Thursday, October 31, 2019

TQM Philosophy Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

TQM Philosophy - Essay Example This research tells that TQM's position as an industry innovator was well established by the time of the accelerator pedal disaster. Not only had they established themselves as being nearly synonymous with TQM, but they also had become well-associated with Kaizen and quality circles. Toyota's cars were well-respected in the market for their safety, longevity and gas efficiency. But the accelerator pedal problem showed chinks in their armor. What is certain, even if the TQM idea they deployed was philosophically sound, is that Toyota became complacent due to their success. Like IBM, Microsoft, AT&T, and too many other companies to list, their size and strategic position had led them to believe they could cut corners and do no wrong. Toyota now has been reminded of their fallibility and will have to spend years regaining the trust of their consumers. As the burger chain, Wendy's can testify, even erroneous claims of TQM failures at one store can cause a PR nightmare for years even afte r the claim has been proven to be fraudulent. Toyota will have to examine where TQM failures were made, and hold some people accountable. Worse, this is not a faulty construction element, so their front-line workers can't be held responsible. Instead, it is faulty design, which implicates engineers and management, people higher up the food chain who it is more difficult to demote or fire. The implication for TQM is obvious: Big companies will need to overcompensate in their TQM protocols. With their amassed capital, big companies should be able to comply more, not less, with TQM needs and restrictions. But they will need to recognize that market pressures and internal cultures endemic to large, successful organizations cause what might appear to be viable TQM initiatives to fail. They will need to make their TQM programmes even more robust, knowing that the uncorrected tendency of the company will be to veer into complacency and therefore into unsafe products. But another issue that TQM advocates face in the wake of the Toyota debacle is that elements like TQM can transition from innovative, effective new techniques into established rigidities. New ideas can still be adapted to new market situations, but once an idea like TQM has become old enough, it becomes very hard to apply it in new ways internal to a company due to factors of complacency, institutional size and the commensurate reduction in flexibility, and established institutional cultures that start to make the idea into a routine that becomes increasingly hard to break. TQM advocates will need to commit to bringing in fresh new minds and new ideas and actually adopting them on a yearly basis in order to remain viable. But the Toyota TQM issue was even worse than it appeared: It actually indicated weakness with the whole idea of TQM. An engineer reported, Although one of the main tasks of engineers at the company was to come up with ways to improve existing product designs, I learned early on that kai zen had a fairly narrow application. It was mainly used to tweak designs to improve product performance. These techniques ensured increased market share for the company because buyers could immediately see the results of the improvements in new models. But some of the most complex engineering design processes—and the ones that tend to fail—are under the hood and out of sight of most owners†¦

Tuesday, October 29, 2019

Employment and Society Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Employment and Society - Essay Example The management, which is mostly consisted of male employees, find women not flexible enough, or assume that women do not want to be relocated or put long hours for the company because of their family responsibilities. Because of this, talented and skilled women lose the opportunity to be promoted to the higher management. Although there are women being promoted to the next level, there are still several signs that the place of women in the workplace is still at a lower level compared to men. Although the compensation gap between men and women employees are slowly narrowing, women’s compensation range is still at 77% lower than men’s in a 1999 data (Gregory, 2). By 2000, 46.5% of the US workforce are women but only 11.7% have held board of director positions and only 12.5% are corporate officers (Gregory, 2). Sadly, women themselves have unwittingly become the perpetuator of their own discrimination. Some women do not recognize that a certain policy is discriminatory in nature. Others, who recognize the discrimination, do not want to become involved in legal proceedings. Or are scared of losing their jobs or think that it is useless to bother with such issues as all other workplace are also infested with discrimination. There have been various laws that were passed to ensure that women get an equal opportunity in the workplace. This proves that the course towards gender equality in the workplace is on the works.

