Project Management Sydney Water Company

Introduction The essay is a case study analysis for project management of Sydney Water Company. The company decided to develop a project that would improve its customer services.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Management: Sydney Water Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The first section entails the pre-contract planning, business and functional requirements. The second part highlights the tracking of the project against the business case. The third part is on project planning and key milestones. The final part is a table on PMBOK knowledge areas. Pre-contract Planning, Business Requirements and Functional Requirements With regard to pre-contract planning. Sydney Water unveiled the importance of the Customer Information Billing System (CIBS) project to its operations. The project would make the customer services better, supplement the existing information systems and provide efficiency in business. This is how important the CIBS project would have been to the organization. The company did not carry out sufficient planning and specifications regarding the project. This later on resulted to numerous requests for changes and eventually led to colossus extra costs and delays. Prior to getting into the contract with Price Water Coopers, a competent project team should have been set up to do the work. This should have comprised of one member with intimate knowledge in the subject of the project. However, the selected team lacked competencies in handling the work meaning there were no proper mechanisms put in place to select a capable team to do the work. Although Sydney Water realized the significance of a business improvement process, it resorted to the utilization of a computer system during the project. The project was not implemented via a company information technology.Advertising Looking for essay on project management? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper w ith 15% OFF Learn More After coming up with the project, they realized that the computer architecture of the CIBS project was incompatible. Consequently, a functional requirement was not met. It was a business requirement for the company to continue with a project requirement that was integrated. However, this did not materialize. Although testing was a functional requirement, it really delayed and was not done adequately. Relevant documentation was not provided by Sydney Water which made it difficult to have a full access to the selection of a contractor. Nonetheless, apparently, Sydney Water was able to select and evaluate the contractor in a thorough manner. The administration of the contract was inadequate resulting to single variation to the contract leading to a transfer or roles and risks to Sydney Water from Price Water Coopers. Some business requirements were not available for the project. These include important contingencies, hard ware and soft ware that were not included in the initial budget. Besides, from the start of the project, there were unclear procedures on how the project was to be reported to the board of directors. The information given was not clear enough to make the board of directors make a decision or assess the position of the project. Such insufficiency made the board not to be fully informed regarding important aspects and risks pertaining to the project. Management of risks is a very important aspect in any business venture, and more so, in a business project. It is a critical business requirement prior to beginning any project. This is because every project or business is always susceptible to risks. It was therefore a requirement for the project team to identify main risks to the project and come up with sufficient mechanisms of managing the risks.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Project Management: Sydney Water Company specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn M ore Nonetheless, it did not happen by both the company and the project team. The culture of this organization reveals that all project risks have to be transferred to the contractor when outsourcing of the organization’s key projects. The Tracking of the project against the Business Case A business case is a document whose purpose is to provide the project’s baseline by elaborating the benefits of the business as a result of the project (Gregory, 2009, p. 138). Apparently, there was no support of the CIBS project from a strong business case. The company did not provide a version of the business case that had been endorsed by the board of directors. Even though it was an obvious fact that costs were escalating and benefits were reducing in the course of the project duration, the board never asked for the preparation of a revised business case. The board had the mandate of overseeing the project including making some directions for the business case to be revised. Howe ver, the board did not direct the GM-Finance to do a review on the business case of the project and to be responsive on the project’s fiscal matters. The evidence of choosing CIBS project over other alternatives was not adequate. For instance, there was a discrepancy between the cost of upgrading the existing system in comparison to the budgeted cost of the CIBS project. There are changes that were made on the contingency cost by both the DMR and the board. The business case was not revised accordingly to reflect these changes. This was in spite of prompts from several parties alluding to the revision. For example, in 2001, after the DMR findings, the GM – customer services realized the necessity to make some revision on the business case.Advertising Looking for essay on project management? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The director of Sydney Water project made inquiries with respect to the duration required to complete the project and a budget that the board could accept. Within the same year (2002), the internal audit suggested a formal revision of the business case. This was a reflection of the project management’s belief that what really mattered was the successful implementation of the remedy and that costs were flexible. For example, the recommendations to access the business case from the internal audit to the Sydney Water management were embraced and addressed after six months. This did not materialize and the management reported that it was more concerned with the positive results from the project. An increase in costs seems to have been accompanied by a reduction in benefits during the time the project has been in progress. At almost the close of the project, there were ninety people from the CSD performing several duties on CIBS. This required adoption of several strategies for ma intaining business services. These would include outsourcing functions, hiring staff