A systems look at a construction problem

System theory, in general, is a field of study involving complex interactions between different groups or objects that work together to achieve a specific result. (O’Connor & McDermott 1997:11)In applications for management and organizations, systems theory involves the efficient communications of information. There are many different applied approaches such as the soft systems approach as well as the hard systems approach. This paper looks into the application of both approaches in a construction project.The Pre-contract SituationThe situation I will be discussing is the design of a world standard university to be provided through Descon Construction Company. The contractor (Descon) was selected after the due process, as listed out below:1.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Invitation by the university to Descon to bid for the contract2.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Identification by the university of suitable construction companies with the capability of carrying out the work from the total list o f bidders3.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Recommendation of Descon to the university4.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Descon tenders a copy of project management works and provides for complete audibility of the process5.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Assessment of Descon by the university6.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The university tenders Descon with a copy of their evaluation and review of the construction company7.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Submission of contract recommendations by Descon to the university8.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Estimation by both parties of project cost, functionality, quality and time9.  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Reporting by Descon and the university of their individual assessments of the project.10.   Compromise is reached by both parties and a final project plan is developed11.   Initiation by both parties of services and agreements stipulated within the contractThe situation that arose after the university building committee’s appointment of Descon as preferred bidder, and as the parties moved in to the next stage of detailed negotiation of the services (including buildings) to be provided, was what prompted this paper. During any contract or agreement, people enter into relationships.Such relationships will result in an outcome which, in this case, was the relationship between the University and Descon, the preferred bidder. The preferred bidder will ensure that the buildings are up to standard. Descon will also be responsible for any breach of contract and any poor services provided. The university building committee, on the other hand, will pay the stipulated amount as laid down in the Contract deedMatters arisingNo doubt numerous problems will arise in any given building contract situation, and this particular situation is no different. There is the problem of expecting complaints from the client as a result of building or design specification. However, the design desired by the client can still be met as result of good managerial and interdepartmental functions within t he system or organization.It should be understood that the two organizations are separate, large systems with different interacting units that make up the whole, and as such, room is made for adjustments in order to achieve the set objectives. These organizations are a collection of separate decision making systems, each with their own identity, purpose, understanding of the environment, beliefs and values based on which their decisions are made.Figure 1 below shows the structure of relationship between the two parties, the University and Descon, involved in the design project. This shows the clear distinction between the two groups as separate entities.

Nepotism in American Business

In the article â€Å"Nepotism in American Business† by Adam Bellow in the book Honest Work, Bellow makes the case that nepotism if practiced carelessly it is humiliating for everyone involved – especially the under qualified beneficiary – but if nepotism is performed successfully it fulfills a deep desire to care for our families while contributing to society at the same time. The roots of nepotism were initially developed in the fourteenth or fifteenth century in Italy to describe the dishonest custom of selecting papal relatives to office – generally illegitimate sons who were often depicted as their â€Å"nephews†. Today nepotism can be defined as â€Å"a favoritism based on kinship† and from a business aspect many see it as hiring a relative who is incredibly inept and unskilled. Many see hiring a relative – qualified or not – as nepotism, while in reality there are many practices today that can technically fall under the category as nepotism. Like most areas of life, some see these practices as acceptable and ordinary while others view them as full-blown nepotism in practice. Critics see nepotism as a way to promote and hire family members or close friends over more qualified applicants. These actions betray our innate sense of justice and seem to provoke strong feelings of disdain for the acts of nepotism and those who seem to be benefiting from it. Nepotism is often seen in family businesses and these practices are generally accepted as â€Å"the way things are† by the other employees involved. These opportunities are a large problem if the person is highly under qualified. Many economists see nepotism as an obstruction to change in business firms while others see it as â€Å"networking†. These views reflect the negative view of old nepotism. New nepotism has become more competitive and the world has become an international marketplace – if you are hired with connections you still have to prove your value and gain merit or consequences will follow. It is much less blatantly offensive to others around the beneficiary. Many seem to have the viewpoint that there really is no problem with hiring a close friend or relative as long as they have the qualifications that are necessary to fill the position that is available. This is an incredibly inconsistent way to judge if nepotism is really okay – if performance is high then nepotism is justifiably okay. There is a difference between old and new nepotism and culture has helped shape the positive and negative views of nepotism. The encouragement of governmental corruption in Asia, Africa and Latin America has Nepotism has had both positive and negative affects on the world and society as a whole and has helped shape our view of these practices.

