Gender Bias Essay

The concept of equality is regarded as an inalienable human right that should be enjoyed by all individuals regardless of their gender, race, religion, and other differential factors (United Nations, 2009). However, it is clearly seen that this is not practiced in the society that exists today. Discrimination still persists and this is greatly exemplified by the inequality that is based on gender differences. It is undeniable that women are still placed in a disadvantageous or inferior position as compared with their male counterparts. There are indeed substantial changes that have taken place in the past that made the situation of women better than before. Nevertheless, it is still obvious that there are still many changes that should be made before women can achieve the real essence of equality that they rightfully deserve. The discriminatory practices against women can be rooted back in the early history of the world wherein philosophers are still trying to make sense in the world that human beings live in. Even in the past, women have already been seen as inferior to men and this is evidently proven in the development of language. According to Becky Michele Mulvaney, the author of the article entitled â€Å"Gender Differences in Communication: An Intercultural Experience,† gender is both an influence of and a product of communication. In line with this, she pointed out how the idea of gender is first learned by an individual through talking with other people. A person could see the difference between the language that is used by girls and is often characterized by qualifiers and fillers to soften their message. There are words that are acceptable if used by a boy but not by a girl. Moreover, famous philosophers also focused on the image of an active male that makes a female as mere a supporting character. This is exemplified by Plato who defined women as â€Å"lesser men† and Aristotle who said that women are â€Å"a deformity, a misbegotten male;† as well as St Thomas Aquinas who argues that women should not have been created by God (Mulvaney, 2004). In the same manner, discriminatory practices against women still continue up to this present time. The patriarchal influences of key personalities in history and the general perspective of the people before, that women are inferior to men established a societal thinking that further propagated this view. Despite the improvements in the status of women in the society, it is evident that they are still perceived as second class citizens. This is proven in the professional lives of women wherein there are still biases and discrimination practiced against them because of their gender. Even though there are women that are already working in industries that are previously dominated by males, there is still an observable discrepancy that shows that a large number of men are in the working force. Furthermore, women are also having difficulties climbing the professional ladder of success because they are not given a fair consideration because of their gender even if they have the same capabilities sometimes even better skills than their male contenders (Farough, 2005). Being the case, it can be said that the inequality experienced by women is often not in terms of their age, race, or religion even though these factors are often intertwined. The inequality that they have to go through especially in their jobs is brought about by the social construct that women are inferior to men. The society, the one that is responsible for creating this concept, should also be the one responsible to deconstruct the notion of gender inequality. In order to do so, it entails using approach that deals with the cooperation and collaboration of people regardless of their genders. The Feminist/Sociological approach entails that people should work toward deconstructing this gender bias especially the males, and should realize that there are more disadvantageous effects if this inequality persists as compared with the privilege that they get from it (Farough, n. d. ). Furthermore, gender inequality could also be addressed through the proper use of language and communication. People should realize that language and communication are also intercultural factors wherein diversity should be accepted because there of the inherent differences between males and females (Mulvaney, 2004). However, it should be remembered that these differences should not render one gender inferior than the other. References Farough, S. (2005). The Negative Consequences of Male Privilege. In Understanding and anaging Diversity: Readings, Cases, & Exercises. 3rd edition. (Chapter 21). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Mulvaney, B. M. (2004) Gender Differences in Communication: An Intercultural Experience. In International Communication: A Global Reader. (pp. 221-229). United States: SAGE Publications. United Nations. (2009). The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Retrieved January 13, 2008, from http://www. un. org/Overview/rights. html.

China’s Relations with African Countries: Strategic Perspective (Case of Madagascar) Essay

Year 1st Semester Course: MEDIA IN CHINA [pic] TOPIC: CHINA’S RELATIONS WITH AFRICAN COUNTRIES: STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE (CASE OF MADAGASCAR) STU. NAME: RANDRIANASOLO Fenolanto Salome STU. NO. CLASS SCHOOL LECTUERER: PROFESSOR LUO QING GRADE: Master CHINA’S RELATIONS WITH AFRICAN COUNTRIES: STRATEGIC PERSPECTIVE (CASE OF MADAGASCAR) INTRODUCTION In recent decades, while China can ignore other countries, other countries cannot ignore China. It is beginning to play an increasingly important role in many areas such as economics, political, and socio-cultural. This is a great new rising power at the beginning of the 21st century. This explosive growth of China has generated significant debates among policymakers, scholars and business leaders on a number of levels. China is now building relationships in several countries especially in Africa. There have been a number of contacts between China and African states in recent decades. This paper seeks to understand this recent shift in China’s relation with African countries such as Madagascar. Historical Background In 1955: 29 African and Asian states create the â€Å"Third world† to strengthen its base in Africa and Asia; Since 1960s: . The Chinese leader Mao supported the African independences. China supports the ambassadors of the emerging countries against Western interference in their internal affairs at the United Nations. In 1978: Deng Xiaoping decided to open the Chinese economy by establishing a new form of socialism; Since the 1990: African economies have opened up for the Asian powers including China; China becomes the spokesperson for developing countries within the WTO (world trade organization) Partnership China-Madagascar: China has become increasingly active on the African continent in recent years and this activity has drawn the attention of scholars and journalists, among others. Diplomatic Relations: Madagascar and China established diplomatic relations November 6, 1972 and bilateral relations between the two countries continue to consolidate, develop and to strengthen since. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 1972, their relationship and cooperation in the economic, commercial and various grow without ceasing. In recent years, the leaders of both countries attach great importance the development of relations and exchanges of high-level increase, which gives great impetus to the rapid development of bilateral relations of friendship and Malagasy cooperation. The Minister of Foreign Affairs established the first diplomatic relations between China and Madagascar during the transition (1972-1975); The celebration of the 40th anniversary of diplomatic relationship between China and Madagascar held on 6th November 2012. Several high Malagasy personalities visited China since the 1990s such as the President of the Republic Albert ZAFY in 1994; Madagascar President Marc RAVALOMANANA arrived in Beijing in 2008. During the current transitional period, Ambassador of China Shen Yongxiang has presented his credentials to the Head of State Andrinirina RAJOELINA. Several high Chinese leaders such as the President of the National People’s Congress Chen Muhua; the Second Prime Minister Jiang Chungun and the Vice President of the Republic Hu Jintao was visited Madagascar. Economic Relations: If China’s economic weight is felt in African countries, in particular Madagascar by its commercial dynamism, the country begins to be an investor not negligible. Since 2005, the partnership agreements between Madagascar and China have continued to increase. For example, the establishment of a cement factory, the construction of a large 5 star hotel by a Chinese group, the future construction of a hospital. And even well before the year 2005, investment in China has already had its place in the economy, be it in the industry â€Å"trade†. China is the largest partner of Madagascar in terms of imports; 95% of products from Madagascar benefit from the Chinese treatment tariff exemption; The agreement of economic and technical cooperation between China and Madagascar was signed in 2006. Several Chinese companies investing in Madagascar in the infrastructure, energy, the exploitation of oil and raw materials. Bilateral cooperation in the economic and commercial widens constantly rapidly increasing bilateral trade, investment activates the  day and exchanges in cultural, educational and human intensify. The consultations between the two countries in international affairs reinforce more. Cultural Relation: During 40 years of partnership, China has provided more than 350 scholarships and has trained more than 860 government officials and journalist. CONFUCIUS Institutes were established in three provinces of the Big Island. Impact and perspective: The Chinese presence opens a new perspective for developing countries and it presents many more choices in terms of policy and developing model. It allows exploitation of natural resources with higher prices of raw materials and facilitates access to international aid. It promotes the diversification of investment, a new spirit based on the expression win-win more attractive. China’s growth is pushing up global demand and therefore  the price of commodities exported by African countries. In addition, China has become the main partner of several African countries: it provides cheaper manufactured goods and reduces their dependence on their ways traditional trading partners. In the case of Madagascar, the local market is still underdeveloped in that 20% of the population live in urban areas and in this context, the abundance of Chinese products (food, textiles, toys, shoes, appliances, †¦ Markets Local penalizes local industries to the extent that the price of Chinese products is well below the cost of local industries and supply is abundant. The competitiveness of local industries is low compared to the value of a product Chinese including textiles and food products. In the Capital Antananarivo, expansion and Chinese domination can be analyzed via the rapid development of a shopping center Behoririka (name of district) in the middle Capital in the image of Chinatown. Added to this is the development of restorations. However, these imports improve the well-being of people in that price consumer goods from China are within the powers of purchases population. The development of these businesses creates jobs but the salary level remains insufficient compared to the level of wages in the private sector in Madagascar. Chinese competition also exerts downward pressure on the cost of investment. Chinese equipment (transport, agriculture) is very cheap an alternative to higher quality goods. However, the lifetime of the equipment is not long compared to the same type of equipment from Europe. Chinese growth will boost African exports but will also increase volatility. China opened its market by treating preferential tariff least developed countries, but this has not yet been impacted on African exports. In the case of Madagascar, export to the China is still insufficient compared to the values of imports and has been a decade. This increases the trade deficit Malagasy and may undermine the external reserves position of the Central Bank of Madagascar. If Europe the main export destination from Madagascar, China still relatively low and represents 2. 2%. In terms of trade between China and Madagascar, relationships become increasingly important during the last decade. Current trends regional trade showed a significant increase and the value of continuous imports from China, and a modest increase in export exports Madagascar to China. Changes in imports and exports of Madagascar with China do not evolve at the same rate, resulting in an imbalance of trade. The exchanges are obviously in favor of China. CONCLUSION In short cooperation with China is mutually beneficial and China has promoted the cultural development in Madagascar. Projects underway in Madagascar, which involve Chinese aid, are also very visible. In terms of foreign direct investment, the weight of Chinese investors is not negligible and is around 10%. The majority of Chinese capital from Hong Kong. Chinese companies are among the providers of jobs in Madagascar. If the participation of France in the capital is very dominant in Madagascar, China’s participation has increased by 0. 8% to 10. 9% over the same period and has a negative influence on the situation in France. This attests to the strengthening of the position China and offset somewhat the impact of French colonization of the current situation. The friendly cooperation in the field of education, health and trade, have borne remarkable fruit. We think that with the principle of mutual benefit, cooperation between China and Madagascar will have a bright future. REFERENCES †¢ http://www. bbc. co. uk/news/world-africa-13864364 †¢ http://www. irinnews. org/Madagascar †¢ http://www. state. gov/p/af/ci/ma/ †¢ file:///F:/feed%20back%20de%2040%20ans. htm †¢ file:///F:/CCTV%20mirrroir%20d%20afrik%20frappe%20chinoise. htm file:///F:/mada%20chine%202. htm †¢ http://www. xinhuanet. com/english/home. htm †¢ Perspectives economiques en Afrique. OCDE. 2006 †¢ Plan cadre des Nations Unies pour l’assistance au developpement (UNDAF) Madagascar 2008-2011. Systeme des Nations Unies. Juin 2007 †¢ Rapport National sur le Developpement Humain Madagascar 2006 : Le s technologies de l’information et de la communication et developpement humain. PNUD. Avril 2007 †¢ Les echanges entre la Chine et L’Afrique : Situation actuelle, perspectives et sources pour l’analyse , Jean Raphael Chaponniere, STATECO N °100, 2006.

