Analysis of The Lottery by Shirley Jackson

When Shirley Jacksons chilling story The Lottery was first published in 1948 in The New Yorker, it generated more letters than any work of fiction the magazine had ever published. Readers were furious, disgusted, occasionally curious, and almost uniformly bewildered. The public outcry over the story can be attributed, in part, to The New Yorkers practice at the time of publishing works without identifying them as fact or fiction. Readers were also presumably still reeling from the horrors of World War II. Yet, though times have changed and we all now know the story is fiction, The Lottery has maintained its grip on readers decade after decade. The Lottery is one of the most widely known stories in American literature and American culture. It has been adapted for radio, theater, television, and even ballet. The Simpsons television show included a reference to the story in its Dog of Death episode (season three). The Lottery is available to subscribers of The New Yorker and is also available in The Lottery and Other Stories, a collection of Jacksons work with an introduction by the writer A. M. Homes. You can hear Homes read and discuss the story with fiction editor Deborah Treisman at The New Yorker for free. Plot Summary The Lottery takes place on June 27, a beautiful summer day, in a small New England village where all the residents are gathering for their traditional annual lottery. Though the event first appears festive, it soon becomes clear that no one wants to win the lottery. Tessie Hutchinson seems unconcerned about the tradition until her family draws the dreaded mark. Then she protests that the process wasnt fair. The winner, it turns out, will be stoned to death by the remaining residents. Tessie wins, and the story closes as the villagers—including her own family members—begin to throw rocks at her. Dissonant Contrasts The story achieves its terrifying effect primarily through Jacksons skillful use of contrasts, through which she keeps the readers expectations at odds with the action of the story. The picturesque setting contrasts sharply with the horrific violence of the conclusion. The story takes place on a beautiful summer day with flowers blossoming profusely and the grass richly green. When the boys begin gathering stones, it seems like typical, playful behavior, and readers might imagine that everyone has gathered for something pleasant like a picnic or a parade. Just as fine weather and family gatherings might lead us to expect something positive, so, too, does the word lottery, which usually implies something good for the winner. Learning what the winner really gets is all the more horrifying because we have expected the opposite. Like the peaceful setting, the villagers casual attitude as they make small talk— some even cracking jokes—belies the violence to come. The narrators perspective seems completely aligned with the villagers, so events are narrated in the same matter-of-fact, everyday manner that the villagers use. The narrator notes, for instance, that the town is small enough that the lottery can be through in time to allow the villagers to get home for noon dinner. The men stand around talking of ordinary concerns like planting and rain, tractors and taxes. The lottery, like the square dances, the teenage club, the Halloween program, is just another of the civic activities conducted by Mr. Summers. Readers may find that the addition of murder makes the lottery quite different from a square dance, but the villagers and the narrator evidently do not. Hints of Unease If the villagers were thoroughly numb to the violence—if Jackson had misled her readers entirely about where the story was heading—I dont think The Lottery would still be famous. But as the story progresses, Jackson gives escalating clues to indicate that something is amiss. Before the lottery starts, the villagers keep their distance from the stool with the black box on it, and they hesitate when Mr. Summers asks for help. This is not necessarily the reaction you might expect from people who are looking forward to the lottery. It also seems somewhat unexpected that the villagers talk as if drawing the tickets is difficult work that requires a man to do it. Mr. Summers asks Janey Dunbar, Dont you have a grown boy to do it for you, Janey? And everyone praises the Watson boy for drawing for his family. Glad to see your mothers got a man to do it, says someone in the crowd. The lottery itself is tense. People do not look around at each other. Mr. Summers and the men drawing slips of paper grin at one another nervously and humorously. On first reading, these details might strike the reader as odd, but they can be explained in a variety of ways -- for instance, that people are very nervous because they want to win. Yet when Tessie Hutchinson cries, It wasnt fair! readers realize there has been an undercurrent of tension and violence in the story all along. What Does The Lottery Mean? As with many stories, there have been countless interpretations of The Lottery. For instance, the story has been read as a comment on World War II or as a Marxist critique of an entrenched social order. Many readers find Tessie Hutchinson to be a reference to Anne Hutchinson, who was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for religious reasons. (But its worth noting that Tessie doesnt really protest the lottery on principle—she protests only her own death sentence.) Regardless of which interpretation you favor, The Lottery is, at its core, a story about the human capacity for violence, especially when that violence is couched in an appeal to tradition or social order. Jacksons narrator tells us that no one liked to upset even as much tradition as was represented by the black box. But although the villagers like to imagine that theyre preserving tradition, the truth is that they remember very few details, and the box itself is not the original. Rumors swirl about songs and salutes, but no one seems to know how the tradition started or what the details should be. The only thing that remains consistent is the violence, which gives some indication of the villagers priorities (and perhaps all of humanitys). Jackson writes, Although the villagers had forgotten the ritual and lost the original black box, they still remembered to use stones. One of the starkest moments in the story is when the narrator bluntly states, A stone hit her on the side of the head. From a grammatical standpoint, the sentence is structured so that no one actually threw the stone—its as if the stone hit Tessie of its own accord. All the villagers participate (even giving Tessies young son some pebbles to throw), so no one individually takes responsibility for the murder. And that, to me, is Jacksons most compelling explanation of why this barbaric tradition manages to continue.

Joining in Counselling - 2475 Words

Introduction Counselling, in the profession, refers to the creation of relationships that are helpful and positive between a counselor and a client. Counselling is intended to aid in adjustment and growth. Usually a client come to counsellors when they do not how to change so that they can lead a better and satisfying life. There are many skills and concepts that makes a great counsellor but in this essay, I will go back to the most fundamental basic skill which is joining. As with all counselling sessions, joining with the client is very essential to build the rapport with our client so that we are able to work together to identify and achieve the contracted goals. Having a good rapport with client is one of the active†¦show more content†¦Counsellor can noncoercively invite client to talk by using door opener like You dont seem to look very happy. you seem to be burdened by something. Care to talk about it? For clients who plunge straight to their issues, this will not be necessary. But sometimes, client might be in the midst of conversations, and might show signs that he is unsure of continuing, door opener like Im interested in hearing more about it. may help facilitate the conversation. Moving further on in the counselling session, the counsellor must be able to tune in with client. Being on the same wavelength is important aspect of joining. By tuning in to the other individual past experiences that made them who they are today, we will be able to understand their beliefs and principle is life whoich resulted from their each unique experiences. By doing so, we will be able to respect and value our client as an individual thus building mutual respect between us and the client in the relationship. This will also refrain us from talking down to our client but instead will be able to get along well. This is what we need to acheive as counsellors. Listening is a vital component of joining as we will be attending to clients who expect solutions from their counsellor. The primary role of a counsellor is to deliberately and intentionally listen to our client. Before expecting solutions, they will unload what is troubling them. If the counsellor talk and input alot intoShow MoreRelatedThe Importance of Ethics in Counselling904 Words   |  4 Pagesspiritual values. Within the counselling profession however there is a strict ethical framework which must be adhered to. This framework has been developed over the years to insure integrity, confidentiality, and responsibility on the part of the counsellor. In this essay I will discuss briefly the importance of ethics within the counselling profession, I will also outline a few of the major ethical dilemmas that might possibly arise while working in the field of counselling. â€Å"The primary role ofRead MoreStrategies For Improving Hiv Counselling Services Essay1450 Words   |  6 PagesFor this research, AI will aim to empower HIV clients and counsellors as co-researchers, to contribute their expertise and experiences to propose ways of improving HIV counselling services. AI is a participative, collaborative, and a systematic approach to inquiry that seeks what is right in an organisation in order to create the desired future. It is a process and method for asking questions designed to strengthen a system’s capacity for organisational learning and creativity (Preskill CoghlanRead MoreYouth Gangs In Canada886 Words   |  4 PagesCanada is becoming more and more of issue. Adolescents across Canada resort to joining youth gangs for many different reasons. A youth gang is a group of young adolescents who use intimidation and violence to gain prestige among other gangs and control certain areas of unlawful activities. For all the reasons an adol escent would join a youth gang, police and the Government have come up with programs to prevent youth from joining and to get them to leave the gangs. With programs involving prevention, interventionRead MoreThe Ethics Of Ethics Approval Essay1006 Words   |  5 Pagesbe taken and only audio recording and notes will be taken. A facilitator will be employed to assist with the FGDs; preferably someone with experience of working with community groups. He/she will be asked to sign the confidentiality clause before joining. Maintaining confidentiality between the co-researchers is not possible during the FDGs as the co-researchers will be interacting with each other and sharing their ideas. There is still a risk of identification, however, as the focus is on what worksRead MoreNegative Effects Of Divorce1409 Words   |  6 Pagesyoung age, it can create a situation that does not allow for academic success. Many school systems have interventionists who can step in and either provide cou nselling assistance or academic assistance. Children that exhibit extreme behavioral issues at school may be tested by the school district s special education department. The counselling department may also step in and refer the child to a community agency. The other interventionists, like speech language pathologists, step in to assist withRead MoreEssay on Counselling Skills2275 Words   |  10 PagesThe counselling process is based on the exchange of emotions between the client and the counsellor which aims to form an alliance (Hough, 1998). It involves the counsellor using skills in which they possess in order to communicate effectively with clients (Hough, 1998). This reflective essay clearly articulates my application of counselling skills used in this practice session and suggestions for improvement. It will provide a summary of the session, identification of a range of skills used and aRead MoreThe Health Belief Model Of The United States1367 Words   |  6 Pageshealth pr omoter and participant will review the results of the Health Belief Model questionnaire and acquire additional information from the participant. Based on this information, the health promoter will develop an individualized counselling program. Subsequent counselling sessions will focus on different aspects of the Health Belief Model. If the participant has a low perceived susceptibility, the health promoter and participant could discuss the relationship between family history and lifestyleRead MoreAssessment Of A Relationship With The Family1640 Words   |  7 Pagesand alliance with the family members. This alliance is built through joining. Though joining does not consist of a set of techniques or methods, but is rather of way of being for the therapist to show respect, curiosity, empathy and commitment (Minuchin, Reiter, Borda, 2014a). By joining with the family, the therapist will be able to actively engage and challenge the members to uncover the explicit and implicit issues. Joining necessitates that the therapist is initially accepts the family’s organizationRead More A Therapeutic Relationship Essay2156 Words   |  9 Pageswe do have an understanding of basic counselling skills and how they are applied a t a ward level and as such it is more important as a registered nurse to establish a proactive therapeutic relationship with a patient than it is to use an appropriate counselling approach. This paper will examine what counselling is, the role of the nurse counsellor, the basic counselling skills used by registered nurses and the differences in counselling approaches. Counselling and psychotherapy are frequently usedRead MoreWork Effectively with in Mental Health 21503784 Words   |  4 Pagesnot have sufficient knowledge or experience to be sure of his sexual preference. He would like Lee to receive counselling to help ‘sort this problem out’. What advice would you give Frank? You must remember to be respectful of Frank’s opinion and views. I would offer Frank information on homosexuality so he may better understand his son’s sexual preference and also suggest joining a support group. Frank cannot be told how to feel about his son’s sexuality, but giving him information may help

