M&M Project

They are one of the most popular candles In America, being Included In many different outlets Including MASCARA, hot air balloons, video games, you name It. In this report I plan to go over each individual part of the M&M report that was conducted throughout the course of the class. While doing that I will try to explain it to the best of my ability in the simplest terms possible so even someone who doesn't have a lick of statistical knowledge will be able to understand what took place and be able to grasp the results. Part 1 In the first part of the M report, we had a very simple task.The task was to go UT to a convenience store and buy three bags of M, and count how many different pieces of candy were In each of the three bags. Out of the entire student's in the class I would say every single student's count of each individual color was different. But for the classes sake all of the colors were added up, as was the grand total of all the candies combined in the three bags. The gran d total was: Blue 934, Orange 1025, Green 928, Yellow 639, Red 556, Brown 616 and the total being 3684. It is interesting because watching the video they said that certain colored candies have a higher percentage than others.One of those colors being Red, and Red is the lowest. Part 2 In part 2 we were tasked to find the sample proportions as well as the sample mean. After we finished calculating those two, a histogram was created. After that, another sheet on the spreadsheet was used to calculate a descriptive statistics. Finally a summary of a list of things was needed to be gathered for the final portion. There Is a pretty simple to calculate the info that is generated in the descriptive statutes. There is a handy tool called staunch that If you plug In a few numbers It will spit back the answers that you are searching for without all the fuss.Part 3 In part 3 our goal was to construct confluent intervals for the proportion of each color as well as the mean number of candles per bag. A 95% confidence level gives an indication of how accurate your calculated value is, which Is more accurate than simply the mean or the median. A 95% confidence level means that 95 out of 100 times your value will fall in between your confidence interval; so 95 out of 100 times 1 will De In your consonance Interval. I en enlarger your consonance level (percentage) the smaller your interval will be and therefore the more accurate your results will be. Part 4For Part 4 we were tasked to find the null, alternative hypothesis, the critical value, test statistic, whether or not to reject the hypothesis, and the conclusion of each individual color. As well as a test claim to determine if the bag would have more than 54 pieces of candies. The null hypothesis basically states that there is no statistical difference between the groups you're comparing. The alternative states that there is a difference. You accept the null when your statistical analysis value is below the critical value, which depends on the p value. For this section we had to get calculate for each individual color.After that, we had to test that the bag had more than 54 different pieces of candies. Part 5 Finally, for part 5 we had to do a similar test as part 4 except this time it wasn't for all of the colors. It was only for red and brown combined. So we do the same formulas that were used in part 4, and we were able to achieve the answers we were looking for. We found that for red and brown the critical value at . 05 alpha, was 1. 960 the test statistic -1. 773 and we failed to reject it. Quality Assurance I would say that from watching the video, there seems to be two reasons that loud affect the process of the colors.One of the reasons that I think the colors could potentially be off target is because it is possible that the ink gets low in the tanks that spray the gloss onto the pieces of candy. Another reason that they could be discovered is when they are all mixed together; they may or ma y not be dry. If they aren't dry, then there is a chance that some of the pieces could rub together, and some of the color could rub off on the candy. The package distribution is another thing that would affect the percentages of the candies.Although in the video is talks bout how certain colors have a higher or lower or share a mixed percentage, there is a chance that even knowing that, the machine could make errors, and divvy out some out the pieces incorrectly. Conclusion Overall the project was something that was interesting to work on. It offered some new insight on the M&Ms candy itself. Prior to doing the assignments I had no clue that they were broken down into specific percentages, nor do I know that they had people that studied the colors of the candy! Also when you bring statistics into the mix, it also adds another layer of fun so to speak.

Exercise Promotes Healthy Lifestyle Essay

A good diet and sufficient rest are important to sustain a healthy lifestyle but are not the only things to consider. When performed properly, exercising provides countless benefits that can further improve your quality of life. Regular exercise is an essential part of efficient weight loss and weight management. Exercising can also help thwart several diseases and improve a person’s overall well being. Whether it is a sport activity, a workout regimen, chores around the house, or yard work, all these types of physical activity are beneficial. Adapting an active lifestyle through exercising can be enjoyable and rewarding. Physical activity requires an individual to increase their level of exercising. According to Mayo Clinic staff, adults seeking a healthy lifestyle should include aerobic exercise and strength training in their fitness plans, specifically (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research, 2013): * At least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity — or 75 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity — a week * Strength training exercises at least twice a week Every person’s level, whether new to exercising or a seasoned trainer, will be different therefore tailoring a workout program is an open venue for each person to explore. Different stages of exercise intensity can be researched to identify which stage a person can start. For beginners who are unsure about overexerting themselves, a moderate intensity, aerobic activity such as brisk walking is generally safe for most people. Some critics mention that physical activity may lead to a number of injuries. Exercising that involves moderate to high impact puts stress on the body. Even though this helps to build bone density, an individual who already has frail bones can damage a bone under the smallest amount of stress or impact (Tesch, 2011). This may hold true, however when performed correctly as well as starting at the appropriate intensity, these injuries are greatly minimized. That’s why it’s key to start slowly and to gradually increase the progression of intensity. Undesirable circumstances, such as a heart attack, are likely not to occur during exercise sessions. Daily exercising should be implemented in the everyday routine, no matter the age or fitness level. Physical activity tones the body, increases muscle strength, maintains strong bones, and promotes healthier skin. Other benefits of exercising result in better sleep and increased relaxation, a more positive mental state, and an enhanced immune system. Numerous researches show that incorporating an active lifestyle, through the use of an established workout program, have positive outcomes for all areas of health, including mental, emotional, intellectual, and even social well-being, not just for physical health. Exercise also increases concentrations of norepinephrine, a chemical that can moderate the brain’s response to stress. Exercise releases endorphins, which create feelings of happiness and euphoria. (Breene, 2013). Physical activity has been known to enhance mental clarity and efficiency. It is also linked with better thinking, learning, and judgment. Inquiries have revealed that exercise improves symptoms amid the clinically depressed. This is why physicians suggest, individuals suffering from melancholy or apprehension, should employ exercise in their daily lives. It has been proven, in a number of cases that proper exercise is as helpful as anti-depressant medication. The enhancement of a general mood can be achieved; by just working out for thirty minutes per session, a couple times a week. If time does not permit the utilization of the gym, a workout video can be very helpful. These videos are fun, easy to follow, and they are accompanied with great music. Because of the vast amount of videos, there are options of category and stage of health. If planning to develop a workout regimen in the near future; here are some examples of the type of videos that are available. Selections such as beginning aerobics, weight lifting, running; and even exercise for parents in the company of their kids. Options to participate in physical activity are infinite. Decide on the one that is most interesting to you, regardless if it is jogging, swimming, walking, and roller skating, or jumping rope. The most important point is to be physically active. In a brief amount of time, positive results will be achieved.

