Total Quality Management (TQM) at McDonalds

Total Quality Management (TQM) at McDonalds Executive Summary The purpose of this assignment to elaborate about Total Quality Management based on how it implements and how it impacts on an organization. For this assignment I have selected McDonalds as my main research to analysis on their TQM . Total Quality Management allows an organization to enhance their high quality, products and economical product environment and also customer satisfaction. In this assignment, I have analysed in all the operational strategies and studied on their ways for achieving their goals by providing their customer the best service with best quality. There is some information that I have found from the internet and analysed the strategies which has implemented based on my knowledge and by my observation on the working environment of McDonalds. INTRODUCTION. McDonalds Corporation is the worlds most leading food service organization. McDonalds was introduced by two brothers named Dick n Mac McDonalds in the year of 1940s in California. Raymond Albert Kroc, a salesman, saw a great opportunity in this market and advised Dick and Mac to expand their operation and open new restaurants. McDonalds was emerged from Ray Kroc who was in the year of 1955 became one of the exclusive franchising for the whole United States of the American. Every food franchise company would have their own motto, as for McDonalds; their motto is to focus on services, quality, value and cleanliness. In the year of 1977, the first McDonalds outlet was opened in Ireland, Dublins Grafton Street. McDonalds became popular in Ireland and the second restaurant was followed on OConnell Street. There are about 74 McDonalds restaurant around the world and opened five new outlets called Mccafes in Dublin as to provide more variety for their services and employed over 4,000 people in their organization. McDonalds in Ireland has achieved one of the 50th best companies to work for in Ireland. McDonalds has a community programs that focused on local environment that is related to current issues and as well as for family issues. McDonalds has sponsorship of fundraising for childrens charities, environmental activities and for education. McDonalds is the first restaurant that offers their customers with nutritional ingredient with information and these offered nutritional leaflets. This organization plays their role as promoting well balanced diet and active lifestyle for children. The Ronald McDonald House charity that was founded in the year of 1977 and this program offers scholarships; social welfare program and healthcare for children. McDonalds has four principles such as, Service, Cleanliness, Quality and lastly Value. This combination has achieved 100 percent of customers satisfaction. This business is operated based on strict specifications for every products, raw materials and the responsible for implementing the systems to make sure the highest quality on the food throughout the restaurants in Ireland. McDonalds in Malaysia was first born in December 1980 when McDonalds Corporation, USA introduced the GOLDEN ARCHES RESTAURANTS SDN BHD the license to operate McDonalds restaurants in our country. Our first outlet of McDonalds was opened at Jalan Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur on 29 April 1982. There are about 185 restaurants that are located in Malaysia and its currently expanding at about 10-15 restaurants in every year. McDonalds has formed many job opportunities for Malaysians. McDonalds Malaysia has employs more than 8,000 local people and gave opportunities for school leaves who are meanwhile waiting for their SPM results or even for college students who wants to work as for their side income. McDonalds has about 120 staff to support at its headquarters to manage the day-to-day operations for the McDonalds business. McDonalds have two main regional office in Penang and Johor Bahru in Malaysia. 2.1 ) McDonalds Mission McDonalds has a mission that is to be in their customers top favourite position and the way they provide their food is to inspired their customers who are delight with each customer with quality, cleanliness, value and services. McDonalds would invite their customers to be part of this winning team and gives every customer an opportunity to grow with the family and striving to give the smiles on their faces of billions of people around the world. Total Quality Management There are important implications for the way people are managed in their business. Every restaurant has responsibility for quality; power and responsibility need to be given for their employees who are doing the work in the organisation. Total quality management in McDonalds requires continuous product improvement and the quality customer service where the needs and wants of the customers are constantly met together. Therefore, to ensure the employees in McDonalds that everyone is responsible for quality in their restaurants. The entire organization of McDonalds has excels in every part of services and products that is crucial for their customers. It can be described to total quality management as the constant quality improvement for the process. McDonalds also practice the strategy of total quality management and tries to improve its affectivity and efficiency level by working in different areas such as constant improvement, quality of goods and training, customer satisfaction, and services. 3.1 Product Quality The skills of a service or product to meet customers needs are phrase as quality. McDonalds works a lot in the quality development of its goods by improving The Ingredients and nutrients of the food stuff. Some current nutrients quality improvement information is as under: For people who are concerned about food allergies, McDonalds have combined all the allergen information into the ingredient statement for every menu item so that customers can have one current foundation of the information. The nutrition information is derived to perform the testing in accredited laboratories, published resources, or from the information that is provided from McDonalds suppliers. The nutrition information is based on standard product formulations and serving sizes. All nutrition information is found on average values for ingredients from McDonalds suppliers throughout the world. Variation in serving sizes, preparation techniques, product testing and sources of supply, as well as regional and seasonal differences may involve the nutrition values for each product. 3.2 Training In the next step of Total Management Quality, McDonalds puts full concentration on its human resources. This objective of training their human resources in McDonalds is to build a balance in the whole working of employees. Therefore they also try to create a link between the quality of a product and the skills of the employees. In McDonalds almost every employee are given training. For an example: a cashier is trained to handle cash, floor manager is practised against his degree in hotel management. And all the other staff is trained accordingly to their job description in McDonalds. 3.3 Continuous Improvement The total quality management strategies in McDonalds are product quality improvement, employee training and development that as be places on the way of continuous improvement in all its functions in the organization. The continuous improvements have fulfilled the needs of the customers according to their desires, wants or requirements and also build its products further competitive as before. This continuous improvement also contains some other factors like benchmarking a quality standard, employee empowerment and sustain just in time inventory system. 