Construction Project for Denver International Airport

Construction Project for Denver International Airport 1. Project Concept and Strategy 1.1 Is the decision to build a new airport at Denver a strategically sound decision? Give Reasons for your opinion. Yes, the decision to build a new airport at Denver is a strategically sound one. This is because Denvers Stapleton Airport was experiencing brisk growth prior to deregulations. Deregulation meant open market competition that would bring air travel within the reach of average person thereby increasing air traffic at the Stapleton Airport. Moreover, the regional council of governments predicted that the airport would not be able to handle the necessary traffic by 2000. Stapleton could have been modernized giving it a lease of life for another five years but Denvers remote location meant that the insufficient capacity problem would still persest and could cause city to lose valuable business. Denver Stapleton airport was also one of the major connecting airports and was ranked in top ten worst air traffic bottlenecks in United States. These bottlenecks at Denver affected other airports as it had only two runways located very closely to each other which in bad weather were considered one. The new airport was meant to solve this bottleneck problem for Denver city. Stapleton airport was affected by high velocity winds which resulted in operations being shifted from one direction to the other, this procedure wasted 45 minutes. The new airport would bring this time to 4 minutes thereby saving cost and time for the airport. 1.2 Using the Gray and Larsons model, write a simple project scope statement for DIA project. Project Objective: Constructing a world class international airport that would serve the needs of the city for at least fifty to sixty years with an estimated cost of $1.7 billon. Deliverables:- Building a world class international airport for Denver City. Ten 12,000 runways and two 16,000 foot runway. 327 foot FAA air traffic control and a base building structure. Runway/taxiway lighting system. Creation of a buffer zone to protect surrounding residents. Building three concourses with 72 airline gates and 18 commuter gates. DCV baggage handling system for the entire airport. Milestones:- Passing of Airport Referendum. Land Selection and other legal clearance Airport Design Project Management teams selection Construction of the runways Construction of airport facilities Opening Day Technical Requirements:- Continuos noise monitoring and limits on business which are in direct competition with the existing business in Adams County. Prohibiting residential development within 60 LDN noise level. Translucent tent-like roof for the Airport. Runway/taxiway lighting system. All three concourses to provide 70 airline gates and 18 commuter gates. Fully automated baggage handling system. Limits and exclusions:- BAE would design and build the automated baggage handling system. U.S. West Communication Services was responsible for Airports telephone services. The City of Denver, Greiner Engineering and Morrison-Kundse Engineering will comprise the project management team and will be responsible for information management, managing costs, scheduled coordination and administration of the contractors. New Orleans Architectural firm responsible for creating standards that would unify the whole airport and to do the schematics and design development of the main terminal. Review with customer:- Review is to be done with the Denver City Council. 2. Project define and planning 2.1 Did the project plan explain how risk management, and any changes in the project would be controlled? Should this be part of the plan? Give reasons. DIA project plan did not explain how risk management or any other changes in the project would be controlled. Project Management teams often use Statement of work (SWO) or Project Charter to establish risk limits (Larson Gray, 2011). DIA case study does not provide any evidence as to the use of these documents to establish risk and to manage them. Risk are always perceived to have negative impact but they can also be positive (Turbit, 2011). Therefore, Risk management is very crucial part in project planing as the future is uncertain and what risk management can do is to identify all the potential risk and assign contingence plan for the same. Turbit (2011), has given the basic steps for risk management, these are:- Risk Identification Risks Quantification Risk Response Risk Monitoring and control By following these simple steps, risks can be identified and appropriate contingencies plans for them same can be made. These steps if followed correctly justify the importance of risk management in project management. 2.2 How many times has the DIA project changed the scope and what are the effects of scope changes on project management? Project Scope is à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“The work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product, Service, or result with the specified features and functions.à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬? Going by this definition the scope of DIA has been changed seven times thereby extending the deadline of the project. These are as follows:- In March 1993:- Denver Mayor announced that opening would be postponed to December of 1993. The effect of this is the rise in cost form $1.7 billion to $2.7 billion. In October 1993:- Opening date pushed to March 1994. Delay associated with problems in Baggage handling system and fire- security system. The effect of this was the projects cost rising to $3.1 billion and upset cargo carriers. In December 1993:- Due to incomplete baggage handling system another delay announced. In February 1994:- Opening rescheduled to May 1994 due to the incomplete baggage handling system. In May 1994:- Another delay in opening and Hiring of two German experts who had worked on a similar baggage handling system at Frankfurt airport. In August 1994:- Indefinite delay in opening announced, manual backup baggage handling system. The effect is, rising costs now estimated at over $4 billion. The effect of scope changes on project management is scope creep and rising costs. DIA project managers have incorporate so many small changes giving rise to so much additional work that the budget in hand and the time needed to accomplish the project is now insufficient resulting in seven delays in project completion. 