Capability Maturity Model Essay Example for Free

Capability Maturity Model Essay This report is split in to two parts, Part A of this report will aim to firstly define the Capability Maturity Model (CMM) and secondly critically asses the importance of the model in relation to Software Quality Management. The aim of Part B will be to first assess the benefits of gaining accreditation against the CMM for software companies, secondly explain why the CMM is important for Indian outsourcing organizations and provide examples of companies, and lastly critically evaluate the differences between the CMM and the TickIT scheme by identifying the strength and weakness of both methods. PART A 2. Capability Maturity Model (CMM) The Capability Maturity Model (CMM) was developed at Carnegie Mellon University by the software Engineering Institute (SEI) and it provides a frame work for process improvement. (8) 2. 1 Five levels of (CMM) CMM has five maturity levels that lay successive foundations for continuous process improvement. Looking at figure1 in 2. 2, we can see that each maturity level comprises a set of process goals that when satisfied, stabilize an important component at the software process. (9). The Capability maturity model is organized in to five levels. Below is a description of each one: * Initial (Level 1): At this level the software process is ad hoc and projects succeed through individual heroism. ( 8) * Repeatable (Level 2): At this level basic project management processes are established to track schedule, cost, and functionality. (9) * Defined (Level 3): At this level the software process for both management and engineering activities is documented, standardized and integrated into a standard software process for the organisation. (9) Even though the Organization has a well defined process, it does not necessarily support it with quantitative measurements. (8) * Managed (Level 4): At this level detailed measures of the software process and product quality are collected and both the software process and product are quantitatively controlled and understood. (9) * Optimizing (Level 5): At this last level the organization makes quantitative measurements of its projects and makes use of those measurements to tune the process. (8) 2. 2 Diagram of the five levels Figure 1. CMM model (2) 3. Important of the model in relation to the SQM A lot of attention has been given to improving the process of designing, developing, and delivering software applications. The Software Engineering Institutes CMM Model is designed to help us evaluate the maturity of our Software development processes. The Capability Maturity Model recognizes that there are tools and processes that, while not directly involved in the production of code, aid in the overall Software Quality Management process. (1) The CMM is now popular and has been effective in emphasizing the importance of process improvement. Process improvement is an important Total Quality Management concept and significant research has focused on the design and evolution of the software development processes with the intent to enhance their capability and maturity. The Software Engineering Institute (SEI) has developed specific models to evaluate, diagnose, and evolve the capabilities of the software development process. (4) As mentioned in 2. 1, the SEIs Capability Maturity Model (CMM) defines an evolutionary path from ad hoc, chaotic processes to mature, disciplined processes. Process maturation, as assessed by the predictability of development outcomes in terms of quality, budget, and schedules is enhanced when feedback is meaningfully generated and utilized to recalibrate and fine tune the software process design. (4) Report evidence have suggested that organizations implementing a Capability Maturity Model-based software process improvement have realized gains in development cycle time and programmer productivity. (4) However Reports also suggest that organizations face difficulties in adhering to the sequence, as recommended by CMM, in which changes to the development process needs to be implemented. (4) In conclusion lack of theory informing the conceptualization of the Capability Maturing Model stages raises questions about the rationale for the suggested sequencing to develop process capabilities. Limited attention has been devoted to define process management, identify and define its constitutive dimensions, and develop reliable and valid measurement instruments for each of these dimensions. (4) Process improvement is one aspect of Total Quality Management that needs to be integrated with other core Total Quality Management principles, such as customer focus and viewing the organization with an integrated systems perspective. These essential aspects of Total Quality Management are currently missing in the Capability Maturity Model (CMM). (4) Integrative theory development is required to understand the relationships between process management practices and other elements of the development organization, which enable or constrain effective process management. (4) Generally the Capability Maturity Model recognizes that moving from a craft approach, where performance is largely a function of individual skills, to a factory approach, where the process plays a dominant role, is necessary to improve software development performance). Many Information System developers could perceive process-based approaches such as the CMM as deskilling their job and increasing managerial control over systems development tasks. Such a change is likely to be resisted by IS developers and could be a cause for failure of these approach. (4)