3.4 Customer Satisfaction McDonalds pays more attention on the satisfaction level of their customers. To improve the quality standards, the employees are well trained and continuously learning desire of McDonalds results to increase the level of satisfaction of their customers towards their products. When the quality is improved and the workers are serving the customers is well trained and the overall service environment is improved then there is no room left for customer to fell dis-satisfaction towards the company 3.5 Human Resources in McDonalds. Being in part of the pure services and good production divisions, as for McDonalds applied a very good strategy for their human resources. There are such divisions in McDonalds as such as Training would provide best opportunities for their own employees who actually need to be provided due to their lack of working skills in the department. This would help them to achieve its goals efficiently. Separate departments for different functions based for McDonalds it has different departments as for different parts for the marketing department that is consist with the marketing experts as they has perform marketing analysis and the financing department are consist to the finance experts who would arrange and manage the finance. Competency in McDonalds trains their employees in every department as to enhance the ability and to improve the employees skills and also to provide the employees to ensure that they would serve the right product to the right customer on the right time. This would en able the management to compete with the market. Proper utilization of resources: in McDonalds there are experts in different department and they would use the opportunities and the available recourses. McDonalds also provide good services to the customers more efficiently. As the last is, employees job satisfaction, McDonalds provide training for their employees to improve their skills in McDonalds and the results would enhanced their employees to performance even more better. It would make them even more interested to work in a well manner and this would give good reputation for McDonalds. McDonalds Focus on the Competition The weakness point of a business depends on the system and people involved within the organization. It begins by hiring the people who can dedicate in the businesss objectives and can a do better job in the organization. In McDonalds, the crew can make the business achieved for success and at the same time downfall can be happen. Investing in the value chain is a simply idea but in the end it still works. Happy employees make customers happy, and it can create happy shareholders. McDonalds value is significant to implement a good atmosphere that can invite the customers. The automation of the process can discard the corruption and manipulation inside the company. In McDonalds the automation process of the sale are introduced to make it more proficient and straightforward than the manually operation system. The training and re-training can leave a legacy for the future employees in McDonalds. The on-the-job training in the management of the McDonalds is an open the door for opportunity and they can acquire the trainees to be part of the company. The leadership in McDonalds are involvement in the business is the most prominent strategy. But if the management failed to manage the business, the problems might break the connection of the business towards the people and its customers. The strength can start in an intensive research study where they can explore for the new extraordinary service they can offer to the customers as well on their shareholders. The strength also lies on the managements ability to analyze where they can find the solution in their problems. Improvement of some process and systems can make the problems be solved. And with further understanding, all the issues that involves inside the business whether it concerned with the people or the system. 5 ) The gaps in McDonalds. The first gap would be between what customers want and what McDonalds thinks about their customers wants in their restaurant. This gap is the results of a misunderstanding or a misrepresentation of the customers desires, wants, or even their needs. An organization that does a small or customer satisfaction research is likely to experience in this gap. The second gap would be between what McDonalds thinks about their customers want and the quality specifications that McDonalds management develops to provide the service for their customers. Basically, this gap is the result of managements incapability to translate customers needs and wants into the delivery systems within their firm. The third gap would be between the service quality specification and the services are present in every company. If both gaps 1 and 2 have been closed, then gap 3 is due to the inability of management and employees to do what should be done. Poorly trained or poorly motivated workers can cause this gap. Management needs to make sure that employees have the skills and the proper tools to perform their jobs. The forth gap would be between what McDonalds provides and what the customers are informed towards the providers. This gap is called communication gap. It may add in the misleading or deceiving advertising campaigns shows potential more than the firm can distribute or do what it takes to get the business in McDonalds. McDonalds need to make sensible customer expectations through exact communication about what firms can provide them. Firth gap would be between the services that customers get and the services they want from McDonalds. This gap can be negative or positive and for an example, if a customer expects to wait only 2 minutes for its order, the customers evaluation of service quality will be high. However, a 10 minutes wait would be resulted as the lower evaluation from the customer perspective. Recommendations The successes of McDonald recommendation depend on the ability of the entire organisation to comprehend. These recommendations are not inflexible to handle because it will start from the initiatives of the organization or the whole team. Reliability in McDonalds is the capability to execute the service exactly, dependably, and constantly. Reliability a way to show the service that is right the first time. This section has been established to be the one most significant to consumers .Responsiveness is the talent to be provided quick service. Examples of receptiveness include calling the customer back immediately, serving the lunch fast to customers who are in the rush for something, or delivering customers food to their homes or office. A declaration can be practiced when the knowledge and consideration of the employees in McDonalds and their capability to convey trust. The expert employees who treat their customers with respect and make customers feel that they can trust the organisation represent the assurance to their customers. Their empathy is the act of concern towards their customers and an individual concentration to customers. McDonalds employee identifies their customers, recognizes them by addressing their name, and knows their customers exact requirements and provides empathy to their customers. 7 ) Analysis and Conclusion. McDonalds are an organization that realized on the significance of customer-centred philosophies and they emphasise on how to turn the quality management approaches to help managing their businesses. An effective approach has been analysed and the differences between customer want, need and expectations and their perceptions has been highlighted with the full support with an example. These important gaps is the serious quality that associated with external customer services and this could be extend to secure other major gaps and consequently, it could be urbanized in order to be functional for internal customers as for the employees and the service providers. McDonalds has maintained their products quality accordingly to the international standard and also maintains a very good environment in every premise of theirs. McDonalds has a very good learning environment for their employees to development and provides customer satisfaction as daily life goes on for them.