temporarily and beginning business improvements. The extent at which staff reduced due to CIBS was less in comparison to the benefit outlined in the business case. After a multiple revisions on the R3 benefits realization, still the stakeholders failed to approve it. There were some areas of benefit that varied from the initial business case. These include for instance, e-commerce, closure of some offices and ownership changes. One of the views held by the Sydney Water people was that in the public sector, it was possible for projects of this nature and size to not only go over budget, but to also delay. This could be one of the reasons behind not updating the business case. Project planning This is a task that should be done by the steering committee. Their role should be to assess the feasibility of the project, develop the project’s business plan and take responsibility regarding the proje ct outcomes. The steering committee also ensures that there is an alignment between the scope of the project and what the stakeholders require. The scope of the project is supposed to be defined by the business plan of the project which should be owned by the steering committee. In the project undertaken by the Sydney Waters, this was not adequately captured. This is due to the absence of the steering committee to devise a business plan which should outline the project scope. Second, the CIBS project manager did not come up with a specific Project Execution Plan which should have outlined the responsibilities of the project team. The project manager should plan for the project effectively by forming sub-projects to help in the delivery of the project. This took place since the CIBS project was sub-divided into three: release 1 release 2 and release 3. Third, effective project planning requires the presence of a competent project team. The team should work according to what has been laid down in the Project Execution Plan. Representatives from different units affected by said the project should be part of the project team. The team should also comprise of members with requisite skills. The project team for the CIBS project did not have all the required skills to handle the job meaning that there was no plan in place regarding the selection of the members of the team and their specific qualifications. These skills should be part of the process of project planning. The Sydney Water project fell under the customer services division. However, this division did not have a clear channel of communication with the project team. Also, during the project planning in 2000, input was not sought from Sydney Water by PWC. Moreover, due to the dissatisfaction by PWC’s general project plan, Sydney Waters insisted on improvements. This negatively affected the project success. Thus, there was inadequate project planning in this respect. Key Milestones A milestone is a mar k of progress that indicates when important points in a project have been attained. Milestones are embedded within the project’s time frame and show the important path towards the ultimate output. It is the end of a certain stage that shows a work package or phase has been completed. It is often marked by a high profile review meeting, endorsing of some documents and a completion event. There are several aspects in the CIBS project that point to the way in which the management of the project milestones was conducted. The CIBS project was mainly subdivided into three phases: release 1 (R1), release 2 (R2) and release 3 (R3). R1 and R2 were fully implemented even though R2 was not fully functional. R1 had been scheduled to be completed in August 2000 but it took longer than this. The implementation date for R2 was also changed due to technical issues and phased roll out. Implementation of R3 was also delayed from March – September 2002. This was due to requests for chang e in closure of price negotiations. All these delays were due to inadequate project planning and specifications Another key milestone in the CIBS project was the testing of the solution. It ended up taking a longer time than was anticipated. This made the project to take longer than was planned. Testing also produced numerous errors. Correction of errors took longer than expected because changes were to be sent to the STS in the UK and the feedback was not immediate. The management ought to have known this in advance and use another system that would be in line with the project’s time frame. PMBOK Knowledge Areas Process Group Section Evident Not Evident Comments Initiating Develop Project Charter Develop Preliminary Project Scope Statement X Not comprehensive Planning Develop Project Plan/Execution Plan X Reported to be included in 101 page report Scope Planning X Evident though not comprehensive Scope Definition X Unclear Activity Definition X Project was consumer oriented Activity Sequencing X R1, R2, R3 and testing of solution Activity Duration Estimating X 2 years though aims not achieved Schedule Development X Not comprehensive leading to delays Cost Estimating X Changed (increased) Cost Budgeting X Was increased Quality Planning X Incompetent project team Human Resource Planning X Inadequate due to selection of inadequate project team Communication planning X Poor communication between customer services project team Risk Management Planning X Many changes delays leading to project termination Risk Identification X Ineffective at all levels Qualitative/ Quantitative Analysis X Not adequate due to many changes that occurred Risk Response planning X Ineffective at corporate project levels Purchases and Acquisitions planning X Shown by differences in original and final budget Contracting planning X Evaluation selection without relevant documentation Executing Direct a nd Manage Project Plan/Execution Plan Execution X Sub-projects unveiled: R1, R2 R3 Quality Assurance X Presence of review reports Project Team development X Not skilled in the first place Information Distribution X Very poor Solicitation X Not evident Source Selection X Not clear Contract Administration X ineffective Controlling Integrated Change Control X lacking Scope Verification X Not evident Scope Change Control X lacking Cost Control X Lacking due to budgetary variations Quality Control X Not evident Performance Reporting X Evident Risk monitoring Control X Not done Closing Administrative Closure X inadequate Contract Closeout X At termination Reference Gregory, P.H., 2009. CISA Certified Information Systems Auditor All-in-One Exam Guide. NY: McGraw-Hill Professional. This essay on Project Management: Sydney Water Company was written and submitted by user Delaney U. to help you with your own studies. You are free to use it for research and reference purposes in order to write your own paper; however, you must cite it accordingly. You can donate your paper here.

