...In project management, a work package (WP) is a subset of a project that can be assigned to a specific part for execution. Because of the similarity, work packages are often misidentified as projects. Work packages are defined by brief statements of Activity Description, Activity Resources of Skill and Expertise, Activity Estimates of Effort and Duration, Activity Schedule, Activity Risks, and Activity Budget. Work Packages are assigned a Work Authorization or Control Account.[1] Estimates of work packages are used in Earned Value Management to calculate the Planned Value. Progress made in the work package is used to calculate the Earned Value. Actual costs charged to the work package are used in variance analysis. What are the Main Differences Between Milestones and Tasks? In many project tools, the differences between milestones and tasks would appear only their duration (milestone has zero length). However they are two completely different things. A task is a defined unit of work with start and finish date and resource and can be measured as 0%-100% complete. A milestone defines a specific status – it cannot be 50%, it is either open or closed (100%). The difference can also be reflected in the semantics, of how the tasks and milestones are expressed. It is good idea to name tasks (activities) in the present tense, for example “Produce draft document” or “Deliver training”. Milestones are listed in the past tense, for example “Software tested. Portfolio project...
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...a mechanical engineer. Somehow he had never envisioned himself becoming a manager of Quality Control. But here he was, waist (waste?) deep in an area where he had received little, formal academic training. Henry was not particularly worried. His training in engineering had been quite rigorous and he felt he could handle whatever technical preparation was needed for the new job. Additionally, before assuming his new duties he had spent several weeks at a quality control (Q.C.) training program run by one of the foremost Q.C. consulting firms in the country---Lopez, Lopez, and Associates (LL&A). The Lopez twins (Lopez J. Lopez and Lopez X. Lopez) offer Quality training from A to Z: from Statistical Process Control to Total Quality Management. Even before attending the program he was aware of the importance of Q.C. at Walsh Cosmetics. Walsh had developed a rather dismal quality record over the years and he fully understood that this must change. Walsh had been purchased by a leading pharmaceutical and consumer products...
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...INDEX FUNDS.. FM n FS PROJECT Active and Passive Management Before we get into the details of index funds, it's important to understand the two different styles of mutual-fund management: passive and active. Most mutual funds fit under the active management category. Active management involves the art of stock picking and market timing. This means the fund manager will put his/her skills to the test trying to pick securities that will perform better than the market. Because actively managed funds require more hands-on research and because they experience a higher volume of trading, their expenses are higher. Passively managed funds, on the other hand, do not attempt to beat the market. A passive strategy instead seeks to match the risk and return of the stock market or a segment of it. You can think of passive management as the buy-and-hold approach to money management. Defn- An index fund a collective investment scheme that aims to replicate the movements of an index of a specific financial market, or a set of rules of ownership that are held constant, regardless of market condition. An index fund is a mutual fund which merely invests in the securities in the index. It is passive, in the sense that absolutely no effort is made to produce results better than the index. HISTORY: Index funds haven't been around forever -- how did they come about? Long ago, there was a student at the University of Chicago who studied modern ideas of finance taught...
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...Unit VIII Article Critique Columbia Southern University DBA 7553 1. Introduction of the Article This article is found in the Directors and Boards magazine. It is written by Donald P. Delves who “is president of the Delves Group, a compensation and corporate governance consulting firm that advises boards of directors” (Delves, 2012). The article is titled “What about everyone else? The problem may not be that executives are paid too much, but that employees are paid too little.” 2. Statement of the Problem Studied In this article, Mr. Delves examined why people complain about executive pay, how companies used to inflate employee earnings, and how companies can increase employee wages now. 3. Significance of the Problem Studied With sky rocketing pay for many executives over the last few decades, many employees have wondered why their pay has not also increased. In the past companies have used stock options to provide incentive for employees and to use these as a pathway to increase employee pay. However with the economic recession and many of the changes in accounting practices, companies could no longer use this incentive to increase wages for employees. Thus Mr. Delves presents the question, “what do we do about [increasing employee incentives]?” (Delves, 2012). If this question can be answered, it has the potential to not only increase employee productivity but also to provide them with increased opportunities. ...
