Motivation and Leadership free essay sample

This work is submitted as part of the requirements for the MSc in information system and management. The work contained in this assignment is my own, individual and original work and has not been used in whole or in part for any other assessment on this or any other degree. I have read and understand the university rules on plagiarism. This essay discusses the quote by Dwight D. Eisenhower on leadership. In this quote, he defines leadership as the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it. Firstly, the meaning of this quote is explained by highlighting two distinct aspects of this statement, which is that leadership is the art of getting people to ‘want to do’ and getting them to ‘actually do’ what the leader wants done. It is inferred from this statement that Eisenhower’s notion is that these two processes, although distinct, are not mutually exclusive. We will write a custom essay sample on Motivation and Leadership or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page To provide a further explanation, the essay goes on to conceptualize these processes with their associated distinct leadership-styles and discusses the view point that these two concepts have to work both in combination and complementarily in order for his perspective on leadership to be fully agreed upon. â€Å"Leadership is the art of getting someone else to do something you want done because he wants to do it† (Dwight D. Eisenhower). What does this quote mean? To what extent do you agree or disagree with the quote and why? Over the years, many researchers, writers and leadership theorists have postulated various theories, ideas and perspectives on leadership, most of which are centred on the exertion of influence by a person on others to make them do something or achieve a goal. There is no one universally accepted definition of leadership. However, to name a few, Maxwell (1998) describes leadership as being nothing more (or less) than influence. Yukl (1994) also defined leadership as â€Å"the ability of one person to influence a group of persons toward the achievement of common goals† (p. 14). In the quote by Dwight D. Elsenhower above, leadership is viewed as the process of getting people to want to do as opposed to getting them just to do, which is a clear difference between the process of managing and that of leading (Kouzes amp; Posner, 1987). This statement holds true when the leader is able to properly communicate his vision in such a way that the followers are able to believe and buy into this vision by showing them how they can be served by a common goal. This ability of the leader to inspire his followers and get them to identify with his vision enacts their willingness to do something because they actually want to do it. Leaders do this by first of all being credible. They establish this credibility by their actions by challenging, inspiring, enabling, modelling and encouraging (Kouzes amp; Posner, 1987). When a leader is credible, he is better able to solicit the support and commitment of his followers. They are more willing to provide time, intelligence and energy to support the cause championed by the leader (Kouzes et al, 2010), because they trust and identify with his visions and goals and are confident in his ability to deliver. In essence, for a leader to get people to do things because they actually want to, he must be believable. His level of honesty, drive and passion therefore go a long way in building up this believable character. This quote also highlights the fact that leadership involves ‘delegating’ a task that the leader himself ‘wants done’. Hence, the leader has to take full responsibility for the task carried out by the subordinate and give him credit where appropriate. This is further supported by another quote by D. Eisenhower cited in Puryear Jr. 1991) who says: â€Å"†¦Leadership consists of nothing but taking responsibility for everything that goes wrong and giving your subordinates credit for everything that goes well. † (p. 289). Therefore, the Leader is fully responsible for anything that the subordinate does wrong and the subordinate should be made to understand this. Bearing this in mind, leaders adopt a leadership style to achieve their objectives and get their subordinates to do what they want. Different leadership styles have been discussed in earlier works of literature. Three major leadership-styles identified by psychologists Lewin et al (1939), are the democratic, autocratic and the laissez-faire styles. Active member involvement and group-decision making is encouraged by the democratic style while leaders are more