Wednesday, October 30, 2019

Wedding Photography Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Wedding Photography - Essay Example raphers to capture the images that will have meaning for the couple, such as allowing the event to unfold as it does rather than trying to direct it for the ‘perfect’ shot. Finally, it is important to consider the ethics of the situation – are you the first photographer, how do you respond to Uncle Charlie peering over your shoulder and should you digitally enhance images with minor flaws in them in order to provide a more pleasing picture. Examining some of the more important techniques and tips available will help to produce more satisfying results while an understanding of some of the ethics questions involved may help alleviate future problems. As has been mentioned, the wedding photographer must combine more than one role as he or she attempts to capture images of someone’s big day. They must have strong knowledge of portrait photography in terms of lighting and composition. â€Å"Portrait photographers learn lighting ratios such as the normal 3-1 ratio for lighting the face, as well as portrait composition. They then spend time setting up their shots for a desired lighting effect. †¦ They strive to control every aspect of the portrait† (Lee, 2004). This knowledge is often necessary in establishing the group shots of the wedding party and many images of the bride. However, this does not capture the sense of the joyousness of the moment nor does it complete the professional photographer’s duties at a wedding. This is where the photojournalist must come into play. â€Å"The photojournalist on the other hand is ‘quick to draw’ you might say. He or she is able to capture a fleeting mome nt in time. They are on their toes looking for the chance shot† (Lee, 2004). The degree to which a photographer must be a portrait artist or a photojournalist depends greatly on the general trends in society as well as in the wishes and personalities of the couple involved. The more the photographer is able to key in to the mood of the event, the better

Monday, October 28, 2019

Implementing ERP Solution Projects in SMBs Essay Example for Free

Implementing ERP Solution Projects in SMBs Essay Managing and developing intellectual capital in many of today’s organizations is becoming the greatest asset. Different firms of different sizes operating in different sectors are seeking a way of performing this task effectively and efficiently. Among the different tools under considerations, many consider Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software packages essential tools to effectively manage, retain and share knowledge among stakeholders at all echelons. ERP implementation causes changes to the receiving organization given its comprehensiveness and integrity. As a result challenges which results into additional risks and realization of new opportunities arise and proper action must be taken to avert or reinforce the challenge for better results. ERP solution system is as an opportunity for business entities whether small or large to use software applications that are specifically designed to upgrade the various business functions and attain the best business practices (Markus and Tanis, 2000, Marnewick and Labuschagne, 2005). Effective implementation of ERP software applications ensures that the major functional parts of a business enterprise are linked together in a common amalgamated software system (Sandoe et al, 2001, Rao 2000). This process makes it possible for the business activities to be instigated more efficiently and cooperation among the workers becomes more effective through the interactive information system. The process of implementing ERP in Small and Medium Businesses (SMBs) is beset with extra challenges and opportunities due to their specialty. The SMBs have limited financial and human resources, limited experience in project management and sometimes limited managerial competencies which determines the agility of their operations. Problem Statement Implementing ERP, projects require specialized application because they affect the receiving organization to different degrees. In implementing an ERP, solution divisions and departments within an organization have to be integrated into a single business platform, which affects the business model and the organization culture (Markus and Tanis, 2000). This makes the project risky and intricate. Due to global business factors, economic expansion and IT revolution ERP solutions are becoming a requirement for business success. SMBs being key players in the economic activity are not left out in this competition. However, the process and success stories of ERP solutions in SMBs is lacking as past studies mainly focused on the large scale enterprises ERP solution process and application. In addition, the present trend of ERP solution project implementation by SMBs in the diverse business sectors and industries calls for the exploration of the opportunities and challenges of Implementing ERP Solution Projects in SMBs to pave way for the identification of ways of avoiding or minimizing losses in the implementation process (Soh et al, 2000). SMBs organization structures and organizational cultures are not all well defined. This coupled with the rigidity of the organization structure and culture present serious challenges to the implementation of ERP projects in SMBs. Additionally ERP projects are more successful in easy to change and agile organizations. However, unlike in large companies, the senior management team of the SMBs is normally part of the daily business operations and lacks in-depth knowledge and skills necessary to have organized long-term plans for the business and even the adoption of ERP solution projects. Similarly low capital base and lack of properly trained personnel have remained a major setback in the running of the functions of SMBs. This problem is compounded by lack of sufficient funds to sustain training and engage quality consultants in such trainings. According to Sandoe et al (2001) many SMBs lack dedicated IT staff able to perform the risk management function exposing major business operations to unnecessary risks. Likewise, within internal functions of a SMB, organizational changes that would give room for adoption of technology are limited due to lack of unused resources. The impact of unsuccessful implementation of ERP solution to a SMB are said to be greater to the entire operations of the business enterprise while the success of wisely implemented ERP system will have a whole organizational positive impact (Rao 2000).

Saturday, October 26, 2019

Being A Good Parent :: Parenting

There are many different things that I take into consideration when it comes to parenting. Parents have many different responsibilities but there are three in particular that I think are very important. Being a good role model is important, as well as listening to your children and disciplining them appropriately. If you want to be a good parent you have to put your kids first. The first responsibility that I think is very important is being a good example for your kids. Parents are examples for their kids whether they like it or not. My boys watch and copy everything that I do, and even if I don’t think their listening they are listening. If they see me finishing school and working a good job that’s what they will expect to do themselves because that is all that they know. Children are like sponges. I want to show my kids how to be a good person by being a good person myself. As a parent I want my children to know that they can be anything they want to be, but at the same time I am controlling their physical and moral environment so that they can be good people. I want them to be in an environment where they can develop habits of honesty, generosity, and responsibility. I think that one of the greatest things that I can do for my kids is to take them seriously and listen to them. My five year old is constantly showing me everything that he learns and it’s very easy to tune him out sometimes, but I think its very important not to. It is important to listen because if you don’t give your kids enough attention they might try and seek it in a negative way. It is important to listen to your children when they have learned something new or want to tell you something that they are proud of. Children seek your approval, and that gives them confidence. Lastly discipline is another very important responsibility. The best thing to do is to pick your battles, because if you are constantly saying â€Å"no† your child will tune it out. You also have to be consistent. For example, you can’t let your child eat candy before dinner one night and then tell them not to the next night, you will be sending them mixed signals.

