Project Portfolio Management Essays (Examples)

Project Management: Discussion Questions

Project portfolio management is designed as a way to minimize the 'ad hoc' nature of the way in which most portfolios are constructed. "As its name implies, project portfolio management groups projects so they can be managed as a portfolio, much as an investor would manage his stocks, bonds and mutual funds….the obvious benefit of project portfolio management is that it gives executives a bird's-eye view of projects so they can spot redundancies, spread resources appropriately and keep close tabs on progress….[Also] discussions aren't just about how much a project will cost, but also about its anticipated risks and returns in relation to other projects. This way, entire portfolios can be jiggered to produce the highest returns based on current conditions" (Solomon 2002). While my organization does use project portfolio management to engage in more effective scheduling and use of material resources, it does not sufficiently…

Portfolio Management

The objective of Part A of this study is to analyze the key best practices that the organization can adopt to improve its project management maturity level and to examine and describe the key elements of change management, which could be used during an initiative to raise the project maturity level of an organization. OPM3 has specific benefits to the organization in that it makes provision of a method to advance the strategic goals of the organization using project management principles and practices. The Best Practices and Capabilities in the OPM3 Standards are reported to be "mapped to two key factors: (1) domain; and (2) stage. ( p.19) Domain is reported to refer to "the three domains of the project" which include: (1) project; (2) program; and (3) portfolio management. (Project Management Institute, Inc., 2003, p. 19) Stage is reported to refer to "the stages of process improvement."…

Portfolio Management

The current business trends in the airlines industry have the Delta Air Lines Inc. In dire need to exploit on its opportunities while minimizing on its threats and weaknesses. Thus, after various consultations, it is essential to establish a comprehensive strategic business unit (SBU) to propel the company to the top of the industry. The portfolio of the company allows it to venture into various activities that will enhance the productivity of the company while favoring the shareholders and other stakeholders in the company. In line with its vision and mission, the airline is at liberty to strategize in various ways, improving its current services, re-inventing the existing services, or executing a new business strategy. Therefore, the strategic business unit I propose is a new unit to propel the company to the top of its operations.

The industry and aspects of the environment of that industry

The airlines…

Portfolio Management

In the project portfolio management context, a portfolio is an aggregation of active programs, projects and other business activities that indicate an organization's priorities, investments and allocation of resource (The standard for portfolio management, 2008). According to the editors of PM Network, "Portfolio management is the centralized management of one or more of those portfolios to achieve specific strategic business objectives" (2008, p. 75). Using project portfolio management techniques, organizational decision-makers are able to identify, group, assess, select, prioritize, authorize, terminate and conduct ongoing reviews of different elements of the portfolio to make sure they are aligned with the organization's current and future strategies (The standard for portfolio management, 2008). In this way, organizational resources are optimized (The standard for portfolio management, 2008). It is important to note that project portfolios involve and affect every part of organizations, including functions such as marketing, finance, corporate communications and human…

Project Management

In Discussions week, project portfolio management selecting projects. Explain meaning statement. The books suppose additional resources: Kerzner, H. (2010) Project management practices: achieving global excellence.

"Project portfolio management is more than selecting projects"

Managing a project portfolio can be analogized to managing an investment portfolio. While the selection of the component entities of the portfolio are certainly important, it is not enough to merely select good investments -- these 'investments' or projects must be managed. "By optimizing, balancing and continually fine-tuning their portfolios, active investors try to maximize short- and long-term returns and reduce overall risk, thereby achieving larger financial and/or business objectives" (Hays 2011). Similarly, the managers of the project "can identify, evaluate and rank investment opportunities. They can direct resources to the highest-payback projects and cull marginal ones. They can target expenditures more effectively to the most worthwhile initiatives and optimize their performance and execution" (Hays…

The John Deere Health Pan was conceived of to provide quality health care at reasonable costs for its many employees, and also for its non-employees in Deere and Company in the states of Illinois and Iowa and Tennessee and Virginia. (McCollum, John Deere Health cultivates successful IT Project Management)

What Michael McCollum felt was that his IT department was like the IT Department at many other corporations, with many more projects than appropriate resources for them, and no practical and effective method with which to prioritize them, and to make a definitive analysis of which project would have a greater impact on the company, and which the least. In the same way, the organization lacked the means by which a particular project could be assigned with appropriate resources to the appropriate person, and more often than not, priority was decided on the requestor's persistent efforts, or on his management skills…

management has to do with the knowledge of the resources a company uses in running their daily affairs. It also involves effective projection of additional resources that could be needed along the way, and the maximization of the available resources. Maximizing the efficiency of the available resources and the ability to put some of them in reserve are part of Cost Management. Some scholars define cost management as the of cost setting up systems of accounting and models for the provision of guidance in relation to current and future operations in order to achieve specified objectives. They also believe that analyzing and interpreting cost information is vital and aids the processes of decision making. Basically, between a client and a contractor, cost management refers to the final cost of a construction project (Dubois, 2003).

The major reason for the analysis of cost management is to find a more effective final…

Astra Zeneca

Project Proposal to Streamline Operational Processes

The pharmaceutical industry in general is undergoing extreme amounts of external pressures. Not only has the economic environment since the global recession been less than ideal, but there are increasing regulatory pressures and healthcare reforms that are also expected to dramatically change the environment in which AstraZeneca operates. It is in this environment that the organization must streamline its operations so that it can be more lean and flexible when adapting to the new landscape that will emerge in the near future.

