Managing Quality within the Vale of Glamorgan Council Essay

Managing Quality within the Vale of Glamorgan Council - Essay Example vices, including Housing, Community safety, Community care and health, Economic, development, Leisure and tourism, Planning and transportation, Building Control, Waste management and cleansing, Parks and grounds maintenance, Environmental Health, Trading standards, Emergency planning, Lifelong learning and development, Libraries etc., the Vale of Glamorgan Council has been successfully functioning from past many years. Vale of Glamorgan Council, has proved itself, by providing good services, and has been able to maintain its rapport with good Operational Management Strategies. The Quality of services provided by the Council has been highly appreciable, which has been achieved by its logical thinking and efficient management The Council has 47 elected members, each of whom represents  an electoral division, or ward, and is led by a Leader and Cabinet, a body of 10 Councillors that makes key decisions about policy and budget. Its services are led by a Corporate Management Team, made up of the Chief Executive and five directors.   These directors each head one of the Councils five Directorates. There is a Leader and Cabinet, a body of 10 Councillors that makes key decisions about policy and budget. However, since  May 2008  the council has been controlled by a  Conservative Cabinet. Understand how quality can be achieved and maintained in its operations and services. Quality is the first and perhaps the foremost attribute of the five ingredients of performance objectives prescribed by Slack N. Quality. Vale of Glamorgan Council has two different faces. One is the quality of the final offerings of the council that is the services, which are provided to the public. The other is the quality of the operational activities that the staffs of the council goes through in order to provide any particular service. Both these qualities are interconnected so that one has almost a complete effect on the other. This is the reason for taking quality as the attribute for

Understanding Of Market-Based Management Term Paper

Understanding Of Market-Based Management - Term Paper Example b). The Vantage Point of Dispersed Knowledge Dispersed knowledge possessed by the isolated individuals is better than centrally planned expert knowledge in coordinating human economic activities. It is argued that â€Å"historical experience shows that market economies, which rely on the dispersed knowledge and independent judgment of numerous consumers and producers, consistently provide a dramatically higher quality of life than centrally planned economies" (Gabble and Ellig, 1993, p. 5). It is important to note that the logic of market functioning is not only applicable to inter-businesses relations but also to the governing of specific business organizations. Simply speaking, the idea of dispersed knowledge possessed by the customers at the vantage positions of the market is equally applied to the ‘within' of the corporations too. III. Koch Industries and Market-Based Management At Koch Industries, the application of market-based management saw a 2000 fold increase in the book value after the policy was initiated in the early 1990s. For them, it is a "philosophy that enables organizations to succeed long term by applying the principles that allow free societies to prosper" (Koch, 2007, p. vii). Importantly, at Koch industries, "vision, virtue and talents, knowledge processes, decision rights and incentives" are the five dimensions of market-based management (Koch, 2007, p. vii). All these five dimensions were applied in a holistic manner at the Koch Industries so that the effect was always transformative.

