Attrition in Pharma Industry Essay Example for Free

Attrition in Pharma Industry Essay Insights of attrition rate of Medical representatives in Pharma companies and innovative ways to improve them. Overview: Attrition refers to the reduction in staff and employees of company by normal means. The primary focus is to present the high attrition rate seen in the pharmaceutical market industry, its causes and controlling strategy for retention of Pharma sales representatives. Though attrition is a natural phenomena in all industries, Indian Pharma marketing industries is worst plagued by it. After IT and BPO, Pharma marketing industries experience the greatest rate of employee leaving the company for various reasons. While global Pharma marketing attrition rate is 10-12% per annum, the rate of employees who leave the organization in India is 25 -30 %. The attrition is more prevalent in the middle and junior management level, due to which majority of the companies have understood the criticality of talent management. Retention is always a big challenge for any organization in today’s time frame. Indian Pharma companies have started paying attention towards the retainment and management of the Medical Representatives to gain key and valuable employees back into the company. High attrition rate of MR happens due to following reasons: 1) External factors The demand of fresh talent is more. The companies are looking for fresh talent to incorporate new ideas but the supply is very less, career view point of many young people to join as MR is just to prevent the ‘Stop Gap’ in their career path. The demand-supply imbalance leads to significant efforts to retain and attract a skilled Medical Representative. This has led to higher salary hikes in the Pharma sector than most other sectors .This is clearly a challenge in an industry which is very knowledge and relationship driven. 2) Internal factors It has been observed that many MR leave their job during the first 3 months itself due to the reasons like they were not serious about their job, They were overqualified and lost interest in their job, They might even be under-qualified and felt bogged down by the challenges of the job, They lack motivation, feel less growth in career path, Monotonous work, limited  training and development opportunities, wor king environment as well salary and compensation becomes an important issue in some cases etc. Now to meet the global competitiveness; Pharma companies have transformed their survival strategy to competitive strategy as a result there is huge pressures on the shoulder of medical representatives for higher secondary sales achievement and thereby constantly poking the field force which eventually leads to attrition. So the people change organizations frequently. Similarly poor management is also one of the key factors responsible for leaving the organizations. There is a popular saying â€Å"employee leaves the boss not the organizations. â€Å" Poor management includes lack of support to the employee, lack of transparent career growth ladder, adverse relation between the boss and subordinates, lack of motivation. Psychological relationship between leaders and employee is very crucial for sticking of employee in a particular organization. Thus, Organization culture also plays a significant role in sticking of Pharma sales representative in the same company for long run. Retention of the talented employees is always the most important agenda for any company to grow. Sometimes monetary benefits can help as by recent survey it was shown that more and more medical representatives are moving in insurance, telecommunications etc as they are paid double in those sectors but only monetary benefits are not sufficient to retain them it ultimately becomes a hygiene factor in talent management. Thus looking for new methods for attracting, motivating and retaining them becomes very important. Being the first line manager few suggestions to reduce attrition rate: 1. Treat employees as you like to be treated:  Treating and handling the employee with appreciation and care is most necessary. While addressing or pointing out their problems they shouldn’t be criticized and rather should be explained in a courteous manner. The sales representative undergoes a lot of pressures and tensions regarding the achievement of targeted sales so, they should be motivated continuously and should be dealt in same manner as the first line manager or other seniors would like to be treated. Incentives like give free monthly travelling passes, movie tickets, etc. can be given. 2. Ask employees for their opinions and implement the good ideas: Having equal contribution from the entire sales force representatives can have an impact over representative’s mind that their ideas and thoughts are valued and are taken into consideration when need arises. Having certain schemes for bringing about certain new ideas to increase the sales level should be implemented, this shall bring about a flow of innovative ideas and also execution of those ideas will bring about a sense of dignity among employee. 3. Reward those that go above and beyond the call of duty: Certain incentives can be granted when a particular sales representative works excellently and achieves sales beyond the targeted levels. There could also be certain cases when an employee performs or outdoes something which wasn’t achieved by any employee in the company before, for that he should be acknowledged well and should be awarded like salesman of the year, highest target achiever, fastest target achiever, etc. and they should be felicitated in front of the whole company instead of felicitating through emails. 4. Take very good care of your star performers or someone else will: Taking good care of star performers is very essential. Their qualities maybe unique and selling strategies might be very effective. Interacting and making them comfortable about their job shall retain the employee in the company and chances of him leaving the company for another might reduce to some extent. If they are performing really well incentives like foreign trips, etc. can be given. 5. Communicate with your staff: Sales peoples sometimes feel that the company doesn’t care enough for them. So, the higher level executives can make a point to interact with them at a time and get a knowhow about what problems they are facing on the field and other certain issues. First line manager should always communicate through all the sessions with each employee and have discussion regarding all the sales meet and problems related to those the sales rep might’ve had. 6. Hold skip level meetings to make sure that you’re Managers/Directors  are treating their staff correctly: Skip level meetings by higher ups can bring about more peachy feeling in the employee they might feel the concern and guardianship from top executives. This shall further charge and motivate them for the tasks they perform. 7. Build career planning for each employee: If employee wants to pursue further education the company can help by providing him admission in collaborated institutions- tailor made courses as well as sponsoring its education thus meeting the need of the employee which motivates him as well as help the company in retaining him. 8. Bring about job rotation and more growth opportunities: Giving growth opportunities like promotion and assigning certain new functionalities in the job shall increase the overall knowledge about the sales rep and also he won’t feel monotonous about the work he’s been performing. This shall give in-depth knowledge about other functions in the company and shall thereby increase the understanding of the employee about working of the other sectors in company. 9. Making them feel like family member: The employees of the company should be treated as the assets and they must be treated like a family member. Salesperson job is mostly to work out of the company, in such cases wishing them on their birthdays, anniversaries, etc. can be done. Also, paying visit or giving condolences to the MR on death of his family member can make him feel concerned and a part of family. 10. Optimizing target policies: Instead of having fixed monthly targets, the sales targets could be designed individually by looking through their past month performances. Depending on that each month the targeted sales could be increased or optimized depending upon past months performance. This shall bring about an upscale in sales level too. Conclusion: Thus for retaining MR the first line manager should focus on each and every step right from the recruitment, to training and development, rewards and appraisals even fulfilling the needs of MR as all of these steps play a crucial role in motivating and keeping him attracted towards his job.

