To What Extent Was Rome Responsible for the Punic Wars free essay sample

The responsibility for the Punic wars greatly shifts from one to the next as both Rome and Carthage were Superpowers in their own right and it was inevitable that there would be a collision and subsequent reaction from any action taken. This exhausting conflict was, according to Caven, a ‘contest in three rounds’ in which the Romans fought first for control of Sicily, then for the leadership of the western Mediterranean and finally to determine the survival or extinction of Carthage. By 270 Rome had conquered Italy and organised it into a confederation of Roman citizens and Latin and Italian allies. Polybius says that the Romans ‘Once having made themselves masters of Italy applied themselves to the conquest of countries further afield’ . This combined with the fact that the most populated parts of Italy were along the western side where the Dominant power was Carthage made it inevitable that Rome’s first contact in the Mediterranean would be with Carthage. We will write a custom essay sample on To What Extent Was Rome Responsible for the Punic Wars? or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The first of these three wars stemmed from a minor incident involving the town of Messana on the northeast tip of Sicily and the powerful city of Syracuse in the southeast of the island. The rest of the island was under Carthaginian influence. Although Syracuse and Carthage were on reasonably good terms at this stage the Carthaginians did not want to see Messana fall into Syracusian hands. This prompted the mamertines to be pushed out of Messana and become concerned that the Carthaginians might occupy Messana permanently. And so it was decided to seek an alliance with Rome which seemed ‘To offer better long term security than Carthage’ Although the relationship between Carthage and Rome at this point was cordial they decided to ally themselves with the Mamertines making themselves solely responsible for joining into a wider conflict with the Carthaginians. The acceptance of the mamertines into the Roman alliance forced the Syracusans and Carthaginians to co-operate in order to prevent Messana falling into the hands of the Romans and threatening their interests in Sicily. As far as Rome and Carthage were concerned, the war could have ended at this point. The romans had shown that they were prepared to protect the Mamertines, and Carthage had no reason to destroy them. The first Punic war was the classic example of an incident that got out of hand The first Punic War left Carthage greatly weakened. Rome now occupied Sicily, while the Mercenary War left Carthage vulnerable in Africa as well. The Carthaginian response was to send Hamilcar Barca, their undefeated general from Sicily, to Spain (c. 238-7 BC), where he was to greatly revive Carthages fortunes. In 266 Carthage signed a treaty with Rome agreeing not to interfere with matters north of the River Ebro. This agreement didnt cause any problems to either side at this point as Carthages Spanish lines were much further south, while Rome was not involved in Spain at all at this point. This implies that Rome felt she had the right to intervene in Carthages affairs even at a distance, something that was bound to annoy the Carthaginians. Hasdrubal was replaced in command in Spain the son of Hamilcar, who was elected by the army in Spain. Everything suggests that he was intent on war with Rome from the moment he came to power, a trait he inherited from his father’s complete hatred of all Romans (considered by Polybius to be one of the main causes of the second war). May historians have alluded to the possibility that Hannibals campaigns in Spain in 221 â€Å"can be seen as an attempt to capture more fertile lands to feed his army for an invasion of Italy† When the chance came to make the break with Rome, Hannibal seized it. By 220 the city of Saguntum, a long way south of the Ebro River, had allied with Rome. When a tribe allied to Carthage started to raid Saguntums territory, Hannibal sided with the allied tribe, and despite a direct warning from the Romans not to, he attacked Saguntum. This blatant act of hostility towards Rome through the breaking of agreed lands in the Ebro River treaty places the responsibility of the 2nd Punic war firmly with Carthage and more specifically Hannibal. By the time the Second Punic War had ended, Carthage was a mere shadow of its former power. However, Hannibal proved to be as good a chief magistrate as he was as a general, and soon Carthage recovered. However, Messinia, governor of Numidia and a strong ally of the Romans, was able to pick at Carthage until Carthage attacked Numidia in 150 BC, breaking the treaty that ended the Second War. The underlying cause of the third Punic war was the determination of Rome to dispose of the threat once and for all, which it perceived from Carthage, against which it had already won two wars. However, the official cause was violation of the peace treaty from the Second Punic War which made the Roman Senate, arbitrator of all border disputes involving Carthage, so that Carthage had to get approval from the Roman Senate before going to war. Rome then used its ally Numidia as proxy to harass Carthage, which eventually had to defend itself. This gave Rome a valid excuse to declare war and destroy Carthage, establishing Rome as undisputed power in the western Mediterranean. Rome declared open war on Carthage in 149 BC, and an army landed in Africa after a long blockade. Carthage surrendered, as they could not take the onslaught of Roman might. The Roman terms were bitterly opposed by Carthage, as they called for the physical destruction of the city. This was in no small part due to the constant calls of Cato the Elder, who ended each speech he made in the Senate with Carthago delenda est! (Carthage must be destroyed). Carthage managed to withstand a siege for 3 years before yielding and the city was destroyed. Rome emerged from this war utterly transformed. Prior to the war, Roman territory had been limited to Italy. After the war Rome had gained Spain, secured control over the Mediterranean islands, and seen her first direct involvement in Greece. The years immediately after the war also saw Rome gain control over large areas of Greece previously closer to Carthage rule.

