively immediately. If not in their own right, then try combining the team leader meetings. This may pose a problem with truthful communication if the team leaders feel inhibited by the presence of the supervisors, especially if they have any grievances with them. The omission of the supervisor meetings exacerbates the next point. That is the cross communication of ideas and instructions between departments. This point is discussed in more detail in the second overview of the audit. The job descriptions that are in place for the key positions within the factory are deficient in the totality. I would suggest a review of these be taken with the specific aim to include the individuals’ main duties and responsibilities, full accountability, and any health and safety requirements that are obligatory to know. By providing a comprehensive description it helps the individual to identify their own progress against what is expected of them. It would also help to identify any training needs by comparing what the individuals’ actual abilities to what is needed for that position. During an appraisal a gauge of competency can be made against the standard and a measure of feedback can be relayed to the person. This also ties into the fact that no records are kept of personal record reviews. These need to be conducted on a regular occasion, and if they are being conducted at the moment, then they need to be recorded. There are some clear objectives that have been identified and now need to be applied and rectified to improve the factory as a whole. Section 4 Conclusions Overview of progression stratagems Step by step guide Structure and Fabric * Hand washing basin/ alcohol station to be installed by exit to food skip. * Foods skip needs to be looked at and a handle constructed to enable the lid to be closed. * Sauce kettles needs to be looked at for possible installation of extraction units. * Sauce agitator motors needs to be covered to prevent paint flaking into product. * Hose pipes to be placed into self reeling units. * Pool of water needs investigating around con-air units. Floor needs re-laying in that area. * Dust accumulation above fryer area. Additional extraction needed. Pest prevention * Pallet shed door needs to be kept closed. Pallets stored away from walls in storage. * Some drain covers missing and needs replacing. * Catch tray analysis needs to be done. Cleaning systems * Daily cleaning logs introduced. * Engineers inventory of parts during a repair to prevent contamination. * Effective utilisation, and expansion, of ATP hygiene monitoring system. Management Controls * Introduction of supervisor meetings. * Additional training to supplement and increase knowledge of GMP systems, Food hygiene and legislation. * Review of job descriptions. * Record employee appraisals. Section 5 References Background / further reading. Including bibliography Hygiene for Management, Sprenger. R. A. 1998 (8th Ed) Cleaning, Dillion M, et al Inspirational Supervisor, Shaw J. 1999 FdSc Food manufacture management GMP Course work notes, Dillion M. 2002 Log book & Overviews Overviews Part 1: Basic findings from two sections of the manual. Section 1 – Structure and Fabrication The factory has a logical process flow and the buildings are of sound construction. All internal factory wall surfaces are panelled with a lowered false ceiling and smooth resin floors. Equipment is industrial food grade standard and appears to be well maintained. A preventative planned maintenance system is in operation and resourced by a competent engineering department. The work wear is situated in a separate clean changing area immediate on entrance to the production area. The pest control is out-sourced to Rentokil (initial services) with no signs of infestation problems to report. OBS 1: The floor is made of an impervious material and when combinations of two immiscible liquids (such as oil and water) mix, it causes some sections of the floor around the fryer area are slippery. Recommendation – Review the cleaning schedule for this area to include a protocol stating that the floor in that area is to be cleaned as often as required throughout the production day, in addition to the usual scheduled cleans. Another suggestion would be to use a floor covering/mat to make the area more non-slip. Timescale – 30days OBS 2: There was a small pool of standing water around the con-air units during production. Recommendation – The long-term goal would be to re-lay/repair that section of floor to provide an adequate slope to provide water run-off into the drainage channels. Action to be taken place in the mean while would be to revise the cleaning schedule to include that the area is to be cleared as often as required throughout the production day. Timescale – 90 days OBS 3: There was no steam extraction above the sauce making kettles giving rise to N/C1. N/C1: Evidence was noted by observation and noted, audit checklist ref: GMP Section 1 -ref 1.8.2, that there was the beginnings of mould build up on the ceiling tiles above the sauce kettles. Recommendation – Investigate the possible methods of fume