Malay Archipelago In The 18th And 19th Century History Essay

Malay Archipelago In The 18th And 19th Century History Essay Accounts of the Malay Archipelago, particularly the Malay Peninsula prior to the official intervention of the British in 1874, were mainly written by officials and non-officials who were in the Archipelago on business or to carry out professional activities. Nevertheless the writings by the merchants, travellers and missionaries in the 18th and 19th centuries are also means to enlighten us about the history of this part of the world before official intervention by western powers in Asia. This may be achieved by analysing selected writings and activities of the merchants, missionaries and travellers of the said period. Merchants/Traders Merchants or traders were in Asia well before the arrival of the western powers, but the objective was mainly to trade and not to intervene in the affairs of the native states. The scenario changed in the 16th and 17th centuries with the emergence of nation states in Europe and the introduction of the Mercantile System. This spearheaded the age of exploration and led to merchants traveling to Asia intent on acquiring spices to be exchanged in Europe for gold and silver. The formation of the English East India Company (EIC), Dutch East India Company (VOC) and French East India Company led to active trading activities in Asia. The EIC was formed in 1600 under the charter of the Queen and traders received instructions from their respective companies. However, when civil war erupted in England in 1657, a new charter was issued by Oliver Cromwell, ordering the EIC traders to withdraw from Asian waters. The orders were not adhered to by many of the traders, thereby prompting King Charles I I to repatriate the recalcitrants to England. His orders went unheeded, and the traders blissfully continued their Asian trade. These traders were known as country traders. The discussion below will highlight the importance of the country traders activities in providing clues to the history of the Malay Archipelago. The role of a number of prominent country traders will be highlighted to show how their accounts of this part of the world have become an invaluable source for the historical study of the Malay Archipelago. Country traders played a vital role in the Malay states in an era when the official policy of the British in this part of the world was non-interventionist. Prominent country traders like James Scott, Francis Light and Thomas Forrest played important roles in the Malay Archipelago of the 18th century. It was only through information provided by them that the European imperial powers gained a better appreciation of the situation in the Malay Archipelago of the late 19th and 20th century, thereby enabling them to make successful political inroads in this part of the world. The Prosperity of the Malay States Country traders played a vital role in highlighting the richness of the Malay states in the 18th century. This was obvious from their reports to the Government of India. For example Captain Alexander Hamilton who called at Kuala Terengganu as early as 1719 gave detailed information on the economic activities of Terengganu. In his report, Hamilton stated that the important products of the state of Terengganu were pepper and gold, which were mostly exported to China. Hamilton described Terengganu as an important flourishing port visited by traders of all races. Half of the towns inhabitants were said to be Chinese, and some 4-5 Chinese junks were said to be calling at the ports annually. Besides that, Terengganu was also said to have established, cordial relations with Siam, Cambodia and Sambas. Its leaders were said to be friendly with foreign traders and willing to fulfill their needs. The accounts show that Malay rulers from as early as the 18th century had a policy of accommodation towards foreign traders. Another important country trader was Captain Joseph Jackson, who visited Terengganu on 14 June 1764 en route to China. The intention was to collect the products of the Malay Archipelago to balance the trade with China which was not to Britains favour. His report provides a clear description of Terengganu of the time. It was said that the trade potential of Terengganu was equivalent to, or greater than that acquired at Coromandel or Malabar in India. The report provided information about the richness of the Malay states. Francis Light who was also a country trader in his letter to the Governor General of India, Lord Cornwallis, dated 7 January 1789, gives a comprehensive picture of the Malay states around Penang and its products. The information provided by Light relates to all the Malay states and enriches the historiography of the region. Without such information much less would be known about 18th century developments in the archipelago. The Accommodative Policy of the Malay Rulers The cordial relations established by the country traders created the opportunity for the Malay rulers to implement a policy of accommodation towards foreigners. Prior to the arrival of country traders, Malay traders were forced to sell their products at prices dictated by the Dutch. Malay rulers could now sell their products to traders who were willing to offer a higher price. Furthermore, country traders were also willing to sell fire arms to local traders. Light was said to have sold 5 thousand riffles to the Buggies. James Scott was also involved in selling firearms to local rulers. The policy of open and free trading enabled local rulers to sign different treaties with country traders, even when they had already signed treaties with the Dutch. Before this the Malay rulers sold tin to the Dutch at prices dictated by the latter and could not conduct trade with anyone besides the Dutch. It could be concluded that the relationship established by the country traders with Malay rulers gave the latter the opportunity to avoid Dutch intervention in their economy and the chance to sell their products to the country traders at a profit. The accommodative nature of the Malay rulers and their craftiness is evident in the written documentation attributed to the country traders; and this material has played an important part in clarifying the history of Malay Archipelago in the 18th century. Laissez-Faire Policy in the Malay Archipelago It was through the writings of traders operating in this part of the world that British officials first became aware that the laissez-faire policy had been in practice long prior to foreign commercial presence in this part of the world. G. Windsor, in his article which was published in the Journal of the Indian Archipelago in 1850, lists all the ports in the Malay Archipelago which practiced a laissez-faire policy. The laissez-faire policy in this part of the world had its own unique characteristics. If such a policy had not existed, foreigners would have employed gunboat diplomacy to achieve their ambitions. This would have proven costly, and many lives would have been sacrificed. The fact that most of the countries in Asia accepted indirect rule was very much related to the accommodative policy inspired by the laissez-faire system which had already been in place much earlier. Intervention was through negotiation and not force. The existence of free trade and free ports in the Malay Archipelago was brought to light by Stamford Raffles, the founder of Singapore. According to him, When the Europeans first frequented the Archipelago, the trade had long collected at certain established emporia; of this Achean, Malacca and Bantam were the principal. Macassar on Celebes, had also become an emporium of the more Eastern Commerce. