IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT - Essay Example The team circling the project manages various activities involved within the project. According to the activities, it has been further revealed that activities incorporate competing demands with respect to time, quality, risk and cost. Project teams make efforts in managing the expectations with regard to the stakeholders. It is the responsibility of the project team to identify the requirements related to running a project. The knowledge areas related to the project management represent the integration, time, scope, cost, quality, human resource and communication and risk management. Application of the knowledge areas with respect to project management is shown through a pictorial representation given below: (Choudhuri, n.d.). Application of Knowledge Areas (Choudhuri, n.d.) With reference to the provided scenario, it is observed that Moonsoon boutique wants to open an online shop, thus it has hired an IT Project Manager to handle and manage the entire project cycle. The objective o f the assignment project related to Moonsoon boutique entails the effective handling of the required changes in the business process with the aid of a number of busineess and IT teams. This report will reflect the use and the application of the concept involved within project manegemnet that helps in the success or failure of a given project. The objectiv of this report is to discuss the three constraints of project management that entail scope, time and cost along with quality management (Choudhuri, n.d.). Importance of Project Management Concepts in the Success and Faliure of a Project Project management with respect to e-commerce plays a vital role in a business activity. The system related to e-commerce represents outsourcing solutions from the web as well as the mobile sites. A project manager involved in the management of e-commerce projects must take care about the package selection, knowledge management, project portfolio management and the improvement of the research proces s (Light & et. al., 2005). To manage and deliver a project successfully, it entails six phases. Application and implementation of six phases lead the team to the appropriate direction. In accordance with the phases of the project management, when it is divided, the total allocated work is separated into different components that ultimately facilitate in monitoring the activities in a convenient manner (Modesto & Tichapondwa, 2009). Initiation phase represents the beginning of any project. It incorporates the idea that relates to the exploration and the elaboration of the project. Implementation of the initiation phase reflects the feasibility of the project. In accordance with ensuring that the online shop of Moonsoon boutique functions appropriately, all the relevant details must be taken into concern. Parties involved in the given project must acquire a clear understanding and knowledge of the boutique shop. Proper and effective plan related to the proceedings of the project is pl anned by project manager in this phase (Modesto & Tichap

Usefulness of Hofstedes National Culture model Essay

Usefulness of Hofstedes National Culture model - Essay Example The main categories include masculinity versus femininity, individualism versus collectivism, uncertainty avoidance, and power distance. Globalization, which is a concept of free trade, has made the world an increasingly intimate place. Intimacy, in this sense, refers to mutual interdependence that countries possess in both cultural and business terms. The 17th and the 18th century trade made businesspersons realize the different potential and benefits that various countries possessed. Furthermore, the ideas of people such as Adam Smith and David Ricardo quantified the prospects of free trade and globalization. However, besides the raw economic benefit of world trade, businesses realized the essence of culture in understanding the behavior of employees and given market. Culture could act either as an impediment or a propeller of business. The Geert Hofstede model is helpful to business organizations in numerous ways. To begin with, the model may help a business organization comprehend the power structures of a society towards designing a corresponding administrative model. In many business organizations, employees constantly question what makes up a good leader. Unfortunately, Geert Hofstede uncovers that there is no particular way of leading a group. Despite the developments of knowledge documents on management, existing cultural conditions influence the attitudes towards power. The concept of power distance helps an organization comprehend the tolerance of a given society towards power inequality. Large power distance societies manifest a greater tolerance towards power inequality in institutions. In this sense, affected organizations should develop administrative structures that possess clear separation of powers (Piepenburg 2011, p. 178). The managers, thus, should acquire considerable power over the employees, w ho are expected to be utterly subordinate to the seniors. Such a culture, therefore,

