Washington As A President Born Abroad Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Washington As A President Born Abroad - Essay Example As per the requirements of the US Constitution, only a citizen by natural birth or an already citizen of the United States during the adoption of the constitution is eligible to election to the Office of the President. Additionally, the Office of the President remains eligible for persons with thirty-five years of age and above, and have been residents within the United States borders for fourteen years. From the amendment; however, all person born or naturalized in the United States are subject to their jurisdiction, citizens of the United States and in the particular state in which they reside. The Constitution clearly states that one's eligibility to run for president of the United States requires that the person be a natural-born citizen, an aspect that is then assumed by many that the president's eligibility refers to individuals physically born in the United States, but is such usually the case? Ideally, the constitution remains vague on the definition of natural born, with a n umber of status defining a natural-born U.S. citizen as an individual entitled to be so "at birth" or "by birth," without regard to the particular place of birth as long as either or both of the parents are United States citizens. Determination of George Washington's United States citizenship and eligibility to run and be elected as president of the United States is an aspect that requires an in-depth analysis. George Washington was a Virginian by birth, though the United States never existed during his birth.

Text Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Text Analysis - Essay Example The main clause in this is 'iron man stood at the top of the cliff.' This clause is by itself a sentence. This means there is a complete meaning for it even if it is alone with no other phrase. (English grammar 2009). This structure of the sentence makes it ambiguous because since 'taller than a house' precedes 'iron man' and 'cliff', who or what is taller than a house might confuse the students. This affects the semantics of the sentence. This is due to improper phrase structure. It reads better as, 'The Iron Man, taller than a house, stood in the darkness, at the top, on the very brink of the cliff.' Thus, the sentence will be understood better. This creates a language cluster with 'at the top, on the very brink of the cliff.' Speaking about the pragmatics in it, the exact meaning of the sentence will be understood only if the students know who the iron man is or what the story is about. Else, they will be puzzled about how a man can be made of iron. The sentence alone will only give a sense of the real meaning; that the iron man, a very tall person, stood at the edge of the cliff in the darkness. As the students discuss among themselves, they might come up with negotiated meanings for the sent ence like the iron man wanted to jump off the cliff because he was standing at the edge of it. The denoted meaning is that the man was made of iron, that he was very tall, and that he stood at the edge of the cliff in the darkness. But, connotation might arise at the mention of iron and the edge of the cliff. It varies with each student, but it might be something like imagining themselves as the iron man or as standing at edge of a cliff. In this case, the first level of pragmatism is that the tall iron man stood at the edge of the cliff in the darkness. The second level of pragmatism gives the idea that it was night time. The third level of pragmatism will bring in thoughts like he will or will not die if he falls off the cliff because he's made of iron and there is a chance of falling since its dark. This sentence contains almost all the elements of English language, and can be used as a good example for teaching what phrases and clauses are. But considering the limitations of the students, this one is a bit confusing to start with. 2. The wind sang through his iron fingers: The nouns in the sentence are 'wind and 'iron fingers' where again, iron is a descriptive part. 'Sang' is the simple past tense verb in it. 'The' is the article and 'through' is the preposition. 'His' is the pronoun. The sentence is a very simple one with just a single clause. The sentence does not provide any ambiguity in its structure, and is right semantically. The meaning of the sentence is pretty easy for any child. Taking this particular sentence alone, its pragmatism is to be discussed. Since the iron man's name is not mentioned, the reference of 'his' will create a problem. The sense of meaning that this sentence gives is that the iron fingers had gaps in between through which the wind blew singing. The negotiated meaning can be that a giant had iron fingers with so much of gap in between them that even a child can pass through it. The denoted meanin

Geoffrey Chaucer Impact History Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Geoffrey Chaucer Impact History - Research Paper Example The present research has identified that the Canterbury tales started with the names of the people going to Canterbury for pilgrimage and moved on to the stories of each individual narrating the personal story during the journey. The writer had written the story of each pilgrim with much detail regarding their jobs, personal behavior and style of outfits having historical relevance and with the perspective of the community. It is because of the reason that Canterbury tales had become the most popular and greatest work of English writing that every historian must have read. The major reasons behind the popularity is the deep insight of the subject and the changes of fourteen century had been mentioned with perfection regarding religion, social aspects and gender differences. In 1343, Chaucer came into this world in Great Britain as a middle class family member but he spent his life in the ruling aristocratic home. During his