Facilitating Case Management Essay Example for Free

Facilitating Case Management Essay Why is it important for a case manager to develop rapport with a client? Provide three examples of how rapport can be generated. 2. Why are statutory requirements necessary? What impact do they have on the case manager’s role? 3. What information might you need to gather from the families of clients? 4. List two elements that may be considered to be characteristics of a complex case. 5. Describe two strategies you may employ when dealing with a client with complex issues. 6. Case management plans must be developed in order to reflect the initial assessment of needs. Why is it essential that these plans be designed in consultation with clients? 7. Casework processes should be continually monitored for effectiveness. a) List two reasons why this is necessary. b) How should monitoring be undertaken? 8. If changes to a case plan are required, who should be consulted prior to the changes being made? 9. Why is cultural consideration important as part of case management planning? 0. Outline three strategies you think a workplace needs to have for including cultural awareness in the planning process? 11. You are a Team Leader in a Community Service Organisation and your organisation has just employed a new case worker. Describe two strategies that can help facilitate casework consultation between staff to maximise their performance in their new role. Best practice and promoting high-quality case management 12. What is meant by the term ‘best practice case management’? Why is best practice a significant service delivery benchmark? 13. How can case workers benefit from appropriate leadership, support, advice, supervision and challenges? In what ways might these improve service delivery? 14. Legislation, organisational policies and procedures can change over time. How might case management leaders support case managers in keeping up to date with organisational policies and procedures?

Literature Review of Finance and Share Price

Literature Review of Finance and Share Price LITERATURE REVIEW This study relates to examine the relationship of cash flow from operations, earning and sales with share price and the previous research has predicted the comparative abilities of cash flow, earning and sales but this study is only concerned with the relationship of cash flow, earning and sales with share price. In the finance literature that market forces determine share price equal to the discounted value of a stream of expected future cash flows (Hollister et al., 2002). Cash flows represent amounts investors expect to receive in the form of dividend payments or from the sale of their shares and not necessarily the annual operating cash flows generated by a firm. Consequently, it is in a very broad sense that share price is considered to embody a firms future cash flows. Even if share price is often thought of and evaluated in terms of cash flows, earnings is also known to be extremely important to managers and analysts because of the key information it conveys about future prospects (Brigham and Ehrhardt, 2002). Various researchers examined value in terms of share return that Earnings reflect a stronger correlation with share return than does current operating cash flows (Watts, 1977; Dechow, 1994; Bartov et al, 1997) .It has been shown that earnings better predicts future operating cash flows than does current operating cash flows because accruals in earnings â€Å"offset the negative correlation in cash flow changes to produce earnings changes that are much less negatively serially correlated ( Dechow, et al 1998) that is why earnings, rather than current operating cash flows, tends to be used in firm share valuations. Earnings quality can be affected by sales volatility (Dechow and Dichev (2002) and Francis et al. (2004). By and large the greater the sales volatility, the more unstable is the operating environment. This results in larger estimation errors for accruals and diminished earnings quality. It gives an idea about how monthly sales announcements of major department and discount stores provide information for investors not only for the retail giants but also for their suppliers (Olsen and Dietrich (1985). The sales volume announcements for the retailers furnish information on the future cash flow prospects for their suppliers and, thus, are incorporated into the suppliers share prices. Dharan (1987) examined the comparative abilities of accrual sales and cash collections of sales to predict future cash flows. It is found that when cash realization occurs in a period subsequent to sales realization, cash flow forecasts from earnings based on accrual sales are better than cash flow forecasts from earnings based on cash collections. This is because of accrual sales â€Å"provides information on managements expectations about future cash flows (Dharan, 1987). Greenberg, Johnson, and Ramesh (1986) used 1963-82 compustate data to test the ability of earnings and CFFO to predict future CFFO, for each firm two separate ordinary least squares regression models were used. The first model test used previous earnings against current CFFO (earnings model) the second model used CFFO for lags of 1-5 years against current CFFO (cash flows model).R square for the earnings and cash flows model were compared and the model with the higher R square was determined to be the better predictor. The results showed that earnings outperformed CFFO in predicting future CFFO. It was concluded that the study provides evidence in support of the FASBs assertions that current earnings is a better predictor of future cash flows than is current cash flows. Juan M. Rivara(1996) found out the accuracy and the consensus among forecasters of earnings estimates for U.S. domestic and U.S. multinational corporations, it was observed that the accuracy of earnings forecasts is significantly lower for purely domestic firms than for U.S based multinationals. Like wise the level of consensus in earnings estimates submitted by financial analysts is significantly lower for U.S. domestic than for U.S. multinational firms. The accounting profession requires that firms disaggregate net income into specific components, even though earnings disaggregation