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the smooth seas of the Archipelago is readily conveyed to the most advantageous markets. Foreign traders in large vessels found it more to their interest to proceed to the emporia, where they might at once procure a full cargo. The foreign commerce was carried on with ease and safety and to manifest advantage of all parties. The Malay Archipelago already had trade links with the outside world before the modern age. Local conditions suited the strategy of free trade and free ports which were used by the foreigners to develop settlements along the peninsula coast. Before the arrival of the Europeans, the Spice Islands formed a well structured regional trade network. A number of important ports emerged in the Malay Archipelago, like Pedir, Pasai, Sri Vijaya, Demak, Tuban, Makasar and Malacca. The ports functioned as free ports and traded without restrictions. From the beginning of the fourteenth century, five trade zones emerged in the Straits Settlements. The first trade zone was the Bay of Bengal which began at the Coromandel Coast, South India and included Sri Lanka, the Northern Malaysian Peninsula and the North and West Coasts of Sumatra. The North and West Coast of Sumatra became important in the years after 1300 due to the global demand for pepper. Consequently, the entry port of Samudra Pasai on the east coast became an important supplier of pepper for the traders from the East and West. When the Europeans came to the Malay Archipelago they did not create new trade routes, in fact they made use of the old ones. All the ports which were located in these trade zones, such as Malacca, Aceh, Pasai, Bantam, Macassar, Ayudhya experienced a rapid progress in trade. This freedom enabled the ports to attract traders from the East and West and to function collectively as a political, economic and social centre. With the double attractions of an established trading network and free trade status, the British were encouraged to develop free ports in the Malay Archipelago in the late 18th and early 19th century. The emergence of Penang and Singapore as free ports was based on these factors. Travellers The term traveller normally refers to those travelling to new places for recreation or pleasure and not for economic activities. Some came to the archipelago en-route to other destinations, while many others came either in an official or non-official capacity for business objectives. While ordinary travellers might, as observers away from their home environment, record their impressions of the people, landscape and events encountered, others, through their writings unwittingly contributed information which can today be considered as historical source material for the study of the Malay Archipelago, particularly the Malay states in the 18th and 19th century. Although the general perception about travellers is that they frame their perceptions within the cultural filters of their own cultures and based on patriotic sentiments, the same may not be said to apply to all the travellers. There are travellers who tended to speak their minds. Travellers do make judgments on contemporary affairs which appeal to the modern historian, such as in the case of Isabella Bird, whos The Golden Chersonese, the Malayan Travels of a Victorian Lady helps provide a better perspective on the events that were to unfold in the later decades. Another two travellers worth mentioning are G.W. Earl who penned Eastern Isles and Howard Malcolm, who wrote Travels in South-Eastern Asia Embracing Hindustan, Malaya, Siam, and China. The testaments of these authors will be discussed below to prove their validity as sources of historical information. Isabella Bird The Golden Chersonese, the Malayan Travels of a Victorian Lady, Singapore, Oxford University Press reprint (paperback), 1980. Isabella is a traveller and writer who travelled to Malaya in 1879 at the age of 47, five years after official intervention by the British in Malaya. Her book The Golden Chersonese, which was published in 1883, comprised a series of letters written to her sister Henrietta in Edinburgh while travelling in the Malay States (for five weeks from January-February 1879). Her description and evaluation of certain historical events remains as a source for studying the history of Malaya in the 19th century. She recorded her impressions of every place she visited with extraordinary clarity. Isabella evidently had a talent for observation, description and an unquenchable thirst of information. Views of the Malays Isabella viewed the Malays as an enlightened race in contrast to the British administrators: The Malays undoubtedly must be numbered among civilised peoples. They live in houses which are more or less tasteful and secluded. They are well clothed in garments of both native and foreign manufacture; they are a settled and agricultural people; they are skilful in some of the arts, specially in the working of gold and the damascening of krises; the upper classes are to some extent educated; they have a literature, even though it be an imported one, and they have possessed for centuries systems of government and codes of land and maritime laws which, in theory at least, show a considerable degree of enlightenment. Her view contradicts British perceptions of the Malays as uncivilised. Frank Swettenham, who was the British Resident of Selangor (1876-82), Perak (1889-95) and later the Resident-General of the Federated Malay States (1896-1901) expresses the following in his book, The Real Malay: There was a strong belief that Malays were treacherous by nature and pirates by trade, and that there were no special inducements for a white man to trust himself in such a barbarous country. Views of the Chinese Isabella provided detailed information on the Chinese. She explained vividly the character of the Chinese and why they were dominant in Malaya. To quote her, The Chinese promise to be in some sort the commercial rulers of the Straits. It is by their capital, industry and enterprise that the resources of the Peninsula are being developed. It explains why the British administrators and capitalists