lifetime he understood the difference and realities of the u pper class and middle class and their bonding with the lower class. This deep understanding made his mind clear and resulted in finesse in writing and clearly stated differences with perfection and amuse regarding social class. His writings also revealed the changes in society. Chaucer was a highly qualified writer although; this quality was not popular among the writers of that century belonging to a middle class. The Canterbury tales had the storyline of pilgrims on their way to their destiny. The story was initiated by the writer in 1387 and continued writing it till his death in 1400. However, the whole story was not fully complete, but there was tales in it with complete meaning and became the leading stories not for that century but for the entire centuries. In the starting of the Canterbury tales, the writer had expressed his views about the non acceptance of rules and regulations by new generation from the old ones. For example: in tale â€Å"general prologue†, the kn ight was explained as honest, accurate and noble and opposite to him was his son with the following of the footsteps of the father. The son was getting the same training as his father but he was more inclined towards arts like writing poetry and singing instead of showing valor and courage as his father. The whole writing showed the changes circumstances than the medieval period as mentioned by historians regarding the knighthood in a country. Chaucer story also mentioned the literature and poetry as the vital parts of the England’s society at that time period that revealed more about the knighthood changes. While the writer was writing over this story during that century, the knighthood was losing its charm and importance in the England. Representation of changing role of society The Canterbury tales did not only explain the changing of society’s role for the high and ruling class but also the change of ideas and controversies regarding the religion in fourteen centur y. The main idea of the Canterbury tales was to explain the pilgrims going on a pilgrimage. Thus, the main concept described the importance of religion in England at that time among the society. According to justice, pilgrimage is travel to the place of worship or tomb of saint by the Christians. The story based on the pilgrims belonged to the clergy. The latest writers can get the better understanding of the people working in the church at that time by reading the tales and can also get to know about the valuable items for the male and female members of clergy during fourteenth century. Religious perspective of Chaucer Chaucer’s described the character of the person in a much detailed and clear tone. In medieval period, parson was known to be as the best clergyman.

Communication an organisations Essay Example for Free

Communication an organisations Essay This assessment is to demonstrate an understanding and appreciation of the topics taught in leading and motivating a team effectively module of the ILM Level 3 Course in Leadership and Management. The document will be split into two main sections, the first section will focus on how to communicate an organisations vision and strategy to the team as well as provide an analysis on its importance. The second section will look at the role motivation in the development of a team. Section 1: How to communicate an organisations vision and strategy to the team One of the definitions of the word team (in its verb form) is, come together to achieve a common goal (Oxford University Press, 2014). It is this common goal or purpose that turns a group of individuals into a team without a common purpose or goal to strive toward a team cannot function effectively. For example in a football team each player needs to know their place and role in the team, but also the strategy and vision for wider team, is the team an attacking team, a defensive team, do they attack via the wings etc. without knowing the common goal of the team the players will look to their own role and not know how to support the wider team and therefore are less likely to achieve their common goal. The same holds true within an organisation not just at an individual person level but at a departmental level, if teams do not know the wider vision or strategy of the organisation they can become siloed and retreat upon themselves and just focus on delivering the â€Å"day job† rather than support the organisation in a more holistic role. With the above in mind, it’s clear to see that for a team to perform it needs clarity in its purpose, and from a business point of view this should be given by the vision and strategy of the organisation. The vision tells us what the organisation wants to be, it doesn’t focus on the how that is the role of the strategy, the vision is a simple statement of what it wants to achieve. Below is an example vision statement from Amazon. Our vision is to be earths most customer-centric company where customers can find and discover anything they might want to buy online†¦ at the lowest possible prices. It’s a fairly short statement but allows staff and managers to know that the focus of Amazon is on three things †¢Being Customer Focused †¢Providing Online Services †¢Cost effectiveness (for Amazon and the customer) With the vision clearly stated it helps teams understand the direction in which the organisation wants to go, the next step is to explain how team fits in this vision and will help deliver it. Once the vision of an organisation is understood, it’s important about going about explaining how it will achieve this and this is referred to as the strategy. The strategy should be a series of plans that detail how elements of the vision will be achieved; for example Amazon’s vision could be split into two strategies; being customer centric and providing online services with cost effectiveness being a theme that runs across both strategies. These plans would then be broken down