Meta-Investigation on The Michael Brown Case Essay Example for Free

Meta-Investigation on The Michael Brown Case Essay Block A. A. Terms problem- The teams are not communicating primarily caused by the J. Edgar Hoover Model, page 37, Detective Terms. [This model does not require identifying the investigative building blocks or rules of investigations and assumes that everyone on the team will know them. It can be argued that this is the main cause of most problems in building cases. Further evidence for this lack of communication was the failure to manage the body(Physical Evidence#5) in a timely manner(Block A-Rules of Investigations) No one in the investigation has really known who has jurisdiction over this case. It went from city to county and then state and no one actually preceded to be the 1st in line of action to step up and say, â€Å"Hey, we have it.† One of the influencers in this case was Al Sharpton, basically bringing in the Feds and making it a civil case of racism. The population of Ferguson is 67% black, which has served as a big influence on this case. Case Label Block 1 There are no actual charges yet for this case, because they are still investigating this case in Ferguson, Missouri. The officer had reasonable doubt to ask Michael Brown to get off the road and to get onto the sidewalk. He had the law on his side if he would have frisked the two young guys and possibly arrest one or both of them. The media and Al Sharpton and other Elites are trying to make this out to be a civil case. It almost seems as if Michael basically committed Copicide. The rule of discretion was followed, it seems. The officer followed through at his own discretion instead of calling for backup. Verbal Evidence Block 2 Michael Brown had no most-serious felony convictions or pending cases. Dorian Johnson, witness to Michael Brown getting shot, has been accused of lying in the past upon several occasions. This makes him to be a bad witness for this case, good for the officer’s case though.

Erasmus vs Luther; Discourse on Free

Erasmus vs Luther; Discourse on Free Will Essay The Erasmus-Luther Discourse on Free Will begins with the Diatribe concerning free will, written by Erasmus. Luther then refutes Erasmus Diatribe with The Bondage of the Will. The question being debated is whether man is in control of his own will, or whether everything is preordained by God, thus leaving man without free will. Their diverging philosophies have been interpreted as being the basic difference between Catholic and Protestant positions regarding free will. This debate offers two very conflicting views, although both philosophies were basic principles in their respective religions. Erasmus builds his argument without a solid foundation; like building a house without a foundation, it can easily crumble. Thus, Luther convincingly attacks Erasmus Diatribe. Erasmus holds that man is left with the choice of doing either good or evil. It is mans choice and therefore, free will exists. In the opinion of Erasmus, the freedom of the will in Holy Scriptures is as follows: if on the road to piety, one should continue eagerly to improve; if one has become involved in sin, one should make every effort to extricate oneself, and to solicit the mercy of the Lord. Two conclusions concerning Erasmus beliefs can be drawn from this statement; firstly that man can himself find repentance and secondly that God is infallible, meaning that a person engages in evil acts with his own will. The definition of free will given by Erasmus is the power of the human will whereby man can apply to or turn away from that which leads unto eternal salvation. While addressing the topic of Adam and Eve, Erasmus states, In man, will was so good and so free that even without additional grace it could have remained in a state of innocence, though not without help of grace could it attain the blessedness of eternal life, as the Lord Jesus promised his people. Erasmus, therefore, believes eternal salvation is attainable with the help and mercy of God, but Erasmus also believes that Adam and Eve caused man to have original