School Trying Character Education on For Size

The role of the school is changing today. The school now must realize its role in character development. â€Å"Schools must recognize that they cannot accomplish the academic aspect of their mission if they do not attend to the needs of the whole child, and that the pursuit of a narrow academic missions alone is simply no longer sufficient†. This sentence should be a wake up call to schools today. We as teachers must understand that it is now becoming our job to develop the character of the children we teach. The character development of the child is not as strong as it once was. There are so many problems that kids are facing now. Children are now engaging in high-risk behaviors. These behaviors include alcohol, drugs, tobacco use, and violence. Children are not being taught at home the destruction that these things cause. Researchers, practitioners, policy makers, and business leaders are the ones addressing this lack of a full range of development in today†s youth. They feel that character development is as important to effective schooling as reading, math, science, or social studies. The youth will become active members of family, school community, and society as a whole. This development of character will also help them to more willingly take part in their education. Several things should be taken into consideration when we think about teaching character development. First off, we as educators must first understand what are role is and what is the purpose of schools today. Also, we have to know the students we teach. Knowing a student's home life should give us a better understanding of the type of character development they get from home. Then we must understand what to teach to help develop their character. How do we teach is the next thing we must look at How can we make this meaningful for the students, in and out of school. We need to make sure our staff is ready to teach. Finally, we need to find out where to teach. These questions are a guide for setting up a character development program. Character education helps its participants have more productive lives. It teaches the ability to distinguish between right and wrong. Character education teaches self-discipline, responsible decision making, respect for others, and a lot more qualities that help people to have healthy relationships and productive lives. When implementing a character education program, you need to follow some basic steps. Talk to the community, law enforcement, and teachers to find out some of the more dangerous problems that effect that community. Give schools the opportunity to find funds to implement a program, from business or industry. Help schools to find a model of character development from which they can get ideas and have an avenue to get questions answered.

Requisitos y medidas foto visa EE.UU. y cómo subirla

Requisitos y medidas foto visa EE.UU. y cà ³mo subirla Las fotos para las visas no inmigrantes, visas de inmigrantes y para participar en el sorteo de la loterà ­a de visas de diversidad de EE.UU. deben cumplir requisitos sobre cà ³mo debe lucir en ellas el fotografiado y medidas. Adems, en los casos en los que es necesario subir la foto al formulario de solicitud del visado, la imagen debe cumplir con los parmetros de peso, dimensiones y formato. Antes de seguir con este artà ­culo cabe destacar que no todos los solicitantes de visa para Estados Unidos necesitan sacar una foto y subirla al formulario de solicitud de la misma o llevarla en formato papel al consulado el dà ­a de la entrevista. Y es que en los casos de solicitarla en un consulado con Centro de Apoyo como CAS o ACS como sucede, por ejemplo, al solicitar la visa de turista en Argentina, Mà ©xico o Repà ºblica Dominicana, las fotos se toman en dichos centros junto con otros datos biomà ©tricos como las huellas digitales. Por lo tanto, toda la informacià ³n de este artà ­culo solamente aplica en los casos en los que las fotos no deban ser tomadas en un Centro de Apoyo. En el mismo se explican los requisitos de foto y fotografiado, tamaà ±o, peso y formato de las fotos digitales, cà ³mo saber si cumplen con los parmetros, cà ³mo modificarlos si fuera necesario y cà ³mo subir con à ©xito la foto al formulario de solicitud de la visa. Finalmente, cules son las caracterà ­sticas de las fotos en papel. Requisitos de las fotos para las visas americanas Las imgenes deben cumplir los siguientes requisitos: en color, con fondo blanco o blanco roto (off-white). La persona fotografiada, que es la que solicita la visa, debe mirar de frente a la cmara y asegurarse de que la cabeza sale centrada en la fotografà ­a y completa, desde el pelo hasta la barbilla, que debe alcanzar unas medidas de entre una pulgada y 1 3/8 pulgadas (entre 25 y 35 mm). Ambos ojos deben salir abiertos y la altura de los ojos caer entre 1 1/8 y 1 3/8 pulgadas del fondo de la fotografà ­a ( entre 28 y 35 mm). Para asegurarse de que se cumplen las especificaciones es recomendable familiarizarse con ejemplos que cumplen estos requisitos. No puede vestirse ningà ºn tipo de uniforme, salvo el religioso como por ejemplo en el caso de sacerdotes y monjas. Tampoco se deben llevar gorros, sombreros, velos o cualquier otra prenda u objeto que dificulte la vista del pelo, salvo que su utilizacià ³n està © justificada por motivos religiosos. Si habitualmente