Distributed Information Systems Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4500 words

Distributed Information Systems - Assignment Example With the aim to ease up information system within the local administration motel and the head office administration as well as to the on-line clients, the system allows access to all stored data in a uniform way regardless of where the user is located. All existing data about customer, branch, and headquarters will be preserved in the new system and accessed uniformly despite its different physical storage locations and formats. Car-free Motel Customers may log-in using their username and password for security. New customers may register their own username and password. Car-free website has its own domain and URL available worldwide online. Local Branch Administrator and users may access their branch data in order to update customer bookings, room availability, room type and price of room. They may also check record of customer as well as credit card validity. The Headquarters can access all data regarding all customers and all branches including bookings, room availability and rates, and promotions. They may delete or add a motel branch on the listing as they wish. History and credit card validity can also be accessed by the Headquarters. Analysis: To enable the Information Technology consultant to facilitate the above mentioned goals, it is necessary that all client requirements and needs are presented. Likewise, the local administrators of each Car-free Motel branch not only meet skills and knowledge but also their exact needs from client and motel operations so that a smooth, lesser hassle operation is guaranteed. Foremost, the central administration or headquarters must be thoroughly or highly reliable, updated in the system to enable changes, update, deletion, addition of information. It is not enough that the IT consultant can provide the necessary client requirement. A three way interface allowing full access of information by the central administration is necessary, but must be clearly coordinated with all users. While local administration branches may access limited data such as present or existing client data, motel room availability, deletion of motel listing, update of price, room available and room type, promotiona l update, among others necessary in order to address need of client as well as ease of data facilitation between client and branch administration, and local branch

Art History Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Art History - Assignment Example In the piece On Abjection, the author delves into the limits a human being can sink to in order to ensure survival, as undoubtedly noted at Auschwitz. Is it the complete absence of ego or the antithesis of narcissism, he argues or just the reverse? (Anon,14). In La Frontera, Gloria Anzuldua laments the Anglicization of the Spanish language and says that it is tantamount to losing Chicano or Latino identity in the USA, although the Latin American population is fast growing into the nation’s largest ethnic community (Anzuldua, 87). In The System Shattered and Renewed, the author comments that dirt is reviled in most religious rituals, while water purifies (Douglas, 160). In all these articles, the agent that could cause disruption for the rest of the community is told to stay away from it till he or she is healed or the element causing the danger to purity has passed or faded away. Even in an enlightened society like the USA, we rightly consider abuse of power or proof of corrup tion or scandal as disastrous to the career of a politician or indeed, any public figure. It is for this reason (the Watergate and Lewinsky scandals) that Presidents Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton had to resign from the highest office in the

Case Study of KFC Malaysia Holding

Case Study of KFC Malaysia Holding A Case Study of KFC Malaysia Holding: Channel used by KFC to solve communication crisis Abstract On 6th February 2013,the kitchen staff of KFC I- City outlet at Shah Alam, has gone violent towardone of the customers due to miscommunication. The customer was then put on the floor after a heated argument between the staffs and the customer.This problem then solve by KFC Malaysia Holding with a proper alternatives. One of the alternatives used by the company is to use the right channel in solving the issue. Basically, the main aim of this research is to examine the channel used by KFC Malaysia Holding to solve the communication issue specifically the incident of staff and customer caught into a fighting. This research is tries to answer the question of the effectiveness of the channel used by the company to solve the problem or issue. The survey method will be employed in this research for data collection. As this method fall under quantitative method, SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) software will be used to analyze the data. The finding of this research wil l help the future researchers to understand the effectiveness of channel used by the Food BeveragesCompany in solving their problem or issue. Besides, this research will help to add more literature on the same topic. Keywords: Channel, problem, Food Beverages, Effectiveness Literature Review Definition of Crisis In Effective Crisis Communication (2011), crises can best define as unique moments in the history of an organization. Nowadays, the word crisis has been used widely in a daily conversation. People used this word to describe their problem. For example, they refer to this word if they forgot about their appointments with their clients, having a bad hair days or even quarrel with the family members. All of these are awful experiences do not portray or describe the crisis. When it comes to the company, most of the company refers crisis as something that related to the problem. For example low sales or short of manpower are assume as the crisis to the company. All of the situations are not crisis. But, usually the company will consider all the situations as crisis. Crisis is defined as any situation that is threatening or could even threaten to harm people or property, seriously interrupt business, damage reputation and/or negatively impact stock value (Jonathan Bernstein,2006). According to Hermann (1963), he identified three characteristics of separating crises that are surprise, threat and short response time. An event will not achieve the level of crisis without coming as a surprise, posing a critical level of threat and forcing a short response period. Robert, Timothy Matthew(2011) mentioned in their study that crises can be divided into two categories which are intentional crises andunintentional crises. â€Å"Intentional crises are those international acts which is designed to harm an organization such as terrorism, sabotage, workplace violence and poor risk management whereas unintentional crises are the crises caused by natural and some uncontrollable factors such as natural disasters or