The Theory Of Collective Security In The Un International Law Essay

The Theory Of Collective Security In The Un International Law Essay After it had been established in 1945, when World War II came to an end, the United Nation (UN) adopted the notion of collective security as a security arrangement. This arrangement was to ensure that all of the states under the shadow of the United Nations Organization would cooperate collectively to provide security for one another. However, to a great extent, the structure and practice of the UN sometimes sways from the theory of collective security. In this regard, this essay will first provide a definition of collective security. Subsequently, a thorough analysis will be given of the extent that the UN has been adopting the theory of collective security. According to Graham Evans and Jeffrey Newnham, The Dictionary of World Politics (Hemel Hempstead, 1990), the theory of collective security is a theory in international relations. According to them nations achieve security from attack by collective military agreements of all nations with each other to join forces against any aggressor. They believe that it is an alternative to balance of power  [1]  . What is meant by balance of power here is that parity of power between nations is contributing to peace, since it hold backs any one nation from being involved in war with another. As a result, weak nations may be supporting common stability by arming, but the strong nations possibly destabilize balance by going on arming. Furthermore, in its research titled Conflict Research Consortium, the University of Colorado, USA defines collective security as a type of coalition building strategy where each country agrees not to attack other countries and to defend them against any other poss ible attacks. The principal line of reasoning is that an attack against one, is an attack against all.  [2]  Ãƒâ€šÃ‚  . Collective security theory is different from collective defense which means a coalition of nations which have contracts to protect its own group from outside attacks.   Examples of collective defense are NATO and the Warsaw Pact. On the other hand the UN is an attempt at collective security.   Advocators of collective security believe that it is more effective way to security than individual countries trying to act alone, as weaker countries cannot possibly defend themselves  [3]  . Although collective security arrangements are designed to aid international cooperation, security is not provided by the United Nations Organization for all its members. When United Nations laws are breached, powerful countries are not always judged the same way as weaker countries. On the other hand, some other scholars and diplomats believe that the security concept is misguided. In other words, it is bewildered because it is sometimes misused and even confused with other concepts such as mutual security agreements among the members of alliance such as NATO countries. Thus, practices are not subjected to the United Nations regulations. Not only this, sometimes cooperative security is applied by invading other countries, occupying lands, destroying economy and property and killing people. Thus, it becomes military alliance which leads to military confrontations and accordingly endangers peace and transfers the meaning of collective security to be an aggressive coalition. The role of the UN is activated by the Security Council which responds to the requirements of the members of the United Nations in voting and making decisions. The United Nations Security Council consists of 15 members: five permanent ones and ten temporary ones with two-years terms. The permanent countries are the USA, the UK, France, Russia and China. In theory, the task of these countries includes applying the theory of collective security when there are emerging issues. For example, under Chapter Six of the UN Charter, Pacific Settlement of Disputes  [4]  , the Security Council is entitled to investigate disputes and all other situations which may lead to such disputes. Thus, the Security Council may vote for appropriate procedures in order to keep peace and settlement using all possible ways such as collective security procedures. These decisions can only be made by the consent of at least 9 out of the 15 members of the Security Council members and none of the five permanent members should object or vote against such decisions. Furthermore, it is supposed that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) as a principal organ of the UN should be charged with the maintenance of international peace and security. Thus, it should use its powers, according to the United Nations Charter, to establish peacekeeping operations and might be obliged to also establish international sanctions in addition to the authorization of military action. However, such powers should only be exercised through United Nations Security Council Resolutions. For example, under Chapter Seven, the Council has enough authorities to decide what procedures should be taken in case there are some situations where there are threats to peace, breaching peace or some acts of aggression against peace, people or countries. In this case, the Security Council has the power to use armed force in order to keep or restore peace and collective security. Examples of these measures were when there was an armed action by the UN in Korea in 1959 during the Kore an War and the use of coalition forces in Iraq and Kuwait in the year 1991 when Kuwait was liberated from Iraqi Forces. Moreover, the UNs role in international collective security is illustrated by the UN Charter. According to this charter, the Security Council is given the power to consider any situation which threatens international peace. The Security Council can also advise some procedures for peaceful resolution of any dispute. In addition, the Security Council can ask other member nations to totally or partially break off economic relations, sea, air, postal, and radio communications, and even diplomatic relations with any country against whom a decision is taken by the Security Council. Additionally, The Security Council can also use military force if it is deemed as necessary. However, it is sometimes possible to manage and avoid conflicts, by keeping the focus on cooperation  [5]  . Despite what has been mentioned above in regard to the adaptation of the Security Council resolutions and the theory of collective security, member states of the UN and also members of the Security Council have from time to time breached laws and regulations, hence undermining the theory of collective security. Although the United States of America is the sponsor and host of the United Nations Organization, it is the first deviator from its laws including the breach of collective security. According to the UN charter Article 24, in discharging these duties the Security Council shall act