Culture and Special Education Essay Example for Free

Culture and Special Education Essay In this paper we concern ourselves with the ways in which schools in general and special education procedures in particular tend to not be successful for those of our students who are from a different culture. (While we focus on Canadian Aboriginals, we also extend our thinking to those children who come from different races, ethnicities, socio-economic backgrounds, etc. ) We outline the stories that have brought us to this place. We then go on to suggest that the adoption of different understandings and approaches could lead to the academic success of children from a variety of different cultures and backgrounds. We conclude with some direction for change. In this paper we, two white educators, concern ourselves with the education of those students of Aboriginal descent who are seen by the school system as special. Our concerns are based on the stories we use to understand ourselves and our actions stories of mistold history, socio-political issues, racism, the misuse of science and the ways those stories disadvantage those who are different. Our hope is that we can begin to explore different more hopeful and empowering stories. There are many reasons to be concerned about the existing state of special education, particularly with our Aboriginal students. Currently the following are common; 1. Our special education classes are top-heavy with Aboriginal and disadvantaged students. 2. We tend to focus on the deficits in other children rather than on the possibilities. We could embrace the position of William Glasser (1986): we choose to be whom and what we, and others, believe we are. [1] 3. We do not concern ourselves with the differences brought to school by children from other than the dominant culture. [2] 4. We are asking all small school children to do the pretty much the same thing at pretty much the same time and to meet some arbitrary standard of what they should or should not be able to do. We act despite current research concerning physiology and early childhood experience, which suggests that children are not ready for the same task at the same time. 5. The tests that we give children to determine the reasons for failure at school tasks are fallible and culturally insensitive and subjective. 6. A label tends to freeze a child in the definition attached to the label. 7. We have a tendency to blame the victim or to blame the social background rather than look at ways we can change. Clearly we need to find another way of viewing children and their learning. We are hoping to uncover stories that currently mediate, impair and colonize our special education practices, thereby beginning a dialogue concerning alternative stories of strength, knowing and power. Stories that Get in the Way History Stories Malia Kaniaupuni (2005) tells us how archeologists and historians have accepted a theory of accidental migration from Polynesia to the Hawaiian Islands to explain a 2200-mile voyage on the open seas. This in spite of evidence to the contrary, which makes it clear that the early Polynesian explorers did indeed have the sophisticated system of navigation needed for a planned and successful voyage. Malia Kaniaupuni’s point is that the assumption of a people with no learning, no culture, no anything but maybe good luck, made it possible for colonizers to take on in their own minds the mantle of rescuer. Iseke-Barnes (2005) is also concerned about the misrepresentation of Indigenous history and science. She wants us to challenge those assumptions that the colonizers found a people in need of saving from their own ignorance. Paulo Freire (1971, 1997) has spent many years studying the impact of oppression on the colonized. In the name of saving a backward people from themselves the colonizers were able to perpetuate acts of cultural genocide and worse. The use of this story continues to impact on how the dominant cultures act out their oppression. History is written by the winner, therefore we need to be highly critical of the history we read. While more blatant misrepresentations of the history of Canada are beginning to disappear, the whole story of colonization is not being told or written or disseminated. Instead, we are still trying to save lost Aboriginal souls. History stories mediate, impair and colonize special education practice, which we will illustrate by describing a socio-political and a scientific rigor story. A Socio-Political Story This is a story of the purpose of education. We suppose schools are places where children are educated. But what are children educated to do or be? Gitlin (2005) gives a disturbing answer to this question: [Public education is] not intended to fill the young of the species with knowledge and awaken their intelligence †¦Nothing could be further from the truth. The aim †¦is simply to reduce as many individuals as possible to the safe level, to breed and train a standardized citizenry, to put down dissent and originality. That is its aim in the United States†¦ and that is its aim everywhere else. (p. 22) Many may disagree with this disturbing answer, suggesting that school graduates, for the most part, go on to become productive citizens. But citizenry becomes problematic when referring to Aboriginal peoples – it seems clear that, for the most part, people of Aboriginal heritage do not go on to become productive citizens within the dominant culture. A lack of successful citizenry by Aboriginal peoples seems to justify special education programs that are top heavy with Aboriginal students. But success is politicized. Skovsmose (2005) outlines how schools practice both classic[3] and progressive[4] racism. Such practice allows us as educators not to have to take any responsibility for the failure of the child, as clearly the child brings the cause for his or her weak performance into school. Therefore: Many deficiency theories (theories of the deprived child) follow the approach of racism in explaining away the socio-political dimension of school performances, by privatizing and personalizing the causes of such performance. (p. 5) So: The epistemic interpretation of learning obstacle is not the only one possible. However, processes of exclusion in education can be dressed up in such a way that their political dimension becomes hidden and ignored. It could appear that exclusion is not imposed on students. Instead, exclusion may appear as a consequence of some students so-called low achievement. (p. 4) He goes on to say that this leads to a particular way of organizing teaching/learning processes in ways that prevent students from acting like learners. In other words our story leads to actions that support the story. A Scientific Story A scientifically rigorous story dominates special education practice. The story, in brief, is that learning disability can be attributed to biological and environmental factors. Current models of abnormality are often based on the premise that a person will have a biological disposition toward a disorder, but that the presence of a disorder will also depend on environmental factors (Wortman, Loftus, Weaver, 1999). Brain function consists of biological processes involving genetic tendencies, chemical levels and electrical activity. Normal brain function can be delineated according to normal biological processes. In other words, we assume that learning disability is at least partially caused by excessive deviation