My High School Experience Essay

Everyone has heard or been told, â€Å"high school is what you make of it.† High school is in fact what you make of it, but it is also the time of great change in everybody. They say HIGH SCHOOL is the best part of growing up and being a teenager. It is where we can experience things, which we thought we can never make or do. It is where we discover and learn things in our own and it is where we learn to become independent. In my four years of studying here, I discovered that there is more to life than what we had imagined. I am able to learn many things based on what my teachers had taught me and based on my own experiences. I am able to know and to be acquainted with myself more and I am able to distinguish my capabilities and talents. I am able to gain friends and I am able to socialize and mingle more with the people around me. High School to me seemed like it passed by really fast, almost too fast sometimes. I learned many valuable life lessons as well as made lifelong friends. I learned the value of hard work, dedication, and also how to tell your real friends from the others. It was tough but overall a great experience that I will soon miss. Since being a freshman, I have changed in a major way. Coming into high school I was a shy, unmotivated young man that didn’t really know what he was getting into. I am leaving high school a man who is mature, outgoing, and very sure of himself. If high school has taught me anything, it is that you should always have confidence in yourself. If you believe in yourself and you believe that you can achieve anything you want in life, good things will happen to you. Knowing that I am graduating high school and never coming back hasn’t really hit me yet. These four years has been an overall life changing experience that I will never forget.

Poverty: Population Density and Countries Essay

Overpopulation, the situation of having large numbers of people with too few resources and too little space, is closely associated with poverty. It can result from high population density (the ratio of people to land area, usually expressed as numbers of persons per square kilometer or square mile) or from low amounts of resources, or from both. Excessively high population densities put stress on available resources. Only a certain number of people can be supported on a given area of land, and that number depends on how much food and other resources the land can provide. In countries where people live primarily by means of simple farming, gardening, herding, hunting, and gathering, even large areas of land can support only small numbers of people because these labor-intensive subsistence activities produce only small amounts of food. In developed countries such as the United States, Japan, and the countries of western Europe, overpopulation generally is not considered a major cause of poverty. These countries produce large quantities of food through mechanized farming, which depends on commercial fertilizers, large-scale irrigation, and agricultural machinery. This form of production provides enough food to support the high densities of people in metropolitan areas. Read more:Â  Advantages and Disadvantages of Overpopulation A country’s level of poverty can depend greatly on its mix of population density and agricultural productivity. Bangladesh, for example, has one of the world’s highest population densities, with 1,078 persons per sq km (2,791 persons per sq mi). A large majority of the people of Bangladesh engage in low-productivity manual farming, which contributes to the country’s extremely high level of poverty. Some of the smaller countries in western Europe, such as The Netherlands and Belgium, have high population densities as well. These countries practice mechanized farming and are involved in high-tech industries, however, and therefore have high standards of living. At the other end of the spectrum, many countries in sub-Saharan Africa have population densities of less than 30 persons per sq km (80 persons per sq mi). Many people in these countries practice manual subsistence farming; these countries also have infertile land and lack the economic resources and technology to boost productivity. As a consequence, these nations are very poor. The United States has both relatively low population density and high agricultural productivity; it is one of the world’s wealthiest nations. High birth rates contribute to overpopulation in many developing countries. Children are assets to many poor families because they provide labor, usually for farming. Cultural norms in traditionally rural societies commonly sanction the value of large families. Also, the governments of developing countries often provide little or no support, financial or political, for family planning (see Birth Control); even people who wish to keep their families small have difficulty doing so. For all these reasons, developing countries tend to have high rates of population growth. Most developed countries provide considerable political and financial support for family planning. People tend to limit the number of children they have because of the availability of this support. Cultural norms in these countries also tend to affirm the ideal of small family size. Recently, however, some developed countries with declining population levels have begun experimenting with incentives to increase the birth rate. (See also Population: World Population Growth and Distribution.)

Collision Regulations Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Collision Regulations - Essay Example It Important to take into consideration that it is not the high speed that solely becomes the use of a collision or accident. Rather it is the inaccuracy vessel operators have when estimating the speed difference between the vessels that creates much problems. Significant factor to take into regard when contemplating risks and collisions attributed to the advent of an 80 know ferry in the English Channel should encompass: The operator of the vessel has many more responsibilities than speed when preventing a collision. As the term itself implies, speed is a factor associated with timings. Controlling the speed involves evaluation of right timings of actions. When a vessel has to speed up to avoid collision, it must do so immediately. Designing of the vessel's structure and capabilities to meet such situations is a prerequisite. Speed is not the only factor responsible for a maritime collision and in cases of poor visibility and lighting speed is not even a factor. Collisions normally occur during overtaking and when the vessels meet head on. Rule 13(b) of International Collision Regulations states: "A vessel shall be deemed to be overtaking when coming up with another vessel from a direction more than 22.5 degrees abaft her beam, that is, in such a position with reference to the vessel she is overtaking, that at night she would be able to see only the

Reflection on Ellen White Readings Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Reflection on Ellen White Readings - Essay Example Followers of the Christian and Catholic faiths should abide by the law that God had declared. The observance of the Sabbath Day is part of the Ten Commandments that were given by God to Moses at Mt. Sinai. Not all Christians or Catholics follow this commandment anymore. Even the calendar that is being used during the past centuries has their weeks starting on what should be considered as the Sabbath day which is Sunday. The Sabbath Day should be observed by those people who believe not just in the scriptures but also in the whole religious belief. God himself laid out the first week as for man to pattern the succeeding weeks that will come. A statement from White in The Desire of Ages, â€Å"Six days were employed in the work of creation; upon the seventh, God rested, and He then blessed this day and set it apart as a day of rest for man.†2 Many urged that Sundaykeeping had been an established doctrine and a widespread custom of the church for many centuries. Against this argument it was shown that the Sabbath and its observance were more ancient and widespread, even as old as the world itself, and bearing the sanction both of angels and of God.3 Sabbath has been barely observed by people especially during the latter decades of the 20th century and even during the first decades of the 21st century. It would be either people are too busy having their leisure vacations or others may have shifts at work. Because of worldly reasons, people have started to ignore the observance of the Sabbath and stating reasons or justifications that God will understand the fact that they need to work or enjoy at least a day after weeks or months filled with strenuous work. There has been an increasing number in the population who fails to observe the Sabbath Day. Could this be a reason why even when people continuously work hard day and night, they still fail to achieve the contentment in different life aspects? White stated that, â€Å"The true joy of life is

Religious movements in Asia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Religious movements in Asia - Essay Example nged into social and political movements, which forced the governments revise their foreign policies in so many western and eastern countries at international level. The most dynamic religious movements are launched by the Jewish and Islamic fundamentalist parties, which has split the whole world into extremist groups and factions, who are always engaged in terrorist activities and hostilities against their rival factions on the one hand, and against the peaceful citizens of the world on the other jeopardizing the very peace and stability of the world at large. The most significant and influential social and political movement that made imperative alterations in the social and political establishment includes Marxism. Named after eminent German socialist thinker and philosopher of nineteenth century i.e. Karl Marx, the movement got the masses realized at global level regarding their rights and privileges that must have been established on equal foundations on the noble principles of social justice, brotherhood and equality. It was Marxist perspective that gave birth to all social movements in Asia, Europe and Africa during the twentieth century. The people of Africa and Asia stood up against imperialism and demanded freedom from the western imperialism. The movement influenced the American society in such a way that the minority groups particularly the African Americans strived to break the shackles of slavery and successfully won the battle against prejudice and racial discrimination after a long and tiresome struggle against the dominati ng majority group i.e. White Anglo Saxon Population (WASP). Karl Marx views conflict as inevitable in every culture and social set up, which is necessary for its progress and prosperity. Since Marxist perspective was a reaction to the exploitation of the lower stratum at the hands of the upper classes, all the future movements related to it also united to eradicate inequality from society. â€Å"Marx notes how the separate

David Mas Masumoto's Wisdom of the Last Farmer Essay

David Mas Masumoto's Wisdom of the Last Farmer - Essay Example When his father was attacked by stroke, Masumoto, had no other option but to go back home and stay with his father, despite the fact that he was a sociology graduate, which could have earned him a different job (Heidmann, 116). Initially, his father used to teach him many lessons about farming and about life. However, after suffering from stroke, his speech is lost and his ability to work with the right hand also affected. The only way out, is for Masumoto to try and teach his father, how he can operate the farm machinery in his present condition. The attachment of the family to farming is more than just as a source of livelihood. It is more about the relationship with the life of the farm, and that of the consumers. Farming is not a mere way of earning a living for Masumoto and his family, but a pathway for supporting life. Therefore, there are more lessons that Masumoto learns from his father throughout his tenure on the farm, other than just farming skills. The first valuable less on that Masumoto learns is that; the growth cycle of the farm plants represents the stages of human life. The moment the seeds are sown on the fields, they emerge as new plants which need to be taken care of, since at that stage, the plants are still tender and the failure to take adequate care of them might mean their failure to grow to full harvest (Masumoto, 29). The same happens with the life of humans. Once a child is born, there is a lot of input applied by the parents to bring the child up, always taking good care of the baby and providing for the baby with all its necessities, since the baby cannot fend on its own. However, as the child grows, he/she turns out to be youthful and independent, capable of doing many things without much assistance, but still remains inexperienced in life (Masumoto, 37). It is at this stage that the young adult requires much lessons regarding life, since at this stage, there are chances that good advice will shape the youth for a better future, a nd the contrary lead to the young adult being a baggage to the society. Thus, as the plants in the farm are taken care of differently during their different stages of growth, human beings need to be treated the same. After the plant matures, it bears fruits that are ready for harvest by the farm owner, who then sells the farm produce to earn a living. Therefore, the usefulness of the farm plant is enjoyed when its fruits are transferred to the consumer. The same happens for the human beings, where the old people have to transfer their wisdom to the young adults, which helps them to shape their future, and make it fruitful even to others. This is exactly what happened with Masumoto, since he learnt a lot of wisdom from his father, which informs his life thereafter (Masumoto, 154). The other invaluable lesson learnt by Masumoto is the value of patience and persistence in life (Masumoto, 54). Whenever the farmers are planting their crops, they have hope that they will obtain bumper har vest from the fields. However, all it takes is patience and persistence, as the farmers sow, till and take care of the crops against all odds, such as pests and diseases. There are seasons when there is sun, and others when it is cold, yet the farmers have to be continuously working on the farm. There are seasons when the harvest will be bumper, and there are other seasons when the farmer barely gets any harvest. Yet in all these seasons, the

