White-collar crimes Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

White-collar crimes - Research Paper Example The entities that have been given the mandate to investigate the occurrence of white-collar crimes include the Securities and Exchange Commissions and the FBI. The most common white-collar crimes include embezzlement, fraud, money laundering, and corporate fraud. It is of increased importance to comprehend the different forms of white-collar crimes so as to understand how they fit in this crime category. Embezzlement is described as misuse of funds while fraud is the misrepresentation of financial investment information. Additionally, money laundering is one of the most serious crimes and is described as giving a legitimate source to funds that have been obtained through means such as embezzlement implying that these crimes can at times be connected. Lastly, corporate fraud can be said to be illegal and dishonest crimes that may be committed by an executive or a company employee mostly dealing with money. This therefore explains how white-collar crimes are not related to violence and that the main individuals committing them are those holding respectable positions and those who have high social status (Gottschalk, 2010). The term white-col lar crime was coined to relate this crime to the individuals who commit it. It is committed by individuals holding the white-collar employment positions. Some of the white-collar crimes are not easy to prosecute due to the difficulties presented by the individuals who committed them with respect to using sophisticated means to hide the traces of their crimes. These crimes cause countries to lose huge sums of money, which is mostly discovered if some of the disbursed funds cannot be accounted for. It can also be suspicious when the sum of money allocated for a specific project is unreasonably high as compared to the size of the project financially. Such suspicions usually lead to white-collar crime investigation and prosecution mostly of the individuals holding the positions

HCM387-0802A-01 Management Principles in Health Care - Phase 1 Essay

HCM387-0802A-01 Management Principles in Health Care - Phase 1 Discussion Board - Essay Example t a diverse group of people fosters an environment conducive to creativity, productivity and high performance that affords each individual the opportunity to reach their fullest potential. Proper facilitation and administration provides leverage to the diversity of a healthcare organizations as a competitive advantage in the global aspect that they face and to make the country a better place to live and prosper for immigrants such as the Irish. Healthcare organizations want to promote the development of growth and diversity by strengthening our existing relationships and building new collaborative relationships between the existing immigrant workforce and the diverse community that they serve. These relationships between immigrants and nationals will position their country as a country of choice as they continuously expand their business and industries and foster an environment where the indifferences of the people are appreciated and utilized to the advantage of the nation as a whole. Valuing diversity is implicit in some healthcare organizations’ reputation as an advocate of democracy to the extent that they live up to this advocacy and treat each individual fairly, progressively, responsively, and respectfully. Americans help their nation become the country of choice. There are so many dimensions to diversity, both visible and invisible, that makes some companies fundamentally unique, and yet alike, and the employees are different in age, education, ethnicity, family status, gender, gender identity, physical abilities, religion, sexual orientation or veteran status. These are just few examples of the dimensions that Americans differ. Just as many threads create a fabric, many dimensions create diversity. The fabric of diversity in healthcare organizations has many threads- many dimensions. At the same time, they carry within themselves certain cultural or artistic traditions, experiences, family customs and life lessons that contribute to who they are,

Topics Discussed in Class - My Participation in Class Assignment

Topics Discussed in Class - My Participation in Class - Assignment Example The lessons included identifying the dimensions of culture from the presenters’ and students’ national origin and to determine the validity of sharing or manifesting the dimensions noted, according to Hofstede’s framework. Presentation of topic (3): Convergence and Divergence in Consumer Behavior. The presenters included concepts that expounded on convergence and divergence through provision of specific consumer purchasing behavior; where apparently the behavior could be evaluated and reviewed on a macro perspective. Likewise, the concept was further explained with the assistance of delving in describing homogeneous and heterogeneous economies or that which measures a country’s level of wealth. Presentation of topic (4): Domestic Consumer Predispositions: Ethnocentrisms and Disidentification. The presenters used the theoretical concepts of ethnocentrism and concepts of consumer disidentification to make students aware of how these concerns impact global ma rketing. How One Contributed A relevant topic (1) that was presented focused on Paradoxes in Global Marketing. ... Value paradoxes are part of people’s systems; they reflect the desirable versus the desired in life† (De Mooij, 2005, p. 2). The reading therefore presented relevant concepts pertaining to paradoxes in global marketing especially in the following topics: the global-local paradox, technology paradox, media paradox, and explicitly explained paradoxes in marketing theory. Therefore, one’s contribution in this module would be in terms of relaying one of the global paradoxes learned from De Mooij which could include paradoxes in consumer trends or the global advertising paradox (De Mooij, 2005). On the topic (2) of Dimensions of Culture, one contributed through likewise determining the dimensions from one’s cultural orientation. As verified and supported from the information using online link, for instance for Saudi Arabia as the country of origin, one found information that supports one’s cultural practices and norms (Anon., n.d.). Thus, to make the disc ussion more interesting, the same online link provides options to compare the cultural dimensions in one’s country of origin to that of another. For instance, the dimensions of culture in Saudi Arabia’s country could be compared with the dimensions of culture in the United States. The results revealed that these countries manifested significant disparities in the dimension of individualism and power distance; while both countries seem to be on equal footing in the dimension of masculinity (Anon., n.d.). One’s contribution for topic (3), Convergence and Divergence in Consumer Behavior stems from the reading of (De Mooij, 2003). From the article, it was learned that â€Å"effectiveness in marketing means adapting to cultural values†¦ Countries can now be compared by means of

WaterAid UK. Operational Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

