Goldilocks Point of Sale

1. 3 Statement of the problem There are several problems in computing the sales using calculator that the owner sometimes encountered. 1. 3. 1 General Problem This study will aim to answer this General question: Will it be useful for the company to have a Point of Sale? 1. 3. 2 Specific Problem Specially, this study sougth to answer the following question * What is the existing system of the company? * What is the advantages and disadvantages of a point of Sale (POS)? Will the company be able to see pictures of their products in the proposed system? 1. 4 Objective of the study The main aim of this study is to design a point of Sale for Goldilocks Macabebe Branch. 1. 4. 1 General Objectvie This study will make a point of sale for Goldilocks Macabebe Branch. And the most common problem in the store is having their difficult time in keeping the sale of record using the manual record method. The researcher had decided to make a system Exclusively for Goldilocks Macabebe Branch.To make th eir work easier and faster so that they can lessen the time they used in keeping records. 1. 4. 2 Specific Objective The study is design to fulfill this intent: * To design and develop a Point of Sales System for Goldilocks Macabebe Branch. * To have a computerized system that will be able to save filefor their products. * To have an automatic calculations of their daily sales. * To reveal the advantages and disadvantages of having a Point of sale (POS). * To make their work easier and faster. 1. 5 Hypothesis of the Study.The proponents hypothesized that the proposed Goldilocks Macabebe Branch Point of Sale (POS) will let the Company their computerized records and pictures of their products and an automatic computation of their sales every day. Most of their problem are on manual process taking a long time of work to encode the cakes and pastries. The proponents added more options related on other system like processing to make the system better. They only have a manual process that work slowly, the proponents assumed that the program processes work quickly. 1. 6

Facebook Sextortion Essay

Sextortion is the latest cybercrime used against children—it a form of sexual exploration one uses guilt, power, or knowledge of certain secrets, to force another person into having sex or performing sexual favors. â€Å"Christopher Patrick Gunn was indicted Thursday by a federal grand jury in Montgomery with two counts of production of child pornography, three counts of interstate extortion, and three counts of using a facility of interstate commerce in furtherance of unlawful activity† (Shyyock, 2012). If convicted he could spend up to 100 years in the federal prison and $500,000 in fines with a lifetime supervised release. Christopher Patrick Gunn was using facebook (social networking site) to extort young girls. He would create phony profiles on facebook then he would send out facebook request to the young girls. Profiles that he used consisted of â€Å"The Justin Bieber Ruse† (when using Justin’s profile Gunn would promise the girls concert tickets), â€Å"The New Kid Ruse,† â€Å"Daniel Rodgers,† Dalton Walthers. â€Å"Tyler Mielke† and â€Å"Jason Lempke. † Once the young girls would accept his friend request they were able to use an internet-base interactive video chat service—like Skype. He would gain their trust so then he would proceed to ask personal questions (bra size, sexual status, etc) once he gathered enough information Gunn would request topless photos. If the girls refused he threatened to divulge the intimate conversations to the principle or place it on Facebook for the public to hear. In order for the prosecution to successfully prosecute Christopher Patrick Gunn the investigation that began in April 2011 after complaints were made from female students at Prattville Junior High School that they were receiving inappropriate picture solicitation request from a Facebook profile, police, crime scene investigators and criminalist have to provide strong evidence about the committed crime. As a result of the complaint filed pertaining to child victimization police rendered immediate action. Since the alleged crime was committed with computers and the Internet the detectives were able to use a computer command—traceroute that is provided with most operating systems. Traceroute is a utility that can detail the IP path (Internet Protocol–an address that is unique to a computer) packets that travel between two systems. It can also provide network affiliations, and their geographic locations. After executing this command the detectives were able to get an account and address leading to Gunn’s Montgomery home. The next step was to obtain a warrant to go to the home to retrieve any evidence pertaining to the crime. So the planning of the crime scene investigation was initiated after the warrant had been granted. Once at the crime scene the detectives knew that physical evidence must be obtained using the proper procedures and the correct techniques because how the crime scene is investigated can make or break the case. The crime scene was immediately secured—â€Å" controlling the movement of those at the crime scene also involves ensuring that no one touches, moves, or affects any potential evidence before the scene is thoroughly documented and processed. (Buckles, 2007) A report was started containing date, time of arrival, visibility, lighting and the weather. The computers were seized –documenting the computer activity, components, and other devices. Detectives determined the status of the computers by looking for signs indicating if they were on, off or in sleep status. With the status being determined it allowed for the contents of the screens to be annotated in the report along with photographs of the monitor screens. In the event that the computers were off, the report would state the status, photographs would be taking, sketches of all wires, cables, and other peripheral devices connected to the computer would be drawn. Labels would be placed on all power supplies, wires, cables, and other peripheral devices that indicate where they were occupied on the computer photographs would be taken once more. Most computers if the power is disconnected it will preserve vital information like who was last logged on, what time, last program used and last known computer commands used. The packaging of the computers would consist of taking the power supplies from the wall outlet and computers disconnecting all wires, cables, and peripheral devices securing them. Tape would be placed on the power buttons– the CD or DVD drives would be retracted this information would be annotated in the report if they are empty, were not checked, or contained disk. Then tape would be placed on the trays ensuring they remain closed. Included in the report would be the make, model, serial numbers, and any user-applied markings or identifiers. Preparations to package the computers would be in accordance with the agency procedures to prevent damage or alterations during transportation and storage a detailed log of the contents would accompany the package. However, if the detectives came upon a crime scene that revealed the suspected crime or parts of it (i. e. chat room activity, instant messaging windows, child pornography) on the computer screen the detectives would have halted the data evidence capture. A telephone call would have been made to request assistance from more experienced personnel in retrieving volatile data capture and preservation. The computer would have been left connected to the power supply due to the evidentiary value is in plain view. The detectives would have kept the scene secured awaiting expertise. But the search for other evidence would continue. Things such a passwords, software manuals, text or graphic materials printed from the computer would aid in the investigation and should be documented and retrieved with less handling in accordance with departmental guidelines. In addition to the computers a cell phone was recovered as digital evidence it too would have been documented, photographed, and received by experts to preserve its integrity. The power supply along with adapters were labeled, logged and would have been collected in accordance with procedural guidelines pending forensic examination. â€Å"One of the final steps in the crime scene investigation process, prior to releasing and exiting the crime scene, is to conduct a debriefing. † (Buckles, 2007) During this debrief it would give all parties involved a chance to verify completion and revisit if what was planned actually took place. It is also a time to gather all pertinent reports and other documentation gathered during the investigation—so that the lead investigator could compile all documents into a central case file. Lastly, to safeguard that all evidence that was collected a â€Å"final survey and post-investigative walk-through of the crime scene is needed before releasing and exiting the scene. † (Buckles, 2007) Once the scene has been exited the evidence would be taken and released to the computer forensic team so that they may obtain possession of the computer, all networking mappings from the system, and external physical storage devices. They will use tools and software suites to electronically identify what data could be recovered — bit – stream copies, log files, photos, cookie information, URL redirection, and E-mail headers. The forensic analyzer would generate a report including: name of investigator, list of router evidence, document of the evidence and other supporting items, tools used, list of devices and setups used in the examination, brief description of the examination steps, details on the findings—information about the files, internet-related evidences, data and image analysis and conclusion of the investigation. Hence the evidence that was collected by the Montgomery Police Department along with other investigators from the surrounding states corroborated and determined that Gunn had also committed crimes against young girls in their jurisdictions. The FBI was able to develop evidence that showed that Gunn was the person behind all the criminal conduct. In fact, the FBI has reason to believe that Gunn may have targeted hundreds of other girls in various states across the country, with some as young as 9 and 10 years old† (Weissman, 2012). In conclusion the electronic evidence that needed to be collected were the computers, cell phones, images and videos of child pornography, along with any other pertinent evidence like passwords, software manuals, text or graphic materials printed from the computer that could be used to solidify a conviction. Legal requirements for crime scene documents to be admissible as potential evidence in court must be obtained in a manner, which ensures true accuracy and validity. The constitutional rights of the perpetrator also present challenges. The prosecutors have to ensure that the experts who have examined the data do not breach client-attorney privileges and other privacy issues related to the digital evidence. The chain of custody is very important in ensuring a successful prosecution. Even though the evidence is strong other challenges need to be overcome like the presentation of the evidence discovered. Prosecutors do not typically know how to present electronic evidence to a jury. They need to understand the basics of electronic evidence so that they will not confuse the jury with computer jargon, or bore them with the expert’s testimony because it is delivered in an advanced technical manner. The prosecutors need to give the jury a basic foundation so that later they will understand the more technical issues. The prosecution should use a combination of oral testimony and demonstrative vidence so that the jury and the judge will understand later in the trial when expert witnesses are testifying. The prosecution has an obligation to present his/her case; the demonstrative evidence should be used to subconsciously condition the jury to believe your expert is knowledgeable and credible. The understanding will enable the jury to believe/not to believe the expert’s ultimate conclusions. If the prosecutor and the computer evidence collected were gathered in accordance with the departmental guidelines the prosecution will be successful.

