Saturday, November 30, 2019

The Concept of Essence

Introduction Fundamentalism in everyday life is important, which makes everything that exists equally important. The state of being is crucially determined by the principle of fundamentalism, which in turn leads to the essence of an object (Allaf 2003).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Concept of Essence specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More â€Å"The attributes, singly or collectively that make an object of a substance what it is and what it possesses and lack of which, it loses its identity is basically what essence is† (Weinberg 1964). So as to help in knowing the complexity in essence, Dilthey (1969) states that, â€Å"it is normally contrasted with accident, which is a contingent property that objects, or substances have and lack which does not deprive it its identity†(p, 66). Aristotle was the proponent of essence whose English translation meant the â€Å"what it as to be†. The difficulty the phases presented to translators led to the coinage of the word Essential in Latin to summarize the whole concept of essence (Dilthey 1969). Existentialism and metaphysics comprise some of the contexts within which essence can explored and which formed the interest base of scholars such as Ibn Rushd. Issues to do with existence characterize existentialism in an effort to define essence. Scholars such as Jean-Paul Sartre reckon â€Å"Existence precedes essence† for human beings. According to him, existence and actuality came first and afterwards, essence can be derived (Collinson.et al 2000). Existentialists argue the soul makes the most important part metaphysics. They continue arguing that human beings only acquire a soul only after their existence. Further, metaphysics holds its only during individuals lifetimes that people develop spirits and souls. Analysis of different scholar’s views on ontology and essence will for the basis of this paper. Ibn Rushd, Ibn Sin a, and Aristotle works will feature in the sections ahead. Ibn Rushd The development of the concept of essence could not be where it is without the contributions of Ibn Rushd (Allaf 2003). He was the Muslim scholar who produced works that went against most scholars of his kind. His contributions are acknowledged by both friend and foes alike. Islamic philosophy and theology, Malik law, logic, psychology, politics and most importantly Aristotelian philosophy were some of the areas of interest of Rushd.Advertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More His commonly referred to as Averroes in the West and his contribution to the shaping of IslÄ mic, Christian, and Jewish philosophy is widely acknowledged. Rushd produced works in reaction to Ibn Sina’s concept of essence precedes existence which is an important concept of existentialism. According to Hyman et al. (2010), Ibn Rush marked the clima x of Muslim Aristoteliansim as well as its virtual end. Rush took keen interest in the works of Aristotle a stance which earned him the title â€Å"the commentator† for the role he played in commenting and translating the works of Aristotle (Dilthey 1969). He considered his role as that of a cleanser of Aristotle works of the misinterpretations that had occurred through earlier commentators. He tasked himself to explaining the obscurities that characterize the Aristotle philosophies as well as removing the accretions that had gathered in the centuries that followed especially of the Arab Neo-Platonist like Ibn Sina (Averroes and Aristotle 2009). According to Hyman et al. (2010), Ibn Rushd’s position is best captured by his critique of Avicennian theory, which at a certain point was analyzing existence of substances within the world. Ibn Sina had fronted the Avicennian concept where he sought to distinguish objects essence and existence by asserting that essence is onto logically prior and at the same time, existence is added to essence. Averroes and Aristotle (1986) further argue that it is, as far as Ibn Sina followed Aristotle that Ibn Rushd expounded his ideas in the need to answer accusations and objections that went out of scope of Aristoteliansim. Rushd rejected the Avicennian distinction by holding that individual objects and substances exists primarily (Janin 2006). He added that even though the mind can differentiate between essence and existence, in them, the two are one if looked at from an ontological point of view. The main difference in their arguments therefore was the belonging of essence. For Ibn Sina, the essences were primary while for Ibn Rushd, the primacy belonged to individual substances (Hyman et al. 2010).Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The Concept of Essence specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More It is important to note that Rushd’s polemic was espe cially directed and Ibn Sina who according to him (Rushd) had capitulated to theological interests on certain crucial points of Aristotle works. It is also important to note that Rushd’s explicit aim was to follow Aristotle philosophy which he regarded unsurpassable (Averroes and Aristotle 1986). Any support or criticism that may portray accommodation or rejection of Aristotle way of thinking will largely depend on the analysis that Rushd had on Ina Sina’s distinction works. A thorough understanding of Ibn Sina’s works and that of Aristotle is therefore necessary if meaningful comparison is to take place. Aristotle’s concept of essence human and the ontology perspective In an effort to unravel the deeper meaning of the concept of being, Aristotle engages in metaphysics. The description of the criterion for the substantiality and the identification of essence with the substance are what Aristotle used in his writing to discuss essence (Leaman 2009). The pr imary message in all of Aristotle’s analysis is the subject of being. Greek philosophy regards the explanation of being as a fundamental question. According to Aristotle, analysis of â€Å"being† is determined from two angles: First as that is which and as the item with â€Å"thisness†. Secondly as the quantity, quality and/or any category, whose prediction is possible (Fakhry 2001). According to Aristotle, being is anything that posses â€Å"thisness† which in essence is what enables people determine it a thing. For instance, it is possible to determine a single human being as â€Å"this† and, it is possible to determine the entire human race as â€Å"this† (Miljenovic 2002). A scholar, Suhrawardi seconds Aristotle on the view of looking at â€Å"being† from two angles; as a universal concept that is shared by all existent beings or as a particular being. he adds that being as the universal concept is just a mental concept while bein g as a particular being depends on the its essence to exists because a particular being can only be equal to its essence which effectively makes it the way it is. According to Kamal (2010), it is possible to look at being from the point of being a mental concept and on its essence to exist because a particular being is equal to its essence. GreekAdvertising Looking for essay on philosophy? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More According to Aristotle, all categories safe for substance posses existence but only as being predicted. Substance therefore is the only thing that is independent of prediction. All categories that rely on prediction including qualities and quantities are dependent on substance for their existence. Being therefore is substance. According to Aristotle, definition of â€Å"substance† in categories is necessary for effective comprehension of essence. â€Å"Substance in categories is the primary category on which other categories relied on for their prediction† (Aristotle and Tancred 1998). Substances have qualities and qualities in turn belong to substances (Aristotle and Tancred 1998). For instance if one can say that President Obama is oratory it means Obama is the substance that happens to posses the oratory quality. Substance in this case is superior because its devoid of any dependence on quality while the vice versa applies in the case of quality. Quality therefore r elies on substance but substance does not rely on quality. Referring to the example, Obama does not need to have the oratory skill but the being o the oratory skills have to belong to Obama (the entity or substance). Aristotle continued the investigation about what substance is by applying subject, essence, and genius as criteria of substantiality (Miljenovic 2002). In Greek terms Aristotle describes essence as â€Å"what it was to be that thing†. Essence for each thing therefore is what people take it to be, completely. Therefore only things with an account of definition posses essence. spirit owes its predominance to substances while it applies secondarily to other substances. Perhaps in a simple way, essence is normally the describable in a thing. Borrowing from biological classification of living things to genuses and species, he describes essence as absolutely the genus of species (Naseem 2001). According to Janin (2006), â€Å"anything intelligible about a thing is wha t its essence is, since it is the essence that is described in the definition of that particular thing† (Janin 2006). The absolute features of a thing are its essence, those that can be described. Therefore, the essence of a thing according to Aristotle is its substance. According to Miljenovic (2002), Aristotle therefore means that if essence is substance, then what is ontologically fundamental is also prior conceptually. Ontological priority means that the being of everything depends on the essence while conceptual priority means that everything has to be understood in terms of essence (Peters 2003). However, the definition of essence within the biological context of species raises questions about specificity of things having essence. Ontology and Essence The rise of ontology was largely seen a challenge to Aristotle’s views on the essence. Numerous scholars many of them Muslims came forward to challenge the view by Aristotle that being precedes existence. The distinc tion between existence and essence was always a focal point for philosophers (Kamal 2010). The scholars were turning from the metaphysical position of essentialism to existentialism. It also marked the movement from the doctrine of he principality of essence to the doctrine of the principality of being (Naseem 2001). The scholars most of the time unanimously agreed that â€Å"being was not apprehended rationally adding that the Aristotelian logic failed to in its attempt to reveal its truth, whereas essence was conceived rationally† (Kamal 2010). Rather than an external reality with its independent ontological status, essence is as a mental phenomenon defined by thinking. Three ontological dimensions that help explain the principality of being and/or the principality of essence. Being which is prior to essence, posterior to it and being that coexists simultaneously. Aristotle had adopted the thinking that being can stand on its own without depending on essence (Maclntyre 2009 ). From an ontological point of view, al-Kindah argues that there is no pure form of being. There is simply a being without essence (Kamal 2010). Aristotle somehow supports this view through his description of being in metaphysic. According to Aristotle, the first unmoved mover is immune from change and matter chance it gives a pure form or actuality (Fakhry 2001). This view, is always presented by scholars especially Muslim philosophers opposing Ibn Rushd’ criticism of Ibn Sina. They say the description fits that of God hence giving impetus to Ibn Sina’s argument that God is the Ultimate being. The distinction between existence and essence can also be portrayed through al-Farabi’s discourse in light of Aristotle and Neoplatonic theology. The pseudo theology of Aristotle helped influence al Farabi’s thinking (Maclntyre 2009). According to him the â€Å"One† is the source of existence and it is the one from which the first intellect emanates. In the Aristotelian thinking, it is referred to as First Cause or pure being. This â€Å"One† does not exhibit multiplicity because of the properties of the â€Å"One† and it presupposes the preexisting elements or its parts. Failure of multiplicity however does not lead to a deficiency in the existence of the being. The simplistic idea behind the â€Å"One† diminishes the dichotomy factor of existence and essence in this being (Kamal 2010). The simplicity displayed by this being means that it is either identical to its essence or its pure and without essence. Al-Farabi at this point is in harmony with Aristotle that because he also presents the â€Å"One as† having no difference and as a quantitative character as well. In this ontology presented by Al-Farabi the distinction between existence and essence appears as part of descending substance or as an emanated contingent of beings (Nasr 1993). Distinction between the â€Å"One† as the necessary being an d the contingent arises from the above description. Essence therefore is the contingent being that requires existence. Ibn Sina’s philosophy whose reliance on the ontology described in this section forms the basis of the Ibn Rushd; the spheres that he identifies are a clear indication of the dichotomous relationship between existence and essence. Ontology does present views on the existence of accidental beings onto which essence is added. These beings existence and essences are not their own hence they cannot be the cause of their own beings (Kamal 2010). Ibn Sina is the most forceful of all these scholars of the being and essence in philosophy. According to Sina, God is the purity being without essence and his existence can be described as simple and indivisible (Booth 1983). Contingent beings on the other hand are composite and their existence is added to them. Actuality of these incidental beings is incidental and it is something that has to happen o them. Ibn Sina He is one of the IslÄ mic philosophy forces who established themselves in the eastern portion of the IslÄ mic territory. His works were done in the Eleventh century when Christians popularly referred to as the Avicenna. Subtlety and sophistication characterized his work (Khan 2006). Though he based his analyses on Neo-Platonism emanations, Sina did devote some of his time for the Aristotelian works and the works of al-Farabi. Often, Sina tried to combine elements of both sources in and came up with a comprehensive account of reality that was critically acclaimed (Taylor and Adamson 1999). Ibn Rushd was one of the most consistent and notable commentators of the work of Sina and most of his criticism were regarded as a defense of the