Stability analysis using GUI in MATLAB (Electronic Engineering) Essay

Stability analysis using GUI in MATLAB (Electronic Engineering) Project Proposal - Essay Example Initially it is essential to examine the theoretical basis for the concept of stability in order to identify the various conditions which characterize a stable system. After determining the stability conditions, the Graphical User Interface Development Environment (GUIDE) module of MATLAB will be studied to examine the process of developing a Graphical User Interface for a MATLAB application which determines the stability of a given system. The BIBO (Bounded Input Bounded Output) concept of stability states that if a bounded input to the system produces a bounded output, then the system is stable (Ogata. K. 1997). It is important to determine the physical significance of stability both in the time domain and in the frequency domain. In the time domain, for continuous functions to be BIBO stable, an integral of their impulse response should exist. Similarly for discrete functions in the time domain, we should be able to sum up the impulse responses of the discrete function (Ogata. K. 1995). To determine stability in the frequency domain, we consider the Laplace transform (used for converting continous functions from time domain to frequency domain and vice versa) for the continous signals and Z transform (used for converting discrete functions from time domain to frequency domain and vice versa) for the discrete signals. If the region of convergence of the Laplace transform includes the imaginary axis, then the system i s stable (Ogata. K. 1995). The physical significance of this statement is that all poles of the system should on the left of the origin (as we are dealing only with causal systems). If the region of convergence Z transform includes the unit circle then the system is stable. A system is stable if and only if all its poles are lying within the unit circle. The transfer function is an illustration of the relationship between the input to a system and the output of the system (Ogata. K. 1997). It accurately represents a system which is time invariant

Social Networks in Marketing Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4000 words

Social Networks in Marketing - Essay Example In turn, the relationship between consumers and branding is arguably paramount in determining the centre of how value should be marketed to retain and persuade new customers (Merz, He & Vargo 2009). Therefore, the increase of consumer power arguably forces organisations to undertake a more lateral approach to marketing as opposed to merely focusing on competitors (Avlonitis & Indounas, 2007). This argument is reinforced by the proposition of Weinberg et al that organisations shouldn’t assume what the customers want, but that it is imperative for organisations to add value in addressing consumer needs to survive in the multi-channel marketplace particularly in light of the growing influence of social networking on consumer choice (2007). With regard the contemporary business environment the application of CRM is also impacted by the increase of online business and in particular social networking (Cova, 2006). The ecommerce business model has dramatically reshaped consumer consu mption and the classic bricks and mortar business mantra of â€Å"location, location, location† (Chaffey, 2006). ... Therefore it is important for businesses to understand the internet medium to apply CRM effectively in the current retail climate with reference to the power of social networking. This is particularly important in light of the strategic driver of the internet medium being information sharing and increased knowledge as highlighted by the social networking phenomenon (Cova, 2006). For example, the incoming of the second media age and multiple digital platforms has created new societal trends and business opportunities through the multimedia business model, which has challenged pre-existing methods of information dissemination (Volmer & Precourt, 2008). On one side of the spectrum this has led to increasing commercialisation of the customer, which is further reflected by changing consumer habits and multi-chain retail strategy (Volmer & Precourt, 2008). On the other side of the spectrum, the digital era has redefined how the people interact with each other, thereby marking a shift in so cietal relationships and trends, which in turn informs cultural norms and enables innovation in building consumer/business relationships where the objective of marketing strategy should be to ensure that consumers are at the core (Beckett & Nayak, 2008). This paper critically evaluates the impact of social networking on marketing strategy. It is submitted at the outset that whilst increase of consumer control has been acknowledged in academic discourse, there has been some debate as to the role of social networking and its inclusion in marketing strategy to reflect increased consume power (Saren, 2007). For example, Brown (1992) had argued that the postmodern socio-economic paradigm has led to an increased focus on marketing

History of Performing Arts Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

History of Performing Arts - Assignment Example Although art lacks in concrete definition, developments have emerged as time went on. In the 14th and 16th centuries or the Renaissance period, changes in art have come into view. This period began in Italy and spread across Europe. Plays and dances were performed and seen as one of the famous forms of entertainment in that era. The use of ballo or now called ballet was used by Domenico de Piacenza. In the mid of 16th century, elaborated costumes for dance performances and theatre music were introduced in England. The first Opera, Daphne, was performed in the latter part of 16th century. It went on throughout the 17th century and eventually became an entertainment choice of the aristocrats, as well as the people who live in cities across Europe. As time went on, more changes have occurred in the development of the performing arts. The traditional theatre was established thru the introduction of the ‘Proscenium Arch’ in the 17th century. However, acting was brought to an end until the mid of the century. Soon thereafter, women appeared in plays in England and in France and eventually, the latter established the formal dance instruction in the latter part of the century. The introduction of ‘Opera Buffa’ in the 18th century brought opera to the masses. This has broken the mark that opera and aristocracy come hand in hand. In the late 18th century, The Marriage of Figaro and Don Giovanni by Mozart became famous operas that marked the era of the century. A new era was establish in the 19th century.

DEPRESSION Article Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

DEPRESSION - Article Example ression is a rigorous state that engages mind and body altering thoughts and mood of a person, a mental condition which hinders day-to-day work, studies, sleep, eating habits and pleasure. Depression could be severe called dysthymia, or neurological, it generates negative thoughts, gloom, dejection and diverse behavior which are responsible for gradual physiological and behavioral alterations. Such acts could have lasting implications on the psychology (â€Å"Depression†). Depression is inviting public concern as it is affecting millions of people. Almost 10% of the adults are victimized by this disorder. Observation reveals that individuals who suffer with depression are likely to develop obesity, arthritis, hypertension, chronic lung diseases, diabetes, asthma and coronary artery disease etc., thereby affecting mental state and well being of the individual. Under severe condition, a feeling of committing suicide could be observed in depressed individual (â€Å"Depression†). Depression is mostly influenced by the economic condition of the family, up-bringing, violence, stress level, nutrition, decisions taken in life, convictions etc. which directly display the cultural milieu and, hence, modulate the individuals life. The consequences of being diagnosed with the depression are further grave but some of the cultural settings pay attention to the total eradication of the problem. With the augmenting competition, individuals have to meet with the new challenges. In order to meet these pursuits and to be ahead in competition, promotion and amenities, every single person is striving hard to fulfill the cropping struggle. Those who are capable can do miracles and wonders but those who are unable to meet the challenges are likely to suffer with depression. This is one of the biggest reasons about depression gaining prevalence, irrespective of the class, color, age or any social standing, affecting females to the greater extent (â€Å"Depression†). Genetic predicaments

