Pest

Name: Kimberly Hodge 1. Using APA citations to support your statements, explain what a PEST table is and why it is important to an organization (1-2 paragraphs). Pest Analysis is a frame work that strategy consultants uses to scan the mirco environment in which the firm operates. (Value Based 2013) PEST is Political, Ecomonic, Social factor and Techonolgies factors. Companies will use this in workshops and it will make the managmenets brainstorm techniques using PEST for strategic plannings, marketing planning or development in the business or the production. (Value Based 2013) 2.Include an explanation of the organization and environment you are focusing on in the PEST table (3-5 sentences): I answer #4 before I answer this one. It is combine of both questions. The organization would be my bike shop. I would use this table to think how this would affct my employees and the consumers. Political section, with the Furlough going on and unemployment numbers are going up.. I need to be aw are that I will have good days and bad days with sales. The next couple months were be good month because income refunds are coming in and people want to buy and spend but then at the same time consumers may be saving as well.International trades will be affecting my bike shop because some of the bikes are shipped from France, Switzerland and other countries. I need to be aware this could affect my business as well.. Social is a huge impact for any business. And I think economic influences social a lot. Then Technologies, there are always new gadgets that are being added to the bikes or can be purchased to add to the bike. As a management, I have to be aware that when I promote new technology, I need to let them know what is new and how does it work. 3. 4. Identify 3-5 items in each category and post them in the PEST table below.Provide enough detail to explain your thoughts for each item. One or two lines will suffice for each item; please avoid using one-word, generic items within the table. Political1. Tax policies2. political stability3. safety regluations4. international trade regulations and restricitions5. contract enforcement law consumer protection| economic1. stage of the business cycle2. consumer confidence3. exchange rates/inflaction rates4. Interest rates and montery policies5. unemployment policy| SOCIAL1. income distriubiton2. labor/social mobility3. lifestyle changes4. health consciousness and welfare, feelings on saftey5. iving conditions| TECHOLOGY1. government research spending2. new inventions and development3. energy use and costs4. rate of technology transfer5. life cycle and speed of technological obsolescence| 5. If you were the leader of the organization used here, how would you utilize the information in the PEST graph, and what changes would you make based on your results? How would those changes affect the success of the business? (1-2 paragraphs) When I am leader of the organization, I will need to look each catergory and determine what are affecting our people in our country.People may be looking for changes or having trouble adapting to changes. Why are the changes happening like the example in the book talking about when the records were going out and the CD were coming in and it happened almost over night. This means people who had record players did not have CD players.. The customers had to buy CD players before they could buy the CD. This is what I need to look, what will happen if I change something, does this mean the consumers will have to spend money to make something adapt to something such as CD player. With the government changes laws, it affects our people.Like recent event, the Furlough, I know some people are losing two days of work per payperiod, this will affect their paychecks which will affect the social. So as a leader, we have to look how each category will affect the next. 6. References (please use proper APA set up as you construct the reference list): Valued Based Management. Net (Ja nuary 2, 2013) http://www. valuebasedmanagement. net/methods_PEST_analysis. html GRADING RUBRIC Item| Point Value| Assignment Content| | In depth responses to all questions| 40| General Writing and APA compliance| 10| Total| 50|

“A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” by John Donne Essay

Throughout the years, humans have rewritten what true love means. The contemporary meaning of true love is the feeling of lightheartedness that one experiences when around another human. True love in Shakespeare and Donne’s time period, was a deep spiritual and emotional connection towards two humans. The connection never fades and grows stronger with separation. Many people believe that one can fall in and out of love; however, many poets wrote about a love that will never disappear. The love that they depicted regarded the truest of all loves. As beauty and time fades, true love will remain forever strong. William Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 is an extremely well-known poem for its description of true love. The love that the persona describes does not admit impediments and is unchanging and perfect. According to him, love acts like a guiding star for lost ships, not shaken in storms. Love will guide two people throughout their lives and will not fall apart in the stormy times. Shakespeare is completely certain that what he describes is true love to the point where he says that if his statements can be proved false, then he should have never written a single word and that no man has ever been in love. The ideal, romantic love outlasts even death and admits no flaw. Throughout the three quatrains, Shakespeare breaks down love into the simplest forms; in quatrain one, he states that love is not changeable; in  quatrain two, love is a like a fixed mark that guides ships throughout storms; and in the third quatrain, he says that love is not Time’s fool, stating that he is certai n that what he describes is true love. â€Å"It proposes a love which exists in an unchanging present, impervious to time’s millioned accidents† (Hammond 211). The start of the sonnet provides a definition of a love, which eventually excludes all action, identity, and knowledge (211). Shakespeare’s beginning lines of this sonnet are reminiscent of marriage vows that a couple repeats to one another during the service (212). â€Å"Alteration and remover are primarily words to describe infidelity† (213). The Day of Judgment is the only time in which love may cease to exist (Vendler 490). The young man, by mentioning these impediments, has announced  the strengthening of his own attachment to the listener, reinforcing the marriage of true minds. One must wonder how a marriage can last if it is not made of true love. Perhaps the persona realizes that God requires that each partner love the other, through sickness and health, forsaking others until death do each part. Those requirements can only be held onto in a marriage of true love. In another verse, titled A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning by John Donne, a second persona describes how true love acts and is evident in daily life. Many historians believe that Donne wrote the poem for his wife, Anne Donne, before his departure in 1611, for France. The valediction is the guise in which the speaker attempts to persuade his lover to remain assured of his love while he is gone (Cavanaugh para. 2). He tries to define and rejoice in a love that transcends the physical realm, proving that their love can survive the separation (Bennett 178). The  separation of the lovers is like the separation that is caused by death. The physical bond that he shares with his wife will dissolve quietly like the soul of dying man (Bennett 179). Donne expresses his need for no tears and crying, believing that they should not reveal their sacred love. He asserts that if they would display their affections of their grief, their love would be defiled and would be no better than that love of ordinary people (182). â€Å"When disturbances happen between their love, if he leaves, it will be like the far-off trembling in the heavens and will be innocent and have no major bearing on their relationship† (Bennett 181). The love Donne describes is one that transcends the physical nature of relationships. Ordinary lovers are caught up in the physical presence of the other person; however the perfect love he enjoys does not need the presence of the physical body to survive (183). As speaker and his partner are connected at the soul, they will never be separated, even though their physical bodies might be. In the sixth stanza, Donne describes his love as pure and precious as gold. Their love can be stretched and expanded without damage, just as pure gold is malleable (185). Donne’s most famous comparison occurs in the seventh  stanza, where he compares his love to â€Å"stiff twin compasses.† Joan Bennett describes the compass as the following: The twin compasses are described as two only in the sense that there are two legs joined permanently at the top. One leg, â€Å"the fixed foot† is planted firmly in the center. The other â€Å"travels†, describing a perfect circle, returning to its point of origin. The â€Å"fixed foot† of the center foot â€Å"leans and harkens† after the other that â€Å"far doth roam†. The speaker explains that the center foot, the person who stays at home, makes sure the absent lover comes back to for a complete circle because of its firmness (para. 18). With the circle having no beginning or end, Donne describes what a perfect love is. No man has detailed love in such an unique way that grips at the hearts and souls of the readers. One only hopes to find the love that Donne has expressed. Throughout the two poems, love is shown to be much more than a physical attraction between two people. The attraction between two people can create lust, but a deep connection between two people creates a love in its truest of forms. True love could be likened to a pole to hold on to when a moment in time becomes too difficult. The steadfastness and stability of love are shown vividly throughout these two poems. The male speakers try to prove that love can exist in many forms, yet the one that will last forever is a â€Å"mind connection† that forever binds two people to one another. â€Å"A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning† shows how a love can survive by not being continually physical with one another. In the same way, Shakespeare’s Sonnet  116 describes the love between two people as more of a spiritual connection. Both speakers prove that love does not try to change the other person and will accept him as he is. Whether or not the authors were describing love in their lives, their two poems have made humans seek a deeper love with one another. Human nature begs for a connection that cannot be expressed in words. Love transcends time and space. The two poets described true love in almost the same way. The only difference was the direction that each took. Shakespeare compared true love mainly spiritually while Donne was  more metaphysical. Each person has different ideas regarding the qualities in love,  though most are described here in the poems. The connection described in the two poems is evident in marriages that last. Those couples that later spend over fifty blissful years together are those that married for a deep feeling of fulfillment than that of a physical need that was met. True love has become misunderstood in the past years. Shakespeare and Donne realized what it took to make a relationship work and what true love really is. True love stands the test of time and never changes. True love is what it was two hundred thousand years ago and will continue to be in years to come. Love is what makes humans live and co-exist. While Time changes people, love does not change. As an ever-fixed mark, love is always waiting for one to grab hold of and stand with in times of need. The two poems encapsulate what couples repeat in their marriage vows; love is here and will always be near by, and that one another should stand by their partner just as their love will always remain true. Works Cited Vendler, Helen. â€Å"Sonnet 116†. The Art of Shakespeare’s Sonnets. London, England: The Belknap Press, 1998. Hammond, Gerald. The Reader and Shakespeare’s Young Man Sonnets. Totowa, New Jersey: Barnes and Noble Books, 1981. Cavanaugh, Cynthia A. â€Å"The Circle of Souls in John Donne’s A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning†. 18 Nov. 2002. . Bennett, Joan. â€Å"The Love Poetry of John Donne.† John Donne’s Poetry: Authoritative Texts Criticism. Ed. Arthur L. Clements. New York: New York: W.W Norton & Company, 1992. 178-194.

