Foreign And Local Studies Essay

How it Works The system compares current inventory levels of a product and the number scheduled for production with the number needed, and determines if the level of production must be changed. If necessary, the system sends a message to the master production schedule to increase production. Also, the inventory monitoring system slows down production when a product’s retail sales levels don’t meet the sales forecast and the company overproduces the product. LOCAL LITERATURE Evercom Auto Supply is working under manual method which sometimes causes customer dissatisfaction because of the slow process on how they transact to their customers and the occurrence of some errors that are not expected such as doubling the items purchased by the customers, misplaced of the carbon copy of receipt, mistakes in listing of an items purchased by the customer, sometimes the items purchased by the customer is not listed on a receipt, a wrong computation of the items purchased by the customer and sometimes they forgot to record the damage item. The occurrence lost and improper recording of some items. They had difficulties on accessing the item in the inventory due to manual system operation. 2.1.1. Specific Problem 1. How to develop a module that will monitor the fast and slow moving of items, reorder, critical level, safety stock and back order of its inventory? Evercom Auto Supply doesn’t have a computerized system, they do not monitor on their fast and slow moving items, reorder, critical level, safety stock and back order. It is difficult to determine what items are in demand and those are not because their records of sales and inventory are written at one record book. The owner is not aware in monitoring the stocks, if the stocks are in critical level or re-ordering point and needed to replenish. The owner doesn’t have idea about the safety stock and he doesn’t know if the items have damage or not. 2. How to design, develop, and implement a module that will improve their purchasing order? Evercom Auto Supply purchased their items from their supplier. There will be in-charge person to check their items manually. After checking all the items, the person in-charge will write down all the items on a piece of paper that is needed to order. Sometimes the supplier will go to the store and ask the  owner if what they want to order. There are times that they need to order large quantities of an item. It takes a lot of time to do that because they manually check the items on their store and the record book. 3. How to design, develop, and implement a module that will improve their sales transaction? Evercom Auto Supply is faced with such problems in dealing with their customers on their have made. The problem of that is the manual process of their business transaction it takes a lot of time to consume because of the repeated process of doing a receipt by completing the information include on that. When the customers buy a large quantity of items, sometimes they do not list all the items buy by the customer. And they have incorrect computation and listing of items in the receipt. In computing the total purchased of the customer, the in-charge person will write down all the items purchased by the customer in a receipt and then sum up the entire total purchased. 4. How to design, develop, and implement a module that will easily generate reports? Evercom Auto Supply is faced with such problems in generating reports because they have difficulty in acquiring supplier reports and inventory reports. They also have problems in improper handling of a receipt had been neglected. This study relies on information researched by the proponents. Review of related literature and studies are essential for the development of the study, it will help the proponents to understand the topics better because this may clarify unclear points about the problem. It also guides the proponents in making comparisons between these findings with the outcome of other similar studies. Related Literature Foreign and Local Sales and Inventory System Sales is a method of presenting a product in the industry, maintaining control over the sales process and ultimately achieving the highest level of profit together with delivering the highest level of customer satisfaction. (Ashani, 2009) stated that inventory is a list of goods and materials, or those goods and materials themselves, held available in stock by a business. An inventory is simply the list of goods that comprises the stock of a business. This enables you to keep track of the goods, hence maintaining a balance between the supply and demand (Reece Matthew, 2010). Inventory is  very important to any business. It is the meter that measures the business flow. Good inventory helps the business to stay strong. Accountants have to understand the inventory cycle in order to be able to track it and evaluate it correctly (Andrews, 2010). (Smith, 2009) said that, when the amount of inventories is huge, it becomes next to impossible to keep record of the number of inventories manu ally by counting them. It proves to be demanding for time and resources both. Therefore large numbers of companies are using inventory management software for the respective purpose. The result is effective control and management of inventories saving on time and hard work factor. The software can keep track many details like quantity of goods stored, purchasing date of goods, records maintenance of sales, gives apt product description etc. Such type of services makes the process of inventory management smoother. An inventory system helps management control the inventories, in turn lowering overall operating costs in the areas of labor, facilities and logistics. It also improves customer-service metrics and fulfillment rates (Kenneth, 2009). Maintaining a desired level of inventory has the following benefits; it meets the transaction, precautionary and speculative needs of the operation and it helps reduce cost of operation (Sharan, 2010). According to (Conrad, 2010) an inventory system can reduce, or even totally eliminate, the need for these costly hand counts. A quality inventory system can pinpoint which departments and which workers are purchasing the share of office supplies, raw materials and other goods. This information can help the management team centralize ordering and reduce costs by negotiating with vendors for better prices. As most every business owner knows, inventory accounts for a most important part of business outlay whether we are talking in relation to raw materials, components or finished goods. A foremost issue in reaching a cost-effective return on outlay is to control it as resourcefully as possible and an essential available means for this is a barcode inventory system. With such information on precisely what you have in inventory and where it is located, on-line real time information regarding stock levels, recorder levels and economic order quantities and tremendously accurate information input and output (Dickson, 2010). Reliable inventory system can help your company’s purchasing, receiving, and sales department function more smoothly with an organized synergy that will help your business stay on top. Keeping stock of  goods in the warehouse, bills of lading, purchase orders, returns and other everyday aspects of running your business can cost hundreds of man hours per month. What can you do to keep it all organized? You need a software system built with your industry in mind. Whether your business is telecommunications, infrastructure or finished goods, software to help you manage you income and outgo of stock will save your company time and money both in the short term and the long term. The aim of a business software management system is to simplify all of these things. If you need detailed reports on one or all departments within your company, an inventory system will make this possible. Get up to the minute sales reports in place to keep track of sales and expenditures (Cooper, 2009). Before you invest, you are going to have to make an informed decision about how much you think the inventory on the balance sheet is really worth. A major part of this decision should be based on how fast the inventory is turned or sold, (Kennon, 2010). Barcode Scanner Investors are trying their best to cut the cost of doing business and are spending money for new, but affordable technologies. An example is a barcode reader that comes in various types and uses. A barcode scanner or reader is an apparatus utilized to trap and read information included in a barcode. This device may be a handheld or fixed stationary type (Urmann, 2009). Barcode provides a unique ID to every item and each product, which upon being scanned can provide all essential information such as weight price and other exact details. When provided in a computer system assists in keeping count of complete sales the item list etc. Barcodes are accurate and assist with saving time and money cut down on mistakes and simultaneously assist the retail item become a portion of the whole system of the item ID. A Barcode may contain each part of essential info necessary in a certain item and this can create the daily stocking as a simple task. It will then become effortless for the associates to flag items that are expired and also sale items. In sum, the present day retail environment can’t perform competitively without barcodes, (Jones, 2010). Before the inception of barcode scanners, people counted their stocks and supplies manually. The manual tallying of items and products is indeed a dire activity for most retailers. The number of items available in the store should mark the items  sold. Barcode scanners are light-emitting devices found in supermarkets and other stores designed to read barcodes. These devices are connected to a computer system where information is stored and to be used for future retrieval of data. Barcode scanners scan the barcodes and transform them to readable information through a computer database. Barcode readers are set up at cash registers with a database that contains the necessary information on the store’s items. When the item is scanned, it is recorded in the system and ad justs automatically the inventory levels (Green, 2011). These days just about every item you see is touched at some point by barcode technology. From the manufacturing line where products are assembled to the shelf at your favorite store, individual products pass through dozens of check points where they are scanned. When an item is shipped it is scanned, when it is rung up at a cash register, if it is returned to the merchant it is scanned. All along the supply chain some type of barcode scanner feeds information to a computer database that keeps track of the product. As important as this barcode scanner technology is you would think that we would know more about it. Most of us, however, give it very little thought. It is such a part of our everyday life now that we hardly even notice it (Nguyen, 2010). The job of the barcode scanner is to read the codes that are imprinted on the black and white UPC (Universal Product Code) symbols that you see on just about every package and item that your purchase. They do this job quickly, accurately, and efficiently. Once the code is read it is fed electronically to a computer which matches up the number to an item number in a product database. In doing so a merchant can keep track of inventory, ring up a customer purchase, or count the number of items left in a warehouse. Bar codes are used on everything from mail to medicines. (Guven, 2011) stated that the use of Barcode systems is proved to be efficient in retail industry because of the following facts: Faster Billing Process: Products billed incorrectly and the maximum time needed for billing and checkout is what most consumers hate when they go for shopping today. It’s because the delay in processing and incorrect pricing affects their valuable time and busy work schedule. Barcode automation employed in retail stores provides greater accuracy and makes billing process faster and efficient. Data management and complete business operation is also made simple with reliable barcode sy stems. Minimized need of Workforce: Using  barcode systems is greatly useful for retailers in the sense that it never involves any hectic processes and so can reduce the labor costs in an effective way. Other than this, unlike calculations made by humans, barcode systems greatly reduces the chance for errors and makes quick and easy processing. Warehouse Management: Most of the retail outlets today use barcode systems for their operation because of its simple and cost-effective management system. Customers can be satisfied with a finest level of service since products are sold at the right price. When compared to skilled workers, barcode systems work many times faster and provide reliable business management system. Keep track of Product Information: Barcode systems can save you a lot of time needed for tracking product information. Entering the prices of large number of items manually is not an easy task. But with a barcode system, you can record product information easily and accurately. Barcode scanners used in mobile phones are more advantageous since it can be used to retrieve all details about any particular product. This is the reason why most of the retailers today are using mobile barcode systems for promoting events, products and services. Identify Products Easily: Barcode systems are commonly used in retail outlets to identify different ranges of products. Similar products can be ordered easily with unique codes to meet consumer demands. By recording and tracking product information, a retailer can greatly enhance his business operation. The growing demand and other factors of all types of products can be easily recognized with the help of barcode systems. Short Messaging Service (SMS) Technology Reaching the potential customers is the first step towards the successful establishment of a product or service. An effective marketing strategy must be utilized to build up the brand awareness and increase the sales volume. SMS business is one such effective marketing strategy to increase the volume of sales as well as build up the brand awareness. Today many business use SMS to reach out their existing customers as well as build a new customer base. Like every technology if used in right proportion and method it increases the volume of sales (Thomas, 2012). SMS is an acronym standing for Short Message Service. It is commonly  referred to as text messaging or ‘texting’ as well. SMS is a method by which messages can be sent to a cell phone via another cell phone, a computer connected to the internet, a regular land line or a hand held device such as Blackberry. The original specifications for SMS were developed in 1985, though real implementation and popularity took nearly a decade to achieve. SMS messages may be sent either from one point to another point, or may be sent to all devices within a specific geographical region. the former known as SMS-PP, is used primarily between individuals communicating with one another, while the latter, known as SMS-CB, may be used to broadcast public announcements such as road or weather conditions, region-specific advertising messages, or messages from cell provider regarding the new coverage area, (McGuigan, 2010). Short message service is a mechanism of delivery of short messages over the mobile networks. It is a store and forward way of transmitting messages to and from mobiles, (Gupta, 2010).  The common text messaging service available on cell phones and other hand held devices. Due to the billions of cell phones in use, SMS is the most ubiquitous messaging system on the planet. Typing text messages (â€Å"texting†), which are limited to 160 characters in length, can be done on basic cell phones with only numeric keys, although QWERTY keyboards make the job easier. Like instant messaging, SMS transmits the sender’s message to the recipient immediately. It also stores and forwards messages later if a recipient’s phone was off when the message was initiated. SMS pricing differs by carrier, which may charge a flat fee per month, a charge per message on include it in a service plan. Traveling over a control channel separate from the voice channel, SMS was introduced in a GSM system in Europe and migrated worldwide to cell phone carriers. Whereas SMS is text only, MMS supports multimedia, (Davis, 2010). Mobile supply chain management is increasingly recognized as an area offering significant potential for generating improvements and creating competitive advantage to corporations. Obviously, high efficiency mobile chain network needs simultaneous and accurate information about demand, supply, sale, inventory, shipment and operational activities, (Xiaokang and  Qiong, 2008). Many business processes can be more intuitive and engaging (and ultimately easier to use) by including SMS, fax, voice and other notifications to their participants throughout the process, (Ruhl, 2010). All the cellular network providers offer SMS with certain SMS level or text messaging capability. The SMS features and costs may vary according to the carriers and package variety that suits to business and individual needs, (Hensley, 2010). Cell phone text messaging or texting can be used to order merchandise or services, or it can be used for advertisements. Consumers can use SMS technology to purchase tickets to events and have them delivered electronically to their cell phone. Today, these transactions can indeed take place using a small device like a cell phone (Baldauf and Stair, 2009). For messages requiring immediate delivery, only one message delivery attempt is made per service request. For messages not requiring immediate delivery, one or more delivery attempts are made until an acknowledgement is received, (Clements, 2010). Mobile messaging services used in business has its own advantages in building up the brand awareness, customer count as well as increasing its revenue (Thomas, 2012). Almost all companies are looking for ways on how to increase or maintain their sales performance. SMS marketing is proving just the tool for shrewd businesses look for innovative new media strategies to keep themselves ahead of the game during the economic downturn. It’s now more important than ever for businesses to improve efficiency, reduce waste and produce targeted responsive marketing campaigns and digital mediums such as mobile are proving