domineering in the autocratic style and ‘hands off’ in the laissez-faire styles respectively. Also, in the framework proposed by Getzels and Guba (1957), the bureaucratic and delegative leadership-styles can be identified. The former being the style in which policies and procedures are prescribed while the latter is exactly the same as in the laissez-faire (passive) leadership style. Goleman (2000) also proposes six leadership-styles, which are, authoritative, democratic, affiliative, coercive, coaching and pacesetting. He explains that every leadership style is made up of some degree of emotional intelligence, which is exhibited through self-management, self-awareness, social awareness and social skill. Moreover, Authors such as Yukl, (1999), Rowold amp; Heinitz, (2007) and Judge amp; Piccolo (2004) have distinguished between two leadership styles; transactional and transformational leadership. These distinct leadership styles were initially introduced by Burns (1978), which was then later modified by Bass in 1985. To buttress the highlighted points and meanings of the quote discussed so far, this essay would be mainly focusing on the transformational and transactional approaches to leadership. Furthermore, how these styles can influence follower motivation would be discussed, as well as the extent to which this quote can be agreed upon. As explained earlier, this quote views leadership as a process of getting people to do what you want because they ‘want to’ and also as a process of getting people to ‘actually do it’. It may be inferred from Eisenhower’s statement that his view is that these two processes although separate, are not mutually exclusive. Hence, the transformational and transactional leadership styles can be characterized by each of these processes respectively, both of which can be combined and used to complement each other. This combination and complementation of these two leadership styles and processes can therefore be aligned with Eisenhower’s notion of leadership. Transformational leadership is one in which the leader elevates the interests of his followers by increasing awareness and acceptance of the group’s purpose and mission and by also allowing the followers to look beyond self-interest but to the collective interest of the group (Bass, 1985). The leader transforms the values and priorities of subordinates, and motivates them to exceed their performance expectations (Yukl, 1994). It is seen as a more participative leadership style in which the subordinates are inspired and influenced positively by their leader and accept, internalize and identify with the leader’s visions (Jung amp; Avolio, 2000). The willingness of subordinates to do what the leader wants done is influenced by their trust and confidence in the leader, coupled with his ability to inspire and motivate the employees to achieve great results by putting in the extra effort (Bass, 1985). Also, the ability of the leader to understand the differences and individuality of the followers, as well as provide support to foster growth and development also helps to increase their commitment and willingness to do what is required (Bass, 1985). The leader here is charismatic and energetic and is able to instill this enthusiasm into his followers, which gets them to actually want to do the job as oppose to just doing as they are told. However, in the transactional style of leadership, the followers simply do as they are told. The leadership is more like a process of exchange or contractual agreement between the leaders and followers (kappen, 2010). The leader meets the immediate needs of his followers as a reward, in exchange for the desired level of performance and negative consequences (punishment) is used to curtail undesired behavior (Jung amp; Avolio, 2000). Unlike in transformational leadership, the leader seems not be really concerned with changing the followers attitudes, beliefs and values neither do the followers feel the need to develop a greater sense of commitment and trust in the leader. The focus is mainly on just getting the job done which is the second aspect of leadership outlined earlier from Eisenhower’s quote. Leadership styles can impact or influence follower motivation to a significant extent. Transactional leadership is of the notion that people are motivated by reward and punishment and when the conditions of the exchange process are agreed upon, the followers primarily do what is required of them by the leadership. However, in transformational leadership, the followers are not only motivated by rewards but also by the processes resulting in these rewards (kappen, 2010). Transformational leadership