is important for assessing firm profitability, there is little empirical evidence that the classification scheme actually improves profitability forecasts by analyzing the accuracy improvements in out-of-sample forecasts of one-year ahead return-on-equity (ROE) to examine the predictive content of earnings disaggregations (Fairfield, Sweeney, Yohn) .The results show that the classification scheme prescribed by the accounting profession does increase the predictive content of reported earnings. It was found forecasting improvements from earnings disaggregation. These improvements go beyond separating extraordinary items and discontinued operations from the other components of earnings. Further disaggregation of earnings (into operating earnings, non-operating earnings and taxes, and special items) improves forecasts of ROE one year ahead. (Ball and Watts (1972), Albrecht, Lookabill McKeown (1977), Watts and Leftwich (1977) and Lev (1983) studied the Earnings ability to predict future earnings studied first or second order autocorrelations and or forecasts over one or two-year horizons and provided evidence to support a random walk model that is uncorrelated earnings changes, However, random walk may not be descriptive of the earnings process Where as Ramesh and Thiagarajan (1989) rejected a random walk earnings model and Lipe and Kormendi (1993) show that higher order, rather than random walk, models are descriptive of market-adjusted earnings time-series process. Finger (1994) found out the earnings ability to predict future earnings and future cash flow from operations1 one through eight years ahead using annual data from1935-87 for 50 firms. I use time-series methods to test firm-specific predictive ability over the entire time period (hereafter in-sample regression tests) and then compare out-of-sample forecast errors to assess earnings ability to improve earnings or cash flow forecasts up to eight years ahead. He found that earnings are a significant predictor of future earnings, in sample, for 88% of the firms. The random walk provides better out-of-sample forecasts than do individually estimated models one year ahead for 52% of the sample firms, Out of sample forecasts show that random walk models outperform individually estimated earnings models for one-year but not for four- or eight-year horizons. Earnings, used alone and with cash flow, are a significant predictor of cash flow for the majority of firms. However, out-of-sample foreca sts show that adding earnings rarely improves cash flow forecasts. Cash flow is a better short-term predictor of cash flow than are earnings, both in and out of sample, and the two are approximately equivalent long-term. The nature of the information contained in the accrual and cash flow components of earnings and the extent to which this information is reflected in stock prices Sloan (1996). It is found that earning performance attributable to the accrual component of earnings exhibits lower persistence than earnings performance attributable to the cash flow component of earnings, hence results also indicated that stock prices act as if investors fixate on earnings, failing to distinguish fully between the different properties of the accrual and cash flow components of earnings. Lorek Willinger (1996) the time series properties and predictive abilities of cash flow data. Results indicate that this model clearly outperforms firm-specific and common-structure ARIMA models as well as a multivariate, cross-sectional regression model popularized in the literature. These findings are robust across alternative cash-flow metrics (e.g., levels, per-share, and deflated by total assets) and are consistent with the viewpoint espoused by the FASB that cash-flow prediction is enhanced by consideration of earnings and accrual accounting data. Bowen, Burgstahler Daley (1986) examined relationships between signals provided by accrual earnings and various measures of cash flow, Findings indicate that Correlations between traditional cash flow measures and alternative CF measures that incorporate more extensive adjustments are low, 2nd the correlations between alternative measures of CF and earnings are, while the correlations between traditional measures of CF and earnings are high. These first two results are consistent with earnings and alternative measures of CF that incorporate more extensive adjustments conveying different signals. Finally, for four out of five cash flow variables, the results are consistent with the hypothesis that random walk models predict CF as well as (and often better than) models based on other flow variables. An exception to this general result is that net income plus depreciation and amortization and working capital from operations appear to be the best predictors of cash flow from operations. Overall there results are not consistent with the FASBs statements that earnings numbers provide better forecasts of future cash flows than do cash flow numbers. Earlier additional information content of cash flows relies primarily on cross- sectional regression models relating both earnings and cash flows to security return metrics that assumes a uniform relation between earnings (cash flow from operations) and security returns across observations. Ali (1994) however, conditions the incremental information content of unexpected earnings and cash flows from operations on their magnitude with respect to price. It is found that changes in earnings (cash flows from operations) are not expected to persist and thus have reduced implications for returns. Cheng, Liu Schaefer (1996) investigated the Earnings Permanence and the Incremental Information Content of Cash Flows from Operations, findings suggest that the incremental information content of accounting earnings decreases, and the incremental information content of cash flows from operations increases, with a decrease in the permanence of earnings. Barth, Cram Nelson investigated the role of accruals in predicting future cash flows and findings proved that disaggregating earnings into cash flow and the major components of accruals significantly enhances earnings predictive ability, findings also showed relation between cash flow next year and current cash flow and each component