Imperial Power and the Post-Colony Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Imperial Power and the Post-Colony - Essay Example The purpose of this paper is to explore the nature and extent of these changes within the broader context of the politics and theoretical understanding of the imperial age. Essentially, economic interests drove the colonial relationship between the imperial power and the colony, where the flow of capital was from the latter to the former. Indeed, by 1900, the forces had capital had pervaded the global economic process so deeply that it was difficult to imagine a time when an economy was still local and driven by consumption and not profit. The Industrial Revolution in 18th century Britain has placed it at the pinnacle of global economic power; Britain used this economic prowess to fuel its military might and develop the most formidable navy in the world, utilizing it with telling effect to colonize more than half of the planet (Zakaria 2008: 167-171). It is important to understand that the colonial hierarchy was maintained not only by force but also by the superior technology of the West, which was able to absorb and reap the benefits of the Industrial Revolution. ... This coincidence of economic advantage and technological superiority drove forward the imperial mission and secured the ascendancy of Europe, and especially Britain, throughout the world. As the 20th century unfolded, the demise of the age of imperialism looked more and more a certainty. While the crucial events of the first half of the century - the First and Second World Wars - changed the economic and geo-strategic imperative of colonial powers significantly, Vladimir Lenin and John Hobson penned two telling critiques of the imperial movement to stir sentiments against the economic and political exploitation of the colonies. Lenin, the celebrated leader of the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917 in Russia, claimed that the spread of imperialism would bring about the eventual decline of the capitalist world (1916). He argued that the forces of capitalism had created monopolies in the production, leading to grave consequences for economic life. The gradual shift of focus from global production to global finance, and the trade in capital - as opposed to commodities - had ushered in a system characterized by chronic imbalance and exploitation of the working classes. As a result, a few industrially advanced nations and "capitalist associations" dominated the world economy: "The development of capitalism has arrived at a stage when, although commodity production still 'reigns' and continues to be regarded as the basis of economic life, it has in reality been undermined and the bulk of the profits go to the 'geniuses' of financial manipulation. At the basis of these manipulations and swindles lies socialized production; but the immense progress of mankind, which achieved

Chinese Foreign Direct Investment Research Paper

Chinese Foreign Direct Investment - Research Paper Example This study examines Chinese investments in Zambia as foreign aid to the country. The general objective of the paper will be to find out whether Chinese foreign direct investments could lead to the long-term economic growth of Zambia. The paper seeks to fulfill these specific objectives:  This study examines Chinese investments in Zambia as foreign aid to the country. The general objective of the paper will be to find out whether Chinese foreign direct investments could lead to the long-term economic growth of Zambia. The paper seeks to fulfill these specific objectives:  1) To find out the extent of Chinese foreign direct investments in the Zambian Mines2) To establish the impact of the Chinese foreign direct investments on the performance of mining firms in Zambia.3) To investigate the effects of the mining firms on the economic growth of Zambia both in the short-term and long-term.Study questions based on the above objectives, this research will seek to answer these research qu estions regarding the foreign direct investment of China in Zambian Mining firms.  1) What is the extent of the Chinese Foreign direct investments in Zambian mining firms?2) What is the impact of the Chinese foreign direct investment on the performance of the Mining firms in Zambia?3) What is the existing relationship between Chinese foreign direct investments with short and long-term economic growth of Zambia?Study HypothesisThe Zambian economy is a small open economy that depends on the inflows of the foreign direct investments from China and export of the mining products from its economy. Therefore, this study seeks to fulfill the hypothesis that the Zambian economic growth is positively related to the FDI from China and increased export of Zambian mining products. Literature Review Financial Crisis and Chinese Economy The business environment experiences cycles that occur in different periods. Some of the cycles include the boom, recession, depression and lastly growth. As noted by Gruen, a recession is a cycle that occurs immediately after a boom. It

