Steel and Continuous Improvement

Continuous improvement as a business strategy Introduction The steel manufacturing company Corus focuses on meeting the needs of its worldwide customers and providing innovative solutions. It manufactures, processes and distributes steel and aluminium products worldwide. Corus is a subsidiary of Tata Steel, part of the giant Indian conglomerate. Tata Group includes businesses in many industries – for example, chemicals, automotive, telecommunications, leisure and consumer goods (such as Tetley Tea). Tata Steel acquired Corus in 2007 as part of a strategy of international expansion.Steel is everywhere in our homes and all around us. Corus Construction & Industrial (CCI), a business unit of Corus, has steel manufacturing facilities in Scunthorpe, Teesside, Scotland and France. The key markets for CCI include construction, energy and renewables, engineering and machinery, mining and earthmoving equipment, shipbuilding, fastenings and rail. The principle manufacturing site at Scun thorpe covers 2,000 acres and employs 5,500 people. The site consumes 6. 5 million tonnes of iron ore and 2 million tonnes of coal each year to produce 4. 3 million tonnes of steel products.CCI products go into a range of leading edge developments: Rail Steel Sections Main supplier to Network Rail, SNCF (French railways) and Metronet (London Underground) Wide ranging construction projects – e. g. warehousing, shopping centres, hospitals, tower blocks (Canary Wharf), bridge components, stadia, machinery (bulldozer track shoes, fork lift trucks) Everything from paperclips to bolts, to bed springs, bridge wire (for suspension bridges), tyre cord (to strengthen vehicles tyres) Ships, construction and mining machinery, wind towers, oil rigs, bridges, (e. g. the Humber Bridge), major construction projects, tanks and pressure vessels.Steel plate is also used in harnessing renewable energy such as in wind turbine towers. CURRICULUM TOPICS †¢ Continuous improvement †¢ Empowe rment †¢ Target setting †¢ Changing culture GLOSSARY Subsidiary: an organisation that is part of a larger company. Sections: H or I cross-section steel beams and columns in various lengths and thicknesses. Rods: long lengths of generally round (typically 5-15mm diameter) cross-section steel supplied in coils. Plates: large area flat steel. A typical ordered size is 10m long x 2. 5m wider. Thicknesses range from 6mm to 80mm. Plant: buildings or machines used in industry.Differentiate: to distinguish a business from its competitors. Steel Rods Steel Plates Modern steel production is a large scale operation dealing in huge quantities of materials and products. The process of steel plate production has several stages: †¢ receipt of pre-cut steel slabs from the steel plant †¢ reheating of slabs †¢ rolling to achieve required dimension and mechanical properties †¢ initial inspection for surface or quality defects †¢ cutting to order size †¢ marking with unique identities †¢ cold levelling to agreed flatness standard †¢ final inspection †¢ loading and despatch to customer.Producing large volumes helps to drive down the costs of running huge and expensive steel plant. Overall, this results in steel being a relatively inexpensive product, typically around 50 pence per kilogram, about the same as a kilogram of potatoes. In a major building project, such as a shopping complex, the cost of the steel can be as little as 5% of the overall cost of the project. Because of these issues, CCI needs to differentiate its business from its competitors in order to continue to grow. 57 CORUS www. thetimes100. co. ukGLOSSARY Greenfield site: land not yet built on or buildings on land that has not been used for building before. Continuous Improvement (CI): continuous incremental improvements in manufacturing and other processes. Inventory: a stockpile of goods. Lean production: an approach to production that looks to minimise waste and inefficiency. Scheduling: planning activities showing the times or dates when they are intended to happen. Takt time: the maximum time allowed to produce a product to meet demand. Taken from German ‘taktzeit’ – ‘clock cycle’.Culture: the typical pattern of doing things in an organisation. Facilitate: make possible or easier. Engagement: people being committed and involved with ideas or activities. CCI’s business strategy is to produce quality steel to satisfy customer requirements, focusing on delivering products at the right time in order to secure profitable business. A key challenge is to meet the increasing demands for more steel, at increasing levels of quality and to comply with more demanding delivery requirements. It would be straightforward to meet these challenges using brand-new facilities.However, a new ‘greenfield site’ steel mill could cost more than ? 