Gravitational force: An overview

Gravitational force: An overview 1.0 Introduction 1.1 What is gravitational force? Gravitational force is defined as a force of attraction which exerts between two objects with mass. It pulls two objects that have mass. (Gravitation and Gravity n.d.). 1.2 Background Information 1.2.1 The discovery of gravitational force One day, Newton was sitting on his garden and observing the falling of an apple from a tree. A sudden inspiration appeared in his mind. There must be a force exerted on the apple since the apple accelerated while falling down from the tree with zero initial velocity. The force is then called â€Å"gravity† and the acceleration due to the force is called â€Å"acceleration due to gravity† (Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of Gravitation n.d.). 1.2.2 Effects of gravitation on planets If the force of gravity exerts at the top of the trees and mountains, then it must exerts all the way to the orbit of the moon. It is expected that the orbit of the moon around the earth results from the gravitational force as the acceleration due to the gravity can change the velocity of the moon in such a way it followed an orbit around the earth (Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of Gravitation n.d.). 2.0 The Universal Law of Gravitation 2.1 Keplers law of gravitation Keplers Third Law states that the ratio of the cubes of their mean distances from the Sun is same as the squares of the periods of any two planets orbit about the Sun. P represents the time taken for one revolution about the Sun and R represents the distance between the planet and the Sun. The equation indicates that the period for the planet to orbit the Sun is proportional to the radius of its orbit. (Johannes Kepler: The Law of Planetary Motion n.d.). However, the accurate measurements on the orbits of the planets showed that they do not precisely follow Keplers laws. The validity of the Keplers law is corrected by Newton. The mass of the Sun is extremely greater than any other planet. Thus, the force of attraction between planets will be small compared to the force due to the Sun (Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of gravitation n.d.). 2.2 The law of universal gravitation Law of universal gravitation states that every particle in the universe attracts each another with a force that is proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the distance apart squared. This force exerts along the line of centers joining the two particles. The magnitude of the gravitational force can be calculated using the formula: Fg = GMm Fg is the magnitude of the gravitational force r ² G is universal gravitational constant M and m are the masses of the two particles. r is the distance between the two particles. The universal gravitational force is also named universal constant as it is expected to be constant at any times and places. Therefore, it is universally characterized the intrinsic strength of gravitational force (Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of gravitation n.d.). The gravitational constant is very small since we are unaware of the existence of the force of attraction between objects. The accepted value is G = 6.67 x 10-11 Nm ²/kg2. Based on the equation, the greater the distance between two masses, the smaller the gravitational force (Universal gravitation and weight n.d). 3.0 Gravitational fields Gravitational field is defined as the gravitational force felt by a discrete particle in a particular area (Fowler 2006). 3.1 Field strength Gravitational field strength is defined as force, N per unit mass, kg. The definition of gravitational field strength is derived from the Newtons second law, ÃŽ £F=ma. By making acceleration, a, as a subject and then substitute acceleration, a with gravitational field strength, g, and we would obtain a formula, g = F/m. F represents the gravitational force, N whereby m represents the mass of an object, kg. Gravitational field strength close to the earths surface is the same as the gravitational acceleration, 9.8Nkg-1. When the force is not given, gravitational field strength can be calculated by using the formula, g = GM/r ². This formula can be obtained by the substitution of the two equation, F = mg and F = GMm/r ². Hence, resulted in the formation of the equation, g = GM/r ². The greater the value of g, the greater the gravitational field strength (Universal Gravitation and Weight n.d.). 3.2 Principle of superposition In terms of gravitation, principle of superposition refers to the total force of an object. Total force is the addition of all the vectors due to the gravitational fields of force acting on the object (Fowler, 2006). Superposition refers to the masses which interact with each other. To find the total force, we have to find the gravitational force for each mass by using the formula, Fg = GMm/r ². Finally, add up all the forces by using vector addition method (Forces and Fields n.d.). 4.0 Future of Gravitation Einstein theorized that gravity can be explained by the curvature of space time.  Space time is warped by the mass and energy inside of it but not flat. Objects travel in straight line do not hold by mysterious force but follow the curves in space time. The objects move in straight lines along four-dimensional space time but move in elliptical circles in three-dimensional space. Light appears to travel in straight lines although it is actually bent, curved and changed by the fabric of space time. Although it looks like straight out in front of us, it is actually around the corner of the sun because the space time warp morphs the light. We see only the result of the light that is being bent around the sun. This can not be tested since the sun is shining us right in the eyes and we cannot see the stars.  However, it is possible to test out this theory during a total solar eclipse. We are constantly orbiting the sun so we are able to observe the changes of the movement of the star i n orbit (Space Time: The Fabric of the Universe n.d.). 5.0 Conclusion In conclusion, based on the acceptable Newtons gravitational law of gravitation, gravitation is a mutual force. Every particle in the universe attracts every other particle with a force that is directly proportional to the product of their masses and inversely proportional to the square of the distance between them. Therefore, gravitational force is depends on the masses of the bodies and the distance between the two bodies. Reference List Forces and Fields n.d., viewed 29 July 2009, http://electron9.phys.utk.edu/phys136d/modules/m4/efield.htm Fowler, M 2006, Gravitational Field, viewed 29 July 2009, http://galileo.phys.virginia.edu/classes/152.mf1i.spring02/GravField.htm Gravitation and Gravity n.d., viewed 29 July 2009, http://alex.edfac.usyd.edu.au/Methods/Science/studentwork/MassoftheEarth/gravitationandgravity.htm Johannes Kepler: The Laws of Planetary Motion n.d., viewed 29 July 2009, http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/kepler.html Newtons Law of Gravitation n.d., viewed 29 July 2009, http://theory.uwinnipeg.ca/physics/circ/node7.html Sir Isaac Newton: The Universal Law of Gravitation n.d., viewed 6 June 2009, http://csep10.phys.utk.edu/astr161/lect/history/newtongrav.html Space Time: The Fabric of the Universe n.d., viewed 29 July 2009, http://www.astronomy.pomona.edu/Projects/moderncosmo/alexs%20page%201.html Universal Gravitation and Weight n.d., viewed 29 July 2009, http://dev.physicslab.org/Document.aspx?doctype=3filename=UniversalGravitation_UniversalGravitationWeight.xml Intellectual Disability: Causes and Conditions Intellectual Disability: Causes and Conditions Assessment Demonstrate knowledge of causes and associated conditions related to intellectual disability Outcome 1: Define Intellectual Disability Task 1 1.1 Give 2 definitions of intellectual disability in accordance with a recognised source. Follow prescribed APA format when citing sources. Definition 1: Intellectual disability is a disability characterized by significant limitations in both intellectual functioning and in adaptive behaviour which covers many everyday social and practical skills. This disability originates before the age of 18. Source: World Health Organization. Definition 2: Intellectual disability means a significantly reduced ability to understand new or complex information and to learn and apply new skills (impaired intelligence). Source: World Health Organization. 1.2 Using a definition of intellectual disability give 2 explanations of how this impacts on the persons adaptive skills: The person finds it hard to understand and follow social rules and customs and obeying laws. The person finds it difficult to perform the daily activities which include feeding, bathing, dressing, occupational skills, and navigational skills. Using a definition of intellectual disability give 2 explanations of how this impacts on the persons cognitive ability. A person is not able to think, reason, and solve problems or make decision like what to say while answering the telephone or talking to another person. A person is not able to concentrate, learn new things and does not have the ability to talk or write, resulting in the inability to live independently. Reference: FAQ on Intellectual Disability, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Outcome 2: Describe the outcomes of intellectual Disability Task 2 2.1 Give 2 examples of causes of intellectual disability that occur before birth and describe two [2] main characteristics of the effects. Example1: Fragile x Syndrome. Source: Bray, Anne, Definitions of intellectual disability, [Donald Beasley Institute, 2003] Main characteristics: If the mother does not follow a low phenylalanine diet before birth then the infants will have a low birth weight and grow more slowly than other children. The child will have heart defects or other heart problems, like abnormal small head size and behavioural problems. Example 2: Downs Syndrome Source: Bray, Anne, Definitions of intellectual disability, [Donald Beasley Institute, 2003] Main characteristics: It is caused by a random error in cell division and results in abnormality in physical characteristics like small chin, round face and almond eyes. The baby will have shorter limbs, protruding or oversized tongue and also have obesity problems. 2.2 Give 2 examples of causes of intellectual disability that occur during or immediately following birth and describe 2 main characteristics of the effects. Example 1: Premature Birth. Source: World Health Organisation, International Classification of Disability, and Health. Main characteristics: It happens when mothers smoke cigarettes, drink alcohol or use illicit drugs which results in unresponsive reflexes and problem in breathing. If the mother suffers from stressful life events, such as death of a loved one or domestic violence which results in slow heart rate or difficult feeding. 2.3 Give 2 examples of causes of intellectual disability that occur during childhood years and describe the impact on the day to day support needs of the person. Example 1: Malnutrition Source: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Impact: The person will have problems in doing his daily activities like going to school or understand what is happening around him or eating his food at the time and taking his medication. He won’t be able to concentrate in class and will often feel depressed. He will need words of encouragement from his teachers and parents. His daily activities should be monitored and ensure to keep health appointments with the physio, social worker and therapists. Example 2: Brain injuries. Source: Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. Impact: The person will have difficulty with memory tasks like math facts or spelling words. He may not be confident in school will be easily frustrated. He may seem to remember information one day and forget it the next. He will need support in bathing, grooming, and needs reminding of personal hygiene like washing his hands after using the toilet and brushing his teeth. Help from support groups and agencies are also necessary. Outcome 3: Describe conditions frequently associated with intellectual disability. Task 3 Condition 1: Foetal Alcohol syndrome Causes: Mothers drinking during pregnancy leads to foetal alcohol syndrome. Miscarriage, stillbirth premature birth and small birth weight are all associated with it. When a pregnant women drinks alcohol, it easily passes across the placenta to the fetus which can harm the baby’s development. Main Characteristic 1: Children with FAS have distinct facial features including small and narrow eyes, a small head, a smooth area between the nose and the lips and a thin upper lip. Main characteristic 2: They also have hearing and ear problems. Their immune system are also weak due to FAS and they have issues with their height and weight. Description of the Support Needs of the person with the condition: Physical Support: The person needs to be reminded when to take his medicines or needs assistance in taking his medication. They will need assistance in crossing the road and also with daily activities like bathing, grooming and brushing their teeth or putting on their shoes. They will also need speech therapist so that they can interact with their peers. Social Support: The person will need communication and social skills training for interaction with friends, teachers and