into more tactical detail such as action plans and SMART objectives to be carried out an operational level. For example a call centre team will have several objectives/KPI such as Calls answered in less than 5 seconds in a given month or First Time Call Resolution 95% (Year to Date), which without much explanation simply look like tools to ensure staff are doing their jobs when in fact they are SMART objectives that relate to the customer focused strategy of Amazon’s vision and how effec tively that strategy is working. It is the performance of these objectives that dictate future strategy, poor performance may result in a change of strategy (i.e. outsourcing) where as good performance could result in the current strategy being maintained or even expanded (i.e. expansion to provide alternative services) and as such it is vital that staff are informed not only of their objectives and targets but how and why they exist, and what their overall effect on the business is. As we can see the role the vision and strategy plays in the performance of a team or individual is huge but it can be a two edged sword if the vision and strategy are either poorly communicated, misunderstood or simply unknown. As such communication is key, to ensure that the common sense and purpose that the vision and strategy provides is embedded and understood. There are many methods of communication available within an organisation in aid of establishing a common purpose, but the first method is that the vision statement should be one that staff and customers can relate too and  understand, if the vision doesn’t make sense the job to communicate it to staff will be twice as hard. A good basis for ensuring good communication is using the seven principles of communication; to ensure the message is clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete and naturally courteous. Once the message has been developed, it’s a matter of choosing the medium in which it is delivered; there are various methods such as email, telephone, meetings, seminars, presentation, 1-2-1s, newsletters all of which to be effective must be used at the right time and place. As the vision is a supposed to provide a common purpose and understanding of what the company wants to be, it suggests that the best way to communicate this message is via more group/communal methods such as Team meetings, Away days or newsletters where the same message can be relayed to multiple staff at a time and avoids confusion or contamination of the key messages trying to be delivered, that can occur in mores personal communications such as 1-2-1 meetings. For example a team meeting where a contact centre manager for Amazon relays the vision of the company and how the team’s work fits in and helps deliver it to their 10 staff, is likely to be more effective than having 10 1-2-1 sessions in which they deliver they try to deliver the same message which is likely to alter between sessions due to personal relationships coming into play, more two way conversation disrupting the flow of the message, the recipient choosing to understand the message how they see it rather than how it was said and then finally the confusion that can occur when team members compare conversations. This is not to say that group communication is always the best method to use as it does also have its downsides such as; it’s less likely people will ask questions in team/group meetings and could result in misunderstandings/confusion, if the person delivering the message is not clear and does not understand the message being delivered it will have a negative impact on the recipients, they can become side tracked by issues that arise during the meeting and people forget the message being delivered. My own skills actually lend themselves to small groups or 1-2-1 sessions as I struggle to manage wider groups at times, especially when the meeting goes off topic or several conversations start within the meeting. However as I only manage two staff at the moment this hasn’t hampered my ability to communicate a common sense of purpose to my staff as I have my own concepts on what our role is in the  business, however as highlighted in our learner session in July we did struggle as a group to find the group’s vision and strategy, which in itself is a failing in that without knowing the true vision and strategy of the business how can I communicate that to my staff and could potentially be providing them with a purpose that is counter to the organisations own goals. In reflection this had led me to book in some time to read the new business plan, and in readiness I’ve booked a team meeting together with my staff to go over it and highlight were we as a team fit in it. I’ve also took some time recently to review our action plans and KPI’s on Covalent, which is a software we use to link action plans and KPI’s together to strategies to see how our objectiv es are linked to the wider organisation and through that hopefully provide better clarity and coherent information to my staff. Hopefully my management of meetings will improve through this course, as one of the modules in on managing meetings effectively. In conclusion I use to think my communication skills were quite good, however through this exercise I’ve noted that while my method of delivery and communication style may be good it doesn’t mean much if you don’t truly know the message you are trying to convey which until I’m up to speed on the business plan and our place in it I can’t say I know what that message should be without retreating into the â€Å"day job† which as mentioned at the beginning is a symptom of a team who doesn’t know the organisations vision or strategy. Section 2: Know how to motivate and develop the team Section 2.1: Describe the main motivational factors in a work context and how these may apply to different situations, teams and individuals. There are multiple models and theories for motivation such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, Alderfers