History of women in the military Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

History of women in the military - Research Paper Example It has only been since recent decades that women have been welcomed into the military, but before this, it was something that was often done discretely. Even though women had often be seen in wars in the ancient and medieval battles, such as Joan of Arc in 1429 (Willens, 1996), it was in the early 1900s that women were being spoken against about why they should not participate in war. One of the biggest arguments was that women should stay at home and tend to their family, leaving their husbands to battle. Many women accepted this, though many more had the counterargument that the men could stay home while the women went off to fight. This was always quickly shot down, though, as the mothers were the ones that children really relied on. Other arguments included the fact that women were not physically built as men were, and therefore unlikely to handle the physical burden of being in a war; the emotional nature of a woman was also looked down upon, with many males and military officials believing that women did not have what it took to handle to emotional and often traumatic impacts of war. Women, however, fought their own battle to be allowed the chance to fight the other battles. The more that military officials realized how many women were sneaking into the wars, the more open they became to accepting them, also realizing that they could be huge assets in the outcome of the wars. Their male counterparts took their willingness as something positive that could be applied to the war; after all, nobody could deny someone who sincerely wanted to fight for a cause or for their country. Men quickly found the positives in this level of strength. It was World War I that really brought the change that women had been fighting for when the United States Navy began to accept women for enlisted service. After a successful first World War, it became clear that it would be beneficial to have women enlisted by

The Function and Process of Perception Essay Example for Free

The Function and Process of Perception Essay The function and process of perception can vary depending on a particular state of consciousness. Normal waking consciousness is a mental state that encompasses the thoughts, feelings, and perceptions that occur when we are awake and reasonably alert (Morris Maisto, 2010, p. 123). Since this state of mind expires after an amount of time, other forms of consciousness follow; whether naturally or self-induced. While sensory data is inevitable, the brains interpretation and perception of such stimuli during an altered state of consciousness will differ from that of waking consciousness. This mini-paper will elaborate on the effects of perception, including its process and function, related to three altered states of consciousness. The first being sleep and dreams, next drug-altered consciousness, followed by hypnosis. Before discussing the effects of perception while in an altered state, an overview of the basic function and process of perception in a normal setting is needed. Sensation is the bodys initial encounter with a sensory experience. This begins when the sensory receptors receive energy from a particular stimulus, which trigger receptor cells. The physical energy is converted into electrochemicals, then passes along sensory nerves, to the central nervous system where the brain receives the energy as a detailed message. However, not all physical energy produces a sensation. A minimum intensity, termed absolute threshold, must be achieved in order to produce a sensation. Perception takes place when the message reaches the brain and is then deciphered. Here, the sensory information is organized and interpreted to be made sense of. Using sensory information as raw material, the brain creates perceptual experiences that go beyond what is sensed directly (Morris Maisto, 2010, p. 06). Again, this is the series of events in the normal waking state of consciousness. During an altered state of consciousness the effect, process, and/or function of perception may vary. Sleep is the bodys natural way of recharging itself mentally and physically. Research has shown that adequate sleep contributes to cognitive functioning such as enhanced creativity, decision-making, and problem-solving skills, and also crucial to the formation of long-term memories (Morris Maisto, 2010). These are some of the basis of perception, hence the reason for its peak during waking consciousness. REM sleep, or paradoxical sleep, ironically, is a close resemblance to waking consciousness. However, REM is a deep sleep, it is difficult to wake the person, and is when most dreaming takes place. Dreams, in a way, could be considered perception. The brain subconsciously interprets information without the need of sensory stimulation. Psychologists define dreams as visual and auditory experiences that our minds create during sleep (Morris Maisto, 2010, p. 131). This is an example of a natural occurrence of altering consciousness. Drug-altered consciousness on the other hand, is self-induced. Psychoactive drugs are substances that change peoples moods, perceptions, mental functioning, or behavior (Morris Maisto, 2010, p. 134). Drugs are taken to purposely alter ones state of consciousness. To analyze the effect drugs have on the nervous system, three categories of drugs will be mentioned: depressants, stimulants, and hallucinogens. Depressants slow behavior, thinking, and perception by increasing or decreasing nerve impulses. Stimulants, such as amphetamines, produce feelings of optimism as well as never-ending energy by stimulating the sympathetic nervous system. These drugs cause the release of norepinephrine from adrenergic nerve endings (Weil, n. d. ). Lastly, hallucinogens distort the users senses and induce perceptual changes by causing experiences that resemble hallucinations. A positive for psychoactive drugs is the ability to explore different parts of the brain while in this altered state of consciousness. Although, the negative consequences of abuse and addiction are high risk. The last section is a technique that has been used for centuries for positivity, without the risk. Hypnosis is a trancelike state in which a person responds readily to suggestions (Morris Maisto, 2010, p. 50). This is an altered state of consciousness that works like sleep. The subconscious person receives a suggestion, which acts as a stimulus, and is sent to and interpreted by the brain. Hypnosis can help ease pain as well as cure an addiction. In conclusion, perceptual experiences vary in different forms of consciousness. Whether it be the sensory organs or the brain itself, interpretation of the coded message is somehow changed. The process and function of perception in waking consciousness differs from those while in an altered state of consciousness.

Auctioning Personal Property :: essays research papers

The sale at public auction of personal property in the United States has a rich history and has been successfully used for three centuries. Auctions are one of the best businesses and are ranked in the top ten businesses in the world to sell personal property. Auctions are the best way to liquidate your property, sell your personal property and to get cash in your pocket.First of all, auctions can help you liquidate or downsize personal property, such as furniture, clothes, automobile and jewelry. Instead of throwing unwanted goods away call an auction house to sell it for you. You never know what you might be throwing away that can be turn into cash. Another good reason to auction is personal property will bring the highest market price at the auction through competitive bidding. This is when two or more persons who want the same item and keeps bidding the price up until it reaches a fair market value. By law you most have a least two persons present to conduct an auction. Then the highest bidder buys it for the final bided price.In advertisement for auction houses that catches must people eyes is to get fast cash selling personal property. The advertisement means just that you can get money within fourteen days or less after the auction house sells your personal property.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  The auction business has been around for a long time with a good track record for selling anything that has a price or doesn't have a price. Through statistics, the price of all property is set from a fair market value in which auctions control sixty five percent of today's prices on all property. So why not get the most out of personal property by selling it at the auction? An individual has to read the contract that the auction house writes because it could read that they might not get paid until the last item of their personal property gets sold. Some auctioneers are known for keeping back one of two items from an individuals personal property back until they have their next sale. This way an auction doesn't have to pay the individual until the following sale or when the last piece off property was sold. Make sure in the contract that it has a date that all personal property will be sold by.

Ethical Issues Essay

Different people have different understandings of what constitutes ethical behavior. There are laws that help define what is legal and what is not, but the differences between moral ethics are not always clear. These types of moral ethics often lead to ethical dilemmas. According to Trevino & Nelson (2007), â€Å"it might surprise many people to learn that there were few laws protecting consumers before the 1960s. At the turn of the last century, consumers didn’t even have the right to sue a manufacturer for defective equipment. † (p. 17) No matter what type of business is run, there are ethical and moral dilemmas attached and in some cases, legal issues arise from unethical-based decisions. Berry`s Bug Blasters is no exception to the rule. Berry`s Bug Blasters is a local company that terminates any type of pest including, armadillos, rodents, and bees. The friendly workers at Berry`s work with their clients to design a customized pest control plan. Berry`s mission statement states that they will use the safest methods for your family, home, and environment. One of the top ethical issues among pest control companies surrounds the controversy of the types of chemicals that are used while executing the termination of pests. Most of the pest control companies are known to use toxic, synthetic, and chemically-based pesticides. These types of pesticides have been known to be the most effective in the extermination of pests. However, they are not safe for people or the environment. The most common chemical used in pest control is Diazinon. Diazinon is used for household pests inside the home, or outside on the lawn. It kills a variety of insects and is classified as an acute and chronic health hazard. Diazinon is very toxic to wildlife and can be fatal if ingested. Recently, EcoSMART pest control was created. The scientists wanted to find a pesticide that will not harm a family. The scientists had a challenge on their hands. They had to discover natural ingredients that: â€Å"effectively kill pests, could be used around the home, family, and pets, and leave no toxic residue or run-off† (Meehan, 2010). The scientists found a way of creating the organic pesticide by using â€Å"essential oils that trees and plants use in nature as insect defense. They found all-natural plant oils which target the octopamine receptors in insects† (Meehan, 2010). The management of Berry`s Bug Blasters faced the ethical decision each time that they make a service call. Should they use chemicals that they know are not good for the environment and could potentially cause an individual a lot of health issues, or should they research and use a much safer chemical that may not be as effective as other pesticides. Other benefits of choosing Berry`s Bug Blasters is they are offering a monthly special to all customers for the first month and offer monthly extermination plans. There are ways to make sure that decisions that are made within a business are ethical. A business-person may ask him or herself how they would feel if his or her actions were publicized throughout the community. If the individual would not mind his or her family, friends, and community learning about the actions, then the decision is most likely ethical. However, if the individual did feel bad about others known the actions, the decision is probably unethical and should be reconsidered. The employees and management of Berry`s Bug Blasters will do whatever is in their power to protect a family as well as the environment. Although new ‘green’ pesticides may not seem as effective as older ones, more laws are coming out that prevent pest control companies in using anything toxic in order to protect the community. Berry`s Bug Blasters will face this ethical dilemma constantly as clients insist on using a chemical that will rid the pests once and for all without a doubt rather than take a risk with something not as strong.

