Accountability Representation Control Three Pillars of Organizational effiency

Accountability Representation Control Three Pillars of Organizational effiency Accountability, representation and control are often perceived as the three different entities; however, they are three interconnected topics which form the base of the organization. They function on the various aspects of the accounting which is a diversified field and can be studied under these three heads in more detail. I have tried to illuminate the major aspect of all these three topics with respect to accounting and then how these issues are applied in the recent economic debacle. To begin with first I would like to bring the notion of accountability and then representation and then control and lastly, the recent financial failures. Accountability: An Introduction Accountability breeds responsibility. This famous quote by Steven R. Covey gives the meaning of accountability in rather general terms. The concept of accountability can be defined as the process through which a person is held answerable for his actions and deeds.. Under the umbrella of the organization the notion of accountability can be stated as the phenomenon through which whether a person at the higher level of hierarchy or at the lower level is accountable for his works and services that he renders to the organization. Accountability from the organizational perspective bears great importance as it is the measure through which the performance of the organization and a person serving can be judged and analysed. Accountability has different forms which can be studied and understood by the findings of John Roberts (1991). He tries to explore different contemporary forms of the accountability and the possibilities in which accounting can be perceived. First, the individualising form of accountability can be studied in which the accountability contributes in making the realization of the image an individual perceives about it. (John Roberts,Page No. 358,1991). This perspective helps a person to polish his senses and action thereby improving his image that is noticed by others. Second view of accountability that Roberts illustrates is the socialising form in which a person can improve its performance and efficiency by interacting with some of the experienced people in the organization. Accountability institutionalizes the use of accounting through which it operates in the organizations and firms. How Accountability Works? Accountability within the organizations mainly works through three different levels of accounting. They are auditing, management accounting and financial reporting (Lightfoot, 2009 Accountability,2009 Available on https://blackboard.le.ac.uk/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_id=_2_1url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3872_1%26url%3D)). Financial reporting and management accounting aspect of accounting has been dealt in detail in representation and control part respectively. The third and more applicative form in which accountability holds in the organizations is the auditing in which companies accounts are checked and verified by some agency or authority assigned for it is covered in detail here. When it comes to organizational perspective the application of accountability expands. From the past there has been a practice in business and organizations to maintain the accounts of each and every transaction that takes place in the organization. In mode rn era this system has become more advanced and transparent. The organizations can be judged or held responsible economically on the grounds of the accounts or financial statements that they produce. This involves the concept of auditing of company accounts. Audit serves as a vital economic process and play an important role in serving the public interest by strengthening the accountability and reinforcing the trust and confidence in financial reporting ((Available on http://www.icaew.com/index.cfm/route/139474/icaew_ga/Technical_and_Business_Topics/Thought_leadership/Audit_Quality_Forum/Agency_theory_and_the_role_of_audit/pdf, 2005) ,2005). Auditing of accounts are generally performed by the people employed by the owner of the company, these persons are called auditors, agents or stewards. They generally work in the interest of the company with focus on the economic performance of the institution. This phenomenon is called as agency theory which suggests that because of the informa tion asymmetries people employ agents or stewards who works for the benefit of the company. Auditing gives a clear idea of accounts and also imparts the correct information to the shareholders. In UK, the auditing system was enforced after the application of Company Law Act 1985 where each and every registered company were supposed to produce an annual audit. (Available on http://www.icaew.com/index.cfm/route/139474/icaew_ga/Technical_and_Business_Topics/Thought_leadership/Audit_Quality_Forum/Agency_theory_and_the_role_of_audit/pdf,2005) . Interplay between Accounting and Accountability Accounting can be defined as the process of identifying, measuring and communicating the financial information about the entity to permit informed judgments and decisions by users of information. ( American Accounting Association as quoted in Atrill and McLane , Page No.5, 2002). Initially there were cruder forms of accounting first one was double entry system which was a binary system method used for recording the events in which all the debits and credits were represented in the tabular form and the second was bookkeeping which was the maintenance or the summary of all the financial transactions taken place.(Arizona, 2001). Accountability often comes to play where there is some accounting failures or discrepancies and the company or the person producing the account is held responsible. Historical perspective of Accounting The topic of emergence of accounting and some other new fields in accounting which has helped in making the inefficiencies of the individual visible and thus holding them responsible using the techniques of accounting viz standard costing and budgeting. Moreover, the authors have underpinned the notion of improving the individual performance by using these forms of accounting that emerged over the years. The studies of the accounting past reveal that the concept of accounting has changed over the years as per the nature and the requirement of the changing business scenario (Miller and OLeary 1987). One advantage of studying the concept of accounting from historical perspective is that a person can analyse where the accounting concept went in discord with respect to the demanding environment and these views can be elucidated and worked out at present. Representation an Overview Representation from the purview of accounting can be further studied as financial accounting is an important branch of accounting which deals with the accounting outside the organization as company . This comes under the financial aspect of accounting. Financial statements or reports can be defined as the [tool] which provide a picture of the financial position and performance of the business. (Atrill and Mclaney,2008:Pg No. 38)There are various objectives of producing financial statements such as informing the investors or creditors about the current positioning of the company, to keep a record of all the economic transactions taking place within the company, to help managers in taking decisions etc.