in accordance with the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations. The specific powers granted to the Security Council for the discharge of these duties are laid down in Chapters VI, VII, VIII, and XII  [6]  . Yet, despite the absence of UN approval, U.S. military forces began invading Iraq from the Kuwaiti borders on the 20th of March, 2003. There was no unified support by the UN to attack Iraq and the Security Council was divided on the decision; however, undermining the theory of collective security, the USA alongside with the United Kingdom, Australia and Poland invaded Iraq and brought down the regime of Saddam Hussein in 21 days of major combat operations. With hindsight it became evident that t he justifications used for the war were invalid and were only used to try and legalize the war. The Bush administration, backed by the support of Tony Blair, the British Prime Minister announced the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. The Bush administrations general justification for the invasion of Iraq was presented by the US Secretary of State Colin Powell to the United Nations Security Council on the 5th of February, 2003, when he said We know that Saddam Hussein is determined to keep his weapons of mass destruction; hes determined to make more. Given Saddam Husseins history of aggression given what we know of his terrorist associations and given his determination to exact revenge on those who oppose him, should we take the risk that he will not some day use these weapons at a time and the place and in the manner of his choosing at a time when the world is in a much weaker position to respond? The United States will not and cannot run that risk to the American peop le. Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option, not in a post-September 11 world  [7]  . According to Blair, the cause was Iraqs failure to take a final opportunity to disarm itself of nuclear, chemical, and biological weapons that USA and UK asked its government and president to do immediately in order to keep peace and not threaten world peace  [8]  . Two major forces in the world misused power and the notion of collective security and as a result the country was disastrously shattered, resources exploited with a high price of large losses of civilian lives. It became evident that Iraq did not possess weapons of mass destruction There are many other examples of breaching the collective security theory applications and objectives by wrong policies and practices of the United Nations members. For example, the USA invaded Panama in December 1989. Some justifications were given for such invasion like safeguarding the lives of the U.S. citizens in Panama, defending democracy and human rights in Panama, combating drug trafficking and protecting the integrity of the Torrijos-Carter Treaties  [9]  . However with hindsight it became clear that the justifications were not enough to support the invasion and it was a clear breaching of collective security theory. Other examples of the limitations of collective security also comprises the Falklands War, when Argentina invaded the islands although they were considered British. However, there were many UN members who stayed out of the issue, as such an issue did not directly concern them  [10]  . The role of the UN and collective security in general is also evolving given the rise of internal state conflicts since the end of WWII; there have been 111 military conflicts world wide, but only 9 of which have involved two or more states going to war with one another. The remainder has either been internal civil wars or civil wars where other nations intervened in some manner. This means that collective security may have to evolve towards providing a means to ensure stability and a fair international resolution to internal conflicts. Whether this will involve more powerful peacekeeping forces or a larger role for the UN diplomatically, it will likely be judged from a case to case basis. Since the establishment of the UN in 1945, the Middle East has seen the negative consequences of breaching the agreements and arrangements set by the UN. Supported by the USA and some other Western Regimes, Israel has been breaching such laws. Since the voting of the existence of Israel in 1948 by some members of the United Nations, Israel has been continuously undermining recommendations and resolutions of the UN. For example, in 1967 it occupied territories from Egypt, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, killing civilians, creating unrest and destroying properties. In this regard, the worst misuse of the UN Security Council Rights has been utilized by USA. When it comes to condemning the illegal actions of Israel, the U.S. uses the right of veto against any resolution which may condemn Israeli actions. Moreover, one of the latest collective security resolutions made by the UN Security Council adopted a sanctions resolution on Iran although there were two votes against and there was one abstention. According to the voters the ban was on Iranian certain nuclear and missile investment abroad  [11]  . To sum up, the theory of collective security implies a security arrangement among which all members of the United Nations share to provide security shadowed by the UN resolutions to keep world peace using all possible approved ways including sanctions and force. Four basic principles of collective security should be adopted by the UN members. First one is that every state should have all relevant arrangements for which it should be committed. Second, when it comes to collective security, the power of using the veto to block any relevant decision should be very limited. Third, sanctions should not harm the people of the country on which they applied and should not harm other countries which apply them especially economically. Fourth, collective security should safeguard the world peace and the security of every country. However, deviations from such principle have been made by many members of the United Nations, mainly the USA. When it comes to condemn the illegitimate actions of one of its allies because such actions threaten the world peace and justice, the USA uses the veto to block any sanction or penalty. Finally, economic sanctions which are supposed to serve collective security often negatively affect the lives of the people of the cou ntry on which such sanctions are applied and not the governments which have enough to fulfill their needs. Collective security is abused by some representatives of nations which call for peace, justice, prosperity and happiness. Although it looks very ideal and great in essence, it is evident that member states of the UN have departed from the theory of collective security to a great extent, especially when their national interests are at stake; thus undermining not only the theory of collective security but also the UN organization itself.