Movie Analization

Movie Analization Introduction Many people consider movies as paramount features that add value to life. Movies serve to entertain human beings and perhaps educate them on certain issues in life. They therefore serve as tools for entertainment, enlightening and disseminating people. After work or during free time such as weekends and holidays, people enjoy watching movies as a form of leisure. However, the art of movie watching depends on one’s perception and the ability to make meaning out of a movie.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Movie Analization specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More For instance, depending on one’s perception and art of viewing, the moving image within a movie can entertain, educate or inform. The moving camera is also paramount in giving meaning of the movie to the audience. In most cases, a positive perception towards movies helps the audience to understand the elements of film production hence, analyze it. For example, an informed awareness instills dexterity and background instructions as ingredients of film understanding. In addition to entertainment and education, critical and conscientious film watching is vital when it comes to creating awareness on what is happening in the society and the world at large. It is important to note that viewing a movie not only lifts up a person’s celluloid experience, but also enable persons to understand the complexity, dense language, principles, cryptograms, and signs cinematic attributes exhibited during viewing. Thus, for a person to analyze a movie effectively, he or she must understand these elements on top of reading some facets of cinematography and familiarizing with the terms used in order to comprehend the film language-one of the prerequisite of movie analysis. This will stimulate thought as regard to the film, hence making the viewers cinematically literate. Most importantly, with an informed awareness, every viewer can interpret and analyze a film without any complication (Boggs Petrie, 2008, pp.1-5). Analyzing an Entire Movie The art of film analysis involves many features and not just sections in a movie. Thus, a movie analyzer should devote much time in order to do an effective movie analysis. Before engaging in the movie analysis process, an analyzer should read the synopsis of the movie to understand its progress and development. The synopsis is fundamental in that it helps the analyzer to know the topic of the movie, the actors involved, and successive developments. To start with, it is better to define to understand the meaning of movie analysis. Movie analysis involves breaking up the entire movie into numerous sections aimed at ascertaining the scenery, proportion, purpose, and correlation of the scenes. Each movie has its own plot as designed by the director or cinematographer. However, the plot cannot make the film entertaining or educative without good action. Actors are the one who give meaning to the plot of the movie. For instance, the critique emotions and moods of the actors are potential ingredients that add vitality to the plot hence, success of the movie.Advertising Looking for term paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Without further deliberation, the art of film watching calls for decisive analytical approach in order to understand the plot of the movie. In addition, this analytical approach enables the audience to understand the fundamental elements of cinematography. Thus, movie analysis entails prior pertinent preparation aimed at understanding the rationale of the movie and an inquisitive thought of adjudicating the basic elements, which compose the movie. Ordinarily, the credibility of analyzing a movie lies in the question â€Å"how†. Additionally, part of the movie evaluation involves proper deliberation on the role of music and other special effec ts as elements that compose the movie. For example, illumination, actors, colors, locale, wardrobe, and frame composition are some of the elements behind film production (Boggs Petrie, 2008, p.6). Thus, in order to do an explicit movie analysis, an analyzer must be in a position to comprehend the talent and delirium of various actors, the roles played by producers and directors, the reason of using different types of costumes, and the inclusion of makeup artists or actors. For instance, if a viewer is in a position to combine these elements, the probability of divulging the theme of the movie is high. Nonetheless, what matters most in the art of film watching is the end as it is vital in laying out the theme of the movie. There are certain times when viewers fail completely to understand the entire movie. They therefore cannot analyze the movie. However, to arrive at the first-pace action, producers must first focus on the plot making it hard for viewers to comprehend the movie eas ily. However, repeated watching of the movie institutes impressions of the plot, and as time goes by, viewers are in a position to depict the mood and theme of the movie. For instance, if actors are acting a movie titled â€Å"Life†, laughter and emotions are imperative in order to furnish meaning to the plot. Below are steps for analyzing the entire movie (Boggs Petrie, 2008, p.7). Efficacy of Dialogue and Storyline The efficacy of storyline and dialogue are imperative elements when it comes to movie analysis.Many movie analyzers tend to forget the role of a screenwriter and instead, focus on the roles played by actors and producers. On the other hand, they should understand that screenwriters as chief architects of the movie may choose to acclimatize a book and abrogate it to script form or write an original story for action. Whichever the way, viewers should be in a position to identify minutiae of dialogue and plotlines. For instance, research shows that a flourishing mo vie script characterizes with authentic dialogue and scenarios easily manageable by artists and actors.Advertising We will write a custom term paper sample on Movie Analization specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More On the other hand, most screenwriters use