Feminist Concern over Military Sex Assault Essay

Feminist Concern over Military Sex Assault - Essay Example Among the reported crimes, major part involves crime forcefully perpetrated on unwilling and helpless victims. Military rape or other sorts of sexual assault challenge the dignity of the military profession as a whole as the issue has become increasingly common among sex crimes reported in the US. Traditionally, war victims are always prone to rape and sexual assault throughout the world. However, today female soldiers working in the US military are also extremely vulnerable to sexual molestations. Admittedly, the growing crime rate in this field has affected the flow of female candidates to the army. What causes the rise in the military sex crime is a topic for comprehensive research. In this context, it is important to discuss the intensity of military rape in the US giving specific focus to feminist theory. According to Pentagon reports, over 19,000 sexual assaults occur in the US military annually among which many of the cases remain unreported or unresolved, because sometimes th e offenders are the high ranked military officers. The most unfortunate factor is that female soldiers are generally assaulted by their own male counterparts or the individuals at the helm of affairs (Whitten). According to the estimates, â€Å"over 26,000 men and women in the military experienced unwanted sexual contact in 2012; and of those cases, only 3,374 were reported and only 302 of the incidents were prosecuted† (Feminist News Wire). Many of the female soldiers who took part in the Iraq war reported that they were raped by their male counterparts; and many researchers maintain that one out of every four women that serve the military are likely to face sexual assault at least one time during their career. Erin Solaro explores the intensity and the actual causes of the issue in detail. According to Solaro, there are over 165,000 American servicewomen who have participated in war as volunteer professionals. Another aspect of the active involvement of women in the field i s that women today constitute ‘15% of the military, 11% of the deployed troops and an unprecedented 2% of the casualties’. The author also points to the fact that no significant war failures, disasters, rapes, discipline breakdowns have been reported due the presence of women in the troops. Solaro argues that wherever bad things have been reported, the problem lies with the fundamental evils of leadership and discipline. Hence, it is in bad units women sufferer when in good units the ‘jerks’ do not dare to cross the line of discipline. The feminist author is sure that the solution to this problem is not to punish women by removing them from the posts but removing or punishing the real perpetrators. To define, the term military rape refers to rape, sexual assault, and sexual harassment that occur during military service. The Department of Veterans Affairs (DVA) collectively terms them as Military Sexual Trauma (MST). At the same time, ‘wartime rapeâ₠¬â„¢ indicates mass wartime rape rather than isolated cases of individual rapes. As per available reports, increases in the frequency of wartime rape might range from an estimated 300% to 400% by the end of the World War II (Gottschall) although the reliability of the data is not beyond question. According to some estimates, more than half a million people have been raped while serving the US army; and nearly 100,000 cases of military rape have been occurred within the past seven years (Koss, 2004). Evidently, women constitute the major victim group in this regard whereas men are also prone to sexual harassment in the army. To illustrate, according to the Department of Defense survey

Applied Thermodynamics Design Project Research Paper

Applied Thermodynamics Design Project - Research Paper Example saturated) at a given temperature,as well as partial pressure of air, it is greater than the saturation of water vapour, then the water will evaporate only from its surface (Benabed, 2012 ) Usually, there is more evaporation on occupied swimming pools as compared occupied swimming pools. This difference is related to the occupant number, the activities on the surrounding environment and also the water conditions as well as the ambient air in the swimming pool hall. ASHRAE recommends the use of a correlation factor which ranges from 0.5 for residential pools to a value of 1.0 for the public pools. They also provide carrier evaporation rate equation for predicting the rates of evaporation of occupied pools. For improving efficiency, of the pools environment, these evaporation rates need to be kept at a low level at the same time maintaining a thermal comfort for the swimmers inside the water and also the pool hall space.This role is played by the air conditioning equipment. This study however aims at analysing the various parameters of thedesign of a swimming pool. The pool is an Olympic size and is located in residential location with activity Factor = 0.5. Considering these data, the other parameters such as the power load on the air conditioner, evaporation rate,etc. will be analysed (Sartori,2000) In order to clearly elaborate the energy movements in a swimming pool, we consider the figurebelow. The figure describes the flow of energy in the indoor swimming pool. It also shows the transfer modes that might occur in such a system. Air conditioning systems in indoor swimming pools are usually designed for theprovision of suitable thermal comfort conditions for users in the space pool hall. The indoor temperatures are kept at approximately 30 degcelcious (Mancic, 2014) The main factors contributing to energy loses of an indoor space pool hallinclude: Convection at the pool surface Qconv, evaporation at the pool’s surface QEvap, radiation from surface of

Aligning Business Strategies and Project Management

Aligning Business Strategies and Project Management Project management has become very important topic all over the world. Literature shows that more than 30 companies fail to accomplish its project with success due to misalignment between business strategies and project management. Many companies face this problem of missing link of business strategies and project management. Alignment is necessary for getting competitive advantage and goals of its business. Top management also play important role in alignment of business strategies and Project management. Keywords: Business strategies, project management, alignment, project portfolio management Introduction: Project management has become very important and also serves as core function in many organizations. Projects are any temporary activities that have starting and finish point, it has performance parameters. Projects face triple constrains (1) time (2) budget and (3) performance. It was assumed that for attainment of organizational goals one has to meet triple constraints of time, budget and performance. Project management plays a vital role in achieving organizational goals and considered as backbone of organization. Project management is knowledge that meets the requirements of projects. Project management plays important role in accomplishing strategies, business goals and desired outcomes. Organizations link their projects with business strategies to achieve the goals and objectives. Strategies are activities that guide and direct the use of the resources to accomplish the organizations vision and goals and sustainable competitive advantage. Mostly these components comprising the strategies of the business like internal analysis, organizational structures, control systems have strong links to project management processes and activities. Project management includes project portfolio management (PPM). PPM is about how organizations controls its projects and align them with business strategies. Many organizations are working on numerous projects and they are conscious to get maximum return of their business. PPM also includes the maximization profit which is main objective of all organization. Basically projects are bases of any organization to build up business strategy and project management relation. When organizations link their projects to their business strategy, they are better able to accomplish their organizational goals. Companies should align their business strategy with the project management action to implement the strategies in the projects. Such alignments are difficult because the objectives of business strategy are sometime not clear and well-communicated