developing the agriculture and mining sectors in the Malay states were so dependent on them. It was no surprise that the Chinese came to play a vital role in the affairs of the Archipelago, particularly Malaya. Francis Light praised the Chinese in 1794 as, à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ the only people of the East from whom a revenue may be raised without expense and extraordinary effort of government. Raffles took steps to educate the Chinese in Singapore as they were seen as an asset to develop the island. The Chinese were generally preferred by the Europeans on account of their reliability and perseverance. As house servants with European families the Chinese were found to be particularly valuable. They were also employed to collect excise revenues. European trade in the Straits Settlements was managed almost exclusively by the Chinese. Isabella highlighted the role of Yap Ah Loy, a prominent Chinese businessman who developed Kuala Lumpur in the 1880s without any official recognition. In her writing, Isabella accorded due recognition to his contributions to the expansion of Kuala Lumpur. He was said to have built Kuala Lumpur each time it was burned down as a result of disturbances. He built roads connecting tin mines with the town. His contribution was recognised by Mr. Syers, the Superintendent of Police, who believed that without Ah Loys support, Kuala Lumpur would not have been developed. Isabella considers Ah Loy to be the creator of the commercial interests of Selangor, and as a man of large aims with an enlightened public spirit. She therefore considered that he needed to be accorded due recognition for his services and awarded either the St. Michael or the St. George Medal?. Incidentally, Yap Ah Loys place in history continues to be sidelined in modern Malaysian history. A local newspaper, the Sunday Star (dated 26th April 2009), carried a news item entitled Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) makes proposal to honor Kuala Lumpur founder. The MCA President declared that Yap Ah Loy had been overlooked, despite the fact that he had helped develop Kuala Lumpur into a commercial and mining centre, and contributed greatly to its advancement. The only reminder of this great hero is a small road in the city centre that carries his name. In view of this, the partys Chinese Community History Consultative Bureau was directed to document Ah Loys contributions. It looks like the grouches pointed out by Isabella 100 years ago are being repeated by the Chinese community in the 21st century. Views of the Indians Isabellas view of the Indian race does explain why Indians fail in modern day Malaysia. She compares them to the other races and her conclusion is that à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.Klings [Indians] are active and industrious, but they lack fibre apparently, and that quick-sightedness for opportunities which makes the Chinese the most successful of all emigrants. Not a Malay or a Kling has raised himself either as merchant or in any other capacity to wealth or distinction in the colony. To this day, the Indians continue to be seen in this light in comparison to the Chinese. In a news report, (New Straits Times, 27 April 2009), the Government exhorted the Indian community to emulate the Chinese in grabbing investment and business opportunities. In other words, Indians are asked to be more like the Chinese, who according to Frank Swettenham à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦are the bees who suck the honey from every profitable undertaking. View on Intervention in Perak, the Assassination of J.W.W. Birch, the first British Resident in the State of Perak and Intervention in Selangor Isabella made political commentary, although it was not her business to have done so. She wrote about the reaction to the assassination of J.W.W. Birch, the first British Resident of Perak. Those who were involved in the murder were hanged, while the Malay rulers were exiled. Isabella was of the opinion that the British had failed to heed the views of the locals. To her, the British were ever imposing their superiority over the locals, without realising that the latter had a superior civilization: A great mist of passion and prejudice envelopes our dealings with the chiefs and people of this State, both before and after the war. à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦ If I may venture to give an opinion upon so controversial a subject, it is, that all Colonial authorities in their dealings with native races, all Residents and their subordinates, and all transactions between ourselves and the weak peoples of the Far East, would be better for having something of the fierce light which beats upon a throne turned upon them. The good have nothing to fear, the bad would be revealed in their badness, and hasty councils and ambitious designs would be held in check. Public opinion never reaches these equatorial jungles; we are grossly ignorant of their inhabitants and their rights, of the manner in which our interference originated, and how it has been exercised; and unless some fresh disturbance and another little war should concentrate our attention for a moment on these distant States, we are likely to rem ain so, to their great detriment, and not a little, in one aspect of the case at least, to our own. In other word she admitted the natives had a superior civilisation. ARE YOU SURE? She was also critical of the manner in which the British intervened in Selangor: The history of the way in which we gained a footing in Selangor is a tangled one, as the story is told quite differently by men holding high positions in the Colonial Government, who unquestionably are all honorable men. This means she did not accept the official views of the British government which was considered to be the gospel truth with regard to intervention in the Malay states. George Windsor Earl The Eastern Seas, London, WMH, Allen Co., 1837 with an introduction by C.M.Turnbull, Singapore, Oxford University Press reprint 1971. Earl ( 1865) was another British traveller who was a ships captain, lawyer, colonial official, linguist, antiquarian and writer. He travelled widely in the Malay Archipelago. His famous book was The Eastern Seas. He also contributed numerous articles in the Journal of the Indian and Eastern Archipelago (JIEA). The Journal contains many writings by merchants and traders and reveals the importance of all the states and islands in the Malay Archipelago. Besides that, it also brings to light the importance of each island state and its products, referring to traders who are trading there as well as trade policy carried out by foreign powers. Writing in Earls journal conveyed valuable information about the region, and in some cases provided the stimulus for the advancement of Western colonization in Southeast Asia as well as other regions. These publications