Oscar Mayer Case Study

1. ) At first, Marcus McGraw found the challenge so complex and saw it a difficult task because he had not sat down to put down the ideas on paper and evaluate the situation carefully. He was just thinking of the difficult task ahead and not how to assail the problem. He was missing parts of the puzzle, he was not evaluating anything as yet or trying to formulate or implement any strategy. He had no option, no solution immediately after he read the McTiernan report. He had not done any ‘strategic planning’ thus, his perspective was different than after he had read the memos.After reading the memos from his colleagues, he realized that he could count on them since they had great ideas and were persons with great capability for these types of concerns and issues, especially when he read the one of his long time colleague and friend. McGraw pursues that decision making process of gathering information, generating ideas, looking at the ‘pros and cons’ of the sit uation that Oscar Mayer faces through his associates. He follows them and his mind guides him knowing that he can trust on his department managers. Marcus McGraw purses a decision making that is unbiased.He does not go for just one department; he follows all four managers. He was unbiased in this way and was a good strategy as well since the managers have that market-driven strategy which is healthy for the firm. They are well market-oriented and are able to distinguish the capabilities of Oscar Mayer just as they are able to match the customer value requirements to capabilities. They were cognizant that the market is more competitive, they also pointed out that introducing new lines of product could bring prosperity to Oscar Mayer, which is one of the suggestions that McTiernan had brought up.Therefore, McGraw’s decision making process of taking the ideas of all four managers was a wise one. 2. ) If McGraw chooses the favors of only one department then he is risking all othe r departments. In a business you cannot only favor and invest in one department only. All departments are important components for success of the business. If you only focus on one department, then the other departments will eventually collapse thus the company is losing on other areas in the market where profits can be made.This also means that the firm no longer has that diversity in products which reflects negatively on the company. McGraw can mitigate the damage by improving each of the departments so that they become more competitive in the market. He could also diversify in products just as was recommended by a couple of his managers thus making him a tough competitor on the market if adequately and carefully strategized. He will surely need to invest quite a lot on advertising and promotion which will reduce their profits in the short term; however, they will experience growth and profits in the long-term.As mentioned, once each department is improved and with the right strat egy, Oscar Mayer will benefit and improve the sectors of quality, quantity and price. They have done it before and the can only be better and will concentrate in satisfying consumers’ needs and wants. 3. ) First of all, let’s list the Strengths and Weaknesses. Strengths: Well-known Brand, Technology Skills in R&D, Strong Distribution Channels, Relatively High Market Share, High Profit Margin, Successful History and Product Diversification. Weaknesses: Relatively High Price, Not Healthy (High fat content).Oscar Mayer has a relatively high market share already, and a relatively low market growth. Due to its strengths, it already has a high market share and due to its weakness and the new trend in the market which is looking for products with lower fat (healthier), and lower prices, Oscar Mayer is losing its market growth. This is obviously a great threat to Oscar Mayer in terms of competition since the consumers are now looking for lower prices in those products, as well as healthier meats. This is detrimental to the firm on its entirety as fewer products sold would mean fewer sales which mean less profit.The competition also affects the â€Å"second brand† since the decrease in sale of the Oscar Mayer products also affects Louis Rich as it is looked as a total, thus Louis Rich revenues are compensating for the loss in Oscar Mayer. The investment decision then will change. The objectives are to increase annual production growth over the next three years by 4% in volume. Products will need to be reduced due to the competition so this affects how much to invest in quality and on the outstanding strength on Louis Rich in order to keep up the good record.There is much advertising and promotion to do; therefore they might have to lower the budget figures for this expense if sales decrease. They need to advertise on the already existing products, such as the health aspect of it, as well as on new products that will be produced. Therefore Oscar May er needs to ensure that they can prosper in the competition with all the expense that waits. 