Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 16

Education - Essay Example Much has been discussed about the interest of students and their learning experience in the school level. Many experiments have been done on the same and several critics have given the drawbacks and necessary steps that need to overcome them to have a better learning experience. On keeping this as a starting note, it is high time that equal importance is given to students and their learning experience at a higher education level. The primary factor that determines the scale of learning experience of every student is their boredom factor. So, in order to identify the extent to which the students and teachers are responsible for the learning experience in higher education, an analysis have to be made with boredom as a critical factor.( Mann & Robinson 2009) To give a brief explanation of what boredom is, it can be attributed to person’s state of mind when he has nothing to do that he likes. On an analysis on what causes boredom among students which in turn leads them to have a bad learning experience, it was found out that the teaching techniques of the lectures and the methods they follow to be the primary reason. Some of the teaching methods followed by teachers evoke a passive environment of learning. Also, a one way relationship between teachers and students could also lead to a dip in their learning curve. On the other side, a student’s individual interest also plays a part on the grade one earns in learning. (Gjesne 1977) If the student is not open towards learning new things, irrespective of whatever the teacher presents. Then, the student is at the receiving end for all the blames of having a lean learning experience. Hence a cognitive analysis is required on both sides to determine the extent of impact on learnin g experience. ( Mann & Robinson 2009) The main teaching method that is followed in most of the universities is converting text to computer PowerPoint presentations and presenting them. Although studies have

Reading Response Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 25

Reading Response - Essay Example This leads us to two critically important questions. Is the modern liberation movement heading in the right direction or too much assertion is used to bring a change? Also, how long will it take to eradicate gender stereotypes from society? Feminist artists have contributed a lot to revolutionize the image of women. They have asserted through their works that a woman’s personality cannot be defined by men, rather she is herself the maker of meaning. This means that the status of women in society cannot be labelled submissive. It is important for a woman’s body to be seen through a woman’s eyes because this effectively disrupts the centuries old concepts held and promoted by men. Conventional femininity reinforces this male idea that women are delicate and docile (Frueh 194). So, modern feminist art has definitely focused on female body a lot in myriad different ways. This leads us to important questions. Does concentrating focus on female nudity in art contribute much to changing patriarchal views? Does feminist art play a significant role in emancipating

Strategic Management Process: Airtel

Strategic Management Process: Airtel Industry: Telecom The Indian telecommunications industry is one of the fastest growing in the world, with about 19 million additions a month. The industry has witnessed consistent growth during the last year on the back of rollout of newer circles by operators, successful auction of third-generation (3G) and broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum, network rollout in semi-rural areas and increased focus on the value added services (VAS) market. there have been several new entrants in the markets lately. This has led to ever lowering tariffs and a decrease in the revenue of existing players. Fresh acquisition of customers is no longer a guarantee to increase in revenue. Consequently, in addition to the lower calling rates, the operators have been forced to provide a host of value added and auxiliary services. To retain its leadership position, Airtel is already leading the way in areas of mobile commerce, banking etc. As the Indian telecom industry enters its third phase, growth in the markets is bound to mirror the growth in the economy. This provides valuable pointers to the next driver of growth the rural India where mobile penetration levels still remain an abysmal 15%. Airtel has been looking to expand and learn in the rural/low income market segment. Airtel has already ventured into providing mobile financial services, mobile money transfers to customers in rural areas, further leveraging its existing base of cellular subscribers. Vision and Mission Vision By 2015, Airtel will be the most loved brand, enriching the lives of millions. Mission We will meet the  mobile  communication  needs of our  customer through   error-free service delivery Innovative Product and Service Cost efficiency Unified messaging solution Objectives/Goals To undertake transformational projects that have a positive impact on society and contribute to the nation building process To diversify into new businesses in agriculture, financial services and retail business with world class partners To lay the foundation for building a conglomerate for future. Environment Analysis Porters Five Forces (Cellular Services) 1. Threat of new entrants MEDIUM TRAI has been following a liberal regulatory regime to encourage greater competition with better quality and affordable prices The government presently allows FDI of 76% in the sector, encouraging foreign players to enter the Indian market. Heavy capex requirements and strict licensing policy hinders entry 2. Bargaining Power of buyers VERY HIGH Lack of product differentiation- There are short term gains that one player may have from innovation/ first mover advantage into a new value added service Extremely low switching costs in moving from 1 service provider to another Multiple service providers- very wide variety of choice for the customers. Competitive landscape implies consistently better offers and deals for customers. 