Discussion Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 107

Discussion - Essay Example There is a clear argument on the place of the church in combating witchcraft, through hunting the using the spirit. It is clear that the church did possess a fundamental role in combating the witchcraft woes. Even when a friend or an enemy accused somebody, what followed was immediate prosecution without even confirmation of the events or the authenticity of the information. It was too unjust, even as the try to ensure that every person did heed to the societal norms. In the discussion, there are claims that the church even took advantage of the witchcraft issue, and could punish any person who did not follow it precepts, with the claim that they were in possession of the witch. All that did instill fear among people. Such people were punished and excommunicated from all the societal activities (Barry, Jonathan, Marianne & Roberts, pg. 318). Essentially, the analysis of the discussion led to a rise of various concepts that were not there previously. Most significantly, the role of the church in combating the witchcraft issues was not praised. The church had ventured in the earthly aspects and forgotten their core mandate, which is spreading the Good News of the Risen Christ. Prosecution through death was also against the Christian teachings, as the Ten Commandments stipulate that one should not kill. Only God has the power to take life away. It is so sad that even before one was presumed guilty, he or she was already prosecuted. There does emerge a very sensitive issue. Does the church follow the aspects of justice? How did they establish that whatever was being said was the utmost truth? Torture was rampant, and it did remain so contradicting that the church was not in a position to preach about justice, but rather coerced all the

Modify the essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Modify the - Essay Example Human life is made comfortable with the addition of things unlike in the absence of things. Lives are made more convenient by smoothing the rough edges and straightening bends that would have fronted as potential challenges. There are countless ways in which things make life comfortable. It all begins at the point of waking up. Having slept the whole night on a thing called bed, another thing called the alarm wakes us up. From the time waking up, the whole day activities are made easy by the use and association of things till darkness sets in again. Things help us to prepare supper. The convenience of things ensures that breakfast is not only prepared but taken in a stylish way. After breakfast, a preparation for work or school has to start. Dressing in appropriate clothes follows and enhancing looks using other materials like bangles and sweet smelling perfumes. Another thing called the car makes movement comfortable and fast. At places of work and school, things are countless. At school, studies are made easy by the incorporation of computers and internet. In regard to daily lives, things are very important as they make life convenient. Things enable people to engage themselves in activities which would be an impossibility without them. An earlier example of the computer and internet usage is a direct example to this. They are extensively used in studies and conducting research. In the absence of computers, tackling a term paper like this would require frequent long visits to the library. Physical presence would be a necessity on addition to thorough scouring through the library catalogue in an attempt to get the required magazines and books to tackle the term paper. Books must be borrowed from the library. In case the permission to borrow them is denied, copying texts by hand would take time, and it is tedious. The computer thing and internet thing have released all this pressure, and studying modes have become easy. Navigating

Fololio Mulagia Essay Example for Free

Fololio Mulagia Essay In May of 2011 a Samoan schoolteacher by the name of Folole Muliaga was sent home from a New Zealand hospital suffering from a terminal illness called cardiomyopathy. Because, doctors believed she did not have much longer to live she was sent home with two oxygen tanks to help aid her with her illness. McNaughton (2006) states that on May 29 a contractor for Vircom EMS was sent by Mercury Energy to the Muliaga’s home to disconnect the electricity supply. Mrs. Muliaga pleaded with the contractor to keep the electricity because of her health condition but he disagreed. A few short hours later Mrs.  Muliaga would perish. Prior to the Muliaga’s electricity being disconnected, the family had an outstanding balance of $168. 00, and could not afford to pay the bill. The case of Folole Muliaga would later be broadcast around the world capturing the attention of many government officials. This paper will cover many aspects including but not limited to: the consequences and outcomes of the scenario, the illegal and unethical aspects of the Mercury Company, was the role of the coroner and police department justifiable, and lastly, what reforms and guidelines were put in place as a result of the devastating tragedy? Evaluate Ethical Behavior: The Historical Case of Folole Muliaga Folole Muliaga, a 44 year old terminally ill mother of four suffering from cardiomyopathy perished after not being able to pay a $168. 