English Application Essays Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

English Application Essays - Essay Example It would be an honor to be taught by such conversant and intellectual set of professors. The campus offers numerous recreation and fitness centers that can become good sources of relaxation after extensive hours of studies. I have always been an active member in extra-curricular activities and clubs; I aspire to continue such activities and shall contribute my role in the progression of the clubs. I believe that one can expect better results from something that is achieved as an outcome of group efforts and team work. The accumulation of different forms of opinions and ideas induces a touch of innovativeness and uniqueness in every endeavor. It is due to this belief that I am contented with the idea of my friends going in the same program. I am excited to study with these individuals and new classmates since they might even become my colleagues in the workplaces in the future. I think that our team work and research can contribute towards the development of the chosen domain of knowl edge and play our part in earning a name for the esteemed University of Ohio. My friends define me as a people’s person who loves meeting new people. The concept of getting familiar with different customs, traditions and culture of the world excites me. It is due to the passion for cultural diversity that I have chosen Ohio University. Ohio University celebrates cultural diversity rather than promoting exclusion. I admire such ideologies and feel that I shall be able to progress more in an environment that is run by such like-minded people. Therefore, I hope you will allow me to pursue my education in the desired business school- Fisher College. Essay 2 I bear great passion for travelling and meeting new people. The nature of my family business has granted me the opportunity to visit numerous countries of the world, thereby giving me the chance of experiencing various forms of cultures and traditions on firsthand basis. Such experiences have made me realize the value of inclu sion of perspectives from all sorts of cultures and origins. I believe that tolerance and acceptance of other people’s ideas induces an element of innovation in one’s work. Tim Berners Lee, the man who invented the World Wide Web, stated that â€Å"we need diversity of thought in the world to face the new challenges†. I aim to promote inclusion and tolerance for other cultures in my endeavors to play my role in safeguarding the traditions of multiculturalism of University of Colorado. Team work and mutual support bear great importance in an academic life since it bears numerous challenging instances and stressful routines. Acceptance of cultural diversity removes barriers among individuals and promotes the spirit of team work and mutual cooperation. I aspire to become a team player who will seek to work together with others to increase his domain of knowledge, as well as to play his part in earning a commendable name for the University of Colorado. Individuals w ho value team work spirit tend to benefit in their professional lives as well; therefore, I believe that my culturally rich experience at University of Colorado will prove to be advantageous for my professional life. Competition is also an integral part of any academic life; healthy competition can prove to be a valuable lesson since it prepares one for the professional life ahead. Exposure to multicultural lifestyles from my childhood

Arthur Miller presents Eddie Carbone as a tragic hero Essay Example for Free

Arthur Miller presents Eddie Carbone as a tragic hero Essay The next major event in this scene is where Rodolfo and Catherine have been dancing to Paper doll The words Paper doll could represent Catherine, as Eddie is implying that Rodolfo only wants Catherine for his papers; his passport to the country. During this scene Eddies anger has been rising and he then makes an attempt to dishonour Rodolfo by making him look foolish and unmanly, I mean like me . . . would be like in a dress store. During this point Catherine and Rodolfo have stopped dancing and turned off the phonograph, showing that Rodolfo has taken notice of this remark and his pent up anger is shown when he unconsciously tears the newspaper in half. Eddies jealousy and anger has been rising throughout this scene and in another attempt to make Rodolfo look unmanly and foolish Eddie asks him for a sparring match. Eddie hurts Rodolfo by punching him, He feints with his left . . . staggers Rodolfo. Marco rises He does this to illustrate his power over him and show to Catherine that he is weak and also to warn him this kind of behaviour is shown in animals where males fight each other for the right to mate. Marco has realised what is going on so he rises to have his presence felt by Eddie and to show him that he will back Rodolfo up. During this scene Miller has been building up tension through Eddies controversial joke to the sparring match as what seems to be comradeship and jokes, is really a way to get back at the two brothers. At the end of this scene Marco and Eddie have a challenge to see who can lift a chair from one leg to above their heads. Eddie tries and tries but to no success the chair just, leans over to the floor. When Marco attempts this he raises the chair as if like a weapon over Eddies head this action is symbolic of Eddies fate as he dies because of Marco in the end. It is a gesture that foreshadows the future events yet to occur after this incident. This challenge of strength was also a more blatant warning to Eddie by Marco to show that he could out power and even defeat him in a fight, we know this because of the stage directions, . . glare of warning into a smile of triumph These show Marcos facial expressions. He is smiling because he knows Eddie is no match for him, Eddie also knows this as his, grin vanishes ending the scene and act with a dramatic climax. Eddie cannot defeat Rodolfo and Marco by being more of a man so he is left with one option, betrayal, which brings on his downfall. The next time Eddie encounters Alfieri is his final meeting with him. Eddie comes to him desperate to do something about Rodolfo and Marco as he is immersed by his jealousy after seeing Catherine come out of the same bedroom as Rodolfo in the previous scene. In this scene Alfieri again describes Eddies eyes as tunnels this repeated use of the word tunnels suggests that his fate is inevitable as a tunnel has only one way out and so does Eddies fate. In fact in this paragraph there are numerous phrases and words that suggest the downfall of Eddie is inevitable such as, On December twenty-seventh I saw him next. I normally . . . sat around looking out my window at the bay It seems unusual for Alfieri to break from his routine by staying in his office as he is a busy man and staying just looking out the window is an illogical way to spend time, suggesting to me it was fate that made him stay in his office that day. Also the word transfixed shows the downfall of Eddie, the meaning of the word transfixed is to be fixed to the spot through fear. Alfieri is scared as he knows what is going to happen next and he is powerless to stop it from happening repeating this idea of inevitability. Eddie uses the same excuses that Rodolfo is homosexual and that he is using Catherine as a way to stay in America. Alfieri tells him as he told him before, you cannot stop it but Eddies desperation drives him on. Alfieri warns him, the law is only . . . drown you if you buck it now Alfieri is trying to warn him about the implications that would arise if he was to go against the marriage of Catherine and Rodolfo when he says law he is also talking about the marriage however his warnings are futile as he starts turning around and goes to the phone booth. Eddie knows now that there is nothing more he can do than to call the immigration bureau, his hastiness and desperation impairing his morals, making him go against the things he stands for. In the last scenes we see that Eddie has lost everything, as all of the community turn their backs on Eddie, Lipari, the butcher, turns and starts up left. He has informed the immigration about Marco and Rodolfo which is considered to be the most dishonourable thing a Sicilian man could do and so they have lost all respect they had for him. Eddie still maintains his innocence as he never gave up fighting for his niece till he died and he stuck to his ways. Eddie is a tragic hero as he died because of his fatal flaw; his over possessive love of his niece Catherine. We see that he realises his mistake at the end as his last words are, My B.! this suggests that Eddie has now understood that his loyalties should have stayed with Beatrice his wife. It is Alfieri that recognises that the death of Eddie should persuade you to think that, it is better to settle for half. Alfieri also says that even though he knew that what Eddie did was bad there was still something in him that made him good, something perversely pure calls to me from his memory This conveys that Alfieri still thinks that Eddie is the good guy at the end of the play, as what he did was out of love a passion for his family, even though inevitably this would lead to his downfall and this was the reason why he died the way he did. At the end of the play we agree with Alfieri as the audience considers Eddie to have been hero in his own way.

The Moral Difference between Animals and Humans Essay -- Morals Ethics

The Moral Difference between Animals and Humans A moral issue is generally considered to be one which arises from the need to take another person's interests into consideration. However, by saying another person's interests this seems to rule out the interests of animals from the moral debate. Although many people do value animals, there are still others who consider animals as no more than a source of food. It could be argued that our primary moral obligations towards those people who value animals includes secondary obligations towards the animals they value. The problem then is that we have no secondary obligations towards those animals which are not valued by people. Consequently those animals would have no moral rights. Despite that argument we still feel that it is morally wrong to inflict certain actions, such as torture, on animals. We should, therefore, consider the possibility that animals do have moral rights. If we change the initial statement to read 'a moral issue is one which arises from the need to take another liv ing being's interests into consideration' we can then consider what gives a living being moral rights, and what moral difference there is between animals and humans. The interests of others may range from simple hobbies to caring for the sick. Obviously these interests have differing levels of moral importance. Although there are a number of moral principles that we could use as examples, let us consider two which are most relevant to animals and humans. They are, the right to individual freedom, and the right not to suffer harm from another. Humans expect these rights from each other, but do not necessarily grant them to animals. What is it then that gives humans these rights but not animals? Lan... ...a danger. But the animal's actions do not immediately change from watching to attacking. Instead, the bear moves from a state of watching to one of preparing for attack and displays this change in the form of prowling. During that process the bear is making a judgment which is displayed by either attacking or not attacking depending on whether or not I pose a danger. By not attacking, the bear is displaying consideration for an other which is a basic form of moral judgment. It could, therefore, be argued that to the extent that certain animals display similar behaviour they then deserve moral consideration from us. Bibliography Dennett, Daniel C. Brainchildren (Penguin, 1998) Essay 24 Klempner, G. Reason, Values and Conduct Unit 13 Raphael, D.D. Moral Philosophy (2nd edn OUP 1994) Sprigge, T.L.S. The Rational Foundation of Ethics (Routledge 1990)

Burning Up

ALWAYS, SOMETIMES, OR NEVER Chapter 9 Tell whether each statement is always, sometimes, or never true. 1. The graph of a quadratic function is a straight line. 2. The range of a quadratic function is the set of all real numbers. 3. The highest power in a quadratic function is 2. 4. The graph of a quadratic function contains the point (0, 0). 5. The vertex of a parabola occurs at the minimum value of the function. 6. The graph of a quadratic function that has a minimum opens upward. 7. The graphs of f(x) = ax2 and gx= -ax2 have the same width. 8. The function fx= ax2+c has three zeros. 9.The graph of y= ax2+1 has its vertex at the origin. 10. The graph of y = -x2+c intersects the x-axis. 11. There are two solutions to x2=n when n is positive. 12. If n is a rational number, then the solution to x2=n are rational numbers. 13. If the graph of a quadratic function has its vertex at the origin, then the related quadratic equation has exactly one solution. 14. If the graph of a quadratic fu nction opens upward, then the related quadratic equation has two solutions. 15. If the graph of a quadratic function has its vertex on the x-axis, then the related quadratic equation has exactly one solution. 6. If the graph of a quadratic function has its vertex in the first quadrant, then the related quadratic equation has two solutions. 17. A quadratic equation in the form ax2 – c = 0, where a 0 has two solutions. 18. If a quadratic equation has two solutions, then it has two x-intercepts. 19. If the discriminant is equal to zero the quadratic equation has no real solutions. 20. If the leading coefficient of a quadratic equation is positive and the graph of the equation has a positive y-intercept, the graph has two real solutions.

