Project Sustainability

Executive summary This module is not a detailed study of all aspects of sustainability. The goal of this module is a general introduction into sustainability with a focus on the impact and the effect on projects  © University of Southern Queensland 2 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management throughout their life span. With this knowledge it should be possible for you to identify, understand and address the key issues related to definition and delivery of projects that adhere to current concepts of sustainability, and how to plan for the sustainment of those projects throughout their life span.The concept of sustainability is explored in terms of consumption of resources – this can apply to inputs that are required to the project ‘system’ in order to deliver the project outcomes, the processes by which the project is managed, and the nature of the outputs and their need for resources throughout their useful life span. A range of project sectors is consi dered in order to understand the different implications for each sector. Also, it must be remembered that sustainability works inside of a closed loop system.In all of your deliberations about sustainability and project management you must remember the need to maintain a systems approach. 1. 1 Sustainability issues in a project environment Sustainability is a term that evokes emotion in people about certain events or practices that affect our long term survival of ourselves and all other aspects of our planet. We need to be able to work through this emotion and focus on what is important in an objective and reflective way. By their very nature projects use and affect many resources throughout the life of the project.Some of these resources are consumed or adversely affected by the project. For example, if there was a project to build a new major airport, there would be many issues to consider, and the issue is can their resolution be sustained for the life of the airport? So, the qu estion we need to ask when addressing the project is ‘Can this project be sustained and for how long? ’ The resources required to sustain the project may be physical (natural resources) or they might simply be people (human resources). They could also include local resources as well as imported resources.As a result there are many dimensions of sustainability to consider in a project environment. In 1983 the United Nations World Commission on Environment and Development (WCED) convened under Gro Harlem Brundtland a commission to address the growing concern about the accelerating deterioration of the human environment and natural resources and the consequences of that deterioration for economic and social development. This became known as the Brundtland Commission. The Brundtland Commission defined sustainable development in its 1987 Report titled Our Common Future as:Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the abil ity of future generations to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and Development 1987) A full copy of the report is available at http://www. un-documents. net/wced-ocf. htm There are other definitions but this one is often used as the baseline definition. The question that needs to be proactively addressed as we look at the resources required to construct and sustain a project, ‘will it be possible to sustain current and future resources? ’ There are two aspects of sustainability to a project.In the design and construction phases of the project, resources of all kinds are consumed. Similarly, during its operational life there is a need to  © University of Southern Queensland MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 3 provide resources so that the project can continue to operate profitably and efficiently throughout its life. This through life provision of resources is also known as the sustainment phase. This term is used by Defence, but it is also being used in the wider commercial areas. Blanchard (p. 350) provides a short description about sustaining system maintenance and support functions.But, to sustain these functions requires a capability to provide the range and depth of services for the expected life of the project, including extensions. We often think of project life in terms of years, but, more than likely, it will be decades or in the case of dams, centuries. So, it is important in terms of the project to understand the life of the project as well as the sustaining events for it. When dealing with terms that can have meanings depending upon the context of the situation as well as the potential for emotion, it is important to have a sound base on which to use the word, and to be able to defend its usage.A search of the Oxford English Dictionary shows that sustainability first appeared in the mid-1960s in a form that is consistent with contemporary usage. Its usage in the context of sustainable development is first referenced in 1972. So, it is a relatively new word. The On-Line Oxford English Dictionary defines sustainable development as follows: sustainable development n. (a) Econ. economic development which can be sustained in the long term; (b) Ecol. utilization and development of natural resources in ways which are compatible with the maintenance of these resources, and with the conservation of the environment, for future generations.When developing a project it is necessary to be able to determine the current and future needs of the project and the ability of the providers of the future to meet those needs. To carry out the sustainment work of maintenance will require facilities and workshops of different sources. Although these are technical designs, they are controlled by other factors such as planning laws. Therefore, to start developing a definition for sustainability we need to start by considering the wider meaning of sustainable development. Reading activity 1. 