full of personal obscenities and thoughts easily understood by viewers. Thus, part of the analysis entails establishing dialogue honesty and the flow of scenes in a logical manner. Furthermore, the scenes must remain on the storyline. Background and Set Pieces In order to understand thebackground and set pieces of a movie, it is paramount to interpret the role of movie directors. These are the one responsible in building the ambiance of the movie. Thus, when a person decides to analyze a movie, he or she must first examine the color of the panorama, costumes and sets. During this time, the analyzer will assume that actors and dialogue do not exist- at least for a moment. This is because color, costumes and sets develop the mood and atmosphere of the movie. Good movies have excellent backgrounds that add vitality to scenes without overwhelming the movie. On the contrary, poor cinematography leads to anachronism and inadvertent focus. Individual Performance of Actors This is also another important aspect of interpreting a movie. Before analyzing a movie, it is important to know what actors who are not in the main action do. For instance, good actors are those who understand their roles especially in generating the plot of the movie. For example, a character acting as villain should exhibit redoubtable opposition to the one portraying intrepidness. Thus, an analyzer should ask whether these actors play their roles effectively to attract other actors who will counter them. Editing of the Movie A number of literature materials on movie analysis indicate thatexcellent movies are the one manufactured or those that start from editing houses. This is true because there are so many excellent movies that have become poor due to poor editing. For instance, these movies have their storyline cut or scenes that deny forward plot. Thus, when analyzing a movie, one should consider the flow of scenes in reference to the storyline. Fabulously edited movies do not confuse the audience, as there is a systematic forward plot from one scene to another (Boggs Petrie, 2008, pp.14-134). As depicter earlier, movie directors play a significant role in film production. Nevertheless, directors should be in apposition to comprehend the thoughts of the screenwriter, and at the same time, the competence and skills of actors and other persons involved in film production.Advertising Looking for term paper on art and design? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Thus, when analyzing a movie, it is important to inquire from the director on how he or she arrived at the actors and their reputation. The analyzer should also examine contributions from the director especially on edgy dialogue, signature elements, the milieu of music, and other perspectives such as photography angles. Finding and Interpreting Meaning in Movies When it comes to movie analysis, the difficult part is finding and interpreting meaning in a movie. This area has also attracted a lot of criticism regarding the modalities of finding and interpreting meaning in movies. Nonetheless, this depends on how one view a movie, entertaining, educative or something else. For example, there are people who believe movies are for entertainment purposes only while some believe that movies can educate people on culture, economics and politics. However, the truth of the matter is movies are substantially real phenomena, which portray something. Movies have great impact on people’s l ives especially on historical and social realities. Thus, the theme of a film can influence people perform social, political and economic duties. Nonetheless, this cannot happen minus first finding and interpreting the meaning of a movie. The meaning in a movie can vary from one viewer to another depending on interpretation. Research shows that there are four levels of meaning in a movie, which help people in finding and interpreting meaning in a movie (Perkins, 1990, pp. 1-6). The first level of meaning in movie analysis is referential meaning. The plot summary differs from one movie to another. This makes viewers to come up with different interpretations based on individual ability to identify the fundamental elements that make up the movie. For instance, in the film, Wizard of Oz, tornado knocks a young girl only to wake up in a supernatural world named Oz. This means that she has one option and that is making new friends who will show her the Wizard; the only friend who will ret urn her back home. Thus, the plot summary helps one to find and interpret the meaning in a movie. Secondly, we have the explicit meaning, which comprises the message in the film. In order to understand the meaning of a film, it is imperative to familiarize with the context of the movie. The context of the movie helps viewers to understand the plot summary and the developments happening from one scene to another. Thus, explicit meaning in movie analysis tries to answer the â€Å"how question† and then â€Å"why subject†. Thirdly, we have implicit meaning level that represents the factual interpretation of a movie. The implicit meaning goes beyond explicit meaning pending the fact that every viewer interprets a movie differently. Furthermore, viewers can use the move to refer to their own life and make informed decisions. For instance, in the film Wizard of Oz, young adults are acquainted on the dangers of indiscipline and rebellion. The last level under this discussion is symptomatic meaning, which explains the social ideology that characterizes the movie. In addition, it also explains the cultural ambience of people living in a certain place at a particular time. This can make viewers strive to work hard and become prosperous or continue celebrating their cultural diversity (Nowlan, 2002, p.1). Personal Criteria for Evaluating Movies People have different criteria of analyzing movies depending on their perceptions. Perhaps this is the reason why a particular movie can have numerous interpretations. Nevertheless, if analyzers understand the synopsis and other elements of movie analysis, it is likely that interpretations will appear similar to certain extent. According to my