This project proposal outlines a project portfolio management program that can be implemented to ensure the organization can eliminate any unneeded waste in its operations. This portfolio will be implemented across many divisions and will require a schedule of one year. Each division will have an individual project that is tailored to a scope that suites there individual department's needs.…

Project Management/Essentials of Project Management

Nearly all businesses require project management. Having held a position as project manager with a reputable company, I have come to learn that the effective project manager is one who comprehends and is aware of the need to provide sound leadership to help deliver projects within the set budget and on time.

Being an Effective Project Manager

While working in a software company, I noticed that an effective manager must know and understand the 'iron triangle' of project management. This approach is also at times referred to as the 'triple constraints' of project management. An effective project manager is capable of taking advantage of all opportunities that present themselves during the course of the project to ensure development of team synergy (Project Smart, 2015).

This is to say that the effective project managers establish a network that is supportive of all people involved. They start…

Project Management and the Transformation System

In this research paper, the author discussed he concept of project management employing in a construction firm. The author described briefly, the mission of construction organization, i.e. its product and services, intended markets, and how the product or service is distinct from those offered by competitors. The author also analyzed the scope of integration of project management concepts such as; Project Planning, Portfolio, Life Cycle, Team Management, Scheduling and Controlling the Project. Firms can benefit by integrating project management concepts to overcome the issues like team management, planning and managing. A project is considered winning if it completes on time, goes on to follows a pre-set schedule, remain within the provided budget, and finally its customers are pleased. For successful completion and for the satisfaction of costumers, it should have a specific time frame and must achieve the prior set targets by deploying resources…

Project schedule and risk management are some of the most important components of project management. These components play a crucial role in project planning, which is a process used to organize various areas of a project such as workloads and management of the project team. Project schedule basically refers to a listing of the activities or tasks, milestones, and deliverables of a project that includes the expected start and finish dates ("Project Scheduling," n.d.). isk management is a process through which a project manager and team predicts risks, estimates impacts of these risks on the project, and describe reactions to these issues. This process usually involves the preparation of a risk management plan or outline in order to accomplish these goals.

Definition of What Needs to be Done:

One of the most important aspects to consider when developing a project schedule is all the work that needs to be completed.…

The use of Gantt charts for enabling interprocess integration and knowledge management in the A&D industry is a best practice for also managing process-intensive projects (Singh, Keil, Kasi, 2009). These include the development of new computer systems and advanced technologies where the project needs to capture the knowledge to fulfill its objectives. Project management's core set of tools therefore needs to be focused on how to augment and strengthen project performance while also capturing process and product knowledge critical to its success (Besner, Hobbs, 2006). The combining of Gantt charts, progress reports, change requests and the use of kick-off meetings to set objectives is critical in this regard.

ecommendations to Project Managers Using the Product Launch Activity Plan

The pro-forma Product Launch Activity Plan shown in Table 1 of the Appendix is designed to provide project managers with a framework to define a Gantt chart to manage the new product…

Project Management

A project is defined as a temporary endeavor, usually where a group of people and resources brought together to tackle a specific problem. Project management is necessary in order to ensure that the problem is solved, on time and on budget. Project management is often very task oriented, in particular placing emphasis on how to move through the different stages of the project in order to bring it to fruition. A given project will have a number of specific, finite objectives and a defined time frame. Success for the project will typically reflect whether or not the project's objectives, including that relating to the time frame, where met, which would define a successful project. If they were not met, then perhaps the project would be deemed unsuccessful (Githens, 2011). Where a project manager deals with conflict, it is usually interpersonal conflict or communication issues between members of the…

Project Management

Balanced scorecard

This is a strategic planning and management system that is widely used in the industrial sector, the nonprofit organizations, in the business world and even the government in order to put the activities of the business to the strategy and the vision of the business. It is used to check whether the management and their visions and decisions are in line with the goals of the organizations and whether these visions are implemented by the employees. The balanced scorecard helps in improving the external as well as the internal communications of the organization. This also helps in monitoring the performance of the organization against the strategic goals that the organization set. The balanced scorecard also helps in increase in quality of service in the service oriented organizations and observance of procedure. These set procedures under the balanced scorecard will ensure the reduction of blame games within…

Program Management

Projects Compared - Belbin analysis

In order to find a way through which the success of teams could be predicted Dr. Meredith Belbin, a management psychologists, worked in collaboration with Henley Management College in the early 1970s. Business simulations were used in running some experiments for the research by Dr. Meredith Belbin. Participants were divided according to different psychological types such as if they are introvert or extrovert etc. It was his hope to find a team mix that is perfect. In 5 years' times he was able to establish the fact that in particular types of projects specific clusters or patterns can be made use of in order to predict the success of a team (Bennett, 2001). There is often a preference found in the minds of the individuals regarding these clusters. It was also established by him that it can never happen that one team can…

Project Management: Case Study in Managing a Complex Shipyard Project in Singapore

Background of Complex Shipyard Construction Project

Company background

Project Overview and Objective

ork Process of Building Construction

Issue Analysis in Shipyard Construction Project Management

Literature Review of Project Management

Issues in Scope Management

Methodology of Scope Management

Lessons Learned from Scope Management

Issues in Cost Management

Methodology of Cost Management

Lessons Learned from Cost Management

Issues in Human Resources

Methodology of HR Management

Lessons Learned from Human Resource Management

Case Study in Managing a Complex Shipyard Construction Project in Singapore

Introduction.