00 electricity bill. As a result of Mrs. Muliaga sickness she was unable to continue her teaching career which brought in the majority of the household income. Johnston (2007) states that Mercury Energy was unaware that disconnecting power to a South Auckland home could have potentially life-threatening consequences. The resulted consequence was too harsh; to disconnect the electricity given that Mrs. Muliaga was just released from the hospital days earlier. The major price Mrs. Muliaga paid was dying 3 hours after the electricity was disconnected from her home. The family of Mrs. Muliaga would later dispute that the bill was not overdue, and that it was actually due days later. Bennett (2007) states that Folole’s husband actually made a partial payment on May 17 and would make another payment a few days later. The Mercury Energy contractor who disconnected the power says he was unaware that Mrs. Muliaga depended on oxygen tanks to live. What’s disturbing is that the Muliaga family states that when the ontractor arrived, Mrs. Muliaga invites him in and thourgly explains to him her health circumstances. She begins to plead with him not to disconnect the electricity, but he is not being attentive to her needs. He states he is simply doing his job, and that she must contact Mercury Energy to have the electricity restored. Although health professionals who treated the victim said her health problems had tremendously worsened over the past few months, does not make it morally nor ethically factual for the company to not hear the concerns of its customers. After the incident went ational the general manager for Mercury Energy stated that he was sure the company was not at fault for Mrs. Muliaga’s death. Cleve (2007) He contended: I’m confident that the processes we have put, the communications we had with the customer, were very clear about the circumstances that would happen. The general manager’s arrogance toward Muliaga’s death clearly shows his lack of concern and unethical behavior. His thoughts are that the company done nothing immorally or illegally wrong. In the case of Folole Muliaga there was almost a trial by media, pressuring Mercury to change how they conduct business with customers who ave severe medical conditions. A company’s culture is the biggest element of how it handles difficult situations. Companies no matter how large or small should have a value statement that aids them on what is considered ethical behavior. The actions of Mercury Energy were illegal in the eyes of many consumers and shareholders around the world. It’s very bothersome and also reality that individuals who occupy senior level managenet roles does not uphold the standards and intergrity when it comes to satisfying the needs of customers. Meredith (2007) says the behavior of Mercury Energy top xecutives serves to do no more than confirm just about every negative stereotype there is about impersonal, arrogant, and greedy corporates. What makes Folole’s story so alarming is that Mercury Energy is a state owned enterprise, which means the taxpayers solely, owns the company. Research states that Jones (1991) a moral issue is present when a person’s actions, when freely performed, may harm or benefit others. It’s imperative to know that many judgments are moral decisions because they have a moral component, such as the case of Folole Muliaga. The actions that took place in Mrs. Muliaga’s home was horribly illegal and unethical, because the situation was not investigated thourghly. If the contractor would have taken five minutes to contact someone about Mrs. Muliaga’s severe health condition her life probably could have been prolonged. The contractor’s irrational behavior to further assist the family is what makes this situation so demoralizing. A few weeks after Folole’s Muliaga’s death, Police announced that there was no evidence that did not point to Mercury Energy nor the contractor’s that they were at fault for Mrs. Muliaga’s death. After Folole’s death the family expressed that the Police department showed lack of â€Å"Cultural Awareness† and had â€Å"institutionalized racism†. Bridgeman (2010) Coroner Gordon Matenga concluded that Mrs. Muliaga died of natural causes but, an arrhythmia caused by morbid obesity and that the cessation of oxygen therapy and stress arising from the fact of the disconnection (as opposed to the way in which the power was disconnected) have contributed to her death. To agree with the coroner’s report individuals would really have to reexamine Folole’s case. Certainly, the victim had health issues that contributed to her death. But, the question we must ask ourselves is that if Mrs. Muliaga’s electricity was never turned off would she have still perished a few hours later. Many of us would answer the question by saying no, she would still be alive. In many of our thoughts and private belief’s we would say that Mercury Energy is responsible for her death. Summary: The Folole’s Muliaga’s story should have been an eye opener for all major corporations. Many companies today do not follow Corporate Social Responsibility. Many top managers and executives are simply in the business to make a large profit off of its shareholders and onsumers. Organizations have to reexamine the culture, morals, and values of why they are in business. Meredith (2007) In the case of Mercury Energy, those needs should have been understood to include the cultural and economic issues of a Samoan family struggling to make a go of their lives in New Zealand and to have been deserving of care and respect in addressing what turned out to be the life threatening issue of the discontinuation of their electricity supply. A variety of theoretical perspectives have been established to support researchers and most mportantly managers on social issues. These concepts would help organizations to understand the importance of having values and morals when it comes to dealing with the public. The social life cycle theory was used to analyze the Mercury Energy case. Ackerman (1975) found that, in general, the responsiveness of business organizations to social issues progresses through a three-phase trajectory; policy, learning, and commitment. Most of us who are familiar with the Muliaga case would say that the company was in refutation about the Muliaga issue.