Thursday, October 24, 2019

Hamlet is a thinker not a man of action Essay

Hamlet’s one mission in the play is to revenge the death of his father by killing Claudius, however his procrastination leads to his untimely death, the deaths of many others in the Danish court and the relinquishment of Denmark to Fortinbras. Hamlet’s first words show a desire of revenge towards Claudius â€Å"A little more than kin and less than kind. † But later in his soliloquy we see that he is actually closer to killing himself, than killing Claudius or the perpetrator: â€Å"O that this too too sullied flesh would melt, / Thaw and resolve itself into a dew,† He doesn’t even contemplate killing Claudius; he hopes that the situation will resolve itself, which it never will, showing his unwillingness to act. This soliloquy also shows that he is not the bravest of people, as he cannot tell his mother how he really feels, another restrictive character trait when trying to revenge someone: â€Å"But break, my heart for I must hold my tongue. † In his soliloquy straight after Hamlet’s conversation with the Ghost he seems determine to kill his uncle, â€Å"thy commandment alone shall live / Within the book and volume of my brain. † The use of the word â€Å"commandment† shows that he will follow the Ghost’s word religiously. This shows that he is resolute, as a man of action would be. However, this is countered almost immediately at the end of the scene â€Å"O cursed spite, / That ever I was born to set it right. † This shows that Hamlet is scared to carry out what he has to do, he would much rather someone else revenge his father than he. The first device that Hamlet uses to carry out his revenge is to pretend to be mad. By this pretence he hopes to draw the attention away of the court away from him so that he can watch and follow Claudius to see if he is showing any signs of guilt. He tells Guildenstern of his madness. â€Å"I am mad but north-north-west. When the wind is / southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw. † His stated intention is to gain irrefutable evidence of Claudius’s villainy. He initiates this by visiting Ophelia in a state of undress and handing her a love letter, making Polonius believe that his madness is due to Ophelia’s rejection of him. Hamlet uses his feigned madness to show his true emotions and insult people he doesn’t like: â€Å"You are a fishmonger. † A fishmonger in Elizabethan times could have meant pimp, showing that Hamlet thinks that Polonius is using his daughter to gain favour within the court. Hamlet’s feigned madness does affect Claudius: in the first act he delivers long speeches, but by Act 2 he is reduced to short sentences like â€Å"We will try it. † This is an action, but it is one that allows him to procrastinate. When Hamlet is left alone he laments his weakness and inactivity. An actor could weep at the imagined grief of Hecuba, whereas Hamlet fails to respond to the murder of his father: â€Å"Tears in his eyes, distraction in his aspect, / A broken voice, and his whole function suiting / forms to his conceit? And all for nothing! / For Hecuba! † Hamlet’s principles cause him a great deal of self-criticism: â€Å"Why what an ass am I! This is most brave, / That I the son of a dear father murder’d, / Prompted to my revenge by heaven and hell, / Must like a whore unpack my heart with words/ And fall a-cursing like a very drab,† He curses his inactivity, showing that, although he is a thinker, he would prefer to be a man of action. At the end of the soliloquy he seems resolved to revenge Claudius, the â€Å"Mouse-Trap† play is a form of revenge against Claudius, but again it is not direct revenge, as he is still procrastinating. The fact that he has not confronted Claudius four months after confirmation from the ghost that Claudius is the guilty party shows that he is definitely a thinker. Hamlet’s soliloquy at the start of Act 3 still shows his overwhelming desire to think, particularly about suicide â€Å"To be or not to be†. The fact that he is still has time for soliloquies, and that he is not trying to hunt Claudius down and kill him, shows that he is definitely a thinker. Hamlet shows a lack of self knowledge as he cannot, as he intended in Act 1 sc 5 â€Å"with wings as swift / As meditation or the thoughts of love / May sweep to my revenge. † Instead he broods on his father’s death and even when he gets proof from Claudius’s reaction to the Mouse Trap play, â€Å"I’ll take the ghost’s word for a thousand pound. † He hesitates and needs further spurring by the ghost in Act 3 â€Å"to whet thy almost blunted purpose. † Hamlet has the perfect opportunity to kill Claudius in Act 3 sc 3, but again he procrastinates, letting himself think about what will happen to Claudius’ soul â€Å"A villain kills my father, and for that I, his sole son, do this same villain send to heaven. † He doesn’t act, because he thinks that Claudius is praying, cleansing his soul. This would send him to heaven, not hell where he belongs. The irony is that Claudius himself has too much on his conscience and cannot pray, â€Å"My words fly up, my thoughts remain below. / Words without thoughts never to heaven go†. Hamlet curses himself in a later soliloquy for his lack of action. Hamlet’s first action of physical revenge is to stab Polonius behind the arras. This action shows that he can only do something on the spur of the moment. If he’d had time to think about it, he would have found a way around stabbing the person behind the arras, electing instead to procrastinate. Hamlet meets Fortinbras’ army in Act 4 sc 4, which makes him feel depressed when he compares himself to Fortinbras: the Norwegian Prince is prepared to fight over something of very little value, while he hasn’t yet taken revenge for the murder of his father and the seduction of his mother: â€Å"How all occasions do inform against me, / And spur my dull revenge. † Hamlet does what he always does when confronted with a problem; he has a soliloquy. However, this is his last soliloquy, which could suggest that he is done with thinking now, and will finally carry out his revenge. Hamlet shows another decisive action, in dealing with the betrayal of his one-time friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern and with Claudius’ attempt to have him killed on his way to England. He replaces his own name with that of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern in the letter, ensuring that they will be killed in his place. He also Boards a pirate ship so that he can return to Denmark, these are all very decisive actions focused to towards revenging his father’s death. Hamlet’s entrance into Ophelia’s funeral certainly is more action-focussed than his previous actions: â€Å"This is I, / Hamlet the Dane. † His fight with Laertes, declaration of his love of Ophelia and his switch from prose to verse show that he is longer talking his self into lying and misleading others. Therefore he is not thinking as much as he is acting. Hamlet’s next action is to duel with Laertes, not knowing that it has been fixed so that Hamlet will die, but as with most strategies in the play, it does go according to plan: Both Laertes and Hamlet are wounded by the poisoned sword, Gertrude drinks the poisoned wine, and one of Hamlet’s dying acts is to force Claudius to drink the poisoned wine, which he does with relish, enjoying the power he has, and the fact that he is killing the person who killed his father, seduced his mother, taken his thrown and plotted to kill him twice’ â€Å"Here thou incestuous, murd’rous, damned Dane, / Drink off this potion. Is thy union here? / Follow my mother. † His action here was done purely, without any thought. As he dies Hamlet names Fortinbras as his successor to the throne of Denmark. He admires Fortinbras as a man of action, seeing that that is what his country needs to return stability to it, â€Å"I do prophesy th’election lights / On Fortinbras. He has my dying voice. † The time frame of the play helps to reinforce the impression of time passing. Individuals in the play travel from Denmark to Norway, Poland and England, from the court to the countryside. Contrasting the activity of Laertes and Fortinbras with the prolonged inactivity of Hamlet. As the hero in this tragedy Hamlet doesn’t have one, sole, character flaw that leads to his untimely death. He is a thinker involved in a dilemma that can only be solved successfully by a man of action. His inability to act swiftly and decisively without high motivation in connection with his father’s murder brings havoc to the Danish court, his own death and the death of many others in the court. If he had been a man of action Claudius would have been killed months before.

