Neiman Marcus Case

Neiman Marcus (NM), which mainly serves the high-end retail market, is currently facing a tough future. Although it currently enjoys high profit margins and has made significant improvements in its existing brand performance, its growth has plateaued. NM believes that there is only limited potential for growth of its current full-line stores while maintaining its exclusivity. As a result, it is considering other growth opportunities. The strategic goal is to increase its revenue by at least $150 million over the next 6 years while maintaining its attractive profit margins of 15%. Of the number of possible growth options, we recommend NM to grow via the Galleries concept. We believe that this concept is in line with its current core strength of creating and maintaining customer loyalty with luxury customers. Moreover, it can benefit from its existing customer base, efficient sales force and brand name. Our financial analysis further shows that the concept has the potential to match the revenue and profit goals. However, NM needs to carefully choose the gallery locations since there are some risks associated with direct competition with existing leaders and confusion among its current customers about the shift in brand-focus. Growth Options Neiman Marcus (NM) serves the high-end retail market mostly in US. Before analyzing the range of growth options available to NM, we performed a SWOT analysis [Exhibit 2] to understand NM’s current competitive situation. NM clearly targets the affluent US population and intends to serve the luxury market. The company’s goal is to create a personal shopping experience for its customers, and that involves having a highly competent sales staff as well as setting up a unique buying experience. One of the biggest competitive advantages for NM is the customer based marketing programs and events, like the InCircle programs which enhances customer loyalty. The catalog advertising is another core-competency that NM can leverage greatly from, since it drives about 50% of the sales of the customer that also shop at the stores. NM invests heavily in training and retaining its sales forces ia programs like the â€Å"Optimum Selling Program† and competitive compensation to the employees. It leverages the sales force to create a personal shopping experience to the affluent customer with the objective of enhancing the customer relationship and increasing the average customer spend. Considering that the target consumer segment is the affluent consumer who earns over $200,000 annually, th ere is limited growth potential within this high premium segment since acquiring new customers with high buying power needs is difficult. Thus, the focus is to increase customer retention and find creative ways for customers to spend more on NM products, with the following approaches * Brand extension :â€Å"Galleries† for jewelry; Specialty store for shoes * Geographical extension: Expand into Europe; increasing retail space within stores; * Portfolio extension: Acquisition(Saks); Open Sale-price stores likeâ€Å"(Nordstrum) rack† * Relationship extension : Enhance relationship with emerging designers Brand extensions via Galleries for the jewelry category would put NM in direct competition with the likes of Tiffany’s Co. This might impact the top line (Revenues) more than the bottom line (net income), considering that it would involve higher costs for development of the stores, and heavy investments in advertisement and customer retention. Geographic extensions like expanding into Europe would not have high impact on the top line nor is bottom line, considering there 50% higher penetration of designer owned stores. Moreover, NM might need significant time and investment to create its brand name and competent sales force team in such new but fiercely competitive market. Portfolio extension: Acquisition of Saks would definitely have a positive impact on both the top line and the bottom line. However, NM would need to be careful on how this would affect its relationship with the employees and the designers. However, sale-price stores would likely dilute the brand image for NM, and alienate some of its existing consumers Enhancing relationship with emerging designers would probably impact NM most on the bottom line than on the top line, considering it would be able to leverage purchasing power with the emerging designers, and extract higher margins from the merchandise. do we need to estimate top line/bottom line impact? ] Of all these options, the Galleries and Acquisition of Saks are the ones that can leverage NM’s core competencies to the best ability. These avenues provide an opportunity for leveraging the marketing catalogues, customer relationships, and employee satisfaction and retention. The acquisition of existing brands such as Saks is subject to more extraneous factors (negotiations, stock valuations, government regulations, merger risks, brand value distortion) and therefore unclear as a long term strategy. Neiman Marcus’ Positioning. Based on our understanding, we believe NM’s current positioning statement is: For the affluent customer who takes great pride in buying only top-line luxury clothing and accessories, NM store is your one-stop place for all your fashion needs since we only stock best assortment of designer boutiques and our friendly knowledgeable staff knows exactly what you are looking for. NM’s positioning is to attract the affluent consumer, with a household income of over $100,000, by providing high-end luxury lines of women’s and men’s apparel, Jewelry, Cosmetics/fragrances, Gifts, Women’s shoes and Accessories. The core competencies that NM engages to differentiate itself in the marketplace are exclusive high-end designer merchandise, personable, knowledgeable and highly competent sales staff that aims at not only achieving a high level of customer satisfaction, but also establishing themselves as a personal shopper for the customer. The sales staff is cross-trained in multiple departments, and is empowered to build long term relationships with their customers. This enables NM to provide a customized and personal experience for its clientele, thus encouraging them to be repeat customers and increase their spend at NM. NM utilizes another core-competency of catalogs for direct marketing, thus creating avenues to increase spend by the customers. One of the differentiators for NM, an un-imitable competency that creates barriers of entry is the customer based marketing programs, and events. The InCircle program is targeted to enhance customer relationships and brand loyalty. Special events and incentives are creating for the â€Å"creme-de-la-creme† spenders via the InCircle program that provides these customers to become repeat consumers via exquisite rewards programs and one-on-one customer service. About 40% of sales at NM were estimated from these programs and events organized by NM. Direct competitors for [Exhibit 3] NM include Saks 5th avenue and Nordstrum. Saks and NM differed in their approach to store formats. While NM had primarily focused on full line stores, Saks had developed other formats like restort stores, Main street stores, Off 5th stores, thus targeting different consumer segments. Nordstrom on the other hand had similar merchandise portfolio as NM, and was known for the level of personal customer attention and service it provided by building key relationships NM on the other hand provided multiple competencies that included specialty store variety (for specific designers) and department store scale and service. Quantitative Analysis of the Galleries Concept We performed a quantitative analysis to evaluate the Galleries concept. We made some key assumptions for the analysis. First, the revenue per sq. ft. or the three lines: fashion jewelry, precious jewelry and gifts would be equal to the current NM revenues in these departments. Second, the annual percentage revenue growth for Galleria would be equal to NM’s current annual revenue growth of 7%. Third, the allocation of space within the 10,000 sq. ft. galleria would be allocated to the existing ratios within the three departments. Using these assumptions, as shown in Exhibit a, we calculated the revenue per sq. ft. for the three lines. Using these values, we computed the expected revenue (base year) for one galleria (Exhibit b). We next constructed the pro-forma (Exhibit b) for one galleria for the next 6 years. We assumed that the revenue growth would be the same (7%), the gross margin and hence the COGS would be constant (56% which is the current weighted COGS for these three department). As seen in the pro-forma, we estimate each galleria will have revenues of $10. 8 million and Cash-flow (assuming EBT = EBTDA) of $2. 1 million by year 6. Using Present Value of the Cash flows (assumed equal to EBIT) at 15% discount rate, we estimate the payback period for each galleria on the initial investment of $5 million to be 5 years (2003 assuming base year is 1998). With additional revenue per galleria in Year 6 estimated at $10. 8 million, to achieve a financial goal of $200 million in additional revenue from the galleries by Year 6, NM would need to open 19 (200/10. ) galleries. This would require an overall investment of about $95 million in capital in the current year. The quantitative analysis indicate that if the three constituent departments of the galleries can perform at least at par with current levels (mainly in terms of revenue per sq. ft. and gross margins) , NM is very likely to fulfill the goal of $200 million in surplus revenue growth by year 6. In fact, since the payback period (at 15% discount rate) is 5 years, the IRR return from the investment is expected to be more than the required 15%. Thus the quantitative analysis is definitely is in favor of the galleries concept. Qualitative Analysis of the Galleries Concept The Galleries concept is to aimed to expand the per-customer spend of the target affluent consumer, by providing specialty stores for specific merchandise category. One of the viable options is to consider a Gallery which includes the departments that provide the highest revenue per sq. ft. amely Precious jewelry, fashion jewelry and Gifts, again targeting the same affluent customer segment. This concept makes sense for NM since it can leverage from its current strengths – loyalty program, dedicated and knowledgeable staff, and its existing brand value. Moreover, expanding the gallery concept in US where it already has an established brand name and elite-status makes perfect sense. However, as discussed before, the Jewelry and Gifts gallery concept would end up going head-to-head with a Tiffany’s store. Therefore NM needs to address the following risks for ensuring significant market share capture. First, considering that the flagship Tiffany’s store has a sales/sq ft ratio of over $3000 [Exhibit 1 and 4], NM needs to either increase the retail space for precious jewelry to improve from the overall expected $721 / sq. ft revenue (this is because precious jewelry in current NM stores earn a much higher $1669/ sq ft), or decrease the store gross selling space for the gallery. Second, expanding the number of Galleries excessively might rebrand NM in the minds of customers as jewelry focused company and might affect the sales of its other flagship products such as women’s apparel and shoes in original NM stores. Therefore, NM needs to be careful in choosing the locations of these new galleria stores and try to not choose locations where they currently exist. With regards to the locations of the new Gallery stores, we believe that NM needs to choose locations that are not competitively served (by Tiffany’s) in the Jewelry category, and also locations that do not have heavy overlap with its current locations. It is also important not to deviate from the target affluent consumer with high buying power index. Thus, we recommend the ollowing top 3 locations for NM to open the initial Gallery stores to ensure impactful market share capture. Based on how the galleries perform in these markets, NM can use the same criteria to open galleries in other markets. Seattle – Top most 1996 BPI; No Tiffany presence; some overlap with NM stores Cleveland – Ranked 2nd 1996 BPI; No Tiffany presence; some overlap with NM stores Sacramento – Ranked 3rd 1996 BPI; No Tiffany presence; hi gh overlap with NM stores Conclusion Based on the analysis of NM’s current positioning and its core competencies, we believe the Galleria concept presents a good growth opportunity for NM. Quantitatively, the concept has potential to fulfill both of NM’s current goals: revenue growth ($150-$200 million revenue growth over 6 years) and profit margin (Payback period for initial investment is under 6 years at desired 15% cost of capital). However, NM needs to be careful in choosing the locations for two reasons: to avoid head-to-head competition with existing jewelers such as Tiffany’s and to avoid confusion of its brand focus in the minds of its existing rich customer base.