embodies charismatic leadership where followers can be motivated by inspiration and by increasing their level of emotional involvement. To further expatiate on the influence of leadership styles on motivation, the relationship between transactional and transformational and motivation shall be discussed respectively. As discussed earlier, transactional leadership is an exchange process or contractual agreement between leaders and subordinates, in which the subordinates are externally driven to yield results through rewards and punishment. This external drive can be referred to as extrinsic motivation. Transactional leadership based on contingent reward is positively related to the follower’s motivation (Judge amp; Piccolo 2004). By providing contingent reward systems, leaders can motivate their followers to put in their best efforts to yield the desired results. The task assigned to the follower may generally be of no interest but the provision of an external reward could motivate the person to complete the task (kappen, 2010). These external rewards may be monetary or be in the form of good scores etc. This shows that a leader can still get people to do what he wants done even without them actually wanting to do it, as opposed to what Eisenhower’s suggests. Here leadership is not necessarily the art of getting people to do something you want done because they want to, it is the art of getting people to simply do by providing the appropriate reward agreed upon. Hence the reward or avoidance of punishment is the motivator rather than the leader or the task itself. In the case of transformational leadership, the focus is more internal and on the process as a whole and not just the outcome (Kappen, 2010). Internal or intrinsic motivation can be derived from task features such as autonomy, task significance, feedback, task identity, and so on (Houkes et al, 2001). The transformational leader tries to meet the immediate and future intrinsic needs of his subordinates, which are closely related to Maslow’s higher order needs (Maslow 1943). Hence intrinsic motivation plays a key role in this process and this notion is supported by (Barbuto, 2005) who explains that internal or intrinsic motivation encompasses a persons emotions, fun, trust and feeling of self-worth and these are all driven by internal influences which can be ppropriated by transformational behavior. The leader tries to transform the followers’ goals, beliefs and values to align with his and that of the organization and motivates them by positively building up their sense of self-worth and self-efficacy (Shamir et al, 1993). The ability of the leader to achieve this through his charismatic persona and individualized consideration, helps to increase their willingness to do what the leader wants done and to achieve the desired performance levels or outcome. So, drawing from all the points mentioned above, to what extent can Eisenhower’s quote be agreed upon? By identifying two distinct aspects in his statement, this essay has highlighted Eisenhower’s notion of leadership as being the art of getting people to ‘want to do’ and to ‘actually do’ what the leader wants done. This statement holds true so far as these processes are seen as distinct yet not mutually exclusive. Hence, the two processes have been characterized by the transformational and transactional leadership-styles respectively. The transformational leadership-style is associated with the process of getting people to want to do due to the leader’s ability to inspire trust and confidence in his vision as well as his ability to internally motivate people to put in their best efforts to yield the desired outputs. On the other hand, the transactional leadership-style is associated with getting the work done regardless of whether or not the subordinates actually want to do it provided there is an extrinsic reward agreed upon or the avoidance of punishment. Therefore, as long as these two concepts and their associated leadership-styles can be combined and used to complement each other rather than viewed as just separate, this quote can be agreed upon. This means that leadership should not merely be the art of getting people just to do what you want done but also it should involve the processes involved in inspiring and motivating them to actually want to do it and vice versa. When a leader is able to motivate his followers internally and externally with the appropriate rewards and charismatic approach to transforming their behavior, the leadership would tend to be more successful and well aligned to its aims and this balance therefore agrees with Eisenhower’s perspective of leadership.