were widely read and were considered influential in shaping Western public opinion about the distant tropical east. Earl was also said to have been interested in the peoples of the Archipelago and mixed freely with the Asian population of the Straits Settlements. His account of the Malay Archipelago, according to Mary Turnbull in her introduction of the reprint of the book, was the honest opinion of an intelligent and detached observer and a most humane man. Although there might be accusations that his views reflected those of the British government, for Turnbull they reflected the liberal ideas of the times, as manifested in the actions of the officials on the ground: It reflects too the freshness and confidence of the best in British imperial idealism in the first half of the nineteenth century, before that confidence had toughened into arrogance of imperial power and the spirit of co-operation with the local population had coarsened into authoritarian command. Earl was said to be a man of integrity, with a sense of compassion. He was against the idea of taking strong repressive measures against the Chinese secret societies, and instead succeeded in convincing the Straits officers to be moderate and lenient to the Chinese population. Howard Malcolm Travels in South-Eastern Asia Embracing Hindustan, Malaya, Siam, and China, Vol. 1, 1839, Boston, Gould, Kendall Lincoln, 1839. Malcolm (1799-1879) was sent out as the deputy and representative of one of the great American Missionary Societies to gather details on every area in which the Board lacked information. The information provided was very objective and without bias. A lot of information was provided about Malaya, such as that relating to piracy. According to Malcolm, Malays considered piracy to be honorable and many of their princes openly engaged in it. This testimony also brought to light the fact that free trade policy was practiced in this part of the world before the advent of Western Powers. To Malcolm, Singapore was able to flourish as an important trading port in the 19th century due to the role played by local traders and trade routes which had existed for ages, well before the Europeans found their way into these seas. Malcolm also explained in detail the kind of products collected by the local traders from various areas. For example, the Battaks collected camphor; the Sulu gathered pearls; the Malays looked for birds nest, nutmeg, clove, tripang and agar-agar; the Bugis functioned as traders and mariners; the Sumatran traders dealt in pepper; the traders from China contributed wealth and capital towards the prosperity of Singapore; while the West brought technology and arts to this part of the world. Missionaries Missionaries were generally interested in the native population and helped to increase the number of converts to Christianity. In addition they became pioneers of social change. In the case of the Malay Archipelago, many missionary societies were formed and they published many works on this part of the world. One notable example was the London Missionary Society, which was founded in London in 1795 with the objective of spreading Christianity to all nations and people, to publish and distribute scripture in the vernacular and to teach the young to read and write in a school environment. Missionaries were therefore encouraged to produce Christian books, propaganda and text. The Origin of Missionary Activity in the Straits Settlements In 1815, the London Missionary Society (LMS) established a printing press in Malacca named Mission Press, and branches were formed in Penang (1819) and Singapore (1822). In Malacca, evangelism was spearheaded by Rev. William Milne (1785-1822). When Milne left Malacca the task fell to Rev. Claudius Henry Thomsen, who carried out missionary work among the Malays. His Malay teacher was the famous scribe, Munsyi Abdullah. Thomsens publications include a small hymn book, and tracts on human depravity, the Being of God, An exposition on the Commandments and a sixteen page treatise on the principal doctrines of the gospel. Thomsons activities raised objections from the locals, especially the Hajjies of Singapore. They were said to have refused to accept Christian tracts and also made efforts to prevent others from receiving them. Mission Press contributed not only to produce Christian publications, but also non- religious works. Their publications appeared in the various vernacular languages, and were mostly circulated in the form of tracts, broadsheets and books. Publications in the Malay language were mainly the Bible, interpretations of the Bible, religious treatises and prayers. In 1819, about 54,000 printed materials were published in Chinese and about 19,000 in Malay. Rev. Thomas Beighton (1790-1844) was responsible for Mission Press activities in Penang. Works published under his direction included Religion of the Bible, Fourth Commandment, and The Beatitudes. There were also a few controversial publications like Comparison of the Religion of Jesus with the Religion of Mohammed, The Rise of Christianity and pamphlets with titles like Pengajaran [Spiritual Lessons]. In Singapore, C. H. Thomsen (1782-?) who came from Malacca, became the editor of a Malay magazine, and assumed responsibility for missionary work among the Malays. Thomsen left Singapore in 1834 when he sold the Press to the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions. The American Board was responsible for the religious activities there. It was the American missionary movement which translated Hikayat Pelayaran Abdullah (Abdullahs Travel Narrative) and the New Testament into English. One notable person, Benjamin Peach Keasberry came from USA to Singapore to work with the Malays under the American Board, and in 1839 joined the London Missionary Society. Keasbery was very much involved with publications in Malay. The LMS came to an end in the Straits Settlements when the Opium War broke out in China between 1838-1842. The Society then decided to shift its work from the Straits Settlements to China. The Mission Press under Keasberry printed a few Malay manuscripts including Adat Segala Raja-Raja Melayu dalam Segala Negeri and Sejarah Melayu. With the help of Alfred North from the American Board, Abdullah was able to pen his experiences in Kesah Pelayaran Abdullah (The Voyages of Abdullah) and Hikayat Abdullah (The Narrative of Abdullah). When Keasbery died in 1875, the press was bought by John Fraser and D.C.Neave Printers Ltd which survived until the Japanese occupation. With Keasberrys demise, the Mission Press fell silent until it was revived by the Methodist William Girlestone Shellabear, who was responsible for its revival. He became a missionary for the Methodist Church Singapore, and started the American Mission Press, which later became the Methodist Publishing House in 1906, followed by the Malaya Publishing House in 1927. Shellabear was the