2.3 Recommend a suitable project organisation structure for DIA project and justify your choice. The project organisation structure that I would recommend for DIA project is Organising projects as dedicated teams. Following are the reasons for my choice:- Simple: As the project teams comprise of specialists the functional organisations working is not affected by the formation of such project organisational structures (Larson Gray, 2011). If this structure was adopted the City of Denver would have been kept out of Project management and only the specialist team would have been responsible for the project Fast: It has been observed that dedicates teams accomplish the projects much more quickly as every team members effort is dedicated to one common goal (Larson Gray, 2011). In DIA this was not the case as three Project Management teams were coordinating there effort. Staff adhesion and high motivation: Team members show high degree of motivation, adhesion and responsibility as everyone in the team is working for a common goals (Larson Gray, 2011). If DIA had followed this structure the responsibility and ownership of task would have been much easier. Cross Functional Integration: People with different skill set work towards the optimisation of project even if it is not there area of expertise (Larson Gray, 2011). Freedom to project manager: compared to other to form of project organisation structure the project manager has comparatively more freedom to control their team resulting in better and quicker decision making (Larson Gray, 2011). 3. Communication and Stakeholder Management 3.1 Project communications were apparently poor. Give examples of two communication mishaps and justify your answer. According to Larson Gray (2011) Communication is one of the main components in project management. However, in DIAs case the communication was rather poor. Examples of two communication mishaps are as follows:- No inputs from the two major Airlines in the design phase: 80% of the flights at Stapleton airport were controlled by United and Continental yet no inputs or their involvement in design face was never sought. This was a major communication mishap, because these two would be the major controllers of flights at the new Denver International Airport. Failure to get their vital input in the design phase was a failure on the part of PMT. DCV system: Good project communication plan would have told the team member about the issues and risks associated with this complex baggage handling system. But communication in regards to DCA system was a diaster in project management perspective. The terminal construction had already begun and no one knew what the design of DCV system was. No one was aware of the risks and complexity associated with such system. This is an instance of a major failure of communication in the DIA project. 3.2 Why was Unites Airline opposed to expansion of Front Range Airport? UPS wanted to build a regional hub at the Front Range Airport. This required federal funds. If FAA granted funds for UPS regional hub then a commercial airlines could not be prohibited from setting up shops in the Front Range Airport. As costs were already fixed the threat to United Airlines was from the low cost carriers who would have operated at Front Range Airport. If this happened it would reduce the passenger traffic at DIA which equated to less profit for United Airlines. To curb UPS ambitions United filed a lawsuit. Moreover, it also secured the passenger number at the new DIA airport. 3.3 Why is Stakeholder involvement so critical? Briefly explain four main stakeholders interests or objectives? Stakeholders includes everyone whose interest the project affects negatively or positively (Larson Gray, 2011). This definition of the stakeholder makes it very clear how important stakeholders are to a project. If the Project Manager does not understand how different stakeholders affect the project it can de detrimental for the projects completion. Therefore, it is important to manage their dependency on the project. Four main stakeholders and their interest / objectives Adams County: Adam County is interested in DIA because it is being constructed in their area. Their objective is to ensure the interests and safety of people living in its area. This is being done by creating buffer zones, keeping the noise pollution down and the limits on new business opening as a consequence of DIAs construction. New Orleans-based architectural firm:- One of the contractors of DIA. Their objectives are:- Creating standards for the unification of the airport and taking the design of main terminal through design development and schematics. BAE:- One of the contractors for DIA. Their objectives are to design and build the baggage handling system within two years. U.S. West Communication Services: Is one of the contractors in the DIA project. They are responsible for the telephone services of DIA. 4. Risk Management 4.1 What appears to be the single greatest risk in the decision to build DIA-discuss? The single greatest risk in the decision to building DIA is that the construction of the Airport began 1989 without a signal contract being signed between DIA and the two major airlines, Continental and United. These two airlines were the main stakeholder in the project and were likely to control 80% of the flights at DIA as they did in Stapleton airport, they convinced DIA to make some substantial changes and addition to the originally plans. DIA did oblige to their request but without any agreement between them. If the two later on decided not to operate at DIA they could not be forced to do so as they were not legally bound by any contracts. 4.2 How did DIA project handle risk? Was this effective? What might they have done? DIA only did the preliminary risk analysis which involved only three areas, these were weather, cost and human resources. Apart form this no risks analysis were done. These risks analysis were not that effective as it was seen in cost risk analysis where the bids for construction were received below citys own estimates. DIA project did not have a proper risk management programme. After Mr Waddles left DIA to join State of Colorado the project was without a full-time risk manager for several months and eventually a replacement was found in Molly Austin Flaherty. To sum up whatever endeavours DIA undertook in regards to risk management were unsuccessful. To manage risks more effectively DIA should have undertaken the risk management process. This process includes four steps, these are (Larson Gray, 2011):- Risk Identification Risk Assessment Risk Response Development Risk Response Control If DIA had diligently followed these steps it would have been in a far better position to identify all the risk involved with the project and develop appropriate responses for them. 5. Contracting Services 5.1 à ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã…“Construction began without a signed agreement from Continental and United Airlinesà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬?- why is a formal signed agreement necessary in this project? Continental and United were the main stakeholders in the DIA project; together both controlled 80% of the flights at the Stapleton airport. Given their existing presence in the Denver air space it was given that they would be the major users of the new DIA airport. Denver City Council should have formally involved Continental and United in the DIA project as they could have given vital inputs at the design phase and should have sign an agreement with them. Instead, DIA project planners made important changes to the original design on suggestions made by the two airlines. Moreover, these changes were made to the original plan without any contract being signed between them and the two airlines. DIA should have signed agreement with both of them as this would have lead to the sharing of risk that would have risen through the changes proposed by the two airlines (Larson Gray, 2011). The commitment would also have assured a commitment of maintaining a certain number of flights at the new DIA airport. However, DIA opted for not having any agreement with the two airlines. This left DIA venerable, as both could reduce their operations at the new DIA airport or withdraw from the new venture altogether. This meant that the very companies on whose base the billion dollar investment was planned and constructed could walk out at will as they were not binded by any formal agreements. 5.2 What contractors were involved in the DIA project and briefly explain two main contractors performances. The Contractors that were involved in the DIA project are:- Morrision-Knudseb Engineering (MKE):- Contracted for Project Management Team. Greiner Engineering: Contracted for Project Management Team. New Orleans Based Architecture firm: Contracted for creating unified standards for airport and taking the design of main terminal through schematics and design developments. BAE: Contracted for the design and building of baggage handling system. US West Communication Services: Contracted for DIAs telephone services. Union Pacific: Contracting for designing track for the train that would connect Denver to DIA. Bechtel Corporation: Responsible for transferring of airport facilities from Stapleton airport to DIA, this has to be done over night. Two Main Contractors Performance:- BAE: They were responsible for designing and building the automated baggage handing system. BAE was brought into the project after 3 years of construction and still BAE miscalculated the time it needed to complete the project and committed to do the entire work in two years which otherwise would have taken eight years. BAE miscalculated the work involved which resulted in the baggage handling system not being delivered at the required time. To sum up BAEs performance was unsatisfactory for this project. Greiner Engineering: Was one of the firms in the project management team (PMT). The PMT did not perform satisfactorily. Things such as risk management, project communication biding, to name few, were not performed satisfactorily by the PMT. 5.3 Did the project follow a systematic bid process? What might they have done? No, the project did not follow a systematic bid process. Case litterateur does give some evidence in regards to the biding process but it is not strong enough to classify the biding process as systematic. There is an instance in case where the New Orleans based architecture firm was selected on their past experience with Denver city council thereby providing further evidence that a systematic biding process was not followed. DIA should have followed the RFP process. The first step the Project manager should have done was to develop the Request of Proposal (RFP) for the project or for parts of it (Larson Gray, 2011). Then the RFP/s should have been announced to the outside contractors with adequate capabilities and expertise (Larson Gray, 2011). The next step would have sees the interested contractors submitting written bids which would have been followed by DIA project mangers selecting the bid that best meet the requirements of RFP/s (Larson Gray, 2011). This process would have ended by providing explanations to contractors as to why they were not selected (Larson Gray, 2011). 6. Progress Monitoring and Control 6.1 Identify the main causes of schedule variation in DIA project. Numbers of causes were associated with the scheduled variation of the DIA project but the main ones are listed as follows:- DCV baggage handling system: according to case literature the baggage handling system delayed the DIA project four times. Two specialists were hired from Germany to iron out the problems with the baggage handling system at the DIA airport. Ultimately a back manual system was financed by DIA authorities as the reliability and completion of the automated system could not be guaranteed by the contactors. Frequent Scope Changes: The scope of project was changed on a number of occasions, though the changes were minor but their aggregated effects on the project cost and its completion were immense. Communication Plan: The project did not have an effective communication plan. There was no communication between the different stakeholders resulting in scheduled variation of DIA project. Risk Management planning: The project managers of DIA did not evaluate the risks involved with the project nor did they develop an effective communication plan to tackle the identified risks. This also led to the scheduled variation of the project. 6.2 What would you have done when you saw that the project would not meet its schedule? If I saw that the project would not meet its deadline I would have done the following things:- Conducted an in-process Audit: In-process audit would have been used by me if I saw the project would not meet its deadline. This is because it allows for corrective actions if the situation changes keeping a strong focus on project advancement and performance (Larson Gray, 2011). This would also help to identify constraints in the project. Implementing Integrated Cost/schedule system: The major problems that the builders of DIA had were the costs, time and communication in the project which were beyond their control. According to Larson Gray (2011), as time passes the ability to influence a particular cost decreases. Therefore, a well integrated cost/schedule system will be able to keep the costs and schedule in check through timely reporting of the same. This will also aid in better decision making as all the stakeholders will be provided with the same facts and figures. Resource levelling: DIA is a time constraint project. I can use resource levelling technique to delay non-critical activities and concentrate on critical ones (Larson Gray, 2011). 