Macbeth’ explores ambition and its consequences Essay

‘Macbeth’ explores ambition and its consequences and I am going to show how he successfully portrays this exploration and where in the play examples of this can be found. In scene three of act one, the witches for the second time in the play are seen. This time they are bragging about their unnatural actions and their powers over the human world. Macbeth and Banquo appear on what Macbeth describes as an unusually, â€Å"†¦foul and fair day.† A foul day would be commenting on the weather but a fair day since they have just been triumphant in a defeat in battle. This description of the day by Macbeth could also mean something else too. It could also represent what is about to happen as well. Fair prophecies are to be told soon, but at the same time they may turn out to be foul. When Macbeth and Banquo confront the witches, they are unsure of what or who they are. Unsure of whether they are mortal or immortal due to the things they are saying and how they appear since they have beards like men. This can be seen when Banquo says, â€Å"†¦What are these,/ So withered, and so wild in their attire,/ That not look like th’ inhabitants o’ th’ earth,/ And yet on’t? Live you, or are you aught/ That man may question? You seem to understand/ By each at once her choppy finger laying/ Upon her skinny lips. You should be women,/ And yet your beards forbid me to interpret/ That you are so.† Then each of the witches hail Macbeth in three different ways. The first is Thane of Glamis. The second witch, Thane of Cawdor. The third witch hails Macbeth and speaks of him as King of Scotland thereafter. Banquo then questions the witches as to what they have to say to him. The first two witches build up to the third witch’s comment that Banquo’s descendants will be kings. After this, Macbeth begins to question the witches for more information as to how these prophesies are to come true and how they know this information. All of a sudden the witches vanish into thin air leaving Banquo and Macbeth to talk about what has just happened and what has been said. Ross and Angus (two of Macbeth’s men) arrive and tell Macbeth of his elevation to Thane of Cawdor, and that the former thane is to be executed for treason. Macbeth and Banquo are in disbelief after being told this since what the witches have told them is really happening. Macbeth is now intent in believing he is to be king due to this occurrence of him becoming Thane of Cawdor. Banquo warns Macbeth that evil is at work even though such good things are being predicted and happening. Banquo is sure there is something sinister behind it all. Macbeth doesn’t want to hear what Banquo is telling him and begins to imagine what King of Scotland would mean for him. Macbeth and Banquo decide to let future take care of itself and agree to discuss this matter at a more convenient time. It is already clear that the two men aren’t in agreement about the situation. Macbeth believes what the witches have told them, since part of what they have already said has come true. Banquo on the other hand is doubtful about what is happening and believes something evil and sinister is happening. Banquo is thinking logically and being very conscious about the current situation. Already ambition and temptation is effecting Macbeth’s actions and thoughts. Doubtfulness and a disagreement in opinion is the only thing challenging their relationship so far but it could get a lot worse. At this point the reader may feel that Banquo is trying to tell Macbeth to not read too deeply into these prophecies told by the witches since they are believed to be evil by him. But on the other hand Banquo may be regarded as jealous towards Macbeth about his good fortunes that are occurring. I think Banquo being regarded as jealous, is thought of more by Macbeth rather than the reader. Macbeth may see Banquo as a threat since his descendants may challenge Macbeth’s position in years to come when he believes he shall be king of Scotland. Macbeth’s ambition within this scene has not yet caused consequences but may do in later scenes to come. When Macbeth enters and Lady Macbeth explains to him what her plans are of killing the king Macbeth does not appear as enthusiastic about the idea and is hesitant. He immediately explains that Duncan will be departing next day. But Lady Macbeth simply says that he shall not see tomorrow and to leave the plans to her. It is understandable for Macbeth not to be all that enthusiastic about the idea of killing the king due to many aspects. These aspects include, Duncan being a relative of Macbeth’s, the potential of being caught, and also a matter of killing someone just to steal a title which belongs to an ally of his. Ambition from Lady Macbeth seems to be a threat towards Macbeth. Her violent, blistering soliloquies in act one, scene five, testify to her strength of will, which completely eclipses that of her husband. The witches are the cause of Lady Macbeth’s actions and ideas. Their prophecies have so far influenced both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth, although Lady Macbeth considerably more so at this point within the play. In scene six Duncan arrives at Macbeth’s castle and is greeted warmly by Lady Macbeth. A very false greeting since the thoughts and ideas running through her mind are far more different than what she is expressing to Duncan in greeting him. This is false sense of security from Lady Macbeth towards Duncan. Ambition is feeding this false sense of security from Lady Macbeth towards Duncan since this is part of her plan to kill the king. Scene seven begins with Macbeth debating to himself the options he has in murdering or not murdering Duncan. He says that the deed would be easy if he could be certain that it would not set in motion a series of terrible consequences. He then considers the reasons why he ought not to kill Duncan. The reasons include: Macbeth is Duncan’s kinsman, subject and host. For someone to be related to and host someone else, then murder them is seen upon as inconceivable. He then comes to the decision to not kill Duncan since the only thing to ‘drive’ his actions of killing the king would be his ambition, which he sees as an unreliable guide. Lady Macbeth is now expressing outrage towards Macbeth and trying to gain sympathy from him towards her since she has just told him that he is not providing her with enough love just because he won’t kill Duncan. This is a very desperate resort that further expresses Lady Macbeth’s character towards the audience. Ambition is driving her evil actions. As Macbeth begins to waver after Lady Macbeth’s insults towards him, she then explains her plan. Immediately after she has explained her plan, Macbeth is surprised by her well thought out plan and her boldness/attitude. He then decides to proceed with the murder. Lady Macbeth’s attitude and ambition is influencing Macbeth to such an extent as to change his feelings and ideas towards the subject. This emphasises the power of ambition expressed from one person towards another. The witches’ prophecises and Lady Macbeth’s ambition together have made Macbeth’s ideas and opinions change complete ly. In act two, scene 1, Banquo and Fleance are walking along the hall way of Macbeth’s castle. Banquo tells his son, Fleance, about him being unable to sleep properly due to cursed thoughts and dreams. This shows that the three witches are having an effect upon Banquo. When Banquo and his son are confronted by Macbeth in the hall way, Banquo speaks of the witches telling some truth. Macbeth replies in an innocent way and says, â€Å"I think not of them./ Yet when we can entreat an hour to serve,/ We would spend it in some words upon that business†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Macbeth is telling Banquo a blatant lie about his thoughts and feelings about the witches. Macbeth tells Banquo that he has thought nothing of them since the night they both confronted them. They then both agree to talk about the subject of the witches and their prophecies at a later time. Lady Macbeth’s plans have made Macbeth lie to his own friend and a great friend of that who he fought with side by side in battle. If Macbeth had told Banquo the truth in that he had been thinking about the witches a lot of the time, Banquo may suspect something when the king is killed in Macbeth’s own home and then Macbeth becomes king! Banquo’s knowledge of the witches’ prophecy makes him both a potential ally and a potential threat to Macbeth’s plotting. For now, Macbeth seems distrustful of Banquo and pretends to have hardly thought of the witches, but Macbeth’s desire to discuss the prophecies at some future time suggests that he may have some sort of conspiratorial plans in mind. The appearance of Fleance, Banquo’s son, serves as a reminder of the witches’ prediction that Banquo’s children will sit on the throne of Scotland. We realize that if Macbeth succeeds in the murder of Duncan, he will be driven to still more violence before his crown is secure, and Fleance will be in immediate and mortal danger. Ambition and determination from both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth will drive someone to killing Fleance or Banquo or even both at some point since these characters are potential threats in preventing Macbeth to remaining king of Scotland. As soon as Macbeth and Fleance depart and leave Macbeth alone, Macbeth imagines that he sees a dagger leading/pointing him in the direction to Duncan’s room. Macbeth tries to grasp the weapon and fails. He wonders whether what he sees is real or a, â€Å"A dagger of the mind, a false creation,/ Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?† Macbeth decides that the vision of the dagger was simply a manifestation of his unease over killing Duncan. It is obvious that Macbeth is not overly confident nor enthusiastic about the matter of murdering Duncan but his ‘lover’ has literally forced him into this position through mockery and ambition. As Macbeth hears the signal of the bell rung by Lady Macbeth he heads off to the king’s room and commits the murder and says, â€Å"I go, and it is done./ The bell invites me./ Hear it not Duncan, for it is knell/ That summons thee to heaven or to hell.† This is Macbeth’s concluding speech before going on t o commit the murder of Duncan. In act two at the beginning of scene one, Lady Macbeth is waiting for Macbeth to return, is found contemplating to herself about drugging the king’s guards and congratulating herself as to how bold she is to carry out such actions. She also asks herself what gave her such courage, evil or sinister spirits perhaps as she asked for earlier on in the play? She says this at the beginning of scene two act one, â€Å"That which hath made them drunk hath made me bold;/ What hath quenched them hath given me fire./ Hark! Peace!† She obviously doesn’t want anyone else to hear what she is saying since she appears startled when Macbeth enters. Macbeth appears dazed and obsessed with thoughts of damnation after committing the murder. Lady Macbeth notices the blood drenched daggers within the hands of Macbeth’s. She tells him to pull himself together after this dreadful mistake and also shouting, â€Å"Who’s there? What ho!† Lady Macbeth warns Macbeth that he may have woken the guards after that silly act of shouting and tells him to return the daggers to the guards as planned. Macbeth refuses and so Lady Macbeth places the daggers next to the guards herself. Effects of shock and disbelief are gradually setting into Macbeth and this can be seen by his type of language spoken. This can be seen when Lady Macbeths tells him to return the daggers and he replies, â€Å"I’ll go no more./ I am afraid to think what I have done./ Look on’t again I dare not.† Macbeth appears to be unable to face up to what he has done, not even to himself, and is ashamed of himself after carrying out the murder. He is in shock and in denial over the whole situation. Macbeth appears scared and frightened of his own actions and all of this because ambition from Lady Macbeth and Macbeth. As the two go to wash their hands and prepare to get changed into their night clothes there is a knocking on the door of the castle and the murderer and his accomplice frantically get changed so to enable no one to suspect them as the possible murderers. The effect on Lady Macbeth after her trip into Duncan’s bedroom is particularly striking. She claims that she would have killed Duncan herself except that he resembled her father sleeping. This is the first time Lady Macbeth shows herself to be at all vulnerable. Her comparison of Duncan to her father suggests that despite her desire for power and her harsh chastisement of Macbeth, she sees her king as an authority figure to which she must be loyal. Also after the murdering of Duncan an important aspect to remember is that physical evidence can be washed away, like the blood to be washed off the skin of the hands, but emotional and mental feelings cannot be so easily removed and disposed of. This can be seen a little later in the play when Macbeth begins to act disturbingly and struggles to hold in his feelings. In the first scene of act three, Banquo is summing up the current situation. He has now witnessed two of the witches prophecies coming true, why not the next? If the next prophecy comes true that means Banquo’s descendants shall become king. Ambition and hope is now feeding Banquo’s motivation towards believing that the next prophecy shall come true. Macbeth and Lady Macbeth are now attempting to put Banquo’s mind at ease by inviting him to a feast. Doing this they hope to prevent Banquo getting suspicious about the murder of Duncan and so not think it was Macbeth and Lady Macbeth who were involved in the murder. If they both tried to avoid any sort of contact with Banquo, it would seem suspicious and suspect since he is such a good friend of Macbeth’s. Macbeth goes onto tell Banquo that they must discuss the problem of Malcom and Donalbain fleeing and therefore possibly intending to plot against the crown. So far, Macbeth is covering is guilt very successfully and appearing genuine and true towards Banquo. A false sense of security is given from Macbeth towards Banquo. When Banquo departs, Macbeth remains on stage and begins a soliloquy. The soliloquy is of Macbeth’s thoughts about Banquo and the threat he holds with Fleance too. He speaks of how he may have killed Duncan only for their sake in the future to come. He fears killing Duncan has assisted them in becoming king a lot sooner than Macbeth wants. Macbeth’s best friend is now is worst threat. Banquo and Fleance are a great threat towards Macbeth’s position of kingship. Macbeth’s and his Lady’s ambition for wanting everything and nothing but the best in kingship is beginning to have its consequences. Macbeth now knows he must get rid of both Banquo and Fleance so to prevent any such threat remaining towards Macbeth and his position as king of Scotland. He speaks with two murderers to whom he had already spoken the day before, assuring them that their misfortunes are Banquo’s fault. He tries to urge them to take revenge upon Banquo and his family. He tries to persuade the two murderers that if they carry the intended job out, that then proves them to be ‘real’ men. They agree to the proposed job Macbeth is telling them to do and he stresses to kill both of them, Banquo and Fleance. Macbeth is now needing more people killed (to feed his ambition and determination in becoming king) although not carrying the offence out himself. This may be due to the fact that killing Duncan is taking effect and that Macbeth can not bear to kill another friend of his just for his good. This killing is an act of selfishness, greediness and desperation. He may not be carrying out the murder himself because he feels he is unable to kill such a dear friend and a friend he has fought side by side with in battle. He also may not want to murder Banquo and Fleance because it may appear suspicious if another murder occurs and no witnesses available to say where Macbeth was at the time. If people know where Macbeth is, they cannot suspect him of being guilty for the murder. Macbeth doesn’t want to risk being caught by anyone and so has appoint these two men to do the job for him. Macbeth has no hesitation in killing Banquo and Fleance, which shows his ambition and determination is driving his actions. Macbeth’s conscience is no longer a part of his decisions he makes. Ambition appears to have replaced common sense. He is organising the death of one of his best friends and his friend’s son just so he can remain as king. It’s hard to believe that the murders Macbeth is responsible for (in carrying out and planning) have all been down to prophecies told and Macbeth’s and Lady Macbeth’s ambition and determination in making the prophecies happen. Macbeth now appears more able and independent, since Lady Macbeth has had no say in the plan of killing Banquo and Fleance, that we are aware of. Lady Macbeth’s ambition and determination earlier on in killing Duncan is now consequently making Macbeth more determined to remain king. This is an awful consequence due to the fact that innocent friends and relatives of Macbeth’s are dying just so Macbeth and Lady Macbeth can preserve their hierarchal status. These are very selfish and ambitious ways of keeping it their own way, the way they want it to be. In scene two, act three, Lady Macbeth is urging Macbeth to put the past behind him due to being uneasy about how Macbeth is. Macbeth hints that he has a plan that is intended to be carried out that evening. He gives no details but he believes she will approve of his plans and actions. Macbeth, through Lady Macbeth’s eyes, is now appearing to be in full control of making sure that he remains king and she remains queen of Scotland. It is clear that Lady Macbeth is uneasy about it, but she covers her feelings when around Macbeth. After all it was her motivation and ambition that has made Macbeth what he is now both king but at the same time a ruthless killer if needs be just to hold the current position of king. It is clear now that Macbeth’s ambition is feeding his motivation. In scene four, this is where it all starts to go wrong for Macbeth and for Lady Macbeth too. Macbeth learns that only Banquo was murdered and Fleance escaped from the attempt at killing both. Macbeth is angered at this result and tells himself, â€Å"There the grown serpent lies;/ the worm that’s fled Hath nature that in time will venom breed†¦Ã¢â‚¬  He basically talks of how Banquo (the grown serpent) lies dead but the younger and growing boy, Fleance (the worm) is still at large and later in life he will pose a threat. Shakespeare refers to the pair as snakes and worms due to the fact that they can strike at any time and are hard to kill or catch. This sums up Fleance perfectly since he could strike at any time and therefore pose a threat, and also is hard to kill. This is disastrous for Macbeth and Lady Macbeth because it is Fleance that must be killed since he is the main threat towards Macbeth’s kingship. If Banquo survived suspicions would arise, but with Banquo dead and Fleance still alive, suspicions are still going to occur and also the threat is still at large for Macbeth and his lady. As the banquet begins and Macbeth sits down with his friends to eat he finds a ghost of Banquo sat in his seat. Invisible to anyone else at the banquet, Macbeth begins to talk to the ghost in the chair although through the eyes of the people attending the banquet it would appear to be Macbeth talking to a chair. If he starts saying too much he may give away information about murders that they have planned and carried out to the other guests. The side effects of the deception, ambition and lies are now beginning to take effect on Macbeth. He is hallucinating images of his victim which means he is worrying about the matter a great deal. All this is a consequence of over ambitious actions carried out by both Lady Macbeth and Macbeth himself. Shakespeare fundamentally shows ambition in two different ways in ‘Macbeth’. He shows how ambition can have dreadful consequences and how it can ruin your life. In Macbeth’s case he dies which is the ultimate price to pay for his ambition and attempting to change nature’s course. Shakespeare also shows ambition as a good thing through Banquo’s actions as he stays level headed and lives life each day at a time. Banquo and his role in ‘Macbeth’ represent the better side of ambition but Macbeth represents the worst side of ambition. Ambition is generally looked upon as a good aspect to a person, but Shakespeare successfully shows how ambition can be both good and bad and what consequences can occur if you have too much of it in ‘Macbeth’.