Wednesday, October 23, 2019

Hrd Report

DETAILED PROJECT REPORT FOR HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT 1. 0 CONTEXT :- 1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND – 1. DEVELOPMENT IN TECHNICAL EDUCATION- National policy on education 1986 which includes 10 year Technician education investment program for upgrading newly introduced Diploma Programs, with emphasis on rural population as well as continuing education programs aimed at upgrading already employed Technicians.This policy also emphasized on improving the quality of these Diploma Programs by strengthening teacher’s training program, curriculum development, examination & student assessment system and modernizing the Workshops, laboratories and classrooms of the polytechnics. Finally NPE – 86 aimed to improve the efficiency of the TES by strengthening the A. I. C. T. E. , the Four T. T. T. I’s, the D. T. E. , M. S. B. T. E. , granting academic autonomy to selected polytechnics and further strengthening the NTMIS and NATIONAL BOARD of ACCREDITATION . (Ref. A comparati ve study of Technical Education in Germany &India with spl-reference to Maharashtra – Ph. d. dissertation – by Dr. A. R. Thete ) The World Bank assisted Project for strengthening Technician education system in Maharashtra State was implemented by the State Government during 1992 to 1999. (Ref- Policy & Direction report – DIIC (M. S. ) Mumbai) The World Bank assisted Project has been conceived as the means of implementing most of the decisions included in the NPE –1986. The goal of WBAP was to support NPE – 1986 and emphasis was given on capacity expansion, quality improvement and efficiency improvement.As an impact of this project, infrastructure facilities have been provided to all the institutions and there has been some achievements towards improving quality of polytechnic education system. On the similar lines of the World Bank Assisted Project the Canada-India Institute Industry linkage project has been launched in Maharashtra State . It will enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of the TES by means of INDO-AUSTRIA Project is under planning stage and this will provide CNC Machining Technology in the Technical Institutes of Maharashtra State for Training and Educational purposes. (Ref- Policy & Direction report – DIIC (M.S. ) Mumbai) 1. 1. 2 Thrust toward qualitative improvement :- Prior to the emergence of World Bank assisted Project the training was imparted by ISTE, TTTI etc. The experiences gained during training were not fully utilized. Due to World Bank assisted project the State has made effort to improve management and educational process, but these efforts were fragmentary. In the last five decades there has been manifold expansion in polytechnic education systems. The unprecedented expansion notwithstanding, the system design has remained more or less static. Changes in the system if any have been superficial in nature.As a result, the system continues to produce more of the routine kind of output, not adequately responding to the changing needs. (Ref. – Draft policy guidelines for training teachers of polytechnics & engineering colleges – Ministry of H. R. D. , Department of Secondary & Higher Education, May-2000) Technical education is now considered as one of the most crucial inputs for socio – economic development with enormous potential for improving the quality of life of the people. Improvement in Education & Management processes is essentially slow, primarily because educational enterprise as whole is labour intensive and not capital intensive.Improvement of capabilities of system as whole involves acquisition of new knowledge, skills and attitudes. not only by individuals but also at the collective level by teams, departments, institutions and State level organizations. (Ref- Policy & Direction report – DIIC (M. S. ) Mumbai) This requires HRD strategy on the long term basis. It requires capability of Key personnel at each level of operation fo r project management. Human Resource Development is a continuos process. Also in order to sustain the gains of World Bank assisted Project and to make deliberate efforts in improving quality and efficiency of the system.Directorate of Industry Institute Co-ordination has taken initiative to formulate HRD strategy on long term basis and a systematic, scientific Staff Development Planning for Technical Education System for 2000-2005 with co-operation of M. S. B. T. E. and T. T. T. I. , Bhopal. 1. 1. 3 Resource group formation for H. R. D. :- Directorate of Industry – Institute co-ordination has taken initiative to formulate H. R. D. strategy on long term basis and a systematic scientific staff development planning with the co-operation of M. S. B. T. E. & T. T. T. I. , Bhopal. For preparing a detailed project report n Human Resource Development for T. E. S. of Maharashtra, a State Resource Group (S. R. G. ) was formed in May 2000. 1. 1. 4 Master plan for the whole Technical Edu cation system :- A master plan indicating post project status of total T. E. S. , system’s diagram linked to the customer is prepared by S. R. G. as shown in fig. 1. The linkages of various educational processes & enabling processes are shown in fig. 1. HRD is the one of enabling process which is linked to all other educational & enabling processes. See parent document by State Resource Group lead by Shri Makone. 1. 1. 5 Context of H. R. D. ith respect to Technical Education System :- A master plan indicating post-project status of total Technical education System diagram linked to customer (i. e. industry) is drawn to understand the Role of Human Resource development in Technical Education System. (Ref. – fig. 1) It is an system’s diagram which shows – 1) Customer of the system 2) Mission of Technical Education System. 3) Goal of the T. E. S. 4) Output 5) Signal Input 6) Process Educational Enabling 7) Management 8) Resource Input 9) Supra system 9. 1) S uppliers of Input 9. 2) Suppliers of Resources 9. 3) Regulatory Agencies 0) Competitors. The ultimate output of T. E. S. required is manpower having right type of knowledge , skills & attitudes . In order to accomplish this output, Process of transformation of HRD has to be planned. These processes are classified into two categories – i) Educational Processes – which ensure that the students are educated & trained through scientific action by levels of key personnel. ii) Enabling processes – which ensure that this main educational process are supported by ‘ enabling processes ’ which provide frame work within which educational processes take place.The Educational Processes are – 1) State Planning – At State level 2) Institutional Planning – At institute level 3) Curriculum design & development – Department level 4) L. R. D. C. – L. R. U. C. – 5) Instructional design – At Class room 6) Student’s learning – level All these processes interact with each other. The enabling processes which enables the Educational processes to perform in the right direction are – 1) State Project Planning – Ensuring that innovative projects are systematically managed at all levels of project institute. ) Industry Institute Interaction – Ensures that project institutes are linked to industry. 3) Human Resource development – Ensures that all project institutes are equipped with right type of Human resource in right numbers & at right time. 4) Management Information System – Ensures that all projects institutes have access to all types of information ( generic & specific) for decision-making. 5) Organisational development. – Ensures that all project institutes are simultensasly helped to 1) establish the project cells & 2) restructure the parent institute so that project-cell working in close co-operation with the main stream staff.These enabling pr ocesses are each designed & developed & implemented simultensasly at all levels of the system. Process of Human Resource development is linked with all the educational processes and also the Enabling processes quoted above. Trained manpower which is the output of H. R. D. , is required to sustain the Educational & Enabling processes to make the T. E. S. effective & efficient. System diagram for the H. R. D. system indicating Post-Project status is as shown in figure No. 2. The output of H. R. D. is trained manpower required for all the educational & enabling processes.The process of Transformation consists of three stages. ( Article faculty development by Dr. P. J. George, Programme Director, I. S. New Delhi) 1) Initial Training 2) Induction Training 3) In service Training. In Initial Training, theoretical Input in new disciplines in Education & information management is to be given. In Induction Training microskills are to be developed & in Inservice Training consolidation of micro skills into a macro-skills their utilization in the actual institutional context takes place. 6.Developmental model of Human Resource Planning & Development in Industry to serve as model of HRD in TES (Model from E. H. Schein) :- CONTEXT :- Human growth takes place through successive encounters with one’s environment. As the person encounters a new situation, he or she is forced to try new responses to deal with that situation. Learning takes place as a function of those responses work out and the results they achieve. If they are successful in coping with the situation, the person enlarges his repertory of responses, if they are not successful the person must try alternate responses until the situation has been dealt with.If none of the active coping responses work, the person sometimes retreats from the new situation or denies there is a problem to be solved. These responses are defensive and growth limiting. For growth to occur, people need two things : New challenges that are within the range of their coping responses and knowledge of results – information on how their responses to the challenge have worked out. If the tasks & challenges are too easy or too hard, the person will be demotivated and cease to grow.If the information is not available on how well the persons responses are working, the person cannot grow in systematic, valid direction but is forced into guessing or trying to infer information from ambiguous signals. The organizational growth similarly takes place through organizations successful coping with the internal & external environment. But since the organisation is a complex system of human, material, machines, financial & informational resources, we must consider how each of these areas can be properly managed toward organizational effectiveness.In order for the organisation to have the capacity to perform effectively over a period of time it must be able to plan to recruit, manages develop, measure, dispose of and replace human resources as warranted by the tasks be done. A key assumption underlying organizational growth is that the nature of jobs will change overtime, which means that such changes must be continuously monitored in order to ensure that the right kinds of human resources can be recruited and developed to do these jobs.In an ideal Human resource planning & development system we should seek to match organisation’s needs for human resources with the individuals needs for personal career growth and development. A developmental model of Human resource planning & development is depicted in figure 3. It involves both individuals & organizational planning & a series of matching activities designed to satisfy mutual needs. The components of an effective H. R. P. D. System can be derived from this diagram – 1) In the organisation the overall planning component shown at left hand side in fig. . 2) Components that ensure an adequate process of staffing the organisation. 3) Componen t that plan for & monitor growth and development. 4) Component that facilitate the actual process of growth and development of the people who are brought into the organisation. This growth & development must be organized to meet both the needs of the organisation & the needs of the individuals within it. 1. 1. 7 Brief description of components of developmental model :- As said earlier the function of the components mentioned in article No. 1. 1. is to ensure that the organisation has an adequate basis for selecting its human resources & developing them toward the fulfillment of organizational goals. 1. 1. 7. 1 ORGANISATIONAL NEEDS 1) PLANNING FOR STAFFING Strategic Planning – These activities are designed to determine the organisation’s goals, Priorities future directions, products, market growth rate, geographical location & organisation structure & design. 2) Job / role planning :- This activity can be thought of as a dynamic kind of job analysis, where a continual r eview is made of the skills, knowledge, values etc. urrently needed in the organisation & that will be needed in the future . From a planning point of view it is probably most important for the highest level jobs – how the nature of general & functional management will change as the organisation faces new technologies, new social values & new environmental conditions. From these knowledge, skills , attitudes, values job descriptions are to be generated. 3) Manpower Planning & Human resource inventorying – These activities draw on the job/role descriptions generated and assess the capabilities of the present human resources against those plans or recruitments.These activities may be focussed on the number of people in given categories & are often designed to ensures adequate supply of people in those categories. Or the process may focus more on how to ensure that certain scarce skills that will be needed will in fact be available, leading to more sophisticated programme s of recruitment or human resource development. 1. 1. 7. 2 INDIVIDUAL NEEDS :- The three activities mentioned above are all geared to identifying the organizations needs in the human resource area. These three activities should be linked to each other organizationally.If these activities are not linked together, the situation reflects on erroneous assumption about growth & development. 1) Career & job – choice 2) Earlier career issue locating 3) Mid – career issue locating. If there are no major change in job requirements as the organisation grows & develops, the system normally work, But if job themselves change, it is no longer safe to assume that today’s human resources, with development plans based on today’s job requirements, will produce the people needed in some future situation. Therefore more job/role planning must be done, independent of the present in the organisation. . 1. 7. 3 MATCHING PROCESS :- (Linking of organizational need to individual needs) 1) Job Analysis :- If the organizational planning has been done adequately, the next component is to specify what jobs need to be filled & what skills etc. are needed to those jobs. It will help to specify what kind of recruitment to undertake and how to select people from among the recruits. 2) Recruitment & Selection :- This activity involves the actual process of going out to find people to fulfill jobs & developing systems for deciding which of these people to recruit / hire.These components may be very formal including testing, assessment and other aids to the selection process. 