Course of Action for Owens Corning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Course of Action for Owens Corning - Essay Example This meant the company had to develop new IS capabilities and also to plan for a strong IS human resources management. It was also found that when the staffs were getting trained in SAP their requirements outside was very attractive and people were moving out of the company. Â  At the planned implementation time, the first release was done - October 1995. Second and third releases identified training as a major lacuna during the implementation phase which cost them quite some time and efforts. Not just teaching the computers and PC operation but also processes that are being adopted by the company. Release 4 was the SAP R/3 roll out at the Roof and Asphalt plants a total of 140 units where this was to be switched on by Mar 1997. This was to be followed closely by the other units of insulation and composites of North America. But then there were lots of issues relating to bugs in SAP, attrition among people and a swift implementation of switching it all on at the same time. From our analysis, we find that the issue is one of staged implementation and now they need to take a measure of putting unit after unit in order and lessons learned in one place could go on to help the rest. A plan to put all these in a phased manner needs to be worked out and implem ented with the same vigor when it was started in 1994. Â  Owens Corning was swiftly growing with its new acquisitions and there was an ongoing incorporation of new technologies that improved their working situation and the profitability of the company. The Roof and Asphalt plants divisions of OC were just over 80 units strong and the implementation of SAP R/3 was to happen in these. But the rapidly changing scenario and the acquisitions of units caused a number of changes in the company resulting in the implementation of SAP R/3 for R&A divisions alone at more than 140 locations. All this meant that the exercise is going to get tougher than planned.

Doubt Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Doubt - Essay Example In USA, there are lots of untold stories revolving around intelligence, security and the government. Ordinary Americans do not understand the operatives of the Federal Bureau of Investigations and National Intelligence Agency (NIA). They do not let people know the exact reasons behind their activities such as domestic and international surveillance on individuals’ secret communications. In order to make this play more appealing, Shanley had to incorporate the use of antithesis, motif, metaphor, symbols, themes, and analogy. These are very important devices which enabled him to deliver his message to the intended audience. The element of antithesis is evidenced when he juxtaposes two opposing ideas. For instance, it is successfully used by comparing and contrasting the young liberal and friendly Father Flynn and the conservative Sister Aloysius; Irish students and black students; and the guilty and innocent Father Flynn. These are instances which are very important in the play because they help in promoting the development of the plot and thematic concerns. For instance, by comparing the guilt and innocence of the priest, the play brings out Sister Aloysius as a very suspecting and doubtful character that can not actually make a concrete decision based on the ‘allegations labeled against the priest’ (Brantley). Just like her, the audience is left wonder ing about the actual truth about this matter. In my own imagination, I think the best word to use to describe Father Flynn is shrewd. Although Sister Aloysius accuses him of molesting the young Donald, the actual truth about his innocence or guilt is not known. However, I would like to suggest that he is innocent of all the accusations. After failing to prove them, Sister Aloysius tries to screw him by allegedly learning of his misconduct in his previous mission through a phone call. With all the unresolved mysteries surrounding this matter, I would like to

Fast Food Nation Essay Example for Free

Fast Food Nation Essay In his essay, â€Å"Fast Food Nation† Eric Schlosser condemns the impact of fast food on human health and American economy. Schlosser detests the fast food chain because it causes thousands of independent business to come to an end. As a result, unemployment plays a major role among these small scale businessmen. In addition it creates social differences among the people due to food market being captured by fast food chain. In order to attain a monopoly and dominate the fast food industry, they employ low paid and unskilled work force which is a threat to the public and migrant farm workers. Every citizen has the right to know the ingredients being used in the food so they can avoid the deleterious effects of the fast food on their health. His assertion, â€Å"introduction of deadly pathogens† states the risk encountered by small children who are the future generation of the modern world ( 392). Addition of harmful chemicals to increase the taste and aroma of food leads to chronic diseases like cancer, stroke and heart diseases. Furthermore Schlosser’s fear about the fast food being a social problem and turning out to be a threat to the American economy is the pinnacle of this essay. Small scale farms and full-time farmers are in the risk of losing their livelihood with the emergence of the fast food industry. He also points out the inability of the Government to eliminate the lethal meat which paves its way into the fast food industry and pose health problems. Then he moves onto the consumers and asserts that, â€Å"Even the anticipation of consumer anger has prompted McDonald’s to demand changes from its suppliers,† – this reveals that the consumers should be provoked and created an awareness about the ins and outs of the food they are eating (396). The insight of the author about the fast food industry builds up in a gradual process and finally reiterates the need for the public to take immediate action and cease the use of fast food as their regular food and search for other healthy options like simple and healthy cooking which would help them retain a hale and a healthy life. Saying no to the fast food makes the fast food industry to rethink their formula of safe food and saves our precious life as well as the future generation. Let’s think about it.