Brain and Language Free Essays

Damasio and Damasio (1992) discussed the detailed mechanics of language processing by the human brain. Their article, first established a general understanding of such concepts as the brain’s ability to categorize and classify word-forms through the mediation of the human sensors. According to their article, the brain’s left and right hemispheres contains three neural structures. We will write a custom essay sample on Brain and Language or any similar topic only for you Order Now The first extensive structure processes the non-verbal representations organizing objects, events, and relationships. Second structure, located only in the left hemisphere is responsible for producing the language through and with phonemes, phonemic and syntactic structures with the resulting word-forms. They referred to the third structure as a mediating structure that can change the concept into the word form or vice versa. Their further discourse proceeded into the specifics of the brain anatomy and various effects of the damage or lesions of the portions of the brain. Their examples with the color recognition were particularly impressive when they described the condition known as achromatopsia – lack of ability to perceive colors (i. e. seeing the environment in the shades of gray). The article was especially effective in describing the complicated mechanism behind the color recognition, color categorization and classification, and producing the correct word-form for the specific color. The article argues against the traditionally thought the â€Å"pictorial† representations of the objects, persons, or any combination of the environmental experiences but instead the authors describe their theory of how records of neural activity are stored in the sensory and motor cortices. Such patterns of synaptic activity also act through and with associations on which one particular object will associate with the patterns of color, shape, usage, tactile perceptions, and the feelings that a person has usually when using this object. The authors further state that the neural actions that occur as the result of interaction between the person and the object happen in different functional areas of the brain and come together in areas of â€Å"convergence† of synaptic connections. Then recall of the event and its associated experiences depend upon simultaneous reactivation of the neural actions within the neuron assemblies when those fire simultaneously and reactivate the previously occurred patterns of neural activity. Simultaneously, the categorization and classification occurs in such similar or related neural actions are activated together. The categorization and classification abilities of the first neural structure make it possible to distinguish objects by their characteristics and function ‘stored’ previously, as Damasio and Damasio describe the example with a coffee cup. Such ‘recollection’ is perhaps responsible for the brain’s ability to express the formed within concept and to understand a comprehensive input as the concept. The article further exemplifies a curious condition in which a patient would loose an ability to define a concept for a unique entity (like an animal species in the author’s example). From this example, the reader would learn that the affected patient would not be able to name any animal species (i. e. raccoon) nor would say its size, color, or shape. He would simply say â€Å"animal† when presented with the picture of a raccoon (Damasio Damasio, 1992). When describing the affect produced by the specific lesion of the portion within the left hemisphere, the authors wrote about the earlier discovery by Paul Broca and Carl Wernicke of the phenomenon called ‘cerebral dominance’ which specifically pointed out at the left hemisphere as the organ responsible for the production and processing of human language in â€Å"99 percent of right-handed and two-thirds of left handers. † The article confirms these studied by briefly discussing the research by Edward Klima of the University of California at San Diego and Ursula Bellugi of the Salk Institute of Biological Studies in San Diego who have discovered that aphasia (condition that impedes language-interpreting ability) is caused by damage to the particular region of the left hemisphere of the brain. Using the aphasic patients, the investigators were able to map the neural activities responsible for the formation of the language and its interpretation (also including other variations of language such as sign language) (Damasio Damasio, 1992). With having a map in front of them, the neuroscientists and other field investigators would be able to specify exactly which function would be impaired as the result of damage to which portion of the left hemisphere. This would also extend to the predictive ability as far as other functions of the whole language production mechanism are concerned. Example of such can be actual production of speech sounds, intonation (i. e. speaking in a ‘flat tone’, long pauses between the words and defective grammar), the impairment of associative and habit learning, production of nouns, production of verbs (nouns and verbs are produced and processed in different regions), difficulty understanding meanings that represent the syntactic structures, and the inability to understand the meaning of non-reversible passive structures. The authors further attempt to defend their point of view in favor of the mediating system between the structure that is responsible for concept processing and the system that actually produces word and word structures. According to them, the mediating system’s function would be that of the selection of the correct meaning of lexicon or that connecting the concepts’ interrelationship. It is understood that mediation system is mostly activated when the person attempts to understand the comprehensive input. The purpose of comprehension sets in motion the mediating system that is capable of bringing associative connections between the concepts, particular experiences, and generalized experiences together. To exemplify their view, the authors mention A. N. and L. R. as patients who have a problem in retrieval of common nouns representing certain entities. Their deficit in the specific word-form retrieval is causes by their inability to activate the mediation system that deprives them of the ability to bring the connection between the concepts (i. e. of the noun and what that noun represents as far as the object and its function). Damasio and Damasio explained such selective deficiency by stating that the selectivity in conceptualization of entities depends upon the absence or presence of the personal relation of the patient to the entity/concept. By loosing the function of some regions of the left hemisphere, the patients will respond by loosing the specific speech/conceptualization function that is mapped to that region. In A. N. and L. R. case it was the damage to anterior and midtemporal cortices that rendered them unable to pick may common nouns. The article concludes with the detailed discourse into the studies by the group of researchers at Washington University. Specifically, this group was interested in the production and interpretation of verbs and functors and how the nouns can be mediated together with the appropriate actions, like the noun ‘apple’ would mediate with the verb ‘eat. ’ Their conclusions illustrated a situation in which the damage to the certain left hemisphere regions would disrupt such association rendering the patient unable to produce the appropriate verb and further disrupting their use of grammar (Damasio Damasio, 1992). The article was comprehensive in its purpose in terms of being able to describe the complex structure and function of the left hemisphere’s regions responsible for processing, production, and mediation of the components of human language. The only critique of the article that I have is that the authors attempted to place too much of very specific information into a very small format. The complexity of the concepts behind the message would be better delivered if more practical examples were used and the text would be delineated with a larger number of lay terms. In general, the article’s audience appeared to be professionals or paraprofessionals who already had a significant understanding within the field. It would be difficult to understand for people with a limited knowledge and background within the field. The illustrations were adequate and the sources appropriate in both quality and quantity. My suggestion for the further research would be targeting the Visio-Spatial Memory Units that are units of memory assembled from different perceptual input within the Working Memory (Baddely, 1992). Further, my suggestion would be to investigate the alternative approaches to the definition and theoretical function-ability of the short-term memory. References Baddeley AD. 1992. Working memory. Science 255:556-59 Damasio, A. R. , Damasio, H. (1992). Brain and Language, Scientific American, pg. 89- 95, Retrieved June 28, 2007 from http://www. utdallas. edu/~wkatz/Proseminar_articles. html How to cite Brain and Language, Papers

My Summers free essay sample

With a tremendous bang, the top of the port diesel engine exploded and smashed a huge hole in the deck, leaving a smoking crater and scattering splatters of flaming diesel fuel everywhere. As I tried desperately to think what to do, I suddenly felt a tremendous crack on my forehead as it smacked into something hard: the bunk above mine. I jolted awake and realized that I had been dreaming in the narrow bunk that was my home on the majestic pungy schooner Lady Maryland. As I rubbed my forehead to ease the pain, I glanced at my watch, which dutifully informed me that it was 1:57:29 AM on July 3, 2008. Two short hours of wakeful sleep were all I was going to get today, I realized as I rolled out of my bunk, stretching and yawning. I secured my life vest as I climbed up a creaky wooden ladder into the chilly night air and onto the slowly rocking deck to report for duty. We will write a custom essay sample on My Summers or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Until dawn, I, in the company of the chief mate, was to pilot the ship through a night lit only by skyglow a few miles from the New Jersey shore, with merely a compass to guide me. As I piloted the boat calmly through the five-foot swells, I reflected on how I came to be in that position. I remembered taking my SATs in seventh grade to make it into a summer camp that was run, in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University, by an organization called the Center for Talented Youth (CTY). I remembered thinking that I was crazy to want to spend three weeks away from home on an old sailboat and a college campus studying whales (of all things), when I wanted to become an engineer. I spent a total of twenty days studying whales: nine days on the Lady Maryland and eleven days at the College of Notre Dame. It was the best experience I have ever had. Looking back, I now realize how narrow-minded I was before that experience. I can only imagine the experiences I would have had if I was more open regarding new opportunities. From this experience, I learned that it is very important to always keep an open mind when you are given the opportunity to try something new. Here I now stand as a prospective engineering student with a newfound interest in marine biology; a person that has had the honor of piloting the world’s last pungy schooner through the most treacherous waters on the East Coast: Hell’s Gate; a person whose interests now range from music to politics, from building Legos to cooking, and it’s all because of the experiences I had on the Lady Maryland and at CTY. Now I always take advantage of any new opportunity I am presented with because I’ve learned that when you try something new, you discover something interesting about yourself, and you open yourself to all the experiences the world has to offer.