Aristotelian works. The subject of the existence of being and essence by Aristotle elicited different reviews from different waiters including Sina. He believed that all human awareness began with the realization and the knowledge of the self. The self acco rding to Sina could be acquired wholly without the help of the senses (Booth 1983). The human mind is the only available agent intellect and the only one that can do the above. According to him, the realization of the essential quality of human thinking depended on some prior existing cause. Human beings realization of own reality as thinking things ensured a natural awareness of the existence of something else (Taylor and Adamson 1999). On top of the contingent beings is a supreme being that existed before everything else, according to Sina. Derivation of everything else must be from the God who is the centre of reality (Grant 2007). God therefore encompasses everything and acts as the link to the core and which is necessary for any anything to survive. According to Sina, â€Å"the cosmos is a single and unified whole where everything that happens does so because it must symbolize the essence† (Khan 2006). The ultimate origin who too is the ultimate being is God. Ibn Sina pr ioritized essence over existence. According to Leaman (2009), Sina expresses existence as an attribute of being. He advances the idea that what really exists is being, the notion, or definition of a thing (Leaman 2009). He continues to say that its eventual instantiation is a question of whether some things move being from potentiality to actuality. Supporters of the Sina School of though contend that his idea is valid since there are many things that can be thought of meaning they are possible and which do actually come to existence meaning they are not actually existent. The above therefore justifies the reason why it is important to put being first before existence (Leaman 2009). Inb Rushd on Aristotle Ibn Rushd began his writings almost a century after Sina. The commentator tag that he acquired was because of the emphasis he placed n translating the work of Aristotle (Urvoy 1991). His explicit disagreement with his IslÄ mic philosophy predecessors describe in his work Tahafut al-Tahafut that especially spoke against Ghazail. He argued for prevalence of reason in solving philosophical problems so as people can gain genuine knowledge and truth (Sonneborn 2006). â€Å"He differed with Sina by asserting that efficient causation is a genuine feature displayed by all created things but, the first mover was had the privilege of remaining the ultimate source of all the motion there is† (Urvoy 1991). Aristotle did view human beings holomorphic composites subject to the soul and matter. He captured essence through the immortality brought about by the absorption into the greater whole of universal intellect. Interpretation of Metaphysics according to Rushd Rushd holds that the analogical being idea that underlies metaphysics is the most important and is what is effectively used to explain the concept of being. For Rushd, metaphysics, which Aristotle used to explain the being, is concerned with analogical idea of being. He further describes metaphysics as a s cience that is used to differentiate between inferior classes of being from the main or the real being. The classification that Rushd carried out on Aristotle’s metaphysics largely agreed with him (Aristotle) but sought to look at things from a different perspective as far as the being and the essence is concerned. He acknowledges the existence of accidental substances, which he refers to as physical beings (Aristotle and Averroes 1986). He tackles the being of the souls and mind and discusses if the substance that exists outside the soul for instance the sphere of the fixed stars could be materials or immaterial. Compared to Aristotle’s hierarchy of material beings, Rushd’s classification differs a little. Accidental substances and the material/immaterial classifications do have quite a lot of similarities since their differentiation of the material-immaterial rift is less. In the second classification of soul and mind does include both universals and mathemati cal beings (Sonneborn 2006). This therefore creates lack of abridge between physics and metaphysics which in Aristotle’s case exists. All beings therefore, material or not belong to one category, according to Rushd. Though they largely agree on the whole metaphysics theory, here Rushd disagrees with Aristotle. Aristotle’s interpretation was more materialistic compared to that of Rushd. For Rushd, there is not little difference between physics and metaphysic nor did he see them as opposite sides of the same coin (Aristotle and Averroes 1986). The difference between the physic and metaphysics according to Rushd was substance. The link brings together physics and metaphysics that Aristotle used to explain the essence. His ontological views is brought out here and it is clear he believes that substance is what has temporary priority over the other parts of the being (Aristotle and Averroes 1986). He holds that there is an overlap in the subject matters of physics and metap hysics because they seek to explain things in sensible and eternal substances, respectively. The eternal and numerically eternal perspectives characterize the cosmos, according to Rushd. A clear separation is evident through this classification (Loux 2002). The celestial realm and the physical universe form the two classes. External cycle of generation and corruption and immortality characterize all things in the physical and celestial worlds respectively. He further says that what occurs on earth and the celestial sphere in terms of emanation is more or less the same. According to the Aristotelian emanation doctrine therefore, â€Å"matter unites substance and that no one can create matter†. Physics seeks to explain the movement of things in the cosmological sphere (Boer 1983). â€Å"In the cosmological sphere, things are involved in movement, things move and other things are moved†. Therefore, only physics according to him can explain the concept of movement in the c osmological sphere according to Rushd. The origin of motion that must be there in the cosmological sphere therefore must be God (Aristotle and Averroes 1986). The difference between physics and metaphysics comes out in this explanation. Physics and metaphysics differ in such a way that they concern the mover and the prime mover respectively. According to him actuality is prior to potentiality makes little sense but to suggest the opposite gives rise to the idea of a possible spontaneous movement in the universe. ‘The prime mover according to Ibn Rushd moves the cosmos and especially the celestial bodies because it is the object of attraction of desire† (Kenny 2003). Celestial bodies have been conferred upon high power of intellect and desire because they have souls and they are always in a quest to be like God. Rushd on Ibn Sina Ibn Rushd argued against the thesis presented by Sina in the ontological context. He especially rejected the thesis because some thinkers like a l-Ghazail found it useful. In rejecting the notion that being came first while existence came second, he endorsed Aristotle’s thinking that existence comes first giving importance to essence. They bring the role of religion to the exploration of essence. The space created by the distinction between essence and existence creates an important role for God’s action (Leaman 2009). Ibn Sina asserted that a prior cause brought things to existence which in can be traced back to the very first cause or the epicenter or as he put it the Necessary Thing. According to Sina, God is the only thing that does not require pre determination for causal. According to Ibn Sina, metaphysics investigated God and everything that does with God. It also demonstrated that God actually did exist (Hyman et al. 2010). He as a result formulated the proof from necessity and contingency in an attempt to proof the existence of God. Ibn Rushd’s criticism and rejection of Sina’s argument t ook place because existence of a thing is assumed part of its essence. This kind of argument he added would advocated gave priority of existence over being, which watered the basic tenet of Aristotle’s thinking. More candidly put, Sina’s arguments meant that existence of a thing was incidental, was essential to it, its character, and role (Leaman 2009). Ibn Rushd maintained an opposite view to that of Sina by saying that metaphysics represented the existence of the subject matter. He developed an argument than invalidates the proof by Sina that God exists. According to him, the proof presented by Ibn Sina required the existence of beings through themselves and necessary through another. He added that it is possible to proof that such beings do not exist. In his teachings, Ibn Rushd supports Aristotle’s views on the picture of the universe with its distinction between a sub lunar and trans-lunar world (Hyman et al. 2010). The sub-lunar world according to Aristotl e is subject to generation and possible corruption and substances within this sub lunar world are subject to for elements. First matter, a substantial, and the elemental form comprise the components of the sub-lunar world. Rushd also accepted the Aristotle explanation of the trans-lunary world which he characterized as eternal and contains celestial bodies and immaterial mover. Rushd did not however adopt Aristotle’s thinking wholly. He did inject his own modification, a subtle show of disagreement of Aristotle’s concept. In the bid to explore essence, Ibn Rushd produced his own doctrine on corporal form. Aristotle has presented prime matter which was an enigmatic notion and which created a gap between itself and that of the elemental form (Hyman et al. 2010). Aristotle alluded that corporal form was common to all bodies and related to an extent to the body’s property dimensionally. Sina on his part had defined the corporal form as one that possessed predisposit ion as result of receiving the three dimensions. He insisted that this form differed dimensionality since form belonged to the category of substance and dimensionality belonged to the category of quality. On his part, Ibn Rushd agreed with the alternative that Sina had differed rejected. He defined the corporal form as being identical with indeterminate triple dimensionality (Hyman Et al. 2010). Again in an apparent endorsement of Aristotle’s thinking, Rushd rejected Sina’s interpretation of celestial movers. They however both agreed that celestial movers did have a soul and an intellect. Sina again differs with Rushd where he (Sina) asserts that celestial souls are inhered in the celestial body. Rushd on his part says that the souls and intelligence of celestial bodies were two aspects made from a similar immaterial celestial mover. Ibn Rushd had his own interpretations on metaphysics that Aristotle largely used to describe his concept of essence. Conclusion The conce pt of the essence is as presented by Ibn Rushd agrees of what Aristotle taught (Fà ¼rth and Aristotle 1985). Perhaps a demonstration of how much Rushd believed in the works of Aristotle is the way in which he went against Muslim scholars especially Ibn Sina in rejecting their assertions on the being and how the how the being precedes the essence. However that is not to say he was in agreement with Aristotle as far as the writings on essence were concerned. He did have his differences and unlike his mentor, he be explicitly acknowledged the existence of the Supreme Being which is God. Aristotle did say the same but he left the field wide open for anyone who can across the writings to fill for himself who the Supreme Being was. References Allaf, M. (2003) The Essence of Islamic Philosophy. New York: M. Al-Allaf. Aristotle and Tancred, L., H. (1998) Metaphysics. London: Penguin Books. Averroes and Aristotle. (1986) Ibn Rushd’s metaphysics: a translation with introduction of Ibn Rushd’s Works. Amsterdam: BRILL. Boer, J., T. (1983) The history of philosophy in Islam. New York: Forgotten Books. Booth, E. (1983) Aristotelian aporetic ontology in Islamic and Christian thinkers, Volume 20. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Collinson, D., Plant, K., and Wilkinson, R (2000) Fifty Eastern thinkers. New York: Routledge Taylor Francis Group. Dilthey, W. (1969) The essence of philosophy. New York: AMS Press. Fakhry, M. (2001) Averroà «s (Ibn Rushd): his life, works and influence. London: One world. Grant, G (2007) A history of natural philosophy: from the ancient world to the nineteenth. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Hyman, J., Walsh, J., and Williams, T. (2010) Philosophy in the Middle Ages: The Christian, Islamic, and Jewish Tradition. New York: Hackett Publishing Janin, H. (2006) The Pursuit of Learning in the Islamic World, 610-2003. London: Photodisc Books. Leaman, O. (2009) Islamic Philosophy. Cambridge: Polity Press. Kamal, H. (2010) From Essence to Being: The Philosophy of Mulla Sadra and Martin Heidegger. London: ICAS Press. Kenny, J. (2003) Philosophy of the Muslim world: authors and principal themes. Washington: CRVP. Khan, A. (2006) Avicenna (Ibn Sina): Muslim physician and philosopher of the  Eleventh century. New York: Rosen Publishing. Loux, J., M. (2002) Metaphysics: a contemporary introduction. New York: Routledge, Taylor and Francis Group. Maclntyre, C., A (2009) God, philosophy, universities: a selective history of the Catholic Philosophical Traditions. Plymouth: The Rowman Littlefield Publishing Group. Miljenovic, V. (2002) The Representation and Reality of the Self in Art. M.A. Thesis in Philosophy and Art. California: State University, Long Beach. Naseem, H. (2001) Muslim philosophy: science and mysticism. New Delhi: Sarup Sons. Nasr, S. (1993) An introduction to Islamic cosmological doctrines: conceptions of nature and Methods used in its study. New York: University of New York Press Peters, E., F (2003) The monotheists: Jews, Christians, and Muslims in conflict and competition. Volume 2. Princeton: Princeton University Press. Sonneborn, L. (2006) Averroes (Ibn Rushd): Muslim scholar, philosopher, and physician of the Middle ages. New York: Rosen Publishing Group. Taylor, C., R and Adamson, P. (1999) The Cambridge companion to Arabic philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Urvoy, D. (1991) Ibn Rushd (Averroes). London: Taylor Francis. Weinberg, R., J. (1964) A short history of medieval philosophy. Princeton: Princeton University Press. This essay on The Concept of Essence was written and submitted by user Sunset Bain to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Monday, November 25, 2019