Video Games A Curse Or A Blessing Psychology Essay

Video Games A Curse Or A Blessing Psychology Essay Nowadays, video games are more advanced than they ever were. Fascinating story lines, and more complex levels than before, these video games become more and more sought after by todays youth. It has become easier to purchase and access games with mature ratings (M) by underage children and teenagers. Parents would argue that video games corrupt the minds of the teens, and it could lead them to develop a violent personality that can make them become aggressive and commit crimes. And since we are all aware about the parenthood protective instinct, their concerns are understandable. Incidents like the school shooting like the one that happened in Colorado thirteen years ago, child aggression, and the decrease in school work are said to be the effect of video gaming. Of course, it is not for all the video games that exist but games like Doom, Madworld, and Gears of War are some of the games that are blamed. Parents state that more than a thousand of scientific reviews and studies conclude that the exposure to media violence and violent video gaming increases the aggressive behavior of youths. In a paper that was written by Rachel Ray called Violent Video Games, she strongly supports the idea that aggressive video games hold some strong effect on the young boy practicing that act. She begins her article by referring to the shootings in Kentucky, Paducah, Colorado, and Columbine. She states that in those cases, the teenagers who were responsible for those shootings were addicted to Doom. Furthermore, she said that there is correlation between youth and teens behaviors and violent video games are undeniable. Ray also stated: I personally believe that aggressive video games have an effect on young adults, and in turn can cause them to commit crimes. (Ray, 2006) Another research suggested that when performing violent acts in video games may contribute in teenagers aggression than just watching violent scenes on movies and TV shows. According to this view, the more teens act violently while playing game, the more likely they will perform violent acts in their real life (Cesarone, 1994).   In the majority of video games, females are the ones who are depicted to be victims. Video Games such as, Grand Theft Auto promote and talks about theft, prostitution, and violent behavior.   This game encourages males to behave in a wrong way if they want to move along the levels of the game. Furthermore, research has found that males tend to play video games more than women which may produce factor of such aggressiveness in video games.   It is known that acting out such violence as opposed to just viewing it will cause the young boy to become more familiar acting violently without any consequence. Moreover, to explore the question about how playing video games my change the brain, Dr. Vincent Matthews and some of his colleagues at Indiana University who have studied media violence looked at what happen in the brain of twenty eight students who were randomly chosen to play either a non-violent or a first-person shooter games (violent video game) every day at an intervals of a week. At the beginning of this study, researchers used Functional magnetic resonance imaging scan for the brain in order to understand its activity when the study participants who are all young adult men, while playing the lab based task either involving non-emotional or emotional contents. The participants were scanned over and over again while repeating the same tasks, after one week of playing the two opposite types of video games (Park, 2011). Researchers found out that the participants who practiced the violent video games showed less activity in the areas about emotions, inhibition, and attention in the brain. Mathews stated: Behavioral studies shown an increase in aggressive behavior after violent games, and what we show is the physiological explanation for what the behavioral studies are showing (Park, 2011). We are showing that there are changes in the brain function that are likely related to that behavior. One task that the participants completed while being under the scan appraised their response to non-violent vs. violent words. The participants were presented with non-violent words such as walk, run, and talk and violent words such as harm, hit, shoot, and kill (Park, 2011). Therefore, Dr. Mathews came with a conclusion that the changes that happens to the brain while playing violent video games dont appear to be permanent; however, documenting that the brain changes when playing the violent games even if it is for just few hours a day for a whole week., and this can be a significant proof on how young players can be affected when playing these kinds of games.   Ã‚  Ã‚   Personally speaking I love playing violent video games, because when I do so I forget about all my daily problems and I release all the frustration I assembled during the day by shooting zombies or damaging cars and buildings. The major problem that we had when we wanted to play those games was the approval of our parents because no one of any age wants someone to breathe down you neck or looking over your shoulder in order to observe what you are doing. For centuries, parents have that protective instinct for their children and want to protect from anything aggressive or violent. For instance, even in sports, it exist violence to some degree. For example, the American football the coach tells his players almost every day to rip the opponent player heads off. The fact remains that violence is all around us and violent computer games simply provide teens and young boys with a new high level to entertain themselves. Almost every year, the bestselling video games in US are the one which are most violent. When I was 13 years old I enjoyed playing violent Video Games with my older brother, and thankfully our parents allowed us to play any game we chose. Our parents decision to let us play whatever we want was not random because when I asked my mother why she allowed us to play those kind of games she told me that she knew that her and my father raised us well to make our own right decisions and she was sure that we will never practice what we experienced in those video game in real life. In 2011, the best seller game was Call of Duty, and for those who are familiar with video games that game is one of the most violent. I understand that parents cant stop worrying about the influence of those games on their children. Though, it is possible that young players will be more prone to imitate violence they see, it is important to keep in mind that the most aggressive video games are rated mature for a specific reason. Reasonable and well raised children wont start walking around and shooting people, robbing old women, or stealing cars. Violence is just a single small part of video games entertainment value. Olsen said in a New York Times article: teens can try out different identities, how it feels to be a hero, a trickster, a feared or scorned killer or someone of a different age or