Sunday, October 27, 2019

Software Development Theory: A Survey

Software Development Theory: A Survey Pushpakumar R Abstract— Nowadays, during the Software development process, software developers are involved and their efforts to generate correct approach are the major challenge. In this survey, the planned model is Coat Hanger, for theorizing about development practices. This model focuses on the projected justification for the actual recognition and resulting effects of using particular practices in changing contexts. In the recent practice concerned with articles in the journal Science of Computer Programming explains the use of this model. The software development in professional organizations with actual software consultants as moles. The Coat Hanger model was then used to order the notional assets and weakness of these four practice descriptions. The study is used as the basis to declare the likely of our model as an intangible aid for more structured imagining about software development practices. The goat hanger model expected to deliver and then serve for software development process theory. In th is novel approach the model is also provide a catalog for theory and then development process. Index Terms— Goat hanger, Catalog, Software theory Introduction In this paper we explained Modern software development theory and development. The general software process based on the general theory of software engineering. Particularly, they call for models which should provide analytical and narrow support for software engineering, instead of running costly design procedures that are plainly based on trial and error. They remark the issue of choosing software development methods in development projects and organizations as an example of weighty questions, which should be undertaken by such theory. Principally, Johnson at all. state that â€Å"many planned methods, programming languages and requirements specification languages exist, but very few bare theories explain why or foresee that one method or language would be preferable to another under certain situations†. While it may be true that we lack a â€Å"general theory† of software engineering, we must be more correct in our argumentation, however. What is this lack that we ar e talking about? Are we wanting theories about software artifacts or are we missing theoretical knowledge on the work of software professionals, i.e. software development. Additional approach has been the building of ontologies that give researchers and method-oriented consultants a vocabulary for theoretical constructs. An example of this approach is the semat kernel, which provides a set of concepts, or ontology, for the core of software engineering. In its place of creating theories based on scientific remark, SEMAT has chosen the correction path, where the result is based on agreement, earlier experiences, or a best guess among a body of professionals. Another example is the complete SWEBOK, which is an attempt to protection all relevant areas of software engineering with commonly agreed knowledge. SWEBOK is not, however, focused on a single theory of the whole process; it labels areas defined by agreement or convention instead and therefore cannot be considered as a scientific theory. While mathematics and computer science offer a solid academic basis for kind computational changes and the article the process and performs of structure the artifact. Software development is less enclosed by scientific research. In our work we focus on the problem of theorizing about software growth practices, whic h can create data to support research, education and actual development of practices in software development officialdoms. To build and expressly validate theories about software expansion practices, we want to observe the work of software professionals in the real world context. This means that we must identify software development as a structural action, where the context, the business and then environment and the human organization with its fights and other failures are at least as applicable for the success of software development as the computational changes of the software piece. In this view the observed software development work becomes the source of the theory, and the target of the theory is to know, explain and guess the reason and practices of software developers and the effect these have on the success of software development. The unbiased of this paper is to understand this theorizing process abstractly and to build a model that explains the essential concepts for theo ries of software development practices. Practices and software development The practice of software development, which is â€Å"concerned with creating images of the purposes of the software and its problem domain, of its assembly and performance, of the additions to be achieved, of the boundaries between the software and its environment and its users. Software development contains numerous practices including that of analysis, design, execution and quality management. This kind of organic view to practices implies that in the software development context, practices may include both carefully organized use of predefined development methods and loosely prepared and even emergent activities that may use discrete tools or techniques at hand. They are not a mechanical reply to rules, norms or models, but a tactical, yet regulated improvisation responding to the dialectical connection between a exact situation in a field and habitus. Technical rationality The field of software engineering has over eras twisted numerous methods that are normative models of how software development should take place. However, already in the 1980s, noted that a methodology does not really describe what actually occurs in practice. The real actions in software progress, the working practice in use, what is really done in a situation may be quite different from what is described by a narrow methodology. In the field of information systems development, Larsen et al. describe how a research stream has discussed the related nature of method/practice engineering and acceptance by individual system and software designers, projects, and growth organizations since the 1990s. Recently, this portent has gained increasing attention in the international