3) Induction, Socialization & Initial Training :- Once the employee is recruited / hired, these ensures & period during which he or she learns the ropes, learns how to get along in the organisation, how to work, how to fit in, how to master the particulars of the job and so on. The goal should be to facilitate the employee’s becoming a productive & useful member of the organisation both in short run and in terms of long range potential. ) Job design & Job Assignment :- One of the most crucial components of staffing is the actual design of the job given to the new employee & the manner in which assignment is made. The issue is how to provide optimal challenge, a set of activities neither too hard nor too easy for the new employee and neither too meaningless nor too risky from the point of view of the organisation If the job is too easy or too meaningless, the employee may become demotivated, if the job is too hard and involves too much responsibility & risk, the employee may become too anxious, frustrated or angry to perform at an optimal level.The four components 1) Job analysis,2) Recruitment & selection, 3) Induction, Socialization & Initial Training, 4) Job design and Job assignment are the matching processing geared to ensuring that the work of the organisation will be performed. These processes are to be performed by line managers, personnel staff specialists to gether. Line managers have the basic information about jobs & skills requirements. Personnel specialists have the interviewing, recruiting & assessment skills to aid in the selection process. In optimal System these functions shall be closely co-ordinated. Recruiters shall provide to the employee, accurate information bout the nature of the organisation & actual work he / she will be doing in it. Recruiters also need good information on the long range human resource plans so that these can be taken into account in selection of new employee. Development Planning: – Same planning activities are essential so as to make the employee remain motivated, productive & maintain a reasonable level of job satisfaction. i) Inventorying of development plans: – The planning component will consist of pulling together the information into a centralized inventory that will permit co-ordination & evaluation of the development activities. i) Follow up & evaluation of development activitie s: – Development plan for individual employees will be written down, implemented & evaluated either in relation to the individuals own needs for growth or in relation to the organizations needs for new skills. Career Development Processes: – These processes must match the organisation’s needs for work with the individual needs for a productive & satisfying work career. It must provide some kind of forms and movements for the employee through some succession of jobs, whether these involve promotion, lateral movement to new functions or simply new assignments within a given area.Training (Initial, Induction, Inservice) :- Training will be in three phases – i) Initial – To provide opportunities to acquire generic/ abstract knowledge in new field of studies ii) Induction – To develop microskills. The chaining of which leads to acquisition of macro skills. iii) Inservice – Using macro-skills chains in the actual job context. Performance Ev aluation & Judgement of Potential: – The process of performance appraisal will be standardized & formalized. Such standardized & formalized performance appraisal will help to justify promotions to give recognition.Organisation Rewards: – Line managers must actively work with compensation expert to develop a joint philosophy and set of goals based on an understanding of what the organisation is trying to reward & what employee needs actually are ( people at different career stages many different things. ) Promotion & other job changes: – If the promotions opportunities are limited because the pyramid narrows at the top, an effective H. R. P. D. System shall concentrate on developing career paths, system of job rotation, changing assignments, temporary assignments,& lateral job moves that ensure continuing growth of all human resources.One of the key characteristics of an optimally challenging job is that it both draws on the persons abilities & skills. Source â⠂¬â€œ E. H. SCHEIN – The Art of Human Resource Management. Training and Development opportunities :- Formal training and other development programmes and education activities are necessary in the total process of human growth and development. These should be carefully linked both to the needs of the individuals and to the needs of organisation. The individual should want to go to the programme because he or she can see how the educational activities fits in to the total career.As much as possible training and educational activities should be tied to job/role planning. Career Counseling : – Growth and development only come from within the individual himself or herself, its important that the organisation provide some means for individual employees at all levels to become more pro-active about their careers and some mechanisms for joint dialogue, counseling and career planning. this process should ideally be linked to performance appraisal. Because it is that context tha t the boss can review with the sub-ordinate the future potential development needs, strength weakness, career options etc.Joint Career Planning :- The boss is often not trained in counseling but he possess some of the key information. The employee needs to initiate career planning. Also the sharing of information is properly done is not the same as making commitments or setting up of false expectations. Whatever is decided about training, next steps, special assignment, rotation should be jointly decided by the individual and appropriate organizational resource. Each step must fit in to the employees life plan and must be tied in to organizational needs.Follow – up and Evaluation :- Whatever decided should not merely be written down but executed. If there are implementation problems, the development plans should be re-negotiated . Whatever developmental actions were taken it is essential that they be followed up and evaluated both by the persons and by the organisation to det ermine what, if anything, was achieved. The organisation should make plans to talk to the individual before or after the programmes that what will be the appropriate next assignment for him or her following the programme.Planning for and Managing disengagements :- The planning and managing process reviewed below are counter parts of ones that have already discussed but are focused on different problems like late career loss of motivation, obsolescence and ultimately retirement. Organizations must recognize that there are various options available to deal with this range of problems. Beyond the obvious ones of either terminating the employee or engaging in elaborate measures to re-motivate people who may have lost work involvement.Continuing Education & Re-training :- These activities have their greatest potential, if the employee is motivated and if there is some clear connection between what is to be learned and what the employees current or future job assignment required in the wa y of skills. More and more organizations are finding out that it is better to provide challenging work first and only then the training to perform that work ones the employee sees the need for it obviously for this linkage to work well continuous dialogue is needed between employees and their managers.Job Redesign :- Job changes or job re-design is required in general applied to the particular problems of levelled – off employees. Job Enrichment :- Job enrichment and other efforts are required to re-design work to increase motivation and performance. Job Rotation :- When the employee becomes unresponsive to the job characteristics themselves and pays more attention to surrounding factors such as the nature of supervision, relationships with co-workers, pay and other extrinsic characteristic in otherwords before organisation attempt to cure levelled of employees by Re-motivating them through job re-design or job relation.They should examine whether those employees are still in responsive mode or not. 2. 0 POST PROJECT STATUS OF H. R. D. SYSTEMS FOR T. E. FOR QUALITY IMPROVEMENT :- The developmental model of Human Resource Planning & Development in Industry is to be adopted for HRPD system of TES for quality improvement. 1. System’s Diagram for post project status of H. R. D. system :- It is depicted in fig. 2. 2. 2 GENERAL :- The old concept of staff development was confirmed to imparting knowledge & skill to teachers that are needed for class room teacher.This consist of developing the requisite subject competence & pedagogical skills. This focuses on improving the teaching & related abilities & is job embedded which means that it undertakes the development of the staff for performing job activities. The new concept of professional development on the other hand focuses also on improvement on job performance & is mostly job related. Fig. 2 and Fig. 4 depicts post project status of HRD for TES. In fig. 2 processes are shown while in fig. 4 developm ental model indicating processes with activities is shown.The process activities in fig. 4 are as follows . 2. 3 Organisational Needs :- Customer and their training needs – Needs of TES primarily can be categorized in two ways – it needs two types of manpower to manage quality improvement of the T. E. S. 1) Line Functionary – Staff at regional and institutional level, Principal, teachers, students. 2) Staff Functionary – To manage functions in CDC, instructional design, students learning as well as III, HRD, IS & OD. 2. 4 INDIVIDUAL NEEDS :-Above three activities can be interconnected for identifying the system needs in Human Resource area. Individual staff development is not a one time process & will be distributed throughout working period of on individuals. It consist of three stages – 1) Initial training 2) Induction training 3) Inservice training. 2. 5 MATCHING PROCESS :- Job analysis :- It is necessary to specify job needs to be fulfilled & a bout required skills needed to their jobs. It is necessary to do the job analysis for each post involved in the system at state level, Inst. evel, dept. level & individual level. This will helps in understanding to a individual about job profile also to know his function in the system. It helps in deriving the roles & responsibility of posts. HRD will work in this area & will do job analysis & as said above. Recruitment & Selection :- While recruiting a person for the system through MPSC or at Directorate level certain types of norms (e. g. recruitment rules) will be developed by HRD. These norms will be helpful to get the suitable person for the system. Induction & Socialization :-When the employee will be recruited he will learn the ropes, learns how to get along in the organisation, how to work, how to fit in, how to master the particular job, how to see viable future in the career. The goal will be to facilitate the employee’s becoming productive & useful member of the or ganisation both in short term & long term. Job design / Assignment The job assignment to the new employee will be made to be carefully. The issue is how to provide optimal challenge, a set of activities neither too hard nor too easy & neither too meaningless nor too risky from the point of view of the organisation.Job design & job assignment are the matching processes geared to ensure that the work of organisation will be performed. Line managers will have the basic information about jobs & skills requirement. Training (Initial, Induction, Inservice ):- Initial Training – This training will be organized to impart the knowledge & basic operational skills to newly recruited staffs for better T. L. process. It includes modern Tl processes, technologies & hands on practice etc. This also includes awareness about roles & responsibilities of employee & information regarding organisation.Induction Training – This training programme will be arrange for locating one’s ea rly career issues. He can locate his area of contribution in learning how to fit himself in organisation & becoming productivity seeing a noble future for oneself in the career. This phase insist on development, microskills in his area of interest. There liking areas includes LRD’s , instructional design, curriculum development, TL processes, instructional processes & institutional process as well as he can develop himself in III, IS, OD, etc. This will help him in vertical & horizontal mobility in the system.HRD system will identify system need in above areas as well as individual need in the same area and will develop & arrange requisite training programme in these areas. Inservice Training – These training will facilitate to individual in his career development process. This training must provide some kinds of norms & regulations for employee through some successions of job by promotion or by lateral movement or by giving simply new assignment. this training will fo cus on new emerging technologies in the related area enhancing profession & tech. ompetence among employees. This inservice training programme will provide persons for higher level working like state planning, state management, Instt. Planning, etc. Performance evaluation :- HRD will develop reliable evaluation system to get the necessary feed back to accomplish the goals successfully. Under HRD the process of performance appraisal will be standardized which will help in providing opportunities to individual for vertical & horizontal mobility. Organisational Rewards :- HRD will conceive result oriented reward system.This will motivate employees working in TES & help to achieve the goal of TES effectively & effeciently. Similarly promotion facilities & lateral movements will also be made available. HRD will give guidelines in this matter. Promotion ;- The promotion opportunity are limited because the pyramid narrows at the top. The promotions will be done timely also HRPD system will concentrate on developing career paths, systems of job rotation, changing assignments, temporary assignments to ensure continuous growth of Human resources.Optimally challenging jobs draws persons abilities & skills. Career Counseling :- For growth & development of the individual the organisation will provide some means for individual employees at all levels to become more pro-active about their careers and some mechanisms for joint dialogue counseling and career planning. This process will ideally be linked to performance appraisal. Because the boss can review with the sub-ordinates the future potential development needs, strength weaknesses, career options etc. Planning for levelled – off employee :-The planning & managing process are counter parts of individuals that have already discussed but are focussed on different problems like late career, lack of motivation obsolescence and ultimately retirement. Organisation will recognize that there are various options available to deal with this range of problems, beyond obvious ones of either terminating the employee or engaging in elaborate measures to re-motivate people who may have lost work involvement. Job design / Job Rotation :- Job changes or job re-design is suggested which will be applied to the particular problems of levelled – off employees.When the employees become un-responsive to the job characteristic themselves and pays more attention to surrounding factors such as the nature of supervision, relationship with co-workers, pay & other extrinsic characteristic, they should examine whether those employees are still in responsive mode or not. 2. 