of accruals is significant and has a sign consistent with prediction. One of two researchers has re examined the association between earnings forecast error and earnings predictability because there is evidence suggesting that deliberate earnings forecast optimism is not an effective mechanism for gaining access to managers information ( Eames et al. 2002; Matsumoto 2002) ,For earnings level to be an important control variable in examinations of the association between forecast error and earnings predictability, there must be associations between earnings level and both forecast error and earnings predictability. Numerous studies report an inverse relation between forecast error and the level of reported earnings ( Brown 2001; Eames et al. 2002; Eames and Glover 2002; Hwang et al. 1996). The association reflects both earnings shocks due to unanticipated events and earnings management. Dechow Dichev suggested a new measure of one aspect of the quality of working capital accruals and earnings, they illustrated the usefulness of analysis in two ways. First, they examined the relation between measure of accrual quality and firm characteristics. The nature of the accrual process suggests that the magnitude of estimation errors will be systematically related to business fundamentals like the length of the operating cycle and variability of operations. It was found that accrual quality is negatively related to the absolute magnitude of accruals, the length of the operating cycle, loss incidence, and the standard deviation of sales, cash flows, accruals, and earnings, and positively related to firm size. Results suggest that these observable firm characteristics can be used as instruments for accrual quality. This is important because the regression based estimation of accrual quality demands long time series of data and the availability of subsequent cash flows, which m akes it costly or infeasible for certain practical applications (e.g quality-of-accruals-based trading strategies). Second they illustrated the usefulness of analysis by exploring the relation between measure of accrual quality and earnings persistence. Firms with low accrual quality have more accruals that are unrelated to cash flow realizations, and so have more noise and less persistence in their earnings. Indeed, they find a strong positive relation between accrual quality and earnings persistence. Although the measure of accrual quality is theoretically and empirically related to the absolute magnitude of accruals, and Sloan (1996) documents that the level of accruals is less persistent than cash flows. Probing further, they found out that accrual quality and level of accruals are incremental to each other in explaining earnings persistence, with accrual quality the more powerful determinant. There are two widely held views regarding managements motivations to managing earnings and each has quite different implications for the predictive usefulness of the resultant numbers .One view is that earnings management is motivated by mangers attempt to sustain the overvaluation of the firms stock price and to enhance managers personal welfare by disguising the true underlying economic performance of the firm (opportunistic perspective). An alternative view is that managers manage earnings to reveal private value-relevant information about the future prospects of a firm (informational perspective). They shown that originally reported (managed) earnings of firms classified as managing earnings for opportunistic reasons are less predictive of future cash flows relative to the restated (unmanaged) numbers. Conversely, they find that originally reported (managed) earnings of firms classified as managing earnings for informational reasons exhibit greater predictive ability with respect to future cash flows relative to restated (unmanaged) numbers. (Badertscher , Collins and lys 2007). Theoretical and empirical work in accounting and finance has documented the importance of firm size when testing the information in security prices with respect to future earnings (Collins et al., 1987) and interested in assessing the information in security prices with respect to the predictive ability of earnings, their finding that price-based-earnings forecasts outperform time-series forecasts by a greater margin for larger firms than smaller firms is of direct interest here. Their result implies that firm-size may help to explain inter-firm differences in the predictive ability of quarterly earnings data and helps to motivate the consideration of firm-size as an independent variable in the current study. Foster et al (1984) report that firm-size independently explains a substantial portion of the variation in post announcement drifts in security returns due to potentially misspecified quarterly earnings expectation models. The magnitude of abnormal returns associated with good or bad news earnings signals is inversely related to firm-size Freeman (1987), speculates that these findings might simply be due to differential time-series properties of the earnings numbers of large and small firms-an uncontrolled factor in his research design-and calls for future research to examine the possibility. Bathke , Lorek Willinger ( 1989) found out differences in the auto regressive parameters of the Foster and Brown and Rozeff ARIMA models across firm-size strata . One-step-ahead quarterly earnings forecasts were generated by a set of best fitting time-series models. Their Tests also indicated that large and medium size firms generated one-step ahead forecasts that were significantly more accurate than smaller firms at the .05 level and they obtained similar predictive findings on the significance of the size-effect in a supplementary analysis of the non seasonal and volatile growth and inconsistent strata membership firms. ChengDana examined the persistence of cash flow components in predicting future cash and the findings were that the cash flow components from various operating activities persist differentially. They found out that the cash related to sales, cost of goods sold, operating expenses and interest persists a great deal into future cash flows; cash related to other has lower persistence; and cash related to taxes has no persistence and