Using the Spanish Verb Bastar

Using the Spanish Verb Bastar Bastar is a fairly common Spanish verb that means to suffice - or, less formally, to be enough. Its use can seem less than straightforward to learners of Spanish, however, because it is often used in different sentence structures than when similar thoughts are expressed in English. The Most Common Uses of the Verb Bastar Impersonal bastar con: Con is the most common preposition to follow forms of bastar, usually in the impersonal third-person phrase basta con. (Other tenses, such as bastaba and bastar, can also be used.) Although this phrase could literally be translated as it is sufficient with, you need not (and shouldnt!) use such an awkward phrase in English. The phrase is typically followed by a noun or an infinitive: No basta con cerrar el campo de concentracià ³n. It isnt enough to close the concentration camp.Tengo muy baja tolerancia al alcohol: me basta con comer un bombà ³n con licor y ya no conozco ni a mi madre. I have very low tolerance to alcohol; for me, it is enough to eat a liquor bonbon and I dont even know my mother.Me bastaba con un mà ­nimo de 6 gigas. A minimum of 6 gigabytes was enough for me.No basta con una semana descubrir la riqueza histà ³rica del paà ­s. A week isnt enough to discover the countrys rich history.Te basta con mi gracia. My grace is sufficient for you.Me basta con estudiar un poco la noche antes del examen. Its enough for me to study a little bit the night before the test. Note that as in some of the examples, bastar can take an object pronoun. The difference between me basta con un dà ­a and basta con un dà ­a is the difference between a day is enough for me and a day is enough. Bastar para: When bastar has a stated or implied subject (in other words, when its not used impersonally, as in the examples above), it can be followed by para and an infinitive: Una sentencia de culpabilidad no basta para hacer justicia. A guilty verdict is not enough to do justice.Una sola comida con grasas saturadas basta para obstruir las arterias. A single meal with saturated fat is enough to obstruct the arteries. Bastar (a): With a stated or implied subject, bastar can also take direct objects. The direct object is the person for which the stated thing or condition is sufficient: Los planes no le bastan al presidente. The plans arent enough for the president.Me bastarà ­an 50 km/hora. Fifty kilometers an hour would be (fast) enough for me. Bastarse: In the reflexive form, bastarse carries the idea of self-sufficiency: James se basta para desquiciar a los Spurs. James alone can get the Spurs unhinged.Nadie podemos decir que nos bastamos a nosotros mismos. Nobody can say that we can do it all by ourselves. Basta as an interjection: Either alone or with other words, basta can be used in exclamations to indicate having had enough of something:  ¡Basta de racismo! Down with racism! ¡Basta de coches enormes! Enough with big cars! ¡Basta! Enough! ¡Basta ya! Enough already! ¿Basta de todo en TV? Had enough of everything on TV?

Friday, November 22, 2019

All that glitters isnt gold

We be a nation of immigrants. in-migration has evermore been a fundamental part of the Statesn account statement because immigrants substantiate been coming in to America ever since it was discovered. This counter became unfeignedly big generator in the twentieth ascorbic acid when a huge influx of immigrants came from Ireland , Italy , Germany , and many other European countries at the same time. Fleeing cut down failure, land and job shortages, go up taxes, and famine, they came to the join States because they believed it was the land of economical opportunity. Others came seeking somebodyal liberty or relief from semipolitical and religious persecution. My own family migrated from Germany approximately flipper generations ago on 1844. Recently I plant a letter scripted by my great-great grandfather closely 4 generations ago, dated revered 20th, 1882, during the first big swing of immigration. His letter was addressed to family in Ohio and detailed his voyage to America and explained what he experiences  is a professional essay writing service at which you can buy essays on any topics and disciplines! All custom essays are written by professional writers! His letter was alter with details about his jobs and culture practices in Minnesota where he settled. Times were hard and he had to pop off during the daytime at a brand name mill and self-employed person as a work whenever he could. Life was unreactive for every immigrant looking for success, exhausting to settle down in areas where their previous countrymen had settled. Many go about discrimination because they were different and employers didnt pay them as oft as the native innate(p) in America hitherto though immigrants were looked down upon, they machinate significant contributions to the development of America . Many have let the cat out of the bag that thanks to the immigrants, our economy has self-aggrandising tremendously, U. S. demographics have changed, and a new increase in ball-shaped development and international communication theory has made earth.