software engineering community as well. Practice research in organizations We adopt that a software development practice may become an administrative practice, it can be defined as the organization’s routine use of knowledge. Organizational applies can exist at the multiple levels, in that as in a software progress project or in an organization taking part in several projects or development processes. Structural practices often have tacit workings embedded partly in separate skills and partly in collaborative social arrangements. Many vital features of software development practices, such as their starting and evolution, require more courtesy from research and theory to be fully unspoken. The general management literature, however, conjectures with many viewpoints on how structural practices take shape. All existing images of a practice imply that at least one stakeholder in the society has intended that it should be enacted. However the ethnographical studies have shown that such official, prescribed practices often deviate from the actual actions taken Moreover, software development organizations may also follow undocumented, habitual practices. Pent land and Feldman highlight a distinction between the performativity and ostensive aspects of organizational practices. The performativity facet shows â€Å"the specific actions taken by specific people at specific times when they are engaged in what they think of as an organizational routine. service engagements are becoming increasingly more numerous and more complex. We consider service engagements in the broad sense. Fig.1.CoatHanger model for building theories from development practices. Coat Hanger model for resulting theorizing about practices We have shaped a model for a special resolve, for imagining about software expansion practices. We also recognize that there are general principles and models for experimental research and testing in software engineering. These sources define how observed research in software engineering should be conducted and reported, whereas we need to concentrate on theorizing only. Our purpose is not to switch these but to provide a planned way to investigate and create theories about software development practices or sets of practices with a echo in action mode to research and practice. Our model figures on six main concepts that need to be illustrious in order to learn from software development practice and to shape theories of development practices: knowledge, a repetition, development setting, basis, effect, and theory. We use dual naming for each concept, for example rationale excusing and impact gauging. A central concept in our model is the concept of a practice. One dictionary definition of a practice is rather people do often. In the context of a development project or an body, a systems development practice may become an structural exercise or routine, which can be defined as the organization’s routine use of knowledge, especially â€Å"know-how†. The concept of â€Å"best practices† illustrates an assumption that abstractions of such know how can be usefully analyzed, and lessons learned from practice can be transferred between organizational contexts and over time. However, organizational practices often have tacit components embedded partly in individual skills and partly in collaborative social arrangements. If we compare a development method and a practice, a method adopted in an organization always embodies a predefined practice or a set of practices, whereas a practice is not always defined at the detailed level, at least with regard to all potential elements of method knowledge. However, while being cautious on the concept of â€Å"best practices†, we share the belief that practice descriptions and definitions may appear as useful for analyzing recurrent development actions in context, as a basis of learning from them. A software growth effort takes place in a development context, which includes a large number of issues and factors. For example, Clarke and O’Connor identified 140 situated factors from previous literature that may affect the software development process. Similarly, in the field of information systems development, Orlikowski claims that the role of the system, systems development structure and operations, development policies and practices, development staff, corporate strategies, organizational structure and culture, customers, competitors, and available technologies represent contextual categories of issues which may influence the success or suitability of development practices. Discuss the concept of method rationale as an important part of evolutionary method engineering to support software and systems development. While they regard good understanding of the method rationale as necessary for continuing the â€Å"variation and augmentation† of an organization’s methods, we will widen the concept of rationale to be equally useful for understanding the reasons for an organization’s development practices in general. A rationale for a development practice thus provides justifications for the creation, use and alteration of the practice (or a set of practices). Lyytinen and Robey emphasize the significance of learning from the organization’s own growth experience. This clearly requires analysis and identification of the impacts of the expansion practices to software engineering success. Such impacts may be wanted already according to the explicit method foundation or they may be unanticipated, sometimes even unwanted. Finally, the above concepts are needed for making and assessing theories of development practices. That is, we pursue theories which can examine, describe, and explain background software development practices, finally aiming at a level of prediction. We believe that it is useful to evaluate the practice and aim at predictive theories of certain types of development practices, with regard to their impacts on the development products, projects and processes, and contexts. In the following, we relate these concepts to each other to form a model to guide the research on development practices. Fig.1relates these concepts together, whereas their relationships, which we need to understand in order to build theory from practices, are discussed further below. Education is a border spanning