Conceptual Art as a Break From Conventions

Conceptual Art as a Break From Conventions Discuss arguments for and against the view that Conceptual Art should be regarded not simply as a break with previous conventions of visual art, but as a category of art with reference to specific works from the period 1965-75. Conceptual Art has become the term given to works intended to convey an idea or concept to the perceiver, in the spirit of resistance to traditional materialist views of art works as precious commodities. Conceptual Art was first recognised as a movement in the 1960s. Art objects were rejected entirely, and replaced by analysis concepts. A new intellectualism was sweeping through the art world, and art objects alone were no longer enough, a meaning was suddenly imperative. Conceptual Art is so dependent upon its supporting text that the original point of creative work sometimes appears to have been entirely subsumed in textual exegesis. The question is to what degree works with so little of art about them can still be named, or understood, as art. And if we cannot understand them as art, how are we to understand them? Frieds 1967 essay Art and Objecthood will form the backbone of this essay. The seminal and highly controversial work was a kind of riposte to Judd and Morris, who he decried as literalists, coining the term to describe attitudes in opposition to his abstractionist interpretation of Modernism. For Fried, its theatricality has always represented a symptom of the decadence of literalist works of art, a decadence which establishes a staged relationship between object and beholder. The theatricality that so bothered Fried incorporated not only a regrettably mimetic space, but a mimetic time, too. Fried preferences a kind of Modernism that is more authentically abstract: insisting Modern artworks should be abstracted from pretence, from time and from a sense of object. The publication of Frieds essay brought to light to divisions within the Modernist tradition, and seemed to indicate that the heart of these divisions lay in the philosophical conflicts between Idealism and Materialism. SoFrieds dislike of the term Minimal Art or Conceptual Art has caused him to rename it Literalist Art. He points out that the ambition of Judd and his contemporaries is to escape the constraints of painting: the restrictions imposed by the limitations of the canvas. Composition and the effort to createa pictorial illusion are never, according to Fried, quite convincing enough, quite original enough, to be satisfying. Donald Judd explained the problem: Whenyou start relating parts, in the first place, youre assuming you have a vague whole- the rectangle of the canvas- and definite parts, which is all screwed up, because you should have a definite whole and maybe no parts According to Fried and his school, painting is doomed to failure, but perhaps some resolution will arrive with the introduction of a new dimension. He pronounced conceptual (literalist) art as something novel, a category of modern art for all those barely representative works that required a literary back up. In practice, the new dimension brings with it a new focus on the relationships within the work. Judd refers to the relational character of his sculptures as their anthropomorphism, speaking of the correspondence between the spaces he creates, and both Judd and Morris are concerned with unity, completeness, creating a perfect shape capable of overwhelming the fragmentary components. In many ways nothing has physically changed in sculpture since the 1960s. There seems to be a constant effort to relate parts in Catherine de Monchauxs recent sculpture, although her work, unlike Judds, is more obviously and shameless anthropomorphic in its forms. Her structures appear to be based on the human body, and her titles are like the titles of poems or fairytales. Wandering about in the future, looking forward to the past is virtually surrealist, it seems arbitrary to call this minimalist when the emphasis is notclearly on objects declaring the status of their existence, but instead on some fantasy story. Never Forget seems to be about memories, the past, things being opened up, revealed and mapped out in a symmetrical and rather beautifulway. Both these works are concerned with the impossible project of re-membering, putting things back together from their parts- and the contrast with Judd is clear- to the extent that they are about parts being reassembled into an ideal wh ole, de Monchauxs sculptures are more like paintings. In many ways, her work resembles Carl Andres- particularly his Venus Forge. The viewers experience of the work will obviously depend on whether the work is perceived as an object or a subject. This repeats the problem of categorizing conceptual art. From the objects perspective, a new category of art has been created through Conceptualism, situating it in a new historical milieu. From the viewpoint of the subjective viewer, perhaps, such categories are irrelevant, but even the layman must be aware of a mute subject matter hinting at a break in convention, thus placing new emphasis on meaning. In Frieds conception, the art object becomes animated and serves the holistic aspiration of the artist. But the art works subjectivity does not elevate the artist- they have created an object capable of representing itself, and, like Frankenstein observing his monster, are themselves both the observers and observed. If Hesse is, as her diaries suggest, a woman observing herself, then she has an immediate affinity with Judd. Both artists are engaged in a project of self-replication, where sculpture is an extension of themselves- something projected into space, imbued with some kind of life, in the words of Chav and Fried, written into existence. Frieds idea can be read as gender-neutral, but the phallocentric