Societies Degrees of Mental Wellness Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Societies Degrees of Mental Wellness - Essay Example Here, one can start considering the multitudes of psychological testing they endured before expiration. Then, familiar pop-culture icons are useful in bringing reality to the subject of insanity which, he says, has inoculated all of society. So, those interested in the extremes of horror for their personal entertainment become news headline. Those indulging in such primal insanity bring personal fears up front, close and personal because they were never caught. He also reinforces those warnings the parents and caregivers pass onto their children, as they venture out into a world where everyone is dealing with issues of psychological wellness to some degree, leaving individuals ill-equipped to identify people like those who got away with it. Upon the review of his literary and cinematic stories, it gives one pause when trying to pin point him on his own mental illness scale. Therefore, horror entertainment fanatics are targeted by Stephen King, as he introduces them to what he calls a totally mentally ill society. He shows how all the forms of horror entertainment allow followers to savor their individual mental illness without repercussions, because they are authorized by pop-culture idols and logically ingested by his use of deep-seated analogies, which leave the audience with a humorous look at our society as being made up of a population of the mentally ill. When the analysis turns the reader to seek out and determine the normal, conservative reactionaries, King directs them to pop-culture icons. First, by showing in the horror film junkie what real ugliness is; then, he shows the beauty that a lot of people aspire to and, in turn, lets them know that no one could never be truly ugly†¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"Freda Jackson as the horrible melting woman in Die, Monster, Die! confirms for us that no matter how far we may be removed from the beauty of a Robert Redford or a Diana Ross, we are still light-years from true ugliness.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (King, line 8). To explain this , Freda Jackson is perceived as a melting woman in Die Monster, Die! substantiates that no matter how far we may be away from the beauties of Diana Ross or Robert Redford, we are not even close to being ugly. This also results into feeling re-establishment of ordinarily; the horror film is essentially traditional and reactionary. This leaves those who watch such films to sit back and simply get entertained and have fun, only that this type of fun is unique in its coming from seeing other menaced and even occasionally killed. This has led to some critics suggesting that horror film has been turned into public form of execution. As King complements readers on their behavior, people are only there to enjoy each other and to clarify one's reality of normalcy. He says, â€Å"I think that we’re all mentally ill; those of us outside the asylums only hide it a little better – and maybe not all that much better, after all.†Ã¢â‚¬ ¦ (King, line 1). Something worth noting i s that everybody is insane; what brings the difference amongst them is the degree of sanity. It is at this point that the severely insane part of society is acknowledgeable by those who have not expired at their hands, or otherwise. For instance, there are those capable of carving women, like in the case of Jack, â€Å"were the likes of Jack the Ripper, the Cleveland Torso Murderer, we clap you away in the funny farm (but

ERP Systems Essay Example for Free

ERP Systems Essay 1.Explain the conditions or circumstances that would lead a company to use the IWM features available within SAP ERP. What capabilities does IWM add to the features available within the Sales and Distribution, Materials Management, and Production Planning and Execution areas of SAP ERP? The conditions and circumstances that would lead a company to use the IWM features available within SAP ERP are due to increased cost pressure, higher customer expectations, shorter cycles of innovation and high differentiation of consumer goods within the same industry. Additionally, customers are demanding more efficient ways of delivery. IWM features are able to improve timeliness and flexibility of deliveries. IWM has the capabilities to support increasingly complex supply chains. There are many capabilities provided within the Sales and Distribution, Materials Management, and Production Planning and Execution areas. Some capabilities include the ability to track orders and inventory in real time, display inventory value, control the movement of goods internally between plants, initiate the transfer of goods, and creating sales orders pertaining to materials management and warehouse management. Additionally, running bin status reports of goods in the warehouse, purchasing/selling goods internally by STOs and controlling the fulfillment process. 2.What is the purpose of using a stock transport order? Why would a stock transport order be used rather than an ordinary stock transfer, or a combination of sales order (sending plant) and purchase order (receiving plant)? The purpose of a stock transport order (STO) is to request materials from another plant within the same company code instead of procuring the material from a normal vendor. Hence, one plant is purchasing materials from another plant that sells the materials. Additionally, the IWM process is triggered by the STO from the manufacturing facility to a warehouse managed storage location. STOs are more complex in nature and can be performed with deliveries, without deliveries, and with deliveries and billing. A STO would be used instead of a â€Å"purchase order.† This is due to the plant purchasing goods from the other plant as a transport under the same company code. A purchase order is purchasing goods/materials from a normal vendor, not a plant within the same company code. The same reasoning applies to the sales order. The sending plant is sending goods/materials to their customers, not a plant within the same company code. As for a stock transfer, they are used to transfer materials within a company from one location to another. Movements include within one plant, between plants, and etc†¦Stock transfers are a simple way of moving goods, not internal purchasing/selling of goods like STOs.