view of movie analysis, genre plays an imperative tool in movie analysis. I am conversant with many genres, which I apply in evaluating movies that I enjoy watching. In particular, I enjoy watching science, horror, drama and comedy genres and love evaluating them using their sy nopsis. I have different approaches in evaluating each of these. For instance, in evaluating a science fiction, I emphasize on the projected realism in order to find meaning. Thus, taking a real worldview enables me to interpret and analyze science movies easily. The same case applies to fictional genres where human beings change into dogs or objects. In most cases, I assume that magic world does not exist and instead dwell on magic free world. As for comedies-dumb and smart, my criterion of interpretation is simple, that is, they must make me laugh for me to make meaning out of them. For example, comedies like Greedy, While You Were Sleeping and Clue always make me laugh, and by this, I find myself in a position to evaluate them. Other criteria I use in evaluating movies include reading the screenplay, taking copious notes, summarizing ideas, spotting the pros and cons, digesting the meaning, and finally making a critical appraisal. I also examine the title of the movie in real lif e situation and relate it to what happens in the society. In general, my criteria of evaluating movies lie in the synopsis of the movie and the elements of movie analysis such as plot, actors, set pieces, and many more. Conclusion People do movie analysis for different reasons. To others, movie analysis helps them to understand movies better, while to others, movie analysis educates. Thus, it greatly depends on a personal view on movies and its significance to self. Reference List Boggs, M. J. Petrie, W.D. (2006). The Art of Watching Film. (7th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill Publishers. Nowlan, B. (2002). Interpreting Film: Meaning and Representation, Culture and Politics, the Truman Show and Stranger with a Camera. Web. Perkins, V. (1990). Must We say What They Mean?: Film Criticism and Interpretation. Movie, 34(5). 1-6.

Employability and Professional Development Essay

Employability and Professional Development - Essay Example My main focus was to improve my skills in report writing, because as a spinal research coordinator, I am required to write various projects and business cases. In addition, my skills in budgeting, assertiveness, leadership, team working and knowing how to deal with difficult situations in line with HR policies are all important skills. 2.0 Evaluation of my Employability Skills Evaluation is an important stage in the self-reflection as it helps me to focus on my career goals and those of the organization (Pedler, 2001). In my role as a spinal research coordinator I am required to liaise and coordinate with different levels of staff - medical and non-medical - within the spinal deformity unit and across the hospital. The coordination of various research projects, managing elements of operational delivery of the spinal deformity unit, and resource planning and assessment, are all requirements of my role. These requirements are in line with my plan to become more conversant with HR polic ies. Thus I have developed team building skills since this role involved ffamiliarizing myself with HR policies and regulations would enable me to work with human resource activities which require management. This plan has helped to improve my service delivery in the field of human resources and use my time more effectively to fulfil my potential and further my career. My personal development plan was to improve my report-writing skills which seem to meet the requirements of my organisation. The role of a spinal research coordinator in my organisation requires someone with knowledge of writing various reports and working on business cases. Since at the moment I have little skills in regard to report writing, developing these skills shall be of paramount importance in attaining my organisation’s requirements in this area (Schon, 1991). Other requirements of my organisation, such as assisting the human resources department in recruitment and resource planning, are tasks that a resource manager should be accountable for. These are skills I planned to achieve but I have not yet achieved them since my writing skills are still low. I have not achieved them but I hope to apply my strengths to report-writing to be able deliver reports quickly and on time, so I am confident I can develop in this area. My career objective is to one day work as a service manager. However, being a manager requires the ability to perform a lot of tasks and use problem solving skills in various situations. In my plan I wanted to develop team-working skills and decisions making. Having to deal with the problem of team working and knowing how to make decisions in difficult situations might be important in the realization of my dream of becoming a service manager, as I can apply my problem-solving skills to improve in these areas. Public speaking is an important skill in management (Pedler, 2001). I realized after my SWOT analysis that I have a fear of public speaking which I needed to develop. Since I want to be the service manager of my organisation I need to work on being confident at public speaking as during the course of my role as a service manager I might be required to represent my organisation at meetings or give speeches regarding the vision and mission of my organisation. 3.0 A Review of Theoretical Principles I have developed leadership skills that would enable me in

Dividend Policy in Publicly Traded Companies Essay