Friendship Definition Essay Example for Free

Friendship Definition Essay â€Å"Don’t walk behind me; I may not lead. Don’t walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend† said Albert Camus. People understand the concept of friendship differently, but there is one common ground for it- it is always built on a mutual sympathy, according to the Cambridge dictionary. Friendship can last for many years and grow stronger, but they can also end right away. No one knows the exact definition of friendship; however they do have their own way to tell if they have a friend. People say it’s hard to find a true friend- they are right because not everyone you know is your friend. Friendship is something important to me because I need someone to talk with. A friend to me is someone who is there for me no matter what, does not turn their back on me, they accept me for who I am, they care about me, I can trust them, we enjoy each other’s company, and we have fun together. Everyone needs a friend. Friends are like stress relievers, and they don’t judge, they see who we are and nothing else. I believe friendship is not perfect. There are always going to be flaws. According to the researched done in 2000 by Keith Davis, teenage friendships tend to grow hate or jealousy in between one another. This is when problems start to develop such as not being honest with each other. Another problem found in a research done in the 80’s was that opposite-sex friendships might not be considered a friendship at all. When a female and male are friends one of them starts to grow feelings, or they both grow feelings. That’s when the friendship turns into something emotional and sexual. It falls into the friends with benefits or the love category. There is a difference in between female and male friendships captured by Paul Wright in 1982. He describes women’s friendships as â€Å"face to face† and men’s as â€Å"side by side.† This indicates that women are more likely to choose to spend time â€Å"just talking,† when men are more likely to choose doing an activity with their friend. Women tend to be more emotionally close, intimate, and express more affection for their friends. Women are scientifically proven to seek support and sympathy in their friendship, while men find friends with common interest and whom they trust. I wasn’t satisfied by the way the internet and the databases defined friendship. So I did my own researched by asking people what friendship meant to them. Everyone defined friendship differently, I was surprised by the answers I got. Here are a few: â€Å"Friendship is when someone has trust for someone else. Two people who hold mutual affection for each other, having good communication with each other, and the ability to be one-self, expressing ones feelings, and making mistakes without fear of judgment.† –Edwin Castro â€Å"Friendship is a relation between two people where trust is big. They are close like brothers/sisters and have respect for each other.† – Martha Machuca â€Å"Someone you can act silly with and trust at the same time.† –Alejandra Avila â€Å"There is no such thing as friendship; your only friend is your pillow.† –Melvin Sanchez Friendship is a very hard concept to define, but there are a few things that will always go with it: sympathy, compassion, understanding, honesty, and trust. Friendship is not something that grows overnight, it takes time to develop. It is much harder to live if we don’t have close friends. We just have to choose wisely who our friends are. Work Cited â€Å"Friendship Styles.† Encyclopedia of Women and Gender: Sex Similarities and Differences and the Impact of Society on Gender. Oxford: Elsevier Science Technology, 2001. Credo Reference. 14 July 2008. Web. 05 November 2012. â€Å"Friendship.† Cambridge Dictionary of Sociology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. Credo Reference. Web. 05 November 2012.