Marketing demographics Essay Example for Free

Marketing demographics Essay The profile for the potential customers of Bob Bicycles consists of the following geographic, demographic, and behavioral factors: It is said that the immediate geographic target of the company is London. In terms of demographics, the company’s market segment includes male and female whose age ranges from 25 above. In a study conducted, it is noted that commuter cycling in the city is mainly dominated by white males with ages ranging from 25-44; this is because women is facing more barriers in cycling than men (See Figure 2). Most cyclists are also employers and employees who have seen the benefits of cycling with their health, economic and personal factors. As can be seen, children are not considered as a potential market since London is not allowing children to use bicycle for transport. Aside from this, other factors to be considered in the demographics of the potential customers of Bob includes the levels of bicycle usage, reasons for use, behavioral factors and geodemographic factors. Figure 2 Profile of Commute Cyclists 2006-2007 Behavior Factors. In terms of behavioral and cultural aspects, it can be said that Bob bicycles can be considered to have a big potential in London because of the high quality bicycles of Bob which meets the current trends in the bicycle market. In addition, there is a value attributed to the used of bicycle as a means of transport. There are various attitudes to cycling that should be considered by Bob in the London market (See figure 3). This result was based on the study conducted by TFL Omnibus Survey in 2007. Most of the perception of the individuals with regards to cycling is its economic, personal and health benefits. Figure 3 Attitude towards Cycling. Based on the analysis, it can be said that Bob’s plan of expanding his business in the London market, is very feasible and potential based on the current trends in business environment and the pool of demographics and potential target markets. Reference Automatic Traffic Count Data (2007). London Travel report 2007, 2007, TfL. Online available http://www. tfl. gov. uk/assets/downloads/corporate/London-Travel-Report-2007-final. pdf. Retrieve October 6, 2008. Heywood, C (2004). The Near Market for Cycling in London. Online available at http://www. tfl. gov. uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/cycling-market-report. pdf.retrieve October 6, 2008 Cycling Action Plan (2004). Creating a chain reaction The London Cycling Action Plan. Online available http://www. tfl. gov. uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/cycling-action-plan. pdf. Retrieve October 6, 2008 Cycling and Motorbikes (2008). Online available at http://www. bbc. co. uk/london/content/articles/2005/06/14/cycling_inlondon_feature. shtml. Retrieve October 6, 2008 Synovate Ltd (2008). TfL Omnibus attitudes to cycling, 2007, Synovate. Online available http://www. tfl. gov. uk/assets/downloads/businessandpartners/cycling-training-effectiveness-results-summary-2008. pdf. retrieve October 6, 2008.