sin. Erasmus goes on to write, In those without extraordinary grace the reason is darkened, but not extinguished. Probably the same occurs to the power of the will: it is not completely extinct but unproductive of virtuous deeds. In short Erasmus believed that man has free will and therefore is punished or rewarded according to the choices he makes. He backs his argument with many quotes from the scripture but so does Luther, thus the argument shifts, and the sense of scripture is the debate. Luther, who wrote The Bondage of the Will to refute what Erasmus had written in the Diatribe, disagrees; stating that man does not have freedom of the will. In the first few pages, Luther proclaims The Holy Scripture is no skeptic, and what He has written into our hearts are no doubts or opinions, but assertions more certain and more firm that all human experience in life itself. Furthermore, he goes on to say The essence of Christianity which you (Erasmus) describe is without Christ, without the Spirit, and chillier than ice Luther immediately implies that Erasmus has not been saved. Luther abhors those who claim to be self-reformers, once again contradicting Erasmus. You say: Who will reform his life? I answer: Nobody! No man can! God has no time for you self-reformers, for they are all hypocrites. The elect who fear God will be reformed by the Holy Spirit. Perhaps the quote that best exemplifies Luthers position is as follows: Thus the human will is like the beast of burden. If God rides it, it wills and goes whence God wills; as the Psalm says, I was a beast of burden before thee (Psalm 72:22) If Satan rides, it wills and goes where Satan wills. Nor may it choose to which rider it will run, nor which it will seek. But the riders themselves contend who shall have and hold it. This philosophy contends that both good and evil are worked by a higher being. Both authors in this work make reference to Judas and his betrayal of Christ. Both parties acknowledge the foreknowledge of God, but Luther proclaims that God willed it. Thus the Protestant faith grew on the principles of predestination and the absolute belief that the scriptures are to be interpreted literally. At no point does Luther ever stray from the central point of his refutation, proving Erasmus wrong by presenting the conclusive evidence needed. Erasmus, on the other hand, never really plants his feet in this argument. Erasmus covers his tracks by changing the terms of the debate throughout his work. For example, Erasmus fails to define the limits within which the reader should think that the will is being acted upon. One can not conclude that Erasmus does not fully believe what he states in his Diatribe, but he admittedly discloses I have always preferred playing the freer field of the muses, than fighting ironclad in close combat. Erasmus proclaims that their debate is in the sense of scripture, yet how can one who defends free will pigeonhole the interpretation of the reader? Luther is much more direct in laying out his arguments and criticizes Erasmus for stating a bare definition without explaining its parts. The debate has very much become a personal matter by the time Luthers discourse commences. There is no mutual agreement whatsoever, thus it is easy to see why the views of Catholics and Protestants were so divergent. Erasmus is clearly trying to convince his readers, most particularly Luther, that free will does indeed exist. Luther continues to stay his course and states that God wills all. Everything is preordained, evil included. Of the assertions, Luther simply states one must delight in assertions to be a Christian at all! While Erasmus seems leery to take a firm stance in his debate, he is changing the circumstances of the debate, which clearly is an attempt to prevent Luther from pinning him down in Luthers The Bondage of the Will. After thoroughly refuting everything Erasmus has stated, Luther proclaims that Erasmus has asserted nothing but made comparisons . Whether there be complete merit in either mans philosophy, Luther has quite convincingly made Erasmus position appear flawed.

