Evaluate at least three quality improvement processes Research Paper

Evaluate at least three quality improvement processes - Research Paper Example The report therefore compares and contrasts three forms of quality improvement processes and among the discussed process, one favorable for the company is recommended to improve the performance of the company. Introduction The Baldrige criteria for performance excellence, ISO 9000 and the Six Sigma are three quality improvement processes that provide a completely new way of helping organizations improve in their performances. The first process focuses on the estimation of performance excellence of the organization as a whole starting from the management tracking all the results as exhibited by the organization. ISO 9000 on the other hand is a model that gives much weight on the product or the service and how it performs in the market. The inefficiencies of the products or the service are then fixed for better performance (Harrington, 2001). In this category, we have the six sigma; this constantly measures the quality of the product while improving the engineering process to result in to an improvement of the process and saves the costs of the organization. In an effort to know which will be applicable to improving the performance of this company in terms of saving cots and realizing profitability, we have to analyze the three intensively (Dew & Nearing, 2004). a. Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence The Baldrige Criteria for Performance Excellence as a measure that has helped many organizations achieve their goals is today not only acceptable in the US but also worldwide. This is due to its ability to steer organizations through stiff competitive environment through the improvement of their performances. The criterion cuts across all organizations right from healthcare to education of profit and nonprofit organizations by responding swiftly to current challenges (Brown, 2001). They do this by being open and transparent in the governance of the organizations as well as the ethics involved. The criterion is aimed at creating value for the customers of the business. Irrespective of the form of organization the criteria gives a valuable framework that is able to help in the planning and achieving under any environment. This is because it is able to assess organizational performance on a wide range of key business indicators, align the resources available, and improve communication, productivity and effectiveness for the achievement of the organizational goals (Edosomwan & Edosomwan, 2008). The criterion has evolved over time with its characteristics, goals and purposes remaining the same. The criteria lay its focus on all the results of the performances of the organization for balancing all the strategies of the firm. It does not prescribe and is adaptable hence allowing for creativity and flexibility in the organization to enable achievement of the goals. Supports the systems in place and at the same time supporting goals based diagnosis for future improvements (Brown, 2001). The goals of the criteria are delivery, improvement, organi zational and personal learning. The purpose of the criteria is to allow for its use by organizations of all categories for the sake of self assessment and training so as to develop performance of the businesses. The system is able to realize an achievement of its purpose by stressing on leadership, strategic planning, measurement, and analysis and knowledge management. Others are, focus on the workforce, management of the process and results (Edosomwan & Edo