from a normal range of biological processes. These biological processes can be measured in terms of genetic profiles, chemical levels (e. g. , hormones found in blood) and electrical levels in the brain. Hence, it is assumed that learning disability can be measured using physiological properties of the brain. These ideas are supported by a dominant scientific culture, where scientific evidence generates facts that cannot be refuted. Special education for children of Aboriginal heritage has been colonized by this scientific rigor story. In schools, we identify learning disabilities as follows: A teacher identifies a student who appears to be struggling, and refers the student to a team of specialists. The specialist tests, diagnoses, labels and sets out a remediation program. The teacher implements the program. It seems like a perfectly reasonable system of trying to help those with disabilities, based on scientifically rigorous knowledge. But the story is flawed in three ways. First, the story of scientific rigor is told by a dominant culture. The colonizers write the books of knowledge, thereby attempting to establish without doubt what is true and what evidence is required to make a truth claim. Culturally laden epistemology certainty invades special education. For example, based on research literature generated by the dominant scientific culture, there is currently little scientific evidence to support a biological cause or disposition for most disorders of the brain (Wortman, et. al. , 1999). It is assumed that biological roots exist that accurately captures a disability label. There is no scientific rigor in labels. The assumptions have pervaded special education and are taken as scientific fact. This is a writing of special education knowledge by colonizers. Second, this scientific rigor story is based on behaviour and biology, while special education practice is based solely on behavior. Teachers, resource teachers, special education consultants and school psychologists base their labels on observing behaviour. Medical technologies are not used to detect genetic make-up, chemical levels or electrical activity in the brain, generating a diagnosis based on deviations from a normal range. We assume that our interpretation of behavior correctly identifies mental disability. But as we are caught inside stories that get in the way, we should not accept our interpretations of behaviour without question. Third, this scientific rigor story is enacted in contradictory ways. To see the contradiction, we need to set the stage by describing physiological and behavioural evidence generated by scientific research. Studies of the physiology of the forebrain and hindbrain have shown that the slow processing of learning cannot occur during a moment of fear (Kalat, 1988). Based on this physiological evidence, educators might wonder about school and classroom environment. If a child is afraid, or afraid to learn, then they will not learn. Researchers have found connections between emotional states and learning (Zimbardo Gerrig, 1996). Evidence of a connection between learning and emotion is accumulating to such an extent that there is a branch of psychological and educational research concerning emotional intelligence (EQ). For example, researchers have found correlations between EQ and ability to learn (Goleman, 1998). It is concluded that emotions should be nurtured as part of intellectual growth. Moving from physiology to behaviour, psychologists have found evidence to support a strong connection between emotion and behaviour. Notable among this research is Glasser’s (1986) claim that as learners we need to have the mental image of ourselves doing that task, we need to know we can do it. For children if we firmly believe that a child could do something and bring them to the same belief, then learning previously thought impossible takes place. We suspect other teachers, based on their personal experiences, have similar beliefs concerning the potential of children to learn. Coupling the physiological and behavioural evidence above suggests that a label is as much responsible for a child’s learning success as any other biological or environmental factor. The stage has been sent for noticing a contradiction in the scientific rigor story within special education. We are colonized to believe the scientific truth that disability is biological and behavioural. Hence, we label disability in hopes of solving the problem. But the same scientific culture generates the truth that labeling at least partially causes the behaviors associated with a disability. We label behaviour, not noticing that our stories mediate, impair and colonize our interpretations of behaviour. Conceptualizing Change There is no doubt in our minds that we are working with the best of intentions. We are not setting out to further disadvantage those who come to us from already established positions of disadvantage impoverished backgrounds, different cultures, stressed families. We are doing the best we can with the knowledge and resources we have. What gets in our way is lack of imagination. We assume that the way we do things is the way to do things. We may be comfortable with some tinkering. But we see ourselves as educated people who are neither racist nor biased, and who are working in a good system, but with damaged and/or deficient people – this story concludes that systemic changes are not required. We have a rigid educational system that states that success is measured in yearly doses and in each of those years students are expected to master a particular body of knowledge. It is an expected linear progression to success. Certain cultural imperatives are in place so that children from the dominant culture will more likely be successful. If you are not successful you are treated. The process of treatment takes away from your sense of competence as a learner, particularly in the school setting. Here we want to become specific. The focus of this paper is on the teaching of Aboriginal learners, and what stops us from being successful. The linear model used in our factory model schools gets in our way. The assumption that we have the one right way gets in our way. History gets in our way. Racism gets in our way. Scientism gets in our way. We are not noticing alternative stories. Previously we wrote (Betts Bailey, in press) about using a different metaphor for education, one that was not linear. We suggested that we use the metaphor of fractal geometry (and all that means in terms of quantum mechanics and chaos theory). In fractal geometry the smallest part is a reflection of the whole. For example a twig is really a little tree. In Aboriginal cosmology the basic unit is the Medicine Wheel, by definition a circular model so nothing is more important than anything else, all is of equal value. Each member of the community is an essential part of the whole. Earth, flora, fauna, human are all part of the circle of life required for existence. Education was a part of the whole, an on-going component of life (Courtney, 1986, Graveline, 1998, Regnier, 1995). We illustrated that a non-linear and holistic story of education was tell-able within ultra-modern Western thinking and within the ancient wisdom of Aboriginal cosmologies. We saw with alternative stories. To see education for children, all of whom are special, rather than special education, as non-linear and holistic seems a place to begin. We also see that a starting