4. ) From the four departmental options, Jim Longstreet’s advice seems more viable. Not only was Jim’s advice an effective one, but his ideas also passed McTiernan’s wish for improved convenience.What Jim is doing by this is what is called ‘Differentiation Strategy’. The firm will provide a superior performance product uniquely designed to provide value to their target audience and is well appreciated by them. Oscar Mayer will also use their strengths to make this strategy a successful one. Having used their strong ability of R&D, they are already aware of who the target audience is and what that are looking for. Two products have been designed for their needs which are â€Å"Zappetites† and â€Å"Lunchables. † With this innovation, Oscar Mayer has all the potential and resources to remain the leader.The second best strategy I would say is Jane Morely’s idea. To obtain smaller companies that are competent and provide something Oscar Mayer does not provide is indeed a good strategy. The only disadvantage is that OM would have to increase their debt to acquire these companies not being completely sure if these companies would succeed. Advertising and packaging would also have its cost, however it doesn’t mean it won’t benefit in the longer run. Thos have their benefits; they hold great value when you count on consumer convenience and brand growth.If the companies succeed then automatically there are great sales increases which bring about profit. The least viable would be Rob’s idea of backing Louis Rich. Having all the strengths and the brand name of Oscar Mayer and just letting it go would be not just a waste but a huge loss. OM has had the majority of the company’s profits for a long time and has been the leading brand. For one, LR is increasing but at a slow pace. Then advertisements w ill be a huge expense which of course does not mean that it will increase the volume of sales.Therefore centralizing in just one brand, LR would not be a good idea for Oscar Mayer. 5. ) With the statistics given we can observe that McGraw wants a 15% increase on operating income while the managers are projecting a decrease of 5. 2% from the current year. If McGraw were to keep his A&P budget the same as last years, he would save $32MM over the managers' projections. Therefore,  one solution could be to effectively use the strengths of the product lines and the A;P dollars by consolidating his sub-divisions.The Division Performance table demonstrates exactly where the successes and failures of each sub-division are, and also shows their strengths and weaknesses. We can see that A ; P for Oscar Mayer has been decreasing and operating income increasing slowly. On the other hand, Louis Rich’s A ; P expense has been increasing while operating income has also been increasing by a great difference. This is also a key factor in the success of LR and partly, although not much, why OM has had a decrease in sales.Another factor in the decrease of Oscar Mayer brand is due to consumer trend as well as increased competition in the market. Oscar Mayer has so far opted to lose market share rather than lower its price. Based on the analysis, there is more to lose if  the Oscar Mayer brand is allowed to wilt over the Louis Rich Brand. Giving up on Oscar Mayer would mean losing its well established, well recognized OM brand name and its equity. May be even future profitability may be lost if the trend towards white meat is only a temporary one.This can be seen in  McTiernan's Report on consumer satisfaction survey, in which the red meat out performs in overall taste and compares well with respect to convenience. Therefore, another strategy is to build up the Oscar Mayer Brand, to merge the Louis Rich brand under Oscar Mayer, for example co-brand, and to introduce ne w packaging of their products (e. g. Lunchables and Zappetites), some white and some red meat to recapture the lost  market share. To consolidate the distribution and A&P spending around the Oscar Mayer's well established brand.Actions In accordance  with the above strategy we would suggest that Oscar Mayer and Louis Rich Brand modify and develop an integrated strategy which would require altering the existing branding strategy to accommodate the consumer trends, to extend the product line and to competitively price the OM products. Oscar Mayer needs to also not lose the taste when improving the quality of the product healthier, which is another step that would be taken and at the same time be convenient. By maintaining the quality it already is contributing its part to success.Another strategic goal is to achieve is long term gains and accelerate brand growth. With all this said, we need not to forget to invest in LR in order for the brand to grow as well. 6. ) Of the two produ cts Jim Longstreet suggested, I believe â€Å"Lunchables† is less likely to succeed especially since they are completely new to this product. Unlike Zappetites they had previously done Stuff ‘n Burgers so they do have an idea of how to approach the new product. Zappetites would create certain products that could also be used for lunch by certain consumers who desire hat ready to eat product. Lunchables would be more difficult to succeed due to all the details that a lunch entails and the different wants of the consumers. They are already thinking of packing a chocolate treat with it as well; not everyone eats or likes chocolates. Another issue with Lunchables is the ingredients. Some of the ingredients they would want to use have a short shelf life which would turn away many consumers. We need to keep in mind that everyone is different and have a different taste, many individuals are ‘picky. ’

Process Improvement Essay

ABSTRACT This document will be evaluating an existing process within Toyota during the time of their accelerator crisis. A problem statement will be defined around the process of internal communication of concerns and ideas between foreign-based Toyota employees and the authoritative management of Toyota based in Japan. PROBLEM ANALYSIS OF SELECTED PROCESS Problem framing is a very important, but easily overlooked, part of decision-making. Framing a problem can have a heavy influence on the decisions that are made. It isn’t enough to frame the problem; it should be framed with the solution in mind. This helps to keep the end goal of the decision-making process in mind so that the correct choices are made. In the case of Toyota, at the highest level, they had a major problem with some of their products involving unintended acceleration and their handling of  customer reports of the problem led to a whole mess of other problems. So from the outside looking in, it seems that many processes internal to