with project management. Misalignment may cause an organization to missing goals, communication gap and missing link of business strategy and project management. The lack of alignment of business strategy to the project management leads to the project failure and has adverse effects on organization performance as well. . There is need of systemic approach to align the projects with business strategy. So important in managerial challenges involved that aligning project management and business strategy and encouraging individuals to participate in using emerging strategies to create new ideas and renew existing strategies. Literature indicates that some factors that helps in creating link between business strategy and project management if there is any gap between the bridge of business strategy and project management that should be filled to achieve high returns and competitive advantages. As literature shows that SPL elements such as spirit, strategy, organization, tools and processes that elements should be align between business strategies and project management and in depth understanding of factors that are missing and relationship of these factors with business strategies and project management. Portfolio management play important role in project management and business strategy linking. Implementation of strategies with formulation, receive less attention than formulation so there should be proper emphasis on the implementation as well as. Therefore, this paper examines the linkage between business strategy, project portfolio management, and business success to finish the gap between strategy formulation and implementation and linking them in a bridge. There is seen a lot of importance of project portfolio management in evaluating, prioritizing and selecting projects in line with business strategy. It is choosing the right projects and important part of strategic management in organizations. So there are a few studies exploring single aspects of the linkage between strategies, project portfolio management. Business strategy describes the way in which a firm decides to compete in the market compared to its competitors and close the gap of these strategies with project management. Project Management: Project management has become an important issue for many corporations worldwide. Many implementations of project management have been successful, while others have been considered as failure. Projects in any organization have clearly became a central activity in many companies and considered as a backbone of organization and its success means a lot for an organization to prevail in the competitive arena. A project can be defined as a planned set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and within certain cost and other limitations. Project management is often termed as the science and art of organizing the different project phases which may be launch of new service, a marketing campaign, building a an entire new floor of a building or a wedding. According to Milosevic and Srivannaboon (2006), the essence of project management is to support the execution of an organizations competitive strategy to deliver a desired outcome. Project management is defined as management that supports the execution of an organizations competitive strategy to deliver a desired outcome. Six-step approach can be helpful course that avoids the worst storms: Step 1: Identify the project Step 2: Determine the desired outcome Step 3: Describe each of the projects component tasks Step 4: Identify the key players. Step 5: Determine a time lines for each project component. Step 6: Review, revise and reallocate. Successful initiation of projects and its execution mostly depends upon strategy. Many companies are suffering from misaligned projects and a lack of a systematic approach to align project management with the business strategy. When organizations link their projects to their business strategy, they are better able to accomplish their organizational goals. Project strategy should be related to the projects goals and objectives in order to attain the preferred position in its competitive environment. Business Strategy: Strategy is defined by Patton White (2002) as a comprehensive set of actions or activities, which guide and direct the use of the firms resources to accomplish the organizations vision and goals and enable sustainable competitive advantage. Turning strategy into action to operationalize strategic objectives to achieve competitive advantage includes in the strategic management. Several scholars suggest that the success of project should be considered in the context of the achievement of the strategic goals of the organization (Dietrich Lehtonen, 2005; Kenny, 2006) and that organizations are better able to accomplish their goals when they link their projects to their business strategy. To ensure strategies are translated into actions they should be operational and includes some of the characteristics like structuring an organization to support successful performance and enabling success through the way in which the various resource areas like people, information, Finance, IT, etc. of an organization. Better implementation of strategic plans results in the better performance of sales growth, earnings growth, deposits growth, return on assets, return on equity, return on sales and return on total invested capital than those companies that do not implement their strategic plans. However, in any organization there are different levels of strategies presented by different level of a business which includes Corporate Strategy: It involves high level of strategic decision making and purpose of this strategy is to achieve the expectations of the stakeholders. Business Unit Strategy: The purpose of this strategy is to achieve the competitive advantage for the services and products which are produced and the decisions in this level is concerned with the choice of products, gaining competitive advantage, to meet the needs of the customers and create new opportunities. Operational Strategy: Its concerned with the coordination and improvement of resources which results in the effective and efficient implementation of the business unit level strategy. Implementation of strategies requires actions and completing tasks, and should focus on how to realize these strategies. Implementation must include attention to the following key points: Executing the work requires allocation of resources such as funds, people, and equipment. Organizational resources are limited. Implementation process requires project supportive organizational structure. A project selection and priority system to ensure strong linking between projects and the strategic plan. Managerial challenges involves aligning project management and business strategy which encourages individuals to participate in using emerging strategies to create new ideas and renew existing strategies. There is no such research regarding the framework for aligning project management and business strategy comprehensively. The literature has highlighted that there are many projects which have been executed without implementing the strategies as it has been formulated by executives in the corporations level without the involvement of the project manager. Aligning Business Strategy and Projects: Aligning the companys projects to maximize their contributions to strategic objectives takes a highly coordinated effort. Integration requires a process for prioritizing projects by their contribution to the strategic plan. The organizations to become more competitive, efficient and profitable they will need a business and project management experts working together to attain the business goals. Both, business and project management experts will work towards aligning projects with business strategy. Alignment of business strategy and project management is a major concern for any organization. Such alignments are challenging because the objectives of business strategy are not always clear or well-communicated or consistent with project management actions. Misalignment may cause an organization to miss goals and objectives. Understanding the alignment may be one of the major challenges to effective project management process. Alignment is not a onetime task but it is achieved through p rogression, which demands dominant leadership, top management support, efficient communication, collaborative work environment, trust, proper prioritization, technological setup and comprehensive knowledge about the operations