Free Essays on Jungle (Setting)

The Jungle is a documentary about the unfair treatment of workers and the unsanitary conditions of a meat packing plant. The facilities that are described in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle showed the attitude of the people who lived in Packingtown. Jurgis Rudkus was the main character in The Jungle. The house, the meat packing plant, and the saloon all had significant meanings in the book. All three of the establishments affected the family of Jurgis and the people of Packingtown in ways that would change their lives. Jurgis was affected the most of any characters by the establishments. Jurgis was affected by all three of the settings. Jurgis was a Lithuanian immigrant who came to Chicago looking for the American dream. Jurgis was engaged when he came to America, he married a young woman by the name of Ona shortly after he moved to America. The wedding is the beginning and the reason for the rough life of the family. The wedding of Jurgis and Ona puts them into a deep debt. It is customary in Lithuania for family, friends, and guest of the wedding to donate to help pay for the cost. The guest of the wedding didn’t do this and it left Jurgis and Ona with a debt of more than a hundred dollars. This is the reason that Jurgis, Ona and the rest of their immediate family work so hard throughout the story. Jurgis and Ona worked many jobs to try to pay the off the debt of the wedding. Jurgis and Ona both worked hard to pay the debt, that’s one of the reasons why a strain is put on their family life. Jurgis and his family are a part of the working class under capitalism in Packingtown. Capitalism is when a few control the bulk of the m... Free Essays on Jungle (Setting) Free Essays on Jungle (Setting) The Jungle is a documentary about the unfair treatment of workers and the unsanitary conditions of a meat packing plant. The facilities that are described in Upton Sinclair’s The Jungle showed the attitude of the people who lived in Packingtown. Jurgis Rudkus was the main character in The Jungle. The house, the meat packing plant, and the saloon all had significant meanings in the book. All three of the establishments affected the family of Jurgis and the people of Packingtown in ways that would change their lives. Jurgis was affected the most of any characters by the establishments. Jurgis was affected by all three of the settings. Jurgis was a Lithuanian immigrant who came to Chicago looking for the American dream. Jurgis was engaged when he came to America, he married a young woman by the name of Ona shortly after he moved to America. The wedding is the beginning and the reason for the rough life of the family. The wedding of Jurgis and Ona puts them into a deep debt. It is customary in Lithuania for family, friends, and guest of the wedding to donate to help pay for the cost. The guest of the wedding didn’t do this and it left Jurgis and Ona with a debt of more than a hundred dollars. This is the reason that Jurgis, Ona and the rest of their immediate family work so hard throughout the story. Jurgis and Ona worked many jobs to try to pay the off the debt of the wedding. Jurgis and Ona both worked hard to pay the debt, that’s one of the reasons why a strain is put on their family life. Jurgis and his family are a part of the working class under capitalism in Packingtown. Capitalism is when a few control the bulk of the m...

Reflection on the class Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Reflection on the class - Article Example Any sloppy writing could cost me my dream job. According to a Walden University article about communication skills, it is as important as any technical skill needed in a job. Thousands of dollars are spent by companies just to provide communication skills training for their employees. Better communication would lead to better collaboration within the workplace. The interview is an initial step in gauging the applicant’s ability to communicate, understand instructions and demonstrate one’s value system through their answers. It is imperative then for me to rehearse well and prepare for job interviews. Preparation entails knowing what to say when tough questions are asked. I must also show sincerity in answering the questions since people who conduct interviews are used to canned responses. Indeed, a person with good communication skills would not only be hired but considered for promotions as well whenever there’s an opportunity. Creating an ethical system is challenging especially when the environment fosters diversity. Individuals have different value systems depending on their culture. Nevertheless, this can be done in a working environment because the organizational culture provides some sort of a framework that employees must observe. The key to creating an ethical system would be to agree as a group on what values should be prioritized. If it’s honesty and integrity, then the whole team must agree on such they can be put into practice. The important thing in value creation is considering all the stakeholders so that it benefits people within and outside an organization. The creation of value is usually defined by nature of the business as well as the clients it intends to

Case study-essay Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Case study- - Essay Example This leads to the production of the products to the markets while they target a special group. For example, the company is aware that the sick or the people who have health ailments take organic tea makes them come up the organic and maintain the company produce more tea making the group depend on them an remain as costumers. The company also supplied the products to hotels, to learning institution and the shops that market tea. The marketing director explains that the company is much better in the sense that the regulars stick with their products each time they would buy. The Numi tea organization treats the customers with a better option therefore; they had to develop a new market that would target another group of customers. The marketing manager of the group explains that the company’s major customer are the youth since the company mostly sold the products at the learning institutions and the prices were cheaper that all the students could afford. The management of the com pany is trying to come up with ways that they would come up with the best skill that will convince the people from different age groups such as the old. The tea product from Numi explains why the people keep asking at the coffee shops and the restaurants. This happens after a person tastes the tea in the sense that they go ahead and asks where they can obtain the tea or how to come up with tea. The advertisement of the company is all over Facebook and Twitter making the product grows fast across United States of America. Numi’s relationship with its customers The relationship with the producers in Numi is dismal in that they need to come up with a better way of relating the two parties. To Numi the consumers are better than the producers are because the concern on the producers is. Marketing relate well with the consumers since they have to convince the consumers on how to purchase the products frequently and have to buy their tea but not from another company. The company goe s miles ahead to advertise through various available means such as the internet and through the restaurants and coffee shops or the cafes. The producers’ collies with the company and the achievement of the company will eventually lead to the achievement of the producers. Technology and its relations with customers The company has adapted the current technology since they look up for better ways that will attract more customers to adept to their product. Currently Numi uses the tea products and the necessary skill that will lead to development of the tea company. For example, Numi takes advantage of the numerous populations that access the internet. This stimulates the management of the company in the sense that the company advertises its product online and the information get across numerous people. The company has taken advantage of the social media on the internet such as Twitter and Facebook. The company uses these social sites for the advertisements since numerous people across the world access them frequently. However, the management needs to come up with better ideas such as the creating of free posters and post them online or back their services by introducing other services such as the free deliveries. This service will encourage even customers from far countries or states to access the products. Suggestion on methods of data collection Several data collection methods For easy running

