Tech & Engineering

Introduction

This Project Report covers vital elements of project management aligned to the PMBoK knowledge areas to demonstrate best practices (Freidi 2014). For this Project Report ‘Our Project’ referred to as Natural Gas Drilling Project will be used to illustrate critical areas of project management.

Project Initiation

Our Project is set up to demonstrate natural gas drilling. It is the right project, conducted at the right place, time and with the right purpose.

The project sponsor, the State Government of Queensland, will initiate the Project.

Project Purpose

The main purpose of Our Project is to explore natural gas in Queensland, Australia using fracking technologies, technically known as hydraulic fracturing currently available.

Australia’s gas and oil industry is growing steadily because of increased demands both locally and abroad. The industry creates jobs and is a major source of incomes and taxes. Hence, it is a priority not only for the country but also globally.

This kind of project has been successfully undertaken in other parts of the country, including Western Australia and globally specifically in the US.

Our Project will result in abundant, clean, reliable and flexible natural gas fuel. In addition, other benefits would include raw materials for industrial processes, including plastic and chemical industries.

Project Stakeholders

Our Project will identify all stakeholders affected by the Project (Project Management Institute, Inc 2013). A research will be conducted to identify major stakeholders and their related needs. All stakeholders must be identified before the project implementation to avoid later challenges and resistance. Hence, stakeholders for Our Project will be identified in terms of sponsors and affected individuals, their expected needs and actual needs.

Sponsor: the state government is the major sponsor of the Natural Gas Drilling project. Thus, it will cater for project costs and authorize the expenditure. The project sponsor expects the project to be completed within the budget and on schedule.

Local communities of Queensland: local communities affected by shell gas exploration at Queensland are major stakeholders. Their major needs would include relocation, protection from exploration consequences, and compensation to relocate to new locations. The locals would also want employment opportunities during the project implementation.

The environmentalists: As noted in other parts of the world where fracking has been implemented, environmentalists present a significant challenge to this kind of project. They claim that the project is harmful to human and the environment. To avoid issues and litigation, environmentalists would be involved in the process to understand how the project team would handle all issues related to environmental concerns.

The public: the project is funded by public funds. The people of Queensland would be informed of the project objectives and the expected volume of natural gas and its benefits.

Local leaders: the project would involve local leaders to work with the local communities to avoid resistance and communicate project processes.

Our Project will prioritize various needs of all stakeholders based on relevance and importance to avoid project challenges and demonstrate project outcomes. Key decision-makers will be given priority in this project. The project will also address unstated concerns.

User Requirements

These are mainly specific requirements of stakeholders. Our Project will differentiate between needs and wants, identify similar needs, conflicting needs and use negotiation skills to obtain agreements.

The Project Objectives

Our Project objective is stated in terms of costs, time and quality. This approach will ensure that the project is delivered within the stipulated time, budget, and quality at the optimal levels based on the project scope (Brown 2014).

The main objective of Our Project is to drill about 3000 gas wells in Queensland within one year, while about 2500 will be ready for production or at the stage of water removal after nine months. Water removal is necessary before production to enhance quality.

All functional areas and quality aspects of the project will be observed during drilling stages to protect the environment.

The project is expected to cost $US25 billion.

It is expected that the Project team will deliver these objectives at the end of the project.

The Project Scope

This is the final stage of the project Initiation phase, and Our Project is now clearly identified and defined. That is, all the project stakeholders and the project team have agreed upon the project objectives, the nature of the project and the team to deliver the project.

The scope of this project covers Natural Gas Drilling at Queensland, Australia. The project team expects to deliver 3000 drilled wells within one year, with 2500 wells ready for production after nine months.

Our Project will not be involved in the actual process of gas production.

Planning

Our Project planning phase will account for the project scope, time, cost, risk, quality, procurement, and the project plan. Hence, Our Project objectives are well defined and agreed upon by all stakeholders

Scope

Our Project scope clearly defines what the project will deliver. Besides, it will also identify elements considered as out of scope to avoid unnecessary delays and conflicts later on at advanced stages.

This project will only drill 3000 wells and make them ready for production after one year. The project will not include actual production of gas.

Our Project will involve five clear steps noted in well drilling as shown in the Work Breakdown Structure (WBS). The WBS is the most vital tool for the Project Scope. All tasks involved in well drilling processes are identified to ensure that the project is delivered within the time, budget and quality. For ease of understanding, the project deliverables, tasks and activities are identified.

• Site identification

  • Identification of sites with oil and gas
  • Directional path to reach the target site
• Obtaining the rig involves selection of tools and services needed

  • Drilling Rig
  • Drill string
  • Fluid System
  • Casing
  • Cement
  • Completion
• Drilling the hole

  • Drill Surface Hole
  • Run Surface Casing
  • Cement Surface Casing
  • Drill Next Hole Section
• Running casing and cement

  • Casing

    • Avoid freshwater accumulation
    • Isolate water formations with significantly varied pressure gradients
    • Remove unstable formations or zones
  • Cement

    • Safeguard and seals the wellbore
    • Separation of fluids and moving formations
    • Remove unstable formation
    • Elimination of unnecessary wellbore
    • Seal unnecessary wells
• The completion

  • Remove water
  • Ready for production

Project Time

Our Project time consists of time estimates, task schedules, RACI and Gantt chart.

The project time estimate

The task duration will reflect the expected amount of time for the entire project capturing all necessary activities.

Project Schedule

Task estimates will provide an opportunity to arrange tasks and durations in sequence and create the project schedule.

The project schedule will indicate all stages of the project progress for review, communication and collaboration. In addition, it will show major milestones achieved.

RACI Chart

All four elements of the RACI chart are captured.

Responsible

The project team will be responsible for all the project tasks. The Project Manager will lead the project team.

Accountable

The Project Manager will be accountable for the tasks. At the same time, individual team leaders will also be accountable for their achievements.

Consulted

The Project Manager is expected to provide feedback and contribute when necessary. The project team leaders will also provide feedback for different project tasks.

Informed

The project team leaders will be informed of any necessary decisions taken by the Project Manager.

The Project Activity-on-Node (AoN)

AoN is a visual tool of the network logic that captures the whole project schedule from the beginning to the end. The Project team may also use AoN for any other activities deemed necessary within the project, particularly if several activities are involved. In this AoN, only elements associated with the critical path schedule are included to enhance simplicity and understanding. It does not include any planned date for different activities.

No activity has been completed so far. The project will start on 2 January 2016 and end in 31 December 2016.

Project Budget

The project is estimated to cost $US25 billion until completion. There is no cost overrun estimated currently, but miscellaneous allocation is provided.

It is imperative to recognize that the budget accuracy will depend on actual costs incurred on specific sub-tasks, labor, equipment and related services. The project will be funded optimally (Skaf 1999).

Thus, estimated cost has been provided as the total cost to guide the project execution.

Procurement

The procurement phase for Our Project will account for human resources, services, materials and equipment needed to execute the project successfully. The Project Manager and the procurement department will engage in selection of services, materials, equipment and suitable labor (Sweasey & Skitmore 2007). They will also write and assess tenders.

Procurement will also involve cost estimates and contract negotiation to get the best deals.

The Project Manager will also use procurement activities to curb some risks associated with cost overrun. Several risks related to procurement methods have been observed. For instance, to avoid technical challenges arising from the contract, the procurement team will have to assess the project needs and the management expectations carefully. Some project risks will be managed through procurement using terms of contracts. For instance, the project will be protected from cost adjustments related to changes in foreign currency rates and rise in cost materials, labor and services. Thus, the procurement team must define all these requirements.

The procurement team will have to observe rigor in tender writing, estimate assessment and selection of qualified bidders. In addition, legal assistance will be required where necessary to negotiate and write the project contracts.

Project Reporting

When to report

The reporting on Our Project will commence immediately. For effective reporting, the reporting elements will be agreed upon with other project stakeholders, including Project Sponsor, the local communities and the intended beneficiaries.

Reporting on the project will be regularly conducted after one month. Alternatively, any other specific task that requires immediate attention must be reported immediately and followed with the swift feedback.

What to report

Based on stakeholders’ composition, the Project Manager will only report specific outcomes to specific stakeholders based on their needs and influence. For instance, the Project Sponsor would be informed of expenditure and outcomes while environmentalists would be allowed to assess information on environmental conservation.

The project status report will be used at interval to update stakeholders during the project implementation. Only appropriate format will be used in the status report based on the negotiation with stakeholders. The status report will generally provide the following elements.

Schedule: the status report will provide the initial approved period and completion date, approved changes and new dates for completion of various tasks.

