Report on “Principle-Centered Leadership”

To successfully evaluate a work such as Principle-Centered Leadership, one must first examine the background of the author, in this case, Stephen R. Covey. He is a famous expert on issues of leadership, specialist in family issues, besides he works as an organizational consultant and vice chairman of Franklin Covey Co. From Stephen R. Covey’s pen came of several much-talked-of books, he is also an owner of numerous honors and awards; Time magazine named him among twenty-five most influential Americans. In 1990, following his successful Seven Habits of Highly Effective People (1989), Stephen R. Covey wrote a book entitled Principle-Centered Leadership.This book was an evoked response to new conditions in business pre-caused by applying the natural laws of life to organizations described by the author and challenges leaders face in business by applying these natural laws. Covey underlines that the sustainable success of organization as well as the success of an individual, in pa rticular, must be based on persistent work. Covey provides the interpretation of the natural laws, among which one can find security, guidance, wisdom, and power, and further on he expatiates how concentration on these laws and defined by him seven-habits practice bring about personal and organizational change.Besides, according to Covey, determined commitment is prerequisite to success in business, and latter can be achieved only if one is ready to complete paradigm shift in long-range outlook. The paradigm, which author intends to bring for the reader, is many-sided and is conformable to classic dilemmas of contemporary life. The principle-centered leadership presents a new way of thinking based on timeless principles. These principles of human being presented on various levels including personal, interpersonal, managerial, organizational serve as a core of Convey paradigm. Each level is described by key law: personal – trustworthiness, interpersonal – trust, manager ial – empowerment, organizational – alignment.According to Covey principle-centered leaders are people, regardless the gender, who work on the ground of natural principles, or laws, and make those principles into the center of their lives, into the center of their relationships with others, into the center of their agreements and contracts, into their management processes, and into their mission statements (Covey 1990).In this book Covey attempts to expound habits that basically help people to achieve effectively success both in their professional and personal lives.This book is supposed to serves as a leadership philosophy guide, the guidebook to personal fulfillment and professional success through â€Å"principle-centered leadership† based on principles, showing how goals of excellence and total quality express an innate human need for progress in personal and organizational life. The book is aimed to show that a world of business is still based on the  "power-brokering† and â€Å"strong-armed† approach to leadership and it needs to be changed. This book supplies managers of any level with instruments and vocabulary to acquire proper leadership quality and become mediators of appropriate change.Covey describes traditional business workplaces as small societies where the colleagues that work together share the same political and social needs and interests as all people do in the society in its broad direct meaning. Thus, he suggests exploiting a â€Å"principle-centered leadership† paradigm for businesses that presumably is based on time-proved social values. As for any society the most important things are the maintenance of stability and order just the same for sustained success and more efficacy of any business such important thing is adaptation of the unilateral authority and government of a management hierarchy that views employees as economic units, not social participators.However, in the â€Å"human rela tions paradigm,† this power is, to some extent, more well-disposed, it takes into account and accepts emotional needs, while remains the same strong. â€Å"Human relations paradigm† uses the creativity and talent of employees more extensively, though preserves its utilitarian sense. In any event, employees are usually only a means to reach the target of the company. It often happens that their initiative is not appreciated. In other words, Covey draws the attention to the fact that very often employees are not considered to be political and social peers in most companies.According to Covey companies are facing a need to use all of the talents of their employees in order to achieve active competition of an infinitely more complex and dynamic economic landscape. He implies that a new principle-centered leadership paradigm is required. Moreover this paradigm is centered at the social and political â€Å"principles† of â€Å"fairness, equity, justice, integrity, hon esty, and trust† (Covey, 1990). Admittedly, it is a paradigm that provides full citizenship within a company to all employees.The author describes characteristics of a company operating with application of principle-centered leadership paradigm. The authorized employee, who stands in the base of the company, is trustworthy, in other words, he or she is highly-qualified and possesses the features of integrity and maturity. Such individual trait of trustworthiness develops trusting relationships among all other members of the company to such extent that constitutes the foundations of the company’s success. Trust also assists to achieve highly efficient communications among the company staff. The company is managed in compliance with â€Å"win-win performance agreements with negotiated accountability and consequences stipulations† (Covey, 1990). With such agreements in place, explicit managerial control is replaced by self-supervision (Covey, 1990). The author asser ts that companies that have taken over principle-centered leadership cease to be autocratic, and have established a form of democracy.However, one question arises while reading this book. Is the principle-centered leadership really democratic? The implementation of principle-centered leadership involves top-down approach. This paradigm intended for top leaders, possessing wisdom, with the purpose to convert their organizations by â€Å"communicating vision, clarifying purposes,† and establishing an overriding, governing mission (Covey, 1990). The aim of mission formulating is to increase employees’ feeling of making contribution. The author provides long-winded explanation why he offered such behavior which can heighten an executive's honor and authorities with others. It becomes apparent that the principle-centered leadership paradigm is supposed to rest on charismatic leadership, which often calls to emotions and not comprehensive participation.Covey’s concept of principle-centered leadership is based to great extent on his debates that principles of cooperation among people are â€Å"self-evident, objective, and external† as the natural laws should be. However, such statement seems to lack sound reason. Impartiality, integrity, and justice are all disputable points that often fall under strenuous debate in society. The all-wise leader does not have a hold on the definition of those ideals.Principle-centered leadership adopts the frame of employee authority, but in reality it seems to be, to more extent, a paradigm in motivation. The aim in principle-centered leadership is to make employees, in imperceptible way, believe that the company is being managed in a well-disposed, impartial manner â€Å"by all-knowing, high-minded leaders towards lofty goals† (Covey, 1990).The author fails to provide compelling and strong examples of conflicts that may accompany principle-centered leadership concept. These potential conflicts are, actually, underestimated as inessential compared to the prevalent devotion to a transcendent mission.In conclusion, Covey fails to convince the reader of efficacy of principle-centered leadership treating it as indefinite concept and applying, unfortunately, no social approach to form the basis of this concept.Bibliography:Covey, Stephen R., Principle-Centered Leadership New York, NY: Summit Books, 1990