se utilizan audà ­fonos no es necesario quitarlos para sacar la foto si se tiene la precaucià ³n de evitar que se produzcan reflejos en los cristales. Sin embargo, en la actualidad si se usa espejuelos o lentes es necesario quitarlos, salvo cuando no sea posible hacerlo por razones mà ©dicas. En ningà ºn caso la oficina consular aceptar como vlidas fotos de mala calidad o que son el producto de haber escaneado la foto de un I.D., como por ejemplo una licencia de manejar. Tampoco son vlidas aquà ©llas en las que la persona sale de cuerpo completo. Dà ³nde tomar las fotos para la visa americana Si se est en Estados Unidos, en cualquier negocio de fotografà ­a que saquen fotos para el pasaporte americano. Lo mismo puede decirse de otros paà ­ses. En este caso es imprescindible hablar con el fotà ³grafo y especificarle los requisitos de fondo blanco, tamaà ±o, mirada al frente, etc. Incluso, si reà ºnen los requisitos, es posible hacerlo con un telà ©fono mà ³vil o una webcam. En estos casos, asegurarse de cumplir todas las directrices mencionadas y que la foto tiene calidad suficiente. Si la foto debe subirse al formulario de solicitud de la visa y no est ya digitalizada puede escanearse con una resolucià ³n de 300 pixeles por pulgada (12 pixeles por milà ­metro). Se puede enviar por correo electrà ³nico para descargarla en la computadora en la que se va a realizar el trmite de solicitud de la visa. Medidas, peso y formato de las fotos digitales para la visa americana. En los casos en los que la foto debe subirse al formulario de solicitud de la visa aparece la expresià ³n Photo Upload en dicha planilla. En estos casos, la imagen debe tener las siguientes caracterà ­sticas Tener una dimensià ³n mà ­nima de 600 x 600 pixeles (ancho x largo)En color de 24 bits por pixelSà ³lo se admite el formato JPEG.Y el tamaà ±o del archivo ha de ser de 240 kb o menor. Si es necesario, puede comprimirse con una proporcià ³n de 20 a 1 o menor. Se puede verificar si la foto cumple con esos parmetros colocando el cursor sobre ella y clickando con el botà ³n derecho del ratà ³n. Se abre la ventana de propiedades y, en la etiqueta de General puede verificarse el tamaà ±o en KB. En la etiqueta de Detalle puede comprobarse el alto y ancho de la imagen. Si no cumpliese con los requisitos seà ±alados anteriormente, es posible cambiarlos utilizando un programa. Para hacerlo, si se tiene una computadora con el sistema operativo Windows colocar el cursor sobre la imagen, hacer click con el ratà ³n derecho y en Abrir con elegir Paint. Checar la Barra de Estatus y asà ­ es posible ver la informacià ³n de la foto en la parte inferior de la misma. A continuacià ³n, para ajustar la foto a los parmetros necesarios clickar en el icono de Seleccionar para cambiar el alto y ancho de la foto. Una vez que en la barra de estatus se obtienen los nà ºmeros que se buscan clickar en Guardar y elegir como formato JPEG y a continuacià ³n en Guardar como, dale un nombre y guardar. Si se tiene una computadora Mac puede utilizarse Paintbrush. En todos los casos pueden utilizarse otros programas informticos de manipulacià ³n de fotografà ­a. Cà ³mo subir la foto al formulario de solicitud de la visa Cuando se est llenando el formulario de solicitud de visa el momento para subir la foto es cuando se llega a Upload Image. Se debe clickar en ese botà ³n. A continuacià ³n aparecen las directrices ya mencionadas sobre peso, dimensiones y formato. Si alguno de los parmetros no es el exigido se va a obtener un mensaje de error y, si es el formato el equivocado, un mensaje de Only JPEG Images. La solucià ³n es modificar los parmetros como se explicà ³ en el apartado anterior. Una vez que se est seguro de que todo est correcto clickar a Browse y elegir la foto. Dar a OK y aparecer la foto. En ese momento se pueden ver dos botones: Upload Again y Confirm. Clickar en este à ºltimo y dar a OK y asà ­ se sube realmente la foto al formulario y ya se puede continuar con la aplicacià ³n. Fotos 5x5 para la visa americana En algunos consulados o para algunos tipos de visas el requisito es llevar una o dos fotos a la entrevista. En este caso deben cumplir con los requisitos de fondo blanco o blanco roto, no espejuelos, mirar de frente, etc. explicados con anterioridad. Adems, la foto debe: Estar impresa en papel de buena calidadTamaà ±o de 5x5, es decir, 5 cm de ancho por 5 cm de largo, o lo que es lo mismo: 2 pulgadas por 2 pulgadas (51 x 51 mm).Si se pide ms de una foto, todas deben ser idà ©nticas. Adems, si la foto se subià ³ digitalmente siguiendo los puntos que seà ±alaba el formulario de solicitud de la visa es prudente llevar una foto de estas caracterà ­sticas tambià ©n el dà ­a de la entrevista. Para re-asegurarse de que la foto est clara y no ha habido ningà ºn problema con el sistema. Puntos Clave: fotos para visa americana Las visas no inmigrante, las de inmigrante y la loterà ­a de visas de diversidad requieren una fotografà ­a o ms del solicitante. Dependiendo del tipo de visa y/o consulado, el solicitante puede tener que presentarse a un Centro de Atencià ³n donde le tomarn las huellas digitales y la foto antes de la entrevista en el consulado.Por el contrario, si debe subirla digitalmente al formulario de solicitud de la visa o presentarla en papel en el consulado, los requisitos son los siguientes:Requisitos de la foto: en color, fondo blanco o blanco