Human Behavior in Companies When the Organizational Behavior Leaves Much to Be Desired

Research Paper on Quality Management

Research Paper on Quality Management In a prior career, I used to be the director of Systems Engineering for a major telecommunications manufacturer. The role of systems engineering is to provide technical support for sales. The duties include such tasks as technical presentations, gathering customer requirements, designing networks and project managing the testing and implementation of our products. One of the major aspects of the job was coordinating feature sets and timeframes between the customer and our engineering. Large customers are always looking for additional features that can set them apart from their competition. They always leverage the vendor into producing new product enhancements and try to accelerate the delivery. This phenomenon creates a dichotomy and trade-off between quality and costs. The relationships between cost management and quality management are an interesting one. Everyone in this world is a consumer of some sort. We all buy things and we all want only the best products for the best price. But, where is the line to be drawn for how much do we pay for quality? Most competitive companies have goals to put out the best product for the best price. They have many different slogans such as quality is #1 or customer service is #1. Nevertheless, how much should a company spend on quality before it starts to cut into profit? What are effects of rushing a product to market in respect to quality and costs? First, let me define a few terms: Quality Management Quality management is one of the hardest jobs of a manager to control. The goal behind good quality management is improving business processes, optimizing the performance of your business, and maximizing profitability. By definition, quality is a degree of excellence, superiority in kind. (Mish p. 963) Management is defined as the conducting or supervising of something. (Mish p. 722) This leads us to the definition of quality management being the supervising of a degree of excellence. Most companies aim to achieve a certain degree of excellence without exceeding budget. Cost Management Cost management is what drives companies to the top or sends them crashing and burning to the bottom of the business food chain. Cost management is defined as the conducting or supervising of (Mish p. 963) the amount or equivalent paid or charged for something. (Mish p. 295) When a business purchases a product or service, just like a consumer, there is a responsibility for the purchaser to find the best price available. This will keep the costs down for the purchasers company and will keep the company competitive with prices. Large customers hope to influence their vendors to provide specific product differences that would make them unique in the marketplace, thus giving them a competitive advantage. The proliferation of microcomputer technology has made it possible to change functionality of a product by introducing new software programming. Most customers are unaware of the intricacies of software programming, testing and controls. Their perception is that software development is quick and easy, with little costs as compared to hardware development. My company on the other hand has multiple large customers, each hoping to influence our product development and time to market. Each of these customers wants different product features that will make them unique in the marketplace. Our engineers are detailed oriented and prefer to layout a program of design and delivery based on the goals of senior management and marketing direction. Introducing new requirements in the middle of product development disrupts their orderly processes, increases cost, and causes tension internally between sales, marketing, and engineering. The type of company culture influences the outcome of the customers’ requests. If the company is primarily sales driven, the likelihood that engineering will have to adjust their plans is high. Engineering driven companies on the other hand, many be more staunch in their stance and maintain the existing development schedule. Management must decide whether the proposed changes to the product adds value long term, and is the customer willing to pay for the additional feature development short term. Managers from some cultures are less flexible because it is a sign of weakness. A company never wants to discourage customer feedback on features because it helps to set practical implementations of the product that design engineers may never think of. In addition, if the product diverges to far from what the majority of customers need the product will no longer be viable in the market. Let us assume that the customer requests for product changes have received approval. We now look at cost versus quality trade-offs that will ultimately influence the final product. Adding features to the product development requires additional resources. In software development, additional employees with specific programming language expertise may be required. It will also influence how the software is tested. Testing the software will require additional time and possibly additional automated test equipment. Additional lines of code may require more memory in the hardware to store the increased code. Each of these factors adds cost to the product and needs carefully evaluation prior to development. The addition of new features adds additional work, which effects time to market. Management will need to evaluate the trade-offs of missing the original schedule versus added costs. Missing the original schedule will influence other customers who are counting on our company to help them meet their goals. These are difficult decisions because they affect more than the requesting customer and our company. This decision will affect several more companies that do business with us. Meeting the original schedule means that we must compress the additional work. Management can address this issue by employing more people or demanding longer work hours from existing employees. This aspect is where most of the quality issues will show up. New employees are unknown commodities that require training and additional supervision. Until they are up to speed with our companies’ specific products, techniques, policies, etc, they are bound to make mistakes. Longer work hours for current employees create additional emotional stress, lack of focus, and possibly company resentment. All these factors add up to poorer quality The potential for added revenues versus the assured increase in development cost requires careful analysis by management. Typically, management will require sales to gather additional, specific information about the customer requirements so we are not developing the wrong feature. Sales must try to negotiate further commitments from the customer to purchase our products and possibly help fund some of the development. Sales will also need to assess whether other customers might have the same needs. Do the needs exactly line up or are there variances. Can engineering design the features to accommodate the variances? Marketing is tasked to evaluate how these new features might set us apart from our competitors. Do the new features add enough value to allow us to increase price? Can we make greater advertising claims and get our companies name better known in the industry? Politics and personal feelings always play into these decisions. Engineers who design products have an emotional attachment to their work. When asked to change the design, a natural resistance occurs. The owner of the company may be friends with a VP of our customer. A biased decision to add features based on friendships versus logical business decisions. Sales representatives are looking for attention on their clients and themselves. Sometimes there is a tendency to mislead our company about the potential for future business Relating Cost Management to Quality Management Changes in product design influences cost and quality. Many factors go into a decision to change design and implement new features. All these factors affect cost and quality requiring carefully management and planning. Quality management can become very expensive, so there comes a point in a business where a manager must recognize the issue of cost over sacrifices for quality. Your market will also dictate the extent of quality implementation. Auto manufacturer Ferrari knows if they produce a quality product, there are enough consumers out there who will spend the money to own the name and quality vehicles they produce. The other extreme has manufacturers such as the Yugo Car Company producing very cost effective vehicles that anyone could afford; however, quality levels are reported to be low. Other companies like Honda, Ford, and GM created a balance between cost and quality. This balance between cost and quality allowed them to become some of the most successful companies in the w orld today. Conclusion Quality management is essential for a business to survive and keep consumers happy. In addition, cost is always an issue no matter how much money one has. In order for a company to become as successful as they can be, there must be a balance of the two. Having the right management staff and experience in quality management and cost management can make a business very successful or can cause it to fail miserably. Change decisions cannot be made lightly and hundreds of factors influence the outcome. Good management is the ability to balance these factors using proven processes and sound logic. Systems engineering is the catalyst and moderator between the company and the customer. We influence through various forms of logic, economics and human relations factors.