Group decision making essay Essay

Introduction. Managers in today’s business environment are faced with numerous often-unplanned events that require decision-making. In the past it was more common for a manager to decide the course of action individually or within formal groups. Important decisions in the business circle are now deemed too risky or important to be made entirely by one person. A manager must seek the right advice from several different sources. Today it is often common for many managers to seek involvement from lower level employees in the decision making process whenever it can be done. However it is not always possible just to ask a colleague what they should do. Most decisions will require a process of a greater degree of subordinate participation; these decisions can be made through a variety of different ways such as committees, task groups, departmental participation and so forth. It is said that making decisions in a group allows for every angle to be looked at and every possible idea to be created with every decision from a group offering the best solution this method of decision making. However like many techniques it has its positives and negatives.It can be time consuming and may not offer an answer to the problem that satisfies everyone. This essay hopes to discuss both the advantages and disadvantages of group decision-making using several theories and some real life case studies. We will see how participation in decision-making affects companies decisions; we will look at several helpful models i.e. vroom-jago model and all referencing it to real life situations and quotes from famous persons in the field Circumstances Of Group decision. Managers as part of their job are faced with many decisions in which they have to undertake, it is up to the managers themselves to decide in what kind of way they want to make the decision and solve the problem. However groups can offer an essential feature in decision making for an organisation. As Coghlan points out: â€Å"Membership of teams and groups shape perception and participation in organisational change.. Groups and teams play a key role in the process of planned organisational change. The change process typically involves teams in the organisational’s hierarchy responding to the change agenda and adapting to it in terms of its tasks and processes† (Coghlan) Coghlan statement clearly leads us to believe that groups are critical in making important direction changing decisions for the company. Evidence supports this statement and we will look at this a little later as we discuss the advantage and disadvantages. First we will look at how managers come about making the decision to use group participation. A manager may decide to use group decisions in several circumstances and the contingency model by Vroom and Yetton as well as the Vroom and Jago decision model can prove useful in helping management decide when to encourage group participation. In he contingency model by Vroom and Yetton there are five key management styles as described by Vroom that a manager can undertake to make decisions. This is shown in appendix 1. We can see from this that the amount of participation that a manager involves in a decision varies greatly. It would not be logical for managers to always  involve group decision-making on smaller problems such as whether to refund a customer (if it was something worth 10) this would be a waste of time and resources for the company and could easy be dealt with on the stop with a programmed decision by the staff. Group decisions as described by Coghlan can be very useful for important or company changing problems or opportunities. It would not be wise to let one person decide whether to invest 4 billions pounds to merge with another company. This is a case when it would be wise for the company to go for the style as vroom described as decision style â€Å"GII† i.e. where you share a problem with your subordinates as a group and implement any solution that has the entire support of the group. The Vroom and Jago decision model goes onto produce a decision tree for choosing a appropriate decision-making method.This decision tree allows the manger to move along the branches by answering the questions at each point. This leads to one of the five decision making styles as described in the Vroom Yetton model. However it has to be said that this model as well as models in general are neither right nor wrong they must be seen as guidelines or as a reference. However the Vroom-Yetton, Jago model must be seen as a useful tool in the aid of decision-making although it is not perfect. Looking at appendix 2 we can see that the model looks a little complex however once you reach the starting point QR we can see that the model is simply a set of high, low yes, no answers that guide you to an eventual decision style. This model has been criticized as being not perfect. However it is not possible for me to say these critics are not right or wrong only this model is neither. However support is growing for this model as more examples of its uses come to light. Advantages, Disadvantages To Group Participation. In today’s empowered work places managers involve all workers in decision making as a rule rather than choice. However companies must understand that  participative decision-making does has its disadvantages as well as it obvious advantages. It is seen that in business two heads are better than one. This can be true in some circumstances as it offers an advantage in terms of offering a boarder perspective to establish the problem and sort out its causes and effects. It also enables the company to have more ability and facts at its disposal therefore allowing for greater scope to sort out any potentially tricky problem. Group discussion leads to the evaluation and correction of possible decisions, plus group discussion also helps to back up and support a decision that an individual may not wish to take on his or her own due to the risk involved. And finally group discussion allows for more satisfaction from the workers, as they feel involved with the project and decision that their work place is taking. Group decisions however can tend to be time consuming, everyone must be consulted on the problem and then they must all find the time to jointly diagnose the problem and decide a solution. Groups may also have the problem of not using the best solution for the problem, although the group discussion allows for more ideas some members may not agree on the best solution and therefore a comprise solution will have to be used to gain group wide acceptance. A boarder instant of this would be the risky shift phenomenon, this suggests that instead of groups taking fewer risks and making safer decisions the reverse is often the case. There is a tendency for groups to make more risky decisions than an individual may take. Another point is that people inclined to make risks are more influential within the group than say the more conservative members, therefore good ideas could be lost. Group think is another problem that must be considered within a group. Group  think tells us that pressures on individual members to conform and reach consensus mean that minority or unpopular ideas maybe suppressed. Members who oppose the group are stereotyped as being weak, stupid, and argumentative. As People may not wish to question any ideas of the group, bad ideas may filter through. One other big problem to group think as see we see in the example of Napster is that it can lead to a inherent morality of the group which in turn can lead to members to be convinced of the logical correctness of what it is doing and to ignore ethical or moral consequences of decisions ( more harsher examples of groupthink would be Pearl harbour, Vietnam, Mullins99) The final problem is people do not feel the same sense of responsibility for group decisions or their outcomes. â€Å"A decision which is everyone’s is the responsibility of no one†(Mullins,98) An example of disadvantages of group decision-making and group think can be seen by www.napster.com. Even when it was clear that their practice of providing free mp3’s of the latest musical material was wrong they decided as a group in the face of the courts to continue their practice. This was because their group norms supported them doing so and that they were the most sought after website on the Internet. However group members of Napster had to compromise all their values so as to keep dissent and as there was no clear reasonability everyone agreed to this illegal practice. If some members would have voiced their concerns and beliefs earlier in the process and put an end to the practice before the courts took over they could have save themselves much time and money. However lets go back to advantages of group decision-making and look at the techniques used to promote it and stimulate creativity. Management have realized that encouraging employee participation in solving problems can be extremely advantageous toward the company. Frontline workers are constantly in touch with the needs, wants and concerns of the companies customers, it allows them fuller insight into how to possibly solve problems  that concern the company’s consumer base. When I first worked at Matalan they operated a system by where you could post any ideas you had on how to improve the operation of the store and its service to the customers. If you idea was put into practice you would receive a financial reward. This system received many replies and allowed for many improvements to be implemented around many Matalan stores. There are many different ways in which can pursue employee participation. The most common and well-known participation tool would be brainstorming. Brainstorming is a decision-making technique in which group members present spontaneous ideas and suggestions for solving the problem concerned. It allows any ideas regardless of how impractical they may seem. This in turn hopefully promotes freer and more creative thinking. Brain storming works on involving everyone, and encouraging communication, listening, and information sharing in the hope that it maximises ideas/possible solutions to problems and also minimises the risk of overlooking any points of the problem under question. An advancement of the brainstorming technique is the Delphi technique this is based on anonymous inputs from individual members of the group and then management assess the responses until a consensus is reached. This can be time consuming but overcomes the limitations of brainstorming and the systems of group think. Now Lets take for example many common marketing departments; it is now commonplace for them to have basketball hoops, televisions, computers games, and other stimuli within the room. Management hope this will promote a relaxed environment within the group in the hope that it will allow for more creative thinking and brainstorming within the marketing group Other techniques used for group decision making include signing a devils advocate. The devils advocate challenges the assumptions and assertions made by the group to prevent any premature consensus. (Daft,00) This it hopes  forces the team who created the idea to solve the problem to examine and explain any risks that maybe associated with it. Another similar approach would be multiple advocacy. Multiple advocacy, involves several advocates and allows for the presentation of several different points of view on the idea in question. It allows minority and unpopular opinions, decisions are therefore based on solid augment and the understanding of all the pro’s and con’s. Conclusion. As we can see there are circumstances where group decisions are more necessary than others and it is up to the managers to decide which situations would be best to involve group decision. Although the decision of when to involve group decisions is entirely up to the manager there are models available such as vroom to help give guidance should they need it. Group participation offers a variety of different advantages for solving problems and tasks. It allows for the group as a whole to participate toward solving the task and allows for more creative thinking than would be given by an individual. Groups cover all angles of a problem and enable any ideas to be looked at in detail before being implemented. However like all good things it has its disadvantages. Group participation includes such problems as groupthink and risky-shift phenomenon. These tell us that support can be given to ideas just to enable group harmony or because individuals don’t wont to gain a reputation. It also includes the point that people inclined to take risks are more influential within the group. Whatever the disadvantages and advantages of group participation and performance, groups will always form part of the pattern of work organisation. It is merely a matter of judgement for the manager as to when, and how best, to use groups in the execution of work.

