Thursday, January 30, 2020

Project Management Summary Essay Example for Free

Project Management Summary Essay Strategic portfolio management plays an intricate part in project management. Through this paper, the reader will gain a stronger understanding of the relationship that strategic portfolio management plays in project management. Strategic Management Relation to Project Management Project management involves several parts, but the meaning must be understood first. â€Å"Project management is the planning, organizing, directing, and controlling of company resources for a relatively short-term objective that has been established to complete specific goals and objectives† (Kezner, 2013, p4). Knowing this allows the project manager to implement steps toward achievement of the defined goals and objectives. Part of these steps has to do with strategic management. Project management is strategically managed to advance the corporations organizational goals. Strategic management insures the right initiatives are pursued and supported with resources. Strategy today needs to align to a more fluid nature of business environments. It has to be flexible enough to adapt constantly to changing external and internal conditions. The relationship between strategic portfolio management and project management is a very important relationship. Strategic management compliments project management in that it attempts to ensure success by way of doing things at the most opportune time. If a company attempts something too early or too late then possible negative consequences may occur. Projects, within programs or portfolios, are a means of achieving organizational goals and objectives, often in the context of a strategic plan. Although a group of projects within a program can have discrete benefits, they can also contribute to the benefits of the program, to the objectives of the portfolio, and to the strategic plan of the organization. Conclusion As stated at the beginning of this paper â€Å"strategic portfolio management  plays an intricate part in project management†. The reader should now have a stronger understanding of the relationship that strategic portfolio management plays in project management. References Kerzner, Ph.D., H. (2013). Project Management: A Systems Approach to Planning, Scheduling, and Controlling (11th ed.). Retrieved from The University of Phoenix eBook Collection. Project Management Institute. (2013). A guide to the project management body of knowledge. (PMBOK guide). Newtown Square, Pa: Project Management Institute.

Wednesday, January 22, 2020

Semantics Essay -- Communication, Language

Language is the primary source of communication for humans and is used to convey thoughts, feelings, intentions, and desires to others (Bonvillain 2008:1). Many rules are taken into account when forming a language. According to Bolton, language is arbitrary and is unrepresentative of the objects they represent (Bolton 1996: 63). The study of Semantics allows us to identify the meaning of words and phrases in their literal sense, and helps us to make meaning out of arbitrary sounds and phrases. It has been contributed to by both linguists and philosophers. Linguists used lexical decomposition to understand the features that comprise words and the categories in which the words fit. Philosophers dealt more with the meanings of sentences and truth condition and reference (Parker and Riley 2010: 28).Semantics is still not a completely understood field, and as a result it is not easy to study (Parker and Riley 2010:26-27).Semantics is split into three different sections: sense, reference, and truth conditions. Thanks to semantics, we gain an understanding of what words mean when they are said to us. Without semantics, we would not be able to understand each other. Semantics take into account cultural, situational and environmental constructs to develop meaning in different areas of the United States and throughout the world (Bonvillain 2008: 27). With that being said, there are several things that semantics brings to the English language that allows us to communicate on a deeper level and makes our language more complex. Sense is the study of the literal and intentional meaning of words and phrases. Part of this section is lexical ambiguity. This occurs when one word has more than one meaning. Parker and Riley use the example of the wo... ...nd not in the other (Parker and Riley 2010: 40). Presuppositions are phrases that have to be considered true in order to evaluate the validity of another phrase. For example if I said â€Å"Judy Genshaft is the president of USF† and â€Å"Judy Genshaft is a good president,† you would have to accept the idea that she is the president in order to understand whether she was a good or bad president. In conclusion, semantics is what we use to make sense of our language. It takes into account the cultural references, environmental sayings, and situation events. Maybe the reason that semantics is so hard to understand is because it tries to make sense of something that has no meaning and things that change from place to place. Without it, our language would be much more primitive than it is now, but because of it we can make sense of things, make references, and understand truth.