Establishing A Pay Structure Commerce Essay

Establishing A Pay Structure Commerce Essay Compensation is an important factor for HR people. Indeed, it is a way to motivate employees and increase their job satisfaction. However, determine the right compensation for each individual inside the company is not an easy task: it will depend on several factors that will be discussed in this paper. Organizations make decisions to define a job structure, or relative pay for different jobs within the organization. They establish relative pay for different functions and different levels of responsibility for each function. Organizations also must establish pay levels, or the average paid for the different jobs. These decisions are based on the organizations goals, market data, legal requirements and principles of fairness. Together, job structure and pay level establish a pay structure policy. To be effective, the compensation must be competitive in the market, perceived as fair by employees, accurately based, motivating and easily understandable. Thus, in order to achieve it a pay structure policy can help in this process. A pay structure dresses a hierarchy of job types and grades with the associated compensation and benefits. It is a term for the array of pay rates within the organization and representing the degree of slope in its pay policy (Milkovich Newman, 2002). Characteristics of a particular pay structure include the number of levels in the structure, the size of the pay differentials between each level in the structure, and the rate at which employees can progress through each level in the structure (Gerhart Milkovich, 1992). In order to realize this paper, I interviewed to HR managers that gave me their thoughts about the subject and experience. The paper will begin with the legal requirements that a company has to respect when setting compensation in the United States, and then it will focus on the factors. Legal Requirements At work employees are protected by several regulations in terms of selection, health and safety, labor, etc and of course pay. When establishing a pay structure, organizations face some laws put in place by the government that may vary according to the country where the employees of the company work. There are mainly five types of constraints that companies have to take into consideration in order to avoid troubles: equal employment opportunity, minimum wages, pay for overtime and prevailing wages for federal contractors and child labor. Equal Employment Opportunity The Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) gathers several laws from the Civil Rights Act, American With Disabilities Act, Age discrimination in Employment Act and Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act. These laws protect employees from discrimination in hiring, promotion, discharge, pay, fringe benefits, job training, classification, referral and other aspects of employment according to employees race, color, religion, sex, origin, disability, genetics and age. Thus, to meet the standard of EEO, employers must provide equal pay for equal work, regardless of these criteria. However it does not guarantee equal pay between men and women or young and old, etc. Indeed, differences in pay may appear but they must have good explanations relative to the business such as job responsibilities, skills, performance etc. To summarize, two employees doing the same job cannot be paid differently because of the previous criteria mentioned otherwise it would be considered as illegal. However, if one of the employees has some particular skills, or other business related considerations, the two employees might have a different pay. Fair Labor Standards Act The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) is administered by the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) and establishes the federal minimum wage, overtime pay and child employment standards that most of companies must comply with. It applies to most of companies operating in the US and exempts some employees such as executives, professionals and outside sales persons. Under the FLSA, the employer must pay at least the minimum wage established by the law. Nonetheless some states and local governments have established higher minimum wages. In cases of where an employee works under state and federal minimum wage law he should be paid with the highest one. A minimum wage corresponds to the lowest compensation an employee can receive for the work s/he has performed. In 2012, the current minimum wage set by the FLSA in the United States is $7.25. In addition, the FLSA establishes a youth minimum wage for the first 90 consecutive days of employment of people under 20 years old which represents around 85% of the minimum wage. The FLSA also requires overtime pay for hours worked beyond 40 in each week. Thus employees should be paid at a different rate for extra hours. This rate is set at one and a half times the employees regular pay rate including bonuses. Overtime pay is required even if the employer did not ask the employee to work more. Moreover, there is no limit on the number of hours an employee can work during a week. Finally, employers must meet FLSA requirements concerning child labor (children younger than 18 years old) which basically restrict the use of child labor within a company. They must be paid at the minimum wage, as adults, or youth minimum wage (for the first 90 days). Any violation of the act may result to penalties and sanctions. Prevailing Wages for Federal Contractors The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment Standards Administrations Wage and Hour Division (WHD) administers laws and regulations requiring minimum wages to be paid to workers performing construction work on federally-funded contracts or providing services to the federal government. Federal contractors must meet the requirements to pay at least the prevailing wages in the area where there employees work, that is to say the hour rate paid to the majority of workers in a specific area. It is defined by regulatory agencies. It exists two federal laws that cover employees pay policy in this field: Davis-Bacon Act for construction contractors that receive more than $2,000 in federal money. Walsh-Healy Public Contracts Act for all government contractors receiving $10,000 or more in federal funds. Economic Factors on Compensation An organization cannot make spending decisions independent of the economy. Organizations must keep costs low enough so that they can sell their products profitably, however they must be able to attract workers in a competitive labor market. Thus, to remain competitive, employers must meet the demands of product and labor markets. Product Markets Product market is a market in which competing final goods and services are exchanged. Companies must be competitive in product markets so that they can generate enough profit in order to pay their employees. The more the competition, the more companies will reduce costs because they are unable to increase prices without losing money. In addition, product markets seek to buy at the lowest price, so organizations must limit their costs as much as possible. Indeed, an organization that has high labor cost will have to raise its prices for similar products already available on the market. In this way, product markets place an upper limit on the pay an employer can afford to offer for a specific job. Labor Markets In order to define labor