Role of Project Management

The Role of the Project Manager A project manager is the person who has the overall responsibility for the successful initiation, planning, design, execution, monitoring, controlling and closure of a project. The job title is used in construction, petrochemical, architecture, information technology and many different industries that produce products and services. The project manager must have a combination of skills including an ability to ask penetrating questions, detect unstated assumptions and resolve conflicts, as well as more general management skills.Key among his or her duties is the recognition that risk directly impacts the likelihood of success and that this risk must be both formally and informally measured throughout the lifetime of the project. Risks arise from uncertainty, and the successful project manager is the one who focuses on this as the main concern. Most of the issues that impact a project arise in one-way or another from risk. A good project manager can lesse n risk significantly, often by adhering to a policy of open communication, ensuring every significant participant has an opportunity to express opinions and concerns.It follows that a project manager is one who is responsible for making decisions both large and small, in such a way that risk is controlled and uncertainty minimized. Every decision taken by the project manager should be taken in such a way that it directly benefits the project. Project managers use project management software, such as Microsoft Project, to organize their tasks and workforce. These software packages allow project managers to produce reports and charts in a few minutes, compared with the several hours it can take if they do it by hand. Roles and ResponsibilitiesThe role of the project manager encompasses many activities including: ? Scope Management ? Time Management ? Cost Management ? Risk Management ? Quality Management ? Contract Management ? Communication Management ? Human Resources Management Fin ally, senior management must give a project manager support and authority if he or she is going to be successful. Scope Management Best Practices for Scope Management The knowledge area of Scope Management is all about making sure that the project includes only the work required to complete the project successfully.To be effective at scope management, project manager must learn to control what is and what is not in the scope of the project. Below are some of the best practices for successful scope management. ? Collect Project Requirements ? Define the Scope ? Create a Work Breakdown Structure ? Verify the Scope and Get Feedback ? Monitor and Control the Scope 1. Collect Project Requirements The ability to define and then effectively control the scope of a project depends a lot on the goals and requirements of the project. For this reason, project manager need to gather the necessary information up front, before you ever start the project.By clearly understanding the needs of the st akeholders and the capabilities and constraints of the resources, project manager have a higher chance to succeed. The easiest way to collect the project requirements is to perform interviews with the key stakeholders. Ask questions about their views of the finished product, the deliverables they expect to receive, and the schedule of the project. Once project manager have the information need, project manager may want to create a Scope Management Plan to define the processes that will be followed in defining scope, documenting scope, verifying and accepting scope, and managing change requests. . Define the Scope The scope of a project typically consists of a set of deliverables, an assigned budget, and an expected closure time. The previously collected project requirements will help project manager define the scope. Be sure to write down exactly what the project will entail and what it will not entail. Any amount of variation in the scope of the project can affect the project sched ule, budget, and ultimately the success of the project. Getting a clear and concise definition of the scope will help project manager manage changes as they occur.With a clear scope definition, project manager can simply ask the question, â€Å"Does this change fall within the scope of the project? † If the answer is yes, then approve the change. If the answer is no, then put a pin it and save it for another time or project. Scope Creep: Scope creep is something common with every project. This refers to the incremental expansion of the project scope. Most of the time, the client may come back to the service provider during the project execution and add more requirements. Most of such requirements haven't been in the initial requirements.As a result, change requests need to be raised in order to cover the increasing costs of the services provider. Due to business scope creep, there can be technological scope creep as well. The project team may require new technologies in order to address some of the new requirements in the scope. In such instances, the services provider may want to work with the client closely and make necessary logistic and financial arrangements. 3. Create a Work Breakdown Structure A work breakdown structure or WBS is a graphical representation of the hierarchy of the project.The WBS forces the project team to think through all levels of the project and identify the major tasks that need to be performed for the project to be completed on time. By starting with the end objective and then successively subdividing it into manageable steps or components in terms of size, duration, and responsibility, the WBS provides a high level view of the entire project. Furthermore, the framework makes planning and controlling the scope of the project much easier since project manager have a graphical chart to reference point for the tasks and subtasks needed for each phase of the project.As a general rule of thumb, no task within the WBS should be le ss than 8 hours or more than 80 hours. 4. Verify the Scope and Get Feedback Because projects are expected to meet strict deadlines, verifying the scope of the project is critical before and during the project cycle. Scope verification can be done after each major task or phase is completed or if it is a smaller project, after the project has been completed. To verify the scope, meet with the project customer or stakeholder and get him/her to formally accept the project deliverables.This includes getting a written acceptance of the deliverables and requesting feedback on the work performed. Getting feedback from the customer is an excellent way for project manager to improve processes and make sure the customer is happy with the work and the status of the project. The most important thing here is to communicate well and often. Verifying the scope and getting feedback will help you focus on customer acceptance, quality control, and verifying that work performed meets the definition of the scope of the project. 5. Monitor and Control the ScopeNow that the Scope has been clearly defined, a work breakdown structure has been organised, and the customer has formally accepted the scope of the project, it is time to actually manage and control the scope to avoid scope creep. Scope creep refers to the incremental expansion of the scope of the project, which may include and introduce more requirements that may not have been a part of the initial planning phases, but add costs and time to the original project. To effectively monitor and control the scope of the project, make sure project manager have an established process for managing change requests.Any and all requests should be vetted and approved before they get introduced into the project. The budget and schedule of the project should also be altered to reflect the new changes. These changes should get a formal sign-off from the customer or key stakeholder before proceeding. It is important that project manager clos ely monitor and control the scope to avoid disgruntled customers, higher than expected costs, and projects that aren't completed on time. Time Management Time Management refers to managing time effectively so that the right time is allocated to the right activity.Effective time management allows individuals to assign specific time slots to activities as per their importance. Time Management refers to making the best use of time as time is always limited. Know which work should be done earlier and which can be done a little later. Time Management plays a very important role not only in organizations but also in our personal lives. Time Management Includes: ? Effective Planning ? Setting goals and objectives ? Setting deadlines ? Delegation of responsibilities ? Prioritizing activities as per their importance Spending the right time on the right activity Effective Planning Prepare a To Do List or a â€Å"TASK PLAN†. Jot down the important activities that need to be done in a si ngle day against the time that should be allocated to each activity. High Priority work should come on top followed by those which do not need much of our importance at the moment. Complete pending tasks one by one. Do not begin fresh work unless we have finished our previous task. Tick the ones we have already completed. Ensure finish the tasks within the stipulated time frame. Setting Goals and ObjectivesWorking without goals and targets in an organization would be similar to a situation where the captain of the ship loses his way in the sea. Set targets and make sure they are realistic ones and achievable. Setting Deadlines Set deadlines for strive hard to complete tasks ahead of the deadlines. Learn to take ownership of work. One person who can best set the deadlines is project manager. Use a planner to mark the important dates against the set deadlines. Delegation of Responsibilities Learn to say â€Å"NO† at workplace. Don’t do everything alone.There are other pe ople as well. One should not accept something which he knows is difficult for him. The roles and responsibilities must be delegated as per interest and specialization of employees for them to finish tasks within deadlines. A person who does not have knowledge about something needs more time than someone who knows the work well. Prioritizing Tasks Prioritize the tasks as per their importance and urgency. Know the difference between important and urgent work. Identify which tasks should be done within a day, which all should be done within a month and so on.Tasks which are most important should be done earlier. Spending the right time on right activity Develop the habit of doing the right thing at the right time. Work done at the wrong time is not of much use. Don’t waste a complete day on something which can be done in an hour or so. Also keep some time separate for personal calls or checking updates on Facebook or Twitter. After all human being is not a machine. For Effective Time Management Project Manager Needs To Be: Organized – Avoid keeping stacks of file and heaps of paper at workstation. Throw what all don’t need.Put important documents in folders. Keep the files in their respective drawers with labels on top of each file. It saves time which goes on unnecessary searching. Don’t misuse time – Do not kill time by loitering or gossiping around. Concentrate on work and finish assignments on time. Remember the organization is not paying for playing games on computer or peeping into other’s cubicles. First complete the work and then do whatever feels like doing. Don’t wait till the last moment. Be Focused – One needs to be focused for effective time management.Ten Essential Time Management Strategies for the Project Manager The following are the best time management practices for project managers: 1. Use the right tools and equipment. In project management, a project manager's effectiveness will largely depend on the tools at his or her disposal. Even the most talented project manager will be limited if the right software and equipment are not available. Before taking on a project, project managers should thus assess their needs. Some areas to consider include: communications equipment, project tracking software, and collaboration software. . Get to know your project personnel. Social, economic, and cultural differences can often lead to misunderstanding and mis-communication among project team members, especially in situations where a project manager is working with a multi-national project team, and these misunderstandings can be a significant draw on project time. To counteract this affect, project managers should be familiar with the social, economic, and cultural differences of the project team members, and then ensure that these differences are taken into account within project communications. . The 20/80 rule. One of the guiding rules in the management of a project is the P areto Principle which states that roughly 80% of the outputs will be generated by only 20% of the inputs. In other words, a few elements create the most impact. Project managers can capitalize on this principle with the use of a Pareto Chart, a vertical bar graph that identifies in rank order the most important elements or factors in a project, so that attention can be directed to the things that matter the most. 4. The fudge factor.When creating the project budget and setting the project schedule, experienced project managers will always include a cushion in their estimates. These over-estimates of time and money are meant to compensate for any small, unexpected problems that may come up throughout the course of the project, and will ultimately help the project to stay on course. 5. Develop a solid risk management strategy. In addition to budgeting for unexpected draws on time and money, project managers need to have a solid risk management strategy in place so that a project recov ery plan can be quickly implemented if problems arise. 6.Effectively delegate tasks. One of the biggest pitfalls in project management is insufficient delegation of responsibilities. Project managers in particular must be available to oversee the various elements of the project and make key decisions. When they are being bogged down by tasks that can be done by others, then it compromises their ability to manage. 7. Conduct productive team meetings. When project personnel are brought together, it is vital that there be a clear and focused agenda to the meeting. Otherwise, the time of the project manager as well as all those attending the meeting will be compromised.Experienced project managers are adept at determining which information must be discussed in a face-to-face meeting and which information can be disseminated via other mediums. 8. Effective communication system for communication. It almost goes without saying that a project will never run smoothly if the right information does not reach the right people at the right time. A system for effective communication of project information among project personnel as well as project clients and senior executives is a must.Not only must the project manager ensure that he or she is presenting information in a clear, logical, and understandable way, but also that the right tools are in place, such as file- sharing programs, networks, and collaboration tools. 