6 Management of the post project status :- All institutions signing the project will be simultaneously engaged in conducting routine activities & at the same time managing project activities. HRD Cells will be installed at D. T. E. , D. I. I. C. , M. S. B. T. E. , R. O. s, R. B. T. E. & polytechnics devoted for managing the project. Their functi ons will be liasion, R & D, design, policy making, development, implementation, evaluation, 2. 7 Resources at the post project status :- The content of this section is based on the system’s diagram in fig. 2 in which item No. 5 i. e. resource inputs are shown. They are the resources needed to install management & management processes. Resource planning is intended to ensure that the existing & additional resources are strengthened, developed & kept ready for project implementation. 1) Physical Resources :- Every institute of TES will have adequate physical resources. ) Human Resources :- System will have trained Human resources capable of managing change in educational processes & enabling processes. 3) Information Resources :- HRD components will have a stock of generic information & specific information required & it will flow from one institute to another. 4) Time Resources :- HRD will have long term policy and a time bound action-plan geared to vision, mission , goals, ob jectives & activities. 5) Financial Resources :- HRD component will have financial management to carry out The change process over a long term project period.Provision will be made for internal revenue generation. ******************************************************************************************* 3. 0 PRE-PROJECT STATUS :- 3. 1 Context of W. B. A. P. under which staff development cells were instituted and Role & Function of S. D. C. 3. 1. 1 CONTEXT :- PreWBAP status of HRD – In 1965 TTTC was established at Karad. It was shifted to Pune in 1970. TTTC conducted long term programmes of diploma & degree in Technical Teachers Training. In 1980 TTTC was handed over to TTTI Bhopal and extension centre of TTTI was established in Pune in 1980.Prior to WBAP, TTTI & other organisation like CII, IIT & ISTE were announcing the training programmes through their calendar & the state (DTE) deputed the staff for the programmes but it was not in the planned way. WBAP was implemented in the state of Maharashtra for improving quality & efficiency of Technician Education in the state. Developmental activities like Staff development, Curriculum development, Learning resource development, Industry Institute Interaction were started in various polytechnics under various subcomponents of this WBAP.Primarily Government Polytechnics situated at six Regional Headquarters were considered to initiate all these activities. These centres being Autonomous institutes were expected to develop these activities for their own needs & further percolate concepts & benefits related to these activities in the region. In order to implement sustained S. D. activity for faculty & supporting staff Government, Government Aided & Unaided polytechnics of state S. D. cells had been established under WBAP at the six lead centres i. e. Government Polytechnic, Mumbai, Pune, Nashik, Aurangabad, Amaravati & Nagpur. Ref. :- Staff development activity under S. D. Cell at lead centre polytechnics Progr amme calendar Jan. 99 – June99 ) By DIIC, Mumbai. 3. 1. 2 ROLE OF S. D. C. :- Training programme calendars were sent to principals of all polytechnics by SPIU/DIIC, Mumbai. They had to prepare staff development plan of their institutes by identifying the teachers / ministerial / supporting staff for the programmes listed in the calender taking into consideration academic planning of their institute. Such staff development plans prepared were submitted to SDC’s.All SDC’s were to compile the information received from different polytechnics and pass on the same to DIIC for further execution. This was the practice adopted during WBAP. 3. 2 STATUS OF THE PROGRAMMES :- The programmes planned were categorized as follows :- 1. State level programmes – These were the programmes for which staff member from any polytechnic of state was a participant. 2. Regional Programmes – Some programmes were planned for the specific region. 3. 3 TYPES OF PROGRAMMES IN THE PREVIOUS CALENDERS. :- 3. 3. 1 Long Term Programmes – †¢ Induction Phase I, †¢ Induction Phase II, Industrial Training of Teachers †¢ Induction programme for office staff (ministerial staff ), †¢ Industrial training of workshop staff. Short Term Programmes – 1) Management development programmes for Principals & HODs, Librarians & storekeeper. 2) Content updating programmes for teachers. 3) Skill updating programmes for supporting staff. 3. System’s diagram for Pre-project status :- System’s diagram for Pre-project status is as shown in figure 5. 3. 5 Present status of Clients:- There is no client focussed HRD. 3. 6 Present status of output :- (Trained manpower)Currently the staff development programmes are not designed as per the needs of the organizations. Also the individual training need is not assessed. In short, there exist no systematic & scientific staff development planning. In certain area like Learning Resource Development , Curriculum Development, some manpower is trained but strategy for HRD does not exist as explained in post project status also manpower required for State planning, Institutional planning, LRUC, Instructional design, Student’s learning, III, MIS, Organisational development, Staff development, the manpower is not trained to the satisfactory level. . 7Current status of input:- (Current status of knowledge / skills / attitudes of line and staff functionaries) The teachers should have the knowledge & skills of instructional design, LRDC, LRUC . The HODs should have the knowledge & skills of Curriculum design, development, implementation & evaluation. The principals should have the knowledge & skills of institutional planning. State level / regional level officials should have knowledge & skills of planning & management. The line workers required for enabling processes are staff development officers, training & placement officers, project officers.They should have knowledge & skil ls of understanding enabling processes, planning & implementation of these processes. But existing faculty is lacking in professionalism required to undertake / perform such processes. (i. e. knowledge in ID, CD, IP, CDC etc. ) 3. 8 Current status of process of transformation :- (Strategies & activities to convert current level of competence of line and staff functions into those described in post project status) The process of transformation includes a process chain depicted in fig. 5. i) Job analysis for the all the post is not in existence.The roles & responsibilities of SDO, TPO, Project officers, Deputy secretary, Assistant secretary, System Analyst are not clearly mentioned. ii) It is observed that modification in recruitment rules are necessary. Recruitment rules for certain post like Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretary etc. are not prepared yet. Most important is the gap which still focusses todays job function & not future design of job function. iii) Induction & Socializ ation – Presently there is no effort for a newly recruited employee to convert him in productive & useful member of the organization both in short run & long run.Induction phase I & phase II program are currently in operation. iv) Job design & assignment – It is observed that currently there is no job description done in professional way also the work allotment in the institution are not as per the ability & skills of the employee. Presently allocation of the work to the subordinates is done by priority of the work. Staff shortage is one of the main reasons for improper allocation of work. v) Training need assessment – Assessment of individual training needs, organizational needs & their matching to accomplish a certain goal is not done systematically & scientifically. i) Training – Presently training is imparted on the basis of felt needs & not on the basis of needs assessed scientifically & systematically. Also needs of the individuals for his / her ver tical & horizontal mobility have not been considered. Except for few innovative project like LRDC there is no concept of induction & inservice training as such. vii) Performance Evaluation – Presently there is no professional way of obtaining feedback mechanism for performance evaluation. It is observed that there is vast gap in performance measurement & reality.Performance appraisal reports are not fact oriented towards the activities of the individual. The current stress is on the confidential reports which makes performance appraisal difficult. viii) Organisational reward – There is no reward system to motivate employees at institutional level to engaging attempt to enhance quality of his work. Only state level Best Teacher awards are awarded by the State Government, but these are not in sufficient numbers. ix) Promotion – There are no timely promotions. Many of the key posts are vacant. The work of key posts is allotted to another faculty member in the syste m for longer time. ) Career counseling – There is no career counseling for employees in TES. xi) Planning for levelled-off employees – There is no mechanism for utilizing levelled-off employees which reduces the efficiency of the system. xii) Job Rotation – There is no alternative job rotation system by design in existence. 3. 9 Current status of management :- At state level there is no full-fledged management structure for HRD. At institute level there are staff development cell at lead centres only. At department level & class room level, the roles of HOD & roles of Sr. teachers in HRD are not clearly defined. ****************************************************************************************** 4. 0 PROJECT JUSTIFICATION :- Firstly though the design of the world bank assisted project was based on system thinking ( implicitly of course ), the actual implementation was carried out in a fragmented way, treating each sub-component independent of another sub-c omponents without relating their output to the major goals of â€Å" Strengthening Technician Education system † There are gaps found by comparing post project status & pre-project status. The gaps are mentioned below – . 1 Gaps in customer identification :- Line and Staff functionaries are not identified except for LRDC, specifically for HRD, because there is no such HRD strategy in existence. 4. 2 Gaps in output specification :- The line workers and staff functionaries must have their desirable inventory of knowledge, skills & attitude required to do their functions for quality improvement. 4. 3 Gaps in input :- It is the need of system to have better record of competencies possessed by the functionaries to enable HRD system to design HRD program. 4. 4 Gaps in process :- ) Job Analysis – Job analysis is not done for the posts – SDO,TPO,PO,Dy. Secretary, Assistant Secretary, System Analyst etc ii) Recruitment – Revision / modification of recruitme nt rules is required by focusing on future design of job function. iii) Induction & Socialization – Absence of mechanism of induction & socialization for a newly recruited employee. iv) Job design & Assignment – There is a staff shortage and hence cannot assign the work as per the ability & skills of the employee. v) Training need assessment – No systematic & scientific assessment of training needs. i) Training – Training is not divided in three parts –1) Initial, 2) Induction & 3)Inservice . There is no need assessment for the individuals for his vertical & horizontal mobility . vii) Performance Evaluation – There is no mechanism for feedback from performance evaluation . There are no seprate performance appraisal reports for the different post like Joint Director, Deputy Secretary, Assistant Secretary, SDO, TPO, PO, etc, on the basis of their job functions. viii) Organization reward – To motivate employees at different levels there are no financial rewards in sufficient numbers. x) Promotions – Many of the key posts are vacant. There are no timely promotions. x) Career counseling – There is no career counseling for employees in TES. xi) Planning for levelled-off employees – There is no mechanism to utilizing levelled-off employees. xii) Job rotation – There is no alternative job rotation system. 4. 5 Gaps in management of HRD :- At state level there is no full-fledged management structure for HRD for qualitative improvement needs to be designed. At institute level there are staff development cell at lead centres only for qualitative improvement needs to be designed.At department level & class room level, the roles of HOD & roles of Sr. teachers in HRD are not clearly defined. 4. 6 Gaps in resources :- i) Human Resources – There is no trained Human Resource capable of managing change in educational Processes & Enabling Processes. ii) Information Resources – There is no stock of generic information & specific information required for HRD in the form of MIS. iii) Time Resources – Presently there is no time bound action plan of HRD geared towards vision of TES. iv) Financial Resources – Presently there is no finance available for HRD. 4. Integrated view of Gaps & project justification :- The gaps in post project status and pre-project status are found and these are with respect to customer identification, output, input, process, management, resources. There are gaps in each component of the system and hence mission of TES cannot be accomplished successfully to the full extent. For integration purposes there is a need to consider HRD at systemic level as described in systems diagram in fig. 2. In the last five decades there has been manifold expansion in engineering college and polytechnic education systems.The unprecedented expansion not withstanding , the system design has remained more or less static. Changes in the system if any have been superficial in nature. Meanwhile there have been major changes in the economic and industrial policies of the country where by the protection from international competition here –to –for enjoyed by the indigenous industry is no longer available. Indian industry is today facing fierce but healthy competition from multi-national corporations and has to improve significantly the quality of his products and services, if it is to survive in the highly competitive environment.A high level of upgradation in skills is called for if the Indian industry is to be competitive in the world market. The type of technical manpower required by the industry in the present scenario is quite different from the kind of output presently available from the technical institutions. The knowledge competencies & skill profile of future technical manpower will have to be correspondingly enhance by changes in the technical education systems at all levels. The existing technical manpower will also need extensive re-orientation to meet these requirements. (Ref. Draft policy guidelines for training teachers of polytechnics & engineering colleges – Ministry of H. R. D. , Department of Secondary & Higher Education, May-2000) Also the massive investment of the World Bank Assisted Project during 1992-99 has given momentum to both the quantitative expansion & qualitative improvement of the technical education system. It also provided basic infra-structural facilities and hence to sustain the gains of WBAP & to accomplish the mission successfully, the gaps in the system must be removed for enhancing the qualitative improvement.Hence , all efforts are to be made to develop systematic and scientific Human Resource Development schemes at various levels. ****************************************************************************************** 5. 