Quality Improvement Essay Example for Free

Quality Improvement Essay America had long lost to Japan its dominance in the world marketplace even in America itself because of Japanese quality management philosophy. To illustrate that workers involvement in quality improvement is the core of this management philosophy, the article compared three kinds of firms operating in the U. S.: A companies or strictly American firms, AJ companies or American firms employing Japanese quality control methodologies, and J companies or Japanese firms operating in the U. S.  It focused on two areas: (1) production workers knowledge and use of Statistical Quality Control Tools (SQC tools), and (2) production workers’ quality responsibilities. Of the 17 recognized SQC tools, 7 were noted to be highly employed in the U. S. The findings indicate that (1) SQC tool utilization of U. S. firms classified as AJ and J is higher than that of U. S. firms classified as A, and (2) delegation of responsibility for quality to production workers by U. S. firms classified as AJ and J is higher than that found in U. S. firms classified as A. Assessment of the Article From the selection of the sample group to the development of the questionnaire and all the way to the analysis of data collected, the research methodology cannot be faulted. I am especially impressed with how exacting the authors were with their definitions. They showed great care in determining exactly what is meant by organizational size as it is related to other organizational functioning, likewise they found fit to define what is exactly meant by production worker as opposed to pure quality control personnel classified as production worker. However, upon perusal of their two findings, one is led to ask whether or not the first area was sufficiently addressed. The first area was actually composed of two, knowledge and utilization of SQC tools. While their data validly showed that utilization was either high or low, it says nothing of knowledge; specifically how knowledgeable these production workers were with the SQC tools, or are we to assume that usage is the same as knowledge? Conclusions With the exception on that little confusion as to the distinction between knowledge and usage, the article had shown that the Japanese quality management philosophy entails worker involvement in quality improvement to the extent that the worker is suppose to use the statistical quality control tools and be delegated responsibilities over the quality of the products themselves.

Power and Betrayal in The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald Essay

Scott Fitzgerald was a writer who desired his readers to be able to hear, feel, and see his work. He made it his goal to be able to make readers think and keep asking questions using imagery and symbolism. The Great Gatsby was not just about the changes that occurred during the Jazz Age, but it was also about America’s corrupted society which was full of betrayal and money-hungry citizens. It was the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg that overlooked all the corruption that occurred throughout the Valley of Ashes. It was the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg that serves as a symbol of higher power who witnesses everything from betrayal to chaos in Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby. We encounter the eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg in the valley of ashes, the desolated land between West Egg and New York. The vulgar eyes of Dr. Eckleburg have become something to intertwine with the Valley of Ashes to many critics and readers. The setting of where the billboard is located makes it seem as if it is not significant. However it is also the location of the billboard that explains how the eyes overlook both New York and West Egg since it is between it. The valley of ashes is exactly what its name sounds like. Scott Fitzgerald described it as: About half-way between West Egg and New York the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes---a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills and grotesque gardens, where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising smoke and finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally a line of grey cars cr... ...haracter percipient enough to comprehend Gatsby’s greatness and who rock pneumonia to pay homage to the man who has given them so much – not exoterically but esoterically.† (Savage 74) In other words, they both appreciated all the things they have received, learned, or gained from Gatsby. In return, they both were there for him through the end. Gatsby was more than the neighbor who was rich and threw parties, but he was also a friend†¦a human being. Work Cited Fitzgerald, F. Scott. The Great Gatsby. New York: Scribner, 2013. Print.

