Civil war in Africa Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Civil war in Africa - Research Paper Example Warlords and government can no longer rely on an ideological basis for civil war financing since the disintegration of the Soviet Union. Natural resources are asserts that sustain activities of both rebel movements and justice movements set to counter them (Collier & Hoeffler, 2000). Congo has diverse and abundant minerals that include gold and copper. The locals do not benefit from these minerals, as those that benefit have not done any useful investment in the country. Foreigners have persistently found local collaborators to share the massive possessions of the continent. Civil war broke as movements purported to protect the masses from the monopoly of the rulers and their overseas business allies (Nzongola-Ntalaja, 2004). Interference from outside countries, like USA and Soviet Union has also led to civil wars in the African continent; the Cold War is a significant component in aggravation of civil war in Africa. Each power militarized different African states and took part in de stabilizing their government’s political legitimacy. Governments in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Zaire depended on Cold War finance sustain their military dominance. This competition for supremacy motivated a scramble for power among different sponsored movements in different African states (Cramer, 2006; Ndikumana & Emizet, 2005). ... The powers went as far as offering arms and training to groups to provide them and edge in waging war over their rivals. A large number of African civil war protagonists received military training from countries like Russia, Israel, USA, and the Soviet Union (Kinzer, 2008) Extend of Western countries’ contribution to civil wars can be as far as assassination of some of the African leaders. There are accusation against western countries for sanctioning assassinations of African political leaders such as Eduardo Mondlane and Patrice Lumumba, Dag Hammarskjold and Samora Marcel (Akaki, 2008; De Witt, 2001). This assassination has contributed to civil wars in Africa as various political groups blame each other for the death of these leaders. The power vacuum in place leads to scramble for the vacant leadership position. High prevalence of civil wars in Africa is accredited to the ethnic variety of its people. This inference seems self-evident to many, given that. Rebel movements in Africa are most of the times ethnically oriented. Divisions in terms of ethnic orientation and the hatred that comes with it are thus among the cause of violent conflict in African continent (Elbadawi & Sambanis, 2000). Settlement former slaves in Liberia can also be to blame for of civil unrest in the country. The freed slaves prevented those from indigenous community from taking up political leadership positions; moreover, thefreed slaves thought of themselves as a progressive group. They saw indigenous Africans as heathens and savages. Liberians from America, adopted a racist thinking they experienced in the west at the time, which tagged indigenous Africans as primitive people. Such attitudes led to frequent friction among the groups, which

Answer the Questions HR Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5750 words

Answer the Questions HR - Essay Example e need to make fresh employees informed about work practices and timely completion of assigned jobs or tasks that in turn could lead to intrinsic and extrinsic rewards. I would advise newly recruited and selected group of personnel about effective time management and successful completion of jobs assigned per day to each individual worker. Indeed, the first useful advice will be about minimum wastage of business hours in unnecessary discussions and informal chit chat with co-workers and peers within organisational premises. This would surely enable employees to pay greater attention to assigned business jobs and their timely completion. In fact, i would suggest workers to have informal and casual meetings during lunch or tea time so that workers could get information about their colleagues that would help in building relationships. As a result, this will foster unity and harmony among workers in the same organisation as well as reduce work overload as all assigned jobs are submitted in-time. The second advice will be to avoid spending time on unnecessary field work and travelling for business purposes. For example, some workers do not correctly sch edule their out-of-office jobs and thus waste many business hours for fewer jobs at hand, which later cause delay in timely delivery of all work requirements and productivity reduces. The third advice will be about preparing daily timetable for all tasks at hand so that workers could prioritise what tasks are to be finished first and what could be delayed because of minimal importance. 3. It is extremely important to investigate accidents thoroughly if an organisation is to put preventative measures in place to ensure that a similar accident does not occur in the workplace. Investigations help to establish the cause of the accident and to put measures in place to stop a repeat performance. What should be included in an investigation? The investigation process should be comprehensive in nature thereby covering all