This paper introduces the special features of a completed shipyard project, together with its construction and human resource management processes as well. The organization of the paper provides an introduction to the topic, an overview and background of the In the first part, this project illustrates overview of the complex background of a complex ship-building project as…

In my opinion, this is one of the most important and difficult phases of the process and UMT has developed an unique tool, a tool which represented a significant part of its success on the market. Selecting the projects is not only an economics activity where a company is limited by a set of constraints and it needs to work out which projects it should best work on within these limitations. It is also a matter of choosing the projects that best maximise the company's value by having the greatest impact on the company's strategic drivers. The scope is thus two-fold: first of all identifying a set of strategic drivers for the company and, second of all, choosing, in conditions of economic constraints, the projects which have greatest impact on these drivers.

The UMT Portfolio Optimizer has been developed using algorithms that the three partners have developed in the 90s…

MS Project

Microsoft Project Review

Microsoft began development of its project software at the turn of the century (around the year 2000). The original software package ran from MS Dos and had incredibly limited functionality. However, since its introduction, Microsoft Project has come a long way from its original state. Today's versions of MS Project, such as Project 2010, Project 2013, and now even cloud-based Project versions has a rich list of features that are intuitive to most users because are already familiar with the interface. The interface and general GUI feel has the same features and layouts that can be found in the popular MS Office suite.

One of the most interesting features in the newer versions of Project is that users can upload and make changes via a cloud-based project server. This allows users to make changes to items in the scope, schedule, budget, activity durations or any…

For example, client X required a dashboard where each of the projects' variables would have been automatically calculated and a red-yellow-green would have been awarded to each of the project, in order to determine the project's status at a certain moment of time. Another client using the same product required that the red-yellow-green grades should be noted manually, with comments and motivations in each case. As such, for a product that basically had the same functionality, two slightly different versions needed to be created.

Assistance for implementation refers to all operations required for the client to be able to start using the UMT application. In many cases, the client purchases not one, but several tens of licenses, for all its employees. Implementation first requires the instalment on the server and, subsequently, installing the application on each of the individual computers. The server and network manager needs to fully understand all…

Obstacles in the Governance of Organizations: Responsibility Delineation

Governance and Management

The concepts of governance and management found in the field of management opens up to the way organizations run. The two concepts explain the running of corporations and establishing contacts with all the necessary fields needed. In most cases, people have utilized either of the two techniques depending on the target result. The role of management delves to establish links with the needed within its scope of control. The two terminologies differ on how to bring the understanding of leadership in every organization. A mention of the term governance resonate the aspects of structures and processes. On the other hand, management relents to the creation of structures and processes that governance seeks to protect and maintain. To effect changes in leadership ranks, one has to witness the better part of the program with dealing with them. As part of…

A Project Support Office (PSO) is different from a project management office. A PSO can be understood as a provisional, or long-lasting organizational unit that provides a range of services to provide support to project teams that are accountable for a defined group of projects (Wysocki, 2011). There are three kinds of PSOs. For starters, there is the directive PSO where project managers are administratively linked to the PSO and are allocated to projects from the PSO. In general, this structure is earmarked for enterprise-wide projects. Second, there is controlling PSO and in this kind, the components, templates, and procedures are all provided by the PSO and all project managers, irrespective of their resident department are expected to utilize them. Lastly, there is the supportive PSO that provides any kind of assistance and specialty the project manager or members of the team might require when requested (Wysocki, 2011; Pemsel and…

teaching profession in order to help students achieve various things.

Goals for students are for example assessed in terms of problem solving, critical thinking, lifelong learning, and thinking independently. Further goals may include personal traits such as persistence, flexibility, motivation, and self-confidence. Portfolios are also helpful to reveal the work processes of students. Teachers can then help students to develop processes through which to monitoring their own learning, and be able to perceive when there is a need to adjust.

Portfolio assessment is also valuable to the teacher in communicating value to the students. Classroom values are those things that are important to the teacher, and the teacher should communicate this adequately to the students. Through portfolio assessment then, both teachers and students receive information from each other about the situation in class and about what can realistically be expected.

Assessment should be integrated with instructions to reflect current instruction…

This focus on the key success steps associated with a project is an effective way to concentrate on the most critical problems, rather than focus on every possible potential problem. In addition, while some would say that it is better to prepare for the worst and think of every possible problem, this in itself can be a waste of resources and can reduce the amount of focus on the most important potential problems.

The next important issue is how to manage identified risk. This process is one that requires careful balance. Most importantly, the resources put into a project need to be balanced effectively. For example, consider a project where a potential major risk is identified, but it only has a 1% chance of occurring. Is it beneficial to invest a large amount of resources to reduce the impact of this risk? In most cases, the answer will be no.…

Project Management

Although desirable, it is quite difficult to start with a dictionary definition of project management, mainly because of the complexity involved in the process, a complexity impossible to cover with a simple two-line definition. Hence, it is probably best to describe the process, underlining thus the main characteristics of project management.