Financial Reporting on Goodwill and Intangible Assets

Financial Reporting on Goodwill and Intangible Assets Question 1 Under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), goodwill and intangible assets must be treated separately during a business combination in accordance with IFRS3. Prior to IFRS 3, companies, during a business combination situation, intangible assets and goodwill could be accounted for as goodwill[1]. Under IFRS 3, acquired intangible assets are treated separately to goodwill. With recognised intangible assets, the value of the intangible asset can be amortised over the useful life of the asset. Goodwill is the value difference between the price paid for a business on acquisition and the value of the assets. Unlike intangible assets, goodwill cannot be amortised but needs to be re-measured for impairment, on an annual basis. This impairment value can be included in the income statement as an expense, on an annual basis. This is the critical difference between intangible assets and goodwill[2]. Upon acquiring a business, the acquiring company must assess the fair value of the relevant assets and liabilities including some identifiable intangible assets. This is the only time that these assets can be recognised on the balance sheet. Internally created intangible assets cannot be amortised in a straight line and reduced in this way on the balance sheet unless they are identifiable in terms of a useful life expectancy. Intangible assets that have an indefinite life span cannot be amortised on a straight line basis and must be re-measured for impairment, instead. All internally created intangible assets are re-measured for impairment, regardless of whether or not they are able to ascertain the useful life expectancy of the asset[3]. Goodwill is generally considered as a type of intangible asset; however, for the purposes of IFRS 3, it must be accounted for separately, during a business acquisition, with goodwill never being amortised and intangible assets that can be recognised to have a specific life expectancy can be amortised on a straight line basis. This is not the same for internally created intangible assets which will never be amortised. Question 2 (a) Gearing is calculated by considering the ratio of debt to equity, which is considered as debt divided by capital employed (or debt divided by debt plus shareholder funds). Intangible assets are often added back on to the shareholders’ funds as intangible assets such as goodwill and are a measure of the history of the company and not its current financial strength[4]. Calculation Gearing Numbers reported in company’s balance sheet (733 + 8585) which is total borrowings divided by shareholder equity / (9318 + 4013) total debt plus shareholder equity 69.90% Adjusted to make goodwill valueless (733+8585) / (4013 + 9318 – 4514) goodwill is taken off the shareholder equity 105.68% Adjusted to treat both goodwill and intangible assets as valueless (733+8585) / (4013 + 9318 – 9974) goodwill and intangible assets are added back on 277.57% The higher the ratio or gearing percentage, the greater the company favours debt over equity. A ratio of 100% would indicate that the company has an equal preference for both the use of equity and debt[5]. Therefore, the higher the percentage the greater the dependence and the greater the perceived financial risk. Shareholders will only obtain a return on their equity once all interest payments have been made. Therefore, the higher the reliance on debt, the more volatile the shareholder earnings are going to be. However, the debt repayment is set and, therefore, the higher the gearing ratio, the greater the risk but also the greater the potential return for the existing shareholders[6]. The figure for Allied Boots, for the purposes of this analysis is 105.68%. Any figure over 100% is considered high, which means that there may be volatility for the shareholders, but the profit growth will also be higher. In this case, the figure with goodwill ignored, has been used as this takes into account the fact that goodwill is largely a measure of historic value. The reason for this is that goodwill is entirely a reference to historic value generated in the business and should not, therefore, be taken into