the ideal solution ensuring much needed return on investment (Liao, 2009). According to (Francisco, 2009) while some electronic toys and gadgets come with some dumping down effects on their users, most of these devices offer increasing levels of convenience. Take the mobile phone, for example. While too many accidents and mishaps might have been caused by improper (read: stupid) ways of using the cellular phone, it cannot be denied that these wireless contraptions have made it easier by far to keep in touch with other people. Yet, while today’s Smartphone’s might seem like a giant step toward the mobile equivalent of Nirvana, the possibilities for more ease and comfort seem endless. We might have only scratched the surface. Related Studies Foreign and Local Inventory proportionality is the goal of demand-driven inventory management. The primary optimal outcome is to have the same number of day’s worth of inventory on hand across all products so that the time of run out of all products would be simultaneous. The secondary goal of inventory proportionality is inventory minimization. By integrating accurate demand forecasting with inventory management, replenishment inventories can be scheduled to arrive just in time to replenish the product destined to run out first, while at the same time balancing out the inventory supply of all products to make their inventories more proportional, and thereby closer to achieving the primary goal. Accurate demand forecasting also allows the desired inventory proportions to be dynamic by determining expected sales out into the future; this allows for inventory to be in proportion to expected short-term sales or consumption rather than to past averages, a much more accurate and optimal outcome. Integrating demand forecasting into inventory management in this way also allows for the prediction of the â€Å"can fit† point when inventory storage is limited on a per-product basis (Sudha, 2011). (Liang, 2010) stated in his study entitled Inventory Management System for SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) that a computerized inventory helps to predict problems in procurement transaction. With formulas that are known to help with inventory planning, the computerized inventory system is capable of assisting companies in their purchasing decision, improving its productivity and efficiency. This often leads to a better procurement decision. This inventory system supports role-based access that mimics users in different departments. Roles can be customized to restrict access to only a certain part of the system and is very configurable. A built in notification system facilitates communication between these users and their departments. These features create a generic workflow system that is flexible and easy to use. According to (Castro, Catabay, Garde, Ofilan, Ubaldo, 2010), Inventory is merchandise in-stock and on hand, also known as stock. It is a list for goods and materials, or those goods and materials themselves, held available in stock by a business. Inventory are held in order to manage and hide from the customer the fact that manufacture or supply delay is longer than the delivery delay, and also to ease the effect of imperfections in the manufacturing process that lower production efficiencies if production capacity stands idle for the lack of materials.  It is also the total amount of goods or materials contained in a store or factory at any given time. In their studies in the sales and inventory of MOJU-DELLI General Merchandise, they found out the problems encountered by the management so they propose d a system that will produce an effective inventory system and generate fast and accurate result for the assets and inventory of the company. Inventory system is an effective way for monitoring and tracking different materials that are transferred in and out of the company’s warehouse or establishment usually for accounting purposes. It is also important for a company to monitor all the transactions and movement of goods in order to keep an account of all their stocks. However in the same establishments, the inventory of materials is done manually in such a way that an employee writes down the information of different materials every time it is transferred in and out of the room, (Bernabe, Dela Cruz, Jao, 2007). In the study entitled â€Å"Inventory & Billing System for ERF Enterprises† (Obispo, 2003) states that in businesses like ERF Enterprises having used to manually handling their sales is hard. And manual computation for billing and business transaction are slow, less accurate & less competitive. By using their proposed system will speed up the business billing transaction and also provide them with a more accurate, reliable & up-to-date billing information in less tedious task. It would also help them avoid such situations where they have problems regarding their product delivery & sales. In the studies entitled â€Å"Osaka Sales and Inventory System† (Laranang, Maaà ±o and Naà ±ola, 2009) states that business nowadays takes the advantage of using modern technology to improve their status & ensuring an efficient & newer way to make their work easier. They states that the main problem of the Osaka Iridology is what modern effective tool must be use in creating & developing a sales and inventory system that will manage efficiently their transaction. So they develop a system that inclusively for the transaction of Osaka Iridology, such as monitoring of their medicine and their daily sales. In the research entitled the Development and Evaluation of Computerized Sales and Inventory System MBC with SMS Confirmation (Consolacion, Dela Cruz, Dela Pena, Peduche, 2011), stated that manual processes are hard to deal with. It takes a lot of effort, patience and lots of staffing of employees is expected that can slow down the work of company. To avoid this kind of situation, they proposed a new system to the said  company to enhance their sales and inventory with SMS confirmation. The system is designed to increase their production, to manage the availability of products easily and to improve their operation. They concluded that having an efficient sales and inventory system the management can improve their operational process and with the help of new technologies today. According to (Castro, Catabay, Garde, Ofilan, Ubaldo, 2010), Inventory is merchandise in-stock and on hand, also known as stock. It is a list for goods and materials, or those goods and materials themselves, held available in stock by a business. Inventory are held in order to manage and hide from the customer the fact that manufacture or supply delay is longer than the delivery delay, and also to ease the effect of imperfections in the manufacturing process that lower production efficiencies if production capacity stands idle for the lack of materials. It is also the total amount of goods or materials contained in a store or factory at any given time. In their studies in the sales and inventory of MOJU-DELLI General Merchandise, they found out the problems encountered by the management so they proposed a system that will produce an effective inventory system and generate fast and accurate result for the assets and inventory of the company. Inventory system is an effective way for monitoring and tracking different materials that are transferred in and out of the company’s warehouse or establishment usually for accounting purposes. It is also important for a company to monitor all the transactions and movement of goods in order to keep an account of all their stocks. However in the same establishments, the inventory of materials is done manually in such a way that an employee writes down the information of different materials every time it is transferred in and out of the room, (Bernabe, Dela Cruz, Jao, 2007). Sales and Inventory System with SMS of Raw Material  for Gintong Silangan Merchants, Incorporated â€Å"The purpose of this proposal is to develop a Sales and Inventory System of raw materials for Gintong Silangan Merchants, Incorporated that will speed up their process of transaction and will provide the company with reliable and accurate records of transactions.† Reference: http://www.papercamp.com/essay/60983/Thesis Gintong Silangan Merchants, Incorporated is a distributor of raw materials of different fragrances and cosmetics since 1999. They use a computer for recording and reporting their inventory of their materials but they actually do not have a particular system. The major problems that the company has encountered is the slow processing of transaction activities such as price inquiry and checking the availability of raw materials and too much time is consumed in generating accurate summaries and reports. In this method, a lot of time is spent through the use of calculator and hand counting which leads to inaccurate numbers of tally with the previous inventory. Sales reports are being generated through spreadsheets and all files such as the reports and customers records were stored in a filing cabinet. The proponents want to propose a Computer Based System using Visual Basic.NET for the development of the system and My SQL for the database. They believed that the proposed system will greatly improve the existing process and will contribute in making the process more efficient and effective. How Inventory Management Systems Work â€Å"Inventory management systems are the rule for such enterprises, but smaller businesses and vendors use them, too. The systems ensure customers always have enough of what they want and balance that goal against a retailer’s financial need to maintain as little stock as possible. Mismanaged inventory means disappointed customers, too much cash tied up in warehouses and slower sales. Factors such as quicker production cycles, a proliferation of products, multi-national production contracts and the nature of the big-box store make them a necessity.† Reference: http://money.howstuffworks.com/how-inventory-management-systems-work.htm FOREIGN Med-Book POINT OF SALE SYSTEM Med-Book is a turn-key Inventory Management System specifically designed by  Matthews to fully meet the many specialized needs of the health science bookstore environment. Matthews developed Med-Book after extensively searching the retail industry and failing to find a system that could adequately provide the inventory management and customer service functions required for a first-class health science bookstore. Med-Book was developed over many years, at a cost of several hundreds of thousands of dollars. The research and development that led to the creation of Med-Book continues today with the enhancement of features and functionality, which addresses the industry’s changing needs. Since its introduction to the marketplace, Med-Book has become the premier Inventory Management System among health science bookstores and the model for all other systems being developed in this industry. With 50 installations across the United States, Med-Book resides in many health science bookstores. It is designed as more than just an automation tool – it also leads the way in bookstore process redesign and customized business function management. In its fundamental design, Med-Book takes the cumbersome manual tasks of bookstore inventory management, streamlines the processes, incorporates flexibility to meet individual needs of individual stores, and automates inventory management for maximum return and benefit. Med-Book is the most sophisticated and specialized inventory management application for the health science bookstore in North America. Med-Book includes software, hardware, and point of sale. It provides for the management of reference, course, and multimedia items, as well as instruments; streamlines and automates the order/receive/sell/return process; optimizes the special order process; tracks sales and purchase histories; constantly monitors and analyzes inventory; tracks customers; includes the Matthews Book Company Title and Vendor Database; and incorporates industry standard communications capabilities. The installation of the Med-Book Inventory Control System will benefit the tore by enabling: * Quicker response, more information and overall better service to customers * Knowledgeable and informed store personnel * More informed buying decisions improving title selection * Tightly managed turnover with more titles in stock * Increased sales with higher product availability and broader selection for improved customer fulfillment * Optimal management of quantities,  inventory capital and inventory turns for greater profitability * Improved order management saving inventory capital expenditures * Elimination of steps in the order, receiving and returns processes for increased time savings * Error reductions improving pricing accuracy and margins Overall time savings, improved customer service, better informed staff, better buying and management decisions, increased sales and improved profitability. In summary, in order to remain competitive in the rapidly changing health science bookstore industry, stores require more accurate and detailed information, better decision-making capabilities and a broader market opportunity without increasing expenses. Med-Book is the single most valuable tool to ensure that a bookstore can leverage service, operational efficiency, increased incremental sales, and improved profitability to its highest potential. MED-BOOK APPLICATION OVERVIEW The Med-Book application consists of five main functions: inventory control and Management, Purchasing, Special Orders, Course Order Entry and Communications. Inventory Control and Management  Inventory control and management records sales, receipts, transfers and adjustments. It produces stock status reviews on demand for all books and items. It identifies exceptional conditions such as items approaching the minimum stock level and suggests those books and items that may need ordering. A number of management reports can help identify the store’s bestsellers based on their sales rankings. Effective inventory control requires that returns must be closely monitored. Med-Book allows store personnel to analyze the need to return products based on criteria the store has specified (such as â€Å"last date of sale†, â€Å"date of last receipt†, by vendor). The Suggested Returns options presents the books and their associated purchase order allowing store personnel to choose the appropriate product to take action on for return. Chargebacks are automatically generated (or may be entered manually). All chargebacks remain open until store personnel tell Med-Book (through Returns Reconciliation) that a credit was received. INVENTORY MANAGEMENT Features: * Track Inventory based on UPC, ISBN, SKU * Track Inventory by multiple locations within a store * Sales departments: designate multiple departments by item/ISBN user defined and maintained * On-hand and On-order quantities tracked by: new, used, course, reference, special order * Minimum and Maximum Inventory Levels capabilities for course and reference * Physical Inventory processing * Inventory analysis * Bestseller identification * Item transaction history * Multiple units of measure for stocking, selling, and purchasing Returns Features: * Returns via vendor or item * Suggested return report * Vendor return policy file * Automatic/Manual creation of charge-backs * Return reconciliation process Bookstore Management System Team FAGE is proposing the implementation of a Book Store Management System (BSMS). The purpose of this system is to allow customers access to information at home, as well as providing an easy-to-use graphical interface to organize functions within the store. Using this system, customers of a book store would be able to log on to the system via the web and use it to search inventory, reserve books at the store, and place out of stock books on order. A store clerk would use the BSMS to input transactions (sales) with customers and also to search inventory to help customers locate specific books. A stock person would use the system to update the inventory database to reflect new purchases, new locations for books within the store, and damaged or missing books. Finally, a manager would be able to use the BSMS we are proposing to manage employee schedules and pay, manage stock (inventory), adjust inventory prices and plan store promotions. In Store Sale When a customer arrives at the front cash indicating that he would like to make a purchase, whomever is at the cash (be it an owner, manager or clerk) responds. For this scenario, let’s say that it’s the manager Paul available. The first thing Paul must do is bring up a new order (called a Point of Sale) using the computer system. Paul then manually inputs the ISBN numbers of all of the books that are being purchased since there is currently no access to a bar code scanner. Once all of the books have been input, the system tells Paul what the total price will be, including all applicable taxes. Before receiving payment, Paul asks the customer for his name so that he can bring up his profile on the computer. Paul checks if the customer is eligible for the $10 credit available after spending $250 (this is called the Frequent Buyer Program). If required, the credit is applied to the price and if not, Paul simply puts the new purchase amount onto the customer’s account. If this is the customer’s first ever purchase, his name and phone number are recorded so that an account can be set up. In the final steps of the sale, Paul asks the customer how he would like to pay and then completes the transaction accordingly. Once the sale has been finalized, the system automatically updates the store’s inventory levels so all Paul has to do is wish the customer a nice day as he leaves with his newly purchased books. Users The initial assumption about users was that we could define them as the customer, clerk, manager, and stock person. In reality, the employees at the store would be more appropriately categorized as owner, manager, and clerk, where each person would have some responsibility surrounding stock. Following are profiles of each of these representative users of our system. Most of the information presented here comes from the interviews conducted at the book store, although all names have been changed for privacy. Note that we were able to speak to the store’s manager and owner, but not any clerks in particular. The clerk’s profile is therefore based on answers given by the other two employees, and on our own assumptions.

