Project Management Institute's Project of the Year Award Essay

Project Management Institute's Project of the Year Award - Essay Example Project Management Institute’s Project of the Year Award 1. Summary of how the project manager or team exhibited exceptional and ethical project management practices. The official website of the Project Management Institute’s (PMI) Project of the Year (POY) Award reveals that the organization envisions recognizing and acknowledging the exemplary contribution of nominated project teams in terms of noteworthiness, relevance and adherence to specified standards of their respective projects. As explicitly indicated, â€Å"the PMI Project of the Year (POY) Award recognizes the accomplishments of a project and the involved project team for superior performance and execution of exemplary project management† (Project Management Institute, 2011). In this regard, the winner for 2010 POY Award was the National Ignition Facility Project was deemed to be â€Å"managed by Lawrence Livermore Laboratory (and) was the largest ever scientific construction project completed by the U.S. Department of Energy, resulting in the world's largest and most energetic laser system. The design and project commissioning were accomplished by a worldwide collaboration among governments, academia, and many industrial partners. It will serve a broad scientific community exploring new technologies in energy production and new frontiers in astrophysics, materials science, and nuclear science† (YouTube, 2010). The project team exhibited exceptional and ethical project management practice by complying and adhering to the foundation standards and consistent with the evaluation criteria, to wit: â€Å"(1) met or exceeded Owner/Client’s needs as evidenced by a letter from the Owner/Client; (2) met or improved on budget and schedule performance when compared with original established budget and schedule goals; (3) demonstrated originality and uniqueness of applied project management techniques, including innovative application of practices/methods; (4) exhibited techn ical aspects and advancement of the project management profession through effective application of the nine PMBOK ® Knowledge Areas: (5) demonstrated complexity and challenges of the project and unusual conditions, issues, and barriers requiring special management team action and performance; and (6) identified Risks and established plans to overcome them† (PMI, 2010). In this regard, the National Ignition Facility Project envisioned focusing on nuclear fusion that is harnessed to create limitless and carbon free energy. The project was reported to help scientists create nuclear fusion in the laboratory setting. Accordingly, through collaborative efforts of government, academia and industry, the project was revealed to have been instrumental in fuelling innovation that enabled the establishment of the largest and highest energy laser and the largest optical instrument ever. 2. Discuss the role of the project manager or team, the organizational setting, the recipient’s approach to project integration management, and obstacles that had the potential of adversely impacting the triple constraint. The project manager, the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in joint efforts and collaboration with the Department of Energy, was reported to have been instrumental in the â€Å"design through commissioning (that) was accomplished by a worldwide collaboration among governments, academia, and many industrial partners. NIF provides an experimental platform for accessing

Garden art through the ages Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Garden art through the ages - Article Example Art history has the major objective of determining the originality of various works of the art. Anciently, anything produced using a machine would not qualify as art but in the modern time the scope of the study has increased including the study of computer aided images. The history of art depends on the artifacts. There is an established way of generating a date when a given art was done based on a certain artifact that is available. The artwork was done a long time ago, but the artifact is a presentation of the evidence of the artistic activity that took place. There are certain questions of concern to the art historian, and the first question is the age of the art. The dates when the artwork was done can be established in a number of ways. The historian can use the physical evidence of the material that was used to decorate a particular artwork. For example, certain paints then he or she can easily guess the age of the artwork from the existing artifact that is based on a given fact that the given material that was used did not exist at a certain time anciently. Therefore, the historian can easily trace the age of the art by checking on the artifact that is existing. An earliest possible date and latest possible date for the use of certain material such as certain type of inks can be established by the historian. There are materials that are used by artists at the current time and those that were used in the olden times and therefore it becomes very easy for the historians to come up with a conclusive age of the artwork based on material used to construct the artifact. The historians also rely on documentary evidence. This is because it provided a hint of the date when a given article was written about a certain artwork that manifests in the form of physical artifact that exists. This means that if a historian wants to know the age of an artifact, he or she only looks for the historical books where the ancient artists

Glaciation in Ohio and impacts of glaciation in Ohio Essay

Glaciation in Ohio and impacts of glaciation in Ohio - Essay Example The most important impact of glaciation is the materials that have been left behind by the sheets of ice. These materials includes particles of clay, sand, gravel and rock debris. Most of the materials that had been deposited both above and under the surface of water as a result of glaciation has resulted in formation of geographical features called eskers and kames (Peacefull, 1996). The numerous kames that are found in Portage and Summit counties are a result of deposition of glaciation materials in-between ice sheets that protruded southwards. Comparatively eskers are rare in Ohio although one may encounter eskers in Portage County. Another major impact of glaciation in Ohio is the formation of the glacial lakes. The deposits of these lakes were primarily constituted of fine clay and silt particles. Changes in the drainage pattern of Ohio is also a result of glaciation which disrupted the northwest flow of the River Teays and its tributaries which helped in the formation of Lake Tight in southern