extraction best suited to the needs of the task. Possible installation of an extractor cowling. Action that can be introduced quickly is that a revision of the cleaning schedule to include weekly/fortnightly/ or as required cleaning to be undertaken in that area using a detergent with mould growth inhibitor. Timescale – 90days Section 2 – Storage Facilities Storage or R.M, WIP, finished goods, packaging and tainting elements are well segregated with observed codes of practice to prevent cross contamination. Products are coded to allow stock rotation on a FIFO basis and the stock levels that are kept on site are kept to a minimum. There are no contractual off-site storage facilities used. Products are released on the basis of on-line QC testing. Procedures are in place regarding damaged or defective goods segregation and disposal. OBS 1: Only visual checks are made of the contracted out logistics company’s vehicles. Recommendation – Revise an audit schedule to visit their head office so as to not only audit the vehicles used for the transportation of goods, but also to review the company policies and procedures regarding GMP practices. Timescale – 90days Part 2: Area to improve. The area of greatest need is management control, especially in relation to motivation of staffs and inter-departmental communication. A highly motivated workforce can increase the potential output efficiency greatly, without the need for costly capital expenditure. â€Å"Poor communication is the catalyst for future problems† John Shaw, Business consultant The vast majority of problems within the workplace arise due to the lack of or inadequate communication between colleagues. All members of the organisation must develop their verbal and written skills to allow for ease of dialogue between the two parties. Regular dialogue is essential for the pooling together of ideas and suggestions that helps to minimise problems and help to achieve the company objectives. Employees must be able to interpret management edicts and be able to pass on these instructions to other staffs clearly and concisely in order to achieve peak performance. One opinion that might be made is that the company’s impersonal uses of memos are substituting important meetings that would be held to discuss some of the key issues. By conducting regular meetings to open up a dialogue for discussion, it would help to eliminate any confusion that might have arisen because of their own interpretation of what is trying to be stressed in the communiquà ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½. By opening a dialogue between colleagues, it helps to make them feel a part of the team because they are being consulted and being offered to stress their opinions and grievances. During the meetings, it lets the individual know exactly what is being expected of them to do, with little chance for error. Once the individual knows the parameters in which they are expected to perform, and then the individual has some attainable guidelines on how to conduct him or herself around the workplace. Being made part of a team is one essential tool in the motivation of staffs. By including their opinions within any debate, it helps to raise that person’s self-esteem. Once a person begins to become motivated, it often leads to greater job satisfaction. Job satisfaction is a combination of hard work and competence. Employees who reflect pride in their work are an infectious source of inspiration to others. This can be seen again in persons whom take personal pride and lead by example. Motivation is a key component to modern businesses. Staffs should take every opportunity to motivate others constantly. One way to encourage your staff is to let them know what is required of them by defining the day’s objectives. Use of praise and encouragement inspire maximum performance from an individual from a few choice words or phrases. Where an individual or team needs berating if they have made a mistake, remain calm and resolve the problem through constructive criticism. This is where the situation is given an explanation of what went wrong, gentle words to re-enforce the need that it does not re-occur, and gives further guidance on how it can be avoided in the future. It is imperative that if it is an individual involved, then take them to one side to discipline them. This way you are not undermining them and therefore their personal dignity is maintained. Another critical instruction is not to overreact to minor problems. Destructive and unwarranted criticism is harmful to morale and can easily sweep across a work force. It is also a good idea to be receptive to reasonable grievances that they might have and suggestions that they might make. Motivation encourages individuals and teams to continually achieve the company’s goals through sustained peak performance. Part 3 Cleaning and the Law Cleaning plays a fundamental part of food hygiene. It is pivotal in preventing contamination of both microbiological and chemical, but it also helps to make the indicator signs of pest infestation easier to spot. All cleaning comprises of four factors: * Heat * Mechanical energy * Chemical energy * Contact time Cleaning is usually a five stage process (although not exclusively). 