300 million to build. CCI therefore needs to make process ef ficiencies and quality and delivery improvements with its existing manufacturing plant. This presents challenges when older facilities are not well structured to use modern manufacturing techniques and processes. This case study focuses on the process of Continuous Improvement (CI) at the CCI steel plate manufacturing mill at Scunthorpe. It will show how Corus is finding new ways of achieving its objectives from existing resources.Continuous Improvement Continuous Improvement is often referred to by the Japanese word ‘Kaizen’. Kaizen means ‘change for the better’ and covers all processes in an organisation. These include engineering, IT, financial, commercial and customer service processes, as well as manufacturing. CI involves making continual small improvements to a process rather than big changes at irregular intervals. This requires close monitoring and control, changes to the uses of manpower, machinery, methods, materials and money to improve business efficiency.Continuous Improvement starts with management and under their leadership works down through the organisation. The underlying theme is that everyone is responsible and has a part to play in making improvements. All employees must work together to identify the steps needed to improve working practices. Planning meetings help teams to focus on satisfying customer needs. Visual management techniques, such as flow charts and wall charts make clear what resources are necessary and who is responsible for each part in the process. Everyone has the opportunity to eliminate waste.This is any activity or process that does not add value. A key question to define waste is ‘would a customer pay for that process? ’ There are seven main areas of waste for any business: †¢ transportation – moving materials or products about †¢ inventory – keeping too much or the wrong stock †¢ motion – people moving or travelling excessively †¢ waitin g times – allowing products to wait for processing †¢ overproduction – making too much †¢ over processing – doing too many processes during manufacture †¢ defects – errors or flaws in the product causing rework or needing to be scrapped.Production processes that minimise waste are referred to as ‘lean production’. In these processes, the aim is to use less of everything, for example, space, materials or time. CCI in Scunthorpe is looking to reduce waste in its plate manufacturing process. It has adopted the concept of ‘flow’. This means that the products are ‘pulled’ through the process according to customer demand. All parts of the production process, from the supply of raw steel (slab) to the finished steel plate, are carefully planned.Scheduling for each element of the process ensures that bottlenecks are kept to a minimum. Each process is paced (known as ‘takt’ time) to control the amo unt of product in each stage of the process. This ensures that processes operate smoothly without overload or delay and keep the desired output and quality. Tonnage was the traditional key measure of productivity for CCI. For employees to work to a smooth paced process needed a significant culture change. Implementing a Continuous Improvement culture CI needs team work. In Scunthorpe, a CI manager coordinates the process. 0 CI Coaches chosen from the workforce received training to facilitate improvements. CCI has put together a ‘toolbox’ of techniques which the coaches use with managers, employees and operators. These help everyone understand where and how they can improve their work. A CI culture means that everyone can put forward ideas and have a say in how processes can change for the better. This is known as engagement. 58 An organisation needs to know where it is going in order to be able to put in place the resources it needs to achieve its plans.This is set out in a vision. Scunthorpe plate mill has set out a 5-year vision improvement plan which will help in the process of developing a CI culture for the business. Everyone in the organisation has to understand and actively support the plan. Workshops for all employees have taken place to explain the vision and why the change is necessary if CCI is to remain competitive. www. thetimes100. co. uk GLOSSARY Vision: a concise summary in words, setting out what an organisation is striving to achieve. Stock rotation: keeping goods moving in order.Feedstock: material supplied into the start of the process, eg steel slab prepared for subsequent rolling to steel plate. Empowered: authorised to take decisions. Helped by the CI Coaches, workers have drawn maps of their processes. These show the links between the stages of manufacturing as well what information flow is needed. The maps show: †¢ details of tonnages †¢ number of products †¢ rework cycles †¢ inspection points †¢ s tocks †¢ delays †¢ costs. The first part of this process is a ‘current state value stream map’. This shows what the systems and processes are like now.The next stage considers what the ‘future state map’ would look like. This highlights what CCI needs to do to achieve this state, for example, investing in new processes, equipment or additional staffing. Scunthorpe plate mill has 16 system maps. These link to each other to give an overview of the whole process. For each of the 16 systems, a number of rules about stock levels and stock rotation have been set up: †¢ Stock rotation ensures that the plates for one customer do not become buried beneath others and therefore delayed. The required amount of slab steel (‘feedstock’) must be in front of the mill by the Tuesday of the week in which the material is to be rolled. †¢ By rolling plates in the planned week, the mill is properly paced and all ‘downstream’ process es (such as cutting, levelling and inspection) can be scheduled accordingly. Using the value stream maps has helped CCI to improve process flows and the working environment. It has also reduced unnecessary motion, transport and processing.By taking these small steps and involving everyone in the vision, the delivery of product has increased from 70% of plates on time to 92% on time. Target setting CI working requires everyone to think differently about the way they work. It was recognised that people might be resistant and cling on to old ways of working. The key was getting all workers to see change as their responsibility. The CI coaches support