Coach Carter Review

Coach Carter Review Coach Carter is a 2005 film directed by Thomas Carter. It is based on a true story, after the Richmond High School basketball coach Ken Carter portrayed by (Samuel L. Jackson) made headlines in for benching his undefeated team the Richmond Oilers due to poor academic results. In this essay I will be explaining how the film Coach Carter presents one or more key characters in a positive light. Many of the characters are seen in a negative light at the beginning of the film however as the film progresses many of the characters change and are seen in a positive light. I have analysed the character of Timo Cruz. I have done this by focusing on film codes and conventions such as Camera Angles and lighting. The character of Timo Cruz is portrayed in the film by Rick Gonzalez .His character is portrayed in a negative light at the beginning of the film. He is very rude to many of his fellow players and Coach Carter. He is very stubborn and short temped. A good example of his attitude would be on coach carters first day. After five minutes of Ken Carter being coach he gets in a fight with him. He verbally abuses the Coach and even attempts to hurt him. The coach responds by getting him in a headlock and slamming him against wall and asks him to leave his gym one more time. Timo angrily walks out of the gym screaming This Aint Over! and vows never to return back to basketball. He goes back on the street trafficking and selling drugs with his cousin Renny. Film codes and conventions help the audience to gain an understanding of Timo Cruz. The Film director has used the film codes and conventions such as Camera Angles and lighting. In the beginning of the film the director has used intense lighting. Intense lighting creates both harsh light and harsh shadow. It is used to create a harsh mood, to conceal someones face or emotions or to indicate that something or someone is bad. Whenever Timo is in shot Timos Face is usually half hidden and not always showing making him making him look dark and hidden. The producer has used this to show his dark and hidden personality from view. This type of lighting gives an idea to the audience that there is more to Timo then meets the eye and it might not be all that nice. Also during the beginning of the film the director has used the low angle is a camera angle that looks up at a character. This is the opposite of a high angle and makes a character look more powerful. Timo Cruz likes to believe that is he scared of nobody and he is the most valued player in the basket ball team he believes he is powerful and strong and everyone is afraid of him. That is why the producer as used that shot to show that Timo believes that he is strong and powerful. This can make the audience feel vulnerable and small by looking up at the character giving him the impression that he is intimidating person. The character of Timo Cruz begins to change during the film. In the beginning of the film Timo left the team because of a dispute between the coach and himself. However as the film progresses Timo becomes aware of what he has done and asks to join back on the team. The coach is firm on his Decision however the coach gives in and gives Cruz a chance to come back on the team. Carter challenges him with the impossible task of 1000 suicides and 2500 pushups to be completed in less than a week. Cruz tortures himself to do it, and with the help of his teammates also doing suicides and pushups, he is able to complete them and Coach Carter allows him back on the team. This shows that instead of Cruz just quitting he pushes himself to do it. This is a major character change not to give up and do things to your best ability.When Coach Carter stops basketball practice because of the teams bad academic performance, Cruz Quits the team for a second time, eventually going back to work for Renny. L ate one night, Renny (Timos Cousin) is shot and killed on the sidewalk while Cruz is walking back to him after greeting his friends from the team. Cruz ends up at Carters house that night, apologizing for his behaviour and begging him to allow him back on the team. So Carter lets Cruz back on the team, saving him from a future like his cousins. The actions Timo has done shows that he now realises that his Actions can heavily result on his future and this is a major sign of change. Film codes and conventions again help the audience to gain an understanding of Timo Cruz as he changes during the course of the film. Firstly the main film code that has changed to show Timo in a positive light is that there is a bit more lighting. Whenever Timo is in shot we can now see a bit more of his face. Showing his expressions and feelings towards Coach Carter and his team mates, the director has done this to show that Timo is beginning to show himself and his real personality. Also now whenever Timo Cruz is with Coach Carter there are high shots of Timo Cruz. High shots are used to make the subject of the shot small and un-powerful. This is a huge change from the low shots from the beginning of the film. The director has used this shot to show the audience that Timo is now beginning to realise that he is no-longer in power and Coach Carter is. He is no-longer the mean intimidating person he once was .He now looks venerable to Coach Carter and his school and teammates. By the end of the film the character of Timo Cruz is now shown in a positive light. As Coach Carter Leaves to team Timo decides to tell him what his deepest fear is (throughout the film the Coach has been asking Timo what is his deepest fear) Timo Cruz replies: Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people dont feel insecure around most frightens us. Your playing small does not serve the you. We are all meant to shine as children do. Its not just in some of us; its in everyone. And as we let our own lights shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others. Sir I just wanna say thank youyou saved my life. This quote means that his own fear is to not fulfil his true potential quoting Marianne Williamson in her book, R eturn to Love. From Timo calling everyone Niger to resighting poetry is a huge positive jump .Since returning on the team he has left the drugs trade for good. At the end of the movie it states he was successful of getting a scholarship. He now attends Humboldt State University where he plays basketball as a starting guard The Final film codes and conventions help the audience to gain an understanding of Timo Cruz and how he is now successful and is shown in a positive light. Firstly Timo can be fully seen in every shot there is no more intense lighting to show that he is a bad person, but the audience can completely see him in every shot. When can see all the expressions on his face, also there are no longer any high or low shots to make him look powerful or venerable there is only one shot the medium shot. This shot shows all of Timos expressions on his face. The director has used this shot to show that he is very happy and feels successful. It may be argued that the character of Timo Cruz motivates viewers .This is because despite Timos low odds of becoming successful or in case going to college he comes from the bad side of Richmond; He doesnt have a loving and supporting family, He goes to a school which has horrible academic standards and low morale, he with his cousin Renny are in the drug trafficking business. So with all of his problems stacked against him he still manages to become successful at the end of the movie it states Timo now attends Humboldt State University where he is a starting guard and also studding subjects. This motivates People including me that anyone with the attitude to can be successful no matter where youre from or who you are you can shine. Overall I have analysed how the character of Timo Cruz has succeeded despite adversity. I have shown how The director Thomas Carter has cleverly used film codes to show how Timo Cruz has been portrayed in both a negative and positive lights through lighting and Camera Shots. To show that however you are raised or where ever you are that anyone can succeeded and be successful.

Find out what affect the change of concentration in the sucrose solution :: GCSE Biology A2 A-Level Coursework

Find out what affect the change of concentration in the sucrose solution has on the mass of a potato chip. Introduction In this experiment I will be taking five similar potato chips and putting them into different sucrose solutions (each one with a different concentration) and observing the effect that each concentration has on the size of the potato chip. Aim I am doing this investigation in an endeavour to find out what affect the change of concentration in the sucrose solution has on the mass of a potato chip. Background information Ø Osmosis is the movement of water molecules across a partially permeable membrane from an area with high concentration to an area with low concentration Ø The opposite of osmosis is active uptake, this is when water moves from an area with a low concentration to an area with low concentration. An example of this would be a root hair cell getting water from its surroundings. Ø Partially permeable membranes have holes in them. These holes are the size of just one water molecule. Ø Water can pass through the membrane in both directions although if there is a higher concentration of water in the solution rather than the potato chip, the potato chip will receive water molecules and will increase in size. Ø Some membranes in plant and animal cells allow only certain particles to pass through them. They are partially (or selectively) permeable. Prediction I predict that as the concentration of the sucrose solution decreases the mass of the potato chip will increase. I think this because a lower sucrose content would mean a higher water content and therefor as osmosis takes place the water in the solution will move from the solution to the potato chip and as a result increasing the mass of the potato chip. I also predict that the concentration of the solution and the mass of the potato chip will be directly proportional to each other. Variables In this investigation I will change the concentration of the solution and I will be keeping the size of the potato and the temperature of the solution the same. Equipment Below is the apparatus that I will be using for my investigation. Ø Stop watch Ø Cutting tile Ø Small knife Ø Measuring cylinder Ø Distilled water Ø sucrose Ø Potatoes Ø Weighing scale Ø Potato cutter Ø Cling film Ø Ruler Method Ø Firstly I will cut five pieces of potato. Ø Then I will peal the potatoes with the knife. Ø After this I will measure and weigh them to ensure that they are equal. Ø Subsequently I will put 40ml of my solution in each of the testubes. Test tube one will have 10ml of distilled water and 30ml of sucrose.

