Project Managment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Project Managment - Essay Example According to Kerzner (2009), project managers are in charge of ‘coordinating and integrating activities across multiple, functional lines’ (p. 12). This means that they consolidate efforts to (1) develop the project plan, (2) execute the plan, and (3) make the necessary changes to the plan to ensure that the objectives are met. Project managers also operate as interface between the smaller, project organization, and the larger functional organization. They therefore are tasked with managing relationships (1) among individual members of the team , (2) between the functional organization and the project team, (3) between the senior management and the project team, and (4) between the customer’s organization (i.e., external or internal) and the project team (Kerzner, 2009, p. 13). Kerzner observes that the project manager’s role is a difficult one because he/she usually is assigned a great deal of responsibility, but actually very little power or authority. Th e greatest challenge to the skill and expertise of the project manager is the degree to which he/she is able to successfully achieve the specific objectives of the project within the constraints (of scope, time, cost, and performance) imposed upon him/her. The Edinburgh Tram System project In 2002, the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC), established the Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE) as a private limited, wholly-owned CEC subsidiary. The new system is envisioned to be a fast, clean and green, and high capacity transport service similar to those in other countries in Europe (Edinburgh Trams, 2012). The initiative began with a series of public consultations to determine the feasibility of the proposed system and in compliance with the parliamentary process. Stakeholders were invited to participate during these consultations where the feedback and suggestions to the proposed project details were garnered. By January 2004, the completed plans were submitted to Parliament, which appr oved them in March 2006. Contracts were entered into by May 2008, begun soon thereafter, and the tram network was estimated to commence operations by 2014 (Edinburgh Trams, 2012). From the project’s onset, the CEC and contractors have encountered problems related to the project. An example is the line to St. Andrew Square has proven problematic, with a project cost of ?776 million, ?200 million over the original budget. The contractor, Bilfinger Berger, of Germany, has been plagued by delays, disputes, technical problems, and unforeseen revision. According to Knox (2011), there also were other concerns such as a misunderstanding of the initial agreement, a confused and divided council, government hostility and negative public perception. These problems resulted in a reduction in the project’s scope from several lines to just one – that leading to St. Andrew’s Square – a budget overrun and extension of the completion date to 2016, and the resignatio n of the project’s chief executive after only two years (Knox, 2011; BBC, 2011). The three elements of project management Several of the nine primary elements of the PMBOK are seen to be applicable in this case, but the following three appear to have posed the greatest challenge for the project manager: (1) Managing the scope of the project in controlling the project The project scope is an explicit description of what are included in,

Why Separating the Church from the State is the Best Policy Essay Example for Free

