Production and Operational Management in the auto Industry Term Paper - 1

Production and Operational Management in the auto Industry (Forecasting, Quality, Quantity, Profits, Assembly) - Term Paper Example They even had a great deal of say in the political sector of USA. Their political power was due to a fact that had been narrated by the CBC News article in the following words: â€Å"The L.A. Times recently calculated that since 1990, the auto industry as a whole has donated $100 million US to Republicans and $34 million to Democrats.† From the year 1951 to the year 2007 Ford had been ranked third in all the automotive manufacturers of the world. After maintaining this position for fifty six years the company lost its position worldwide. It, however, still remained at third position in the US auto industry. The recent times have however depicted a recession of Ford and GM in their native country’s automobile industry. This recession has given space to foreign automobile manufacturers to establish their position by introducing their models in the industry. Currently these foreign automotive industrialists are leading the industry. BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM. Ford and GM w ere the largest vehicle producing giants in USA once. They assisted their country’s economy massively by producing generous revenue and benefit packages for labor. Ford and GM held their importance in the US automobile industry not only because of their size but also because of their business volume. Their loosing of their stature, however, was owing to a number of reasons. Those reasons can be summarized as follows: This meant that a major number of operations in them were distributed into unions or rather termed as being â€Å"Unionized†. This led to a rising labor cost that incurred to these industrial giants. The labor costs of their international emerging counterparts were however very less as they did not practice unionization. Even the counterparts that had their manufacturing units in the US did not face the said problem. (Van Praet, 2008). WHY THE RECESSION? A number of issues led to the downfall of Ford and GM along with other US automobile manufacturers. Qua lity Compromised Among various issues was that of the maintenance of Quality by these giants. Stephen Robbins (2009) mentions their carelessness and compromise in the maintenance of their products in his book ‘Management’ in the following words: â€Å"U.S. car industry is often used as a classic example of what can go wrong when managers focus solely on trying to keep costs down. In the late 1970s, GM, Ford, and Chrysler built products that many consumers rejected...... When the costs of rejects, repairing shoddy work, product recalls, and expensive controls to identify quality problems were considered, U.S. manufacturers actually were less productive than many foreign competitors. The Japanese demonstrated that it was possible for the highest-quality manufacturers to be among the lowest-cost producers. American manufacturers in the car and other industries soon realized the importance of TQM and implemented many of its basic components.† (Robbins, 2009) The abov e statement clearly highlights how the erroneous strategy of leading automobile manufacturing giants of USA gave room to their foreign counterparts. Even though they learned their lesson and tried to improve on their mistakes but it was too late then. The market shares that they once lost were not repairable. So was the inclusion of these counterparts in the industry. Retailers knew they had equally better options to go for and that too often at lesser costs. Product SUV’