the teams and individuals and promote or ‘champion’ new ways of working. Over time, the team and individuals are empowered to take responsibility and make decisions for themselves.To help workers accept the changes, the 5-year plan established a timeline for the programme of introducing change. Year Nature of attitudes to chan ge within the organisation Expertise and responsibility for CI 2007 Resistant (workers resist change) 2008 Adaptive (workers begin to adjust to new ideas) Champions and change managers 2009 Accepting (workers start to apply new methods) Manufacturing and process managers 2010 Embracing (workers recognise the benefits of change) Team leaders 2011 Performing (new ideas are fully adopted by the workers) The team CORUS CI coaches 59An important part of the Continuous Improvement programme was the creation of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Previously, measures at Corus were largely based on tonnes of steel rolled. This did not show whether it met customers’ needs or whether the steel needed rework because it didn’t meet customer requirements. www. thetimes100. co. uk Corus has set new KPIs which focus on meeting customer deadlines, such as: †¢ a zero backlog of customer orders – this means customers always get their deliveries on time †¢ meeting targets for rolling steel plate in its allotted week.Corus monitors and measures how its operations compare with other producers and competitors in the steel industry. This process of benchmarking means that Corus is continually reviewing its activities to achieve best practice. Corus shares relevant information both within and across Corus to drive improvement. It also spreads appropriate technical knowledge and information across the steel industry through international groups such as the International Iron and Steel Institute.GLOSSARY Key performance indicators: criteria against which the success of an individual or organisation is measured. Benchmarking: using an index, standard or point of reference to measure or judge a quality or value. Best practice: the development of performance standards based upon the most efficient practices within an organisation. Lead time: the time taken from receipt of order details from the customer to receipt of the ordered goods at the customer. The ben efits of Continuous ImprovementThere are significant costs involved in setting up a Continuous Improvement programme, including: †¢ allocating employee time to participate in group work †¢ training coaches †¢ setting up a manual of tools and techniques. However, Corus is already seeing the benefits of CI with: †¢ reduced waste through lean production †¢ improved product quality †¢ reduced rework time †¢ faster response times, giving more customers their orders on time †¢ becoming more competitive by driving down costs †¢ retaining/gaining customers through innovative products and services.KPIs show that the Scunthorpe mill is achieving its targets for rolling steel in planned weeks and is delivering almost 100% of customers’ orders complete and on time. Scunthorpe Plate Mill aims to have all orders complete and on time by March 2009, while at the same time reducing lead time. The principles of team working help to create a more fle xible workforce. This gives Corus the capacity to increase or change production when necessary. In addition, Corus employees are more likely to be satisfied and motivated when they feel that they are making a contribution.They can see their expertise helps to create a more effective company. By empowering its workers, Corus gains a more committed workforce which helps to drive further improvement. The Times Newspaper Limited and  ©MBA Publishing Ltd 2008. Whilst every effort has been made to ensure accuracy of information, neither the publisher nor the client can be held responsible for errors of omission or commission. Conclusion Corus is transforming production at its Scunthorpe plate mill through Continuous Improvement.This way of working encourages all employees to behave as team members to identify and support work improvement opportunities. Increasingly employees at every level are making improvement their responsibility, which provides employee job satisfaction. Continuous Improvement helps Corus to provide quality products and services for customers with on time delivery. CI supports Corus’ aim to achieve satisfied customers and secure repeat sales and longer term orders. It is part of a long term strategy based on service to develop the business.It aims to improve operational demands to fulfil customer expectations and out-perform competitors. Questions 1. What is Continuous Improvement? Who would be involved in this process and what would they be doing to enable improvements? 2. Describe the type of culture Corus is developing. How will the vision plan help to develop this culture? 3. Analyse how achieving its KPIs will help Corus to give its customers satisfaction. 4. Evaluate the key benefits of CI in helping Corus to become a more innovative and customer focused organisation. www. corusgroup. com 60

Ancient Views of the Concept of Marriage and the Family Essay