Kashmir conflict Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Kashmir conflict - Essay Example Muslim Pashtun tribesmen from Pakistan took to regularly raiding into Kashmir. The Maharaja was ill equipped to respond and India refused to intervene until Kashmir agreed to annexation. The Maharaja â€Å"eventually decided to accede to India, signing over key powers to the Indian government – in return for military aid and a promised referendum.†5 When Indian troops entered the Kashmir, Pakistan invaded to ‘defend’ Kashmiri autonomy. The result was the first India-Pakistan War, fought in and over the Kashmir. It ended on New Year’s Day, 1949 when the United Nations brokered a cease-fire agreement and dispatched a peacekeeping force to the region.6 Map 1: Kashmir Remarkably, this cease-fire was tenuously maintained through fifteen years of â€Å"unending artillery duels and annual clashes on the world’s highest glacier.†7 However, in 1965 war broke out again. India accused Pakistan of infiltrating local insurgents into the Indian contr olled region and fermenting rebellion. In response India crossed the cease-fire line and occupied key defensive positions. Eventually another cease-fire saw them return to their original positions. In 1971, while a devastating civil war raged in East Pakistan (Bangladesh) Indian troops entered that country. That ignited the third India-Pakistan War. Although that war was not fought in the Kashmir directly one of its results was the â€Å"Simla agreement that turned the Line of control [cease-fire line] into their unofficial temporary border.†8 Since 1972 India and Pakistan have not fought another war although the border conflicts have persisted. Also, as noted earlier, the potential for catastrophic conflict increased significantly in... The province of Kashmir is located in India, on the border between India and Pakistan. It is the only state in India with a Muslim majority (67.2 percent). Consequently, it has been a point of hostility, endemic guerrilla warfare, and occasional conventional military clashes. Additionally, for the last few years the threat of nuclear conflagration has hung ominously over the province. Then events over the last decade, the current situation, will be examined. Finally, prospects for the future, specifically prospects for the resolution of the dispute will be considered. With an autonomous Kashmir a non-starter and India and Pakistan both firmly committed to controlling Kashmir rather than its partition, it is difficult to see that the dispute is any closer to a resolution today than it was a decade ago when Fathers described it as 'stumbling toward resolution'. On the positive side this dispute has simmered and occasionally flared up throughout the decade since both India and Pakistan revealed that they had nuclear capabilities without ever becoming an out and out declared war, let alone a nuclear exchange and it seems reasonable to assert that the conflict will continue to smolder without becoming grounds for a nuclear confrontation.