9. Daily personal to-do list. A simple, yet highly effective time management technique for the project manager is the daily creation of a personal to-do list. Having such a list on hand will help the project manager stay on track and not get caught up in the project's myriad details. 10. Stay focused on the big picture.As the old saying goes: don't sweat the small stuff, that's the job of the various project personnel hired to bring the project to completion. Putting undue attention on relatively insignificant aspects of the project can also quickly bring th e project off schedule. Experienced project managers know where they can â€Å"let go† versus knowing which things demand their attention. By following the time management strategies mentioned above, the project manager can help to ensure that all the elements of the project are indeed brought together in a harmonious path towards project completion.Time Management Tips for Project Managers Summary Time management is a basic skill for project managers. If project manager manage own time, how can project manager expect to manage the teams? Ask each day what project manager did to move the project forward. Plan the next day, what will project manager do to ensure the project continues along the straight and narrow. Plan the time, manage the resources with a light touch and communicate effectively. With a little time management, project success should come easier. Cost Management The following are the costs associated with the projects. Direct costsAny costs that are directly at tributable to the work on the project. These can include the salaries paid to the resources, the billing rate of the resources and costs of the software and hardware that are used for building the website Indirect Costs These costs are spread out against many projects and cannot be linked to one project alone. These costs include those incurred in shared services like cost of office space, taxes paid by the organization and other services like secretarial and janitorial staff Variable Costs Costs that change in proportion to the amount of time and material that are spent on produced in the project.Fixed Costs Costs that do not change with the timeline or progress of the project. A cost be either Fixed or Variable; Direct or Indirect The overhead costs for this project are the office setup and shared services. While the costs incurred in setting up the office space can be general overhead cost as it is a one-time cost and is borne by all the projects in the organization. The project overhead costs are the costs incurred in the shared services such as secretarial staff and other services provide to the project and can be directly billable as such.Time phased budget A time phased budget would include the costs incurred at each interval or milestone of the project. The milestones for this project would be requirements, design, coding, testing and implementation. The budget for the same would be the costs at each stage of the project. The budget at completion or BAC should have all the components of the costs included like direct and indirect costs, fixed and variable costs etc along with the cost at each phase or milestone of the project.The cost variance should be measured using Earned Value technique and this tool allows the manager to assess the completion of the project at each milestone according to the cost incurred and the value accrued till then. Variance between these two measures gives an accurate estimate of the health of the project. Cumulative costs T he cumulative costs of the project are the ones that are incurred up to a specific phase or milestone of the project. It can be measured by using a Cost Performance Index or CPI which measures the ratio of the Earned value with regards to the Actual cost incurred on the project.As outlined above, all the costs that accumulate up to a particular phase can be called the cumulative costs of the project. Cost control The cost management plan should include the plan for controlling the costs of the project. There should be a measurement of the costs involved and their variances tracked, if any. Any variance to the budget must be controlled by the controlling the impact of the cost changes. Further, cost control can be done in the area of overhead costs and general and administrative expenses. Estimating Project CostsThe Wideman Comparative Glossary of Common Project Management Terms describes estimating cost as â€Å"The process of forecasting a future result in terms of cost, based upo n information available at the time. † In his book ‘How to be a Better Project Manager', Trevor L Young defines estimating as â€Å"A decision about how much time and resource are required to carry out a piece of work to acceptable standards of performance. † Many techniques, books and software packages exist to help with estimating project costs. A few simple rules will also help ensure you create an accurate and realistic estimate. Assume resources will only be productive for 80 percent of their time. ? Resources working on multiple projects take longer to complete tasks because of time lost switching between them. ? People are generally optimistic and often underestimate how long tasks will take. ? Make use of other project manager experiences. ? Get an expert view. ? Include management time in any estimate. ? Always build in contingency for problem solving, meetings and other unexpected events. ? Cost each task in the Work Breakdown Structure to arrive at a to tal, rather than trying to cost the project as a whole. Agree a tolerance with the customer for additional work that is not yet defined. ? Communicate any assumptions, exclusions or constraints project manager have to the customer. ? Provide regular budget statements to the customer, copying the team, so they are always aware of the current position. ? Much data exists about the length of time particular items of work take, especially in the construction industry. A useful database of production rates can be found at Planning Planet Common Mistakes ? These are some of the common mistakes that can lead to inaccurate estimates. Not understanding what is involved to complete an item of work. ? Starting with an amount of money and making the project cost fit it. ? Assigning resources at more than 80 percent utilization. ? Failing to build in contingency. ? Failing to adjust the estimate following changes in scope. ? Dividing tasks between more than one resource. ? Providing estimates un der pressure in project meetings. ? Giving single-data-point estimates rather than range estimates. Three Point Estimating Three point estimating is a technique that helps project managers produce better estimates.Rather than a ballpark estimate, project managers can use three point estimating to gain a greater degree of control over how the end value is calculated. The end value is the weighted average of three estimates. To do three point estimating for a particular task or activity, ask the resource for their best-case, most likely and worst case estimates. Add the best-case estimate to four times the most likely, then the worst case and divide by six. This gives you your estimate (E value) which is a slightly more balanced view of how long the task or activity is likely to take.The formula is expressed as: E = (B + 4 M + W)/6 B = best-case (1/6) M = most likely (4/6) W = worst case (1/6) `Monte Carlo Simulation in MS Excel The Monte Carlo method of estimating project cost is bas ed on the generation of multiple trials to determine the expected value of a random variable. There are several commercial packages that run Monte Carlo simulation; however a basic spreadsheet such as Microsoft Excel can be used to run a simulation. Risk Management Literally speaking,  risk management is the process of minimizing or mitigating the risk.It starts with the identification and evaluation of risk followed by optimal use of resources to monitor and minimize the same. Risk generally results from uncertainty. In organizations this risk can come from uncertainty in the market place (demand, supply and Stock market), failure of projects, accidents, natural disasters etc. There are different tools to deal with the same depending upon the kind of risk. Ideally in risk management, a risk prioritization process is followed in which those risks that pose the threat of great loss and have great probability of occurrence are dealt with first. Refer to table below: IMPACT |ACTIONS | |SIGNIFICANT |Considerable Management Required |Must Manage and Monitor Risks |Extensive Management essential | |MODERATE |Risk are bearable to certain extent |Management effort worthwhile |Management effort required | |MINOR |Accept Risks |Accept but monitor Risks |Manage and Monitor Risks | |   |LOW |MEDIUM |HIGH | | |LIKELIHOOD | The above chart can be used to strategize in various situations. The two factors that govern the action required are the probability of occurrence and the impact of the risk.For example a condition where the impact is minor and the probability of occurrence is low, it is better to accept the risk without any interventions. A condition where the likelihood is high and the impact is significant, extensive management is required. This is how a certain priority can be established in dealing with the risk. Apart from this, typically most of the organizations follow a risk management cycle. Refer diagram below: [pic] According to this cycle there are four steps in the process of risk management. The first step is the assessment of risk, followed by evaluation and management of the same. The last step is measuring the impact.Risk identification can start at the base or the surface level, in the former case the source of problems is identified. We now have two things to deal with the source and the problem. Risk Source:  The source can be either internal or external to the system. External sources are beyond control whereas internal sources can be controlled to a certain extent. For example, the amount of rainfall, weather over an airport etc! Problem:  A problem at the surface level could be the threat of accident and casualty at the plant, a fire incident etc. When any or both of the above two are known beforehand, certain steps can be taken to deal with the same.After the risk has been identified then it must be assessed on the potential of criticality. Here we arrive upon risk prioritization. In generic terms ‘likelihood of occurrence ? impact’ is equal to risk. This is followed by development of a risk management plan and implementation of the same. It comprises of the effective security controls and control mechanisms for mitigation of risk. A more challenging risk to organizational effectiveness is the risk that is present but cannot be identified. For example a perpetual inefficiency in the production process accumulates over a certain period of time and translates into operational risk. The Principles of Risk ManagementEvery project manager and business leader needs to be aware of the practices and principles of effective risk management. Understanding how to identify and treat risks to an organization, a programmed or a project can save unnecessary difficulties later on, and will prepare managers and team members for any unavoidable incidences or issues. The M_o_R (Management of Risk) framework identifies twelve principles, which are intended â€Å"not to be prescriptive but provide s upportive guidance to enable organizations to develop their own policies, processes strategies and plan. Organizational Context A fundamental principle of all generic management methods, including PRINCE2 and MSP as well as M_o_R, is that all organizations are different.Project managers, programmed managers and risk managers need to consider the specific context of the organization in order to ensure thorough identification of risks and appropriate risk treatment procedures. The term ‘organizational context' encompasses the political, economic, social, technological, legal and environmental backdrop of an organization. Stakeholder Involvement It is easy for a management team to become internalized and forget that stakeholders are also key participants in everyday business procedures, short-term projects and business-wide change programmed. Understanding the roles of individual stakeholders and managing stakeholder involvement is crucial to successful.Stakeholders should, as fa r as is appropriate, be made aware of risks to a project or programmed. Within the context and stakeholder involvement, â€Å"appropriate† concerns: the identity and role of the stakeholder, the level of influence that the stakeholder has over and outside of the organization, the level of investment that the stakeholder has in the organization, and the type, probability and potential impact of the risk. Organizational Objectives Risks exist only in relation to the activities and objectives of an organization. Rain is a negative risk for a picnic, a positive risk for drought-ridden farmland and a non-risk for the occupants of a submarine.It is imperative that the individual responsible for risk management (whether that is the business leader, the project/programmed manager or a specialist risk manager) understands the objectives of the organization, in order to ensure a tailored approach. M_o_R Managing of Risk Approach The processes, policies, strategies and plans within the M_o_R framework provide generic guidelines and templates within a particular organization. These guidelines are based on the experience and research of professional risk managers from a wide range of organizations and management backgrounds. Following best practices ensures that individuals involved in managing the risks associated with an organization’s activity are able to learn from the mistakes, experiments and lessons of others. ReportingAccurately and clearly representing data, and the transmission of this data to the appropriate staff members, managers and stakeholders, is crucial to successful risk management. The M_o_R methodology provides standard templates and tested structures for managing the frequency, content and participants of risk communication. Roles and Responsibilities Fundamental to risk management best practice is the clear definition of risk management roles and responsibilities. Individual functions and accountability must be transparent, both within and outside an organization. This is important both in terms of organizational governance, and to ensure that all the necessary responsibilities are covered by appropriate individuals. Support StructureA support structure is the provision within an organization of standardized guidelines, information, training and funding for individuals managing risks that may arise in any specific area or project. This can include a centralized risk management team, a standard risk management approach and best-practice guidelines for reporting and reviewing organizational risks. Early Warning Indicators Risk identification is an essential first step for removing or alleviating risks. In some cases, however, it is not possible to remove risks in advance. Early warning indicators are pre-defined and quantified triggers that alert individuals responsible for risk management that an identified risk is imminent.This enables the most thorough and prepared approach to handling the situation. Review Cycle Related to the need for early warning indicators is the review cycle. This establishes the regular review of identified risks and