Quality Management Implementation In The Indian Automobile Industry Management Essay

Quality Management Implementation In The Indian Automobile Industry Management Essay To examine the success level of TQM implementation in an automobile industry by analysing the strengths and weaknesses of its critical success factors. 2. Research Questions What are the critical success factors of TQM implementation in an automobile industry? To what extent have the critical success factors of TQM been implemented in the automobile industry through the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the critical success factors of TQM? 3. Hypothesis 1. In an automobile industry there exists a critical set of success factors for successful implementation of total quality management. 2. The extent of TQM implementation is positively and significantly associated with the strengths of the Critical Success factors. 4. Introduction Total Quality Management is not a destination but a journey toward improvement. V. Daniel Hunt. Quality by no means is a new concept in modern business. In October 1887 William Cooper Procter, told his employees, The first job we have is to turn out quality merchandise that consumers will buy and keep on buying. While working with Daimler Chrysler to improve its quality several decades ago, a Vice President of the United Auto Workers stated the importance of quality: No quality, no sales. No sales, no profit. No profit no job. One of the key elements of Fords 2002 Revitalization Plan was to Continue Quality Improvements. The top two vital few priorities set by Fords president for North America were Improve Quality and Improve Quality. Thus we can see that quality assurance has been an important aspect of production operations throughout history. Although initial initiatives focussed on reducing defects and errors in products and services through the use of measurement, statistics and other problem solving methods, organizations began to recognise the lasting improvement could not be accomplished without significant attention being given to the critical success factors that contribute to the quality of the management practices used on a daily basis. The real challenge today is to ensure that managers continue to apply the basic principles on which quality management and performance excellence is based. The global marketplace and domestic and international competition have made organizations around the world realise that their survival depends on high quality. As the business world becomes more complex, quality must be approached from a system, rather than a process perspective. Quality has transitioned from control, to assurance, futher on to management. Thus it is important to understand the various critical success factors which are responsible for the effective implementation of TQM. 5. Literature Review 5.1 Background The roots of TQM can be traced back to early 1920s when the concept was developed in Japan in the late 1940s and 1950s and pioneered by Americans Scholars Freigenbum, Juran and Deming. Total quality management (TQM), in its total effect is to involve all stakeholders in organization fully in programs that will increase organizational productivity, its profitability, effective work-place efficiency, improved job satisfaction, employee morale, and continuous product quality improvement. Quality is a term that has significant meaning to both the producer and customer. In todays global cut-throat marketplace, the demands of customers are continuously increasing as they require improved quality of products and services. Total quality management (TQM) has become increasingly prevalent as one of the management strategies in companies today with the objective of ensuring customer satisfaction and loyalty, besides improving products and service quality and reinforcing continuous improvement known as Kaizen. TQM is the only instrument to either maintain competitive advantage or survive competitive disadvantage (Spitzer, 1995). Total quality management is a major factor in the business quality revolution that has proven itself to be one of the 20th centurys most powerful creators of sales and revenue growth, genuinely good new jobs, and soundly based and sustainable business expansion (Feigenbaum , 1999). 5.2 What is Quality? In todays business there is no single definition for quality. One of the ways quality can be defined is as the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bears on its ability to satisfy the given needs (American National Standards Institute, 1978). Quality can be defined as the process to meet or exceed a customers expectation. The term Total Quality Management was developed by the Naval Air Systems Command to describe its Japanese style approach to quality improvement and became popular with business in the United States during the 1980s. Total quality is based on 3 basic principles: To focus on customers and stakeholders Ensure participation and teamwork by everyone in the organization Creating a process focus supported by continuous improvement and learning Total quality management is one of the measurements used in the automobile industry to ensure that the cars manufactured are reliable, satisfying the consumers at large and to ensure competitiveness in the market, as well as conformance to the international standard. All the existing automotive industries have reduced costs, increased process efficiency and strive to improve the quality of their products and services by meeting the needs of the people they serve through the application of total quality management (TQM) principles. As the competition is increasing globally quality management is gradually becoming important to the leadership and management of automotive industry. By implementing the following quality management tools, organizations will produce benefits for owners, employees, customers, suppliers and society as a whole. 6. Concepts of TQM Philosophy Many companies like Ford Motor Company, Motorola and Toyota Motor Company have implemented TQM in order to meet customer requirements. There are six main concepts of TQM philosophy (J Juran, G Merli): Concept Main Idea Customer Focus Goal is to identify and meet customer needs Continuous Improvement A philosophy of never ending improvement Employee Empowerment Employees are expected to seek out, identify, and correct quality problems Use of quality tools Ongoing employee training in the use of quality tools Product Design Quality should be in built in the process, sources of quality should be identified and corrected Managing Supplier Quality Quality concepts must extend to a companys suppliers Measurement Feedback Process performance in financial and non financial terms should be measured and feedback provision should exist. Training Development Training programs along with education for the suppliers and subcontractors are covered 6.1 Customer Focus For every company customer is the king. The automobile industry also depends on their customers and strives to meet their needs and also exceed their expectations (ISO) by providing a perfect product. It is never easy to determine what a client desires due to their changing tastes and preferences for cars. The automobile companies must constantly gather information constantly, by research groups, market studies, and meetings with clients, in order to remain close to clients tastes. Customer Driven Quality Cycle The customer driven quality cycle provides a view of the process in which customer needs and expectations are translated into perceptions during the design, production, and delivery processes (Bruce T. Barkley, James H Sailor, 2001). 