Educationall Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Educationall Leadership - Essay Example From this study it is clear that management is a process of organizing things and people to work together for an organization. The two types of management styles include scientific management and the human relations. The main purpose of scientific management is to increase the productivity of the individuals of an organization. It improves the productivity of an organization by increasing its production. As the discussion declares the role of a leader is to guide an organization towards a direction. It must be noted however that sometimes we may find leaders quite dominating. Another factor that encourages us to practice leadership is power motive which includes referent, legitimate rewards and coercive powers. Some important approaches in educational leadership include particular set of skills, style, traits, path goal, transformational, LMX and situational approaches. After understanding the concept of leadership we must know the difference between management and leadership. Manage ment is a process that helps an organization to perform its function whereas leadership focuses to achieve a certain goal and keep the individual motivated. In educational leadership, the leader should inspire other people to follow him. He should attract people towards his cause with the help of his personality. The leader should act friendly with other people and should have an appealing style.  

Successful IT Project Implementation

Successful IT Project Implementation Projects can be done successfully when they meet criteria such as delivering it on time, be on a budget and if the system works as required. It is not always easy to meet all these criteria. Many projects fail on one more criteria and they cannot be delivered successfully. 1 Unrealistic Time Estimate Mistakes done during the estimation causes problems to the project. The time on task is the time to complete it without any interruptions, whereas the duration of the task is the time taken to actually complete the task including any interruptions. Using time instead of the duration is the problem made by project managers as they cannot set the realistic time. The manager should think of any potential errors and difficulties that can extend the deadline of the task to make sure that the deadline of each task and then a project can be met. Another problem with time estimating is that the project timescale is too long and then the system which is delivered is not longer in use by an organization. Managers need to deliver the project quickly. The plan is set without considering the size of work that needs to be done to ensure delivery of the project. As a result of it, these systems can be delivered late or only partly of the facilities that were asked for. Real example: The group is doing the project which the delivery time was estimated by the manager. The manager found out that the team is weeks behind on a project which needed to be completed yesterday. The team is behind because they did not follow the project log and some people in the group were taking too long to complete particular tasks. To finish the project as soon as possible, the team has to do overtimes. 2 Unclear Goals and Objectives Without clear goals and objectives it is almost sure that the projects will fail as the result user requirements will not be clear. Sometimes the goal of the project may not be clear and this is because the requirements gathering was not enough, sometimes goals and objectives might be unclear because project stackholders lack the experience to describe what they really require. Defining clear requirements for a project can take time and lots of communication. Real example: The project is to create a computer customer relationship management system to improve the quality and efficiency of customer care. Here, the user requirements are not clear and the team is not sure how computerized customer relationship management system will be used to improve customer care. This is left for the project participants, the scope and schedule of the project cannot possibly be accurate because their objectives are unclear and any participants understanding can be not accurate. 3 Lack of User Involvement To be able to complete a project within the criteria, user has to be involved in the project to make sure that the requirements are clear. Without user involvement nobody in the business feels committed to a system and so, they are not able to complete the system properly. To be able to finish the project with a success, the management and user need to be involved from the beginning to the end of the project. This requires time and effort, and when the people in a business are already stretched, finding time for a new project is not high on their priorities. Real example: The business needs to create a Database for a user. In this case, the user gave a part of the requirements, but these requirements are not enough for the company to start the project. This is where the company needs to gather more information on the system required from the user. The problem with the projects also occurs when the business wants to test the system against to the user requirements than the user will see that the system does not meet its needs. [P2] Describe different tools and methodologies that are available to support the project manager There are different tools and methodologies which are used in order to support