WaterAid UK. Operational Management - Essay Example The global strategy for WaterAid is to offer strategic perspective for building on this experience and integrating equity, as well as, inclusion in all areas of operation The company implemented the global strategy, with four significant aims of carrying out effective business to address sanitation and water crisis. One of the main objectives is to ensure that more than 25 millions of people across the globe have access to safe and clean water. They also focus on hygiene improvements, sanitation objective and also influencing government policies and practices in order to reach more than 100 million people globally. The organizational mission is transforming lives of people across the areas where they operate. The crucial services emphasizes human development and transform lives; thus enabling people to overcome poverty, as well as, enable them to access their human right effectively. The organization operates in more than 23 countries and the company offer support to their local part nership organizations. This is crucial because they aim to deliver sustainable water and services to all areas; thus improving sanitation. They also operate alongside their partners in order to influence effective decision making vital for improving investments and delivery of sanitation and water services to the population living under poverty level; therefore, to achieve their objectives, the company focuses to a wider context impacting sanitation and water services including marginalized communities, urbanization, unpredictable climatic changes, and political instabilities, as well as, stressed water resources. The company operates in unique way by focusing the challenges they face; thus finds solution of overcoming them through offering effective service delivery. They also have unique ways of developing and monitoring performance level. This strategy has been implemented through detailed operational plans and monitored with an aim of increasing effective performance. The human resource manager of the organization has made significant efforts of implementing a sustainability framework, which was piloted through the 2011 to 2012 post-implementation studies. Bratton and Gold (2010. P. 34) reveal the significance roles that manager play in an organization including training, encouraging teamwork, communicating effective and effective listening; thus contributing to successful performance of the company. Therefore, the WaterAid human resource manager has made significant efforts of partnering with others in creating an efficient operational management team in order to deliver sustainable services. Staff and volunteer management The company has varied staff workers and other volunteer groups who work together as a team to deliver effective services. Subba and Kumar (2010, p. 23) argue that working together as team in the management of resources of company activities can contribute to effective business performance. This is crucial because it has enabled the com pany to deliver equitable services across the regions where they operate. Moreover, the current company manager, Jeremy Pelczer employs unique leadership styles of managing both tangible and intangible resources of the company. Gold (2010, p. 102) argue that successful leaders should employee effective leadership styles that can enable them to deliver valuable services. They also have the board of directors who offer great opportunities and the shareholders also played key significant roles of supporting the company towards achieving the organizational mission. In addition, they have volunteer groups of people including the

Theoretical Framework for Hr Thesis Essay Example for Free

Theoretical Framework for Hr Thesis Essay 1. Definition of Motivation and Employee Motivation 1. Definition of Motivation Many contemporary authors have also defined the concept of motivation. Motivation has been defined as: the psychological process that gives behavior purpose and direction (Kreitner, 1995); a predisposition to behave in a purposive manner to achieve specific, unmet needs (Buford, Bedeian, Lindner, 1995); an internal drive to satisfy an unsatisfied need (Higgins, 1994); and the will to achieve (Bedeian, 1993). According to John R. Schermerhorn (2010), the term motivation is used in management theory to describe forces within the individual that account for the level, direction, and persistence of effort expended at work. Motivation can be defined as the process that initiates, guides and maintains goal-oriented behaviors. It involves the biological, emotional, social and cognitive forces that activate behaviors. In its simplest definition, the term motivation is frequently used to describe why a person does something. (Cherry, 2011). An individuals motivation is influenced by biological, intellectual, social and emotional factors. As such, motivation is a complex, not easily defined, intrinsic driving force that can also be influenced by external factors. Every employee has activities, events, people, and goals in his or her life that he or she finds motivating. Generally speaking , for this thesis, motivation is operationally defined as the inner force that drives individuals to accomplish personal and organizational goals. Motivation is an employees intrinsic enthusiasm about and drive to accomplish activities related to work. Motivation is that internal drive that causes an individual to decide to take action. So, motivation about some aspect of life exists in each persons consciousness and actions. 2. Definition of Employee Motivation The trick for employers is to figure out how to inspire employee motivation at work. To create a work environment in which an employee is motivated about work, involves both intrinsically satisfying and extrinsically encouraging factors. Employee motivation is the combination of fulfilling the employees needs and expectations from work and the workplace factors that enable employee motivation or not. These variables make motivating employees challenging. Employers understand that they need to provide a work environment that creates motivation in people. But, many employers fail to understand the significance of motivation in accomplishing their mission and vision. Even when they understand the importance of motivation, they lack the skill and knowledge to provide a work environment that fosters employee motivation. From Rick Pitino’s point of view, The only way to get people to like working hard is to motivate them. Today, people must understand why theyre working hard. Every individual in an organization is motivated by something different. Employee motivation can be approached in many ways with different definitions. With Twyla Dell, The heart of motivation is to give people what they really want most from work. The more you are able to provide what they want, the more you should expect what you really want, namely: productivity, quality, and service. (Dell, 1988). G. Jones and J. George from the book Contemporary Management†, defined motivation as Psychological forces that determine the direction of a persons behavior in an organization, a persons level of effort and a persons level of persistence. And this approach is used as the employee motivation definition in the thesis 2. Motivation theories There are many theories that refer to motivate people such as ERG theory by Clayton Alderfer, Acquired Needs theory by David McClelland, Expectancy theory by Victor Vroom, etc. In this thesis, the author applied Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and Herzberg’s Two – Factors Theory as the theoretical framework for the thesis 1. Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs The theory of human needs developed by Abraham Maslow was introduced in this part as an important theoretical framework for the thesis. Psychologist Abraham Maslow first introduced his concept of a hierarchy of needs in his 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation and his subsequent book Motivation and Personality. This hierarchy suggests that people are motivated to fulfill basic needs before moving on to other, more advanced needs. This hierarchy is most often displayed as a pyramid. The lowest levels of the pyramid are made up of the most basic needs, while the more complex needs are located at the top of the pyramid. Needs at the bottom of the pyramid are basic physical requirements including the need for food, water, sleep, and warmth. Once these lower-level needs have been met, people can move on to the next level of needs, which are for safety and security. As people progress up the pyramid, needs become increasingly psychological and social. Soon, the need for love, friendship, and intimacy become important. Further up the pyramid, the need for personal esteem and feelings of accomplishment take priority. Maslow emphasized the importance of self-actualization, which is a process of growing and developing as a person in order to achieve individual potential [pic] There are five different levels in Maslow’s hierarchy of needs: Physiological needs: the most basic needs for human to survival, (such as air, water, food, sex, sleep, etc). In working environment, it can be rest and refreshment breaks, physical comfort on the job or reasonable work hours. According to Maslow, if these needs are not satisfied, the human body can not function properly, and will ultimately fail. Physiological needs are supposed to be the most important and should be met first. Safety needs: After the physiological needs are satisfied, people’s attention turn to safety and security. Social needs: the first level of higher level needs is social needs. Social needs are those related to interact with others which includes: friendship, belonging to a group, giving and receiving love Esteem needs: Esteem needs can be categorized as external motivators such as recognition, attention, and social status. While internal motivators include accomplishment and self – respect. Self actualisation needs:This is the highest level of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Self-actualizing people are self-aware, concerned with personal growth, less concerned with the opinions of others and interested fulfilling their potential. (Cherry, 2011) 2. The theory Herzberg’s Two – Factor The Two – Factor theory by Herzberg is one of the most influential studies on motivation which describes needs in terms of satisfaction and disatisfaction. Herzberg found that the factors causing job satisfaction were different from those causing job dissatisfaction. He developed the motivation – hygiene theory to explain these results. He called the satisfiers â€Å"motivators† and the dissatisfiers â€Å"hygiene factors†, using the term â€Å"hygiene† in the sense that they are considered maintenance factors that are necessary to avoid dissatisfaction but that by themselves do not provide satisfaction. [pic] 1. Motivation factors Herzberg explains that motivation factors are related to â€Å"what people do† on the job or â€Å"job content† Motivation factors include such things as a sense of responsibility, feelings of recognition, a sense of achievement,  feelings of personal growth, the opportunity for advancement and work itself. Presence of motivation factors influences job satisfaction levels Responsibility: A duty or obligation to satisfactorily perform or complete a task (assigned by someone, or created by ones own promise or circumstances) that one must fulfill, and which has a consequent penalty for failure. Recognition: Recognition is identifying something you learned previously and is therefore stored in some manner in memory. The employees should be praised and recognized for their accomplishments by the managers. Achievement: The definition of achievement also includes its opposite, the failure or the absence of achievement. Success put into this category consists of the followings: successful completion of a job, solutions to problems, vindication, and seeing the results of one’s work. (Herzberg, 2008, p.45 -143) Personal growth: There must be growth and advancement opportunities in an organization to motivate the employees to perform well. Advancement: Advancement is an actual change in the status or position of the person in the company. In situation in which an individual transfers from one part of the company to another without any change in status but increases opportunities for responsible work, the change is considered an increased responsibility, but not formally an advancement. (Herzberg, 2008, p.46) Work itself ( Job – itself interesting and fulfilling work): The work itself should be meaningful, interesting and challenging for the employee to perform and to get motivated. 2. Hygiene factors According to Herzberg, hygiene factors influence directly on job  dissatisfaction. The hygiene factors are found in the job context and include such things as working conditions, interpersonal relations, base wage or salary, and technical quality of supervision. By improving them, such as by implemetenting a no – smooking policy, can make people less dissatisfied at work. However, it will not increase job satisfaction. Hygiene factors include: Working condition: The working conditions should be safe, clean and hygienic. The work equipments should be updated and well-maintained. Interpersonal relations: The relationship of the employees with his peers, superiors and subordinates should be appropriate and acceptable. There should be no conflict or humiliation element present. Base wage and salary: The pay or salary structure should be appropriate and reasonable. It must be equal and competitive to those in the same industry in the same domain. Supervision – technical : This category refers to the competence or incompetence; fairness or unfairness of the supervisor; supervisor’s willingness or unwillingness to delegate responsibility, to teach subordinates. (Herzberg, 2008, p.47) 3. The combination of Motivation factor and Hygiene factor The combination of hygiene and motivation factors can result in 4 conditions: 1. High Hygiene/High Motivation: The ideal situation where employees are highly motivated and have few problems. 2. High Hygiene/Low Motivation: Employees have few problems but are not highly motivated. 3. Low Hygiene/High Motivation: Employees are motivated but have a lot of problems. 4. Low Hygiene/Low Motivation: The worst situation. Unmotivated employees with lots of problems. Herzberg’s theories can be summarized by his quote, â€Å"If you want people to do a good job, give them a good job to do.† The two factor theory is useful because job context  and content are major issues in the business world today.