Technology Life Cycle

All new technologies goes through a technology adoption life cycle in which certain market groups adopt the product before others are willing to do so. Here is each of the market groups: Innovators, early adopters, early majority, late majority, and laggards. Innovators in a general sense, is a person or an organization who is one of the first to introduce into reality something better than before. That often opens up a new area for others and achieves an innovation. They pursue new technology aggressively, learning about and evaluating new products in an effort to be first.They’re also relatively few in numbers—so for marketers, they represent a major key to the marketing campaign. Next down the list, early adopters are visionaries, not technologists. They are found at ease when imagining, understanding, and appreciating the advantage of new technology. When it comes to high-tech products, they’re looking for vital breakthroughs, not minor improvements. They rel y on their own intuition and vision to make their buying decisions, which make them the key to opening up a high-tech market group.Following, early majority customers are centered on the linking of practice and theory. The early majority know many of the upcoming inventions are just passing fads. They let the early adopters test the new technologies and post their experience with it to establish solid references. Approximately one-third of the adoption life cycle is early majority that is why this market group is the key to substantial profits and growth. Next, late majority adopters are conservative. They’re content to be followers, and often are not comfortable in their ability to handle new technology.They tend to wait until something has become standardized and seen a lot of support. Like the Early majority the late majority comprise about one-third of the entire buying population. This makes for high profitability, while its profits decrease as the produce matures, so do the selling costs, and virtually all the R&D costs have been amortized. Last of the cycle is laggards, this group are considered skeptics. They are very late adopters and in some cases they never adopt. If they do end up buying a new technology they tend to overlook it because it is a bi-product of another product.Realize that you’re not going to sell to this audience until very very late in your product life cycle, most likely when your product has become well accepted. In summary of the technology adoption life cycle, this cycle shows that technology is accepted in the community in stages which relates to the mental and collective understanding of the five groups that make up the community. The high-tech marketing model is a strategy that uses the technology adoption life cycle as the source to examine ways to market a product.It works by starting with the innovators by building a reputation and then moves to the next group, the early adopters, in hopes of the innovators c ompelling the early adopters to get on the â€Å"bandwagon†. The process continues all the way to laggards. The key to keep this process moving smoothly is to maintain a momentum, which makes it more natural for the next group to buy into the product. Another key is to keep up with the current technology by taking in the phrase â€Å"window of opportunity. † Competitors can easily overtake your market if the momentum is lost.The high-tech marketing model is a smooth transition that goes through stages of the technology adoption life cycle. If you can get there first, and establish a standard through the beginning of the cycle you gain a monopoly over the market in which you could gain high profits throughout the cycle and establish a sustained product. A good example of the previous concepts being used is the Lotus 1-2-3, which was the first spread sheet for IBM PC. The Innovators first started using lotus 1-2-3, stating that it was â€Å"slick† and â€Å"fastà ¢â‚¬ .Subsequently, the early adopters started using it because the new things they can do with it, such as the â€Å"what if† analysis. Next on the bandwagon, the early majority, they started using it because of its uses with common business operations. As it started to become standardized the late majority eventually fell into line. By the end of the 1980s it was pretty much the only standard program used for spreadsheets. There are several cracks in the technology adoption life cycle, from the innovators to the early adopters, from the early adopters to the early majority.But the latter happens to be the most challenging and an unrecognizable division chasm. The transition goes unnoticed because that in both groups the customer list and the size of the order can look relatively the same. The products that the early adopters buy, is some kind of change agent. Being the first in the industry gives a head start on the competition. When we move on to early majority they want to buy a productivity improvement for their current operations. Ultimately, they want evolution. This eventually leads to a catch-22.In a catch-22 situation the early adopters have already caught on and it has been publicized. In the end the product seems to never get past the early adopter group. When the promoters of high-tech products try to move on from their early adopters group, they leave the early majority without a reference and support. This chasm has made many marketers fail in the past. The early market is what the staff members interpret as sales of increasingly smooth curve, but in reality it is an initial blip and not an emerging mainstream market unfolding.Companies can fail when their managers don’t notice the transition from early adopters to early majority. This leads to high expectations and too much time spent on expansion rather than husbanding resources. This result in an illusion of high-tech marketing, which is the belief induced by the high-tech mark eting model that new markets unfold in a continuous and smooth way. While trying to avoid perils of the chasm, a new state needs to be established to examine and correct the flaws that are associated with the technology adoption life cycle. In turn, this provides a secure basis for marketing development with minimum problems.

Review of D Nakanos Movie White Mans Burden essays

Review of D Nakanos Movie White Mans Burden essays The film "White Man's Burden is a deliberate attempt by the director, Desmond Nakano, to show what the effects of race and social status are on a person's beliefs, attitudes and behavior. The setting for the film is modern day America with a twist. In the film, blacks dominate economically, politically, and culturally, while whites represent the underclass. Touching upon issues that are prevalent in society today, the film gives the viewer a glimpse of what it's like to be a minority living in a society where the social norms and popular culture are defined by the ruling class. These issues are presented in ways that are both direct and indirect. Mr. Nakano uses his characters Thaddeus Taylor and Louis Pinnock to illustrate both sides of the racial and class divide. It is in the first scene that we meet the antagonist of the movie, Thaddeus Taylor. The character of Thaddeus is the archetype of what we perceive members of the establishment to be. He's a wealthy and influentia l businessman with a less than flattering opinion of those that are of a different race and socioeconomic status. The director uses this character to draw attention to the prejudices and assumptions that many members of the upper class have about the poor and minorities, particularly those living in the inner city. In the first scene, Thaddeus is having a dinner party with other well to do friends and family members and the conversation turn to one of Thaddeus' business deals. The deal involved the development of a shopping center in the inner city, which was burned down three months after it opened. One of the guests at the dinner party commented that it was a shame that the shopping center burnt down, because it would have provided jobs and infused money into a community that was economically deprived. Although the film didn't go into much detail, it is evident that those living in the neighborhood set the fire. Thaddeus comments that there is som...

The Predators of Sea Turtles

The Predators of Sea Turtles Sea turtles have hard shells (called carapaces) that help protect them, but they still have predators. They are also more vulnerable than land turtles because unlike land turtles, sea turtles are unable to retract their heads or flippers into their shell. Predators of Sea Turtle Eggs and Hatchlings There are some predators of sea turtles as adults, but these marine reptiles are most vulnerable when in the egg and as hatchlings (small turtles recently emerged from the egg). Predators of eggs and hatchlings include dogs, cats, raccoons, boars, and ghost crabs. These animals may dig up a sea turtle nest to get to the eggs, even if the nest is 2 feet below the surface of the sand. As hatchlings start to emerge, there is a scent of egg that still is on their bodies, plus the smell of wet sand. These scents can be detected by predators even from a distance. According to the Georgia Sea Turtle Center, threats to turtles in Georgia include the above, plus feral hogs and fire ants, which can threaten both eggs and hatchlings. Once hatchlings emerge from the egg, they need to get to the water. At this point, birds such as gulls and night herons can become an additional threat. According to the Sea Turtle Conservancy, as few as one in 10,000 sea turtle eggs reach adulthood. Olive ridley turtles nest in huge groups called arribadas. These arribadas can attract animals such as vultures, coatis, coyotes, jaguars, and raccoons, who may gather near the beach even before the arribada begins. These animals dig up nests and eat eggs and prey on nesting adults. Predators of Adult Sea Turtles Once turtles make their way to the water, both juveniles and adults can be prey for other ocean animals, including sharks (especially tiger sharks), orcas (killer whales), and large fish, such as grouper. Sea turtles are built for life in the water, not on land. So adults can also be vulnerable to predators such as dogs and coyotes when they go up upon beaches to nest. Sea Turtles and Humans If turtles survive their natural predators, they still face threats from humans. Harvest for meat, oil, scutes, skin, and eggs decimated turtle populations in some areas. Sea turtles face development on their natural nesting beaches, which means they have to contend with such things as artificial light, and loss of habitat and nesting sites due to construction and beach erosion. Hatchlings find their way to the sea using natural light, the slope of the shore, and the sounds of the ocean and coastal development can interrupt these cues and make hatchlings crawl in the wrong direction. Turtles may also be caught as bycatch  in fishing gear, which was such a problem that turtle excluder devices were developed, although their use is not always enforced.   Pollution such as marine debris is another threat. Discarded balloons, plastic bags, wrappers, discarded fishing line, and other trash may be mistaken by a turtle for food and be accidentally ingested, or the turtle may become entangled. Turtles may also be struck by boats. How to Help Sea Turtles A sea turtles life may be fraught with danger. How can you help? If you live in a coastal area: Dont feel wildlife - you may attract turtle predators.Dont let your dog or cat run loose.Watch for sea turtles when boating.Do not disturb or shine lights near nesting sea turtles.Turn off outside, ocean-facing lights during sea turtle nesting season.Pick up litter on the beach. Wherever you live: Dispose of trash responsibly, and keep a lid on your trash when its outside. Trash even far from the ocean can make its way there eventually.Never release balloons - always pop them and dispose of them in the trash. Use balloon alternatives whenever possible during your celebrations.If you eat seafood, research what you eat and eat seafood that is caught without threatening turtles.Support sea turtle conservation/rehabilitation organizations, even international ones. Sea turtles are highly migratory, so recovery of turtle populations depends on protection in all their habitats. References and Further Information: Network for Endangered Sea Turtles. Accessed May 30, 2013.Sea Turtle Conservancy. Sea Turtle Threats: Invasive Species Predation. Accessed May 30, 2013.Spotila, J. R. 2004. Sea Turtles: A Complete Guide to Their Biology, Behavior, and Conservation. The Johns Hopkins University Press: Baltimore and London.The Georgia Sea Turtle Center. Threats to Sea Turtles. Accessed May 30, 2013.