Research Paper on Cyber Bullying Essay Example

Research Paper on Cyber Bullying Essay Cyber bullying is the process, during which the Internet is used to harm and abuse people. Cyber bullying is really becoming more and more popular especially among teenagers, young people, who use the Internet technologies to hurt their friends or class mates. In is generally known that nearly every child who studies at school and has an account in social networks is a victim of cyber bullying and receives instant massages which contain threats and rude content. Most often the messages are not dangerous, because it is mostly a joke of young people who entertain themselves in such a weird way, but many targets of cyber bullying are very sensitive and treat every message seriously. As a result many teenagers, especially the ones, who possess low self esteem are stressed, frightened and even depressed. If one receives messages very often, he might get problems with psychics. In order to protect young people from cyber bullying parents and teachers should control the time spent in front of the PC and if the emails and messages are very serious – should ask the police for help. Very soon cyber bullying will be considered like a serious crime in order to regulate the situation and protect people from the unnecessary negative emotions in the web. We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper on Cyber Bullying specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper on Cyber Bullying specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Research Paper on Cyber Bullying specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer Today cyber bullying is the favorite entertainment of young people, that is why the situation with this problem is very tensing. More and more people suffer from cyber bullying and the government, including the police do their best to stop this process or at least reduce it. Students who study sociology and psychology often choose to write about cyber bullying, because they have fresh ideas aimed to solve the problem once for all. A student writing the research is expected to present the background of the problem, its cause and effect aspects, types of cyber bullying, what categories of people are the targets and with what ways people are abused in the Internet. Moreover, every student is supposed to present wise solutions of the problem which will be new and effective. Like every assignment, research paper writing is a difficult job for a young person. One has to read a lot about the problem under research and improve his knowledge on the topic. Besides, it is recommended to read free sample research papers on cyber bullying information in the web. Free papers are often completed by professional writers who are the experts in the topics they research and write about. On the other hand, no matter what the quality of the sample is, it will be a good help for every student. Every free example research paper on cyber bullying stories will teach a student to write a paper successfully. CAUTION! Free research paper samples and research proposal examples on Cyber Bullying are 100% plagiarized!!! At EssayLib.com custom writing service you can buy a custom research paper on Cyber Bullying topics. Your research paper will be written from scratch. We hire top-rated Ph.D. and Master’s writers only to provide students with professional research paper assistance at affordable rates. Each customer will get a non-plagiarized paper with timely delivery. Just visit our website and fill in the order form with all paper details: Enjoy our professional research paper writing service!

Scientific Hypothesis Examples

Scientific Hypothesis Examples A hypothesis represents an educated guess about what you think will happen, based on your observations. Before experimenting, you propose a hypothesis so that you can determine whether your prediction is supported. There are several ways you can state a hypothesis. The best hypothesis is one you can test and easily refute. Why would you want to disprove or discard your hypothesis? Its because this is the easiest way to demonstrate two factors are related. What are some examples of a hypothesis? Hypothesis Examples Hypothesis: All forks have three tines.Disproven if you find any fork with a different number of tines.Hypothesis: There is no relationship between smoking and lung cancer.While it is difficult to establish cause and effect in health issues, you can apply statistics to data to discredit this hypothesis or to support it, if the rates of lung cancer are the same between smokers and non-smokers.Hypothesis: Plants require liquid water to survive.Disproven if you find a plant that doesnt need it.Hypothesis: Cats do not show a paw preference (cat equivalent to being right- or left-handed).You could gather data about the number of times cats bat at a toy with either paw and analyze the data to determine whether cats, on the whole, favor one paw over the other. Be careful here, because individual cats, like people, might (or might not) express a preference.Hypothesis: If plants are watered with a 10% detergent solution, their growth will be negatively affected.Some people prefer to state a h ypothesis in an If, then format. An alternate hypothesis might be: Plant growth will be unaffected by water with a 10% detergent solution. What hypothesis would you use? Youre welcome to post a reply offering additional hypothesis examples or discussing the type of hypothesis you prefer to formulate and test.

Service Capabilities Vignettes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Service Capabilities Vignettes - Assignment Example Navy Services The services have the capability to operate in any threat environment expanded warfare capability on both land and at sea thus a good way to provide operational freedom. The Naval services have a composition and capabilities of major deployment elements. These elements are the Carrier Strike Group, Ambitious Ready Group, Surface Strike Group and Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force. The Carrier Strike Group offers its services in all threat environments. It has the capabilities to offer full support in non-permissive environment. This is because it has all the anti-ship missiles, ballistic missiles, fighter aircrafts, electromagnetic jammers, cruise missile equipped surface combatants and submarines. These war weapons ensure that the group has the force power to offer great services in time of any crisis. The Amphibious Ready Group consist of three amphibious ships with naval elements, a fleet of surgical team which offers medical capabilities, Tactical Air Control Squadron and both displacement and non-displacement landing crafts. The Surface Strike Group capabilities support crisis response missions or sustained missions and may employed in limited non-permissive environments characterized by multiple threats. In this case therefore, it offers passive surveillance and tracking, passive defense and early warning, strike operations and sea control. It is equipped with three surface ships: two strike capable surface combatants and one surface combatant ship. With these equipments, the Surface Strike Groups capabilities include maritime ballistic missile defense. The Naval Fleet Auxiliary Force has forty ships that act as supply lines to the U.S. Navy ships at sea. Ideally, the group provides everything to the Navy fleet to remain at sea, on station and combat ready for extended periods. In addition, it conducts towing, rescue and salvage operations. With such capabilities, they can support initial crisis response missions in non-permissive environments char acterized by multiple threats. Algeria is an uncertain environment because its Islamic militia wants to overturn the government as well as intrude into the Moroccan territory. This means it does not support any US military services. The U.S. Army Services The army services play a critical role in any type of calamity. It protects its people as well as the resources that are of great interest to the people. Title 10 USC is an army inside an army that has the land combat and service forces. It offers prompt and sustained combat incident to operations on land. Therefore, it responsible for the preparation of all land forces necessary for effective prosecution of war. The army is organized into three Army Commands (TRADOC, FORSCOM and AMC), nine other commands that are Army Service Component Commands (ASCC) of unified or sub unified combatant commands and eleven direct reporting units. Army Service Component Command or rather the Theater Army is responsible for organizing, equipping, tr aining, maintaining and logistically sustaining the army forces. It has the capabilities to maneuver large land-force weaponry during offensive attacks thus capable of long-range strategic and operational missions. Maturity of the theater always has a great influence on the army capabilities because it determines how the army force will operate. It therefore will be based as the Joint task Force- capable headquarters to control all the forces for effectiveness. The Army commands include the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine

Define your concept of a college education, and what a college Essay

Define your concept of a college education, and what a college education means to you - Essay Example This paper will attempt to explore the importance of college education in an individual’s life and why is it worth the amount of time, hard work and money that students invests on their college education. Tamara Draut in her article ‘Whats a Diploma Worth, Anyway?’ quotes, â€Å"Getting a bachelors degree is the required ticket for entry into the middle class today, but the security once implied in that status is gone. In addition to the exigencies now felt by middle-class Americans of all ages -- rising health care costs, soaring home prices and flat or falling incomes -- todays new generation of college grads bear an added vulnerability of massive debt† (Draut, 203). Personally speaking, nothing is further from truth. College education serves a more profound purpose than providing a promising for a prosperous life. Several evidences points to this very fact. First, not all people, who graduate from elite branded colleges, end up successful and neither all the graduates of mediocre schools stay unsuccessful all their lives. On the contrary, everyone hear rags-to-riches stories about people who attended mediocre colleges or did not go to one at all and did great. Examples include Bill Gates, the founder of Windows and Steve Jobs, the creator and owner of Apple. In addition, there are evidences of graduates of Harvard, Stanford, and Cambridge working at mediocre companies and living an average life. Thus, there is no black and white rule that promises successful prospects after college education. The question now arises, why go to college if a dropout can achieve so much more without a degree? How is it prudent to invest so much money and time in a venture, which is not even remotely reassuring of a good future? The answer lies in under the covers of salary, degree, and fame. The college education serves the purpose of character building. It deepens the attitude and dampens the soul of those who take it seriously. When one studies the

