Project Manager Job Description Essay

Since the Project Manager position is a newly created job within LRH Products, it is necessary to assess and describe the various functions assigned to this role, as well as understanding how the concept of project management works within the company (Mullaly, 2008). The specific duties and functions for the project manager at LRH have been broken down here into three component areas: competencies, leadership, and organizational responsibilities. Competencies  The project manager must have the ability to create and execute project plans and revise them as necessary according to changing requirements as well as identifying the necessary resources and assigning staff to specific tasks. This requires day-to-day assessment of the project’s progress along with quality assurance of completed tasks. Another competency is the ability to create a realistic budget and ensure that the team is staying within these financial constraints. In order to do so, a basic understanding of profit & loss statements as well as forecasting, is required. The ability of the project to stay within budget needs to be communicated to appropriate senior managers on a regular basis, as well as timely updates on progress. Meetings with team members must be scheduled and properly facilitated. Information must be disseminated in an appropriate form/forum, with particular attention paid to problems or possible risks which may occur over the course of the project. More detailed presentations may be required, depending on the directives of senior management. Tangible results expected from each project must be appropriately conveyed in order for a project to be considered successful. Because so much of project management is automated through the use of technology, part of the project manager’s burden is to stay up-to-date on the latest software and hardware which aids in the ability to achieve the goals of the position. As well, the project manager must work closely with the IT department of the organization, which can implement necessary additions and changes to the current system. A basic understanding of LRH Products’ network, system, database, client/server architecture, and application programming is necessary for effective communication with the IT staff members. Leadership The ability to lead a team is of utmost importance when performing the duties of project manager. The team members’ development rests squarely on the shoulders of the manager as well as the duty of being able to implement changes within the group as necessary. This begins with being a positive role model and offering mentoring services to the staff. One of the more difficult aspects of leadership is identifying team members who demonstrate opportunities for improvement and handling suggestions to achieve improvement in a tactful and constructive manner. Members of the team must be motivated and encouraged to perform at their utmost capability. This is achieved through the use of acknowledgement of the contributions from each employee as well as a display of appreciation for their efforts. Conflicts will arise, and it is up to the project manager to handle these swiftly and efficiently. The manager must stay in constant communication with the team. Activities planned outside of the normal day-to-day duties of work should also be part of effectively leading and motivating a team. Organizational Responsibilities Part of managing the team’s human resources involves giving performance evaluations to team members as well as working with each to identify and execute personal goals within the organization. Training, beyond the usual provided by the company, may need to be scheduled to appropriately facilitate development. Team members should be encouraged to undertake their own developmental measures, as well. LRH Products will always experience room for improvement of its current processes and a project manager is expected to make recommendations to achieve this. Of course, the standard policies and procedures must be upheld while ensuring compliance of such by the manager’s team members. Another important aspect of the project manager’s duties is to be innovative in developing and designing new projects which will contribute to the company’s overall success. Each project implemented must be completed in a timely manner and within budget constraints to assure success; the six phases from IT project management guidelines include Planning, Analysis, Design, Construction, Test, and Rollout. The project manager must oversee each phase as well as foreseeing and reacting to any risks and changes which may occur along the way. Staying up-to-date on, and utilizing, current technology is a an important component of this aspect. These three areas of project management: competencies, leadership, and organizational responsibilities, all interact. Successful implementation of each area is vital to achieve success in this position.