Wednesday, November 20, 2019

India and China traditions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

India and China traditions - Essay Example In Chinese traditions three sticks of incense denotes San Cai - heaven, earth, and people. It also denotes past, present and future. Livia Kohn in his book Health and Long Life: the Chinese Way mentions that chi or qi is in the root of everything. It is a basic material of all that we find in existence. All forms of life derive its functional power from qi. The person is healthy because of the presence of qi. Besides, qi can be regulated through acupuncture, massage and breath control. Chinese traditional medicines are also based on the thinking of qi. The concept of meditative and controlled breathing makes qi to permeate the entire body and it is synonymous with health and balance. The traditional art of Feng Shui has much to do with the flow of qi. Chi or qi is also linked with wealth, energy level, and luck. Similarly, Yin and Yang compliments each other and balances the life force. They are opposite and keep on balancing each other. These basic understandings have given birth to a certain life style to the people. Their traditional medical knowledge provides cure to the number of ailments ranging from liver, kidney, heart, lung and many more. The Confucius ideals of a perfect human being are described in the word Chun Tzu who is a perfect human being--a person who is magnanimous, mature, and respectful to others. These philosophical thinking has a significant contribution in present state of Chinese economic built-up. The modern China is built up on the principles of collaboration, cooperation and mutual respect. After reforms of 1978, the final decision maker in the Chinese market is consumer. With the advent of Chinese economy it has got intense support from the government endorsing the Confucius way of thinking giving freedom to a common man in decision making process. Current economic rise and making it the second largest economy of the world in purchasing power parity point of view has a lot to do in their old settings of environmental preferences. Ch inese economy has risen from the ashes in last 30 years like a phoenix producing a vast array of industrial and consumer goods using tools endowed by modern technology and proven management theories. India India is said to be a place of three oldest religions on this planet–Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. All these religions have further offshoots and traditions overtime. The religious traditions are highly deep routed in India and it is difficult to find any atheist in India. Indian affiliation to their religious traditions and faith is monumental. They always had full religious freedom even when the country was under the British rule. Pranayam (breathing exercise) and Yoga are two established traditions since several thousand years which has now spread all over the world in several variances. The culture of India is an amalgamation of many diverse stream of subcultures spread all over the subcontinent. Ayurved is very old Indian tradition of herbal medicines and treatment processes. Family concept has a key role to play in Indian cultures. Marriages are formed for life time and divorce rates are very low. Namaskar with folded hands is their way of greeting the people. Democratic setup in India is very strong unlike China where elections are still a far cry in the communist regime. The reason of democratic setup lies in their age old traditions of free movement and

Tuesday, November 19, 2019

International and strategic marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

International and strategic marketing - Essay Example This paper describes the rise of the recorded-music industry, the emergence of disruptive technologies and the effect of this disruption on the marketing strategies of today’s recording industry companies. The marketing strategies are discussed in perspective of the 7Ps of marketing. 3Ps are identified and analysed as potential channels for implementing marketing strategies that could mitigate the threat to recording industry’s digital music sales posed by free and illegal peer-to-peer (P2P) file-sharing websites. Table of Contents Executive summary 1 Table of Contents 2 2.0.Marketing strategies in the Music Industry 6 2.1.Product 7 2.2.Price 8 2.3.Place 8 2.4.Promotion 8 2.5.People 9 2.6.Process 10 2.7.Physical evidence 10 2.8.Section summary 10 3.0.Topics impacting the industry 11 3.1.Changing process using partners and intermediaries 11 3.2.Promoting legitimate digital music using merchandise and concert business 13 3.3.Repackaging physical evidence 14 4.0.Conclusion 15 References 16 1.0. Introduction According to the British Recorded Music Industry, the music industry can be broadly categorised into four sectors: song writing and publishing, recording, live music and artist management (BPI 2012). In all these sectors there are many different organisations and individuals performing different roles and earning their living. Currently the large share of the industry’s value is generated and controlled by the recorded music and live music sectors. The recorded sector is dominated by four major corporate labels that comprise of several smaller companies that focus on different regions and markets. These four conglomerates are: Sony Music Entertainment, Universal Music Group, EMI Music and Warner Music Group (The Economist 2008). The live music sector is dominated by Live Nation Entertainment in the United States. The growth of the recorded music sector epitomised by the rise of music labels towards the end of the 20th century led to the recording sector being synonymized as the music industry (Wikipedia 2012). The recorded music sector grew largely due to the ability of the music labels to efficiently and cost-effectively fulfil the several stages in the process of moving music from artist to consumer. The major record labels are vertically integrated businesses. The stages in the recording industry are: Artists and Repertoire (A&R) – involves finding new acts; recording music – involves composition, production and licensing of copyright; manufacture of mechanical recordings e.g. CDs and vinyl; music distribution and logistics; marketing and promotion; and retail activities (Fleming & E. G. Hughes 2002). Some of the factors that made music labels profitable are: economies of scale which spreads overheads over a wider revenue base; diversity of artists which enables them to maintain a steady flow of releases; and breadth of music catalogue. However, in the 21st century, the emergence and growth of three technologies led to the disruption experienced in the broad music industry in general, but mostly in the recorded-music industry’s value chain. These three technologies are digitalization, data compression and the Internet (Dolata 2011). Digitalization of music made it easy to make copies

Saturday, November 16, 2019

Implications of Business Process Management for Operations Management Essay Example for Free

