Obama Vetoes Bill Cutting Former Presidents Pension, Allowances

On July 22, 2016, President Obama vetoed the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act, which would have cut the pensions and allowances paid to former presidents. In his veto message to Congress, Obama said the bill â€Å"would impose onerous and unreasonable burdens on the offices of former presidents.† In an accompanying press release, the White House added that the President had vetoed the bill because it would have â€Å"immediately terminate salaries and all benefits to staffers carrying out the official duties of former presidents -- leaving no time or mechanism for them to transition to another payroll.† In addition, said the White House, the bill would have made it harder for the Secret Service to protect former presidents and would â€Å"immediately terminate leases, and remove furniture from offices of former presidents working to fulfilling their continued public service responsibilities.† The White House added that the President was willing to work with Congress in resolving his issues with the bill. â€Å"If Congress provides these technical fixes, the president would sign the bill,† said the White House. The White House noted that the President had vetoed the bill only after consulting with the four other surviving former presidents and that the veto was â€Å"responsive to concerns they raised to us.† Had it not been vetoed, the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act would have: Cut Pensions and Allowances for Former Presidents While not specifically aimed at Bill Clinton, who has made $104.9 million to â€Å"pay the bills† from speaking fees alone, the bill would have cut the pensions and allowances of former presidents. Under the current Former Presidents Act, former presidents receive an annual pension equal to the salaries of Cabinet Secretaries. Under the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act, the pensions of all former and future former presidents would have been capped at a maximum of $200,000 and the current link between presidential pensions and the annual salaries of Cabinet Secretary would have been removed. Replaced Other Benefits with a Single Allowance The bill would have also removed other benefits currently given to former presidents, including those for travel, staff, and office expenses. Instead, former presidents would have been given an additional $200,000 allowance to be used he or she determined. In other words, under Chaffetz’s bill, former presidents would have gotten an annual pension and allowance totaling no more than $400,000 — the same as the current presidential salary. However, under another provision of the bill, the pensions and allowances paid to former presidents could have been reduced further or even eliminated completely by Congress. Under Rep. Chaffetz’s bill, for every dollar former presidents earn in excess of that $400,000, their government-provided annual allowance would have been reduced by $1. In addition, former presidents who went on to hold any elected position in the federal government or the District of Columbia would have received no pension or allowance while holding that office. For example, under Chaffetz’s dollar-for-dollar penalty plan, former President Clinton, who made almost $10 million from speaking fees and book royalties in 2014, would have received no pension or allowances at all. But Presidential Widows Would Have Seen a Raise The bill would have increased the allowance paid to the surviving spouses of deceased former presidents from $20,000 to $100,000 a year. Currently, the only surviving spouse of a former president is Nancy Reagan, who received $7,000 in benefits in 2014, according to the Congressional Research Service. How Much Have Former Presidents Been Getting? According to an April 2014 Congressional Research Service report, the four surviving former presidents received a government pension and allowance benefits in 2014 totaling: Jimmy Carter - $470,000George H.W. Bush -- $837,000Bill Clinton -- $950,000George W. Bush -- $1,287,000 Rep. Chaffetz and other supporters of the Presidential Allowance Modernization Act argued that modern former presidents are highly unlikely to be strapped for cash, an opinion supported by the Congressional Research Service (CRS). â€Å"No current former President has claimed publicly to have significant financial concerns,† stated the CRS report. But, that has not always the case. Prior to the enactment of the Former Presidents Act in 1958, former presidents received no federal pension or other financial assistance at all, and some did suffer the â€Å"hard times.† â€Å"Some former Presidents—like Herbert Hoover and Andrew Jackson — returned to wealthy post-presidential lives,† stated the CRS. â€Å"Other former Presidents — including Ulysses S. Grant and Harry S. Truman — struggled financially.† Former President Truman, for example, said that just responding to his mail and requests for speeches cost him more than $30,000 a year. Current Status of the Bill The Presidential Allowance Modernization Act was passed by the House of Representatives on January 11, 2016, and by the Senate on June 21, 2016. The bill, as passed by the House and Senate, was vetoed by President Obama on July 22, 2016. On December 5, 2016, the bill, along with President Obama’s accompanying veto message, was referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. After deliberation, the committee decided against attempting to override the president’s veto.