( Lightfoot,Chapter No.7 Representing accounting 2009). There are three forms of financial statements produced viz. cash flow which is the net movement of the cash taking place over a period of time often referred to as the difference of cash in and cash out (Atrill and Mclaney,2008; Ge offrey Lightfoot Chapter 2 Representation of accounts and representation of theories of accounting. ,2009), the income statement which is also called as profit and loss statement and is the statement of sales and related costs(Atrill and Mclaney,2008; Geoffrey Lightfoot,2009) and finally the balance sheet which is the amount of assets and amount owed externally( Geoffrey Lightfoot, Chapter 2 Representation of Accounts and representation of theories of accounting : PageNo 5). All three aspects form the basis of the financial reporting of the organization. These are the methods which every company follows while producing their financial statements. Uses of Accounting: Creative accounting Companies often use these in a fraudulent way to produce accounts. These kinds of accounts are called as creative accounts and the practice is called creative accounting (Atrill and Mclaney,2008). It can be defined in a more specific way as the alteration in the accounting rules that raises concerns over the quality of published financial statements that is in line with what company wants others to see rather than what is fair and true regarding the financial position and performance. (Atrill and Mclaney,2008).There are mainly four methods of creative accounting which an organization can adopt. First, is the overstating revenues in which companies tend to exaggerate the revenues (total amount of money that a company receives by selling off goods or providing services). This is a core issue reported in many of the recent financial failures. Second is the massaging expense in which the directors handle the future costs of assets (anything that can furnish the money in the present or f uture; it can be tangible or intangible) skilfully which can in return make it possible to derive a consistent profit figures in the future. Third is the hiding or concealing of any losses or liabilities(help to make financial statements look in a great position. There has been a number of instances in the past of organization that this form of creative accounting has been adopted by the companies such as Enron Corporation failure was mainly because of this where they tried to hide their falling assets values ( Atrill and Mclaney,2008: Pg No.183). The notion was to represent the company accounts statements in a falsified way so that it may look healthier. Lastly, it can be overstating assets which are projecting the high values of asset than the fair market value which is again a spurious method of accounting. These practices are very much reported in the companies in recent past. But the major roll back in the history of accounting came after the Enron failure broke out in the year 2001 which caused the investors to lose money, a law was passed in the US in the year 2002 called the Sarbanes and Oxley Act (SOX) whose main objective is safeguarding the interest of the investors by completely revolutionising the financial reporting system (Ritto,2008). This law helps in keeping a check on the recording derivatives (that derive their value from the underlying assets) transactions. (Cunningham,2006:40) Key feature used by Enron Company to forge its accounts. Furthermore, many of these topics have been argued by a number of authors who have studied these topics in detail and have drawn various inferences ( Chwastiak and Young 2005;McSweeney1997). McSweeney has tried to focus on the authenticity of the financial reports that a company produces and termed it as representational faithfulness (McSweeney1997). These authors suggest that there are various conditions in which these financial reports cannot be trusted. McSweeney(1997) analysed two texts derived from US Fin ancial Accounts Standards Boards statement of financial accounting concept No.2:qualitative characteristic of accounting information(1980),and Tom Lees Cash Flow accounting(1984).( McSweeney1997: Pg No 694). In both of these texts McSweeney tried to reiterate that the representational faithfulness can be achieved only if the financial reports that are published should match with the economic transaction, events and circumstances that it purports (McSweeney1997: Pg No 695). Moreover, he argues that the representational faithfulness depends upon how well informed the reader is, if the reader has all the information then he can judge the authenticity and faithfulness of the representation himself. In addition to that he also gives the notion that the representation may be imprecise or in other words the accounting representations cannot always be accurate, it may vary but the question here is how much this variance must be considered. McSweeney affirms that impression can be a conseque nce of choice or to be unavoidable(McSweeney1997:page no 697).However, later on in the article when he studies the second text of Tom Lee in which Lee suggests that the Cash flow accounting can be a solution which offers accurate financial reporting without ambiguities. However, there are some authors who remain cynical in approach when it comes to discussing the annual reports that the companies produce (Chwastiak and Young,2005). They suggest that companies often do not care when it comes to projecting the profit maximisation in the annual reports. The financial reports are regarded as the dominant discourses which are always concerned to depict the profit maximisation without considering any other aspects like the earth hazards, human and animal hazards etc. He name these practices silencing of injustices (Chwastiak and Young,2005;Page No.534). Control Control can be defined as the method by which something is monitored or dominated. From organizational perspective the concept of control involves management accounting which is the branch of the accounting that deals with the nuances of management in the companies. It involves the notion of corporate governance which includes all the processes used to gain control over a firm.Control involves mainly two key features viz. future planning and decision making. Control can be accessed by the managers who have the related expertise in the relevant field however, Armstrong investigates that there has been a change in the recent management system which contradicts with the findings of the F J Taylor of scientific management which opines that the managers often have related experience in their relevant field and also Henri Foyal who also strengthens this view (Armstrong,2001). However, he further suggests the techniques in management system that completely revives the management system cove red in detail in latter part of the essay. Means and Measures of Control There are mainly two ways through which organizational control can be achieved. First is the budgeting and the other one is cost accounting. Budget Control Often control in the companies is achieved through proper future planning. This involves the budgeting where the future planning regarding