A company's strategic perspective may, perhaps, be amply resumed to two strategic concepts around which everything else revolves: objectives and projects. Any company will start building its analysis around a series of drivers and objectives that the company may have for the next few years. These objectives need to be only a couple, because we may assume that if the company had 15 objectives for the next years, its resources will be too split and it will not be bale to fulfill any of them efficiently.

Once the company has defined its list of goals, it needs…

The performance of each team member depends on the performance of all others, this being a team project. Constraints include time and financial resources; as such improvement requires permanent improvement effort.

isk Management. No risk has been identified related to the project's completion.

Monitoring and Controlling Mechanisms. The data analysts will develop a metric system to measure each member's performance on a weekly basis. This weekly performance will be submitted to the project manager for potential adjustments.

V. Operations management plan

Operations Strategy. An easy way to understand the meaning of operations strategy is to break the word into the two separate words: operations and strategy - these words being the opposite of each other (Slack & Lewis, 2002). 'Operations' is about the functions and procedures regarding the day-to-day processes, while 'strategy' is about the direction and scope of an organisation over a long period of time. The operations strategy…

Usually, this may happen when the client changes some of his initial requirements and part of the modules need to be changed. In these cases, the resource allocation mechanism is a fundamental instrument of the organizing function.

The directing and control functions of management somehow are connected when it comes to project management. The reason for this is that the directing function provides the necessary supervision for the tasks to be performed, while the control functions ensures the necessary feedback system, which evaluates the performance results and feeds this back into the directing phase for changes.

In the software industry, the directing and control functions of project management are not only operated from within the organization, but also in relation with the clients, who are usually the entities that provide the best feedback as to the capacity of the application to match exactly their requirements. While the quality assurance and…

The World ank model centers on a five-person team called the Performance Advisory Service or PAS (Yandrick 1995). PAS trains supervisors to analyze work performance and personality problems. The supervisor first determines if a skill deficiency is involved or there are personal and environmental factors. He does this by reviewing the employee's records in search of troubled behavioral patterns; consulting with work team leaders, colleagues and support staff in investigating possible problems within the organization; and/or directly exploring the employee's work performance and conduct.

In the last option, the supervisor may ask or remind the employee about the consequence of poor performance; if he or she is being rewarded for poor or nonperformance; if performance matters to him or her; if there are health or stress factors conducing to his or her poor or low-level performance; or if there are external stimuli behind it. Armed now with the different angles…

Managing Innovation

Innovation in its simplest form can be termed as something new or newly introduced into the market. Innovation in the business field is quite necessary since it forms the backbone of a company's growth and that of the economy as a whole. Innovation is the success of every business and must be managed effectively and efficiently (Limerick, 2002).

The ever changing technology and instant global communication have made it easier for companies to find answers to some problems they encounter and more so come up with innovations to improve on the current ones. Companies are also faced with pressures arising from global competition and by this; most of them are seeking the need to manage their innovations. Companies are nowadays attracting and managing innovations by having rewards or prizes for individuals within the company who manages to come up with brilliant and innovative concepts. This will give the…

In October 2005, EXXON had to pay a $8.7 million civil penalty, while at the same time spending $9.7 million on community environmental projects. In my opinion, these are unnecessary costs that can be eliminated in the future with an adequate financing for research and development in environmental protection and pollution reduction.

The marketing segment also needs an increased attention in 2006. For example, on the gasoline market, EXXON brands such as Mobil or Esso are already well-known throughout the world. Nevertheless, the specificity of the industry brings about the necessity to constantly promote these brands. How is an Esso gas station different from a Shell or Texaco one? EXXON needs to think out marketing campaigns deemed to bring out the main competitive advantages over other companies on the market: excellent service, better quality gasoline (going hand in hand with the spending in research and development in this segment, previously…

Mapping technologies ensures that all technologies in the call center are geared towards achieving a specific goal. Having identified the needs of the call center, mapping the required technologies ensures that mechanisms are in place to meet these needs.

Using technology road mapping, the call center is able to plan and coordinate any technological developments. This way any technology developments will have a specific purpose, and unnecessary developments can be avoided. This will save the call center revenue as only required technologies will be developed. Mapping technologies also assists in identifying technologies that have become obsolete. Obsolete technologies could be costing the call center in terms of profits as their maintenance and support does not contribute to the call center's performance. Obsolete technologies, or technologies that are not been used would then be removed, and only required and relevant technologies would be used within the call center.

Conclusion

Call centers…

Likewise, bid packages are documents that need to be as lucid and frank as possible. "Bid packages can be used in a number of industries, including business, it systems and telecommunications. But the most common industry where bid packages are used is construction. Basically, a bid package is a portfolio of all the documents needed to take part in an invitation bid. Those who will be bidding on the project can look at the bid package and determine if they fit the criteria. Bidders will need to meet the skills and qualifications listed, be able to complete the project on time and stay within the specified budget" (Tiffany, 2012). Such documentation can help all stakeholders in a given project have a clear understanding of what is requested, required and needed. All these facts are specified within the given context of the project scope and the timeline engaged.

