The Purpose of the Order in a Rose for Emily Research Paper Example

The Purpose of the Order in a Rose for Emily Paper To the odder reader, this choice of organization may seems a little strange, but William Faulkner wrote in this way with the purpose of creating suspense, mystery, and sympathy. William Faulkner, in A Rose for Emily, takes a small town scandal and turns it into a heightening story holding the readers attention till the last sentence. Taking the reader from the present to the past creates the essence of mystery, to the reader, by the cleaver use of hermeneutic codes. Starting the story with Emily Gridirons death, cleverly, grabs the readers attention by presenting the question, How did she die? . Another example of Faulkner presenting questions is in one part of the story where the narrator goes back to an account of Miss. Emily banishing the taxes collectors from her house. See Colonel Sartor. , Miss. Emily replied, (Colonel Sartor has been dead almost ten years. ) l have no taxes in Jefferson. Toby! The Negro appeared. Show these gentleman out. So she vanquished them, horse and foot, Just as she had vanquished their fathers thirty years before about the smell. That was two years after her fathers death and a short time after her sweetheart- the en who we believed would marry her- had deserted her. (31 ) Once again, we see the use of hermeneutic codes, and the mystery Faulkner creates. Why cant Emily come to the realization Colonel Sartor is dead? What smell caused the men of the town to confront her? Who was her sweetheart? Why did he leave her? , each a question that increases the mystery within Emails story. Going hand in hand with the mysteriousness of Emily story, is the suspense building throughout the entire narrative. At the beginning of the narrative, the questions the reader falls on are not of the serious nature, Why doesnt she have any axes? , Why has no one been inside her homer, and so on; albeit, as the story progresses William Faulkner adds in the element of suspense. In one part of the story, the narrator refers back to a time when Emily goes to by arsenic. For what? As readers we do not know, Emily refuses to tell. Reading on we find the towns people rumoring about seclude. Is that how she addled The reader Is left hanging in the suspense, as William Faulkner continues his pattern of leaving the reader guessing by moving too different account of Emily life, only heightening the readers interest In the story. Along with suspense and mystery. We will write a custom essay sample on The Purpose of the Order in a Rose for Emily specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on The Purpose of the Order in a Rose for Emily specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on The Purpose of the Order in a Rose for Emily specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer William Faulkner, creates sympathy for Emily by telling the events of her life in this fashion. We start the story at her visitation. When she is buried, Faulkner does not say she is buried with her family, but with The ranked Ana anonymous graves AT Nylon Ana concentrate servers won Tell at ten battle of Jefferson. ( 30) As if to start the story by saying she is Just part of the past. Our next account of Emily is as an old lady, bitter and uncaught-up to the times, insistent of the fact that she does not have taxes and hardened to the realization of a Emily friends death, of nearly ten years. The next account of Emily is even earlier and we see the town gossiping about the smell of her home and the way she has her man servant clean the place. Later, it is speculated that Emily is considering suicide; no longer wanting to live in a world that is ageing around her, subjected to be the talk of the town, and abandoned by her lover. William Faulkner, tells the events of Emily life in an order that makes her sympathetic to the reader, which is why, when Faulkner finally comes back to the present and reveals that Emily is truly a cerographical homicidal psychopath, it hits the reader with a profound effect. Had William Faulkner told the events of Emily Gridirons life in chronological story would have lost its mystery and suspenseful effect on the reader. Also, it would have made it a lot more difficult to sympathize with Emily if we had heard of her life, the rich girl who had everything growing up, from start till finish. By telling the events of Emily life out of order, Faulkner, opens up the mind of the reader. Forcing the reader to draw conclusions, read deeper into the meaning of events, and ultimately causes the reader to be shocked by the ending.