the budgets of the companies are predicted and calculated and then the variances from the calculated performance and actual performance is calculated (Atrill and McLaney, 2008). As budgets are a sort of representation we can see the amalgamation of both the fields that is representation and control in one field. The main aims of budgeting are the monitoring variance, synchronization of activities in the organization, planning resource allocation (Geoffrey Lightfoot, Chapter4 Management Control and Control of Management 2009). Additionally, it also helps in the judgment of managers performance where it serves both as the measure of accountability and control as well (Geoffrey Lighfoot,Chapter 5 Management Control and Labour Processes 2009) Managers are also involved in the process of risk management where they can be held accountable in predicting the difference between the prepared budget and the variances. This is an important factor of failure of financial institutions. Budgetary control pattern can be further studies under two control systems: Feedback control system:- In this system first the budget is prepared and then the comparison between the actual performance and the prepared budgetary performance are juxtaposed and then the third step is the response to the variances and exercising control. It is a very useful measure by which the senior level management exercise the control and accountability over the junior level of managers in their budget preparation therefore, pressing towards the objectives of the business(Atrill and McLaney,2008;Glautier and Underdeum, 2001). Feedforward control system:- In this system anticipations are made as to where the prepared budget can go wrong. In this type of forecasting practice it is possible to know the short comings of the prepared budget and then actions would be taken on those areas and improved budget can be prepared (Atrill and McLaney,2008;Glautier and Underdeum ,2001). Activating based costing method (ABCM) This is another method which serves as a measure of planning and control. This involves the allotment of the costs and the services. This was formulated as a measure to revamp the obsolete process of the cost management system that involves the inefficiency of specifically predicting the production and services costs or convey the useful information for decisions. This is again an area where the concept of control and accountability is related as the managers performance can be measured based on the decision making of inaccurate data. ( Glautier and Underdeum, 2001).This is the technique that Armstrong consider in his paper as a modelling process which was developed to curb the inaccuracy of the previous accounting systems which comprises of single allocation base to the overheads costs.(Armstrong,2001). Senses of Control Senses of control imply various factors which can affect the organization working and its performance. It can be distributed into two fields viz. internal control or management control which are the process formulated to convey the reasonable assurance as regards to the attainment of the objectives of the organizations and external control (Cunningham,2006). These can be further classified in to two categories. They are as follows: Bureaucratic Control:- It refers to the usage reward, policies and rules that augments the performance of the employees in the organization. ( Available on http://www.strategic-control.24xls.com/en112 accessed on 09.12.2009) Clan Control:- It implies the use of the informal measures to enhance the efficiency of the employees working in the organization. ( Available on http://www.strategic-control.24xls.com/en112 accessed on 09.12.2009) The second type of control mechanism is external control in which the functioning of the organization is affected by some external factors. This involves market control process which employs the usage of price competition to judge the outputs. For market control system to operate there must be a reasonable degree of competition in goods or services it should be possible to clearly mention the requirements. (Barnat, 2005). Financial Institution failure All the three issues that we have discussed are the major factors which comes into play in the recent collapse of financial institution. Financial crunch or the recession of 2008 was mainly due to the failure of financial institutions. A financial institution can be defined as an institution which provides financial services to its clients. The recent failure of market was mainly caused due to the fall of Lehmans brother which was global financial player and dealt in a range of financial services like investment banking, fixed income sales, research and trading. It was in the month of September 2008 that it filed for bankruptcy with $639 billion assets and $619 billion in debt, its bankruptcy surpassed all the other reported bankruptcy like that of Enron and World.com.( http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/lehman-brothers-collapse.asp?viewed=1,2009). The reason of the failure of Lehman brothers was that during the economy boom time in US in the year 2005, it owned a stak e in the ownership of five mortgagers (acquired) including some of those who had tarnished image of credit history such as BNC mortgage, and Aurora Loan services, which were major subprime lenders at the same time Lehman also reported a record high of revenue earnings in the previous years enabled it to mount the profit rate 56% from 2004 to 2006. After the credit crisis broke out in 2007, it continued to its policy of lend more money in acquisition (Mortgage back securities) in order to boost up more profits. But due to credit crunch Lehman brother had to suffer losses(http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/lehman-brothers-collapse.asp?viewed=1,2009). It was here that the higher managerial authorities must have been held accountable. The argument of Chwastiak and Young seems relevant here that the financial entities are only concerned with the profit maximization. Secondly, the second factor of failure of Lehman brothers its high leverages value (usage of debt to fortify the investment in order to maximise the profit (loss)) (http://www.investopedia.com/articles/economics/09/lehman-brothers-collapse.asp?viewed=1,2009)). Here the problem with the recording derivatives can be seen in which the Lehman failed. The third factor was the risk management failure in which the senior management failed in assessing the risk of the future and therefore, failed from the internal control perspective. Besides this there are other examples also like the failure of Merrill Lynch, Arthur Andersen etc. that failed to comply with the three issues viz accountability, representation and control. These three topics are very vital in respect to the organizations as it forms the three pillars on which the functioning of an organization is based. However, often these issues are overlooked and the companies suffer losses and eventually market collapses thereby undermining the public interest. However, after the recent failures and crisis the governments have taken up controls over economy in the recession hit countries and are trying to revive the global market scenarios. Nonetheless, it cannot be achieved until these issues are strictly considered with compliance.