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...1. At what levels does control takes place in this organization? Control can take place at the corporate, divisional, functional, and individual levels. 2. Which output performance standards (such as financial measures and organizational goals) do Managers use most often to evaluate performance at each level? Performance standards include financial measures (such as ratios), organizational goals, and Operating budgets. 3. Does the organization have a management by objectives system in place? If it does, Describe it. If it does not, speculate about why not. Management by objectives (MBO) is a system of evaluating subordinates by their ability to Achieve specific organizational goals or performance standards and to meet operating budgets. Without measuring whether goals or standards are met. A management by objectives system involves the following steps: • Specific goals and objectives are established at each level of the organization. • All levels of employees participate in the goal setting is a process. • Periodic reviews are made of progress toward meeting goals. 4. How important is behavior control in this organization? For example, how much of managers’ time is spent directly supervising employees? How formalized is the organization? Do employees receive a book of rules to instruct them about how to perform their jobs? Behavior control systems are used to enable managers to keep their subordinates on track and make their organizational structures work...
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...The Concept of Program Reengineering J. Olivia Prince-Griffin PAD 500 Modern Public Administration Professor Popejoy May 19, 2012 Abstract This assignment will cover 4 specific areas as it relates to Mayor Schell’s unique initiative to eliminate homeless in Seattle. This report will cover Mayor Schell’s policies choices and their practical outcome. It will cover restructuring Mayor Schell’s program to fit new objectives. Lastly, the report will analyze the importance of conducting assessments prior to new program implementation. Introduction On June 2, 1998, Mayor Schell made a daunting pledge to the community regarding Seattle’s homeless population. He pledged that by Christmas of that year, there would be no more homeless on the streets of Seattle. During the following months Mayor Schell and his Director of the Community Services Division of the Department of Housing and Human Services, Alan Painter, diligently strategized on how to successfully meet this pledge while weighing all the applicable factors. Four Policy Choices of Mayor Schell At the time of Mayor Schell’s pledge, there was an estimated 5,500 homeless on the streets of Seattle nightly (Draft, 2010 pg.1). Of those, 1,300 were homeless while 4,200 had temporary housing (Draft, 2010, pg.1). At that point in time, Seattle had several local programs, such Operation Nightwatch, that assisted such ones with transitional living. One of the first policy choices Schell had make was to insure...
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...ventory planning Chapter 12: Inventory planning and... Study guide | This chapter is relatively unusual in so much as it takes more of a quantitative approach to its topic. While not avoiding quantitative models where they are appropriate, the general approach of this book is to deal with operations management from a ‘general management’ point of view. Here we include some quantitative models of how inventory is managed mainly to demonstrate that some parts of the inventory decision can be quantified. In practice, most of these decision models will be embedded within an operation’s routine stock control computer system. However, whilst working through them remember that it is the underlying principles behind the models which are more important than the mathematics on which the models are based.Your learning objectivesThis is what you should be able to do after reading Chapter 12 and working through this study guide. * Understand what is meant by an inventory and why they exist. * Identify some of the advantages and disadvantages of keeping inventory in an operation. * Understand the basic principles behind the quantitative approaches to deciding how much inventory to keep. * Be able to describe the limitations of traditional quantitative models of inventory decision making. * Identify the two main approaches to managing inventory on an on-going basis.What do we mean by inventory?The chapter discusses inventory (we use the word interchangeably with the word ‘stock’)...
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...Outsourcing: What’s the true Impact? Cameron D. Rafford MGT 580: Intro to Organizational Behavior University of New Hampshire INTRODUCTION Outsourcing has quickly become one of the most controversial business tactics in the United States. Nowadays, if you call the customer service line of a major business or corporation, there’s a good chance you’ll end up talking to someone thousands of miles away. If you go shopping for new clothes, it’s likely that some of the shirts and pants you try on were manufactured by people from foreign countries, in shops far less glamorous than the ones the finished products end up in. Outsourcing is so commonplace in certain industries, we don’t even think twice about it anymore. But over the past few years, the trend has spread to practices far beyond call centers and apparel manufacturing. In fact, you might be surprised at the industries that rely on outsourcing now (Divine, 2010). This paper will examine the effects that outsourcing has already had on business, as well as look a little bit into the future to see what it holds for us down the road. It will focus on how it has affected our economy and society as a whole, as well as the individual organizations and their employees. There are both positive and negative impacts of this way of doing business that need to be realized and accounted for in order for the economy and American business to remain strong. We will reflect...