Group and team dynamics personal experience Essay

Group and team dynamics personal experience - Essay Example It came to my attention that for the teams within the organization to perform effectively, it was imperative that the organization had to comprehend the concept of teams, their working, the advantages and disadvantages of employees working in teams. My responsibility as a corpsman required that at times I had to work and coordinate my services by networking with various battalions. The duties and responsibilities I was tasked with required cross battalion coordination to ensure that the goals were attained. Working with various teams required appropriate leadership and team management skills for the organizational resources to be exploited adequately. As a leader of a team, I was increasingly dependent on the cross battalion teams for knowledge, expertise and skills to ensure that the goals of the organization were achieved. The teams I worked with from various battalions were differentiated through geographic boundaries and the diverse cultural backgrounds of the employees. Nonethel ess, the organization managers within the battalions necessitated integration mechanisms, which ensured that the differences among the employees were understood and coordinated well. As a result, the teams we worked with were well-structured to realize long-term goals and objectives of the Marine and Naval operations. My personal experience in group and team dynamics during my career experience is discussed and evaluated critically with an emphasis on my current employment position. Section I: Workplace Experience In my career path, I have had an exemplary experience working with and leading approximately 1300 Marines in delivering medical care and services. My responsibilities and duties were inclined towards leading a team of five junior Corpsmen and Medics to ensure that medical care was delivered to the employees within the camps as scheduled and required by the organization. The team was tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that all immunizations within the camp were up t o date. This was important as it was a prerequisite for the Marines to be deployed or combat ready. Failure to update all immunizations would hamper the activities of the camp severely because Marines would not be combat ready. Personally I was tasked with the responsibility of writing annual and biannual evaluation reports for the team I was in charge of, which consisted of five junior Corpsmen. As a leader, I had an obligation to lead and motivate my team members and other employees within the camps. In addition, my responsibilities called for collective coordination and exchange of ideas through which I had to keep in touch with the senior Marines, the platoon Sergeants. It was essential to work with the senior Marines during the coordination of all junior Marines into the Battalion aid station to update their immunization. Accomplishing such responsibilities effectively demanded for elements of leadership in me because at times the schedules of various Marines did not coincide, and this implied that the Battalion would be out of immunization. As a leader, I had the responsibility of visiting other employees in different battalion aid stations to plan and harmonize the schedules for immunization. I worked in the Navy for eight years of which I had the opportunity to lead

To what extent, if at all, might hegel be described as a communitarian Essay

To what extent, if at all, might hegel be described as a communitarian - Essay Example Undoubtedly, he is one of the greatest photospheres the world has ever seen and he has been credited with many achievements of which the most prominent one is the addition of a historical perspective to philosophy. He also was the first philosopher to understand the importance of ‘the other’ in relation to fully understanding the self. However, it is his writings on civil society, individualism and government which have to be discussed in order to understand if he was a communitarian and if he was, to what extent he agreed with the idea of being a communitarian. Of course to understand Hegel as a communitarian we must first discuss what being a communitarian is about and what communitarianism entails. Fundamentally, communitarianism is a set of connected philosophical ideas which started to take form as a system in the modernist era as an opposing force to the ideals of radical individualism (Chong, 2006). It advocates the idea of having a civil society which works as a unit where the community takes precedence over the individual (Wikipedia, 2006). Communitarianism is not directly opposed to the concepts of social liberalism or social democracy since the focus of the philosophy remains on the priority in decision making which is given to the community rather than the individual (Franco, 1997). However, as described by Franco (1997) it remains very difficult to place Hegel as a communitarian if we only use labels and not understand what Hegel was trying to get across to us. Franco further suggests that: â€Å"Hegel provides us with a ‘middle ground’ between deontological liberalism and contemporary communitarianism. Like the modern communitarians, he is critical of the individualistic and historical conceptions of rights underlying the liberal polity, but like many liberals in both his day and ours, he is skeptical of any attempt to return to some form of democratic participatory gemeinschaft based upon immediate face-to-face relations (Franco, 1997,

Analysis the case study sabmiller by gerry johnson 2010 Essay

Analysis the case study sabmiller by gerry johnson 2010 - Essay Example This paper looks on at the company’s performance in the year 2009 and how this was significant in terms of having to apply a number of strategies and try and boost their results a few fold. Also, different strategies that may be applied by the company as futuristic options have also been discussed within the paper with the help of which the company will be able to decide its future advantages and demerits. Briefly speaking, during the year 2009, SABMiller took a number of important steps in order to ensure that the company received a high status and was acknowledged not only in its areas of control and operations but all over the world, on a global basis. It has tried to consolidate its position in the business environment, develop its market and products in the global market, and has also tried to expand and diversify its product detailing in order to develop a stronger and better customer and target base. Almost after ten years of being listed in the stock exchange board of London, the company moved from being number 88 to the 17th position in the FTSE. Its market capitalization had also increased almost four fold. It had become the second largest brewer in the world by global standards and had a number of worldwide brands listed in its brand portfolio. However, all this recognition and success for the company came at the hands of smart decision making, excellent thinking and implementation of action as well as making good choices for strategies. SABMiller had tried to establish itself in the market by taking on its competitors and making a name for itself. It tried to create a balanced environment for itself in the market, and tried to attract global businesses from all over the world to come and partner and collaborate with it in terms of providing clientele for suppliers. With time, the company has tried to acquire as many smaller units as it can in order to help itself grow and establish a network on an international basis. This has helped it to ex pand and make other people aware of its presence in the global market. The company has tried to exploit all kinds of opportunities available to it in different countries of operation and thus has also strengthened its position by joining hands with a number of partnerships and proprietors all over in order to not only give them a chance and raise its goodwill and morality but also help itself set a good network chain. The main aim of the company is to develop a strong portfolio name for the international market and keep its customers and consumers satisfied and happy so that they establish strong connections and contacts with the company with time. The company has thus tried to move into specialty brands and become bait for a more affluent consumer group. It has been trying to locate and provide the target consumers with their needs and wants and try and not let their goals shift from those of the company’s. Yet another strategy in the entire management of the company is its will to never stop striving to do better. The company has an excellent lookout towards its smaller units and collaborations and thus always makes sure that these small intermediaries are also satisfied in terms of the kind of work that they are all carrying out for the main company. Thus, it strives to constantly keep on raising the level of performance at every localized level that it has. Its manufacturing processes have taken a

Global Climate Change in Australia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Global Climate Change in Australia - Essay Example The author of the paper "Global Climate Change in Australia" considers that climate change has obvious and glaring effects on Australia today. They are supported by empirical evidence and scientific studies. The ecological, economic and social impacts of these effects are the most threatening and that they perhaps outweigh the rationale for the current policy’s indifference to the global climate change accord. The Australian government through its climate change policy may be only exercising its right to support the country’s economic competitiveness and thereafter the general welfare of its people. However, in the long-run, failing to address climate change would have a more devastating effect on the Australian economy in comparison with the sacrifices it has to make in joining the current climate change accords. The issue about climate change involves the prioritizing the eradication of the global practices that are harmful to the environment. This entails a great dea l of sacrifice from each country and requires cooperation and compromise. It is, for example, imperative for any country, such as Australia to help forge a global policymaking environment that promotes the ratification as well as the implementation of multilateral accords about climate change. No single nation could address the problem alone. Not only because today is the so-called age of interdependence. Rather, in global climate change every nation has each own culpability and so each must shoulder the burden in addressing the problem.

Amazon.com - Not Your Average Bookstore Case Study - 3

Amazon.com - Not Your Average Bookstore - Case Study Example For example, one can book the latest Harry Potter book on internet and get it immediately as it is released. It has exploited technology to have a definite and advantageous position within the industry Amazon has used disruptive technology to run its business because it helped transform traditional bookstore in physical format to a virtual store where people can access books of their choice without actually holding them physically. The conceptualization of a virtual store is innovative strategy that has changed the very concept of market. Disruptive technology broadly refers to a new concept that disrupts existing market and creates a new one with more value. Amazon has taken business and marketing to a new level where time and space have become irrelevant. Access to goods and products has become easier and selling and buying more convenient, both for buyers and sellers. It is like mobile phones which has redefined communication. Amazon has been constantly innovating to maintain its customers’ loyalty by personalization and customization to their changing preferences. It has been able to create a one stop shopping experience for the customers and also welcomes personal recommendations and reviews. By providing customers with unique experience of book world where customers not only buy what they want, Amazon has also been able to earn customers’ commitment and loyalty by ensuring that their recommendations are incorporated within the broader strategy and goal of the business. For example, it has started Amazon3 on the recommendations of its customers and provides them with virtual space to store the personal data or books. Amazon’s e business model primarily relies on exploiting technology to meet customers’ changing preferences and uses them to constantly evolve. From a mere virtual book store, it has evolved into a comprehensive service center offering people storage in cyber space to

Three ideas(devote one paragragh to each idea) how you might use the Assignment

Three ideas(devote one paragragh to each idea) how you might use the content of our Planning & Evaluation in the future as an adminstrator - Assignment Example The book offers guidance on the importance of project planning in organizations (Sylvia & Sylvia, 2012). Project planning is important if an organization has to achieve its goals and objectives. Project planning help to identify priorities in terms of projects, and which projects should be prioritized for funding. Non-governmental organizations participate in many projects that are aimed at helping the society. Before an NGO participates in a given project, it ensures that it has enough resources that will fund the project. The book offers important information on how planning can be done. Project planning must be consultative with the involvement of all the stakeholders. Consultation helps to come up with the best ways to implement a project to avoid impediments that may face the project. The book offers information about cost-benefit analysis. Cost–benefit analysis is a systematic process used to calculate and compare costs and benefits of a project or decision (Sylvia & Sylvia, 2012).The analysis serves to decide if the investment is sound and provides a basis of comparing projects. As an administrator in a non-governmental organization, I would be able to use cost-benefit analysis to know if a project that my organization intends to undertake has any benefit to the community. An organization can do many projects, but not all of them accrue the same benefits. Cost-benefit analysis will help to determine a project that has a long lasting benefit to the people. As an administrator, I will use cost benefit analysis to establish the amount of money that my organization will pipe into a given project. The analysis will assist to identify the benefits that my organization will get because of investing in a particular project. In my administration role, I will be able to budget for the activities of the organization. Budgeting is critical in order to utilize

