Titus Andronicus Character Study

What do we learn about Titus Andronicus in the opening to Shakespeare’s play? Our first introduction to the character of Titus Andronicus is by way of a speech my his son, Marcus, who represents the voice of the common people in the election campaign for emperory, declaring that Titus Andronicus has been chosen by the people of Rome to be the next emperor. He hails Titus as a hero, saying that there is not a nobler or braver warrior to be found within all of Rome. He is obviously held in great esteem by Marcus, who calls him ‘good Andronicus’, and ‘Renowned’ Titus. These descriptions of him using the positive epithets are powerful yet very simple to understand. He is portrayed in a very positive light, and is well respected within Rome for his many years of military campaigns against the enemies of Rome. He returns a hero, with a claim to the title of emperor. However, his successes have not come without great person losses, as we learn he has buried many of his sons on return from his various military causes. The first insight we see into his character is one of cruelty and vengefulness, when he rejects Tamora’s pleas to spare her first-born son and is the perpetrator of extreme violence, sacrificing him in revenge for the deaths of his sons at the hands of the Goth’s, her people. This view of Titus as a merciless killer starkly contradicts what we had learned about him from Marcus, who led us to expect Titus to be honourable and good and sets the tone for the play as dark and brutal. The sudden violence is a shock, and we see that there are two sides to his character: the much loved hero and the ruthless warrior. Titus has fought for Rome for 40 years, so is quite old by Roman standards and though he has been chosen by the people to be their emperor, he feels that he is not suitable to rule: â€Å"A better head her glorious body fits, than his that shakes for age and feebleness. † Here he is saying that he feels he is no fit to rule an empire as glorious as the Roman Empire, and relinquishes he claim to rule. This humbleness of character is a huge contrast from the violent nature we saw him display when he demanded the death of Alarbus. He asks for a ‘staff of honour’ instead of a ‘sceptre to control the world’ and favours Saturnine to be emperor in his place, as he is the late emperor’s eldest son, showing that he values tradition over the far more virtuous character or Bassianus. He then shows loyalty to the unlikeable Saturninus over his own son, mercilessly killing him when he stands in his way. This second brutal act because of his slavish loyalty to Rome provokes even the violent Goths to declare that they are not ‘half so barbarous’ as Rome. The ‘honourable’ Titus that we were first introduced to actually shows contempt for honour in trying to force his daughter to break her betrothal, and his wild devotion to Roman customs causes more harm than good, especially to him; he quickly goes from being the favourite of Rome to being despised by Saturnine because of the betrayal of his family. His actions seem chaotic and random, yet follow the ongoing theme of revenge, making ‘Titus Andronicus’ a revenge tragedy.

Conceptualizing in Business Essay

A solid strategic analysis is beneficial to shareholders, employees, customers, and decisions makers within a company. The core of an effective strategic plan contains a well-thought and informative mission statement. Using the brand of Mexican Food Express as a benchmark, a mission statement has been developed to differentiate the company’s products from the competition. In addition, the vision statement as plays an important role in communicating the ultimate goal of the company’s strategic decisions. A driving force behind the mission and vision is the company’s values and ethical principles, which often dictate the choices made during strategic planning. When it is fully implemented, the strategic plan will allow Mexican Food Express to gain a strategic advantage over its established competitors. Mission Statement By delivering uniquely flavored Mexican style food at budget prices, Mexican Food Express seeks to establish an international presence over the next 5 years. The current international fast food markets in Asia, South America, and Africa are dominated by American style fast food with leaves considerable opportunity for competing styles of cuisine. Mexican Food Express will use an aggressive marketing plan and develop a supply chain network that will enable rapid growth in overseas markets. Newly established restaurants will be able to supply local communities with quality meals at competitive prices while simultaneously creating value for shareholders. Vision Statement Mexican Food Express will grow into the largest fast food provider of Mexican style cuisine in emerging markets. The brand will have an established presence in Asia, South America, and Africa with restaurant locations being found within the top 25 major cities on these continents. By saturating the world’s most populous metropolitan cities, Mexican Food Express will be the most recognizable Mexican food brand in the world. Guiding Principles, Values, and Culture Mexican Food Express has several important ethical principles that influence major decisions in the strategic planning process. First, the company is concern about making quality food available to the lowest income groups. Therefor, it is important to keep a wide selection of low cost food products available on the menu. This becomes an especially important consideration as we expand in markets that experience high levels of poverty. Second, the company is committed to delivering exceptional customer service to its patrons. Customer loyalty is a driving factor towards the long-term success of the brand. Failing to deliver exceptional customer service could seriously hinder the ability to grow into new markets. In order for employees to express Mexican Food Express’s guiding principles, it is essential to create a corporate culture that that reflects these principles. Providing ample opportunity for advancement within management hierarchy and the ability to participate in supplemental training will keep employee motivation high. As a result, employees will be eager to follow the ethical values set forth in the strategic plan. It is likely that the company will need to make slight modifications to organization culture to meet the preferences of various world cultures. Impact on Strategic Direction The mission, vision, and values of Mexican Food Express serve as the foundation for strategic decision making while the company gears up for expansion. When an unexpected variable causes a change in direction, the company will continue to use its mission as a guide for future choices. The primary mission is always to maximize shareholder profits, but the values determine the approach thee company will take to achieve this goal. Overall, this will help the company build a corporate culture in these new markets that gains the respect of the locals. If the company is considered to be helping the local community, the chances of creating an effective strategic plan are highly unlikely. Addressing Customer Needs Expanding into emerging markets presents a unique challenge to address  customer’s needs. Every country exhibits its own unique culture and it is essential to pander to the preferences of each individual culture. A system that works in the United States is not likely to see the same level of success in Bangladesh, unless serious modifications are made to the business model. To overcome this challenge, the company will conduct independent research and use paid consultants to determine how to tailor the brand’s image for success in vastly different cultures. As time progresses, the company will be able to assess strengths and weaknesses by testing different models in each regional area. Gaining insightful knowledge about each country’s cultural preferences will allow the company to attain a competitive advantage. References Pearce, J. A. II, & Robinson, R. B. (2009). Strategic management: Formulation, implementation, and control(11th ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. Thompson, A. A., Gamble, J. E., & Strickland, A. J. (2006). Strategy: Winning in the marketplace: Core concepts, analytical tools, cases (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Allan Pinkerton-The Detective

Allan Pinkerton was a known US detective that was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1819. He is very popular in his time because he is the founder of the well known and first detective agency in the United States, the Pinkerton Agency. At the early age, his father who is a police sergeant died in a battle left the Pinkerton family in great poverty. As Allan grows up, he found a work as a copper or barrel-maker and then joining in Chartism, a group of people who believes in political and social reforms.The Pinkerton was always associated with security and protection. He had spent his life in many security concerns like private investigations, and personal security. Pinkerton career as a detective started when he emigrate from Scotland to America. The reason why he wanted to go to America is because he wants to escapes imprisonment. And in 1842, he established a copper making shop in Chicago, Illinois. Pinkerton was known to be a savior of slave or he support the anti slavery movements.He u sually uses his shop as an escape route of slave in the said state. In 1849, Pinkerton became the first ever detective in Chicago and in 1950, together with Edward Rucker they build the North-Western police Agency. The said agency was renamed as Pinkerton National Detective Agency. As mentioned in the earlier part of the essay, Pinkerton was very popular in terms of security and surveillance matters. In fact, the methods that he uses in his career as a detective is still being used today in many investigations.Some of the techniques of Pinkerton in many investigation processes are the â€Å"shadowing† and â€Å"undercover†. The former also known as surveillance of a suspect which means that the suspect is being monitored in his or her every moves every time while the latter is also known as assuming a role which means that a person is assuming or doing a role in such a way that the suspect will act normal when an investigation is being done. Undercover operations nowad ays are very popular in drug cases incidents.Example of this is when a policeman is under covering his true identity as a policeman and portraying as a buyer of a certain prohibited drug and when the suspect had transaction with the undercover policeman, then this is a very useful evidence for the investigation. The leadership of Pinkerton as a US detective had produced many successful investigations and lessening the crime rate in his time. He was able to stop many assassination attempts especially on the known government officials. He was able to determine a planed and smooth assassination on Abraham Lincoln and was able to hamper the said attempt.As many writers accounted him as a man of great power of observation and courage (Library, 2007). There were several writings that center the life, career and courage of Pinkerton as a US detective. In 1990, a movie entitled The Rose and The Jackal that was based on the life of Pinkerton was made. The movie was done in the Civil War time and its all about love, drama and spies. From the movie, an assassination attempt was done to the president of the country who is travelling using a train. In the middle of the commute, the train will pass to a wooden bridge.The plan of the assassination is to plant a bomb at the bottom of the wooden bridge and eventually an accident will cause the death of the president (Kelly, 2008). Pinkerton was able to intercept the assassination attempt of the Confederate by stopping the derailing of the train where the president is and killing the two suspects and warned the president, who is Lincoln that there is a plan to kill him. He was able to stop the attempt. This links to the true story on the attempt to assassinate Lincoln which was able to intercept by Pinkerton (Karesony, 2006).After this event, Pinkerton was appointed as by Lincoln as the head of the US Secret Service. The said agency is responsible of intercepting many espionage acts during the Civil War. This prevents the War B etween the States of America (Kelly, 2008). The main story of the movie is about Pinkerton who was assigned to be a spy against the Confederate. As a secret agent of the country, Pinkerton was able to establish a persona in which the said secret agent had successfully portrayed a simple man in a society so that the Confederate will not suspect him as a spy.This method can also be seen on the England-secret agent James Bond who does many espionage act to infiltrate or gather some important information from their enemy. Pinkerton uses this method in order for him to know the plans of the Confederate and that he can able to maneuver any possible action that will lead to the fall of his superior who is the president (Karesony, 2006). In the movie, Pinkerton met a beautiful lady who is also a spy but in the Confederate side and Pinkerton eventually fall in love to her.The story turns on the two main characters, Pinkerton and Rose. Pinkerton faces to challenge, to play the role as a secre t agent for Lincoln and his love affair to Rose. Rose eventually attacks the weakness of Pinkerton to be a tool in executing her plan to infiltrate the government of Lincoln (Karesony, 2006). Though this is one of the most popular investigations that were done by Pinkerton in his life, there are also some small profile cases that he was able to solve. Many money and properties from robbery acts were recovered and thieves were successfully traced.Some of the successful robbery cases the robbery of the Carbondale, Pennsylvania Bank of $40,000, and that of The Adams Express Company of $700,000, on 6 January, 1866, from a train on The New York, New Haven, and Hartford Railroad, and the taking of $300,000 from an express-car on the Hudson River railroad. He also broke up gangs of thieves at Seymour, Indiana, and the â€Å"Mollie Maguires† in Pennsylvania. Due to his eagerness and courage, Pinkerton was able to shape the security and investigation process in his time even though hi gh technology gadgets were not available in his time.Even today, the techniques of Pinkerton are being used to solve many cases and help in the success of investigations like police investigations. The Central Intelligence Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation of United States owe many investigation processes that were originated by Pinkerton. He was able to create a tool that can be utilized in solving unsolved crimes and eventually preventing the further occurrence of transgression and organized crimes. References:Karesony. (2006). The Rose and the Jackal [Electronic Version]. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from http://www. imdb. com/title/tt0098831/ Kelly, M. (2008). A Brief History of the Pinkertons [Electronic Version]. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from http://americanhistory. about. com/od/19thcentur1/a/allan_pinkerton. htm Library, C. (2007). Roots of a Detective [Electronic Version]. Retrieved February 11, 2008, from http://www. crimelibrary. com/gangsters2/pinkerton/