then they incorporated accrual components into persistence regression model and found that the persistence of cash flow components are generally higher than those of accruals; however, accrual components do enhance model performance, their findings are consistent with the AICPAs and financial analysts rationale for their recommendation that the financial effects of a companys core and non-core cash flows should be distinguished. Reference Ashiq Ali â€Å" Incremental information content of earnings , working capital from operations and cash flow † Journal of Accounting research†( spring 1994): 61-74 Robert M. Bowen, David Burgstahler, Lane A. Daley â€Å"Evidence on the Relationships between Earnings and Various Measures of Cash Flow † The Accounting Review, Vol. 61, No. 4 (Oct., 1986), pp. 713-725 Richard G. Sloan â€Å"Do Stock Prices Fully Reflect Information in Accruals and Cash Flows about Future Earnings† The Accounting Review, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Jul., 1996), pp. 289-315. Kenneth S. Lorek and G. Lee Willinger â€Å"A Multivariate Time-Series Prediction Model for Cash-Flow Data† The Accounting Review, Vol. 71, No. 1 (Jan., 1996), pp. 81-102 Catherine A. Finger â€Å"The Ability of Earnings to Predict Future Earnings and Cash Flow† Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 32, No. 2 (Autumn, 1994), pp. 210-22 C. S. Agnes Cheng, Chao-Shin Liu, Thomas F. Schaefer â€Å"Earnings Permanence and the Incremental Information Content of Cash Flows from operations† Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 34, No. 1 ( Spring, 1996), pp. 173-181. Olsen, C. and J. Dietrich, Vertical Information Transfers: The Association Between Retailers Sales Announcements and Suppliers Security Returns, Journal of Accounting Research, Vol. 23, No. 3, pp. 144-166, 1985. Juan M. Rivera (1996) â€Å" Prediction Performance of Earnings Forecasts: The Case of U.S. Multinationals.†Journal of International Business Studies, Vol. 22, No. 2 (2nd Qtr. 1991), pp. 265-288. Patricia M. Fairfield Richard J. Sweeney Teri Lombardi Yohn â€Å"Accounting classification and predictive content of earning† The Accounting Review, Vol. 71, No. 3 (Jul., 1996), pp. 337-355. BALL, R R.WATTS â€Å"Some Time Series Properties of Accounting Income† Journal of Finance (June 1972): 663-82 Mary E. Barth, Donald P. Cram, Karen K. Nelson â€Å"Accruals and the Prediction of Future Cash Flows †The Accounting Review, Vol. 76, No. 1 (Jan., 2001), pp. 27-58 Michael J. Eames and Steven M. Glover â€Å"Earnings Predictability and the Direction of Analysts Earnings Forecast Errors †Accounting Review, Vol. 78, No. 3 (Jul., 2003), pp. 707-724. Patricia M. Dechow and Ilia D. Dichev â€Å"The Quality of Accruals and Earnings: The Role of Accrual Estimation Errors †The Accounting Review, Vol. 77, Supplement: Quality of Earnings Conference (2002), pp. 35-59. Patricia M. Dechow and Ilia D. Dichev â€Å"The Quality of Accruals and Earnings: The Role of Accrual Estimation Errors †The Accounting Review, Vol. 77, Supplement: Quality of Earnings Conference (2002), pp. 35-59. Brad Badertscher , Daniel W. Collins Thomas Z. Lys â€Å"Earnings Management and the Predictive Ability of Accruals with Respect to Future Cash Flows † Journal of finance, (2007) , PP 01-52. Allen W. Bathke, Jr., Kenneth S. Lorek, G. Lee Willinger â€Å"Firm-Size and the Predictive Ability of Quarterly Earnings Data † The Accounting Review, Vol. 64, No. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp. 49-68 C. S. Agnes Cheng Dana Hollie (1996) â€Å"The Persistence of Cash Flow Components into Future Cash Flows† Journal of finance, pp 1-32.

College Sororities: Rebuttal of Evan Wright’s Article, Sister Act Essa

College Sororities: Rebuttal of Evan Wright’s Article, Sister Act Walking around a university’s campus any day of the week, one sees an array of Greek letters worn proudly by young men and women in the Greek system. Fraternities and sororities play a big part in a university. The Greek system can also be an easy target to direct criticism. There are those who oppose the Greek system and those who embrace it. Evan Wright opposes the Greek system in his article â€Å"Sister Act† that was featured in Rolling Stone Magazine. He uses examples from students at Ohio State University in Columbus to show his disapproval of the way sororities are now days. He portrays sorority girls as catty conformists who are obsessed with partying with fraternity guys. Evan Wright’s insubstantial claim is full of half-truths in reference to alcohol consumption, conformity, and the purpose of sororities; therefore, his critical position that sororities are corrupt is not credible. Wright’s assumption that sororities are corrupt because of alcohol consumption is flawed since he fails to look at college students as a whole. Wright ends his article with a glimpse of Reggaefest hosted by Sigma Kappa which is considering â€Å"the last big blowout of the year before exams and the farewell of another graduating class† (557). In displaying the intoxicating students at the party, Wright entices the reader to look down on the chaotic drinking, but he fails to realize that other students outside of the Greek organization are probably partying and drinking for the same reason. Anyone is college has access to alcohol in some way or another. If students really want to drink, they will find a way. He points his finger at the Greek system, probably the largest groups on ca... ...contributions to the college and community instead of being single out because they are an easy target. Works Cited â€Å"Delta Sigma Theta and DREF Implement SEE.† National Science Foundation. 2004. 6 October 2004. . â€Å"Greek Affairs.† Student Affairs – University of Buffalo. 21 June 2002. 6 October 2004. . â€Å"Philanthropy.† University of Florida Chi Omega Sorority. 6 October 2004. . Shalala, Donna E. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. Alcohol Alert No.29. July 1995. 6 October 2004. . â€Å"The Greek System.† University of Massachusetts. 2000. 6 October 2004. . â€Å"What’s the Rush? Greek System 101.† The Princeton Review. 6 October 2004. . Wright, Evan. â€Å"Sister Act.† Good Reasons with Contemporary Arguments. Ed. Lester Faigley and Jack Selzer. New York: Pearson Education, 2004. 550-559.