roto. El fotografiado debe mirar a la cmara, con los ojos abiertos y sin gafas ni sombreros o gorras. La excepcià ³n son los velos religiosos, por ejemplo, los de las monjas.Parmetros digitales: formato JPGE, mximo 240kb y medidas de 600 pixeles de ancho por 600 pixeles de largo. Programas como Paint y Paintbrush permiten modificar los parmetros de las foto para ajustarlos a estos requisitos.Foto en papel: debe ser de buena calidad y tener un tam aà ±o de 5 cm de ancho por 5 cm de largo. Si deben presentarse dos fotos, ambas sern iguales.Dà ³nde sacar las fotos: pueden tomarse en cualquier fotà ³grafo que saque fotos para pasaporte, especificando las caracterà ­sticas que debe tener la foto. Posteriormente, si debe subirse digitalmente para subirla al formulario de solicitud de la visa, puede escanearse empleando una resolucià ³n de 300 pixeles por pulgada. Este es un artà ­culo informativo. No es asesorà ­a legal de ningà ºn tipo.

Arna Bontemps, Documenting the Harlem Renaissance

Arna Bontemps, Documenting the Harlem Renaissance In the introduction to the poetry anthology Caroling Dusk, Countee Cullen described the poet Arna Bontemps as being, ...at all times cool, calm, and intensely religious yet never takes advantage of the numerous opportunities offered them for rhymed polemics. Bontemps might have published poetry, childrens literature, and plays during the Harlem Renaissance but he never gained the fame of Claude McKay or Cullen. Yet  Bontemps  work as an educator and librarian allowed the works of the Harlem Renaissance to be revered for generations to come. Early Life and Education Bontemps was born in 1902 in Alexandria, La., to Charlie and Marie Pembrooke Bontemps. When Bontemps was three, his family moved to Los Angeles as part of the Great Migration. Bontemps attended public school in Los Angeles before heading to Pacific Union College. As a student at Pacific Union College, Bontemps majored in English, minored in history and joined the Omega Psi Phi fraternity. The Harlem Renaissance Following Bontemps college graduation, he headed to New York City and accepted a teaching position at a school in Harlem. When Bontemps arrived, the Harlem Renaissance was already in full swing. Bontemps poem The Day Breakers was published in the anthology, The New Negro in 1925. The following year, Bontemps poem, Golgatha is a Mountain won first prize in the Alexander Pushkin contest sponsored by Opportunity. Bontemps wrote the novel, God Sends Sunday in 1931 about an African-American jockey. That same year, Bontemps accepted a teaching position at Oakwood Junior College. The following year, Bontemps was awarded a literary prize for the short story, A Summer Tragedy. He also began publishing childrens books. The first, Popo and Fifina: Children of Haiti, was written with Langston Hughes. In 1934, Bontemps published You Cant Pet a Possum and was fired from Oakwood College for his personal political beliefs and library, which were not aligned with the schools religious beliefs. Yet, Bontemps continued to write and in 1936s Black Thunder: Gabriels Revolt: Virginia 1800, was published. Life After the Harlem Renaissance In 1943, Bontemps returned to school, earning a masters degree in library science from the University of Chicago. Following his graduation, Bontemps worked as the head librarian at Fisk University in Nashville, Tenn. For more than twenty years, Bontemps worked at Fisk University, spearheading the development of various collections on African-American culture. Through these archives, he was able to coordinate the anthology Great Slave Narratives. In addition to working as a librarian, Bontemps continued to write. In 1946, he wrote the play, St. Louis Woman with Cullen.   One of his books, The Story of the Negro was awarded the Jane Addams Childrens Book Award and also received the Newberry Honor Book. Bontemps retired from Fisk University in 1966 and worked for the University of Illinois before serving as curator of the James Weldon Johnson Collection. Death Bontemps died on June 4, 1973, from a heart attack. Selected Works by Arna Bontemps Popo and Fifina, Children of Haiti, by Arna Bontemps and Langston Hughes, 1932You Cant Pet a Possum, 1934Black Thunder: Gabriels Revolt: Virginia 1800, 1936Sad-Faced Boy, 1937Drums at Dusk: A Novel, 1939Golden Slippers: An Anthology of Negro Poetry for Young Readers, 1941The Fast Sooner Hound, 1942They Seek a City, 1945We Have Tomorrow, 1945Slappy Hooper, the Wonderful Sign Painter, 1946The Poetry of the Negro, 1746-1949: an anthology, edited by Langston Hughes and Arna Bontemps, 1949George Washington Carver, 1950Chariot in the Sky: a Story of the Jubilee Singers, 1951Famous Negro Athletes, 1964The Harlem Renaissance Remembered: Essays, Edited, With a Memoir, 1972Young Booker: Booker T. Washingtons Early Days, 1972The Old South: A Summer Tragedy and Other Stories of the Thirties, 1973

A Personal Manifesto on Success and Happiness Research Paper