ensures that risk managers remain sensitive to new risks, and to the effectiveness of current policies. Overcoming Barriers to M_o_R Any successful strategy requires thoughtful consideration of possible barriers to implementation. Common issues include: ? Established roles, responsibilities, accountabilities and ownership. ? An appropriate budget for embedding approach and carrying out activities. ? Adequate and accessible training, tools and techniques. Risk management orientation, induction and training processes. ? Regular assessment of M_o_R approach (including all of the above issues. Supportive Culture Risk management underpins many different areas and aspects of an organization’s activity. A supportive culture is essential for ensuring that everybody with risk management responsibilities feels confident rising, discussing and managing risks . A supportive risk management culture will also include evaluation and reward of risk management competencies for the appropriate individuals. Continual Improvement In an evolving organization, nothing stands still. An effective risk management policy includes the capacity for re-evaluation and improvement.At a practical level, this will require the nomination of an individual or a group of individuals to the responsibility of ensuring that risk management policies and procedures are up-to-date, as well as the establishment of regular review cycles of the organization’s risk management approach. Quality Management Procurement and Quality Process The art of project management calls for an increased vigil on quality and related processes. The project manager is expected to be aware of the best practices that are used for the project and is supposed to make sure that he or she adapts them to the use of project management. One area of concern nowadays is the absence of processes in procurement and staffing. These are areas of concern not only to the project manager but also to the organizations.There is a need to balance the requirements of the fast procurement and staffing cycle with that of proper processes to be followed. There has been much debate in many organizations about the lack of quality in recruitment and procurement. These twin areas of quality and procurement have the aspect of ruining the chances of a successful project and hence the project manager has a responsibility to steer the course and ensure that quality does not suffer. There are several areas of project management that need quality control and there are several benchmarks of quality that can be used to meet these standards. For instance, many organizations use Six Sigma and SEI CMM level processes to guide them in the art of quality and meeting quality specifications.These are just one instance of how the quality framework is used to differentiate between the processes that are er ror free and those that need revision and rework. Sampling method prescribed by Kaizen, Six Sigma etc can be used to improve the quality of the processes that are employed by the organizations. Kaizen, in particular relates to continuous improvement, a theme that would find resonance in the uber-competitive world of today. All organizations strive for quality and to find the edge that would differentiate those from others and thus these initiatives are the ones that the project manager must look forward to and implement them diligently in the workplace.To address the issues arising out of poor procurement and staffing practices, the project manager has to be in constant touch with one important stakeholder i. e. , the procurement and staffing teams and this is where the project manager is expected to show their level of competence by managing the procurement and staffing cycle. Quality Management Vs Quality Control Quality is defined as the degree to which the project meets the requ irements (PMBOK, 2009). The operative word here is meeting the requirements and hence anything that is done that is not conforming to the requirements is said to be deviating from the norm of quality. In the subsequent paragraphs, I look at the distinction between quality management and the processes of quality control.Quality management is the practice of drawing up plans that determine the standards that need to apply to the project, determining who would be involved in managing quality and their specific duties, meetings to determine if the project is conforming to the quality specifications laid out in the quality management plan and laying out the metrics that are used to measure quality. As defined by the PMBOK, Project Quality Management is the comprehensive plan that includes all the components of the quality planning process (PMBOK, 2009). Quality control, on the other hand, is the set of processes that measure the metrics of quality by assessing the specific project result s against standards.Quality control processes are done during project monitoring and controlling functions whereas quality management is done during the initiating and planning phase (PMBOK, 2009). Hence, quality control is the subset of quality management and is the final phase of the project management cycle. Quality management is all encompassing and consists of laying down standards against which the project quality metrics are defined and need to be measured against. Quality management takes into account the lower level details of how the output of the project is to be tracked and measured. Quality control is the process of ensuring that the quality metrics are met.Hence, while quality management is the process of planning and managing the requirements of the project from the perspective of quality, quality control is the process of measuring the level of output and the quality of the output and typically consists of measuring the output against the quality metrics that were de cided upon in the quality management plan. The reason that quality management and quality control are used interchangeably is due to the perception that quality control encompasses the planning aspect as well. This is certainly true in organizations that do not have a separate quality department and quality planning and quality control is the domain of the project management processes. In organizations that have separate quality departments and where there is a well thought out quality plan, quality management and quality control are separate and are handled by different people.In conclusion, quality management typically produces as its deliverables a comprehensive quality management plan that includes the quality control aspect of it. Quality control in this case is handled by a different set of people who do the tracking and measuring of metrics in a dedicated manner. Typically, the process of quality management includes the representatives from the quality department and the qual ity control processes are the reverse with the quality department handling the tracking of metrics and reporting to the project management team. Quality control is an independent audit of the quality of deliverables and is necessary for the sign off of the project. Deming's 14 Points and Quality Project ManagerQuality is misunderstood by many who think of it only as it relates to the final deliverable, but a quality product is itself achieved only through quality processes focused on efficiency, innovation, and continual improvement, and these require a quality management culture not only in our projects, but within our organizations. In chapter two of his 1986 book, Out of the Crisis, Edward Deming presented 14 principles that he believed could make industry more competitive by increasing quality. Organizational improvements can begin with anyone. While it's true that our professional domain as project managers is bounded by the project life cycle, our influence is often much great er than that, and quality management is one of those areas where skilled project managers are best suited to be instrumental change agents – first in the culture of their projects, and second, in the culture of their departments and organizations.As project managers, if we follow Deming's principles, we can create project environments where quality thrives, not only benefiting our customers and projects, but perhaps serving as a tipping point for effecting a quality management change within our organizations. 1. Create Constancy of Purpose towards Improvement Deming is telling management to stop reacting and plan better for the long-term. For project managers: What has been traditionally thought of as long-term planning is no longer achievable. Business changes too rapidly, and detailed, up-front plans take too long to produce and are always outdated by the time they're committed to paper.Yet projects must have a plan that establishes activities, milestones, and priorities, s o what we should strive for in our projects is thorough planning based on iterative, rolling-wave, or Agile approaches. Thorough planning uses detailed planning for the short-term with a longer-term view emphasizing constant reviews, re-planning, and risk management, especially for opportunities that can be exploited. This results in a project plan that can adapt quickly to abrupt business and deliverable changes without throwing the project into chaos. 2. Adopt the new Philosophy Deming is telling management to stop being hypocritical, awaken itself to the challenge, and become leaders.For project managers: People will always see through anyone who says one thing, but whose actions are entirely different. Lasting, energizing change starts first with us, and only then will it spread outward and excite others into action. As managers, our core values can't just be expressed through our words, but they must be evident in all our actions with our teams and coworkers. It takes time, but as our message and attitude spread to an ever-broadening base of people, a domino effect takes place and the members themselves become believers and evangelists in quality management themselves. 3. Cease Dependency on Inspection Deming is reminding management that the need for inspection will decrease if quality problems are prevented in the first place.For project managers: We all know that prevention is better than inspection, so our project management and execution processes need continual improvement methods built into them to reduce quality problems. But inspection goes beyond its purely quality connotations. Are we propagating a management style based on inspection? If our team has a tendency to run everything first past us for approval then we may be, and that isn't good for us, the team, or the project. Our responsibility as a project manager isn't to be the funnel through which everyone seeks approval. If that's what is happening then the project will stagnate and become i nflexible.Instead, let's make sure we create a project culture where the team has the skills, information, and experience it needs to make every-day, rapid decisions on its own. 4. End the Practice of Awarding Business on the Basis of Price Tags Deming's purpose behind this point was to eliminate variations in the manufacturing process by having too many suppliers of component goods. For project managers: Price alone should rarely be the determining factor because most procurement needs go beyond simple commodities. When a project is likely to involve frequent changes, we need vendors who can adapt or offer their own new ideas for responding to those changes, and that isn't likely to happen when cut-rate suppliers are chosen.This principle also holds true in our role as the vendor for internal or external customers. We are not just collectors of requirements – we need to be engaged with the customer and stakeholders, understanding their business objectives in order for us to provide the deliverable that best meets their changing needs. 5. Improve Constantly and Forever Deming is reminding industry leaders that they have to constantly strive to reduce variation, which leads to quality problems. For project managers: Continuous improvement is a core philosophy of the PMBOK, but it isn't like a switch that gets turned on or off. It's a mindset that is nurtured by the right environment.Members of the team need skills, information, and knowledge beyond their core subjects of expertise, and we should encourage experimentation and reward mistakes made in the search for innovation, which means we need to eliminate blame and ingrain the lessons-learned process in every part of the project. Large-scale improvements and innovative approaches often come from â€Å"amateurs† and not specialists because amateurs are driven by their interest in the subject and less wedded to preconceived notions and ideas. Chris Anderson, author of The Long Tail, says, â€Å"I 'll take a passionate amateur over a bored professional any day. † 6. Institute Training on the Job On-the-job training increases efficiency and results in job outputs with fewer errors. For project managers: Continuous improvement extends beyond just processes.It applies to the hard and soft skills, experiences, and knowledge of the entire project team. Professional development, coaching, and mentoring should be encouraged, acknowledged, and rewarded. Training doesn't have to be expensive, and it doesn't have to be formalised. Some of the best training experiences involve group-led efforts that also serve as team building exercises, such as Webinars, vendor demonstrations, and specific discussions on best practices. 7. Institute Leadership Deming wants management to be leaders not merely supervisors. For project managers: The problem on most projects is not a lack of management but a lack of leadership.Leadership is more about people skills than about project management skill s. Few projects have sponsors that view themselves as the leader on the project, and if the leadership charge is not picked up by the project manager then the project is not likely to be successful. A leader translates the project's vision into actions that excite, inspire, and motivate the project team, and he or she is able to instil a perception that the project isn't just creating a deliverable; it's accomplishing something phenomenal for the customer. 8. Drive out Fear Deming tells us that management by fear or punishment is detrimental because it inhibits questions and ideas from the workforce.For project managers: Fear stifles two cornerstones of quality – innovation and continual improvement. A fearful team isn't going to generate new ideas and it's going to hide its mistakes, leading to a poor lessons learned process. Deming's point goes beyond what most of us associate with fear. Fear is also that little voice all of us hear that suppresses us from speaking up or sh aring ideas – fear of failing, fear of sounding silly, fear of making a mistake, fear of missing a deadline, fear of stepping on another's toes, and so on. Yet these fears are just as detrimental to quality as fear of punishment. It's a lack of trust between team members and in the project's leadership that drives these fears.If we improve trust, team members will be more willing to share their ideas and question existing processes. 