A1 – Include a Reflective Account of the Role of the Practitioner

The role of the practitioner in supporting the learning needs of children is they have to do regular assessments on their development and learning to identify their progress and plan their next steps Beaver, et . al, (2008). The Early Years Foundation Stage (EYFS), (2008) states that the role of the practitioner is crucial in observing and reflecting on children’s spontaneous play, building on this by planning and providing a challenging environment which supports specific areas of children’s learning and extends and develops children’s language and communication in their play.See appendix ?. Another role of the practitioner is to work professionally and responsibly such as to work as part of the team, work with parents and partners, participate in providing an environment that is welcoming and stimulating and to meet the learning needs of each individual child by providing a range of activities and experiences Tassoni, et . al, (2007). See appendix ?.Another rol e of the practitioner is to ensure they comply with the codes of practice that protect the employee, these could relate to storage of information, smoking and consumption of alcohol, recruitment procedures, professional development , workplace conditions such as hazards and temperature, risk assessments and equality of opportunity Tassoni, et . al, (2007). See appendix 2. Following policies and procedures is another role of the practitioner they help practitioners to carry out responsibilities and ensure that everyone in the setting including children, parents, staff and other professionals remain safe.Examples of policies are Health and Safety policy, Equal Opportunities policy, Behaviour Management policy and Child Protection policy Tassoni, et . al, (2007). See appendix ?. Another role of the practitioner is to make sure children well-being is at the heart of everything they do and offer learning experiences appropriate to the development stage, interests and learning styles of e ach individual child Enable early years training and consultancy, (2010). See appendix ?.Another role of the practitioner is to work with and involve parents, as parents are the people that know their child best and they will be able to inform you of any particular interests the child enjoys, this will help practitioners to plan activities and experiences Beaver, et . al, (2008). Appendix ?. Another role of the practitioner is to respecting confidentiality of private information involving children and their families. To respect confidentiality practitioners need to keep all nformation about a child and family safe and should stored in a locked filling cabinet or on a password protected computer, this is to ensure that no information is disclosed, if information about a child was to be disclosed it could bring unnecessary upset or strain on the entire family Tassoni, et . al, (2007). See appendix ?. Another role of the practitioner is to meet the diverse needs of children see appendi x 51. The DCSF, (2008) states that practitioners should meet the needs of each individual child by delivery personalised learning, development and care to help children get the best start in life.It also says that practitioners need to promote positive attitudes to diversity and difference with all children. Being reflective is another role of a practitioner, this means thinking about effective you have been in planning activities or communicating with parents. By being reflective practitioners will be able to think about how to repeat something that has worked well or how to improve for next time Tassoni, et . al, (2007). See appendix ?.Being a reflective practitioner makes you aware of their strengths and weaknesses and identifying what they could do differently. There are many benefits of being a reflective practitioner for both themselves and the child some include; skills are developed, personal development, more confident benefits for the child include their individual needs a re more likely to be met, practitioners will have a greater understanding of how to support their development Barber and Paul-Smith, (2009). See appendix ?.

Mythology Character Chart

He hates Odysseus, tried to kill Odysseus in a big storm. Preventing him from going home. Athena Goddess of war and marriage Daughter of Zeus She's crushing on Odysseus, trying to help save him, Hermes Messenger God Speaks with Odysseus and gives him the herb and tells him how to escape Circe. Aphrodite Goddess of love Hyphenates The god of metal-working Sculpts sculpture of O with Athena. Ares The war-godPuts mortals In pain. Artemisia The goddess of the woods Alerter Odysseus' daddy Odysseus goes to visit him when he returns. Auricle Odysseus' mom/nurse The first one in the house to know Odysseus has returned. Amuses A servant on Odysseus estate. Swineherd, shepherd of pigs. Very kind, understanding and generous. Philatelist Athena disguised to guide Toolmakers Helps Toolmakers. Mutinous Suitor Mutinous leads the campaign to have Telesales killed. Rheumatics Odysseus Main character Son of AlerterGreek Leader of Trojan war Got captured by Calypso on his way home. Penelope Odysseus' wife Telemeters Odysseus' son Wants the suitors out, but can't fight them, because he's insecure about fighting. Melanesian Melanoma Nester King of Pylons Tries to help Telesales sends him to Postmistress Nester's son King of Laceration Helen The most beautiful woman in the world. The cause of the Trojan War Polymorphous (Cyclops) Terrifies Circe A witch Calypso A strong sea-nymph Traps Odysseus on her island, kept him as a love-slave.

Climate Change Policy in a Globalizing World Essay - 1

Climate Change Policy in a Globalizing World - Essay Example According to the 4th assessment report, there is proof that Africa is warming quicker than the global average, and it is likely to persist. It is projected that by 2100, temperature changes will drop in ranges of about 1.4 to almost 5.8ËšC rise in mean surface temperature contrasted to 1900, and around 10 to 90cm increase in mean sea level. This warming is most over the heart of semi-arid boundaries of the Sahara also central southern Africa. Before the atmospheric amount of carbon dioxide equivalent has multiplied by two, the worlds mean precipitation is anticipated to be around 1-5 % more than 1900. Under the least warming situation, equatorial east Africa will have rainfall increase by 5-20 % during December, January as well as February and diminish by 5-10 % during June, July also August (Schreuder, 2009, p.39).Agricultural production with foodstuff security in most areas of Africa is likely to be strictly compromised by climate change, as well as climate variability. Climate c hange will deteriorate the water stress presently faced by some nations; while some of those nations, presently not at risk of water stress, will be affected. Changes in an array of ecosystems are by now being noticed faster than expected, mainly in the Southern African environments. Climate change and unpredictability could also lead to the flooding of low lying lands, comprising coastal settlements. Human health could also be more negatively affected by climate change with climate variability, for instance, there has been a rise in the frequency of malaria in southern Africa as well as East African highlands. These unfavorable effects together with poverty, institutional frameworks and Poor policy, cause Africa to be one of the most susceptible continents to climate change as well as climate variability.

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Progressive Reforms - Essay Example Some were simple superstitions, while others have resulted in more severe outcomes. Ancient medicine, for instance, was normally a mishmash of science, religion, and pagan. People suffering from the bubonic plague were instructed to atone or seek forgiveness for their transgressions (Christensen 2004). Apparently, this failed to get rid of the plague. Another case in point is the medieval doctors who assumed that majority of human maladies were the outcome of excessive volume of body fluid; hence, to ‘medicate’ the ill they practiced ‘venesection’, or the process of removing glut body fluid by extracting substantial amounts of blood from the body (Christensen 2004). But unfortunately, to no avail. In the contemporary period, these kinds of assumptions and beliefs continue to influence the field of medicine, especially, at this point, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA has the instruments and legally sanctioned power to control the overall effect iveness and safety of drugs. The intricacies of reforming the drug approval procedure of the FDA are underlined by conflicts between private manufacturers of drugs and the FDA about the objectives and rationales that should dominate in carrying out the review procedure (Dohrman 2005).