account as part of the shareholder equity. Intangible assets are continued value generating assets and should, therefore, remain in the calculation. For example, the intangible assets could include intellectual property which continues to add value to the business, whereas goodwill at the point of business acquisition is simply a reflection of the value of the business name at that point; no further value will be generated by virtue of this figure[7]. Question 3 In an entirely efficient market, all analysts will have all relevant information available to them, allowing them to makes suitable adjustments to give them the best possible information in relation to the value of the business. Truly efficient figures imply that all figures within the accounts reflect all known information[8]. However, in reality, markets are not entirely efficient as there is information that is not reflected in the financial data. Financial data, by its very nature, is historic and simply reflects what has happened in the past. Values for intangible assets such as intellectual property and goodwill can vary very quickly and are extremely subjective in nature. Goodwill and intangible assets are often based on information that is not publicly available such as internal know-how and, therefore, cannot be suitably analysed to see how realistic they are; this potentially offers considerable discretion for managers in terms of how these figures are reflected in the acco unts[9]. Due to the potential discretion in this area, regulators need to lay down certain treatment rules to ensure that the information being provided by the financial accounts is as close to full, true and fair as is possible. This then allows the analysts to make the most suitable decisions for their chosen position. Bibliography Blake, John, Lunt, Henry, Accounting Standards, Pearson Education, 2001 Dunse, Neil A., Hutchison, Norman E., Goodacre, Alan, Trade-related valuations and the treatment of goodwill, Journal of Property Investment Finance, 22, 3, 2004 Elliott, Barry, Elliott, Jamie, Financial Accounting and Reporting, Pearson Education, 2006 Mard, Michael J., Hitchner, James R., Hyden, Steven D., Zyla, Mark L., Valuation for Financial Reporting: Intangible Assets, Goodwill, and Impairment Analysis, SFAS 141 and 142, John Wiley and Sons, 2002 Reilly, Robert F., Schweihs, Robert P., Valuing Intangible Assets, McGraw-Hill Professional, 1999 Seetharaman, A., Sreenivasan, Jayashree, Sudha, Raju, Yee, Tey Ya, Managing impairment of goodwill, Journal of Intellectual Capital, 7, 3, 2006 Seetharaman, A., Balachandran, M., Saravanan, A.S., Accounting treatment of goodwill: yesterday, today and tomorrow: Problems and prospects in the international perspective, Journal of Intellectual Capital, 5, 1, 2004 Weetman, Pauline, Financial Accounting: An Introduction, Pearson Education, 2006 Wines, Graeme, Dagwell, Ron, Windsor, Carolyn, Implications of the IFRS goodwill accounting treatment, Managerial Auditing Journal, 22, 9, 2007 Footnotes [1] Weetman, Pauline, Financial Accounting: An Introduction, Pearson Education, 2006 [2] Mard, Michael J., Hitchner, James R., Hyden, Steven D., Zyla, Mark L., Valuation for Financial Reporting: Intangible Assets, Goodwill, and Impairment Analysis, SFAS 141 and 142, John Wiley and Sons, 2002 [3] Blake, John, Lunt, Henry, Accounting Standards, Pearson Education, 2001 [4] Seetharaman, A., Sreenivasan, Jayashree, Sudha, Raju, Yee, Tey Ya, Managing impairment of goodwill, Journal of Intellectual Capital, 7, 3, 2006 [5] Elliott, Barry, Elliott, Jamie, Financial Accounting and Reporting, Pearson Education, 2006 [6] Dunse, Neil A., Hutchison, Norman E., Goodacre, Alan, Trade-related valuations and the treatment of goodwill, Journal of Property Investment Finance, 22, 3, 2004 [7] Seetharaman, A., Balachandran, M., Saravanan, A.S., Accounting treatment of goodwill: yesterday, today and tomorrow: Problems and prospects in the international perspective, Journal of Intellectual Capital, 5, 1, 2004 [8] Reilly, Robert F., Schweihs, Robert P., Valuing Intangible Assets, McGraw-Hill Professional, 1999 [9] Wines, Graeme, Dagwell, Ron, Windsor, Carolyn, Implications of the IFRS goodwill accounting treatment, Managerial Auditing Journal, 22, 9, 2007

