PP0126 Learning Arena As A Learning E Essay Example for Free

PP0126 Learning Arena As A Learning E Essay Medical Assistant profession is only known in Malaysia. It is part of the medical profession creates by the Ministry of Health, Malaysia in the sixties to overcome the shortage of medical officer in the country. We need to go through three years training program conducted by our Ministry of Health in order to be a qualified as a Medical Assistant. My speciality is in Emergency and Trauma care management, with sixteen years working experiences in the Emergency Department (ETD) and currently attached to the ETD in one of the hospital located in central region. In this assignment I will discuss and explore how practice arena can assist in learning as well to identify the learning opportunity available for learners and how I integrate my professional role to develop health care profession competency. My focus will be on the factors of physical and social climate and how does it affect learning in my practice arena. Based on the theories of humanism and Androgogy compare with the concept suggested in the literature, I will come with my recommendation on how I am going to promote my practice arena into a more conducive learning environment. There are few factors or element that can affect or influence learning environment. The most important elements are physical environment, social climate and learning opportunities (Ministry of Health Malaysia, 2006) that I am focusing now. Discussing about the physical element, resources are among thing that we should considered within the placement. Ileris (2011) claimed the variety of opportunity and situation offer to learners is the most significant factors influencing the quality of practice arena as 1 learning environment. He further quotes that difference type of workplace offer different  learning environment with different learning opportunity. The emergency and trauma department or my practice arena cover one whole block and the facilities and services available encompassing a wide range of emergent trauma and non trauma condition, from the critically ill or severely injured to those with minor ailment. The scope include pre hospital care services, resuscitation and stabilisation, diagnosis and definitive care management, one stop crisis centre and medical coverage. The facilities available are dividing into zone ranging from a critical to  a non critical zone where patient management are triage according to the severity of illness. There are three main zones, one observation bay equipped with 5 beds, a procedure room for minor surgical procedures and a sterilisation unit for collecting and receiving sterile item from the central sterilisation department. Each zone or treatment areas are equipped with standard equipment for it functionalities inclusive of an emergency trolley, cardiac monitor and defibrillators, portable ventilators and airway management, radiography machine, ultra sound machine, electrocardiogram,  refrigerator and blood analyser machine. It provide a wide range of learning opportunity to learners and students to develops their skills ,knowledge and understanding of the role and function with the organisation( Evan et. al, 2006). However all these equipment needs speciality and skills to be operates and 2 learners need period of time to get familiar with the equipment. The department need to send learners for user training and courses before they can handle the machine. My practice arena is amongst the busiest place in the hospital compound. Even worse  when facing the incidence of mass casualties where every staffs busy with their own task. However it doesn’t mean that they have no time with the learner. They are actually a good role model for learner where they can work and learn at the same time. They are willing to shares their working experience, skills, knowledge and ideas with student or learners even though they are very with their tasks. In fact chaotic working environment is rich for learning because of large volume of patient of varying acuity and learner will take responsibility of their own learning, identifying gap in knowledge, seeing feedback  and working toward closing these gap. (Goldman et. al, 2009) Every zone is fully air conditioning and furnished with patient’s beds, trolleys and wheelchairs. We also have an access to internet and intranet where Learners will have the opportunity to access the heath information system, interaction between the instructors and as well among learners as it is the key point for good practice and learning expectation for each area (Severs and Pearson, 1999), (Ileris, 2011). But there are limitations as some of the equipment and facilities only can be use by professional  and expert and the use of internet has been block by the management from being access in an improper way and only involved with certain website, this may lead to frustration and conflict to extensive use in workplace learning (Ileris, 2011). We also 3 have teaching room or a seminar room with selection of books, journal and handout available which is accessible to learners. Apart from the facilities above my placement arena also have 2 unit of type A, 3 unit of type B and 5 unit of type C ambulances. They are all equipped with standard equipment and also link by the radio communication services. In order to be part of the ambulance services team, learner need to undergo basic training on the basic equipment available inside the ambulance and how to use radio communication system. They are attached with qualified personnel as a mentor who is in charge of the ambulance services. For the convenience of every staffs, student and even public, my placement arena offer excellent facilities such as rest room with television set, tea room and pantry, accessible wash room and toilet, emergency fire exit with fire extinguisher and waiting area provided with chairs and queue number system. Quinn (2007) states that this basic needs make learner feel secure and comfortable and enable them to concentrate in their learning. Nevertheless my placement area doesn’t have any skill laboratory where student can practice their skills and knowledge. However the higher management has planned to set it up in few years time for the benefit of all parties. 