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Long-Term Stability of Clay Slopes Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Long-Term Stability of Clay Slopes - Essay Example In order to describe "the long term stability of clay slopes", this paper will look at factors that make slopes become unstable overtime; the measurement of the instability; impact of long-term stability; and the prevention of instability of clay slopes. To begin with, long term stability of clay slopes is influenced by several causes which as are embedded in two major factors. These main factors, according to Price (1984) and Ritter (1986, p 121) are shear stress and shear strength. Shear stress refers to the forces that cause movement of materials down slope while shear strength is the force that resists materials from moving down the slope. These forces oppose each other in the sense that, while shear stress wants movement of material to commence, shears strength refuses. This means that movement will only occur when shear stress exceeds shear strength. Otherwise, like Sparks (1964, p 56) puts it, in uniform material, shear stress and shear strength may remain comparatively uniform. It is worth noting that shear stress has several intricate components that make it provoke movement of material down slope. Ritter (1986, p 121) outlines material internal friction characteristics; material normal stress and material normal cohesion as factors that determine stability of shear stress. Any drop or increase in these factors may alter shear stress. Internal friction is further broken down into plane friction (produced when one grain of soil slides past another) and interlocking friction (which originates when particles are required to move upwards and over one another. Secondly, Ritter (1986, p.122) further states that effective normal stress has the capacity to hold the material together, thereby increasing internal resistance to shear. It acts perpendicular to a shear surface and is absorbed by the underlying slab at the point of contact between grains. It should also be noted that some of the shear surface is usually occupied by openings which are filled with air or water. And since pore pressure exists in these interstitial spaces, it tends to support part of the normal stress. Thirdly, Ritter (1986, p.123) further states that clay soils have cohesion, which comes as a result of ions and water by clay minerals, thereby creating a binding structure among particles. Unfortunately though, cohesion decreases with increased water acquisition in the soil material. Clay cohesive strength very much depends on attractive forces between the particles and the lubricating action of the interstitial liquid. The more the clay acquires water, the more the slope becomes unstable. However, it should be noted that the rate at which the slope gains more water and the water drains away determines the time the slope should become unstable. For example, fast gaining and slow draining of water on a particular slope will make the slope fail very fast. On the other hand, slow gaining and fast draining of water will make the slope remain stable for some time. Where clay soils remains in an undisturbed normal cohesive strength, long-term slope stability will be evident. Sparks (1964, p 57) agrees with the above statement and adds that cohesive strength increases with depth thereby exceeding shear stress, hence surface mantle (slope material) is the one to be more unstable. As more water is added , cohesion decreases and when all pores are filled, any further input of water results in complete

Construction Economics Assignment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

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Elections - Essay Example 4) Biden gave both opening and closing statements, Ryan was defensive, and it was a one sided victory by Biden. 3)The feisty Republican candidate relentlessly criticized and thrashed the opponent Democratic ways, policies and leadership style i.e. Obama care, Libya, economy etc (Espo, and Daly). But on matters such as Taxes, Foreign Policy, American values, he gave baffled answers. The first question out of three that were more prominent was: Biden was anti-war like Obama and said clearly that the last thing that America needed was another war, while Ryan, like Romney said they would continue to increase troops and forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, and they do foresee a war in the making with Iran due to Iran-U.S clashes. 2) Secondly, Ryan defended well, the fiery questions from Biden, about his Taxes plans and Federal Policy facts 3) Ryan was not able to retain his composure upon questions regarding Foreign policy matters especially the Middle East situation, and National security mat ters such as combating terrorism (Miles). Ryan had the edge over Biden from the start by 42% to 25% margin (Espo, and Daly). But due to his young age and lack of experience and political insight, he failed to get a strong grip of the debate and ended up being wonky and puzzled about questions regarding their tax related policies and foreign policy predictions. I am personally in favor of Biden’s take on all over the debate issues, as he tackled the situations with a lot of reason and logic, and without exaggeration he had facts and figures to support his arguments, and his age, experience and Political know how helped him immensely, to get the audiences’ attention. 4)Although, it is hard to decide which candidate won the debate, as both had their strong and weak moments, but Biden had a clear, easily sensed edge over his rival Ryan. Ryan sounded wonky, less expressive, less concrete and lacking in political rationale. Part 4) 4)2012 results VOTES % WON Barack Obama 62, 611,250 50.6% Mitt Romney 59,134,475 47.8 Others 1,968,682 1.6 (Andrews et al ). SOURCE: AP. Map Barack Obama won the United States Election 2012 by leading from the front, either of the candidates, Barack H. Obama, and Mitt Romney, had to secure 270 seats to achieve the highly anticipated victory. Barack Obama won with 332 Electoral Votes, while Mitt Romney ended up with 206 Votes (Andrews et al ). The Map Analysis prior to the close Electoral Campaign shows that President Obama  carries a momentous, edge over former Massachusetts governor  Mitt Romney  in the battle for 270 electoral votes this fall, according to the first detailed analysis of the map conducted by the Fix ( Chris , and Aaron Blake ) Obama starts the general election with 15 states (plus the District of Columbia) and 196 electoral votes strengthen him while Romney begins with 21 states and 170 electoral votes firmly in his corner. (One of the states sturdily for Romney is Indiana, where Obama won in 2008 but no one expects a repeat performance in 2012). Another three states — Pennsylvania (20 electoral votes), Michigan (16) and New Mexico (5) — incline toward Obama while Arizona (11) and Missouri (10) lean toward Romney. Adding them up lends Obama 237 electoral votes and Romney 191 electoral votes. (Chris, and Aaron Blake) The SWING States: While Obama was a much likely candidate than Romney, victory will be decided by the nine swing states —

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Portfolio Report - Research Paper Example This information is in accordance with her mother who can remember these problems. The student also is found to have problem with tutoring. Her mother is concerned that her child may have some kind of reading disability because she too had trouble learning in school, but up until now has no evidence or documentation to support this. The student has been known to have some strength is certain areas but weak in other areas. Her strong areas include expressive vocabulary, reading comprehension, oral comprehension, sentence comprehension, and listening comprehension. She is cheery and enthusiastic and loves horses and writing her own stories. She is organized and loves to draw as well as coloring. She has much interest in science. She has been found to have problems with decoding skills, oral reading, reading, writing, math, and numeracy operations. Her academic weaknesses happen despite that she hardly misses her classes. The student is learning within a contusive educational environmental. The teachers are qualified and there are a number of bright students who are ready to assist her. Besides, all the necessary resources are provided. Her general academic achievement is not good. She is relatively poor in math, numeric problems, writing, reading, science, and art. She however seem to love some of these areas. Despite her love for some of the areas or subjects, she ends up performing poorly. Her attention is poor since she makes careless mistakes in school work all the time. She also is not able to stay focused on a task for periods of time that would be expected of peers, which happens all the time. She always avoids school work or homework when possible. She also has difficulty returning to a task when focus has been lost for a short period. Besides, her assignments are ever incomplete. In the case of her selective attention, she does not seem to listen when being spoken to, she is easily distracted by objects,

Graduation Speech Essay Example for Free

Graduation Speech Essay This is such a great victory for all of us! We have done each others’part to make this occasion whole. As educators, it is our pride and honor to see you all on this very momentous day tasting the fruit of our sweet success for six years of labor and more. Your parents are in deep joy celebrating your achievement that at last you did to surpass this milestone of your primary training. Years ago you entered this place,you had the desire within you to learn and to prepare yourselves for the challenges to come in the future. We had a heart to heart agreement to teach and learn. Now, we have realized that agreement in us. Your teachers are with high regards in you for they freed you from this place because you deserve to seek higher learning which will make yourselves more equipped to meet your tomorrow with confidence, satisfaction, and integrity. The time spent in school was never wasted despite of the shortcomings we encountered. With the theme, â€Å" Building the Nations Future Leaders Through the K to 12 Basic Education Program†, we are truly confident that your dreams are at hand. Just strive hard not only for yourselves but for the nation as well. The foundation we built is of good help wherever you go. As you leave your beloved Alma Mater, put in mind, carve in heart and do by hands the teachings and learnings you acquired in fundamental step of your basic education to gear you up for the higher one. Always remember, even in this step, you start making yourselves leaders. Being a leader doesn’t always mean to be at authority to acquire power, but; being a leader is possessing the ability to make a difference to cut the poverty and corruption for the goodness of humanity so that even the most deprived will still get their basic needs with honor and happiness. Do that vision in you a great mission to fulfill in making this world a better place for all of us to live with equity and justice. May the Almighty God guide you to whatever path will you take in building a nation with integral progress empowered by holistically developed leaders. A warm greetings of congratulations to all of you, Graduates! Mabuhay and God speed!