A Personal Manifesto on Success and Happiness - Research Paper Example As the paper declares work as a noun defines an activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result. Another conception of the word work is that it is an activity as a means of earning income or employment. From these two concepts of work can be drawn different perceptions. Work as merely an act of doing something productive and work as an activity that generates income such as employment. The latter concept of work suits the definition that is widely known by most people. Having a job, an employment, running a business, all these are confined in the context of work that has an end goal of making money, salary, income or profit. According to the report findings the history of work is far rooted in the history of mankind. How work is viewed today is a byproduct of human experiences along the path of historical milestones of men. The concept of work can be traced back even into the realms of the Bible. God said to Adam, "In the sweat of thy face shall thou eat bread, till thou return to the ground". Even in the beginning according to the Bible, God assigned the allegedly first ever work to Adam. Work then can be described as some activities that need sweating in order to eat. In that sense it would tilling the soil and planting and growing plants to bear fruits to eat. Work then spells really hard work and is contrasted with leisure as Adam Smith puts it as toil and trouble. Thus leisure is a different story from work that is why according to the bible God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it: because that in it he had rested from all his work. (Genesis 3:19 as cited by Dupre and Gagnier). If to rely alon e from the following context it can be concluded that God wants people to work really hard during work days and set a separate day for leisure which is somewhat deviated from the modern context of work that can go along with play—having fun while working all at the same time. People of yesteryears works comparatively different than modern people does work. The work they knew then was more on physical exertion. Tracing back the first humans, they did not work in the way that we understand it today. Primitively like before, our ancestors spent much of their time searching for food and shelter, a short-term and endlessly repeated process that was necessary for survival (The Readers Digest Australia). This repeated process lead to the definition of work division wherein some are hunters and others are gatherers and basically women do the cooking for the whole group to survive and move on. Work in this essence brings definition to food and survival. The idea of the working day is a product of

Is God a Man or a Woman Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Is God a Man or a Woman - Essay Example The Upanishadic texts (like some of the earlier Vedic texts) are primarily concerned with acquiring knowledge of the "soul", "spirit" and "god". The Upanishadic concept of God was abstract and philosophical. Different Upanishadic texts postulated the doctrine of an Universal Soul that embraced all physical beings. All life emanated from this universal soul and death simply caused individual manifestations of the soul to merge or mingle back with the universal soul.. The Hindu philosophy of the Atman and Paramatman finds its basis from this scientific concept. As a corollary to this theory emerged the notion that even as individual beings might refer to this universal soul - i.e. God in varied ways - by using different names and different methods of worship - all living beings were nevertheless related to each other and to the universal God, and capable of merging with the universal god. Such an approach was not incompatible with secular society, and permitted different faiths and sub-faiths to coexist in relative peace and harmony. In the course of defining their philosophy, the scholars of the Upanishad period raised several questions that challenged mechanical theism (as was also done in some hymns from the Rig Veda and Atharva Veda). If God existed as the unique creator of the world, they wondered who created this unique creator. The logical pursuit of such a line of questioning could either lead to an infinite series of creators, or to the rejection or abandonment of this line of questioning. The common theist solution to this philosophical dilemma was to simply reject logic and demand unquestioning faith on the part of the believer. A few theists attempted to use this contradiction to their own advantage by positing that god existed precisely because "He" was indescribable by mere mortals. But, by and large, this contradiction was taken very seriously by the philosophers of the Upanishadic period. The Upanishadic philosophers attempted to resolve this contradiction by defining God as an entity that extend ed infinitely in all dimensions covering both space and time. This was a philosophical advance in that it attempted to come to terms with at least the most obvious challenges to the notion of god as a human-like creator and did not require the complete rejection of logic. In the very process of their questioning, (and albeit speculative reasoning about god), they had opened the door for rationalists and even outright atheists who took their tentative questioning about the role and the character of God as "creator" to conclusions that rejected theism entirely. But in either case, many rationalist and/or naturalist philosophical streams emerged from this initial foundation. Some were nominally theistic (but in the abstract Upanishadic vein), others were agnostic (as the early Jains), while the early Buddhists and the Lokayatas were atheists. Buddhism, on the other hand is basically a religion of the mind, of the present moment awareness, of leading a virtuous and responsible life, and of the individual who is in search of an answer to the problems of change, impermanence and suffering within the confines of his own experience as a practitioner of the Eightfold path. The tenets of Buddhism are not centered around the concept of an universal supreme being, who in other religions, is responsible for