0 DEVELOPMENTAL STRATEGY OF HRD :- HRD project will ensure Human Resources required by the TES properly educated & trained to enab le to transform pre-project status of TES to post project status of TES i. e. making available right type of manpower at professional & para professional level. Both educational processes & enabling processes to be upgraded to better level of functioning. ***************************************************************************************** 6. 0 PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION STRATEGY :- 1) HRD Project Strategy :- †¢ Educational processes are – a) Students learning, b) Instructional design, c) Learning resource development, d) Learning resource utilization centres, e) Curriculum design & development, f) Institutional Planning, g) State Planning. These processes will be governed by MSBTE. M. S. B. T. E. will be project office. †¢ Enabling processes are – a) HRD, b) III, c) O. D. , d) M. I. S, e) Project Management. These processes will be governed by DIIC.DIIC will be the project office. Project structure is indicated in fig. No. 6 Liaison, R/D, design, Policy, dev elopment Implementation evaluation are the activities in the process. 2) Implementation Strategy :- |At State level |State Management Group – DTE (M. S. ) Mumbai will be the Chairman of State Management Group. | | | | | |DIIC will be the overall incharge of enabling projects. III, HRD, IS & OD.There will be a project| | |manager (PM) at DIIC project office. HRD Cell will be under the control of PM. | | | | | |MSBTE will be the overall incharge of educational projects. There will be a project manager at | | |MSBTE project office. The Secretary will be the Project Manager. Members from design centers will | | |be assisting the PM for educational projects. | | | | |Identified design centers will assist to develop general models for educational & enabling projects| | |& apply the same for particular discipline through experimentation & then disseminating the tested| | |knowledge to other polytechnics. | |At Regional Level |Regional Management Group will co-ordinate the activiti es at regional polytechnics. | |Six regional polytechnics will responsible for regional co-ordination of implementation, | | |monitoring, evaluation of tested educational and enabling projects. | |At Institution Level |Project Cell at identified polytechnic & other polytechnics will access all developed models from | | |design centers & integrate those into their existing programs. | 6. 1 General system diagram for project implementation :- System diagram for project implementation is as shown fig. 7. 6. 2 Goal structure :- . 2. 1 MISSION OF THE HRD PROJECT IS :- To provide Trained manpower for Line process, Educational processes and Enabling processes. Personnel required for SP, IP, CP, SL also HRD, III, MIS, OD, PM. 6. 2. 2 GOALS OF THE HRD PROJECT ARE :- Mission is broken down into three major goals. 6. 2. 2. 1 To develop right type of Line functionaries from DTE, DIIC, SBTE, RO’S, RBTE’s & Polytechnics (Principals, HOD’s & Teachers) 6. 2. 2. 2 To develop rig ht type of staff functionaries required for Educational processes like students learning, Instructional design, LRDC, LRUC, CD, Institutional planning. . 2. 2. 3 To develop right type of staff functionaries required for Enabling processes like MIS, HRD, III, OD & Project management. 6. 2. 3 Objectives of the HRD project :- These are component objectives aimed to achieving each goal mentioned above. Goal No. 1 To develop right type of Line functionaries from DTE, DIIC, SBTE, RO’S, RBTE’s & Polytechnics (Principals, HOD’s & Teachers) Objectives for Goal No. 1 01. Job analyzed for line workers, (students, teachers, HOD etc). 02. Recruitment rules/norms revised / modified /prepared. 03. Selection procedures for line workers prescribed. 4. Mechanism developed. for assignment of job based on knowledge & skills possessed by the line workers . 05. The training needs of line workers assessed by considering individual needs & organizational needs. 06. Need based training provided for line workers 07. Reliable & valid evaluation system developed for line workers to get the necessary feedback to accomplish the goal successfully. 08. Standardized the performance appraisal formats for line workers. 09. Devised result oriented reward system for line workers. 0. Provided guide lines for promotion and lateral movements of the line workers. 11. Developed a mechanism linked to performance a appraisal for joint dialogue counseling & career planning of the line worker. Goal No. 2 To develop right type of staff functionaries required for Educational processes like students learning, Instructional design, LRDC, LRUC, CD, Institutional planning. Objectives for Goal No. 2 1. Devised a mechanism for identification of curriculum designers, learning resource developers, instructional designers i. . staff functionaries from TES. 2. Identified the staff functionaries. 3. Assessed the training needs of staff functionaries. 4. Provided initial, induction, inservice train ing by arranging need based training programme for staff functionaries. 5. Developed a valid & reliable evaluation sys5tem to get necessary feedback to accomplish the goal successfully. 6. Devised result oriented reward system for staff functionaries. 7. Developed a mechanism for joint dialogue counseling & career planning of staff functionaries. Goal No. 3To develop right type of staff functionaries required for Enabling processes like MIS, HRD, III, OD & Project management. Objectives for Goal No. 3 1. Identified the staff required for project management in each area MIS,HRD, III, OD, Project planning. 2. Assessed the training needs of staff required for project management. 3. Provided need based training to the staff required for project management. 4. Developed a valid & reliable evaluation system to get the necessary feedback to accomplish the goal successfully. 5. Devised result oriented reward system for executives of the project. 6. Project management structure :- 6. 3. 1 Ro les & functions of each component of management structure (OD,III,MIS,PM,HRD) :- Roles & Functions of Line Functionaries :- 1) Students Learning :- Role is an self directed learner. Functions – Management of the self. Management of others Management of information Management of task. 2) Role of Instructional Designers :- Functions – To organize T/L experiences so that the students not only gets generic skills but also acquired vocations specific competencies. 3) Role of L. R. D. C. :- Role of L. R. D. C. is learning resource development & utilisation.Functions are to design appropriate message suitable to the student & teachers requirement & make it available both in print & non print media. 4) C. Design & Develop :- The role is curriculum designers & developers. Functions – To design curriculum to enable teachers & students to co-ordinate their T/L experiences by co-ordinating the teachers in activities in Basic sciences, Engg. Sciences & Tech. Subjects for eac h branch of Engineering. 5) Institutional planning :- The role is planning. Institutional activities, curriculum development in various branches of engg.As well as short term programmes for continuing. education are carried out with optimum use of physical, information, human & financial resources. 6) State planning :- The role is planning at the state level to facilitate co-ordinated actions of institutional planning both administration units & academic institutions & bring team within the state level policy framework. All these are interconnected so that the framework at the state level provides framework for institutional planning which in turn provides framework for curriculum planning etc. Enabling Processes :- ) The III is to link education system at the state, institution, department, teachers & student level with the industrial systems so that both work together for providing both economic & social development of the country. 2) The O. D. provides supporting conceptual frame work within which the administration & academic institutions can plan & organise systematic transformation of the organisations to be able to adapt themselves to the ever changing environmental conditions. 3) I. S. – Provides conceptual framework to (1) generating, acquisition, torage, retrieval & dissemination of information just in time for the front line workers & supporting staff can organise their liasoning work , R & D, design, develop, implementation & evaluation tasks both for plan & non plan activities. 4) PM – The role is to provide & conception framework for all those who work to design, develop, implementation & evaluation the projects aimed at innovations in the education system. 6. 3. 2 Roles & functions of project structure of specific HRD project :- Roles & functions expected to be performed by different units shown in the project structure are given below. )SMG (State Management Group) The chairman is DTE (M. S. ) Mumbai. Functions – 1) To co-or dinate the work of project cells in DIIC & MSBTE for the purpose of integrating their project management so that the educational projects are properly complemented by enabling projects. 2) Make recommendations for policy making by DIIC & MSBTE to assist their respective project cells to carry out their work. 2) DIIC Role – Major roles of DIIC is to frame a policy for implementation of the project & to administer & allocate resources in the recommendation of state management group.. Functions – ) To identify policies for project structure required for planning / implementing HRD project. ii) To issue state level policy guidelines for R&D, design, development, implement & evaluation of state level project. iii) To issue policy guidelines to resources allocation iv) To send policy guidelines to concerned officers . v) To appoint officers by name in various cells vi) To obtain the regular feedback from SMG for HRD to review the progress & solve the problems of the project cells. vii) To take administrative & remedial actions on receiving feedback. 3) MSBTEThe major role is to co-ordinate the activities of educational projects, OD & collaborate with PM of MSBTE. Function : I) To communicate the policies regarding educational projects for the institutes. II) To identify the staff functionaries at design centers. III) To assist in developing the general models for HRD for different levels of hierarchy ( staff functionaries) for educational projects. IV) To obtain regular feedback from SMG for HRD project(Educational Projects) to review the progress & solve the problems of the design centers. 4) PM at DIIC Co-ordination cells of HRD project will work under the project manager at DIIC.The Joint Director will be the project manager. PM will be responsible for designing, implementing & evaluating the projects. 5) HRD Co-ordination Cell CHAIRMAN – 1) HRD Co-ordinator – Deputy Director in DIIC SECRETARY – 2) Project Assistant – Ass istant Director in DIIC 3) Member – Programmer 4) Member – Educational Consultant The selected members from design centers will constitute task groups at DIIC. These task group will work with HRD Co-ordination cell to develop general models for all enabling projects for different levels of hierarchy. The supra – system will consist of – 1) DIIC & MSBTE i. e.Top Management. 2) Project cells of other enabling projects & MSBTE project cells. Major role of HRD co-ordination cell is to co-ordinate the activities of HRD project in reference with enabling & educational projects Liaison, R&D, Design, Policy Development, Implementation & Evaluation of project at state level. Functions – 1) To preside meetings of the cell. 2) To manage all the following activities of HRD with the assistance of Task Group – a) Designing the general models / mechanisms for HRD for different levels of hierarchy. b) Pilot testing of the instruments developed through Task Groups. c) Validation of the instruments. ) Application of the instruments at Design Centres e) Sending the input formats to the Information service co-ordination cell. f) Sending the output formats to the Information service co-ordination cell. g) Receive the output from Information service cell for different purpose. h) Disseminate the output to the concerned (higher ups, Task Groups, design centres. ) i) To assess the training needs of line-functionaries / staff functionaries. j) To prepare action plans for HRD. k) To prepare staff development plans. l) To implement the plans through Task Groups. m) To ensure the output from training programs. ) To ensure supply of resources. o) To take remedial actions whenever necessary. p) To collect & communicate the feedback to state management group. q) To generate ideas for effective / cost effective HRD r) To keep / maintain the update record of all relevant activities. s) To guide the cells / design centres with the help of educational c onsultants. t) To keep the continuous liaison with educational & other enabling projects co-ordination. u) To identify the training needs of line functionaries / staff functionaries pertaining to the education for implementation / evaluation of the HRD project. ) Design Centres The members selected from design centres to work as task groups in co-ordination with HRD cell at DIIC will also be working directly with PM at MSBTE. The design centres will apply the models developed by PM for particular discipline through experimentation and will then disseminate the tested knowledge to other polytechnics through six regional polytechnics. 7) Regional management Group Joint Director of the region will be the chairman of this group & will the responsible for observing the effective implementation monitoring and evaluation of tested educational and enabling projects. ) Six Regional Polytechnics These will be responsible for regional co-ordination of implementation , monitoring, evaluation of tested educational & enabling projects received from design centres. 9) Project Cell at Institution Level (identified polytechnic/other poly. ) Project cell will access all developed and tested models from designing centres through regional polytechnics and will integrate those into their existing programmes. 7. BUDGET 1. Budget Heads The budget is normally prepared under two heads i. e. non-recurring and recurring expenses for any kind of project. . Non recurring expenses Non recurring expenses are usually considered as one time expenses at the initial stage of the project. These are incurred mostly pertaining to the infrastructural development required for the project including expenses for building, equipment, furniture, vehicle, books, consultancy, fellowship etc. 7. 3 Recurring expenses Recurring expenses are the regular expenses frequently required for the project period. The recurring expenses includes salary of project staff, consumables, O. & M. charges etc. 4.

