Reasons Why Projects Fail - 710 Words

Reasons Why Projects Fail By Tom Carlos PMP In a perfect world, every project would be on time and within budget. But reality (especially the proven statistics) tells a very different story. It s not uncommon for projects to fail. Even if the budget and schedule are met, one must ask did the project deliver the results and quality we expected? True project success must be evaluated on all three components. Otherwise, a project could be considered a failure. Have you ever seen a situation where projects begin to show signs of disorganisation, appear out of control, and have a sense of doom and failure? Have you witnessed settings where everyone works in a silo and no one seems to know what the other team member is doing? What about†¦show more content†¦All too often, mishaps can occur (and usually do). This is when the project manager must recognise a warning sign and take action. If you understand the difference between symptoms and problems and can spot warning signs of project failure, your trainin g will help you take steps to right the ship before it keels over. Yes, it s the project manager s responsibility to correct the listing no one else. In addition to applying the processes and principles tau ght in Reasons Why Projects Fail 1 project management class, you can also use your personal work skills of communication, management, leadership, conflict resolution, and diplomacy to take corrective action. During the course of managing a project, the project manager must monitor ac tivities (and distractions) from many sources and directions. Complacency can easily set in. When this happens, the process of monitoring breaks down. This is why the project manager must remain in control of aShow MoreRelatedThe 7 Common Reasons Why Projects Fail1241 Words   |  5 PagesThe 7 common reasons why projects fail are 1) Poor Requirements Quality Issue Practically speaking, the real nature of numerous predefined necessities is poor. Poor necessities quality can mean numerous things, yet here are the absolute most self-evident Characteristics: equivocal, fragmented, conflicting, wrong, obsolete, not obligatory, immaterial to the framework being manufactured, untraced, and in a structure that is remote to a considerable lot of the partners. Ordinarily this issue emergesRead MoreWhy It Projects Fail For The Success Rate Of These Projects1565 Words   |  7 PagesA#: A00375672 Whenever an IT project is planned to take place, the probability of a problem occurring is very common. Therefore, one of the challenges management will face is to improve the success rate of these projects. 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This analysis bases itself on examples taken from an organization that has a well structured and clear defined program and project management process. Despite being well structured well but has its bits of bureaucracy, can be very complicated to understand and extremely difficult to be followed. In the context it had been conceived and implemented, i.e., to manage the IT Projects that for the majority are developed in-houseRead MorePlanning Methods And Methods Of Planning1692 Words   |  7 Pages-â€Å"Planning is the thinking process, the organized foresight, the vision based on fact and experience that is required for intelligent action† as said by Alford and Beatt. -â€Å"Planning is deciding in advance what is to be done. When a manager plans, he projects a course of action for further attempting to achieve consistent co-ordinate structure of operations aimed at the desired results† as per Theo Haimann. -â€Å"Planning is fundamentally choosing and a planning problem arises when an alternative courseRead MoreThe Ethics Of The Integrity Objection1336 Words   |  6 Pagesvery principles and goals – which Williams calls ‘projects’, as shall I henceforth – that compromise human identity. Opponents of consequentialism use the problem of integrity to argue that consequentialism is unacceptable as a moral philosophy and is not livable for human beings. In this essay, I will demonstrate that utilitarian objections to the problem of integrity fall short, in particular Samuel Scheffler’s response. Scheffler’s attempt fails because in trying to make consequentialism a practicableRead MoreQuality Issues in System Development1687 Words   |  7 Pagesthe information storage and processing needs of every other industry and that of the entire world. However, it was also during this period when the shortcomings of implementing such technology became apparent. A significant number of development projects failed which resulted with disastrous consequences, not only of an economic nature, but social as well . Seemingly, although hardware technolgy was readily available and ever improving, what was inhibiting the industry was in the methods of implementing

Macbeth Term Paper Free Essays