of the business (Luftman, 2000). In order to achieve desired outputs from the selected projects organization should have the ability to build up competencies and then allocate those competences to the preferred projects. To help make sure the corporate projects are aligned to corporate strategy following can be kept in mind: Is the corporation committed to using project management strategically? In most companies, hundreds of projects are underway at any given time so there must be corporate commitment to the art and science of managing projects Is there a policy of formally preparing project charters? Since projects are the means by which corporate strategies are executed, it is critical that they be guided by the original corporate philosophy, strategy, and intent. Project charters are the instrument for doing this. Is there synergy between the business group and those responsible for project implementation? There needs to be early involvement by project implementation people. While this principle may seem sound, the practice of it presents a challenge. First, business planning people may prefer to plan without the help of perceived outsiders. Then, theres a good likelihood that the right project people might not be sitting about just waiting to brainstorm and analyze the early stages of a business proposal. The value for the organization to aligning projects with business strategy in a research by the Athabasca University was conducted in more than 60 organizations around the world and results showed that there were some benefits the organizations which include: Saved money and resources Increased profitability Retained customers Increased market share Prioritizing a project on the bases of its contribution to strategic achievement does not provide guarantee of project success but consistent allocation of resources is also a major task (Hrebiniak, 2006). A key point to make sure the alignment between project management and strategy included as: to carry out the appropriately chosen projects in an efficient ways organizations should make sure that have ability to do deliver the projects and programs. Top management plays a major role in projects alignment. Role of Management: Management is of central importance for the success of projects. Pinto and Slevin (1998) suggested that all the researchers agree that absence of support from management especially top management and by important stakeholder are most important among all other factors. Hacker and Doolen (2007) role of top management was studied in the perspectives of vision of the project and alignment of the scope with business strategy and project sponsorship and its impact on the triple constraint of the project i.e. cost, performance and cost. Researchers various different views about the extent of knowledge of senior managers should be in relation to project management. Some researchers suggest to the technical expertise and knowledge about the projects necessary for senior managers to develop and implement projects. Others felt that determine the line of control and to make available all relevant resources for project managers are the main functions of the senior management. There are different methods of how senior managers can be involved in the project management process. One of the approaches is not to interfere in which the project manager to all the rights of the planning to the implementation of projects. Responsibilities of project managers and executive managers is that project managers are primarily responsible for projects that are being implemented while the executives of the strategic alignment of business functions and projects with the organizations goals. Top managers should possess same skills and expertise as do the project managers Top management must carefully analyze which project should be prioritized in the allocation of resources. Resource allocation is one of the critical parts of the project management. These resources include financial, human and other resources necessary for the successful completion of the projects. Top management should carefully analyze which project should be prioritized in terms of resource allocation. Resources must be allocated to projects that are aligned with corporate strategies of the organization. More simple criteria for prioritizing compliance can be or should do projects should receive the highest priority, then the strategic projects, and then the other. With the start of the training programs, coaching and mentoring for project managers, top management can help build leadership skills, so that they can manage project activities responsibly and effectively. Problems of Alignment: Often projects fail to support business strategies and business goals it is due to the missing link, so that it should be align. Some processes factors that affect the business strategies and projects linking such as communication, top management support, competency of project manager are some of the major factors are the necessary ones to consider which solves or even creates hurdles in the alignment process. Business directors and top management are responsible for the three processes such as business planning, portfolio management and prioritizing projects while the project managers are responsible for the process of planning and executing the projects. Prioritizing projects Portfolio management Business planning Project Project portfolio management, business planning and support of business manager to the project manager while project manager is responsible to handling the projects. Choosing project from the AMCs projects and aligning that project with the business plans and top managers suggestions. When these processes are aligned the strategic elements like goals, objectives, vision, mission, values and norms feeds the portfolio element, the portfolio element feeds the project management element like strategies, organization processes, culture, and the project management element feeds projects and the teams execution of project. But in many cases, these processes are not aligned; as a result, organizations may fail to tie their projects either to their business strategy or to their portfolio, which may cause them to terminate the project or to continue executing projects that do not contribute to the organizations goals, thus wasting important organizational resources. Project Portfolio Management: The project portfolio is defined as a group of projects that compete for scarce resources and are conducted under the sponsorship or management of a particular organization. The three main well-known objectives of portfolio management are, the following: maximizing the value of the portfolio, linking the portfolio to the strategy and the continuous monitoring/assessment of the portfolio. Project portfolio selection is an important management task activity of the organization, the project team should consider all details carefully to enhance performance of organizational assets and customize them with the strategic objectives of the organization, although there are usually several projects available for selection than can be completed within the physical and financial limitations of fixed, so choices must be made to make up a suitable project. Management problems are related to the following factors, selecting, portfolio strategy and appropriate plans. The following reasons can be related with the difficulties on managing, and on selecting, the proper projects to the portfolio a) no relationship between project selection: projects entirely with the organizations strategic goals are not related to the impact on organization performance b) poor quality portfolios: organizations, generally, applicable to underdeveloped ideas for projects selected is not fair quality. To work on the building, d) scarce resources, lack of attention and executive skills, resources properly balance, often causing pressure to multitask ; f) Information overflow and lacking quality of information: Regardless of the quality and sophistication of the portfolio selection and decision tools, it is fundamental to obtain the proper information to make accurate decisions; g) Decision making based in power: Usually the decision is an exercise of power, whi ch means that there may be situations in organizations where decisions tend not to reflect the organizational future success. The portfolio management team is normally concerned and overwhelmed with issues like the prioritization of projects and the continuous distribution of personnel from the