Chief Justice Earl Warren Essay -- essays research papers fc

Chief Justice Earl Warren Earl Warren was born March 19, 1891 in Los Angeles, California. Earl’s father was a Norwegian immigrant, which left him dealing with prejudice and equal rights at a very young age (Grace, 1). This lead to early indications that law would be Earl’s profession. Even before entering High School, he listened to criminal cases at the Kern County courthouse. Attending the University of California at Berkeley, Warren worked his way through college. He majored in political science for three years before entering the law school at UC. â€Å"He received his B.L. degree in 1912 and his J.D. degree in 1914. On May 14, 1915, he was admitted to the California bar. After graduation Warren worked in law offices in San Francisco and Oakland, the only time in his career when he was engaged in private practice† (White, 61). The young lawyer became a deputy district attorney in Alameda County, and eventually became district attorney in 1925 when is opponent decided to resign from th e race (Weaver, 40). He would go on to win the next four elections. â€Å"During his fourteen years as district attorney, Warren developed a reputation as a crime fighter. As a prosecutor Warren was sometimes accused of high-handedness in his methods, but in thirteen years and in thousands of cases ranging from murder to window-breaking, he never had a conviction reversed by a higher court† (Ely, 964). Warren served as attorney general from 1939-1943, enjoying the image of an effective foe of racketeers. In 1948, Warren was the Republican Party's nominee for vice-president of the United States. He and fellow republican Thomas Dewey would end up losing the race, the only election Warren ever lost, to Democratic candidate Harry S. Truman. In 1953 President Dwight D. Eisenhower appointed Earl Warren the fourteenth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court (Compston, 101). This new job would prove to be the most important and difficult job Warren had ever taken. â€Å"He inherited a court that was deeply divided between those justices who advocated a more active role for the court and those who supported judicial restraint† (Compston, 133). Among the Warren Court's most important decisions was the ruling that made racial segregation in public schools unconstitutional. The Brown vs. The Board of Education case dealt with the segregation of public schools. Although all the schools in a ... ... Brown vs. the Board of Ed. Case from this source. In addition, this book contain a lot of criticism that Warren faced because of his ruling. Weaver, John D. Warren: The Man, the Court, the Era. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1967. -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This book provided information about Warrens career early on, most importantly his becoming District Attorney of California. White, Edward G. Earl Warren: A Public Life. New York: Oxford University Press, 1982. - This source had information about Warren’s accomplishments in school and his job right out of school. Internet Sources: Cray, Ed. â€Å"Landmark case Biography: Earl Warren†. Earl Warren/Brown vs. Board of Ed. Information page. 1997. 5 March 2005 < http://www. landmarkcases.org/brown/warren.html>   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  - This website contained a great deal of information about the Brown vs. Board of Ed. case. Grace, Roger M. â€Å"Earl Warren, Norwegian American†. Earl Warren Information Page. June 1998. 4 March, 2005 < http://www.mnc.net/norway/warren.htm> -  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  This website provided me with information about the end of Warren’s career and his retirement.