Monday, January 13, 2020

Nothing Gold Can Stay Interpretation

Taylor Sims Interpretation of Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost Nothing Gold Can Stay by Robert Frost is a poem that means as wonderful as any life is, it cannot continue forever. That no matter what is gold in one’s eyes, such as loved ones, young stages, innocence, or one’s treasures, it can only carry on for so long. That perfect cannot remain perfect. No golden times or moments can stay. Once a flower blooms, it must die and that bloom will never be seen by eyes again.The same goes for life, once a person reaches the final stages of living, they will become only a memory. Nature’s first sprout of life is pure as gold. â€Å"Nature’s first green is gold†. Nature may attempt all she may, but it would still be fated to leave. â€Å"Her hardest hue to hold†. A flower then sprouts from the Earth. The fragile and soft petals grow and grow thus completing the blossom. â€Å"Her early leaf’s a flower†. Then, Frost tells us that the beautiful flower is not to last for long. If one had a choice, the flower would last forever.Yet, it would have to go away. â€Å"But only so an hour. † Sadly, as marvelous as the green might seem, it slowly droops and departs its’ life. â€Å"Then leaf subsides to leaf†. Because of this, Eden mourns over the death of the pure. Eden, something that people thought was going to stay perfect and holy still went down. â€Å"So Eden sank to grief†. The day goes on, and with it goes the life and beauty of the flower. â€Å"So dawn goes down to day†. Hopefully one savors the beauty of it because â€Å"nothing gold can stay†.On the whole, something or someone that is great or pure as gold cannot stay for a long time. One must treasure the golden times and moments because of just that. They are moments, and are not meant to last. However, memories can last a lifetime. The golden memories can continue to live in one’s heart. Life is a cycle , and like in any cycle there is a beginning and an end. Nature is ephemeral, and fleetingness enhances human nature. As Frost wrote, nothing gold can stay. Words: 375