Catch 22 :: essays research papers

America has been involved in the cold war for years. The fear of communism is ruining lives. The country moves closer and closer to the Korean war. Joseph Heller’s Catch 22 is published. 1963- College students are seen wearing army fatigues with "Yossarian" name tags. Reports are being made about a "Heller Cult". Bumper stickers are manufactured which read, "Better Yossarian then Rotarian". The phrase "Catch 22" has surfaced meaning a "no win situation" it is now an excepted word in the English dictionary. Such a dramatic change in opinion from the earlier, Pro-war society, it is obvious that Catch 22 had some impact on the anti-war movement of the 1960’s-1970’s. Not to say the book was the one reason the movement started, It was certainly a catalyst. A protest novel, Heller’s story portrays the absurdity of bureaucracy, the stupidity of war, and the power they both have to crush the human spirit. Heller us es a war zone setting, to satirise society at large. He compares the commanding officers to Incompetent businessmen. "Don’t mumble, and mumble "sir" when you do, and don’t interrupt, and say "sir" when you do." Desiring promotion over every thing else, Colonel Cathcart keeps raising the number of missions the men of his squadron must fly. Even though the army says they need fly only forty, a bureaucratic trap called "Catch 22" says they can’t go home at forty because they must obey their commanding officers. Much like the work place, the men are forced to go through endless amounts of red tape, which hardly gets them anywhere. Yossarian tries to pretend he is crazy to get out of fighting. He signs "Washington Irving" on letters he censors, and walks around naked for a couple of days. If someone is crazy he needs only ask and he can be dismissed from duty. Yet, one would be crazy to fly, and only a sane person wou ld ask to stop, Yossarian is therefore not crazy and is ordered to continue flying his missions. Heller also demonstrates the effect war has on one’s mind. All of the pilot’s are coping (except Yossarian) with the war in different ways†¦The daredevil pilot, McWatt, loves to buzz his friend Yossarian’s tent. Mess officer Milo Minderbender turns his job into an international black-market food syndicate. Lead Bombardier Havermeyer Zeros in on target’s, no matter how much anti-aircraft peppers his plane.

Control Leads to Destruction in Ken Keseys One Flew Over the Cuckoos

Control Leads to Destruction in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, by Ken Kesey, is about patients and doctors in a mental institution.   The author talks a lot about what goes on in this institute.   The main points in this book deal with control, be it the character of McMurphy who is unable to handle control, or Nurse Ratched the head nurse on the ward whose job requires her to be in control. The world of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is dark; it is a place where control leads to destruction, but the novel shows through the character of The Chief that there is still hope if the people who are being controlled have the power to resist.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nurse Ratched is a mean woman whose job revolves around control. She depends on people who are less fortunate than her to make a living. Her need to control others is an unfortunate trait that she has because it makes people unable to think for themselves and it also leads to destruction.   One example of this is when Nurse Ratched caught one of the patients (Billy Bibbit) with a woman.   The nurse feeling the need to control Billy threatened to tell his mother.   Billy begged Nurse Ratched not to tell her but when his requests were refused Billy slashed his neck with a broken bottle and killed himself.   Billy's life was destroyed because of Nurse Ratched's need to control others.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Another place that we see the dark world is when we examine the relationship between Nurse Ratched and R.P. McMurphy.  McMurphy is a happy and rebellious man.   He is not used to being controlled, so when he gets into the institution he refuses to be controlled by Nurse Ratche... ... at".   At the end of the novel when McMurphy is given a lobotomy, Chief realizes that he is not so safe.   Chief escapes from the institution and runs away to Canada.   Chief is a figure of hope in the novel he shows us that there is still a way out for those who are being controlled.      Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo's nest shows us darkness, and it shows us a world where control leads to destruction.   It shows us lives destroyed, people who are so obsessed with control that they do not think of others even if their job requires them to do so.   However, it shows us hope.   Hope for those who are being controlled, hope for those who just can't take the harsh strict rules that are imposed upon them.   The world of One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest is like a dark grey cloud, a dark grey cloud with a silver lining.