Implications of Business Process Management for Operations Management Essay Implications of business process management for operations management Colin Armistead and Simon Machin The Business School at Bournemouth University, Bournemouth, UK Introduction Operations management is concerned with the management of people, processes, technology and other resources in order to produce goods and services. There is a resonance from operations management into business process re-engineering (BPR) of the process paradigm and of the concepts and techniques of designing, managing and improving operational processes. Doubtless much can be learned from operations management for the application of BPR[1]. But business process management is more than just BPR applied to operational processes. What are the implications of the wider consideration of business processes for operations management and can the concepts and techniques from operations management be directly applied to all types of business processes? This paper introduces the concepts of business processes and business process management, and reports findings from interviews in four organizations which are continuing to develop their approaches to managing processes. These findings are then positioned within a categorization of business processes, by way of research propositions. Finally, implications for operations management are discussed. What are business processes? Business processes can be thought of as a series of interrelated activities, crossing functional boundaries with inputs and outputs. Why are they important and why are organizations moving to adopt approaches to explicitly manage by business processes? Reasons include[2] that the process view: †¢ allows increasing flexibility in organizations to meet changing external demands; †¢ addresses the speed to market of new products and services and the responsiveness to the demands of customers; †¢ facilitates the reduction of costs; †¢ facilitates in creased delivery reliability; and †¢ helps address the quality of products and services in terms of their consistency and capability. Processes are part of the philosophy of total quality management (TQM)[3]. Both the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award[4] and the European International Journal of Operations Production Management, Vol. 17 No. 9, 1997, pp. 886-898.  © MCB University Press, 0144-3577 Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model[5], on which the European Implications of Quality Award is based, have at their heart the consideration of business business process processes. Such models require the identification of processes, the management management of these processes with review and targetary, innovation and creativity applied to processes and the management of process change. A second route that leads organizations to consider their business processes 887 is BPR[6-9] which promotes the radical change of business processes. Some have illustrated the complementary nature of BPR and TQM[10], others the conflict[11]. Regardless of this, the fact is that organizations come to consider their business processes through TQM, or through BPR, or potentially through both avenues. What is business process management? There is considerable debate about what business process management means and how organizations interpret the business process paradigm[2,12]. Business process management cannot be considered simply as BPR. Rather it is concerned with how to manage processes on an ongoing basis, and not just with the one-off radical changes associated with BPR. But how are organizations actually managing their business processes? What approaches have they developed? What lessons have they learned and what can be drawn from their experiences? The aim of the research reported in this paper is to address such questions by considering organizations at the leading edge of process management. Methodology A qualitative methodology was adopted in conducting the research. During a pilot phase interviews were conducted in four organizations: TSB; Rank Xerox; Kodak; and Birds Eye Walls. This, coupled with knowledge of the approach within Royal Mail, led to an initial understanding of the approaches being adopted by organizations[13]. This was followed by further interviews in four organizations (including within a different part of Rank Xerox), and it is these that form the basis of the findings reported in this paper. The four organizations, in this second phase of interviews, were: (1) Rank Xerox – European Quality Award (EQA) winners in 1992; (2) Nortel – Netas, a subsidiary of Nortel, were EQA winners in 1996; (3) Texas  Instruments – EQA winners in 1995; (4) Hewlett-Packard – who do not use the EFQM model, but have been using their own â€Å"Quality Maturity System† for several years, with many similarities to the EFQM model, including the central role of processes. While these organizations are at varying stages of their approach to business process management they can be considered â€Å"excellent† against many crit eria (including process management), as shown above, and the findings and lessons derived from the research should inform other organizations which are just starting their approach to process management. IJOPM 17,9 888 In two cases the quality director of the UK operation was interviewed; in one case the participant was the business process manager; in another the participant was a direct report to a service director. We consider that the roles and experience of the participants make possible sensible comparison between the organizations, based on the interviews. Semi-structured open-ended interviews (typically of between two and three hours), based on the ideas emerging from the pilot interviews, were carried out in each organization. The interviews were supported by other documentation from each organization which included process maps, planning frameworks and organizational structures. Interviews were transcribed and the transcriptions used as the basis for analysis. Each interview transcription was read and examined several times and lists of concepts developed[14]. A cognitive map[15] of all four interviews was then constructed showing the concepts emerging from the data and how the concepts i nformed on each other (based on the perception of the authors). Concepts were then clustered, with six clusters, or themes, readily appearing. The clusters were then checked against the transcripts from the pilot interviews and documentary material from the case organizations to ensure consistency of findings. Findings The six clusters emerging from the research we have labelled: organization coordination; process definition; organization structuring; cultural fit; improvement; measurement. While some of these might not be novel in  themselves we discuss them first individually and then as a set. Organization co-ordination One property associated with business processes is their â€Å"end-to-end† nature. They start with input at the business boundary and finish with outputs from the business boundary. Hence their cross-functional nature and, implicit in this, is their ability to integrate and co-ordinate activity. For example, â€Å"a better way to think about process is that it is an organizing concept that pulls together absolutely everything necessary to deliver some important component of strategic value†[16]. It is perhaps not surprising therefore that a strong theme emerging from the interviews was that the process paradigm provides an approach for co-ordination across the whole organization. This integration through the use of business processes is perhaps most simply illustrated by the fact that participants, in describing their approaches to business process management, described how they run and organize their entire business. The co-ordination took a number of forms. For example, business process management was strongly positioned in the overall approaches to business planning adopted by the organizations. This was illustrated in one organization with their long- and medium-term plans explicitly linked to annual plans for their key processes. Business process management also provided an approach for integration through increased knowledge within the organizations (for example, about strategic direction), without the need for bureaucratic procedures or hierarchical control: Implications of business process The concepts of business processes emerged as providing a link between the management top of the organization and activity at the lower levels: â€Å"the bit in the middle†. Central to this is the concept of different levels of processes and typically the organizations reported having identified three or four levels of process from the top-level architecture through to the individual or task level. In providing the co-ordination across the organization, the importance of managing the boundaries of processes was strongly emphasized. One organization, for example, was addressing these boundary issues between their processes through the use of networks of individuals representing the interests of their process. They used networks around each process to formulate and implement strategy, and identified which processes have boundary issues with  other processes. Individuals from one process network then attend meetings of the other process networks on this boundary to address the potential issues. Without some form of co-ordination between processes, changes in one process could also lead to changes in performance of other processes such that strategic goals would be compromised, typically in the areas of quality and costs. but what we were trying to do was create a very free environment, a very innovative environment, but an environment where we knew exactly where we were going. 889 Process definition Much of the literature on managing processes is concerned with process improvement[17,18] and this is typically directed at how to improve the actual operation of processes. However, a view expressed during the interviews was that the real value derived from the process approach is through the understanding and development of an approach at higher levels within the organizations, rather than simply process improvement activity at the task or team level. Nevertheless, these organizations recognized that they struggled with this and acknowledged that, in reality, the understanding of processes was often still at the task level, with a natural tendency for procedure writing. Approaches to help overcome this included communication across the different levels of the organization to develop common understanding (and, in particular, to develop better understanding between process owners and process operatives) and a focus within process flowcharts on value steps and decision points, together with the definition and management of process boundaries. Process flowcharting is often presented as a panacea for understanding and managing processes, but some organizations reported problems with applying the methodology to all processes: the methodology of flowcharting †¦ is OK for consistent, regularly operated, reliable processes – it is not that useful for processes that are very iterative and processes that run infrequently, the more complex processes. Certainly the organizations were coming to realize that such process maps in themselves were not sufficient: people talked a lot about process re-engineering and all they ever did was diddle around with process maps, and they didn’t really get the big picture. IJOPM 17,9 and we have used a flow-charting methodology widely deployed across the company†¦we have still got a lot of problems though in terms of processes gathering dust on the shelf. 890 Also, while the organizations recognized the need to specify processes beneath their high level processes, the need certainly did not emerge to map all processes to the same level or detail. It would be unusual to go to an entity and show all the processes in detail to all depths. In general, the drive appeared to be to use business process management more as a long-term and living tool than just a remedial tool for short-term, tactical issues. Long-term plans were needed for processes to enable the process owners to focus on the future requirements of their processes. Also there was the need to develop methodologies other than flowcharting to support a more holistic approach to business process management, and to directly consider the â€Å"process of managing processes†. Organizational structuring Much has been written about the role of processes in structuring organizations and, in particular, the development of horizontal organizations structured purely around processes[2,19,20]. In general, the organizations interviewed in this research appeared to be taking a less radical view. Instead they had developed matrix-based organizations between functions and processes, and tended to adjust their functional structure to align with their identified processes. They thus saw processes as simply another dimension of the organization structure[21]. Indeed they seemed to have implicitly balanced the dimensions of autonomy/co-ordination,  motivation/ control and efficiency/learning[22] and in doing so derived the matrix structure. This perhaps also reflects other organizational paradoxes[23]. Their reasoning was influenced by a view that personal relationships were the key to effective organizations, as much as the formal, imposed structure. Processes were seen to provide a framework for these relationships in terms of building understanding and common approach across the organization. This framework was reported to help establish empowerment in a structured way, matching level of empowerment with control and support. Hence the entering of the process dimension into their structure. However, they were unwilling to do away with the functional dimension, due to the perception that functions better supported the actual personal relationships within the framework of processes and better supported specialist expertise: people don’t necessarily align with processes, they align with other people, and entities and organizations. People don’t go to parties on processes! and if you start bashing on about process organizations, and â€Å"you’ve got to do away with the silos, and the function† and so on†¦you’re denying it in a way – something to do with that relationship side of things. This has a resonance with reports that moves to process-based organizations Implications of can be ineffective if the personal relationship and cultural aspects are business process overlooked[24]. management These matrix structures were regarded as relatively unstable[13] with a tendency to drift back to a functional structure, or to move too far towards a process focus, but the organizations saw the role of their â€Å"quality professionals† 891 as the catalyst to ensure balance between functions and processes. More interesting is that, in these matrix-based organizations, there appeared to be no desire to move towards a purely process-based structure, with the matrix recognized as a desirable state, enabling constant and efficient reorganization through its flexibility. Inevitably the matrix adds complexity, but it seems that these organizations are willing to trade this complexity against the flexibility and personal relationship aspects supported by the matrix structure. One organization did, however, report a  totally process-based structure, and this did appear to support a high degree of simplicity against the complexity of the matrix approach. There may therefore be value for organizations in explicitly considering the trade-offs between processes and functions in forming their approach. Regardless of the process/function structure, the approach of process groups and process owners at different levels of the processes was common. Cultural fit Culture is an ambiguous concept which is difficult to define[25]. However, most organizations have some notion of their culture, and this was the case in all four organizations, where culture had an implicit meaning. It is an important concept in thinking about organizations since people and processes m ust combine to produce output. However, within the organizations, processes were not seen as a constraint, rather, as reported above, as providing a framework for empowerment. There emerged a general view that the overall approach to business process management needed to fit initially with the culture of the organization, and allow that culture to be maintained, at least in the short term. This is not to say that there was not a longer-term objective to address culture, but culture drove the appropriate initial approach: that’s why it works well, because we’re a highly empowered organization, and a team of people are comfortable working as a team, so bringing them together for a process team is perfectly easy – all we had to do was teach them the tools to do it and a bit of flowcharting and away they go. But that fits well with the culture. This is in stark contrast to some business process re-engineering approaches which may often be insensitive to culture or may have an immediate objective of changing culture[26]. Where BPR was deployed in the organizations it tended to be positioned as part of the overall approach to business process management, for example, alongside process stabilization and continuous improvement, rather than instead of. When used in this context, there were examples of culture change for smaller organization groupings. There were also IJOPM 17,9 892 examples where the failure of BPR initiatives was directly attributed to a culture within the organization which so strongly supported constant, but incremental, change that radical change, as proposed by BPR was rejected. All four of the organizations embraced TQM and, in particular, continuous improvement. The concept and language of teams and â€Å"teams of teams†[27] featured strongly, with rewards and recognition often linked to team performance. The formation of cross-functional teams in improving processes happened naturally in these organizations, and appeared critical to the success of their approach in managing processes. Improvement through business process management Unsurprisingly the interviews supported a drive within the organizations to constantly improve processes and this is reflected in the above discussions of culture. Examples of specific approaches included the use of benchmarking to understand and set best practices and the development of compendiums and databases of best practices and the linkage of improvements to assessments against European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM), Baldrige and other quality models. While BPR was clearly used in some of the organizations (indeed Texas Instruments and Rank Xerox are well known for their re-engineering work) this tended to be talked about more at the process simplification or process improvement end of the spectrum of definitions placed on BPR[28-30]: you would not change the overall process radically in a short space of time, but for people (in the process) I think it is a drastic step. and I would not anticipate the total process radically changing over a short space of time because one could not manage it, so you have to move forward in sizeful steps at each part of the process. One organization reported benefits through using human resource professionals alongside process engineers on BPR projects to â€Å"keep some sanity in what the re-engineering was doing†. Measurement and business process management Measurement is a key principle to managing processes[18] with the need to identify trends, assess stability, determine whether customer requirements are actually met and drive improvement. This was confirmed by the interviews  and measurement emerged as central to successful approaches to business process management. There seemed to be a genuine attitude of â€Å"living and breathing† measurement within the organizations: if you can’t actually get good metrics you won’t manage a process, so it’s absolutely fundamental to managing a process. and if we don’t define the metrics we’ve had it. Increasing importance was being given to customer satisfaction and customer Implications of loyalty measures and there was a recognition of the importance of developing business process efficiency measures for the processes as opposed to just measuring whether management processes actually delivered. There was also a drive towards examining the tails of distributions of the measures (process variation) not just average values, consistent with the view of statistical process control[31,32]. 