Puppy Mills Essay Example for Free

Puppy Mills Essay Imagine walking into a pet store and having puppies give you the saddest looks with their great big teary eyes. Everybody is tempted to take these puppies home because they just appeal and hit every nerve in every way. By spending money on a puppy from a pet store, you support a really ugly industry. This industry is known as puppy mills. A puppy mill is a large-scale commercial dog breeding operation where profit is given priority over the well-being of the dogs (ASPCA). Puppy mills are easily distinguished by their inhumane conditions and the constant breeding of unhealthy and genetic defective dogs solely for profit (Prisoners of Greed). Puppy mills make dog’s live very tortured lives. All puppy mills should be banned because of their cruelty to these poor innocent animals. Puppy mills were established in the 1940’s after World War II. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) suggested breeding dogs as an alternative to wide spread crop failures in the Midwest. The farmers liked this idea because breeding dogs was cheaper and there was less physical labor involved than in growing crops. They also did not have to worry about the weather. The farmers took their chicken coops and rabbit hutches and repurposed them for dogs and the retail pet industry. The farmers had little knowledge of the puppy industry and often had very little money to start this venture. They did not know that puppies needed companionship and they also skipped veterinary care for the puppies. This led to the substandard condition of puppy mills. Retail pet outlets grew so the demand for puppies increased. Major retail stores such as Sears, purchased dogs for their pet departments and pet store chains were born (Wolf). The state of Missouri is the largest puppy mill state in the country . It is estimated that the value of the puppy mill industry to this state is 40 million dollars a year. The puppy brokers also needed a puppy supply store for the east coast, so they convinced the Pennsylvania farmers that puppies were the cash crop of the future. They gave seminars to teach the farmers how to operate their own breeding facilities. Lancaster county PA has earned the nickname of the puppy mill capital of the east (ASPCA). Puppy mills continue to thrive because they prey on consumers who are smitten by the puppies in pet stores or on fancy websites (Stop Puppy Mills). The reality of a puppy mill is that it raises dogs in cramped, crude, and filthy conditions. Puppy mills are distinguishable by their inhumane conditions. They also breed unhealthy and genetically defective dogs for profit only (prisoners of greed). Dogs are kept in either wood or wire mesh cages or simply tethered to a tree. One facility in Arkansas had cages hanging from the ceiling of an unheated cinder-block building (PETA). Wire cages are used to minimize waste cleanup. Many of the puppies lose their feet and legs because they are caught on the wire floor and they are cut off as the dog struggles to free itself. There is usually no heat or air conditioning in a puppy mill. The dogs will either die of heat stroke in the summer or freeze to death in the winter. Food that is fed to the dogs in the puppy mills is usually purchased from dog food companies by the truck load. The dog food contains sweepings from the floor. There is so little nutritional value that the dog’s teeth can rot at an early age (Prisoner of Greed). Dogs that are bred in puppy mills can experience a multitude of problems ranging from physical to mental due to the overcrowded and unsanitary conditions of the cages. Because the puppies are never allowed out of their cages, this can cause dogs to become mentally unstable. It is not uncommon to see dogs barking and running in circles. They have no social interaction with people. They are never given toys or treats. This also makes it difficult for the dogs to become a part of a family. Puppy mill owners fail to remove sick dogs from their breeding pools, which causes congenital and hereditary conditions. These can include diseases such as epilepsy and musculoskeletal disorders such as dysplasia, deafness and eye problems. The dogs also arrive at the stores with infirmities and diseases such as mange, heartworm, and distemper (ASPCA). Many dogs will get wounds from being bitten by other dogs and the breeders do not even take care of these wounds so they stay open allowing bacteria to enter the skin and cause infection. Life is particularly bad for the female dogs. The mothers spend loveless lives in tiny stacked cages, from which they are never released to eat, play or even defecate. These females receive little or no veterinary care (Stop Puppy Mills). By the age of five, most female dogs can no longer reproduce at the puppy mills. At this point, they no longer have any value to the owners and are killed by being bashed in the head with a rock or shot (Prisoner of Greed). The mom and dad of the puppies are unlikely to make it out of the mill alive. The result of all of this breeding is hundreds of thousands of puppies with behavior and or health problems (Stop Puppy Mills) In Riverside, Iowa an owner told USDA that he performed surgical procedures such as tail docking, ear cropping, and declawing the puppies. The owner used no anesthetic agents and he did not sterilize his tools. This owner was also not licensed to practice veterinary medicine or surgery in any state. All of the adult dogs and puppies had open lesions and damage to ears, legs, and or torsos. If the puppies are fortunate enough to survive the conditions of the puppy mills, they then have to face the dangerous journey across the country to the various pet stores. Hundreds of thousands of puppies are taken from their mothers and sold to brokers who pack puppies into crates and then ship them cross-country to be sold in pet shops. These puppies can travel hundreds of thousands of miles in pickup trucks, tractor trailers, and or/airplanes, often without adequate food, water, ventilation, or shelter. In Missouri, a trailer was stopped by the USDA. It had thirty three cages that contained sixty three puppies. They did not have adequate water or food. They were later arrested. (Stop Puppy Mills). Since running puppy mills is a business, the facility is designed for profit so they do not care at all about the well-being of these puppies. Some of the puppies are sold via newspaper classifieds or internet sites and are often accompanied by false claims saying â€Å"We would never sell puppies from a puppy mill. They will also say that the puppies are home raised, or raised with kids (Stop Puppy Mills). Many of these puppies being sent to pet stores have never or rarely received the kind of loving human contact that is essential for them to become suitable companions when puppies reach the pet stores, conditions do not even improve. They are still kept in small cages with wire on the bottom. They are still without exercise, love and human contact. They will develop undesirable behaviors and may bark excessively or become destructive and unsociable (PETA). Many consumers want to purchase purebred dogs even though they may not be educated about the breed or ready for the commitment that puppies require. Movies like 101 Dalmatians and Beethoven or commercials such as those for Taco Bell can cause a jump in popularity for certain breeds. This demand for a particular breed triggers an increase of breeding for that particular type of dog as the puppy mills try to meet the consumer’s demand. When a St. Bernard doesn’t act like â€Å"Beethoven† or the Dalmatians are high strung, rescue groups and animal shelters become flooded with these breeds. At puppy mills, puppies are bred for quantity, not quality so genetic defects and personality disorders are passed on from generation to generation (PETA). With all of these puppies being tortured many would assume that in today’s world there should be a law passed or that the government should have stepped in and saved these poor puppies. The Animal Welfare Act (AWA) is administered by the US Department of Agriculture. The act has several categories of businesses that handle dogs. One is pet dealers who import, buy, sell, trade or transport pets in wholesale channels. Another is pet breeders who breed for the wholesale trade, whether for selling animals to other breeders or selling to brokers or directly to pet stores or laboratories. The AWA however does not define puppy mill (Wolf). Under the federal AWA, commercial breeders selling directly to pet stores must be licensed by the USDA. The AWA does not regulate breeders that sell directly to the public. Since the AWA was passed in 1966 it was before the Internet boom and the lawmakers did not see that commercial breeders would have the ability to sell to consumers through the internet. This allows a loophole for mills to operate without a license and without fear of inspection. The mills are not accountable to anyone for their breeding and care standards (ASPCA). The AWA and many states have laws that purport to regulate puppy mills, but the fact is that those laws are rarely enforced (Prisoners of Greed). In May, 2008, the ASPCA and other welfare groups successfully fought for an amendment to Congress’s Farm Bill. This bill would prohibit the importation of puppies less than six months of age for the purpose of resale. In September 2008, a bill known as â€Å"Baby’s Bill† (in honor of Baby, a three legged rescued puppy mill survivor) was introduced in the House of Representatives. This legislation was to close the loophole that allowed commercial breeders to sell puppies online. It would also require all dogs to be let out of their cages and exercised daily. Unfortunately it did not pass The ASPCA will try again next year to get the bill passed. Certain states are now passing laws to help control the number of adult dogs a breeder may possess. Virginia and Louisiana were among the first states to pass these laws. As the voting public becomes more vocal in its objection to the puppy mills, legislator support should increase. There are ways that you can fight puppy mills. Start by refusing to patronize the stores and websites that sell their puppies. The biggest thing a person can do is not buy a puppy from a pet store. Another thing to do is not buy a puppy from any place that does not show you records of its entire facility. Ask to meet the mother dog. Consider becoming active and joining the ASPCA to pass legislation that ensures that all animals bred are raised in healthy conditions (ASPCA). When buying a puppy, consider adoption. By adopting instead of buying, it is a way to hurt puppy mills. Another suggestion is to find a responsible breeder and visit their premises. By visiting the home of a respectful breeder, you can check if the puppies have been provided with a loving and healthy environment (Stop Puppy Mills). Never send Western Union or money order payments. If a breeder or broker says there will be no refunds for a sick puppy, then the puppy is most likely coming from a puppy mill. When purchasing a puppy also pick it up. Do not have the puppy shipped or meet at a random location (PETA). Puppy mills have been going on since the late 1940’s and they need to end. Poor innocent puppies die every year from malnutrition, diseases, open wounds and broken bones that do not get to heal properly. Since puppy mills are a business, all the breeders care about is the profit they make. They neglect these poor puppies by not feeding them or even giving them love and care they deserve. In 2007, a man named Bob Baker joined the ASPCA as an undercover investigator. He raided a puppy mill in Buxton, MF, and seized more than 200 dogs. Baker released his findings to the papers. This increased the consumer’s awareness of the dangers of puppy mills. The PETA organization is a big advocate of getting information out about these mills. Many people have gone undercover with video cameras to witness and record these horrible acts. Celebrities are showing their support by making statements through PETA or doing television commercials to raise the consumer’s awareness. Puppy mills are a huge tragedy in this world today that needs to be stopped.