10 Fun 5th Grade Math Games to Help You Learn

10 Fun 5th Grade Math Games to Help You Learn SAT / ACT Prep Online Guides and Tips Looking for a fun and effective way to reinforce the math skills learned in 5th grade? Try playing a game! Games are a great way to solidify the key lessons fifth graders learn in the classroom while also having fun. In this article, we'll talk about the key skills students learn in fifth grade, why games are so important for mastering those skills, and give you a list of 10 games you can start playing right now. Key Math Skills Learned in 5th Grade Fifth graders put together the skills they've learned throughout elementary school to solve complex problems using complex numbers. While they work on building their fluency for these skills, they also learn how to apply them to real-world problems about time, measurement, and money. Most states in the United States have their own unique educational standards, but the basic fifth grade math curriculum and the skills fifth graders learn are fairly standard. Fifth graders learn: How to divide whole numbers with and without remainders How to make connections between decimals, fractions, and percentages How to multiply and divide fractions How to compute the area and volume of basic geometric shapes like rectangles and squares Fifth graders will also start to investigate basic algebraic equations, as well as the relationship between circumference and diameter. Each of these skills can be reinforced with games to help students master them. How 5th Grade Math Games Can Help Master Key Skills Games are a great way to help students learn key skills. There has been tons of research about how effective games are in helping students not only learn how to master a concept, but also have a safe space to explore and fail. Here are a few reasons why 5th grade math games should be an important part of your student's practice: Games are a fun way to practice. Fun math games for 5th grade students help them practice needed skills in a way that feels fun, not frustrating. Students won't feel like they're wasting their time learning, they'll feel engaged and excited about their practice. Games teach important skills. Games are a great way to introduce new skills to students. A 5th grade math game about basketball, for instance, can be a good way to get students to think about diameter or circumference before actually teaching them the skill. Likewise, once students have learned about a skill in the classroom, games can help them apply the skill in a real world setting. Aside from the educational skills students learn, games also teach students how to deal with failure, work together, and overcome obstacles. Games form positive memories of learning. Learning math can be frustrating for a lot of kids. If they experience failure or frustration learning in the classroom, games are a great way to reclaim their sense of worth and help them actually have while learning. 5 Fun Math Games for 5th Grade You Can Play in the Classroom There are tons of fun math games for 5th grade students that you can play in the classroom. Here are ten of the best. #1: Multiplication/Division War Students will build fluency with multiplication and division problems by working to figure out which student has the highest sum or product quickly. This is a great way to reinforce the basic skills students need for other 5th grade math problems. All you need for this game is a few sets of math fact flash cards. For fifth graders, use multiplication or division cards. Link to detailed instructions: here #2: The Amazing Equation Game This game helps students become more familiar with basic algebraic in a fun, competitive way. Students will learn to get comfortable with variables like letters standing in for numbers, as well as figuring out how to manipulate equations. For this game, you'll need scrap paper and pencils for your students and white paper (or index cards) and markers to prepare the game. Link to detailed instructions: here #3: Percent Flash Students will learn how to easily calculate percentages. They'll pull a card and add a "0" to the end. For instance, if they pull a "2" card, they'll be working with 20%. Then, they'll roll the dice and calculate the percentage of the numbers they rolled. This game will help students become more excited about percents. For this game, you'll need a deck of cards, dice, one calculator per player, paper, and pencils. Link to detailed instructions: here #4: Graph Puzzles Geometric shapes can make many students uneasy. This 5th grade math game can help students become more confident with their graphing skills. Students will learn to draw shapes using positive and negative numbers and ordered pairs to create fun shapes- just like solving a puzzle. For this game, you'll need graph paper, pencils, and rulers. Link to detailed instructions: here #5: Lego Area and Perimeter This skill teaches students the basics of figuring out area and perimeter for rectangular shapes. You'll have students to figure out area and perimeter by placing the legos on the graph paper and counting the squares. For this game, you'll need small legos, graph paper, a pencil, and paper. Link to detailed instructions: here 5 5th Grade Math Games Online There are tons of 5th grade math games online that your student can play. Here are five 5th grade math games online that cover a wide variety of 5th grade math skills. #1: Multiplying Fractions Soccer Game This game has student solve fraction problems in order to have the chance to score a goal for their soccer team. The game has students interpret the products of different fraction multiplication problems. The game is great because it can be played on computers and tablets without installation and can be played alone or in teams. It's fun for students to kick the soccer goals, but the game is more about the math than the soccer. #2: Papa's CupCakeria This game helps students persevere in the face of problems, as well as manipulate fractions. The student has to fulfill cupcake orders and work quickly to staunch the flow of customers in a shop. This game is fun, with brightly colored graphics and a fun soundtrack. It can only be played on a computer, which limits the number of students that can interact with it, and it's focused more on real-world problem solving than fractions, with students spending more energy balancing fulfilling order than actually figuring out the fractions. #3: Math Games This online math game database has tons of different practice problems built into an online platform. You can practice basically every skill your fifth grader will need to master during the year, broken down into standards. This database is great because it has hundreds of problems for every single 5th grade math skill. Unfortunately, the skills are more drills than games - they're really just straight practice. Still, this is a great way to get lots of practice on lots of skills in quickly. #4: Boat Coordinates This fun and simple online math game has you help navigate a boat down a river full of obstacles by selecting the proper coordinates to steer to in four quadrants. This game is great because it can be customized to a single quadrant or four quadrants to help students master the skills at different levels. This is a solid game for many students, with the one caveat that it has to be played on a desktop, not an app. #5: Algebra Meltdown The game starts simple but gets increasingly difficult as it progresses. Unfortunately, the game isn't responsive to student progress, so it gets more difficult whether or not your student is ready for it. However, a student who does well at linear equations will find this game fun and challenging. Go Play! There are thousands of 5th grade math games that you can use to reinforce math skills for your student. You can play games online or in-person- either way, the games will help them learn while having fun. What's Next? Before you play some of these games, you'll need to know some basics about graphing. Learn about the four graph quadrants (and where numbers are positive/negative) here! Want to know the fastest and easiest ways to convert between Fahrenheit and Celsius? We've got you covered! Check out our guide to the best ways to convert Celsius to Fahrenheit (or vice versa). Are you learning about logarithms and natural logs in math class? We have a guide on all the natural log rules you need to know. Did you know that water has a very special density? Check out our guide to learn what the density of water is and how the density can change.

Service Recovery Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Service Recovery - Research Paper Example Proper handling of complaints can, therefore, act as a key to service recovery and hence the need to research and evaluate literature associated with service recovery as well as the potential outcome of the process. Understanding buyers’ behavior is the key to unlocking the reasons for dissatisfaction and finding possible solutions. Companies produce goods and services for consumption and then market them to attract customers hence customer acquisition. Customer preferences change with time and therefore continuous assessment of the market is needed. The aim of the research is to make sure customers derive satisfaction after consuming the goods hence buy more. Buyers’ behavior is determined by various factors such as attitudes, personality, motivation, gender and the environment in general among others (Folkes, 1984). On the other hand, Blackwell et al (2006) argue that the buyer’s behavior is prompted by need or problem recognition. They make purchases but not all goods are up to expected standards hence customers are bound to make complaints. Consumer dissatisfaction poses a great risk to organizations as they risk losing market share due to bad mouthing by the affected customers (Singh, 1988). On the other hand, service recovery after service failure is the strength to the company as it enhances positive word of mouth and retention (Barlow & Moller, 2008). This can be achieved by handling the grievances amicably and ensuring customers are convinced and satisfied. The paper will evaluate consumers’ complaints and complaints handling for service recovery and benefits that are expected from the process. Consumer behavior involves making decisions on buying products or services by individuals or organizations. The decision to buy or not to buy may be impromptu or planned where consumers make the budget for goods they want to buy.

DAVID POOL Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words - 1

DAVID POOL - Research Paper Example Dave Pool’s war tactics and strategies are best revealed during the Lawrence raid in 1863. Similarly, he undertook remarkable operations in March 1865 with Arch Clement, Jim Anderson and 144 other men in Sherman, Texas. It has been identified that Dave Pool joined Quantrill in July 1862 â€Å"after his uncle, Archibald Poole, was killed and his home sacked by jayhawkers and another member of his family shot† (Captain Francis Marion Pool 1837 – 1899). There are many who hold that Dave Pool is named after the famous Revolutionary War guerrilla, Francis Marion who was also known as the Swamp Fox. The role of the Quantrill Army was no less significant in the American Civil War that they exerted tremendous influence in determining the present status of America. That is why historians regard the Knights of the Golden Circle, or Quantrills Guerrillas or Quantrills Raiders as the most prominent group that helped the confederates. The Missouri-based band was formed in December 1861 by William Clark Quantrill and originally consisted of only ten men who were determined to right the wrongs done to Missourians by Union occupational soldiers (Longley & Eby, 2010). Kansas Jayhawkers and the Red Legs who have widespread in Missouri were their prime enemies. When the Civil War broke out the Quantrill guerrillas could attract many youngsters to their army and in a way they could act as the official arm of the Confederate Army after May 1862, when the Confederate Congress approved the Partisan Ranger Act (Longley & Eby, 2010). Some of the important leaders of Quantrills Guerrillas included William C. â€Å"Bloody Bill† Anderson, David Pool, William Gregg, and George Todd. Quantrill Army was the group of Confederate guerrilla fighters during the American Civil War. William Quantrill has often been referred to as the leader of the army who exhibited audacious nature from the very young age itself.