part is not enough to catalyze change. It is clear to us that the foreground must be that Aboriginal peoples have been and are oppressed and colonized. We do not need to go into the history of the subjugation of an entire race practiced over the years by the European colonizers. We all know the steps that were taken to destroy any vestige of the civilization that was in place at the time of contact. We get confused as to what to do about it now. After all, it was our ancestors, not us. [5] We see what we are doing now in schools as an extension of that destructive process. Our governments are slowly beginning to allow for the full participation of Aboriginals in our world. But in many small and highly destructive ways we continue to contribute to the marginalization of that population. The world of special education is one place where we continue to do so. Knowing that a high proportion of the identified special population is Aboriginal, we continue to act as we always have, even in the face of evidence that the actions we take are not effective. Paulo Freire (1971) suggests that it takes several generations for a culture to overcome the impact of oppression. Certainly we can see the truth of that statement as we watch many colonized peoples re-learn how to care for and govern themselves. In Canada, Aboriginal peoples are slowly, and over generations, learning how to be who they are, and to be successful in both cultures. This will not happen quickly, but it will happen surely. In the meantime there is no question that our Aboriginal population is dealing with serious problems and some of those impact on the ability of their children to learn, especially using the mores of another culture. Our typical reaction as white educators is to want the Aboriginals to change. All would be right if only kids would come to school and on time. All would be well if their parents would stop drinking. All would be well if so much money wasnt being squandered on band council trips to Las Vegas. All of which may be factual, but does not excuse us from doing what we can to better the situation for the special children. The current reality of an oppressed population does not give us the right to blame the victim. Rather, as Skovsmose points out: †¦Ã¢â‚¬Å"meanings of learning,† â€Å"meanings for students,† and â€Å"each students meaning production† must be investigated and interpreted with reference to the dispositions of the student (including their background and foreground). Meaning production takes place in terms of what the students see as their opportunities, including motives, perspectives, hope and aspirations (p. 8). Therefore in conceptualizing change we of the dominant culture need to place that conceptualization in hands other than ours, in the hands of those who know and honour their unique history and ways of being, who can best find the organic ways of empowering themselves and their children. Having said that we do have some notions of what white educators can do. 1. Overcome our own racism. Get facts and information. Use our intelligence and face ourselves. 2. Accept the conditions. Things are as they are. Oppression has happened. It will take, according to the Bible and past experience, seven generations for the sins of the fathers to be expiated. In the meantime we have been given the task of teaching the children of oppression. What changes can we make to be more successful at that task? 3. Resist labels. Resist the push to find something wrong with the victim, rather change how we do things, how we approach the task. 4. Give our special kids the confidence to learn. Teachers are in positions of authority. Children really do think we know what we are talking about. If we consistently make it clear to children that they are capable of succeeding at the tasks we give them, sooner or later they will believe us. But first we have to genuinely believe that what we say is true. We cannot be faking it. From there we need to practice power-with rather than power-over. [6] 5. Thus we give our special kids the power to learn. We work with them so that they are taking charge of their own learning; we give them agency. This is a difficult task for us to undertake. It means giving up some control, it means not taking the linear approach that gives us comfort and assurance through its familiarity. But difficult is not impossible. 6. Above all be patient. We are not going to get it perfect ever, but we will get better at working with rather than doing to, and the students will get better at taking responsibility and determining what they need to be successful. [7] 7. Then celebrate when a child tells you that they can finally do it because no one ever told them they could before. Maybe the best suggestion we found came from a Native Hawaiian educator, a member of a population that is also dealing with the fall-out of oppression. Malia Kaniaupuni (2005) strongly advocates for using the heritage and knowledge of the children’s culture: As others before me have done, I end by calling for a new framework that brings to the fore Native Hawaiian strengths that have been too long misinterpreted, misrecognised, and undervalued. (p. 32). In his work he makes a convincing argument for strengths-based education, for using a structure that by definition builds on the knowledge and strengths the children bring into the classroom and at the same time begins to change the socio-political conditions. First lets be clear that by strengths based, I do not mean glossing over problems in favour of a rosy picture. Strengths-based research, in my view, begins with the premise of creating social change. In contrast to the expert-driven, top-down approach assumed by deficit models, it means treating the subjects of study as actors within multi-layered contexts and employing the multiple strengths of individuals, families and communities to overcome or prevent difficulties. It is also about empowerment, where the purpose of strengths-based research and evaluation is to benefit the people involved in the study by giving them voice, insight, and political power. †¦ As such it means empowering communities. (p. 35) It would seem obvious that such could be done here for those children who are the fruits of colonial oppression. The work of understanding, telling different stories and taking action continues. Conclusion We are not naive. We know that the process of labeling is the result of the need for funding. We know that with classrooms of more than 20 that kind of individual attention is very difficult. We know that you will be surrounded by administrators, other teachers, parents, even the special children who will tell you to get the testing done and treatment program in place. We know that in the process of de-colonization the oppressed can take on the qualities of the oppressor. But we can become resistors, working with a sure knowledge that we know what doesnt work and that it is way past time to try something radically different. It is clear that the past hundred years or so of schooling directed at Aboriginals has not been a big success. Indeed rather than educating Aboriginals to be successful in the dominant culture, we have an abysmal history of abuse and cultural genocide through education. Many of the abuses of the past are in the past. However, with kindness and deep concern we are using the special education system to continue to marginalize and discredit a large number of Aboriginal children[8]. We are suggesting that maybe things could be better. References Bishop, A. (2002). Becoming an ally: Breaking the cycle of oppression. Fernwood Publishing; Halifax Bloom, B. (1981). All our children learning: A primer for parents, teachers and other educators. McGraw-Hill: New York. Courtney, R. (1986). Island of remorse: Amerindian education in the contemporary world. Curriculum Inquiry, 16(1), pp. 43-65. Freire, P. (1971). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Herder and Herder: New York Freire, P. (1998). Pedagogy of Freedom. Rowman Littlefield: New York. Gitlin, A. (2005). Inquiry, imagination, and the search for a deep politic. Educational Researcher 34 (3), pp. 15-24. Glasser, W. (1986). Control theory in the classroom. Harper and Rowe: New York. Goleman, D. (1998). Working with emotional intelligence. New York. Bantam Books. Graveline, F. J. (1998). Circle works: Transforming Eurocentric consciousness:Halifax: Fernwood. Iseke-Barnes. J. (2005). Misrepresentation of Indigenous history and science: Public broadcasting, the internet, and education. Discourses: studies on the cultural politics of education 26 (2), pp. 149-165. Kalat, J. (1988). Biological psychology (3rd. ed). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth. Malia Kanaiaupuni, S. (2005). Kakalai Ku Kanaka: A call for strengths-based approaches from a Native Hawaiian perspective. Educational Researcher 34(5), pp. 32-37 Regnier, R. (1995). The sacred circle: An Aboriginal approach to healing education at an Urban high school. In M. Battiste J. Barman (Eds. ), First nations Education: The Circle Unfolds (pp. 313-330. (Vancouver: UBC Press) Skovsmose, O. (2005), Foregrounds and politics of learning obstacles. For the learning of mathematics 25 (1), pp. 4-10. Wortman,C. , Loftus, E. , Weaver, C. (1999). Psychology (5th ed. ). New York: Harper Collins College. Zimbardo, P. Gerrig, R. (1996). Psychology and life. New York: Harper Collins College. [1] Bloom (1981) believes that the intellectual potential of all students is pretty much the same. The difference is in history. Malia Kaniaupuni (2005) is concerned that if you focus on a deficit-based approach to education then you often miss the expertise that exists in communities and families, viewing instead outside experts as the only ones capable of fixing our problems. [2] Including Aboriginal, Black, Hispanic, recent immigrants and the poor. [3] Classic racism assumes that the obstacles to learning are to be found in the child. [4] Progressive racism assumes that any weakness in the child is the result of social background. [5] In July 2005, the descendants of the colonizer who razed an Indian village at Clyaquot Sound returned to the village to apologize for the deeds of their forefathers. [6] Anne Bishop in Becoming an Ally: Breaking the Cycle of Oppression (2002), explicates the difference between power-over and power-with, although we tend to think the concept is somewhat self-explanatory [7] Children also fall into the patterns of self-excuse – I have already been told that I cant read so why would I work at it. Dont you know I cant do that. [8] We do believe that this is the case with all children designated special needs. We may not have the answers but we are pretty clear that we do have a considerable problem that we are not prepared to look at squarely.

History Of Football Essay -- Sports Football Essays History

History Of Football Sometime around 1050, Englishmen dug up a skull of a dane and started to kick it around in frustration toward the dane. It became known as â€Å"Kicking the dane’s head† .The skull began to hurt the boy’s feet, so a boy came up with the idea of using an inflated cow bladder to help their feet(Tuttle, 13).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1189, King Henry banned the game, because people were too involved in the game to practice archery and fighting for war(Tuttle, 13). During the 1500’s the game shifted to Ireland where people invented the Irish rules that made the game tougher. As the game progressed it turned into soccer and rugby(Tuttle, 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On November 6, 1869, Princeton and Rutgers played the first college soccer game(Tuttle, 14). During the spring of 1871 a group of people at Harvard University made a game called the â€Å"Boston Game†, which was similar to rugby rules(Tuttle, 14).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  On May 15, 1874, Harvard played McGill University, which was from Montreal. They played with an egg-shaped ball instead of a round ball(Tuttle, 14). They played with 11 men instead of 15, because 4 could not make the game.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1880, Walter Camp, Yale’s rugby captain, created the line of scrimmage and other modern football attributes to improve the game because it was too low scoring (Tuttle, 13). He also changed the scoring system to: safety-1 point, touchdown-2, Point after touchdown-4, and a field goal-3. He then changed the yards kneeded to gain a first down to 5 and used 3 downs(Tuttle, 16). Later coaches changed Camps’ rules to rules we use now.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1919 the American Professional Football Association was made in Canton, Ohio(Treat, 23). It started out with 5 teams (Akron, Canton, Columbus, Dayton, and Rochester) (Treat, 23). It cost twenty-five dollars to open a franchise(Treat, 23). The Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers joined the League in 1921 to make one of football’s greatest rivalries. The American Professional Football Association changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) in 1922(Tuttle, 61). By 1923, there were 20 teams in the NFL(Treat, 34). During the 1920’s, mostly due to the depression, the NFL began to drop to only 12 teams(Treat, 35).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In order to make the scoring increase, the NFL made it legal to throw a forward pass in 1933(Encarta). The defense rushing the quarterback made it difficult to complete passes... ...ta), where it stopped, but started back up again in 1999.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  In 1992 the National Football League started making major changes toward the future. It created Free Agency, because of a lawsuit(Encarta). Free Agency allows players freedom to move around from teams after their contract. The NFL also invented the Salary Cap, which allowed NFL teams only a certain amount of money to spend on players’ contracts(Encarta). Both Free Agency and the Salary Cap have made it easier for teams to have the same amount of talent, and have made tremendous strides into football’s future.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The demand for football has become so popular, that during televised games companies will pay millions of dollars for thirty seconds of commercial advertisement space.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Stadiums now hold tens of thousands of people. At the University of Michigan, their stadium seats more than 100,000 people. Stadiums are now built with retractable roofs and instant replay at each seat.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Several indoor football leagues have started all over the country, where they play with walls and 50 yards. The owner of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) is expected to open a tough football league in 2001 called the XFL.