commentaries of feminist writers such as Camille Paglia Hesses feminist works can be read with a melancholic tone of a woman conscious of and raging about a sexual debt -but they do not have to be. Paglia finds male and female equality in Eastern religious traditions: cultures built around ongoing horizontal natural rhythms, unlike the western male preoccupation with vertical climax. Hesses interest in the body is, in Paglias terms.chthonic- she claimed she wanted to keep her work in the ugly zone, her work defined by Stallybrass as all orifices and symbolic filth physical needs and pleasures of the sexual organs. So while Hesse works almost unconsciously asa woman, in the most natural and inevitable way finding affinity with the dirty reality of natural processes, she does not necessarily work with an agenda to liberate women- at least not through the symbolism she employs. She is not seeking illusory freedom in creating an alternative heterocosm through sculpture- she is merely expressing what is going on inside her, writing the body. Paglias vision of the wholeness of femininity is irresistibly connected to Frieds emphasis on shape, what secures the wholeness of the object is the singleness of the shape. In order for a work to qualify as a painting it must, Fried says, hold a shape. Without form, it is experienced as an object. Modernist paintings mission was to stave off accusations of objecthood, and to retain shape-character- persona. Minimalist (literalist, Conceptual) art, on the other hand, embraces its objecthood and strains to project it at every opportunity. It is not concerned about movements or history, social context orcategorization merely with the emphatic declaration of its authentic self;its materials; its construction. Conceptual art, for Fried, is a new genre of theatre and includes the beholder. However, a new genre of theatre, to the extent that theatre is an art, reinforces the idea that Fried is declaring conceptual art as a whole new category of art. I have chosen Hesse as an example, because her work spans a period of decades leading up to the present, and it is important to frame our question in its historical context. Watching how conceptual art has (or rather, has not) changed in nature over the past forty years informs our judgement of its impact. Hesse has always experimented with conceptual work, and Frieds theory holds true for her there is certainly something implacably theatrical about this artists sculpture, the in-jokes, the sexual punning, the scale. There is also an inescapable recurrence of the void as a symbol. While its tempting to class all holes as signifiers of feminine anxiety or unsatisfaction, it may not always be terribly helpful. Hang Up, for example, is not even a r eal empty canvas- its been beautifully painted, just all in one colour. It lurches out at us with its alien grayness, the passage of time and its monocrome simplicity lending it an amateur dramatics eeriness, this is no painting. It is a textbook example of Frieds notion of theatrical sculpture, and an example so clearly handmade that it recalls other hand crafted artworks, and by extension a dozen other women artists- and raises the point that perhaps Frieds theatricality theory is extraordinarily effective with female artists after all. It certainly helps to spin the boys club character of 60s minimalism- if craft and animation invokes the feminine and can be imposed or unveiled in the most surprising places, due to a theory, then this theory must have some value as a gender-leveling power. Simplifying the way an object is understood Fried does, abstracting the meaning from the object then returning it to it, makes gendered readings impossible. Fried allows art works to proclaim t heir own meaning, but less esoteric critics, perhaps more Marxistones such as T.J Clarke, never returned the meaning to the art object: the objecthood in itself was nothing without context. It is these historicist art critics who see all art as abstracted until contextualized who believe conceptual art is the most extreme and intolerable form of abstraction, and who believe it represents a slightly troublesome break from convention but nothing that cannot be subdued with some thorough historical context. Conclusion For many, the term Conceptual Art, like Modernism,suggests more of an attitude than a category with strictly defined limits. Minimalism might have been the last great modernist movement, 1973 the year modernism died and post-modernism ushered in, but none of this really helps us to understand how to read art, or why certain kinds of objects are made in certain ways. Ultimately, labelling art as a new category seldom teaches us much more than how to label art. As one commentator stated (of music), Just because something sounds crunchy and angular doesnt mean it is modern. Yet in one sense he is wrong modern, like conceptual is a term that can be applied according to individual interpretation, the subject/object problemagain. There is a strong case for the argument that conceptual art was tagged retroactively by supporters of the literary elite imposition of meaning on abstract works, but there is a more intuitive one still that suggests all artis open to classification as conceptual, nullifying the movement as a historicist ploy and returning power to the viewer. Even Frieds extraordinary theories are somehow conceptual as he asks us to read all art objects through the filter of a vocabulary of objecthood. Similarly which argument one chooses to follow up is, of course, a subjective matter. Bibliography Cooper H. (cat)Eva Hesse: a Retrospective, Yale, London (1992) Gaiger, P. Frameworks for Modern Art (Art of the Twentieth Century Yale University Press, US (2004) Fried, M. Art and Objecthood University of Chicago Press, US (1998) Harrison C. and Wood P., (eds) Art in Theory 1900-1990, Blackwell Publishers Ltd, Oxford(1992) Lippard, L. Six Years: The Dematerialisation of the object, University of CaliforniaPress, California (1997) Lippard, L. Eva Hesse de Capo Press, New York, (1992) Paglia, C. Sexual Personae Yale University Press, London (1990) Perry, Gill. Difference and Excess in Contemporary Art: The Visibility of Womens Practice (Art History Special Issues) Blackwell, London (2004) Serota, N. (ed) Donald Judd Tate Publishing, London (2004) Wood, P. Varieties of Modernism (Art of the 20th Century) Yale University Press,London (2005) [i]Paglia, C. Sexual Personnae p.47