Understanding Traumatic Migrant Sex Workers and Trafficked Women Essay

Understanding Traumatic Migrant Sex Workers and Trafficked Women - Essay Example Although women trafficking and the trauma of the women have become foremost priority for social workers, yet they face daily challenges to get engaged with this group of migrants. I traveled to Italy from Nigeria with my aunt at the age of 16 for the purpose of working in her boutique. Once I reached there, I was forced to enter into prostitution. The money received from this was taken by my aunt and I was threatened to remain silent about the matter. For two years I was dehumanized, humiliated and maltreated after which I managed to escape from the ordeal. It was the most traumatic experience of my life as I had nowhere to go nor I could seek help from anyone. The modern concept of indigenization emerged in the third world countries initiated by the western power. The subject of social science was implanted from the West during colonialism in order to strengthen and make a permanent impact of the western power. As a result in the third world countries both political and academic ventures were influenced by the western colonialism. In order to achieve self governance it was important for â€Å"political decolonization and the indigenization of social sciences or intellectual decolonization.† (Yunong & Xiong, 2008, p.612) I chose migrant sex workers and trafficked women as the subject of my topic to discuss them in the background of indigenous social sciences. There are some liberal advocators of indigenization who admit that social sciences cannot be limited by any boundaries and conditions. They argue that the ideas and the principles are only common factors that are adopted from studies in western civilization. This group of advoc ators is more inclined towards a union of both perspectives and their attempt is to make social sciences more transcultural (Yunong & Xiong, 2008, p.612). In my opinion, the social policies of any particular country should