3. Bargaining power of suppliers VERY LOW Airtel outsources most of its operations. Since contracts are allocated to the highest bidder, Airtel only looks at getting the best deal. This mechanism provides Airtel with a high degree of flexibility. For eg. Network outsourcing/maintenance partners: Ericsson(15 circles), Siemens(7 circles), Huawei., IT system partner: IBM, Tower maintenance and other infrastructure: Bharti Infratel and Indus towers. 4. Pressure from substitutes HIGH The communications space is very dynamic with new technology (3G and 4G) and products flooding the market. Mobile services are competing with products such as, Wired-lines ,CDMA, Video telephony, Tata/ Reliance- Walky phones, Internet telephony- Skype, google, fring etc, VSAT phones.Additionally, data services on cellular phones have become an essential product feature. On this front, mobile services face a significant threat from local ISPs, broadband service, leased lines, Blackberry and iPad. 5. Current Rivalry MEDIUM-HIGH Airtel is the current market leader in the mobile service (GSM) sector with 31% market share. Vodafone, BSNL, Idea are its major competitors. Competitive Advantage Airtel has the following competitive advantages: Strategic alliances: Acquisitions and JVs Airtel has been entering into various JVs and acquisitions to increase its footprint as well as global presence. The firm has stake in JT mobiles, Sky Cell etc. With the acquisition of Zain and other players, Airtel has used this strategy effectively to become a global player Outsourcing: Airtel has a clear outsourcing strategy. It outsources all its functions except marketing, sales and finance; this has helped the firm focus on its core competencies. Further due to its market leadership position and volume of its operations, there are multiple bidders; which has ensured high quality service/products for Airtel Supplier Relationships Airtel has strong relationships with its suppliers. It relies on Bharti Infratel for towers, IBM for IT systems etc. It is able to sustain its innovative business model ,by focusing on relationship management with vendors International Presence Airtels global presence and deep pockets are a source of competitive advantage for the firm. Value Chain Analysis The traditional mobile industry value chain basically involved the mobile operator, service provider, device manufacturer and the customer. However the mobile services industry is rapidly evolving with value added services, data services etc. gaining significance. These are a very profitable revenue stream for the service provider. For example in the value added services segment, the network operator keeps about 60% of revenue, the technology/software developer retains about 25%, while the content provider gets about 20% of the revenue from value added services (Source: IMRB Research). With M-Commerce contents becoming increasingly important in the value chain, it is seen that the operator share in the value chain has been declining. Airtel has been tying up with entertainment providers, FMCGs, insurance companies to maintain a share in the value chain. From a strategy perspective, this should be one of the focus areas for Airtel. Business Level Strategy Airtel cellular service follows a cost leadership strategy. The market focus is broad- with the firm catering to 137 million customers as of FY10. Further, since differentiation is very short lived and immediately imitated by competitors; firms attempt to maintain a cost advantage over their competitors. Airtel has maintained its cost leadership by reducing its operational costs and its unique business model- which outsources all major functions except, sales, marketing and finance. Differentiation is also attempted with the help of value added services. While there are several player in the market, including the new entrants, Bharti-Airtel, Rcom and BSNL are the only players to gain a differential advantage on the account of existing infrastructural capability. Differentiation Focused differentiation Cost leadership- AIRTEL CELLULAR Focused Cost Integrated Competitive Scope Narrow Broad Source of competitive advantage Differentiation Cost Corporate Level Strategy Bharti Airtel has been divided into distinct business units, as follows: The Mobile Services division is probably the most valuable division of Bharti Airtel. Airtel offers GSM mobile services in all the 23-telecom circles of India and is the largest mobile service provider in the country, based on the number of customers. It provides numerous value added services such as mobile apps, hello tunes, m-commerce, wireless internet etc. The Airtel Telemedia Services division provides high speed broadband internet and related services. It also provides landline service in 93 cities across India. It also launched its DTH services in 2008 and is present in more than 150 cities