sexà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦in a safe fantasy world of video games (Olsen, 2011). For teenagers, violent video games offer mature oriented adventures that go together with their age range better than th ose offered by non violent games for children. Violent games like Call of Duty allows for more interaction and control over the environment you are playing in and it is less structured than the ones we found in movies and TV shows. Through the use of violence, video games can significantly reduce stress by distracting young gamers from pressures of their daily lives. For example, college students who are stuck between school responsibilities, part times jobs, and household chores might find a button machine for violent games a solution to enjoyably release stress and frustrations. According to a study done by Texas AM professor Christopher Ferguson, violent and aggressive video games can be used as a therapeutic solution to combat anger and depression(Ferguson, 2007). Moreover, according a research that was published in Psychology of Violences in August 2011, the degree to which competitiveness young gamers reach while practicing their hobby is more likely than the degree of violence to cause aggression in those gamers personality((Paul J. C. , Adachi, 2011). Watching, practicing, and playing games that depict bloodshed are very therapeutic in a sense that violence on our screen helps us understand death. As the author of the book Killing Monsters Gerard Jones said: Why children need fantasy, super heroes, and make-believe violenceà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦through immersion in imaginary combat and identification with a violent protagonist, children engage the rage they stifledà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦and become more capable of using it against lifes challenges.(Jones, 2008) Even though it seems like I am in a strong opposition on how my opponents view on seeing the video games as a curse for children and teenagers, I understand their concern and I believe that the best solution is for parents to monitor their children. That means that they should study their personality, see how they perceive those video games, and then decide based on their kids personality if they are capable of handling violent video games without switching their behavior from for what their children are allowed to do in their spare time. In the end, they are responsible to know what video games their children play and have the authority to regulate what video games their children play or how much time they are allowed to play video games. Aside from the video game rating system, there is information available about every video game in the internet, parents can Google the games name and read all the information about it. Parents need to observe and control violent video games for the ir children only if they think that it will affect their behavior and personality; However, if the parents raised their children well, they will not have anything to worry about because they will trust that they will not behave by the same the characters in those violent video games act. Therefore, when monitored by parents, violent video games will not make teens and children violent and aggressive, it will help them overcome stress and anxiety by providing them with entertainment inside their houses, and it will allow them to take out their daily frustration on fantasy characters instead of taking it out on real people.

Analysis of Employee Motivation in Ilanco Inc. Essay -- Manufacturing

Analysis of Employee Motivation in Ilanco Inc. Introduction The purpose of this report is to analyse the problems of employee motivation at Ilanco Inc., a relatively small manufacturing company located in Montreal. For many years, this company operates in sweater production, and belongs to the section of clothing manufacturing industry. Currently, approximately 70 employees are working for the company. As many manufacturing organizations, Ilanco has been experiencing a lot of problems with effectively motivating its employees. Such problems have been reflected both in the Motivating Potential Score Survey that we have conducted among the employees and in our interviews with some senior workers at the company. First, this report gives a brief overall description of the manufacturing industry and the company, Ilanco. The major parts of the report outline and analyses the main motivation problems that Ilanco is experiencing. According to these specific problems, several very useful and practical recommendations have been made to help improve the employee motivation at Ilance. Also, in order to make this paper more insightful, some relevant motivation theories have been applied to both the analysis and recommendation sections to help analyse the problems more deeply. Industry Description Manufacturing is a key activity in any economy because of its far-reaching effects. Manufacturing firms represent 20% of Canadian GDP. There are around 40 000 manufacturing firms in Canada, employing almost 2 million people. Production value comes to $135 419 millions. Manufacturing firms with less than 200 employees represent 96% of total number of manufacturing firms in Canada, employing 47% of Canadian labor force involved in processing industry. In Quebec, the manufacturing sector generates over 20% of province’s GDP. Close to 11000 firms are operating, employing some 548 400 people. In Quebec, firms employing fewer than 200 people represent also 96% of the total number of manufacturing establishments. That is, employing 49% of province’s men-power. In Montreal, experienced labor force (1996 Census) represents 1 609 820 in all industries including manufacturing sector that employs 283 370 people. Despite the importance of manufacturing industry, employment has been decreasing in recent years. Description of Company As an example of manufacturing fi... ...nagement. In addition, an appraisal system in every 6 months should be implemented at every level of the company, i.e. team level, department level, company level. There would be different levels of staff performance, e.g. company warning, improvement required, average, competent and outstanding, to name a few. The result of the appraisal is connected to wage increase, bonus and promotion. In summary, Ilanco has a lot of serious problems in terms of staff motivation. If the above recommendations are not taken into consideration by the management, then there is a high possibility for the company to be just a start-up training school. There will still be high turnover rate, low productivity, unmotivated staff, and uncompetitive working environment. There is really no â€Å"bright† future for the company. It probably can still be profitable, but it’s just short-term focused. Once there is a down turn in market demand, Ilanco can hardly survive because of its extremely narrow product line. The management should realize that it is the staff that makes the profit for the company. Without reasonably motivated staff, the company could never focus in long term survive in the business.

