Developmental economics Essay

Brain drain which is also known as the human capital flight, which can simply be defined mass migration of technically skilled people from one country to another country. In more simple words brain drain refers to the departure of skilled and educated people, like doctors, engineers, accountants, economists, scientists from one country to another to seek better life opportunities. Developing nations like Pakistan is badly suffering from brain drain. According to official estimates of Pakistan’s Overseas Employment Corporation, close to 36,000 professionals, including doctors, engineers and teachers, have migrated to other countries in the last 30 years. This report is based on the brain drain which has taken Pakistan aback, because of the very mass migration in the last few years. The background is given first which explains what brain drain really is. Then further the introduction is given which tells which parts of the world are affected by the brain drain and which ones are benefited by the brain gain. In the literature review part, different articles are summarized which gives us the detailed information about the current situation of brain drain in Pakistan and other developing countries. The last but the important part is the analysis in which all the articles are analyzed and then suggestions are given. Introduction: In the history there are many examples of brain drain. The brain drain initially started in 1492 when Jews were expelled after the catholic re conquest of Spain. As the Jews were dominating financial services in the country, so their migration caused future economic problems in Spain. This was the first brain drain which happened in the history. In 1685 we get an example of a huge brain drain with estimates ranging from 200,000 to 1000,000 in France, where the king Louis XIV forced the Protestants to walk out of the country. The migration of Protestants, who were technically skilled, was a huge loss from which the kingdom could not recover for many years. In 1930’s the law in Europe caused the migration of many scientists to US. Albert Einstein was one of the migrating ones, who permanently migrated to us from Germany in 1933. Brain drain is common among developing Asian nations: India, Pakistan, Middle East countries like Iran and Iraq, African countries etc. In contrast developed countries like USA, Canada, and UK etc have brain gain from this happening. Brain drain usually affects the developing or under developing countries due to mass migration of technically skilled people to developed countries, which in turn are benefited by the brain gain. In the recent years, developing country Pakistan has suffered a lot from the brain drain. Philip Bonosky, who writes in his book ‘Washington secret war against Afghanistan† that Pakistan, is the only country who has suffered from the brain drain to a great extent. The graduates migrate in order to get jobs, because nearly 3000 fresh graduates are jobless yearly. Number of Pakistanis migrating to different countries is increasing every year, and most of the migrating people are educated, either doctors, engineers, or other professionals who has no hope of better career in Pakistan. Not only the professionals but also the workers and labor also want to go abroad for higher pays. The brain drain is usually a problem in the poor countries like Pakistan, with very unstable economic situations. Poor people usually suffers because they do not earn enough to serve their families, which eventually leads to migrate to the developed countries, who offers them incentives and higher pays which can improve their living standards. Literature review: According to Dodani and Laporte’s article, the health care migrations to the developed countries are from the developing countries, especially south Asia. This migration is a growing concern in the developing countries because such an outflow of medical doctors from these countries has an adverse affect on health of the population of home countries of the migrants. Dodani and Laporte also points out that the developing countries are working hard to apply such policies which can slow down the migrations, but they say that this might not be possible because of unstable economic and political situations of the home country. Dodani and Laporte also claim that the main cause of the migration is the huge difference in the pays that the doctors receive in the source country and the destination country. According to the article the Pakistani doctorates are not awarded for their good performance, which make them migrate to developed countries. Dodani and Laporte suggests that the developed countries needs to find out the major reasons behind the mass migration and needs to resolve their security problems and provide the doctorates with opportunities in future. According to the research paper by Jenkins R, Kydd R, Mullen P, Thomson K, Sculley J, et al, huge numbers of psychiatrists who are working in the developed countries are from the poor or developing countries, including Pakistan. They mentioned a survey conducted by World Psychiatric Association Taskforce on brain drain regarding the reason for the migration of psychiatrists, and the survey showed that the main reason was the lack of multidisciplinary approach and the poor treatment conditions of the patients. The researchers also pointed out that the health workers also have the right to lead a better life, give proper education to their children. The lack of the economic and political stability and the lack of better living conditions the health workers have no other option other then migration. The researcher mentioned the frequent argument done regarding brain drain that the poor countries also gain form the remittance that the migrants send back to the source countries. So the researchers argue hat the loss of one health worker is much larger then the gain of remittance, which is not given to the poor people of the country, rather is sent to the family which is already better off. According to Mullen, MD’s article, the Indian subcontinent which includes Pakistan is the main source of physician for the recipient countries. According to the article, International medical graduates constitute between 23 and 28 percent of the physician workforces of the recipient countries, with lower-income countries contributing between 40. 0 percent (in Australia) and 75. 2 percent (in the United Kingdom) of the international medical graduates in recipient countries Mullen claims that the subcontinent, which is India and Pakistan is badly affected by the brain drain, Mullen argues that, although the source country is benefited from the payments that the migrants send to their country but yet it adversely affects the situation back in their country. It affects their own nation’s ability to survive due to lack of physicians in their country. According to Saracen’s article, the labor in developing nations are paid less because of the majority being unskilled, due to which the skilled labor also suffers by getting lower pays which makes them migrate to other countries in order to get higher pays and better standards of living. According to the article, the brain drain has an adverse affect because the home country spends a lot on educating and training the individuals, who then migrate and benefit the developed countries that have not spent a penny on their education. Saracen’s argues that the Developing countries, such as Pakistan suffers from brain drain due to lack of infrastructure, whereas the Developed Countries benefits from the process. Saracen’s suggests that the government should make future planning regarding the improvement of living standards and properly allocate the societies abilities.