Brand management Hoyts Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Brand management Hoyts Cinema - Essay Example This study looks into the Hoyts Cinema Company that is capable of distributing independent film shows to Australian cinemas and broadcast high quality modern blockbuster movies. Hoyts cinemas had been independent by the beginning of the 1990s later merging with big companies like 20th Century to boost its profits and increase their target market. The society’s trend to appreciate films is rapidly growing towards identification with popular production companies that are mostly recognized as the prime producers of excellent films. Hoyts realized this opportunity and increased merger with other large Hollywood based film industries by 2002 to attract a larger market that appreciates quality productions. There is also importance in increasing comfort in the cinema environments and improve the service that consumers are willing to pay to achieve entertainment. Excellent service delivery and customer satisfaction goes greatly in improving brand popularity and improvement among its c onsumers. Most businesses and service providers offer increased incentives and adjustments to improve their brand quality and overall marketing of their services. Brand audit aids in reviewing the changes needed to improve the overall service structure of a company and increasing its identity in the competitive market. Through the application of various processes entailed in brand audit process, Hoyts cinema is capable of identifying areas of improvements. The brand auditing process identifies the weak areas of the brand improving on its overall performance and increasing its competitiveness in the market. ... Brand Auditing Jelsema in his article explains six factors considered when undertaking a successful brand audit process. The overall positioning of the brand, its market segmentation, differentiators, internal environments of the company, overall brand positioning, personality and brand metrics help identify a company in the competitive market7. These factors are the developmental strategies applied by a company to check on errors limiting development and its advancement when considering growth. In addition, areas of improvement are highlighted and adjustments made according to the overall requirements8. In general, a company’s brand will be defined by its overall outlook, name used or logo that stands out from the other brands9. Brand Culture and Image The culture in the brand is the image that has been drawn on the consumer’s image for prolonged period often articulated to the ability to memorize it by name or image. Hoyts Cinemas have been in the Australian markets f or decades establishing its dominance among other film providers in the state10. The ability of the company to deliver modern films that the audiences often require in the time of their release has led to the growth in its marketing11. Consumers would recommend other users to seek their services through mentioning its name and its signature logo. It is vital for the management and the staff to depict the overall culture of the brand to adjust into serving the long time clients who may be used to a particular routine in service delivery12. To understand this concept better, businesses often apply the use of a service triangle that puts the customer, the employees and the overall

See details for specifications Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

See details for specifications - Essay Example On the same note of laws, ethical issues, and nursing practice and decision making, this essay aims at comparing three articles within which these issues are addressed especially how legal and ethical factors usually affect clinical nursing practices and the consideration that nurses must consider in making decision within their practice. Article 1: Confidentiality, Secrecy, and Privacy in Ethics Consultation Gerald Neitzke (2007) conducted a research on Confidentiality, secrecy, and privacy in ethics consultation. According to Neitzke, confidentiality is likely to pose problems especially to counselors and he noted that these challenges are can be in two different ways including the uncertainty on the actual extent of the optimum practice and the problem in implementing the ethical practice within a nursing practice. Nonetheless, Neitzke noted in his article that the British association for the counseling had once published some codes of ethics to help counselors to resolve the dile mma. Additionally, Neitzke acknowledged that these counselors are sometimes challenged with the law as they undertake their duties (Neitzke, 2007). It should be noted that law and ethical values can only be breached in this situation if the client or patient feels that their confidentially have been interfered with without their consent. Therefore, Neitzke noted that if such dilemmas have to be minimized or eradicated, it is then vital for the medical practitioners in this case the counselors to seek permission to breach the confidentiality of their patients. Neitzke discussed three ways through which breaking of confidentiality is permissible and they include the counselor seeking the consent of the patient or client to break their confidentiality. Additionally, the counselor can break the confidentiality of the patient if such information regarded confidential are already in the public domain. Finally, a nurse which in this case if a counselor, may be at liberty to break person co nfidentiality if the public interest in the protection of such information outweighs personal interest in the disclosure or use of such information. It should be noted that if counselors are obliged legally to break personal confidentiality, they will be protected the law for such break (Neitzke, 2007). In the cotemporary world, keeping confidential information about client is usually vital for counselor especially for maintaining perfect relationship with clients and or maintaining their practice. Therefore, these professionals must only breach the confidentiality law in situations demanded by law; otherwise, they will lose trust from their clients; thus, interfering with their business and practice. In some cases, they may be taken to court to answer to their unethical and unprofessional behaviors. Hence, despite the fact that the law may give the nurse or the counselor in Neitzke’s case the right or protection to provide some private information about their clients, they m ust only do so without exterior motives or in a manner to harm their clients (Neitzke, 2007). Regardless, of the window that confidentiality in nursing and counseling practice can be breached

