Amber Mileski Essays (694 words) - Hispanidad, Spanish Diaspora

Amber Mileski Essays (694 words) - Hispanidad, Spanish Diaspora Amber Mileski Intro Interpersonal Communication Professor Pantinas 23 February 2017 Intercultural Experience I have neighbors down the road that are Hispanic, I am not familiar with that culture at all. Yes, I know people who are Hispanic but, that doesn't mean I know their culture. My neighbor's daughter rides the bus with my daughter. The first step I took to improve my intercultural experience was going down to my neighbor's house and asking to speak with them for a little bit. I explained that I was interested in learning about their culture and wanted a better understanding of their everyday lives. The term Hispanic was first adopted by the United States government in the early 1970s, and has since been used in local and federal employment, mass media, academia, and business market research. It has been used in the U.S. Census since 1980. Because of the popularity of "Latino" in the western portion of the United States, the government adopted this term as well in 1997, and used it in the 2000 census. Religion plays a significant role in day-to-day life. More than 90 percent of the Spanish-speaking world is Roman Catholic. The first thing they started talking about was their cultural events. A couple of events they brought up was Day of the Dead , Hispanic Thanksgiving , and Cinco de Mayo. Celebrate Day of the Dead is one of the most mystical Hispanic holidays. It is a special occasion to celebrate life and to reunite with our deceased ones who are allowed to visit us on this day. Hispanic Thanksgiving is amongst Latinos in the U.S. is a celebration en Familia, like it is for many American families. They mix many of our foods with theirs to celebrate the holiday. Cinco de Mayo celebration includes eating Mexican food, toasting with margaritas, listening to Mariachis etc. Mr. Hernandez is my neighbor. He said when his daughter gets to a certain age they will throw her a Quinceanera. It's a celebration of a young girls coming of age- on her 15 th birthday. He said when they have a party, it's a very big party. Mr. Hernandez is from Albuquerque, New Mexico, the rest of his family is from here in the United States. After he had finished telling me about his cultural events, he went on to tell me some of his history and art from back home. A prime example of Hispanic influence is found at historic Old Town, where adobe buildings surround a central plaza, a common feature of Spanish colonial towns . Another one of the long-held Hispanic traditions is setting up luminaires sometimes called farolitos, on Christmas Eve in Old Town Plaza followed by midnight mass at San Felipe de Neri Church. A traditional luminaria is a brown paper bag, weighted by sand, with a lit votive candle inside. If you visit Albuquerque in December, don't miss the Luminaria Tour on Christmas Eve where hundreds of people wander through the golden glow of thousands of twinkling paper lanterns in Old Town and the surrounding neighborhoods. Another major contribution of Hispanic culture and customs to our city is in a wide variety of arts and crafts . M any artworks were created primarily for the church. Santos, or sacred images of Roman Catholicism, are one of the most popular and enduring Hispanic art forms. When listening to music or enjoying dance performances in Albuquerque, you'll often find an unmistakable Hispanic and Latino influence. You'll find plenty of salsa, mariachi, flamenco and Spanish classical performances throughout the city. Mr. Hernandez misses his family back home but is very grateful to be able to live here in the United States. I learned that their culture is very different from my culture. The Hispanic culture has parties for girls when they turn 15, my culture does not. We just celebrate each birthday every year. The communication is very different. They speak Spanish mostly in their home and in my home, we all speak English. I enjoyed sitting down and learning in depth of someone else's culture other than my own.