Compare Essays Baldwin & Emerson

The focal point of this paper is to compare and contrast the essays, James Baldwins’ In Search of a Majority: An Address and Ralph Waldo Emerson’s Race. Both the writers investigate into the aspects of race and communities and reveal their faith in accordance to their argument. James Baldwin states that to understand and evaluate the aspects of racial differences it is important to understand the true nature of minorities and majorities in a given state or nation.He believes that once the majorities of a country or region is identified it would be logical to understand the reason behind the social strata of the majority. In other words, James Baldwin indicates, according to his thesis or discussion, that â€Å"the only useful definition of the word â€Å"majority† does not refer to numbers, and it does not refer to power. It refers to influence. † (Baldwins, 2006) On the other hand, Emerson believes that race is the fundamental influence and ingredient of success. For his argument, he has constructed his text and taken the English as a model of most influential race.According to his belief the English people are the most dominant and influential race and to prove that he states, â€Å"How came such men as King Alfred, and Roger Bacon, William of Wykeham, Walter Raleigh, Philip Sidney, Isaac Newton, William Shakspeare, George Chapman, Francis Bacon, George Herbert, Henry Vane, to exist here? What made these delicate natures? was it the air? was it the sea? was it the parentage? †. (Emerson, 2006) Thus, Emerson tries to prove that race is the inbuilt and fundamental aspect of success.Thus, both these essays can well be related to each other in the sense that both the writers are trying to find out the fundaments of racism and the dominant features of a social stratum. However, both the writers are looking at the same elements of sociological confluence but from the opposite directions. While, Baldwin feels that the most powerful group of people are those who are the most influential in a given society Emerson feels that the most influential human group in a given society are the one who are the most racially powerful and distinct.Emerson’s claims of dominance of the Englishman starts with their ancestral background of the Germanic origins during the roman era and whom the Romans too found very difficult to handle and impossible to dominate. Then he imposes historical data like the details of the British Empire and the demographic supremacy of the empire at its zenith. To prove his point he indicates, â€Å"It is race, is it not? that puts the hundred millions of India under the dominion of a remote island in the north of Europe.† (Emerson, 2006) On the other hand, Baldwin looks into the matter of arguments in a more contemporary sense. He indicates that there is only a sense of paranoia in the context of xenophobia in modern US. He indicates that, as the population of the Negro community is l ess influential in US society it is obvious that â€Å"It is only too clear that even with the most malevolent will in the world Negroes can never manage to achieve one-tenth of the harm which we fear. † (Baldwins, 2006)If the two arguments are compared in this context we would find that Baldwin’s arguments are induced by a sense of humane appeal and he suggests that all human races have the chance to be powerful and influential at a given condition and thus he suggests that every human race has a fair chance to dominate at a given point of time and at a given point of space. On the other hand, Emerson’s arguments are more fundamentalist in nature and at times it appears that his only intention of writing is to prove English superiority as a race.He tends to forget the entire human history and just focus on the last two hundred years where the English dominated most of the world population. Nevertheless, such conditions came and went for most of the races of the world. There were the Egyptians and Mesopotamians. The Greeks and the Persians were at a high. The Romans, Huns, Mongols and French all had their days in the sun. So, what makes the English better than the rest?The author fails to answer this and chooses to keep these questions out of his text. However, if we take the two arguments together we would find an interesting observation that we could not by approaching them each individually. If that is done we would find that there are some specific notions of success for a race and if the situation and surroundings are in complete alignment with each other there are possibilities that any race can become the dominant race of the world, at least for a period.This is the fundamental revelation of these two arguments that has not been mentioned once in these texts. References: Baldwins, James; (2006); In Search of a Majority: An Address Emerson, Ralph Waldo; (2006); Race; The Complete Works Of Ralph Waldo Emerson; www. davemckay. co. uk; Retrieved on 07. 04. 2008 from http://www. davemckay. co. uk/philosophy/emerson/emerson. php? name=emerson. 05. english. 04

Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing Dissertation

Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing - Dissertation Example Leadership Styles in Professional Nursing The literature suggests that there are many traits that go into forming an effective leader. As an example, Boumans and Landerweerd (1993) suggest that leaders must have "clinical knowledge, people orientation, communication skills, reality orientation, the ability to identify problems and to delegate responsibility" (p. 768). These skills were stated to be those that made a positive impact on the nurses that were supervised. Most leadership styles have their base in social leadership if the nurse is effective. Boumans and Landerweerd found in their study that when social leadership was presented, the nurses under their leadership felt that their job had meaning and they felt increased job satisfaction. Also, the social leadership style promotes more positive health and well being than a style that is more dictatorial or direct. Sellgren, Ekvall, and Tomson (2006) state that nursing leadership styles are more involved with the characteristics that leaders have rather than having a sp ecific style. There are preferred traits that are more important as well. In their style, communication was the highest ranking trait that a leader ship exhibit. This goes along with what Boumans and Landerweerd found. Therefore, communication is one of the most important aspects of a nurse's leadership style. There should also be a way to communicate the leader's needs in specific ways that are understandable to their subordinates. This will bring about a happier group of nurses on the ward. (Sellgren, Ekvall, and Tomson, 2006). Kenmore (2008) found that the styles that most nurses used were either affiliative or coaching. Affiliative leaders work well when everything is running smoothly and when staff is highly motivated. The afffiliative style creates harmony and the style also works well when teams need to be healed or when staff needs motivating. When a leader has a more coaching orientation to leadership, they are more interested in improving staff's professional development