Reflection Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 6

Reflection Paper - Essay Example This also creates an ambience where markets, labour and communities are able to function in harmony. Organizational responsibility also involves social investment which has become a necessary part of any business. Transparency of business in the social and environmental context has helped to gain public trust and recognition. Today, organizational responsibility has a much wider implication than merely providing jobs and contributing to the economy through taxes and employment. The concept of organisation responsibilities has been widening over the years. According to surveys, developing a good corporate socially responsible strategy can deliver real business benefits. Three steps are involved in the process of making ethical decisions. These are: moral awareness, moral judgment and ethical behavior. Moral awareness involves identifying the dilemma in ethics. Moral judgment is the acumen required to decide between the right and the wrong. Lastly, ethical behavior means choosing the right course of action. Corporate reputation is the esteem with which an organisation is held by its internal and external stakeholders. The stakeholders base their notion on the company’s past actions, profitability and future behavior. Very often, organizations overlook the importance of having a good corporate reputation and concentrate on other urgencies. But, this does not help in the long run. It is seen that organizations which have focused more on building their own goodwill have succeeded more than others. They have considered their â€Å"goodwill† to be the most valuable asset of their organisation. Some of the benefits of a good corporate reputation are as follows. Economic responsibilities, legal responsibilities, ethical responsibilities and philanthropic responsibilities are the four components of the corporate social responsibility pyramid. Economic responsibilities