one missionary who was largely responsible for enriching Malay historiography of the early 20th century. Among the publications produced was the Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society. Reaction of Natives to the Spread of Christianity It is interesting to note the reaction of the natives to Christian missionary activities in the Straits Settlements. The efforts failed to Christianise the Malays, although they were involved in the teaching of the Malay language to the missionaries. This poses an interesting question as to why such activities failed in the Malay States when it was successful elsewhere. Thomas Beightons publications related mainly to Christianity, and included titles like The Trinity Revealed in the New Testament, The Rise of Christianity that is the Story of Resurrection of Jesus on the Third Day after his Crucifixion, Religion of the Bible, and Fourth Commandment. Beightons most controversial publication was Comparison of the Religion of Jesus with the Religion of Mohammed, the Rise of Christianity and a pamphlet with the title Pengajaran. Comparison of the Religion was an attempt to belittle Al Quran and praise the Bible. Malay leaders were of the opinion that these writings were crude, insulting and belittled Islam and its followers. They were disturbed by the way such materials were brought right to their doorsteps. The Malays complained to the Governor of Penang, S. G. Bonham and wanted Beighton to be restrained from distributing such materials. The latter was, however, able to convince the Governor that most of them were translation works intended to stimulat e inquiry. The explanation was contained in his Letter to Mohammetans, in which he stressed that Abdullah Munsyi had helped in publishing the work. It is also interesting to note that Beighton had even adopted a young Malay, baptised him and named him Thomas John Ince. When the boy died, he even published a book titled The Story of Tom that is Thomas J. Inche who was Loyal and Dedicated to Christianity as Stated. The reaction of the natives towards Christianity is something which is not studied in Malaysian history. It is only through the writings of the missionaries that one could also acquire information with regard to how the natives reacted to the missionaries attempt to spread gospel or Christian teachings. As Milner rightly pointed out, It must be investigated further the contribution which missionaries made to the ideological assault waged by the west against Malay culture in the early nineteenth century; the schools they established in their preaching and the missionary pamphlets they distributed throughout the Archipelago. The Writings of the Missionaries as Historical Sources The Publication of Historical Works by Mission Press Early historical works of the time were published by missionary societies, without whose efforts Malaysian historiography would not have been complete. Many professional historians who worked on the Straits Settlements and the Malay Archipelago relied greatly on such publications to shed light on the many events of the time. A number of notable historical publications of the societies are listed below; Thomsen Claudius Henry, A Code of Bugis Maritime Laws with Translation, Singapore, Printed at the Mission Press, 1832. Moor, John Henry, (Compiler), Notices of the Indian Archipelago, and Adjacent Countries; Being a Collection of Papers Relating to Borneo, Celebes, Java, Sumatra, Nias the Philippine Islands, Sulus, Siam, Cochin China, Malayan Peninsula Etc, Singapore , Mission Press, 1837. Reverend Thomas Beighton, Comparison of the Religion of Jesus with the Religion of Mohammed. Prophet of the Arabs in Mecca, printed in Penang by Reverend Thomas Beighton in the year 1839. (Translation) Logan, The Journal of the Indian Archipelago, Vol. 1 2, Singapore, Mission Press, 1847. The Story of Abdullah Abdul Kadir Munshi, Singapore, Mission Press, 1849. (Translation). A number of the above publications need to be discussed in detail to show how they could be considered as historical sources for the study of the Malay Archipelago. Moors Publication John Henry Moor compiled Notices of the Indian Archipelago, and Adjacent Countries; Being a Collection of Papers Relating to Borneo, Celebes, Java, Sumatra,

Memo: Understanding the Telecommunications Revolution Essay

We are developing a product that would revolutionize the way we use telecommunications. Picture a cell phone that uses 3d graphics to communicate with someone by simply clicking on the video- camera-function that is found on all smartphones. This cell phone will transform simple phone usage to virtual encounters that will enhance our current and future customer’s lives. The plan is to have this android smartphone be available to the consumer market as of 2015. In order for this to happen we, first, will have to look at the quality cost of this product. Quality cost will play an important factor in making this phone successful. There are a total of three quality costs that we must address for this product. The costs include appraisal, failure, and prevention. Prevention cost assist with checking products for failures. Prevention Costs The first category of costs is prevention costs. These are the costs that a company incurs to ensure that product failures of varius kinds do not occur either during the production process or when in the hands of a customer. These costs can also be incurred to ensure that there are fewer process-related failures. These are discretionary costs, for a company’s management may choose not to expend any funds on prevention activities (though there will be an offsetting increase in failure costs). Examples of prevention costs are as follows: Administration of quality-related activities – Some staff time is required to plan for and administer quality-related prevention activities. The cost of this labor should be supplemented by the cost of related benefits and payroll taxes. Education – Avery significant expense is the preparation of training materials, the cost of trainers and training facilities, and (the largest expense of all) the labor cost of all employees attending the training. This is a key prevention activity, and will be one of the largest costs in the prevention category. New product trial costs – For those organizations releasing new products, having customers test product designs is a central method for ensuring a high quality of design. Accordingly, the costs of products given to customers and survey administration can be clustered into this subcategory. Preventive maintenance – Ensuring that machinery is capable of running when needed is a key prevention activity. This includes the costs of maintenance personnel engaged in preventive maintenance, as well as any related materials and administrative costs. Preventive maintenance scheduling software – The just-noted preventive maintenance activities can be