now. The Enterprise Services division provides a diverse portfolio of services to large Enterprise and Carrier customers. This division is further divided into two unite: Carrier business unit and Corporate business unit. The Corporate Business Unit provides end to end telecom solutions to Indias large corporate. It specializes in providing customized solutions to address the unique requirements of different industry verticals. The Carrier Business Unit provides long distance wholesale voice and data services to carrier customers as well as to other business units of Airtel. It is present in significant capacity in the International arena as well. Differentiation Focused differentiation Cost leadership- AIRTEL CELLULAR Focused Cost Integrated Competitive Scope Narrow Broad Source of competitive advantage Differentiation Cost The Digital TV Services provides customers with a unique TV viewing experience with a wide variety of channels and programmes and with the on-demand content on Airtel Live. The international business group deals with all of Airtels operations outside India and South Asia. Bharti Airtel has comparatively low levels of diversification, and it follows a Dominant Business strategy. The second quarter financials of Airtel show that its mobile services division had a gross revenue of Rs. 8099 crore, which is roughly 82% of its total revenue of Rs. 9846 crore. Thus its mobile services division is its dominant business. The reasons for Airtel to diversify are purely based on value creation. As all its divisions focus mainly on telecommunication and related technologies, the transfer of core competencies becomes much easier and much more useful. Moreover sharing activities and resources, especially technological knowledge, is very helpful and creates a positive synergy for Airtel. It also gives Airtel to increase its market power by engaging in multipoint competition with competitors such as Tata. Further it provides efficient internal capital allocation opportunities to airtel, as the retained earnings from its hugely profitable Mobile services can be put to good use in other divisions. Value creation through diversification Airtel seeks to create value through diversification by moving across businesses that share both operational and corporate relatedness. With this approach, it expects to achieve high resource sharing and consequently, significant cost reduction. It looks at operational relatedness since a number of its businesses operate across similar technologies and thus the platform for a given product can be used directly for extending the service from a completely new product. As an example, the cables for a telephone connection provided by Airtel can be used to provide broadband service to the customer without any significant change in infrastructure. The skills required from the technicians are also not very different and thus economies of scale are quite possible. The same logic can be extended to exploring the corporate relatedness. All the diversified businesses require similar managerial and technical expertise as can be seen in the example provided above. In pursuing this strategy, Airtel will have to be conscious of the fact that it can lead to diseconomies of scope. This can arise primarily from the very factor which Airtel is banking on similarity across its businesses. A wrong move in any one of the businesses can spill over to its other business and cause repercussions even in the short term. This is the very reason that the organization cannot afford to go easy on any of its domains and needs to keep up to speed in all its businesses. International Strategy Today Bharti Airtel operates in 19 countries throughout the world. Apart from being the largest cellular service provider in India, it is the fifth largest telecom operator in the world. It has about 207.8 million subscribers worldwide 152.5 million in India, 50.3 million are in Africa. This has helped Airtel to increase its global market share and revenues significantly. International Business Level Strategy We will view this in further detail using Porters Determinants of National Advantage model: It is worth noticing here that after the Indian subcontinent, Airtels main region of operation is Africa. It is possible that the company found it attractive to enter Africa because due to its economic conditions, countries there would be lacking in necessary factors of production. Domestic companies in Africa would be lacking in technological resources, human resources, and capital necessary in the telecommunications sector. On the other hand, there is no lack of such resources in India. This is one of the major reasons why Airtel chose to expand there. Although the demand for services provided by Airtel is increasing at a rapid pace in India, there is still a lot of competition and the demand is smoothing out slowly. To further increase its revenues and market share Airtel has to expand to other nations as well. Due to the lack of existence of bare minimum infrastructure in Africa and the slow but steady increase in its economic well being, the demand conditions over there should be very high. The related and supporting industries are also very competitive and there are a lot of players in the telecommunication sector, like Vodafone, BSNL and Reliance. International Corporate Level Strategy The business of Airtel has been divided into two units based on geography. Need for cost responsiveness There are three basic international corporate level strategies availaible