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Military Life vs. Civilian Life

Introduction:

Here in the following essay we shall be discussing and distinguishing between a civilian life and military life of individuals. Just to have a comparison of life of both people and see which shall be better and having been discussing the advantages and disadvantages of both.

A civilian is a person which is considered under the international humanitarian law which in the world is also known as laws of war. According to this law a person who is not under the membership of the country’s armed forces or the military of that country is a civilian. There is another part which is known as combatant, a civilian is different from a combatant. Combatants are those who are a part of the hostilities of the armed forces. The civilians are those who are offered protection legally from the effects that happen due to war and also from the military occupation. In basic words a civilian is someone who is not on any active duty in consideration of armed forces, the police services or the fire fighting force as said in the rules of United States.

On the other hand we have the people who are a part of the military. A military is an organisation which is formed by the government for the protection of the people living in the country from the people who are the enemies or create wars in a particular company to rule over it. It is organisations who use lethal force which includes usage of the weapons to defend the country from the perceived threats.

A blanket term which is used for the military people is Military Personnel; it refers to the armed forces. The personnel’s are divided in many branches – the people serving the ground forces are called soldiers which form an army, the men serving the seagoing force are called seamen or sailors with the head branch name as Navy, the people serving the army by air are the air forces of the country called the airmen.

These are the categorization and the explanation of the words individually to understand the depth of it; we shall now see the comparison of a civilian’s life and a military life.

Having a consideration of life’s of both people we can say that there are quite a common things and a life of a civilian is almost same as a military life as one has a regular job in both sides in order to have your life going for oneself and its family, to keep things in order relating to bills of the house, housing and other necessities and luxuries as required. In all manner one has to work having a boss over him/her and has to work under the rules and regulations of the organisation whether a civilian in a company or the soldier in the army. In the world today a large number of families are a part of the military or in other words the world is populated by military families.

There are misconceptions about the military life in huge manner amongst the people that the military people get paid very well then what is actually paid, some people also have a conception that military life is a horrible life and it is better and safer to be away from it.

There are also many differences along with similarities which include pay, the health benefits, beliefs and political life and more which we shall be discussing in details. Studies in the near future and the trends have shown that a military job outweighs or has greater weight in demand compared to a civilian sector in comparison to increase in pay year by year and allowances as such which cover advantage to a great extent of housing, health, educational fees, special quotas in various places, added tax advantages to oneself and family members. It is just to be on papers and comparisons if one wants to prove the benefits of civilian and a military member. Being a part of the military is said to be a defining moment in a person’s life and has long-term effects in his and the family’s life.

A lifestyle of a military person is full of responsibilities much more than that of a civilian, the military person is always in threat zone or approaching towards combat zone and risking his life and putting at stake indirectly life’s of his family. A soldier or the military person has to sacrifice a lot of being away from the family for a long time which might be for a year or even more, not being with families in any occasions or for any reason. Deployment at dangerous places with uncertainty of personal life is military life all about. The military organizations have special schools and institutes to educate the people about the same and show them the right path to choose in the field on being specific which is an extra advantage.

They provide education, specialised training and healthcare; it creates job opportunities and offer which include working for the military by travelling to various places in the world. A military person has to be on time in all due manners of the rules there shall be no reasons of getting late or shall face severe punishments. Being well groomed, have living proper standards and presentation standards and talk to people keeping in mind proper rules. A military person in no way say “no” for any specific thing one is charged in protecting the country and if he fails to do so the country shall be at stake.

The job market in the United States is scarce to those who do not have good education or specialised training, in case of civilians choosing for a new career they are forced to pay for training as compared to the military counterparts. The (MOS) Military occupational specialities section under the military act states that any person at any time during his career life has a provision in choosing and opting to be a part of military, unlike normal civilians who are forced to maintain a job to have regular and proper income for his daily life. The military personnel’s are also paid while in training and school for their occupational skills.

Expenses of the training are there but along with that a civilian has to seek for employment in the country and has to choose a place where he wants to be employed in which field etc. But military personnel have no option of choosing as where they want to work and they also have to comply to the orders of working in a specifies location no matter if they like it or not and shall have to stay in any condition of the place.

This is one of the biggest drawback of the military personnel of having change MOS. A major important drawback of all things for military personnel are that the training given to the people is not national recognised or in other words has no recognition apart from the military organisation. On the other hand a civilian having a high education and training can be beneficial to join the army or the military with the point to be accomplished and get a higher ranking and pay as compared to others.

Discussing the benefits:

Health Benefits:

Firstly of all the major factors the main factor of a military job is the Health care factor. A family of a military person is fully and highly secured means is covered under any medical circumstances. There are certain expenses which are definitely not covered but may or may not be available at special rates – plastic surgery. Dental cover is available at lower cost; sterilization is available on meeting certain procedures. In the United States an average for a dental cover is around 30 dollars a month.

Talking about the civilians, most life of a civilian pays on the medical bills for oneself and the family which are not covered or taken care of by anyone except the earning members of the family. Civilians often take loans and are under debt of others for the medical treatments of their family people. There are no extra benefits and special quotas for the civilians for medical treatments as compared to the military people. Civilians have an option of getting their life’s insured through companies but for them they have to pay certain amount of money every year for which they get tax benefits. But many people do not afford to pay premiums for the entire family so they do not get everyone insured. There are a number of exception and conditions under these insurance claims which a civilian has to face which turns down the coverage. This is something which does not exist in the military world as the organisation guarantees the health of not only the soldier but also the well being of their families.

TRICARE is an organisation which is formed known as Civilian health and medical program of the uniformed services. This is a health programme in the United States who provides the benefits of a civilian for military personnel, the retired soldiers and he family dependents.

Pay or the salary:

The salary or the CTC of a military person is low than a civilian as such as it is under the government rules and not as per private company the military person has basic pay, special pay and all these pays have special tax advantages under various section numbers of the income tax act of the country. In certain cases a take home salary of a military officer is higher than that of a civilian after paying the taxes. The civilians have no tax advantages in fact every extra income which a civilian gets from other sources are also taxable being it over and above such as rewards for their work from the company and the same of a military person is exempted.

In normal consideration a research showed that there is also much safe and job security as said by the parents and family of many military person as it’s a government job and same for a civilian there is always a fear of losing the job and there is no security for them. The pay check every month of a soldier never depends on the number of days or hours being on duty there is a guarantee of pay to be received and for a civilian in spite being the best in the company there are chances of not being paid by the company for any reason as mentioned.

But at the same side a army officer shall not have the freedom of leaving the job when he wants to but a civilian is free to resign from the job and choose someplace else to work.

Housing Benefits:

The military people are always with housing benefits like they are off base the organization provides with basic allowance for house which is tax free and they also have army head quarters in certain metropolitan cities where the family of the military can stay and they also have schools, hospitals in within for their children and other benefits are also available. Well in a civilians life he has to arrange for his accommodation and look for the family for the same. All costs of the house have to be borne by the civilian and maintenance of the same has to be given every month for the same.

Education Benefits:

In the United States there are special school and colleges which are managed by the government and the children of the military people are free to study there at no cost and use basic amenities available in there. There are also special quotas available in other colleges for higher or different studies with certain sponsorship by the government if one chooses to. But for a civilian he has to fight for every school admission sometimes even bribe and get rejections, the whole education responsibility is to be borne along with the fees and even take education loans if required for the child and pay interest on the same which is not deductible form tax point of view.

Travel all round:

A civilian need to think where he needs to travel either for work or for pleasure and need to spend on its own for the same i.e. one needs to pay out from his own pocket for the leisure of the family and himself. A military person needs to travel as per instructions through deployment. Other than that a military in his holiday time can travel to specified places with family on the cost by the organisation where they have special links and greater deals for the military. The best part of being a military is they travel to various places which are new and different where they have their postings and they get to see the best and the inner parts of the country be it on mountain peaks or edges of the country where they have the best of the climate, the finest sun rise and sunsets and much more, which a civilian dream of but can never visit those places.

Vacation and the working pattern:

A civilian has to work in the norms of the company and in an average gets 10-14 vacation in a year with conditions in certain companies that the vacation has to be utilised in a 2 parts and cannot be redeemed at once, because of this many civilians do not get the opportunity to go for a long vacation with the family but a military person gets an vacation of 30 days in a year which is guaranteed and paid with holiday benefits, this is the time when the military person can be with the family and spend time with them. This advantage of a civilian is one can stay with the family and work in the same place whereas a military person can meet only once in a year.

In consideration of working hours in a week a civilian normally works for 30-35 hours a week but a military has to be ready on call for 24 hours a day all days a week without excuses or reasons.

Retirement from work:

Every person has a particular age when one retires from work being it a civilian or a military person. In a military the retirement of the officer is after 20 years of active duty and in special cases just after 15 years of duty. There are many benefits that the people get after retirement, they have pension plan in which they get money paid by the military. Coverage of medical is still available for the soldier and his family till death and all the exemptions under the income tax act are also in effect and applicable for them. For a civilian the retirement is after 35 years of service and shall have no benefits except the pension which is paid which is less than what shall be required to the civilian. Normally a civilian is to retire at the age of 60 or opt for voluntary retirement scheme if retirement is required before that.

The extra benefit what shall be considered is that pension is available to the family of the military person if he dies in a war or in general till the death of the wife, and being a civilian no such money is paid to the family if the employee of the company dies.

The above given aspects are the prime talk about comparing a military life and a civilian life. One more factors that can be discussed are:

Fitness of the individual:

There are obvious physical and mental factor and requirement in being a civilian as well as a military person. Being in the military has certain rules of the physical appearance; the soldiers are to report or be on the ground for physical activities on daily basis as a routine and exercise for having a active body to fight the enemy, and to be fit to support the needy. Being a civilian is also important to be fit and active physically and mental but it is not compulsory from their point on daily basis, some civilians follow it on daily basis to be active and other might not at all. One can bring out its best by such trainings.

Towards the end of this essay we shall talk about the most important factor of military life – War. War is one of the reasons why family members do not want their loved ones to join the military as they love them and do not want to lose them. There are few families who encourage their children for such initiatives and are ready to sacrifice the life of their children for the country. Civilians have a life no matter how much tougher but they find it safe and better to be with their loved one and be safe with them. Being on the military face there are soldiers coming home, there is continuing funeral, being home one gets to hear that the neighbours husband or son or father will not be returning anymore which is horrifying. So it is a tough call on to join the military or to be a civilian from my point of view.