The Signalman by Charles Dickens Essays

The Signalman by Charles Dickens Essays The Signalman by Charles Dickens Paper The Signalman by Charles Dickens Paper Essay Topic: Literature The story The Signalman, by Charles Dickens, has the supernatural as its main theme. The author builds up a sense of fear and tension gradually to maintain the interest of the reader. Stories, which include supernatural events, were undoubtedly as popular in the Victorian times as they are today. This is probably because the reader enjoys being scared. During Victorian times railways were a relatively new invention. People saw trains as huge ogres, because most people did not know much about trains. This meant that some people feared them. An example of this is, Just then there came a vague vibration in the earth and air, quickly changing into a violent pulsation, and an on coming rush. This makes the train sounds as if it is alive by using personification. The narrator seems to feel disturbed by it. The author of, The Signalman, builds up a sinister atmosphere by using descriptive details. An example of this is where he tells us the, Cutting was extremely deep, and, Unusually precipitous. It was made through a clammy stone, that became oozier and wetter as I went down. This suggests that the cutting is very dark, eerie, and not a very nice place to be. The language used in the short story is in archaic form. The narrator says at the beginning of the story, Halloa below there, Halloa is not used within the English language today. Nowadays people would say Hello rather than Halloa. Using language such as this is very effective because people have not heard this form of archaic language in quite some time. The role of the narrator is to act as a person that the signalman can trust; he speaks to the signalman as if he is in a powerful position, and as if he is in a different class to the signalman, (The class system was more pronounced in Victorian times). He tries to find a rational explanation to what it was the signalman claims to have seen. Incredulity, because he begins to trust the signalman. He starts to think that there may be some truth in the signalmans story. He also starts to show some concern over the signalman and what he may be going through. Understanding, He begins to believe in what the signalman was telling him. Unfortunately this happened as the result as the signalmans death. One of the ways Charles Dickens builds up suspense for the reader is thee many warnings about what is going to happen to the signalman. The fist warning is the train crash in the tunnel. A crash in the tunnel would be most unfortunate. This is because the tunnel is dark, cold and harder for the fire service to get to the wreck, so the fire can spread quicker. The second warning was the bride being pushed or falling out of the train window. The last warning was a vision of the signalman standing on the tracks bent over and looking at something or someone in the corner next to the track. The Final warning is not in fact a warning; instead it was the signalmans death. This suddenly became more personal to the narrator than any of the other events; this is because the narrator knew the signalman, and what he was like. The signalmans character is a very interesting one. When you think of the education that is needed to be a signalman, than you may think of someone who has dropped out of school, or failed their exams. However this is not true with the signalman he was, A student of natural philosophy. The narrator found out that the signalman, Had run wild, missed his opportunities, gone down and never risen again. This shows us that the signalmans character was successful in his education, however he did not apply this academic ability to his choice of occupation. The relationship between the narrator and the signalman develops throughout the story. Starting form the beginning, when the signalman ignored the narrator. Halloa! Below there! Shouted the narrator, One would have thought, considering the nature of the ground, that he could not have doubted from what quarter came the voice; but instead of looking up to where I stood he turned himself and looked down the line, This adds to the sense of mystery as well as developing a curious friendship over the fact of the narrators intentions. I am not happy in opening any conversation. This shows that the signalman is a very private, and possibly vulnerable. It seems as if the signalman has been hurt by someone in the past, and so therefore is being very, if not over protective of himself, his belongings and his life that he leads and once lead. Then the signalman decides to confide in the narrator, I believe I used to be so, but I am troubled, sir, I am troubled. With What? What Is Your Trouble? It is very difficult to impart, sir. It is very, very difficult to speak of. If ever you make me another visit, I will try to tell you. Now the signalman asks him to come back, so this must mean that the narrator and the signalman must like each other, and because of this I would assume that they are more than friends. During the story there are several points, which could be considered as cliffhangers. This indicates to me that originally the story was split into several parts to make it serial. An example of one of these cliffhangers is, You had no feeling that they conveyed to you in any supernatural way? This shows a cliffhanger in the story. It also shows that the story could have been split into sections and put into a newspaper or magazine, in instalments. At the end of the story, The Signalman, The signalman is killed. There are a few explanations to his death. One is that he committed suicide. The evidence that I have found to back this up comes from the parts of the story where the bride was killed and the crash inside the tunnel. This is because he was very upset and depressed about the death and crashes that had happened on his part of the railway line. He was so depressed that the only way that he could see to stop his depression was to throw himself under a train, this was also to stop the guilt of all the lives that might have been able to save had he have been doing his job probably. The reader knows that the crash and the brides death was not the signalmans thought but thats not what the signalman thought. The second explanation is that he did not see the train because he was too busy dealing with what he though might have been a ghost beside the railway track. If this is the case then it was nothing more than a freak accident. If there was to be any blame passed than it would have to go to the signalman for standing in the middle of the railway tracks. However he cannot be blamed entirely. The train was coming out of a dark tunnel. Also the train was also painted black. Black the colour of darkness. So the train was easily camouflaged within the tunnel.