The American Holocaust Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

The American Holocaust - Essay Example To name a few of them – King Phillip’s War, (1675–76) King William’s War, (1689–97) Queen Anne’s War, (1702–13) King George’s War, 1744–48), and the French and Indian War (1754–63) (John Demos, American Heritage Magazine) All these wars took a heavy toll on England in terms of money, time and bloodshed. Some of the targeted places were Lancaster and Haverhill, Salmon Falls and Oyster River, York and Wells, Maine, in addition to the single most hideous and notorious â€Å"massacre† of Deerfield, Massachusetts. (John Demos, American Heritage Magazine) This was yet another European war which had a â€Å"colonial† dimension that occurred in 1704. Together with their Indian allies, the French made a few devastating raids on the â€Å"eastern frontier† and this was counter attacked by the English who targeted about six Abenaki Indian villages. Deerfield had strengthened its position to protect itself by building a â€Å"stockade† (an area which was fortified and surrounded by a high palisade fence) a â€Å"watch† to patrol along the streets during the nights, a â€Å"garrison† of soldiers who were hired in addition to scouts who patrolled the woods. The French led the attack with war paint and weapons on the sleepy town of Deerfield on the night of 28th February. A group of the attackers get down into the stockade and opened the door for the other to enter. It was too late for anything because the attackers broke down windows and doors sending people helter and skelter to try and save themselves. In a few moments there was massive devastation and gruesome killings of men, women and children. Rev. John Williams and his family were captured and taken as captives. There were 92 captives in all and those who found it difficult to cope were shot down or murdered with a hatchet. Life in New England took on a different perspective as relatives and friends made great efforts to secure their release. A few of them

Cochlear implants history and its impact on deaf and hard of hearing Research Paper

Cochlear implants history and its impact on deaf and hard of hearing - Research Paper Example A cochlear implant consists of internal and external parts that act to facilitate sound perception. The external portion has a microphone, a speech processor and a sound transmitter. The microphone role is to pick up external sound, playing similar role like a hearing aid. It sends it directly to the speech processor that does analyze and digitalize the signals, sending them to the transmitter. The transmitter is worn by the victims just behind the ear, and sends the coded signals to the receivers implanted in the skin. Some electrodes are implanted in the cochlea through a surgical process. Such electrodes do stimulate the auditory nerves fibers arraying the sensations to the sounds (Clark, 2008, P 657 C 2 L 1-15). There are various centers in the country that does carry out the implantation process. There are multidisciplinary team involvement and multi-sectorial approach. The teams comprise of a surgeon, nurses, psychologists, language pathologist, and audiologist. Such a team does work hand in hand with the relatives of the client for the sake of health education and follow up. Not every person with a hearing deficit does qualify for an implant. For adults, one must be having profound hearing loss, does not benefit from hearing aids and with no chronic conditions that may put the surgical procedure at risk. In addition to that, the person should have a strong ambition to be a part of those who hear, listen and speech read. Of the critical factors, they should have lost their hearing ability shortly after the speech and language development duration. Children should be actively involved in the rehabilitation process after surgery to enhance coping mechanism. They should also receive immense educational support from the institutions where they do study so that they can have a chance to develop their auditory skills (Kermit, 2009, P 378 C 2 L 7-14). The process of implantation involves a multidisciplinary approach. A series of investigations have to be