Symbols and Symbolism Essay - Imagery and Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper :: Yellow Wallpaper essays

Imagery and Symbolism in The Yellow Wallpaper On my first reading of Charlotte Perkins Gilman's "The Yellow Wallpaper", I found the short story extremely well done and the author, successful at getting her idea across.   Gilman's use of imagery and symbolism only adds to the reality of the nameless main character's sheltered life and slow progression into insanity or some might say, out of insanity.   The short story is written in first person and it is from our nameless character's writing's that we are introduced to her world and her life.   It is through this that we see our main characters transition into a world that only she has access to.   She changes dramatically from our first meeting while everyone else stays very flat and unaffected.   This method is very effective in that this story from someone else's perspective would not be as real and understanding.   The outside world would have written about a crazy woman who slowly goes mad for no reason.   Only through her eyes can we see the true reason for her, not madness, epiphany. The story begins when she and her husband have just moved into a colonial mansion to relieve her chronic nervousness.   An ailment her husband has conveniently diagnosed.   The husband is a physician and in the beginning of her writing she has nothing but good things to say about him, which is very obedient of her.   She speaks of her husband as if he is a father figure and nothing like an equal, which is so important in a relationship.   She writes, "He is very careful and loving, and hardly lets me stir without special direction."   It is in this manner that she first delicately speaks of his total control over her without meaning to and how she has no choices whatsoever.   This control is perhaps so imbedded in our main character that it is even seen in her secret writing; "John says the very worst thing I can do is to think about my condition...so I will let it alone and talk about the house."   Her husband suggests enormous amounts of bed rest and no hu man interaction at all.   He chooses a "prison-like" room for them to reside in that he anticipates will calm our main character even more into a comma like life but instead awakens her and slowly but surely opens her eyes to a woman tearing the walls down to freedom.

Crucible Study Question Essay

1. What happens when people criticize the court proceedings? a. People are unfairly accused when they criticize the court proceedings. For instance, when Proctor comes to the court with Mary Warren to criticize the court for his wife unfairly with a petition, Parris exclaims that† ‘they’ve come to overthrow the court’ † (88). Proctor is merely attempting to show his evidence to protect his wife from being hung . Parris is unfairly accusing them for what they weren’t doing. 2. What role does Parris play in this scene? a. Parris portrays a flippant tone against the people at court during his role. Mainly, Parris plays as an informant for the judge but informs them in a biased way, which can be seen when he tells the judge to † ‘Beware [John Proctor], You Excellency, this man is mischief† (88). His remark brings unfair bias against Proctor due to diction. Diction such as mischief makes Proctor seem like a person who would undermine the court to free his wife. 3. Why does Proctor refuse to give up his story about the girls lying even though Judge Danforth would allow Elizabeth to go free for a year? a. Proctor carries an ambivalent tone. Incidentally, even though he first said he only was there to † ‘free [his] wife’ â€Å", he refuses to drop the charges against Abigail since his friend’s † ‘wives are also accused’ â€Å"(90 & 92). Ambivalence is portrayed with diction since he was first there to free his wife but then decides to not drop charges so that he can attempt to free his friend’s wives. This shows that he undecided from saving his wife. 4. Why does Mary Warren change her testimony about Proctor and about pretending? a. Mary Warren changes her testimony from supporting Proctor to going against Proctor. For instance, as Abigail and the girls are â€Å"pretending† that Mary Warren’s spirit is attacking them, she starts out by saying that â€Å"they’re sporting†, but soon she accuses Proctor, saying that he came to † ‘overthrow the court’ â€Å"(118 & 119). It seems that she knew that  Abigail and the girls would not stop acting until she went against Proctor. Also, she changes her testimony so that she could get out and join the â€Å"stronger† side. 5. How does Elizabeth attempt to save her husband’s reputation? What was the result? a. Elizabeth attempts to protect her husband but made it worse. For instance, Proctor takes a risk, saying that he had an affair with Abigail, but when Elizabeth is called out for supporting evidence, she denies that † ‘her husband [is] a lecher’ â€Å"(113). She was only attempting to protect her husband for being accused as a lecher but he needed her to say that he was a lecher. This resulted in Proctor losing any upper hand he had in court and losing reliability. 6. Why does Reverend Hale change his story about witchcraft? a. Reverend Hale changes his story after witnessing Abigail lie in court. For example, when Hale witnesses Mary Warren changing her story so that Proctor is in trouble, he exclaims that † ‘[Abigail] has gone wild’ † and eventually he † ‘[denounces] these proceedings’ â€Å"(119). His words carry a disgusted tone directed towards Abigail. His views has changed after that trial.

