Management studies Essay Example for Free

Management studies Essay Introduction Since starting the DMS in September I have found the workshop programme very useful. I have learnt many styles and techniques of management and from this have applied to my workplace with very effective results, also using my workplace as an experimental ground for practising my new techniques. From this, I have learnt from my mistakes and errors and rectified them to continually improve my own performance, and thus improve the performance of my department within the business. From leaving school with four o levels, I started my working career as an engineer; attaining an apprenticeship at Phillips Components. After four years of completing this, along with a higher national certificate in computer aided engineering, I acquired a position of Toolmaker in the Toolroom. I then continued working as a Toolmaker for the next eleven years without ever considering a managerial position. After many years of Toolmaking I acquired the position of Improvement Technician within the Sub-components department (press shop) and after Twelve months was offered the position of Shift Leader within this department. From taking the leap from Engineering to production/people management it was recommended that I returned to college to complete a Diploma in Management Studies to gain the academic qualifications to compliment my new role. Learning Style and Teamwork Theory One of the first workshop sessions was based on learning style and teamwork theory. For this we completed questionnaires on learning style and the Belbin self perception inventory, a questionnaire based on individuals team role profile. The learning style questionnaire was designed to understand your preferred learning style and help you pinpoint your learning preferences so that you are in a better position to select learning experiences that suit your style. The results are broke down into four different styles: Activists, Reflectors, Theorists and Pragmatists. After scoring myself on the questionnaire, the results suggested that I had a very strong preference towards being an Activist, a strong preference towards a reflector and moderate preference towards Theorist and Pragmatist. An Activist is a person who is very open-minded and enthusiastic about new ideas or experiences. They tend to act first and consider the consequences later. They tackle problems by brainstorming and thrive on the challenge of new experiences. They are gregarious people constantly involving themselves with others but, in doing so, they seek to centre all activities around themselves. With the learning style of an Activist I find it very hard work to sit down and study, I also find it very difficult reading a book as I tend to find my mind wandering off on to other activities I could be doing. Analysing my learning style within the workplace, I would tend to agree with these results. I have a reputation at work for being very enthusiastic and passionate about my department and also about the company I work for, also preferring to physically get stuck in with problems we encounter, rather than sitting down and discussing them. Within each learning style there is a set path we need to progress through in order to get the most out of any learning experience, these are as follows: Step one, having an experience In step one there are two easy in which we can have an experience; one is to be passive and allow the experience to happen and you needing to react, two is to deliberately seek them out in a proactive manner. Step two, reviewing the experience I tend to think this is the one we most often miss out on, we tend to jump this one and come to a conclusion before weve reviewed an experience in a none judgemental manner (with an open mind and no preconceptions). Time needs to be taken out to properly review any experience to gain anything from it. Step three, conclusions from the experience This involves looking at the reviewed experience step to understand and see what lessons can be learnt. Step four, planning the next step There would be little point in reviewing or coming up with any conclusions from the experience if we did not apply this newly gained knowledge to future events. The Self Perception Inventory The Belbin self perception inventory specifies nine roles for the efficient working of a team. Once the questionnaire is completed, a team role profile is then calculated for the individual and a counselling report is created. The chart below shows how I scored: Roles and Descriptions Team-Role Contribution Percentage Score Specialist 93% Plant 81% Resource Investigator 73% Shaper 69% Complete Finisher 63% Monitor Evaluator 50% Team Worker 25% Co-Coordinator 9% Implementer 2% My profile shows that I gain great intrinsic satisfaction from the nature of work in which I am engaged. For me work is like a hobby, offering me a chance to exercise my creative disposition and achieving professionalism all at the same time. As far as the outside world is concerned, I will be known and respected for my knowledge and special skills and for the fact that I am in the forefront of most new developments. My limitations I may have to accept apply to my administrative and managerial skills. I may have to make a conscious choice in terms of the direction of my career. A wider arena would offer broader prospects of advancement, but would also face stiffer competition, with the chance of me loosing some of my professional expertise. The alternative would be to build up my personal reputation in my own special area and carve out my own job within it. Reflecting on my results from the self perception inventory, I must realise that to become a better team player, I must understand my allowable weaknesses from the roles I scored high in. Also I must work on increasing the lower end scores, by becoming a better co-ordinator and implementer, also increasing my team worker skills. Residential To start the course off, our first learning experience of working within teams was the residential activity at Dove Nest. After a brief introduction (and cup o tea) we were soon split into four groups and given the mine field activity to complete. This being a perfect ice-breaker to the course, testing our teamwork skills and also a perfect opportunity to get to know other students. Instantly, different individuals personalities and trends were noticed and within minutes different traits were easily recognised as some members co-ordinated whilst others problem solved or challenged ideas. Our team decided it would be an advantage to amalgamate with the adjacent team to create a synergy were by we would attain greater power due to the creation of synthetic energy, i.e. the understanding that to join forces more than twice the power of each individual team would be achieved. Unfortunately, this was not the case. Although we did manage to complete task, we didnt accomplish it in the fast est time. Before to long we were soon split into other groups and given different tasks to complete with goals clearly set. One task I thoroughly enjoyed and learned a lot from was a task where all team members had to run up a hill (about 20 metres) to a square marked out on the floor (approx 3m sq.). Inside the square was 18 randomly spaced tags pinned to the ground, numbered 1 to 18. Our task was for all team members to run up to the square, then all the tags had to be touched, respectively from 1 to 18, but only one member was allowed into the square at any one time. Once this was complete, all the team then had to run back to the start point and cross this point within a specified time. We were given an allocated time to plan the task and also only given three timed attempts to achieve our target. Instantly we conducted a brainstorming session to assess all our different options. Then after heated debate about which ideas we thought would be the most efficient we then decided to perform what we thought would be the fastest trials. After timing each option we then chose the fastest and analysed this to see if we could improve on the practiced times. Once we thought we couldnt improve any more we then attempted to reach our goal. Of the three timed events, the first one was about twenty seconds overtime, the second just under, but by the third attempt we had shaved about forty seconds off our original time, also clearly beating the goal set. We achieved this through everybody committing to the teams needs to achieve the goal set, where everybody knew their place within the team, even though everybody did not agree with some of the decisions. A great sense of satisfaction and camaraderie was achieved by the conquering of this task, with all the team thoroughly motivated and geared up, ready for the next task. Finally on day one we were given the task of running our own business, the final goal, to manufacture and sail a raft on Lake Windermere. Different roles of team members soon developed, one person accounting, another designing, whilst others negotiated with opposing teams to acquire either more money or materials. Once enough materials were obtained, the raft was ready to be manufactured. Again, different team roles were seen, as some members built the raft whilst others delegated different tasks, and others stood back, saying thatll never float, youll not get me on that, only to be proved wrong once the race got underway. For me, there were many learning points from Dove Nest even though at this point we had not covered these techniques at college. It was an excellent opportunity to improve my listening and negotiating skills, as well as improving my delegating techniques. The best learning experiences for me were teamwork and motivation. Working within teams were nobody knew other peoples knowledge or capabilities, or what specialities they may possess created an atmosphere were by to achieve the goals set, individuals roles had to be rapidly appointed. I also found the problem solving activities very stimulating, probably through my engineering background. Dove nest was also an excellent starting point to the course as many students (myself included) were novices to the styles and theories ahead, thus giving everybody a perfect foundation to the year ahead. Reflecting