Budget: the status report will account for the initial allocated budget, any approved changes and the estimated costs until completion.

Issues: the status report will provide any risks that threat the project objectives, the project scope, schedule, resource allocation, and quality of work among others. A log of issues and solutions will be developed to track challenges, show status, actions, responsible persons and issue closure.

Risks and Risk Management

Our Project, just like any other projects, is exposed to uncertainty and, thus, to risks (Hardy-Vallee 2012). The project risks will be identified and classified based on their impacts, possibility and response methods.

The most likely risk for this project is cost overrun. For instance, several directional paths may be drilled before the actual path is located. These tasks will be expensive and, therefore, increase project risks associated with delays and costs. In addition, system failures may also occur.

Litigations from environmentalists could also result from the project execution.

Other risks may occur because of delays associated with natural factors. In this regard, the following approaches will be used to manage identified and potential risks.

Avoidance – the team will plan appropriately with modern technologies and tools for drilling to avoid any risks altogether (Borštnar & Pucihar 2014).

Mitigation – the project team will develop the required plans to lessen risks.

Procurement – the procurement process will be used to manage risks. The Project Manager will have to manage these processes carefully.

Contingency planning – the Project Manager will develop an alternative plans to manage any potential risks.

Insurance – some elements of the project such as equipment will be insured to spread the risk.

Risks will be managed to ensure that the project delivers quality upon completion. While quality could be subjective, the Project Manager and team leaders will define elements that constitute quality (Denney 2005). Thus, the project team will plan elements of quality expected to be met with every deliverable. In addition, the stakeholders will also give inputs on quality aspects. Quality aspects will ensure that the project has met its core objectives, and it can be favorably evaluated to demonstrate its success in the final report.

Change Management

Our Project will require a formal change management plan to guide the implementation processes. As such, the plan will capture, evaluate, and seek agreement to avoid resistance. Upon receiving change request, the team will have to make proper analysis of the change with the aim of assessing the impact it will have on the project’s objectives and scope. Modification and adjustments to the grand plan will be done where necessary. The team will also keep a proper record of change and its impacts on the existing plan for proper auditing.

After carrying out thorough analyses on requested changes and the subsequent modification done to the project management plan, the project team will communicate to all affected stakeholders (McManus & Cacioppe 2011). The team will also update the change log with the adapted changes together with the rationale behind them. To enhance the effectiveness of the change management plan, the project team will categorize the possible changes according to their potential sources.

Potential sources of change

Stakeholders

Our Project is most likely to affect the local communities. Consequently, the project team expects them to resist the project implementation on their land. During gas well drilling, the local community members will be required to move. To mitigate resistance, they will be engaged in decision-making processes through wide consultation. Individuals will be compensated for land while local youth will be employed. The project team will also ensure that it informs the communities about the project benefits (Packendorff, Crevani, & Lindgren 2014).

The project team will be asked to meet all project requirements as scheduled. Any delays will be mitigated through paid overtime work.

Work

There are possibilities that the work to be done in carrying out Our Project will be more difficult than we anticipated. This shall call for addition of capital and labor. The project team will communicate to the sponsor on issues concerning the additional cost of labor and capital. The revision of terms of employment caused by work difficulty will be done where necessary and communication done to the affected individuals.

Delays related to procurement

The process of procuring is subject to changes since it has more than one interrelated elements. This may be resulting from issues like delayed funds or delays from the suppliers. Delayed procurements will influence project stakeholders differently. The project team will promptly communicate sources of delays to all affected stakeholders. The team will then promptly act on the given feedback.

Variances in estimated costs

During the implementation process, the cost incurred could be either higher or lower than the estimated cost. In the case that the cost is higher than the estimates, the project team will assess the extent and liaise with the project sponsor for additional funds.

Risks triggered

In the course of project plan implementation, there could be chances of exposing the stakeholders to risks. The project team will work with experts to assess the magnitude of the risks and come up with appropriate courses of action. Communication will be done to the affected individuals, clearly explaining what is important for each and what is expected from them.

Mistakes

The team will commit itself to ensuring that everyone knows their role in order to avert mistakes. In addition to this, the team will collect data for comparison with the objectives. If mistakes are made, the project team will evaluate them with the aim of establishing their sources and impacts they will have on the project’s objectives. After a comprehensive review, the team will involve the relevant stakeholders in applying the appropriate corrective measures.

In conclusion, after considering the possible changes, the team will ensure that changes are implemented smoothly, with lasting benefits and the consideration on change outcomes on the project and all the stakeholders. The team will coordinate unique sets and objectives arising from change and the existing plan.

Managing Communication

The project team will come up with a communication plan that will be applied for communication throughout the project’s life cycle. The plan will put into consideration all project stakeholders and their varied requirements at any given time for information. Additionally, it will put in to place mechanisms to ensure that all stakeholders get appropriate up-to-date information on the project progress.

The team will categorize project stakeholders based on their information needs to deliver all communications through the right channels and right stakeholders. The basis of categorizing information will be guided by the questions, what kind of information is required? Who needs to communicate? How frequent the communication is needed? In addition, what needs to be communicated?

Communication with team members

In communicating with team members, the communication plan should put into consideration the diversity of the team members. People from different cultures, in different age brackets, with different educational level and so on will have different methods of communication. Team leaders will be responsible for communication with the Project Manager.

Communicating with other stakeholders

The team will come up with strategies to ensure that all the stakeholders will get information they require and in a manner that they will understand.

To enhance efficacy in communication, the team will put into consideration the following measures.

Picking a communicator

The team will pick a good communicator (the team leader) and consequently assign them the duty to communicate on behalf of the team. Persons selected will have a good knowledge of the projects progress, and they will accurately respond to queries as they arise. Therefore, the choice of the person to communicate on the team’s behalf will be informed by the communication expertise and communication skills.

Appropriateness in communication

The project team will ensure that all stakeholders get information they need, in a way they will understand. Communication will be done in a timely manner.

The methods used

The methods of communication to be used will include both formal and informal. The selection of the method will be done in accordance with the appropriateness and timeliness of the method.

Use of templates

To maintain standardization and enhance clarity, the project team will use carefully designed templates in communication where necessary. There will be deliberate efforts to explain clearly every project element and contents to stakeholders. Consequently, stakeholders will be informed on what is required of them in terms of responses and feedback.

Feedback

The project team will make use of feedback to evaluate the effectiveness of communication. Feedback should also be a tool to inform subsequent decisions.

Use of written agreements

The team’s communication system will put emphasis on written agreements even when negotiations are done verbally. The written agreements will be used in project recording and as evidences in case of disputes.

Version control

The team will ensure that issuance of documents is regulated, it will therefore make use of numbered documents, each document having a unique number, and they will all bear the name of the project. Dates of issuance will be recorded and only designated officers will have the responsibility to issue such documents.

Project Closure

The steering committee in coordination with the project sponsor will ensure that the project will come to a formal end. This will be done upon the completion of all elements defined in the project scope and objectives attained. The team will carry out the closure in a manner that all the stakeholders will be satisfied that the project is completed.

The team will pay attention to the following three aspects, which include, handing over, commissioning and project evaluation.

Commissioning

With the complete outline of the project, the project team will transfer the project to the sponsor as a completion. Final user will require training where necessary. As such, the team will organize for training programs and provide the necessary training materials such as training manuals for production purposes.

The team will also check on all issues identified and any other issues noted after handover. Some of these issues may include safety of all workers and all the other stakeholders, environmental regulations and compliance, and the available technology.

Project handover

At this stage, the project team will finalize on all contracted services. All the related documents will be handed over to the appropriate stakeholders. Demonstration of the use and the intended benefits will be done to all the stakeholders.

Celebration

Efforts of all stakeholders involved in successful delivery of project in time and with high standards will be appreciated. Additionally, a formal project closure will be provided.

Project Evaluation

The team will come up with a project evaluation plan, which will be geared to assist individuals to learn from the experience, and use gained experiences in the future. The following is a breakdown of the evaluation process the project team will follow.

Post project review

This will be a review to check on how effective the project is based on meeting the set objectives. The team will have to account for all stakeholders in order to be as inclusive as possible in this review.

Benefits review

The outcomes of the project will be reviewed in relation to the returns it will give the beneficiaries. This will be done six months after the delivery of the project. The rationale for carrying this exercise will be to provide information about viability of the project. The information obtained after the review will be stored and used in future decision-making processes.

Future projects recommendations

The elements in the project whose delivery is to be done will be included in future projects after comprehensive development.