6.2 Continuous Improvement The term continuous improvement means incremental improvement of products, processes, or services over time, with the goal of reducing waste to improve workplace functionality, customer service, or product performance (Suzaki, 1987). Customers expectations are always shifting to a higher level due to better and better results. When customers assess quality, not only do they compare companies to their last years performance but also to every other competitor that company has (B. Abohimed, 2001). TQM is concerned with continuous improvement in all spheres of work like strategic planning and decision-making, to detailed execution of work elements on the shop floor. Kaizen as it is referred in Japanese means change or the action to correct while Zen means good implying that Kaizen means a change for good or an action to correct something to make it better. Kaizen aims to eliminate waste by improving standardized activities and processes. One of approaches that help automobile companies is to constantly improve is the plan -do- study act (PDSA) cycle which describes the activities a company needs to perform in order to incorporate continuous never ending improvement in its operation (Deming, 1950). Source: Chicago Tribune PDCA cycles first step is to plan. Management must evaluate the current procedures and make future measures to evaluate performance implementation plans based on any problems they find. The next step is to Do which means implementing the plan by documenting all changes made and collecting the data for evaluation. The third step is to Check, i.e. study the data collected in the previous stage. The data is evaluated to see whether the plan is achieving the goals established in the plan phase or not. The last phase of the cycle is to Act according to the results found in the first three phases. Over the long run, superior performance depends on superior learning. (Peter Senge, 1960). Continuous improvement should be a part of the daily work by being practised at personal, work unit, and organizational levels. 6.3 Employee Empowerment Empowerment as a process of decentralizing decision making in an organization, whereby managers give more discretion and autonomy to the front line (Brymer, 1991). Continual and extensive training in quality measurement tools is provided to the workers in order to empower them to make decisions relative to quality in the production process and their contributions are highly valued. Source: Employee Empowerment: The Rhetoric and the Reality (Pearson, 1995) One good strategy that enhances the feelings of empowerment in employees is expressing confidence in them as well as establishing a realistic high performance for them by creating opportunity for employees to participate in decision making and giving them the autonomy to form bureaucratic constraints. Employees are always in the best position to detect problems and impose improvements if they are equipped to take steps to make improvements (Wilkinson, 1997). 6.4 Use of Quality Tools TQM requires the employees to identify and correct quality problems using certain graphical and statistical methods to plan work activities, collect data, analyse results, monitor progress, and solve. These are also known as the seven means for quality control which are: Cause and effect diagrams Scatter diagram Flowcharts Pareto chart Histogram Control charts Checklist 6.5 Product Design Every company should ensure that while building quality into a product it should meet a customers expectation which is not an easy task as customers often speak in everyday language. A product that is meant to be attractive, strong or safe can have different meanings to different customers. It is necessary to convert customers everyday language into specific technical requirements in order to produce a product that customers want. A valuable tool to translate the voice of the customer into specific technical requirements is Quality Function Deployment (QFD). QFD originated in 1972 at Mitsubishis Kobe shipyard site. It benefits companies through improved communication and team work between all constituencies in the value chain, such as between marketing and design, or between design and manufacturing. For example an automobile manufacturer would evaluate how changes in materials would have an impact on the customer safety requirements. Designing Production Systems for Quality These three are the important production system design objectives. After Ford acquired Jaguar, Jaguars quality improved rapidly due to production system changes. This was due to Ford adopting Toyotas production process at the Jaguar plant which proved that production system affects quality (Smith, 2001). Also Ford analysed incidents when defective purchased parts caused Ford to halt shipments of vehicles which made Ford conclude that manufacturing problems caused 83 percent of these incidents, while design problems caused17 percent. (Wilson and Sedgwick, 2002) QFD is a systematic procedure which is used to help build quality into the upstream processes and also into new product development while avoiding problems in the downstream production and delivery processes. 6.6 Managing Supplier Quality TQM extends the concept of quality to a companys suppliers. The philosophy of TQM extends the concept of quality to suppliers and ensures that they engage in the same quality practices. If suppliers meet preset quality standards, materials do not have to be inspected upon arrival. With the shift in emphasis from price to quality, automobile manufacturers have had to restructure their ties with their suppliers. Spokespeople for the automobile manufacturers generally emphasize how they are trying to build more cooperative relationships with suppliers, based upon long-term contracts, information sharing, and trust (Gardner, 1993). Some of the benefits of developing long term business partnership include: Reduction and elimination of the inspection of supplied parts and materials. Improved product and service quality, and delivery performance and responsiveness. Value for money purchases Security and stability of suppliers Transfer of ideas, expertise and technology between customer and supplier and dissemination and implementation of best practise. Exposure of the supplier to new tools, techniques, systems and business practices. 