7. Project Closeout 7.1 Highlight the major areas of strength in the management of this project. DIA project did not have much to speak about, but a couple of things do deserve to be mentioned, these are:- Even though DIA failed to involved all the stakeholders effectively into the project. They however, did work efficiently with stakeholders, whom they were involved with, to resolve their queries and objections. The original Airport design had four concourses but DIA project planners had efficient WBS to build only three concourses in order to keep the budget down. 7.2 The DIA project was evidently not well run. Why? Give reasons for your opinion. Yes, the DIA project was evidently not well run. The reasons are as follows:- Inadequate Risk Management: Though DIA project managers did under take risk management it was not sufficient for the project. The risk management process failed to identify critical risks which resulted in waste of time and money to cope up with such risks. Moreover, the project was without a full time Risk Manger for several months. Lack of effective communication plan: DIA did not have a well executed communication plan. Consistent and timely information about the project was not given to various stakeholders. This effected the decision making process as everyone was not on the same wave length. Scope creep: DIA project managers kept on including small tasks without realising the impact it was having on the scope of the project resulting in increased costs. 7.3 Overall, What lessons have you learnt from DIA project? The lessons learnt from the DIA project are as follows:- Involvement of main stakeholders: It is very important and crucial for a projects success to involve the main stakeholders in the project. DIA made a blunder by not involving the Continental and United in the design phase ad these two could have given vital inputs in the design phase. Moreover, their involvement in the inception stage would have meant that the later changes made by each of them to the design would not have happened. Importance of Risk Management Process:- A proper well execute risk management process is very important for an project as it prepares and makes the management about all the risk that may arise and equips them with options to tackle the risks as and when they may arise. Importance of communication plan: A well executed communication plan delivers consistent information to the various stakeholders thereby increasing the speed of decision making process. Setting realistic goals: Management should take into account the budget and the time before setting up any goals. Prime example in the case is of the automated baggage handling system. The system involved eight years of work but the contractor committed to complete it in two years which was not a realistic goal. Proper biding process should be followed: A proper RFP process should be followed. This given equal chance for all the external contractors to participate in the biding process and ensures that deserving contractors will be selected which ultimately will be beneficial for the project.

Modern Business Environment Essay

To what extent is the ‘soft’ HRM model achievable and desirable for organisations in the modern business environment? The modern business environment For the past few hundred years the business environment has been mostly based upon turning man hours and materials into hard products (produce). What we are seeing now is a shift away from this production by mass labour, to a system whereby goods are produced by machine and the services needed to facilitate this are produced by man. Taking the UK economy as an example, the latest economic forecast by the TUC (Fig 2) shows a steady decline of manufacturing in favour of service sector jobs. This reinforces the view that the emphasis is shifting from producing goods to providing services. â€Å"The only advantage many companies have are the competencies and abilities of their people† (Dewe 2002). With firms using the same machines competitive advantage (or disadvantage) is created by the knowledge and skills of the employees. Tom Watson Jr, former President of IBM recognised the shift: â€Å"all the value of this company is in its people. If you burnt down all of our plants & we just kept our people & information files, we would soon be as strong as ever. Take away our people & we might never recover† (People Management 1998:34). Knowledge therefore is power, we are moving from a physical economy to one A UK government report (Competitiveness White Paper 1999) sees this new environment as requiring â€Å"†¦greater receptiveness to know-how and the ability to see its commercial potential; eagerness to keep on learning at all levels in a business; and a flair in spotting new customer needs and fresh business opportunities.† This suggests that the modern business environment is a place where knowledge is key. In his speech to the Business Link annual conference, Peter Mandelson MP Secretary of State for Trade & Industry saw the knowledge economy as â€Å"transforming old jobs as much as creating new, with implications for manufacturing and service industries alike.† This leads us to the idea that the modern business environment is a place where investment is required in human capital to produce this knowledge economy. In the modern business environment, with the emphasis on value of human capital, security can no longer depend on a job or organisation but upon the employees own skill and competences (Van Ruysseveldt 1995:3-4). Organisations may not be able to guarantee long term employment, but to entice workers of quality they must look to other means. Hard & Soft HRM HRM can be divided into two approaches: ‘hard’ or ‘soft’ (Fig.3). As we see from the diagram ‘hard’ HRM is primarily financially driven, with a fairly hard view of controlling the wages bill, workers are seen as a cost rather than as an asset to the organisation, the emphasis is on getting the best return on their money, creating efficiencies. The company position will take precedent over the collective views and concerns of employees. Such a way of managing human resources was demonstrated by ‘Fordism’ where the workers on the assembly line were under tight controls and even had to divulge personal information to be able to work for Ford (White Heat 1994). The work of Taylor (Taylorism) and the principles of scientific management were used in the late 19th century to allow factories to be managed through scientific methods rather than by â€Å"rule of thumb.