Adam Smith Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Adam Smith - Term Paper Example The behaviour of the economy and its interaction with the agents and actors of the economic system of a particular country has been noted and studied by various economists. This paper shall discuss one of the most noted and prominent economists, along with his contribution, background, and school of thought for the subject. Adam Smith Adam Smith has been one of the most prominent and noted economists of his time. He was born in Kirkcaldy Scotland in 1723, and, later, went to Oxford at the age of 17. In the year 1951, Smith was appointed at Glasgow as a professor of Logic, and within one year, he was made the Chair of Moral Philosophy. Besides being a Scottish social philosopher, Smith was also the founder of the political economy. He had proven to be one of the chief personalities of the Scottish Enlightenment, and had also authored some major academic works including An Inquiry into the Nature, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, 1759, and Causes of the Wealth of Nations, 1776. His spec ial achievement, The Wealth of Nations, is generally regarded as the very first of the modern works in the contemporary economic society these days (Butler, Eamonn, 2007). Through this work, Adam Smith has attained huge respect and reputation, this works has been ranked the most prominent, and significant works ever published in the field of economics. Smith is broadly known as the father of capitalism and modern economics. Later, in the year 2009, the Scottish television channel (STV) ran votes and the economist and writer, Adam Smith, was ranked as the 'Greatest Scots' of all time. School of Thought There are various challenging and competing schools of thoughts commanding different opinions and viewpoints of the economic philosophies. The chief division in the classes of schools of thoughts includes the Classical and Neoclassical schools. Adam Smith was the pioneer of the Classical school of thought, which fundamentally stressed upon the notion of creating economic value and dist ributing the wealth of the economy between various classes including the capitalists, landlords, and the workers. One of the prominent branches of the Classical school is the Marxist school of thought. Economic Theories Just like all other economists, Adam Smith also held his own viewpoints and perceptions regarding the economic cycle that moves the world around. Due to his emerging thoughts on the subject of economic, he introduced the economic theories which included one of the significant economic theories, the Invisible hand theory. The Invisible Hand Theory Adam Smith believed that there was an â€Å"invisible hand’ in the marketplace which has always operated in order to make the markets of a self-regulating nature. This metaphor stated that all the consumers have a free will to select what to purchase and each manufacturer is free to decide what to produce and sell. Such a marketplace sets the distribution of the products and the prices which are of benefit to the ind ividuals in the community and to the community in a collective manner. This is the involvement of self-interest which forces the actors to behave in a beneficial way. The profits are maximized using efficient methods of production. Revenues are maximized through charging lower prices and the returns are maximized by investing in the urgently required industries. Thus, all the effects in the markets occur automatically and dynamically, and this occurrence, Adam Smith has mentioned, exists due to the ‘benevolent invisible hand’. All these effects take place dynamically and automatically (Helen, 2001). Contribution to Economics Adam Smith gave major contributions in the field of economics through

Project management Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Project management - Assignment Example Team functionality and consequent performance depends on various collaboration aspects that are designed to enhance the realization of the project objectives. Communication is a fundamental aspect in the undertaking of a project that engages team work. There should be a clear flow of information from the team leader to the members and vice versa. This flow is designed to maintain a consistent system through which all players in the team are kept posted to emerging issues and expected trends in the project (Gowen, 2007). Team efficacy is highly influenced by modes and means of communication within and without the team. It is important that each member contributes to the design, formulation and implementation of a communication process that is properly suited to the specific variables of the project being undertaken. Running of a project is not always at par with the expectations. However, with effective communications designs, it easier for the entire team to deal with emerging challe nges in the process. The team encompasses diverse and dynamic reasoning, knowledge and skills. Project undertakings also require that balanced collaboration be observed if the desired results are to be achieved. For this reason, the team cannot avoid discussions and decision making at both individual and team level. This requires that effective communication among all stakeholders. ... Team coordination of project phases is characterized by numerous activities. These activities call for decision making from time to time, across every stakeholder. With proper communications designs, negotiations fall into place. Negotiations encompass critical evaluation and assessment of scenarios that need to accounted for as different project activities unfold. Negotiations are designed to bring on board different views of every person involved, so that what is decided upon binds to every team participant. Negotiation in the team level aims to bring to terms all the individual duties and responsibilities, so that what is achieved reflects a team effort. Although the team is made up of a number of players, each player’s contribution counts in the overall success or failure of the team. On the same note, the different players are divided in accordance to their specialization, prior to the activities that need to be undertaken, and the duties and responsibilities that need to be met. Therefore, the team operates in functional areas that range from management and leadership, finance, operations and human resource (Bollen, 2009). The interaction of these parties must encompass proper negotiations, so that in case anything goes wrong in the process, a blame game does not emerge. In such an instance, these functional areas engage in discussions, evaluations and assessments that account for misconducts realized if any. Team performance is highly dependent on the meetings aspect. Meetings are inevitable at all decision making levels. From the time the team is being formed to the completion of the project, meetings play an essential role in uniting all