Brand management Hoyts Cinema Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Brand management Hoyts Cinema - Essay Example This study looks into the Hoyts Cinema Company that is capable of distributing independent film shows to Australian cinemas and broadcast high quality modern blockbuster movies. Hoyts cinemas had been independent by the beginning of the 1990s later merging with big companies like 20th Century to boost its profits and increase their target market. The society’s trend to appreciate films is rapidly growing towards identification with popular production companies that are mostly recognized as the prime producers of excellent films. Hoyts realized this opportunity and increased merger with other large Hollywood based film industries by 2002 to attract a larger market that appreciates quality productions. There is also importance in increasing comfort in the cinema environments and improve the service that consumers are willing to pay to achieve entertainment. Excellent service delivery and customer satisfaction goes greatly in improving brand popularity and improvement among its c onsumers. Most businesses and service providers offer increased incentives and adjustments to improve their brand quality and overall marketing of their services. Brand audit aids in reviewing the changes needed to improve the overall service structure of a company and increasing its identity in the competitive market. Through the application of various processes entailed in brand audit process, Hoyts cinema is capable of identifying areas of improvements. The brand auditing process identifies the weak areas of the brand improving on its overall performance and increasing its competitiveness in the market. ... Brand Auditing Jelsema in his article explains six factors considered when undertaking a successful brand audit process. The overall positioning of the brand, its market segmentation, differentiators, internal environments of the company, overall brand positioning, personality and brand metrics help identify a company in the competitive market7. These factors are the developmental strategies applied by a company to check on errors limiting development and its advancement when considering growth. In addition, areas of improvement are highlighted and adjustments made according to the overall requirements8. In general, a company’s brand will be defined by its overall outlook, name used or logo that stands out from the other brands9. Brand Culture and Image The culture in the brand is the image that has been drawn on the consumer’s image for prolonged period often articulated to the ability to memorize it by name or image. Hoyts Cinemas have been in the Australian markets f or decades establishing its dominance among other film providers in the state10. The ability of the company to deliver modern films that the audiences often require in the time of their release has led to the growth in its marketing11. Consumers would recommend other users to seek their services through mentioning its name and its signature logo. It is vital for the management and the staff to depict the overall culture of the brand to adjust into serving the long time clients who may be used to a particular routine in service delivery12. To understand this concept better, businesses often apply the use of a service triangle that puts the customer, the employees and the overall

Experiential Knowledge versus Intellectual Knowledge Essay Example for Free

Experiential Knowledge versus Intellectual Knowledge Essay The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn has for a long time stirred the issue on the tug between experiential knowledge (the sort of knowledge that is gained in the â€Å"streets† and practiced mostly by Huck) and intellectual knowledge (the kind of knowledge being taught in schools and by people like Widow Douglas and Miss Watson). The issue can most of the time be phrased as that between being logical and following the practical consequences of one’s logic as opposed to following the dictates of society. This is a theme that was developed early on in the book and extends up to the end. Huck, for example, defies society and chooses his own logic in Chapter 1 when he told Widow Douglas that he would prefer to go to hell since this would mean a change of scenery and being with Tom. It is known for a fact that â€Å"heaven† should be the de facto choice of destination for everyone. To choose to go to hell, with our without reasons for wanting to do so, plainly means going against what is conventional. Time and again, Huck has dealt with the part of his conscience that told him that keeping and cuddling Jim, a â€Å"property† of Miss Watson versus his natural sympathy for the man (Bennett 3). These and many other instances in Huckleberry Finn illustrate the clash between the obviously wrong societal teaching that racism and slavery is good and having sympathy and compassion for the slaves as bad versus the instinctive knowledge that sympathy and compassion towards a slave is worthwhile. In this paper, this clash between experiential knowledge, i. e. , knowledge gained by oneself through the exercise of personal logical induction and deduction gathered through experience, and intellectual knowledge, i. e. , knowledge gained through different societal instruments, shall be dealt