Chartists and Chartism Essay -- European Europe History

Chartists and Chartism   Chartism was the name of a variety of protest movements in England during the 1830s and 40s, which aimed to bring about change   in social and economic conditions through political reform. Its name comes from the People’s Charter, a six-point petition presented to the House of Commons with the hope of having it made law. The six point included annual parliaments, universal manhood suffrage, abolition of the property qualification for members of the House of Commons, the secret ballot, equal electoral districts, and salaries for members of Parliament.   This was the first independent working-class movement in the world, that is, not simply sporadic uprisings or agitation, and arose after the Reform Bill of 1832 had failed. Working men had agitated for this bill and its failure left them still without the sought-for right to manhood suffrage. The Factory Act of 1832 had reduced working hours for children, but not for adults. The New Poor Law of 1834 caused resentment among workers by building workers’ housing in factory districts, where living conditions were bad.   By 1837 50,000 were out of work in Manchester alone, owing to overproduction, loss of trade, and the shutting-down of many mills.   Throughout the country, from 1839-1851 widespread depression was due to a combination of jobs lost, bad harvests, and high food prices. There were organized groups in London and Birmingham, but a national organization was inspired by Feargus O’Connor, who edited a Chartist paper, The Northern Star, and was   a rabble-rousing speaker.   The Chartists’ method was to circulate their petition throughout the country and gather signatures which were to be presented to the House of Commons at a giant convention in... ...nating the worst working conditions were gradually enacted into law.   Victorian England was to struggle with labor-management problems throughout the century. Gradually the working class would come to recognize its need for centralized organization and would gain support from radical middle-class intellectuals and writers, notably Henry Mayhew, who during the years 1849-51 investigated living and working conditions in London and published a series of violently-debated letters in the Morning Chronicle. It would appear that the efforts of the Chartists, while not immediately successful, served as valuable experience for a future labor   movement, as well as awakening the consciences of individuals and groups outside the working class. Sources: Sally Mitchell, ed.   Victorian Britain â€Å"Chartism,†Ã‚   â€Å"Riots and Demonstrations,† â€Å"Strikes.† New York, Garland, 1988.

Project Management Student

Table of contents Contents page number Executive summary Introduction Problem identification Case analysis Question 1 Question 2 Question 3 Question 4 Conclusion and Recommendations Bibliography EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Polk County is a scarcely populated County in the state. The roads are in a very poor condition and the Transportation Department supervisor, JR has been tasked to manage all the three projects: * The entrance to the Big John’s superstore ELK Mountain road * Bridge on County road 1045 The writer will analyse the case, evaluate the alternatives and propose a solution for the case that would benefit the Polk County Transportation Department to execute their projects effectively. Various models and literature will be used to motivate the assertions. INTRODUCTION Polk County is the largest county in the state it is governed by three-member Board of commissioners: Harold, Richardson and Thomas.The state faces a challenge of delivering critical projects which involve impro vements to the local roads which at the current state have put the local residents as well as tourists at risk because they are dilapidated, worn out and inadequate for purpose generally being unsafe for use. This challenge is due to many projects competing over limited resources. The three projects are: * The entrance to Big John’s Superstore * Elk Mountain road Crockett Creek bridge on the country road 1045 near prison The reasecher will analyse the case evaluate it, systematically prioritise the steps to be taken on the approach to successfully propose a solution which will benefit the Transportation Department, Polk municipality and ultimately the community at large. Various shortfalls are evident in the current Polk county municipality. The researcher will discuss them in depth with reference to various models and literatures as well as assumptions to back up the recommendations, below are the identified shortfalls: * No poor project office Funds are very limited to kick start projects that would add value to the community and improve their safety. * The tax is minimal to sustain the developments * Insuffient or no fundraising initiatives * High rate of crime As depicted on the case, there are three projects at hand and below is the gathered information on each project. Body governing the county The following individuals comprise the Polk County administration team NAME | DESTINATION/ STATUS| Thomas| Commissioner retired| Herald| Commissioner retired|Richardson| commissioner| JR| Supervisor- Transport Department| Joe| Former head of Transport Department| Unnamed | Current Senator| Zachary | Transport Department intern (civil engineering)| PROJECT 1 THE ENTRANCE TO THE BIG JOHN’s SUPERSTORE * It is off a two lane high at the base of the hill * It is difficult for cars travelling in the opposite direction until they come over the crest * This makes it difficult for the cars turning left into the store and those pulling out of the parking lot. * A number