High school Essay Example for Free

High school Essay The dwindling quality of education in Nigeria is a cause for great concern and also calls for a prompt action by all stakeholders to salvage the trend. The current situation is, to say the least, disheartening. A lot of computer science graduates of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions, for instance, fail recruitment tests for their inability to switch on a PC. Some of them are obviously getting to touch such machines for the first time. Mass Communication graduates struggle to make simple and correct sentences. Engineering graduates who ought to have conducted researches in the course of their studies, culminating in inventions, get to touch most of the elementary engineering tools for the first time, after their graduation. This is a near hopeless situation for a country that targets to be one of the world’s leading economies by 2020. The implication of the existing trend is that even though there is a high graduate unemployment rate, most of the university and polytechnic graduates in Nigeria are not employable. The loss of confidence in Nigeria’s education system is evident in the amount of money that Nigerians who can afford it, spend on their education in other countries. According to Exam Ethics International, a non-governmental organisation, Nigeria loses N1. 5 trillion annually to education tourism. N160 billion of this amount is allegedly spent by Nigerian parents on their children and wards’ education in Ghana alone while N80 billion is spent on the same purpose in the United Kingdom. President Goodluck Jonathan should be commended for allocating the highest budget to the education sector in the 2013 budget. However, there are other issues that require urgent attention. The emphasis on paper qualification and theoretical knowledge at the expense of competence or practical knowledge and entrepreneurial skills is a big challenge to the sector. The result is that most products of Nigeria’s tertiary institutions are mere certificate carriers and are not qualified to be addressed as university or polytechnic graduates. It is the combination of the ineffective education system and the decreasing white collar job opportunities that have further compounded the nation’s unemployment problem. The diminishing quality of education in Nigeria is indeed, disturbing. Literacy is a human right recognised in the Universal Declaration of Rights and it goes beyond the mere skill of reading and writing. It is a process of transformation that empowers the individual, broadens his critical thinking and provides such individual with the ability to act. The much emphasis on paper qualification has however encouraged fraudulent acquisition of highly graded certificates at the expense of true knowledge acquisition. Some students go to the extent of bribing lecturers or having sex with them to obtain high grades. Government agencies and private organisations further endorse emphasis on paper qualification above competence and skill by discriminating between a polytechnic and a university graduate. This trend has to change. If Nigeria must move at the anticipated economic growth rate, then, the country must learn from great examples like China which derived the strength of its speedy economic development from skills acquisition and technical education. Giving more focus to the development of technical education and skills acquisition will also complement the targeted provision of regular power supply across the country and drastically, reduce unemployment rate. Objectives of the Universal Basic Education Scheme, the 6-3-3-4 Senior Secondary School Education system and some other education policy initiatives have not been achieved. As a matter of fact, Nigeria has one of the lowest literacy rates in the world. According to the United Nations’ Education Scientific and Cultural Organisation, 775 million people are still considered non-literates and 85 per cent live in 41 countries including Nigeria. About 40 million adults in Nigeria are illiterates and overall illiteracy rate is near 57 per cent. Only about 500,000 people are reportedly enrolled in adult literacy classes nationwide and this translates to one out of every 80 illiterates. The United States Agency for International Development reports that there are 30 million primary school age children in Nigeria but estimated 10 million are not enrolled in school. Government should therefore, demonstrate the needed seriousness in addressing the prevalent low literacy level and give more attention to the quality of education while working to widen access to primary education. Federal, state and local governments across Nigeria should wake up to their responsibilities in providing qualitative primary, secondary and tertiary education to citizens of Nigeria. Parents also have a role to play in managing the negative impact of modern technology on their children’s academic performances. For instance, research shows that the habit of abbreviation and deliberate use of wrong spellings for sending text messages contributed to the high failures in English language, recorded at the Senior Secondary School Examination and Unified Tertiary Matriculation Examination in recent years. Twitter and Facebook fun chat sessions are also addictive and minimise study concentration levels for many students. Both government and private owners of educational institutions should ensure that the required infrastructure for learning is adequately provided. The welfare of all categories of school teachers must equally be given adequate attention. This is one way of discouraging lecturers from yielding to the temptation to receive bribes or sleep with students in order to award them high scores, thereby leaving them in a state of intellectual emptiness. There are other challenges facing Nigeria’s education sector such as inadequate funding, labour unrest and brain drain. Therefore, all efforts must be made by the federal and state governments to avoid unnecessary labour unrest that keeps students of both federal and state tertiary institutions at home for long periods of time. In most cases, this poses a big distraction to the students who after leaving the academic community for too long a time to mingle with non-academically inclined peers, begin to lose interest in academics and academic activities. Besides, it makes education far more expensive for students, especially those on self sponsorship. The federal character clause in the 1999 Constitution should also be reviewed because it is one of the factors working against the quality of the nation’s education system. For instance, the federal character principle makes it difficult for most of the tertiary institutions to recruit fresh quality PhD holders as lecturers. Qualified applicants are rejected for some factor like state of origin. Professors and other categories of lecturers are also constantly retiring without replacements. These anomalies are really worrisome and all stakeholders must do something urgently. Personally, and without mincing words, there is no problem with either the old system or the new system but the problem lies in the administration and management of the Nigerian educational system. A look at recent trend with the rate of passage in national examinations, the education system has collapsed. Unfortunately, policymakers are not paying attention to that; rather, the policymakers are just making policies that will not help the system. Whether, it 6-5-4, 6-3-3-4, 9-3-4 or any other system the educational system in Nigeria have been caught in the web of inefficiency which is characteristic of the present day Nigeria. The justification being advanced by government and its agencies on the reason for the change is laughable. Education is the process by which an individual is encouraged and enabled to fully develop his or her potential; it may also serve the purpose of equipping, bringing up, training and rearing the individual to be a productive member of the society. People oriented governments achieve these objectives through a conscious and purposeful driven policies aimed at developing the potentials of her citizenry by equipping schools, employment of qualified manpower, upgrading of educational infrastructures in line with world standards etc. However, in Nigeria, we are still debating the appropriateness of the system to adopt in this 21st century. It leaves one to ponder where this country is heading towards. From the analysis you have given so far, what do you think are the problems? A cursory look at the Nigerian educational system shows that the system is faced with a number of problems. The Nigerian educational system has a history of failure because of politics. The appointment of education ministers and key positions in the educational sector are not done on merits rather on party affiliations, tribe and friendship. The effect of such appointments is what we are witnessing in Nigeria now. We take things for granted in this country and everything to us is business. Capable personnel that should be at the helm of affairs in the education sector are sacrificed for party loyalty and selfishness. This is one intractable problem in the education system. Indiscipline manifests in such areas as examination malpractices and secret cultism, unprotected sex, unwanted pregnancies, bribery and corruption. Crises in the universities have led to brain-drain syndrome. Potential teachers shy away from academics in search of greener pastures in other sectors of the Nigerian economy or outside