Examination of the Role of Evolution Theory Essay

In this paper I will briefly describe the evolutionary theory in general, and specifically as it relates to the study of criminology. I will examine the ways in which natural selection has shaped the processes which motivate human behavior, especially in terms of how competing for limited resources and ensuring that one’s genetic code is passed on are linked to aggressive behavior. Two crimes of which I have personal knowledge will be evaluated, with emphasis placed on the ways in which evolutionary theory may account for the aspects of criminal behavior in each. Finally, I will reflect on the ways in which evolutionary theory may help further our understanding of the causes and predictors of criminal behavior and whether it should become a focus of a practitioner’s efforts to help prevent crime and reduce recidivism on an individual and programmatic level. Evolutionary theory is the study of the ways in which human behavior has been shaped over the history of the development of our species through the process of natural selection. Since human behavior includes criminal behavior, the study of evolutionary theory can he helpful in our understanding of the causes of crime. Evolutionary theory seeks to better understand and possibly predict today’s criminal behavior by examining the history of humans as a species to determine the root source of aggressive and violent behavior. Natural selection is the process by which certain naturally-occurring adaptations get passed on from generation to generation because they provide some advantage to survival and reproduction (reproductive success). Simply stated, if one of our ancestors has a genetic trait that makes him or her more likely to survive, mate, and reproduce in a harsh social and physical climate, this trait will be carried on to his or her children. While on the other hand, an individual lacking this trait will be less likely to reproduce and pass his or her traits on to the next generation. Over time, the gene traits that are favorable to survival and reproduction continue to pass from one generation to the next, to eventually be present in modern man. This is survival of the fittest, that the most genetically fit individuals are the ones who survive and pass their gene pool on to the next generation through sexual reproduction. Evolution through natural selection is a slow process, however, and the environment can change much more quickly than the evolutionary process. This means that the adaptations which increased likelihood of survival and reproduction in our ancestral environment thousands of years ago do not necessarily help us to do so today. Neanderthal’s did not have access to supermarkets, match.com, or central heating. Modern man does have access to plentiful resources, but our brains have not had the time to catch up. In fact, these traits that once helped keep us alive as individuals and as a species can be harmful in our current environment, which is fundamentally different than the environment in which these drives were formed. In his seminal book, On Aggression (1966), Konrad Lorenz posited that aggressive behavior is inherited to help an individual to protect scarce resources, such as mates and food (Lorenz, 1966). Whereas aggression may have made it more likely that you would successfully compete for food and mates in our distant past, it now leads more often to what is considered antisocial and criminal behavior. The two crimes that I will discuss today were carried out by offenders with whom I have worked directly, which provides me with some unique insight into the situations, backgrounds, and psychological mindsets of the actors involved. Last spring, Joe stabbed his girlfriend of 5 years multiple times in the face, chest, and neck. His girlfriend, Donna, sustained multiple life-threatening injuries requiring emergency surgeries and were nearly fatal. If not for the quick response by first responders and the effective interventions of ER staff and doctors, this crime would be classified as a murder. Donna had filed a protection-from-abuse order a year before the assault, after Joe confronted and assaulted her for believing that she had been sleeping with another man. This order was broken several times before the stabbing took place, but Joe was quickly released each time. In my opinion, an evolutionary theorist would say that this act of violence was motivated by the fear of losing one’s mate, and therefore his means by which to reproduce. If this had occurred in our ancestral environment, the motivation may have been more necessary as males would be competing for a limited number of female mates, but this is certainly not the case today. Some other facts about Joe are that he was diagnosed with bi-polar disorder and was not medicated because he could not afford his prescriptions. He had dropped out of school in 10th grade, leaving him limited employment opportunities, he was an active substance dependant, and he was raised in a single-parent household after his mother died in a car accident when he was 7. Joe’s father left his other son (Joe’s brother), who was only four years older, to take on the majority of Joe’s upbringing from this point on. In my opinion, even though Joe may have had an innate drive to protect what he believed to be a threat to his mate, it was the lack of protective forces and the presence of a combination of criminogenic risk factors, across multiple disciplines, which led to his criminal behavior. Evolutionary theory might have been able to describe why some of the mechanisms by which Joe’s aggressiveness developed, but it could not account for the crime itself because everyone is born with these same innate aggressive mechanisms. The second crime I will describe was an assault carried out by members of rival gangs in a dispute over a female and rights to prime drug-selling territory. Desmond is a member of the CRIPs gang and is involved in selling cocaine and marijuana in Northeastern PA. He has a prior record of three Possession of a Controlled Substance with Intent to Deliver charges, two convictions for Assault, and was currently on probation. One day during the summer, he came home to his apartments at the Sherman Hills development to find his girlfriend talking with a member of a rival gang, the Bloods, whom she claimed to know from elementary school. The Bloods are also involved in selling drugs in this area, and both gangs often feud over how the territory should be broken up, but this area was clearly marked as belonging to the CRIPs. Desmond confronted the man, and after he claimed that he was â€Å"disrespected†, beat him up and smashed his head on the curb with his foot. Evolution theorists would state that the motivations involved in this crime would be hatred between rivals (unrelated acquaintances) based on competition for limited materials and intangible resources like social status and respect (Daly & Wilson, 1997). The resources in this case being exclusive access to the money to be made in an area with a high concentration of â€Å"consumers†. The other environmental factors at play here are the perceived threat to Desmond’s girlfriend, or mate, who is the means by which his gene pool will be passed on. In addition, Desmond gave as reasoning for his crime the fact that he had been disrespected and had to reassert his social status through a violent reaction. Although I believe all of these evolutionary motivations to be valid, I don’t believe that it was innate drive alone which led to this crime. Anyone who is in a situation where he feels disrespected becomes angry, but not everyone responds by causing permanent damage to the offender’s facial nerves. As Bartol & Bartol state, â€Å"there is little evidence to justify portraying humans as innately dangerous and brutal or as controlled by instinct† (Bartol, 2011, p. 116). I believe that it was the presence and interplay of a number of criminogenic risk factors which decided whether this interaction would end with words or fists. In this case, the risk factors with the most influence on behavior were low socioeconomic status, lack of a pro-social peer group, lack of access to gainful employment opportunities, and antisocial attitudes and beliefs, among others. There were the difference between how you or I would have reacted and how a gang member reacts. If these risk factors were mitigated by programs initiated to reduce Desmond’s criminogenic risk and to provide him with access to protective factors, the crime most likely could have been avoided. There would be no way, however, to change his innate biological drives, developed over thousands of years of evolution, because these drives are static. I believe that evolutionary theory can help us better understand how and why the physiology and functioning of the brain developed the way it did through the process of natural selection. I also believe that this can be useful to our â€Å"investigation of the mind’s structure and operations† (Daly & Wilson, 1997). This knowledge can help us look for explanations for why some individuals engage in criminal behavior and to better understand the mechanisms by which this behavior occurs; which can give us insight into developing more effective interventions (Ward & Durant, 2011). I think that the evolutionary theory can help us to understand macro-criminality, but I do not believe that this understanding can help us nearly as much in our search for the causes and predictors of crime on an individual level. Working to reduce an individual offender’s risk of recidivating requires a careful analysis of what factors led him or her to lack the ability to control these in nate drives and an intervention program to help them to learn to do so. Every person alive today has been shaped by the same evolutionary process, so what are the factors that lead some individuals to be able to keep these drives in check and make rational decisions while others give in to their primal desires and engage in criminal behavior? I believe that the answer to this question is that individuals who engage in criminal behavior are exposed to some combination of biological, sociological, and physiological criminogenic risk factors while lacking the presence of protective factors which may have neutralized these risks. On these factors is where I believe we should be focusing our efforts and studies. Daly & Wilson state that the insights into the workings of criminal behavior â€Å"should not be viewed as alternatives to sociological and psychological analysis, but as complementary components of a more complete understanding† (Daly & Wilson, 1997) In this way, I believe evolutionary theory can give us insight into the â€Å"how† and the â€Å"why† of criminal behavior, but I believe we should be looking more closely at the â€Å"who†, â€Å"where†, and â€Å"when†. References Lorenz, K. (1966). On aggression. New York: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich. Daly, M. & Wilson, M. (1997). Crime and conflict: Homicide in evolutionary psychological perspective. Crime & Justice, 22, 51–100. Bartol, C. R., & Bartol, A. M. (2011). Criminal behavior a psychological approach. Upper Saddle River: Prentice Hall. Ward, T. & Durrant, R. (2011). Evolutionary behavioral science and crime: Aetiological and intervention implications. Legal and Criminological Psychology, 16, 193-201.