to any firm: Need for local responsiveness Airtel has always made it a point to focus on the needs of customers and provide solutions to customers according to their requirements. For example, the mobile services that they offer vary even among the different states of India according to customers preferences. Similarly, the kind of services, offers, plans and value addition that they offer in India is very different than what they offer in other nations. For Airtel, need to address local responsiveness has always been of the utmost importance. On the other hand, the need for global integration is not very high. The two business groups, as shown above, are distinct from each other. Due to the lack of proximity of the locations where Airtel operates, and other strategic factors, it is best for Airtel to have low levels of global integration. Keeping the above points in mind, it is clear that Airtel follows a multidomestic strategy. Organizational Structure Bharti Airtel follows an integrated structure responsible for all aspects of its telecom business in India. Significant reorganization took place in October 2006 in line with the vision of making Airtel, the most admired brand in India by 2010. As quoted by their president, it is their endeavor to build an integrated business, leading to higher synergies efficiencies and creating an organization that has a truly national character in every aspect of business operations. The present structure marks the transition of Airtel towards a customer focused organization while building sustainability scalability to seamlessly manage 100 million customers and beyond. The new organization has been designed to enable strong corporate governance whilst ensuring operational freedom, through functional matrix reporting relationships. Actual Structure Bharti Airtel is structured into four strategic business units Mobile services, Broadband Telephone (BT) services, Enterprise services and DTH services. The mobile business provides mobile fixed wireless services using GSM technology across 23 telecom circles. The BT business provides broadband telephone services in 94 cities. The Enterprise services provide end-to-end telecom solutions to corporate customers and national and international long distance services to carriers. All these services are provided under the Airtel brand. The top level management of Airtel across its four divisions is as shown in the following figure. In the case of Airtel, a matrix organization structure introduces, or at least recognizes, the real life complexity of a business environment. Geography, function, technology, business unit and technology (among others) are the important factors that are recognized in the matrix organizations structure. However, the above mentioned structure also introduces a higher level of internal complexity and some additional people management challenges, so there must be significant advantages that are seen by the organization that outweigh the matrix people management challenges. Matrix organization structures were initially introduced in complex projects such as the airspace industry to cope with complex projects. Since then a number of organizations, often prompted by large strategy consultancies, have adopted or altered the matrix organization structure to help deal with internal and external complexity. In the following figure, a sample matrix organizational structure is shown. In the case of Airtel, the project manager refers to the managers of the different services provided by Airtel across its divisions. It is clear that this allows for sharing of resources across the various projects. At its simplest the matrix organization structure just reflects this external complexity in the internal structure. Airtel is a brand that is aiming for a global presence and realizes that geography is important but so are function, customer grouping, product and technology. Basically, a matrix organization structure is an acknowledgment of the notion that since it is improbable to specify the weightage of importance that can be attributed to these factors, there is a need to allow a structure that is flexible and permits balancing and prioritizing on a daily basis between the various divisions. Thus there is a conscious trade-off for clarity in return for more flexibility. An important issue to consider here is that while the organization structure itself is a good fit for Airtel, a lot of emphasis needs to be laid on the successful coordination of the people and their skill sets within the organization. Advantages As a synopsis, the advantages reaped by Airtel as a result of its organizational structure include: Improved resource accessibility across the old functional and geographic silos. Effective coordination on shared technologies across the organization (extended to a global level) Decentralization of management decisions Improved access to a diverse range of skills and perspectives. increased communication and coordination across the business Flexible as per the needs of global or regional customers Structural Issues Dual reporting structures run a risk of initiating power struggles. Dual lines of authority in the matrix often create power struggles between the vertical and lateral forces as each tries to secure member loyalty and budget rupees. Teams may develop groupitis, the matrix depends on team functioning, there may be an overdependence on group decision-making even where it is unnecessary. This can slow down projects and further be a point of frustration