The Impacts of Change Management Practices on Project...

Construction Management and Economics (April 2008) 26, 387–393 The impacts of change management practices on project change cost performance YI ZOU1 and SANG-HOON LEE2* 1 2 FMC Technologies Inc., Houston, USA Department of Engineering Technology, University of Houston, 304A Technology Bldg, University of Houston, Houston 77204, USA Received 18 June 2007; accepted 15 January 2008 Change cost is one of the most sensitive aspects of construction project management, but it is also one of the most difficult to control. It has been widely recognized that construction projects that adopt change management practices generally incur lower change costs in comparison with project budgets. The relationship between change management†¦show more content†¦Table 1 illustrates the demographic composition of the BMM database based on respondent type, project nature and industrial group. As can be seen in Table 1, most of the projects are in the heavy industry sector. Such an extremely uneven sample population distribution poses difficulty in the subsequent data analyses, and it is therefore one of the primary considerations when the analysis techniques are selected. Appendix II presents the 14 questions used in this research. Zou and Lee of projects (Construction Industry Institute, 2003). With all of these considerations, this research only focuses on the impacts of change management practice on project change cost performance. Research objectives It is worth noting that this research is to be explanatory instead of confirmative or predictive. In other words, the purpose of this research is to reveal potential correlations1 among project characteristics, change management practice and project change cost performance. The two main objectives of this research are (1) to investigate the effectiveness of individual change management practice elements in terms of improving project change cost performance—e.g. for a particular change management practice element, could the construction project using it have a high probability of

Prison Overcrowding And Its Effects On The United States...

Per Derek Gilna’s report on Increase in Federal Prison Population, Overcrowding, prisons have become overpopulated throughout a five-year span from 2006 to 2011 (Gilna, page 48). Prison overcrowding has become a plague in the United States for some time now. The US Bureau of Justice Statistics shows more than two-million adults are incarcerated in US federal and state prisons. There are many reasons that prisons are becoming overpopulated but not such a certain cause. To fix the problem, attention must be brought towards the causes of this problem. Its happen to become a serious issue because it affects the prisoners, tax payers, prison staff and millions of others living in the U.S. as well. To put a stop to this continuous problem, action must take place to start prison reform and to structure our country to punish criminals in manner that is more reasonable than how we currently do it in today’s world. Mostly everyone today might have some type of relation or connect ion to a person that may be in jail or prison. That person may have committed a more serious crime than others that probably made a mistake but somehow ended up incarcerated for a very long time whether they were innocent or guilty. The rate of incarceration in the US is indeed high. Nearly, 455 people per every 100,000 people are incarcerated (Smolowe, 1994). These numbers are higher than any other country in the world. Looking at South Africa, our second closest, there are only 311 people per ever 100,000Show MoreRelatedThe Effects Of Prison Overcrowding On The United States Essay1713 Words   |  7 PagesThe United States has the biggest imprisonment rate on the planet, and paying a high cost for it. Detainment strength finished in the mid-1970s when the jail populace expanded from 300,000 to 1.6million detainees, and the imprisonment rate from 100 for each 100,000 to more than 500 for every 100,000. Nonetheless, there is by all accounts little relationship between the wrongdoin g rate and the imprisonment rate (Clear et al., 2013). One of the causes of prison overcrowding comes about because of theRead MoreOvercrowding And Its Effects On The United States Prison System1178 Words   |  5 Pages Overcrowding prisons are an issue that has been influencing the United States prison population for decades, however what is the true significance of overcrowding. As indicated by Jeff Bleich (1989) â€Å"the term overcrowding is repetitive, since crowding already refers to a higher level of social density than is desired†. An overcrowded prison is a shocking condition that causes outrage and dissatisfaction among detainees (Haney, 2014). This condition is so undesirable that one can consider it as unconstitutionalRead MorePrison Overcrowding Essay1184 Words   |  5 Pages Prison Overcrowding Nicole Neal American Intercontinental University Abstract This research paper is to explore the impact of prison overcrowding. The United States has a, what seems to be everlasting, prison overcrowding problem. Not only does the United States have this dilemma, but also many other countries have overcrowded prisons as well. Many issues need to be addressed; ways to reduce the prison populations and how to effectively reduce prison cost withoutRead MorePrison Overcrowding And The United States1555 Words   |  7 Pagesones.