Language Arts Action Research Essay

Classroom Management Inquiry: An Applied Study of Language Arts Data Zoo Southern Illinois university Daredevils Brian Walker Johnson, Literacy Faculty Inquiry into Teaching and Learning Project CLC 445 Language Arts at Elementary and Middle Levels November 22, 2013 Classroom Management Inquiry: An Applied Study of Language Arts The main phenomenon I have concentrated on throughout my Inquiry into Teaching and Learning Project for my applied study of language arts Is the role that speaking, writing, viewing, visually representing, reading and listening play in the management of an elementary school classroom. I have come to understand that classroom management is one of the hardest duties off beginning teacher. Being respected by students and colleagues is what establishes a teacher as an authority, and effective classroom management is a start towards this goal. Managing my students has been the hardest part of my school experience thus far, and I hoped that allowing language arts to become an active part of my management processes would allow my students to think more critically about their actions. When I began his inquiry study, I believed that writing classroom rules together, reading classroom rules critically, speaking and listening to how rules are applied, and viewing and visually representing class rules in daily walk and conversation might give students a sense of ownership over their classroom and greater respect for teachers. I thought the benefit of using language arts for classroom management might be measured by closer examination of critical conversations students have when rules are broken. So I proposed the following action research question: How does student behavior hanged when students read, write, speak, listen, view, or visually represent apparent misbehaver? Waxier (2007) suggests that written action plans which give older elementary students responsibility for their actions changes misbehaver. Research by Smith (2009) demonstrates that the use of other language arts with preschoolers can have the same effect. Reading these studies motivated me to pursue classroom arts. Method Secondary Sources to Answer Research Question I began my research into how student behavior changes when language arts are integrated into classroom management practices by reviewing two secondary resources. My first source, â€Å"Blending Effective Behavior Management and Literacy Strategies for Preschoolers Exhibiting Negative Behavior† by Smith (2009), was published in a peer reviewed early childhood education Journal specializing in articles that summarize a number of experimental studies. Smith’s (2009) summary of research gave the ideas in the article greater validity. Some of the findings Smith (2009) shared described classroom management techniques I have personally experienced as effective. Smith’s (2009) findings are limited to studies done with reechoes students, but I believe the findings can be used with older students as well. Unlike Smith (2009), my second source, Waxier (2007), was not published in a peer reviewed Journal. Washer’s eBook, teach: A Teacher Resource for Learning the Strategies of Master Teachers, was self-published. However, the author’s online biography points to decades spent as a professional teacher and consultant who has helped hundreds of elementary teachers improve their classroom management. Waxier, like Smith, also describes a number of management techniques that I have found to be helpful in the past. Primary Source Data to Answer Research Question I continued my research into how student behavior changes when language arts are integrated into classroom management practices by collecting primary sources of data from my third grade classroom. The third grade classroom where I student teach is located in Roseville, Illinois, near the Mississippi River Just north of SST. Louis, Missouri. The third grade at Roseville Elementary School consists of 25 Caucasian students, 13 boys and 12 girls. Well over 70% of these students are on free or reduced lunch programs, suggesting that their families are struggling with poverty. However, the academic achievement of these students is especially high in language arts, evidenced by the school’s online report card. These students may represent an exception to the thought that poverty dictates low academic achievement. I began my research into how elementary student behavior changes when language arts are integrated into classroom management practices by conducting classroom observations and collecting artifacts. My classroom observations were done by filling out five observations forms over 1 5 minute intervals over a period of six weeks. I simply observed moments in the life of my student teaching classroom where misbehaver was occurring. Then, using the left hand column of my observation form, I wrote what I saw my teacher and student informants doing during these 15-20 minute snapshots of instruction, scripting the instruction to the best of my ability. I included exactly what I heard and saw. On the same days I made my observations, I went home and read over what I had written. Then, using the right hand column of my observation form, I summarized the â€Å"instructional moments† I saw in my written observations that I thought related to engage arts instruction and changing student misbehaver. Finally, in a different column that: 1) documented which of the language arts were being used in the instructional moment you summarized; 2) described how I thought an additional element of language arts could have been incorporated into the instructional moment. Together with artifacts including written action plans by students to correct misbehaver, photos of room arrangement, copies of class rules, and student/teacher interviews, patterns of how misbehaver changed as a result of language arts applications began to emerge. I believe these patterns are valid because they are supported by three different kinds of primary source data: my observations, informant interviews, and classroom artifacts. My initial primary source data response to the question, â€Å"How does student behavior change when students read, write, speak, listen, view, or visually represent apparent misbehaver? , emerged after examining data collected midway through my study with colleagues in my Language Arts at Elementary and Middle Levels class at Southern Illinois University Daredevils. I began to see at first that â€Å"Reading, writing, or speaking about subversive changes misbehaver. † As I continued to gather data, it became evident that all of the language arts gave misbehaving students opportunities for reflection that changed misbehaver. Results Results of my analysis of primary source data in the form of five 1 5 minute observations over five weeks, three student interviews, one cooperating teacher interview, and seven artifacts of student work in classroom management demonstrate that use of all of the six language arts gave misbehaving students opportunities for reflection that changed their misbehaver.

Revolutionizing the World’s Top Corporations “SIX SIGMA” Essay

OBJECTIVE This term paper is designed as a part of the curriculum. It helped me to tap into the power of the Six Sigma movement that’s transforming some of the  world’s most successful companies. Six Sigma initiatives have tallied billions of dollars in savings, dramatic increases in speed, strong new customer relationships—in short, remarkable results and rave reviews. SIX SIGMA Six Sigma is now according to many business development and quality improvement experts, the most popular management methodology in history. Six Sigma is certainly a very big industry in its own right, and Six Sigma is now an enormous ‘brand’ in the world of corporate development. Six Sigma began in 1986 as a statistically-based method to reduce variation in electronic manufacturing processes in Motorola Inc in the USA. Today, around twenty years on, Six Sigma is used as an all-encompassing business performance methodology, all over the world, in organizations as diverse as local government departments, prisons, hospitals, the armed forces, banks, and multi-nationals corporations. While Six Sigma implementation continues apace in many of the world’s largest corporations, many organizations and suppliers in the consulting and training communities have also seized on the Six Sigma concept, to package and provide all sorts of Six Sigma ‘branded’ training products and consultancy and services. Six Sigma has also spawned many and various business books on the subject. Six Sigma, it might seem, is taking over the world. Interestingly while Six Sigma has become a very widely used ‘generic’ term, the name Six Sigma is actually a registered trademark of Motorola Inc., in the USA, who first pioneered Six Sigma methods in the 1980’s. The original and technically correct spelling seems to be Six Sigma, rather than 6 Sigma, although in recent years Motorola and GE have each since developed their own sexy Six Sigma logos using the number six and the Greek sigma character. Six Sigma is now a global brand and something of a revolution. But what is Six Sigma? Sigma is a measurement that indicates how a process is performing. Six Sigma stands for Six Standard Deviations (Sigma is the Greek letter used to represent standard deviation in statistics) from mean. Six Sigma methodologies provide the techniques and tools to improve the capability and reduce the defects in any process. Six Sigma is a fact-based, data-driven philosophy of improvement that values defect prevention over defect detectio n. Philosophy: The philosophical perspective views all works as a process that can be defined,  measured, analyzed, improved & controlled (DMAIC). Processes require inputs & produce outputs. If you control the inputs, you will control the outputs. This is generally expressed as the y= f (x) concept. Set of Tools: Six Sigma as a set of tools includes all the qualitative and quantitative techniques used by the six sigma experts to drive process improvement. A few such