Improving Team work and leadership in Infosys

Improving Team work and leadership in Infosys The emergence of the private sector in the economy has created more entrepreneurs especially in the services sector. The ability to manage a complex and diverse workforce is a decisive factor that adds to the competency of the organisation in contemporary work environment .complexity of human behaviour has increased the significance of the organisational behaviour .organisational behaviour is concerned with the study of behaviour of people within the organisational setting which involves the understanding .prediction and control of human behaviour and the factors which involves the performance of people as members of an organisation (Luthans ,F. 1992) . The importance of the human capital in the current working environment has increased the importance of managing people within the organisation. The organisation made up of a large number of individual members and they mostly act in a group or in isolation. They are individually and in a group expected to achieve the organisations obje ctive .any sort of indifference between both can lead to conflict and tension between the individual and the organisation. Importance of defining the organisation Organisation are complex social systems which can be defined and studied in a number of different ways .Morgan identifies different ways of viewing organisations as machines ,brains ,organisms, cultures, political systems ,psychic prisons ,flux and transformation and instruments of domination (Morgan.1986). As a consultant seeking to improve the management of people in a organisation you need to define the nature of the organisation and understand the longer-term goals of the company. Goal setting is important were the organisation evaluates the long term and short term goals of the company. Every employee has to understand and work according to this goal. Infosys is planning to become a $10 billion company in the next 5 years and according to the Founder of Infosys is to be a globally respected corporation that provides best of breed business solutions, leveraging technology, delivered by best in the class people (A.C Fernando 2009). The company driven by the passion to innovate in technology and management practices has grown to become a company spread in 16 countries and 32 sales offices catering to the technological needs of a global community. Value systems in Infosys At stretch its competency beyond the stream of technology Infosys has designed core value systems that define the behaviour within the organisation. (George .W. England 1967) after studying the value system of managers in several American firms commented that the personal belief system of individual managers can make difference to an organisation at large as to how he evaluates information and arrives at a decision. Understanding customer value systems is also important to the success as to understand their consumption patterns and the cultural patterns which shape their consumer behaviour as a individual and as a group. (Craig .j. Thompson Maura .Troester 2002) . The value system of Infosys is designed to achieve long term competencies in the industry. Customer delight: To lead by example and excess customer expectation Leadership example: A constant effort to set standards within the industry in the way they do business and to build motivation within the employees to work towards a goal. Integrity and transparency: To be transparent in dealing with customer and discarding unethical practices within the organisation. The example being one of the few companies following high disclosure norms like making no forward looking statements in the stock market (Business Standard 2010). Fairness: Trying to be objective and delivering on expectations and in the process earning the respect of the clients and the shareholders. Infosys has exceeded the guidance in the current quarter with revenues of more than 5741 crore Indian rupees. When management expectation was 5423 crore (Nirmal Bang 2010). The company constantly tries to innovate in an extremely competitive industry .Infosys has grown to become a company with a market cap of more than 32 billion as of date (rediff .com 2010) emerged from being a small time company in the 90s mainly due to its unique management policies and quality of leadership that helped employees to work as a team and contribute effectively to the organisation. As a publically listed company it sets realistic targets of growth which the employees feel achievable. The competitive nature of the industry and the opening of multiple options for the employees is seen as reasons for the high attrition rates within the industry. For example software sector witnessed high attrition rates in the range of 25 -35% especially in the business process outsourcing industry (shvoong .com 2009) when compared to the manufacturing industry. Improving team work at Infosys The current work environment is less about working individually and more about working in groups .large organisations are characterised by multiple groups and work is more of a group based activity and efficiency of group work is crucial in determining the success of the entire organisation .team work is co-operative effort by a group of people to achieve a common goal. (teamtechnology.co.uk 2009). Team work has shaped our work culture and through the history has lived, loved and worked together in groups.(Baumeister 1995) the organisation culture performance is normally managed and assessed by customer satisfaction and sales growth .as the needs of the business grows and when the organisation becomes bigger it is important to build people management and appraisal systems to assess the success of group work .the most guaranteed way of improving performance is by identifying all aspects of the group behaviour and trying to promote those aspects that significantly create more value for the organisation. The management should encourage innovative ideas that create opportunities for value addition. In instep programme at Infosys is targeted at creating valuable ideas that can drive the organisation forward. (Infosys 2009).it brings the best talents from diverse streams to partner with the organisation develop their employees in enhancing their intellectual faculty. The company can adopt similar polices implemented in Vodafone though Vodafone Malta which facilitates the process of research in the company by promoting employees with a passion to innovate. This has helped to design effective tariff structures within the company and make advanced networking equipment and improve supply chain management.(Vodafone Malta 2009) Research and development is one of the core area where the company tries to achieve competency ,according to estimates around 2.5 % of GDP was spend on RD in the year 2005 (lysander.sourceoecd.org).Especially in areas like pharmaceuticals the abilit y to launch new products is important in defining the success of companies. Considering the benefit of team working and its existence at all levels of the organisation ,every team has to be dealt with in nature of its strategic importance ,the management have more to do with the routine functioning of the company ,strategic planning teams are more involved with shaping the overall longer term strategy of the company. Writing an quote in( management today 2004 ) comparing the organisational behaviour in leading Indian IT companies Peter Drucker commented that Management is a function ,a discipline , a task to be done ,and managers practice this discipline ,carry out functions and discharge these tasks. The study outlining the job of managers stated the prime functions as planning ,organizing ,directing and controlling .the main functions of managers after studying Managers of three organisations were outlined as co-ordination and integration between different layers of employees that functions in the IT industry. Facilitating Group cohesiveness in Infosys Group cohesiveness increases the productivity and motivation to work within a group .according to (Zaccaro etal 1995 ) cohesiveness is described as the degree to which group members and attracted to work together and stay together as a group. The role of first time managers has gone through significant change over the last few years in the company has adopted the Managers in charge (MiCP).where there is an effort to decentralise the .management system and delegating more authority to first time managers. This method initially employed by Japanese producers was found to be cost-effective, more focussed and flexible in contemporary work environment. Research in this stream has proved that this increases more facilitative and empowering type of leadership and is more strategic rather than being functional (Ghobadian etal1998).The success of the team work is depended on how effectively the goals are communicated and defined and the appropriate training that develops the overall capabilit ies of the employees and brings them closer to the organisational goal. Performance management and appraisal Right from the beginning the work of the employees are managed effectively and constantly evolved in the organisation .the peer satisfaction report is the key input were the feedback from the peers are used to generate critical inputs about the employees .the evaluation of the task assigned to the employee forms the key part of the performance appraisal in Infosys .team work are monitored through various developmental stages of team work. The forming stages should be more focussed on giving vision to the group a employees should have good listening skills and build interdependency and form the initial ground rules of team building .storming stage involves initial group debates and expressions of conflict within the group .the group has to be reminded of team mission and goals .in the Norming stage the group need present regular feedback of the team work and has to search for solutions to improve the current performance. The adjourning is common in Projects were they dissolve after ac hieving the mission. In this stage the success of the project need to be studied and how it has contributed to the bottom line of the company. Leadership development in Infosys Pre dominantly there is an effort to acquire a global mindset in the current work environment .global mindset .what exactly is Global Mindset cannot be properly defined and tgere can only be vague be definitions and closest that it can be is the ability of organisations to influence ,groups ,organisations and systems that have less similar intellectual ,social and psychological intelligence .company like Infosys having a global presence and should have a decentralised approach were more authority should be delegated rather than being limited to a core group. Creating future leaders in Infosys Infosys leadership institute in Mysore started in 2002 is a unique venture by the company to train Info scions to face the complex tasks in the constantly changing work environment and bringing a strategic change by instilling leadership qualities. Meeting the financial targets is crucial for a company like Infosys which seeks to achieve financial targets by facilitating the process of corporate learning and coupling the strategic organisation goals with the learning infrastructure targeted to improve financial goals (Thomas Anderson 2009). The company received the corporate excellence Award recently and can be seen as a testimonial to its efforts to bring innovative management practices. Following the several theories in Leadership the company has tried to implement these in the work environment. Generic Group Focus Group Premise Major concerns Great man Trait THEORY Identifying the traits and potential leaders for the future Primary source of leadership effectiveness lay in the personal traits of leaders Does not address on the howdimension of leadership Behavioural Theories What do Leaders do Identify determinants of behaviour of leaders . Does not address the situation, the followers Contingency Theory Interactions between the quality of leaders leaders and the situational factors The appropriate leadership style is dependent on the situation and other factors The categorisation of situations at a meta level Transformational /Theory /Charismatical Leadership INDIVIDUAL AS THE LEADER Leadership is rooted in leaders and is a capability partly inherited and partly acquired/ acquirable Current status Implementing various theories of leadership Using the theories of leadership like Trait theory the management spots future leader by understanding their potential based on their current performance and analysing their traits that can make them future leaders. They company also spots charismatic leaders and promote them to critical positions .this helps them to retain talented leaders who can contribute further to the growth in the future. The leadership development programme has outlined three core areas to develop its competencies they are: Work People Technology (Business line 2002) Using the abilities in technology and the competencies of the human capital and leveraging both effectively and strategically can best define the leadership programme in Infosys. Mentoring new recruits and helping them aligning with the organisational goals helps the company to achieve their project targets much easier. There is an effort to increase the morale is increased by sharing the success with members of the core team and rewarding them with bonuses. Infosys was one of the first companies give away huge benefits With Their ESOP systems. The IC workshops The Infosys cultural workshops is the employee engagement programme in Infosys were there are frequent interactions with employees from different cultural backgrounds working within Infosys .this is intended to foster the spirit of camaraderie and to reinforce a common work culture within the organization. Performance appraisal systems Performance appraisal systems are considers one of the most emotionally charged activities in business to asses ones contribution in business and signals he receive has strong impact on his confidence and future performance (Thompson and Dalton 1970). The Infosys feedback systems are tries to make crucial behavioural interventions in the work place based on the feedback which is formal and informal .these feedbacks are analysed to bring out an effective and workable plan which is suitable for the organisation .one of the things lacking in such an interface is that those who receive negative feedback can be spotted as bad performers and will find it difficult to improve their performance. Conclusions Infosys being a leader in the Indian software industry has always followed a policy of leading by example by setting benchmark in the industry. The succession policy followed by company where the founding members step-down after completing their term and retire after they turn 60 (Associated Press 2006). This helps to develop a spirit of equity within the organisation . the action learning system followed in the company should be address real problems in the company and workable plan has to formulated by setting goals for the future. The 360 -degree feedback should be used effectively by interconnecting between various verticals of the company. the company operates various verticals in like banking ,healthcare and research and product development capabilities in one vertical especially the marketing of one product can be used in other verticals as well , for eg : The success of banking software Finacle (Economic Times 2010)can be of use to other verticals in healthcare and retail and proper feedback can help in leveraging on its success to other verticals. The practices the company currently follows has significantly contribute to the value addition in the company over the years. The ability to maintain the value system and bring suitable improvements can define the team work and leadership in the company. Proactive approach can help the company maintain its current niche in the industry.