Business and Economy Discussion Questions - 1504 Words

Business and Economy Discussion Questions 1. Business plays a critical role in the economy. In order to understand this relationship, one must understand the relationship between macroeconomics and microeconomics. Macroeconomics is the field of economics that studies the behavior of the aggregate economy. Macroeconomics examines economy-wide phenomena such as changes in unemployment, national income, rate of growth, gross domestic product, inflation and price levels (Investopedia, 2011). In contrast, microeconomics looks at the decisions made by firms and individuals (Investopedia, 2011). It is impossible to understand microeconomics and business without understanding the larger economic system. Moreover, individual business decisions can impact the economy as a whole. This is because in a free market, or at least a mostly free market, as exist in the United States, supply and demand determine the prices of goods and services. Prices, in turn, tell businesses what to produce; if people want more of a particular good than th e HYPERLINK http://economics.about.com/ economy is producing, the price of the good rises. That catches the attention of new or other companies that, sensing an opportunity to earn profits, start producing more of that good. On the other hand, if people want less of the good, prices fall and less competitive producers either go out of business or start producing different goods (Beggs, 2012). 2. For-profit and nonprofit organizations bothShow MoreRelatedCritical Thinking And Case Studies1151 Words   |  5 Pagesdiscussing some case study questions from chapter 7 and critical thinking discussion questions for chapters 8 and 9 of the Global Business Today text. These questions are for the individual week 3 assignment of our MBA 539 International Business class. 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Castlebridge Free Essays

December 01, 2010 Case Study Analysis # 70 Castlebridge, a maker of high-quality outerwear, located in London is at a cross roads. Although its headquarters operates from London, most of its manufacturing has moved offshore. With the last domestic factory slated to close, the firm’s executives struggle to preserve the â€Å"Britishness† of the brand. We will write a custom essay sample on Castlebridge or any similar topic only for you Order Now On the other hand, the company has to reduce costs to remain profitable. It seems that moving production offshore is inevitable. The executives believe that Castlebridge should come clean about it.In a world where stakeholders matter more than ever, the firm can’t just outperform competitors. It has to go above and beyond to satisfy their constituents. Therefore, the CEO Mary Crane asserts that the plant closure is a logical step. Reputational risk is a concern as well as brand image. The majority of the customers who purchase Castlebridge items are wealthy. They pride themselves in wearing high class British fashions. The company fears that Asian manufacturing tags will diminish consumer confidence in quality and authenticity. The CEO wants to take the logical approach where the objective of any firm is to maximize profits.By not doing so, the firm will lose out to the competitors and will continue to face rising production costs in keeping up with consumer preferences. She holds Fergus Harold accountable for being overly nationalistic and even rather ignorant to the status of British clothing made in Malaysia and its effect on a Japanese consumer. Her unabashed perception indicates that backlash would be from local purchasers whose confidence may be undermined by the outsourcing of a classy British brand to a third world country. Furthermore, it is well pointed out that the CEO does not feel threatened by British media.Supposedly she sees that production line workers are of the lower working class whereas buyers of Castlebridge’s products of are of the wealthier class. Castlebridge simply cannot survive in their high cost market by maintaining its production lines within the UK. Labor cost is just too expensive. Trade unions have become cleverer with their protests and could potentially be a thorn in their side. The company needs to make a decision soon. The British public has been down this road before, as have foreign consumers of British products. I agree with the CEO that cost cutting measures need to be implemented.There is no need to maintain high production costs and place burden upon the shareholders of the company. If the British public has been down this path before then there should be no problem. If the firm shines light on its native roots and its international production, it could establish a winning reputation as a truly modern, global brand. However, the customers’ sentiment is very important. The brand image is highly regarded and maintaining the class, quality and authenticity is just as important as running the risk of a complete closure and a shutdown of business.Could Castlebridge hire foreign employees to work in the U. K? Could wages be scaled down to keep in line with profit margins? Maybe these alternatives should be considered. Otherwise, the real risk to the brand could be the potential loss of its high-class distinction and not its national identity. Before making a firm decision, all alternatives should be considered. As a member of the Board of Directors, Ferguson should have the conscientiousness to advise the company to rediscover and recommit to the core values that have made them so successful.Should the CEO go through with moving its production facilities offshore, he could recommend a trust-building people strategy, modeled by the CEO, which emphasizes forthright communication from management to the employees as well as the opinions of its customers. In doing so, the company will be compliant with its corporate culture and stakeholders. The last thing Castlebridge needs is to have its employees and customers reject the principles of this outerwear line. With that being said, the company can continue to enjoy the success it has had. How to cite Castlebridge, Papers