Just-in-Time Production and Total Quality Management

JUST-IN-TIME Production and TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMENT Introduction In today’s competitive world shorter product life cycles, customers rapid demands and quickly changing business environment is putting lot of pressures on manufacturers for quicker response and shorter cycle times. Now the manufacturers put pressures on their suppliers. One way to ensure quick turnaround is by holding inventory, but inventory costs can easily become prohibitive. A wiser approach is to make your production agile, able to adapt to changing customer demands. This can only be done by JUST IN TIME (JIT) philosophy. JIT is both a philosophy and collection of management methods and techniques used to eliminate waste (particularly inventory). Waste results from any activity that adds cost without adding value, such as moving and storing. Just-in-time (JIT) is a management philosophy that strives to eliminate sources of such manufacturing waste by producing the right part in the right place at the right time. Features JIT (also known as lean production or stockless production) should improve profits and return on investment by reducing inventory levels (increasing the inventory turnover rate), reducing variability, improving product quality, reducing production and delivery lead times, and reducing other costs (such as those associated with machine setup and equipment breakdown). The basic elements of JIT manufacturing are people involvement, plants, and system. People involvement deal with maintaining a good support and agreement with the people involved in the production. This is not only to reduce the time and effort of implementation of JIT, but also to minimize the chance of creating implementation problems. The plant itself also has certain requirements that are needed to implement the JIT, and those are plant layout, demand pull production, Kanban, self-inspection, and continuous improvement. The plant layout mainly focuses on maximizing working flexibility. It requires the use of multi-function workers†. Demand pull production is where you produce when the order is received. This allows for better management of quantity and time more appropriately. Kanban is a Japanese term for card or tag. This is where special inventory and process information are written on the card. This helps in tying and linking the process more efficiently. Self-inspection is where the workers on the line inspect products as they move along, this helps in catching mistakes immediately. Lastly continuous improvement which is the most important concept of the JIT system. This simply asks the organization to improve its productivity, service, operation, and customer service in an on-going basis. In a JIT system, underutilized (excess) capacity is used instead of buffer inventories to hedge against problems that may arise. The target of JIT is to speed up customer response while minimizing inventories at the same time. Inventories help to response quickly to changing customer demands, but inevitably cost money and increase the needed working capital. JIT requires precision, as the right parts must arrive â€Å"just-in-time† at the right position (work station at the assembly line). It is used primarily for high-vPolume repetitive flow manufacturing processes. History The technique was first used by the Ford Motor Company as described explicitly by Henry Ford’s My Life and Work (1922): â€Å"We have found in buying materials that it is not worth while to buy for other than immediate needs. † They bought only enough to fit into the plan of production, taking into consideration the state of transportation at the time. If transportation were perfect and an even flow of materials could be assured, it would not be necessary to carry any stock whatsoever. The carloads of raw materials would arrive on schedule and in the planned order and amounts, and go from the railway cars into production. That would save a great deal of money, for it would give a very rapid turnover and thus decrease the amount of money tied up in materials. With bad transportation one has to carry larger stocks. They followed the concept of â€Å"dock to factory floor† in which incoming materials are not even stored or warehoused before going into production. This paragraph also shows the need for an effective freight management system (FMS) and Ford’s Today and Tomorrow (1926) describes one. The technique was subsequently adopted and publicised by Toyota Motor Corporation of Japan as part of its Toyota Production System (TPS). Japanese corporations could afford large amounts of land to warehouse finished products and parts. Before the 1950s, this was thought to be a disadvantage because it reduced the economic lot size. (An economic lot size is the number of identical products that should be produced, given the cost of changing the production process over to another product. ) The undesirable result was poor return on investment for a factory. Also at that time, Japanese companies had a bad reputation as far as quality of manufacturing and car manufacturing in particular was concerned. One motivated reason for developing JIT and some other better production techniques was that after World War II, Japanese people had a very strong incentive to develop a good manufacturing technique which would help them rebuild their economy. They also had a strong working ethic which was concentrated on work rather than on leisure, and this kind of motivation was what drove Japanese economy to succeed. Therefore Japan’s wish to improve the quality of its production led to the worldwide launch of JIT method of inventory Toyota Motors The basic elements of JIT were developed by Toyota in the 1950’s, and became known as the Toyota Production System (TPS). The chief engineer Taiichi Ohno, a former shop manager and eventually vice president of Toyota Motor Company at Toyota in the 1950s examined accounting assumptions and realized that another method was possible. The factory could be made more flexible, reducing the overhead costs of retooling and reducing the economic lot size to the available warehouse space. Over a period of several years, Toyota engineers redesigned car models for commonality of tooling for such production processes as paint-spraying and welding. Toyota was one of the first to apply flexible robotic systems for these tasks. Some of the changes were as simple as standardizing the hole sizes used to hang parts on hooks. The number and types of fasteners were reduced in order to standardize assembly steps and tools. In some cases, identical subassemblies could be used in several models. Toyota engineers then determined that the remaining critical bottleneck in the retooling process was the time required to change the stamping dies used for body parts. These were adjusted by hand, using crowbars and wrenches. It sometimes took as long as several days to install a large (multiton) die set and adjust it for acceptable quality. Further, these were usually installed one at a time by a team of experts, so that the line was down for several weeks. Toyota implemented a program called Single Minute Exchange of Die (SMED). With very simple fixtures, measurements were substituted for adjustments. Almost immediately, die change times fell to about half an hour. At the same time, quality of the stampings became controlled by a written recipe, reducing the skill required for the change. Analysis showed that the remaining time was used to search for hand tools and move dies. Procedural changes (such as moving the new die in place with the line in operation) and dedicated tool-racks reduced the die-change times to as little as 40 seconds. Dies were changed in a ripple through the factory as a new product began flowing. After SMED, economic lot sizes fell to as little as one vehicle in some Toyota plants. Carrying the process into parts-storage made it possible to store as little as one part in each assembly station. When a part disappeared, that was used as a signal to produce or order a replacement. JIT was firmly in place in numerous Japanese plants by the early 1970’s. JIT began to be adopted in the U. S. in the 1980’s. Requirements JIT applies primarily to repetitive manufacturing processes in which the same products and components are produced over and over again For Example Cars, Fast Food Chains The requirements for a proper just-in-time management are: STANDARDIZATION: Where the supplies are standardized and the suppliers are trustable and close to the plant. As there is little buffer inventory between the workstations, so the quality must be high and efforts are made to prevent machine breakdowns. Those organizations that need to respond to customer demands regularly this system is also being able to respond to changes in customer demands. SOFTWARE: For JIT to work efficiently Supply Chain Planning software, companies have in the mean time extended Just-in-time manufacturing externally, by demanding from their suppliers to deliver inventory to the factory only when it’s needed for assembly, making JIT manufacturing, ordering and delivery processes even speedier, more flexible and more efficient. MULTI-FUNCTIONALITY In JIT workers are multifunctional and are required to perform different tasks. Machines are also multifunction and are arranged in small U-shaped work cells that enable parts to processed in a continuous flow through the cell. Workers produce pars one at a time within cells and transport those parts between cells in small lots. CLEANLINESS Environment is kept clean and free of waste so that any unusual occurrence are visible. SCHEDULES: Schedules are prepared only for the final assembly line, in which several different models are assembled at the same line. Requirements for the component parts and subassemblies are then pulled through the system. The â€Å"PULL† element of JIT will not work unless production is uniform and lot sizes are low. Pull system is also used to order material from suppliers (fewer in numbers usually). They make be requested to make multiple deliveries of the same item in the same day, so the manufacturing system must be flexible. QUALITY: Quality within JIT manufacturing is necessary, because without a quality program in JIT, the JIT will fail. Here we think about quality at the source and the Plan, Do, Check, Action with its statistical process control. Furthermore, techniques are also very important. The JIT technique is a pull system rather than a pull system, based on not producing things until they are needed. The well known Kanban card is used as a signal to produce. Moreover, integration also plays a key role in JIT systems. JIT integration can be found in four points of the manufacturing firm. The Accounting side, Engineering side, Customer side and Supplier side. At the accounting side, JIT has concern for WIP, utilization and overhead allocation and at the engineering side of JIT focuses on simultaneously and participative design of products and processes. Just-In-Time Total Quality Management Just-In-Time Total Quality Management is the mean of market and factory management within a humanistic environment of continuing improvement. Moreover, it means continuing improvement in social life, and working life. When applied to the factory, Kaizen means continual improvement involving managers and workers alike. When it comes to Total Quality Management, Japans strong industrial reputation is well-known around the world. Total quality control is the system, which Japan has developed to implement Kaizen or continuous improvement. The traditional description of Just-In-Time is a system for manufacturing and supplying goods that are needed. There are several important tools that are important for total quality management control, but there are seven that are even more important. These are relations diagram, affinity diagram, systematic diagram or tree diagram, matrix diagram, matrix data analysis, process decision program chart, and arrow diagram. When used properly, these seven tools will help the total quality management system by eliminating defective products. Moreover, they will help in assisting to improve productivity, complete tasks on time, eliminate waste, and reduce lead time and inventory cost. Pros and Cons of Just-in-Time Pros of Just-In-Time: Goals of JIT can vary, but there are a few that should be constant in any JIT system:   1. Increasing the organization’s ability to compete with others and remain competitive over the long run is very important. 