Dividend Policy in Publicly Traded Companies - Essay Example For a firm with good future growth and investment opportunities, investors want the firm to put the earnings in other investment opportunities. Where as for a non growth company, investors would prefer present dividend income rather future capital gains which are uncertain. [2] Dividend policy of a firm will divide the earnings into two parts as Dividends and Retained Earnings. Dividends are paid to the investors as cash for their share of the assets of the company. Where as Retained Earnings are used to fund the long term growth of the company, which are used to generate future earnings. The percentage of Dividends distributed and Retained Earnings are determined by the Payout Ratio of the Dividend Policy. Higher the Payout ratio, higher the Dividends and lower the Payout Ratio imply lower the Dividends. Usually growth oriented firms have lower payout ratio and higher Retention Ratio. That means large amount of earnings are retained to increase future earnings. The investors of low dividend paid companies will get their returns through capital gains. The relation between growth and Payout Ratio can be best understood by Dividends on one hand increase cash earnings of the investors and reduce the share on the assets of the firm. In the case of high tax on the earnings of the dividends by the government investors are more interested in firm to keep the earnings for future growth of the earnings. Otherwise for a low growth oriented firm investors want cash dividends as they can earn more return else where. According to Miller and Modigliani in a perfect market condition and in a no tax situation investors are indifferent to a company that pays dividend and another not pays dividend. What ever the investors lose in the form dividends are gained through capital appreciation. The investors believe that the dividends are put to earn further gains in the future. On the expectation of increased future earnings the prices of the stock increase giving the investors capital investors which they can make by selling the stock at higher price. But stock market history shows us that dividends are really matter for any particular stock. Most of the non dividend paying companies are invariably loss making dogs[4] These companies does not have earnings capacity in their business and are struggling even to pay the dividends shareholders. Investors think the company has lost the earning capacity. The selling pressure decreases the prices of those non dividend company shares. This is quite opposite to what the dividend theory of stock market as well as what Miller-Modigliani postulated. "One look at the JSE highest dividend yield share reveals the problem: It is Northern Engineering Industries Africa whose 3 000% dividend yield places it way ahead of second placed SA Reit at 70%."[5] The above example explains that the highest dividend paying Northern Engineering Industries has a higher price than the SA Reit, in spite of both the companies operate in the same industry. Higher dividends attract more and more investor interest in the stock. Thus the price of the shares increases on the future dividends as well as capital gains. Based

Tourism Policy & Stratgy - deconstruct a piece of tourism policy Essay

Tourism Policy & Stratgy - deconstruct a piece of tourism policy - Essay Example The process of policy formulation entails integrated set of components. Usually it is of essence to understand what needs to be done and whether they are legally right. Task one- Philosophy Environmental policies After the European Union agreed to reduce its conservatory gas productions in 2008, it portrayed its responsibility to engage in the environment change campaign and to guide the world in determining how this might be organized (European Commission, 2000). The approved cut of twenty per cent from 1990 points by 2020, at the same time with a twenty percent renewable goal, was an important phase for the EU's environmental development and a pure indication to the rest of world that the European Union was set to take the action needed. This was achieved by meeting the Kyoto Protocol objective (European Commission, 2000). In this white paper, the company finds the correct balance between social, economic, and environmental plans to improve the positive influences that aeroplanes p roduces, while reducing the negative effects and meeting approved environmental standards (Fidgeon and Ritchie, 2005; pp. 3. Par.1). They add that, the government will introduce immediately a plan to inspect how the environmental harms at Heathrow may be corrected (Fidgeon and Ritchie, 2005; pp. 8. par. 2). ... In the thought of Litman (2003), the entire transport system needs a complete change of the technique used by the specialists in tackling difficulties. Glasgow Airport is situated within the local authority known as the Renfrewshire Council local authority and is supported by the Renfrewshire Local Plan (Michael, 2006). Local planning policies of the Renfrewshire Local Plan were approved in 2006. The plan recognises the worth of Glasgow Airport as a main component of the local and international economy, and aims at making provision for the working requirements and development within the airport to ensure its continuous development (Michael, 2006). The white paper provides a description of support for local air facilities and airport expansion. It further states that they expect all major airports create or update main plans, to take the White Paper’s consideration (Fidgeon and Ritchie, 2005; pp. 4. par.3). The white paper states that the main priority is to make use of the pre sent runways at the main airports in South East. Besides that, they support the construction of two modern runways by 2030 in the South East (Fidgeon and Ritchie, 2005; pp.7 par.2). Local government planning directives The development framework is integral to the success of the development of the Community Policy Plan. For instance, the directives aim at raising the living standards of residents. This can be achieved through the encouraging business expansion in appropriate sites (Burnham, 2000). According to Richmond (2011), the Council will make sure that garbage collection and removal arrangements are established according to the principles of sustainability grounded on an order of

Total quality management has not changed but evolved

