Hard and Soft System Methodology

Hard and Soft System Methodology Introduction There are two systems thinking namely hard and soft which are used to solve the problems. Peter Checkland (1981) suggested that Hard system thinking which is identified in system engineering and system analysis has the starting point in structured problems and assumes that the objectives of the system are clear and stable. This system thinking has a formulated way to solve the real world problems. On the other hand, Soft system thinking which attempts to structure a debate about actions in problem solving has the start point in unstructured problems within social activity systems.      Ã‚   Fixitup Toys limited is a manufacturer of toys which produces outdoor and indoor games, self-assembly models and toy soldiers. There has been some concern about their rising cost of manufacture and consideration has been given to the outsourcing of some or part of the production. The vision of the Fixitup senior management team is to optimize manufacture processing to produce the highest quality and most advanced products by using E-business conforming to the lean manufacturing principles and integrating into their established QAD Application. In order to achieve these goals, we need to apply the principles of lean manufacturing. There are several key lean manufacturing principles including: Understand value in the eyes of the customer. Achieve perfect first-time quality. Continue improvement. Respect for humanity. Create pull. (Asefeso, 2011) After Gathering information from all aspects of the company the following steps will be taken: As can be seen, the Rich Picture is an unstructured way of capturing information flows, communication and human activity to represent complex problems and identify possible routes through to their solution (Berg, 2013). Avison and Fitzgerald (2003) stated that the Rich Picture is helpful since: 1. Lack of space on the paper forces decisions on what is really important. 2. It helps people to visualize and discuss their own role in the organization. 3. It helps defining the aspects of the organization which are intended to be covered by the information system. 4. It helps showing up the worries of individuals, potential conflicts, and political issues. (Avison Fitzgerald, 2003) With reference to the Rich Picture, there are following problems in Fixitup. Since about 74% of customers saw the service and quality as moderate or worse, the issue of quality of products must be considered. Further, a powerful information system helps different level managements for planning, decision making, target setting and their implementations (Stephanou, 1982).Therefore, quality control system and information management system are important and they will be discussed. Resource Resource Investment Requirement: Comments: VOC was not heard because there was no effective communication between the company and its customers. Remarks: By establishing a design department and integrating this department with the marketing department the customer feedback can be incorporated into the design. Comments: Lack of checklists caused the absence of the systematic process of QC hence, the chances of defects being ignored is considerably high. Actions: The design department and the quality team will be integrated to prepare checklists according to the quality required. Comments: Since there was no analysis of the defective products, the defects were being ignored therefore they were persistent. Actions: Train a quality control team who will be responsible for doing analysis, recording data and providing feedback. Comments: There was no coherence between the departments to respond to the quality issues. Actions: Develop communication channels between the supervisors and the technical, procurement and design departments in order to create coherence towards quality improvement. Comments: There was no system for controlling and monitoring the Quality Control Process. Actions: Train the factory manager on the QC process and how he should intervene in terms of analysing quality data and controlling the system. He will seek technical advice from technical, procurement and design department for a better monitoring of the system. Comments: Monitoring and evaluation of the information system are missing. Actions: Helen who is responsible for Internal Affairs and George can be trained for the information system and perform monitoring the system. Conclusion There are different problems in Fixitup which resulted in dissatisfaction of the customers. Due to having permanently relevance and also being expected to map on to an organizational boundary, the transformation from inefficient manufacturing to efficient manufacturing which has marketable products is assumed as the primary task process (Wilson and Van Haperen, 2015). Although discrimination between primary task- based and issue-based is often debatable, it seems quality control and information management systems are issue-based which help the primary task to be carried out (Waring, 1996). The current strategy of Fixitup is to optimize manufacture processing to produce the highest quality and most advanced products by using E-business conforming to the lean manufacturing principles and integrating into their established QAD Application. After drawing the rich picture the main problems of the organization were revealed. The strategic construct which was used was classification schemes of issues which helped to identify the differentiating characteristics necessary to improve quality control and information management systems (Verma and Boyer, 2000). Further, the system construct used for quality control was input and output; modelling of such system involves modelling of each process separately considering the connection between them (Apolloni, Howlett and Jain, 2007). In addition, the system construct used for information management system was integrated elements; in which different elements including communication, information and resources were integrated for the suc cess of the system (Khan and Burn, 2013). Otley and Berry (1980) argued that four conditions must be satisfied before any process can be said to be controlled. In the existing situation there was no one responsible for monitoring the systems and consequently, there was no capacity to take corrective actions (Emmanuel, Otley and Merchant, 2013).However, in the proposed systems, George and Helen were nominated to monitor the systems. To sum up, the details of the two systems will be discussed in the following tables. System name and type Quality Control Process; The input and output system construct. Role of information Due to lack of information about the requirements of customers and standard criteria set by the management, the products were just inspected for the appearance by the operators. Therefore, the application of information which was vital to improve the quality of products was missing and consequently the reputation of the factory was being worsening. Information needed to develop In order to use the information to improve the quality of products we need to know: Quality Criteria: After hearing the voice of customers and considering the strategy of the company the criteria for quality of products such as weight, shape and material should be prepared in a simple format. Training of Workers: There was no information about the training of operators and even management in terms of quality control. Historic quality data: The historic quality data including survey reports, the number of different products produced, the number of return items should be available for better assessment of the quality of products. Coherence between QC and departments: There was no information as any department is dealing with quality matters. Further, there was no information about communication between operators and departments, if any, in terms of quality of products. More information is needed to evaluate the possibility of automating the QC department. Intervention In order to solve the problem of quality of products the following actions are suggested: Develop a design department and integrate this department with the marketing department so that the customer feedback can be incorporated into the design. The design department and the quality team should be integrated to prepare a checklist according to the quality required. The quality control team will be responsible for doing analysis, record data and providing feedback. Develop a communication channel between the supervisor and the relevant technical departments in order to create coherence towards quality improvement. Factory manager should intervene in terms of analysing quality data and control the system. Risks Even after the intervention, the following risk associated with quality of products exist: Even after the successful QC audit, there is a chance that the toys will break while transferring/ packing. The Technical and procurement departments might not react to the QC feedback. There might be a friction between the Factory manager and the design team in terms of accepting innovative designs. There might be dissatisfaction of factory workers due to job enrichment without a pay increase. Cost Benefit Analysis In order to assign a monetary value to the benefits, we need more information to predict the revenue accurately as well as intangible benefits (Mindtools.com, 2016). Having good quality products will result in increasing the loyalty of existing customers and acquisition of new customers and consequently, it will increase the revenue. In contrast, the firm may incur some costs to apply the changes. In this case, we do not have enough information about the existing departments and the expertise of employees. Assuming that none of the employees