3 negros

During the reconstruction period, the status of African-Americans in South American society is steadily worsening. Since 1877, the possibility of African-American progress has almost completely disappeared. For African Americans voting rights and political power are lost due to threats such as Lynch. The remaining political and economic interests made during the reconstruction eventually weakened by the laws of the south. By the 20th century, African Americans could hardly get political, social and economic power. If it happens in a small town it will expel the citizens from their house, and it is uncomfortable, it falls behind the back of a very far place in the tobacco patch ... their 3 or 4 blacks are working, I talk to those black people, they say that the clouds are red appearance ... and they emit noises like heavy rain in the distance. In my opinion, Lebanon The reduction of specimens gathered in: Very easy to explain: We are familiar with experience, the influence of the wind , and the strength of the wind - full of damage by the wind called hurricane remaining in our memories In the fresh town, that town, the wind is blown away. Things were shipped for 10 or 20 miles. There are other winds called whirlwinds that have the ability to lift the substance into the air and transport them far away As early as the great era of the United States, the term nobility black was applied to black males who dared to leave the space defined by the white order dominated social order. In order to overcome the white obstacle of the Jim Raven era, Uppity Negroes encountered a violent purpose. Uppity Negroes is fighting for voting rights. Uppity Negros aims to learn and learn to use system rules to transform the system itself. Recently, some serious Uppity Negroes tried to announce the value of Black Lives in Ferguson, Missouri. Calling on this country to achieve its vision is always the mission of Uppity Negro. When a black child reached working age, he found that the US of fered him much less than the whites he offered. The unemployment rate of black adults is twice the white job unemployment rate, but the unemployment rate of black youth is about three times that of white teenager. The annual average income of black men who graduated from the university for four years was only $ 110 higher than white men with only high school diplomas. Blacks occupy 11.5% of the population, but 2% of lawyers and judges, 2% of doctors, 3% of dentists, 1% of engineers and 6% of professors of universities and universities .

Management Strategy and Decision Making Assignment

Management Strategy and Decision Making - Assignment Example s main focus was made on the increase of returns to the shareholders, the achievement of the Just Group strategy could be partially evaluated based on the dividends payout. Thus, in 2013 the company informed about annual dividends increase up to 38 cents per share. This increase has comprised 2% comparing with the dividends for 2012 (Premier Investment Limited Annual Report 2013). However, taking into consideration the fact that for 2009 it was declared that dividends were 75 cents per share, the company’s performance could be challenged. On the other hand, this performance could demonstrate strong financial position of the company as the global financial crisis might have had more adverse effects on the shareholder’s value. In order to achieve its strategy of increase of returns to the shareholders, the company has identified six strategic focus areas, such as: expansion and growth of the business through the internet up to 10% of sales; reinvigoration of the five key brands; organization-wide cost efficiency program; two phase gross margin expansion; significant growth of Peter Alexander; and significant growth of Smiggle brands (Premier Investment Limited Annual Report 2013). By reviewing the company’s performance results reported in 2013 it is possible to state the there has been made a substantial progress towards achievement of the above listed strategies. For example, the company has reported that its e-commerce activity has grown significantly. To achieve this result, there were launched 1day delivery program (within Australia) and mobile sites for all brands of the company. In terms of the growth margin expansion strategy, the company has also achieved significant results as gross margin has been expanded by 117 basis points in 2013 (Premier Investment Limited Annual Report 2013). Growth of Peter Alexander brand was also significant in FY 2013, as the total sales have exceeded 17%. Taking into consideration that in 2009 this brand comprised 7, 7% of

Ethics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 47

Ethics - Essay Example A closer look at the article; ‘the single solution to world poverty’ and ‘consider the lobster’ by Peter Singer and David Foster Wallace respectively can help to develop a conversation about ethics and further show how difficult the conversation can become. According to Singer, many human beings spend so much of their income on non-essential things that are not essential to their life survival or preservation of their health. The author contends that if money spent by people on non-essential things were to be donated to charity, it would imply the difference between life and death for children who are in need (Singer 1). The author believes that the consequences of human action should get used to determine what is right from wrong. I believe that Singer’s argument are justified, however, human beings are prone to desires and want more than what they just have. It is an innate feeling that brings satisfaction to their lives and to simply cut off one’s desire for luxury is quite difficult. In ‘consider the lobster’, David Foster Wallace appears to urge his audience to empathize with the lobsters that they eat. The author documents on the Maine Lobster festival by providing a glimpse of the events that take place, the lobsters that get served and where they can be found, and further details on the utensils that get used. His essay aims at asking people to consider how these lobsters get caught, prepared, and eventually served to the crowd (Wallace 4). He persuades people by graphically describing the process of preparing lobsters when boiling in hot water and how they appear to try to escape the heat. Wallace’s argument is quite valid. I believe that the basis of his argument should form the understanding of the debate on ethics.by providing consideration to the feelings of another human being or animal, can we base our decisions on what is right or

Quantitative research critique Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Quantitative critique - Research Paper Example The authors feel that the distinction between these atypical medications and the comorbidity with weight gain and diabetes is an important distinction. Furthermore, this certainly has ramifications for nursing in regards to the diet and importance of monitoring signs of diabetes and increased weight gain in this cohort. The population under study and the quantitative analysis of the data is appropriate and meaningful for this study. Literature Review: The references cited, while not extensive, are suitable for the size of the study. Twenty-two references are used directly. Of these, seven are directly related to the effects the study is analyzing. The others relate to the specific mediations under study as well as the general information regarding diabetes and adiposity. Twenty are current and date from 2002 forward, only two are older, (1) the American Diabetes Association’s â€Å"Report of the expert committee on the diagnosis and classification of diabetes mellitus.† dates from 1997 but is only used as a general reference and (2) Gray and Fujioka (1991) â€Å"Use of relative weight and body mass index for the determination of adiposity,† also for general guidelines. ... In a survey of diabetes associated with clozapine, glycemic control improved after clozapine was stopped in 78% of individuals who developed diabetes; 62% of these patients no longer required hypoglycemic drugs. Of 12 patients who were restarted on clozapine, 9 developed hyperglycemia again. (Cohen, 2004, 3) While other references used generalized this effect there is other literature that directly supports it. For instance, in a study they did not reference, Koller and Doraiswamy (2002) showed in their research that 78% of the group had improved glycemic balance once they stopped taking or decreased the dosage of olanzapine and that if olanzapine was restarted eight out of ten patients had a recurrence of hyperglycemia. So it is clear that there were previous studies which connected the same inferences the authors are stating. There is also some research that counter-indicates their results as to weight gain to some extent: †¦patients taking antipsychotic drugs can develop diab etes without significant weight gain or can lose weight. Furthermore, their diabetes usually improves rapidly when the antipsychotic drug is withdrawn, without significant reduction in body weight, and often recurs rapidly if the drug is started again. (Wirshing, 2001, 8) They do cite another study from Wirshing, Boyd and Meng (2002) which does concur with their weight gain hypothesis. Furthermore, as far back as 1999, the diabetic inducing effects off clozapine and olanzapine were already known: Several cases of new-onset diabetes attributed to clozapine and olanzapine were associated with acute pancreatitis. It is possible, therefore, that antipsychotic-induced diabetes results from chemical damage to the pancreas. However, diabetes