The Treadway Tire Company

The Treadway Tire Company in Lima, Ohio is faced with rather difficult times. These difficulties however are not due to lack of work with a down recession, or concerned with too much demand and not enough capacity to fill it. These issues are deep within the company and affect the organization very seriously every day. The lack of training, ineffective leadership and employee communication are the problems challenging the Treadway Tire Company as well as contributing continuously to their increasing turnover rate for consecutive years. According to industry standards, your employees can contribute to the success of your company when they are trained to perform their jobs. Training typically consists of several classes onsite or at different location during orientation. Some companies consider in-depth training an unnecessary expense and expect new employees to learn on the job from supervisors and older employees. However, this type of training is often inadequate and creates problems for the business. (Amo, 2013) As a result, Ashley Wall should implement a formal, organized training program that will emphasize all aspects of plant operations and labor education. The advantage of implementing a training program is that the foreman will be better equipped to do their job more effectively thus heightening their psychological empowerment and increasing job satisfaction. My research also suggests leadership training, employee development and professional – level seminars and workshops demonstrate the employer’s interest in tapping current human resources for higher-level roles within the organization through promotion-from-within policies and succession of plans. Ineffective leadership results from employers’ failure to provide support for employees who demonstrate aptitude and interest in promotional opportunities. Promoting employees without the benefit of basic of basic leadership training puts the employer at risk for high turnover and low productivity. It’s akin to setting the supervisor up for failure and it jeopardizes employee-supervisor relationships. (Mayhew, 2013) It has been my understanding that leadership training and employee development can help the new supervisor understand how to balance their dual responsibilities – managing department functions and managing people. When considering Treadway Tire Company, without leadership training, however, the supervisor will fail because they did not receive the training needed and employees who report to them suffer because of potentially poor employee-supervisor relationships. Lastly, when we consider employee communication, employers who communicate regularly with employees lessen the risk of creating a workforce that feels undervalued and unappreciated. Keeping employees informed about organizational changes, staffing plans and fluctuating business demands is one way to ensure employees remain with the company. Neglecting employee concerns about job security through lack of communication or excluding employees for discussions that can affect their job performance, such as policy or procedural changes, negatively impacts the way employees view their employer. Their views transform to dissatisfaction and finally low productivity due to low morale and disengagement. (Mayhew, 2013) In relation to the problems with lack of communication in Treadway Tire Company, implementing some type of Foreman training program would be one of the most effective ways to solve their communication challenges. In conclusion, it is my belief that the challenges in training, ineffective leadership responsibilities and lack in communication can all be resolved by the implementation of a training program for all current and future foremen ensuring the company is managed properly. I would recommend at the conclusion of each training session, the employees should be asked for feedback about the program so that it can be enhanced by further development to meet the evolving needs of the company.ReferencesAmo, T. (2013). The Negative Effects of a Lack of Training in the Workplace | Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/negative-effects-lack-training-workplace-45171.html Mayhew, R. (2013). What Are the Factors That Contribute to High Staff Turnover & Low Productivity? | Chron.com. Retrieved from http://smallbusiness.chron.com/factors-contribute-high-staff-turnover-low-pro