machine which needs to exist, on one hand, in a development context so that earlier theories, including previous, more or less well-grounded, organizational commendations of development can notify local rationale for new practices and that the observed impacts of the target organization’s previous practices can inform further local rationality to adjust the practices. On the other hand, learning is needed between development organizations and the theory builders, who observe development actions in practice and try to abstract lessons to be learned from the particular practices in question (Fig.1). The process of theorizing is circular by nature. The local and global theories of observes will affect the rationalizing of practices and practice change in the development context. This in turn will lead to new knowledge that will make new or extended local or global theories. The development context involves all the issues which have impact on how practices in the target organization or project are socially constructed and how the development organization can learn from its practices. The context may have an impact on the basis to tool new practices and how the applied practices are twisted during real development activities, on the impacts reached from the practices in use, and even whether a learning process takes place in a context at all and whether lessons learned from previous experience are made explicit. That is, practices, their impacts, and learning may not be purely based on the identified rationale alone, but can be affected by contextual issues. If contextual issues are explicitly identified before implementing a new set of practices, they may, in turn, become an explicitly recognized part of the rationale. However, some contextual issues may have a more implicit effect on practices in use and their impacts, recognized only after new practice s have been tried out. Learning is the intermediary that enables accumulation of local and global theories and their utilization in the development context. Conclusion In this topic we have discussed the need in software engineering research to observe the work of software professionals in real environments and presented a model that includes essential concepts for the theorizing of software development practices. The Coat Hanger model and then concepts education, a training growth context, motivation, impact, and theory can be used as a tool by research planners and assessors. To illustrate the value of the model we also made a survey of articles in Science of Computer Programming and went through four full years of articles. Out of 371 articles, we found only four articles that studied and observed directly professional software development using physicians as informants. Our study in light of the model could disclose areas of perfection with regard to the theoretical and empirical parts of the four studies. Finally we sharp out that software engineering research tends to value technical rationality instead of reflection in action and emphasized that theorizing of software development practices requires new approaches that recognize also other reference sciences than computer science and mathematics and pays more care to scientific practice. In the future we aim to continue our theory structure on software expansion practices. When combined with our previous model on practice changes, the Coat Hanger model is expected to serve as a conceptually clear and useful instrument for such theorizing. One other for current the study could be to build a catalogue of well-known or otherwise interesting software change practices, their motivations, and impacts on known contexts. References [1]S. Adolph, P. Kruchten, W. Hall, â€Å"Reconciling perspectives: a grounded theory of how people manage the process of software development†, J. Syst. Softw. 85(6) (2012) 1269–1286. [2]Chris Argyris, D.A. Schà ¶n, Organizational Learning II, Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA, 1996. [3]T.B.C. Arias, P. Avgeriou, P. America, K. Blom, S. Bachynskyy, A top–down strategy to reverse architecting execution views for a large and complex software-intensive system: an experience report, Sci. Comput. Program. 76(12) (2011) 1098–1112. [4]M. Bajec, D. Vavpotiˆ¡c, M. Krisper, Practice-driven approach for creating project-specific software development methods, Inf. Softw. Technol. 49(4) (2007) 345–365. [5]V. Basili, R. Tesoriero, P. Costa, M. Lindvall, I. Rus, F. Shull, et al., Building an experience base for software engineering: a report on the first Ce-BASE eWorkshop, in: F. Bomarius, S. Komi-Sirvià ¶ (Eds.), Product Focused Software Process Improvement, in: Lect. Notes Comput. Sci., Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, 2001, pp.110–125. [6]I. Benbasat, R.W. Zmud, Empirical research in information systems: the practice of relevance, MIS Q. 23(1) (1999) 3–16. [7]H. Berger, P. Beynon-Davies, The utility of rapid application development in large-scale, complex projects, Inf. Syst. J. 19(6) (2009) 549–570. [8]P. Bourdieu, Outline of a Theory of Practice, Cambridge University Press, 1977. [9]P. Bourdieu, The three forms of theoretical knowledge, Inf. Sur Sci. Soc. (Paris) 12(1) (1973) 53–80. [10]J.S. Brown, P. Duguid, Organizational learning and communities-of-practice: toward a unified view of working, learning, and innovating, Organ. Sci. 2(1) (1991) 40–57. [11]P.R. Carlile, A pragmatic view of knowledge and boundaries: boundary objects in new product development, Organ. Sci. 13(4) (2002) 442–455. [12]P. Clarke, R.V. O’Connor, The situational factors that affect the software development process: towards a comprehensive reference framework, Inf. Softw. Technol. 