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...identify specific audit procedures. After his meeting with Smith Company’s new management and predecessor auditor, he is now made aware of possible fraud in the financial statements. With this knowledge, he is now responsible to take steps to identify the errors due to fraud in the financial statements. Initially, Reed and his audit team should assess the risks within Smith Company such as the motives and where opportunities exist to commit fraud. Once all the risk information is gathered, the next step is to audit Smith Company’s financial statements to see if they are prepared in accordance with GAAP and if they are not to identify any material misstatements. During the course of the audit, they should plan and develop tests that account for the risks assessed. As with any audit, Reed, CPA and his staff must “conduct the audit with due professional care and an attitude of professional skepticism.” (Boynton & Johnson. 2006, p. 58) B. Identify and describe Reed’s responsibility to report Smith’s errors and fraud. If Reed, CPA detects that Smith Company’s financial statements are materially misstated, then he should notify the management at Smith Company and have them revise them so that they are in accordance to GAAP with all proper disclosures. Reed has the responsibility to notify others when appropriate including the Board of Directors, the Audit Committee , Senior management of Smith Company. The auditor may not disclose this information to parties outside...
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...| Entrepreneurship | SBMG 6006 | | Discussion on an importance of risk taking and innovation in entrepreneurship. | | 7/14/2011 | | Executive summary: - This academic work explores that how risk taking and innovation play an important role in entrepreneurship process. This report provides critical view about these given topics by examined different models, theories and opinions of different authors etc. This report also puts light on differences between term entrepreneurship and entrepreneur. Methodology: - Introduction: - Entrepreneurship is a dynamic process of vision, change and innovation. It requires an application of energy and passion toward the creation and implementation of new ideas and creative solutions. Entrepreneurship has been categorized in different skills such as inner control, planning and goal setting, risk taking, innovation, reality perception, use of feedback, decision making and human relation etc. Miller (1983) defines entrepreneurship as a multidimensional concept encompassing a company’s action relating to innovation and risk taking and proactive measures.Innovation and risk-taking has an important place in entrepreneurship. Schumpeter (1994) described role of entrepreneurship as tendency of company to engage in and support new ideas, novelty, and experimentation that may result in new products, services. Risk taking describes the nature of entrepreneur. A.H. Cole has explained entrepreneurship as, “the...
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...A Little Beginning for a Succesful Future Been involved in some college organizations and extra activities has given me more than just uncountable networking, but also favorable thoughts, insightful knowledges, until the priceless experiences. Those are things that I have never learnt in a formal way, it’s happened naturally when I’m being in social activities. I love to interact and communicate with people, meet new people, share the experiences, and, hopefully, generate the new ideas. I started to shape my leadership role from the early time I became an university student. Fortunately, I’m in a competitive environment that encourage me to be a future bightful leader. Recently I was in charge at a ITB’s event named Mechanical Festival 2013. I was appointed as a General Advisor, along with the Organizing Committee President, helped the Committee to do their jobs in creating the biggest festival at Teknik Mesin ITB. Giving recommendations, suggestions, and advises to the Committee were my primary duties as a General Advisor. All the working departmens were under my and the OCP’s supervisions. We made sure the Committee worked on the tracks. People might question me why I was involved in other university’s event, I could answer confidently, I need to challenge my self in accordance to the self-development. It was my pleasure to manage and direct people whom I never know before. Though the moments were really exhausted yet stresful, but I was really proud with the result I got...