4 My practice arena offer a placement for student nurses, newly graduates medical assistant and medical students doing their internships and housemanship program from the nearby colleges and higher institution. In fact the facilities has been gazetted as one  of the teaching hospital by the government and the Ministry of Health Malaysia as a whole. Learners and student will need to be introduced to the new environment to get them off to a good start by establishing a sense of belonging, creating a welcoming learning environment, supplying information that will answer their question and removing any uncertainties once they reporting themselves for the placement. Gopee (2008) stated this as an essential and effective when new experience are linked to prior knowledge where it begin with familiarisation with the clinical setting, clinical specialism,  get to know with mentor and staffs and feeling that they are part of the team inorder to meet the learning needs and achievement of their practice objective. The availability of the multidisciplinary staffs ranging from the higher level management and clinician to a well trained paramedics (Goppe, 2008) form the basis of inter- professional learning and will be an advantage for the student to learned and adopted as their role model and mentors. West et. al (2007) highlight that the practice is not only the environment where services is delivered to client but also a learning area where  future and qualified practioner continually utilise the opportunity provide to them as an experience to facilitate their professional development. 5 It is an effort of every personnel to create the practice arena into an interesting and conducive place to learn. Fox (2009) describe learning environment as a place or setting where learning occur. This include physical setting, interpersonal and instructional characteristic that influence learner’s performance. The nature of learning environment is important in establishing an expansive learning area (Evan et. al, 2006)  but sometime it is difficult to achieve as to some leader it is not a priority and therefore there must be a balance against priority in order to improve learning. Hand(2006) suggest that placement should be of higher quality accompanied by improved teaching support to help student gain better practical skills. But a high standard ward with rigid task allocation, with hierarchical system exist are unlikely to meet student learning needs (Fretwell, 1980) Relationship between manager and subordinates and vice versa is another important aspect of social climate in learning environment. Hand (2006) stated that mutual respect, integrated and valued student, manager’s commitment, interactive communication, motivated employers, supportiveness and openness are among the element that contributing to a conducive learning environment. Chan (2001) highlight that inter personnel relationship between staffs are crucial in order to develop a positive learning environment. Hand (2006) described the relationship between teacher and learner must be genuine, non- threatening, lasting relationship and encourage learner to give feedback in order to promote learning and Nolan (1998) found out that learning  desire will reduce without supportive from learning arena. 6 My unit manager is very supportive and committed person, caring attitude and openness especially toward professional development, friendly, approachable and knowledgeable. He motivates the staffs by sending them for courses, workshops and seminar to upgrade their skills and knowledge, counselling and indirectly benefit student placement in the areas. I believe he is a role model in my placement areas. The success and fall of the placement as a conducive learning arena depend on the management, leadership style and the relationship which exist between the people, the  manager and the goals in the organisation (Weir et. al, 2010). Inorder to develop a positive learning environment, there must be a positive management style and interpersonal relationship among manager, staffs and learner. Fretwell (1988), Pembrey (1988) described ward manager as a key figure in the organisation in establishing and maintaining a ward atmosphere conducive learning environment and patient care environment as well. Practice area learning are mostly student centred learning where learner and student needs to participates and involve themselves in the activities design in the practice  area. Self awareness is therefore very important and Cook (1999), mention that many nurses educationist are focused on self awareness to get the learning opportunity in the practice area. In this way student are able to make judgement of their own and identify their strength and weakness in consistent to andragogy approach as self assessment which help them to develop awareness of their own standard of practice (Chambers, 1998). This can be in the form of formal and informal learning activities. In my placement area, student or learners will have the opportunity to involve themselves in  7 discussion, case presentation, in house courses and continuous medical education which is plan weekly for every qualified personnel. For pre registration student this is a good chance to get new ideas, knowledge and skills and for post registration it is professional refreshment. Spouse (2001) clarified that knowledge quickly become outdated as rapid pace of technology and to be more effective this continuous professional development should be carried out under the guidance of experience and knowledgeable colleagues with the evidence of attendances. The collaboration of one  department with other organisation and between unit and section in the department should be considered as one of the factors that influencing the provision of good experience within the placement. This is because exchange and sharing of ideas between these two different organisations happened to achieve the same goal. We have been discussed many factors influencing learning in my practice setting such as physical environment, social climate and learning opportunities available in my practice setting and this will definitely give a better output toward learning environment  in the placement arena. Although I have identified many of the learning opportunities but there are some limitation on the implementation especially on the resources. I have made some recommendation to be bringing forward to improve the placement arena in future. I believe that this can be fulfils if the higher level management, training institution, mentors as well learners themselves is really committed to make changes toward the excellence learning environment. To make the process going smoothly everybody should take parts and plays their role accordingly.