Oedipus Rex Analisys - 895 Words

In Oedipus Rex, Sophocles portraits one of the most intriguing and fascinating traits of the human nature: the search for truth regarding who we are and the realization of the paths reserved by our future fate. The play starts with the presentation of the main character: Oedipus, the king of Thebes. Sophocles presents Oedipus to the reader as a majestic figure who addresses his attention to the people of Thebes from his palace. The city had been hit by a devastating plague due to Laà ¯os (the previous Theban king) murder and Oedipus was believed to be able to help them overcome that hardship. As the play develops, the reader is provided with the fact that Laà ¯os, Oedipus biological father, and Iocastà ª, his biological mother, learned†¦show more content†¦At the end of the play, Oedipus hit his eyes but he could see the truth about himself. Should we blame Oedipus for everything that happened? Should the king be held responsible for Iocastà ªs death and his own suffering and shame? Indeed, the tragic hero is responsible for some circumstances that happened during the play. For an instance, he was directly connected to Là ¯ons death. He did not control his own emotions and exploded in rage, fatally attacking the former Theban king and his few companions. This action itself was the initial step to his whole tragic fate. But his actions alone should not be considered as enough evidence to blame him if we take the whole context into account. According to the play, Oedipus fate was already set up by the Gods even before his birth. How the king could change and control his own destiny? How would he be able to change Gods wishes? Up to which extent should Oedipus be responsible for the consequences of actions that, although he was part of them, he was unable to control? Oedipus was nothing rather than a key character used b y Apollo who was the true architect of this whole tragedy. The biggest and most fascinating irony in Oedipus Rex was the kings commitment and persistence in finding and punishing Laà ¯os murderer, ignoring the fact that the killer was