Titanic The Musical free essay sample

When we thought that we were at the peak of this new Titanic frenzy, along comes a musical with such power, emotion, and strength to sweep the Tonys with five awards, including Best Musical, Best Orchestration, Best Book, Best Original Score, and Best Scenic Designer. Instead of having one or two main characters who fall in love, this musical is about the ship herself, the R.M.S. Titanic, and takes place between April 10, 1912 (the day the Titanic left England) and April 15, when 711 (of the 2228 passengers) were picked up out of the sea and lifeboats. This musical takes us through the five days the Titanic sailed the Atlantic Ocean. Besides all the famous first-class figures, the musical leads us into the lives of the officers, the radiomen, the lookouts, and the stoker who worked behind the scenes to make the journey as enjoyable as they could for the passengers. The music and story that Maury Yeston and Peter Stone came up with are phenomenal. We will write a custom essay sample on Titanic The Musical or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page They captured the music of both the seas and the time. In the beginning, all the passengers can think about is boarding this new ship, and traveling across the seas on the biggest moving object known to man. But once the Titanic hits the iceberg, you see their true colors; some become strong and brave, while others turn into cowards. I would definitely recommend this CD to anyone who has an interest in the ship, in musicals, or in music itself. . Titanic The Musical free essay sample It seems like everywhere you look these days you see something on theTitanic, the ship that sank in 1912 killing more than half on board.There was the movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Kate Winslet. Therewere also endless documentaries, not to mention entire sections inbookstores dedicated to the doomed ship. But I have another chapter toadd to our obsession with the hunk of ill-fated steel: its Broadwaysnew musical Titanic. Overall, this play is prettygood. There is no real plot besides the ship sinking. Thereare a bunch of mini-plots with different characters. For instance, acharacter in second class, Alice Beane (Victoria Clark) spends most ofthe play trying to get to first class to see all the millionaires. Insteerage class all the passengers dream of a new life in America,especially a woman named Kate McGowen (Jennifer Piech) whose one-nightstand left her pregnant and lost. In the engine room a worker namedFredrick Barrett (Brian dArcy James) hopes he can someday see his loveagain. We will write a custom essay sample on Titanic: The Musical or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page The lyrics are clever. The music is simple but effective.Of course, some songs are better than others. The script is well-writtenand the characters well-developed, even those who really lived are wellacted and believable. My personal favorite character was Harold Bride(Martin Moran), the radio man, whose character seems like a modern-daycomputer geek placed in 1912. Even his simplest lines were deliveredwell and were hilarious. The best part of the whole play is theset. Wow!! There are basically three platforms. The top is the bridge orthe deck, the middle has the promenade decks and the bottom is thesmoking room. Then the crows nest is lowered from the top of thetheatre with the look-out man in it. When the ship is sinking well,I dont want to spoil it. You have to see it for yourself. It isamazing!! One weak point are some of the costumes. In Doingthe Latest Rag number, the costumes scared me. One of thecharacters (the only child, by the way), Jack Thayer, wore a fuchsia topand turquoise knickers. Now if that isnt scary, I dont know what is.Another Achilles heel is that there are too many characters. Thewriters should have eliminated some to avoid confusion. Otherwise, I think Titanic is worth seeing. Eventhough it costs an arm and a leg to see, it is very entertaining and itisnt totally depressing. It also isnt as long as the movie..

Style Of John Steinbeck - Creative Story Essays - Wind, Soil, Akubra

Style Of John Steinbeck - Creative Story There was a beauty in the death of the cattle. A kind of frustrated satisfaction that is wrought from an uphill struggle finally over, despite ending the journey at the foot of the mountain. Gaunt bodies littered the fractured earth, creating a stillness in the air, a sense of a battle just over; a battle where each side had slaughtered all the warriors of the other. The shriveled mounds of stagnant meat were dissolving into the air, creating a rankness that completed the mood. Rib bones pointed defiantly at the sun, making a final stand against the cruelty of nature; shouting a silent message into the wind which carried the loud stench of all that is inevitable and frightening. The sky before dusk was filled with heat and light, an emptiness that promised nothing, yet held the fate of many. The heat robbed the earth of its life and stole the cool laughter of the creeks. The light exploded into raucous laughter at the ill fate of the living, and mocked the cows as they expelled a last pathetic grunt into the night. The cows closed their saddened eyes with an agony so intense that every soul filled creature felt a strange loss of dignity in their bones. And the great old trees wept until the morning. The bodies signed the soil with an ink of blood, and sealed the fate of the land. The very grains of dirt seemed to have declared war upon one another, lining up on their distinct sides, refusing to mix with the enemy, refusing to join as one. The blood of the cows, thick and sticky, only painted the anger of the soil, riling the earthen warriors. Dying seeds begged the heat and light to subside, and invited the rains to clean the bloody warpaint from the dirt armies. And the light laughed in their faces. An ancient diplomat raised an angry fist and imposed order upon the universe. Time heals all wounds, even those of the heart, so when the heart of the land was torn apart and all breathing entities felt the pain of its injury, time stepped in and began to end the feuding. The brittle cow bones lying alone in the sun forgot their pride and crumbled into nothingness. The young saplings on the brink of death were enticed by time to fight on. A worker of miracles, time carried with it a perpetual flame, an infinite and sombre vow: peace. It threw the flame upon the dying land, and fought the heat and the light with a fire of the ages. As night drew a blue-grey curtain over the sky, time rationed out hope to those who had waited for it. The great old trees felt a song of dignity in the wind, and stopped weeping. The light and the heat, even in the depths of the night, could feel themselves being opposed by force stronger then they could resist. They could feel a cloud of justice bear down upon them, and they were afraid of the morning. Ed Hummel had not been anticipating the ruthlessness of the drought. His cattle were strewn, starved and bloated, across the dry dirt paddocks. The grass which had coloured the fields a wonderful green just a few short months earlier had surrendered to the sun's fury, and now decorated the red dirt with touches of brown. The sun obscured the view with shimmering mirages and Ed squinted to gaze hopefully at the horizon. It only the drought would subside, if only the rain would come and fill the drinking troughs and renew the moisture to the earth. Renew the moisture and wash away the stale cow bodies that lay where new summer grass should be. If only. Ed's anxious eyes measured the cracks in the soil, and tested the moisture by kicking up the dust with his old workboots. He pulled his akubra hat down over his freckled ears, protecting his balding head from the fate of his cattle. Sweat glistened on his forehead and ran down his back. His dog had collapsed beneath an old resilient gum tree, and he aspired to join him, but not before