Design Specification Essays

Design Specification Essays Design Specification Essay Design Specification Essay A Requirements I have been asked to set up an ordering system for a clothing company to hold stock records and process orders. The system should reflect the outdoor image of the company. The company colours are blue/yellow and it has a logo, which could be used to personalise the system. The system must be able to: 1. Hold Information 1. hold the details of 20 stock items including, stock code, description, price and quantity in stock 2. hold customer details for 10 clients including full name, address and postcode, current balance and credit limit 2. Take an Order 1. Input name of client (check if name is on record and generate an error message if not) 2. Input stock code for items required (check for valid code and display item and price each) 3. Input quantity of item required (check there is sufficient stock and generate an error message if not) 4. Repeat for up to 5 stock items 5. Calculate the total bill for the items ordered 6. Apply a discount of 10% for orders over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½500 7. Add VAT at 17.5% (including a way to alter this if it changes) 8. Calculate the overall cost for the invoice (check it is within the clients credit limit and generate an error message if not) 9. Include a way to process or abort the order 3. Produce an Invoice 1. Generate an invoice from the information input in 2 2. Print out the invoice 3. Update the customer current balance to reflect the new order 4. Update the stock to reflect what has been sold 5. Clear out data from order form ready for next order 4. Update Information 1. Update stock quantity when new stock arrives 2. Update customer current balance when an invoice is paid 5. Produce Required Output 1. Display/print out labels for selected customers name, address, postcode 2. Display data about a current stock item by entering the code. 3. Display/print out a current stock list with values 4. Display graphs, eg Customer balances, stock quantities 5. Display and print invoices see 3.1 B System functions The main functions required are: 1. 1. View Stock 2. Check Stock 3. Print Stock 4. Add New Stock 5. Graph Stock Quantities 6. View Customer 7. Print Address Labels 8. Take an Order 9. Pay Invoices 10. Graph Outstanding Balances A button linked to a macro will be required on the menu for each of these functions. C Sheet Layouts I could have used a separate worksheet for each function, but as some function are quite small the layout below avoids too many sheets. As Excel comes with three work sheets as standard I have decided this will suffice so I will use them as follows. 1. Sheet One Label tag Menu 1. The Main Menu with Macro buttons to all functions listed above 2. Stock Check Function (at least one screen below menu macro to return to menu) 3. Print Label Function (at least one screen below stock macro to return to menu 4. Sheet Two Label tag Data 1. Stock detail (Top part of sheet macro to return to menu) 2. Client Details (Bottom part of sheet macro to return to menu) 3. Sheet Three Label tag Order 1. Order Input Top part of slit screen 2. Invoice Bottom part of split screen D Data Fields Data Sheet Stock field headings required 1. stock code Items stock code 2. bin number a number 3. description description of stock item 4. price each retail price of one item 5. stock value calculated from price each times in stock 6. in stock current quantity in stock 7. new stock input area where new stock can be entered 8. ordered extracted from order form on Order sheet if ordered (IF stock code on invoice = stock code for item, then put in quantity for this item, otherwise do nothing) 9. remaining calculated from in stock add new stock take away ordered Client field headings required 1. S name Clients Surname it is assumed each Surname is unique 2. F name Clients Forename 3. address Clients Address 4. town Clients Town 5. postcode Clients Postcode 6. account balance Balance outstanding on account 7. credit limit Maximum credit for client 8. credit remaining calculated from credit limit take away account balance 9. payments Input area for payments to be entered 10. order value extracted from total on Invoice if this client selected (IF S name on invoice = S Name for this client, then put in invoice total, otherwise do nothing) 11. new balance calculated from account balance add order value take away payments E Macros required 1. Main_Menu this always returns user to the top of the Menu sheet from any part of any worksheet 2. View_Stock takes user to the Stock area of the Data Sheet 3. Check_Stock takes user to the area where this function is located 4. Print_Stock selects the area of the Data sheet containing stock data and prints it 5. Add_New_Stock takes user to stock area of Data sheet and selects the top cell in the new stock column 6. Update_Stock Once new stock is entered it copies the value from the remaining column and pastes it in the in stock column and then clears new stock column. User is then returned to main menu. 7. Graph_Stock takes user to area where graph has been generated and gives option to print the graph 8. Print_Graph selects graph and prints it 9. View_Clients takes user to the Stock area of the Data Sheet 10. Take_Order takes user to the Order Sheet 11. Labels takes user to the area where this function is located displays label for selected client and offers choice to print out label 12. Print_Labels selects and prints label from screen 13. Payment takes user to client area of Data sheet and selects the top cell in the payments column 14. Update_Client Once payment is entered it copies the value from the new balance column and pastes it in the account balance column and then clears payment column. User is then returned to main menu. 15. Graph_Balance takes user to area where graph has been generated and gives option to print the graph 16. Print_Graph2 selects graph and prints it 17. Process_Order Selects and prints out the new Invoice. Triggers Update_Client macro. Triggers Update_Stock macro. Triggers Abort_Order macro. 18. Abort_Order Clears all input cells and returns user to main menu. Possible layout for the Main Menu showing macro buttons F Constraints Assumptions 1. Only 20 items of stock are required 2. Maximum amount of stock held will be 100 3. Only 10 clients are required 4. Clients will have unique names 5. Only up to 5 items will be ordered at any one time 6. VAT is 17.5% 7. Discounts will be 10% on orders over à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½500 G Testing 1 Comprehensive test data will be required to check 1. All outputs are as expected 2. Invalid stock codes are rejected 3. Clients not on file are rejected 4. Order quantity is not over the current stock 5. Printed invoice matches all data input 6. Invoice total is correct. 7. All cells, other than those required for input, are protected 2 Each formula must be tested to ensure it performs correctly 1. Does it perform the correct function? 2. Does it give the correct answer? 3 Each Button must be tested to ensure it functions as expected 1. Check each macro works independently 2. Check different sequence of buttons to ensure one does not effect another