6.7 Measurement Feedback Deming has given utmost importance to the fact that all business processes should be a part of a measurement system along with a feedback structure. The feedback received should be studied by managers to identify the causes of variation at each step in a process, and then concentrate on improving that subset of processes. (Paul Arveson, 1998) This framework translates the voice of the customer into measures of performance which the organization can identify and improve. It also deals with internal measures of performance, assessment of the suppliers and development of rewards and recognition. 6.8 Training Development Companies committed to quality and high performance invest heavily in training and education as such investments add value to organizational capabilities. The leaders in quality like Deming, Juran, and Crossby actively promoted quality training and education. Training generally includes quality awareness, leadership, project management, communications, teamwork, problem solving, interpreting and using data, meeting customer requirements, process analysis, process simplification, waste reduction, error proofing efficiency and safety. 7. Studies on TQM As the Indian economy is globalising, achieving quality excellence is becoming one of the basic goals of all companies specially the automobile companies. Many companies are trying their best to get their hands on the Deming Award awarded for achieving for quality standards in their manufacturing activities. According to a few studies done around the world by a few companies on TQM, it has been found that TQM has got a positive influence on a companys growth and success. When the financial performance of 600 quality award winner companies was analysed, it lead to the conclusion that when TQM is implemented effectively, the financial performance also improves drastically (Singhal and Hendricks, 1999). TQM also helps companies to increase their market share and improve their competitiveness as found in a study done by Mohrman and Powell in 1995. TQM is considered to be a direct factor in influencing the corporate performance of a company. According to a study carried out on the efficiency levels of TQM in India, it was found out that TQM implementation in Mahindra Mahindra, one of the top India automobile companies considerably improved its performance. A similar survey carried out in Larsen Toubro concluded that TQM has a significant impact on the companys financial performance (Singh, 2000). TQM implementation in Indian industries even though is in its growth stage, is bringing about incredible changes in the performance of the organizational work force and helps in increasing the productivity and reducing costs. Total Quality Management has gained for itself a substantial acceptance in Indian automobile industry with the aim to raise the performance standards if Indian companies to world class level (Dinesh Sethi, Deepak Tripathy, 2006). But implementation of TQM is not an easy task. Many companies still do not commit themselves to its implementation whole heartedly (Downs and Mohr, 1980, Miller, 1993). One of the major success factors for implementation of TQM is a strong level of organizational commitment. Four more indispensible questions required for each company to answer for the successful implementation of TQM are: 1) Is there a presence of top management involvement? 2) Does the company face opposition from workers organizations? 3) Is the middle/upper management involved and interested? 4) Does there exist an organizational quality culture? A Total Quality strategy is effective only through the long-term commitment and devoted appliance by the top and middle management. The top management is held responsible for setting goals, strategically planning and allocating resources to aid implementation of all plans and initiatives. (Deming, 1982 Oarvin, 1987). Another important aspect for successful TQM implementation is employee participation promoted at all levels. Individual responsibility can be discharged only if power is delegated in different degree at all levels across the organization. Also the mission, vision and policies of a company should be consistent with those of TQM. Visionary leadership of the top management and complete involvement of the middle management along with the support of employees results in TQM being a successful endeavour in the company. It is has been found out that 62% of the Indian automobile sector believes to follow TQM as a guiding philosophy while 38% has still not adopted TQM as a guiding philosophy (Caravatta, 1997, Sharma, 1997, Agrawal, 1999). It is estimated that 70 % of the India automobile sector promises on time delivery more than 80 % of times. According to the world standards, Indian automobile industry is lagging behind. Only 52 % of the automobile companies are working towards achieving a cost reduction of more than 5% while shockingly still 48% of the organizations do not consider cost reduction as an important aspect. Unfortunately only 10-15% Indian automobile companies are using quality cost as measure of their quality performance thereby loosing an opportunity to spot critical areas for improvement (Harrington, 1997) 8. Six Sigma Motorola pioneered the concept of Sex Sigma as an approach to measuring product and service quality in the year 1987. Six Sigma provides an outline for implementation of a total quality system. The word Sigma in Six Sigma implies process performance. Six Sigma acts as a differentiator between world class and average manufacturing companies with benefits in scrap and rework costs, reject rates, achieved through teamwork and by removing organizational boundaries. It is a statistical unit used for measuring a units quality, with not more than 3.4 defects per million opportunities which imply achieving a quality standard of 99.99966%. Six Sigma covers the whole organization, including suppliers and customers (Quality Times, 1998). Six Sigma approach focuses on reducing variability and achieving excellence by working on three key strategies: Process optimization, standardization, and control Part standardization and certification of supplier Following a design for Manufacturability Six Sigma Conversion Table Source: Journal of Management Research, 2006 Six Sigma has been applied in product development, new business acquisition, customer service, accounting, and many other business functions. It is not possible for all processes to operate at a Six Sigma level. The appropriate level depends on the strategic importance of the process and the cost of improvement relative to the benefit. It is generally easy to move from 2 Sigma or 3 Sigma level to 4 Sigma levels, but moving beyond that requires much more effort and sophisticated statistical tools (James Evans, 2008). The problem solving methodologies used by Six Sigma are: DMAIC used for projects aimed at improving an existing business process. DMADV used for projects aimed at creating new product or process designs. 