Meeting Stakeholder Quality Needs Essay

Reflective Statement In this module I have had to think about how this company functions in a lot more detail than I have ever done before. It is easy to take for granted some of the work that is done on the quality side of the business. It was interesting to look at and audit my department and discuss with my manager areas where I believe we can improve. The skills I have been taught have given me a new view on the processes I complete and I am now considering alterations and improvements which I did not do before. The module has led me to question why things are done the way they are done, and if there is a better, more efficient way. Finally the concept of stakeholders, whilst not new, has been made more relevant. I am more aware of what I do and how it affects others within Allen Gears. I am more aware of how the company is viewed within the community and the importance that of the community as a stakeholder in the business. 1.1 Determine organisational stakeholders and their expectations Stakeholders can be categorised as any party that has a share or an interest in an undertaking. This could mean literal ownership and shares in a business or an actual interest in a business succeeding as its success is in some way tied to your own. This therefore includes customers, suppliers, employees and the local community. When considering Allen Gears, as an employee I would be considered a stakeholder. The Management team of Directors are stakeholders not only through being employed but not as owners. As a company that pays taxes the government are a stakeholder and as an employee of nearly 200 people the surrounding area would be considered a stakeholder. Another way of determining stakeholders is to identify those who are directly impacted by the project and those who may be indirectly affected. Examples of directly impacted stakeholders are the project team members or a customer who the project is being done f or. Those indirectly affected may include an adjacent organization or members of the local community. Directly affected stakeholders will usually have greater influence and impact of a project than those indirectly affected. Every stakeholder has their own needs and requirements. Each of their requirements will not be the same and may divert along different tangents. For example within Allen gears a concept to produce fewer gearboxes but at higher margin for more profits may sit well with government and shareholders, but if it comes at the cost of jobs and less revenue for suppliers then this would not be in their interests. It is therefore difficult to please all stakeholders at all times as their requirements may be at odds with each other, but awareness of your stakeholders and their expectations can help when you are making decisions that directly or indirectly impact on your stakeholders. 1.2 Discuss methods of meeting stakeholder expectations or requirements Stakeholders can b e defined as all entities that are impacted through a business running its operations and conducting other activities related to its existence. The impact can be direct in the case of the business’s customers and suppliers or indirect in the case of the communities in which the business chooses to place its locations. Businesses must consider the needs and expectations of its stakeholders, though it need not consider them to be of equal importance. Certain stakeholders such as owners and investors are more important than others. Once the business has identified its stakeholders and their importance to the business, it can begin to plan based on their needs and expectations. Each stakeholder has concerns that it expects to be met by the business. For example, the business’s owners expect it to be profitable and to distribute that profit to them while local and federal government agencies expect it to obey the law and pay its taxes on time. The importance of each stakeholder to the business determines the degree to which the business attempts to accommodate the stakeholder in the course of planning its actions. [ (Li, 2013) ] If identifying the stakeholders is the first step then the second step is to plan how you intend to communicate with them. If there is a two way method of communicating not only can you inform the stakeholders that you are meeting their expectations, more importantly they can inform you when you aren’t. These can be as easy as a brief conversation or a detailed as a monthly meeting with the chamber of Commerce. Within Allen Gears I attend several weekly meeting where stakeholder requirements are not only expressed but tracked to make sure we meet pre agreed targets and delivery dates. Any information gathered from communication needs to be disseminated throughout the company. This is so that all aspects of the company are aware of the stakeholder expectations. Once the relevant information is received it can be acted upon and the results can be reported to the stake holder. Within sales our key stakeholders are typically customers. We communicate via meeting, ov er the phone or by e-mail. Typically any requirements that are technical are e-mailed and upon receipt someone in our department is tasked with resolving any questions or requirements. The results are then feedback to the customer. 