Airasia Vision and Mission Statement Analysis

Airasia Vision and Mission Statement Analysis A vision is practically involves thinking strategically about the future direction of a company. In other words, the vision statement is like a road map leading the route to a company intends to take in developing and strengthening its business. Therefore, create a vision statement is really crucial for AirAsia. And the analysis of the current vision statement of AirAsia is including in the Appendix (Exhibit 1.0). After an evaluation of AirAsia original vision statement, the new vision statement will be revising into: To spearhead flight industry and to be the most recognized low-cost airline company that delivers the best flying experience in Asia. As we can see, the new vision statement that formed is still within its scope, AirAsia remain emphasizing that it wanted to be the largest low-cost airline company in the Asia. When the company grows larger, it will direct more people to recognize AirAsia easily, in other words it brings strong brand identity to the customers. Besides that, in the new vision statement AirAsia interpreted as becoming the leader in flight industry in Asia, and obviously the original vision statement of AirAsia does not including this. Furthermore, in the new vision statement states that AirAsia wants to delivers the best flying experience to the customers, in fact this is another new direction that AirAsia can look into as customers today are concern about the servic es more than the features that the company can provide. As mention earlier, developing a vision statement is a key to direct a company and to help secure the companys future. Conversely, a poor vision statement may mislead a company to the wrong direction. What AirAsia are accomplishing whenever developing a vision is actually expressive AirAsia expectations for its business. Although the new vision will not notify exactly how AirAsia are going to reach the entire destination, it does establish the course for its business planning. For example, being a leader in the industry is particularly new goals for AirAsia to achieve. AirAsia should consider come out with a unique selling proposition that competitors would not duplicate from like having a strong and large customers base, using the latest and advance technology that the competitors does not have, having the safest security aids and so on. In this point of view, AirAsia faced tougher strategic decisions on choosing technology option and so forth. Next, we can see that the new vision statement stated that AirAsia wanted to be the most recognized low-cost airline company in Asia. Being the most recognized low-cost airline company needed a lot of exposure to the public such as advertising, sponsoring and so on. In this case, AirAsia will require making careful strategic decision and actions on the publicity and the sponsorship. For example, if AirAsia does not constantly updating its publicity activities and does not coverage all the target market, then will reduced the customers base and hardly become most recognize Airline Company in Asia. Mission Statement Mission statement is used for defining current business activities, highlighting boundaries of current business. While the analysis of the current mission statement of AirAsia is includes in the Appendix (Exhibit 2.0). After an evaluation of AirAsia original vision statement, the new mission statement is written as: To bring full premier services to the customers yet offering the lowest flight cost. Hence, it fulfilled the now everyone can fly tagline correctly. Next is To have a productive and motivated workforce and build close relationship between employees and the top management. Lastly, is Updating and embracing the technology all the time to meet the goals of AirAsia that is reduced the cost to the lowest. The new mission statement that created to AirAsia is brief and memorable, in other words it is easy to understand by most of the target audience. Besides, it is state clearly the purpose of the particular mission that needed to accomplish in the short period of time. For example, in the new mission statement stated To bring full premier services to the customers yet offering the lowest flight cost has affected the AirAsia to increase the customer value and provide full premier services like the others competitors do. Increasing customer value is not easy as it requires strategic actions and planning by the management. The new mission statement has come out to have a productive and motivated workforce in AirAsia. This simply means that AirAsia needed to keep providing trainings and empower among the employees to make sure the work flow is carrying efficiently and productivity. While building well relationships between employees and top management can be done by organizing team building and applying good working policy to the AirAsia workforce. This mission statement helps guiding AirAsia for shaping its whole organization structure well and flat. In short, the new vision and mission statement that created truthfully can helps AirAsia to go further in the right track and help management to review it as a guideline in making decisions in the future. The analysis of new vision and mission statement do include in the Appendix (Exhibit 3.0 and Exhibit 4.0) AirAsias Resources Strengths and Competitive Capabilities AirAsias major resources are including financial, human, technological, physical, organizational resources and so forth. Those resources can be strength and competitive capabilities that makes the key success factors in the industry. Financial performance is the key to determine the strength or weakness of a company. According to the financial summary analysis in the case, it shows that in the end of 2005, AirAsia has actually earning of US$29.2 million and it is increased yearly. Besides that, AirAsias bank and cash balances are reported up to US$ 86.6 million. This indeed shows a good performance and strength of AirAsia because with the large amount of the bank and cash balances, AirAsia totally can generate internal funds to do any expansion in the future. With this strength as well, AirAsia can meet its key success factors easily in the industry. In fact to has a low-debt-ratio, AirAsia increased its financial strengths too. Next, are the human resources. Human resources refer to employees that working for the company. AirAsias are still capable to keep its employees motivated because AirAsia is extremely supportive and responsive in encouraging and listening to its employee all the time. This made the employees more productive and creative in performing their responsibility. Instead of offering high and attractive salary to its competitors, AirAsia recommend its own policy which are more motivated. For example, AirAsia offered a broad range of incentives that includes productivity and performance-based bonuses, shares and stocks option. In addition, AirAsia implement a sector pay policy rather than hourly pay scale for its pilots. This policy adopted to encourage pilot to enhance flight efficiencies by keeping flight and operating times to a minimum and to cover as much flight sectors as possible daily. All those hard work that AirAsia take not only helped in increase productivity buy also to further st rengthen employees relationships day by day. Moreover, highly skilled employees are also the source of capabilities that AirAsia has that is hardly to intimate by others competitors. Hence, human resources are one of AirAsia strength to match the key success factors. From the innovation resources and product development aspects, at this moment, AirAsia has managed to design its aircraft cabins and this brings to cost reduction to AirAsia. This innovative work helps in increasing AirAsia revenues as the innovation allows for quicker turnarounds between flights. AirAsia also have their own branded credit card and offers corporate travel services. The ability to innovate and come up with unique innovations to lower costs and increase revenues shows that AirAsia possesses substantial quality innovation resources that are valuable. Low cost airline tend to achieve the lowest possible price of the products and services same goes to AirAsia. AirAsia capabilities to reduce cost either fixed or distribution cost is the competitive weapon used in the industry. AirAsia successfully bargained low lease rates for its aircraft, low airport fees and low rates for its long term maintenance contract, allows AirAsia to relatively offer low-cost flights to the customers. This somewhat linked to the physical resources management that is one of the strength of AirAsia. Last but not least, the AirAsia strengths and competitive capabilities that matches the industry key success factors which is the advance and updating, is the technical resources. AirAsia was the first airline company in Asia who apply online-ticketing (e-ticketing) services to its customers. This implementation indirectly helped AirAsia to save up lots of cost, for example the printing cost. To further benefit the customers with technologies help, AirAsia make available for its customers to purchase the tickets at certain hypermarket by setting up a booth there as well as the post office. In short, AirAsia strength is also the capability to leverage on technologies and ahead of its competitors to increase sales and lower cost in the future.