Theories of Communication: Narrative Theory

In other words, language use in self-narratives accurately reflects human personality. According to communication theorist Walter Fisher, humans are natural storytellers (1978, 1984, and 1987). We continually weave discrete events and experiences together into coherent wholes that have all the features of stories; a plot: characters: action: a sequence of beginning, middle and end: and a climax. 1. 1. 1 Narrative Paradigm Narrative paradigm is a concept in communication theory and was developed by Walter Fisher. The concept is adopted from the oldest form of communication – story telling.He stated that all meaningful communication is in the form of storytelling. Calling his theory narrative paradigm, Fisher defined narration as â€Å"symbolic actions- words and/or deeds that have sequence and meaning for those who live, create or interpret them† (1987, p. 58). Fishers claimed that narrations abound in everyday life. You go to a mosque, church or temple, and a religious leader tells stories. Lawyers too tells stories when they give Jurors accounts of what happened and why and who is to blame (Burner, 2002).Peoples past experiences influence our need for communication and also base our behavior. Thus narrative paradigm is very helpful in analyzing the nature of human communication. 1. 1. 2 Good Reasoning In western cultures, rationality is considered extremely important. We are taught to evaluate the worth of ideas and arguments by Judging how much evidence is provided. Fisher thought the Western emphasis on â€Å"pure logic† and conventional rationality was excessive. He also thought that logic or strictly rational thinking do not always explain why we believe what we do.In his original statement about narrative theory, Fisher (1978) claimed that telling compelling story is more persuasive than cads of statistics, expert testimony, and logical deduction. People are basically story telling beings. We make decisions and form beliefs on the bas is of good reasons. We consider a good reason depends on history, culture, personal character and biography. Narrative rationality is evaluated by the coherence and fidelity of stories. Life is a set of stories: in choosing to accept some stories to reject others, we continuously re-create our lives and ourselves. 1. 1. Narrative Rationality, Coherence and Fidelity To answer reservations that the narrative paradigm provided no standards for judging the quality of various stories, Fisher presented the concept of narrative rationality. He claimed that not all stories are equally compelling : that is not all stories have the same power to gain our belief. We Judge stories on the basis of a distinctively narrative form of rationality, which Fisher saw as quite different from conventional criteria of rationality. Fisher identified two standards for assessing narrative rationality, which is coherence and fidelity.Coherence refers to formal features of story conceived as a discrete sequenc e of thought and or action in life or literature (any recorded or written form of discourse) e. It concerns the question of whether or not a story coheres or ‘hangs together' whether or not the story is free of contradictions. In a story, we examine how the story strings together, how probable the story seems, are the important details included, is it free from contradictions, how does it compare with other stories, and do characters behave/think consistently.How do you decide whether the story makes sense? Fisher suggested that we first ask whether a story has internal coherence. We Judge whether the storyteller has told us all of the important details so that the outcome is believable. The way we assess coherence is to compare a specific story we are told with other stories about the same or similar situations, events and so forth. Fisher's (1987) second standard for narrative rationality is fidelity, which is defined as â€Å"the extent to which a story resonates with list eners personal experience and beliefs†.According to narrative theorists, we find stories believable when they are act as we do or as we would like to see ourselves acting. Fisher's explains that the standard of fidelity involve Judging the values in narration. When we identify with a character, we regard her or his action as admirable, worthy, reasonable. When we accept a story as true and right, we Judge it to reflect the values in which we believes and the ways of the world as we have experienced them 2.Weakness of the theory There are 3 major weaknesses that are commonly being brought forth by other scholars and they are: I) Incomplete description I') Too broad iii) conservative bias Incomplete description: Most scholar are skeptical that the theory could comprehensively describe all forms of communication. One of the arguments are from Robert Roland(1989) that stated that not all form of communication are narrative and do not attempt to be. As an example, Robert highlighte d that science fictions and science fantasy stories do not attempt to make sense in term of most people's experience and value.He stated that the main purpose of science fictions and science fantasy is to challenge prevailing values, experience and ways of being in the world. In the perspective of communication, scholars have identify 2 types of communications that do not apply to the narrative theory. 1st, Kirkwood (1992) argues that Fisher's view of narrative had failed to explain how stories create new possibilities, new version of ourselves and social life. This is because like the story of Martin Luther King is out of the standard form of storyline among the people within that timeline in how they see themselves and how they are suppose to act. Andy, James Cheeseboard (Bibb) believes that the theory are unpractical to the extend that if it is true it could cause harmful social consequences. For an example, the narratives of injustice and the right to revenge that are very commo n in most stories. Thus we could infer that assuming that the narrative theory is true it would incite riots and killing, thus it seem that Fisher did to account the impact of stories in developing new vision or how it would instigate harm.Too broad: In establishing a communication theory, it is essential to create a distinguish it self from another. Thus when Fisher stated that all form of communication is a form of narrative thus he is simultaneously stating that everything and nothing in the same time. Such sweeping statement on the view of communication do not assist researchers, scholars and the general public to identify the important distinction among the myriad forms of communication.Conservative Bias: Finally the third weakness that one could identify is that the theory is very insensitively bias. In the context of evaluating theory, conservative is referred to the preservation of existing or established values and practices thus due to that, according to William Kirkwood ( 1992)Fisher's idea of good reasons give privilege to prevailing value and attitude and focus less on to the ways in which stories can promote positive changes in the human condition.This contradiction can be seen in one of the narrative rational criteria of fidelity. Whereby there are cases of when even if the stories that we here ‘resonates with the listeners personal experience and lives'(Fisher 1987) but in truth even if it is consistent with our experience we tend to find some stories to be more credible from one to another. As an example, a video entitled ‘A Man Falls down and Cries for Help Twice. The Second Time, My Jaw Drops. On the www. Purports. Mom shows a man wearing a hooded,pair of Jeans and a snowman lying down at a town square calling for help, but after 45 minutes there was no one that came to assist despite of the large crowd passing through. This shows that despite of the general experience of being sick, and the general believe of doing DOD no one was convinced that the guy was sick or need any form of assistance. In addition to that, Kirkwood argues that this standard of Judgment encourage us to say only what will square with the other's experience and to avoid challenging prevailing views, vale and the status quo in social life. . Strength of the theory There are 3 major strengths that are commonly being brought forth by other scholars and they are: I) Heuristic Value it) Parsimonious iii) Dynamism Heuristic Value: Narrative theory is viewed as an original work of study that has a high value of evolve as it has provoke new perspective of communication, the nature of reason and the bases of Judging rationality Narrative is considered to be a major approach to rhetorical criticism (Bureaucrat, 1995, p. 271).Within rhetorical studies, narrative has been theorized as a rhetorical paradigm, and has been used in the analysis of various case studies from the speeches of Ronald Reagan to the rhetoric of the American Civil Rights movem ent (Lewis, 1987; Sells, 2008). The concept of narration also has been said to compliment well with Aristotle ancient treatise on rhetoric, ND it redefined as a primary component of a speech. In a section discussing the organization of speeches, Aristotle (2007) conceives of the narrative as the part of the speech in which a speaker leads the audience â€Å"through the facts† of the speaker's subject or case (p. 38). The narrative section of the speech should vary according to the type of speech delivered. In an influential work, Fisher (1984) has argued that narrative is a fundamental paradigm of human communication. Under the narrative paradigm, human beings are defined by their roles as storytellers, and narrative is a constitutive part of human nature. According to Fisher (1984), rhetoric is â€Å"communicated ultimately as stories meant to give order to human experience† (p. 6).Furthermore, narrative can be conceived as an alternative to rationality as a way of un derstanding the world, and is more intuitive than reason because it does not need to be taught Fisher's narrative paradigm has since been critiqued and expanded upon (for more on the narrative paradigm, see also Fisher, 1985; Fisher, 1989). Parsimonious: Due to the simplistic nature of the theory that uses a limited number of concepts to explain communication, the theory had multiple applications in different fields.Narrative has been studied in fields such as: rhetoric, literary theory, philosophy, history (see for example: White, 1980), psychology, political communication, journalism, studies of folklore, persuasion theory, media studies rhetorical studies, and political communication. In communication, scholars have studied narrative's role in politics and their use in news media. For example, Bennett & Delano (1985) present a pessimistic view of political narrative, arguing that narratives transmitted through mass media act as barriers to solving social problems by casting polic y issues in simplistic, ideological terms (p. 8). For Bennett & Delano (1985), the power of narratives to label political participants as â€Å"heroes† or â€Å"villains† or â€Å"deserving† or â€Å"undeserving† create â€Å"public policies that are rationalized by the construction of social problems for which they become solutions† (p. 159). Other scholars have also examined the ways in which Journalists use narratives in the construction of news content (see for example: Lull, 2001, p. 11-26; Gangs, 1979, p. 78-115) Dynamism: The theory is very dynamic to the extend where it could evolve and compliment in any form or context in the view of life .Fisher had rebutted the idea of how his theory could and would maintain the status quo. In his critical article in 1987, Fisher stated human beings are wonderfully creative and imaginative beings. Thus he claims that we are able to invent and accepts new stories when they are better explained or offer a better direction for future living than the stories had heard and believed. This is proven in the case of Hill vs. Thomas. During and immediately after the court hearing, the national polls reported that a majority of those polled had thought that Thomas story to be more credible than the one told by Anita Hill.However, a year after the hearings, when the people thought more about it, the majority of that poll has shifted their votes toward Anita Hills account. This shows that given time to consider and weigh of both stories, people could come to believe one that initially they had found lack of credibility. This shift suggest that fidelity ,may not be fixed at a moment but may shift in response to additional experiences and or reflection. 4. Examples f the theory 4. An article about narrative theory http://www. Marketing's. Co. UK/trends/brand-storytelling-narrative-theory/ 4007279. Article The Marketing week has made a cover on application, effectiveness ND importance of The narra tive Theory in delivering an effective branding image building. In the article Jonathan Bacon stated that ‘Storytelling, or providing consistent and compelling content to build a picture of a company, is becoming more important as people scrutinize brands and businesses. A research done by Monopole; which was commissioned by brand storytelling agency Aesop; attempts to define storytelling according to 10 criteria, including whether brands â€Å"have a clear sense of purpose†, whether consumers are â€Å"intrigued to see what they'll do next† and whether those brands â€Å"create their own world†. More than 1,500 1-J adults were asked to rate 100 major brands against these criteria before Monopole used the responses to compile a 81st of the best storytelling brands. The following are the results of the research.Thus we could conclude that a good brand story is important and this is supported by Deed Woodcock, strategy director and co-founder of Aesop which believes that a transparent and famous goal is paramount too believable brand story as an example, he state that Apple's top ranking is the result of its almost evangelical commitment to creating technology that improves people's lives and the clarity with which it tells that story. â€Å"Its sense of mission manifests itself in everything it does: from the design of its products and stores to the simplicity of its advertising,† he says.Apple is currently running a campaign using long copy to explain the story behind its products. Woodcock commented that in the cases of utility firms, the ineffectiveness of their branding strategy is due to poor marketing or bad publicity. â€Å"Even though utilities could be said to have a noble mission, perhaps the story the consumer tends to hear is fat cat utility rips off defenseless consumers',† he says This is consistent to Fisher's theory which stated that fidelity and coherence are crucial in evaluating a story.Thus a bad publ icity would tainted the rationality of the theory, with even if it has good reasoning it is not consistent with how the general public perceive these utility companies. Given the central role that storytelling plays in developing a brand's identity, it is perhaps not surprising that the ranking is dominated by some of the world's biggest brands, with Apple topping the list and other brands such as Coca-Cola, McDonald's and Heinz featuring in the top 10. But the study also offers an interesting insight into perceptions towards different industries.For example, while retail, food and drink and FMC brands fare particularly well in the rankings, brands in the utilities, financial services and automotive sectors are considered less adept at storytelling. The highest ranking financial services brand (Visa) is 30th out of 100, while the best storytelling bank or building society (Nationwide) is only 53rd. The top storytelling brand in the utilities sector comes 55th (British Gas) and the b ottom four brands overall are all utilities, with Scottish & Southern Energy (SSE) receiving the lowest ranking 4.Participation Observation & Interview SURVEY QUESTION ANALYSIS 4. 2. 1 Respondent background A survey was conducted on 21st of April 2014, at KILL cafe and the following are the backgrounds of our respondents. They are separated in two types of demographics which is local and international student of KILL. There are four local students which is consist of 2 Malay, 1 Chinese, 1 Indian ,and there are six international students which is consist of two Indonesian students and four from Arab countries (3 Sudanese, 1 Nigerian ). They are ages group are ranging from 18- 25 years old.The survey was conduct by a face to face interview. . 2. 2 The Finding Overall during our survey, there were one main question that was focused which is how does the general public of KILL student identify and rationalize a lie and it was found that 7 out of 10 respondent has given a response that i s consistent with Fisher Narrative Rationality Criterion. Which are Fidelity and Coherence. This can be seen throughout respondent 4-10 whereby when ask about being lied to all would have similar methodology of identifying a lie.Which are either through Fidelity Leg: There were lack of details that was told (lack of value in narration), She use the lying that I also use to tell people (personal experience) or Coherence [The story that the liar told me doesn't hang together (consist of contradiction). The flow of his story was not consisted with what I know (Inconsistence in sequence)] On the other hand, there are instances during our interviews that were not align with the Narrative Paradigm. [By looking at the pace of his speech (body language), He acted guilty (body language+ personal experience) He confess it by himself] 4. . 3 Summary It can be concluded that; in general, Fisher's Narrative Paradigm theory is applicable to the masses to KILL student but to a curtained extend. As what has been found via the analysis above there are a few findings that shows that there are some of the general student that do not Judge reason only from the sequence of a story and whether it make sense but they use other technicians like body language, analyzing body reaction, or some would Just tell the respondent that they had lied previously.Which to a certain extend derailed from the perspective that Fisher had brought forth which is communication is a form of narration â€Å"that all forms of human communication need to be seen fundamentally as stories-?symbolic interpretations f aspects of the world occurring in time and shaped by history, culture, and character;†( Human Communication As Narration: Toward a Philosophy of Reason, Value, and Action, Walter R. Fisher 1987) as for body language require a skill set and intuition rather than a layman interpretation off unconvincing story.Narrative theory by Walter Fisher is still applicable in this current society. Ther e are certain people who usually talks to themselves but most of them are talking to other people and that makes them involve in becoming the narrator or a storyteller. Secondly, we make decisions on the basis of good reasoning or logic. When we deciding things in our life, we tend to think logically rather than Just Jump into it. In order to make a good decision in life, people will think logically especially in making decision. Fisher's Narrative Paradigm is a very useful theory that explains one aspect of human nature.Fisher tells of how we are basically â€Å"storytelling animals† and how the receiver of the message Judges the credibility of the message due to its consistency or coherence. For example, when we feel sad and automatically our face will turn to something unpleasant. Suddenly there is someone notices the changes of our motions and he or she will automatically ask us about what happen and we explain it to them. The explanation done by us is what we call as nar rative and this is what Fisher trying to explain that human is a natural storyteller.Nowadays the theory is most prevalent in marketing. Marketing executives are actively seeking to fulfill these two criteria to make their brand more appealing towards their customers. Even though there are only two criteria stated by Fisher, there are more criteria a person would Judge a person narrative, especially in two way communication. Thus, even though Fisher succeed to capture on why human is a storytelling species, it does not explain fully on the traits that an individual would Judge others in real life.In conclusion, narrative theory is applicable in the current society and it is present in our everyday life. 6. Suggestion to improve the theory Our suggestions to improve this theory so that it is applicable in current society are to narrow down the scope of the theory. Two major criticism of narrative theory is it could not comprehensively describe all forms of communication and the broad ness of the theory. This problem can be avoided by narrowing down the scope of which narrative theory can cover.This meant that narrative theory needs to specify what type of communication it should represent. Another criticism faced by narrative theory is conservative bias. This criticism the nature of theory that conclude that human beings have a set of template on how they would respond to a specific conditions. Responding into this criticism, narrative theory needs to acknowledge that a person acceptance of a narrative can change overtime. This way, narrative theory can accommodate the flexible nature of human being.