Data Analysis on Questionnaires (edit) Research Paper

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Human Capital Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Human Capital - Essay Example In the current scenario, people are the differentiators of a business enterprise; human capital is the profit lever of the knowledge economy. Human capital is the combination of genetic inheritance, education, experience and attitude towards life and business (Bontis & Fitz-enz, 2002). Human capital is the source of innovation and strategy. Sustained competitive advantage can accrue from a pool of human capital. Human capital adds value and is not substitutable. With these factors in mind, IBM, world's leading IT hardware, software and services company has devised its own strategy for recruitment and selection. Gordon (2002), states that organizations encounter difficulties in recruiting and retaining top talent because they have yet to deal with today's most critical human resources issues. It is essential to create a talent powered company consisting of highly motivated, skilled and loyal employees because such companies not only recruit the best but also retain the best through employee-centered strategies. In toady's world compensation packages do not matter. What is important is for the managers to take responsibility for retaining the best people. Managers need to meet their employees to discuss workplace concerns and possible solutions. If the managers are able to identify what the employees value, then they have the key to retention strategy that does not rely solely on financial benefits. Person-Organization (P-O) fit is the new approach that attempts to understand the selection process as this is directly related to talent retention within the organization (Westerman & Cyr, 2004) . Research suggests that the recruiters' perception of fit is often inaccurate as they are more predictive of hiring decisions than the actual fit between an applicant and the organization. High employee turnover is a consequence of poor P-O fit. IBM however follows a different system of recruitment and selection and is able to retain talent. They believe in equal opportunity, in work force diversity, they believe in promoting women and also re-employing the older staff. While HR practices were traditionally performed internally, companies have increasingly started outsourcing such activities. Recruiting and selection (R&S) has gradually become one of the most outsourced HR functions (Ordanini & Silvestri, 2008). According to the transaction cost principle if the cost of using the market is lower than that of internal production, it should be outsourced. The resource based view suggests that internal resources should be utilized for core competencies otherwise the activity should be externalized to preserve the internal resources for core functions. Based on these theories it has been considered profitable to outsource R&S functions and IBM too has taken such steps. In order for organizations to develop an image of 'employer of choice', they have to tread carefully in outsourcing recruitment (Thite, 2004). Mills (2002) says it is impossible to run the recruitment process single-handedly while simultaneously developing the core business. It is advisable to outsource the primary candidate selection and the first round of interviews while keeping the final selection decision with the company. Outsourcing recruitment process alleviates the administrative burden of sourcing and screening candidates with the right skills but Fish and Macklin (2004) caution the HRM professionals must ensure that the service providers have knowledge, integrity,

Public Goods and Common Resources Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Public Goods and Common Resources - Essay Example Turkey being the sixth largest textile industry in the world is losing its comparative advantage in the textile industry. The country is losing its comparative advantage due to loss of cheap labour advantage. The cost of labour escalates every year. Statistics indicate that the prices are currently five times that of China. Turkish textile industry has a comparative advantage over the Indian textile industry as a result of the wide market available. Its proximity to European countries makes it easy to reach out for consumers (Sugur, 2005). This gives the company advantage in transportation and access to a large market share. The professor may start a marketing firm. With the professor’s vast knowledge in economics, a marketing consultancy firm would be appropriate for him or her. This enables the professor to be an entrepreneur in a field he or she is quite sophisticated. The professor would provide consultancy services to the clients just as he or she taught while teaching in the

Issues In Project Management