1 Selected reading 1. is the Sustainable Development Guidelines for the Brisbane City Council which is a large local government body in Queensland Australia (Brisbane City Council 2005). This reading will provide more indepth detail about sustainable development as required by a local government authority. On completion of this reading, carry out research to find out what your local government authority requires in terms of sustainable development. Compare the two approaches. Selected reading 1. 2 is a paper based on the work done by the Western Australia government on sustainability (Hartz-Karp & Newman 2006).Governments at all levels have an interest in sustainable development, and this paper describes the issues in setting up a sustainability program from first principles. After completing these readings, reflect on the wider issues of sustainability and the sustaining outcomes described by Blanchard. Can you identify the links between the different needs?  © University of Southern Queen sland 4 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 1. 2 Reporting sustainability Given the diverse industries involved in projects, it would be difficult to have comparative and transparent reporting without some form of consistent process.This is achieved though the Global Reporting Initiativeâ„ ¢ (GRI) (Global Reporting Initiative 2008). The GRI is the world de facto standard on sustainability reporting. This is achieved though a set of guidelines, currently known as the G3. The purpose of these guidelines is for organizations to report their social, economic and environmental performance as routinely and with the same discipline as the financial reports. Many organizations routinely report on their sustainability credentials using the GRI G3 guidelines as the reporting standard.Reading activity 1. 2 Log onto www. globalreporting. org and familiarize yourself with the general content of the site. Read the G3 Guidelines to appreciate the range and depth of issues address ed in sustainability reporting. As can be seen from the G3 Guidelines, reporting imposes a significant workload on an organization. Also, as this is an important communication document for the organization, some industries can expect to have their sustainability report critically evaluated by groups within the community. Reading activity 1. 3Log onto websites for large organizations such as those suggested below and do internal searches for sustainability. Read these approaches and reports and see the extent to which this work is done. Now, if you were on a project within an organization such as this, with these reporting requirements, how would you approach this work? ? BHP Billiton at www. bhpbilliton. com ? Rio Tinto at www. riotinto. com ? Hydro Tasmania at www. hydro. com. au 1. 3 Sustainability impacts on management of projects Projects do not occur in a vacuum. They occur in a business environment that is closely monitored by many people.Many of these people have no direct in volvement on the project, but they are interested in it because of the way it could affect their lifestyle or the natural environment in some way. Traditionally, we talk about the shareholders of a project. Increasingly, business is being forced to consider Triple Bottom line (TBL) reporting. In this paradigm, shareholders are replaced by stakeholders. From a project management approach it is now necessary to make sure that a broader range of stakeholders than just shareholders is clearly identified. It is now  © University of Southern QueenslandMGT8021 – Project sustainability management 5 necessary to address the needs of stakeholders other than just shareholders, and these could be competing interests. Reading activity 1. 4 Read selected reading 1. 3 on sustainability in business (Dorf 2001). Consider the added requirements that emerging sustainability issues are placing on business. How do these issues get included in the overall budget for a project? As a project has a future life, it is not good enough to reinvent the past. It is necessary that you be able to consider future issues.These may be unclear early in the life of a project; but, you need to attempt to develop some idea of what sustainability issues will impact the future of the project. For example, a project might be a suburban rail system with an expected life of 40 years. How do you plan for appropriately trained people to maintain the system over the 40 years? One of the most critical aspects of through life project sustainability is obsolescence. The obsolescence could be in the form of parts, tools, facilities, or skills. At a higher level, obsolescence could be due to the technology or societal factors.An example is the demise of society’s acceptance of coal-fired power stations over the last few years. Obsolescence management is an important aspect of project management sustainability and requires good skills in understanding technology from all aspects. You need to be a ble to anticipate the changes that are likely to happen. This anticipation will usually rely upon reading about relevant and complementary topics as well as seeking specialized opinions. The reference list includes books that provide approaches to future issues and problems.Even though it may seem unrealistic at this time, carefully crafted future thinking may position your project far ahead of anything else at that time. The book Cradle to Cradle (McDonough & Braumgart 2002) is a good example of addressing the challenges we need to address. In the classic through-life approach we talk about ‘cradle to the grave’ to reflect that at the end of its useful life, equipment is disposed of in some way. In the ‘cradle to cradle’ concept the emphasis is on designing products and their packaging so that at the end of useful life they are regenerated, rather than just discarded thoughtlessly.Remaining Useful Life (RUL) is one of the measures of performance that is of ten used to asses an asset. This is usually calculated on classical economic bases to get the most profitable life out of an asset. However, it may be that other criteria included in the G3 or Triple Bottom Line reporting are the drivers of the Remaining Useful Life of the project. When considering the sustainability impact on projects it is necessary to take a systems view and think proactively about the through-life sustainability issues of a project.Just because the issue seems unrealistic at this time, does not mean that it could not turn into a significant problem to resolve in the future. That is, significant management problems may be created for the future.  © University of Southern Queensland 6 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 1. 4 Sustainability considerations for project sectors In a practical sense, sustainability issues are driven by Environmental Impact Statements. There are two broad considerations: statutory and voluntary.In some projects (such as mining) there is a statutory requirement to perform an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and publish the findings in an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Don’t get caught up in the actual terms, as there is little consensus on what constitutes an EIA or an EIA. In most cases, it will be decided by the circumstances of the project. On other projects there may not be any statutory requirement; however, given the attitude of the community towards major projects, there may be a need for voluntary consideration of the issues addressed in Environmental Impact Statement requirements.It is not possible to identify all considerations for all sectors and table 1. 1 provides a summary of the key general considerations to be addressed. Table 1. 1: Environmental considerations by project sector Sector Considerations Aviation Air worthiness, passenger comfort, passenger safety, reputation Property Physical appearance, occupant safety, public safety Engineering Design strength, mai ntenance, maintenance support, integrity Infrastructure Service provision, public safety, extremely long life Software Media, programming skills, configuration, documentationQuite often there are numerous regulations that prescribe the issues to be considered for sustainability. This is achieved through environmental investigations into a particular project. The Wyaralong Dam is a new project to build a dam near Beaudesert, south of Brisbane in Queensland, Australia. This project requires an Environmental Impact Statement, the details of which are available at: http://www. deedi. qld. gov. au/cg/wyaralong-dam-project. html Log onto the URL above and skim through the scope of considerations for such a project. Now, log onto the URL below for a fact sheet on environmental impact statements: http://www. pa. qld. gov. au/register/p00320aa. pdf While at this site navigate to the various links to obtain a wider perspective of the considerations of the environmental impact statements. Focu s on the first three elements of this fact sheet.  © University of Southern Queensland MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 7 ? assess the potential adverse and beneficial environmental, economic, and social impacts of the project; ? provide information to the public about the project and its impacts; ? obtain input from the community and stakeholders about the project, its impacts and management;These three elements address the core considerations that need to be addressed to demonstrate the sustainability of the project. Although there are many elements listed in the fact sheet, it is realistic to assume that if these three elements are not done correctly the project will find progress difficult for a number of reasons not associated with the technical aspects of the project. A significant issue that faces global organizations is to ensure that the sustainability considerations for projects that are legal in one jurisdiction are not illegal in another jurisdiction. Many larger organizations have Codes of Practice or Codes of Conduct to assure an independent legal authority that the integrity of their processes is compliant. Assuring project sustainability in your sector may fall into this realm of compliance reporting. You will need to find out to ensure that this matter is addressed otherwise it poses a significant legal and financial risk to the organization. That is, how do the governance responsibilities and accountabilities drive the requirements for sustainability considerations in your sector?To consolidate your understanding of sustainability considerations you should explore the statutory and voluntary considerations for project sustainability in your local area. 1. 5 Draft a sustainability model for a project A model is the description of reality. However, as many different people will have a diverse perception of reality, it is often difficult in a consensus environment developing a model. The risk adverse approach is to adopt a mod el developed by another group and adapt or adopt it for the group’s purpose. Sometimes this will work and sometimes it will not.Even with these difficulties it is still beneficial to consider the elements of a sustainability model. Reading activity 1. 5 Selected reading 1. 