on how each team member performed on the residential, I think it would be an excellent idea to perform a similar residential exercise at the end of the year to recognise the improvement of individuals performance. Presentation Skills A great learning point for me was the workshop on presentation skills. When confronted with the task of presenting to the group I was keen to improve my ability as presentations are a key role in my position at work, whether presenting a fortnightly team brief or a project presentation to senior Management. Previous to workshop I have encountered some bad experiences in the workplace, due to inadequate planning beyond my control. After watching the video on presentations, I came away with a greater knowledge of what creates a good presentation. The key learning points for me being preparation, content and delivery. What is the purpose of the presentation and why? Know your subject do your homework. Know your audience, the objective being to keep them interested. A good presentation should have a suitable introduction, main theme and conclusion. The delivery is also essential, confidence being the key, keep to a specified time and remember that you are the person presenting and the effect of it is upon your audience. I found it very beneficial to be able to watch and judge peoples presentation skills reflecting with the rest of the group on how to improve these skills, not feeling under any pressure whilst doing so; an option not available at work. The experience of having someone give feedback to a presentation allowed me to fully focus myself on the need to learn from, and understand my shortcomings, is also gave me the opportunity to scrutinise the way in which I should deliver a presentation. As I have a learning style of an Activist, and therefore wanting to try anything once to gain a new experience, I chose to give my presentation on a non-work related matter. I decided to give my presentation on what I labelled The Millionaire Lifestyle Weekend a presentation on how to live a millionaire lifestyle for the weekend working within a budget that most people would find affordable. Fortunately I wasnt presenting until the third week, which gave me plenty of time to plan my presentation. Also gaining more knowledge on this subject through analysing other students presentations and making observations as to how their presentation could be improved. A key observation from myself was never apologise when presenting as this may come across as being negative. Also, try to keep the audience interested and keep within the time specified. Provide a handout for any important information, but dont distribute until the end of the presentation. When the time came to delivering my presentation, I was at first nervous, due to previous experiences, but after the first two slides I felt more at ease due to the environment in which the workshop was held and also due to the fact that I felt confident about what I was presenting thanks to sufficient planning and preparation. I think another added contribution was the fact that the first couple of slides grabbed peoples attention and instantly they were thinking this looks interesting, a very important learning point, grasp peoples attention on the first two slides. I realised that in doing this, people sit up and listen, thus giving the presenter more confidence in what he/she is presenting. I also learnt that the rehearsal of a presentation is extremely important; I practiced this presentation about Ten to Fifteen at home in front of the mirror, finding this to be a great benefit to delivering a good presentation. Overall it gave value to me as I now know how to structure presentations. I felt, as did the others in the group that their subject would be boring for anyone else but to the contrary, as I listened to other presentations they were entertaining, informative, and all had flow to them. This tells me that if the subject to be presented is put over in the way we have been shown then the information within it is retained by the audience. Since this workshop, I have presented to management at work and felt a lot more at ease, having greater confidence in myself by understanding the correct way to performing a successful presentation, understanding the emphasis on planning as well as delivery. I have now learnt to improve my presentation skills at work a lot more by watching and analysing others present in the workplace. Time Management The time management workshop was also of great use to me with respect to my position at work. I am responsible for the production of nine different sub-components all used in the manufacture of a cathode, with present cathode production running at 300k per day, although due to losses on automation, with some components I have to produce 160 good components to make 100 good cathodes. I am responsible for a workforce of 45 people as well as providing assistance in other departments as and when required. I find myself in a position where I am constantly fire-fighting on a daily basis, going home feeling that I have taken two steps back rather than one step forward. When we had the workshop on time management I was instantly keen to increase my knowledge on this subject as time at work is sparse. I found the video a great learning tool, by watching the situation with the manager who never seemed to have any time. I instantly related issues on the video to my workplace and started to understand the important factors of managing time efficiently. Learning to identify, and then change, any bad practices such as taking on too much work that I could possibly delegate out to others, or failing to plan and organise my day correctly, understanding the difference between efficiency and effectiveness. The key points of time wasting have stayed fresh in my mind since this session understanding that I need to prioritise, delegate, plan and communicate more effectively. From watching the video, I returned to work ready to try out my latest technique. Understanding that to manage my time for that day I must spend the first five to ten minutes planning my day a head, prioritising what jobs have to be done, what jobs should be done, what jobs need not be done and what jobs I could delegate out to others. Also deciding which jobs are important, urgent, urgent and important and so on. Once I have done this, I then write a priority list in order of which jobs I shall do when, ranging from must do to least important. Since doing this on a daily basis I have found that I get through a lot more issues at work and seem to find a lot more time to take on extra tasks without the worry of not being able to complete in the required time. This has taken a large amount of pressure of my working day. Although I am sometimes still rushed off my feet, at least Im not leaving for home with my head in a spin. Conclusion When first discussing the DMS to work colleagues, who had once been students on the course. They described the workshop sessions to me, explaining about peoples learning styles and teamwork theory and I have to admit I was very sceptical about the whole thing, not understanding about Activists and pragmatists, etc. But since attending workshop I have realised that what we have learnt is true to life and have found very useful. I do have the opinion that people who become successful managers do have that special gift and that managers are born and not trained. My opinion is that to be successful not only must you have that gift but you must also learn the different techniques learnt on workshop and understand how and when to apply them to daily life. I have found that a lot of what I have learnt a necessity in the role I am in at work. I also realise that not all situations in the workplace are the same, as peoples attitudes and characteristics all vary, some on a daily basis, and to be able to handle any situation without causing upset to the individual or the business is a skill only acquired over time. Dealing with issues can be a very delicate and tricky art, but with the correct personality, integrity and knowledge gained from the workshop, success is a not such a fantasy as a nearby reality. Bibliography. KELLET, P. (2002) Presentation Skills Workshop lecture notes KELLET, P. (2002) Effective Teamwork Workshop lecture notes KELLET, P. (2002) Time Management Workshop lecture notes KELLET, P. (2002) How to Improve Your Learning Style Learning style questionnaire BELBIN (2002) Self Perception Inventory Mk2 BELBIN (2002) Self Perception Team Role Profile

African Americans in the U.S. Essay Example for Free

African Americans in the U.S. Essay African Americans (American Blacks or Black Americans), racial group in the United States whose dominant ancestry is from sub-Saharan West Africa. Many African Americans also claim European, Native American, or Asian ancestors. A variety of names have been used for African Americans at various points in history. African Americans have been referred to as Negroes, colored, blacks, and Afro-Americans, as well as lesser-known terms, such as the 19th-century designation Anglo-African. The terms Negro and colored are now rarely used. African American, black, and to a lesser extent Afro-American, are used interchangeably today. Recent black immigrants from Africa and the islands of the Caribbean are sometimes classified as African Americans. However, these groups, especially first- and second-generation immigrants, often have cultural practices, histories, and languages that are distinct from those of African Americans born in the United States. For example, Caribbean natives may speak French, British English, or Spanish as their first language. Emigrants from Africa may speak a European language other than English or any of a number of African languages as their first language. Caribbean and African immigrants often have little knowledge or experience of the distinctive history of race relations in the United States. Thus, Caribbean and African immigrants may or may not choose to identify with the African American community. According to 2000 U. S. census, some 34. 7 million African Americans live in the United States, making up 12. 3 percent of the total population. 2000 census shows that 54. 