more easily accomplished if there is maintenance software available that tracks the last time such maintenance was conducted and how heavily a machine has been used since that time, and that schedules additional maintenance based on those two factors. Procedure and instruction development – A major prevention activity is the creation of machine operation instructions and other procedures that give employees complete information about how to conduct their jobs. With this information in hand, there is much less chance that any steps in the production process will be mishandled, resulting in quality problems. The cost of this subcategory includes the initial investigation of activities, procedure development, and distribution of the resulting materials. Supplier qualification assessments – Products cannot have a high quality level unless the supplier parts comprising them have high quality standards. The cost of all employee time spent in reviewing and assessing the output of suppliers must fall into this category. Tool design reviews – If a company uses a number of custom tools to create products, then those tools must be carefully reviewed in terms of their ability to produce parts at minimum specification levels, as well as their ability to do so consistently and with minimal failure rates. The costs of these reviews and any resulting tool revision costs must fall into this category. Warranty reviews – One form of prevention is to closely review all customer warranty claims in order to discern clues regarding what product problems can be prevented at the company before they can reach customers. The cost of this review and any subsequent investigation of possible problems should fall into this subcategory. Appraisal Cost The second category of costs is appraisal costs. These are the costs incurred to measure products, the material components used in products, and the processes used to manufacture products. These activities are designed to reduce the number of defective products shipped to customers. These are different from prevention costs, in that they attempt to improve quality strictly through increased inspection activities. These are also discretionary costs, for a company does not have to use any appraisal activities whatsoever—though eliminating them will increase the number of low quality products shipped to customers. Examples of appraisal costs are as follows: Incoming component testing – If there are particularly troublesome problems with materials received from suppliers, then a company may have initiated an extensive effort to review a large proportion of those materials, which will result in costs not only for testing personnel, but also for any materials that are destroyed during the testing process. Material appraisal – It is common for the quality control staff to remove items from various stages of the production process for testing purposes. If the removed materials are destroyed during testing, then the cost of these materials should be recorded as an appraisal cost. Outsourced laboratory testing – Some of the tests conducted on materials are of such a specialized nature that a company finds it to be more cost-effective to send them to an outside laboratory for review. The fees of such laboratories should be charged to this cost subcategory. Process appraisal – The appraisal process is not confined to materials reviews. It is also necessary to periodically analyze how well the production and supporting processes are functioning; the staff time devoted to this activity should be charged to this cost subcategory. Prototype appraisal – The quality staff can spot problems with new products before they are produced by examining a variety of quality-related issues on prototype products. The cost of testing and destruction of prototypes should be grouped into this cost subcategory. Testing equipment calibration – The testing equipment used by the quality staff must be periodically recalibrated to ensure its accuracy. This task is frequently performed by certified outside calibration services, which makes it easier to identify their fees and charge them to this cost subcategory. Testing equipment – Depending on the kinds of quality tests performed, the types of testing equipment needed can be very expensive. If the cost of this equipment falls below a company’s capitalization limit, then the entire cost can be charged straight to this subcategory. If higher, then the associated deprecation expense should be charged here. Internal Failure Cost The third category of costs is internal failure costs. These are costs incurred as a result of discovering product defects prior to shipment. At that time, products can be taken out of the production or warehouse areas, repaired or scrapped, and placed back in the production process if possible. There are a number of related costs that accompany these activities that make this a very expensive cost category. Examples of internal failure costs are as follows: Correction of related paperwork – When a product failure occurs internally, resulting in rework or scrap, there are a number of resulting paperwork activities. One is that the production scheduling staff must schedule new production to replace the items removed from production. Also, the eliminated items must be reported to the purchasing staff, so that they can order replacement materials. Further, the accounting staff must determine the cost of the scrap or rework and record it in the financial records. The staff time required to complete all of these activities should be recorded here. Lost profit on products sold as seconds – When a company finds that it has products of a sufficiently low quality that they cannot be sold through normal sales channels, it may elect to sell them at a discount, rather than expend extra rework effort to bring them up to a higher quality standard. If so, the loss in profits that occurs when these products are sold at the lower price point should be recorded in this subcategory as a cost or a sales discount. Machinery downtime – When internal product failures are discovered, machinery downtime can be caused for two reasons. One is that the machines are now needed to rework defective product, which keeps them from being used to create new product. Also, the cause of the internal failures may be the machinery, which requires some downtime while they are investigated and repaired. In either case, the cost of the machinery downtime should be charged to this cost subcategory. Redesign – If a product continues to have high quality error rates over time, the problem may not be in the manufacturing process at all, but rather in the underlying product design. If so, the engineering staff will require extra time to develop a new design and test it to ensure that all quality problems have been resolved. The engineering time charged to this work should be summarized into this cost subcategory, as