for people managers. It is a widely acknowledged fact that the matrix structure increases administrative overhead, it also ideally suits the progressive development of new ideas into projects. However, when a slump hits, one common tendency is to discard the matrix in favor of more traditional approaches. The matrix can become a scapegoat for inefficiencies. Decision strangulation matrix organizational structures legitimize multiple information flows throughout the organization, creating the danger that too much information will be processed before a decision will be made. Some project managers may feel compelled to check with everyone on every project decision. Corporate Governance Corporate Governance is a set of mechanisms used to manage their relationship among stakeholders and to determine and control the strategic direction and performance of organisations. An organisation is owned by its shareholders but is managed by the ownership (Principal Agent Issues). Many a times the decisions taken by the management may not be in the best interests of the shareholders and thus Agency costs arise. To ensure that such a scenario does not arise it is essential for the firm to have strong corporate governance tools. Bharti  Airtel limited firmly believes in the principles of Corporate Governance and is committed to conduct its business in a manner, which will ensure sustainable, capital-efficient and long-term growth thereby maximising value for its shareholders, customers, employees and society at large. Companys policies are in line with Corporate Governance guidelines prescribed under Listing Agreement/s with Stock Exchanges and the Company ensures that various disclosures requirements are complied in letter and spirit for effective Corporate Governance. As proof of the excellence of Bharti Airtel in the Corporate Governance it has been Rated Level 1 by CRISIL which is the highest Governance and Value Creation rating (GVC). One way to ensure strong corporate governance is by having independent directors on the board of Directors. Their sole purpose is to ensure that the decisions taken by the management are in the best interests of the shareholders. In order to ensure that this corporate governance tool is a sound check, Airtel has ensured the following: The board has 2 executive members and 14 non executive members. 50% of the members of the board are independent directors which is a good sign of corporate governance. The board meets regularly outside the presence of management. The chairman of the board is not the CEO or a former CEO of the firm. Else it may impair the ability and willingness of independent board members to express opinions contrary to those of management. Independent board members have a primary or leading board member in cases where the chairman is not independent. Board members are not closely aligned with a firm supplier, customer, share-option plan or pension advisor. This may lead to a conflict of interest scenario. Another suitable means of aligning the interests of the shareholders with that of the management is by means of changing the structure of executive compensation. Having parameters such as stock options as part of the pay will ensure that management will take decisions that benefit both the stockholders as well as themselves indirectly. This a strategy that is used extensively at Airtel particularly as far as the top management compensation goes. Other Corporate Governance Initiatives taken by Airtel are Shareholders Board of Directors Audit Committee Managing Director HR/ Remuneration Management Operations ESOP Compensation Investor Grievance Corporate Governance Mechanisms at Airtel Audit Committee Six members, two-third of which is independent directors. At least four times a year. (Max time gap 4 months) The Committee Chairman shall attend the Annual General Meeting. To ensure that the financial statements are true and accurate and provide sufficient information. Recommending to the Board, the appointment, re-appointment and, if required, the replacement or removal of the statutory auditor and the fixation of their audit fees. Human Resource (HR)/ Remuneration Committee Six non-executive directors, out of which four members including the chairman are independent directors. Attraction and Retention strategies for employees. Employees Development Strategies. Compensation All Human Resources related issue. ESOP Compensation Committee Constituted in accordance with SEBI Guidelines, 1999. Six members of whom four are independent and all are non-executive Formulate ESOP plans and decide on future grants. Formulate terms and conditions Employee Stock Option Schemes of the Company Investor Grievance Committee Constituted in accordance with Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement. Four members of whom three members including the Chairman, are non-executive directors Ensure speedy disposal of various requests received from shareholders from time to time (within 7-10 days from the date of receipt of complaint). Redressal of shareholders and investor complaints/ grievances. Monthly meeting The above detailed initiatives clearly point towards the importance that Airtel gives to Corporate Governance and this is further reaffirmed by Level 1 rating for GVC by CRISIL again in 2006. Organizational Controls They guide the use of strategy, indicate how to compare actual results with expected results and suggest corrective measures when the difference is unacceptable. It is an important part of the organisational