Conclusion:

As we see in the essay above there are many advantages of being a military person. We can conclude that being a military person is much better than a civilian as per from many aspects of life, but there are also disadvantages at the same time. The biggest disadvantage is that the life of a person is always at risk being at the military and their family might not even know about the relatives far away from them. But being a civilian one is with the loved ones. The issues of health care, job security, freedoms, travelling with beautiful nights and mornings are addressed but the reality is that life is at the tip of an iceberg. George Orwell an author said “People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf.”

The world should be proud of these men who are ready to lose their life for the country and the country people.

References:

Civilian life vs Military Life | Local News | Westman Journal, Brandon, MB. (n.d.). Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://www.westmanjournal.com/article/20110829/BRANDON0101/110829968/-1/BRANDON/civilian-life-vs-military-life

Comparing Military Pay and Benefits To Civilian Jobs | Military.com. (n.d.). Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/military-vs-civilian-benefits-overview.html

Home. (n.d.). Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://www.tricare.mil/

Military Health Care: Army Health Care Benefits | goarmy.com. (n.d.). Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://www.goarmy.com/benefits/health-care-vacation.html

Military Medical Benefits Overview | Military.com. (n.d.). Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://www.military.com/benefits/veterans-health-care/military-medical-benefits-overview.html

TRICARE | Military.com. (n.d.). Retrieved July 12, 2013, from http://www.military.com/benefits/tricare

Management Dilemma: A Case Of Beer Industry Versus Health Industry

Introduction

Management dilemmas manifest in many ways. For example, it is very hard to regulate multinational companies that profit by selling alcoholic beverages in a developing nation where workers like their beer, and like it cheap, to the extent that alcohol use has become a serious public health problem. Given the core goal of multinational corporations is to gain more market share, this essay argues that there should be a compromise between who qualifies to take alcohol, when to take it, and the price of the alcohol.

The government should control alcohol consumption through legislations that stipulate the legal drinking age, official drinking hours and tax. At the same time, the government should create a friendly business environment for multinational companies to operate in. To this end, there should be a compromise between the monetary implications and the health implications of alcoholic industry since the government earns revenue but spends such revenue in providing health care to persons who suffer from alcoholic addition.

On the other hand, the head office of the multinational company expects all its subsidiaries to make more profit and expand their market. It is least concerned by the health implications of the sale of its alcoholic products to the local population. Moreover, it needs to sell its alcoholic products at a lower price to attract more customers. As such, any regulation that seeks to reduce the drinking hours or increase the prices of alcoholic beverages threaten its overall competitive advantage. Alcohol consumers in developing countries seek to maximise satisfaction all the time. They achieve this by looking for the least priced alcohol products in the market. Since there are many operators in the alcohol industry and cheap alcoholic beverages in the developing countries, consumers will tend to buy more as long as the products have been approved by the local quality standards body.

Lastly, the country manager is tasked to make profits and expand the local market share. He will therefore use all strategies including lowering of product prices so as to fit well in a market where consumers are willing to buy alcoholic products as long as their prices are low. He will also lobby the legislators to enact laws that restrict alcohol consumption or slap heavy tax on alcoholic beverages.

Overall, the government and the country manager should engage each other in coming up with a balanced regulation that discourages heavy drinking and encourages leisure drinking. This can be achieved through slapping alcoholic beverages with mild taxes, limiting drinking to evening, weekend, and holidays, and disgorging the over-excessive consumption of alcohol.

Response Paper

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Introduction

Management in any business entity entails integration and coordination of available resources; human, financial, environmental, capital and infrastructural/ technological ones in a bid to efficiently and effectively accomplish intended goals. The process involves organizing, staffing planning and control, leading and organizing different initiatives meant to accomplish these goals; which can be viewed as the strategies of a particular entity and/ or a platform for achieving the predefined ends. Majority of firms/ enterprises approach and implement these strategies differently that is, strategy as goal articulation; strategy as an approach to a certain predefined goal and strategy as the entire strategic landscape for vision, goal, objective and initiative. These approaches primarily depend on the enterprises’ internal and external forces, infrastructural and capital base, competition and the industry in which it falls in; with which define the stakeholders responsible for the articulation process that is, the employees or the market forces. The five forces model as a framework for industry analysis and organization strategy that highlights the competitive intensity of a firm in the market can also be used as business strategy for growth and development of dominant media company, Time Warner, by understanding market’s attractiveness.

In my previous experience as a customer relationship manager, the firm applied the S.W.O.T analysis as growth and development strategy which it concentrated on business’ strength, weaknesses, opportunities and evaluation of possible threats within the industry. The articulation of the strategy was approached as the entire landscape of the firm; implemented greatly by the employees with basic organizational initiatives directly focused to customers, execution goals targeting on the competition in the market and the approach based on product and services’ innovations. In my opinion, the strategy was a great one at the time with respect to the firm’s market share and expansion objectives; greatly influence by the competition and the need to have a competitive advantage in the banking sector and the need for international expansion. The strategy greatly impacted on the way I look at firms in the service industry more so my former company’s expression and implementation of their strategy; improving on my work approach as customer relationship manager in designing and implementing customer care systems and organizing and directing different initiatives to meet and surpass customers’ needs. It seems that though the strategy worked for the banking field it might not necessarily work in other fields within the service industry such as media and thus the five forces model will be more appropriate in addressing the attractiveness of the market within the service industry.

Five forces model on the other hand comprehensively evaluates the microeconomic environment of a firm with respect to its ability to strengthen its market share and profitability or relevance in the market. The fact that firms are different in terms of scope, objectives and business models applied, attractiveness of the market does not imply profitability of these firms in the same ratio and these calls for individual application of different core competencies and respective business models by these firms for profitability. For instance, the Time Warner Company as the leading media firm needs to address their growth and development strategies in relation to the five force model so as to remain relevant in the media and service industry, amid competition and technological advancements which have greatly influenced the way business is currently conducted.

On the analysis of new entrants or substitutes that might threaten the dominance of the firm for instance, the Time Warner Company needs to evaluate their business presence with respect to the competitive products by other related firms such as Disney’s, Murdoch’s News Corp, Viacom and many more. In addition, the company needs to evaluate its relationship with its suppliers; correspondents in the field of sports, life, and holiday editorials in the magazines sections, producers of music, movies and television programs, and the support service providers on new media and on other technological aspects that keep the firm in business. Moreover, by giving a upper hand to the audience, who happen to be the buyers/ consumers, the firm need to focus on innovations within its network that will accelerate aggregate demand on their products and services to give them a competitive advantage over their rivals. This can be achieved by critically evaluating the competitors’ products in the market and devising new business approaches to counter their presence through innovations and other strategic management approaches. As a leader in terms of market share, the firm has a strong bargaining power with its financial and capital/ infrastructural base which puts it in a better position of expansion strategies such as mergers and acquisitions; counteracting measures against potential threats of new entrants and substitute products in the market (Magretta, 2012). For instance, having ventured in varying degrees within media operations with giant corporations such as HP, Viva, Home Store, American express and others, the firm stands out competitively for dominance in the industry with which articulating this strategy as the entire landscape is and will be the company’s appropriate.

Conclusion

As a business growth and expansion strategy, Five forces model calls for emotional intelligence; the ability to identify, assess and control one’s emotions and that of the group he/she is a member or leading it, a product of strong interpersonal skills I observed with their current customer management director. In my opinion, the director combines both the transactional and relational communication in addressing customer needs which has helped the management and the research and development team in innovations and resource allocation; prerequisites for the foundation and operations of the firms in this industry.

References

Magretta, J. (2012). Understanding Michael Porter: The essential guide to competition and strategy. Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Review Press.

Building Place Brands: There’s nothing like Australia

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Introduction

Every business person’s goal is to succeed and earn substantially from their ventures. Most large organizations spend a significant amount of money on marketing to raise awareness of their company and, hopefully, persuade potential consumers to purchase the goods or services they provide. Building place brands are one of the most effective ways to contact the target demographic and increase brand awareness (Hereźniak, 2017). When deciding on building place brands, different companies may have different objectives. Using the theories learned in the course, this paper will address building place brands in Australia “There’s Nothing like Australia” by analyzing the brand personality of Tourism Australia, challenges involved with developing a place brand, and global experience seekers.

Brand personality of Tourism Australia

The importance of branding in tourism locations cannot be overstated. Tourism Australia is a well-known brand that has been successful in establishing emotional relationships with its customers. The tourism business is based on selling products- experiences. The tourism industry has evolved in recent years, with online marketing and promotion becoming more prominent. Tourism Australia is one of the key players in this change – through innovative technology and marketing strategies. Tourism Australia has a strong brand personality that pulls together all of the country’s assets into a coherent message for potential visitors to consider when planning their trip. The brand encapsulates a dimension that travelers want. The business goal for Tourism Australia is to promote, develop and maintain a brand that represents Australia as a desirable and exciting holiday destination (McCarthy, 2016).

Tourism Australia’s strategy is aimed at creating emotional connections with the Australian people and also improving the visitor’s overall experience. The second stage of this vision involves creating messages that will establish strong emotional connections with potential visitors to make them want to return over and over again. This is an important element of building awareness. The brand personality of tourism Australia is created to present it in an authentic, non-exploitative way. The country’s diverse landscapes are portrayed accurately with honesty and without glamorizing any specific region. With this approach, the brand personality of tourism Australia is created with a sense of place and belonging for all Australians who can now experience their own country as never before.

Challenges associated with developing a place brand

It is tough to gauge the success of place branding. Place branding, like product branding, is all about identifying and expressing the aspects of an organization’s identity that appeal to specific target groups. The challenges encountered in place branding and implementing a true place of marketing strategy that is integrated stem from the concepts of contextual branding and consumerism.

The advertising methods that work with position branding are not functional marketing strategies. The same goes for place branding. The place branding strategy is an attempt to promote the brand in the context of its given location and its surroundings. It’s becoming more common to identify with one’s surroundings, and the economy of your town or city – this is never good news for marketing teams trying to sell products without consideration of who they’re targeting. People across the country consume different things. One product might be difficult to market if it doesn’t fit into that lifestyle. The nature of places themselves, with fixed physical conditions and long-term reputations, governments, and economics, as well as the lack of a single controlling authority and major marketing campaign skills in government, and the lack of a single controlling authority and major marketing campaign skills in government. Place branding is further hampered by the inability to assess its success. Places, like products, can have umbrella brands that include various things from those locations that are all marketed in the same way (Eugenio-Vela, Ginesta, & Kavaratzis, 2020).