the country. If this trend is not checked through improved working conditions for academicians and appeals to their patriotic spirit, the result could be disastrous for the country. The managers of primary, secondary and tertiary institutions in Nigeria are in consensus that these institutions are grossly under-funded. Evidence exists on the degree of dilapidation that characterises primary and secondary school buildings in parts of the country; the non-payment of teachers salaries and allowances as a result of which strikes are the order of the day; the lack of necessary teaching and  learning materials at all levels of the educational system; poor working conditions of all teachers in the country, among other factors have led to the death of the Nigerian educational system. The education sector is poorly funded. Teachers are not paid their salaries on time. The teachers who are supposed to implement the curriculum and give it their best shot are all distracted looking for money to survive. There is no effective system in the country for training good teachers at the nursery/primary and secondary school levels, teachers who are attuned to the demands of human resource capacity in the age of globalisation. A weak primary education system automatically produces weak students for the secondary schools, which are no better either, and so the chain of mediocrity continues up to the higher education level and the cycle completes itself with the same garbage fed back into society with serious implications for national competitiveness and productivity. We are all witnesses to the unnecessary changes in government policies concerning the educational sector. The frequent changes in the system do not allow for consistency thus the basis for measurement and benchmarking for corrective measures cannot be achieved. The management of the educational sector in Nigeria is so inconsistent with every new minister of education trying to introduce something new, without any rigorous study of the situation. The implication is a sector that lacks direction. It is partly this confusion in government policies that has compelled many middle class families to patronise American, British and Turkish-style educational institutions which are all available in Nigeria. Another major problem facing the Nigerian educational system is lack of interface between the various coordinating government agencies. The authorities responsible for the supervision of primary, secondary and tertiary education work in isolation. It could be argued that the ministry of education is the coordinating ministry. However, we have seen a situation where Universal Basic Education Commission, UBEC officials are not coordinating with SUBEP. West African Certificate Examination, WACE is an autonomous body; Joint Admissions and Matriculations Board, JAMB also has its own mandate. What do you think is the solution to the problems? As stated earlier, the problem is not in the system of education, the problem lies in the administration and management of the Nigerian education system. There must be political will on the part of government to formulate and implement policies that enhances the growth of the Nigerian educational system. We must not pay lip service to the problem, but a conscious and radical approach must as a matter of urgency, be adopted to address the failure currently observed in this sector. As a matter of fact, the government should declare a state of emergency on the educational system. This is necessary if the schools should produce the next generation of leaders. Coordinating ministries, agencies and parastatals must as a matter of urgency interface with one another. Products of primary schools naturally progress to secondary schools and this set of students ultimately enters the university. Therefore, there must be a way of ensuring that the coordinating agencies co-exist harmoniously and their objectives should be geared towards achieving a better standard of education in Nigeria. On the part of government, a blueprint on the way forward for the Nigerian education system should be formulated after a national conference on education, where all stakeholders are allowed to make an input. This blue-print when fully developed, should have a time frame. The time frame should be realistic and achievable and it should be a criminal offence for any person to deviate from the blueprint. Such a process will ensure consistency in administration of government policies which is a major problem facing the Nigerian education system. Consistency allows for benchmarking, monitoring and control. Proper funding of the education system is also a panacea to the problems observed in the Nigerian education system. A situation where the government budget on education is less than five percent of the total budget is appalling. Proper funding here involves allocating funds to areas that will improve the system, areas such as provision of computers to schools, rehabilitation of dilapidated school buildings, provision of conducive working environment for staff and enhanced welfare package for teachers etc should be pursued if the sector is to grow. The participation of the private sector in the Nigeria education system should also be encouraged and enhanced. There are private schools– primary, secondary and university that have facilities that are far better than most state schools. The owners of these schools are opening a window for the proper development of the Nigerian student. Lastly, for the Nigerian education system to grow, corruption must be expunged from the fabrics of Nigerians. Nigerians are so undisciplined such that they diverted major part of the resources meant for the education system to their personal accounts. We must fight corruption and indiscipline by ensuring that people are made to account for whatever is entrusted to them. Some people are of the view that the academic curriculum should be reviewed so that our tertiary education will be more skill-based. What is your take on this? There is no gainsaying that the tertiary education curriculum in Nigeria should be beefed up, making it more skill-based than what we have presently. I am in support of improved skill-based curriculum. A skill- based curriculum would assist to empower the graduate to become good entrepreneurs and self reliant after school. There are no jobs in Nigeria, even when they exist; it is only the fortunate ones that get it leaving others’ jobless. Therefore, in order to remain relevant the Nigerian graduate must be totally equipped with all the necessary skill to survive. Entrepreneurs tend to start ventures that build on specific skills they have already developed and knowledge they have already acquired in a certain occupation, industry or school. However, in Nigeria, tertiary school’s curriculum is not skill-based hence Nigerian students are not developed from schools to become entrepreneurs. Do you subscribe to the opinion that majority of Nigerian graduates are unemployable? The Nigerian graduate is a product of the society, and when the system is massed up; do we then expect any good thing to come out from them? Obviously, what a man sows so shall he reap. An unemployable person is someone that is not acceptable for employment. With all sincerity, majority of present day Nigerian graduates fit the above definition of an unemployable person. The decay in the Nigerian educational system could be blamed for this assertion. As earlier stated, the present day university curriculum is not programmed for skill-based graduates. Imagine a computer science or engineering graduate who cannot code in a simple programming language seeking the post of a software developer. How can such a person be employed by a serious software company? The solution is an inclusion in curriculum skill-based courses like most private universities are doing. This will help to address the problem. The attitude of most Nigerian graduates is appalling. They put up irresponsible attitudes in even their job search. No wonder, most firms require professional certificates for employment. It is believed that such professional bodies must have imbibed in the candidate some professional ethical standards. The desire to make it quick in life and at all cost by Nigerians makes most graduates to apply for positions they are not qualified for. If a job specification says they need a B. Sc degree holder in accounting with at least three years experience, and someone is applying for the same position with B. Sc degree in economics. The recruiter has a reason for what he or she is looking for; you will only succeed in annoying the recruiters, and he or she will throw you out. Another major reason for massive youth unemployment in Nigeria is that they are often times short on personal development. Most of us today are what we are not because the school gave us everything needed but we took out time to personally develop ourselves. The present day Nigerian graduate does not even think of personal enhancement and it is actually showing. Lack of information is also a major problem. Many graduates do not have access to vital information that could get them employed. Some people hear of vacancies after the deadline or don’t even get to hear at all. This is the major reason why the Nigerian graduate is unemployable. A situation where teachers collect bribe to pass student, students buying WACE results, parents paying JAMB officials, sorting of courses and lecturers demanding for sex from female students to pass exams. How then can you employ such graduates?