The process of economic integration

Chapter 1: The route to EMU/Euro AreaEconomic integrating – definitionBecause the Economic and Monetary Union represent a portion of the procedure of economic integrating, foremost a definition of this term needs to be cleared. Jacques Pelkmans ( 2006 ) defines economic integrating as ‘the riddance of economic frontiers between two or more economies’ , normally with the intent of accomplishing different benefits such as a greater internal efficiency. An economic frontier is referred to as ‘any limit over which existent and possible mobilities of goods, services and production factors, every bit good as communicating flows, are comparatively low.’ The procedure of economic integrating is really complex and for this ground, several phases have been distinguished, depending on the strength grade. Therefore, as the grade of economic integrating additions, the economic barriers between the states lessening and their pecuniary and financial policies become more and more co-ordinated. Balassa’s work in this concern ( 1961 ) has identified 7 phases or stairss in the economic integrating, as follows:Free-trade country ( FTA )– duties are abolished between the members, but the states do hold the right to enforce any duties against 3rd states ( non members of the country ) ;Customss brotherhood ( CU )– no duties between members and a common external duty for the 3rd states is agreed upon ;Common market ( CM )– a imposts brotherhood with free motion of production factors, viz. labour and capital ;Economic brotherhood ( EU )– a common market with a high grade of coordination of economic policies ;Monetar y brotherhood ( MU )– a common market with fixed exchange rates or with a common currency go arounding in all member provinces ;Economic and pecuniary brotherhood ( EMU )– an country uniting the characteristics of both pecuniary and economic brotherhood, with integrating developing at the same clip in both policy fields’Full economic brotherhood ( FEU )– an country affecting a complete coordination of the economic systems of the member provinces, with common policies for all of import facets ; political integrating is besides a possible deduction.Presently, the European Union is in the 6th measure, being an Economic and Monetary Union. The route to this phase will be analyzed in the undermentioned subchapter.The Economic Monetary Union in EuropeThe Economic and Monetary Union was a much coveted end of the European Union, even before the Treaty of Rome, as it was expected to offer several benefits to its Member States, such as currency stableness, augmente d international trade and overall, a safe environment that would be able to supply higher employment and growing. Nevertheless, assorted political and economic barriers prevented the accomplishment of these aims until the Maastricht Treaty was signed in 1992. Ever since, the procedure of pecuniary integrating seems to hold progressed, with the states escalating their coordination. The way towards the Economic and Monetary Union and accordingly, towards the Euro Area, distinguishes four of import stages.From the Treaty of Rome to the Werner Report ( 1957 to 1970 )The Treaty of Rome, the international understanding which led to the foundation of the European Economic Community, assumed that the currencies were traveling to stay stable, as this was the natural result of the imposts brotherhood and subsequently, of the individual market. However, it did non take to the thought of a pecuniary brotherhood, even though it does mention to pecuniary and economic coordination, stipulating demands in this concern.( what demands – articles? ) Due to currencies turbulencies, the Bretton Woods System begins neglecting in the late sixtiess. Several states, such as France or United Kingdom had to devaluate their currencies, while others, such as Germany or Switzerland were compelled to appreciate them. This brought even more instability and endangered the common agricultural policy – at that clip, the chief achievement of the European Community. In this context, the Community was eager to specify new aims for its development during the following old ages. The Barre Report of 1969 proposes increased economic and pecuniary coordination of the policies of the European Community states and in the same twelvemonth, the accomplishment of the Economic and Monetary Union is set as a formal end at a acme in The Hague. In 1970, several of Europe’s leaders led by the Prime Minister of Luxembourg, Pierre Werner, submitted a study on how the Economic and Monetary Union can be reached in a three-step procedure in 10 years’ clip. This is the alleged Werner Report, which, along these chief aims, defined besides other of import ends, such as the irreversible convertibility of currencies, free motion of capital and even a individual currency, if possible. In order for all these to be attained, the study besides required more co-ordinated economic policies, with other of import determination to be made at the Community degree, refering involvement rates and national budgetary policies. However, the Werner Plan was traveling to neglect in making all its aims in the terminal.From the Werner Report to the European Monetary System ( 1979 to 1979 )The first phase of the Werner Report implied the narrowing of the exchange-rate fluctuations, which was an experimental effort, without any committedness to the farther phases. Unfortunately, this scheme didn’t take into history the fixed exchange-rate against the dollar and this led to a failure in carry throughing the first phase of the Report. In 1971, the Bretton Woods System fails, so the Werner Report can non accomplish its ab initio set out ends. In order to mend the state of affairs, most of the Member States create a mechanism meant to pull off the fluctuations of their currencies, fundamentally cut downing them to a narrow set, called the ‘snake’ . As a consequence of oil crises, dollar failing and policy divergency, the ‘snake’ was traveling to neglect within two old ages. However, this failure did non weaken the involvement for making a currency stableness part. In 1977, the president of the European Commission, Roy Jenkins, proposed a new program for the Economic and Monetary Union, which was eventually launched in March 1979 as the European Monetary System. All states participated at that clip, with the exclusion of the British lb, which was traveling to fall in in 199, but merely for two old ages. The EMS is defined as a ‘a matter-of-fact effort to come on along the route to economic and pecuniary union’ , with the chief aims of ‘to attain a zone of internal and external pecuniary stableness in Europe ( affecting both low rising prices and stable exchange rates ) , to supply the model for improved economic policy cooperation between Member States, to assist to relieve planetary pecuniary instability through common policies vis a vis 3rd currencies.’ ( EC, 1989 ) Besides, the chief elements of the European Monetary System agreement were the followers:The European Currency Unit ( ECU )– an unreal currency based on a leaden norm of all EMS currencies ;The Exchange Rate Mechanism ( ERM )– meant to cut down the variableness in exchange rate and range pecuniary stableness, as a foundation for the debut of the individual currency ;An expansion of short and average term recognition installationsto back up the attempts of the Member States for ac complishing stableness.The Exchange Rate Mechanism served as a mean of commanding the currency fluctuations in the EMS, doing certain these are kept within +/- 2.25 % against official bilateral exchange rate, with the exclusion of the currencies of Italy, Spain, Portugal and the United Kingdom, which could fluctuate by +/- 6 % . Furthermore, an index of divergency was used as an early warning system for step ining on the market, through accommodations in several facets, such as involvement rates or financial policy.( Mention of which was the index? –one time the exchange rate of a currency reached 75 % of the maximal fluctuation border authorized, the currency was considered as ‘divergent ‘ )From the start of European Monetary System to the Maastricht Treaty ( 1979 to 1991 )In the first old ages, the European Monetary System faced a batch of currency alterations, but in the terminal, it had proved to be a success. This farther increased the necessity of finishing the individual market, which would presume extinguishing all obstructions to the free motion of goods, services, capital and people. This was traveling to be a long and dearly-won procedure, but the benefits were so deserving it. In June 1988, the Committee for the Study of Economic and Monetary Union was formed, with the intent of analyzing and suggesting phases to be fulfilled to make EMU. The Committee was comprised of all the European Community cardinal bank governors and was chaired by Jacque Delors, the President of the Commission. The study of the Committee, well-known as the Delors Report, gave a definition of EMU’s end as ‘the common direction of pecuniary and economic policies to achieve common macroeconomic goals.’ Besides, it set out three stipulations for the EMU to be established: the sum and irreversible convertibility of currencies, complete liberalisation of capital minutess and integrating of the fiscal sector and irreversible lockup of exchange rates. Furthermore, the Delors Report besides specified the three phases towards EMU, which were the followers:Phase 1 ( 1990-1994 ) :Complete the internal market and take limitations on farther fiscal integrating.Phase 2 ( 1994-1999 ) :Establish the European Monetary Institute to beef up cardinal bank co-operation and fix for the European System of Central Banks ( ESCB ) . Plan the passage to the euro. Specify the future administration of the euro country ( the Stability and Growth Pact ) . Achieve economic convergence between Member States.Phase 3 ( 1999 onwards ) :Fix concluding exchange rates and passage to the euro. Establish the ECB and ESCB with independent pecuniary policy-making. Implement adhering budgetary regulations in Member States. ( European Commission )From the Maastricht Treaty to the euro and Euro Area ( 1991 to 2002 )The Maastricht Treaty was adopted in December 1991, during the 2nd portion of the first phase towards EMU. Once it was enforced, the 2nd phase began. Most s ignificantly, the Treaty set the ‘convergence criteria’ that the Member States desiring to follow the individual currency would hold to run into. These standards, along with the alliance of national Torahs of the Member States were supposed to guarantee the readying of a state for following the individual currency. They were fundamentally a usher for bespeaking a country’ stableness and sustainability reflected in their economic and pecuniary policy convergence and in their response to economic dazes. The end was set as accomplishing Emu and the conditions for this were besides established, viz. the Maastricht standards. Therefore, the European Union could travel one measure further. The first phase was completed at the beginning of 1994, when the motion of capital markets was declared free. The 2nd phase began instantly and it ended in 1999, when the debut of the euro marked an of import milepost for the EU.With the euro being launched, a new transitional period began that was traveling to last for three old ages. Initially, since 1999, the euro circulated as biblical money. The national currencies were still in being and were the chief footing for minutess, although in the fiscal universe, the passage was about immediate, the euro being used in every operation that was cashless. Merely in 2002, the euro bills and coins replaced the national 1s, which marked an tremendous alteration affecting all sectors of the economic system. The hard currency conversion was to the full complet ed in merely two months, when the national bills and coins ceased to be.1.3. Pull offing the Economic and Monetary UnionThe Economic and Monetary Union is seen as an instrument to assist accomplishing the aims of the European Union, chiefly balanced and sustainable economic growing and a high degree of employment. Furthermore, the EMU represents a shared duty, being managed by several establishments, belonging to both the European Union and the national Member States. This direction procedure is defined as ‘economic governance’ and it involves the undermentioned histrions:i‚Â · The European Commission, in charge of economic anticipation and of supervising the conformity of the EU states with the Stability and Growth regulations ;i‚Â · The European Council, which sets the chief policy orientations, being composed of all the caputs of province or authorities from the EU states ;i‚Â · The European Parliament, whose chief responsibility is to explicate Torahs and exercising democratic inadvertence over the direction of EMU ;i‚Â · The European Central Bank ( ECB ) , which fundamentally manages the pecuniary policy in the Euro Area, by commanding rising prices through puting involvement rates and stabilising monetary values ; it is portion of the European System of Central Banks ( ESCB ) ;i‚Â · The Council of the EU, with its chief constellation ECOFIN ( Economic and Financial Affairs Council ) , which is in charge of organizing the economic policy-making and make up one's minding assorted executions in SGP, every bit good as whether a Member State is ready for following the euro ;i‚Â · The Eurogroup, which is composed of the finance curates of all Euro Area states, together organizing the common involvement policies for the Euro Area Member States ;i‚Â · National authoritiess, which are required to put their budgets within the in agreement bounds for shortages and debts and to esteem and implement the de terminations taken by the Council of the EU.This direction together with the operation undertaken by EMU purpose at back uping its chief nonsubjective through suitably designed economic and pecuniary policies. This mainly refers to three basic activities that EMU seeks to recognize: set uping a compelling pecuniary policy for the Euro Area, keeping monetary value stableness being the most of import issue, efficaciously organizing the economic policies of the Member States and doing certain the individual market is decently operated.Furthermore, the EMU brings together pecuniary policy and economic policy, designed for advancing growing and continuing the strength and the stableness of the euro. These policies are the concern of either European establishments or national 1s, or of both of them at the same clip. For illustration, the economic policy in the Euro Area is still mostly the duty of the Member States, even though the EU Treaties and the EU economic administration regulation s have strengthened and necessitate more coordination refering this facet, in order for the EU aims to be reached. The chief constructions and establishments that guarantee this coordination are ECOFIN and the European Parliament.Beginning: European CommissionIt is of import to advert that the Stability and Growth Pact is the chief usher for organizing economic policy-making in the EU. The Pact was adopted by the Council of the EU in 1999 and has been subsequently revised and strengthened in 2005 and 2011. Its chief function trades with the enforcement of financial subject in the EMU, by guaranting sound and sustainable public fundss. As a regulation, it requires the authorities debt and shortages non to excel 60 % and severally 3 % of the GDP. If a Member State exceeds these imposed bounds, so it will be necessary for it to take disciplinary action, an inordinate shortage process. In certain instances, the Euro Area Member States can besides be forced to cover with fiscal punishmen ts, which fundamentally defines the ‘corrective arm’ of the SGP.The ‘preventive arm’ of the SGP trades with avoiding the inordinate shortages processs and make financial consolidation by accomplishing the medium-term budgetary aims. These are established by each Member State in portion, taking into consideration its present economic state of affairs. However, it can non transcend 1 % of the GDP for the Euro Area states and those take parting in the ERM II. Unlike the ‘corrective arm’ , the ‘preventive’ one does non enforce countenances on the Member States that fail in run intoing the aim, but does promote the authoritiess to follow this peculiar way, as it will take to sustainable budgets.Monetary policy nevertheless, remains the chief of import portion of the EMU and accordingly, of the Euro Area. It is managed by the European Central Bank and the National Central Banks of the Euro Area Member States ( the Eurosystem ) and it fun damentally implies the procedure of act uponing both involvement and exchange rates for profiting the economic system of a state. This is the chief responsibility of the ECB – to command the supply of money and keep monetary value stableness in the country. Particularly, the ECB purposes at maintaining the monetary value rising prices below, but near to 2 % , this mark being considered ideal for advancing growing and employment.