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STRATEGY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STRATEGY - Essay Example As such, the 3D printing industry would hereby be more closely evaluated in terms of the industries seen to be disrupted; as well as the forces influencing the industry. The concluding portion would determine a trend to explain the 3D technology in general. The 3D printing industry has evolved from prototyping to manufacturing Lakhani and Lane (2014). As clearly explained by Lakhani and Lane (2014), â€Å"3D printing was an additive production process that, using varied techniques, repeatedly deposited one thin layer of material at a time that fused, bonded, or adhered to adjacent layers to create an integrated whole† (p. 2). A more comprehensive analysis of the 3D printing industry would be presented through the PEST analysis and the Porter’s five forces framework. including the need for more stringent regulations pertaining to identifying users (purchasers) of 3D printers and for specifically identified purposes. This is relevant to avoid misuse of products being produced from these printers. Likewise, aside from identifying authorized users through proper licensing to conform to government regulations, the possibilities of coming out with diverse products might also increase preponderance of misuse or abuse that could endanger the lives of the public. The economic impact of proliferation of 3D printing includes potential losses of jobs, especially in manufacturing firms that are seen to belong to the industries to be disrupted. Likewise, closing or potential bankruptcy of manufacturing firms would be detrimental to the economy in terms of lesser tax revenues for the government, lesser purchasing power for consumers who lose their jobs, as well as lesser funds to be earmarked for infrastructure and economic development projects. On the positive side, more goods manufactured locally would be made available, making cheaper alternatives easily accessible to the consumers. More interaction is

Ethical dilemmas permeate the criminal justice system. (The Parole Research Paper

Ethical dilemmas permeate the criminal justice system. (The Parole Board, The Warden, The District Attorney, The Officer) - Research Paper Example Thus, Robert should endeavour to maintain the high standards set for a state prison. In the same way, Robert’s jurisdiction is not only limited to the physical welfare of the prisoners. He must also see to it that the objective of incarceration of the prisoners, that is, not just to punish them for their malfeasance and/or misfeasance, but more so, to reform them so as to make them more productive individuals after their release. The issue on overcrowded prison cells already exists. The potential risk of being sued for violation of human rights, among others, cannot be denied. The families of the concerned inmates or even the concerned citizens may sue the state anytime, and the grounds therefore are glaring. This may only be one issue; however, the possibility of using it against the present administration is a big possibility. It may therefore ripen into a national or international issue. On the other hand, premature release of prisoners will surely expose the public from danger. If the inmates will be released sooner than they should be, the process of reformation may not be complete. Hence, the inclination to do evil is not yet totally cleansed from the prisoners. The period within which the each prisoner would undergo in order to realize his mistakes and its consequences is not yet attained. Therefore, there will be no assurance that upon release of these prisoners, they could easily live normally with other people, without the public being exposed to possible risks of becoming victims, once again, by the former lawless elements. I believe that Robert should not suggest the release of inmates to community-based supervision. Rather, Robert should suggest that additional prison cells be constructed so as to solve the problem on overcrowding. If he will do the former, Robert will be relieved of some of his duties but ultimately, he shall be morally responsible for its consequences. Robert should apply the â€Å"act utilitarian ethical theory†. This means that his decision must be based on the greatest benefit to the most number of people, without regard to the personal feelings or societal pressures. According to this theory, â€Å"an individual’s rights may be infringed in order to benefit a greater population.† (Rainbow, Catherine. â€Å"Descriptions of Ethical Theories and Principles â€Å". Davidson College. n.d. Web. 05 May 2012. http://www.bio.davidson.edu/people/kabernd/indep/carainbow/Theories.htm) This act utilitarian ethical theory takes into account the total value of the effects of a particular act, the one which is more important. The act that yields to the common good or benefit is considered the perfect ethical choice. If the overall benefits from an act is greater than the total damage, if any, the decision made is definitely morally acceptable. In this scenario, premature release of prisoners to community- based supervision is favourable to the inmates only. They will be freed from living in highly-congested prison cells where they are exposed to acquired illnesses, uncomfortable manner of sleep, etc. Yes, there is the possibility of them becoming â€Å"normal† persons in the civil society if given the chance. However, since their term of imprisonment is not yet through, the former being based on the kind of crime committed, the likelihood that they have not yet fully realized the consequences of their acts and its effects to the community might expose the public to a possible repetition of the criminal acts previously committed. These possibilities, no matter how remote, cannot totally be ignored. Robert should instill in his mind that prisoners were being imprisoned because of commission of a crime. They need

Homosexuals in the Military Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Homosexuals in the Military - Term Paper Example These freedoms and rights are entitled to all American citizens, including homosexuals. However, behind the displayed screen of an apparently free and equal society, homosexuals cannot openly exercise some of the rights that other American citizens are allowed to. Military service is the example discussed here. Homosexuals often have two parallel lives or sides to them. In one they live openly as they please, associating themselves with whomever they please, dressing the way they want, speaking the way they want to speak and plainly living as they please just like everyone else in society. In the other, they must hide their real selves and conform to the masses in order to enjoy the rights and privileges of the average citizen or, more disturbingly, to avoid discrimination and overt hostility from others. It is the general state of things that the rights of a person end where the rights of another begin. As such, just as the right of free speech is subject to the limitation of not defaming or slandering others, the right of homosexuals to simply be their true selves and embrace their sexuality seems to be subject to the right of the masses to be shielded from behavioral aspects that they subjectively feel are immoral or unnatural. As such there are many instances where homosexuals who openl y display and even advertise their sexuality in the streets through the use of banners and advertisements are seen as offensive and many people act hostile against this, leading to discrimination. This same situation is the problem homosexuals experience while serving in the military.

Ethical Legal Dilemma Advanced Practice Nursing Case Study I Week 3 Assignment

Ethical Legal Dilemma Advanced Practice Nursing Case Study I Week 3 - Assignment Example Though it may seem callous to say, the main objective is to draw a line that crosses both an ethical and a legal aspect of such a scenario in order to negate any sort of liability that may befall the hospital should anything happen (Grant & Ballard, 2011). Physician Assisted Suicide (PAS) is a very controversial subject with both sides holding strong arguments on why it should or should not be accepted. On one hand its seen as the simple and outright killing of another individual yet on the other it can be said that such an act cannot be considered to be murder as it involves the willing participation of the so called victim (Lachman, 2010). What can be considered to be the best option as a result is the creation of a strong outline for the circumstances under which PAS is allowed for an individual (Calandrillo, 1998). This is due to the fact that in some cases an individual who is bound to die in the end is simply being given a choice of suffering through out till the end or choosing to go in a more peaceful manner but earlier than would have been the case. An individual should have the right to be able to make such a decision for themselves (Lachman,

Homosexuals in the Military Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Homosexuals in the Military - Term Paper Example These freedoms and rights are entitled to all American citizens, including homosexuals. However, behind the displayed screen of an apparently free and equal society, homosexuals cannot openly exercise some of the rights that other American citizens are allowed to. Military service is the example discussed here. Homosexuals often have two parallel lives or sides to them. In one they live openly as they please, associating themselves with whomever they please, dressing the way they want, speaking the way they want to speak and plainly living as they please just like everyone else in society. In the other, they must hide their real selves and conform to the masses in order to enjoy the rights and privileges of the average citizen or, more disturbingly, to avoid discrimination and overt hostility from others. It is the general state of things that the rights of a person end where the rights of another begin. As such, just as the right of free speech is subject to the limitation of not defaming or slandering others, the right of homosexuals to simply be their true selves and embrace their sexuality seems to be subject to the right of the masses to be shielded from behavioral aspects that they subjectively feel are immoral or unnatural. As such there are many instances where homosexuals who openl y display and even advertise their sexuality in the streets through the use of banners and advertisements are seen as offensive and many people act hostile against this, leading to discrimination. This same situation is the problem homosexuals experience while serving in the military.

Team Dynamics - Conflict Resolution Strategies for Students and Essay

Team Dynamics - Conflict Resolution Strategies for Students and Workplace - Essay Example Teamwork is a gratifying and often crucial part of employment and many leisure activities. Moreover, today one's ability to work in a team is sought after and highly valued. It seems that working in groups is very easy, though as the experience shows, it may be one of the most challenging tasks one faces at university and in the workplace. This is caused by the fact that all people are different as well as not all traits of characters of different people can be combined successfully. The biggest drawback of working in a team is that usually not every member of the team is prepared to put in the same amount of effort. Moreover, in every team, there are "free riders", who come to the group meetings to socialize instead of doing what they are supposed to do and do not complete their tasks. Because of the other team members end up having to do work that they fail to complete or start an assignment over because someone did not do it right. Of course, such situations are very stressful and after a couple of experiences of this kind one may get a strong feeling and he/she is better off, though doing more work, completing the project alone. However, working in teams has strong advantages. When working in the team it is possible to combine the strengths of all the members and direct them to the completion of the project. Whilst being a member of a team, a person acquires such useful skills these days as the ability to plan and organize the time. In a group, one learns to negotiate and compromise and to practice decision-making skills. Moreover, one gains additional knowledge from another person, meets new people, and discovers how to identify the needs of others and build positive relationships, and develop cooperative learning strategies (University of Phoenix, 2004). As it was mentioned earlier, groups do not exist without conflicts. According to Wisinski (1993) conflict is defined as "a disagreement or disharmony that occurs in groups when differences regarding ideas, methods, and members are expressed". What is important to remember that conflict does not always lead to negative outcomes, furthermore, a healthy conflict may lead to a rise in motivation and successful completion of the project. Thus, the primary goal for the administration of the company or a team leader is to learn how to use conflict as a tool that can benefit, rather than destroy the group (Krivis, 2006). For this, one should be familiar with conflict resolution methods. Lower I would like to mention two of them: the "4 R's" method, and the A E I O U method. Â  