How did the Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde appeal to the collective consciousness of Victorian Society Essay Example for Free

How did the Strange case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde appeal to the collective consciousness of Victorian Society Essay In the Victorian Era many people were indeed superstitious of various issues that were classified by class, for example, becoming drunk would not be considered as normal, or as proper, with people from the upper classes; whereas with people from lower or working class this would have been deemed a standard activity and most likely occurred on a daily basis. In Robert Louis- Stevensons novel of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde just about every aspect to do with the fear of a typical upper class Victorian is explored by the life of the unfortunate Doctor. The face of Hyde is described as a criminal from everyones view and one of the memorable first sightings of Hyde, met by a distant cousin of Mr. Utterson, namely Mr. Enfield, claimed he gave me one look, so ugly that it brought out the sweat on me like running. Its a human reaction on first sightings of someone never before seen to be very stereotypical, as was the case with many upper class Victorians. If someone from a lower class did not look ordinary than they would most likely be considered a criminal. As such, the reaction from the majority of accusers was as follows: I had a loathing to my gentlemen at first sight. So had the childs family, which was only natural. If this was the case, than there was little the accused could do for himself, because the lower classes were never given the benefit of the doubt when there was an important or rich family involved. I saw that Sawbones turn sick and white with the desire to kill him. Even the doctor had been so taken aback by the ferocity and ugliness of this so-called human, despite doctors professionalism not to be judgemental in times when their attention is needed. This only shows the type of opinions that Victorians held from a range of a backgrounds. This appealed to the Victorians in a sense that, by introducing the new police force, they had succeeded with trying to bring in a law abiding country and ridding it of these criminal faces. In the early Victorian years, Charles Darwin produced a theory that claimed we had not been created by God and had instead evolved from nature. He omitted to mention which animal we had evolved from, but many ideas were developed. One such idea was the primitive ancestor reflected the troglodytic actions performed by Mr. Hyde at certain occasions. On one of these occasions Hyde murders Sir Danvers Carew. In killing Carew, Hyde clubbed him to the earth, similar to a caveman, along with ape-like fury, and eventually trampling his victim underfoot. This idea of Darwins had induced a new fear in the hearts of Victorian people, that they and others around them could, perhaps, at any time, lose control of themselves or something akin to the actions of Hyde. A brief point could be made about alcohol. In the tale there are many references to the upper class doctors and lawyers; for example Mr. Utterson, who drank alone and only in small amounts for fear of the alcohol giving him cause to lose himself. He could not be seen to embarrass himself, by drinking too much and losing his social standing. This would have rendered him unacceptable to his fellow gentry. This is very similar to the life of Dr. Jekyll as drinking too much would have lead to the exposure of Hyde and his evil deeds. The way in which Victorian London has been described could have intimidated many into behaviour which avoided prejudice, at all costs, from across the classes. The two characters in the novel divided by good and evil both live in completely different conditions in London. As Hyde is a criminal and as he lives in the dismal quarter of Soho, with its muddy ways and slatternly passengers then it must have caused some relief to the upper classes when they were living in clean conditions and considered to be acceptable places to reside, in turn taking the criminal far away from them. This though, brought around the new danger of these criminals escaping from their filthy conditions and creeping around the streets and labyrinths of those thought to be safe; therefore having access to their private lives and secrets. Also, Hydes flat is illustrated as untidy and disorganized, very similar to the life of a criminal, where they would have only a single night perhaps to lay at rest before they had to be on the move. Secrecy played an important part in Victorian lives and Stephensons novel explores this. within there was another enclosure, like wise sealed and marked upon the cover as Not to be opened until the death or disappearance of Dr. Henry Jekyll and All my drugs were in the cabinet a long journey down the two pairs of stairs, through the back passage, across the open courtyard and through the anatomical theatre. In the case of the letter, Jekyll would rather have his secrets unveiled after he has died. This is due to the good doctor trying to save himself from the embarrassment and mockery he would receive had someone discovered what he got up to when he was alone. This was also a problem with many among the upper classes, as their many distractions in life, like alcohol, were not considered acceptable, so they would have had to be done in secret. In the second quote, it is a surprise to find a doctor with drugs and medicines hidden away in the most secluded part of this house. This links back to the same point of revealing his habits and what could happen to him, living in shame for the rest of his life. Intolerable to Victorians was shame. This relates back to many Victorians regarding their class as imperatively important, not something to lose in the agony of public humiliation, should their private activities be revealed in the public domain.

Project Schedule And Budgeting

Project Schedule And Budgeting Project management provides an integrated framework for project organisation, planning and control which is designed to ensure the timely and cost effective productions of all products and services and maintain high quality standard of products and services to satisfy all stakeholders interest. A process approach to project management define step by step procedures that a project manager need to take to effectively manage the project and satisfy all stakeholders interest. For instance, the Risk Management Process will tell how to identify, analyse and monitor project risks more effectively. It also describes the roles and responsibilities of each team member, when taking part in project risk management. A process approach starts with initiations and then goes through planning, implementation, monitoring and control and then finalisation of the project. So a project has a life where it starts and then after a finite period of time it ends. Some projects are small that only matter from some hours whereas some last for years. Because need for specialisation, most of the