Why are people unequal in Society :: essays research papers

Why are People Unequal in Society?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  According to Philosopher’s of the time of enlightenment the nature of society created inequality. These philosophers also believed that it was the job of the government to limit inequality and try to create conformity.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Now we are able to see that inequality emerges with each and every interaction. This is because every individual possesses qualities which may be better or worse than another’s. These qualities include things such as intelligence, athletic ability, and beauty. However, this has become a problem that we ourselves created. We choose to compare ourselves to others. Sociologists have examined two aspects of this problem. One of these aspects is the simplicity of how inequality arises in the first place. The second aspect is how it is perpetuated over time. Social structure is a social pattern that involves unequal ranks. Once these ranks are discovered inequality will always exist.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  One of the main elements of inequality is the division of labor. There are three different settings for Division of Labor. The first setting is the economic setting. In this setting inequality occurs because of different jobs, money, positions of power, and dependence on others. This also creates inequality because an employer controls an employee. Once control is established there are automatically ranks. The boss may take advantage of his employee, and gain at this employee’s expense. Once this process has started it will never stop.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The second setting for division of labor is the organizational division of labor. This division includes such things as family, friends, groups, schools, politics, and churches. Within these groups there is a sense of the follower and the leader. These leadership positions allow there to be an advantage over others. This also shows that all organizations have few in power and many that must follow them in order to succeed.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The third setting for the Division of Labor is the intentional division. This includes things such as war. In war there are always winners and losers. The winners of course end up ruling the losers. This provides a division of labor in which the outcome was somewhat intentional. This inequality is created by those who crave organization and structure. If these people do not agree with another country’s way of rule, they will defeat them and in turn bring in their own statutes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Social conflict is another way of creating inequality within a society.

Cloning Essay -- essays research papers fc

Shortly after the announcement that British scientists had successfully cloned a sheep, Dolly, cloning humans has recently become a possibility that seems much more feasible in today's society. The word clone has been applied to cells as well as to organisms, so that a group of cells stemming from a single cell is also called a clone. Usually the members of a clone are identical in their inherited characteristics that is, in their genes except for any differences caused by mutation. Identical twins, for example, who originate by the division of a single fertilized egg, are members of a clone; whereas nonidentical twins, who derive from two separate fertilized eggs, are not clones. (Microsoft ® Encarta ® 97 Encyclopedia). There are two known ways that we can clone humans. The first way involves splitting an embryo into several halves and creating many new individuals from that embryo. The second method of cloning a human involves taking cells from an already existing human being a nd cloning them, in turn creating other individuals that are identical to that particular person. With these two methods at our desposal, we must ask ourselves two very important questions: Should we do this, and Can we? There is no doubt that many problems involving the technological and ethical sides of this issue will arise and will be virtually impossible to avoid, but the overall idea of cloning humans is one that we should accept as a possible reality for the future. Cloning humans is an idea that has always been thought of as something that could be found in science fiction novels, but never as a concept that society could actually experience. Today's technological speed has brought us to the piont to where almost anything is possible. Sarah B. Tegen, '97 MIT Biology Undergraduate President states, "I think the cloning of an entire mammal has shown me exactly how fast biology is moving ahead, I had no idea we were so close to this kind of accomplishment." Based on t he current science , though, most of these dreams and fears are premature, say some MIT biologists. Many biologist claim that true human cloning is something still far in the future. This raises ethical questions now as towhether or not human cloning should even be attempted. (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/). There are many problems with cloning humans. One method of human cloning is splitting embryos... ...ill this experiment be used to create a new race of human clones? I personally think that human cloning to any extent will be at least problematic. I think nature will put up a good fight against mans feable intrusion into the creation business. As I have mentioned before in the movie The Boys from Brazil, man can only screw-up any attempt at creation. Just ask Dr. Frankenstein. Who knows what kind of mutations cloning would breed. Biologically would a clone evolve faster, slower? Would it affectively wipe out gene diversity making humans susectable to disease? Could a common cold be the new plauge? These are questions I hope we will never have to answer. Bibliography Works Cited "Clone," Microsoft ® Encarta ® 97 Encyclopedia.  © 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Macklin, Ruth. "Human cloning? Don't just say no" U.S. News and World Report. 3 March 1997 (4-26-98) Martin, Robert. "Creating a Soul by Cloning?" Applied Christian ity. 1998 (http://www.user.shentel.net/ramartin/applied/cloning.htm) (4-26-98) ROSS, SONYA "President ruling out federal research on human cloning" U.S. News and World Report. 3 March 1997 (4-27-98) Cloning Essay -- essays research papers fc Shortly after the announcement that British scientists had successfully cloned a sheep, Dolly, cloning humans has recently become a possibility that seems much more feasible in today's society. The word clone has been applied to cells as well as to organisms, so that a group of cells stemming from a single cell is also called a clone. Usually the members of a clone are identical in their inherited characteristics that is, in their genes except for any differences caused by mutation. Identical twins, for example, who originate by the division of a single fertilized egg, are members of a clone; whereas nonidentical twins, who derive from two separate fertilized eggs, are not clones. (Microsoft ® Encarta ® 97 Encyclopedia). There are two known ways that we can clone humans. The first way involves splitting an embryo into several halves and creating many new individuals from that embryo. The second method of cloning a human involves taking cells from an already existing human being a nd cloning them, in turn creating other individuals that are identical to that particular person. With these two methods at our desposal, we must ask ourselves two very important questions: Should we do this, and Can we? There is no doubt that many problems involving the technological and ethical sides of this