Consequential Contribution of Founding Fathers to America Essay

Consequential Contribution of Founding Fathers to America - Essay Example They laid the foundations of a capitalist America, based on the belief that the eventual economic well being of any nation was a direct function of the opportunities it extended to its citizens to channelize their energies and talents in a free market. Enlightened individualism, which is the hallmark of the American way of life, has its origins in the thought and vision of our founding fathers. It was by the dint of the validity and sanctity of their values that America was able to win a war of independence against a nation that was far superior to it in terms of military might and economic affluence. They envisioned a nation with a system of governance that relied on the fundamental principles of natural rights, free from any form of monarchial or ecclesiastical interference. Founding father undeniably made a marked contribution to the American way of life that will continue to guide and motivate this great nation in the times to come. George Washington was a leader far ahead of his times. It is easy for people today to visualize America as a free and sovereign nation. However, in the times of Washington, America was just a bunch of rebellious colonies, which were loosely held together, courtesy their shared aversion to the British rule.1 The astuteness of Washington was manifested in his will to hold on to a vision of a united America, irrespective of the ground realities of those times, which totally discouraged the perception of America as a great nation. The vibrant and self-sufficient America that we see today was once a mere vision in the heart and mind of Washington and other founding fathers.2 It was only by the dint and confidence of Washington and his revolutionary propensities that a nation was born irrespective of the mighty resistance posed by the great military and political powers of those times. George Washington was a prominent personality that defined the American nation, not only because he was the first president of America, but also because he happened to be the supreme commander of the American forces fighting for independence and the chairman of the convention that drafted the constitution of the United States of America. The wisdom of Washington lied not only in his ability to hold together the 13 rebellious colonies with diverse interests and priorities, but also in his shrewdness in channelizing the rebelliousness governing the American resistance into a well knit, consolidated and unanimous verdict in favor of the foundation of an independent America.3The task before Washington was utterly complex in the sense that he was not only required to be a military commander, but also a seasoned and sharp political leader who could extend guidance and direction to a zealous but nascent movement, which could have easily degenerated into an insignificant and directionless m utiny, as was desired by the imperial forces.

Project Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words - 1

Project - Essay Example But in Balanced Scorecard the performance of an organization is looked into from a broader angle which spans over perspectives like: Financial, Customer, Internal business process, Learning and growth. This is done to integrate the various complexities in the operating environment of a modern-day firm and so that the along with the financial model other factors which have crucial effects on the firm are taken into account. This tool evaluates performance of an organization and provides a framework for guidance. This system is used by organizations, private, governmental and non-profit to examine their performance in relation to their strategic objectives. Using the balanced Scorecard system, it is possible to measure and evaluate the process which is responsible for present and future value creation. This also acts as a guiding framework for managerial decision making in context of areas to be focused upon and resources to be put into in order to create value. Analysis through this system brings forth the ‘value drivers’ in an organization (Balance Scorecard basics, 2009; Kaplan R.S. and Norton D.P., 1996). The main angles or points of discussion for the organization under the ‘customer perspective’ are identification of their target customers and also their won value proposition which would attract the customers. Identification of the value proposition is crucial because otherwise the organization would surely loose focus. Value propositions might emanate from: Operational excellence- These kinds of organizations get their value proposition from excellence and primary focus only on their operations and generally offer no-frill products or services. Example: EasyJet the European low-cost airline. Leadership through product- These firms depend on constant innovation and research to deliver better products to their customers. They become product leaders and lead the way in the market by always striving to and delivering

E- Commerce & IT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

E- Commerce & IT - Essay Example Electronic Markets are the recent online trading network platform that links the sellers with the buyers together for exchanging goods and services, without any mandatory face to face interaction during spot trading. Most of the EMs are two-way networks or collaborative in nature. When different companies working in same line of business meet at a place, which are willing to exchange goods to target customers, we get an association of market places. Such market place is called the electronic market if the parties to transaction mainly communicate online or through some private networks.The concept of EM has its origin from Electronic commerce, the fundamental purpose of which is to execute transactions that are supported electronically. Some of the top e-commerce developments of last decades include eBay, Amazon, Google Ad Words, PayPal, etc. The business model may be B2B, B2C, or C2C. In all these models, automating transactions drastically reduces the amount of paper works and need for human intervention which consequently leads to minimization of overall cost of the firms (Andreini, 2003, pp.15-16). Any transaction involves the exchange of goods and services and the electronic medium is used to keep record of such transactions, such as inventory, track location of goods despatched, quantity, price, etc. Online transactions that take place at the point of sale need to critically focus on time sensitive transactions whose delay might cause huge losses for companies (Huang, Wolf, and Sycara, 2001, pp. 2-9). The evolution of internet increased the speed of data transfer and, hence, provided