Impact of TQM Practice to SMEs

Impact of TQM Practice to SMEs CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Objectives 1. Introduction In todays consumer driven world, companies are forced to offer quality products and at the same time also keep the pricing competitive to fight the competition. Todays consumer is not only aware but also smart to evaluate similar products for its quality. This smart and knowledgeable consumer is pushing the companies to the edge in providing quality products at competitive prices. In the 1980s and early 1990s, when many large Japanese companies set up manufacturing operations in North America they suffered from a competitive environment that caused people to think that North American goods were better in quality than Japanese goods. To fight this general consumer perception, Japanese companies sought manufacturing methods to produce goods with a high level of quality so they could penetrate the market at a competitive price. The Japanese management gurus come up with a concept that integrates all functions of an organisation such as finance, marketing, engineering and production so that the company can meet the customer requirements and achieve their desired goals. This was termed as Total Quality Management and till date widely practised by organisation across the globe [TQM, 2007]. What is Total Quality Management (TQM)? TQM is an approach to improving the competitiveness, effectiveness and flexibility throughout the company; it is essentially a way of planning and understanding each activity, depends on each individual at each level (Oakland, John 2005). TQM helps in improving the organisational efficiency. As we all know most of the companies in the small business sector act as a source of raw-material to large organisations so its important to adopt TQM approach in their company, it is extremely difficult for SMEs to accept TQM as whole in their company as compared to large organisation as they always have the problem of finance resources, lack of technical expertise, manpower and some other related issues so it is important for them to revised the TQM approach adopted by large organisations which will help them to be more flexible and move quickly with a change so that they can meet the needs of their customers with good quality products with effective cost. 1.1 Aim of the investigation: This research paper aims to locate the effectiveness of TQM practices in SMEs-specially in manufacturing sector and to discuss the benefits of TQM practices to SMEs. 1.2 Research Objectives Rationale: This research will look into TQM and its practices and its involvement in SMEs industry. Nowadays, competitiveness is based on quality for many organisations; hence it will look into ways of integrating organisation activities with TQM practices in SMEs-working within manufacturing sector. On the other hand, this study will explore the link between the SMEs and TQM practice and evaluating the benefits of TQM to SMEs with special reference to the TMD technologies Ltd UK. 1.3 Structure of the Study: The entire research is designed in five distinct chapters. The following are the key ingredients of each chapter providing a birds eye view of the research: Chapter 1: Firstly, as outlined above, the research objectives and the rationale of the research are outlaid. Chapter 2: The literature surrounding total quality management is discussed and related with the real examples focusing on works carried out by Deming, Juran, and the models of ISO-9001 and Six Sigma. Chapter 3: The Research Methodologies are studied in this chapter concluding with the qualitative research process carrying out through semi-structured interviews. Chapter 4: The data collected from interviews in the manufacturing company TMD Technologies Ltd is discussed in relation to the concepts and literature of TQM. Chapter 5: Researcher has discussed about his Personal Development Plan. Chapter 6: The project is concluded in this chapter with recommendations and the scope of further research being discussed. In addition, the research limitations and data analysis are outlaid. 1.4 Chapter Summary: The research objectives along with the rationale for the research are presented at the outset followed by the structure in which the entire dissertation is constructed. After going through customer requirements, company can focus on producing better quality products within the budget so the improvement in business can be achieved. CHAPTER 2 Total Quality Management Small Medium-Sized Enterprises 2. Literature Review: Quality is vital for organisation success; specially require for SMEs to compete with large competitors. It has become inevitable for SMEs to work on enhancing quality within their functions, product and services and the way they manage their organisations. Manufacturing industry within SMEs framework is the main area of this research where the importance of TQM is needed and has been highlighted by many authors and practitioners. Quality has been defined differently by different authors and professionals; Crosby (Bean, J. Hussey, L. 1998, p.4) defines it as conformance to requirement; whereas (Sadgrove In Bean, J. Hussey, L. 1998, p.4) comments on quality as the product which should be fit for its intended purpose. Quality is the term which drives productivity of the company in the manufacturing sector, if there is an increase in productivity of the organization then it will lead to the increase in revenues and job opportunities. It is a continuous process, which helps the employees to learn from their past and using it to develop the organisation so that they can satisfy their customers. In some manufacturing firms quality used to indicate that a piece of material conforms to certain physical dimensional characteristics often set down in the form of particularly tight specification. (Oakland, S. John, 2005) To be more specific and clear about the different concepts i.e. Quality, Total Quality Management and others which I will be looking at this chapter, I am using an example of Dadoos Foodstore based in South East London who are engaged in retail business i.e. buying few products like bread, fruit drinks, juices, milk, butter, crisps and some other various products in wholesale from suppliers and manufacturing few products like lentils, rice and spices and selling them in this competitive market to earn profit. Their views is to render their services in the most effective manner and customer satisfaction is their main propriety and I am using this example just to explain my knowledge and understanding of different concepts which I have laid down in this part of my research paper and I will use some more real examples but they do not have any link with Chapter 4 later. In Dadoos Foodstore their quality lies in their work as well as their location, which adds to their quality of service as it on the main road i.e. easy to access. They believe they rendering their service in the right way, their quality of work shows when a person walks out happily. They also believe this a continuous process, as they have to change with the latest demands in the market and keep on assessing the change in customer requirements, as customer satisfaction is most important factor in any business. (Appendix A- Case Study of Dadoos Foodstore) 2.1 Total Quality Management (TQM): What is TQM? Word itself gave you the answer; total quality management i.e. quality of the product and successful running of this system lies throughout the company. Total quality management is a structured system for satisfying internal and external customers and suppliers by integrating the business environment, continuous improvement, and breakthroughs with development, improvement, and maintenance cycles while changing organizational culture'(Legge, K. 1994). Small businesses like Dadoos Foodstore; they have to monitor external suppliers quality. Obviously if the quality is not good they are likely to change their supplier until they find a supplier which can meet their needs and a relationship is likely to form. In this quality process the issues are therefore cleanliness and control of the shop, efficiency and friendly staff, competence and storage in warehouse, understanding the customer demands and management commitment which altogether can satisfy their customers and enables them in achievement of the organisational goals. In the figure below we can see that TQM system is divided in three stages i.e. planning, implementing and then results. It is the process that moves around all over the business internally as well as externally, from top to lower level. It seeks to develop and manage organisational culture in line with organisations strategic objectives. It is an approach that includes several contents or aspects that may or may not exist in the business. American Federal Office of Management Budget Circular (Milakovich, 1995), TQM is a total organizational approach for meeting customer needs and expectations that involves all managers and employees in using quantitative methods to improve continuously the organizations processes, products and services. In researchers example of Dadoos Foodstore lets take a look on one of their business activity for which TQM is important. In their manufacturing unit, they produce different kinds of products like rice, lentils and spices e.g. if they producing 100 bags of rice of 20 kg, now its very important for the quality department to make sure that the quality of the rice should be of the required standards and all the bags produced should exactly be in same shape, colour, weight and size. After the production of these rice bags, quality manager was assessing the results and he finds that there was no difference between the bags, all the bags look exactly same, nobody can see the difference, equa l in size, same colour, in short manager was happy and satisfied. How did the production team manage such consistency, they know their job, they got right vision, everything was strategically planned, they know what they are doing, by using right tools and system, right temperament and same procedure so that they can get the same result. This shows an existence of good quality system where employees working are properly trained and know what they are doing, working to the required level of standards and customer satisfaction makes them happy, which will leads to growth and attaining the required goals. In the manufacturing sector TQM has taken by nearly each kind of organization like hotels, government, military and education (Jurow Barnard, 1993). It is an ongoing process which helps in improving all business activities, from top to bottom at all levels doesnt matter its from high level strategic planning and decision-making, to detailed execution of work elements on the shop floor. Continuous improvements with TQM not only deal with improving results but also more importantly with improving capabilities to produce better result in the future. TQM follows a rule that people make mistakes but changing the process can prevent most of the times the causes of such mistakes are faulty systems and processes so it believes that the root cause of such mistakes can be identified and eliminated, and repetition. It is a combination of quality and management tools that aimed at increasing business and reducing losses due to wasteful practices. Some of the companies who have implemented TQM i nclude Ford Motor Company, Phillips Semiconductor, SGL Carbon, Motorola and Toyota Motor Company. According to Ho and Fung (1994), TQM is a way of managing to improve the effectiveness, flexibility, and competitiveness of a business as a whole. It is also a method of removing waste; by involving everyone in improving the way things are done. Dean and Bowen (1994) defined TQM as a philosophy or approach to management that can be characterized by its principles, practices, and techniques. In researchers example of Dadoos Foodstore there can be some quality issues like cleanliness and control of shop, efficiency and friendly shop staff, stock control and communication with the suppliers. TQM helps the store manager in getting better in their day-to-day business activities, which in return not only helps them in surviving in this competitive market but also helps them in moving towards their desired goals. After discussing about TQM lets go further towards its principles i.e. customer focus, continuous improvement, and management commitment: These are the one of the most important principles that a company should follow in terms of total quality management. TQM ensures the management to lead the organisation in strategic overview of quality. To be successful in todays world each and every person of the company should contribute, it must start from the top to bottom. TQM focuses on prevention not detention of problems. Its the duty at the top level management to show their seriousness and commitment towards the quality of the products and then middle management should demonstrate and communicate the principle and strategies to the people under their authority, then only there will be right attitude of work throughout the company, which will lead to continuous improvement. Management should take the responsibility for preparing and monitoring all the policies of the company for continuous improvement and to make sure each employee of all the departments should understand all the required information. For example, a small business firm named Paperco started in 1971 and engaged in the supplying and distribution of all kinds of paper to public and specialist printers. This firm has 14 employees with the annual turnover of 500,000. Paperco judges the quality in terms of giving the customers what it wants. According to the Director of the company, he strongly believes in supplying the right quality of goods to the customer without compromising on anything if that is related to meeting the customer needs i.e. the correct paper, paper size, colour, delivery of goods, customer feedback in short follow up until the customer is satisfied. As we can see there is strong management commitment in this company (North, J., Blackburn, R.A., and Curran, J.1998). Hashmi (2007) comments on combining TQM with effective commitment from senior management with a clear goal, followed by a strategic plan, which is spread as an action plan throughout the company results in good quality products and services with satisfied customers. TQM always focuses on improving the effectiveness of the company that in turn leads to the benefits for their stakeholders. TQM is an ongoing process and aims in continuous improvement so it is an activity which involves planning and organising of all the activities and tasks in advance and to make sure that all the actual activities are matched with the planned ones and to concentrate on not to waste any effort and energy that is routinely spent in the company For continuous improvement a leader should make sure to develop the values and objectives of the company as its mission statement and to act as a role model for others by personal involvement for quality of the products. Senior management is a continuous process for them to develop the strategic plans and keep on reviewing and improving the management system and should always motivate their subordinates and encourage them for effective employee participation [Introduction and Implementation of Quality Management Systems, 2007] In Paperco company, they do not have formal system for maintaining quality then one of the directors suggested to implement a total quality system which enable them to take advantage over their competitors and improve their quality of products and service. For implementation process they decided to hire a specialist, as it would be difficult to interpret the initial stages of the quality process and cost was the least issue as the problem was related to quality of the product that is important. Company director believes in continuous improvement worked with the specialist to develop the plans and procedure and finally the quality manual and was eager to engage all the employees and staff in this process so they can also learn about the change in business activities and suggested them to get rid of all those things which are useless for the company and squeeze all the plans and procedure in the best possible manner, this helps in motivating employees and they were happy as they were i nvolved in such a important procedure. By implementing proper quality system and all the changes are made according to the needs of the customers with strong top-level commitment and training the employees at the same time, Paperco gain an advantage over its competitors and enjoys a reasonable market share (North, J., Blackburn, R.A., and Curran, J. 1998). 