Compromise Is The Key Essays - Fertility Medicine, Free Essays

Compromise Is The Key Essays - Fertility Medicine, Free Essays Compromise Is The Key Compromise is the Key Laws are designed to protect all citizens, even though they are not clear when it comes to deciding on what happens to couples embryos. The judge, in the fact pattern case, is torn because the parents want different decisions. He also has to remember that he will be setting a legal precedent for which other cases will be based on. The decision will be ridiculed no matter the outcome. The embryos should not be destroyed because every living thing has the right to life, there are numerous loving couples who can not have children on their own, and children are still desired by one parent. An embryo is the young of something in an early stage of development. Although, it is not recognizable, two people conceived the embryo in question. Therefore, the fetus should have the same right to life that all existing creatures possess. No one person should be allowed to destroy something already in the process of living. The decision of destroying any living being should be left in the hands of the being, and in this case that is impossible. We have to wait until the child is old enough to ask her. Many couples, who can not have children of their own, want to adopt new born babies. If the embryo is allowed to live nothing but good will happen for it, because of the demand for newborn babies in the adoption market. The child would not end up in a foster home because the mother has feelings for it, and would see the baby is well taken care of. Adoptive parents are known to be loving and caring begetters, because they try hard to bring children into their lives. Consequently, the judge should at least allow another couple to make good use of the embryos. The lady in the fact pattern still has the desire for children. She gave her eggs fully expecting to use them when the time is right. The husband obviously wants nothing to do with the embryos, but the wife could make an agreement to take full responsibility. Therefore, relieving the husband of all liabilities, and placing them on the wife. She may also see these embryos as her last opportunity to have children. Even though, the father would be absent she manifestly has the need to be a mother. There is no easy way to satisfy both parties in the fact pattern case. But, if both sides try they could come to an accord on the issue. They have to realize that compromise is the key to any agreement. There is no good reason to order the embryos destroyed, however there is no rationalism for holding the husband responsible for something he no longer wants a part in. Consequently, the judge needs to give the wife control over the embryos and relieve the husband of liability. That would give an excellent legal precedent.

EUROPEAN UNION LAW Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

EUROPEAN UNION LAW - Essay Example The reason why Costa wanted an application of Article 177 is to be able to draw an interpretation of Articles 102, 93, 53 and 37 of the said Treaty, all alleged by Costa to have been infringed by the new law. These provisions deal with proscribed legislative acts of Member States. In February 1964, the Milan Court filed for an application of preliminary ruling before the European Court of Justice (ECJ). 3 (a) Costa. The position of Costa was that ECJ acquires jurisdiction by the mere application of a preliminary ruling whereby the application clearly shows the need for Court interpretation of any of the provisions of the Treaty. Moreover, it is not within the prerogative of the Court to determine how a court of a Member State has arrived at the fact of the referral. 5 (b) Italian Government. The Italian Government contended that the application for preliminary hearing was in itself inadmissible because it asked the ECJ not only to interpret the Treaty but also rule on the compatibility of the Italian law with the Treaty. A national court, according to the Italian government, does not have recourse to the ECJ on the basis of an application for preliminary ruling when the dispute attendant to the case requires only the application of a domestic law and not one of the provisions of the Treaty. The only way to involve the ECJ, according to the Italian government, is through Articles 160 and 170 which deal with the European Commission’s direct intervention by bringing case to the ECJ after determination of Member State’s non-compliance with its orders and when a Member State brings a matter against another Member State to the ECJ, respectively. 6 Rationale for the Decision: Whether or not a case involves the application of domestic law and not the Treaty itself, the ECJ can acquire jurisdiction over it once an application for preliminary ruling is submitted showing a need for the interpretation of any of the Treaty

Business Analysis of a Company's Failure Case Study

Business Analysis of a Company's Failure - Case Study Example John Purcell further highlighted the importance of employees in his research which emphasized the huge role played by the company's workforce as "strategic partners." This research strongly supports the highly economist viewpoint of Grant (219) of "aligning employees with organizational goals." Schuler and Jackson gave a more precise description on how management should "align" their workforce to support the company crafted strategy. This paper opts to further highlight the importance of workforce by looking at how Dell, Inc. failed due to human resource problem. Dell, Inc. is widely recognized as one of the market leaders in the global information technology (IT) industry. The company corners the largest market share in the US personal computer (PC) market accounting for 33% in 2003 (Dell, Inc. in 2005 C-130). This success in the global industry is highly attributed to its employment of a unique direct business model and just-in-time inventory system which is backed by excellent customer service. The organization has gained a strong reputation in delivering customer satisfaction by the manner the customer service representative handles calls, enquiries, and problems. However, this reputation has been tainted when it choose to employ Indians to handle both corporate and consumer clients. The growing globalization ushered a new trend... Managers argue that BPO is a "management tool" which "frees companies to build upon their core competencies by leaving the non-core stuff to providers" (Banham 1). Through the use of business process outsourcing, Dell hoped to cut costs without affecting service quality. However, this expectation has not materialized with its utilization of Indian call centers. The customers complain that "technical-support representatives were difficult to communicate with because of thick accents and scripted responses." What becomes apparent is the difficulty in communication due to significant language barrier. This new trend has adversely affected customer satisfaction while also endangering the sales and market share of the business organization. This paper believes that this business failure is primarily due to the employment of Indian human resource. It is stated above that the human resource of companies should be considered strategic partners which are essential in achieving the goals of a company. Dell, in a sense, is seen to be only concerned on the cost efficiency of business process outsourcing but has not fully considered the issue of turning their Indian employees as strategic partners. It can be seen that Dell is not able to fully communicate and stress to prospective Indian call center agents that they are essential in the company's success. Thus, it turned out that these employees fail to realize their worth in the business organization. It can be seen that Dell has also been lax in their recruitment and selection process. As the company is striving to maintain excellent customer service, it should also be very strict in hiring customer representatives and ensure that those selected can fully deliver the quality of