Contractor’s performance review

The project team will evaluate how effectively and efficiently the contractor has met the set objectives. Knowledge obtained will be used to determine whether the contractor and resources used will be considered for future projects.

Collecting, organization, and archiving of project records

The team will collect all the projects records, organize them, and finally archive them in an easy to retrieve way.

Reference List

Borštnar, MK & Pucihar, A 2014, ‘Impacts of the Implementation of a Project Management Information System– a Case Study of a Small R&D Company’, Organizacija, vol. 47, no. 1, pp. 10-23. Web.

Brown, JT 2014, The Handbook of Program Management: How to Facilitate Project Success with Optimal Program Management, 2nd edn., McGraw-Hill Education, New York.

Denney, R 2005, Succeeding with Use Cases: Working Smart to Deliver Quality, Addison-Wesley, Boston.

Freidi, SS 2014, ‘Determinants of the Best Practices for Successful Project Management’, International Journal of u-and e-Service, Science and Technology, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 173-186. Web.

Hardy-Vallee, B 2012, The Cost of Bad Project Management, Web.

McManus, B & Cacioppe, R 2011, An Integral Approach to Project Management, Web.

Packendorff, J, Crevani, L & Lindgren, M 2014, ‘Project Leadership in Becoming: A Process Study of an Organizational Change Project’, Project Management Journal, vol. 45, no. 3, pp. 5–20. Web.

Project Management Institute, Inc 2013, A Guide to the Project Management Body of Knowledge (PMBOK® Guide), 5th edn, Project Management Institute, Pennsylvania.

Skaf, MA 1999, ‘Portfolio management in an upstream oil and gas organization’, Interfaces, vol. 29, no. 6, pp. 84-104.

Sweasey, R & Skitmore, M 2007, ‘The Use of Formal Project Management Processes in the Procurement of Queensland Aged Care Facilities’, International Journal of Construction Management, vol. 7, no. 1, pp. 43-56. Web.

Abstract

The existence of science and technology has a significant control over all societal processes. Science assists human beings understand their existence on earth. However, technology enables them acclimatise with the changing survival needs through scientific innovation. For the last one decade, the field of science and technology has significantly revolutionised social structures.

The impact of transformation on the social setting has not only affected individuals but also organisations and the world at large. The day-to-day advancement in science and technology, especially the evident developments in Information Technology (IT), has led to the emergence of new-fangled issues that have in turn led to the urge for further innovation to resolve these issues. Today, it is nearly impossible to break the relationships that exist between science and technology and the society.

As a result, information literacy is inevitable for individuals, communities, and organisations if they have to keep at par with the dynamic nature of science and technology. However, certain issues that arise with the abuse of information literacy have disadvantageous impacts on the society’s knowledge and learning. In the light of information literacy, this essay analyses the relationship and issues that exist between science and technology and the society while at the same time providing acumen on the implications that such relationship have on education.

Information Literacy and the Society

Information literacy is a contemporary issue that has developed both virtues and faults in the modern society. Kumar and Altschuld (2000) attest that information literacy not only pertains to the acquisition of the necessary knowledge about some phenomenal happenings in the society but also it concerns the organisation of such knowledge, identification and isolation of information needs, and the determination of the appropriate methods of evaluating and sharing the acquired information.

Information literacy is an aspect of science and technology that drives individuals to understand the appropriate use of information, identify challenges, and/or attempt to seek suitable resolutions. The significance of science and technology is to furnish the society with new knowledge in an effort to enhance human lives (Kumar & Altschuld, 2000). The need for more advanced science and technology amplifies every time the society faces new challenges.

Since human beings cannot live without science, the 21^st century society thrives in a world that is full of innovative ideas. Science, technology, and the society are mutually responsive in nature. Societies have attempted to maintain scientifically and technologically viable means of survival through educational reforms. Information literacy is an important aspect of science, technology, and learning that assumes the varying interests of societies to satisfy contemporary needs. Information creates an interactive environment for the different aspects of the society, ranging from simple communication to security matters.

Kumar and Altschuld (2000) reveal that the society is a major drive that persuades educationists to advocate for information literacy in schools. Some organisations have also promoted the establishment of IT infrastructure in middle level colleges and universities. There is a need for information literate individuals to serve in the social, political, and economic pillars of the society.

The society anticipates benefits from informative scholars. Johnston and Webber (2003) reveal an education programme in Australia where learners exchange scientific knowledge with members of the society through educational workshops. Evidently, the society has a profound interest in the furthering of information technology in learning institutions and instillation of information literacy skills in learners. Parents readily send their children to schools to acquire knowledge that will benefit the society in return.

Information Literacy and Education Systems

The role of information literacy in the society has a great influence on educational processes. Education is a prime means of passing knowledge to the society to stimulate socio-economic development, innovation, and prosperity. The internet is the greatest source of information in the contemporary world. The availability of internet resources implies that individuals have unlimited privilege to access the World Wide Web to seek any kind of knowledge that exists in the virtual space (Gibson, 2012).

The availability of sophisticated gadgets and software has enabled the acquisition of real-time information via laptop computers, tablets, and Smartphones. This technology has profound implications on education. To enhance the growth of knowledgeable societies, researchers and policymakers have encouraged learning institutions to embrace information literacy. The society needs more and progressive knowledge about scientific and technological processes.

Many people do not differentiate the learning of Information Communication Technology (ICT) from information literacy. Information literacy implies a combination of skills that are not limited to the use of technology gadgets. It has a greater sense of knowing and understanding the need for information, the available resources, the methods and relevance of obtaining the intended information, and acknowledging the role of IT in education.

In education, information literacy also pays attention to information ethics and responsibility of use, analysis, and sharing of findings. The obtained reliability and quality of information highly depends on the employed information literacy skills to distinguish between inapt and pertinent information from sources. Information literacy depends on economic, political, and social factors that control the wellbeing of the society (Gibson, 2012).

Upon considering the economic aspect of information literacy, the society needs knowledgeable individuals to perpetuate leadership in both public and private sectors. Nurturing such individuals requires learning institutions to encourage more students to acquire information literacy on a wide range of skills across academic disciplines such as political science, sociology, and biological sciences among other disciplines. As a result, many governments have encouraged and facilitated the establishment of IT infrastructures in learning institutions in a bid to ensure the availability of sufficient information resources for students.

The availability of informative resources has improved the literacy skills for many students in colleges and universities. Johnston and Webber (2003) unveil that science and technology has enabled the education sector to sort out some critical challenges that face the economy for many countries. Additionally, the society needs literate individuals to analyse political information from a variety of internet sources. There is also a need to compare such information to determine crucial political decisions that are viable for the country and the international community.

To realise such political improvements, educationalists, organisations, and the government at large have to ensure the availability of information literate personnel in the relevant political fields. As a result, organisations and governments have persuaded educationalists to initiate information-sensitive political disciplines in institutions of learning.

Perhaps, one of the major functions of information literacy is the perpetuation of knowledge societies (Johnston & Webber, 2003). There is a need to sustain knowledgeable individuals in the society to preserve contemporary technologies for future generations. Modern societies are dependent on science and technology that significantly controls the world’s economies. Therefore, information literacy becomes an inevitable practice in learning institutions. The needs of the society guide the design and purpose of the school curricular.

Contrastingly, the socio-economic and political factors determine the needs of the society at any given time. For instance, the development of technology in the last decade has led to massive technological shifts and advancement of information technology in industries. The urgency of the society to adapt to these global changes has forced learning institutions to necessitate the need for change through the inclusion of information technology and information literacy education in many academic disciplines. Modern-day industrial employment requires informed personnel on such aspects of information technology that relate to industrial production processes. Private and governmental organisations have transformed into technological institutions.

The need for information about the relationship between the society and these organisations is very important for their success. As a result, information literacy comes into play. The contemporary society is not whole without the presence of information literate individuals. Every aspect of the society has direct or indirect influence on the people who thrive in it. Information literacy enables researchers and policymakers to make appropriate decisions to control political, social, and economic factors that influence the way people coexist in a societal setting (Johnston & Webber, 2003).

Development of Research Skills

The existence of technologically controlled factors in the society has led to the development of opportunities, both in education and in the labour market. Learning institutions have increased their faculties to include information literacy disciplines. Learning institutions use information literacy as a tool to acquaint students with the required research knowledge and skills that are appropriate for the labour market. The inclusion of information literacy disciplines in schools has enabled learners improve their research, evaluation, and analytical skills.