Tuesday, October 22, 2019

Robert Hooke Biography (1635 - 1703)

Robert Hooke Biography (1635 - 1703) Robert Hooke was an important 17th century English scientist, perhaps best known for Hookes Law, the invention of the compound microscope, and his cell theory. He was born July 18, 1635 in Freshwater, Isle of Wight, England, and died on March 3, 1703 in London, England at age 67. Heres a brief biography: Robert Hookes Claim to Fame Hooke has been called the English Da Vinci. He is credited with numerous inventions and design improvements of scientific instrumentation. He was a natural philosopher who valued observation and experimentation.   He formulated Hookes Law, a relation that says the force pulling back on a spring is inversely proportional to the distance pulled from rest.Assisted Robert Boyle by constructing his air pump.Hooke designed, improved or invented many scientific instruments used in the Seventeenth Century. Hooke was the first to replace pendulums in clocks with springs.He invented the compound microscope and Gregorian compound telescope. He is credited with the invention of the wheel barometer, hydrometer, and anemometer.He coined the term  cells for biology.In his studies of paleontology, Hooke believed fossils were living remains that soaked up minerals, leading to petrification. He believed fossils held clues to the nature of the past on Earth and that some fossils were of extinct organisms. At the time, the concept of extinction was not accepted.He worked with Christopher Wren after the London Fire of 1666 as a surveyor and architect. Few of Hookes buildings survive to the present day.Hooke serv ed as The Royal Societys Curator of Experiments where he was required to perform several demonstrations at each weekly meeting. He held this position for forty years. Notable Awards Fellow of Royal Society.The Hooke Medal is presented in his honor from the British Society of Cell Biologists. Robert Hookes Cell Theory In 1665, Hooke used his primitive compound microscope to examine the structure in a slice of cork. He was able to see the honeycomb structure of cell walls from the plant matter, which was the only remaining tissue since the cells were dead. He coined the word cell to describe the tiny compartments he saw. This was a significant discovery because prior to this, no one knew organisms consisted of cells. Hookes microscope offered a magnification of about 50x. The compound microscope opened up a whole new world to scientists and marked the beginning of the study of cell biology. In 1670, Anton van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch biologist, first examined living cells using a compound microscope adapted from Hookes design. Newton - Hooke Controversy Hooke and Isaac Newton were involved in a dispute over the idea of the force of gravity following an inverse square relationship to define the elliptical orbits of planets. Hooke and Newton discussed their ideas in letters to each other. When Newton published his Principia, he did not credit anything to Hooke. When Hooke disputed Newtons claims, Newton denied any wrong. The resulting feud between the leading English scientists of the time would continue until Hookes death. Newton became President of the Royal Society that same year and many of Hookes collections and instruments went missing as well as the only known portrait of the man. As President, Newton was responsible for the items entrusted to the Society, but it was never shown he had any involvement in the loss of these items. Interesting Trivia Craters on the Moon and Mars bear his name.Hooke proposed a mechanistic model of human memory, based on the belief memory was a physical process that occurred in the brain.British historian Allan Chapman refers to Hooke as Englands Leonardo, in reference to his similarity to Leonardo da Vinci as a polymath.There is no authenticated portrait of Robert Hooke. Contemporaries have described him as a lean man of average height, with gray eyes, brown hair.Hooke never married or had children. Sources Chapman, Alan (1996). Englands Leonardo: Robert Hooke (1635–1703) and the art of experiment in Restoration England. Proceedings of the Royal Institution of Great Britain. 67: 239–275.Drake, Ellen Tan (1996).  Restless Genius: Robert Hooke and His Earthly Thoughts. Oxford University Press.Robert Hooke. Micrographia. Full text at Project Gutenberg.Robert Hooke (1705). The Posthumous Works of Robert Hooke. Richard Waller, London.

Monday, October 21, 2019

13 Electric Vehicle Conversion Companies

13 Electric Vehicle Conversion Companies Fuel is expensive, but one way to eliminate stops at the pricey pump is to go electric. An electric vehicle (EV) conversion is a procedure that involves modifying a petroleum fuel-powered vehicle into an all-electric vehicle. If your commuting needs and lifestyle are such that you can go electric with one or more of your vehicles, here’s a list of companies to get you started. Depending upon where you’re located, there may or may not be one of these companies within a reasonable distance. If youre not within driving distance, choose a company on this list that will sell you the parts for a DIY conversion, or hire a reliable mechanic to do the hard work for you.   Companies That Offer DIY Conversion Kits Canadian Electric Vehicles Ltd.  CEV was established in 1991 to convert internal combustion engine vehicles to electric power- including heavy-duty diesel truck conversions for the airline industry. In addition to selling conversion kits for many vehicles, they offer components for modifications and offer custom-build options. Their customers include governments, industrial companies, and private individuals. Conversion Companies Clean Ride Electric Vehicles  Located in Minnesota, this company restores and electrifies classic VW beetles from top to bottom. They replace the internal combustion engine and fuel system with an electric motor and 6 12-volt lead acid batteries and upgrade standard components. These all-electric VWs offer a 20- to 30-mile range with a top speed of 50 mph.EVPorsche.com  Located in West Palm Beach, Florida, and Los Angeles, CA, this company can convert any vehicle to all-electric power but specializes in Porsche sports car conversions due to their dependability, lightweight design, and engineering. They offer a wide variety of battery, range and model configurations to meet driving styles and needs. Speeds for their EVs: 0-60 in about 5 seconds or even faster with 2 motors and series to parallel switching.Eco-conversions  This company specializes in converting regular gas burning cars into clean electric machines- they have zeroed in on luxury vehicles with their benchmark, the BMW 8-Series, aiming to â€Å"shatter the image of the traditional electric car.† They recently partnered with eVionyx, an American company that has developed superior charging nickel-zinc batteries. Electric Vehicle Systems – Based in New Underwood, SD, this company offers complete repair services for all-electric vehicles, using the latest technology. According to their website, most repairs of a two-wheel electric scooters run $45. Call them to learn more.Electro Automotive – Located in Felton, CA, Electro Automotive was founded in 1979 as a single source for quality conversion components. According to their website, Electro Automotive â€Å"believes in electric vehicles built to live in the real world.† They are all about EVs that are simple in design, easy-to-use, reliable, affordable and practical.Electric Vehicles of America (EVA) - EVA provides free detailed calculations for specific all-electric applications, from industrial, on-road electric car or truck, off-road EV or boat. They also offer free technical papers on safety, batteries and conversion details, in addition to system design, supplier data and drawings, installation manuals and videos. Lo cated in New Hampshire.EV-Blue/Electric Blue – Based in Kansas, this company will convert any gasoline burner to electric- you supply the vehicle, they do the conversion. Their basic option includes a 144V battery and charger for $11,000. AC, heat and power steering are extra. Call or email for additional details. EV Source LLC - Located in Logan, UT, this company provides high-quality electric vehicle components to the high performance, high voltage EV conversion market. From speed controllers, fuses and breakers to assembling your own conversion kit, they know how to help you go all-electric.Green Motors Inc.  - Based in northern Arizona, Green Motors converts standard vehicles to electric power, in addition to servicing, maintaining and refurbishing all types of electric vehicles. They offer service support for the DIYer, plus sales of parts. Visit their products page for a current list of available vehicles.Metric Mind Corporation  - Based in Oregon, Metric Mind Engineering (MME) is an international company that supplies high end AC drive systems and other EV components. According to their website, MME is a single source of all the main electronic hardware necessary to complete an EV conversion.†REVOLT Custom Electric Vehicles LLC  - This company provides design, building and m aintenance services for electrical vehicle conversions in the Austin, TX area. Wilderness Electric Vehicles  - Located in Utah, this company specializes in electric car conversions. You supply the vehicle- they provide the conversion in 3 to 4 months. They also offer a variety of kits to convert to electric. Call or email for additional details.

