Shakespeare Breaks the Way for Feminism Essay -- ophelia, hamlet, gende

â€Å"Gender hardly determines the nature of a character, in the plays of Shakespeare. It is for this very reason, that his plays are read, viewed and enjoyed by both the sexes equally, even after five hundred years of their composition† (Singh). Gender is not something that defines what a character is going to be like in Shakespeare’s plays. This quote illuminates that in Shakespeare’s writings females and males were on equal level playing fields when it came to their traits. Females during the time period were considered inferior to men. Over the course of the semester, we have read some beautiful plays from comedies to tragedies; Shakespeare’s later plays exhibited an extensively wide range of female characters from the weak, obedient to the strong, empowering woman. One of the examples of this would be Ophelia in Hamlet exhibits weak and obedient characteristics whereas Viola in Twelfth Night is a strong female role that breaks the gender roles by disguising herself as a male and proving women are equivalent to men. Even Shakespeare’s weakest female characters seem to break some of the stereotypical role of the period. For example, Ophelia does listen to her father, however, talks back to Hamlet which during the Renaissance breaks the stereotypical role. Shakespeare was an early feminist because of his nontraditional female characters; despite his weak female characters, Shakespeare still provides his female characters with some trait that follows a nontraditional role. I will focus on in this paper are King Lear, Twelfth Night, and Hamlet. I will use Hamlet to show that even the weakest of female characters have gender breaking characteristics. A feminist is someone who is trying to advocate for the equality of women. I believe ... ...ed Atkin, Graham. Twelfth Night : Character Studies. London: Continuum, 2008. eBook Academic Collection (EBSCOhost). Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Callaghan, Dympna. Shakespeare without women. Routledge, 2002. Jajja, Muhammad Ayub. "Women In Shakespearean Comedies: A Feministic Perspective." Journal Of Educational Research (1027-9776) 16.1 (2013): 112-119. Education Research Complete. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Orgel, Stephen, and Sean Keilen. Shakespeare and Gender. New York: Garland Pub., 1999. Online text. Sharma, Pankaj. "Depiction Of Woman As Human: A Reading Of Excesses Of Feminist Readings Of Shakespeare's King Lear." Language In India 13.12 (2013): 433-446. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 13 Apr. 2014. Singh, Rahul. "Shakespeare's Plays: Men Celebrated, Women Despised?." Language In India 14.2 (2014): 141-156. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 13 Apr. 2014

Accounting for leases Essay

Abstract This paper will provide an overview of lease accounting. It will present the history, current status, and future implications of the latest proposed standard, as jointly issued by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). Furthermore, the paper will take into account relevant observations made by various proponents who are concerned about the standard, and conclude with a personal opinion on the standard and why it’s better than the current standard. Existing accounting standards between the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) and the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB) have allowed corporations to avoid reporting assets and liabilities via â€Å"operating leases.† Thus, it has become common practice for corporations to utilize these operating leases as a source of deceptive financing—by being able to materially mislead creditors and investors due to off balance sheet accounting. Lease accounting is a classic example (or phenomenon) that shows how people tend to exploit accounting standards in order to violate the â€Å"substance over form† accounting principle (where the economic reality can be distorted from the legal reality). The history of lease accounting is an interesting one. In 1976, FASB released Statement of Financial Accounting Standards (SFAS) No. 13 – Accounting for leases. Since then, the accounting standard allowed companies to report some leases as an asset and a liability (i.e. capital/finance leases), and other leases as a non-asset and non-liability (i.e. operating leases). However, since the FASB-IASB convergence project began (from the 2002 Norwalk Agreement), they have reached a general consensus with investors that in many instances, operating leases can be misleading and could cover up material amounts of credit risk of a given company. It is interesting to note that such an issue had already been acknowledged by the late 70s, shortly after FASB released SFAS 13 (Kieso, Warfield, & Weygandt, 2004, p.1119). The issue was momentarily brought up again during the early 90’s for resolution, but was sharply protested by corporate interests and subsequently dismissed (Norris, 2013). Only now, has there been serious reconsideration of the standard; and can demonstrate how long it can take for accounting standards to respond back to the needs of financial statement users. On June 16, 2005, the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), in response to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) of 2002, publically released â€Å"On Arrangements with Off-Balance Sheet Implications, Special Purpose Entities, and Transparency of Filings by Issuers.