tools include statistical process control (SPC), Control charts, failure mode & effects analysis, process mapping etc. Methodology: This view of Six Sigma recognizes the underlying and rigorous approach known as DMAIC. DMAIC defines the steps a Six Sigma practitioner is expected to follow, starting with identifying the problem and ending with the implementation of long-lasting solutions While DMAIC is not only Six Sigma Methodology in use, it is certainly the most widely adopted and recognized. Metrics: In simple terms, Six Sigma quality performance means 3.4 defects per million opportunities HISTORY Since the 1920’s the word ‘sigma’ has been used by mathematicians and engineers as a symbol for a unit of measurement in product quality variation. (Note it’s sigma with a small ‘s’ because in this context sigma is a generic unit of measurement.) In the mid-1980’s engineers in Motorola Inc in the USA used ‘Six Sigma’ an an informal name for an in-house initiative for reducing defects in production processes, because it represented a suitably high level of quality. (Note here its Sigma with a big ‘S’ because in this context Six Sigma is a ‘branded’ name for Motorola’s initiative.) (Certain engineers had varying opinions as to whether the very first was Mikal Harry – felt that measuring defects in terms of thousands was an insufficiently rigorous standard. Hence they increased the measurement scale to parts per million, described as ‘defects per million’, which prompted the use of the ‘six sigma’ terminology and adoption of the capitalised ‘Six Sigma’ branded name, given that six sigma was deemed to equate to 3.4 parts – or defects – per million.) In the late-1980’s following the success of the above initiative, Motorola extended the Six Sigma methods to its critical business processes, and significantly Six Sigma became a formalised in-house ‘branded’ name for a performance improvement methodology, i.e., beyond purely ‘defect  reduction’, in Motorola Inc. In 1991 Motorola certified its first ‘Black Belt’ Six Sigma experts, which indicates the beginnings of the formalisation of the accredited training of Six Sigma methods. In 1991 also, Allied Signal, (a large avionics company which merged with Honeywell in 1999), adopted the Six Sigma methods, and claimed significant improvements and cost savings within six months. It seems that Allied Signal’s new CEO Lawrence Bossidy learned of Motorola’s work with Six Sigma and so approached Motorola’s CEO Bob Galvin to learn how it could be used in Allied Signal. In 1995, General Electric’s CEO Jack Welch (Welch knew Bossidy since Bossidy once worked for Welch at GE, and Welch was impressed by Bossidy’s achievements using Six Sigma) decided to implement Six Sigma in GE, and by 1998 GE claimed that Six Sigma had generated over three-quarters of a billion dollars of cost savings. By the mid-1990’s Six Sigma had developed into a transferable â₠¬Ëœbranded’ corporate management initiative and methodology, notably in General Electric and other large manufacturing corporations, but also in organizations outside the manufacturing sector. By the year 2000, Six Sigma was effectively established as an industry in its own right, involving the training, consultancy and implementation of Six Sigma methodology in all sorts of organisations around the world. That is to say, in a little over ten years, Six Sigma quickly became not only a hugely popular methodology used by many corporations for quality and process improvement, Six Sigma also became the subject of many and various training and consultancy products and services around which developed very many Six Sigma support organizations CENTRAL CONCEPTS We can clearly observe from the definitions and history of Six Sigma that many people consider the model to be capable of leveraging huge performance improvements and cost savings. None of this of course happens on its own. Teams and team leaders are an essential part of the Six Sigma methodology. Six Sigma is therefore a methodology which requires and encourages team leaders and teams to take responsibility for implementing the Six Sigma processes. Significantly these people need to be trained in Six Sigma’s methods – especially the use of the measurement and improvement tools, and in communications and relationship skills, necessary to involve and serve the needs of the internal and external customers and  suppliers that form the critical processes of the organization’s delivery chains. Training is therefore also an essential element of the Six Sigma methodology, and lots of it. Six Sigma teams and notably Six Sigma team leaders (‘Black Belts’) u se a vast array of tools at each stage of Six Sigma implementation to define measure, analyse and control variation in process quality, and to manage people, teams and communications. When an organization decides to implement Six Sigma, first the executive team has to decide the strategy – which might typically be termed an improvement initiative, and this base strategy should focus on the essential processes necessary to meet customer expectations. This could amount to twenty or thirty business process. At the top level these are the main processes that enable the organization to add value to goods and services and supply them to customers. Implicit within this is an understanding of what the customers – internal and external – actually want and need. A team of managers (‘Black Belts’ normally) who ‘own’ this processes is responsible for: identifying and understanding these processes in detail, and also understanding the levels of quality (especially tolerance of variation) that customers (internal and external) expect, and then Measuring the effectiveness and efficiency of each process performance – notably t he ‘sigma’ performance – ie., is the number of defects per million operations (pro-rate if appropriate of course). The theory is entirely logical: understanding and then improving the most important ‘delivery-chain’ processes will naturally increase efficiency, customer satisfaction, competitive advantage, and profitability. Easily said – tricky to achieve – which is what the Six Sigma methodology is for. SIX SIGMA PROCESS The term â€Å"six sigma process† comes from the notion that if one has six standard deviations between the process mean and the nearest specification limit, as shown in the graph, practically no items will fail to meet specifications. This is based on the calculation method employed in process capability studies. Capability studies measure the number of standard deviations between the process mean and the nearest specification limit in sigma units. As process standard deviation goes up, or the mean of the process moves away from the centre of the tolerance, fewer standard deviations will fit between the mean and the nearest specification limit,  decreasing the sigma number and increasing the likelihood of items outside specification SCALE OF MEASUREMENT The table below gives long-term DPMO values corresponding to various short-term sigma levels. It must be understood that these figures assume that the process mean will shift by 1.5 sigma toward the side with the critical specification limit. In other words, they assume that after the initial study determining the short-term sigma level, the long-termCpk value will turn out to be 0.5 less than the short-term Cpk value. So, for example, the Defective parts per million opportunities (DPMO) figure given for 1 sigma assumes that the long-term process mean will be 0.5 sigma beyond the specification limit (Cpk = –0.17), rather than 1 sigma within it, as it was in the short-term study (Cpk = 0.33). Note that the defect percentages indicate only defects exceeding the specification limit to which the process mean is nearest. Defects beyond the far specification limit are not included in the percentages. Sigma level DPMO Percent defective Percentage yield Short-term Cpk Long-term Cpk 1 691,462 69% 31% 0.33 –0.17 2 308,538 31% 69% 0.67 0.17 3 66,807 6.7% 93.3% 1.00 0.5 4 6,210 0.62% 99.38% 1.33 0.83 5 233 0.023% 99.977% 1.67 1.17 6 3.4 0.00034% 99.99966% 2.00 1.5 METHODOLOGY Six Sigma projects follow two project methodologies inspired by Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act Cycle. These methodologies, composed of five phases each, bear the acronyms DMAIC and DMADV. DMAIC is used for projects aimed at improving an existing business process. DMADV is used for projects aimed at creating a new product or process design. The DMAIC project methodology has five phases: Define the problem, the voice of the customer,  and the project goals, specifically. Measure key aspects of the current process and collect relevant data. Analyze the data to investigate and verify cause-and-effect relationships. Determine what the relationships are, and attempt to ensure that all factors have been considered. Seek out root cause of the defect under investigation. Improve or optimize the current process based upon data analysis using techniques such as design of experiments, poka yoke or mistake proofing, and standard work to create a new, future state process. Set up pilot runs t o establish process capability. Control the future state process to ensure that any deviations from target are corrected before they result in defects. Implement control systems such as statistical process control, production boards, visual workplaces, and continuously monitor the process. Some organizations add a Recognize step at the beginning, which is to recognize the right problem to work on, thus yielding an RDMAIC methodology. DMADV or DFSS The DMADV project methodology, known as DFSS (â€Å"Design For Six Sigma†),[features five phases: Define design goals that are consistent with customer demands and the enterprise strategy. Measure and identify CTQs (characteristics that are Critical To Quality), product capabilities, production process capability, and risks. Analyze to develop and design alternatives, create a high-level design and evaluate design capability to select the best design. Design details, optimize the design, and plan for design verification. This phase may require simulations. Verify the design, set up pilot runs, implement the production process and hand it over to the process owner(s). THE TOOLS AND THEMES Like most great inventions, Six Sigma is not â€Å"all new.