Decision Support Systems

A decision support system (DSS) is a computer program which is developed with a specific purpose of analyzing business data and presenting it to users to enable them make business decisions easily. It is different with other applications because of its ability to analyze business data and it is therefore an informational application.It can therefore be used in analyzing sales figures within a given period, projecting revenue collections within a specific period of time among others.A decision support system has the ability to present information in a graphical manner for ease of understanding and it can also incorporate an expert system or artificial intelligence.A mathematical model is a Mathematical representation of some kind of reality which is used to find more details about it. Mathematical model can be used to find a solution to a decision problem and assist in planning, it can also be used to find a relationship among the input variables and establish the meaning of a particu lar set of data (Silver, 1991). Mathematical model can take the form of dynamic systems, differential equations, statistical models etc.This is a case study of Decision Support System called ACRPLAN which Bayer Cooperation installed to assists it with financial planning and budgeting. Some of the problems that the company was encountering during budgeting planning are slow budgeting process, difficulties in obtaining financial data to use in budgeting.This was a problem because all the company’s data were stored in various computers and obtaining them in all the company’s department was quite difficult. There was also inefficient in communication methods between the different departments of the company.There was no single person who could understand the whole company’s data from all the departments and present it to the budgeting personnel to assist with budgeting purposes. The company was also faced with another problem of generating several budgets hence creat ing redundant data during budget generation. These most of the redundant data occupied the company’s resources and were never used.The management of the company was also faced with another problem of lack of sufficient data for decision making. The budgeting process was tedious and time consuming so the managers had to wait for all the company’s data to be gathered and the budget be drawn.The company was previously using excel worksheets which required manual input of data and this process increased the company’s budgeting costs since it had to hire data entry clerks to enter data to the excel worksheets. The excel worksheet was sophisticated and required a lot of training.The company was growing at a very high rate and this was creating problems to the budgeting team because they could not accommodate all the requirements of the extraordinary growth of the company. The other problem was integrating the company’s business processes and the planning proces s which were increasingly becoming complicated (Gachet, 2004).The volume of data that the company was generating was also high and analyzing this data for financial planning purposes was quite difficult. Most of the company’s personnel were doctors, sales people, and research scientist who had little knowledge of financial planning and budgeting.This created problems because the company’s financial data was quite complex and the company had to hire a financial expert to analyze the data and generate the company’s budget.

Challenges Faced With Supply Chain Management Business Essay - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2055 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Management Essay Type Narrative essay Did you like this example? Strong Bridge provides solution for all consulting and advisory related requirements. We have developed complete integrated business solution, which can handle sales, purchase, inventory, customer loyalty programs, front store management and central store with warehousing for clients in industries like Retail and Distribution, Finance and Insurance, Service and Healthcare. With Strong Bridges Supply Chain Management (SCM) services, businesses are able to plan, implement, optimize and control their supply chains better than ever before. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Challenges Faced With Supply Chain Management Business Essay" essay for you Create order Strong Bridges SCM approach is beneficial to client in Reduction of Inventory Carrying Cost, Improving Purchasing Power, Retaining the client, Reducing pilferage and improving overall efficiency of the business operations. Strong Bridge supply chain management (SCM) systems are used to manage the movement of products and services from dealers to consumers. These systems are used to manage demand, warehouses, trade logistics, transportation, and other issues concerning facilities, and movement and transformation of materials on their way to customers. Strong Bridge Supply Chain Management solutions also include functionality for international trade and logistics, demand management, supplier relationship management and service parts planning. Strongbridges Supply chain management system is most efficient and when it comes to international transportation facilities. Challenges in Supply Chain Management SCM has become a necessity especially for manufacturing industry when it comes to deliver products at a competitive cost and at a higher quality than their competitors. Todays business climate has rapidly changed and has become more competitive as ever in nature. Businesses now not only need to operate at a lower cost to compete, it must also develop its own core competencies to distinguish itself from competitors and stand out in the market. In creating the competitive edge, companies need to divert its resources to focus on what they do best and outsource the process and task that is not important to the overall objective of the company. SCM has allowed company to reconsideration their entire process and reorganize it so that they can focus on its core competencies and outsource practices that are not within the core competencies of the firm. Due to the current expensive market, it is the only way for a business to continue. The stratagem of applying SCM will not only impac t their market positioning but also strategic decision on choosing the right partners, resources and manpower. By focusing on core competencies also will allow the company to create niches and specialization of core areas. In order for your company to sustain relevant in todays marketplace, it is essential to continually look to evolve your supply chain process. Enterprises that prosper and minimize their costs while maximizing their revenues and keeping clients happy recognize that this practice of constant supply chain growth depends on on well thought out and well applied redesign efforts to perform more efficient supply chain planning. Strong Bridge Supply chain system helps client to fill customer orders, to track the physical location or status of goods and materials, and manage their flows effectively and subsequently supports in managing both the aspects of planning and execution. Strong Bridge provides effective SCP with the support of the system has a dependable proc ess for collecting up-to-date information about customer orders, production status, and sales and delivery fulfilments. Strong Bridge Expertise We take very wide spectrum engagements in the supply chain practice. We can help clients take very operational action to straightaway improve supply chain performance indicators, such as delivery accuracy or flexibility. We can also help with more long-term changes such as defining a new supply chain strategy or determining optimal locations for plants and distribution centres. Our client sees an opportunity for increased sales and/or lower cost through better supply chain performance. Across the Operations Practice, generalist consultants and practice specialists work side-by-side. Generalist consultants join Strong Bridge directly after business school, or have a few years experience, and can take on projects across different functional themes. When we staff an engagement team we take into account what is required for the specific situation. The practice has an immense global reach and ability to pull in people and knowledge from across the world. We come from all imaginabl e sectors: retail, high tech, automotive, pharmaceutical and chemicals, even aerospace and defence organizations. We are distinctive in what we do. We work with Clients and Collaborate to develop New Knowledge. We always start by understanding the root causes for missed performance targets. Strong Bridge puts a significant amount of resource into knowledge development, often in cooperation with our clients. Supply chain is a fast moving area, and working so closely with the leading global companies, in