Historical Weather Patterns of Michigan Essay Example for Free

Historical Weather Patterns of Michigan Essay Evaluating changes in synoptic patterns is tantamount to understanding regional climate change. To date, the synoptic evaluations that have been done regarding climate change output from General Circulation Models have been restricted mainly to examining changes in storm tracks across large areas. The north generally experiences colder weather compared to the south, but Michigan weather is unpredictable and switches rapidly, especially during the winter (Hodak, 21-28). Seasons and types of weatherfall, cool nights and warm days; wintersnowy and constantly cold, getting dark early in the evening; springwarmer days, often rainy with thunderstorms; summerhot days and warm nights, daylight lasting until late in the evening (Bohnak, 87-95). People love to talk about the weather. From Maine to the Midwest, locals are convinced that their weather conditions are the weirdest. Theyll tell you about the big blizzard, the great flood, or the hideous humidity, convinced that decades of harsh weather have shaped the characters of the local people (Keen, 19-27). Relationships between springtime heat accumulation and low temperature events in the western Lower Peninsula were investigated. Sixty years (1931-1990) of daily maximum and minimum temperature data from six stations were used to calculate seasonal growing degree day (GDD) accumulation normal and extremes  and their relationship to the date of last freeze at each station throughout the period. Results indicate that in spite of a wide range of individual station and year-to-year variability, both regional springtime GDD accumulation thresholds and last freeze dates are occurring earlier but the timing of GDD thresholds is changing more rapidly, resulting in a net trend toward more freezes after certain GDD thresholds are crossed and a flat or increasing amount of GDDs accumulated on the date of last freeze (Keith, 35-41). Extreme low temperature events are a normal part of springtime climatology in Michigan and can cause severe damage to many of the states diverse agricultural crops. In particular, late spring freezes are a major concern in the western counties of the Lower Peninsula where commercial fruit production is concentrated and their occurrence may be a significant factor in explaining inter-annual variations of yield (Hodak, 21-28). For example, a series of freezing nights in late May 1992, damaged several types of fruit (grapes, strawberries, plums, and sweet cherries), reducing the overall potential size of the crop. Although United States mean temperatures have been rising during the last decade, perhaps as part of a wider global trend, some recent springs have been particularly warm in Michigan (e.g. 1991), extreme low temperature events continue to occur (Keen, 19-27). The possible association between regional temperature trends and the risk of extreme minimum daily temperature events has not been widely examined. Some efforts have focused on documenting recent changes in the length of the growing season or on the relationship between mean temperature trends, but little is available concerning Michigan (Keith, 35-41). Furthermore, recent literature is largely silent on the question of how springtime low temperature risk is conditioned by antecedent weather patterns, that is, for example, whether a warm April is normally followed by a lower-than-average frost risk in May. Regardless, to the extent to which climatological findings of this type could be generalized from one climatic region to another is uncertain, so such relationships established elsewhere might carry very little information about the risk in Michigan (Bohnak,  87-95). One important relationship between human activities and the atmosphere is pollution. The health effects of polluted air and the ways in which humans and society can reduce pollution are ideas that are considered in the middle and high school benchmarks. At the high school level, in particular, this includes a discussion of global warming and acid rain. Interestingly, one issue for the teaching of these topics is the exclusive connection between air pollution and human activities with lack of regard for other natural sources of air pollution, such as burning leaves, fireplaces, volcanoes and methane gas from cows (Keen, 19-27). All of the changes are consistent with changes in the general large-scale flow patterns. An understanding of all these synoptic changes provides richness and a more conceptual understanding of how climate change may affect the Great Lakes region. References Bohnak, Karl, So Cold a Sky: Upper Michigan Weather Stories, Cold Sky Publishing, Negaunee, MI, pp. 87-95 Hodak, J. United States Weather: Michigan Edition, U.S. Weather Corp. Oklahoma City, OK. 1976, 21-28 Keen, Richard A., Michigan Weather, Publisher: Two Bears Press, September 1993, pp. 19-27 Keith Heidorn, Keith, And NowThe Weather, Publisher: Fifth House, Jul 13 2005, pp. 35-41