54(5) (2012) 433–447. [13]Collins CoBUILD, English Dictionary, 1989. [14]B. Curtis, H. Krasner, N. Iscoe, A field study of the software design process for large systems, Commun. ACM 31(11) (1988) 1268–1287 . Reactivity of Ashes: Effect of Porosity and Particle Size Reactivity of Ashes: Effect of Porosity and Particle Size Objective: Discuss the effect of porosity, particle size, shape and distribution on reactivity of ashes. Rice Husk Ash The particle size rice husk ash is around 5 micron to 95 micron with average particle size of 25 micron with high percentage of silica. The presence of silica in RHA has been known since 1938 and an extensive literature search has highlighted many uses of RHA as silica replacement. Two main industrial uses have been identified: as an insulator in the steel industry and as a poz- zolan in the cement industry. RHA is used by the steel industry in the production of high quality flat steel. Moreover, RHA is an excellent insulator, having low thermal conductivity, high melting point, low bulk density and high porosity. In particular, there are two areas for which RHA is used: in the manufacture of low cost building blocks, and in the production of high quality cement. The addition of RHA to cement has been found to enhance cement properties. In general, concrete made with Portland cement containing RHA has a higher compressive strength. RHA is finer than cement having very small particle size of 25 microns, so much so that it fills the interstices in between the cement in the aggregate. That is where the strength and density comes from. Incinerator Bottom Ash 1 This sample was imported from Portugal. Upon magnification, agglomerated and irregularly shaped amorphous particles were detected in the bottom ash samples associated with aggregates of polycrystalline, amorphous, and glassy material. The results show that the predominant elements in bottom ash samples were silicon (Si), aluminium (Al), iron (Fe), and calcium (Ca) as oxides, while the predominant elements in all spot points on surface texture of bottom ash. High silica and alumina content in bottom ash could make it a good sorbent while high CaO content is responsible for its alkaline character. It was found that the material was mainly amorphous in nature but also indicated the presence of crystalline phases such as feldspar, mullite, magnetite, and quartz. Bottom ash particles smaller than 11.2 mm accounts for approximately 80 % by mass. About 5 10 % bottom ash particles are between 0.1  µm and 100  µm. These particles are quite porous and look like volcanic lava. One of the m ost common uses for bottom ash is as structural fill. There is possibility of bottom ash being used as substitute/replacement of fine aggregate (sand). Its use in concrete becomes more significant and important in view of the fact that sources of natural sand as fine aggregates are getting depleted gradually, and it is of prime importance that substitute of sand be explored. The ash shows lower density, higher water absorption, and lower strength than natural gravel. They could be considered as average quality aggregates for use in concrete. When directly introduced in concrete, they led to swelling and cracking of specimens, due to the reaction between cement and metallic aluminium. Therefore, a treatment by sodium hydroxide was proposed to avoid such degradation, which made possible the partial replacement (up to 50%) of fine gravel in concrete without affecting the durability. Incinerator Bottom Ash 2 This sample was imported from Czech Republic. Hard Wood Ash Quantity and quality of wood ash may vary with many factors such as combustion temperature, species of wood and combustion technology used. Hence proper analysis of wood ash is important before its application in concrete. Wood ash chemical characteristics differ with species of wood but chiefly contains lime and silica. The size of wood ash varies from 45 micron to 75 micron. The particles of wood ash are little coarser than that of cement and have higher specific surface as compared to cement due to porous nature and irregular shape. Hard wood ash contains carbon (5-30%). Calcium (7-33%), potassium (3-4%), magnesium (1-2%), manganese (0.3-1.3%), phosphorus (0.3-1.4%) and sodium (0.2-0.5%) are the major constituents of wood ash. With increasing carbon content, density of wood ash decreases Incorporation of wood ash as partial replacement of cement adversely decreases the slump of concrete. Water absorption of concrete increases with the increase in wood ash percentage. There was mar ginal decrease in strength with increasing wood ash percentage in concrete, but increased with age due to increased pozzolanic reactions. Wood ash at replacement percentage up to 10% of the weight of binder can be successfully used as additive in place of cement to produce structure grade concrete. Replacement of cement by wood ash does not have negative impact on the chloride permeability. There is a significant decrease in the drying shrinkage on the incorporation of wood ash.

Friday, October 25, 2019

War :: essays research papers fc

Recent photographs of Iraqi Prisoners Of War (POWs) being humiliated and abused by United States armed forces have caused uproar and disgust throughout the world. The sole purpose of any war is to win; either through destroying the enemy, or the achieving a specific goal. Why then should coalition forces be held to a higher standard in regard to treatment of POWs than the rest of the world? To fully explore this question we must understand the history of POWs, and the role that the United States plays in world affairs. During the 1991 Gulf War, pictures of American pilots beaten and bleeding were shown to the world. Civilized nations were outraged. As Major Rhonda Cornum told of being molested, Colonel Jeff Tice told of being electrocuted, and other American and British pilots read scripted statements on television (PBS), civilized nations were appalled. Throughout the years, prisoners have been interrogated and mistreated by their captors. Vietnamese soldiers housed prisoners in substandard shelter or even pits throughout their country. The most famous POW camp was known as the â€Å"Hanoi Hilton†. Here, POWs where beaten, tortured and humiliated for years. Brainwashing techniques were perfected by North Korea during The Korean Conflict. World War I POWs were forced into labor camps or systematically murdered through â€Å"death marches† where guards would force prisoners to march until they died from exhaustion in an effort to reduce the number of prisoners in the camps. World War I I POWs were killed, or used for medical experiments. The United Sates Department of Defense recognizes table below outlines the prominent type of torture administered during each of the official US Wars (DoD, 47). After the wars ended, and it was discovered just how badly the POWs were