Learners use these skills to compare and analyse information without much involvement in empirical research. The results obtained from information sources present adequate content for comparison and analysis. Learning institutions have an added advantage since the use information technology and literacy facilitates the monitoring and evaluation of the entire educational systems. The information about students’ enrolment, fee structures, academic, and discipline records among others, enables the officer in charge to retrieve and compare students’ information in a mouse-click and make immediate conclusions (Andretta, 2007).

Shifting Roles of Educationalists

As governments and education leaders facilitate the establishment of ICT infrastructures in schools, the role of educationalists has gradually shifted (Johnston & Webber, 2003). Based on the abundance and nature of information that is readily available on online sources, teachers have to offer guidance on the use of the internet resources for academic purposes. However, many students have acquired information literacy skills through individual practice. Nevertheless, the teacher’s role to ensure that the learner has the right literacy skills is of paramount importance.

Johnston and Webber (2003) explain several roles that educationalists assume to foster learners’ information literacy. First, educationalists have to nurture reason and/or promote critical thinking amongst learners. They have to promote desirable information literacy skills to enable learners relate information gathered from online sources to situational context. Learners have to appreciate the value of the interdisciplinary approach to information gathering.

Secondly, educators have to provide clear guidelines to make the right pieces of information from online sources. Internet platforms place large chunks of related information at the learner’s disposal. This state makes it difficult for learners to discriminate the correct information from the vast collection of sources. Factually, the discovery of new information never ceases. Andretta (2007) reveals that scholars, researchers, academic, and article writers around the globe post thousands of information pieces on the internet in every second. Sometimes, misappropriate or misleading information may be availed on the internet.

Therefore, learners should acquire appropriate information literacy skills that enable them distinguish between the infinite ranges of information choices. Thirdly, educators have to encourage learners to become innovative. In many cases, learners play the role of the information receiver. To enhance information literacy, educators should instil the discipline of thought to learners in a bid to illicit information from them (Kumar & Altschuld, 2000). Learners should perceive the acquisition of knowledge in a two-way approach whereby they create and define their own opinions that concern the disciplines of interest.

The role of the educator has become more complex than it was a decade ago. With the emergence of literally virtual sources of information, the critical thinking and analysis of perceptions has become a common goal for teachers around the globe. Harnessing learners’ abilities for education purposes go beyond the obvious learning practices. Therefore, the teacher has the responsibility to encourage the learner to analyse the theory learned in class by using information technology and information literacy skills.

Furthermore, teachers have to keep themselves up-to-date with the emerging technologies to remain relevant to the student. Modernity creates a need for teachers to learn information literacy skills in an effort to obtain, compare, and analyse new information about science and technology. Information literacy skills are necessary for teachers if they have to deliver the right content to students.

Education and ICT Policy Development

Due to the existence of political, social, and economic aspects of the society that revolve around scientific innovation, there is global compulsion to nurture knowledgeable communities (Kumar & Altschuld, 2000). In this sense, most governments have developed educational policies to encourage the incorporation of information technology courses in school curricula as a way of fostering information literacy. Researchers and policymakers relate the role of learning information literacy with social and economic goals of the society (Lili & Lester, 2009).

For instance, many institutions of higher learning in America, Australia, and the United Kingdom have developed centres for information technology. Correspondingly, university colleges in other parts of the world have also embraced the role of information in educational programmes. For sustainable economic growth, the learning of information technology and information literacy has become a great priority in many learning institutions in order to adequate knowledge individuals (Gibson, 2012).

Similarly, with information literacy as a priority need in schools, many governments across the globe have introduced information technology learning in elementary and high school education. This attempt ensures that children grow up with the right techniques of acquiring information from online sources. Familiarity with information literacy skills improves research and analytical skills. These skills are necessary for their future furtherance of education.

Issues Associated with Information Literacy in Education

Despite the reputable advantages that science and technology has on the society, its interactive nature with the society influences certain behavioural aspects of individuals and organisations. To create a favourable learning climate for the acquisition of literacy skills, learning institutions have to establish proper structures and/or recruit suitable personnel to train learners and maintain these educational systems. These issues pertain to the establishment of Information Technology systems, personnel, and the behaviour of learners and other participants in the learning environment.

Expensive IT Infrastructure

Getting hold of information literacy demands institutions to establish reliable IT infrastructure. Perhaps, the initial cost of information technology infrastructure is the biggest challenge encountered by thousands of learning institutions. Purchasing and installation of information technology equipment is a very expensive undertaking for learning institutions (Gibson, 2012). The IT infrastructure requires hardware and software packages that are suited for educational purposes.

The exclusive need to have internet connectivity and antivirus software package makes the maintenance of the systems even more expensive and cumbersome. In addition, the dynamism of technology is moving the global population in a fast pace. Consequentially, many institutions lag far behind modern information systems. These technicalities have hindered many learning institutions from establishing information technology infrastructures. However, governments are on the forefront to support the establishment of IT infrastructure in learning institutions.

Kumar and Altschuld (2000) acknowledge the efforts of the British government to ensure the establishment of IT infrastructure through the contraction of the British Educational Communications Technology Agency (BECTA). The authors reveal that developed areas in the United States and Australia have attained average student-computer ratio of five to one. Researchers have agreed that demographic patterns and school enrolment do not change the ratio significantly. In a separate case study, Johnston and Webber (2003) expose that Chilean schools have an average of three computers for every hundred students.

Expertise and Professional Knowledge

Nevertheless, the establishment of IT infrastructure does not guarantee the achievement of information literate individuals. This situation implies that Information Technology infrastructure does not only entail the hardware and software aspects but also encompasses maintenance personnel and knowledgeable educationalists. The society plays the lead to ensure the availability of learners in the learning institution.

Therefore, it is the expectation of the society that learners get the right knowledge that will enable them to give back to the society in due course. Educators need progressive support to maximise the potential of information literacy on learners. The participation of the teacher in information technology is crucial for learners’ integration of the best skills and conceptualisation of diverse informative concepts. Such programmes enable learners appreciate the use of information technology in improving their research and analytical skills.

The amalgamation of information literacy practices in educational systems requires expertise of the trainers. As mentioned above, the effort of the learner to seek the correct information from the internet is not always adequate. The guidance of the teacher is of profound importance in order to narrow down the content of the search. There is a need for establishing teacher enrichment programmes to acquaint them with the appropriate training knowledge pertaining to information literacy skills.

Johnston and Webber (2003) reveal numerous schools of thought that detail the preeminent techniques to acquaint educationalists with information literacy. The authors reveal an online professional development course that was established in Thailand to train teachers on the use of information technology to nurture students’ information literacy. Martin (2011) suggests that institutions should clearly outline information literacy courses in their curricula to maximise the use of information technology in schools.

In some countries, especially in the developing world, learning institutions fall short of expert individuals to train learners on competent information literacy skills. This occurrence results in the existence of a competence gap in expertise. In a study conducted by Johnston and Webber (2003) to investigate the shortage of professionals in information technology and related disciplines, the authors revealed that anxiety and cowardice prevent educators from using computers and other technology gadgets in learning environments. Therefore, there is an immediate need for school leaders to persuade educators to maximise the use of information technology utilities to facilitate the learning of information literacy skills. Educators should appreciate the value of these utilities to harness the capabilities of learners for future knowledge societies.

On a different perspective, Andretta (2007) reveals that the society is one of the contributors of low levels of expertise in information technology. Information technology dropouts have stereotyped information-related courses as difficult ones to pursue. As a result, individuals fear investing their knowledge in information literacy skills in paranoia of failing to accomplish their career goals in the subject. This situation leads to educational distress as learners succumb to misplaced academic interests.

Since most of these information literacy skills reach learners at an advanced education level, educationalists should work closely with the society to make it comprehend the importance of information for its growth. Additionally, academic leaders should introduce education forums that pertain to information literacy in graduate schools to nurture the interests of learners in the subject area. Johnston and Webber (2003) attest that the harnessing of the interests of young technologists forms a prerequisite for future leaders in the same technology. Therefore, the nurturing of young talents will eventually fill the competency gap of expertise on information literacy skills.

Information Abuse in Education

The needs of acquiring information literacy vary significantly amongst individuals and organisations. While some individuals and organisations have very clear goals for acquiring information, others act on the contrary. This phenomenon leads to the violation of information ethics that govern information literacy. Misappropriation of information has adverse implications on social learning institutions, which include plagiarism, time wastage, and exposure of children to the internet.

The availability of unlimited internet use and incompetent information literacy skills in learning institutions has resulted in information plagiarism. The abundance or variety information that is available on the internet leads to confusion of thoughts as learners attempt to seek the right information. As a result, the chances of copying the work of authors have become the challenge of appraising students’ performance in many learning institutions.