There are several aspects that constitute social life. These aspects include family, religion, leisure, sexuality, intellectual and creativity. The aforementioned aspects are evident in the ancient literature. However, both the Western and the Eastern had different views regarding these social aspects. The paper discusses Western and Eastern views of social life and responsibilities in ancient literature. To narrow down the research, marriage and the family were chosen. Both Western and the Eastern writers had different views regarding various issues surrounding marriage and the family. Ancient literature dates back A.D 476, and it underwent a series of transformations until the 16th century. During ancient times, many, philosophers and writers used various forms of writing to pass their messages. These forms included poetry, narration and even writing on stones. The recorded ancient from Greek, Egypt, Persia, Europe and some parts of Asia shows significant similarities and differences. To understand the matter introduced, we can consider views from the Greece and Persia, and compare them with views from Asia and Egypt. In these countries, a lot was written regarding social life and responsibilities. We shall also consider several works by different authors to support the arguments presented. Similarities Both the Western and Eastern literature talked about marriage and the family and the roles of the parties involved. A good example is Homer’s Novel, Iliad, which have several scenes of love and romance. One of its themes is military glory over family life. According to the novel, family is depicted as an important institution between two people. Homer constantly forces the characters in his writings to put the interests of their loved ones. From the novel, it is clear that a complete marriage can only be possible between a man and a woman. In addition, the novel suggests that women had a role to take care of their children while men went out for war. This was the case in Eastern parts of the world. Israel writers such as Jim West emphasized on the role of women in the family. He suggests that women were seen as custodians of their families. The two writings show similar characteristics regarding men’s responsibilities. The Iliad by Homer suggests that men had a responsi bility to protect their families from any form of attacks. A close examination of these ancient works portrays men as muscular persons who were supposed to protect the interests of the societies. Moreover, the ancient literatures by Euripides from Greece suggest that both man and a woman must complement one another. The same is shown by Emily Teeter, an Eastern ancient writer. In his novel, Ancient Egyptian and Family Life, Teeter points out that men and women are equal parties in the marriage. However, the novel suggests that ancient women from Egypt had a role to attend markets while men carried out hard jobs, which were suitable for the survival of the family (Minchin 22). Both Western and Eastern ancient literature values ethics in family matters. The following are various examples in support of this claim. Western ancient writers such as Plato and Aristotle came up with several ethical frameworks which were supposed to guide the members of the family. Marriage and the family were highly valued by these two great writers. According to Plato’s writings, family members were supposed to be guided by ethics of virtues. The writer came up with four virtues which are prudence, duty of care, love, justice and integrity. Moreover Eastern writers from Egypt and Israel valued ethics. A good example is The Pyramid Texts of Egypt, which talks about the journey of the soul to the eternity. The Pyramid is considered as literature because it has some moral lessons. They taught couples to practice ethics whenever they deal with each other. The literature suggests that a marriage is a journey that ought to have follow ethics (Pearson 234). Differences There are several differences between the Eastern and Western views of the marriage and the family as depicted in the ancient literature. The first one is the structure of the family. Eastern literature suggests that families in the East by 14th century were dominated by the husband. Women are depicted as subjects to men. According to a journal article, Ancient Israelite Marriage Customs by Jim West, men in ancient Israel were given more powers, which were dictated by the society. This is quite different Western view of the same issue. According to Homer’s novel, The Oddesy, women in the Western world during the ancient times were almost equal to men. Homer uses a number of women to show their roles in the society. A good example is where he uses examples of Circe and Calypso who never entertained exploitation from their male counterparts. However, Homer presents a way in which women’s status was lowered. In the novel, there are examples of women who only existed to sat isfy men’s sexual desires. According to this ancient work, this ruined the institution of marriage. From this we get a very crucial difference between the Western and Eastern view of the family. While Homer suggests that prostitution could happen freely in the Western world, this was highly discouraged in Eastern Literature. In fact, any woman who was found guilty of the offence was stoned to death. Most of the ancient Eastern writings make a lot of references to the Bible. A good example is presented in the journal article mentioned above. According to Eastern culture, it was wrong for a woman to make love with another man, apart from her husband. Surprisingly, men were allowed to do so. This shows that women presented in Eastern literature had little control of their life. Everything they did was already stipulated by the society (McDemont 67). Another key difference in the two views is the attitudes towards abortion. This was a critical issue in marriage and the family. The Eastern view suggests that couples married to procreate and fill the earth. As already mentioned an above, this was another