others. They will need supportive activities like group work to gain confidence and independence. Regular interaction with other children will boost their self-confidence. Cognitive Support: The person will need special education teacher to teach how to talk and what words he should use while talking to someone. He will need a speech therapist to learn how to pronounce a word or say a word clearly. Condition 2: Autism Causes: It is not certain what causes ASD, but it’s likely both genetics and environment play a role. Some studies suggest that people with ASD have abnormal levels of serotonin or other neurotransmitters in the brain. Main Characteristic: 1 People with Autism will have repetitive, obsessive, and unusual behaviour. They will have difficulty in communicating with others does not speak with anyone. They will have excessive lining up of toys or objects and they also have no response to name or social responsiveness. Main Characteristic: 2 They won’t have eye contact while talking to another person and avoid bright lights, noises or physical contact. They won’t be able to understand facial expressions or understand humour or pain, unable to establish friendships and may become isolated. Description of the Support Needs of the person with the condition: Physical Support: They will need an environment which is free from noise and avoid bright lights. They will need constant supervision while doing any work or playing outside. They will need relaxation and stress management like body massage or occupational therapy. Social Support: They will need assistance in learning society rules or social behaviour using logic. They will need advice like how to interact with people and make friends. They will need opportunities for relaxation like chilling out with family and friends. Opportunities for friendships are also important for these people. Cognitive support: The person will need one on one session between him and the therapist. He will need assistance in things like reading a book or solving a math problem. If there is a changes which is made then he should be informed in a manner that makes sense to the person. Reference: FAQ on Intellectual Disability, American Association on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities. Condition 3: Epilepsy Causes: Epilepsy can be due to severe head injury, strokes, birth trauma, brain tumours, toxins, brain infection, brain diseases, genetic condition or drug abuse.In many cases the cause is unknown. Main Characteristic 1: The person affected will have recurring and spontaneous seizures .The person may be unconscious or completely unaware of what is happening. Main characteristic 2: Some people with epilepsy simply stare blankly for a few seconds during a seizure, while others repeatedly twist their arms or legs. Seizures may be partial affecting small part of the brain or generalised, affecting whole brain. Description of the Support Needs of the person with condition: Physical Support: Making sure that the environment is safe while walking around so that they won’t get injured when seizure occurs. The environment should be hazard free. He should be monitored weather he is taking his medication at the right time or is he getting any side effects which needs to be reported to the right people. Social Support: He should be encouraged to attend school and work and needs to be reminded constantly that he should not be ashamed of his condition. He should be encouraged to maintain contact and communication with friends and co-workers. He should not be treated differently from other co-workers only because of his condition and he should be treated with respect. His dignity should be maintained during seizure episodes. Cognitive Support: He could be missing learning opportunities during seizure and might need extra teaching support. Keeping an appointment dairy will ensure that he is keeping up to date with his activities. Reference: Bray, Anne, Definitions of intellectual disability. [Donald Beasley Institute,  2003]

Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE

Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE A Study on the UAE IT Industry ABSTRACT I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I know); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. -Rudyard Kipling This report presents findings of a research project that explored the distinct approaches of UAE-based IT organisations in following different project management practices to deal with their IT projects. Not too much of project management data on UAE IT industry exists today. Therefore it was decided to do a study on it. The research findings are based on a questionnaire survey conducted between July and August 2008 among 200 organisations of UAE. A total of 48 valid responses were received, representing an overall response rate of 24%. The study achieved a primary aim of explanatory and constructivist research, which is to enhance knowledge and understanding of a phenomenon. An emergent-based, general systems approach was adopted for the whole project. General System theory is a holistic and analytical approach to solving complex problems. It recognizes relativity of perception and is a general science of wholeness (Bertalanffy, 1968). The theory was used to break down the whole research technique into various components yet still maintaining the integrity of the research objective. A key finding was the high amount of failure risks that came along with IT projects. In addition, it was found that project management added a lot of value to IT projects and if carried out efficiently it could help avoid the failure risks. A surprise discovery was that although most of the organisations valued project management a lot, they did not have a dedicated Project Management Office (PMO) in place. Further, it was found out that high involvement of external organisations could be one of the factors responsible for the high amount of risks involved with IT projects. It was observed that 25% of the project managers were not aware of the project management maturity levels of their organisations. Project managers seemed to have tough times managing time, cost and risk in IT projects. Also, most of the organisations did not believe in recording the lessons learned and hence knowledge was not transferred to the new projects from the previous ones. Strong indicators probably exist to warrant further research into investigating the basic reasons behind a high percentage of failed IT projects. Further research into the relationship between project management methodology and project success seems warranted on behalf of the indicators provided by the respondents. INTRODUCTION I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work. -Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) If your project doesnt work, look for the part that you didnt think was important   Arthur Bloch The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955) The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. -Bill Gates The Roman bridges of antiquity were very inefficient structures. By modern standards, they used too much stone, and as a result, far too much labor to build. Over the years we have learned to build bridges more efficiently, using fewer materials and less labor to perform the same task. -Tom Clancy (The Sum of All Fears) In 1986, Alfred Spector, president of Transarc Corporation, stated that bridge building could be compared to software development. He added, The premise: Bridges are usually built on-time, on-budget, and do not collapse. On the other hand, software never comes in on-budget or on-time. Also, it always breaks down. One of the biggest reasons why bridges come in on-time, on-budget and do not collapse is because their designs are extremely detailed. Once the designing phase is over, it is then frozen and the contractor has very little flexibility in changing the specifications. However, in todays fast moving business environment, having a frozen design in place means no changes in the business practices. Therefore efforts must be made to use a more flexible model. This could be and has been used as an explanation for development failure. But beside 3,000 years of experience, there is another difference between software failures and bridge collapses. When a bridge collapses, investigation is carried out and a report is written on the cause of the failure. It is not so in the IT industry where failures are covered up, ignored, and/or rationalized. As a result, the same mistakes are repeated over and over again. According to the Standish Group report, more than $250 billion is spent every year on IT application development of approximately 175,000 projects in the United States. The average cost of a development project for a small company is $434,000; for a medium company, it is $1,331,000; and for a large company, it is $2,322,000. A great number of these projects will fail. IT projects have always known to be in chaos. The research showed that a staggering 31.1% of projects got canceled before they ever got completed. Further results indicated that 52.7% of projects had cost 189% of their original estimates. The cost of these failures and overruns were just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The lost opportunity costs were not measurable, but could easily be in trillions of dollars. The extent of this problem can be realized by looking at example of the City of Denver. The failure to produce reliable software to handle luggage at the new Denver airport was costing the city $1.1 million per day. Based on this research, in 1995 American companies and government agencies spent $81 billion for canceled software projects. These same organisations paid an additional $59 billion for software projects that were completed, but had exceed their original time estimates. Risk is always a factor when pushing the technology envelope, but many of these projects were as ordinary as a driving license database, a new accounting package, or an order entry system. On the success side, the average was only 16.2% for software projects that were completed on-time and on-budget. In the larger companies, the news was even worse: only 9% of their projects came in on-time and on-budget. And, even when these projects were completed, many were no more than a mere shadow of their original specification requirements. Projects completed by the largest American companies had only approximately 42% of the originally-proposed features and functions which goes to show that these projects lacked scope management. Smaller companies fared much better in this aspect. 78.4% of their software projects got deployed with at least 74.2% of their original features and functions. 48% of the IT executives in the research sample felt that there were more failures during that period than those five years ago. But it was also observed that over 50% felt that there were fewer or the same number of failures at that point of time than there were five and ten years ago. So the Standish Group reported an improvement in IT project success rates and claimed that it was due to an increased ability to know when to cancel failing projects. Standish Group Chairman Jim Johnson commented: The real improvement that I saw was in our ability to-in the worlds of Thomas Edison-know when to stop beating a dead horseEdisons key to success was that he failed fairly often; but as he said, he could recognize a dead horse before it started to smellIn information technology we ride dead horses-failing projects-a long time before we give up. But what we are seeing now is that we are able to get off them; able to reduce cost overrun and time overrun. Thats where the major impact came on the success rate. (Cabanis, 1998) There is a new or renewed interest in project management today as the number of projects continues to grow and their complexity continues to rise. As already observed, the success rate of IT projects has more than doubled since 1995, but still only about a third are successful in meeting scope, cost, and time goals. More and more projects and organisations can succeed consistently by adopting a more disciplined approach to managing projects. Research Objectives This study provides first-hand information on success and failure rates of IT projects in the UAE and on distinct approaches and methodologies followed by all different kinds of IT organisations in governing IT projects. It also aims to survey attitudes of organisations towards distinct project management processes like cost management, time management, risk management, etc. and establish a future direction for organisations so that they realize the value of the most significant process groups of project management and do not neglect them in the forthcoming projects. It could be useful in the following four areas : (1) it can be helpful for relevant government departments in preparing strategies for project management in the IT industry; (2) it can promote the awareness of commercial benefits of project management among managers in IT companies of UAE and encourage them to seriously consider project management in their businesses; (3) it can increase the competence and confidence in applying project management by local companies by providing management guidance on the selection and development of project management methodologies; and (4) it can be beneficial to the educational institutions of UAE for teaching and