Issues In Project Management This essay discusses about two major issues in projects and project management. The two major issues this essay going to discuss and analyse are the impacts of risks if they are not managed in a project and the importance of managing stakeholders in a project and project management. The essay also discusses about other issues in project management that were involved in the illustrated case studies. Risk management is one of the crucial requirements in any projects. Projects without risk management are questionable to its success level and the aftermath can be severe if the risks are of high negative impact. Risk is something that may happen unexpectedly in a project which creates positive or negative impacts to the result of the project. The probability of risk cannot be accurately predicted and so there should be a risk management plan in every project to handle the risks which cannot be avoided. The risk management plan involves risk identification, quantifying the risk into impact and probability, planning a response which includes avoiding, transferring, mitigating and accepting the risk and the final step in risk management plan is to monitor and control the plan. (Webb, 2010) This following section of the essay will discuss about what will happen if risks are not managed in a project with case studies. The first case study used is Denver International Airport Baggage Handling System. The following section explains the background of the case study followed by the issues that aroused due to poor project management which headed the project to be a complete chaos. Denver International Airport Baggage Handling System: Background: The Denver International Airport (DIA) baggage handling system was to be the worlds largest automated baggage system but it became a case of technology project failure. The DIA is the largest international airport in United States covering a land area of 140km and it is the third largest international airport in the world and it can handle more than 50 million passengers annually. (Calleam Consulting, 2008) The automated baggage system was the critical element of the plan. DIA would have been one of the competitive advantages airports providing more efficient operations by reducing the aircraft turnaround time to 30 minutes using this automated baggage system. The original plan was to make use of the automated baggage handling system all over the airport and it was more complex than what people actually believed. The system was planned to handle 88 airport gates in three concourses, seventeen miles of track and five miles of conveyor belts, 3100 standard carts, fourteen million feet of wiring, hundreds of computers connected in a network to control the flow, 5000 electric motors, 59 laser arrays, 400 radio receivers and 2700 photo cells. (Calleam Consulting, 2008). All these components explain how complex the automated baggage handler system is. The construction work of DIA started in November 1989. United Airlines signed and planned to use Concourse A as a hub and it engaged BEA systems to build the Concourse A automated baggage handler system who was the world leader in operating, installing and supplying baggage handling equipment. The project management team of DIA approached BEA to build the baggage system for all three concourses and for the whole airport to transfer baggage automatically. Issues: Massive problems started in building the baggage system which was very complex as they never thought of such complexity. Even though the airport was complete, it did not open as scheduled in October 1993 because of the problems in baggage system and the completed airport was idle for more than 16 months which also missed the opening dates in April and May, 1994 and the opening was delayed to March 1995. (Neufville) The DIA airport authorities arranged a demonstration of the baggage system for the media without informing BEA. There was complete disaster in the demonstration as the bags were crushed and clothes were thrown out from the bags. This was in April, 1994 and the opening was delayed to May, 1994. BEA systems claimed that the airport staff used the system incorrectly and there was no malfunction in the system. System testing was struggling and airport built a manual trolley system as per the log plans recommendation. The delays increased the cost for owners and airlines and huge amount of money was wasted due to the idle use of the airport. In August, 1994, DIA started fining BEA for further delays and not able to complete the system. The airport was opened on 25th February, 1995 with the automated baggage system implemented in single concourse instead of implementing in all the concourses. All other part of the airport used the manual trolley system since the automated baggage was not functioning as expected. The maintenance cost for the system which was not functioning properly was one million dollar per month and so they scrapped the whole system in August 2005 and implemented the manual system in all over the airport. (Calleam Consulting, 2008) Risks that were involved: There were many possibilities of risks in the above mentioned scenarios and one of the reasons why this project failed is due to ignorance of risk. The complexity of the baggage allowance system was underestimated. The project was initiated too late because of not understanding the risks involved in it and the complexity level of the system. Due to not understanding the complexity level, the project was planned to complete in two years which was insufficient to complete such a complex project and due to this the project team made lot of mistakes to meet the schedule which was impossible. Any automated baggage handler system is subject to risk. The failure cannot be said as a bad luck or due to lack of qualifications since the system was installed by BEA systems one of the best suppliers in baggage system. This complex project should be viewed as a research project and in a research project; success cannot be expected in a short time unless it is managed well. Although the airport project management team and BEA