Summary of Inturnship Experience Essay Example for Free

Summary of Inturnship Experience Essay There are many approaches, strategies, techniques, methods, or styles floating in the internship atmosphere but there is no such thing as perfect approach, perfect strategy, perfect method, perfect technique, or perfect style because at the end of the day it is all about how the intern delivers his skills and how they cater pressure. In my 31 days of internship I have learned that everything should start on a plan, I started with the visualization on how I will make my task easier yet efficient without jeopardizing the quality of service our Hotel renders. In my experience while I am doing my plan, I was so puzzled with what I should do first, my mentor made me realize that the guest’s needs must come first because they are the most important factor in the hotel and restaurant management. I was able to gain experience at a job that I potentially had interest in. I learned about the hospitality field and if it was right for me. Along with the work experience, I also had to write an essay about my experience and keep a daily log. This experience helped shaped who I am now at the end of my college career as I feel more comfortable with working with people in different settings. For my internship experience I worked at Casablanca Hotel and Condominium in Freeport Subic. It was a long couple weeks before I finally found the right hotel to perform my internship at. The mangers and other employees at Casablanca were welcoming and helpful while I worked with them. I learned all major front desk duties of working at a hotel as well as other various aspects such as walking around the hotel and making sure everything was running smoothly. I never realized how everything done in a hotel actually goes through the front desk and because of this I was always busy doing something to help improve the hotel into a better experience for future guests. I thoroughly enjoyed my experience helping guests make reservations, check in, and check out of the hotel. My job was to be welcoming and helpful toward each guest in any way possible. During my 31 days I was able to gain practical experience under professional supervision while implementing classroom experiences and theories that i have acquire during my early years in college. I also develop the ability to work with people, both individually and as part of a group while comparing our theories and concepts learned in the classroom and related real life experiences. I also tested my own personal skills and competencies to be able to become familiar with routine procedures and responsibilities of the agency. I seek for experience opportunities to learn, observe, and practice a variety of administrative experiences for me to evaluate myself in relation to the field, and in relation to my professional preparation in addition to this I have establish realistic goals for professional growth and development moreover establish career goals and objectives upon conclusion of the Internship experience. This experience will help me finish my degree in many aspects by working at the hotel I learned the major keys in running a hotel. I also worked with many guests and customers and in doing so I was able to work on my communication skills. Being a business major and wanting to get into sales or other customer service jobs after I graduate I know I am going to need great communication skills as I will be interacting with people whether in meetings or helping out guests. After my internship was over I feel more relaxed in interacting with others and feel more ready to finish my degree and more engaged to working in the business world.