8.1 DMAIC Source: wordpress.com Define The first step while implementing Six Sigma is to define the problem in operational terms to facilitate further analysis. A good problem statement identifies customers and the Critical to Quality (CTQ) factors that have the most impact on product or service performance and identify the performance metrics and the cost implications of the project along with defining what is to be done by whom and when (Thomas Bertels, 2003) Measure This phase of DMAIC process focuses on how to measure the internal processes that affect CTQs. This requires an understanding of the relationships between process performance and customer value. Analyse This stage focuses on why defects, errors, or excessive variation occur. Finding the answers requires identifying the key variables that are most likely to cause errors and excessive variation the root causes. One of the tools of identifying the root cause is the 5 Why technique which forces one to redefine a problem as a chain of causes and effects to identify the source of the symptoms by asking why five times (George Patterson, 2003). Improve Once the root cause of a problem is understood, the team needs to generate ideas for removing the problem and improve the performance measures and CTQs. Some of the techniques used to facilitate idea generation are brainstorming, checklists, etc (Osborn, 2003). The ideas generated are then evaluated and the most promising ones are selected, confirming that the proposed solution will positively affect the key process variables and the CTQs. Control This part of DMAIC focuses on how to maintain the improvements, which includes putting tools in place to ensure that the key variables remain within the maximum acceptable ranges under the modified process. Controls might be as simple as using checklists or periodic status reviews to ensure that proper procedures are followed or employing process control charts to monitor the performance of key measures. 8.2 DMADV The DMADV project methodology, also known as  DFSS  (Design  for  Six  Sigma),  features five phases: Source: SixSigmaTraining.net Define  design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy. Measure  and identify CTQs (characteristics that are  Critical  To  Quality), product capabilities, production process capability, and risks. Analyze  to develop and design alternatives, create a high-level design and evaluate design capability to select the best design. Design  details, optimize the design, and plan for design verification. This phase may require simulations. Verify  the design, set up pilot runs, implement the production process and hand it over to the process owner(s). In India, only 5% of Indian automobile companies seem to implement the Six Sigma rule due to which they have not been able to achieve steady level of quality based on  ±3 Sigma limits around the specified target value. Six Sigma is a tool for continuous improvement making an organization to concentrate on the requirements of customers, process alignment, and timely well planned execution (Skaria, 1995). Thus to be able to compete internationally Indian automobile sector should follow Six Sigma program in order to install the TQM philosophy. This would in turn help them to map their performance overtime and to take required prior measures. Although automobile sector in India implemented Six Sigma to gain competence in its quality aspect, it still failed to implement it in the right direction. This was due to a number of reasons like: Absence of top management involvement commitment Practising an authoritarian behaviour and a hierarchical thinking. Lack of adequate education and training for the employees. No strategic goal setting and a weak system of monitoring. Inadequate knowledge in the field of Six Sigma and its related tools. Lack of passion to be the best in quality. No building up of the practise of Kaizen, the culture of continuous improvement. Not paying enough attention to the needs of the customers. Impatience to develop a new strategy to achieve quality and thus resorting to a quick unreliable way of fixing things. Lack of collaboration, integrity, excellence and respect for each other. During the 1970s and early 1980s there were not many automobile manufacturers in India the growth of this sector was slow. But in 1983 a dramatic change in the scenario occurred when Maruti was taken over by the Indian government and Maruti entered joint venture agreement with Suzuki (Japan) which stirred a revolution in the Indian automobile industry. With the adoption of the policy of economic liberalization by Indian government in 1991, major car manufacturer companies such as General Motors, Fiat and Honda, got a chance to set up their manufacturing bases in India. Even after two decades gone after implementing TQM in the automobile sector, India is still a very small player in the world auto market production. The overall economy of India is a direct factor influencing the growth of the Indian automobile sector and still lot is required to be done by the companies to implement TQM tools like Kaizen, Six Sigma, 5S and TPM. Since growth of automobile in any country is an indication of overall economy, thus lot need to be done by the automobile sector in implementing TQM quality tools particularly 5S, Kaizen, Quality Function Deployment and Business Process Re engineering. 9. Lean Organizations Lean production was a concept developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation to focus on the elimination of waste in all forms, including defects requiring rework, unnecessary process steps, and unnecessary movement of materials or people, waiting time, excess inventory, and overproduction. One of the key tools used in lean production is the 5 Ss : Seiri Refers to ensuring that each item in a workplace is in its proper place Seiton Refers to arranging materials and equipments so that they are easy to find and use. Seiso Refers to a clean working area so as to reduce maintenance problems. Seiketsu Refers to formalize procedures and practices to create consistency and ensure that all steps are performed correctly. Shitsuke Implies keeping the process going through training, communication and organizational structures. 10. Conclusion All types of automotive industries aim to have reduced costs, increased process efficiency and improved quality of their products and services by working towards achieving the needs of their customers through the application of TQM. With growing cut throat competition, TQM has become an important aspect of the management of automotive industry. With the implementation of the quality principles discussed above, companies will produce profits for themselves and also satisfy the needs of owners, employees, suppliers and society as a whole.