Contemporary Mathematics DB 2 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Contemporary Mathematics DB 2 - Essay Example corporation for the year ended December 31, 2005 was very high at $3,372,065 while the net income for the year ended Dec 31, 2004 was lower at $3,235,851 while the lowest net income occurred in the year ended December 31, 2003 at only $2,752,233. All the above Abbott Amounts are in thousands of United States Dollars. For the company Bank of America, the net income for the year ended December 31, 2005 was very high at $16,465,000 while the net income for the year ended December 31, 2004 was lower at $14,143,000 and the lowest net income occurred in the year ended December 31, 2003 at $10,810. All amounts above are recorded in thousands of United States Dollars. For the company Cola Cola, the net income for the year ended December 31, 2005 was $4,872,000 while the net income for the prior year ended December 31, 2004 is $4,847,000 while the net income for the earlier year ended December 31, 2003 is only at $4,347,000. All the above amounts are in thousands of United States

Principles of Econometrics Coursework Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Principles of Econometrics - Coursework Example Random assignment does not guarantee that the groups are "matched" or equivalent, only that any differences are due to chance. Control group is a valid counterfactual since it is a proof that your experiment had a specific outcome. At the end of the experiment, you have the results for the control group (the group where no intervention/treatment was applied) and the results for the group(s) where an intervention/treatment was applied. We only get useful information only when we compare those two sets of results. The  Hawthorne effect  (also referred to as the  observer effect) refers to a  phenomenon  whereby individuals improve or modify an aspect of their behavior in response to their awareness of being observed Multicollinearity  (also  collinearity) is a statistical phenomenon in which two or more predictor  variables  in a  multiple regression  model are highly  correlated, meaning that one can be linearly predicted from the others with a non-trivial degree of accuracy. In this situation the  coefficient estimates  of the multiple regression may change erratically in response to small changes in the model or the data. (a) Explain what is meant by measurement error and how does it cause endogeneity bias? (4 marks) When the measurement error is in the dependent variable, the zero conditional mean assumption is not violated and thus no endogeneity. However, when the measure error is in the independent variable, the problem of endogeneity arises. Suppose that . Explain how an instrumental variables regression estimated using two stage least squares (TSLS) can be used to obtain consistent estimates of the regression coefficients. (7 marks) Instrumental variable (IVs) methods especially using

12 Angry Men (Movie) Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

12 Angry Men ( ) - Movie Review Example However, when they begin analyzing the case they systematically acquit the accused of the charges. While the change of decision is not unanimous, each juror changes his mind after understanding the context of the crime. When the jurors decide to take a second vote without juror 8, one would anticipate another â€Å"not guilty† vote from the batch. Such is the dictate of the symbolic convergence theory. It argues that another juror would begin considering the facts keenly owing to the motivation he receives from juror 8 and find fault in the case. With juror 8 and 9 doubting the facts of the case, they begin explaining their decisions and are likely to influence the others since they raise pertinent reasons for their votes. Furthermore, as the symbolic convergence theory explains the other judges would begin understanding the facts of the case by considering the explanation from the two jurors. The two are likely to influence the rest since they are of the same caliber. A juror lived in the slum and understands knife fights; another has reading glasses and explains his behaviors. This way, the other jurors systematically understand the facts of the crime thereby acquitting the accused. They understand the facts because of the influence from their colleagues. The theory rightly explains that humans tend to understand an event based on the people involved in the event, their motivations, emotions and meanings. The jurors shared the above facts thus systematically influencing each other. In 1965, Bruce Tuckman explained that a group develops systematically by observing the  Forming-Storming Storming – Norming – Performing  model. The same is the case with the group of twelve jurors. In the forming stage, just as the name suggests the group goes throu8gh the process of creation. Every member strives to impress the other with

THE ATOMIC BOMB Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

THE ATOMIC BOMB - Essay Example At the end of the study, reasons are provided as to why standing armies’ war cannot be similar to war waged by small armed groups. On the 6th day of August 1945, an American B-29 bomber dropped two atomic bombs in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, bringing the Second World War to an end. The dusk of the war, however introduced a new dawn of controversies regarding deliberate attack of civilians in wars, whether the use of the atomic bomb was necessary, and whether war is a practice only reserved for standing armies and nations as opposed to small armed groups. Concisely, America transformed the style of war on the planet in that prior to the Nagasaki/Hiroshima bombings; civilians had never been portrayed as participants or targets in war. Further debates emerged that the atomic bomb claimed fewer lives than what the actual War could have cost had it been allowed to extend beyond 1945. Owing to the new style of warfare introduced by the atomic bombs’ use, warfare on the planet has taken different paths in which case civilians are now part of wars, terrorism is portrayed as a justifiable practice by some, and war is now split between standing armies and small armed groups. In the light of these, the following discussion text will argue why deliberate attacks on civilians are illegitimate acts of war, that terrorism will never be a justified act, and that the practice of war should remain a preserve of nations and standing armies only; contrary to what the post-Hiroshima/ Nagasaki bombings implied. No definition of war would ever make sense if the terms â€Å"armed† or â€Å"weapons† did not feature anywhere in them. This is because war is a form of struggle against rivals as they strive to exercise victory over the other. As such, war has to be against an armed rival with another armed rival. In the event that one rival is unarmed, whatever struggle ensues thereafter takes an overly different definition from war. It may be