893 One danger that was reported is related to the â€Å"level† issues discussed above: detailed measures were implemented into lower-level process maps, directly related to processes, as one would hope – however, this resulted in a large number of measures that it was then difficult to prioritize, because, at a higher level, measures had not been (or had not been properly) defined. A particularly interesting approach to measurement was in one organization where they had established â€Å"business fundamentals† as performance measures on key processes, deployed worldwide and at all levels. All professional staff in the organization have business fundamentals which are deliverable, cost, customer or people measures, but self-driven measurements rather than management-driven measurements. These business fundamentals are linked to the key processes, and individuals self-assess their progress against these, using a simple rating scale. Every quarter there is then a formal review across the organization against the business fundamentals. The same approach is used to track individual performance, performance against plans, and process performance, providing an integrated approach to measurement across the organization, and a strong illustration of integrating process measures with other organizational measures. Process categorization Different categorizations of processes have been proposed in the literature[28]. For  example the CIM-OSA Standards[33] use the categorization of manage, operate and support. In describing processes we have found a categorization into operational, support, direction setting and managerial processes to be useful (see Figure 1). The separation of direction setting and managerial processes is driven by two considerations: Operational Managerial Direction setting Support Figure 1. Categorization of business processes IJOPM 17,9 894 (1) on a practical level models, such as the EFQM model, adopted by organizations, separately identify leadership from policy and strategy formulation; and (2) the strategy literature regards development of strategy as a process in its own right[34,35]. Operational processes are the way in which work gets done within an organization, to produce goods and services. These processes are the ones which have been the subject of much of the focus to date in TQM and BPR. They run across the organization and are associated with outcomes such as product development or order fulfilment. They are recognized in the ideas of integrated supply chains and logistics and in simultaneous engineering and are part of justin-time approaches. The same ideas for improvement in flow and reduction in cycle times come through into service organizations in the practices of BPR. Support processes are those which enable the operational processes. They are concerned with the provision of support technology, or systems, with personnel and human resource management, and with accounting management. Direction-setting processes are concerned with setting strategy for the organization, its markets and the location of resources as well as managing change within the organization. Direction-setting processes involve a mix of the prescribed steps within a formal planning process and also less well-defined  frameworks. Managerial processes are to some extent superordinate to the other categories and contain the decision-making and communication activities. For example, the entrepreneurial, competence-building and renewal processes proposed by Ghoshal and Bartlett[20] are managerial processes. Some organizations have tried to formalize these processes and have adopted a structured approach to, for example, decision making and communication. This categorization, like any other, does not necessarily fit with the view taken by all organiza tions (for example, some organizations would position the direction setting processes as part of their operational processes) but it provides a useful framework for discussion of the research findings, and for describing propositions for further research. Discussion and propositions arising from the research The six clusters identified in the findings of organization co-ordination – process definition, organization structuring, cultural fit, improvement and measurement can be considered in the light of these process definitions. The issue of process definition at a top level is a view of how organizations work to satisfy strategic intents. The translation of top-level architecture into an operational reality is influenced by aspects of organizational culture which affect both organizational co-ordination and organizational structure. In no cases is the disappearance of functions apparent; rather the functional organization is replaced by a matrix structure. This form of organizational structure derives its co-ordinating strength from the formation of cross-functional teams. The issues of measurement and improvement reflected in the findings reinforce the need for Implications of effective measurement which drives process improvement in a form which co- business process ordinates and prioritizes activity; something which many organizations find management difficult. The findings suggest that taking a business process management approach is one way to overcome some of the difficulties. It is our observation that organizations in approaching business process 895 management tend to initially address their operational processes, then move to focus on support processes, while continuing to improve their operational processes, and next to focus on direction setting processes while continuing to improve operational and support processes. Thus there is a similarity to the operations management  sandcone model, as proposed by Ferdows and De Meyer[36], used to show that cost reduction relies on the cumulative foundation of improvement in objectives. We propose that an organization’s approach to process management is similarly constituted by its approach across process categories, and that to build a stable sandcone the approach to, first, operational processes must be created (see Figure 2). This proposal has practical value, since it is the operational processes that directly impact on customers and so can yield quick benefits. Thus attention to the operational processes ensures capability of delivery; attention then moves to encompass support processes, since these in turn ensure the capability of the operational processes; attention to the direction setting processes recognizes that capability can only be maintained with good direction setting. The superordinate nature of managerial processes positions them outside the sandcone, with influences from the other categories. This sandcone model for business processes implies further propositions based on our findings. P1: As organizations develop their approach to business process management, moving through the sandcone, the appropriateness of techniques will change. Flowcharting methods are well tested in understanding operational and some support processes. However, the organizations in this phase of our research were discovering that such methods were inflexible for other types of process. Operational Operational + support Operational + support + direction setting Figure 2. A sandcone model for developing approaches to business process management IJOPM 17,9 896 The appropriate methodology for understanding the managerial and directionsetting processes may lie in the fields of systems thinking[37] and business dynamics[38] and the shape of a process for managing such processes needs further attention. Thus the appropriateness of â€Å"soft mapping† techniques increases as an organization moves through the sandcone. P2: As  organizations move through the sandcone there is an increasing impact on organization structure, with the need to address structural changes to reap the benefits from the process approach. Increasingly organizations will need to consider organization design as an explicit, rather than implicit, activity to ensure organizational effectiveness. This need not necessitate a move towards a complete process-based structure, but may mean a trade-off between process and functional structures[39]. This trade-off includes the need to consider factors such as personal relationships and cultural aspects. For example, in some organizations a purely processbased structure will be appropriate while in others the process-function matrix approach will be best utilized. P 3: We propose that there is an increasing need for maturity in TQM throughout the organization to ensure a successful process paradigm, as the organization moves through the sandcone. This raises the immediate question as to whether TQM is a necessity before a process-based approach can be effectively initiated. Certainly all organizations in this phase of our research had developed a TQM-based culture. It also raises questions as to whether the continual application of the radical end of the BPR spectrum[28-30] makes it impossible to address all process categories, with the associated lack of care for the human dimension and resulting demoralized workforce. P4: We propose that the degree of co-ordination across the organization increases with moves through the sandcone. As the process approach spreads through the sandcone it forces the question of what integration actually means for an organization and clarifies the requirements for coordination. This is readily understood for operational processes, with a key element being the elimination of barriers to flow. The co-ordination includes the need for a co-ordinated approach to measurement (an example is illustrated in the measurement section above). Further implications for operations management There is a clear message emerging from this research of the need to manage the boundaries between the categories of processes and between the processes themselves. The appropriate approach will be determined by the category of process being addressed and organizations may find the sandcone logic useful in placing their current position. There are different requirements at different points in the sandcone: knowledge and understanding of process flowcharting techniques at one end of the spectrum through to knowledge and understanding of â€Å"softer† mapping techniques; the need to consider the Implications of appropriate organization structure and trade-offs between process- and business process function-based structures; the degree of maturity in TQM; the degree of comanagement ordination desirable and possible and, in particular, the need for a co-ordinated approach to measurement. The research supports a view that there is a need to consider performance 897 improvement methods and concepts such as TQM, lean production and supply and â€Å"agile† manufacturing in a wider context, as applied to all business processes, and not just operational processes with the associated need to manage the interfaces between operations management and other disciplines. References 1. Armistead, C., Harrison, A. and Rowlands, P., â€Å"Business process re-engineering: lessons from operations management†, International Journal of Operations Production Management, Vol. 15 No. 12, 1995. 2. Garvi n, D., â€Å"Leveraging processes for strategic advantage†, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1995, pp. 77-90. 3. Oakland, J.S., Total Quality Management, Heinemann Professional, Oxford, 1989. 4. George, S., The Baldrige Quality System, Wiley, New York, NY, 1992. 5. Hakes, C., The Corporate Self-assessment Handbook for Measuring Business Excellence, Chapman Hall, London, 1995. 6. Hammer, M., â€Å"Re-engineering work: don’t automate, obliterate†, Harvard Business Review, June 1990. 7. Hammer, M. and Champy, J., Re-engineering the Corporation, Free Press, New York, NY, 1993. 8. Johansson, H.J., McHugh, P., Pendlebury, A.J. and Wheeler, W., Business Process Reengineering – Breakpoint Strategies for Market Dominance, Wiley-Hamilton, Santa Barbara, CA, 1993. 9. Davenport, T.H., Process Innovation: Re-engineering Work through Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Cambridge, MA, 1993. 10. Macdonald, J., â€Å"Together TQM and BPR are winners†, The TQM Magazine, Vol. 7 No. 3, 1995, pp. 21-5. 11. Mumford, E. and Hendricks, R., â€Å"Business process re-engineering RIP†, People Management, 2 May 1996, pp. 22-9. 12. Hinterhuber, H.H., â€Å"Business process management: the European approach†, Business Change Re-engineering, Vol. 2 No. 4, 1995, pp. 63-73. 13. Armistead, C. and Grant, A., â€Å"Business process management: the future of organisations?†, Proceedings of the Third European Academic Conference on Business Process Redesign, Cranfield University, 21-22 February 1996. 14.  Strauss, A. and Corbin, J., Basics of Qualitative Research, Sage, Newbury Park, CA, 1990. 15. Eden, C., â€Å"Cognitive mapping†, European Journal of Operational Research, Vol. 36, 1988, pp. 1-13. 16. Browning, J., â€Å"The power of process redesign†, McKinsey Quarterly, Vol. 1, pp. 47-58, 1993. 17. Tucker, M., Successful Process Management in a Week, Headway-Hodder Stoughton, Sevenoaks, Kent, 1996. 18. Melan, E., â€Å"Process management: a unifying framework†, National Productivity Review, 1989, Vol. 8, pp. 395-406. 19. Stewart, T., â€Å"The search for the organisation of tomorrow†, Fortune, May 1992, pp. 91-8. IJOPM 17,9 898 20. Ghoshal, S. and Bartlett, C., â€Å"Changing the role of top management: beyond structure to processes†, Harvard Business Review, January-February 1995, pp. 86-96. 21. Galbraith, J.R., Designing Organisations, Jossey Bass, San Francisco, CA, 1995. 22. Hendry, J., â€Å"Process reengineering and the dynamic balance of the organisation†, European Management Journal, Vol. 13 No. 1, March 1995. 23. Cameron, K.S., â€Å"Effectiveness as paradox: consensus and conflict in conceptions of organisational effectiveness†, Management Science, Vol. 32 No. 5, May 1986, pp. 539-53. 24. Majchrzak, A. and Wang, Q., â€Å"Breaking the functional mind-set in process organisations†, Harvard Business Review, September-October 1996, pp. 93-9. 25. Kroeber and Kluckhohn, â€Å"Culture; a critical review of concepts and definitions†, Harvard University papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Vol. 47, 1952. 26. Ascari, A., Rock, M. and Dutta, S., â€Å"Reengineering and organisational change: lessons from a comparative analysis of company experiences†, European Management Journal, Vol. 13 No. 1, March 1995. 27. O’Brien, D. and Wainwright, J., â€Å"Winning as a team of teams – transforming the mindset of the organisation at National and Provincial Building Society†, The Journal of Corporate Transformation, Vol. 1 No. 3, 1993. 28. Childe, S.J., Maull, R.S. and Bennett, J., â€Å"Frameworks for understanding business process re-engineering†, International Journal of Operations Production Management, Vol. 14 No. 12, 1994, pp. 22-34. 29. Coulson-Thomas, C.J., â€Å"Business process re-engineering: the development requirements and implications†, Executive Development, Vol. 8 No. 2, 1995, pp. 3-6. 30. Crawley, W.J., Mekechuk, B.J. and Oickle, G.K., â€Å"Powering up for change†, CA Magazine, June/July 1995, pp. 33-8. 31. Deming, W.E., Out of Crisis, Cambridge University Press, 1986. 32. Wheeler, D.J., Understanding Variation – The Key to Managing Chaos, SPC Press, Knoxville, TN, 1993. 33. CIM-OSA Standards, CIM-OSA Reference Architecture, AMICE ESPRIT, 1989. 34. Araujo, L. and Easton, G., â€Å"Strategy: where is the pattern?†, Organisation, Vol. 3 No. 3, 1996, pp. 361-83. 35. Segal-Horn, S. and Bowman, C., â€Å"Strategic management and BPR†, in Managing Business Processes: BPR and Beyond, John Wiley Sons, New York, NY, 1996, pp. 85-101. 36. Ferdows, K. and De Meyer, A., â€Å"Lasting improvement in manufacturing performance: in search of a new theory†, INSEAD Working Paper, INSEAD, Fontainebleau, 1989. 37. Senge, P.M., The Fifth Discipline, Century Business, London, 1990. 38. Davies, M., â€Å"Business dynamics: business process re-engineering and systems dynamics†, in Managing Business Processes: BPR and Beyond, John Wiley, New York, NY, 1996, pp. 215-42. 39. Armistead, C.G. and Rowland, P., Managing Business Processes: BPR and Beyond, John Wiley, New York, NY, 1996, pp. 39-61.