How Biologists Are Impacted and Responding to Alcohol-Induced Research Paper

How Biologists Are Impacted and Responding to Alcohol-Induced Interpersonal Violence Globally - Research Paper Example The dependence of alcohol causes problems in social state of its victim and results to abnormal occurrences and acts such as domestic violence, loss, or lowering of productivity in place of work as well as causing traffic accident leading to injuries are also the consequences of alcohol misuse. The misuse also results to chronic organ disorders of the victimized individual (French, 1991, 57-63). According to the Room, et al. (2005) excessive use of alcohol is rated third position of the causes leading to preventable deaths in the US. Its abuse causes the large burdens in the cohesion of communities, health of populations and the provision of the basic public services including criminal justice and health care. Alcohol misuse is responsible of 4% a year on the lost health through disability or premature deaths. The report also indicates that, for every resulted death due to the interpersonal violence, many of the victims require treatment from hospital while many other victims remain undisclosed (Nutt et al., 1988, pp 283-313). This is because the victimized persons are recorded neither by the criminal justice agencies, nor in the health centers. Alcohol and interpersonal violence are strongly linked although the consumption depends on the pattern of drinking between countries, and across all cultures. There are many cases documented which justifies various impacts of impacts on the harmful consumption of alcohol by recording the victims of violence as a result. According to Goldberg et al. (2003)the Australia recorded 26% male victims and 17% female victims between year 2002 and 2003. As evidenced on the report, the victims were said to have been drinking alcohol prior to their death. On another case, Netherlands had documented 36% of the victims presented to the trauma department between the years 1970 to 1998. It was then learnt that the victims had consumed alcohol. The percentage of the victims of violent injuries presented to the emergency rooms in USA, Ca nada, Argentina, Mexico, Spain, and Australia tested positive for alcohol depending on the country. For example, in Argentina, only 24% of those tested turned positive whilst Australia had 43%. In every country, abuse of alcohol and its related interpersonal violence has so far affected too many consequences including affecting the health and the well-being of the relationship between the friends and family, fear levels within the communities, and also the pressure to the public service. Harmful use of alcohol is said to be the method of portraying violent experiences where the victims become prone to problematic habits of drinking even in future life. Other long-term effect of victim’s health includes the posttraumatic stress disorder or even committing suicide. Researchers in developed countries have noticed that, the consumption of alcohol by both the violence perpetrators and victims can increase the severity of injuries (Thurman & LemasterS, 1984, pp. 103–117). In this, alcohol may play a major role in determining the survival of the victims after serious assaults. For example, by either reducing the victims’ perception of the seriousness of the injury or reducing their ability of seeking the medical help (Room et al., 2003). Alcohol abuse also causes many other social

Discuss the Impact of the Recession on Consumer Behavior and on Essay

Discuss the Impact of the Recession on Consumer Behavior and on Marketers - Essay Example At the same time, marketers are resorting to new promotional campaigns in order to remain competitive and gain consumer attention in the face of this current economic downturn. Food and technology Statistics indicate that six in 10 consumers have reduced the volume of frequency as it pertains to eating-out in restaurant environments (Bainbridge 2010). As a result, especially noticeable in the pizza restaurant industry, marketers have changed their promotional activities to include vouchers with significant pricing discounts (Bainbridge). Where once major companies in this industry, such as Pizza Hut, used psychographic segmentation and targeting to gain attention and loyalty, they are finding it more difficult to compete especially when their products carry high price tags over competition. Companies like Pizza Hut once had well-established consumer segments that were devoted to the brand and were able to use rather low-cost marketing and higher price methodology to ensure positionin g in terms of quality. Today, however, the recession has created price wars that continue to erode profitability especially with more consumers eating within the home and avoiding the high costs of restaurant eating. This is also noticeable in the fast food industry with new promotions being added to traditional menus, such as McDonald’s with its dollar menu variety. However, this marketing effort is not bring the type of profit results marketers had once experienced early in the recession. Today, new freebie offers and Internet-based incentives coupons are becoming the norm for many consumer segments (Glazer 2009). This shows a shift in consumer behaviour toward active searching in the consumer search process to identify coupons before they will frequent even their favourite restaurants. There is clearly a value-driven methodology in consumer groups that change their buying behaviours and choices. This is even apparent in how grocery stores market their food products, with t he new value-based consumer searching for low-cost products. Statistics indicate that 53 percent of today’s recession-minded consumers are buying fewer organic products and 50 percent are even turning toward generic or private label brands (Frozen Food Age 2008). Organic products and well-known product brands used to be the driver for significant profitability in the grocery industry, however the recession is changing the supply chain to identify new value for consumers in order to sustain their business. Morrisons, one of the largest grocers in the UK, has control over much of its supply chain and is therefore able to ride out the recession successfully by using new promotional tactics. The store is able to provide fresh food options at a much cheaper price than competition and uses this fresh quality positioning to sustain higher profitability than other markets without control over their purchasing system (Mortimer 2009). However, it shows that the consumer propensity to c hange from their loyal and trusted brands to generic and private label brands and how it has affected total marketing and purchasing/distribution strategies. The grocery industry has identified that 44 percent of shoppers now consider private label products to be on par or even better than long-standing trusted brands (just-style.com 2009). This is a danger to