Offreds Narrative - What is the purpose and function of the Historical

Offred's Narrative - What is the purpose and function of the Historical Notes and how do they assist your interpretation of the novel? The historical notes are not part of Offred’s narrative, they are a transcript of a symposium held at a university in 2195 – two hundred years from where we left the end of Offred’s harrowing tale. The purpose of these notes if any, is to put Offred’s narrative into a historical purpose to help these academics understand the life of Gilead. It seems to me that another purpose of these historical notes is to provoke a very strong reaction in the readers who have followed the emotional journey with the narrator Offred. The significance of the university name ‘Denay, Nunavit’ is that Atwood took the name from a group of people called Dene from Canada’s North west territories and they are about to become the first self-governing group of North American native people in an area called Nunavit. Atwood has chosen names such as Maryann Crescent Moon and Johnny Running Dog for the professors suggesting that the native Americans overbear the academy which strongly contrasts with the white male-dominated patriarchy in the Gilead times in this future world Atwood has made the white males become the vulnerable subjects of a study and nit the dominant rulers and scholars they once were. Also the name of the university sounds like the sentence ‘Deny None Of it’ suggesting that Offred’s story was all true despite what my be said or not said in the historical notes. The purpose of the lecturer that Atwood created Professor James Darcy Pieixto is to give readers a masculine view of Offred’s story which is ironic due to the domineering and powerful roles that the males played in Offre... ... see themselves progressive but hold the seeds of patriarchal oppression. With Pieixto’s appeal for some understanding feelings toward Gilead which was then followed by an applause this also suggests such moral ambivalence getting ready for such future evils. Another purpose for these notes is also to show how academics miss the point completely when looking at some historical facts and Atwood shows an example of this with these notes, how people can be sending out the wrong message and doing false teachings. The finishing sentence â€Å"Are there any questions?† gives the story a deliberate open-ended conclusion, here I think Atwood wants readers to discuss or at least think about the message she has just shown us, that the end of The Handmaids Tale is only the beginning of a discussion of the issues raised in the story, of what will our world finally become?