Annotation Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 2

Annotation - Assignment Example Nonetheless, the other authors support a balance between prohibition and legalization while Angela Hawken advocates full legalization. One possible bias of this book is when Caulkins implies that the responsible majority users of marijuana should sacrifice their fun in order to aid the irresponsible minority. Nevertheless, he does not prove that prohibition has protected the minority irresponsible users. The article is based on the gateway hypothesis. It researches the prevention or invention and genetic factors of using other prohibited drugs after using marijuana. The gateway hypothesis implies that a marijuana user will commence using more lethal/ hard drugs at some point in their life. According to the study, marijuana users are most likely to try heroin and get addicted to it. As such, marijuana use makes it possible for the user to advance to more lethal and dangerous drugs. The authors used adolescents as part of the study. The study is biased since correlation is not always cause. Marijuana typically precedes rather than follow the initiation into other illegal drug use. However, alcohol use and underage smoking precede the use of marijuana. Therefore, marijuana is not the first gateway to illegal drug use. Khatapoush, Shereen, and Denise Hallfors. "â€Å"Sending the wrong message†: did medical marijuana legalization in California change attitudes about and use of marijuana?." Journal of Drug Issues 34.4 (2004): 751-770. The article suggests that the recent policy changes in California have had a minimal impact on the attitudes and behaviour related to marijuana. The authors in their study to assess and analyse the effect of legalizing medicinal marijuana among the youth used telephone survey data. Consequently, they found out that some marijuana behaviour and attitudes did change after proposition 215 in 1996 was passed. Conversely, marijuana use did not increase. The major possible bias of the study is that sanctioning the use of

Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 45

Case Study Example In the bid for technology refresh, the organization requires to refresh 35 desktop personal computers. The refresh will involve the making the PCs able to deal with handle complex calculations when presented with statistical models that utilize enormous amount of data; this requires actual computer power right in the desktop machine. The senior manager considers that this would maintain the loyalty of its customers, especially banks, credit card companies and a fraction of law enforcement entities.. This report is written with the main objective of presenting a guides in assessment and identification of the hardware that would be essential to aid the users, financial analyst and economist, to maneuver through with their work; the work of operating with statistical model that use large amounts of data. This will involve concentrating on the components of internal hardware such as the CPU, motherboard, bus and hard drive. From these, the characteristics of the components will be evaluated on how it meets the requirement of the project. The first step was to identify the list of various components of hardware. This was done by considering the most probable ones that could satisfy the needs of the project. The attributes for each component was then defined to help in determining the usability. The attributes studied for this case were the size, number, capacity and speed, with reference to how they can handle large data sets. In which case, each component was defined by the attributes that are usually used to identify them. This step was significant to help in identifying the recommended attributes that could be used to evaluate whether the component in question meets the requirements (Vogt & Johnson, 2011). The next step was the evaluation of the usability of the component by justifying why a component might be recommended. This involved accessing the already mentioned

Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC) Corporate Social Research Paper

Electronic Industry Code of Conduct (EICC) Corporate Social Responsibility Effectiveness of Implementation Ability and Sustainability - Research Paper Example Review of the theoretical literature.  Various research works have been done in the area of corporate social responsibility with each paper addressing a vital issue in the various industries. A number of these works have been selected for review in order to further inform the research study problem and the reasons for the study. Sutantoputra (2009) discusses the social disclosure rating system for evaluating the CSR reports of firms, the theories, and models found in stakeholder dialogue in the CSR within the pharmaceutical industry is outlined by Linda and Jenny(2008),and the incorporation of stakeholders approach in CSR in multinational corporations is discussed by Cheng and Jamila (2010). Based on a study by Seitanidi et al (2009) understanding the way CSR partnerships are implemented is vital in practice especially to organizations that implement CSR via partnerships. The case that evaluates and addresses the social environmental responsibility of Hp Company’s supply cha in outlines the risks of CSR. The current status of CSR in the supply management realm forms the basis of the study by Lee and Kim (2009) while the importance of communicating CSR in an organization is discussed by Gregory ET all. FIAS (2007) observes that the EICC Codes of Conduct in regards to the sector of Corporate Social Responsibility operates along parameters like employment conditions of the people pertaining to compensation schemes and other employment policies relating to discrimination and employment of children.