NYU, New York University and Early Decision

NYU, New York University and Early Decision If you know that NYU is the school that you most want to attend, applying through tone of the universitys early decision options might be a wise choice. Key Takeaways: NYU and Early Decision NYU has two early decision options: Early Decision I has a November 1st deadline, and Early Decision II has a January 1st deadline.Applying early decision is one of the best ways to demonstrate your sincere interest in NYU, and it can improve your chances of getting in.Early decision is binding. If admitted, you are required to attend. The Advantages of Early Decision If you have a clear first-choice college that is highly selective, you should certainly consider applying early decision or early action if these options are available. At the great majority of colleges, the acceptance rate is higher for students who apply early; this point is remarkably clear in this early application information for the Ivy League. NYUs admissions website notes that for the class of 2021, the overall admit rate was 28 percent, while the admit rate for early decision was 38 percent. Note that this means that applying early increases your chances of admission by more than 10 percent, for the overall admit rate includes the early decision student pool. There are several reasons why you have a better chance of admission when applying early. For one, students who are able to get their applications together in October are clearly ambitious, organized, and good time managers. These are all traits possessed by successful college students. Also, colleges frequently use demonstrated interest as a factor when evaluating applications. A student who applies early is clearly interested. This is particularly true for early decision since applicants can apply to only one school through an early decision option. Finally, early decision applicants have the advantage of learning the decision of the admissions office early. Students who apply through NYUs Early Decision I will receive their decision by December 15th, and those who apply through Early Decision II get a decision by February 15th. Regular decision applicants dont receive a decision until April 1st. The Drawbacks of Early Decision If you know that New York University is your top choice school and you are able to complete a strong application by the deadline, early decision is definitely the way to go. The option, however, is not for everyone, and it does have a few drawbacks: Early decision is binding. If you are admitted, you are required to attend, and you must withdraw all of your other college applications.Because early decision is binding, you wont be able to compare different financial aid offers from multiple schools.If you are applying Early Decision I, you need to request letters of recommendation as soon as the school year starts, and youll want to take the SAT or ACT early.If youre doing well academically in your senior year, the admissions staff at NYU will likely be making a decision before they see any of your senior year grades. However, early decision does have its drawbacks. The most obvious of these is that the deadline is, well, early. Its often difficult to have SAT or ACT scores in hand by the end of October or early November, and you may want to have some of your senior grades and extracurricular accomplishments as part of your application. NYU's Early Decision Policies NYU changed its application options in 2010 to expand the early decision applicant pool. The prestigious Manhattan university now has two early decision deadlines NYU Application Options Option Application Deadline Decision Early Decision I November 1 December 15 Early Decision II January 1 February 15 Regular Decision January 1 April 1 If youre familiar with NYU, you may be wondering how January 1st is considered early. After all, the regular admission deadline is also January 1st. The answer has to do with the nature of early decision. If you are accepted under early decision, NYUs policy states that you must withdraw all applications you may have submitted to other colleges, and ... pay a tuition deposit within three weeks of notification. For regular admissions, nothing is binding and you have until May 1st to make a decision about which college to attend. In short, NYUs Early Decision II option is a way for students to tell the university that NYU is their first choice and they will definitely attend NYU if accepted. While the deadline is the same as regular admission, students who apply under Early Decision II can clearly demonstrate their interest in NYU. Early Decision II applicants have the added perk that they will receive a decision from NYU by mid-February, over a month early than applicants in the regular decision pool. NYU does not indicate if Early Decision I has any advantage over Early Decision II. However, Early Decision I applicants are clearly telling NYU that the university is their first choice. The timing of Early Decision II is such that an applicant can be rejected through Early Decision at another university, and still apply in time for Early Decision II at NYU. So for Early Decision II applicants, NYU might be their second choice school. If NYU is definitely your first choice school, it may be to your advantage to apply Early Decision I. A Final Word About NYU and Early Decision Do not apply early decision to NYU or any college unless you are absolutely sure that the school is your first choice. Early decision (unlike early action) is binding, and if you change your mind you will lose a deposit, violate your contract with the early decision school, and even run the risk of having applications at other schools voided. You should also avoid early decision if you are concerned about financial aid and what the option of shopping around for the best offer.