Strategic analysis and proposal for IKEA

Strategic analysis and proposal for IKEA The name IKEA comes from the initials of Ingvar Kamprad, I and K, plus the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, which are the names of the farm and village where he grew up. Ingvar kamprad came with a unique idea to offer home furnishing products with good design and lower prices than other competitors. But he didnt want to compromise with the quality. So he used simple cut costing solutions. He tried to find every opportunity to reduce costs. Thats how IKEA concept began. IKEA is a home furnishing company with a fully integrated supply chain, including its own industrial groups Swedwood and Swedspan. The IKEA Group, directly or indirectly, also owns retail centres, always with an IKEA store as unique anchor tenant. The IKEA Group works in four basic areas: range strategy product development, production, supply and retail. The parent company of the IKEA Group of Companies, INGKA Holding B.V., is owned by Stichting INGKA Foundation in the Netherlands. The Stichting INGKA Foundation was established in 1982 by the founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, to create an ownership structure and organization that stand for independence and taking a longterm approach. It has two purposes to reinvest in the IKEA Group and to fund charity through the Stichting IKEA Foundation. The business idea is focused on the concept of help create a better life everyday life for many people. IKEA is a renowned global home furniture and household products retailer which is privately owned. IKEA was started by Ingvar Kamarad by 1943. Now the company owns more than 300 stores in 35 countries with more than 130,000 workers around the world. The company selling now a day more than 10000 products and the 190 million copies of catalogues distributed around all over the world. We can see how IKEA expanded by having more stores each year. Figure 1: IKEA stores expanding. To offer a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. That is the business idea of IKEA. This concept of the IKEA is the base of their business operations which includes product designing, manufacturing, transportation, retailing and assembling. When IKEA develop their products, their starting point is the idea that, even with a thin wallet, people can create a beautiful home with well designed, functional, safe and healthy products. To understand the different living situations and needs of people all over the world is the key to success of IKEA. IKEA website had 712 million visitors and 676 million store visitors in 2010. And 197 million copies of catalogue were printed in 29 languages. Total sales in last year 2010 were 23.1 billion Euros as stated in graph and IKEA food services turnover is 1.1 billion Euros. Figure 2: Annual sales in billion Euros. (FY2010) Every single company tries to use unique, distinctive and effective business strategy which will help them to stay in very competitive market and especially in the global market. We will use different tools to provide a strategic analysis of IKEA. The analysis will be use SWOT analysis, Porters five forces model. SWOT analysis: SWOT analysis is strategic planning tool which helps business to focus on key issues. This tool helps to identify and evaluate of the strengths and weakness of a firm internally, threats and opportunities of external environment. Strengths and weakness is such internal aspects of the company which can be controlled. Usually these refer to marketing, finance, and manufacturing. In same way threats and opportunities are external aspects which cant be controlled. These refer to environment, local issue, government policy and others. Strengths Weakness Opportunities Threats Internal External Figure: SWOT analysis. Strengths: IKEA is one the leading strong global brand in household furnitures in its global operation which attracts consumer group and ensure the same quality and range with almost 10000 products in their all 300 worldwide stores. IKEAs interest in how peoples lives at home is the source of all their business. The key to the success of IKEAs business, understanding of peoples different living situation and needs of all people around the world. Their starting point of developing a product is how people can decorate their house with a thin wallet without compromising the quality. IKEA offers a wide range of functional household furniture in a low price that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. IKEA is completely committed to their vision to create a better everyday life for the many people. This commitment even extends to their suppliers. IWAY is the way of purchasing IKEA products. Buying bulk and large volume for long time keeps the price down from suppliers. And suppliers feel secured also. Most of IKEA products come from supplier direct to store. That means low cost and less carbon footprint. Increasing use of renewable and smarter use of raw materials helps them to keep the price low. Customers contribute in keeping low price by collecting, taking home and assemble product by themselves. Initialization of flat packing and easy assembling made it possible. Now a day people can design their kitchen wardrobe and others household furniture themselves by IKEA computerized tools. Opportunities: IKEA states: There is a true business potential for IKEA in providing solutions that enable customers to live a more sustainable life at home. IKEA is developing effective solutions for customers in order to support them recycling or reusing used products, aiming at no products ending up at landfill and the recycled materials used in producing new IKEA products. IKEA Increases use of renewable and smarter use of raw materials helps them to keep the price low. By initialize of flat packing and easy assembling help the customer to take their product home and assemble themselves. These all business policy of IKEA is juts to ensure a quality product in low price but if we look deeply we can see that IKEA using their strengths to take advantages of opportunities. Now a days all over the world everyone is concerning about carbon footprint, greener products, low cost products. IKEA is making best out of these opportunities. Now a day demand is growing for low priced products. Current financial situation made consumers trading down from expensive stores. All most everyone is concerning about carbon footprint. IKEA most of product comes to store direct from supplier by which they gradually phase out wooden pallets and use of the most spaces of transport. Using of less transport which is less carbon emission. They keep redesigning products so that they take less space. This way they save costs and contribute to environment also. Other business may be has to change their business policy because of these global concerning. But IKEA is taking advantages of these opportunities. Weakness: Each single company tries to find out their weakness and try to resolve them. IKEA is a global brand with 300 stores globally. So the size and its scale of global business can be a problem. It could be hard eventually to keep up with their standard and quality. IKEA suppliers are in such country where government doesnt implement the legalization to control working conditions. It can affect business supply chain. On the other hand IKEA need low cost raw materials but good quality for their products. But because of global warming and other financial and environmental issues it could be hard to get the supply. Threats: Emerging a new household company with low price and its own food in the market will be a strong threat for IKEA. Though emerging a new company with such range and scale is not so easy, but by keeping their standard IKEA can held their position. Porters five factors: Porters five factors is a strong analytical tool. It helps us to understand business strength of current competitive situation and the strength of the position we are moving into. The outcome of this framework is five important factors which determine the competitive intensity, as it may in use of when creating strategy, plans or making decisions regarding investment about a business. Figure: Porters Five Forces model. Powers of buyers: IKEA make sure to satisfy their customers in every aspect by providing quality service. IKEA is global brand for household furniture for reasonable prices. The management of IKEA tries to keep the standard globally so their customer is happy about the quality and the prices. Furniture and other household has small alternative and consumers has limited choices which makes IKEA unique in his competitive market. Low price strategy is other way to response buyers needs. Powers of Suppliers: We have to consider power of supplier for our competitive situation. To ensure the quality and low price business policy IKEA must have some supplier who can supply according to the demand. IKEA set some rules for their supplier. IWAY is one of it. All suppliers should follow these set of rules. IKEA get the contracts with supplier for a long time. In this way supplier and IKEA both feel more secured. If something happens with the supplier IKEA also got time for supplement. So in this case supplier got limited powers. Competitive rivalry: IKEAs furniture competitors offer different functionality and design. However, the IKEA still holds the first position in his competitive market through his quality and low price policy in Sweden and globally also. Flat packing policy saved a lot in price and easy for customer to carry out. New entrants: There is less chance to enter

History of the Aztec Empire :: Pre-Columbian History Culture

History of the Aztec Empire The center of the Aztec civilization was the Valley of Mexico, a huge, oval basin about 7,500 feet above sea level. The Aztecs were formed after the Toltec civilization occurred when hundreds of civilians came towards Lake Texcoco. In the swamplands there was only one piece of land to farm on and it was totally surrounded by more marshes. The Aztec families somehow converted these disadvantages to a mighty empire known as the Aztec Empire. People say the empire was partially formed by a deeply believed legend. As the legend went, it said that Aztec people would create an empire in a swampy place where they would see an eagle eating a snake, while perched on a cactus, which was growing out of a rock in the swamplands. This is what priests claimed they saw when entering the new land. By the year 1325 their capital city was finished. They called it Tenochtitlan. In the capital city, aqueducts were constructed, bridges were built, and chinapas were made. Chinapas were little islands formed by pilled up mud. On these chinapas Aztecs grew their food. The Aztec Empire included many cities and towns, especially in the Valley of Mexico. The early settlers built log rafts, then covered them with mud and planted seeds to create roots and develop more solid land for building homes in this marshy land. Canals were also cut out through the marsh so that a typical Aztec home had its back to a canal with a canoe tied at the door. In the early 1400s, Tenochtitlan joined with Texcoco and Tlacopan, two other major cities in the Valley of Mexico. Tenochtitlan became the most powerful member of the alliance. Montezuma I ruled from 1440 to 1469 and conquered large areas to the east and to the south. Montezuma's successors expanded the empire until it extended between what is now Guatemala and the Mexican State of San Luis Potosi. Montezuma II became emperor in 1502 when the Aztec Empire was at the height of its power. In 1519, the Spanish explorer Hernando Cortes landed on the East Coast of Mexico and marched inland to Tenochtitlan. The Spaniards were joined by many of the Indians who were conquered and forced to pay high taxes to the emperor. Montezuma did not oppose Cortes because he thought that he was the God Quetzalcoatl. An Aztec legend said that Quetzalcoatl was driven away by another rival god and had sailed across the sea and would return some day. His return was predicted to come in the year Ce Acatl on the Aztec Calendar.