Toyota had room for improvement. Although there are many different business sections of Toyota with their own respective problems such as customer service, public relations, manufacturing, the problem I would like analyze and offer improvement on is internal communication process between management and foreign employees and how the breakdown in this process affected some of the business decisions made by Toyota’s upper management. â€Å"As Toyota grew into a global powerhouse in the auto industry, the organizational structure that emerged was a centralized design †¦Ã¢â‚¬ that put key decision-making in the hands of executives in Japan†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Some believed that Toyota’s structure in the U.S. ultimately impaired its ability to prevent the safety problems before they reached the crisis† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 7-8). A quality tool or method used to help with the identification and prioritization of the potential causes of quality problems in a process is cause-and-effect analysis. In a way, this is a reverse engineering method used to identify the elements of a specific quality problem and to identify the causes so that it can be corrected. The problem wasn’t the unintended acceleration of certain vehicles; the problem was the internal management decision-making that impacted the engineering of those vehicles which created the engineering problem. For some background information, the defining and founding philosophy of Toyota, the Toyota Way, has been around for a long time but it wasn’t until the late 1980s in which they began production of their vehicles in the U.S. Specifically the problem of ideas from U.S.-based employees has been largely ignored for almost 20 years when it comes to key engineering or financial-based decisions. â€Å"Despite the global sales volume gain, Toyota reported revenues of US $211 billion for 2009, a decrease of 19% for the previous year† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 2). Even though Toyota has been making large profits throughout the past 20 years, they experienced a decrease in 2009 and part of this was related to the ambitious initiatives and business decisions made by Toyota’s upper management. â€Å"Japan is notoriously consensus oriented, and companies have a strong tendency to mediate differences among individuals rather than accentuate them† (Porter, 1996, pg. 63). Japanese culture and Toyota’s centralized decision-making structure made it difficult for U.S. based employees to offer ideas, suggestions for improvements, or to elevate critical problems to upper management in Japan. Toyota’s upper management, in their minds, let the U.S. employees do what they do best, which is supposedly marketing and selling. The process used by Toyota to communicate foreign employees’ ideas to upper management was heard, but not listened to. Even the process of internal communication between management had its breakdowns because of the perception by family-oriented managers of nonfamily managers in that nonfamily members didn’t have such thoughts as safety and quality in the forefront of their minds. Overall, the communication process seemed to be that ideas were submitted from employees, whether by Japanese or foreign employees, to management and ideas were reviewed and pushed up the management chain when it was appropriate. However, ideas that might have some bearing on engineering, manufacturing or financing were largely ignored when the source of the ideas were from U.S.-based employees and this violated the Toyota Way. To add to the complexity, the process for communicating ideas became more convoluted depending on the audience, nonfamily or family-based managers. To sum this up into a problem statement: â€Å"Toyota has violated their founding philosophy of employee empowerment, especially for non-Japanese employees, and continues to make important business decisions without any regard to concerns or ideas from foreign employees when appropriate. Employees may have ideas that could be used in the decision-making process to achieve better quality solutions. Toyota needs a better mechanism or improvement to this internal communication process to capture the knowledge and ideas of all employees and to share these ideas across the organization. All in all, it’s to improve the internal communicat ion process between employees and management in order to support the idea of continuous improvement and quality.† CONTEXT OF SELECTED PROCESS FOR IMPROVEMENT â€Å"The _Toyota Way_ mandates planning for the long term; highlighting problems  instead of hiding them; encouraging team work with colleagues and suppliers; and, perhaps most importantly, instilling a self-critical culture that fosters continuous and unrelenting improvement† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 3). Two cores ideas from the statement above are the idea of team work and most importantly employee empowerment. These two values are what made Toyota into a successful global corporation during their fast rise in the 1980s. Employees were encouraged to offer ideas for improvement for any process within the organization and this helped with continuing the idea of continuous improvement. An important part of making business decisions is having real-time and critical information. The selected process for improvement: improving the communication of ideas and concerns and the sharing of foreign employees’ ideas to Toyota’s Japanese management team needs to be addressed immediately. The process selected for improvement is the process used to capture the ideas of all employees, U.S.