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity Cultural differences and Essay

Ethnocentrism and Cultural Relativity Cultural differences and UniversalsSubcultures and countercultures - Essay Example By analyzing the major concerns of cultural interpretation through linguistics and the essential motivations for the British efforts, the colonial effort in India is shown to represent a universal impulse of the state that continues to exist in the contemporary world. The history of the British in India dates back to the efforts of the English East India Trading Company to establish British economic interests in India in 1612. India operated merely as an economic trade-port until the Battle of Plassey in 1757. Considered a pivotal point in the colonization of South Asia, the battle occurred during the Seven Years War and pitted the English East India Trading Company against their French counterpart. The British victory resulted in the emergence of government authority in India and included an abundance of wealth from the Bengal Empire that flowed into Britain. The infusion of wealth helped British colonial efforts that expanded throughout the area for the next 200 years and established the British as the predominant colonial power of the 19th century. Chamberlain (1974) makes the point that -- although theorists make direct causal connections between the British and their impulses in India -- it's absurd to assume that over the 200 years of colon ial expansion the British motivations remained static. Over the 200 year period the British passed from Tudor rule to Victorian, and as such British motivations need to be understood in relation to an ever-changing Empire. ECONOMICS The exact terms of the relationship between the British and the Indians seemed to remain highly ambivalent throughout the period of British occupation. One strand of thought on British control of India was that the Indian people were so uncivilized that if the British ceased occupation than the Indian economy would fall into shambles due to lawlessness; whereas, a strong contingent of Indians believed that British ethnocentrism was such that they merely used India as an economic means for British gain, resulting in a highly distorted economy that oppressed the Indian population. Conversely, it's argued that the British economy was equally distorted by relying too heavily on Indian production. During their occupation of India, the British used a sense of cultural superiority to consistently avoid laws that would positively benefit Indian society. Speaking on the effects of this British ethnocentrism, Henry Verelst, former governor of Bengal, wrote: It appeared that an exemption from duties had thrown the whole trade of the country into the hands of the English. This, however, was the least evil. The country government was destroyed by the violence of their agents; and individual tyranny succeeded to national arrangement. In the general confusion, all, who were disposed to plunder, assumed the authority of our name, usurped the sears of justice, carried on what they called a trade, by violence and oppression. (Chamberlain, p. 20, 1974) While Indians seemed to favor the laws and structure the British government offered, they believed that the British presence in India operated as a means of exploiting their culture for profit. While a large amount of Colonial literature attempted to paint the British efforts as liberating, it's notable that from the onset British interests in India were directly related and expanded on economic means. A similar comparison can be made to Western efforts to bring a 'civilizing impulse' to Afghanistan and

Disaster management (Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment) Essay

Disaster management (Vulnerability and Capacity Assessment) - Essay Example As the urban areas increase in size, the likelihood of occurrence of damage and a level of exposure in buildings and infrastructure increase. Such that even the occurrence of a low intensity event often results in devastating damages up to the national level, especially when they occur close to urban centres. Thus it is understood that beyond the magnitude of their impact, it is the inability of the system to respond appropriately which complicates the problem. The issues faced while undertaking relief and rescue operations for the aforementioned situations owing to regional bottlenecks are the other set of factors that need to be understood for better disaster preparedness. One answer might be techniques like Vulnerability and Capacity Analysis (VCA). The VCA is used for identification and quantification of vulnerability, while also measuring the regional capabilities. As a result of the VCA, the programme has been widely accepted to ensure that risks to vulnerable people are reduced. However, despite of its growing use, it is still not factored systematically into development project planning processes resulting a feeling of ambiguousness toward the system and limitation of its use. In this paper, the main conceptual and practical challenges in carrying out Vulnerabilities and Capacities Assessment and Analysis (VCA) are identified and corresponding solutions are suggested to overcome those challenges. Among the various methods often adopted for undertaking the VCA process, the participatory methods have had considerable success when compared to other means of identifying the exact factors involved in most issues. Figure 1 shows a range of participatory research methods that involve the mixture of well-known social science methods and other visualized methods. When disaster strikes a region, the impact of these events is borne by the entire population and hence, the vulnerability within entire cross section of the