8 percent African Americans lived in the South. In that year, 17. 6 percent of African Americans lived in the Northeast and 18. 7 percent in the Midwest, while only 8. 9 percent lived in the Western states. Almost 88 percent of African Americans lived in metropolitan areas in 2000. With over 2 million African American residents, New York City had the largest black urban population in the United States in 2000. Washington, D. C. , had the highest proportion of black residents of any U. S. city in 2000, with African Americans making up almost 60 percent of the population. Microsoft  ® Encarta  ® 2009.  © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Atlantic Slave Trade, Atlantic Slave Trade, the forced transportation of at least 10 million enslaved Africans from their homelands in Africa to destinations in Europe and the Americas during the 15th through 19th centuries. European and North American slave traders transported most of these slaves to areas in tropical and subtropical America, where the vast majority worked as laborers on large agricultural plantations. See Slavery. Between 1440 and 1880 Europeans and North Americans exchanged merchandise for slaves along 5600 km (3500 miles) of Africa’s western and west central Atlantic coasts. These slaves were then transported to other locations around the Atlantic Ocean. The vast majority went to Brazil, the Caribbean, and Spanish-speaking regions of South America and Central America. Smaller numbers were taken to Atlantic islands, continental Europe, and English-speaking areas of the North American mainland. Approximately 12 million slaves left Africa via the Atlantic trade, and more than 10 million arrived. The Atlantic slave trade involved the largest intercontinental migration of people in world history prior to the 20th century. This transfer of so many people, over such a long time, had enormous consequences for every continent bordering the Atlantic. It profoundly changed the racial, social, economic, and cultural makeup in many of the American nations that imported slaves. It also left a legacy of racism that many of those nations are still struggling to overcome. Microsoft  ® Encarta  ® 2009.  © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Civil Rights Movement in the United States, political, legal, and social struggle by black Americans to gain full citizenship rights and to achieve racial equality. The civil rights movement was first and foremost a challenge to segregation, the system of laws and customs separating blacks and whites that whites used to control blacks after slavery was abolished in the 1860s. During the civil rights movement, individuals and civil rights organizations challenged segregation and discrimination with a variety of activities, including protest marches, boycotts, and refusal to abide by segregation laws. Many believe that the movement began with the Montgomery bus boycott in 1955 and ended with the Voting Rights Act of 1965, though there is debate about when it began and whether it has ended yet. The civil rights movement has also been called the Black Freedom Movement, the Negro Revolution, and the Second Reconstruction. Microsoft  ® Encarta  ® 2009.  © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. AAVE Distinctive patterns of language use among African Americans arose as creative responses to the hardships imposed on the African American community. Slave-owners often intentionally mixed people who spoke many different African languages to discourage communication in any language other than English on their plantations. Moreover, many whites were unwilling to allow blacks to learn proper English. One response to these conditions was the development of pidgins, simplified mixtures of two or more languages that speakers of different languages could use to communicate with each other. Some of these pidgins eventually became fully developed Creole languages spoken by certain groups as a native language. Significant numbers of people still speak some of these Creole languages, notably Gullah on the Sea Islands of South Carolina and Georgia. African American Vernacular English (AAVE), also called black English or Ebonics, is a dialect of English spoken by many African Americans that shares some features with Creole languages. Microsoft  ® Encarta  ® 2009.  © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

Analysis of Franchising Strategy

Analysis of Franchising Strategy FreshDirect is the leading online grocer, who serves more than 300 zip codes in Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Nassua County, Riverdale, Westchester, Staten Island, New Jersey, and some areas of Connecticut, and they are providing a new way to shop for food. They are based in a 300,000-square-foot production building in Long Island City and they are the largest employers in the city. Joseph Fedele and Jason Ackerman cofounded FreshDirect in July 2001. Before FreshDirect was established, most other online grocery businesses had failed. Even with the demise of online grocery businesses for the previous decade, cofounders strongly believed that they would succeed in their business as their efficient operating strategy was built to provide high quality at lower prices. At first, however, FreshDirect was blamed for the limited service area until it expanded its area slowly. The company started to become popular by providing high quality products, such as locally grown fresh products and organic food at lower prices to local residents and offices. Then a few years later, people could see many refrigerated trucks of FreshDirect all over the Manhattan streets. FreshDirect has proven their efficient operating strategies, and it led to success in the online grocery industry. Since FreshDirect made profits, there has been a movement toward this online grocery industry, and they are facing a few challenges. Today, FreshDirect is facing fierce competition from traditional retail grocery, local restaurants, and other online grocers with delivery services. People have consistently questioned how fresh the products delivered by FreshDirect are because they have a limitation for seeing and feeling the products as an online grocer. According to one article, FreshDirect spent $600,000 for parking tickets as part of their operating expenses (Moskin, 2005). In addition to that, in 2007, the New York City government required a congestion charge for FreshDirect because FreshDirect has contributed to traffic jam, and the increasing gas prices are adding to their delivery expenses. One major challenge for FreshDirect is environmental issues. People complain about their idling delivery trucks which are contributing to additional exhaust fumes and taking parking spaces. Another environmental issue is using too many cardboard boxes. Their choice of which neighborhoods to deliver to is related to accused discrimination, and they have faced union related problems for unfair wages. Analysis SWOT Analysis One analytical framework that can be used for the internal and external environment of FreshDirect is SWOT analysis. The analysis of the FreshDirect issues will be broken down into strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner McNamara, 2012). Strengths Their wide choices of products with high-quality information on the foods that were sold Low operating expenses due to not renting expensive retail space. FreshDirects efficient supply chain with no middleman. Low-cost marketing approach Cost-effective operating strategy of FreshDirect for their production facility. Extremely high standards for safety, health, and cleanliness in all areas. Strong partnerships with well-known chefs and restaurants in Manhattan Overall, FreshDirect has lots of strengths that are superior to competitors. They have provided various products to select with high quality at low cost on their well-designed website with high-quality information on the foods which are sold. With no retail location, they have lower operating expenses, resulting in more net revenues relative to traditional retail grocery businesses. Rather than having the middleman, they order all fresh products from individual suppliers and deliver directly to their customers. The less intermediaries between the distribution channel, the less the product costs. This allows FreshDirect to provide their high-quality goods at lower costs. They have adopted a low-cost marketing approach by using a recommendation-based campaign from actual customers, which increases the credibility among new and existing customers. Their production facility is located close to their Manhattan customer base with 12 separate temperature zones and an SAP manufacturing softw are system, which have kept the best condition of their products at the optimal temperature. High standard for cleanliness leads to high quality products. Strong partnershisp have enhanced the quality and taste of the four-minute meal. Weaknesses Limited selection of dry goods and packaged goods High dependence on the sales of perishables Constant change in senior management with short terms Extremely price sensitivity of consumers Using too many non-eco-friendly cardboard boxes with no returning system for recycling. Serving only selected areas around New York with no further market expansion strategy. FreshDirect has many weaknesses where they might be inferior to competitors. FreshDirect has few brands and kinds of dry goods and packaged goods relative to other competitors. For instance, Amazon.com has focused on dry goods and is increasing its market share due to its existing customer base and better customer service. FreshDirect highly depends on the sales of perishables, which leads to high delivery costs and the other operating expenses related to keeping perishables in good condition. Constant change in Senior Management can result in decreasing the firms values because it increases the firms risks. Different CEOs pursued different operating strategies. It will cause investors and customers to fall into confusion for their existing customers. One weakness with FreshDirect is that customers are highly price sensitive when they purchase their products because customers tend to pay no additional fees for online grocers and home delivery services. The more price sensitive