Generally, lack of originality lowers the quality of educational research. This practice amongst higher education learners has led to the establishment of regulatory bodies within the educational system to ensure adherence to copyright laws. Martin (2011) suggests that trainers should persuade learners to practice ‘netiquette’ as part of information literacy skills to avoid plagiarising information obtained from electronic sources.

Plagiarism may have serious consequences on the performance of the learner. Some learners have ended up in severe punishments while others have encountered suspensions or even expulsions from the learning programmes. Moreover, educators should advocate for originality of online-based research through instillation of adequate information literacy skills to enable learners make their own comparison of content and/or derive meaningful conclusions (Andretta, 2007).

In addition, learners who fail to acquire the appropriate IT and literacy skills end up spending much time searching information. Poor information literacy skills lead to wastage of time as learners compare information from electronic sources. Information literacy skills accompany the knowledge of information technology such as basic computer packages, for instance the internet and Office Suite. Although maintenance skills are not very necessary, learners may require them in case of emergencies.

Partially, learners have the mandate to rule their knowledge on information literacy skills. Wastage of time is also evident where a learner’s attention to search the intended information is stolen by other features that seem interesting on the internet. For instance, it is a common habit for individuals to start Facebook applications or other social networking engines while doing academic research. Swayed attention limits the time for research, hence attracting time wastage. To correct this habit, educators have to address the importance of literacy skills to learners. The school’s information technology system should limit the access to certain non-academic websites.

Lastly, information literacy in early education exposes children to unnecessary and non-academic information. The virtue of the internet as a research tool does not always make sense to children, especially teenagers (Gibson, 2012). The exposure to every kind of information on the internet places the child’s interest in a state of anxiety. As a result, children divert their attention to meet their peers on social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Twoo among other social sites.

To worsen the situation, they seek funny phonographic videos and related media issues that are psychologically unhealthy for both children and adults. However, it is possible to limit access to such illicit information by ensuring the use of efficient and appropriate information software. The systems administrator should be given the mandate to discriminate unnecessary information from the sight of children. Exclusion of non-academic material from the learning platform will enable the youngsters capture the required skills in information literacy at a tender age.

The Future of Information Literacy in Education

The advancement of technology never ceases and so is the need for new information. The educational sector thrives in a multifaceted information environment. Therefore, there is a need for educators to remain on toes to adjust accordingly to the dynamic information landscape. Gibson (2012) predicts that the future of information literacy will enable teachers and learning institutions realise ultimate educational goals and objectives. There will be better organisation of information and investigation techniques. Students will generate, evaluate, and share multifaceted content through the continued sophistication of information technology.

The future of the educational sector reflects an enriched curriculum that will have information literacy as a sub-course in every educational discipline. According to Andretta (2007), information literacy will enable educators and learners save more time since educational life will become more organised. The information systems will include advanced tech-savvy gadgets such as Smartphones and ‘tablet’ technology. Concisely, researchers and policymakers link the future of information literacy to the totality of learning institutions where science and technology will facilitate the achievement of learner’s and institutions’ goals and objectives.

Conclusion

Science, technology, and the society are mutually interdependent subjects that have many implications on the education aspect of life. Information technology and information literacy are key areas of science and technology that have proved their shrewd importance in creating knowledgeable societies through education. Information literacy is important for innovativeness that is necessary for the labour market. The purpose of information literacy in learning institutions is to prepare individuals for the practical world.

The learnt search techniques, evaluation, and analytical skills culminate into well-informed learners who can initiate problem-solving techniques for social, political, and economic challenges in the society. Information literacy has the potential to change the way educators perform training roles in the learning situation. It is a perfect tool for use in academic and industrial research that learners and the society cannot avoid in this era of science and technology.

Reference List

Andretta, S. (2007). Phenomenography: a conceptual framework for information literacy education. Aslib Proceedings, 59(2) 152-168.

Gibson, D. (2012). Game Changers for Transforming Learning Environments. Advances in Educational Administration, 16(1), 215-235.

Johnston, B., & Webber, S. (2003). Information Literacy in Higher Education: a review and case study. Studies in Higher Education, 28(3), 335-349.

Kumar, D., & Altschuld, W. (2000). Science, Technology, and Society: Policy Implications. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 20(2), 133-138.

Lili, L. & Lester, L. (2009). Rethinking information literacy instructions in the digital age. The International Journal of Learning, 16(11), 569-577.

Martin, C. (2011). An information literacy perspective on learning and new media. On the Horizon, 19(4), 268-275.

Project management is a science whereby project components are put in an organized manner. This is when a new product or service is being developed and launched or when a certain marketing campaign is being done. All this is geared towards achieving certain goals in an organization. In a general sense, project management involves five major stages or processes that assist in the achievement of the set goals and objectives. These include initiating, planning, production, and execution, monitoring, and closing (Lock, p. 2).

In the first stage of initiation, the project to be implemented is defined, and its nature and scope are determined. Project managers should be careful at this stage to ensure that it is quite successful. This is because it forms the basis of project management.

Those concerned with the project implementation should first understand the environment in which the business operates and ensure that all requirements are put in place. Anything that is lacking in the whole process should be reported, and quick action should be taken to address the issue. This process should take into consideration the business analysis. This involves a review of the operations that the business is operating on; cost analysis where budget is included; the people involved in the project and a project charter (Kerzner, p. 8; Field and Keller, p. 36).

Secondly, the project is then planned to a certain detailed level. This stage defines several aspects concerning the project such as time, cost, and resources to be utilized. This is done to manage risk at the time of project implementation. When there is no effective planning, chances are that it may not accomplish the set goals (Lock, p. 17).

In the other process of production and execution, the project is done to completion. In this process, the project managers coordinate the people and resources involved in the project management, as well as implementing the project by the plan. The output is produced from the activities performed and as analyzed in the planning process. In general, this is where the project begins. In the fourth process, which is project controlling and monitoring, the project manager updates the plans of the project from the previous stage.

This is to show the time that has been covered for each project task. Again, the details of the progress of the project are kept and followed effectively. This helps the project manager to know whether the project is taking the right direction or not. Finally, the project is brought to closure. In this stage, the stakeholders analyze the project outcome together (Field and Keller, p.37).

One surprising thing about the field of project management is that, though it creates effectiveness and efficiency in any business organization, it is not part of the normal operations of the business. It is created once in a while within a business organization. Also, it is not permanent but usually deals with a certain part of the business operation (Kerzner, p. 25). It causes the consumption of resources since for project management to be successful; managers must make sure that there are people, money, and time to implement the project. Another surprising thing is that project management typically follows the same format regardless of the project being implemented.

The success of a project depends on the success of every stage during the five-stage process. Again, the project has its limits in terms of funding. This is because the amount of money invested in any project normally depends on the size of the projects. Not all projects implemented have the same cost (Kerzner, p. 29).

Works Cited

Field, Mike, and Laurie S. Keller. Project Management. London [u.a.: International Thomson Business Press, 1998. Print.

Kerzner, Harold. Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons, 2009. Print.

Lock, Dennis. Project Management. Burlington, VT: Ashgate, 2007. Print.

Introduction

American citizens and immigrants as well as other residents expect that the government will protect them from attack by enemies and also safeguard their privacy and civil liberties. The intention of using improving technology by the government to protect civilians is to ensure that there is maximum security and the people should also enjoy an acceptable level of privacy. This means that the new technology is setting a new level of privacy along with security concerns.

The battle again crime especially the security threat of terrorism is a major national concern. Being able to “connect the dots” is currently the goal of security enforcers for using information technologies and other intelligence to protect the people from attacks. It’s the advance and emerging technologies that provide the main approach to fighting crime especially secretive criminals and networked gangs.

However, in a free and open America, the use of these new technologies should be responsible, and that civil liberties and privacy should be protected. Simply put Americans want protection from crime and terrorism yet fear privacy implications when advanced technologies are used. Is it an ethical concern?

Advantages of Using Advanced Technology for Security

Fight Terrorism

With the advent of the new technology and the dramatic advances that have been made in the 21^st century, information technology has grown to become a very important tool for fighting terrorism (Ariana 2). The use of this technology helps to connect information clues and then draw sense out of them from a massive amount of information transacted worldwide (Gill 193). The US has a very good resource in its intelligence for fighting terror.

Several information technology applications can help intelligence officers to collect and analyze information and be able to comprehend terrorist clues like the plotting of attacks and the next possible move. Security agent can use the process of data mining to get a pool of information they analyze it by speech to text transcription or pattern analyses (Garfinkel 145; Cook & Cook 72). These help determine terrorist pattern activities and behavior.