† While some themes of Six Sigma arise out of fairly recent breakthroughs in management thinking, others have their foundation in common sense. Before you dismiss that origin as no big deal, we’d remind you of a saying: â€Å"Common sense is the least common of the senses.† From a â€Å"tools†Ã‚  perspective, Six Sigma is a pretty vast universe. The more we have learned over the years about the Six Sigma system, the more we have come to see it as a way to link together—and even to implement—many otherwise disconnected ideas, trends, and tools in business today. Some of the â€Å"hot topics† that have direct application or can complement a Six Sigma initiative include: e-Commerce and Services Enterprise Resource Planning Lean manufacturing Customer Relationship Management systems Strategic business partnerships Knowledge management Activity-based management The â€Å"process-centred organization† Globalization Just-in-time inventory/production Six Themes of Six Sigma We’ll close out this introductory look at Six Sigma by distilling the critical elements of this leadership system into six â€Å"themes.† These principles—supported by the many Six Sigma tools and methods we’ll be presenting throughout this book—will give you a preview of how we’ll help you make Six Sigma work for your business. Theme One: Genuine Focus on the Customer During the big Total Quality push of the 1980s and 1990s, dozens of companies wrote policies and mission statements vowing to â€Å"meet or exceed customer expectations and requirements.† Unfortunately, however, few businesses tried very hard to improve their understanding of customers’ requirements or expectations. Even when they did, customer data-gathering typically was a one-time or short-lived initiative that ignored the dynamic nature of customer needs. In Six Sigma, customer focus becomes the top priority. For example, the measures of Six Sigma performance begin with the customer. Six Sigma improvements are defined by their impact on customer satisfaction and  value. We’ll look at why and how your business can define customer requirements, measure performance against them, and stay on top of new developments and unmet needs. Theme Two: Data- and Fact-Driven Management Six Sigma takes the concept of â€Å"management by fact† to a new, more powerful level. Despite the attention paid in recent years to measures, improved information systems, knowledge management, etc., it should come as no shock to you to hear that many business decisions are still being based on opinions and assumptions. Six Sigma discipline begins by clarifying what measures are key to gauging business performance; then it applies data and analysis so as to build an understanding of key variables and optimize results. At a more down-to-earth level, Six Sigma helps managers answer two essential questions to support fact-driven decisions and solutions: 1. What data/information do I really need? 2. How do we use that data/information to maximum benefit? Theme Three: Process Focus, Management, and Improvement In Six Sigma, processes are where the action is. Whether designing products and services, measuring performance, improving efficiency and customer satisfaction—or even running the business—Six Sigma positions the process as the key vehicle of success. One of the most remarkable breakthroughs in Six Sigma efforts to date has been convincing leaders and managers—particularly in the service-based functions and industries—that mastering processes is not just a necessary evil but actually a way to build competitive advantage in delivering value to customers. There are many more people to convince— with huge dollar opportunities tied up in those activities. Theme Four: Proactive Management Most simply, being â€Å"proactive† signifies acting in advance of events— the opposite of being â€Å"reactive.† In the real world, though, proactive management means making habits out of what are, too often, neglected business practices: defining ambitious goals and reviewing them frequently; setting clear priorities; focusing on problem prevention versus fire  fighting; questioning why we do things instead of blindly defending them as â€Å"how we do things here.† Being truly proactive, far from being boring or overly analytical, is actually a starting point for creativity and effective change. Reactively bouncing from crisis to crisis makes you very busy—giving a false impression that you’re on top of things. In reality, it’s a sign of a manager or an organization that’s lost control. Six Sigma, as we’ll see, encompasses tools and practices that replace reactive habits with a dynamic, responsive, proactive style of management. Considering today’s slim-margin-for-error competitive environment, being proactive is (as the airline commercial said) â€Å"the only way to fly.† Theme Five: Boundary less Collaboration â€Å"Boundary less† is one of Jack Welch’s mantras for business success. Years before launching Six Sigma, GE’s chairman was working to break down barriers and improve teamwork, up, down, and across organizational lines. The opportunities available through improved collaboration with in companies and with their vendors and customers are huge. Billions of dollars are left on the table (or on the floor) every day, because of disconnects and outright competition between groups that should be working for a common cause: providing value to customers. As noted above, Six Sigma expands opportunities for collaboration as people learn how their roles fit into the â€Å"big picture† and can recognize and measure the interdependence of activities in all parts of Process. Boundary less collaboration in Six Sigma does not mean selfless sacrifice, but it does require an understanding of both the real needs of end users and of the flow of work through a process or a sup ply chain. Moreover, it demands an attitude that is committed to using customer and process knowledge to benefit all parties. Thus, the Six Sigma system can create an environment and management structures that support true teamwork. Theme Six: Drive for Perfection; Tolerance This last theme may seem contradictory. How can you be driven to achieve perfection and yet also tolerate failure? In essence, though, the two ideas are complementary. No company will get anywhere close to Six Sigma without launching new ideas and approaches—which always involve some risk. If people  who see a possible path to better service, lower costs, new capabilities, etc. (i.e. ways to be closer-to-perfect) are too afraid of the consequences of mistakes, they’ll never try. The result: stagnation, putrefaction, death. Fortunately, the techniques we’ll review for improving performance include a significant dose of risk management (if you’re going to fail, make it a safe failure). The bottom line, though, is that any company that makes Six Sigma its goal will have to constantly push to be evermore- perfect (since the customer’s definition of â€Å"perfect† will always be changing) while being willing to accept—and manage—oc casional setbacks. SOME SUCCESS STORIES Seeing the impact that Six Sigma is having on some leading companies sets the stage for understanding how it can impact your business. As we relate some of these results, we’ll also be reviewing the history that has brought Six Sigma to the forefront General Electric Six Sigma has forever changed GE. Everyone—from the Six Sigma zealots emerging from their Black Belt tours, to the engineers, the auditors, and the scientists, to the senior leadership that will take this Company into the new millennium—is a true believer in Six Sigma, the way this Company now works.† —GE Chairman John F. Welch1 When a high-profile corporate leader* starts using words like â€Å"unbalanced† or â€Å"lunatics† in connection with the future of the company—you might expect a plunge in the company’s share price. At General Electric, however, that passion and drive behind Six Sigma have produced some very positive results. The hard numbers behind GE’s Six Sigma initiative tell just part of the story. From an initial year or so of break-even efforts, the payoff has accelerated: $750 million by the end of 1998, a forecasted $1.5 billion by the end of 1999, and expectations of more billions down the road. Some Wal l Street analysts have predicted $5 billion in gains from the effort, early in the decade. GE’s operating margins—for decades in the 10 percent range—continue to hit new records quarter after quarter. The numbers are now consistently above 15 percent, and even higher in some periods. GE leaders cite this margin expansion as the most visible  evidence of the financial contribution made by Six Sigma. Improvements from Services to Manufacturing The financial â€Å"big picture,† though, is just a reflection of the many individual successes GE has achieved through its Six Sigma initiative. For example: âÅ" ¦ A Six Sigma team at GE’s Lighting unit repaired problems in its billing to one of its top customers—Wal-Mart—cutting invoice defects and disputes by 98 percent, speeding payment, and creating better productivity for both companies. âÅ" ¦ A group led by a staff attorney—a Six Sigma team leader—at one of GE Capital’s service businesses streamlined the contract review process, leading to faster completion of deals—in other words, more responsive service to customers—and annual savings of $1 million. âÅ" ¦ GE’s Power Systems group addressed a major irritant with its utility company customers, simply by developing a better understanding of their requirements and improving the documentation provided along with new power equipment. The result: Utilities can respond more effectively to their regulatory agencies, and both the utilities and GE have saved hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. âÅ" ¦ The Medical Systems business—GEMS—used Six Sigma design techniques to create a breakthrough in medical scanning technology. Patients can now get a full-body scan in half a minute, versus three minutes or more with previous technology. Hospitals can increase their usage of the equipment and achieve a lower cost per scan, as well. âÅ" ¦ GE Capital Mortgage analyzed the processes at one of its top performing branches and—expanding these â€Å"best practices† across its other 42 branches—improved the rate of a caller reaching a â€Å"live† GE person from 76 to 99 percent. Beyond the much greater convenience and responsiveness to customers, the improved process is translating into millions of dollars in new business. The Actions behind the Results GE’s successes are the result of a â€Å"passionate† commitment and effort. Notes Welch: â€Å"In nearly four decades with GE I have never seen any Company initiative move so willingly and so rapidly in pursuit of a big idea.