systems know that there is a big risk in completing the project in two years time, they started the project and they failed to identify all the major risks involved in proceeding with the complex project. Several managers of BEA advised the BEA senior management team that this complex project is a four year project and not a two year project. Both airports chief engineer and BEAs senior management team ignored the advice and continued with the project. The BEA management structure completely failed to recognize what kind of risk they were entering into by taking this project and committed to proceed with the project. If they have recognized, they would have at least taken steps to reduce the risks involved in this project and find some scope to achieve the goal of the project within the deadline. Some of the issues were unpredictable and since the airport project management team and BEA does not plan any risk management, the unpredictable issues created many impacts on the project since they does not know how to handle the issues. The project team couldnt manage not only the unpredictable issue, some predictable issue like major technical problem that encountered in the project was not able to be handled by the project team. This was due to lack of developing a proper risk management plan in the project. Importance of managing Stakeholders in a project: The other major mistake done by both airport project management team and BEA was excluding the airlines from the discussions who were the key stakeholders of this project. While making key project decisions, stakeholders should be included to produce a winning strategy. (Calleam Consulting, 2008). If the stakeholders are excluded previously and included finally, they will ask for significant changes in the project which leads to nullify the previous work done in the project. This was proved in this project when airlines asked for many changes like adding maintenance tracks and ski equipment racks; BEA and airport project management was forced to accept the changes since they initially avoided stakeholders from the negotiations although there was a term that no changes would be made. Case study Conclusion: The case study can be concluded from the above illustrations and discussions that the DIA baggage handling system project failed due to not understanding the complexity of the project, no risk management plan, poor stakeholder management, lack of communication, poor design and planning of the system and finally lack of management insight in the project which led Denver International Airport Baggage Handling System project to be an example for technology project failure. The next section of the essay will discuss about another case study related to risk management. The Second case study used is Heathrow Terminal 5 Chaos. The following sections explains the background of the case study followed by the issues that aroused due to poor risk management which headed the project to be a complete chaos. Heathrow Terminal 5 Chaos: Background: Public enquiry of Heathrow Airport fifth terminal building proposal started in May 1995 and ended in March 1999 with the longest public inquiry in British planning history costing eight million pounds in legal fees. The terminal was expected to complete by 30th, March 2008 after the approval from UK government. Three twenty million pounds were allocated for planning risks. The terminal includes everything from facilities to handle jumbo aircrafts, car parks, service tunnels, a complete transport interchange, a hotel, shops, catering, highest customer service and it can handle thirty million passengers a year. The Terminal 5 was constructed especially to concentrate by British Airways (BA) flights. (Hancock, 2009) Issues: The opening of Terminal 5 after fifteen years of planning and construction with spending 4.3 billion pounds should have been a great moment for British Airport Authority (BAA) and British Airways (BA) but it head to be one of the biggest chaos. The problem started when the terminal staffs couldnt reach there in time due to difficulty in parking their cars, the staff security screening and familiarisation was delayed too, which led to accumulation of baggage. Another major reason was the collapse of state-of-art baggage handling system due to technical problems which was designed to handle 12,000 baggage per hour. (BBC News, 2008) As a result, more than 23,000 bags were lost and 500 flights were cancelled. BA lost 16 million pounds in the first five days of operations. (Thomson, 2008). BA blamed that the staffs provided were not familiar with the new systems and only few staffs were provided to handle the baggage system. BAA said that the baggage got clogged due to few numbers of staffs from BA and not due to the baggage handler system. Later BAA spokeswoman agreed that there was some software problem in the baggage handler system and it is completely BAAs responsibility. (Hancock, 2009) BA claimed that it was preparing for the past three years to switch to Terminal 5 and thousands of staffs have been trained to handle the new system and they got delayed to their workstations due to the difficulty in parking their cars. (The Times, 2008). The British Airline Pilots Association (BALPA) wrote a letter to the government ministers and shareholders blaming all BA executives for the Heathrow Terminal 5 chaos including the chief executive. (Milmo, 2008) Risks that were involved: Risk turns to be an issue if it happens. If