Employment Relations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words - 2

Employment Relations - Essay Example This method of expression has been in existence for a long period of time and in some cases it does work in favor of the employees. However, it requires them to be united and on the same page as to what their reasons for striking are and the intended objectives of the strike. Each person who is a part of the strike should be well aware of the events surrounding the occurrence of the strike. On the other hand, the decline in strikes is taken by some to mean that labor conflict is not a very important aspect of contemporary employment relations. Most strikes involve a disappointment in the conduct of the employer regardless of whether this behavior is legal or not. They also involve a want for the increase in salaries. In the 1960s, when strikes were high, the factor of capitalist employment which was also high at that time could have greatly contributed to the high rates of strikes at the time. This was according to Hyman in Strikes. He then went on to describe four sources of conflict. At this point, most employers tried to reduce the workforce and increase the work process I order to keep their employees under control. This however did not stop a liberal market from developing. As a result, there were liberal ideologies that came up and led to employees adopting them. The start of globalization and legal reforms led to strikes being rather costly (Steve, 2004). For this reason, there was a decline in the rates of strikes being held and the difference in views among the employees. An empirical research done by Piazza reve aled that globalization contributed to the decline in labor union activity in a study done comparing their activities between 1952 and 2001 (Piazza 2005 290). They wanted to keep their jobs and maintained order in the workplace while the adjustments and changes continued to occur. As a result, the strikes seemed less effective in achieving their goals since they

Sustainable and Renewble resources in Ontario Essay

Sustainable and Renewble resources in Ontario - Essay Example The renewable resources that are found in Ontario are natural resources that can be replenished with the passage of time; the latter happening either through biological reproduction or through processes that occur naturally. These resources can be considered a basic part of the natural environment and in fact, they form a large component of its geographical features. It is therefore important to study the renewable resources of Ontario to determine their lifecycle, since a positive lifecycle is normally an indicator of the sustainability of the resource being studied, and the opposite is true. There is a connection between sustainable and renewable resources and the ability of the people using them succeeding. This depends entirely on the quality of these resources and the depth at which they are used in the day-to-day lives of those who are its frequent users. The practices involved in the use of renewable resources are what determine how well these resources are used as well as the means through which these resources can be sustained for use by future generations.... to contribute to the success of the people’s responsible use of renewable resources and, in fact, many businesses have ensured its implementation within their wider plans of the future (Christidis & Law 81). When the responsible use of renewable resources is integrated together with the mainstream business practices, it leads to the extension of the awareness of individuals in the society concerning the importance of these resources. It has been found that any studies concerning renewable resources, being geographical in nature, has to be done over a specific duration of time in order to note the results of the studies being conducted. Various issues usually emerge that may involve the stakeholders and these may require a response in order to protect the renewable resources in question. It is a fact that many businesses in Ontario at times have aims of integrating the sustainability of renewable resources when conducting their activities as well as in their processes and produ cts, but often, these businesses end up facing significant challenges that they fail to adopt there measures. Recent studies on renewable resources have attempted to reinforce a connection between sustainability and innovation. This has involved the selection and maximization of the value of such studies for the long-term prospects that the businesses that function in this environment will have to consider when making their plans concerning the environment. For instance, a business that has a paper-recycling scheme is able to improve a balance sheet in several ways such as savings on costs, enhancing employee commitment, as well as ensuring that the forests within the province are preserved. Technology is one of the most important sources of solution during the implementation of projects whose

Enjoying the Hobby of Collecting Machineguns Essay

Enjoying the Hobby of Collecting Machineguns - Essay Example The machine gun has had a checkered history and was invented in the mid nineteenth century by Dr. Richard Jordon Gatling, whose weapon came to be known as the Gatling gun. He patented his invention in 1861. The Gatling gun was the first rapid firing gun and can be rightly called the ancestor of the modern machine gun. Dr Gatling said â€Å" it occurred to me that if I could invent a machine-a gun- which could by its rapidity of fire, enable , one man to do as much battle duty as a hundred, that it would to a large extent supersede the necessity of large armies and consequently , exposure to battle and disease would be greatly decreased.†2 People have been collecting guns all over the world for decades. It is akin to people collecting swords. But now a new hobby has emerged of collecting machine guns. In most countries in the world, owning a machine gun is illegal, but in the United States 34 states of the union, it is legal for citizens to own and shoot with machine guns. In case you wish to start a hobby as a machine gun collector than please insure that the state you reside allows you to own a machine gun as many states like Delaware, Hawaii, Iowa, Illinois, Kansas, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Washington State and the district of Columbia, have a total ban on privately owned machine guns. However despite the above a quarter of a million Americans own machine guns. The National Firearms Act 1934 is the nodal act that governs collection of Machine Guns for any purpose or as a hobby. Before 1934, there was no bar on owning machine guns, but the NFA passed in 1934 made it mandatory to register the weapon with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Fire arms (BATF)3.. Machine guns by and large have never been used in a crime as the procedure for owning a machine gun is very stringent. It must be noted that machine guns cannot be purchased across the counter and a lengthy period from 60to180

Critically appraise whether recent judicial decisions reinforcing Coursework

Critically appraise whether recent judicial decisions reinforcing - Coursework Example Most of the businesses use forms that have special terms and standard legal language on backs or bottom of the documents governing sales and purchases. This is more so to the business men who focuses more on the commercial transactions than legal doctrine. When the recent judicial decisions are used, the court uses the first and last short approaches in determining the effectiveness of the contract. In practice The boilerplate language is classically in small print, covering business contingencies which arise rarely2. Through the application of the recent judicial decisions, some major disparities are identified in the legal doctrine resulted from discrepancies in some conditions that accompany replies and offers3. This case is similar to the case between Mr. Jones, company by the name of CMP and Ricoh [Ricoh UK Limited v Jones (2010) EWHC 1743 (Ch). According to the agreement, no one was supposed to have any contact with any client except through Ricoh. Mr. Jones had no reciprocal o bligation to deal with the clients without Ricoh. Later there arose a dispute over tenders to supply MFDs outside the country for a company which had been a regular customer for CMP.4 The court dismissed this on the basis that, the parties were operating on the same levels of distribution chain. The Uniform Commercial Code has much consideration on the offers accepted when the sellers sends written confirmations of acceptance to the buyer5. Another similar cases involved Manchester CC v Gibson [1979] 1 WLR 294. Gibson was an occupier and tenant of a council house and he wished to purchase the house under the â€Å"right to buy scheme†. He received a letter from the council informing him of the willingness of the council to sell the house. Later, the political control of the council changed resulting to revoke of the policy of the right to buy. It was held by the House of Lords that the council never made the offer to sell and, therefore, there could be no valid acceptance. 6 The above scenario can also be related to a case of Manchester CC v Storer 3 All ER 824. In the case, the council had sent an application to purchase a house which was about to be completed. When he completed the form as the instructions required, the council refused to sign and to return the application as they had agreed. When the case was taken to the court, the judge held that, the contract was formed.7 The judicially and the international legal community have tried to find satisfactory ways of deciding the terms of controlling an agreement.8 Another similar case involved Ex- Cell- O corporation (England) Ltd v Butler machine Tool Co. Ltd [1979] 1 WLR 401. Later, a dispute occurred when each company used separate standard form. One company used a form with a price variation which had a clause while the other company used a contract form without a price variation clause. In the case, the House of Lords held that, the contract was based on Ex- Cell- O corporation’s terms be cause it had included an acknowledgement strip which was signed by both parties.9 According to Section 2(207) of The Uniform Commercial Code10, it is assumed that the merchants do not read or understand the terms which are contained on the exchanged forms between the parties involved. This section of contract Law is similar to Article 19 of CISG which emphasizes on the irresponsibility of the merchants for getting clear information of the contract agreement11. In 1975, the United States Court resolved a case between Manning Fabrics Inc. 441 F. Supp., and Lea Tai

Style and periods in Pablo Picasso's Art Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Style and periods in Pablo Picasso's Art - Essay Example The essay "Style and periods in Pablo Picasso's Art" investigates Pablo Picasso, the artist from Spain and explores the styles and periods of his incredible art. "If an artist varies his mode of expression this only means that he has changed his manner of thinking, and in changing, it might be for the better or the worse." "Art is a lie that makes us realize the truth""The several manners (styles) I have used in my art must not be considered as an evolution, or as steps toward an unknown ideal of painting". He goes on to say that different subjects requires different forms of expression but that art is only the present and is not a manifestation of past or evolutionary events. His concept of his periods were as though they were independent of each other. Though most of his paintings are so full of emotions, there is one specific painting in each period which has been designated as a "summary" painting which shows the lost he had experienced in his life. He lost his mother as a young boy; he suffered when he left Spain during the Spanish revolution; he suffered severe poverty in Paris. His emotions are implicit though the paintings they represent show the parallel of the troubled times. Three major periods will be discussed with one summary painting for each period. His blue period is the use of blue and green hues to show sadness and suffering. He started his blue period as a consequence of the suicide of his good friend. He suddenly threw himself into the abstract influence of Van Gogh Starry Nights. where paintings were no longer meant to tell a story. His blue period often showed women in prison with the children, poverty stricken prostitutes. melancholy. La Vie 1903, is a summary painting, it represents loss, grievance and hostility.(Schneider 92) The mother has a hostile face as though she is blaming her child that she is going to die. The young man is Casagemas who is elongated and has the lover he thought he lost at the cafe. There are two interpretations. In both, Picasso leaves his sad and melancholic blue period. He loved copying other artists but keeping to his own style. The Absinthe Drinker shows how he had been influenced by Gauguin. He used bright colors but shows the blue of the water bottle. (Warncke, blue-period) The blue and green colors were a work of experimenting with lighting. El Greco gave him the death like skin color that would epitomize the death like quality of 20th century suffering of the lower social classes in France. Picasso liked to be melodramat ic "the starving intellectual artist" and the bohemian life are often contributed to having come from him. (Warncke, blue-period) Rose period 1904-1906. He uses red hues and sometimes blue. He didn't like that it be called his transitional year. It is his period of circus and street performers. (Picasso 1923) The Family of Acrobats 1905 shows a group of performers and one woman performer separate from the group. It close examination of this painting, once again the theme of pity and abandonment can be seen in relationship to the way the fat red clown is looking away; the men and young girl are elongated as was Castegamas to show that they are posed. They are looking down to the woman, a sign of rejection and shame.(Schneider 92) He continued doing portraits and drawing circus performers. He was raised in the school of 19th century romanticism. His use of colors in the rose period started to show that the painting was more important that the subject. Eventually his subject became com pletely anonymous. The basis of this period was to completely transform the classicism use of the line. He stops being a portrait painter as his