The UK Corporate Governance Code Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

The UK Corporate Governance Code - Coursework Example From the research it can be comprehended that corporate governance is the system by which companies are directed and controlled. Boards of directors are responsible for the governance of their companies. The shareholders’ role in governance is to appoint the directors and the auditors and to satisfy themselves that an appropriate governance structure is in place. The responsibilities of the board include setting the company’s strategic aims, providing the leadership to put them into effect, supervising the management of the business and reporting to shareholders on their stewardship. The board’s actions are subject to laws, regulations and the shareholders in general meeting. The Code guides the board towards more effective practice. Its underlying principles are all those of good governance, they include accountability, transparency, probity and focus on the steady success of an entity over long term. The code is continuously changing to incorporate the alterati ons in the socio-economic environment. It has been reviewed in 2005, 2007 and 2010 in the recent past. The new code applies to the accounting periods beginning on or after 29 June 2010 and is applied to all the companies whether they are incorporated in UK or not. The approach that is followed since the beginning of the Code is to comply with it or explain why it is not being followed. It is referred to as â€Å"Comply or Explain†. ... According to the latest report on UK Corporate Governance Code by the FRC, the main principles for The Code are: Leadership. The board should be led by an effectively. The responsibility of heading the board by the Non-executive directors and the responsibility of heading the company’s operations by the executive directors should be equally divided. The Chairman is the head of the board as a whole whereas the executive directors are also led by the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Company. The Chairman is responsible for the effective functionality of the board. He is responsible for ensuring the clear and efficient flow of information between the shareholders and the board. As per new reforms passed in 2011, female directors will also be introduced into the board structure (FRC, Consultation Document 2011). The board of directors has the power to hire fire and compensate senior management. Their purpose is to resolve the issues, specially relating to conflicts of interest s, between the decision makers and the risk bearers. Their control resolves the issue of high agency costs and facilitates the existence of an open corporation. Recent economic theory implies that the balanced structure of the board of directors is a crucial part of good governance (Baysinger, Butler, 1985). According to agency theory, shareholders interests are better protected if there is segregation between the duties of CEO and the Chairman. Where as, stewardship theory argues that the shareholders interests are maximized if both the roles are entitled to the same person. According to the author, a few test results show that stewardship theory is supported more than the agent theory (Donaldson, Davis 1991).

Leadership Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words - 2

Leadership - Essay Example Being a leader requires being able to make decisions along with the team and taking on the responsibility of any consequence from the decision that was made. She must also be able to inspire her team to do their best and accomplish positive results. To be able to do such a feat she must show them that she has sufficient knowledge and could establish trust and support within the group. As the person-in-charge, Courtney should realize that her team members including herself should be committed and capable. Meaning that they know what they are doing and dedicated in accomplishing their individual tasks for the collective effort of the group. Aside from this she must also see to it that the group could work well together and any conflicts could easily be ironed out (eioba, n.d.). In this regard she must be able to command respect not because she is the leader but because she is experienced, capable and a good team player who can lead the team in the proper direction to attain their common goal. And though there may be tough times, she must always be resilient and supportive of her team members who are not considered as just co-workers but as friends and

Critical Thinking paper in Health Care Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Critical Thinking paper in Health Care - Essay Example When he was experienced the creativity decreases, which makes him apply his known and time tested strategies and techniques he found successful. This is in general but not be certainly Work setting depends upon nature of work and work place. If the nature of work is individual one has enough free hand to set it according to his convenience. For instance, a teacher in a school can work according to his own plan and setting regarding his duties in class room and correction of Answer sheets. But in the case of a marketing executive it depends on his superiors, subordinates and the clients he has to meet and melt. When it comes to the work in a back office it depends on the work culture of that office and the nature and pace of doing work of his colleagues. The situation is different in case of front office. There, the work setting depends upon the people they meet and talk. All the aforesaid cases are the instances of subordinate services. If one has to lead a team (smaller or bigger) he has to plan every thing in advance and must be able to guide his team mates. Here the work setting needs a good home work, alertness and planning. When one member abstains from work or will take leave, the work setting depends on the team leader.

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

THE GLOBAL ECONOMY - Essay Example bserved that cutting edge improvements in the area of information technology (IT) have made most of the business processes easier as well as economical, apart from pushing geographical boundaries into near obsolescence. These improvements â€Å"have made it less costly for consumers to determine the characteristics of products produced abroad† (Krol, 2008, P.3), and have also provided the producers/manufacturers with the ease to gauge consumer preferences. As a result the manufacturers are in a better position to customize their products and/or services with an aim to tap the foreign markets. Hence it can easily be comprehended that the modern business scenario that prevails in the global arena is highly competitive and the players are keen on utilizing every possible avenue to maximize their gains. It may be observed that â€Å"income growth in developed countries and even in some less-developed countries has increased the demand for goods and services produced domestically as well as from abroad† (Krol, 2008, P.4), which implies that the volumes of international trade – and hence its inherent perils – have been rising incrementally, thereby calling for efficient trade protection policies. Another important reason for the implementation of such policies is that â€Å"trade restrictions have decreased significantly since World War II† (Krol, 2008, P.4). In the context of global economies it has been observed that the developed nations can afford to subsidise, the developing nations prefer barriers to protect their trading activities. Data from the World Bank reveal that a large number of trade restrictions have been brought into effect as â€Å"several countries, including 17 of the G-20, have implemented 47 measures whose effect is to restrict trade at the expense of other countries† (Gamberoni & Newfarmer, 2009, P.1). Within the eventful cauldron of international trade one of the phenomena that raise concern is that of dumping which, according to the World

Geologic History Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Geologic History - Assignment Example Movement of ice during the ice age pushed away huge rocks on its path while the action of volcanicity eroded several sedimentary material that later formed the Colorado river. The Colorado river with its massive water volume led to severe corrosion of the valley below to set up patterns that in turn became the Grand Canyon. The activity has since been slowed down due to absence of vast ice movement and also reduced human activities around the area since it had been declared a national park(Act of congress,1919). Some of the most predominant rocks within the Grand Canyon can be classified as Metamorphic-igneous basement rocks, Grand canyon supergroup,Tonto group, Surprise canyon,Supai group, Coconino and Mesozoic deposition. The Metamorphic and igneous basement rocks are believed to have been formed 1.8 billion years ago. They mainly contain volcanic deposits like ash, mud and lava- silt. It is also interesting to note that the Grand canyon super group contains about nine rock formations of small plates. This group was formed about 1.3 billion years ago and covers up flooded sections such as the Inner gorge. The Tonto group rock structure was formed due to explosion dating 500 million years back from conglomerates and sand deposited off shore. These group of rocks might have been carried vastly by the ice movement. Another rock structure within the Grand Canyon is the Surprise canyon. The Supai group was deposited about 300 million ago in Mississippian era too. It contains fossils of reptiles, amphibians and plant material deposit. The penultimate rock composition in the Grand Canyon is the Coconino group. It has fossils of species such as insects, plants and the vertebrates too. These rocks were created about 275 million years ago and are about 600 feet high. Finally, the Mesozoic rock deposition completes the rock composition in the grand canyon. These group of rocks were formed as a result of

Tort Reform Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Tort Reform - Essay Example The escalating cost of medical bill has been attributed to excessive litigation also; therefore, the bill aims at reducing litigation by promoting patient safety. Hence, â€Å"states that apply for a grant to work on patient safety issues, rather than on other dispute resolution techniques† (Jones, 2010). In the opinion of Barack Obama, the new tort reform would improve patient safety and medical liability terms. According to Thomas Gallagher, an official of University of Washington, the goal of the reform is to improve the culture of health care communication with the objective of mitigating medical malpractices and thereby increasing patient safety. He adds that the proposed changes would provide better communication training to health care workers. Similarly, the J. D. of New York State Unified Court System, Judy Kluger argues that the reform would protect the patients who get injuries by providers’ mistakes. Kluger also says that costs associated with medical malpra ctices can be minimized by the introduction of the proposed tort reform (Point of Law.com). The state of Texas successfully implemented the tort reform in 2003 in order to improve the efficacy of the patient- friendly ‘malpractice laws’ in 2003.

What is pink slime Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

What is pink slime - Essay Example coli from undercooked hamburgers that made many people sick and caused a few death cases. This prompted a betterment of pink slime in an attempt to reduce pathogens by treating with ammonia gas in a method known as pH Enhancement System that was approved by the FDA. During processing, heat centrifuges to separate fat from the meat in beef trimmings as the product is also used as filler or to reduce the overall fat content of ground beef. The pink slime is produced by processing low-grade beef trimmings and other meat by-products and the heating process liquefies the fat and facilitates the separation of lean beef from fat. The use of ammonia gas in killing salmonella and E. coli has raised concern among many Americans although the statutory bodies concerned feel that the process is safe enough to allow the resulting product to be added to ground beef (Sandler 520-523). Disinfecting meet using injected anhydrous ammonia in gaseous as well as rapid freezing and mechanical stress used in treating the pink slime induces increase in the pH and damages microscopic organisms that may be living in the product ("Pink Slime Closes Three Plants" 16). It was noted that ammonia was a processing agent and therefore there was no need of including it on the ground beef labels as one of the components but this triggered controversies. Food advocates do not feel that pink slime is healthy for consumption and want the product to be gotten off supermarket shelves. Even though the nickname given to the beef product makes it easier for the food advocates to flex their cases because it makes it look like a colorful sounding foodstuff, more people are queasy about it especially how the treatment is done (Sandler 520-523). It is also unfortunate because knowing how prevalent the product is because it is not labeled is never easy. This leads to uncertainty among the larger population who consume the product. Labeling the ammonium hydroxide gas level in the may help in