A reflective analysis | Learning with ICT

A reflective analysis | Learning with ICT This part of the assignment is a reflective analysis of my learning with ICT on this module. I am going to review my experience in collaborative learning on this module drawing my attention to the learning experience from the face to face sessions on the unit compared to the classroom sessions. Collaborative Learning Experience There are many ways that people learn in their everyday lives. Learning can take place anywhere at any time wherever you may be. Joel (2003) stated that Learning is a change in behaviour that results from the learners interaction with the environment. Joels statement is linked into the two environments experienced on this module. This module the teaching and learning consisted of face-to-face classroom sessions and online VLE discussions held on a weekly basis for one hour. The topics that were covered in this module are the way you can learn in different ways. Students participated in these discussions about various experiences and reinforced the information to promote further discussion. These discussions were mostly set in groups where we had to work together to complete various tasks. This type of collaborative learning is when two or more people are in a situation to learn something together Dillenbourg (1999). This occurred on two occasions in this module, one was creating a mi ndmap (online) and one was marking a past assignment (face-to-face). Both were instances of learning something new and we were in groups of more than one. Harding (1993) also suggested that collaborative learning usually works when students group together to create a knowledge and understanding of a certain situation. This in my understanding is communication amongst the group. Computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) is a concept within collaborative learning where it uses technology in the learning environment to facilitate group interactions Mitnik (2009). In my understanding on this module collaborative learning is the completion of any given project or task. According to Miller (1998) successful collaborative tasks have characteristics such as the problem being solved are example of the types of problems found in normal everyday life. Millers statement here links in with the past and current experiences of all students on the course where they have discussed the topic i n hand relating them to their own personal experiences. Miller (1998) also went onto explain that the problem can be solved by a small number of students who have not got the current knowledge and understanding to solve the problem alone but can contribute to it amongst a team. When working with my peers on the collaborative learning tasks I firstly felt as I am the youngest I wont know as much knowledge as the rest of them. However it gave me the opportunity to develop a higher level thinking skill to show my peers I am interested in the subject that we are going to discuss. The task was a positive learning experience which was very active, involved and insightful. When the mind map task was being developed I found that I was learning mostly from the facilities of the software that were available to me. Thanasis (2009) said that the role of the computer is to support users to communicate and structure the learning activity. This was the case in the collaborative task I completed in this module and the use of collaboration here is the idea of learning taking place when peers interact to achieve task outcomes (Thanasis 2009). This collaboration activity of the module was a challenging task as many of us had different ideas. However I felt that we all put our ideas together to find the best outcome. Smith (1992) suggested that this sort of collaborative learning process is not beginning with facts and ideas and then finding out the problem but it begins with the problem to find out the facts and ideas in the first place. We as a group didnt meet up altogether initially but I discussed the task before hand to a member of my peer and just went over what we would want to do. This pre-process helped as I went away and did my own research to find out some ideas I could share. By working in this environment we could cover more ground and get the task done at a quicker pace than doing it individually in which can help by sharing resources and ideas. With my teaching ex perience in my previous school, students working in smaller groups enable them to increase their knowledge and widen their understanding of the task in hand. The task which is given to the students is structured in a way to accomplish the learning objectives set. Giving students individual responsibilities gives a lively and energetic vibe to the classroom and the thought of competition amongst other students seemed common. Stahl (2002) suggested that when using technology to support collaborative learning it enhances peer interaction and facilitates the distribution of knowledge and expertise amongst the group. The different collaborative Learning strategies I used in the classroom were that I created different tasks and activities that were necessary for the group to work together and be dependent on each other. If certain individuals do really well and shine through, it created a more motivated establishment in the group. Communities of practise My experiences of group interaction relates to the work of Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger Communities of Practise (CoP) which we covered in our module. Wenger (1991) defines CoP as a passion of learning something and sharing it amongst a group of people and then establishing how it was done. This is a way of promoting new ideas, developing social means, facilitating and spreading knowledge within a group (Wenger 1991). Wengers definition relates to the module task we worked on. The process of social learning that occurred when a group of students came together to discuss a task was something that we were interested in and collaborated with. Wenger went onto explaining that CoP had 3 main components to it which were domain, community and practice. A domain of interest is a specific subject area, which in our case the multiple intelligence theories. The community is where students gathered together and shared ideas and information about Gardner in the module. The practise is members of t he group who are already helpful in the resources and give common experience encountered. These components were explored more in Part 1 Websipration unit on Microworlds. Effective classroom interaction needs to be managed to help student generate a deeper understanding of the lesson. Harry (1993) describes Moores theory (1984) that this type of management involving three types of learning. Interaction with resources, teachers and peers. With the face to face sessions we encountered on the course I learnt to work with different types of people from different backgrounds. During our lecturers the small group discussions allowed us to reflect and act upon discussions and responses when