† The prisons in the United States have been overcrowded for many years and require a change in order to fix this. Some of the main causes for prison overcrowding that will be covered in this paper are mass incarceration, long sentencing, recidivism, and prisoners of drug crimes. Overcrowding of prisons in the United States is a major issue that affects not only the prisoners themselves, but taxpayers and politicians. Although there are many different solutions to prison overcrowding such as buildingRead MorePrison Overcrowding : The United States1535 Words   |  7 Pages 2017 Prison Overcrowding The United States has the highest number of incarcerated individuals than other countries. Offenders are arrested every day for minor and major offences such as murder. America is hard on crime. When someone breaks the law the criminal justice’s system seeks an eye for an eye. Prison overcrowding has become a major problem in the United States, it is very expensive to house an inmate and there are other methods to punish offenders without sending them to prison for extendedRead MoreEffects Of Prison Overcrowding1345 Words   |  6 Pagesproblems and a few of the effects that prison overcrowding causes towards the inmates and the guards. I will first address the issue of violence that prison overcrowding causes. My next point will be the health of the inmates discussing both their physical and mental while in overcrowded prisons. Lastly I will discuss the physical and mental health of the correctional officers and how the job could lead to correctional officers having issues in their private life. Prison Overcrowding has become a majorRead MorePrison Overcrwoding in America and England1234 Words   |  5 PagesPrison overcrowding in the United States is due to many reoccurring charges that is being sentenced to inmates that have been released and returning. As the increasing inmate population is a growing concern in the U.S, many law enforcement agencies and academic expert have analyzed data about the situation and are working to combat it. Research shows that Drugs are mainly to blame. Of the inmates in federal prison as of September 2011, more than half or 50.4% was serving sentences for drug offensesRead MoreThe Overcrowding Of The Correctional Facilities1730 Words   |  7 Pagesthreat to maintaining this balance is the overcrowding of prisons. In 2011, the United States Supreme Court ruled that massive overcrowding of California prisons violates its prisoner’s eighth amendment right protecting them from cruel and unusual punishment (Boylan, 2015, p. 558). At the time California’s correctional institutions were at double their capacity, housing over 155, 500 prisoners in only 33 institutions (Specter, 2010, p. 194). The overcrowding of correctional facilities is one of theRead MoreIncreased Population of Prisons Essay1606 Words   |  7 PagesOvercrowded prisons and improper punishment systems are enormous social issues for our government. The United States has seen steady growth in its prisons. A projected increment in seen due to â€Å"get-tough† policies that locks up offenders for longer sentences (Ohlemacher, 2007, para. 1). The correction system had been through various phases of transformation, and the government had been tough on crime; this approach had resulted in rising prison populations. There are many factors that cause overcrowdingRead MorePrison Systems Do Not Control The Number Of Prisoners Sent1286 Words   |  6 PagesCrimes in America 26 March 27, 2016 Overcrowding in Prisons The prison systems do not control the number of prisoners sent to jails. However, they have to deal with the consequences of this fact. In the last twenty years, all over the world, it is experienced a rapid increase in the number of prisoners. This growth is not limited to any particular type of jurisdiction or political system - it is observed in all regions of the world. According to the incapacitation effect, the shorter the span of opportunity

Rwanda Genocide and Refugee Crisis Essay example