Alice Walkers The Flowers Essay -- English Literature Walker Flowers

Alice Walker's The Flowers 'The Flowers' is a short story written by Alice Walker. Walker is a black American writer, who is renown around the world, especially because of the ?book, turned movie? The Colour purple. Walker is extremely interested in the history of human rights, particularly the history of black women in the United States. Her writings often reflect this interest and they usually have dual meanings. Walker interpretates struggles of black women in her books, and The Flowers is no exception. It is about the end of innocence, of a young black child living in the 1930s. It reflects the unfairness of life, and the circumstances of the black people during that period in time. ?The Flowers? is about a girl named Myop, she is from an agricultural background (as most black Americans were in the 1930s). She is described as carefree and innocent. ? It seemed to Myop as she skipped lightly from hen house to pigpen?they days had never been as beautiful as these?. This suggests she is young and holds no major responsibilities, there are also connotations of lower class roots. The story goes on to describe her mini- travels throughout the fields, picking flowers and singing songs. This suggests the innocence she possesses as a young child. ? She was ten, and nothing existed for her but her song?. This openly tells the reader her young age, thus her lack of responsibility, which allowed her to skip around the fields aimlessly. The structure of the short story is basic. Each paragraph is more or less six lines long. It is set out in traditional short story style, each part coming in short bursts. The layout of the text makes it easier to read, and interpretate. It allows the story to ?f... ...e and purity within Myop. The wild pink flower used towards the end is used as symbolism. ? Very near where she?d stepped into the head was a wild pink rose.? The flower was a type of metaphor type factor, it symbolized the young and innocent Myop in the midst of a cold world full of brutal truths. Elements of weather is used to foreshadow what is coming. This was an effective tool which set the mood of the coming paragraphs. Walker also uses ongoing themes of racism, culture and struggle throughout the story, which is present in many of her writings. Alice Walker?s writing is beautifully written, and urges the reader to read between the lines. There is a theme of duality throughout, which is tactfully used. ?The Flowers? is a thought provoking story which highlights the struggles of black women that lived in the U.S.A during the 30s and onwards.

Ancient Egyptian Culture :: Egypt Ancient World Culture

Somewhere around 1375 years before the birth of Christ, an Egyptian pharaoh publicly changed his name. That change signalled a return to long-standing tradition, a hallmark of Egyptian culture that flourished for more than three thousand years peacefully in the rich Nile River valley. The king had been called Tutankhaton. The last portion of his name, aton, was the name for the sun-god, which, in the years before the king's reign, had achieved preeminence among the competing deities in Egyptian religious tradition. The king changed his name to the one by which he is known today -- TUTANKHAMEN or, more popularly, King Tut -- and ended the brief experiment in monotheism in favor of the older religion with its promise of an afterlife. And what an afterlife the pharaoh would have! Embalmed in order to endure the elements of disintegration, richly attired to attest to his fabulous earthly wealth, magnificently housed to remind all on-lookers of the towering greatness of the entombed human -- the pharaoh lived on in perpetual association with the stone structures that rose portentously out of the hot, barren sands of the desert so close to the life-giving, greening Nile. And the solemn bearing of these great structures reminds people today of the human hope for immortality and the way an entire culture fashioned a collective immortality in astonishing stone. Here was a culture that would persist, just as its pharaohs would live on in their silent palaces. More interesting, perhaps, is the collective underwriting of the PYRAMIDS. No fewer than 70,000 workers would have been needed to lug limestone blocks from desert miles away to the building sites. Yet there is little evidence that the pharaohs had to coerce their subjects to leave their fields and families in order to build a monument whose completion any single worker would certainly never see.

Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley

Striking the Balance of High-performance and High-value Rob Parson, a young banker with strong relationships with the important players and a proven track record in the financial services, made significant gains in building Morgan Stanley’s reputation and revenues in the financial services sector (â€Å"Rob Parson,† pp. 90, 93). He has thorough marketing and product knowledge, approaches and works with clients brilliantly, and pursues the business aggressively and successfully (â€Å"Rob Parson,† pp. 95, 96, 97). However, from the 360-degree evaluation, his â€Å"soft skills† do not appear to be as strong as his technical ones. He needs to improve his interpersonal skills, respect and trust his colleagues, and adapt to Morgan Stanley’s organizational culture (â€Å"Rob Parson†, pp. 87, 93). Being a high performer, should Parson be promoted to Managing Director? I think not. First of all, Managing Director needs to command respect for knowledge and insight among people both inside and outside the firm (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 102). From the evaluation, instead of being open to others’ ideas, Parson always thinks that he has the right answer (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 91). Second, Managing Director needs to acquire highly developed organization skills (‘Rob Parson†, p 102). Contrary to the average score of 3. 80 for professional skills, Parson was scored at only 3. 13 for his management skills (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 100). Without competent management skills, Parson will have difficulty communicating with, motivating and empowering employees. Thirdly, the ability to articulate departmental visions and strategies is an important responsibility of managing director (‘Rob Parson†, p 102). Coming from smaller investment banks, Parson kept the same work style, which conflicted with Morgan Stanley’s culture and norms(‘Rob Parson†, p 91). He will not lead a good example to employees in demonstrating Morgan Stanley’s vision and strategy. In many organizations, there are high performers like Parson who works great as an individual, but does not fit well in the organization’s value system. Both performance and value are critical factors for the health of an organization. What are some of the ways to strike the balance between the two? First of all, enhance performance by aligning organizational value with employee’s goals. When Rob Parson was invited by Paul Nasr to join Morgan Stanley, he accepted the offer primarily because he wanted to work with Nasr, not because that he would be a good fit with Morgan Stanley’s culture (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 90). Before long, conflicts will surface and a series of problems will occur. How to minimize the misalignment? The organization needs to clearly communicate its mission and vision statement to its employees. Then employees should be encouraged to find similarities of their goals and the statement. If a gap exists, managers can work with employees to identify key characteristics of the two and find a common ground. In Parson’s case, because his personal vision is not aligned with Morgan Stanley’s, he faced problems when working with other colleagues and got frustrated by not understanding what he did wrong (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 92). If his goals had been aligned with Morgan Stanley’s, he would have had a more effective working relationship and without doubt, his performance would have been greatly enhanced. Second way to achieve the balance is to drive organizational value through sustained performance. Assessing employees’ skills, investing on training programs and fostering an environment for continuous improvement are strategies for a sustained performance. Rob Parson may not be ready to be promoted to Managing Director, but inevitably, he has great potentials. What steps should be taken to make Parson a more effective leader? do something to utilize RP’s energetic, entrepreneurial nature that organ Stanley needed to penetrate the sector? _ First, I recommend that Nasr provide Parson constructive feedback and coaching. Nasr was worried about the potential risk of losing him(â€Å" Rob Parson†, p92), but if conducted in an effective way, feedback can help Parson understand more about himself and others, while coaching can help him reflect on discoveries from the feedback and make action plans for improvement. The existing 360-degree evaluation has provided factual basis, and Nasr can work together with Parson to explore unconscious mind behind certain behaviors and discuss what impact these behaviors had on others. Second, align Parson’s goals with Morgan Stanley’s vision. Before he went to work at Morgan Stanley, Parson knew that he was not the typical Morgan Stanley type (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 90), however, one does not have to be one particular type to share