The Emergence of IT Governance in Greece

The Emergence of IT Governance in Greece Introduction The emergence of IT Governance The cases of Enron, Worldcom and other corporate and financial scandals in the early years of the century have raised the significance of corporate governance and control. Regulatory environments have been formed with quite distinctive characteristics, depending on the needs of each country, and the needs of specific industries. The implementation of the controls required by regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley for the publicly listed organisations in the U.S. and Basel II for European banks relies heavily on IT. That dependency, combined to the required controls on IT itself, have forced top-level executives to have a look towards the proper management and governance of the information and communication technologies that power their organisations. At the same time, the high percentage of failed IT projects, ranging between 60% and 90% depending on the definition of failure, has alarmed many executives who see their resources to be wasted on failed projects, to be followed by more failed projects. Clear decision processes and proper project management aiming at efficiency and effectiveness, are the obvious answers to the problem; both of which point directly to IT Governance. The high cost of IT investments, which is more than half of the annual CAPEX for most organisations, calls for control, accountability and risk management, not to mention cost reduction. Information security, industrial espionage, regulations for the confidentiality of the data and the privacy of employees and customers, are all gracefully handled by a proper IT Governance structure. These are only some of the reasons that have led quite a few organisations worldwide to add IT Governance in their board agenda. The status in Greece Greece has control regulations for specific industries only, such as telecommunications, an industry largely affected by the Hellenic authority for communication security and privacy. Other industries are affected by pan-European control regulations, such as banking industry that needs to comply with MIFID and Basel-II alongside the directives issued by the Bank of Greece. Finally, just a few companies are listed in foreign stock exchanges such as NYSE listed PTT, subsequently affected by the SOX act. Nevertheless, although the environment in Greece is complex, and the IT infrastructure is no simpler than any other countrys, there is no published empirical academic research on the status of IT Governance in Greece. Even surveys that are conducted in wider geographical areas and not to a specific country do not usually include Greece; probably because it is a small market. The only data that has been found are some papers mentioning the benefits of IT Governance, as taken from the international practice; the data though is not adapted to local needs and circumstances. Research Objectives This research, titled IT Governance in Greece: Status, Drivers and Barriers aims to evaluate and present the IT Governance related practices in Greece. What percentage of Greek companies are using IT Governance frameworks and best practices, which is the preferred framework between the two prevalent (ITIL and CobIT), and which is the decision model selected by the companies that employ IT Governance. An attempt will be made to find any relationships between these results, and the size of the organisation or the size of the IT department. The reasons for which Greek organisations select to implement or not an IT Governance framework will also be linked to that data and outsourcing strategies which are known to require careful governance will be evaluated. For the organisations that choose to not implement a formal governance framework, the barriers to implementation will be analysed, as well as the potential good practices which do not constitute a framework, nevertheless help to the prudent governance of an organisations IT assets and resources. The research questions that are expected to shed some light to the main areas of the status of IT Governance in Greece are formulated as follows: The penetration of ITIL and CobIT in Greece as IT Governance frameworks Which are the most common factors that prevent or delay the acceptance and deployment of an IT Governance framework (barriers)? Which are the most common reasons that led organisations to deploy, or plan the future deployment of an IT Governance framework (drivers)? Which (if any) are the management methods used if a full IT Governance framework is not deployed? Personal Interest The author has followed a career path in Information Technology for the last 15 years, acquiring positions of raising responsibilities. In alignment to that career path, the MBA was considered a good choice, providing a broader view on all areas of management such as organisational behaviour and culture, human relationships, finance and marketing, strategy and implementation. The subject of this dissertation combines the two worlds, that of management and of information technology, giving a more thorough and business oriented view to the authors subject of work. Beyond the obvious curiosity that is created by the lack of data in the Greek market in which the author lives and works, there has always been an interest in IT Governance, IT management and risk management, and this dissertation comes to cover at least some of these areas. Structure of the dissertation The rest of the dissertation has a typical structure the introduction that was just provided constitutes the chapter one. Chapter two provides a review of the existing literature and previous studies on IT Governance; that should form the basis for the research that was necessary for this dissertation. Chapter three analyses and justifies the methodology that was used for the sampling, the data collection and data analysis methods that were selected. This chapter also presents and analyses some limitations related to the methodology, and presents the ways in which these limitations may affect the data analysis and the conclusions. Chapter four is the data analysis, in which all data that were collected are analysed and presented, relations are drawn and comparisons to findings from previous research are performed in order to fully answer the research questions set in this dissertation. Chapter five draws on the conclusions of the previous chapter. It summarizes the research objectives, the findings and the implications of the results. Generalization issues and data validity is further discussed. This chapter provides also recommendations for future studies, identifying details that were not included in this survey and questions that have emerged from the results of the current dissertation. Finally, this chapter reflects on the dissertation, assessing the weaknesses of the work performed and the obstacles faced; it also identifies the areas in which the author has gained knowledge and experience. Literature Review Introduction A literature review is vital to any research project, in order to collect, present and critically analyse, what is already known in the subject under research. The evaluation of previous research leads to a better understanding of the subject, of the areas of consensus between academics and practitioners, and the points of conflict and potential gaps. Towards the answer of the status of IT Governance in Greece, an attempt will be made to explain the term IT Governance and clarify any misconceptions regarding IT Governance and IT Management. The different types of IT Governance models that have been developed in the past, along with the key roles in IT Governance, will be identified, presented and compared. The necessity for IT Governance as suggested in the literature will be evaluated, and the most commonly mentioned benefits and implementation barriers will be presented, in order to serve as potential answers to the questionnaire of the research. Previous reports on management methods that may be used instead of a full framework implementation will also be evaluated for the same reasons. The definition of IT Governance IT Governance is a subject that has gained significant focus during the last years. As a term, IT Governance, has too many definitions in the literature (Buckby, Best and Stewart, 2009; Lee and Lee, 2009; Lee, Lee and Lee, 2009). Simonsson and Ekstedt (2006) tried to find a common definition on 60 different relative articles; and came up with yet another definition, which includes many of the previous ones. The definitions used by researchers, depend on their view on what IT Governance can offer to an organisation. IT Governance is sometimes perceived as a framework or a process for auditing the use of the IT infrastructure and operations. Some other times sometimes it is perceived as an IT decision making tool which allocates the decision rights in order to encourage a predictable behaviour in the use of IT, while for others IT Governance is a branch of corporate governance focusing on the control and the strategic view of IT (Musson, 2009). Not few have used definitions that mix and match more than one of these views, such as Peterson (2004), Higgins and Sinclair (2008) and Simonsson and Johnson (2007). A definition that is, in the authors opinion, quite clear and inclusive, is the following: IT Governance is a framework for the leadership, organizational structures and business processes, standards and compliance to these standards, which ensures that the organizations IT supports and enables the achievement of its strategies and objectives. (Calder, 2007) Lee and Lee (2009) make the link of IT Governance with Corporate Governance. They suggest that IT Governance is a mix of Corporate Governance and IT Management; meaning that IT Governance addresses the transparency and control that corporate governance focuses upon, and the efficiency and effectiveness that IT management aims at. IT Governance as part of the corporate governance is also suggested by Peterson (2004), Bhatttacharjya and Chang (2009), ODonohue, Pye and Warren (2009). Several researchers have pointed out that IT Governance is not the same as IT Management. The former refers to the definition of who has the rights for major decision making, while the later refers to the actual making of the decisions and the implementation itself (Broadbend, cited in Buckby et al., 2009; Calder, 2009; Sambamurthy and Zmud, 1999; Toomey, 2009; Van Grembergen and De Haes, 2009). Regarding the subject and scope of IT Governance, the IT Governance Institute suggests five distinct but interacting domains: The Strategic Alignment, Value Delivery, Risk Management, Resource Management and Performance Management. The need for IT Governance The need for IT Governance has not been extensively debated; almost everybody agree that the proper governance of IT is necessary. The reasons though provided to support this argument vary, and the organisations do not seem to have been persuaded by that position. A quite common reason provided to support the necessity of IT Governance, is the increased complexity of the IT infrastructure that is caused by the amount of data that an organisation holds, and the role of this information (Laplante and Costello, 2006). IT is not only complex, but it also has its own fast changing and unique conditions, as such the need to apply sound management disciplines and controls is even greater (NCC, 2005). Risk management is one more reason for IT Governance. Risk is caused by the growing dependency of organisations on IT resources which should not be neglected; the percentage of companies that are vitally dependent on IT for their continuing operation, was over 75% in 2004 (KPMG, cited at Musson, 2009). That dependency makes the potential unavailability of IT based services a significant problem for organisations such as banks and hospitals. The lack of availability is not the only danger caused by that dependency; cyber crime, fraud, information inaccuracy are just a few more issues that need proper identification and management (Van Grembergen and De Haes 2009). Instead of implementing IT solutions, the focus now has shifted to changing the business processes, to be enabled by IT. The solutions implemented are generally more complex due to this shift, and subsequently there is a greater risk with the implementation of IT-enabled business processes (Higgins and Sinclair, 2008). From the management perspective, that dependency means that management needs to be more aware of the critical IT risks, and to be assured that they are adequately managed (NCC, 2005). High organisational performance is another reason found in the literature, although that one is debatable. Liew believes that IT Governance can ensure proper measurement and preservation of an achieved performance (cited at Bhattacharjya and Chang, 2009), nevertheless Young has pointed out through a literature review that there is no convincing evidence that superior business performance is a result of any of IT Governance guidelines (Young, 2006). Typically, IT investments are significantly high. They account for over 50% of the average organisations annual total capital investment (Baschab and Piot, 2007; Carr, 2003; Weill and Woodham, 2002), as such their management in a responsive, effective and efficient way is usually a requirement that should be set by the management board. On the monetary field, cost optimisation of the IT projects and service delivery, are also considered important issues by several researchers (Bhattacharjya and Chang, 2009; Fairchild et al, 2009; Menken, 2009; Peterson, 2004). The amount of money spent is important, but the need that the enterprises investment in IT is in harmony with its objectives is usually considered more significant (Buckby et al, 2009). This is called Business IT Alignment, which is a quite old issue; several studies from mid-80s have focused on the alignment of the IT operations with the business objectives (Brown and Magill, 1994). Some researchers do not agree with the need for the Business IT alignment at all (Sillince and Frost, 1995). Koh and Maguire (2009) also suggest that Business IT alignment maybe the wrong strategy for smaller businesses, which may be agile enough to change course quickly following the new ICT arrivals in the business. They also mention that Venkatraman questions the logic behind alignment; nevertheless, this is a false interpretation of Venkatramans study, who clearly states that IT needs to support the business logic. Carr (2003) has written one of the most controversial articles on the issue, statin g that IT is not able to provide the competitive advantage that organisations need. Laplante and Costello (2006) make clear that they do not agree with that view, while Harris, Herron and Iwanicki (2008) get the opportunity to provide metrics on the value that IT can provide, instead of just dismissing Carrs argument. According to a different should of thought, Business IT alignment has been identified as a significant management concern (Brown and Magill, 1994; Cameron, 2007; Kashanchi and Toland, 2006; Silvius, 2007) and effort is put in order to identify the potential benefits of Business IT alignment. In fact, a recent study by Nash (2009) proves a positive correlation between firm level sales and the so-called Strategic Alignment Maturity; i.e. the maturity level of the business IT alignment. By considering Business IT alignment as something that organisations want to achieve, it is yet another reason to exercise governance of the IT. The relationship between IT governance and Business IT alignment has been proven (BMC Software, 2007; Musson and Jordan, 2006). Additionally, IT governance is strongly suggested by researchers as the best option for the maintenance