Some Knowledge Is Discovered And Others Are Invented Philosophy Essay

Some Knowledge Is Discovered And Others Are Invented Philosophy Essay The question how do we evolve knowledge? is a debate in philosophy older to human existence. Philosophers differ on the source of knowledge. Some say that reasoning is a way to acquire knowledge while others say that perception is the way to get knowledge. Art, ethics and math are some of the areas of knowledge. The major argument is on whether these areas of knowledge are discovered or invented. Mathematics and ethics use reasoning as the way to have knowledge whereas art is concerned with perception and the perception leads to experience. Giving arguments and counter arguments for determining whether laws in physics, art and ethics are invented or discovered. Epistemology is an important area of philosophy dealing with the theory of knowledge. It focuses on determining what is true knowledge and how do we receive the true knowledge. The word knowledge is known in different ways such as understanding, recognizing, grasping etc. According to the tripartite theory of knowledge which is the most popular account of knowledge, there are three conditions in order to possess knowledge. They are belief, truth and justification. Belief is the first condition for knowledge. Even if something is true, and one has excellent reasons for believing that it is true, one cannot know it without believing it. (Dawkins). Truth means conformity with reality. If a thing is known, it must be true because false cannot be known and therefore, knowledge must be of truth. The third condition for knowledge is justification. In order to know a thing, it is not enough to merely believe it; one must also have a good reason for doing so. (The Tripartite Theory of Knowled ge). Knowledge can be received by two sources and they are known as empiricism and rationalism. There is a constant debate in philosophy on derivation of knowledge, whether knowledge is empirical or rational. In the philosophy of science, empiricism is a theory of knowledge which emphasizes those aspects of scientific knowledge that are closely related to experience, especially as formed through deliberate experimental arrangements. (Empiricism). Empiricism says that knowledge is obtained through senses and without senses we cannot understand knowledge. The theory rationalism is quite different from empiricism postulating that reason is the source for knowledge. In the view of philosophers who support the theory of rationalism, in the acquisition of knowledge holds three types of knowledge. First one is the possession of the innate knowledge and they strongly say that innate knowledge is absolutely different from sense knowledge. Second type of knowledge is the truth of logic, mathematic or ethical truth. For example, one plus one is two and it is the mathematical truth. It is true and it cannot be other. So also, there is logical necessity drawn through the deduction and induction methods in the acquisition of knowledge. Thirdly, the rationalists say that even though there are truths which are grounded in experience, reasoning is important in the derivation of knowledge. For example, if two persons see a sunflower at a time, their understanding and perception about the flower will be different. This shows that there is reasoning among them in order to judge the beauty of the flower. Through reasoning we come to mathematical knowledge. Mathematical principles are not discovered but are invented. Here, we solve a problem with the help of a formula. We use our rationale in applying the formula in order to solve the problem. Mathematics is an invention according to the Formalists and Intuitionists, who believed that mathematics is an invention of the mind. (Was Mathematics an Invention or a Discovery?). They tell that mathematical principles are not an absolute necessity and also there are no complex numbers in the nature. So mathematics is an invention and not a discovery. Ethics is invented, not discovered. It is mere construction of human mind. There are moral principles and it varies from society to society, nation to nation and individual to individual. An ethical act which is dominated in some society is not at all ethics in some other societies. From watching a recent documentary about Liberia an African man was interviewed who used to be a general of a clan, before battle they would kill a young child and cut his heart out consuming some of his blood. This shows some clans in Africa are cannibals and their culture is not bothered about killing of other people. But, most of the people cherish an ethics that killing is immoral act. Therefore, we can say that ethics is constructed and invented, not discovered. Reasoning is the way to come to this knowledge. The way of knowing art is different from ethics and mathematics. We use reasoning for understanding mathematical and ethical principles. But, perception is the way of knowing the art. We see an art and it leads us to a kind of experience. Seeing an art such as film, statue and pictures, we become emotionally aroused. But understanding an ethical principle does not make us emotionally aroused. We cannot know the content of the work of art without experiencing the work. (Lehrer, Kieran, and Dominic 1). It is not possible to say all knowledge are discovered or invented completely. Knowledge that human beings have acquired now in different areas are not mere discoveries or inventions. Great knowledge is result of both great discoveries and inventions. For example, the theories in physics have undergone discussion whether those are invented or discovered. Most of the theories in physics were made from different life experiences. Sometimes, the origin of these theories was closely related with the incidents that happened coincidently. For example, when the origin of the theories of gravitational forces was discussed, the experiences that had in the life of Isaac Newton is mentioned often. Those life experiences led him to make great theories of gravitational force. But, universe was acting according to those rules before they were actually made. These findings were called as discoveries because they existed before they were expressed by mathematical terms. So, the theories which are wr itten or explained using mathematical or linguistic symbols are inventions while their results in practical level are discoveries. But, generally these finding are called as discoveries. But these discoveries are base for many findings which are called as inventions without any doubt. For example, space shuttles are example for one of the greatest inventions of human. But, at the time of making of space shuttles, different theories of force of gravitation have to be analyzed as it acts against force of gravitations. So, in same area itself discoveries and inventions are interlinked in many ways. When we derive knowledge related to art, perception of people who derive those knowledge become prominent. Generally, the findings in arts are inventions. A painter creates his ideas in his mind in a platform. It is a creation, so it can be called as an invention. But, it is possible to argue that there are findings of things which already exist. When an architect makes a sculpture from a rock, he really applies his creativity to the rock and takes a particular shape, which already exists, out of that rock. It is very difficult to explain how man creates an artistic thing which becomes an invention of man in simple logical manner. It is possible to explain the creativity only if both the persons, one who explains and one who listens think in the level of art. The rules of ethics are made for adding more values to social life of human beings. But, being a social creature, many principles of morality have become inevitable part of human nature. So, there are arguments that ethical theories are discoveries of human beings. These arguments, regardless of their mutual areas of agreement and disagreement, seem to point towards morality as being a set of more or less complete rules, already present in the human intellect at birth. (Arroyo).