their customers are, the more FreshDirect will lose their customers. FreshDirect will have less net revenues as they decided to continue doing their business because they need to cut their prices below to have price competitiveness. As people become more concerned about the environment, the cardboard boxes of FreshDirect become one main weakness. The non-eco-friendly boxes for one-time delivering are too wasteful and there is no return system in FreshDirect for recycling. FreshDirect serves only limited areas with no further market expansion strategy. Other competitors, especially NetGrocer, cover more areas with the same delivery services as FreshDirect provides. Opportunities Market expansion by using their reputable name and image domestically and internationally, such as the firm, Ford and eBay of the previous cases. Diversifying their products into un-perishable products. Developing eco-friendly and safe delivery and packaging ways, or open a return center for the cardboard boxes for recycling. Aggressive merge and acquisition with other global grocery retailers, like eBay did with other top global auction websites. FreshDirect has many opportunities to overcome their weaknesses. Even with bad market conditions when they started doing their business, they succeeded in this industry, and have earned a good reputation and image among their customers and in New York City. By using their reputation and image, they can expand their operation domestically and internationally. European and Asian markets are so broad that they can expand into the market and make more revenues. FreshDirect can compete with their rivals more efficiently if they diversify their delivery products into more un-perishable products. With the increasing environmental concerns, FreshDirect needs to develop eco-friendly delivery methods, or open a return center for the cardboard boxes for recycling. At first, they will be required to spend more, but as they operate further, they would make better image than competitors and finally it would lead to more profts. FreshDirect can consider aggressive mergers and acquisition with other leading global grocery retailers. It would allow FreshDirect to expand and increase their market share in the online grocery industry. Threats Fierce competition in the online grocery industry. Increased cost parking tickets as part of operating expenses, rising cost of fuel, and a congestion charge proposed by New York City government. Labor challenges such as truck drivers joining workers unions due to unfair wages, working overtime, and investigation of immigration status. Today, FreshDirect face threats in the market. Since FreshDirect succeeded in this industry, many rivals came to the market and competed fiercely with each other. For instance, Whole Foods has threatened their market shares in Manhattan with the same focus, organic health food. YourGrocer.com is the most geographical rival in the New York City with a bulk-buying strategy which makes home delivery services. Increased cost parking tickets, rising cost of fuel, and a congestion charge proposed by New York City government all has currently threatened FreshDirect. As mentioned above, FreshDirect spent $600,000 for the parking tickets and additionally, in 2007, New York City government required a congestion charge for FreshDirect, and the increasing gas prices are adding to their delivery expenses. All these condition would not allow them to reach their target profits and market shares. The increasing gas costs are adding to orders and they will lose their price competiveness with other co mpetitors, and also probably could not keep their promise, higher quality at lower prices. Lower wages, high-cost health benefit premiums, and investigation of immigration status led to joining workers union and it has threatened FreshDirect. Further, it mad the negative effects on their image and might result in losing the existing customers to other competitors and making less revenues. Porters Five-Forces Model Analysis This analytical model that will be examined for the external environment of FreshDirect is Porters Five-Forces Model of Industry Competition. ÂÂ  This analysis of the FreshDirect competitive environment and issues will be broken down into the threat of new entrants, the bargaining power of buyers, the bargaining power of suppliers, the threat of substitute products and services, and the intensity of rivalry among competitors in an industry (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner McNamara, 2012). The threat of new entrants In this FreshDirect case, the threat of new entry is very low. The online grocery industry continues to mature. Maturity stage is characterized by very few prospects and new entrants. One major source of entry barriers, capital requirement, makes it difficult for new entrants to enter this industry. High start-up costs, operating expenses, large financial investment for a state-of-the art production facility, and an efficient manufacturing software system are required in the online grocery retail industry. This overall low entrant threat has positively affected FreshDirects sales. The bargaining power of buyers The bargaining power of buyers is important in analyzing the FreshDirect case. This case states that buyers are very price sensitive, and the prices for most online grocery products are above local market prices. Buyers tend not to pay more costs for home delivery service. A buyer group is powerful in this case because the buyers have few switching costs. For example, if the customer of FreshDirect thinks the price of products offered by them is expensive, the customer can switch to other competitors such as YourGrocer, Peopod, or NetGrocer very easily with no other costs. Therefore, buyers have a powerful ability to force the prices down. This condition has negatively affected the net margins of FreshDirect. The bargaining power of suppliers The bargaining power of suppliers is also crucial in evaluating the FreshDirect case. The key for success to FreshDirect in this industry is providing high quality products at lower costs. They are operating under a unique operating strategy in the industry by offering the premium choices and the standardized cuts made by their customers. They eliminated the middleman between suppliers and FreshDirect. All high quality products ordered by their customers are shipped to FreshDirect directly, and this system allows FreshDirect to force down the prices from their suppliers. In this case, the bargaining power of suppliers for FreshDirect is not powerful because their suppliers quality products is important to their business, but there are various of substitutes to switch to with no costs. Therefore, they can provide such high quality items at lower costs, and this has positively affected the net revenues of FreshDirect. The threat of substitute products and services All firms in the same industry have the risk for the threat of substitute products and services. However, the threat of substitute products and services for FreshDirect is so low relative to other industries. FreshDirect have a comparative advantage, offering high quality at lower costs by eliminating the middleman. They provided about 5,000 perishable and organic products from local suppliers. With 12 separate temperature zones and an SAP manufacturing software system, all products are under the best condition. There are no substitutes in the market to offer high-quality of perishable goods with the same level of efficient management system that FreshDirect has used. Customers could not find a substitute for FreshDirect that meets their needs, and could not switch to other products. They have earned good reputation and loyalty from local areas. This limited threat of substitute products and services has affected the earning powers of FreshDirect positively. The intensity of rivalry among competitors in an industry FreshDirect is faced with relatively low intense rivalry among competitors in the industry. Some interacting factors prove this. The online grocery industry makes profits quickly, and Braddock expected that the online grocery sales will increase up to more than 20 percent of total grocery sales within next 10 years (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner McNamara, 2012). This leads to advantages over competitors in the industry. Low exit barriers also show low intense rivalry. The firms with insufficient margins will leave the markets, and it will result in more revenues for the other firms in the markets. This low intense rivalry among competitors in the industry has a positive effect for FreshDirect with more profits. Porters Value-chain analysis This analytical model that will be used for the value-creating activities of FreshDirect is Porters Value Chain Analysis. This analysis will be divided into two different activities, five primary activities and support activities (Dess, Lumpkin, Eisner McNamara, 2012). Five primary activities Inbound logistics FreshDirect has the unique and good relationships with their suppliers. The production facility controls efficiently and keeps the high-quality of products in the best conditions. Operations FreshDirect offers about 5,000 perishable items with high quality at lower costs. Their efficient operating system and an SAP manufacturing software system reduce their operating expenses with greater efficiency and no middleman. Outbound logistics FreshDirect deliver their products daily to their customers home or office by FreshDirect trucks. Marketing and sales FreshDirects customers are highly satisfied with their high-quality products with lower costs. Their market strategy for the delivery allows their customers to save their time and shop for better items conveniently. They also employed a low-cost advertising method, which is the testimonial-based campaign from existing customers. Services FreshDirect send their refrigerated trucks to serve suburban customers, and offer delivery service for picnic needs. They provide pick-up service for orders made by their customers from the processing center. They also offer office delivery service to business customers in Manhattan. Support activities Procurement Due to the unique and good relationships with