Strategic Project Management Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Strategic Project Management - Essay Example That however can hardly be the case. When we speak of projects, we are speaking of elements within a whole. These elements cannot be discrete, but have to in some way or the other complement each other for the fulfillment of the general objective of development and growth of the organization. Adopting a more holistic view, an organization is concerned with overall business development that would necessitate what has been termed as Business Management. Classical Business Management emerged at the very beginning of the 20th Century. Project Management, on the other hand, was viewed almost independent of Business Management and was expected to provide the most effective and efficient means of producing the deliverables that a project was intended for. The Classical Model of Project Management which started somewhere in the fifties and sixties of the 20th Century, was primarily conceived to plan and control the timelines and costs for large projects in the aeronautical and construction industries. This model basically defined the logical sequences of different activities involved in the project along with the time, cost and other resources that each activity would require. Thus, Business Management and Project Management were viewed as distinct disciplines, or in other words, the business and the projects were thought to be disparate entities within the same organization. However, the 1980s heralded the unprecedented development of Information and Communication Technology opening up new channels of communication and new avenues for business on a world-wide scale. Changes swept over all sectors of activities, including businesses. Globalization broke down many conventional barriers, markets were de-regulated, a new market-driven economy emerged, and business organizations began to face global competition. The shelf life of products and services began to grow shorter and shorter, some times expiring even before the products

Inherited and Environmental Influences on Development Essay

Inherited and Environmental Influences on Development - Essay Example According to the findings, Bronfenbrenner's Ecological Model (1979) explains that the behavior and development of an individual is an interplay of the individual’s biological and personality factors, his environment and the society and culture he was born into. Bronfenbrenner also claims that effects of interactions between the individual and his environment are two-directional or characterized by reciprocity. This means that while a child’s development is influenced and molded by his family, school and peers, he likewise influences and molds the behavior of others. The growing child moves through five systems that inter-relate and affect his development. The most basic of which is the microsystem, where direct contacts between the child and his immediate surroundings result in behaviors such as dependence or independence and cooperation or competition. An example of this is the home base of the child and his relationship with his family. The pure culture of the society this family lives in greatly influences how this family lives and how the child imbibes the culture as he expresses it in his developing personality. The mesosystem comprises the linkages and processes that take place between two or more settings with the child in common. A perfect example is how learning in school is supported by follow up lessons in the home. The third level comprising linkages and processes taking place between two or more settings is the exosystem. This includes at least one setting that does not directly involve the child but still influences the processes within the immediate setting of the child. An example is the parent’s occupation. The workplace of this parent does not contain the child, but processes at work may affect his development such as the hours spent there by the parent may affect the parent-child bond. The fourth system is the macrosystem which includes the customs, values, and laws considered important in the child’s culture and u pbringing. A child from another culture may celebrate special customs and traditions from his culture apart from the special occasions celebrated in his host country. Lastly, the chronosystem in Bronfenbrenner's Ecological model refers to the time that transpires as the child relates in his various environments. An example is a change that happens to the child while he grows up moving from one system to another, like the westernization of the values of a child originally from an Asian culture. This ecological model implies that the interplay and quality of the various systems and environments of the child will play different roles in influencing his development. Likewise, whatever comes out of that development will affect the various environments the child belongs to. For instance, the free expression of his culture may lead to environments being more accepting of it.