A look at Starbucks’ marketing strategy Essay Example for Free

A look at Starbucks’ marketing strategy Essay We have no patent on anything we do and anything we do can be copied by anyone else. But you cant copy the heart and the soul and the conscience of the company† – Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks Coffee. This quote from Schultz could be the â€Å"magic† that has separated Starbucks from the every other coffee shop; an attitude of marketing which is inspired by the company’s commitment. The successful marketing strategies which Starbucks employs are definitely of interest to anyone interested in business marketing can learn about. Serving coffee is a common part of any restaurant business, but a successful marketing mix will cause a common product to become uncommon and unique to the consumer. A marketing strategy for a company requires commitment from the company with all departments and employees working together towards the same goal. This should be a philosophy which is applied to the entire organization, not simply an idea that is applied to the marketing department. The two main functions of the marketing strategy are to identify the target market, and develop a successful marketing mix for that target market. Within the marketing mix are four essential components: product, place, promotion, and price. Starbucks Coffee Company has developed a marketing mix which has proven to be exceptionally successful for over 40 years. Starbucks opened in 1971 by owners who developed a passion for dark roast coffee, and that was basically the main product that was sold in the stores. After about a decade of selling coffee beans, the owners allowed Howard Schultz to join the company as the firm’s Director of Retail Operations and Marketing. While on a trip to Italy, Schultz came across the Italian â€Å"coffee culture† which intrigued his interest; a cafà © where people would gather, socialize and spend time in leisure. Schultz believed this â€Å"coffee culture† could be replicated in the United States serving the Starbucks brand of dark roasted coffee and adding espresso drinks to the menu. This concept was rejected by the founders of Starbucks, and eventually  Schultz bought the company, and proceeded to build it into the largest retail coffee shop chain in the world. The product line of coffee was expanded to include espresso drinks such as lattes and cappuccinos; and as the company grew, the drink choices also grew to meet the consumer’s needs. Starbucks is known for having store locations everywhere in the world; even to the point of shops across the street from one another. Beginning in neighborhoods or in rural areas, and expanding to high traffic areas such as New York City; a Starbucks Coffee Shop may be found in or very near any city in the United States. Within the â€Å"place† of the marketing mix, one considers the type of stores as important as the location. The majority of Americans have two main â€Å"places† where time is spent, either at work or at home. With Schultz’s vision of the coffee shops that inspire the customers to consider Starbucks his or her â€Å"third place†, all of the shops have the brand of ease and comfort. Designed to be cozy and comfortable, the store decor of every shop is similar, if not identical: big easy chairs and sofas, tables for customers to gather at, high top counters with plenty of electrical outlets for those who take advantage of the free internet, and music playing which adds to the ambiance. Some locations actually have a burning fireplace to warm the atmosphere during the winter months. It is very rare for one to see a promotional advertisement for Starbucks Coffee in a magazine, newspaper, billboard, television commercial, or any other typical advertising campaign. Starbucks used the marketing strategy of â€Å"word-of-mouth† advertising; allowing the high quality of products and the legendary service promote the brand. This tactic has played a huge part in making Starbucks Coffee Company a success. The front line Barista (coffee artist) has been trained not only to prepare specialty coffee drinks, but to include the art of providing â€Å"legendary service† to the customer. This strategy includes promotion of personalized service by learning customer’s names, specific drink preferences, customer’s occupations, and often personal information concerning the customer’s family  and life events. In the beginning, the company’s mission statement was: To establish Starbucks as the premier purveyor of the finest coffee in the world while maintaining our uncompromising principles as we grow. Now, Starbucks has added to the mission statement: To inspire and nurture the human spirit One person, One cup, and One Neighborhood at a time. With all employees working with the company’s mission in mind, the brand is promoted on a daily basis. In no way, shape, or form has Starbucks offered a competitive pricing for the products sold in the stores. One may consider the â€Å"experience† of the Starbucks brand to be included in the price of the products. As stated above, with all front line Baristas working with the company’s mission statement as a guideline, the consumer is purchasing a cup of coffee with the experience of personalized legendary service. While the descriptions of Starbucks Coffee Company’s marketing mix did not include the target marketing objective, Starbucks’ target market includes anyone who is willing to pay a premium price for the â€Å"Starbucks Experience. This decision was made with extensive strategic planning, and with the knowledge that using a unique marketing program such as this was a huge risk in being successful. A good summary about the marketing success of Starbucks is this quote by Howard Schultz, CEO of Starbucks: We establish the value of buying a product at Starbucks by our uncompromising quality and by building a personal relationship with each customer. The marketing mix that Starbucks Coffee Company developed is unique, unconventional, somewhat risky, but most importantly, extremely successful for over 40 years.