† This public statement proposed several important goals and recommendations, among them a proposal to improve accounting for leases. By July 2006, the FASB and IASB established a Work Plan, in order to improve the standard for lease accounting (â€Å"Work Plan for IFRS – Leases,† 2013). The project has yet to be completed. Details about its current status will be described next. On May 16, 2013, FASB-IASB has released their latest exposure draft on accounting for leases. Based on user feedback, this draft arose from earlier draft iterations that were released in March 2009 and August 2010 (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 1). If approved, the draft would supersede IFRS IAS 17 and FASB Topic 840 (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 2). As a result of this draft, FASB-IASB will also attempt to concurrently update revenue recognition standards accordingly, as the latest proposal intends to make sure the  accounting for revenues and expenses for both the lessor and lessee will be consistent with each other (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 1). Furthermore, there are still some minor differences that exist between the FASB and IASB drafts, among them being: revaluations, cash flow, disclosure, non-public entities, and measurement issues (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, pp. 4-5). The feedback deadline for this draft is September 13, 2013 (â₠¬Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013). As it turns out, this draft decided to take a much more prudent approach (compared to earlier proposals) towards lease accounting, allowing standards similar to SFAS 13 to remain applicable in practice for any leases that have terms of 12 months or less†¦ or if it is a â€Å"Type B† lease (which will all be further explained below) (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 3). In effect, this would allow lessors to continue to structure their lease terms accordingly, which allows lessees the ability to renew these short-term leases in order to continue to practice off balance sheet financing. So what’s the current proposal to account for lease terms that are more than 12 months? First, the exposure draft would require entities that enter such a leasing contract to recognize the â€Å"right of use† asset and its associated liability (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 2). Second, the draft requires the entities to recognize the underlying â€Å"nature† of the asset as being either: Type A (non-property) or Type B (property) (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 2). Third, the draft requires the lessee to assess how much economic benefit it reasonably expects to derive from the â€Å"right of use† asset (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 2). Furthermore, the draft has guidelines for both the lessee and the lessor. These accounting guidelines will be described next—first for the lessee, then for the lessor. For the lessee, if the lease is Type A, the lessee is required to recognize the associated Leased Asset and Lease Obligation on the Balance Sheet (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 2). The asset could be depreciated, and the respective portions of the Lease Obligation are to be listed under the Liability and Debt sections of the balance sheet, respectively. The asset and associated liability is to be initially measured by using the â€Å"present  value† method (where the initial account balances reflects the present value of the future amount) in order to account properly for Interest Expense payments made during the whole course of the Lease Obligation (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 2). The lessor is required to de-recognize the Leased Asset from the Balance Sheet. In its place, the lessor must recognize the Lease Receivable and Residual Asset (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 3). The assets are also initially measured using the same present value method , in order to account properly for the interest earned apart from the Lease Revenue throughout the whole term of the lease (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 3). If the lease is Type B, the exposure draft proposes that both the lessee and the lessor should account for the lease as an operating lease if the lessee is NOT â€Å"expected to consume more than an insignificant portion of the economic benefits embedded in the underlying asset† (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 3). Thus, the lessor would continue to recognize the underlying asset, while the lessee simply account for the annual lease expense (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 3). Again, this accounting treatment is the same for any leases that have terms of 12 months or less. Keep in mind however, that if the lessee were to consume a significant portion of the economic benefits under a Type B lease, the accounting treatment for both the lessee and lessor would be similar to a Type A lease (â€Å"Exposure Draft,† 2013, p. 2). In this case, the lessee would be required to recognize an asset and liability from the property lease. I believe such proposal was intended, as it allows companies to gradually adjust to the new treatment standards, whereby future amendments could someday require all short-term leases (and Type B leases) to be capitalized to better reflect the economic reality of â€Å"short-term† lessees. So, what do the proponents of the exposure draft think of the new standard and its impact on the future? As expected, there are some who agree with the draft and others who think otherwise. Dhaliwal, Lee, and Neamtiu (2011) did a quantitative and qualitative empirical study—of which evidence suggests â€Å"that lessees bear insufficient risk to treat the leasehold as an asset† (p. 193). This implies that the new proposal would not significantly increase the cost of capital for any firms that would have to start capitalizing  their operational leases. Cotton, McCarthy, and Schneider (2012) found that most firms under current lease accounting are able to combine associated obligations from their capitalized leases with other obligations (p. 118). This would not be allowed under the new proposal, thus improving transparency and quality of information to investors. Middelberg and Villiers (2013) did a similar study, of 40 JSE-listed (South Africa) companies. Interestingly, their findings within this study suggest that the cost of financing would increase for firms that would have to capitalize operating leases. Their findings suggest that companies should expect to experience the following changes to their financial ratios: Debt-to-equity to increase by 9%, Debt ratio to increase by 8%, and the Interest cover ratio to decrease by 8% (Middelberg & Villiers, 2013, p. 663). This implies that the new proposal would cause investors to see such companies as higher investment