an ideal platform for conducting EDI (Electronic data Interchange) transaction and E-commerce. Challenges for the Collaborative Electronic Markets When any business plans to launch the Electronic market, its main objective is to bring the buyers and sellers together through a network by realising a need for exchange of goods. But such a business model can sustain in the long run only if there is sufficient trust among the business partners on the entire system. Not to mention that security, reliability and privacy is a must for any sort of online transaction. These issues must be addressed very seriously if the company is planning to sustain (Wielki, 2002, p.129). The Electronic market has huge scope form demand planning, analysing and forecasting, to supply chain management, logistics and demand fulfilment. The business partners do not only look for cost efficiency but also expect specialization from Electronic Market companies (Furrenr and Sudharshan, 2001, p.127). The cost consideration has to be taken into account along with the timely delivery. This is because very often it is found that carrying goods for third party reduces direct cost per kilometre of running the trucks for the companies but at the same time it increases time of delivery by spending significant amount time on roads. Many e-Markets have only focused on the cost aspect ignoring th e time which ultimately lead to their downfall. Very often the larger-than-life ambition, lack of clearly defined long term goals, distrust among partners, reluctance of the suppliers to join common platform also lead to failure of e-business models (Gupta, 2007, p.4). In order for the e-commerce companies to sustain in the competitive market, it needs to specialize on a particular field and then expand the business gradually with time. Thus, the mentality of entrepreneurs of trying to achieve ‘too much’ in ‘less time’ may ultimately take their ship down and shorten their long term sustainability. Managing Conflicts in e-Marketplace The emergence of Electronic Marketplace has lead

The cognitive and emotional aspects of fibromyalgia Annotated Bibliography

The cognitive and emotional aspects of fibromyalgia - Annotated Bibliography Example On the other hand, fibromyalgia is described as a syndrome which inherits long-term body pain due to tenderness of joints, muscles, tendons, and other soft tissues. The study also illustrates the variant depression symptoms among people in respect to change in mood, behavior and thinking which hinders in pharmacological treatment. Medical researchers have implemented neurobiological and therapeutic features to decrease processes of pathophysiological to disable the enhancement of pain and depression within the people. This study also shows about the qualitative approach of identifying the association between chronic pain and mood disorders which go beyond the process of pathophysiological that causes depression and pain. Fibromyalgia arises due to variation in cognitive and emotional psychological behavior of people. These tendencies generally arise due to various deficiencies of vitamins, which build and provide strong generation of tissues. The competitive racialism, work pressure, financial insufficiency and unsophisticated environment are also associated with the cause of fibromyalgia. Hence, there must be awareness programs organized in support of medical organizations and welfare agencies, which can provide various psychological therapies and treatments to mitigate the issues of fibromyalgia. The research study illustrates that the cognitive impairment related to behavior and attitude of individuals which are generated due to fibromyalgia have extreme negative effect on the human psychology as well as causes severe pain than the general pain. This study explains that central nervous system, which consists of limbic and front parietal cortices of the patients are hampered who are inflicted with fibromyalgia. There had been neuroimaging techniques implemented, which ascertain that effective biomarkers are not available that can detect and measure the scale of patients’ condition in cognitive and

An organisation's performance can be improved by careful development Essay

An organisation's performance can be improved by careful development and integration of its HR strategy and policies. Evaluate - Essay Example It will continuously attempt to recruit them and keep them part of the organization. This mutual relationship and trust between the employee and employer is the highlighting factor for a firm of 21st Century. Generally, daily these organizations co-operate a major role in our daily lives (Boyatzis 1982). The water we drink, food we eat, the vehicles we use to go from one place to another, the clothes we usually wear are all benevolence of such organizations. The historians of future regard this era as they might view certain organization to be of great achievements. It is the marvel of thousands of people with sophisticated individual skills, backgrounds, and interests that combine together in different organizations to pursue the common institutionalized objectives (Gold et al 2010). Human Resource Planning People or employees are the assets of all organizations. They form the goals or objectives of the organization, the improvements in technology and the achievements for which orga nizations are known for. From the view point of an organization, its people are its resources. They are not physical assets such as capital or land; rather they are human element of the organization. Without this human element, organizations would perish (Armstrong 2002). The following narration clarifies the concept of human resource in an organization: As people are becoming more passionate and goal oriented, emerging top managers are realizing the organizational success that is dependent upon the meticulous attention given to human assets. Some of the perfectly managed and successful organizations are the ones who make their employees meet the challenges faced by the organizations innovatively. For instance in high-tech firms, to receive the best from engineers, they must come up with creative programs and designs, in bio-tech firms and in research as well; nurturing the free flow and creativity of the ideas among the researchers as it leads to success (Wilton 2011). In the manuf acturing firms, the cost controls leads to success. In the service and retail industry, the difference between the extinction and growth is completed by providing the best quality of service. In all of these examples, the employees decide the future of the firm. This way the human element practices are combined with the precise challenges that the firm faces. These challenges are diligently solved by an effective and efficient human resource management by implementing the right policies and strategies (Boxall & Purcell 2008). Today, organizations have become conscious of the fact that strategic human resource management is mandatory for an organization and its importance is focused upon increasingly in most firms. This awareness comprises of a serious arena in the performance of most organizations. The experiences from real life show that there is a constant assumption attached to the idea how businesses operate and how they carry out their activities. The validation of this argumen t pertains in the fact that the competitiveness of business is a continuous event which is scrutinized by consultants, practitioners, and academicians. There are new approaches to deal with the human resource department now (Gold et al 2010). Armstrong (2009) said that the strategic human resource management focuses on the needs that the HR strategies and plan should be devised within the arena of