Business Ethics and Social Responsibility Essay -- Business, Corporate

The notion of ethics deals with people’s behaviors within a company. Social responsibility involves a company’s moral obligations and the manner in which the organization makes its decisions. Although ethics and social responsibility are similar on a conceptual basis, each has its own unique characteristics that express their differences and its independence of the other. Ethics and social responsibility have to be present and coincide with one another for a business to be ethically sound. Ethics is the application of one’s personal beliefs and the impact on how a person makes decisions regarding the relationships involving a company. The most common agents that involve a person’s decisions are owners, employees, customers, clients, suppliers and communities, according to Robert Audi (Audi, 2009). A person’s beliefs are often the determining factor in whether an action is considered right or wrong. Although ethics are often not explicitly displayed, a person with any sort of moral belief tends to have a grasp about what is considered ethically right or wrong. These obligations attempt to create a mirror image of how one would expect to be treated themselves. Audi states that there are ten moral obligations that serve as a model for how to assess ethical dilemmas. The following obligations are moral obligations that help to assess ethical dilemmas: justice, non-injury, fidelity, veracity, reparation, beneficence, self-improvement, gratitude, li berty, and respectfulness (Audi, 2009). Once these moral obligations are engraved into someone’s mind, it is much easier for a person to make a decision based on ethical grounds. Financial reporting is an example of an ethical problem for an organization or business. Many busin... ... Ethics are mainly used by individuals as guidance in making ethical decisions. Social responsibility is dependent on ethics, but ethics is independent of social responsibility and can stand on its own. Works Cited Audi, R. (2009). Business Ethics and Ethical Business. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc. Berenbeim, R. E. (2006, May 12). Business Ethics and Corporate Social Responsibility. Vital Speeches of the Day, pp. 501-504. Carroll, A. B. (1996). Business & Society: Ethics and stakeholders management. Cincinnati: South-Western College Publishing. James E. Post, A. T. (2002). Business and Society: Corporate Strategy, Public Policy, Ethics (10th Ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Reed, B. (2011). The Business of Social Responsibility. Retrieved from Dollars and Sense Real World Economics: http://www.dollarsandsense.org/archives/1998/0598reed.html

Religions of the World Jesus/Mohammed

Two thousand years have come and gone, but still they remain the unfinished story that refuses to go away. Jesus of Nazareth, a Jew from rural first-century Galilee, and Mohammed from Mecca are without doubt the most famous and most influential human beings who ever walked the face of the earth. Their influence may at present be declining in a few countries of Western Europe and parts of North America, as has from time to time transpired elsewhere.But the global fact is that the adherents of Jesus and Mohammed are more widespread and more numerous, and make up a greater part of the world's population, than at any time in history. Two billion people identify themselves as Christians; well over a billion Muslims revere Jesus as a prophet of God (Freedman 2001). Unnumbered others identify themselves as know and respect his memory as a wise and holy man. This work begins with tracing the lives of Jesus and Mohammed historically. Then it deals with different aspects of the practice and th e teaching of Jesus and Mohammed. How their messages are being carried out in the world today will be considered in the conclusion.The personality of Mohammed remains obscure in spite of his sayings and the many legends about him. There have been almost as many theories about the Prophet as there are biographers. According to tradition, he was born in A.D. 570, about five years after the death of Justinian, into a cadet branch of one of the leading families of Mecca. His father died before Mohammed was born, and his mother died when he was still a small child. First his grandfather, then an uncle, who was in the caravan trade, reared him.As a youth in the busy center of Mecca he probably learned to read and write enough to keep commercial accounts; he also heard Jewish and Christian teachers and early became interested in their religious ideas. Mohammed must have suffered, in these early years, from hardships, and he evidently became aware of the misery of many of his fellowmen. The se early experiences were later to be the basis of his fervent denunciations of social injustice. At the age of twenty-five, he married a wealthy widow and probably went on some long caravan trips, at least to Syria.This gave him further contacts with Jewish, Christian, and Persian religious teachers. At the age of forty, after spending much time in fasting and solitary meditation, he heard a voice calling him to proclaim the uniqueness and power of Allah. Mohammed seemingly did not, at first, conceive of himself as the conscious preacher of a new religion. It was only the opposition from those about him at Mecca that drove him on to set up a new religious community with distinctive doctrines and institutions. In 632 Mohammed died, the last of all the founders of great world religions.Little is known of the early life of Jesus Christ. Born a few years before the year 1 A. D. in Bethlehem of Judaea, he lived in Nazareth, a city of Galilee, until he was about thirty years of age. We h ave no reason to doubt the tradition that after the death of Joseph, the head of the family, Jesus became the main support of Mary and the younger children. He worked at his trade, that of a carpenter, and lived the life which would be expected of a religiously-minded young Hebrew.At about the age of thirty Jesus suddenly appeared at the Jordan, where John, a cousin of his, was performing the rite of baptism on those