Women Suffrage Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Women Suffrage - Research Paper Example This change was triggered by the alarming changes subsequent to the Great Depression. The Great Depression led to a fundamental change in how economies worked and challenged classical economic theories and their real life application. The increasing role of women was further enhanced by the implementation of the 19th amendment which led to greater importance of women in all fronts, leading, in turn, to increased involvement in education, military, public offices, technology and electoral processes. Women and Great Depression: The role of women during the Great Depression was in contrast to traditional modes of economic contribution. The traditional modes of contribution and work anticipate monetary rewards and compensation to justify effort, but for a significant period of time, women continued to work without expecting monetary rewards. Traditional societies viewed working outside home and serving the home at two distinct, non-overlapping activities, wherein, traditionally, men are associated with earning money by working outside the house, whereas women are expected to stay at home. During the Great Depression, economics, idealists and esteemed philosophers thought that women had to come out of their shell and take up responsibility to help the country out of an economic calamity of such magnitude. Women in the 1930s, time of the depression, had employed husbands who provided enough to help the family live on. There were times, however, where they would struggle to survive given the lack of resources at their disposal. The decade saw a study decrease in median income across all fronts leading to increased stress and survivability issues. Women and men experienced the Great Depression in different ways. Men considered themselves as breadwinners, hence when they lost their jobs; they considered themselves failures because they couldn’t provide their families with sufficient resources. Women, on the other hand, saw their significance at home increase as t hey juggled home and work responsibilities and started to play a role as breadwinners. It is interesting to note that no women lost her ‘job’ of working at home whereas their husbands struggled to earn money and find new sources of work. Challenging economic conditions challenged traditional gender roles and women slowly but surely started to move out of their role of staying at home. Women who were widowed or divorced, or single women, struggled to keep themselves afloat. They were truly living on the margins. The Great Depression is often associated with the struggling, unemployed man, however, women who were in a similar state of economic disaster, found themselves working it out on the sidelines on their own and trying to survive. Women who sought employment were often scorned as transgressors guilty of taking jobs away from deserving men. Many theorists and opinion leaders shared this view and when Norman Cousins noted that the gainfully employed number of women eq ualed the national unemployment total in 1939, he suggested that women should be fired, as they are not supposed to be working anyway, and men should be hired instead. Women were made a convenient scapegoat for the Great Depression. This was despite the fact that women had little options as they had to do something to ensure survival. Furthermore, the social segregation entrenched during those days made it difficult for men to take up jobs performed by women in any case. While men were concentrated in jobs involving heavy machinery, mining, etc. women were working in domains such as nursing, cleaning and clerical jobs. It is also essential to note that men dominated fields such as heavy industry and manufacturing were the hardest hit by the depression whereas women

Health Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 2

Health - Essay Example It involves managing an individual’s feelings and behaviors, accepting oneself unconditionally and the ability to cope with stress. The social dimension is the ability to create and maintain healthy relationships with other people. It encourages harmony within the family and contributes to the human and physical environment for the goodness of the community. The intellectual dimension is the ability to use an individual’s mind to create the best understanding and appreciating oneself and others. It involves an individual’s ability to be creative in thinking and to expand their knowledge and skills through various activities. Today, technology had changes people lives greatly. Through technology, people are able to interact with others instantly worldwide. In addition, individuals are able to move around fast, the appliances in people’s homes have made life easier thus making the world a better place. According to a fieldwork done since 2003, the American teens use the social media massively and the use social sites like MySpace and Facebook. Some teens opted for MySpace while others preferred to use facebook and there are those who opt to use both. The teens independently chose the kind of social media they wanted to use. Moreover, personal preferences like features, functionality, how to use and design led to the teens choosing one to the other. teens often talk about what they like about and how they perceive the different sites in relation o the values they hold. For example some teen prefer facebook because it seems faster to them as well as it is less competitive than MySpace. In addition, some choose specific social media platforms because of their friends. On the other hand, some teens describe those who use MySpace as those from the ghetto and hip-hop lovers group. In the United States, the social structure is shaped by race, socio-economic status, lifestyle, and education. Social media is fading away as the one that seems trendy

Alone Together by Sherry Turkle Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Alone Together by Sherry Turkle - Essay Example Now and again they will heed social validation otherwise left on their own (Jacob, 2). Moreover, one will have an impeded way of thinking. This means that contrary to the natural process of cognition, the person will be reduced to a merely mechanical object. A sense or rationality will be lost; the main cause of this is the conflicting environment that is provided by the social media. Ideally the human mind languishes when they fully rely on the social media (Jacob, 3). More to the aforementioned, the individual looses their natural abilities to think as they become over dependent on the wide range materials provide by the media. In relation to this, the person also doesn’t achieve the maximum concentration required under normal and natural learning conditions. This is the same case that is extended to the people in their environment. The person also suffers from that condition which makes them physically present but mentally absent since they are focused to performing many tasks at the same time. Moreover, they suffer from decaffeination which basically means never being in a position to enjoy the same overall effects that can be provided by the human environment. They are basically shifting their attention to the machine world and constantly switching from the humanity domain (Jacob