Looking At Discipline Investigation Report

Looking At Discipline Investigation Report As anyone encounter a new profession, they dont necessary know the rules, the writing involves, or the traditions yet. In this assignment and the course of this paper, I will investigate the discourse community I hope to join professionally and understand how it works. The purpose of this assignment is to help understand the importance of genre in term of different discourse community. Furthermore, it will reinforce the understanding of ways writing differs among from one genre to another. The discourse community I have chosen is System Engineering (ISE). The field of ISE is rather large and thus I will be focusing on mainly the supply chain aspect of the field. To conduct this analysis, I will be looking over two source of text related to the field of System Engineering and analyze its rhetorical issues, content, structure, and its style language. In addition, I had a chance to interview a person whom is in the field and briefly will discuss on the type of writing the person does a s well. INTERVIEW SUMMARY The person I interviewed is employed at a company who produces semiconductor and supplies to all type of industries worldwide. The person has been employed for the company for about five to six years. He started out as an intern, but today is working full time. He has a variety of job functions within the company, so there is no solid name for the position he is in. However, after interviewing him, I was able to get a view of what he does. After sitting down and discussing some of the writing he does in his work, I got a bit of a reality shock. In many ways, I always assumed that the field he was in involved lots of writing, but this was far from it. Of course he writes, but very little of it. My assumption was he would write lots of documents involving research topics related to his career, since after all, thats what I was I gathered from all the research paper I have to write in my study. Actually, most of his writing was in the form of emails, work orders, presentation slides, and short memos, but its nothing huge like I expected. He pointed out that the skill he use the most is actually verbal. He also explains that in this career, although you write, its just not as often as compared to communication. Since he deals with the supply chain aspect of the company, this is where his where most of his time is spent on. Hes constantly on the phone talking to clients, handling from one order to the next. Additionally, he has to communicate to his superior, co workers, and especially clients. Once I found this out, I actually thought twice about my career for a moment. I wouldnt mind communicating on the phone with clients, but days after days wouldnt be my ideal job. However, knowing this, I have a clue into the type of writing I would have to do in the future, which is limited. Moving on, I then asked him if he ever gone out of his discourse community and what his experience was. He answered that he has gone over to different area of the company, but mainly to socialize. He explains that its different from his community. They speak, act, and even write differently. To connect his experience, he told a story he once experienced working with people from other communities. He once spent a whole six months writing a proposal to give to one of his client on how to improve their supply chain. Once finished and handed over to the client, the client looks at it, but brushes off to the side. Because the proposal was written completely in a different style, the client just couldnt comprehend the materials, nor did he even bother to look deep into it. Right off the bat, he felt it would take too much time for him to analyze the entire proposal. He also noted that he has couple of friends in the business area of the company and they do write a lot more than he does. In term of writing, he explains that its obviously different between what he writes and what they write. They also write proposals and but theirs is long detailed documents while he writes short and brief documents. DOCUMENT SUMMARY In the first article Turning the Supply chain into a Revenue Chain, the author Gerard P. Cachon concentrates a specific area in supply chain, revenue sharing. Revenue sharing is when a retailer shares the profit it makes to supplier. This is different from the traditional method of paying off the item completely. This article has a typical problem and solution approach. The author Cachon explores the company Blockbuster and its video rental problem. Its current supply chain method provides insufficient videos to customers. The solution to Cachon, is to ditch the traditional pricing method and use revenue sharing to solve this problem. Since this article is slim, the author provides a short description of the two methods and then shows the pros and cons in a table to compare them. But whats the purpose of describing the two methods? By comparing the two, it gives the readers or audience an opportunity to look into the advantage and disadvantages between the two and let them decide whi ch is more efficient for their business. This audience can be business owners, instructors, engineers, or even student who is interested in doing research upon the topic. The second article Supply Meet Demand in an Uncertain World. The author explains about companies confrontation with a large amount of number and variety of products on the market, they find it more difficult to determine demands and forecast production. Consequently, they end up having inaccurate forecasts and as a result cost becomes a problem. Therefore he also details a new approach to the remedy the entire forecasting, planning, and production process. To be able to accurately forecast demands, they must figure out their suppliers (retailer, wholesalers, and manufactures) needs. By figuring this out, companies then have critical decision to handle the most unpredictable items; for instance, such as seasonal demands. In other words, the main article discuses the importance of forecasting and how its vital for companies to understand and avoid making forecasting mistakes. The bottom line, forecasting accurately provide production efficiency and save cost, and in return provides mor e profits. CONCLUSIONS By doing the interview and analyzing the two documents, I finally have a broader understanding how to approach different type of writing. Every discourse community has a different style of writing. Whether is written formally or informally, the target audience varies and therefore affects the way the author writes. In the engineering field, the most likely audience for the technical reports is other engineers with a similar background. For example, my professional field of ISE, because the person has to write lots technical reports and as a result, the paper would probably have many technical terms engineers would understand. In the article Turning the Supply Chain into a Revenue Chain, I discovered several key terms that was widely used in these type of writing. This includes: efficient, costly, inventory, revenue, retailer and supplier. In the second article, much same happens with similarity to the first. The format and way the grammar style used in technical reports can also be different. Although, the format is organized like most writing; it has an intro, body and conclusion, with the difference of several additions. It includes a discussion on the findings, and visuals such as graphs, tables, figures, pictures, and illustration. Technical reports have an organized and structured format because a majority of the time, their audience may not read the entire report in one reading. Often times, they may just look for relevant data. So therefore, the way its written, readers are able to open a document, and locate what he/she is looking for easily. What Ive ultimate taken away from analyzing the two documents is the variety and amount of writing involve in my community. In my opinion, the type and amount of writing done varies from different level. A chief engineer in the ISE field would likely have less writing to do whereas an entry position engineer would have lots more. I can safely assume that once I start out my career, there would be more writing involves. I probably have to write things similar to the person I interviewed. This might be in the form of memos, presentations, and work orders.

Does Geography control your destiny? :: essays research papers

Human activity has major effects on geography. When studying the earth you can come to several conclusions about the geography of any particular civilization. Distribution of life in the civilization allows you to analyze whether their geography is their own destiny. Do people control their own destiny? Is geography something that people can control? Technology is really the key to why geography can be overcome by any people.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Throughout the history of the earth we have seen many countries leave their homeland. Most of these countries however, are those that are not landlocked. Countries which were not landlocked organized themselves and set sail for new territories to explore. Boat technology allowed for travel, resulting in the whole world becoming more accessible and allowing people to overcome what was thought to be indestructible geography. Obviously access to the sea lowers transport costs and aids economic growth. Yet this mattered less in earlier centuries. Even in some ancient civilizations, they learned to overcome the problem of not having technology. The original silk route from China to Europe used the camel rather than the ship. Only when ship design became advanced from the 15th century onwards did sea-borne trade gain centre-stage.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  India and China however, were landlocked and were by far the greatest industrial powers in the world till the Industrial revolution. Technology, not geography, helped temperate agriculture and industry to zoom ahead. One way a country overcomes geographical isolation is to improve its transportation infrastructure. Better roads, ports, paths, and other modes of transport provide access to world markets. But a country can only derive full benefits from these investments against a backdrop of good trade and macroeconomic policies. Consequently this leads to the belief that people again control the thought of their own geography.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Note that Europeans migrated in enormous numbers to warmer climates from the 17th century onwards. However these warmer climates were not always easy to live in. The conditions that a person living in a tropical climate would put up with were far greater than those who live in the subtropics. Global warming has been a huge concern in the entire world. In The Wealth and Poverty of Nations, David S. Landes argues that Europe's temperate climate encouraged hard work and capitalist development, while the heat of the tropics brought reliance on slaves.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The communications revolution has shrunk distances. Bangalore, currently the software capital of India with Hyderabad a close second, has proven that landlocked countries can do just as well and that overcoming geography can happen.