with. More specifically, this paper shall address the issue of which of these two â€Å"knowledges† has more importance. Being an issue that is of no light matter, this paper would need to look beyond Huckleberry Finn for aid. As such, Philosophy, Ethics, and Education seem to be the most promising areas of knowledge that address the issue. Hence, this paper shall look in these directions to settle the issue. Specifically, this paper shall have the following parts: on wisdom and knowledge as personal or societal; morality as inauthentic or authentic; and educations as geared towards making the person â€Å"fully† come out versus education as socialization. The paper shall end with a conclusion. Wisdom as Personal or Societal Philosophy has dealt with the question on the source of wisdom a number of times and through different thinkers. Thomas Aquinas and Aristotle are known to deal extensively about this issue, and as such, their philosophies shall be utilized. Since Aquinas is known for extensively working on Aristotle’s works, merging the works of these two thinkers shall not pose any problems. Before anything, it would be best to first give a definition of wisdom. At least in the Aristotelian-Thomistic tradition, wisdom is a kind of knowledge that is â€Å"of paramount importance in directing human existence towards its purpose or end† (Artigas 17). It is that kind of knowledge that aids man to be a better human being, not only by providing particular knowledge, but most specially a universal knowledge that speaks of the human being’s nature, purpose and end. In the end, wisdom ought to lead to the human being’s happiness, happiness defined as a life that is flourishing. All these ideas seem to be abstract, so it would be best to concretize a bit. At least for Aristotle, living a life that is full of human flourishing means living a virtuous life in a community that allows for the continuous development of the individual. According to the Aristotelian philosopher Martha Nussbaum, this refers to a life wherein virtues, human relations, reason and other physical capabilities are allowed to flourish by the society (Nussbaum 76-78). More concretely, this means experiencing real friendship, practicing justice, exercising prudence and a host of many other virtues that Aristotle spoke of in the Nicomachean Ethics in a society that value and nurture these. It is allowing a person to have meaningful relations, to engage in activities that nourish one’s â€Å"senses, imagination, and thought,† to have bodily health, to engage in play, to have autonomous control over one’s environment and so on (Nussbaum 76-78). So far, it seems that wisdom ought to be acquired for the benefit of the individual that would most probably emanate into the good of society. That is well and good, nevertheless, we still have not answered the question as to how wisdom itself is acquired. In this respect, Aquinas has an answer. Thomas Aquinas is known for the Natural Law Theory. The theory states that â€Å"man is born with the natural facility to know the basic truths or principles or the moral order as ‘the good is to be done and promoted and the evil to be avoided’† (Panizo 56). In this respect wisdom, i. e. , knowledge about what is good and what is to be avoided that ought to lead to happiness and human flourishing, is not only something that man is capable of; in fact, man is born with this natural facility. Human beings are born with the disposition to want what is good and to avoid what is evil. Thinking about it, this medieval theory seems to make a lot of sense. Is it not true that no human being ever does something which for her/him is plainly without good or any sort of benefit? Even actions that may be considered as evil by many still have some sort of perverted â€Å"goodness† in it. Actions such as murder, drug trafficking, etcetera, still give â€Å"pleasure† to those who engage in them. But, does this mean that these actions are morally good? Aquinas would not agree. He would say that though nature has granted man the capacity to know what is good and evil and to want good over evil, still, error may happen. Error occurs once the basic principle, â€Å"good is to be done and sought after, evil is to be avoided† (Aquinas 197) is applied. In fact, there is a hierarchy of difficulty when it comes to the application of this basic principle, the most difficult application of it called â€Å"remote conclusions† are described as â€Å"not easily drawn by ordinary people, for they involve education in theology and philosophy, and deep reflection† (Panizo 59). These involve judgments on issues like euthanasia, divorce, abortion, etcetera. We have reached a point then when natural wisdom, i. e. , wisdom depending on reason alone, becomes insufficient. Life is so full of instances when â€Å"remote conclusions† are needed and called for. The sad thing is, this knowledge is hard to come by and a human being is left with no option but to listen to the dialogues of the people in the academe. For Aquinas and Aristotle, experiential knowledge is not enough. It could only get us so far. This then brings us to the discussion of the place of â€Å"intellectual knowledge† in Philosophy. According to Aristotle, human beings need a role model to live a flourishing life. An excellent person is considered the standard for most of us who are still aiming for human flourishing, for a life of virtue. An excellent person is defined as he/she whose wishes â€Å"will be what is wished in reality† (Aristotle 65), i. e. , the wishes of the excellent person is that which is truly good for the human being. An excellent person is the exact opposite of the base person to whom â€Å"pleasure would seem to cause deception since it appears good when it is not† (Aristotle 65). Thus, modeling