themebeo Epic of Beowulf Essay - Themes and Motifs in Beowulf :: Epic Beowulf essays

Beowulf:   Themes and Motifs    Beowulf is the most important work of Old English literature, and is well deserved of the distinction.   Throughout the epic, the Anglo-Saxon storyteller uses many elements to build a certain depth to the characters. Just a few of the important character elements in Beowulf are Wealth & Honor, Biblical & Paganistic, and Man vs. Wild themes.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Many of the characters in Beowulf are, like in most epics, defined by their status.   But, in addition to status, the Anglo-Saxon culture also adds an element of honor.   To the Anglo-Saxons, a character’s importance, as well as their wealth and status, where measured not only in monetary terms, but it was also measured in terms of honor, fame, and accomplishments.   Hrothgar, king of the Danes, is one example of the Anglo-Saxon measurement of importance in Beowulf.   In Canto 1 the story teller describes his wealth and importance, not as mounds of gold or jewels, but instead as his ability to â€Å"[lead] the Danes to such glory.† and as his tendency to â€Å"In battle, [leave] the common pasture untouched, and taking no lives.† Through this display of compassion for the commoner who doesn’t fight in battles, Hrothgar proves the full extent of his honor and therefore the extent of his wealth and status.   Beowulf, th e hero-prince, also proves his true wealth and status through his deeds as defender of the Danes..   As he fights and defeats Grendel, Beowulf Earns Fame and wealth from his companions, and from the Danes, but more importantly, he earns honor raising him to the level of an archetypal hero.   Grendel, on the other hand, is the total opposite of Beowulf.   He has no wealth, no honor, and he in infamous as an evil killer.   This lack of wealth and honor defines Grendel as a symbol of evil and corruption.   In addition to using Honor and wealth to define a character’s character, the story-teller(s) have incorporated alternating Biblical and Paganistic motifs in the epic-poem.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The original Epic was obviously Paganistic due to the time period of it’s creation. But, as time wore on, the rewriting and touching up of the manuscripts by various sources including religious monks, caused the characters to have slight Christian characteristics. These Christian themes have become very important to the epic to add am element of depth that wouldn’t be possible in modern times due to the lost of the Anglo-Saxon culture and beliefs.

explication of cummings poem since feeling is first Essay -- since fe

explication of e. e. cummings' poem since feeling is first      Ã‚  Ã‚   e. e. cummings' "since feeling is first" is about feeling (802).   This is immediately evident from the title and first line, which emphasize the word "feeling" in several different ways.   The stresses on "feel-" and "first," as well as the alliteration between those two words, make explicit their connection and importance, and the repetition of the same line in both title and first line serves to enhance the effect.      Ã‚  Ã‚   The meaning of the first line is clear, but because of cummings' characteristic absence of punctuation and capitalization as well as sentence structure, the next few lines are more ambiguous.   The first three lines together could be paraphrased as, "Because feeling comes first, who cares about the rules?"   Feeling is first in order of importance, and the rest does not matter.   "Who pays attention" is a rhetorical question meaning that no one pays any attention.   However, the ambiguousness of sentence structure means that the last two lines of the first stanza, "the syntax of things / will never wholly kiss you," can also be read together.   Linked together in such a way, this clause means that structure, such as grammar, is not engaging; it does not seize the imagination or emotions the way feeling does.      Ã‚  Ã‚   This thought is continued in the next stanza, with the repeated word "wholly" linking back to the previous line.   Spring is a time of year known for giddy foolishness, and cummings plays off this idea.   The use of the word "fool" implies that there is a lack of intelligence, therefore that intelligence is important; however, in the next stanza, the speaker lets go of intellect entirely, declaring, "kisses are a better fa... ...Even though during the height of life we may be able to do whatever we want, eventually we will have to follow the rules, so we should make the most of it while we still can.   Because it uses the threat of death to urge the addressee to hurry up and live life to the fullest, especially through love, e. e. cummings' "since feeling is first" is essentially a carpe diem poem.    Works Cited cummings, e. e.   "since feeling is first."   The Norton Anthology of Poetry.   Ed. Margaret Ferguson et al.   5th ed., shorter.   New York: W. W. Norton, 1997.    Professor's Comments: Very well done indeed.   Two thoughts: 1) you might emphasize the paradox involved--even in trying to throw out "syntax," he can't get away from its terms and metaphors; 2) maybe try to get a bit of a smile into your own tone--a touch of wit to match his. But as a whole, fine work.