9. Break Down Barriers Between Staff Areas Deming wants everyone to realise that each person is a customer of someone and that everybody is a supplier to somebody. For project managers: Silos and a rigid hierarchy are dangerous not only to the project, but to the organisation. Innovation and continual improvement come about by somebody seeing a connection that is not inherently obvious, and connections can't be discovered when one is stuck behind artificial barriers. We can help break those barriers by exposing people to diverse situations outside their normal environment and comfort zones.Though there is a short-term productivity loss when people work outside their specialty, there is a longer-term gain for the project and organisation. This strategy helps build a larger pool of â€Å"generalists† in many subjects, and new experiences are a powerful motivator for many people. This approach also improves opportunities for innovative approaches and is a risk management strategy should key personnel leave the project. 10. Eliminate Slogans, Exhortations, and Targets for the Work Force Slogans imply the problem is with the employees, but the real problem is with the process. For project managers: The first point we have to accept is that we are responsible for problems within the project, whatever those issues might be.It isn't the team's fault, the customer's fault, or the organisation's fault – it's our fault. The root causes of most project problems are deficiencies in communication, scope, requirements, activi ty definitions, project planning and re-planning, risk management, and stakeholder involvement. All of these are within our professional domain even if we aren't the ones personally performing them. It's our responsibility to make sure the project processes are performed effectively to a level appropriate for the project. 11. Eliminate Management by Objectives Setting production targets only encourages people to meet those targets through whatever means necessary, which causes poor quality.For project managers: On the surface this principle probably sounds like heresy to most of us – how can a project be managed if targets aren't set? Well, it can't, but that wasn't Deming's point. He's talking about short-sighted versus thorough planning. Setting targets in response to a problem without first understanding and addressing the root causes in the processes will only lead to more quality problems. Milestones are the predominant targets for projects, and they need to be challengi ng to motivate the team, but they have to be achievable and flexible. Yet flexibility is one of the most common scheduling failures a project manager makes, especially on projects that are very iterative and involve rolling wave planning.As these projects progress, milestones have to be continually reassessed, and this often means that the original dates get pushed. Too many of us perceive these readjustments as â€Å"missing our target† because we're too married to dates that were only best-guesses or top-down estimates set early in project planning. We also should be careful to present milestone dates to stakeholders as estimates and help them understand the iterative nature of these kinds of projects – as the project is better understood and the work needed becomes clearer, milestone dates may change. 12. Remove Barriers to Pride of Workmanship Deming tells us that nobody feels good about producing shoddy work.When management creates an environment that fosters poor quality, employees are frustrated. For project managers: Recognising the team and individuals for their contributions and achievements helps instil pride of workmanship. Everyone on the project team should feel that his or her work is recognised and valuable to the project's success. Sincere appreciation is one of the easiest and cheapest yet most effective motivating agents we can use. Even â€Å"failures† and mistakes are achievements as long as there were valuable lessons learned. 13. Institute Education and Self-Improvement Deming wants everyone, managers and the workforce, to pursue training, education, and self-improvement.For project managers: Ongoing professional development is expected of certified project managers, but we should also expect and encourage it among our team and coworkers. Nearly every profession has its own certification and continuing education requirements, and our team members will appreciate it if we have a general understanding of their professi on's requirements, recognise them for certification efforts, and help them with opportunities for meeting those requirements. 14. The Transformation is Everyone's Job Deming says that everyone is involved in the fixing the processes. For project managers: This one is easy if we've done everything else right because all the other principles will result in quality management culture where everyone is involved in continual improvement and innovation.Having experienced first-hand a quality management experience, the people on our team will in turn spread those ideas to other project teams. Communications Management Having good communication skills is one of the key abilities of a project manager. However, this fact is frequently overlooked when choosing the ideal candidate for that position. Moreover, it is not emphasized as much as it should in most project management training programs. Thus, many times we find project managers with excellent management and technical skills but which a re really not-that-good communicators. Why is it so important? First of all, because a good leader should be a great communicator in order to lead and motivate his or her team, as we have discussed before.This is something that not only applies to the members of the team but to all the stakeholders of the project. A project manager has to be aware that all of them have different profiles and interests, and that it requires from him or her great ability to adapt the message to each one. Communication principles Good communication should be based on accuracy, clarity, transparency and interaction. Accuracy has to do with the detail and scope of the information that is being transmitted. The project manager must be able to provide the information that is needed for everyone within and outside the team. Sometimes excessively detailed information may divert attention from the main message and can lead the interlocutor to confusion.Mostly, the communication with the team should focus on t he objectives, and the plan to take to achieve them. While, for example, information that is provided to clients will focus on the requirements of the project and its evolution. To ensure information clarity, the language is a crucial thing and the project manager must perfectly handle all its variants. Generally, it will be common to use a more technical and specific language within the team, and a more formal style if the message is addressed to a client or a company directive. Transparency has a direct impact on the project manager’s credibility. A project manager’s honesty should be beyond doubt, and so, he or she has to provide continuous communication about the problems that arise.The last principle, but not a less important one is interaction. Communication cannot be unidirectional. In all situations, with any type of interlocutor, the project manager must be open to dialogue. He or she has to know how to both ask and listen in order to get accurate information that can be relevant in later decisions. It is essential to have continuous communication with all parties involved in the project. To help project manager with this, Doolphy, as an online project management tool, helps project manager to centralize all project information and adjust the access to each kind of user. Top Five Communication Skills for Project Managers 1.Active Listening In first place is project manager ability to listen to and understand others. Listening to the words and the meaning behind their words, not interrupting or letting our minds wander, asking questions to check understanding, observing non-verbal signals. According to Indian project manager Nirav Patel CAPM: â€Å"The benefits include getting people to open up and due to that lots of misunderstandings and conflicts can be resolved. † 2. Building Relationships based on Trust and Respect Trust and respect are the cornerstones of personal relationships. They are earned not a right and come from exper ience of our honesty, integrity and expertise.Among the characteristics people used to determine project manager credibility are truthfulness, openness, willingness to share ideas and information freely, consistency, reliability, loyalty, capabilities and competence. â€Å"Trust encourages people to propose ideas, suggest ways to enhance work, speak of their concerns and give advice,† says Dubai-based Kareem Shaker PMP. 3. Setting Clear Priorities In third spot is a project manager's ability to convey the strategy for their team – by setting goals, planning and prioritizing. This is the what, who, when, where, why and how of the project. Team members should understand both the big picture and the lower level technical priorities. â€Å"Essentially this is what a project manager does.If you can't do it you won't get everybody working on the same page,† says Australian Paul Ramussen. 4. Enabling Collaboration In a collaborative environment team members support and encourage each other rather than focusing solely on their own tasks and responsibilities. They are willing to co-operate and share information, ideas and assets to help each other. The result can be greater than the sum of its parts. â€Å"When we collaborate we get the 1Ãâ€"1=3 effect. Things happen that might not have if people had remained focused on their own work,† says American Adam Michaelson PMP. 5. Conveying the Organisation's Vision Contract In Project Management Project Contract TypesExplaining the bigger picture helps team members understand where the project fits within the overall aims of your business unit and organization. Senior executives are focused on the triple bottom line – finances, environment, reputation – this is where they expect your project to make a difference. American Jhaymee Wilson PMP says: â€Å"As project managers if we can't convey the link between our project and the organization how can we show we are delivering value? à ¢â‚¬  This article is based on research among project managers from around the world and was originally published as Five Essential Rules for Project Leaders on the PMI Career Central website. Introduction:In the world of business, contracts are used for establishing business deals and partnerships. The parties involved in the business engagement decide the type of the contract. Usually the type of the contract used for the business engagement varies depending on the type of the work and the nature of the industry. The contract is simply an elaborated agreement between two or more parties. One or more parties may provide products or services in return to something provided by other parties (client). The contract type is the key relationship between the parties engaged in the business and the contract type determines the project risk. Example most widely used contract types:Fixed Price (Lump Sum) This is the simplest type of all contracts. The terms are quite straightforward and eas y to understand. To put in simple, the service provider agrees to provide a defined service for a specific period of time and the client agrees to pay a fixed amount of money for the service. This contract type may define various milestones for the deliveries as well as KPIs (Key Performance Indicators). In addition, the contractor may have an acceptance criteria defined for the milestones and the final delivery. The main advantage of this type of contract is that the contractor knows the total project cost before the project commences.Unit Price In this model, the project is divided into units and the charge for each unit is defined. This contract type can be introduced as one of the more flexible methods compared to fixed price contract. Usually the owner (contractor/client) of the project decides on the estimates and asks the bidders to bid of each element of the project. After bidding, depending on the bid amounts and the qualifications of bidders, the entire project may be give n to the same services provider or different units may be allocated to different services providers. This is a good approach when different project units require different expertise to complete. Cost PlusIn this contract model, the services provider is reimbursed for their machinery, labour, and other costs, in addition to contractor paying an agreed fee to the services provider In this method, the services provider should offer a detailed schedule and the resource allocation for the project. Apart from that, all the costs should be properly listed and should be reported to the contractor periodically. The payments maybe paid by the contractor at a certain frequency (such as monthly, quarterly) or by the end of milestones. Incentive Incentive contracts are usually used when there is some level of uncertainty in the project cost. Although there are nearly-accurate estimations, the technological challenges may impact on the overall resources as well as the effort.This type of contract s is common for the projects involving pilot programs or the project that harness new technologies. There are three cost factors in an Incentive contract; target price, target profit, and the maximum cost. The main mechanism of Incentive contract is to divide any target price overrun between the client and the services provider in order to minimize the business risks for both parties. Retainer (Time and Material – T&M) This is one of the most beautiful engagements that can get into by two or more parties. This engagement type is the most risk-free type where the time and material used for the project are priced. The contractor only requires knowing the time and material for the project in order to make the payments.This type of contracts has short delivery cycles and for each cycle separate estimates are sent of the contractor. Once the contractor signs off the estimate and Statement of Work (SOW), the services provider can start work. Unlike most of the other contract types, retainer contracts are mostly used for long-term business engagements. Percentage of Construction Fee This type of contracts is used for engineering projects. Based on the resources and material required, the cost for the construction is estimated. Then, the client contracts a service provider and pays a percentage of the cost of the project as the fee for the services provider. As an example, take the scenario of constructing a house. Assume that the estimate comes up to $230,000.When this project is contracted to a services provider, the client may agree to pay 30% of the total cost as the construction fee, which comes up to $69,000. Conclusion Selecting the contract type is the most crucial step of establishing a business agreement with another party. This step determines the possible engagement risks. Therefore, companies should get into contracts where there is a minimum risk for their business. It is always a good idea to engage in fixed bids (fixed priced) whenever the proje ct is short-termed and predictable. If the project nature is exploratory, it is always best to adopt retainer or cost plus contract types. Contract Project Management ServicesContracting a project management professional to manage a project offers advantages in leadership, experience and cost savings. Yet