structure and its key to a firms plans to exploit its core competencies. The organisational controls can be broadly classified as Strategic control: It is used to determine the fit between what a firm might possibly do on the basis of opportunities in the environment and what it can do on the basis of its core competencies and competitive advantages. In other words, the process of evaluating strategy, is practiced both after the strategy is formulated and after it is implemented Financial controls: They are used to measure the performance of the firm against set thresholds and analyse the reasons for being unable to meet them if the case by. Such controls generally include measures like Return on Investment (RoI), Return on Assets (RoA). Management control: It focuses on the accomplishment of the objectives of the various sub strategies comprising the master strategy and the accomplishment of the objectives of the intermediate plans. Operational control: It is concerned individual and group performance as compared with the individual and group role prescriptions required by organizational plans. Each of these types of control is not a separate and distinct entity and, in fact, may be indistinguishable from others. Moreover, similar measurement techniques may be used for each type of control. While both Financial and strategic controls are important the extent of importance accorded to each is determined by the firm strategy. Airtel which is following a cost leadership strategy focuses more on financial controls more than strategic ones. However a firm should not get too carried away along just one set of controls as that would hurt the long term sustainability. So if a firm focuses just on strategic controls while giving a cold shoulder to financial ones, it may soon face a scenario wherein it will run out of cash. The organizational control to a very large extent is determined by the Organisation Structure. Recommendations Considering the heavy fragmentation of the Indian mobile market, we propose the following recommendations so as to ensure that Airtel continues to be the market leader in this domain. As the above figure suggests, there has been a heavy influx of new players in this arena of late which has seen the market share of Airtel fall from above 50 % to about 30 % in half a decade. This means that Airtel should look at hereto untapped markets specially in developing countries with low penetration. Thus following the Multi Domestic strategy more aggressively is crucial to continued success Moreover the ARPU (Average Revenue per User) in India is pretty low. Thus more acquisitions like that of Zain telecom (ARPU of $55 vs Bharti ARPU $7) makes sense. There is no point in proliferating the number of subscribers if Airtel cannot charge them at competitive prices Since the competition in India has intensified, most players are engaging a price war which can be deleterious to the companys short term prospects. Herein Airtel should leverage its strong network and brand equity and not engage in a price war and try in move towards an integrated cost leadership/differentiation strategy. The urban market penetration is about 95 % and hence the only way of expanding revenues from this stream is by introducing quality VAS (Value Added Services). These give high margin services and are going to be in much greater demand as the smart phone market swells. Entry and quality innovations into this niche domain (presently) would give it a big first movers advantage. Forging strategic alliances with mobile phone manufacturers specially those of high end handsets will be a great way to tap the premium segment. This segment often has very high usage and contributes significantly to the revenue stream. By locking them in with Airtel at the point of purchase itself, Airtel guarantees itself a long customer lifetime value. Also given the economic spurt, many such players have expressed their keen interest to enter the Indian markets.

Frankenstein Essay example -- essays research papers

What qualifies a creature to be a monster? When the movie Frankenstein came out, monsters were usually big and scary animals that terrified everyone that walked in their path. They were creatures that generally behaved monstrously, doing things that were against society norms and had no consideration for the safety of others. Perhaps looking beyond the physical appearance of a â€Å"monster† and just looking at their actions one might see Dr. Frankenstein as a monster himself. Frankenstein was a story about a man who created an individual which led his life to failure and death, because of his desire to play which nature, and attempting the role of God. The movie Frankenstein explores the consequences of what happens when man tries to play God and chases his ambition blindly. Victor Frankenstein became very involved in his work to create a being out of dead body parts. The doctor had the desire to achieve something that no scientist has ever done before: to give life to a being through science, not human nature. With this pursuit of knowledge, not only did Victor isolate himself from society but also from those who loved him, such as his fiancà ©e Elizabeth and his father. However, it is with this knowledge and ambition, that winds up destroying him and those closest to him. His project he felt would better human kind and possibly make a name for himself, which is ironic because he brought only evil to society and death to his name. Frankenstein is so caught up in his work and his yearning