product failure† (Robert, Timothy Matth ew, 2011). As for the incident case happened in KFC Malaysia I-City outlet, the incident are category under the unintentional case of crisis. The incident happened due to some misunderstanding between the worker and a customer who has been waiting for the food for some times and did not get the food. Crisis Communication Every company experiences crises but many of them never try to overcome the crisis (Gupta,2011). Jonathan Bernstein (2006) stated that the cheapest way to turn experience into future profit is to learn from others mistakes. There are eleven biggest mistakes to avoid during crisis. To make sure that the crisis flourish and grow, organization should avoid these 11 mistakes: play ostrich, only start work on a potential crisis situation after its public, let the reputation to speak, treat the media as enemy, get stuck in reaction mode versus getting proactive, use language that the audience does not understand, assume that the truth will triumph over all, address only issues and ignore the feelings, make only written statements, use best guess methods of assessing damage and repeat the same things again with expecting different outcome. (Jonathan Bernstein, 2006) These all are the big NO in a crisis. Besides that, Bernstein (2004) also has implemented the 10 steps of crisis communications in solving the communication crisis. One of the steps stressed by Bernstein (2004) was mentioned that the staff in the company should be trained in advance in order to get prepare for respond to all kind of questions. When KFC Holding Malaysia had found themselves in a hot water situation when the video of the fight case gone viral on YouTube, the company has quickly taken steps by keep on posting regular updates on Facebook page to keep the customers updated on companys investigation as well as by doing this the company tries to calm down the anger of the public over the incident happened in its I-City outlet. Apart from this incident, KFC Malaysia was also faced with another crisis in 2011, where there was an video of food tampering by their kitchen staff started to circulate on Internet in year 2011. However, KFC Malaysia company does not try to avoid the crisis, instead, as part of the crisis response strategy, the company established a page on its Facebook to tell its side of the story in order to restore the consumer confidence. Fong (2011) said that KFC Malaysia was success in avoiding crisis to its timely, open, truthful, Internet present and broadly communicated crisis communication plan as the approached enabled the company to seize the information initiative and effectively frame the crisis as the action of a single rogue employee. Channel Used by Company to Solve Problem According to www.ask.com/question/what-are-communication-channels, a communication channel is refer to the medium which is used in transmission of a message from one party to another party such as print media or broadcast media. Channel is also defined as a method or system for communication or distribution in Oxford Dictionaries. Nowadays, as the internet has changed the way people work and interact, social media has broadly used by company as the channel to solve the crisis. Social media can be used as primary means of communication or as an alternative or even additional method for communication. Social media provides many ways to disseminate information in a fast, inexpensive and efficient manner which this help to get right information to the right person at the right time. (Connie M. White, 2011) Moreover, social media is also being used as an alternative way for emergency managers to communicate with the public as well as each other. It provides a free and easy way to dissemin ate large amounts of information to large group of people quickly yet efficiently. (Connie M. White, 2011) Therefore, when KFC Malaysia is facing the communication crisis back in year 2011 regarding about the fight case happened in one of the outlet, KFC Malaysia used Facebook as one of the channel to solve the crisis. The company keep the customers regular updates about the investigation by posting the status on its Facebook page. Other than that, when the food tampering happened in June 2011, KFC Malaysia used social media such as Facebook and YouTube as the channel to solve the communication crisis. The company try to restore back their brand images by telling its side of the story and they have created Question Answer section in their social media page. And this has successfully lead KFC Malaysia out of the crisis. Conclusion This case study is done to provide more literature on Food Beverages field of how the company settle and solve the crisis. Besides that, this case study is also done to understand the channel used by the Food Beverages company while counter the problem and to help KFC Malaysia Holding to improve their services in the future. References: 1. Hermann, C.F, (1963). Some consequences of crisis which limit the viability of organizations. Administrative Science Quarterly, 8, 61-82. (Cited Name of the author 2010) 2. Effective Crisis Communication: Moving From Crisis to Opportunity Google Books. 2014.Effective Crisis Communication: Moving From Crisis to Opportunity Google Books. [ONLINE] Available at: http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=enlr=id=bC3J1C0BXQwCoi=fndpg=PR1dq=definition+of+communication+crisisots=kxWywUAyyusig=8c1FjXqs7nFQNPv5ooVQ_gNaPf0redir_esc=y#v=onepageq=definition%20of%20communication%20crisisf=false. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 3. MRM London: SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDY: How KFC nail a crisis with online comms. 2014.MRM London: SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDY: How KFC nail a crisis with online comms. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.mrm-london.com/2011/07/social-media-case-study-how-kfc-nailed-a-crisis-with-good-communications/. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 4. Case Study Review Chee Sue Mei (0304377). 2014.Case Study Review Chee Sue Mei (0304377). [ONLINE] Available at: http://cassieethicalcomm.weebly.com/case-study-review.html. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 5. How KFC Malaysia Handled a Social Media Disaster. 2014.How KFC Malaysia Handled a Social Media Disaster. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.techinasia.com/kfc-malaysia/. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 6. . 2014.. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.oecd.org/governance/risk/The%20role%20of%20Social%20media%20in%20crisis%20preparedness,%20response%20and%20recovery.pdf. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 7. I-City KFC fight Updated : Workers have been suspended Venusbuzz.com. 2014.I-City KFC fight Updated : Workers have been suspended Venusbuzz.com. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.venusbuzz.com/archives/7893/i-city-kfc-fight-updated-workers-have-been-suspended/. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 8. How KFC Malaysia Handled a Social Media Disaster. 2014.How KFC Malaysia Handled a Social Media Disaster. [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.techinasia.com/kfc-malaysia/. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 9. Fighting case: KFC keeping customers updated. 2014.Fighting case: KFC keeping customers updated. [ONLINE] Available at:http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20120211-327234.html. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 10. Fong, C. W (2011). Crisis Communication: KFC Malaysia Food Tampering Scandal and How Facebook Saved the Day Yahoo Voices voices.yahoo.com. Available at:http://voices.yahoo.com/crisis-communication-kfc-malaysia-food-tampering-scandal-8875653.html?cat=3. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 11. channel: definition of channel in Oxford dictionary (British World English). 2014.channel: definition of channel in Oxford dictionary (British World English). [ONLINE] Available at: http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/channel. [Accessed 16 April 2014]. 12. Social Media, Crisis Communication, and Emergency Management: Leveraging Web Connie M. White Google Books. 2014.Social Media, Crisis Communication, and Emergency Management: Leveraging Web Connie M. White Google Books. [ONLINE] Available at:http://books.google.com.my/books?hl=enlr=id=bz08DhXc4u0Coi=fndpg=PP1dq=social+media+to+solve+crisisots=qR13hWrCL7sig=KfyeCQ6wedZgeKNDbE_uSfGQ5CY#v=onepageqf=false. [Accessed 16 April 2014]

Racial Profiling :: Black Lives Matter Essays

Racial Profiling is a serious discrimination against certain ethnic races. Contrary to popular belief, racial profiling can happen anytime and anywhere. It is important for us to realize that racial profiling is disrespectful to the people who are targeted and it is a crime. People should not be targeted just because of their race or color. Racial profiling has become one of the most controversial practices widely used knowingly or unknowingly in police departments, airport security systems and other government agencies across the world. The world there has been numerous incidents where people have been arrested, detained, and even beaten because of their ethnicity. A good example is incident that happened this April. A Man named Isaac Williams was arrested after taking his daily â€Å"walks† his doctor prescribed him. At the current time Peel regional police searching for a breaking and entering. Williams was spotted and was detained in a cruiser and interrogated by an officer repeatedly shouting at him. However, it does not end there, after Williams was released there was a press conference that claimed that if Williams was a different race he would not have been interviewed. Williams is filing a case against Peel Regional Police. Incidents like Williams case happens to often around the world. Even though r acial profiling is a disgraceful method, some may argue that racial profiling is necessary measure to keep the world safe from unwanted threats. They will argue that Racial Profiling is an important measure to keep away terrorist activities and capture criminals who might be smuggling drugs or human trafficking. However, there are better ways to identify these criminals. Behavioral profiling should be the main form of identifying potential criminals because, instead of using race as a key point in identifying potentially threatening criminals, behavioral profiling uses someone’s behavior to identify criminals. This method will not discriminate people of different races and will be more efficient then racial profiling. Racial Profiling has started to spread too many places around the world; we need to let the world know that arresting people solely on their race is a discriminatory and wrong practice. To some people, Racial Profiling is considered as â€Å"morally wrong†. That means that is like putting certain races into a lower class while putting other races in a higher class. This practice is wrong because in most countries we consider that all people are equal and they deserve to be treated equal.

Pepsi Saudi Arabia

The Balanced Scorecard (BSC) was developed by Kaplan and Norton in the 1990's, it is a management system designed to measure the entire performance of a company by measuring all relevant angles of the company’s operations. BSC requires the company to retain its core financial measurement, but it goes further and expands the measurement to other important business areas. The BSC looks at the entire business from four perspectives, the customer perspective, financial perspective, the internal business process and the learning and growth perspective. It collects and analyzes data relevant to the company.And it helps managers to get clearer more meaningful picture of their company, which in turn enables them to plan, improve and execute operational goals. The objective of this paper is to advocate the adaptation of BSC by Pepsi Saudi. The strength and economic advantages of BSC and why it would be beneficial to Pepsi Saudi will be extensively discussed in this presentation. PEPSI SAUDI ARABIA: The Pepsi company of Saudi Arabia is comprised of two key divisions based on the western region of the country, one the Saudi International Project Company (SIPCO) and the other is Saudi Fruit Juice and Beverage Industry (SFJBI).This paper will look at this merger and how it could use the BSC methodology to elevate its entire operation and increase its profit margin. BALANCE SCORECARD (BSC). Developed in the 1990's by Kaplan and Norton, balanced scorecard is a business management system that uses measurement to verify strategic plans. It tries to align business operations to the strategies of the business, by measuring the performance of the business in relations to its goals, usually for a given time period. It relies largely on the premise that a business principle or a business function that could be measured could also be improved upon.