'Does Country Matter' - Summary and Critque Essay

'Does Country Matter' - Summary and Critque - Essay Example a) The question is, how much does country difference actually explain the variations in achievements of foreign affiliates To answer this, the elements they defined were as follows: Country effects, Industry effects, Multinational Corporation (MNC) effects, Affiliates effects and the Years observed, analyzing these to see how they all contributed to the average return or business success achieved by the foreign affiliates. They hypothesized that country had an important role to play and had not been explored fully in earlier research. b) Methodology The study is described as unique by the researchers because it uses performance of foreign affiliates as the primary unit of analysis, the country effects variables contained in it, and non-U.S. data, only Japanese MNCs. Data was taken from the Trend Survey of Overseas Business Activities (Trend Survey), annually conducted by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry. The companies used were: either subsidiary (MNC has 10% capital invested),sub-subsidiary (MNC has 50% invested) or where a sub-subsidiary has 50% capital invested in the foreign affiliate company. 12,000 total, over 6 years were examined, using 616 c) Results and conclusions suggest that country effects are almost as great as industry effects, implying that the host country has great impact when determining performance, wi

Week 4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 1

Week 4 - Essay Example It also allows the replacement of the startup configuration file in place of the running configuration file without requiring the installation of a router (Meghanathan, Chaki, & Nagamalai, 2012). Installation of a router would require that the system be shut down thus loss of running time, resources and increase in costs incurred during downtime. Reverting also allows the user to roll back to any Cisco operating system that is saved in the system. This helps in simplifying and hastening the process of inputting the needed commands to the router as only the commands, which required to be added or removed are affected and the rest are left intact (Meghanathan, Chaki, & Nagamalai, 2012). The disadvantages of Reverting to an old system include the system continuing to work under limitations such as inefficiency that initially prompted the change. Additionally, it is not economically sound to revert to an old system as that means loss of resources initially put into the project while Reverting the configuration change must be approved, which frequently results in delay thus loss of time and resources. International Conference on Computer Science and Information Technology: Advances in computer science and information technology: Computer science and information technology: second International Conference, CCSIT 2012, Bangalore, India, and January 2-4, 2012. Proceedings. Berlin:

How Langston Hughes exemplifies the African American Essay Example for Free

How Langston Hughes exemplifies the African American Essay Abstract Prejudice is the key feature in the authors theme. He wants to tell away about how people singles out people based on these people appearances, racial background affiliations and social ranking. Harper Lee has done well to show how the stigmatized people are innocent and oblivious of the prejudices against them. It is common knowledge that it’s way off to kill a mocking bird. The mocking bird in Harpers story is Boo Radley. Boo has not indulged in any harmful activities nor hurt anyone across the social Diaspora. However, Boo is looked down upon due to his social rankings and looks. However, Harper is also determined to show that prejudice is not in any way such a big deal in a sidelined person’s life. He shows courage and human dignity. This is well understood from the actions and feelings of Boo Radley. Prejudice, the self and the Character of Boo To Kill a Mockingbird identifies Arthur Radley as a courageous person. He saw evil in people who committed evil; he sought after positive projections in the society and wished better life for everyone. He is a patriotic and wonderful person. We identify perception about him through the children, they though he was evil based on the rumor ‘he struck his parent with scissors and wiped the bloody scissors with his pants which means he attempted murdering them These rumors scare Jem and Scout and make them eye Boo suspiciously. He is a fearful figure but confident. His character shows self assuredness and focus. Boo is mockingbird, he knows it and is keen on projecting himself as a steadfast and good citizen though looked down as an outcast of Maycomb. Boo has courage and hope. He has been locked away in his house just like Tom who was accused of rape (Lee, 195). Similar prejudices befall Boo, he saves Atticus children and no one looks at if it as anything of importance. However Lee advices against this in pg 90 when he says ‘Shoot all the blue jays you want, if u can hit ‘em, but remember it’s a sin to kill a mockingbird’ (Lee 90). Â  Killing a mocking bird is also seen when the sheriff is not honest about the death of Bob Ewell. Ewell was stabbed as Boo tried to save Atticus kids. Boo is not convicted for his good deed since the sheriff declares that Ewell fell on his knife and died. Boo indeed sacrificed himself for Jem and Scout. People in Maycomb make wild allegations about him just because he doest seem fit to be one of them. However, we see perseverance, a lot of tolerance and a focus to remain loyal and committed to do good things in Boo. In spite of this prejudice, he serves and helps people. He is kind and a role model. In the book Lee exemplifies these attributes through Boo wrapping a blanket on Scout (Lee p.46). Â  Boo is also charged with the rape of Mayella Ewell. This is an indication of prejudice, but he doesn’t seem to be in bad terms with his detractors. He is focused on being positive minded. The burning of Maudie’s house is another picturesque that projects the good side of Boo. Boo pities, feels and seeks after doing good rather than watch and laugh as people enjoy ruin Conclusion A mocking bird is more of a social asset rather than a mocking object. We should have a very positive attitude towards people, stop being racist and quit playing apartheid practices. Boo exemplifies exemplary behavior and showcases respect to elders and all other social members without prejudice. We should uphold and force it down to our children and emulate positive attitudes as exemplified by Boo Source Lee Harper (1930)To Kill a Mockingbird

Mrs Mallard Character Analysis

Mrs Mallard Character Analysis Louise Mallard is the protagonist of The Story of an Hour. The entire story is about her preservation. Chopin portrays Mrs. Mallard as a woman who is in deep suffering. She is not only suffering from a marriage she is not happy with, but she is also suffering from her medical condition. As if she had not suffered enough, she also puts a threat to her own life. We see this when Josephine is knocking on her door while she refuses to open it (Chopin). What is unknown to Josephine however is that her sister is in fact not suffering but savoring the moment. Josephine, who is her sister, is concerned that she may be harming herself and is persistent in her quest to be admitted to the room. The entire story is centered on saving Mrs. Mallard right from the time the breaking of the sad news of her husbands demise had to be done in a way that would not be fatal to her up to the time when her husband returns home and Richard tries to shield her from seeing her husband from the fear that she will suffer an attack due to the huge surprise (Berkove 153). Suffering in Marriage Mrs. Mallard is a woman that is suffering in marriage. We realize that she was not very optimistic about her married life. The night prior to the death of her husband, she had quietly prayed for her life to be short. She had reached a point of disillusionment and would gladly welcome death as an option out of the marriage. When she learns that her husband had perished in the train accident, she first reacts by weeping due to her loss but after the moment of grief ebbs away, she suddenly realizes that she has been freed from her marriage. She makes a prayer that is opposite to what she had made only a few hours prior to this. She now prays for long life long (Chopin). Chopin reveals how Mrs. Mallard was not enjoying her marriage to the point that she was ready to die as a way of getting out of the marriage. This in effect reveals that Mrs. Mallard respected the institution of marriage a lot (Xuemei 168). She dint think that divorce was an option. The only possible way out of the marriage would be through her death. That is why she prays that her life be short. Chopin reveals a view of marriage through the perception of Mrs. Mallard. She thought that marriage was a place where two people thought that they have all the right to impose their rights on the other person. To her, this was a big misconception and as the story reveals, it was probably the main reason for her suffering in marriage. She most definitely did not like the way her husband treated her. Marriage was like a bondage to her and when she receives the news that her husband was dead, she is happy that she is at last free. Mrs. Mallard can be said to represent many marriages in society where many people are not enjoying the marriage but for varied reasons, they dont want to get out of the marriage (Xuemei 168). Louise Mallard is the character in the story that is subject to masculine discourse (Berkove 154). From the very onset of the story, she is introduced as Mrs. Mallard and Chopin simply uses she when referring to her for the rest of the story. In fact, the next time that Chopin uses a name to reference Mrs. Mallard is after she proclaims that she is now free! Body and soul free! This shows the change that happened in the perception o life in Mrs. Mallards mind. She now stretches her hands to welcome the new life of freedom as we see her saying that from now on, she will have no one to live for but herself. As Xuemei (168) observes, the freedom is short lived as we realize when Mr. Mallard comes back. The language used in the story makes it clear by reestablishing the fact that she was a wife. The realization that her freedom was in fact a mirage is too much for her that it proved to be fatal. This further reveals the disillusionment she had as far as her marriage was concerned. The previous day, she had been sad and praying that her life ends soon but when she was told of her husbands death, her mood changed immediately as she suddenly realized that she had a new lease of life. While she is still thinking about her apparent freedom, her husbands returns home something that makes her spirit sink again for reality hits her hard that she is still trapped in her marriage. A Frail Woman Mrs. Mallard is portrayed a frail woman. We see this right form the onset of the story when her medical condition is introduced. However, her frailty is not just of body but also of soul and this is what prompts Richard to try to the best of his ability to protect her. The author uses says that Mrs. Mallard sobs as a child who has cried itself to sleep. The phrase reveals that Mrs. Mallard was a woman of a weak will. She is also described as having very frail hands. It is her frailty that probably led to her eventual death. Mrs. Mallards relationship with her husband serves to explain the kind of shaky relationship that the women of the society had with their husbands. She is quick to reveal that in fact, her husband was a loving man who always looked upon her with love yet quite on the contrary, she seldom felt love for him. Her husband is portrayed as man that imposed on her and she is portrayed as a woman that had little choice but to obey her husbands will. The irony that plays out is that although Brently loved her wife, he gives little or no concern to her happiness Xuemei 167). A Failed Marriage Children are conspicuously absent in the narration which confirms two things: the marriage between Louise and Brently was unfruitful and it also confirms of just how free she would be after the death of her husband. Mrs. Mallard reveals the state of the wives of the 19th century America who had no freedom unless they husbands died first. The absence of children in the marriage is the legacy that she leaves when she dies. In a society that wives were there to attend to their husbands, it is now clear that Brently will have no one to care for him after her death (Xuemei 168). The main reason for the troublesome marriage is not given but the absence of children can be a huge clue. It could be possible that the husband who loved her wife was not at all pleased with the fact that they had not gotten any children. Traditionally, the husbands blame the women for the lack of children even if there was no biological evidence that they were the barren ones. The absence of children presents an interesting dynamic in the story following the death of Mrs. Mallards husband. She was now free to carry on with life as a free woman again. She had no husband to live for and she had no children too. That offered her many new options in life. May be she could now look for a another husband, this time one she loved, or may be she had had enough of marriage and she would leave alone for the rest of her life. A Modest Widow When her Husband supposedly died, Mrs. Mallard has a totally new perception to life. Although the trees outside her window had always been there, for the first time, she realizes just how beautiful the landscape is. She looks at the clouds and they seem to reflect her story so well for she sees patches of the blue sky showing itself here and there after the storm of grief had spent itself. Mrs. Mallard does not receive the news of her husbands death with the characteristic grief that any widow would have (Berkove 158). On the contrary, she cries only for a while and then seats back in the privacy of her room to savor the moment. When she mourns, she is not mourning due to the grief of loosing her husband but due to the overwhelming realization that she has abandoned by her husband. This portrays a selfish nature in her since even when her husband is dead; all she was thinking was how he had abandoned her (Xuemei 169). Mrs. Mallard tries her best to be a modest widow. When she receives the news of the demise of her husband, she responds by weeping profusely in her sisters arms. At the back of her mind however, she is in realization that there was another feeling that was anything but sorrow or grief. She realizes that she was happy that he had died since it guaranteed her victory. However, she pretends that she extremely sorrowful following the demise of her husband. She does not allow the other part to be revealed in the glare of the other people so she chooses to retreat to her bedroom. She is preparing to fulfill her social responsibility as a widow to mourn again when she sees her husbands remains. Mrs. Mallard is however to overjoyed to continue keeping her joy a secret. When she finally usherss her sister in the room, she gets hold of her waist and she walks with the characteristic joy and freedom of a goddess and as the author points out, There was a feverish triumph in her eyes. Even though Mrs. Mallard was well aware that she was required to at least show grief, the unexpected yet very welcome freedom that she gets following the death of her husband overwhelms her with joy to the extent that she can not hide it any more. The narrator shows the irony of life in that Mrs. Mallard was happy that she had eventually found her freedom in the death of her husband but her husband actually returns home safe and sound which terminates her quite celebration. Ironically, the one who was thought to die is back alive while, Mrs. Mallard who believed that she will live long enjoying her new found freedom dies. Mrs. Mallard as a Metaphor When the doctors examine her, they all concur that she had died as result of the joy that kills. It was not normal for a widow to rejoice over her husbands departure. It was expected that his resurrection would make her happy; happy to the point of getting a heart attack. Mrs. Mallard is used to reveal the role of a widow in the society who was expected to grieve after the death of her husband. The entire story is founded on how Mrs. Mallard suffered. She suffered due to a troubled marriage which gave her no joy and she suffered due to the sickness that she had. The kind of suffering that she goes through is used by the author to depict what the woman of that society had to endure in marriages. The narrator reveals her passion on the plight of women in the society when Mrs. Mallard realizes that she is nothing but happy in the marriage. The character of Mrs. Mallard is used to illustrate that men oppressed women in marriage.