Alcoholic Beverage and Energy Drink Essay Example for Free

Alcoholic Beverage and Energy Drink Essay The main objective of Hector Beverage Pvt ltd is to capture the market and positioned the brand in the mind of the customer. The main targeted customers are college students,sports person. Since the beverage segment is a diversified segment . The competition is high and there are many more supreme brands and it is difficult for a new brand to capture the market. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT No task whatever big or small can be completed without proper guidance and encouragement. It gives us a great pleasure to our deep sense of gratitude and reverence to every person who created a congenial atmosphere for successful completion of this project. In doing this project, I have been extremely privileged to receive support from a large number of knowledgeable people. I am deeply indebted to Mr Neeraj Kakkar (CEO), Mr James Paul Nattal (CFO), Mr Suhas Misra (COO), Miss Ujwala Mishra (HR EXECUTIVE ) Mr Gaurav Sharma (Area manager) for giving me the opportunity to undergo my project in their esteemed organization and for giving their timely suggestions valuable guidance. I would like to express our gratitude and profound thanks to Mr Pravat Shrivastsv (Senior coordinator), Miss Shilpa Puri (Faculty), International Management Center, New Delhi for his valuable sustained, guidance, invaluable suggestions and constant encouragement without which it would not have been possible for us to complete this project. TABLE OF CONTENTS Topic| Page no. | Cover page| | Title page| | Certificate| | Acknowledgement| | Preface| | List of figures| | List of Tables| | Executive Summary| 7| Introduction of Report| 9| Company Profile| 11| Literature Review| 18| Objectives| 19| Research Methodology| 20| Findings AnalysisConclusion| 3435| Recommendations| 36| Limitations| 37| Biblography| 38| Annexture| 39| | | LISTS OF FIGURES: List of Figures| List of Tables| Page No| Figure 1:Pie graph for gender | Table 1| 22| Figure 2:Bar graph for coming across an energy drink| Table 2| 23| Figure3:Bar graph for regular curstomer| Table 3| 24| Figure4: Bar chart for tasting energy drink| Table 4| 25| Figure 5: Bar chart for tasting Tzinga| Table 5| 26| Figure 6: Bar chart for new awareness about Tzinga| Table 6| 27| Figure7: Bar chart for rating Tzinga flaviur| Table 7| 28| Figure8: Bar chart for tzinga providing advantage| Table 8| 29| Figure9: Bar chart of tzinga in any other flavour| Table 9| 30| Figure10:Bar chart for rating Tzinga accordance to price| Table 10| 31| Figure 11:Bar chart for comparision of Tzinga to other drinks| Table11| 32| | | |. | | | EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Hector Beverages brings new experience to the Indian consumer. The company have used some natuaral herbs which is good for human health that emerges from scientific observation/ analysis of nature and creates tasty beverages, associating with leading companies and personalities. Cases in point is the first launch:Tzinga, lemon and mint flavor with natural herbs Gaurana and Zingsing. This product has a delicious taste of lemon mint with natural herbs Isolate with . Natural herbs are used to susstitute the amount of caffeine which is injurious to health . Its unique taste mekes it different than any other energy drink. And it has low amount of calories lowest calories. It is perfect for hard working days. They have these extremely meaningful products which are going to give them a competitive advantage over other products. INTRODUCTION The present world is fast moving world people are very busy and do not have time to take proper meal and consume mostly junk food which are high in calorie content and bad for health. it results in many different problem. Due to high intake of junk foods and low consumption of high nutrient value food people are suffering from more and more alments. in order to stay healthy and fit ,people should take proper nutritional content food. So Hector Beverage have launched new energy drink which has completely new flavor like lemon and mint which is completely drink from other enrgy drink. Hector is mainly targeting college students and office employees. So Hector is conducting many promotional activities to create an awareness So the main objective of Hector Beverage is to Create brand awareness for Tzinga. INTRODUCTION OF PROJECT Beverage industry is one of the fast growing industries in India . it can be divided into two sections i. e. carbonated and non-carbonated. the carbonated drinks that can be further classified into cola, lemon orange, mango and apple segments. Marketing includes all the activities like promotion, distribution, advertising etc. To fulfill all the segments of consumers. Marketing is also to convert social needs into profitable opportunities. So this topic provides all the essentials to theoretical knowledge with practical knowledge and to inculcate the efficiency. It is also requirement for the company to improve their service and product quality for achieving their ultimate goal. Beverages can be classified into 2 types ALCHOHOLIC BEVERAGE An alcoholic beverage is a drink containingethanol, commonly known as alcohol. Alcoholic beverages are divided into three general classes: beers wines, and spirits. Alcohol is a psychoactive drug that has a depressanteffect. A high blood alcohol content is usually considered to be legal drunkenness because it reduces attentionand slows reaction speed. Alcohol can be addictive, and the state of addictionto alcohol is known as alcoholism. The production and consumption of alcohol occurs in most cultures of the world, from hunter-gatherer peoples to nation-states. Alcoholic beverages are often an important part of social events in these cultures. In many cultures, drinkingplays a significant role in social interaction — mainly because of alcohol’s neurological effects. NONALCHOLIC BEVERAGE A non-alcoholic beverage is a beveragethat contains less than 0. 5% alcohol by volume. Non-alcoholic versions of somealcoholic beverages, such as non-alcoholic beer (near beer) and cocktails(mocktails), are widely available where alcoholic beverages are sold.alcoholic wine undergo an alcohol-removal process that may leave a small amount of alcohol. Because of this, some states have legal restrictions on non-alcoholic beer and wine. | ORGANIZATION PROFILE HECTOR BEVERAGES The beverage offerings in the developed world are so much better than those in the developing world. Beverages in the US and Europe are an important delivery mechanism for nutrients (macro, like protein and micro- vitamins and minerals) while in the developing countries they are little more than (as we have noted) sweetened fizzy water. Hector Beverage Pvt Ltd. is here to bridge the gap, to challenge the beverage majors and their attempts to maintain the status quo which they have been doing for all the years they have been in business. The beverage game is bound to change, for the better and Hector intends to be the people doing it Hector is a beverage company with a twist. Now that does not really mean that Hectors products have a dash of lemon (some of them, in the future mayindeed but thats well besides the point). The twist is that Hectors beverages are meaningful. Hector beverages believes, and believe with a lot of intensity, that beverages have to be more than fizzy, sweetened/ flavored water. Worldwide beverages contribute a lot to the consumers health- delivering macro- nutrients (protein) and micro (vitamins and minerals) and there is no reason why that should not be the case in the developing world. Well, no reason apart from the fact that the beverage giants have a vested interest in sustaining the status quo as that keeps cost down. Hector beverages is the new kid on the block that aims to take on the beverage majors by offering real value to the consumer- thats it, so simple- just healthy, tasty drinks, no celebrities, no Santa Claus, no bells, no whistles. Hector associates itself with this story. As it is a very small player, new one also, in an industry which is so dominated by major players like Coke and Pepsi, it still believes that it will survive and win customers. Hector knows of what are the fundamental shortcomings of the existing beverage players- their inertia, and smugness and their commitment to status quo. So, Hector Beverages think that this Hector Vs Achilles will also be a contest of historic proportions, albeit with a significantly different outcome MISSION Hectors mission statement is as follows: 3 our mission is to serve people by Quality, Healthy and tasty protein drink. VISION Hectors vision is to capture Delhi and NCR market by providing quality, healthy and tasty protein drink at a suitable price to keep people healthy and fit. VALUES We thought about this and decided to have this section not because every company seems to have something reasonably rich to say on its values. We realized that this is the beginning of differentiation and our values to us are just some of the fundamental things that excite us. As some poet, forgotten cruelly by literature must have aptly noted: with more self-serving nonsense we will not bore further thee but, instead, just spread out for your reading pleasure our values three. 