ERG theory, Acquired Needs Theory by McClellan and Two Factor Theory by Hezberg to name a few and while most can be used to explain motivational factors in a work context some such as Maslow’s and Alderfer’s theory require more adaption or to make it fit as such I’ll be using Hezberg’s Two factor theory to describe the main motivational factors in the work context. According to Herzberg, two kinds of factors affect motivation,  and they do it in different ways: Hygiene factors: These are factors that are taken for granted and can be seen as having no positive satisfaction by themselves, however if they were taken away would cause a dramatic down turn in morale and motivation. An example is a policy of free tea and coffee for staff by itself unlikely to motivate staff but if it was removed would have a negative impact. Motivator factors: These are factors whose presence motivates. Their absence does not cause any particular dissatisfaction, it just fails to motivate. An example would be recognition at work for a job well done, achieving a promotion. Looking at the above it would seem that simply applying the motivator factors would cause an increase in motivation and simply ensuring the hygiene factors stayed in place is the sure fire way to succeed in motivating your staff, however the below example shows how by applying one rule to an individual can affect the team as a whole. Person A is doing a good job and as such you wish to increase motivation by recognising their work, which you do by offering a promotion/raise or bonus, this however can impact on the rest of the team as Pay and Benefits also come under Hygiene factors and as such by rewarding one and not everyone in the team this can cause a demotivation or job dissatisfaction. Section 2.2: Explain the importance of a leader being able to motivate teams and individuals and gain their commitment to objectives. Section 2.3: Explain the role that the leader plays in supporting and developing the team and its members and give practical examples of when this will be necessary

Beowulf is an Epic Hero Essay example -- Epic of Beowulf Essays

In the epic poem Beowulf, the protagonist Beowulf is shown as a hero with extrodinary strength. This is not what makes him a hero. By definition, a hero is a man of exceptional quality. However this term does not do Beowulf justice. His self-imposed purpose in life is to help others, and eventually sacrifices his own life in doing so. Beowulf’s battle with the dragon serves as a critique of the notion that Beowulf is a hero. The Dragon section displays many of Beowulf’s heoric characteristics. Beowulf establishes himself as a hero by fighting the dragon, exemplifing strength and courage when fighting the dragon, and sacrificing himself so that others can live. Beowulf’s fight against the dragon shows Beowulf as a hero. Although Beowulf had previously defeated two other foes, he stands fast and fights his most formidable foe yet, the dragon. Dragons were notoriously difficult to kill, and the poem states that it was a great man, who could kill a dragon, even if it meant losing one's life. While others cower away Beowulf fights the dragon. Beowulf defeats the dragon but loses his life in the same instance. Like the classical hero Beowulf loses his special status in death. Beowulf sought no compensation for his services; the mere satisfaction of helping others was pay enough. Like his two previous battles Beowulf fights for those who could not fight for themselves. While fighting the Dragon Beowulf shows feats of strength and courage that define him as a hero. The classical...

PESTEL Analysis of K-Mart Essay

Understanding the general environment of a certain business requires knowledge regarding the key factors and trends in broader society. PESTEL Analysis gives a business the ability to break down the general environment into six different categories: Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal. By analyzing and studying each area, a company can create a strategy that most benefits them. Sears and K-Mart are two retail businesses that can gain from understanding the general environment through PESTEL Analysis. They could use it bad. One way to take a step forward is by creating new innovative strategies and conducting a PESTEL analysis is a good place to start. The first step of PESTEL is to try to understand the political environment. Sears and K-Mart focus on what political factors might affect the way they conduct business and create strategies based on this information. Sears and K-Mart are a part of many companies owned by Sears Holdings Corporation. Sears Holdings Corporation engages in government and political affairs that will benefit them. They openly express interest in politics on their website, stating â€Å"In some jurisdictions, Sears Holdings is engaged in the political campaign process to help elect candidates of both major political parties who support the retail industry and believe in the free enterprise system.1† Engaging in the political arena helps a business like K-Mart understand political trends. Political factors that may be lobbied on by Sears and K-Mart are ones that involve tax policies, labor laws and tariffs. Sears Holdings Company would most likely back the candidate that most benefited them. In 2008 former CEO of Sears, Alan J. Lacy, was one of many retail executives who supported John McCain for President.2 Being open about political affiliations can possibly affect customer opinions. This may not have affected the customer base of Sears, but Sears believes that the Republican Party best helps them. Economic and Social conditions are two major areas that any retail company must focus on in order to create effective strategies. These two areas have can have tremendous affects on the success of retail companies. If the Economy is down then people don’t usually like to spend a lot of money, and this takes a toll on sales of retail businesses. In 