conducting further research on information technology project management. According to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), the IT industry consists of three primary sub-sectors : firstly, Technology Software Services, including companies that primarily develop software in various fields such as the Internet, applications, systems, databases management and/or home entertainment, and companies that provide information technology consulting and services, as well as data processing and outsourced services; secondly Technology Hardware Equipment, including manufacturers and distributors of communications equipment, computers and peripherals, electronic equipment and related instruments; and thirdly, Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers. This particular report is confined to the use of project management among the areas of Technology Software Services and Technology Hardware Equipment only. The research was not conducted on the Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers in UAE. Contents of this Report Chapter Two introduces project management and its significance for any business sector. It then demonstrates the rapid growth in adoption of project management in IT projects. This is followed by a synopsis of the UAE market and the UAE IT industry. The chapter ends signifying the impact of project management on the UAE IT industry. Chapter Three expands on the significance of project management as viewed through academic literature. This outlines how project management is known to add value to IT projects and some characteristics observed by organisations that have gone through the process of formalizing project management (Center for Business Practices). Using past works of the last 20 years, it also highlights the most predominant factors responsible for high failures rates of IT projects. This is followed by views of authors on various project management process groups and methodologies. Having discussed not only the pros of project management but also the problems faced during the entire process, Chapter Four is concerned with the research methodology and detailed analysis of the survey conducted. Chapter Five brings out the key survey findings in detail and compares these with the literature surveyed in Chapter Two indicating the extent to which the survey findings break new ground. Chapter Six builds up on the key findings outlined here, their practical implications, and a look towards how this research could be developed. This includes a brief description of limitations of this study and of recommendations on how these limitations could be overcome in subsequent studies. BACKGROUND Project management is the most critical business skill and competency of today that forms the basic building block of a knowledge based company for businesses and professions in oil and gas, petroleum, petrochemicals, chemicals, metal and mining, infrastructures, buildings, IT, Healthcare, Finance, Telecoms, Manufacturing, and many more services and banking industries. Project management was declared to be the best career on earth by the Fortune magazine. Recently, PMI reported that nowadays more and more organisations and government agencies are adopting and making project management a strategic competency. Information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT) are the fastest growing industries in developed and most of the developing countries. Huge amounts of money are still being invested in these industries (Abdel-Hamid Madnick, 1990). Every organisation wants to gain a competitive advantage, maintain it and lead from the front. Hence, there is a corresponding pressure to increase productivity. To maintain a competitive edge in todays fast-changing world, the success of an organisation depends on effectively developing and adopting information systems. According to Zells (1994) and other studies, approximately 85% of IT projects under-taken in the western countries are at the lowest level of capability maturity model (CMM). The challenges at this level are to have project planning, project management, configuration management, and quality assurance in place and have them working effectively. To improve project delivery performance, a number of organisations are adopting project management approaches and setting up project management offices (Barnes, 1991; Butterfield Edwards, 1994; King, 1995; Munns Bjeirmi, 1996; Raz, 1993; Redmond, 1991). Current literature on IT projects shows that most of the IT problems are not technical, they are of management, organisational or behavioral nature. (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Whitten, 1995). Fishers (1991) survey of technology firms showed that if project management improved, time and cost could be reduced by more than 25% and profits would increase by more than 5%. This has since been validated by using different project management methodologies and analyzing the extent to which these practices can be adopted, based on internal benchmarking by the companies involved in the field trials. The UAE Market the UAE IT Industry UAE has realised the significance of project management in the IT due to its rapid growth in the IT industry. As expected by Business Monitor International (BMI), the total size of the UAE IT market is to increase from around US$3.4bn in 2007 to close to US$4bn in 2012. With IT a key element of the Emirates development, a number of major local and federal government initiatives together with a strong and diversifying economy should ensure continued growth over the forecast period. Meanwhile, the oil-led boom across the Middle East will continue to be a boost to IT and infrastructure spending in the UAE. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) As per the BMI report, the federal government is also encouraging the development of smart cities, another regional trend. In 2007 the government announced that its target of getting 90% of businesses online by the end of the year was likely to be met. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and the local telecom provider Etisalat. Investment is expected to be strongest in the government, financial, and oil and gas verticals. Other key non-oil sectors driving the economy include banking and finance, which are likely to be the single largest industry vertical in terms of IT investments over the forecast period. Real estate has also experienced a massive investment boom in the past five years, and this is expected to continue and grow, with the National Bank of Dubai projecting at least US$50bn in outlays in property development in the emirate by 2010. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Industry Developments The BMI report states that the UAE federal governments recently announced UAE Strategic Plan calls for a strengthening of e-government programmes. The focus of the programme is to support implementation of programmes at federal government level. The federal government ministries have often lagged behind progress by the leading local governments, particularly Dubai. As such, Dubai government, which has had many of its departments and services online for some time, will lend expertise to the project. However, local government continues to dominate and accounts for around 20% of total IT Services spending. Dubai Municipality announced that it expects to spend anything between US$1.6mn and US$2.2mn per year over the next few years implementing its plan of getting 90% of government services online. It is likely the organisation will spend at least US$2.8mn annually on e-government initiatives. Abu Dhabi is accelerating its efforts to emulate Dubai, led by the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSEIC), a body created in 2005 to develop and drive initiatives to transform government services in the Emirate. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) From the above trend, it can be observed that the number of IT jobs in UAE has gone up by 5000 percent since 2005. This goes to show how rapidly the UAE IT Industry has grown in the past three years and that it is still going strong. Competitive Landscape According to BMI, with government accounting for as much as 40% of IT spending, and e-government programmes alone around half that, vendors are continuing to find opportunities. Recently the Ministry of Development for the Government sector signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft Gulf whereby Microsoft will support federal e-government programmes with training and technical support. Under the agreement Ministries will also use legal Microsoft software. Meanwhile, the leading body for Abu Dhabis e-government programme, the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSIC) signed an Enterprise Licence Agreement with Oracle. The agreement establishes Oracle as a key technology partner and provides for the Abu Dhabi Government to buy Oracle software solutions and support and maintenance services. The continuing growth in PC sales in 2007 in the UAE did not significantly alter the competitive landscape of a market which accounts for approximately 40% of the overall regional PC sales. Today the market remains dominated by international players such as Acer, Dell and HP with the top five brands accounting for more than 50% of the market. Meanwhile, the share held by local assemblers continues to dwindle, due in part to their relative weakness in the growth area of notebooks. However, local assemblers hope that their future will be brighter since UAE-based firms such as Sky Electronics have already been fighting back. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Hardware The UAE hardware market is estimated at about US$1.4bn in 2007, which shows a 12% growth from US$1.2bn in 2006, and is one of the largest in the region. Much of the growth is due to small and medium enterprise spending, particular on mobile computers, which are expected to account for around 60% of sales over the forecast period. Notebooks are also proving to be popular with the consumer segment, particularly with the introduction of features such as integrated wi-fi, webcam and entertainment features such as HD DVD. Sales of PC notebooks and accessories have been expected to reach more than US$1bn by the end of 2008, while the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the 2007 to 2012 period as a whole is expected to be in the region of 8%. Current and future investments in education and e-government, fuelled by new oil revenues, will lead to desktop rollouts in schools, colleges and government offices across the Emirates. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) Software BMI estimates that the UAEs software spending will pass US$400mn in 2008, representing around 17% of the IT expenditure. CAGR for spending on packaged software is put at 10% over the 2007 to 2012 period, with the UAE being of the regions fastest-growing ERP markets, as more businesses realise the benefits of efficient management of resources within their internal processes. The UAE also has one of the regions lowest software piracy rates at just 35% according to the Business Software Association (BSA), which has praised the UAE government and Ministry of Economy for its efforts in promoting anti-piracy initiatives. The government has combated illegal software in a number of ways, both through anti-piracy legislation and enforcement measures. Customer relationship management (CRM) will be one of the growth areas with fewer than 2% of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East region having a specialised CRM application in place. BMI predicts plenty of room for growth in the forecast period as numerous untapped sub-sectors still exist. Key verticals include process manufacturing (mainly oil and gas), followed by the financial services industry. Two other key segments are the telecom and the public sectors. During the next five years high-growth categories are set to include CRM, enterprise resource planning (ERP) business intelligence, s torage and security products. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) IT Services BMI expects that the IT Services market will reach a value of more than US$1,003mn by 2012, with outsourcing accounting for an increasingly large portion of up to 25%. IT services revenues compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the 2006 to 2012 period is expected to be 10%, encouraging vendors to shift their focus away from simply shifting boxes. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and Etisalat. Outsourcing is also predicted to be a growing trend, with recent landmark outsourcing deals awarded by entities such as the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA)and civil service departments. Global vendors such as IBM Global Services are competing for its business with local companies such as Injazat Data Systems, which with its good government connections has grown to be a major force in the market, reporting BPO deals with 13 leading priva te and public organisations. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) E-Readiness The recent Global Information Technology report sponsored by Cisco noted the UAEs success in creating a good ICT environment by placing it top of the rankings for 122 countries. The survey, which looks at the preference of countries to leverage the opportunities offered by ICT for development and increased competitiveness, praised the UAEs good regulatory environment, and clear government leadership in leveraging IT and promoting its use. According to the report, ICT has empowered individuals and revolutionised the business and economic landscape while fostering social networks and companies. Overall internet penetration in the UAE was estimated at close to 40% by the end of 2006, far above the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) average, reflecting the UAEs status as one of the most advanced IT countries in the middle-east. Broadband penetration is around 10% and is expected to rise 60% over the forecast period. In terms of e-government development, additional new phases to be introduced in the project last year (as mentioned in the Industry Developments section) include e-portal, e-project, the HR Management System (HRMS) and the Financial Management Integration System (FMIS) projects. The e-government High Committee has expressed satisfaction with the progress made on implementation of the e-government initiative to date. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Impact of Project Management on the UAE IT Industry Project management has already had a significant impact on IT organisations in UAE and much more dramatic effects are anticipated for the years to come. Greater attention needs to be paid to the interaction of information technology with business methods, work patterns, employees and organisational culture. It was observed that not too much of research work has been carried out on project management in the IT industry of UAE and this is the precise reason why this study was conducted on the UAE market. LITERATURE REVIEW If we built houses the way we build software, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization. John J. Hamre, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Phillips (2004) states that IT project management could be as as exciting as a white water rafting excursion or as painful as a root canal. In addition, Anthes (2008) points out that IT project management has always earned a high ranking on the annual list of IT managers worries, but in the first-half of the 2008 Vital Signs survey, it took the No. 1 spot. In other words, the process is all about efficiently handling the complexities that come along with IT projects, right from the word go. The study aims to investigate on how difficult it is for organisations to manage IT projects efficiently. Richardson et al. (2006) claims that project failure is based not only on economic criteria but also on requirements, cost and time parameters. He builds up his reasoning by citing examples of the following project surveys : The Robbins-Gioia Survey (2001) The Conference Board Survey (2001) The KPMG Canada Survey (1997) The Chaos Report (1995) According to IT Cortex (2004), the results of these surveys showed that most of the organisations suffered from high project failure rates and that they heavily exceeded the time and budget constraints. Similarly, Schwalbe (2007) reports that IT projects come along with high failure risks. He defends his thoughts with a study which was conducted by the Standish Group (CHAOS) in 1995. In the survey it was found that only 16.2% of IT projects were successful and over 31% were cancelled before completion, costing over US$81 billion in the US alone. However, when the CHAOS study was conducted again in 2001, the results showed improvements in all areas but still only 28% of IT projects succeeded. The 2001 Standish Group report findings as compared to those of the 1995 report were as follows : Time overruns significantly decreased from 222% to 163% Cost overruns were down from 189% to 145% Required features and functions were up from 61% to 67% Successful IT projects rose from to 16% to 28% One of the objectives of this report is to carry out similar work on finding the failure rates of IT projects but on the UAE market, one on which not much research has been carried out till date. In many previous studies, project failures due to time delay, cost overrun, and abandonment of IT projects have been widely reported (Bailey, 1996; Gibbs, 1994; Lucas, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994). In other industries, causes of project failures are investigated and reports written, but in the IT industry their causes are either covered up or ignored. As a consequence, the IT industry keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again (Johnston, 1995). This report takes this a step further by observing what percentage of IT organisations in UAE believe in maintaining project reports and lessons learned logs for their subsequent projects. In many previous studies, the most commonly reported causes of IT project failure were traced out. They were as follows (based on a content analysis of the cited literature): Misunderstood requirements (business, technical, and social) (King, 1995; Lane, Palko, Cronan, 1994; Lavence, 1996); Optimistic schedules and budgets (Martin, 1994); Inadequate risk assessment and management (Johnston, 1995); Inconsistent standards and lack of training in project management (Jones, 1994; OConner Reinsborough, 1992; Phan, Vogel, Nunamaker, 1995); Management of resources (people more than hardware and technology) (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994); Unclear charter for a project (Lavence, 1996); Lack of communication (Demery, 1995; Gioia, 1996; Hartman, 2000; Walsh Kanter, 1988). On the other hand, Karten studies reasons for failure by compiling a list of ten ways that can guarantee project failure : Abbreviate the planning process Dont ask what if? Minimize customer involvement Select team members by seeing who is available regardless of skill Work people long and hard Dont inform management of problems Allow changes at any point Discourage questions from team members Dont give customers progress reports Dont compare project progress with project estimates However, this survey goes a bit deeper and also explores the role of project management methodologies and process groups in helping deliver successful projects. The project management frameworks which are rapidly gaining recognition are ITIL, PMBOK and PRINCE2 (Phillips, 2004). Although Leuenberger (2007) considers ITIL to be one of the worlds best ways to align IT with business objectives, he also claims that his research conducted through IDC shows points out that 60% of mid-sized businesses in Australia either are unaware of, or have no plans to implement ITIL and also that on a global scale, only 20% of the mid-market companies are currently using ITIL. In contrast to ITIL, PMI claims that it has grown to become the most widely recognized and the only global certification for the project management profession with more than 260,000 members in over 171 countries. The survey aims to study the UAE IT industry and clarify such claims made by authors and institutes so that the growth of IT project governance methodologies can in an IT industry of a booming economy can be analyzed. Bainey (2004) states that so many IT projects tend to go over budget, run behind schedule, and deliver products or services poor in quality due to the negligence of integration, consistency and standardization. The report builds up on this by going ahead and investigating the significance of integration management for project managers. Harris (2005) asserts that it is high time that the PMO function is placed in its proper organisational alignment. He believes that not only can it combine the corporate planning process with effective delivery of products and services but also provide external clients with traditional client services for the enterprise as a whole or for respective enterprise business unit Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE A Study on the UAE IT Industry ABSTRACT I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I know); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. -Rudyard Kipling This report presents findings of a research project that explored the distinct approaches of UAE-based IT organisations in following different project management practices to deal with their IT projects. Not too much of project management data on UAE IT industry exists today. Therefore it was decided to do a study on it. The research findings are based on a questionnaire survey conducted between July and August 2008 among 200 organisations of UAE. A total of 48 valid responses were received, representing an overall response rate of 24%. The study achieved a primary aim of explanatory and constructivist research, which is to enhance knowledge and understanding of a phenomenon. An emergent-based, general systems approach was adopted for the whole project. General System theory is a holistic and analytical approach to solving complex problems. It recognizes relativity of perception and is a general science of wholeness (Bertalanffy, 1968). The theory was used to break down the whole research technique into various components yet still maintaining the integrity of the research objective. A key finding was the high amount of failure risks that came along with IT projects. In addition, it was found that project management added a lot of value to IT projects and if carried out efficiently it could help avoid the failure risks. A surprise discovery was that although most of the organisations valued project management a lot, they did not have a dedicated Project Management Office (PMO) in place. Further, it was found out that high involvement of external organisations could be one of the factors responsible for the high amount of risks involved with IT projects. It was observed that 25% of the project managers were not aware of the project management maturity levels of their organisations. Project managers seemed to have tough times managing time, cost and risk in IT projects. Also, most of the organisations did not believe in recording the lessons learned and hence knowledge was not transferred to the new projects from the previous ones. Strong indicators probably exist to warrant further research into investigating the basic reasons behind a high percentage of failed IT projects. Further research into the relationship between project management methodology and project success seems warranted on behalf of the indicators provided by the respondents. INTRODUCTION I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work. -Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) If your project doesnt work, look for the part that you didnt think was important   Arthur Bloch The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955) The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. -Bill Gates The Roman bridges of antiquity were very inefficient structures. By modern standards, they used too much stone, and as a result, far too much labor to build. Over the years we have learned to build bridges more efficiently, using fewer materials and less labor to perform the same task. -Tom Clancy (The Sum of All Fears) In 1986, Alfred Spector, president of Transarc Corporation, stated that bridge building could be compared to software development. He added, The premise: Bridges are usually built on-time, on-budget, and do not collapse. On the other hand, software never comes in on-budget or on-time. Also, it always breaks down. One of the biggest reasons why bridges come in on-time, on-budget and do not collapse is because their designs are extremely detailed. Once the designing phase is over, it is then frozen and the contractor has very little flexibility in changing the specifications. However, in todays fast moving business environment, having a frozen design in place means no changes in the business practices. Therefore efforts must be made to use a more flexible model. This could be and has been used as an explanation for development failure. But beside 3,000 years of experience, there is another difference between software failures and bridge collapses. When a bridge collapses, investigation is carried out and a report is written on the cause of the failure. It is not so in the IT industry where failures are covered up, ignored, and/or rationalized. As a result, the same mistakes are repeated over and over again. According to the Standish Group report, more than $250 billion is spent every year on IT application development of approximately 175,000 projects in the United States. The average cost of a development project for a small company is $434,000; for a medium company, it is $1,331,000; and for a large company, it is $2,322,000. A great number of these projects will fail. IT projects have always known to be in chaos. The research showed that a staggering 31.1% of projects got canceled before they ever got completed. Further results indicated that 52.7% of projects had cost 189% of their original estimates. The cost of these failures and overruns were just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The lost opportunity costs were not measurable, but could easily be in trillions of dollars. The extent of this problem can be realized by looking at example of the City of Denver. The failure to produce reliable software to handle luggage at the new Denver airport was costing the city $1.1 million per day. Based on this research, in 1995 American companies and government agencies spent $81 billion for canceled software projects. These same organisations paid an additional $59 billion for software projects that were completed, but had exceed their original time estimates. Risk is always a factor when pushing the technology envelope, but many of these projects were as ordinary as a driving license database, a new accounting package, or an order entry system. On the success side, the average was only 16.2% for software projects that were completed on-time and on-budget. In the larger companies, the news was even worse: only 9% of their projects came in on-time and on-budget. And, even when these projects were completed, many were no more than a mere shadow of their original specification requirements. Projects completed by the largest American companies had only approximately 42% of the originally-proposed features and functions which goes to show that these projects lacked scope management. Smaller companies fared much better in this aspect. 