Philosophy of life Essay Example for Free

Philosophy of life Essay There is only one way to live and achieve a meaningful life, and can be acquired by looking inside yourself and determining what is the best things you can do in your life. There are endless suggestions on how to live a meaningful life; however, these are not necessary guides or the only way because each person is different. This means that there is no one way that is correct or no one way that is false because each person is unique in their own way and have varying perspectives of life. According to Jobs, life is about living to connect the dots. He says that you can only connect the dots by looking back at decisions and things that have happened and that you cannot connect the dots for the future. He also says that you tell yourself that to live to connect the dots and that what you’re doing is setting up a dot to be connected that is when you can go with heart. He went to college and dropped out after six months and started going to classes that he was interested in instead of going to classes that were demanded and he did not enjoy. One of the classes he went to was a calligraphy class. He says that if he had not dropped out and went to this class that he would not have been so successful with the Mac. Jobs stressed the idea that without the inspirations attained in calligraphy class that were used in the design of Macintosh all personal computers would be non-existent because Windows copied Macintosh. Jobs may have started Apple in his garage with his friend but within ten years it became a $2 billion company. Shortly after the ten years, contradicting visions led to the divergence of the company and the firing of Steve Jobs. In the fall of his old job Jobs created two new companies, NeXT and Pixar, which both became very well-known and successful companies. Pixar, now the most successful animation studio in the world, went on to create the first computer animated movie â€Å"Toy Story. † NeXT was bought by Apple leading to the return of Jobs and the technology he developed at NeXT is now the heart of Apple’s renaissance. He rounds out this speech with the idea everyone should strive for what makes them happy, doing the things they enjoy. He also rejoices in the fact that enjoying the things he loves now motivated his comeback and redeemed himself in the public eye. Wallace’s speech was focused on finding a personal, deeper meaning. He gives a variety of examples of frustrating moments, while providing insight on how we react. For example: he talks about a woman in line yelling at her kids. To most people they think that’s how she treats her kids all the time leading to some misinterpretation. Instead of thinking that way, he provides alternate cases she might be dealing with, such as, suffering from extreme stress due to her husbands’ bone cancer or maybe she extended an act of kindness at her work for an individual dealing with tough circumstances. He talks about the roughness of everyday adult life, explaining the need to not jump to conclusions and extending grace, making the situation a much happier one. Wallace is not trying to give moral advice or strict guidelines to follow because this can become difficult, he only wants to give noteworthy insight to a stressful situation. He then goes on to talk about worship. Wallace explains how, in his opinion, atheism does not exist due to the fact everyone worships something, demolishing the basis behind atheism. The only choice individuals get to decide is the things they worship. If one chooses to worship money then they will never have enough of it; if one chooses to worship their body then they will always think that they are ugly and will never be happy. He says that the insidious thing about these forms of worship is not that they are sinful, but rather they are unconscious default settings. This type of worship allows beings to slip into a more lax way of thinking causing them to be more selective without ever being fully aware of what they are doing. Jobs’ approach to a skilled life is finding something one is passionate about doing and doing it no matter the route one takes. He dropped out of college after six months and just dropped-in on classes that sounded interesting to him. He found something that he really enjoyed in calligraphy class leading him to design the Macintosh and which ultimately led to the creation of personal computers. He loves the adaptability of technology and discovering the next best thing. Also, he stresses that connecting the dots is big because it leads you to your hearts desires. So according to Jobs, finding something that you love doing and living to connect the dots is the key to a prosperous, fulfilling life. According to Wallace, the approach to a more prosperous life is to think things through in a deeper more educated meaning. He talks about moments in our lives where we may get frustrated and what we can do to prevent from getting so mad. So overall, they are trying to convey the same message which is: obtaining a skillful and prosperous life. To me, I feel as though what makes life meaningful is living it to the fullest and learning from mistakes. I do not necessarily agree or disagree with either Jobs or Wallace ideals because they are not the main things to achieve a prosperous life but they are good things to incorporate in life. Life is so much more than finding something that you enjoy doing because I enjoy playing Xbox but that is not going to get me anywhere in life. Also, it is more than just thinking deeply about situations when I am going to get frustrated. I say you should always take opportunities presented in your life, not allowing them to pass you by. Take opportunities the first time and don’t be impassive assuming there will be another. With these opportunities there is always the decision to side between right and wrong. Now, I hope that everyone has a strong enough will to be able to pick the good opportunities rather than the bad ones. If you have a chance to make a difference in someone’s life or can change the outcome of a situation then why be passive and not pursue it? Life is all about choices and decision making. These things also come with responsibility and the decisions you make will lead to positive or negative consequences. Everyone makes bad choices in their life because no one is perfect and we are fallen people. With this falleness comes sin and with sin comes destruction, but we are given the opportunity to learn from our mistakes and continue to grow through them. All of these life situations leads us to be a better person to ourselves, others, and God. In order to live a thriving life, one must make conscious decisions, learn from their mistakes, and thank the Lord for opportunities and learning experiences. There is no guide on how to live a meaningful life. It is all up to the individual and whatever they see fit for themselves and their life. Though I have this view, it does not mean that it is the only way to live a meaningful life, the same goes for Jobs’ and Wallace’s opinions. Each person has some ideals that everyone can draw from to make their life better and happier, but it is not necessarily the only way to achieve a meaningful life. The true way to achieve a meaningful life is to look deep inside oneself and decide how to accomplish one’s own meaning prosperous life.