projects needs multidisciplinary teams. These teams members are most of the time belong to the parent organisation but some of the work are being done by subcontractors, consultants or partners. Organisations that are involved in the projects are sometime find it very difficult to coordinate with each others and this is the big challenge for the project manager to cope with this problem. Time pressure , limited budgets , tight cash flows and uncertainty always require project manager to make trade-offs between these factors with the implicit goals of balancing risks and benefits. Skyscraper (Burj khalifa) World Tallest building in Dubai Burj khalifa is the world tallest building in Dubai with 164 floors. This is an iconic building with the end of the world architecture design and wonder of steel building. With 900 rooms and home of many indoor entertainments, this project was a big challenge. After 6 years, this dream comes true with the silver tower shaped stick standing in the heart of U.A.E. A Process Approach A process is a group of activities that are designed to transform an input into an output. This transformation consists of the data and information, decision making and implementation and control. Firstly, design of a process must address about the data. What can be the data resources, how the data should be collected, stored, retrieved and presented to decision makers. Secondly, the presentation required to decision makers should be clear and transparent. When a real problem is too complicated to solve or some information is missing, simplifying assumption are made and model is developed. Lastly, data and model integration should be used. Data from the database should be integrated with the help of model and then information generated from the model by using data of data based should be presented to the decision makers. A Project process have different stages involve in it.Those are (1) Initiation (2) planning and control (3) closure (2) 3.1 Initiation Every project has a start point. Before start of the project, interest of certain stakeholders is discussed and need for project is finalised. There will be a variety of ideas and opinions about the purpose and scope of the project, what the final product of the project will be, and how the project will be carried out. The Project Initiation Stage is concerned with taking these ideas and intentions and developing them into a formal, planned, resourced and funded project. Burj khalifa was decided by the ruler of Dubai Sheik Muhammad. It was just a theme in the mind of His Highness Mr.Muhammad.Later that theme was discussed and decided to build that building(project).Project is not started yet. But these are the interest of certain stakeholders (3) 3.2 Planning This stage starts with the handing over of project to the organisation or individual who will manage it. Step 1: Project Kick Off The project was kicked off with the handover of assignment to EMAAR (Abu Dahbis biggest construction Company) Step 2: Project Objective Scope In order to define a project in this way, it is first necessary to clearly and explicitly define what the project is intended to achieve and what its scope of interest will be. By defining this first, a benchmark is created for assessing the quality of what is actually produced at the end of the project. So this project was discussed with the members of the government to Dubai to the part of recognition of Dubai as an international business city. The Scope of the project was high as this was $1.5 billion and it was supposed to be an icon for Dubai. The objective of the project was to present Dubai as an international city in front of world. It is also necessary to develop a process by which the project objectives can be achieved. Work Breakdown Structure is a technique to draw the structure of the process that needs to be done in the project. A WBS diagram expresses the project scope in simple graphic terms. The diagram starts with a single box or other graphic at the top to represen t the entire project. The project is then divided into components, with related activities listed under them. Generally, the upper components are the deliverables and the lower level elements are the activities that create the deliverables. (4) (2) http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/pmbok.html (3) http://burj-khalifa.eu/featured/tall-order (4) htttp://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/2645.aspx Step 3: Project Schedule and Budgeting Project was scheduled to complete in 4 years but it finished in 6 years. Starting time was January 2004 and it was planned to finished in 2008.Its budget was $1.5 billion. There are different tools and technique that can be used to manage schedule and budgeting. One is Gantt chart that is around for many years. These are excellent models for scheduling and for budgeting, and for reporting and presenting and communicating project plans and progress easily and quickly, but as a rule Gantt Charts are not as good as a Critical Path Analysis Flow Diagram for identifying and showing interdependent factors, or for mapping a plan from and/or into all of its detailed causal or contributing elements. Critical Path Analysis is another technique that is being used for the scheduling of the project. This method calculates the minimum completion time for a project along with the possible start and finish times for the project activities. Indeed, many texts and managers regard critical path schedul ing as the only usable and practical scheduling procedure. Computer programs and algorithms for critical path scheduling are widely available and can efficiently handle projects with thousands of activities. (5) Step 4: Project Organization A South Korean company South Korean company, Samsung Engineering Construction, which also did work on the PETRONAS twin towers and Taipei 101. Step 5: Project Control Procedures Control of every stage of the process is important as this will affect the next stage. This process will typically involve carrying out a number of tasks and producing a number of products during the course of the project. The tasks produce the products. For clarity of purpose and for control reasons it is useful to arrange these tasks in a top down structure, which progressively specify the required work in more detail. Burj khalifa tower project was divided into several small chunks and then each stage was control with a different procedure. Step 6: Project Initiation Stage Assessment Initial stage also defines what resources and associated time commitment are required to carry out the project. The work breakdown structure provides a basis from which this estimation can be carried out. The resource and time commitment can be used to calculate an end date for the project and an estimate of its cost. Resources needed for Burj khalifa was important to manage the flow of work. Steel was used in a very big amount which was imported from India. As the land of Dubai is mostly sand and for the safety purpose, the basement was filled with the soil from other part of the world. The