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Funny Quotes to Celebrate the New Year

Funny Quotes to Celebrate the New Year Every New Year brings a chance to mark the passage of time, reflect on the past, and embrace the future. Some of us celebrate the occasion by partying into the wee hours of the morning; others struggle to stay awake to watch the clock hands move past twelve. We make resolutions, only to break them; we promise to do better, try harder, be better, but oftentimes fall short as life gets in the way. The humorous quotes below, though, will help you start the New Year smiling. Mark Twain New Years is a harmless annual institution, of no particular use to anybody save as a scapegoat for promiscuous drunks, and friendly calls and humbug resolutions. New Years Day now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual. Brooks Atkinson Drop the last year into the silent limbo of the past. Let it go, for it was imperfect, and thank God that it can go. Bill Vaughan Youth is when youre allowed to stay up late on New Years Eve. Middle age is when youre forced to. An optimist stays up until midnight to see the New Year in. A pessimist stays up to make sure the old year leaves. P. J. ORourke The proper behavior all through the holiday season is to be drunk. This drunkenness culminates on New Years Eve, when you get so drunk you kiss the person youre married to. Jay Leno Now there are more overweight people in America than average-weight people. So overweight people are now average†¦which means, you have met your New Years resolution. James Agate New Years Resolution: To tolerate fools more gladly, provided this does not encourage them to take up more of my time. Eric Zorn Making resolutions is a cleansing ritual of self-assessment and repentance that demands personal honesty and, ultimately, reinforces humility. Breaking them is part of the cycle. Charles Lamb New Years Day is every mans birthday. Judith Christ Happiness is too many things these days for anyone to wish it on anyone lightly. So lets just wish each other a bile-less New Year and leave it at that. Anonymous Many people look forward to the New Year for a new start on old habits. A New Years resolution is something that goes in one year and out the other. Last year’s resolution was to lose 20 pounds by Christmas. Only 30 pounds to go. Remember when we were young and wanted to stay up for New Year’s? Now we are old and all we want to do is sleep. May the New Year bring you significantly more joy than the holidays did. Joey Adams May all your troubles last as long as your New Years resolutions! Oscar Wilde Good resolutions are simply checks that men draw on a bank where they have no account. Robert Paul Im a little bit older, a little bit wiser, a little bit rounder, but still none the wiser. Robert Clark I would say Happy New Year but it’s not happy; it’s exactly the same as last year except colder.

Saturday, October 19, 2019

W3,DQ-4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

W3,DQ-4 - Essay Example Scientific development is the cumulative growth of a knowledge system over time where useful elements are retained, and non-useful elements are deserted rooted in the verification or rejection of testable knowledge (Zwick & Cayla, 2011). Cultural progress is inextricably connected to both technological and scientific progress. Culture naturally concerns much more than just science and technology, but for Merck to be progressive, it has to meet the above explanation of cumulative growth through thanking the past (Zwick & Cayla, 2011). In science, useful elements are retained, and non-useful elements are discarded through the verification or dismissal of testable knowledge. Merck, therefore, should consider that scientific methods, in this way, are created to be progressive (Gilbert & Sarkar, 2005). In technology, on the other hand, useful elements are preserved and non-useful elements are discarded rooted in the market’s rejection or approval of the technologies. The market for science is mainly the community of scientists, but for technology, the market is mainly Merck’s stuff. In order for Merck to be successful, they need to endorse science and technology to the core to avoid such wrangles (Zwick & Cayla, 2011). Above all, the corporation is built on a firm scientific-led culture; therefore, they should work to ensure that this objective is

Friday, October 18, 2019

Choose (or create) and justify a METAPHOR which you feel best Essay

Choose (or create) and justify a METAPHOR which you feel best represents the literature of the late 20th - Essay Example Eliot, William Carlos Williams and James Joyce). Through a natural artistic progression of action/reaction, then, the post-modern movement that followed the modernist movement, used the trappings of relativity to examine and express that the juxtaposition of random events to expectations of relativity creates the illusion of an epiphany. In this essay, I will cite examples from two well-respected and critically acclaimed authors, Thomas Pynchon and Don DeLillo, to illustrate how they achieve this aim in contemporary perspectives, namely sociological and technical. Before we get to our examples, however, we need to start with the idea of epiphany and its recent place in literature. Long has the term â€Å"epiphany† been part of the Christian lexicon. It wasn’t until James Joyce introduced the term in his Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, that it gained a new connotation—one that deeply permeates literary fiction still today. An epiphany, as presented by Joyce, can be seen as the moment when a character comes to an illuminating realization wherein all that has been learned, or at least presented to the reader, makes sense as interconnected parts of a whole. For instance, in Portrait of the Artist of a Young Man, that moment comes when the protagonist, Stephen Dedalus, who spends much of the book struggling to understand the justice of Christianity and his place in it (among other things), comes to a moment wherein he sees God and God’s love in all things, as they comes together like puzzle pieces that form a new picture of Stephen’s reality. The reaction to this, then, is that all of the elements we encounter in everyday reality are not related, however, in any objective sense, but products of randomness in which we assign relative meaning to them; thus we create our own epiphanies. While his first three books

Toulmin argument paper Research Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Toulmin argument - Research Paper Example This is a city that puts a premium to attracting businesses by giving generous tax incentives. It is fast growing as a city and with it various concerns like increased crime rates, environmental and health concerns, property taxes, public transportation and police protection have some citizens worried and they feel these issues need increased government attention. The city gives a great deal of emphasis and focus on environmental issues. It has put up a government Web site where citizens can e-mail their various concerns. In particular, there is a section in the Web site where important health issues are given importance by the Health and Human Services Department (HHS). One particular Web page under the HHS page is the Environmental Health Services page which is concerned with certain public health issues like proper sanitation, food safety, waste disposal and management of disease-carrying pests and insects such as bed bugs, cockroaches and mosquitoes (http://charmeck.org 1). This paper is concerned with the last time item mentioned, which is disease-carrying mosquitoes which is not given enough attention by the local government. Mosquitoes are capable of transmitting many diseases like malaria, dengue, yellow fever, filariasis and West Nile virus (WNV). Among disease-carrying insects, cockroaches, flies and mosquitoes are the worst with mosquitoes capable of breeding quickly and spreading their diseases through vectors or those carriers of the virus. One important vector for most diseases carried by mosquitoes are birds. In previous instances, North Carolina always investigated the presence of dead birds and tried to determine their cause of death by conducting autopsies on the dead birds. However, since a West Nile virus has long been confirmed in North Carolina, health authorities stopped doing those autopsies on dead wild birds and no longer overly concerned. It is this dangerous sense of complacency that might lead to unnecessary suffering and death

Thursday, October 17, 2019

(Continuous Uncertainty) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

(Continuous Uncertainty) - Assignment Example However, some idealistic assumptions with some faith are also incorporated while formulating forecasted cash flows as the future is unpredictable and things can move onto the right desired track as well. In the current Dhahran Roads project, while formulating the assumptions, special care has been taken in respect of the assumptions on which the cash flows are forecasted. However, in the following paragraphs, the rationales for setting out these assumptions are outlined. Negotiations with the Transportation Ministry of the municipality of Dhahran have been finalized. According to the terms and conditions set out with the Ministry, 80% of the billing amount would be paid by the ministry as soon as the bill received by the ministry. So the element of potential delay in the payment schedule is kept minimized. Still there is a risk involved if delays come across in the payments made by the government resulting in adverse movement in the forecasted Net Present Value. So far as likelihood of overrun cost is concerned, it has been assured that the best possible estimates of overheads and other expenses are maintained. Since there seems to be â€Å"no unusual challenges† to be faced during the project life, therefore the possibility of cost overrun will likely to be at its minimum. Loss of retention looks to be one of the most critical assumption as there is exactly no surety whether the accumulated retention fund payments would be made at the end of 1997 and 1998 respectively into two equal installments by the ministry or not. The reason behind this uncertainty is that after the completion of the project, if the ministry is not satisfied with quality of project, this accumulated retention fund can be revoked by the ministry. This is kind of a negative reinforcement measure that can be taken against SADE in order to maintain the minimum requirement for quality assurance of the project. In case if the loss of retention arises, it would certainly