Punishment in the Holocaust Essay Example for Free

Punishment in the Holocaust Essay The Holocaust was an event in history that people would like to pretend never happened however in reality it will never be forgotten. Hitler came into power in 1933 and wanted to create the master race, meaning the Aryan race (Ushmm, 2013). The Jews, along with other groups such as the gypsies, were not included in this superior race. He thought of them as inferior and knew he had to expel them from the world. The word Holocaust means a burnt sacrifice offered solely to God (Niewyk, 2011). Once the Holocaust was over around 6 million Jews had been persecuted by the Nazis (Ushmm, 2013). Hitler had established the New Order and wanted it to apply to all of the people in Europe. Some people were in shock and others tried to adjust to the changes, however some people did accept Nazism (Lyons, 2010). The fear of communism and desire for order in their country motivated them to feel this way. Germans were the chosen people in the new order, including Scandinavians, the Dutch, Luxembourgers, German speaking Swiss, Flemish Belgians and the English. Hitler considered all these places to be a part of a Greater German Empire, except the English. Hitler was willing to let them keep their independence if they had a positive attitude (Lyons, 2010). Hitler wanted all of these countries in the Greater Reich. The Jews were not included in this and from the start Hitler did not approve of them. Hitler had planned to expel the Jews from Germany and other territories under his rule from the time he came into power. The Jews were the damned and from the start of Hitlers rule they never stood a chance. At first Hitlers goal was to make their life miserable to get them to leave Germany. Some of them left but a majority of them stayed. Some didnt have the money to leave and others did not want to leave because Germany was their homeland and thought that this may be temporary. Other groups, such as the gypsies also faced terrible treatment, but no group faced the kind of treatment and punishment that the Jews did (Lyons, 2010). In 1935, Nazi thugs attacked Jewish shops and beat them in the streets. These continued attacks on them created the Nuremberg laws (The holocaust: an introductory). These laws took away the German citizenship of the Jews and also didnt allow sexual relations or marriage between Jews and Germans. The situation became worse in 1938 when a Jew assassinated an official of the German embassy in Paris. After this attack the Nazis killed 100 Jews and arrested 30,000 others (Lyons, 2010). Their synagogues and shops were burned and destroyed. So much glass was broken in the city this event became known as Kristallnacht meaning Night of Crystal Glass. Following Kristallnacht, Jews were forced to pay heavy reparations; Nazis captured Jewish businesses and required businesses to dismiss Jewish employees. These chains of events led to more and more Jews to leave the country in 1938 and 939 (Lyons, 2010). Hitler decided that the final solution to the Jewish question was extermination. The Jews were considered to be the lice of civilized humanity and needed to be eliminated completely (Lyons, 2010). Hitler wanted to take over the island of Madagascar to make it the permanent Jewish homeland. However, the Germans 2010). By 1941, people that were identified as a Jew in any place considered German territory had to wear a yellow star on their clothing (The holocaust). This made them targets to Nazis along with people in society, everyone knew whether someone was a Jew or not. The Nazis created the first Jewish ghetto in October 1939 in the Polish city called Lodz. Others were soon created afterwards. These ghettos were holding transit places for the Jews; they were sent to these ghettos, detained there and then eventually sent to the concentration camps. The Germans set up a council called Judenrat in each ghetto. The members of the council had to administer the ghettos and send Jews to the death camps (Lyons, 2010). When men and women got to the ghettos they were separated from each other along with their kids. The boys went with the fathers and the girls went with their mothers. They were subjected to terrible conditions. Thousands of people became human guinea pigs in medical experiments. These experiments included the effects of freezing human beings, subjecting them to intense air pressure, and sterilizing women (Lyons, 2010). Some were infected on purpose with diseases such as typhus and exposed to mustard gas. The Nazis purposely made the living conditions unbearable. The largest ghetto was Warsaw. Around 400,000 people were confined to an area of about 2. 5 miles making it nearly impossible to move. (Jewish life during the Holocaust). 19 foot walls onfined the people in to keep them separate from the rest of society. Guards paroled the area constantly, making sure no Jews were trying to escape. If one was caught they were killed. Different diseases broke out and spread extremely fast due to the fact that everyone was living on top of each other. No medical care was given to those who needed it so they suffered until they died. Others died from starvation due to the lack of food they got. Some people killed themselves because they could not handle the physical or emotional pain any longer (Jewish life during the Holocaust). Concentration and death camps were the two different types of camps created as a place for the Jews to be sent to (Jewish life during the Holocaust). Concentration camps were for prisoners to do forced labor where they had striped uniforms, armbands or labels to identify what type of prisoner they were. Different colors represented different groups. Death camps were created for mass murder and immediate death. At death camps people originally were shot or killed in gas vans. The people would be locked into the van and when the driver pressed the accelerator carbon monoxide gas was released, killing them. Even though concentration camps seemed better than death camps, people there still faced terrible, cruel, and horrific punishments (Jewish life during the Holocaust). It in a way was worse than death camps because at least there you were immediately killed. People suffered and endured harsh treatments in concentration camps. Prisoners there eventually died from starvation, disease or horrific treatment from the Nazis. Some were even sent to death camps, where there they would be killed (Jewish life during the Holocaust). The earliest concentration camp established was Dachau located in Germany in 1933 nd the earliest death camp established was Auschwitz in 1940 located in Poland (Rosenberg). Auschwitz was both a death camp and a concentration camp. The fate of the people and what camp they would be in was decided upon arrival. By December 1941, six death camps were using gas to kill the Jews. Five were located in southwestern Poland called Auschwitz. Eventually this camp included 3 camps and 45 sub-camps. Auschwitz camp was responsible for murdering 1. 1 million people, mainly Jews. There were three different locations of Auschwitz, known as Auschwitz (the main one), Auschwitz 2(Birkenau) and Auschwitz 3 (Buna-Monowitz). Auschwitz 1 is where Block 11 and Black Wall located. Block 11 was a place where the prisoners were severely tortured and the Black Wall was where they were executed (Rosenberg). This camp was mainly for housing prisoners and subjecting them to medical experiments. Nazi doctors would pick people upon arrival to perform experiments on. They usually picked dwarfs, twins and anyone that looked unique. One type of experiment done was injecting substances into womens uteruses and exposing them to X-rays to make them sterile. Another one was experimenting on identical twins trying to find a way to clone people. This type of experiment was performed because Hitler was interested in creating the master race so if he found a way to clone it would be easier to accomplish his goal. Auschwitz 2 was created in 1942 right outside of the original Auschwitz. It was larger than the main one, housing the most prisoners. This is where the selections and most killings took place. Auschwitz 3 was used mainly to house the forced-laborers (Rosenberg). Jews, along with gypsies and homosexuals were put in filthy, small, cattle cars on trains to be ent to Auschwitz. It was extremely overcrowded and uncomfortable, many people died in the trains before they even reached the camps. The train would stop at Auschwitz 2, forcing the people to get off and stand on what was known as the ramp (Rosenberg). They were split up into 2 different lines. The left line was for people who looked unfit, unhealthy, the elderly, children or women and the right line was for those who looked strong and were young men. The left line meant you were going to be executed immediately by the gas chambers and the right line meant you were going to become a prisoner at the camp (Rosenberg). The prisoners who were allowed to live usually died later on from starvation, torture, forced labor and exposure. The people who were sent to the left line had no idea what that really meant, the Nazis kept this a secret from them. They were told they would be sent to work but first needed showers to disinfect them. Originally carbon monoxide gas was what was used to kill them (gas vans) however; Commandant Rudolf Hoss replaced it with Zyklon-B crystals. This lethal gas could kill 24,000 humans in a day. Jews were taken into buildings that looked like bathhouses and were told to get undressed for a hower. Once the shower was turned on the Zyklon-B crystals were released from the showerhead, walls vents, ceiling and windows killing Jews in minutes (Lyons, 2010). Once they realized what was happening they went into a complete panic. They climbed over each other, trying to find an area to breathe, scratched at any opening trying to get out until their fingers bled. The Germans selected certain Jewish prisoners that showed to be of useful strength to be members of Sonderkommando. These members were responsible for sending the Jews to the gas chambers, ollecting their bodies once dead and then burning them in crematoriums (Lyons, 2010). The people that were spared immediate death to become workers were subjected to terrible living conditions that were punishment in itself. Many died from starvation, intense work labor and disease (Ushmm, 2013). There would be three usually was a bowl of soup and bread. These terrible conditions were done intentionally to starve and work the prisoners to death. The Germans tried to keep the camps and extermination a secret from the world. However, by 1941 the news began to flood through Germany, Allied countries along ith neutral countries. At first people were doubtful and in disbelief but by 1942 they knew that this was really happening. In 1944, the Allies started to take over the camps and the liberated the first one in Poland (Hitlerschildren). Soon, more camps were liberated with Auschwitz being liberated in 1945. The German forces surrendered on May 7, 1945. There were around 50,000-100,000 survivors living in Europe after the end of the Holocaust. The Jews were treated this way for no reason other than them being Jewish. Hitler wanted them completely expelled from the orld because he did not see them as a part of the Aryan race. He thought of them being inferior and himself and the race he wanted was superior. They did nothing wrong, they were not criminals; they did not deserve to be punished or subjected to the terrible kinds of treatment. Hitler simply did not want Jews to be a part of society. He also blamed the Jews for Germans loss of WWI, along with problems that Germany was facing such as unemployment, poverty and starvation (Jewish life during the Holocaust). He wanted to torture, punish, and make them suffer in the most horrific and appalling ways possible. They were mentally, physically and emotionally punished. He used manipulation and deception in his tactics. The Jews were lied to about nearly everything. They were deported from the ghettos to camps easily because the Nazis told them they were being moved to someplace else where life would be better for them. Once they got to Auschwitz camp and were separated into the left and right lines, having no idea what those lines really meant. The Nazis purposely did not tell them because they knew they would try and fght back. Hitler knew he had to keep this a secret in order for the mass murders to be successful. They were told they were going to work but needed to be disinfected first. Having them believe they were going to take a shower, when really they were walking into their deaths. The ones that the Nazis kept alive and sent to concentration camps were kept alive to work. Not for themselves to make money but for Germany. They were sent to factories, coalmines and farms (Daily life). This was free labor and free workers, therefore Germany was benefiting by them. These ideas of punishment and treatment are still seen in the present. The Holocaust was a genocide and there have been many since and still are in present day. The Rwandan genocide took place in 1994 in East Africa between the Tutsis and Hutus (Genocide in Rwanda). Over a span of 100 days around 800,000 people were killed. The Hutus brutally killed and slaughtered the Tutsis, murdering them with any kind of weapon they could find or make. They had to flee from their homes and seek refuge, trying to hide and escape their death. There also is an ongoing genocide in Darfur, Sudan where over 300,000 people have died (Sudan backgrounder). After the attack on Pearl Harbor any person living on the west coast that was of Japanese heritage was place in nternment camps (Japanese-American internment ) They did nothing wrong and were not a part of the attack on Pearl Harbor but since they had Japanese in them people in the USA were paranoid and wanted them gone.