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development

Speaker Independent Speech Recognizer Development Chapter 4 Methodology and Implementation This chapter describes the methodology and implementation of the speaker independent speech recognizer for the Sinhala language and the Android mobile application for voice dialing. Mainly there are two phases of the research. First one is to build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer to recognize the digits spoken in Sinhala language. The second phase is to build an android application by integrating the trained speech recognizer. This chapter covers the tools, algorithms, theoretical aspects, the models and the file structures used for the entire research process. 4.1Research phase 1: Build the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer for recognizing the digits. In this section the development of the speaker independent Sinhala speech recognizer is described, step by step. It includes the phonetic dictionary, language model, grammar file, acoustic speech database and the trained acoustic model creation. 4.1.1 Data preparation This system is a Sinhala speech recognition voice dial and since there is no such speech database which is done earlier was available, the speech has to be taken from the scratch to develop the system. Data collection The first stage of any speech recognizer is the collection of sound signals. Database should contain a variety of enough speakers recording. The size of the database is compared to the task we handle. For this application only little number of words was considered. This research aims only the written Sinhala vocabulary that can be applied for voice dialing. Altogether twelve words were considered with the ten numbers including two initial calling words â€Å"amatanna† and â€Å"katakaranna†. Here the Database has two parts, the training part and the testing part. Usually about 1/10th of the full speech data is used to the testing part. In this research 3000 speech samples were used for training and 150 speech samples were used for testing. Speech database Before collecting data, a speech database was created. The database was included with the Sinhala speech samples taken from variety of people who were in different age levels. Since there was no such database published anywhere for Sinhala language relevant for voice dialing, speech had to be collected from Sinhala native speakers. Prompt sheet To create the speech database, the first step was to prepare the prompt sheet having a list of sentences for all the recordings. Here it used 100 sentences that are different from each other by generating the numbers randomly. 50 sentences are starting with the word â€Å"amatanna† while the other half is starting with the word â€Å"katakaranna†. The prompt sheet used for this research is given in the Appendix A. Recording The prepared sentences in the prompt sheet were recorded by using thirty (30) native speakers since this is speaker independent application. The speakers were selected according to the age limits and divided them into eight age groups. Four people were selected from each group except one age group. Two females and two males were included into each age group. One group only contained two people with one female and one male. Each speaker was given 100 sentences to speak and altogether 3000 speech samples were recorded for training. The description of speakers such as gender and age can be found in Appendix A. If there was an error in the recording due to the background noise and filler sounds, the speaker was asked to repeat it and got the correct sound signal. Since the proposed system is a discrete system, the speakers have to make a short pause at the start and end of the recording and also between the words when they were uttered. Speech was recorded in a quiet room and the recordi ngs were done at nights by using a condenser recorder microphone. The sounds were recorded under the sampling rate of 44.1 kHz using mono channel and they were saved under *.wav format. Sampling frequency and format of speech audio files Speech recording files were saved in the file format of MS WAV. The â€Å"Praatâ€Å" software was used to convert the 44.1 kHz sampling frequency signals to 16 kHz frequency signals since the frequency should be 16kHz of the training samples. Audio files were recorded in a medium length of 11 seconds. Since there should be a silence in the beginning and the end of the utterance and it should not be exceeded 0.2 seconds, the â€Å"Praat† software was used to edit all 3000 sound signals. 4.1.2 Pronunciation dictionary The pronunciation dictionary was implemented by hand since the number of words used for the voice dialing system is very few. It is used only 12 words from the Sinhala vocabulary. To create the dictionary, the International Phonetic Alphabet for Sinhala Language and the previously created dictionaries by CMU Sphinx were used. But the acoustic phones were taken mostly by studying the different types of databases given by the Carnegie Mellon University’s Sphinx Forum (CMU Sphinx Forum). Two dictionaries were implemented for this system. One is for the speech utterances and the other one is for filler sounds. The filler sounds contain the silences in the beginning, middle and at the end of the speech utterances. The attachment of the two types of dictionaries can be found on the Appendix A. They are referred to as the languagedictionaryand thefiller dictionary. 4.1.3 Creating the grammar file The grammar file also created by hand since the number of words used for the system is very few. The JSGF (JSpeech Grammar Format) format was used to implement the grammar file. The grammar file can be found in Appendix A. 4.1.4 Building the language model Word search is restricted by a language model. It identifies the matching words by comparing the previously recognized words by the model and restricts the matching process by taking off the words that are not possible to be. N-gram language model is the most common language models used nowadays. It is a finite state language model and it contains statistics of word sequences. In search space where restriction is applied, a good accuracy rate can be obtained if the language model is a very successful one. The result is the language model can predict the next word properly. It usually restricts the word search which are included the vocabulary. The language model was built using the cmuclmtk software. First of all the reference text was created and that text (svd.text) can be found in Appendix A. It was written in a specific format. The speech sentences were delimited byandtags. Then the vocabulary file was generated by giving the following command. text2wfreq svd.vocab Then the generated vocabulary file was edited to remove words (numbers and misspellings). When finding misspellings, they were fixed in the input reference text. The generated vocabulary file (svd.vocab) can be found in the Appendix A. Then the ARPA format language model was generated using these commands. text2idngram -vocab svd.vocab -idngram svd.idngram idngram2lm -vocab_type 0 -idngram svd.idngram -vocab svd.vocab –arpa svd.arpa Finally the CMU binary of language model (DMP file) was generated using the command sphinx_lm_convert -i svd.arpa -o svd.lm.DMP The final output containing the language model needed for the training process is svd.lm.dmp file. This is a binary file. 4.1.5Acoustic model Before starting the acoustic model creation, the following file structure was arranged as described by the CMU Sphinx tool kit guide. The name of the speech database is â€Å"svd† (Sinhala Voice Dial). The content of these files is given in Appendix A. svd.dic -Phonetic dictionary svd.phone -Phoneset file svd.lm.DMP -Language model svd.filler -List of fillers svd _train.fileids -List of files for training svd _train.transcription -Transcription for training svd _test.fileids -List of files for testing svd _test.transcription -Transcription for testing All these files were included in to one directory and it was named as â€Å"etc†. The speech samples of wav files were included in to another directory and named it as â€Å"wav†. These two directories were included in to another directory and named it using the name of the database (svd). Before starting the training process, there should be another directory that contains the â€Å"svd† and the required compilation package â€Å"pocketsphinx†, â€Å"sphinxbase† and â€Å"sphinxtrain† directories. All the packages and the â€Å"svd† directory were put into another directory and started the training process. Setting up the training scripts The command prompt terminal is used to run the scripts of the training process. Before starting the process, terminal was changed to the database â€Å"svd† directory and then the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain –t svd setup This command copied all the required configuration files into etc sub directory of the database directory and prepared the database for training. The two configuration files created were feat.params and sphinx_train.cfg. These two are given in Appendix A. Set up the database These values were filled in at configuration time. The Experiment name, will be used to name model files and log files in the database. $CFG_DB_NAME = svd; $CFG_EXPTNAME = $CFG_DB_NAME; Set up the format of database audio Since the database contains speech utterances with the ‘wav’ format and they were recorded using MSWav, the extension and the type were given accordingly as â€Å"wav† and â€Å"mswav†. $CFG_WAVFILES_DIR = $CFG_BASE_DIR/wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_EXTENSION = wav; $CFG_WAVFILE_TYPE = mswav; # one of nist, mswav, raw Configure Path to files This process was done automatically when having the right file structure in the running directory. The naming of the files must be very accurate. The paths were assigned to the variables used in main training of models. $CFG_DICTIONARY = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $CFG_RAWPHONEFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.phone; $CFG_FILLERDICT = $CFG_LIST_DIR/$CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $CFG_LISTOFFILES = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.fileids; $CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $CFG_LIST_DIR/${CFG_DB_NAME}_train.transcription; $CFG_FEATPARAMS = $CFG_LIST_DIR/feat.params; Configure model type and model parameters The model type continuous and semi continuous can be used in pocket sphinx. Continuous type is used for continuous speech recognition. Semi continuous is used for discrete speech recognition process. Since this application use discrete speech the semi continuous model training was used. #$CFG_HMM_TYPE = .cont.; # Sphinx 4, Pocketsphinx $CFG_HMM_TYPE = .semi.; # PocketSphinx $CFG_FINAL_NUM_DENSITIES = 8; # Number of tied states (senones) to create in decision-tree clustering $CFG_N_TIED_STATES = 1000; The number of senones used to train the model is indicated in this value. The sound can be chosen accurately if the number of senones is higher. But if we use too much senones, then it may not be able to recognize the unseen sounds. So the Word Error Rate can be very much higher on unseen sounds. The approximate number of senones and number of densities is provided in the table below. Configure sound feature parameters The default parameter used for sound files in Sphinx is a rate of 16 thousand samples per second (16KHz). If this is the case, then the etc/feat.params file will be automatically generated with the recommended values. The Recommended values are: # Feature extraction parameters $CFG_WAVFILE_SRATE = 16000.0; $CFG_NUM_FILT = 40; # For wideband speech its 40, for telephone 8khz reasonable value is 31 $CFG_LO_FILT = 133.3334; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 200 $CFG_HI_FILT = 6855.4976; # For telephone 8kHz speech value is 3500 Configure decoding parameters The following were properly configured in theetc/sphinx_train.cfg. $DEC_CFG_DICTIONARY = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.dic; $DEC_CFG_FILLERDICT = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/$DEC_CFG_DB_NAME.filler; $DEC_CFG_LISTOFFILES = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.fileids; $DEC_CFG_TRANSCRIPTFILE = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc/${DEC_CFG_DB_NAME}_test.transcription; $DEC_CFG_RESULT_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/result; # These variables, used by the decoder, have to be user defined, and # may affect the decoder output $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR = $DEC_CFG_BASE_DIR/etc; $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL = $DEC_CFG_LANGUAGEMODEL_DIR/ ${CFG_DB_NAME}.lm.DMP; Training After setting all these paths and parameters in the configuration file as described above, the training was proceeded. To start the training process the following command was run. python ../sphinxtrain/scripts/sphinxtrain run Scripts launched jobs on the machine, and it took few minutes to run. Acoustic Model After the training process, the acoustic model was located in the following path in the directory. Only this folder is needed for the speech recognition tasks. model_parameters/svd.cd_semi_200 We need only that folder for the speech recognition tasks we have to perform. 4.1.6Testing Results 150 speech samples were used as testing data. The aligning results could be obtained after the training process. It was located in the following path in the database directory. results/svd.align 4.1.7Parameters to be optimized Word error rate WER was given as a percentage value. It was calculated according to the following equation Accuracy Accuracy was also given as a percentage. That is the opposite value of the WER. It was calculated using the following equation To obtain an optimal recognition system, the WER should be minimized and the accuracy should be maximized. The parameters of the configuration file were changed time to time and obtained an optimal recognition system where the WER was the minimum with a high accuracy rate. 4.2Research phase 2: Build the voice dialing mobile application. In this section, the implementation of voice dialer for android mobile application is described. The application was developed using the programming language JAVA and it was done using the Eclipse IDE. It was tested in both the emulator and the actual device. The application is able to recognize the spoken digits by any speaker and dial the recognized number. To do this process the trained acoustic model, the pronunciation dictionary, the language model and the grammar files were needed. The speech recognition was performed by using these models in the mobile device itself by using the pocketsphinx library. It is a library written in C language to use for embedded speech recognition devices in Android platform. The step by step implementation and integration of the necessary components were discussed in detail in this section. Resource Files When inputting the resource files to the Android application, they were added in to theassets/directory of the project. Then the physical path was given to make them available for pocketsphinx. After adding them, the Assets directory contained the following resource files. Dictionary svd.dic svd.dic.md5 Grammar digits.gram digits.gram.md5 menu.gram menu.gram.md5 Language model svd.lm.DMP svd.lm.DMP.md5 Acoustic Model feat.params feat.params.md5 mdef mdef.md5 means means.md5 mixture_weights mixture_weights.md5 noisedict noisedict.md5 transition_matrices transition_matrices.md5 variances variances.md5 Assets.lst models/dict/svd.dic models/grammar/digits.gram models/grammar/menu.gram models/hmm/en-us-semi/feat.params models/hmm/en-us-semi/mdef models/hmm/en-us-semi/means models/hmm/en-us-semi/mixture_weights models/hmm/en-us-semi/noisedict models/hmm/en-us-semi/sendump models/hmm/en-us-semi/transition_matrices models/hmm/en-us-semi/variances models/lm/svd.lm.DMP Setup the Recognizer First of all the recognizer should be set up by adding the resource files. The model parameters taken after the training process were added as the HMM in the application. The recognition process was depended mainly on this resource files. Since the grammar files and the language model were added as assets, these two can be used for the recognition process of the application as well as the HMM. The utterances can be recognized from either the grammar files or language model. The whole process is coded using the Java programing language. 4.3Architecture of the developed Speech Recognition System