International Finance and Investments Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

International Finance and Investments - Essay Example Abundant in natural resources, it has ranked consistently high ranking in nearly all criteria of investment attractiveness. This empirical study will focus on Australias inward FDI profile and performance against the backdrop of global FDI flows. It will thus attempt to achieve some perspective essential to a better appreciation of Australias performance and potential in terms of investment growth and economic leadership in the Pacific rim. Foreign direct investment (FDI), according to Lamborn and Lepgold (2005), is a type of international capital flow that transfers a firms managerial skills and knowledge abroad; it involves the creation of a foreign subsidiary, the assets of which are directly controlled by the parent company. It differs from foreign portfolio investment in that the latter involves the purchase of securities where the businesses are owned or operated by others, and which normally do not exceed 20 percent of issued capital. A distinguishing characteristic of FDIs is the fact that it does not only involve a transfer of resources but also the acquisition of control (Krugman & Obstfeld 1994). It follows that the subsidiary does not only have a financial obligation to the company but also is part of the same organisational structure. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) states that FDI "reflects the objective of obtaining a lasting interest by a resident entity in one economy ("direct investor") in an entity resident in an economy other than that of the investor ("direct investment enterprise." (OECD Benchmark Definition). It adds that the lasting interest implies the existence of a long-term relationship between the direct investor and the enterprise and a significant degree of influence on the management of the enterprise. For both developed and developing countries alike, the attraction of FDIs lies in the assumption that greater inflows of foreign investments will

Intersubjectivity in The Light of Martin Heidegger and Martin Buber Essay

Intersubjectivity in The Light of Martin Heidegger and Martin Buber - Essay Example â€Å"the world is always the one that I share with Others. The world of Dasein is a with-world. And Being-in is Being-with Others.†7 So, â€Å"this Being-with Others defines the existence of Man. In Heidegger’s terms, now we know that for Dasein there is no Being without Being-in, and there is no Being-in without Being-with.†8 But what does Being-with mean? â€Å"Being-with must be of the essence of Dasein because without it any kind of relation to Others, even one of love, would not be possible, let alone essential itself.†9 This brings us to the fundamental question – What is Being? Herein is Heidegger’s foundation for intersubjectivity, i.e. the social self: Because Dasein’s Being is Being-with, its understanding of Being already implies the understanding of Others. This understanding, like any understanding, is not an acquaintance derived from knowledge about them, but a primordially existential kind of Being, which, more than any thing else, makes such knowledge and acquaintance possible. Knowing oneself is grounded in Being-with.10 Thus, Heideggerian intersubjectivity is rooted upon Dasein’s encounter of the others, that is to say, that it depends on the intersubjective encounters with other temporal beings. The world by which we share with other temporal beings requires a kind of open subjectivity in order for understanding to take place. But how do we experience intersubjectivity with others? How does Dasein encounter another Dasein? This is what Heidegger calls the principle of individuation: â€Å"the transcendence of the being of Dasein is a distinctive one since in it lies the possibility and the necessity of the most radical individuation.†11 So Dasein...In this essay, I will conduct a comparative analysis of two accounts of intersubjectivity. I will show that Heidegger’s account of intersubjectivity is foundational for Buber’s account to take place. To nullify the former, we thus nullify the latter. Hence, the differences in both accounts are but a matter of differing modes of interpretation, due to the complexity of the nature of intersubjectivity. It is easy to dismiss something which one makes no effort to understand. The literature of both Heidegger and Buber were obscure and abstract, yet full of meaning; most of which is left unspoken. Yet isn’t it the case that intersubjectivity is obscure and abstract? Doesn’t dialogue take place when its left unspoken? Herein is where the philosophies of both meet. For, it is in my contention that both philosophers need not differ drastically from each other’s account of intersubjectivity. It is in Heidegger’s account where Buber carries out his. The difference perhaps, if any, lies in its mode of interpretation, which is due to the complexity of the nature of intersubjectivity. Nevertheless, both accounts capture the essence of intersubjectivity, which proves to show how intersu bjective relations takes place. Intersubjectivity involves our awareness of others, the role they play in our lives, and the their significance in our quest for meaning and authenticity.

Build a Model (Micro) Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Build a Model (Micro) - Essay Example Therefore higher the percentage of students with disability, lower will be the API. API is highly dependent on the credential of the teachers. Higher the percentage of full time teachers in a school the better will be the API. In other words higher the dependence of a school on part time teachers, lower will be its API. In this model we want to visualize that how the parental education will affect the school performance. Ceteris Paribus, we see that Y = aX1 + z where z is a constant and a>0. If we want to plot this relation we have to measure average parent education on x axis measured in unit years and API being dependent variable on y axis. API is a unit free measure. The curve will be an upward sloping curve with a slope of dY/dX1 = a. Here we have done a cross sectional study with API of ten schools. API of year 2000 has been recorded and average parent education across various schools has been recorded. Now in this model we want to see how the API gets affected if we introduce a third variable say average class size. If the average class size increases, given the average parental education factor unchanged, then the API will fall and the curve will shift downwards. Due to increase in class size, given a fixed number of teachers, the teacher student ratio will fall leading to a poor academic growth of the students and lower API. The data and the diagram below show the effect. Here API 2000_revised is the API with new variable