Management and Business

John Ottersbach Info I-303 Organizational Informatics June 17, 2009 Project # 4 This is the project report from evaluating the AgCredit mini-case (Textbook pages 131-134) 1. Synopsis This case focuses on an agriculture credit and loan company whose core competency is based around its customer knowledge. The organization’s IT structure and function does not suit the business well. The current setup is not enterprise architecture and staff issues are rampant. There has been a lot of preparatory work done in analyzing the situation and a new team was formed to chart a course of action to transform IT.With much of the information gathering completed, the team now must convince the business leadership of the changes and be brought on board. Communicating the goals and future plans to involve the business will be vital for the company’s IT to become effective. 2. Key Issues 1. The company’s executives are very busy with day to day operations and new initiatives. IT com petence has slipped over time and the structure was never aligned with organizational vision. 2. Although some backend tinkering has made company wide information accessible in some cases, the current systems are not compatible and interaction between them is poor. . IT does not have credibility within the lines of business. This is a know shortcoming and will be addressed in the reorganization of IT. 4. Business processes are not understood by IT staff and often the business itself lacks a thorough gasp on their processes. The interconnections of the processes are unclear to both sides of the organization also. 5. The divisions do not understand their role within the organization and they must figure out how they should support the enterprise. Aligning their individual goals with strategic drivers will need to be done.There are four business divisions within AgCredit. 6. The company’s strategic drivers are continuous growth, expanse of customer relationships, ability to spen d more time with the customers, ability to cross-sell services, and provide a consistent experience to the customer. 7. A CIO position was created to align IT and the business and to guide the IT transformation. The new CIO has run a successful campaign with e-business and comes to the position with fresh eyes, but a lack of formal technical experience. He is comfortable utilizing contractors and taking in multiple points of view. 8.No IT governance or architecture is currently in place. Rather a divisional structure has existed and enterprise vision is shallow. IT decisions are made to fulfill short-term needs and initiatives. IT function is viewed as a support service for the business. 9. Some of the IT staffing issues are: low morale, high job ambiguity, unqualified staff filling positions, technical skills lacking in some areas, no senior IT manager positions, and many unfilled job roles. Part of retooling the IT architecture must be to sort out these staffing needs. 10. An appl ication-centric attitude rules the company.This has led to four separate databases, one per division, and huge data untidiness and redundancy. 11. An SOA approach has been suggested based on organizational needs, to transform IT. Those needs include integrating technologies and platforms without replacement. Vendor choices will have to be narrowed and an approval process put in place backed with execution metrics and processes. 12. The next steps will be consolidating the customer data and strengthening its foundation. A single set of customer information is the expectation and this will also help build trust and credibility toward IT, within the organization. . Case Evaluation Strategy that was usedThis report looks at a â€Å"horizontal† slice of many interrelated issues (refer to Section 5 – later in the report – for further explanation of these issues). Mixing the details of the case with the general issues into a relevant and cogent analysis was the main co ncern and involved various methods. a. Setting the Context In order to formulate an organizational structure I role-played possible structures and looked for effective relationships. The case lent many good starting points and I just carried the ideas forward with an eye on the future. . Major Initiatives and Priorities of AgCredit After getting an idea of how the structure would look I applied knowledge from the other cases and best practices mentioned from the textbook to suggest a prioritization process for project selection. After developing textbook scenarios further for the new SOA model to test I looked at the possible outcomes and largest advantages. The recommendations are used in the answer section 4. c. Looking back Ideas for the capabilities and governance also came from the lectures, readings, and previous case work.Although the specifics are much different in that the standardization of equipment is not common between them, the cases all need better business-IT partner ships and oversight. Looking for what makes them similar and different gave a unique perspective to each case. 4. Discussion Questions The following are the answers to the discussion questions on page 134 of the textbook. Propose an organizational structure for the IT department that you feel would support the transformation of AgCredit into a processcentric organization. Recognition of business ownership will be vital to the organizational structure.Having the business sign on and join the conversation about IT and related projects will be instrumental. A steering committee will be need to be part of the approval process of all projects is needed to make sure an enterprise view is taken. The multidivisional committee will need to ensure all projects fit within a SOA framework. The CIO should be involved in the boardroom and have access to senior management, including the CEO. The CIO should hire senior management that can convey departmental and business objects and help guide IT e mployees.Account managers for each LOB that reside in the business but report to senior IT management should be installed. The entire IT staff will need to be reassessed to ensure the proper people are in the right job roles. The IT function will need to be brought in alignment with the enterprise vision. One option is to try to promote internally for vacant IT positions and insource the roles that cannot be filled. Insourcing will have the distinct advantage of training IT personnel while getting the job done as well. Outsourcing IT functions that are not core competencies can also be employed if desired.Outline a project selection process for AgCredit to ensure alignment with the enterprise business vision. As mentioned in the last question, a steering committee that represents many LOBs will need to be formed and giving decision making capabilities. The process should begin by examining how a project ties to the overall vision of the company. Next the committee members should out line how the