System and Change in Industrial Relations Analysis

As a student of industrial relations, I am often bombarded with conflicting theories and reasons for the emergence and importance of this field. Edmond Heery outlines and analyses the justaposition of two different views of modeling this vast and often debated area of industrial relations. His article looks at two types of model building in IR. First, the traditional model of systems-thinking set forth by John Dunlop, one of the pioneers of IR theory. Introduced in 1958, Dunlop’s system theory of IR tries to provide tools to understand the widest possible range of IR activities and explains why particular rules are established in particular contexts. Dunlop argues that IR can be studied as an independent field in an industrial society (much like economics). The systems theory makes use of four related elements: Actors- workers and their institutions, management, government institutions; Contexts- technical characteristics of workplace, budgetary constraints, locus and distribution of power in society; Rules- procedural and substantive; Functional ideology- integration, ie. IR regulates conflict by playing by the rules. The relationship between these elements is twofold- not only does the IR context influence the IR actors and the rules they creat, the actors’ shared acceptance of the common idealogy (the IR game played by the rules) helps bind the system as a whole. Heery goes on to outline several criticisms of Dunl op’s rather classic and still widely studied systems theory. A starting criticism of the systems theory is that it views IR as an independent field with an inherent theory. Critics want to push back this boundary and argue that IR was and is deeply connected with and determined by economics, politics, social, domestic, and familial relationships of the time and place in history. Another criticism is that Dunlop has over simplified his description of actors. For example, critics argue that actors’ roles are often changing with new business environments and the emergence of new actors- such as customers and community. Critics also argue that actors make different strategic choices at different levels (eg. Kochan’s model), but Dunlop’s model does not take his into account. The model places a lot of emphasis on roles as opposed to people, thus ignoring behavioural aspects like human motivations and preferences. Other criticisms of Dunlop go on to disagree with his premise that the function of IR is ideological- to regulate conflict and integrate actors. These criticisms range from those who argue that the ideology within IR is not integ rative, but rather reconciliatory (reconcile with the dominant ideology), to those who argue that the ideology in IR is to delegitimize all actors except for workers (thus undermining employers’ authority). Others also argue that IR is non-ideological and unstable, thanks to rapid modernization and high competition. The most loudly uttered criticism of all is that the systems theory does not explain change in the field. This leads to Heery’s second type of IR model building- the models of change. This type of model has a historical perspective and looks at how change occurs in IR over time. The models also examine the pattern of change and whether it is cyclical or directional, gradual, or catastrophic, and its origin- endogenous (from within the employment relationship) or exogenous (from the wider economy and society). Heery looks at six different types of change models that are broadly divided into exogenous and endogenous. Both exogenous and endogenous models have two subdivisions each of directional (gradual and disjunctive) and cyclical change. In the exogenous-gradual model, IR change occurs due to gradual, cumulative change that is driven by forces beyond the employment control. An example is globalization. In the exogenous-disjunctive model, episodes of change are interspersed with periods of stability. The change itself is triggered into the employment relationship by some external event, like a war. In the exogenous-cyclical model, change follows a repeating cycle of decline and renewal as IR adapts to cyclical pressures in the external environment, such as election pressures and the economy. In the endogenous-cyclical model, change occurs because of the competing drives of the actors. For example, IR is said to be both adversarial (due to the competing interests) and cooperative (due to interdependence of the parties). Thus IR will oscillate between adversarial and cooperative mindsets depending on the context as the limitations of each approach become apparent to both management and workers. In the endogenous-disjunctive model, change occurs as a result of strategic choices of the actors within the employment relations. For example, as a result of unions’ traditional marginalization of women’s and minorities’ issues, there has been an increased mobilization of women and minorities within unions. In the endogenous-gradual model, change is gradually driven by forces internal to IR. This model stresses the maturing of IR institutions over time, as they become more complex and start to pursue differentiated goals- this is a model of union revitalization as a result of knowledge transfer and networking within the labour movement. Heery’s review of the two types of models of looking at IR is comprehensive in looking at the criticism of the systems theory, but does not analyze the change models with the same depth. As a relatively new student in the field, I would have benefitted from a more detailed description of the change model before dwelling into its critique. However, I felt that Heery’s description of the change models was very streamlined and organized in a logical manner. I found his inclusion of a short discussion on the ‘new actors’ that have interests in IR, such as consumers or identity groups particularly interesting and worth considering. In the end, I do agree with Heery, and think that IR is a dynamic and complex field and it is certainly useful to have more than one perspective of studying and thinking about how these relationships are formed, changed, and managed.

The Dichotomy Of Light And Darkness - 974 Words

Photographically, contrast is the scale of the difference in white and black in an image. The contrast of a photograph is crucial to its form, for without contrast a photograph would be unintelligible. The contrast, or scale of the difference in light and darkness is crucial to writing as well as exemplified in The Scarlet Letter. Nathaniel Hawthorne, throughout his novel, employs the dichotomy of light and darkness in order to reveal several themes in which this juxtaposition accentuates the contrast not only between man’s law and nature’s law, but also that between innocence and immorality, and secrecy. A prominent theme which Hawthorne explores is that of man made law versus natural law. One could argue that the only unassailable law of nature is that the sun must rise every morning and fall every evening. This is precisely Hawthorne’s premise. He likens the punishment of man with darkness through descriptions of the prison as being â€Å"the black flower of civilized society† and a â€Å"dungeon† lit with â€Å"grey twilight† and composed of â€Å"darksome apartments† as well as describing its walkways as â€Å"the dark passageway(s) of the interior†. However, in every account of darkness Hawthorne includes a component of light such as â€Å"a wild rosebush†¦ which might be imagined to offer their[its] fragrance and fragile beauty to the prisoner(s) as he[they] went in...in token that the deep heart of nature could pity and be kind to him[them]† as well as â€Å"a baby of some three months old, whoShow MoreRelatedEssay on Feminist Theory in Heart of Darkness1199 Words   |  5 Pagesof Darkness Joseph Conrad’s varying depiction of women in his novel Heart of Darkness provides feminist literary theory with ample opportunity to explore the overlying societal dictation of women’s gender roles and expectations in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. The majority of feminist theorists claim that Conrad perpetuates patriarchal ideology, yet there are a few that argue the novel is gendered feminine. 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