Types of Conflict 101 Definition and Must-Know Tips (With Examples!)

Types of Conflict 101 Definition and Musts!) What are the Six Types of Conflict in Literature? (with Examples) Ah, conflict. Can’t live with it. Can’t live without it. Kurt Vonnegut once said that every story is about a character who gets into trouble and then tries to get out of it. That’s because who and what we entangle with isn’t just the stuffing for embarrassing Thanksgiving-dinner stories: it’s the types of conflict that drives every narrative forward.It goes without saying that your conflict will affect not only your plot, but also almost every other important element of your story: your characters, theme, tone, and setting. In that sense, figuring out your central conflict is one of the most important things you’ll do as a writer.In this post, we'll study the different types of external conflict and internal conflict - and figure out what they're going to mean for your own story.What is conflict in literature?Simply put, the conflict of a book is a struggle between two opposing forces. It starts when something stands in the way of a characte r and their goals. In other words:CHARACTER + WANT + OBSTACLE = CONFLICTThis might sound overly simple, but almost all of the great stories in the world are born from this formula: a protagonist desperately wants something, but can't get it. Simply take a look at these famous external and internal conflict examples for proof:Pip yearns to be a gentleman but the British upper class frowns on social mobility in Great Expectations.  Michael Corleone wants to stay out of the family business in  The Godfather  but cannot resist the gravity of filial obligation.Fitzwilliam Darcy discovers that he's in love with Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, but for one tiny obstacle: Miss Bennett despises the sight of him. It's uncertain who would emerge victorious in a New York City versus Zeus matchup.Further external conflict examples: Humanity vs. ghosts in Ghostbusters, Humanity vs. aliens in War of the Worlds.With those external factors out of the way, let's look a final type of conflict.Type 6. Character versus selfIt was writer Maxwell Anderson who said: â€Å"The story must be a conflict, and specifically, a conflict between the forces of good and evil within a single person.† Though that might be an oversimplification, it is true that every interesting story will involve a character’s inner conflict at some point. That’s because, as James N. Frey points out in How To Write A Damn Good Novel, a reader experiences the most empathy for a character when that character is in the middle of some intense inner conflict.Internal conflict  will stem from a debate that occurs within a character. It might originate from any combination of the character’s expectations, desire , duties, and fears. In Hunger Games, for instance, Katniss Everdeen must reconcile her reluctance to kill another human being with the need to survive in the battle arena. Gripping inner tension is often morally complex or universal, and that’s what will ultimately resonate with your readers.Further internal conflict examples: Pretty much every book! For more specific examples, though, see: Mrs Dalloway vs. self in Mrs Dalloway, Hamlet vs. self in Hamlet, Humbert Humbert vs. self in Lolita, Holden vs. self in The Catcher In The Rye, Pip vs. self in Great Expectations.The difference between internal conflict versus external conflictWhen it’s done right, the interplay between internal conflict and external conflict raises the quality of the story altogether. A character’s internal conflict adds complexity to the external conflict while the external conflict drives inner change. Otherwise, your character will simply be one-dimensional.Perhaps the best way to think about this is to look in the nearest mirror. What kind of internal conflict do you go through yourself? Doesn't it influence the struggles that you face externally?To use an example from literature we all probably know, let's briefly visit Clarice Starling in The Silence of the Lambs. There's her internal conflict: she wants advancement in the FBI - but most desperately of all, she wants to silence the screaming of the lambs in her dreams. This internal conflict is then teased out and used to fuel the external conflicts between Clarice and Hannibal, and Clarice and Chilton. Both are intrinsically tied to the other in Clarice's character arc, and should be written as such.How can I practice writing these types of conflict?If you’re struggling to come up with a good central conflict, try going back to the basics and thinking about it through the below two methods.The Character-Based PracticeIt never hurts to remember one of fiction’s #1 guidelines: it always comes down to character in the end. So one thing you can do to brainstorm is to return to your cast of characters. Start by re-evaluating the things that make them tick. Ask yourself:What are their fears and core values? (This is vital if you want to create a strong internal conflict.)What are their (conscious or unconscious) desires?Which one of those desires would get the character upending everything to achieve? Could that form a central conflict that’d provide the basis for a satisfying story?To brainstorm internal conflict, John Vorhaus suggests putting â€Å"but† into an equation with opposing forces, such as: I love my younger sister, but I’m a danger to her because of my ice powers, or I want Daisy Buchanan, but I’m a poor boy from the Midwest. Try it for your characters!Here's a free character profile template to get you started. And if you need specific character development exercises for inspiration? Check out this post.The Theme-Based PracticeGenerally, the central conflict teases out - or makes clear - the theme of the book. In Romeo and Juliet, for instance, the conflict between the two noble families of the Montagues and the Capulets is the perfect backdrop for the Love versus Hate theme that pervades the play.If you’ve already got a sense of what you want your theme to be, think about ways that the central struggle could best complement it. Will it raise the questions that you want readers to consider? Will the resolution of the external and internal conflict convey the message that you want  to  deliver? If you remember that conflict is just one part of the whole, you’ll experience a much easier time creating the package deal.Which of the six types of conflict are you writing? How do you approach writing conflict? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Sustainable Supply Chains