treated, civilized nations convinced themselves that torture and abuse were the acts of uncivilized nations ruled by madmen. Principal Wars in which the US Participated Official War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Torture technique Revolutionary War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Murder, destruction of property War of 1812  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Rape, theft, Arson Indian Wars  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Scalping, murder, rape Mexican War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Murder Civil War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Hanging, destruction of property Spanish-American War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  providing only saltwater to drink-causing dehydration and hallucinations World War I  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Sleep deprivation, murder World War II  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  (sexual) enslavement, medical experiments, death marches Korean War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  re-education, Bataan Death March, physical torture Vietnam War  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  cutting off various body parts to get other prisoners to talk, Sleep deprivation, bamboo under fingernails Gulf War-1991  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Electrocution, humiliation, beatings, Sleep deprivation Gulf War-2003  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Religious and sexual abuse, humiliation, beatings, sleep deprivation The United States has, from the onset of the Civil war, led the moral and ethical charge for proper care and treatment of prisoners of War.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Christian Values and America’s Historical Documents Essay

While socially networking, a person will run into many different opinions on all topics. People have their own beliefs and ways of looking at things, so when I was expounding on my ideas, the inevitable topic of religion was brought up. As much as the Golden Rule flows through most religions, there are people who are not able to put their ego aside and open their minds to the simplest possibilities. The specifics of this topic were of such that the United States was founded on Christianity. Religion and politics are highly volatile topics and most people will only argue emotionally instead of stopping and critically thinking about any information they may be given on these two subjects. Many people believe that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were founded on Christian values, but in closer examination, they both have vague wording and Deist beliefs. Counterarguments There are several reasons that people believe that the historic documents of the United States were written with Christian values in mind. One reason is, in the 19th Century, a movement started which believed that the settlers were led here by the hand of God (Allison, 1998). This was a popular belief and many people still hold true to this belief. It is taught in public schools that the colonists came over from England because of religious persecution. Another argument for this way of thinking is that, because of the belief that God showed the settlers where to go, that He also must have had led the Founding Fathers to write the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (Allison, 1998). This lead to the belief that God is needed to preserve not only religious institutions, but also democracy. Human rights are seen to be given by God, which, in a nation that was intolerant of non-Christians, meant the Judeo-Christian God (Cherry, MD, 2011). Our Founding Fathers separated Church and state, but not God and state. Church and state and God and state are sometimes seen as  the same idea, which can be confusing, even to a Christian. In addition to this, many believe that this country was founded with Christian values because of a statement that was made in Madison’s Federalist Paper Number 37 where it states, that only, â€Å"†¦ a finger of that Almighty hand† could have shown him the insight to write the Constitution (Ferguson, 1987). United States Constitution The United States Constitution was written in such a way as to be intentionally vague and without Christian values, but Deist values instead. The Constitutional Convention had many problems in coming up with this historic document. Every man that attended this convention had their own ideas and ways to convey what they believed needed to be included in this document. Vague Wording Ben Franklin’s ambiguous wording in the Declaration of Independence led Madison to exaggerate the wording even further in the Constitution. The intentionally ambiguous wording that Madison used in the Constitution was used â€Å"to bring conformity within a divided country,† (Ferguson, 1987, p. 159). In the 14th Amendment it states, â€Å"Any person†¦,† but when this document was written African-Americans were not considered people, so Jim Crow Laws were kept in place in many areas of the country. In the convention meetings leading up to what the Founding Fathers wrote to become the Constitution, compromises were made. In the second amendment, it states that people have a right to keep and bare arms. What makes this vague is that most of us take this to mean any, and all people, but what the Constitutional Framers meant was to indicate those that were in the militias. So, those â€Å"people† that were in the â€Å"militias† could keep and bare â€Å"arms,† not just anyone could. Deist Beliefs The Constitution forms a secular document and is in no way related to God (Walker, 2004). God was not forgotten in the writing of the Constitution. This omission was purposely done to keep the government and religion separate from each other. The Constitution’s preamble starts out â€Å"We the people†¦,† and clearly states the intention of the men who framed the Constitution, including â€Å"establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility,  provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity†¦.