Project Development and Control

1. Be able to identify the Components of project stage and lifecycle1.1. Main processes in the lifecycle of the project:Initiation –starting up the project; defining its purpose and scope; justification for initiating it and the solution to be implemented. Planning –defining organisational structure of the project; appointing the project team; defining the activities and mutual relationships, risks and criteria for a successful implementation of these actions; identifying stakeholders. Execution –the most important phase from the aspect of project results; execution and coordination of activities defined in the planning phase. Control –very often combined with the execution phase (2 most important phases); detecting mistakes incurred during implementation; suggesting corrective actions. Closing –analysis of the results; final project statements; identifying level of project success and noting down any lessons learned for future projects.Picture 1. G eneral Project Model1.2. Processes in the lifecycle in the project â€Å"Revitalization of the Grand Backa Canal†:Phase 1 – The territory of the Municipality Vrbas faces a big problem because â€Å"The Grand Backa Canal†, which runs through the municipality, is extremely polluted from the wastewater discharged into the canal nearby factories. Also, the canal is no longer navigable. Heavily polluted by unprocessed industrial and communal wastewaters, the canal today is a lifeless stream of poisons, including heavy metals. Due to contamination of the canal the whole environment, especially in a place where canal runs through the municipality of Vrbas is destroyed.Revitalisation of the canal is essential for Vrbas municipality and the whole environment. The solution for this problem is to  stop further pollution and to clean up and revitalize the canal and the area around it. Management of the Vrbas municipality organized a meeting with the topic – the con tamination of the canal. They noted the disastrous situation and agreed to start a project for revitalization of the Grand Backa canal.Phase 2 – The project manager is appointed. He formed a project team and organized a meeting to discuss the issues of this project. The project manager and his team defined the project objectives. Objectives of the project are contained in the following activities: Activity 1 – to build a plant in the factories to treat wastewater before it is discharged into the canal; Activity 2 – to purify the canal from sludge;Activity 3 – to provide sports and recreational facilities in addition to the Grand Backa canal. It was decided which software will be used to define activities, their duration, resources and costs of the project. Gantt chart will present activities, their duration and interdependence. The project duration is determined.The plan of periodical reporting on the project and monitoring of the project implementation i s defined, and the stakeholders are identified in the meeting. Phase 3 – in the implementation phase all activities that are planned in the phase 2 are carried out. All resources needed for the execution of the project are recruited. The processes of monitoring and control are also part of this phase in order to prevent delays in the implementation of the activities.The project manager is periodically checking whether the project goes according to a predefined plan, by using the software and through the meetings with his team. Close monitoring of each activity during implementation is important factor in this phase which helps to minimize a potential risks in delays of particular activities. Phase 4 – in the closing phase of the project level of project success will be identified. On the basis of final reports, results achieved will be compared with the planned results.1.3. Projects and operational management:Operations are an organisational function performing the on- going execution  of activities that produce the same product or provide a repetitive service. Examples include: production operations, manufacturing operations, and accounting operations. Though temporary in nature, projects can help achieve the organisational goals when they are aligned with the organisation ´s strategy.Organisations sometimes change their operations, products or systems by creating strategic business initiatives. Projects require project management while operations require business process management or operations management. Projects can intersect with operations at various points during the product life cycle, such as:At each closeout phase; When developing a new product, upgrading a product or expanding outputs; Improvement of operations or the product development process; or Until the divestment of the operations at the end of the product life cycle.At each point, deliverables and knowledge are transferred between the project and operations for implementat ion of the delivered work. This occurs through a transfer of project resources to operations toward the end of the project, or through a transfer of operational resources to the project at the start.Operations are permanent endeavours that produce repetitive outputs, with resources assigned to do basically the same set of tasks according to the standards institutionalized in a product life cycle. Unlike the on-going nature of operations, projects are temporary endeavours.2. Be able to describe project methodologies and their application2.1. The project methodology Project Management Methodology is a strictly defined combination of logically related practices, methods and processes that determine how best to plan, develop, control and deliver a project throughout the continuous implementation process until successful completion and termination. It is a scientifically-proven, systematic and disciplined approach to project design, execution and completion.The purpose of project methodo logy is to allow for controlling the entire management process through effective  decision making and problem solving, while ensuring the success of specific processes, approaches, techniques, methods and technologies. Typically, a methodology provides a skeleton for describing every step in depth, so that a project manager will know what to do in order to deliver and implement the work according to the schedule, budget and client specification. Referring to the mentioned definition, an appropriately chosen project management methodology paves the way for gaining the following achievements: The needs of stakeholders are definedA common â€Å"language† is established and understood by the team, so they know what’s expected of them Cost estimates are complete, accurate and credible Every task is done using a common methodological approach Most conflicts are spotted and resolved early Expected deliverables are produced and handed over Lessons are learned and solutions a re quickly implementedHere’s a simplified example of how a project methodology can be presented in the management hierarchical structure:Picture 2. PM framework In the Picture 2. can be seen that PM Framework precedes Methodology which in turn precedes Lifecycle Stages and determines the project management Processes, Tasks and Activities. 