certain questions were raised by the tutor. These small group interactions on a weekly basis allowed us to have a better understanding on our peers point of view. Downes (1998) states the idea is that learning is not paced so much by the teacher, as it is by the students own capacity to acquire the mater ial. Downes statement is exactly how our module is routined. The tutor has a certain role in the classroom but it is up to the student to obtain and research the necessary information to be prepared enough for the upcoming discussions. This collaboration experience in the classroom and online allowed different students give different responses and established a range of different perspectives on the topic discussed. In MacGregors view he states that Knowledge is shaped, over time, by successive conversations MacGregor (1990). The ability to relate to other students in the face to face session is helpful for other students who find it difficult to communicate in front of others and can benefit their own social skills. However the same goes for the online learning sessions on the module where the learning is catered to individual students and their different learning styles (Downes 1998). As Downes suggested the student can adapt the materials and discussions thrown at them and can re spond in a learning style that suits them. These different learning styles online without seeing peoples faces becomes a centre of excitement and motivation that we all can feel throught the discussions. Maslows theory of motivation describes how human actions are directed toward goal attainment. The esteem needs from Maslows hierarchical pyramid shows a link to the online learning sessions that as students we need the confidence, self-esteem and achievement when working and expressing our views online. To add to this experience it has a deeper impact on me when I answer a question and others respond to it. This built my own self esteem which is described by Maslows theory of motivation as the others were responding to my ideas and encouraged me to give more to the discussion. At times from the online session it was hard getting the topic discussion together as many in the small group didnt want to manage the talk. Gunawardena (1995) suggested that online learning lacks social inter action between students and teachers, as well as within peer groups themselves. I agree with Gunawardenas statement here because it was hard getting everyone to agree with a certain responsibility which slowed down the discussion process. It is difficult to recognise that our group needs a little help and guidance in our conversation but this is not established by the tutor as they are mainly floating between group discussions. I also found that in many of our discussions even though we had a small group, 1 or 2 members would not say anything at all. This then leaves the discussion on 2 people who are the most dominating of characters end up having a conversation between themselves and others are simply sitting and reading. With the online discussions weekly discussions are uploaded on the VLE before the group get together. If the online conversation becomes slow and undirected, I tend to look at a group discussion they placed on the VLE and give my own options on it. This tends to gear the conversation back up and others tend to join in. These posts at times gives me ideas that I hadnt thought of and enables me to respond to their posts so the other students know that other students have acknowledged them. Through the experiences on the online chats I have noticed that this type of interaction allows the opportunity for students to share their own reflections, give critical feedback and comment openly about the topic. If a question is asked from the tutor in lesson its apparent that the same 3 or 4 confident students (including me) will raise their hands and continually answer. The answers are spontaneous commonly on the spot with limited time that we have to discuss. However on the online environment, if the same question is answered its opens a new dimension of read, review and respond method that we have encountered on the course. This VLE learning and online discussions encourage the use of other resources such as internet links, course materials, discuss ions boards at my convenience to help elaborate group discussions. Evaluation ICT has changed dramatically from when ICT as an A level in my experience was simply reading, copying out of a book and then taking the exam. This module has developed my understanding of the intensity of ICT and how ICT can be differentiated in many ways through the range of different virtual worlds software packages. The different activities we entailed in the module were across the board where as I discussed before even different students from different backgrounds could explore. Calongne (2008) explains in his article that Virtual worlds support different learning styles and give students opportunities to explore, discover, and express their understanding of the subject. However the tools capabilities do not guarantee a great learning experience. This was the case on the module, even though there were different virtual softwares we experimented with some were not interesting at all. Only the software I felt I learned the most from were described in part 1 of this report even thou gh most of the software activities were similar to each other. I have learnt a lot about the resources available that I didnt know about and how it can be used in Learning. Applying for my Masters I was worried that I would not have the confidence or techniques to stand up in the classroom again however this module has given me more resources to help me in the future to enhance my lessons using different learning materials. I have always been interested in ICT choosing it at GCSE and A LEVEL and then following it through into my degree and PGCE course. ICT has impacted learning so much that everything is now based around PCs. The online lecturers which were part of the module were accessed at any convenient time and place. This enabled students in the UK and abroad to approach the module without any limitation and express ideas at a pace convenient to them. Online learning as experienced on this module has brought a new dimension to learning and allows the student to engage with oth er members of my class outside the university environment which helps build confidence amongst the group when we got together. The flexibility of not writing quick short hand notes in lecturers but the detail of discussion remains and I can easily read back anything I may have missed. The tutor in this instant can be seen as a guide to the discussions and gives us students the opportunity to express our opinions and comments on other comments. The classroom interactions are more for the students who prefer to gain more knowledge from other people but also establishing new friendships amongst the group and direct contact with the tutor. Within the learning environment from face to face sessions which are rather brief