Initiatives to develop respect towards referees in the United Kingdom Essay

Initiatives to develop respect towards referees in the United Kingdom - Essay Example Sports is an important part of our society as it brings people from varied culture and backgrounds at one place cheering for their teams and players. These people can be from different places, religion, caste and various other factors which are considered discriminatory in social norms come to an end in a sports extravaganza. Players are their heroes; they worship them, idolize them and try to imitate them. There are great things to learn from the sports, about winning and losing, sportsmanship spirit, respect for other players, etc. which bonds the society together. The major sports events and all sports fixtures are occasions on which people can open up towards those who are different themselves and learn something about others, for sport is also unrivalled as a force for bringing together and mixing different types of people and their cultures in short for allowing them to meet and to share something other than mistrust, facilitating communication and probably combats prejudice, t he tendency to make valued judgments and the types of belief that give rise to hatred and intolerance (Bodin, et al , 2005, p.163) Commonwealth of Australia (2008) once stated that â€Å"— it (sport) helps to build social cohesion that binds families, communities, regions and the nation. No other facet of our culture has the capacity to bring together so many different streams --- breaks barriers and unites those who have nothing else in common’(Hoye et al, 2009, p.225). These among the few are benefits of sports events inspiring younger generation to achieve excellence in their field. As mentioned earlier, sports benefit the society with positive inspiration but also spoil the society with the players on field behavior. It is further stated that in professional team sports with a high public profile, including association football (soccer), disciplinary transgressions by players and sanctions that are taken by referees provide a rich source of subject material for debate among pundits, journalists and the general public. The action of players and referees in UK football are keenly and intensely scrutinized in the modern day game in the event of foul play which is followed by referee’s action that in turn creates situation between players and referees, wherein players disrespect the decision of on-field referees (Dawson et al, 2007). Regardless of legitimacy, individual referees have always been easy targets and they have been accused, on innumerable occasions, of destroying the game and even influencing the outcome through partial as opposed to merely incorrect decisions. In football the referees have to consider both the ethos of the game and the playing culture, and relate these to the rules of the game. Refereeing is a complicated process, in which one has to deal with rule interpretation in light of the culture and ethos of the game as well as pressure from authorities, players, supporters and the media (Carlsson, n.d.). This paper attempts to discuss why referees in the United Kingdom are leaving football and what are the initiates carried out by Football Association, UK and UEFA for referee retention and develop sense of responsibility among players and other stakeholders apart from discussion the consequences of referee dr op out and abusive actions the match officials. Reasons why referees drop out Every year 7000 football referees are quitting because of abuse on the pitch and the touchlines which may mean shortage leading to inevitable destruction of the game in some areas. The FA spokesperson quoted that there are two and a half million people who want to play more football but there is shortage of referees and estimates that 20 percent of the games are played without a qualified match official (Mole, 2009). White