78.4% of their software projects got deployed with at least 74.2% of their original features and functions. 48% of the IT executives in the research sample felt that there were more failures during that period than those five years ago. But it was also observed that over 50% felt that there were fewer or the same number of failures at that point of time than there were five and ten years ago. So the Standish Group reported an improvement in IT project success rates and claimed that it was due to an increased ability to know when to cancel failing projects. Standish Group Chairman Jim Johnson commented: The real improvement that I saw was in our ability to-in the worlds of Thomas Edison-know when to stop beating a dead horseEdisons key to success was that he failed fairly often; but as he said, he could recognize a dead horse before it started to smellIn information technology we ride dead horses-failing projects-a long time before we give up. But what we are seeing now is that we are able to get off them; able to reduce cost overrun and time overrun. Thats where the major impact came on the success rate. (Cabanis, 1998) There is a new or renewed interest in project management today as the number of projects continues to grow and their complexity continues to rise. As already observed, the success rate of IT projects has more than doubled since 1995, but still only about a third are successful in meeting scope, cost, and time goals. More and more projects and organisations can succeed consistently by adopting a more disciplined approach to managing projects. Research Objectives This study provides first-hand information on success and failure rates of IT projects in the UAE and on distinct approaches and methodologies followed by all different kinds of IT organisations in governing IT projects. It also aims to survey attitudes of organisations towards distinct project management processes like cost management, time management, risk management, etc. and establish a future direction for organisations so that they realize the value of the most significant process groups of project management and do not neglect them in the forthcoming projects. It could be useful in the following four areas : (1) it can be helpful for relevant government departments in preparing strategies for project management in the IT industry; (2) it can promote the awareness of commercial benefits of project management among managers in IT companies of UAE and encourage them to seriously consider project management in their businesses; (3) it can increase the competence and confidence in applying project management by local companies by providing management guidance on the selection and development of project management methodologies; and (4) it can be beneficial to the educational institutions of UAE for teaching and conducting further research on information technology project management. According to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), the IT industry consists of three primary sub-sectors : firstly, Technology Software Services, including companies that primarily develop software in various fields such as the Internet, applications, systems, databases management and/or home entertainment, and companies that provide information technology consulting and services, as well as data processing and outsourced services; secondly Technology Hardware Equipment, including manufacturers and distributors of communications equipment, computers and peripherals, electronic equipment and related instruments; and thirdly, Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers. This particular report is confined to the use of project management among the areas of Technology Software Services and Technology Hardware Equipment only. The research was not conducted on the Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers in UAE. Contents of this Report Chapter Two introduces project management and its significance for any business sector. It then demonstrates the rapid growth in adoption of project management in IT projects. This is followed by a synopsis of the UAE market and the UAE IT industry. The chapter ends signifying the impact of project management on the UAE IT industry. Chapter Three expands on the significance of project management as viewed through academic literature. This outlines how project management is known to add value to IT projects and some characteristics observed by organisations that have gone through the process of formalizing project management (Center for Business Practices). Using past works of the last 20 years, it also highlights the most predominant factors responsible for high failures rates of IT projects. This is followed by views of authors on various project management process groups and methodologies. Having discussed not only the pros of project management but also the problems faced during the entire process, Chapter Four is concerned with the research methodology and detailed analysis of the survey conducted. Chapter Five brings out the key survey findings in detail and compares these with the literature surveyed in Chapter Two indicating the extent to which the survey findings break new ground. Chapter Six builds up on the key findings outlined here, their practical implications, and a look towards how this research could be developed. This includes a brief description of limitations of this study and of recommendations on how these limitations could be overcome in subsequent studies. BACKGROUND Project management is the most critical business skill and competency of today that forms the basic building block of a knowledge based company for businesses and professions in oil and gas, petroleum, petrochemicals, chemicals, metal and mining, infrastructures, buildings, IT, Healthcare, Finance, Telecoms, Manufacturing, and many more services and banking industries. Project management was declared to be the best career on earth by the Fortune magazine. Recently, PMI reported that nowadays more and more organisations and government agencies are adopting and making project management a strategic competency. Information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT) are the fastest growing industries in developed and most of the developing countries. Huge amounts of money are still being invested in these industries (Abdel-Hamid Madnick, 1990). Every organisation wants to gain a competitive advantage, maintain it and lead from the front. Hence, there is a corresponding pressure to increase productivity. To maintain a competitive edge in todays fast-changing world, the success of an organisation depends on effectively developing and adopting information systems. According to Zells (1994) and other studies, approximately 85% of IT projects under-taken in the western countries are at the lowest level of capability maturity model (CMM). The challenges at this level are to have project planning, project management, configuration management, and quality assurance in place and have them working effectively. To improve project delivery performance, a number of organisations are adopting project management approaches and setting up project management offices (Barnes, 1991; Butterfield Edwards, 1994; King, 1995; Munns Bjeirmi, 1996; Raz, 1993; Redmond, 1991). Current literature on IT projects shows that most of the IT problems are not technical, they are of management, organisational or behavioral nature. (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Whitten, 1995). Fishers (1991) survey of technology firms showed that if project management improved, time and cost could be reduced by more than 25% and profits would increase by more than 5%. This has since been validated by using different project management methodologies and analyzing the extent to which these practices can be adopted, based on internal benchmarking by the companies involved in the field trials. The UAE Market the UAE IT Industry UAE has realised the significance of project management in the IT due to its rapid growth in the IT industry. As expected by Business Monitor International (BMI), the total size of the UAE IT market is to increase from around US$3.4bn in 2007 to close to US$4bn in 2012. With IT a key element of the Emirates development, a number of major local and federal government initiatives together with a strong and diversifying economy should ensure continued growth over the forecast period. Meanwhile, the oil-led boom across the Middle East will continue to be a boost to IT and infrastructure spending in the UAE. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) As per the BMI report, the federal government is also encouraging the development of smart cities, another regional trend. In 2007 the government announced that its target of getting 90% of businesses online by the end of the year was likely to be met. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and the local telecom provider Etisalat. Investment is expected to be strongest in the government, financial, and oil and gas verticals. Other key non-oil sectors driving the economy include banking and finance, which are likely to be the single largest industry vertical in terms of IT investments over the forecast period. Real estate has also experienced a massive investment boom in the past five years, and this is expected to continue and grow, with the National Bank of Dubai projecting at least US$50bn in outlays in property development in the emirate by 2010. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Industry Developments The BMI report states that the UAE federal governments recently announced UAE Strategic Plan calls for a strengthening of e-government programmes. The focus of the programme is to support implementation of programmes at federal government level. The federal government ministries have often lagged behind progress by the leading local governments, particularly Dubai. As such, Dubai government, which has had many of its departments and services online for some time, will lend expertise to the project. However, local government continues to dominate and accounts for around 20% of total IT Services spending. Dubai Municipality announced that it expects to spend anything between US$1.6mn and US$2.2mn per year over the next few years implementing its plan of getting 90% of government services online. It is likely the organisation will spend at least US$2.8mn annually on e-government initiatives. Abu Dhabi is accelerating its efforts to emulate Dubai, led by the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSEIC), a body created in 2005 to develop and drive initiatives to transform government services in the Emirate. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) From the above trend, it can be observed that the number of IT jobs in UAE has gone up by 5000 percent since 2005. This goes to show how rapidly the UAE IT Industry has grown in the past three years and that it is still going strong. Competitive Landscape According to BMI, with government accounting for as much as 40% of IT spending, and e-government programmes alone around half that, vendors are continuing to find opportunities. Recently the Ministry of Development for the Government sector signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft Gulf whereby Microsoft will support federal e-government programmes with training and technical support. Under the agreement Ministries will also use legal Microsoft software. Meanwhile, the leading body for Abu Dhabis e-government programme, the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSIC) signed an Enterprise Licence Agreement with Oracle. The agreement establishes Oracle as a key technology partner and provides for the Abu Dhabi Government to buy Oracle software solutions and support and maintenance services. The continuing growth in PC sales in 2007 in the UAE did not significantly alter the competitive landscape of a market which accounts for approximately 40% of the overall regional PC sales. Today the market remains dominated by international players such as Acer, Dell and HP with the top five brands accounting for more than 50% of the market. Meanwhile, the share held by local assemblers continues to dwindle, due in part to their relative weakness in the growth area of notebooks. However, local assemblers hope that their future will be brighter since UAE-based firms such as Sky Electronics have already been fighting back. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Hardware The UAE hardware market is estimated at about US$1.4bn in 2007, which shows a 12% growth from US$1.2bn in 2006, and is one of the largest in the region. Much of the growth is due to small and medium enterprise spending, particular on mobile computers, which are expected to account for around 60% of sales over the forecast period. Notebooks are also proving to be popular with the consumer segment, particularly with the introduction of features such as integrated wi-fi, webcam and entertainment features such as HD DVD. Sales of PC notebooks and accessories have been expected to reach more than US$1bn by the end of 2008, while the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the 2007 to 2012 period as a whole is expected to be in the region of 8%. Current and future investments in education and e-government, fuelled by new oil revenues, will lead to desktop rollouts in schools, colleges and government offices across the Emirates. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) Software BMI estimates that the UAEs software spending will pass US$400mn in 2008, representing around 17% of the IT expenditure. CAGR for spending on packaged software is put at 10% over the 2007 to 2012 period, with the UAE being of the regions fastest-growing ERP markets, as more businesses realise the benefits of efficient management of resources within their internal processes. The UAE also has one of the regions lowest software piracy rates at just 35% according to the Business Software Association (BSA), which has praised the UAE government and Ministry of Economy for its efforts in promoting anti-piracy initiatives. The government has combated illegal software in a number of ways, both through anti-piracy legislation and enforcement measures. Customer relationship management (CRM) will be one of the growth areas with fewer than 2% of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East region having a specialised CRM application in place. BMI predicts plenty of room for growth in the forecast period as numerous untapped sub-sectors still exist. Key verticals include process manufacturing (mainly oil and gas), followed by the financial services industry. Two other key segments are the telecom and the public sectors. During the next five years high-growth categories are set to include CRM, enterprise resource planning (ERP) business intelligence, s torage and security products. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) IT Services BMI expects that the IT Services market will reach a value of more than US$1,003mn by 2012, with outsourcing accounting for an increasingly large portion of up to 25%. IT services revenues compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the 2006 to 2012 period is expected to be 10%, encouraging vendors to shift their focus away from simply shifting boxes. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and Etisalat. Outsourcing is also predicted to be a growing trend, with recent landmark outsourcing deals awarded by entities such as the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA)and civil service departments. Global vendors such as IBM Global Services are competing for its business with local companies such as Injazat Data Systems, which with its good government connections has grown to be a major force in the market, reporting BPO deals with 13 leading priva te and public organisations. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) E-Readiness The recent Global Information Technology report sponsored by Cisco noted the UAEs success in creating a good ICT environment by placing it top of the rankings for 122 countries. The survey, which looks at the preference of countries to leverage the opportunities offered by ICT for development and increased competitiveness, praised the UAEs good regulatory environment, and clear government leadership in leveraging IT and promoting its use. According to the report, ICT has empowered individuals and revolutionised the business and economic landscape while fostering social networks and companies. Overall internet penetration in the UAE was estimated at close to 40% by the end of 2006, far above the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) average, reflecting the UAEs status as one of the most advanced IT countries in the middle-east. Broadband penetration is around 10% and is expected to rise 60% over the forecast period. In terms of e-government development, additional new phases to be introduced in the project last year (as mentioned in the Industry Developments section) include e-portal, e-project, the HR Management System (HRMS) and the Financial Management Integration System (FMIS) projects. The e-government High Committee has expressed satisfaction with the progress made on implementation of the e-government initiative to date. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Impact of Project Management on the UAE IT Industry Project management has already had a significant impact on IT organisations in UAE and much more dramatic effects are anticipated for the years to come. Greater attention needs to be paid to the interaction of information technology with business methods, work patterns, employees and organisational culture. It was observed that not too much of research work has been carried out on project management in the IT industry of UAE and this is the precise reason why this study was conducted on the UAE market. LITERATURE REVIEW If we built houses the way we build software, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization. John J. Hamre, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Phillips (2004) states that IT project management could be as as exciting as a white water rafting excursion or as painful as a root canal. In addition, Anthes (2008) points out that IT project management has always earned a high ranking on the annual list of IT managers worries, but in the first-half of the 2008 Vital Signs survey, it took the No. 1 spot. In other words, the process is all about efficiently handling the complexities that come along with IT projects, right from the word go. The study aims to investigate on how difficult it is for organisations to manage IT projects efficiently. Richardson et al. (2006) claims that project failure is based not only on economic criteria but also on requirements, cost and time parameters. He builds up his reasoning by citing examples of the following project surveys : The Robbins-Gioia Survey (2001) The Conference Board Survey (2001) The KPMG Canada Survey (1997) The Chaos Report (1995) According to IT Cortex (2004), the results of these surveys showed that most of the organisations suffered from high project failure rates and that they heavily exceeded the time and budget constraints. Similarly, Schwalbe (2007) reports that IT projects come along with high failure risks. He defends his thoughts with a study which was conducted by the Standish Group (CHAOS) in 1995. In the survey it was found that only 16.2% of IT projects were successful and over 31% were cancelled before completion, costing over US$81 billion in the US alone. However, when the CHAOS study was conducted again in 2001, the results showed improvements in all areas but still only 28% of IT projects succeeded. The 2001 Standish Group report findings as compared to those of the 1995 report were as follows : Time overruns significantly decreased from 222% to 163% Cost overruns were down from 189% to 145% Required features and functions were up from 61% to 67% Successful IT projects rose from to 16% to 28% One of the objectives of this report is to carry out similar work on finding the failure rates of IT projects but on the UAE market, one on which not much research has been carried out till date. In many previous studies, project failures due to time delay, cost overrun, and abandonment of IT projects have been widely reported (Bailey, 1996; Gibbs, 1994; Lucas, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994). In other industries, causes of project failures are investigated and reports written, but in the IT industry their causes are either covered up or ignored. As a consequence, the IT industry keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again (Johnston, 1995). This report takes this a step further by observing what percentage of IT organisations in UAE believe in maintaining project reports and lessons learned logs for their subsequent projects. In many previous studies, the most commonly reported causes of IT project failure were traced out. They were as follows (based on a content analysis of the cited literature): Misunderstood requirements (business, technical, and social) (King, 1995; Lane, Palko, Cronan, 1994; Lavence, 1996); Optimistic schedules and budgets (Martin, 1994); Inadequate risk assessment and management (Johnston, 1995); Inconsistent standards and lack of training in project management (Jones, 1994; OConner Reinsborough, 1992; Phan, Vogel, Nunamaker, 1995); Management of resources (people more than hardware and technology) (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994); Unclear charter for a project (Lavence, 1996); Lack of communication (Demery, 1995; Gioia, 1996; Hartman, 2000; Walsh Kanter, 1988). On the other hand, Karten studies reasons for failure by compiling a list of ten ways that can guarantee project failure : Abbreviate the planning process Dont ask what if? Minimize customer involvement Select team members by seeing who is available regardless of skill Work people long and hard Dont inform management of problems Allow changes at any point Discourage questions from team members Dont give customers progress reports Dont compare project progress with project estimates However, this survey goes a bit deeper and also explores the role of project management methodologies and process groups in helping deliver successful projects. The project management frameworks which are rapidly gaining recognition are ITIL, PMBOK and PRINCE2 (Phillips, 2004). Although Leuenberger (2007) considers ITIL to be one of the worlds best ways to align IT with business objectives, he also claims that his research conducted through IDC shows points out that 60% of mid-sized businesses in Australia either are unaware of, or have no plans to implement ITIL and also that on a global scale, only 20% of the mid-market companies are currently using ITIL. In contrast to ITIL, PMI claims that it has grown to become the most widely recognized and the only global certification for the project management profession with more than 260,000 members in over 171 countries. The survey aims to study the UAE IT industry and clarify such claims made by authors and institutes so that the growth of IT project governance methodologies can in an IT industry of a booming economy can be analyzed. Bainey (2004) states that so many IT projects tend to go over budget, run behind schedule, and deliver products or services poor in quality due to the negligence of integration, consistency and standardization. The report builds up on this by going ahead and investigating the significance of integration management for project managers. Harris (2005) asserts that it is high time that the PMO function is placed in its proper organisational alignment. He believes that not only can it combine the corporate planning process with effective delivery of products and services but also provide external clients with traditional client services for the enterprise as a whole or for respective enterprise business unit

Writing a Synthesis Essay :: Synthesis Essay

A synthesis essay should be organized so that others can understand the sources and evaluate your comprehension of them and their presentation of specific data, themes, etc. The following format works well: The introduction (usually one paragraph) 1. Contains a one-sentence statement that sums up the focus of your synthesis. 2. Also introduces the texts to be synthesized: (i) Gives the title of each source (following the citation guidelines of whatever style sheet you are using); (ii) Provides the name of each author; (ii) Sometimes also provides pertinent background information about the authors, about the texts to be summarized, or about the general topic from which the texts are drawn. The body of a synthesis essay: This should be organized by theme, point, similarity, or aspect of the topic. Your organization will be determined by the assignment or by the patterns you see in the material you are synthesizing. The organization is the most important part of a synthesis, so try out more than one format. Be sure that each paragraph: 1. Begins with a sentence or phrase that informs readers of the topic of the paragraph; 2. Includes information from more than one source; 3. Clearly indicates which material comes from which source using lead in phrases and in-text citations. [Beware of plagiarism: Accidental plagiarism most often occurs when students are synthesizing sources and do not indicate where the synthesis ends and their own comments begin or vice verse.] 4. Shows the similarities or differences between the different sources in ways that make the paper as informative as possible; 5. Represents the texts fairly--even if that seems to weaken the paper! Look upon yourself as a synthesizing machine; you are simply repeating what the source says, in fewer words and in your own words. But the fact that you are using your own words does not mean that you are in anyway changing what the source says. Conclusion. When you have finished your paper, write a conclusion reminding readers of the most significant themes you have found and the ways they connect to the overall topic.