risks are not managed even after knowing the probability and impact of the risk is high, then there will be a chaos like in this case study. The chaos in Terminal 5 was due to poor management not only for few days but from the initial stage of the project especially lacking risk management. The project would have been a big success if there was risk management for this kind of mega project. There were already defects in the baggage handler system during the trail process before opening Terminal 5 and it was reported to BA. The simulations used a less amount of baggage, less passengers and handlers to test the system. BA management ignored the concerns. They didnt test the system properly and they ignored to manage the risk. They blamed each other instead of solving the problems. BAs chief executive admitted that they compromised testing due to the delays in building the terminal. The baggage handler staff spent much time in searching for the parking place due to wrong sign boards and directions. The staffs were not trained and not familiar to handle the baggage handler system which was another risk. BAs chief executive admitted that they didnt train staffs and didnt familiarize them. (Massey, 2008). Case study Conclusion: Although the Heathrow Terminal 5 project was completed on time and on budget, it is one of the major catastrophic disaster projects. If the systems were tested properly, staffs were trained and familiarisied and if risks have been managed properly, the Terminal 5 project would have been the most successful project. The case study can be concluded from the above illustrations and discussions that the risk management is one of the crucial requirements in project management and ignoring to manage them will lead to failure or disaster of projects like Heathrow Terminal 5 chaos. Case Study: Online shopping system: This is one of the case studies that I personally experienced while learning the module IT Project Management. This case study project was to develop a online shopping software system for the client Metro Super stores and the project was carried out with 8 project teams members including the project manager. We covered most of the issues in project management in the lecture and seminar sessions. This can be illustrated with one example about managing risk in this project. We were asked to come with the risk log for this case study and we discussed about all possibilities of risks that will affect this online shopping software development system. We created the risk log and quantified the risks using its impact on the project and probability of happening. It was a personal experience that taught me the real importance of risk management in project management. (Classroom experience, 2010) Conclusion In all the above produced case studies, the essay discussed and analysed the major issues related to project management involved within the case studies with illustrations of the issues and discussed with examples. From the case studies and illustrations, it is concluded that project management issues are vital to any kind of projects especially for mega projects like Heathrow Terminal 5 and Denver International Airport Baggage Handling System and the project would not succeed unless it is managed well. [Word Count: 2451] Bibliography BBC News. (2008, March 28). Other airports rocky starts . BBC News. (2008, March 30). What did go wrong at Terminal 5? . Calleam Consulting. (2008). Denver Airport Baggage Handling System Case Study Calleam Consulting. Retrieved December 17, 2010, from http://calleam.com: http://calleam.com/WTPF/wp-content/uploads/articles/DIABaggage.pdf Computerworld UK reporters. (08, March 27). Heathrow Terminal 5 chaos: RoundUp. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://www.computerworlduk.com: http://www.computerworlduk.com/in-depth/it-business/1268/heathrow-terminal-5-chaos-roundup/ Dunn, P. (2008). Courting Disaster. Retrieved December 14, 2010, from http://www.squarepegint.com: http://www.squarepegint.com/pdf/RecentResearch/CourtingDisasterFinal.pdf Experience, C. R. (2010). IT Project Management. Sheffield Hallam University. Hancock, D. (2009, May 8). Heathrow Terminal 5 Success or Failure? Retrieved 12 17, 2010, from http://www.slideshare.net/: http://www.slideshare.net/Hank5559/heathrow-terminal-5-success-or-failure Massey, R. (2008, May 08). BA chief Willie Walsh brands Heathrows Terminal 5 a national embarrassment. Milmo, D. (2008, April 8). Pilots slam BA management over Terminal 5 chaos. p. 1. Neufville, R. d. (n.d.). THE BAGGAGE SYSTEM AT DENVER:PROSPECTS AND LESSONS. Retrieved December 18, 2010, from http://ardent.mit.edu: http://ardent.mit.edu/airports/ASP_papers/Bag%20System%20at%20Denver.PDF The Times. (2008, March 28). Terminal 5 launch disaster brings holiday chaos. Thomson, R. (2008, April 02). IT experts tackle baggage system problems at Heathrows Terminal 5. Retrieved December 18, 2010, from http://www.computerweekly.com: http://www.computerweekly.com/Articles/2008/04/02/230084/IT-experts-tackle-baggage-system-problems-at-Heathrow39s-Terminal.htm Webb, L. (2010). Lecture Slides. Retrieved December 16, 2010, from http://shuspace.shu.ac.uk: http://shuspace.shu.ac.uk Williams, C. (2010). Project Management: Risk Management. Retrieved December 15, 2010, from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk: http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/project-management-risk-management.html Sheffield Hallam University