The External Triggers For Change In Toyota

The External Triggers For Change In Toyota In today dynamic marketplace, change management has become a very vital element of the organisation development. Change doesnt not always imply innovation, thus, change is defined as a part of organisation invariably influence people and process of the organisation (Cole, 2008). The pace of global, economic and technological development makes change an inevitable feature of organisational life. Change can be classified into planned change and unplanned change. Unplanned change is a piecemeal reaction to circumstances as they occur. Whereas, planned change is change that is designed and implemented in an orderly and timely fashion in anticipation of future events (Hayes, 2002). For instance, the implementation of Just-In-Time (JIT) operation in the Toyota Production System (TPS) is considered as a planned change. It is because the adaption of JIT is gone through a planned and well-managed change process. Change is crucial to strategy and vision generation when organisation is preparing for the strategic planning process (Burnes, 2004). Change is an alternation of organisations environment structure, technology or people. Organisation often view change as a continuous process that they need to capture the learning and pass it on. The forces of change can be divided into internal and external forces. External forces include economic factors, and new market opportunity. By contrast, the internal forces inside an organisation can lead to a change (Griffin, 2003). Organisation need to clearly clarify the factors, which have triggered the changes. After that, a change management approach should be undertaken, which comprises of change management process, approaches adopted to minimise the resistance to change and an overall performance evaluation program of the change. History of Toyota Toyota Manufacturing Corporation (TMC) story starts, when Sakichi invented the wooden Toyoda handloom, which was to revolutionize the countrys textile industry. Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, which is now known as Toyota Manufacturing Corporation (TMC), was founded in 1918 by Sakichi Toyoda and Kiichiro Toyoda. Kiichiro Toyoda had travelled to Europe and the US in 1929 to research automobile production and begun researching gasoline powered engines in 1930. The 1st A1 prototype passenger car was completed in year 1935 (http: //www.toyota.co.uk). Toyota began its operation in Europe since the early 1960s. They attempted to design the car based on Europe market needs and wants. Further, Toyota had established a manufacturing plant operation in UK in year 1989 because of the strong tradition of vehicle manufacturing in UK and the large domestic market for their product (http://www.toyotauk.com). In year 2004, Toyota has become the one of the top three car manufacturer, alongside General Motor (GM) and Ford. Globalisation has forced Toyota to improve their business process to be more competitive in the global market. Toyota has established a clear vision 2010 Global Vision Strategy. The mission of Toyota is to create a more prosperous society through automatic manufacturing. Therefore, Toyota has to always focus on the future of the automobile industry when deciding the position of the company. The vision of Toyota aims to achieve long term, stable growth in harmony with the environment, the global economy, the local communities it serves and its stakesholder (http://www.toyota.co.jp). Forces for Change The external and internal forces have resulted in the need of change. The external triggers for change are derived from outside the organisation. The external triggers for change in Toyota: Globalisation The declination of barriers to the free flow of products and services had driven the trend of globalisation. Globalisation has opened up new market and created opportunity for business to expand their market share (http://news.bbc.co.uk). Increased Competition The increased the competition in the market has forced companies to improve their business operation to be more competitive in the market. For example, as a global player Toyota, frequently confront each other as competitors in nation after nation. Ford, for instance, has 5 car-design centres scattered around the world, each focus on specific market segment (Terpstra and Sarathy, 2000). As a result, change may occur. In this assignment, case regarding to the impact of change on TPS had changed the company policy, process, and decision making. Tough rivalry There are many aggressive competitors, such as Nissan, GM, Ford and so on. Most of them have established their own competitive advantages in the global market, thus, this may constraints Toyota to gain more market share in the global market (Hill and Jones, 1998). Thus, there a need of change for Toyota to create their competitive advantages. Low Demand The demand of consumers is low so Toyota needed to turn out low volume of different models using assembly line instead of supporting the dedicated assembly lines for one vehicle. Finally, Ohno developed the TPS, by adapting the Ford production system to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of production lines. This idea was derived from the trip to Ford factory and designed to achieve three main objectives: costs reduction, quality improvement and zero inventory (Lynch 2006). The internal triggers for a change in Toyota: The introduction of JIT The new management philosophy Just-in-time system had been applied by Ford companies in 1910. They arranged all the elements of a manufacturing system people, machines, tooling, and products in a continuous system for manufacturing the Model T automobiles designed to make huge quantities of limited number of models (Lynch, 2006). As a result, Ford became the largest car company in Japan with GM as the second largest manufacturer, together manufacturing over 90% of the vehicles manufactured in Japan. New product innovation There is a need of new product innovation because the increased fuel price has influenced the consumer buying behaviours. Therefore, there is a need for Toyota to develop fuel-efficient vehicles and hybrid vehicles (Lynch, 2004). Management and Marketing The poor management of Toyota in India has led to a lockout in India plant. The falling demand of car in Philippines has led to the Toyota plant close down because of the poor marketing expertise to help the Toyota to increase their product awareness (http://news.bbc.co.uk). Operation problem Based on the mass production paradigm of the day, economies of scale alone should have made this an impossible for the tiny Toyota. The new discovery of the technology that used by Ford in production line became a threat for Toyotas position in the market. The only way that it could survive was by finding new and flexible production methods that could help them to create more value on car manufacturing process (Lynch, 2006). Production Lines There are numerous problems with Toyota (without using the technology in its TPS) (Turban, 2008): Problem in its supply chain and its operations, and its car keeping costs mounted. Customer dissatisfaction increased due to Toyota inability to deliver cars to dealers on time. Management used computer that generated useless reports and data. Thus, management faced the problem in using the data strategically. Internal department often failed in file sharing and information exchange. Thus, it had slow down the speed of reporting. Report system that used in TPS always provides inaccurate information and information overlaps. Management failed in making decision in a given time due to the inaccurate information. Types of Change Change is the transition from one state to another. There are three types of changes which may undertake by the organisation to response to the change in external and internal environment: Incremental Change According to Hayes (2002), incremental change is a continuous adaption and modification of organisation existing strategic, process, policies and system. It is risk for an organisation adapts incremental change if the external forces of change are great because the opportunity of organisation development and expansion may be constrained by the existing systems and operations. Strategic Change Strategic change is the proactive management of change in organisation to achieve strategic objectives, which involves establish new systems, policies or procedures (Lynch, 2003). Transformational Change Transformational change may involve both strategic and incremental change because the intervention leads to alignment among the organisations strategies, design element, and culture (Johnson and Scholes, 1999). The revolutionary of Toyota is considered transformational change. The transformational change of Toyota occurs in response to external and internal disruptions, which consist of tough rivalry, internal company dynamics and so on. There disruption severely jolt organisation and push them to alter business strategy, and in turn, their mission, values, structure, systems, and procedures (Cummings and Worley, 2001): Transformational change involves altering most of the featuring of the organisation and achieving a fit among them and with the firms strategy. Today, the demand of better quality has been on the increase for the past two decades or more. Toyota has change process in production, business operation and retail system. The culture of Toyota has changed as they attempt to develop a lean organisation. Previously, the culture of Toyota is problems of production are corrected later and quality of controlled by additional inspection and containment. Now, they build a culture that stops to fix problems with the core philosophy of eliminating waste (Liker and Meier, 2006). Transformational change happens in situation experiencing huge change and uncertainty, thus, changing never finished as new structures and process will continually have to be altered to fit the changing condition. The adaption of JIT approach in TPS enable Toyota to produce different types of cars in one production line, thus, it has increase the ability to Toyota in response to the different types of customer preferences (Hino, 2006). Transformational change requires innovation and continuous learning. Toyota is considered as a learning organisation because their culture is stopping the problem and fixing the problem at that time. This typically is a continuous learning process and trying new behaviours, assessing their consequences, and modifying them. Learning occurs at all levels of the organisation from top level management to low level management (Liker and Meier, 2006). Change Management Of Toyota Change is a critical part to be managed when Toyotas globalization had started exporting the Crown to the United States. Thus, a well-organised change management process (Appendix 1: Change Management Process, p 20) needs to be carried out to avoid the problem of inefficiency works due to the lack of concentration on specific aspect (http://blogs.iht.com). According to Hayes (2002), there are several steps involved in the process of change management: 1. Recognition: Organisation has to be clearly aware of the external and internal factors (Refer to force for change above) that lead to a need of change take place within the organisation. In year 1940, Ohno Taiichi, chief engineering of Toyota found that it is difficult for tiny Toyota to compete with Ford and General Motors (GM) (the world largest car manufacturing company) in a global market. The only way that it could survive was by looking for new and flexible production method that could help them to establish their position in the global market (Lynch, 2006). Other than that, the demand of better quality of the market has indicated the problem of traditional TPS focuses on reducing per unit costs generates a mind-set of never stopping the line because higher production number theoretically equal lower cost per unit (Refer to the internal and external factors, which trigger the need of change). 2. Start of Change Process: In this stage, it involves the translating the need for change into an aspiration of change among the people, deciding who will manage the change and building a workable and effective change relationship. In order to start the change process, Ohno had visited the Ford factory because of the belief that Ford factory can provide him a way to modify the TPS. However, Ohno found that the Ford production was flawed. In response, he looked for a way to make mass production efficiency with small production volumes and at lowest costs Just-In-Time (JIT) approach (Stevenson, 2007). Thus, forces of change have encouraged Toyota to develop lean system for TPS by adopting JIT approach (Appendix 2: Attributes of Lean Organisation, p21) (Appendix 3: Traditional unit-cost-focused manufacturing, p22) (Appendix 3 (a): Lean Waste Reduction Result in Lower Total Cost, Improved Delivery, p23) (Hill, 2007). 3. Diagnosis: Then, diagnosis of reviewing the present and identifying the future for better change management is taken place. Reviewing the present state can help organisation to the need of change through diagnosis the causes of problems, current deficiencies and opportunities. Organisation may able to clearly identify what is changing and the future direction through reviewing the current state. Organisation have to imagine how and what future that business likely to achieve and then establishing objectives to accomplish it. The present state of Toyota is unable to produce the types of cars, which can meet the market needs and wants, mass production lead to high waste, and so forth. Therefore, in order to a well-entranced global company, Toyota had established the major objective of revolutionary TPS is to build up competitive advantages- affordable price and high quality and eliminate the problems of current TPS, so that Toyota can compete with other larger car manufacturer although their market share is smaller (Krajewski and et al., 2007) (Appendix 4: Toyota Production System, pg 24). 3. Prepare and plan for implementation: Subsequently, organisation need to make choices such as which method should adopt for the change and whether full or trial implementation should be run. Toyota had established 14 management principles (Appendix 5, pg 25) in its new TPS to guide its operation in various countries including UK (Liker and Meier, 2006). The 14 management principles have developed Toyotas supplier throughout the value stream. Furthermore, Toyota has established four underlying principles to TPS (Stevenson, 2007): Work should be finished specified as to content, sequence, timing and outcome. Every customer-supplier connection, both internal and external, has to be direct and specify. The people who involved in the connection, the forms and quantity of the services and goods and so forth need to clearly indicated, The flow of products and services must be simple and direct goods and services are directed and specific person or machine. Any improvement in the system must be made in accordance with the scientific method, at the lowest possible level in the organisation. 4. Implementation change: The implementation of change need to be carried out in an appropriate time. Further, organisation needs to be focused on monitoring and controlling actions to ensure everything flow smoothly. The implementation of lean system has affected the Toyotas internal linkages between its core and supporting process and its external linkages with its customers and suppliers. In the human resource department, they had emphasised on the right incentive systems that reward team work. Toyota has provided training and education for employees regarding the responsiveness of system to problems that makes the seemingly rigid system so flexible and adaptable to changing circumstance (Hino, 2006). As a consequence, Toyota developed a new HRM system inserted new program such as assimilation (process of bringing people into their new TPS culture) and training (On-the-job Training-OJT) into the recruitment system. They are adopting the OJT to encourage employees to learn their own jobs well to be able to train others (http://www.toyotauk.com). Furthermore, they exert tremendous efforts to develop people who live in their system through the kaizen program (continuous improvement) such as suggestion program, quality circles, leadership development and the like (Liker and Meier, 2006) (Appendix 6: HRM Framework TMUK, pg 27). 5. Review and consolidate: Feedback of the change process is needed for review and consolidation. Consolidation primarily refers to the unfreezing concept of Lewins model. After implementing the new TPS, Toyota had announced there is a huge reduction of costs in production process. Further, Toyota can better response to the customers needs and wants. To sum up, organisation may not able to sustain in the market if they dont manage the change process properly. Thus, managing change and the ability of perceive the change is crucial to future success. The resistance of Change However, there are some circumstances faced by Toyota when implementing the change in their operation. According to Mr. Stevenson, the employees of Toyota fear that they will be unable to implement the JIT approach in production with reach the cost-efficiency objectives, and therefore develop negative attitude toward the change or behave poorly if required to use them. Besides that, the staff of Toyota has used to the traditional production. Every day, they are doing the same job, thus, they rely on habits in doing the job. The habit of the employees has become a source of resistance to change. Furthermore, the implementations of changes require high capability workers and high skills workers. Some employees are fear of losing status, jobs, authority and other economic benefits has refused to change. It is because the changes lead to some change in the organisational structure of Toyota. Some low level workers have been promoted to become high skills workers to participate in the production lines. Some older workers are not able to cope with the changes, thus they tend to resist change. Techniques for Reducing Resistance There are various methods can be used to overcome the resistance to change: education and communication, participation, facilitation and support, negotiation, manipulation and co-optation and coercion. Among those techniques, Toyota has applied the education and communication techniques. They discuss the change with the employees to help them to see the logic of change. They try to understand the problems that faced by employees during the change process and attempt to solve it out. Apart from that, participation is undertaken by Toyota to work out the problem of resistance to change. Toyota has involved all the employees in the implementation of lean system in business operation. Toyota also provides supportive efforts such as training and development, which help the employees to adopt the change easily. (Source: Interview from Sales Executive Mr. Stevenson, R.) The Impact of Change on Toyotas Operation Production Process The external and internal factors had encouraged Toyota to build lean system in TPS a philosophy of continuous improvement and forced problem solving that drives out waste, which can help create a lean organisation. By implementing the new production system, all the stages in production must be carried out by establishing the quality and continually improving quality standard; therefore, it can meet total quality standards and delight customers. The revolutionary of the TPS has completely changed the manufacturing process in term of inventory, scheduling, quality control and so forth (Taylor and Brunt, 2002) (Appendix 7: JIT contributes competitive advantages, p 28). The revolutionary of TPS had encouraged Toyota create one-piece flow within the organisation because it helped Toyota to eliminate waste, force problem to surface, create interdependency, make problem uncomfortable and identify weak links in the flow and strengthen them (Appendix 8: Waste Reduction Model, pg 29). Thus, it can save their resources and uses it in other areas (Liker and Meier, 2006). The new TPS helped Toyota in establishing standardised process and procedures to create consistent performance and better manage their operation around the world. The revolutionary of the TPS is focusing on flexibility by basing production on demand rather than simply on capacity. According to Mr. Stevenson, Toyota has developed a flexibility and responsiveness that continues to set the standard for the industry by concentrating on small quantity and manufacturing on what customers want. With the continuous improvement, TPS has become the ideal system in todays rapidly changing global environment. TPS increases the production flexibility able to produce different models on one assembly line (http://news.bbc.co.uk). Marketing and Customer Services The old TPS is focusing on economic of scale rather than the customers needs and wants. Therefore, demand of products is low as the new competitors such as Ford and General Motors has introduced the new vehicles. The use of new TPS has changed from supporting dedicated assembly lines for one vehicle with high volume to low volume of different models of vehicles by using the same assembly line. Furthermore, the revolutionary of TPS had enabled the Toyota served all the segment of passenger car vehicle market by offering an extensive range of innovative, high quality vehicles and engines. The vehicles are designed to satisfy the varied demand of Toyotas customers, while delivering superior quality and reliability (Hino, 2006). Customer satisfaction is a top priority in today competitive market environment. Mr .Stevenson cited that the implementation of revolutionary of TPS has impacted on the business operation of Toyota Lean Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Toyota built lean CRM in response to the growing volume of customer information collected at the many touch-points during the customer lifecycle. Therefore, Toyota can capture the change in customers behaviour easily. The Customer First concept is generated from the TPS. Toyota realise that no matter how good the final product might be, it is worthless if the products dont meet customers demands and needs. Thus, Toyota Retail System (TRS) are developed to define the Toyota Way in retailing. The concept of Customer First is about putting the customer in the drivers seat before the car has even been designed. The concept has separated throughout the whole organisation. The creation of 14 principles of Toyota Way has applied to the TPS Plan Do Check Act to retail environment. The objectives of TRS are to reach efficiency in retailing and delivering best purchase and ownership experience for customers (http://www.toyota.co.jp). Technology The continuous improvement in TPS had developed the use of technology in production. The expensive fuel price had encouraged Toyota to develop hybrid engines (Lynch, 2006). Other than that, the issues of global warning has increasingly concerned by stakeholders. The development of hybrid technology enables Toyota to more emphasis on promoting environmental friendly vehicles, which can more commit to corporate social responsibilities. Traditionally, Toyota was using digital print to print large areas of solid colour without areas of banding appearing and ruining the piece. The development of new technology DocuColor enables Toyota to produce with exceptional print quality (www.xerox.com). Culture In the past, the culture of the Toyota has increased the costs of production; it is because employees keep producing the products without stopping and correcting the problem of the products. Therefore, Toyota has the intention to build up an organisation culture, where employees need to detect a problem, stop the problem immediately and solve the problem at that time (Krajewski, and et al., 2007). The improvement is made at the lowest level of the organisation so that the employees who are actually doing the work are actively involved in doing the improvement (Appendix 9: The contrastive between traditional method of correcting problem and the Toyota method of stopping to fix model, p30 ). Other than that, the implementation of lean system has fostered the culture of continuous improvement, which placed high value on performance and result. Mr. Stevenson cited that Toyota has also build up a close relationship with its suppliers, thus, Toyota only order the materials, which is needed and there is no extra storage for unused materials. Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Change In the past, Toyota is considered as a low cost producer. But, the low cost strategy unable to help Toyota to establish s strong position in the global and compete with its competitors. Therefore, the implementation of lean system in TPS with JIT approach enables Toyota to pursue both cost leadership and differentiation strategy (Morrison, 2006). Differentiation strategy can be developed through the total quality control and continuous improvement in the stages of TPS. Furthermore, the new TPS provides an opportunity for Toyota to pursue its global niche strategy Lexus, which tend to target high income level people and to increase its presence in the global market (Lynch, 2006). Other than that, new technology that invented into the TPS had lowered the cost of production through eliminating waste and making it more efficient for Toyota to change model quickly in response to changing customer taste. With the revolutionary of TPS, Toyota has dominated the top ranking for reliability and manufacturing excellence in the third party quality survey since year 2006. Based on a Consumer Report, there are 47 most reliable car models in today market. Surprisingly, 21 Toyotas models are ranking in the survey of evaluating around 1.3 million vehicles. Toyota had been voted the global most admired motor vehicles by Fortune 500 global executives in 2005 and 2006, ranking first in the industry for quality, and social responsibility (http://www.toyotauk.com). Today, Toyota has replaced GM as the worlds largest car manufacturer. The successful of Toyota is the global market is because of its sophisticated lean system in business operation: production, customer services and marketing areas. Traditionally, it takes 3 days to build up a car. With the implementation of JIT approach in TPS, it only takes 24 hours to build the car from a roll of steel to finished vehicle. In average, the construction of engine is done every 54 seconds (http://www.toyotauk.com). The whole concept of Toyota is customer first, which has result in the increasingly growth of sales in Europe in 2006. Toyota had announced its record sales in Europe for 10th year in a row the achievement of an annual sales growth of 13% and a market share of 5.8%. The development of hybrid technology was voted as the Best Eco-Friendly Engine in 1999 and 2000 (www.issolutions.co.uk). According to Mr. Stevenson, Toyota has maintained its competitive advantages without making any loss, while other large car manufacturers are making loss during the economic downturn. This has prove that the lean system in the Toyota is efficiency and effective and able to react to the external change. Conclusion The implementation of lean system in business operation in Toyota is focuses on elimination waste, zero inventories, respond to customers behaviour quickly, quality management, and continuous improvement. However, no process can ever be perfect, thus, continuous improvement is needed. The element of continuous improvement can be a competitive advantages for Toyota to sustain competitive in the global market. TPS enables Toyota to produce vehicles at low costs, but low costs in production only reduce the selling price (short-term benefit). Therefore, Toyota can endeavour to produce vehicles which contribute the long term benefits for customer fuel-efficient engines. Fuel efficient engines not only offer the customers with long-term benefit, but also cultivate the environmental protection policy. Furthermore, Toyota can research on every aspect of the vehicles and find out the way to save the customer long-term costs with the basic requirement of security and safety policy. Nowadays, global warming is becoming an issue that concerned by public. Although, Toyota had developed the new technology hybrid engines, which is a combination of petrol and electric. However, this technology is not widely developed by the Toyota because not all the vehicles are manufactured by using hybrid engine. In order to contribute to the society, this is an opportunity for Toyota to strive in research and development by using hybrid engines in producing all the vehicles. Technological changes can make well-establish product obsolete, while technology can be used as a value-added function to achieve organisational competitive (Terpstra and Sarathy, 2000) (Hill and Jones, 1998). In order to avoid from vehicles obsolete, Toyota has to always keep updating the latest technology that used in manufacturing. By using the latest technology, Toyota can be more innovative in creating and manufacturing the vehicles. The revolutionary of TPS has developed Toyota as a learning organisation learning continuously from the problem solving. Furthermore, globalisation had influenced the way Toyota conduct its business in term of marketing and customer services, production, human resource management, strategy, use of technology and its business process. The changed of company policies had led Toyota successfully passed its competitive competitors GM and Ford. The implementation of TPS enables Toyota to uses both cost leadership and differentiation strategy to compete in the global market. As a consequence, Toyota has become one of the world largest car manufacturer companies in term of low price and high quality. In conclusion, their lean system made them an innovative leader in the auto industry and served as an important cornerstone of their success. Appendix 1: Change Management Process Start of change process Diagnosis review the present and identify the future state Review and consolidate Implement change Plan and prepare for implementation Recognition of the need for change External change, problem opportunities. (Source: Hayes, J. (2002) The Theory and Practice of Change Management, 1st Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York) Appendix 2: Attributes of Lean Organisation Apply JIT techniques to reduce virtually all inventories. Establish system that assist employees produce a perfect part every time. Reduce space requirements by minimising the distance a part travels. Build close relationship with supplier, helping them to understand their needs and their customers needs. Educate supplier about the responsibility of helping meet customer needs. Eliminate all but value-added activities. Material handling, inspection and rework jobs are the likely target because these do not add value to product. Build the workforce by constantly improving job design, training, employee participation and commitment, and teamwor