market, we need to define its demand and supply. The demand side focus on the employers actions, that is to say how much he is willing to pay and how much employees he is looking for. The supply side consists of workers who want to earn as much as possible. To attract and keep workers, employers must pay at least the going rate in their labor markets. That is to say, to remain competitive in the labor market, organizations in a similar area have to pay this minimum amount to hire the most qualified employees. In this way, labor markets place a lower limit on the pay an employer must be willing to offer for a specific job. Pay Policy Identification Organizations make decisions about whether to pay at, above or below the pay rate set by these market forces. Paying above the market rate may make the organization less competitive in product markets but give it an advantage in labor markets. The organization benefits only if it can attract the best candidates and provide the system that motivate and enable them to do their best work. Furthermore, the efficiency wage theory (A. Marshall, 1920) explains that paying employees above the market rate increase productivity and efficiency for firms. Indeed, thanks to that they would be able to avoid shirk, reduce employees turnover, attract the best people, provide motivation for employees and allow them to eat so that they are less willing to be sick. Organizations that pay below the market rate need creative practices for recruiting and training workers so that they can find and keep enough qualified people. It is the less recommended strategy. If an organization choose it, it is probably because it has not enough financial resources to pay its employees, however in order to keep employees or even attract them the company must provide other non-financial advantages. Companies that are using this strategy experience high rates of employees dissatisfaction, high turnover and low productivity. The most use strategy is to match the market by paying the same pay for same jobs. Indeed by setting the same pay level, companies are able to remain competitive while managing their labor costs. Benchmarking In order to define the going rate in the market, companies use benchmarking. It consists for them to compare their own practices in terms of pay with the ones practiced by their competitors. Benchmarking is done through pay surveys to the right competitors, for the right jobs, and through the right methods (phone interviews, personal interviews, questionnaire, etc.). This is usually done by some agencies, especially the US bureau of labor statistics, with National Compensation Survey; rather than by the company itself. While developing a pay survey, companies must take into the two previous factors mentioned in pay level decisions (product market and labor market). Indeed, according to the goal of the company, it will focus more on product markets or labor markets comparisons. Pay structure related to jobs Along economic forces, organizations must consider the relative contribution each job should make to the organizations overall performance. Creation of a pay structure requires that the organization develop an internal structure showing the relative contribution of its various jobs, called job structure. One way to do it is through job evaluation. Job evaluation Job evaluation has several objectives, it can help to: Define what positions and job responsibilities are similar Decide right pay grades and other compensation issues Develop job classifications Help employees along their career path Organizations typically begin with a job evaluation to measure the relative worth of their jobs. A job evaluation committee identifies each jobs compensable factors and rates each factor. These compensable factors are the specificities that each job requires and that the company decided to value most and pay for its employees, such as education, skills, effort, job complexity, responsibilities, working conditions, experiences of the employee, etc. Then, for each factor the organizations define several degrees (usually no more than five) in order to judge the degree of a factor existing in a job. Once it is done, the committee assigns points for each factors and degrees. In order to simplify this process the committee may write down a job evaluation manual and use it to evaluate each job according to their significance into the organization. Pay Structure Creation The committee can research market pay levels for key jobs, then identify appropriate rates of pay for other jobs, based on their number of points relative to the key jobs. The organization can do this with a pay policy line, which plots a salary for each job. The pay policy line is a graph that shows the relationships between job evaluation and pay rate. It is then used to define the compensation for non-key jobs, for which the company has no data. The organization can combine jobs into several groups, called pay grades. For each pay grade or job, the organization typically establishes a pay range that will determine a minimum, midpoint and maximum of pay for a specific job or job within a specific pay grade, using the market rate or pay policy line as a midpoint. Thus, the salary of an employee may change according to some factors such as performance, seniority, etc. However, for some reasons, it is possible that an employees pay fall outside the pay range that the organization established. For instance, when an employee pay rate fall below the pay range for the job, it is called green-circle rate. It can happen when the employee has been promoted to a new position that is under a new pay grade. Conversely, when the employee pay rate fall above the pay range for the job, it is called red-circle rate. It can happen when the employee is demoted and keeps his/her current compensation. When these kinds of situation happen it is im portant for the company to solve the problem, nonetheless it is still rare. Differences in working conditions or labor markets sometimes call for the use of pay differentials to adjust pay levels. For instance, some companies pay a differential for night work to compensate them. Alternatives to Job-Based Pay To obtain more flexibility, organizations may reduce the levels in the organizations job structure. This process of delayering creates broad bands of jobs with a pay range for each. Other organizations reward employees according to their knowledge and skills. They establish skill-based pay systems, or structures that set pay according to the employees level of knowledge and what they are capable of doing. This encourages employees to be more flexible and adapt to changing technology. However, if the organization does not also provide systems in which employees can apply new skills, it may be paying them for skills they do not actually use. Monitoring Compensation Costs The Human Resource Department should routinely compare actual pay with the pay structure to see that policies and practices match. A common way to do this is to measure a compa-ratio for each job or pay grade. The compa-ratio is the ratio of average pay to midpoint of the pay range. Assuming the pay structure supports the organizations goals, the compa-ratio should be close to 1. When compa-ratios are more or less than 1, the HR department should work with managers to identify whether to adjust the pay structure or the organizations pay practices. http://www.dol.gov/whd/flsa/index.htm#.UPHgI-TxajM