Sunday, January 5, 2020

Hate Has No Home Here - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 7 Words: 2126 Downloads: 6 Date added: 2019/04/26 Category History Essay Level High school Tags: Holocaust Essay Did you like this example? Theres no place in civilized society for hate yet it exists and persists with a furor. Driving through my neighborhood, I still see a few signs that bear that infamous tagline that garnered countrywide acclaim during the 2016 presidential election; one in particular has a prominent location in a front window facing the street. When I see that sign I feel a little sad because its unfortunate that we need to be reminded not to hate. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "Hate Has No Home Here" essay for you Create order What does it mean to hate someone and why does it appear to the norm? There no longer seems to be a middle ground, its either love and adoration or hate and injustice. People dont agree so they try and hurt each other or worse, kill. Its baffling that there is so much discontent due to ideological differences among certain people that the only perceivable way to resolve issues is with hateful rhetoric, discrimination and violence. Christianity is or was my religion. Many years ago, I checked off the box in the column of non-believers. Its okay, it feels right to me but my parents arent happy, although they keep it to themselves. Religion was forced down my throat during my childhood and I rebelled in every way I could think of and when I became old enough to start doing what I wanted, I stopped going and also stopped believing, or rather started trusting what Id already accepted: there was no God. Ive never said that out loud to my parents and I never will; that belongs to me. Despite my feelings toward the Christian religion I felt different when I attended Shir Ami synagogue in Newtown. Perhaps its because for me, it was new, different yet similar in ways to the Christian faith. Or maybe I welcomed it more because it was my decision, I went because I wanted to and hoped to learn something. Being there that evening, six days after the shooting at Tree of Life was a poignant moment for me. There were so many p eople there from different churches and different faiths just offering their support and I realized I would have been there even if it werent part of an assignment. The original reason I went that Friday night changed the minute I walked through the door and was greeted with Shabbat Shalom. I was a community member, grieving with fellow human beings about the tragedy of hate and how in a single instant, everything that matters in life can be changed forever. Everything about the service was lovely, the singing was beautiful, the accompanying band was energetic and stage-worthy, the Rabbi was gracious and welcoming, the regular members were helpful and friendly, and every single moment of the service from beginning to end was beautiful. Even in the face of insurmountable devastation and loss, the message delivered that night was one of hope. Hope to move forward, hope to rebuild the community, hope for a better future and most important, hope to forgive. During the sermon I reflected to myself about the historical hatred of Jewish people and the horror of the mass murder during WWII. How and why are peaceful people condemned on such a large scale? Adolf Hitler may have brought notoriety to the term anti-Semitism but he didnt invent the label or the idea. Hate toward those of Jewish faith dates back to ancient times, possibly even as far back as the inception of Jewish history. Jewish people wanted to retain their cultural identity and not succumb to pressure from conquering groups to convert to the dominant religion of the time. Theres strong evidence that Protestant reformist Martin Luther fostered a climate of anti-Semitism due to his initial call for acceptance and tolerance of Jews only to then reverse opinion when he saw they werent setting aside their Jewish ways and coming to Christ. His supporters will argue that his intolerance of them was theological and not based on race or ethnic standing. In 1543 he wrote a controversial book called On The Jews Their Lies where he charges Germans with the destruction of Jews. Fast-forward to 1941 where Nazi Germany fulfills that charge. It would appear that Martin Luther prophes ied the Holocaust or at the every least, laid the foundation for the propaganda that would propel a country to systematically exterminate human beings. While reading some of Luthers words in the book, he comes off as sort of jealous that the Jews regard themselves as the chosen people of God and that they descend from holy patriarchs and do nothing but boast about their place in the divine hierarchy. He talks about how God must endure them in their synagogues, with their prayers and songs and doctrines and how they come and stand before him (God) and plague him grievously (Luther, 9). He advises that their houses be razed and destroyed (Luther, 166). Luther seems bitter and suggests the Jewish people are being blasphemous and distorting the scripture or misinterpreting its meaning. This is interesting because Christianity emerged from Judaism, not the other way around. Jesus was a Rabbi first, his death and resurrection led to the belief that a new covenant had been forged with God and redemption was only possible through accepting him as Lord and savior. Its this disagreement over how to understand words in holy text that encompass both religions that has created such a riff in belief systems. By the time Hitler rose to power in 1930s Germany, Jewish people all over Medieval Europe had experienced discrimination and were forced to live in ghettos and in some countries, required to identify themselves as Jewish by wearing a yellow badge or a special hat. They were refused citizenship and other liberties including religious freedom. (History.com, Anti-Semitism 2018). In 1935 with the passing of the Nuremberg Laws, anti-Semitic practices and persecution of Jews became legal. The sad thing about these laws were they didnt take into account how an individual chose to identify, it proved their ancestry by determining how many Jewish grandparents they had and essentially if they had enough Jewish blood in their lineage, they were classified as Jewish. Even Jews that had converted to Christianity were no longer defined as such. Further steps were taken in efforts to render Jewish