The Great Pyramid of Egypt

The Great Pyramid of Egypt Overview The Great Pyramid of Egypt is deemed as one of the Worlds Seven Wonders. For more than 43 centuries, the pyramid was ranked as the tallest structure in the earth. But aside from its magnificence what makes it as a true wonder is how these Pharaohs managed such an enormous feat when there were no engineers and construction equipment to use. As such this will always remain a mystery but for todays managers in order to create something as grandeur as the Egypts pyramid, it will only take proper project management skills to successfully carry out a project. Nowadays, projects are ubiquitous. From the simple objective of political campaign to the complicated tasks of launching a rocket, project management is used everywhere by everybody. With this, it is considered as the driving force in most industries for leaders recognize that they are increasingly managing project-driven organization. They recognize that to be successful, they need to be conversant with and use modern project management techniques. Likewise to partially illustrate the importance of such tools, this paper shall discuss different approaches to project planning and control particularly in managing resources. These techniques as well as its benefits and limitations will be presented through the use of two business cases. Case I: Bojan Ltd. Bojan Ltd. operates in a rent a car industry that caters to other commercial businesses. To further satisfy its customers, the company is in the midst of searching for a supply of its vehicles. As such, the Project Manager (PM) is tasked to outline all the activities addressed to this problem using Project Network Diagram (PND), Program Evaluation and Review Technique (PERT) and Critical Path Method (CPM). To start off the project, the PM listed 18 activities that must be performed to produce the project deliverables. (See Table 1.1) This list also shows the relationship between the project activities and the estimated number of work periods that are needed to complete the individual activities. PND was drawn out of these data and was used to determine the start and finish dates of each task and the entire project. Figure 1.1 shows the PND including the detailed schedule data for each activity shown in Early Start (ES), Early Finish (EF), Latest Start (LS) and Latest Finish (LF). The diagram also presented the critical path wherein the nodes in red represent the critical activities. These activities were identified by subtracting the activitys ES from its LS. If the float is zero then it falls as a critical activity; otherwise the activity has a slack wherein it is allowed to be delayed without affecting the projects total duration. In this project there are six non-critical activities (F, G, J, M, P, R) which totals to eighteen days of float. As shown above, the activities A-B-C-D-E-H-I-K-L-N-O-R make up the critical path and by adding the duration of each activity it shows the shortest time in which a project can be completed. For this project adding the entire critical paths duration (1+1+ 4+5+8 +10+10+6+8+10+12+1), it will take 76 days for its fulfillment. For example if the project will commence on May 3 and assuming that there will be no delays and will be completed using a 5 day working week, the project will be finished on its 16th week specifically on the 23rd of August. If in case non-critical activities are delayed, it will not bring about delay for it has a slack. If the delay is equals or less than its slack, it has a time leeway that can be used without adverse effect on the project time completion. For example a one day interruption occurred during Activity P will have no effect on the projects target end date for only its EF and LS will be affected. (See Table 1.4) This case is also the same if Activity Q is one day delayed and if two day holdup happened during Activity M. Throughout the project, PND was applied since time management is often the main source of conflict and using such tool will help PM to tinker with the relationships between tasks and create alternative solutions to increase productivity, profitability, and the diligence of a project. Moreover other than this function, PND also serves four other purposes (Super Business, n.d.). Case II: Carr Ltd. Carr Ltd. supplies an array of fitness equipment to various health and fitness clubs. However the company wants to expand this offering by diversifying its product and market. In this light, the organization will be undertaking a series of activities to launch hydraulic resistance machines to various school gyms. To manage all these tasks, project integration management will be conducted to coordinate all the project elements throughout its lifecycle. Figure 2.1 illustrates the integrations seven main processes to ensure the projects completion. Project Charter The project charter is an announcement that names the new project, the purpose of the project and the PM (Verzuh, 2005, p. 41). Form 2.1 shows the project charter for this specific project. Preliminary Project Scope Statement The scope statement is a document used to develop and confirm a common understanding of the project scope. As such Form 2.2 describes the work to be accomplished in this project as this will help in preventing project creep the tendency of a project scope to get bigger and bigger (Schwalbe, 2008, p. 149). Project Management Plan The project management plan provides a snapshot of the whole project as it contains all the necessary data for project execution and control. The plan aims to coordinate and integrate all other project management knowledge area. Moreover it is kept flexible in order to adapt to future project changes. The contents of the projects management plans are as follows: Project Overview The project overview contains the basic idea of the project. It gives the project management team a summary of what should and should not be accomplished at the end of the project. Management and Technical Approach This part of the plan consists of various documents on the ways the project will be run through. As such it is divided into four parts and these are management objectives, project controls, risk management and project staffing. Management Objectives identifies the top management views, project priorities and constraints. Through this, the team can concentrate on what must be done and can recognize the probable project limits. Form 2.4 shows the projects management objectives. Form 2.4: Management Objectives Project Controls describes the monitoring of the projects progress and its change management. For this project, the team has decided to conduct a weekly status review to ensure that the project is completed on time as well as to handle the change effectively. Moreover every after the progress meeting, a project status report is to be filled out and if there will be a need for change, a project change request must be first completed before any change implementation. Risk Management identifies the risks and the ways to manage and control perils that will restrain the projects success. Form 2.7 lists the projects risk management techniques that will allow the team to prepare for the risks and on how to react on them. Project Staffing describes the human resource needs of the project. This document identifies the skills required for this project. As such, Form 2.8 provides a list of the qualifications needed for the project to ensure that it will be completed with highly skilled team members. Scope Management The scope management defines the work required to complete the project. This supports the preliminary scope statement for it clarifies and provides more specific details. With this end, a Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) is created to define the total scope of the project. Although this does not show the tasks dependencies and duration, the WBS provides a basis for planning and managing project schedules, costs, resources and changes (Young, 2007). Project Organization The project organization is represented by the Organizational Breakdown Structure (OBS). An OBS shows the decomposition of the projects responsibilities based on its WBS. Through this, the PM can allocate responsibilities, and to distribute the work fairly and evenly among the team (Young, 2007, p. 132). Project Schedule The project schedule provides a summary of the overall project schedule for it gives a baseline date of the projects completion. As such Table 2.2 identifies the project schedule that will be used to measure the projects progress to ensure the timely finish of the project. The table lists the relationships of each activity, the critical four dates and its critical path that are essential on identifying the projects duration. Project Budget The project