Macbeth Term Paper Macbeth is a story that demonstrates profound change in human character in times when a strong belief becomes the focal point or reason for existence. In extreme cases, as in the story of Macbeth, he becomes so in tuned in his beliefs that he went through remarkable changes both mentally and spiritually. Macbeth is a character who puts himself in a life or death situation and from this a whole new persona comes out of him. We will write a custom essay sample on Macbeth Term Paper or any similar topic only for you Order Now Macbeth is a prime example of a man that opts to will his way to power in the most daring and deceiving ways possible without any regard for his actions. Under dyer needs it is within human nature to adapt to surrounding and do what ever becomes necessary to continue on living. Throughout the story Macbeth adapted a new personality because of his thirst for the thrown, his undeniable disregard for others’ well being, and the immense pressure bestowed upon him by the people close to him. â€Å"If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well. It were done quickly. If th’assassination, could trammel up the consequence, and catch with his surcease success: that but this blow might be the be-all and the end-all, here, But here upon this bank and shoal of time, We’d jump the life to come† (act 1, scene 7). This quotation demonstrates Macbeth and his struggle with his new personality trait: greed. Macbeth’s greed begins to take over his train of thought early on, after his visit with the witches. After visiting with the withes he finds that he is going to be named King if he goes through with various acts. Instantly his worldview changes and he begins to go through changes. Macbeth begins to loath the idea of doing anything other than capturing the thrown. This scene shows how Macbeth is contemplating the act of killing Dunkin (King of Scotland). As he explains in this quote, he realizes there are great consequences if he should be caught and he also believes that the benefits in his mind are very worthy as well, should he succeed in killing the king. This is a monumental change in his attitude or personality because before he was just a noble man, who happened to be legitimately respected. Undoubtedly Macbeth would never have considered killing King Dunkin before he saw visions of himself as king. This is especially true due to the fact that Macbeth and King Dunkin have a courteous and well-known relationship as cousins (Bates, Alfred). Very little evidence would show Macbeth as a careless and murderous man. Greed and passion however lead him to contemplate murder. â€Å"Yields to that suggestion, Whose horrid image doth unfix my hair, And make my seated heart knock at my ribs† (Act 1, scene 3, 133-135). Undeniably, at this point in the story, Macbeth is rapped up in greed and the power he yearns to grasp. This is the tipping point for Macbeth. He knows that he will not be the same person should he go through with the act of killing King Dunkin however his urge to put himself in a better position is eating away at his conscience (Bates, Alfred). This is a good example of how Macbeth cannot control his desires when he describes his â€Å"heart knocking at his ribs†. He is indirectly holding his life above others as his conscience is telling him to take power over the thrown, in any way possible. This shows that not only the personality trait of greed is taking over, but also the traits of becoming egocentric and self-centered are coming out of Macbeth. There is not a time in this part of Macbeth where he describes reasons for taking power other than the sheer fortunes that come with being king. In other words, Macbeth never states that he can do better as king than King Dunkin had done, rather he only wants to become the most powerful man in Scotland. Macbeth is in the middle of developing a self-centered personality trait because his thoughts do not consider anyone other than himself when he contemplates murder as a means to become king. Before Macbeth even thought of taking control he was a strong soldier who had the personal qualities to become king in a more natural way. However, he proved to fall into the trap of questioning his own self-confidence. Macbeth was completely influenced by his wife Lady Macbeth. â€Å"The raven himself is hoarse, That croaks the fatal entrance of Duncan, Under my battlements. Come, you spirits, That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here, And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full Of direst cruelty. Make thick my blood, Stop up th’access and passage to remorse† (Act 1, scene 5, lines 36–52). This quote from Lady Macbeth has tremendous importance. The quote shows how Lady Macbeth had her heart set on killing King Dunkin and how she was totally behind her husband in doing so. Macbeth did not feel as though it was a good idea for a lot of reasons however his wife Lady Macbeth begins to make him feel like he is a coward. Lady Macbeth explained, in the quote above, how much ambition she had in favor of the act of killing King Dunkin. Within the quote Lady Macbeth calls Macbeth’s gender or man hood into question, which will cause Macbeth to alter his emotions and change his beliefs. She elucidates how she cannot commit the act of killing the King because of her nurturing and female genes however if she could change herself and be a man she would do so in order to kill Dunkin (Coriat, Isador). The idea that Lady Macbeth would kill King Dunkin in order to take power, essentially transforms Macbeth and his personality in a whole new way. Macbeth could not let his wife threaten his strength as a man and this pressure from Lady Macbeth proves to push him over the top. After this Macbeth feels a new urgency to fulfill his desires along with his wife’s wishes. This passage illuminates how easily Macbeth changes his mind because of the pressure his wife has presented him. The original personality that Macbeth expressed before this passage is much different than the one seen after he meets with the witches. Before we see a resilient militaristic man with a strong willed personality but after this point Macbeth seems to be greatly influenced by his wife (Coriat, Isador). This becomes a key point in his personality change because