Global experience seekers

Creating a brand personality for a place requires a thorough understanding of the target market by the marketer. Adults with an independent travel mindset who wish to learn about and experience Australia’s culture are targeted by Tourism Australia. The “global experience seekers,” as defined by Tourism Australia, are a group of people from many cultures who seek out new experiences. Long-distance travelers, who are less impacted by distance, time, and money, are known as experience seekers. Travelers seeking new experiences are better informed, more inquisitive, and more curious about potential places. Their lives revolve around travel. As travelers, experience seekers are drawn to traveling to places they have not yet seen. They define their own goals, which include experiencing something different in each destination. It’s important for marketing programs to focus on the reasons why these people choose to travel and how they define success.

Their experiences give them a sense of purpose and insight into other cultures. Their experiences are sometimes challenging, but often offer growth and personal transformation. Tourism Administration departments can develop marketing campaigns that allow customers to experience new destinations with clear goals in mind. For marketers trying to build goodwill through brand personality heuristics, every effort must be made to support this quest for new experiences by creating an authentic brand personality that provides enjoyable travel propositions. Then, once the brand personality is achieved, any communication providing travel propositions must be consistent with the authentic brand personality.

Conclusion

In conclusion, “There’s Nothing like Australia” is a global building brand personality which is an advancement of an existing successful brand personality. Building brand personality was simply to remind people that Australia is still a wonderful country to carry out with or to visit as a tourist. The new marketing campaign was adopted after the company experienced persistent bush fires which people tend to have a negative on the country. The personality was based on the existing brand personality which is There is nothing like Australia (McCarthy, 2016). This campaign was successful as it restore the image of Australia as a desirable tourist destination nationwide and internationally. The campaign was successfully adopted in many countries globally because it successfully changed people’s perceptions about Australia.

Reference

Eugenio-Vela, J. D. S., Ginesta, X., & Kavaratzis, M. (2020). The critical role of stakeholder engagement in a place branding strategy: A case study of the Empordà brand. European planning studies, 28(7), 1393-1412.

Hereźniak, M. (2017). Place branding and citizen involvement: Participatory approach to building and managing city brands. International Studies: Interdisciplinary Political and Cultural Journal (IS), 19(1), 129-142.

McCarthy, B. (2016). Building Place Brands: There’s Nothing Like Australia. SAGE Publications: SAGE Business Cases Originals.

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Bullying in Schools

Bullying is a form of aggressive behavior that is intended to frighten, harm or coerce someone. The bully is often someone in a position of power who actions have an intent and repeats their actions over and over again. The victim in the situation suffers in different ways including psychologically, physically or socially. Bullying has a variety of causes and inflicts much damage on both the bully and the victim. Schools are no strangers to bullies as it is often where bullying begins at a young age. Today there are many movements against bullying and any form of discrimination. In order to understand bullying, it is important to look at the causes and effects in order to find a way to most effectively deal with it.

The causes of bullying are many and varied. One of these causes is gender norms embedded in children by society. Males are often considered to be dominant while women are considered to be weak and subservient to men. It is these perceptions that will lead boys to target young girls. There are many forms of gender violence and inequalities in society that mislead the young boys and men to think that is simply the order of things.

Discrimination is another important cause of bullying. Some discriminatory practices are spread through the school curriculum and other practices in schools. Gender discrimination also emphasize that men and women can only play a specific role in society hence leading to subjugation and a toleration of violence especially towards women. Corporal punishment in schools also encourages bullying (Juvonen and Graham 163). It passes the message that violence is okay and can be tolerated.

The school environment itself is an important contributing factor to whether a bullying culture develops or not. Some students in schools find themselves idle and having nothing else to do, they choose to pick on those they consider to be inferior to them in one way or another. They bully them simply as a way to pass their time. If schools do not have a strong anti-bullying practices and policies, it creates an environment for bullying to thrive. For example, if a student has been bullied and makes a report to their teacher or any other school staff and they fail to take any action, it signals that it is not a problem. The bully will grow bolder and even torment other kids as they know that there is no one willing to punish them for their deviant behavior. The victims will keep suffering in silence and this will eventually lead to major damage that might go on to last a lifetime (Juvonen and Graham 173).

Bullying in school is not just about school life. Children come from different families and communities and this context can be a determinant on whether the child becomes a bully or not. If the culture of bullying is permitted at home and the parents or guardians do nothing to stop children from bullying each other, such bullies will tend to take this behavior with them to school. A community where gang violence is considered the norm will give birth to violent children who will bully others. Bullying is a reflection of the wider society in which the bullies and victims come from.

Bullying has profound effects both on the bully and the victim. Some effects such as anxiety, depression and other psychological symptoms will be common to both the victim and the bully. Bullies will also tend to develop antisocial personality disorder and have higher risk of committing other crimes. The victims suffers the most with short term effects such as lack of trust, anger, feelings of helplessness, significant decline in school performance, hyper vigilance, PTSD and even suicide. Those who have been bullied may go on to become bullies themselves in a desire to seek revenge for their own suffering (Wolke and Suzet 881).

Understanding the causes and effects of bullying can give important pointers on the solutions to the problems. School should be a place where children can feel safe in order to be able to learn as much as they can in a stress free environment. The first step in dealing with bullying is ensuring a good communication policy where those who have been bullied are free enough to speak to a trusted adult or friend. Staff and children should be trained on what to do in case of bullying. Art such as poems and plays can be an important way of passing across anti-bullying messages. Teachers can also have meetings in the classrooms with their students to teach them about bullying (Smith and David 35). Action should be taken against bullies while still taking into consideration the fact that a bully’s actions can signal a much deeper problem. Communication is very important.

Bullying is an undesirable part of the education system and much has to be done to fight this culture. The main causes include an enabling environment and societal norms such as gender stereotypes. It has significant effects on both victims and bullies such as anxiety and depression (Wolke and Suzet 881). Solutions to bullying can be found by educating all the parties involved on ways to eliminate it including communication. Parents, teachers, students themselves and other staff members have a responsibility to keep their schools a safe place for everyone.

Works Cited

Burton, Bruce, et al. “Acting against bullying in schools.” Acting to Manage Conflict and Bullying Through Evidence-Based Strategies. Springer, Cham, 2015. 79-98.

Juvonen, Jaana, and Sandra Graham. “Bullying in schools: The power of bullies and the plight of victims.” Annual review of psychology 65 (2014): 159-185.

Smith, Peter K., and David Thompson. Practical approaches to bullying. Routledge, 2017.

Wolke, Dieter, and Suzet Tanya Lereya. “Long-term effects of bullying.” Archives of disease in childhood 100.9 (2015): 879-885.

About Aramex Company culture and marketing positioning

Executive SummaryAramex is an international logistics and transportation service company specializing in a wide range of services including logistics, express, domestic distribution, and freight forwarding. It was founded in 1982 by Ghandour who became its CEO. The firm began as an international operator offering oversea delivery to American courier companies in the Middle East. This paper looks at the US companies Aramex has partnered with over the history, identifies the culture that drives it, its services, and how it has managed to develop a global network. First mover advantage and developing global network alliance are the two drivers of Aramex competition.

Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u Executive Summary PAGEREF _Toc380779424 h 1The Global Express Business PAGEREF _Toc380779425 h 2Entry of ARAMEX PAGEREF _Toc380779426 h 3Aramex Culture PAGEREF _Toc380779427 h 6Aramex Services and Global Positioning PAGEREF _Toc380779428 h 6Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc380779429 h 8

Introduction

Aramex is an international logistics and transportation service company specializing in a wide range of services including logistics, express, domestic distribution, and freight forwarding. The company was established in 1982 by Fadi Ghandour in partnership with his father’s friend William (Bill) Kingson. Ghandour had just attained a degree in political science from the University of George Washington. As a student in the university he marveled at reliability and efficiency of U.S express business and wondered what it would feel to start a similar business in the Middle East. He met Kingson at Paris Air Show and they talked about this opportunity in the Middle East. This conversation led to a partnership to establish an express business in the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) region. They established the firm to offer delivery services for companies dealing with exports deliveries in North America like FedEx (Federal Express), Purolotor, Emery, Burlington Northern, and Airborne Express. Its main competitor at the time was DHL in this region. In 1990 it partnered with Airborne Express to establish an independent alliance for international express companies known as OEC (Overseas Express carriers). This organization formed an international delivery network for the member firms to give them an advantage over large firms. In 1997, the company became the first Middle Eastern company to list in the NASDAQ. However, it delisted from the stock exchange in 2002 to return to private ownership. In 2003, Airborne Express was acquired by DHL and it existed from its alliance with Aramex.

The Global Express BusinessAt the time Ghandour contemplated venturing into express business this industry was still at it infancy globally. Air freight industry started in US around 1970s. Airlines began to ship cargos in empty spaces underneath passengers. However, because international trade was not well developed then demand was low. As a result, airlines shifted to larger and more appealing items and abandoned smaller packages businesses to firms known as freight forwarders (Augustine, 2009)..

In the U.S the freight forwarders included Emery, Airborne, and Purolator. These companies consolidated smaller packages into large loads attractive to the commercial airlines. Later, FedEx entry into the industry transformed this as it came with its own aircraft carrier as well as logistic infrastructure. This caused ripples in the industry and other firms went on to purchase their own aircraft to generate similar profitability like FedEx (Augustine, 2009).

Over these years United States express business dominated the world. DHL was the only company operating internationally in the whole world. It was established in 1969 in California at San Francisco. The Bank of America was the company’s first customer as it needed an international express carrier to carry its credit letter and other records globally reliably and rapidly. In the 70s the company operated in Europe, Far East, Africa and Latin America. It was one of the express companies with local offices in Middle East. By 1983, the company operated in over 125 with 500 offices (Augustine, 2009).

Entry of ARAMEXAfter graduating from university, Ghandour decided to conduct a feasibility study to start an express carrier in the Middle East. In his analysis he noted that global carriers would bypass DHL if they had an option for delivering their items across the world. By partnering with Kingson they established Aramex. Ghandour spent a lot of time in the initial years travelling around the world to find entrepreneurs to develop his network. He networked with individual who accepted to deliver Aramex packages locally. They include small travel operators, and emerging domestic courier companies. Ghandour initially used commercial flights to ferry packages across the world. He also noted that though most of the courier firm used to send packages to Middle East, majority had no interest in venturing into global market. His company established processing operation in major drop points like New York City airport of John F. Kennedy and Heathrow in London. In these locations the company started to load small packages to be taken to Dubai, Amman, and Bahrain for sorting and delivery to various parts of Middle East. In time the company was able to lure U.S express operators like Emery, Burlington Northern, and Airborne to partner with it and deliver these firms’ packages to Middle East. The company was able to use the known brands to attract more business (Augustine, 2009).