Analysing Management As An Art And A Science Philosophy Essay

Analysing Management As An Art And A Science Philosophy Essay Discuss this statement in relation to whether management could be described as a profession. Is management characterized as an art ,as a science or both? In order to investigate the nature of Management, it would be useful firstly to define it. According to Drucker Management is about human beings. Its task is to make people capable of joint performance, to make their strengths effective and their weaknesses irrelevant. This is what organization is all about, and this is the reason why management is the critical, determining factor (Drucker,2001, pp.10). Nowadays, practically everyone works for a managed institution, large or not, business or not. Our living actually depends on management. The ability we have to contribute to society, depends firstly on the way, the institute we work for, is managed and furthermore on our own abilities, devotion and effort. For years now, there has been a great debate on whether management can be characterized as a science or as an art. Some of the most important authors that tried to examine if management is an art or a science are Lester et al. (1998), Watkins (1993),Bohn (1994), Calkins (1959), Schiemann and Lingle (1997), and Weick (1996). This essay focuses on the studies that have been conducted on the nature of management, and its purpose is to reveal if management is an art, a science, or a combination of them, in relation to whether management could be described as a profession. We will try to answer that, by discussing the insufficiency of the technical approach to professional knowledge for dealing with real-world situations, but before that it would be interesting to examine the evolution of managerial discourse since 1870. According to Barley and Kunda ( 1992) even though serious theoretical and political differences existed, scholars have merged on a common theory of how American managerial notion has evolved. During the first stage, which terminated in the late 1800s, managerial discourse sought to legitimate coercive shopfloor practices ( Nelson, 1975). This phase was characterized by abusive control and threats of violence. By the turn of the century, early forms of mass production and a flourish of corporate merging had prepared the ground for a second phase, during which utilitarian rhetorics became increasingly popular (Wren, 1972). Accomplishing the work of Frederick Taylor, rational theories of management conquered managerial discourse by World War I(Bendix, 1956). The manpower was now supposed to be more effectively controlled by contouring production processes and by attracting the workers self-interest. According to Bendix (1956) the Depression is widely held to mark the beginning of the th ird phase. As the white-collar labor force was gaining more power, managerial discourse began to emphasize normative control : the idea that managers could more effectively regulate workers by attending not only to their behavior but to their thoughts and emotions. (Barley ,Kunda, 1992,pp.364 ) They believed that by approaching both the mind and the heart of the workers , management could reach the most subtle type of control: moral authority. The succession of Managerial Ideologies since 1870 Ideology Era of ascent Tenor Industrial Betterment 1870- 1900 Normative Scientific Management 1900- 1923 Rationale Welfare capitalism/Human relations 1923- 1955 Normative Systems rationalism 1955- 1980 Rational Organizational Culture 1980- present Normative (Barley,Kunda,1992, pp.364) It is a fact that science and art are very different in nature. According to Gao (2008) art is viewed as: the use of imagination to interpret feelings and ideas, particularly in painting, drawing sculpture, or the skill of creating objects such as paintings or drawings, especially when studying art. In reality, art has nothing to do with objectivity. It relates to collective, mostly, individual subjectivity. So can management really be the very antithesis of the use of a body of rigorous professional knowledge? According to Spender ( 2006) many writers, like Mintzberg (1976), point to management as an art form. Although management apparently has imaginative and artistic aspects, this is not really the point .The point here is to contrast rational way of decision making against intuitive creation. to imply that it might be more useful to think of business leadership as something other than cold, objective reasoning (Mintzberg, 1976). This is why, according to Richardson (2008 ) managers need to study philosophy. Repeatedly, managers have to be able to decide which data they need in order to make a decision, to interpret this theory and even choose what its purpose really is. This is not unexpected, if you take into consideration that many academic books on the topic often lack any practical suggestions. Philosophy is a study that inspires personal choice, and in management choices thrive. So, effective managers should know when a decision has to be based on principle and when it should be made logically , depending on each case. According to Drucker (1998) managers need impact rather than technique, and they prefer to be sound rather than clever; they know the trickiest part is to choose between the right and the wrong compromise , and they have learned to tell the difference from one another. Anyhow, in management, the most time-consuming part of the process is not taking the decision, but making it effective, a nd this is when the ability to manage through discontinuity, to be able to detect changes but also to recognize patterns and be able to focus on those things that do not change, is needed.(Mintzberg, 2004) Management as an art is an amazing but natural expression of human behavior (Peroff,1999). According to Bolman and Deal( 1997), managers are both artists and leaders who are able to develop exceptional solutions and fresh ideas about their organizations needs. They adjust to people and events around them and learn to expect the chaotic twirls and turns of managerial life. Artistry in management is neither exact nor precise. Artists interpret experience and express it in forms that can be felt, understood, and appreciated by others. Art allows for emotion, subtlety, ambiguity . An artist reframes the world so that others can see new possibilities(Boleman and Deal, 1997, pp. 17). To sum up, a significant group of people think of management as an art. In reality, management personalities, like Microsofts William Gates and GEs Jack Welch, and their top-down managerial strategy, have enhanced this idea (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995 ). Gao (2008) argues that the reasons are not only because these people have supported or have gone over the top about personal intuition and other personal irrational factors such as emotion and intuition in decision-making and management, but also because no management theory or approach can assure successful practical accomplishment of a social or economic organization in practice. So, as we already mentioned, effective management can be considered as an art the art of getting things done through people. Thinking of management as an art is possibly more productive, because it identifies management as something more than just a set of unambiguous techniques. Management as art implies inventiveness rather than conformity, practice rather than mere prescription, wisdom rather than mere knowledge. ( Evered, Selman, 2001 , pp.17 ) Science, on the other hand, even though there is no commonly agreed definition for it, is viewed as knowledge about the behavior and structure of the world, based on facts. However, according to Gao (2008), even though there is no body with the authority to define science, and there are various discussions about its definition, its nature and its motive in philosophy of science, everybody agrees that science is based on rational assumption and experimental orientation. . Science is the organized , systematic enterprise that gathers knowledge about the world and condenses the knowledge into testable laws and principles(Wilson, 1998,pp. 53). Polany suggested that post critical philosophy emphasizes the creative subjective aspect of scientists in the process of creating knowledge, but considerable collective subjectivity, objectivity, rationality and logic are necessary in science (Polany, 1958). According to Wilson(1998b) science involves the expansion of sensory capacity by instruments , the categorization of data, and the analysis of data guided by theory. Science , is extraordinary . With the aid of science , we can visualize matter across 37 orders of magnitude, from the largest galactic cluster to the smallest known particle.(Wilson, 1998a, pp.47) As long as science is used properly it can be really useful for everybodys everyday life. Management as a science was firstly characterized by Frederick Taylor (1911) and Gulick (1937). Scientific Management considered employees as tools for the achievement of organizational goals. Frederick W. Taylor believed that with the help of time and motion studies he could find out the best way for the accomplishment of a task and that workers should be very pleased that were imposed to do precisely what they were instructed. The needs of the organization were separated from the needs of the individual. In Peter Druckers ( 1998) words, Frederick W. Taylor was the first man in recorded history who deemed work deserving of systematic observation and study; on Taylors scientific management rests, above all, the tremendous surge of affluence in the last seventy-five years which has lifted the working masses in the developed countries well above any level recorded before, even for the well-to-do. Frederic W. Taylor, though, placed the main foundation, however, not much has been added to them since even though Taylor has been dead for over sixty years. Another important school of taking management as a science comes from the area of systems science. Ever since the 1940s, Churchman and Ackoff, based on Singers experimentalist philosophy, have tried to establish an Institute of Experimental Method for dealing with societal issues in areas such as city planning and business management (Ulrich, 2004). Churchmans social systems design and Ackoffs social systems science can be seen as typical representatives of the scientific school, although Ackoff believes that mess management is an art and a science. (Churchman, 1955, 1971, Ackoff, 1979). Even though the answer, to if management is an art or a science, could be both, either or neither. Some people think management is indeed a science, because of the scientific principles and rules that exist(like Taylors scientific management theories and Webers administration of social and economic organization) and that can be applied for improving the productivity and efficiency of organizations, profit or nonprofit, private or public (Taylor, 1911; Weber, 1947). According to Lester(1998) creative arts and science are very different from one another . Scientific knowledge is useful to us because it provides us with objective, verifiable knowledge about the real world around us. (Wilson, 1998) Art, however is also beneficial but in a different way. According to Lester (1998) art is in tune with our underlying human nature , which Wilson (1998) argues that is an inborn ensemble of instinctive rules that rule our behavior. But do managers today combine art and science at work? The severity of the management science utilization problem may be a result of an imbalance in the work of management scientists: too much science; not enough engineering ( Gruber, Niles, 1969). With the improvement of science so should also be improved the practical application of science. Even though the turns of organizational life are extremely complex and intangible, the knowledge and the available management theory could certainly contribute to the improvement of managerial practice. Mason Haire (1967, p. 110) in his Douglas McGregor Memorial Lecture observed: hen I say the contribution of the behavioral sciences to management has been disappointingly small, I mean this: in the past 15 years there have been perhaps 150 books and 1,500 articles written on the subject. And yet the practice o £ management remains about the same. It is obvious that in management, a severe strain exists between the promises of scientific methods and the realities of practice. At a time when management is becoming more scientific, friction should be expected in the relationship between the practitioners of the art and the advocates of the new scientific knowledge. (Gruber and Niles,1969, pp. 12) So it is obvious that management combines both science and art. According to P.F. Drucker management