A study investigating the mismatch between the course book and the Literature review

A study investigating the mismatch between the course book and the needs of saudi technicians working in air forces - Literature review Example Therefore, new courses were prepared to meet the requirement. In the process of course designing, ESP became the dominant tool in view of its demand by the stakeholders and the employers (Anthony 1997, 2). With the passage of time, it was admitted that such module of learning would attract workforce migrated from all over the world in search of green pasture. In the fast developing economies like India, Dubai, Malaysia, and Eastern Europe such courses are considered as a useful method of learning for the workforce. The learners themselves now realize that English is an effective tool in achieving the empowerment and self-expression. Hence, it should not confine to few situations only (Anthony 1997, 2-3). To further improve the situation in the mid of seventies, the idea of needs analysis was floated. Prior to that, needs analysis mainly focused on linguistic and register analysis. The focused analysis method in 80s was first used by chambers in their articles and tried to remove the confusion that existed about certain terminologies (Astika 1999, 1). In the light of the statement of Iwai, formal needs analysis was the new concept in the field of language teaching. This method was mostly used by the teacher to examine what sort of techniques could woo or influence the students to become master of English language. These experiments were the mother of new approaches to be replaced with the existing. John opined that such analysis is needed to introduce for course designing, which provides authenticity, validity and relevancy for the following courses to be designed in the same pattern (Astika 1999, 2-3). The insertion of subject related pictures in course of English language for Specific Purpose are in fact technological and theoretical assessment of languages that are to be used to satisfy the learner needs and to meet the globalized requirement, where local and global needs are merged. By using ESP with its multiple analytical methods may address the need of a hotel worker at one particular place or situation in a detailed manner than ever before. Now the learners and the workers are started realizing that in different circumstances different methods of learning are to be adopted in an effective manner to cope with the situation. Now the specialists of ESP finding out more ways and means that attracts more and more participants in the courses specifically designed for them to cater to their needs. It is true that without understanding the problems of the course participants, the desired result could be elusive dreams. Therefore, in order to ensure effective participation of the specific participants in basic learner’s academies, at work place and in the communities merits in depth research by the researchers about their needs and how to handle them (Belcher 2006, 134-135). The aim and work of Munby was just to find out the linguistic problems for the initial learners, used in many situations are praiseworthy. The outcome of Munbyâ €™s model is appreciated by Hutchinson and Waters (1987) since it serves the purpose of learners very effectively in a targeted situation. Subsequent model derives their strength from the model of Munby because it provides valuable data banks and target performance (Songhori 2008, 7-8). There are researchers who focus on analyzing target situation needs that followed Munby’s CNP model. We should take into consideration the efforts of Hutchinson and Wa

International human resource management mini essay

International human resource management mini - Essay Example Multinational companies often integrate corporate social responsibility into their business model, which regulates the actions of the firm. In short, corporate social responsibility guides a corporation in having a positive impact in all its activities. This impact is based on how the company treats the environment, its consumers, its employees, stakeholders, communities and other members of society. Through corporate social responsibility, companies develop and promote their principles and standards. These principles and standards are for both the internal and external actors. The International Labour Organization (ILO) considers corporate social responsibility as a company’s contribution to promoting decent work agendas to its employees. This principle is central in ILO’s efforts of promoting progress in the economic and social realms (Deakins, 1995, p214). The ILO has set standards for CSR policies, which guide companies in developing their principles Several incidences concerning the violation of working conditions among multinational companies prompted the ILO to promote the improvement of employees working conditions (Sengenberger, 2006, p32). The Bangladesh incident in 2013 resulted in heated discussions concerning the labour standards among workers of multinational companies. This is not the first case where multinational companies have provided poor working conditions for their employees. In the past China and Vietnam have had similar cases, where multinational companies provided sub-standard labour conditions for their employees. The ILO popularized Corporate Social Responsibility as a way of improving the labour standards of multinational companies (Sachdev, 2011, p121). To ensure minimum labour standards are met in international trade, the ILO has integrated a social clause in all trade agreements. However, developing countries oppose this clause despite its