The Ethics of Software Outsourcing :: Software Outsourcing Essays

Analyze whether the United States should outsource software development from several ethical viewpoints. Introduction Always act in your own self interest -- ex-boss Many Santa Clara computer engineering professors ask their students where they are working. I am always surprised at the great number of students who are not. If these students are representative of the Silicon Valley job market, then its outlook is bleak. Many of these students' ex-jobs have been outsourced to lower cost countries such as India and now the Philippines. Software outsourcing has been a boon for such countries, creating many well paying jobs and stimulating their economies. Software outsourcing may also be a net benefit to the United States economy while hurting these students greatly. Many people in other professions fear that the outsourcing wave will spread to their jobs. This fear has focused renewed attention on this previously software and manufacturing jobs issue. Many of today's arguments for and against outsourcing are based on ethical viewpoints. Many Americans argue that American companies should be supporting Americans or that the playing field is not level. In contrast, American companies almost invariably argue that it is their ethical obligation to maximize shareholder value. Many Indians and Indian companies argue that outsourcing has been a net benefit to America and that this trade promotes a common good. Some Americans take the opposite view, seeing outsourcing as a detriment to common good. Utility Viewpoint Outsourcing makes businesses more competitive, increasing their exports and their profits and placing more investment surpluses in their hands which can be deployed to make more jobs -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee (1) The utilitarian viewpoint states that an ethical question should be decided on the basis of the greatest good. Opponents measure utility for American workers and by implication the American economy. They argue that the loss of jobs will lead to the gutting of the middle class and the ruination of an economy based it. They point to the first net loss of American jobs in a Presidential term since Herbert Hoover as evidence. American programmers, in particular, are facing the highest unemployment rates ever measured for the group (2) despite an improving economy. American corporations in favor of outsourcing measure utility for the overall U.S. economy. They argue that outsourcing allows resources to be freed for greater innovation and that outsourcing promotes trade. These, they argue will ultimately create jobs. Opponents counter that what jobs are being created tend to be lower paying service jobs.

Knowledge Management Tools: Component Technologies Essay

The internet provides a multitude of vendors promising to transform our business. But , we have to know which approaches should be adopt to examine the component technologies that make up a knowledge management system or suite. The analogy of hi-fi is used where each item has a certain function or purpose. The multitude of KM system on offer in the marketplace is seen as a composite variation of a number of these component technologies. Firms may decide to buy different component-of-the-shelf or develop their own tools to meet their needs. Organising knowledge tools Ontology and Taxonomy Grubber (1993) defines ontology as â€Å"a formal explicit of shared conceptualism†. It helps us on preventing wide variations on understanding or perspective to the same subject. Therefore, we have to developed ‘ontology’ to improve our level of information organization, management, and understanding. In the context of KM tools, the term ontology is often used interchangeability with taxonomy. To clarify the distinction, it’s important to recognize that an ontology is overall conceptualism whereas taxonomy is a scientifically based scheme of classification. An ontology may have non taxonomic conceptual relationship such as ‘has part’ relationship between concepts. In contrast, knowledge taxonomy generate hierarchical classification of terms that are structured to show relationship between them. When it comes time to implement ontologies and taxonomies there are three options:  · develop the ontology then develop the supporting taxonomy.  · develop taxonomy and then develop the over-arching ontology  · develop the two in parallel. Define your scope The first step in developing the combined ontology and taxonomy is to clearly scope the effort. A clearly defined scope is critical to the success of the effort. The question that can best help shape the scope of the effort is simply, what purpose will the combined ontology and taxonomy serve? The answer to this question serves several purposes:  · It sets bounds on the effort. These bounds are necessary to answering the basic managerial questions of how long will it take, and how much will it cost.  · It helps identify the primary domains and perspectives to be included.  · It should identify the specific business activities that will make direct use of the ontologies and taxonomies and how the resulting knowledge will be used to accomplish their mission. Normally the answer to this question will fall into one of three categories:  · To serve as a common framework for knowledge sharing.  · To enable reuse of existing domain knowledge.  · To a better understand what the organization knows by separating domain knowledge from the operational knowledge and making assumptions explicit. The first two of these, knowledge sharing and reuse are at the heart of most KM initiatives. Answers falling into the third category are indicative of advanced KM or academic initiatives. The following steps are applicable to all three scenarios and are specifically targeted toward those efforts focusing on knowledge sharing and reuse. Check for Existing Ontologies and Taxonomies Business operations today are also often dependent on, or required to adhere to one or more industry standards and may interface with applications that make use of existing ontologies or controlled vocabularies. For that reason, it is often best to use preexisting taxonomies and ontologies before launching into an extensive and possibly expensive development effort. Identify Important Terms If it is determined that existing ontologies and taxonomies are insufficient to meet the scope of the effort, then it is time to start collecting the raw materials for the new structures. This starts with identifying the key terms that are used to express the knowledge needed to enable specific business activities. At this point, it is important to list of all terms used to make statements or to explain to someone else what is needed to accomplish the business activities included within the scope of the effort. These can normally be found in corporate policy or operational instructions and from people with expertise in the activities. While gathering these terms it is important to stay within the scope of the effort. Incorporating the full lexicon for a large multi-national conglomerate may look like a major accomplishment, but it will not help build an effective knowledge environment if the scope of the effort is smaller. Rather, the broader scope will make it more difficult to marr y the concepts of the field to those used by the people you are trying to support. Define the Class Hierarchy Armed with the terms and concepts that are critical to expressing the knowledge needed to enable those business activities to be supported, the next step is to define a class hierarchy. Again, there are three ways to do this:  · Work from the top down. Start by identifying the general concepts (super-class identification) and then determine which of the others fall within those categories (subclass identification).  · Work from the bottom up . Start by developing cluster of related concepts (subclass grouping) and then look for the higher-order concepts that under which a given cluster of concepts might fall (super-class identification)  · Work from the top down and bottom up. This starts with the identification of the more important concepts first and then generalize and specialize them appropriately. The authors have found that this approach is the easiest to follow and has a lower risk of getting mired in the â€Å"semantic swamp.† When organizing terms and concepts t he basic formula is: If a class A is a super class of class B, then every instance of B is also an instance of A. In other words, the class B represents a concept that is a â€Å"kind of† A. As the class structure for your domain begins to take shape, check how well it expresses the way the people that are actually involved in the associated activates actually talk about what they are doing. Make sure that it reflects the actual context in which it will be used. The language of practical ontology or taxonomy should not to require the user to stop and translate between the way they normally think about things and the â€Å"official† term. This is also the time to make sure that the vocabulary used to express the hierarchical class structure agrees with the real-world (and agreed upon) vocabulary and accurately serves to classify the information that will need to be exchanged between the people and applications involved in meeting the targeted activities. When these conditions occur, the clas s hierarchical effectively becomes the upper-layers of the taxonomy. This is a critical factor in insuring on-going semantic alignment between the resulting ontology and taxonomy.