is thus what tradition used to call a liberal art liberal because it deals with the fundamentals of knowledge, self-knowledge, wisdom, and leadership; art because it is also concerned with practice and application . Managers draw on all the knowledge and insights of the humanities and the social sciences- on psychology and philosophy , on economics and history , on ethics as well as on the physical sciences. But they have to transform this knowledge on effectiveness and results. The effective practice of management requires a mixture of science and art; that is, a blend of rational objectivity and intuitive insight. Both views of management, as a science or as an art, can provide ample evidence to support their viewpoints, and they all seem correct and reasonable from their perspective. However, some people also think management is neither a science nor an art, but a political game. The criterion is in the mind of the speakers ( Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995). According to Nelson and Winter (1977), professional knowledge is also, neither fully scientific , nor fully a skill or routine, but a combination. It articulates of science, personal skill and experience and organizational routine. It is the function of the professional to act as an interface between routine and science. It is the professional who employs the heuristics in order to search, judge and choose routine in the path of problem solving. ( Tordoire , 1995) When it comes to management and the use of professional knowledge in business practice, managers have to do without those guidance facilities and manuals, that are so vital for the management of capital, land, entrepreneurship and labour, simply because such sources do not exist. According to Igor Ackoff (1979), educating managers and experts to use experts is one of the great challenges in modern business. In every day business practice, however, trial and error is still the common way to learn about managing and using professional knowledge (Tordoir,1995). But is management really a profession? Management has a long history of trying to establish itself as a profession and securing similar influence (Lowell, 1923). In the nineteenth century, professions and professional organizations emerged from a variety of traditionally learned occupations-generally those that required substantial theoretical knowledge and training, such as medicine, law, and science. Professionalization describes the procedure of uniting diverse practitioners under a set of homogeneous norms or rules, including the emergence of standards of certification, ethics, the development of self-governing associations, and the pursuit of legal recognition and protection (Hofstadter, Richard, and C. Dewitt Hardy, 1952). Professionalism and professions are dominant ideas and institutions. Sociologists and economists have recognized professions as an important division of the industry and professionals as an essential part of the labor force. Professions carry not only a financial implication but also a cultural importance. They often occupy the highest status positions in an occupational hierarchy. In cultural terms , they are carrie rs of important societal norms and values concerning such matters as the relationship between knowledge and power and the maintenance of trust (Khurana , 2007,pp.4 ). According to Spender (2006) the idea of management as a Profession refers to a group of people whose practice is shaped by training and credentialing against a proven and rigorous body of knowledge (Abbott, 1988 ). In this manner science has a long established a position of epistemic authority that clearly distinguishes its practitioners from amateurs, charlatans, soothsayers and the general public.( Watkins ,2006.) However, there are some critiques about professionals and professionalism in general. Some of the critiques are about the way the knowledge is delivered; Rakesh Khurana (2007) shows that university-based business schools were founded to educate a professional class of managers, in the style of doctors and lawyers but have effectively moved away from that objective, leaving a gaping moral hole at the center of business education and maybe even in management itself. Other critiques are attacks on the body of knowledge itself. Pfeffer (1993) was far from alone in his plea for increased disciplinary harshness, for some argue there is no rigorous body of managerial knowledge from which to teach and so no argument for management as a profession. According to Tordoir (1995) the professional character of knowledge is of course a matter of degree. Most critiques, however spot the gap between theory and practice, arguing that business school knowledge relates inadequately to the practicing man agers needs (Weick, 2001) . In what may still be the most significant study of managerial ideology, Bendix (1956) who wrote with great concern about the social-psychological aspects of work, argued that rhetorics of social Darwinism typical of the nineteenth century had gradually but steadily given way to the belief that managers could better secure compliance by shaping workers attitudes and sentiments. The practice of managing across governments and organizations overtakes both practical description and theoretical clarification. The business community has been suggesting that academicians should move out of the cut off, insulated world of the university and confront practical problems. Apparently, professions are defined, apart from a high level of professional skills and qualifications, by a wide variety of characteristics which also contain subjective values relating to ethics and values. Tordoir( 1995), argues that professionals have much in common with managers , they manage the organization of knowledge input in tackling a complex matter. Non-professional managers on the other hand do not employ heuristics based on science, as professionals do , but use experienced routines instead. If line managers do use heuristics based on science ,however ,they are by this definition indeed professionals in the field of management ( Tordoir , 1995). The professional is largely responsible for directing his own activities. Managers must take due account of this by applying rules and procedures on a modest scale and aiming to achieve maximum harmonization of the objectives of the organization and the personal objectives of the people working there. If they can do that then t here can be said to be professional management. .( Weggeman, 1989 ) These structures, the relative autonomy of professional work, and the high degree of prestige generally attached to professional activities differentiates professions from other forms of work and worker organization. Nevertheless, to mention the professional obligations of management executives is to imply that business management itself is a profession. But is it really? To the extent that different managers perform one set of basic roles, management satisfies one criterion for becoming a profession(Mintzberg, 1976), however sociologists who study the professions have engaged a wide range of viewpoints and criteria for determining what represents an occupation as a profession, which gives us the ability to compare management with what we take to be the bona fide professions, in particular law and medicine. ( Khuranha, 2007 ) According to Khurana, Nohria and Penrice (2005) The criteria for calling an occupation a bona fide profession are as follows: à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ a common body of knowledge resting on a well-developed, widely accepted theoretical base; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ a system for certifying that individuals possess such knowledge before being licensed or otherwise allowed to practice; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ a commitment to use specialized knowledge for the public good, and a renunciation of the goal of profit-maximization, in return for professional autonomy and monopoly power; à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¢ a code of ethics, with provisions for monitoring individual compliance with the code and a system of sanctions for enforcing it.( Khurana, Nohria, and Penrice, 2005, pp.4) Regarding the first criterion which is concerned with the body of systematized knowledge, there are significant differences between the science of management and the knowledge foundation of the traditional professions (Khurana, Nohria and Penrice, 2008). As far as the second criterion is concerned, according to Pfeffer and Fong (2002), management apart from not developing a body of knowledge comparable to those of the true professions, differs from these other occupations in lacking a set of institutions designed to certify that its practitioners have a basic mastery of a core body of specialized knowledge and can apply it judiciously; although the MBA has been the fastest-growing graduate degree for the past twenty years, it is not a requirement for becoming a manager (Pfeffer and Fong,2002). As far as the privileges that society grants to professions are concerned it should be mentioned that they exist in return for certain social benefits. The creation of these social benefits, in turn, creates certain restrictions on professionals. Because they own specific knowledge in areas of vital concern to society, genuine professionals are expected to place that knowledge at the disposal of all who require it and to provide services in a way that places the maintenance of professional standards and values ahead of the securing of individual advantage ( Khurana, Nohria and Penrice , 2008). Once again, not always things work like that in management, as many genuine professional managers seem to rest on the advantages their profession provides them with but forget about their responsibilities towards the public. The fourth and final dimension on which, management differs significantly from the true professions is that its members are not ruled by a communal normative code that is supported by institutions that promote loyalty and obedience to it. Such a normative code, whether known as a code of ethics or a code of conduct, is a vital characteristic of almost any work-r elated group that its purpose is to be seen as a profession. So we would argue, that management has succeeded in taking for granted many of the appearances and privileges of professionalism while escaping the restraints and responsibilities. Today, Khurana argues, business schools have largely capitulated in the battle for professionalism and have become merely purveyors of a product, the MBA, with students treated as consumers. Management education is also a huge and successful industry. Pfeffer and Fongs papers (2002) give us good numbers: Business schools employ thousands of people all over the world; more than 100,000 MBAs are awarded annually in the United States, and tens of thousands are awarded elsewhere; there are more thousands of executive and undergraduate business degrees, diplomas, and certificates being awarded, too (Pfeffer and Fong, 2002). Professional and moral ideals that once animated and inspired business schools have been conquered by a perspective that managers are merely agents of shareholders, beholden only to the cause of share profits. According to Khurana, we should not thus be surprised at the rise of corporate malfeasance. The time has come, he concludes, to rejuvenate intellectually and mor ally the training of our future business leaders. So finally, is management an art or a science? If Wilsons (1998) belief in a unified theory of everything is correct, maybe we should be asking a much larger question. Is a consilience of all of our ways of thinking about management possible? ( Peroff, N. ,1999) The famous physicist Louis de Broglie once said May it not be universally true that the concepts produced by the human mind, when formulated in a slightly vague form, are roughly valid for reality, but that, when extreme precision is aimed at, they become ideal forms whose real content tends to vanish away? (quoted in Cory, 1942). This suggests that we should use scientific understanding (not knowledge) to guide our decisions, not determine them, as such understanding is only correct in a loose sense.( Richardson ,2008, pp. 22) Management, even though it can be described as a profession, it should not be considered as a real profession because of all the lacks that we identified; however its nature combines both art and scien ce, just like professional knowledge should combine them. There is no doubt that, when properly implemented, scientific management can really increase efficiency, but efficiency should always be tempered with humanity, by all means, as management is ad hoc and instinctive, rather than structured and planned.