TapNet Business Plan Essays -- TapNet Business Management Essays

TapNet Business Plan TapNet Executive Summary TapNet.com (Trade Association Portal) represents a tremendous opportunity for it's directors, partners and potential stockholders. 1.1 The Opportunity The Internet and specifically business-to business applications are expanding at a tremendous rate. Many companies and associations are entering this portal area to provide valuable products services to the industry and generate economic profit at the same time. TapNet's Board of Directors saw this opportunity about year ago and has been fine tuning their concept and approach. Since this time, TapNet has moved forward and further developed the concept, gathered content and interacted with hundreds of potential customers around the world and gained their support. 1.2 The Application TapNet is more than a website or portal, it is an Internet based application that supports the trade association’s business operations, offers buyers and sellers the chance to find each other, interact and eventually purchase products and services on-line. TapNet provides these core competencies and capabilities to trade association, many of which could not afford these required business capabilities without TapNet as their provider. TapNet provides the foundation for a dominating site that drives the industry rather than just responding to it. TapNet plans to continue development of both its technology and the information resources it offers. This will be accomplished by developing buyer guide matrixes for associations to list their information, developing TapNet enabling features and functions, and by providing content and interaction that truly bring the trade association community closer together. TapNet will also provide a strong mar... ...nding Shares 3,850,000 Available to Public 4,000,000 40% Retained by Directors/Executives/Board 5,100,000 51% Remained authorized but unissued 200,000 2% Reserved for Stock Options for future employees 200,000 2% Total Shares Authorized 10,000,000 100% Use of Funds The capital raised during this offering will be used in the following ways: On-going Operations 12,288,701 Implement Technology Platform 2,187,556 Marketing Costs 260,000 Networks & Assets 4,474,800 Legal 20,000 Total Use of Funds 19,231,057 7.4 Investors Return Rate of Return over 4 years 226% 7.5 Exit Strategy Directors propose an outright sale of TapNet with in 48 months of launching offering. (1/2005)