â€Å"What gets measured gets done†. If a company can establish a measurement system to analyze its performance, then that c ompany can find a way to improve on its performance based on the result of the measurement. Experts generally agree that the companies that take the time to measure their own performance usually does better than the companies who do no possess the tools of measurement. Based on the outcome of a business measurement BSC encourages managers to prioritize their efforts. The BSC does not focus on financial measurements alone, because financial measurement alone can not reveal all the important data neededfor long term performance. The balanced scorecard incorporates such business elements based on the customers needs, employees, technology, and other critical elements that could help the company emerge stronger in the future. Essentially BSC takes stock of the whole business. It uses the â€Å"feedback loop† to pinpoint all problematic areas and then it develops solutions for them. Managers and employees can then learn from those points that had been identified by the loop. It lo oks at the company’s current position then initiates the necessary strategies for correction. It uses learning, technical innovations and appropriatebehavioral shifts and cultural identities to accommodate essential actions for the benefit of the company. BSC also sets aside time to study the applications that have been implemented, and then analyzes the results for effectiveness of those mechanisms or lack of effectiveness. THE FOUR PERSPECTIVES AT A GLANCE: The BSC uses data to articulate performance management with the primary objective being the implementation of corporate strategy. The BSC methodology primarily employs four perspectives: financial, customer, business process perspectives and learning and growth perspectives.It calculates present performance without ignoring the importance of future performance. (1) FINANCIAL PERSPECTIVE: The BSC recognizes the importance of financial data, but it does not want the emphasize on financial data to overshadow the other neces sary perspectives that deserve equal amount of attention. In BSC adequate, timely and accurate funding are seen as key business requirements. But the BSC methodology goes a little further, it emphasizes that financial data be included in the corporate data base and be available by automation. The BSC method also explores financial risk assessments and cost benefit analysis as partof the data collection in the financial perspective. (This will be discussed in detail in the main body of the study) (2)CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVE: The BSC methodology advocates customer focus and satisfaction, it insists that the company must not only satisfy its customers but it must do so without losing money in an attempt to provide superior services or products to those customers. According to the BSC, the customer perspective is a key indicator of the functional health of the company. Poor customer performance is usually an indication of corporate performance in the future.If the customers are not satisfie d they will take their businesses somewhere else, and that is an indication of poor business performance in the future. BSC mandates a satisfaction metric to measure the customer satisfaction. The aim is to identify all customer groups, analyze their needs and provide services to them accordingly. But the company cannot afford to lose profitability in an attempt to satisfy its customers. ( This will be discussed in detail in the main body of the study). (3) BUSINESS PROCESS PERSPECTIVE: The BSC defines this as the internal process. It enables the managers to become familiarwith the functions of the company, and it services and operations. It makes sure that the products and services meets the requirement of the customers. This is highly internal, i. e the process is preferably developed and handled by corporate managers and workers as who have intimate knowledge of the company, as opposed to consultants who are essentially corporate outsiders. The mission oriented process refers to the functions of government offices, and they could present some unique problems. On the other hand, the support process is more repetitive and generic and therefore easier to measure. (Thiswill be discussed in detail in the main body of the study). (4) LEARNING AND GROWTH PERSPECTIVE: The BSC describes this perspective as employee training in corporate culture as well as individual training and improvement. It sees employees as the mainstay of the corporation. The training would be regular and continuous. The idea is to avoid â€Å"brain drain† from the company. So employees would be trained in all new and relevant technologies. Kaplan and Norton emphasized that â€Å"learning is more than training†, it includes mentors and tutors in the organization. (Kaplan&Norton 1996). (This will be discussed in detail in the main body of the study).CAN PEPSI SAUDI BENEFIT FROM BSC? To answer that question it is important to know where Pepsi Saudi came from in terms of business it s identity and then analyze the reasons it chose to adopt the BSC management module, and then superimpose the analysis on the reports of other corporations that have adopted the BSC. It is worth noting that Pepsi’s decision to join the ranks of companies that have chosen to implement BSC was not made in a vacuum. The fact is that BSC had become a familiar and efficient working module for many successful companies. Also Pepsi Saudi has had its own incredible business and financial success, and byadopting BSC it chose to follow many world class businesses. With the implementation of the balance scorecard methodology, Pepsi Saudi have joined ranks with such business heavyweights as Exxon mobile, British telecommunications worldwide, Hilton hotels, IBM, UPS, Volvofians of Sweden and much more. These are impressive list of companies, and again the decision for them to adopt the balanced scorecard system was not made in a vacuum, because the stakes are too high. On February 2nd 200 2 the AME-INFO reported the merger of Saudi industrial projects company (SIPCO) and Saudi FruitJuice and Beverage industry (SFJBI) in the western region of Saudi Arabia. The reasons for the merger were many, they wanted to expand their command of the beverage industry, and they wanted to remain the best manufacturing operation in the industry. It is not difficult to imagine that Pepsi Saudi would adopt BSC in order to maintain its dominance of the industry. Before the merger it introduced the Pepsi twist (Pepsi taste laced with a twist of lemon) â€Å"in order to satisfy customers demand for something extra in their soft drink† AMEINFO October 8th 2001. It unfolded many ad campaigns designed to capturenew customers and retain old ones. The ad campaign targeted all major social events of the kingdom, including football games that featured the stars of the popular sport. As this study will show continue the company has continued to grow under BSC. FRAMEWORK: Because of the succ ess of balance scorecard, there are enormous volumes of information on the practice of BSC, but this study will examine the phenomenon of balance scorecard with Saudi Pepsi as the reference agency. The study will review the book (Translating strategy into action) by Kaplan and Norton as well as many relevant literature on the subject.It is the position of this study that BSC is a genuine business elevator, so this project will make the necessary efforts to present authentic evidence in support of that position. RESEARCH OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study are to outline and analyze the fundamental principles of the Balanced Scorecard system. The paper will trace the formulation of the system and review some of the available data on its effectiveness. Also the paper will make an objective judgement on the advantages and disadvantages of its application. Since this is designed to ascertain the adaptability of