is Aristotle’s system of knowing what is worth imitating and what is not. To add to this, it must be recalled that for Aristotle (as with the other Greek thinkers), education has an indispensable role in bringing an individual to perfection. This is the very reason why the Academy and the Lyceum were established. In these schools, individuals from different cities merge to further their knowledge, to share each other’s knowledge and in this sense socializing each other. Hence, at least in Aristotle and Aquinas’ philosophy, though natural wisdom or experiential knowledge may be the starting point, this is not enough. Intellectual knowledge is still necessary since remote conclusions are always called for to ultimately be happy and live a flourishing life. Authentic and Inauthentic Morality Beyond the epistemology of Aristotle and Aquinas is the perspective that morality or ethics may be inauthentic or authentic. This is the very idea of Michael Moga in the book, Toward Authentic Morality. According to Moga, one’s sense of right and wrong can either be wholly dependent on one’s culture (i. e. , inauthentic morality) or it could come from one’s personal choice (i. e. , authentic morality). This is the very same clash between the self and the society that we have been talking about. According to Moga, most people ascribe to inauthentic morality. This is the sort of morality that gives in to social pressure, that kind of pressure that forces us to act and think in a particular way without exactly knowing why such an action or thought should be considered moral. We would not have to go very far to understand inauthentic morality. Most adolescents and teenagers are susceptible to peer pressure when it comes to many facets of their lives. The very persistence of racism and discrimination speak of a poorly reasoned morality that rest on social acceptance. In fact, Moga sets out the characteristics of inauthentic morality. The following are the characteristics of this type of morality. Inauthentic morality is characterized by being based on certain rules and values affirmed by culture; it is universal in its application, i. e. , it is valid for everyone; they impact individuals as set of morality that is external, i. e. , the source of morality is something outside the self; these laws are anonymous; the individual is haunted by fear and shame; the moral obligation is something that comes from authority; and it is fluctuating in influence (Moga 35-39). This is the sort of morality experienced by the typical teenager who follows his/her group’s choices. Such an individual follows rules not her own, a set of rules she may find difficult to follow since it is something external, nevertheless the breaking of such group rules result to fear and shame. This teenager considers the lead of the group as the one vested with authority to enforce such rules. Though this morality is most stark among teenagers, adults may very well be living this sort of morality. We would only have to look around shopping malls to see how many adults go with the flow without thinking why. Supposedly at the other extreme is authentic morality. This morality results from one’s personal decision to accept a set of values and morals after necessary reflection. Again, this sort of morality has characteristics: it is personally chosen and accepted; it is based on a rational appreciation; it is not based on fear or shame; morality as an expression of one’s freedom; and it is based on what one personally cares for, i. e. the very principles that one values (Moga 39-41). This is the sort of morality of individuals who have taken enough time to think over his/her morals. This would be represented by an individual who does an action and could very likely explain and be personally involved in the very principle of one’s actions. This would be the individual whose sense of morality is not dependent on â€Å"what others will say† but rather on a clear set of personally chosen moral principles. Though individuals must all aim for authentic morality, Moga insists that both moralities are important. In the first place, all human beings undergo the inauthentic morality stage where parents become the sole authority from whom morality emanate. Nevertheless, we should not stay this way. After being exposed to different sets of moralities, it is the individual’s responsibility to think and chose which of these moralities shall be made personal. Thus, at least in the Ethical perspective, the social and the personal ought to go together, though in the end, the social should be for the personal. Conclusion We have seen that at least in Philosophy and Ethics, there really is no real clash between the personal and the social, between intellectual knowledge and experiential knowledge. Clashes happen in Philosophy when error exists in the mind and nothing is done to correct the error. This error may of course exist not only with individuals but also in groups such as those in the academe. Nevertheless, we have clearly stated above that intellectual knowledge is there not to ram down society on the throats of individuals but rather to further perfect experiential knowledge for the sake of human flourishing. The same may be said in the field of ethics. Both authentic and inauthentic moralities are there and both have uses in society. Nevertheless, in the end, inauthentic morality ought to be the material source of inputs for the eventual authentic morality of a person. Morality only becomes stagnant when there is no interaction between the inauthentic and authentic. To answer the question which of the two knowledges is more important, we could qualifiedly say that both are important as long as there is minimal error and that the ultimate purpose is human flourishing.