R.C. Sherriffs Journeys End :: R. C. Sherriff Journeys End Essays

R.C. Sherriff's Journey's End Set on the Western Front, ‘Journey’s End’ is based on R C Sherriff’s experiences as an Officer in the trenches of the First World War. It was the first war play to look at the reality of the day to day life of soldiers. Prior to ‘Journey’s End’, plays either demonised the enemy, and focused on deeds of heroism, or preached the futility of war. This play was one of a number of literary works, produced about 10 years after the end of the war, which showed the horror of war by looking at the mens’ day to day lives. These included ‘Undertones of War’ by Edmund Blunden, ‘Goodbye to All That’ by Robert Graves, ‘All Quiet on The Western Front’ by Remarque, ‘Her Privates We’ by Frederic Manning and ‘Memoirs of an Infantry Officer by Siegfried Sassoon. In a ‘Journey’s End’, the horror of war is often shown in the subtext, of the soldiers conversations, not by the direct actions of the men. Although in the first instance it was rejected by theatre managers, the play went on to strike a chord with the public and had a two year run in London. They responded to the play because it showed them, for the first time, the fear and squalor that the men faced continually and how they dealt with it. Extract 1 (Pages 1-4) gives the audience the opportunity to understand the terrible conditions in which the characters lived. The characters engage in sarcastic banter as they can not afford to give into their true feelings towards the situation. Everyone does what they can to keep each others spirits up. The Director would need to enhance the horror of the mens’ situation in the way that he sets the stage. The setting is a dug out in a trench during World War I. A depressing mood and claustrophobic atmosphere needs to be created by this set and the lighting. The beds, table and stalls need to be on top of each other, rotten wood, the occasional sound of dripping water and a muddy floor are essential. Bottles, glasses and papers need to be piled high on the small table. The dugout should be poorly lit, by a candle or oil lamp. The sky, visible through the door, needs to be bright. The contrast between light and dark represents the soldiers’ confinement versus the world that they knew before the war. If the characters had the choice they would not talk about death and squalor, however it is the stuff of their daily lives. They get around talking about the subject but using light hearted banter.

Shiloh Essay -- essays research papers

Norma Jean Moffit is a simple, southern woman, but she is also a caterpillar who is discovering that there is more to life than crawling around on the ground. She has with-in her, the power to grow wings and fly away; The opportunity to view the world through the eyes of a butterfly. Since Larry's accident, she has come to realize that she has reached a crossroads in her life. If she goes straight on through, complacency and neglect are the only stops ahead. If she veers to either the left or right, there is mystery, knowledge, and change; The opportunity for a new life. It would appear with-in the story, she has opted for some change, and begins her adventure in experiencing new things such as "... cooking unusual foods - tacos, lasagna, Bombay chicken." She begins to work on her body, borrowing the idea from Leroy's rehabilitation equipment, which would otherwise be collecting dust in a corner of the house somewhere. She begins to take writing classes to improve her mind, which further represents her need for change and something new. She has, in a sense, taken on the masculine role in the household since Leroy has come home. She is the sole provider for the family, working behind the cosmetics counter at Rexalls. Her body building is indicative of the reversal in her role. When discussing the meaning on their names, Norma Jean tells Leroy that his name means 'the king'. He asks her if he is still king and she "... flexes her biceps and feels them for hardness." thus showing him that he is not. Furthermore, she 'drives the nail home' by telling him the meaning of her name. "Norma comes from the Normans. They were invaders." She has invaded, and taken over, his position as 'the head of the household'. At the end of the story "She turns towards Leroy and waves her arms .... she seems to be doing an exercise for her chest muscles." I believe that she was showing Leroy that she is strong enough, or has found the strength to leave him and forge a new path in life. Furthermore, I believe th at she was implying that she was never going to find the strength to carry the two of them through this relationship when she stated, early in the story, "Feel this arm. It's not as hard as the other one." Norma Jean is a woman who had accepted her marriage for what it was, until her husband came home. It was than that she r... ...o work at Rexalls, but attends classes during the evening. Eventually, she graduates with a degree in Journalism and moves from Kentucky to Atlanta to take a job working for one of the local papers. She now writes editorials and helps others by answering letters in her advice column under the assumed name Norma King. After a divorce that he openly opposed, Leroy sinks into a deeply depressed state. Drugs and alcohol become a constant in his life, and was to Leroy, the only way he could find to escape the harsh reality of his demise. After several failed jobs and one arrest for public intoxication he attempts to commit suicide by driving his car into a concrete abutment. His unsuccessful attempt places him into a rehabilitation center where he is counseled and eventually cured of his afflictions. During his stay in rehab, his reflections on the past forced him to open his eyes and it left a lasting impression on him. He is once again ready to face the world and feels as though he has finally started his life over. "Shiloh" by Bobbie Ann Mason As interpreted by: Mike Blades var yvContents='/toto?s=76000015&l=NE&b=1&t=940563698';yfEA(); -->