Fight terror-related and other crimes

To be able to fight terror-related and other crimes, the security agents are sometimes required to investigate the private information of certain people. However, considering that Americans have a great understanding of their rights like the right to freedom and expression among others (Garfinkel 145), they cannot sit back and watch their privacy being invaded. Besides, the offers have sworn to protect the entire constitution including these rights (Gill 193).

It’s with such in mind that they seek to preserve privacy by using biometrics. This is the use of fingerprints, retina detection, face recognition, and voice identification among other biological related technologies to track people (Adomatis 56). This method is very important and mostly used in the military and helps to identify people, track their whereabouts of people, what they do among other things (Ariana 2). This means that whenever a person does something illegal, these tools can be used for recognition of the identity of the person and tracks him/her.

Offer Protection and Other Public Services to Civilians

The government often insists that there is a need to have people’s private information to offer better public services (Christopher 3), combat crime, offer protection to the public, and to deal with social isolation as well as the decreased burden of business and the citizens (Adomatis 56). In the modern world, the collection of personal information is at a higher level than ever because of extensive surveillance (Cook & Cook 72). There are several CCTV’s installed in the important building and public facilities like public offices, hospitals, schools, lifts, lobbies, etc. these surveillances have been very effective in detecting crime to some extent (Gill 193). CCTVs are very vital for crime investigation today.

Personal information from DNA that is habitually collected from criminals or at the scene of crimes by the investigating police form a good basis for further inquiries and evidence against criminals (Gill 196). Since when the National DNA database was established, the number of DNA profiling being done has increased tremendously and this has greatly helped in finding evidence and connecting it to crime (Garfinkel 148).

The Disadvantage of Using Technology for Protection

The use of technology to access personal information and investigate crime has been found to have some damaging implications on privacy (Christopher 3). As much as the officer in charge must do whatever they need to do to combat crime and protect the public, they should only do this with the permitted limits of information search so as not to exploit their privacy (Gill 197). The Americans have legitimate concerns about privacy protection and the possible negative consequences of the government accessing private information. The public does not completely understand how the government would use the information and who else will have access to that information (Cook & Cook 72).

Undermining Human Rights and Freedom of Expression

Increased surveillance can pose a considerable threat to personal privacy and freedoms of each individual as liberty argues, mass surveillance has a negative implication on the public as personal autonomy is now vulnerable (Devries 283). Good ethics demand that privacy should be upheld and remain a significant part of the conversation among Americans. However, with the thought of surveillance, autonomy, and the ability to control information is affected (Devries 283). The value of privacy is undermined and this is clear injustice because privacy has to be recognized and acknowledged in the manner people develop social relationships.

Following the famous September 11 incidence, the government has increased the way it uses technology for security reasons. It employs the high-risk technology and cutting edge approaches and more surveillance and intrusion of privacy (Jürgensen 56). From the democratic point of view and social human rights, it is unethical to exploit people’s privacy and keep them under surveillance (Gill 199). Security reasons sometimes require screening of potential saboteurs in the workforce is important, such surveillance has become a limit to the public’s freedom of association and expression, which are two important human rights in an open democracy (Cook & Cook 72).

Threat to Privacy

The state defends its measures by stating that privacy has increased scope when the security of the nation is involved. Consequently, they give the argument that personal privacy is only violated if there was a tangible loss like being detained for no solid reason or unwarranted arrest (Cook & Cook 72). It’s hence vital to be able to understand the balance between the two important goals of the government.

Privacy is described as the claim of a person to be left alone and not to be kept under surveillance or interference by other parties, organizations, and even the state (Ariana 2). Information technology has made the invasion of privacy very easy and this threatens claims of intrusion of privacy as the invasion is cheap and effective (Devries 283). This means that individual privacy security of individual information and the ability to trust the state is even under more threat (Ariana 2).

Lack of Trust in State

Increased surveillance causes individuals to lose trust in the state. The main question is that what is the meaning of privacy when there are massive surveillance and even intrusion into private life (Cook & Cook 72). Whatever the state will do with the information remains uncertain to individuals and at times this leads to an unwillingness to corporate even if the government is investigating a major case.

Suspecting Everyone

With the government insisting on centralized storage of information on databases has to lead to undermining the presumption that an individual is innocent (Garfinkel 147). Consequently, a person refusing to give requested information becomes the target of the investigation. The insistence that individuals would be responsible for updating their data causes onerous responsibility on the citizens (Devries 284). Besides those activities promotes unethical belief all people are untrustworthy because the technology implies that anybody can do something wrong or is going to do something wrong.

The information that the government collects concerning through its surveillance and other methods of data collection are often used for profiling individuals and generalization of facts (Sherman 24). For instance, studies are seeking to identify children who may grow up to be criminals at a rate of 80%. Linking risk factors like parenting, place of birth, race, where the person grew up and the education level, and so forth can cause stigmatization because of suspicion that certain individuals are likely to commit crimes.

The amount of personal information that the government has over an individual is so great and because of increased cybercrime, this information can be stolen and misused. The claims of such crimes have been on the increase as non-data storage is 100% secure even in the FBI. If such a thing happens, then it could be very difficult to set the records straight.

Because of time and space, other improper use of technologies will just be mentioned. They include the use of GPS on cell phones to track people as Adomatis cited. Airport screening has intensified to a point of using X-rays and other means to identify what people are carrying. Besides, there is a restriction of certain material that should not be carried to the plane. Since most terrorist are linked to the Islamic faith, Muslims are often handled with discrimination as being a potential threat, and lastly, the USA patriot act allows law enforcers to sneak into the residential house without a search warrant, intrude on emails, and snoop on telephone conversations among other personal information at any time under any condition.

Conclusion

The government uses the improving technology to provide security and protection from terrorists and other crimes. However, as much as civilians require this protection or maximum security, it has to also respect the people’s rights embedded in the constitution. People should be able to enjoy an acceptable level of privacy. As much s the state has the responsibility of protecting the people, preservation of their rights and freedom is equally important as their inalienable human rights form the bedrock of the USA’s constitution. Security officers who seek to protect citizens from terrorism and other crimes should not themselves commit crimes of infringing individual privacy.

Reference List

Adomatis, Doug. Using the GPS for People Tracking, Travel by GPS.com, 2008. Web.

Until recently, the use of Global Positioning Systems – GPS was not used to detect people’s location as it required expensive hardware and software. In modern world, total solutions have been developed through cellular service providers. After September 11, 2001 incident, the demand for GPS increased to track cellphones and by the end of 2005 all cell phone were required to be traceable when phone calls are made.

Ariana, Eunjung. “To Protect and Intrude,” The Washington Post, 2005.

Just like the mythical gods who see everything happening to everyone, many private companies have now developed technologies that can trace people movement from space. The security-conscious American government hailed the technology as great but Ariana notes that it did not consider issues of privacy. This is problematic considering the legal precedence is not clear on when and how such technology as GPS should be used.

Christopher, Lindquist, “Watch Carefully,” CIO Magazine, 2005.

Christopher cites in this article that with meticulous planning, consistent communication and readiness to take care of employee concerns and build trust would go a long way in turning the formerly considered invasive technology into precious service. Accordingly, he emphasizes that the new technologies for tracking and monitoring people combined with suspicious employee could precipitate into problems for the CIOs who sometime fail to respect people’s privacy.

Cook, Laura and Cook, Jack., Ethical Data Mining, Decision Sciences Institute 2002 Annual Meeting Proceedings, 2002 p. 72.

The advent of data mining was a very significant invention in the business world and helped many companies to be able to obtain information that would open up their opportunities as well increased their competitiveness. Firms must manage information strategically to remain competitive and respond faster than competitors to changes. Nonetheless the information should be used ethically and legally. Cook and Cook address the pros and cons of data mining in this paper.

Devries, W. Thomas. ‘Protecting Privacy in the Digital Age,’ Berkeley Technology Law Journal, 2003, 18 (1), 283.

In the digital world and information technology increasingly becoming efficient, anything secret committed to digital form was subject to distribution inevitably. Even though this has greatly affected privacy, the issue has been inflated. However the digital world store people’s information away from them like medical record, account number and PIN numbers in databases that one is not sure of their safety. The privacy legal framework has failed as new technology has rendered the principles on which the laws were based obsolete.

Garfinkel, Simson. Database Nation: The Death of Privacy in the 21^st Century, New York: O’Reilly Media, Inc. 2001. Print.

This article identifies the ways of identifying people based on ‘numbers’ rather than their human traits. Garfinkel couples this fact with principles like datasphere and data shadow in the country providing an unquestionably disagreeable scenario of how privacy has been overlooked with improving technology. The new technologies according to him leave people with two options to accept their information to be in public domain or become a hermit with no credit cards or other things that can expose personal information.