Marketing Services of Damia Spa Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Marketing Services of Damia Spa - Assignment Example The health facility embraces the people from this wide and diversified culture all interested in harmony of Singapore (Damai Spa Singapore n.d.). Damai symbolizes the peaceful and harmonious coexistence of these various cultures as practiced in Singapore. Numerous services are offered at the Damia Spa. The Spa treatment offers customers services that are beyond their expectations and that they would enjoy. The naturally beautiful and serene environment ensures that the patients enjoy their stay in the Spa. Damai Spa offers treatments that are based on the different healing philosophies (Damai Spa Singapore n.d.). This makes the patient get customized treatment and services depending on their traditional beliefs and practices. The traditional Chinese medicine ensures balancing by unblocking the vital energy. The Malay Jamu philosophy heals by the use of herbal and natural well being. Moreover, the European spa therapy energies the body connection while the Indian ayurveda purifies and detoxify the body (Zeithaml & Mary, 1996). When customers attend treatment at Damai Spa, they are guaranteed other supplementary services. These include the provision of a robes and scandals for comfort. Secured lockers will make the patients keep safe their personal belonging even though the management is not responsible for the losses (Damai Spa Singapore n.d.). The Spa further prohibits smoking and drinking in the premises to ensure patients enjoy tranquility and peace. In addition, the spa etiquette enables the patients to shower before body checks and Damai Spa has the fitness center that is geared towards wellness enthusiasts while looking for innovative ways that restores balance in the lives and for total rejuvenation. The fitness center includes yoga, bollywood, capoiera and hip hop dance. All these enables the customers to engage in fat burning, strengthening exercise and provides professional advice on nutritional and healthy lifestyle. To supplement the fitness center, recreational facilities like swimming pool, studio, badminton courts, and oasis poolside restaurant are available (Damai Spa Singapore n.d.). The marketing of services requires customization of services and this explains why the wellness center offers attention to each member (Vedulla, 2005). Special fees charged attracts customers and affordable to the members. The technology wellness key is easy to use by the members and stores data that is communicated to the gym equipment. The key can also guide the members through each exercise hence a training strength. In addition, Damai Spa salon services provide a variety of services. These include hair cut, hair color, shine lights, and hair permitting and hair treatment at affordable rates. This wide variety ofi services makes customers have selection choice and therefore enhancing their satisfaction. The services are charged at different rates, which make the spa serve various classes of people. The salons are situated in natural and ser ene environments that ensure comfort and satisfaction. In all the categories of services that are provided, Damai considers the diverse nature of people’s values, customs, and rituals. These diversities are blended in a manner that ensures harmony of the four-wellness philosophies. The Damai couples journey a selection and seasonal fruits served and herbal tea