Aztec Calendar Stone Essay Example for Free

Aztec Calendar Stone Essay Obtaining the knowledge that was passed down to them from earlier Mesoamerican cultures, the Aztecs carved the calendar stone in 1479 (Smith 253). At the time, the Aztecs lived in a very civilized world filled with amazing architecture, an impressively complex government system, and they also employed intricate systems of writing and calendric systems (Taube 7). The Calendar Stone was made by basalt stone. For the Aztecs, everything was pictorial in nature around this era. The calendar stone depicted different pictograms or Codex Magliabechianoand, which was primarily written on religious documents (Aztec-History). Art was centered around religion in this era. So the pictograms of the gods on the calendar stone would correlate with that subject matter. The Aztecs were a highly ritualistic civilization devoted to divination and their Gods. The Aztec calendar stone was created as a divinatory tool which was used for rituals, to forecast the future, and to determine which days were lucky and which days not for the outcome of various actions and events (Smith 254). The calendar had two systems. It had the sacred Tonalpohualli, which was based on the 260-day cycle and the Iuhpohualli, which was a 365-day cycle (Palfrey). Seen by the count, there is a five day difference between these two calendars. The five day differences were thought to be the most unholy, unlucky days of the year (Smith 257). The world was thought to be coming to an end. On the Aztec Calendar, the year was divided into 13-day periods. Each group of 13 days had a different deity ruling over the unit. This is because these units were thought to have a special symbolic influence and the deities were to ensure a positive outcome (Smith 256). In the middle of the Sun Stone, is the sun god Tonatuih. His tongue protruding between his teeth resembles a sacrificial flint knife. In his claw like hands he clutches human hearts (Palfrey). ‘Many scholars have debated on the stone’s meaning and purpose. Some suggest that, fixed horizontally; it served as a sacrificial altar, which would make sense because the stone was dedicated to the sun deity. Most agree though, that it offers a graphic representation of the Mexica cosmos’ (Palfrey). In The Aztecs, Smith sums up what is to be believed the thought of the Aztecs when they carved the calendar stone â€Å"The Aztec calendar stone conveyed the message that the Aztec empire covered the whole earth (territory in all four directions), and that it was founded upon the sacred principles of time, directionality, divine warfare, and the sanction of the gods† (Smith 270). Keeping the Aztec calendar is proof of ancient cultures mathematical and scientific achievements without the aid of modern technology. The study of the sun stone could lead to further advances in mathematics and acts as a road map to our celestial bodies from that era of our history. The Aztecs believe they felt justified in believing in this calendar because of numerous events that changed the course of history for them. Because Aztec Indians were fervent astronomers, they tracked the stars and correlated that between the days to create this sun calendar. Examples of events happening within the timeline of the calendar stone being built are these: Between 1452 and 1454, their capital city Tenochtitlan suffered from flood and famine, the following year on 4/16/1445 (Julian calendar) there was an eclipse of the sun. From 1473-1479, there were 4 more solar eclipses within a five year time frame (Aveni, Calnek). During this time the Aztec nation conquered and sacrificed many of the neighboring towns. Their leaders were wounded or killed, followed by violent earthquakes (Aveni, Calnek). There may have been even more visible eclipses seen by the Aztecs that have not been discovered because they were lost, or destroyed, or even confused with other natural events (Aveni, Calnek). If one were to take into consideration the Aztecs being a society with strong beliefs in deities, the Aztecs constant state of turmoil from wars and death and then couple that with a constant flow of solar eclipses; it wouldn’t take much to consider that the Aztecs might have thought there Gods were planning on ending their world†¦. again. The Aztecs might have carved this massive calendar from stone to give their future generations a chance to do things right, where they did not. Many other artifacts of the same caliber and craftsmanship were excavated around the time the calendar stone was. This was an amazing find, because in the early colonial period of the sixteenth century, pre-Hispanic stone sculptures were considered potent satanic threats to successful conversion (Taube 25). With the Spaniards thinking this, this lead to the destruction of many great pieces of art, manuscripts, and other forms of architecture. Thankfully, with the Aztecs foreseeing this frame of mind being a possibility and other circumstances occurring, many artifacts survived by being hidden in caves, on mountain tops, and even buried under Mexico City (Taube 25). After the artifacts were excavated, rather than being destroyed, they were treated as objects of curiosity and to be studied (Taube 25-26). I account for any differences between reception then and today by knowing people today have so many different religions and beliefs. Whereas the Aztecs were ignorant of the different beliefs we have today. They just had knowledge of what was taught to them by their elders as we do ours. There were not that many differences and very many similarities between American Indians of this era. In the way they did things to their architecture and sculptures. As a matter of fact, the Aztecs calendar was based of the earlier Mayan