How can I ever forget the scene where my husband was massacred right in my presence. It was a nightmare. It was a nightmare. I live through it every day and it is engraved forever in my memory.† During one April, not so long ago, the world sat back and watched as a turbulent political situation in central Africa turned into something the world will never be able to forget. 800,000 people murdered in just 100 days, 800,000 people needlessly slaughtered at the hands of extremists, 800,000 men, women, and children gone because of a more serious problem rooted in social prejudice and inequality, 800,000 killed in a genocide that the world could do nothing about until it was too late. Almost 50 years after the world pledged to never let†¦show more content†¦Next, the issue of return and repartition will be explored, including the issues of the forced repartition of refugees as well as the socio-political factors that returning refugees and the Rwandan government must not only face, but deal with. Finally, this paper will talk about the future for Rwanda and the future of refugees within the Great Lakes region of Africa. In order to help visualize the processes of re fugee movements, as well as the geography of the Great Lakes region, a map of the region has been included in Appendix 1. The Creation of a Refugee Crisis: War and Genocide The violent events of 1994 were not something that occurred by surprise or without warning. Ethnic tensions and political unrest have fueled a hostile environment within Rwanda as well as within other countries in the surrounding Great Lakes region for many years, the roots of which date back to well before the conflict in 1994 began. In order to truly understand the genocide that occurred, events dating back to 1959 and even before must be briefly examined. A majority of the ethnic tensions throughout the tumultuous history of Rwanda lies within the two major groups known as the Hutu and the Tutsi. As Tony Waters points out â€Å"ThereShow MoreRelatedRwanda s Current Government And Foreign Policy878 Words   |  4 Pages Rwandans experienced periods of exile, internal displacement and refugee status since the closing years of Rwanda’s colonial rule under Belgium. Starting in 1959 and up until what could still be argued as on-going is a section of the Rwandan population not being able to living in their ancestral homeland. There are two significant period of Rwandan exile in terms of Rwanda’s current government and foreign policy. The first was the period of 1959 to 1962 when an estimated one million, mostly TutsiRead MoreThe Rwandan Genocide And The Genocide1654 Words   |  7 PagesRwandan Genocide A genocide is defined as the deliberate killing of a group of people, especially of a certain ethnicity. By that definition and almost any other a dictionary could define, the killing of the Tutsis was certainly a genocide.The Rwandan Genocide occurred in 1994, in an African country called Rwanda. A long history of building friction between the Hutus and the Tutsis undeniably caused the mass murder of over 800,000 Tutsis, but various countries’ failure to act allowed the genocide to goRead MoreViolations of Human Rights Essay1122 Words   |  5 Pagesthe Gates, shows audiences the horror that took place during the Rwandan genocide. Shot in the same area as the actual genocide took place, the film tells the story of the Hutu extremist attempt at destroying the countries minority group known as the Tutsi. Many human rights violations were shown in this movie, shedding light on the real issue of how the international community failed to intervene during this time of crisis and p revent the deaths of thousands of people. A few examples of human rightsRead MoreThe Conflict Of Syria During The Arab Spring Protests1147 Words   |  5 Pageshundred-thousands. About 7.6 million people are internally displaced, One in a five Syrian is now refugee. More than four million Syrians have fled their homes. Neighboring countries take in most refugees. (UCHR). Around 14000 children were killed. The Assad regime and the rebel groups were already investigated, and the Assad regime implicated in the use of chemical weapons of war by UN auditors. Figure 1: Syrian refugee crisis Source: www.aljazeera.com According to Human Rights Watch, hospitals have becomeRead MoreModern Genocide in Africa Essay928 Words   |  4 Pageshave been two instances of genocide: the 1972 mass killings of Hutus by the Tutsi-dominated government, and the 1993 mass killings of the Tutsis by the Hutu populace. Both of these events in Burundi received different levels of attention by the international community and the western media due to a lack of foreign governmental interest, political distraction, and an unwillingness to acknowledge the severity of these atrocities in Burundi. Interestingly, events of genocide occurring at times withoutRead MoreGenocide and the Propaganda Media Essay1446 Words   |  6 Pagesfeeling of being a bystander as countries slaughter their own people has been in legal debate since 1933, it has gradually developed into a concept that can be applied in many situations, both historical and contemporary. The meaning of the phrase genocide is the cleansing of a race or ethnicity i n a country. There