of the alignment of IT to the continuously evolving organisational needs (Cameron, 2007; Harris et al, 2008; Pultorak, 2006; Sambamurthy and Zmud, 1999). Although Business IT Alignment is a common issue, it puts IT in a passive role; it makes it a follower. Proper governance can transform IT from a follower to a leader; IT is able to set the business agenda and partially affect the organisations strategic objectives (Addy, 2007; Baschab and Piot, 2007; Weill and Woodham, 2002). A research by NCC (2005) has identified a potentially widening gap between what IT departments think the business requires, and what the business thinks the IT department is able to deliver. This can be addressed by IT Governance, through which an organisation wide view of IT may be generated and promoted (Laplante and Costello, 2006; Weill and Woodham, 2002). That means that IT should have a thorough understanding and a participation in the improvement of business processes and their interdependencies. The other way round is also important, i.e. organisations need to obtain a better understanding of the value delivered by IT, both internally and from external suppliers. Measures are required in business (the customers) terms to achieve this. Key elements for that understanding include the enterprise wide view of IT budget (Addy, 2007; Weill and Woodham, 2002). One more reason found in the literature to promote IT Governance, is the compliance to regulatory requirements. Specific legislation and regulatory requirements, such as Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) almost dictate the use of an IT governance framework (Buckby et al., 2009; Higgins and Sinclair, 2008). Others, such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and Basel-II do not dictate, but certainly describe an IT Governance framework through their requirements for accountability on investments, information security and assurance, risk management and decision processes (Harris et al, 2008; Higgins and Sinclair, 2008; Pultorak, 2006; Network Frontiers, 2008; NCC, 2005; van Grembergen and De Haes, 2009). Yet another commonly stated key benefit of proper IT Governance is clear and transparent decision making regarding IT resources (Baschab and Piot, 2007; Brown and Grand, 2005; Lee and Lee, 2009; Tshinu, Botha and Herselman, 2008). The lack of clarity and transparency for the decision making process, can lead to reluctance to take risks, and subsequently failure to seize technology opportunities (NCC, 2005) Separate decision processes followed by the IT and business, may mean that there is not enough shared ownership and clarity of resources, which also means that there may be a lack of accountability. IT Governance models Although IT Governance sets the decision making process, it does not define who decides. IT Governance decision authorities may be structured in different models, depending on the organisation. The three prevailing ones are the centralized, decentralized and federal (hybrid) according to their modes of distributing authorities and responsibilities for decision-making (Brown and Magill, 1994; Fairchild et al, 2009; Peterson, 2004; Sambamurthy and Zmud, 1999), while the pair of centralized / decentralized may also be found as the only choices (Laplante and Costello, 2006; Robb and Parent, 2009). Ross and Weill (2002) and Cameron (2007) expressed their quite strong preference on centralized IT Governance model, i.e. decisions being made centrally, but Ross and Weill revisited that view in 2004; they suggested that there are six (6) archetypes / models of IT Governance, on 5 different IT domains. From more centralised to less centralised, they identified Business monarchy, IT monarchy, Federal, IT Duopoly, Feudal and Anarchy. The two monarchies are quite clear, meaning that Business or IT respectively has the major responsibility for decisions. Anarchy is quite clear as well, meaning that there is no standardization. Federal and IT duopoly involve business executives and IT executives in the decision making process, with federal to give more power to the business than IT duopoly. Finally, feudal archetype brings the decision level down to business units or processes. The IT domains on which decisions need to be made, are IT principles such as funding and role of the IT in the business, IT Architecture which refers to the identification and development of the core business processes of the enterprise and relative information, IT infrastructure, business application needs such as the owner of the outcome of each project and IT investment and prioritization. That model classification from Ross and Weill is unique; as stated earlier, most other researchers have selected a simpler classification scheme. Ein-Dor and Segev (cited at Tavakolian, 1989) found that the revenue of the organisation is positively related to centralized IT Governance but there is no relation between the governance model and the size of the organisation. There is empirical proof that a link between the IT structure with the organisational competitive strategy exists; conservative organisations are more centralised than aggressive ones (Tavakolian, 1989). These results are supported by more recent research with consistent findings; Weill and Woodham (2002) and Weill and Ross (2004) found that top performing firms on profit were mostly centralized, while top performers on growth were mostly decentralized. A link between the organisations industry type and level of de-centralization of IT Governance has not been found (Ahituv et al, cited at Brown and Grant, 2005). It has to be noted that the model of IT Governance in an organisation may also be dictated by external factors, such as SOX which promotes a centralized IT Governance model, while Australian governance frameworks (mainly, AS 8015) drive the organisations towards a de-centralized IT Governance model (Robb and Parent, 2009). IT Governance Frameworks Information Technology Infrastructure Library The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a framework of best practices for IT Service Management. It is comprised of five books which focus on five different aspects of IT Service Management and Service Lifecycle: Service Strategy Service Design Service Transition Service Operation Continual Service Improvement Each one of the books, defines a set of processes such as IT Financial Management, Supplier Management, Change Management, Incident Management and Service Measurement and Reporting; a total of 23 processes are defined with a set of actions and roles required for each process. The definition of several of the processes and the subsequent roles is consistent with the IT Governance definition we used earlier; nevertheless a big amount of the defined processes such as event management and validation and testing, are much more focused on the management part than to that of the governance. ITIL is considered to be the framework that is closer to service management than control, from the other two frameworks, CobIT and ISO/IEC 38500:2008 and has a more narrow scope than CobIT (Van Grembergen and De Haes, 2009; Simonsson and Ekstedt, 2006; Simonsson, Johnson and Wijkstrà ¶m, 2007; Sallà ©, 2004; McBride, 2009). That focus of ITIL to service delivery and management was more obvious in version 2, which did not address issues such as Risk Management, Performance Monitoring and IT Governance (generic strategic direction and alignment) at all. As such it was mostly perceived as a framework for service desk management. Although the effectiveness of ITIL version 2 to the alignment of IT with business objectives has been repeatedly pointed out (BMC Software, 2007; Harris et al, 2008; Pultorak, 2006) and even experimentally proven (Kashanchi and Toland, 2006), it was never the primary driver for ITIL adaptation. A survey conducted by Bruton Consultancy for the Helpdesk Institute Europe (now renamed as Service Desk Institute) for the value that ITIL has brought in companies that have implemented it, indicated that the contribution of ITIL to the business strategy was not even considered as an issue by the majority of the correspondents (70%). The same holds for the perception of the participants on t he competitive advantage that may be provided by proper IT management through ITIL. More than half (66%) responded that this was not considered in the decision for ITIL implementation (Bruton, 2005). With version 3, ITIL gained a broader scope than version 2 and added significant emphasis on business strategy. That change, led some IT management consultants to declare ITIL version 3 as inappropriate for helpdesk and service management processes (Bruton, 2007), not strange since version 2 focused on processes while version 3 focuses on Business Value (Harris et al, 2008). Beyond the not strategic enough type of criticism, ITIL has also been criticised as a flawed and uneven framework. Dean Meyer identifies pitfalls in its implementation; nevertheless, he also states that it is an implementation issue and not a framework issue (Meyer, 2009 web site). ITIL has also been characterized as a too generic framework, which is not able to provide value if used off-the-shelf without significant adaptations (Baschab and Piot, 2007), an unfair criticism as ITIL is promoted as a set of best practices, not as a complete, fits-all framework. This concession should invalidate yet another criticism raised by Simonsson (2008), the lack of a maturity model. Another criticism of ITIL is that the documentation is not free (Bhattacharjya and Chang, 2009). That is a valid point, nevertheless the cost of the books is quite low for companies (less than  £400 for the whole set). Other criticisms include the stifling of the creativity of those who implement it, and that it b ecomes a goal by itself having a heavy administrative burden (Addy, 2007). All these points are valid, but they can be attributed to the extension of ITIL. Control Objectives for Information and related Technology Control Objectives for information and related Technology (CobIT) is a control framework developed by the IT Governance Institute. CobIT defines processes and controls, and uses the grouping of activities in four domains: Plan and Organise Acquire and Implement Deliver and Support Monitor and Evaluate Each domain contains a set of processes, 34 at total, and each process defines specific controls, which sum up to 210 for all processes. CobIT defines inputs and outputs, as well as a maturity model for each process, making the control of compliance a very easy task. RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted and informed) charts are also provided, drawing a clear guideline on who should be involved in every process step. Goals and metrics, in the form of outcome measures (key goal indicators KGIs) and performance indicators (key performance indicators KPIs) respectively are also provided, mapping business goals to IT goals, which can be achieved by one, or the interaction of several processes. CobIT is generally used where there is a need for auditing functions, in comparison with ITIL, which is better suited to operational process improvement (ODonohue et al, 2009). In contrast to ITIL, CobIT has extensive documentation available free of charge, including the framework itself and several case studies. Several implementation documents though are only available for purchase, such as CobIT Quickstart, while others are available free for ISACA members or for purchase for non-members such as Security Baseline and User Guide for Service Managers. Several consultants and practitioners criticise CobIT that it only states the obvious, that it is very high level, is only a generic framework and does not provide specific and repeatable implementation steps (Culmsee, 2009; Toigo, 2005). This is not a common view, as others find CobIT to be quite prescriptive (Pultorak, 2006; Robb and Parent, 2009). That may be explained by the fact that although CobIT framework itself is indeed high level, a different publication is provided by ISACA, named CobIT Control Practices which is quite prescriptive. Academics criticise CobIT as providing little support for improved decision making, although many metrics are defined (Simonsson and Johnson, 2006). Others state that CobIT is expressed almost entirely in terms of process, focusing on how to govern but not what to govern (Lee et al, 2009). Another criticism states that CobIT is significantly more focused on auditing, largely ignoring other aspects of governance such as software development an d service delivery (NetFrontiers, 2005). CobIT is also characterized as a framework that needs significant knowledge and know how for a successful implementation (Simonsson et al, 2007), and that it takes time to introduce solid IT Governance through it (Rogers, 2009); although the opposite would be strange, given the wide area of processes and functions that CobIT addresses. Finally, while ITIL is known as the framework that guides you on how to get where you want to be, CobIT merely focuses on where you should be; that may be good or bad, depending on ones point of view and needs. ISO / IEC 38500:2008 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) attempted to solve the confusion between IT Management and IT Governance, and at the same time provide guiding principles on IT Governance, in the recently published ISO/IEC 38500:2008. Because ISO/IEC 38500 establishes principles to guide the behaviour of organisations, it complements frameworks that focus on process, such as ITIL and COBIT. Thus, with the right frameworks or processes, complemented by the right behaviours, organisations are more likely to establish highly effective systems of governance. After all, it has been stated that ITIL and CobIT are not mutually exclusive; they are rather complementary and organisations will probably benefit from a mixed approach, adopting what is more applicable in every case, from the two frameworks (Chickowsky, cited at Bhattacharjya and Chang, 2009). ISO/IEC 38500 can also be combined with these two and ITGI has even issued a specific document demonstrating how and which specific CobIT and ValIT controls support the adoption of the standards principles and implementation approach. Nevertheless, ISO/IEC 38500:2008 is very recent to be evaluated. As of the time of conducting this research, there is not enough information on the implementation, benefits or drawbacks of ISO 38500:2008. Common drivers for IT Governance implementation While the need for IT Governance has well been described, the benefits sought, i.e. the reasons for the implementation of an IT Governance framework vary, sometimes depending on the point of view of the observer. As drivers, we consider the motivator factors, which may lead an organisation to the implementation of an IT Governance framework. For IT Managers, IT Governance is a mechanism for the alignment of the IT with business on the projects that are going to be pursuit. For IT Auditors, it is mainly a control mechanism that can help them achieve compliance with regulations, and to manage the risks that are related to IT projects better. For IT Service management professionals, IT Governance ensures that not only the IT services offered are aligned to the current and future business needs, but they are also managed for efficiency, effectiveness and specific quality objectives (Pultorak, 2006). Recent surveys have indicated that the most important benefits expected from the implementation of an IT Governance framework are proper risk management, the resource management of IT, the performance measurement of IT and the business IT alignment. Along these, cost reduction, productivity improvements and organisation wide view of IT are commonly mentioned. (ITGI, 2008; BMC Software, 2007; Milne and Bowles, 2009; Yanosky