suppliers by employing a make-to-order philosophy, FreshDirect has the ability to reduce the purchase prices and to increase the quality. Technology development FreshDirect have focused on technology development to continue their success and increase their market shares with greater efficiency. They spend lots of money for developing new software and upgrading their website. Their employees are highly recommended to learn the technology operating system. Human resource management FreshDirect have recruited, trained, developed, and compensated their employees well. For instance, they built a state-of-the-art production center with expert personnel. General administration FreshDirect has the superior ability to manage the quality of their products which is a competitive advantage over other competitors. With the expert employees, they are making large profits by taking the competitive advantage. For example, FreshDirect have teamed up with the best restaurants and chefs for the four-minute meal. They also take a competitive advantage of $100 million in financial investment from private investors and the State of New York. Alternatives Alternative 1: Joint ventures FreshDirect has many options to expand into their market which will result in more profits, and market expansion is required when they want to grow further. One of the options is joint ventures with leading online retailers. FreshDirect serves only limited areas, such as Manhattan, Queens, Brooklyn, Nassua County, Riverdale, Westchester, Staten Island, New Jersey, and some areas of Connecticut. Doing a business in small and limited areas can have a comparative advantage that allows FreshDirect to respond the needs of their customers quickly and offer higher quality and better a customer service. However, serving only the limited number of customers also has a side effect. There might be the ceiling where FreshDirect can make profits. Joint ventures can solve this problem. For instance, if FreshDirect forms a joint venture with Amazon, they can make synergy effects to increase their market shares in an online retail industry. Amazon has a number of its existing loyal customer base, an d provides only the selection of nonperishables. FreshDirect has an efficient production facility and software programs, and provides the selection of perishables mostly. A joint venture might enable these two companies to pool their own advantages in order to reduce costs and increase their market shares. The synergy will result in more earnings, and economies of scales will be achieved. Alternative 2: Franchising Another option to expand the profit base of FreshDirect is franchising. Franchising gives many opportunities such as increasing the revenue base, limiting the risk exposure that a franchisee can have in the domestic and international markets, and generating royalty income to FreshDirect. FreshDirect can invest the additional income received by a franchisee in developing efficient software programs and production facilities in order to provide higher-quality of products at lower costs. The advantage of franchising over licensing is monitoring a franchisees operation. FreshDirect can control effectively a franchisee so that they can make better reputation and image in the industry. Alternative 3: Implementing differentiation strategy To compete with other online grocers efficiently, another alternative to FreshDirect is implementing differentiation strategy, which focuses on providing difference in FreshDirects products by making unique products and valued by their existing and prospective customers. FreshDirect has applied the overall cost leadership strategy, which is the strategy using competitive adavantages by providing low cost products in an industry through FreshDirects value chain. With no middleman between suppliers and FreshDirect, they provide high quality perishables at lower costs to their customers. As people become more concerned about their health and healthy food, people tend to pay more for the organic and safe foods. With the needs of customers, who want unique items, FreshDirect needs to implement differentiation strategy in order to satisfy their customers. The senior managers of FreshDirect should carefully analyze what their customers want to purchase even with higher prices. If FreshDirect brings something unique to the industry, it will increase sales volume of FreshDirect and enhance their reputation and image. Recommendation After considering all three alternatives, the second alternative, Franchising is recommended. Franchising will be more appropriate to increase FreshDirects values and market shares with relatively limited risk. The most important business principle is to maximize profits with limited sources. Franchising can reduce the risk to penetrate the new overseas markets. Today, FreshDirect face many challenges and issues. One main disadvantage of FreshDirect is only serving the limited areas. This places a ceiling of which FreshDirect can make profits as well as limiting their potentials to grow. However, FreshDirect can expand their markets with efficiently monitoring and controlling the quality based on their mission statement, High quality and lower price. Also, an investment in developing technology and efficient operating facility can be financed by the additional income from the loyalty fees. FreshDirect has done an incredible business so far and will continue to set the standard in the online grocery industry. ÂÂ  

The Godfather: Power :: essays research papers

Power   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  People have many different dreams, and many different ingredients for happiness. Some people relay on love, others lean towards money, it may be achieved through money, relationships, or even the misfortune of others, but why does power have the persuasion to change a person and what drives them to gain more?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Mario Puzo, the author of â€Å"The Godfather† does an excellent job of showing the many outcomes that power has on people. He writes about Don Corleone, the head of the Corleone family whom has unlimited power and influence throughout the east coast, yet he remains a respected business man and negotiates with his pupils rather than command them. â€Å"Don Corleone was a man to whom everybody came to for help†¦it was not important that you had no means to repay him†¦it was only required that you proclaim your friendship.† He believed in good ties, and solid relationships. He used his power to advance his loved one’s happiness. On the other hand, his rival, Solozzo, uses his power to strong-arm his followers and reign terror upon his foes. He relies on his allies for support and wields that power to pursued others to help him. â€Å"Sonny will come after you with everything he’s got†¦You gotta talk some sense into him, the Tattalgia Family stands behind me with all their people.†Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   What is the deciding factor for one’s outcome as a result of power? Some think it is like a drug that seems to addict people, they constantly crave more. This would explain why people act so selfishly in order to acquire it. But is power a purely greedy emotion? For Don Corleone, it has brought out generosity and charity. He does favors for others, not expecting any in return. As a result of this he has obtained many new life long friends. I believe that the Don was a very giving man before he had his power. When analyzing these two characters you tend to see that Don Corleone has had strong morals throughout his life, morals that he will stick to.

Julius Caesar Essay: The Development of Mark Antony :: Julius Caesar Essays

Julius Caesar:   The Development of Mark Antony  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚      In the play Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare, the author writes the Character â€Å"Mark Antony† very well. In the beginning of the play Antony is a very good friend of Caesar and watches out for him. He treats Caesar as a father with great respect. Antony is very loyal to Caesar and he does everything in his power to make Caesar happy, for example while he runs the race in the beginning of the play, he touches Caesars wife so that she may be fertilized.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   After Caesar is killed, Antony becomes very mournful and outrage by the treachery of the conspirators that killed Caesar. Antony asks for just to a speech at Caesars funeral and Brutus grants him that one wish. Antony is a very intelligent man and he has the ability to manipulate a crowd with his speeches. For example in Act 3 During Antony speech he says   But Brutus says he was ambitious;   And Brutus is an honourable man.   He hath brought many captives home to Rome   whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:   Did this in Caesar seem ambitious?   When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:   Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:   Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;   And Brutus is a honourable man.      By this it shows that Antony is intelligent and has courage for he mocks Brutus and his accusations. And it shows how he can manipulate the crowd by telling of Caesars wonderful accomplishments.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Antony then shows his anger towards the conspirators by getting the mob to release their anger by rioting and going out and killing the conspirators. Antony then starts a war against the conspirators and when this war starts Antony changes from the people’s hero to just a normal greedy leader. His hate for Brutus grows over time and with that hate grows greed. Antony starts thinking more about his wealth then about the people that he is supposed to be caring for.   In Act 5 Antony expresses his feelings towards Brutus before they go into the battle that will decide who is the rightful ruler of Rome.   Villains, you did not so, when your vile daggers   Hack'd one another in the sides of Caesar:   You show'd your teeth like apes, and fawn'd like hounds,   And bow'd like bondmen, kissing Caesar's feet;   Whilst damned Casca, like a cur, behind   Struck Caesar on the neck.