2.2 Small Medium-Sized Enterprise (SMEs): In todays European market SMEs plays a vital role as they got the large source of employment and entrepreneur skills. There was a rapid growth in the numbers of SMEs in UK in early 90s and their performance was outstanding, this small business sector becomes one of the important factors for the performance of the UK economy as they also create large number of job opportunities. In the enlarged European Union of 25 countries, Around 23 million SMEs provide around 75 million jobs, which shows that the SMEs provides 99% of the total jobs of all the enterprises. UK government and EU programmes has always supported SMEs and they create various opportunities for these businesses as they account 56% of the total workforce in the country. As many SMEs runs their business processes at the 2 to 3 quality level and any improvement of even 1 represents a vital step in satisfying their customers within the cost budget (Spanyi and Wurtzel, 2004). SMEs can be distinguished with regards to the number of people working in the company, depending upon the market share and most of the times small businesses are run by their owners or partners, for example; a firm producing utensils employs less than 50 people in their company and enjoys small share of market and run by two partners then this firm will come under the category of small business sector. In the UK, sections 247 and 249 of the Companies Act 1985 define a SME for the purpose of accounting requirements. These sections have been amended a number of times, most recently by Statutory Instrument 2004/16. According to this a small company is one that has a turnover of not more than  £5.6 million, a balance sheet total of not more than  £2.8 million and not more than 50 employees. A medium-sized company has a turnover of not more than  £22.8 million, a balance sheet total of not more than  £11.4 million and not more than 250 employees. It is worth no ting that even within the UK this definition is not universally applied. (Strathclyde Library Resources, 2007) 2.3 SMEs in Manufacturing: SMEs in the manufacturing sector in earlier days used to follow the path where the chances of growth are very low. In SMEs the owner of the company enjoys with a source of income and employment and they have to operate most of the activities in the company. SMEs are gaining attention and support from the government but they often have to face the problem of resources especially in finance and growth of the company is depending on the allocation of funds that can be arranged by the owner externally. The migrants and unskilled labour dominate the manufacturing industry. (The Economists, Jan 2006). So there is a need to upgrade the training standards in the organisation so that the quality of the product can be maintained up to the prescribed level. In the production department, it is necessary to recognize the issues, which affect the efficiency of the successfulness of this sector, and to take corrective actions. Thus, a system of certification of such skills will be required to give recognition to their skills acquired in an informal manner, which will help in improving the efficiency of the workforce in this sector. For example TVR Company, a small and medium-sized enterprise in the manufacturing sector in UK engage in producing cars, the first car was built by Trevor Wilkinson the owner of the company himself in 1947 and it took around 10 years for the company to be famous in the car market, company was started by one man who join his hands with Ray Saidel, who become the first TVR dealer and after a long struggle TVR finally becomes the 3rd largest producer of cars in the world. They have employed 450 peoples out of 200 works in the production department, 50 are involved in financial, 85 are busy in marketing, packing and distribution section, 30 are involved in administrative department, 25 are busy in research and development department, 35 are working in maintaining the quality of the product i.e. quality department and rest in other various departments [TVR, 2007]. 2.4 Quality in SMEs: In the case of TVR there are likely to be many quality issues. Indeed Quality has been described by many people as a multi-dimensional entity; for example some have described it as an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"umbrella protecting the business from the harsh weather of competition, globalisation etc (Preston, 1996). In particular TVR has product quality issues and process quality issues. The produce quality issues include the reliability and performance of its vehicles; the process quality issues include the after sales service and even whether the sales staffs are professional or ill mannered. One of the problems facing TVR is retention of its customers; they seem to enjoy the car but once they have used it for a number of years they switch to a mass-build vehicle such as Toyota or Mercedes. The reason is likely to be that TVR has a young 0and male image and is seen as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"edgy and the company service is similarly not conveniently ordered as many manufacturers recommend. Essentially the quality process is not what it could be; even young women are somewhat frightened off by the brash salesmanship of TVR staff. This is a quality issue. It is believed by TVR that if they could change this quality factor they would improve retention, bring new markets (e.g. UK women) and hence improve the performance of the company. Indeed much research says techniques of total quality management that can be adopted by the SMEs to improve the performance of the company through effective quality system doesnt matter if its related to managerial, financial or operational activities. Among so many model of quality, we have seen that the most effective model is Quality Assurance and TQM. Quality assurance refers to the evaluation and certification by a customer or by an independent certification bodies of an organizations quality system, to demonstrate that a specific quality system standard has been met (Husband Mandal, 1999). 2.5 TQM APPROACHES: 2.5.1 Demings Approach to Total Quality Management: Its processes are divided into four sequential categories: plan, do, check, and act (the PDCA cycle. The theoretical essence of Deming approach to TQM concerns the creation of organisational system that fosters cooperation and learning for facilitating the implementation of process management practices, which, in turn, lead to continuous improvement of processes, products, and services as well as to employee fulfilment, both of which are critical to customer satisfaction, and ultimately to firms survival (Anderson, J.C., Rungtusanatham, M. and Schroeder, R.G. 1994). Deming (1986) describes organizations as composites of systems designed to meet customer needs. He focuses more on the top management and explained that its their responsibility to go forward and lead the organisation in changing processes and systems that leads to continuous improvement. Top management has to create and communicate a vision and be a leader that is the most important factor in ensuring the success of quality management in any organisation. He also focuses towards the importance of identification of customer needs and requirements from the products and services which they are buying and the use of functional tools and teams to solve quality problems, which require participation of employees and pursuit of continuous improvement. According to Deming (1986) leadership must come from top-management and leaders must be trained and have full knowledge of systems, variations (statistical thinking), knowledge of theory, and knowledge of psychology so that they can lead in a more effective way. This means to improve quality lies in the ability to control and manage systems and processes properly so therefore the role of management responsibilities in achieving the desired goals is critical. For example, Hitachi-rail, one of the Japanese leading companies was founded in 1915 and since then they are producing products like Steam locomotive, First Electric locomotive, Tokyo Monorail, Suica contact-less smart card ticketing system which are famous for their quality and used worldwide by most of the companies. How did they manage to meet the customer requirements and maintaining the required quality standards? They also follow Demings PDCA Model, they believe in continuous improvement just like a circle has no end and fo r non-stop development and growth they use this cycle on regular intervals. Plan: After the research for a long period of time and taking into consideration all the aspects in their field of manufacturing loconotives and rolling stocks the managers in Hitachi had laid out the strategic plan i.e first they manufacture Japenese elctric locomotive then the bullet train and presently as well as manufacturing they are also engage in supplying the important components of the service administration for the bullet train. Hitachi concentrates most on their after sale services, they planned everything from the feedbak which they gained from their customers and evaluate the present and future market conditions and therefore they make their maintainence plan as well as plans for their new their new products. Hitachi makes their customers comfortable and solve their problems makes them feel happy so that they can relia on the company as any other successful company Hitachi also beieves in customers satisfation. Hitachi provides the satisfactory level of maintenance management planning and support equipment i.e. on-board inspection tools and depot integrated management system. PDCA Cycle-Japanese style of maintenance Do: This is the stage where all the planned activities have to be transformed into actual activities i.e. this is the time for action. Hitachis aims to achieve high level of maintenance for which they used various systems: Depot integrated management system Ground based automatic inspection system, On-board self-diagnostic system, Material control system Vehicle utilization system. Hitachi used all thses system in order to achive their desired goals, total depot management system that combines the maintenance management system, the vehicle utilization system and the parts/material control system. With the help of this process company can contribute in labour saving [Hitachi maintenance system, 2007]. Check: This step is basically in which you go thru your experiment, analyse the outcomes and identify the knowledge what you have gained. Hitachi with the help of the depot integrated management system data and effective staff allocation keeps an eye on the progress and functioning of its business activities. Hitachi is producing railway products for a long period of time and its obvious that they have good and effective knowledge about their manufacturing system, in this step Hitachi can check its formal and informal assessment constantly for a longer period of time. Act: As we know Hitachi produced first electric locomotive in 1924 and they used their local technology system and they have majorly contributed in the manufacturing of bullet train. With the product like these, Hitachi is not only dominating the market but also maintianing their quality standards andtheir technology which help in continuous improvement. Anderson, J.C., Rungtusanatham, M. and Schroeder, R.G. (1994) developed a theory of quality management underlying Deming management method. They proposed that: the effectiveness of Deming management method arises from leadership efforts and at the same time creating a cooperative and learning organisation to facilitate the implementation of management practices, which will lead to support customer satisfaction and help in organisational survival as well as in the long run. 2.5.2 Jurans Approach to Total Quality Management: Jurans, J.M. (1993) approach is laid through emphasis on teamwork and project work, which can promote and improve quality as well as improve communication between management and employees. According to Juran TQM is the system of activities directed towards achieving delighted customers, empowered employees, and focuses towards higher revenues with lower costs. According to Juran, it is very important to understand customer needs and requirements and each and every department like marketing design, manufacturing, and services should apply this requirement. Identifying customer needs requires more vigorous analysis and understanding to ensure the product meets customers needs. 2.6 Implementation of TQM practices by SMEs in U.K.: TVR being a small firm are proud of having detailed knowledge of their small band of customers; they even have a social club that is very well attended, the TVR Car Club [TVR Car Club, 2007]. Consequently they know before any competitor who their customers are, what they think and how they live. So there are many advantages to being small. This customer focus of TVR one of the major claims of the TQM methodology for as we know TQM is a customer-focus system, which is very important for large business organisations in the same way, it is vital for small business also. Government and EU market are beginning to see SME sector as an important engine of growth, (Carter, K., (1993) pp. 16-18.) When a particular SME organisation move towards setting effective quality system in the company, sometimes they have to face few problems or difficulties which obstructs them in setting the standards for total quality management. Some of the problems like lack of financial resources and expertise for quality issues, poor delivery service, lack of Benchmarking, low morale among the employees and less ways of incentives and sometimes there is a bad impression among the public regarding the quality image of the organisation. Following are some of the optimal solutions for these difficulties, which enable the SMEs to implement effective TQM: Most of the times arranging financial resources is the major issues for SMEs while implementing effective TQM. SMEs can obtain funds from external resources such as Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) that support quality initiatives and help the companies in the arrangement of funds. SMEs should learn from the success and failures of the organisations that has already developed TQM. In 1957 Ray Saidel (First TVR Dealer) helps in the manufacturing process of TVR cars, he built a new design with better quality system and the car was named Jomar which becomes very popular and large amount of orders were coming and company had some financial issues thats why they were struggling in keeping up the quality of the product, for this they transformed the company in 1958 under the name of Layton Sports Car Ltd and with the help of some financial institution there problem of finance was solved[TVR, 2007]. SMEs has to make sure that through proper training and development there