American Political Thought Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

American Political Thought - Article Example Susan Antony worked with Elizabeth Stanton and the focus was on the suffrage and the rights of women in the society (Dilke 503). The speech of Susan Antony is based on the need to spearhead changes in the elections and the rights of women. In the past the focus of the society involved depriving of the women a chance to participate in the national issues. The focus of the speeches by Susan Antony was on the abolishment of the segregation of women and the involvement of the women in voting and looking for elective positions. The speech focused on the involvement of Susan in the voting process which led to her arrest and detainment. She continually referred to the arrest in the speeches. Voting was the main concern because of the challenge she went through after attempting to vote in the elections. Referring to the constitution of the country, she made passionate appeals on the country women and men to relook at the constitution and protect the rights of the women. Despite struggling for the rights to vote, she was not able to achieve the desired goal. The principle of power of the government being derived from the people was used as the basis to argue the case of the women. The use of sex to disfranchise a society was vehemently condemned by Susan. In her view, this was the massive violation of the citizen right and should be abolished in totality. The major question asked by the Susan was on determination on whether women are persons or not. The question was rhetorical but was meant to influence the women and allow them to think about their rights. The speeches presented by Susan helped by influencing women to take action against the discrimination and thus be inv olved in the leadership issues of the country. Discrimination of the women through the constitution was highlighted and the laws for equity were highlighted to show the need for enactment of the laws. The focus on the constitution and the law was effective because it ensured

An assessment of the first section of the 1992 film Essay Example for Free

An assessment of the first section of the 1992 film Essay English Media Coursework: An assessment of the first section of the 1992 film Of Mice and Men, including some comparisons with part one of John Steinbecks novel In section one of the novel Of Mice and Men written by John Steinbeck, begins with a description of the pool and its surroundings in order to familiarize us with the setting, using poetic imagery to describe the golden foothill slopes of the Salinas river valley and the pool on the bank of which the leaves lie deep and so crisp that a lizard makes a great skittering if he runs among them. Some rabbits sit in the sand. There is a path through the willows and among the sycamores leading to the sandy rivers edge. The description conveys an idyllic peace to the scene which is disturbed as the novels two main characters emerge from the woods. The rabbits scurry into the scrubs and a heron flies from the pool before George and Lennie enter the clearing. George and Lennie are described as physical opposites, George being small and quick, dark of face, with restless eyes and sharp, strong features while Lennie is described as a huge man, shapeless of face, with large pale eyes, with wide sloping shoulders, and he walked heavily but despite the difference in physical appearance John Steinbeck stresses the similarities of dress Both were dressed in denim. Both wore black, shapeless hats and both carried tight blanket rolls, this suggests that Lennie maybe trying to copy George as he looks up to him and wants to be like him, as also imitates George actions at the river bank. In the following pages George and Lennies conversation and behaviour helps the reader learn that the two are migrant ranch workers, on their way to one job to another. They are going to work on a ranch in Soledad and George makes it clear he is to do all the talking when they arrive; George angrily discovers that Lennie has been concealing a dead mouse (I could pet it with my thumb while we walked along) This informs the reader that Lennie likes to pet soft things, which is to be carefully noted in light of future (and past) events, George has beans for dinner and when Lennie childishly sates he likes ketchup with his beans, George gets angry and muses on the life he could live if he wasnt with Lennie: I got you! You cant keep a job and you lose me ever job I get. Jus keep me shovin all over the country all the time You do bad things and I got to get you out. Through Georges anger we learn about one of the bad things which occurred at their last job, in Weed, when Lennie wanted to pet the girls dress because it was pretty and held on when she tried to jerk away. The two had to flee the town in the night as the town people were looking for them, Lennie responds to Georges anger with self-pity and uses a guilt trip, sorrowfully saying that if George doesnt want him around, he could go off and live in the hills by himself. This softens George into saying that he wants Lennie to stay, so we know these threats are not serious and that George does genuinely like Lennie as a friend. Lennie urges George to tell about the rabbits, this is when we are first introduced to the dream that George and Lennie share, that they will get their own piece of land and the money and means by which to live off of it. George describes how he and Lennie are different from other ranchers who drift from town to town, who dont belong no place. Lennie and George are different according to George, because they have future and each other. One day they will have enough money and live off the fatta the land. This shows the reader that George needs Lennie as a Friend so not to be lonely I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you this shows the loyalty and friendship which exists between George and Lennie, and the dream of a better life. All though George does become angry with Lennie resulting in some tension during this section of the novel, the atmosphere at the end is very peaceful and pleasant leavening the reader to feel positive and happy; this is the same in both the film and the novel. The 1992 film version Of Mice and Men opens with white on black credits which are simple and stand out clearly. Gradually sound effects of a wagon/train are added and lighting effects are faded in slowly to show the inside of an old fashioned goods wagon. There is also background music which is very atmospheric, building tension. This is followed by a slow fade and a close up shot of a mans face, which we later come to realize is George, played by Gary Sinise who is also the director. George pensively, sadly sits alone in a railway car, the shadows of the cars slats partially covering his face. At the end of the film the same shot is repeated, therefore the audience realise the film is in fact a flash back from Georges memory, The gentle and eerie background music and use of dark, gloomy colours convey a sense of mystery adding interest which makes the audience want to watch on to see whats going to happen; they also illustrate a mood of sadness along with the miserable expression stressed in the close up shot of Gary Sinises face. At the start of the narrative in the film, the camera jumps to a sequence of a woman in a vivid red dress, running though fields apparently in desperate escape of some undefined terror, She runs towards the camera, As she gets closer to the camera the audience can picks out details in which give clues about the woman such as the tear in her dress and her panicky face which is stressed in a close up shot but the mystery is continued when she runs past the camera and out of the audiences sight. The sound effects of the womans gasped breath are very frantic, adding drama and tension to grab the audiences intention and the red of her dress stands out clearly in contrast to the green fields. The director immediately makes the camera jump to a sequence showing two men, being chased by a group of men on horses armed with rifles and led by hunting dogs. The camera follows this chase, panning along to show the men running though long grass. The camera angle then changes to show the chase from the point of view of the men who are being chased, showing the dogs and men running towards the camera which makes the audience feel as if they are being chased and allowing them to see things from the mens point of view. Water from the horses splashes on the camera, showing the audience how close they are, adding tension and making the audience feel more involved, helping them to feel how the men are feeling by showing things from the mens point of view. The two men jump into an irrigation ditch. The man from the start of the film jumps in first, front view and then the other man jumps in after but from a side view. The camera is used as one of the mens view, to the audience; it helps them to feel how the men are feeling. It creates confusion because at first the audience may not know whose view it is and what they are looking at, since the men are in hiding and the viewer can see the weeds overhanging in front of them; this also creates suspense as the audience can see the two mens point of view of the situation. The opening film sequence has a very dramatic and tense start in order to grab the audiences intention, making them want to watch on. In comparison to the novel Of Mice and Men which is very different as it opens with a peaceful, happy and serene scene, making the reader build up hope and creating a joyful atmosphere. The camera jumps from the irrigation ditch to the two men (George and Lennie) hitching a freight train at night in order to escape. Another jump follows to a studio location of a 1930s Californian town (Salinas); this scene is added to show the audience the time in which the film is set in and giving them an idea of George and Lennies surrounds and their way of life. While they are in the town Lennie asks George were they are going George said were going to a ranch to work this dialog has been added to inform the audience of were they are going and of there current situation. George and Lennie take a bus to the ranch but they are dropped off in the countryside a few miles from the ranch. The serene and tranquil scene was probably set on location. The dialog they use is almost the same as the book, the camera pans along while they walk and talk setting them both in frame emphasizing that they have a close relationship. As the bus goes by George and Lennie, George realises that they have been dropped off in the wrong place and yells out son of a bitch to the bus driver, Lennie copies George and also yells son of a bitch this is improvisation as it is not in the book, it has been added to show how Lennie copies George and what he does suggesting that he looks up to him and wants to be like him, showing the audience a bit about his character. Lennies (played by John Malkovitch )voice is very child like, portraying Lennie like a child trapped in a mans body, which makes sense but at times also seem over the top as in the book I felt that Lennie was just very simple minded, but in the film Lennie seems to be seriously retarded. While George and Lennie are sitting by the pool Lennie decides to drink from the pool then spit the water out of his mouth in a child like fashion, again this is improvisation to show how child like Lennie is, George reacts to this by laughing at him showing he is used to Lennie and his childish behaviour almost to like how a parent would laugh at a child. The camera uses close up shots of Lennies face in order to emphases his odd facial expressions and medium close-ups to show George and Lennies body language especially Lennie who tends to use various funny hand jesters in order to help express himself which he cant do very well. During George and Lennies argument about ketchup the camera is shot in separate frames to show they are now separate, because they are angry. The camera also uses medium close ups of George and Lennie while George is kneeling and Lennie is standing up to show how much bigger Lennie is compared to George and their differences in physical appearance, it also shows that Lennie could be seen as a treat to George. The camera tilts up when showing Lennie to make him seem taller and he probably has used padding in his clothes to make him appear bigger, while when the camera is on George it tends to tilt down to make him appear smaller. During the argument George doesnt mention the girl in the red dress which he does in the novel, he just said you do bad things, he doesnt mention it because he doesnt need to explain this to the audience as the girl in the film as this has already been shown at the start unlike the novel. The argument shows the audience that George and Lennie do fall out sometimes. When the augment is over Lennie uses a guilt trip on George, the guilt is empathised in close up of Georges face. The camera jumps to George and Lennie sitting by a camp fire, this is the last sequence of this section of the film. It is set outside in the dark but the lighting effects make it light enough to see whats happening, the light from the fire reflects on there faces in order to emphasis them there are many off screen natural sound effects such as cricket noises and other types of bugs and birds. Lennie asks George to tell him about the dream and as George begins to tell the dream background music gradually comes in which is very soft and genital to create an dream like atmosphere. The camera puts both George and Lennie in the frame while telling the dream maybe to show that they both share this dream and to show the friendship between them. When George stops telling the dream he saids oh the hell with it at this point the background music suddenly stops showing that they have come out of the dream and are now back to reality. At the end they are both in frame, lying by the camp fire, the atmosphere is quite and peaceful with the natural sound effects of bugs est. off screen in the background leaving the audiences feeling happy and positive. Overall, I thought the first section of the Of Mice and Men film was good and very well done by Gary Sinise. In the movie you can actually see and hear things that you probably would not catch on to in the book. For example there are the facial expressions of George and Lennie. The music soundtrack to the film Of Mice and Men is very well composed; I especially liked how the music is classical, which is very appealing to all age groups and genders. The music was important as it set the mood for the scene the audience was seeing. The landscaping and camera work was also very good. The setting of the pool was just as it was described in the book. Also, the clothing worn by Lennie and George fitted the time frame allowing the audience to feel that they are back in that time period by watching, and also showed that they were not well off. In many ways the first section of the film is similar to the novel such as the dialog they use is almost identical to the novel and the appearance of the characters in the film are almost exactly like how they are described in the novel, Lennie is very big and bulky, while George is small with a tanned face. The director changed the order of the story at the beginning by starting with the girl in the red dress, this was probably changed in order to grab the audience intension at the beginning of the film so then they would want to watch on to see whats happening. Right from the start of the movie you can see that Lennie has a mental illness, and George is taking care of him like a father the same as it is with the novel. Also, you can tell that George gets impatient with Lennie numerous times and that he gets frustrated very easily. I thought the role of George was played very well by Gary Sinise who seems to bring out the role of George perfectly as he coveys Georges caring side as well. As for Lennie this role is probably more of a challenge as he is difficult to convey without sounding cartoonish, John Malkovich didnt work wonders for the role as he used such a silly voice, though if he had used a normal way of speaking the audience would probably find it difficult to see him as mentally handy capped.