United Airlines

United Airlines employees seem utterly incompetent. The recent dog death incident is only the latest in a string of situations in which United employees have screwed up. But the incidents don't reflect a competence deficit at the airline; they reveal a culture problem — and United's leaders must take specific actions to fix it. United Airlines CEO Oscar Munoz must take specific actions to fix the culture problem at his company. (Photo by Jim Young/Getty Images)The ProblemWhen Dr. David Dao refused to give up his seat on a plane last year, specifically United Express employees under contract carrier Republic Airlines called airport security who ended up dragging him off the plane. Weeks later, a United gate agent refused to allow two young girls to board a plane because their leggings didn't adhere to the airline's dress code for â€Å"pass travelers.† And just last week a flight attendant insisted on putting a dog in an overhead bin because its carrier wouldn't fit under the seat and assured the dog's owner that it would be fine up there. The dog was found dead upon arrival at the destination.These employee actions are deplorable and quite a disconnect from the company's brand slogan â€Å"Fly the Friendly Skies.† The employees seem completely opposite from those featured in the company's recent Olympics advertisements which aimed to show that their superhero-like qualities enabled them to ensure the safe, smooth, and fun passage of Olympic athletes as well as everyday customers. The contrast between the company's brand aspirations and its actual operations couldn't be sharper.The DiagnosisAlthough United's employees seem to be at fault, the underlying cause is the company's lack of culture leadership. CEO Oscar Munoz and his fellow leaders are responsible for the huge gap between the company's brand identity and organizational culture. They have failed to engage, train, and motivate employees adequately and appropriately.Munoz is credited with stabilizing the airline's workforce after the poorly executed merger of United Airlines and Continental Airlines in 2010 resulted in a widespread lack of trust between the airline's management and its workers. He also has boosted United's position in monthly on-time performance rankings of U.S. airlines from near the bottom to middle of the pack or better.But he and other United executives have not been effective in cultivating the culture at the company. In fact, they have contributed to an unhealthy and poor-performing corporate culture by:Making vapid promises and setting vague values. After the disaster with Dr. Dao, the airline rewrote its overbooking policies and promised to empower employees to act in the moment to put customers first. Munoz pledged that â€Å"every customer deserves to be treated with the highest levels of service and the deepest sense of dignity and respect. † The company initiated a new employee training program called â€Å"core4† to emphasize the company's four core values: caring, safe, dependable, and efficient.Clearly the recent dog death, along with several other incidents in the past year involving pets being delivered to incorrect destinations and/or dying while under United's care and the fact that the airline remains among the highest of U.S. airlines for complaints, indicate that whatever changes the leaders have implemented have not delivered on their promises. The training has not been effective and its values are at best aspirational and more likely inconsequential.Prioritizing operational performance over employees. United's on-time and financial performance gains seem to have been achieved on the backs of its employees. On online forums, flight attendants routinely complain about what they view as deliberate understaffing. This, combined with the increase in quick turns due to more aggressive flight scheduling, means that attendants have too much to do in too short of a time during the boarding process. They aren't paid until the aircraft pushes back from the gate and they're held accountable for departures delayed by lack of in-cabin readiness. It's easy to see why they often rush through procedures and indiscriminately follow procedures.Not respecting or listening to employees. United recently announced that it would discontinue quarterly bonus payments to most employees and would replace them with a lottery-based system in which those who qualified for the lottery through participation in the core4 program could win prizes.When employees responded in an uproar, Munoz explained that the program's intent was â€Å"to spice up the process a little bit.† His comments suggest that leaders view employee compensation as something needing an injection of fun instead of understanding its role in meaningfully engaging employees and contributing to their livelihood. Also his statement, â€Å"We'll be working over the next couple weeks to make sure we get input from people at all levels,† suggests that employees were not adequately consulted during the conception of the change. RecommendationsSetting prescriptive values. Setting policies and procedures do not help to anticipate every customers and also dictate the appropriate employee's response. Employees must be guided by clear and prescriptive values that help them determine how to handle unforeseen or difficult situations. Vague values such as â€Å"caring† don't provide the specificity that employees need to help them make the right in-the-moment decisions. But if United's leaders were to articulate and abide by values such as â€Å"listen carefully and respond respectfully,† they would increase the likelihood that customers would be treated appropriately.Empowering and equipping employees. It's important for employees to develop emotional intelligence and learn effective communication skills, their hands shouldn't be tied by restrictive policies that dictate certain customer handling and they shouldn't face serious consequences for improvising when the situation calls for it. Moods and e motions influence how well the employee follow the decision process. Leaders should let the employee to have the freedom to make judgement.Aligning employee experience and customer experience.Employees can and will only deliver an experience to customers that they experience themselves , so leaders must train employees the way they want employees to treat customers. Therefore, managers should motivate their employees. If managers only follow procedures and don't take the time to understand what their employees need, employees are going to operate by the book regardless of what customers might really need. If employees are treated as if their behavior is less important than airline performance, they will care less about customers' well-being and more about on-time departures and efficient operations. This will affect the company's profit growth. But if leaders listen, value, and trust their employees, Employees will likely to listen to, value, and maintain loyalty of the customers.