1.3 Identify methods of communicating stakeholders’ requirements with team members Communication Methods The method to communicate within Allen Gears should be based on: * The type of information to be distributed * The audience requirements * The timeline for a required response [ (Abudi, 2009-2013) ] Within Allen Gears the sales team all sit within speaking distance of one another so it is quite easy to express any immediate stakeholder requirements or issues. For formal clarifications or where a response needs to be documented e-mails are usually the preferred method. These are easy to store and handy to reference in complicated situations or where a large amount of information needs to be given. In sales we also regularly visit our customers who are our primary stakeholders. As we operate around the globe a cheaper alternative to this is conference calls. Any relevant information from these calls or meeting can then be fed back to team members via visit reports or one-to-one sessions. We also operate a database which holds all the latest information gathered or sent to our stakeholders. This is accessible by all members of the sales team. 1.4 Explain processes for updating information on stakeholder requirements Stakeholder requirements will change rarely stay fixed. Dependant on the nature of the stakeholder they can change due to your actions or their situation. Within sales our primary stakeholder is the customer. Part of our sales role is to review the status and satisfaction of the customer. Feedback may indicate that we need to change your approach to stakeholders. Within Allen Gears another key stakeholder is the projects management team. We regularly discuss how to improve and if we can prove a better quality of work. If an improvement is found it is implemented through team meetings and process change. There are a number of implications o f not responding quickly to a change in stakeholder requirements, including wasted resources, broken relationships, and damage to the organisation’s reputation. At Allen Gears one of the tools we employ to update stakeholder requirements is a tender database. This holds the latest information received from our stakeholders and is sorted by each tender or project. Against each entry is a section that records any necessary action to be taken with respect to the latest information received. This tool allows us to maintain a record of the latest information and encourages dialogue with our stakeholders to make sure we are meeting their expectations. 2.1 Discuss the meaning of quality to an organisation When discussing the meaning of quality to an organization it is important to define meaning of quality. For Allen Gears quality could be described as meeting the needs and expectations of our customers. What must also be considered is the cost of achieving that quality. The â€Å"cost of quality† isn’t the price of creating a quality product or service. It’s the cost of not creating a quality product or service. A useful tool to help recognise failures and re-work is the Cost of Quality (CoQ) Model. In this, every activity is classified either as Core Work, Failure, Appraisal or Prevention. The Cost of Quality is the sum of Failure, Appraisal and Prevention costs. This is a relevant way of thinking about waste and failure. Core Work| All work carried out directly for the benefit of a customer, done right the first time. These are real, value-adding activities. Customers would happily pay you good money to do these, on their behalf.| Examples: Delivering service to a customer, manufacturing a product, issuing an invoice, processing an order| Failure| Any activities associated with producing errors, or services that are not right the first time, or dealing with work that was not done right the first time. None of this is â€Å"good†.| Examples: Handling complaints, paying compensation for problem, dealing with queries, responding to help-desk calls, correcting errors, solving problems, repeating previously done work| Appraisal| Any activities carried out to check if work has been done right the first time. Some of these activities are â€Å"good†, if they lead to prevention activities that improve core work.| Examples (good): Audits that lead to improvement, staff performance appra isals Examples (bad): checking somebody else’s work, authorising, counter-signing, QC checks| Prevention| Any activities carried out to ensure other activities can be carried out right the first time. These are â€Å"good† things to do.| Examples: Training, coaching, developing standard operating procedures, identifying customers’ requirements, briefing staff on plans and requirements, developing error-proofed systems, establishing policies| The theory behind the Cost of Quality (CoQ) Model is that, the more time that is spent on Prevention activities, the less time will need to be spent on Appraisal and dealing with Failures. Prevention activities build quality in. Both Appraisal and Failure are â€Å"after the event†, and therefore are too late and add cost. (Seath, 2006) Examples within Allen Gears include: * The reworking of a manufactured item. * The retesting of an assembly. * The rebuilding of a tool. * The correction of a tendered document. In short, any cost that would not have been expended if quality were perfect contributes to the cost of quality. (Campanella, 1999) To reduce the cost of quality a business needs to employ a process that can be reviewed, maintained and assessed so that quality is not only always achieved but is done so in the most efficient manner. 