different projects to overcome the urgent crises. Although, most of the time, however, there are no resources available and when they were redistributed it often produced negative effects on unexpected places in the project portfolio. Project Selection There are more than one hundred tools and techniques for project portfolio selection hence it is not difficult for organizations to select suitable tools. It is important to adapt or develop an appropriate framework to evaluate project proposals and select a project portfolio which is aligned with the corporate strategy. Recent literature focuses on approaches rather than tools and techniques. Common principles from these approaches can be described as followings: Firstly, they suggest dividing the project proposals into subsets (Englund Graham, 1999; Sommer 1999; Cooper et al., 2001a; Rădulescu1 Rădulescu 2001; and Crawford etal., 2006). Each project subset can be a group of projects which will share the same strategic buck as discussed by Cooper et al (2001a) or different categories of projects which have similar characteristics (Crawford et al., 2005, 2006). This will help the organization easily compare projects by same criteria or same tools and techniques. T his is similarly applicable to ensure the balance of the project portfolio. Framework by Englund Graham (1999) 4 steps producing interrelated outputs make this approach truly systematic. The 4 steps are described as follows: a. What the organization should do: Upon identified to lead the process, the team members start listing newly proposed and on-going projects. They, then, clarify or develop the expected goals of projects, taking into consideration of organizational strategies (vision, mission, objectives) and current as well as potential capabilities (either developed or acquired). It is advisable to classify projects into categories for the benefit of looking at projects from the view of big picture inclusive of out-of- the- box thinking, completeness, gaps, opportunities and compliance with strategy. Projects classified/organized into the strategic buckets (e.g. extent of product change: new- enhancement; and extent of process change: new incremental) enable the team focus efforts on selecting the best set of projects within the categories, which constitute the right and balance mix. In order to facility decision making process, a set of criteria with weight or score reflecting requirements of orga nizational objectives (e.g. market positioning, available capacity, etc.) should be determined, modified and agreed upon for comparison and choices of projects. b. What the organization can do: the team members critically screen and evaluate projects based on consolidation and analysis of current or historical data, as a result certain new projects will be eliminated and ongoing projects will be adjusted or terminated in respect of strategic priorities; availability of resources and technology challenges, etc. The authors describe the critical few with n screen subject to criteria sets agreed upon in step 1 e.g. screen 1- fit to goals; screen 2 market size, competence etc. c. Analyze and decide on projects: based on the comparison between resources available and resources required, projects are analyzed, prioritized and selected. The team should consider opportunity costs, project benefits before costs, return value when making decisions. With the sets of criteria agreed upon in step 1, the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy is recommended. Dedicated resources and contingencies should be committed to ensure the successful implementation of selected projects. Besides, communication loop should be developed and utilized to keep changes updated. d. Implement the plan: staffing and allocating committed resources for implementation selected projects. A database should be created for monitoring, reporting and sharing. The plan is used as a communication tool to help management team and those who are involved quickly respond to change and take corrective actions in terms of identifying new opportunities and leveraging resources. It can be interpreted that completion of the first 3 steps in this process reflects the achievement of the three goals determined in the project portfolio selection by Cooper (2005): step 1 with should representing project portfolio in alignment with strategy; step 2 with can representing portfolio value maximization using most effectively its resource and capability; step 3 analyze and decide representing right balance and mix of projects; and step 4 with implement belonging to the next phase of execution and management in project portfolio management. The 4 steps reveal a loop of continuous stages, which is recognized as systematic approach. Challenges in Project Portfolio Selection Organizations face many problems such as lack of information, unreliable data of cost, time to completion, availabilities of resource, and benefits of projects. Project proposals are randomly arriving, not at one time. This requires the model or process to be flexible so that organizations can select projects without waiting until annual planning meetings. In large organizations with many business units, each business unit has its own list of priority and preferences. Besides, project portfolio selection is not always rational but it is biased by human being factor such as lobbying. People resist when there is absence of strategy or vague strategy or they find difficulties in pursuing the strategies. Changes necessary for the aligning the projects with the strategy might win approval of all the members of the organization, but when it comes to implementation, no one will be ready to take the lead. Ten Reasons why Strategy Implementation Efforts Can Fail: 1. The so-called strategic plan is nothing more than a collection of budgets and vague directions that do not provide clear guidelines for action. 2. The strategy does not correspond to market realities because it has been developed by strategic planners with no grass roots input. 3. The strategy does not enjoy support from and commitment by the majority of employees and middle management because they do not feel consulted in the development of the strategy. 4. Middle management does not think the strategy is the right one, or does not feel it has the requisite skills to implement it, so it sabotages the implementation. 5. Insufficient top management time is spent on communicating about, selling the new strategic direction, and managing the organizational changes involved. 6. No provision is made for developing the new skills and competencies required by the employees successfully to make the transition and operate within the new strategic direction. 7. No provision is made for instituting the appropriate organizational systems for the selection, motivation and reward of people in accordance with the new strategy. 8. No provision is made for creating a close fit or coherence between the business-level strategy and the various functional-level strategies that can operationalize it. 9. There are factions in the organization which disagree with the strategy because if implemented it would reduce their power and influence, so they sabotage it by deliberate actions or inactions. 10. No attempt is made to analyze the culture of the organization and identify Literature review examines four selected models that assist organizations in bridging the gap between organizational strategic objectives and project management: Model #1 Model of strategic project management is comprised of four main aspects of higher-level project management practices: 1. Strategic alignment of project: This practice refers to the extent to which an organization ensures that the projects it pursues are directly tied to the organizational strategy. This is very important in terms to see whether the project going to start is intact with the strategies of the organization for its successful implementation. 2. Project portfolio management. This practice refers to the identification of a project investment categorization scheme to assist the organization with prioritizing projects. Project portfolio management forms one of the building blocks in relating projects to strategy and can be considered as a key driver for aligning projects or programs to organizational objectives. It also helps in prioritizing and in the selection process of a project for its successful alignment. 