Lasting Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Lasting - Essay Example â€Å"Lost Your Head Blues† is a blues song popularized by Bessie Smith in 1926. It is composed in an AAB format, characteristic for blues songs. This song is written based on a â€Å"vaudeville† or solo stage performance, which is very common during the 1920s. The songs talks about painful relationships and difficult circumstances. The song reflects the typical musical taste and genre of the African American population and heritage. â€Å"Lost Your Head Blues† uses only three instruments: piano, vocals, and trumpet. Most blues songs are composed or played using these musical instruments because during the vaudeville times or stage style blues period, these instruments are nearly ubiquitous because of the rise of the ragtime music in the 1920s. The song starts with an introduction of a trumpet with an accompanying piano that combines with the singer’s voice. The trumpet makes some bending of tones and melodic layback. On the other hand, â€Å"Erlkonig† is typically sung or played using vocals or piano or both as it was originally adapted, particularly by Franz Schubert. Nevertheless, nowadays, this song is performed in a concerto-style performance with a soloist, usually a soprano, accompanied by a symphony

Managing innovation is key driver of growth in the new economy Essay

Managing innovation is key driver of growth in the new economy - Essay Example If you want to sustain in this big ocean with lot of large creatures, you have to find out your own hideouts. Niche areas always help you to survive. But niche and exclusive areas will not continue to be as it is. One day some one will find this hide outs to trespass. Then there will be large number of players in the same field, which will in turn increase competition. In a highly competitive business scenario small units will find it difficult to survive with their limited resource. Without innovation, an enterprise could not strive for a long time. Entrepreneurship is considered as a key element in the new economy, and new enterprises are contributing to create a dynamic business environment through economic growth, opening of new job opportunities and innovation of production processes and products. (Enterprise DG Working Paper on Business-related services: a key driver of European competitiveness. An enhanced economic analysis, December 2004, European Commission Enterprise Directorate-General, December 2004). For guiding an enterprise into a long term success path managers need to concentrate more on innovative practices and products. Managers have a major role in starting the process of innovation in an industry. Investment in acquisition of new skills, new organisational structures, new ways of co-operation, creation of new enterprises and relations with customers and suppliers are some of the guiding forces, which help managers to go for innovative practices. (Enterprise DG Working Paper on Business-related services: a ke y driver of European competitiveness. An enhanced economic analysis, December 2004, European Commission Enterprise Directorate-General, December 2004). Constant innovation process will give industrial units an added advantage in the present global scenario. It gives companies an additional strength than competitors. But the word innovation is easy to say than implement. The word itself stands for risk. When you introduce an innovative service or a product, it is only a concept in the market. You have to convince the customers and clients on the new concept. There won't be similar model in the market. So it is a matter of hard work to get result. One in ten innovation drives fail due to lack of direction and commitment. The major concern is that people are yet to understand the innovation process. It is long term, struggling and expensive. Manager need to bring in skill and expertise to win the race. It involved lot of phases. It takes long time to give return. It is like a jump without circles. The innovator has to draw his own circle and change the peripherals as he moves on. In fact most of the entrepreneurs recognise that innovation is necessary to renew products, services and business processes and it is a key strategy for competitive advantage and growing shareholder value. But usually they won't jump into it due to lot of risk involved. As a business grows, there will be inertia in the organization. It asks the owner, promoter and employees to move in the same pace. They will look at any changes in the present operational level with suspicion. In many cases these people may have their own ideas to improve the service and product. But usually they won't like to take risk. Managers are actually apprehensive of the response of customers and cli

Enterpuener company Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Enterpuener company - Essay Example This is one of the rare companies, which have had the courage to explore the virgin territory of natural gas in the Rocky Mountains. Mr. Barett decided to meet me in an old coffee shop at the corner of the road and allotted me an hour to complete my task. 2) The company operates in the Rocky Mountains, one of the most endowed places in the U.S., which abounds in natural gas. The company did not restrict itself only in the field of natural gas and has ventured into refining oil too. Two reasons had resulted in success of the company: Firstly, strategic location of the points, where it had set up its drilling inventory, has been propelling growth. The company strongly believes that these points have huge reserves and will result in generation of revenues. Bill Barrett Corporation has spread its operation over five major basins of Rocky and Mr. Barrett proudly informs that the company has proved its mettle and emerged as a dominant player in most areas it operates in and is also the largest, in terms of coverage area, he added. The company is particularly interesting because it maintains a strong balance between developmental and exploration projects. 3) Mr. Barrett informed that when the company was first set up, the main objective of was to establish it as an exploration company in a true sense, so as to tap natural resources of the Rocky and emerge as one of the dominant players among the Rockies E&P company. After more than ten years of operation, the company has gone from strength to strength to establish itself as one of the most significant players in its genre. The claims made by Mr. Barett are backed by the current evidences, like, proved reserves of 197 MMBoe, including 88% growths in proved reserves at three active oil programs. The financial performance of the company is quite robust as the figures indicate. For instance, total debt of the company has reduced by $189 million from 2012, in 2013

English Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

English - Research Paper Example Opposite gender becomes a source of distraction for the pupils in high schools, therefore, single sex schools provide more focused environment to the students by removing their object of distraction. Education is a process which entails transference of knowledge and practices, development of skills and learning of new concepts through innovative and strategic skills of the educator (Burner, p.9). Thus, beneficial teaching entails successful transference of knowledge with the development of quality person along with prominent accomplishments of the learners. The teaching strategies applied and environment impacts adversely or optimistically on the learner, which means either it supports the learning style of the child or it hinders that process. Hence, this process essentially takes place in a specific environment developed by the educator. Therefore, the choice of educator in developing such an environment for the learners impacts hugely on them. Parents and teachers chose and set en vironment for their children, which supports their learning style. ... Therefore, it promoted their participation and rights for higher education, which consequently resulted in admittance of girls in the same schools. The co-education was new and it was considered most beneficial for both girls and boys to learn and prosper; academically. Thus, co-education system is largely prevalent and active in the most parts of the world for teaching both girls and boys. Only in US majority of the schools only offer co-education school system and only a smaller percentage of schools offer single sex school system. In the recent years USA has faced serious decline over quality public education and lower high school graduate rate due to increased drop outs. Thus, government of America emphasized on developing a new policy or strategy, which would fully support the learning of its youth for its technological and educational development. According to study, American graduation rank has declined to 18th position among the developed countries, which is extremely low tha n before (Foster, p.2). Therefore, educators and policy makers have been considering single sex option for all public schools due to its impact on the academics of individuals. The notion which never came under research before was how male and female students impact on each other in an educational setting. In 2008, US Department of Education proclaimed that single sex schools benefit girls to pursue their carrier in mathematics or science as they minimize distractions, which consequently results in improved attention span and achievement record. However, in 2001 a law was passed against single sex schools, which clearly stated that if the single sex schools are equally available for both genders then such an education system can be approved

Economic, Political and Cultural Factors Important for Comfortable Man Assignment

Economic, Political and Cultural Factors Important for Comfortable Managing Business - Assignment Example Porter’s Diamond model assists in analyzing and improving a country’s position in an internationally competitive field. It demonstrates that nations can be competitive regardless of factors like natural possessions such as land and other resources. According to (Botten, 2007), the government has a role of encouraging and pushing organizations to the most competitive levels so as to increase performance and eventually help realize a total joint benefit. Mann’s SPT model only talks of developing the triangles used in profiling countries and organizations, as depicted in by Clarence Mann when the author talks about ways of managing risks in a country using social process triangle.Porter’s Diamond model highlights major points in managing risks in a country. The points outlined here major on; foreign direct investment, government, multinational enterprises, and the Double diamond. Foreign Direct Investment tends to focus within a particular continental area. A ccording to Porter’s model, outward FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) is very valuable in generating competitive advantage as opposed to inward FDI which is termed entirely unhealthy. (Norton, 2009) points out that comparative disadvantage results from foreign subsidiaries being only importers, one of the reasons that have ultimately influenced India’s Coca-cola import and export economy. FDI’s statements have been questionable but results from research and development carried out by foreign-owned firms indicate that the big 20 U.S subsidiaries in India, export nearly as much as the ones they import!