and McCredie The Emergence of IT Governance in Greece The Emergence of IT Governance in Greece Introduction The emergence of IT Governance The cases of Enron, Worldcom and other corporate and financial scandals in the early years of the century have raised the significance of corporate governance and control. Regulatory environments have been formed with quite distinctive characteristics, depending on the needs of each country, and the needs of specific industries. The implementation of the controls required by regulations such as Sarbanes Oxley for the publicly listed organisations in the U.S. and Basel II for European banks relies heavily on IT. That dependency, combined to the required controls on IT itself, have forced top-level executives to have a look towards the proper management and governance of the information and communication technologies that power their organisations. At the same time, the high percentage of failed IT projects, ranging between 60% and 90% depending on the definition of failure, has alarmed many executives who see their resources to be wasted on failed projects, to be followed by more failed projects. Clear decision processes and proper project management aiming at efficiency and effectiveness, are the obvious answers to the problem; both of which point directly to IT Governance. The high cost of IT investments, which is more than half of the annual CAPEX for most organisations, calls for control, accountability and risk management, not to mention cost reduction. Information security, industrial espionage, regulations for the confidentiality of the data and the privacy of employees and customers, are all gracefully handled by a proper IT Governance structure. These are only some of the reasons that have led quite a few organisations worldwide to add IT Governance in their board agenda. The status in Greece Greece has control regulations for specific industries only, such as telecommunications, an industry largely affected by the Hellenic authority for communication security and privacy. Other industries are affected by pan-European control regulations, such as banking industry that needs to comply with MIFID and Basel-II alongside the directives issued by the Bank of Greece. Finally, just a few companies are listed in foreign stock exchanges such as NYSE listed PTT, subsequently affected by the SOX act. Nevertheless, although the environment in Greece is complex, and the IT infrastructure is no simpler than any other countrys, there is no published empirical academic research on the status of IT Governance in Greece. Even surveys that are conducted in wider geographical areas and not to a specific country do not usually include Greece; probably because it is a small market. The only data that has been found are some papers mentioning the benefits of IT Governance, as taken from the international practice; the data though is not adapted to local needs and circumstances. Research Objectives This research, titled IT Governance in Greece: Status, Drivers and Barriers aims to evaluate and present the IT Governance related practices in Greece. What percentage of Greek companies are using IT Governance frameworks and best practices, which is the preferred framework between the two prevalent (ITIL and CobIT), and which is the decision model selected by the companies that employ IT Governance. An attempt will be made to find any relationships between these results, and the size of the organisation or the size of the IT department. The reasons for which Greek organisations select to implement or not an IT Governance framework will also be linked to that data and outsourcing strategies which are known to require careful governance will be evaluated. For the organisations that choose to not implement a formal governance framework, the barriers to implementation will be analysed, as well as the potential good practices which do not constitute a framework, nevertheless help to the prudent governance of an organisations IT assets and resources. The research questions that are expected to shed some light to the main areas of the status of IT Governance in Greece are formulated as follows: The penetration of ITIL and CobIT in Greece as IT Governance frameworks Which are the most common factors that prevent or delay the acceptance and deployment of an IT Governance framework (barriers)? Which are the most common reasons that led organisations to deploy, or plan the future deployment of an IT Governance framework (drivers)? Which (if any) are the management methods used if a full IT Governance framework is not deployed? Personal Interest The author has followed a career path in Information Technology for the last 15 years, acquiring positions of raising responsibilities. In alignment to that career path, the MBA was considered a good choice, providing a broader view on all areas of management such as organisational behaviour and culture, human relationships, finance and marketing, strategy and implementation. The subject of this dissertation combines the two worlds, that of management and of information technology, giving a more thorough and business oriented view to the authors subject of work. Beyond the obvious curiosity that is created by the lack of data in the Greek market in which the author lives and works, there has always been an interest in IT Governance, IT management and risk management, and this dissertation comes to cover at least some of these areas. Structure of the dissertation The rest of the dissertation has a typical structure the introduction that was just provided constitutes the chapter one. Chapter two provides a review of the existing literature and previous studies on IT Governance; that should form the basis for the research that was necessary for this dissertation. Chapter three analyses and justifies the methodology that was used for the sampling, the data collection and data analysis methods that were selected. This chapter also presents and analyses some limitations related to the methodology, and presents the ways in which these limitations may affect the data analysis and the conclusions. Chapter four is the data analysis, in which all data that were collected are analysed and presented, relations are drawn and comparisons to findings from previous research are performed in order to fully answer the research questions set in this dissertation. Chapter five draws on the conclusions of the previous chapter. It summarizes the research objectives, the findings and the implications of the results. Generalization issues and data validity is further discussed. This chapter provides also recommendations for future studies, identifying details that were not included in this survey and questions that have emerged from the results of the current dissertation. Finally, this chapter reflects on the dissertation, assessing the weaknesses of the work performed and the obstacles faced; it also identifies the areas in which the author has gained knowledge and experience. Literature Review Introduction A literature review is vital to any research project, in order to collect, present and critically analyse, what is already known in the subject under research. The evaluation of previous research leads to a better understanding of the subject, of the areas of consensus between academics and practitioners, and the points of conflict and potential gaps. Towards the answer of the status of IT Governance in Greece, an attempt will be made to explain the term IT Governance and clarify any misconceptions regarding IT Governance and IT Management. The different types of IT Governance models that have been developed in the past, along with the key roles in IT Governance, will be identified, presented and compared. The necessity for IT Governance as suggested in the literature will be evaluated, and the most commonly mentioned benefits and implementation barriers will be presented, in order to serve as potential answers to the questionnaire of the research. Previous reports on management methods that may be used instead of a full framework implementation will also be evaluated for the same reasons. The definition of IT Governance IT Governance is a subject that has gained significant focus during the last years. As a term, IT Governance, has too many definitions in the literature (Buckby, Best and Stewart, 2009; Lee and Lee, 2009; Lee, Lee and Lee, 2009). Simonsson and Ekstedt (2006) tried to find a common definition on 60 different relative articles; and came up with yet another definition, which includes many of the previous ones. The definitions used by researchers, depend on their view on what IT Governance can offer to an organisation. IT Governance is sometimes perceived as a framework or a process for auditing the use of the IT infrastructure and operations. Some other times sometimes it is perceived as an IT decision making tool which allocates the decision rights in order to encourage a predictable behaviour in the use of IT, while for others IT Governance is a branch of corporate governance focusing on the control and the strategic view of IT (Musson, 2009). Not few have used definitions that mix and match more than one of these views, such as Peterson (2004), Higgins and Sinclair (2008) and Simonsson and Johnson (2007). A definition that is, in the authors opinion, quite clear and inclusive, is the following: IT Governance is a framework for the leadership, organizational structures and business processes, standards and compliance to these standards, which ensures that the organizations IT supports and enables the achievement of its strategies and objectives. (Calder, 2007) Lee and Lee (2009) make the link of IT Governance with Corporate Governance. They suggest that IT Governance is a mix of Corporate Governance and IT Management; meaning that IT Governance addresses the transparency and control that corporate governance focuses upon, and the efficiency and effectiveness that IT management aims at. IT Governance as part of the corporate governance is also suggested by Peterson (2004), Bhatttacharjya and Chang (2009), ODonohue, Pye and Warren (2009). Several researchers have pointed out that IT Governance is not the same as IT Management. The former refers to the definition of who has the rights for major decision making, while the later refers to the actual making of the decisions and the implementation itself (Broadbend, cited in Buckby et al., 2009; Calder, 2009; Sambamurthy and Zmud, 1999; Toomey, 2009; Van Grembergen and De Haes, 2009). Regarding the subject and scope of IT Governance, the IT Governance Institute suggests five distinct but interacting domains: The Strategic Alignment, Value Delivery, Risk Management, Resource Management and Performance Management. The need for IT Governance The need for IT Governance has not been extensively debated; almost everybody agree that the proper governance of IT is necessary. The reasons though provided to support this argument vary, and the organisations do not seem to have been persuaded by that position. A quite common reason provided to support the necessity of IT Governance, is the increased complexity of the IT infrastructure that is caused by the amount of data that an organisation holds, and the role of this information (Laplante and Costello, 2006). IT is not only complex, but it also has its own fast changing and unique conditions, as such the need to apply sound management disciplines and controls is even greater (NCC, 2005). Risk management is one more reason for IT Governance. Risk is caused by the growing dependency of organisations on IT resources which should not be neglected; the percentage of companies that are vitally dependent on IT for their continuing operation, was over 75% in 2004 (KPMG, cited at Musson, 2009). That dependency makes the potential unavailability of IT based services a significant problem for organisations such as banks and hospitals. The lack of availability is not the only danger caused by that dependency; cyber crime, fraud, information inaccuracy are just a few more issues that need proper identification and management (Van Grembergen and De Haes 2009). Instead of implementing IT solutions, the focus now has shifted to changing the business processes, to be enabled by IT. The solutions implemented are generally more complex due to this shift, and subsequently there is a greater risk with the implementation of IT-enabled business processes (Higgins and Sinclair, 2008). From the management perspective, that dependency means that management needs to be more aware of the critical IT risks, and to be assured that they are adequately managed (NCC, 2005). High organisational performance is another reason found in the literature, although that one is debatable. Liew believes that IT Governance can ensure proper measurement and preservation of an achieved performance (cited at Bhattacharjya and Chang, 2009), nevertheless Young has pointed out through a literature review that there is no convincing evidence that superior business performance is a result of any of IT Governance guidelines (Young, 2006). Typically, IT investments are significantly high. They account for over 50% of the average organisations annual total capital investment (Baschab and Piot, 2007; Carr, 2003; Weill and Woodham, 2002), as such their management in a responsive, effective and efficient way is usually a requirement that should be set by the management board. On the monetary field, cost optimisation of the IT projects and service delivery, are also considered important issues by several researchers (Bhattacharjya and Chang, 2009; Fairchild et al, 2009; Menken, 2009; Peterson, 2004). The amount of money spent is important, but the need that the enterprises investment in IT is in harmony with its objectives is usually considered more significant (Buckby et al, 2009). This is called Business IT Alignment, which is a quite old issue; several studies from mid-80s have focused on the alignment of the IT operations with the business objectives (Brown and Magill, 1994). Some researchers do not agree with the need for the Business IT alignment at all (Sillince and Frost, 1995). Koh and Maguire (2009) also suggest that Business IT alignment maybe the wrong strategy for smaller businesses, which may be agile enough to change course quickly following the new ICT arrivals in the business. They also mention that Venkatraman questions the logic behind alignment; nevertheless, this is a false interpretation of Venkatramans study, who clearly states that IT needs to support the business logic. Carr (2003) has written one of the most controversial articles on the issue, statin g that IT is not able to provide the competitive advantage that organisations need. Laplante and Costello (2006) make clear that they do not agree with that view, while Harris, Herron and Iwanicki (2008) get the opportunity to provide metrics on the value that IT can provide, instead of just dismissing Carrs argument. According to a different should of thought, Business IT alignment has been identified as a significant management concern (Brown and Magill, 1994; Cameron, 2007; Kashanchi and Toland, 2006; Silvius, 2007) and effort is put in order to identify the potential benefits of Business IT alignment. In fact, a recent study by Nash (2009) proves a positive correlation between firm level sales and the so-called Strategic Alignment Maturity; i.e. the maturity level of the business IT alignment. By considering Business IT alignment as something that organisations want to achieve, it is yet another reason to exercise governance of the IT. The relationship between IT governance and Business IT alignment has been proven (BMC Software, 2007; Musson and Jordan, 2006). Additionally, IT governance is strongly suggested by researchers as the best option for the maintenance of the