Attending a Jazz Concert Essay -- Papers Music Description Essays

Attending a Jazz Concert The latest concert that I attended was the NEIU Jazz Ensemble. It was held in the NEIU auditorium. This was my first time attending a Jazz concert. Therefore, I didn’t know what kind of music to expect or any music that I was familiar to. This concert was a new experience for me. It was far different from a rock concert held in some big venue. The purpose of this concert was to give people a taste of the NEIU Jazz Ensemble. The heritage or the background of this concert was strictly Jazz music. I was excited about my attendance at this concert. It would be the first time I was going to a Jazz concert. I knew that I wouldn’t be disappointed or get board there. The music they played was not the kind that makes you dose off. I always loved the sound of a trumpet. My favorite musical group the Dave Matthews Band has a trumpet player, and this is how I started enjoying the sound. Therefore, I knew that this concert must be worth going to. This concert gave me a chance to look more deep into what Jazz music is all about. The music that was performed was Jazz. The entire Ensemble had fifteen people in it. There were only fourteen actual performers. One guy was the director of the whole thing and he was composing. The composer composed with his hands instead of a composing stick. This was an interesting observation for me. The instrument that were used at this concert were the Woodwinds which had five players on it. This was the most players in one category of instruments. The Woodwind players were seated in the first row. Other instruments used were the Piano, Bass, Drums, Trombones and the Trumpets. There was one vocalist. There were two Trombone pla... ...ng at NEIU this year, I didn’t expect too many people to be present. When the word gets out on how good they were, I think that they will have a larger audience for next semester shows. In all, the audience was very well behaved and their presence was very satisfying to the performers. This concert had a good effect on me. My sole reason for going was to get an insight of what Jazz music is really like. When I got there I really liked what I heard. I am going to look more into this type of music. This is the type of music that you just want to sit back and relax and listen. It’s not to slow where you are at the point of falling asleep. Jazz music has got a certain element to it that no other type of music that I have heard thus far have. In all, this concert was a wonderful experience for me. I found a passion for a different brand of music.