Effects of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Effects of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Abstract Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the most ambitious, sophisticated use of information technology (IT) by businesses to date. Managers must compare the massive investments of resources and time to be committed to an ERP implementation against the significant benefits that may be derived from ERP systems in an environment in which traditional capital budgeting decision-making models may not be appropriate. The purpose of this study is to determine if ERP implementations have brought about significant changes on large industries in India, by answering questions other studies have not answered. This study is motivated both by an appreciation of the magnitude of a companys decision to invest in an ERP system and by the fact that other research to date contains limitations of scope or method that may reduce the reliability of reported results. Accordingly, this study examines success factors of ERP implementations. The results of this research are significantly more reliable than results of other studies because this research examines whether the ERP systems yield substantial benefits to the firms that adopt them, and that the adoption risks do not exceed the expected value, although there is some evidence (from analysis of financial leverage) that suggests that firms do definitely perceive ERP projects to be risky. There also appears to be an optimal level of functional integration in ERP with benefits declining at some level, consistent with diseconomies of scope for very large implementations, as one would typically expect. Introduction 1.1 Background Information systems exist in most peoples working lives. It is now generally accepted that the information system world is one where human, social and organizational factors are as important as the technological (Avison et al. 2001).The business environment is changing dramatically and in order to stay competitive in the market, organizations must improve their business practices and procedures. Organizations within all departments and functions upgrade their capability to generate and communicate accurate and timely information. During the last decades, enterprises have focused on Information Technology (IT) and implemented various applications to automate their business processes. These applications were not developed in a coordinated way but have evolved as a result of the latest technological innovations. As a result various integration problems were caused because the applications could not co-operate and disparate IT solutions could not bind together (Thermistocleous and Irani, 2000). Prior to the concept of ERP systems, departments within an organization (for example, the human resources (HR) department, the payroll department, and the financials department) would have their own computer systems. The HR computer system would typically contain information on the department, reporting structure, and personal details of employees. The payroll department would typically calculate and store paycheck information. The financials department would typically store financial transactions for the organization. Each system would have to rely on a set of common data to communicate with each other. For the HRIS to send salary information to the payroll system, an employee number would need to be assigned and remain static between the two systems to accurately identify an employee. The financials system was not interested in the employee-level data, but only in the payouts made by the payroll systems, such as the tax payments to various authorities, payments for employee benefit s to providers, and so on. This provided complications. For instance, a person could not be paid in the payroll system without an employee number. But later ERP software, among other things, combined the data of formerly separate applications. This made the worry of keeping numbers in synchronization across multiple systems disappears. It standardized and reduced the number of software specialties required within larger organizations (Slater, 1999). 1.2 Evolution of ERP The evolution of ERP systems was after the spectacular developments in the field of computer hardware and software systems. In 1960s many organizations designed, developed and implemented centralized computing systems, which were almost like automating their inventory control systems using inventory packages (IC). These were legacy system based on their programming languages such as COBOL, ALGOL and FORTRAN. Material requirement planning (MRP) systems were developed in 1970s, which involves many planning the product or parts requirements according to the master production schedule (Okrent Vokurka, 2004). Following this system a new software system called manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) was introduced in 1980s with an emphasis on optimizing manufacturing process by synchronizing the materials with production requirements. Areas like shop floor and distribution management, human resource, finance, project management and engineering comes under MRP II (Okrent Vokurka, 2004). ERP systems first appeared in late 1980s and in the beginning of 1990s with the power of enterprise wide inter-functional co-ordination and integration. Based on the technological foundations of MRP and MRP II, ERP systems integrate business processes including manufacturing, accounting, human resource, distribution, financial, project management, service and maintenance, transportation, accessibility, visibility and consistency across the enterprise (Okrent Vokurka, 2004). During 1990s ERP vendors added more modules and functions as added advantage to the core modules giving birth to the ‘Extended ERP. These ERP extensions include advanced planning and scheduling (APS), e-business solution such as costumer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) (Okrent Vokurka, 2004). 1.3 About ERP systems During the 1990s, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems was introduced as â€Å"integrated suites† that included a wide range of software products supporting day-to-day business operations and decision-making. ERP serves many industries and numerous functional areas in an integrated fashion, attempting to automate operations from supply chain management, inventory control, manufacturing scheduling and production, sales support, customer relationship management, financial and cost accounting, human resources and almost any other data oriented management process. ERP systems have become increasingly prevalent over the last 10 years. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the most ambitious, sophisticated use of information technology (IT) by businesses to date. Managers must compare the massive investments of resources and time to be committed to an ERP implementation against the significant benefits that may be derived from ERP systems in an environment in which tr aditional capital budgeting decision-making models may not be appropriate. The license/maintenance revenue of ERP market was $17.2 billion dollars in 1998, it is expected to be $24.3 billion dollars in 2000, and ERP systems have been implemented in over 60% of multi-national firms. This market also cuts across industries for example, two of the worlds best-known software companies, IBM and Microsoft, now run most of their business on software neither of them makes, the SAP R/3 ERP package made by SAP AG (OLeary, 2000). The appeal of the ERP systems is clear. While most organizations typically had software systems that performed much of the component functions of ERP, the standardized and integrated ERP software environment provides a degree of interoperable that was difficult and expensive to achieve with stand alone, custom-built systems. For example, when a salesperson enters an order in the field, the transaction can immediately flow through to other functional areas both within and external to the firm. The order might trigger an immediate change in production plans, inventory stock levels or employees schedules, or lead to the automated generation of invoices and credit evaluations for the customer and purchase orders from suppliers. In addition to process automation, the ability of ERP systems to disseminate timely and accurate information also enables improved managerial and worker decision-making. Managers can make decisions based on current data, while individual workers can have greater a ccess to information, enabling increasing delegation of authority for production decisions as well as improved communications to customers (OLeary, 2000). 1.4 Model layer of ERP A Global Business Process Model is created which represents the whole ERP software product. This model is layered in 3 deeper levels. The first level is the System Configuration Level, which scopes on high-level option on the entire system. Option definition is therefore static: once a high-level option of the ERP system is chosen to be used within the organization, the choice cannot be made changed. One level deeper is the Object Level, which scopes on single data objects. The option on this level is more dynamic. The lowest level is the Occurrence level, which analyses single process occurrences. Because this level elaborates on object parameters, the option is very dynamic, meaning that options can easily be altered (Garg and venkitakrishnan, 2006). 1.5 Case study We systematically study the productivity and business performance effects of ERP using a unique dataset on firms that have purchased licenses for the SAP R/3 system, the most widely adopted ERP package. In the last 30 years, SAP has become the global leader in business software, serving more than 38,000 customers worldwide, including organizations of every size and type. Along the way, SAP has accumulated a unique knowledge base of best practices in more than 25 industries. The SAP tradition of leadership continues with a new generation of ERP software that gives the company unprecedented speed and flexibility to improve your bottom line by improving your enterprise resource planning (Web-1). Our goal is to better understand the economics of ERP implementations specifically, and more broadly, contribute to the understanding of the benefits of large-scale Industries in India. The author has tried to find out the success of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) implementation and the return on investment depends, among other factors, on the active project management team. This success and return on investment is very important to the organization since implementation cost is very high and the resulting Information Technology platform needs to supply significantly to the organizations business strategy and survival. Since competitors are likely to be implementing ERP solutions at the same time, there is the added advantage to gain a benefit, a boundary. How is this achieved? According to the research the organizations that have successfully implemented the ERP systems are gathering the benefits of having integrating working environment, standardized process and operational benefits. There have been many disgusting stories of improper ERP implementation because of which many companies have become bankrupt and in many cases organizations have decided to discard the ERP implementation projects. Not all ERP implementations have been successful. Majority of these studies have used case studies to conclude their findings and very few have used the experiential study of the ERP implementation process and its success. The difficulties and high failure rate in implementing ERP systems have been widely cited in the literature (Davenport, 1998), but research on critical success factors in ERP implementation is rare and sectioned. Till now, only a few organizations have done a little to imagine the important predictors for initial and ongoing ERP implementation success (Brown and Vessey, 1999). This research is an effort to achieve that. It identifies the critical success factors in ERP implementation, categorizes them into the respective phases in the ERP life cycle model and discusses the importance of these factors in ERP implementation (Markus and Tanis, 2000). 1.6 Aims and objectives: This research is an attempt to broaden the ERP implementation research by defining the theoretical areas built and operational measures specific to ERP implementation and success measure to advance ERP research. 1.6.1 Aim The main aim of this research is to study and analyze the impact of implementing ERP solutions on large industries in India. 1.6.2 Objective The objective of this dissertation is to: Study about the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and their business aspects. Analysing the implementation process of ERP systems and their Life cycle. Analysing the success and failure factors of the implementation of ERP systems. Analysing the pre and post implementation strategies involved in an ERP project. Understanding the effect of implementing ERP solutions on Indian large industries. Understanding the success factors of the ERP implementation by doing the case study on SAP (Systems, Applications and Products). This dissertation explains the importance of ERP implementation within an organization, primarily within the large industries and explains the issues related with the usability and the users opinion on an implemented ERP system. The research project discussed in this dissertation is derived from an implemented ERP system on large industries in Bangalore. The author has chosen SAP as his case study as the SAP provides the worlds best integrated solutions for the organizations. The system examined in this dissertation is the SAP implementation and the selected users for this system are the large industries in Bangalore like Bharath Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Karnataka State Road Transport Commission (KSRTC), Repcol, etc. 1.7 Layout of the dissertation Chapter 2 Literature Review This chapter explores the literature that is relevant to the research questions on Enterprise Resource Planning systems and their implementation, Life cycle, Success factors, failure factors, the business aspects of ERP and as well as ERP solutions provided by SAP and its significance. This chapter mainly focuses on eleven critical success factors of ERP systems. This chapter will form the bases for the argument presented in proceeding chapters. Chapter 3 Research Approach This chapter discusses the overall review of the research approach and methods that will guide this research. This chapter also discusses about the techniques for data analysis including triangulation. Chapter 4 Research Site In this chapter, the site of the study and how the research was carried out (data collection) is discussed in detail. This chapter also provides the analysis of the data which was collected and an overall conclusion of the analyzed data. The particular component of the ERP system is studied and the problems being encountered. Chapter 5 Conclusion and recommendations This chapter outlines the conclusion of the research with the recommendations and the suggestions for future research. Literature review According to Garg and venkitakrishnan (2006), business environment has changed more in the last five years than it was before. Enterprises are continuously trying to improve themselves in the areas quality, time to market, costumer satisfaction, performance and profitability. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software fulfils all these needs. 2.1 Definition of ERP Enterprise resource planning has been in defined in many ways as cited by Brown (2006) they are as follows Sets of business software which allows an organization for complete management of operations.(Al-Mashari, et al., 2003) A software infrastructure fixed with â€Å"best practices,† respectively best ways to do business based on common business practices or academic theory. (Bernroider Koch, 2001) An organization-wide Information System that tightly combines all aspects of a business. It promises one database, one application, and a unified interface across the entire enterprise. (Bingi, Sharma, Godla, 1999) Highly integrated enterprise-wide software package that computerize core business processes such as finance, human resources, manufacturing, and supply and distribution. (Holland Light, 1999) A packaged business software system that enables a company to manage the efficient and effective use of resources by providing a total, integrated solution for the organizations information-processing needs. (Nah, Lau, Kuang, 2001) Business software that combines information across the organization. This integration removes inconsistencies and enables the organization to attain consolidated reports. (Shakir, 2000 cited by Brown, 2006) A combination of business management practice and technology, where Information Technology integrates and automates many of the business practices associated with the core business processes, operations, or production aspects of a company to achieve specific business objectives. (Web-8:www.sap.com) 2.2 Features of ERP systems According to Garg and venkitakrishnan (2006) ERP system needs have the following features: Modular design comprising many distinct business modules such as distribution, accounting, manufacturing, financial, etc. Use centralized common database management system (DBMS) The modules are integrated and provide seamless data flow among the modules, increasing operational transparency through standard interface. They are generally complex systems involving high cost. They are flexible and offer best business practices. They are time-consuming and configuration setups for integrating with the companys business information. The modules work in real time with online and batch processing capabilities. They will soon be internet enabled (Garg and venkitakrishnan, 2006). 2.3 Modules Different ERP vendors provide ERP systems with some degree of speciality but the core modules are almost the same for all of them. Some of the core ERP modules are Human resource management, Transportation management, Manufacturing management, Accounting management, financial management, Production management, Sales and distribution management, Costumer relation management, Supply chain management and E-Business. The modules of an ERP system can either work as stand alone units or several modules can be combined together to form an integrated system. The systems are usually designed to operate under several operating platforms. SAP AG, the largest ERP vendor provides a number of modules with its famous R/3 ERP system. New modules are introduced by SAP and other vendors in response to the market and technological demand such as the internet technology (Garg and venkitakrishnan, 2006). Koch et al. (1999) also discusses three common approaches to ERP systems implementation in organisations. As the number of modules being implemented increases, there is a shift from a big-bang to a phased approach. Big bang This approach enables organizations to cast off all their legacy systems at once and implement a single ERP system across the entire organization. This is the most ambitious and difficult of approaches to ERP implementation (Koch et al., 1999). Franchise Strategy This strategy, also referred to in literature as ‘phased implementation, suits large or diverse companies that dont share many common processes across business units. Independent ERP systems are installed in each unit, while linking common processes (Koch et al., 1999). This is the most common way of implementing ERP and it allows the systems to link together only to share the information necessary for the corporation to get a performance big picture across all the business units. â€Å"Usually these implementations begin with a demonstration or â€Å"pilot† installation in a particularly open-minded and patient business unit where the core business of the corporation will not be disrupted if something goes wrong† (Koch et al. 1999 cited by Jenine, 2001). Slam-dunk With this approach, ERP dictates the process design and the focus is on just a few key business processes. This implementation strategy is most appropriate for smaller organizations (Koch et al., 1999). ERP systems are usually highly complex, expensive, and difficult to implement. Besides the traditional MRP functionality, ERP systems include applications for many other functional areas such as Customer Relationship Management, Sales and Marketing processes, Human Resources, Accounting and Finance, Supply Chain Management, and Operational and Logistical Management. Many ERP vendors are offering some or all of these functions as options within their offering. Organizations can usually pick and choose between modules, implementing only those which are applicable to their situation (Al-Mashari et al., 2000 cited by Brown, 2006). 2.4 Functions of ERP This software tries to combine all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve each different departments particular needs (Koch et al. 1999). ERP systems are nothing more than generic representations of the way a typical company which does business (Koch et al. 1999 cited by Jenine, 2001). ERP is software, which collects data from various key business processes and stores in a single comprehensive data repository where they can be used by other parts of the business. Many organizations are now using ERP systems to solve their problems. ERP improves organizational co-ordination, efficiency and decision-making. It is a kind of software, which helps managers to find out the most and the least profitable jobs. This in turn, helps managers to eliminate the most unprofitable jobs (Zygmont, 1998). Pp 89-91. ERPs allow computerising the tasks involved in performing a business process so it is important that implementers start with a clear expression of the business problems being addressed (Slater 1999 cited by Jenine, 2001). The most common reason that companies walk away from multimillion dollar ERP projects is that they discover that the software does not support one of their important business processes (Koch et al. 1999). Not only do the business functions need to be identified, the more delicate issues such as the companys corporate culture and management style must be examined to enable a holistic view of the implementation (Slater 1999). ERP systems stress the importance of accountability, responsibility and communication within an organisation. They focus on optimizing the way things are done internally rather than with customers, suppliers or partners (Koch et al. 1999 cited by Jenine, 2001). It is said that ERP is the best expression of the inseparability of business and information technology (Gupta, 2000). ERP systems highlight one specific theme: integration of all organisational processes and this has attracted many organizations to adopt ERPs in recent year (Sia, et.al. 2002 cited by Thavapragasam, 2003). According to Gupta (2000) ERP allows companies to integrate departmental information and for many users, an ERP is a â€Å"does it all† system that performs everything from entry of sales orders to customer service. Moreover, an ERP-system enables companies to integrate data used throughout the whole organization and holds operation and logistic, procurement, sales and marketing, human resource and financial modules (Wassenaar, et al., 2002 cited by Thavapragasam, 2003). ERPs are often known as off the shelf IT solutions that will enable organizations to achieve faster cycle fastens, reduces cost, and improved customer service (Sia, et al., 2002 cited by Thavapragasam, 2003). Wassenaar, et al. (2002) continues to suggest that ERP-system implementation implies a much stronger organizational change that normal information system development. Problems associated with software implementations are neither new nor specific to enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. 2.5 Impact of implementation There is a small but growing literature on the impact of ERP systems; the majority of these studies are interviews, cases studies or a collection of case studies and industry surveys (Davenport, 1998). McAfee (1999) studied the impact of ERP systems on self-reported company performance based on a survey of Indian implementers of SAP R/3 packages. Participating companies reported substantial performance improvement in several areas as a result of their ERP implementation, including their ability to provide information to customers, cycle times, and on-time completion rates. 2.5.1 Benefits ERPs are designed to help manage organizational resources in an integrated manner. The primary benefits that are expected to result from their implementation are closely related to the level of integration that is promoted across functions in an enterprise. The professional literature has been proactive in determining the types of benefits that companies might anticipate from their ERP systems and to what extent organizations had actually attained those benefits on a post-implementation basis. Expectations for improved business performance after adoption may result from both operational and strategic benefits (Irving 1999; Jenson and Johnson 1999 cited by Nicolaou, 2004). In the Benchmarking Partners study (1998), respondent companies anticipated both tangible and intangible benefits. The most significant intangible benefits related to internal integration, improved information and processes, and improved customer service, while tangible benefits related to cost efficiencies in inventory, personnel, procurement and the time needed to close books, as well as improvements in productivity, cash/order management, and overall profitability. In assessing the extent to which they had actually attained those benefits, however, on a post-implementation basis, it was evident that they were not able to improve profitability or lower personnel, inventories, or system maintenance costs as much as they had hoped. On the other hand, respondents noted better-than-expected results in overall productivity and in order-management cycle time, as well as procurement, on-time delivery, and the ability to close financial cycles (cited by Nicolaou, 2004). Likewise, in the Conference Board study (Peterson et al. 2001 cited by Nicolaou, 2004), responding companies reported anticipating similar types of tangible and intangible benefits, although it was evident that the realization of those benefits required more time than expected. Where as Gattiker and Goodhue (2000) group the literature of ERP benefits into four categories: Improve information flow across sub-units, standardization and integration facilitates communication and better coordination; Enabling centralization of administrative activities such as account payable and payroll; Reduce IS maintenance costs and increase the ability to deploy new IS functionality; ERP may be instrumental in moving a firm away from inefficient business processes and toward accepted best of practice processes. The above studies on the impact of ERP systems suggest that there are potentially substantial benefits for firms that successfully implemented ERP systems (Ragowsky and Somers, 2000). We note here the significance of ERP impact has started to attract more attention from the organizations (Sarkis and Gunasekaran, 2001 cited by Hitt et. al, 2001). 2.5.2 Limitations Limitations of ERP systems have also been widely documented; as identified below. ERPs can have a negative impact on the work practices and culture of an organization (Gefen, 2000) There is a need for extensive technical support prior to its actual use (Gefen, 2000). The need for competent consulting staff to extensively customize the ERP to increase the acceptance of a new system (Gefen 2000). â€Å"Lack of feature-function fit† between the companys needs and the packages available (Markus and Tanis 2000). It takes an average of 8 months after the new system is installed to see any benefits (Koch et al. 1999). The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of ERP, as identified by the Meta Group, includes hardware, software, professional services and internal staff costs. TCO is averaged at $15 million per system (Koch et al., 1999). 2.6 ERP lifecycle The ERP life cycle is comprised of four phases namely analysis, installation, final preparation and go live (Robey, Ross and Boudreau, 2000). An integrative, theoretical framework was introduced which we call â€Å"integrated ERP implementation,† which is comprised of a set of theoretically important constructs. This framework has been developed based on the project life cycle approach, in which the ERP implementation project goes through different stages before it goes live. There are number of factors that affect the ERP implementation process are termed in this study as implementation critical success factors. Upon the completion of ERP implementation project, performance is measured by a mix of outcomes (Robey, Ross and Boudreau, 2000). Since the models are unpredictable, they cannot be measured directly, multi-item scales, each composed of a set of individual items, were needed to obtain indirect measures of each construct (Robey, Ross and Boudreau, 2000). Implementation planning- It is the first phase of ERP implementation in which initial implementation plan is prepared, team members are selected (which could be new or roll over from the acquisition team), project scope and initial objectives are defined. In this phase as well the implementation strategies and outcomes are identified as well. Installation- It is the second phase of Implementation process, activities such as hardware and network is installed according to the requirements of ERP system, configuration of ERP is conducted, system customization is performed and change management plan is executed. Final Preparation- In this phase data from legacy system is imported to the new system, data is converted and system testing is performed. Moreover, the users are trained on the system. Go Live- Going Live is the point in time in the ERP implementation, when the system is first used for actual production. In this phase, ERP system goes lives, progress is monitored and user feedback is reviewed (Robey, Ross and Boudreau, 2000). 