† Nowhere in the Constitution is the word God, so there would be no mistake as to the thoughts of Madison. The First Amendment to the Constitution even states that, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the exercise thereof†¦,† which means that the government is not supposed to support any one religion or to stop any individual from practicing their religion or lack thereof. Religionists and atheists are able to equally practice their belief system because of this. This alone is a contradiction to the First Commandment, which demands fealty to a specific god (Trent, 2012). The Constitution’s confusion stems from the ambiguous wording of the Declaration of Independence. Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence’s wording and belief system is not only vague, but also Deist. This historic document did not take sides and was intentionally meant in an unbiased way. This can be shown in several different ways. Vague Wording Ambiguity in the wording of this document by Ben Franklin tends to give many the misunderstanding by using phrases such as, â€Å"Nature’s God† and â€Å"their Creator,† which leads people who are Christian, by default, to the thought that this is a Christian-based document. Wording such as this is intentionally vague, because it comes from the belief in a higher power; whatever that may be to each individual as opposed to strictly Christian beliefs. The intentionally vague wording, such as, â€Å"unalienable rights† and â€Å"laws of nature,† transcends the political, and even the religious, arguments of from where these rights came from and by whom they were given. One of the words in the introduction is necessary and when this document was written, this word had a much more significant meaning than we have today for it. Back then, it meant that it was something that was made in association with fate and was beyond control of human agents. An example of this meaning is the Revolutionary War was going to happen and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The division of the people between England and the settlers could not have been repaired by anyone or anything. Deist Belief System As it is stated in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Deism is a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th Century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe. The Founding Fathers, such as Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and several others, were only strictly Christian in appearance, but Christian-Deist in belief. These men followed the works of philosophers, such as Descartes and Voltaire. This led these men to question Christian beliefs. Believing in what the classic philosophers wrote, had the Founding Fathers put the test of reason to every idea and assumption. When they put this test to religion, they found they needed to strip away revelation, which led to Deism (Johnson, 2004). The Founding Fathers were very closed-mouth about their personal religion, but encouraged religious tolerance and a belief in God. When writing the Declaration of Independence, they were in reality writing the reason of their actions to the rest of the world for why they did what they did. In short, it was a foreign policy document. The second and most famous paragraph of the Declaration of Independence states that the Founding Fathers believed that it was self-evident that all men are created equal. The Creator, as is believed by any one person, granted all men with certain rights; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which is given by the universe’s natural laws. This one belief shows that at least some of the Founding Fathers were Deists, as this is a Deist belief. The Declaration of Independence is interpreted many different ways to fit neatly into everyone’s individual belief system, when it should just be read the way it is, and not try to make more of it than it is. The Declaration of Independence is a statement of why everyone deserves liberty and freedom. Conclusion The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were written without Christian values because when the settlers came to America they were trying to get away from a government that was telling them what to do and how to believe without the â€Å"voice of the people† reaching those in power. If the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written with Christian values, the Founding Fathers would not have put in  the segments about religious freedom into these documents. I believe that if Christian values were used to write the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, that religious freedom would not have been a part of these historic documents. Everyone has their own way at which they look at and perceive things, and they will make things fit into their belief system to make it easier for them to understand. Sometimes, this is not necessarily the way that things in history were meant to be interpreted, such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We are taught this in school through text books, at home with taught beliefs, and political affiliations see this topic differently, but if we break out of the mold, and try to think for ourselves, we can learn and enjoy from the simple beauty in which these documents were written. With an open mind, we are more apt to realize the original intent of historical events and documents. References Allison, J. (1998). Declaration of Independence: It’s Purpose. Retrieved from http://candst.tripod.com/doipurp.htm Cherry, MD, R. R. (2011). American Judeo-Christian Values and the Declaration of Independence. Retrieved from http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9876/pub-detail.asp Ferguson, R. A. (1987). Ideology and the Framing of the Constitution. Early American Literature, 22(1987), 157-165. Formisano, R. P., & Pickering, S. (2009). The Christian Nation Debate and Witness Competency. Journal of the Early Republic, 29(Summer), 219-248. Johnson, R. L. (2004). The Deist Roots of the United States of America. Retrieved from http://www.deism.com/deistamerica.htm Rubicondior, R. (2012). Founded on Christian Principles? Retrieved from http://rosarubicondior.blogspot.com/2012/04/founded-on-christian-principles.html Trent, B. (2012). First Amendment or First Commandment. Up Front, May-June (N/A), 10-11, 37. Walker, J. (2004). The Government of the United States of Am erican is not, in any sense founded on the Christian religion. Retrieved from http://www.nobeliefs.com/Tripoli.htm