combination with heavy investment in our internal knowledge initiatives, allows us to keep pace with development. Strong Bridge strategy We offer Supply Chain Management services to the operations department of clients organization in various functionalities like research and development, engineering, production, materials, plant management, delivery, purchase, and shipping, to name a few. It helps people in operations to attain results by ensuring the delivery of quality products on time to the right place. Strong Bridge strategy supports the creditable services meeting the needs of businesses throughout the world. Our experience working with both small and large organizations has developed our services in assessing and presenting service options to suit your needs. We recognize the dynamic requirements of our clients and develop business models to accommodate their needs. Strong Bridge SCM Services delivers value added services which strengthen the supply chain process ultimately providing clients with greater efficiencies. Our supply chain strategy offers solutions for companies in a range of industries and helps our clients gain a unique perspective, which comes from working together with service providers and clients alike. Strongbridge offers its clients. Demand Chain Management Strongbridge demand chain management benefits in management of upstream and downstream contacts between  suppliers  and  customers  to deliver the best value to the customer at the least  cost  to the demand chain  as a whole. Our demand chain system is a tool to bridge the gap between the  customer relationship management  and the supply chain management. Our supply chain processes are managed to deliver best value according to the demand of the customers. Demand planning service offered by strong Bridge helps you determine which products and how much of these must be produced at which particular point in time so that all customer orders will be fulfilled or served promptly. Our Performance practice can develop and manage your entire demand chain the strategies, people, and systems. By identifying the Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that drive your demand chain, we can help you constantly determine whats working or not. Strong Bridge can help your com pany become a Demand Chain Leader. Companies large or small in size can become Demand Chain Leaders and move their company beyond Supply Chain Management. Demand Chain Leadership results in increased customer satisfaction, increased revenue, and increased profit levels on the bottom line. Demand Chain Leadership sets your company apart from the competition and gives you the competitive edge for growth. Integrated Business Planning  (IBP) It refers to the technologies, applications and processes of connecting the planning function across the enterprise to improve organizational alignment and financial performance. IBP accurately represents a holistic model of the company  in order to link  strategic planning  and  operational planning  with  financial planning. We deploy IBP and help clients to leverage the organizations information assets to evaluate plans and activities based on the true economic impact of each consideration. Our IBP service transforms planning into a decisive competitive advantage by: Providing an integrated planning platform across marketing, operations and finance Generating a holistic understanding of performance drivers Quantifying the financial impact and interdependencies across planning alternatives Optimizing strategic planning and resource allocation Balancing sales and operations planning for profitability Quantifying financial risk Increasing busi ness flexibility Supply Chain Optimization Strong Bridge also helps in optimizing your supply chain by combining resources in a supply chain with the intent of eliminating bottlenecks and other problems that interfere with the process and helping the supply chain function in a more smooth, timely and cost-effective manner. We use various methods to analyse supply chain data and create simulations that help supply chain planners make decisions that help them reach their goals more effectively. We can alert our clients beforehand who want to pursue a course of action that wouldnt be feasible based on available resources saving them precious time and money and helps them to decide on an alternate course of action that would allow them to achieve the objective they wish to achieve through other means. Our client preference and demand become one of the key importance factors for optimizing the supply chain system. The globalization of applications such as marketing and distribution has led to the creation of the global sup ply chain and added additional layers of complexity to the process. Strong Bridge can support in minimizing these complexities. How Does Supply Chain Optimization Solve Problems Our Supply chain optimization not only helps in improving customer satisfaction, but also keeping their supply chain costs to a minimum. Specifically, optimizing your supply chain is done with the purpose of eliminating or at least minimizing the supply chain issues that would normally arise when either time or resources are limited. Because it takes time to acquire materials, manufacture products, and deliver these products to customers, and even the largest and most established companies have limited resources for performing these activities, a considerable effort must be made in order to keep customers happy. This effort begins with advanced and detailed planning, and continues with effective execution of that plan. However, even under the best of circumstances, problems arise. Supply chain optimization attempts to systematically prevent those problems from arising or to provide solutions to them if they do occur. Supply chain optimization efforts make use of strong Bri dge models that helps to represent how these internal and external factors (constraints) relate to the companys desired objectives. Benefits of Supply Chain Optimization Supply chain optimization encompasses the entire process of combining resources in a supply chain with the intent of streamlining the process and leading to faster, more efficient and more profitable results. Supply chain optimization uses models and planning to formulate solutions to internal problems and external problems. Internal supply chain problems can take the form of complex decisions that the supply chain planner has to make, while external problems stem from the supply chain itself. SB SCM optimization helps in synchronizing concurrent planning, planning levels, and real-time planning and execution. Taking advantage of these services is a crucial part of ensuring that your business remains profitable and your customers remain happy. Enterprise Resource Planning The goal of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) systems is the successful integration of a companys data and processes in to a single unified system. Vendors can observe highest benefit by consolidating both SCM  and ERP systems. Suppliers observe more value added by opting for both supply chain and Enterprise resource planning. Supply chain management (SCM) along with enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, means more than getting the right resources to the right place at the right time. It also means optimally tuning the sequence of events involved in producing goods and distributing them to customers. Our supply chain management system (SCM) has the potential to become a critical success factor for implementing lean manufacturing and helps to define product structure, costing information, financial information and reports and is a useful tool in the decision-making process. The  SCM  features of Strong Bridge assists you in streamlining your operations to make t hem more efficient and cost-effective. We provide our supply chain offerings to both manufacturing and service organizations. It has emerged as the new key to productivity and competitiveness of manufacturing and service enterprises. Strong Bridge Advantage We assist you in solving the complex problems of just-in-time manufacturing, inventory reduction, and efficient manufacture and delivery of goods to outdo your competitors. Increase top-line profit growth through supplier collaboration. Increase customer service and decrease stock-outs. Reduce inventory carrying costs. Optimize your value chain for cost reduction and profit improvement. Reduce operating costs, corporate-wide. Increase competitiveness. Create supply chain visibility, including among trading partners. Adapt quickly to changing market conditions and adjust accordingly without detrimental customer impact. Determining product price and availability, determining alternate product logistics, and ensuring that manufacturing materials are available when needed. Maximizing the effectiveness Reducing the number of products returned.