3. Program management. The Project Management Institute (2004) defines the concept of program management as the centralized coordinated management of groups of projects to achieve the programs strategic objectives and benefits. Program management practices are inherent within the pursuit of strategic project management and are demonstrated as the management of groups of projects and the management of interactions between projects (portfolio coordination). 4. The business results of projects. Since projects are financial investments, organizations should estimate and measure project impacts on organizations from a business results perspective which may include return on investment, sales growth etc. Model #2: Project managers contribute to competitive advantage due to their skills in managing relationships and an organizational willingness to foster these skills and leverage them throughout the organization, and learn from them how to manage people and relationships across organizational functions and boundaries. Greens model of strategic project management is based on the constructs of competitive advantage, strategic capabilities and tacit knowledge management. Model #3: Model suggests that adopting strategic project management to select, manage and support multiple projects gives companies the best chance of moving the organization forward by keeping the company vibrant in the marketplace and returning maximum value for shareholders. Further, it identifies the following key characteristics of strategic project management: 1. Alignment of the following key business processes: strategic planning, strategic goal setting, and enterprise project management 2. Functions as a well-managed portfolio of investments as it: (a) allows for the most effective use of constrained resources; (b) ensures a high return on investment since projects are managed collectively; (c) it maintains alignment between the projects and the organizations short, medium and long term goals 3. A new management process embedded between strategic planning and project execution that manages project investments strategically and combines business planning and management with project management best practices Model #4: The term strategic project management as the management of those projects which are of critical importance to enable the organization as a whole to have competitive advantage There is a gap between aligning project management competencies to the selection of projects that will give organizations a competitive edge. Specifically, strategy is formulated at the senior management level and for it to be implemented; it should be broken down into discrete projects. Project management becomes a source of competitive advantage when an organization outperforms other companies through the experience and knowledge built up over time through managing projects. Also, project management yields competitive advantage through the actual selection and prioritization of projects that organizations engage in and secondly, through implementation and execution of the projects. Furthermore, project portfolio management is essential and the prioritization of projects should be based

Body Language Essay -- Papers Communication Physical Essays

Body Language 1.1 What is Body Language? Body Language is the unspoken communication that goes on in every Face-to-Face conversation with another person. It tells you their true feelings towards you and how well your words are being received. Between 50% of our message is communicated through our Body Language 40 % tone of our voices and 10% only are our words. Your ability to read and understand another person's Body Language can mean the difference between making a great impression or a very bad one! Reading someone body language can help you in a job interview, that meeting, or special date! Every one of us has experienced the feeling of like this person and not dislike that person but without necessarily knowing why. There was something about them. We often refer to this as a hunch or gut feeling, two descriptions directly relating to our own body's physiological reaction. Everyone has experienced the feeling that they have just been lied to, haven't they? We all here during a conversation have experienced the feeling that someone is lying to us. The words of the conversation probably weren't what we noticed as a direct lie. It was more likely to be the body movements that showed he is lying to us. Darting eyes, palms not visible, shifting from one foot to another, hand covering mouth or fingers tugging at the ear are clues. All the clues are there. Our subconscious picks them up, and if we're lucky enough to be perceptive, decodes them and tells us that the words and gestures don't match! Whenever there is a conflict between the words that someone says and their body signals and movem... ... non-verbal indication that you are both thinking along the same lines. It's not always this obvious...Body positioning The easy way to tell whether the person you're talking to is enjoying the conversation: The person is standing facing you with their body and feet pointing towards you and mirroring your positions. The tell-tale signs that someone's feeling uncomfortable or not enjoying the conversation: The person's head is turned towards you and appears engaged in the conversation - smiling, nodding etc, but their body and feet are pointing away from you. If someone's body is turned away from you it will be facing the place where they'd rather be. If they're pointed towards another person or the exit then it's time to terminate the conversation or do something to attract their full attention.

Malthus and Boserup Population Theory

MALTHUS AND BOSERUP The world population is the total number of living humans on the planet Earth. Recently the world has just hit over 7 billion people. It is expected that if the worlds population continues to increase at the rate it is doing now, then we will become overpopulated. Overpopulation is where an organism's numbers exceed the carrying capacity of its habitat. There are various views on this population crisis and throughout this essay I will describe theses views. Thomas Malthus was a pessimist , his theory is that the growth of human populations always tends to outstrip the productive capabilities of land resources.The result is that resources place a restriction on population growth and size and ‘positive’ checks (famine and disease) or preventative checks (limitation of family size) work to reduce population growth. Writing before the agricultural revolution, Malthus presumed that the productivity of resources were permanent because agricultural technolog y was largely fixed. From a Malthusian perspective, technology and environment (considered in terms of land resources) are therefore seen as independent variables that work together to determine the dependant variable of population, which he sees mainly in terms of population growth and size.According to him, human society could never be perfected. He believed that man is a lazy animal, who would lead a satisfied life and procreate as long as his family was well fed. However, as soon as human population would feel constraints in food supply due to increase in population, he would again work hard to provide enough for his family. This might lead to an increase in agricultural production to provide for all, but at the same time man would be back to his complacent stage, where all his needs would be fulfilled. This would start the cycle of overpopulation and food shortage, all over again.Having been a clergy, Malthus validated his theory on moral grounds that suffering was a way of mak ing human beings realize the virtues of hard work and moral behavior. Such kind of suffering due to overpopulation and food supply was inevitable. Malthus' theory had great influence on both Charles Darwin and Alfred Wallace, who are the co-founders of the modern evolutionary theory. By the end of the 19th Century, when living standards improved and birth rates dropped in the Western countries, concerns of overpopulation became irrelevant.However, in underdeveloped countries which have agrarian economies, Malthus' theory often finds credibility. On the other hand, Ester Boserup was an optimist. Her theory focuses on the relationships between three factors; population, environment and technology. Her concept of ‘population’ in contrast to Malthus, encompasses population density as well as population size and growth. Ester Boserup stated that an increase in population would stimulate technologists to increase food production.As Boserup said any rise in population would