issue will arise and will be virtually impossible to avoid, but the overall idea of cloning humans is one that we should accept as a possible reality for the future. Cloning humans is an idea that has always been thought of as something that could be found in science fiction novels, but never as a concept that society could actually experience. Today's technological speed has brought us to the piont to where almost anything is possible. Sarah B. Tegen, '97 MIT Biology Undergraduate President states, "I think the cloning of an entire mammal has shown me exactly how fast biology is moving ahead, I had no idea we were so close to this kind of accomplishment." Based on t he current science , though, most of these dreams and fears are premature, say some MIT biologists. Many biologist claim that true human cloning is something still far in the future. This raises ethical questions now as towhether or not human cloning should even be attempted. (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/). There are many problems with cloning humans. One method of human cloning is splitting embryos... ...ill this experiment be used to create a new race of human clones? I personally think that human cloning to any extent will be at least problematic. I think nature will put up a good fight against mans feable intrusion into the creation business. As I have mentioned before in the movie The Boys from Brazil, man can only screw-up any attempt at creation. Just ask Dr. Frankenstein. Who knows what kind of mutations cloning would breed. Biologically would a clone evolve faster, slower? Would it affectively wipe out gene diversity making humans susectable to disease? Could a common cold be the new plauge? These are questions I hope we will never have to answer. Bibliography Works Cited "Clone," Microsoft ® Encarta ® 97 Encyclopedia.  © 1993-1996 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. Macklin, Ruth. "Human cloning? Don't just say no" U.S. News and World Report. 3 March 1997 (4-26-98) Martin, Robert. "Creating a Soul by Cloning?" Applied Christian ity. 1998 (http://www.user.shentel.net/ramartin/applied/cloning.htm) (4-26-98) ROSS, SONYA "President ruling out federal research on human cloning" U.S. News and World Report. 3 March 1997 (4-27-98)

Information Security Essay

1. What is the difference between a threat agent and a threat? A threat agent is the facilitator of an attack however; a threat is a constant danger to an asset. 2. What is the difference between vulnerability and exposure? The differences are: vulnerability is a fault within the system, such as software package flaws, unlocked doors or an unprotected system port. It leaves things open to an attack or damage. Exposure is a single instance when a system is open to damage. Vulnerabilities can in turn be the cause of exposure. 3. How is infrastructure protection (assuring the security of utility services) related to information security? Information security is the protection of information and it is critical elements, including the systems and hardware that used, store, and transmit that information, Thus, assuring the security of utility services are critical elements in information system. 4. What type of security was dominant in the early years of computing? The type of security was dominant in the early years of computing security was entirely physical security. And MULTICS was first noteworthy operating system to integrate security in to its core system. 5. What are the three components of the C.I.A. triangle? What are they used for? The three components of the C.I.A triangle are: Confidentiality: Information’s should only be accessible to its intended recipients. Integrity: Information arrive the same as it was sent. Availability: Information should be available to those authorized to use it. 6. If the C.I.A. triangle is incomplete, why is it so commonly used in security? The CIA triangle is still used because it addresses the major concerns with the vulnerability of information systems. It contains three major characteristic confidentiality, integrity and availability which are important even today. 7. Describe the critical characteristics of information. How are they used in the study of computer security? The critical characteristics of information are: Confidentiality-preventing disclosure to unauthorized individuals Accuracy-free form errors; Utility-has a value for some purpose; Authenticity-genuine and Possession-ownership. 8. Identify the six components of an information system. Which are most directly affected by the  study of computer security? Which are most commonly associated with its study? The six components are: Software, Hardware, Data, People, Procedures, and network. If there is a flaw or oversight in any of category it could lead to exposure and or vulnerabilities. The components most associated with the study of information security are: hardware and software when it views as science also people when it view as social science. 9. What system is the father of almost all modern multiuser systems? Mainframe computer systems 10. Which paper is the foundation of all subsequent studies of computer security? The foundation of all subsequent studies of computer security is the Rand Report R-609. 11. Why is the top-down approach to information security superior to the bottom-up approach? Top down has strong upper management support, dedicated funding, clear planning and the opportunity to influence organizations culture, whereas Bottom up lacks a number of critical features such as participant support and organizational staying power. 12. Why is a methodology important in the implementation of information security? How does a methodology improve the process? A formal methodology ensures a rigorous process and avoids missing steps. 13. Which members of an organization are involved in the security system development life cycle? Who leads the process? 14. How can the practice of information security be described as both an art and a science? How does security as a social science influence its practice? Information security can be described in Art because there are no hard and fast rules especially with users and policy. Also, it can be describe in Science because the software is developed by computer scientists and engineers. Faults are a precise interaction of hardware and software that can be fixed given enough time. 15. Who is ultimately responsible for the security of information in the organization? The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) 16. What is the relationship between the MULTICS project and the early development of computer security?  It was the first and operating system created with security as its primary goal. Shortly after the restructuring of MULTICS, several key engineers started working on UNIX which did not require the same level of security. 17. How has computer security evolved into modern information security? In the early days before ARPANET machines were only physically secured. After ARPANET it was realized that this was just one component. 18. What was important about Rand Report R-609?  RR609 was the first widely recognized published document to identify the role of management and policy issues in computer security. 19. Who decides how and when data in an organization will be used or controlled? Who is responsible for seeing that these wishes are carried out? Control and use of data in the Data owners are responsible for how and when data will be used, Data users are working with the data in their daily jobs. 20. Who should lead a security team? Should the approach to security be more managerial or technical? A project manager with information security technical skills lead the team. The approach to security should be managerial, top down.