risks, thus increasing borrowing costs. Burton (2013) doesn’t believe in the new proposal, instead suggesting that the current standards be amended to address the areas that are vulnerable to exploitation. He thinks the FASB should consider revising the four criteria provided in SFAS 13 that determines if a lease should be capitalized. In particular, he encourages the FASB to change the 90% present value rule—which currently impose no such requirements for lessors to reveal the actual discount rate to the lessee. As a result, lessors are able to keep the leased asset on their books as a capital lease by using a low discount rate, while the lessee can use a higher, in-house discount rate in order to avoid the need for capitalizing the lease. Quah (2013) reasoned that the proposed changes could have a more significant effect on retailers, as they are known to have major property leases. In particular, she notes that as the liabilities increase from capitalizing such leases, it would have negative effects on debt, employee compensation, and tax balances. This could cause major implications, as retailers (department stores, discount chains, convenience stores) are key economic players in the economy. Similarly, it would effect other major industries—such as real-estate, major airlines, and shipping firms. Norris (2013) made a point that the new proposal could cause some revenue (income statement) challenges, as the present valuation methods would cause lessees to incur higher interest payments during the earlier years of the leased assets. This could especially be disappointing for early  business startups (that typically need to take out more loans) and for any firms needing to maintain a lower cost of capital (that they would have otherwise been able to receive under operational lease accounting). Taken all together, the aforementioned observations basically imply that the future impact of the new proposal on lease accounting would effect all the major players within the economy, especially the retail, real-estate, and tran sportation industries. Furthermore, there is likelihood that higher borrowing costs would result for some of these businesses, forcing them to possibly reduce employee benefits and/or compensation in order to better align their financials to changing budget forecasts. On the other hand, investors will have access to higher quality, transparent information—reducing uncertainty and risk to maintain lower interest rates. And as I mentioned earlier, the proposal still gives lessors and lessees the opportunity to restructure their lease terms for annual renewal, avoiding the need to capitalize such leases and to keep them â€Å"off the books.† But by doing so, it would imply higher legal costs for some of these lessors and lessees, and thus, act as a deterrent in support of the new standard for capitalizing leases. I feel the FASB-IASB is wise to have taken a more balanced approach for changing the requirements of lease accounting. By doing so, it allows the majority of companies to readjust their accounting policies to better reflect economic reality (instead of legal reality). Also, the more transparent and specific requirements stated in the proposal for reporting liabilities and debt in the financial statements will have a long-run, positive impact—as it ultimately helps reduce uncertainty between investors and management. I feel these benefits will outweigh the costs (including the transitional-related costs that entities would have to pay in order to update their accounting policies and methods). Besides, these new accounting costs will be reduced over time anyway, as firms become accustomed to the new standard. In summary, by forcing companies to report more honestly to investors, it induces management to better utilize their resources in order to maintain healthy margins, instead of resorting to fraudulent activities. Thus, I believe that the standard is a win-win for both internal and external parties, as it better forces them to manage their resources more responsibly, and prevents management from supporting an exploitative culture that had been taking place during the past 25+ years  with the old standard. References Burton, D. (2013, May 22). Lease-Accounting Rules: Tinker, Don’t Trash [News Article]. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from LexisNexis Academic database. Cotton, B., McCarthy, M.G., & Schneider, D.K. (2012). A METHODOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK FOR EXAMINING INFORMATION CONTENT OF PROPOSED LEASE ACCOUNTING RULE. Journal of Theoretical Accounting Research, Fall 2012, Vol. 8 Issue 1, 113-127. Dhaliwal, D., Lee, H.S., & Neamtiu, M. (2011, April). The Impact of Operating Leases on Firm Financial and Operating Risk. Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance, Vol. 26 Issue 2, 151-197. Financial Accounting Standards Board. (2013, May 16). Exposure Draft Leases (Topic 842) [PDF Document]. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from http://www.fasb.org/cs/BlobServer?blobkey=id&blobnocache=true&blobwhere=1175826935767&blobheader=application%2Fpdf&blobcol=urldata&blobtable=MungoBlobs Kieso, D.E., Warfield, T.D., & Weygandt, J.J. (2004). Intermediate Accounting 11e. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Middelberg, S.L., & Villiers, R.R. (2013, June). Determining The Impact Of Capitalising Long-Term Operating Leases On The Financial Ratios Of The Top 40 JSE-Listed Companies. International Business & Economics Research Journal. Jun2013, Vol. 12 Issue 6, 655-670. Norris, F. (2013, May 17). Accounting boards try again on leases; Revamped proposal for valuing assets would still be a radical change [News Article]. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from LexisNexis Academic database. Norris, F. (2013, May 17). New Accounting Proposal on Leasing Portends Big Change [News Article]. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from LexisNexis Academic database. Quah, M. (2013, May 18). New proposals on lease accounting under fire; Some say they are a compromise, while others feel they will raise costs for firms [News Article]. Retrieved August 24, 2013, from LexisNexis Academic database.