cultures. The Aztec calendar stone and Mayan calendar share many similarities. Both calendars have ritual days. The Aztec ritual day that was formed is the Tonalpohualli and the Maya ritual day is the Tzolkin. The day names on both calendars are also very similar. Both calendars used 18 months with 20 day counts along with other counts. The Aztec and Maya calendar stone is believed to have both mythological and astronomical significance. Both Native American cultures regarded their calendars as religious. Using the calendars, the Aztec and Maya priests dictated when to grow crops, when the dry and rainy seasons were, when to go to war, etc. (World Mysteries). The main way the Aztec calendar differed was in their more primitive number system and less precise way of recording dates. The year also started with different months. The Maya calendar tracked the movements of the planets and the moon. From this came their reckoning of time, and a calendar that accurately measures the solar year to within minutes. The Aztecs also kept the two different aspects of time, the Tonalpohualli, which was counting the days and the Xiuhpohualli which was counting the years (World Mysteries). The Aztecs believed they were living in the fifth and final stage of life. Because the Maya used a 360 day long cycle, they could tell that there were time periods way longer than the age of our universe (World Mysteries). It helped me figure out what some of the major celestial events where during the time the Aztec Sun Calendar was created. Palfrey, Dale. Mysteries of the Fifth Sun: The Aztec Calendar. n. p. Web. 8 January 1999. http://www. mexconnect. com/articles/199-mysteries-of-the-fifth-sun-the-aztec-calendar This is a website with basic information about the Aztec Sun Calendar. It gave me more insight into what the calendar looked like. Aztec-History. N. p. , nd. Web. 1996-2012 http://www. aztec-history. com This website has an enormous amount of information about Aztec Indians, from clothing to their demise and pretty much everything in between. The website gave me most of the information about the calendar stone I have so far. Smith, Michael. The Aztecs. Blackwell Publishers Inc. , 1996. Print. The book is Aztec Indians and their culture. This book helped me to understand the calendar stone more and why it was just a big part of Aztec life. Taube, Karl. Aztec and Maya Myths. British Museum Press, 1993. Print. This book detailed facts and myths about Aztec and Mayan Indians. This book helped me find what the Aztecs art and idols were see as in the early colonial period.

The External Triggers For Change In Toyota

The External Triggers For Change In Toyota In today dynamic marketplace, change management has become a very vital element of the organisation development. Change doesnt not always imply innovation, thus, change is defined as a part of organisation invariably influence people and process of the organisation (Cole, 2008). The pace of global, economic and technological development makes change an inevitable feature of organisational life. Change can be classified into planned change and unplanned change. Unplanned change is a piecemeal reaction to circumstances as they occur. Whereas, planned change is change that is designed and implemented in an orderly and timely fashion in anticipation of future events (Hayes, 2002). For instance, the implementation of Just-In-Time (JIT) operation in the Toyota Production System (TPS) is considered as a planned change. It is because the adaption of JIT is gone through a planned and well-managed change process. Change is crucial to strategy and vision generation when organisation is preparing for the strategic planning process (Burnes, 2004). Change is an alternation of organisations environment structure, technology or people. Organisation often view change as a continuous process that they need to capture the learning and pass it on. The forces of change can be divided into internal and external forces. External forces include economic factors, and new market opportunity. By contrast, the internal forces inside an organisation can lead to a change (Griffin, 2003). Organisation need to clearly clarify the factors, which have triggered the changes. After that, a change management approach should be undertaken, which comprises of change management process, approaches adopted to minimise the resistance to change and an overall performance evaluation program of the change. History of Toyota Toyota Manufacturing Corporation (TMC) story starts, when Sakichi invented the wooden Toyoda handloom, which was to revolutionize the countrys textile industry. Toyoda Automatic Loom Works, which is now known as Toyota Manufacturing Corporation (TMC), was founded in 1918 by Sakichi Toyoda and Kiichiro Toyoda. Kiichiro Toyoda had travelled to Europe and the US in 1929 to research automobile production and begun researching gasoline powered engines in 1930. The 1st A1 prototype passenger car was completed in year 1935 (http: //www.toyota.co.uk). Toyota began its operation in Europe since the early 1960s. They attempted to design the car based on Europe market needs and wants. Further, Toyota had established a manufacturing plant operation in UK in year 1989 because of the strong tradition of vehicle manufacturing in UK and the large domestic market for their product (http://www.toyotauk.com). In year 2004, Toyota has become the one of the top three car manufacturer, alongside General Motor (GM) and Ford. Globalisation has forced Toyota to improve their business process to be more competitive in the global market. Toyota has established a clear vision 2010 Global Vision Strategy. The mission of Toyota is to create a more prosperous society through automatic manufacturing. Therefore, Toyota has to always focus on the future of the automobile industry when deciding the position of the company. The vision of Toyota aims to achieve long term, stable growth in harmony with the environment, the global economy, the local communities it serves and its stakesholder (http://www.toyota.co.jp). Forces for Change The external and internal forces have resulted in the need of change. The external triggers for change are derived from outside the organisation. The external triggers for change in Toyota: Globalisation The declination of barriers to the free flow of products and services had driven the trend of globalisation. Globalisation has opened up new market and created opportunity for business to expand their market share (http://news.bbc.co.uk). Increased Competition The increased the competition in the market has forced companies to improve their business operation to be more competitive in the market. For example, as a global player Toyota, frequently confront each