reference of the Holy Bible. Israelites were among the communities that valued life and children. Ancient Greeks and Romans accepted abortion. They were not much concerned to protect unborn children. Early philosophers argued that it took 40 -80 days for a fetus to be formed. According to Aristotle, an Ancient philosopher, couples could practice abortion before sense of life had begun. He however believed that female embryos developed slowly than male ones. With regards to the subject of abortion, things were stickier in Eastern parts. Eastern culture did not allow abortion to take course in the society. The Eastern view regarding abortion was that anyone who caused miscarriage, he or she had to pay a fine to the husband of the wom an. The literature suggests that fetus was a property and it needed to be safeguarded by all means. This suggests that everyone in the Eastern society had a responsibility to support human life (Pepe 45). From the above analysis, it can be noted that both the Eastern and Western views on family had similarities and differences. Ancient Eastern writers seem to have been influenced greatly by the Bible in their writing. On the other hand, Western writers were critical on a given subject matter, and they often differed in opinions. References McDermott, M. H. Novel and Romance: The Odyssey to Tom Jones. Diss. The New University of Ulster, 1975. Minchin, Elizabeth. â€Å"Homer and the resources of memory: some applications of cognitive theory to the Iliad and the Odyssey.† (2001). Pepe, L. â€Å"Abortion in ancient Greece.† XIX Symposion of Greek and Hellenistic Law. 2013. Pearson, Lionel. Popular ethics in ancient Greece. Stanford University Press, 1962. Source document

Analysis on Mulan and the Twilight Saga

Women are to be beautiful, curvy, delicate, poised, graceful, refined, thin, curvy, quiet, demure and polite. Men are portrayed as the leaders of society, whereas women are only there to give birth to children. Manual is graceful, calm, and unique she is also beautiful and cur,y, Just like society wants. But that is where it stops. Unlike society wishes, she is not quiet, demure, or delicate. Instead she is intelligent, strong, and independent and is not afraid to be what she wants to be.And therefore, when the mime came when she did not want her father to lose his life in battle, she goes against society's standards when it comes to women on the battlefield and disguises herself as a man to be able to Join the army. She proves that she is Just as capable as a man by Joining the army and doing the same things the men do at training camp, If not more. But by the end of the movie, she saves the country. Feminists hope that people's outlook on female roles and equality will change for t he better, and In some ways the hope lies with the media.Books, movies, poems, songs, TV shows and any there types of influences on the public are their hope In delivering their message. Manual is an animated movie that many kids watch and enjoy from a young age. At a young age they start to develop opinions about everything they Interact with. Therefore, developing a movie like Manual will Influence the children to treat females as equals. The treatment of females will be Improved through the next generation. This will help the feminists with their cause.Twilight Throughout the story, Bella Swan does not have trouble coming to a decision as all ere decisions are based on the fact If a decision will bring her closer to Edward or help him. Her choices are not based on her benefits or what will help her, which portrays the sexist outlook of women – weak, obedient, and not equal – which has been shown throughout history. In New Moon, when Edward leaves Bella, she does eve rything In her power to be able to see Edward, from rolling a motorcycle recklessly to Jumping Off cliff Into stormy waves.This also shows that women are nothing without men, which Is not what the fervently movement wants. Yes the love they had for each other and the devotion that was expressed In the novel was well-played, but the weakness of the female lead does not push society to accept woman as equals economically, politically, or socially. This book does not promote female equality but Instead female Inequality. Furthermore, Bella relies on Edward for her to live and on Jacob In New Moon. Analysis on Manual and the Twilight Saga Through a Feminist Point of View By Chocolate's beautiful and curvy, Just like society wants.But that is where it stops. Unlike society y Joining the army and doing the same things the men do at training camp, if not people's outlook on female roles and equality will change for the better, and in some other types of influences on the public are their h ope in delivering their message. Young age they start to develop opinions about everything they interact with. Therefore, developing a movie like Manual will influence the children to treat females as equals. The treatment of females will be improved through the next generation.Throughout the story, Bella Swan does not have trouble coming to a decision as all ere decisions are based on the fact if a decision will bring her closer to Edward or everything in her power to be able to see Edward, from riding a motorcycle recklessly to Jumping off a cliff into stormy waves. This also shows that women are nothing without men, which is not what the feminist movement wants. Yes the love they had for each other and the devotion that was expressed in the novel was well-played, but instead female inequality. Furthermore, Bella relies on Edward for her to live and on Jacob in New Moon.