has been evidence that this phrase can be used to describe past and present day massacres being committed around the world and how media has changed its perception on this issue overtimeRead MoreExtermination in Genocide1105 Words   |  5 PagesMarch 2012 Extermination in Genocide All genocides that have occurred in human history include various stages that are usually present; however, extermination, the 7th stage of genocide, is one that is present in all genocides. From the Armenian genocide and Darfur genocide, to the Rwandan and Jewish genocides, extermination is ever present in all of these. Extermination is explained to be mass killings of people, which defines the legal term â€Å"genocide†, and is caused when the killersRead MoreViolence Is A Form Of Violence1838 Words   |  8 Pagesconcept of violence is genocide. There has been much contest over the definition of genocide, but generally it refers to the intentional destruction of a particular race, ethnicity, religious group, or nationality. Genocide is a form of violence that has plagued history throughout time in both ancient and modern societies—from the Moriori genocide in 1835 to the current day genocide in Darfur. One of the most ambiguous cases of genocide since the Holocaust was the Rwandan genocide, which began in 1994Read MoreThe Death Of Genocide : The Annihilation Of Minorities Essay1548 Words   |  7 Pages Genocide is the systematic mass murder of an ethnic, race, religious, or national group based on discriminatory preconceptions (Payne 33). The heart of genocide is destruction: the annihilation of minorities. Minorities have always been the scapegoat for most governments in times of crisis or when the government has been mismanaged. Minorities are even considered non-human. The annihilation of a specific target group does raise to question why and how this would be carried out. A genocide happensRead MoreThe Political And Media Views On The Genocide3280 Words   |  14 Pagesindividuals will know multi situations that happened in the genocide of Rwanda. All in all, the focus is clearly on the political and media views on the genocide, but overall this paper talks about what happened before, during, and after the genocide, to get a complete understanding of what actual went on. Before the genocide, there was already a division between the Hutus and Tutsis. This came about because Eur opean colonist moved into Rwanda causing many issues. During the war A plane the president

Naomi Shihab Nye free essay sample

Anna Speed Abernathy Honors 9th Grade Literature March 2, 2011 Kindness Critical Analysis Kindness -Naomi Shihab Nye Before you know what kindness really is You must lose things, Feel the future dissolve in a moment Like salt in a weakened broth. What you held in your hand, What you counted and carefully saved, All this must go so you know How desolate the landscape can be Between the regions of kindness. How you ride and ride Thinking the bus will never stop, The passengers eating maize and chicken Will stare out the window forever. Before you learn the tender gravity of kindness, You must travel where the Indian in a white ponchoLies dead by the side of the road. You must see how this could be you, How he too was someone Who journeyed through the night with plans And the simple breath that kept him   alive. Before you know kindness as the deepest thing inside, You must know sorry as the other deepest thing. We will write a custom essay sample on Naomi Shihab Nye or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page You must wake up with sorrow. You must speak to it till your voice Catches the thread of all sorrows And you see the size of the cloth. Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, Only kindness that ties your shoes And sends you out into the day to mail letters and purchase bread, Only kindness that raises its headFrom the crowd of the world to say It is I you have been looking for, And then goes with you everywhere Like a shadow or a friend. Colombia. Do you know what kindness really is? The poem â€Å"Kindness†, by Naomi Shihab Nye, is a deep and meaningful poem that uses personification, free verse rhythm, simile, and alliteration to bring out the message that society does not fully understand kindness until one looses something, and this can be seen throughout American history as well. Critics Pamela Steed Hill and Anna Maria Hong give their opinions on Nye’s work. Each explains what they personally think it means. Nye thinks that kindness is one of the most important things in society today. To begin, the theme is evident throughout the text. The main theme as a whole is that kindness is not completely understood or appreciated by society. People sometimes become blinded to life’s opportunities to kindness, or kindness itself. Some people would agree that it is one of the most treasured and hard to come by values. Compared to the saying