Sustainable Supply Chains Introduction to Sustainable Supply Chains A supply chain is a system in organizations, technology, information, people, resources, and activities that involves moving a product or service from the supplier to the customer.Advertising We will write a custom report sample on Sustainable Supply Chains specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More Sustainable supply chains are supply chains with the ability of helping organizations to grow, protect, and create long term social, economic and environmental value for shareholders involved in bringing products and services to the market. Supply chain sustainability is the management of social, economic, and environmental impacts and the encouragement of practices of good governance through the lifecycle of services and goods. Sustainable supply chain management is the transparent and strategic achievement and integration of economic, environmental, and social goals in an organization in a systematic coord ination of key business inters of successful sustainable supply chains are those that practices of collaboration. An example of collaboration is investment in alternative modes of transportation to reduce environmental impacts and cost of deliveries.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Some of the modes of transportation include airports, ships and canals. A successful sustainable supply chain is also in major components of management of supplier relationships. It is applied to create efficient way of cutting costs in the retail business (Krause, Vachon Klassen, 2009). For example, Wal-Mart has a Supplier Energy Efficiency Project that are aimed at emission elimination the company’s supply chain.The project’s suppliers reduced 3300 metric tons of GHG emissions saving approximately $200,000 costs of energy in 2009. The suppliers of Wal-Mart were requeste d its suppliers to show efficiency in management of environmental footprint as a measure of reducing cost and realize this benefit. This could save energy, time, and cost for the company. IBM has a sustainable supply chain in which it conducts studies annually to address the issues in its supply chain. The company prepares strategies to overcome global challenges that arise from globalization to create business value (Pagell Wu, 2009). Difference Between Traditional Supply Chains and Sustainable Supply Chains Have Created Competitive Advantage For OrganizationsAdvertising We will write a custom report sample on Sustainable Supply Chains specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More When accurately designed, traditional or conventional supply chains present clientele the advantages of quality enhancement, reduced overheads, and rapid delivery. Sustainable supply chain offer reduced costs and create value in the supply chain. Supply chain managers face challenges of changes in requirements of expertise in today’s business long-term trends. Business trends in recent years involve increasing intensity of competition and demand in environmental protection, resource scarcity, and security arising from the ongoing globalization. Businesses have to adopt better business systems that have the potential of satisfying stakeholders and customers. This makes the traditional supply chain insufficient in the modern business world. Under the objectives of a variety performance, a new prototype of a more complicated supply chain is emerging that caters for the needs of sustainable and developing competitiveness. The main differences between the traditional and sustainable supply chain is that the traditional supply chain is a drive of prices and decouple strategically but the sustainable supply chain is a drive of value and couple strategically. This means that management and design of supply chains should deliver specific outcomes, such as security, sustainability, innovation, cost reduction, and resilience (Pagell, Wu Wasserma, 2010). Paulraj (2011) identified that sustainable supply chains create competitive advantage in businesses by managing risks, creating sustainable production, and realizing efficiencies.Advertising Looking for report on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Managing business risks minimizes disruptions in business from social, economic, and environmental impacts. Managing business risks also protects the brand value and reputation of the company. Companies can protect themselves from interruptions in their potential supply chains associated with labor, human rights, governmental practices, environmental practices, and suppliers’ human rights by ensuring that suppliers comply with management systems and programmes covering sustainable supply chain management principles. Managing risks ensures that a company has access to resources. A company with a sustainable supply chain has the potential of reducing future liability and additional costs. Therefore, companies with sustainable supply chains understand the different strategies to undertake to ensure productivity and efficiency. Realizing efficiencies occurs when sustainable supply chains reduce costs of energy, transportation, and material inputs. Realizing efficiencies also incr ease labor production and create efficiencies across the entire supply chain. Creating sustainable products involve meeting the requirements of business and customer partners and innovating to satisfy the changing market. A company can reduce costs of supply through creating strong health, safety, and labor practices, increasing the understanding of key processes in the supply chain, and designing systems and processes that reduce required inputs. Companies create competitive advantage through developing new products and improving existing products through collaborating with suppliers on sustainable issues that foster product innovation. Sustainable supply chain creates competitive advantage by providing understanding of the business value and incorporated ideas in the market by competitors. This is addresses as benchmarking