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... Lastly, I will conclude the extent to which I feel my leadership abilities are consistent with transformative leadership principles, as well as how these abilities will help me in the future. I will also discuss how I might strengthen said abilities in the present. Occupational Background I entered the workplace by the age of fourteen. I managed to get a job bussing tables at a supper club on the lake. I continued working in restaurants until the age of nineteen, moving up the ladder from busser, to hostess, and eventually settling on bartending. I liked restaurant work, for the most part. Truth be told, it was the money that kept me in the field. My experience was so narrow, that I had a hard time getting out of it. Management at this point in my life was never something that interested me; I was content just doing my job. I was immature, and did not have enough responsibility. I had a lot of terrible managers in this line of work, and I attribute that to the many reasons I wanted to get out of the hospitality industry. My ambivalence towards careers changed when I eventually enrolled in the local community college, University of Wisconsin Washington County. By this time I was twenty-one years old, with the hopes of pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Nursing. I was strongly motivated to succeed at this point in my life, and was...
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...managamnet that emphasizes on workflows and specifically on labor productivity. Managers in this period have made a significant influence on managamnet as a whole, since this was the first time managament was considered a science. Frederic Taylor, who is considered to be the father of scientific managament, started developing scietific managament in 1880's. After his theories became famous, there were many more followers of scientific managamanet and many other theorists, like Douglas McGregor. Douglas McGreorg was born in 1906, received quality edcuation, peeking with the Ph.D. form Harward University in 1935. (The Economist) He is most famous for his book "The Human Side of Enterprise", thus his theoy of X and Y. McGregor theorizes that management should view the employees' motivation for work in two distinct ways, Theory X and Theory Y. Theory x is authoritative and it assumes that workers naturally do not like to work and that managers have to make effort to make the employees work. (The Economist) The following are principles of Theory X: 1) The average worker naturally does not like work and will avoid it whenever possible. (2 Managers must always control, motivate, and direct their employees to perform well. (3 Most workers prefer being directed, avoid responsibility, and seek job...
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...Hong Kong listed Luen Thai Holdings, one of the world's leading apparel manufacturing and supply chain services providers, has completed its US$55m acquisition of Singapore-based Ocean Sky Group. Focus: Apparel sales in Asia Pacific 27 March 2013 Apparel sales in the Asia Pacific region are continuing on a golden growth trajectory despite a slowdown in China. Domestic brands are continuing to hold their own, and foreign brands intent on making further inroads are increasingly focusing on lower-tier cities for growth. HONG KONG: Ex-Inditex execs to lead Esprit's new strategy 21 March 2013 Hong Kong-based fashion retailer Esprit has added three more former Inditex executives to its team to lead the company's new corporate strategy as well as develop and implement some of its major projects. CAMBODIA: European activists detained at garment protest 11 March 2013 European activists have been detained by Cambodian police after taking part in a protest outside the E Garment clothing factory near Phnom Penh. Question marks over new zero discharge roadmap 7 March 2013 Leading fashion brands and retailers have joined forces to issue an update on their joint “roadmap” aimed at securing zero discharge of hazardous chemicals in their supply chains by 2020. But the revised plans have already come under fire. In the money: Will Esprit fail in its turnaround efforts? 28 February 2013 Esprit's plans to rejuvenate its brand have been described as a "total calamitous...
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...Acton Burnett, Inc Question 1: What were the main mistakes made by Keene & Ryan in the way they dealt with the different situations described in the case: from the discovery of significant losses in the first quarter of 1975 to their handling of the meeting during which the members of the task-force made their presentations? We believe that the 2 individuals, Keene and Ryan made some serious and basic mistakes in the manner by which they handled the task at hand, despite their extensive experience in their fields, judging from their managerial positions, their educational backgrounds, and the fact that they were selected by the CEO to re-examine the company’s procedures for forecasting sales. We believe that Keene and Ryan spent very little time trying to understand and analyse the situation that was brought forward to them. Although the case does not mention any specific time span on how much time was spent initially analysing the situation, we incur from certain references such as how they just briefly discussed the matter among themselves and the chief operating officer, they were able to reach very critical decisions regarding the task force, the time frame and the general process. However, it is known that it is of utmost importance to understand the problem thoroughly in order to define the appropriate roadmap to finding a solution, assigning the right members to the task force, scheduling an appropriate deadline, and finding an appropriate leader...
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