the same vision with the organization. I recommend that Nasr sit down with Parson, go over Parson’s personal goals, and help him identify common theme with Morgan Stanley’s vision. The more aligned Parson’s goal is with Morgan Stanley’s, the more Parsons will feel being part of the team. Parson brings Morgan Stanley experience and talent in an area it needs improvement, and Morgan Stanley provides Parson the platform to utilize his skills and expand career horizon. The link between Parson’s goals and Morgan Stanley’s vision will help Parson take ownership of Morgan Stanley’s vision greatly. Thirdly, I recommend forming a knowledge sharing community in Capital Market Services. Parson was consistently commended for his strong marketing knowledge and relationship management skills (â€Å"Rob Parson†, pp 95, 96, 97), both of which many employees lack. Other employees also have valuable experiences from different functions, which Larson was not open to listen before. â₠¬Å"Lessons learned† and â€Å"Lunch and Learn† can both be examples of implementing the knowledge sharing. Gathering collective expertise and wisdom from employees will bring team closer, and add value to achieve Morgan Stanley’s goal of becoming the world’s best investment bank (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p87). The process knowledge exchange will provide Parson more opportunities to interact with colleagues in a different environment, where everyone’s goals are aligned to enrich their knowledge base. First of all, get his buy-in of Morgan Stanley’s culture. Before he went to work at Morgan Stanley, Parson knew that he was not the typical Morgan Stanley type (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 90). I recommend that Nasr sit down with Parson, go over Parson’s personal goals, and help him identify common theme with Morgan Stanley’s vision. The more aligned Parson’s goal is with Morgan Stanley’s, the more Parson will feel be in the team. Second, I recommend that Nasr conduct feedback session between him and his peers, encourage conversation to discuss conflicts and observations. Use this as an opportunity to increase the openness and appreciation of new style and idea among the team as well. To learn and understand more about each other, May be used as an opportunity to create synergy. Rob Parson at Morgan Stanley Striking the Balance of High-performance and High-value Rob Parson, a young banker with strong relationships with the important players and a proven track record in the financial services, made significant gains in building Morgan Stanley’s reputation and revenues in the financial services sector (â€Å"Rob Parson,† pp. 90, 93). He has thorough marketing and product knowledge, approaches and works with clients brilliantly, and pursues the business aggressively and successfully (â€Å"Rob Parson,† pp. 95, 96, 97). However, from the 360-degree evaluation, his â€Å"soft skills† do not appear to be as strong as his technical ones. He needs to improve his interpersonal skills, respect and trust his colleagues, and adapt to Morgan Stanley’s organizational culture (â€Å"Rob Parson†, pp. 87, 93). Being a high performer, should Parson be promoted to Managing Director? I think not. First of all, Managing Director needs to command respect for knowledge and insight among people both inside and outside the firm (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 102). From the evaluation, instead of being open to others’ ideas, Parson always thinks that he has the right answer (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 91). Second, Managing Director needs to acquire highly developed organization skills (‘Rob Parson†, p 102). Contrary to the average score of 3. 80 for professional skills, Parson was scored at only 3. 13 for his management skills (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 100). Without competent management skills, Parson will have difficulty communicating with, motivating and empowering employees. Thirdly, the ability to articulate departmental visions and strategies is an important responsibility of managing director (‘Rob Parson†, p 102). Coming from smaller investment banks, Parson kept the same work style, which conflicted with Morgan Stanley’s culture and norms(‘Rob Parson†, p 91). He will not lead a good example to employees in demonstrating Morgan Stanley’s vision and strategy. In many organizations, there are high performers like Parson who works great as an individual, but does not fit well in the organization’s value system. Both performance and value are critical factors for the health of an organization. What are some of the ways to strike the balance between the two? First of all, enhance performance by aligning organizational value with employee’s goals. When Rob Parson was invited by Paul Nasr to join Morgan Stanley, he accepted the offer primarily because he wanted to work with Nasr, not because that he would be a good fit with Morgan Stanley’s culture (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 90). Before long, conflicts will surface and a series of problems will occur. How to minimize the misalignment? The organization needs to clearly communicate its mission and vision statement to its employees. Then employees should be encouraged to find similarities of their goals and the statement. If a gap exists, managers can work with employees to identify key characteristics of the two and find a common ground. In Parson’s case, because his personal vision is not aligned with Morgan Stanley’s, he faced problems when working with other colleagues and got frustrated by not understanding what he did wrong (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 92). If his goals had been aligned with Morgan Stanley’s, he would have had a more effective working relationship and without doubt, his performance would have been greatly enhanced. Second way to achieve the balance is to drive organizational value through sustained performance. Assessing employees’ skills, investing on training programs and fostering an environment for continuous improvement are strategies for a sustained performance. Rob Parson may not be ready to be promoted to Managing Director, but inevitably, he has great potentials. What steps should be taken to make Parson a more effective leader? do something to utilize RP’s energetic, entrepreneurial nature that organ Stanley needed to penetrate the sector? _ First, I recommend that Nasr provide Parson constructive feedback and coaching. Nasr was worried about the potential risk of losing him(â€Å" Rob Parson†, p92), but if conducted in an effective way, feedback can help Parson understand more about himself and others, while coaching can help him reflect on discoveries from the feedback and make action plans for improvement. The existing 360-degree evaluation has provided factual basis, and Nasr can work together with Parson to explore unconscious mind behind certain behaviors and discuss what impact these behaviors had on others. Second, align Parson’s goals with Morgan Stanley’s vision. Before he went to work at Morgan Stanley, Parson knew that he was not the typical Morgan Stanley type (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 90), however, one does not have to be one particular type to share the same vision with the organization. I recommend that Nasr sit down with Parson, go over Parson’s personal goals, and help him identify common theme with Morgan Stanley’s vision. The more aligned Parson’s goal is with Morgan Stanley’s, the more Parsons will feel being part of the team. Parson brings Morgan Stanley experience and talent in an area it needs improvement, and Morgan Stanley provides Parson the platform to utilize his skills and expand career horizon. The link between Parson’s goals and Morgan Stanley’s vision will help Parson take ownership of Morgan Stanley’s vision greatly. Thirdly, I recommend forming a knowledge sharing community in Capital Market Services. Parson was consistently commended for his strong marketing knowledge and relationship management skills (â€Å"Rob Parson†, pp 95, 96, 97), both of which many employees lack. Other employees also have valuable experiences from different functions, which Larson was not open to listen before. â₠¬Å"Lessons learned† and â€Å"Lunch and Learn† can both be examples of implementing the knowledge sharing. Gathering collective expertise and wisdom from employees will bring team closer, and add value to achieve Morgan Stanley’s goal of becoming the world’s best investment bank (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p87). The process knowledge exchange will provide Parson more opportunities to interact with colleagues in a different environment, where everyone’s goals are aligned to enrich their knowledge base. First of all, get his buy-in of Morgan Stanley’s culture. Before he went to work at Morgan Stanley, Parson knew that he was not the typical Morgan Stanley type (â€Å"Rob Parson†, p 90). I recommend that Nasr sit down with Parson, go over Parson’s personal goals, and help him identify common theme with Morgan Stanley’s vision. The more aligned Parson’s goal is with Morgan Stanley’s, the more Parson will feel be in the team. Second, I recommend that Nasr conduct feedback session between him and his peers, encourage conversation to discuss conflicts and observations. Use this as an opportunity to increase the openness and appreciation of new style and idea among the team as well. To learn and understand more about each other, May be used as an opportunity to create synergy.