against the competitors. Sustainable supply chain enables an understanding of customer, suppliers, and shareholder expectations creating maximum return on the i nvestments of the company. A sustainable supply chain creates a vision for the company providing direction of the company’s strategies and defining the company’s commitment to achieve competitive advantage. The company can evaluate and identify areas that need improvement to create competitive advantage (Reuter, Foerstl, Hartmann Blome, 2010). Challenges in Building Sustainable Supply Chains Supply chain managers face challenges because of the increase in the requirements of management expertise in the long-term trends of companies today. These trends include the increasing intensity of competition, ongoing globalization, environmental protection, resource scarcity, and the growing security demand in businesses. Businesses are also requiring cost efficient, flexible, and reliable business systems that have the capability of supporting customer differentiation. Modern supply chain managers have to confront complex and dynamic supply chains becoming difficult to predict developments and trends in the long term (Paulraj, 2011). Supply chain management has to come up with additional plans that extend beyond the operational scope of the current activities. Supply chain managers need to understand and identify the new sustainability issues in their businesses and company environment to respond to respond to the changes in the long term trends and to remain competitive. This challenges calls for international, global, and the fragmented supply chain to apply skills of networking and creating efficient supply chain operations that adapt to sustainable demands to create sustainable customer focused supply chains in the long term. This is because sustainable supply chains must be able to create sustainable competitive advantage (Pullman, Maloni Carter, 2009). Challenges of building sustainable supply chains can arise from the weak and non-built relationships of companies with suppliers. It becomes difficult for companies to form strong relationships with suppliers because some of the suppliers are untrustworthy in that they fail to deliver the quantity and quality paid by the company. The owners or managers have to inspect the suppliers, especially in cases in which the suppliers can corrupt the employees easily. Challenges can arise when the company has inadequate capital to pay the suppliers at the required time. The company can strain to pay the suppliers or the suppliers can reduce business relationships with the company. Challenges in building a sustainable supply chain can arise when the suppliers create inconsistencies in price and quality without providing notice to the purchasing enterprise. This means that this change would pass to the customers creating inefficiency in the supply chain (Reuter, Foerstl, Hartmann Blome, 2010). According to Pullman, Maloni and Carter (2009), challenges can arise when the suppliers have a poor record from the purchasing entity making it difficult for the purchasing enterprise to keep a tre nd of their suppliers in frequency of supply, quality of supply, and prices of supply. This makes it difficult for the purchasing enterprise to build a strong relationship with the supplier. Challenges in building sustainable supply chain can result from poor planning where the purchasing enterprise makes quick decisions on the supplier without taking time to understand the competence of the supplier. This makes it difficult for the supplier and the purchase enterprise to create good relationships when the problems in the supply chain begin to occur. Other challenges arise from unfair competition based on prices, high prices for poor quality of products, lack of customer records and statistics, and interpersonal challenges, such as religious differences, race, and social status. Cases of corruption can arise from the purchase enterprises to suppliers passing on the costs through price increments on the customers. Corruption destroys the sustainability in the supply chains. Challenge s can arise from changes in government levies and taxes. Government taxes and levies affect cost of operations to both the suppliers and the purchasing enterprises leading to additional costs that have to depict in changes in the quantity, quality, and prices of products and services in the market. These changes affect the satisfaction of the shareholders and customers forcing them to shift to competitors. The company profits and resources decrease leading to collapse of some of the supply chains (Pagell Wu, 2009). Management Implications to the Importance and Challenges in Building Sustainable Supply Chains Various enterprises strive to build positive public relations to improve image and reputation essential for attracting and maintaining potential and competent suppliers and customers. A company can improve the nature and frequency of communication to customers and suppliers to maintain or improve sustainable supply chains. Some enterprises offer promotional items and credit to customers in efforts to build strong relationships for sustainable supply chains. Business enterprises reduce prices below that of competitors and improve quality of products to attract customers. This is difficult because cost of production match prices, quantity, and quality and reducing the prices means that the quality or quantity will decline. Enterprises have difficult time managing sustainable supply chains with prices, especially when the business has obligation of satisfying the stakeholders, customers and suppliers (Paulraj, 2011). According to Reuter, Foerstl, Hartmann and Blome (2010), business enterprises provide quality and unique services to loyal customers and suppliers to attract and maintain them. This action strengthens their relationships making it easy to build a sustainable supply chain. This has been possible through creation of clubs, especially in retail shops and food points (Lamp, 2011). Enterprises result to supporting sporting events, channels, and teams to nurture prestige and good reputation of businesses. Businesses offer sponsorships and donations to the society to attract the attention and interest in the members in the supply chain. Business enterprises