after this point he begins to totally become enwrapped in the insensitive decisions that appoint him king. Greed over comes all other traits and in turn makes him act upon his wishes. Macbeth experiences genuine and true personality changes when his actions lead him too far to cover up his act of killing King Dunkin. Banquo was Macbeth’s true best friend before he had gained power after killing King Dunkin. They worked together under the king and they were often seen together in the beginning of the play. Banguo is even present when Macbeth received the prophecy from the witches. This proves to be the major problem that Macbeth recognizes after he fulfilled the prophecy. â€Å"We have, scorched the snake, not killed it. She’ll close and be herself whilst our poor malice, Remains in danger of her former tooth†(act 3, scene 2). This quote explains how Macbeth recognizes that Banquo is a major threat to him. Macbeth believed that Banquo would reveal his secret because Banquo had been an advocate for Dunkin before. Banquo also knew that Macbeth had good reason to kill Dunkin after he heard the prophecy of the witches. This passage shows that Macbeth allows fear to influence his actions and take over his life. Macbeth had gone from having Banquo as a good friend to contemplating killing him because he knew too much about what he had done. The trait of fear truly started to take form is Macbeth’s life after this point since he began to always have to cover up his previous actions. Macbeth is no longer even remotely a good or a noble man after this point since he decided to kill his friend Macbeth. After this point he becomes vastly self-centered and wrapped in his fears that control his life. â€Å"Macb: Both of you Know Banquo was your enemy. Murderers: True, my lord. Macb: So is he mine; and in such bloody distance that every minute of his being thrusts Against my near’st of life† (Act III, scene 1). Macbeth proves, within this conversation with the murderers, that he does not see Banquo as his friend anymore. He convinces the murderers that Banquo is their enemy along with his. Macbeth is very clear about his word use and how he feels about Banquo, which in turn shows how he has totally changed his mind about Banquo. This is a worthy example of a personality change in Macbeth’s makeup. Macbeth has completely changed his feelings towards a very important person in his life with no feasible purpose or reason other than the reason that Banquo was a liability towards him and his goal of staying king. Lastly Macbeth states that the blood of Banquo is better off on the murderers rather than in Banquo. The passage clearly shows a changed man who, because of fear, makes major changes in his character and personality. Macbeth is becoming a man who does not care about who he hurts or what he does as long as he stays King. This shows how he completely changed his makeup as he went from being thoughtful and careful to insensitive and irresponsible. Macbeth’s spinning relationship with Banquo is not the only time when he changes his feelings towards someone or a group of people. Throughout the play Macbeth has changing feelings towards the witches. In the begging of the play Macbeth has a great deal of trust in what the witches have told him through their prophecies. He goes as far as committing murderous acts because of the witches prophecies. Later on however, Macbeth begins to change his feelings towards the witches. Macbeth begins to loose trust in them and develops a loathing emotion for the witches. His new feelings towards the witches develop after he committed the murders and realized that he had put himself in a dangerous situation (Lou Ching). Macbeth knows he must go back to find out the rest of his destiny. When he returns to the witches he demands them to tell him what will happen. In act 4 scenes 1-3 Macbeth meets with the witches and demands to see his fait. The witches show him three visions. The first vision is of a floating head, which was a symbol of Macduff. After this the witches warned him of Macduff. The second vision was of a bloody child, which was a metaphor or symbol proclaiming that no man who was born of a woman would kill Macbeth. After these symbols the last and most important because he saw himself walking with eight kings who were all in the form of ghosts. Once Macbeth had seen this he knew something was wrong however the witches would not explain it. Macbeth becomes very angry with the witches and begins to worry about his future. Macbeth exclaimed â€Å"Infected be the air whereon they ride, And damned all those that trust them! † (Act 4, scene 1). The quote shows how Macbeth has become enraged with the witches because he believed that they had been toying with him. The witches made Macbeth feel very uneasy after this point because he was still unsure about his future. Unlike the beginning of the play, Macbeth clearly looses trust in the witches as they left Macbeth with no clear sense about where his fait would rest. This shows how Macbeth had gone from a person who had trust in people to a man who could trust no one. This personality trait of never keeping faith in himself or anyone around him is a trait that continually comes up throughout the play. Macbeth had become a vicious and insensitive King. Murderous acts require a man who is unstable. Killing an innocent person to obtain benefits demonstrations a self-centered inhumane characteristic. By the time the murders of Banquo and King Dunkin had been committed Macbeth had completely turned into a new man. In no possible way was the Macbeth who did