Faculty of Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences IT PROJECT MANAGEMENT Individual Reflection 20/12/2010 Prasnnaa Kumar Nachimuthu B0045907 MSc Database Professional Introduction The purpose of this essay is to write about the individual reflection of my personal experience in the module IT Project Management held during Sep 2010 Dec 2010. This essay produces my learning experience and my experience of working in a team during this module which helps to reflect upon my learning experience in the module. This module has taught me many things about project management from how to manage a project as a project manager, how to be a good team player and work in team, and most of the topics in project management. This is one of the module I really enjoyed working with my tutors and all my colleagues. The tutors were really interactive with me and everyone in the class and all of the lectures and seminars were very interactive rather than a boring session. The interest of me in this module can be proved with my presence in all the lecture and seminar session without missing a single lecture or tutorial session from the beginning to end of this module. The beginning week of the lecture explained me about this module, project and its definition. The later seminar session involved practical teaching of knowing more about project and I was put into a group. Every week, I learnt a new topic about project management and understood how to act to issues in real time environment. For example, in one of my lecture session, I was given a case study about the problems involved in the biggest building in Sheffield. We understood the case study and I was asked to be in a group to work as a developer of the building and come out with possible solutions to answer the problems of the buyers of the building which consist of my colleagues in another group. While working in the group like a developer, I was thinking as I am the real developer and was trying to come out with possible solutions with my other colleagues in the group. Then I, with my colleagues as developers met the buyers group and answered the possible solutions thinking them as the real buyers. After the session, I was completely satisfied that I have learnt something today. This is one of the examples, and every week, due to working in a group, helped me to handle the issues and answer the project board as a project manager and also ask questions to project manager as a project board member. I had the opportunity to produce the first assignment as a group work. I was the project manager in the group and had to assign the task in which I found it easy because we had breakdown the tasks, worked on it individually, discussed and produced the final document prior to the deadline. Conclusion I conclude from the above produced illustrations of my personal experience that I am completely satisfied the way the module was taught to me and I enjoyed working with my colleagues in a team. I personally thank my tutors for teaching me the project management skills in an interesting, interacting and practical way and I would definitely recommend this module to my colleagues. [Word Count: 529]

Themes of the Odyssey :: essays research papers

Throughout the Odyssey there are many themes that Homer uses to portray different people and events. To name a few, there are the themes of Betrayal and Revenge,Greed and Glutony, Hospitality, Role of the Gods and Wealth (the amount of money one had determined the status he held in the greek society, and this explains Odysseus's love for plunder). To start with the most common one, the role of the gods, one can see many such allusions thrown all over the odyssey. The epic poem starts in Mt.Olympus where the gods are discussing what will happen to Odysseus , Master mariner and warrior of Ithaka. As it so happens he is on the island of Kalypso, one of the lesser gods. Also, as Odysseus travels, one learns about the role of the gods in not only his travels but other peoples ones too. Agisthos, the man who stole Agamemnon's wife and killed him, was sent a message from Zeus by Hermes, giving him the information of what will happen if he kills him. Also, Menelaus, the red haired king of war, had to wrestle with a sea-god in order to gain acceptance and sail all the way back to his homeland of Sparta, and find news about the rest of his companions. He would not find out about his brothers demise until he got home. The next two themes are interelated, Betrayal and Revenge, with Greed and Glutony.THe gods punish those who show greed and glutony, but that does not mean that they cannot be punished as well. A prime example of this is when Posiedon is out feasting among the 'sun-burnt' races that were deemed to be his own. While he was feasting, Odysseus escaped the island of Kalypso, something that Poseidon did not like and was to late to stop from happening. While he was being gluttanos and eating all that food, Odysseus had escaped. Another example would be the murder of Agamemnon. Agisthos was greedy and wanted money and status, as well as Agamemnon's wife and Agamemnon's wife betrayed Agamemnon when she went off with him and even more so when they both killed him. However, the theme of Betrayal is often closely followed by the theme of Revenge. Agamemnon's son, Orestes, would go back and avenge his father's death, killing Agisthos and his mother even though later on in greek mythology he knew he would be punished for killing her.