also offer newspapers and special seats to the members of the supply chain to ensure good relationships and image. Businesses enterprises have also put extra efforts in building sustainable supply chains by paying its suppliers promptly and involving the suppliers and customers in their business and personal functions and initiatives. For example, Unilever is multinational company that earns annual revenue of more than $50 billion in approximately 400 brands. It sources from 100000 non-production suppliers and 10000 suppliers of raw materials. The company approximately purchases 3% of the world’s palm oil and 6% of the world’s black tea (Krause, Vachon, Klassen, 2009). Securing sustainable supply chains is critical for sustaining growth and the success of the bu siness in the future. The company has developed tangible benefits in business through sustainable supply chains. The company invests resources and time in building strong relationships with suppliers, customers, and stakeholders. The company achieves this by providing good wage incomes, managing environmental issues, such as climate change and waste, and ensuring good working conditions in the supply chains. Unilever’s ability to maintain sustainability in chain of supply helps in creating cost efficiency in the company operations, improve company’s reputational image, and assist in securing and stabilizing business long-term operations.. Unilever has created competitive advantage successfully through building sustainable supply chains (Pagell, Wu Wasserma, 2010). References Krause, D., Vachon, S., Klassen, R. (2009). Special topic forum on sustainable supply chain management: introduction and reflections on the role of purchasing management. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 45(4), 18-25. Lamp, C. (2011). Essentials of marketing. New York, NY: Cengage Learning. Pagell, M. Wu, Z. (2009). Building a more complete theory of sustainable supply chain management using case studies of 10 exemplars. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 45(2), 37-56. Pagell, M., Wu, Z., Wasserma, M. (2010). Thinking differently about purchasing portfolios: an assessment of sustainable sourcing. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 46(1), 57-73. Paulraj, A. (2011). Understanding the relationships between internal resources and capabilities, sustainable supply management and organizational sustainability. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 47(1), 19-37. Pullman, M., Maloni, M., Carter, C. (2009). Food for thought: social versus environmental sustainability practices and performance outcomes. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 45(4), 38-54. Reuter, C., Foerstl, K., Hartmann, E., Blome, C. (2010). Sustainable global supplier management: the role of dynamic capabiliti es in achieving competitive advantage. Journal of Supply Chain Management, 46(2), 45-63.

Negative message assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Negative message assignment - Essay Example Recently I visited some of your retail outlets to inquirer about the FinalScratch system and I found the sales professionals to either be inept regarding the product and often led me to competitive products. Obviously from our perspective this sort of behaviour can not be tolerated if we are going to have a working relationship in the future. Prior to the launch of the FinalScratch system we had offered to give your entire sales force a sales an in person tutorial of the product which was an opportunity that your competitors jumped at but you declined believing that your sales force could educate themselves. Obviously this was not the case otherwise the sales professionals that I encountered would have known more about the product. Mr. Fletcher, I am proposing that you allow us to train your sales professionals in person so that they can learn more about the advantages of the FinalScratch system and be better suited to answer the questions of today's DJ enthusiasts. However if you ch oose not to let us train your staff and the sales of the FinalScratch system continue to be stagnate in your marketplace than you will leave us no option but to terminate our professional relationship with you.

Computer networks Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Computer networks - Essay Example When the size W of the window gets to 0, transmission is stopped. Increasing the size of the windows enhances the bandwidths and makes the connection more efficient. Considering the basic functionality of the window size, that is holding the data by a device from its peer at any one time, increasing the size will then make the device to hold more data in the buffer at a time. This will enhance efficiency of communication. Over reliance on cumulative acknowledgements can cause data transfer inefficiency due to packet loss. Selective acknowledgement allows the receiver of the packets to be able to accept packets that are discontinuous but received correctly. This is in addition to the last successful contiguous byte that was received. This is the same situation that happens in a basic acknowledgement. In this mode, the acknowledgement specifies the SACK blocks and they are then conveyed through starting and ending sequence numbers. The SMTP processes the email address of the recipient in the same domain. When the names correspond, the message is directly routed to the POP3 server or the IMAP server. In this case, it is routed to the SMTP. In the case of the local client who is sending an email over the network, there will be no communication with another domain server. This communication will be from the internal mail server 10.1.0.10 from 10.1.0.10/8. On getting the email address, the SMTP server can connect to the recipient SMTP server. For the local client, this communication is maintained within the same server. For sending an email over the internet, the information is passed over to the border router. b) A DNS lookup occurs when a device supporting an IP asks the DNS server for the IP address that is associated with a certain domain name. When looking for postmaster@myertor.com, the series of lookups that will take place include; the primary DNS server will be seeking to establish the IP address for postmaster@myertor.com. The first request will