† This idea also treated the workers as just another cog in the wheel of production and worked out the best way that the worker could operate. The modern business environment has changed greatly since the days where all workers were seen as tools to be maintained, much like machines, with regulations and tight controls. This was the hard school of HRM where peripheral workers are disposable and labour is directly productive (Beardwell & Holden 2001:98). This model can also be viewed as ‘managing headcount in a rational a way as for any other economic factor’ (Storey 1987:6). The workforce was merely a factor of production or cogs in the wheel. This ‘hard’ HRM policy suits a workforce that is involved in a repetitive job; each process is standardised to allow tighter controls. The theory is that the firm should maximise human efficiency in the same way as any other resource. This was made a success by businessmen like Henry Ford in the days of mass industrialisation. However, with the advent of high technology machinery much of the repetitive work is now done by robot leaving only jobs for skilled maintainers and operatives, not leaving much scope for hard HRM practices to survive. McDonaldisation has built upon the ideas of scientific management and the successes of men like Ford. Each part of the process of bringing the food to the customer has been scientifically scrutinised and adjusted to make it more efficient. As a result of this approach, they have a controlled workforce and a set of strict rules and procedures that ensure the workforce is working exactly as the employers wish them to. McDonalds have recognised that there is still a place for the unskilled worker, as machines cannot be relied upon to do all the jobs. In this instance there is still a place for the hard school of HRM. ‘Soft’HRM (fig 3) revolves around the development of employees. Employees are viewed as assets to the company, rather than as purely another cost of production. This requires the management to regard the workforce as partners in the work process and nurture them to maximise their output. Heery and Noon (2001) suggests soft HRM is an approach recognising the need to treat employees as assets that must be looked after. A soft HRM policy would therefore place the emphasis on training and development in order to get the best out of the workforce as opposed to tight controls (Beardwell & Holden 2001:98). Therefore, a policy of ‘soft’ HRM seeks to increase production by ‘communication, motivation and leadership’ (Storey 1987:6). Becker (1992 Nobel prize winner for economics) suggests that expenditures on education, training and medical care could all be considered as investments in human capital. â€Å"They are called human capital, because people cannot be separated from their knowledge, skills, health or values in the way they can be separated from their financial and physical assets† (Donkin 2002) If employees have an inherent capital value for their knowledge and skills, it would be reasonable to assume that an organisation can improve its competitive-edge through the excellence of its people (SHL group 2002). The work of Maslows goes some way to explaining the reasons why humans need this development and training. Maslow suggests that individuals have a hierarchy of needs (fig 1). Fig 1 outlines Maslows theory that human nature drives individuals to satisfy ‘instinctual’ needs. The theory suggests that once an individual has achieved one set of needs they are no longer motivated to seek this (as they already have it) and will continue to want more thus rising up the hierarchy. Maslow’s theory would seem to suggest that a firm must ensure that employee’s needs are continually met not only the safety and physiological aspects (the legal requirements of an employee’s contract) to increasing employee productivity. If a firm has to continue to meet ever increasing needs to motivate staff then this theory would be a good explanation of why firms use ‘soft’ HRM. Types of ‘soft’ initiatives * Flexible working, working from home or allowing workers the choice of hours outside a core time of 10:00-15:00 for example. * Job Sharing, by allowing employees to become multi skilled (training) they can operate in a variety of roles thus making their job appear more interesting but also allowing a backup if an employee were to be off work at any time. * Parental leave, with the increased pressures on family life many firms now offer special breaks for staff with children, from allowing days off for hospital appointments to paid paternity leave. * Performance related pay; this could be seen as a hard or soft perspective dependant upon viewpoint. If a system of bonuses exists for good work this would be a soft measure. If (‘tele’ sales) you only get paid if you hit certain targets, this would be a hard measure. The primary argument in favour of PRP is that it acts as a motivator, through both providing incentives in the form of monetary rewards and by recognising achievements. Further benefits cited include the fact that individuals can identify closely with their employers’ goals and that this can increase productivity and encourage quality, flexibility and teamwork (Armstrong and Murlis, 1991). As we can see from the above examples ‘soft’ HRM is much more difficult to quantify than hard HRM. It is more an overall approach to staff welfare and development than a clear set of rules and procedures. What makes it so difficult to quantify is that two firms may claim to be operating the above ‘soft’ HRM policies but in practise they maybe very different systems. For example, the concept of flexible working can be interpreted as allowing employees freedom to choose to work from home or the office, or the firm may use the system of core hours (as above). These are two very different systems but both however come under the heading of flexible working. To decide which method a particular firm is using will require a broad look at the pay and conditions and the freedom employees enjoy. It is also useful to note that it is seldom a case of an employer operating one form of HRM, it is necessary for firms to allow their workers some freedom but at the same time retain control. A good example of this is Microsoft; they