Why Separating the Church from the State is the Best Policy Essay Those sympathetic toward the British dissenters and critical of the aristocratic foundations of eighteenth-century British life have found it easy enough to dismiss Burkes arguments as a simple defense of Whig oligarchy. [1] But Burkes belief that religion and society, church and state, stood or fell together was only the latest and perhaps most eloquent expression of a very old tradition in all of Christendom. For men of Burkes temperament, the lesson was finally driven home by the general weakening of religious establishments in America after the Revolutionparticularly the formal disestablishment of the Anglican Church in Virginiaand the assault on religion by the French Revolution. [2] It is probably more difficult for Americans, whose government and society rest precisely on the very political philosophy and religious nonconformity which Burke opposed, than for citizens of more historically grounded nations, to view his defense of established religion and the confessional state with great sympathy. But in this authors view, it is well worth the attempt. Jacques Maritain observed some forty years ago that while the confessional state may have only constituted the legal rather than the living, vital form of medieval sacral civilization, nevertheless medieval man and woman entered civil society and citizenship only through membership in the Church. Modern man and woman are citizens regardless of religious affiliation. Maritain cited the view of the distinguished Catholic theologian, Charles Journet, who distinguished between the Christian state which was at the service of right and truth, and the modern state which justifies itself in the service of freedom and the realization of human dignity. According to Journet: It would be incorrect to describe medieval times as those of a confusion between the spiritual and the temporal . . . Their interrelations were characterized in medieval society by the fact that the spiritual order did not confine itself to acting on the temporal as a regulator of political, social and cultural values. It tended . . . to become . . . a component element in the structure of society . . . Those who did not visibly belong to the Church were from the first dismissed society: the heathen over the frontiers, the Jews into ghettos. Those who, having first been Christians, afterwards broke with the Church, as heretics or schismatics, constituted a much greater dangerthey shook the very bases of the new society and appeared as enemies of the public safety. [3] All justification of views supporting the need for the true faith to force compliance comes in the last analysis from St. Augustine. Peter Brown has called him the first theorist of the Inquisition and explains that his pessimism and belief in predestination allowed him to disbelieve in the wisdom of permitting error to do battle freely with truth in a competition of ideas, the preferred choice of a John Milton, perhaps of a John Locke, and of all liberals. Augustine was convinced that sinful man required firm handling, in his term discipline. This was how God had ruled Israel, and Christian society could do no less. [4] Burke himself, during the intense excitement of the French Revolution, did not shrink from praising even the Spanish Inquisition, along with Joseph de Maistre, finding that as to the clergy, they are the only thing in Spain that looks like an independent order, and they are kept in some respect by the Inquisition, the sole but unhappy resource of pub-lick tranquility and order now remaining in Spain. As in Venice, it is become mostly an engine of State, which, indeed, to a degree, it has always been in Spain. It wars no longer with Jews and Hereticks: It has no such war to carry on. Its great object is to keep atheistic and republican doctrines from making their way in that kingdom. [5] In view of the fact that for St. Thomas Aquinas nothing less than the Eucharist created the civic community, and because the conservative model of the good society was always medieval Europe, can one doubt that religion must lie at the foundation of the conservative understanding of citizenship? [6] Perhaps no one has understood the religious foundations of citizenship as well as J. G. A. Pocock. His analysis deserves our full attention: To those for whom all intolerance is ridiculous and unnecessary, it is hard to imagine a world in which differences in religious belief had serious political consequences; but if Jesus Christ were less than an equal person of the holy and undivided Trinity, still more if he were a divinely appointed human being and not himself divine, there could be no thought that the Churchany Churchwas part of his continuing divine presence on earth, or in any corporate sense part of the presence of God among men. Religion could only be a community of belief or opinion among those who voluntarily held beliefs or opinions in common; it could not be the institutional form of a communion between God and men . . . . Richard Price desired more than toleration for Protestant Dissenters; he desired a full equality of civil rights, irrespective of denominational membership or doctrinal subscription.

What Could We Learn From Sir G :: essays research papers

What Could We Learn From Sir Gawain?   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  I think we could learn a lot many things from Sir Gawain. Sir Gawain is someone that I think everyone can relate to in some way. He was placed under many tests and performed admirable in all but one of them. It is that last test that made him seem 'human'; to me. I think in order to learn from someone you have to try to 'walk a mile in his or her shoes.'; I will describe, in detail, the parts of the story in which Sir Gawain excelled and why we should try to learn from him.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The first thing I thing we could learn from Sir Gawain is to always be ready to step up to a challenge. In Part 1 of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Gawain challenges the Green Knight. Gawain is the only Knight to accept the challenge for the King and does so without reservation. He easily beheaded the 'magical'; man as stated in the following lines: 'Gawain grips to his ax and gathers it aloft--/ The left foot on the floor before him he set--/ Brought it down deftly upon the bare neck,/ That the shock of the sharp blow shivered the bones/ And cut the flesh cleanly and clove it in twain,/ That the blade of bright steel bit into the ground./ The head was hewn off and fell to the floor;/ Many found it at their feet as forth it rolled;/ (Unknown, Part I, 421-427). He didn't know the Green Knight was magical and probably thought it would be an easy task. After all, he was a Knight in the great King Authur's court. For this I think Gawain shows strength, bravery, and loyalty.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The next thing we could learn from Sir Gawain is demonstrated on his trip to the Green Chapel: 'Many a cliff must he climb in the country wild; /Far off from all his friends, forlorn he must ride; / At each strand or stream where the stalwart passed/'Twere a marvel if he met not some monstrous foe, /And that so fierce and forbidding that fight he must./ (Unknown, Part II, 713-717). Gawain left his home during horrible chill of winter on a journey to meet a 'man'; who had survived being beheaded. His must have felt lonely, scared, and lost away from all that he is so very familiar with.