Case Governance and Sustainability at Nike - 578 Words

POM 642/ 442 Case: Governance and Sustainability at Nike This case was about the struggles with sustainability with in Nike as well as the fashion industry. Greenpeace came out and slandered Nike, Adidas, Puma, and several other fashion designers for pollution resulting in the manufacturing process of their products. There are several chemicals used in the process of manufacturing clothing and shoes. Several chemicals are also used in the Dying process. Although these facility are 3rd parties and these locations are not used by Nike it has fallen on them along with their competitors to reduce pollution with in the manufacturing process. At Nike the key decision makers are Hannah Jones and Eric Sprunk who have to present their findings†¦show more content†¦This is dangerous for all of those to live and travel to these communities. Nike along with the other companies have a corporate responsibility that their manufacturing process is safe and not hazardous to unsuspecting citizens. Failure to make a change could harm people and ultimately result in massive lawsuits and large amounts of negative publicity which could reduce Nike and others profitability also affecting the stock holders. As a manager I would look to set up a partnership with the other manufacturers, pose it as a greater good for the world, companies can unite to bring about great change. I would want to work with these other companies, find out what they have come up with and work together to reach zero waste. Puma has agreed to the same goal, if they have not changed what they told Greenpeace they must be doing something right. Working together would reduce the duplication of efforts, it would help make the investment dollars go further and help make the world a clean place. As a manager I would also seek to work with Greenpeace, having them as a partner would help to provide new ideas and help to show the effort being put forth to reach this goal. Working with Greenpeace can only help in this situation. I would want to make every effort to try and reach that goal before going to Greenpeace stating that this goal was too ambitious because that would result in worldwide protests giving more negative publicity to theShow MoreRelatedNike : Sustainability And Labour Practises1217 Words   |  5 Pagesmay question the sustainability of an organisations. Sustainability of organisations, nations, humanity is becoming a primary goal of the individuals and groups in all the different sectors anyone can think of. Leaders are very keen to launch new sustainability initiatives on a daily basis in order to make the surroundings more sustainable in nature. So now in this report which is based on the case study of â€Å"Nike: sustainability and labour practises†. This case illustrates that Nike was found guiltyRead MoreCase Study : Managing Ethical Organization1377 Words   |  6 PagesSteptoe BUSI-472 Case Assignment 2 November 26, 2014 Case Review: Managing Ethical Missteps—Sweatshops to Leadership in Employment Practices †¢ Why did Nike fail to address corporate social responsibility early on? The Nike brand was created in 1972, and renamed to Nike in 1978, and has since grown to be the largest worldwide seller of athletic goods, with approximately 168 Nike stores in the United States and a presence in about 160 countries. (Ferrell, O.., 2003) During the time Nike brand was createdRead MoreThe Sustainability Revolution1666 Words   |  7 Pagesâ€Å"The sustainability revolution is nothing less than a rethinking and remaking of our role in the natural world. 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Racism And The American Civil War - 963 Words