other as competitors in nation after nation. Ford, for instance, has 5 car-design centres scattered around the world, each focus on specific market segment (Terpstra and Sarathy, 2000). As a result, change may occur. In this assignment, case regarding to the impact of change on TPS had changed the company policy, process, and decision making. Tough rivalry There are many aggressive competitors, such as Nissan, GM, Ford and so on. Most of them have established their own competitive advantages in the global market, thus, this may constraints Toyota to gain more market share in the global market (Hill and Jones, 1998). Thus, there a need of change for Toyota to create their competitive advantages. Low Demand The demand of consumers is low so Toyota needed to turn out low volume of different models using assembly line instead of supporting the dedicated assembly lines for one vehicle. Finally, Ohno developed the TPS, by adapting the Ford production system to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of production lines. This idea was derived from the trip to Ford factory and designed to achieve three main objectives: costs reduction, quality improvement and zero inventory (Lynch 2006). The internal triggers for a change in Toyota: The introduction of JIT The new management philosophy Just-in-time system had been applied by Ford companies in 1910. They arranged all the elements of a manufacturing system people, machines, tooling, and products in a continuous system for manufacturing the Model T automobiles designed to make huge quantities of limited number of models (Lynch, 2006). As a result, Ford became the largest car company in Japan with GM as the second largest manufacturer, together manufacturing over 90% of the vehicles manufactured in Japan. New product innovation There is a need of new product innovation because the increased fuel price has influenced the consumer buying behaviours. Therefore, there is a need for Toyota to develop fuel-efficient vehicles and hybrid vehicles (Lynch, 2004). Management and Marketing The poor management of Toyota in India has led to a lockout in India plant. The falling demand of car in Philippines has led to the Toyota plant close down because of the poor marketing expertise to help the Toyota to increase their product awareness (http://news.bbc.co.uk). Operation problem Based on the mass production paradigm of the day, economies of scale alone should have made this an impossible for the tiny Toyota. The new discovery of the technology that used by Ford in production line became a threat for Toyotas position in the market. The only way that it could survive was by finding new and flexible production methods that could help them to create more value on car manufacturing process (Lynch, 2006). Production Lines There are numerous problems with Toyota (without using the technology in its TPS) (Turban, 2008): Problem in its supply chain and its operations, and its car keeping costs mounted. Customer dissatisfaction increased due to Toyota inability to deliver cars to dealers on time. Management used computer that generated useless reports and data. Thus, management faced the problem in using the data strategically. Internal department often failed in file sharing and information exchange. Thus, it had slow down the speed of reporting. Report system that used in TPS always provides inaccurate information and information overlaps. Management failed in making decision in a given time due to the inaccurate information. Types of Change Change is the transition from one state to another. There are three types of changes which may undertake by the organisation to response to the change in external and internal environment: Incremental Change According to Hayes (2002), incremental change is a continuous adaption and modification of organisation existing strategic, process, policies and system. It is risk for an organisation adapts incremental change if the external forces of change are great because the opportunity of organisation development and expansion may be constrained by the existing systems and operations. Strategic Change Strategic change is the proactive management of change in organisation to achieve strategic objectives, which involves establish new systems, policies or procedures (Lynch, 2003). Transformational Change Transformational change may involve both strategic and incremental change because the intervention leads to alignment among the organisations strategies, design element, and culture (Johnson and Scholes, 1999). The revolutionary of Toyota is considered transformational change. The transformational change of Toyota occurs in response to external and internal disruptions, which consist of tough rivalry, internal company dynamics and so on. There disruption severely jolt organisation and push them to alter business strategy, and in turn, their mission, values, structure, systems, and procedures (Cummings and Worley, 2001): Transformational change involves altering most of the featuring of the organisation and achieving a fit among them and with the firms strategy. Today, the demand of better quality has been on the increase for the past two decades or more. Toyota has change process in production, business operation and retail system. The culture of Toyota has changed as they attempt to develop a lean organisation. Previously, the culture of Toyota is problems of production are corrected later and quality of controlled by additional inspection and containment. Now, they build a culture that stops to fix problems with the core philosophy of eliminating waste (Liker and Meier, 2006). Transformational change happens in situation experiencing huge change and uncertainty, thus, changing never finished as new structures and process will continually have to be altered to fit the changing condition. The adaption of JIT approach in TPS enable Toyota to produce different types of cars in one production line, thus, it has increase the ability to Toyota in response to the different types of customer preferences (Hino, 2006). Transformational change requires innovation and continuous learning. Toyota is considered as a learning organisation because their culture is stopping the problem and fixing the problem at that time. This typically is a continuous learning process and trying new behaviours, assessing their consequences, and modifying them. Learning occurs at all levels of the organisation from top level management to low level management (Liker and Meier, 2006). Change Management Of Toyota Change is a critical part to be managed when Toyotas globalization had started exporting the Crown to the United States. Thus, a well-organised change management process (Appendix 1: Change Management Process, p 20) needs to be