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Boutique Owner- Career Report

Running of a boutique is classified in the class of small business venture in fashion industry, and it is a dream to many people. The desire by many people to operate a boutique is motivated by the capability of individuals to apply managerial skills in operating small businesses. In addition, this is a very lucrative industry capable of bringing in a good income. However, management of a boutique business is not that easy due to the need of being up to date with ever changing fashions and tastes of customers.One main challenge is developing mission and vision statements in addition to application of good leadership and managerial skills. These factors support the fact that most of the accomplished boutique owners are people who are successful in the field of managing small businesses. This is achieved through application of personal traits such as determination, self driven motive, and enterprenual skills, basic of planning, management, and organizational skills. As a matter of fact , boutique business is a complex line of business where total management skills are required.In-depth knowledge on the running of the boutique and fashion statistics is very useful to any owner in order to make a meaningful progress. Boutique as a career requires the owner to employ other people who are capable and able to manage the business accordingly (White & Griffiths, 16). It also requires that the employees to perform their boutique work according to their past knowledge and experience. Therefore, workers or employees who have knowledge on the tactics that lead to improved performance play a very big role in operations of a boutique as a career. EducationAs a boutique owner it requires you to look for employees with knowledge as well as the skills of a boutique. Owning a boutique is not simple because one is required to have a substantial amount of start-up capital. This may force one to get a bank loan which should be paid regardless of whether the business succeeds or not. The failure or success depends on the management style of the owner. It is true to say that one can know the fate of a boutique business within the first few months or years. However, at the beginning losses are very high because of the initial investments and also extra expenditures of acquiring initial stock.At this early stage, one is expected to maintain high expectation through management of the losses as you focus on the profits generated in each transaction. But this only lasts for a period of time because once the business has stabilized, the expenditures becomes minimal creating a good source of income for the owner. Therefore, for a person to own a boutique future expectation that is the mission and the vision will be required. Managerial knowledge and the leadership of the employees is also another factor that determines the performance of the boutique.Owning a boutique needs a person who is open minded in matters pertaining to ideas regarding different boutique issues. T he business requires a well motivated individual who can use the combination of savoir-faire business skills and in depth the knowledge of the fashion retail industry to make profit. It requires a person to have the exact knowledge that is needed to ensure that a boutique is well managed. It needs leadership skills and management skills for a nice and effective boutique to be effective, planning should also be effective.Boutique deals with a wide range of fashion products for example sportswear, beachwear, novelty items, shoes, handbags accessories, and watches. In my case, a combination of the accessories and the novelty items, watches, shoes, handbags make my career as an owner of a boutique. Training This business requires one to have an education background which is specific on the knowledge of issues relating to fashion. One is required to have a Bachelor Degree in Business Administration Fashion Retailing or Marketing as well as management is of essence when operating a boutiq ue.Masters in Business Administration is an added advantage since it attracts investors in form of partners as they may have a greater trust in your management capability. Experience also applies in addition to the education background. This includes an extensive experience in fashion retail industry in a variety of positions from different levels of retail sales associated with exact experiences as a retail store manager. In boutique ownership career, risk taking personality is very important and solid business backgrounds such as marketing, accounting, sales, management and knowledge of the fashion are critical requirements.Other important requirements in connection with retail market place including trends and forecasts, flexible multitasking capabilities, excellent time management and communication skills in depth are important (Style career). Training focuses on the management and leadership qualities required in operations of the boutique. Tactics on customer response is also important during the training; the trainees are provided with a wide range of knowledge of handling different positions in the boutique business.Salary range My salary range is $100,000-$150,000 pa. The range is however not fixed as it can fluctuate depending on the level of profitability. Being a fashion industry, the knowledge of current trends in the market will promise one an upper limit income. Future trends Many successful businesses start small and build up to larger ones through expansion. Being a small business owner has been my dream for me. I do not regret why I chose a boutique business as my career since I have seen fruits of my labor.I am looking forward to building a large business empire by opening up boutique outlets which are at the proximity of my customers. I will even remain sensitive to the needs of my customers in addition to allowing them to make requests for the kind of products they would like me to stock for them. This I believe will give me a mileage ahea d of my competitors. Works Cited Style career, Breaking Into and Succeeding as a Boutique Owner. Viewed on 11 July 2010 from http://www. stylecareer. com/boutique. shtml White, N and Griffiths, I. The Fashion Busines