The illusion that Racism is the same creates disturbing comments when discussing current events. Racism is defined as someone who believes their race is the superior race. The current events with the confederate flags has brought about conversation that these people are racist. This term is correct but misused when discussing the context for the choice of words. Society believes these individuals are racist because displaying the flag is assumed to display hatred. These people who proudly display the confederate flag are racist because they believe the white race is the supreme race. There is nothing wrong with that idea and they have that right to that opinion. Our government is built on the principle of freedom of speech and we can’t apply this natural right to a one way street. It was that in 1860 to 1865 that the American Civil War widely known as the civil war took place, to determine survival of the union or independence of the confederacy. Among the 34 states, seven southern states South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas that the secession formed the United States confederacy, mostly known as the â€Å"south†. The south grew upon to include eleven states, although they claimed 13 Missouri and Kentucky that weren’t diplomatically recognized. However during this time period and all the conspiracy, of the confederate battle flag known as the â€Å"southern cross† came to the surface of what the civil war was all about, and was itShow MoreRelatedReconstruction and the Myth of the Lost Cause1511 Words   |  7 PagesAfter the Civil war, the Union was reestablished in racism. Reconstruction was the constitutional effort (13th, 14th, 15th amendment) of the north to force the south to treat the fr eed slaves as citizens. Reconstruction failed miserably. It is one of the least glorious parts of American history. 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EverybodyRead MoreThe Civil Rights Movement During The 1960 S1224 Words   |  5 Pageschanges was know as The Civil Rights Movement.   The civil rights movement was a movement created by African Americans to achieve rights equal to white people and have equal opportunity in housing, employment, education, the right to vote, and to not be segregated.   This movement had many important leaders that helped get rights for African Americans.   The book â€Å"Tambourines To Glory† is based on a play that Langston Hughes wrote.   The book shows the life of an African American back then as tough andRead MoreThe Fight Against Racism And Discrimination1737 Words   |  7 PagesMichelle Chansuyco History 110 Class Number – 30 Final Paper—The Fight Against Racism and Discrimination Throughout history we have seen how racism has evolved and has impacted the lives of many minority groups in America. 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Political leaders began to enact Civil Rights amendments, industrialization became more popular, and gender roles were beginning to be indistinct. In Southern literature, the portrayal of female characters evolved along side with the Southern culture. Female characters became more independent, strong-willed, and hardworking. Even African Amer icans became the main characters in Southern literatureRead MorePhotography, Genealogy, And The Rebel Flag1172 Words   |  5 PagesThe war continues to shape Southern society because it was nearly four years of reoccurring devastation; the war changed from a physical formation to emotional war. Despite the amount of time that has passed since the Civil War, Southern society is still shaped by it through photography, genealogy, and the rebel flag. Each of these symbolic items expresses different viewpoints for a variety of groups and continues to segregate. The 1800’s witnessed technology changing the scenery of war. The inventionRead MoreRacism in North America1353 Words   |  6 Pagescolour, race, religion, culture or nationality. You may not think this is racism, but it is. My hope is that by the end of this speech you will try to put an end to racism when you hear it and when you see it. You see racism is a type of discrimination, probably one of the worst. Racism is like a revolting disease being passed down from generation to generation by vicious racists. Unfortunately, most of us will face racism in our lives in one form or another. What kind of world do we live in whereRead MoreSocial Problems: Is the United States Post-Racial?1237 Words   |  5 Pageswhole idea of post-racial America is a chimera, but because he makes it hard to believe post-racial America can be achieved at all. Wise invalidates the argument that the election of a person of color to Presidency means the country has smashed racism, by noting that the argument is akin to claiming Pakistan or Israel had smashed sexism by electing a female head of state. His undeniable and most important information is, of course, the factual data he presents. Some of these are: an average whiteRead MoreThe Birth Of Machine Changed The Life Conditions Essay995 Words   |  4 Pages20th century was dominated by World War I, World War II, nationalism, decolonization, the cold war, post-cold war. It was the century in which the world has witnessed masses of dead bodies strewn upon the ground, and those even who survived were afflicted with physical and mental suffering, casualties mounted into millions. After the two world wars, nothing was ever certain again, moral progress came to seem ridiculous. Although this century witnessed many wars and invasions, it also witnessed developments