2. The competitiveness of the firms is increased by the use of JIT manufacturing process as they can develop a more optimal process for their firms. . The key is to identify and respond to consumers needs. Customers’ needs and wants should be the most important focus for business today. This objective will help the firm on what is demanded from customers, and what is required of production. 4. Moreover, the optimal quality and cost relationship is also important. The organization should focus on zero-defect production process. Although it seems to be unrealistic in t he long run, it will eliminate a huge amount of resources and effort in inspecting, and reworking defected goods. 5. Another important goal should be to develop a reliable relationship between the suppliers. A good and long-term relationship between an organization and its suppliers helps to manage a more efficient process in inventory management, material management, and delivery system. It will also assure that the supply is stable and available when needed. 6. Moreover, adopt the idea of continuous improvement. If committed to a long-term continuous improvement idea, it will help the organization to remain competitive in the future. Cons of Just-In-Time: Regardless of the great benefits of JIT, it has its limitations: 1. For example cultural differences. The organizations cultures vary from firm to firm. There are some cultures that tie to JIT’s success, but it is difficult for an organization to change its cultures within a short time. 2. Also manufacturers that use the traditional approach which relies on storing up large amounts of inventory for backing up during bad times may have problems with getting use to the JIT system. 3. Also JIT is quite different for workers, in the sense that due to the shorter cycle time, lots of pressure and stress is added on the workers. 4. Also the JIT system throws workers off in the sense that if a problem occurs, they cannot use their own method of fixing the problem, but use methods that have been previously defined. 5. Moreover, the JIT system only works best for medium to high range of production volume manufacturers, thus leaving a question to whether it might work for low volume companies. Case in which JIT has failed Just in Time production allows companies to reduce both inventory and the entire production chain. It encourages the removal of all surplus, including surplus factories. Under normal business conditions this is not a problem. However, if there is any disruption at any given point in the supply chain, then all production grinds to a halt. Evidence of the problem with Just in Time production became clear in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and Hurricane Rita, both of which hit the US Gulf coast in 2005. At that time, no new oil refineries had been built in the US since 1976. During that time period, companies actually shut down several refineries to reduce capacity. The old refineries still operating ran at full capacity, so no new refineries were needed according to Just in Time theory since they would only produce surplus gasoline. However, most of these refineries were clustered around the Gulf coast. When the Katrina hit, 15 oil refineries in Mississippi and Louisiana representing 20% of US refining capacity was shut down. Rita damaged another 16 refineries in Texas, accounting for 2. 3 million barrels per day of capacity shut down. The lack of surplus in oil refining caused a shock to the United States. Gasoline prices surged. Had companies not shut down refineries in order to reduce capacity according to Just in Time theory, particularly refineries on the west coast, then it is likely that gasoline prices would have remained stable. US regular grade gasoline prices were $2. 154 per gallon on November 28, 2005, down from a spike of $3. 09 on September 19, 2005 in the immediate aftermath of the hurricane Katrina disaster Case-Study The work described  in this case study was undertaken in a young, rapidly expanding company in the financial services sector with no previous experience with Total Quality Management (TQM). The quality project began with a two-day introductory awareness program covering concepts, cases, implementation strategies and imperatives of TQM. The program was conducted for the senior management team of the company. This program used interactive exercises and real life case studies to explain the concepts of TQM and to interest them in committing resources for a demonstration project. Step 1. Define the Problem 1. 1 Selecting the theme: A meeting of the senior management of the company was held. Brainstorming produced a list of around 10 problems. The list was prioritized using the weighted average table, followed by a structured discussion to arrive at a consensus on the two most important themes — customer service and sales productivity. Under the customer service theme, â€Å"Reducing the Turnaround Time from an Insurance Proposal to Policy† was selected as the most obvious and urgent problem. The company was young, and therefore had few claims to process so far. The proposal-to-policy process therefore impacted the greatest number of customers. An appropriate cross functional group was set up to tackle this problem. . 2 Problem = customer desire – current status. Current status: What did the individual group members think the turnaround is currently? As each member began thinking questions came up. â€Å"What type of policies do we address? † Medical policies or non-medical? The latter are take longer because of the medical examination of the client required. â€Å"Between what stages do we con sider turnaround? † Perceptions varied, with each person thinking about the turnaround within their department. The key process stages were mapped: [pic] Several sales branches in different parts of the country sent proposals into the Central Processing Center. After considerable debate it was agreed at first to consider turnaround between entry into the computer system at the Company Sales Branch and dispatch to the customer from the Central Processing Center (CPC). Later the entire cycle could be included. The perception of the length of turnaround by different members of the team was recorded. It was found that on an average Non-Medical Policies took 17 days and Medical Policies  took 35 days. Customer desire: What was the turnaround desired by the customer? Since a customer survey was not available, individual group members were asked to think as customers — imagine they had just given a completed proposal form to a sales agent. When would they expect the policy in hand? From the customer’s point of view they realized that they did not differentiate between medical and non-medical policies. Their perception averaged out six days for the required turnaround. â€Å"Is this the average time or maximum time that you expect? † they were asked. â€Å"Maximum,† they responded. It was clear therefore that the average must be less than six days. The importance of â€Å"variability† had struck home. For 99. 7 percent delivery within the customer limit the metric was defined. Therefore the average customer desire was less than 6 days and the current status was that of 64 days for non-medical policies and for medical policies it was 118 days. Therefore the problem was to reduce the non-medical policies from 64 to 6 days and medical policies from 118 to 6 days. The performance requirement appeared daunting. Therefore the initial target taken in the Mission Sheet (project charter) was to reduce the turnaround by 50 percent — to 32 and 59 days respectively. Step 2. Analysis of the Problem In a session the factors causing large turnaround times from the principles of JIT were explained. These were Input arrival patterns †¢ Waiting times in process. o Batching of work. o Imbalanced processing line. o Too many handovers. o Non-value added activities, etc. †¢ Processing times †¢ Scheduling †¢ Transport times †¢ Deployment of manpower Typically it was found that waiting times constitute the bulk of processing turnaround times. Process Mapping (Value Stream Mapping in Lean) was undertaken. The aggregate results are summarized below: Number of operations 84 Number of handovers 13 In-house processing time (estimated) 126 man-mins. Range of individual stage time 2 to 13 mins. To check this estimate it was decided to collect data — run two policies without waiting and record the time at each stage. The trial results amazed everyone: Policy No. 1 took 100 minutes and Policy No. 2 took 97 minutes. Almost instantly the mindset changed from doubt to desire: â€Å"Why can’t we process every proposal in this way? † Step 3. Generating Ideas In the introductory program of TQM during the JIT session the advantages of flow versus batch processing had been dramatically demonstrated using a simple exercise. Using that background a balanced flow line was designed as follows: 1. Determine the station with the maximum time cycle which cannot be split up by reallocation 8 minutes. 2. Balance the line to make the time taken at each stage equal 8 minutes as far as possible. 3. Reduce the stages and handovers — 13 to 8. 4. Eliminate non-value added activities — transport — make personnel sit next to each other. 5. Agree processing to be done in batch of one proposal. Changing the mindset of the employees so they will accept and welcome change is critical to building a self-sustaining culture of improvement. In this case, the line personnel were involved in a Quality Mindset Program so that they understood the reasons for change and the concepts behind them and are keen to experiment with new methods of working. The line was ready for a test run. Step 4. Testing the Idea Testing in stages is a critical stage. It allows modification of ideas based upon practical experience and equally importantly ensures acceptance of the new methods gradually by the operating personnel. Stage 1: Run five proposals flowing through the system and confirm results. The test produced the following results: Average turnaround time: < 1 day In-house processing time: 76 mins. There was jubilation in the team. The productivity had increased by 24 percent. Stage 2:  It was agreed to run the new system for five days — and compute the average turnaround to measure the improvement. It was agreed that only in-house processing was covered at this stage and that the test would involve all policies at the CPC but only one branch as a model. This model, once proved, could be replicated at other branches. The test results showed a significant reduction in turnaround: 1. For all non-medical policies from 64 to 42 days or 34% 2. For policies of the model branch from 64 to 27 days of 60% The Mission Sheet goal of 50 percent reduction had been bettered for the combined model branch and CPC. Further analysis of the data revealed other measures which could reduce the turnaround further. Overall reduction reached an amazing 75 percent. Turnaround, which had been pegged at 64 days, was now happening at 99. 7 percent on-time delivery in 15 days. Step 5. Implementing the Ideas Regular operations with the new system was planned to commence. However, two weeks later it was still not implemented. One of the personnel on the line n CPC had been released by his department for the five-day trial to sit on the line but was not released on a regular basis. The departmental head had not attended the TQM awareness program and therefore did not understand why this change was required. There were two options — mandate the change or change the mindset to accept the change. Since the latter option produces a robust impleme ntation that will not break down under pressures it was agreed that the group would summarize TQM, the journey and the results obtained in the project so far and also simulate the process with a simple exercise in front of the department head. This session was highly successful and led to the release of the person concerned on a regular basis. Step 6. Follow-up †¢ The process was run for one month with regular checks. The results obtained were marginally better and average time reduced to 11 days. †¢ Customer reaction: Sales management and sales agents (internal customers) clearly noticed the difference. For instance one sales manager reported that a customer had received a policy within a week of giving a proposal and was so amazed that he said, â€Å"If you give such service I will give you the next policy also! †¢ Adoption of a similar process at the CPC and the model branch for medical policies has already reduced the average turnaround time by 70 percent — from 118 days to 37 days. The corresponding all-India reduction was from 118 days to 71 days — a 60 percent reduction. †¢ The project objective of 50 percent in the first stage has been achieved. A quality improvement story was com piled by the project Leader for training and motivating all employees.