Eliyahu M. Goldratts The Goal Essay -- Goldratt

The Goal Here are the principles behind the dramatic turnaround story in The Goal. The goal of a manufacturing organization is to make money. Jonah poses this as a question: "What is the goal?" and Rogo actually struggles with it for a day or two, but any manager or executive that can't answer that question without hesitation should be fired without hesitation. But then again, the goal isn't clear to everyone. One of the characters in the book, an accountant, responds to an offhand comment about the goal with a confused "The goal? You mean our objectives for the month?" That's sure to strike a chord with a lot of readers. At an operational level, measure your success toward the goal with these three metrics: Throughput - The rate at which the system generates money through sales. Inventory - The money that the system has invested in purchasing things which it intends to sell. Operational expense - The money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughput. You could rephrase it this way - and someone does, a bit later in the book: Throughput - Goods out; the money coming in. Inventory - Materials in; the money currently inside the system. Operational expense - Effort in; the money going out. Obviously, your job is to minimize expense and inventory and maximize throughput. Adjust the flow of product to match demand. In particular, don't trim capacity to match demand. It's a standard cost-cutting procedure, sure. But you'll need that capacity later, if you're serious about increasing throughput. Find bottlenecks. If manufacturing is what's limiting your throughput, then the problem isn't that people aren't working hard enough. You have bottlenecks in your manufacturing processes that are holding up everything else. Find the bottlenecks and do everything you can to fix them. Increase their efficiency, even at the expense of efficiency in non-bottleneck places, because the efficiency of a bottleneck directly determines the efficiency of the entire process, all the way through final payment. In the book, a variety of steps are taken to "elevate" and circumvent the bottlenecks. This is where the results start showing up on the bottom line. Soon the plant can actually use information from the bottleneck to do an effective job of scheduling work and (for the first time) reliably predicting when orders w... ...deas in novel form. There were already a dozen essays or articles on manufacturing management paradigms; you couldn't sell those. Novels sell better than essays. They're more readable. Once you realize that managers will buy thousands of copies of a "business novel" and make it required reading for their subordinates, a novel is the only way to go. (Also, The Goal was originally intended as marketing for Goldratt's plant management software company.) My main objection to The Goal is that it's fiction. Rogo makes a few changes, and his problems miraculously go away. It just works. Granted, the policies seem like good sense. But the unrealistic points are glossed over. Maybe plant managers in real life have the authority to adopt dramatic changes in the way they operate, the way Rogo did. Maybe it's easy to convince your top accountant that all his models are wrong, even though you have no accounting experience yourself. Maybe the average plant has an IT department that can create new scheduling software out of thin air in a few days. Maybe not. Goldratt claims a lot of real-life plant managers say they've turned The Goal into a documentary. That's a book I haven't read yet. Eliyahu M. Goldratt's The Goal Essay -- Goldratt The Goal Here are the principles behind the dramatic turnaround story in The Goal. The goal of a manufacturing organization is to make money. Jonah poses this as a question: "What is the goal?" and Rogo actually struggles with it for a day or two, but any manager or executive that can't answer that question without hesitation should be fired without hesitation. But then again, the goal isn't clear to everyone. One of the characters in the book, an accountant, responds to an offhand comment about the goal with a confused "The goal? You mean our objectives for the month?" That's sure to strike a chord with a lot of readers. At an operational level, measure your success toward the goal with these three metrics: Throughput - The rate at which the system generates money through sales. Inventory - The money that the system has invested in purchasing things which it intends to sell. Operational expense - The money the system spends in order to turn inventory into throughput. You could rephrase it this way - and someone does, a bit later in the book: Throughput - Goods out; the money coming in. Inventory - Materials in; the money currently inside the system. Operational expense - Effort in; the money going out. Obviously, your job is to minimize expense and inventory and maximize throughput. Adjust the flow of product to match demand. In particular, don't trim capacity to match demand. It's a standard cost-cutting procedure, sure. But you'll need that capacity later, if you're serious about increasing throughput. Find bottlenecks. If manufacturing is what's limiting your throughput, then the problem isn't that people aren't working hard enough. You have bottlenecks in your manufacturing processes that are holding up everything else. Find the bottlenecks and do everything you can to fix them. Increase their efficiency, even at the expense of efficiency in non-bottleneck places, because the efficiency of a bottleneck directly determines the efficiency of the entire process, all the way through final payment. In the book, a variety of steps are taken to "elevate" and circumvent the bottlenecks. This is where the results start showing up on the bottom line. Soon the plant can actually use information from the bottleneck to do an effective job of scheduling work and (for the first time) reliably predicting when orders w... ...deas in novel form. There were already a dozen essays or articles on manufacturing management paradigms; you couldn't sell those. Novels sell better than essays. They're more readable. Once you realize that managers will buy thousands of copies of a "business novel" and make it required reading for their subordinates, a novel is the only way to go. (Also, The Goal was originally intended as marketing for Goldratt's plant management software company.) My main objection to The Goal is that it's fiction. Rogo makes a few changes, and his problems miraculously go away. It just works. Granted, the policies seem like good sense. But the unrealistic points are glossed over. Maybe plant managers in real life have the authority to adopt dramatic changes in the way they operate, the way Rogo did. Maybe it's easy to convince your top accountant that all his models are wrong, even though you have no accounting experience yourself. Maybe the average plant has an IT department that can create new scheduling software out of thin air in a few days. Maybe not. Goldratt claims a lot of real-life plant managers say they've turned The Goal into a documentary. That's a book I haven't read yet.