Gill, David. ‘The Technological Blind Spot in Business Ethics,’ Bulletin Of Science, Technology & Society, 2001, 19(3), 190-199.

From all perspectives, technology has been confirmed to be transforming the world today. Besides, studies show that more businesses will employs invasive technologies in the future and this comes with consequences. Gill argues that the business ethics and the corporate cultural values have been inevitably affected by new technologies. The technology use has to be checked or it would fail in its responsibility since the consequences could be dire considering that technology is very powerful today.

Jürgensen, Arnd. Bulletin of Science, Technology & Society, 2004, Vol. 24, No. 1, pp. 55-59.

Arnd explores the alternative policies to the current fight against terrorism. The American society’s vulnerability has been handled primarily with increasing scope of law enforcement and surveillance authority of the federal government. This has been done with blatant disregard of civil liberties and freedoms the public is supposed to enjoy. This means that technology is threatening the prerequisite of meaningful democracy. Alternative policies could target high risk technologies like nuclear firms and civilian airlines to deal with vulnerability concern.

Sherman, Lawrence. Preventing Crime: What Works, What Doesn’t, What’s Promising, A Report to United States Congress. Washington, D.C. 1996.

Many crime prevention approaches work well to accomplish their goal and some don’t. Most of these programs have not been evaluated with adequate scientific proof according to Sherman and therefore difficult to draw valid conclusions. A report to congress has reported over 500 evaluation of crime prevention approaches. Of importance to this study is surveillance and monitoring of criminal and suspects.

Introduction

In the modern world, social media has increasingly manifested its benefits in various aspects of the economy. Therefore, the integration of social media in the business setting to fulfill customer needs, enhance marketing, and improve the sales of its products and services is essential (Kaplan & Haenlein 2010). In this regard, Staples Inc., a supply chain company with over 2000 outlets in various countries has faced challenges in its sales necessitating the closure of 225 stores to maintain its sustainability. For this reason, this charter would provide a plan for the execution of social media initiatives that would promote the profitability of Staples Inc.

Project Description

Project Purpose

The social media platforms including LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram have portrayed significant advantages in the corporate world concerning the creation of excellent customer relations, enhancing product promotion, and facilitating profitability. Thus, Staples Inc. should consider the adoption of online-oriented sales and marketing strategies that would elevate the organization’s profitability amid the difficulties the company has been experiencing. Staples Inc. should establish an official social media approach that would facilitate its leveraging efforts directed towards seizing the opportunities available online.

Investing in social media platforms would bear various benefits to Staples Inc. on the aspects of marketing, sales, and customer relations. Bolstering the marketing feature through social media initiatives would result in the creation of a desirable social image further enhances its competitiveness.

On the sales dimension, social media initiatives have the potential of increasing the organization’s revenues. Furthermore, more customers would be acquired through the project since the online platforms have greater coverage (Laroche et al. 2012). Moreover, Staple Inc. would gain more customer insights from venturing into the online strategy, as a customer would provide reviews regarding the supply of their office equipment. Implementing the project would foster customer satisfaction resulting in their retention. The strategy would also enhance the reduction of service costs.

Background

Consumers have rapidly integrated social media platforms into their life whereas corporates have lagged. In this light, Staples Inc. should follow the trend that customers, partners, and prospects have adopted in a bid to enhance its competitiveness. Since individuals have communities and groups by their interest, Staple Inc. could take advantage of groups that need their products. Customers’ interaction on social media could help to determine how the organization leverages its growth by having an online presence. Additionally, the initiative would attain the customers’ perception regarding the brand, and thus strategize on how they respond to the insights (Culnan, McHugh, & Zubillaga 2010).

Scope

The scope of the project would include several operational dimensions that would foster the growth of the company. The project seeks the establishment of the company on Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and YouTube. The initiative would also encompass the creation of a process of maintaining updates on social media. The development of a standard use policy that guides the conduct of Staple Inc.’s employees on social media to enhance customer relations. Further integration of all the social sites would be adopted to ensure leveraging of the content.

The execution of a strategy that bolsters the acquisition of followers and fans would also demarcate the projects’ scope. Additionally, the project seeks the implementation of a manageable and scalable plan that is centered on the realization of specific targets that are in line with the purpose of this project.

It is vital to note that the execution of the project would embark on three phases. The first phase would concentrate on one-sided engagements that would develop the fan and follower base. The second phase would embark on heightened engagement and diversification of social media existence. Finally, the third phase would focus on multi-dimensional interactions and the integration of customer relations management.

Deliverables

The deliverable for each social network is specified in this document, and thus it depicts the essence of Staples Inc. in online sales, marketing, and customer relationship management. The project would seek to maintain regular and consistent updates on Twitter and Facebook accounts. The process would involve status updates, respond to clients, uploading photos, and initiating discussions. Response to inquiries would be prompt and offline arrangements could be adopted (Xiang & Gretzel 2010).

Tweets concerning news about Staples Inc. via Twitter would be done to ensure that customers are up to date with the company’s developments. Additionally, retweets on relevant office supply issues and information from the YouTube and Twitter platforms would be considered.

The initiative would focus on consistent contributions and conversations on LinkedIn to widen the company’s network based on the scope of its operations. Besides, the company would use its YouTube channel to post videos regarding company news, product announcements, and informational and entertainment. Furthermore, the company would publish its monthly reports regarding their metrics to specific goals (Mangold & Faulds 2009).

Timeframe

The execution of the social media project is expected to commence on November 15, 2015. The strategy of the initiative would take an on-going approach that involves quarterly evaluation concerning the intended goals.

Milestones

The table below indicates the targeted milestones that would validate the significance of the project to Staples Inc.

Table 1: Project Milestones.

Resources and Responsibilities

The human resource aspect would constitute a significant part of the resource factor with each of the players required to play specific roles and responsibilities. In this light, the resources would include the project manager, project sponsor, IT support, a customer service representative, a market representative, a sales representative, and the staff responsible for maintaining the social media sites.

Overseeing the overall activity of the project will be assumed to the project manager concerning the allocated resources for each social media platform. The project manager would also facilitate the collection and compilation of metric reports. The project sponsor would concentrate on the approval and representation of executives. The IT personnel would promote the development of social media accounts for the company. Besides, IT personnel would enhance the monitoring aspects of the project cycle.

The customer service representative would embark on the establishment of goals and processes that would guide the interaction with customers over the social media platforms. The marketing representative would facilitate the development of marketing objectives, cross-platform promotion, and gather consumer insights (Laroche et al. 2012). The social media staff would enhance the publishing of content on the various platforms and participate in discussions. The staff would also initiate product promotion strategies along with cross-media marketing advancements.

Key Success Factors

The prosperity of the project is tied to several crucial factors that bolster the purpose of the planned endeavor. One key success factor is the presence of a highly committed team that would create synergy throughout the project. Additionally, the resources allocated for the project are sufficient for successful implementation given the time allowance for the project.

The audience participation is another success factor since it assists in gauging their perspective regarding the brand image. The measurement of the success would be evaluated by customers’ growth, interaction levels, the relevance of discussions, and beneficial use of monitoring tools. Besides, compliance with the standard policy provisions resulting in the attainment of set objectives would constitute the evaluation criteria (Staples 2015)

Identification of risks

The project execution would consider potential risks that could hinder the success of the project. In this regard, the risk category, its probability, the actual risk, and its mitigation strategy would require attention and is illustrated in the table below

Table 2: Risk Identification.

Stakeholders

The success of the project would not be achieved unless each of the participants is actively engaged in their roles. The table below indicated the stakeholders and their roles regarding Staples Inc.’s social media initiative.

Table 3: Project image.

Communication plan

The project’s communication aspect would be executed with the participation of the project manager, the chief sponsor, and the stakeholders. The project manager is expected to conduct weekly e-mail updates that communicate the progress of the project. The chief sponsor would conduct quarterly meetings that would monitor resource use and challenges faced in the project. The stakeholders would be engaged in monthly meetings to discuss the progress and adjust the strategy where necessary.

Reference List

Culnan, M, McHugh, P & Zubillaga, J 2010, ‘How large US companies can use Twitter and other social media to gain business value’, MIS Quarterly Executive, vol. 9, no.4, pp. 243-259.

Kaplan, A & Haenlein, M 2010, ‘Users of the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media’, Business Horizons, vol.53, no.1, pp. 59-68.