Pacific oil company Essay Example for Free

Pacific oil company Essay The Pacific Oil Company went into negotiations with Reliant Manufacturing, and its goal was to sign a more long-term agreement. Pacific assumed that the new contract would be signed with no major hurdles or objectives, and that the dominant point of negotiation would be price. Jean Fontaine, who is the marketing vice president for Pacific Oil, went into a negotiation process with Reliant. Jean started the process several years before Reliant Manufacturing’s contract was up, hoping to beat her competition to the lower price offers and leave with a contract extension of 5 years. Unfortunately, Jean did not properly research her client’s needs or adequately project what the outcome might be. Because of this, Pacific Oil Company was not prepared to address the concerns and requests that Reliant brought up during the negotiation. Though both parties wanted to move quickly toward signing a contract, Pacific Oil Company elongated this process because it did not have a thorough negotiation strategy that included a contingency plan or best alternatives. Pacific oil also neglected to draw out its best alternatives or bottom line in advance. Staying on the Same Page in Business Negotiations Pacific believed that other elements of the contract might be discussed, but that no dramatic changes would be expected. Because of Pacific’s lack of strategic planning, they wasted valuable time, money, emotional stress and energy. They also risked losing other opportunities that could have been more favorable for them. Adding to the problem was Pacific’s assumption that Reliant would sign a new contract quickly. Because of the time and money spent on traveling and negotiating back and forth, and the potential need for new technology development, which would be based on the contract’s outcome, Pacific Oil Company became increasingly desperate to finalize a contract with Reliant. As a result, Reliant obtained the advantage needed to make more demands during negotiations. Additionally, Reliant was aware of Pacific Oil’s dependence on its business, and took full advantage of these opportunities.

The conservative movement :: essays research papers

  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The new wave of the right wing conservative movement started in the 1980’s with the yuppies. The young urban professionals were all about business and money and of course most of them were part of the GOP (Republican Party). They strayed away from the left wing liberals like hippies most hippies could have had a yuppie as a baby. The presidents we had were a part of this movement to Ronald Reagan (1981-1989 Republican) started this movement; George Bush (1989-1993 Republican) kept the movement going, Bill Clinton (1993-2001 Democrat) the movement calmed down at this point. Now it comes full circle with George W. Bush (2001-present).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  There is one classic book that was too obscene for the conservatives so they banned it. The book was The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain. It was placed on the banned list twice and has been twice removed. The first time it was banned in 1965 by the NAACP because it used the word nigger too many times, then in 1984 because a black alderman found the books language offensive. Not only do I think it is wrong to ban any type of literature but how can they say what is obscene and offensive? Another American classic that was banned was The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck once again it was for the vulgarity of the book.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The stifling effect of censorship is worse now since the Janet Jackson fiasco at Superbowl XXXVIII. The FCC was and still is doing a crack down on any and everything they find obscene. Howard Stern takes the spot light, with his â€Å"crude† humor and brash way of doing things. The FCC doesn’t like him very much. They fined him a record $495,000 for a â€Å"blumpkin† reference. The FCC can fine you for things they deem are obscene and vulgar. The only problem is he said this obscene reference over two years before they fined him which has never been done. All that will change on January 2006 when Howard moves to satellite radio.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Satellite radio is new and has only been on the market for about 5 years. It’s like cable T.V. for the radio and that is a good thing for Howard Stern or any Shock Jocks. It is good because the FCC can’t fine or censor any pay service because you (the buyer) want it. There are two different types of satellite radio though one is XM and the other is Sirius.