Passion :: essays research papers

I give in. My passion for writing is growing larger and larger each day, it has become the only thing I think about on a daily basis. It’s turning into a nuisance! I curse it to the back of my head every time it comes to fore thought. It twists my guts into an almost wrenching pain when I don’t have the chance to write something down on a piece of paper and make it my own. It forces the air from my chest as if I were a cartoon character with an anvil flattened. Where did I get this from, you ask? Let me tell you a story that explains my passion. Sit back, and enjoy the ride. Soar through the sky with dragons, their hot breath on your neck as you hit the ground tumbling. The blistering win cracking your skin from the powerful wings that beat wildly to land with such easy and natural grace. Before your able to catch your breath, after witnessing the beautiful landing, you hear the cries of shock and pain as an arrogant man has mortally wounded one of your lizard brethren. Azhrei, ‘dragon prince,’ is what they called him because of the enhanced cunningness and intellect he used to destroy the life of this beloved beast. Dragon Prince by Melanie Rawn comes in nine books, and explains the attachments of fantasy and fiction to romance and war. The beginning of my intrigue to this novel was the end, I had rather impulsively, skipped to the end. As I returned to the beginning, I was enthralled to see the turn of events further down the story line and eager to read through completely. While reading, I was becoming intimately attached to the characters; I was one of them. I felt the mind-blowing pain of the crop whip across Rohans shoulders as he fled down a racetrack more for his life then the prize. The seething jealousy Sioned felt in her heart over Rohan’s flirtatious ways with the High Prince’s daughter to be able to barter for the things his people demanded of him from his overlord’s lands. Sioned and Rohan, the secretly betrothed main characters, remain engraved into my heart till the end of time. The connections I felt to these characters inevitably caused me to give advice and make them apart of my life. â€Å"What the Goddess proclaims is not written in stone, but when it is the stone can be shattered,† Lady Andrade, Rohan’s aunt and Sioned’s tutor, told Sioned about her deepening and frightening love for Rohan.

Human Desire to Fit In :: essays papers

Human Desire to "fit in" Two common ways of handling a situation are either to do so according to one ¹s own personal needs and desires with no specific regard to other people, or one can base a decision on how it will be viewed by others. The vast majority of people fall on the side of being worried about what others are saying and thinking. Both good and bad can come from living this way, but it has seemed to remain constant throughout history. People have a natural desire to belong, and to fit in with a certain group. No matter what group an individual chooses, that individual almost always is forced sacrifice a part of them self in order to seem more a part of things. People in this world seem to need companionship and are often too weak to stand alone. As a result, they stand together in what ever group they are best suited to. It is a point of interest to many of the people who have stopped to think about this fact. The idea that people live according to how others will perceive then has been established as the rule, not the exception. The real question now lies in the reasons for this way of life. It was hypothesized by C.S. Lewis that this desire to belong and to fit in is a natural human characteristic. He believed that people have an instinctive drive to belong, in the same sort of way species reproduce. It is possible that his theory of instinctive necessity is accurate, and humans are as a whole are week and scared when they are faced with solitude. The old adage  ³there is safety in numbers ² is appropriate in this topic. Often in this world terrible things happen because people group up and commit unspeakable acts, then take shelter in the numbers of those involved. The Annual Freaknik  ³celebration ² is the perfect example. Thousands of individuals crowd the streets of Atlanta and pillage the city for a weekend, all the while they show no respect for the laws or the residents of the city. This can be directly related to the issue of people doing things to be a part of the group. If these people were asked individually why they did these terrible things, for the most part they would respond by saying  ³everyone else