Reality :: Eliot Maddy Wasteland Death Essays

Reality Death is something we all fear at one point in our lives; it binds us together as mortal human beings, and eventually touches us all. But in our consumer driven society the subject of death is often times lost among our busy schedules. Personally, I never have dealt with a setting which gave me cause to fear for my life, and not many people in this day and age are faced with such a tremendous circumstance. But during Elliot’s lifetime, people were faced with the fear of death every day, and even every moment. The situation of the times was hard on everyone, and just like death, it brought all of the social classes together under one roof. In T.S. Elliot’s The Wasteland death was immediately mentioned in the first (English) line (title of the first section), "The burial of the Dead." The line exemplifies a strong sense of reality and it justifies the title of the poem. Reality is one of Elliot’s strongest themes; he, by no means, skirts the issue of death. Looking over the first stanza, Eliot relates death to the people how they see it, and how it affects them. And it is here where it becomes apparent that Elliot wishes to relate his belief that death touches us all in the same way. The quote, "I will show you fear in a handful of dust" is very powerful, because it sums up the fear of the people in those times. The quote itself signifies the dust bowl that swept the prairie between WWI and WWII. People were starving because of drought and depression; they had no money, and were forced to sell their homes, to go live in cities, where disease and famine caused countless deaths. Cities were overrun with peop le; jobs were scarce, and people’s lives were often times expendable in the work place. Child labor was commonplace because it was necessary to feed the family; the small children were employed for meager wages and performed jobs which often cost them their lives. It was a time in our history where many people lost hope, and despair was found everywhere. After reading such a depressing line, I found it incongruous that directly after that quote, Elliot wrote: Frisch weht der Wind Der Heimat zu Mein Irisch Kind Wo weilest du? The translation of this piece states: The Wind blows freshly Towards the homeland My Irish Child Where are you roaming? The two phrases that caught my attention were, "The Wind blows freshly/Towards the homeland.

Engineer in Society

Engineers work to develop economic and safe solutions to practical problems, by applying mathematics, scientific knowledge and ingenuity while considering technical constraints. The term is derived from the Latin root â€Å"ingenium,† meaning â€Å"cleverness†. The industrial revolution and continuing technological developments of the last few centuries have changed the connotation of the term slightly, resulting in the perception of engineers as applied scientists. The work of engineers is the link between perceived needs of society and commercial applications. As for engineering definition it is a discipline, art and profession of acquiring and applying technical, scientific, and mathematical knowledge to design and implement materials, structures, machines, devices, systems, and processes that safely realize a desired objective or invention. The broad discipline of engineering encompasses a range of more specialized sub disciplines, each with a more specific emphasis on certain fields of application and particular areas of technology. The concept of engineering has existed since ancient times as humans devised fundamental inventions such as the pulley, lever, and wheel. Each of these inventions is consistent with the modern definition of engineering, exploiting basic mechanical principles to develop useful tools and objects. The term engineering itself has a much more recent etymology, deriving from the word engineer, which itself dates back to 1325, when an engine’er (literally, one who operates an engine) originally referred to â€Å"a constructor of military engines. † In this context, now obsolete, an â€Å"engine† referred to a military machine, i. e. , a mechanical contraption used in war (for example, a catapult). The word â€Å"engine† itself is of even older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium (c. 250), and meaning â€Å"innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention. † Later, as the design of civilian structures such as bridges and buildings matured as a technical discipline, the term civil engineering entered the lexicon as a way to distinguish between those specializin g in the construction of such non-military projects and those involved in the older discipline of military engineering (the original meaning of the word â€Å"engineering,† now largely obsolete, with notable exceptions that have survived to the present day such as military engineering corps, e. g. the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers. Engineering, much like other science, is a broad discipline which is often broken down into several sub-disciplines. With the rapid advancement of technology many new fields are gaining prominence and new branches are developing such as materials engineering, computer engineering, software engineering, nanotechnology, tribology, molecular engineering, mechatronics, etc. These new specialties sometimes combine with the traditional fields and form new branches such as mechanical engineering and mechatronics and electrical and computer engineering. A new or emerging area of application will commonly be defined temporarily as a permutation or subset of existing disciplines; there is often gray area as to when a given sub-field becomes large and/or prominent enough to warrant classification as a new â€Å"branch. † One key indicator of such emergence is when major universities start establishing departments and programs in the new field. For each of these fields there exists considerable overlap, especially in the areas of the application of sciences to their disciplines such as physics, chemistry and mathematics. Engineering is a subject that ranges from large collaborations to small individual projects. Almost all engineering projects are beholden to some sort of financing agency: a company, a set of investors, or a government. The few types of engineering that are minimally constrained by such issues are pro bono engineering and open design engineering. By its very nature engineering is bound up with society and human behaviour. Every product or construction used by modern society will have been influenced by engineering design. Engineering design is a very powerful tool to make changes to environment, society and economies, and its application brings with it a great responsibility. Many lists of engineering societies have established codes of practice and codes of ethics to guide members and inform the public at large. Engineering projects can be subject to controversy. Examples from different engineering disciplines include the development of nuclear weapons, the Three Gorges Dam, the design and use of Sport utility vehicles and the extraction of oil. In response, some western engineering companies have enacted serious corporate and social responsibility policies. Engineering is a key driver of human development. Sub-Saharan Africa in particular has a very small engineering capacity which results in many African nations being unable to develop crucial infrastructure without outside aid. The attainment of many of the Millennium Development Goals requires the achievement of sufficient engineering capacity to develop infrastructure and sustainable technological development. Safety is the state of being â€Å"safe† (from French sauf), the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be considered non-desirable. This can take the form of being protected from the event or from exposure to something that causes health or economical losses. It can include protection of people or of possessions. Safety engineering is an applied science strongly related to systems engineering and the subset System Safety Engineering. Safety engineering assures that a life-critical system behaves as needed even when pieces fail. Continuous changes in technology, environmental regulation and public safety concerns make the analysis of complex safety-critical systems more and more demanding. Safety is often seen as one of a group of related disciplines: quality, reliability, availability, maintainability and safety. These issues tend to determine the value of any work, and deficits in any of these areas are considered to result in a cost, beyond the cost of addressing the area in the first place; good management is then expected to minimize total cost. Theoretically, safety-engineers take an early design of a system, analyze it to find what faults can occur, and then propose safety requirements in design specifications up front and changes to existing systems to make the system safer. But actually, safety engineers are assigned to prove that an existing, completed design is safe. If a safety engineer then discovers significant safety problems late in the design process, correcting them can be very expensive. This type of error has the potential to waste large sums of money. The exception to this conventional approach is the way some large government agencies approach safety engineering from a more proactive and proven process perspective, known as â€Å"system safety†. The system safety philosophy is to be applied to complex and critical systems, such as commercial airliners, complex weapon systems, spacecraft, rail and transportation systems, air traffic control system and other complex and safety-critical industrial systems. The proven system safety methods and techniques are to prevent, eliminate and control hazards and risks through designed influences by a collaboration of key engineering disciplines and product teams. Software safety is a fast growing ield since modern systems functionality are increasingly being put under control of software. The whole concept of system safety and software safety, as a subset of systems engineering, is to influence safety-critical systems designs by conducting several types of hazard analyses to identify risks and to specify design safety features and procedures to strategically mitigate risk to acceptable levels before the system is certified. Additionally, failure mitigation can go beyond design recommenda tions, particularly in the area of maintenance. There is an entire realm of safety and reliability