operate a seemingly soft policy on HRM with a whole range of employee benefits and training programmes (24hr nurse line, free entry to local events and professional development programmes). However, to retain the knowledge and skills that they develop the firm insists that if an employee is to leave the company they must not work in the computer industry for a period of 6 months. This shows that the organisation is willing to invest time and money to maintain a highly trained workforce but at the same time keeps a tight control on them. Why is ‘Soft’ HRM Desirable? To examine the reasons why a firm should adopt policies of soft HRM we must look at the dangers of not doing this. A recent CIPD survey (CIPD 10/2001) has outlined the costs of organisations for not retaining and motivating staff. The survey has shown that one in four employees left their organisation in 1999 (the highest figure since the survey was created in 1995). What was even more alarming was the cost of replacing these lost staff. The average price for replacing a management level employee was à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½6086 which was an increase of 28 percent on 1999 the highest cost was to replace a professional services employee which was à ¯Ã‚ ¿Ã‚ ½8316. The danger for organisations is how this turnover effects company performance, two thirds of organisations believe this to have a negative effect with 13 percent claiming that it has a serious negative effect. The CIPDs findings suggest that staff feel freer to leave an organisation when they know they can acquire employment elsewhere. In a labour market of low unemployment it seems that firms must make themselves more attractive to their employees. RebusHR, a firm that deals with outsourced HR issues for a range of companies sees soft HRM as â€Å"a good way of retaining and attracting the best staff†¦giving people choice and a feel-good factor†¦it shows that you’re interested in them and listen to what they say†(Shepherd K 2002). In the article entitled â€Å"Profitable personnel† (People management 1998:28-31) West and Patterson suggest that good employee relations are directly inked to increased performance. In their survey the ‘Sheffield effectiveness programme’ they found that people management ‘†¦is not only critical to business performance: it also far outstrips emphasis on quality, technology, competitive strategy or research and development in its influence on the bottom line.’ The survey looked at a firm called Zotefoams, which operated an ‘enlightened’ HRM policy. Workers on the shop floor operated in teams and were multi-skilled; they also had a certain level of responsibility for dealing with work priorities and quality problems. The aim was to create a multi-skilled and motivated workforce with more responsibility at the lower levels freeing up management for other tasks. With the management freed up for other duties this allowed the firm to be that much more flexible. Out of the 100 firms surveyed, Zotefoams enjoyed the highest profits and productivity over the seven-year period of the survey. In the final paragraph of the article, West and Patterson sum up their conclusions ‘†¦ those in which the managers have eagerly addressed these challenges [developing skills and ownership] that have experienced rapid improvements in financial performance.’ The findings in the ‘Sheffield effectiveness programme’ are backed up by a study by the Sunday Times (100 Best Companies to Work for 2002) in which 21,000 people were studied over a period of months from the bottom end of the corporate ladder. In an article within this publication, Milton Moskowitz and Robert Levering suggest that ‘Being a generous employer is not just good public relations – it’s also good for business, especially when times are hard.’ This viewpoint makes sense if we take into consideration the negative effect of labour turnover on a company’s performance and the high cost of recruitment. Entering into ‘soft’ practices in human resource management should save the organisation in the long term. The Human Capital Index, developed by the consultancy Watson Wyatt (Overell 2002) is based upon data of HR policies and practices gathered from 600 companies. This data is correlated against financial information. The firm believes it has identified how HR policies are effective predictors of value – and which policies bring most value to the organisation. Organisations with â€Å"the best† HR practices deliver twice as much value to shareholders as their average competitors (Overell 2002). Is soft HRM achievable? According to RebusHR (a large human resources organisation which handles HRM issues for clients such as DaimlerChryslerUK) the biggest barrier to the concept of soft HRM practices is the administrative burden of co-ordinating the information (Shepherd K 2002). This stems from the problem that ‘soft’ HRM is intangible, whilst it is possible to relate high staff turnover to lack of ‘enlightened’ HRM policies, it is not possible to directly quantify the benefits derived from the existence of ‘soft’ policies. This leads organisations to see the cost and extra burden placed upon the HR department with an introduction of a soft HR policy, but it is difficult for this to be weighed up against the benefits on paper. In the IPD survey â€Å"Benefiting from a balanced life† (July/Aug 1999) of the firms questioned many were operating soft policies with 75% offering paternity leave and 57% offering parents special dispensation for time off to look after their children. Popular also were job sharing schemes (57%) and flexi-time systems (47%). From this survey we can see evidence that firms are operating soft HRM policies, what is unclear from the research is to what extent these policies affect the bottom line. The impact of soft HRM is intangible which means it leads us to the problem of quantifying any real benefits. The whole concept of soft HRM appears to be to retain and motivate staff, in the TUC economic forecast we see a high level of employee turnover in the services sector (hotels, restaurants) show the highest levels of employee turnover, but is this as a result of hard HRM practises? true turnover costs are more complex than simply figuring out the average cost of replacement. The costs of losing a good performer are greater than the costs of losing an average performer. The true cost of losing a key seasoned player is hard to estimate. There is the investment in development of the employee, the value of the knowledge and experience gained, and the lost productivity that also have to be considered to