Category Archives: Uncategorized

            The people of Rome were divided into two classes of citizens: the aristocratic patricians and everyone else, known as the plebeians.  These classes had an unequal distribution of power similar to the current class war in the late-stage capitalism United States between the 1% and the average citizen.  This is also similar to theContinue reading “Events Leading Up to Rome’s Plebeian Revolt”

            Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company was a recipient of the 1992 and 1999 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA), which is the first hotel which was awarded this award (Ritz-Carlton News Room, n.d.).  The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award and the Baldrige Performance Excellence Program are managed by NIST, under the U.S. Department of Commerce, withContinue reading “Quality and Ritz-Carlton”

                If an organization wanted to achieve excellence, it should focus on its people.  Such an organization should develop and motivate its people to drive quality through a cultural change toward delivering customer value and continuously improving and learning.  That cultural change in people means that the people of the company will then improve theContinue reading “People or Processes? How to Achieve Quality”

                The World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) are intergovernmental institutions that came out of the Bretton-Woods Agreement.  Since both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are both organizations of the United Nations (headquartered in New York), criticism of both is that they further the agenda of the United States andContinue reading “Criticisms of Austerity Policies”

                The European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) model seems similar to Deming’s Total Quality Management (TQM) in that it defines a quality improvement culture.  Both TQM and EFQM have similarities in that they consider themselves, processes, and organization-wide management frameworks (Knowles, 2011, p.16,46).  Both systems provide a path for improvement.  Deming’s Plan-Do-Check-Act (PDCA) isContinue reading “EFQM Excellence Model and Sustainability”

            Locus of control is the amount of responsibility and accountability that people have for their own actions and success in their lives (Bauer, 2010, p.58).  Whereas many people believe that they are constantly the victim of bad luck and circumstances outside of their control, others believe that they are in complete control of theirContinue reading “Locus of Control”

            In studying business, Ancient Greece, the aristocracy and their attempts at democracy has cropped up many times.  Ancient Greece had philosophers and leaders that were open to new ways of organizing that were previously not thought of.  In business leadership, the examples of the evolution of Ancient Greece can inform ideas of continuous improvementContinue reading “Holding Power Close: Ancient Greece”

                Through Network Intelligence (on behalf of the Institute of Information Security), I took the Certified Data Privacy Practitioner (CDPP™).  This was a 4-day class followed by an exam, discussing global and US privacy law and policy.  It was great to learn about the notification requirements of each as well as privacy expectations.  I highlyContinue reading “Certified Data Privacy Practitioner (CDPP™)”

                Through readings and case studies, I have learned about strategy, leadership, change management, how personality types come into play with leadership and strategy, and strategic management.  I have even learned how Six Sigma activities can be strategic, as a continuous approach to management and improvement.  Most important of these are being able to defineContinue reading “Strategic Management”

                I took a 3 day class through the Institute of Information Security called the Certified Web Application Security Professional (CWASP™).  The core of the class was a deep dive into the OWASP Top 10, how to test for them and remediate them.  It was a blast to work through cross-site scripting labs and seeContinue reading “Certified Web Application Security Professional (CWASP™)”