budget consists of project estimate and project budget wherein project estimate is the approximate cost of the resources needed to complete a project while project budget involves allocating the overall cost estimate to individual work items to establish a baseline for measuring performance. For this project in estimating its total cost, bottom-up estimate was done. Bottom-up estimate which is often called Activity Based Costing involves on estimating individual work items and summing them to get a project total (Schwalbe, 2008, p. 274). In this project, labor cost, production of promotional tools and the school presentation consume most of the budget. Form 2.9 provides a summary of the projects estimated cost. Project Execution Project execution is the stage of performing the actual work as approved in the plan. This phase probably takes 90 percent or more of the projects effort. As such, the activities identified on the WBS are now being implemented to produce the project deliverables (Verzuh, 2005, p. 38). (Refer Figure 2.2 for the projects WBS) Consequently this point of project lifecycle involves on managing and performing the work described in the project management plan and so as to ensure that the project will be undertaken accordingly, the PM must perform these three tasks: Coordinating planning and execution; Providing strong leadership and a supportive culture; and Capitalizing on product, business and application area knowledge. Project Monitoring and Controlling Project monitoring and controlling involves collecting, measuring and disseminating performance information. In this stage project status reports play a pivotal role wherein all the activities are being tracked to measure the overall health of the project. Seven criteria are used for effective tracking and these are: Work (is it to estimates (both time and cost)?; Measurement (is everyone clear how to measure progress?); Timescales (are work plans being completed on schedule?); Quality (are standards being met in accordance with specifications?); Teamwork (are responsibilities being adhered to?); Changes (are problem-solving tools being used effectively?); Stakeholders (are they being kept informed, consulted and involved?) (Young, 2007, p.211). In addition to this, since scope, schedule and cost comprise the success criteria for the project, these three are the primary focus on monitoring the projects progress. Table 2.4 lists various methods on monitoring these factors. The purpose of tracking the projects progress is to ensure that the team always have the information to make an accurate assessment of what has happened and compare it with what should have happen according to the plan. Through this comparison, the team can take corrective actions to such variance. For example, it was identified that the project is lagging behind, specifically in doing the marketing plan due to conflicting ideas. As such, various proposals were raised and one of these is to work overtime. With this corrective action, the impending effect on project schedule was countered. Figure 2.3 summarizes the monitoring and controlling system for this project. Integrated Change Control Integrated change control is a management process for requesting, reviewing, approving, carrying out and controlling changes to the projects deliverables (Wallace 2007). Using the Project Change Request Form (Form 2.6) the project can achieve an efficient change control through understanding the source requiring the change, identifying the pros and cons of adapting to the change and preparing plan in implementing the change. With this end, Figure 2.4 illustrates the projects change control process (Westland, 2003). After recognizing the need for change, Configuration Management is then implemented. Configuration management controls the different versions of the project. It focuses specifically on how to implement approved changes as it keeps everyone in the project reading from the same sheet of music. For example, if the product proposal was changed midway through the project. This should be communicated to all the team members through updating the project reports so that the sub-teams responsible for the other parts of the marketing plan can make adjustments. If this is failed to do so, this will lead to confusing marketing plan. As such if the product package is targeting the low-end schools but the pricing suggests a premium rate for the fitness equipment, this results to inconsistencies. To avoid this kind of scenario, they must perform this three configuration management step: Identify the items that will be controlled, set up the control structure, and assign responsibility for control ( Verzuh, 2005, p.302). Project Closure Project closure is the smallest phase of the project but no less than important than the others. This stage is signified by all tasks and specific deliverables, documentation manuals and process procedures are finished and to identify if the project is finally completed Table 2.5 lists a closure checklist. When the project is deemed as completed, a close-out meeting is conducted to culminate all the efforts of the team member. The purpose of this meeting is to reach an agreement with the sponsor, in this case with Carr Ltd, to formally close the project. As such, Form 2.10 shows a sample of close-out meeting agenda. However the close-out meeting is not yet the end of the project for final report are yet to be done. This report includes project evaluation and project appraisal. Project evaluation is used to review the project processes and the management of the project. There are two modes of evaluating the project; active evaluation is conducted when the project is still in the works while post-project evaluation is after the projects turnover to the sponsor. On the other hand, project appraisal assesses the project as a whole for it determines the gains and losses of the project. These assessments are done with the purpose to learn from experience and to improve future projects. In addition to this in every project undertaken, benefits are always expected on them. In some cases, benefits are achieved after sometime the project has been concluded. In this project however, the benefit has been realized even before the project closure. Carr Ltd gained a new income stream in this diversification project via the agreed upon contracts with the customers (schools) for it signifies the payment terms (tangible benefits). Conclusion Project in tegration management is often regarded as the key to overall project success for it ties together all areas of project management. Thus this holds the primary focus of a PM. Summary Project management has come a long way since the formation of the pyramids in Egypt. Nowadays organizations have a renewed interest on this specific field as the number of projects continues to grow and their complexity continues to increase. This can be majorly attributed to the rise of modern project management tools and techniques for projects differ from the ongoing operations of a firm, managing those presents a new set of challenges. With this it resulted to developing tools and techniques that will deal with these challenges (Verzuh, 2005, p. 1). Accordingly throughout the paper, it presented various project management techniques. In the first case of Bojan Ltd, the use of network diagram was illustrated to stress the importance of completing the project on time. On the other hand, Carr Ltds problem of managing its new initiative was resolved by the project management integration that aims to ensure that all project elements come together at the right time to complete the project successfully. As such, the use of these tools emphasized that project management is a valued skill set in organizations across the spectrum. References Books Schwalbe, K., 2008. Information Technology Project Management. 5th Edition. Philippines: Cengage Learning Asia Pte Ltd. Verzuh, E., 2005. The Fast Forward MBA in Project Management. 2nd Edition. New Jersey: John Wiley Sons, Inc. Young, T., 2007. The Handbook of Project Management. 2nd Edition. United Kingdom: Kogan Page E-books Westland, J., 2003. Project Management Guidebook. United States of America: Method 1-2-3. [E-book] Available at: http://www.thoughtware.com.au/documents/method123-ebook.pdf [Accessed on 11 March 2010] Websites Burns, M., 2005. Never Say No Managing Change in a Project. [Online] Available at: http://www.easyweb.co.uk/articles/change-control.html [Accessed on 11 March 2010] Super-Business, n.d. Creating a Project Network Diagram. [Online] Available at: http://www.super-business.net/IT-Project-Management/172.html [Accessed 23 February 2010] Wallace, S., 2007. Scope Change Control. [Online] Available at: http://www.epmbook.com/scope.htm [Accessed 11 March 2010]