Definition of Groups and teams Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Definition of Groups and teams - Essay Example Definition of Groups and teams In this age of competiveness and extensive rivalry, sustainability is the most essential requirement of any organization. This might be possible only if the employees of the organization work in groups and teams so as to accomplish the objectives and goals of the future era. Along with this, such type of coordination within the employees of the organization might help in enhancement of their inner skills and experiences thereby amplifying their performance. And, this might help in enhancement of the productivity and profitability of the organization to a significant extent thereby amplifying its brand image and reputation in the market. Therefore, it might be stated that, the concept of groups and teams is extremely essential for the employees of an organization in this age of globalization. A group is recognised as a collection of individuals comprising of similar type of characteristic features and qualities. And as a result of which the individuals within a specific group desire to share varied types of ideas and information among themselves thereby amplifying their skills and talents. Moreover, the members within a group also try to share all sorts of believes, principles, and standards so as to resolve varied types of inconsistency. A group is recognised as a collection of individuals comprising of similar type of characteristic features and qualities. And as a result of which the individuals within a specific group desire to share varied types of ideas and information among themselves thereby amplifying their skills and talents.... 134-234). Storming is the second stage of group development. And in this stage, varied types of conflicts and arguments take place within the members of the group so as to maintain mutual understanding and agreements among all. This is done, to understand the inner ideas and views of the members over a specific topic so that, differentiated opinion may not take place. This is extremely essential for the individual of a specific group, as it might prove effective in enhancing their dedications to attain a specific task (Brown, 2007, pp. 461-469). Norming is the third stage of group development and in this stage, the level of intimacy among the members of the group gets enhanced. As a result of which, the inter-personal relationship and bonding among the employees of the group gets enhanced thereby amplifying their level of dedication over the assigned tasks. It might also enhance the scope of success of the tasks or objectives of the specific group. Thus, it is extremely essential for a group in order to accomplish the assigned duties and responsibilities. Performing is the fourth stage and in this phase, the employees or members are just ready to perform and tackle all sorts of tasks or duties. As a result of which, the ways to achieve the specific tasks and objectives become easier and simpler in nature. And so, it is extremely essential for a group of members (Adair, 2010, pp. 34-45). Adjourning is recognised as the last stage of a group development process. And in this stage, the members gets scattered again. And then, the members again try to connect with other members so as to get united into a separate group. Therefore, it might be stated that Tuckman’s five

Cultural Histories & Theories Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Cultural Histories & Theories - Essay Example (Musson, 159) Britain, the centre ÃŽ ¿f a world-wide empire, the greatest free-trade market, drawing on the whole globe for foodstuffs and raw materials and still also the largest exporter ÃŽ ¿f manufactures, was the hub ÃŽ ¿f world sea-borne trade: in the period before 1913 about 40 per cent ÃŽ ¿f that trade was with the UK, and over half ÃŽ ¿f it was carried in British ship. Thus British shipyards had huge home and overseas markets. Expansion ÃŽ ¿f production and trade was accompanied by changing industrial organization. Though many combined firms existed, were generally much bigger than woollen mills. The traditional small West Riding clothiers and the associated cloth-halls were declining, with the development ÃŽ ¿f larger-scale factory and mercantile organization and more direct trading relationships, though small firms and mills still abounded. However, the real problem, in fact, was that ÃŽ ¿f developing new industries alongside the old, while the latter still continued to grow profitably. It appears, however, that there were plenty ÃŽ ¿f savings and capital resources that might have been used for new industrial developments. British overseas investments or capital exports continued to grow prodigiously. Cotton is still the biggest manufacture in textile industry. (Sykas 2007) In the 1907 Census ÃŽ ¿f Production, the labour force in spinning and weaving factories increased from 331000 in 1850 to 577000 in 1907, while production and trade rose much more, as indicated by the figures ÃŽ ¿f raw cotton consumption and exports. Mechanization was carried further, not only with more mules, spindles and power-looms but larger, faster-running and more efficient machines, driven by more powerful and economical steam-engines. Fixed capital therefore grew more rapidly than the number ÃŽ ¿f worker, and productivity increased, especially in the first half ÃŽ ¿f this period.

The Taxation of Household Savings as Presented by the Mirrlees Review Case Study

The Taxation of Household Savings as Presented by the Mirrlees Review Volume 2 - Case Study Example In essence, while considering the economics of the tax system was essential in ensuring that it was effective, the commission acknowledged that approaching the tax reform from an economics perspective only would have created more problems than solutions (Mirrlees 2011, pp. v-vii). The Mirrlees review considers at length the apt method for the taxing savings. Thoughtful deliberation was applied to opinions on taxing savings normal returns (Chote 2012, p. 12). Four issues emerged in the review. The first issue was that the choice to defer consumption provided information on earning capacity. The second issue was that cognitively competent individuals were more likely to engage in a saving culture. The third issue was that taxing independent saving could have influenced the decision to pick financial saving on capital investment. This was especially true when there were credit limitations, and calculating and offsetting the full cost of the capital investment was challenging. The fourth issue was that taxing savings was likely to raise the labor supply of savers to counter to the likelihood of losing their earning capacity but who discern that, based on actual results, they did not need to save for the original reason. Or it may be that future consumption is a co mplement to current leisure (Mirrlees et al. 2012, p. 670). Mirrlees (2011, p. 283) reports that savings taxation plan plays a key role in the evaluation of the tax system. This is because it; is a characteristic of the tax base, is a determinant of tax system recognizing interpersonal differences in incomes, differentiates personal income from company profits, affect both incomes and savings, and affects saving habits. The report further recommends that savings resultant from variances in the timing of donated incomes comparative to the preferred time stream of consumption, or in time inclinations for consumption should not be taxed.

Organizational Communication Issue Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Organizational Communication Issue - Essay Example However this form of change was not coordinated well throughout all the departments as team leaders had to manage employees possessing different skills and attitudes. In order to lead the departments through organizational change it is essential that all the team members are aware about the benefits associated with the change (Boxall and Purcell 97). This will help to set up a common vision for all the team members and reduce the barrier between team leaders and employees of Hi-Fli Fireworks. On the other hand, a participative leadership approach needs to be implemented in the system so that team members can contribute their innovative ideas regarding change taking place in the system. I would rather choose Jasmine as my team leader than George simply because she believes in giving the required opportunity to her team members so that they are able to bring forth creative ideas. The chaos theory which she believes in, states that, often creative ideas are born out of rich soil such as chaos. There are other qualities present in her that makes her the best team leader such as being a charismatic leader, believing on her team mates, facilitating more of self managed work, and giving more importance to individual imagination of team mates. Hence she will prove to be a good leader in the process since she is more inclined towards creative thoughts in comparison to traditional approach of management. Hi-Fli Fireworks has adopted the best approaches toward organizational change and the firm has even appointed experts belonging to different fields so as to lead the change. However in such a scenario where there are two different management styles and different interpretations toward champion roles it is obvious that some form of organizational conflict will result. In personal context, I would prefer to have an organization that is free of any such conflict (Mumby 45). The major reason behind such opinion is that conflict open results into

Debate from the point of view of Descartes and Searle Speech or Presentation

Debate from the point of view of Descartes and Searle - Speech or Presentation Example It is impossible to prove because mind is unreal. Rene Descartes: John Searle, my argument is based upon my thoughts. I am thinking, so I exist. See, my thought or the process of thinking proves that I am real and I exist. Why you people consider mind and body as a single unit? How can you prove that mind and body are same? I can prove that mind and body are different entities. At the same time, mind and body influence each other. Searle: We need not ponder upon the term ‘mind’ because it does not exist and it is unreal. Sir, you pointed out that mind and body influence each other. At the same time, why don’t you consider that mind is the part of body? I think the study of mind needs a satisfactory conclusion because we are arguing upon an imaginary thing without proof. When you say that the process of though proves the existence of mind, why can’t you say that the same process of thought proves that thought is an inseparable part of brain, which is real? Descartes: For the sake of argument, please think that you do not exist in this world. You cannot prove your argument because you are real. From a different angle of view, your thought or argument is totally against your existence. To be specific, your argument that you are unreal (say, your imagination based upon your mind) proves that you are thinking. At the same time, you are totally aware of the fact that you are not unreal because your physical body is here.

Positive and Negative Consequences of the Legislation that Enables Essay

Positive and Negative Consequences of the Legislation that Enables Patients to Correct the Health Information in their Records - Essay Example As the study outlines the legalization that allows individuals to correct their EHR information has both positive and negative arguments. On the positive side, when individuals are able to correct their health records in the database, their physicians find it easy and quick to know and acquire their health progress. This is more advantageous in case the individuals get sick and reach levels where they cannot communicate verbally. Additionally, when individuals are able to change their health records, government will have easy time in data collection and gathering since about the nations’ health status since updated patient information will be readily available i.e. reduced delays in information retrieval. On the negative side, McGonigle and Mastrian notes that legalization of individual access to electronic health information might lead to fraud for personal benefits. For instance, if an individual will not get a job due to their health status, they may change it electronicall y to get the job opportunity nevertheless. Nonetheless, the legalization inhibits the demand for health records’ security since patients can change their records to suit their needs.