Final Paper Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 3

Final Paper - Essay Example There are statement releases by several autonomous scientific organizations concerning the same around the world. It is true that not every scientist agree in every component of the problem in climate change. It is why the article clearly states that not all engineers and scientists agree on the taking drastic measures against global warming. However, there is extensive agreement that climate change exists, primarily due to release of greenhouse gases from humans (NRC). Evidence of global warming is incontrovertible. It is why scientists are constantly researching various important questions concerning the matter. Questions such as precisely how much will the earth warm, how fast will it warm and the consequences it will cause to various regions. Scientists record an increase in global temperature by over 1.4Â °F throughout the previous century (NRC). According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2000 to 2010 happened to be the warmest decade on record. This fact contradicts the mention of global warming not existing over ten years by the article. Changes in climate and weather are what follow the increasing global temperatures (NRC). So many facts and information show several places experiencing rainfall changes resulting in additional intense rain. There is also evidence of more intense and frequent heat waves. It is hard to deny that oceans are becoming acidic and warmer while ice caps at the North Pole are melting. All these observations prove that there is an increase of warmth in the world. We have scientists who continue to research the questions of global warming to inform society better on how to prepare for climate change. However, sufficient certainty is real concerning basic causes and impacts of climate change to validate taking actions that decrease future risks. Claiming that global warming is not a crucial matter to deal with because the evidence is smaller than predicted does not mean society should stop paying

Retail Marketing (retail development) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3250 words

Retail Marketing (retail development) - Essay Example This is the process of matching the personal requirements of consumers and the product from the producers. Retailers break the bulk for the consumers. On the other hand, one stop shopping is a concept that allows a collection of products to consumers at one location. The ideology behind this kind of retail development is to ensure convenience for customers since their needs are usually varied. It's also beneficial to the business as it will be able to sell more. A retailer is an agency, a person, or an institution that is influential or very active in ensuring that merchandise or products are available to the final consumer (Kaufman 2006). Retailers often carry out critical tasks that ensure the products are attractive to the clients and that they fulfil the need that they are intended for. By this, the retailers are able to anticipate the needs of the clients, develop a variety of products, collect market information and obtain financial support (Thorne & Mackey 2007). There is a common assumption that retailing involves the selling of products in stores. This is partly true as the phenomenon also includes the selling of services like in a beauty parlour, car rental and restaurants. One very important function of retailing is providing a variety of products at one place for the clients. ... One-stop shopping has developed rapidly due to the changing societal needs to save time, find convenience and minimize movement (Kaufman 2006). The contemporary society now finds this trend conducive with the current lifestyle since shoppers are able to fulfil most of their need at once in one place. This therefore means that an appropriate assortment of products is a must and that the desirable mix of stores has to be collected together at one convenient spot (Samli 2003). One-stop shopping is associated directly with the number of hours people spend in stores shopping The use of a product's best characteristics within the promotions in the market is still very appropriate but it's evident that due to competition and the needs of clients, something more than just market campaign has to be done (Thorne & Mackey 2007). The service industry has been spearheading the changes and has become the primary criteria that clients use to determine where to shop. Better service will keep the clients coming back. The tendency has naturally developed and influenced the product stores to adopt offering a variety of goods and services under one umbrella (Kaufman 2006). This benefits the customers and sellers. The location of a business unit is critical. Producers usually consider different factors before they can decide on where to locate their premises for stores. Some of them include market availability, factors of production and security. Retailers base their location of demand, supply and store image factors. The number of operation units is usually very high in a one stop shopping centre. This is so that the centre can be able to meet the demand and cover a wide geographical area (Thorne & Mackey 2007) In a shopping centre, retailer