2011 Sears and K-Mart closed over 100 stores in an effort to raise cash. According to an article in the Huffington Post, the â€Å"problem is the weak economy that is hurting virtually  all retailers that cater to low- and middle-income shoppers, who are being forced to cut back on spending.3† Today, Sears and K-Mart are being affected by the changing retail landscape, where shoppers are going online for convenience and finding better prices. In order to be successful Sears Holdings must try to get on top of this changing landscape before it passes them by. Social factors go hand in hand with economic factors. If the economy is doing well that does not immediately translate into a major boost in sales. Social factors, like perception, play a gigantic role in the success of today’s businesses because of the affects of social media and the internet. Social perception is an area Sears and K-Mart have been lacking in. Preschool teacher Sara Kriz expresses a view that captures the perception of K-Mart beautifully by saying, â€Å"It seems easier to go to Target and Wal-Mart to get the same thing at the same price,† adding â€Å"the stores are cleaner, and they’re better stocked.4† If Sears and K-Mart want to become more profitable and generate more sales then they must direct their attention to trying to change this negative view associated with their stores. Social media and internet give customers a platform to share their opinions and experiences with the whole world. If most experiences are negative, then the general consensus will be to shop at other places. Technology like the internet has brought about a lot of change and it is another area of the external environment that businesses must try to understand in order to gain a competitive edge. Technology is everywhere we look and its getting better and better. Technology has affected the way Sears and K-Mart strategized in the past. In an attempt to bridge digital and in-store shopping, Sears and K-Mart rolled out iPads and iPod touch devices to almost 450 stores around the country in October 2011.5 Kimberly Freely, spokeswoman for Sears, Chicago, explained the move: â€Å"We wanted to enhance the relationship between customers and associates and improve the overall shopping experience,† adding that, â€Å"it is part of our strategy to become more of an integrated retailer a nd combining the digital and retail formats within the company.† This goes to show the impact that technology is having on the retail market. Today Sears and K-Mart are still striving to incorporate advanced technology in order to improve. Environmental and Legal factors are the last two pieces of PESTEL analysis. Sears and Kmart have aligned their environmental goals with that of the general public.  Sears and Kmart realize promoting a clean environment can benefit both themselves and society as a whole. Many of the appliances Sears sells tout the label of being energy efficient. This reflects Sears and Kmarts efforts to educate customers about a variety of environmental issues, including carbon and energy management, waste reduction and recycling, and water and transportation management. On Sears Holdings Company’s webpage you can learn about all the steps it is taking to promote a clean and sustainable environment. By continuing to engage in this type of activity, Sears and Kmart demonstrate responsibility and a genuine care for protecting the environment. This can go a long way in terms of changing social perception of Sears and Kmart. The Legal aspect of the external environment plays an everyday role in the way Sears and Kmart do business. Sears and Kmart must follow strict legal guidelines covering accounting and reporting practices, antitrust laws, and bribery and corruption among others. Failing to stay within the boundaries of the law can be detrimental to any business. Sears addresses its willingness to comply with laws in the Corporate Governance section of its main website. It states that â€Å"Sears Holdings Corporation values honesty, integrity, and adherence to the highest ethical standards. As part of this commitment, SHC has instituted a series of policies and procedures to reaffirm its dedication to the highest ethical standards.6† Keeping a keen eye on the legal aspect of the external environment will allow Sears and Kmart to focus on its corporate strategy without unnecessary distractions. Understanding the general environment of a certain business requires knowledge regarding the key factors and trends in broader society. It is essential for a business to know the aspects of the external environment so that it can create and enforce an effective strategy. Performing a PESTEL Analysis is the first step in understanding the external environment. Sears and Kmart can greatly benefit from knowing what external factors impact business operations. SWOT Analysis is the next step in collecting information to help understand what capabilities Sears and Kmart should focus on. Works Cited 1 â€Å"Government Affairs.† Sears Holdings. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. . 2 Farfan, Barbara. â€Å"Democratic and Republican Parties Both Get Strong Support from Retailers.† About.com Retail Industry. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. . 3 Berman, Jillian. â€Å"Sears Kmart Stores Closing: At Least 100 Stores To Shut Down Retailer Says.† The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Dec. 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. 4 Berman, Jillian. â€Å"Sears Kmart Stores Closing: At Least 100 Stores To Shut Down Retailer Says.† The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 27 Dec. 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. 5 Tode, Chantal. â€Å"Sears Puts IPads in Shopper Hands to Enhance In-store Shopping.Napean LLC, 17 Oct. 2011. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. 6 â€Å"Corporate Governance.† Sears Holdings Code of Conduct. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Apr. 2014. .