Thursday, November 14, 2019

Wall Street-Financial Markets and Management in Corporations: Examined :: Wall Street Film Movies Films Papers Business

Wall Street: Financial Markets and Management in Corporations The film Wall Street is a movie that portrays the corruptness that can exist on Wall Street. Bud Fox is trying to establish a name and a living for himself, and thus he has the endless task of trying to increase the number of clients that he represents. In the end he is taken by the prospect of becoming rich, and it would seem that to do this requires illegal actions, such as insider trading. It is quite amazing how this can, almost overnight, lead to great riches and power. Bud Fox was making an "honest" living; that is until he finally is able to establish a relationship with Gordon Gekko-a so-called financial wizard. While this film deals primarily with the concept of "Insider Trading" and how it affects the stocks and their values, I would like to present in this paper ideas and concepts that I learned in a previous class that extend beyond just the ideas of insider trading and expand more broadly to discuss the unethical problems that can occur within a corporation in general (not just on wall street), when there is separation of management and ownership. This is important to be aware of in a capitalist society where many people work for other people, and or are in charge of many other people as well. It constantly causes people to question the systems in place and what can be done to eliminate these potential problems and unethical actions. The ultimate test of corporate strategy is whether it creates economic value for shareholders. Yet there are quite a few problems which can arise and interfere with this agenda. The agency problem that arises from the separation of ownership and management in the modern corporation can lead to conflict between the objectives of owners and the objectives of managers. The manager's goal should be, and in fact the manager's job is, to maximize shareholder wealth. Managers work for the shareholders, since shareholders are essentially partial owners of the corporation that they have purchased stock in. Stockholders invest their money because they hope that the value of their investment will grow. They want to increase their wealth as much as possible. (Hickman 11) Unfortunately, claimants (shareholders) oftentimes have difficulty determining how well management is actually doing because of the existence of information asymmetry- in a sense lack of information.

Monday, November 11, 2019

Implementation and Challenges of Lean Concept in Human resources Essay

Going lean is the talk of the season. Almost all the big organizations are adopting lean practices; not only manufacturing but management. In this write-up I am going to discuss how HR as an organization’s function can help in lean transformation. A critically important issue in lean success, just now coming into clear view, is the relationship between the human resources (HR) function and lean transformation. It turns out that the HR function, even at its best, is often considered as only a passive supporter of lean transformation. At its worst, it is said to be a barrier to progress. There are two facets to the relationship between lean and HR. First, it is self-evident that the HR function—just like any other department in a company—needs to apply lean practices and principles toward process improvement in its own work. Second, the HR function needs to actively support and enforce lean transformation throughout the company. The HR function, by virtue of its interactions with virtually every part of a company, is actually in an ideal position to be a powerful ally in lean transformation, IF lean leaders make the effort to enlist its aid. Here we are discussing how HR makes a significant contribution to lean success with active support in several key areas. What is Lean (concept) Lean principles come from the Japanese manufacturing industry. The term was first coined by John Krafcik. From its inception Lean was considered as manufacturing tool but today lean has evolved from just a tool to a philosophy of success. The core idea of Lean philosophy is to maximize customer value while minimizing waste. Simply, lean means creating more value for customers with fewer resources. A lean organization understands customer value and focuses its key processes to continuously increase it. The ultimate goal is to provide perfect value to the customer through a perfect value creation process that has zero waste. To accomplish this, lean thinking changes the focus of management from optimizing separate technologies, assets, and vertical departments to optimizing the flow of products and services through entire value streams that flow horizontally across technologies, assets, and departments to customers. Eliminating waste along entire value streams, instead of at isolated points, creates processes that need less human effort, less space, less capital, and less time to make products and services at far less costs and with much fewer defects, compared with traditional business systems. Companies are able to respond to changing customer desires with high variety, high quality, low cost, and with very fast throughput times. Also, information management becomes much simpler and more accurate. Lean for production and services A popular misconception is that lean is suited only for manufacturing. Not true. Lean applies in every business and every process. It is not a tactic or a cost reduction program, but a way of thinking and acting for an entire organization. Businesses in all industries and services, including healthcare and governments, are using lean principles as the way they think and do. Many organizations choose not to use the word lean, but to label what they do as their own system, such as the Toyota Production System or the Danaher Business System. Why? To drive home the point that lean is not a program or short term cost reduction program, but the way the company operates. The word transformation or lean transformation is often used to characterize a company moving from an old way of thinking to lean thinking. It requires a complete transformation on how a company conducts business. This takes a long-term perspective and perseverance. The term â€Å"lean† was coined to describe Toyota’s business during the late 1980s by a research team headed by Jim Womack. Lean Thinking Lean transformations think about three fundamental business issues that should guide the transformation of the entire organization: Purpose: What customer problems will the enterprise solve to achieve its own purpose of prospering? Process: How will the organization assess each major value stream to make sure each step is valuable, capable, available, adequate, flexible, and that all the steps are linked by flow, pull, and leveling? People: How can the organization insure that every important process has someone responsible for continually evaluating that value stream in terms of business purpose and lean process? How can everyone touching the value stream be actively engaged in operating it correctly and continually improving it? â€Å"Just as a carpenter needs a vision of what to build in order to get the full benefit of a hammer, Lean Thinkers need a vision before picking up lean tools,† said Womack. â€Å"Thinking deeply about purpose, process, people is the key to doing this. â€Å"