should be a cultur Impact of TQM Practice to SMEs Impact of TQM Practice to SMEs CHAPTER 1 Introduction and Objectives 1. Introduction In todays consumer driven world, companies are forced to offer quality products and at the same time also keep the pricing competitive to fight the competition. Todays consumer is not only aware but also smart to evaluate similar products for its quality. This smart and knowledgeable consumer is pushing the companies to the edge in providing quality products at competitive prices. In the 1980s and early 1990s, when many large Japanese companies set up manufacturing operations in North America they suffered from a competitive environment that caused people to think that North American goods were better in quality than Japanese goods. To fight this general consumer perception, Japanese companies sought manufacturing methods to produce goods with a high level of quality so they could penetrate the market at a competitive price. The Japanese management gurus come up with a concept that integrates all functions of an organisation such as finance, marketing, engineering and production so that the company can meet the customer requirements and achieve their desired goals. This was termed as Total Quality Management and till date widely practised by organisation across the globe [TQM, 2007]. What is Total Quality Management (TQM)? TQM is an approach to improving the competitiveness, effectiveness and flexibility throughout the company; it is essentially a way of planning and understanding each activity, depends on each individual at each level (Oakland, John 2005). TQM helps in improving the organisational efficiency. As we all know most of the companies in the small business sector act as a source of raw-material to large organisations so its important to adopt TQM approach in their company, it is extremely difficult for SMEs to accept TQM as whole in their company as compared to large organisation as they always have the problem of finance resources, lack of technical expertise, manpower and some other related issues so it is important for them to revised the TQM approach adopted by large organisations which will help them to be more flexible and move quickly with a change so that they can meet the needs of their customers with good quality products with effective cost. 1.1 Aim of the investigation: This research paper aims to locate the effectiveness of TQM practices in SMEs-specially in manufacturing sector and to discuss the benefits of TQM practices to SMEs. 1.2 Research Objectives Rationale: This research will look into TQM and its practices and its involvement in SMEs industry. Nowadays, competitiveness is based on quality for many organisations; hence it will look into ways of integrating organisation activities with TQM practices in SMEs-working within manufacturing sector. On the other hand, this study will explore the link between the SMEs and TQM practice and evaluating the benefits of TQM to SMEs with special reference to the TMD technologies Ltd UK. 1.3 Structure of the Study: The entire research is designed in five distinct chapters. The following are the key ingredients of each chapter providing a birds eye view of the research: Chapter 1: Firstly, as outlined above, the research objectives and the rationale of the research are outlaid. Chapter 2: The literature surrounding total quality management is discussed and related with the real examples focusing on works carried out by Deming, Juran, and the models of ISO-9001 and Six Sigma. Chapter 3: The Research Methodologies are studied in this chapter concluding with the qualitative research process carrying out through semi-structured interviews. Chapter 4: The data collected from interviews in the manufacturing company TMD Technologies Ltd is discussed in relation to the concepts and literature of TQM. Chapter 5: Researcher has discussed about his Personal Development Plan. Chapter 6: The project is concluded in this chapter with recommendations and the scope of further research being discussed. In addition, the research limitations and data analysis are outlaid. 1.4 Chapter Summary: The research objectives along with the rationale for the research are presented at the outset followed by the structure in which the entire dissertation is constructed. After going through customer requirements, company can focus on producing better quality products within the budget so the improvement in business can be achieved. CHAPTER 2 Total Quality Management Small Medium-Sized Enterprises 2. Literature Review: Quality is vital for organisation success; specially require for SMEs to compete with large competitors. It has become inevitable for SMEs to work on enhancing quality within their functions, product and services and the way they manage their organisations. Manufacturing industry within SMEs framework is the main area of this research where the importance of TQM is needed and has been highlighted by many authors and practitioners. Quality has been defined differently by different authors and professionals; Crosby (Bean, J. Hussey, L. 1998, p.4) defines it as conformance to requirement; whereas (Sadgrove In Bean, J. Hussey, L. 1998, p.4) comments on quality as the product which should be fit for its intended purpose. Quality is the term which drives productivity of the company in the manufacturing sector, if there is an increase in productivity of the organization then it will lead to the increase in revenues and job opportunities. It is a continuous process, which helps the employees to learn from their past and using it to develop the organisation so that they can satisfy their customers. In some manufacturing firms quality used to indicate that a piece of material conforms to certain physical dimensional characteristics often set down in the form of particularly tight specification. (Oakland, S. John, 2005) To be more specific and clear about the different concepts i.e. Quality, Total Quality Management and others which I will be looking at this chapter, I am using an example of Dadoos Foodstore based in South East London who are engaged in retail business i.e. buying few products like bread, fruit drinks, juices, milk, butter, crisps and some other various products in wholesale from suppliers and manufacturing few products like lentils, rice and spices and selling them in this competitive market to earn profit. Their views is to render their services in the most effective manner and customer satisfaction is their main propriety and I am using this example just to explain my knowledge and understanding of different concepts which I have laid down in this part of my research paper and I will use some more real examples but they do not have any link with Chapter 4 later. In Dadoos Foodstore their quality lies in their work as well as their location, which adds to their quality of service as it on the main road i.e. easy to access. They believe they rendering their service in the right way, their quality of work shows when a person walks out happily. They also believe this a continuous process, as they have to change with the latest demands in the market and keep on assessing the change in customer requirements, as customer satisfaction is most important factor in any business. (Appendix A- Case Study of Dadoos Foodstore) 2.1 Total Quality Management (TQM): What is TQM? Word itself gave you the answer; total quality management i.e. quality of the product and successful running of this system lies throughout the company. Total quality management is a structured system for satisfying internal and external customers and suppliers by integrating the business environment, continuous improvement, and breakthroughs with development, improvement, and maintenance cycles while changing organizational culture'(Legge, K. 1994). Small businesses like Dadoos Foodstore; they have to monitor external suppliers quality. Obviously if the quality is not good they are likely to change their supplier until they find a supplier which can meet their needs and a relationship is likely to form. In this quality process the issues are therefore cleanliness and control of the shop, efficiency and friendly staff, competence and storage in warehouse, understanding the customer demands and management commitment which altogether can satisfy their customers and enables them in achievement of the organisational goals. In the figure below we can see that TQM system is divided in three stages i.e. planning, implementing and then results. It is the process that moves around all over the business internally as well as externally, from top to lower level. It seeks to develop and manage organisational culture in line with organisations strategic objectives. It is an approach that includes several contents or aspects that may or may not exist in the business. American Federal Office of Management Budget Circular (Milakovich, 1995), TQM is a total organizational approach for meeting customer needs and expectations that involves all managers and employees in using quantitative methods to improve continuously the organizations processes, products and services. In researchers example of Dadoos Foodstore lets take a look on one of their business activity for which TQM is important. In their manufacturing unit, they produce different kinds of products like rice, lentils and spices e.g. if they producing 100 bags of rice of 20 kg, now its very important for the quality department to make sure that the quality of the rice should be of the required standards and all the bags produced should exactly be in same shape, colour, weight and size. After the production of these rice bags, quality manager was assessing the results and he finds that there was no difference between the bags, all the bags look exactly same, nobody can see the difference, equa l in size, same colour, in short manager was happy and satisfied. How did the production team manage such consistency, they know their job, they got right vision, everything was strategically planned, they know what they are doing, by using right tools and system, right temperament and same procedure so that they can get the same result. This shows an existence of good quality system where employees working are properly trained and know what they are doing, working to the required level of standards and customer satisfaction makes them happy, which will leads to growth and attaining the required goals. In the manufacturing sector TQM has taken by nearly each kind of organization like hotels, government, military and education (Jurow Barnard, 1993). It is an ongoing process which helps in improving all business activities, from top to bottom at all levels doesnt matter its from high level strategic planning and decision-making, to detailed execution of work elements on the shop floor. Continuous improvements with TQM not only deal with improving results but also more importantly with improving capabilities to produce better result in the future. TQM follows a rule that people make mistakes but changing the process can prevent most of the times the causes of such mistakes are faulty systems and processes so it believes that the root cause of such mistakes can be identified and eliminated, and repetition. It is a combination of quality and management tools that aimed at increasing business and reducing losses due to wasteful practices. Some of the companies who have implemented TQM i nclude Ford Motor Company, Phillips Semiconductor, SGL Carbon, Motorola and Toyota Motor Company. According to Ho and Fung (1994), TQM is a way of managing to improve the effectiveness, flexibility, and competitiveness of a business as a whole. It is also a method of removing waste; by involving everyone in improving the way things are done. Dean and Bowen (1994) defined TQM as a philosophy or approach to management that can be characterized by its principles, practices, and techniques. In researchers example of Dadoos Foodstore there can be some quality issues like cleanliness and control of shop, efficiency and friendly shop staff, stock control and communication with the suppliers. TQM helps the store manager in getting better in their day-to-day business activities, which in return not only helps them in surviving in this competitive market but also helps them in moving towards their desired goals. After discussing about TQM lets go further towards its principles i.e. customer focus, continuous improvement, and management commitment: These are the one of the most important principles that a company should follow in terms of total quality management. TQM ensures the management to lead the organisation in strategic overview of quality. To be successful in todays world each and every person of the company should contribute, it must start from the top to bottom. TQM focuses on prevention not detention of problems. Its the duty at the top level management to show their seriousness and commitment towards the quality of the products and then middle management should demonstrate and communicate the principle and strategies to the people under their authority, then only there will be right attitude of work throughout the company, which will lead to continuous improvement. Management should take the responsibility for preparing and monitoring all the policies of the company for continuous improvement and to make sure each employee of all the departments should understand all the required information. For example, a small business firm named Paperco started in 1971 and engaged in the supplying and distribution of all kinds of paper to public and specialist printers. This firm has 14 employees with the annual turnover of 500,000. Paperco judges the quality in terms of giving the customers what it wants. According to the Director of the company, he strongly believes in supplying the right quality of goods to the customer without compromising on anything if that is related to meeting the customer needs i.e. the correct paper, paper size, colour, delivery of goods, customer feedback in short follow up until the customer is satisfied. As we can see there is strong management commitment in this company (North, J., Blackburn, R.A., and Curran, J.1998). Hashmi (2007) comments on combining TQM with effective commitment from senior management with a clear goal, followed by a strategic plan, which is spread as an action plan throughout the company results in good quality products and services with satisfied customers. TQM always focuses on improving the effectiveness of the company that in turn leads to the benefits for their stakeholders. TQM is an ongoing process and aims in continuous improvement so it is an activity which involves planning and organising of all the activities and tasks in advance and to make sure that all the actual activities are matched with the planned ones and to concentrate on not to waste any effort and energy that is routinely spent in the company For continuous improvement a leader should make sure to develop the values and objectives of the company as its mission statement and to act as a role model for others by personal involvement for quality of the products. Senior management is a continuous process for them to develop the strategic plans and keep on reviewing and improving the management system and should always motivate their subordinates and encourage them for effective employee participation [Introduction and Implementation of Quality Management Systems, 2007] In Paperco company, they do not have formal system for maintaining quality then one of the directors suggested to implement a total quality system which enable them to take advantage over their competitors and improve their quality of products and service. For implementation process they decided to hire a specialist, as it would be difficult to interpret the initial stages of the quality process and cost was the least issue as the problem was related to quality of the product that is important. Company director believes in continuous improvement worked with the specialist to develop the plans and procedure and finally the quality manual and was eager to engage all the employees and staff in this process so they can also learn about the change in business activities and suggested them to get rid of all those things which are useless for the company and squeeze all the plans and procedure in the best possible manner, this helps in motivating employees and they were happy as they were i nvolved in such a important procedure. By implementing proper quality system and all the changes are made according to the needs of the customers with strong top-level commitment and training the employees at the same time, Paperco gain an advantage over its competitors and enjoys a reasonable market share (North, J., Blackburn, R.A., and Curran, J. 1998). 