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buy custom After-Action Report essay Post Event Evaluation of How the Organizations IT Staff Responded to the Attack Describe the Nature of the Incident Spoofing attack enabled the employee to pretend to be the real user of the human resource system. In this spoofing attack, the employee created a misleading context, in order to make an inappropriate security relevant decision (Khosrowpour, 2002). The employee did this by spoofing an IP address, in order to eavesdrop on the network. The spoofing attack was used by the employee to pretend that he was the legitimate user of the human resource system to change his payroll details of his salary. Khosrowpour (2002) noted that the attacker in this form of attack intercepted and deliberately identified where the data was stored and modified. As a result, the employee made changes and received two paychecks with the new amount. The prime goal of the spoofing attack was to establish a connection that allowed the employee to gain root access to the host and to create a backdoor entry path into the organizations human resource system (Paquet, 2009). Through IP spoofing, the attacker gained unauthorized access to the human resource system and sent messages to the system with an IP address that indicated the message was coming from a trusted host. Identify Who Needs to be Notified Based on the Type and Severity of the Incident The chief information officer is the right person to be notified of the incident. This is because the network security of the company had been compromised two times, and this called for the senior management to demand a risk assessment and management report. The chief information officer should write a report geared towards finding out the possible areas, which had security holes allowing the employee to enter or interfere with the companys human resource system. The chief information officer should be notified, because the network security is a dominant concern amid information technology professionals and senior management of the organization. The chief information officer and the network administrator must include a stipulation for examining the network periodically to review its vulnerabilities. Outline How the Incident Could be Contained To address challenges of the attack, Das, Kant Zhang (2012) proposed an efficient and securekey management framework (SEKM) for distributed environments. SKEM will enable the network administrator to build a public key infrastructure (PKI) by means of applying an underlying multicast server group and secret sharing scheme. In a secure and efficient key management framework, the server group creates the view of certification authority (CA) and provides the certificate update services for all nodes, including servers (Das, Kant Zhang, 2012). In order to solve the spoofing attack problem, the management should introduce the concept of public key cryptography. This will enable each person to get a pair of keys; public and private ones. Through this, need for a sender and receiver to share the secret information is eliminated. The organization can implement IEEE 802.11 which has been designed with help of extremely limited management capabilities, using up to four static, long-term, key, shared by all the stations on the LAN (Das, Kant Zhang, 2012). This design will make it difficult for the attacker to revoke access fully from previously authorized hosts. In this context, a host should be revoked when it is no longer associated with the access network point. More importantly, it should be revoked, when it can no longer decrypt and eavesdrop traffic generated by other hosts in the local area network. Discuss How the Factor that Caused the Incident Could be Removed To remove the spoofing attack, the organization should move the network security and its risk assessment from the initial functional concern to a core part of the overall business trategy of the firm. Jones Ashenden (2005) say that the companys local area network presents a substantial risk because it does not address the wider issues of protecting information in the environments through which it flows across the information network (p. 9). Among the network security threats that the organization faces, there are trapping attacks, monitoring activities, intrusions attacks, identification, authentication, access control, availability, privacy, integrity, accountability and non-repudiation. Describe How the System Could be Restored to Normal Business Practice. Human resource systems performance parameters are mainly set to an acceptable compromise between security and usability. Cole (2011) says that the post attack step is to restore the compromised system to its original state. The first step is to remove files that were used in the penetration testing process. Secondly, the administrator revert any network setting changes to their original values. Cole (2011) says that in the process, network cards in promiscuous mode or ARP poisoning from sniffing needs to be corrected. Finally, the registry setting or any other system configuration that were changed during the attack process should be fixed (Cole, 2011). Explain How the System Could be Verified as Operational After the system is restored, it is necessary to ascertain that the system is operational. Cole (2011) says that the operation of the human resource system can be verified by developing a detailed test plan that provides for complete test coverage of the system. The network management and system administrator should establish an orderly schedule of events. The team should determine the expected output and perform a test run against the anticipated outputs. Cole (2011) says that the verification process should be done against a written record of test inputs. During the process, the team must exercise system limits and abnormal inputs. Perform a Follow-up of the Post Event Evaluation Identify Areas that Were not Addressed by the IT Staffs Response to the Incident The Information technology staff has not addressed the network security threats, which include the basic implementations done by organizations, in order to achieve some level of security to their systems. Some of this network security threats include basic integrity and confidentiality attacks. Fung (2004) says that confidentiality and integrity security technologies ensure that the content of a message is not visible to persons other than the intended or authorized recipients. There are some security technologies which provide competitive advantages to the organization. Security technologies have evolved from being basic, enhanced to integrated technologies (Fung, 2004). An example of enhanced security technology which provides competitive advantage is a digital signature which is used for implementing the source non-repudiation, as digital signature is built on the top of hashing algorithms used mostly for implementing confidentiality (Fung, 2004). Integrity and confidentiality ens ures that the organization is assured that its information is safe. Other Attacks Mentioned in the Scenario That Were not Noticed by the Organization Password attack occurred, but it was not mentioned in the scenario. Paquet (2009) says that password attacks can be implemented using several methods, including brute-force attack, Trojan horse programs, key loggers and packet sniffers. The employee used password attack to gain access to the human resource system. Usually, password attacks refer to repeated attempts of identifying password, user account, or both (Paquet, 2009). It is necessary to note that, since the human resource system had sufficient privileges, the employee created a back door for the future access, without concerns for any password and status changes to the compromised user account. Through password attack, the employee was able tto lower the salaries of the president of the company and several other employees, and then to include the salary difference in his own paycheck. Describe the Nature of the Attacks not Noticed by the Organization Integrity attack occurred in the organization. Integrity violations can occur when the employee changes salaries of the president of the company and several other employees, and then include the salary difference in his own paycheck without proper authorization. Paquet (2009) says that the attacker has permission to write the sensitive data and change or delete it. In case of this organization, the HR department did not detect such changes, until it was too late, when the changes had already resulted in tangible loss. This is the most serious threat to the organization because of difficulty while detecting changes, and possible cascading results of late detection (Paquet, 2009). How these Additional Attacks Can be Prevented in the Future The organization should use authentication security technologies to counter password and integrity attacks. Authentication ensures that only users who have permission can access particular information (Fung, 2004). This type of security technology uses Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP), packet filtering techniques, and user id and password authentication methods. Fung (2004) says that message integrity technologies also provide competitive advantage, because they ensure that data from sender to the receiver is the same. A message integrity technology maintains the originality of the information on transit. Message integrity technologies encompass protocols, such as generic routing encapsulation (GRE), point-to-point tunneling protocol and Layer 2 VPNs such as FR and ATM VPNS. The recent trend is that instead of simply responding once an organizations network security has been compromised, companies should move towards the real time proactive monitoring of its operations by using tools of intrusion detection that can assist administrators in spot unusual or illegal activities on the network (Evans, 2003). This means that the firm is able to detect activities that would have gone off unnoticed, which can be easily detected when they are in progress, and be easily blocked or their actions reported to security enterprise administrators. The extranets have to ensure that security will not be compromised. In the company, the extranet security ensures that passwords and identities are encrypted, while being sent through the network. Recovery Procedure to Restore the Computer Systems Restoring the system to its original condition is the most significant step that should be taken by the organization. Restoration means removing programs the employee placed on the computer and cleaning up any altered data files. To restore the system, there are three main options which include repair during continued operation, restoration from backup tapes and reinstallation from the original installation media (Bidgoli, 2004). Bidgoli (2004) further says that the organization should reinstall the human resource system and other program files from the last clean back tape. While restoring the human resource system to its original state, it is necessary to know when the attack begins. To achieve this, the restoration of program files from backup tapes requires the system to be taken offline at least temporarily. In conclusion, the management of the company should realize that globalization brings about tremendous opportunities, and therefore, the need for competitive security technologies should be implemented, in order to counter security threats. The firms network security should start with an evaluation of the known risks, threats, and then the associated impacts. Security professionals must understand, implement and operate effectively enhanced security technologies to ensure the business continuity in the firm. Buy custom After-Action Report essay