Relational Databases, Normalization, and SQL

A database is an application that can store and retrieve data very rapidly. The relational bit refers to how the data is stored in the database and how it is organized. When we talk about a database, we mean a relational database, in fact, an RDBMS: Relational Database Management System. In a relational database, all data is stored in tables. These have the same structure repeated in each row (like a spreadsheet) and it is the relations between the tables that make it a relational table. Before relational databases were invented (in the 1970s), other types of database such as hierarchical databases were used. However relational databases have been very successful for companies like Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft. The open source world also has RDBMS. Commercial Databases OracleIBM DB 2Microsoft SQL ServerIngres. The first commercial RDBMS. Free/Open Source Databases MySQLPostgresSQLSQLite Strictly these are not relational databases but RDBMS. They provide security, encryption, user access and can process SQL queries. Who Was Ted Codd? Codd was a computer scientist who devised the laws of normalization in 1970. This was a mathematical way of describing the properties of a relational database using tables. He came up with 12 laws that describe what a relational database and an RDBMS does and several laws of normalization that describe the properties of relational data. Only data that had been normalized could be considered relational. What Is Normalization? Consider a spreadsheet of client records that is to be put into a relational database. Some clients have the same information, say different branches of the same company with the same billing address. In a spreadsheet, this address is on multiple rows. In turning the spreadsheet into a table, all the clients text addresses must be moved into another table and each assigned a unique ID- say the values 0,1,2. These values are stored in the main client table so all rows use the ID, not the text. A SQL statement can extract the text for a given ID. What Is a Table? Think of it as being like a rectangular spreadsheet made up of rows and columns. Each column specifies the type of data stored (numbers, strings or binary data - such as images). Unlike a spreadsheet where the user is free to have different data on each row, in a database table, every row can only contain the types of data that were specified. In C and C, this is like an array of structs, where one struct holds the data for one row. For more information see Normalizing a database in the Database Design part of databases.about.com. What Are the Different Ways of Storing Data in a Database? There are two ways: Via a Database Server.Via a Database File. Using a database file is the older method, more suited to desktop applications. E.G. Microsoft Access, though that is being phased out in favor of Microsoft SQL Server. SQLite is an excellent public domain database written in C that holds data in one file. There are wrappers for C, C, C# and other languages. A database server is a server application running locally or on a networked PC. Most of the big databases are server based. These take more administration but are usually faster and more robust. How Does an Application Communicate With Database Servers? Generally, these require the following details. IP or Domain name of the server. If it is the on the same PC as you, use 127.0.0.1 or localhost as the dns name.Server Port For MySQL this is usually 3306, 1433 for Microsoft SQL Server.User Name and PasswordName of the Database There are many client applications that can talk to a database server. Microsoft SQL Server has Enterprise Manager to create databases, set security, run maintenance jobs, queries and of course design and modify database tables. What Is SQL?: SQL is short for Structured Query Language and is a simple language that provides instructions for building and modifying the structure of databases and for modifying the data stored in the tables. The main commands used to modify and retrieve data are: Select - Fetches data.Insert - Inserts one or more rows of data.Update - Modifies existing row(s) of dataDelete - Deletes rows of data. There are several ANSI/ISO standards such as ANSI 92, one of the most popular. This defines a minimum subset of supported statements. Most compiler vendors support these standards. Conclusion Any nontrivial application can use a database and a SQL-based database is a good place to start. Once you have mastered the configuration and administering of the database then you have to learn SQL to make it work well. The speed at which a database can retrieve data is astonishing and modern RDBMS are complex and highly optimized applications. Open source databases like MySQL are fast approaching the power and usability of the commercial rivals and drive many databases on websites. How to Connect to a Database in Windows using ADO Programmatically, there are various APIs that provide access to database servers. Under Windows, these include ODBC and Microsoft ADO. [h3[Using ADO So long as there is a provider- software that interfaces a database to ADO, then the database can be accessed. Windows from 2000 has this built in. Try the following. It should work on Windows XP, and on Windows 2000 if youve ever installed MDAC. If you havent and want to try this, visit Microsoft.com, do a search for MDAC Download and download any version, 2.6 or higher. Create an empty file called test.udl. Right click in Windows Explorer on the file and do open with, you should see Microsoft Data Access - OLE DB Core Services. This dialog lets you connect to any database with an installed provider, even excel spreadsheets! Select the first tab (Provider) as opens by default at the the Connection tab. Select a provider then click Next. The data source name shows the different types of device available. After filling in username and password, click the Test Connection button. After you press the ok button, you can open the test.udl with file with Wordpad. It should contain text like this. [oledb] ; Everything after this line is an OLE DB initstring ProviderSQLOLEDB.1;Persist Security InfoFalse;User IDsa;Initial Catalogdhbtest;Data Source127.0.0.1 The third line is the important one, it contains the configuration details. If your database has a password, it will be shown here, so this is not a secure method! This string can be built into applications that use ADO and will let them connect to the specified database. Using ODBC ODBC (Open Database Connectivity) provides an API based interface to databases. There are ODBC drivers available for just about every database in existence. However, ODBC provides another layer of communication between an application and the database and this can cause performance penalties.