Light Pollution In Hong Kong Environmental Sciences Essay

Light Pollution In Hong Kong Environmental Sciences Essay Hong Kong is well-known as the Pearl of the Orient because of its bright lights of skyline at night. It is generally acknowledged by business parties that the brighter the lights in the city, the more business opportunities they will grab. (Lau, 2012) Nevertheless, behind this glamorous metropolitan city, the overuse of outdoor lighting facilities sacrifices Hong Kongs valuable natural resources and citizens good living environment. Light pollution caused by it has been increasing rapidly and is an environmental problem, which also has similar adverse impacts as other pollution such as air, noise, plagued Hong Kong in this decade. Thus, the Government has taken a pragmatic approach to tackle the problem with an issue of Guidelines on Industry Best Practices for External Lighting Installations at the beginning of this year. (Environment Bureau, et al., 2012) However, it is deemed to be far less than enough to ease serious light pollution in this flourishing city. The purpose of this paper is twofold: (1) to discuss how light pollution affect the environment and residents; and (2) to analyze relation between light pollution problem and different aspect which include public awareness, business and law. Background of Light Pollution Light pollution, also known as photopollution or luminous pollution, is the alteration of natural light levels in the outdoor environment owing to artificial light sources. The increase in night sky brightness due to light pollution diminishes the view of stars and planets. (Cinzano, et al., 2000) Generally, outdoor lights initially are designed for illuminating a specific area on the ground or wall, but in reality, some light spill out to a much larger area. (Pun So, 2009) Some lighting facilities even direct upward and this cause a much more serious light pollution. In Hong Kong, according to the data collected by the Department of Physics at The University of Hong Kong since 2003, the urban night sky is on average 100 times brighter than the darkest rural sites. (Pun So, 2009) This indicates that high population and lighting densities can aggravate light pollution problem. Excessive use of strong spotlights for illuminating advertising billboards and huge neon signs on commercial building are the main factors of light pollution problem in Hong Kong. Other pollution sources include street lamps with poor design of lampshades and pointing direction and other artificial lighting with little regard to fixture shielding. To narrow the scope of light pollution source discussed in this paper, it will mainly focus at lighting facilities for commercial use. Adverse Impact of Light Pollution Light Pollution has adverse effect on natural environment and human beings, such as energy wastage disruption to ecosystem and health problems. (Cheung, 2010) Excessive use of lights leads to a wastage of energy. Some neon signs and lights for illuminating advertising billboards switch on even at midnight when there are only a few people on the street who may have a chance to look at the advertisements. This energy wastage may aggravate air pollution as well as global warning problem because Hong Kongs electricity is generated using coal and natural gas. (HK Electric, 2011) The generation of electricity emits carbon dioxide and other air pollutants. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas. Its increase in atmosphere causes an increase of the temperature world-wide. (Narisada Schreuder, 2004) The excessive use of lighting facilities for commercial use is not essential in our lives and this not only leads to light pollution but also other pollution problem such as global warming and exhaustion of non-renewable resources. As for ecosystem, being an important stop-over point of the East Asia-Australasian Flyway for migratory birds, Hong Kongs excessive outdoor lightings may affect migratory as well as non-migratory birds. It may disorient physiological cycles and the movement of animals. (Travis Catherine, 2004) The breeding patterns of nocturnal animals and insect populations and management of metabolism, development and life programmes of plants are also affected adversely. (Deda, et al., 2007) Human beings may also be the victim of light pollution mainly because their living environment is brighter due to the strong light pollution source such as neon sign. A brighter night area will make them difficult to have a satisfactory sleeping at night. Sleep disruption may cause irritability, tiredness and nervousness in the following day. (Wu Wong, 2012) Their immunity to disease may also decrease and in turn lead to a longer-term health risks. (The Campaign for Dark Skies, 2009) Disruption of sleeping is the most concerned adverse impact by the public since it is the most apparent effect observed in their lives. Light Pollution and Public Awareness Light pollution problem is complicated by public ignorance. In the past, the general public was oblivious to the damage being done and did not value what was destroyed by light pollution. (Berry, 1976) Fortunately, the increasing evidence of adverse effects mentioned above make people start to pay more attention on this issue, but still it is not the most concerned pollution problem in Hong Kong. When local residents were asked about which environmental issues they are most concerned in 2008, more than a half answered drinking water pollution, air pollution, and global warning. (DeGolyer, 2008) Light pollution even did not appear in the choice of answers. This may be because light pollution problem only start to get high publicity in this decade while the public has been educated about other pollution problem for a long time. Public awareness with intrinsic knowledge has played an important role in solving environmental problem. (Bickerstaff Walker, 2001) Take air pollution as an ex ample, the community at large is aware of this problem. The Government, environmental groups, individuals who are environmentalism and other stakeholders have taken a lot of actions to tackle the problem such as implementing mitigation measures, raising public awareness on this issue and trying their little effort to take practical action. Therefore, public awareness contributes to the ease of pollution even though the pollution level has not met an acceptable level yet. It may be pleasing to note that the public awareness of light pollution problem seems to be arising but this may be because more light pollution sources which are mainly from commercial parties exists in urban area. There is a growing number of people lodging complaints about light pollution to the authorities. According to the statistic provided by the Secretary for the Environment, Mr. Edward Yau at the Legislative Council in 2010, complaints about light pollution had increased from 103 in 2007 to 389 in 2009. (Hong Kongs Information Services Department, 2010) This indicates that more light pollution exists in Hong Kong and thus more people are concerned about this pollution problem because it directly affects their living quality to some extent. This increase of public awareness has helped to ease light pollution in Hong Kong. There are more people to urge the Government to have more pragmatic measures in addressing the problem. When complaints are received from abutting residents , some commercial building owners such as The One shopping complex in Tsim Sha Tsui are also willing to reduce the brightness of their lighting facilities. (Cheung, 2011) However, the level of public awareness on light pollution in Hong Kong is far less than enough for a success in solving this problem. Education and publicity measures could be used to increase it so that it can motivate the community to tackle light pollution problem with more effort. Light Pollution and Business Hong Kongs economy relies on commercial and tourism industry heavily. These two industries correlate closely with the increasingly serious light pollution problem. Commercial sector relies on lighting to attract business. So, use of lighting facilities is understandable. However, overuse and over-brightness of their lighting facilities are the main factor of light pollution and should be reduced. Business parties generally pay little attention on light pollution caused by them, even though they emphasize corporate social responsibility. Some of them think that switching off the lights required by the public will eliminate Hong Kongs economic activities at night and deprive local residents of a late dinner break. If residents nearby are not satisfied with their bright lights, they can choose to live in a dimmer district. (Cheung, 2011) So, most of them do not take any practical action to alleviate light pollution problem caused by them. Another problem is due to Hong Kongs famous skyline at night which entices tourists. A majority of tourists visit Hong Kong mainly due to its reputation on neon lights. They look forward to enjoy a spectacular night view in Victoria Harbour with many neon signs on skyscrapers on two sides of the harbour. Since Hong Kongs economy is reliant on tourism, the Government introduced A Symphony of Lights which combines interactive lights of building around Victoria Harbour in 2004 to boost tourism industry. (Tourism Commission, 2005) So, business parties may think that light pollution is only a small side-effect of flourishing tourism industry and fast economic development. These lights and huge neon signs are part of Hong Kongs culture and are often used by commercial sector and even the Government as a tool for attracting tourists and local customers to buy their product and thus stimulate economy. However, in an opinion survey conducted in 2010, people who visited areas of intensive external lighting, including tourists, customers, have a higher proportion considering external lighting signs bright or too bright than shop owners, building owners and property management. (Policy 21 Limited, 2010) So, this indicates that business parties do not need to use such high level of brightness of lighting signs so to attract local and foreign customers. They can adjust the brightness to an acceptable level so that people nearby will not be adversely affected by them while they could still use lighting signs to attract customers. Light Pollution and the Law In Hong Kong, there is no specific ordinance with regard to light pollution. (Legislative Council, 2011) Even the public and green groups have urged the Government to introduce law to combat light pollution, which is similar to what they did to solve other pollution problems, the Government only issued a guideline, namely Guidelines on Industry Best Practices for External Lighting Installations, in January 2012. Different from an ordinance, the voluntary guideline only suggests the Government departments and private sector to have a better external lighting installations. (Environment Bureau, et al., 2012) It is deemed to be toothless to alleviate this increasingly severe environmental problem as no one could enforce business partes. (Cheung, 2011) One of the agruments for no legislation in Hong Kong is that some Asian countries which have similar economies to Hong Kong do not adopt any mandatory regulation over external lighting. (Legislative Council, 2011) However, the urban planning of Hong Kong and these countries should also be considered. Hong Kong has a relatively poor urban planning in the past because of rare land available for development, so residential and commercial buildings were always buit next to each other in urban area, such as Mong Kok and Tsim Sha Tsui; while for other Asian countries, their business area has a clear speration from residential area. Thus, they do not need to use legislation on external lighting of commercial building to solve light pollution problem. In fact, there are many countries, such as Britiain and the United States with mandatory action in regulation of external light. (Legislative Council, 2011) Hong Kong Legislative Council should consider the citys special culture and take partia l approach in mandatory regulation, such as only restricting the applicability of regularoty framework to new lighting installation. In addition, the light from huge neon signs and flashing lights on the top of commercial buildings can even bleed into residential flats nearby with double curtains on windows. This problem cannot be solved only by the residents. Even though they compain to relative authorities, the officials cannot reduce the brightness of the pollution source due to lack of ordinance. So, one of the reugulation may empower the officials to enforce commercial buildings to mitigate their light pollution source to an acceptable level after a complaint about their lighting facilities is lodged. As a result, the citys culture City of the Night will not be altered a lot after the introduction of law regarding external lighting. A mandatory approach to solve light pollution problem should be much better than a voluntary guideline. Conclusion Light pollution has been a widely-discussed topic in Hong Kong in this decade. There has been a call to the Government for working in full swing to map out strategies to solve this environmental problem effectively. A series of short to long term measures, including education, publicity and law enforcement should be implemented. Apart from the Government, all sectors families, communities and public and private organizations at every level must also recognize their roles in alleviating light pollution problem in Hong Kong. In fact, the environment is a public resource that requires collaborative efforts of the whole community to conserve. It would be pleasing to note that everyone is enthusiastic in solving this problem and in the near future, we will create for ourselves and our further generation a better and light-pollution-free city in which to live and work.