engineering known as Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM), which is a discipline that is a direct result of analyzing potential failures within a system and determining maintenance actions that can mitigate the risk of failure. This methodology is used extensively on aircraft and involves understanding the failure modes of the serviceable replaceable assemblies in addition to the means to detect or predict an impending failure. Every automobile owner is familiar with this concept when they take in their car to have the oil changed or brakes checked. Even filling up one's car with fuel is a simple example of a failure mode (failure due to fuel exhaustion), a means of detection (fuel gauge), and a maintenance action (filling the car's fuel tank). For large scale complex systems, hundreds if not thousands of maintenance actions can result from the failure analysis. These maintenance actions are based on conditions (e. g. , gauge reading or leaky valve), hard conditions (e. . , a component is known to fail after 100 hrs of operation with 95% certainty), or require inspection to determine the maintenance action (e. g. , metal fatigue). The RCM concept then analyzes each individual maintenance item for its risk contribution to safety, mission, operational readiness, or cost to repair if a failure does occur. Then the sum total of all the maintenance actions are bundled into maintenance intervals so that maintenan ce is not occurring around the clock, but rather, at regular intervals. This bundling process introduces further complexity, as it might stretch some maintenance cycles, thereby increasing risk, but reduce others, thereby potentially reducing risk, with the end result being a comprehensive maintenance schedule, purpose built to reduce operational risk and ensure acceptable levels of operational readiness and availability. The two most common fault modelling techniques are called failure mode and effects analysis and fault tree analysis. These techniques are just ways of inding problems and of making plans to cope with failures, as in probabilistic risk assessment. One of the earliest complete studies using this technique on a commercial nuclear plant was the WASH-1400 study, also known as the Reactor Safety Study or the Rasmussen Report. Once a failure mode is identified, it can usually be prevented entirely by adding extra equipment to the system. For example, nuclear reactors contain dangerous radiation, and nuclear reactions can cause so much heat tha t no substance might contain them. Therefore reactors have emergency core cooling systems to keep the temperature down, shielding to contain the radiation, and engineered barriers (usually several, nested, surmounted by a containment building) to prevent accidental leakage. Most biological organisms have a certain amount of redundancy: multiple organs, multiple limbs, etc. For any given failure, a fail-over or redundancy can almost always be designed and incorporated into a system. Health is the general condition of a person in all aspects. It is also a level of functional and/or metabolic efficiency of an organism, often implicitly human. At the time of the creation of the World Health Organization (WHO), in 1948, health was defined as being â€Å"a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity†. Only a handful of publications have focused specifically on the definition of health and its evolution in the first 6 decades. Some of them highlight its lack of operational value and the problem created by use of the word â€Å"complete. Others declare the definition, which has not been modified since 1948, â€Å"simply a bad one. † In 1986, the WHO, in the Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion, said that health is â€Å"a resource for everyday life, not the objective of living. Health is a positive concept emphasizing social and personal resources, as well as physical capacities. † Classification systems such as the WHO Family of International Classifications (WHO-FIC), which is composed of the International Classification of Functioning, Disability, and Health (ICF) and the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) also define health. Overall health is achieved through a combination of physical, mental, emotional, and social well-being, which, together is commonly referred to as the Health Triangle. Health and working together safety engineers plan, implement, and coordinate safety programs to prevent or correct unsafe environmental working conditions. They promote workplace and product safety by identifying and monitoring potential hazards to people or property. They then apply an advanced knowledge of industrial processes and human performance principles to reduce or eliminate the risk of injury or damage. To create a safe and environmentally sound workplace, engineers coordinate with outside organizations, such as fire departments or the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OSHA); design and install safety devices on machinery or clothing; and investigate causes of industrial accidents to prevent further incidents. They also conduct tests to ascertain air quality, noise level, temperature, or radiation. Once the analysis is complete, they then consult with governmental organizations on how to handle such problems in compliance with safety regulations. Health and safety engineers then coordinate the training of workers on safety procedures using safety equipment, devices, and clothing. Working under the Health Department and the work involves is the planning, administration and performance of public health engineering duties concerned with the execution of one or more phases of the environmental health program. The work entails advising public officials or individuals on problems requiring professional public health engineering expertise, including measures for improvement and compliance with legal requirements, assisting in the promotion of public health through application of environmental health practices, assisting in the enforcement of the provisions of local and State health matters and investigations of related conditions and problems. The work is performed under general supervision of a Senior Public Health Engineer with leeway allowed for exercise of independent judgment in carrying out details of the work. Engineers also played a relatively indirect role in medicine until the last 40 to 50 years. They produced instruments and articles specified by doctors and medical practitioners. There was however an interesting contribution made by Isambard Kingdom Brunel in 1855. He responded to the scandal of the appalling conditions of the Crimean War military hospital, publicised by Florence Nightingale, by designing the first portable hospital of one thousand beds within six days of receiving a request for help from the War Office. The project was completed in five months from design to admission of the first wounded soldier. The introduction of anaesthetics in 1846 fundamentally changed surgery by suppressing pain. This gave surgeons more time and allowed for the developments of new techniques which made surgery more constructive. However modern medical developments really began in 1876 when Robert Koch, a German doctor, proved for the first time that microorganisms could cause disease. The first chemical agent to attack infection, salvarsan or ‘606’ (arsenobenzene) was developed by Paul Ehrlich in 1910 and although it had many side effects, remained the only means of curing acute infection until the second world war when penicillin was introduced. Although penicillin was originally discovered by Sir Alexander Fleming in 1928, it was the innovation and ingenuity of chemists and engineers such as Ernst Chain, who built for Beechams the fermenter which enabled bulk semi-synthetic penicillins to be produced. Whilst chemists and engineers were involved in delivering the benefits of microorganisms such as antibiotics and vaccines, electrical engineers were advancing and applying technology to the benefit of healthcare. Of special merit was Godfrey Hounsfield’s singular contribution in the 1960s of the development of three dimensional reconstructions from two dimensional (2D) X-rays, namely the brain scanner, later to be developed into the body scanner. Engineering in medicine has been an important and it’s believed that the role of the engineer in many areas of healthcare will grow. Constant innovation and development is needed to avoid the generations of the 21st century looking back at our surgical and medical techniques with the same appalled fascination in the 19th century. The ever-expanding array of medical technologies includes artificial hips and organs, endoscopy (enabling minimally invasive surgery), intelligent prosthetic devices (artificial limbs, hearing aids) and implantable devices (pacemaker, defibrillator), novel technologies used in cardiac catheterization, patient monitoring, and medical imaging. These developments have had a tremendous impact on the medical industry and have led to numerous technologies and medical devices without which modern medicine would be unthinkable. Today’s activities range from nano- to information technology and involve such diverse applications as microsensors, artificial organs, physiological modelling, genomics, molecular imaging, home care monitoring, ergonomics, information processing, data management, and patient safety. Environment in this case is natural environment, commonly referred to simply as the environment, encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. The concept of the natural environment can be distinguished by two components. Complete ecological units that function as natural systems without massive human intervention, including all vegetation, animals, microorganisms, soil, rocks, atmosphere and natural phenomena that occur within their boundaries. Others is universal natural resources and physical phenomena that lack clear-cut boundaries, such as air, water, and climate, as well as energy, radiation, electric charge, and magnetism, not originating from human activity. The natural environment is contrasted with the built environment, which comprises the areas and components that are strongly influenced by humans. A geographical area is regarded as a natural environment (with an indefinite article), if the human impact on it is kept under a certain limited level. In engineering, is more related with environmental engineering whereas define as the application of science and engineering