carried out to avoid the problem of inefficiency works due to the lack of concentration on specific aspect (http://blogs.iht.com). According to Hayes (2002), there are several steps involved in the process of change management: 1. Recognition: Organisation has to be clearly aware of the external and internal factors (Refer to force for change above) that lead to a need of change take place within the organisation. In year 1940, Ohno Taiichi, chief engineering of Toyota found that it is difficult for tiny Toyota to compete with Ford and General Motors (GM) (the world largest car manufacturing company) in a global market. The only way that it could survive was by looking for new and flexible production method that could help them to establish their position in the global market (Lynch, 2006). Other than that, the demand of better quality of the market has indicated the problem of traditional TPS focuses on reducing per unit costs generates a mind-set of never stopping the line because higher production number theoretically equal lower cost per unit (Refer to the internal and external factors, which trigger the need of change). 2. Start of Change Process: In this stage, it involves the translating the need for change into an aspiration of change among the people, deciding who will manage the change and building a workable and effective change relationship. In order to start the change process, Ohno had visited the Ford factory because of the belief that Ford factory can provide him a way to modify the TPS. However, Ohno found that the Ford production was flawed. In response, he looked for a way to make mass production efficiency with small production volumes and at lowest costs Just-In-Time (JIT) approach (Stevenson, 2007). Thus, forces of change have encouraged Toyota to develop lean system for TPS by adopting JIT approach (Appendix 2: Attributes of Lean Organisation, p21) (Appendix 3: Traditional unit-cost-focused manufacturing, p22) (Appendix 3 (a): Lean Waste Reduction Result in Lower Total Cost, Improved Delivery, p23) (Hill, 2007). 3. Diagnosis: Then, diagnosis of reviewing the present and identifying the future for better change management is taken place. Reviewing the present state can help organisation to the need of change through diagnosis the causes of problems, current deficiencies and opportunities. Organisation may able to clearly identify what is changing and the future direction through reviewing the current state. Organisation have to imagine how and what future that business likely to achieve and then establishing objectives to accomplish it. The present state of Toyota is unable to produce the types of cars, which can meet the market needs and wants, mass production lead to high waste, and so forth. Therefore, in order to a well-entranced global company, Toyota had established the major objective of revolutionary TPS is to build up competitive advantages- affordable price and high quality and eliminate the problems of current TPS, so that Toyota can compete with other larger car manufacturer although their market share is smaller (Krajewski and et al., 2007) (Appendix 4: Toyota Production System, pg 24). 3. Prepare and plan for implementation: Subsequently, organisation need to make choices such as which method should adopt for the change and whether full or trial implementation should be run. Toyota had established 14 management principles (Appendix 5, pg 25) in its new TPS to guide its operation in various countries including UK (Liker and Meier, 2006). The 14 management principles have developed Toyotas supplier throughout the value stream. Furthermore, Toyota has established four underlying principles to TPS (Stevenson, 2007): Work should be finished specified as to content, sequence, timing and outcome. Every customer-supplier connection, both internal and external, has to be direct and specify. The people who involved in the connection, the forms and quantity of the services and goods and so forth need to clearly indicated, The flow of products and services must be simple and direct goods and services are directed and specific person or machine. Any improvement in the system must be made in accordance with the scientific method, at the lowest possible level in the organisation. 4. Implementation change: The implementation of change need to be carried out in an appropriate time. Further, organisation needs to be focused on monitoring and controlling actions to ensure everything flow smoothly. The implementation of lean system has affected the Toyotas internal linkages between its core and supporting process and its external linkages with its customers and suppliers. In the human resource department, they had emphasised on the right incentive systems that reward team work. Toyota has provided training and education for employees regarding the responsiveness of system to problems that makes the seemingly rigid system so flexible and adaptable to changing circumstance (Hino, 2006). As a consequence, Toyota developed a new HRM system inserted new program such as assimilation (process of bringing people into their new TPS culture) and training (On-the-job Training-OJT) into the recruitment system. They are adopting the OJT to encourage employees to learn their own jobs well to be able to train others (http://www.toyotauk.com). Furthermore, they exert tremendous efforts to develop people who live in their system through the kaizen program (continuous improvement) such as suggestion program, quality circles, leadership development and the like (Liker and Meier, 2006) (Appendix 6: HRM Framework TMUK, pg 27). 5. Review and consolidate: Feedback of the change process is needed for review and consolidation. Consolidation primarily refers to the unfreezing concept of Lewins model. After implementing the new TPS, Toyota had announced there is a huge reduction of costs in production process. Further, Toyota can better response to the customers needs and wants. To sum up, organisation may not able to sustain in the market if they dont manage the change process properly. Thus, managing change and the ability of perceive the change is crucial to future success. The resistance of Change However, there are some circumstances faced by Toyota when implementing the change in their operation. According to Mr. Stevenson, the employees of Toyota fear that they will be unable to implement the JIT approach in production with reach the cost-efficiency objectives, and therefore develop negative attitude toward the change or behave poorly if required to use them. Besides that, the staff of Toyota has used to the traditional production. Every day, they are doing the same job, thus, they rely on habits in doing the job. The habit of the employees has become a source of resistance