-based included, and to have these ideas be properly represented and presented to management for review in real-time. â€Å"You know the joke that every bank branch has a president – well, every Toyota facility has a president, and one can’t tell another what to do† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 8). This statement touches the surface of why the internal management communication process needs improvement at Toyota. The way the process is currently being represented in Toyota’s organization is a complete violation of their founding philosophy. During the 2000s, Toyota pushed for a lot of initiatives that in hindsight were either short-term profit driven or too ambitious. For example, â€Å"despite the savings of more than US $10 billion over the six years since CC21’s inception, Watanabe set out to achieve even more cost savings through the new â€Å"VI† (Value Innovation) strategy† (Greto, Schotter & Teagarden, 2010, pg. 5). This was a business decision made to further drive up profits despite the respectable amount of savings already made financially. If the knowledge, ideas and concerns of employees were properly captured and communicated to management, it could have prevented some of the poor business decision-making made and the impact of these decisions on engineering and manufacturing. Two impacts of the poor decision-making was the decision to become leaner with the manufacturing process and  overstretching existing resources in trying to supplant GM as number on in the automobile industry. Toyota’s has employees in many different markets who most likely had concerns regarding these decisions or ideas on how to improve the ideas and _communicated_ these ideas but these ideas weren’t being heard in time or heard at all by management. To put this all into context, the process for communicating ideas and concerns internally is impacted by the culture and internal structure of Toyota. These are both tough things to change but the process used to capture and represent ideas to management is something easy to improve. IMPLICATIONS OF THE PROCESS If the current internal communication process continues as is, there will continue to be a breakdown in the communication of potentially important ideas and concerns from employees to management. If employees feel as if their input isn’t listened to or even heard, they will become apathetic or not even bother trying to communicate important ideas or concerns. As a result, this can lead to the cycle of poor business decisions being made resulting in more damage to the company. Even worse, this will continue to cause Toyota to stray away from the core values of the Toyota Way that made them a successful global corporation. Already what has happened as a result of the ignoring of ideas and making business decisions with only the goal of short-term profits in mind is that Toyota during the oil sludge crisis had to pay millions of dollars as a result of class action lawsuits and took a hit to their business image. Fast forward to the accelerator crisis, Toyota experienced losing $2 billion dollars during the recall, had to pay a $16.4 million dollar civil penalty under U.S. law, experienced a customer relations nightmare and even had some of their car models dropped from Consumer Reports. The dollar amount lost due to the alienation of customers, lack of accountability at first by Toyota, and corporate reputation and image hit is immeasurable. Implementing some mechanism to improve the communication process between  employees and management and even management can be improved with the use of something such as a knowledge management system. â€Å"Effective knowledge management tools can help firms reduce internal costs of maintaining electronic filing systems and reduce the administrative expense of locating documents. Second, just as efficiency can improve profitability, leverage can have the same effect where knowledge transfer enhances the quality of work performance, and therefore, its value. In this context, leverage is the ability to delegate work to the most cost-effective resource. The transfer of knowledge is, in fact, the essence of knowledge management† (Martin, 2002, pg. 1). Although it is a large internal expense, the benefits of a KM system would have a great effect on the general business results and business relationships of Toyota with its employees, management and even their supply chain. POTENTIAL OUTCOMES OF IMPROVING THE PROCESS Improving the current internal communication process of ideas and concern helps to improve employee relations between management and their reports. It helps to re-establish a culture of knowledge sharing and representing that captured knowledge in such a way that it can help to improve the business decision-making by upper management. Any important business decisions made by upper management have a direct impact on the shareholders. So any improvement in the process that results in better business decisions being made will have a direct positive impact for the shareholders. The current decision-making and straying away from the founding principles of the Toyota Way has damaged the company and continuing down this path will only make the future worse for Toyota. So having an internal mechanism to capture ideas and improve communication such as a KM system can only improve the situation. Employees would feel like their ideas are being heard and will continue to offer suggestions for continual improvement. An improvement in communication can help to break down the false perceptions that family-oriented managers have of nonfamily managers. For example, a family-based manager might come across an idea from an unexpected source, a nonfamily manager, and come to respect that person for their knowledge. In a  way, this could help to improve the Japanese culture way of making decisions internally. Toyota is almost in the top of their market, so they are their own worst enemy when it comes to being competitive. So an improvement in their internal decision-making around all important financial, engineering and manufacturing decisions