In the simplest…

Strategic Management Analysis of Maersk Shipping Company

Maersk Shipping Company is a largest global shipping company operating more than 600 ships, recording more than 23,000 bookings daily and 2.2million containers. Maersk can boast of 14.5% of market shares globally because their vessels arrive at ports every 15 minutes. Established in 1904, Maersk operates in more than 130 countries with over 110,000 employees. The company market capitalization was $27.6 billion at the end of 2015 fiscal year. Maersk facilitates the transportation of 14% of global seaborne containers coupled with Damco and APM Terminals, the company offers infrastructure with global demand for energy and global trade. The company offers different services that include Reefer Cargo, Verified Gross Mass, Special cargo, Dry Cargo, and Routenet. However, Maersk derives 40% of their revenues from container business. Despite the superior market advantages that the company has enjoyed in the last few decades, the global economic…

international project team. Furthermore, my experience in dealing with such a team is certainly relevant to the article written by Neverauskas and Ciutiene (2011) and their explanation of "theoretical approaches" for project management problems (p. 845). There are a number of different facets of this particular article that make it difficult to understand. The bulk of them pertain to the fact that the authors are obviously non-native speakers of English, and appear to only have written in this language in order to gain a wider readership and to communicate better with others. In this respect, English serves as a neutral means of communicating between disparate parties who all have some working knowledge of this particular language in common.

However, what is probably most notable about this article is the point of commonality that it shares with my experience with an international project management team. That experience largely involved facilitating presentations…

A company may be profitable, but not growing, and vice versa, thus affecting leverage (Aggaral and Zhao, 2007).

b. induce a negative relationship between firm value and leverage; conversely, if a firm is perceived with negative or flat growth, leverage is affected. Interestingly enough, new research shows that there are some micro-factors outside of growth that correlate to value and leverage. These include the way a corporation is managed, the size of the Board, the impression of large dividends and lack of focus on shareholder value, and milking of an industry (e.g. yellow pages in the day of the Internet). In addition, certain governmental regulations that are perceived as heavy handed and/or not conducive to growth or -- what is most critical -- perceived growth have considerable negative effects on leverage. Whether this psychological perception is valid or not, the research does not comment -- but it is surprising that…

Prioritization of IT Functions

Prioritization of the IT Project Portfolio for a University's Information Systems

Advances in information technology continue to change the way businesses and institutions perform their planning and administration operations. Information technology has improved the efficiency of repetitive tasks such as payroll processing, accounting transactions, and financial reporting. However, in order to achieve the best mix of IT functions in any given setting, it is vital to understand who the customers are going to be for the system, and what priority must be assigned to the respective functions including email, databases, Web servers, and so forth. To this end, this paper provides a prioritization of a university's information technology functions, including goals, a support plan for both office and customer functions, proposed communication methods, personnel and training requirements, application and function priorities, and a strategy for prioritizing the IT projects.

Identification and Prioritization of Information Technology Functions.…

Managing Tools for Effectiveness

The BSC or Balanced Scorecard strategy tool allows managers to monitor and evaluate their staff and how their actions produce effects. A BSC includes a focused approach to organization's clearly defined goal-oriented strategy, a tight, narrow range of data to be monitored, and a blend of both financial and non-financial data (Balanced Scorecard Institute, 2011). This allows the manager to utilized a closed-loop control mechanism with which to better and more accurately identify the effectiveness of his or her staff. What is important is that the measures used within the BSC be chosen well so that the information provided is worthwhile and valuable (Kellermans, Floyd, Veiga, Matherne, 2013).

Therefore selection and evaluation criteria should be chosen with utmost care and priority given to those data which have a direct and correlating impact on the manager's own aims in terms of directing his or her team to…

performance assessments. There will be a determination concerning how it assists in attaining educational goals. Educational assessment background will be presented and information on the way performance assessments are made use of in achieving goals will be analyzed.

Assessing Student Performance

The effect professional development has on improving mathematics instruction was examined in a few studies. The first study was carried out and involved thirty-six teachers who took up professional development for 3 years. The fidelity in learning the professional development hugely affected judgment accuracy (Thieda, et al., 2015). The second study was done with sixty-four teachers drawn from eight schools that had been randomly selected to serve as controls or get professional development. Judgment accuracy was higher in teachers who received professional development and those with better ability to perceive computational skills of students than those teachers who didn't.

For instance, field education is widely appreciated as a key…

Procurement Planning and Project Management Methodologies

Procurement Planning

Addressing the internal attributes of service quality of the processes of e-procurement is an important CSF. Companies need to underline the problems associated with the implementation and integration of existing security and infrastructure of the company. Thereby, control the risks that are holding the company back from using e-procurement on a wide scale. In other instances, managerial commitment is a hindrance when it comes to the adoption of e-procurement processes in the company. Therefore, there should be a strong support for relationships between the flow of information process in terms of quality, logistics, the satisfaction of e-procurement, and logistical fulfillment of quality processes.

Politico-legal structural factors need considering and addressing since they are specific to particular administrative and political contexts. For legal and administrative interventions, governments require having political willpower, and the government of India has realized the importance of Business Process…

Pay-Offs and isks of Capital Investments

The decision of whether an investment project can be accepted or denied as part of a company's growth initiative will involve the ascertainment of the investment's rate of return generated by the project. Nonetheless, the rate of return is influenced by specific factors of the company or project that make the decision acceptable or unacceptable. For instance, when we talk about a charitable project, most often it is not approved by the rate of return, but rather on the desire of the business to foster good will and contribute by giving back to the community. Through capital investment decisions, managers of a particular organization create accountability and measurability to determine the long-term economic aspect of the project and the project's financial profitability (Baker & English, 2011).