in my experience however it becomes at times a great ice breaker for those who tend to be the much shy students. Our tutor being the certain point in both the face to face and online sessions gives them plenty of experience to help avoid any future drawbacks from these s essions. This enables tutors to grip the potential of collaborative learning and pull together information from the module evaluations to improve the course as a whole. Conclusion Online learning can always have its advantages and disadvantages but technology is there as a tool for learning which is combined with the different teaching methods. It is the way the students respond, review and reflect which was a key aspect of learning in this module. Students explore education in many different ways and the course has allowed us to do this online and face to face. These are only 2 types of learning but more technology will be introduced and more ways of learning will be introduced. This can change how we learn today through the use of student social collaboration methods. As cited in Gibson (2007) Visions without action is a dream; action without vision, nightmare. If only there was a virtual simulation that can visualise the future of education and how a learning environment would look like which could give us an indication of how rapidly technology is changing.

Six Sigma Lean Production Systems

Six Sigma Lean Production Systems Nowadays, the development of industrial core intrinsic technologies is more and more important due to the dynamic competition in the global market. Companies have to keep and continuously upgrade their intrinsic technologies in the professional field to gain the sustainable competitive advantage. However, they also have to continuously upgrade their management technologies, and keep sensitive to the latest issues as well as their integration with companyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s current system. Otherwise, they still cannot survive in the market even though their intrinsic technologies are advanced. No matter how the management technologies be developed, they must emphasize their contribution to business performance, customer satisfaction and continuous improvement of the products or services. Moreover, the integration of different systems is an important issue today and tomorrow. This research will focus on à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Six Sigmaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Lean Production Systemà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? to discuss their integration based on the background and thoughts mentioned above. Six Sigma is one of the most popular quality initiatives recently. Lean Production System is the world famous production system developed and practiced by Toyota mobile company for a long time. It based on two concepts: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Just-In-Timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Jidohkaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. Both are based on the variation in thinking in order to improve business process, enhance quality, production and competitive position. Besides, the integration of them is viewed as a new trend in the next management wave. Moreover, regarding the industry characteristics, service industry is quite different from manufacturing industry. Even though there are more wastes and improvement opportunities, the application of Six Sigma, Lean Production System or their integration in service industry is quite few neither in literatures nor practice. This research proposes the Lean Six Sigma integration model based on the research gap and the practical need, and then adapt it for service industry. The model is named as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Lean Six Sigma for Service (LS3)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? in this research. It balances the viewpoints of internal and external customers, and gives consideration to the Lean speed as well as Six Sigma high quality. Also, this research tries to contribute to the enhancement of management technologies. 2. LITERATURES REVIEW 2.1. Introduction to Six Sigma Six Sigma is the major focus of many companies for its powerful breakthrough performance demonstrated in GE, Motorola etc. recently. Six Sigma can help companies to reduce cost, increase profits, keep current customers and create new customers. In brief, Six Sigma is a methodology to reduce the variation of every process and their interfaces to achieve a very high quality level. In statistical theory, six sigma is an ideal target value, and expressed as: 6à Ã†â€™. It means when the process or product we observed under a normal distribution, the probability of a specific attribute value shifts from the mean about positive or negative six standard deviation would be 0.002 part per million (ppm). Motorola company found a phenomenon that the process mean would shift around the center point of specifications in a long-term processing, and the shifting range would be about positive or negative 1.5 standard deviations from the center point of specifications. Hence, Motorola company modified the statistical meaning of six sigma. The definition can allow the sample mean shifts from the center of the population, and the observed process or product would out lie the six sigma limits only 3.4 times per million operations under the original specifications. In addition, the sigma performance can also be expressed by à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Defect Per Million Operations (DPMO)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? shown as Table 1. Table 1. DPMO and Sigma Performance Yield DPMO Shift from Mean Popular Age 6.68 % 933200  ± 0à Ã†â€™ 30.9 % 690000  ± 1à Ã†â€™ 69.2 % 308000  ± 2à Ã†â€™ 1970s 93.3 % 66800  ± 3à Ã†â€™ 1980s 99.4 % 6210  ± 4à Ã†â€™ Early 1990s 99.98 % 320  ± 5à Ã†â€™ Mid 1990s 99.9997 % 3.4  ± 6à Ã†â€™ 2000s Six Sigma means the world leading quality level. More and more companies understand to use Six Sigma to improve the process quality so as to achieve the business dramatic performance. This is because Six Sigma requires the quantitative measurements and analyses of the core business processes as well as suppliersà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ involved processes. Originally, Six Sigma methodology is applied to manufacturing industries. However, the applications of Six Sigma are no longer be limited in manufacturing processes today. Keim (2001) demonstrated Six Sigma is very suitable to improve the service performance by two real cases. Paul (2001) pointed that the recent trends in Six Sigma are: emphasis on cycle time reduction, smaller business deployment, and integration with other initiatives. As the Six Sigma market grows, so does the availability of organizations to assist in deployment and integration. This availability of technical expertise allows smaller businesses realistically consider Six Sigma deployment with minimal economic investment. Besides, due to the central concern of Six Sigma is to pursue the customer satisfaction and business performance, we can view Six Sigma a main structure while integrating with other initiatives. As for the integrating initiatives such as Lean Production System, Total Quality Management or Quality Costs etc. depend on the different requirements of each company. 