Dracula- Bram Stoker :: English Literature

Dracula- Bram Stoker In my opinion, this is one of the greatest horror books that have ever been written. It is excellent. The book begins with Jonathon Harker- one of the main characters, writing in his journal. From this we see that he is on his way to Transylvania, 'one of the wildest and least known portions of Europe' where he is visiting one of the clients of the accountants firm that he works for in his castle, Castle Dracula. From Budapest, he travels to Bistritz where he stays in the Golden Krone Hotel. The next day he is to travel to the Borgo pass by coach where Draculas carriage will meet him. There are early signs that all is not right: He has queer dreams whilst staying in Budapest, people are very wary of telling him anything of the count or his castle, when he asked the hotel owners what they knew of the Count 'both he and his wife crossed themselves and, saying that they knew nothing at all, refused to speak any further', people try to warn him off going to the castle, the landlady wouldn't let him leave the hotel until she had placed a cross around his neck, even the people on the coach he is taking to meet the counts carriage begin talking of evil things; Satan, vampires, hell. But this is soon forgotten as he journeys, he is absorbed in the beautiful landscape, oblivious to everything else. As they near the Borgo pass he finds that the other people on the coach's behaviour becomes more and more erratic as if they are nervous and frightened, for him as well as themselves. When they arrive to the pass, there is no-one there and they try to persuade him to leave with them but the Counts horseman arrives with the carriage . His appearance is very disturbing. He has eyes 'which seemed red in the lamplight' and red lips with 'sharp looking teeth. He interrogates the coach driver who seems to be very scared of him. There is also something very strange in his behaviour but we cant put our finger on it. Jonathan boards the carriage and begins the final lap of his journey towards the castle. The way in which the journey is described builds up a sense of apprehension, as if this is the beginning of an undescribable horror. The closer to the castle Jonathan gets, the worse it is. He sees a blue flame which the driver runs off into the darkness to inspect. While he is away the wolves of the forest form a ring around him but when the driver comes back, he