and prevent of failure to the project manager. They are used in order to track the project and to follow the time schedule which was planned. Gantt Chart A Gantt chart is a graphical representation of the duration of tasks against the progression of time. It is useful tool for planning and scheduling projects. Gantt chart is used to plan how long the project should take, it lays out the order of tasks which need to be completed and it also say when the tasks must be completed. It is also helpful for monitoring the project. It shows what should be achieved in any point in time. In a Gantt chart, each task takes up one row with dates running across the horizontal axis in increments of days, weeks or months. The bars in the Gantt chart visually show the start and end dates of each task in a project. Tasks may run sequentially, in parallel or overlap each other. There are some software which help to create a Gantt chart. For example, SmartDraw. It has some very useful features, such us automatic formatting and quick start templates. Example of my own gantt chart Microsoft Project Microsoft Project is software used by project managers to help them manage projects. It gives them an intuitive and easier way to simple be more productive and to complete projects with the success. Within The MS Project the project can be managed week by week or day by day. It depends of the user preference. MS project keeps all the tasks in order, which help the user to know the time schedule for each tasks. Resources allocation Entering resources is one of the easiest steps in Project; it is done in a resources dialog box. When the resources are entered into project, user can select the task and then select the resource. Example: http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/UserImages/AI776.jpg When it will be assigned the tick in the cell next to the resource will be displayed. When assigned, there will be a Tick in the cell next to the resource name, the Units will register the default setting of 100%, and the resource name will appear to the right of the Gantt bar. If more or less than 100% is wanted, enter the number required before assigning the resource. / Example from http://pubs.logicalexpressions.com/pub0009/LPMArticle.asp?ID=213 http://www.allocatus.com/Home/en/Images/ms_project.png [M1] Explain, using examples, how it is possible to minimise the changes of project failing It is better to avoid the project failing rather than cure it. There are many ways of avoiding failure; this can be done by keeping time schedule, executing effective team communication and using project management strategy. Project Management Risk Risk management is a process in which any project risks that can occur to the business are identified, analyses and mitigated. Effective risk management is a multistep process. The Risk Management Plan: Risk Identification In this stage, we identify and name the risks. The best approach is a workshop with business and IT people to carry out the identification. Risks should be defined in two parts. The first is the cause of the situation (Vendor not meeting deadline, Business users not available, etc.). The second part is the impact (Budget will be exceeded, Milestones not achieved, etc.). Risks Quantification Risk need to be quantified in two dimensions. The impact of the risk needs to be assessed and the probability of the risk occurring needs to be assessed. Risk Response A risk response plan should include the strategy and action items to address the strategy. The actions should include what needs to be done, who is doing it, and when it should be completed. Risk Monitoring and Control The final step is to continually monitor risks to identify any change in the status, or if they turn into an issue. It is best to hold regular risk reviews to identify actions outstanding, risk probability and impact, remove risks that have passed, and identify new risks. Example 1: Unrealistic Time Estimate To make sure that the deadline to finish the project can be met, the realistic time should be estimate. If the manager will give the team not enough time to finish the project, they will not be able to delivery on time. To avoid any of problems related to time and deadline, the project manager should use one of the project plan tools which is used to plan and then monitor how the project goes, for example, Gantt chart. Example 2: Unclear Goals and Objectives The goals and objectives have to be clearly understood by every member of team, the project manager should clearly outlined the objectives for the project. It is important that the goals are clear so the project can be delivered to the user with the wanted quality. The scope will become more refined as a project progress, but it should always remain within the initial parameters defined. To avoid failure such as unclear goals and as a result scope creep, companies can use change management, this controls information gathereted and any changes to the project scope. This will help the team to know what the goals of the project are, even if some of the requirements changes during the planning or implementation. Example 3: Lack of user involvement It is important that the user is involved in a project as well as a projects management team. The user needs to give all the requirements of the project. User also has to participate during the implementation as all the information that he needs to be added as essential as this stage. Senior management need to continuously support