who came professing a desire to amend their ways and live better lives. Jesus also came and, against the scruples of John, who saw that Jesus was in different case from the others, was baptized. It marked a turning-point, for with the outward ritual act came an inner spiritual experience of profound significance for Jesus. A voice assured him that he was in a unique sense his Father's â€Å"beloved Son,† in whom he was â€Å"well pleased† (Borg 1997). It seems to have been the consummation of his thought and prayer and eager yearning for many years.He had received his revelation; he would proclaim God as a Father and men as his sons. He was filled with a sense of mission, of having a work to do and a message to deliver, which to the end of his life did not leave him for a moment. He went from place to place in Palestine preaching in the synagogues and out-of-door places wherever the people congregated, and talking to individuals and to groups as they came to him with their questions and problems. He began to gather about him a little company of disciples, which soon grew to twelve and which accompanied him on all his journeys.He spent much time in giving them instruction and on several occasions sent them out to heal and to preach. Jesus came to establish a kingdom, and this was the burden of his message. But he never forgot that the form of the Kingdom and many things connected with its coming were of lesser significance than the inner meaning and the principles on which it was based. The first of these was man's relationship with G od.Jesus was not only a teacher; he was a worker of miracles. The Gospels tell us that he cured the sick, opened the eyes of the blind, fed the hungry, stilled the storm, and even raised the dead. Much was made of these wonders by former generations of Christians, who used them as proofs of the divine character of the One who performed them. Such use of these incidents does not produce the effect it once did and is being discarded.A closer study of the attitude of Jesus toward his own miraculous power clearly indicates that he minimized its significance. He would have men secure a better perspective and realize that moral power was on a higher level than the ability to work marvels. With this in view it scarcely seems congruous to use the miracles in a way which could scarcely be acceptable to Jesus himself. But of all the impressions Jesus made the strongest was that he was in touch with God his Father and that this was the explanation of all the wonderful things about him.Jesus, h owever, was not only winning followers and bringing them close to God; he had come into collision with the religious authorities of his people, and in the end lost his life at their hands. They were formalists and as such had not averted the danger of losing sight of the vital principles of their religion. Jesus was an innovator, and felt free to act in accordance with the inner spirit of the old precepts even when by doing so he ran counter to the letter of the law.When Jesus appeared in Jerusalem at the feast of the Passover, He was seized and, after having had a preliminary hearing before the Jewish high priest and Sanhedrin, was taken before Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator, and was condemned to death. He was crucified, together with two criminals, and died at the end of six hours' agony on the cross. His body was taken down by friends in the early evening and laid in a rock-hewn tomb. The hopes of his disciples were dashed to the ground, and undoubtedly the Jewish leaders a nd the Roman authorities thought they had rid themselves of an exceedingly troublesome creature (Allen 1998).But such was not to be, for a very remarkable thing happened the third day after. To the utter amazement of his disciples, who had not recovered from the paralyzing effect of their grief and disappointment, Jesus appeared to them so unmistakably that they were convinced that death had not been able to hold its victim and that Jesus was alive.Their new enthusiasm, the founding of the Christian Church on the assurance of the presence of the living Christ, the adoption of the first day of the week as a memorial of the day when Jesus reappeared alive -all these historic facts bear witness to the genuineness of the disciples' testimony that the same Jesus who had journeyed with them, who had died and had been laid away in the tomb, was raised from the dead, their living Master forevermore. They immediately went out to preach â€Å"the gospel of the resurrection,† and with t hat the history of the Christian Church was begun.Mohammed's teaching, from the beginning, shows strong Jewish and Christian influence. Mohammed learned the great stories of the Old Testament; especially was he impressed with the life of Abraham whom he later considered one of his own predecessors and who he claimed had founded the Ka' bah at Mecca. He, likewise, learned of the Christian Trinity whom he understood to be God the Father, Mary the Mother, and Jesus the Son.He was looking for common ground on which to found a faith for all monotheists. He had a profound respect for Jews and Christians, especially for the Jews, though when they refused to join him and when later they thwarted him, he attacked them fiercely. Mohammed took from Jewish, Christian, and also Persian teaching only what he wanted, and he combined all he borrowed in a set of ideas that always bore his own mark. In the Koran, for example, he uses the characters of the Bible as successful advocates in the past of the doctrines of Mohammed in the present. Mohammed called the Jews and the Christians the â€Å"People of the Book,† and he came to believe himself called to give his own people, the Arabs, a book.Soon after Mohammed's death in 632, a wave of conquest gathered in all of Arabia, Palestine, Syria, Egypt, and part of Persia. In less than a century all of North Africa, Spain, Asia Minor, and Central Asia to the Indus River were swept by the conquering armies of Islam. These conquests were as orderly as they were speedy; little damage seems to have been done, and immediately after the Arab armies entered an area they