Society and Rules

Expository piece Carla Franz While the rules of society are meant to protect us, they exclude some individuals. ‘ As humans grow up into parts of society, they are connected by the rules which guide them in their thoughts and actions. However, as time progresses and societies change, many individuals are excluded due to new rules that surpass them. Stand by me demonstrates the only do laws change over time, but the societies that dictate them change as well.These rules are changed by the people who set examples to the est. of the world; a powerful example is the classic film ‘Stand by me' which demonstrates the will of the four protagonists who are excluded from their society. Gourde, Chris, Teddy and Fern are the main characters that have negative relationships and past with their family; this had a major impact on their segregation from their surrounding society.A key scene from the film is the conversation between Gourde and Chris; they state how they acknowledge the w eirdness in each other but also agreed that ‘everyone is weird'. This is one of the many prime examples how any individuals are excluded due to there weirdness and failure of following others in ‘society. Many individuals have been excluded from society over the years. Especially as young adolescents, we can become immersed into the rules of society.A well known quote is ‘all actions have benefits or consequences'. This saying is demonstrated in many of today's societies. Being individuals, if you do not fit in or follow societies rules you will be teased or looked at funny, people try to change themselves to fit in and live up to societies satisfaction. Author Glenda Millard explores this in A Small Free Kiss in the Dark. Skip one of the main protagonist's in the book who has Just progressed into his early adolescent years showing his innocent view of his world.Skip was an odd one at school, he wrote notes to his teacher making up excuses for not having friends; h e also invented other notes he would take to school to have permission to put his hands in the sky because that is how he finds about the light. One of the many excuses Skip has for not having friends is a simplistic note explaining that ‘he isn't good at math, the others might think he was dumb'. The note Skip wrote is telling us firstly, skip is scared he will be Judged by society because he is not good at math's and portrayed as ‘dumb', secondly he was often excluded at school because he didn't like the thought of having a friend.This is another example of how young individuals are excluded from society due to not being the smartest in his class or not wanting to associate with other kid's at school. Political exclusion is another major form of being excluded in society. Being denied the basic right to participate way in which society excluded the four protagonists, because of their past, showing the audience the brutal ways in which many individuals are excluded.A Sm all Free Kiss in the Dark also powerfully demonstrates how the four protagonists often grapple with their past and come together as excluded individuals of their own society. People come up with new rules to fit the changing society surrounding them, from the things people wear to the things people eat. As time has shown the changing says society operates in, it also bares the individuals that are excluded because of the rules that are ever changing.Not in who runs the country and how it is run has affected the human race since the creation of communities. North Korea, Russia and Syria are Just a few of the many countries in the world who have dictatorship rulers, this form of commands the rules in which their society runs by. Some of the rules set forth by the surrounding societies in Arabic countries have a substantial effect on the population, rules such as having a male accomplice when in public can make the male population feel excluded from there society.As previously mentione d the political exclusion affects the surrounding societies substantially, making some individuals feel excluded and left out. The rules of society are meant to protect and guide us in greater communities. Some of the rules exclude individuals, because of religion, fashion and in political ways. People try to change themselves to fit in society, because if you don't blend in with society you will be looked at differently and simply be excluded.

How Should The Country Protect Its National Security

The Philippines endured numerous disasters, gone through two EDSA revolutions, and faced various forms of threats outside and inside the country. Decades later, the country still has one important question to address: how should the country protect its national security. However, the main problem is that the Philippines currently does not have a national security strategy. Should the opportunity arise, the government will need to execute its national security especially during this time where everything could go right or wrong at any time. Today, the Philippines is facing the problems of poverty, corruption, terrorism, and territorial disputes. These threats are ticking time bombs that should be addressed or at the very least, neutralized.†¦show more content†¦The news between the dispute between the Philippines and China over the South China Sea is not new to Filipinos. Even if the Philippines won the case in the arbitral tribunal against China, the latter still chose to di sregard this and go on their way in claiming the territory. This is terrifying in the sense that the dispute is a ticking time bomb that can lead to war. In that case, the government should do its best to ensure that its security ties with allies and neighboring countries continue to grow and strengthen. However, the thought of fighting—especially if the Philippines is in the right—to what the citizens deserve still lingers. The government should just approach it in another edgy manner aside from diplomacy and political intervention. These two did not work for China but the whole world knows that the Philippines won so it gives the country an advantage. The country should just modernize, keep up, and earnestly defend the country through an effective military. It is becoming redundant but the government should really jump start its military. It is costly but in the end, if it provides security and successfully defend the country, then the money that the tax payers pay i s worth it. To effectively defend—or at least prevent—the citizens against the threat of territorial disputes and its consequences, the country should form a solid and functioning military action plan and unit. One way to prevent this is toShow MoreRelatedThe Great Debate : Privacy Vs National Security1055 Words   |  5 PagesGallos English III Honors 18 April 2016 The Great Debate: Privacy vs National Security In the digital age, the citizens of the United States are torn between which they value more: privacy or national security. On one hand, the people need to be safe from cyber attacks and terrorism, while on the other, the government should be aware of the privacy of the people it governs. The government should not go so far in protecting the country that it interferes with the personal lives of the citizens. 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