Intercultural Communication Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Intercultural Communication - Essay Example Many organizations hire individuals from different countries to serve in different capacities within their ranks. One challenge that employees face in such organizations is understanding people with backgrounds that are different from theirs (Wang & Li, 2007). In such an environment, employees need to develop skills that enable them to become successful and effective intercultural communicators as they engage their colleagues in communication and as they interact at the workplace. Communication is one of the major components of effectiveness at a work place, the reason being that without effective communication, there are high chances of distortion in the message. This tenet affects the outcome of an instruction or direction and increases chances of poor performance. However, cultural differences have the potential to create considerable difficulty in intercultural communication since culture has a strong effect on beliefs, values, nonverbal behavior, language, worldviews and relationships with other people (Chitakornkijsil, 2010). For the management, intercultural communication facilitates the exchange of meanings between them and other managers from other countries. Managers who have subordinates from different countries working under them face the challenge of encoding and decoding messages in the correct way to ensure that the message is interpreted correctly. Every international manager qualifies as a communicator in the sense that they do or say conveys essential information to someone or a group of people within or outside the organization (Lauring, 2011). In a world where no country is self-sufficient in terms of resources, cultures and markets increasingly converge. For an organization to record considerable success in today’s business environment, it has to adopt cross-cultural teamwork and collaboration (Samovar, McDaniel &

Parenting Styles and Developmental Outcomes Research Paper

Parenting Styles and Developmental Outcomes - Research Paper Example This style manifests in the form of substantial parental control coupled with high level of child supervision. Children raised within an authoritarian environment should be obedient and respectful towards parental authority. This means that children are left with limited freedom (Barton & Michael, 2012). Behavioral conduct and general activities of children under this style should incline closely to rules and guidelines stipulated by parents. Usually, violation of those rules attracts punishment. In this regard, authoritarian style has low responsiveness but high demand on children. Authoritative Style Authoritative parenting operates with pre-established rules and guidelines. This means that parents practicing this style have high demands on behavioral patterns of their children. However, the high demand is offset by high level of responsiveness. Unlike authoritarian with low responsiveness, authoritative parents foster a democratic environment where children can question guidelines set by their parents. Parents adopting this style have a high propensity of forgiveness as opposed to punishment (Barton & Michael, 2012). Therefore, authoritative style has high responsiveness and high demand on children. Permissive Style Permissive parents set minimal rules for their children. This style has few demands on children, and tends to be more relaxed compared to the previous two styles.

Gsis Museo Ng Sining Essay Example for Free

Gsis Museo Ng Sining Essay Museo ng Sining was established in April 1996. Its creation is a tribute to the creative endeavors of the contemporary Filipino. Its vision is to help define the growth and glorious flowing of Philippine visual arts. Its objectives are: To collect Philippine art and artistic expressions from the colonial period to the present . To exhibit and document Philippine and non-philippine art and artistic expressions . To heighten art appreciation among the 6SIS personnel and the general public The 6SlS Museo ng Sining functions not only as an exhibition space but as an ducational technology as well. It has the following activities: Permanent exhibition of the 6SlS Art Collection Changing exhibition in the galleries featuring cultural themes and works of new artists Art activities, lectures, workshops, and films focused on the role of art not only as an aesthetic experience but as a significant factor in everyday life 6SIS MUSEUM HELD ME-DISINING EXHIBIT The Government Service Insurance System (6SlS) held an exhibit in honor of the works of Toribio Herrera, one of the pioneers of Philippine painting in the 1920s who set the tone for modern day artists. The exhibit, titled MediSining: The Art of Toribio Herrera, MD, is held at the Upper Gallery of the 6SlS Museum of Art in Pasay City and ran up to November 30, 2009 In his lifetime, Herrera never exhibited his works to the public nor sold a painting as he did not seek monetary rewards for his art. In fact, his very first exhibition was held in 1972, four years after his death. Born in Tondo in 1892, Herrera first graduated in Medicine at the University of Santo Tomas in 1912. Later, he took a second course in Fine Arts at the University of the Philippines, and as eventually accepted to teach there. Influenced by a deep understanding of both intricate human anatomy and the profound brush strokes and lines that make up perspective, his paintings are a Joy to behold, said 6SlS President and General Manager Winston F. Garcia, in appreciation of the works of Herrera. His scenes are simple yet very moving. Herrera was part of the Amorsolo, Castaneda, Miranda Group of Filipino Genre Masters who set the tone of Philippine painting, particularly during the 1920s. We are lucky that in this country, we have our artists, who keep efining us as a country and as a generation, Mr. Garcia added. SA AMIN MAY SINING The 6SlS Museum, in partnership with Kuta ng Sining, Inc. , also showcased the works of Quezon artists last August 7 to 28, 2009 entitled Sa amin may Sining. The province of Quezon is not only known for its Pahiyas festivity but also for the ingenuity and crea tivity of its home-grown artists. Featured artists in Sa amin may Sining include Noel P. Bueza, Erick Dator, Norman F. Ragudo, Monnar Baldemor, Jowell Gaela, and Efren D. Nantes. GSIS PAINTING COMPETITION cross the country, gives away hundreds of thousands of pesos each year to showcase the Filipinos rich talent in art. For this years competition, the 6SlS decided to have an open theme to encourage artists to explore their best in presenting and conceptualizing their artwork entry. The categories for this years competition include representational and non-representational. The 6SlS will give away Pl . 2 million this year, with the first prize winner for each category going home with P300,OOO. The second placer for both categories will each receive P200,OOO and PIOO,OOO for the hird prize. 6SlS ANNUAL ART COMPETITION The Government Service Insurance System (6SlS) believes in the Filipino artist and his invaluable role in shaping how the country thinks. For the sixth year. , the 6SlS is renewing its pledge to support artists all over the country through the Annual Art Competition, which aims to showcase the best paintings and sculptures of this generation. Beyond ensuring lives and property, the 6SlS also insures national heritage, for a nation that carries its artists is a nation that carries itself forward.