Cost Overrun in Construction Projects

Cost Overrun in Construction Projects Aim The aim of the dissertation is to identify and explore the various causes of cost overrun associated with construction projects. Objectives Identifying the main causes of the cost overrun in the construction projects through literature review. To identify the various measures of cost overrun in construction projects. To examine the affects of the cost overrun by analysing the case of a construction industry. Analysing the information from the literature review and case studies to provide further recommendation and suggestions to overcome the cost overrun effect. Research Methodology To achieve the above aims discussed above it is very important to do extensive research by studying books, journals, articles on internet. Qualitative method is the research method that will be the main research method used incorporating Observations Questionnaire Case studies Present dissertation the author has used two main research methods questionnaire survey, case studies. The author has prepared questionnaire with 18 questions and forwarded to 10 companies. The questionnaire survey provided valuable data that can analyse, useful for outcome of the research. The author has studied different case studies from India to identify various causes for failure of the project. Analysis on the case studies gives the idea of various measures to overcome cost overrun. Introduction Constructions are full of risks and include those that may relate to cost overrun, external commercial factors, design, construction and operation. In any construction projects the three primary factors that is time, cost and quality will be likely to subject to risk and uncertainty. This cost overrun can be minimised by the realistic estimation which can be anticipated from the experience and foresight. Managing project costs accurately and responsively is a challenging task for the design team, construction manager, builders and consultant. Effective cost management is dependent on following a consistent methodology, utilizing appropriate standards, concentrating efforts for maximum effectiveness and utilizing all the tools available. The major problem that arises in construction projects is that projects often overrun their cost estimate. This risk of the overrun of cost estimate occurs even with the projects where carefully constructed bottom up cost estimates completed to a very detailed level. In every construction projects the main problem where cost of the entire project is not getting most likely, is because of the usual way of constructing a project estimate at completion is that adding the estimates for all work breakdown structure components (WBS). By conducting a cost risk analysis provides a more accurate and realistic estimates of project costs. Chapter-2 2. Literature Review 2.1 Definition: The process of project of an infrastructure project when planned is the sponsoring department prepares estimates of time and costs or funds needed to complete the project. The expected date of the completion is also announced. But there will arise some different between the actual date of completion from the expected date. We define â€Å"time overrun† as the time difference between the initially planned i.e. expected dates of completion. Therefore, for each project we can define percentage time overrun as the ratio of time overrun and the implementation phase of the project. The implementation of the project is defined as the duration in which project is completed, i.e. the time between the date of approval of the project and the expected date of completion of the project. Similarly cost overrun is defined as the difference between the actual cost and the expected cost of the project. The actual cost is the cost that can be calculated only at the end of the project and the es timated cost is the estimated when the project is planned. The percentage of cost overrun is defined as the ratio of the cost overrun and the initially anticipated cost of the project (Ram Singh, 2009). According to Lewis and Atherly 1996 a delay may have the direct cost implications in terms of an extended construction period. In other words delay leads to the cost overrun and the extended time will have extra expenses or loses by both parties of the project. When a delay can increase cost and reduce profits then organizations will have more considerations on bottom line (Lewis and Atherly 1996) 2.2 Causes of Construction Cost Overrun The survey conducted by Iyer and Jha (2005), on the factors affecting the cost performance of Indian construction projects, including the extent of adverse climatic and economic conditions; unfavorable project specific attributes; top management support; monitoring; feedback, coordination, conflict and knowledge of the project participants; and reluctance to make timely decisions. Of these, coordination among project participants was found to be the most significant of all factors, having a maximum positive influence on the cost performance. Semple et al. (1994), examined causes of claims, delays and cost overrun on twenty four projects in western Canada. The study identified the following as critical factors that lead to cost overruns are (1) contract variations and extras, (2) disputes, (3) soil and site conditions, and (4) delays. The author stressed the need by the industry practitioners (clients, contractors, professionals) to pay maximum attention to the critical factors in order to minimize cost overrun risks. Chan et al. (1997), examined the principal and common causes of delays which leads to cost overrun in Hong Kong construction projects. The study identified the following factors (1) Poor site management and supervision, (2) unforeseen ground conditions, (3) low speed of decision making by project teams, (4) client-initiated variations and (5)necessary variations of work, as major cause of delay. Flybjerg et.al. (2003), pointed out to cost estimates as highly, systematically and significantly misleading. According to Flybjerg et al. (2004), the causes for the cost overrun in the construction projects is as follows (1) The length of the project in the implementation phase, (2) the size of the project and (3) the type of project ownership. According investigation carried by Assaf et al. (1995), on causes of delay in high rise building construction projects in Saudi Arabia, the most important causes are found to be as follows (1) Inadequate designs, (2) slow work progress on site, (3) late payment for completed works and (5) design changes by owners. Here from the above investigation it is proven that all these factors are caused by the lapses in human input factor. N R Mansfield et al. (1994), investigated and examined the causes of delay and cost overrun in Nigerian projects. The investigation identified the following factors that are attributed to the overrun are finance and payments arrangements, poor or in experience contracting management, material shortages or excess of the materials, inaccurate estimating, and overall price fluctuations The analysis according to Ram Singh (2009), has shown that there has been significant decline in the time and cost since from early 1980s in India. The investigation shows that major causes for the delays and cost overruns observed in India are deficient project planning process, use of inappropriate procurement contracts and faulty contract management. In regards to project type, the bigger projects are much more vulnerable to cost overruns. Ram Singh also stated that several kinds of organisational-cum-institutional failure also affect greatly to time and cost overruns. The studies conducted by Elinwa et al. (2001) on the relative contribution of human personnel parties to the projects time overruns and cost overruns in Nigerian Construction industry states that the contribution of clients, contractors and others were 62%, 32% and 6%. The study stated that on the government or private sector projects the delays were at 89% with irrespective of project size. The study also identified the important factors of cost overrun and time overrun are mode of financing, payment delays for the completed works, improper planning and project time and cost underestimation. Kaming et al. (1997), examined factors influencing constriction delays (time overrun) and cost escalations, in Indonesian cities. They identified project cost underestimation and project complexity as the main causes of project delays and cost overruns. Chan and KumaraSwamy had conducted a survey on the factors causing the delays in Hong Kong construction projects and had classified them into two groups: (1) the role of the parties in the local construction industry (whether client, consultant or contractor) and (2) the type of projects. The result shows that five major causes for the delays and cost overrun were poor site management and supervision, unforeseen ground condition, low speed of decision making involving all project teams, client initiated variations and necessary variation of work. Cost underestimation is the one of the main factors for the cost overrun in construction projects. According to the Flyvbjerg, (2003), the cost underestimation exists across 2 nations and 5 continents and it is global phenomenon. The explanation for the cost underestimation is in four types. Technical Psychological Economic Political Technical Explanation: Most studies in infrastructure projects that compare actual cost at the completion of the project and estimated cost at the initial contract explain as Forecasting Error in technical terms such as imperfect techniques, inadequate data, honest mistakes, inherent problems in predicting the future, lack of experience on the part of forecast, etc,. [Flyvbjerg, 2003]. Psychological Explanation: Psychological explanations attempts to explain biases in forecasts by a bias in the mental makeup of the project promoters and forecasters. Politicians may have a Monument Complex engineers like build things, and local transportation officials sometimes have the mentality of empire builders in building roads, railways and bridges. The most common psychological explanation is probably â€Å"appraisal optimism†. According to this explanation, promoters and forecasters are held to be overly optimistic about the project outcomes in the appraisal phase, when the projects are planned and decided. [coated in Flyvbjerg, 2003]. Political Explanation: Political explanations construe cost underestimation in terms of interests and power (Flyvbjerg, 1998). According to Flyvbjerg, 2003, one of the key questions for political explanations is whether forecasts are intentionally biased to serve the interests of project promoters in getting projects started. Cost estimation cannot be explained by the errors and seems to best explained by strategic misrepresentation i.e., lying. These questions of lying are notoriously hard to answer. For legal, economic, moral and other reasons, if promoters and forecasters have intentionally fabricated a deceptive cost estimate for a project to get it started, they are unlikely to tell the researchers and others that this is the case. Economical Explanation: Economic explanations say that cost underestimation in terms of economic rationality. Flyvbjerg, 2003, in his journal stated that there exist two types of economic explanation. One explains in terms of economic self-interest, the other in terms of public interest. In case of the economic self -interest, during the process of the project it creates the work for the engineers and construction firms, and many stakeholders who are directly or indirectly attached with the project make money. These stakeholders in directly involved in would influence the forecasting process of the project, which in turn influence the outcomes the ways that make it more likely that the project will be built. Stakeholders would likely increase in their revenues and profit by having the cost underestimation and benefits over estimation which would be economically rational for such type of stake holders. In case of the second term public interest, project promoters and forecasters may intensively underestimate cost in order to provide public officials with an incentive to cut costs and thereby to save the publics money. According to this type of explanation, the more cost estimate is the incentive of the wasteful contracts to spend more of the tax payers money. Hence the both types of the economic explanation account well for the systematic underestimation of the costs. Several researchers on the subject of construction cost overruns have come out with significant findings that factors that leads to time overrun (construction delays), will eventually leads to cost overrun. From the above literature it is also found that the size of the construction project is also one of the main reasons which influence the cost overrun. The researchers stated that the main factor leading to delays have been always studied alongside those leading to cost overrun. 2.3 Cost overrun in India Background Cost overrun is becoming common in infrastructure projects. Through the various analyses it is found that the time delay and the cost overrun are the main reasons for the poor project performance. Morris and Hough found 63% of 1778 different types of projects funded by the World Bank between 1974 and 1988, experienced significant cost overrun. kamrul Ahsan and Indra Gunawan, (2008), in studies conducted on the time and cost performances in Asian countries had found out only few projects i.e. 13% are completed within time and budgeted cost. In contrast more projects are time delay and cost over run on an average amount of over spending U.S. $73million, i.e. 22% average planned cost. The case study conducted by the Standish group (2004) for IT projects the has found that the average cost overrun was 43%, 71% of projects were over budget, over time and under scope and the total waste was estimated at U.S. $5 billion per year in U.S.A alone. In-accuracy in cost estimates is also one of t he main factors for the cost overrun in the construction projects. According Flyvbjerg (2002), the under estimation of costs in construction were almost 9 out 10 projects. For randomly selected projects, the likelihood of actual costs being larger than estimated cost is 86%. The likelihood of the actual costs for the construction projects is being lower than or equal to estimated cost is 14%. The actual cost of the projects on average is 28% higher than the estimated cost. The best example for the above case is Suez Canal was constructed at costs three times of the estimated cost with 1,900 percent (Flyvbjerg et al, 2002). The Kakkad hydro -electric projct could be commissioned in time in 1986 itself, 8 years after its construction started. Accounting for general price inflation during this period , thecapital cost of this project by 1986 would be atmost only rs 39.66 crores, savings as much as Rs. 113.86 crores, almost enough to construct 3 more similar plant, or to add to the syst em capacity y another 140 MW at the nominal cost of Kakkad project in Kerala (Kannan and pillai 2001). The ultimate motive in undertaking the project is to make profit. These profits may be measured in different ways and the most familiar profit is money. The goals of the others in making the project may be to make work, to improve living standards, in produce of the products to the others who require it or in scarce, to obtain votes for the political carrier and many others. The ultimate result should be the positive outcome during the construction of the project or in the life of the project. Every project has to undergo several stages starting from the planning of the project, approval, awarding the project to the actual construction and so on. The project life cycle has been divided into three phases they are development phase, construction phase, and operation and maintenance phase. For every project during the development phase the project authority will approves the time and funds needed for the completion of the project. Then after the approval of the project the construction phase will start with the signing of a contract between the sponsoring department and the contractor. Generally the contractor of the project will be selected through the tender or bidding process. For some projects contractor will be for only procurement process. During the construction phase it is very important for the timely completion of the project, so there should be the active cooperation between the sponsoring authority, the contractor and other departments. The project success i.e. wh ether the project can be delivered on time and on cost depends on how well all the activities of the projects, departments of the projects and individuals concerned are coordinated. The failures among the contractor activities will cause delays in the project and cost overruns. For the ease of exposition, it is helpful to divide the set of possible causes in the following subgroups (Ram Sing, 2009). 