not kill anyone, in the beginning of the play, the same man as the Macbeth who murdered two close friends (Wykes, Walter). Macbeth was a murderer, which became a personality trait in that he no longer feared murdering a man. Macbeth continued to have murderous thoughts as he told the witches that he would murder Macduff if he needed to. Murder became a way of life or a means to live for Macbeth, which proved to be his most significant characteristic throughout the play. Often tremendous traumas will change a person, usually in a negative way. Murdering someone is a trauma that puts great amounts of guilt as well as other conscious thoughts in ones head. Throughout the play Macbeth becomes a totally new person because of the stresses that a murderous act puts on a man (Ross, Julia). Murderous actions and hard to deal with ordeals also change Macbeth and his ways of suppressing bad memories. Macbeth clearly accepts the idea that he has become a murder especially after he commits the second murder. This is a monumental change in his personality because the idea that Macbeth is completely accepting of the idea that killing someone is tolerable, is without a doubt, an insane thought (Wykes, Walter). â€Å"If it were done when ’tis done, then ’twere well, It were done quickly†(act 1, scene 7). This quote comes from the time before Macbeth killed King Dunkin. It shows how he is explaining the importance to get over the murder quickly. Macbeth shows how his conscious is very weak and how the act of the murder will not bother him because he will make sure to get over it quickly (John Boe). It is clear that the witches become a main focus for Macbeth and the trust he has in remaining king. The built up of insecurities and fear inside of Macbeth however create a new personality trait in order to contemplate the idea of trusting the witches. Rash impulses and hasty thoughts allow Macbeth to trust the witches. If Macbeth had a clear mind and realized the right thing to do would be to ignore the witches and their prophecy, Macbeth would have never even contemplated the idea of killing Dunkin with his wife. Greed and impulsive decisions take total control over Macbeth and in turn make him do things that he would not have normally done. The witches clearly are the source for Macbeth’s decisions and because of this he does not trust his own thoughts rather he trusts the visions of the witches (Lou Ching). Macbeth is a proven story of a man with many psychological problems, which truly come out of him because he sees and opportunity to be King. Macbeth shows a side of him, which he may not have even known about, however under the immense pressure of the act of murder his personality and human characteristics change. The people around him become mere objects he moves like chess pieces within his selfish efforts to remain in power, because of his dominate personality trait of greed. Murderous acts become second nature actions for Macbeth, which is a proven example of how he had become insane and developed new personality traits. Bates, Alfred. â€Å"Macbeth. †Ã‚  TheatreHistory. com. London: Historical Publishing Company. Web. 6 Apr. 2012. ;lt;http://www. theatrehistory. com/british/macbeth001. html;gt;. Boe, John. â€Å"John Boe, The Tragedy of Macbeth: Character Studies | Open Shakespeare. †Ã‚  Open Shakespeare. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. ;lt;http://openshakespeare. org/2011/03/22/john-boe-the-tragedy-of-macbeth-character-studies;gt;. â€Å"Character of Life in Macbeth. †Ã‚  The Mother’s Service Society. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. lt;http://www. motherservice. org/content/character-life-macbethgt;. Chou, Lou Ching. â€Å"Witches in Macbeth. †Ã‚  Web Hosting Provider. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. lt;http://www. mseg. info/ib/essays/witches. tmgt;. Coriat, Isador H. â€Å"The Hysteria of Lady Macbeth – An Analysis of the Sleepwalking Scene. †Ã‚  Shakespeare Online. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. lt;http://www. shakespeare-online. com/plays/macbeth/macbethsleepwalking. htmlgt;. Ross, Julia. â€Å"TuftsRoss. †Ã‚  Meredith College : Raleigh, NC. Web. 26 Apr. 2012. lt;http://www. meredith. edu/english/walton/TuftsRoss. htmgt;. Wykes, Walter. â€Å"The Personality of Murder in Shakespeare’s Macbeth. â€Å"Http://ezinearticles. com/. 30 Aug. 2007. Web. lt;http://EzineArticles. com/? expert=Walter_Wykes Article Source: http://EzineArticles. com/709816gt;. How to cite Macbeth Term Paper, Essays

Denham and Matheson Essay Example For Students

Denham and Matheson Essay The media is able to build up an explosive cocktail, manufacturing stories, reporting on events before they occur and producing alarmist forecasts so that if and when a problem occurs it achieves the notion of a self-fulfilling prophesy. As Poulton (2005:31) describes: The media thus provides the news that fulfils the expectation they create, whether or not they elicit fulfilling behaviour this demonstrates how news values work and how the media actively engage in news-making. Poultons (2005) description of the process of news-making not only emphasises a manufactured process, but allows for further debate concerning the capitalist economy of news-making. From a general production perspective, Marx (1946, in Murdock, 2000) states that in a capitalist economy, raw materials are transformed into saleable goods and services. Whether it is to achieve audience ratings or actual consumer purchases, the media are part of a capitalist economy. Where television works to gain ratings and advertising