Architecture history exam Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Architecture history exam - Essay Example One of the reasons for these differences was religion, in which the Athenians had pagan religions that were not prohibitive on gender relations. Therefore, architects were not held to religious standards during construction and saw exposure of men and women nude even in their private quarters as a sign of civilization, unlike Islamic cities in which architects had to adhere to strict religious requirements on gender segregation and privacy. In Islamic cities, the creation of turf for men and women was one of the most important elements during design and construction. Rather than these turfs establishing distinctive regions of physicality; however, they were meant to insulate the genders by increasing line-of-sight distance (Abu-Lughod 162). This necessitated the height of nearby buildings and window placement in such a way that protected the visual privacy of neighbors. This was meant to prevent men from seeing women in their privacy, although it did not prevent women from seeing men in their privacy. The architecture of Islamic cities in this way was different to that in Athens. For example, the Parthenon in Athens contained various open floors that contained many offices in which both genders could attend, as well as a spacious hall designed for transactions with the public without any form of overt gender segregation. While there was some segregation, this was only physical in nature and not visual. In addition, the use of columns, rather than solid walls ensured that both genders could see one another in their privacy (Tournikiotis 43). In addition, the agora that was located at the top of the hill was mainly made of terracing that allowed citizens to sit and watch presentations but did not limit the line-of-sight in any way, being visible from all part of the city. Away from public spaces, the dwelling areas in Islamic cities were also segregated into private and public space. This was meant to ensure that men could move around the residential area without interfering with women’s activities and movements. For example, most houses had wings for men on the first floor that accessed the garden and balconies on the ground floor and these wings contained the sleeping quarters for the house-head and sitting rooms (Abu-Lughod 163). However, the women were housed on the 2nd and 3rd floors for receiving guests and living quarters. In Athens, women were also confined to the interior parts of the house. However, when it came to a space like the Parthenon, the democratic spaces were created to be viewed from all parts of the city, while the agora was designed in a way that exposed voting individuals to everyone. The main difference between these spaces in Athens and Islamic cities was that men were allowed to walk naked in Athens, although, just as in Islamic cities, women were expected to be clothed with dignity (Tournikiotis 33). Walking naked for Athenian men in their houses, which were exposed, was meant to be a way of affirming thei r masculinity and showing them, as good lovers. Another obvious sign of sexual segregation in Islamic cities was the public bath sign that indicates the day ladies’ are meant to take a bath. Other signs show subtler governance of space and time. In addition, women from poor families who could not afford top duplicate space were protected from

How Toyota Achieve Its Objectives By Implementing Tqm Marketing Essay

How Toyota Achieve Its Objectives By Implementing Tqm Marketing Essay The Toyota motor company of Japan has taken this challenge seriously and has proved its ability to compete with the once emperors of the industry such as Ford, Volvo, Chevrolet et al. Buy careful adoption of cutting edge technologies such as Total quality management, Toyota has turned itself into a game changer in the industry. This assignment focuses on how Toyota achieved its objectives using TQM. It unfolds in three stages starting with TQM and its scope. Secondly competitive environment analysis with SWOT and PESTLE analyses and finally it arrives at conclusion based on a thorough evaluation of the organization. Company Overview Toyota Motor Company (TMC) is the crown of Japanese auto industry. Started as a small car manufacturer on August 28, 1937 it gifted many quality innovations to the world throughout its history. In the early 1980s Toyota won its first quality control award in Japan. The company launched its luxury brand Lexus in 1989 which became a massive success. It also manufactures Scion an economical automobile brand that targets young adults. Toyota also conquered the hybrid car market with the launch of its iconic car Prius in 17. Today with a work force of 71,116 and an annual sale of US$228+ billion, Toyota is as profitable as all the other car companies combined. In 2007 it became the worlds largest auto manufacturer beating General Motors. (Info http://www.toyota-global.com/) Literature Review Total Quality management Total quality management can be defined as A management psychology that seeks to integrate all organizational functions such as marketing, finance, design, engineering, production, customers satisfaction et al. to focus on meeting customer needs and organizational objectives. [Abstract Besterfield D, Michna Besterfield C, Besterfield Glen and Besterfield-Sacre Mary Total Quality Management (3rd Edition) (2002)] The team of the organization that the TQM is implementing tries to take part in improving processes, products, services as well as the culture which they work. This approach is inspired by quality leaders such as Philip B Crosby, W. Edwards Deming, Kaonru Ishikawa and Joshep M. Juran. According to Deming TQM involves 14 principles. 