Catholic Church and Ultima’s mystical folklore Essay Example for Free

Catholic Church and Ultima’s mystical folklore Essay The novel â€Å"Bless Me, Ultima† by Rudolfo Anaya is pastoral, apocalyptic and, at the same time, tragic story revealing the complex nature of human relations and ambiguity of the world. The novel teaches readers not to interfere with the destiny of any person not to change the cosmic order. However, Ultima dares to influence the destiny and her death at the end of the novel is symbolical representation that every person should be responsible for his own actions. The author describes relations between an old healer Ultima and a young boy Antonio who is seeking for truth. The novel can be defined as apocalyptic as the author illustrates that biculturalism leads to inevitable conflict between cultures and religions. I think that the novel belongs to Chicano literature being rather popular in 1965-1975s. However, it can be seen as cultural novel which tends to explore self-development, personality and ethnic identity in the world filled with race and ethnic discrimination. The novel is rich narrative weaving many themes and sub-themes together allowing readers for different interpretations. Therefore, the objectives of the paper are to analyze author’s writing style, relations between Antonio and Ultima, to identify main themes and symbols, and to discuss the question of autobiography. â€Å"Bless Me, Ultima†: Analysis I think that the novel â€Å"Bless Me, Ultima† can be analyzed from different perspectives and from many angles. The novel is a rich literary work dealing with social changes, cognitive and psychological development of main heroes, religious issues, etc. Moreover, the novel weaves cultural conflicts and formation of ethnic identity into believable and coherent story illustrating the smoothes and roughs of Antonio’s life – the main hero. On the one hand, the novel can be seen as romance novel as it discusses societal period through myth creation. On the other hand, the novel can be seen as cultural novel as it describes historical conflict between villages and opposes race discrimination in the United States. Furthermore, the novel can be defined as Chicano literature as it promotes apocalyptic ideas and moods. The novel presents fertile background for analysis as the author uses rich themes and symbols to show the life pass of a young extraordinary boy. Writing Style The author incorporates powerful and vivid images to present the multiplicity and ambiguity of responses. In other words, Anaya uses prophetic dreams, episodes of horseplay among children, idyllic scenes presenting harmony and natural balance, mystical dynamism, scenes of violence and death as imagery to create strong impression and to make people think whether the world we see is real one and what the destiny of the person is. However, the novel tends to reveal whether it is permissible to change human destiny. Anaya uses strong imagery to show that characters and nature are strongly tied together creating so-called natural continuum. Anaya refers to technique of oppression when writing the novel in order to create multi-level conflict. For example, Antonio’s parents have opposing backgrounds, views and aspirations. Further, religious are opposed in their beliefs, values and demands on the individual. Cosmic forced are apposed as they symbolize eternal struggle between the good and the evil. Finally, the author juxtaposes forms of nature saying they can choose whether to make soil dry or fertile. The novel is based on conflicts – social, psychological, physical and cultural. Antonio’s life is also a conflict. The novel is also based on tripartites. It means that all evens and things are occurring in so-called ‘threes’. For example, there are three cultures in the novel, three Trementina sisters, three brothers, three Comanche spirits, three prophetic dreams, three Ultima’s efforts to identify her ethnicity, and three Ultima’s interference in the life of other people. Numerology is central in structure of the plot. Issue of Autobiography I think that â€Å"bless Me, Ultima† can be defined as quasi-autobiographical novel as the narrator refers to ‘I’ style showing that the novel is generated from personal experience or experience of the younger ‘I’. The novel is told by mature Antonio who shares experiences of being a young boy. Moreover, the experiences are transmitted in childish manner and it may seem that the story is told by a six-year-old boy. One more interesting fact is that the author says that he had to refer to his personal experiences and experiences of other children to construct the story. Despite the fact that the novel is quasi-biographical, the readers aren’t allowed to distinguish the real and imagined events as the author represents everything as fiction. I think that the author does base the story on rich expository of personal experiences, but he skillfully hides this fact. Relations between Antonio and Ultima Antonio is the main hero in the novel who decided to reconcile his conflicting religious and cultural identity. Antonio is only six years old, but he is extraordinary child with questioning mind, appreciation of life, and moral curiosity. Antonio is more serious than other children of his age, he is more sensitive to ambiguity of the world and conflicting cultural traditions. Anaya shows that Antonio is troubled about his uncertain destiny and he is willing to understand the world. After the death of one of the town’s residents Antonio seems to plunge into crisis of the faith and for the first time he doubts validity of the Catholic faith. Therefore, desire to reveal the truth can be defined as one of the strongest components of his character as his desire leads to interest in sin, death, innocence, and the nature of God. Antonio is developing to maturity throughout the novel progression and it is Ultima who teaches how to remain morally independent, to receive knowledge from all available traditions and to refrain from prejudices and limitations. Ultima leads Antonio to his physical and psychological maturity. Ultima helps him to resolve many conflicts and to determine his future. Old healer Ultima represents the moral system which Anaya supports. Relationships between Antonio and Ultima are the most important bond in the novel. Ultima is Antonio’s mentor helping him to overcome difficulties and to cope with anxieties and uncertainties. Relations between main characters can be defined even as spiritual. Ultima presents herself as the keeper of Antonio’s destiny and starts playing central role in his life and psyche. She uses her power of influencing to make Antonio think of himself and create his own sense of morality. Ultima incorporates knowledge of both Catholic and indigenous traditions. She thinks that spirituality and life are tied. Nevertheless, we see that Catholic Church rejects her mystical power, and Ultima respects its wisdom attending mass regularly. Ultima teaches to appreciate equally multiple faith and perspectives as each person is entailed with rights to make independent moral decisions. Ultima instills tolerance, open-mindedness and independence in Antonio’s faith. Ultima treats Antonio with respect and understanding, despite he is a small child. At the end of the novel Antonio is treated as spiritual partner and Ultima asks to bury the owl which symbolizes her own death. Ultima dies, but her spirit continues to guide Antonio throughout his life. Main Themes Firstly, the author stresses the importance of moral independence as no one has the rights to interfere with the destiny of others. Anaya emphasizes rights to think independently and to make up moral decisions. In the novel Antonio’s progress is the sign of maturity and self-development. Antonio constantly struggles to make his own decisions and he realizes that complex experience of religion has forced to change his minds. Antonio is really frustrated when he realizes that the church has failed and pressing questions about human morality emerge in his head. We see that Ultima becomes his guide and teaches about morality and independence. Moreover, Ultima explains ambiguity of life stressing that life can be viewed simply in terms of culture and religion. Cultural and religious traditions are important, but they constrain human abilities to be morally independent. Antonio realizes that he should find answers about evil, good, soul, forgiveness and truth himself. Once Antonio has committed fatal mistake, when he believed that the Communion ritual was able to answer all questions. Instead, Ultima teaches Antonio to make decisions and choices himself. Secondly, the author identifies the influence of culture on identity. In the novel Anaya explores the conflict between cultural traditions which fail to co-exist as one culture tends to dominate others and vice verse. However, in the end we see that the author offers new solution – he argues that several cultural traditions are able to create more adaptable identity. For example, Antonio manages to find answers as his life has been influenced by several constantly conflicting cultures. The first conflict was with his parents as Antonio’s mother wanted him to become a priest, whereas his fathers wanted Antonio to ride the llano. The problem was that parents had different cultural convictions. The next conflict is observed within Antonio’s native town where Spanish culture is struggling with other culture. The conflict is presented in tensions between the Catholic Church and Ultima’s mystical folklore. I think that through such conflicts the author explores the influence of culture on identity formation. Anaya shows that many characters in the story are limited by cultural prejudices and they have failed to look beyond their horizon. For example, when people define Narciso as drunkard they didn’t consider his traumatic experiences in the war, although it is known that war may serious distort human psyche. Ultima teaches Antonio to become free from cultural and religious limitations. Instead, she tends to encourage Antonio to think of all cultural influences as it is the only way to become a descent person. Symbolism â€Å"Bless Me, Ultima† is highly symbolical novel. The author uses different colors, figures, numbers and objects to represent abstract ideas and concepts. In the novel the golden carp, Ultima’s owl and the virgin of Guadalupe are provided with symbolic meanings. As for mea, the golden carp is symbolical representation of magical religious order which is hardly associated with Catholicism. The legend about golden carp offers main characters and readers moral guidance, brand of wisdom and comfort. Golden carp supports author’s idea that cultural traditions are different, but they are equally valid. Antonio firstly rejects the golden carp as he thinks that in such a way he abandons God. However, later he realizes that golden carp can help to weave cultural and religious sources together in creating his won identity. Then, Ultima’s Owl represents religious mysticism and life force. One night the owl sings outside Antonio’s windows symbolizing Ultima’s presence in boy’s life. Moreover, owl is the symbol of protective power of magic. In the end of the novel killing of the bird symbolically represents that Ultima’s life force is destroyed and she will die soon. When Antonio buries the bird, he buries Ultima. Finally, the Virgin of Guadalupe represents symbolically understanding, forgiveness and solution of cultural conflict. The story of the Virgin is definitely reconciliation of Antonio’s indigenous culture and European Catholic Church. When Antonio is frustrated, he often turns to Virgin to find a forgiving god. Conclusion â€Å"Bless Me, Ultima† reveals the ambiguous nature of the world and human relations. The author shows that every person has to make independent choices and to appreciate different religious and cultural traditions as it is the only way to become a better person. Ultima teaches Antonio to create his own sense of morality and to remain independent person. Moreover, she teaches him to avoid prejudices and limitation. But the author shows that no one is allowed to interfere with the destiny of other people. Works Cited Anaya, Rudolfo. Bless Me, Ultima. New York: Grand Central Publishing, 1994.