Poem Nettles

When analysing poems ‘Netttles' and ‘born yesterday', both are similar in how they show a parents love and responsibility for a child. While ‘Nettles' highlights the anxieties that a parent has for their child, the latter deals with the hopes a parent can wish upon their child. Both use various language techniques and structure to convey how parents can have different ways of expressing their relationship and love for a child. Born yesterday depicts this love for a newborn baby, but this poem is written in a more hopeful, unconventional manner.The first stanza of Born Yesterday highlights his views of what â€Å"the others*( seeming to mean most people) hope for in a newborn, which comes across as fairly sarcastic and almost as if he despises upon this general opinion of your child having the best things that life can offer. This sarcasm or mocking appears to be shown in the line â€Å"running off a spring of innocence and love†. In the fourth line he uses t he term â€Å"usual stuff , which further highlights this negative opinion as Larkin seems to think they are boring and non-realistic.His love for this baby is comes across in a specific way and is fairly unusual almost as if he is just writing it in hope, for example in the last line of the first stanza â€Å"well, you're a lucky girl† These unconventional aspirations continue into the second and final stanza where he gives a more personal view on how he would like to see this child grow up. Despite the repetition of negatives that he uses such as towards the end its still clear that he cares deeply about this child's future as it is still written with positive hopes.The oxymoron on the third line â€Å"An average of talents†, expresses that someone that is not at rock bottom but still not having many luxuries at the same time can result in the baby having a happy life, and this sums up the overall message that Larkin is getting across to the audience. This can even be seen before on the second line where it could be said to almost be insulting when he says â€Å"may you be ordinary†. Furthermore, he says how he wishes for the baby to not be ugly but immediately following with â€Å"not good-looking†, balancing his wishes in order to reinforce the baby being nothing more but nothing less in life.Repetition in â€Å"unworkable† and â€Å"working† in the eighteenth and nineteenth lines increases the sense that this one thing spreads to disrupt everything else, but also shows the extent of how specific a parent could be in detail about a child. The way in which Larkin writes the poem, particularly in the first stanza when explaining the special hopes for a child that are normal, shows that these things may inevitably and that she may not have much control over living her life, almost the opposite way to how he would like. This tells he understands how complicated a persons dreams for a child can be.The five adjectives i n quick succession towards the later part of the final stanza show how complicated this â€Å"catching of happiness† is. In addition, the rhyming couplet in the last two lines gives these lines more meaning as the repetitive adjectives stay in the readers mind and it leads to an obvious close. The last four lines also tell us that happiness can come in many ways, and that this is what he truly wants for the baby, and this has been his feelings throughout. However these lines do stand out to the more controversial tone of the rest of the poem.With the poem consisting of just two stanzas each makes it very effective by how it gets the idea across of how someones life could plan out so differently, despite how much a person wishes it could plan out. In contrast, Scannal *(poet of Nettles) Nettles takes a simple and common occurance, and thinking about its implications shows various techniqus to show the possibl outcome of a parents protective measures. The poem is only one stanz a with 16 lines and has a strong reguler rhyme scheme. The rhythm gives the poem this organised and at the same time a rigid feel to it.Its possible that the poem consisting of 16 lines is done with intent as a symbol to how long a parent has a bond with a child. It is also reminiscent of a sonnet, often a love poem. The love in this poem is of a father who is trying to protect his son but who realises the futility of this. Every other line rhymes in this poem which has the effect of making the poem seem more intense as the rhyme is not overly obvious. It is also written in the first person which makes it seem so much more personal, â€Å"my son,† â€Å"I saw† and shows Scannal wanting to make the reader sympathies for the child.He reminds us in the last two lines our lives are exposed to physical and negative pain. This Ab Sb cd cd rhyme scheme pattern used throughout to