World Hunger Essay -- Essays Papers

World Hunger This web page's goal is to introduce the visitor to the problem of world hunger and provide ways to access more information through books and other web sites. The page was created as a final project for an Environmental History class held at the University of Vermont spring semester 2000. Overview World hunger is one of the many dire problems facing the human race. Although the common person probably won't have a big impact on ending world hunger, but by being aware of the issues you become empowered. It is first necessary discuss some other the myths about the reasons for world hunger. World hunger is not caused by population increase, but it is one of the factors. The global grain production is high enough to feed the population, which means that supply is not a cause of world hunger. The lack agricultural land is also not a cause of hunger; many of the third world nations have the arable land needed to produce enough food to feed their people. The real cause of hunger is the inequality in the control of food production. The arable land cannot be used to grow food to feed people of third world nations because big corporations buy the land to produce cash crops for exporting. The inequality among nations was formed during colonization. The European powers sought to find land that could produce marketable crops. Small plots of land farmed by families did not produce the volume of marketable goods that would bring profit to the Europeans. Some colo...

Crowd Management in Sport Facilities Essay

When conditions or circumstances warrant substantial levels of wariness, crowd management as a consequence becomes prudent. The key in getting a safe and comfortable environment for large packs of people is in planning for their management. There is considerable prominence on crowd management planning and implementation since it is important to provide a safe environment for everyone. Crowd management must take into account all the rudiments of an event especially the type of event, for example a circus, sporting, concert, or carnival event. It must also view characteristics of the facility, dimension and demeanor of the crowd, methods of entry, communications, crowd control, plus queuing (Herb, 1998). As in all management, it must also include planning, arranging, staffing, directing in addition to evaluating. Crowd management is best defined as every element of the game or event from the design of the stadium to the game itself as well as the protection of the customers from unforeseeable risk of danger from other persons or from the actual facility itself. The main criteria for gouging if crowd control procedures are sufficient and suitable depend on the kind of event, threats of aggression, existence and sufficiency of the emergency arrangement, expectation of crowd size in addition to seating arrangement, known rivalries among teams along with schools, and the use of security personnel (Herb, 1997). Crowd management is therefore paramount in sports facilities and venues because of the large masses that throng such places. Some facilities involve more sport management than others, thus would require more crowd management during functions. Venues should be primarily assessed for safety and its ability to hold large crowds. From the evaluation, the results should be processed, conclusions drawn, proposals made and a report written to all parties involved. The team that carries out such a task should be well trained in this area and used to dealing with all sorts of events, particularly sports. Reference Herb, A. (1998) Risk Management in Sport: Issues and Strategies. London, Carolina Academic Press Miller, L. (1997) Sport Business Management. New York, Jones & Barlett Publishers.