BSC to Pepsi of Saudi Arabia, the paper will concludewith a critical in sight on how Pepsi could benefit from BSC, based largely on data from the performance review of other corporations that have implemented the BSC management system. QUESTIONS EXPECTED TO BE ADDRESSED BY THIS STUDY: Though questions abound on this study, but this discourse will focus greatly on the matters that address the application, and the structure of Balance Scorecard. The major perspectives as advanced by Kaplan and Norton will be presented and analyzed in depth . It must be emphasized that the system is an objective, responsive system. Itcould be followed with appropriate data analysis, and adjustments could be made when desirable. The paper will provide the necessary steps that could be followed in order to attain a desired result. Because this dialogue has taken sides in favor of the BSC, it will clearly present the known benefits of implementing the system. But it must be emphasized that there are some drawbacks in the BSC system. Those drawbacks would equally be outlined. All the important steps in the implementation of the BSC will be discussed, and the different roles that different levels of a corporate entity would need to play will be enumerated as well.All of the team members must not only make a commitment, they must participate in the process. Every department must know its participating role in the implementation of BSC, and this work will detail what those roles ought to be, and how to ensure that they are diligently executed. It should also be recognized that it is not enough to design and construct a BSC, the question is would it be used? No benefits would accrue if the built BSC is not used. Of course the most important question is that of the applicability of the system by Pepsi Saudi, that question will be adequately addressed in this process.CHAPTER TWO: BOOK AND LITERATURE ANALYSIS. PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT: Before the advent of BSC, a questionnaire by the national association of accountants indicated that about 60% of accountants wer e â€Å"not satisfied by their performance measurement system†, primarily because of its reliance on purely financial metrics. But since the implementation of BSC that dire view is turning around. (Nevin 2003). Performance measurement technique is used to compile data on many subjects, high school academicians use performance measurement to keep record of behaviors of students whose behaviors required to improvement.The significant point here is that the actual behavior improvement could be measured empirically, scientifically and with discerning accuracy. So it is not surprising that corporations would also adopt performance management system. Corporations use performance measurement to keep record of its effectiveness, and its efficiency. It is used to tabulate quality and productivity. It is also used to keep records of timeliness and safety. (Nevin, Paul 2003). With an effective performance measurement system, companies can a develop a sustainable structure for its strate gic planning, and its goals.It helps companies assemble a clear mission, with appropriate resources, on long term intervals. With it companies can maintain accountability for its performance or lack of performance. By using performance measurement companies are better able to analyze and validate its results. It can also use it to acquire timely feedbacks, which could be used to change the direction of a given project or to move a project forward. So in total, performance measurement could help and organization to make informed decisions, to appraise its performance and to initiate an improvement as needed. (Nevin, Paul 2003). I suppose we can say thatperformance measurement is a close â€Å"cousin† of BSC. However a performance measurement system could limit its benefits if it loses sight of key performance drivers. And it could be quite expensive to set-up a performance measuring unit, but most companies seem to agree that the cost is worth it at the long run. (Kaplan & Nor ton 1996). BALANCED SCORECARD, â€Å"DEFINITION† What is scorecard, how can we define scorecard, is it possible to provide a total comprehensive meaning? Scorecard is not a one word definition system, so in order to do justice to the question, what is scorecard, it is necessary to take a comprehensiveapproach to that question. â€Å"If you can measure it you can manage† that is the guiding concept behind the BSC management philosophy. The balanced scorecard system was designed by Kaplan and Norton in the 1990's with the objective of giving managers the tool to look into the long term prospect of their organizations with some measure of reliability. So the BSC is both a management and a measurement tool that when fully and accurately implemented will enable businesses to develop their own vision, and their own strategy, and then translate those business elements into business actions.It is a system that can give businesses an authentic feedback about their internal and external results. And that in turn would enable them to develop a genuine strategy. Since a company with superior strategy and a way of measuring the results of its performance functions do better than companies that do not posses similar tool. (Kaplan & Norton 1996). With BSC managers are able to a maintain a clear insight into the operations and management of all business units. It gives the manager the picture that he needs to see how the business is performing when it is compared against the plans, and stated objectives of the business.If a discrepancy is observed between the goals and the actual results, BSC enables practitioners to delve in and correct the noticed discrepancy. And when corrections are made effectively, the business would then redirect the necessary efforts and resources back to the expected reports. It has been abundantly documented that companies that use BSC have a highly accurate and generally dependable view of their entire operations and its performance. BSC does not simply employ financial metrics in its measurements, but it uses customer satisfaction, technical and intellectual innovations, market share and market competition to garnerbetter more reflective and more comprehensive results of company operations and performance. And there are very little doubts that this system is effective for those companies that have designed and executed the system. (Nevin 2003). A comprehensive survey/questionnaire conducted by CIO. Com, Balancedscorecard. org, and Microsoft. com revealed that companies that employ BSC â€Å"have improved their financial and future position in the market place†. (Studentweb. tulane. edu). A study by Nevin 2003 indicates that about 50% of fortune 1000 corporations now have employed some form of BSCmanagement performance metrics. (Nevin 2003). That alone means that all of these companies have used the BSC system to position themselves on a better financial and management future. With BSC organizations are a