people helpless and destitute by taking away businesses and removing Jewish workers from companies, a process called Aryanizing (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Nuremberg Race Laws.). Religiously, it didnt help that for hundreds of years, the Christian church taught people that it was the Jews that killed Jesus when in fact history will tell us it was the Romans. Jews were classified as a separate race and portrayed as weak and uncivilized. On a November night in 1938 violence against Jewish people swept across Germany, these bouts of rioting, violence and murder were called pogroms. Hundreds of synagogues and schools were burned, Jewish-owned business were pillaged and vandalized and dozens of Jews were massacred in an event that lasted two days and historically would be known as the Kristallnacht or The Night of Broken Glass symbolic of all the shattered glass during the riots. To make the tragedy even more unbearable, the Nazi government fined Jews the equivalent of $400,000,000 in U.S. dollars and forced them to clean up after the devastation and refusing to allow them insurance payments for damages to property. Following the pogroms, Jews are finally prohibited from all aspects of public life in Germany (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, The Night of Broken Glass). The efforts to eradicate Jews from Germany had been going on for nearly a decade before the Final Solution came into existence. Jews were deported from countries all over Europe to extermination camps in occupied-Poland. During the invasion of the Soviet Union, mobile killing squads shot Jewish men, women and children, effectively extinguishing one million Jews from existence. Vans doubled as gas chambers and people were shuffled to killing centers where its estimated that approximately six million Jews were murdered. That number doesnt take into account others that perished as a result of Nazi regime. The Jewish Holocaust is considered the worst and most widely recognized acts of genocide in history. Anti-Semitism didnt commence with the Holocaust nor does it end there. There are still many incidents of racial discrimination against Jewish citizens all over the world, particularly in Western Europe. It affects more than just the intended races; it touches all the nearby residents, challenges beliefs about tolerance and puts democracies at risk. Islamic Extremism and Far-Right Extremism have legs in Anti-Semitic attacks on institutions and humans. Due to the ongoing conflict in Israel, the assumption by certain critics of the policies of the country believe it shouldnt even exist and that theyre nothing but a terrorist state and rally to delegitimize them as a country and a people. Holocaust deniers are Anti-Semitic because they refuse to accept that Jews can be victims of something so terrible. Governments have long steered clear of getting involved, which sends a message to society that the behavior is okay. Violence and discrimination is on the rise in the U.S., most recently a t the Tree of Life synagogue in Pittsburgh, PA but many other circumstances of hate against Jewish people have occurred at cemetaries, community centers and other Jewish locations. In the news back in October there was a prom photo circulating online of a group of male teenagers in Wisconsin giving what appears to be the Nazi salute. Its as if its become in vogue to be a racist. Intolerance in America and the world only seems to be getting worse or maybe its because the ways we hear about it are 24/7 via Twitter, Facebook, cable news and any other instant-gratification way of accessing the latest must know information. Its grip is strong and shows no sign of slowing down and with the current U.S. president stoking the fires at every turn, its no wonder people in certain groups have gained a new-found confidence to proudly wave the flag of bigotry. His refusal to denounce the white nationalist groups at the Unite the Right rally in Charleston, SC in August of 2017 stirred up significant controversy and inquiry into where his allegiances lie. Not only did he validate the state of white supremacy in this country, but he went so far as to say there was violence on both sides and that both parties were at fault. A woman named Heather Heyer was killed when a Nazi sympathizer deliberately drove his car into a group of counter protesters killing her and wounding doz ens more. Ironically, she almost didnt attend the rally due to warnings of danger but she changed her mind at the last minute because she wanted to take a stand against hate and intolerance. People must condemn these horrific actions and those that lead and govern need to denounce it as well, with a passion. Just like in Confucianism, members of society will look to their leader for guidance, acceptance and validation. There are many people out there that are vulnerable to hateful philosophies and are just waiting for the right person to give them the okay to behave as such. We, the people, have to change our hearts and our attitudes and come together to defend whats right. Were all humans first and if youre a believer then were all Gods children too. I enjoyed learning about Judaism, the beliefs are slightly different from Christianity but religious service is quite similar in structure. Everyone I met when I attended Shir Ami was welcoming, kind and hospitable, even those that werent members. A very nice woman sitting next to me from another synagogue offered some pointers in reading from the prayer book and I didnt even ask her for help. The rabbi was wonderful in his willingness to give a tour and answer as many questions as I had, knowing that congregants were across the hall also waiting to talk with him. He seemed genuinely pleased that I was there that night and invited me to return another time. The sanctuary was lovely, the Torah was amazing and I am so grateful I was able to see it up close. There was no hate there, nothing but love, respect and generosity. I knew more about the Jewish faith when I left that when I arrived and I feel lucky to have been part of their sacred moments. If we were all willing to step outside our own world and into someone elses with an open heart and open mind, we might learn that there is more that unites us than divides us and understanding that its the differences in each of us that can make societies stronger and progress us further into the future. Love and hope persist, always.