Role of International Institutions: Effects of Globalisation

Role of International Institutions: Effects of Globalisation Introduction Different theories and scholars exist in the literature regarding different â€Å"globalisation† definitions.While BBCNews (2015) indicated that globalisation is the process by which the world is turning out to be gradually interconnected as a consequence of vastly expanded exchange and social trade, which expanded the generation of the production of goods and services. Besides, according to Baylis et al (2014: P.19) argued that†globalisation denotes the growing extensity, intensity, velocity, and deepening impact of world interconnectedness†, which stands for four characteristics of today globalisation. In another words, globalisation links the world and relate activities together on a global scope. This literature review aims at exploring role of international institution in relations with four features above of globalisation. It also evaluates the link between IPE theories and characteristics of globalisation. Finally, the relationship between globalisation and poverty and inequality will be assessed. II. Literature review According to Krieger (2001:p 325) extends our knowledge of four characteristics of today globalisation, which is explained below such as : â€Å"Extensity: the stretching of social, political and economic activities across political frontiers, regions and continents† ( Krieger (2001:p 325). Intensity: the â€Å"growing magnitude and concentration of interconnectedness and flows of trade, investment, finance, migration, culture, etc† ( Krieger (2001:p 325) Velocity: â€Å"speeding up of global interactions and processes, as the evolution of world-wide systems of transport and communication increases the velocity of the diffusion of ideas, goods, information, capital, and people† ( Krieger (2001:p 325). Deepening impact: â€Å"the effects of distant events can be highly significant elsewhere and even the most local developments may come to have enormous global consequences. In this sense, the boundaries between domestic matters and global affairs can become increasingly blurred.† ( Krieger (2001:p 325) The role of international institutions in the effects of globalisation Globalization catches components of a broad observation that there is an expanding, extending and accelerating of overall interconnectedness in all parts of life, from the social to the criminal, the monetary to the natural. At issue has all the earmarks of being a worldwide changing; that is, a world being formed, by monetary and innovative powers, into a common financial and political enclosure ( Polity.co.uk, 1999). The one obvious effect of globalisation is to transform the world order from a state-centric geopolitics to a global politics. There is no clear departure between domestic and foreign governing; instead a hiding border is appearing in all aspects of human activities. The states are increasingly embedded in setting and covering of the World Wide Web (Baylis et al, 2011: p25). Obviously, international institutions appear and reinforce that transformation by executing the global policies and developing the four characteristics of globalisation such as growing extensity, intensity, velocity and deepending impact of worldwide interconnectedness. However, whether this strengthening is positive or negative is still controversial and highly depend on the nature and situation of the aspects it influences. As a result, the point of international organizations (IO) is to help manage the process integrating the developing economies into the world economy, however they have done more harm than good, leading to widened income difference and developing countries’ dependence on the industrialized. On the one hand, IO’s has a positive contribution in globalisation, which is indicated by many researches. Firstly, according to Milner el al (2005) stated thatIO make the application of force and power by states to achieve their objectives less likely; instead states are required to follow the rules, norms .One interesting finding isIO also supports society to harness power of the most powerful states (Ikenberry, 2001). It is such a crucial role in a world faced with heightened challenges of global governance. However, the developing countries have not gained much from trade roundsbut IMF/WTO make a contribution on tacit supporting of developed countries by giving them votes( Milner el al , 2005: p 838) . And make sure that all of voting actions should be fair- play negotiation in both developing countries and developed countries. Secondly, IO alsoprovides us the information and lowering transaction costs (Coleman Porter, 1999). IO facilitatesmutual cooperation in an anarchic world, reduce uncertainty by observing states’ behaviors, allow distributed enforcement through tradeoff strategies. Unfortunately, IMF/WB policiesadvices generally have been unhelpful because they failed to take into account conditions of developing countries. For example, there are some tradesrules are using toengage people in unfair agreements. In order to recover this issue, it needs to supply the requirement of technical info and expert knowledge in obstacle for more active participation, which is based on existing institutional arrangements. Thirdly, international institutions facilitate tradeoff strategies among countries in an anarchic environment (Milner el al, 2005: 840). Especially, IO aims at exchangereliable and practical.Although, developed countries used GATT/WTO to enforce tradeoff strategies and lower trade barriers, which could helpthese bigcountries can achieve more efficient and cooperative out-comes.For example, The United States, Euro-pean Union and Japan have applied the GATT/WTO toenforce tradeoff strategies andworse their trade barriers. But trade preferential access harms small developing countries, does not provide growth in the long run.Because, according to theories about the value of reciprocity in is that â€Å"Countries with small markets are just not attractive enough for larger trading partners to engage in meaningful tradeoff negotiations† (AadityaSubramanian, 2004). Finally, IO alsofacilitates reform in domestic politics for everlasting by IO rules can help domestic managers to activate interest parties to balance othergroups’ impressive and thus present different approaches than something else. However, the poorest countries have not used WTO to make commitments (Milner el al, 2005: 841). Thus, they ought to give themselves a large adaptability of flexibility to turn around their exchange strategies. On the other hand, IO has caused bad affect into society such as: Due to tech innovation, IO reduced communication between countries in the world and raised the transportation costs. And the policies also are changed that leads to differences in standards may reflect different conditions or preferences inside of countrystates which more than justify different, even higher standards. As a result developing countries have been more uncovered to world economy. In short, IO roles have not only grown balance, but also causeproblem (Coglianese, 2000). IPE theories’ explanation of increasing interconnectedness Neoclassical or economic liberalism have a long standing traditional in world politics. People are Liberalism characteristic is â€Å"perfectible†, that democracy is needed for that compeletely to improve and they they believe that â€Å"the war is being natural condition of world politics† (Baylis et el, 201: p4). By another words, it means the realisation of a global competitive marketplace, or rather argues that the understanding of such an economy is unavoidable, and that its emergence is now apparent( Berry.C, 2008). But this process is not necessarily simplistic view of the economic processes associated with globalisation. Although, this theory also brings a belief in the efficiency and freedom-enhancing properties of the market economy, private property, the ultimate sovereignty of the individual, and the rule of law, but only through the concept of â€Å"minimal state†, with the laissez-faire principle, i.e. with its singular role to maintain and warrant â€Å"fair† relations on the free market. Financial aspects, as brought about by neoclassical economic theory, is still the focal main force of globalization, however neoclassical globalization hypothesis contends, that elements, for example, corporate association and innovative advancement help to give contemporary business sector relations their particularly worldwide character ( Berry,2008). With regarding the multilateral institutions, agencies such as the IMF, the WTO and the. OECD have continually linked globalizationwithliberalization. Globalization has promoted non-national, i.e. supra-national institutions and communities with trans-border mutual relations. Globality has transcended area and upset state sovereignty. Forces of globalization have undermined the democratic capacities of national governments. States cannot tame the tyranny of global corporations. Global financial markets, too, have often forced the possibilities for democratization (Kukoc. M, 20019 Marxism: Marxists generally relate agency only to given material interests. Ideas are seen as either functional of those interests or, for some theorists, devices employed in service of those interests (Berry,2008). Moreover, it seems that with the apparent advent of globalisation, Marxists can confidently proclaim the victory of the structural forces of entrepreneurship over the potential mediatory power of states. A global class choice which incorporates the (neoliberal) leaders of nation-states, institutions of ‘global governance’ and TNCs, and which acts to reproduce and establish the global capitalist system, is theorized. In combining with the emergence of global class elite, the emergence of a global public is expected; resistance to global capitalism is often interpreted as signalling the growing relevance or power of the global public. Neoliberal institutionalism: mains technique of globalisation conditions that present quickening reliance and its effect on how states see their hobbies (Keohane, 2002). In a state of complex relationship, states will perceive a shared interest for collaboration . This approach perceive the same helplessness and affectability of association that realists do ( Kay, 2014). . However, rather than seeing globalization as education conflict, neoliberal scholars see states as having an interest in cooperation. In perceiving a state-based enthusiasm for all in all dealing with a globalized world, states try to decrease coordination issues, to build up concurred standards, standards, guidelines, and choice making strategies, to encourage straightforwardness, to expand the limit for bartering and â€Å"issue-linkage† (Kay, 2014). Constructivism: draws on social hypothesis of human collaboration and sets that the structure and substance of worldwide relations are the by-items of social connection . (Kay, 2004: P 13) . Just as the domestic content of politics and culture shapes the analyse of the nation-state issue, thus does the nation-state concurrently shape the international environment. The worldwide environment consequently turns into an impression of the intersocial connections among states, and in the meantime can input to impact the household substance of country states. Globalisation and poverty/inequality Porverty: On the one hand, the negative factors of globalisation has been examined clearly through many reports, which are discussed below. As a report of the Development Program of the United Nations (UNDP) announced in 2014 showed that over 2.2 billion people, totally for one-third of the worlds population, live in poverty line because of being scarcity and lack of access to health care services, education and minimum living standards. Based on a scholar named Sustaining human progress: reducing vulnerability and building resilience, the report gaved the whole imagation of the hardships of the conflict to avoid poverty across the global. In spite of the fact that the poverty rate is diminished by the general globalisation tendency, but there are 800 million people could become poor due to the changing life circumstances or dangers. Despite the fact that poverty rates have a tendency to minimise, UNDP(2014) additionally announced that rising inequality is creating the expanding defenseless issue. Also, neo-liberal monetary methodologies has brought about greater imbalances inside and between nations, yet views disparity positive as a goad to rivalry and the entrepreneurial soul ( Baylis et al, 2011: p465). As a result, they are not simply only lessening the rate down to tiny, but also must ensure those individuals who are undermined by natural disasters, environmental change and fincancial crisis. Inequality Inequality is relied on people and can only be solved by them self. The blank between the rich and poor people now touchs the highest amount in 30 years( OECD, 2014). According to Karl Marx ( 1967) indicated that with the aims at helping society to exist, the total distributed to personal consumption impossible exceed the total of social income. The neoliberal contention says that the appropriation of wage between the whole worlds population has turn out to be more equivalent in the course of recent decades and the quantity of individuals living in great neediness has fallen (Wage, 2004: p567–589). More open economies are more rich, economies that change more experience a quicker rate of advancement, and individuals who oppose further financial liberalization must be carrying on of vested or â€Å"rent-seeking† interests. In a nutshell, World Bank claimed that â€Å"globalisation generally reduces poverty because more integrated economies tend to grow faster and this g rowth is usually widely diffused† ( Neutel Heshmati, 2006). To sum up, standard left supposition, interestingly, is that the rich and intense nations and classes have minimal enthusiasm for more greater fairness. Consistent with this view, the â€Å"anti-globalization† (more accurately, â€Å"anti-neoliberal†) argument asserts that world neediness and imbalance have been rising, not falling, because of powers unleashed by the same globalization. The line of arrangement is some level of fixing of open approach constrains on the operation of business sector strengths; however the anti- neoliberal camp grasps a much more extensive scope of arrangements than the liberal camp (Wage, 2004: p567–589). Referrences: Helen V. Milner, William Easterly, Thomas Pogge, Joseph E. Stiglitz, Randall Stone, James Raymond Vreeland. (2005). Globalization, Development, and International Institutions: Normative and Positive Perspectives . . Vol. 3/No. 4 (1), http://faculty.georgetown.edu/jrv24/milner_05.pdf BBC. (2015). Globalisation. Available: http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/geography/globalisation/globalisation_rev1.shtml. Last accessed: 15th June 2015. Ikenberry, G. John. 2001. After victory: Institutions, strategic restraint, and the rebuilding of order after major wars. Princeton: Princeton University Press. William D. Coleman, Tony Porter. (1999). INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTIONS, GLOBALIZATION AND DEMOCRACY: ASSESSING THE CHALLENGES. Available: http://www.opencircle.mcmaster.ca/institute-on-globalization-and-the-human-condition/documents/IGHC-WPS_99-4_ColemanPorter.pdf. Last accessed: 15th June 2015. Mattoo, Aaditya, and Arvind Subramanian. 2004. The WTO and the poores countries: The stark reality. IMF Working Paper 04/81 Cary Coglianese. (2000). Globaliz ation and the Design of International Institutions . Available: http://www.hks.harvard.edu/mrcbg/research/c.coglianese_governance_globalization.and.design.pdf. Last accessed 22th June 2015. Craig Berry. (2008). I NTERNATIONAL P OLITICAL E CONOMY , THE GLOBALISATION DE BATE AND THE ANALY SIS OF GLOBALISATION DISCOURSE .. Available: http://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/csgr/research/workingpapers/2008/24708.pdf. Last accessed 25th June 2015. Keohane, Robert O., 1989. International Institutions and State Power. Boulder, CO: Westview. Keohane, Robert O., 2002. Power and Governance in a Partially Globalized World. New York: Routledge. Sean Kay. (2004). Globalization, Power, and Security. Available: http://www.comw.org/pda/fulltext/0403kay.pdf. Last accessed 25th June 2015. Robert Hunter Wade. (2004). Is Globalization Reducing Poverty and Inequality?. In: Arun Agrawal Worl development. UK: London School of Economics and Political Sciencer. 567–589. Marcel Neutel Almas Heshmati (2006). Globalisation, Inequality and Poverty Relationships: A Cross Country Evidence. Germany: IZA DP No. 2223 Globalisation, Inequality and Poverty Relationships: A Cross Country Evidence Marcel Neutel Almas Heshmati DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit. 3. UNDP (2014), Human Development Report 2014. Available : http://hdr.undp.org/sites/default/files/hdr14-report-en-1.pdf Last accessed 25th June 2015. OECD (2014) â€Å"Focus on Inequality and Growth†. Available : http://www.oecd.org/els/soc/Focus-Inequality-and-Growth-2014.pdf . Last accessed 25th June 2015 Marx, K. (1967) Capital, vol. 1, New York: International Publishers. Krieger Joel (2001). The Oxford companions to politics of the world. 2nd ed. NY: Oxford University Press. 325. David Held, Anthony McGrew, David Goldblatt, Jonathan Perraton. (1999). What is globalization? . Available: https://www.polity.co.uk/global/whatisglobalization.asp. Last accessed 15th June 2015. 1

Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE

Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE A Study on the UAE IT Industry ABSTRACT I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I know); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. -Rudyard Kipling This report presents findings of a research project that explored the distinct approaches of UAE-based IT organisations in following different project management practices to deal with their IT projects. Not too much of project management data on UAE IT industry exists today. Therefore it was decided to do a study on it. The research findings are based on a questionnaire survey conducted between July and August 2008 among 200 organisations of UAE. A total of 48 valid responses were received, representing an overall response rate of 24%. The study achieved a primary aim of explanatory and constructivist research, which is to enhance knowledge and understanding of a phenomenon. An emergent-based, general systems approach was adopted for the whole project. General System theory is a holistic and analytical approach to solving complex problems. It recognizes relativity of perception and is a general science of wholeness (Bertalanffy, 1968). The theory was used to break down the whole research technique into various components yet still maintaining the integrity of the research objective. A key finding was the high amount of failure risks that came along with IT projects. In addition, it was found that project management added a lot of value to IT projects and if carried out efficiently it could help avoid the failure risks. A surprise discovery was that although most of the organisations valued project management a lot, they did not have a dedicated Project Management Office (PMO) in place. Further, it was found out that high involvement of external organisations could be one of the factors responsible for the high amount of risks involved with IT projects. It was observed that 25% of the project managers were not aware of the project management maturity levels of their organisations. Project managers seemed to have tough times managing time, cost and risk in IT projects. Also, most of the organisations did not believe in recording the lessons learned and hence knowledge was not transferred to the new projects from the previous ones. Strong indicators probably exist to warrant further research into investigating the basic reasons behind a high percentage of failed IT projects. Further research into the relationship between project management methodology and project success seems warranted on behalf of the indicators provided by the respondents. INTRODUCTION I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work. -Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) If your project doesnt work, look for the part that you didnt think was important   Arthur Bloch The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955) The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. -Bill Gates The Roman bridges of antiquity were very inefficient structures. By modern standards, they used too much stone, and as a result, far too much labor to build. Over the years we have learned to build bridges more efficiently, using fewer materials and less labor to perform the same task. -Tom Clancy (The Sum of All Fears) In 1986, Alfred Spector, president of Transarc Corporation, stated that bridge building could be compared to software development. He added, The premise: Bridges are usually built on-time, on-budget, and do not collapse. On the other hand, software never comes in on-budget or on-time. Also, it always breaks down. One of the biggest reasons why bridges come in on-time, on-budget and do not collapse is because their designs are extremely detailed. Once the designing phase is over, it is then frozen and the contractor has very little flexibility in changing the specifications. However, in todays fast moving business environment, having a frozen design in place means no changes in the business practices. Therefore efforts must be made to use a more flexible model. This could be and has been used as an explanation for development failure. But beside 3,000 years of experience, there is another difference between software failures and bridge collapses. When a bridge collapses, investigation is carried out and a report is written on the cause of the failure. It is not so in the IT industry where failures are covered up, ignored, and/or rationalized. As a result, the same mistakes are repeated over and over again. According to the Standish Group report, more than $250 billion is spent every year on IT application development of approximately 175,000 projects in the United States. The average cost of a development project for a small company is $434,000; for a medium company, it is $1,331,000; and for a large company, it is $2,322,000. A great number of these projects will fail. IT projects have always known to be in chaos. The research showed that a staggering 31.1% of projects got canceled before they ever got completed. Further results indicated that 52.7% of projects had cost 189% of their original estimates. The cost of these failures and overruns were just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The lost opportunity costs were not measurable, but could easily be in trillions of dollars. The extent of this problem can be realized by looking at example of the City of Denver. The failure to produce reliable software to handle luggage at the new Denver airport was costing the city $1.1 million per day. Based on this research, in 1995 American companies and government agencies spent $81 billion for canceled software projects. These same organisations paid an additional $59 billion for software projects that were completed, but had exceed their original time estimates. Risk is always a factor when pushing the technology envelope, but many of these projects were as ordinary as a driving license database, a new accounting package, or an order entry system. On the success side, the average was only 16.2% for software projects that were completed on-time and on-budget. In the larger companies, the news was even worse: only 9% of their projects came in on-time and on-budget. And, even when these projects were completed, many were no more than a mere shadow of their original specification requirements. Projects completed by the largest American companies had only approximately 42% of the originally-proposed features and functions which goes to show that these projects lacked scope management. Smaller companies fared much better in this aspect. 78.4% of their software projects got deployed with at least 74.2% of their original features and functions. 48% of the IT executives in the research sample felt that there were more failures during that period than those five years ago. But it was also observed that over 50% felt that there were fewer or the same number of failures at that point of time than there were five and ten years ago. So the Standish Group reported an improvement in IT project success rates and claimed that it was due to an increased ability to know when to cancel failing projects. Standish Group Chairman Jim Johnson commented: The real improvement that I saw was in our ability to-in the worlds of Thomas Edison-know when to stop beating a dead horseEdisons key to success was that he failed fairly often; but as he said, he could recognize a dead horse before it started to smellIn information technology we ride dead horses-failing projects-a long time before we give up. But what we are seeing now is that we are able to get off them; able to reduce cost overrun and time overrun. Thats where the major impact came on the success rate. (Cabanis, 1998) There is a new or renewed interest in project management today as the number of projects continues to grow and their complexity continues to rise. As already observed, the success rate of IT projects has more than doubled since 1995, but still only about a third are successful in meeting scope, cost, and time goals. More and more projects and organisations can succeed consistently by adopting a more disciplined approach to managing projects. Research Objectives This study provides first-hand information on success and failure rates of IT projects in the UAE and on distinct approaches and methodologies followed by all different kinds of IT organisations in governing IT projects. It also aims to survey attitudes of organisations towards distinct project management processes like cost management, time management, risk management, etc. and establish a future direction for organisations so that they realize the value of the most significant process groups of project management and do not neglect them in the forthcoming projects. It could be useful in the following four areas : (1) it can be helpful for relevant government departments in preparing strategies for project management in the IT industry; (2) it can promote the awareness of commercial benefits of project management among managers in IT companies of UAE and encourage them to seriously consider project management in their businesses; (3) it can increase the competence and confidence in applying project management by local companies by providing management guidance on the selection and development of project management methodologies; and (4) it can be beneficial to the educational institutions of UAE for teaching and conducting further research on information technology project management. According to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), the IT industry consists of three primary sub-sectors : firstly, Technology Software Services, including companies that primarily develop software in various fields such as the Internet, applications, systems, databases management and/or home entertainment, and companies that provide information technology consulting and services, as well as data processing and outsourced services; secondly Technology Hardware Equipment, including manufacturers and distributors of communications equipment, computers and peripherals, electronic equipment and related instruments; and thirdly, Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers. This particular report is confined to the use of project management among the areas of Technology Software Services and Technology Hardware Equipment only. The research was not conducted on the Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers in UAE. Contents of this Report Chapter Two introduces project management and its significance for any business sector. It then demonstrates the rapid growth in adoption of project management in IT projects. This is followed by a synopsis of the UAE market and the UAE IT industry. The chapter ends signifying the impact of project management on the UAE IT industry. Chapter Three expands on the significance of project management as viewed through academic literature. This outlines how project management is known to add value to IT projects and some characteristics observed by organisations that have gone through the process of formalizing project management (Center for Business Practices). Using past works of the last 20 years, it also highlights the most predominant factors responsible for high failures rates of IT projects. This is followed by views of authors on various project management process groups and methodologies. Having discussed not only the pros of project management but also the problems faced during the entire process, Chapter Four is concerned with the research methodology and detailed analysis of the survey conducted. Chapter Five brings out the key survey findings in detail and compares these with the literature surveyed in Chapter Two indicating the extent to which the survey findings break new ground. Chapter Six builds up on the key findings outlined here, their practical implications, and a look towards how this research could be developed. This includes a brief description of limitations of this study and of recommendations on how these limitations could be overcome in subsequent studies. BACKGROUND Project management is the most critical business skill and competency of today that forms the basic building block of a knowledge based company for businesses and professions in oil and gas, petroleum, petrochemicals, chemicals, metal and mining, infrastructures, buildings, IT, Healthcare, Finance, Telecoms, Manufacturing, and many more services and banking industries. Project management was declared to be the best career on earth by the Fortune magazine. Recently, PMI reported that nowadays more and more organisations and government agencies are adopting and making project management a strategic competency. Information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT) are the fastest growing industries in developed and most of the developing countries. Huge amounts of money are still being invested in these industries (Abdel-Hamid Madnick, 1990). Every organisation wants to gain a competitive advantage, maintain it and lead from the front. Hence, there is a corresponding pressure to increase productivity. To maintain a competitive edge in todays fast-changing world, the success of an organisation depends on effectively developing and adopting information systems. According to Zells (1994) and other studies, approximately 85% of IT projects under-taken in the western countries are at the lowest level of capability maturity model (CMM). The challenges at this level are to have project planning, project management, configuration management, and quality assurance in place and have them working effectively. To improve project delivery performance, a number of organisations are adopting project management approaches and setting up project management offices (Barnes, 1991; Butterfield Edwards, 1994; King, 1995; Munns Bjeirmi, 1996; Raz, 1993; Redmond, 1991). Current literature on IT projects shows that most of the IT problems are not technical, they are of management, organisational or behavioral nature. (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Whitten, 1995). Fishers (1991) survey of technology firms showed that if project management improved, time and cost could be reduced by more than 25% and profits would increase by more than 5%. This has since been validated by using different project management methodologies and analyzing the extent to which these practices can be adopted, based on internal benchmarking by the companies involved in the field trials. The UAE Market the UAE IT Industry UAE has realised the significance of project management in the IT due to its rapid growth in the IT industry. As expected by Business Monitor International (BMI), the total size of the UAE IT market is to increase from around US$3.4bn in 2007 to close to US$4bn in 2012. With IT a key element of the Emirates development, a number of major local and federal government initiatives together with a strong and diversifying economy should ensure continued growth over the forecast period. Meanwhile, the oil-led boom across the Middle East will continue to be a boost to IT and infrastructure spending in the UAE. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) As per the BMI report, the federal government is also encouraging the development of smart cities, another regional trend. In 2007 the government announced that its target of getting 90% of businesses online by the end of the year was likely to be met. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and the local telecom provider Etisalat. Investment is expected to be strongest in the government, financial, and oil and gas verticals. Other key non-oil sectors driving the economy include banking and finance, which are likely to be the single largest industry vertical in terms of IT investments over the forecast period. Real estate has also experienced a massive investment boom in the past five years, and this is expected to continue and grow, with the National Bank of Dubai projecting at least US$50bn in outlays in property development in the emirate by 2010. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Industry Developments The BMI report states that the UAE federal governments recently announced UAE Strategic Plan calls for a strengthening of e-government programmes. The focus of the programme is to support implementation of programmes at federal government level. The federal government ministries have often lagged behind progress by the leading local governments, particularly Dubai. As such, Dubai government, which has had many of its departments and services online for some time, will lend expertise to the project. However, local government continues to dominate and accounts for around 20% of total IT Services spending. Dubai Municipality announced that it expects to spend anything between US$1.6mn and US$2.2mn per year over the next few years implementing its plan of getting 90% of government services online. It is likely the organisation will spend at least US$2.8mn annually on e-government initiatives. Abu Dhabi is accelerating its efforts to emulate Dubai, led by the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSEIC), a body created in 2005 to develop and drive initiatives to transform government services in the Emirate. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) From the above trend, it can be observed that the number of IT jobs in UAE has gone up by 5000 percent since 2005. This goes to show how rapidly the UAE IT Industry has grown in the past three years and that it is still going strong. Competitive Landscape According to BMI, with government accounting for as much as 40% of IT spending, and e-government programmes alone around half that, vendors are continuing to find opportunities. Recently the Ministry of Development for the Government sector signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft Gulf whereby Microsoft will support federal e-government programmes with training and technical support. Under the agreement Ministries will also use legal Microsoft software. Meanwhile, the leading body for Abu Dhabis e-government programme, the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSIC) signed an Enterprise Licence Agreement with Oracle. The agreement establishes Oracle as a key technology partner and provides for the Abu Dhabi Government to buy Oracle software solutions and support and maintenance services. The continuing growth in PC sales in 2007 in the UAE did not significantly alter the competitive landscape of a market which accounts for approximately 40% of the overall regional PC sales. Today the market remains dominated by international players such as Acer, Dell and HP with the top five brands accounting for more than 50% of the market. Meanwhile, the share held by local assemblers continues to dwindle, due in part to their relative weakness in the growth area of notebooks. However, local assemblers hope that their future will be brighter since UAE-based firms such as Sky Electronics have already been fighting back. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Hardware The UAE hardware market is estimated at about US$1.4bn in 2007, which shows a 12% growth from US$1.2bn in 2006, and is one of the largest in the region. Much of the growth is due to small and medium enterprise spending, particular on mobile computers, which are expected to account for around 60% of sales over the forecast period. Notebooks are also proving to be popular with the consumer segment, particularly with the introduction of features such as integrated wi-fi, webcam and entertainment features such as HD DVD. Sales of PC notebooks and accessories have been expected to reach more than US$1bn by the end of 2008, while the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the 2007 to 2012 period as a whole is expected to be in the region of 8%. Current and future investments in education and e-government, fuelled by new oil revenues, will lead to desktop rollouts in schools, colleges and government offices across the Emirates. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) Software BMI estimates that the UAEs software spending will pass US$400mn in 2008, representing around 17% of the IT expenditure. CAGR for spending on packaged software is put at 10% over the 2007 to 2012 period, with the UAE being of the regions fastest-growing ERP markets, as more businesses realise the benefits of efficient management of resources within their internal processes. The UAE also has one of the regions lowest software piracy rates at just 35% according to the Business Software Association (BSA), which has praised the UAE government and Ministry of Economy for its efforts in promoting anti-piracy initiatives. The government has combated illegal software in a number of ways, both through anti-piracy legislation and enforcement measures. Customer relationship management (CRM) will be one of the growth areas with fewer than 2% of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East region having a specialised CRM application in place. BMI predicts plenty of room for growth in the forecast period as numerous untapped sub-sectors still exist. Key verticals include process manufacturing (mainly oil and gas), followed by the financial services industry. Two other key segments are the telecom and the public sectors. During the next five years high-growth categories are set to include CRM, enterprise resource planning (ERP) business intelligence, s torage and security products. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) IT Services BMI expects that the IT Services market will reach a value of more than US$1,003mn by 2012, with outsourcing accounting for an increasingly large portion of up to 25%. IT services revenues compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the 2006 to 2012 period is expected to be 10%, encouraging vendors to shift their focus away from simply shifting boxes. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and Etisalat. Outsourcing is also predicted to be a growing trend, with recent landmark outsourcing deals awarded by entities such as the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA)and civil service departments. Global vendors such as IBM Global Services are competing for its business with local companies such as Injazat Data Systems, which with its good government connections has grown to be a major force in the market, reporting BPO deals with 13 leading priva te and public organisations. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) E-Readiness The recent Global Information Technology report sponsored by Cisco noted the UAEs success in creating a good ICT environment by placing it top of the rankings for 122 countries. The survey, which looks at the preference of countries to leverage the opportunities offered by ICT for development and increased competitiveness, praised the UAEs good regulatory environment, and clear government leadership in leveraging IT and promoting its use. According to the report, ICT has empowered individuals and revolutionised the business and economic landscape while fostering social networks and companies. Overall internet penetration in the UAE was estimated at close to 40% by the end of 2006, far above the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) average, reflecting the UAEs status as one of the most advanced IT countries in the middle-east. Broadband penetration is around 10% and is expected to rise 60% over the forecast period. In terms of e-government development, additional new phases to be introduced in the project last year (as mentioned in the Industry Developments section) include e-portal, e-project, the HR Management System (HRMS) and the Financial Management Integration System (FMIS) projects. The e-government High Committee has expressed satisfaction with the progress made on implementation of the e-government initiative to date. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Impact of Project Management on the UAE IT Industry Project management has already had a significant impact on IT organisations in UAE and much more dramatic effects are anticipated for the years to come. Greater attention needs to be paid to the interaction of information technology with business methods, work patterns, employees and organisational culture. It was observed that not too much of research work has been carried out on project management in the IT industry of UAE and this is the precise reason why this study was conducted on the UAE market. LITERATURE REVIEW If we built houses the way we build software, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization. John J. Hamre, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Phillips (2004) states that IT project management could be as as exciting as a white water rafting excursion or as painful as a root canal. In addition, Anthes (2008) points out that IT project management has always earned a high ranking on the annual list of IT managers worries, but in the first-half of the 2008 Vital Signs survey, it took the No. 1 spot. In other words, the process is all about efficiently handling the complexities that come along with IT projects, right from the word go. The study aims to investigate on how difficult it is for organisations to manage IT projects efficiently. Richardson et al. (2006) claims that project failure is based not only on economic criteria but also on requirements, cost and time parameters. He builds up his reasoning by citing examples of the following project surveys : The Robbins-Gioia Survey (2001) The Conference Board Survey (2001) The KPMG Canada Survey (1997) The Chaos Report (1995) According to IT Cortex (2004), the results of these surveys showed that most of the organisations suffered from high project failure rates and that they heavily exceeded the time and budget constraints. Similarly, Schwalbe (2007) reports that IT projects come along with high failure risks. He defends his thoughts with a study which was conducted by the Standish Group (CHAOS) in 1995. In the survey it was found that only 16.2% of IT projects were successful and over 31% were cancelled before completion, costing over US$81 billion in the US alone. However, when the CHAOS study was conducted again in 2001, the results showed improvements in all areas but still only 28% of IT projects succeeded. The 2001 Standish Group report findings as compared to those of the 1995 report were as follows : Time overruns significantly decreased from 222% to 163% Cost overruns were down from 189% to 145% Required features and functions were up from 61% to 67% Successful IT projects rose from to 16% to 28% One of the objectives of this report is to carry out similar work on finding the failure rates of IT projects but on the UAE market, one on which not much research has been carried out till date. In many previous studies, project failures due to time delay, cost overrun, and abandonment of IT projects have been widely reported (Bailey, 1996; Gibbs, 1994; Lucas, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994). In other industries, causes of project failures are investigated and reports written, but in the IT industry their causes are either covered up or ignored. As a consequence, the IT industry keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again (Johnston, 1995). This report takes this a step further by observing what percentage of IT organisations in UAE believe in maintaining project reports and lessons learned logs for their subsequent projects. In many previous studies, the most commonly reported causes of IT project failure were traced out. They were as follows (based on a content analysis of the cited literature): Misunderstood requirements (business, technical, and social) (King, 1995; Lane, Palko, Cronan, 1994; Lavence, 1996); Optimistic schedules and budgets (Martin, 1994); Inadequate risk assessment and management (Johnston, 1995); Inconsistent standards and lack of training in project management (Jones, 1994; OConner Reinsborough, 1992; Phan, Vogel, Nunamaker, 1995); Management of resources (people more than hardware and technology) (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994); Unclear charter for a project (Lavence, 1996); Lack of communication (Demery, 1995; Gioia, 1996; Hartman, 2000; Walsh Kanter, 1988). On the other hand, Karten studies reasons for failure by compiling a list of ten ways that can guarantee project failure : Abbreviate the planning process Dont ask what if? Minimize customer involvement Select team members by seeing who is available regardless of skill Work people long and hard Dont inform management of problems Allow changes at any point Discourage questions from team members Dont give customers progress reports Dont compare project progress with project estimates However, this survey goes a bit deeper and also explores the role of project management methodologies and process groups in helping deliver successful projects. The project management frameworks which are rapidly gaining recognition are ITIL, PMBOK and PRINCE2 (Phillips, 2004). Although Leuenberger (2007) considers ITIL to be one of the worlds best ways to align IT with business objectives, he also claims that his research conducted through IDC shows points out that 60% of mid-sized businesses in Australia either are unaware of, or have no plans to implement ITIL and also that on a global scale, only 20% of the mid-market companies are currently using ITIL. In contrast to ITIL, PMI claims that it has grown to become the most widely recognized and the only global certification for the project management profession with more than 260,000 members in over 171 countries. The survey aims to study the UAE IT industry and clarify such claims made by authors and institutes so that the growth of IT project governance methodologies can in an IT industry of a booming economy can be analyzed. Bainey (2004) states that so many IT projects tend to go over budget, run behind schedule, and deliver products or services poor in quality due to the negligence of integration, consistency and standardization. The report builds up on this by going ahead and investigating the significance of integration management for project managers. Harris (2005) asserts that it is high time that the PMO function is placed in its proper organisational alignment. He believes that not only can it combine the corporate planning process with effective delivery of products and services but also provide external clients with traditional client services for the enterprise as a whole or for respective enterprise business unit Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE Review of IT Project Management Practices in the UAE A Study on the UAE IT Industry ABSTRACT I keep six honest serving men, (They taught me all I know); Their names are What and Why and When And How and Where and Who. -Rudyard Kipling This report presents findings of a research project that explored the distinct approaches of UAE-based IT organisations in following different project management practices to deal with their IT projects. Not too much of project management data on UAE IT industry exists today. Therefore it was decided to do a study on it. The research findings are based on a questionnaire survey conducted between July and August 2008 among 200 organisations of UAE. A total of 48 valid responses were received, representing an overall response rate of 24%. The study achieved a primary aim of explanatory and constructivist research, which is to enhance knowledge and understanding of a phenomenon. An emergent-based, general systems approach was adopted for the whole project. General System theory is a holistic and analytical approach to solving complex problems. It recognizes relativity of perception and is a general science of wholeness (Bertalanffy, 1968). The theory was used to break down the whole research technique into various components yet still maintaining the integrity of the research objective. A key finding was the high amount of failure risks that came along with IT projects. In addition, it was found that project management added a lot of value to IT projects and if carried out efficiently it could help avoid the failure risks. A surprise discovery was that although most of the organisations valued project management a lot, they did not have a dedicated Project Management Office (PMO) in place. Further, it was found out that high involvement of external organisations could be one of the factors responsible for the high amount of risks involved with IT projects. It was observed that 25% of the project managers were not aware of the project management maturity levels of their organisations. Project managers seemed to have tough times managing time, cost and risk in IT projects. Also, most of the organisations did not believe in recording the lessons learned and hence knowledge was not transferred to the new projects from the previous ones. Strong indicators probably exist to warrant further research into investigating the basic reasons behind a high percentage of failed IT projects. Further research into the relationship between project management methodology and project success seems warranted on behalf of the indicators provided by the respondents. INTRODUCTION I have not failed. Ive just found 10,000 ways that wont work. -Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931) If your project doesnt work, look for the part that you didnt think was important   Arthur Bloch The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them. -Albert Einstein (1879-1955) The first rule of any technology used in a business is that automation applied to an efficient operation will magnify the efficiency. The second is that automation applied to an inefficient operation will magnify the inefficiency. -Bill Gates The Roman bridges of antiquity were very inefficient structures. By modern standards, they used too much stone, and as a result, far too much labor to build. Over the years we have learned to build bridges more efficiently, using fewer materials and less labor to perform the same task. -Tom Clancy (The Sum of All Fears) In 1986, Alfred Spector, president of Transarc Corporation, stated that bridge building could be compared to software development. He added, The premise: Bridges are usually built on-time, on-budget, and do not collapse. On the other hand, software never comes in on-budget or on-time. Also, it always breaks down. One of the biggest reasons why bridges come in on-time, on-budget and do not collapse is because their designs are extremely detailed. Once the designing phase is over, it is then frozen and the contractor has very little flexibility in changing the specifications. However, in todays fast moving business environment, having a frozen design in place means no changes in the business practices. Therefore efforts must be made to use a more flexible model. This could be and has been used as an explanation for development failure. But beside 3,000 years of experience, there is another difference between software failures and bridge collapses. When a bridge collapses, investigation is carried out and a report is written on the cause of the failure. It is not so in the IT industry where failures are covered up, ignored, and/or rationalized. As a result, the same mistakes are repeated over and over again. According to the Standish Group report, more than $250 billion is spent every year on IT application development of approximately 175,000 projects in the United States. The average cost of a development project for a small company is $434,000; for a medium company, it is $1,331,000; and for a large company, it is $2,322,000. A great number of these projects will fail. IT projects have always known to be in chaos. The research showed that a staggering 31.1% of projects got canceled before they ever got completed. Further results indicated that 52.7% of projects had cost 189% of their original estimates. The cost of these failures and overruns were just the tip of the proverbial iceberg. The lost opportunity costs were not measurable, but could easily be in trillions of dollars. The extent of this problem can be realized by looking at example of the City of Denver. The failure to produce reliable software to handle luggage at the new Denver airport was costing the city $1.1 million per day. Based on this research, in 1995 American companies and government agencies spent $81 billion for canceled software projects. These same organisations paid an additional $59 billion for software projects that were completed, but had exceed their original time estimates. Risk is always a factor when pushing the technology envelope, but many of these projects were as ordinary as a driving license database, a new accounting package, or an order entry system. On the success side, the average was only 16.2% for software projects that were completed on-time and on-budget. In the larger companies, the news was even worse: only 9% of their projects came in on-time and on-budget. And, even when these projects were completed, many were no more than a mere shadow of their original specification requirements. Projects completed by the largest American companies had only approximately 42% of the originally-proposed features and functions which goes to show that these projects lacked scope management. Smaller companies fared much better in this aspect. 78.4% of their software projects got deployed with at least 74.2% of their original features and functions. 48% of the IT executives in the research sample felt that there were more failures during that period than those five years ago. But it was also observed that over 50% felt that there were fewer or the same number of failures at that point of time than there were five and ten years ago. So the Standish Group reported an improvement in IT project success rates and claimed that it was due to an increased ability to know when to cancel failing projects. Standish Group Chairman Jim Johnson commented: The real improvement that I saw was in our ability to-in the worlds of Thomas Edison-know when to stop beating a dead horseEdisons key to success was that he failed fairly often; but as he said, he could recognize a dead horse before it started to smellIn information technology we ride dead horses-failing projects-a long time before we give up. But what we are seeing now is that we are able to get off them; able to reduce cost overrun and time overrun. Thats where the major impact came on the success rate. (Cabanis, 1998) There is a new or renewed interest in project management today as the number of projects continues to grow and their complexity continues to rise. As already observed, the success rate of IT projects has more than doubled since 1995, but still only about a third are successful in meeting scope, cost, and time goals. More and more projects and organisations can succeed consistently by adopting a more disciplined approach to managing projects. Research Objectives This study provides first-hand information on success and failure rates of IT projects in the UAE and on distinct approaches and methodologies followed by all different kinds of IT organisations in governing IT projects. It also aims to survey attitudes of organisations towards distinct project management processes like cost management, time management, risk management, etc. and establish a future direction for organisations so that they realize the value of the most significant process groups of project management and do not neglect them in the forthcoming projects. It could be useful in the following four areas : (1) it can be helpful for relevant government departments in preparing strategies for project management in the IT industry; (2) it can promote the awareness of commercial benefits of project management among managers in IT companies of UAE and encourage them to seriously consider project management in their businesses; (3) it can increase the competence and confidence in applying project management by local companies by providing management guidance on the selection and development of project management methodologies; and (4) it can be beneficial to the educational institutions of UAE for teaching and conducting further research on information technology project management. According to the Global Industry Classification Standard (GICS), the IT industry consists of three primary sub-sectors : firstly, Technology Software Services, including companies that primarily develop software in various fields such as the Internet, applications, systems, databases management and/or home entertainment, and companies that provide information technology consulting and services, as well as data processing and outsourced services; secondly Technology Hardware Equipment, including manufacturers and distributors of communications equipment, computers and peripherals, electronic equipment and related instruments; and