2.3.1. Technical and Natural Factors: It is a complex problem for the estimation of the time and cost for an infrastructure projects, though the techniques for the estimation have been sophisticated there are many imperfect estimations. The contractors and the authorities of the project will better understand about the materials requirement and the necessary changes in the project as the work on the project starts. For example, during the construction phase of the road project, an unexpectedly poor quality of soil may make the changes in the design and quality of the bitumen, from what was initially planned. Because such changes the project may require extra time as well as funds. But in some cases the sudden changes may turn in favor of the project and the parties may find the excessive funds and time. Similarly natural factors like floods and so on also impact the cost and time and as well as destroy the project assets. The natural factors also make favorable conditions in saving the construction time and cost. However , one would expect the effects of the technical and natural factors to be random without any bias. Also form the above discussions the time delay and cost overrun is expected to come down over the years. Therefore if the decline in the time delay and cost overrun is expected to be statistically significant, we attribute the decline to the technical and natural constraints. Time and cost overrun. Hence, the Design changes, unforeseen geological and weather condition during the construction phase are the major causes of the cost overrun. (Ram Singh, 2009) 2.3.2 The Contractual Failures. As explained earlier the contractor enters the project mostly through bidding in implementation or construction phase by signing the contract with the sponsoring department. Thus for a project to be successful, mostly depends on the implementation of the activities by contractor and the joint and timely efforts of the sponsoring authority and the contractor(s). The actual initial construction or procurement contract is signed between the employer and the contractor is on a particular date. The contract agreement specifies the activities that are performed and delivery of the goods at the project execution by the contractor. In general, contract known as â€Å"complete-contingent-contracts which can ensure that the project is completed on time and within budget. These types of contracts are assumed to give the each and every detail of the activities that are performed by the contractor in each possible case during the construction phase. But in real case scenario, however, this is di fficult to explain the every work which unfolds in construction phase during the initial phase of the contract. Moreover it does not explain the complete every relevant aspect of the project activities. The bounded relationship of the parties along with the technological constraints makes the contract very difficult in specifying the every aspect of the project till last detail, this is because of the nature of different states require different modifications in the assets to be built. This happens commonly for the contracts of the infrastructure projects because of its complex nature of the activities. Therefore the procurement contracts of the infrastructure projects will be incomplete nature. The need for the future works arises once when the contractors starts the work. For example, on a railway project it may be necessary to have more of manned-crossings or railway-over-bridges than were planned initially. These unplanned additional works requires more funds and also in some ca ses it takes more time. Therefore, from the above discussion the contract incompleteness is also a cause of the cost overrun in some cases. This contractual incompleteness increases with the increase in the project size. Bigger the project size the complexity also increases. As the complexity of the project increases it is very difficult to provide the each every detail in the initial contract. However the initial contract should be kept with less incomplete. A proper planning for the technical, materials and the activities aspects of the project can enable the parties involved in the project to make the detail initial contract properly and once the proper detailed initial contract is made the contractor may have the scope to make some allowance for the future works by keeping the initial contract with less incomplete. In contrast, the poor planning may lead to the bad estimation of the time and cost and so will be the initial contract. The process of project planning in India is in famous for its ad-hoc and lackadaisical approach. The detailed project reports and feasibility are prepared for the formality purpose and hence they are sloppy. This leads to the incomplete initial contract for the infrastructure projects. Thus this leads to sever problems for the complex projects, because, a lackadaisical planning will produces only sketchy estimates of time and cost. So, in these cases the initial contracts for the complex projects will inevitably omit many more detailed works of the project, which leads in cost overrun in the construction phase of the project. Neither the contractors nor the officials find these contracts are lack of details. From this the major cause which is leading to cost overrun in India is because of the contractual failures caused by the poor contracting processes and inferior project planning (Ram Singh, 2009). The example for the faulty planning techniques and construction made the cost and time overrun of the project in the Kerala state hydro project in kakkad where the leakage in the tunnel had costs the project extra 15 Lacks to repair the damage.( Kannan and pillai 2001). 2.3.3 Organizational failures: As discussed from the above literature, for the successful completion of the infrastructure i.e. timely and efficient execution the project should have active participation of the all parties involved in the projects and as well as among various ministries. However, the government sector projects are inherently weak in the desired efforts from the people involved in the projects. There will be conflicts at each and every stage of the project with the individual and the social objectives. The wages and rewards given by the government for the working organization are not as effective from the view point as a motivation. Therefore, the government infrastructure projects have to face many sources of failures within the organization. These projects mostly in need of the several other organizations joint effort. In India different departments are responsible for different projects. For example, project implementation of power lines, water lines, sewer lines and environmental clearances and other such activities are performed by the different departments. Execution of the activities is highly dependent on the timely and joint efforts of the department. However the interdependence of efforts is that it will be easy for one department to pass the blame on others. So the infrastructure projects particularly India is vulnerable to these inter-organizational failures. In the project implementation stage as explained earlier several departments were involved in performing there concerned role. After all, the activities like land acquisition, shifting of utilities, etc., are performed by the state government. This says that if the project is span across more than one state, the project has deal with particular department in each state. Therefore the project which is spanning more than one state will have more chances to inter-organizational failures. If these projects are statistically causes the delay in time and cost overrun, then the project which are spanning across mult iple states should experience the cost overrun and time delay. Most construction projects in government sector are Roads, Rail ways and urban development sector. The projects should need permission from the central and state government for the environmental clearance. When compared other sectors, these projects require more active cooperation of the several departments such as land acquisition, shifting of power lines, water lines, sewer lines etc. Hence the projects in these sectors are having more chances of the organizational failure. Thus projects in road, rail ways and urban development sectors will exhibits more time delays and cost overrun (Ram Singh, 2009). Kannan and Pillai 2001, in their studies on the cost and time overrun in Kerala Projects suggested that main cause of the cost overrun is due to the human resource management and labours strike. According to the Auti, et,al. (2008), there has been several changes which should be made to the quality and standards, personal interests, low transparency and corruption . This also suggests that changes should be made in government policy and the way public sector projects are carried out. 2.3.4 Economic Factors: In India the projects are located in some states and the economy of the state also impacts the cost overrun of the projects. That is the states having the good transportation facilities, power and telecommunication infrastructure to easily execute the project. This shows that project with more economic factors like good infrastructure will face less cost overrun and time delays and vice versa. The income level of the state will also affect the project cost and time (Ram Singh, 2009). 2.3.5 Inflation: The inflation is defined as the rate of increase in the price level of the materials than they are in an economy (Adamson, 1996). Thus because of the inflation the materials cost will be increased than they during the initial contract, thus increases the estimated cost of the project. The affect inflation may cause the loss in profit to the contractor and project overrun cost to the project sponsor by the nature of process and the return of the work undertaken during the construction process. For example the kakkad(Kerala, India), hydro electric plant which has the time overrun 13 years as in 1999, when it was finally commissioned, the cost escalation of this project was 725 percent over the above estimates i.e. 8 times more than the actual cost the author says the cost escalation of this project is because of the price inflation(Kannan and pillai 2001 ). 2.3.6 Quality of the materials The low quality materials cause higher construction costs than expected because of lack of standards in the materials. This results in the loss of materials and poor management system (Thungphanich, 1997). 2.3.7. Shortage in materials Shortages in basic materials like sand, cement, stones, iron and brick causes major delay in the construction. The non availability of the machinery at the right of the construction process is also major cause for the delay in the construction. The following table shows that the various sectors which went the time overrun and cost overrun in India. These are the delays and the cost overrun during the years April 1992- September 208 S. No. 2 SECTORS 3 Total no. of projects completed 4 % of projects with Time overrun 5 % Time overrun (as % of implementation phase) 6 % of projects with Cost overrun 7 Cost overrun as a %age of initial cost of all projects 8 % Projects with cost but not time overrun 1 Atomic Energy 11 90.91 84 27.27 84 09 2 Civil Aviation 43 90.70 60 41.86 -01 00 3 Coal 92 60.87 28 22.83 -17 03 4 Finance 1 100.00 303 100.00 133 00 5 Fertilizers 16 62.50 25 25.00 00 13 6 I B 7 100.00 190 42.86 09 00 7 Mines 5 80.00 45 0.00 -26 00 8 Steel 41 80.49 51 19.51 49 05 9 Petrochemicals 3 100.00 74 33.33 14 00 10 Petroleum 119 78.99 33 20.17 -11 03 11 Power 101 62.38 41 47.52 26 05 12 Health and Family Welfare 2 100.00 228 100.00 265 00 13 Railways 120 98.33 83 83.33 84 00 14 Road Transport 147 86.39 47 53.74 08 05 15 Shipping and ports 60 95.00 78 30.00 01 02 16 Telecommunication 60 90.00 109 16.67 -55 00 17 Urban Development 22 100.00 54 40.91 99 00 Total/Overall projects 850 82.35 56 41.06 21 03 Source: Ram Singh, 2009. 