The company successfully developed its brand with the small courier companies. In 1987, it attracted the U.S. largest courier company FedEx. This became the firm’s turning point as the partnership alone generated 30 percent of the total revenue for Aramex. In the late 80s express industry experienced a series of acquisitions of various courier companies that the firm served, but it continued to serve them despite the changes in ownership. However, the firm later developed its relationship with Airborne and they formed OEC alliance. This alliance enabled the two firms to compete with large firms like DHL and UPS with global presence. By 1991 this network had 90 percent connection to various countries of the world enabling Aramex to access different markets. This network enabled the firm to build trust among businesses in the Middle East for services ranging from freight forwarding to express, and distributed goods to any location a client needed.

Although this alliance formed an important source of business growth for Aramex, it still depended on other courier express company like FedEx. As a result, when FedEx decided in 1966 to drop the firm and start its own ground operation in the Middle East it created a great threat to Aramex’s revenue. Accordingly, the firm started to source for finances to develop its own systems in Middle East. The company first sourced these funds by selling 9 percent of its share to Airborne. However, these investment were inadequate to enable the company develop its technological capabilities to a competitive level in the region. The Arab world was also reluctant to invest in the firm. They did not have confidence in the firm because it did not own buildings or lands. Kingson advised Ghandour that they should list the firm in NASDAQ, an American based stock exchange. In addition to the cash acquired for this listing, it enabled the firm to build its reputation as a global player. The firm’s IPO (initial public offering) traded on January 1997 and was the first company based in Middle East to sell shares in a United States Stock Exchange (Augustine, 2009). The listing left an impression among other players such as strategic partners, banks, and client. They all started to view the firm in a different perspective.

According to Ghandour (2011) partnering with Airborne had a great impact on the firm reputation. The company used to speak about this partnership in every road show organized in America. This partnership cultivated confidence in the firm from institutional investors in US. It was also later instrumental in attracting regional investor interest in the firm. The firm was therefore, able to move from its IPO value of $7 million to $14 million in the second offer. As a result, the company was able to accelerate its growth and it started to venture into new regions beyond Middle East like India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Hong Kong. This weakened the firm’s dependence on OEC. The firm worry of losing technology capabilities provided by Airborne because of the OEC alliance compelled the CEO to start developing its own IT system. He recruited a former employee of Airborne to assist in this objective and successfully managed to do so in two years time. In 2003, Airborne was acquired by DHL and withdrew its support to Aramex. Luckily the firm had ventured into various markets and had developed its own package tracking and tracing system. The company also called a meeting of other members in the OEC alliance to convince them that despite Airline walking away from the alliance, it was in a position to maintain their alliance.

Ghandour (2011) argues that by the time Airborne moved out of the alliance and switched its system from Aramex, the latter was able to switch its new system on. This is because that moment offered Aramex an opportunity to build its global leadership position. He further argues that though the firm loss of Airborne had an impact on the firm, it was a blessing in disguise because their partnership had hindered Aramex from realizing its full potential. However, in spite of the firm being listed in NASDAQ, it was not able to get the capital it needed. Political instability in the region made investors to lose confidence with the firm. Ghandour partnered with Abraaj Capital to return the firm into private ownership. There years later the firm was listed in the Dubai Stock Exchange where it continues to source for funds to date (Williams, 2013).

Aramex CultureThe company continued to develop a unique identity as a global leader in logistic industry. It was known as a non-bureaucratic, non-hierarchical, entrepreneurial, and encouraging environment. The company values entrepreneurs and recognize the need to work with small firms in expanding its businesses. In 2003, for instance following a wave of consolidation in the industry, the firm lost a significant proportion of its US market. To address this challenge Ghandour initiated his own strategy of acquisition and alliances to equal its competitors. The company continues to acquire local operators, and has recently acquired logistic firms in Britain, Ireland, and Egypt. Ghandour believed that entrepreneurs existed everywhere where the firm needed a business partner. In addition, the company attracted a younger workforce with 45 percent of the entire workforce being under 29 (Augustine, 2009). To prospective employees it offered access to international opportunities and professional growth. In addition, the firm offers relatively high degree of local autonomy to work stations not common in most of the multinational companies. This enables the firm to provide services that other international express companies would not bother to provide. For instance, the firm in United Arab Emirates and Jordan delivered notification for courts. This created an intensive knowledge of the local market that Aramex operates.

Aramex Services and Global PositioningThe company prides itself as a global service provider. It offers a wide range of services in categories like international delivery, freight forwarding, domestic express delivery, integrated logistics, supply chain management and warehousing, information management solutions, and E-business solutions.

International express delivery involves shipping of packages and documents for clients in various sectors like banks, pharmaceutical, trading, regional distribution and manufacturing, which needs speedy delivery. The freight forwarding category encompasses all transportation via land, air, and ocean. This is mainly for large packages, which are not time sensitive. In domestic express delivery category the firm offers door-to-door delivery of packages urgently needed within a city or country. This can either be same-day or the next business day. The firm also offers warehousing and inventory management systems for clients’ products, from the time they leave business premises up to the time they reach end user. According to AUGUSTINE (2009), this category emerged from increased demand for these services by companies due to changes in global economy. These firms needed the warehousing services to enhance the logistics solutions. The firm also has information management solution services under the brand name infoFort. This provides clients in North Africa and Middle East information management solution. This encompasses information confidentiality, preservation, accessibility, business continuity and compliance issues relating to data and information.

Following recent growth in online business due to expanding internet use the firm has also developed e-business solutions. The company operates an online shopping delivery services known as Shop and Ship. This is a delivery service enabling thousands of online shoppers in various parts of the world to get goods purchased from UK, US, and China via online stores delivered to them. This service is offered in over 25 countries in Europe, Middle East, Asia, and Africa (Aramex Overview, 2011). Despite recent growth in online business, some firms in America as well as eBay traders do not ship sold items overseas. Recognizing this gap Aramex developed the Ship and Shop where it offers Middle Eastern online shoppers American Addresses where they can have their goods delivered. The firm then delivers these items to the buyers in other parts of the world (Bangkok Post, 2006).

The firm has a dedicated website where the Shop and Ship service can be accessed. This is www.aramex.com/shopandship. This website provides crucial information to the firm’s customer through mailbox accounts. Customers can also be able to truck their shipments and calculate the rate of shipment as well as convert currency. The site also links users to other popular sites. The mailbox for Shop and Ship enables users to access Mailboxes in the US, where they can get internet orders, magazine subscriptions, correspondence, and special offers that would be impossible to get under any other ordinary international addresses (Middle East Company News, 2004).

ConclusionThe lesson from this analysis is that Aramex growth has developed as a result of two major reasons. The first is because of the first mover advantage. The firm was able to develop a competitive advantage over its competitors by venturing into local markets they feared to enter or disregarded. Secondly, its ability to maintain global alliance also gives it advantage over its competitors. Its ability to build alliance in different countries gave it a cheap means to compete with its main rivals without having to engage in an investment race with them. As a result the firm has been able to grow its revenue from $125 million in 2005 to closer to $845 million by 2012 (Robert, 2013).

References

Augustine, G. (2009). Aramex: Delivering the Future (A). William Davidson Institute Case 1-428-776.

Ghandour, F. (2011). The CEO of Aramex on Turning a Failed Sale into a Huge Opportunity. Harvard Business review, 43-46.

Middle East Company News. (2004). Aramex Complements ‘Shop and Ship’ Service.

Robert, K. (2013). Case Study: Developing a Global Operation: Aramex’s New Strategies at New Stages. Financial Times.

The Bangkok Post. (2006) How Delivery Companies are Consolidating.

Williams, J. (2013). Ordering off the menu: Entrepreneurship Arab-Style. INSEAD.

HITT Contracting Incorporation

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About HITT Contracting Inc.

Founded in 1937, HITT Contracting is among the leading general contractors in the South Florida market with offices in Atlanta, Washington DC, Houston, Dallas, New York, Santa Clara, Fort Lauderdale, and Charleston. HITT Contracting specializes in law firms, corporate interiors, hospitality, financial institutions, healthcare construction and government construction projects in various regions, including West Palm Beach, Fort Lauderdale, and greater Miami. Regarding ownership, Russell Hitt’s son and son-in-law, Brett Hitt and Jim Millar respectively, are co-chairs of the company’s Board. The two share ownership responsibilities. Initially, HITT Contracting was founded by Myrtle Hitt and Warren Hitt in 1937. Until his death in September 2020, their son Russell A. Hitt served as the company’s chairman emeritus. Together, fathers and sons of the Hitt family have led the organization’s growth into among the top 25 general contractors in the United States. The company maintains a workforce of over 1,000 team members and continues to bring on board self-driven candidates to join the team and contribute to its ongoing success. In furtherance of the company’s mission, the company uphold various core values, including working hard, staying humble, elevating the business of building, being good, taking the high road, attention to detail, and delivering with passion. This text provides an analysis for HITT, including competitive analysis, company analysis, product analysis, customer analysis, and market analysis. The text further delves into how HITT’s services can be developed in markets in developing and developed countries and discusses the future of marketing.

Competitive Analysis

HITT Contracting’s primary competitors are Turner Company, EllisDon and Clark Construction, PCL construction, Ellisdon, Shimmick Construction, Novo Construction, McCarthy. AECOM, LERNER, and Hensel Phelps. The company which has its headquarters in Falls Church, Virginia has revenue of 2.4 billion dollars, with its main business being provision of commercial real estate services for corporate education, hospitality, office, government, and healthcare sectors. HITT Contracting’s main source of competition has to be Clark Construction whose president and CEO has a CEO rating of 91/100 compared to HITT Contracting’s CEO rating of 74/100. Clark Construction has a competitive edge in the sense that its revenue and employees are higher than HITT Contracting’s. Clark generates revenue of 5 billion dollars and employs over 4,200 employees compared to 2.4 billion dollar revenue and a workforce of about 1,000 employees. Turner Company is also proving to be a source of competition generating a revenue of 14.4 billion dollars and over 10, 000 employees. Turner’s CEO rating stands at 74/100 which is the same as HITT Contracting’s. Additionally, EllisDon is a source of competition producing a revenue of $4.4 billion, a CEO rating of 81/100 and employing about 5,000 individuals. PCL Construction is another notable source of competition for HITT Contracting. PCL has an employee workforce of 4500 individual and an annual revenue of $6.3 billion. Worth noting, Dave Filipchuk, the company’s President and CEO has a CEO rating of 76/100 compared to HITT Contracting’s CEO rating of 74/100. Other potential competitors include Donhoe Companies Inc., Keller North America Inc., and James G. Davis Construction Corporation, with 1,400, 2, 400 and 584 employees respectively.