Factors Affecting Academic Performance Essay

Like many Americans caught up in the economic downturn, college students are worried about money. Now research indicates that financial worries may affect their academic performance. This year’s National Survey of Student Engagement, released on Thursday, reveals that more than a third of seniors and more than a quarter of freshmen did not purchase required academic materials because of the cost. Roughly equal shares, around 60 percent, said they worried about having enough money for day-to-day expenses. And 36 percent of freshmen and 32 percent of seniors reported that financial concerns had interfered with their academic performance. Since 2000, Nessie, as the survey is known, has collected wide-ranging data to help colleges develop effective educational practices and promote engagement. Students are asked, for instance, how much time they spend studying, whether they get involved with campus organizations, and how they interact with their professors and peers. This year the researchers, based at Indiana University at Bloomington, also assessed how the economy was affecting students at a subset of the 546 American colleges that participated. The survey examined students’ employment, finding that among freshmen, nearly 20 percent worked on campuses, and about 30 percent worked elsewhere. For seniors, those proportions were about a quarter on campuses and more than half elsewhere. Students working off campuses logged more hours: More than half of seniors working on campuses worked less than 15 hours a week, but 40 percent of full-time seniors in off-campus jobs worked more than 16 hours a week; 20 percent logged 30 or more hours. Other research has found that working up to 20 hours a week can increase students’ engagement and improve their academic performance, but that a greater time commitment can be detrimental. In this year’s survey, more than half of full-time seniors who worked 21 or more hours a week said their work schedule interfered with their studies. Yet 60 percent of those students said they had investigated working even more hours to help cover the cost of college. Related Content Grades and Tests May Miss What Matters Most in Learning Charts: How Financial Worries Are Affecting Students Alexander C. McCormick, director of the survey, says institutions should consider such findings an opportunity to get a better sense of the financial stressors that shape students’ academic experiences. Most colleges, he points out, know which students have on-campus jobs. But administrators could do more to figure out how much time students spend working off-campus, and whether those commitments threaten their academic success. â€Å"You can never do enough to understand who your students are,† Mr. McCormick says. But collecting data is the easy part. â€Å"The really hard work is up to the colleges and universities, to figure out what the data mean and what they want to do in response.†