2.2. Project scope, project duration, objectives, stakeholder and possible restrictions on the project â€Å"Revitalisation of the Grand Backa Canal†: Project scopeGrand Backa Canal which runs through the municipality of Vrbas is an example of the worst environmental hot spot and one of the most polluted water streams in Europe thus, the direct environmental benefit of its revitalisation is quite obvious. More important is the fact that the Grand Backa Canal represents a serious health risk for the local people that also has significant adverse social as well as economic impacts on further development of the region.Environmental and h uman health hazard existing in Vrbas is not acceptable and it demands urgent action. The intention of this project is to find a solution for cleaning up and revitalisation of the  heavily polluted Grand Backa Canal. Before the clean-up can start, the imperative is to stop further pollution to ensure the sustainability of the entire project. Project duration16 months i.e. 01 December 2011 – 01 April 2013.Project objectives The project team defined the following project objectives: 1. Building a plant in the factories that treated wastewater before it is discharged into the Canal; 2. Purifying the Canal from sludge; 3. Providing sports and recreational facilities in addition to the Grand Backa Canal. At all three objectives, the activities are defined which will contribute to realisation of goals and projects.StakeholdersMany stakeholders are involved and have a vested interest in the project â€Å"Revitalisation of the Grand Backa Canal†. The key stakeholders are: Man agement of the municipality of Vrbas, Project manager and project team, Managers of factories that discharge waste water, Public-utility company Water of Vojvodina, Locals and the Community. Possible restrictions on the projectPossible restrictions are closely associated with the deadlines and the issues that may arise in the course of implementation of the project. If the deadlines are not met it will cause delays in the implementation of the activities, the expenses will be increased and therefor the realisation will deviate from the plan. The time dimension is one of the most important elements during the realisation of the project.2.3. Fundamentals of businesses to support a project.The basic elements for successful implementation of a project are: Goals must be clearly defined. Each project has its goal that should be achieved. A clearly defined project goal will help to determine necessary activities for its successful realisation. Deadlines are important elements that should help the project activities to be implemented within a timeframe. Good planning is the basis for successful project implementation. The basic elements of the project: time, costs and resources, must be carefully planned in order to achieve project objectives. Resources necessary for project realization are mainly: people, finances, equipment, all kinds of materials etc.Without adequate resources it is not possible to accomplish the project in its scope or planned time, therefor it is important to use the resources optimally for the successful completion of the project tasks. Organisational structure is an important element for project implementation because it determines responsibility, authorization and position of the project manager. Software tools can help project management to be much more efficient and effective. Information & control systems have a basic task to collect data and monitor project implementation. 3. Be able to implement and evaluate the personal development plan 3.1. Project planOne of the critical factors for project success is having a well-developed project plan. It provides a roadmap for project managers to follow and it is the project manager ´s premier communications and control tool throughout the project. The project plan can be defined as a formal, approved document used to guide both project execution and project control. The primary uses of the project plan are to document planning assumptions and decisions, facilitate communication among stakeholders, and document approved scope, cost, and schedule baselines. A project plan may be summarized or detailed. Components of the project plan include:Baselines. Baselines are sometimes called performance measures, because the performance of the entire project is measured against them. They are the project's three approved starting points and include the scope, schedule, and cost baselines. These provide the ‘stakes in the ground.' That is, they are used to determine whether or no t the project is on track, during the execution of the project. Baseline management plans. These plans include documentation on how variances to the baselines will be handled throughout the project.Each project baseline will need to be reviewed and managed. A result of this process may include the need to do additional planning, with the possibility that the baseline(s) will change. Project management plans document what the project team will do when variances to the baselines occur, including what process will be followed, who will be notified, how  the changes will be funded, etc. Other work products from the planning process. These include a risk management plan, a quality plan, a procurement plan, a staffing plan, and a communications plan.3.2. Potential risks to the project of revitalisation of the Grand Backa Canal. Ways to reduce or eliminate risks:All projects share a range of features which inevitably introduce uncertainty. Factors found in all projects which make them in herently risky include: uniqueness, complexity, assumptions and constraints, people, stakeholders, change. These risky characteristics are built into the nature of all projects and cannot be removed without changing the project. It is undoubtedly true that projects are risky as a result of their common characteristics, by deliberate design, and because of the external environment within which they are undertaken.It is impossible to imagine a project without risk. Of course some projects will be high-risk, while others have less risk, but all projects are by definition risky to some extent. The important thing is not to keep risk out of project, but to ensure that the inevitable risk associated with every project is at a level which is acceptable to the sponsoring organisation, and is effectively managed. This of course is why risk management is such an important part of effective project management: since all projects are exposed to risk, successful projects are the ones where that risk is properly managed.Potential risks to the project of revitalisation of the Grand Backa Canal: Failure in implementation of project tasks which can cause delays in the implementation of the main three activities of the project. Mitigation:application of Gantt chart which will present activities, their duration, and interdependence. Also, the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) will define the full scope of the project, to ensure that this is clearly stated and understood, and to form a basis for project control and monitoring. Budget increase during the implementation of the project as a consequence of delays in carrying out of individual tasks.Mitigation:budget item named Contingency which will be determined in a certain percentage compared to the total project budget to be used to cover unforeseen expenditures. Lack of cooperation by the factories which discharge the wastewater. Mitigation:clearly defined roles of all stakeholders of the project which  will be indicated in the a greement signed by all relevant parties. Unsustainability of the project. Mitigation:it is important that the factors that affect sustainability of the project are articulated well and incorporated , as far as possible, at the beginning stage. Later, the same factors can be followed up through monitoring.3.3. Strategy for monitoring the implementation of the projectGood management practices include regular monitoring on both short- and long-term basis. An effective monitoring process provides on-going, systematic information that strengthens project implementation. The monitoring process provides an opportunity to: a) Compare implementation efforts with original goals and targets, b) Determine whether sufficient progress is being made toward achieving expected results, c) Determine whether the time schedule is observed.Implementation together with monitoring show how important it is to work with indicators and SMART targets from the very beginning of the project implementation An ef fective monitoring and reporting system ideally includes the following elements: Clearly articulated targets and a set of indicators to measure performance; A schedule and set of guidelines for all responsible parties to report to each other; An opportunity for responsible parties and stakeholders to periodically meet to coordinate actions and review each other ´s performance;A link between the evaluation reports and progress achieved in the field. It is crucial to define the monitoring process in the project plan. Depending on the project duration and the budget involved, periodical reporting on the project progress should be defined at the beginning (quarterly, semi-annual, annual). A project manager is responsible for close monitoring of the project implementation, including timely appraisal of the reports and field visits to be able to monitor the work processes.