Advantages and disadvantagesof city life Essay

A city no doubt offers many tempting comforts and conveniences, pleasures and pass times, openings and opportunities, and that is why people from the country-side are pouring into it in thousands. In a city, there are schools, colleges, business houses and technical institutes, hospitals, charitable institutions, hospitals, cinemas, play – grounds, stadiums, parks, gardens and easy means of transport and communication. If we have sufficient money, we can have the best food and clothing, the best accommodation, the best education, the best of medical treatment and the best of entertainment. Disadvantages Even though the city life has its advantages, city life is far from being all good. The city is overpopulated, polluted, noisy, contaminated, filthy and smoky. The life can be disrupted by pollution, noise, corruptions and crime. City living can be very rushed and worried. Also in the city money is admired and money is indeed the core of all evils. The city with its insane pursuit for money and pleasures. It doesn’t accommodate the best environment for everyone; considering the development of the young. Some of the young residents fall into bad crowds, in a busy environment it’s easier to be introduced to smoking, drinking, gambling, drug taking etc. These conditions of a city life can pose a great threat to social harmony and advancements. A society that’s filled with crime and violence can make it difficult for some to grow and be successful. In the city it’s easier to be surrounded by all these corruptions than in the mild and calm country life. Some people prefer to live in a small town. Others prefer to live in a big city. Which place would you prefer to live in? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer. Read more: Village and city life essay There are undeniable advantages to both life in a big city and in a small town. The former offers more excitement and convenience while the latter offers a cleaner, quieter and often friendlier place to live. However, despite the advantages of small town life, I prefer to live in a big city for several reasons. First, life in the city is more convenient. More goods are available and stores are open later. Also, there is better public transportation so it is easier to get around. I can find almost anything I want easily in the city. Second, there are more ways to spend leisure time in the city. There are many places I can go to meet friends and have fun. Finally, and most importantly, the city offers more educational and career opportunities. The city often attracts the best teachers and the best companies. There is also a wider choice of jobs so it is easier to move up the career ladder. For all of these reasons, I prefer to live in the city. Although I sometimes miss the fresh air and quiet life of a small town, nothing can make up for the opportunities that the city offers me. If one wants to be successful, I believe the best place to live is the city. Advantages and disadvantages of city life Last update on March 23, 2013 under Bangladesh, Composition William Cowper, the famous English poet, wrote, â€Å"God made the country and man-made the town. † So, man has attraction to city life because he can enjoy more advantages by living in city. City Life More opportunities for work and employment: In a city there are more opportunities for work and employment. There are many offices, industries and factories in a city. Better scope of education: There are more schools and colleges in a city. So there is better scope of education. More and better medical facilities: In a city people get more and better medical facilities than the people of village. In a city there are more hospitals and clinics . there are more qualified doctors in a city. Easier communication: Science has made the world smaller. It has invented and discovered many means and ways of communication. So communication has become easier, in a city people can communicate with one another over telephone. Telex, fax etc. , through less inconvenience. Easier transportation: In a city people need not go to distant places on foot. There are various types of vehicles in a city by which people can reach a place earlier and faster with less trouble. More scope for art. Culture and literature: People in a city have more scope of practicing art culture and literature. There are more cultural centres and literary clubs. More scope of cultivating intellect: Since most of the people in a city have more scope of practicing art culture and literature. There are more cultural centres and literary clubs. More recreational facilities: In a city people enjoy more recreational facilities, there are many cinema halls. Theatre, clubs, parks etc. More comfortable domestic life: In a city domestic life is more comfortable . woman needs not go to bring water, to collect fire wood etc. to light kerosene lamp etc. More civic facilities: In a city people enjoy more civic facilities; they get everything at their hand Disadvantages: There is no unmixed blessing on earth. Everything has its merits and demerits. Similarly city life has some demerits than merits. Pollution: Air is more polluted in a city. It gets polluted in many ways, people cannot breath in pure air. Besides this, there arewater pollution and sound pollution. Higher standard of living: In a city the standard of living is costlier and higher, people of limited income lead income their life through much hardship, the price of things are very higher. More violence and crime: More violence and crime take place in a city, the criminals do not hesitate to commit crime, violence, killing, hijacking and so many crimes and anti-social activities. More in secured life: Life in a city is more in secures. People have no safety and security, less scope of enjoying of natural beautiful flowers and murmuring streams on the earth below. He cannot hear the sweet songs of birds. More traffic jam: Sometimes people in a city get stuck in a traffic jam and as a result they suffer more. Less scope of getting fresh things: there is less scope of getting fresh things, in a city there is adulteration in everything. Less scope of enjoying life: he is always in a hurry as if some invisible demon, the demon of materialism, drives him on with a whip in hand. In short, life here is so artificial that man soon loses his divine origin and becomes almost a machine. Above all, a city is a veritable university for men who like to acquire wisdom from observation and experience. Someone has truly said: if you would be known and not know, live in a village; if you would know and be unknown, live in a city.