Alaska Airlines Essays - Alaska Airlines, Star Air Service

Alaska Airlines Essays - Alaska Airlines, Star Air Service Alaska Airlines Alaska Airlines For nearly 70 years, Alaska Airlines has served the west coast of North America. Alaska Airlines has grown from a small regional airline in 1932 to one today that carries more than 12 million customers per year. Alaskas route system spans more than 40 cities and primarily services four countries: Canada, United States, Mexico, and Russia. Its fleet of 88 Boeing jets is the youngest among all major airlines and it has earned U.S. airline recognition from Travel & Leisure and Cond Nast Traveler magazines. The foundation of Alaska Airlines began in 1932, when Mac McGee started flying his three-seat Stinson between Anchorage and Bristol Bay, Alaska. In 1934, a merger with Star Air Service created the then-largest airline in Alaska. By the late 1940s, using surplus military aircraft, Alaska had branched into worldwide charter work, including the Berlin Airlift in 1948 and Operation Magic Carpet, the airlift of thousands of Yemenite Jews, to Israel in 1949. In the late 1960s, Alaska strengthened its operating base by merging with Alaska Coastal-Ellis and Cordova airlines, legendary Southeast Alaska carriers owned by aviation pioneers Shell Simmons, Bob Ellis and Mudhole Smith. Alaskas world now stretched from Fairbanks south to Ketchikan and down to Seattle. And in some of the coldest days of the Cold War, Alaska made headlines with regular charters to the Soviet Union. In 1972, Alaska Airlines faced severe financial difficulties. Fairbanks businessmen Ron Cosgrave and Bruce Kennedy were hired and they are credited with salvaging the airline, and winning the trust of creditors, employees, and customers by improving time performance and customer service. In addition, construction of the trans-Alaska pipeline brought a surge in business to the airline through the transport of supplies, equipment and workers. Finally, Cosgrave and Kennedy focused on customer service. In 1987, Alaska Airlines merged with Horizon Air and Jet America and increased its fleet five-fold. The following section provides an overview of the history of Alaska Airlines. Alaska Airlines History by Decade 1930s The company that ultimately became Alaska Airlines was born in 1932 when Linious Mac McGee painted McGee Airways on the side of a three-passenger Stinson and started flying out of Anchorage. In 1934, McGee merged with Star Air Service, creating the largest airline in Alaska with 22 aircraft. Flying in those days wasn't scheduled. You typically flew when the plane was full, be it passenger, furs or groceries. Finances were tight, but perseverance ruled the day. Business expanded in 37 with the purchase of Alaska Interior Airlines. Late that year, McGee sold Star to a group led by one of his former pilots, Don Goodman, who renamed the carrier Star Air Lines. The 1938 creation of the Civil Aeronautics Authority to regulate airlines signaled the end of the true bush-flying era. 1940s Star Air Lines received most of the routes it wanted from the CAA but was denied the coveted Alaska/Seattle run. That went to Pan American. Star bought three small Alaskan carriers in 1942, changed its name to Alaska Star Airlines and then Alaska Airlines in 1944. The company grew despite a shortage of workers during the war, feuds with the CAB, and cash troubles that had employees paying for fuel out of their own pockets. In the late 40s, charter operations overshadowed scheduled service, and Alaska became the largest charter operator in the world. Using surplus military aircraft, it flew everywhere, carrying food in the Berlin Airlift and refugees to the settlement of Israel. 1950s The airline expanded in 1950 with the purchase of two more small Alaskan carriers. Under CAB mandate, the far-flung charter business of the 40s was ended. But Alaska's dream came true in 51, when it received authority to fly from Anchorage and Fairbanks to Seattle and Portland. The CAB forced what it considered a business-saving change in management a short time later. As a result, Alaska's financial footing was improved, though still tenuous, when Charlie Willis, a decorated World War II pilot, came aboard as chairman and CEO in 57. A born marketer, he ushered in one of the most colorful eras in company history, and brought in-flight movies to the nation's skies for the first time. 1960s While the jet age was just coming to