Reflective Report on Mega Simulation Game

Reflective Report on Mega Simulation Game EXECUTIVE SUMMARY The report is about a 12-week critical evaluation about my experience of the Mega Simulation Game that I was to execute with other four group members. The exercise requires identifying the primary reflective theories that will be used for reflective learning. In my case, I used Lawrence-Wilkes REFLECT and Gibbs Reflective Model. I used these two models to enumerate on two incidences in the group work experience, which were related to interpersonal dynamics, and personal performance in-group work. The interpersonal dynamics such as personality clashes, different cultural values, and personal interests acted as a hindrance to communication and collaboration. However, the commitment of the team was very high and this kept the team going. The second incidence was on personal performance where the group leveraged on individual strengths and delegated tasks. The delegation of tasks was fruitful but the end product was not due to personal interests overriding the group interests. I learnt t he need for effective communication, the power of leadership and the need to accommodate varied opinions. Introduction Reflection has numerous meaning that includes self-review, self-awareness, self-criticism, self-appraisal, self-assessment, personal cognizance and other terms that are related to these terms. Boyd and Fales (1983) defined reflection learning as the process of externally examining and exploring an issue of concern, triggered by an experience, which creates and clarifies meaning in terms of self and which results in a changed conceptual perceptive. The definition brings out key important issues in reflective learning: there needs to be an issue that is examined, meaning of the issue must be derived and lastly the meaning should improve the perspective of the individual in a similar situation in the future. In this reflection paper, I will pursue two types of reflection: interpersonal dynamics and performance of the members of the groups. Teamwork is used everywhere from class settings to organizations and even communities to accomplish tasks that require collaboration, brainstorming and synergy. The primary objective of a team is delegation of responsibility and development of a proper plan for the completion of a goal (Hughes and Jones, 2011). The interpersonal dynamics is about how people use nonverbal cues such as facial expressions and body language to complement verbal communication in on-on-one interactions. The reason I decided to discuss interpersonal dynamics is because I saw the group as a cross-functional one rather than a functional one. The reasons I think the group was cross-functional was that all the members in the group were specializing on different careers and also we had never worked together as a team. The simulation game was a onetime project where the group would be dissolved after its completion. Parker (2015) noted that cross functional teams were more susceptible to interpersonal barriers such as cultural biases, work styles, turf wars, conflicts, lack of trust, and differing priorities. Some of these things played out during our game simulation task. The second area that I am going to explore is performance of members in the group. I felt this is an area worthy of exploitation as the different members had a different level of performance towards contributing to the success of the group. It is impossible to separate team performance from individual performance because the former depends on the latter. Individual standards comprise of the performance expectations that each team member expresses as personal pressure to achieve (Larson and LaFasto, 1999). I specifically noted that I put a lot of effort together with another member in the teamwork, which stimulated others to perform better, but sometimes it was not sufficient enough to reach our desired goals. I will employ the Gibbs Reflective Cycle (1988) and Lawrence-Wilkes REFLECT model (2014) to critically reflect on the two MSG experiences. I used Gibbs reflective model because it is a simple model to use and provides questions that I have to answer in a particular order. Just like the Gibbs model, Lawrence-Wilkes REFLECT model uses a simple concept of reflection making it easy for the user to apply it. The model uses a bacronym (an acronym devised in reverse to fit a word) on the word REFLECT. I will not be using the Honey and Munfords learning style as it is too simplistic in its steps to allow me to critically reflect on my experiences. Gibbs reflective model is a useful tool in reflection as it provides critical phases of an experience from what one experienced to how they would make changes and respond better in subsequent events. The different phases include description, feelings, evaluation, analysis, conclusion, and action plan. Below is the Gibbs reflective cycle with the relevant questions that need to be answered for each phase Figure 1 (Gibbs, 1988) Gibbs reflective model directly fits to the happenings of the group. In my reflection, I was first wondering why there was no sense of cohesion in the group when we started. The opinions were so diverse and the commitments were so dissimilar. I was feeling that personal priorities and interest were coming in the way of cooperative approach. Most of the group members, including I felt distraught and disillusioned by the progress of the group in the initial weeks due to the lack of organization and poor ranking. We did not have a leader who would inspire us through the disillusionment. In the Tuckmans stages, the group dwelled so much in the forming stage where the group members were getting to know each other and there was general socializing (Martin, 2006). Lawrence-Wilkes -REFLECT model (2014) comprises of steps that are almost similar to that of Gibbs reflective cycle but it goes to a deeper level to analyze elements such as strengths and weaknesses, reference to external checks, looking at the responsibilities and asking the what if question. The model examines more details that not only assist in reviewing past experiences but also learning from them and integrating new ideas to enable change. The model requires reviewing of experiences from both objective and subjective angles. Below is the REFLECT barconym used in the model. Table 1 (Lawrence-Wilkes and Ashmore, 2014)   Ã‚   Lawrence-Wilkes REFLECT model of Reflective Practice R 1. Reflect Look back, review and ensure intense experiences are reviewed cold (subjective and objective). E 2. Evaluate What happened? What was important? (Subjective and objective) F 3. Focus Who, what, where, etc. Roles, responsibilities, etc. (Mostly objective) L 4. Learn Question: why, reasons, perspectives, feelings? Refer to external checks. (Subjective and objective) E 5. Evaluate Causes, outcomes, strengths, weaknesses, feelings use metacognition. (Subjective and objective) C 6. Consider Assess options, need/possibilities for change? Development needs? What if? scenarios? Refer to external checks. (Mostly objective) T 7. Trial Integrate new ideas, experiment, take action, and make change. (Repeat cycle: Recall) Incident 1: My group was comprised of five members that are evidently from different cultural backgrounds and also hold diverse views and values. I noticed due to the diversity in the group, there was no effective communication and there were issues when it came to sense of responsibility.   The first incident was our groups inability to operate cohesively due to differences in personality and cultural values. My previous encounter with the topic of diversity is that it (diversity) can lead to team effectiveness and innovation (West, 2012). But on the contrary, the initial weeks of our groups was faced with communication challenges as we worked together. Initially, I thought that the reason for the incongruity was that the exercise was new to everyone and no one had substantive information on how to go about the exercise. Everyone in the group was in constant search of what is expected of the exercise. The disappointment was evident in week 3 due to the poor ranking, which left everyone demotivated. Waller, Gupta and Giambatista (2004) noted that lack of effective communication leads to deviation from attaining team goals. We got confused on what were our desired goals. Despite the miscommunication, the group was able to function as there were elements that were consistent with structuration theory on how groups use rules and resources to form its structure (Frey, Gouran and Poole, 1999). Our group was held together by the weekly meeting that were mandatory and I believe were it not for the rules, the team functioning would have been impaired. I must applaud my group because irrespective of the communication barriers, the group was able to hold on and try to overcome these barriers. The attendance of the meetings was satisfactory as there was minimal absenteeism, which was accompanied by apologies and genuine reasons such as illness or class time. In my assessment, the general theme of the group according to Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) was feelers instead if thinkers. Feelers judge situations based on feelings or emotions while thinkers judge situations based on logical analysis (Quenk, 2013). Most of the choices that were made such as marketing for image cars were based on personal emotions, which lead to disregard of facts and information. I must admit despite the personality clash in the group; all the group members were committed to accomplishing the task successfully. The commitment even inspired us on meeting twice a week to try and better our ranking and get a better grip of the whole game simulation concept. Personally, I was not thinking about how to bridge the miscommunication gap or clashing personalities but on the task at hand and this was also the general trend in the group. Even up to the end of the exercise in the 12th week, we communicated but we never did so effectively. The ranking of the group improved over time even though it did not reach the desired goal. Upon critical review at the end of the exercise, I could only make sense of the group performance through the self-organization theory. The theory postulates that order can arise from a disordered system due to interactions of distinct parts of the system. The incidence on interpersonal dynamics, especially the personality clashes and miscommunication between the group members, helped me to develop transferable skills to do with closing ranks when it comes to personality and cultural differences. The group would have attained a better rank if we resolved the disillusionment in the early stages of teaming as this would have gone a long way in working harmoniously (Searle and Swartz, 2015). I also saw the fruits of commitment as the members were able to perform regardless of the cohesion problems. Incident 2 The second incident was related to the individual performances and their contribution to the overall group performance. Personally, I believe am a natural leader who takes the mantle of leadership in any situation. I believe that one does not need to be appointed formally to take the leadership role but can take the steering wheel from any position. I subscribe to the relationship-oriented leadership model where the leader is more focused on the human resources than the task at hand. I would motivate the members of the group by telling them how the assignment was important and how we should all be committed towards improving our ranking. The group needed a small dose of external motivation to keep them going and energized (Beagle, 2012). When I was motivating and inspiring the team, I found the motivator in me, which was essential in keeping myself going and also the group. I noticed that a team produced synergy and a better output than an individual but it is the latter that contributes to the results of the former. Despite the shaky start, we realized that we need to use our individual strengths for team success (Graham et al., 2012). At different points of the assignment, we had to assign and delegate duties and cover ground on the different actions that needed to be taken. We tried to leverage on the strengths of the individual members as much as possible. The use of individual strengths to delegate tasks did not work effectively as I expected as the third phase of Fishers Theory of Decision Emergence was not adhered to. The third phase is the emergence phase where an individual needs to soften on their stance and let the interest of the team prevail over personal interests (Littlejohn, Foss and Oetzel, 2016). In some situations, we had to go with individual opinions instead of consensus, which did not work well for the team. In the future, I would advocate for more compromise and consensus instead of personal opinions as the latter risks being biased and non-inclusive. I learnt that anyone can be a situational leader if they wanted to make a difference amidst uncertainty and anyone can lead from any position (Alizor, 2013).   I saw the importance of delegating duties as it covered more ground but it needs better coordination to achieve a common goal. I believe my strength and individual contribution was leadership and motivation. Conclusion I appreciate the experience as it was an eye-opener especially on different aspects of group tasks. I understood how group dynamics can work against the success of a team and they need to be identified and dealt with at the early stages of an assignment.   