Understanding The Personality Of Athletes Psychology Essay

Understanding The Personality Of Athletes Psychology Essay By 1992, more than 1,000 articles had been published on aspects of sport personality (Ruffer, 1976; Vealey, 1989, 2002). This voluminous research demonstrates how important researches and practitioners consider the role of personality to be in sports. With that in mind, this research attempted to determine if there is a relationship between types of personalities and sports preferences. Athletes from different sports and non-athletes will play a part in this particular study. The primary interest of this study is to examine their personalities and make a comparison. There are lots of concerns on does personality of an individual give way to the types of sport chosen to be played. This would trigger questions such as, is there a relationship between personality type and sport preference? How do people choose the sport they participate in? Would it be a matter of personality preference? Are certain personality types more attracted to certain sports, like in careers? Why some people pre fer individual sports over team sports? What do team players have in common? It seems reasonable to propose the idea that people will perform more to their potential if they understand themselves better and what drives their motivation. Most people do not know what they are capable of achieving. The reason is that they do not know themselves well enough. To know who we are and what we are able to do is especially important in sports. If a person knows more of his or her potentials and what they are able to accomplish, there will be a much greater chance for that person to find success. Therefore, more research should be done in this area in order to be able to help athletes and people in general to decide which sport would be best for them. This is especially relevant for young people, because they are trying to decide which sport they might play and they might even have an inspiration to turn professional later in life. This could relate to a quote by Paul Harris, which states, Personality has power to uplift, power to depress, power to curse, and power to b less. Understanding the personality of athletes also prove to be beneficial to achieve a greater achievement and success in their range of sports participation. According to Cristina Bortoni Versari (2008), her research on basketball team indicated that teams exhibit a predictable personality profile and that by understanding the psyche of the athlete, performance and team productivity can be enhanced. Interpersonal communication amongst players and coaching staff can improve; players can take advantage of their personal preferences and strengths and work on developing other areas identified in the assessment process. Optimal communication and performance can be achieved by identifying the athletes preferred learning and personality styles. Personality types are attracted to and succeed in certain sports just like they do in certain occupations. The more athletes and coaches understand about their personalities and the team profile, the more productive they can be. In their review of the relationship between sport and personality, Eysenck, Nias and Cox (1982) list a number of important conclusions. Based on the three well defined dimensions of personality, extraversion, neuroticism and psychotism, a number of findings are apparent: both average and superior sports person tend to be extraverted and tend to be lower on neuroticism but high on psychotism. On the other hand, extraverts are likely to be at a disadvantage in sports which the emphasis is on accuracy, such as rifle shooting and archery which call for calm, slow and deliberate preparation as researched by Davies (1989). By the same token, participants who are more extroverted might choose a team sport and where there is body contact and more aggressiveness. People who are introverted might be prone to an individual sport and a sport where there is no personal contact. Participants who involve themselves in an individual sport will be more egoistic. Nearly all researchers and reviewers in the area have pointed out the serious methodological shortcomings in this area. Essentially, two reasons clearly exist for this disappointing research. Most such research is weak in both conception and design. In fact, it would be surprising if the result werent contradictory and confusing. With this in mind, the researcher will conduct surveys utilizing the examination of athletes, non-athletes, gender, extroversion, neuroticism, sensation seeking, calmness, and other variables. The researchers will then compare findings and interpret the data gathered among different types of sport, and between athletes and non-athletes. All participants will have to complete a demographic questionnaire that assess gender, age, college major, sport they participate in (only for athletes) and GPA. Personality test will be conducted inclusive of Eysenck Personality Inventory (Eysenck Eysenck, 1975), Global 5 (2008) and Scale from the Zuckerman-Kuhlman Personal ity Questionnaire (Zuckerman, 2002). This study is concerned with correlations between measures of personality and different sport involvement within sport participation. One focus of interest is to ascertain what personality is the best for a particular sport, enabling the athletes and non athletes to find more success and interest with the least effort. Most people do not know what they are capable of achieving. The reason is that they do not know themselves well enough. To know who we are and what we are able to do is especially important in sports. If a person knows more of his or her potentials and what they are able to accomplish, there will be a much greater chance for that person to find success. This is especially relevant for young people, because they are trying to decide which sport they might play and they might even have an inspiration to turn professional later in life. Researchers have asked for example, what causes one student to be excited about physical education class whereas others dont even bother to dress out. Researched have questioned why some exercisers stay with their fitness program whereas others lose motivation and drop out. All the lack of interest and drop outs of fitness programs could give way to greater problem for a normal average person because they may not get involved in sports anymore. This situation may have caused the alarming raise of obesity cases in Malaysians aged 18 and above, whereby the statistics showed that obesity cases had increased by 3 times from 4.4% in year 1996 to 11.6 % in year 2006. With the huge increment in obesity cases, it is rather sad to see only a slight increment of 3% for the same years taken, for Malaysians involving in sports. Therefore, the study on personality could give an indicator for a person to select the sport that best suit their behavior and with that, they could stick the regime to i mprove the quality of their life. Understanding the personality of athletes also prove to be beneficial to achieve a greater achievement and success in their range of sports participation. According to Cristina Bortoni Versari (2008), her research on basketball team indicated that teams exhibit a predictable personality profile and that by understanding the psyche of the athlete, performance and team productivity can be enhanced. Interpersonal communication amongst players and coaching staff can improve; players can take advantage of their personal preferences and strengths and work on developing other areas identified in the assessment process. Optimal communication and performance can be achieved by identifying the athletes preferred learning and personality styles. Personality types are attracted to and succeed in certain sports just like they do in certain occupations. The more athletes and coaches understand about their personalities and the team profile, the more productive they can be. This study is apparently the early attempt to study the relationship between personality type and sport preferences in Malaysia. The focus of interest in to ascertain the type of personality best suited for a particular sport, enabling athletes to find more success with the least effort. Besides that, it is easier to encourage non athletes to pick up certain physical activities or sports after their type of personality being known. This collides with the human nature whereby, whenever a person knows of his or her potential, they will further gain interest and develop deeper involvement and passion in it. This theory was originated by Sigmund Freud in 1933; with a number of psychoanalytic theorists have proposed modifications to the original theory, namely Carl Jung, Erich Fromm and Erik Erickson (Mischel, 1986). This theory is based primarily upon self analysis and extensive clinical observation of neurotics. However, this theory has had little direct impact on sport personality research, due to their clinical and psychological focus. In Freuds view, the id, ego and superego form the tripartite structure of personality; in a sense the id is the pleasure seeking mechanism. In contrast, the ego represents the conscious, logical, reality oriented aspect of the personality. The superego represents the conscience of the individual; it is the internalized moral standards of societies impressed upon the person by parental control and the process of socialization. From the view of social learning theory, human behavior is a function of social learning and the strength of the situation. An individual behaves according to how he or she has learned to behave, consistent with environmental constraints. The origin of social learning theory can be traced to Clark Hulls 1943 Theory of Learning. Hulls stimulus response theory says that an individuals behavior in any given situation is a function of his or her learned experiences. According to Bandura in the year 1977, behavior is best explained as a function of observational learning. A considerable amount of research in sport psychology has utilized the social learning approach. The basic position or factory theory is that personality can be described in terms of traits possessed by individuals. Traits are considered to be stable, enduring and consistent across a variety of differing situations. Individuals differ in each trait due to genetic differences. Among the most ardent advocates of trait psychology are psychologists such as Alport, Cattell and Eysenck. The great strength of this theory is that it allows for the easy and objective measurement of personality through the use of inventories. Conversely, the weakness of the trait approach is that it may fail to consider the whole person, since personality according to this approach is represented by a collection of specific traits.