arrive at a true cost figure. In the case of McDonalds we see a split between management staff and shop floor workers. Whilst the management have many flexible benefits (PRP, bonus, life/health insurance etc) the workers on the shop floor do not (McDonalds 2002). They are regarded as cogs in the wheel and are treated fairly but firmly as in the hard school of HRM. As a consequence of this, shop floor turnover is higher than that of the management. However, is this higher turnover a result of the HRM policy? Or is it a nature of the type of work? What I would suggest is that the sort of work involved with working on the shop floor of McDonalds is not conducive to a long career in that position. The result of this would be the high staff turnover for low skilled repetitive jobs. The dilemma facing HRM managers is that they need low skilled workers to provide the services such as discussed and to operate soft HRM policies such as training would move these workers away from where they were needed. We therefore cannot have it both ways there must be a balance between employee development and retaining quality people for their positions. If soft HRM seeks to address the retention and motivation of staff we must not lose sight of the fact that we do still need low skilled workers. Soft HRM assumes the existence of a knowledge society (Livingston 2001), the emphasis is on the human resources manager the harness the knowledge. Knowledge work is typically considered to be about variety and exception rather than routine. It is generally considered to be performed by professional workers with high levels of skill and expertise. Livingstone makes the point that the potential for waste of this knowledge through bad management is ‘immense and gut wrenching.’ This claim is given substance by Thompson. In his research only 14 percent of employees received any training at all and that almost half of that lasted for less than a week (figures referring to the UK 2001). For HRM to work effectively we must reorganize work to firstly make the most of existing knowledge and human capital but also to develop this human capital to maximise future performance. In this modern business environment knowledge takes the leading place from other drivers of economic change such as labour, technology and markets. The dilemma we face with soft HRM is that (as explained above in the McDonalds example) a lot of routine work is done by workers with minimal training and knowledge and only small numbers of highly skilled employees are required. Thompson pointed out that if employment growth is not dominated by knowledge work it’s going to be dominated by something else. There are strong and clear indications that it is dominated by low skill, routine work largely in the service sector. We can’t make every job high skill, high wage, and high learning because there are jobs that neither the employee nor employer can grow. One of the reasons they can’t be grown is because, in our other guise as consumers, a lot of us want the cheapest possible flights, goods, services and so on. We can’t have it both ways. If we want cheap, controllable, efficient service, we’re not going to create a lot of high wage, high skill, high learning jobs. There are many dilemmas associated with the ideas of hard and soft HRM. We must realise that we cannot expand the knowledge and skills of all members of society infinitely. There will always be a place for the unskilled worker and as such there must be a place for hard HRM. However, in todays changing environment soft measures must come to the fore. The notion of ‘the velvet glove concealing the iron fist of hard HRM’ (Beardwell & Holden 2001:93) shows that even soft measures are still measures of control. No matter how soft a companies HRM policies appear to be, they will still be designed for the benefit of the organisation rather than of the individual. The bottom line must always come first. Figures and tables Fig 1 Fig 2 : TUC (2002) Fig 3: Cornelius et al 2002    Bibliography ACAS, found at http://www.acas.org.uk/ [accessed 10/11/02] Armstrong, M and H Murlis, 1991 & 1994. Reward Management – A Handbook of Remuneration Strategy and Practice Second & Third edition. London: Kogan Page ltd. Beardwell & Holden, Human Resource Management, A contemporary Perspective, 2nd Edition, 1997 Beardwell & Holden, Human Resource Management, A contemporary Perspective, 3rd Edition, 2001 Becker, G, cited in Donkin R, 30/10/2002 – Employees as investors – FT 30/10/02 Bexhill College, http://intranet.bexhillcolledge.ac.uk [Accessed 18/10/02] CIPD, Labour turnover survey, October 2001 found at: http://www.cipd.co.uk [accessed 30/10/02] Cornelius N, Gagnon S, Found at: http://www.thomsonlearning.co.uk/businessandmanagement/ cornelius2/intro.pdf [Accessed 13/11/02] Derek Duffy, TMS Institute, http://www.tms.com.au/forum/dcforumid5/59.html#1 [Accessed 18/10/02] Dewe, P, cited in Overell, S, 30/10/2002 – The metric system for performance – FT 30/10/02 Heery, E. and Noon, M. (2001) A Dictionary of Human Resource Management, Oxford University Press IPD, Benefiting from a balanced life, July/Aug 1999http://www.cipd.co.uk [accessed 30/10/02] Livingston, D. (1999). The Education-jobs gap: Underemployment and economic democracy. Toronto, ON: Garamond Press. Livingston, D. (2001). Worker control as the missing link: Relations between paid/unpaid work and work-related learning. In Second International Conference on Researching Work and Learning Conference Proceedings. Calgary, AB: University of Calgary Faculty of Continuing Education. Mandelson P, Business Link annual conference – 7 October 1999. Microsoft Website, http://www.microsoft.com [Accessed 19/10/02] Overell, S, 30/10/2002 – The metric system for performance – FT 30/10/02 People Management, 8 January 1998 Peoplesoft, Available from Financial Times 31/10/02 Sennett, R. (1998). The corrosion of character: The personal consequences of work in the new capitalism. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Shepherd, K, cited in Murray S, 30/10/2002 – Marrying Performance with Reward – FT 30/10/02 SHL group, Available from: http://www.shlgroup.com/cases/philips.htm [Accessed 31/10/02] Storey J, 1987, Developments in the mangenment of human resources: an interim report, Warwick papers in industrial relations, Vol 17 Storey J, 1989, New perspectives on Human Resource Management Sunday Times, 100 Best Companies to Work for 2002, 24th March 2002. Thompson, 2002, Available from: http://www.ucalgary.ca/cted/confer2001/pres_summary.html [Accessed 31/10/02] TUC Economic Forecast, 2002, http://www.tuc.org.uk/economy/tuc-4028-f0.cfm UK Government White Paper , Competitiveness White Paper, Our Competitive Future; building the knowledge driven economy 1999 Van Ruysseveldt et al, 1995, Comparative Industrial and Employment Relations Watson T, cited in Mayo A, 1998 – Memory Bankers – People Management 22(1) 34-38 Welton MR, 2002, Available from: http://www.ucalgary.ca/cted/confer2001/pres_summary.html [Accessed 31/10/02] White Heat 5, Video recording, Beat of the System, London BBC, 1994