overall project schedule is not in detail to enable the allocation of actual resources to tasks, or to control progress. It is very important to produce a more detailed plan for these purposes. This detailed plan is only produced for the next stage of the project, usually covering an elapsed time of two to four months. (5)http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/10_Fundamental_Scheduling_Procedures.html The way the project is managed and executed is the key to its success. The involvement of the right people for data capture and decision making is also very important. It is necessary to recruit these people at the start of the project and to define the project organization structure. It is also necessary to establish the procedures that will be used by the people in the Project Organization Structure to carry out and control the project work. Step 7: Business Case Finally, in order to establish a resourced and funded project, it is necessary to establish a clear and convincing business case for the project. This business case should be reviewed, and hopefully accepted by management. The business case will identify the projected benefits of meeting the objectives of the project, and balance these against the costs and risks associated with realizing these benefits. The business case can also be used as a benchmark to compare against actual results, costs and benefits in order to assess the ultimate success of the project. The Project Initiation stage is described here as a sequence of steps. In reality, once the objective and scope have been defined, many of these steps occur in parallel, and the step products are developed iteratively, since there are many dependencies between the steps. It is necessary to plan the Project Initiation stage, albeit in an informal manner. Therefore it is important to create a Project Initiation Kick off Plan sch eduling the activities and resources. (6) 3.3 Execution During this stage of the project, the focus should be on carrying out the work planned for the stage there are many project management activities that need to be carried out in addition to the project work itself .These activities are arranged into a series of steps. A step to initiate the stage, steps that are carried out on an on-going basis throughout the stage, steps that are carried out at the end of the stage and a step that is only carried out in an exception situation. To control the follow of the process and to manage activities during the process stages, project manager should monitor and control project progress, through the use of regular checkpoints involving the project team and formal reviews with project board. Also, quality of the product and changes in the baselined products are also managed. There can be many issues that arose during the processes and those issues should be removed. The constructions of Burj Khalifa was not easy as the building moves on, the filling of concrete into the walls was a problem. The vertical method was used to put the concrete from the top. It was a risky as well as technical challenge. Also, the use of heavy machinery from the top and how to fix that machinery on the top was also an issue of safety. Several of the activities will result in changes to the stage schedule. The Stage Manager should ensure that these changes are made smoothly, and that these changes are communicated to all concerned. Any changes made to individual work assignments should be confirmed in the regular checkpoint meetings. If there as any issue arises during any stage then stage plan will be changed to manage that deviation. (6)http://dijest.com/tools/pmworkbench/pmtemplates/pmoredocs/pmprocess.htm 3.4 Monitoring and Control The documents of all the processed and stages should be managed and update regularly. Electronic and hardcopy file structures are set up to consistently maintain and administer project management and development products. All documentation procedures for the stage should be established and the team should understand what these are for, how they are used, and what their individual responsibilities are. Emaar establish a database for the Burj Khalifa project to monitor all the process and to discuss it with all the management involved in the process to show what is going on. This enables the project manager and other staff to communicate each other more precisely and take appropriate action if there is any deviation. The whole project was broken down into small projects and whole team was divided into small project teams who control these small projects. A Project Board of Burj Khalifa is the executive authority of a project. It authorizes the project to proceed, approve any change or if possible stop the project. It enters in to a contract with the Project Manager through the Project Initiation, Project and Stage Plans, to provide the executive support and resources required to execute a project which will deliver the specified products to schedule and budget. The Project Board should view the project as an investment intended to yield gain business benefits. Failure to achieve those benefits reflects as much upon the control exercised by the Project Board as it does on the execution of responsibilities by the Project Manager and Project Team. The Project Board meet at the end of each stage, including Project Initiation, to review the achievements of the concluded stage and authorize proceeding to the next. Project Manager schedule standing Project Board meetings at the beginning of the project. Confirm the logistics of the next mee ting, namely date, time and conference room. Also, project manager report to the Project Board the results of the Post Implementation Review.This assess the performance of the new system against the objectives planned. It also identifies and captures metrics and factors that will improve the development process.PERT analysis is used to monitor the activities along with Gantt chart and CPA (Critical Path analysis) 3.5 Project Closure Every project has a life. It starts and then after some time it ends. All good things must come to an end. Projects are designed to end at some point that is the nature of project work. Burj Khalifa project started in Jan 2004 and it finished in Jan 2010.To gain maximum benefit from a project, the project went through a formal close down.There may be some outstanding work that needs to be carried out on the products of the project.The project will have been using several lists and tracking mechanisms, such as the change request log and the issues log.These need to be formally closed.The members of the Project Organization will have learnt how to carry out this type of project better in the future, and will have a better idea of how long the various activities on this type of project will take to do.These learnings should be captured for future use.There will be a lot of information generated during a project, and this will have been stored with varying degrees of formality by the me mbers of the Project Organization.This information needs to be formally filed away for possible future use.By this time in the project,all project work should have been completed, and the products of the project should have been accepted by the customers.It is possible however, that the final products do not fully meet the original objectives and requirements.Before the project is completely finished, any outages in the products should be identified and evaluated.If it is decided that the outages need to be fixed, it will be necessary to set up a mechanism to carry this out.This may be by a new project,or a maintenance program.Make sure that the evaluation includes an evaluation against the Business Success Criteria that were defined during the Project Initiation Stage.However, it is also important to evaluate the overall quality of the final product in respect of its ability to meet current requirements.Review the changes that are recommended to the process used on the project. Exa mine each change and decide if it is likely to apply to future projects of this type.Change the standard process based on these reasons.