2.4. Measures for the cost overrun 2.4.1. Cost Estimates: For any project the most important aspect in order to meet the funds of the project is the cost estimation. Small misleading in the cost estimation will lead to the project cost overrun or under run. Kerzer (2006) have explained about the factors which are affecting the process of the estimation and which results in the faulty estimation for the construction. The factors such as Misinterpretation of statement of the works, Omission or improperly defined scope, poorly defined or overly optimistic schedule, inaccurate work break down structure, applying improper skill levels to tasks, failure to account of risks, failure to understand or account for cost escalation and inflation, failure to use correct estimating technique. The important aspect to be considered is that many of the above factors which are affecting the cost estimation of the construction cannot be found until and unless the cost control system is implemented within the project. Kerzer (2006) also explained various types of measures in estimating and their accuracy in the cost overrun, they are as follows. (1) Order -of-magnitude estimates: There is no necessary of any engineering data for these types of estimates. Hence they are prepared without any engineering data and mostly they are based on the past experience. The accuracy Cost Overrun in Construction Projects Cost Overrun in Construction Projects Aim The aim of the dissertation is to identify and explore the various causes of cost overrun associated with construction projects. Objectives Identifying the main causes of the cost overrun in the construction projects through literature review. To identify the various measures of cost overrun in construction projects. To examine the affects of the cost overrun by analysing the case of a construction industry. Analysing the information from the literature review and case studies to provide further recommendation and suggestions to overcome the cost overrun effect. Research Methodology To achieve the above aims discussed above it is very important to do extensive research by studying books, journals, articles on internet. Qualitative method is the research method that will be the main research method used incorporating Observations Questionnaire Case studies Present dissertation the author has used two main research methods questionnaire survey, case studies. The author has prepared questionnaire with 18 questions and forwarded to 10 companies. The questionnaire survey provided valuable data that can analyse, useful for outcome of the research. The author has studied different case studies from India to identify various causes for failure of the project. Analysis on the case studies gives the idea of various measures to overcome cost overrun. Introduction Constructions are full of risks and include those that may relate to cost overrun, external commercial factors, design, construction and operation. In any construction projects the three primary factors that is time, cost and quality will be likely to subject to risk and uncertainty. This cost overrun can be minimised by the realistic estimation which can be anticipated from the experience and foresight. Managing project costs accurately and responsively is a challenging task for the design team, construction manager, builders and consultant. Effective cost management is dependent on following a consistent methodology, utilizing appropriate standards, concentrating efforts for maximum effectiveness and utilizing all the tools available. The major problem that arises in construction projects is that projects often overrun their cost estimate. This risk of the overrun of cost estimate occurs even with the projects where carefully constructed bottom up cost estimates completed to a very detailed level. In every construction projects the main problem where cost of the entire project is not getting most likely, is because of the usual way of constructing a project estimate at completion is that adding the estimates for all work breakdown structure components (WBS). By conducting a cost risk analysis provides a more accurate and realistic estimates of project costs. Chapter-2 2. Literature Review 2.1 Definition: The process of project of an infrastructure project when planned is the sponsoring department prepares estimates of time and costs or funds needed to complete the project. The expected date of the completion is also announced. But there will arise some different between the actual date of completion from the expected date. We define â€Å"time overrun† as the time difference between the initially planned i.e. expected dates of completion. Therefore, for each project we can define percentage time overrun as the ratio of time overrun and the implementation phase of the project. The implementation of the project is defined as the duration in which project is completed, i.e. the time between the date of approval of the project and the expected date of completion of the project. Similarly cost overrun is defined as the difference between the actual cost and the expected cost of the project. The actual cost is the cost that can be calculated only at the end of the project and the es timated cost is the estimated when the project is planned. The percentage of cost overrun is defined as the ratio of the cost overrun and the initially anticipated cost of the project (Ram Singh, 2009). According to Lewis and Atherly 1996 a delay may have the direct cost implications in terms of an extended construction period. In other words delay leads to the cost overrun and the extended time will have extra expenses or loses by both parties of the project. When a delay can increase cost and reduce profits then organizations will have more considerations on bottom line (Lewis and Atherly 1996) 2.2 Causes of Construction Cost Overrun The survey conducted by Iyer and Jha (2005), on the factors affecting the cost performance of Indian construction projects, including the extent of adverse climatic and economic conditions; unfavorable project specific attributes; top management support; monitoring; feedback, coordination, conflict and knowledge of the project participants; and reluctance to make timely decisions. Of these, coordination among project participants was found to be the most significant of all factors, having a maximum positive influence on the cost performance. Semple et al. (1994), examined causes of claims, delays and cost overrun on twenty four projects in western Canada. The study identified the following as critical factors that lead to cost overruns are (1) contract variations and extras, (2) disputes, (3) soil and site conditions, and (4) delays. The author stressed the need by the industry practitioners (clients, contractors, professionals) to pay maximum attention to the critical factors in order to minimize cost overrun risks. Chan et al. (1997), examined the principal and common causes of delays which leads to cost overrun in Hong Kong construction projects. The study identified the following factors (1) Poor site management and supervision, (2) unforeseen ground conditions, (3) low speed of decision making by project teams, (4) client-initiated variations and (5)necessary variations of work, as major cause of delay. Flybjerg et.al. (2003), pointed out to cost estimates as highly, systematically and significantly misleading. According to Flybjerg et al. (2004), the causes for the cost overrun in the construction projects is as follows (1) The length of the project in the implementation phase, (2) the size of the project and (3) the type of project ownership. According investigation carried by Assaf et al. (1995), on causes of delay in high rise building construction projects in Saudi Arabia, the most important causes are found to be as follows (1) Inadequate designs, (2) slow work progress on site, (3) late payment for completed works and (5) design changes by owners. Here from the above investigation it is proven that all these factors are caused by the lapses in human input factor. N R Mansfield et al. (1994), investigated and examined the causes of delay and cost overrun in Nigerian projects. The investigation identified the following factors that are attributed to the overrun are finance and payments arrangements, poor or in experience contracting management, material shortages or excess of the materials, inaccurate estimating, and overall price fluctuations The analysis according to Ram Singh (2009), has shown that there has been significant decline in the time and cost since from early 1980s in India. The investigation shows that major causes for the delays and cost overruns observed in India are deficient project planning process, use of inappropriate procurement contracts and faulty contract management. In regards to project type, the bigger projects are much more vulnerable to cost overruns. Ram Singh also stated that several kinds of organisational-cum-institutional failure also affect greatly to time and cost overruns. The studies conducted by Elinwa et al. (2001) on the relative contribution of human personnel parties to the projects time overruns and cost overruns in Nigerian Construction industry states that the contribution of clients, contractors and others were 62%, 32% and 6%. The study stated that on the government or private sector projects the delays were at 89% with irrespective of project size. The study also identified the important factors of cost overrun and time overrun are mode of financing, payment delays for the completed works, improper planning and project time and cost underestimation. Kaming et al. (1997), examined factors influencing constriction delays (time overrun) and cost escalations, in Indonesian cities. They identified project cost underestimation and project complexity as the main causes of project delays and cost overruns. Chan and KumaraSwamy had conducted a survey on the factors causing the delays in Hong Kong construction projects and had classified them into two groups: (1) the role of the parties in the local construction industry (whether client, consultant or contractor) and (2) the type of projects. The result shows that five major causes for the delays and cost overrun were poor site management and supervision, unforeseen ground condition, low speed of decision making involving all project teams, client initiated variations and necessary variation of work. Cost underestimation is the one of the main factors for the cost overrun in construction projects. According to the Flyvbjerg, (2003), the cost underestimation exists across 2 nations and 5 continents and it is global phenomenon. The explanation for the cost underestimation is in four types. Technical Psychological Economic Political Technical Explanation: Most studies in infrastructure projects that compare actual cost at the completion of the project and estimated cost at the initial contract explain as Forecasting Error in technical terms such as imperfect techniques, inadequate data, honest mistakes, inherent problems in predicting the future, lack of experience on the part of forecast, etc,. [Flyvbjerg, 2003]. Psychological Explanation: Psychological explanations attempts to explain biases in forecasts by a bias in the mental makeup of the project promoters and forecasters. Politicians may have a Monument Complex engineers like build things, and local transportation officials sometimes have the mentality of empire builders in building roads, railways and bridges. The most common psychological explanation is probably â€Å"appraisal optimism†. According to this explanation, promoters and forecasters are held to be overly optimistic about the project outcomes in the appraisal phase, when the projects are planned and decided. [coated in Flyvbjerg, 2003]. Political Explanation: Political explanations construe cost underestimation in terms of interests and power (Flyvbjerg, 1998). According to Flyvbjerg, 2003, one of the key questions for political explanations is whether forecasts are intentionally biased to serve the interests of project promoters in getting projects started. Cost estimation cannot be explained by the errors and seems to best explained by strategic misrepresentation i.e., lying. These questions of lying are notoriously hard to answer. For legal, economic, moral and other reasons, if promoters and forecasters have intentionally fabricated a deceptive cost estimate for a project to get it started, they are unlikely to tell the researchers and others that this is the case. Economical Explanation: Economic explanations say that cost underestimation in terms of economic rationality. Flyvbjerg, 2003, in his journal stated that there exist two types of economic explanation. One explains in terms of economic self-interest, the other in terms of public interest. In case of the economic self -interest, during the process of the project it creates the work for the engineers and construction firms, and many stakeholders who are directly or indirectly attached with the project make money. These stakeholders in directly involved in would influence the forecasting process of the project, which in turn influence the outcomes the ways that make it more likely that the project will be built. Stakeholders would likely increase in their revenues and profit by having the cost underestimation and benefits over estimation which would be economically rational for such type of stake holders. In case of the second term public interest, project promoters and forecasters may intensively underestimate cost in order to provide public officials with an incentive to cut costs and thereby to save the publics money. According to this type of explanation, the more cost estimate is the incentive of the wasteful contracts to spend more of the tax payers money. Hence the both types of the economic explanation account well for the systematic underestimation of the costs. Several researchers on the subject of construction cost overruns have come out with significant findings that factors that leads to time overrun (construction delays), will eventually leads to cost overrun. From the above literature it is also found that the size of the construction project is also one of the main reasons which influence the cost overrun. The researchers stated that the main factor leading to delays have been always studied alongside those leading to cost overrun. 2.3 Cost overrun in India Background Cost overrun is becoming common in infrastructure projects. Through the various analyses it is found that the time delay and the cost overrun are the main reasons for the poor project performance. Morris and Hough found 63% of 1778 different types of projects funded by the World Bank between 1974 and 1988, experienced significant cost overrun. kamrul Ahsan and Indra Gunawan, (2008), in studies conducted on the time and cost performances in Asian countries had found out only few projects i.e. 13% are completed within time and budgeted cost. In contrast more projects are time delay and cost over run on an average amount of over spending U.S. $73million, i.e. 22% average planned cost. The case study conducted by the Standish group (2004) for IT projects the has found that the average cost overrun was 43%, 71% of projects were over budget, over time and under scope and the total waste was estimated at U.S. $5 billion per year in U.S.A alone. In-accuracy in cost estimates is also one of t he main factors for the cost overrun in the construction projects. According Flyvbjerg (2002), the under estimation of costs in construction were almost 9 out 10 projects. For randomly selected projects, the likelihood of actual costs being larger than estimated cost is 86%. The likelihood of the actual costs for the construction projects is being lower than or equal to estimated cost is 14%. The actual cost of the projects on average is 28% higher than the estimated cost. The best example for the above case is Suez Canal was constructed at costs three times of the estimated cost with 1,900 percent (Flyvbjerg et al, 2002). The Kakkad hydro -electric projct could be commissioned in time in 1986 itself, 8 years after its construction started. Accounting for general price inflation during this period , thecapital cost of this project by 1986 would be atmost only rs 39.66 crores, savings as much as Rs. 113.86 crores, almost enough to construct 3 more similar plant, or to add to the syst em capacity y another 140 MW at the nominal cost of Kakkad project in Kerala (Kannan and pillai 2001). The ultimate motive in undertaking the project is to make profit. These profits may be measured in different ways and the most familiar profit is money. The goals of the others in making the project may be to make work, to improve living standards, in produce of the products to the others who require it or in scarce, to obtain votes for the political carrier and many others. The ultimate result should be the positive outcome during the construction of the project or in the life of the project. Every project has to undergo several stages starting from the planning of the project, approval, awarding the project to the actual construction and so on. The project life cycle has been divided into three phases they are development phase, construction phase, and operation and maintenance phase. For every project during the development phase the project authority will approves the time and funds needed for the completion of the project. Then after the approval of the project the construction phase will start with the signing of a contract between the sponsoring department and the contractor. Generally the contractor of the project will be selected through the tender or bidding process. For some projects contractor will be for only procurement process. During the construction phase it is very important for the timely completion of the project, so there should be the active cooperation between the sponsoring authority, the contractor and other departments. The project success i.e. wh ether the project can be delivered on time and on cost depends on how well all the activities of the projects, departments of the projects and individuals concerned are coordinated. The failures among the contractor activities will cause delays in the project and cost overruns. For the ease of exposition, it is helpful to divide the set of possible causes in the following subgroups (Ram Sing, 2009). 