principles to improve the environment (air, water, and/or land resources), to provide healthy water, air, and land for human habitation and for other organisms, and to remediate polluted sites. Environmental engineering involves water and air pollution control, recycling, waste disposal, and public health issues as well as knowledge of environmental engineering law. It also includes studies on the environmental impact of proposed construction projects. Environmental engineers conduct hazardous-waste management studies to evaluate the significance of such hazards, advice on treatment and containment, and develop regulations to prevent mishaps. Environmental engineers also design municipal water supply and industrial wastewater treatment systems as well as address local and worldwide environmental issues such as the effects of acid rain, ozone depletion, water pollution and air pollution from automobile exhausts and industrial sources. At many universities, Environmental Engineering programs follow either the Department of Civil Engineering or The Department of Chemical Engineering at engineering faculties. Environmental â€Å"civil† engineers focus on hydrology, water resources management, bioremediation, and water treatment plant design. Environmental â€Å"chemical† engineers, on the other hand, focus on environmental chemistry, advanced air and water treatment technologies and separation processes. Additionally, engineers are more frequently obtaining specialized training in law (J. D. ) and are utilizing their technical expertise in the practices of Environmental engineering law. Most jurisdictions also impose licensing and registration requirements. Modern environmental engineering began in London in the mid-19th century when Joseph Bazalgette designed the first major sewerage system that reduced the incidence of waterborne diseases such as cholera. The introduction of drinking water treatment and sewage treatment in industrialized countries reduced waterborne diseases from leading causes of death to rarities. In many cases, as societies grew, actions that were intended to achieve benefits for those societies had longer-term impacts which reduced other environmental qualities. One example is the widespread application of DDT to control agricultural pests in the years following World War II. While the agricultural benefits were outstanding and crop yields increased dramatically, thus reducing world hunger substantially, and malaria was controlled better than it ever had been, numerous species were brought to the verge of extinction due to the impact of the DDT on their reproductive cycles. The story of DDT as vividly told in Rachel Carson's â€Å"Silent Spring† is considered to be the birth of the modern environmental movement and the development of the modern field of â€Å"environmental engineering. † Conservation movements and laws restricting public actions that would harm the environment have been developed by various societies for millennia. Notable examples are the laws decreeing the construction of sewers in London and Paris in the 19th century and the creation of the U. S. national park system in the early 20th century. Briefly speaking, the main task of environmental engineering is to protect public health by protecting (from further degradation), preserving (the present condition of), and enhancing the environment. Pollutants may be chemical, biological, thermal, radioactive, or even mechanical. Environmental engineering emphasizes several areas: process engineering, environmental chemistry, water and sewage treatment (sanitary engineering), waste reduction/management, and pollution prevention/cleanup. Contribution to society is engineers and scientists assess the impacts of a proposed project on environmental conditions. They apply scientific and engineering principles to evaluate if there are likely to be any adverse impacts to water quality, air quality, habitat quality, flora and fauna, agricultural capacity, traffic impacts, social impacts, ecological impacts, noise impacts, visual (landscape) impacts, etc. If impacts are expected, they then develop mitigation measures to limit or prevent such impacts. An example of a mitigation measure would be the creation of wetlands in a nearby location to mitigate the filling in of wetlands necessary for a road development if it is not possible to reroute the road. Engineers and scientists also work to secure water supplies for potable and agricultural use. They evaluate the water balance within a watershed and determine the available water supply, the water needed for various needs in that watershed, the seasonal cycles of water movement through the watershed and they develop systems to store, treat, and convey water for various uses. Water is treated to achieve water quality objectives for the end uses. In the case of potable water supply, water is treated to minimize risk of infectious disease transmittal, risk of non-infectious illness, and create a palatable water flavour. Water distribution systems are designed and built to provide adequate water pressure and flow rates to meet various end-user needs such as domestic use, fire suppression, and irrigation. Most urban and many rural areas no longer discharge human waste directly to the land through outhouse, septic, and/or honey bucket systems, but rather deposit such waste into water and convey it from households via sewer systems. Engineers and scientists develop collection and treatment systems to carry this waste material away from where people live and produce the waste and discharge it into the environment. In developed countries, substantial resources are applied to the treatment and detoxification of this waste before it is discharged into a river, lake, or ocean system. Developing nations are striving to obtain the resources to develop such systems so that they can improve water quality in their surface waters and reduce the risk of water-borne infectious disease. There are numerous wastewater treatment technologies. A wastewater treatment train can consist of a primary clarifier system to remove solid and floating materials, a secondary treatment system consisting of an aeration basin followed by flocculation and sedimentation or an activated sludge system and a secondary clarifier, a tertiary biological nitrogen removal system, and a final disinfection process. The aeration basin/activated sludge system removes organic material by growing bacteria (activated sludge). The secondary clarifier removes the activated sludge from the water. The tertiary system, although not always included due to costs, is becoming more prevalent to remove nitrogen and phosphorus and to disinfect the water before discharge to a surface water stream or ocean outfall. Engineers apply scientific and engineering principles to the design of manufacturing and combustion processes to reduce air pollutant emissions to acceptable levels. Scrubbers, electrostatic precipitators, catalytic converters, and various other processes are utilized to remove particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, sulphur oxides, volatile organic compounds (VOC), reactive organic gases (ROG) and other air pollutants from flue gases and other sources prior to allowing their emission to the atmosphere. Scientists also have developed air pollution dispersion models to evaluate the concentration of a pollutant at a receptor or the impact on overall air quality from vehicle exhausts and industrial flue gas stack emissions. To some extent, this field overlaps the desire to decrease carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gas emissions from combustion processes. Technology is an application of knowledge to the practical aims of human life or to changing and manipulating the human environment. Technology includes the use of materials, tools, techniques, and sources of power to make life easier or more pleasant and work more productive. Whereas science is concerned with how and why things happen, technology focuses on making things happen. Technology began to influence human endeavour as soon as people began using tools. It accelerated with the Industrial Revolution and the substitution of machines for animal and human labour. Accelerated technological development has also had costs, in terms of air and water pollution and other undesirable environmental effects. Technologies significantly affect human as well as other animal species' ability to control and adapt to their natural environments. The human species' use of technology began with the conversion of natural resources into simple tools. Engineering is the goal-oriented process of designing and making tools and systems to exploit natural phenomena for practical human means, often (but not always) using results and techniques from science. The development of technology may draw upon many fields of knowledge, including scientific, engineering, mathematical, linguistic, and historical knowledge, to achieve some practical result. Technology is often a consequence of science and engineering — although technology as a human activity precedes the two fields. For example, science might study the flow of electrons in electrical conductors, by using already-existing tools and knowledge. This new-found knowledge may then be used by engineers to create new tools and machines, such as semiconductors, computers, and other forms of advanced technology. In this sense, scientists and engineers may both be considered technologists; the three fields are often considered as one for the purposes of research and reference. As for conclusion, engineer and engineering plays vital role in our life. Engineer has contribute a lot with the careful research and development using all the mathematical and science related in creating, solving and also improve our daily life. In existent of engineer also we are aware in the safety, health and environment. In ways, engineers identify what is safe and what not. Engineer create something in aided the medical profession thus improving the quality of life. Engineer also contributes in preventing pollution to occur and also find alternative for not destroying the environment. With more technological advancement, engineer have unlimited to what they can do in contribution to the society. Engineer must bear in mind, that everything must have it weakness and consequences. As such, engineer with obligation to serve the society must have good research and have think all the effect that could have happen before doing anything.