2.7 Critical Factors of ERP implementation success This section discusses the 11 factors that are critical to ERP implementation success (cited by Kuang, 2001). ERP teamwork and composition ERP teamwork and composition is important throughout the ERP life cycle. The ERP team should consist of the best people in the organization (Bingi et al., 1999; Rosario, 2000; Wee, 2000). Building a cross-functional team is also critical. The team should have a mix of consultants and internal staff so the internal staff can develop Effects of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Effects of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Abstract Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the most ambitious, sophisticated use of information technology (IT) by businesses to date. Managers must compare the massive investments of resources and time to be committed to an ERP implementation against the significant benefits that may be derived from ERP systems in an environment in which traditional capital budgeting decision-making models may not be appropriate. The purpose of this study is to determine if ERP implementations have brought about significant changes on large industries in India, by answering questions other studies have not answered. This study is motivated both by an appreciation of the magnitude of a companys decision to invest in an ERP system and by the fact that other research to date contains limitations of scope or method that may reduce the reliability of reported results. Accordingly, this study examines success factors of ERP implementations. The results of this research are significantly more reliable than results of other studies because this research examines whether the ERP systems yield substantial benefits to the firms that adopt them, and that the adoption risks do not exceed the expected value, although there is some evidence (from analysis of financial leverage) that suggests that firms do definitely perceive ERP projects to be risky. There also appears to be an optimal level of functional integration in ERP with benefits declining at some level, consistent with diseconomies of scope for very large implementations, as one would typically expect. Introduction 1.1 Background Information systems exist in most peoples working lives. It is now generally accepted that the information system world is one where human, social and organizational factors are as important as the technological (Avison et al. 2001).The business environment is changing dramatically and in order to stay competitive in the market, organizations must improve their business practices and procedures. Organizations within all departments and functions upgrade their capability to generate and communicate accurate and timely information. During the last decades, enterprises have focused on Information Technology (IT) and implemented various applications to automate their business processes. These applications were not developed in a coordinated way but have evolved as a result of the latest technological innovations. As a result various integration problems were caused because the applications could not co-operate and disparate IT solutions could not bind together (Thermistocleous and Irani, 2000). Prior to the concept of ERP systems, departments within an organization (for example, the human resources (HR) department, the payroll department, and the financials department) would have their own computer systems. The HR computer system would typically contain information on the department, reporting structure, and personal details of employees. The payroll department would typically calculate and store paycheck information. The financials department would typically store financial transactions for the organization. Each system would have to rely on a set of common data to communicate with each other. For the HRIS to send salary information to the payroll system, an employee number would need to be assigned and remain static between the two systems to accurately identify an employee. The financials system was not interested in the employee-level data, but only in the payouts made by the payroll systems, such as the tax payments to various authorities, payments for employee benefit s to providers, and so on. This provided complications. For instance, a person could not be paid in the payroll system without an employee number. But later ERP software, among other things, combined the data of formerly separate applications. This made the worry of keeping numbers in synchronization across multiple systems disappears. It standardized and reduced the number of software specialties required within larger organizations (Slater, 1999). 1.2 Evolution of ERP The evolution of ERP systems was after the spectacular developments in the field of computer hardware and software systems. In 1960s many organizations designed, developed and implemented centralized computing systems, which were almost like automating their inventory control systems using inventory packages (IC). These were legacy system based on their programming languages such as COBOL, ALGOL and FORTRAN. Material requirement planning (MRP) systems were developed in 1970s, which involves many planning the product or parts requirements according to the master production schedule (Okrent Vokurka, 2004). Following this system a new software system called manufacturing resource planning (MRP II) was introduced in 1980s with an emphasis on optimizing manufacturing process by synchronizing the materials with production requirements. Areas like shop floor and distribution management, human resource, finance, project management and engineering comes under MRP II (Okrent Vokurka, 2004). ERP systems first appeared in late 1980s and in the beginning of 1990s with the power of enterprise wide inter-functional co-ordination and integration. Based on the technological foundations of MRP and MRP II, ERP systems integrate business processes including manufacturing, accounting, human resource, distribution, financial, project management, service and maintenance, transportation, accessibility, visibility and consistency across the enterprise (Okrent Vokurka, 2004). During 1990s ERP vendors added more modules and functions as added advantage to the core modules giving birth to the ‘Extended ERP. These ERP extensions include advanced planning and scheduling (APS), e-business solution such as costumer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain management (SCM) (Okrent Vokurka, 2004). 1.3 About ERP systems During the 1990s, Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems was introduced as â€Å"integrated suites† that included a wide range of software products supporting day-to-day business operations and decision-making. ERP serves many industries and numerous functional areas in an integrated fashion, attempting to automate operations from supply chain management, inventory control, manufacturing scheduling and production, sales support, customer relationship management, financial and cost accounting, human resources and almost any other data oriented management process. ERP systems have become increasingly prevalent over the last 10 years. Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are the most ambitious, sophisticated use of information technology (IT) by businesses to date. Managers must compare the massive investments of resources and time to be committed to an ERP implementation against the significant benefits that may be derived from ERP systems in an environment in which tr aditional capital budgeting decision-making models may not be appropriate. The license/maintenance revenue of ERP market was $17.2 billion dollars in 1998, it is expected to be $24.3 billion dollars in 2000, and ERP systems have been implemented in over 60% of multi-national firms. This market also cuts across industries for example, two of the worlds best-known software companies, IBM and Microsoft, now run most of their business on software neither of them makes, the SAP R/3 ERP package made by SAP AG (OLeary, 2000). The appeal of the ERP systems is clear. While most organizations typically had software systems that performed much of the component functions of ERP, the standardized and integrated ERP software environment provides a degree of interoperable that was difficult and expensive to achieve with stand alone, custom-built systems. For example, when a salesperson enters an order in the field, the transaction can immediately flow through to other functional areas both within and external to the firm. The order might trigger an immediate change in production plans, inventory stock levels or employees schedules, or lead to the automated generation of invoices and credit evaluations for the customer and purchase orders from suppliers. In addition to process automation, the ability of ERP systems to disseminate timely and accurate information also enables improved managerial and worker decision-making. Managers can make decisions based on current data, while individual workers can have greater a ccess to information, enabling increasing delegation of authority for production decisions as well as improved communications to customers (OLeary, 2000). 1.4 Model layer of ERP A Global Business Process Model is created which represents the whole ERP software product. This model is layered in 3 deeper levels. The first level is the System Configuration Level, which scopes on high-level option on the entire system. Option definition is therefore static: once a high-level option of the ERP system is chosen to be used within the organization, the choice cannot be made changed. One level deeper is the Object Level, which scopes on single data objects. The option on this level is more dynamic. The lowest level is the Occurrence level, which analyses single process occurrences. Because this level elaborates on object parameters, the option is very dynamic, meaning that options can easily be altered (Garg and venkitakrishnan, 2006). 1.5 Case study We systematically study the productivity and business performance effects of ERP using a unique dataset on firms that have purchased licenses for the SAP R/3 system, the most widely adopted ERP package. In the last 30 years, SAP has become the global leader in business software, serving more than 38,000 customers worldwide, including organizations of every size and type. Along the way, SAP has accumulated a unique knowledge base of best practices in more than 25 industries. The SAP tradition of leadership continues with a new generation of ERP software that gives the company unprecedented speed and flexibility to improve your bottom line by improving your enterprise resource planning (Web-1). Our goal is to better understand the economics of ERP implementations specifically, and more broadly, contribute to the understanding of the benefits of large-scale Industries in India. The author has tried to find out the success of ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) implementation and the return on investment depends, among other factors, on the active project management team. This success and return on investment is very important to the organization since implementation cost is very high and the resulting Information Technology platform needs to supply significantly to the organizations business strategy and survival. Since competitors are likely to be implementing ERP solutions at the same time, there is the added advantage to gain a benefit, a boundary. How is this achieved? According to the research the organizations that have successfully implemented the ERP systems are gathering the benefits of having integrating working environment, standardized process and operational benefits. There have been many disgusting stories of improper ERP implementation because of which many companies have become bankrupt and in many cases organizations have decided to discard the ERP implementation projects. Not all ERP implementations have been successful. Majority of these studies have used case studies to conclude their findings and very few have used the experiential study of the ERP implementation process and its success. The difficulties and high failure rate in implementing ERP systems have been widely cited in the literature (Davenport, 1998), but research on critical success factors in ERP implementation is rare and sectioned. Till now, only a few organizations have done a little to imagine the important predictors for initial and ongoing ERP implementation success (Brown and Vessey, 1999). This research is an effort to achieve that. It identifies the critical success factors in ERP implementation, categorizes them into the respective phases in the ERP life cycle model and discusses the importance of these factors in ERP implementation (Markus and Tanis, 2000). 1.6 Aims and objectives: This research is an attempt to broaden the ERP implementation research by defining the theoretical areas built and operational measures specific to ERP implementation and success measure to advance ERP research. 1.6.1 Aim The main aim of this research is to study and analyze the impact of implementing ERP solutions on large industries in India. 1.6.2 Objective The objective of this dissertation is to: Study about the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems and their business aspects. Analysing the implementation process of ERP systems and their Life cycle. Analysing the success and failure factors of the implementation of ERP systems. Analysing the pre and post implementation strategies involved in an ERP project. Understanding the effect of implementing ERP solutions on Indian large industries. Understanding the success factors of the ERP implementation by doing the case study on SAP (Systems, Applications and Products). This dissertation explains the importance of ERP implementation within an organization, primarily within the large industries and explains the issues related with the usability and the users opinion on an implemented ERP system. The research project discussed in this dissertation is derived from an implemented ERP system on large industries in Bangalore. The author has chosen SAP as his case study as the SAP provides the worlds best integrated solutions for the organizations. The system examined in this dissertation is the SAP implementation and the selected users for this system are the large industries in Bangalore like Bharath Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL), Karnataka State Road Transport Commission (KSRTC), Repcol, etc. 1.7 Layout of the dissertation Chapter 2 Literature Review This chapter explores the literature that is relevant to the research questions on Enterprise Resource Planning systems and their implementation, Life cycle, Success factors, failure factors, the business aspects of ERP and as well as ERP solutions provided by SAP and its significance. This chapter mainly focuses on eleven critical success factors of ERP systems. This chapter will form the bases for the argument presented in proceeding chapters. Chapter 3 Research Approach This chapter discusses the overall review of the research approach and methods that will guide this research. This chapter also discusses about the techniques for data analysis including triangulation. Chapter 4 Research Site In this chapter, the site of the study and how the research was carried out (data collection) is discussed in detail. This chapter also provides the analysis of the data which was collected and an overall conclusion of the analyzed data. The particular component of the ERP system is studied and the problems being encountered. Chapter 5 Conclusion and recommendations This chapter outlines the conclusion of the research with the recommendations and the suggestions for future research. Literature review According to Garg and venkitakrishnan (2006), business environment has changed more in the last five years than it was before. Enterprises are continuously trying to improve themselves in the areas quality, time to market, costumer satisfaction, performance and profitability. The Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software fulfils all these needs. 