4 is a report on a national sustainability initiative. Sustainability models can take many forms and have different starting points, and an example of this is the Australian National Sustainability Initiative (ANSI) (Australian National Biocentre Inc. 2004). Look at the cover photo. It shows the interface between urban and un-developed land, with a creek as the boundary. If you look at the creek you will notice that it is a series of water holes.Now, count how many swimming pools are located in the adjoining private residences. Can our water courses sustain private swimming pools? Read through this initiative and form your own views about whether this document offers a baseline as a suitable model for susta inability? If it does: how and why; if it does not: how and why not?  © University of Southern Queensland 8 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management The basic model for sustainability is based on the balance between economics, ecology and society. Dorf (2001) paragraph 2. 3 addresses this triple bottom line approach.Figure 1. 1 provides an approach to a general model for sustainability. Figure 1. 1: The interdependence of economics, ecology and society (Source: Dorf 2001, p. 43) In this model the three elements of triple bottom line accounting are divided into four main groups of corporation, cultural values, community, and person. These groups are further subdivided into twelve components to be considered. In your current or future experience you will come across models with more than 100 components. Dorf (2001, p. 51) lists ten principles of sustainable business practices.There practices were developed by the Coalition for Environmentally Responsible Economics (CERES). In these examples from Dorf we see approaches to models based on a relatively few components. In drafting a model it is suggested that you work with 10–12 components to keep it understandable. If there are too many components it will be difficult to maintain comprehension of what is being modeled and this will make it difficult to communicate your model. Key aspects will get lost in the minutia of the detail. The twelve points proposed in figure1. are analogous to the standard twelve points of the compass, and this makes it easy to present to a wider audience. Other approaches to a model include the G3 reporting framework (Global Reporting Initiative 2008). The G3 describes how sustainability should be reported and this makes it a model in its own right. But this is a very detailed approach and is probably better approached through a more general higher model such as in Figure 1. 1. When drafting a sustainability model it is necessary to collect as many approaches to a model as is possible and to make them as inclusive as possible.The key issue is to be able to find the balance for your project that is accepted by the wider stakeholders, and does not trivialize important issues. This might mean that you have to research many aspects of the project, other than its technical components in order to draft a good model. In the supplementary reading list are several titles that provide a range of views to consider when developing project management strategies and plans.  © University of Southern Queensland MGT8021 – Project sustainability management 9 In this module we look at sustainability as a separate issue.However, it must be seen as part of the quality management system of an organization. ISO9000 is a set of standards for quality management maintained by the International Organization for Standardization , and proposes figure 2. 1 as a model for the delivery of quality within an organization. Sustainability is part of the quality system and s hould not be treated separately from it or exclude it. In this context, the quality system should also include project management standards such as those in the Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK) (Project Management Institute 2004).Thus, the key drivers in the project are addressed through the one paradigm of quality. Figure 1. 2: Model of a process-based quality management system (Source: ISO9000 2006, p. 3) In the quality diagram shown in figure 1. 2, the various stakeholders are clearly identified as input customers who are imposing requirements on the system. In the product realization phase, (the project) the requirements come to life and treated as part of the continuously improving aspects of the quality management systems. For those who use Six Sigma processes in their organization, the same link is made.A model for sustainability should not be seen as a separate model, but inclusive of and derived for and from the quality management system. All of the sustainability issues and considerations that we have addressed can be addressed within the quality management system model. This is probably the most powerful model to represent the commitment of the organization to sustainability. Conclusions Projects are an important mechanism to deliver the goods and services of all types that we require for living. This also includes the delivery of goods and services in the aid of others or natural disasters. University of Southern Queensland 10 MGT8021 – Project sustainability management Projects do not exist in a vacuum and impact on all aspects of society, economy and resources. This is represented by the triple bottom line approach to accounting, and this puts projects beyond the classic economic theory decision processes. There is increasing pressure on organizations to deliver projects that are more than simply good profit to the shareholders. The current and increasing requirement emphasizes the need to ensure that the project a lso brings benefits to society as a whole.To be able to consider this wider systems approach, it is necessary to proactively adopt an approach to projects that places correct emphasis on components that affect the sustainability of the project. These components could be as economically obtuse as placing high value on areas of biodiversity as the more measurable of higher levels of Earnings Before Interest and Taxes (EBIT). Being able to successfully navigate through sustainability issues is an increasingly important skill of the project manager.