†2 Tens of thousands of GE managers and associates have been trained in Six Sigma methods—a hefty investment in time and money (which is appropriately deducted from the gains cited earlier). The training has gone well beyond  Ã¢â‚¬Å"Black Belts† and teams to include every manager and professional at GE—and many front-line people as well. They’ve instilled a new vocabulary revolving around customers, processes, and measurement. While dollars and statistical tools seem to get the most publicity, the emphasis on customers is probably the most remarkable element of Six Sigma at GE. As Jack Welch explains it: The best Six Sigma projects begin not inside the business but outside it, focused on answering the questionâ₠¬â€how can we make the customer more competitive? What is critical to the customer’s success? . . . One thing we have discovered with certainty is that anything we do that makes the customer more successful inevitably results in a financial return for us. AlliedSignal/Honeywell AlliedSignal—with the new name of â€Å"Honeywell† following its 1999merger—is a Six Sigma success story that connects Motorola and GE. It was CEO Larry Bossidy—a long time GE executive, who took the helm at Allied in 1991—who convinced Jack Welch that Six Sigma was an approach worth considering. (Welch had been one of the few top managers not to become enamoured of the TQM movement in the 1980s and early 1990s). Allied began its own quality improvement activities in the early 1990s, and by 1999 was saving more than $600 million a year, thanks to the widespread employee training in and application of Six Sigma principles.5 Not only were Allied’s Six Sigma teams reducing the costs of reworking defects, they were applying the same principles to the design of new products like aircraft engines, reducing the time from design to certification from 42 to 33 months. The company credits Six Sigma with a 6 percent productivity increase in 1998 and wit h its record profit margins of 13 percent. Since the Six Sigma effort began, the firm’s market value had—through fiscal year 1998—climbed to a compounded 27 percent per year. Allied’s leaders view Six Sigma as â€Å"more than just numbers—it’s a statement of our determination to pursue a standard of excellence using every tool at our disposal and never hesitating to reinvent the way we do things.† As one of Allied’s Six Sigma directors puts it: â€Å"It’s changed the way we think and the way we communicate. We never used to talk about the process or the customer; now they’re part of our everyday conversation.† AlliedSignal’s Six Sigma leadership has helped it earn recognition as the  world’s best-diversified company and the most admired global aerospace company . IMPACT There are many well known companies that have implemented Six Sigma programs and reached astounding results. Companies like General Electric, Motorola, Ford, Honeywell and American standard have all reaped the benefits of successful Six Sigma quality programs. Motorola claims to have saved $17 billion from 1986 to 2004 by successfully implementing their strategies throughout all departments of the company. The other companies have achieved staggering results such as cutting invoice defects and disputes, streamlined contract processes, reduction in project duration, waste elimination, reduced energy costs and increased production capacity. By understanding the philosophy and deploying the program, these companies have succeeded in making themselves more efficient and more profitable for their stakeholders. Companies wishing to make changes to their quality system should research this and consider Six Sigma as an option. BENEFITS It is clear that many companies have capitalized on the application of Six Sigma to their business model. If we look deeper into the appeal of Six Sigma, past the historical quantitative gains, we will find several benefits that companies find attractive. 1. â€Å"Generates sustained success† – The only way to sustain a high level of growth is to continually innovate and remake the organization. A Six Sigma process creates the skills and culture to achieve this continuous process improvement cycle. 2. â€Å"Sets a performance goal for everyone† – a company is made up of multiple departments with different tasks and objectives. Six Sigma provides a common objective for all departments to be as close to perfect as possible. The idea is that if you understand the customer’s requirements, then you can measure for defects. 3. â€Å"Enhances Customer Value† – The focus of Six Sigma is understanding what the customer requirements are and deli vering a product or service within those requirements. 4. â€Å"Increases the rate of improvement† – Six Sigma helps a company stay on top of it’s improvement efforts by constantly updating requirements and identifying defects before they happen. 5. â€Å"Promotes Learning† – Six sigma brings experts together with novices to manage the process and teach the Six Sigma way of business. Companies that use Six Sigma view it as learning tool that is critical to their success. 6. â€Å"Executes strategic change† – Six Sigma gives you a better understanding of your company processes. The philosophy is tied back to the company goals so when it’s time for change there is a higher probability of success.† NEGATIVES Just like any other quality improvement initiatives we have seen in the past, Six Sigma has its own limitations. The following are some of the limitations of Six Sigma which create opportunities for future research : 1. â€Å"Kills Creativity† – Six Sigma gives emphasis on the rigidity of the process which basically contradicts the innovation and kills the creativity. The innovative approach implies deviations in production, the redundancy, the unusual solutions, insufficient study which are opposite to Six Sigma principles. 2. â€Å"Role of consultants† – The use of â€Å"Black Belts† as itinerant change agents has (controversially) fostered an industry of training and certification. Critics argue there is overselling of Six Sigma by too great a number of consulting firms, many of which claim expertise in Six Sigma when they have only a rudimentary understanding of the tools and techniques involved. 3. â€Å"Rigid† – A more direct criticism is the â€Å"rigid† nature of Six Sigma with its over-reliance on methods and tools. In most cases, more attention is paid to reducing variation and searching for any significant factors and less attention is paid to developing robustness in the first place (which can altogether eliminate the need for reducing variation.) 4. â€Å"Criticism of the 1.5 sigma shift† – The 1.5 sigma shift has also become contentious because it results in stated â€Å"sigma levels† that reflect short-term rather than long-term performance: a process that has long-term defect levels corresponding to 4. 5 sigma performance is, by Six Sigma convention, described as a â€Å"six sigma process.†. The accepted Six Sigma scoring system thus cannot be equated to actual normal distribution probabilities for the stated number of standard deviations, and this has been a key bone of contention over how Six Sigma measures are defined. APPLICATIONS In pharmaceutical industry, adoption of the Six Sigma technique helped the industry reduce wastage and rework involved in the production. It was said that 5-10% of medicines produced during a period were to be discarded or modified due to the defects. The adoption of Six Sigma helped the pharmaceutical companies to reduce the errors in the production. Airline industry had to adopt the Six Sigma metrics for its survival. The increased cost of fuel, the competition driven by low budget airlines, etc has made the need for lower cost without a hit to quality the need of the hour. The number of errors in handling the calls from customers, and ticketing is to be minimised drastically. It was with this intention that the airline industry adopted Six Sigma into the organisation. Indian companies like Kingfisher, Jet Airways, and Indian Airlines, all have adopted Six Sigma technique into its process. Hospitality services are another industry which benefited by the adoption of Six Sigma techniques. Providing personalised service to each and every customer by bending to their demands within a limited time without comprising the quality was aided by the Six Sigma matrices. The Six Sigma technique is adopted in every field from maintaining full occupancy to efficient housekeeping, ensuring a balanced inventory supply, and to minimise wastage in the inventory. Starwood hotels and resorts Inc was the first company to adopt Six Sigma in the hospitality sector. Steel industries like TISCO use this technique to minimise the inadequacies in the design, imperfect products, etc. I. Logistics, insurance, call centres, all embrace the Six Sigma techniques for improving the quality of service provided by them. Six Sigma goes in to the details of improving customer service, generating business expansion and gaining knowledge about the service sectors business processes. Most service industries revolve around areas of finance, human resources and sales and marketing. Hence, Six Sigma delves deeply into the subject of soft skill. Irrespective of the type of