Examine critically the advantages of a culturally diverse workplace in Essay - 1

Examine critically the advantages of a culturally diverse workplace in a global business world - Essay Example roup from another†¦ Culture, in this sense, includes systems of values; and values are among the building blocks of culture† (Hofstede, 1994, p.19). From this definition, two things come to the forefront. Firstly, culture is a social cast in which an individual evolves to such an extent that this cast appears to influence every major activity, thinking and decision making of the individual. Secondly, culture clearly demarcates certain boundaries that allow a person to behave properly and in an acceptable manner thus helping coexist with colleagues and people around. As such, one can easily gauge the extent of influence that culture has on people. However, a clash of cultures takes place when people from different backgrounds meet. Individuals begin to experience phenomena such as ‘Culture Shocks’, wherein they begin to experience things and events from colleagues that are unexpected and sometimes beyond the comfort zone of the individual. Such an experience is constantly felt in an international environment. If people are considerate and understanding of other cultures, and provided people have prior knowledge of other cultures and have secured a perspective on the things to expect from alien cultures, then cooperation and getting accustomed to new work environments by making the necessary adjustments is easier and can be done with the earnest cooperation of others. On the other hand, if the individual persists towards insisting on things to be done according to a cultural backdrop of their preference and expect others to heed to it, regardless of whether it is agreeable to others or not, then it can be surmised that sooner or later, the personal relationships will deteriorate and situations within the workplace are bound to encounter major conflicts and friction. Such a conclusion is rather generalized and logical, but it goes without saying that there is more to it than meets the eye. The cultural theory put forward by Hofstede has focused on the

Customer Relationship Management and Technology Essay

Customer Relationship Management and Technology - Essay Example In the same manner, they were also able to develop good relationships with their customers through the establishment of friendships and interactions. As a result, the retail industry revolves around the customer more than any other industry. Due to this, it is not enough to simply interact with the customers. Rather, they are expected to know them better These all changed, however with the growing chains and building malls and the continuous promotion of self-service. With these changes, more and more retailers have lost their contact with their customers. As a result, they are also simply losing the loyalty that the customers once entrusted upon them. Hence, more and more retailers are now trying to regain the loyalty they lost as they begin to value of their customers through programs incorporated within the idea of customer relationship management. Customer Relationship Management: An Overview Customer relationship management (CRM) can be defined as â€Å"a set of practices that provide a consolidated, integrated view of customers across all business areas to ensure that each customer receives the highest level of service† (Aryan Hellas Ltd. 2005). ... According to them, CRM involves the integration of marketing, sales, customer service, and the supply-chain functions of the organization to achieve greater efficiencies and effectiveness in delivering customer value. These definitions emphasise that CRM is a comprehensive set of strategies for managing relationships with customers that relate to the overall process of marketing, sales, service, and support within the organisation. The following are the important players who are essential to customer relationship management within the organization: 1. Customer Facing Operations – The people and the technology support of processes that significantly affects the experiences of the customers and the organization. These may include different kinds of media such as phone, IM, chat, email, web and even face to face interactions. 2. Internal Collaborative Functional Operations – these are the people and technology support of the processes at the back office. Their activities u sually affect the activities of those at the Customer Facing Operations which influence the establishment and maintenance of customer relationships. This usually includes: IT, billing, invoicing, maintenance, planning, marketing, advertising, finance, services planning and manufacturing. 3. External Collaboration Functions – These are the people and technology support of processes supporting a particular organization together with the enhancement of customer relationships which is then in turn, are affected by the organization’s relationship with their suppliers and/or vendors as well as other retailers outlets and/or distributors. This is considered the external network which supports the internal operations and customer facing operations. 4. Customer Advocates and

Review of Literature Summaries Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Review of Literature Summaries - Essay Example Davies, Howells, & Jenkins (2003) note that this was strategically planned so that it could coincide with the dates of set for the routine visits which are usually established for the schedule for seeing the infant screening. Thus, this plan ensured the elimination of inconveniences and interruption of the participants schedules. From the finding of the research presented in this article, there is an indication of the reduction of the risk of health disruptions caused by PPD from early detection and intervention. On the other hand, those cases which are undetected and consequently not receiving intervention around one year postpartum indicate a heightened risk of incidences of PPD as well as the associated complications (Davies, Howells, & Jenkins, 2003). From the data collected in the first three months, there was an indication that 20% of the participants suffered from postpartum depression. Interestingly, the data collected during the rest of the months through to twelve months indicated that the percentage of PPD incidences experienced a decline. This article supports the proposed change through a number of ways highlighted in the following subsequent statements. First, the article shows the fact that there is a possibility of developing PPD at any time especially during the first prenatal year (Davies, Howells, & Jenkins, 2003). Second, the article shows that using an appropriate validated screening tool, such as the EPDS used in this research, enhances the detection of PPD (Davies, Howells, & Jenkins, 2003). As a result, there can be early intervention to help those who are affected. Early identification of maternal depression as a strategy in the prevention of child abuse is an article which elaborates on the adverse effects of PPD to an individual’s social morbidity as psychological wellbeing (Scott, 1992). This article is relevant to this research

Judge Making the Decision Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Judge Making the Decision - Case Study Example If the court discovers it does not have jurisdictional rights to hear the case it will not be accepted or it will eventually be dismissed. The requirements stand thus: No divorce shall be granted unless the plaintiff has resided in this state for sixty (60) days immediately preceding the time of filing the complaint, or the marriage was solemnized in this state and the plaintiff has resided in this state from the time of the marriage until the filing of the complaint. A married person who at the time of filing a complaint for divorce resides in this state is a resident although his spouse may reside elsewhere. A divorce may be filed in the district court of the county in which either party resides. (Wyoming Statutes - Title 20 - Chapters: 20-2-104, 20-2-107 and 20-2-108). The Complaint for Divorce must declare the appropriate Wyoming grounds upon which the divorce is being sought. The appropriate lawful ground will be that which the parties agree upon and can substantiate, or that which the filing spouse desires to prove to the court. The divorce grounds are as follows: To obtain a No-Fault divorce the plaintiff must allege Irreconcilable differences in the marital relationship. To obtain a divorce based upon Fault, the plaintiff must allege that defendant is incurably insane and the insane person has been confined in a mental hospital of this state or of another state or territory for at least two (2) years immediately preceding the commencement of the action for divorce. (Wyoming Statutes - Title 20 - Chapters: 20-2-104, 20-2-105) Here, plaintiff merely alleges a homosexual affair. Assuming arguendo that the allegations are true, they amount to nothing more than a charge of adultery which is not grounds for divorce in this state. Furthermore, plaintiff has not alleged in her complaint the requisite jurisdictional predicates for this court to take jurisdiction of this matter. She merely alleges that the parties own land in this state. The record reflects no reason for this court to presume that the plaintiff resides in this state or that she has for the past sixty days. Accordingly, and based upon the foregoing the complaint is dismissed without prejudice.

Managing people and developing, leading team Essay

Managing people and developing, leading team - Essay Example I am a member of the Libyan students’ society in Leicester; I was involved in a social program that was working with young Libyan people. The organizations involved in coordinating the social program were Libyan Red Crescent and some civil society organizations. The main objective of working with the civil society was to carry out charity works and equip community members with assertive skills with respect to observance of civil rights. Working with young Libyan people was both fun and challenging at the same time because of the stubborn nature of young men when they grow up. This program offered a platform to sharpen my skills, as they will be needed during the next visit. It was crucial that we avoid past mistakes and use new techniques. I worked with young Libyan people in Libyan secondary school in Leicester and Taiba mosque near Libyan school. The project was organized based on the presumption that most young people need some motivations to navigate life and still lead he althy lives. The charity programs helped to reduce the desperation of the locals who were faced with a high rate of unemployment. I applied my aesthetic skills in helping restore the dignity of girls who have been victims of rape and other abuses. There were a lot of activities that indulged young Libyan people, for example, participating in lectures about first aid, playing football, visiting interesting places and others. In order to accomplish the project’s objectives, there was need to partition ourselves into various teams and use the teams as a means of getting to the end. We organized ourselves into strategic teams, which were headed by my fellow colleagues. There was a need to identify common values, goals, and objectives. This was crucial in the management of conflicting interests and desires. The boys were teenagers in their early and late teens, and had a lot of enthusiasm for fun games. Our aim was to use the principles

Reflection paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 30

Reflection paper - Essay Example illiant work of American FBI agents and their valuable experience, they still sometimes miss important facts just because the crime is committed by a person who simply could not be suspected of committing any crime. The case of Robert Hanssen was one of such cases which seem hopeless. The most unpleasant moment in the investigation is the desire of agents not to find a spy, but to close the case. They started suspecting an innocent man Brian Kelly and traced him everywhere until he was fired from job. They caused many troubles to him, but the real violator remained free and unsuspected. Finally, looking for the evidences of Brian’s non-existed guilt, they got the file with the proofs of spies work in the Soviet Union from the ex-agent of KGB for $7 million. Inside the file they found an audio record of a conversation. They were sure that they would hear the voice of Brian Kelly and were unpleasantly surprised when heard a voice of a different man, unknown, but a bit familiar. Finally one of the agents recognized the voice: it was the voice of Robert Hanssen. It is also known that they found the fingerprints of Hanssen on one of the document and recognized the voice only after that. But we can hardy state that he would be suspected only due to fingerprints. Criminalists are currently facing a very serious problem connected with the interpretation of fingerprints. They doubt if they should believe this method. If genetic dactyloscopy can be considered an absolutely reliable method of personality identification provided that the selection was made correctly, plain analysis of fingerprints frequently leads to mistakes. Widespread belief in the uniqueness of papillary lines for each person is rather a product of intuition, but not of the scientific investigation. Such belief is not supported by any scientific method, theoretical model or empirical evidence. The wide application of a method can’t guarantee its credibility. During many years the best Eur opean