project effects their division and could be used to meet departmental needs if possible. Additionally it will need to make sure it fits within the SOA and is not duplicated by other software nodes or current processes.If it is an enhancement or add-on to another project, communication with the end user to see potential benefits should begin. Making sure it can be modularized and standardized for the business will be vital for the organization’s architecture. Additionally making sure all project types are considered and funded through a tax upon all LOBs will be required to support SOA. How should Manley â€Å"make the case† for SOA to ensure that the executive team at AgCredit buys in? Manley will need to present the key strengths of SOA and make sure to focus on how it will support the company’s vision and goals. The transition will simplify the organization and speed up product implementation. * Current services and products will be available or m odified for usability. * It supports web services that align with continuous growth opportunities, expanded customer relationships, and ability to cross-sell between the divisions. * It will immediately offer up opportunities for the divisions both in terms of possible financial gains and stretching development dollars. * Existing services can be purchased and implemented quickly within the SOA.This increases our capabilities and ensures we stay caught up with the larger firms. In essence this can level the playing field providing valuable resources and systems. * Once the customer information is centralized, which is required for SOA, the savings from reducing database needs will be realized. * Having common processes will align the business as a whole and ensure value from increased communication and decreased uncertainty. * This kind of technology base may allow the way we work to change, for example working from home or on the road working through a VPN.What new internal IT capa bilities will have to be developed in order to create an IT department to support AgCredits future business architecture? The capabilities needed to support the SOA from the IT perspective are management tools, information management tools, Information delivery options, development cycles, and a customer service attitude toward the divisions. Role clarification will be important in setting up these capabilities. Management tools include visioning and business alignment processes, funding methods, measurement metrics and focus, and monitoring methods.Information management tools include collection activities, organize process including schemes and taxonomy, process modules to use the information, and maintenance procedures that support business functions. Development cycles must conform to SOA standards and guidelines, using compliant hardware and software to make systems that breakdown the functionality, and complaint with regulatory needs, including system proficiency in creating r eports for audit purposes. The customer service attitude will be needed to manage perceptions and keep close ties with the business.What aspects of IT governance do you think would be important in supporting this transformation? Before governance structures are formalized the enterprise and divisional vision and objectives should be outlined. With IT working alongside the business some guiding principles must be drafted up. This may involve setting up account managers within the LOB and forming a multidiscipline steering committee with considerable decision power. This steering committee should work closely with the CIO and have high level approval and corporate sponsorship.The governance system should focus on guiding the transformation process and keeping key issues in focus, such as sox and regulatory compliance. Stakeholder involvement in the steering committee will help the business and IT structures become partners and work together. It will ensure all voices are heard and con sidered in the decision making process. They should outline policy decisions that support the organization’s vision early on. 5. Issues I have Discussed I utilized the chart, Dr. Ramachandran offered, to find the connections between the subject matter we have studied and the case.My analysis follows: From Lecture 4 and the Textbook reading assignment pages 37 – 50. * In this case IT often takes a backseat to other business concerns. The CEO having to be approached on the weekend to look at IT issues shows a lack of perceived IT value. * The company has a reputation of customer knowledge and that has allowed for competitive advantage. * The CEO believes IT supports the business. This belief is reinforced with the way IT is set up to function and furthermore with its failure to meet the minimum standards of competency and credibility.The instinctual desire to outsource all of IT by Paul Manley is a good indicator of IT’s inability to deliver value to the business. * It commonly believed and accepted that IT and business are not aligned at a high level. The desire for the alignment exists and the CEO’s decision to promote a strong business head into the CIO position reflects this understanding. * IT possesses a low self worth due partly to poor organizational engagement and role ambiguity. Without high-quality, business-minded leadership the internal perspective of IT has suffered. OCBs are far less likely to occur in this weakened environment. Without a solid enterprise architecture in place IT lacks a unifying vision and single â€Å"brand†. This lack of oversight has not helped promote IT to the business. * With IT being viewed negatively at the executive level, as at the start of the case, IT is at a disadvantage when trying to return value to the organization. The increased bond between the CEO and CIO will dramatically increase a positive perspective for the IT transformation. * The competency and creditability of IT is st ill highly suspect. The new CIO has acknowledged and is addressing the deficiency.There is an understanding that it will take time and energy to change the perception of the company. This is a prerequisite to having the business units buying into and taking a chance on IT. * The structural changes of IT should address perceptual issues as well at technical ones. The SOA will ensure the business, through their active role as data owners, views IT as a partner rather than just a service for the business. * The perceptual challenge ahead will involve a lengthy temporal component, the organizations view will not shift overnight. IT will have to build confidence and show the business that it adds value.Additionally perceptions will need to be continually managed with IT’s rocky history. From Lecture 6 and the Textbook reading assignment pages 72 – 85. * A good exercise before starting the restructure or even the consolidation to a single customer service file would be to ge t with the business and develop a technology roadmap. The entire process