An example of an investment capital made by an organization was when Exxon Mobil, acquired XTO esources. The…

Integrating Total Quality Environmental Management Systems - a Critical Study of TQEM

Relevance of TQM to Environmental Management

Scope of Dissertation

Moving from Reactive to Proactive Management

Understanding TQM in Relation to TQEM

History of TQM

Operation of TQM

Quality and Environmental Management Standards

Environmental Management Systems

Weaknesses of EMS Standards

Total Quality Environmental Management

Comparing ISO 9000 and ISO 14000

Integrating the ISO 14000 Environmental Management System

Demographics

Impact of certification on economic and ecological performances

Research Design and Nature

Integrating a Sustainable EMS with TQM

Steps to Implementing an Effective TQEM Strategy

Final Word

ibliography

INTEGRATING QUALITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL ManagementS SYSTEMS - A CRITICAL STUDY

INTRODUCTION

ackground and Overview of Study

For decades economic growth has been considered the main indicator of a healthy society (Oliver, 1996). However, only recently has society begun to recognize the environmental cost of this growth. As a result, there is now an…

Management

Over the last several years, a wide variety of financial institutions have been facing a number of different security challenges. This is because of the information that they are storing has sensitive data about their clients such as: the social security numbers and net worth. Over the course of time, this has become a major target for identify thieves who are looking to steal this material. At which point, the total amounts of attacks against these kinds of organizations have increased exponentially. A good example of this can be seen with a report that was released by the security firm McAffe. They identified 72 remote access threats that were directed against financial and government institutions over a five-year period. What makes this report so disturbing is that the attacks were largely undetected. As they were designed to steal vast amounts of data, without alerting security officials about their presence.…

International Finance

Exchange ate Movements for the U.S. And Australian Dollar and Hedging

On the 9th June 2013 the initial $90,000 investment was worth $94,724.9. Knowing that the exchange rate on that date was AU $1.0525 to the U.S. dollar, meaning that U.S. $1 would purchase $1.0525, it is possible to determine that the total investment had purchased AU $99,697.96 (Oanda, 2013).

On the 7th June the exchange rate has changed to $1.1019, with the given fund value of AU $99,697.96, the change leaves a fund that is worth U.S. $90,478.23 (Oanda, 2013).

It is possible to look at the exchange rate movements over a period of time taking data from Oanda (2013). The tables below present that value for the last week, the last week of 2013 and the last week of 2011.

Part A

Table 1; Exchange rates for 1st - 7th July 2013

Exchange rate

7th July…

Business Management -- Annotated Bibliography

Eisenberg, J., Lee, H.J., Bruck, F., Brenner, B., Claes, M.T., Mironski, J., and Bell, R. "Can

Business chools Make tudents Culturally Competent? Effects of Cross-Cultural

Management Courses on Cultural Intelligence." Academy of Management Learning & Education. 12.4 (2013): 603-621. Web. 25 July 2014.

Because of the ongoing globalization for businesses and the need to develop management policies and strategies that help the workforce understand and relate to diversity, business schools need to teach management courses on "cultural intelligence"

(CU) Eisenberg and colleagues explain. This article is valuable and the recommendations for business schools should be incorporated because managers working for international firms need skills that allow them to interact with people from a variety of cultures. For students pursuing a business career, the development of cultural intelligence is vital.

Hence, taking courses in cross-cultural management brings knowledge and benefits.

Espedal, B. Gooderham, P.N., and tensaker,…

Graphic Freelance Designer

Design professionalism standards and ethics (Discuss how the use of copyrighted materials may or may not be a factor with the portfolio you are preparing and in following proper use guidelines.)

Professional designers aren't entitled to take exclusive credit for any design whose creation has involved collaboration between two or more designers (Crawford, 34). Further, professional designers aren't encouraged to accept projects which are likely to involve conflicting interests and, thus, dispute, without the consent of the client (Crawford, 38).

The American Institute of Graphic Arts' (AIGA's) Design Business and Ethics guideline series delineates crucial professional and ethical challenges faced by professional designers and purchasers of graphic designs. The work explores chief designer concerns when it comes to remaining successful, and directly addresses individual rights protection.

The AIGA's Design Business and Ethics covers norms every designer is required to abide by. The norms aim at guiding workplace…

The following diagram represents the structure of the idea.

Figure 2. Project flow pursuant to Plan Abu Dhabi 2030: Urban Structure Framework Plan

Objectives of the Study

The overarching objective of this study is to build a solid portfolio management application that connects all the local governments of Abu Dhabi emirates in ways that will allow them to collaborate on various projects pursuant to Plan Abu Dhabi 2030 through one unified system from their offices without wasting time on face-to-face meetings, as well as introducing the potential for the leaking of information through channels that provide the opportunity for unauthorized access. This objective also include the need to develop a solid it security infrastructure by building strategies, recruiting qualified staff, implementing the latest technologies and best practices as identified in the research.

The study was guided by the following specific objectives:

1. Achieve cost effectiveness once the portfolio management software…

Company is a case with the problem of determining a project management process for new product development. Answer the following questions:

What does this case demonstrate about the effect of poor project screening methods on a firm's ability to manage projects effectively?