possibly suggest how soldiers march in complete sink and can maintain this synchronisation. The us e of the iambic pentimeter adds tro this structured effect as it uses a 10 syllable limit a line. Line 10 has an extra beat which shows the poets anger at these nettles and really makes it stand out. The use of enjambment in the fourth, fifth and sixth line shows a narrative style and brings out an overall theme of emotion with the use of alliteration.This alliteration can be seen on the 6th line. The bold sound shows the pain that the child is suffering with the term â€Å"tender skin† used as a contrast to the child's vulnerability. The word â€Å"bed† in the first line makes you think about what the nettles represent, and by using words referring to the military, this can be seen by the extended metaphor. These military/army metaphors bring out the nettles spite more vividly, together with his own feelings of anger and aggression. They also make the hurts that are inflicted upon the child sound more severe than they actually are.This demonstrates how a parents love for a child can reach the point of where they exxagerate reality, in order to make us as an audience feel more sypathetic for the person they care moe than anything else about. This is shown when he explains how he â€Å"lit a funeral pyre to burn the fallen dead†, implying that these nettles could be something that could inflict pain upon his son in the future. The sympathetic tone at times shows he is aware of his sons vulnerability once again in the 6th line as the aggressive sound reflect the sharp pains that were experienced.The idea that he knows theres only so much he can do in protection is shown on the second from last line, when he explain how the â€Å"tall recruits† had been â€Å"called up† again. Overall , after analysing both poems, I fell that Nettles is more effective in it showing how relationships are present among families. Through the use of a catalogue of language techniques he manages to get across the emotional and enduring pain that fami ly relationships can bring, and that despite the amount of care one can have for a child, this may not be enough to stop them from meeting issues in their future.

Diary extract from the poem blessing Essay

Today was the best day ever; the pipe through our village burst. I first spotted it on the way back from my two mile hike to the well, I had two buckets in my hands had spilt a little water on the way back when seeing a spurt of water coming from the pipe. I filled up the buckets and ran home, I told everyone in the village to bring buckets and cups and everything, by this time the gap had grown and there was a good amount of water coming from it. Everyone gather around bring mugs and tin cans to collect some clean water, we filled our metal bath tub with our buckets and everything we could, we have so much water now, the crops we have tried to grow have been watered and we have kept a good amount to water them more often, the drought had finally ended, there hasn’t been rain in a while, but I believe that this is the work of god, he’s finally come through for us, everyone had prayed and thanked him for this deed, the party still hasn’t finished, I am tired, I have been dancing and singing and drumming until the sun rose again, I was the village’s favourite person today because I spotted the leak that has praised us all, I wouldn’t trade the feeling I had for anything in the world, people chanted my name and cheered all night long I loved it, none of the water is being wasted anything waterproof is being filled with clean healthy water, I will not have to go on my hike for water for the next few days and I will not have to be thirsty we are going to church again tomorrow and I think that the whole village will be there just to thank him for this blessing. I can’t believe how lucky we were, this is truly a miracle, the water came when we needed it the most, when everyone was finding it harder and harder to drink the dirty water, but the question is how long will this water last? How long will it take for the rich people to realise they are paying for our water? And will they stop it? I believe that these questions will be answered in time, God may have let this miracle but I don’t think there is much he could do to change those idiots, they have everything, clean house, clean food and clean drinking water and we have nothing. Our homes are dirty so is our food and out drinking water they just get water whenever they want whereas we have to walk over 2 miles to get dirty water from a well. Everyone hates them if only we could swap places for a week, they would know what it’s like how hard it is for us just to survive, to stay alive but they have no idea I wish something could be done about this.