Erikson on Play Essay

In the Modern Theories lecture, all three theorists: Freud, Vygotsky, and Piaget developed different views on social play. Erik Erikson’s play theory is similar to Vygotsky because Erikson viewed play as a necessary factor for social development. My extra credit paper is over the modern theorists. During the class lecture, I learned that Erik Erikson researched how the ego is the child’s personality and is responsible for a unified sense of self. Cognition and play was Piaget’s focus; Vygotsky researched a child’s ZPD development. Bruner researched his idea on problem solving. However, play is more way of working out personality formation a way of understanding and interpreting what a child is feeling. All three theorists were social researchers. However, Erik Erikson was most noted for his work in refining and expanding Freud’s theory of stages. He found out that adults do not play because they have reached the superego stage. Anna Freud and Lili Peller were two researchers who found out that play is a way of working out traumas and it is a basis of play therapy. Lili Peller researched how play is wish fulfillment; children have desires that they cannot fulfill, however, they play it out. Kids are working out their issues through toys. Play is a way of working out personality issues and understanding/interpreting how a child is feeling. Play is also a key feature of socialization. Corsaro developed the type of utterance reflects social status and creates social status. According to Gregory Bateson, the language of play is important; children give each other signals that play is going on. Bateson found out that the real and the unreal was not the here-and-now and the not present. Bateson agreed with others about what is going on. Children also create a â€Å"frame† where play takes place; they step in and out of the frame using codes, signals and cues. Bateson also discovered that children also step in and out of the play frame using codes, signals and cues in â€Å"as if† activities. Millard Parten was the first lady to focus on how children progress in their social interactions in peers. Mildred Parten, Ph. D. ocused on Sociology (1929); her research focused on how children progress in their social interactions with peers. I learned and remember from the lecture that according to Erikson, children are able to self heal when they play it out where adults talk it out. In auto cosmic play: play begins and centers on the child’s own body. The child’s play is the infantile form of the human ability to deal with experiences by creating model situations and to master reality by experiment and planning. Parten’s theory lead me to believe that the uninvolved stage was the first level of social play participation. I enjoyed reading about Erikson’s timeline of Auto cosmic, microsphere and macro sphere was Erikson’s theory on how children develop in psychological stages. Auto cosmic play is playing with your own body verses in which infants play with their own bodies, and going on to a toy â€Å"microsphere (the kind of play that is done with small toys),† followed by the â€Å"macro sphere: the kind of play that is done between children† of play with other children. † Autocosmic Microsphere  Macrosphere play with body play with toys play with other children The diagram above is what I learned from the presentation. Corsaro researched how children communicate with each other and â€Å"Language Serves as a way to form social groups and a hierarchy during play† and talked about a type of utterance that reflects social status and creates social status during play called Social Play Talk I questioned how play is a way of working out a person’s ideas on forming their own personality. Social play meant to me that it was one of the forms of a theorist’s ideas. Freud, Erikson, and Peller all influenced play therapy. I had a question about why Erikson found out that children had a trust vs mistrust stage when there was already an autonomy vs doubt stage. Lev Vygotsky’s theory on the ZPD made the most sense to me. Erikson built on Freud’s theory by elevating social factors over biological ones and Erikson also emphasized the id as the key to personality development. My view on social development changed from broad to specific after I read the pages on Vygotsky’s theory of the zone of proximal development. I understood more of why â€Å"Play creates a zone of proximal development of the child. † I learned that the child has different levels of development in different functions in social play. My understanding of theory changed because I became more aware of what children do in a social play setting. Cat Garvey’s theories fit into what I observed in child’s play because Garvey’s preparatory talk fits into Explicit Directions for pretend play. I understood that children need directions to do a task (word puzzle). Signals also factored into how children decide to play. I found that signals can be very helpful in understanding children’s play. My favorite play talk lead me to believe Garvey was identifying the way children can transform the environment (playhouse into kitchen) and nything they can enact on. The different ways that kids are using language to create the scenario. Boys do not really use prep talk; girls are more likely to use prep talk â€Å"let’s play house†. I did not see any theory that was not play related, however, Garvey’s play theory was NOT helpful in explaining other types of nonverbal play and games. Eac h theorist’s ideas were based off of their own philosophy and beliefs that play were relevant to children’s purpose and context in social development. I was impressed that the modern theorists had some idea to describe and understand children’s social experiences.