morality :: essays research papers fc

Philosophy Papers Same Day Delivery! Only $9.95/page + FREE Bibliography!!! Papers On More Philosophers & Philosophies Page 3 of 36 Previous Next Immanuel Kant's 'Critique Of Pure Reason' [ send me this paper ] A 5 page paper that provides an analysis of Kant's work and focuses on the ideal of pure reason as a central development. No additional sources cited. Filename: Kantreas.wps Immanuel Kant's Concept of Good Will Analyzed [ send me this paper ] A 5 page paper which examines German philosopher Immanuel Kant's good will principle as articulated in his 1785 work, The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals (also known as The Grounding For the Metaphysics of Morals. Specifically analyzed is why good will is considered to be good, according to Kant, and how it is expressed. Bibliography lists 2 sources. Filename: GdWillAn.wps Immanuel Kant's 'Critique Of Pure Reason' [ send me this paper ] A 5 page paper that provides an analysis of Kant's work and focuses on the ideal of pure reason as a central development. No additional sources cited. Filename: Kantreas.wps Immanuel Kant's Concept of Good Will Analyzed [ send me this paper ] A 5 page paper which examines German philosopher Immanuel Kant's good will principle as articulated in his 1785 work, The Fundamental Principles of the Metaphysics of Morals (also known as The Grounding For the Metaphysics of Morals. Specifically analyzed is why good will is considered to be good, according to Kant, and how it is expressed. Bibliography lists 2 sources. Filename: GdWillAn.wps Immanuel Kant’s A Priori Knowledge and Time [ send me this paper ] This 5 page report discusses Immanuel Kant’s meaning regarding the â€Å"two pure forms of sensible intuition† being â€Å"a priori knowledge† and â€Å"time† as discussed in his Critique of Pure Reason published in 1781. Kant (1724-1804) believed individual thought to be the framework by which the individual was able to determine the appropriate category into which one thought process or pattern would fit over another. One of his first statements in the Critique is that: â€Å"In the order of time, therefore, we have no knowledge antecedent to experience, and with experience all our knowledge begins.† This paper looks at what he means by such a ststaement and how it relates to the nature and relaity of space and time. Bibliography lists one source. Filename: BWkantcp.wps Kant and Hume: A comparison of views on Ethics : [ send me this paper ] The study of Ethics is an inquiry into the foundations of values. It is a concern with the eventual outcome of the action and experience of every day life.

Apush Chapter 6 Outline Notes Essay

I. The Urban Frontier By 1890, New York, Chicago, and Philadelphia all had a population greater than 1 million. Louis Sullivan contributed to the development of the skyscraper. City limits were extended outward by electric trolleys. People were attracted to the cities by amenities such as electricity, indoor plumbing, and telephones. Trash became a large problem in cities due to throwaway bottles, boxes, bags, and cans. II. The New Immigration The New Immigrants of the 1880s came from southern and eastern Europe. They came from countries with little history of democratic government, where people had grown accustomed to harsh living conditions. Some Americans feared that the New Immigrants would not assimilate to life in their new land. They began asking if the nation had become a melting pot or a dumping ground. III. Southern Europe Uprooted Immigrants left their native countries because Europe had no room for them. The population of Europe nearly doubled in the century after 1800 due to abundant supplies of fish and grain from America and the widespread cultivation of Europe. â€Å"America fever† caught on in Europe as the United States was portrayed as a land of great opportunities. Persecutions of minorities in Europe sent many fleeing immigrants to the United States. Many immigrants never intended to stay in America forever; a large number returned home with money. Those immigrants who stayed in the United States struggled to preserve their traditional culture. IV. Reactions to the New Immigration The federal government did virtually nothing to ease the assimilation of immigrants into American society. Trading jobs and services for votes, a powerful boss might claim the loyalty of thousands of followers. In return for their support at the polls, the boss provided jobs on the city’s payroll, found housing for new arrivals, and helped get schools, parks, and hospitals built in immigrant neighborhoods. The nation’s social conscience gradually awakened to the troubles of cities. Walter Rauschenbusch and Washington Gladden were Protestant clergymen who sought to apply the lessons of Christianity to the slums and factories. Jane Addams established Hull House, the most prominent American settlement house. Addams condemned war as well as poverty. Hull House offered instruction in English, counseling to help immigrants deal with American big-city life, childcare services for working mothers, and cultural activities for neighborhood residents. Lillian Wald established Henry Street Settlement in New York in 1893. The settlement houses became centers of women’s activism and of social reform. Florence Kelley was a lifelong battler for the welfare of women, children, blacks, and consumers. The pioneering work of Addams, Wald, and Kelley helped to create the trail that many women later followed into careers in the new profession of social work. The urban frontier opened new possibilities for women. The vast majority of working women were single due to the fact that society considered employment for wives and mothers taboo. V. Narrowing the Welcome Mat Ant foreignism, or nativism, arose in the 1880s with intensity. Nativists worried that the original Anglo-Saxon population would soon be outnumbered and outvoted. Nativists considered eastern and southern European immigrants inferior to themselves. They blamed the immigrants for the dreadful conditions of urban government, and unionists attacked the immigrants for their willingness to work for small wages. Among the antiforeigner organizations formed was the American Protective Association (APA). Created in 1887, it urged to vote against Roman Catholic candidates for office. Organized labor was quick to show its negative attitude towards immigrants. Immigrants were frequently used as strike-breakers. In 1882, Congress passed the first restrictive law against immigrants. It forced paupers, criminals, and convicts back to their home countries. In 1885, Congress prohibited the importation of foreign workers under contract-usually for substandard wages. Federal laws were later enacted that were made to keep the undesirables out of America. In 1882, Congress barred the Chinese completely from immigrating to the United States (Chinese Exclusion Act). VI. Churches Confront the Urban Challenge Protestant churches suffered significantly from the population move to the cities, where many of their traditional doctrines and pastoral approaches seemed irrelevant. A new generation of urban revivalists stepped into this spreading moral vacuum. Dwight Lyman Moody, a Protestant evangelist, proclaimed a gospel of kindness and forgiveness. He contributed to adapting the old-time religion to the facts of city life. The Moody Bible Institute was founded in Chicago in 1889 to carry out his work. Roman Catholic and Jewish faiths were gaining enormous strength from the New Immigration. By 1890, there were over 150 religious denominations in the United States. The Church of Christ, Scientist was founded in 1879 by Mary Baker Eddy who preached that the true practice of Christianity heals sickness. VII. Darwin Disrupts the Churches Published in 1859 by Charles Darwin, On the Origin of the Species stated that humans had slowly evolved from lower forms of life. The theory of evolution cast serious doubt on the idea of religion. Conservatives stood firmly in their beliefs of God and religion, while Modernists flatly refused to accept the Bible in its entirety. VIII. The Lust for Learning During this time period, public education and the idea of tax-supported elementary schools and high schools were gathering strength. Teacher-training schools, called â€Å"normal schools†, experienced great expansion after the Civil War. The New Immigration in the 1880s and 1890s brought new strength to the private Catholic parochial schools, which were fast becoming a major part of the nation’s educational structure. Public schools excluded millions of adults. Crowded cities generally provided better educational facilities than the old one-room rural schoolhouses. IX. Booker T. Washington and Education for Black People The South lagged far behind other regions in public education, and African-Americans suffered the most. The leading champion of black education was ex-slave Booker T. Washington. He taught in 1881 at the black normal and industrial school at Tuskegee, Alabama. His self-help approach to solving the nation’s racial problems was labeled â€Å"accommodationist† because it stopped short of directly challenging white supremacy. Washington avoided the issue of social equality. George Washington Carver taught and researched at Tuskegee Institute in 1896. He became an internationally famous agricultural chemist. Black leaders, including Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, attacked Booker T. Washington because Washington condemned the black race to manual labor and perpetual inferiority. Du Bois helped to form the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1910. X. The Hallowed Halls of Ivy