the project to make it clear to staff it is a priority. [M2] Describe critical path analysis (CPA) and explain with an example how critical paths can be identified Critical paths analysis is powerful tools that help to schedule and manage complex projects. It is mainly used to find the time taken to complete gives project, time takes for each task and the earliest possible time to complete the project.CPA helps to plan all tasks that must be completed as part of a project. They act as the basis for preparation of a schedule, and of resource planning. During management of a project, they allow to monitor achievement of project goals. They help to see where remedial action needs to be taken to get a project back on course. Advantages The benefit of using CPA within the planning process is to help to develop and test the plan to ensure that it is robust. Critical Path Analysis formally identifies tasks which must be completed on time for the whole project to be completed on time. It also identifies which tasks can be delayed if resource needs to be reallocated, to catch up on missed or overrunning tasks. Another benefit of CPA is that it helps to identify the minimum length of time needed to complete a project. It identifies which project steps a user should do faster to complete the project within the available time. Disadvantages The disadvantage of CPA, if a user use it as the technique by which your project plans are communicated and managed against, is that the relation of tasks to time is not as immediately obvious as with Gantt Charts. This can make them more difficult to understand. How to use the tool With the Critical Path Analysis is that a user cannot start some activities until others are finished. These activities need to be completed in a sequence, with each stage being more-or-less completed before the next stage can begin. These are sequential activities. Other activities are not dependent on completion of any other tasks. You can do these at any time before or after a particular stage is reached. These are non-dependent or parallel tasks. Drawing a CPA Step 1. List all activities in the plan For each activity, show the earliest start date, estimated length of time it will take, and whether it is parallel or sequential. If tasks are sequential, show which stage they depend on. Step 2. Plot the activities as a circle and arrow diagram CPA are presented using circle and arrow diagrams. In these, circles show events within the project, such as the start and finish of tasks. The number shown in the left hand side of the circle allow to identify each one easily. An arrow running between two event circles shows the activity needed to complete that task. A description of the task is written underneath the arrow. The length of the task is shown above it. All arrows run left to right. This example shows that activity B can start after A is completes. It also shows that activity F can be started after D and E are completed. The network diagram shows the EST for each task. It is conventional to start at 0. EST was calculated by adding at the EST form the previous task and the number of weeks that is takes to finish the tasks. LFT was done in the other way by looking at the LFT of the previous task and the duration of the text. Then subtracting the number form left to right. The CPM for this diagram is A B D F G. This is found by looking at the nodes EST and LFT, the one with the same EST and LFT identify the critical path.

Hypocritical Christianity Exposed in Bernard Shaws Major Barbara Essay

Hypocritical Christianity Exposed in Bernard Shaw's Major Barbara Bernard Shaw reveals in his plays a type of religious standard that is not unlike Christianity but with what most people see as a stereotypical view of hypocritical Christianity. Shaw's concept of Crosstianity , as he calls it, shows a religion in which the church preaches what the rich and powerful tell it, scoundrels are treated as equals, and punishment is concerned with prosecution rather than salvation. "Poetic justice" rules judicial retribution rather than redemption. Everyone is inherently the same. The scene in Major Barbara in which Bill Walker is dealt with for his attack on the shelter is revealing about the concepts of Crosstianity. Walker expects that he should be punished equally to his crime and even desires this to relieve his guilt. If Barbara had allowed him to pay for his abuse of Jenny and the old woman monetarily or physically, that would have been Crosstianity. He would have released his guilt and gone on his way without any real change in his moral character. However, Barbara does not ...

A+P vs Araby

Araby and A&P are both short stories, written by famous authors. Although they were written in different times, as well as in different countries, they have many similarities. These similarities can be found both in their contexts and their settings. Both stories are about young men, leading dull lives, and who go through a major change by the end of the story, while trying to get away from their lives. In both stories this change takes place while trying to please a female who triggers something inside them, causing them to act.Araby and A&P are stories of unsuccessful attempts to escape from ordinary lives, only in different ways. What catches the readers’ attention in both stories first, are the settings. In both stories the protagonists describe the neighborhoods and the daily life in the cities that they live in, in detail. While they