thirdly, Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers. This particular report is confined to the use of project management among the areas of Technology Software Services and Technology Hardware Equipment only. The research was not conducted on the Semiconductors Semiconductor Equipment Manufacturers in UAE. Contents of this Report Chapter Two introduces project management and its significance for any business sector. It then demonstrates the rapid growth in adoption of project management in IT projects. This is followed by a synopsis of the UAE market and the UAE IT industry. The chapter ends signifying the impact of project management on the UAE IT industry. Chapter Three expands on the significance of project management as viewed through academic literature. This outlines how project management is known to add value to IT projects and some characteristics observed by organisations that have gone through the process of formalizing project management (Center for Business Practices). Using past works of the last 20 years, it also highlights the most predominant factors responsible for high failures rates of IT projects. This is followed by views of authors on various project management process groups and methodologies. Having discussed not only the pros of project management but also the problems faced during the entire process, Chapter Four is concerned with the research methodology and detailed analysis of the survey conducted. Chapter Five brings out the key survey findings in detail and compares these with the literature surveyed in Chapter Two indicating the extent to which the survey findings break new ground. Chapter Six builds up on the key findings outlined here, their practical implications, and a look towards how this research could be developed. This includes a brief description of limitations of this study and of recommendations on how these limitations could be overcome in subsequent studies. BACKGROUND Project management is the most critical business skill and competency of today that forms the basic building block of a knowledge based company for businesses and professions in oil and gas, petroleum, petrochemicals, chemicals, metal and mining, infrastructures, buildings, IT, Healthcare, Finance, Telecoms, Manufacturing, and many more services and banking industries. Project management was declared to be the best career on earth by the Fortune magazine. Recently, PMI reported that nowadays more and more organisations and government agencies are adopting and making project management a strategic competency. Information systems (IS) and information technologies (IT) are the fastest growing industries in developed and most of the developing countries. Huge amounts of money are still being invested in these industries (Abdel-Hamid Madnick, 1990). Every organisation wants to gain a competitive advantage, maintain it and lead from the front. Hence, there is a corresponding pressure to increase productivity. To maintain a competitive edge in todays fast-changing world, the success of an organisation depends on effectively developing and adopting information systems. According to Zells (1994) and other studies, approximately 85% of IT projects under-taken in the western countries are at the lowest level of capability maturity model (CMM). The challenges at this level are to have project planning, project management, configuration management, and quality assurance in place and have them working effectively. To improve project delivery performance, a number of organisations are adopting project management approaches and setting up project management offices (Barnes, 1991; Butterfield Edwards, 1994; King, 1995; Munns Bjeirmi, 1996; Raz, 1993; Redmond, 1991). Current literature on IT projects shows that most of the IT problems are not technical, they are of management, organisational or behavioral nature. (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Whitten, 1995). Fishers (1991) survey of technology firms showed that if project management improved, time and cost could be reduced by more than 25% and profits would increase by more than 5%. This has since been validated by using different project management methodologies and analyzing the extent to which these practices can be adopted, based on internal benchmarking by the companies involved in the field trials. The UAE Market the UAE IT Industry UAE has realised the significance of project management in the IT due to its rapid growth in the IT industry. As expected by Business Monitor International (BMI), the total size of the UAE IT market is to increase from around US$3.4bn in 2007 to close to US$4bn in 2012. With IT a key element of the Emirates development, a number of major local and federal government initiatives together with a strong and diversifying economy should ensure continued growth over the forecast period. Meanwhile, the oil-led boom across the Middle East will continue to be a boost to IT and infrastructure spending in the UAE. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) As per the BMI report, the federal government is also encouraging the development of smart cities, another regional trend. In 2007 the government announced that its target of getting 90% of businesses online by the end of the year was likely to be met. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and the local telecom provider Etisalat. Investment is expected to be strongest in the government, financial, and oil and gas verticals. Other key non-oil sectors driving the economy include banking and finance, which are likely to be the single largest industry vertical in terms of IT investments over the forecast period. Real estate has also experienced a massive investment boom in the past five years, and this is expected to continue and grow, with the National Bank of Dubai projecting at least US$50bn in outlays in property development in the emirate by 2010. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Industry Developments The BMI report states that the UAE federal governments recently announced UAE Strategic Plan calls for a strengthening of e-government programmes. The focus of the programme is to support implementation of programmes at federal government level. The federal government ministries have often lagged behind progress by the leading local governments, particularly Dubai. As such, Dubai government, which has had many of its departments and services online for some time, will lend expertise to the project. However, local government continues to dominate and accounts for around 20% of total IT Services spending. Dubai Municipality announced that it expects to spend anything between US$1.6mn and US$2.2mn per year over the next few years implementing its plan of getting 90% of government services online. It is likely the organisation will spend at least US$2.8mn annually on e-government initiatives. Abu Dhabi is accelerating its efforts to emulate Dubai, led by the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSEIC), a body created in 2005 to develop and drive initiatives to transform government services in the Emirate. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) From the above trend, it can be observed that the number of IT jobs in UAE has gone up by 5000 percent since 2005. This goes to show how rapidly the UAE IT Industry has grown in the past three years and that it is still going strong. Competitive Landscape According to BMI, with government accounting for as much as 40% of IT spending, and e-government programmes alone around half that, vendors are continuing to find opportunities. Recently the Ministry of Development for the Government sector signed a strategic agreement with Microsoft Gulf whereby Microsoft will support federal e-government programmes with training and technical support. Under the agreement Ministries will also use legal Microsoft software. Meanwhile, the leading body for Abu Dhabis e-government programme, the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSIC) signed an Enterprise Licence Agreement with Oracle. The agreement establishes Oracle as a key technology partner and provides for the Abu Dhabi Government to buy Oracle software solutions and support and maintenance services. The continuing growth in PC sales in 2007 in the UAE did not significantly alter the competitive landscape of a market which accounts for approximately 40% of the overall regional PC sales. Today the market remains dominated by international players such as Acer, Dell and HP with the top five brands accounting for more than 50% of the market. Meanwhile, the share held by local assemblers continues to dwindle, due in part to their relative weakness in the growth area of notebooks. However, local assemblers hope that their future will be brighter since UAE-based firms such as Sky Electronics have already been fighting back. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Hardware The UAE hardware market is estimated at about US$1.4bn in 2007, which shows a 12% growth from US$1.2bn in 2006, and is one of the largest in the region. Much of the growth is due to small and medium enterprise spending, particular on mobile computers, which are expected to account for around 60% of sales over the forecast period. Notebooks are also proving to be popular with the consumer segment, particularly with the introduction of features such as integrated wi-fi, webcam and entertainment features such as HD DVD. Sales of PC notebooks and accessories have been expected to reach more than US$1bn by the end of 2008, while the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for the 2007 to 2012 period as a whole is expected to be in the region of 8%. Current and future investments in education and e-government, fuelled by new oil revenues, will lead to desktop rollouts in schools, colleges and government offices across the Emirates. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) Software BMI estimates that the UAEs software spending will pass US$400mn in 2008, representing around 17% of the IT expenditure. CAGR for spending on packaged software is put at 10% over the 2007 to 2012 period, with the UAE being of the regions fastest-growing ERP markets, as more businesses realise the benefits of efficient management of resources within their internal processes. The UAE also has one of the regions lowest software piracy rates at just 35% according to the Business Software Association (BSA), which has praised the UAE government and Ministry of Economy for its efforts in promoting anti-piracy initiatives. The government has combated illegal software in a number of ways, both through anti-piracy legislation and enforcement measures. Customer relationship management (CRM) will be one of the growth areas with fewer than 2% of small- to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Middle East region having a specialised CRM application in place. BMI predicts plenty of room for growth in the forecast period as numerous untapped sub-sectors still exist. Key verticals include process manufacturing (mainly oil and gas), followed by the financial services industry. Two other key segments are the telecom and the public sectors. During the next five years high-growth categories are set to include CRM, enterprise resource planning (ERP) business intelligence, s torage and security products. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) IT Services BMI expects that the IT Services market will reach a value of more than US$1,003mn by 2012, with outsourcing accounting for an increasingly large portion of up to 25%. IT services revenues compound annual growth rate (CAGR) over the 2006 to 2012 period is expected to be 10%, encouraging vendors to shift their focus away from simply shifting boxes. Services are becoming an increasingly significant component of many deployment contracts, as evidenced by recent projects by leading UAE corporations such as Emirates Airlines and Etisalat. Outsourcing is also predicted to be a growing trend, with recent landmark outsourcing deals awarded by entities such as the Abu Dhabi Water and Electricity Authority (ADWEA)and civil service departments. Global vendors such as IBM Global Services are competing for its business with local companies such as Injazat Data Systems, which with its good government connections has grown to be a major force in the market, reporting BPO deals with 13 leading priva te and public organisations. (Marketresearch.com, 2007) E-Readiness The recent Global Information Technology report sponsored by Cisco noted the UAEs success in creating a good ICT environment by placing it top of the rankings for 122 countries. The survey, which looks at the preference of countries to leverage the opportunities offered by ICT for development and increased competitiveness, praised the UAEs good regulatory environment, and clear government leadership in leveraging IT and promoting its use. According to the report, ICT has empowered individuals and revolutionised the business and economic landscape while fostering social networks and companies. Overall internet penetration in the UAE was estimated at close to 40% by the end of 2006, far above the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) average, reflecting the UAEs status as one of the most advanced IT countries in the middle-east. Broadband penetration is around 10% and is expected to rise 60% over the forecast period. In terms of e-government development, additional new phases to be introduced in the project last year (as mentioned in the Industry Developments section) include e-portal, e-project, the HR Management System (HRMS) and the Financial Management Integration System (FMIS) projects. The e-government High Committee has expressed satisfaction with the progress made on implementation of the e-government initiative to date. (Mindbranch.com, 2007) Impact of Project Management on the UAE IT Industry Project management has already had a significant impact on IT organisations in UAE and much more dramatic effects are anticipated for the years to come. Greater attention needs to be paid to the interaction of information technology with business methods, work patterns, employees and organisational culture. It was observed that not too much of research work has been carried out on project management in the IT industry of UAE and this is the precise reason why this study was conducted on the UAE market. LITERATURE REVIEW If we built houses the way we build software, the first woodpecker to come along would destroy civilization. John J. Hamre, U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary Phillips (2004) states that IT project management could be as as exciting as a white water rafting excursion or as painful as a root canal. In addition, Anthes (2008) points out that IT project management has always earned a high ranking on the annual list of IT managers worries, but in the first-half of the 2008 Vital Signs survey, it took the No. 1 spot. In other words, the process is all about efficiently handling the complexities that come along with IT projects, right from the word go. The study aims to investigate on how difficult it is for organisations to manage IT projects efficiently. Richardson et al. (2006) claims that project failure is based not only on economic criteria but also on requirements, cost and time parameters. He builds up his reasoning by citing examples of the following project surveys : The Robbins-Gioia Survey (2001) The Conference Board Survey (2001) The KPMG Canada Survey (1997) The Chaos Report (1995) According to IT Cortex (2004), the results of these surveys showed that most of the organisations suffered from high project failure rates and that they heavily exceeded the time and budget constraints. Similarly, Schwalbe (2007) reports that IT projects come along with high failure risks. He defends his thoughts with a study which was conducted by the Standish Group (CHAOS) in 1995. In the survey it was found that only 16.2% of IT projects were successful and over 31% were cancelled before completion, costing over US$81 billion in the US alone. However, when the CHAOS study was conducted again in 2001, the results showed improvements in all areas but still only 28% of IT projects succeeded. The 2001 Standish Group report findings as compared to those of the 1995 report were as follows : Time overruns significantly decreased from 222% to 163% Cost overruns were down from 189% to 145% Required features and functions were up from 61% to 67% Successful IT projects rose from to 16% to 28% One of the objectives of this report is to carry out similar work on finding the failure rates of IT projects but on the UAE market, one on which not much research has been carried out till date. In many previous studies, project failures due to time delay, cost overrun, and abandonment of IT projects have been widely reported (Bailey, 1996; Gibbs, 1994; Lucas, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994). In other industries, causes of project failures are investigated and reports written, but in the IT industry their causes are either covered up or ignored. As a consequence, the IT industry keeps repeating the same mistakes over and over again (Johnston, 1995). This report takes this a step further by observing what percentage of IT organisations in UAE believe in maintaining project reports and lessons learned logs for their subsequent projects. In many previous studies, the most commonly reported causes of IT project failure were traced out. They were as follows (based on a content analysis of the cited literature): Misunderstood requirements (business, technical, and social) (King, 1995; Lane, Palko, Cronan, 1994; Lavence, 1996); Optimistic schedules and budgets (Martin, 1994); Inadequate risk assessment and management (Johnston, 1995); Inconsistent standards and lack of training in project management (Jones, 1994; OConner Reinsborough, 1992; Phan, Vogel, Nunamaker, 1995); Management of resources (people more than hardware and technology) (Johnston, 1995; Martin, 1994; Ward, 1994); Unclear charter for a project (Lavence, 1996); Lack of communication (Demery, 1995; Gioia, 1996; Hartman, 2000; Walsh Kanter, 1988). On the other hand, Karten studies reasons for failure by compiling a list of ten ways that can guarantee project failure : Abbreviate the planning process Dont ask what if? Minimize customer involvement Select team members by seeing who is available regardless of skill Work people long and hard Dont inform management of problems Allow changes at any point Discourage questions from team members Dont give customers progress reports Dont compare project progress with project estimates However, this survey goes a bit deeper and also explores the role of project management methodologies and process groups in helping deliver successful projects. The project management frameworks which are rapidly gaining recognition are ITIL, PMBOK and PRINCE2 (Phillips, 2004). Although Leuenberger (2007) considers ITIL to be one of the worlds best ways to align IT with business objectives, he also claims that his research conducted through IDC shows points out that 60% of mid-sized businesses in Australia either are unaware of, or have no plans to implement ITIL and also that on a global scale, only 20% of the mid-market companies are currently using ITIL. In contrast to ITIL, PMI claims that it has grown to become the most widely recognized and the only global certification for the project management profession with more than 260,000 members in over 171 countries. The survey aims to study the UAE IT industry and clarify such claims made by authors and institutes so that the growth of IT project governance methodologies can in an IT industry of a booming economy can be analyzed. Bainey (2004) states that so many IT projects tend to go over budget, run behind schedule, and deliver products or services poor in quality due to the negligence of integration, consistency and standardization. The report builds up on this by going ahead and investigating the significance of integration management for project managers. Harris (2005) asserts that it is high time that the PMO function is placed in its proper organisational alignment. He believes that not only can it combine the corporate planning process with effective delivery of products and services but also provide external clients with traditional client services for the enterprise as a whole or for respective enterprise business unit