organized it. The Arab annexation, at first, meant little more than a change of rulers.Life and social institutions went on as before with little interference and no forced conversions; the conquered peoples could even keep their own religion by paying a tax. The Arab colonies planted in each new territory became the centers from which Islamic religious ideas spread a nd in which, at the same time, a new culture developed. Not until the new peoples, like the Seljuks, who were outside the Graeco-Roman tradition, were converted to Mohammedanism did Islam become fanatical. Indeed, no such militant intolerance as characterized the Christian attack on paganism was normally shown by the Mohammedans until into the eleventh century.The reasons for these fantastic conquests were various. To his own people, especially to the desert tribes, Mohammed offered war and booty, and to those who lived in the Arab towns he offered the extension of commerce. Caravans travelled in the midst of the Muslim armies. For those who died, Islam promised a glowing paradise. One drop of blood shed in battle, even a single night spent under arms would count for more than two months of prayer or fasting.Christianity and Islam have, like every other religion, developed their own mythology. These mythologies are at its height in the beautiful imagery that centers around the festi vals of Christmas, Easter and Eid-ul-Fitr and Eid-ul-Adha (â€Å"Eid† or â€Å"Id† means festival). Indeed, there is today a rediscovery of the value of myth in human life. Today Christianity and Islam provide a good framework for the religious life. Some people, possibly lots of people, would claim that if Jesus and Mohammed were wrong, they can no longer be relevant. That claim can probably be disputed on theological grounds (Freedman 2001).The remarkable ‘footprint' of Jesus and Mohammed in history has strangely contradictory implications for an encounter with them today. On the one hand, it means that a true and adequate understanding of the men remains a vital task, even as third millennium has dawned. Just as in the first century Jesus was embraced as Saviour of the world by Jews and Gentiles excluded from religious and political power, so today he is welcomed above all by ordinary, poor and marginalised people – in the west and the east, and especia lly in the South. Like Paul, they see him, God's gospel, as having the power to liberate them from sin, their personal sins, the socio-political, cultural and structural sins of their nations, cultures and churches and the unjust economic and technological structures of the so-called ‘global village'.At least in the western world, it remains true that we can understand neither Christian faith nor much of the world around us if we do not come to terms with Jesus of Nazareth and the two millennia of engagement with his heritage. The followers of Jesus and Mohammed live in every country of the globe. They read and speak of these people in a thousand tongues. For them, the world's creation and destiny hold together in their gods, the wholly human and visible icon of the wholly transcendent and invisible God. Jesus and Mohammed animate their cultures, creeds and aspirations.ReferencesAllen, Charlotte. (1998).The human Christ: the search for the historical Jesus. Oxford: Lion.Borg, Marcus J., ed. (1997). Jesus at 2000. Boulder: Westview Press.Freedman, David Noel. (2001). The Rivers of Paradise: Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Jesus, and Muhammad as Religious Founders. Eerdmans: Grand Rapids, MI.

Education: A Mother’s Struggle For A Child

In â€Å"Kaffir Boy†, Mark â€Å"Johannes† Mathabane†s mother strives to send him to school. She does not let anything get in the way of her ambition. Even though her husband disapproves, she will not let anything get in her way, but now her desires for her son to be educated are stronger. Her courage speaks louder than the consequences she will face with her husband. It seems as though her husband is dealing with a great amount of jealously. A jealously that will decipher Johannes†s decision about school. â€Å"Did you hear what that woman said!† â€Å"Do you want the same to happen to you?† A statement and question raised by his mother to show Johannes the importance of an education. â€Å"They finally did. But what a battle it was, it took me nearly a year to get all them papers together.† Since it took his mother so long to get everything together there was no way she was going to let everything she worked so hard for go down the drain. Even though Johannes†s mother and father were from different tribes, that did not stop her from putting her son in school. â€Å"Your father and I fought today because I took you to school this morning.† Johannes†s mother expresses her courage throughout the story. â€Å"He had told me not to, and when I told him that I had, he became very upset. He was drunk. We started arguing, and one thing let to another.† She shows her courage by disobeying her husband†s orders. Unlike her husband, she wants Johannes to have a future and getting an education is the only way for a future. Being beaten was the consequence of disobeying her husband, but the beating how no effect for Johannes†s mother wanted to see her son succeed in the world. Johannes†s father seems to be jealous that his own son may have a chance to be educated. He says, â€Å"he doesn†t have money to wasted paying for you to get what he calls an useless white man†s education.† It seems that he does not understand that school will keep Johannes off the streets. He, himself being uneducated seems to be the result of not comprehending how valuable an education is. Johannes is extremely upset with his father because he beat his mother, and is also upset since his own father does not want him to be educated. Johannes sees school differently after he learns that his mother has always wanted to go to school. Also, her courage and ambition out weighs his father†s jealously. Johannes makes a decision that will forever affect him. After, he realizes all the trouble and hard work his mother went through, he promises his mother that he will forever go to school.