Janis Groupthink

Have you ever thought about speaking up in a meeting and then decided against it because you did not want to appear unsupportive of the group's efforts? If so, you have probably been a victim of â€Å"Groupthink†. Irving Lester Janis (26 May 1918 – 15 November 1990) was a research psychologist at Yale University and most famous for his theory of â€Å"groupthink† which described the systematic errors made by groups when taking collective decisions(Wikipedia). Janis described â€Å"groupthink† as â€Å"a mode of thinking that people engage in when they are deeply involved in a cohesive in-group. When the members’ striving for unanimity override their motivation to realistically appraise alternative courses of action†(Janis,1972,p. 8). Janis identified eight symptoms(features) of groupthink. They were- 1)Illusion of Invulnerability-This leads the group to excessive optimism, over confidence leading them to take extraordinary risks. It may also lead them to ignore clear signs of risks. 2)Collective Rationalization-Victims of groupthink construct rationalizations and discount and discredit negative feedback and advice from the oppositions. )Illusion of morality-Group members often tend to ignore the ethical and moral consequences of their decisions. 4)Stereotyped views of others-Victims of Groupthink have a stereotyped view towards opponents who give different opinions. They consider them to be too stupid or weak to handle the problem. 5)Pressure on Dissent-Group members apply direct pressure on anyone who opposes the idea or validity supporting a decision or opini on favored by the majority. Example-Body language,Voice tone. 6)Self-censorship-They tend to censor themselves when they have opinions opposing the majority of the group. This minimizes the members doubts and opinions to themselves and not to the group. They withhold dissenting views and counter arguments. Example-Keeping quiet and not giving an opinion due to opposing views. 7)Illusion of unanimity-Victims of groupthink have an illusion that the whole group is in unanimity. This symptom is caused by the preceding symptom. This is due to the false assumption that anybody who doesn’t give an opinion is in unanimity with the group’s decision. Silence is taken as consent. )Mindguarding-A few group members take up the role of mind-guards so as to protect the other members of the group from excessive information and facts that might destroy the majority decision. They stand up to prove the information wrong and label them stupid(stereotyped). This type of dysfunctional operation of an organization has many opportunities for failure. The basic fundamentals of this process are the beginnings of failure as groups seeks conformity and unity as th ey sacrifice everything in order to maintain peace within the group. These eight symptoms of groupthink identified by Janis leads to defective decision making. Victims of grouthink never consider all the alternatives,they do not re-examine the alternatives,they reject negative information and have no contingency plans. The above are due to the stereotyped view of the victims and they act in this way to not disrupt the idea of the majority. This is what the organizations should be careful of. A real life example of â€Å"groupthink† leading to a defective decision making is Challenger Space Shuttle disaster. This occurred on January 28,1986 launched from John F. Kennedy space centre. It was considered to be the most tragic event after John F. Kennedy’s assassination. The presidential commission that investigated the accident showed that defective decision making was the main cause. MTI engineers presented that the mission would fail as the shuttle would not succeed in such cold temperatures. But,the flight officials put forward technical rationalizations faulting MTI’s analysis. One of these rationalizations was that the data was incohensive showing their stereotyped view. The officials also forced Thiokol officials to change their recommendation from avoiding delay to the launch. This shows pressure on dissent. Hence,as expected the mission failed after 73 seconds of the launch killing 7 astronauts aboard. This example shows us how the officials had symptoms of groupthink and how it lead them to a defective decision making process. The challenge for any team or group leader is to create a working environment in which Groupthink is unlikely to happen. Hence we could avoid groupthink by exploring objectives,exploring alternatives,encouraging ideas to be challenged without reprisal,examining the risks if the preferred choice is chosen,testing assumptions,gathering relevant information from outside sources,processing this information objectively,have at least one contingency plan. References: 1)Moorhead,Gregory,Ference,Richard and Neck,Chris P. 1991 ‘Group decision fiascos continue:Shuttle challenger and a revised groupthink framework’. Human Relations 44/6: 539-550. 2)Wikipedia.