Analyze the different Operational Management (OM) perspective of Walmart Essay

Analyze the different Operational Management (OM) perspective of Walmart. Identify the following by writing a paper (with paragraphs, including an introductory, body, and concluding section): 1) The organization’s name and main line of business, 2) A specific type of operations process that takes place there (either service or product), 3) Describe the nature of the operations given your newfound understanding of operations management and productivity. 4) You may identify the strategy or global strategy of that organization. Turn in your one to two page paper by the Module due date. Walmart Stores, Inc. or Walmart is an American public corporation that runs a chain of large, discount department stores. It is the world’s largest public corporation by revenue, Founded by Sam Walton in 1962, it was incorporated on October 31, 1969, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 1972. It is the largest private employer in the world and the fourth largest utility or commercial employer. Walmart is the largest grocery retailer in the United States, with an estimated 20% of the retail grocery and consumables business. It also owns and operates the North American company, Sam’s club. The operations that take place in Walmart are specifically related to products. Walmart has a systematic approach to conducting its operations. It is able to understand the issues and problems to be studied, measures of performances to be established and uses scientific and analytical tools to develop effective and efficient solutions to the problems at hand. Irrespective of the nature of organization and the activities it performs every organization needs to incorporate marketing finance and human resources activities to its operations. This operation process is the conversion process. These four forms the basic functions of any organisation.and are mutually interactive.oerations come at the core of every organizational activity and bind the functional areas together. Productivity and efficiency of work is determined by an efficient system of operations. Hence operations forms are very important process of work flow and .corporate level strategies must first be made and then translated into operational strategies. Operation management functions encompass product  design and development, process design, location and layout of facilities, capacity planning, forecasting, production planning and control, supply chain management, maintenance management and continued improvement in operations. The strategy of Walmart is to extend its products to every possible household and make every product available to the common man through its wide network of stores all over the USA.the strategy is also to provide empowerment and work to as many people as it can and make the supply chain management a very safe and profitable process. it gets its groceries from unknown and untapped resources thereby making it a virtual assembly house of varied manufactured products. Project 2 Consider Wal-Mart. Integrate the concepts and operations management principles that you’ve been studying in this module and turn in your one to two page paper addressing the following questions: How project management influence other departments and functions of this organization (i.e., marketing, finance, accounting, human resources, etc.)? What are the difficulties or limitations for implementing PERT and CRM in the organization? Operations are a key functional area in an organization. Irrespective of the activities and the type of business every organization has few important activities to perform. This encompasses operations, marketing, finance and human resources management. Operations pertain to managing the conversion process in an organization. The marketing function is concerned with understanding the requirements of the customers cresting a demand for the products and services and satisfying the customer requirements by delivering the right product and services to the customers at the right time. In order to perform the various activities pertaining to operations and marketing finance is needed for tapping the market for funds and managing the working capital. These activities constitute the finance function. Every organization employs a number of people with varied skills background and work requirements. Managing the workforce and addressing a host of issues related to them is called human resources management.hrence these four form the basic functions of any organization The basic functions of an organization. The four functions have mutual interactions between them. The decisions  taken in each of these functional areas could form an important input in another functional area. Typically, organizations begin their yearly plan with the marketing function of estimating next year’s sales. This input forms the basis for production planning, procurement planning and all these lead to certain estimate of the funds required. This forms an important input for the finance function.wjhile planning has such a sequence of information flows and interactions at the time of executions interactions are even more. The HRM function influences the productive capacity of manpower available in real time the actual production of gods influences the marketing activity to be undertaken and the quantum and timing of funds available from sales. Hence project management influences every department in an organization. It is difficult to implement PERT because it is a product industry and as such Pert is normally suited to a service industry of where there are many projects taking off Walmart being primarily a goods industry does not require PERT. Customer Relationship management is a though study by the organization of the customer behavior and relationship. Walmart’s customer base is so huge that it seems impossible to maintain a CRM of that size. Furthermore the customer is from varied backgrounds and Walmart will not have any use for this. It becomes very expensive to initialize something like this for the size of Walmart. Project 3 At the Hard Rock Cafe, like many organizations, project management is a key planning tool. With Hard Rock’s constant growth in hotels and cafes, remodeling of existing cafes, scheduling for Hard Rock Live concert and event venues, and planning the annual Rockfest, managers rely on project management techniques and software to maintain schedule and budget performance. â€Å"Without Microsoft Project,† says Hard Rock Vice-President Chris Tomasso, â€Å"there is no way to keep so many people on the same page.† Tomasso is in charge of the Rockfest event, which is attended by well over 100,000 enthusiastic fans. The challenge is pulling it off within a tight 9-month planning horizon. As the event approaches, Tomasso devotes greater energy to its activities. For the first 3 months, Tomasso updates his MS Project charts monthly. Then at the 6-month mark, he updates his progress weekly. At the 9- month mark, he checks and corrects his schedule twice a  week. Early in the project management process, Tomasso identifies 10 major tasks (called level 2 activities in a work breakdown structure, or WBS):†  talent booking, ticketing, marketing/PR, online promotion, television, show production, travel, sponsorships, operations, and merchandising. Using a WBS, each of these is further divided into a series of subtasks. The following table identifies 26 of the major activities and subactivities, their immediate predecessors, and time estimates. Tomasso enters all of these into the MS Project software. Tomasso alters the MS Project document and the time line as the project progresses. â€Å"It’s okay to change it as long as you keep on track,† he states. The day of the rock concert itself is not the end of the project planning. â€Å"It’s nothing but surprises. A band not being able to get to the venue because of traffic jams is a surprise, but an ‘anticipated’ surprise. We had a helicopter on stand-by ready to fly the band in,† says Tomasso. On completion of Rockfest in July, Tomasso and his team have a 3-month reprieve before starting the project planning process again. Please turn in a paper of one to two pages (page counting does not include cover and reference list) discussing the following questions, The critical path is A-D-E-F-G-O The project completion time is 34 weeks. 2. Identify some major challenges a project manager faces in events such as this one. To plan thoroughly all aspects of the project, soliciting the active involvement of all functional areas involved, in order to obtain and maintain a realistic plan that satisfies their commitment for performance. To control the organization of manpower needed by the project To control the basic technical definition of the project, ensuring that â€Å"technical† versus â€Å"cost† trade-offs determine the specific areas where optimisation is necessary. To lead the people and organizations assigned to the project at any given point in time. Strong positive leadership must be exercised in order to keep the many disparate elements moving in the same direction in a co-operative. To monitor performance, costs and efficiency of all elements of the project and the project as a whole, exercising judgement and leadership in determining the causes of problems and facilitating solutions To complete the project on schedule and within costs, these being the overall standard by which performance of the project manager is evaluated. Project 4 Global firms like Regal Marine know that the basis for an organization’s existence is the good or service it provides society. Great products are the keys to success. With hundreds of competitors in the boat business, Regal Marine must work to differentiate itself from the flock. Regal continuously introduces innovative, high-quality new boats. Its differentiation strategy is currently reflected in a product line consisting of 22 models. But why must Regal Marine constantly worry about designing new boats? The answer is that every product has a life cycle. Products are born. They live and they die. As Figure 5.1 shows, a product’s life cycle can be divided into four phases: introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Figure 5.2 shows the four life cycle stages and the relationship of product sales, costs, and profit over the life cycle of a product. When Regal is developing a new model boat, it typically has a negative cash flow. If the boat is successful, those losses may be recovered and yield a profit prior to its decline. The life cycle for a successful Regal boat is three to five years. To maintain this stream of innovative new products, Regal constantly seeks design input from customers, dealers, and consultants. Design ideas rapidly find themselves in Regal’s styling studio, where Computer Aided Design (CAD) technology speeds the development process. A Regal design engineer can start with a rough