Virtual Childhood reflection Essay Example for Free

Virtual Childhood reflection Essay Debbie has grown so much in the last few months. She has achieved some milestones that are predominantly seen amongst infants within this age brackets. Breast milk is still her main source of food up on till the time she clocked six months of age when solids were introduced. She sucks at everything that touches her lips; this is due to the sucking reflex that is inborn. My virtual child ate fairly well; she would once in a while vomit the food if she didn’t burp. Her motor development is consistently being tweaked as she’s able to coordinate her pass objects from one hand to another. She occasionally paddles and kicks in sort of a swimming motion. Sleep is somewhat troubling because she wakes up at night to feed and she fusses occasionally for no reasons. Debbie is currently at six months and she’s able to fully identify key persons in her life. This is because of the interactive activities she has been exposed to, such as reading. Her cognitive abilities have developed with exposure to her surroundings especially during evening strolls. Debbie warms up to people after a period of time. This is because she knows the key people in her life while she takes a couple of minutes to warm up to strangers. Eventually she warms up to them. At 3months she was starting to recognize key persons in her life. By the 8month mark, she was able to fully recognize her parents. An emotional attachment had developed. She would cry passionately and we respond to her needs. According to Ainsworth the continuity of this attachment would only build a child a child who would tend to be insecure in the future.