Meet Janus, Father of Zeus and Roman Original

Meet Janus, Father of Zeus and Roman Original Janus is an ancient Roman, a composite god who is associated with doorways, beginnings, and transitions. A usually two-faced god, he looks to both the future and the past at the same time, embodying a binary. The concept of the month of January (the beginning of one year and the ending of the end) is both based on aspects of Janus. Plutarch writes in his Life of Numa: For this Janus, in remote antiquity, whether he was a demi-god or a king, was a patron of civil and social order, and is said to have lifted human life out of its bestial and savage state. For this reason he is represented with two faces, implying that he brought mens lives out of one sort and condition into another. In his Fasti, Ovid dubs this god two-headed Janus, an opener of the softly gliding year.  Hes a god of many different names and many different jobs, a unique individual the Romans regarded as fascinating even in their own time, as Ovid notes: But what god am I to say thou art, Janus of double-shape? for Greece hath no divinity like thee. The reason, too, unfold why alone of all the heavenly one thou doest see both back and front. He was also considered the guardian of peace, a time at which when the door to his shrine was closed. Honors The most famous temple to Janus in Rome is called the Ianus Geminus, or Twin Janus. When its doors were open, neighboring cities knew that Rome was at war. Plutarch quips: The latter was a difficult matter, and it rarely happened, since the realm was always engaged in some war, as its increasing size brought it into collision with the barbarous nations which encompassed it round about. When the two doors were closed, Rome was at peace. In his account of his accomplishments, Emperor Augustus says the gateway doors were closed only twice before him: by Numa (235 BCE) and Manlius (30 BCE), but Plutarch says, During the reign of Numa, however, it was not seen open for a single day, but remained shut for the space of forty-three years together, so complete and universal was the cessation of war. Augustus closed them three times: in 29 BCE after the Battle of Actium, in 25 BCE, and debated the third time. There were other temples for Janus, one on his hill, the Janiculum, and another built, in 260 at the Forum Holitorium, constructed by C. Duilius for a Punic War naval victory. Janus in Art Janus is usually shown with two faces, one looking forward and the other backward, as through a gateway. Sometimes one face is clean-shaven and the other bearded. Sometimes Janus is depicted with four faces overlooking four forums. He might hold a staff. The Family of Janus Camese, Jana, and Juturna were wives of Janus. Janus was the father of Tiberinus and Fontus. History of Janus Janus, the mythical ruler of Latium, was responsible for the Golden Age and brought money and agriculture to the area. He is associated with trade, streams, and springs. He could have been an early sky god.