the bear :: essays research papers fc

Composition II Research Paper Rough Draft title   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In â€Å"The Bear† by William Faulkner, there are several different personalities and attitudes that come into play at various times in the story. The story is told from the perspective of Isaac McCaslin, the boy of the story and one of the main characters as well, and many critics feel that this was â€Å"probably a projection of Faulkner’s own youthful self†(Monarch Notes 5). Isaac was of the aristocratic class of people who were a part of the South, and who also played a significant part of the stories that Faulkner wrote. Another class of people that were a consistent part of Faulkner’s short stories were the poor-whites such as the Snopes family in â€Å"Barn Burning.† Abner Snopes is a man who seems to blame everyone but himself for his problems. Being a Civil War veteren from the Confederate point of view, he was bitter about the War and the way that the Southerners were treated, though it appears that he brought his parti cular condition upon himself. During the War, the only loyalty was to himself and he remained that way Another class of people that are a significant part of Faulkner short stories are the non-whites which include the Negro, the Indian, and any mixture of the different races found in the South. Abner Snopes gave no regard or respect to the â€Å"nigger†(155), who was the de Spain servant and door man, when the Snopeses came to announce their arrival for the sharecropper job, but muttered â€Å"get out of my way, nigger.† Sam Waters gained more kindness and respect than that, though he was still a mixed blood in a wealthy, white world. He was Works Cited Faulkner, William. â€Å"The Bear.† Big Woods New York: Random House, 1955. 11-97. Faulkner, William. â€Å"Barn Burning.† Short Story Masterpieces Ed. Robert Penn Warren and Albert Erskine. New York: Dell, 1954. 148-68. â€Å"Works of William Faulkner: Introduction and Bibliographical Scetch(sic).

vegetarianism Essay -- Healthy Lifestyle Essay

To most people vegetarianism means the refraining of meat, primarily red meat, from personal consumption. Although the traditional vegetarian abstinence of red meat has grown into a group of varied lifestyles, little is known about them. To some people vegetarians are considered to be a drop out of the hippy era, or are labelled as "weird" or "feral". Because of the misinterpretations surrounding vegetarianism in society I am going to outline the various diets which are recognized as vegetarianism. I hope by writing this I can change some attitudes and misunderstandings, of the motivations behind the vegetarian lifestyles. Plain vegetarianism; the first and most recognized is the general abstinence of red meat, some vegetarians see the consumption of white meats as acceptable, white meat includes fish, poultry and maybe even pork. They also consume dairy produce, eggs and any other form of animal produce used in their everyday lives. Vegetarians replace the red meat in their diets with vegetables, fruit and other vegetarian alternatives, these are usually processed foods made from either soya or gluten, there are also vegetarian burgers, which are made from formed vegetables. One of the variations of the red meat vegetarian, which closely follows the above description, is the ovo-lacto vegetarianism diet, which finds diary produce and eggs acceptable but no meat at all. Not even white meat, some ovo-lacto vegetarians consider fish to be acceptable, this is because categorically speaking fish is not considered meat, it is still flesh, and in my opinion constitutes as meat. Another recognized version of vegetarianism is the lacto vegetarian kind. These vegetarians consider meat; red and white, to be unacceptable, they also abstain from eggs. Dairy products are also a part of the lacto vegetarian lifestyle, the lack of animal eggs in the diet of these vegetarians is made up in the form of egg replaces and even meat alternatives like tofu can be used to simulate some egg dishes. Another path taken by vegetarians is the, pure vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. Which includes the abstinence of meat of all kinds, dairy produce, eggs, and all edible animal produce. To some vegans the diet exceeds the boundaries of food and takes on a full-scale animal product boycott. This comes in the abstinence of leather, fur, wool, silk and any other animal p... ...getables such as kale are as good or better then milk as calcium sources.  · Fat content - Other then skim varieties, dairy products are high in fat, as a percentage of total calories: Whole milk - 49% fat Cheddar cheese - 74% fat Butter - 100% fat  · Contaminants - Milk is frequently contaminated with antibiotics and excess vitamin D. Of 42 milk samples recently tested, only 12 percent were within the expected rand of vitamin D content. Of ten samples of infant formula, seven had more then twice the vitamin D content then reported on the label, and one had more than four times the label amount.  · Lactose - Many people of Asian and African heritage are unable to digest the milk sugar, lactose, which then causes diarrhea and gas. The Lactose sugar, when it is digested, releases galactose, a simple sugar which is linked to ovarian cancer and cataracts.  · Allergies - Milk is one of the most common causes of food allergy. Often the symptoms are subtle and may not be attributed to milk for some time.  · Colic - Milk proteins can cause colic, a digestive upset that bothers one in five infants. Milk-drinking mothers can also pass cow's milk proteins to their breast-feeding infants. vegetarianism Essay -- Healthy Lifestyle Essay To most people vegetarianism means the refraining of meat, primarily red meat, from personal consumption. Although the traditional vegetarian abstinence of red meat has grown into a group of varied lifestyles, little is known about them. To some people vegetarians are considered to be a drop out of the hippy era, or are labelled as "weird" or "feral". Because of the misinterpretations surrounding vegetarianism in society I am going to outline the various diets which are recognized as vegetarianism. I hope by writing this I can change some attitudes and misunderstandings, of the motivations behind the vegetarian lifestyles. Plain vegetarianism; the first and most recognized is the general abstinence of red meat, some vegetarians see the consumption of white meats as acceptable, white meat includes fish, poultry and maybe even pork. They also consume dairy produce, eggs and any other form of animal produce used in their everyday lives. Vegetarians replace the red meat in their diets with vegetables, fruit and other vegetarian alternatives, these are usually processed foods made from either soya or gluten, there are also vegetarian burgers, which are made from formed vegetables. One of the variations of the red meat vegetarian, which closely follows the above description, is the ovo-lacto vegetarianism diet, which finds diary produce and eggs acceptable but no meat at all. Not even white meat, some ovo-lacto vegetarians consider fish to be acceptable, this is because categorically speaking fish is not considered meat, it is still flesh, and in my opinion constitutes as meat. Another recognized version of vegetarianism is the lacto vegetarian kind. These vegetarians consider meat; red and white, to be unacceptable, they also abstain from eggs. Dairy products are also a part of the lacto vegetarian lifestyle, the lack of animal eggs in the diet of these vegetarians is made up in the form of egg replaces and even meat alternatives like tofu can be used to simulate some egg dishes. Another path taken by vegetarians is the, pure vegetarian or vegan lifestyle. Which includes the abstinence of meat of all kinds, dairy produce, eggs, and all edible animal produce. To some vegans the diet exceeds the boundaries of food and takes on a full-scale animal product boycott. This comes in the abstinence of leather, fur, wool, silk and any other animal p... ...getables such as kale are as good or better then milk as calcium sources.  · Fat content - Other then skim varieties, dairy products are high in fat, as a percentage of total calories: Whole milk - 49% fat Cheddar cheese - 74% fat Butter - 100% fat  · Contaminants - Milk is frequently contaminated with antibiotics and excess vitamin D. Of 42 milk samples recently tested, only 12 percent were within the expected rand of vitamin D content. Of ten samples of infant formula, seven had more then twice the vitamin D content then reported on the label, and one had more than four times the label amount.  · Lactose - Many people of Asian and African heritage are unable to digest the milk sugar, lactose, which then causes diarrhea and gas. The Lactose sugar, when it is digested, releases galactose, a simple sugar which is linked to ovarian cancer and cataracts.  · Allergies - Milk is one of the most common causes of food allergy. Often the symptoms are subtle and may not be attributed to milk for some time.  · Colic - Milk proteins can cause colic, a digestive upset that bothers one in five infants. Milk-drinking mothers can also pass cow's milk proteins to their breast-feeding infants.