Total quality management has not changed but evolved TQM is not a new challenge for ST since this approach has been adopted since the early 1990s. This concept remained the primary concern for ST and since then it has not changed but evolved. It has always been a means to achieve Excellence for the entire organisation. TQM is about PEOPLE. It has become the practical way of working at ST; an integrated part of the day-today managerial process, a better way of organizing and doing ones job. At ST, employees have to share the same values of the organisation. ‘People do not come to work with their hands and minds only; they also come with their hearts and emotions. Therefore, to obtain a totally efficient approach, it is essential that everybody in the organization knows and fully adheres to these principles. Georges Auguste Corporate Vice President TQEM In their journal ‘A meta-analysis of the effect of TQM on competitive advantage the authors Eman El Shenawy, Tim Baker and David J. Lemak quoted that ‘Culture is the values, beliefs, and norms that guide behaviour in organizations (Reed et al., 2000, p. 15). Culture is also necessary for providing employee empowerment that guides employees to focus on quality and inspect their own mistakes (Ahire et al., 1996). ST has specifically developed and deployed Training Programs through ST University, at all sites. Empowerment must be based on properly trained employees. Knowledge sharing gives people the right knowledge, helping them making the right decision. What is Total Quality Management? ‘a powerful blend of philosophy and tools to achieve Excellence TQM has been developed over the years in many different contexts and implemented by many companies worldwide. It has evolved. Several countries have promoted this aspect through national quality awards. Studies highlight a very important fact. Organisations which have adopted TQM do perform better than those that have not adopted it. TQM has been defined as ‘the management of the total organization to achieve excellence. It is about management and people, not just about quality. Everyone in an organization is involved in the final product or service to the customer. The evolving path of TQM: towards business excellence and stakeholder value Cristina Mele and Maria Colurcio define TQM as a systemic and global approach based on management by process and continuous improvement of business performances by all human resources in order to satisfy explicit or implicit expectations of customers and other stakeholders (Shiba et al., 1993; Dean and Bowen, 1994; Grant et al., 1994). Over the years, TQM has evolved in sustaining Business Excellence through a framework of best practices. Excellence is the never-ending quest for perfection; going beyond the traditional concept of quality. It is a dynamic and continuous improvement process involving every activity in the organization. This is highlighted by Cristina Mele and Maria Colurcio where they have stated that TQM lead organisations to understand the competitive issues and to continuously change the way in which business is managed according to market changes. El Shenawy, Baker and Lemak have also confirmed this aspect. Research on TQM has generally proven its value to those firms who take its implementation seriously (Hendricks and Singhal, 2001; Lemak et al., 2002). Reed et al. (1996) argue that achieving competitive advantage comes from finding ‘a fit between the proper strategy content and the firms external environment. Reed et al. (2000) defined TQM as a ‘business strategy with regard to process, identifying leadership/top management commitment, employees training and education, teams, and culture as the critical processes. These key processes give the firm a sustained competitive advantage over competitors. STs Guiding Principles Customer satisfaction is the key to competitive success. This can be achieved by listening to customers, by striving to anticipate and fulfil their needs and expectations. Every employee within an organisation must do his/her best to provide world-class Service, Quality, Time to Market and Value. Business integrity is about conducting business with the highest ethical standards, honouring commitments, delivering promises, being loyal and fair, and standing up for what is right. When dealing with People, management has to adapt itself in such a way that it will enhance openness, trust, simplicity and humility. Everyones contribution has to be encouraged and achievements have to be recognized. Gatchalian (1997), affirmed that the competence of an organisation to satisfy the customers lies within its internal customers. Every employee within an organisation shall give his or her contribution and takes his or her responsibilities. A world-class network of sharing best practices will ensure that individual successes can be duplicated elsewhere in the company. TQM will integrate active participation in best-practice sharing in the management evaluation system and introduce awards and non financial incentives to promote the process. Siemens Excellence can be achieved through a continuous challenge for the better. In all aspects of the activities that are carried out, one must strive for excellence, quality, competency and efficiency in being flexible. Innovation and creativity have to be encouraged in every aspect of work activities. Business Excellence is the goal of every modern organization and can be defined as the next step after TQM, for the success of enterprise on the competitive path (Vora, 2002; McAdam et al., 1998). Innovation is what an organization the ‘push from TQM level to business excellence level. It all lies in innovation as it creates value and customer satisfaction. This allows organisations to gain sustainable competitive advantage (Stampacchia et al., 2002. Kanji (1998). Most organisations have affirmed that the strategy of quality is evolving towards a strategy of innovation. Quality has become a basis condition, What has become essential is customer value and satisfaction through innovation. The orientation is towards an innovative perspective is closely linked to the principle of continuous improvement and of customers satisfaction; the base to achieve business excellence. Business excellence represents the present evolving state of the approach for total quality (Kanji, 1998). It refers