industry, all companies have to adopt Six Sigma techniques as quality and timely delivery are crucial for their survival. SOME COMMON CONFUSUIONS KAIZEN – â€Å"Kaizen†, is a Japanese word, meaning â€Å"improvement†, or â€Å"change for the better† refers to philosophy or practices that focus upon continuous improvement of processes in manufacturing, engineering, and business management. When used in the business sense and applied to the workplace, kaizen refers to activities that continually improve all functions, and involves all employees from the CEO to the assembly line workers. It also applies to processes, such as purchasing and logistics that cross organizational boundaries into the supply chain. By improving standardized activities and processes, kaizen aims to eliminate waste (see lean manufacturing). Kaizen was first implemented in several Japanese businesses after the Second World War, influenced in part by American business and quality management teachers who visited the country. It has since spread throughout the world] and is now being implemented in many other venues besides just bu siness and productivity. Six Sigma process involves employees at every level to improve a process. The theory is that a machine operator is best suited to identify the waste surrounding that machine. Employees participate in KAIZENS (a sort of quality circle) to eliminate all the waste along the process of delivering to customers. Everything left over is meaningful and profitable work. Generally, the employees themselves are empowered to recognize the need for an improvement, and to make that change immediately. LEAN SIX SIGMA – â€Å"Lean Six Sigma† is a synergized managerial concept of Lean and Six Sigma that results in the elimination of the seven kinds of wastes (classified as Defects, Overproduction, Transportation, Waiting, Inventory, Motion and Over-Processing) and provision of goods and service at a rate of 3.4 defects per million opportunities Six Sigma as well is far more data-driven than Lean Six Sigma (and Lean). A Six Sigma level is, again, 3.4 defects per million; a Five Sigma level is 233 defects per million, and so on. As Michael L. George describes, every Six Sigma improvement requires â€Å"a measure to define the capability of any process.† This reliance upon precise measurement is what makes the DMAIC processlengthy; a DMAIC project may require thousands of measurements before project leaders can analyze the results. Lean Six Sigma does not ignore measurement where it is required, but does not rely upon it absolutely. TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT – â€Å"Total Quality Management† or TQM is an integrative philosophy of management for continuously improving the quality of products and processes. TQM functions on the premise that the quality of products and processes is the responsibility of everyone who is involved with the creation or consumption of the products or services offered by an organization. In other words, TQM requires the involvement of management, workforce, suppliers, and customers, in order to meet or exceed customer expectations. TQM, as its name suggests, concerns itself entirely with quality. All efforts, finances and techniques are directed at improving quality as much as possible. While Six Sigma is certainly concerned with quality as well, it extends its focus to other issues such as product cycle time and cost. Because of this difference, Six Sigma can be much more complex to implement but also can create farther-reaching benefits. The goals of TQM and Six Sigma differ in significant ways. Total Quality Management has no specific goals or endpoints at which management can aim. Basically, the goal of TQM is to always become â€Å"better,† an objective that can become both a blessing and a curse as it continually inspires both motivation and frustration. Six Sigma, on the other hand, has the very tangible goal of 3.4 defects per million. This target gives the philosophy its name, as the amount is six standard deviations (represented by the Greek letter sigma) from the centre of a bell curve Accordi ng to Six Sigma specialist Thomas Pryzdek, TQM originally featured vague and abstract guidelines that were difficult, if not impossible, for most managers to turn into tangible and implementable strategies. Six Sigma attempts to fix this problem by creating specific areas to target for improvement. In lieu of general statements about quality improvement, the Six Sigma philosophy pinpoints sectors of specialized focus. IMPLEMENTATION †¢ Analyze – Is the discovery of variations Six Sigma programs are deployed  from the Top down and implemented from the bottom up. (Cariera and Trudell, 2006) You must have upper managements buy-in and full support. This support must be communicated effectively through the organization. Upper management must be willing to invest in training for their employees and willing to embrace the changes that will come out of the initiative. Although Six Sigma can involve some complex statistical theories and measurement tools, the barriers to successful implementations usually come from â€Å"behavioural† resistance rather than â€Å"technical† issues. (Kumar, 2006) The following are what Kumar considers â€Å"Fundamental rules for significant change†: †¢ Always include affected individuals in both planning and implementing improvements. †¢ Provide sufficient time for employees to change. †¢ Confine improvements to only those changes essential to remove the identified root cause(s). †¢ Respect an individual’s perceptions by listening and responding to his/her concerns. †¢ Ensure leadership participation in the program. †¢ Provide timely feedback to affected individuals. These are all key points to implementing Six Sigma, however to a Six Sigma critic’s point, there is nothing really new here. This is very similar to many other management and quality philosophies. Regardless of what name you give it, these fundamentals are imperative for instituting positive change in an organization. Perhaps by applying these fundamentals under a recognized program such as Six Sigma, there will be a better chance for success. Each phase is important in its own right; however the key thing for long lasting results in understanding the Control phase. The control phase must include a plan for continuous review and improvement. The DMAIC roadmap should be looked at as a circular process rather than linear. During the control phase companies must continually look for new opportunities then restart the process at Design. CASE STUDY Mumbai Dabbawalas, a perfect example of SIX SIGMA. -Dr. Pawan Agrawal The food is cooked at home. Tiffin is yours. They [dabbawalas] will simply deliver it from your home to your workplace before lunch time and deliver the empty tiffin box back in the evening at your home as well. Why would you want dabbawala to carry your tiffin? There are two reasons. One is that the Mumbai local trains have lines extending 60-70 km and two, they are crowded. If you have to reach office at 9, you must start at 6. But you wouldn’t want to wake your loved ones at 5 and have them prepare the tiffin for you; that’s where Dabbawala can help you. Another reason is that even if you start at 8, you won’t be able to carry your own tiffin because of how crowded the trains are. So, for these two reasons, Dabbawala has been in the business [of carrying your home food to your office] for the last 120 years. There’s a group of people called Varkari Sampradaya in Maharashtra; they are the devotees of Lord Vitthala and there’s a place called Pandha rpur, the town of the temple of Vitthala. When they go to that place, they wear a ‘tulasi mala’. And when a person wears this mala, he will never drink or smoke because Lord Vitthala doesn’t like it and the same principle is brought into practice here. Dabbawalas feel that their customer is their Lord Vitthala. These people are poor, they are working in difficult situations, they are not qualified and they don’t use technology, and yet, they possess all these qualities and work with passion and commitment. Dabbawala was started in 1890 by Mr. Mahadeo Havaji Bachche. He was once asked by a Parsi working in the Britisher’s rank, â€Å"Will you bring my tiffin from my home?† He simply answered â€Å"Yes, I will, no problem.† From that day onwards, he started to collect tiffins from homes and delivering them to the respective workplaces. In 1890, there was one dabbawala and one customer, and now, there are 5000 dabbawalas and 200,000 customers, which means, one dabbawala carries approximately 40 tiffins. The maximum weight comes to 65-70kg; carrying that much weight in the crowded local trains is a lot of hard work. Why do they do it then? Work is worship. And, as far as qualification is concerned, you will see that the average literacy rate is 8th grade schooling; which means the dabbawalas are illiterate and yet they have managed to achieve a Six Sigma quality rating, which means only one wrong service in a 6 million deliveries. Ownership is a feeling that an  empl oyee has to instil in oneself, and unless you get that feeling of ownership you cannot work excellently. In 120 years, it has never happened that a dabbawala has failed to deliver. It’s impossible. They will never tell you that â€Å"the trains are late today,† and even if Mumbai trains are late, the tiffins can’t be late. The dabbawala knows that if he’s not going in time, his customer will eat outside food, pay money for it and waste time. The dabbawala knows the consequences of going late. So he always goes on time. The people of Mumbai say with confidence that â€Å"our lunch can go wrong but not the Mumbai dabbawalas.