1. Create constancy of purpose 2. Adopt a new philosophy of cooperation 3. Cease dependence on mass inspection to achieve quality 4. End the practice of awarding business 5. Improve constantly, and forever 6. Institute training 7. Adopt and institute leadership for the management of people, 8. Drive out fear and build trust 9. Break down barriers between departments. 10. Eliminate slogans, exhortations, and targets asking for zero defects or new levels of productivity 11. Eliminate numerical goals, numerical quotas and management by objectives 12. Remove barriers that rob people of joy in their work 13. Institute a vigorous program of education and self-improvement. 14. Put everybody in the company to work to accomplish the transformation. Today The concept of quality is significant more than ever before. The history of quality goes as far as 1920s to the times of gurus such as F.W. Taylor who is the father of scientific management. It erupted in 1950s in Japan in a time where the Japanese were searching ways to boost their economy that was ruined by World War 2. By 70s high quality Japanese goods had flooded the US and European markets. It took 20 years for the west to catch up the Japanese quality system. By today the growing global competition the quality has become a decisive factor and is inspired by changing customer needs. Today the customer is the person who defines the quality of a product. Quality management is important because achieving a higher quality is ever changing. Also failing to meet the quality standards continuously would result in losing customers. An organization can take many initiatives to assure quality of its products. Standardization is one such initiative that assures quality. Standardization can be carried out by round interchangeability, variety reduction; improved communication of technical criteria, commonly agreed safety and performance parameters. Standardization applies to raw materials, testing, sampling methods as well as processes Institutional learning is another way of ensuring quality. Here the training process for workers are recorded and will be used in the learning process. The learning forms such as lessons as well as good practices are the primary sources of the knowledge working process. The institutional learning process can be further enhanced through training workshops, evaluation material as well as electronic training media. Also by way of knowledge management an organization can assure the quality of its products. Under knowledge management the capacity to retain knowledge, educational capacity, design and training methods, the training programs as well as qualified trainers are the majors concerns under knowledge management. The fruits of knowledge management can only be picked when The learnt knowledge puts in to practice. The knowledge is material in innovation. Turning tacit knowledge in to explicit knowledge Gathering and preserving knowledge from every possible source such as information, experience etc. SWOT Analysis SWOT analysis is a method used to analyze the internal and external environment of an organization. Following is a comprehensive SWOT analysis of Toyota Motor Company. Strengths Toyota operates factories in US and China that led to increase in company profits since 2005. The organization through careful segmentation, Targeting and positioning offers the right product mix to the market. Toyota is highly efficient in its manufacturing which uses total quality management. Toyota has a strong brand name which is a house hold brand name all around the world. Weaknesses Toyota is excessively focused on US and Japanese markets. Thus suffers from fluctuating economic and political conditions of these countries. Toyota has few layers in its hierarchy and as a result there are few opportunities for promotions. Heavy emphasize on techniques such as kaizen has led to higher level of stress among workers. Opportunities Toyota and Lexus has pioneered the environmentally friendly technologies. The world needs vehicles inspired by such technologies more than ever. The company is targeting the urban youth market which has a huge potential. The European Union is emerging as a world of opportunities for auto manufacturers. Toyota already has a large market share in countries such as Denmark, Finland, Ireland et al. Threats Global recession has drastically affected the performance of the global auto industry. Rising gas prices due to the OPEC decision of price hike is a severe damage. In 200, 2010 the product recall of Toyota was estimated to be million units. This can