of accidents have occurred The number of cars travelling on the road has increased over the last three years since the store opened * Several residents have raised concerns at the commissioners meetings in the past * JR had approached the store manager about helping to pay for road improvements to widen the roads to add a turning lane or install a traffic light. * The manager replied that they are barely making any profit and if they do not make profit corporate headquarters will close it down and a lot of people will lose their jobs therefore they cannot afford to assist * Many people go to the store because there are no other shopping malls in the countyPROJECT 2 WIDENING AND REPAIR OF ELK MOUNTAIN ROAD IN THE NORTHWESTERN PART OF THE COUNTY * The winters have taken their toll on the road and left it with large deep potholes * The increase in unemployment in the county has led to an increase in independent loggers using the road to bring logs from Elk Mountain to severa l saw mills, including Ye Olde Saw mill in the adjacent county. The lack of repair over the years and the heavy trucks are causing the road to deteriorate even faster Both commissioners, Thomas and Richardson have seen the worsening condition of the road: they use it frequently to go hunting and fishing on ELK Mountain. * Each has received an earful of complaints from friends who use the road. * Zachary also knows how bad the road is from personal experience as he was nearly sideswiped by the logging truck and was forced off the resulting in his car’s low hanging tail pipe and muffler ripped off as he hit a large pothole.PROJECT 3 CROCKETT CREEK BRIDGE ON COUNTY ROAD 1045 NEAR THE PRISON * It is the main road to the state correctional Institution in the south western past of the county. * The bridge barely passed the last state inspection four years ago. * Each spring during the winter thaw Crockett Creek threatens to wash the bridge. * If the bridge is washed out or closed, the detour would be nearly 15 miles for people who work at the prison. * The largest employer in the county is the state correctional institution for female offenders located in the south western part of the county.A project is an endeavour to accomplish a specific objective through a unique set of interrelated tasks and the effective utilisation of resources (Clement and Gido, 2012; 4) It has a clear objective of what is to be accomplished and this is usually defined in the form of deliverable, schedule and budget. A project utilises various resources to carry out interdependent task that need to be accomplished in a certain sequence in order to achieve a project objective within a specific time frame. A project has a sponsor who provides the funds necessary to accomplish the project.A project usually has challenges because it is constrained by many factors including scope, quality budget and risks. 1. SITUATION ANALYSIS 1. 1. NO PROPER PROJECT OFFICE Polk County is the largest cou nty in the state with a shallow structure of Authority. This is evident as the line of command is very short from the top, senator, commissioner to bottom lower management this could be of advantage as there is rapid communication hence close interactions and therefore easy delivery of organisational / municipality goals strategy. JR is the supervisor for the county Transportation Department.The case states that county roads have progressively deteriorated and several critical projects need to be done. He works with his summer intern Zachary and is concerned that if the does not present a good case for the at least one of the project, then the commissioners probably would not fund any of the project. It is evident that JR is struggling as he cannot apply himself explicitly on the tasks at hand as he lack the skills, methodologies that would easily aid to address the projects smoothly, this therefore calls for the introduction of project management office in the municipality 1. 2PROJ ECT MANAGEMENT OFFICEProject management is defined by the PMBOK as†¦. ’the application of knowledge, skills, tools and techniques in order to meet stakeholder’s needs and expectation from a project. ’ (Burke, 2011; 18) 1. 3GENERIC ROLES OF A PROJECT MANAGEMENT OFFICE 1. 3. 1The project management office’s aim is to link individual project to the organisation’s dynamic strategic intent through a focused discipline of project management. 1. 3. 2The project management office is established to act as support and reporting channel between projects and senior management without removing the accountability or authority of project managers. . 3. 4The project management office provides top management with a consolidated view on all projects within the organisation and thus assists top management in ensuring that all projects are aligned with the strategic direction of the organisation. 1. 3. 5The project management office will provide value-added assis tance to all its identified customers in the organisation. 1. 3. 