in crease demand for food and this would act as an incentive to change agrarian technology and produce more food. Therefore population growth will inspire innovators who will solve the problem s the increasing population has caused therefore making it sustainable for a growing population. Even though they are two opposing theories they do have some similarities. They are both based on ‘closed’ communities which at a global scale is not true. They are similar by the way they both agree that an rise in population will increase demand for food.However they completely differ on what the consequences will be. As Malthus says increased demand for food will eventually cause food production to decrease due to the law of diminishing returns. As Boserup has a completely opposing view that increased population would increase food production. We have to remember that Malthus wrote his essay in 1798 before the agriculture revolution therefore he excluded technology from his theory ther efore making it slightly inaccurate. As Boserup wrote her theory in 1968 and has seen the effect technology can have crop yield therefore the two theories contrast.Also Mathus and Boserup disagree on the outcomes of increased population as Malthus stated that population cant increase above the food supplies otherwise positive checks would occur. Malthus talks about controlling a population by preventative checks and how the population must be kept below the crisis point otherwise these positive checks will occur. In contrast Boserup does the opposite and stated that famine and war will be prevented by human solutions. Therefore the two theories have different answers as to how to make a sustainable population which will survive in food resources.I personally agree with Malthus and believe that the power of population is much greater than the power of the earth to provide subsistence for man although Boserup states that an increase in population would stimulate technologists to incre ase food production etc. There is only a limit of resources available that can be used and the use of new technology and manufacturing is a massive contributor to the green house effect. Also we cannot rely on an increases in population to stimulate people to find new ways so that we can live sustainably.Some people may argue that ‘positive checks’ are meant to happen. I don’t believe in parts of this theory however if we can reduce the population to a sustainable level then these positive checks will not have to take place. We can reduce positive checks by encouraging people to have fewer children however this has been taken a bit too far in some areas, for example – Chinas One Child Policy. Although this was a massive success in reducing the population, there are also problems that China is now faced with including gender imbalance (for every 6 males there are 5 females) and an ageing population.

Identifying Trainining Resources

UNIVERSITY OF BOTSWANA MASTER’S IN BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION MGT 745: HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT TOPIC: IDENTIFYING TRAINING RESOURCES Introduction This paper purports to outline steps needed to identify resources for training. It will illustrate the advantages and disadvantages of using different types of training drawing examples from the authors’ workplace experience. Resource could be defined as follows, â€Å"a source of supply, support, or aid, esp. one that can be readily drawn upon when needed. â€Å"†¦The total means available to a company for increasing production or profit, including plant, labor, and raw material; assets. † http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/resources Resources can be defined as assets available and anticipated for operations. These include people (learners, facilitators/trainers/consultants), time, infrastructure, equipment, availability of training institutions, and availability of financial resources (money/funds). The ki nd of resources required depend on the type of training that is to be carried out. Hence the identification of training resources is a critical component of training/ learning effectiveness that can be manifested at the individual, team, and organisation level. It is therefore important to identify training resources as this allows training to make a difference that is noticeable; training with a practical value or utility to both employees and the organization. One key factor in employee motivation and retention is the opportunity to continue to grow and develop job and career enhancing skills. Employees need to be equipped to handle employee relations and responsibilities competently. Training in any organization needs resources to be executed or implemented effectively hence the need to draw up a budget that can be utilized. The major resource for training is financial, therefore the need for the department to have cost estimates for most of the training being investigated. For example at the Botswana Police Forensic Science Laboratory, every financial year when budget estimates are drawn for the lab, training is included in the budget. Courses that need immediate attention (as per the need of the lab or gap that exist) are listed together alongside estimated costs and length of the training. Institutions that offer the training, course content, length of training and costs are identified beforehand. This budget is then submitted to the training board of the Botswana Police Service for screening and approval. In the Department of Vocational Education and Training (DVET), short term training budget is decentralized to regional offices and the budget tends to be similar or vary slightly from the previous year whereas long term training budget is coordinated at head quarters. The implication is that short term training budget may not necessarily reconcile with any required training. The organization should also take cognizance of the fact that people learn in different ways, therefore the training has to match employee learning preferences which may help to speed up their training and reduce costs at the same time. Some considerations when identifying resources for training are: †¢ What areas need training to be conducted? i. e. identifying problem areas. †¢ Who needs training and in what area? †¢ How complex is the training that is needed? †¢ How much time do learners have to learn the new knowledge and skills? How much money is available to pay for the training, whether in-house or using a consultant? †¢ How capable are learners to undertake the training? †¢ What are learner's learning preferences and styles? For example, in DVET training for the junior officers (industrial class) is normally done in Setswana. †¢ What institutions are available for tailored or the required training? †¢ Could training be conducted in hous e, on the job, outsourcing or in external institutions? And which method could suite learners? And benefit the organisation in a valuable and practical manner. Types of Training Resources Internal Training The types of training, classified as internal, external or a hybrid of the two have a bearing on the types of resources needed to implement. Internal training can be mentoring, coaching, seminars, workshops or classroom based training e. g. at the department of Government Printing, there is internal classroom based training whereby employees are taught within the department. The training is based on the theory and technical knowledge that the staff needs in order to improve their performance and prepare them for further training. This type of training requires a trainer, classroom, equipment such as projectors, television and video technologies. After completion of this internal training, qualifying employees are then sent for further training abroad for a higher learning programme. In the case of Printing, where there are no local institutions that offer training within the country, the department relies on colleges/universities based in the United Kingdom. The Department of Land Board Services in the Ministry of Lands and Housing mostly provide classroom based training, for example, on introduction to computers. This training is conducted mainly for the industrial class workforce to equip them with basic skills for working and operating computers. The resources used for this type of training include computers, Information Technology officers who conduct the training and the members of staff. At DVET regional offices most short term training programs are externally sourced where it is assumed