Capitalization - Definition, Guidelines, and Examples

Alcoholism Essay - 1612 Words

12 April 2011 â€Å"The Inside Story on Alcoholism† Going back to the early 1920’s, alcoholism was an issue for many men, evident by the push for the Prohibition by many women at that point in time. Women wanted the 18th amendment so that their husbands would stop throwing their money away at bars, when many families lived from check to check, this was when the phrase â€Å"when you have a relationship with someone who is addicted, you have a relationship with an addiction, not a person† was coined by individuals in relationships with alcoholics. Saying that alcohol serves no purpose wouldn’t be telling the entire truth, in fact, alcohol does have its uses, including but not limited to cleaning wounds, and disinfecting door handles that are touched†¦show more content†¦Television shows, such as â€Å"ER†, which featured a female doctor that was an alcoholic, would be more likely to have teen viewers that had tried alcohol compared to shows such as TV sho ws that did not have a major character drinking on a regular basis. (Parul and Slater). Also in a study conducted by the Naval Health Research Center and the Center for the Study of Family Violence and Sexual Assault concluded that out of 5,697 Navy recruits, those that were abused were more likely to use alcohol to self medicate. (Trent et al.). Currently, there is an act in Congress; known as the CARE Act, Comprehensive Alcohol Regulatory Effectiveness, which is aimed at â€Å"supporting state-based alcohol regulation† (Wright) which would give individual states the right to limit direct shipment to consumers, which would limit the availability of alcohol in certain situation. (Wrights) This would be monumental to limit the amount of alcohol that can go to teenagers, similar to how anyone under the age of 18 can’t buy anything with Pseudoephedrine, such as Bayer, Benadryl, or Zyertec and even then there is a datebase, known as the National Percursor Log Exchange, which monitorsShow MoreRelated Alcoholism Essay678 Words   |  3 PagesAlcoholism   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Alcoholism refers the drinking of alcohol to such a degree that major aspects of ones life are seriously and repeatedly interfered with. These aspects include work, school, family relationships, personal safety and health. Alcoholism is considered a disease. 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So many people think that substance abuse only pertains to alcoholism. There is several other substances that may cause someone to be diagnosed with substance abuse disorder. Some of those things include: marijuana, alcohol, stimulants(cocaine and amphetamines), Hallucinogens, Inhalants, sedatives, and even nicotine. Even though some people may not see some of these things as things that may become addicting they are. MoreRead MoreEssay on Alcoholism1274 Words   |  6 Pages What is Alcoholism? nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;nbsp;The definition of alcoholism can be described as a chronic illness, which is marked by uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages that interferes with physical or mental health, and social, family or occupational responsibilities. This dependence on alcohol has only been diagnosed as a medical disorder recently in the medical field. 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Drinking is defined as the consumption of a liquid, and/or the act of drinking alcoholic beverages especially to excess. Every year alcohol is responsible for 1/2 of all murders, accidental deaths, and suicides; 1/3 of all drowning, boating, and aviation deaths; 1/2 of all crimes; and almost 1/2 of all fatal automobile accidents (Overview 1). Alcohol is a potent nonprescription drug sold to anyone over the national legal

Research Methods Ethical Social Environmental

Question: Discuss about the Research Methods for Ethical Social Environmental. Answer: Introduction: The ulterior motive of any private organization is profit maximization, but in the rush of earning an enormous amount of revenue, companies often tend to overlook the duties and responsibilities it has towards maintaining ecological balance on the earth. ECSR is a recently emerging issue whereby an organization incorporates the idea of environmental concern in the process of making business. An organization, in the process of production of goods, often ends up in contaminating the environment, and this is highly detrimental to the growth of the company, as it depends largely on the natural resources of the environment, and even this whole thing begets the organization negative reputation in the consumer market. Although the government as well as the EPA authority has already taken sufficient measures to control the emission rates as well as the waste disposal methods by these industries, studies suggest that a huge number of organizations, finding the ECSR completely a voluntary thin g, rather than a mandate, are neglecting it to a considerable extent (Fernandez et al. 2014). Discussion: As the Forbes Magazine suggests, most of the organizations are reluctant to follow the environmental laws and regulations, largely because these are not very cost-effective methods; thus although by following these regulations, an industry can maintain the ecological balance on the planet, it may end up incurring a considerable amount of expenditure. This is the reason , why many small and medium scale industries are making news for not following the norms of ECSR properly. Even some reputed organizations, have also made news for discarding the policies, as was the case with BP, whose indifference to environmental issues led to a huge amount of oil spill with the oil flowing from the Macondo well , and contaminating the Gulf of Mexico. Many recent studies have suggested that the desirable result achieved by the medium scale organizations, through the implementation of ECSR, is more of illusory nature. This is because, since ECSR is more of a voluntary process, many organizations may claim to their stakeholders about their environmental conscious efforts, and yet put less significant efforts to achieve the same. There is no separate panel, in most of the organizations, to monitor and supervise their activities, and as Mazurkiewicz, asserts, no one is entrusted with the duty of verifying as to how far the organizations are keeping up with the assurance standards of the Environmental Protection Act (Yadava et al. 2015). Walmart is one of the most internationally reputed retail chain of supermarkets, and yet it was recently alleged of having employees who are dumping randomly the waste products and contaminating the roads as well as the sewer systems of California and Missouri. Further, the organization has also being charged with the accusation that it