Female and black colleges shot up after the Civil War. The Morrill Act of 1862, passed after the Southern states had seceded, provided a generous grant of the public lands to the states for support of education. The Hatch Act of 1887 extended the Morrill Act and provided federal funds for the establishment of agricultural experiment stations in connection with the land-grant colleges. Millionaires and tycoons donated generously to the educational system. Johns Hopkins University, founded in 1876, maintained the nation’s first high-grade graduate school. XI. The March of the Mind Due to new scientific gains, public health increased. William James made a large impact in psychology through his numerous writings. XII. The Appeal of the Press The Library of Congress was founded in 1897 from the donations of Andrew Carnegie. The invention of the Linotype in 1885 increased the production of texts. Joseph Pulitzer was a leader in the techniques of sensationalism in St. Louis. William Randolph Hearst built up a chain of newspapers beginning with the San Francisco Examiner in 1887. The Associated Press, founded in the 1840s, was gaining strength and wealth. XIII. Apostles of Reform Magazines partially satisfied the public appetite for good reading. Possibly the most influential journal of all was the New York Nation. Started in 1865 by Edwin L. Godkin, it crusaded militantly for civil-service reform, honesty in government, and a moderate tariff. Henry George, another journalistic author, wrote the book Progress and Poverty in 1879, which attempted to solve the association of progress with poverty. According to George, the pressure of growing population on a fixed supply of land unjustifiably pushed up property values, showering unearned profits on owners of land. He supported a single tax. Edward Bellamy wrote the socialistic novel, Looking Backward, in which the year 2000 contained nationalized big business to serve the public interest. XIV. Postwar Writing As literacy increased, so did book reading. â€Å"Dime novels† were short books that usually told of the wilds of the West. General Lewis Wallace wrote the novel, Ben Hur: A Tale of the Christ, to combat Darwinism. Horatio Alger was a Puritan-driven New Englander who wrote more than 100 volumes of juvenile fiction involving New York newsboys in 1866. XV. Literary Landmarks In novel writing, the romantic sentiment of a youthful era was giving way to the crude human comedy and drama of the world. In 1899, feminist Kate Chopin wrote about adultery, suicide, and women’s ambitions in The Awakening. Mark Twain was a journalist, humorist, satirist, and opponent of social injustice. He recaptured the limits of realism and humor in the authentic American dialect. Bret Harte was also an author of the West, writing in California of gold-rush stories. William Dean Howells became the editor in chief of the prestigious Boston-based Atlantic Monthly. He wrote about ordinary people and about contemporary, and sometimes controversial, social themes. Stephen Crane wrote about the unpleasant underside of life in urban, industrial America. Henry James wrote of the confrontation of innocent Americans with subtle Europeans. His novels frequently included women as the central characters, exploring their inner reactions to complex situations with a skill that marked him as a master of psychological realism. By 1900, portrayals of modern-day life and social problems were the literary order of the day. Jack London was a famous nature writer who turned to depicting a possible fascistic revolution in The Iron Heel. Black writer Paul Laurence Dunbar embraced the use of black dialect and folklore to capture the richness of southern black culture. Theodore Dreiser wrote with disregard for prevailing moral standards. XVI. The New Morality Victoria Woodhull wrote the periodical, Woodhull and Clafin’s Weekly in 1872, which proclaimed her belief in free love. Anthony Comstock made a life-long war on the immoral. The Comstock Law censored â€Å"immoral† material from the public. XVII. Families and Women in the City Urban life launched the era of divorce. People in the cities were having fewer children because more children would mean more mouths to feed. Women were growing more independent in the urban environment. Feminist Charlotte Perkins Gilman called upon women to abandon their dependent status and contribute to the larger life of the community through productive involvement in the economy. XVIII. In 1890, the National American Woman Suffrage Association was founded. The re-born suffrage movement and other women’s organization excluded black women. Ida B. Wells helped to launch the black women’s club movement, which led to the establishment of the National Association of Colored Women in 1896. XIX. Prohibition of Alcohol and Social Progress Liquor consumption had increased in the days of the Civil War and had continued to flourish afterwards. The National Prohibition Party was formed in 1869. The Woman’s Christian Temperance Union was formed in 1874 by militant women. The Anti-Saloon League was sweeping new states into prohibiting alcohol, and in 1919, the national prohibition amendment (18th) was passed. XX. Artistic Triumphs Music and portrait painting was gaining popularity. The phonograph, invented by Thomas Edison, enabled the reproduction of music by mechanical means. XXI. The Business of Amusement The circus, arising to American demand for fun, emerged in the 1880s. Baseball was also emerging as the national pastime, and in the 1870s a professional league was formed. The move to spectator sports was exemplified by football. Basketball was invented in 1891 by James Naismith.

Promote professional development Essay

Outcome 3: Be able to prepare a professional development plan 3.1 Select learning opportunities to meet development objectives and reflect personal learning style I need to ensure that my own training is up to date and current. I will source training courses and liaise with my manager to get authorisation for them. I work with my service manager to understand the organisational objectives for my role and to establish if I need training to meet these objectives. Sometimes I will only need to do some research to gain the knowledge that I need. As a trainer it is important that I attend refresher training to keep my skill up to date and in line with current legislation. We are all different and as such have preferred methods for learning new skills, by understanding the memory process we may be able to develop effective learning. The Atkinson-Schiffrin model described by Malim and Birch puts memory into 3 steps with the input of information going into the brain at level 1 which is the short-term m emory this information is then analysed and any unwanted information is discarded here. Anything your brain considers useful goes into the long-term memory where it is retained. However, if we do not recall certain information within 1-8 hours the possibility of recalling that information drops dramatically and the more time goes by without recalling it the worse chance we have of remembering it. By the time a month has gone by the information may be lost in the depths of our brain. This ‘lost’ information is not lost forever, it is possible to recall it but it may mean you will need to just relax and try and ‘clear your mind’ or it may mean you will have to read about the information again. As trainers we are not always able deliver training in a way that suits every individual. We need to understand the different methods of learning. Honey and Mumford are best known for their learning style questionnaire. This self-administered questionnaire determines your preferred learning style. The styles are: Activitists (Do) – Immerse themselves fully in new experiences; Enjoy here and now; Open minded, enthusiastic, flexible; Act first, consider consequences later; Seek to centre activity around themselves. Reflectors (Review) – Stand back and observe; Cautious, take a back seat; Collect and analyze data about experience and events, slow to reach conclusions; Use information from past,  present and immediate observations to maintain a big picture perspective. Theorists (Conclude) – Think through problems in a logical manner, value rationality and objectivity; Assimilate disparate facts into coherent theories; Disciplined, aiming to fit things into rational order; Keen on basic assumptions, principles, theories, models and systems thinking. Pra gmatists (Plan) – Keen to put ideas, theories and techniques into practice; Search new ideas and experiment; Act quickly and confidently on ideas, gets straight to the point; Are impatient with endless discussion. 3.2 Produce a plan for own professional development, using an appropriate source of support we have a Performance and Development process (PDP). Part of this process involves setting objectives and producing a development plan for the next 12 month period. I work with the service manager to produce a development plan that reflects my personal objectives and the objectives that are set . The objectives set should be SMART: Specific Measurable Achievable Realistic Time-limited 3.3 Establish a process to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan As part of the Performance and Development Process the objectives are reviewed every quarter. If the objectives have been meet new objectives can then be set. If the objectives have not been meet then the progress is discussed, it may be decided to modify the objectives if they are no longer SMART. As managers we meet regularly with our service manager and the HR consultant. We discuss the effectiveness of the process and any improvements that could be made.