Language and the Text of Each Paper Essay

In this essay on the Brixton riots I hope to show how different newspapers can express the same basic facts in different ways to make the reader feel a certain way about the event – in this case, the Brixton riots. I will be looking at the front pages of two newspapers (which I call papers 1 and 2 in the essay), each of which describe the same event and include similar facts. The Brixton riots occurred in 1981 in Brixton, London, and were between the residents of Brixton (predominantly black) and the police forces. They came about in the first place because of historical background reasons and social reasons. Blacks had a history of low-ranked jobs with low pay. Since the British Empire broke up and the citizens of the Commonwealth countries, mostly black, moved to Britain, a lot of them were prepared to take low-ranked jobs so they could stay in the country. This meant that people in Britain associated them with being low-class. There were very few black people with high-ranked jobs. With people associating black people like this, it led to racism and general abuse. With all this abuse the blacks started to build up a stereotyped view of white people and because few black people had good jobs a stereotyped view of the police was built up as well. This meant that the tension was raised because each side mistrusted the other. The event that started off the Brixton riots occurred in Coldharbour lane in 1981. A policeman was on duty when a young black boy ran past him. The policeman, suspicious of the boy, ran after him. As he did so he tripped over the boy, badly injuring him. This aggravated the black community. Before this incident, the police had been given power to stop and search anyone they felt was suspicious which meant that the atmosphere in Brixton was tense. On the social side, in 1981 the Conservative government was in power with Margaret Thatcher as their leader. The less well off were dissatisfied with what the Government were doing. They hadn’t really done much at all to help young blacks. It was likely that if you were young and black at this period you would be unemployed. This meant that there was a lot of tension around, which helped to spark off the riots. With the riots being a shocking event, the press immediately got involved. This led to the events being sensationalised and being used as a money making scheme. When there is big news that is in the newspapers for quite a while, the papers develop a logo. Logos are used to structure and organise the paper . The readers get used to seeing a certain logo and they associate the logo with an event. Here it would be the Brixton riots. This helps the readers to find their way around the paper more easily. These logos seem to be giving a number of different impressions of the riots. In the captions beneath the logos a lot of the words seem to be in the semantic field of war. Words such as ‘battle’ and ‘war’, which are good examples of this semantic field, give the impression that the riots were very violent. The logo pictures are mostly of the same policeman with blood running down the side of his face. These images give the impression that there were some bad injuries in the riots and that the riots were very violent. However the fact that the logos are mostly concerned with the same image suggests that the injury inflicted on this policeman was perhaps the most dramatic injury there was in the riots. Even so, head wounds often appear to be much worse than they really are, which suggests that the riots were not so serious as the papers make them out to be and were, in fact, blown out of proportion. This image has been selected to attract the reader’s attention. If this were on T. V. it would still be easily possible to select and bias like you can in newspapers. A lot of news programmes choose their stories very carefully to ensure that a certain viewpoint is supported. Another way to manipulate facts is to take a very biased viewpoint . Two possible viewpoints are political and non-political. Newspaper 1 does seems to have a political viewpoint as it is taking pity on the police and is making them seem like the victims by criticising the rioters. This indicates that this paper takes the side of establishment and law rather than that of the rioters, the neglected residents of Brixton. Headlines such as ‘Police under Attack Again in New Fury’ makes the police out to be the victims and the mob to be a reckless, aggressive one. Headlines that demonstrate a particular viewpoint will attract the readers’ attention as they make the subject more dramatic. Newspaper 2 has a very different viewpoint, seeming to imply that the police were causing almost as much trouble as the rioters. ‘Eight police coaches, each containing forty men, were rushed to the area, further raising the tension’ suggests that this paper is taking the side of the rioters. It very much puts the blame on both the police and the Government and sympathises with the people of Brixton in its headlines . It is used here mainly to prejudice you even though it is opinion. ‘Police harassment’ and ‘Arrest sets off more clashes’ suggest that the main reason that the riots started was because of unnecessary action taken by the police. Other headlines, such as ‘No hope of jobs’ and ‘Decaying housing’, are blaming the Government for agitating the people of Brixton by not providing enough employment or repairing their houses. This could also be biased on T. V. as the editor could put forward only half of the full story ,so biasing the As well as having a very biased viewpoint to attract the readers, the paper can be made more attractive and eye catching. The front page of newspaper 1 is very eye-catching indeed. As soon as you look at it, your attention is drawn to the photograph and ‘BATTLEFRONT’ in large letters, the battlefront being the front line of the rioting. This banner headline, white lettering on a black background, takes up the whole width of the front page and is designed to make it stand out and catch your eye. The picture dominates the page and all the writing is positioned around it, making it the focus of the article. Also the headline, ‘The picture that sums up the horror of Bloody Brixton’, makes you look expectantly at the picture as well as using alliteration to draw your attention to it. The use of a capital letter for ‘Bloody’ gives the riots a historical connotation, as though it is already a well known event. Newspaper 2 has a much simpler front page, with a simple black headline, a subheading and a picture. Unlike on newspaper 1 the headline does not draw your attention to the picture, because it is not specifically related to it. Although there are some banner headlines across the top in bullet point form, displaying points such as ‘No hope of jobs’, they are much smaller. I think that this paper is less sensational and a bit more ‘refined’ than the other, typical tabloid newspaper. The headlines used in newspapers and the wording in them is another way to catch the readers attention . The headlines in a newspaper are very important as they often tell the reader what point of view the paper is taking, the nature of the event – if referring to one – who is involved, where it happened, and other bits of information as well. It is very important for a tabloid newspaper to use exciting and exaggerating vocabulary in them as this really helps to catch the readers’ attention and make them think that something very dramatic has happened. In newspaper 1, this has been done by using words such as ‘battlefront’. A word like this is obviously in the semantic field of war, making the events seem more dramatic. Other headlines, such as ‘Police under attack again in new fury’, make it sound as though the police were being physically attacked by the youths, who are described as ‘furious’. This sentence is in the passive tense whereas the other paper is written in the active. These headlines seem to be in a similar field of meaning and connotation as they are both associated with violence and the police being under attack. In newspaper 2, however, the headlines suggest different things. Headlines such as ‘Brixton points the finger’ and ‘Arrest sets off more clashes’ seem more thoughtful, as if the newspaper has analysed the events, not just exaggerated the happenings in them. They make it seem like Brixton is pointing the finger at the people who are doing the arresting (the police).