Strategy in Action Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Strategy in Action - Assignment Example (Lionsgate.com, 2011) Organizational culture is the collection of values and norms that are shared by individuals in an organization that affect interaction within and outside the organization. It is an important tool as it brings employees towards a common goal by developing affinity and provides impetus for growth. A healthy culture promotes self actualization and achievement in employees. Open communication and flexibility within the organization provide grounds for innovation and experimentation. Constructive cultures are empowering and lead to highly motivated employees, team work and growth. (Expertplagas.com, 2009) The organizational culture of Lionsgate is influenced by its start as an independent film studio which has developed into a major studio with global presence. Thus the culture reflects the entrepreneurial initiative that independent studios boast of. Lionsgate combines flexibility with the strategic management of a major studio with the customer focus of a digital c ompany. A speech by Lionsgate’s co-COO, Jo Drake reflects the organizational culture of taking risks in media and movies, of looking at changes in the market place as challenges, and the focus on entrepreneurship and innovation. (indiewire.com, 2010) Curt Marvis, of Lionsgate, explains Lionsgate corporate culture of getting employees involved. According to him, if one person can do the job instead of ten, then Lionsgate will focus on doing so, and employees will be involved in different things that they can handle. This shows that the culture focuses on employee involvement and ownership; however the fact the Lionsgate has acquired various media companies over the world results in the impression that the organizational culture may vary along the acquired companies and may be not as ingrained as preferred. In the event of mergers and acquisitions, it takes times and effort, many a times unsuccessful to develop the company culture of the parent company in the acquired companies . (Variety.com, 2009) Challenges facing the Media and Broadcasting industry The Media and broadcasting company is facing major challenges in the future. The biggest challenge is the changing marketplace which has changed the way content is delivered to customers. The popularity of digital delivery poses threats for media and broadcasting companies as customers can access media easily and cheaply on the internet. The industry needs to develop and master digital delivery of television shows, news, movies and music in order to grab the market online and still retain profits (Vodafone.com, 2011). Another challenge is the increase in competition due to the abundance of independent film making and the cropping up of new competitors, customers have greater choice due to the internet and companies have to be on their toes to maintain performance. The media industry has seen an increasing trend in takeovers, acquisitions and mergers and thus performance and shareholder value needs to be main tained to protect the company from acquisitions. The media industry faces market saturation not only because of the increasing number of competitors but the increasing number of competitors worldwide and in different formats. News companies, movies and television all face threats from online competitors as well and need to maintain a major online presence. This has resulted in cost and margin difficulties, changing patterns of consumer behavior and the need to provide

Recruitment and Selection of personnel. How to evaluate the Essay

Recruitment and Selection of personnel. How to evaluate the effectiveness of recruitment processes - Essay Example In the next step, the research establishes a correlation between hiring methods and organizational performance across various parameters like financial, productivity, quality, customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and quality staff retention. Research finds that some of the recruitment and selection practices have a higher correlation with organizational performance across all the above stated parameters. Finally the study suggests methods for evaluating the effectiveness of the recruitment and selection practices. Among various studies on human resource practices, there aren’t many that focus on measuring effectiveness of recruitment and selection methods. Recruitment and selection are those vital components of HR function that provide human capital to the organization, which forms the core of competitive advantages for the company. Attracting quality manpower through various strategies, screening, short listing and carrying them through the selection process and finally inducting the most suitable candidates in the organization are the various stages involved. Some of the researchers like Breaugh & Starke (2000) have tried to find a correlation between recruitment process and subsequently success of the selected candidate on the job. That provides one parameter for measuring the effectiveness of one of the components. Retention of the selected employees cant be ignored from the scope of effectiveness of recruitment and selection strategies. Though once the suitable candidate is hired, half the job is done, some of the issues related directly to employee turnover and retention, might be unrelated to recruitment and selection processes. However, staff turnout before becoming productive, can be a sign of ineffective process. In todays competitive world, Human Resource function isnt just a support function and the measures like Balanced Score Card have been developed to measure HR from financial perspective as