Biltrite case Module I through X Essay

Module III: Control Testing – Sales Processing 1.The sampling plan in the design of controls does not provide tests about revenues and accounts receivables. The weakness that I could see is the fact that goods that were delivered to customers were not billed which result in bill of lading not being pre-numbered. Because of this, bills of lading do not count as an effective sampling unit. For a successful audit, auditors need to evaluate orders randomly and check to see if the goods were shipped and the customers received invoices prior to the receipt of the product, Therefore in this case, existence/occurrence is the course of action for the auditors. 2 and 3 are attached under â€Å"2009 attribu† 4. The sampling plan shows that there is an effective control of the company by the people in charge since the price of the products, the quantity of the footing and the credit limits offered to customers are not above the limitation. However the bills of ladings that were missing keep the auditors skeptical and make them look further for material information. Also, the other thing that looks suspicious is the inflated earnings showed. The analytical procedures and attribute testing performed will the auditors to look further in regards of the sales recorded during the year, the customer balanced and the accounts receivable. Therefore, I believe that aggregate materiality threshold shouldn’t be lowered since both accounts receivable and sales tests show earning’s inflation. Module IV: MUS Sampling- Factory Equipment Additions 1. The objective of performing this test is to test if the factory equipment accounts are materially overstated from the errors found in the capitalization of ordinary repairs. The sampling unit is the debit posting to the factory equipment account and the population is $12,600,000 which is the difference between the total debits of $89,860,000 and the equipment additions of $77,260,000 2. Find excel document â€Å"2009 MUS† for answers 3. In setting these parameters, Derick focused on his assessment of inherent risk and control in regards of the acquisition cycle and the level of the  overall audit risk. To explain the parameters further, because the risk of incorrect acceptance is 5% percent, this means that Derick is 95% sure about the results that he will get only 5% percent of errors in the population. Anticipated errors of $100,000 is usually based on previous year’s audit and the $640,000 of tolerable misstatement are errors Derick think exists in the population in regards of the factory equipment account. 4. Find excel document â€Å"2009 MUS† for the calculation of the Projected misstatement calculation 11.3B a.â€Å"Tainting percentage† appear on a column when the book value of a unit is less than the sampling interval of 160000. And its purpose is to develop a projected error for all the sampling interval. 5. And 6 can be found in the excel document â€Å"2009 MUS† for WP 11.3 C 7. a. Basic precision is the amount of uncertainty associated with testing only a part of the population and it is calculated by multiplying the sampling interval by the confidence factor to measure sampling errors. b. Incremental allowance for sampling error increases when there is an increase in the sampling error. c. Allowance for sampling risk is a factor used in planning statistical samples to keep sampling risk at the desired level. d. Upper misstatement limit is determined by adding the misstatement (basic precision) and incremental allowance for sampling error. It measures the maximum overstatement at the 95% confidence level set. 8. The sampling results do not support Derick’s concerns regarding possible material misstatement since the result of the upper misstatement limit is $3,720,833 which is more than the tolerable misstatement of $640,000. Also the proportion of the projected error is 85% which is calculated by dividing $2,503,060 by $2,936,338. These errors should bring the population within the bounds of acceptance. In my opinion this error represent the adjustment necessary that represent the $12,600,000 population of factory equipment. Module V: Accounts Receivable Aging Analysis 1. a.The proportion of the total dollar amount receivable I included in the confirmation request is in â€Å"Account Receivable Aging Analysis† by diving the total amount that is collectible â€Å"C† by the total amount of sales. The result is 82% ($9,803,430/$11,920,028) of the total dollar balance in accounts receivable. b.In the event of no reply to a request for positive  confirmation, as an auditor I need to ask for further requests, contact the manager and ask him to get a hold of the customer. In case of no response from the customer, I should examine the document I have in hand such as sales orders, sales invoices, shipping orders, and bills of lading. c.The purpose of analyzing subsequent collections because it a way to check and make sure that the existence of the action took place. Also checking subsequent collections allows the auditors to check the adequacy of the allowance for uncollectible accounts. This helps the auditor to better calculate the amount tha t is uncollectible from customers 2.I am not satisfied that I have sufficient evidence to evaluate the existence and valuation assertion because I wasn’t able to get a hold of some customers. Due to this inconvenience as auditors we should be suspicious about if those sales do in fact exist. Also, in terms valuation, additional audit needs to be performed because from the confirmed amount owed, it is not sure if it will be collected. 3.Reclassification entry can be found in excel document â€Å"2009 ar†. 4.A. In order to satisfy the account receivable write-offs, I would need to examine correspondence to and from customers, legal counsel and collection agencies involving the disposition of amount that were due in the past. b. The audit adjustment is $340,000 which make the allowance balance to be $560,000 which I think is adequate as adjustment. c. See attached excel document- â€Å"2009† ar. 5. The full document â€Å"2009 ar† is attached with the case. Module VI: Sales and Purchases Cutoff Tests 1. Inventory cut off errors: a. Vouchers 12458 and 12459 was received in 2009 as inventory but not recorded in the books until next year, 2010. Which resulted in overstatement of $854,154 as effect on net income b. Raw material inventory that was in transit. This action does not affect net income because it was exluded c. Sales 33003, 33004, 33006, 33007, and 33009 were performed in 2010 but they were reported in 2009 which resulted in overstatement of $3,760,330 in net income. I think that the misstatement listed above appear to be intentional in order to overstate net income and make it look higher that its value. This practice is one of the earning inflation devices that can be used to overstate net income. 2.See excel document â€Å"2009 cutoff† for audit  adjustments. Module VII: Search for unrecorded Liabilities 1.Comment on the adequacy for the procedures performed: Lucas was able to check if there was additional invoices that were received and recorded. He also checked if the company he is auditing included these charges in year-end adjustments for liabilities that are not recorded. On the other hand she did not check if invoices received in 2010 should be recorded in 2009 and therefore applicable to the 2009 audit and if they were part of year-end adjustment for the same year. The last thing that Lucas need to check is the liabilities from the previous, 2008 and to see if they apply to see if they need to be considered for 2009. 2.Audit Adjustment 6 can be found in excel document â€Å"2009 Liab†. 