Growing Up in s Christian Family

Growing Up in s Christian Family Being raised up in a spiritually oriented family has its mix of blessings and curses. The blessings are certainly the security and stability of a family whose foundation is strongly well planted in the Word of God. The curses are the problems that come as a result of being swept along the river of the faith of the parents. I am writing this paper with intentions of highlighting the readers with these problems in mind. As one deal with considering the faith of the pre-adolescent children from within the congregation or from the family prospective, one ought to ask the question, When are children ready to make the faith commitment of their life? Therefore, before I draw my ideas from other various sources, I would like to start with a personal experience of a friend of mind whom I came to know during my basic combat training in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and whom we are stationed together in Camp Robinson, North Little Rock. Andrew is chaplain assistance for my army unit and my close battle buddy whom I thought would be a best candidate to interview for my research paper. Based on his responses to my curiosity about his spiritual life, he informed me that his family was deeply involved in the life of the church way before he was born. His father was a church leader. Among his best friends, was the son of the church chairman and another was the pastors son. According to Andrew, he spent much of his time with his friends both at the church and at each others homes. Each of their parents played a role in their formative years. This was our extended family. We were more like cousins than friends, for each of our natural extended families were hundreds of miles away, he said with a serious look on his face. He went further by saying that they were no different from the other kids, but evidently the bond that they had, held them closer to the influence of the church. So, when it came to making a decision for Christ, there really was no decision, he said. In the case of Andrew, one is left to believe they had no other choice other than go with the flow. So, as early as the age of five, the three of the best friends would respond to the request of their childrens chapel teacher and prayed that Jesus would come into their hearts without having a firm cognitive sense of their prayers. Was there a change in their lives? No, they were simply following the natural order of events for children in the church. Furthermore, Andrew stated that when they were twelve, after several years later, their Sunday school class met in the pastors study for baptism and membership class. Again, expectations dictated that by this time in their lives it was time to take this step. So, one Sunday evening the three friends, along with others in their class, stepped into the water and were baptized. Were we demonstrating to the world that we were now dead in our sins and transformed into new life in Christ? he wondered. No, we were following the sequence of events of all the church kids that went before us. It was a right of passage into the next level of life in the church. Were we forced or coerced into doing this? No, we desired to take these steps because it was the proper thing to do. Andrew confessed that as he grew in his understanding and faith, he came to resent both the actions of the church and home. He perceived the events as irresponsible and meaningless. He felt that he had been misled and was given a false sense of his position in Christ. I concluded that I was not saved during those early years and I objected to the practice of child evangelism, he protested. This state of hostility toward his church lasted for about three years during his late teens as he struggled with his own identity and his relationship with God. Now, Andrew is a married man and Chaplain assistance in the military unit. His wife and he are planning to have children in the nearest future. Therefore, in light of his own spiritual development he is left to wonder how he would measure a childs spiritual readiness or more explicitly, how would he know when a child is ready to make a decision for Christ and for baptism? It is with this question that every parents out there should bear in mind when considering spiritual formation of their preadolescence children. Another point one would want to put extra emphasis on is the psychological development theory. Those of us who went through adolescent stage and the parents who work or live with adolescents know first-hand that they are at once impossible to live with and a joy to have around. They are moody, critical, combative, and absent-minded; they are also creative, energetic, and impassioned about the world and their place in it. However, research on pre-adolescents development has shown clearly that the surface behaviors of early adolescents provide poor clues as to what is really going on inside them, in their minds and souls. The common perception of students in middle schools is that they are constantly in storm and stress, peer driven, rebellious toward adults, moody, uncommunicative and unpredictable. Unfortunately, these views are popular myths and have resulted in generations of misunderstanding and inappropriate attention to the needs of 10 to 14 years old. Early adolescents are rarely perceived as being deeply thinking, caring and valuing individuals who are greatly influenced by loving adults. They are in the final stages of developing the character and personality that will distinguish them as adults; difficult, serious and personal questions and inquiries into the meaning of life and death are very important, for they play a crucial role in their faith development. In his theory of cognitive development (Table 1), Jean Piaget put forth the intellectual counterpart of biological adaptation to the environment. He said that as we adapt biologically to our environment, so too we adapt intellectually. Through assimilation, accommodation and rejection, the external world is organized and given structure. Adaptation begins at birth with the exercise of sensory-motor reflexes. Differentiations via reflexes are the first adaptations that are of eventual importance in cognitive development. As the child develops, the adaptations he makes are increasingly less related to sensory and motor behaviors alone, and may be less clearly seen as adaptations by the untrained eye. Each successive stage is built upon the one before in an accumulating, orderly, sequential and hierarchical manner. Yet the cognitive structures are developed in an invariant sequence. That is, the course of cognitive development, marked by the development of structures, is the same for all children, although the ages at which they attain particular structures may vary with intelligence and the social environment (Piaget and Inhelder, 1969, p. 153). Erik Erikson, in his theory of psychosocial stages (Table 2), similarly stated that an individuals personality develops according to predefined steps that are maturationally set. Society is structured in a way that invites and encourages the challenges that arise at these particular times. Each stage presents the individual with a crisis. If a particular crisis is handled well, the outcome is positive. If it is not handled well, the outcome is negative. The resolution of each stage lays the foundation for negotiating the challenges of the next. Lawrence Kohlberg views the development of morality in terms of moral reasoning (Table 3). The stage of moral reasoning at which people can be placed depends upon the reasoning behind their decisions, not the decisions themselves. He believes that the stages are sequential and that people do not skip stages, although they enter and leave them at varying times. Implications on Spiritual Development Using Piagetian, Eriksonian and Kolbergian theory, James Fowler set out to explain the process of spiritual development in his description of several stages that occur in the development of faith in a persons lifetime (Table 4). He called the stage of most pre-adolescents to be mythic-literal faith. This stage is consistent with Piagets concrete operational stage and Eriksons industry vs. inferiority stage. It is at this stage that children develop their sense of position relative to others in the peer group by mastering the academic and social skills. Their individuality is defined by their position in the group. They become less egocentric and begin to understand complex concepts like conservation. The child still has difficulty though with abstract terms such as freedom and liberty. Children at this stage understand the world on a basic concrete level. Fowler states that most adolescents are at synthetic-conventional faith. This stage correlates to Eriksons identity vs. role confusion stage and a more mature level of Piagets concrete operational stage. They develop a sense of who they are and where they belong. A strong emphasis is placed on being part of the group. There is an even more intense need for conformity and the approval of the community. Their identification and expression of faith are an extension of their family, their church and their peers. During childhood, religious beliefs and behaviors are greatly influenced by ones parents. Children tend to imitate their parents beliefs and behaviors. In adolescence, however, there is a change and a questioning of many of these religious beliefs. David deVaus looked at the importance of parental influence in relation to religious values and behavior in Australian teenagers. The results showed that, at least for religious activity (behavior), both parents and peers were about equal in importance. However, when asked who had been most influential in development of their religious feelings, the most common answer was the mother (51 percent), followed by father (42 percent). According to Fowler it is not until a child reaches the next stage, individuative-reflective faith, that individuals begin to assume personal responsibility for their own commitments, life-styles, or beliefs. As this takes place, adolescents are forced to address unavoidable tensions between the person they want to be and what others expect of them. This stage is associated with Eriksons intimacy vs. isolation and the beginning level of Piagets formal operational stage when children begin to develop close interpersonal relationships, showing a willingness to commit to others. They begin to develop the ability to test hypotheses in a mature, scientific manner and can understand and communicate their positions on complex ethical issues that demand an ability to use the abstract. They can think about thinking that is they become aware of the processes where by they come to hold a particular opinion. They begin to own the beliefs they hold. They are becoming adults. Understanding the Implications and the Dangers A girls body can begin to take on the shape and features of a woman. She can speak with the sophistication associated with adolescence or even adulthood. Social and legal arrangements can permit new freedoms simply because a person reaches a certain age. But until the evolution of meaning becomes interpersonal, there is a very real sense in which the person is not yet an adolescent. If those around her should mistake physiology, calendar age, or verbal ability for psychological age and expect her to function inter-personally, they create a situation which is dangerous for the developing teenager. In his discussion on the dangers of applying developmental theory to spiritual growth, John Ackerman states that we can make three grave mistakes. First, we may have a tendency to rank individuals according to their development. Second, we may think that because we have labeled them, we know them. Third, we may take the groupings and define an absolute relationship between psychological and spiritual growth. We need to know where people are developmentally, but the focus is on God, in the persons perception of God. (Ackerman, 1994, p. 111) I will venture to say that most churches, mine included, proceed with the expectation that chronological age defines spiritual readiness with respect to issues such as faith commitment and baptism. Within the structure of our institutions we have rituals that are performed, with some regularity, with children entering puberty. The Jewish Bar Mitzvah, Catholic and Lutheran Confirmation, and Baptist and Brethren Baptism are examples of ordinances that the church observes when children have reached their pre-teen years. Tradition dictates that at this age a child is ready to begin the transition to adulthood. They need to begin taking the faith they have been taught since infancy and make it their own. But are our children really ready for such a step? Do they really understand the steps they are taking? The most common argument I hear in favor of child conversion are based on verses like the following: At that time Jesus said, I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Matt 11:25. And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Matt 18:3. Jesus said, Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these. Matt 19:14. Reasoning that God accepts the faith of a child, parents and teachers do their best to help the child to make these life decisions. But unfortunately, in the well-intentioned adults attempt to hurry up and save the children from eternal damnation, they have misunderstood the concept Jesus was teaching. Taken in their proper context we see that Jesus teachings were pointing not to the childish faith as being the characteristic he was seeking, but to the humility and trust of a child as being the characteristic he was seeking in his followers. This teaching is not for the children but for the adults to follow. At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven? He called a little child and had him stand among them. And he said: I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Matt 18:1-6 In each case, where Jesus speaks of the faith of a child he is using this attitude to offset the tendency for his followers to become proud and self-sufficient. One needs to see how helpless we really are without God and how our faith must grow out of ones trust rather than ones achievements. So how then do one assess childrens readiness to make these life changing decisions? One needs to consider each child as an individual and measure their spiritual readiness based upon their understanding of who God is and what he has done for them. Faith is a response to a need and if the child does not perceive the reality of the need then there cannot be true faith. Measuring Spiritual Readiness During a recent Texas Baptist evangelism conference held in Fort Worth, leaders of a Bring the Children to Jesus workshop said Children should come to Jesus just like grown-ups freely. Parents should neither push them into premature professions of faith nor neglect their spiritual nurture. Teach parents that they have a responsibility to God in the stewardship of their childrens spiritual development, said Karen Cavin, minister of childhood education at Mimosa Lane Baptist Church, Mesquite, Texas, who led the workshop with Wayne Shuffield Jr., pastor of Royal Haven Baptist Church, Dallas, and co-author of Bring the Children to Jesus, a resource published by the Baptist General