1) Pre-clean 2) Main clean 3) Rinse 4) Disinfect 5) Final rinse 6) Drying The relative energy and time components of a cleaning programme can differ greatly. This is all dependants on the load of soil age, the chemical properties of the cleaning agent, and the surface to be cleaned. Staffs should receive clear concise instruction on how to correctly conduct the cleaning schedule. The chemicals used within this factory are as follows: Chemical Action Fatsolve Surfactant degreasing detergent Bleach Hypochlorite based disinfectant Sparkle Surfactant degreasing detergent Acid foam Acidic de-scaler Caustic floor cleaner Alkaline (NaOH) floor cleaner Caustic pearls Alkaline (NaOH) fryer cleaner Tego 2001 Biocidal disinfectant/detergent combination All staffs that will be handling these products for use in hygiene must receive full training and monitored for competency and efficiency. All of these products must comply with the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 to protect the employee whom is to be using these chemicals. This Act states specific legislation to include: The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regs, 1994 (SI. 1994 No. 3246) (COSHH) These regulations require employers to assess the hazards and provide suitable controls. Implementation is by means of risk assessment. COSHH is concerned with chemicals that can be classified as toxic, harmful, corrosive or irritant. All of the products used within the body of the factory are supplied with all COSHH safety sheets and are filed in the technical department. Each of these products is mentioned in the company HACCP plan to include the risk assessment of these products. Chemicals (Hazards, Information & Packaging) Regs, 1993 (CHIP) Again, this states that all chemicals sold must be supplied with a COSHH safety sheet provided for the purchaser by the supplier. This must include detailed information about the product, its hazard classification under CHIP regulations. It is also prohibited to decant harmful chemicals into unmarked containers. Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) at work Regs, 1992 These regulations enforce the employer to provide all necessary PPE required for a specific task so as to minimise the health and safety risks that the employees might be subjected to. There are several good reasons why effective cleaning is so important besides those mentioned earlier: * It creates a good visual impression for both workers and visitors alike giving a sense that the business cares. * Helps to maximise the efficiency and costing of several types of products. For example, if a sauce is left to build up deposits, then it would restrict the diameter of the pipe work, making the motor have to run harder to pump product through, thus reducing the lifetime of that component. Its also helps to reduce wastege * Legal obligations. It is that final point which needs further explaining. The food safety Act, 1990 This law makes it an offence to contaminate food so that it would be unreasonable to expect it to be used for human consumption in its current state. It also states that a food proprietor and staffs must identify all steps that are critical to food safety and minimise those risks. This is further backed up by the Food Safety (GFH) Regs, 1995 This states: * Premises must be kept clean, designed to facilitate cleaning, and to protect against the accumulation of dirt. * Make it a requirement for all food business proprietors to identify any step in activities of the business which is critical to food safety, and to introduce restrictive controls at those points identified. This law allows an enforcement officer to raise a non-conformance on the actual presence of dirt, and does not have to prove that that soilage poses a risk to health There is a clear legal and moral obligation that wherever there is a risk to food, a business proprietor must ensure that the working premises are kept clean so as to minimise the risks to public health. These responsibilities must be stressed to all employees not only in their induction period, but also sporadically throughout their employment. Part 4: PEST in relation to OEE During the course of this audit, an OEE analysis was conducted on one of the production lines (See OEE exercise workbook). The aim of GMP is to improve the manufacturing performance, and by using OEE calculations it is possible to gain a quantifiable index of performance. Using the precepts behind GMP it is possible to identify areas that could benefit from improvement so as to improve production performance. The identification of the â€Å"seven wastes† which are the non-value added and also the value added sections of a production period are vital. It is the main objective to reduce the first, and increase the latter. With regards to the production run that was studied several strategies can be entertained to help to minimise waste due to the above mentioned wastes. Firstly, fish cakes are products that produce only small