2.2 Small Medium-Sized Enterprise (SMEs): In todays European market SMEs plays a vital role as they got the large source of employment and entrepreneur skills. There was a rapid growth in the numbers of SMEs in UK in early 90s and their performance was outstanding, this small business sector becomes one of the important factors for the performance of the UK economy as they also create large number of job opportunities. In the enlarged European Union of 25 countries, Around 23 million SMEs provide around 75 million jobs, which shows that the SMEs provides 99% of the total jobs of all the enterprises. UK government and EU programmes has always supported SMEs and they create various opportunities for these businesses as they account 56% of the total workforce in the country. As many SMEs runs their business processes at the 2 to 3 quality level and any improvement of even 1 represents a vital step in satisfying their customers within the cost budget (Spanyi and Wurtzel, 2004). SMEs can be distinguished with regards to the number of people working in the company, depending upon the market share and most of the times small businesses are run by their owners or partners, for example; a firm producing utensils employs less than 50 people in their company and enjoys small share of market and run by two partners then this firm will come under the category of small business sector. In the UK, sections 247 and 249 of the Companies Act 1985 define a SME for the purpose of accounting requirements. These sections have been amended a number of times, most recently by Statutory Instrument 2004/16. According to this a small company is one that has a turnover of not more than  £5.6 million, a balance sheet total of not more than  £2.8 million and not more than 50 employees. A medium-sized company has a turnover of not more than  £22.8 million, a balance sheet total of not more than  £11.4 million and not more than 250 employees. It is worth no ting that even within the UK this definition is not universally applied. (Strathclyde Library Resources, 2007) 2.3 SMEs in Manufacturing: SMEs in the manufacturing sector in earlier days used to follow the path where the chances of growth are very low. In SMEs the owner of the company enjoys with a source of income and employment and they have to operate most of the activities in the company. SMEs are gaining attention and support from the government but they often have to face the problem of resources especially in finance and growth of the company is depending on the allocation of funds that can be arranged by the owner externally. The migrants and unskilled labour dominate the manufacturing industry. (The Economists, Jan 2006). So there is a need to upgrade the training standards in the organisation so that the quality of the product can be maintained up to the prescribed level. In the production department, it is necessary to recognize the issues, which affect the efficiency of the successfulness of this sector, and to take corrective actions. Thus, a system of certification of such skills will be required to give recognition to their skills acquired in an informal manner, which will help in improving the efficiency of the workforce in this sector. For example TVR Company, a small and medium-sized enterprise in the manufacturing sector in UK engage in producing cars, the first car was built by Trevor Wilkinson the owner of the company himself in 1947 and it took around 10 years for the company to be famous in the car market, company was started by one man who join his hands with Ray Saidel, who become the first TVR dealer and after a long struggle TVR finally becomes the 3rd largest producer of cars in the world. They have employed 450 peoples out of 200 works in the production department, 50 are involved in financial, 85 are busy in marketing, packing and distribution section, 30 are involved in administrative department, 25 are busy in research and development department, 35 are working in maintaining the quality of the product i.e. quality department and rest in other various departments [TVR, 2007]. 2.4 Quality in SMEs: In the case of TVR there are likely to be many quality issues. Indeed Quality has been described by many people as a multi-dimensional entity; for example some have described it as an à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"umbrella protecting the business from the harsh weather of competition, globalisation etc (Preston, 1996). In particular TVR has product quality issues and process quality issues. The produce quality issues include the reliability and performance of its vehicles; the process quality issues include the after sales service and even whether the sales staffs are professional or ill mannered. One of the problems facing TVR is retention of its customers; they seem to enjoy the car but once they have used it for a number of years they switch to a mass-build vehicle such as Toyota or Mercedes. The reason is likely to be that TVR has a young 0and male image and is seen as à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‹Å"edgy and the company service is similarly not conveniently ordered as many manufacturers recommend. Essentially the quality process is not what it could be; even young women are somewhat frightened off by the brash salesmanship of TVR staff. This is a quality issue. It is believed by TVR that if they could change this quality factor they would improve retention, bring new markets (e.g. UK women) and hence improve the performance of the company. Indeed much research says techniques of total quality management that can be adopted by the SMEs to improve the performance of the company through effective quality system doesnt matter if its related to managerial, financial or operational activities. Among so many model of quality, we have seen that the most effective model is Quality Assurance and TQM. Quality assurance refers to the evaluation and certification by a customer or by an independent certification bodies of an organizations quality system, to demonstrate that a specific quality system standard has been met (Husband Mandal, 1999). 2.5 TQM APPROACHES: 2.5.1 Demings Approach to Total Quality Management: Its processes are divided into four sequential categories: plan, do, check, and act (the PDCA cycle. The theoretical essence of Deming approach to TQM concerns the creation of organisational system that fosters cooperation and learning for facilitating the implementation of process management practices, which, in turn, lead to continuous improvement of processes, products, and services as well as to employee fulfilment, both of which are critical to customer satisfaction, and ultimately to firms survival (Anderson, J.C., Rungtusanatham, M. and Schroeder, R.G. 1994). Deming (1986) describes organizations as composites of systems designed to meet customer needs. He focuses more on the top management and explained that its their responsibility to go forward and lead the organisation in changing processes and systems that leads to continuous improvement. Top management has to create and communicate a vision and be a leader that is the most important factor in ensuring the success of quality management in any organisation. He also focuses towards the importance of identification of customer needs and requirements from the products and services which they are buying and the use of functional tools and teams to solve quality problems, which require participation of employees and pursuit of continuous improvement. According to Deming (1986) leadership must come from top-management and leaders must be trained and have full knowledge of systems, variations (statistical thinking), knowledge of theory, and knowledge of psychology so that they can lead in a more effective way. This means to improve quality lies in the ability to control and manage systems and processes properly so therefore the role of management responsibilities in achieving the desired goals is critical. For example, Hitachi-rail, one of the Japanese leading companies was founded in 1915 and since then they are producing products like Steam locomotive, First Electric locomotive, Tokyo Monorail, Suica contact-less smart card ticketing system which are famous for their quality and used worldwide by most of the companies. How did they manage to meet the customer requirements and maintaining the required quality standards? They also follow Demings PDCA Model, they believe in continuous improvement just like a circle has no end and fo r non-stop development and growth they use this cycle on regular intervals. Plan: After the research for a long period of time and taking into consideration all the aspects in their field of manufacturing loconotives and rolling stocks the managers in Hitachi had laid out the strategic plan i.e first they manufacture Japenese elctric locomotive then the bullet train and presently as well as manufacturing they are also engage in supplying the important components of the service administration for the bullet train. Hitachi concentrates most on their after sale services, they planned everything from the feedbak which they gained from their customers and evaluate the present and future market conditions and therefore they make their maintainence plan as well as plans for their new their new products. Hitachi makes their customers comfortable and solve their problems makes them feel happy so that they can relia on the company as any other successful company Hitachi also beieves in customers satisfation. Hitachi provides the satisfactory level of maintenance management planning and support equipment i.e. on-board inspection tools and depot integrated management system. PDCA Cycle-Japanese style of maintenance Do: This is the stage where all the planned activities have to be transformed into actual activities i.e. this is the time for action. Hitachis aims to achieve high level of maintenance for which they used various systems: Depot integrated management system Ground based automatic inspection system, On-board self-diagnostic system, Material control system Vehicle utilization system. Hitachi used all thses system in order to achive their desired goals, total depot management system that combines the maintenance management system, the vehicle utilization system and the parts/material control system. With the help of this process company can contribute in labour saving [Hitachi maintenance system, 2007]. Check: This step is basically in which you go thru your experiment, analyse the outcomes and identify the knowledge what you have gained. Hitachi with the help of the depot integrated management system data and effective staff allocation keeps an eye on the progress and functioning of its business activities. Hitachi is producing railway products for a long period of time and its obvious that they have good and effective knowledge about their manufacturing system, in this step Hitachi can check its formal and informal assessment constantly for a longer period of time. Act: As we know Hitachi produced first electric locomotive in 1924 and they used their local technology system and they have majorly contributed in the manufacturing of bullet train. With the product like these, Hitachi is not only dominating the market but also maintianing their quality standards andtheir technology which help in continuous improvement. Anderson, J.C., Rungtusanatham, M. and Schroeder, R.G. (1994) developed a theory of quality management underlying Deming management method. They proposed that: the effectiveness of Deming management method arises from leadership efforts and at the same time creating a cooperative and learning organisation to facilitate the implementation of management practices, which will lead to support customer satisfaction and help in organisational survival as well as in the long run. 2.5.2 Jurans Approach to Total Quality Management: Jurans, J.M. (1993) approach is laid through emphasis on teamwork and project work, which can promote and improve quality as well as improve communication between management and employees. According to Juran TQM is the system of activities directed towards achieving delighted customers, empowered employees, and focuses towards higher revenues with lower costs. According to Juran, it is very important to understand customer needs and requirements and each and every department like marketing design, manufacturing, and services should apply this requirement. Identifying customer needs requires more vigorous analysis and understanding to ensure the product meets customers needs. 2.6 Implementation of TQM practices by SMEs in U.K.: TVR being a small firm are proud of having detailed knowledge of their small band of customers; they even have a social club that is very well attended, the TVR Car Club [TVR Car Club, 2007]. Consequently they know before any competitor who their customers are, what they think and how they live. So there are many advantages to being small. This customer focus of TVR one of the major claims of the TQM methodology for as we know TQM is a customer-focus system, which is very important for large business organisations in the same way, it is vital for small business also. Government and EU market are beginning to see SME sector as an important engine of growth, (Carter, K., (1993) pp. 16-18.) When a particular SME organisation move towards setting effective quality system in the company, sometimes they have to face few problems or difficulties which obstructs them in setting the standards for total quality management. Some of the problems like lack of financial resources and expertise for quality issues, poor delivery service, lack of Benchmarking, low morale among the employees and less ways of incentives and sometimes there is a bad impression among the public regarding the quality image of the organisation. Following are some of the optimal solutions for these difficulties, which enable the SMEs to implement effective TQM: Most of the times arranging financial resources is the major issues for SMEs while implementing effective TQM. SMEs can obtain funds from external resources such as Training and Enterprise Councils (TECs) that support quality initiatives and help the companies in the arrangement of funds. SMEs should learn from the success and failures of the organisations that has already developed TQM. In 1957 Ray Saidel (First TVR Dealer) helps in the manufacturing process of TVR cars, he built a new design with better quality system and the car was named Jomar which becomes very popular and large amount of orders were coming and company had some financial issues thats why they were struggling in keeping up the quality of the product, for this they transformed the company in 1958 under the name of Layton Sports Car Ltd and with the help of some financial institution there problem of finance was solved[TVR, 2007]. SMEs has to make sure that through proper training and development there should be a cultur