well as the costs of any inventory that will become obsolete as a result of design changes. Re-inspection and testing – Once a product has been reworked, it must be inspected and tested to ensure that it now meets quality specifications, which requires extra staff time. Repurchasing – When products are scrapped, the purchasing staff may need to repurchase the components needed to create replacement products. The cost of the time needed to do this can be recorded separately here, or in the ‘‘corrections to related paperwork’’ subcategory that is noted earlier in this list. Rework – Depending on the extent of product rework required, there may be a separate staff devoted to this activity. If not, then production workers must be drawn from the production line (thereby taking time away from the production of other products) to perform this work. In either case, the cost of their time is charged to this account. There may also be a charge for the use of any machinery required to perform rework tasks. Safety stock – If there is a significant volume of internal product failure, the management team may think it necessary to keep on hand large quantities of extra components to make up the shortfall of components that would otherwise occur due to the scrapping of low-quality products. There is an interest cost associated with the investment in this extra inventory, as well as storage, insurance, and obsolescence costs that can be accumulated into this cost subcategory. Scrap – Some products may be of such a low quality level that they cannot be reworked, and so must be thrown away. However, some of these costs may be recouped by the income from sale of the scrap (if this is possible). For high-cost products, this is a very expensive subcategory of internal failure costs. Supplier claims processing – When internal failure costs are traced to supplier quality problems, a company must not only ship back defective supplier parts, but also process claims against the offending suppliers, so that it will not have to pay for the low-quality parts. This claims processing step can be an administrative headache, and an expensive one where there are many supplier-caused quality problems. External Failure Cost The final category of costs is external failure costs – These are the costs incurred when low-quality products are shipped to customers. This tends to be the most difficult quality cost area to measure, because it is difficult to quantify some customer related costs (as noted in the following bullet points). There is general agreement among quality experts that these costs are the most expensive of all the various cost of-quality categories, for the loss of customers due to low quality can have a catastrophic impact on an organization’s profitability. Examples of external failure costs are as follows: Customer surveys – A company may conduct customer surveys for the sole reason that it needs feedback about the quality of products issued to them. If this is the only reason for creating and operating a survey (as opposed to one that is used by the marketing department for product positioning and pricing purposes), then the cost of the survey can be charged to this account. Customer-imposed penalties – Customers who use a company’s output in their products may have considerable concerns about the quality of incoming components and will reinforce these concerns with their suppliers by charging penalties for poor-quality production. If so, these penalties should certainly be segregated into a separate account, so that management can easily determine their extent. Invoice adjustments – The cost of processing alterations to customer invoices can be very time-consuming, especially when there are a large volume of customer returns, for each transaction tends to be a unique one that requires a great deal of time. If this activity requires a significant amount of time, the associated cost can be stored separately in this account; if not, it may be rolled into the ‘‘Processing customer returns’’ account (as noted later in this list). Loss of customers – This is the potentially largest cost in the external failure cost category. It can be quantified by tracking those customers who are no longer buying from the company, contacting them to determine whether low quality was the reason, and then calculating the lost profit based on sales to those customers in the preceding year. Though the resulting figure will not tie to any cost recorded through a traditional accounting system, the opportunity cost of sales lost should still be itemized in this account, due to its potential size. Loss of reputation – A potentially very large expense is the reduction in a company’s reputation when it continually sells ow-quality products. This is a very difficult cost to calculate or even estimate, so most companies do not use this cost account, preferring instead to simply itemize the potential for this cost in the narrative sections of their quality cost reports. Processing customer returns – Whenever a customer returns a product, the receiving staff must complete special paperwork on it, store it in a special location, have it reviewed by a quality control team, and disposition it in accordance with their instructions, while the accounting staff must process a credit to the customer. The costs of all these activities should be charged to this account. Product recall insurance – If a company has a history of conducting product recalls, it may be necessary to reduce its risk of incurring further recall-related costs by procuring a product recall insurance policy. However, this can be a very expensive policy to obtain, especially if there is a recent recall history. The cost is certainly high enough to place in its own separate account. Product recall – If a company finds that quality problems with a product are sufficiently extensive, it can recall them. There are many costs when this happens, including payment for the inbound freight costs for returned products, the cost of reworking defective products, the cost of issuing replacement products, and the administrative overhead associated with these tasks. This can be an inordinately expensive cost subcategory. Supplier warranty claim processing – When customers return products, there is a good chance that the cause of their complaints is issues with product components that were sold to the company by its suppliers. If so, the company must expend considerable effort in filling out warranty claim forms to send to its suppliers in order to obtain reimbursement for shoddy components. These administrative costs should be charged to this account. Warranty claim administration – When there are many product returns from customers, a company will find it necessary to create a full-time warranty claims department. The cost of the staff for this department, as well as all associated overhead costs, should be charged to this account.