make these descriptions, telling the reader about the neighborhood through their eyes, they also give information about their mindscapes, a nd we understand what they think of the places they live in. The boy in Araby uses many negative words while describing the setting. ‘‘†¦ ninhabited†¦ blind end†¦ detached†¦ imperturbable†¦ dark†¦ muddy ( pg 427)’’ That is how we empathize with him: being able to picture the dullness and the gloominess of that city in Ireland, and also its detachedness from other places. Similarly, Sammy in A&P describes the town he lives in by referring to everyone around him as sheep, vividly describing the distinction between the beach and his town, which causes us to again picture a small town with many mostly older people who lead uneventful lives, and a young boy who has lived there and worked in the same shop all his life. ‘†¦ all three of them went up to the cat-and-dog-food-breakfast-cereal-macaroni-rice-raisins-seasonings-spreads-spaghetti-soft drinks-crackers-and-cookies aisle. ’’(pg 865) In this way we know that both characters are not happy with the lives they are leading. They have no ambitions and nothing to hold on to. Everything they talk about sounds too simple. With nothing to hold on to, both characters are in search of something that will give them the courage to do something different, something that will spice up their lives.For the boy in Araby, the escape from his boring everyday life comes with his love for a girl. She is the only light in his dark life, his only source for joy. He devotes himself to this girl so much that she becomes a god-like figure. ‘‘The light from the lamp caught the white curve on her neck, lit up her hair that rested there and, falling, lit up the hand upon the railing. (pg 429)’’ The same thing happens to Sammy when the three girls in bathing suits come into the store that he is working at. The leading girl of the group, who he calls ‘Queeny’, is different from everyone he knows in the town.He is fascinated by her. ‘†¦ just her, this clean bare plane of the top of her chest down from the shoulder bones like a dented sheet of metal tilted in the light. I mean, it was more than pretty. (pg 865)’’ The girl is the long-awaited lights in Sammy’s life. Since they are fascinated by these girls so much, the boys can’t stand their being sad. The girl in Araby is sad because she is not able to go to a festival that she wants to go to, where as ‘Queenie’ is sad because she has been scolded in front of everyone by the manager of the market.The boys, finally having found something to fight for. They feel themselves as their saviors. The boy in Araby feels like it is his duty and responsibility to make the girl happy. ‘‘I imagined that I bore my chalice safely through a throng of foes. (pg 428)’’ In the same way, Sammy in A&P quits his job, thinking he is now the girl’s hero, who stood up against his boss to save he r from the embarassment. ‘‘So I say ‘I quit’ to Lengel quick enough for them to hear, hoping they’ll stop and watch me, their unsuspected hero. pg 868)’’ It is not long before both of them realize that it was not actually worth it, and that what they had imagined weren’t actually true. The boy realizes that he is not capable of doing what he was trying to do. He is too young to be buying a gift with the little money he has, from a big bazaar, and for a girl much older that he is. Sammy realizes that in reality he can not do anything else other than to be a cashier at a supermarket. They both understand that they were not actually who they thought they were.The boy in Araby was never going to be the lover of the girl he loved, and Sammy was never the girls’ hero. After these realizations they both find themselves in an emptiness, having suddenly lost the mission of their lives. The boy is angry with himself (I saw myself as a creature driven and derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger(pg 431)) and Sammy doesn’t know what to do next. ‘‘My stomach kind of fell as I felt how hard the world was going to be to me hereafter. (pg 869)’’ But they both know it is going to be

Human and Utilitarianism Essay

Let me begin by defining Utilitarianism: utilitarianism is the belief of doing what is right for the greater number of people. It is a theory used to determine the usefulness of the happiest outcome and how it will affect everyone else. Now, this sounds like a amazing theory, what would be better than making yourself and others happy? I found myself at first agreeing with this theory up until I really looked into it. At first I found myself thinking that not everything is about being happy; some may have to suffer for the happiness of others. For example, there were two boats one contains three criminals on death row being transported to prison and the other boat contains ten happy, loving families simply enjoying a vacation. Both ships have bombs that will go off in a matter of seconds, blowing up both ships and killing everyone. However, there is a solution. I for some odd reason have a device that sets off a bomb on ONE SHIP and deactivates the other. Now the morally right thing to do would be what? What is moral and right? Taking lives? Or saving them? I do not believe in ‘playing God’ or taking lives. I would simply ignore the Utilitarianism way of thinking and walk away. I would let nature take its course. If God has arranged this to happen, then it is meant to happen. Who am I to walk in and ‘play God’ ? I have to say I agree with