will only help to sustain and further their current competitive edge. Sometimes an organization has to make a large internal expense in order to position themselves differently from their competitors. â€Å"Strategic positioning means performing _different_ activities from rivals’ or performing similar activities in _different_ ways† (Porter, 1996, pg. 62). So collecting ideas internally and using them to make better business decisions will help Toyota to strategically position themselves even further away from their competition. SUMMARY Overall, Toyota is its own worst enemy with the current decision-making process they have in place internally. Even though the centralized decision-making structure is what Toyota currently has in place, the decision-making needs to take into account employee input, whether foreign or not. Employee input has been a cornerstone of the Toyota Way and Toyota has strayed from this founding principle. The implications of continuing down this path will result in more crises which in turn results in loss business, damaged business reputation, lawsuits and losing the competitive edge. Improving this process will result in better employee relations; establish a knowledge sharing culture which is needed for an environment that is striving for continual improvement and better business decisions being made. REFERENCES Greto, M., Schotter, A., & Teagarden, M. (2010). Toyota: The accelerator crisis. Thunderbird School of Global Management. Martin, K. (2002). Features – â€Å"Show Me the Money† – Measuring the Return on Knowledge Management. LLRX. Retrieved from http://www.llrx.com/features/kmroi.htm Porter, M. E. (1996). What is strategy? _Harvard Business Review, 74_(6), 61-78. Russell, R.S., & Taylor, B.W. (2011). _Operations management: Creating value along the supply chain_ (7th ed.)_._ Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN: 9780470525906

Free Essays on Fallen Angels

you can use to explain Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. It recalls the Vietnam War through the eyes of Richard Perry, an African-American soldier. Perry goes through a lot of changes and sees some of his good friends die in battle fighting for a cause that no one could agree upon. The book has 4 other main characters, Lobel, Johnson, Brunner, and Peewee. Myers’ Fallen Angels takes a dive into the harsh reality of modern war. The realistic depictions of various events in the war and the thoughts of the narrator, Perry, and other characters show an immense change in their approach to the war. Perry is 17 and on his way to Vietnam, a new place, a new life, a whole new world. He volunteered to serve his country. The main reason for this was because he wanted to escape his depressed and alcoholic mother who spent most of her salary on her drinking habit. Thinking of his home in Harlem, and his family, though, Perry has second thoughts. His best friend, Peewee becomes instant friends with each other when they meet in the barracks. Peewee helps Perry by standing up for him during several disputes. The horridness of the war nearly overwhelms him. Death comes knocking at his door, day after day, night after night. He endures the same food every day, with little sleep and hordes of mosquitoes. Only the support of friends and the safety of his gun beside him comfort him. He knows what he wants - to go home. Richie is wounded in a battle but unfortunately the wound is not bad enough to send him home. So he is transferred to a hospital. During the peaceful weeks spent recuperating, he begins to remember the joys of safety and gains a new sense of the horrors of war. When he is declared healthy and ordered to rejoin his unit, he wonders how he can possibly go back into combat and considers deserting the army. In the end, though, he rejoins his unit as ordered. So he returns to the same hot, mu... Free Essays on Fallen Angels Free Essays on Fallen Angels Blood ... Terror ...and Insanity are 3 words you can use to explain Fallen Angels by Walter Dean Myers. It recalls the Vietnam War through the eyes of Richard Perry, an African-American soldier. Perry goes through a lot of changes and sees some of his good friends die in battle fighting for a cause that no one could agree upon. The book has 4 other main characters, Lobel, Johnson, Brunner, and Peewee. Myers’ Fallen Angels takes a dive into the harsh reality of modern war. The realistic depictions of various events in the war and the thoughts of the narrator, Perry, and other characters show an immense change in their approach to the war. Perry is 17 and on his way to Vietnam, a new place, a new life, a whole new world. He volunteered to serve his country. The main reason for this was because he wanted to escape his depressed and alcoholic mother who spent most of her salary on her drinking habit. Thinking of his home in Harlem, and his family, though, Perry has second thoughts. His best friend, Peewee becomes instant friends with each other when they meet in the barracks. Peewee helps Perry by standing up for him during several disputes. The horridness of the war nearly overwhelms him. Death comes knocking at his door, day after day, night after night. He endures the same food every day, with little sleep and hordes of mosquitoes. Only the support of friends and the safety of his gun beside him comfort him. He knows what he wants - to go home. Richie is wounded in a battle but unfortunately the wound is not bad enough to send him home. So he is transferred to a hospital. During the peaceful weeks spent recuperating, he begins to remember the joys of safety and gains a new sense of the horrors of war. When he is declared healthy and ordered to rejoin his unit, he wonders how he can possibly go back into combat and considers deserting the army. In the end, though, he rejoins his unit as ordered. So he returns to the same hot, mu...