Anglo American Corporate Social Responsibility - 1501 Words

1. Introduction Since the days when Friedman (1970) considered that: â€Å"†¦business as a whole cannot be said to have responsibility†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , the improvement of the notion of Anglo-American corporate social responsibility (CSR) has rapidly expanded. This essay will review the important concept around Anglo-American CSR, its development and provide a verdict on the extent whether liberalisation, globalisation, and developments in the markets for debts and equity are impacting the tradition view of an Anglo-American public corporation and the nature of its social responsibility. 2. Tradition view of Anglo-Saxon corporate and CSR According to the research from Cernat (2004), the fiduciary relationship between managers and shareholders constitute the basic of corporate in the Anglo-Saxon tradition. The character of Anglo-Saxon corporate governance systems is dispersed equity holding and a broad delegation to management of corporate responsibilities. Cernat (2004) draw the relationship model of Anglo-Saxon corporate as the managers and shareholders with agent and principal, respectively. In short period, individualism and profit-oriented behaviour are constituted a suite of appropriate institutions to enhance their effectiveness. Under this relationship, agency problem will be inevitable, which managers and shareholders have different interest and asymmetric information. Based on the self-interest, it comes no surprise that Friedman (1970), the extreme view of classic Anglo-SaxonShow MoreRelatedAnglo American Corporate Social Responsibility1514 Words   |  7 Pagescannot be said to have responsibility†¦Ã¢â‚¬ , the improvement of the notion of Anglo-American corporate social responsibility (CSR) has rapidly expanded. 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Analysis Of Hoop Dreams By Steve James - 987 Words

Hoop Dreams was a documentary made in 1994, directed by Steve James. The film follows two boys named Arthur and William from eight to twelfth grade as they chase their dream of becoming professional basketball players. They both go to Saint Joseph’s High School, the prestige suburban school famous for their basketball team. But when Arthur has to go to a regular public high school because of economic issues, the film becomes a documentation of both the boys, with the help of their families, battling the physical and social obstacles that are blocking their path. One of the most subtle methods of manipulation used in Hoop Dreams was the music in scenes that they wanted to resonate with you. For example, when Arthur is at Saint Joseph’s at basketball practice, his basketball hero, Isiah Thomas, shows up to give a speech. There is a slow motion shot of Isiah playing with Arthur on the court, who has a huge smile on his face, and in the background there is what you could call â€Å"inspirational† music. This was used most likely to show how much Arthur idolized Isiah, therefore, showing how badly Arthur wanted to play basketball. It gives the audience hope that Arthur will make his dream a reality, which will make it that much more exciting when he eventually does. In an interview with Arthur’s mother, you find out that St. Joseph’s wouldn’t pay for all of Arthur’s education like they said they would, which is terrible news because the Agee’s couldn’t afford to send Arthur to thisShow MoreRelatedHoop Dreams Analysis2621 Words   |  11 PagesLorenzo de Medici Film Analysis: Hoop Dreams (1994) Written by Ann Kelsey Cinema of the Real: Documentary Films Paolo Grassini December 5, 2012 The 1994 Documentary, Hoop Dreams, directed by Steve James, is a masterful display of human drama. The story-line is so captivating and theatrical that it seems crafted from fiction. The Documentary boasts cinematic techniques and private investigating that rivals most film of this time period. The film follows the high school careersRead MoreEarly Supplier Integration in the Design of the Skid-Steer Loader18409 Words   |  74 Pagescustomers? And third—we have a strategy within Raytheon IDS that is linked around asking: How do we improve our overall cycle time within our business? Q: Why is that one crucial? Noshirwani: If our customer is king, and if we need to jump through hoops to come up with a satisfactory solution for that customer, then we need to be very agile, very flexible. We will need to take on challenges we’ve have never taken on before. To make that possible, flexibility within the supply chain becomes very keyRead MoreManaging Information Technology (7th Edition)239873 Words   |  960 PagesNetworking Strategy 321 PART III Acquiring Information Systems 327 Chapter 8 Basic Systems Concepts and Tools The Systems View What Is a System? 329 329 330 Seven Key System Elements Organizations as Systems 330 334 Systems Analysis and Design 335 Business Processes 336 Identifying Business Processes 336 Business Process Redesign 336 Processes and Techniques to Develop Information Systems 339 The Information Systems Development Life Cycle 339 StructuredRead MoreProject Mgmt296381 Words   |  1186 PagesLeadership Chapter 2 Organization Strategy and Project Selection 1.4 Projects and programs (.2) 1.4.1 Managing the portfolio 1.4.3 Strategy and projects 2.3 Stakeholders and review boards 12.1 RFP’s and vendor selection (.3.4.5) 11.2.2.6 SWAT analysis 6.5.2.7 Schedule compression 9.4.2.5 Leadership skills G.1 Project leadership 10.1 Stakeholder management Chapter 11 Teams Chapter 3 Organization: Structure and Culture 2.4.1 Organization cultures [G.7] 2.4.2 Organization structure