3.Audit Adjustment 6 can be found in excel document â€Å"2009 Liab†. Module VIII: Dallas Dollar bank Reconciliation 1. The â€Å"Bank Reconciliation- Dallas Dolalr Bank† does not reconcile for December mainly because the general ledger balance is less than the adjusted balance (Audit adjustment number 7). The amount that differ between the two balances is $9,000. Some of the causes in case of non-reconciliation are: – There might have been an error performed by the bank at the time of recording the deposit or check. – There might have been an error when the bank recorded the cash receipt of the action. 2. After I have made the correction, the account does reconcile. The adjustment is made in WP.1 in excel document â€Å"2009 Bank†. 3 and 4 : See excel document â€Å"2009 Bank part WP.1.B 5. The cutoff statement received directly from the bank support the existence, completeness and valuation objectives. This statement gives an auditor satisfaction regarding the amount of cash receipt at the end of the year and if they were recorded at the right time. If the cutoff statement covered the period 1/1/10 through 1/21/10 and the deposit in transit was credit in 1/12/10, as an auditor I should be concerned that a client was keeping cash receipts records open after the end of the year period and could have recorded 2010 cash receipts in 2009. To allay my concerns, I should apply remittance advices, cash listings in order to be able to check  the cash receipt at the end of the year that make up for the deposit in transit. Module IX: Analysis of Interbank Transfers 1. A. The purpose of analyzing inter-bank transfers for a short period before and after the balance sheet due in to check if there are any cash cutoff errors. B & C. the check 127332 showing $3,000,000 received from Lawton was in fact an interbank transfer from Bank Two to Dollar Bank. The Biltrite Company is in violation of one of the restrictive covenants in the Bank Two agreement because if the transaction was recorded correctly, it would show that the balance was below $10,000,000 compensating balance. 2 & 3. See Audit Reclassification entry at the bottom of WP 1.C 4. Yes the Record Reclassification does in fact place Biltrite in default because it decreases the compensating balance to below $10,000,000. Some of the audit procedure that can be applied is questioning management and legal counsel in regards of the examination of the agreement that was agreed upon with the bank since there is a default. Also, checking the balance after year end to see if the compensation balance has increased to its minimum balance of $10,000,000. 5. See excel document â€Å"2009 Bank†. Module X: Analysis of Marketable Securities 1. There are investments in common stock that resulted in realized loss of $198,000 in 2009. This support does not support McAfee goals of â€Å"maximizing returns while minimizing risk of loss†. Since there is a loss, it contradicts the statement. 2. In order for the securities to be classified as current on the balance sheet, the securities need to be readily marketable and acquired as temporary investments. 3. The auditor’s objective in the audit of marketable securities is to check: -The existence of the securities -The ownership of the securities, if the client owns them. – Are the values of the securities shown in the statement consistent with their real value – Are the losses and gains correctly reported – Interest and dividend correctly reported – Are the securities classified as current and noncurrent correctly The audit assertions for the auditor to examine are existence, valuation and the presentation and disclosure of the securities. The objectives that are not satisfied is the working paper that does not state if the securities are current or noncurrent. Answers to questions 4 through 8 can be found in excel document â€Å"2009 Security†. Biltrite Practice Case Module III: Control Testing – Sales Processing 1.The sampling plan in the design of controls does not provide tests about revenues and accounts receivables. The weakness that I could see is the fact that goods that were delivered to customers were not billed which result in bill of lading not being pre-numbered. Because of this, bills of lading do not count as an effective sampling unit. For a successful audit, auditors need to evaluate orders randomly and check to see if the goods were shipped and the customers received invoices prior to the receipt of the product, Therefore in this case, existence/occurrence is the course of action for the auditors. 2 and 3 are attached under â€Å"2009 attribu† 4. The sampling plan shows that there is an effective control of the company by the people in charge since the price of the products, the quantity of the footing and the credit limits offered to customers are not above the limitation. However the bills of ladings that were missing keep the auditors skeptical and make them look further for material information. Also, the other thing that looks suspicious is the inflated earnings showed. The analytical procedures and attribute testing performed will the auditors to look further in regards of the sales recorded during the year, the customer balanced and the accounts receivable. Therefore, I believe that aggregate materiality threshold shouldn’t be lowered since both accounts receivable and sales tests show earning’s inflation. Module IV: MUS Sampling- Factory Equipment Additions 1.The objective of performing this test is to test if the factory equipment accounts are materially overstated from the errors found in the capitalization of ordinary repairs. The sampling unit is the debit posting to the factory equipment account and the population is $12,600,000 which is the difference between the total debits of $89,860,000 and the equipment additions of $77,260,000 2.Find excel document â€Å"2009 MUS† for answers 3.In setting these parameters, Derick focused on his assessment of inherent risk and control in regards of the acquisition cycle and the level of the overall audit risk. To explain the parameters further, because the risk of incorrect acceptance is 5% percent, this means that Derick is 95% sure about the results that he will get only 5% percent of errors in the population. Anticipated errors of $100,000 is usually based on previous year’s audit and the $640,000 of tolerable misstatement are errors Derick think exists in the population in regards of the factory equipment account. 4.Find excel document â€Å"2009 MUS† for the calculation of the Projected misstatement calculation 11.3B a.â€Å"Tainting percentage† appear on a column when the book value of a unit is less than the sampling interval of 160000. And its purpose is to develop a projected error for all the sampling interval. 