6The project management office will enable support and facilitate project disciplines with a: * A project life cycle Programme/project management * Project management training * Prioritisation support * Project start-up workshops and project administration ‘With the budget situation JR is worried that none of the projects may get done’, the case reads, this emphasises how the department is financially constrained and several projects are competing over this limited funds. The project management office is equipped with tools and techniques which provide a systematic approach on every project. The PMBOK states ‘†¦.Because projects are unique and involve a certain degree of risk, companies performing projects will generally subdivide their project into several project phases to provide better management control. Collectively these project phases are called the project lifecycle’. (Burke, 201 1; 40) The general project life cycle has four phases: * Concept or initiation phase * Design or planning phase * Implementation or performing phase * Commissioning and handover or closing phase In the initiating phase, projects are identified and selected. They are then authorised using a document referred to as a project charter.The planning phase includes defining the project scope, identifying resources developing a schedule and budget and identifying risks all of which makes up a baseline plan for doing the project work. In the performing phase the plan is executed and work tasks are carried out to produce all the project deliverables and to accomplish the project objective. During this phase the project progress is monitored and controlled to assure the work remains on schedule and within budget, the scope is fully completed according to specifications and all the deliverables meet the acceptance criteria.Also any changes need to be documented, approved and incorporated into a n updated baseline plan if necessary. In the closing phase the project evaluations are conducted lessons learned are identified and documented to help improve performance on future projects and project document are organised and archived. (Clement and Gido, 2012; 9) Phases in a project lifecycle are interrelated which means the previous phase should be successfully completed before progressing to the next phase.In this particular case, JR, the supervisor at a Transportation Department is struggling to make a selection on a project to perform first since there are limited funds. The main focus of this case is based on the initiation phase of the project lifecycle and because of the interrelation of the phases; it has to be successfully completed to move forward to the next phase of project. The initiation phase of the project lifecycle starts with recognising a need, problem or opportunity for which the project or projects are identified to address.Projects are identified in various ways: during an organisation strategic planning, as part of its normal operations, in a response to unexpected events or as a group of individuals deciding to organise a project to address a particular need. It is important to try to quantify the need to help evaluate whether the expected benefits from implementing a project outweigh the costs or consequences of conducting the project. Once the magnitude and the expected benefit or improvement has been estimated the cost for a project to implement the improvement. The transportation epartment of Polk County identified several needs but have limited funds and people available to pursue the projects to address those identified needs. In this case the department must go through a decision making process to prioritise and select the project that will result in the greatest overall benefit. Project selection is making a commitment for the future. The execution of a project will tie up the company resources and as an opportunity cost, the selection of one project may preclude your company from pursuing another (perhaps more profitable) project.We live in a world of finite resources and so cannot carry out all the projects we may want or need. Therefore a process is required to select and rank projects on the basis of their beneficial change to a company. (Burke, 2011: 66). The steps in the project selection process include: * develop a set of criteria against which the project will be evaluated * list assumptions that will be used on the basis of each project * Gather data and information for each project to help ensure an intelligent decision regarding project selection.Methods of gathering this information could include surveys, focus groups, interviews or analysis of available reports * Evaluate each project against criteria. Once all the data and information have been collected analysed and summarised for each potential project it should be given to all the people responsible for performing the evaluation. It is beneficial to the have several individuals in the evaluation and selection process in order to get various viewpoints.Each person on the evaluation and selection committee should have a different background and experience to bring to the decision making process, (Clement and Gido, 2012:35) emphasises that although it may take longer and be more stressful to gain group consensus on projects priorities and selections it will most likely be a better quality decision than if the decision is made by just one individual. The committee may develop a set of evaluation criteria with some type of rating system (such as Low-Medium-High, 1 to 5) against which to rate each potential project against each criterion.Various models can be used in project selection. The main purpose of these models is to aid decision making leading to project selection. The models include: * Numeric models * Non- numeric models A numeric model is usually financially focused and quantifies the project in terms of tim e to repay the investment or return on investment while non-numeric models look at a much wider view of the project considering items such as market share, relocation or environmental issues. Most importantly the models must evaluate projects by how well they meet the company’s strategic goals and corporate mission. 2.NUMERIC MODELS The numeric selection models may be subdivided into financial models and scoring models. The financial models are: * Payback period * Return on investment * Net present value * Internal rate of return Companies tend to prefer financial models and often select solely on profitability. 