that specialized courses for specific needs and in addition staff are given liberty to select training courses and institutions but subject to approval by supervisors and funds permitting. Other general training courses such as customer services improvement courses are selected by human resources officers as part of staff development. However, public sector reforms are cascaded internally form senior management to junior officers in consultation/ facilitation with performance improvement coordinators and funds have to be availed as a matter of priority, at times combining facilitators, equipment and funds across departments within the same ministry. It is essential to note that internal training is not as costly as external training which is one of its major advantages, as it is cost effective. Many businesses choose to train employees in-house (type of internal training) can offer a number of advantages over external training providers. Internal training can be: †¢ tailored to specific business' needs †¢ scheduled for a time that suits business †¢ time effective – employees do not spend additional time or money traveling However, there are a number of disadvantages to note including some of the following: †¢ The possible tendency for employees not to take the training seriously especially if it is conducted by a core employee with low reputation within the organisation or has less to offer to other employees. Difficulties faced by the organisation to identify a suitable trainer or the necessary resources in-house / internally. †¢ The potential risk of passing or perpetuating existing inefficiencies or poor business practices For internal training to be effective, HR managers need to ensure they have the appropriate expertise and resources in -house. They will have to dedicate the necessary resources to training programmes. These resources could include management time, an experienced trainer, training or course materials, equipment such as PCs, telephones or machinery and space in which to carry out the training. To help expose and enhance the skills of internal trainer with less information to offer to learners, consideration should be given to send them on a train-the-trainer course to ensure their training methods and materials are up to date and effective. Alternatively, if there are no necessary skills in-house, HR managers could purchase off-the-shelf or tailor-made courses or choose whether to use an internal or external trainer to run the course. This should be supplemented by appropriate e-learning courses and investing in internal training support databses. There are tailor-made courses covering a wide range of topics, one should choose a course that meets organizational and employees needs. They can be targeted, confidential and cost a fraction of the price of sending each employee on an external scheme. ON- The- Job Training (OJT) Under internal training there is also On-the-job training (OJT): Having a person learns a job by actually doing the job. OJT methods Coaching/ understudy For example at the BPS Forensic lab, when new employees start work (newly employed), they first undergo intensive in-house training before they can be released to work independently. At first they circulate in all the sections of the lab to get an overview of what each section does, then after which they are sent to the relevant sections they were employed to join. This is where they are taken through intensive coaching on the tests that are carried out at that particular section. Trainees are taught the theory behind the tests done, shown how to do the actual tests, then do the tests themselves under the supervision of the facilitator (usually an experienced member of the section). At the end a supervisor assesses them both theoretically and practically. When they satisfy the required standard of performance, they are then allowed to work independently. At DVET coaching of new staff does not follow any uniform structure. The new staff members will be coached on the requirements of the job and will then conditions will require older staff in the field to assign tasks coach and supervise the new staff work. At DVET our coaching has advantage of making new staff get to know how to do work quickly, but has disadvantage of not being documented hence may not necessarily consistently follow any set guidelines. Job rotation Job rotation consists of moving a trainee from department to department to broaden his or her experience and identify strong and weak points, the method is inexpensive and provides an organisation with immediate feed back. In the Department of Culture and Youth, Performing arts Unit job rotation is widely used mainly because of lack of staff. An Arts Festival organizer and manager could be assigned perform information and systems analysis activities/ funds allocation / research and documentation activities. This has worked for the department through the years as the organisation is sure of continuity of its programmes despite the loss of any officer in certain specialty areas. One officer who was originally a Performing Arts research and documentation officer ended up being a systems analysis officer. The officer realized that he did not really enjoy his line of specialty hence could easily shift from one specialty to the next for the benefit of the organisation. Seminars and Workshops At the BPS Forensic Lab, some seminars/workshops are conducted for all the employees on certain subjects, e. g. Occupation Health and Safety workshops. Employees gather at a venue and a consultant/facilitator is sourced to deliver on the subject. However, for other workshops one or two employees are chosen to attend on behalf of the lab (especially for those that involve a wide range of participants from different labs/departments and charge expensive attendance fees). After the seminar/workshops the rep(s) share what they have learnt with other employees of the Forensic lab through presentations. They also produce a report which is sent to the Police HR department and a copy left with the Director, Forensic Science Services. At DVET seminar and workshops are the major methods used to enhance skills of staff for short term training. External Training External training has to do more with taking employees to an institution or a place outside the parameters of the working environment. Unlike internal training, this requires more and extensive preparation. It is also capital intensive as more money is needed to pay for accommodation, food, learning materials and other costs associated with training. The HR unit has to first identify appropriate institutions where they can send their employees and his takes time as one has to research on the place before making any decisions. After completing the research a database of these learning places is created so as to have readily available information on where to get what kind of training and at what cost. In identifying these training institutions, the HR unit can send out tenders/quotations to companies. In other cases, institutions themselves send out brochures o r call the organizations and advertise themselves. For example, BNPC and BOBS email their training programmes for the year to our department on matters relating to productivity and quality management. They also advertise on the newspapers. At DVET regional offices every year a compiled list of staff needs are sent to HR officers at head office who in turn prioritize and select officers from training. However, due concerns on transparency of the wholly exercise a training committee is about to start working on staff training, though its guidelines are yet to be finalized. Attachment An example of external training which may not be as costly is sending employees for attachments to other organizations that offer similar services or have advanced technology that you need to learn about. As some people learn better in a practical environment, so sending them for an attachment to an organization that offers the same or similar services will be vital. This kind of training is very cost effective because sometimes if it is done locally, not much money is spent. Example: The department of GPPS wanted to buy new equipment, an image-setter which we found was available at a local private printing house. One officer from the unit that uses the equipment was sent to that company for three months to learn how to operate the equipment. There was no money required as the company offered to help. The training was effective as the employees now assists