Enterprise Systems for Sales and Production - myassignmenthelp

Questions: 1. What are the key goals IGT wanted to achieve using an ERP system?2.Discuss the pros and cons to customising the system.3. How should IGT handle change management during ERP implementation? Answers: 1. Change an existing information technology system with one that is more unified and efficient For managing different departments like sales, production, orders and finance, IGT had separate systems. Gaining access in to information about a particular order was a cumbersome process.Each system were considered as separate entities and an information had to be obtained from each of this entities separately. This meant that the different operations had to be managed by different applications. If one of the departments had to communicate with another department it required a lot of manual operations and was highly inconvenient. There was no guarantee that the information retrieved was legitimate and would be factual. This prompted IGT to replace the existing system with a more integrated and efficient system that would organize the different departments in a more robust and unified manner. The main intention of this ERP was the linking of the core business operations like marketing, accounts, production and delivery into a more cohesive unit. Remodelling the operations that improve the efficacy of the business By introducing an ERP system, IGT intended to improve the business process itself. A business such that of IGTs requires a step by step gradation that starts from manufacturing till the sales and distribution. Since elaborate process and distinct steps were involved in the business, there are chances of the employees committing certain errors that were deliberate or otherwise. But if an enhanced system like that of an ERP was introduced, the chances for errors could be eliminated. The most important advantage of introducing the ERP system would be orderliness among the employees (Law and Ngai, 2007). Realizing that there would be a systematic way of overseeing things and errors cannot be bypassed makes the employees perform their activities in a more methodical manner. By enabling the ERP system, IGT could implement a more standardized method to process the orders that were to me made urgently. Reducing the errors and better production rates could improve the operations and the busin ess completely. Coordinating the world wide operations and enhancing the business service Being a multinational corporation IGT had operations spanning to most parts of the world. As with the internal business structure, before the implementation of the SAP system, the worldwide operations were insulated with each other. The operations carried out in different locations like Manchester, Las Vegas and Reno had no information interchange between them. The proposed implementation of the SAP system intended to improve the integration between these operations. The main intent was to attain a more standardized approach for integration of the business. This would be especially helpful for the higher authorities to generate useful information to make decisive management policies. 2.Pros: The major advantage of using an ERP System was that it unified all the different systems for the entire business operations. Customizing the system made it necessary to integrate all different departments like orders, production, sales, distribution and accounting. A common information management system could thus be implemented that was distinct and separated from each other. Customizing the system also ensured a more stable and continuous flow of information between the modules (Shang and Seddon, 2000). The major impact of this in IGT was on Accounts. Initially it was decided by IGT management that the accounts module would be maintained separately and would be managed by a separate information management system. But later it was recognized by the IGT management that the accounting department could also be integrated along with the other modules. The SAP ERP package that was chosen by the management had a better financial management system. Since IGT had international operations, i t was mandatory that the financial management system needed a specific module to handle the foreign currency transactions. The initial achievement of IGT in adopting an ERP system was that it could combine three major modules; manufacture, product development and finance. Combining these three modules enabled the front office applications to be closely integrated with the plant based operations. Another advantage was that it helped the workers in the production process to a great extent. The manufacturing techniques could be monitored more closely by the employees at the workstations itself. The process sheets were provided online for the employees. These steps