to be remembered for all time that he does not think about what will happen after life is breathed into this being. After his creation comes to life, he refuses to accept his obligation as the creator to his creation. He does not care for it, shelter it, provide it with food or love, nor teaches the creation. When realizing how to actually make his creation work he found out just how evil and strong his â€Å"monster† truly was. By bringing this creation to life; a destructive being that he had no control over, he doomed his own life and his intentions. Dr. Frankenstein was blinded by the fact that he was unable to foresee the effects that a creature could never be fully accepted into the human race. He was ultimately haunted by his own creation. Yet is it his monster’s fault that he doesn’t know right from wrong, or is it Dr. Frankenstein’s fault? Frankenstein is called the creato... ... just a phase, hoping he could get over his work and forget about his creation and all the havoc he had caused. But unfortunately he couldn’t, the monster haunted him and eventually ruined him. What was once a sought after dream, was now a nightmare. There would be only one solution;to kill the monster. But was the creation really the monster? To the society and Victor he was but to the viewer, he was only a helpless creator who lost his way. Victor Frankenstein shows that experimenting with the work of God or nature is immoral and will only end in corruption. No one can play God. The movie shows that a person who chases notoriety for his or her own personal intentions may find the consequences of their actions to be truly demoralizing, causing him to become the monster more than his creation. His faults in his creation lead to his demise. Work Cited 1. Shelly, Mary. Frankenstein. Penguin Group. London, England. 1992. 2. Frankenstein. Produced by Carl Laemmle Jr. Perf. Colin Clive, Mae Clarke, Boris Karloff, and John Boles. Universal Pictures. 1931. 3.Gods and Monsters. The Flick Filosopher. AF 100:#87 http://www.flickfilosopher.com/flickfilos/archive/004q/frankenstein.html

Need for Change

Orma Corporation has been in business since the late 1800’s, beginning with heating and air conditioning product lines. It then slowly expanded into other product lines over time, including Automation, Control Systems, Aerospace, and Transportation Systems, which are currently Orma’s main product segments. The products for aerospace segment produce products that support military defense systems, space exploration and commercial airplanes. The Need for Change: Believing in the Need for Change in business made Orma Corporation grow and expand as a company over time. Their solution was diversifying its product lines from heating and air conditioning products to its three main product segments that deal exclusively with technological changes. They realized that there was a need for industries operating in these sectors and, by using their strengths in some areas and gaining strength in others, Orma was able to expand into product segments that they had not operated in prior. Every company benefits from recognizing the need for change in its operations, particularly regarding changes in technology to meet demand for technological advancement of its target market. Technology is always evolving through time, thus any company that does not keep up with technological changes will eventually lose its hold on its market. It is necessary, therefore, to change with the times. Accordingly, Orma Corporation’s segment of aerospace technology, for example, changes every few months to keep up with new technological advances in that particular industry through Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP). ERP As Orma Corporation’s Response to the Need for Change: ERP is a multi-module, integrated computer system that helps in the management of the aerospace segment using a common approach to business process: information access, global allocation and resource utilization. It uses multiple software modules that provide various business functions to different areas of aerospace operations. Adapting the ERP system helps organize inventory of factory operation since it ensures unified communication between the factory and the overall enterprise. What is the future of Orma if they do not implement ERP?: ERP is essential to the success of Orma because without careful planning to ensure success in new business ventures the corporation will not be able to expand and break into new markets. Without ERP, Orma would be limited in what they could accomplish, and could not even keep up with the technology essential for competitiveness in today’s market. ERP responds to the goal of Orma Corporation to stay as a leader in this particular industry and maintain its hold on its current market, or even expand it by providing unified and systematic information, responding to clients needs; therefore, service is quicker and technologically driven. It clearly makes sense for Orma Corporation to keep up with the changing times in terms of technological innovations to provide high quality service to its clients. Adapting this need for change particularly for its aerospace segment is a must to improve the level of competitiveness of Orma Corporation in that particular industry. It started with one product segment expanding into its current three product segments primarily due to its willingness to adapt changes in its operation over time. It is then logical for Orma Corporation to continue expanding and growing.