sketch or even just an idea and use the graphic display power of CAD as a drafting board to construct the geometry of the new boat. The CAD system helps the designer determine engineering data such as the strength, dimensions, or weight. It also allows the designer to be sure all parts will fit together. Existing boat designs are always evolving as the company tries to stay stylish and competitive. Moreover, with life cycles so short, a steady stream of new products is required. A few years ago, the new product was the 3-passenger $11,000 Rush, a small, but powerful boat capable of pulling a water-skier. The next year, it was a 20-foot inboard-outboard performance boat with so many innovations that it won prize after prize in the industry. Then it was a redesigned 42-foot Commodore that sleeps six in luxury staterooms. With all these models and innovations, Regal designers  and production personnel are under pressure to respond quickly. By getting key suppliers on board early and urging them to participate at the design stage, Regal improves both innovations and quality while speeding product development. Regal finds that the sooner it brings suppliers on board, the faster it can bring new boats to the market. The first stage in actual production is the creation of the â€Å"plug,† a foam-based carving used to make the molds for fiberglass hulls and decks. Specifications from the CAD system drive the carving process. Once the plug is carved, the permanent molds for each new hull and deck design are formed. Molds take about 4-8 weeks to make and are all handmade. Similar mold s are made for many of the other features in Regal boats–from galley and stateroom components to lavatories and steps. Finished molds can be joined and used to make thousands of boats. Please turn in a paper of one to two pages (page counting does not include cover and reference list) discussing the following questions, 1. How does the concept of product life cycle apply to Regal Marine products? 2. What strategy does Regal use to stay competitive? 3. What kind of benefits are Regal achieving by using CAD technology rather than traditional drafting techniques? Project 4 The product life cycle that applies to regal marine products is new boats every three to five years. To be competitive every boat that is manufactured has four stages .the introduction and the design conceptualization is the most important stage. Once the design has been conceptualized it becomes easy to transfer the design into an acceptable model through the CAD models. Then it is introduced into the market’. The innovations and the new design boats help the market and it grows fast that the entire market is full of the new design boats from regal marines. This is the maturity stage of the boat life cycle. Every boat lover has a new boat design of regal marines and then the stagnation starts and the sales of boat decline gradually at first and then very quickly. this is a sure sign that the life cycle of the new design is coming to an end and obsoletion has set in .if this is not tackled then the firm will be incurring losses on more production. So this is an  indication t hat regal marines have to start looking for another new design to replace the one that in just going out of vogue. Regal marines’ competitive strategy is right from the customers themselves. Every design and thought that goes into making boats comes from the customers themselves. The customer’s suppliers and designers are all together in the studio of the regal marines while designing a new boat of enhancing features of existing models. This allows for regal marines to feel the pulse of the market and also help in setting in trends and innovations. Since every product is manufactured and customized as per customer design and style this helps regal marines to bring in the right edge to the sale and product and allows it to stay competitive. The brand of Boats from regal marines sells because there is always something new to every boat that is introduced in the market. Regal marine’s product development cell has a good combination of suppliers too. It uses the suppliers input in the design stage by urging them to participate in the design drafting process. This helps in speedin g up the initial design process. While competitors lose out on time regal marines is able to capitalize on time. Regal finds that the sooner it brings suppliers on board, the faster it can bring new boats to the market this competitive strategy also allows for competitive pricing with enhanced features. This is the gaining advantage that regal marines have. The traditional drafting method needs precision and perfection and usually takes some days to design. The prototype of the design cannot be seen unless the drawing is fully complete. This is not so in the case of Cad. if a few necessary dimensions are given and the shape chosen the CAD design engineers can bring out hundreds of designs of the prototype and improving upon the concept as the design proceeds. This is the greatest advantage of CAD designing. Improvements can go along simultaneously. This is not only faster but innovative too. The errors that arise out of human calculations and design lengths can be avoided though computer designing. The parts of the design can be fitted redesigned and reengineered based of specifications and new inputs. This allows for innovations and new concepts. The CAD also gives suggestions for new designs which can be improved upon. Styles and engineering models can be used to stay ahead of others. This is the greatest advantage of The CAD over tra ditional patterns of design. The CAD allows regal marine engineers to be constantly under pressure to bring in  innovations in boat design and models. This also has led to improving the efficiency of Regal marine product service lines. Project 5 Consider Wal-Mart. Integrate the concepts and operations management principles that you’ve been studying in this module and turn in your one to two page paper addressing the following questions: 1) How product design is applied in decision-making of that organization? 2) Can you describe a Product Life Cycles in the organization? 3) How different Issues for Product Development are applied in the organization? Project 5 Walmart a premier Grocery store and the largest chain store in the USA has been constantly striving to improve its product design. In the design of a consumer product not only is the manufactured cost of interest, but also the quality of the product delivered and how well the product meets customer expectations is studied. Walmart has been able to sustain this competitive advantage by staying ahead of others in designing delivering products in new fashion Walmart product can be distinguished just by design and packaging. Products sold by Walmart have measurable and non measurable attributes too hence both these have to consider while preparing a design plan for its products. Cost is a very important attribute of product design. a key decision making process is the constitution of cost. Walmart has been tagged as the cost price sop or a friendly shop. Having scored on this advantage Walmart needs to design its product and decide on the most important factor of cost. Many of the decisions regarding cost and quality are made in the preliminary design stage where the design engineers and the cost engineers sit together to make a workable proposition keeping the corporate strategy in mind. Hence these two put together deliver a product that can be afford by a maximum number of people. Since the consumer market is a fast changing one no product design can be kept constant for long. there is great uncertainty regarding this hence this decision of whether to stick to same design or keeping changing the design as per consumer preferences is a decision that has to be taken promptly so that products can have the delivery value. Too much newness and change may also lead to undesirable results sometimes. Where there is a degree of uncertainty in design  performance levels, customer preferences, and even in the goals for the design itself have to change immediately so that the product reaches the shelves with the newness that is anticipated from every Walmart store. The Walmart’s products are fast-moving consumer goods and durables and groceries which have short shelf lives. The product life cycles of products at Walmart are varying from 2 months to 2 years. That is why it is called a FMCG sector. Even before a product has been introduced it become out of fashion and obsolete. Such products life cycle is very short and these products will not be able to bring in that competitive advantage to Walmart. Most of the products that Walmart deals have short PLCs. even before the growth rate starts the decline set in. this call for continuous product improvement and great innovations in product life cycle management. Every product here has a tangible attribute and consumers want that attribute in every new product line. This is a challenge that Walmart has been continually striving for. Walmart’s issues of product development are many and are challenging to the very existence of this chain stores. The issues are generated not only from managing the wide variety of products but continually striving for error generating highest customer satisfaction. The watchword of product development is innovation. The market place is so crowded that unless Walmart caters to this it cannot sustain in the market. It keeps innovation as the watchword every customer need has to be met and new initiatives have to be optimized to meet the needs of the ever changing consumer market. This is critical to the success of any product development agenda. An ideal marketing mix should be approached by the organization so that product development is optimized. This would help in sustaining the advantage of product development issues. Project 6 The Arnold Palmer Hospital (APH) in Orlando, Florida, is one of the busiest and most respected hospitals for the medical treatment of children and women in the U.S. Since its opening on golfing legend Arnold Palmer’s birthday September 10, 1989, more than 1.5 million children and women have passed through its doors. It is the fourth busiest labor and delivery hospital in the U.S. and the largest neonatal intensive care unit in the Southeast. And APH ranks fifth out of 5,000 hospitals nationwide in patient satisfaction.  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Part of the reason for APH’s success,† says Executive Director Kathy Swanson, â€Å"is our continuous improvement process. Our goal is 100% patient satisfaction. But getting there means constantly examining and reexamining everything we do, from patient flow, to cleanliness, to layout space, to colors on the walls, to speed of medication delivery from the pharmacy to a patient. Continuous improvement is a huge and never-ending task.