† So nobody can stop you from being punctual.. Let me speak about (mukadal) group leaders. A group has 10, 20, or 25 dabbawalas, depending on the density of customers in your area, and their in-charge is the group leader. The responsibility to keep the dabbawalas and the customers happy is on the group leader. Despite the fact that he doesn’t get even a rupee extra for the extra10% that he works, he feels proud to be a group leader. For example, the group leader also takes care of the train passes of the dabbawalas, to check whether they have expired or not; he reminds the dabbawalas in case their passes are about to expire in the next 2-3 days and also buys the pass for the dabbawala if he fails to do so himself in order to ensure that timely delivery doesn’t suffer. I will tell you an instance of how one dabbawala performs duty in one day. He collects 40tiff in’s from a particular area and drops them in the Vile Parle railway station because his customer is from Vile Parle. He can’t deliver all of them because he would have to go all over Mumbai, so he leaves these 40 there. That’s his first job. His second job is to collect 35-40 tiffins from his group leader and deliver them to Dadar. His third job is to deliver 30 tiffins to Chavani Road, and in the fourth job from Chavani Road, he delivers 30 Tiffin’s to Churchgate. His fifth job is to go from Church Gate to deliver 30 tiffins to NarimanPoint. Finally, in his sixth job, he delivers 30 tiffins to Express Tower to the customers before lunch time and after lunch, he will reroute back to his original area and deliver the same tiffins from where he had  collected them. After all this, Forbes has found 1 erroneous delivery out of 6 million deliveries, but they don’t accept that either. They are unhappy that that  one error has occurred. Twelve years ago, some people from Delhi came to Dabbawala and said they want to do research on Dabbawala; they prepared a project and went back to Delhi. They called after 3 months and informed Dabbawala about Six Sigma. Dabbawalas didn’t know what it meant. They told Dabbawala it was a big honour so Dabbawala asked them to send it across. They were told to go to Delhi and collect it. Sixteen dabbawalas went to Delhi to collect the Six Sigma certification. People work so hard for three and Four Sigma but dabbawalas got Six Sigma because they didn’t care about the certifi cation and cared only about customer satisfaction. It is a big achievement especially without the use of technology. Even if the dabbawalas use technology in the form of mobile phones, they can’t because both their hands are used in delivering tiffins. Technology is useless for them for delivery. And after all this, they charge only 400 rupees per month for delivery. So, the question arises is that, why do they charge so less. They say customers are poor. If they want more income, they work extra. Dabbawala then gave me an example of a teacher, who earns only Rs 5000 per month as a government rule. He said, â€Å"Despite the teacher’s double graduation, I earn more than him, so I’m happy.† For example, some customers refuse to pay bonus, but the dabbawalas don’t disrupt their services. So I asked one of them why, he said, â€Å"the customer is my God, he has paid me 12 months’ of salary so it’s ok if he doesn’t pay me one month’s bonus.† Despite the disputes there has never been a police or a court case. Every 15 days they have a meeting. The disputing dabbawalas resolve their disputes and if they can’t, the president takes a call and they follow his judgment without questioning. Dabbawalas feel satisfied. I asked one customer, what he thinks about the dabbawalas. He said, â₠¬Å"Excellent. When I get my salary I am afraid of carrying it in the local train because it’s so crowded and I can get robbed so instead, after I have lunch, I put the money in the empty dabba and send to my wife.† Dabbawalas are very honest. If you do services consistently and with discipline, then the customer, at some point of time, will believe that you are God. In one day, one dabbawala handles 500 tiffins. There is a 79-year-old man who is a dabbawala, nobody’s forcing him, but he still works because he thinks he can still provide service to his customers. The dabbawalas use bicycles. Another thing is the coding system; about 100 years ago, they were using colour codes. Then when Mumbai  grew and the number of customers increased, they started using alphabets; A for Andheri, B for Bandra, etc. And today, they write a proper code with details of the source, destination and all the dabbawalas involved in that particular delivery. When this tiffin is coded and then washed, sometimes the coding becomes unclear, so the dabbawala takes colour out of his pocket and overwrites the code. He doesn’t complain about it, he just finishes the job. Due to the overcrowded Mumbai local trains, some people enter the l uggage department, and when they do, the tiffins stick to their heads. So they start fighting with the dabbawalas and the dabbawalas also fight with them but only till the station arrives, because after that they’re more interested in the delivery. They use carts for longer distances. In running local trains, they sort the tiffins to save time. Risk is there, but it’s there everywhere. You must work with the situation. For example, they lost some income and customers because of some instances. In 1969, customers stopped taking food. In 1975, there was a railway strike; the dabbawalas lost one month’s income. In 1982, 40,000 meal workers went on strike. Till today they’re on strike. A lot of people lost their lives. Dabbawalas have gone through all this and come out shining. They have been featured on multiple channels and have been awarded multiple awards. These 50 Indians have influenced Mumbai: Tata, Birla, Ambani, Thakarey, Shahrukh Khan, Amitabh Bachhan and Mumbai Dabbawala. Somebody took a survey in Mumbai about the likes of people, and Dabbawala was one of them. I am not a Dabbawala. I’m not involved in any of the operations at all. I have done a Ph.D. on this subject and my topic was ‘A study of logistics in supply chain management of Dabbawala in Mumbai.’ It took a lot of years to complete my Ph.D. But, two days into the research, I was taken aback by the p assion of these people. I decided to do the research whether or not I complete my Ph.D. Prince Charles came to Mumbai in 2003. Six months before his visit, Mr. Jeetendra Jain, in the British Council of India, contacted dabbawala to arrange a visit. Dabbawala first refused and then, after realizing that Prince Charles is Britain’s royalty in the manner of a king, he agreed, but, with two conditions. First one was that Prince Charles should come at the Dabbawala’s convenience — between 11 and 11.40 because that’s when they’re free. Second, Prince Charles must go to Dabbawala himself. Where to? The footpath. Prince Charles accepted these conditions. Richard Branson came to  Mumbai. He wanted a photo with Dabbawala to put it up in his office in London to send a message to his employees to work like Dabbawalas. That’s the impact of Mumbai Dabbawala. There was an inauguration of a book written by Shobha Bondre. This was inaugurated by the then Chief Minister of Maharashtra, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh. The chief minister said that for every program he goes an hour late but for a dabbawala program he came 5 minutes early because he was scared that if he came late the Dabbawalas will go away. ANALYSIS How the Dabbawalas works? 1. Collecting food dabbas 2. Sorting +Grouping 3. Transporting 4. Receiving 5. Delivering 6. Collecting empty dabbas 1. Collecting A collecting dabbawala, usually on bicycle, collects dabbas either from a worker’s home or from the dabba makers. The dabbas have some sort of distinguishing mark on them, such as a colour or symbol. 2. Sorting + Grouping The dabbawala then takes them to a designated sorting place, where he and other collecting dabbawalas sort (and sometimes bundle) the lunch boxes into groups. 3. Transporting The grouped boxes are put in the coaches of trains, with markings to identify the destination of the box (usually there is a designated car for the boxes). 4. Receiving The markings include the railway station to unload the boxes and the building address where the box has to be delivered. At each station, boxes are handed over to a local dabbawala. 5. Delivering: The local dabbawala delivers the dabbas to the respective places. 6. Collecting empty dabbas The empty boxes, after lunch, are again collected and sent back to the respective houses or dabba makers Factors contributing to their success 1. Cost efficient and faster delivery : The dabbawalas charge a nominal monthly fee which is affordable and they have an efficient delivery network which makes them deliver on time. 2. Highly reliable: On time delivery for all the â€Å"dabbas† and hardly any errors. All deliveries have ensured 100% customer satisfaction. There are cost best in time management and have been awarded six sigma rating. 3. Using Mumbai’s railway network : Using the Mumbai sub urban railways for their daily transportation from homes to the offices. Thus making it a cheaper and more efficient system. 4. Structure: They have a flat hierarchical in the organisation. Just 3 levels of organisation: carriers, supervisors and committee members. This flat structureimplies a wide span of control. Every supervisor has about 4-5 carriers under him. CONCLUSION Six Sigma looks at all work as a series of processes with inherent variations, which can cause waste or inefficiency. Focusing on those  processes with greatest impact on business performance, as defined by leadership teams, the methodology involves statistical analysis to quantify repeated common cause variations – which can then be reduced by the Six Sigma team. Six Sigma becomes a continuous process for quality improvement and cost reduction flowing throughout the company. Originally developed from a Japanese quality control process for manufacturing electronic semi-conductors, Six Sigma developed the capability of reducing problems or issues effecting customer expectations on key business processes. Six Sigma has provided the opportunity to drive forward important customer focused initiatives across the Cummins global organisation. As an improvement and cost reduction process, Six Sigma is equally valid for marketing and product development as well as manufacturing and c ustomer services. Six Sigma improvement projects and techniques are now the cornerstone of Cummins continued success in cost reduction and quality improvement. REFERENCES LINKS http://www.experts123.com/q/who-invented-six-sigma.html as on 11/10/2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Six_sigma as on 11/10/2012 http://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/ on 12/10/2012 http://www.6sigma.us/six-sigma.php as on 13/10/2012 http://www.businessballs.com/sixsigma.html as on 13/10/2012 http://www.benchmarksixsigma.com/ as on 13/10/2012 BOOKS Pede, Peter.S (2002), Mc-Graw Hill, The Six Sigma Way (from 029-72) De Feo, Joseph A.; Barnard, William (2005). JURAN Institute’s Six Sigma Breakthrough and Beyond – Quality Performance Breakthrough Methods. New York, NY: McGraw-Hill Professional. ISBN 0-07-142227-7 (from p235- 245). Ramias, Alan, The Mists of Six Sigma, (2005), BP Trends (from p5-9) Eckes, George, Six Sigma for Everyone, 2003, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, NJ. (p 155-169)