The London Ambulance Service Computer Information Technology Essay

The London Ambulance Service Computer Information Technology Essay This paper will analyze one of the most prominent computerized system failures in the past 10 years- the failure of the London Ambulance Service Computer Aided Dispatch system-hereafter referred to as LASCAD. Unlike the common one dimensional explanations for system failure that view Information systems as mainly a neutral technical artifact ( Klein and Hirscheim, 1987), this paper will attempt to explore the more multi-faceted nature of systems failure which is closer to the reality that system exist in. This analysis will be anchored in the concepts of holism and emergent properties as described by Francis and Roland Bee (2005), Managing Information and Statistics, 2005, whereby the approach taken to analysis emphasizes the system relationships and processes and results of its interactions. References will be made to existing frameworks used to investigate system failure in particular the Sauer model Sauer (1993). Details of the description of the system and the failure will be dra wn mainly from a paper on Information System failure and risk Assessment by Paul Beynon Davis (Computer studies technical report University of Glamorgan, 1994b).From this investigation existing methods of preventing or solving software systems failure will be explored in the context of the LASCAD system to look into recommendations and lessons learnt to prevent such failures .This will particularly focus on risk handling as proposed by B.W Boehm ( 1991) and the Goal Question Metrics by Solingen and E. Berghout (1999). Summary of the LASCAD System Failure Case Study The LASCAD system was a computer aided ambulance dispatch system established at the head quarters of the London Ambulance Service. According to Page et al (1993), the expected functions of the system are described below: Call taking: Acceptance of calls and incident details Resource Identification: Particularly which ambulance to send to an incident Resource Mobilization: Communicating details of an incident to the appropriate ambulance Resource Management: The positioning of suitably equipped and staffed vehicles to minimize response times Management Information: This involves the collation information to assess performance, resource management and planning. This system was supposed to solve the problems related to manual dispatch systems including time consuming and error prone identification of the precise incident location, paperwork and maintenance of current vehicle status information. The LASCAD system objective was to automate these manual human intensive tasks by using an events based and ruled based approach and integrating a Geographical Information System (GIS) to provide location details. In this system the callers, incident and patient details would be recorded and transmitted to the dispatchers. Through the use of radio signals and GIS the system is able to determine the ambulance nearest to the patient. After dispatch the ambulance crew was expected to acknowledge the dispatch message and the system would then detect whether the ambulance was headed in the right direction. Finally the system would alert the controller on the ambulances arrival to the scene, hospital and when it becomes free again. Figure1: LASCAD flow chart (Paul Beynon Davis, 1994) This explanation of expectations of the systems functionality is pretty linear and even simplistic but on closer examination one is able to construe the complexities that are involved in delivering such expectations. This will become more apparent in the following section highlighting the system failure and later on the events leading to the failure. Between 26th and 27th October 1992 (Paul Beynon Davis, 1994), the system started to fail. It was reported that as a result of a flood of emergency calls bogged down the system and this resulted in erratic behavior of the system involving calls being wiped off the screen and automatic alerts indicating unacknowledged calls to ambulances. According to the Guardian newspaper, 1992, it was claimed that 20-30 people may have lost their lives due to ambulance delays. Indeed the impact of this failure was tremendous and as expected triggered various responses as to what was the cause of the failure. According to Donaldson and Jenkins (2000) in their paper on System Failures: An Approach to understanding what can go wrong, the causes of system failure are complex and interact with each other and in some cases a single factor may single out the problem while in others a combination of many small and apparently insignificant factors are to blame. This merely says that it is difficult to analyze causes of systems failure which would only be closely understood through multi cause analysis stemming from the soft systems methodology. It also becomes apparent that everything is not always as it seems, a good example is the Arriane V rocket (ESA Press release Nr 33-96-July 1996) which failed courtesy of its navigation software bein g inappropriate for the rockets design. This was not actually a software failure as may have been though in the outset but a problem with the overall incorrect assembly of the rocket. As it were the software performed to its specification. This is akin to expectation failure which Lyytinen and Hirscheim (1987) describe as the inability of an IS system to meet specific stakeholder groups expectations, they signify a gap between an existing situation and a desired situation for members of a particular stakeholder group. This is further enhanced by Donaldson and Jenkins (2000) system failure analysis detailing high public expectancy of computer technology, Fashion/popularity of systems obscuring its basic objectives and the varying stakeholder interests creating different perceptions of the system. Analysis of the LASCAD System