This case demonstrates that even organizations with a significant amount of project management experience can make critical mistakes. Even though the organization has implemented a project management structure and operate under a professional project management structure, they missed the potential to create synergies between different projects that are related.

How would project portfolio management help to improve the situation at Keflavik?

The project portfolio management could significantly improve the entire organizations project effectiveness. The organization's consultant was most likely correct in recognizing the extent in which the organization was missing opportunities to share project expertise between various projects. The project portfolio office can help facilitate better selection techniques…

Emotional Intelligence and the Role it Plays in Project Portfolio Management

One of the most important and essential qualities of leadership needed in today's multigenerational business world is Emotional Intelligence (EI). EI is a "people smart" type of intelligence -- it enables an individual to read a person and provide the right kind of emotional feedback and/or responses to that person's needs. Leaders who demonstrate strong emotional intelligence are able to improve project performance because they focus on the individuals within a team rather than simply or exclusively on goals and procedures (Cacamis & Asmar, 2014). EI allows one to be person-centered, oriented towards responding to emotional cues that the other is consciously or unconsciously displaying in their words, behavior, body language, and communications. Effective use of EI can help organizations to promote a stronger workplace culture, stronger teams, and stronger performance overall (Den, Deanne & Belschak, 2012). In a…

IT Governance.

The ambiguity in quantifying Information Technology's (IT's) business value, the lack of communication with the business side of the house, executives' limited understanding of and low respect for IT and IT staffers' inadequate business skills all contribute to an organization's inability to maximize their return on IT investments (Jeffery and Leliveld, 2004). IT management and governance is a discipline that is receiving lots of recent attention because it offers potential for removing many of these barriers to IT success. This paper discusses what IT management and governance is, why it is important, potential benefits, industry success rates, successful implementers, and vendor solutions. Despite potential pitfalls in organizations, surmounting these hurdles is necessary for companies to survive in an economically challenged and highly competitive environment. Just as companies manage all business processes via enterprise resource planning and other enterprise applications, businesses will begin to manage their IT operations and…

One such exemplary resource is Epicor's recent guide, "Managing Today's Professional Services Organization: How to Improve Efficiency and Increase Profits" (2011). Although the guide contains some self-serving information concerning Epicor's own IT product line, the bulk of the guide is devoted to timely and informative insights concerning how IT can facilitate project delivery in professional services organizations. For instance, according to Epicor's guide:

Ultimately, a successful operational model demands higher-order tools such as resource, opportunity and knowledge management to achieve operational best practices. The reality facing most organizations, from small, specialized firms to the largest, most sophisticated multinational consulting agencies, is the same -- each faces significant challenges related to accurately and efficiently capturing time and expense, managing work-in-progress, generating and approving invoices, and reporting on project and client status. (Managing today's professional services organization, 2011, p. 1)

Given the wide array of enterprises that now fall under the umbrella…

Telestar International

Who do you believe is at fault in this situation?

It is difficult to determine who is at fault here. Perhaps all are equally for what should have been conducted here ahead of time is project management which would have set the direction of the project, specifying and clearly delineating its business requirements, resources, cost, and so forth, and specifying the portfolio of projects that should be undertaken to achieve them (ajegopal et al., 2007). In this way, the project manager would have averted any problem with cost and conflict. The fault, therefore, may be largely attributed to the project manager. On the other hand, it seems to me that the project manager was correct in deciding to stop all activities as long as this would have a temporary cessation with the intention of assessing deficiencies of the project and assessing how to correct the situation.

Should the…

GANTT and PERT Chart Tools

"One look is worth a thousand words"

(Barnard, 1920s, as cited in Lutz, 2009, p. 7).

Critical Chart Choices

Just as the project manager must evaluate alignment, benefits, and risks as well as other business and project factors when considering projects to manage, the project manager must also routinely make critical chart choices. During the course of a project, the project manager must assess whether GANTT charts, critical path analysis, task tracking, time capture, Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) or another type chart will best serve to compute the estimate for the project's completion. In the book, Project portfolio management: a practical guide to selecting projects, managing portfolios, and maximizing benefits, Levine (2005), a project management specialist and consultant since 1962, asserts that tactical management systems range from the management of individual projects to the management of programs packed with projects, and may ultimately…

Functions That udgeting Accounts for Is the Planning Function

We will be arguing for the importance of the planning function in the overall budgeting activity and will be arguing for the many ways the budgeting planning function is coordinating with the company's strategic planning.

First of all, the planning function in terms of budgeting refers to the planning activities that the company, starting with the financial department, needs to (1) determine what the company's long-term strategy is, (2) determine what projects bring most added value to the company and (3) determine what priority these projects should have.

Let's refer to each of these steps in part and determine how they impact the budgeting strategy of a company. The long-term strategy for a company is essential in determining the overall objective of a company. For the long run, this may be increasing the volume of sales or increasing the market share…

Both are equally important. For the first, we will have company specialists describing the software development tools we used, as well as the mechanisms that are included in the development of a new module or product within the suite.

On the other hand, presenting and implementing the organizational culture of the company is equally important. Besides promoting this in day-to-day operational activities, we will also have, from time to time, people from the company upper management visiting Bucharest and presenting the mechanisms and values that the company uses.