† One of the tools the hospital uses consistently is the process flowchart. Staffer Diane Bowles, who carries the â€Å"Clinical Practice Improvement Consultant,† charts scores of processes. Bowles’s flowcharts help study ways to improve the turnaround of a vacated room (especially important in a hospital that has operated at 130% of capacity for years), speed up the admission process, and deliver warm meals warm. Lately, APH has been examining the flow of maternity patients (and their paperwork) from the moment they enter the hospital until they are discharged, hopefully with their healthy baby a day or two later. The flow of maternity patients follows these steps: 1. Enter APH’s Labor & Delivery check-in desk entrance. 2. If the baby is born en route or if birth is imminent, the mother and baby are taken by elevator and registered and admitted directly at bedside. They are then taken to a Labor & Delivery Triage room on the 8th floor for an exam. If there are no complications, the mother and baby go to step 6. 3. If the baby is not yet born, the front desk asks if the mother is preregistered. (Most do preregister at the 28–30-week pregnancy mark). If she is not, she goes to the registration office on the first floor. 4. The pregnant woman is taken to Labor & Delivery Triage on the 8th floor for assessment. If she is ready to deliver, she is taken to a Labor & Delivery (L&D) room on the 2nd floor until the baby is born. If she is not ready, she goes to step 5. 5. Pregnant women not ready to deliver (i.e., no contractions or false alarm) are either sent home to return on a later date and reenter the system at that time, or if contractions are not yet close enough, they are sent to walk around the hospital grounds (to encourage progress) and then return to Labor & Delivery Triage at a prescribed time. 6. When the baby is born, if there are no complications, after 2 hours the mother and baby are transferred to a â€Å"mother-baby care unit† room on floors 3, 4, or 5 for an average of 40–44 hours. 7. If there are complications with the mother, she goes to an operating room and/or intensive care unit. From there, she goes back to a mother–baby care room upon stabilization — or is discharged at another time if not stabilized. Complications for the baby may result in a stay in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) before transfer to the baby nursery near the mother’s room. If the baby cannot be stabilized for discharge with the mother, the baby is discharged later. 8. Mother and/or baby, when ready, are discharged and taken by wheelchair to the discharge exit for pickup to travel home. Please turn in a paper of one to two pages (page counting does not include cover and reference list) discussing the following questions, 1. As Diane’s new assistant, you need to flowchart this process. Explain how the process might be improved once you have completed the chart. 2. If a mother is scheduled for a Caesarean-section birth (i.e., the baby is removed from the womb surgically), how would this flowchart change? 3. If all mothers were electronically (or manually) preregistered, how would the flowchart change? Redraw the chart to show your changes. 4. Describe in detail a process that the hospital could analyze, besides the ones mentioned in this case. Project 6 Staffer Diane Bowles is the â€Å"Clinical Practice Improvement Consultant,† who charts scores of processes. Her inputs are very important for efficient room processes and admission processes. As Diane’s assistant I would first acquaint myself with the flow of Diana’s flowchart. I would take a few days to study the various inputs and the process flows. Once this is done then I could suggest improvements if any. I feel that there is only place where  there is a scope for improvement. This would also help in getting the rooms vacated on time without the prospect of waiting for rooms to be vacated. I would not initiate any changes because the flow chart of processes has been very successful and critical to the 130% capacity of the operational levels of the hospitals’ only would like to improve upon the levels of floors of the various units. The process as such is maintained very well but the floors on which facilities for labor wards for operations and normal delivery are scattered and in case of any emergency the patient has to be shifted many times up and down. This not only wastes critical time but also man power. I suggest that the seventh and the eight floors be exclusively used as labor wards and operation theaters and the rest of th4 floors be used in any order convenient for doctors’ nurses and other therapists. A mother who is expected to be operated upon needs to jump from process 1 to 7 without any intervening steps. the process 7 would become step 2 as the mother has already registered and ready for the cesarean .then step 6 could be followed the mother and child sent to the ante natal care and then step 8 .in process flow chart for a mother who is to be operated upon. she need not go through any other step as it is not required. Pre-registration should become mandatory fro all expectant mothers. Then the order of the flowchart would change with step 3 becoming step 1 and step 322 and others following each other. There should be no instant admission process .since all mothers are treated only by this hospital doctors pre-registration must become compulsory. That way the no of patients and mothers to be admitted for delivery on any particular day can be assessed and particularly over crowded seasons can be studied and staff arranged for emergencies. A process for a hospital specializing in obstetrics and child birth could be as follows: 1. Expectant mothers to pre register with the hospital either manually of electronically in the 30th week of pregnancy. 2. The registration number to be produced during time of admission with doctor’s diagnosis. 3,. If the mother is due for a cesarean, admission should take place before 6 hours and the mother should be taken to floor 7 for preoperative care and then proceed to step 6 4. If the mother is due for normal delivery and the birth of the child can happen any time, the mother and baby are taken by elevator and registered and admitted directly at bedside. They are then taken to a Labor & Delivery Triage room on the 8th floor for an exam. If there are no  complications, the mother and baby go to step 6. 5. If the mother has still some more time for delivery she is asked to go around the hospital till the contractions start and then goes to step 6. 6. The mother is taken to the labor ward and after successful child birth she goes to the mother and child ward and then to step 7 7. After observation and mother and child found healthy they are discharged and then to step 9 8. if the mother is found healthy and the child is found not fit enough to be discharged the child is taken to the natal care centre and the mother goes to step 9. 9. The mother and baby discharged with dates vie fro the next check up with post natal care dates. . Project 7 Consider Walmart. Integrate the concepts and operations management principles that you’ve been studying in this module and turn in your one to two page paper addressing the following questions : 1) What process strategy (form the four process strategies) is applied in that organization? 2) Where is the headquarter (or distribution center) of the organization? Are there any benefits locating there? If you could choose, where would you choose? Project 7 The process strategy is also called the job shop process. The process focus at Walmart is basically strategized around the low volume low variety type. The goods that are sold in Walmart are a large variety of goods with small quantities on the shelf. If one goes through the Walmart shelves it is noticeable that there are hundreds of varieties of goods of all types and brands but one can never buy in bulk just because Walmart does not stock them in bulk. It is not categorized as a bulk store but a retail chain store. The facilities of each department starting from the procurement to delivery are all specific processes and are organized around specific activities. Every activity is done in a specialized way by the department and process concerned. There is heavy centralization of process leading to  high execution times and perfection in operations. The procurement department is centralized with a specialists working on processes and jobs. The store stocks goods according to the eve r changing demands of the customers so the product range at Walmart is highly flexible. The stores allows for product flexibility. Since majority of the work of disbursement and product stocking is done manually the store incurs heavy cost on distribution. Except for billing and inventory every other activity is manually done. This leads not only to heavy man power requirement but also lot of human errors that cannot be avoided. This makes way for repetitions and sometimes high levels of inefficiencies. Because of the high manual work the sophisticated machines are seldom used and are all put in cold storage. To show that the store is organized around the latest technology the machines have been ordered and put in place but they are neither used nor automated. This calls for idle cost. Another main characteristic of the Walmart chain stores are the varying product flows making planning and scheduling a challenge. It is very difficult to estimate in advance the flow of a product during a week in advance. this calls for either over stocking a product or non availability o f the product hence the floor manager‘s job of stocking the right quantity during the time of demand becomes a challenge. This is the most difficult part of the process flow in Walmart. The work processes are very unique in the sense that one cannot apply any strategy of operations management and organization behavior here. The assembly process is also a challenge for every department of Walmart. The Walmart chain stores are headquartered at Bentonville, Benton County, Arkansas, 72716. The reason for having the headquarters there is quite obvious because it was here that Sam Walton opened the company’s first discount store in 1962.the original store is now a tourist spot. This small town has not only a big store but all offices of Walmart including the corporate office here. There could be no benefits here except having a sentimental value to having the head office near the original store. Since theses are the corporate offices and do not actually carry out operations of sully chain and procurement it does not matter. This headquarters is management office as all other Walmart stores operate on their own through centralized market pool. Hence procurement and distribution is done through the local stores but decisions regarding corporate policies are excused from the headquarters. I would choose the same. References: dedeksoncenter.net/Classweb/MSIS_301/MSIS301_Slides/OperationsMGT_hr8_ppt07.ppt – http://walmartstores.com/ P