failure Following the above outline of the system failure and prelude of expected challenges in analyzing system failure this section will attempt to shed detailed insight into the failure. The analysis will follow Sauerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model (Sauer, 1993), of investigating system failure which is based on a triangle of dependencies between: Project organization Information system Supporters The multi-faceted nature of systems failure alluded to in the introduction would mean that even this triangle is not a closed system but is affected by other contextual factors of which according to Sauer consists of cognitive limits-(e.g. limits of communication), technical process-( constraints from structured nature of computerized systems or development methodology), environment-(constraints by customers, suppliers, competitors, regulators), Politics, internal project structure and history associated with previous information system projects. Project organization In light of the LASCAD project failure the project organization from inception is very wanting. Firstly following a public inquiry report on the failure (Page et al, 1993), it is claimed that the London Ambulance Service (LAS) management put price before quality and committed to an over ambitious project timetable. This was evidenced by the selection of a supplier who has no experience in building ambulance dispatch systems but had significantly underbid a more established supplier. This was made worse by the management putting the supplier under immense pressure to deliver the system quickly. Secondly the project management team did not follow the PRINCE (Projects in Controlled Environments) project management method prescribed for public sector projects. Thirdly it was found that the system was incomplete and unstable and particularly the emergency backup system was untested. This was further compounded by inconsistent and incomplete user training. Information system In terms of the information system dimension the report of the public inquiry (Page et al, 1993) suggests that the failure was not a result of technical issues since on overall the system did what it was designed to do. It goes further to explain that at the onset the loads on the system were light and the control staff could easily cope with various problems associated with ambulance crews pressing wrong buttons, radio black spots, communication hand-shaking problems etc. When these incidents increased incorrect vehicle location and status information received by the controllers also increased resulting in the failure to cope with the load leading to fewer resources to allocate to incidents and subsequent delays in response times. Supporters/stakeholders As defined by Paul Beynon Davis (1995), supporters/stakeholders defined as people sharing a pool of values that define what the desirable features of an information system and how they should be obtained. The stakeholders have different views and expectations of the system of which such a mismatch in perceptions in this case contributed to the failure. This is depicted below: Figure 2: LASCAD system perceptions rich picture LAS Management: The London Ambulance Service (LAS) management viewed the system as a way to improve service to patients by putting in place mechanisms that would ensure objective and impartial resource mobilization through automation. The LAS management was also influenced by a past experience involving a failed computerized dispatch system project and pressure from organization-wide restructuring that put them under immense pressure to succeed Control room staff: The staff in the control room found the system to be too complicated and did not trust the motives behind implementing a computerized system Ambulance staff: The ambulance crews were more comfortable with the radio call systems that they had been used to and did not have confidence in the new system as they did not see the need for it and found it too complicated Union: The staff union found that there were no requisite consultations done before making the decision to acquire the system and as such the already strained relationship between management and staff was worsened. Hardware and software suppliers: The system suppliers were not sure how to implement the system in the first place and this was compounded by tight deadlines from what they thought to be a disorganized client. Related to these perspectives are contextual factors concerning political environment courtesy of the overarching influence of the National Health Service (NHS) on the London Ambulance Service which is the LAS oversight body (Beynon-Davis 1994).The NHS is characterized by the lack of a unitary power structure and is made up of a network of different health organizations. The implication on a new information system is a very careful political balance in the impact the impact the system will have on the relationships in this network (Checkland and Scholes, 1990). As posit by page et al, (1993), the LASCAD project was greatly affected by internal tensions in within the NHS which had commissioned major reforms in the London Ambulance Service including restructuring that resulted in the reduction of middle management from 263 to 53. It is clear that this resulted in strained relationships and an environment of mistrust and obtrusiveness when it came to any changes, which affected the LASCAD project. So far what is clear is the multifaceted nature of the failure that results from various causes of the failure that is common in computerized information systems, which Paul Beynon-Davis describe as web-like in nature. It has been reported that 92% of all system failures involved failures of technical interaction with cognitive /organizational factors (Mackenzie, 1994). This as it were it is essential to trace the true causes of the system failure. One way of doing this is through