Potential competition

The labor market for software developers in Romania is one where the competition is quite challenging, especially since it comes both from internal and external forces. Internally, we are dealing with small to medium software developing companies, generally operating for larger companies abroad or working with a bigger international client. These are generally companies that have 30-50 employees and who…

Teams should be created that embrace a diversity of skills and workers from different areas of expertise, so there is no knowledge overlap, and thus less jockeying for position of who has the better qualifications within a certain field. If necessary, a clear leader should be established who understands the importance and the time table of the goal of the team. One problem with self-managed teams is that personality rather than goals can become the focus of team discussion. Because the goal is set externally, employees must become internally motivated to reach that goal. Having a clear leader selected beforehand, if the leader does indeed deserve his or her authority, may be a wise managerial move to limit grabs for power. If all members of the team are relatively similar in skills, however, giving the team more jurisdictions in selecting leadership roles might be considered.

The team must have a…

The corporation or seller could benefit by developing marketing strategies prior to consumer reviews being available online.

Seller Response to Novice and Expert Consumers

efore allowing consumers to post product reviews on a corporations or sellers website, the seller should consider the size of the segments of expert consumers and novice consumers. For example, the seller may benefit from selling certain products if a significant number of expert consumers exist, especially for technology driven products. On the other hand, the seller may damage sales if the expert consumers' segment overshadows that of the novice consumers.

Unknown or Less Popular Stores Online Seller Response

Relatively unknown corporations should be overly cautious when allowing consumers to post comments on their websites. If brand marketers fail to attract enough consumers to post reviews, the corporation may damage its reputation. these corporations might consider hiring a well-known, popular third-party source to handle consumer reviews.…

Poverty-eduction Programs in Urban Communities

In September, 2001, 149 heads of state and high-ranking officials attending the Millennium Summit in New York unanimously adopted the Millennium Declaration which contained a statement of eight millennium development goals, one of which was to halve global poverty rates by FY 2015. This declaration made poverty-reduction a global agenda and mandated administrators and policymakers at all levels of government to come up with innovative ways of integrating the objectives of poverty-reduction into their respective growth agendas. In its 2001 annual meeting, the IMF challenged policymakers to ensure that their poverty-reduction policies are nationally-owned and that they take input from all the relevant stakeholders. In line with this, the U.S. Census Bureau launched the Small Area Income and Poverty Estimates (SAIPE) Program to enable it to analyze income and poverty trends in individual counties with the aim of determining the effectiveness of statewide poverty-reduction policy.…

Smaller arguments: Potential benefits for employee and employer include changes in maternity and sick leave, elimination of commute. Valid Potential Drawbacks for employee and employer include lack of communication. Valid Technology Requirements needed may include speakerphone, fax machine and computer. Valid Job requirements and responsibilities needed are good work record, dependability. Valid Security Risks include unsecured connection, very little/no cyber protection software, possible infection. These can be easily fixed by creating company policies for security software, assigning a company computer, encrypting information, and having a point person. Valid Future Potential includes trainers training other employees from home, Sales reps meeting their prospects online, programmers working from home. Valid Societal advantages/disadvantages include energy conservation, increased efficiency, commuters' disappointment in weakened relationships, telecommuters' missing office socializing, losing time to child care. Valid In doing my research, I first looked for formal fallacies in my arguments. In particular, I looked for appeal to…

Strategy Formulation: Evaluating Efficiency and Effectiveness

For any business to continued growing over time it must balance the strategic formulation of its business model with the implementation of strategies (Buttner, 2006). There is however, an inherent conflict between strategic formulation on the one hand, or effectiveness, and the implementation of strategies, or efficiency, on the other. As markets change and economic conditions vary by country and region, strategy formulation and implementation are forced to flex or change over time to keep serving customers and generating revenue. The intent of this analysis is to explain how strategic effectiveness becomes more critical the greater the uncertainty there is in a given industry or geographic market. The effectiveness of a business must also be based on a solid foundation of agility and market focus (Dandira, 2011). Efficiency must be increasing in speed and accuracy of execution in highly competitive markets, yet must be…

budgeting management was most helpful to me, I believe, in the sense that it actually helped clarify the various processes about which I wrote, providing me greater conceptual awareness of budget management planning, processes, and content. Of the essays I completed, I must admit that I like various parts of all of them, but feel that my third essay was the best. By then I was more confident about what I was writing. Overall, what I learned from writing all three essays, an insight that will, I believe, remain with me long after this course, is that one learns a great deal more about a subject from writing about it.

My third essay was the best-focused of the three, and most detailed and specific. It was the end result of much thinking I had done. My best sentence, within that essay was (I feel): "The top management, working with the…

In order to maintain an equitable state of success in the society, it becomes possible and relevant to be at a forefront in managing the available scales of managing and forecasting on the future trends of performance. Therefore, the experiences and other attendances that have formed part of my life have been a major boost in the general growth and development in the society.

In the future, I believe that I have what it takes to be successful. Success is a feature that is established gradually in the specified field. Therefore, the many attributes of performance in the field are a true reflection of the features that are likely to bring success to my future endeavors. I have learnt many things through education. Education is like a revelation to the happening and understanding of many things in the field. Therefore, I have accessed every channel of managing the available avenues…