Nike Sweat Shops Essay -- essays research papers Business

Nike Sweat Shops I am writing this letter to express my concerns over Nike's labor practices in Asia. There has been much debate and controversy recently concerning Nike's Asian labor practices. It is very difficult to determine which side of the argument to defend, as both acknowledge the problems yet put a completely different spin on the facts. I will try to show that Nike has created a cloud of smoke in Asia that the public cannot see through. Nike does not own any of the factories that produce its products in Asia, and subsequently they do not directly employ the workers or management. They contract out work to factories that make all of the products and run all of the factories. They have a massive amount of leverage when dealing with these factories because of the huge contracts they supply. To ensure good labor practices, Nike has a Code of Conduct that every contractor must agree to in order to receive a contract. The Code of Conduct in theory condemns and prohibits child labor, requires that workers be paid fair wage, imposes caps on the days and hours that a worker can be forced to work, prohibits mistreatment or discrimination of workers in any form, and states that factories must implement programs that benefit worker?s health and safety. There are 1000 Nike employees worldwide monitoring operations across the globe. The most consistent criticism of Nike is that the workers in the factories are not aware of the Code of Conduct that was agreed upon, espec...

Kmart ESl Sears Essay

How a Hedge Fund Became one of the World’s Largest Retailers 1. Describe recent trends in the hedge fund and private equity industry and the growing overlapbetween the two. A: Hedge funds, historically, were more interested in the buying and short selling of defaulted ornear-default bonds within a few weeks or months. This strategy was more of a short-term, exit-focused strategy. Now, however, some hedge funds are becoming more interested in therestructuring and long-term controlling of attractive assets. Hedge funds’ stakes in thesecompanies are then transformed into equity from the arising new entity. Private equity is split up intoVenture Capital and Leveraged Buyout funds, with a little made up of mezzanine funds. LBOcompanies buy publicly traded companies that are experiencing inefficiencies from costly regulationof being publicly traded and the incentives of managers and shareholders. The growing overlap iscorrelated between the LBO side of private equity and the more recent trend in hedge funds ofacquiring large stakes in mature, failing companies in order to have a longer-term return .2. Analyze different issues surrounding a purchase by a financial or strategic buyer and theirrespective strengths and weaknesses. A: Financial buyers, like Warren Buffett for example, have the cash readily available in the instanceof a company’s bankruptcy. Because the funds are readily available early on, usually financialbuyers found themselves able to acquire distressed assets and/or companies at the most attractiveprices. A drawback or weakness associated with financial buyers is the lack of expertise or evenflexibility, as is the case for mutual fund managers or pension plans. Strategic buyers, on the otherhand, are able to create synergies through buying out distressed assets or companies if they havethe cash readily available. This is usually not the case, and what ends up happening is that financialbuyers get the bid first and steal the prize. 3. Provide a brief historical background of the problems facing Kmart and the characteristics of thedistressed debt market, including factors that influence an investment in a distressed company. A: Kmart was, in the late 1970s, much larger than the famous superstore giant called â€Å"Wal-mart†with sales 20x that of Wal-mart’s and roughly 850 more stores nationwide. However, Kmart’s salesstayed consistently stagnant, while Wal-mart became the giant it is now.