Hamlet vs Agamemnon Tragedy Essay

Hamlet and Agamemnon are two extraordinary and timeless plays. Both plays deal with the big themes of love, loss, pride, the abuse of power and the fraught relationships between men and gods. Hamlet and Agamemnon, the protagonist of the plays that were named after them, are two tragic heroes that commit some terrible crime without realizing how foolish and arrogant they have been. Both protagonist are of higher status, and have power. However, Hamlet is more tragic than Agamemnon, for several reasons. Hamlet is a good, kind men. He is the Prince of Denmark and loved by the Danish people. Unfortunately for him, his beloved father, King Hamlet, dies. Hamlet loves his father very much, and he is deeply hurt when his dad passed away. He is even more shocked and hurt by the fact that his mother, Queen Gertrude, marries his uncle, Claudius, shortly after her husband died. Prince Hamlet sees and has a conversation with his father’s ghost. He learns that the King of Denmark was murdered by his brother, Claudius. Hamlet swears to avenge his father, and he starts to play mad so he can gather evidence and put his plan in motion. At first, he is not completely sure that the ghost was his father, and he tries to get confirmation by inviting King Claudius and Queen Gertrude to a play based on what the ghost had told him. After he is convinced that his father was murdered, he plans to kill Claudius. Hamlet is not very eager to kill his uncle, he is not happy about the situation, and he does not act fast. Agamemnon is completely different than Hamlet. He rapes Clytemnestra and murders her husband. King Agamemnon did not stop there. After he marries Clytemnestra, he sacrifices their youngest daughter, Iphigenia, to gain favourable winds to take the Greek fleet to Troy. King Agamemnon seems to be more like King Claudius. Both of them killed the rightful King, took his wife, and killed or planned to kill the Queen’s child. Agamemnon kills his daughter, Claudius plots to kill Hamlet at least twice. Agamemnon is popular, and appreciated for his battles skills and victories. He doesn’t seem to care much about other persons and values, other than his power, battles victories, and the public’s adoration. Hamlet killes Polonius when he was talking with his mother after the play. Polonius was hiding, and ears dropping for the King. When Gertrude thought that Hamlet wants to attack her, she yelled for help, and Polonius  responded, calling for help from behind the arras. In an unusual moment of spontaneous action, Hamlet stabs the concealed figure, believing it to be Claudius. The death of Polonius cased great suffering to Ophelia, his daughter. She gets a little bit mad, singing nonsense about death and sex, and ends up drowning herself. Laertes, Polonius’s son, wants justice for his father, and becomes another potential revenge hero, but unlike Hamlet, he is more determined. He doesn’t care about the spiritual part of death like Hamlet. King Claudius adds fuel to the fire, and convinced Laertes to kill Hamlet in a duel. Laertes tells Claudius that he will poisoned the tip of the blade, to kill Hamlet. Claudius promised to poison the wine in case Laertes fails to scratch Hamlet with his sword. Hamlet is not aware of this plot, and accepts Claudius’s offer to fight Laertes. During the fight, there is a switch of rapiers, resulting in both Hamlet and Laertes being stabbed with the poisoned blade. Gertrude, meanwhile, mistakenly drinks the poisoned wine. She dies and Hamlet demands that they seek out the treachery that killed her. Laertes, realizing that he and Hamlet are both dying, explains everything and blames Claudius. Hamlet kills Claudius with the poisoned sword, finally fulfilling his quest for revenge. Laertes begs Hamlet to exchange forgiveness with him and dies. Hamlet forgives Laertes. Horatio wants to drink from the poisoned wine, so he can die with Hamlet, but he is stopped by the Prince. Hamlet tells Horatio that he must live in this horrible world so he can tell Hamlet’s story. Lord Hamlet announces that Fortinbras, Prince of Norway, will be the next king of Denmark and dies. Despite the fact that in the end, Prince Hamlet, Laertes, King Claudius, Queen Gertrude, and Ophilia died, the order in the kingdom is restored. Clytemnestra is the one seeking revenge in Agamemnon. During Agamemnon’s ten year absence, Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegistheus, planned to murder Agamemnon on his return. Clytemnestra wants revenge for her daughter, Iphegenia. When Agamemnon comes back, he brings with him, as concubine and slave, the ravished Trojan Princess, Cassandra. Cassandra has the gift of prophecy, but nobody believes her, thanks to Apollo’s curse. She sees the Clytemnestra plans to kill both Agamemnon and Cassandra, but the Chorus do not believe her . Princess Cassandra prays for a quick death, a wish that would be granted. Agamemnon commits hubris. He agrees to walk on the ‘red carpet’ that has been rolled out for him by his wife, even though he  mentions it is treatment meant only for the gods. Clytemnestra preparing her husband for a bath, put on him a bath-robe she had cunningly sewn to be a strait jacket. Wearing this, Agamemnon was completely helpless. His wife butchered and buried him without honours. She does the same to Cassandra. In Hamlet, King Claudius dies, King Hamlet finds peace, and Denmark gets rid of a bad king. Hamlet is buried like a soldier, having a military funeral. In a way, in Hamlet, Laertes commits hubris as well. He dares damnation and he mentions he would kill his father’s murderer in a church. Since both Laertes and Agamemnon commit hubris, both of them die shortly after, which is the element of nemesis in tragedy. Hamartia element, a tragic error, can be seen in Agamemnon when Agamemnon enters the house with Cassandra, trusting that Clytemnestra (his wife) is in fact happy to see him. Similarly in Hamlet, Hamlet agrees to duel with Laertes, not knowing that he is going to die by Laertes hand. Hamlet was a kind and honorable person. While he wanted revenge for his father, in a way he was right to do so. He did not wanted and enjoyed the idea of killing Claudius, but he pulled himself together at the last minute, right before he died. King Claudius was guilty of murdering a King, stealing a Kingdom, a Queen, and planning the murder of Prince Hamlet. Hamlet played for his revenge with his life. Since he was buried as a soldier, and the order was restored in Denmark, the Danish people did not hate him for his sins. Also, in Hamlet, we have more death on stage. Innocent people died, like Ophelia and Polonius. Agamemnon is completely different. He raped, he killed in cold blood, he sacrificed his own daughter to win a war, and he committed hubris, and took hostage the Princess of Troy. His wife, while she might be right in a way to avenge her daughter, she was looking forward to the task of killing Agamemnon and she also killed Cassandra, even thou she was innocent. Clytemnestra and he lover, wanted to be in power and had no remorse. Hamlet is more tragic than Agamemnon, because of the innocence and remorse the major characters showed.