(7) Project in which Scheduling is not important As all the projects have an integral part i.e. scheduling. Scheduling is an important part of any project as this break down the work in small chunks that are easy to manage. But there are some projects in which scheduling are not important. For example the project of US war with Afghanistan. War is started but there is not set schedule of procedding.Plans are changing within an hours or days but no clear schedule .There are no stages involve as everything happening as the change of weather. Although this project has a starting point and there will be an ending point but there is not set process for that. Work Breakdown Structure A challenging project is made manageable by first breaking it down into individual components in the work breakdown structure, or the WBS.This is a hierarchical structure that shows that main part and then its subparts.This is divided into small chunks that can easily be managed by the management as compared to whole big project. Such a structure defines tasks that can be completed independently of other tasks, facilitating resource allocation, assigning responsibilities to different people, and measurement and control of the project. Each organization uses its own terminology for Work Breakdown Structure components according to their own needs. For example, some organizations refer to different levels as main tasks, sub-tasks, and work packages, as shown below. Others use the different terms phases, entries, and activities. The WBS may be organized around deliverables or phases of the project life cycle. Higher levels in the structure generally are performed by groups. The lowest level in the hierarchy often comprises activities performed by individuals, though a WBS that emphasizes deliverables does not necessarily specify activities. (7) http://theconstructor.org/structures/burj-khalifa-dubai-opening-ceremony/1003/ The breaking down of a project into its component parts facilitates resource allocation and the assignment of individual responsibilities. Care should be taken to use a proper level of detail when creating the WBS. On the one extreme, a very high level of detail is likely to result in micro-management. On the other extreme, the tasks may become too large to manage effectively. Defining tasks so that their duration is between several days and a few months works well for most projects.(8) Below is the work breakdown structure used in construction and related to Burj khalifa 8 (8)http://www.netmba.com/operations/project/wbs/ (9)Case study about scope-cost-time integrated model with work breakdown structure http://cife.stanford.edu/online.publications/WP115.pdf Gantt charts Gantt Charts are very useful project management tools that is used mostly in scheduling and budgeting. The Gantt chart is named after US engineer and consultant Henry Gantt (1861-1919) who devised the technique in the 1910s. Gantt charts are excellent models for scheduling and for budgeting, and for reporting and presenting and communicating project plans and progress quickly. Gantt chart can be constructed by using MS Excel. Every activity has a separate bar. Create a time-line for the duration of the project.Colour can be used to show the time blocks to denote type of activity (for example, digging, piling, concreting, finishing, etc.). A Gantt chart can be used to keep track of progress for each activity and how the costs are running. In Burj khalifa project, Gantt chart helps to manage step by step activity. The time blocks around can be moved to report on actuals versus planned, and to re-schedule, and to create new plan updates. Costs columns can show plan and actuals and variances, and calculate whatever totals, averages, ratios, etc., that you need. Gantt Charts are probably the most flexible and useful of all project management tools, but remember they do not very easily or obviously show the im portance and inter-dependence of related parallel activities, and they wont obviously show the necessity to complete one task before another can begin. Project planning tools naturally become used also for subsequent project reporting, presentations, etc., and you will make life easier for everyone if you use formats that people recognize and find familiar. (10) Critical Path Analysis Critical path analysis / method are an effective way to analyse complex projects.CPA represents the critical set of activities to complete a project. Critical path helps us to focus on important activities which are critical to run the project. Once the critical activities are identified, we can devote good resources and prioritize the same accordingly. CPA also gives us a very good basis for scheduling and monitoring for progress.One of the most important thing it does is allows the project manager to concentrate on important activities. This method takes the longest time then the other methods. (10) http://www.businessballs.com/project.htm (11) Mind Mapping Case Study to Support Gantt chart method http://www.matchware.com/en/forms/mindview2%20case%20studies/case_history_form.pdf CPM models the activities and events of a project as a network. Activities are presented as nodes on the network and events that signify the beginning or ending of activities are presented with lines between the nodes. The above is an example of a CPM network diagram. (13) Success of Burj Khalifa Project Burj Khalifa was not just a project. Its a milestone in the history of Dubai which enhances the projection of Dubai in the modern world. As we land on Dubai airport, this tower welcomes you with its shinning image from Arabian Sea. Its a design of human intelligence which satisfied all its stakeholders with nothing below then positivity. As this is the tallest tower, the gravity was an issue which was solved with the design. The success of the project is that it is the only highest man made tower on the earth which was completed finally in 2010. Secondly, the world famous designer ARMANI opens its store in the tower. Also, the world famous business is going to open their