Company Analysis

Doing business as Hitt Contracting Inc., the company has hit the nail on the head in matters general contracting. The corporation provides construction services for corporate building and interiors in nearly all sectors ranging from technology to healthcare. HITT Contracting handles historical renovations to eco-friendly projects. HITT Contracting conducts business in various industries including the construction of buildings construction, non-residential building construction, renovation and repair, commercial and office buildings, and commercial and institutional buildings. According to Improvements-Institutional, 2018 data center HITT Contracting also operates in industries in construction such as land subdivision, building equipment contractors, residential building construction, street and bridge construction and utility building construction. HITT Contracting Environmental Social Governance (ESG) ranking is 1.0 with an ESG industry average of 2.68. The company has an average annual revenue of 1.22 billion US dollars. Hitt Contracting is the ultimate parent company with one subsidiary and 11 branches. HITT Contracting is mostly classified as a company with operations in Nonresidential Building Construction industries. Some of the strengths that come with being an employee of HITT Contracting Inc. are outstanding management and leadership, room for personal development and a conducive work environment. Additionally, the company provides good work pay and employee benefits and supportive team members. On the other hand, some of the perks of working at the company include young and inexperienced personnel in preconstruction, high levels and stress and lean corporate resources.

Product Analysis

HITT Contracting Inc. works with construction professionals to provide clients with a variety of services that range from service and emergency work to base building construction and renovation and corporate interior fit-outs. With HITT Contracting Inc., it is more than construction; it is shaping possibilities, building dreams, and defining spaces that surround us.

With an experience of over eight decades in service provision that goes beyond the client expectations, HITT Contracting has a portfolio of award-winning constructions particularly for commercial build environments. They deliver projects that are redefining commercial real estate in America and beyond from office spaces and mixed-use industrial campuses of the future.

The Company has notable projects including Intelsat, that features a six-level monumental stair and multipurpose room with 28 ceilings that can fit up to 330 individuals. Another notable product is located at the Radio Oncology Center at George Washington University Hospital. It is an occupied renovation that entails a CT scanner and two linear accelerators. The Verizon NAP of Capital region also features five independent data centers featuring 187 million dollars and a 508 unit 21-story and 19-story tower worth up to 150 million dollars.

Customer Analysis

As regards customers, HITT Contracting Inc. provides services to customers that are in need of services ranging from renovation to build base construction to emergency services, and interior fit-outs. They provide services to clients in the corporate arena as well as public business. HITT Contracting Inc. values their customer experience which is why they employ client-centered strategies to ensure customer satisfaction. In 2019, HITT Contracting Inc. set aggressive goals with the aim of genuinely embracing the customer experience. A year later, they chose customer experience pilots to help take the management program to the next level. The program approach had four phases. They audited the existing feedback from partners and clients to determine the feedback loopholes and generate insights for improvement. They further facilitated the first wave of journey maps and outcome-oriented client personas. They further carried out an analysis of the corporate training program and make recommendations to inject client experience into the programming. They further revised the organizations approach to brand and purpose to ensure it aligns with the renewed commitment and client experience. Some of the solutions that were implemented as a result of the program were utilizing technology for client feedback, evaluating partner and client feedback collection, and redefining survey questions. As a result, various changes were realized. There was a deeper team and leadership engagement, increased visibility for the firm, and more knowledge of the client’s expectations and sentiments. Additionally, HITT Contracting Inc. saw better brand and purpose alignment, increased knowledge about client sentiment and expectations, better understanding of client feedback system, and corporate brand architecture. In essence, the client expectation program helped HITT Contracting Inc. to deliver robust journey maps into driving a customer-centric culture and innovative customer experience.

Market Analysis

As far as the market goes, HITT Contracting Inc boasts of clients in matters construction from across the world. HITT Contracting Inc. entered the Houston Market in 2016, making the company’s latest acquisition of trademark. They announced the taking over of a Houston-based Trademark contractor that had an experience of over 30 years. The chairperson, Bret Hitt, noted the company’s excitement to welcome the contractor on board. The purpose of the collaboration was to create a bigger impact on their clients within Texas and beyond. The acquisition of the trademark allowed HITT Contracting to expand their ability to cater to clients in key sectors such as technology, healthcare, commercial base building construction, and corporate interiors. They move was 55 new office employees operate with the organization’s trademark. To further expand its operations, HITT recruited additional construction talents. Worth noting, the synergy between the teams allowed both organizations to view the acquisition as national experience to push them into getting to the next project in size, volume, and scope. Across the United States, HITT Contracting is ranked the leading commercial construction company in the field with its annual revenue amounting to 1 billion dollars. Worth noting, HITT Contracting is ranked by ENR as among the 100 largest general contractors. HITT Contracting continues to maintain its regional offices in South Florida, Atlanta, Charleston, Denver, and satellite offices in Dallas, Baltimore, Seattle, and Richmond. HITT Contracting maintains client-oriented team that meets the need of all programs that require changing the building shells and complete owner fit-outs. Worth noting the company has a wide range of employees including trained and skilled in-house, to provide round-the-clock support to clients following initial occupancy. The company’s way of maintaining excellence and quality speaks to its core mission and its structure. HITT Contracting Inc. teams are often organized into expert market sectors that have a specialty in various aspects, including technology, paint and service, law firms, industrial services, hospitality, healthcare services, government, and building and interiors. Additionally, there are other divisions that complement the market sector teams, including preconstruction, subcontractor relationships, and sustainable construction.

Product Expansion in Markets in Developing and Developed Countries

For HITT Contracting Inc. to expand its construction services to developing and developed countries, it will need to employ a variety of tactics, including collaboration and building from the ground up. According to the hitt.com website, For HITT Contracting to be the renowned construction guru, it has had to collaborate with other contractors. Collaborations are particularly viable for developed countries such as other states where it has not yet established subsidiaries and other countries such as Canada, and across Europe. HITT Contracting has more chances of success when it works with subcontractors as it places them in a position to reach a greater clientele. Without a doubt, new building technologies, approaches, and materials have the potential to completely change the future of construction. Compared to developing countries, developed ones are quick to accept innovation. HITT Contracting remains committed to the ever-changing construction industry. Innovation in the construction sector derives sustainability and well-being and learning and solutions for all stakeholders and partners. As regards underdeveloped countries, HITT Contracting Inc., should start with building sustainability from the ground up. Using built strategies such as mass-timber construction ensures that structural wood remains connected with fasteners. This would make the building not only sustainable but also safe. It would still remain as strong as concrete or steel. Worth noting, mass-timber constructions are not only easy to bring down, but they can also be reused when no longer in use. Recycled finishes and materials can be used throughout the solar panels and entire building to ensure the facility accesses all the energy it needs. With such solar panels, it is possible to input charging stations for visitors.

The Future of Marketing

The changing face of marketing can be best described using the changing marketing channels and the growing consumer dominance. Old school marketing only employed traditional channels of marketing such as broadcasting and print media. However, we are living in a digital age where new school marketers continue to employ traditional methods but combine them with digital technologies bringing deeper and improved customer experience. It is important to care about consumer behavior it speaks to the customer experience. Today client needs have taken center-stage. As creators come up with new products and services they are keeping the needs and wants of their customers at the back of their mind. This shows that, without a doubt, customers have dominated the marketing field. There is need to anticipate future customers as they are bound to be even more essential as end-users of nearly all company products are changing in location, number and makeup at an ever rising rate. Worth noting, there has also been a significant rise in the market for personalized services with consumer services now accounting for 40-50% of consumer purchases. Additionally, customers’ tastes are also becoming more flexible, varied, and demanding. For instance, the rising demand for wood products; the traditional manufacturer today sells a variety of products that never existed years ago, but due to collaborative marketing and product-based research, they are able to get products that meet the market demand.

References

Improvements-Institutional, C., & Improvements-Non-Institutional, C. (2018). Datacenter.

Hitt.com

Bullying: An Issue Commonly Faced by School-Age Children

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Abstract

Bullying is a major issue faced by school-age children. It is a significant mental health concern for the children who are bullied, and it can have an adverse effect on their physical health and academic performance. For example, one study found that male adolescents who experience bullying are at a greater risk of developing depression, suicidal tendencies, and high levels of anxiety. Another study found that bullying at a young age can lead to long-term depression, social isolation and eating disorders in adults later in life. Nevertheless, research suggests that the prevalence of bullying is increasing, particularly among children living in metropolitan areas.

There are a number of different definitions for bullying. The World Health Organization defines it as repeated aggressive behavior by one person against another, which causes physical or psychological harm or distress. It should not be confused with teasing or name-calling, which are not considered to be acts of aggression. This definition indicates that bullying can occur between persons regardless of their race or ethnicity. A range of factors have previously been associated with bullying. Some of the factors are socioeconomic status, gender, parental support and involvement, grade level, and child’s race or ethnic background. In addition, having a learning disability or being overweight may also increase one’s likelihood for being a victim of bullying.

Bullying: An Issue Commonly Faced by School-Age Children

Bullying behaviour can be defined as “a set of actions in which one person harms or threatens to harm another and is supported by an ‘adjacency’ who also plans or perpetrates the action, especially when it has been done repeatedly”. Bullying can happen at school, on the bus, online, in person and can even happen among friends. It is not just a school issue but a community issue. In order to combat bullying behaviour we need to understand that it is an issue that everyone faces on a daily basis. Kids are affected by bullying behaviour through physical violence such as being pushed around and punched, feeling intimidated and intimidated because they have low self-esteem, choosing not attend school because they feel unsafe there or trusting their peers less frequently (Nickerson, 2019).

Ideally, this article will discuss about bullying in schools and online as well as information on signs that indicate when a child is being bullied or witnessing vicarious bullying. The paper should also offer guidelines for parents to prevent their children from being victims of bullying. Two of the most notable studies on bullying were conducted in the United States. One study was based on data collected between 2009 and 2017, while the other was based on data collected between 2017 and 2019 (Nickerson, 2019).

The 1999 to 2003 study found that 5% of children aged 6 to 15 years old experienced physical bullying at school annually, while 25% experienced verbal bullying at school annually. 4 The 2007 to 2010 study found that 7% of children aged 6 to 11 years experienced physical bullying at school annually, while 31% experienced verbal bullying at school annually (Nickerson, 2019).

In addition to physical and verbal forms of bullying, children may also be bullied online. A 2012 study found that 20% of children aged 7 to 11 years old experienced cyberbullying at school annually. A study conducted in 2008 found that 40% of children aged 3 to 11 years old experienced online bullying at school annually (Winnaar et al., 2018).

Child witnesses vicarious bullying can be defined as individuals who experience unwanted attention from others because they witness their peers behaving aggressively towards others. A study conducted in 2008 found that 15% of children aged 9 to 16 years experienced vicarious bullying at school annually (Winnaar et al., 2018). Data on the prevalence of bullying among adults has never been systematically collected. However, adults who were bullied as a child have been found to experience similar adverse effects as children who were bullied. For example, they have been found to be more likely to experience depression, anxiety, loneliness and suicidal tendencies.