Acadamic Misconduct Essay

Academic misconduct is described as academic integrity violation for the unfair advantage of oneself or unfair academic advantage or disadvantage to others in academic community, academic misconduct can be a plagiarism, cheating, and collusion but not limited. The other academic misconduct activities such as not obeying academic staff directions regarding assessments and group work submissions, falsifying reports, having/spreading examination materials without unit teacher permission, arranging someone to do assessment work all these included as academic misconduct. If an allegation arises towards a student and if it’s proven in an investigation then student has to face penalties under student academic misconduct policy. In this essay we going to discuss in brief about plagiarism, cheating, collusion and academic misconduct procedural process depending on minor or substantial misconduct when allegations arise and appeal for the student. As per UWS policy Plagiarism is defined as an â€Å"act of presenting material as one’s own without appropriate acknowledgement that constitutes plagiarism, not the intension of the student when doing so†, for example when student submits work in which words or ideas are presented as their own as intentional or unintentional without proper acknowledgment of the original author such as website, other students work, lecture, journal article or book. Cheating is described as any attempt to give or obtain assistance in a formal academic exercise such as examination, without due acknowledgment such as speaking to other students during examination, carrying any information materials such as textbooks, using electronics devices such as mobile, Bluetooth any other items which are prohibited by examination supervisor. Collusion is where two or more people engage in plagiarism, cheating or encourage others to do so. According to UWS Academic misconduct policy there are Minor misconduct and substantial misconduct. A Minor misconduct is determine by the university as a minimal threat to integrity of the student assessment in writing such as lack of referencing or academic requirements. A substantial misconduct is determine by the university as a major threat to integrity such as, when a student repeats minor misconduct activities intentionally, any allegations in the examination and any allegations related to collusion. In the process of investigating the allegations unit teacher, unit coordinator, Dean, school academic committee and student academic committee will be involved. in the first stage of Investigation process and hearing of academic misconduct, If unit teacher or examination supervisor believe that there is any academic misconduct happened, and they have evidence or reasons to support, teacher of the unit will report to unit coordinator with relevant documentation by signed copy or email, then with in five working days unit coordinator will send copy of allegation to the Dean. The dean, will advise unit coordinator to do investigation, and then unit coordinator and unit teacher decides to do further investigation, unit teacher will notify the student and invite for meeting in writing by post and email. Student can attend meeting with fellow student or university academic staff member or a student welfare officer. Meeting will be organised between 8 – 15 working days after on invitation letter despatch date. Student must respond to the invitation with in seven working days date of despatch whether he / she will attend the meeting or not. The decision will be made on the allegation even in the student absence. If unit coordinator decides that the allegation is not substantial he / she will dismiss it. Other penalties like refer to academic counselling, student require to re-submit assessment task after re-submission unit coordinator makes a decision on the marks and grades student may get zero marks. If the unit coordinator determine its substantial he/ she will be referred to relevant dean for decision. After going through all the process as discussed earlier in which case the unit coordinator will send the invitation letter to student for meeting with dean. After meeting if dean decides it’s not substantial dean will dismiss the allegation. When dean decides the allegations substantial then dean can penalise student such as recommend to counselling, ask for re-submission of work, if required student has to sit for exam again, dean will decide marks and grades. If dean judges that the allegation very substantial or too serious then dean refers that allegation to SAC (student academic committee). After going all the process as discussed above, student will have meeting with SAC members. After meeting if SAC decides if allegation are true it will take any action of dean penalties or combination of them, or suspend the student from university minimum period of 6months not more than 12 months, or dismiss the student for minimum of 12 months not more than 24 months in this case student has to apply for readmission or SAC can suspend the student permanently from the university. A student can appeal against the unit coordinators decision when student considers that the decision was made against the procedural fairness or when student not agreeing with allegations or when student considers that there is a substantial new evidence which was not available previously to unit coordinator or when student considers the penalty imposed by unit coordinator was too severe. Student must appeal within 15 days with evidence in writing to dean from the date of the letter advising of unit coordinators decision. It is the responsibility of every student to respect and obey the policy of UWS for academic misconduct to maintain academic integrity among academic community, when allegations were proven the student has to face severe penalties imposed by university academic committee besides the appeal options for student, The best option for students is to work hard on their own and get help when needed from academic teachers before submitting any academic work.

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