offices in that tower. Summary Project management of a powerful field with its knowledge of managing from a small activity to massive project.This field is very interesting in the sense that it provides step by step approach to finish a particular job. I researched many case studies from a construction to the Deli Olympics, from Football World cup to Cricket World cup events. I did not mention these events in my assignments but I try to find similarities of managing these projects. Although there are not much difference between the methods used in these events but there are certain requirements that are required for a particular projects. I am working as a manager in a retain chain and I observe these methods of project in my work indirectly. I am very much interested in project manager in my future and I found these approaches useful for the implications of my job role. I understand from this module that as a project manager how can I initiate, plane, control, monitor and close my projects. Before this module, I was not aware of the role of project manager. I was taking this job as a normal person job that just purchases material and give it to employees and just look around. But after understanding this module and its different aspects, I come to the point that project management is an important field in every aspects of human life from inside a living house to an international consignment. The interest in this role to me is the different stages those are involved in this field. As a project manager the changes that I will make in my approach are Documents all the activities Work Break down into small chunks (12) Case Study of baking a loaf of bread to support Critical path analysis http://tutor2u.net/business/production/critical-path-analysis.htm (13)http://www.netmba.com/operations/project/cpm/ Manage each stage separately Communicate my plan with my staff effectively Evaluate each activity Monitor each activity Control of the workflow Reference http://www.gizmag.com/go/3555/picture/7485/ http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/pmbok.html http://burj-khalifa.eu/featured/tall-order http://www.brighthub.com/office/project-management/articles/2645.aspx http://pmbook.ce.cmu.edu/10_Fundamental_Scheduling_Procedures.html http://dijest.com/tools/pmworkbench/pmtemplates/pmoredocs/pmprocess.htm http://theconstructor.org/structures/burj-khalifa-dubai-opening-ceremony/1003/ http://www.netmba.com/operations/project/wbs/ Case study about scope-cost-time integrated model with work breakdown structure http://cife.stanford.edu/online.publications/WP115.pdf http://www.businessballs.com/project.htm Mind Mapping Case Study http://www.matchware.com/en/forms/mindview2%20case%20studies/case_history_form.pdf Baking a Loaf of Bread Case Study http://tutor2u.net/business/production/critical-path-analysis.htm http://www.netmba.com/operations/project/cpm/

Overpopulation :: Human Population

During the first 2 million or so years of its history the human population was a minor element in the world ecosystem, with at most 10 million members. In the New Stone Age, less than 10,000 years ago, the number of humans began to increase more rapidly. The rough equilibrium maintained before Neolithic times gave way when the human population developed agriculture and animal husbandry and no longer had to spread out in search of game. With the abandonment of a hunting-gathering way of life and the rise of permanent settlements and eventually cities, the human population underwent dramatic growth. By the beginning of the Christian era it had reached 250 million, and by 1650, half a billion. Growth of population during 20th century was very rapid. In 1994 the total world population was estimated at about 5. 6 billion people. It increased nearly by 4 billions of people during past 100 years. The most significant world trend is that death rates are currently falling in poor and rich countries alike, while birthrates remain high in most poor countries and low in most rich ones. Exceptions are the generally higher death rates of Africa and the high birthrates of the rich oil-producing countries. The most populous countries, in descending order, are China, India, the United States, Indonesia, Brazil, and Russia. The U.S. population totaled about 260. 8 million in 1994. In the 1990s about 4. 1 million children were born annually in the United States, and more than 2. 1 million persons died yearly. The greater number of births is due in part to a fertility rate that has increased by nearly 20 percent since the mid-1980s. International immigration, both legal and illegal, is another major element in U.S. population growth. Legal immigration has recently amounted to about 1 million per year; illegal immigration is thought to be several hundred thousand. In China, the world's most populous country, the 1994 population was estimated at nearly 1. 2 billion, more than double the 1953 census population of 584 million in mainland China. China's annual increase has been estimated at 1. 1 percent annually. India's population of more than 911. 6 million people (1994 est.) is increasing faster than that of China, and if present trends continue, it will soon catch up with or surpass China. Since the disintegration of the USSR, Indonesia and Brazil are now the fourth and fifth most populous countries, with 1994 estimated populations of 199.

Mohandas Ghandi Essay -- Biography Biographies Bio

Mohandas â€Å"Mahatma† Gandhi Mohandas Gandhi was easily one of the greatest political leaders of the twentieth century, yet he had no power what so ever. He was just a man, who influenced a non-violent revolt to gain India’s independence. Unfortunately after India did gain their independence, the struggle was not over. Gandhi was still in no form of power, and only was an adviser. As he had struggled throughout his life for India, been imprisoned for many years for India, it is interesting how on the evening of one of his usual prayers, an Indian waits in the crowd to kill him. On January 30th 1948, Bapu (Sanskrit for â€Å"father† commonly used with Gandhi and the â€Å"father of India†) was shot and killed, while having his nightly public walk. Mohandas Gandhi was one of the most powerful political leaders of the twentieth century, because of his strives for the independence of India through non-violent consent. Mohandas’ first enthusiasms towards non-violent resistance was discovered in South Africa when he was severely discriminated and realized something had to be done about the harsh discrimination towards blacks and Indians in South Africa. In South Africa he adopted his ideology of the devotion to the ‘truth’. â€Å"Gandhi launched his first civil disobedience campaign, using a technique he called Satyagraha, a Sanskrit word. Satya means truth and love; agraha means firmness or force. Satyagraha is often translated as â€Å"truth force.†Ã¢â‚¬ 1 He began to create a peaceful resistance, and using no violent measures. Many Indians and blacks were jailed but in the face of peaceful blacks and Indians simply trying to get more rights peacefully, the South African General had no choice but to negotiate with Gandhi, giving him his first of many vi... ...d advise violence.†5 Gandhi did not advicate cowardism, and certainly was not one. Infact Gandhi was never afraid. â€Å"If I die by the bullet of a madman, I must do so smiling. Should such a thing happen to me, you are not to shed one tear.†6 Mohandas Gandhi’s strive towards the independence and freedom of the Indian people, elevated him to being one of the most powerful and influential people in the twentieth century. Not only has he inspired people in his nation, but in countries around the world, in the struggle in peaceful and non-violent civil disobedience, instead of bloodshed. Bibliography Cheney, Glenn Alan, Mohandas Gandhi. New York: Grouer Company, 1983. Malaspina, Ann, Mahatma Gandhi: and India’s Independence. Berkeley Heights: Enslow Publishers, 2000. Mohandas Gandhi,† Wikipedia, 27th September 2007 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mahatma_Gandhi