Grapes of Wrath Essay -- essays research papers

Because of the devastating disaster of the dust bowl, the Joad family was forced to leave their long-time home and find work and a new life elsewhere. They, like many other families, moved to California. "The land of milk and honey". The people in the dust bowl imagined California as a haven of jobs where they would have a nice little white house and as much fruit as they could eat. This dream was far from the reality the migrant farmers faced once in California. The dreams, hopes, and expectations the Joads had of California were crushed by the reality of the actual situation in this land of hate and prejudice. The Joads dream of owning a nice white house and being overwhelmed with fruit was quickly put to end after their first night in California. Ma says, "But I like to think how nice it's gonna be, maybe, in California. Never cold. An' fruite ever'place, an' people just bein' in the nicest places, little white houses in among the orange trees." They had been lied to by the handbills and other propaganda that was circulating in the dust bowl region. The growers in California knew that the people of the dust bowl would have to leave their houses because of the crisis. They also knew the more pickers they had the lower they could make their prices. The number of handbills sent out far out numbered the number of jobs available. Many people in the dust bowl were constructing a view of California that was devastatingly false. However most of the people had to go somewhere, and all they knew was agriculture, so the natural thing was to go to the only place in the country at that time that was in peak agricultural condition. This was all true in the case of the Joads. They had no experience with any other kind of lifestyle. They were farmers and they thought that was what they would remain. What they became was job hunters, starving and hungry people, and homeless vagrants. California was no dream land, but the exact opposite. A promised heaven that was revealed to be a very real hell. During the long journey to California the Joads, and other migrant travelers, encountered many warnings of what California was going to be like from migrants who were returning home, mostly destroyed by the true reality of California. They got a warning in the camp they stayed at on the side of the road while Tom, Al, and Casey were fixing the car. There was... ...t at the end of the tunnel because if they stayed where they were they would surely have not survived. The Joads couldn't stay where they were and without a goal to reach, something to look forward to, one just wanders around life aimlessly and hopelessly. They kept the dream alive throughout the journey. Even through the harsh rumors they heard along the road. They still kept that fragment of hope in the back of their heads that California would be everything they hoped it would be. Even in their worst times in California they would still look forward to earning enough money and getting a little white house to live in. Their lives really were destroyed when the dust bowl hit but no one can except those facts so they must tell themselves it will be all right. We will go to California and everything will be even better there than it was here. Unfortunately that wasn't the reality of the situation and the Joads were forced to deal with that harsh reality once in California and on t he hard long journey there. California was no dream land, but rather a sealed fate to a life of fighting for food and watching loved ones die. California was the pain of the migrants summed up in one word.

Fast Food Restaurants Essay

The blame for obesity is almost always placed on fast food restaurants alone. However, the rise in obesity is contributed by several factors – a change in lifestyle, less exercise, bigger food portions and targeted marketing. To be fair, the presence of fast food industry is fueled by a major change in the lifestyle of today’s generation. The advancement of technology and modern appliances has changed the way we live, harming us in some ways. We drive to work or school instead of walking or cycling. We sit in front of the computer or television for long hours instead of running at the neighborhood with friends. The same goes with our choice in diet. Rather than preparing meals in the kitchen, we would opt for a convenient and time-saving meal at the fast food restaurant (Nutracheck. co. uk, n. d. , para. 9). Eating at fast food restaurants eventually becomes an acceptable trend in the current society even though most people are well aware that fast food is bad for them (Whatscookingamerica. net, 2002, On the Other Hand section, para. 2). This comes down to a matter of choice and individual’s responsibility. For our part, we decide on what we eat and we are responsible for our choice (Nutracheck. co. k, n. d. , para. 10). We are responsible for the choice we made, not the company that provides the food (Whatscookingamerica. net, 2002, On the Other Hand section, para. 2). In a typical family setting, one would discover that both husband and wife are working. Otherwise, they would not be able to afford to buy a house or even fund their children’s higher education. With more women joining the workforce, they no longer have the luxury of shopping for fresh grocery at the local market and preparing healthy meals for the family (Whatscookingamerica. net, 2004, How We Got So Fat section, para. ). In order to feed their families, these women have not much choice left but to opt for buying fast food. This is the easiest, most convenient and most affordable option for most families. The children from these families grew up eating processed food and this would have influenced their eating choices as they become adults. Furthermore, most people are just not getting enough exercise to burn off the extra calories ingested daily (Whatscookingamerica. net, 2004, How We Got So Fat section, para. 7). Thirty minutes of daily vigorous activity is good enough to w ard off heart diseases. However, at least one hour of physical exercise is necessary to burn off the extra calories gained daily (Protraineronline. com, 2011, para. 10). Insufficient exercise coupled with a less physical lifestyle and high-calories diet would only mean that the population grows fatter each day. On the individual level, we are responsible on the amount of calories ingested and burned on a daily basis (Protraineronline. com, 2011, para. 18). If we willingly choose to consume high-caloric fast food yet we do not bother to burn off the extra calories, then we can only have ourselves to blame if we become obese. Having said all that, fast food restaurants deserve to take in a huge part of the blame for obesity. They made unhealthy food so cheaply and readily available to the population (Nutracheck. co. uk, n. d. , para. 3) and yet most of them do not bother to warn their customers of the unhealthy food served (Whatscookingamerica. net, 2002, On One Hand section, para. 3). Most consumers do not know what is being served to them – they are ignorant of the hazardously high sodium, sugar and fat content in the food served. To make matters worse, fast food restaurants are also serving bigger portions compared to a decade ago. The fast food industry is facing a stiff competition. Since it costs just a little bit more to serve a large portion compared to a medium portion, â€Å"supersizing† became a common practice especially for fast food chains like McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s (Whatscookingamerica. net, 2004, How We Got So Fat section, para. 5). The burgers served are oversized, fries come in extra-large servings and the soda drinks are bottomless (Whatscookingamerica. net, 2002, para. 2). Then again, even if fast food restaurants offer â€Å"super-size† portions, customers are not forced to double their potion (Nutracheck. o. uk, n. d. , para. 8). They can still opt for the normal size serving. Fast food restaurants are also to be blamed for disseminating wrong messages about diet and nutrition in television advertisement targeted towards children (Nutracheck. co. uk, n. d. , para. 7). In these television advertisements, children are convinced to eat processed food that is really bad for them. Fast food restaurants take advantage of the fact that children are more susceptible to marketing campaigns and they cannot decide on what is best for them to eat since they are not as well informed as adult consumers (Nutracheck. o. uk, n. d. , para. 7). Hence, the fast food industry is clearly the culprit of the growing obesity problem among children. In conclusion, the responsibility of choosing healthy food and getting daily exercises lies in every individual to tackle the obesity problem. Meanwhile, fast food restaurants have to bear the blame of serving unhealthy food to their customers, â€Å"super-sizing† portions to retain loyal customers and making children the target of their sinister television advertisement.