does not need to be completed before beginning other initiatives but this will give the organization focus and set current expectations. This will involve the business greatly and will open the lines of communication for IT and business operations.Since a large part of a technology roadmap is how technology will be implemented to support the enterprise vision, strategy, and objectives this will help ensure the divisions are working toward organizational unification. * Once the enterprise and divisional vision and objectives are lined out the process can begin. Working alongside the business some guiding principles must be drafted up. This may involve setting up account managers within the LOB and forming a multidiscipline steering committee with considerable decision power. IT staffing cannot be done correctly until business needs are communicated.It will be important to make sure the guiding principles map to the vision. * The vision from the textbook would consist of: continuous growth, expanse of customer relationships, ability to spend more time with the customers, ability to cross-sell services, and provide a consistent experience to the customer. Additionally implementing an SOA environment would need to be considered in the process. * Taking an inventory should be split into two sections. The first is coming up with a classification schema, which should work well with planning the SOA objectives.The second is assigning a technology custodian which will help build credibility by increasing transparency of responsibility. * A gap analysis of the current technology to required technology will also need to be completed. This will help build the relationship to the business and show competency for IT if done well. The level of business involvement must be high so an opportunity to influence perception is created. After identifying the missing links a scan of the available technology wil l need to be undertaken. SOA design will play a vital role in deciding on which software and hardware need to be developed or purchased. In order to get from point A to point B, point B being an SOA for the company, a solid migration strategy must be created.This will affect the projects that have been put on hold within the organization and future projects as well. This will need input from the business since they will be severely impacted. The steering committee should be well established and able to make informed decisions on this type of endeavor. A governance body will need to be installed that oversees this process and its future revisions. From Lecture 7 and the Textbook reading assignment pages 98 – 126. In order to succeed in the organization vision AgCredit has an Information Management system needs to be instituted. This will be housing the single customer information file. Visioning exercises will help develop policies to support the IM. * The IM will be a great f irst step toward changing the culture to acceptance of IT function and the partnership role in the organization. A SOA will be supported by this move also and will bring the company focus together. * Shaping the culture to accept the responsibility and a steering committee’s authority will take time to develop especially with such a weak IT role in the current organization.Bring them on board will be vital to success though. With all of the expected growth and centralizing of information security policy will have to become standardized and thorough. If any of the IT functions get outsourced this move will help make the transition and usefulness operate more smoothly and efficiently. * The initial SOA will be created through a process that needs full organizational representation and support. The final acceptance will need to be at the senior level though. * Adjusting the perspective and culture toward acceptance will be instrumental to the initiatives success.Paul Manley will need to take an active role in convincing the business to sign on and support the initiative. 6. Organization Chart CEO Jim Finney CIO Paul Manley COO Steve Stewart Kate Longair Samantha Secord Dirk Schader 7. Further Issues From Lecture 2 and the Textbook reading assignment pages 14 – 25. * IT and the business are not aligned. The business is not even aware of how the different divisions come together to work for the organization. The business will have to sort itself out as well as build a partnership with IT. * They have begun to revisit the business model and are aware there is a lot of work to be done.Since the business is aligning itself that leaves IT in a good position to tie itself to all LOBs. Strategic themes have not been capitalized upon but with the SOA the chances of identifying and being able to act on them will be greater. Getting strong leadership in place within IT and partnering with IT will be a major task that needs to be undertaken. * The different pro ject types are currently not broken up and funded appropriately. The architecture projects seem to be falling behind and definitely not aligned with business strategy. The focus on all dimensions of IT strategy will need to be a priority for the new steering committee.Building these processes and methods alongside the business will ensure commitment and success. This has not been the case with AgCredit in the past but in order to get IT working for the company it will have to be adopted and maintained. * Account managers that report to the CIO or senior IT managers will need to be hired or found internally. IT and the business’s disconnect between must cease and they should unify. From Lecture 9 and the Textbook reading assignment pages 230 – 244. * IT has not kept pace with were it needs to be for the organization.They are not prepared to take on the expanded roles IT is expected to recently. The company will need to correct the IT organizational structure and then fi gure out what competencies they possess. They will need to chart the maturity and make sure they teach or hire staff that can fill the roles the company wants to keep internal. The notion of outsourcing all of IT was raised at the start of the case, but the executives need to get together and chart a course for the organization. After getting an idea of where they want to be they can actually start to consider what IT functions can be outsourced.Customer service functions and capabilities will need to remain in-house since this is the business’s competitive advantage in the environment. * The staffing issues in the company are a direct result of not realizing which IT functions the business needs to cultivate and rely on. There are too many functions for this company to be able to turn around perform well so something will have to give and other alternatives, either insourcing or outsourcing, need to be considered. Without knowing how the business divisions and processes fit together it will be hard to complete, but IT and the business need to work together to create a solution.