2.2 Identify and apply organisational quality policies and procedures ISO 9001 (OE and Services) ISO 9001 is the internationally recognised standard for the quality management of businesses. It applies to the processes that create and control the products and services an organisation supplies, and prescribes systematic control of activities to ensure that the needs and expectations of customers are met. ISO 9001 is designed and intended to apply to virtually any product or service, made by any process anywhere in the world [ (ISOQAR Limited , 2013) ] There are 6 mandatory procedures required by the ISO 9001 standard. * Control of Documents * Control of Records * Internal audit * Control of non-conformance * Corrective action * Preventive action Within Allen Gears we adhere to all these procedures as standard. Documents are required to have an issue number. Records are controlled and stored by the quality department. Departments are internally audited every six months. As Allen Gears manufactures many parts any non conformance is highlighted and corrective and preventative action is taken as standard. This also happens in all areas of the business but this tends to occur more in manufacture due to the unique and complex nature of our products. ISO 14001 (OE and Services) ISO 14001 is an international standard that specifies a process for controlling and improving a company’s environmental performance. ISO 14001 consists of: * General requirements * Environmental policy * Planning * Implementation and operation * Checking and corrective action * Management review This means you: Identify elements of your business that impact on the environment and gain access to the relevant environmental legislation. Produce objectives for improvement and a management program to achieve them, with regular reviews for continual improvement. Primarily within Allen Gears this relates to the environmental consequences from the manufacture of our products. Allen Gears uses hazardous substances that must be controlled and managed in a safe and an environmental friendly way. Also within our office there is a recycling policy that is part of the overall environmental policy. [ (ISOQAR Limited , 2013) ] ISO 18001 (OE and Services) BS OHSAS 18001 is intended to help businesses control occupational Health and Safety risks. It was developed in response to a widespread demand for a recognised standard of certification, and actually works well with the ISO 14001 standard. It is a framework that allows a business to consistently identify and control its Health and Safety risks, reduce the potential for accidents and legal issues, and improve overall performance. (ISOQAR Limited , 2013) Within Allen Gears this standard requires the completion of risk assessments and risk control.This is especially important within a company that operates heavy machinery, which Allen Gears does. We also required to report all incidents and check for corrective and/or preventative action. 2.3 Determine how to encourage staff to contribute ideas to improve quality At Allen Gears due to the specialised nature of our gearboxes everything that we do is centred on providing a quality, bespoke product. To that end the ideas and practices of promoting quality are ingrained into the company structure. We are consistently looking at improving and checking that processes are as efficient as possible. We have several methods which we use to encourage staff to suggest ideas to improve quality. Allen Gears runs a suggestion box which looks for quality improvements and process improvements. This is reviewed weekly and there is a monthly cash prize for the best idea which promotes staff participation. Staff are appraised and performance is discussed. Key performance indicators are agreed and these relate to quality as well as productivity. The appraisals are a two-way dialogue therefore staff have a chance to highlight areas of concern and methods to improve quality. Staff are encouraged to participate, give their thoughts and are made to feel that it is a safe environment to make suggestions. Around the business there are information screens which give all member of the company the latest information on how we are performing as a company against agreed targets. This shows the parts of the business that are on target and the parts that are not. This helps the business to focus on the areas that need the most attention. Given the importance of quality, you can never have too many ways to encourage improvements. Using a â€Å"negative focus† is one of those methods. The rea lity is that when members of staff make errors or mistakes, someone has to do extra work to make up for the issues at hand. Typically this is at an extra cost or within a short time frame than the original work. When you link poor quality to extra work, you challenge employees to face reality for themselves and others. Mistakes and errors have a negative impact. The way to reverse this situation is to reduce or eliminate them and by highlighting the issues employees are motivated to think of solutions. 2.4 Conduct a quality audit and make recommendations for improvement One of the most important objectives of an internal quality audit is measuring the effectiveness of an organization’s quality management system. For this to happen, executive management must first meet its overriding responsibility of establishing and maintaining a system regarding quality policy, goals, resources, processes and effective performance–including monitoring and measuring the system’s effectiveness and efficiency. For example below is a portion the sales process for enquiries that is to be audited. Audits are conducted to verify whether processes are conducted in accordance with documented processes, BS EN ISO 9001, customer requirements, and legislation and for aerospace processes, subject to AS9100. Compliance against Rolls-Royce and customer specifications may also be audited. Audits shall be used to determine the effectiveness of the quality system and the results fed back to top The ultimate aim of the audit process is to