Models of Social Work Assessment

Models of Social Work Assessment Assessment is a vital function of social work acting as the starting point of the process and if not carried correctly can impact on the social workers relationship with the service user. There are no universal definitions for assessment however Whittington (2007) suggests the process is a meeting between a social worker and someone seeking help or services, which maybe held with an individual, family or a group of people. Sutton sees assessment as an ongoing cycle and describes it using the acronym ASPIRE, Assessment, Planning, Intervention, Review and Evaluate. Models for assessment include ecological, strength based, person centred which are often used when assessing a child. The Ecological model focusses on the service user’s environment including close family circle and their wider community, placing the service user firmly in the centre. Bronfenbrenner (1979) states there are 4 layer of environment which effects a service user, microsystem which considers immediate famil y, the mesosystem looks at relationships with extended family, neighbours, friends, work and school, the exosystem includes both the micro and mesosystem but also contains social infrastructure of the labour market, education systems, health and Social services, the final layer macrosystem includes systems including government policy, legislation and culture. Ecogram’s are illustrations often used to demonstrate these layers which can benefit to everyone involved to enable them to see everyone who is involve in his life. Parker and Bradley state the strength based model focusses on the positives in a service user’s life, focussing on increasing motivation, capacity and potential for making real and informed life choices. This model also requires an extensive knowledge of the service users’ environment, living system and wider system to be able to work with them using their strengths. Within this model the power imbalance between the social worker and service user is reduced as the service users is seen as the person with the knowledge of the issues. The person centred model has a similar function as the Ecological and strength based model which places the service user at the centre of any assessment and decisions made during this process. As well as assessment models the social workers also use a variety of approaches including questioning, procedural and exchange. The Questioning approach uses a set of questions to obtain information, the social worker can have preconceived ideas about the service user which could lead the questioning in a direction which may not identify the issues which the service user may see as their main concern, this approach can be seen as a power imbalance in favour of the social worker. The Procedural approach is a systematic process set out by an organisation or framework, with set criteria which identifies eligibility, follows the rules and policies which dictates what the service user is entitled to, this approach also leaves a power imbalance as the social worker dictates what services the service user is entitled to. The Exchange process ensures partnership working where the service users is seen as the expert with an understanding of any issues, information gathered within this proces s is used to enable the service user to see their potential and resources available to meet this potential. There are specific pieces of legislation and policies which have an impact on the child assessment process, The Children Act 1989 states the welfare of the child is paramount, with an overarching system for safeguarding children, it indicates roles different agencies play and introduced the concept of parental responsibility rather than parental rights. A key principle is that Local Authorities have a duty to provide services for children and their families and all children should have access to the same range of services. The Children Act 2004 updates not supersede Children Act 1989. The aim is to encourage integrated planning, commissioning and delivery of services as well as improve multi-disciplinary working, remove duplication, increase accountability and improve the coordination of individual and joint inspections in local authorities. The Children’s act does not specifically state children referred automatically have an assessment, however if a child is deemed in need t hen the child must have an assessment, a decision which must be made within 24 hrs., once this decision has been made an assessment needs to take place within 7 days. The decision is based on Children’s act 1989 (section 17 subsection 10) outlines the criteria for a child in need, which states: (10) a child shall be taken to be in need if— (a) He is unlikely to achieve or maintain, or to have the opportunity of achieving or maintaining, a reasonable standard of health or development without the provision for him of services by a local authority under this Part; (b) His health or development is likely to be significantly impaired, or further impaired, without the provision for him of such services; Stefan can be seen as a child in need due to his current behavioural issues at school and the ongoing issues with in his family home, both could have an impact on his health and development. If Stefan is displaying behaviours within school this is having a significant effect on his education and therefore development. The social worker will carry out an assessment based on the Framework for the Assessment and Children in Need and their Families 2001 which is based on three areas, often viewed as a triangle, Child developmental needs including education, Emotional Behavioural Development, Family Social Relationships, Stefan is displaying behaviours while at school which is having an impact on his ability to learn. There have also been domestic violence situations within the home, it is not documented if he witnessed this, however the UN convention of the child states that hearing a domestic violence attack is just as detrimental to the child as witnessing the act and therefore has the same affects, this may be a factor for Stefan. Stefan and his mother are receiving support from her sister, but Stefan may have a role in the care for his mother or younger sister. Parenting capacity including Ensuring Safety, it has been highlighted Rhian, Stefan’s mother has physical and mental health issue s which resulted in Stefan and his sister being left in a local park questioning Stefan’s safety. Family and Environmental Factors including Resources, Income, Employment, Housing, Wider Family Functioning. Stefan’s mother is unable to work due to her physical and mental health which may have financial implications on the family. As well as the children’s act 1989 and 2004 and the Framework for the Assessment and Children in Need and their Families 2001, wales has a Children’s families measure 2010 which was published to tackle child poverty. Section 67 of the measure looks at children’s needs arising from community care needs of their parents and applies to any child whose parents may be in receipt of care from the local authority or arranged by the local authority, or they may be in need of such services the authority must decide what services they can provide to the child and / or their family. Section 68 of the measure addresses the child’s need arising from the health conditions, including mental health, of their parents and applies when health services are provided to or funded by the NHS, the NHS must consider the effects of the medical condition on the child and if the child requires support from the local authority. Both sections relate to Stefan’s current situatio n, Stefan’s mother has physical and mental health issues which also may have impacted on the family. The Human right convention of the child (1989) also has an impact on the assessment process, the convention was agree by international governments and stated all children had rights as individual’s not just objects which are cared for. The convention is made up of a 45 articles which outline the rights of a child, Stefan’s rights include a child must not be separated from their parents unless it is in their best interest, every child is able to have a say about what affects them and they must be taken seriously, each child has the right to live somewhere which is able to meet their physical, social and mental needs. If they do not then the government must support families who cannot afford to provide this, Governments must do all they can to ensure that children are protected from all forms of violence, abuse, neglect and mistreatment by their parents or anyone else who looks after them. Another pieces of legislation which needs to be complied with is the Welsh language act, Stefan currently attends a welsh school and his mother is a welsh speaker, Stefan may feel more comfortable if the assessment was carried out in welsh which Stefan is entitled to under the act. When working with a child the social worker needs to use a variety of skills, adapt their approaches and values which include ensuring the process is child centred, at the child’s level of understanding and abilities, advocate on behalf of the child, use observational skills to observe interactions with any significate people. Parker and Bradley state research shows children prefer to be listen to, professionals to be available and accessible, non-judgemental and non-directive, have a sense of humour, straight talking, to be able to trust and, where appropriate, to have confidentiality respected. The social worker must also ensure the process is collaborative working with people involved in the service user’s life including professionals. By using these skills the social worker also complies with the Care council of wales Code of practice which states the social worker must promote the independence of Service Users while protecting them as far as possible from danger or harm. By using the fore mentioned skills the social worker using anti-oppressive practise to ensure the service user is empowered in their continued support. Before and during the assessment process the social worker needs to ensure the issues are not pre-judged, Stefan’s behavioural issues may not be due to the issues at home he may have a learning disability, being bullied at school or finding the work hard which is causing him difficulties, Stefan may be a carer for his mother or sibling which is the issue, often what is perceived as the main issues are not necessarily the same for the person being assessed, if any of the above issues have been highlighted then appropriate assessment would be requested. Other issues which need to be considered would be where to hold the assessment, Stefan may feel unable to speak openly if carried out in front of his parents or within the family home, by carrying out any assessment meetings within his school environment either setting could make him more vulnerable, careful thought needs to be given to where assessment is carried out. While working with a child there are many ethical issues which can arise, when there is evidence a child is being neglected and their safety at risk the social worker has a decision to make, Stefan has been left in a local park due to his mother forgetting him the ethical dilemma may be if Stefan is providing a caring role for his mother and sister removing him from the situation may cause his sister to become more vulnerable and take away a support system from his mother. Another ethical issue could be within the current economic climate carrying out an assessment but being unable to offer the services required by the child and their family, when dealing with a child such as Stefan the social worker needs to gain as much information as possible however the more people who know about the situation could cause Stefan to be more vulnerable, Stefan is also entitled to privacy and the more people who know about the situation could make Stefan vulnerable amongst his peers. The final issue could be Stefan’s parents are currently refusing support, the rights of the parents to refuse services verses the right of the child to have adequate service provision.