have adverse effects the organizations reputation. Toyota faces strong competition from rivals. New entrants from China, South Korea and India are growing rapidly. (Info http://www.marketingteacher.com/swot/toyota-swot.html) PESTLE Analysis The PESTLE stands for P Political E Economical S Social T Technological L Legal E Environmental Political Since it is a global organization Toyota needs to observe the global political situation. For the past few years Toyota has been enjoying from some of the governments key decisions. The governments decision to limit vehicle imports to Japan and the US governments introduction of quota system in vehicle importing eases the pressure of heavy competition from the outsiders. The Japanese government has provided stimulus packages and tax reliefs to deal with the recent economic down turn. Economical The global recession has hit the global auto industry severely. With inevitable losses companies tend to cut jobs. The same is applicable to Toyota. Due to sky rocketing cost of living people might be prioritizing the fulfillment of their needs at primitive levels. In such a background the industry might get a serious blow. Also during the past 5 consecutive years the global auto mobile sales in major markets have sharply dropped. Social Social factors are vital in deciding the demand for a certain good. Throughout the past decade Japan is experiencing a growing adult population. It is estimated that by 2030 the 65 year old population will be 25.6% of the total population of Japan. Some critical changes in the age structure of the country can be observed. Also the countrys negative population growth rates provide serious implications for the business organizations. Because the shrinking population implies that the business organizations will have to face a shortage in skilled labor in the near future. [Source Matsumoto Yoshiko Faces of Aging: The Lived Experiences of the Elderly in Japan ] Technology With the introduction of cutting edge production technologies adoption of such technologies in the auto industry can be widely seen. Use of robotics for production in Japan has become a major trend. In this information age people have more ways to know about products which makes the present consumer a highly aware one compared to some decades back. The development in World Wide Web led to many organizations going online. The organization will have to adapt to the new ground realities of online marketing to stay ahead of the curve. Legal Today although the free trade is been heavily promoted some key player in the global economy are following protectionism. Countries such as India, Brazil et al are imposing legal restrictions on foreign auto manufacturers in order to promote indigenous manufacturing. With its recall of some of the car models in 2010 Toyota had to face several court cases over accidents occurred due to defect Toyota cars. It was reported that Toyota has paid $ 1.2 million in settlement of a case that was filed against the company. (Info http://www.dailymarkets.com/stock/2010/12/28/toyota-pays-10m-crash-compensation/) Environment The global warming and climate change has become a burning problem in todays world. The changes in this regard have a major influence on the global auto mobile industry. The global warming has insisted the global auto manufacturing firms to come up with less emission solutions. Governments all around the world are raising the standards and tightening the environmental laws on this matter. In addition to the global warming problem the dwindling oil reserves in Middle Eastern countries which are expected to come to an end as soon as 2040s has urged the auto manufacturers to seek more sustainable and energy efficient solutions for the future. The green marketing has become a major weapon for any organization competing in todays auto industry. Today the green products as well as green production methods has become a threshold in many cases. Thus any organization lagging behind its counterparts in green marketing is in the path to destruction. Analysis Although the total quality management is widely adopted in todays highly dynamic business environment Toyota motor company has its own version of quality management called the Toyota production system or TPS. The TPS includes just in time production which means manufacturing products in required amounts avoiding excess inventories Kanban and Jidoko or automation. According to the field research done and published by Harvards Steven J. Spear it leads to the conclusion that Toyota has achieved a dynamic capability by following the Rules-in-Use for Organizational design, improvement, and adaptation. [Source Spear J Steven Just-in-Time in practice at Toyota: Rules-in-Use for building self-diagnostic, adaptive work-systems Harvard Business Review Oct 2002] The paper identifies that in TPS managed organizations every operation is performed by carrying out hypothesis testing experiments that makes accelerated generation and accumulation of individual and organizational learning about coordinating delegating, and performing work done collaboratively. This also includes work which is done repeatedly few times. The findings adds literature by explaining the most tools that got lot of attention in the operations research process were trustworthy and were giving uninterrupted service without any