multi cause diagrams as mentioned in the section above or Petri nets which use state and event oriented graphs. The LASCAD project failure is depicted below using a multi cause diagram to explore the events and states on why the failure occurred: Figure 3: LASCAD system failure multi-cause diagram Ideas, Recommendations and Lessons Learned As expressed above using Sauerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model (Sauer, 1993) of investigating system failure, the dependencies between the project organization, information system and its supporters have come out very clearly. Using the information system dimension the failure is not attributed to technical issues at all, which goes against common place failure attribution of computerized information systems. This begs the question, what constitutes a system failure? Lyytinen and Hirschein (1987) categorize system failure into four: Correspondence failure: There is a disjoint between the design objectives of the system and what is practically being met by the system. Process failure: This is characterized by runaway projects that either do not provide a workable system or overrun budgets and time. Interaction failure: This focuses on utilization of the system i.e. a highly utilized system is considered a success and one that is hardly used is a failure. Expectation failure: As stated earlier this is the inability of the system to meet a specific stakeholder groupà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s expectations. The LASCAD system falls into this category as it appears it did not meet various stakeholder group expectations. Donaldson and Jenkins (2000) talk about a 3 dimensional picture where a system totally fails, partially fails or temporarily goes down. In the case of LASCAD it is taken as a partial failure resulting from a number of flaws that are rectifiable and as such this is not a total failure. The rectification will mainly involve a reassessment of the entire project taking mainly focusing on the role of risk assessment. Risk is the probability of a negative outcome. Negative outcome is in essence a relative concept as Wilcocks and Margetts (1994) suggest the risk of a negative outcome only becomes a salient problem when the outcome is relevant to stakeholder concerns and interests. Different settings and stakeholders will see different outcomes as salient. The proposed framework to use in risk assessment follows Wilcocks and Margetts (1994) who put across the following categories to be used in analyzing the development, introduction and use of information systems, these are: History: Past experiences with information system development. Outer context: The environment in which the organization is operating e.g. economy, markets, government Inner context: The characteristics of the organization e.g. structure, strategy Content: For example project size and difficulty Processes: For example project management and staffing Outcomes: Planned and anticipated results. The proposed risk assessment framework would be implemented through out the development, introduction and use of information systems. This will be used to complement an overarching software management methodology such as the Goal Question Metrics (GQM) mentioned in the introduction and the Capability Maturity Model which outline good practices in project management to ensure project success. In the context of LASCAD the GQM will particularly address the aforementioned failure characteristics in the analysis section through the following stages in development: Setting specific goals in light of purpose perspective and environment Refine goals into quantifiable easy to understand questions Derive requisite metrics and data to answer the questions There are various methods that can be used in preventing or solving computerized system failure the Capability maturity model and Goal Question Metrics mentioned above are by no means exhaustive nor are they prescriptive. Organizations are different contextually and individual projects also vary in size and complexity and as such would require approaches the methodologies to be customized and scaled for specific organizations and projects. The Capability Maturity model is a prime example that targets improvement in software processes toward a specific target- maturity level that the organization is working toward. On the other hand there is need to put emphasis on risk management outside of the one dimensional technical orientation to encompass the complexities of computerized systems as seen through the lens of Wilcocks and Margetts (1994) risk management framework. Conclusion: The LASCAD system is a good example that portrays the reality of the complex and multi-faceted nature of systems failure. The different perspectives of the system and congruent expectations make even the very definition of the failure unclear. This particular case highlighted the political and social causes of the failure, what has been described as contextual factors. References to various frameworks have been made in the analysis of the failure -Lyytinen and Hirscheim (1987), particularly expectation failure and dependencies in the 3 dimensional Sauerà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã¢â€ž ¢s model (Sauer, 1993). The failure analysis provided the distillation of the system failure characteristics which describe the true causes of the failure. This was done using rich pictures to accommodate varying perceptions and expectations and multi cause diagrams to explore the various causes of the failure. Lessons learnt and future remediation of systems failure is centered on risk management and project methodologies ensuring good practice in the development, introduction and use of information systems. As recommended in this paper these should take into consideration contextual/ organizational issues apart from technical aspects of the system.