Mahatama Gandhi and Celibacy and Asceticism Essays

Mahatama Gandhi and Celibacy and Asceticism Essays Mahatama Gandhi and Celibacy and Asceticism Essay Mahatama Gandhi and Celibacy and Asceticism Essay When Gandhi was 16 his father became very ill. Being very devoted to his parents, he attended to his father at all times during his illness. However, one night, Gandhis uncle came to relieve Gandhi for a while. He retired to his bedroom where carnal desires overcame him and he made love to his wife. Shortly afterward a servant came to report that Gandhis father had just died. Gandhi felt tremendous guilt and never could forgive himself. He came to refer to this event as double shame. The incident had significant influence in Gandhi becoming celibate at the age of 36, while still married. [78] This decision was deeply influenced by the philosophy of Brahmacharya - spiritual and practical purity - largely associated with celibacy and asceticism. Gandhi saw Brahmacharya as a means of becoming close with God and as a primary foundation for self realisation. In his autobiography he tells of his battle against lustful urges and fits of jealousy with his childhood bride, Kasturba. He felt it his personal obligation to remain celibate so that he could learn to love, rather than lust. For Gandhi, Brahmacharya meant control of the senses in thought, word and deed. . [79] Towards the end of his life, it became public knowledge that Gandhi had been sharing his bed for a number of years with young women. [80][81] He explained that he did this for bodily warmth at night and termed his actions as nature cure. Later in his life he started experimenting with brahmacharya in order to test his self control. His letter to Birla in April, 1945 referring to women or girls who have been naked with me indicates that several women were part of his experiments. [82] He wrote five editorials in Harijan discussing the practice of brahmacharya. [83] As part of these experiments, he initially slept with his women associates in the same room but at a distance. Afterwards he started to lie in the same bed with his women disciples and later took to sleeping naked alongside them. [82] According to Gandhi active-celibacy meant perfect self control in the presence of the opposite sex. Gandhi conducted his experiments with a number of women such as Abha, the sixteen year old wife of his grandnephew Kanu Gandhi. Gandhi acknowledged that this experiment is very dangerous indeed, but thought that it was capable of yielding great results. [84] His nineteen year old grandniece, Manu Gandhi, too was part of his experiments. Gandhi had earlier written to her father, Jaisukhlal Gandhi, that Manu had started to share his bed so that he may correct her sleeping posture. [84] Gandhi saw himself as a mother to these women and would refer to Abha and Manu as my walking sticks. Gandhi called Sarladevi, a married woman with children and a devout follower, his spiritual wife. He later said that he had come close to having sexual relations with her. [85] He had told a correspondent in March, 1945 that sleeping together came with my taking up of bramhacharya or even before that; he said he had experimented with his wife but that was not enough. [84] Gandhi felt satisfied with his experiments and wrote to Manu that I have successfully practiced the eleven vows taken by me. This is the culmination of my striving for last thirty six years. In this yajna I got a glimpse of the ideal truth and purity for which I have been striving. [86] Gandhi had to take criticism for his experiments by many of his followers and opponents. His stenographer, R. P. Parasuram, resigned when he saw Gandhi sleeping naked with Manu. [87] Gandhi insisted that he never felt aroused while he slept beside her, or with Sushila or Abha. I am sorry Gandhi said to Parasuram, you are at liberty to leave me today. Nirmal Kumar Bose, leading anthropologist and close associate of Gandhi, parted company with him in April, 1947 post Gandhis tour of Noakhali, where some sort of altercation had taken place between Gandhi and Sushila Nayar in his bedroom at midnight that caused Gandhi to slap his forehead. Bose said, there was no immorality on part of Gandhi. Moreover Gandhi tried to conquer the feeling of sex by consciously endeavouring to convert himself into a mother of those who were under his case, whether men or women. This maternal emphasis has also been pointed out by Dattatreya Balkrushna Kalelkar, a revolutionary turned disciple of Gandhi

Relationship Between Buildings Shape And Energy Conservation Essay

Relationship Between Buildings Shape And Energy Conservation - Essay Example Since centuries, humans continued to benefit from unlimited resources of the planet earth while remaining unaware of adverse effects of human intervention on different aspects of human lives. However, since few decades, a huge number of countries have shown their concern regarding the issue of energy conservation that now poses threats and risks to human lives adversely. In order to save the planet, experts (Williams, pp. 23-25, 2002) now believe that besides creating advanced technologies for zero emissions, it has now become very imperative that construction industry should incline towards sustainable designs and shapes of buildings that play a crucial role in conserving energy largely. For this reason, energy conservation has now become one of the foremost priorities of architects, builders, and other stakeholders in the building industry that are now putting efforts to acquire sustainable shapes of buildings for the highest conservation of the energy. From this perspective, the p roposed research will be a minute contribution in the series of such efforts.Research StatementIn this regard, the proposed research will focus on the following purpose statement:â€Å"To analyze the relationship between Buildings’ Shapes/Designs and Energy Conservation†Research QuestionsIn particular, the proposed study will focus on the following research questions:ïÆ' ¼What is Energy Conservation?ïÆ' ¼What falls under the category of buildings’ shapes?

Case response Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Response - Case Study Example Southwest’s growth strategy has always been to stay away from big cities characterized by delays in airports and instead concentrate on secondary options, which basically are less crowded. Such an approach as this has worked for the airline in the past allowing it to swiftly turn around its aircrafts in addition to flying more routes while at the same time staying realistically on time. Nevertheless, regardless of what looks like a cannot-lose situation, the airline could also be taking a huge gamble in LaGuardia; although a pretty secure one. Southwest is an airline that is known for its reliability on timely service, not only for its customers but also behind the scenes. The delay issues experienced in New York cannot just be underestimated-every one of the big 3 regional airports is frequently among the poorest performers especially in terms of punctuality-and will pose a great challenge for Southwest to surmount. Thus for Southwest to turn around the situation, and sustain its fast-turnaround approach of operation, it has its work already cut out. Whitney Eichinger-Southwest’s spokesperson has been on the record pointing out that the airline has proved critics wrong and succeeded in Philadelphia where everyone thought Southwest would run into difficulties (Heskett & Sasser Jr, 2013). Nevertheless, a move to LaGuardia is an exceptional opportunity that will not only open a huge population of business travelers but also the 8 million New Yorkers-some of whom may forego a ride to Long Island simply to snag low fares offered by the airline. This would especially be a catch if Southwest flies to Chicago and possibly Florida. The Airline’s fans in New York will especially be extremely happy since they will say goodbye to long and boring drives out the expansive Expressway of Long Island. In addition, Southwest will have access to a wide pool of weekday customers flying to such cities as Dallas, Toronto and Chicago. The airline will also increase its