Mha 601

Name: Erika Hernandez MHA601:    Principles of Health Care Administration Professor: Alisa Wagner Date: March 4, 2013 Avoiding Errors in Healthcare Management The health care organizations, managers develop new ways to address these errors among the postmodern and complexity adaptive systems (CAS). Managers must develop strategies for advantages of learning that if change is applied to our management skills in which is being implemented by the postmodern and complexity adaptive systems to become production. They are being faced with many challenges in any situation at our everyday employment or job setting.They must be able to determine what is correct when making decisions while knowing and learning to do what is right for the health care organization. In this assignment, I will cover the ten error scenarios and the explanation on why they are errors in healthcare management organizations. The first error that I will explain is failing to accountability for employee to learn safe machine operation methods by experimenting on their own. This error will allow them to exclude a step by step process, which a step by step process is what makes the organization operate at its best.I believe that the employees will benefit and develop their own way of processing these machines operations to better their job performance. Keeping a minimum routine can reduce the quality of product. The second error is training all employees with the same orientation program regardless of the cultural interpretation. In the United States, we live in a huge diverse world as time changes and also we retrieve the information given to us differently as well as how we interpret the information. The main point of managers is not to compare or contrast any situation, but to correct the way of everyone’s training.Our text mentions, postmodern and complexity adaptive system that both of them address problems between what people observe and what they think things should be. The next erro r is disciplining one employee, expecting a modest change in behaviour but getting a union response. The quality of relationships within a healthcare organization may be more important than the quality of the people, because healthcare organizations are essentially relational in their structures, processes, and functions (Stroebel, 2005).Healthcare organization relies greatly on the influence of the employees to establish a great relationship within the organization. An example would be having a great relationship with the patients and families as well. Another error is changing a work process without considering the role of communities of practice on the work performance. In this error, the employee with a disciplining can be a reflection of a change in the work place setting. We as managers must develop strategies on any change without the employees initiating and the outcome could be to better the organization.Healthcare management plays a huge important role that for them to kno w what their role is and how to execute their role and to receive the best outcome is hard work. The next error that I will discuss in addressing is assuming that employees will not reallocate work assignments based on their perception of the best arrangement even after receiving work allocation assignments from managements. If managers do not receive the correct information in the allocated time, they do not understand the dynamic of satisfying our clients.Being organized is the most important thing that can be handled properly to assure the best way for our organization. Another error is ignoring the speed of informal messages as they fail to manage rumours in a productive manner. We can provide an environment of psychological safety that will help workers develop an attitude toward innovation that enables them to act with a presumption of personal and professional confidence (Edmondson, 1996). This error can mean generating a negative energy throughout the health care organizatio n and by providing positive environments can create positive production.The next error is failing to treat the organization’s dominant logic as an emergent property of the system, instead treating it as something that can be imposed on the system. In this error, we must prepare ourselves of what is we are going to receive as sometimes we do not want to know what the outcome really would be. In our hospital, we are having some of these errors that now they are being planned to better our organization for the best of the employees. Next, we have looking for one bad apple in a group as a strategy for improving work quality while the quality of output may be an emergent property of the group can also be an error.This can lead to paying attention to the irrelevant things that exist in the organization. For example, we set up control systems and end up watching the control system instead of the systems (Weick, 1985). The fact that the release of the any new product may change the m arket in such a way as it makes the market analysis incorrect. Our world is continuously change the ability to respond creatively to market analysis can lead to unexpected situations either to any healthcare setting organizations.I think by creating an environment where the whole people would feel free to discuss both the positive and negative outcomes of unintended events, and where the sharing of ideas is seen as a way to leverage new things in unexpected ways. Complexity science and postmodernism concentrate on â€Å"transforming the space of the possible. †    (Johnson, 2010). The last error of discussion is offering a premium to internal workers for extra production without expecting the change in rewards structure to affect relationship with suppliers.This is an error that provides incentives for the internal workers to provide production. Great managers are about making changes to bring the best out of our workers and giving them a pat on the back as to showing them what a good job they have been doing and recognizing their employees. Considering different ways on expecting and assuming what is giving this can open the organization up to better planning in the future. In conclusion, these ten scenarios as errors can lead to critical concerns within an organization that managers must develop strategies for advantages of learning.Managing healthcare organization requires being creative and helping people to do good things. Any decision making can be a key component to operating a great healthcare organization. As the change is applied to our organization the management skills will be implemented to the postmodern and complexity adaptive systems to become productive in the organization. References Edmondson, A. C. (1996). Learning from mistakes is easier said than done: Group and organizational influences on the detection and correction of human error. J Applied Behavior Science. 32(1):5–28. Johnson, J. A. (2010).Health organizations:    Theory, behavior, & development. Boston: Jones and Bartlett. ISBN: 9780763750534 Weick, K. E. (1985). Cosmos vs. chaos: Sense and nonsense in electronic contexts. Organ Dyn. 14(2):51–64 Bird, K. , Kundu, A. & de Lujan Perez, G. (2010). Using Deming’s principles to create the next generation of healthcare leaders. The Journal for Quality and Participation, 33(2), 15. Retrieved from the ProQuest database. Swedish, J. (2009). Leadership: Meeting the demands of the times. Frontiers of Health Services Management, 26(2), 31. Retrieved from the ProQuest database.

Similarities Between Confucius And The Great Scholar...

Imagine yourself in Ancient China where you are told you can only do things a certain way. One must look very deeply into the Ancient Chinese governments to see that it is influenced greatly by the great scholar Confucius. Do we see these influences in today’s systems of governments? Confucius had many different areas of focus but we can whittle that down to three areas. The three main areas of Confucius are all seen in some way in the Ancient Chinese governments. The first point in Confucius s three main points is the importance of family. Confucius stressed that family is composed of many types of relationships within the family. These relationships are: parent and child, husband and wife, and elder brother and younger brother. The relationship between the elder brother and younger brother is a simple one, but it can easily be overlooked. The relationship between parent and child is one of the ones most emphasized by Confucius. Confucius uses the idea of Filial Piety, the re spect of a child for his or her parents, to stress the importance of this relationship. Confucius is also known for the idea that â€Å"if the interests of one’s ruler and one’s parents conflicted, one’s support of the parent came first† this is according to the book, page 48. Confucius also has the belief that everyone is born into the world as good. Last but not least, is the relationship between husband and wife. In Lessons for Women by Ban Zhao, Ban Zhao lists many different maxims that led to aShow MoreRelatedConfucianism vs Taoism Essay953 Words   |  4 PagesThe Teachings of Confucius versus the Tao Te Ching The teachings of Confucius and the Tao Te Ching are two important schools of thought in China. In Confucius’s Analects, he talks mostly of political and social issues and also speaks about how people must govern by following rules and displaying virtuous qualities such as honesty and integrity. 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