identify weaknesses within the Allen Gears processes – as continuously improving these will prevent quality and delivery issues. Scheduled internal audits of compliance with company procedures and BS EN ISO 9001, AS9100 checklist covering all teams having an influence on the quality of the product or the environment. Unscheduled audits of any area, function or activity as deemed necessary. In instances of non-conformance to procedures, BS EN ISO 9001 or AS9100 an ‘Audit Failure Entry’ (Corrective Action Request) shall be raised for each clause or procedure contravened. Each Corrective Action Request will be given a unique number via the IBS system. The Auditor shall discuss non-conformities with the Manager and agree a mutually acceptable rectification plan and close out date. This shall be recorded on the GD233-2. Should t he auditor have difficulties in obtaining a commitment to rectify a non-compliance, then the Director or MD shall be consulted. It is the process owner’s responsibility to close down non-conformances with their area. A table listing the questions and corrective actions based on the Sales report can be seen below: Question| Y/N| Examples /documentation| Issues?| Corrective action/Recommendations for improvement| Have all members of the sales team got access to the standard practices and process?| Yes| On the desktop of every computer or laptop is a shortcut to Allen Gears Standard Procedures. Members of staff are made aware of this and part of the training is to go through this in detail| No issues| No corrective action required| Are all staff aware of the standard practices and processes for their job role?| Yes| From discussions all members of the sales team are aware of the standard practices. These practices require that documentation and databases are filled in. The staff completing these tasks is an example of their awareness| No Issues| No corrective action required| Are tenders highlighted as highly likely or unlikely?| Yes| Within the tender database there is a section for highlighting the likely hood. Part of the tendering process is to complete this.| On a few tenders this part of t he tender database has been left empty leaving it unclear whether the tender is likely or not.| A regular review of the database to make sure all aspects are fully completed and filled in.| Are the tender database and tender files kept updated| Partially| The tender database was reviewed and there were examples of recent correspondence with customers.| The tender database has a section that records actions and the date they are due to be completed by and there is evidence that this part of the database has not been updated for some tenders. A print out of files that have not been updated is issued but not acted upon| A regular review of the database to make sure all aspects are fully completed and filled in. Meetings to unsure that the information is up to date| Are customers contacted regularly for information?| Yes| Important e-mails are forwarded to management and are also recorded in the database. Phones and correspondence is recorded in the database. Weekly meetings are held to discuss ke y projects. This meetings are recorded in Outlook| No Issues| No corrective action required| Are bid no bid reviews completed?| Partially| Bid no bid reviews are recorded in outlook as a weekly Monday meeting.| If an enquiry comes in that requires immediate attention,(or needs resolution before the next Monday) there is no structure for impromptu bid no bid reviews| An alternative method of reviewing short term proposals and projects should be formulated.| Are Specification reviews completed?| Partially| There is evidence of specification reviews taking place for highly likely projects only| If a project that was not likely becomes likely it may not have been reviewed to a sufficient level and this will not be recorded.| Within the tender database there should be a section to record that a review has taken place. A tick box would suffice. It is not necessary to review all projects.| Are tender documents produced in accordance with the sales process?| Yes| There is evidence within th e tender files of General Arrangement drawings, tenders and datasheets. They are stored correctly and completed to the required standard.| No Issues| No corrective action required| Are tenders turned down and closed down in accordance with the sales process?| Partially| There is evidence of tenders that are dead, but they have not been closed out to a sufficient level| The major issue is that reports that are run will include incorrect data| The database and tender files need to be checked more regularly to ensure that data held is accurate| Is all order documentation completed correctly and within the minimum timescale?| Yes| There is evidence in the tender files of all the documentation in accordance with Allen Gears procedures being completed and examples and notes from the necessary pre order meetings. This shows that orders are completed to the required standard| No Issues| No corrective action required| 3.1 Discuss the concept of, and need for, continuous improvement A culture of continuous improvement is necessary to enhance productivity and free up the capacity that will provide manufacturers a stable foundation to pursue innovation and growth. (The National Institute of Standards and Technology , 2011 ) For a business it means that you are constantly and consistently improving your competitive position by improving efficiency, quality, innovation, or any other attribute that is vital to the system or process within the business. If you do not continuously improve any number of bad outcomes can occur. Customers stop buying, profitability declines and morale decreases. The plan–do–check–act cycle (Figure 1) is a four–step model for carrying out change. Just as a circle has no end, the PDCA cycle