to some superiority achieved by the organisation towards the market where it operates. It is the achievement of a position of excellence in relation to superior results obtained over competitors on behalf of customers. Excellence has many different aspects linked to TQM: orientation to customer and to results leadership and coherence with objectives management in terms of processes and facts development of partnership learning, continuous improvement and innovation public responsibility For Siemens the fundamental activities in the different operative units of the enterprise in the world are based on the principle of â€Å"excellence in everything we start† aimed to the customers satisfaction and then on concepts of continuous improvement. The following list shows Siemens commitment and mission to business excellence: (1) The firm commitment to business excellence: we will focus on our customer . . . to anticipate and exceed their needs; we will continuously improve . . . our process, products and services toward world class benchmarks; and we will involve every tier . . . in achieving excellence in all we do, and in growing toward their full potential. (2) The firms mission: we will achieve leadership in business excellence by: creating a culture that values all employees, encourages and rewards high performance and   continuous improvement, and fosters teamwork and organizational learning through the involvement, development and empowerment of employees; providing quality products and services that exceed the expectations of customers by pro- actively adapting to an ever changing marketplace; and maintaining a close and strategic partnership with firm worldwide organization and gaining synergy across firm business unit. The key aspects for business excellence on which firms focus their attention: focus on customer and on market; focus on core competences; develop knowledge and capabilities; use of conventional and revolutionary tools and methodologies; continuous improvement; recognize potentiality and exploit it; develop breakthrough systems; and develop value innovations. ‘Total quality is about changing the mental models of management in order to enhance an organisations capability to determine its own future revolutionising managements way of thinking. This change requires more than a one tine shift in thinking; it means a continuous rethinking of the way managers think (Kim, 1990, p. 5). focus on the firm core competencies on key competitive drivers on the use and development of conventional and revolutionary tools and techniques on breakthrough systems on knowledge management Profitability through these activities is the main source of the funds that are needed by the organisation to prosper and grow. Profits are necessary to provide security and future opportunities, It allows the company to meet its other social and business responsibilities. Management Guidelines and Principles @ ST ST promotes three groups of guidelines or principles that have been developed over the years. These have become an integral part of STs culture: The Five TQM Principles Management commitment People empowerment Fact based-decision making Continuous improvement Customer focus The Four TQM Imperatives Never compromise Quality Institutionalize prevention Practice continuous improvement Develop cross-fertilization Management Emphasis Speed: Eliminate delays in all our processes, especially decision-making. Focus: Prioritize, and concentrate on the â€Å"vital few†. Balance: Avoid over-dependence on a narrow range of skills, products, customers, and managers. Consistency: Make sure that our practices are coherent with our values. TQM Guide Since TQM has been implemented by ST, these five TQM principles have been the most important guidelines. Being of equal importance, these can be applied to any aspect of the activities carried out. Customer satisfaction is the number one priority; achieved through continuous improvement and fact based decision-making, involving and empowering people, with the managements support and commitment. Management commitment For TQM to be successful there has to be a prerequisite management commitment, active involvement, leadership and ownership. Management must first understand TQM and be ‘convinced. Their belief and commitment will be reflected through their daily practices. Leadership and top management commitment is the most effective factor. TQM is a change strategy that requires transformational leadership skills (Reed et al., 2000). Top management has a vital role to provide value and satisfaction for customers. Management must provide the necessary resources to accomplish goals and commit to continuous improvement. This is done through implementation of teams, providing training for them, as well as individuals, communicating the values of the organization culture, and providing resources for improvements in process efficiencies (Reed et al., 2000; Wilson and Collier, 2000). Top management is responsible for quality commitment and to co-ordinate resources in order to achieve quality objectives (Zairi and Youssef, 1995a; b; Deming, 1986; Schoenberger, 1994; Scarnati and Scarnati, 2002). â€Å"Leadership in the context of TQM is not about power, authority and control, it is more about empowerment, recognition, coaching and developing others† (Zairi and Youssef, 1995b, p. 38). The role of top management is to guide and direct the organisation to adopt and implement TQM. Top management takes the early decision to adopt any managerial innovations. However, institutional factors have more effect on the long run (Young et al. (2001). Customer focus A primary pre-requisite of TQM is definitely ‘Customer focus, dealing with both internal and external customers. Exceeding customers expectations at the lower possible cost and not quality is the ultimate goal. In order to satisfy the customer, either internal or external, one must understand their expectations through dialog; avoiding creating unrealistic expectations. It is always better to under-promise and over-perform. Like customer focus, supplier partnership also applies to both internal and