2. 1SCORING MODELS The numeric models mostly have common limitation, they only look at the financial element of the project. In an attempt to broaden the selection criteria, (Burke, 2011:79) suggest ‘a scoring model called the factor model, which uses multiple criteria to evaluate the project will be introduced’.The factor model simply lists a number of d esirable factors on a project selection pro-forma along with columns to show the rating of each factor. A weighted column can be added to increase the score of important factors while reducing the scoring of the less important. The advantages of using a scoring model are; * It encourages objectivity in decision making * It uses multiple selection criteria to widen the range of evaluation * It uses the simple structure therefore easy to use It uses selection factors structured by senior management, this implies that they reflect the company’s goal and objectives * It makes it easy to change factors. * It uses weighted scoring to reflect the factor’s differential importance * It is not biased towards short run projects favoured by financial models. * It is a weighted model which can also be used as a flag to improve projects by identifying the variance between the factor score and the maximum possible score The disadvantages of using a scoring model are: If the factors a re not weighted they will all equal importance * A simple model may encourage the developments of long lists that could introduce trivia factors and therefore waste management time. Assuming that the county Transportation Department has a budget of hundred million pula (P100  000) to allocate over the three project the researcher has used a scoring model to score some desirable factors on each project. This analysis and evaluation determines which project is critical and assist the project manager to prioritise effectively on which project to perform first followed by others.The figure below shows the factor scoring model for a county Transportation Department. SCORING FACTOR MODEL – PROPOSED SOLUTION| | FACTORS| PROJECT 1| PROJECT 2| PROJECT 3| 1. BENEFITS| 8| 9| 9| alignment to organisation strategy, mission, visions, values|   | 4| 4| 4| impact (organisational Department County)|   | 4| 5| 5|   |   |   |   | 2. COSTS| 4| 6| 8| budget (impact on budget)| 2| 3| 4| expenditure| 2| 3| 4| |   |   |   | 3. TIME| 7| 6| 7| delivery(how long will it take to deliver value to the community| 4| 3| 3| start- up (when can the project start)| 3| 3| 4|   |   |   | 4. RISKS| 5| 7| 9| safety and health (stakeholder and community| 3| 4| 5| environment| 2| 3| 4| |   |   |   | 5 RESOURCES| 7| 7| 8| capacity (at your disposal)| 4| 4| 4| availability| 3| 3| 4| |   |   |   | 6. STAKEHOLDERS| 5| 6| 9| commitment| 2| 3| 4| reputation| 3| 3| 5| TOTAL| 36| 41| 50| PERCENTAGE| 60| 68. 33| 83. 33| Key 5= very good weighting 4= good 0-40% low priority 3=fair 41-60% average priority 2= poor 61- 80% high priority 1= very poor 81- 100%very high priorityA priority list of projects from the model depicts Crockett Creek Bridge on road 1045 will progress under the current budget, if enough funds will be secured. ELK mountain road will follow then lastly the entrance to the Big John’s superstore. Therefore the researcher recommends that the cou nty Transport Department should adopt the project management approach by introducing a project management office. The project management office will be merged into the current county municipality opening structure to undertake all the projects across all departments with expertise.A project will be allocated a project manager and through his knowledge and skills. A methodological approach of project management will be applied. From project initiation phase are identified and selected through planning phase which involves defining the project scope, identifying resources, developing a schedule and budget and identifying resources development risks to the performing phase whereby the plan is execute and finally the closing phase/ project handover where the project lifecycle terminates.This methodological approach would be suitable for Polk County Transportation Department as projects would be executed effectively and effectively. To generate funds for the county, the commissioners can come up with initiatives like introducing road levy, introducing toll gates as well as adjusting tax higher so as to acquire funds for local developments. The crime rate is also igh as the case states that the largest employer is the state correctional institution for female offender, therefore prison as an offenders rehabilitation centre with skills they acquire during their serving period, prisoners can produce goods that can be sold to the local community to generate funds which could assist with the developments. CONCLUSION Polk County faces a problem of under development or road improvement because of limited funds. Multiple projects have been identified to address the current situation, besides the limited funds inadequate skills and lack of proper facilities have been identified.The writer analysed the case, quantified case data, evaluated it and suggests that introduction of project management office in the Polk county municipality would highly benefit the organisation as a proper systematic methodology of project management will be used to tackle and manage all projects effectively and also various fund raising initiatives will be implemented to raise money for the local government for developments. BIBLIOGRAPHY 1. Burke, R. 2011, Project Management Techniques, ( College Edition), China, Burke Publishing 2. Clements, J. P. and Gido J. 2012 Effective Project Management Fifth Edition, Canada. Joe Sabatino