Relationship Between Project Management And Leadership Management Essay

Relationship Between Project Management And Leadership Management Essay Executive Summary The following report is critical analysis of Lenovo Groups leadership approach, problems, project planning and decisions made by leadership in the company. Lenovo Groups predecessor was founded in Beijing by few scientists as an enterprise of the Computer Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 1981. Dell and HP who were the masters in Personal Computer products were facing difficulties in localizing their business before 2004 in the Chinese market. At that time they were not a serious issue to Lenovo. They did not create any threat to Lenovo. But when Lenovo started its expansion in 2004 its strategy was affected by the strategies followed by HP and Dell. Lenovo than modify its strategies in order to gain competitive advantage, increase its market share and improve its performance. We will see in following report that how Lenovo adopted project management and leadership strategies in order to overcome the challenges faced in establishing its brand in the Personal Computer ma rket. How Lenovo focused on customers, resisting bureaucracy, and cutting across boundaries thinking globally, demonstrating enormous energy and being able to energize and invigorate others. Leadership style at Lenovo is in general of two types people oriented described as democratic. Project managers at Lenovo organization are both leaders and followers. The project managers leadership position at Lenovo encompasses interpersonal role, informational role and a decision maker role. Lenovo sent many managers to observe highly successful organization where the leadership factors of speed, the bias of action and utter customer fixation have helped drive this high discount store to success. In the result of adaptation of leadership strategies they improved the teamwork and finally Project-oriented approach of company improved international integration. 1. INTRODUCTION Background Working Title The importance of team work in project management- A case study of Lenovo Introduction to Project Management Project management is a disciple that intends to co-ordinate, plan, and control and organizes the diverse and complex activities of todays commercial, industrial, management and Information Technology projects. There is one general characteristic shared in common by all the projects the projection of thoughts, concepts and ideas into new endeavors. Project Leadership: Pulling together the science of project management with effective leadership judgment is the essence of project leadership. The dizzying array of suggestions for leadership combined with the time sensitive project completion challenges create a need for a new model. The model developed offers guidance on how and when to apply leadership principles to the various stages of a project. The definition of project leadership is the systematic application of leadership understanding and skills at each stage of a project lifecycle. Statement of the Problem: Giants like Dell and HP who were the masters in Personal Computer products were facing difficulties in localizing their business before 2004 in the Chinese market. At that time they were not a serious issue to Lenovo. They did not create any threat to Lenovo. When Lenovo started its expansion in 2004 its competitive strategy was affected by the strategies followed by HP and Dell. Lenovo had to modify its strategies in order to gain competitive advantage, increase its market share and improve its performance. This essay discusses how Lenovo adopted project management and leadership strategies in order to overcome the challenges faced in establishing its brand in the Personal Computer market. Background of the study: The Personal Computer industry has been developing by bounds and leaps nowadays. In 2007 the sales of Personal Computers around the world were estimated to about 250 billion units. This represents 10% increase over the previous year. Lenovo is one of the leading Personal Computer manufacturers. It has a product line which includes servers, storage devices, projectors, and printer supplies, computing accessories, mobile handsets, printers, digital products and computing services. The primary business of Lenovo is Personal Computer. It was estimated to yield about 98% of the turnover of the company [Larson, 2009]. In May 2005 Lenovo acquired IBMs Personal Computing Division. After that Lenovo has witnessed accelerating growth in business and expansion of market share. Its share penetrated into the overseas markets too. Lenovo transferred its headquarters from China to USA, Raleigh, North Carolina. Today, the Lenovo group has branch offices in sixty six countries around the world. It has business operations in 170 countries and employs over 30,000 people worldwide. Lenovo is organized into 4 geographical units: America, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Greater China and Asia-Pacific. Within each geographical unit there are functional departments that include transportation, marketing and sales, production and supply chain management. Outside of Greater China the sales compromises of 60% of the total turnover of the company in the next quarter of 2008. About Lenovo: Lenovo Groups predecessor was founded in Beijing in 1984 by Liu Chuanzhi and ten other computer scientists as an enterprise of the Computer Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. In the first years Lenovo was a small distributor of imported foreign branded computers then the company started producing its self branded desktops in 1990 and since then evolved into chinas leading computer firm. In 1997 the brand became chinas top selling PC desktop brand. By 2006 the brand holds the market leadership and over 25% share in china for more than eight consecutive years plus some brand presence in Asia, competing against brands such as Dell, HP and Toshiba. Over the years Lenovo has also diversified into other PC products such as portables, workstations, and servers as well as into mobile phones and digital entertainment products [Lewis, 2006]. Due to the fact that Lenovo spun off its foreign branded distribution business, which accounted for a third of their revenues, as a new listed company at Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2001, annual growth rates were moderate with 12% in 1998-2004. Lenovo group itself is already listed at Hong Kong Stock Exchange since 1994 and gained total revenues of United States $ 2.9bn in 2004, over 90% of thereof in china. In 2000 Lenovo Group announced to aim at total revenue of United States 10bn by 2005 and to become one of the Fortune Global 500 companies by 2010 ate latest. Since 2003 they have also wanted to become a global leading brand and to generate 25% of their revenues in overseas markets by 2006. In May 2005 Lenovo already came closer to these goals when they acquired IBMs PC Division for United States $1.7bn, including their global brands ThinkPad and ThinkCentre. The acquisition made the Lenovo Group into the worlds third largest PC vendor, with around United States $13bn in annual revenue, 60% thereof abroad, and products serving enterprises and consumers in more than 160 countries. Lenovos new executive headquarters moved from Beijing to purchase, New York with principal operations in Beijing and Raleigh, North Carolina and an enterprise sales organization worldwide, including sales headquarters in New York, Paris, Beijing and Sydney. The company operates six manufacturing sites in China and India and runs nine RD centres in different countries, employing more than 19000 people. The below figure shows the worldwide revenues of Lenovo: Figure 2: Worldwide revenues of Lenovo Source: Larson, 2009, Project Management, Watermark Learning, Inc., New Jersey According to Meng Yutian (2006) Lenovos Group senior supervisor of brand management in Beijing, the new groups advantages lie in technology innovation and a strong combination of both consumer PC retailing and b2b client handling. She admitted that Dell has a more efficient supply chain which is to be challenged by their ongoing post merger integrations with IBM PCs. Lenovo is also implementing a new global brand strategy to match its new worldwide reach. Lenovos priority is to maintain and extend the brand equities of the brands Lenovo, ThinkPad, ThinkCentre and Lianxiang in all major markets worldwide. Relevant Research Relationship between Leadership and Project Management: A project is a short term endeavor undertaken to create a unique service or product. Every project has elements such as uncertainty and risk associated with it. They might sometime lead to the failure of the project. Increase in project costs, lack of resources, erroneous development are few examples of risk in projects. These unforeseen circumstances and failures are common in all types of projects irrespective of their industry. The main objective of project management is to predict or forecast maximum number of risks and problems that would be encountered while completing the project and plan, control and organize the project related activities such that the project is successfully completed despite all hindrances [Davidson F J, 2003]. The process of project management should begin even before any resource is assigned and should last till the complete set of activities is done. The ultimate aim and objective of a project manager should be focused towards earning the satisfaction of purchaser, project sponsor, principal stakeholders and customers and deliver the project within the promised time limit without incurring more cost and spending excess of resources than that were originally budgeted, planned or allocated. Project management is the application of skills, tools, and techniques to project activities to meet project requirements. This requires project managers to understand the project objectives, limitations, lifecycle and roles of the participants. It also suggests that project managers should possess a variety of essential skills. Every project has an objective that is a reason for performing the project. This objective can implement a new computer system, by constructing a building merging 2 companies or developing a new product. Each objective has 2 considerations: Scope and quality. Every project has one or more limitations on how well and how quickly the objectives can be achieved. These limitations frequently include budget, resources, time and technology. The limitations create risks that the objectives may not be met and these risks need to be identified. Project Lifecycle: All projects have a lifecycle. That is there are certain predictable events that will take place in the life of every project. The wise project leader will understand this lifecycle and plan for it. The alternative is to be surprised when leading a project. Understanding the project lifecycle is part of the science of project leadership in that it can be studied, there is a definite process that can be followed and project leaders can learn what they need to do at each stage. A simple and a generic project lifecycle model is used. The basic stages of this model can be identified and the project leadership tasks must be accomplished during each stage will apply to most projects in most industries. Projects in certain may have additional unique project leadership responsibilities. Even on very small projects however the intent of the responsibilities identifies the needs to be understood and accomplished. By understanding the most typical project leadership responsibilities a skilled project leader can scale up or down the complexity depending upon the person who leads the project [Harold, 2009]. To achieve success in the project the organization need to use a collection of skills that demonstrate their ability to lead a team. The organization is working with others and use others skills to energize and direct a diverse group of people to always give a high performance. These people come from different parts of the organization, each having its own culture through the leadership style of the departmental manager. People have to overcome these cultural variations to create a climate of co-operation and co-ordinate the efforts of the team members without direct line authority. There is a diverse range of options about what makes an effective leader. There are no common characteristics that the organization must have to be effective, without which they are doomed to fail. At the core of leadership is their skill at influencing the behavior of people to achieve their objectives [Martin, 1997]. Autocratic Leadership: One extreme of leadership style is autocrat, where the leader should tell people about what they do to approach. The other extreme is the democrat where information is shared the organization will consult widely and ask people to do the work using a will you approach. The reality is that they adopt a style that is often subconsciously directed by: The situation and the prevailing environment; The type of work, its priority and urgency; The way the team reacts and behaves in the environment. In the crisis most people will tend to adopt a more autocratic style in the interest of getting a quick result. No time exists for consultation, ideas and suggestions are not encouraged and consensus is avoided. The actions required are dictated in command and control mode. Democratic Leadership: The democratic style is regarded as slower encouraging people to give their ideas and opinions always seeking a consensus so the team is fully involved and well motivated to achieve results [Jack M R, 2008]. The leaders of an effective project leader: A list of desirable qualities includes: Flexibility and adaptability; Ability to demonstrate significant initiative; Assertiveness, confidence and verbal fluency; Ambition, drive and commitment; Effective communication and god listening skills; Enthusiasm, imagination and creativity; Being well organized and self disciplined; Being a generalist rather than a specialist having technical awareness; Being able to identify and facilitate problem solving; Being able to make and take decisions promptly; Ability to promote a motivating climate; Ability to keep everyone focused on the project objectives; Having been trained in project management tools and techniques; Being experienced in project management processes and procedures; Being respected by peers and management; Being concerned to achieve success. A program or a project is a specialized situation because of the nature of the work, which is time and cost constrained; the diverse range of skills and experience of people the organization dont know well. To achieve the objectives the organization must see some particular skills to: Ensure that the project tasks are completed on time to the quality desired; Create co-ordination between the team members and develop team work; Support the individual team members and develop their skills for the work; These three key elements of the leadership role are related and interdependent and the organization cannot ignore any one at the expense of the others. They are all directed in one fundamental direction towards the objectives. The actions which the organizations take at each stage of the work are focused on maintaining the balance of these three elements, adopting a range of styles according to the prevailing situation. However in any programme or project there are others involved [Kathy, 2009]. Dimensions of the leadership in project management: The below figure shows the relationship between the key