Convention of Texas evangelism division. The gospel plan of salvation can be explained in terms an older child a fourth-, fifth- or sixth-grader can easily understand, they noted. Realize children think in literal terms, so avoid figurative language, they suggested. Shuffield and Cavin advised parents and church leaders to look for signs of readiness in children such as: Questions. Listen carefully to a childs questions about spiritual matters. If the child is asking who the guy was that climbed the sycamore tree, hes probably just asking for factual information about Zaccheus, Shuffield said. Just because you know the verse follows about the Son of Man coming to seek and save that which was lost, dont assume the child is making that leap. On the other hand, if a child begins to ask serious questions about sin, death and eternity, that could be a sign the Holy Spirit is drawing the child. Explore the level of interest and understanding by asking probing, open-ended questions, not queries that could be answered yes or no. Focus. Watch for a child who suddenly becomes focused on religious instruction. Unusual attentiveness in Sunday school or during worship could be a signal a child is ready to make a faith commitment. Behavioral changes. Anything from a sudden interest in Bible-reading to expressions of guilt over wrongdoing at home could mean God is working in a childs heart. Shuffield said that while some young children genuinely are converted, that is the exception, not the rule. Pastors, teachers and parents can help young children by distinguishing between the natural desire of a child to express love for Jesus and the life-changing decision of receiving him as Lord and Savior. At another workshop, Childrens Church A New Way, leaders suggested a combination of small-group sessions, self-guided activities and large-group time for childrens worship. Life development pastor Charlie McAllister and childrens worship leader Karen Lewis from the Houston-area Fellowship of The Woodlands said they incorporate lively music with a lot of hand motions, drama and secular videos with spiritual applications into their Adventure Zone childrens church service. We make it fun for the kids, Lewis said. Kids tell their parents, I want to go back to that church where they sing, dance and have donut holes.' We try not to make it like school, McAllister said. We want it to be fun. We involve the kids in worship. Our goal is to raise up a generation of worshipers. Kids learn by doing. Theres no altar call and no scare tactics. We let the Holy Spirit convict. In conclusion, taking the information presented by developmental psychology one might conclude that pre-adolescent children are simply not capable of making a decision for Christ. Maturely[ speaking, they have not developed the cognitive tools they need to come to this decision. Their thinking processes are still governed by mythical, literal understanding of their environment. They are more interested in fitting into the group than making individual decisions. But this conclusion would be flawed. Indeed, John Ackerman states that most adults within the church would possibly fall into this same category. Rather, when we look more closely at the evidence we come to the conclusion that there is no magical age at which a child suddenly becomes able to understand spiritual matters. It seems quite clear that the only way to assess the spiritual readiness of a child is on an individual basis. And the real problem exists not with the children but the adults who are trying to teach them. In our sometimes over-zealous attempts to bring children to a decision for Christ we forget what that decision is. First, it is the job of the Holy Spirit to convict the heart of the individual, to open their eyes to the truth, to help them understand the eternal significance of the decision. Only God knows when the time is right but we can watch for the signs to know when to open the Word to these children. Second, tradition and ritual can be quite meaningful in helping us define our relationship with God, but it cannot create that relationship. Only through teaching and discipleship can a child begin to define his or her own relationship with God. It is through good biblical teaching that the child will understand why he needs the relationship and through godly Christian modeling that the child will understand how he develops that relationship. In many ways our traditions have made it so much easier to deal with issues pertaining to the spiritual development of children. They define the quantifiable standard and make the decision easy. They excuse us from the difficult job of working closely with each individual, to assess his or her specific spiritual needs. But in order to achieve the desired result a life-changing decision for Christ we must break free from our tradition and begin working to develop the spirituality of children in the only way that is truly effective individually. Table 1 COGNITIVE DEVELOPMENT PIAGET A. Four Factors Determining Development 1) Maturation the gradual unfolding of the genetic plan for life. 2) Experience the active interation of the child with the environment. 3) Social Transmission the information and customs that are transmitted from parents and other people in the childs environment. 4) Process of Equalibration the process by which the child seeks a balance between what they know and what they are experiencing. When thay are faced with information that calls for a new and different analysis or activity, children enter a state of disequalibrium. When this occurs, they must change the way they deal with the information and establish a new, more stable state of equalibrium. B. Concepts and Processes 1) Scheme a method of dealing with the environment that can be generalized to many situations. 2) Adaptation can be understood in terms of adjustment. As the forces in the environment change, so must the individuals ability to deal with them. Adaptation involves two complementary processes: a) Assimilation In this process, input is filtered or modified to fit already existing structures. When we assimilate something, we alter the form of the incoming stimulus to adapt it to our already established actions or structures. b) Accomodation The process that involves modifying internal existing schemes to meet the requirements of the new experience. When we accommodate, we create a new scheme or modify old ones. C. Cognitive Development Stages 1) Sensorimotor Stage Birth to about Two years. Infants progress through their world using senses and motor activity. The develop object permanence, the understanding that objects and people do not disappear merely because they are out of sight. Their abilities are limited by an inability to use language or symbols to communicate. Intelligence during this stage involves organized systems or schemes of actions and behaviors that become increasingly complex and coordinated. 2) Preoperational Stage Age Two to Ten Children can use on thing to represent another. They can use language to go beyond their own direct experience. But their understanding of the world is still limited. They oftem believe that inanimate objects have a life of their own. They are egocentric, believing that everyone sees a situation the wat they do. Preschoolers do not understand conservation, the idea of something remaining the same despite changes in appearance. 3) Concrete Operational Stage Age Ten to Fifteen Children progress through this stage where many of the preoperational deficiencies are slowly overcome. Children begome less egocentric and begin to understand conservation. The child still has difficulty though with abstract terms such as freedom and liberty. Children in this stage understand the world only on a concrete level. 4) Formal Operational Stage Adolescence to Adulthood Children entering this stage now develop the ability to test hypotheses in a mature, scientific manner and can understand and communicate their positions on complex ethical issues that demand an ability to use the abstract. They can think about thinking that is they become aware of the processes where by they come to hold a particular opinion. Table 2 PSYCHOSOCIAL THEORY ERIKSON A. Eight Psychosocial Stages 1) Trust vs. Mistrust The positive outcome of the stage of infancy is a sense of trust. If children are cared for in a warm, caring manner, they are apt to trust the environment and develop a feeling that they live among friends. If the parents are anxious, angry or incapable of meeting a childs needs, the child may develop a sense of mistrust. Trust is the cornerstone of the childs attitude toward life. 2) Autonomy vs. Shame or Doubt Toddlers are no longer completely dependent on adults. They practice new physical skills and develop a sense of autonomy. If they are not allowed to do the things they can do or are forced to do things they are not ready for, they may develop a sense of doubt and shame about their own abilities and fail to develop self-confidence. If encouraged to do what they can for themselves, they are helped to acquire a sense of autonomy. 3) Initiative vs. Guilt At age four or five, children begin to formulate plans and carry it through. If encouraged to form their own ideas, the child will develop a sense of initiative. If punished for expressing their own plans, the child develops a sense of guilt, which leads to fear and a lack of assertiveness. 4) Industry vs. Inferiority During middle childhood, children must learn the academic skills of reading, writing and math, as well as social skills. If they succeed in acquiring these skills and if their accomplishments are valued by others, the child develops a sense of industry. If they are constantly compared to others and come up a distinct second, they may develop a sense of inferiority. 5) Identity vs. Role Confusion During adolescence, children must decide their own vocational and personal future. They develop a sense of who they are and where they belong. The child who develops a strong sense of identity formulates a satisfying plan and gains a sense of security. Those who do not develop this sense of identity may develop role confusion, a sense of aimlessness and being adrift without an anchor or plan. 6) Intimacy vs. Isolation The positive outcome of the psychosocial crisis of young adults, involving development of close interpersonal relationships, most often typified by marriage. The negative outcome of this stage is the unwillingness or inability to commit to others. 7) Generativity vs. Stagnation The positive outcome of the psychosocial crisis of middle age involves giving of oneself and ones talents to others. It is primarily concerned with establishing and guiding the next generation, investing something of oneself in the future. The negative outcome of this stage involves absorption in ones own personal needs and an inability or unwillingness to give to others. 8) Integrity vs. Despair The positive outcome of this last stage involves the realization that ones life has been worthwhile. After a life time of facing challenges and problems, they can look back on a productive life. Mature adults have a different perspective on life and see their lives as having a purpose. People who see only missed opportunities may become bitter and depressed. Table 3 STAGES OF MORAL REASONING KOHLBERG A. Preconventional Level The child is responsive to cultural rules and labels of good and bad, right and wrong, but interprets these either in terms of the physical or hedonistic consequences of action( punishment, reward, exchange favors) or in terms of the physical power of those who enunciate the rules. The level is divided into two stages: Stage 1: Punishment and obedience orientation. The physical consequences of action determine its goodness or badness regardless of the meaning or value of these consequences. Avoidance of punishment and unquestioning deference to power are valued in their own right, not in terms of respect for an underlying moral order. Stage 2: Instrumental relativist orientation. Right action is that which instrumentally satisfies ones own needs and occasionally the needs of others. Human relations are viewed in terms of the marketplace. Fairness, reciprocity, and equal sharing are present, but are always interpreted in a physical, pragmatic way. Reciprocity is a matter of you scratch my back and Ill scratch yours, not of loyalty, gratitude, or justice. B. Conventional Level Maintaining the expectations of the individuals family, group, or nation is perceived as valuable in its own right, regardless of consequences. The attitude is not only one of conformity to personal expectations and social order but also of loyalty to it, of actively maintaining, supporting, and justifying it, of identifying with persons or group involved in it. This level has two stages: Stage 3: Interpersonal concordance or good boy / nice girl orientation. Good behavior is that which pleases or helps others and is approved by them. There is much conformity to stereotypical images of what is majority or natural behavior. Behavior is frequently judged by intention he means well becomes important for the first time. One earns approval by being nice. Stage 4: Law and order orientation Orientation is toward authority, fixed rules, and the maintenance of the social order. Right behavior consists of doing ones duty, showing respect for authority, maintaining the social order for its own sake. C. Postconventional, Autonomous, or Principled Level The person makes a clear effort to define moral values and principles that have validity and application apart from the authority of the groups or persons holding these principles, and apart from the individuals own identification with these groups. This level has two stages: Stage 5: Social-contact, legalistic orientation Generally with utilitarian overtones. Right action is defined in terms of general individual rights and standards that have been critically examined and agreed upon by society. The person is clearly aware of the relativism of values and opinions and so emphasizes procedural rule for reaching consensus. Aside from what is constitutionally and democratically agreed upon, right is a matter of personal values and opinions; emphasis is thus on the legal point of view, but with the possibility of changing law in terms of rational considerations of social utility rather than freezing law for the sake of social order. Outside the legal realm, free agreement and contract is the binding element. This is the official morality of the American government and Constitution. Stage 6: Universal ethical principle orientation Right is defined by the decision of conscience in accord with self-chosen ethical principles appealing to logical comprehensiveness, universality, and consistency. These principles are abstract and ethical; they are not concrete moral rules. At the heart, these are universal principles of justice of the reciprocity and equality of human rights and of respect for the dignity of human beings as individual persons. Table 4 STAGES OF FAITH DEVELOPMENT FOWLER Stages Description of Characteristics Pre Stage: Primal Faith * Undifferentiated faith (Infants to 2 years) * Embedded in reflexes, sensing, sensor motor skills Stage One: Intuitive-Projective Faith * Reflection of parental /family faith and religious traditions (Pre-school childr