Critical Path Analysis

Critical Path Analysis INTRODUCTION: Planning, Scheduling and Controlling are three important functions of management. Planning involves the formulation of objectives and goals that are subsequently translated into Specific plans and projects. Scheduling is concerned about the implementation of activities necessary to achieve the laid down plans. The function of control is to institute a mechanism that can trigger a warning signal if actual performance is deviating (in terms of time, cost and some other measures of effectiveness) from the plan.If such a deviation is unacceptable to the concerned manager, he will be required to take corrective action to bring performance in conformity with the plans. The PERT and CPM models are extremely useful for the purpose of planning, scheduling and controlling the progress and completion of large and complex projects or for carrying out the analysis of these three managerial functions. Before we describe the basic concepts used in the constructi on and analysis of these models, let us first understand the meaning of a project. What is a project?A project can be defined as a set of large number of activities or jobs that are performed in a certain sequence determined logically or technologically and it has to be completed within (i) a specified time, (ii) a specified cost and (iii) meeting the performance standards. Examples of a project from fairly diverse fields are given below: 1. Introducing a new product in the market. 2. Construction of a new bridge over a river or construction of a 25 storied building, 3. Executing a large and complex order on jobbing production. 4. Sending a spacecraft to the mars. GENERAL FRAMEWORK OF PERT/CPMA network is a graphical representation of a project, depicting the flow as well as the sequence of well-defined activities and events. Developed during the 1950s, both CPM (Critical Path Method) and PERT (Programme Evaluation and Review Technique) are network techniques/models. The network app roach helps project managers in planning, Scheduling and controlling. As a planning tool it helps the manager to estimate the requirements of resources viz. , materials, equipment, manpower, cost and time for each activity or tasks of the project. This approach cannot make decisions by its own.It only provide additional information to executives to facilitate decision making process. Also it does not provide solution to every management problem. It certainly helps in identification of those activities, jobs or events which control the completion of the project. The working methodology of critical path analysis (CPA) which includes both CPM and PERT, consists of following five steps: 1. Analyse and break down the project in terms of specific activities and/ or events. 2. Determine the interdependence and sequence of specific activities and prepare a net work. . Assign estimates of time, cost or both to all the activities of the network. 4. Identify the longest or critical path throug h the network. 5. Monitor, evaluate and control the progress of the project by replanning, rescheduling and reassignment of resources. The central task in the control aspect of these models is to identify the longest path through the network. The longest path is the critical path because it equals the minimum time required to complete the project. All other paths other than the critical path (i. e. o critical or slack paths) offer flexibility in scheduling and transferring resources, because they take less time to complete than the critical path. ADVANTAGES OF CRITICAL PATH ANALYSIS There are a number of advantages in using critical path analysis. 1. It allows for a comprehensive view of the entire project. Because of the sequential and concurrent relationships, time scheduling becomes very effective. Identifying the critical activities keeps the executive alert and in a state of preparedness, with alternative plans ready in case these are needed.Breaking down the project into small er components permits better and closer control. 2. Critical path analysis offers economical and effective system of control based on the principle of management by exception i. e. need for corrective action arises only in exceptional situations and in most of other cases, performance is in conformity with the plans. 3. It is a dynamic tool of management which calls for constant review, a reformulation of the network, and finding the current path of relevance and optimum resources allocation.FUNDAMENTALS OF A CPA NETWORK ( Activity An activity is any portion of a project which consumes time or resources and has a definable beginning and ending. For example, â€Å"laying of pipe† is an activity requiring the use of resource mainly effort. Activity may involve labour, paper work, contractual negotiations, machinery operations, etc. Commonly used terms synonymous with â€Å"activity† are â€Å"task† and â€Å"job†. Figure 1 and 2 Activities are graphically r epresented by arrows, usually with description and time estimates written along the arrows.The tail of the arrow portraying an activity represents the starting point of the activity and its head represents its completion. The arrow may be straight slanting, or bent but not broken (see figure-1). The arrow is not a vector and need not be drawn to scale. ( Events The beginning and ending points of an activity or a group of activities are called events. Synonyms of an event are â€Å"node† and â€Å"connectors† An event is often represented graphically by a numbered circle (see figure-2), although any geometric figure such as square, oval, rectangle etc. will serve the purpose.We shall, however, stick to the most commonly