elements of leadership, the objectives and the stakeholders: Figure 3: Relationship between the key elements of leadership, the objectives and the stakeholders Source: Harold, 2009, Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling, 10th edition, New York The organization spends much of their time inner directed, focusing on the three key elements. They must also spend time outer directed to understand the needs and expectations of their stakeholders, use their skills when appropriate and keep them informed of progress. They must engage their stakeholders and ignore them. They can influence their programmes or project at any time with serious consequences to progress. They can change their minds at any time cause delays and demand changes to their plans [Weiss, 1992]. There are three essential dimensions of leadership in project management. They are: Identifying and managing the stakeholders until completion achieved; Managing the project dynamic lifecycle from definition through planning and execution to closure all the tasks of the programme or project; Managing the performance and that of the team and the stakeholders. Success is directly related to balancing the time and effort they give to each of these dimensions from the start up until they hand over the results to their customer. Theories/ Principles of Leadership with reference to Project Management: The five leadership principles for project success are as follows: Build Vision: Sharing a common vision and goals and having the same understanding about tracking the progress toward this vision is one of the key factors is the success of a project and team. Nurture collaboration: A performing team yields synergy effects the impossible becomes possible. This is why active team collaboration is crucial. Promote Performance: Planning is good and important. At the end of the day the leader and their team have to perform. As a leader it is their responsibility to create an environment that promotes performance on both the individual and team levels. Cultivate Learning: As humans everyone makes mistakes. Effective leaders encourage their teams to explore new avenues and to make mistakes and learn from them. An effective leader builds in sufficient time for the team to learn, create and innovate. Ensure results: Delivering results is both a prerequisite and an outcome of effective project leadership. Project delivery is a team effort, not an individual effort. The effective project leader builds and guides the team to deliver results by incorporating the first four leadership principles. All five leadership principles combined encompass the core of effective project leadership [Richard L, 1995]. Project Leadership Pyramid: The below figure shows the Project Leadership Pyramid: Figure 3: Project Leadership Pyramid Source: Martin, 1997, The Project Management for Project Teams, Singapore Together the five leadership principles described here we build the project leadership pyramid. The principles at the top of this pyramid are the first principle build vision is followed by nurture collaboration, promote performance, cultivate learning and at the base of the pyramid ensure the results. The pyramid is a powerful image. This image is used for a simple reason: that is although think building vision is probably the most important principle of effective leadership. Most people see the bottom line as the results. Thus the vision is at the top and the results are at the foundation of the pyramid. They are framed by vision and results. When a pyramid is approached from a far distance first the top should be seen. But in this case vision is the top of the pyramid. As we get closer we see more of the pyramid until we are standing in the first row of the building blocks. We feel overwhelmed by the size of the pyramid. It is not possible to see the top of the pyramid. Lenovos leadership strategies: As an MNC Lenovo is headquartered in Raleigh and has branches in 66 countries and sales operations in more than 50 countries around the world. Lenovo is a global company with major research centers in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen, China; Yamato, Japan; and Research Triangle Park, North Carolina; and primary operational hubs in Beijing, Research Triangle Park, Singapore and Paris. Lenovo operates manufacturing and/or assembly facilities in China, India, the United States and Mexico with a total of approximately 25,000 employees in 2007. To tide over the recent economic crisis Lenovo announced a global restructuring in January 2009, streamlining America which expected to result in a saving of US$ 300 million. In two decades founder Liu Chuanzhi has successfully transformed, Lenovo from a small state owned enterprise into a flagship joint stock conglomerate that is largely owned by overseas investors. Under Liu Lenovo established an option plan and incentive mechanism which enabled a large number of young people embarks on the first line of leadership positions. Meanwhile Liu combined the modern Western management theories with the practice of Chinese enterprises, and put forward management ideas such as a roof model of corporate governance theory. Lius core philosophy is to build a team, set a strategy and organize a team. People believe such as practical and effective approach has contributed to Lenovos success as a large modern company with international competitive edge. Leadership Style at Lenovo: An important part of the leadership is the style of leadership with which the leader carries out the role. In todays environment where it is necessary to have good ideas from every position in the organization, those people whose management styles suppress and intimidate are not needed. Lenovo proclaims high priorities for focusing on customers, resisting bureaucracy, and cutting across boundaries thinking globally, demonstrating enormous energy and being able to energize and invigorate others. Lenovo sent many managers to observe highly successful organization where the leadership factors of speed, the bias of action and utter customer fixation have helped drive this high discount store to success [Davidson, 1996]. Leadership style at Lenovo is in general of two types: people oriented described as democratic, permissive, consensus-seeking, participative, follower-oriented and considerate, and task centered, described as structured, task dominated, restrictive, directive, autocratic and socially distant. Task oriented leadership style usually is associated with productivity but may depress follower satisfaction whereas people centered leadership tends to enhance group cohesiveness but not consistently increase productivity. The following are the leadership styles adopted at Lenovo for project management: Project leadership is an interpersonal and strategic process, which seeks to influence the project stakeholders to work toward closure of the project purposes. Project leadership takes place through interaction not in isolation. Project managers at Lenovo organization are both leaders and followers, operating in a culture where both formal and informal networking relationships proliferate. In such relationships networking goes beyond the project managers formal authority, often leading to the use of influence over peers and superiors to affect the outcome of the project. The project managers leadership position at Lenovo encompasses three fundamental roles: an interpersonal role, which includes figurehead and leader in liaison functions; an informational role, which entails disseminating information and acting as a spokesperson; and a decision maker role, in which the project manager acts as entrepreneur, resource allocator and negotiator. Project leaders are the people who do the right thing; project managers are the people who do the things right. Lenovo recognizes that both the roles are important in management but they differ profoundly [Bagherpour M, 2010]. There are according to Lenovo people in senior positions in organizations doing the wrong thing well. Part of the fault for having people do the wrong thing may well lie with their schools of management, where they teach people to be good management technicians but they fail to train people for leadership. Lenovo goes further to identify the competencies found in people who exhibit effective leadership in their proven track records: Management of attention Management of trust Management of meaning Management of self. Challenges faced by Lenovo Lenovo, which entered the US market, as a fresher, in 2004, did not have any idea about how to compete with the leaders HP and Dell in gaining the market share. Lenovo decided to follow a project- centric approach in order to find a place for itself in the personal computer market. The project-focused approach became the limelight of the companys success story in future. Conclusion Recommendations Solutions to the problem identified: In order to address the challenges, Lenovo proposed different changes in its business strategy and model in 2004, by employing a project-focused approach to develop its corporate strategy. The particular steps taken to implement the project management as a tool to execute the corporate strategy are: After the confirmation of the overall corporate strategy of company, Lenovo sets to organize the priority tasks which require co-operation of multi-department into projects, which is known as strategic projects. Strategic projects vary from the Research and Design projects. In Research and Design projects the cost and time will not be used as yardsticks for success of the project. Such projects will be about expanding them into new markets, solves the underlying problems, enhances the organizational efficiency, integrates the strategic resources or improves the capabilities and satisfaction of an employee. In the past, some strategic planning was not followed up adequately but the strategic project management application solves this problem and the strategic projects started to execute and provides the necessary results. Lenovo selected strategic alliances or joint ventures with global corporations such as Visa, Coca-Cola, Disney, and Pacific Century Cyber Works and so on as its entry model which effectively reduced the risk of international expansion and shortened the time to enter the target market. Second Lenovo sought to optimize the process of supply chain. In order to increase the efficiency of its global supply chain, Lenovo made strong commitment to continuously improve its management process and has so far achieved remarkable progress. By simplifying its global supply chain infrastructure including its logistics network, Lenovo further enhanced its service capacity by 10% with each computers cost of end to end supply chain reduced by 17% as compared with 2008 [Goodman R A, 1967]. Third Lenovo strived to refocus its corporate attention on the key and emerging markets in the world. In 2004 consumer PC accounted for above 42% of the global PC market. The key for Lenovo was to expand its business scale by replicating the successful experience in china to the other areas. In this regard Lenovo won an impressive array of contracts in India and ASEAN countries through effective marketing strategies. Lenovo also outperformed the industry in key emerging markets such as Russia, Mexico, Brazil and Turkey. Meanwhile Lenovo made important progress in adjusting to the changing market conditions and accelerated its expansion in the fast growing industry segments with a belief that such rapid growth is expected to continue in the coming years. Lenovo attempted to expand both relational and transactional business models. In 2006 Lenovos relational business increased in all areas. After making efforts on the adjustment of customer segmentation and customer relational management, Lenovos profitability raised by a large margin. In future Lenovos business focus is expected to remain on providing services to key customers and improving the share in the medium sized enterprises market. In contrast in 2006 Lenovos transactional business accounted for 35% of the sales of global PC market. Looking forward to maintain sustainable growth, Lenovo continued to develop its business partners through marketing activities, accelerate the development of emerging markets and enhance the performance ability in some countries as well as to expand the productivity and the channel coverage of its sales teams [Gray C F, 2005]. Lenovo aimed to establish a global brand. In 2006, Lenovo had done a superb job in marketing and brand building by sponsoring the Olympic Games, ATT Williams Formula one team and the NBA games. To raise the awareness and image of the brand the group launched a publicity campaign for two of its major products which has in turn helped enhance Lenovos brand visualization: ThinkPad ultra slim X300 made the cover of Business Week as soon as it appeared on the market and the Idea Pad U110 won three major awards on international consumer electronics show in Las Vegas, the United States. Through those efforts Lenovo had made a deeper impression in the international arenas and gained rapid recognition consequently the image of Lenovo brand had improved by 13% according to a survey. Project Management and Leadership Solutions: Lenovo established a Project Management Office to coordinate the strategic projects. In 2004 and early 2005, Lenovo put the organizational structure and the processes for its Project Management Office. It formalized the relationships between the Project Management Office and strategic leaders and budget resources for the office. Constantly all other departmental regulations of Lenovo needed to conform to the regulations of Project Management Office, with brief regulations which was outlined by particular departments of business. However, the Project Management Office of Lenovo did not interfere with the projects often; or it offered training and establishes standard procedures. The employees of Lenovo saw the Project Management Office as a resource rather than a facility of administration. Designing a Project Management Office as a facility of administration was one of thing that had condemned such offices in the past, but Lenovos office thrived to win an excellent team award for the company. The company believed that specific conditions should exist to utilize the project management successfully: First, the company has to face a challenge; second, the office had to be prioritized by the leadership of the company; third, the office had to be led by a professional team and they had to guarantee that company-specific systems are developed; and finally, they also required to confirm that the organizational culture of the company could be appreciated. Otherwise it was difficult to evaluate. Lenovo also earmarked money for strategic implementation. Previously, it finished the strategic plans which were not supported financially. But with the shift of strategy, the leadership team had to set aside extra money to evaluate the projects outside the original budget and provided bonus for those who were involved and paved way for the execution of the strategic plans successfully. Identifying Valuing project management professionals- Lenovo sent their top talent in project management to take the certification exam of Project Management Professional and apply for project management standards [Project Management Institute, 2008]. The certification of Project Management Office is managed and developed by the Institute of Project Management, which is the biggest institute for professional project management in the world. The certification of Project Management Profe