Exchange and markets Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Exchange and markets - Term Paper Example It is very difficult to maintain these macro-economic objectives and at times they are even in conflict of each other. (Sloman, 670) Exchange rates fluctuations are a major reason for balance of payment fluctuations. Before we understand the system of exchange rates we need to understand the method of balance of payments. Balance of payments means a record of all transactions made between one particular country and all other countries  during a  specified period of time (www.investopedia.com). BOP  compares the dollar difference of the amount of exports and imports, which includes all financial exports and imports. A negative balance of payments means that more money is flowing out of the country than coming in, and a positive BOP means that more money is coming into the country. Balance of Payment can be said as a huge accounts book for the country. It also acts as an indicator of political and economic stability. A positive BOP may mean that the country’s functioning i s going in a positive direction with foreign investment and funds coming in and limited resources in the form of cash going out. What are nominal exchange rates? Nominal exchange rate is simply the rate at which one currency is exchanged for other. This may mean for example it is quoted that one dollar is equal to 0.6 of a pound sterling. This may mean that the nominal exchange rate of a dollar to the pound is $1= 0.6 pound. Changes in the nominal exchange rates between two countries will have an effect on all the transaction prices of goods bought and sold between those two countries. This means that it is extremely important for these rates to be stables as these are bilateral rates (Bamford et al, 115). In a free market the exchange rate is determined by the market forces of demand and supply. This is quite similar to the determination of all other prices because where the supply and demand curves meet that is the market rate of the currency. For this lets consider the market pri ce of Euros against dollars. The demand for euro will be a downward sloping demand curve. This is because when the price of euro is high in terms of US dollar, then the euro zone goods and services are expensive to US customers. This means that they will have to may more dollars in exchange for euros. This will result in a low demand for euro zone goods and services in the US. Thus few pounds are demanded on the foreign exchange market. As the value of the euro falls against the dollar US customers are able to get more pounds thereby increasing the demand of pounds on the foreign exchange market (Bamford et al, 117). The supply curve of Euro is upward sloping. When the Euro is low against the Dollar, then US goods are expensive in the Euro Zone and as a result less Euros are supplied in the market to buy US goods. On the other hand if the value of the Euro rises then US goods will become cheaper allowing more people in the Euro zone to buy these goods and rising the supply of Euros. Where these demand and supply curves meet the market exchange rate of Euro against Dollar is determined as shorn in the diagram below. ( Diagram taken from Determination of Exchange Rates, http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/73/EHEP0006/EHEP000673-2.pdf). At all prices above the equilibrium exchange rate the Euros supplied will be greater than the Euros demanded and vice versa. Any changes in the supply or demand of a currency will result in a depreciation or appreciation of the

Management Accounting Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words - 3

Management Accounting - Assignment Example At this moment, the strategies that are to be applied in this case are related to the performance of the company are no longer connected to the profitability of the company (Shaffer, 23). Thus, as the strategy to compare overhead costs and overall productivity of the company, it is clear that the company is operating at net loss and strategies should aim at reducing the burden on operating losses. Thus, a strategy to increase performance would consider cutting back on losses an improvement plan. Following the calculations below, the performance of the company depends on the use of available resources in the production of pipes. Based on the cost of raw material and the units produced it is clear that non-overhead costs remained the same at $0.15 considering 10,000,000 feet of pipe costing $1,500,000 and/or 6,000,000 feet costing $900,000. If the company is to trade the new batch of pipes at $0.35, then the company would be gaining $0.1 as profit for every foot of pipe sold. Based on the table below, decreasing the price of the pipes would be the best decision for the company to cut back on losses and acquire an economies of scale strategy. There are various levels of costs involved in the case of Riverside Hotel. These involve fixed, variable, and sunk costs. In terms of the fixed costs, all overhead costs are fixed and include the cost of acquiring the equipment for preparing meals, the premises, power, and heat. Specifically, one of the fixed overhead costs include the price of the oven which is priced at $20,000. On the other hand, non-overhead costs include the price of the salad which is $1 and the prime rib which costs $7. The fixed price of the prime rib and the salad make up the cost of materials. However, for every meal made, the used ingredients add up to the final price. In this case, the price of making dinner using the prime rib and salad is fixed at $8 assuming that there is no labor, equipment, and power