My Ambitions as a Structural Engineer

My Ambitions as a Structural Engineer Free Online Research Papers Structural engineering plays a pivotal role towards the growth, development and progress of countries as the mass structures like multi-story buildings, bridges, thermal and nuclear power plants all involving structural engineering results in a strong economy of an advancing country. In some other engineering technologies, sometimes it is possible to use hit and trial methods as in geotechnical and hydraulics engineering where the as built conditions are not of such importance to effect the whole design, but in structural design one must abide by all codes of standard requirements, as huge expenditure and high degree of risk is involved at each and every step of execution. The duties of structural engineer became more critical in nature as he always has to fulfill the obligation of related codes, standards, specification and to follow all the stipulations of the same in a short and predefined frame of time with a high degree of accuracy. A structural engineer is most commonly involved in the design of building and non building structures but also plays an essential role in designing machinery where structural integrity of the design item impacts safety and reliability. Structural engineering is vast field and has its application in almost all the important engineering design, that’s why a structural engineer has to be very competent, decisive, efficient and quick decision maker. He has to make all the decision keeping in mind the fact that how his working is going to affect the economy and safety of the resulting structure. My ambition as a structural engineer is to get competency in the field of bridge engineering right from design phase till to the execution of the design; the reason is that bridges are a direct and true reflection of economy and recourses of a country. I always wanted to contribute in the growing economy of my country using my skills, knowledge and capabilities .This is one profession where an advance degree is more a necessity than an option. That’s why I would love to avail any opportunity provided by Nespak (my organization) to enhance my professional capabilities. Along with technical know how, I also need a host of my skills to interact with professional and non-professional co-workers. Sales ability, public speaking and time management are very important. Problem resolution is a skill that is not typically taught in engineering institutions that’s why I would like to work on this too. I know that bridge engineer holds the lives of others in their hands, so it is not just the professional responsibility but the personal liability. Nespak (my organization) is providing me a chance to materialize my dreams and to excel in my specialized field. I will try my level best to come up to the expectation of my organization. Research Papers on My Ambitions as a Structural EngineerOpen Architechture a white paperGenetic EngineeringIncorporating Risk and Uncertainty Factor in CapitalThe Project Managment Office SystemThe Effects of Illegal ImmigrationBionic Assembly System: A New Concept of SelfRiordan Manufacturing Production PlanMoral and Ethical Issues in Hiring New EmployeesPETSTEL analysis of IndiaAnalysis of Ebay Expanding into Asia

The Importance about The Battle of San Jacinto essays

The Importance about The Battle of San Jacinto essays In today's American scociety, students are slacking off in class. Statistics have shown decresing numbers over the years in scores pertaining to areas of studies, including history. The majority of students are growing a lack of concern for any depth of knowledge for the historical roots of America. Becoming more aware about the battles that took place in America and the reasons for these battles can enable students to gain respect of where they are from. The Battle of San Jacinto is a prime example of the necessity to learn about the values that Texas has to offer. When I sat in my history class in 1995, I did not understand about the Battle of San Jacinto because I had only been in America for two years. My History teacher was always enthusiastic when she talked about the Battle of Jacinto because her family had been living in Texas since 1834. Because I did not know about the Battle of San Jacinto, I wanted to learn about it. I believed that the Battle of San Jacinto is important to the people in Texas because the battle shows what brave men are capable of when fighting for independence, and it is important for people to know their history. However, the Battle of San Jacinto might not be important to other people living outside of Texas. Nevertheless, I think people should know the history of the land in which they live and be proud of their homeland. The Battle of San Jacinto depicts what brave men are capable of when fighting for independence. According to Kemp", Though the numbers engaged in the Battle of San Jacinto were not very large, yet the victory of the Texans was so great, that it brought the war to a close, and soon led to independence of Texas" (Par.1). After the tragedy of the Alamo and the Goliad, Sam Houston and army could have surrendered. However, they were strong in their beliefs that Many Texans died at the Battle of the Alamo and the G...