Laroche, M, Habibi, M, Richard, M & Sankaranarayanan, R 2012, ‘The effects of social media based brand communities on brand community markers, value creation practices, brand trust, and brand loyalty’, Computers in Human Behavior, vol.28, no.5, pp. 1755-1767.

Mangold, G & Faulds, D 2009, ‘Social media: The new hybrid element of the promotion Mix’, Business Horizons, vol. 52, no.4, pp. 357-365.

Staples: Home 2015. Web.

Xiang, Z & Gretzel, U 2010, ‘Role of social media in online travel information search’, Tourism Management, vol. 31, no.2, pp. 179-188.

Construct a report to your senior management team summarizing the business benefits of project management

Project management is crucial for the completion of different tasks within an organization, when projects are well managed, programs can be completed within the right time using as minimal resources as possible. A project utilizes the organization’s resources, one of the major tasks that project management should aim at in ensuring that the project utilizes the available resources in the most effective manner.

It is also expected that in course of managing the project may have some areas that can be differently handled to improve the general outcome of the project; with effective management, such areas should be well-known and appropriate measures taken.

When undertaking a project, it is not always that the available resources will be adequate; project management ensures that allocation of the available funds is optimal and use delay tactics that will not delay the completion of the entire project to manage the resources.

According to the PRINCE2 project management approach, human capital directly and indirectly involved in the operation of the project is the crucial part that needs to be managed effectively; the success of a project is dependent on the capability, motivation, expertise, and human resources management of the team involved. Project management assists a company to concentrate further on the micro team mandated with the task of completing the project; it handles special issues that arise in the efforts of making an orchestrate successful team.

Construct a report to your Project Director summarising the business benefits of your project. Justify your conclusions with reference to the strategic analyses conducted

My project seeks to address the issue of human resource time management within an organization; employers pay salaries to cater for the time, expertise, effort, and intellectualism that its human capital has. When human resources fail their duties because of their health condition, then the organization will have lost some labor of which it is paying at the end of the month, the following are the main benefits of the project to an organization:

To ensure that the human force in an organization is healthy

Health is a basic need which when attains makes a person able to make use of his or her personal skills; employees need to be healthy if they have to produce effectively; when they are suffering, and then they are unlikely to offer a high return to the organization.

To ensure that medical bill in the organization is well managed

One of the main expense that befalls an organization is the expenditure with its employees when appropriate diseases prevention have been enacted, then the company will benefit a reduced cost of medication to its human capital.

To help in managing human resources effectively

Human resources need to be managed effectively and the power, intellectualism, and expertise utilized effectively; when the human force is well in health, then an organization gets the chance to put them to the best use. This facilitates an improved operation and ensures that there will be continuous production.

Critically examine the wider project management structures in a typical organization. In particular, you should refer to the roles and responsibilities of senior staff in relation to the management of projects

A project can be defined as a designated ally of tasks that aims at accomplishing a certain task within an organization; it has a period, expected expenditure, expected outcome, and a work framework or schedule. An effective project undergoes the following main stages:

• Initiation: This is when a decision has been made that a certain project will be embarked on.
• Planning and development: at this stage, managers designate the available resources, time, and management to the project.
• Project implementation and execution: this stage occurs when everything is well to go, the project manager and project staffs get to the task.
• Monitoring: This involves controlling different operations within the organization to ensure that all processes are completed with time.
• Closure: when all is good to go, the team manager puts the project to an end having attained the set objectives within the timeframe given.

Project managers have the role of overseeing that all the processes in the program have gone as planned; there should always the adherence to set objectives and following of work plans and work schedules, the following are the main tasks of project managers:

• To make a winning and orchestrate team that will blend its experiences, power, expertise, and intellectualism for the good of the organization.
• To ensure that the entire process goes according to plan and follows the right pathway as wanted.
• To manage resources and ensure that work schedules are adhered to.
• Monitor and control the processes and ensure that they are up to the required standards.

Describe the purpose of the Project Initiation Document in the implementation and control of your project. Critically assess its use at each stage of the project life cycle

Project Initiation documents are made to act as the blueprints that the project will be having reference to in the endure project processes. The documents create a framework to be followed when implementing a certain project; it involves establishing the approach to adopt when undertaking different phases of the project. It encompasses the following:

Determining how the planning will be

Planning itself need to be planned, at this stage the manager analyses the information and the project ahead of him and decides the best approach he wants to use to see to successes. The decision at this stage involves the team members to be involved, services to be outsourced, and sensitization to be done, seeking internal authority and external authority, and establishing an operational base. To effectively plan, there is a need to use the initiation documents as they will shape the direction of the planning.

Project implementation and execution

In Project implementation and execution, the documents are used to offer the coverage of the project and the areas that will be affected are analyzed, there should be proper documentation of the project and how it will affect different areas.

Monitoring

To ensure that project has been effectively controlled and managed, there is a need to have a blueprint that the controllers use to know whether the project is going according to the required pathway and it’s up to the required standards; initiation documents play this task.

Closure

A project is closed after it has been completed, at closure managers look back and gauge whether they were able to attain what they were mandated to do; the mandates are in the initiation stage so when closing the project they countercheck with the documents to gauge their success (Pons 82-97).

Critically examine PRINCE2 as a method of Project Management

PRINCE2 is a project management method offers a whole coverage of the areas that need to be looked into when managing a project, the method operates under the frameworks of the Project management triangle which looks as follows

Other than emphasis on the physical resources of a project, the method goes further and looks into the human resources management within a project. It is an effective method of managing a project if its parameters are well utilized.

Critically examine and describe the purpose of leadership and communication in the implementation of projects generally. You should specifically consider the role of the project manager and the identification of other roles in the project team

When implementing a project, there is a need to have effective leaders who are able to make sound decisions regarding how the available resources will be used; the resources may include human capital, physical capital, and time capital. When they have the skills, they ensure that the project goes on according to the planned process.

Within a team, communication is crucial; project leaders have the role of developing effective communication strategies within the team and to the leader. Team workers should be given the freedom to air their observations, thoughts, and concerns using the right channel of communication. With good communication, the weak-points of the project can be established and appropriate measures to address the areas implemented.

The potential of team members can be fully utilized when team managers develop a favorable working environment that supports a positive organizational (project) culture; an effective communication framework supports such an environment. Leaders have the task of ensuring their team members are motivated and well managed to have an orchestrate project team (Newbold 12 – 90).

Works Cited

Newbold, Robert, C. Project Management in the Fast Lane; Applying the Theory of Constraints. New York: St. Lucie Publishers, 1998. Print.

Pons, Dirk. “Project management for new product development.” Project Management Journal 39.2 (2008): 82-97. Print.

Online learning becomes a widespread option for education. Some people believe that face-to-face learning ensures effectiveness. Many students prefer it because of its convenience and time-saving. Others consider that online learning can also be useful. They say that it helps them to improve discipline while simultaneously saving money on various expenses associated with traveling to another country. The advantages of online learning are distance education and Internet use. The main disadvantage is a lack of direct contact with a teacher.

Distance learning allows students to access courses anytime from anywhere. The specific schedule sets only deadlines for tasks. Such learning is helpful to focus on more subjects. Various prestigious universities offer their courses for distance learners, as it is cheaper and does not require visas, a room on campus, or other resources. It is necessary to develop time-management skills to avoid procrastination. The flexible environment also allows studying from different locations. For example, home, cafes, or libraries may be used.

Internet use offers a greater variety of sources for education. Online databases may be accessed to enhance the learning experience and provide greater insights into a variety of subjects. Also, Google books may be used to overcome the lack of paper-back manuals and exercise notebooks. Learning from news and social networks offers more interaction platforms. Students may exchange their ideas through special communities on the Web. The Internet content adds more exciting ways for learning. Teachers may contact students by calling and messaging, which creates a more interactive experience.

Lack of direct contact with instructors is the key disadvantage of this learning method. Online learning changes the essence of education by significantly curtailing the teacher’s ability to influence and coordinate their student’s working process. Students have no opportunity to meet with their teachers, which creates isolation and detachment. A lack of rapport between both parties leads to decreased motivation and a lack of desire to learn. No direct monitoring may lead to procrastination. While this method may prove effective with students that are seeking to learn new skills, children who do not always understand the value of education would inevitably fall behind. Only active learners may succeed in online education.

To conclude, online learning and traditional education have pros and cons. The first offers distance learning and Internet use. However, it implies no meeting with a teacher, which significantly alters and dilutes the learning process. Traditional education does not have such a weakness. Online learning is a good alternative to traditional education for those who live far away and have no access to quality education. The interaction may be provided through platforms and social networks. Different communication options are available.