Hospers when he says â€Å"A hundred men might gain great pleasure from beating up or killing just one Insignificant human being; but other men’s lives are not theirs to dispose of. † (Hospers) A Utilitarian would approach this situation by asking himself/herself, what will bring happiness? What will do good for greater numbers of people? Why should the prisoners get to live? There are only three prisoners, and have done nothing good but cause harm to society. What have these families done? The Utilitarian will start to analyze each detail of the situation. They first see that there are only three prisoners as opposed to ten large families. Hence, there are less people on the prisoners boat. Then he/she will see that the prisoners have already been sentenced to death, all being on death row. However, the main point will be that these are three bad men. Doing bad things, and causing pain and sorrow to others. Why should ten happy families be punished for their wrong doings? The Utilitarian would settle for simply deactivating the bomb on the prisoners boat. Believing that killing them will bring greater good and happiness to all. My argument to this is a human life is a human life; what if one of those men are actually innocent and were convicted for a crime he didn’t commit? What if the other criminal was to be released in the morning and go home to a family of eight children and a loving wife? Truth is we don’t know. Utilitarianism fails to acknowledge that a life is a life- we are not suppose to be playing God. We don’t decide who lives and who dies, even if it is for the greater good. We should just let nature run its course. Utilitarianism is a theory of always choosing pleasure over pain for the greater good of all. I believe that I have kept a closed mind towards Utilitarianism. The prisoners are already on death row, which means they are going to die for the evil they have set loose on our world. Why should I sacrifice the lives of innocent families, for a couple of men that have caused unhappiness to all? I want to reach happiness, as does everyone else in the world. I mean does the world function over what the greater good for all is? Is that why we have soldiers in Iraq sacrificing their lives for the greater good of America? Maybe I have just overlooked all the positive outcomes of Utilitarianism. I find myself agreeing with a lot of what it has to say. I want happiness, I want innocent lives to be saved, and I want to strive for the greater good of all. I find it interesting how easy it is to fall into the comfort of Utilitarianism. It goes along with my morals and values and yet I still feel a sort of guilt. If I were to deactivate the bomb on the ship with the families and let the prisoners die, I would still be taking a human life. In my religion (Catholicism), a life is a life. We must forgive sinners and those who have sinned against us. But if these prisoners are on death row†¦were they already destined to die? Would that already be in God’s plan? Was it God who sacrificed his only son for all of us sinners? I feel in a way that makes God himself a follower of utilitarianism. He set the example of offering his only son for our sins, to open the gates of heaven for everyone. Yet one of the Ten Commandments is â€Å"Thou shall not kill. † Is that not hypocritical? As I keep analyzing this situation I realize that God is God. He decides who lives and who dies, not us. I feel that it’s hard to stick to my morals when hearing the theory of Utilitarianism. Allowing someone to die at my hand for the greater good, for happiness of others. That just sounds selfish to me, kind of like the holocaust. Did all those innocent Jews endure experimentation and torture for the greater good of all? I mean, if it weren’t for these grotesque experiments we wouldn’t know the maximum altitude that crews in damaged planes can parachute safely to the ground or find the cure/treatment for hypothermia. The Jews were used as guinea pigs for the greater good of everyone else. Is that not Utilitarianism? So many people could have died of hypothermia if that experiment was never conducted. But how many innocent lives were lost to reach this conclusion? Is there a limit to how much sacrifice should be made for the greater good? There should be. This is where I cannot connect with Utilitarianism, the fact that some sort of evil has to be done to help others. I see hypocrisy in this theory; it wants happiness but wants to rule out evil. People are evil, mean and rude. No one can be happy all the time; no one can bring eternal happiness. This takes me back to my original example, who would I save? The prisoners on death row or the innocent families? The Utilitarian’s seem to have a more interesting argument. Its funny how by writing this paper, my views changed. I look at the situation differently now. I do not feel as biased and conservative as before. My ideas have changed to a more liberal understanding sense. Why release these evil me back into the world? We have enough chaos and evil. These are just three men who chose their paths and now have to pay for it. They were sentenced to death for a reason, I will not be held responsible for the innocence of happy families, children, parents, aunts and uncles. They are not in prison because they have not done anything wrong. They simply stepped onto a ship, whose fate I now hold in my hands. I have made my choice; I will deactivate the bomb on the families boat and let the prisoners face death.