should be repeated again and again for continuous improvement. Figure 1: Plan-do-check-act cycle When to Use Plan–Do–Check–Act: * As a model for continuous improvement. * When starting a new improvement project. * When developing a new or improved design of a process, product or service. * When defining a repetitive work process. * When planning data collection and analysis in order to verify and prioritize problems or root causes. * When implementing any change. [ (American Society for Quality, 2004) ] Within Allen Gears we use the plan-do-check-act cycle. Typically on a quarterly basis we brainstorm and produce evaluation matrices based on areas where we believe we can bring about change and improvement. Recently we investigated reducing the total time spent in productivity meetings. As they involve several members of management and take 30-45 minutes, any time saved would be seen as a quantifiable improvement. Following the evaluation process we began the trialling of a new method for displaying productivity figures for our weekly meeting. This was a small scale test to see if time was saved. After a month there was agreement that this method made it easier to analyse where productivity was falling and where staff were not being utilised efficiently. This meant the meetings where shorter. This display method is now used in several other areas of the business to display their productivity figures on a monthly and quarterly basis. 3.2 Assess work activities and identify areas for improvement In my roles as a Sales Engineer my key deliverables and work activities are to: * Produce proposals in response to client’s enquiries. * Manage the interfaces of Engineering, procurement, Commercial and Tendering inputs to ensure all proposals are commercially and technically robust. * Manage and agree prioritisations of Engineering, procurement, Commercial and Tendering to ensure clients required dates are adhered too. * Communicate with customers throughout proposal preparation, post submission and ongoing, in order to develop long term customer relationships. * Undertake customer visits in support of the sales strategy. Producing proposals is an important part of informing the customer how the gearbox Allen Gears intends to produce is aligned with what they have requested. Currently there are parts of the proposal that are standardised. Whilst it would not be possible to standardise the whole proposal there are steps that could be taken to reduce the overall time to complete a proposal with standardisation. The management of the process by which parts of the business provide input for proposals is also not effici ent. Whilst communication is good it could be improved. The information received varies between members of staff and there is not a set process which details what should be received and the timescales. If this was implemented the process could be benchmarked and we would have a clearer understanding of the issues that cause delays when completing proposals. Customer communication is an important part of any business and at Allen Gears one of my key activities is to receive and act on any feedback from customers with regards to the proposals we are sending. Allen Gears currently has a very good method of collating this information and we use it as a benchmarking tool to review if we are meeting customer expectations. Whilst the tool is very effective there is always room for improvement. The tool should be reviewed for effectiveness. There is some data that is not captured within the system and on review some data that is captured but not relevant. By reviewing the tool Allen Gears can continually assess it for effectiveness and make sure it is always providing the most useful information. 3.3 Encourage staff to contribute ideas for continual improvement In these current times of austerity any competitive advantage must be realised as securing orders and making profit become increasingly difficult. By recognising the current climate and highlighting the situation within Allen Gears it is possible to get employees to suggest methods and processes which can cut costs and help the company win business. Allen Gears has tried to encourage its employees to look at processes that they are completing regularly and consider improvements. If you concentrate on nurturing the process, the results will come as a natural consequence. Everyone has processes and every process can be improved. Unintended variation in our processes leads to undesirable variation in the outcomes of our processes. If you discuss the process with process stakeholders they will be able to suggest ideas for process improvement. Another option is to provide incentives for employees who innovate. By creating a culture within Allen Gears where creative thinking and innovation is rewarded rather than frowned upon will help to constantly generate new ways that employees can function better individually and as teams, as well as improving the way the company operates as a whole. Throughout Allen Gears mangers should look for problems that need to be solved within the organisation. There is no such thing as a perfect company. A company that thinks it has nothing to improve on will certainly improve nothing. If Allen Gears or any company proactively looks for areas where your company could improve, it will give you targets to focus the energies of your employees on. Another idea is to promote the idea concept of experimentation. An organisation that is truly committed to continuous improvement is filled with people who are comfortable with learning from what doesn’t work. An organisation where people are afraid of consequences will never be successful at continuous improvement. At Allen Gears we have a research and development team where a large portion of what they produce is experimental. Bibliography Abudi, G. (2009-2013). Abudi Consulinting group. Retrieved March 6, 2013, from GinaAbudi.com: http://www.ginaabudi.com/methods-for-distributing-information-on-projects/ Ad Esse Consulting Ltd. (2008). Managing your Stakeholders. Retrieved March 6, 2013, from ad esse: http://www.ad-esse.com/resources/documents/Articles/managing_stakeholders.pdf American Society for Quality. (2004). Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) Cycle . Retrieved March 2013, from American Society for Quality: http://asq.org/learn-about-quality/project-planning-tools/overview/pdca-cycle.html Campanella, J. (1999). Principles of Quality Costs: Principles, Implementation, and Use, Third Edition,. ASQ Quality Press. ISOQAR Limited . (2013). ISO 9001 (QMS). Retrieved from ISOQAR – Part of the Alcumus Group: http://www.alcumusgroup.com/isoqar/standards/iso9001-quality/ Li, A. (2013). How Do the Needs & Expectations of Stakeholders Influence a Program’s Plan? Retrieved March 6, 2013, from Demand Media: http://smallbu siness.chron.com/needs-expectations-stakeholders-influence-programs-plan-36119.html The National Institute of Standards and Technology . (2011 , April 10). U.S. Department of Commerce. Retrieved from The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): http://www.nist.gov/mep/ngs-continuous-improvement.cfm Seath, I. J. (2006, October 19). Cost of Quality – the forgotten tool? Retrieved April 30, 2013, from http://www.performance-measurement.net/news-detail.asp?nID=222

Burger King Incorporation

This is the second leading fast food chain in United States; it mainly concentrates on the use of restaurants of which the company has franchises more than 10400 restaurants that are all over in about 71 countries worldwide (Glenn, 1995, p C2). This was established the two Miami entrepreneurs back in the 1954 and later sold it to the Pillsbury in the year 1967. Today, its head offices are situated at Miami, Florida.By the year 2008, the company had around 41,000 people as their employees. With the demographic forces, the company has extended its wings to many countries that all over the world.With this, they have managed to serve over 15. 7 million customers, of which have ended up submitting them to some of the forces (Louise, 1996, pg 14). This is because, different people tend to perceive thing differently and thus, they have been forced to come up with ways in which they can satisfy all the clients in the company. This mainly concerns with the type of materials that they use to c ome up with their product, and the way they label the product to attract the market at a given locality.As regard to the many franchises within the company, the franchisee began to collide with each other. This led to the deterioration of their relationship which in the long run resulted to the falling sales within the company. This was the major economic force that the company faced in the year 2001 till they were forced to sell the company to group of investors in late 2002. The company faces competition forces mainly from McDonalds Corporation who is their principal competitor in the market (Brymer, 2000, pg 22).This company has managed to outdo the Burger King because of their ability to be able to serve around 15 million customer daily, this has also been as the regard to the fact that the company has more restaurant outlet compared to that of the Burger King, while Burger have 10,400 restaurants worldwide, the McDonalds Corporation has 31,000 restaurant worldwide. This has giv en them the advantage to reach to more client than the Burger King. Reference Brymer, R. A. & Hashimoto, K. (2000) Hospitality & Tourism: An Introduction to the Industry pp 20-24 United States: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Compan

The Environmental Sciences - 2282 Words

We have reached a point within our history where we have been more connected than ever. For the most part, we are able to reach out to the eclectic mix of cultures that composes our global society, and interact with others in real time. The various perspectives we are able to contrive from these cultures allow us to understand and construct new ideologies within various disciplines, and some of the connections can be made are constructed from creativity of our imaginations and perspectives on various issues. The interactions amongst the collective forces that constructs interdisciplinarity enable us, from an ecological framework, to find inspiration from the abstract into the familiarities of the environmental sciences and studies. Coming†¦show more content†¦The classical classifications of Teddy Roosevelt environmentalism no longer applies to our given circumstances. Though he helped create and solidify the existence of national parks, the nature that is most familiar to u s is also the most overlooked, and these natural entities that are ignored are often found in the urban landscape (Cronon 1996). Socially we have constructed the idea that wilderness is out there and far away when it is actually within everything we interact with on a daily basis (Cronon 1996). The environmental themes touched upon in our class have some degree of resignation of dissociation, but the field of interdiciplinarity enables us to recognize that these dissociations in one way or another construct and support various themes within restoration, invasive species, and novel ecosystems. Deconstructing these themes enables us to link various connections that would support and deepen our understanding of the successes and follies associated with these themes. More often than not we are required to think outside the quadrilateral prisms and conjoin a collective thought in the thread of a Mobius strip. Since its birth, Restoration has made an attempt to make progress by rehabilita ting degraded lands, but its name hasn’t necessarily assisted the true understanding of its practice. In