Organic Compounds - Names and Formulas Starting with C

Organic Compounds - Names and Formulas Starting with C This is a list of organic compound names and formulas with names starting with the letter C. C60 fullerene - C60Cacodylic acid - C2H7AsO2Cacotheline - C21H21N3O7Cadaverine - C5H14N2Cadinene - C15H24Cafestol - C20H28O3Caffeine - C8H10N4O2Calcein - C30H26N2O13Calciferol (Vitamin D)CalcitoninCalmodulinCalreticulinCamphene - C10H16Camphor - C10H16OCannabinol - C21H26O2Caproic Acid - C6H12O2Caprolactam - C6H11NOCaprolactone - C6H10O2Caprylic acid - C8H16O2Capsaicin - C18H27NO3Captan - C9H8Cl3NO2SCaptopril - C9H15NO3SCarbamide (Urea) - CH4N2OCarbazole - C12H9NCarbazol-9-yl-methanol (N-(Hydroxymethyl)carbazole) - C13H11NOCarbinol - CH4OCarbofuran - C12H15NO3CarbohydratesCarbolic acid (Phenol) - C6H6OCarbonate ester functional groupCarbon dioxide - CO2Carbon nanotubeCarbon tetrachloride - CCl4Carbonyl chloride - CCl2OCarbonyl fluoride - COF2Carbonyl functional groupCarboplatin - C6H14N2O4PtCarboxamide functional groupCarboxyl functional groupcarboxylate functional groupcarboxylic acid functional groupCarboxypolymethylene - C3H4O2Carminic acid - C22H20O13Carnitine - C7H15NO3Carotene - C40H56Cartap - C7H16ClN3O2S2Carvacrol - C10H14OCarvone - C10H14OCastor oil - C6H6O2Catechol - C6H6O2Cedrane - C15H26Cedrol - C15H26OCefazolin - C14H14N8O4S3Cefotaxime - C16H17N5O7S2Ceftriaxone - C18H18N8O7S3Cellulose - (C6H10O5)xCellulose acetateCellulose nitrate - C6H7(NO2)3O5Cephalotaxine - C18H21NO4Cetane (Hexadecane) - C16H34Cetrimonium bromide - C19H42BrNCetirizine - C21H25ClN2O3Cetyl alcohol - C16H34OCevane - C27H45NChelidonine - C20H19NO5Chloracetyl chloride - C2H2Cl2OChloral - C2HCl3OChloral hydrate - C2H2Cl3O2Chlorambucil - C14H19Cl2NO2Chloramine-T - C7H7ClNO2SÂ ·Na(3H2O)Chloramphenicol - C11H12Cl2N2O5Chloranilic acid - C6H2Cl2O4Chlordane - C10H6Cl8Chlorhexidine - C22H30Cl2N10Chloroacetic acid - C2H3ClO24-Chloroaniline (p-Chloroaniline) - C6H6ClNChlorobenzene - C6H5Cl2-Chlorobenzoic acid (o-Chlorobenzoic acid) - C7H5ClO2Chlorodifluoromethane - CHClF2Chlorodimethylethane (tert-butyl chloride) - (CH3)3CClChloroethane - C2H5ClChloroethene (Vinyl chloride) - C2H3Cl2-chloroe thenyldichloroarsine (Lewisite) - C2H2AsCl3Chlorofluoromethane - Freon 31 - CH2ClFChloroform - CHCl3Chloroformonitrile - CNClChloro-m-cresol - C7H7ClOChloromethane - CH3ClChloronitroaniline - C6H5ClN2O2Chloropentafluoroethane - C2ClF5Chloroperoxybenzoic acid (mCPBA) - C7H5ClO3Chlorophyll a - C55H72O5N4MgChlorophyll b - C55H70O6N4MgChlorophyll c1 - C35H30O5N4MgChlorophyll c2 - C35H28O5N4MgChlorophyll d - C54H70O6N4MgChloropicrin - CCl3NO2Chloroprene - C4H5ClChloroquine - C18H26ClN3Chlorostyrene - C8H7ClChlorothiazide - C7H6ClN3O4S2Chlorotrifluoromethane - CClF3Chlorotrimethylsilane - C3H9SiClChloroxuron - C15H15ClN2O2Chloroxylenol - C8H9ClOChlorpyrifos - C9H11Cl3NO3PSChlorthiamide - C7H5Cl2NSCholecalciferol (Vitamin D3) - C27H44OCholesterol - C27H46OCholine - C5H14NOChromotropic acid - C10H8O8S2Cilostazol - C20H27N5O2Cinchocaine - C20H29N3O2Cinchonan - C19H22N2Cinchonine - C19H22N2OCinnamaldehyde - C9H8OCinnamic acid - C9H8O2Cinnamyl alcohol - C9H10OCinnoline - C4H4N2Citral - C10H16O Citric acid - C6H8O7Citronellal - C10H18OCitrulline - C6H13N3O3Clobetasone - C22H26ClFO4Clopidol - C7H7Cl2NOCloxacillin - C19H18ClN3O5SCobalamin (Vitamin B12) - C63H88CoN14O14PCocaine - C17H21NO4Cocamidopropyl (CAPB) - C19H38N2O3Colchicine - C22H25NO6Congo red - C32H22N6Na2O6S2Coniine - C8H17NCoomassie blue - C47H50N3O7S2Coronene - C24H12Cortisol - C21H30O5Cortisone - C21H28O5Coumarin - C9H6O2Corynan - C19H26N2Corynoxan - C19H28N2CPPO (Bis(2,4,5-trichlorophenyl-6-carbopentoxyphenyl)oxalate) - C26H24Cl6O8Creatine - C4H9N3O2Cresol - C7H8OCresyl violet - C19H18ClN3OCrinan - C16H19NO2Crotonaldehyde - C4H6O18-Crown-6 - C12H24O6Crystal violet - C24H28N3ClCubane - C8H8Cumene - C9H12Cupferron - C6H9N3O2Curan - C19H26N2Cuscohygrine - C13H24N2OCyanate functional groupCyanic chloride - CNClCyanogen - C2N2Cyanogen chloride - CNClCyanoguanidine - C2H4N4Cyanuric acid - C3H3N3O3cyanuric chloride - C3Cl3N3Cyclobutane - C4H8Cyclodecane - C10H20ÃŽ ±-Cyclodextrin - C36H60O30ÃŽ ²-Cyclodextrin - C42H70O 35ÃŽ ³-Cyclodextrin - C48H80O39ÃŽ ²-Cyclodextrin - C42H70O35Cyclododecane - C12H24Cycloheptatriene - C7H81,3-Cyclohexadiene - C6H81,4-Cyclohexadiene - C6H8Cyclohexane - C6H12Cyclohexanol - C6H12OCyclohexanone - C6H10OCyclohexanone diethyl ketal - C10H20O2Cyclohexene - C6H10Cyclonite - C3H6N6O6Cyclooctatetraene - C8H8Cyclopentadiene - C5H6Cyclopentane - C5H10Cyclopentanol - C5H10OCyclopentanone - C5H8OCyclopentene - C5H8Cyclopropane - C3H6cyclosarin - C7H14FO2Pcyclosarin (ball and stick model) - C7H14FO2PCypermethrin - C22H19Cl2NO3Cysteamine - C2H7NSCysteine - C3H7NO2SCytidine - C9H13N3O5Cystine - C6H12N2O4S2Cytosine - C4H5N3O

Lack of staff training Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Lack of staff training - Essay Example The training and development of staff is predominantly based on the fact that staff skills bear direct relation with the growth of the organization and the requirement to grow the skill is to make the organization grow. Training is regarded as a systematic way of developing knowledge, attitudes and skills of employees to help them perform to the best of their abilities in their respective job roles. The new recruits in organizations have many different skills and may be specialised in a variety of specializations. However, the skills may not be as per the organizational needs and requirements. This is where the need for training and development finds importance in the organizational context. It helps the staff in taking the organization towards its goals and destinations. This project aims to address the issues which might arise due to the lack of staff training in organizations (Olaniyan & Ojo, 2008, p.326). Training, both socially, physically, mentally and intellectually are consid ered to be extremely important for facilitating the productivity of the organization and also for development of the personnel in the organization. ... The organization chosen for the purpose is the Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) which has decided to make investments in the training and development of its staff (WHICH, 2011). The literature review brings forth the supportive and contradicting arguments for the topic. The study also makes a primary research on the topic. This is done by using the method of questionnaire. Finally the data collected is analysed and based on the analysis the project makes suitable recommendations for the same (Olaniyan & Ojo, 2008, p.326). Chapter 1: Literature Review The demand of the marketplace for quality, speed, customization, punctuality, and variety or services and products has been responsible for dramatically changing the landscape for conducting business across the world. Technology usage, the relentless speed with which technology has been changing and upgrading it, skills which the workplaces demand have completely changed the corporate scenario. The increased pressure which has been coming fr om these factors is acting as the driving force behind the constant search for improved and better performance. This is applicable for the smallest and simplest of tasks to the most complex corporate strategies in organizations today. The nature of this dynamic learning and performance of individuals especially at the management levels have been responsible for converting it into a rat race which does not have a finish line. The broader perspective shows that the individual learning and performance acts as the prime factor which keeps organizations ahead or behind their competitors (Kunneman, Key & Sleezer, 2000, p.40). In the year 1998, a study was conducted by the Training Magazine in US reported that organizations in the nation had been

Death And Its Significance Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Death And Its Significance - Essay Example The attribute of death being evil was picked up due to people not being able to justify a person’s death. Some people would have been better off alive than dead according to some people’s interpretation. The idea of death is however ruled out by Fieldman, as he considers dead people not to have any feeling whatsoever lest an opinion (1992).His perception of a dead person thus means that he has become non-existent. Death in Medieval/ Middle Ages In the medieval years, death was viewed as a way of life. Everyone had the concept that that was where they were all headed; that they would eventually die. This shows that people in the middle ages were more proverbial with the term death and what it actually brought. It was more welcome in their lives than feared (Aries, 1974). They were all resigned to their fate, which was to die. This was the eventuality of everyone and everything. People’s experience with death began at birth where in communities like the African one s, new-borns were named after those who had already passed on. They considered it a reincarnation or rebirth of their loved ones who had already passed on. This was probably in a bid to keep their memories alive and the belief that there was life after death. This is how Buddhists view death even up to date. They are at ease with death and just think of it as relocation, where one moves from one place to another or switching houses for a particular convenience. In the ancient times, the thought of death was rather comforting than it is worrying in the days we now live in. It was as if they had a premonition of death and were somewhat prepared for it waiting for the day it come knocking at their door. It was as if they had it all figured out; the surrendering of oneself to death (a better place full of peace and serenity) until it was time to return to this world by being reborn. The middle ages’ people saw death as this obvious and restrained thing la mort apprivoisee; which is a complete opposite of the present times, where death is seen as strange and feared by people. These people also had mourning and burial rituals and traditions that followed a death encounter. This again is in support of how the people in those times were at ease with death and were prepared for the loss that comes with death. Death was a rite of passage in life. Death in Present Times In most recent times, death has become a taboo rarely spoken about and with myths surrounding it. It is still though a mystery but people have become more detached from it due to fear of the ‘evil’ that is mostly accompanied with death (Aries, 1974). Instead of people accepting death as a way of life like in the past ages, they are forced to actually be terrified of death. Death is now met with anxiety as people wonder what will happen to them later. People grief their loved ones and some even go to the extent of mental depression due to the loss of their loved ones. In addition, peopl e have now become attached to their earthly possessions such as pets, and things like power and wealth. These things matter more to human beings so much that the thought of being away from them is too scary to even think about. Instead of the resignation which usually met death in early ages, people panic at the thought of dying, or otherwise losing their loved ones (Aries, 1974). The universally accepted notion that everyone is bound to die has now become completely forgotten such that an estranged person would rather