There are a number of different approaches which parents and schools may adopt in order to prevent children from being bullied and witnessing vicarious bullying. One approach involves teaching children how to recognize when they are being bullied as well as recognizing when they are witnessing bullying of others.

Spotting the signs of bullying is difficult, especially for the victims. If a child often complains about pain or has bruises on their body it is possible that their parents may need to make an appointment with the GP. Also if a child constantly gets into arguments with their peers it is possible that they are experiencing bullying. The child may also be anxious about going to school and feel stressed, irritable and depressed. Anxious behaviour can also be a sign of bullying if the child is always complaining of stomach aches and seems depressed (Winnaar et al., 2018).

If a child has been bullied at school they may: have low self-esteem, talk about the bully, feel sad, nervous or anxious all the time, feel depressed and hopeless that they will be bullied again, not want to go to school or come home at lunchtime.

Children who are experiencing bullying behavior should seek help from an adult such as a parent/carer or teacher. Parents should encourage their child to be open about what is happening to them but should also listen to their child and be there for them as well. The school should have a no-bullying policy and students and parents of students should receive letters regarding this. Getting children involved in a project that teaches non-violence will help them better understand why the behavior they are exhibiting is wrong and they can learn not to repeat it.

Proposed Method Section

The main participants in this research study are children and adolescents aged between six to 18 years. The children were in grades three through 10, while the adolescents were in grades nine through 12. All of the participants are current students of public school districts in the state of Oklahoma, with children being drawn from multiple districts for recruitment purposes. Participants include both bullying victims and bullies.

The research design is mixed-methods with a mixed-methods quantitative component and qualitative component that is also mixed-methods. The quantitative component involves the use of multiple methods in order to capture the complex nature of bullying. These include self-report survey of participants, self-report and observational data about bullying incidents, and peer report survey of participants and descriptions about them from other students at their schools. The qualitative component is focused on in-depth interview data from selected participants with a primary focus on non-victims.

The qualitative component of the research design is intended to provide an in-depth understanding of bullying and the experiences of its participants. The research questions that guide this qualitative data collection are organized into eight clusters, including: theoretical-conceptual concerns; definitions and models; categories of bullies and victims; similarities between bullied and non-bullied students; victimization experiences; perceived means of coping with bullying; school responses to bullying incidents; types of responses to bullying incidents; social comparisons among victims and non-victims. The approach to analyzing data from this study is content analysis that focuses on concepts, subtexts, themes, patterns, descriptions, patterns, structures displays and other relevant features.

Discussion/Conclusion

The act of bullying among school-age children has been a growing problem in schools nationwide. Many of these children suffer psychological damage, depression and anxiety caused by the act of bullying. The effects of bullying can last for long periods of time, affecting the victims’ education, their self-esteem and their health. Staying safe is a matter of life and death for many children. Without anyone to help them, some children are forced to take matters into their own hands. The consequences can be severe even if the bullies cannot be punished. According to “The Origins of Bullying”, (Bork-Hüffer et al., 2021)”teachers may feel powerless”. If a child is being bullied by other students, they should have someone they trust in the school such as the principle or another teacher on hand who can protect them from further bullying in the future. Schools need to make sure that a child is safe and people are not able to bully them. Bullying can be stopped but it will take all the schools in a community working together to do this.

Mental health is something that should be taken seriously by everyone in a community and especially at school. We need to educate children on how they should treat each other and what the consequences of bullying are both physically and mentally for the victims. If we don’t stop bullying behaviour now then it will continue for generations and more people will suffer from its effects (Bork-Hüffer et al., 2021).

There is a strong correlation between bullying behaviour in school-age children and suicide. We live in a society today where we see almost everyone of all ages on social media, browsing the internet or playing on their phones and it has become easy for us to forget how much time we spend with one another Le (Menestrel, 2020). We go to school, go home for dinner and do our homework, then repeat the next day. On our path through life we have lost touch with ourselves as people, as human beings and have started to focus on what makes us different from each other rather than what makes us the same.

Various reasons as to why people tend to bully others include, peer pressure, confidence and self-esteem issues, looking for attention, seeking revenge, bullying is a form of entertainment and feelings of being superior to others. All these cause someone to pick on other children.

The first step in stopping bullying behaviour is to acknowledge that it is an issue that needs to be dealt with at a young age before it gets out of hand. If the victims feel like there is no one they can turn to, then they may want to take matters into their own hands. The next step is for everyone in the community to remember how important it is to be kind, tolerant and patient with each other, even if the person you are dealing with seems like they need a hard time sometimes. Bullying behaviour can ruin lives and people’s self-esteem and confidence.

References

Bork-Hüffer, T., Mahlknecht, B., & Kaufmann, K. (2021). (Cyber) Bullying in schools–when bullying stretches across cON/FFlating spaces. Children’s Geographies, 19(2), 241-253.

Winnaar, L., Arends, F., & Beku, U. (2018). Reducing bullying in schools by focusing on school climate and school socio-economic status. South African Journal of Education, 38(1).

Le Menestrel, S. (2020). Preventing bullying: Consequences, prevention, and intervention. Journal of Youth Development, 15(3), 8-26.

Nickerson, A. B. (2019). Preventing and intervening with bullying in schools: A framework for evidence-based practice. School Mental Health, 11(1), 15-28.

About Asian Americans

Student’s name

Institutional affiliation

About Asian Americans

The Asian population in the United States is diverse. Asian populations are a group of people with origins from the Southeast Asia, East Asia, and Indian subcontinent. The 2019 Census Bureau population estimate of 2019 is that there are 18.9 million Asian Americans living in the United States, accounting for 5.7% of the total population. In 2019, states with the highest Asian American populations included Texas, New York, California, Illinois, Florida, Washington, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Hawaii. Asian Americans have dozens of languages and ethnicities, among them Thai, Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Korean, Filipino, Indian, Laotian, and Vietnamese ancestry.

Historical Background

Asian Americans immigrants first arrived in the United States in large numbers nearly two centuries ago. They mainly came as low-skilled male laborers who farmed, mined, and built railroads. They persevered generations of racial prejudice that were officially sanctioned. The prejudice included regulations which prevented the immigration of Asian women and the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act that prevented all new immigrations from China (Yip, Cheah, Kiang, & Hall, 2021). Another official sanction that they had to endure was the Immigration Act of 1917 as well as the 1924 National Origins Act that pushed the immigration ban to virtually incorporate the entire Asia and the forced internment and relocation of approximately 120, 000 Japanese Americans 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor.

Immigration from Asia on a large scale did not happen until the landmark Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 was passed. Over the years, the new wave of immigrants from Asia has become increasingly educated and skilled. Currently, present arrivals from Asia into the United States are twice as likely to happen as those that came three decades ago to pursue a degree. Most the Asian immigrants venture into high-paying fields such as medicine, science, finance, and engineering. The evolution was sparked by changes in United States labor markets and immigration policies. It was also sparked by globalization forces in a digitally interconnected world than ever before, as well as by economic growth and political liberalization in the originating countries. These trends have increased the education levels of all immigrants from all races in recent years however, Asian immigrants outdo other ethnic groups and races with respect to the shares of those that are college graduates and college students.

Countries of Origin

Asian Americans are originally people from the South East Asia, East Asia, and Indian subcontinent. Asian Americans primarily originate from Japan, India, Korea, China and the Philippines. As immigrants these people were contracted as workers that labored in plantations. As of 2019, six groups, including Indian, Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Filipino and Japanese accounted for 85% of Asian Americans. Together, the groups largely shape the demographics of the overall United States Asian population. Asians of Chinese descent comprise the single largest group in the United States accounting for 24% of the total Asian population of 5.4 million people (An, 2022). The second largest groups are Indian Americans accounting for 21% (4.6%) and Filipinos accounting for 19% (4.2 million people). Asians with roots from Japan and Korea have populations of at least 1 million. The remaining 15 Asian origin group comprise at least 2% or less of the total Asian population in the United States.

Values and Beliefs

Asian values were a set of values promoted by Asian intellectuals and political leaders in the late 20th century as a conscious substitute to Western political values such as democracy, human rights, and capitalism. Some of the common Asian values cited included hard work, discipline, educational achievement, frugality, balancing societal and individual needs and the deference to authority. Advocates of these value claimed that fast development of various East Asian economies after World War II was a because of shared cultures between societies, particularly those of Confucian heritage. These proponents of Asian values opined that Western political values were not suited for East Asia as they fostered legalism and individualism that threatened to destroy social dynamism and social order. On the other hand, critics of Asian values disputed the role that the values played in economic growth and maintained that they were employed to safeguard the interests of authoritarian elites.

Customs and Traditions

Asian Americans often face challenges in establishing cultural identity particularly second-generation immigrants that struggle to maintain balance to traditional ideas that have strain of being assimilated into the American culture society. Whenever one is working with people of Asian ancestry, they need to put in mind the three main philosophies including Buddhism, Taoism, and Confucianism and their effect on Asian culture (Farina, Klumpner, Alvarez, Azhar, & Nguyen, 2021). Families tend to be highly hierarchical, patriarchal, and structured according to these philosophies. Within Asian family systems, children are trained that integrity and welfare of the family are important and not to bring shame in the family. The Asian philosophies teach principles of balance, harmony, and peace which makes some Asians keep away from confrontations or come off as passive, indecisive, or passive. For Asian students that have strong ties to family culture, employing indirect communication methods is also appropriate. Asians have various holidays, with the most common one being Diwali, the festival of lights. The festival is observed by Sikhs, Hindus, and Jains across the world to celebrate the triumph of good over evil. Indians celebrate Diwali by setting fireworks, lighting candles, and eating sweet treats with family members. Other common festivals celebrated by Asians include Chinese New Year, Songkran, Loi Krathing, Jakarta International Jazz Festival and Gion Matsuri.

Experiences of Asian Americans with Discrimination and Oppression

Asian Americans have experienced prolonged periods of discrimination and oppression. Even before the emergence of the 2020 global health crisis, Asian Americans were at victims of racism and discrimination. However, at the height of the pandemic, the former president termed it as a ‘chinese virus’ which was not helpful in riding the nation of anti-Asian racist actions. Even before the emergence of the health crisis, the narrative about Asian Americans as minority group has always existed. The concept of minority emerged during and following World War II asserting that Asian Americans were ideal color immigrants to the United States as a result of their economic success (Chen, Zhang, & Liu, 2020). However, Asian Americans across the United States have being deemed a threat to a country that promoted an immigration policy for white people only. Asian Americans were referred to as a ‘yellow peril’ to mean that they were unclean and not fit for American citizenship. History indicated that Asian American communities have faced lots of disparities with four in ten Asian adults admitting to having acted in an uncomfortable manner because of ethnicity and race reasons.