Work Breakdown Structure

Work Breakdown Structure In project management a hierarchical delivery oriented breakdown of project into individual components is called as work breakdown structure (WBS). WBS decomposes project into individual functions, deliverables and work packages that facilitates resource allocation, assignment of responsibilities, and measurement and control of the project. Block Diagram explains the Work Breakdown Structure: Design Principle for WBS: The design principles for WBS are as following: * 100% Rule:The 100% rule principle guides the development, decomposition and evaluation of the WBS. The 100% rule states that the WBS includes 100% of the work defined by the project scope and captures all deliverables of the work to be completed, including project management. * Mutually exclusive elements: In addition to the 100% rule, the individual elements of WBS should be mutually exclusive of each other in their definition, in order to avoid mis-communication between elements and confusion r egarding project cost accounting.WBS dictionary is used for the purpose of avoiding ambiguity and clarifying the distinctions between WBS elements. * Level of detail : Level of detail help in determining the end point for division of work necessary to produce a deliverable defined by the WBS. There are several â€Å"rules of thumb† used for determining duration of an activity necessary to produce a specific deliverable defined by the WBS. * Terminal element: A terminal element is the lowest element in a work breakdown structure that is estimated in terms of resource requirements, budget and duration.Work packages are established at the juncture of WBS elements based on which the project performance is planned and controlled. Steps for Creating a WBS: 1. Define the project’s end product. It forms the root of the Work Breakdown Structure document. 2. Define the main deliverables which are the main components of the project’s end product. These become sections or à ¢â‚¬Ëœmain branches’ under the root, defined in the previous step. 3.Break down the main deliverables into their sub-components using as many sub-branches as needed until you have manageable ‘units of work’ which do not need to be subdivided further. These units of work should be of a size that the project manager can easily handle. WBS for a Software Project Misconception about WBS: ? WBS is not an exhaustive list of work. It is instead a comprehensive classification of project scope. ? WBS is not as project plan as it only specifies what will be done, not how or when. WBS is not an organizational hierarchy, although it may be used when assigning responsibilities. Advantages of WBS: The work breakdown structure is the foundation of project planning, hence it is developed before dependencies are identified and activity durations are estimated The work breakdown structure provides a common framework for the natural development of the overall planning and control o f a contract and is the basis for dividing work into definable increments. A work breakdown structure permits summing of subordinate costs for tasks into their successively higher level â€Å"parent† tasks. Work Breakdown Structure In order to organized processes in an organization there are many ways how to achieve it, there can be either improving the internal human resource management or it can be improving customer management. But doing these has to have some tools to use in order to better implement the processes in a way it could really be followed effectively and efficiently and one of the common tool is WBS (Work Breakdown Structure). Work breakdown structure is a way for each processes be represented by components and how it should be operated in a proper order. In this paper the case to be use is constructing a simple WBS where it could to define the constituent activities for the project, including design, cutting, purchasing, measuring, testing, sewing, marketing and so on, where the marketing department of the company was task to unveil a new line of leather chairs in the company’s 10th year anniversary. In applying WBS, it should apply the different approaches of WBS: top-down, bottom-up, analogy and mind mapping. And lastly, it should answer the questions that are provided in this case. Starting with the first approach, using the most common top-down approach, below you can see the generated component identified for this case. (See Figure 1). Figure 1. Top-Down Approach In the given top down approach above, you can see that it shows a detailed representation of high level components in the second row down to its sub level components in each at the third row. Counterpart presentation to this is the bottom up approach. (See Figure 2). Figure 1. Bottom up Approach For the third approach, which is analogy approach of WBS, it is where each component are presented whether through the help of a bottom up or top down diagram identifying the component or components that need deep analysis and study in order to achieve effective process. Analyzing the case in this paper a more focus on study components includes: building design component and product marketing. This means the success for this project is to have better and effective design. Design that well fit to its desired customers, but, this alone would not be the only one, it should also has top provide an effective marketing plan for this product to be viable in the market which will be the greatest gauge of success for this project. Lastly, in terms of mind mapping, this approach deals with two separate main tasks which need to be identified by managers on the list of components. The two tasks are known as: Mutually exclusive and exhaustive. Following the example in Figure 2, the exclusive components includes: Construction and Budget allocation, these components are considered to be exclusive and does not need to interact with other components. While the components that are identified exhaustive or needs more focus and details are: Building design, purchasing raw materials and product marketing. These components needs extra care and details to succeed in effectively performing these tasks. In answering the questions involved in this case, starting with what approach made more sense, this is actually mind mapping approach, because what makes this more effective is that it segregates tasks that needs better attention and more details and also identifying exclusive ones which can work its own separately. This approach helps managers easily identify the critical path of the projects. Also, these approaches also identifies to be the more challenging of all since managers need to be critical in identifying these tasks and further identify what better actions need to take and even what risks it may have in order to implement each and every components. I personally prefer mind mapping because it helps managers or anyone to be more analytic in identifying each components needed for any projects. Lastly, WBS is a success to any project because it helps managers specifically in performing the processes needed for any projects and from that point it could simply identify what critical areas need to have extra attention in order to achieve effective and efficient results for the project. (Baliton, L. , n. d. )