used convention for representing an event viz, the circle. A few examples of events are as follows : (i) Material procured, (ii) Design completed, (iii) Project started, (iv) Bricks laid, etc. All activities in a network must commence from some event. Su ch events are called the tail events because they are connected to the tail of an activity. These are shown in figure 3. Similarly, all activities in a network must have terminal points called the head event because it is at the head of an activity. These are shown in figure-4.Figure-5 depicts tail and head events connected by arrows representing activities i. e. it depicts the dual role of an event. Event 14 is the head event for one activity and tail event for another. In a network, symbol â€Å"i† is used for the tail event (also called preceding event) and â€Å"j† for the head event (or succeeding event) of an activity. The activity, then being I-j. If an event represents the joint completion of more than one activity, it is called a merge event. If an event represents the joint initiation of more than one activity, it is called a burst event.A network is, then, a graphical representation of a project plan, showing the inter-relationship of the various activities. Networks are also called arrow diagrams (see figure – 6). When the results of time estimates and computations have been added to a network, it may be used as a project schedule. Conventions adopted in drawing networks: There are two conventions normally adopted while drawing networks. In the early stages of network drawing, it is suggested that the conventions should be respected until sufficient experience has been gained to justify dropping them.These conventions are: a) Time flows from left to right. b) Head events always have a number higher than that of the tail events. The above stated conventions allow activities to be referred uniquely by their tail and head event numbers, so that â€Å"activity 3-4† means only â€Å"the activity which starts from event 3 proceeds to event 4†; it cannot mean â€Å"the activity which starts from event 4 and finishes event 3†. Graphical representation of events and activities: Events are represents by numbers withi n circles. Activities are represented by arrows, the arrow-heads represent the completion of the activities.The length and orientation of the arrow are of no significance whatsoever (chosen only for the convenience of drawing). The activity of leaving place A and walking to place B can equally well be represented by figure-7. Fundamental properties governing the representation of events and activities: The representation of events and activities is governed by one simple dependency rule which requires that an activity which depends upon another activity is shown to emerge from the head event of the activity upon which it depends and that only dependent activities are drawn in this way.Thus, if activity B depends upon activity A, then the two activities are drawn in figure-8. Figure 7 AB 1. An event cannot occur until all activities leading to it are complete. 2. No activity can start until its tail event in reached. The above two properties can be combined into a single one, namely that â€Å"no activity may start until all previous activity in the same chain are completed. Logical sequencing are connection of activities; A project entails several activities. The arrows are arranged to show the plan of logical sequence in which the activities of the project are to be accomplished.The sequence is ascertained for each activity by answering the following three quires viz: (i)Which activity or activities must be completed before the start of a particular activity ? (ii) Which activity or activities should follow this? (iii) Which activities can be accomplished simultaneously? The activity or activities which immediately come before another activity without any intervening activities are called predecessor activities to that activity. The activities which follow another activity without any intervening activities are called successor activities to that activity.In a project of laying a pipe line, the three activities involved may be trenching, laying pipe and weld ing pipe. To decide the logical connection between these three activities necessary that they be carried out in series, the reasoning being that the pipe cannot be laid until trenching has been done and welding cannot be undertaken until the pipe has been laid. This way we decide the logical sequencing between different activities. Errors in logical sequencing: Two types of errors in logic may arise while drawing a network, particularly when it is a complicated one. These are known as looping dangling. 1)Looping: Normally in a network, the arrow points from left to right. This convention is to be strictly adhered, as this would avoid illogical looping, as shown wrongly below : (2)Dangling: The situation represented by the following diagram is also at fault, since the activity represented by the dangling arrow 9-11 is undertaken with no result. A To overcome the problem arising due to dangling arrows, following rules may be adopted. (i) All events, except the first and the last, must have at least one activity entering and one activity leaving them, ii) All activities must start and finish with an event. (3)Duplicate activities: Consider the following figure 11: A XY B Figure 11 In the above figure, activities A and B may be called duplicate activities because they have same head event (i. e. 6) and the same tail event (i. e. 7). One remedy for such a situation is the introduction of a dummy activity (4) Dummy activity: It is a hypothetical activity which consumes no resource and time. It is