International Relations and Realpolitiks essays

International Relations and Realpolitiks essays The international relations policy of Realpolitik can seem confusing, conflicted, and at times self-defeating. However, the policy does what it is supposed to do better than any other; it protects the interests of the United States. If little consistency in foreign policy can be perceived, it's because there hasn't been any. Realpolitik has steered the nation away from total allegiance to international organizations such as the U.N., is against military intervention in ethnic wars such as Bosnia, opposes nation-building in such places as Somalia, and is totally focused on constructing a missile-defense shield to ward off foreign threats to the homeland. The policys answer to any conflict is how will this protect and forward the interests of the United States? If the answer is it does not, then no action should be taken. Realpolitik is the strongest policy for international relations because it allows for the U.S. to concentrate on conflicts that matter most to the country. September 11, 2001, reinforced White House unilateralism. The U.S. attacked al Quada and overthrew the Taliban government in Afghanistan alone, with help from Britain. It did the job efficiently, largely without involving NATO or the U.N. An advantage of Realpolitik is that it sees international organizations such as the U.N. and NATO as a tool to further world interests that the U.S. does not have the time to focus on. For example, intervention in ethnic and civil wars should not be the duty of the United States, groups like the United Nations can be utilized to carry out such missions. The President and his White House foreign policy advisers appear to be on a learning curve. As the nation come up against global realities, it is shifting away from the hard ideological positions toward a more practical approach to world problems. The crises in Iraq and North Korea, each in its own way, have forced the Bush Administration to take a more traditional, multila...

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Organizational Behavior - Essay Example The resistance could be severe as well when trade unions and the like protest their anger and shut down on work in a swift manner, thus halting the organizational domains in an excessive manner. The need is to deal with resistance in such a manner that will make both the parties happy. (Berkowitz, 2003) The employees as well as the organizational top heads must reach a consensus as to what exactly could be summed up as a compromising situation. Culture is manageable to the extents that it does not hinder the employees’ working space and it is changeable if all the above mentioned parties in unison agree with the notion that the organization’s success is more important than their individual preferences. Organizations can prevent resistance to change if they pre-empt the moves that the employees and stakeholders will take in the event of a changing scenario looming large in their face. The organizations can find out how the people concerned would react when change is put upon them and how they would show their pleasure or the lack of it within the contexts of their personal lives and more importantly at the workplace. This is significant since organizations pose a number of problems for the employees both on the domestic as well as official fronts and change in any such situation could work towards creating problems for them, no matter within the short term or in the longer scheme of things. The cultural change aspect needs to be embedded in a clear and concise manner within the realms of an organization so as to extract the best possible results, both in the short term as well as in the long run. Organization structure impacts the manner in which work is basically carried out. More than anything else it adheres to the different purposes of the discrete services and the related achievements with the passage of time. This brings to

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Green Computing Research Project Part 2 - Case Study Example The company will need a well functioning network that will enable the two IT analysts to maintain and implement the system by consulting Christian at the code company. This will need them to interact and work together by testing the codes of the application and ensuring that the application will be running without any problem. Compatibility will also be needed by using the required printing software that will be installed in the computers when the customers need to scan their checks. By analyzing the best printing machines the company needs to contact DevAn Consultants for them pick out the best machines needed for the project. This will be done while looking for the best market of the printing machines and considering the kind of applications that will be used in the system. The scanning project will enable the customers in the company to have an easy time to communicate with the company by sending their information and checks to the company by scanning their documents. This has been a request that has been made by many of the customers in order for them to avoid insecurity and save time. As stated early, the customers will be scanning their checks and documents then send them to the company by filling in their personal information that will be protected by the company’s security. Each customer is required to send the information from anywhere provided he or she accesses the internet. For a customer to be able to use the service, he or she will first fill in the required information for the transaction to be successful. Before the scanning starts the company must ensure that there is a network for the customers to access the company’s website. This will also be accompanied by the security the company is to provide to the customers. This includes installation of maintenance software and the security protection system in the company’s system. Example is the anti virus which will protect the company site from any malware