has dumped fertilizers, pesticides as well as harmful bleaches in the water channels, thereby not only polluting them, but also causing a huge damage to the marine creatures (Prieto et al. 2014). However, on the contrary, there are organizations, as well, which are investing sufficiently to ensure that their production process does not intervene with the question of ecological sustainability (Lu et al. 2016). Some companies actually have understood over the years, that high rate of ECSR implies greater amount of public recognition, whereby the organizations succeed in creating a goodwill in the minds of the potential consumers. In addition, this can help them innovate and develop more fully in a sustainable environment. Companies having green labels, are capable of attracting greater number of potential consumers. Microsoft offers a glaring example here, as it conserves, reuses as well as recycles the natural resources; further the company also uses energy efficient methods of production, and issues a carbon fee, in case the emission of total carbon released by the companys activities exceed the limit. Above all, the company has also created its official site, called Microsof t Environment, meant only for updating its consumers about the environmental efforts, and this helps the company keep a positive reputation in the consumer market (Alves et al. 2015). Coca Cola is another multinational company, which also proves to be a good exception. The management authority of the company, puts much emphasis on the issue of natural resource conservation, as well as use of energy efficient modes of production, and sustainable packaging methods, to control the dumping of wastes and contamination resulting in pollution and climate change (Hamilton et al. 2014). Further it has also introduced the concept of water neutral whereby the company pledges to return as much water to the world as much it uses. Google, has also shown much environment friendly attitude in production through the use of renewable resources only and energy efficient methods of production, and very much like Microsoft, it makes its users aware of their sustainability efforts, with the help of Googl e Green site (Khojastehpour et al. 2014). Even car companies such as BMW have also adopted much innovative strategies to combat the pollution issues. BMWs South Carolina plant has already reduced the total amount of its water consumption by 58%, the net amount of its energy consumption by 65%, and it has also sufficiently checked the total amount of wastes it disposes in the nearby landfills. Same is the case with large organizations such as Walt Disney, Apple, Colgate, Sony, etc . Conclusion: Any private organization, nowadays aims at maximizing their profit with minimal investment. However, in the process it should not compromise with the question of environmental sustainability, as doing so will prove to be disastrous for the organization itself. Nowadays, many organizations, are realizing that the investors also check and verify the environmental footprint of a product, before investing in it, and hence companies like Cadbury, and others are taking environmental conscious decisions to ensure and maintain good public reputations (Maas et al. 2014). Recommendations: According to AISI, the installation of pollution control methods amount to as much as $ 8.5 Billion, which is too expensive an investment for the SMEs to afford. Further, an increase in the expenditure of the pollution control measures or equipments will mean an increase in the production cost, and this increase in the production cost, has to be compensated by the company by increasing the cost price of the product. For this reason, the government and the NGOs should come forward and provide financial assistance, especially to the SMSE industries for installation of pollution control devices. To help the companies maintain ecological sustainability, the government of the particular country must be very strict about issuing the permits and should create stringent environmental standards. Compliance with environmental standards should be a mandate, rather than a mere choice. The government can also identify the organizations, which are violating the laws of environmental conservation, and must arrange conferences and meetings, making them more environment conscious in future (Mann et al. 2014). Reference List: Alves, S., 2015. Ethical, Social and Environmental Standards and Practices of Microsoft. Fernandez-Feijoo, B., Romero, S. and Ruiz, S., 2014. Commitment to corporate social responsibility measured through global reporting initiative reporting: Factors affecting the behavior of companies.Journal of Cleaner Production,81, pp.244-254. Hamilton, J.M., 2015.The Ekocenter: A Case Study in Coca-Cola, Corporate Social Responsibility, and Bluewashing(Doctoral dissertation, University Of Minnesota). Available online at https://conservancy.umn.edu/handle/11299/174772 Khojastehpour, M. and Johns, R., 2014. The effect of environmental CSR issues on corporate/brand reputation and corporate profitability.European Business Review,26(4), pp.330-339. Available online at https://www.emeraldinsight.com/doi/abs/10.1108/EBR-03-2014-0029?journalCode=ebr Lu, M. and Faure, M., 2016. The Regulation of Corporate Environmental Responsibility. InMarket Integration: The EU Experience and Implications for Regulatory Reform in China(pp. 239-265). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Maas, S. and Reniers, G., 2014. Development of a CSR model for practice: connecting five inherent areas of sustainable business.Journal of Cleaner Production,64, pp.104-114. Available on https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652613005003 Mann, M., Byun, S.E., Kim, H. and Hoggle, K., 2014. Assessment of leading apparel specialty retailers CSR practices as communicated on corporate websites: Problems and opportunities.Journal of business ethics,122(4), pp.599-622. Available on https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-013-1766-3#page-1 Prieto, L.C., Phipps, S.T. and Addae, I.Y., 2014. Is Wal-Mart a Social Enterprise? an Exploration of the Relationship between Corporate Reputation, Corporate Social Responsibility Financial Performance.Academy of Strategic Management Journal,13(2), p.51. Torugsa, N.A., ODonohue, W. and Hecker, R., 2013. Proactive CSR: An empirical analysis of the role of its economic, social and environmental dimensions on the association between capabilities and performance.Journal of Business Ethics,115(2), pp.383-402. Available on https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10551-012-1405-4 Yadava, R.N. and Sinha, B., 2015. Scoring Sustainability Reports Using GRI 2011 Guidelines for Assessing Environmental, Economic, and Social Dimensions of Leading Public and Private Indian Companies.Journal of Business Ethics, pp.1-10.