Interesting Facts/Information

One of the interesting facts about the Asian community is that civic engagement in the community tends to be rather high. According to statistics, in the 2008 presidential election, 48% of registered Asian American voters showed up to vote. Additionally, the total number of eligible Asian American voters in the 2008 elections increased by nearly 50% from the 2000 elections. Another interesting fact is that Arizona and Nevada have registered a sharp rise in their Asian populations over the years (Jun & Nan, 2018). Another interesting fact is that Asian Americans contribute to the country’s economy as entrepreneurs and consumers. Asian entrepreneurs are estimated to create employment for over three million workers and own over 1.5 million businesses across the United States.

References

An, S. (2022). Re/Presentation of Asian Americans in 50 States’ K–12 US History Standards. The Social Studies, 1-14.

Chen, J. A., Zhang, E., & Liu, C. H. (2020). Potential impact of COVID-19–related racial discrimination on the health of Asian Americans. American Journal of Public Health, 110(11), 1624-1627.

Farina, A. S., Klumpner, S., Alvarez, A. R., Azhar, S., & Nguyen, C. M. (2021). Experiences of racist encounters among Asian Americans: Analysis of# thisis2016. Journal of Ethnic & Cultural Diversity in Social Work, 1-12.

Jun, J., & Nan, X. (2018). Determinants of cancer screening disparities among Asian Americans: a systematic review of public health surveys. Journal of Cancer Education, 33(4), 757-768.

Yip, T., Cheah, C. S., Kiang, L., & Hall, G. C. N. (2021). Rendered invisible: Are Asian Americans a model or a marginalized minority?. American Psychologist, 76(4), 575.

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Table of Contents

TOC o “1-3” h z u HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018932” 1.0 Background PAGEREF _Toc343018932 h 5

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018933” 1.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc343018933 h 5

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018934” 1.2 System approach for better project performance PAGEREF _Toc343018934 h 5

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018935” 1.3 Project evaluation performance and critical success factors PAGEREF _Toc343018935 h 6

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018936” 1.4 Justification PAGEREF _Toc343018936 h 7

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018937” 2.0 Aims PAGEREF _Toc343018937 h 7

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018938” 3.0 Draft Research Questions PAGEREF _Toc343018938 h 7

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018939” 4.0 Draft Research Objectives PAGEREF _Toc343018939 h 8

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018940” 5.0 Feasibility of the Study PAGEREF _Toc343018940 h 8

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018941” 6.0 How Your Work Fits Existing Published Work PAGEREF _Toc343018941 h 9

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018942” 6.1 Introduction PAGEREF _Toc343018942 h 9

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018943” 6.2 Causes of delays and their analysis techniques PAGEREF _Toc343018943 h 10

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018944” 6.3 Conclusion PAGEREF _Toc343018944 h 13

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018945” 7.0 Methodology PAGEREF _Toc343018945 h 13

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018946” 7.1 Choosing the methodology PAGEREF _Toc343018946 h 13

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018947” 7.2 Data collection methods PAGEREF _Toc343018947 h 14

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018948” 7.3 Data analysis PAGEREF _Toc343018948 h 15

HYPERLINK l “_Toc343018949” 8.0 References PAGEREF _Toc343018949 h 17

1.0 Background1.1 IntroductionLack of adequate work preparation before commencing a project of any type causes serious problems during the implementation period. Oil and Gas Industry have many projects related to digging of new wells, construction of oil or gas depot areas, and maintenance of the existing oil refineries. Most projects lack detailed designs showing how tasks should follow leading to disorganization and delay in delivering the expected results. These problems come from poor management and lack of the necessary information concerning the impact of delayed schedules in project planning control and management as mentioned in Popescu and Charoenngam (1995). In addition, project managers lack the necessary knowledge on the effects of project delays to the stakeholders. The availability of a system that would measure and analyze the impact of project delays would be most appropriate for quality project planning and control. Project scheduling involves timing and providing the necessary sequence for various operations in an effort to plan a project. A project schedule displays all the activities from the start of the project to the completion, indicating the period for each activity. A delay in such a schedule leads to many losses especially in the oil and gas industry where projects are very vital. Project management and delays assist in timely implementation of oil extraction processes and avoidance of delays that result into many losses. Oil and gas are very valuable resources since they play a great role improving a nation’s economy (Trauner 2009).

1.2 System approach for better project performanceMost projects in the oil and gas industry involves millions of dollars and delaying them would cost the implementing country an anonymous loss. In addition, nations lack project managers with the knowledge of handling projects within the scheduled plan and deliver the expected work outcome. According to Han et al., (2009), a quality system approach for a better project performance will ensure fewer delays are experienced in oil and gas industry projects. Four basic dimensions should be employed to account for any decision making process in planning for mega projects in oil and gas industry. These are: performance specification, transparency, proper formulation of regulatory regimes, and involving capital risks in project planning and control. Developing systematic thoughts, developing large scale living system and proper planning are the three major perspectives that contribute to quality success in all innovations and projects. All these aspects are possible if project managers are capable of analyzing the scheduled delays using the most appropriate system that would ensure timely completion of all scheduled project activities as mentioned in Bruzelius, Flyvbjerg and Rothengatter (1998).

1.3 Project evaluation performance and critical success factorsOil and gas industry projects require significant efforts that evaluate their performance. These evaluations should provide for any economic risks involved in implementing the project. Delays always lead to increased costs, and more risks. Some projects are scheduled at specific weather conditions and any delay would eventually lead to many effects related to weather conditions increasing the cost of implementation. According to Williams (2003), time delays in project planning and control are analyzed in terms of the following. First, the relative significance factors leading to project delays. Second, the use of computerized methods, like Critical path method (CPM), in analyzing the causes of delayed schedule. Finally, a system that would compute the cost of asset delays and relate its impact on the project delay would help in the evaluation as stated in Flyvbjerg, Holm and Buhl (2004).

1.4 JustificationVarious reports concerning failure of completion of many projects within the specified time worldwide justifies this research. In addition, some causes of project delays have not yet been established and this research will study these causes and determine the best technique for analyzing their impacts. From my findings, project delay impact analyzing technique should be utilized especially in the oil and gas industry. The most relevant areas for the analysis include the impact of project schedule delays and their effects in the whole industry. Moreover, the research will help in analyzing the main causes of delays experienced before and how the project managers would have acted to prevent them..

2.0 Aims

The main aim of this dissertation is to apply the schedule delay analysis technique in the study of project control, and come up with an analysis of the net impact resulting from oil and gas industry project delays.

3.0 Draft Research QuestionsThe following research will assist in determining the best methodological approach to use in carrying out the research. In addition, the questions assist in developing the research objectives. The research will be guided by the following questions:

How do project managers understand about project scheduling?

What is the available literature on the general causes of oil and gas industry project delays?

What are the impacts of project delays, and who are the most affected by such delays in the oil and gas industry?

What are the most common techniques used in analyzing project delays today? How effective are they?

Who are the most affected by project delays in the industry?

4.0 Draft Research Objectives

The following research objectives will act as guidelines for carrying out the research. Project schedule delays in the oil and gas industry contribute to the poor improvement of the industry calling for a more effective approach to prevent them (Dayi 2010). The main objective of this research to determine the most appropriate schedule delay analyses technique in order to analyze the impact of project delays in the oil and gas industry and come up with recommendation for project planner and controllers. The specific objectives are:

To analyze the major types of delays in various oil and gas industry projects,

To understand the aspect of projects scheduling,

To study the common project schedule delay analysis techniques used today, and

To determine the impact of project delays.

5.0 Feasibility of the Study

In order to ensure the success of the project a feasibility study will be conducted before the actual research. There is adequate access to research data because the project delays in the oil and gas industry have never been fully prevented. Most people from the industry are willing to answer any question that regards delay prevention and control. In addition, the availability of more knowledge and techniques in project management and control makes the research more feasible. The following research is acceptable and will be completed within the set period. Various aspects will be analyzed during the feasibility. These include;

Social and environmental impact feasibility,

Financial and economic feasibility,

Political feasibility, and

Technological feasibility.

6.0 How Your Work Fits Existing Published Work6.1 Introduction

The complexity found in today’s capital projects in the oil and gas industry makes their management highly critical. Most capital projects in the oil and gas industry involve a big percentage of company’s spending. Most stakeholders are calling for improved project control services. Developing a perfect system that analyzes the impact of scheduled delays would play a significant role in preventing such risks. Project managers face many challenges while managing a project right from the design phase to implementation phase. It is the desire of most project managers to finish their work within the schedule, and set budget while maintaining quality work. Most project managers fail in providing quality work within schedule and proposed budget due to lack of necessary project delay analysis techniques. In addition, projects in the oil and gas industry face delays because managers are more concerned with personal gains not considering the welfare of other stakeholders. With the high global energy demands, projects in the oil and gas industry should never face any delay since it costs industries huge sums of money (Smart Grid News 2012).,The following section analyzes the main ideas used in determining the impact of the project schedule delays and the techniques used in measuring the impacts.

6.2 Causes of delays and their analysis techniquesAssaf & Al-Hejji (2006) researched on the main causes of delays in many projects in various industries. Lack of proper preparation of a certain oil and gas industry project causes serious problems in the course of putting up the structure. In some instances, lack of proper and detailed drawings and poor project management plan schedules result into problems during the oil and gas industry work. This increases the cost establishing new oil and gas industry projects, extension of the project period and it causes serious effect on the quality of the completed work as stated in Assaf, Al-Khalil and Al-Hazmi (1995). The publication the research findings assist in giving the consequences of delays in oil and gas industry, but fails in delivering the main impacts of such consequences and their mitigations. According to Faridi and El-Sayegh (2006), most delays occur due to slow preparation and approval of drawings by the stakeholders in involved. In addition, lack of proper initial planning of the project results into many delays. Some project managers are slow in decision making that makes them fail in delivering the project within the scheduled duration.

On the other hand, inadequate resources, changes in design and orders from the contractors, un-forecasted weather changes, and late deliveries contribute to delay in project schedules as stated by Al-Momani (2000). Project management classifies delays into two types, those that are excusable and those that are inexcusable. Delays causes by contractor mistakes are referred to inexcusable delays. These include the failure in coordinating workers, and low productivity. On the other hand, delays occurring due to changes in project design or severe weather conditions are referred to excusable delays. Farah (2005) gives literature on various software models that have been used to support design in oil and gas industry project management. The publication also touches on the impact of the environment in the delay of project schedules. These ideas assist in analyzing the best technique that would be adaptable to different environments and weather conditions.