2.1 Definition of ERP Enterprise resource planning has been in defined in many ways as cited by Brown (2006) they are as follows Sets of business software which allows an organization for complete management of operations.(Al-Mashari, et al., 2003) A software infrastructure fixed with â€Å"best practices,† respectively best ways to do business based on common business practices or academic theory. (Bernroider Koch, 2001) An organization-wide Information System that tightly combines all aspects of a business. It promises one database, one application, and a unified interface across the entire enterprise. (Bingi, Sharma, Godla, 1999) Highly integrated enterprise-wide software package that computerize core business processes such as finance, human resources, manufacturing, and supply and distribution. (Holland Light, 1999) A packaged business software system that enables a company to manage the efficient and effective use of resources by providing a total, integrated solution for the organizations information-processing needs. (Nah, Lau, Kuang, 2001) Business software that combines information across the organization. This integration removes inconsistencies and enables the organization to attain consolidated reports. (Shakir, 2000 cited by Brown, 2006) A combination of business management practice and technology, where Information Technology integrates and automates many of the business practices associated with the core business processes, operations, or production aspects of a company to achieve specific business objectives. (Web-8:www.sap.com) 2.2 Features of ERP systems According to Garg and venkitakrishnan (2006) ERP system needs have the following features: Modular design comprising many distinct business modules such as distribution, accounting, manufacturing, financial, etc. Use centralized common database management system (DBMS) The modules are integrated and provide seamless data flow among the modules, increasing operational transparency through standard interface. They are generally complex systems involving high cost. They are flexible and offer best business practices. They are time-consuming and configuration setups for integrating with the companys business information. The modules work in real time with online and batch processing capabilities. They will soon be internet enabled (Garg and venkitakrishnan, 2006). 2.3 Modules Different ERP vendors provide ERP systems with some degree of speciality but the core modules are almost the same for all of them. Some of the core ERP modules are Human resource management, Transportation management, Manufacturing management, Accounting management, financial management, Production management, Sales and distribution management, Costumer relation management, Supply chain management and E-Business. The modules of an ERP system can either work as stand alone units or several modules can be combined together to form an integrated system. The systems are usually designed to operate under several operating platforms. SAP AG, the largest ERP vendor provides a number of modules with its famous R/3 ERP system. New modules are introduced by SAP and other vendors in response to the market and technological demand such as the internet technology (Garg and venkitakrishnan, 2006). Koch et al. (1999) also discusses three common approaches to ERP systems implementation in organisations. As the number of modules being implemented increases, there is a shift from a big-bang to a phased approach. Big bang This approach enables organizations to cast off all their legacy systems at once and implement a single ERP system across the entire organization. This is the most ambitious and difficult of approaches to ERP implementation (Koch et al., 1999). Franchise Strategy This strategy, also referred to in literature as ‘phased implementation, suits large or diverse companies that dont share many common processes across business units. Independent ERP systems are installed in each unit, while linking common processes (Koch et al., 1999). This is the most common way of implementing ERP and it allows the systems to link together only to share the information necessary for the corporation to get a performance big picture across all the business units. â€Å"Usually these implementations begin with a demonstration or â€Å"pilot† installation in a particularly open-minded and patient business unit where the core business of the corporation will not be disrupted if something goes wrong† (Koch et al. 1999 cited by Jenine, 2001). Slam-dunk With this approach, ERP dictates the process design and the focus is on just a few key business processes. This implementation strategy is most appropriate for smaller organizations (Koch et al., 1999). ERP systems are usually highly complex, expensive, and difficult to implement. Besides the traditional MRP functionality, ERP systems include applications for many other functional areas such as Customer Relationship Management, Sales and Marketing processes, Human Resources, Accounting and Finance, Supply Chain Management, and Operational and Logistical Management. Many ERP vendors are offering some or all of these functions as options within their offering. Organizations can usually pick and choose between modules, implementing only those which are applicable to their situation (Al-Mashari et al., 2000 cited by Brown, 2006). 2.4 Functions of ERP This software tries to combine all departments and functions across a company onto a single computer system that can serve each different departments particular needs (Koch et al. 1999). ERP systems are nothing more than generic representations of the way a typical company which does business (Koch et al. 1999 cited by Jenine, 2001). ERP is software, which collects data from various key business processes and stores in a single comprehensive data repository where they can be used by other parts of the business. Many organizations are now using ERP systems to solve their problems. ERP improves organizational co-ordination, efficiency and decision-making. It is a kind of software, which helps managers to find out the most and the least profitable jobs. This in turn, helps managers to eliminate the most unprofitable jobs (Zygmont, 1998). Pp 89-91. ERPs allow computerising the tasks involved in performing a business process so it is important that implementers start with a clear expression of the business problems being addressed (Slater 1999 cited by Jenine, 2001). The most common reason that companies walk away from multimillion dollar ERP projects is that they discover that the software does not support one of their important business processes (Koch et al. 1999). Not only do the business functions need to be identified, the more delicate issues such as the companys corporate culture and management style must be examined to enable a holistic view of the implementation (Slater 1999). ERP systems stress the importance of accountability, responsibility and communication within an organisation. They focus on optimizing the way things are done internally rather than with customers, suppliers or partners (Koch et al. 1999 cited by Jenine, 2001). It is said that ERP is the best expression of the inseparability of business and information technology (Gupta, 2000). ERP systems highlight one specific theme: integration of all organisational processes and this has attracted many organizations to adopt ERPs in recent year (Sia, et.al. 2002 cited by Thavapragasam, 2003). According to Gupta (2000) ERP allows companies to integrate departmental information and for many users, an ERP is a â€Å"does it all† system that performs everything from entry of sales orders to customer service. Moreover, an ERP-system enables companies to integrate data used throughout the whole organization and holds operation and logistic, procurement, sales and marketing, human resource and financial modules (Wassenaar, et al., 2002 cited by Thavapragasam, 2003). ERPs are often known as off the shelf IT solutions that will enable organizations to achieve faster cycle fastens, reduces cost, and improved customer service (Sia, et al., 2002 cited by Thavapragasam, 2003). Wassenaar, et al. (2002) continues to suggest that ERP-system implementation implies a much stronger organizational change that normal information system development. Problems associated with software implementations are neither new nor specific to enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems. 2.5 Impact of implementation There is a small but growing literature on the impact of ERP systems; the majority of these studies are interviews, cases studies or a collection of case studies and industry surveys (Davenport, 1998). McAfee (1999) studied the impact of ERP systems on self-reported company performance based on a survey of Indian implementers of SAP R/3 packages. Participating companies reported substantial performance improvement in several areas as a result of their ERP implementation, including their ability to provide information to customers, cycle times, and on-time completion rates. 2.5.1 Benefits ERPs are designed to help manage organizational resources in an integrated manner. The primary benefits that are expected to result from their implementation are closely related to the level of integration that is promoted across functions in an enterprise. The professional literature has been proactive in determining the types of benefits that companies might anticipate from their ERP systems and to what extent organizations had actually attained those benefits on a post-implementation basis. Expectations for improved business performance after adoption may result from both operational and strategic benefits (Irving 1999; Jenson and Johnson 1999 cited by Nicolaou, 2004). In the Benchmarking Partners study (1998), respondent companies anticipated both tangible and intangible benefits. The most significant intangible benefits related to internal integration, improved information and processes, and improved customer service, while tangible benefits related to cost efficiencies in inventory, personnel, procurement and the time needed to close books, as well as improvements in productivity, cash/order management, and overall profitability. In assessing the extent to which they had actually attained those benefits, however, on a post-implementation basis, it was evident that they were not able to improve profitability or lower personnel, inventories, or system maintenance costs as much as they had hoped. On the other hand, respondents noted better-than-expected results in overall productivity and in order-management cycle time, as well as procurement, on-time delivery, and the ability to close financial cycles (cited by Nicolaou, 2004). Likewise, in the Conference Board study (Peterson et al. 2001 cited by Nicolaou, 2004), responding companies reported anticipating similar types of tangible and intangible benefits, although it was evident that the realization of those benefits required more time than expected. Where as Gattiker and Goodhue (2000) group the literature of ERP benefits into four categories: Improve information flow across sub-units, standardization and integration facilitates communication and better coordination; Enabling centralization of administrative activities such as account payable and payroll; Reduce IS maintenance costs and increase the ability to deploy new IS functionality; ERP may be instrumental in moving a firm away from inefficient business processes and toward accepted best of practice processes. The above studies on the impact of ERP systems suggest that there are potentially substantial benefits for firms that successfully implemented ERP systems (Ragowsky and Somers, 2000). We note here the significance of ERP impact has started to attract more attention from the organizations (Sarkis and Gunasekaran, 2001 cited by Hitt et. al, 2001). 2.5.2 Limitations Limitations of ERP systems have also been widely documented; as identified below. ERPs can have a negative impact on the work practices and culture of an organization (Gefen, 2000) There is a need for extensive technical support prior to its actual use (Gefen, 2000). The need for competent consulting staff to extensively customize the ERP to increase the acceptance of a new system (Gefen 2000). â€Å"Lack of feature-function fit† between the companys needs and the packages available (Markus and Tanis 2000). It takes an average of 8 months after the new system is installed to see any benefits (Koch et al. 1999). The Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) of ERP, as identified by the Meta Group, includes hardware, software, professional services and internal staff costs. TCO is averaged at $15 million per system (Koch et al., 1999). 2.6 ERP lifecycle The ERP life cycle is comprised of four phases namely analysis, installation, final preparation and go live (Robey, Ross and Boudreau, 2000). An integrative, theoretical framework was introduced which we call â€Å"integrated ERP implementation,† which is comprised of a set of theoretically important constructs. This framework has been developed based on the project life cycle approach, in which the ERP implementation project goes through different stages before it goes live. There are number of factors that affect the ERP implementation process are termed in this study as implementation critical success factors. Upon the completion of ERP implementation project, performance is measured by a mix of outcomes (Robey, Ross and Boudreau, 2000). Since the models are unpredictable, they cannot be measured directly, multi-item scales, each composed of a set of individual items, were needed to obtain indirect measures of each construct (Robey, Ross and Boudreau, 2000). Implementation planning- It is the first phase of ERP implementation in which initial implementation plan is prepared, team members are selected (which could be new or roll over from the acquisition team), project scope and initial objectives are defined. In this phase as well the implementation strategies and outcomes are identified as well. Installation- It is the second phase of Implementation process, activities such as hardware and network is installed according to the requirements of ERP system, configuration of ERP is conducted, system customization is performed and change management plan is executed. Final Preparation- In this phase data from legacy system is imported to the new system, data is converted and system testing is performed. Moreover, the users are trained on the system. Go Live- Going Live is the point in time in the ERP implementation, when the system is first used for actual production. In this phase, ERP system goes lives, progress is monitored and user feedback is reviewed (Robey, Ross and Boudreau, 2000). 2.7 Critical Factors of ERP implementation success This section discusses the 11 factors that are critical to ERP implementation success (cited by Kuang, 2001). ERP teamwork and composition ERP teamwork and composition is important throughout the ERP life cycle. The ERP team should consist of the best people in the organization (Bingi et al., 1999; Rosario, 2000; Wee, 2000). Building a cross-functional team is also critical. The team should have a mix of consultants and internal staff so the internal staff can develop