revenue, the printed press works to sell copies of newspapers or magazines and so on. The needs and wants of the consumers must be met in order to create capital and recognition of the processes of manufacturing are an integral part to production (Ang, 1991; Hagen, 1999). The media violence debate has also extended to include thoughts concerning media output and its influence on human behaviour. In the past this has been documented in many high profile violence and murder cases such as the James Bulger case and the Columbine killings. Livingstone (2005:12) suggests that the media has often been the scapegoat for the supposed moral impact of family life, on ethnic stereotyping or on crime statistics; however this is contested by an audience research agenda which is driven by the conflict of interests surrounding the issue (ibid. , 2005). Violence is only one such representation which is discussed in terms of media output and the influence upon audiences, other popular topics include: politics, health, racism and war (Iyengar, 1997). When approaching the subject of direct media influence upon crime rates using stimulus/response research, Berkowitz and Macaulay (1971, in Berkowitz and Heimer Rogers, 1986) found significant increases in the rate of violent crimes following several sensational murders in the 1960s. However, Berkowitz and Heimer Rogers (1986) go on to propose that these incidences are not like for like copycat incidents. They claim that the concept of cognitive-neoassociationism provides a framework to analyse these phenomena. They state that, peoples reactions to what they read, see, or hear in the media depend considerably on the way the message is interpreted and the thoughts and memories that are consequently activated (ibid. , 1986:58). The media and popular culture are hypothesised to be part of a set of factors that contribute to societal violence as it is difficult to measure human thought or to precisely know how media influence their audiences (ibid. , 1986). This particular stance further supported by Lull (2000:100) who argues that people mediate the influence of the media, particularly if they are within a setting that allows for social mediations to occur, i. e. with family, friends or peers. This allows recipients to raise questions, pose criticism or reinforce positive messages. Lull (2000) claims that the media audience has not changed much, but that it has just taken researchers longer to describe the complex relationships between the media and its interpreters. As an alternative to principally analysing the direct effects of media output, research has shifted to include the audience into the large body of research. Allor (1988, in Mosco and Kaye, 2000:31) suggests that the concept of the audience is the underpinning prop for the analysis of the social impact of mass communication in general. Though Moores (1993:1), finds difficulty in defining what the audience actually is, suggesting that there is no stable entity which we can isolate and identify as the media audience. Recommendation Report EssayKlapper (1966:18) theorises that generally people will expose themselves to those mass communications which are in accord with their existing attitudes and interests. With this in mind, it is taste and pleasure which Ang (1985) and Radway (1991) emphasised was a key positive effect that audiences derived from media texts, which Ang (1985:17) further comments is an idea which is at odds with the doctrine that mass culture primarily manipulates the masses. Though Marxist beliefs will detail that the pleasure derived from texts is a false kind of pleasure a trick of manipulating the masses more effectively in order to lock them in the eternal status quo of exploitation and oppression and to further the capitalist economy, it only presents one side of the argument because to successfully sell a commodity, such as a media text, the commodity itself must have some usefulness (ibid. , 1985:17-18). Morley (1992) added that there is the potential for different individuals or groups to operate different decoding strategies in relation to different topics and different contexts. A person might make oppositional readings of the same material in one context and dominant readings in other contexts. He further noted that in interpreting viewers readings of mass media texts, attention should be paid not only to the issue of agreement (acceptance/rejection) but to comprehension, relevance and enjoyment (ibid. , 1992: 126-127). Further Criticism of Halls model raises the question; does the preferred meaning actually exist?. Moores (1993:28) asks of the preferred meaning, Where is it and how do we know if weve found it? Can we be sure we didnt put it there ourselves while we were looking? And can it be found by examining any sort of text? . Moreover, Morley (1981:6) pondered whether it might be the reading which the analyst is predicting that most members of the audience will produce and wondered whether the concept may be applied more easily to news and current affairs than to other mass media genres. Based upon the assumption that widely available communication forms play an important role in mediating society (Matheson, 2005:1), both Matheson (2005) and Wareing (2004) highlight the potential ability of language to create new meanings and inflict power upon society. The previous discussion regarding the media and violence authors such as Denham (1999) and Matheson (2005) detailed the process by which media discourse and verbal reduction may shape forms of representation and ultimately create meaning and agenda.