Magnificent play Essay

Language is extremely powerful in ‘The Crucible’. Miller’s words are used effectively and do not include anything unnecessary to convey the idea. For instance, ‘She thinks to dance with me on my wife’s grave. And well she might, for I thought of her softly. God help me, I lusted, and there is a promise in such sweat. But it is a whore’s vengeance and you must see it, I set myself entirely in your hands. ‘ This quote consists of simple speech and tells a straightforward message. Proctor knows his mistake and regrets it, but he also knows he must reveal it to the court in order to stop the trials. Another example of a powerful quote is ‘A person is either with this court or he must be counted against it, there be no road between. ‘ This quote is very effective in a way Danforth is telling everyone their fate. He is saying those against the court are evil and will suffer the consequences for it, presumably death. he tells everyone in favour of the witch trials that they are victorious and have nothing to worry about if they carry on as they are doing. The theme of this play I believe is a very interesting one. In my opinion ‘The Crucible’ is about rising over adversity, standing for the truth even to the death. there are many examples in the play to support my opinion. John in the beginning wanted to keep distant from the trials, he didn’t want to have a part whether good or bad, but when Elizabeth was arrested he was forced to take part. Throughout the trial, he stood for the truth. He confessed to his affair and was forgiven for his sin. He died a hero learning what truth really meant through his sufferings and struggles. there is also a great deal of hysteria in this play. The village’s people were easily manipulated by Abigail’s lies and came to quick poorly judged conclusions, which lead to killing a great many innocent people. Act 3 is very strong most of the main things are revealed such as the court’s verdict, who is right and who is wrong, who will win and who will die. It is an extremely gripping part of the play, telling how Proctor was so close to victory (through his confession and Mary Warren) yet he still defeated by the envy of Abigail, or rather the loyalty of Elizabeth and the fearful Mary warren. He knows he will die but he also knows he has a chance of stopping this fate yet because of his decency Proctor decides he would rather face death than bring trouble upon his friends and everlasting shame upon his family. I also noticed that in act 3 the three main sides are shown clearly. The power hungry stand together, those full of jealousy, greed, hate and lust join and those who are willing to sacrifice themselves for the truth unite. The people in this play may have had different motives for accusing other people, and practically sentencing them to death, but the outcome of all accusations was more or less the same. Innocent people died and there was more than one person to lay the blame on. In almost every conflict, there is someone or some people to hold responsible. In this case, it was Abigail for her manipulative nature, the Putnam’s for their greed, Mary Warren for being weak-willed and Rev. Parris for craving power. It makes one wonder how such a diminutive act of young girls could lead to such destruction of a community. How could innocent people be sentenced to death simply because some girls were playing and dancing? This is the power of religion and the annihilation it can cause if people refuse to tolerate any other explanation and follow it blindly. ‘The Crucible’ is a magnificent play, superbly written conveying one simple message. It is better stand for the truth and sacrifice yourself than to live with a lie. It reminds us that man is not perfect, and that we can make mistakes. However, even with these mistakes, we can cleanse ourselves and purify ourselves by making what is wrong right.