in operating the equipment and was also able to teach colleagues in the same unit. Example of External training at the BPS Forensic Lab It comes in the following forms a) Attachment of Scientists to labs outside Botswana who have advanced technologies and expertise that ours. The scientists are sent there to learn how to do certain tests or how to operate certain machinery. When they come back, they teach other members of the section, make presentations to the whole lab, and produce a report. b) Short courses (e. g. o obtain certificates on certain operations), Masters’s Degrees in Forensic Science as well as PHD’s in Forensic Science. These courses are offered outside Botswana (no local institution offers courses on Forensics at present), and in many instances people are sent to the UK or the USA. The skills that they acquire in their training are also shared by teaching others what they learnt and also come up wi th better ways of doing things. They also submit reports and make presentations. Apprenticeship training It is a structured process by which people become skilled workers through a combination of classroom instruction and on-the-job training. At the University of Botswana this is done mainly by the engineering department. Students spend time in the classroom learning there after take a semester or 2 working on attachment with DeBeers or any engineering company. This method is advantageous because it links work experience with the learning experience hence preparing a learner to be ready for the workplace. Furthermore, to cut cost in external resource training  an HR Manager should plan ahead to cut costs. That way the manager could be able to send or book a course for a larger group of people to get discounts. Or could send one person on a training course and ask them to teach others in the business. Or take up free offers and cheap training from providers of new machinery and systems. How to identify External Resources Important Steps for identifying external resources drawn from the authors’ various workplaces, 1) List all institutes that offer training and information about them that is location, contacts, type of workshops, Etc. There are many institutes offering training courses, workshops and programs. With the advent of the Internet, many sites also offer free or chargeable online training. ) List key training areas offered by each institute 3) Relate each training area to employees’ needs, competencies and capabilities identified earlier. 4) List web sites that offer free or chargeable online training and maintain up to date information. 5) Correspond with institutes to keep the Department up to date. The advantages of using training providers are: †¢ they are sp ecialists †¢ they can bring you up to date on current best practice and new ideas †¢ employees may interact with counterparts in other companies †¢ employees may learn better away from their usual work environment The disadvantages: it is difficult to know the ability and subject knowledge of the trainer †¢ putting an entire team through training at the same time can disrupt your business †¢ they are more costly than delivering internally †¢ the training may not be specific to your particular business †¢ Not up to date lists of institutions will lead to loss of time when training is required. †¢ Limited knowledge in what is available in terms of training may lead to misconceptions about what the staff may require in terms of their training. E-learning and distance learning courses: There are different types of distance learning methods including correspondence courses and e-learning courses. Some courses may be completed online while others might incorporate study books, CD-ROMs or audio and video tapes backed up by student tutorials and seminars. Distance education and E – learning are therefore advantageous because they †¢ allow employees to complete training while remaining in employment †¢ can be completed at a time to suit the business and employees †¢ are cheaper than externally provided courses are available for a wide range of business topics †¢ Offer recognized qualifications from entry level diplomas and certificates to post-graduate degrees. Training via the Internet: Using the internet or proprietary internal intranets to facilitate computer-based training. University of Botswana has recently established an E-Learning e. g. WEBCT, programme whereby students and staff could learn th rough internet/ intranet. This type of computer based learning carry the Advantages of reduced learning time, cost-effectiveness and consistency in instruction material, methods and presentation. The University also has distance programmes offering Degree in business studies and Diploma in Primary Teaching Education. Radio/ Teletraining: A trainer in a central location teaches groups of employees at remote/ or different locations via TV hookups. This is mainly used by Ministry of Education especially through radio. As a teacher one experience radio lessons whereby both students are taught through radio and instructions are given to the teacher as to how or what to provide to the students. Videoconferencing: Interactively training employees who are geographically separated from each other—or from the trainer—via a combination of audio and visual equipment. One recalls a situation whereby, students who studied Music at University of Natal – Petermarisburg campus from 1999 – 2000 experienced video conferencing. At the time the University, currently known as Univesrsity of Kwazulu Natal, offered Music Degree at the Durban Campus, which then disadvantaged students in petermarisburg. Therefore the University devised the video conferencing to train Petermarisburg students in music courses from Durban campus. While lesson were on process in Durban Petermarisburg students also experienced an interactive and learning process of the same class through video conferencing. Conclusion While internal training is important and can be invaluable in some areas of development, the external training process can add interest, give a greater breadth of experience and working practices, and equally important is the freedom to be able to choose a course and a style of learning that is suitable for each individual, rather than the department or team as a whole. Each individual member of the workforce will have different needs, both in terms of the type of training they require, the level of training and of course the time needed to train. Pitman Training for example, offers flexible learning, which means companies can guarantee each of their employees is meeting their individual achievements and targets, while fitting in their study at a time which suits them. Training can be done at their convenience, without having to sacrifice time at work and also without upsetting that all important work-life balance. Possibly the biggest benefit of drawing on the expertise of an external trainer such as Pitman Training, is the attraction of gaining a nationally recognized certification – providing your staff with confidence that they're receiving quality training, and your company the knowledge that it has quality trained staff All types of training resources seem to carry advantages and disadvantages; this study recommends that an organisation should choose training resources according to its learner’s needs and capabilities. Organizations could outsource trainers who would make the learning meaningful; skills transfer easy and motivate the learner. Outsourcing has the advantage of quickly addressing specific needs, and easier to coordinate but has the disadvantage of being relatively expensive. Organizations could also broaden employee’s skills through on job training and in house seminars, workshops as well as forums and short courses to save on time and cost since time is an essential tool for effective production and success of the organisation. It is advised that organizations should purchase training resources such as laptops, projectors, mobile screen, flip charts, markers, and conference room etc for in house training to be efficient and effective and cost effective. Therefore this paper concludes that there is no best method of training resources but it mostly relies on the needs and capabilities of an organisation. Hence an organisation should choose what is best for it and also consider balancing all the methods provided in this paper. REFERENCES http://dictionary. reference. com/browse/resources Training Development: Fertile Ground for BPO. IDC, May 2003 [pic] ———————– [pic]