represented by dotted lines and is inserted in the network to clarify activity pattern under the following situations: ) It is created to make activities with common starting and finishing events distinguishable. ii) To identify and maintain the proper precedence relationship between activities that are not connected by events. iii) To bring all â€Å"loose ends† to a single initial and a single terminal event in each network using dummies, if necessary. For example, problem of duplicate activities in the figure-11 above may be circumvented as shown in figure-12. A XY B Figure 12 Figure – 13 shows three cases for the following set of dependency relationships: Activity C is dependent upon both A and B.Activity D is dependent upon A alone. BC AC A DD BA C B AD The first portrayal (on top left of figure-13) is clearly wrong since it shows D as dependent upon not only A but also B which is not desired. The other portrayal (ii) is also wrong since A is being shown twice and thus contravenes the fundamental axiom of network that three must be one arrow for each activity. The way out to this dilemma is the representation by means of the dummy activity. In the third portrayal of figure -13, C is dependent upon both A and B (via dummy) whereas D is dependent upon just A.Numbering the events: The event numbers in a network should in some respect reflect their logical sequences. When a complicated network has been drawn then the problem of assignin g numbers to the events involved in the network arises. A rule devised by D. R. Fulkerson, involving the following steps may be followed to resolve the problem numbering the events. i) An â€Å"initial† event is one which has arrow/arrows coming out of it and none of the arrow entering it. In a network there will be only one such event. Call it â€Å"1†. (ii) Delete all arrows coming out from the event 1. This will give us at least one more â€Å"initial event†. i) Number these events as â€Å"2, 3†¦. † (iv) Delete all emerging arrows from these numbered events which will create new initial events. Then follow step (iii). (v) Continue the above steps till last event is obtained which has no arrows coming out of it. Consider the numbering of events in the following figure. Figure 14 F AFA BG B CH CG AF AF BG BG CH CH AF AF BG BG CH CH Figure 15 Here we proceed from left to right. The event with least x- co-ordinate is assigned the smallest integer, sa y 1. other events are assigned progressively higher integers with regard to x-co-ordinate.If two or more events (4 and 5 above) have the same x-co-ordinate, the one towards arrow should have higher number. Further, it is not necessary, and in fact also not desirable to number the events consecutively. It would be a better scheme to number the events as 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70 in the above diagram instead of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7. This affords insertion of more activities and events omitted by oversight or having become necessary in view of certain logic revisions. It was mentioned earlier that it is desirable that all the activity arrows point from left to right. If the arrow is vertical it may point downwards or upwards.For the sake of preventability it is to be recommended that activities emanating from one event or converging to another may make as great angles between themselves as possible. A few more conventions are given below: (i) Keep the arrow to the extreme right. (ii) A s far as possible avoid drawing arrows that cross each other. Usually by suitable ‘stretching’ the network diagram it is possible to avoid this. (iii) Where, however, crossing is unavoidable, bridging may be done. This applies to dummies as well. Draw boldly a big network. Smaller ones are confusing. Use of pencil and rubber is recommended.Exercise: Depict the following dependency relationships by means of network diagrams. The Alphabets stand for activities. 1. A & B control F; B and C control G. 2. A & B control F; B Controls G while C controls G and H. 3. A controls F and G; B controls G; while C controls G and H. 4. A controls F and G; B and C control G with H depending upon C. 5. F & G are controlled by A, G and H are controlled by B with H controlled by B and C. 6. A controls F, G and H; B controls G and H with H controlled by C. Answer: The required networks are given in figure -15 Exercise: Find out the superfluous (unnecessary) dummy activities in the network b elow. BEH C AF G D Figure 16 JKL M FG AB CDE H M IK Figure 14 Basic steps involved in drawing a CPM/PERT network : Network is defined as a diagram representing the activities and events of a project, their sequence and inter-relationships. The basic steps involved in drawing a network are: i) Breaking up of the entire project into smaller systems known as tasks. ii) For each tack ascertain the activities and events to be performed. iii) For each activity determine the preceding and succeeding activities. iv) For each activity determine or estimate the time and other resources needed. v) Draw a network depicting the assembly of tasks into a project.Network Construction Problem 1 The activities involved in the computer installation process are detailed below. You are required to draw the network. ActivityPredecessor Activities A. Physical preparationnone B. Organizational planningnone C. Personal SelectionB D. Equipment InstallationA E. Personal TrainingC F. Detailed systems designC G . File ConversionF H. Establish standards and controlsF I. Programme preparationH J. Programme TestingI K. Parallel operationsD, E, G, J. L. Finalize systems documentationI M. Follow upK, L B< C (ii) AA None < A None < B B B D C D A A < D (iii)C