Introduction to Negligence, Tort Law

Introduction to Negligence, Tort Law Discuss what is meant by a ‘duty of care’ in the tort of negligence. Explain the test which is applied in the tort of negligence to determine whether the defendant breached the legal duty of care owed to the claimant. What factors would a court take into account when determining how a reasonable person would act? Duty of care Test applied for determining Factors court would take into account to determine how a reasonable person would act Tort law Tort in general are a set of rights, obligation that are provided to the citizen by a civil court in order to maintain safety of people and provide remedies for persons who have been inflicted suffering/losses by the wrongdoings of other citizens. (http://legal dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Tort+Law) A tort is a wrongdoing by a citizen towards another for which he/she is tried in the court of law. The plaintiff is the person against whom the wrong has been committed and who has suffered losses. Whereas, the person because of whom the damages/losses have occurred to the plaintiff is known as the defendant. The law of tort is obtained from common law principles that have come from case laws and legislative enactment. Torts are not dependent on any sort of agreement between the two parties involved and this is how tort law is distinguishable from breach of contract or any other type of law. Moreover, it is the citizen who brings the tort case even though criminal prosecutions are applied by the state. Defendants, in case of tort law, do not receive fines and neither do civil courts incarcerate them. (http://www.findlaw.co.uk/law/government/constitutional_law/500400.html) The word tort is derived from a latin word ‘torquere’, meaning incorrect or twisted. There was no separate legal action under the English common law. In place of tort the English law system provided plaintiffs with two options of reparation: trespass for direct injuries and for indirect injury, action on the case. In time, other civil wrongdoings were also recognized by the English common law, for ex Defamation, libel, slander. English common law became popular in America and they started adopting it. The first U.S. treatises that were published had a portion of common law which was created under the tort law. Every tort action requires some criteria to be fulfilled. First, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant had a legal obligation to act in a particular manner. Second, the plaintiff must prove that the defendant breached this duty by acting in a wrong way. Third, the plaintiff must be able to prove that he suffered losses, damage and injury because of the defendant not being able to follow his legal duty. (http://legal dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/Tort+Law) The law of tort aims to serve the following objectives. First, tort law aims at providing compensation to the plaintiff for injury/losses suffered due to the misdoings of the defendant. Second, it tries to punish the defendant by making them pay for the cost of such losses/injury. Third, it seeks to make sure that such an irresponsible, careless behavior is discouraged in the future. Lastly, tort law seeks to claim the legal rights that are compromised or diminished. The above mentioned objectives me into play when the tort liability is imposed on defendants for negligence, intentional misdoings. Types of tort Intentional Torts Intentional tort is when a citizen or a group of people purposely indulge in an activity that harms or causes damage to another. For example, one person attacking another in a fight will be considered as an intentional act that would come under this tort. Seeing the above example it may look like an intentional tort may be categorized as a criminal case, but there are some differences between them. A crime can be thought of as when an individual’s actions damages or injures the interest of the society. Whereas, an intentional tort is when the actions of an individual affects/injures the property/well-being of one individual. While in a criminal case the charges are brought on by the government and can lead to jail sentence, in a tort the victim presses the charges against the defendant and is usually seeking for monetary compensation for the injury/damages caused by the defendant. Negligence Every individual/citizen is anticipated to behave in a particular manner and conduct themselves responsibly. This is also considered as a legal duty of the citizens as this would reduce the risk of damage/injury/harm to the others. If a citizen fails to abide by these requirements he/she is said to be negligent and the act comes under negligence. Tort of negligence has been the most prevalent tort. A lot different than the tort of intention, negligence tort doesn’t consider intentional actions by a person, whereas it takes into account the cases where an individual acts carelessly and fails to obey the above mentioned legal duties towards fellow citizen causing them harm/injury/damage. The most common case is of slip and fall wherein a property owner fails to behave as a rational person would, hence causing harm to the visitor. Strict Liability This type of tort (strict/absolute) involves imposing responsibility, for a damage/injury/harm, on the person who has done wrong without the requirement of proof of negligence or intention. What only count is that an action transpired which eventually led to injury/damage/harm of another person. The most major example is of defective products, where the liability is imposed irrespective of intent. In such cases the only requirement the injured person has to fulfill is to prove that the injury was directly caused by the malfunction of the product in order to have the law on their side. The company’s intention is this case is not taken into consideration. Business tort (http://www.inc.com/articles/1999/11/15387.html) In business tort the damage is not done to an individual but to imperceptible assets such as economic interest or business relations or contracts. Fraudulent Misrepresentation Fraudulent misrepresentation aims at protecting an individual’s economic interests and also their right to reasonable and true treatment. If a plaintiff wishes to file a fraud claim he/she must prove that the defendant purposely misrepresented a fact which the plaintiff relied on and was eventually harmed/suffered losses due to the misrepresentation. For example, if a company presents factually wrong/misleading financial statements to a bank in order to procure a loan and the bank relying on those statements provides the loan then the bank is eligible to file a case for fraud against the company if they aren’t able to pay the loan back. Fraud claim can be filed if the defendant had the duty to disclose a fact but he/she failed to do so. Like for instance a financial advisor on behalf of both buyer and seller may be held for fraud if he has knowledge about the toxic content of the property and fails to tell this to the buyer. TORT OF NEGLIGENCE The most common kind of tort that one comes across is the tort of negligence and is generally used to represent behavior that causes the unreasonable risk of harm to other individuals. There are a few elements that are required to be established for the negligence tort. They are as follows: A duty of care should exist between the plaintiff and the defendant. The defendant breaching that duty of care. Defendants breach causes direct harm/ injury/damage to the plaintiff. DUTY OF CARE A duty of care is when a person is required to behave carefully, with responsibility and attention towards other individuals in a way a reasonable person would. If the individual fails to meet the expected standard of care then they behavior is considered negligent and any damage/harm resulting from it may be filed for negligence it the court of law. (http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/duty+of+care) Judges making decisions in various cases involving tort of negligence has led to the gradual development of duty of care. This first came to light in a case of negligence of donoghuev v Stevenson (1932) in which the plaintiff (mrs. Donoghuev) went to a cafà © with a friend of hers. Her friend brought her a drink of ginger beer and ice cream. The contents of the beer couldn’t be seen as it was in a dark bottle. Mrs. Donoghuev drank some of the beer and then poured the rest out and to her shock saw a dead, decomposing snail in the drink. This horrified mrs. Donoghuev and led to her becoming ill. The main reason of her falling ill was the sight and the ginger beer she had already drunk. In spite of clear negligence on the part of the manufacturer mrs. Donoghuev couldn’t claim against the manufacturer or the shopkeeper based on contract since she wasn’t the one who bought the drink. Mrs. Donoghuev’s friend bought the drink hence she could claim against the cafà © based on contract, but again since her friend didn’t suffer any kind of illness/losses apart from the fact that she had bought the defective good. In this case the only remedy that could be provided was money back to the friend and no remedy for mrs. Donoghuev’s health. Hence, mrs. Donoghuev decided to file a claim against the drink’s manufacturer (Stevenson). Her claims were based on the stomach illness and resulting shock from the consumption of the beer and the sight respectively. Whether her claim against the drink’s manufacturer would succeed or no was now dependent on the court’s decision. This situation led to lord Atkin’s famous statement. â€Å"The rule that you are to love your neighbour becomes in law, you must not injure your neighbour; and the lawyer’s question, ‘Who is my neighbour?’ receives a restricted reply.You must take reasonable care to avoid acts or omissions which you can reasonably foresee would be likely to injure your neighbour.Who, then, in law is my neighbour? The answer seems to be: persons who are so closely and directly affected by my act that I ought reasonably to have them in contemplation as being so affected when I am directing my mind to the acts or omissions which are called in question.† Donoghuev v stevenson (1932) was the first attempt that succeeded to set out a general principle with respect to the concept of the duty of care. As the lawyers began to realize that the above mentioned principle could be changed to be used with various types of cases, the test was restructured to create the three part test in the case of caparo v dickman (1990) The general parameters set in the test for caparo v dickman were as follows It should be reasonably foreseeable that an individual in the plaintiff’s position was at risk of injury/harm/damage. There should be satisfactory proximity between the two parties. Proximity here means that two parties involved should be close enough such that it is ‘reasonably foreseeable’ that negligence by one party leads to damage/injury to the other party. It should be just, rational and realistic to enforce liability on the defendant. All the above mentioned parameters should be met if a duty of care is to be payable by the defendant to the plaintiff. Also there is a necessity for each part to be proved and explained separately and unambiguously. Caparo Test The First Part – Foreseeablility This test is objective. Would it be foreseeable that someone in the claimants place might be injured by a reasonable individual? In Donoghue v Stevenson (1932) it can be seen that the consumer’s health will be affected if the snail gets into the bottle. This particular situation is of supplying consumable products with foreign bodies in it and a reasonable individual would be able to foresee that the consumer (plaintiff) may very likely be injured. In the case of Kent v Griffiths (2000) a patient was suffering from a serious asthma attack and therefore a doctor ordered an ambulance to take the patient to the hospital immediately. The ambulance control centre received the messaged and they acknowledged it. Without any acceptable reason the ambulance arrived very late, the result of which was that the patient suffered a heart attack. The heart attack could have been avoided if she had been attended to earlier. A reasonable individual would find it foreseeable that that the ambulance’s failure to arrive in time would cause the patient to suffer from serious harm. There have also been various cases where the courts have decided that it isn’t reasonably foreseeable that the plaintiff would suffer harm. For instance, in Bournhill v Young (1943) a motorcyclist crashed into a car and was killed due to driving too fast. Mrs. Bournhill, who was very close to the scene, was eight months pregnant. Mrs. Bournhill only heard the incident but didn’t actually see it. As she witnessed the blood on the road and body it led to her experiencing a severe shock which further led to her baby being born still. She filed a case against the motorcyclist blaming him for her plight. But the court denied her claims as they decided that the motorcyclist couldn’t have reasonably foreseen that his accident would affect mrs. Bournhill, hence he didn’t owe any duty of care to her. The Second Part – Proximity A duty of care exists only when the harm caused is reasonably foreseeable and also if the relation between the plaintiff and the defendant is sufficiently close. The same can also be seen in the case of Osman v Ferguson (1993) in which the police officers were aware of the risk the victim was at. The victim was hence murdered by the attacker. During the proceedings the courts established that the plaintiff and defendant had a sufficiently close relationship. However, the case failed because it was decided that it isn’t fair, just to impose a duty of care on the police. The Third Part – Fair, just and reasonable Generally, courts refrain from imposing a duty of care on the public authorities. However, is few situations the police do somehow owe a duty of care. In the case of MPC v Reeves (2001) a man with suicidal tendencies was taken into custody by the police. He hanged himself to death in the cell while he was in custody. In this particular case the police did owe the victim a duty of care. Breach of Duty Once a claimant has proved the duty of care is owed he must then show that the defendant breached that duty. This is merely when the defendant falls below the standard of care appropriate to the duty. Breach of duty is measured objectively by the ‘reasonable man test’. The reasonable man is the ordinary person performing the particular task: he is expected to perform it reasonably competently. Thus, when I am riding my bicycle, I am expected to be a reasonably competent cyclist who can ride a bicycle. Therefore, a number of factors that can be considered to raise or lower the standard. This is logical because a reasonable person will rightly take greater risks in an emergency, and take more care when the risk of harm is greater. For a breach of duty to occur, the court will take four factors into account: Now that the plaintiff has proved that duty of care exists the next step is to show that the defendant has breached that duty. -Thedegree of riskinvolved: the greater the risk, the more the defendant has to take care. (Bolton v Stone 1951). -Thecost of precautions: the courts will see how high the risk is involved, and then take into account the expense of taking precautions to prevent that risk (Bolton v Stone and Latimer v AEC). Potential seriousness of injures: so if there is a very high risk of serious injury, the more the defendant needs to be very careful (Paris v Stepney B.C. 1951). -Theimportance of the activity: in an emergency, sometimes it is not possible to reflect, think of a possible risk (Marshall v Osmand 1982). Standard for experts– where the defendant has some expertise, for example, he is a doctor carrying out medical treatment, then the standard of care is that which would normally be expected from a doctor. InBolam v Friern Hospital Management (1957)the judge said: A man need not possess the highest expert skill; it is †¦ sufficient if he exercises the ordinary skill of an ordinary competent man exercising that particular art. In some situations, it is difficult to know exactly what happened, although it is found obvious that the defendant was negligent. In these situations a rule calledres ipsa loquitur, which means (things speak for themselves) was developed by judges. It has to be shown that: à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ·The defendant was in control of the situation (causing injury). à ¯Ã¢â‚¬Å¡Ã‚ ·The injury was more likely than not to be caused by negligence. If the claimant proves these two things then the defendant has to prove that he was not negligent. This rule was shown in the case ofScott v London and St. Katherine Docks (1865)where the claimant was hit by six bags of sugar which fell from the defendant’s warehouse. The claimant could not say why the bags had fallen but the court ruled that the facts spoke for themselves and it was up to the defendant to prove that he was not negligent.