external suppliers. As a customer, the needs of an organisation must be satisfied. One way to achieve this goal is by working closely with the supplier. Achieving a good supplier partnership requires a proactive effort. To be a good customer, one must help the suppliers become better suppliers. In all investigated enterprises quality is a synonym for customer satisfaction (Edosomwan, 1993; Shiba et al., 1993). Organisations modify their ways to work on the basis of the need to create customer satisfaction and trust strategies (Webster, 1994; Lagrosen, 2001). Nevertheless, there are some very important aspects within customer orientation that one must keep in mind: The need to create value not only for the customer, but with customer; The need to learn about the customer, not only from them; More inter-functional relationships to share knowledge; and More focus on knowledge and capabilities needed to improve customer value. People Empowerment Having all employees contributing the maximum of their discretionary capability is the ultimate goal of employee empowerment. People are motivated when: They understand what is expected from them Goals and measurements are consistent They are given the skills and tools to do the job They are recognized for their contributions They know the score through positive communication They perform with discipline. Empowerment is considered as a powerful motivator as well as a management time-saver; it gives a sense of personal satisfaction and fulfilment. Continuous improvement the purpose of all our activities, the never-ending journey to excellence Continuous improvement is not only important with improving results, but more importantly it must deal with improving capabilities to produce better results. Prevention Continuous improvement is much associated with problem prevention. This can be achieved through root cause analysis by either removing or preventing root causes. Errors are best eliminated through prevention which also helps improving cycle time. Errors can be categorised as either doing things wrong (resulting in rework or defects), or doing wrong things (unnecessary or non-value added activities). All of these will damage Quality through defects, Service through rework and cycle time, and Cost through adding cost without adding value. Cross-fertilization and Knowledge Sharing â€Å"Learning faster than your competitor may be the only sustainable competitive advantage†. Peter Drucker The competitive advantage of individuals, companies and even nations is becoming more dependent on the ability to apply knowledge and to leverage it in a continuous manner. Learning quickly and responding immediately to changing conditions will give a competitive advantage over other organisations No company can successfully practice TQM without becoming a learning organisation. Nowadays, training and knowledge sharing has become even more fundamental for organizations to build their ‘human capital. Employees have to be provided with new techniques and practices necessary to implement TQM successfully. This is also necessary for teaching all the TQM aspects as it requires permanent change in individual behaviours and attitudes (Reed et al., 2000). Roth et al. (1999, p. 950) affirmed: â€Å"the essence of continuous improvement is an ongoing process of knowledge creation with the purpose of over time continually learning and improving, in the sense that the company should be able to learn by experience and thereby produce better products in a more sufficient way.† TQM is essential for the learning processes both at an individual and organizational level. It recognises and emphasises knowledge value and the importance of human resources. A learning organization is characterised by the continuous evolution towards positions of excellence. The enterprise believes that the achievement of the enterprises goals is closely dependent on the employee, in details on their knowledge, on their competencies, on their attitude towards change, on their motivation and their potential. The consciousness of the value of employees becomes an attentive human resources and learning processes management, and skills and capabilities increment. The firms develop several initiatives to foster individual and organizational learning, however, in the following list, we identify some points for improvement: (1) Actions: learning on job; use of new technologies (like internet) to foster individual and team learning; skill planning; human resource empowerment; to plan the improvement of the employees knowledge and skills; quality improvement teams; self-assessment; and to strengthen organizational memory. (2) Points to be improved: wider use of innovative methodologies versus traditional methods of learning; deeper evaluation of what individuals learn (ex-post); higher focus on individual capabilities; higher focus on organization and on organizational knowledge and competences; and right mix between learning on the job and out of the job.

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When I was in upper form in secondary school, numbers were a nightmare to me. Additional mathematics was the major reason of this worse thing that could ever happened to me. Until one day, I got offer from MARA Professional College of Beranang to do a Diploma in Accountancy. It is totally a right one as I am able to get pointer 4.0 for every final semester examination. As time passes, I am sure that numbers are major concern but in a positive side now. The most interesting part of doing accounting is the feeling of being able to solve the problems, to get the correct figure and to get the Statement of Financial Position balanced is such a satisfaction for me. My academic achievement have always make me smile and sometimes cry also. For a person who is phobia of numbers, I managed to get excellent result for my final examination. Of course it required a lot of hard works but after all, no pain no gain. Today, I am glad and proud to say that I love accounting. During my college years, I was members of the Students' Representative Council holding the responsibilities of Exco of Arts an...