The Second World War (WWII) - Causes And Effects Essay -- World War 2

World War II: Causes, and Affects In the history of the world there are many occurrences that have changed life and the world, as we know it. The history of conflicts in the world is just as long as the histories of man have bee recorded. From the beginning the human species survived off of conflict (between various predators and the environment) and has been nourished by the fruits of war since before the rise of the Roman Empire. World conquest has been the goal of many great generals and a great many Kings. Through the years there were many conflicts that were thought to be the worst that ever was and the worst that would ever be (World War I in particular). World war two is said to be the war to end all wars, because of the leaders, the technology, and the effects the war had on the world. World War II began in 1939. The devastation and destruction caused in this conflict will have a total global effect. The war itself will require many countries to commit all of their military and financial assets in the production of war equipment and in fighting. This was the first war that had civilian death rates that exceeded all previously set records, and from any war since. The battlefield in world war two included all of the territory in the country. The days of strictly trench and open field battles were a thing of the past. The location of battles and bombings included strictly military sites and also various other locations that were essential to the life and economy of the country involved. The reason this war was different from al of the other wars of the past was that the weaponry has changed from the conventional to the extraordinary. The causes of World War II are linked closely to the end of World War I. The trouble began when the Treaty of Versailles was written. The Treaty of Versailles was written by the powers that won World War I (Britain, France, and US). They divided Europe up as they saw fit and reduced the territory held by Germany to less than before its series of conquests. The Germans lost all of their colonies and one eighth of its land in Europe (Encarta 98). Italy profited from the war, Italy gained land and power (but still wanted more). The French wanted to make Germany pay the maximum penalty for its four-year occupation of France that began in 1914(Strauss 14). The German Government was given orders to pay restitution to the countr... ...tomic weapon is detonated in a city.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  World war two is said to be the war to end all wars, because of the leaders, the technology, and the effects the war had on the world. World War II cost the world more lives, and property than any other war before. It was the testing ground for weapons of such horrible destructive power that if they were ever to be used again it would probably be the end of the world. The war involved sixty-one countries, 1.7 billion people, 110 million military personnel, left over 60 million dead, 35 million of the dead were civilian casualties, and the war cost over 1 trillion dollars. If a war ever occurs that could possible top all of those statistics and numbers it would most likely be the end of civilization, as we know it and of life on this earth as we know it. Works Cited Grolier’s Electronic Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. New York: 1994 Microsoft Encarta 98 Encyclopedia. CD-ROM. New York: Microsoft,1998  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   â€Å"World War II†. World Book Encyclopedia. 1996 ed. Strauss, Martin L. Gestapo:Stories of Terror. New York: Free, 1992. Johnson, Michelle F. The Cost of Liberty. Philadelphia: Associated Press, 1935.

Kmart: Performance Management Tactics

Kmart- Performance Management Tactics More than one hundred years ago, Sebastian Spering Kresge opened a modest five-and-dime store in downtown Detroit and changed the entire landscape of retailing. The store that Kresge built has evolved into an empire of more than 1,500 stores and an Internet presence that reaches millions of customers. Overall, Kmart’s workforce is highly diverse. Kmart’s total associate population, including store managers, reflects the communities it serves. Almost 32 percent of its workforce represents multicultural minorities. (â€Å"Kmart Corporation† 2008, Funding Universe) Nation's second largest retailer made an effort in the past few years to execute headquarters' strategy at the store level, at least in housewares, Kmart can report some success stories. Accurate category management can â€Å"even the playing field and eliminate the gulf of mistrust that sometimes exists between vendor/broker and retailer,† said Ron Gellish, director of strategic market planning for Kmart. Discount Store News, May 1995) Performance Management Tactics; first step is to review the category, make sure both the retailer and vendor agree on a source for data and that both understand terminology and methodology. A. – Agree on the goal of the project, be it volume increase or profit gain. B. – Assess the category's unit and dollar volume growth rates over the past two years, both by retail trade channel and on a national basis . C. – Determine the market shares for brands in the category and identify any areas ripe for cannibalization. Specifically, Gellish recommended that partners aggregate UPCs by vendor to gauge impact. For instance, the top brand could be from a small vendor, while the next four brands could be from a megacorporation. D. – Be aware of which products are trending up and which are slowing down. â€Å"Maintain objectivity. Be ready to pull your items if the data suggests they are performing poorly–don't just try to delist your competition,† Gellish. (Discount Store News, May 1995) Products must first earn approval from Kmart's Quality Assurance and Technical Design Laboratory, and vendors that want to be thought of favorably by Kmart should participate in the retailer's â€Å"Partners for Quality† and/or â€Å"Partners in Merchandise Flow† programs. (Discount Store News, May 1995)