Operational Management 302 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Operational Management 302 - Essay Example The implementation of these standards is usually through the national standard bodies. In particular, ISO 9000 deals with quality management systems. ISO 9000 is a family of standards that provides organizations with quality management standards as well as quality products and services. Some of the notable standards include the ISO 9001: 2008 that provide the specific requirements that are set for a quality management system. Another standard is the 9000: 2009; this provides the basic concepts that are applied as well as the language. In order to increase the efficiency and the effectiveness of a quality management system, the ISO: 9004: 2009 comes into play. The most recent in this family is the ISO 19011: 2011; this one provides guidance on the audit of quality management system. ISO 9000 provides for a system audit in order to ensure adherence to set standards. Auditing is done in two main ways, firstly, by an external auditor and secondly by an internal auditor. The main objective of auditing is to ensure that at no given point will the system fail while providing continual improvement of the system. In some cases, the company can make a step of having the clients conduct an audit of the quality management systems. Auditing makes the company to develop an initiative of regular monitoring of its systems in order to ensure there is compliance with the set standards. Full compliance with the provisions of the ISO 9000 standards makes an organization to be ISO 9000-certified. The process of certification requires that an accreditation body be hired to conduct the assessment in order to prove whether there is compliance or not. The assessment of the organization is done from the staff level where they are interviewed in order to ensure they have an understanding of ISO compliance. In addition, the paperwork is assessed; a report is then made that details all the requirements that have been met as well as those that do not comply.

The Meaning of Sovereignty, and Its Extent in Contemporary Essay

The Meaning of Sovereignty, and Its Extent in Contemporary Nation-States. Sovereignty in the Asia-Pacific Region - Essay Example The 21st century saw some 200 independent states in the international community, the largest number of free states in history (Tsoundarou, 2002). The key factor for a state to be adjudged independent is its ability to effectively exercise its sovereignty unimpeded by external or internal forces. The concept of sovereignty is generally known by all as the ultimate power for self-determination in a free state. It is oftentimes equated with liberty or freedom. There is general agreement as to its description: sovereignty is absolute, limitless, indefeasible, inalienable, and indivisible (Underhill, 1808); it is qualitative or categorical, not quantitative and therefore not capable of description in percentage terms (Weber, 2011). Ideally, sovereignty resides in the people, although the government exercises the sovereign act in their name. Recently, however, developments in international relations have made it necessary to alter our concept of sovereignty, in order to create workable str uctures among nations that better address the imperatives of globalization and international cooperation. This essay posits the argument that the largely inwardly-looking concept of sovereignty being pursued by states in the Asia-Pacific region has acted as a constraint on the development of a strong regional union that would better serve their interests in a globalizing world. The predominant Westphalian sovereignty to which the Asia-Pacific nations cling is largely antithetical to the â€Å"pooling† of sovereignty that is a requisite to regional unification. In this regard, the Asia-Pacific region is not prepared to meet the imperatives of globalisation. The Meaning of Sovereignty The word â€Å"sovereignty† has been used in so many ways that a degree of ambiguity surrounds the determination of its meaning. In fact, there have been some authors who categorically state that sovereignty is impossible to define (Uruena, 2006). To illustrate the complexity of sovereignty as a concept, a taxonomy by Stephen Krasner (1999, in Weber, 2011, p. 3; Cohan, 1995, pp.912-916; and Jackson, 2006, pp. 63-64) identified four different usages: (1) Domestic sovereignty, that pertains to the power structure of state political authority, as well as the degree to which control is effected and imposed by this authority; (2) Interdependent sovereignty, pertaining to the degree by which the political authority is able to effect the entry and egress through its borders; (3) International legal sovereignty, that pertains to the recognition accorded to other states and which other states accord it; and (4) Westphalian sovereignty, that traditional form of sovereignty which excludes all foreign elements from its political processes. The general perception of â€Å"sovereignty† is that central power reserved by common consensus of nation states for the political head of that state. This began with the Treaty of Westphalia of 1648, otherwise known as the â€Å"Peace Treaty between the Holy Roman Emperor and the King of France and their respective Allies.† Composed of 128 clauses, the document was originally meant to contain the minute details marking the conclusion of the Thirty Years War. It includes the return of landholdings to the different feudal lords, with the promise not to interfere in the regime being implemented in territories other than their own. In effect, the power of the emperor founded on the â€Å"claim of holy predominance was passed on to the kings and lords who exercise their own local predominance† (Jackson, 2006, p. 62). This notion of the absolute right of the sovereign was eventually taken to be the â€Å"