to change. Furthermore, the implementations of changes require high capability workers and high skills workers. Some employees are fear of losing status, jobs, authority and other economic benefits has refused to change. It is because the changes lead to some change in the organisational structure of Toyota. Some low level workers have been promoted to become high skills workers to participate in the production lines. Some older workers are not able to cope with the changes, thus they tend to resist change. Techniques for Reducing Resistance There are various methods can be used to overcome the resistance to change: education and communication, participation, facilitation and support, negotiation, manipulation and co-optation and coercion. Among those techniques, Toyota has applied the education and communication techniques. They discuss the change with the employees to help them to see the logic of change. They try to understand the problems that faced by employees during the change process and attempt to solve it out. Apart from that, participation is undertaken by Toyota to work out the problem of resistance to change. Toyota has involved all the employees in the implementation of lean system in business operation. Toyota also provides supportive efforts such as training and development, which help the employees to adopt the change easily. (Source: Interview from Sales Executive Mr. Stevenson, R.) The Impact of Change on Toyotas Operation Production Process The external and internal factors had encouraged Toyota to build lean system in TPS a philosophy of continuous improvement and forced problem solving that drives out waste, which can help create a lean organisation. By implementing the new production system, all the stages in production must be carried out by establishing the quality and continually improving quality standard; therefore, it can meet total quality standards and delight customers. The revolutionary of the TPS has completely changed the manufacturing process in term of inventory, scheduling, quality control and so forth (Taylor and Brunt, 2002) (Appendix 7: JIT contributes competitive advantages, p 28). The revolutionary of TPS had encouraged Toyota create one-piece flow within the organisation because it helped Toyota to eliminate waste, force problem to surface, create interdependency, make problem uncomfortable and identify weak links in the flow and strengthen them (Appendix 8: Waste Reduction Model, pg 29). Thus, it can save their resources and uses it in other areas (Liker and Meier, 2006). The new TPS helped Toyota in establishing standardised process and procedures to create consistent performance and better manage their operation around the world. The revolutionary of the TPS is focusing on flexibility by basing production on demand rather than simply on capacity. According to Mr. Stevenson, Toyota has developed a flexibility and responsiveness that continues to set the standard for the industry by concentrating on small quantity and manufacturing on what customers want. With the continuous improvement, TPS has become the ideal system in todays rapidly changing global environment. TPS increases the production flexibility able to produce different models on one assembly line (http://news.bbc.co.uk). Marketing and Customer Services The old TPS is focusing on economic of scale rather than the customers needs and wants. Therefore, demand of products is low as the new competitors such as Ford and General Motors has introduced the new vehicles. The use of new TPS has changed from supporting dedicated assembly lines for one vehicle with high volume to low volume of different models of vehicles by using the same assembly line. Furthermore, the revolutionary of TPS had enabled the Toyota served all the segment of passenger car vehicle market by offering an extensive range of innovative, high quality vehicles and engines. The vehicles are designed to satisfy the varied demand of Toyotas customers, while delivering superior quality and reliability (Hino, 2006). Customer satisfaction is a top priority in today competitive market environment. Mr .Stevenson cited that the implementation of revolutionary of TPS has impacted on the business operation of Toyota Lean Customer Relationship Management (CRM). Toyota built lean CRM in response to the growing volume of customer information collected at the many touch-points during the customer lifecycle. Therefore, Toyota can capture the change in customers behaviour easily. The Customer First concept is generated from the TPS. Toyota realise that no matter how good the final product might be, it is worthless if the products dont meet customers demands and needs. Thus, Toyota Retail System (TRS) are developed to define the Toyota Way in retailing. The concept of Customer First is about putting the customer in the drivers seat before the car has even been designed. The concept has separated throughout the whole organisation. The creation of 14 principles of Toyota Way has applied to the TPS Plan Do Check Act to retail environment. The objectives of TRS are to reach efficiency in retailing and delivering best purchase and ownership experience for customers (http://www.toyota.co.jp). Technology The continuous improvement in TPS had developed the use of technology in production. The expensive fuel price had encouraged Toyota to develop hybrid engines (Lynch, 2006). Other than that, the issues of global warning has increasingly concerned by stakeholders. The development of hybrid technology enables Toyota to more emphasis on promoting environmental friendly vehicles, which can more commit to corporate social responsibilities. Traditionally, Toyota was using digital print to print large areas of solid colour without areas of banding appearing and ruining the piece. The development of new technology DocuColor enables Toyota to produce with exceptional print quality (www.xerox.com). Culture In the past, the culture of the Toyota has increased the costs of production; it is because employees keep producing the products without stopping and correcting the problem of the products. Therefore, Toyota has the intention to build up an organisation culture, where employees need to detect a problem, stop the problem immediately and solve the problem at that time (Krajewski, and et al., 2007). The improvement is made at the lowest level of the organisation so that the employees who are actually doing the work are actively involved in doing the improvement (Appendix 9: The contrastive between traditional method of correcting problem and the Toyota method of stopping to fix model, p30 ). Other than that, the implementation of lean system has fostered the culture of continuous improvement, which placed high value on performance and result. Mr. Stevenson cited that Toyota has also build up a close relationship with its suppliers, thus, Toyota only order the materials, which is needed and there is no extra storage for unused materials. Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Change In the past, Toyota is considered as a low cost producer. But, the low cost strategy unable to help Toyota to establish s strong position in the global and compete with its competitors. Therefore, the implementation of lean system in TPS with JIT approach enables Toyota to pursue both cost leadership and differentiation strategy (Morrison, 2006). Differentiation strategy can be developed through the total quality control and continuous improvement in the stages of TPS. Furthermore, the new TPS provides an opportunity for Toyota to pursue its global niche strategy Lexus, which tend to target high income level people and to increase its presence in the global market (Lynch, 2006). Other than that, new technology that invented into the TPS had lowered the cost of production through eliminating waste and making it more efficient for Toyota to change model quickly in response to changing customer taste. With the revolutionary of TPS, Toyota has dominated the top ranking for reliability and manufacturing excellence in the third party quality survey since year 2006. Based on a Consumer Report, there are 47 most reliable car models in today market. Surprisingly, 21 Toyotas models are ranking in the survey of evaluating around 1.3 million vehicles. Toyota had been voted the global most admired motor vehicles by Fortune 500 global executives in 2005 and 2006, ranking first in the industry for quality, and social responsibility (http://www.toyotauk.com). Today, Toyota has replaced GM as the worlds largest car manufacturer. The successful of Toyota is the global market is because of its sophisticated lean system in business operation: production, customer services and marketing areas. Traditionally, it takes 3 days to build up a car. With the implementation of JIT approach in TPS, it only takes 24 hours to build the car from a roll of steel to finished vehicle. In average, the construction of engine is done every 54 seconds (http://www.toyotauk.com). The whole concept of Toyota is customer first, which has result in the increasingly growth of sales in Europe in 2006. Toyota had announced its record sales in Europe for 10th year in a row the achievement of an annual sales growth of 13% and a market share of 5.8%. The development of hybrid technology was voted as the Best Eco-Friendly Engine in 1999 and 2000 (www.issolutions.co.uk). According to Mr. Stevenson, Toyota has maintained its competitive advantages without making any loss, while other large car manufacturers are making loss during the economic downturn. This has prove that the lean system in the Toyota is efficiency and effective and able to react to the external change. Conclusion The implementation of lean system in business operation in Toyota is focuses on elimination waste, zero inventories, respond to customers behaviour quickly, quality management, and continuous improvement. However, no process can ever be perfect, thus, continuous improvement is needed. The element of continuous improvement can be a competitive advantages for Toyota to sustain competitive in the global market. TPS enables Toyota to produce vehicles at low costs, but low costs in production only reduce the selling price (short-term benefit). Therefore, Toyota can endeavour to produce vehicles which contribute the long term benefits for customer fuel-efficient engines. Fuel efficient engines not only offer the customers with long-term benefit, but also cultivate the environmental protection policy. Furthermore, Toyota can research on every aspect of the vehicles and find out the way to save the customer long-term costs with the basic requirement of security and safety policy. Nowadays, global warming is becoming an issue that concerned by public. Although, Toyota had developed the new technology hybrid engines, which is a combination of petrol and electric. However, this technology is not widely developed by the Toyota because not all the vehicles are manufactured by using hybrid engine. In order to contribute to the society, this is an opportunity for Toyota to strive in research and development by using hybrid engines in producing all the vehicles. Technological changes can make well-establish product obsolete, while technology can be used as a value-added function to achieve organisational competitive (Terpstra and Sarathy, 2000) (Hill and Jones, 1998). In order to avoid from vehicles obsolete, Toyota has to always keep updating the latest technology that used in manufacturing. By using the latest technology, Toyota can be more innovative in creating and manufacturing the vehicles. The revolutionary of TPS has developed Toyota as a learning organisation learning continuously from the problem solving. Furthermore, globalisation had influenced the way Toyota conduct its business in term of marketing and customer services, production, human resource management, strategy, use of technology and its business process. The changed of company policies had led Toyota successfully passed its competitive competitors GM and Ford. The implementation of TPS enables Toyota to uses both cost leadership and differentiation strategy to compete in the global market. As a consequence, Toyota has become one of the world largest car manufacturer companies in term of low price and high quality. In conclusion, their lean system made them an innovative leader in the auto industry and served as an important cornerstone of their success. Appendix 1: Change Management Process Start of change process Diagnosis review the present and identify the future state Review and consolidate Implement change Plan and prepare for implementation Recognition of the need for change External change, problem opportunities. (Source: Hayes, J. (2002) The Theory and Practice of Change Management, 1st Edition, Palgrave Macmillan, New York) Appendix 2: Attributes of Lean Organisation Apply JIT techniques to reduce virtually all inventories. Establish system that assist employees produce a perfect part every time. Reduce space requirements by minimising the distance a part travels. Build close relationship with supplier, helping them to understand their needs and their customers needs. Educate supplier about the responsibility of helping meet customer needs. Eliminate all but value-added activities. Material handling, inspection and rework jobs are the likely target because these do not add value to product. Build the workforce by constantly improving job design, training, employee participation and commitment, and teamwor