ble to articulate a comprehensive strategy towards desired performance, and implementation success. On the whole the BSC system employs tree main systems in order to accomplish its objectives. It uses the measurement system, the strategic management system, and the communication tool. (Nevin 2003). These three factors present only as translation tool to the entire strategy of the BSC business system.The measurement system of BSC uses the â€Å"lead indicators† to forecast future business environment. It reveals the strategy via long term management that focuses on customer satisfaction, innovation and recognition of potential market competitors. It seeks out innovation for the benefit of superior products. It deploys essential resources in order to capture customers that it would retain for the long run. It looks for realistic ways to retain its customers. And it combines all of those factors for both effectiveness and efficiency. It is the measurement aspect of BSC that full y engages the four perspectives, so theseperspectives will be discussed here in a little more detail. The four perspective as have been mentioned on this discourse include the customer perspective, the internal process perspective, and the learning and growth perspectives. CUSTOMER PERSPECTIVES REVISITED: When a business loses the drive to pursue and retain customers, it loses its soul and therefore the right to exist. No business can function, thrive or prosper without a reliable customer base. In the customer perspective theory BSC makes it clear that it is not only essential to know who the target customers are and how a business can better servethat customer base. The BSC identifies three primary ways of providing services to customers in the Balance scorecard system. Operational excellence emphasizes low prices, and convenience ( Nevin 2003). Product leadership focuses on providing the best product in the market. In customer intimacy the business stresses the development of lon g term relationships with the customer, doing whatever is necessary to know what it is that the customer truly wants. It does so while maintaining as much knowledge as possible of its customers. The reason for these efforts in acquiring superior customerknowledge comes down to the point that the businesses are attempting to provide as much satisfaction to the customers as possible. The other reasons include customer loyalty and the need for more market share. (Balancedscorecard. org. ) INTERNAL PROCESS PERSPECTIVE REVISITED: This area focuses on identification of the things that would need to be done in order to continue to add value to the customers and ultimately to the shareholders (Nevin 2003). The internal process aims to serve the customer and increase the total value of the organization, as well as keep record of the companies progress. The team’s objective isprimarily to develop better products, to find better ways of manufacturing better products. To find better ways of delivering their products, and to find better ways of delivering better services after the products had been delivered. LEARNING AND GROWTH PERSPECTIVE REVISITED: This may actually be the most important aspect of the entire process. Organizations would get as far as their employees could take them. A team that lacks knowledge may not be able to provide the necessary services required by the customers. Therefore genuine effort must be made to keep employees abreast of necessary information. And that is what the learningand growth perspective tries to define. It emphasizes that information be made available to the employees. It requires the employees skills be as sharp as necessary. It does not want employees to be ignored. Again the key here is that any organization would only go as far as the employees could take it. With adequate care and education, employees can only do better for the company. It is important to point out that the BSC system does not ignore the financial persp ective. But the key is that when a company has satisfied the other objectives, that company stand a pretty good chance of doing well financially.BALANCE SCORECARD AS A STRATEGIC MANAGEMENT SYSTEM: Obviously putting a business and management strategy is important, but no strategy will function if it does not actually get implemented. So the first step in resolving the issue of non-implementation, is to identify what the potential problems towards implementation may be, and then address those issues. According to fortune magazine (1999) about 70% of strategies are poorly executed, so how can it be executed better. Both the team and the management must pay attention to the four barriers: the vision barrier, the people barrier, the resource barrier, and the management barrier.(1) VISION BARRIER: To overcome the vision barrier, employees must not be kept in the dark. The BSC wants management to be very clear as to what the vision is. When possible place a figure on the vision . For insta nce if the goal is to manufacture products without defects 90 % of the time, then it may be made clearer by stating exactly that. That figure of 90% translates the vision to a level that could not be misunderstood. Give the employees the appropriate knowledge base and strategic structure, that makes the entire strategic objective easier to follow. Management should facilitate a total understanding of the strategy and the wholestructure in order to enable all the team members to fully understand the strategy and therefore work towards achieving it as a unit. (Kaplan & Norton) (2) PEOPLE BARRIER: In order to overcome the people barrier, BSC outlines a system known as cascading. Essentially it give all of the team members or all of the employees a chance to actually demonstrate exactly how they contribute to their teams objective. The entire system is driven from the top to the bottom. Management would be able to have â€Å"direct line of site† to all levels by implementing the cascade system. the management would need toredesign how it awards incentives. When the focus is on rewarding long term achievement as opposed to short term, employees tend to respond with long term focus, as they work towards achieving the goal. So if long term objectives are created and proper values and incentives placed on them, then the rest of the team would naturally follow. This is an important point because, when employees are rewarded based on short term expectations, then the entire effort would be based on attaining that short term incentive. (3) RESOURCE BARRIER: For the resource barrier, an organization that is genuinely concerned about achievingBSC must allocate adequate budgetary resources to it. To do otherwise would simply be folly. No strategy would get off the ground without real financial commitment. Human and financial resources should be part of the consideration during the planning of the strategy. It just would not make sense not to allocate the necessary re sources. (4) MANAGEMENT BARRIER: The last barrier is the management barrier, there