Final Exam Solved Essay

Hahn Company uses the percentage of sales method for recording bad debts expense. For the year, cash sales are $300,000 and credit sales are $1,200,000. Management estimates that 1% is the sales percentage to use. What adjusting entry will Hahn Company make to record the bad debts expense? 2) Using the percentage of receivables method for recording bad debts expense, estimated uncollectible accounts are $15,000. If the balance of the Allowance for Doubtful Accounts is $3,000 credit before adjustment, what is the amount of bad debts expense for that period? 3) Intangible assets. Intangible assets are the rights and privileges that result from ownership of long-lived assets that 5) The book value of an asset is equal to the 6) Gains on an exchange of plant assets that has commercial substance are 7) Ordinary repairs are expenditures to maintain the operating efficiency of a plant asset and are referred to as 8) Costs incurred to increase the operating efficiency or useful life of a plant asset are referred to as 9) When an interest-bearing note matures, the balance in the Notes Payable account is 10) The interest charged on a $200,000 note payable, at a rate of 6%, on a 2-month note would be. If a corporation issued $3,000,000 in bonds which pay 10% annual interest, what is the annual net cash cost of this borrowing if the income tax rate is 30%? 12) Hilton Company issued a four-year interest-bearing note payable for $300,000 on January 1, 2011. Each January the company is required to pay $75,000 on the note. How will this note be reported on the December 31, 2012 balance sheet? 13) A corporation issued $600,000, 10%, 5-year bonds on January 1, 2011 for 648,666, which reflects an effective-interest rate of 8%. Interest is paid semiannually on January 1 and July 1. If the corporation uses the effective-interest method of amortization of bond premium, the amount of bond interest expense to be recognized on July 1, 2011, is 14) When the effective-interest method of bond discount amortization is used 15) If a corporation has only one class of stock, it is referred to as 16) Capital stock to which the charter has assigned a value per share is called 17) ABC, Inc. has 1,000 shares of 5%, $100 par value, cumulative preferred stock and 50,000 shares of $1 par value common stock outstanding at December 31, 2011. What is the annual dividend on the preferred stock? 18) Manner, Inc. Has 5,000 shares of 5%, $100 par value, noncumulative preferred stock and 20,000 shares of $1 par value common stock outstanding at December 31, 2011. There were no dividends declared in 2010. The board of directors declares and pays a $45,000 dividend in 2011. What is the amount of dividends received by the common stockholders in 2011? 19) When the selling price of treasury stock is greater than its cost, the company credits the difference to 21) Marsh Company has other operating expenses of $240,000. There has been an increase in prepaid expenses of $16,000 during the year, and accrued liabilities are $24,000 lower than in the prior period. Using the direct method of reporting cash flows from operating activities, what were Marsh’s cash payments for operating expenses? 22) Where would the event purchased land for cash appear, if at all, on the indirect statement of cash flows? 23) In performing a vertical analysis, the base for cost of goods sold is 24) Blanco, Inc. has the following income statement (in millions): Using vertical analysis, what percentage is assigned to Net Income? 25) Dawson Company issued 500 shares of no-par common stock for $4,500. Which of the following journal entries would be made if the stock has a stated value of $2 per share? Andrews, Inc. paid $45,000 to buy back 9,000 shares of its $1 par value common stock. This stock was sold later at a selling price of $6 per share. The entry to record the sale includes a 27) Which of the following is a fundamental factor in having an effective, ethical corporate culture? 28) Two individuals at a retail store work the same cash register. You evaluate this situation as 29) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act imposed which new penalty for executives? 30) The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires that all publicly traded companies maintain a system of internal controls. Internal controls can be defined as a plan to

History 20th Century Essay

The historical past of a particular country is essential in understanding its present situation as well as in planning the future. Past events served as a basis as to why particular situations happen in the present. In relation to this, lesson learned in the past also becomes a guide in order to avoid previous mistakes. Being the case, analyzing a country’s history is indeed important. These ideas also holds true in the case of the 20th century African American leadership. The era of slavery in the United States of America holds a very important part in their history. It was during the time wherein the southern region of the country capitalizes in the exportation of cotton that this slavery of African American took place. As such, maltreatment of these people happened that is characterized by the discrimination and segregation of the African Americans from the whites. This is also the reason why many African American leaders started to go against this inhumane treatment and asked for changes. Their efforts might have taken a long time before it made a difference but it was worth it. It is also essential that primary resources are use in studying and analyzing the history of African American leadership because it should be taken into consideration that majority of the people who are in power during those times as well as at the present are whites. As such, some of them are capable of manipulating the information about the African American history. Studying the leadership of these African Americans is important because they epitomize how people struggle in order to fight for their rights. They also embody a turning point in the United States history because it was due to their leadership that the country reassesses their idea of freedom and democracy. Furthermore, it plays an important role for the country to understand the present state of African Americans as well as the development and areas for improvement of the situation of these people. Moreover, the lesson learned from this experience would aid the people to make things better so that the mistakes done in the past would not happen again.