2.2. Introduction to Lean Production System Lean Production System (also called Toyota Production System) is the world famous production system developed and practiced by Toyota mobile company for a long time. It based on two concepts: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Just-In-Timeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? and à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Jidohkaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. This kind of production system is very flexible to the dynamic change of market demands, and Lean Production System is established by many small group improvement activities to eliminate all kinds of wastes in the business. An important literature written by Spear and Bowen (1999) published in Harvard Business Review pointed that, the Toyota Production System and the scientific method that underpins it were not imposed on Toyota à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" they were not even chosen consciously. The system grew naturally out of the workings of the company over five decades. As a result, it has never been written down, and Toyotaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s workers often are not able to articulate it. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s why ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s so hard for outsiders to grasp. In the article, Spear and Bowen attempted to lay out how Toyotaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s system works. They tried to make explicit what is implicit. Finally, they described four principles à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" three rules of design, which show how Toyota sets up all its operations as experiments, and one rule of improvement, which describes how Toyota teaches the scientific method to workers at every level of the organization. It is these rules à ¢Ã¢â€ š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å"and not the specific practices and tools that people observe during their plant visits à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å" that in their opinion form the essence of Toyotaà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s system. Hence the two authors called the rules as the DNA of the Toyota Production System. These rules guided the design, operation, and improvement of every activity, connection, and pathway for every product and service. The rules are as follows: Rule 1: All work shall be highly specified as to content, sequence, timing, and outcome. Rule 2: Every customer-supplier connection must be direct, and there must be an unambiguous yes-or-no way to send requests and receive responses. Rule 3: The pathway for every product and service must be simple and direct. Rule 4: Any improvement must be made in accordance with the scientific method, under the guidance of a teacher, at the lowest possible level in the organization. All the rules require that activities, connections, and flow paths have built-in tests to signal problems automatically. It is the continual response to problems that makes this seemingly rigid system so flexible and adaptable to changing circumstances. 2.3. Four Characteristics of Service Industry Recently, due to the economic and international trading environmental change, the structures of many companies are also changed. The growth of service industries rapidly chases the growth of manufacturing industries. Especially for the current situation in Taiwan, many factories are moving to mainland China. Hence, the needs for service industries to fill in the space of economic activities become very huge. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s why service industries play an important role in the economic development recently. This research concludes the four characteristics of service industries based on the literatures written by Kotler (1997), Regan (1963) and Zeithmal, Parasur Berry (1985) as follows: Intangibility: It means that services can be consumed and perceived, but they cannot easy to be objective measured like the manufactured products. Thatà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s why there is usually a perception gap between the service provider and consumer. Variability: It means that services are delivered by people, so the service quality may change depending on different time, people and consumer perception. That is, the variability of services. Perishability: Unlike the tangible manufactured products, services cannot be inventoried. They are delivered simultaneously while the demands from consumers appear. Once the demands disappear, the services perish. Inseparability: Since the delivery and consumption of services almost be done simultaneously. Hence the interactions between servers and consumers play an important role on the evaluation of service quality. Consumers evaluate the service quality on the moment of consuming the service. That is, the inseparability of services. 3. MODEL CONSTRUCTION This research proposes an integration model of Six Sigma and Lean Production System for service industry called as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Lean Six Sigma for Service (LS3)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. In practice, the first stage is to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Leadà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? the process improvement project by hearing the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Voice of Customer (VOC)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. The project identification and its scope must be clarified so as to serve the customers more efficiently and effectively by the improvement. The à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Leadà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? stage provides the project team a well-defined scope of the problem they are faced. Hence the major mission of the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Studyà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? stage is to measure the current status or level by quantitative data, and then to analyze how the problem affects the process. By the collection of à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Voice of Process (VOP)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?, the project team can try to converge the problem and begin to find out its root causes. Moreover, no matter what the process indicators are, the project team has to well define them first, and to explain the purpose as well as the use of each indicator. Most important of all, the performance indicatorsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ definition and their evaluation methods must be agreed