is really no doubt that management participation about the importance of an earnest management participation in order for the strategies to work. If management would not show true commitment, then whywould the rest of the team. If the team leader is absent why would any one else pay attention. (Nevin 2003). When learning is prescribed as part of the strategy and when accurate evaluation are made based on the numbers from the scorecard, then its easier to read the results and compare them to the original hypothesis. If the report does not measure up to the hypothesis, then a different approach would be necessary. The point is that if all of these four strategic elements are implemented, and the required evaluations are made regularly, the company gives itself stands an excellent chance of reversing courseif the numbers indicate so. CRITICAL OBSERVATIONS: It would be unrealistic to think that the entire system would not have some criticisms, and there are some legitimate questions on how effective the system really is. For sure it is an expensive proposal to implement. It requires that management and team leaders must have hands on approach in order to achieve the stated goals. But it is not always easy to have that kind of high level participation. So it could be a problem. (Molleman 2007). Some have argued that it is difficult to relate one measurement to the other.For instance, how could a change in one perspective have a direct correlation to another. It is not quite clear how change in a particular measure would affect another measure. Others have argued that BSC does not address what the appropriate balance ought to be when addressing the stakeholder value. Davidson 2002, reports that the BSC correctly anticipates the value for the shareholders and the customers, but it does not articulate the needs of the employees. It also asserts that the requirement for top management pa rticipation centralizes the methodology on the high level management.In a project that requires a good degree of knowledge, Davidson argues that the top-down approach may not be the best. But on the issue of management participation, if the commitment is high enough, then management ought to be able to find the time to allocate to the idea, because the long term benefits could be enormous ,if the system is followed correctly. The point is that the benefits negates the shortcomings. All indication is that BSC is a business method that is worth pursuing, and there are definite measures that could be taken in order to mitigate some of the shortcomings. If an organizationfollows the directives that were outlined by Kaplan an Norton, then they would have significantly elevated their chances for success in their endeavor. First Kaplan and Norton insists that on the question of wether an organization is applying the right measure of perspectives, they recommend that a stable BSC should hav e a good balance of both lagging and leading indicators. That would enable them to see a clear picture of not only past efforts but also the plans of the future. A company should not implement too many indicators. Organizations should focus on those indicators that clearly addresses their strategy.So with the correct combination of lagging and leading indicators as well as the correct mixture of the most critical indicators, Kaplan and Norton belief that the organization would do just fine. (Kaplan & Norton 1996). They also advised against making a â€Å"quantitative link† between non financial indicators and financial indicators. Since lag time may be influenced by many factors, it is not advisable to link non financial indicators and financial indicators. Also Kaplan and Norton observed that failure would almost be guaranteed if senior management simply dump the system to middle management. Therefore it emphasizes that senior managementmust remain engaged, it must define th e performance measurement, thereby making the objective clear to all levels of the team. It is not enough to have a senior leadership, if the senior leadership is not working with the rest of the team to achieve the objective. All segments of the company or organization would need to be involved in order for the BSC to work as designed. Developing the process does not have to be protracted, because if implementing it becomes too long then strategies may change during this period, and that would not be a good for the process. Therefore they recommend that the development process ought to be short.(Kaplan & Norton). It would be inadvisable to use the BSC just for compensation purposes, therefore it is recommended that compensation be linked only when it is involved in translating strategy. THE IMPLEMENTATION OF BALANCED SCORECARD. The two main phases of BSC are the planning phase and the development phase. Because different organizations operate differently, it may not be realistic to expect companies to follow one particular route to the implementation of the system. But Nevin 2003 drew an implementation â€Å"map† that could aid any organization as it plows through the difficulty of planning and implementation.

Orientation: Education and Various Learning Tools Essay

The Student Orientation is an informative guide that helps accustom students to the online learning experience offered by the Desire 2 Learn website. This orientation gives newcomers an overview of what to expect from an online course and how to utilize the various learning tools within the D2L website. After thoroughly completing the student orientation course I have come to realize that while online learning may seem like a great way to fit college courses into a busy lifestyle, it takes a tremendous amount of self-discipline and dedication to succeed in the online learning process. Organization, time management and communication skills are essential to mastering online learning. I am taking four online courses this semester therefore it has been vital for me to properly learn to navigate through the D2L website beforehand and to figure out ways that I can use the various learning tools to my advantage. Each course opens up the the course homepage where the course news feed is located, along with a section for course updates, bookmarks and user links. The course navigation bar has links to Course Home, Classlist, Checklist, Content, Discussions, Dropbox, Grades, Quizzes and Course Tools. Primarily all professors will use the content area to post lectures, assignments, resources and other course activity in different modules. Some professors will set a deadline on certain modules so it important to manage your time wisely. The professor posts lectures, modules, assignments and other course activity in the content area. The content map to the left of the content viewer will give students an overview on the topics within a module. The discussion area is where the professor and students will post and reply to various topics throughout the course. The dropbox is an essential tool students will use to submit course assignments.