guaranteed that no step during the production process was overlapped or ignored. The systematic way of doing things in an ERP system necessitated the workers to follow the process in the right manner. Cons: The obvious disadvantage of customizing the system is that the cost associated with customization is too pricey. Combined with the customization there are different phases such as planning, configuring, testing and implementation. Another drawback of customizing the system is that the deployment time for a fairly complex system such as the one in IGT may consume a lot of time to be fully operational. The cost of customization is always a factor that has to be taken care of and kept under check (Chen, 2001). The cost that would be incurred in customizing the system may not immediately reap benefits as the initial time would be spent on analyzing the changes made. In case of the IGT system, there was a lot of analysis done to ensure that the customization was made strictly to improve the business operations and not just for improving the technology. An initial migration to an ERP would always be difficult as a revamp would be necessary in the all the operations involved in the business. Another factor that was considered during the customization was deciding which ERP package had to be used. The decision making process had to be justified and a lot of thought had to be done before narrowing down on SAP as it had advantages in financial consolidation and financial reporting. A noted disadvantage was that only three of the major modules were integrated, namely, manufacturing, product development and finance. The remaining modules were to be analyzed more, before all the operations were integrated. The integration of the IGTs own factory control system to the implemented SAP ERP system also required a lot of analysis. The IGT management itself ha d to admit at a later stage that since the proper documentation were not available, combining all the information into the ERP was quite tedious. 3. During ERP implementation, there are a lot of changes that the application undergoes and hence there should be an effective management system for over viewing the changes and enable the resources adjust to the changes that the application undergoes. Certain steps taken by the IGT management could help the resources adjust themselves to the changes that happen. Realizing that the new ERP system is going to affect the normal routine and activities of the organization, would help the management tackle the issues due to the changes more effectively. The pattern of activities that have been carried out is going to change and a lot of learning would be required by the management personnel and the employees to keep up with the daily activities to maintain productivity. The tasks, activities and the processes being carried out are going to change drastically and the employees are going to interact with a lot of new data. There should be a clarity among the departments, as well as the empl oyees and management as to why the ERP system was being adopted. If the employees can relate to the improvements that the application is undergoing, can be motivating and help the resources embrace the changes in a better way. An effective communication channel should be maintained ensuring the flow of information between the resources happens in an uninterrupted manner. Communication would be a key factor for the management to handle the issues that may come up during the migration to the ERP system. There were certain changes that the IGT management did to the business process to adjust itself to the SAP implementation. As an example was the change in the order process of not delivering the sales order until a couple of weeks till the build. More importance was given for getting a better sales before hand itself. The management also took steps to combine few employees from the order group and the engineering section, to customize the system as many of the process were not documented in IGT. Training a few personnel in the ERP system and enabling them to act as intermediates between the employees and the management can help in the smooth transition to the ERP system. Further, documenting the results and the positive impact that the ERP has bought about in the business can enable the employees adjust well to the changes (Brehm et. al, 2001). Better training strategies and demonstrating the application changes giving emphasis to the benefits can be an option for the management to m ake the resources cope up with the changes more effectively. References Brehm, L., Heinzl, A. and Markus, M.L., 2001, January. Tailoring ERP systems: a spectrum of choices and their implications. InSystem Sciences, 2001. Proceedings of the 34th Annual Hawaii International Conference on(pp. 9-pp). IEEE. Chen, I.J., 2001. Planning for ERP systems: analysis and future trend.Business process management journal,7(5), pp.374-386. Law, C.C. and Ngai, E.W., 2007. ERP systems adoption: An exploratory study of the organizational factors and impacts of ERP success.Information Management,44(4), pp.418-432. Shang, S. and Seddon, P.B., 2000. A comprehensive framework for classifying the benefits of ERP systems.AMCIS 2000 proceedings, p.39.