For instance, team members need to understand each others values and culture, and accommodate them. Understanding each other is the first step of breaking the communication barrier. I appreciated the importance of effective communication, which our group lacked, eventually leading to poor coordination and cooperation. I must admit that the strength of our group lied in commitment more than anything else. After communication, personal interest was the other weakness. I learnt the need to let other team members speak their mind, brainstorming and softening individual stance for the good of the team. I was a culprit myself of holding strong stances, sometimes unconsciously, on some of the issues. Looking back at the exercise, I acknowledge that for better interpersonal reactions, the parties need self-awareness. Lastly, I appreciated the power of leadership in motivating and inspiring team members towards tasks accomplishment. References      Ã‚   Alizor, J. (2013). Leadership: Understanding Theory, Style, Practice: Things You Need to Know about Leading an Organization. 1st ed. Bloomington, IN: WestBow Press. Beagle, M. (2012). The Rock: Motivational Leadership: A Leaders Perspective On Inspiring Others While Finding the Motivator in You. 1st ed. Bloomington: iUniverse, Inc. Boyd, E. and Fales, A. (1983). Reflective Learning: Key to Learning from Experience. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 23(2), pp.99-117. Frey, L., Gouran, D. and Poole, M. (1999). The handbook of group communication theory and research. 1st ed. Thousand Oaks, Calif.: Sage Publications. Gibbs, G. (1988). Learning by doing: A guide to teaching and learning methods. 1st ed. [London]: FEU. Graham, S., Emery, S., Hall, R., Blanchard, K., Huntsman, J., Lennick, D., Kiel, F. and Jordan, K. (2012). Leading Teams with Integrity: Advice from Leadership Experts. 1st ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press. Hughes, R. and Jones, S. (2011). Developing and assessing college student teamwork skills. New Directions for Institutional Research, 2011(149), pp.53-64. Larson, C. and LaFasto, F. (1999). Teamwork. 1st ed. Newbury Park (Calif.): Sage Publ. Lawrence-Wilkes, L. and Ashmore, L. (2014). The reflective practitioner in professional education. 1st ed. London: Palgrave Macmillan. Littlejohn, S., Foss, K. and Oetzel, J. (2016). Theories of Human Communication. 11th ed. Long Grove, IL: Waveland Press, Inc. Martin, B. (2006). Outdoor leadership: Theory and Practice. 1st ed. Windsor, ON: Human Kinetics. Parker, G. (2015). Cross- Functional Teams: Working with Allies, Enemies, and Other Strangers. 1st ed. San Francisco, Calif.: Jossey-Bass. Quenk, N. (2013). Essentials of myers-briggs type indicator assessment. 1st ed. Hoboken, N.J.: Wiley. Searle, M. and Swartz, M. (2015). Teacher Teamwork: How do we make it work?. 1st ed. New York: Association for Supervision Curriculum Development. Waller, M., Gupta, N. and Giambatista, R. (2004). Effects of Adaptive Behaviors and Shared Mental Models on Control Crew Performance. Management Science, 50(11), pp.1534-1544. West, M. (2012). Effective Teamwork: Practical Lessons from Organizational Research. 1st ed. Chichester, West Sussex: John Wiley and Sons. Theories Used 1. Gibbs Reflective Model (1988) 2. Lawrence Wilkes REFLECTION (2014) 3. Tuckman Stages of Group Development (1965) 4. Structuration Theory 5. Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) (1956) 6. Self-Organization Theory 7. Relationship-Oriented Leadership Model 8. Situational Leadership Model 9. Fishers Theory of Decision Emergence Appendices Logbook Week No./date of meeting(s) Action point(s) Team member/time of arrival/leave Potentially areas that every member worked on State of team / work in progress Week 2 (3th October 2016) Get all members of group together and sign learning contract Structuring what must be done for next meeting a)George Iashvili -11am b)Claudia Borges-11am c)Carlos Chalhoub-11am d)Cagri Ozecoglu-11am e) Ilya Ignatov-11am (All left same time as class was finished) There was no game simulation this week so no work to be done as a group yet Learning Contract signed and we got all group members now. Week 3-First Meeting on Gaming Simulation (14 October 2016) 1.Speak about steps we needed to take for the game and whether we all watched the video and read the game manual. 2.Start to look at game excel sheet. 3.Making sure all members had put their name in the game simulation. a)George Iashvili-1pm b)Claudia Borges-1pm c)Carlos Chalhoub-1pm d)Cagri Ozecoglu-1pm e) Ilya Ignatov-1pm -All members that attended looked at each section of the decision sheet together and made decisions as a group. Task completed-all the members looked at the decision document and discussed on WhatsApp what steps to take as well as what we needed to do in the next meeting, which was to figure out a more accurate strategy and approach. At this point we still didnt know how to play the game properly. Some group members still not giving suggestions on the decisions. Some members still not contributing. Week 3-Second Meeting on Gaming Simulation (17 October 2016) 1.Make sure we all knew how to fill in the decision document. 2. Conclude on what car we wanted. 2.Fill in decision document. 3.Submit the decision   document. a)George Iashvili -Didnt Attend, sick on day of meeting. b) Claudia Borges-Didnt Attend, informed group could attend due to having lesson c)Carlos Chalhoub-12:30 d)Cagri Ozecoglu-12:30 e) Ilya Ignatov-did not attend, could not attend due to having lesson too. -Claudia filled in some of the document and sent an email to the rest of the group. The members who attended all worked through the rest of the decision document together. -The group had little to no strategy in mind as we did not know the specifics on how to play the game properly yet. The group tried using common sense and logic as we hadnt known that the information was available on the mega learning website. Feeling disappointed with the result that we got for last week.However,we tried our best for the next decision to be better. Some group members go demotivated. Week 4(20/10/2016) 1.To look over everything and looked at the results of the last simulation game and analyse it. 2.We had the game reset this week 3.Try to make changes to the game in order to get better results. 4.To ensure the use of the information available on the mega learning website and blackboard on the consumer sensitivity and market growth, in order to configure a clear strategy. a)George Iashvili -13:00 b)Claudia Borges-13:00 c)Carlos Chalhoub-13:00 d)Cagri Ozecoglu-13:00 e) Ilya Ignatov-did not attend,but informed the group ahead of non-attendance. -We all looked through the decision document and made decisions on each section together as a group after thoroughly discussing everything. Also, we made sure we used the information available to us on consumer sensitivity, market growth and each decisions effect on budget. -We had a much better idea on how the game simulation works this week and used all the information given to us which made our decisions improve greatly. Also, almost the whole group was at the meeting which was very beneficial for the decision analysis and strategy direction that the group wanted to take. There was a clash in personalities which was affecting some decisions.There was a lot of miscommunication between the group. Week 5(27/10/2016) 1. We planned to keep to our strategy that we used in week 4 as it seemed to work. a)George Iashvili -11am b)Claudia Borges- did not attend c)Carlos Chalhoub-11am d)Cagri Ozecoglu-11am e) Ilya Ignatov-11am -All who attended analysed the decisions together as a group and made more aggressive decisions on many of the consumer behaviour sensitivity and prices of the sectors, which changed our strategy direction. -We couldnt keep to our strategy that we had in the previous week and the decisions made were too aggressive which gave us a low rank on the mega learning simulation. Some results and decisions that we made the week before worked and gave the game a good result so we kept them the same. Week 6 (3/11/2016) 1.Region 2 started this week So, we had to make sure to look at each section of the simulation game and try to increase our capacity of how many cars we can sell on region 1 and get much capacity for region 2.-Try to look at Eco-friendly cars and lower product appeal from the previous week because it was too high. 3.Look at marketing appeal for image cars higher and try focus on low cost and eco-friendly cars because the market growth is increasing in both these two sectors. a)George Iashvili -12:30am b)Claudia Borges-12:30am c)Carlos Chalhoub-12:30am d)Cagri Ozecoglu-12:30am e) Ilya Ignatov-12:30am -Claudia looked at filling how many models in range for each category, how many new parts needed and looking at price for the cars. -the rest of the group tried to focus on the action points so making sure that look at product appeal and which areas need the most product appeal, like eco-friendly was too high the previous week so to decrease that and -Focus on trying to get the EBIT down and capacity up and at the same time to make the best decisions for the simulations game based on last weeks results. -We now had a better understanding of how the game was worked and we starting to get better rankings now. Now we had a better understanding we   could do better for region 2. Week 7(8/11/2016) 1.Try to meet more as a group, have at least two meetings a week. 2.Try make sure we discuss the previous weeks results 3.Try to focus on eco-friendly and image sectors due to this these two sectors being the ones we are doing weak at the moment. 4.Try to look get product appeal up and again look at capacity for eco-friendly and image sector. Also, look at image cars due to sales revenue being so low in that sector and see what is happening and what is affecting for cars not to be selling. 5.Decrease low cost unit cost and family unit cost too. -Focus on region 1 as region 2 sales are good, however the sales for region 1 have gone down from last week. a)George Iashvili -14pm b)Claudia Borges-14pm c)Carlos Chalhoub-14pm d)Cagri Ozecoglu-14pm e) Ilya Ignatov-14pm As a group, we tried to resolve our action points such as meeting more often, so timetables were sent of each of the members timetable so we could see which day would be the best to meet. Secondly, we looked at resolving our problem with image cars and why we were not selling as much cars as we could and found out this was due to capacity was low and tried to increase this for the next weeks decision. Thirdly, try to decrease the unit cost for low cost due to being too high and also for family the unit cost was too high as well so we decreased this too. Look over previous weeks results and compare to current week to see what is happening and what is going wrong in the eco-friendly and image sectors and why our capacity is not increasing. Achieved a good ranking for region 1, however region 2 ranking went down. Week 8(17/11/2016) 1.Focus on family cars sector because our sales have gone down a lot from previous weeks 2.Focus on image sector too because our capacity for region 1 is still low and for region 2 is too low and we need to try and increase this. 3.Discuss our results from previous week and what decisions need to be changed based on teachers feedback and our online results. a)George Iashvili -14pm b)Claudia Borges-14pm c)Carlos Chalhoub-14pm d)Cagri Ozecoglu-14pm e) Ilya Ignatov-14pm -As a group we focused on looking at the capacity for the eco-friendly and image cars because it was really low and also tried to increase low cost cars capacity due to selling a lot of low cost cars each week, however not using all capacity. -Making sure that we kept some decisions the same such as low cost and family car unit prices. Week 9(24/11/2016) 1.Looking at previous weeks decisions as it was good result and there was a lot of increase for capacity for all regions 1 and 2 and sales revenue increased. So look at what decisions were made that got as to have such a good result. a)George Iashvili -14pm b)Claudia Borges-14pm c)Carlos Chalhoub-14pm d)Cagri Ozecoglu-14pm e) Ilya Ignatov-14pm -As a team we made sure we went through each region 1 and 2 and made sure we looked at the engineering, how much we were investing in capacity and also HR and also looking at unit prices for each sector such as low cost and family prices. These two sector prices were too high and causing us to lose customers. Capacity was also a problem for our region 2 because we had less capacity for low cost cars and family and we tried our best to increase this and tried to keep our costs down. However, at the same time trying to fix our problem with eco-friendly and image cars due to the fact that no cars were being sold in that sector. -Making sure that we make investments into region 2 -Try to look at unit prices whether too high or low. Week 10(1/12/2016) 1.Make investments in region 2 2. Look at facilities for each car section and for each region 1 and 2 3.Look at prices for each section 4.Again try to increase capacity in each section. a)George Iashvili -Could not attend b)Claudia Borges-Could not attend c)Carlos Chalhoub-1pm d)Cagri Ozecoglu-Could not attend e) Ilya Ignatov- Could not attend -Carlos looked at each section and saw what we could do to firstly increase the capacity. The sectors we tried to increase our capacity were low costs cars and family cars in region 1 and 2, and eco-friendly cars and image cars in region 2 due to the fact that the capacity was 0. Then Carlos sent a copy of the file by e-mail to everyone in the group to have a look at before we submitted. -We also made some investments in HR and capacity for region 2 -Increase Capacity -Look at eco-friendly and image cars sectors for regions two Week 11(8/12/2016) 1.Look at region 2 image cars and eco-friendly and see why no sales being made. 2.Again increase capacity for region 1 low cost and family cars and try to use all capacity available. a)George Iashvili -1pm b)Claudia Borges-1pm c)Carlos Chalhoub-1pm d)Cagri Ozecoglu-1pm e) Ilya Ignatov-1pm -As a group we discussed why we were having the problem in region 2 in the eco-friendly and image car sector. Due to the fact that for the last few weeks of decisions we have put invested in the HR department and also made others investments but despite this these two sectors did not make any sales. -We made a decision to sell off eco-friendly and image cars in region 2 and use the money to invest in region -Decision to sell off region 2 eco-friendly