INDIGENOUS IMMIGRANTS and INDIGENOUS RIGHTS Research Paper

INDIGENOUS IMMIGRANTS and INDIGENOUS RIGHTS - Research Paper Example The arrival of Italians in what is now referred to as Bolivia for instance changed the Bolivia political topography, with foreigners governing the land (Postero, 2007). That was until 2001 when Bolivia elected a president from one of the indigenous groups. This long reign by people who were not originally from these areas has caused tension among the indigenous people who felt hat not only are their rights not respected and given a place in the modern governments run by the foreigners, but also that they have been sidelined. Looking closely at the social-political issues in Latin amerce indicates that economic issues have contributed very much to these issues. The hype to push for the recognition of indigenous culture can be seen as fuelled by the economic depravation of most of these people. Most people who are of the indigenous origin in the Latin America are actually the most economically deprived as well as politically unrepresented. This has left a space for these people to feel that the new order of things is not part of then and that it is not in any way serving their interests. As a result, it has led to politicians of indigenous origins, with many politicians who are of indigenous cultural background using this hype as a way to hike up their popularity and get the votes from the indigenous people. This has been seen for example in Bolivia where the current president, the first indigenous since the arrival of the Italians five hundred years ago, used this hype for indigenous culture as a way to get the vote. He did not only use this to get the vote, but has also used this as a way to try to unite the indigenous groups after his election and also as a way to help in making sure that there is restoration of hope. However, this hype for indigenous culture has been criticised by many academics, describing it as a way for these indigenous politicians to get political edge. Part II: Discussion There is adequate literature on the issue of indigenous culture an d the definition of indigenous people in Latin America. In the recent times, it can be seen that scholars are finally having differing views in the politics of indigenous culture in many parts of the Latin America. As Hale (2004) says, in the past, the approach by many scholars has associated this push for traditional culture as a way for politicians to achieve their selfish interests by appealing to the indigenous people. But as Hale (2004)says, a closer look and a more critical look at these issues has indicated that this attitude by indigenous leaders is not only about them getting power, but that it is a deep seated need for most of these people to be able to connect with their past. However, in light of the fact that the so called foreigners have been in the region for over half a millennium, and also in the consideration of the fact that even the indigenous people have migrated within the Latin American from region to region, it becomes very hard to determine who is a foreigne r and who is indigenous (Stephen, 2007). For instance, people from the main Mexico regions are known to have migrated towards the Baja California region in search of better economic conditions. Although these people are indigenous Latin American, they are not indigenous to the Baja California region. In such a case, if issues of indigenous cul

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Paraphrase - Essay Example However, misconceptions can arise from such ads that will affect the very lives of consumers. For example, the product being advertised claims or gives the impression that it can make the consumer become as fit as the model when in fact it has nothing to do with how the model looks like. Viewers who associate the product with the model’s great physique will then buy without actually researching further about the effects or importance of the product. Consequently, the issue on intelligent buying arises which makes the topic on advertising even more important. In Charles O’Neill’s The Language of Advertising, he presents how advertisers convey their messages in subtle ways that often trap the consumers in various ways. One of his points is that, advertisers often appeal to people’s emotions. For instance, he explains that in promoting the pick-up truck called the Ram, an ad that features the background of a farm and portrays hard-working farmers is used along with the reading of a poem entitled, â€Å"So God Made a Farmer† (323). Although the ad was simple and it did not use any attractive, naked men or women in the scenes, it was very successful because many viewers were emotionally touched by the ad, having them associate with the American culture that the ad reflects. Another means advertisers utilize is the use of sexual perceptions. They use men and women that are famous and beautiful which the majority would appreciate and desire to be associated with. Moreover, the advertisements adjust to the modern peo ple’s attention span. Since people are often busy, they do not have the patience to listen to long sentences that will appeal to their logic. Instead, they need short, simple sentences that may give them empty and often unreliable information. O’Neill argues that advertisers are making consumers stupid in many ways. For instance, because advertisements primarily aim to convince consumers that they need to buy their products,

The decline of women's rights in the Muslim world Essay

The decline of women's rights in the Muslim world - Essay Example Certainly, the world has seen the latter of the two in the news more than the predominantly peaceful observers of the religion. One of the most questionable practices of Islam is the requiring of women to cover their bodies head to toe as to not attract a man’s attention, thus causing him to break one of Allah’s laws. This practice is most usually not just done to behave in a religiously moral manner, but has actually become mandatory by law in many Islamic countries. Women who do not practice this tradition are often punished harshly. Similarly, the Islamic forms of government enforce the death penalty on women who have, in their eyes, committed adultery. The punishment for this can include the horrific and agonizing practice of being stoned to death. With this, the extremists of Islam who have managed to reform governments into Islamic practices and enforcement with a desire to make an example of anyone who contradicts the Islamic way and its government. The government-supported Islamic regimes do not allow for any sort of deviation or differing opinion in regards to faith. Today, marriage within the Islamic faith is solidified by a contract. Though the marriage contract stipulates the need for an exchange of good treatment between a husband and wife, the governments which make Islamic principle law allow for few rights of woman and total right to men. It is also not unheard of for a woman who has committed adultery to be sent away to what are known as ‘rape camps’. Within the past few years, groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have declared rape a war crime and certainly the hosting of rape camps. One of the perks to being male and Islamic is the acceptance of polygamy. Men in Islam can have multiple wives, but the inverse is not true. Additionally, the Islamic faith encourages along the extremely

Peter and Harvey have ambitious plans to grow the business Essay

Peter and Harvey have ambitious plans to grow the business - Essay Example This research will begin with the statement that in this age, competitiveness is witnessed in each and every segment. As a result, developing a dominant position is extremely difficult in the market among other rival players. However, it might be possible only if the entrepreneurs desire to maintain a good relationship with its clients or customers. This is because; it is the relationship marketing that helps a new entrant (SPSL) to enhance its image and popularity in the market that may enhance its portfolio and reliability. Moreover, relationship marketing also acts as a weapon to enhance the profitability and productivity of the organization thereby amplifying its equity and market share to a significant extent as compared to others. Similarly, in case of SPSL, Peter and Harvey offered high concentration over relationship marketing that may amplify its total sale and revenues. This strategy might amplify the level of sustainability in the market among other existing rivals. In thi s age, awareness is an essential requirement of any business organization.   Only then, it might improve its image and demand of product lines within the minds of the customers that may amplify its reputation and profitability. However, awareness might be enhanced only with the help of promotion. Promotion might take place through the personal selling process. It is processed in which, an organization or entrepreneur recruits a wide range of sales forces or sales persons so as to sell its products.