2.3.1. Technical and Natural Factors: It is a complex problem for the estimation of the time and cost for an infrastructure projects, though the techniques for the estimation have been sophisticated there are many imperfect estimations. The contractors and the authorities of the project will better understand about the materials requirement and the necessary changes in the project as the work on the project starts. For example, during the construction phase of the road project, an unexpectedly poor quality of soil may make the changes in the design and quality of the bitumen, from what was initially planned. Because such changes the project may require extra time as well as funds. But in some cases the sudden changes may turn in favor of the project and the parties may find the excessive funds and time. Similarly natural factors like floods and so on also impact the cost and time and as well as destroy the project assets. The natural factors also make favorable conditions in saving the construction time and cost. However , one would expect the effects of the technical and natural factors to be random without any bias. Also form the above discussions the time delay and cost overrun is expected to come down over the years. Therefore if the decline in the time delay and cost overrun is expected to be statistically significant, we attribute the decline to the technical and natural constraints. Time and cost overrun. Hence, the Design changes, unforeseen geological and weather condition during the construction phase are the major causes of the cost overrun. (Ram Singh, 2009) 2.3.2 The Contractual Failures. As explained earlier the contractor enters the project mostly through bidding in implementation or construction phase by signing the contract with the sponsoring department. Thus for a project to be successful, mostly depends on the implementation of the activities by contractor and the joint and timely efforts of the sponsoring authority and the contractor(s). The actual initial construction or procurement contract is signed between the employer and the contractor is on a particular date. The contract agreement specifies the activities that are performed and delivery of the goods at the project execution by the contractor. In general, contract known as â€Å"complete-contingent-contracts which can ensure that the project is completed on time and within budget. These types of contracts are assumed to give the each and every detail of the activities that are performed by the contractor in each possible case during the construction phase. But in real case scenario, however, this is di fficult to explain the every work which unfolds in construction phase during the initial phase of the contract. Moreover it does not explain the complete every relevant aspect of the project activities. The bounded relationship of the parties along with the technological constraints makes the contract very difficult in specifying the every aspect of the project till last detail, this is because of the nature of different states require different modifications in the assets to be built. This happens commonly for the contracts of the infrastructure projects because of its complex nature of the activities. Therefore the procurement contracts of the infrastructure projects will be incomplete nature. The need for the future works arises once when the contractors starts the work. For example, on a railway project it may be necessary to have more of manned-crossings or railway-over-bridges than were planned initially. These unplanned additional works requires more funds and also in some ca ses it takes more time. Therefore, from the above discussion the contract incompleteness is also a cause of the cost overrun in some cases. This contractual incompleteness increases with the increase in the project size. Bigger the project size the complexity also increases. As the complexity of the project increases it is very difficult to provide the each every detail in the initial contract. However the initial contract should be kept with less incomplete. A proper planning for the technical, materials and the activities aspects of the project can enable the parties involved in the project to make the detail initial contract properly and once the proper detailed initial contract is made the contractor may have the scope to make some allowance for the future works by keeping the initial contract with less incomplete. In contrast, the poor planning may lead to the bad estimation of the time and cost and so will be the initial contract. The process of project planning in India is in famous for its ad-hoc and lackadaisical approach. The detailed project reports and feasibility are prepared for the formality purpose and hence they are sloppy. This leads to the incomplete initial contract for the infrastructure projects. Thus this leads to sever problems for the complex projects, because, a lackadaisical planning will produces only sketchy estimates of time and cost. So, in these cases the initial contracts for the complex projects will inevitably omit many more detailed works of the project, which leads in cost overrun in the construction phase of the project. Neither the contractors nor the officials find these contracts are lack of details. From this the major cause which is leading to cost overrun in India is because of the contractual failures caused by the poor contracting processes and inferior project planning (Ram Singh, 2009). The example for the faulty planning techniques and construction made the cost and time overrun of the project in the Kerala state hydro project in kakkad where the leakage in the tunnel had costs the project extra 15 Lacks to repair the damage.( Kannan and pillai 2001). 2.3.3 Organizational failures: As discussed from the above literature, for the successful completion of the infrastructure i.e. timely and efficient execution the project should have active participation of the all parties involved in the projects and as well as among various ministries. However, the government sector projects are inherently weak in the desired efforts from the people involved in the projects. There will be conflicts at each and every stage of the project with the individual and the social objectives. The wages and rewards given by the government for the working organization are not as effective from the view point as a motivation. Therefore, the government infrastructure projects have to face many sources of failures within the organization. These projects mostly in need of the several other organizations joint effort. In India different departments are responsible for different projects. For example, project implementation of power lines, water lines, sewer lines and environmental clearances and other such activities are performed by the different departments. Execution of the activities is highly dependent on the timely and joint efforts of the department. However the interdependence of efforts is that it will be easy for one department to pass the blame on others. So the infrastructure projects particularly India is vulnerable to these inter-organizational failures. In the project implementation stage as explained earlier several departments were involved in performing there concerned role. After all, the activities like land acquisition, shifting of utilities, etc., are performed by the state government. This says that if the project is span across more than one state, the project has deal with particular department in each state. Therefore the project which is spanning more than one state will have more chances to inter-organizational failures. If these projects are statistically causes the delay in time and cost overrun, then the project which are spanning across mult iple states should experience the cost overrun and time delay. Most construction projects in government sector are Roads, Rail ways and urban development sector. The projects should need permission from the central and state government for the environmental clearance. When compared other sectors, these projects require more active cooperation of the several departments such as land acquisition, shifting of power lines, water lines, sewer lines etc. Hence the projects in these sectors are having more chances of the organizational failure. Thus projects in road, rail ways and urban development sectors will exhibits more time delays and cost overrun (Ram Singh, 2009). Kannan and Pillai 2001, in their studies on the cost and time overrun in Kerala Projects suggested that main cause of the cost overrun is due to the human resource management and labours strike. According to the Auti, et,al. (2008), there has been several changes which should be made to the quality and standards, personal interests, low transparency and corruption . This also suggests that changes should be made in government policy and the way public sector projects are carried out. 2.3.4 Economic Factors: In India the projects are located in some states and the economy of the state also impacts the cost overrun of the projects. That is the states having the good transportation facilities, power and telecommunication infrastructure to easily execute the project. This shows that project with more economic factors like good infrastructure will face less cost overrun and time delays and vice versa. The income level of the state will also affect the project cost and time (Ram Singh, 2009). 2.3.5 Inflation: The inflation is defined as the rate of increase in the price level of the materials than they are in an economy (Adamson, 1996). Thus because of the inflation the materials cost will be increased than they during the initial contract, thus increases the estimated cost of the project. The affect inflation may cause the loss in profit to the contractor and project overrun cost to the project sponsor by the nature of process and the return of the work undertaken during the construction process. For example the kakkad(Kerala, India), hydro electric plant which has the time overrun 13 years as in 1999, when it was finally commissioned, the cost escalation of this project was 725 percent over the above estimates i.e. 8 times more than the actual cost the author says the cost escalation of this project is because of the price inflation(Kannan and pillai 2001 ). 2.3.6 Quality of the materials The low quality materials cause higher construction costs than expected because of lack of standards in the materials. This results in the loss of materials and poor management system (Thungphanich, 1997). 2.3.7. Shortage in materials Shortages in basic materials like sand, cement, stones, iron and brick causes major delay in the construction. The non availability of the machinery at the right of the construction process is also major cause for the delay in the construction. The following table shows that the various sectors which went the time overrun and cost overrun in India. These are the delays and the cost overrun during the years April 1992- September 208 S. No. 2 SECTORS 3 Total no. of projects completed 4 % of projects with Time overrun 5 % Time overrun (as % of implementation phase) 6 % of projects with Cost overrun 7 Cost overrun as a %age of initial cost of all projects 8 % Projects with cost but not time overrun 1 Atomic Energy 11 90.91 84 27.27 84 09 2 Civil Aviation 43 90.70 60 41.86 -01 00 3 Coal 92 60.87 28 22.83 -17 03 4 Finance 1 100.00 303 100.00 133 00 5 Fertilizers 16 62.50 25 25.00 00 13 6 I B 7 100.00 190 42.86 09 00 7 Mines 5 80.00 45 0.00 -26 00 8 Steel 41 80.49 51 19.51 49 05 9 Petrochemicals 3 100.00 74 33.33 14 00 10 Petroleum 119 78.99 33 20.17 -11 03 11 Power 101 62.38 41 47.52 26 05 12 Health and Family Welfare 2 100.00 228 100.00 265 00 13 Railways 120 98.33 83 83.33 84 00 14 Road Transport 147 86.39 47 53.74 08 05 15 Shipping and ports 60 95.00 78 30.00 01 02 16 Telecommunication 60 90.00 109 16.67 -55 00 17 Urban Development 22 100.00 54 40.91 99 00 Total/Overall projects 850 82.35 56 41.06 21 03 Source: Ram Singh, 2009. 2.4. Measures for the cost overrun 2.4.1. Cost Estimates: For any project the most important aspect in order to meet the funds of the project is the cost estimation. Small misleading in the cost estimation will lead to the project cost overrun or under run. Kerzer (2006) have explained about the factors which are affecting the process of the estimation and which results in the faulty estimation for the construction. The factors such as Misinterpretation of statement of the works, Omission or improperly defined scope, poorly defined or overly optimistic schedule, inaccurate work break down structure, applying improper skill levels to tasks, failure to account of risks, failure to understand or account for cost escalation and inflation, failure to use correct estimating technique. The important aspect to be considered is that many of the above factors which are affecting the cost estimation of the construction cannot be found until and unless the cost control system is implemented within the project. Kerzer (2006) also explained various types of measures in estimating and their accuracy in the cost overrun, they are as follows. (1) Order -of-magnitude estimates: There is no necessary of any engineering data for these types of estimates. Hence they are prepared without any engineering data and mostly they are based on the past experience. The accuracy