Researchers like Menesi, Arcuri, Dayi and Hildreth have developed various types of techniques used in scheduled delay analysis. Menesi (2007) came up with Multiple Baseline Updates delays scheduling technique after discovering the high number of inherent risks and complexity in today’s construction industry. Window delay analyses method has been used for many years as a delay analysis method in most project management and controls. In his technique, Menesi (2007) failed in analyzing some crucial aspects of project control. First, the technique fails in determining the impact of such project delays to the contractor, the project owner, and the community at large. Second, the system identifies the scheduled delays and their causes, but does not estimate their relevant costs and future recommendations. The idea is developing a technique that would measure the impacts of delays in all prevailing situations and overcomes new operational challenges.

Most oil and gas companies increases their focus on deepwater and ultra-deepwater sections meaning that the future projects will face a lot of challenges because of the unfamiliar environment. Present developed techniques only adapt to the current situations, and would definitely fail in such projects. According to Arcuri and Hildreth (2007), changes and delays in projects occurring during the implementation phase have significant impacts on the project schedule resulting into poor completion. These three authors came up with a delay analyzing technique referred to as The Schedule Impact Analysis that quantifies the effect of changes or delays on project schedules. This publication assists in reviewing the most common impacts caused by delays in various construction projects and incorporate them in the oil and gas industry projects. In addition, the implemented techniques will assist to determine the most relevant impacts and come up with perfect recommendations.

Each project must start with a plan that describes what, how, where, and in what manner will it be conducted. The project plan must be given a certain duration that everything must be completed, all other factors remaining constant. The oil and gas industry projects involve many risks that mostly lead to the failure of many projects on this sector. The impacts of such project schedule delays, if measured correctly would indicate great losses in terms of time and resources. Dayi (2010) developed another system that measures the net impacts associated with various delays in projects. The system was successful in identifying some impacts but filed in projects involving complicated methods, like hydraulic fracturing technology. The researcher lacked modern software that could measure the impact of such innovation. This project will come up with modern software systems that detect such impacts and are compatible with future technologies up to 2017.

Research by Stelth and le Roy (2009) discussed the use of Critical Path Method (CPM) in project impact analysis. The following technique uses virtual management teams in analyzing how various tasks cause delays and the consequences of such delays. The technique can measure impact of scheduled delays in projects from different industries. In addition, the technique advocates for the need to reduce construction costs through increasing profits and revenues by making sure project implementation occurs within the proposed time and cost. Stelth and le Roy (2009) find more use on this research because the authors have already researched on the factors associated with environment that hinders administration of certain techniques. Through this knowledge, the proposed technique would be developed ensuring that it fits well in the oil and gas industry especially for those deepwater projects.

6.3 Conclusion

Because oil and gas industry is one of the big economic giants in the world, delay in such projects would cause a significant loss to a nation. On the other hand, the following research will ensure no further delays occur in oil and gas industries because it touches all aspects of quality project planning and control. With the help of the above discussed publications, the proposed technique would be more effective and reliant in project control. In addition, the research findings would play a significant role in minimizing problems experienced by previous people who carried out survey on other industries. Moreover, the deep oil and gas contraction project engineers would get a chance of designing more complicated drilling machines that are more effective and less costly at the long-run.

7.0 Methodology7.1 Choosing the methodologyCarrying out research in the oil and gas industry requires properly planned research methodology in order to address all the issues concerned with the research objectives. The research will make use of qualitative and quantitative research methodology. The aim of the methods used will be to collect all data related to the research topic. According to Midgley (2000), the research methodology chosen conforms to the proposal objectives. This assist in the identification of the best methodology that allows quality data collection procedure that is independent. The research methodology chosen will identify the most appropriate data collection processes, and the content of information gathered while undertaking a research. Moreover, research methodology used will play a significant role in making judgments outlining boundaries of the method put in place (Chiara et al 1997). The quantitative research methodology will be used in effective data collection using surveys, interviews, and questionnaires.

Qualitative research methodology is chosen because it has the characteristic of generating new knowledge by participating vigorously in the field and forms the key source of primary data as stated in Nicholls (2011). The main reason for choosing these methods is because the research will analyze the scheduled delays in oil and gas industry using impact analysis technique and come up with a new idea that have never been researched before. The impact analysis technique will use a machine that identifies and record the effects caused by project delays in form of units (Newton per meter). The type of survey that will take place will be very unique since the researcher will have to make comparisons on the field with reference to the data collected on previous researches.

7.2 Data collection methodsAs stated above, the research will make use of qualitative data collection method where surveys, questionnaires and interviews will be the main data collection tools. The three data collection methods are justified for the research because they will ensure all the needed information is gathered (Midgley 2008). First, questionnaires make use of scales in gathering the desired response from the target group. Using questionnaires, the respondent’s piece of mind comes out clearly since the respondent’s mind is psychologically placed in the prevailing situation. The interviews will be used in answering research questions like those investigating the most common causes of industry project delays. Moreover, through the question the researcher will be in a position to understand the understanding of project scheduling by project managers. The researcher needs to develop a question that needs an answer. This step aids in locating the most effective secondary data that need study to answer the developed query. In addition, before basing an argument on the secondary data, the researcher needs to find out what has been done since the release of the secondary data as mentioned in Struwig and Stead (2001).

Second, use of interviews will assist in creating an environment where the respondent develops trust with the researcher. Interviews will ensure high accuracy on the collected information since the data is centered towards the respondent’s occupation or experience within the oil and gas industry. Third, the survey method will form the most systematic method of collecting data from the population of interest. Through surveys, the research questions will be completed within a relatively short time with many respondents taking place. In addition, the surveys will assist in collecting information of the stakeholders who are far away because it can be done by telephone, mail, or fax as mentioned in Opdenakker (2006).

The target group for this research will compose of project managers in the oil and gas industry, project coordinators, stakeholders, the society, and the workers. The participants of the research will be chosen using extensive means by first ensuring they have full information about projects conducted in the targeted region. In addition, the research will entail use of various resources that will aid in gathering the required information in an effective and timely manner. Since the data collection system will be guided by the available literature, the research will make use of websites, academic journals on oil and gas industry, and relevant books with information on project management and control. Moreover mathematical and statistical tools like graphs and charts will be used in data analysis and presentation of the research findings.

7.3 Data analysisThe collected data will be useful not only in the oil and gas sector, but other sectors that use project management and control. Most people will analyze the data in a simple and comprehensible way that is easier to understand. The data analysis procedure will start with making a summary of all the respondents from various methods of data collection used. The responses will then be grouped according to their weight, and coded in statistical applications that will analyze the data in a more understanding manner. The statistical applications will transform the raw data into visible forms like graphs and charts. This analyses will assist in comparing the how effective is project delay schedule analysis impacts the overall performance. In addition, the presentations will aid in determining the use of impact analysis technique in oil and gas industry. Moreover, the collected data will be analyzed using factor analysis method. According to Ratcliff (n.d.), factor analysis establishes any similarities between the dependent and independent variables of the data.

Milestone table

Milestone Description Due date Remarks

1 Stage 1: Area of interest identified 8 Nov. 2012 Done

2 Stage 2: Specific topic selected 15 Nov. 2012 Done

3 Stage 3: Topic refined to develop dissertation proposal 22 Dec. 2012 Done

4 Stage 4: Proposal written and submitted 30 Dec. 2012 Done

5 Stage 5: Collection of data and information 15 Jan. 2013 Waiting

6 Stage 6: Analysis and interpretation of collected data/information 20 Jan. 2013 Waiting

7 Stage 7: Writing up 25 Jan. 2013 Waiting

8 Stage 8: Final draft prepared— submission of dissertation 1 Feb. 2013 Waiting

9 Final Deadline—9 months from module start date. 6 Feb.2013 Waiting

Completion of the remaining parts requires more commitment from researchers in data collection and analysis. In order to ensure the project is completed within the schedule, the research team will be prepared early enough through training them on how the data will be collected. In addition, pre-visits will be conducted in the selected locations to ensure respondents are well prepared and ready to give the necessary information. Moreover, the data collection tool will be pre tested to ensure their efficiency, troubleshooting any problem that might cause delay in data collection.

8.0 ReferencesAl-Momani, A. (2000) ‘Construction Delay: A Quantitative Analysis’, International Journal of Project Management, 18 (1), pp.51-59, [Online]. Available from: HYPERLINK “http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/10.1016/S0263-7863(98)00060-X” http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/10.1016/S0263-7863(98)00060-X (Accessed: 27 November 2012).

Arcuri, F. J. & Hildreth, J. C. (2007) The principals of Scheduled Impact Analysis. Virginia Tech: VirginiaTech College of Enginnering, pp. 41-50, [Online]. Available from: HYPERLINK “http://www.virginiadot.org/business/resources/const/0703_PrinciplesofSIA.pdf” http://www.virginiadot.org/business/resources/const/0703_PrinciplesofSIA.pdf (Accessed 25 November 2012).

Assaf, S. A., Al-Khalil, M. & Al-Hazmi, M. (1995) ‘Causes of delay in large building Oil and gas industry projects’, Journal of Management in Engineering, 11 (2), pp.45-50, [Online]. Available from: HYPERLINK “http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=101&sid=f4ce09e5-9699-4628-8e1f-d55cab42a9e7%40sessionmgr15” http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=2&hid=101&sid=f4ce09e5-9699-4628-8e1f-d55cab42a9e7%40sessionmgr15 (Accessed: 26 November 2012).

Assaf, S. A & Al-Hejji, S. (2006) Causes of delay in large construction projects. “International

Bruzelius, N., Flyvbjerg, B. & Rothengatter, W. (1998) ‘Big decision, big risks: Improving Accountability in mega projects’, Transport Policy, 9 (2), pp.143-154, [Online]. Available from: HYPERLINK “http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/10.1016/S0967-070X(02)00014-8” http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.liv.ac.uk/10.1016/S0967-070X(02)00014-8 (Accessed: 12 November 2012).

Chiara, M., Doets, K., Mundici, D. & Van Benthem, J. (1997) The Tenth International Congress of Logic, Methodology and Philosophy of Science, Florence, August 1995. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic.

Dayi, S. (2010) Scheduled Delay Analysis In Construction Projects: A Case Study Using Time Impact Time Impact Analysis Method, [Online]. Available from: HYPERLINK “https://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12612823/index.pdf” https://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12612823/index.pdf (Accessed: 7 November 2012).

Farah, T. (2005). Review of current estimating capabilities of the 3D building information model

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