5. And 6 can be found in the excel document â€Å"2009 MUS† for WP 11.3 C 7 . a. Basic precision is the amount of uncertainty associated with testing only a part of the population and it is calculated by multiplying the sampling interval by the confidence factor to measure sampling errors. b. Incremental allowance for sampling error increases when there is an increase in the sampling error. c. Allowance for sampling risk is a factor used in planning statistical samples to keep sampling risk at the desired level. d. Upper misstatement limit is determined by adding the misstatement (basic precision) and incremental allowance for sampling error. It measures the maximum overstatement at the 95% confidence level set. 8. The sampling results do not support Derick’s concerns regarding possible material misstatement since the result of the upper misstatement limit is $3,720,833 which is more than the tolerable misstatement of $640,000. Also the proportion of the projected error is 85% which is calculated by dividing $2,503,060 by $2,936,338. These errors sho uld bring the population within the bounds of acceptance. In my opinion this error represent the adjustment necessary that represent the $12,600,000 population of factory equipment. Module V: Accounts Receivable Aging Analysis 1. a.The proportion of the total dollar amount receivable I included in the confirmation request is in â€Å"Account Receivable Aging Analysis† by diving the total amount that is collectible â€Å"C† by the total amount of sales. The result is 82% ($9,803,430/$11,920,028) of the total dollar balance in accounts receivable. b.In the event of no reply to a request for positive confirmation, as an auditor I need to ask for further requests, contact the manager and ask him to get a hold of the customer. In case of no response from the customer, I should examine the document I have in hand such as sales orders, sales invoices, shipping orders, and bills of lading. c.The purpose of analyzing subsequent collections because it a way to check and make sure that the existence of the action took place. Also checking subsequent collections allows the auditors to check the adequacy of the allowance for uncollectible accounts. This helps the auditor to better calculate the amount that i s uncollectible from customers 2.I am not satisfied that I have sufficient evidence to evaluate the existence and valuation assertion because I wasn’t able to get a hold of some customers. Due to this inconvenience as auditors we should be suspicious about if those sales do in fact exist. Also, in terms valuation, additional audit needs to be performed because from the confirmed amount owed, it is not sure if it will be collected. 3.Reclassification entry can be found in excel document â€Å"2009 ar†. 4.A. In order to satisfy the account receivable write-offs, I would need to examine correspondence to and from customers, legal counsel and collection agencies involving the disposition of amount that were due in the past. b. The audit adjustment is $340,000 which make the allowance balance to be $560,000 which I think is adequate as adjustment. c. See attached excel document- â€Å"2009† ar. 5. The full document â€Å"2009 ar† is attached with the case. Module VI: Sales and Purchases Cutoff Tests 1. Inventory cut off errors: a. Vouchers 12458 and 12459 was received in 2009 as inventory but not recorded in the books until next year, 2010. Which resulted in overstatement of $854,154 as effect on net income b. Raw material inventory that was in transit. This action does not affect net income because it was exluded c. Sales 33003, 33004, 33006, 33007, and 33009 were performed in 2010 but they were reported in 2009 which resulted in overstatement of $3,760,330 in net income. I think that the misstatement listed above appear to be intentional in order to overstate net income and make it look higher that its value. This practice is one of the earning inflation devices that can be used to overstate net income. 2.See excel document â€Å"2009 cutoff† for audit adjustments. Module VII: Search for unrecorded Liabilities 1.Comment on the adequacy for the procedures performed: Lucas was able to check if there was additional invoices that were received and recorded. He also checked if the company he is auditing included these charges in year-end adjustments for liabilities that are not recorded. On the other hand she did not check if invoices received in 2010 should be recorded in 2009 and therefore applicable to the 2009 audit and if they were part of year-end adjustment for the same year. The last thing that Lucas need to check is the liabilities from the previous, 2008 and to see if they apply to see if they need to be considered for 2009. 2.Audit Adjustment 6 can be found in excel document â€Å"2009 Liab†. 3.Audit Adjustment 6 can be found in excel document â€Å"2009 Liab†. Module VIII: Dallas Dollar bank Reconciliation 1. The â€Å"Bank Reconciliation- Dallas Dolalr Bank† does not reconcile for December mainly because the general ledger balance is less than the adjusted balance (Audit adjustment number 7). The amount that differ between the two balances is $9,000. Some of the causes in case of non-reconciliation are: – There might have been an error performed by the bank at the time of recording the deposit or check. – There might have been an error when the bank recorded the cash receipt of the action. 2. After I have made the correction, the account does reconcile. The adjustment is made in WP.1 in excel document â€Å"2009 Bank†. 3 and 4 : See excel document â€Å"2009 Bank part WP.1.B 5. The cutoff statement received directly from the bank support the existence, completeness and valuation objectives. This statement gives an auditor satisfaction regarding the amount of cash receipt at the end of the year and if they were recorded at the right time. If the cutoff statement  covered the period 1/1/10 through 1/21/10 and the deposit in transit was credit in 1/12/10, as an auditor I should be concerned that a client was keeping cash receipts records open after the end of the year period and could have recorded 2010 cash receipts in 2009. To allay my concerns, I should apply remittance advices, cash listings in order to be able to check the cash receipt at the end of the year that make up for the deposit in transit. Module IX: Analysis of Interbank Transfers 1. A. The purpose of analyzing inter-bank transfers for a short period before and after the balance sheet due in to check if there are any cash cutoff errors. B & C. the check 127332 showing $3,000,000 received from Lawton was in fact an interbank transfer from Bank Two to Dollar Bank. The Biltrite Company is in violation of one of the restrictive covenants in the Bank Two agreement because if the transaction was recorded correctly, it would show that the balance was below $10,000,000 compensating balance. 2 & 3. See Audit Reclassification entry at the bottom of WP 1.C 4. Yes the Record Reclassification does in fact place Biltrite in default because it decreases the compensating balance to below $10,000,000. Some of the audit procedure that can be applied is questioning management and legal counsel in regards of the examination of the agreement that was agreed upon with the bank since there is a default. Also, checking the balance after year end to see if the compensation balance has increased to its minimum balance of $10,000,000. 5. See excel document â€Å"2009 Bank†. Module X: Analysis of Marketable Securities 1. There are investments in common stock that resulted in realized loss of $198,000 in 2009. This support does not support McAfee goals of â€Å"maximizing returns while minimizing risk of loss†. Since there is a loss, it contradicts the statement. 2. In order for the securities to be classified as current on the balance sheet, the securities need to be readily marketable and acquired as temporary investments. 3. The auditor’s objective in the audit of marketable securities is to check: -The existence of the securities -The ownership of the securities, if the client owns them. – Are the values of the securities shown in the statement consistent with their real value – Are the losses and gains correctly reported – Interest and dividend correctly reported – Are the securities classified as current and noncurrent correctly The audit assertions for the auditor to examine are existence, valuation and the presentation and disclosure of the securities. The objectives that are not satisfied is the working paper that does not state if the securities are current or noncurrent. Answers to questions 4 through 8 can be found in excel document â€Å"2009 Security†.