The beliefs of Plato and Aristotle can be both val Essay Example For Students

The beliefs of Plato and Aristotle can be both val Essay id and invalid in many differentways. This is true for many ancient philosophers. Their ideas can often be hard totouch upon due to changes in things such as time, society, technology and evenknowledge. I believe that neither Plato nor Aristotle has complete grasp on theirphilosophy of life, for as much as the two contradict one another, they also tie in witheach other and logically, I believe, one can almost not make sense without the other. Iwas assigned to choose one of the two whos beliefs I agree with more for this essay. Personally, as I mentioned already, I think neither is completely valid and I also believethat without Platos views coming into play, Aristotles views are quite pass. I was alsoassigned to write this essay using examples of personal experience. Althoughregardless I do ultimately agree with the ideas of Aristotle over those of Plato, I alsofeel that ultimate agreement with Plato in this essay would be somewhat illogical andcontradicting of the itinerary expected. For Aristotle believes in experience as reasonand Plato does not. We will write a custom essay on The beliefs of Plato and Aristotle can be both val specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now Platos philosophy I believe contradicts its self in more then the way Aristotlebrings to our attention about the senses being separate from the mystical world of theminds. I also somewhat disagree with this Aristotle on this as is evident later on in thisessay. I think it is also a contradiction on Platos behalf to say that experience fools us,but to also believe that people with expertise should have power over those without. Idont understand how one can have expertise on anything without experience. Withoutthe word experience the word expertise would not even exist. I do however, agree withPlato on the fact that life experiences can indeed fool or deceive, but without beingfooled or deceived by experience, we would have nothing to learn from. This is where Ibelieve the two views of these philosophers tie in together. Aristotle believes we live life through personal experience. Without the mistakesand deceptions given to us through experience, as spoken about in Platos philosophy,we wouldnt have as much concrete experience to live our lives through. I believeexperience comes with mistakes and learning through them , and although Platoidentifies that experience causes mistakes through his philosophy, he gives us nochance in that same philosophy to use those mistakes and what we often learn throughthem. Aristotles theory gives us a chance to live and learn which in reality is the waylife works. An experience is not done with once a mistake or deception has beenincorporated into it. The mistake or deception is often more valued and kept close athand to be improved on a future situation of that sort or to avoid a reoccurrence. Thesepoints are more valid though the ideas of Aristotle. Such instances in our lives where the tie in between the two philosophers isevident includes such emotions as love, greed, fear, and guilt and our actions we takeupon these emotions as well as all emotions in general. Plato claims that thephysical senses of touch, taste, smell, hearing and seeing are the basis to all things inlife over experience. Imagine ones life however, although emotions cannot always beidentified as accurately as the direct physical senses, without feelings such as love orfear. If a human falsely identifies love, or hate for that matter, which are commonmistakes people make throughout life, there is no deeper way to look into and identifysuch things as true for the future. If one did not have fears to overcome, life wouldstand without challenge. Although today many of these things are often taken forgranted, they all offer learning experiences, as Aristotle would agree, and can oftenimpact our lives in a much more radical way then anything related to the physica lsenses. .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa , .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa .postImageUrl , .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa .centered-text-area { min-height: 80px; position: relative; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa , .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa:hover , .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa:visited , .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa:active { border:0!important; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa .clearfix:after { content: ""; display: table; clear: both; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa { display: block; transition: background-color 250ms; webkit-transition: background-color 250ms; width: 100%; opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #95A5A6; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa:active , .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa:hover { opacity: 1; transition: opacity 250ms; webkit-transition: opacity 250ms; background-color: #2C3E50; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa .centered-text-area { width: 100%; position: relative ; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa .ctaText { border-bottom: 0 solid #fff; color: #2980B9; font-size: 16px; font-weight: bold; margin: 0; padding: 0; text-decoration: underline; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa .postTitle { color: #FFFFFF; font-size: 16px; font-weight: 600; margin: 0; padding: 0; width: 100%; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa .ctaButton { background-color: #7F8C8D!important; color: #2980B9; border: none; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: none; font-size: 14px; font-weight: bold; line-height: 26px; moz-border-radius: 3px; text-align: center; text-decoration: none; text-shadow: none; width: 80px; min-height: 80px; background: url(https://artscolumbia.org/wp-content/plugins/intelly-related-posts/assets/images/simple-arrow.png)no-repeat; position: absolute; right: 0; top: 0; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa:hover .ctaButton { background-color: #34495E!important; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa .centered-text { display: table; height: 80px; padding-left : 18px; top: 0; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa-content { display: table-cell; margin: 0; padding: 0; padding-right: 108px; position: relative; vertical-align: middle; width: 100%; } .uaae0238ce2be9f14e5fd0614a7f410aa:after { content: ""; display: block; clear: both; } READ: Artificial Contraception EssayIn relation to this issue of physical senses vs. emotional senses, such anexample to compare and contrast the two is sex. Sex is a physical act, as the fivesenses are physical and is supposed to come into play after the emotion love is foundbetween two people. In contrary, humans are often fooled by the physical world of sex,believing good, passionate, addictive sex is equal to love. This is in too many casesfalse and an instance that sides me a bit with Plato. Perhaps this is evidence