Saturday, November 9, 2019

Canopic Stopper of King Tut

It is very useful for those, who study history, archeology or other related subject, to support their knowledge and understanding with some visual materials. In such cases, visiting some geographical territories of historical events, or archeological museum, or an exhibition of antique arts would be perfect help for better picturing of realistic details and environment of ancient times. The exhibition of the treasures of Egyptian King Tut, which were revealed during the discovery of his Tomb in the beginning of XX century, is a perfect example of visual support for those, who are interested in history and culture of Ancient Egypt. A lot of different statuettes, busts, vases, elements of decorations, etc. from those times were presented at the exhibition in Los Angeles County Museum of Arts. But I was especially fascinated with a little bust from the canopic chest of King Tut, made of delicately patterned transparent calcite. This elegant bust reproduces King Tut himself wearing the nemes head-dress. The creators of it used subtle black and red paints to underline facial details of good-looking Egyptian king: his big eyes, eyebrows and lips, demonstrating feminized nature of this person. Traditionally, the face of King Tut is presented with decorations of protective cobra and vulture, appearing from his head-dress. This small statuette is typical exemplar of Egyptian ancient art, which is characterized with features of early frontalism: every picture (in painting) or figure (in sculpture) was presented in rigid and formal posture. This bust was found in a shrine of King Tut, on a magnificent canopic chest made of alabaster and gorgeously decorated with golden staples. There were, actually, four of such busts, which were located in every corner of the chest and served as stoppers. These stoppers were sealing four compartments of the chest, in which four miniature anthropomorphic coffins, containing mummified inner organs of the king, were stored. King Tut (Tutankhamen) is one of the most known and recognizable pharaohs of Ancient Egypt. He was the Ruler of the Eighteenth Dynasty of Egyptian Kings, who started his reign in the age of 9 and died at the age of 19. Certainly, he ruled under supervision and control of his adult advisers: in particular, his vizier and future successor Ay. The main social reconstruction, made by King Tut, is conversion of heretical Atenism, launched by his predecessor King Akhenaton, to previous traditional ancient Egyptian religion. Causes of his death still remain unknown, and there are some suggestions on this issue. Some specialists consider him to be murdered; the others consider his death to be accidental. After watching this sculpture of young pharaoh for some long period of time, first of all, I started paying more attention on its divine material. This transparent calcite is called Egyptian alabaster, which was, probably, enriched with some phosphoric materials. That is why the bust looks so lucid and shining, as if time did not touch it at all. I noticed that in this magic shining the representation of King Tut looked exceptionally graciously, and he seemed to me to be very calm and friendly as a person. The more I watched, the more I could realize, how different it is to see figures and statues in real dimensions, not as reproductions in the books. This way so many details, like features of the face, head position, profile line, vivid natural colors, and so on, can be better observed and considered. There is no printed picture, which can properly show the light, color, shape or delicacy of ancient artworks. So, if we want to receive some good idea about such treasures, we have to see them live. That is why such exhibitions are extremely popular and always crowded. There are many known representations and images of King Tut, which remained from ancient times. Recently the revolutionary event took place, when the team of Egyptian, American and French specialists managed to receive a new facial image of Tutankhamen. It was presented in three-dimensional CT scans of the Pharaoh's skull, but the only uncertainty was left, which is the tone of King Tut’s skin. Of course, such researches are priceless. But, to my mind, there is no better imagination of a historical personage, than the one, which can be received from observing original artworks and genuine historical materials. After visiting this exhibition, I have formed my own clear picture of this Egyptian legendary king in my mind, which, I suppose, is not very different from his real appearance and character. Bibliography: â€Å"Canopic Stopper of King Tut.† King Tut. King Tut Exhibition, Los Angeles County Museum of Arts. 8 Nov. 2005 ;http://www.kingtut.org/gallery/Gold_57.htm;. â€Å"Tutankhamen.† Wikipedia. The Free Encyclopedia Online. 6 Nov. 2005. 8 Nov. 2005 ;http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_Tut;. ;

Thursday, November 7, 2019

The settling of the Islam in the Southeast Asia was an extension from the coastal India

The settling of the Islam in the Southeast Asia was an extension from the coastal India Traders and sailors from the Arab origin used to tour the ports of Southeast. This was before they converted into Islam. Trade men of the Indian origin acquired the Islamic culture from their place of origin. The culture adopted by these trade men was spread to other areas of the Southeast Asia. A way was formed due to the collapse of the Buddhist trading empire.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on The settling of the Islam in the Southeast Asia was an extension from the coastal India specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More This took place during the thirteenth century and allowed for more movement into the region. In the south Asia, the conversion of the Indians to Islam started in the seventh century. By the thirteenth century, the Islam had spread well though didn’t manage replacing Hinduism in India. These two religions remained at uneasy equilibrium. At the initial stages of the introduction of Muslim in India there were conflicts between religious conflicts. The trade men used to travel for long distances during their operations. They had emerged before the Chinese or the Indian religious influences. Also the politics had not gotten any chance to have influence. This was during the start the Christian period. At this time boats and trade had a lot of influence in the south china societies. The boats appeared in most artifacts and in many boat-burial rituals. They also appeared in other Southeast Asian cultural contexts. Even currently the boat symbol appears in many archeological sites of the Peninsula. This is in association with bronze and iron artifacts. These have a representation of the remains of boats used in the south china Asia. According to the research carried out in the 1st millennium there have been trade patterns that has been taking place between the Indian shore and the Southeast Asian. The formation of the Choson dynasty was on the basis of neo-Confucianism This had a combina tion of a strong political ideology. It has a practical ethics that insisted on the significance of the family. Neo-Confucianism opposed Buddhism. This is because the monks abandoned their families. Also, they maintained strict celibacy. Also, they were rejected by the intellectuals. Monks were categorized in the same category with the servants. They were not permitted to go to the capital city. This was in terms of the social stratification. During the hard situations, Buddhism became completely sidelined During this time the Buddhist utilized their adverse circumstances. They took it as an opportunity to systematize a harmonized perspective.Advertising Looking for essay on asian? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More This was used to reconcile the philosophical conflicts among neo-Confucianism. It was claimed that Buddhism had a teaching that offered chances to individuals to pursue different levels of practice. This is according to their capability to the merit-making of the normal individuals. Kihwa had an intention to illustrate the superiority of the Buddhist teaching. The teachings embrace a universality that involves all kinds of people. This is in contrast to the soteriology of Confucianism.

Monday, November 4, 2019

The YUM brands Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

The YUM brands - Essay Example Yum! Brand is one of the new developed companies worldwide. For instance, in 2010, the Company opened more than 500 restaurants in the mainland China. The main aim of the company is to be a leader in every significant food service category in China. KFC was the first restaurant chain to enter China in 1987 with quick services. It was also the first to bring franchising to China in 1992. KFC is still the number one quick-service restaurant brand in China.   Furthermore, it is the largest and fastest developing restaurant in the country with about 3,500 restaurants in different cities. Pizza Hut company was the first restaurant in the chain to introduce pizza and the western food-style to China in 1990 and was also the first to introduce the delivery of pizza to China in 2001. Pizza Hut has therefore emerged to be the number one casual dining brand in China with more than 560 Pizza Hut dining restaurants in many cities (Nunes et al 2010). The improvement of KFC in China is a clear in dication that knowing a business environment is very important. This is because the KFC brands have great force in China as they strive to achieve their goal and increase the business performance. The core part of improving the business is by understanding the STEP analysis. STEP analysis of business is an environmental model that stands for Social, Technological, Economic and Political factors. STEP is also used to represent the decision and frame work of macro-environment factors that are used in scanning. Other models such as SWOT, Mintizberg, and transformation model can also be used to describe the business environment.   In order to achieve the proposed goals, the business should consider various environmental factors both external and internal. When doing market search, the company is required to take into consideration various external factors that would help to know the progress of the business performance. Environmental analysis is relatively qualitative and involves the identification analysis of environmental variables, which influence the business performance. SWOT analysis and PESTEL analysis are some of the environmental analysis frameworks that have been given much attention in the world of business management literature (  Leo 1999). The international differences in habits, value, tastes and demographics, age structure, lifestyle, and income of the local people are some of the social factors that illustrate what contributed to the success of KFC in China which has the greatest number of populations. The main social factors that affect KFC store include demographic issues explaining the extent of the diverse population that contribute to the large number of its diverse consumers. For KFC to succeed in China, its managers made every effort in order to ensure that the company appeared as part of the community. In addition, demographics are in the same category with the values that are held by that particular community so as to reflect on thei r lifestyle or way of life. Most KFC customers are presented to be in the same age structure of population, class, and the structure of income of the local population (Qin, Prybutok,& Zhao, 2010). For instance, in the corner grocery shop, most customers are people living nearby, the families, the people of same age groups, and the immigrants of the area. Business environmental analysis looks at the intrinsic factors in the business envi

Saturday, November 2, 2019

Contemporary Art vs. Crafts Movement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Contemporary Art vs. Crafts Movement - Essay Example The essay "Contemporary Art vs. Crafts Movement" discovers the different definitions of the art, analyzes its function and compare Contemporary Art with Crafts Movement. While the end result may not always be considered art, the possibility of creating an original drawing that transcends it’s parameters and materials is always possible, and that, to me, is the definition of art†. Others define the difference based upon distinctions of whether something is intended merely to suggest thought and ideas or is instead intended to serve a particular function as well as remain aesthetically pleasing. â€Å"People still debate the relative value of art made to be used, and art made to be contemplated (painting, drawing and sculpture). It’s the utilitarian versus the high art tradition†. As these definitions might suggest, there is no easy, one-size-fits-all solution to distinguishing between arts and crafts, yet it remains equally clear that there is a difference. Understanding the current debate between arts and crafts can provide several points of assistance to a high school level arts instructor in helping students recognize true talent from mere accident. Charles Lewton-Brain provides a helpful run-down of the various ways in which art and craft have been distinguished from each other. Somewhat jokingly, he indicates that one difference between art and craft is about $3,000, but more seriously suggests that the difference can be found in the intent. The Canadian Professional Relations tribunal.