Hurt Love Quotes

Hurt Love Quotes When a heart breaks, it screams out in pain. You may not hear an audible  cry, but the silence is deafening. Betrayal is a bitter pill. The bitterness lingers, stifling out happiness and peace. Have you been hurt in love? Did you encounter a bad breakup or betrayal? Do you feel unloved? You are not alone. Many people have experienced nasty heartbreak. Many spend their entire life nursing the wound, and never daring to love again. People who were betrayed are wary of relationships. They shy away from commitment and companionship. Heartbroken lovers build an impenetrable shell around themselves. They yearn for true love but do not want to take a risk. This negative approach leaves them desolate. The passion finds its vent in other ways. Some turn workaholic; others find solace in various forms of addiction. On the surface, they may appear normal, but deep inside they are hurting. So, how do you mend a broken heart? How do you bounce back from a broken relationship? Is it possible to find love? The truth is that broken hearts can be mended. It depends on your attitude. If you allow the hurt to affect your psyche, the damage can be irreparable. However, if you prevent the hurt from damaging your spirit, you can bounce back. It is important that you forgive yourself, and accept the breakup as an important milestone. Cherish the wonderful memories and move on. Life has plenty of wonderful opportunities in store. You can utilize those opportunities only if you choose to move on. Look back with fondness, not with regret. Dont carry the burden of remorse in your heart. If you can recognize the manifestations of hurt, you can heal quickly. Hurt often manifests itself in rage. In Vanna Bontas words, Anger is a wound gone mad. She rightly correlated hurt with uncontrolled anger. If you appreciate the wisdom in her words, you can check your anger. Quotes for a Hurting Heart To help cope with hurt, here are some hurt love quotes. While some of the quotes encourage you to pick up the threads and start afresh, others help ease the pain. T. E. KalemA final comfort that is small, but not cold: The heart is the only broken instrument that works. Steve MaraboliA broken heart bleeds tears. Vanna BontaAnger is a wound gone mad. Christina Georgina RossettiBetter by far you should forget and smile than that you should remember and be sad. Dennis BrownCertain songs by hearing the rhythm, it tells you that is either a love song or you might be heartbroken or the songs give you the vibes and you just know that certain songs are militant that you have to write. Jennifer AnistonThe greater your capacity to love, the greater your capacity to feel the pain. Kahlil GibranThe silence that guards the tomb does not reveal Gods secret in the obscurity of the coffin, and the rustling of the branches whose roots suck the bodys elements do not tell the mysteries of the grave, by the agonized sighs of my heart announce to the living the drama which love, beauty, and death have performed. Amanda Howells, The Summer of Skinny DippingThe surest way to hurt yourself is to give up on love, just because it didnt work out the first time. OshoThis pain is not to make you sad, remember. Thats where people go on missing. This pain is just to make you more alert because people become alert only when the arrow goes deep into their heart and wounds them. Otherwise they dont become alert. When life is easy, comfortable, convenient, who cares? Who bothers to become alert? When a friend dies, there is a possibility. When your woman leaves you alone those dark nights, you are lonely. You have loved that woman so much and you have staked all, and then suddenly one day she is gone. Crying in your loneliness, those are the occasions when, if you use them, you can become aware. The arrow is hurting: it can be used. The pain is not to make you miserable, the pain is to make you more aware! And when you are aware, misery disappears. Holly BlackThose who really love you dont mean to hurt you and if they do, you cant see it in their eyes but it hurts them too. Mary Manin MorrisseyWe take a risk when we open our hearts because the truth is, if we open our hearts, we will get hurt. You cant open your heart and not have some hurt because youre in a human experience. Even if its the love of your life and you have many wonderful, deepening, growing, powerful years together, its a human experience and that person will pass over. Love takes courage. Be courageous. Marian Keyes, The Other Side of the StoryWhy cant we love the right people? What is so wrong with us that we rush into situations to which we are manifestly unsuited, which will hurt us and others? Why are we given emotions which we cannot control and which move in exact contradiction to what we really want? we are walking conflicts, internal battles on legs. Britney SpearsWith love, you should go ahead and take the risk of getting hurt, because love is an amazing feeling. Algernon Charles SwinburneYet leave me not; yet, if thou wilt, be free;/Love me no more, but love my love of thee. JavanLove can sometimes be magic. But magic can sometimes just be an illusion. Michael ToddLove hurts more than hate. Anais NinLove never dies a natural death. It dies because we dont know how to replenish its source. It dies of blindness and errors and betrayals. It dies of illness and wounds; it dies of weariness, of withering, of tarnishing. Ashleigh BrilliantThe difference between friendship and love is how much you can hurt each other. Uniek SwainThe flame of love is now just a cold loneliness. William W. PurkeyYouve gotta dance like theres nobody watching, Love like youll never be hurt, Sing like theres nobody listening, And live like its heaven on earth.