malfunctioning. lean_cs_toyota.gif [Source http://www.icsti.su/rus_ten3/1000ventures_e/presentations/production_systems.html] Just in time The idea behind just in time is manufacturing the required amounts in required numbers at the required time. For instance the assembly line of a car arrives all the sub assembly lines should reach the main assembly line in right quantities. This will eliminate the need for inventories thus removing the requirement for warehouses and storage facilities. As a result the inventory cost will be drastically reduced giving a higher capital turn out to the company. The JIT manufactures quality products in an efficient manner by completely eliminating waste, inconsistencies and unwanted use of production lines. According to the JIT the Toyota by adhering to the following guidelines can manufacture a car which was ordered by a customer in a soonest possible manner. No sooner an order is received for a vehicle the instructions as well as specifications of the vehicle reach the start of the production line. The assembly line is stored with sufficient parts and components to enable the plant to assemble any kind of vehicle model without any delays. The assembly line must replace the parts used by retrieving the same number of parts from the parts-producing process. The preceding process should store a small number of all types of parts to manufacture only the numbers of parts that were retrieved by an operator from the next process. Although it proves to be a success of following JIT method it is a complicated exercise at Toyota as its business involves hundreds of spare parts and components. Kanban system Although many believe that kanban is TPS, the kanban method exist to manage the just in time method. Simply it is an information system which controls the quantities in every process. In kanban the required amount of units and types are written in a card called kanban. It is send to the people in preceding process to the subsequent process which connects many processes in a Toyota plant. This method is supported by followings. Smoothing of process Reduction of machine set up time Autonomation Standardization of jobs Improvement activities Kanban uses two cards. One a withdrawal card and the other a production order card. jit.gif (Source http://www.toyota-global.com/) According to the above figure there are two operational flows as production instruction kanban and the operational flow of parts retrieval kanban. In the production instruction kanban it involves 3 distinctive steps. Firstly a production instruction kanban A is removed when an operator retrieves parts. Then the numbers of parts that are indicated in the kanban card are only manufactured. Thirdly the kanban is attached to the newly manufacture parts ready for the next process. Then the next process starts on the operational flow of parts retrieval kanban. The parts are transferred to this process from the preceding process. Then as the first step the parts retrieval kanban is removed when an operator uses parts. Secondly the operator carries the kanban to retrieve replacement parts. As the third step the operator removes the production instruction kanban and replaces it with a parts retrieval kanban. Finally the parts that are displaying the parts retrieval kanban are transported to the next process. Autonomation To gain maximum of just in time 100% good units must reach the prior process. And this process should continue without any interruptions. This means quality control must co-exist with JIT to get the best out of kanban. The idea behind autonomation is built in a mechanism means to avoid mass production of defective items in product lines. It involves autonomous inspections for abnormalities in the process. At Toyota all machines are autonomous where every machine is attached with automatic stopping device. This avoids mass production of defective items and also alarms machine break downs if there are any. The above theory also applies to the manual works at Toyota where an employee pushes the stop button if something abnormal happens in the production line. This would eventually cease the operations of his whole lines. In order to detect discrepancies in the process a device called andon, an electric light board is hung very high in the factory that it is visible to everyone this is called Toyotas visual control system. Conclusion The Toyota production system is a practical and effective as it popped out from the real life experience of the organization. This system is enriched with practical effects, actual practices and implications over the analysis. This system has a vital role in developing the quality of operations of the companies all around the world. Even to this date hundreds of western companies are using the Toyota quality management methods which are a clear indication of Toyotas success. Since Toyotas founding we have adhered to the core principal of contributing to society through the practice of manufacturing high quality products and services. Our business practices and activities based on this core principal created values, beliefs and business methods that over the years have become a source of competitive advantage. these are the managerial values and business methods that are known collectively as the Toyota way. Fujio Cho, president Toyota [Source Liker Jeffery, The Toyota Way, McGraw-hill, 2003]