amounts of waste due to the fact that defects can often be re-worked during the same production run. Defect cores can be removed from the line by operatives and then deposited back in the koppens former to be re-moulded into another cake. Reducing the throughput can often help reduce the rejects levels. Running at just a few strokes under the maximum for the line might make it more cost effective to reduce the throughput by a minimal amount in order to dramatically decrease the amount of reject product. By doing this the ‘right first time’ figure could increase to raise overall production efficiency. If speed is the overriding factor, i.e. the faster the speed, the higher the defect rate, then just by reducing the stroke rate of the machine, the amount of over-processing required would be reduced. If however speed were not the decisive factor, then an investigation of the machines capabilities would have to be reviewed, and if it cannot be removed, then do you accept this defect level caused by the machine, or do you evaluate the possibility of purchasing a more efficient piece of kit? With regards to the machine that is in place, the Koppens former is approximately 10-15yrs old and forms cakes by using hydraulic cups and a forming plate. Over the years the maximum output of the machine has dropped by approximately 25% from the max of 40s/m to now 30s/m. Would it be better to buy a new piece of kit. Perhaps the purchasing an AEW forming machine? Unfortunately these are costly pieces of kit. Costing in the range of à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½250K. This is a large prohibiting factor in an SME of the size of the company in question, with their limited financial resources. In order to justify a capital expenditure of that magnitude, a significant order would have to be procured to allow for the required payback period to make it a cost effective purchase. It is almost chicken and egg scenario. With a new piece of machinery of this nature the potential for increased throughput of not only this line, but also of others would rise significantly, but monies or orders to cover payback periods would have to be secured before capital expenditure is considered. It is a difficult political climate with retail customers at present. More and more of the major multiples only issue contracts for periods of usually a year (although there has recently been a downward trend to decrease these to six monthly). So a guarantee off continued business is not certain, which prohibits the purchase of the new machinery. The small margins also affect the staff efficiency and retention (thus quality). Because margins are tight, only a small amount on the top of national minimum wage can be applied. This can limit not only the response to job advertisements, but also with staff retention and loyalty. With a higher staff turnover, the quality of staffs employed often reduces, thus affecting the throughputs and efficiencies of the lines. This interplay of factors is what has to be investigated further upon before resolutions can be found. Identification is just the first step in an overall improvement plan. Appendix 1: Summary Sheets GMP Audit Material Enclosed in this booklet are copies of the audit checklists that you can use to audit your site against each element of GMP. You should aim to audit 2 elements of the standard each week and use the techniques discussed in week 1 on problem solving to objectively assess each element of the standard. If you wish to discuss any elements in more detail then contact one of the tutors on the course who will be able to help you clarify any problems or issues that you may have. IMPORTANT You will need to copy the food safety and hygiene audit assessment form each week, as you will need to use this to summarize for each assignment. Using the Sample Assessment Forms for the 10 sections of Good Manufacturing Practice identify: 1. Areas of Strength and Weakness for the GMP sections for your own plant or operation, using the checklists provided. 2. The causes of problems which are inherent with the areas of weakness 3. The barriers and aids which will effect the improvement process 4. Prioritise the actions needed to improve your Good Manufacturing Practice needs, using the assessment forms, which should be included within your weekly assignment. A grading system has been given on each checklist. You may use this grading system to help you to assess your factory, but feel free to modify this. If you do modify the system then you should explain, quite clearly, how the grading or scoring system is used. Key to the ABCD grading system for assessing the sections and elements of the GMP standard: Grade A Excellent Scores 50 points. Grade A scored when there are no safety problems or issues. Requires no further action. Grade B Satisfactory Scores 30 points. Actionable within defined timescale as agreed at audit. Grade C Major Scores 10 points. Actionable within one working week. Grade D Critical Scores 0 points. A Grade D is automatically awarded when a critical safety issue is identified, and is actionable immediately.