â€Å"you don’t know what you have until it’s gone†, the author also believes that one may have to lose something, or even everything, to understand what kindness really means.Society can become too focused on the future and reaching goals instead of stopping and smelling the roses along the way. Nye uses straightforward language to make points so that readers can fully understand the meaning. Her use of the word â€Å"you† refers to a universal you. That means that she is talking to whoever is reading this poem at whatever time. It doesn’t matter who the reader is. Kindness is more complex than it seems, and she uses poetic devices to emphasize that point. To begin this point, Naomi Shihab Nye uses personification, free verse rhythm, simile, and alliteration in this poem to give readers her full message.Much personification is used to show that kindness can change a lot of things in your life if you let it. For example, â€Å"Then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore, Only kindness that ties your shoes† (Nye lines 27-28) explains that once you truly understand what kindness is, everything you do is done because you want to be kind. â€Å"Only kindness that raises its head from the crowd of the world to say It is I you have been looking for,† (Nye Lines 30-33). This means that even when you feel like no one else is there for you, you can still be kind.It will never turn away from you. â€Å"And then it goes with you everywhere like a shadow or a friend† (Nye Lines 33-34) helps add to this point. Even in the world’s hardest times, people can still find ways to be kind. The next poetic device is free verse. Nye decided to use free verse for the rhyme scheme of this poem. It creates a subtle rhythm and plain language to make a point. Instead of being focused on the flow and rhyme of the poem, she makes sure that readers listen to the theme. Simile is used a few times throughout the text as well.For example, â€Å"feel the future dissolve in a moment like salt in a weakened broth† (Nye lines 3-4) just goes back to part of the theme that says that one must lose something in order for them to view things differently. The salt in a weakened broth refers to the way that the future seems to slip out from your fingers. Just like when salt dissolves and makes all the difference in a weak soup, kindness can make all the difference in ones future. The last poetic devise is alliteration. Alliteration repeats the first consonant sounds in words to keep the readers interested and put emphasis on a point. Feel the future† (Nye line 3) and â€Å"held in your hand† (Nye line 6) is some of this poems alliteration. It simply adds effect to how one should really feel kindness. Things can seem to slip right out of your hands but kindness will always be there. Lastly, critics Pamela Steed Hill and Anna Maria Hong give their opinions on this poem. Hill begins by saying that Nye knows that kindness is not always plainspoken and accessible, even though she speaks directly and easily to readers. People cannot only read this poem, but have to learn from their experiences in order to fully understand Nye’s point.Therefore, Hill thinks that when people go through hard times, they understand the gift of kindness, no matter how small it may be. Anna Maria Hong says similar things to Pamela Steed Hill. Hong says that Nye offers that instead of being a random act, kindness is received after going through certain experiences. She also enjoys the use of metaphors and personification. One great point that Hong makes is that she believes that the Indian on the bus refers to feeling uncomfortable or foreign in an environment. Most people look out the window instead of embracing it. If this poem was compared to an event in real life, one might use an example of going to a new school. When a kid or teenager enters a new territory, they may not feel socially accepted at first. It is human nature that making friends is not an easy task. That is why other peers should be kind toward new student. You never know what kind of friend you might get unless you try. However, most people don’t know what being a new student is like unless they have actually been one themselves. In conclusion, Naomi Shihab Nye has written a truly meaningful poem about the meaningfulness of kindness. Once one knows what kindness really is, you will always be reminded of it. However, Nye says that you must loose things in order to gain the full feeling of it. She uses personification, free verse rhythm, simile, and alliteration to make all of the most important points in this poem. Pamela Steed Hill and Anna Maria Hong give their opinions, and overall, enjoyed this poem. Students should socially accept and be kind toward a new student as well. Little situations like that can help people feel kindness. It is one of the most valued traits in society, and Naomi Shihab Nye does an excellent job in explaining that.