and confirmed by the people involved. Ità ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s very important to detail record the performance levels and action results for the further enhancement of service processes. After studying and analyzing the current status of the service process targeted, the third stage is to draw up problem solving countermeasures. The countermeasures must be transformed to the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Voice of Server (VOS)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? so as to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Smoothà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? the whole service process. It is hoped to reduce the defects and speed up the service delivery by the verification of performance indicators. Therefore, the project team will propose some education and training plans for the coming countermeasuresà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢ conduction. The project team can measure if the project target achieved or not by the proposed countermeasures so as to continuously monitor and control the better results. At this time, the project team has to à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Sustainà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? the operating stability of the service process. Therefore, the purpose of this stage is to confirm the result, the effectiveness of the countermeasures and if there is any side effect. Once these things are confirmed feasible, the project team can view the knowledge and experiences as the base of knowledge management and technology accumulation. Finally, the knowledge and experiences must be diffused and deployed throughout the organization so as to be the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Voice of Business (VOB)à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?. The LS3 operating model proposed by this research shown as follows: Figure 1. Structure of Implementing LS3 The key points and tools of implementing LS3 are concluded by this research and shown as Table 2. Moreover, the tools of LS3 are also shown as Figure 2. Table 2. Key Points and Tools of Implementing LS3 LS3 Activities Tools Lead Lead the process improvement projects by hearing the voice of customer (VOC) Identify the process improvement project Define the project performance indicators Select the project team members Accomplish the project charter and job assignments Market survey Project charter Annual police deployment Quality function deployment Value stream analysis Study Study and analyze the current status of targeted process to get the voice of process (VOP) Observe the actual process, and measure the baseline Analyze the collected data to understand the present situation Confirm the problem and critical-to-quality Process mapping Measurement system analysis Motion and time study Multi-vari analysis Cause and effect matrix Process capability analysis Time value analysis Smooth Propose the countermeasures, and transform them into the voice of server (VOS) to smooth the service process Draw up the improvement countermeasures Implement the countermeasures to accelerate the service delivery Confirm the results by performance indicators 5S Operation balancing Rapid operation switching Visual management Eliminate, combine, rearrangement, simplify Process reengineering Failure mode and effect analysis Sustain Sustain and control the project results, and spread out the organization to be the Voice of Business (VOB) Standardize the effective countermeasures to sustain the results Continuous control the improvement level Design the job value of employees in the service process Knowledge diffusion and application Control chart Check list Process standardization Error proofing Education and training Figure 2. Tools of Implementing LS3 4. CONCLUSION Due to the limitation of practical resources, the LS3 model demonstration by a real case could not be included in this research. Therefore, this research used the questionnaire survey to verify the theoretical logic and feasibility of LS3 structure. We interviewed several Lean Production and Six Sigma experts and consultants, and we expect to provide a base of verification by their experiences and knowledge. Finally, we conclude the agreements and suggestions of the experts as follows: All the experts and consultants agreed the theoretical structure of the proposed model by this research, and expressed the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“very much agreeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? level on the logic, implementing steps and their contents. All the experts and consultants expressed the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“very agreeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? level on the proposed model with PDCA management cycle. All the experts and consultants expressed at least the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“agreeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? level on the fitness for use of the proposed tools. Some experts considered that the names of some tools originally be applied in manufacturing industry should be changed to be well understood in service industry. In addition, all the experts and consultants considered that the tools mostly applied in manufacturing industry should also be applied to service industry. This is because there are huge demands and expectations of these tools in service industry based on their experiences and observations. Hence they deeply agreed the proposed model by this research contains the tools for reference. All the experts and consultants expressed the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“very agreeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? level on the proposed model really integrated the principles of Six Sigma and Lean Production System. Some experts suggested we could emphasize the principles of Lean Production System a little more. All the experts and consultants expressed the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“very agreeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? level on the feasibility of applying this model to the service industry. All the experts and consultants expressed the à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“very agreeà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? level on the practical value of this proposed model, and they also expressed that they will refer the structure to demonstrate it if there is any suitable opportunity in the near future. Therefore, we conclude the agreements and suggestions by the experts as follows: all the experts agreed the proposed model by this research on the whole structure, implementing steps and tools planned. They also expressed the practical value and operational feasibility of this model is very high. Moreover, all the experts agreed this model on the fitness for use in the service industry, and they will refer this model to demonstrate it when there is any opportunity in the near future.