Changing Nature of Higher Education Essay

Proprietary education first appeared in the 1600’s about the same time that institutions like Harvard were being created. For much of US History these schools provided popular mass education in contrast to traditional colleges that were often reserved for the elites (Thelin, 2011). Generally, the purpose of these schools, besides profitability was to provide practical and narrowly focused training, thus filling a need not addressed by traditional education (Beaver, 2009). In addition, for-profits also became known for providing training for minorities, women, and in general, students from the lower social strata, a trend that would continue well into the 20th century (Apling, 1993). From an historical perspective, for-profits have experienced periods of relative prosperity and decline. In terms of prosperity, the peak occurred following the civil war as proprietary institutions sought to provide training for an expanding industrial sector. By 1893, there were approximately 115,748 students enrolled at for-profit schools (Beaver, 2009). On the other hand during the Progressive Era, for-profit schools were deemed unnecessary and invaluable especially if traditional schools were developed and managed efficiently. By 1972, amendments to the Higher Education Act permitted students attending for-profit schools to receive federal student-aid such as grants and loans (Thelin, 2011). Congress believed that students attending these institutions should receive an equal opportunity regardless of their disadvantaged backgrounds. As a result, it is estimated that during that year, for-profits accounted for one-half the increase in higher education’s total enrollment (Beaver, 2009). It is interesting to note that tuition levels at many for-profits are set in accordance with the typical amount of government sponsored aid available to the student, thus questions have been raised regarding the accountability of many proprietary institutions with regard to quality student learning. This paper will focus on how governmental accountability standards have transformed policies and procedures at Everest Institute a subsidiary of Corinthian Colleges. Changing Faces of Public Accountability Both public and private institutions are held accountable to the people that support them (Altbach, Berdahl, & Gumport, 2005). For public institutions their support is primarily from the public; however private institutions such as Everest are governed by their stockholders and a governing board of directors. The interests of these institutions are determined by both external and internal political policies that can create a complex system of compromises and the accommodation of several different conflicting objectives (2005). There was a point in time when the general public was not interested in how colleges and universities conducted business. However, times have since changed. Citizens now realize that their future economic, social, and cultural norms are directly influenced by higher education (Altbach, Berdahl, & Gumport, 2005). This increased awareness by citizens, politicians and law makers led to a demand for more accountability in higher education. The early accountability movement went beyond ensuring compliance with federal funding requirements. Research has shown that management fads in the world of business often time find their way into education, and perhaps some of the focus on accountability in higher education was the result of the Total Quality Management frenzy which firmly took hold in the for-profit business sector by the late 1980s and early 1990s (Castigili & Turi, 2011). Eventually, the quality process was being applied to academic settings. This process where the term quality was referred to giving the student customer a desired product at a reasonable cost (2011). Terms such as assessment, informed decision making, and continuous improvements became common terminology in academia just as they were in the business world. As a result, educational bodies of accreditation began require colleges and universities demonstrate accountability in their self-assessments. However, it was the famous 2006 Spellings Report that established higher education reform. Education Secretary Margaret Spellings and the Commission on the Future of Higher Education attempted to incorporate the concept of Total Quality Management into higher education. The Commission also sought to reprogram U. S. colleges in to providing the highest possible quality of education at the lowest possible cost (Basken, 2007). One of the most important of the commission’s recommendations was for colleges and universities to address the â€Å"inadequate transparency and accountability for measuring institutional performance† (Spellings Commission, 2006, p. 13). For many faculty members and administrators in higher education, it was the principle that was deemed contentious and not the quest for high quality (Castigili & Turi, 2011). However, before the Spellings Commission began its deliberations, the majority colleges and universities had already began to adopt cultures of assessment, and were utilizing the results of their assessments in order to improve student learning. The Spellings commission also called for accountability measures that allowed comparisons of student performance. The American Council on Education and several other groups in higher education interpreted this recommendation as a mandate for standardized testing (Basken, 2007). American colleges and universities have always been resistant to standardized testing and accountability templates because many of them feel that they do not account for the plurality of institutional missions and seem to shift the purpose of assessment from self-improvement to reporting. Standardized accountability requirements do not take into account the complexity of the education that takes place in colleges and universities and could have an impact on the overall process of higher education (Castigili & Turi, 2011). Recent efforts of U. S. olicy makers with regards to accountability in higher education have been negatively compared to the No Child Left Behind Act, which, which may educators feel led to the practice of â€Å"teaching to the test† (Cohen, 2009). If the requirement of standardized testing in higher education created the same or similar results, the impact on higher learning would be devastating. However, long before standardized testing became an issue that threatened colleges and universities, Banta (1996) as referenced in (Castigili & Turi, 2011), claimed the requirements of accountability â€Å"seem to chafe at the very soul of the academic enterprise (p. 7). â€Å" The foundation of that which Kuh (2007) referred to as â€Å"higher education’s aversion to transparency and accountability (p. 32)† could possibly be the concern that the need to report outcomes might weaken the primary purpose of assessment, which is ultimately, improving student learning. Evolution of Accountability for Corinthian Colleges According to the Corinthian Colleges website, Corinthian Colleges Inc. (CCI) provides a friendly, small campus atmosphere where dedicated staff and faculty take a personal interest in the progress of each student. The company operates 105 schools in 25 states in addition to 17 schools in Canada. CCI serves a large and growing segment of individuals seeking to acquire careers in the Health Care, Business, Criminal Justice, Transportation Technology, Maintenance, Construction Trades and Information Technology fields. With more than 17,000 employees in North America, Corinthian Colleges is committed to continue to provide quality instruction and fulfill the mission of changing student’s lives. It is the belief of CCI that consistent application of core values such as integrity, teamwork and accountability depends upon each employee making ethical decisions everyday concerning every student every time. Because of recent headlines, the image of for-profit colleges has become considerably questionable. The media and Senate hearings have reported aggressive and unethical behaviors consistent with unethical business practices. In 2011 The Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued its findings after conducting undercover testing of 15 for-profit colleges in the United States. The GAO found that 4 colleges promoted and encouraged its admission representatives to engage in fraudulent practices (De Vise, 2011). The GAO reported that all of the 15 colleges made false or misleading statements to undercover applicants. The misleading statements were directly related to potential, earnings, financial aid, and student loan repayments. Undercover investigators stated that many of them engaged in substandard academic performance that would have almost certainly resulted in censure at any other institution (De Vise, 2011). There were also reports of students cutting classes, plagiarism, missed assignments, and incorrect assignments being submitted for full credit. Everest was one of 15 for-profit colleges cited by the GAO for deceptive or questionable statements that were made to undercover investigators posing as applicants. Two unnamed campuses were cited in this report (Lewin, 2011). Additionally, the U. S. Department of Education statistics indicated that Everest College graduates had the highest default rate of any school in California for students entering repayment in 2010 (U. S. Department of Education, 2010). It is unclear if Everest North Miami was one of the campuses cited in the GAO report, however, the results of the report led to swift and immediate change in the way the campus operated. Three primary areas received the most attention. First, admissions officers and career services representatives were required to participate in a mandatory training that dealt with how to properly converse with students when speaking about enrollment and placement. Program Directors and a representative from Financial Aid, Admissions, and Career Services were required to attend daily at-risk meetings in order to decrease student absences and also provide administrators with an overall picture of those student who were at risk so that budgetary forecasting could be more accurate and less inflated. Lastly, Career Services Representatives were required to spend more time in the field recruiting new business that would be willing to hire students following graduation. They were also required to take additional training regarding placement rate reporting. Managing Gainful Employment and Placement at Everest Current law requires that private sector institutions prepare students for â€Å"gainful employment in a recognized occupation. † In other words, graduates from these institutions must be able to get jobs in their respective fields of study, or the school may risk losing their accreditation. Newly introduced standards would require that student borrowing and loan repayment be regulated to ensure that students are not loaded up with federal and high cost private loans and debt that many students are unlikely to ever repay. Students at for-profit colleges make up 12 percent of those in higher education, but almost half of those who default on student loans (Lewin, 2011). The alarming number of students that have defaulted on their student loans was the catalyst the led to this sweeping legislation. According to Stratford (2012), the cohort default rate is the percentage of borrowers who default on their student loans due to their inability to make payments. Nelson (2012) pointed out that over 9 percent of all students that borrow money to pay for their education, default on their loans in the first two years after they begin to make repayment. The research also noted that 13. 4 percent of student default within the first three years of repayment (2012). Examining gainful employment at any institution is important because it has a direct connection to the cohort default rate. If students are unable to secure meaningful career opportunities following graduation, then they are unable to afford student loan repayments. This is of a major concern not only to legislators, but also to the general public since student loans are funded by the taxpayer. Thus, there has been an increase for accountability for all schools who receive federal financial aid dollars. There is also a concern for the school because default rates are a factor in the institutions eligibility to receive federal student-aid (Stratford, 2012). This is increasingly important for small proprietary schools such as Everest since over 90 percent of proprietary schools revenues are generated through federal student-aid programs such as Stafford loans (Ausik, 2011). Under the new regulations, aimed to reign in for-profit education programs that saddle students with more loan debt than they can pay, programs that receive students’ federal grants and loans because they â€Å"prepare students for gainful employment† will have to pass at least one of three tests: 1) a student loan repayment of at least 35 percent; 2) a ratio of no more than 30 percent between debt that must be repaid each year and annual discretionary income; 3) a ratio of no more than 12 percent between debt and overall income (De Vise, 2011). The new rules take a â€Å"three strikes and you’re out† approach. The first time a program fails to meet all three criteria, it would have to develop and report how much it missed the benchmarks and what it will do to improve. The second time, it would have to warn student that they may not be able to repay their debt and that the program could lose its eligibility. However, a third strike within the four year period would result in the loss of the ability to offer federal student aid (Lewin, 2011). In order to improve placement rates, Everest Institute required that a Career Service Advisor be present at each daily at-risk meeting in order to discuss student placement rates and also to identify with the Program Director those students that were close to graduation. Additionally, each advisor was required to make initial contact with the prospective graduate at the start of their last semester or module in order to develop a relationship with the student and begin developing a job placement plan. The Career Services Department was required to interact more with the Program Directors and gain contact information of students that recently graduated, however, had not been placed. The advisor was responsible for developing a post-graduate placement plan for the student and reviewing the plan with the student on a weekly basis and tracking their individual progress. By assisting student to secure gainful employment, it provides them with a solid financial source of income to repay their student loans. Everest understands the importance of successfully placing student in careers that related to the major course of study. As more students are employed and able to repay their debt to the federal government, the cohort default rate for the institution will begin to decrease. Additionally, the success of the institution will help to increase student enrollments through the appropriate reporting mechanisms. These new initiatives help to create a positive environment where transparency and integrity are valued not only by the staff but also by the students that are being served. Mission and Future Implications Corinthian Colleges is currently undergoing changes within the organization in order to comply with new regulations from several external and government bodies. These and other mandates come as no surprise to the industry as several for-profit private institutions have allegedly been involved in unethical behaviors and practices. The leaders of these organizations are now forced to not only monitor performance and outcomes but to ensure that business is being conducted the right way. It is imperative that the leaders of the organization have a clear understanding of the dynamics of the organization in order to meet the immediate demands of the government. It is evident that Corinthian Colleges understands the urgency of the issue and measures are daily implemented in order to be in compliance. The process by which the organization chooses to disseminate the new policies will determine the success of change implementation. Change is difficult but necessary to achieve success. The Government is not suggesting but mandating that certain practices be overhauled, revised, and improved. Conclusion Despite the newly introduced demands from the Federal Government, Corinthian Colleges is committed to deliver their promise. With strict adherence to the company’s core values of Integrity, Customer Responsiveness, Respect, Innovation, Excellence, Teamwork, Innovation, Positive Energy, and Accountability, enables the execution of the overall strategic approach to become the best career education company in the world. Corinthians Colleges understands that the goal of transparency and accountability is to enable stakeholders to obtain clear and relevant information about college and university performance. McPherson and Shellenburger (2006) warned, however, about the misuse of assessment data. They urged that â€Å"accountability data be used only to compare specific universities with their own past performances and with the performance of comparable universities† (p. 3). To compare vastly different institutions would do far more harm than good, and potentially punish less-elite colleges and universities.