Future of Human Factors in Aviation (capstone paper) Thesis

Future of Human Factors in Aviation (capstone paper) - Thesis Example Human factors are the major contributors in accidents associated with aviation industry (Helmreich, 2000). Flight Standards (AFS) Human Factors Specialists’ primary activities include: â€Å"Develop and update FAA regulations, policy, and guidance about human factors issues for aircraft operations and procedures, aircraft maintenance, pilot training, and other functions; Support projects that involve human factors assessments of aircraft operations, procedures, and maintenance; Develop tools to assist the FAA Flight Standards Service; Sponsor and supervise human factors research to support Flight Standards† (FAA, n. d.). FAA and NASA have spent a huge amount of R&D budget in understanding these factors. In an attempt to determine the path for future development in the field of human factors and aviation industry, a thorough investigation was carried out with the help of secondary sources that included books, research articles, and official report. With various technolog ical developments the influence of human factor in aviation has been mitigated to some extent, however, there is still a room for improvement. The need at the moment is to develop error tolerant systems, that not only monitors human factors, but also use automation to an extent where equipment become task centered as well as human centered. Aviation industry is one of the most prosperous industries. The expected annual growth of the industry is around five percent. The number of people utilizing these services continues to increase as well. With such a large customer base, it is tough to maintain standards in performance. Moreover, the slightest of errors may end up in causing loss of millions and affecting several hundred lives at the same time. Safety and efficiency of operations are the two most vital components. These components rely directly on organizations and their crew members. Despite, the advances in technology, it

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

Media Propaganda and Stereotypes Essay -- Media Stereotypes Stereotypi

Our society consists of consumers that buy into stereotypes and the propaganda that is being fed by the government and the media. Stereotypes steer individual's perceptions of a group of people in a certain way, usually negative, and generalize that opinion to all members of the group. Aware of the influence stereotypes have on people's views, governments use stereotypes already imbedded in society as a propaganda tactic to persuade people's thoughts, opinions and beliefs in order to benefit their cause. The media was used for disseminating stereotypes the effect violent music has on teenager's behaviours such as in the shootings at Columbine. After the September 11 attacks, the U.S. government used the media as an outlet to emphasize Muslim stereotypes to influence people to support the invasion of Iraq. Stereotypes and other propaganda techniques such as "name-calling, manicheanism, and censorship" are powerful instruments used in propaganda, because it tactfully influences the pop ulation to think in the way that the government and media want them to think (Shah, 2003). However, its success depends on how strong the stereotypes are instilled in society, how well they are maintained within propaganda and if the public is unaware of the propaganda techniques used. Propaganda is most often used during times of conflict, such as the most recent example regarding the September 11th terrorist attacks on the United States. When news broke out all over the media that the terrorists responsible for the atrocity were of Muslim origin, many racist individuals probably thought 'it figures.' Ever since the fact that Saddam Hussein "used chemical weapons to poison tens of thousands Kurds in 1988" was exposed to the public via the media, t... ...1402>, consulted on March 30, 2004. Mediascope (2000). "Youth and Violent Music." Online at: http://www.mediascope.org/pubs/ibriefs/yvm.htm, consulted on March 29, 2004. Poiesis.org (1997). "The Peace Journalist Option." Online at: http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Propaganda/Iraq.asp, consulted on March 28. SCHECHTER, Danny (2001). "Covering Violence: How Should Media Handle Conflict?" mediachannel.org. Online at: http://www.mediachannel.org/views/dissector/coveringviolence.shtml, consulted on March 27, 2004. SHAH, Anup (2003). "War, Propaganda and the Media." Global Issues. Online at: http://www.globalissues.org/HumanRights/Media/Military.asp, consulted on March 27, 2004. The Disaster Center (2000). "Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold: Stop the Violence, Remember Littleton." Online at: http://www.cnn.com/video, consulted on April 1, 2004.