alignment of IT to the continuously evolving organisational needs (Cameron, 2007; Harris et al, 2008; Pultorak, 2006; Sambamurthy and Zmud, 1999). Although Business IT Alignment is a common issue, it puts IT in a passive role; it makes it a follower. Proper governance can transform IT from a follower to a leader; IT is able to set the business agenda and partially affect the organisations strategic objectives (Addy, 2007; Baschab and Piot, 2007; Weill and Woodham, 2002). A research by NCC (2005) has identified a potentially widening gap between what IT departments think the business requires, and what the business thinks the IT department is able to deliver. This can be addressed by IT Governance, through which an organisation wide view of IT may be generated and promoted (Laplante and Costello, 2006; Weill and Woodham, 2002). That means that IT should have a thorough understanding and a participation in the improvement of business processes and their interdependencies. The other way round is also important, i.e. organisations need to obtain a better understanding of the value delivered by IT, both internally and from external suppliers. Measures are required in business (the customers) terms to achieve this. Key elements for that understanding include the enterprise wide view of IT budget (Addy, 2007; Weill and Woodham, 2002). One more reason found in the literature to promote IT Governance, is the compliance to regulatory requirements. Specific legislation and regulatory requirements, such as Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) almost dictate the use of an IT governance framework (Buckby et al., 2009; Higgins and Sinclair, 2008). Others, such as HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) and Basel-II do not dictate, but certainly describe an IT Governance framework through their requirements for accountability on investments, information security and assurance, risk management and decision processes (Harris et al, 2008; Higgins and Sinclair, 2008; Pultorak, 2006; Network Frontiers, 2008; NCC, 2005; van Grembergen and De Haes, 2009). Yet another commonly stated key benefit of proper IT Governance is clear and transparent decision making regarding IT resources (Baschab and Piot, 2007; Brown and Grand, 2005; Lee and Lee, 2009; Tshinu, Botha and Herselman, 2008). The lack of clarity and transparency for the decision making process, can lead to reluctance to take risks, and subsequently failure to seize technology opportunities (NCC, 2005) Separate decision processes followed by the IT and business, may mean that there is not enough shared ownership and clarity of resources, which also means that there may be a lack of accountability. IT Governance models Although IT Governance sets the decision making process, it does not define who decides. IT Governance decision authorities may be structured in different models, depending on the organisation. The three prevailing ones are the centralized, decentralized and federal (hybrid) according to their modes of distributing authorities and responsibilities for decision-making (Brown and Magill, 1994; Fairchild et al, 2009; Peterson, 2004; Sambamurthy and Zmud, 1999), while the pair of centralized / decentralized may also be found as the only choices (Laplante and Costello, 2006; Robb and Parent, 2009). Ross and Weill (2002) and Cameron (2007) expressed their quite strong preference on centralized IT Governance model, i.e. decisions being made centrally, but Ross and Weill revisited that view in 2004; they suggested that there are six (6) archetypes / models of IT Governance, on 5 different IT domains. From more centralised to less centralised, they identified Business monarchy, IT monarchy, Federal, IT Duopoly, Feudal and Anarchy. The two monarchies are quite clear, meaning that Business or IT respectively has the major responsibility for decisions. Anarchy is quite clear as well, meaning that there is no standardization. Federal and IT duopoly involve business executives and IT executives in the decision making process, with federal to give more power to the business than IT duopoly. Finally, feudal archetype brings the decision level down to business units or processes. The IT domains on which decisions need to be made, are IT principles such as funding and role of the IT in the business, IT Architecture which refers to the identification and development of the core business processes of the enterprise and relative information, IT infrastructure, business application needs such as the owner of the outcome of each project and IT investment and prioritization. That model classification from Ross and Weill is unique; as stated earlier, most other researchers have selected a simpler classification scheme. Ein-Dor and Segev (cited at Tavakolian, 1989) found that the revenue of the organisation is positively related to centralized IT Governance but there is no relation between the governance model and the size of the organisation. There is empirical proof that a link between the IT structure with the organisational competitive strategy exists; conservative organisations are more centralised than aggressive ones (Tavakolian, 1989). These results are supported by more recent research with consistent findings; Weill and Woodham (2002) and Weill and Ross (2004) found that top performing firms on profit were mostly centralized, while top performers on growth were mostly decentralized. A link between the organisations industry type and level of de-centralization of IT Governance has not been found (Ahituv et al, cited at Brown and Grant, 2005). It has to be noted that the model of IT Governance in an organisation may also be dictated by external factors, such as SOX which promotes a centralized IT Governance model, while Australian governance frameworks (mainly, AS 8015) drive the organisations towards a de-centralized IT Governance model (Robb and Parent, 2009). IT Governance Frameworks Information Technology Infrastructure Library The Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) is a framework of best practices for IT Service Management. It is comprised of five books which focus on five different aspects of IT Service Management and Service Lifecycle: Service Strategy Service Design Service Transition Service Operation Continual Service Improvement Each one of the books, defines a set of processes such as IT Financial Management, Supplier Management, Change Management, Incident Management and Service Measurement and Reporting; a total of 23 processes are defined with a set of actions and roles required for each process. The definition of several of the processes and the subsequent roles is consistent with the IT Governance definition we used earlier; nevertheless a big amount of the defined processes such as event management and validation and testing, are much more focused on the management part than to that of the governance. ITIL is considered to be the framework that is closer to service management than control, from the other two frameworks, CobIT and ISO/IEC 38500:2008 and has a more narrow scope than CobIT (Van Grembergen and De Haes, 2009; Simonsson and Ekstedt, 2006; Simonsson, Johnson and Wijkstrà ¶m, 2007; Sallà ©, 2004; McBride, 2009). That focus of ITIL to service delivery and management was more obvious in version 2, which did not address issues such as Risk Management, Performance Monitoring and IT Governance (generic strategic direction and alignment) at all. As such it was mostly perceived as a framework for service desk management. Although the effectiveness of ITIL version 2 to the alignment of IT with business objectives has been repeatedly pointed out (BMC Software, 2007; Harris et al, 2008; Pultorak, 2006) and even experimentally proven (Kashanchi and Toland, 2006), it was never the primary driver for ITIL adaptation. A survey conducted by Bruton Consultancy for the Helpdesk Institute Europe (now renamed as Service Desk Institute) for the value that ITIL has brought in companies that have implemented it, indicated that the contribution of ITIL to the business strategy was not even considered as an issue by the majority of the correspondents (70%). The same holds for the perception of the participants on t he competitive advantage that may be provided by proper IT management through ITIL. More than half (66%) responded that this was not considered in the decision for ITIL implementation (Bruton, 2005). With version 3, ITIL gained a broader scope than version 2 and added significant emphasis on business strategy. That change, led some IT management consultants to declare ITIL version 3 as inappropriate for helpdesk and service management processes (Bruton, 2007), not strange since version 2 focused on processes while version 3 focuses on Business Value (Harris et al, 2008). Beyond the not strategic enough type of criticism, ITIL has also been criticised as a flawed and uneven framework. Dean Meyer identifies pitfalls in its implementation; nevertheless, he also states that it is an implementation issue and not a framework issue (Meyer, 2009 web site). ITIL has also been characterized as a too generic framework, which is not able to provide value if used off-the-shelf without significant adaptations (Baschab and Piot, 2007), an unfair criticism as ITIL is promoted as a set of best practices, not as a complete, fits-all framework. This concession should invalidate yet another criticism raised by Simonsson (2008), the lack of a maturity model. Another criticism of ITIL is that the documentation is not free (Bhattacharjya and Chang, 2009). That is a valid point, nevertheless the cost of the books is quite low for companies (less than  £400 for the whole set). Other criticisms include the stifling of the creativity of those who implement it, and that it b ecomes a goal by itself having a heavy administrative burden (Addy, 2007). All these points are valid, but they can be attributed to the extension of ITIL. Control Objectives for Information and related Technology Control Objectives for information and related Technology (CobIT) is a control framework developed by the IT Governance Institute. CobIT defines processes and controls, and uses the grouping of activities in four domains: Plan and Organise Acquire and Implement Deliver and Support Monitor and Evaluate Each domain contains a set of processes, 34 at total, and each process defines specific controls, which sum up to 210 for all processes. CobIT defines inputs and outputs, as well as a maturity model for each process, making the control of compliance a very easy task. RACI (responsible, accountable, consulted and informed) charts are also provided, drawing a clear guideline on who should be involved in every process step. Goals and metrics, in the form of outcome measures (key goal indicators KGIs) and performance indicators (key performance indicators KPIs) respectively are also provided, mapping business goals to IT goals, which can be achieved by one, or the interaction of several processes. CobIT is generally used where there is a need for auditing functions, in comparison with ITIL, which is better suited to operational process improvement (ODonohue et al, 2009). In contrast to ITIL, CobIT has extensive documentation available free of charge, including the framework itself and several case studies. Several implementation documents though are only available for purchase, such as CobIT Quickstart, while others are available free for ISACA members or for purchase for non-members such as Security Baseline and User Guide for Service Managers. Several consultants and practitioners criticise CobIT that it only states the obvious, that it is very high level, is only a generic framework and does not provide specific and repeatable implementation steps (Culmsee, 2009; Toigo, 2005). This is not a common view, as others find CobIT to be quite prescriptive (Pultorak, 2006; Robb and Parent, 2009). That may be explained by the fact that although CobIT framework itself is indeed high level, a different publication is provided by ISACA, named CobIT Control Practices which is quite prescriptive. Academics criticise CobIT as providing little support for improved decision making, although many metrics are defined (Simonsson and Johnson, 2006). Others state that CobIT is expressed almost entirely in terms of process, focusing on how to govern but not what to govern (Lee et al, 2009). Another criticism states that CobIT is significantly more focused on auditing, largely ignoring other aspects of governance such as software development an d service delivery (NetFrontiers, 2005). CobIT is also characterized as a framework that needs significant knowledge and know how for a successful implementation (Simonsson et al, 2007), and that it takes time to introduce solid IT Governance through it (Rogers, 2009); although the opposite would be strange, given the wide area of processes and functions that CobIT addresses. Finally, while ITIL is known as the framework that guides you on how to get where you want to be, CobIT merely focuses on where you should be; that may be good or bad, depending on ones point of view and needs. ISO / IEC 38500:2008 The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) attempted to solve the confusion between IT Management and IT Governance, and at the same time provide guiding principles on IT Governance, in the recently published ISO/IEC 38500:2008. Because ISO/IEC 38500 establishes principles to guide the behaviour of organisations, it complements frameworks that focus on process, such as ITIL and COBIT. Thus, with the right frameworks or processes, complemented by the right behaviours, organisations are more likely to establish highly effective systems of governance. After all, it has been stated that ITIL and CobIT are not mutually exclusive; they are rather complementary and organisations will probably benefit from a mixed approach, adopting what is more applicable in every case, from the two frameworks (Chickowsky, cited at Bhattacharjya and Chang, 2009). ISO/IEC 38500 can also be combined with these two and ITGI has even issued a specific document demonstrating how and which specific CobIT and ValIT controls support the adoption of the standards principles and implementation approach. Nevertheless, ISO/IEC 38500:2008 is very recent to be evaluated. As of the time of conducting this research, there is not enough information on the implementation, benefits or drawbacks of ISO 38500:2008. Common drivers for IT Governance implementation While the need for IT Governance has well been described, the benefits sought, i.e. the reasons for the implementation of an IT Governance framework vary, sometimes depending on the point of view of the observer. As drivers, we consider the motivator factors, which may lead an organisation to the implementation of an IT Governance framework. For IT Managers, IT Governance is a mechanism for the alignment of the IT with business on the projects that are going to be pursuit. For IT Auditors, it is mainly a control mechanism that can help them achieve compliance with regulations, and to manage the risks that are related to IT projects better. For IT Service management professionals, IT Governance ensures that not only the IT services offered are aligned to the current and future business needs, but they are also managed for efficiency, effectiveness and specific quality objectives (Pultorak, 2006). Recent surveys have indicated that the most important benefits expected from the implementation of an IT Governance framework are proper risk management, the resource management of IT, the performance measurement of IT and the business IT alignment. Along these, cost reduction, productivity improvements and organisation wide view of IT are commonly mentioned. (ITGI, 2008; BMC Software, 2007; Milne and Bowles, 2009; Yanosky and McCredie