Giving back as much as you take Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Giving back as much as you take - Essay Example As averred by Taylor – Cassan, (2007, par. 1), â€Å"recently, more and more companies have been becoming green. They have been volunteering time and donating money to green causes, using green technology, and encouraging their employees to think green†. Environmental sustainability is defined as â€Å"maintaining the factors and practices that contribute to the quality of environment on a long-term basis† (Business Dictionary, 2011, par. 1). For a student, one can actively be committed in a transformation in one’s personal lifestyle through focusing on ways that would protect, preserve and sustain the environment. One of the most common and simple way that would help contribute to environmental sustainability is to conserving electricity. People have the tendency to be indifferent in turning off lights or even water, when not in use. Turning off electrical appliances such as the television, computers, and other electrical gadgets from the plug would help minimize electrical consumption. Another simple and effective way to support sustainability is to observe the ‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ slogan in terms of becoming responsible and aware the amount and quality of garbage that one throws away.

Identification of managerial, financial, legal and ethical Essay - 2

Identification of managerial, financial, legal and ethical implications - Essay Example Whatever legislature that pertains to the subject matter is covered under a set of workplace Torts. Ineffective administrative communication leads to frustration and the buildup of stress within the organization. A major reason for this could be the legal principle of â€Å"Respondeat Superior† which places the responsibility of the activities of the employee on the superior or the manager. Thus, the senior – junior relationship is constantly strained and is one of perpetual scrutiny rather than warmth or affection. At one extreme of this we have the tendency among some in power to abuse their position through threats, abuse, intimidation and retaliatory discharge, all of which are cause of legal action. In an effort to reduce the probability of wrongful discharge, some states, such as Connecticut, Montana, Maine and Michigan have enacted legislation that protects employees from terminations that are found to be arbitrary and capricious (Pozgar & Santucci, 2007). At the other end, the employees themselves should ethically adhere to a strict code of conduct that respects patient specific and facility specific information. Also, the court enunciated a corporate negligence doctrine in 1965 under the Darling Vs Charleston Community Memorial Hospital which stated clearly that a hospital has the duty to provide an adequately trained medical and nursing staff. Legal statues and workplace torts require that employers must communicate clearly to prospective employees that their employment is at will and can be terminated at any time by either the employer or the employee. This shall encourage the employee to work properly as well as clear any misconceptions that may arise later. In recent years however, the rule that employment for an indefinite term is terminable by the employer whenever and for whatever cause he chooses

Management theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Management theory - Essay Example The research paper is designed to study the imperatives of fast changing perspectives in managerial leadership within an organization and to study its impact on the performance outcome of the employees and organization, as a whole. A medium size company ABC Corporation was taken up which is a pioneer in wireless broadband technologies and related products and services that have huge scope in the emerging market if tapped timely. In the current cut throat competitive business environment, Acme urgently needs to widen its market through strategic business partnerships with global business entities and venture capitalists that can facilitate market its products and services. The organization currently employs around fifty employees at various levels of administrative and non administrative posts. The employees come from different race, culture and color but are observed to work amicably. The company has a decent growth graph but needs to expand its areas of operation to maintain a competitive edge over its rivals. The research was focused on the managerial leadership of the organization and the organizational climate. The workforce along with their leaders are important part of the organization who work together to achieve their organizations’ goals and objectives. The research has made concerted efforts to study the organizational behavior and communication within the company and has studied in depth the impact of implementation of management theories, especially, McGregor’s theory of management. The changing times have made the businesses more competitive, thereby making it obligatory for them, as well as for the working force to become more flexible and swiftly adapt to the changing technologies and work environments. The changing socio-economic environment made it imperative that more consideration be paid to socio-cultural