1. Audacity: For obvious reasons. a new business is anyway tough. The fact that we would be taking on the Beverage Behemoths makes it even more exciting. We love thinking big and are in it because we want to ask the big boys to bring it on 2. Rooting for the underdog: The underdog can’t but try harder. As the bona-fide underdog in the beverage market we have a vested interest in rooting for the underdog. 3. Integrity: All irreverence aside, we are committed to the greater common good and unwaveringly so. COMPANY HIGHLIGHTS The firm has started its operation to fulfill the need of the market segment that still have not been fulfilling properly. Hector Beverages brings healthy, tasty beverages to the Indian consumer. The company strives to bring the best for human health that emerges from scientific observation/ analysis of nature and creates tasty beverages,associatingwithleadingcompaniesandpersonalities. Cases in point are the first two launches: Frissia (TM) Chocolate Protein Drink and Frissia(TM) Vanilla Protein Drink. These products are a delicious blend of Soy Protein Isolate with natural identical chocolate or vanilla flavor for really busy people. Soys benefits for health are well recorded but a significant barrier to adoption has been its bitter after taste that we have taken care of in this blend. Its as good as any chocolate/ vanilla stuff that the consumer may consider. And, at the lowest calories/ gram of complete protein its perfect for work-days spent in meetings and working on laptops/ blackberries. Hector also brings about a genuinely new approach to market- dropping political correctness for an honest communication with consumers in all interactions. In short, we have these extremely meaningful products and are going to talk quite straight to our consumers. These are exciting times for Hector- do get in touch if you find all this interesting and want to be a part of Hector, in any capacity. Hector Beverages, a pioneer in the Indian Functional Beverages industry, recently announced the launch of their newest product Tzinga Energy Drink. Tzinga is made with a powerful blend of ingredients to avoid those energy slumps we know all too well, and keep mind and body performing at their best. * Unlike existing energy drinks, Tzinga tastes great and is availalable for the very reasonable MRP of Rs 20. * Tzinga comes in a case with 12 pieces * Tzinga will be available at 2,000 stores around Delhi NCR starting April 7th, and is scheduled to launch in Bangalore by the end of April. INGREDIANTS * Tzinga consists of lemon and mint. * Also certain natural herbs like GUARANA and GYNSING (which are South American herbs) NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION(per 100ml): Water, sugar , lemon juice concentrate| 0. 75%| Caffeine| 0. 03%| Energy| 44kcal| Carbohydrate| 11g| Protein| 0g| Fat| 0g| 1. TARGET MARKET * Above 18 years * College students * Office employes * Sports person * Fitness freaks person RECOMMENDATIONS * Not applicable for Children below 18 * Also not applicable for pregnant women and lactating women * Not recommended for diabetic patients * Not more than 2 packs should be consumed in a day FOUNDER MEMBERS CEO PROFILE: Mr Neeraj Kakkar- His corporate career started after he completed his MBA from MDI, Gurgaon in 1998. He worked with Union Carbide and later Wipro before joining. Coke in 2001. He had an amazing run with Coke- the kind that becomes a part of Corporate Folklore, with the high point being his time in Bangalore when he seemed to have settled the much-touted Cola battle conclusively. In 2008, he headed to Wharton to do a second MBA and is now in the thick of the action as CEO of Hector Beverages Private Limited, India CFO PROFILE: Mr James Paul Nattal- James, Wharton alumni with Hector. After his Chemical Engineering from Brigham University, he worked with Dow Chemicals for six years and is what many call a packaging geek- so for him the form is the substance, the medium is the content. His packaging expertise ensures that when you buy our products, most of your money is not going to the packaging, as it does in the case of all other beverage companies. He is responsible for having created a number of food and beverage packaging concepts across the United States and Europe and heads the product development function for us. COO PROFILE: Mr Suhas Misra Suhas did his MBA from IIM Calcutta (Class of 2003) and joined Coke from campus. He had the kind of start that, again, Corporate Folklore, would describe as sensational- with astronomical growth rates being registered in rural Rajasthan. In 2005 he moved to Nokia, before, in 2006, starting ChannelPlay- Indias first integrated Sales Process Outsourcing company (www. channelplay. biz) and now is the COO of Hector Beverages Private Limited. Competators- Since the Beverage industry is a big diversified segment. There are many potential strong competators in this segment. Various beverage like milk, tea, coffee, beer, whisky, protein drink, energy drinks, soft drinks etc are all competitors for each other Tzinga with its unique flavor can create a niche in the market. Tzinga is the only energy drink which have used natural herbs. but the real competator of Tzinga is Red Bull . Redbull have been dominating the energy drink market since 6 yrs. To name a few potential competitors, the leading beverage manufacturing companies in India are Coca-cola, Pepsi-co, UB group, Hindustan Unilever Limited, Tata tea, Dabur foods, , Nestle India, Sula wines, CCD, LITERATURE REVIEW A traditional definition of a brand was: â€Å"the name, associated with one or more items in the product line, that is used to identify the source of character of the item(s)† (Kotler 2000, p.396). The American Marketing Association (AMA) definition of a brand is â€Å"a name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or a combination of them, intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of competitors† (p. 404). Within this view, as Keller (2003a) says, â€Å"technically speaking, then, whenever a marketer creates a new name, logo, or symbol for a new product, he or she has created a brand† (p. 3). He recognizes, however, that brands today are much more than that. As can be seen, according to these definitions brands had a simple and clear functions identifiers. Before the shift in focus towards brands and the brand building process, brands were just another step in the whole process of marketing to sell products. â€Å"For a long time, the brand has been treated in an off- hand fashion as a part of the product† (Urde 1999, p. 119). Kotler (2000) mentions branding as â€Å"a major issue in product strategy† (p. 404). As the brand was only part of the product, the communication strategy worked towards exposing the brand and creating brand image. Aaker and Joachimsthaler (2000) mention that within the traditional branding model the goal was to build brand image ; a tactical element that drives short-term results. Kapferer (1997) mentioned that â€Å"the brand is a sign -therefore external- whose function is to disclose the hidden qualities of the product which are inaccessible to contact† (p. 28). The brand served to identify a product and to distinguish it from the competition. â€Å"The challenge today is to create a strong and distinctive image† (Kohli and Thakor 1997, p. 208). Concerning the brand management process as related to the function of a brand as an identifier, Aaker and Joachmisthaler (2000) discuss the traditional branding model where a brand management team was responsible for creating and coordinating the brand’s management program. In this situation, the brand manager was not high in the company’s hierarchy; his focus was the short-term financial results of single brands and single products in single markets. The basic objective was the coordination with the manufacturing and sales departments in order to solve any problem concerning sales and market share. With this strategy the responsibility of the brand was solely the concern of the marketing department (Davis 2002). In general, most companies thought that focusing on the latest and greatest advertising campaign meant focusing on the brand (Davis and Dunn 2002). The model itself was tactical and reactive rather than strategic and visionary (Aaker and Joachimsthaler 2000). The brand was always referred to as a series of tactics and never like strategy (Davis and Dunn 2002). OBJECTIVES * Maintaining positive, strong growth each year not withstanding seasonal sales pattern. * Achieve a comprehensive output in market penetration. * Increase customer satisfaction simultaneously. * A double to triple digit growth for the first five years. * Maintain a significant research and development budget to enhance future. * Product developments. * To take in fresh minds as interns and permanent recruits to lead the organization to a greater development path. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY Descriptive strategy is used since we have to collect the primary imformation from Tzinga customer. A descriptive research intends to present facts concerning the nature and status of a situation, as it exists at the time of the study. Sample Design a). Sample Unit A business organization whether it is a mall, college canteen, shops is considered as one entity and would be considered as a 1 sample unit. b)Sample Size- A survey was conducted where sampling and sales were taking place. A sample size of 100 is taken. c)Sampling Technique- Sampling technique here used is non-probability simple random sampling. We considered it as area sampling since the research is focus onto a particular area. We will be using the NON – COMPARATIVE scaling technique and will be using the LIKERT scale in which 5options will be given ranging from strongly disagree to strongly agree. d)Sampling Area –. The area which was taken was South Delhi where I focused on shops and college. Data Collection a)Sources – Primary data collection method is used as data was collected directly from responded through questionnaire. questionaire were both open and closed . And ranking method is used to measure the degree of agreement and disagreement. b)Tools- Various statistical tools like pie-chart, is used to represent the data and interpret them DATA ANALYSIS Q1. . Gender a) Male b) Female | | Frequency| Percent| Valid| Male| 48| 60. 0| | Female| 32| 40. 0| | Total| 80| 100. 0| FIGURE 1 Analysis-This shows that male samples are more than female sample. Q2. Did you taste any energy drink before? (a) Yes (b) No Table 2Gender * Did you tatse Tzinga before? Crosstabulation| Count| | | Did you tatse Tzinga before? | Total| | | YES| NO| | Gender| Male| 23| 25| 48| | Female| 14| 18| 32| Total| 37| 43| 80| Figure 2 Analysis-This was a comparative study done between male and female. Out of total 48 samples of male 23 have tasted tzinga and 25 have not tasted it. also in the case of female out of 32 ,14 have tasted Tzinga and 18 have not tasted Tzinga. Q3. Where did you come across an energy drink? (a)Television (b)Newspaper (c)Magazine (d)Promotion event | Table 3|. | | Where did you come across an energy drink| Total| | | Television| Newspaper| Magazine| Promotional Event| | Gender| Male| 24| 3| 3| 18| 48| | Female| 19| 2| 0| 11| 32| Total| 43| 5| 3| 29| 80| Figure 3 Analysis-Again in the case of 48 respondent ,24 male responded have come to notice about energy drink through television,3 through newspaper,3magazine,18 through promotional event Q4. Which energy drink did you taste ? (a)Red bull (b)XXX (c) Clould 9 (d)Barn Table 4Gender * Which energy drink do you taste Crosstabulation| Count| | | Which energy drink do you taste| Total| | | Red Bull| XXX| Cloud 9| Barn| |. Gender| Male| 24| 10| 8| 6| 48| | Female| 11| 9| 9| 3| 32| Total| 35| 19| 17| 9| 80| Figure 4 ANALYSIS Out of 48 males 24 have take Redbull,10xxx,8 clould9barn. And in the case of female side 11 have taken Red bull,9xxx9 clould 9 nad 3 barn. Q5. Are you a regular consumer of energy drink? (a)yes (b)no Table 5 Gender * Are you a regular consumer of energy drink? Crosstabulation| Count| | | Are you a regular consumer of energy drink? | Total| | | YES| NO| | Gender| Male| 16| 32| 48| | Female| 11| 21| 32| Total| 27| 53| 80| Figure 5 ANALYSIS Out of 48 males,16 are regular consumer of energy drink and 32 are not regular consumer. And in the case of female out of 32 ,11 are regular consumer and 21 are not regular consumer. Q6. Have you tasted tzinga, the new launch ever? (a)yes (b)no Table 6 Gender * Have you tasted Tzinga the new launch ever Crosstabulation| Count| | | Have you tasted Tzinga the new launch ever| Total| | | YES| NO| | Gender| Male| 17| 31| 48| | Female| 12| 20| 32| Total| 29| 51| 80| Figure 6 ANALYSIS Out of 48 responded 17 have tasted tzinga before and 31 have not heard about Tzinga. And out of 32 females 12 have tasted Tzinga before and 20 have not. Q7. When did you first hear about tzinga? (a)promotion (b)friend (c)salesman Table 7 Gender * When did you first hear about Tzinga Crosstabulation| Count| | | When did you first hear about Tzinga| Total| | | Promotion| Friend| Salesman| | Gender| Male| 30| 13| 5| 48| | Female| 18| 13| 1| 32| Total| 48| 26| 6| 80| Figure 7 ANALYSIS Out of 48 male responded,30 have heard about Tzinga thrugh promotion activities,13 through friend and 5 through salesmamAnd in the case of 32 female responded 18 have heard about Tzinga though promotion 13 through friend. Q8. How much would you rate the flavour of Tzinga? (a). Excellent (b). Good (c). Average (d). Poor (e). Very poor. Table 8Gender * How much do you rate the flavour of Tzinga Crosstabulation| | | | How much do you rate the flavour of Tzinga| Total| | | Excellent| Good| Average| | Gender| Male| 3| 32| 13| 48| | Female| 3| 23| 6| 32| Total| 6| 55| 19| 80| Figure 8 ANALYSIS Out of 48 male responded,3 of them think that the flavor of Tzinga is excellent ,and 32 of them rate Tzinga as good ,and 13 of them average. In the case of female responded 6 of them think that it is excellenet ,23 are good and 6 average. 9. Would you say the design of the product Tzinga provides it an advantage when it comes to catching the eye of the customer? If Yes –How well? (a) Excellent (b) Good (c) Average | | Table 9| | | | would you say the design of the product catch the eye of the customer| Total| | | Excellent| Good| Average| | Gender| Male| 2| 30| 16| 48| | Female| 2| 24| 6| 32| Total| 4| 54| 22| 80| Figure 9 ANALYSIS Out of 48 male responded 2 think that the design is excellent,30 think that it is good 16 think that it is average in the case of emale respondent 2 think that it is excellent,24 think that it is good and 6 think that it is average. Q10. How much would you rate the value aspect accordance to its price? (a) Excellent (b) Good (c) Average (d) Poor (e) Very poor Table 10 Gender * Value of the aspect according to price Crosstabulation| Count| | | Value of the aspect according to price| Total| | | Excellent| Good| Average| | Gender| Male| 4| 39| 5| 48| | Female| 4| 21| 7| 32| Total| 8| 60| 12| 80| Figure 10 ANALYSIS Out of 48 male responded think that it ha excellent quality accordance to its price,39 think that it is good according to its priceand 5 that it is average according to its price. IN the case of females 4 think that it is excellent ,21 think that it is good and 7 think that it is average. Q11. How would you rate tzinga in comparision to other energy drinks? (a). Excellent (b). Good (c). Acverage. (d). Poor (e). Very poor Table 11 Gender * Rate Tzinga with respect to other energy drinks Crosstabulation| Count| | | Rate Tzinga with respect to other energy drinks| Total| | | Excellent| Good| Average| | Gender| Male| 2| 26| 20| 48| | Female| 2| 9| 21| 32| Total| 4| 35| 41| 80| Figure 11 ANALYSIS According to the samples 2 people think that Tzinga is excellent ,26 think that it is good and 20 are average. And in the female segment 2 think that it is excellent ,9 think that it is good and 21 think that it is average. FINDINGS From the following project we can draw inference that Tzinga is new to the marketand is being liked by the people . People prefer this drink due to its unique flavor and intensity. Thought people are not that much aware of the product male are more exposed towards the product and have showed positive response towards it. CONCLUSION * The Tzinga is more liked by the youngsters of age group (21-25). * Tzinga is liked by the customers basically its design , price and taste. * The promotional activity is not liked by the customers. So they are not attracted too much towards this new brand. * The opinion does not vary as per the Genders of the customers. * The variation of taste and price will affect the preference of Tzinga. * The opinion of Tzinga is same for all age groups of people basically about the promotional activities. RECOMMENDATION * Television advertisement and promotional activities must be put up. * The distribution channel should be made strong. * Different diversified flavor must be introduced in the market. * Tzinga should be introduced in other parts of Indian Market. LIMITATIONS 1. The should be different flavours ,the lemon taste are not liked by many people. 2. Due to strong brand positioning by Red bull,it will take time for Tzinga to get established. 3. The availability of Tzinga is limited,it is not available in every store . 4. As zinger is a new brand,it suffers from identity crises BIBLIOGRAPHY: 1. Malhotra, Naresh K. Marketing research and applied orientation, (2010), Prentice Hall, New Delhi, Vol. 5, pp. 613-623, pp. 468. 2. Kotler, Philip and Armstrong, Gary, Principles of marketing, Pearson Publication. REFERENCES: * http://en. wikipedia. org/wiki/Promotion_(marketing) * http://hectorbeverages. com/about_us * http://hectorbeverages. com/hectors_values * http://hectorbeverages. com/home * http://hectorbeverages. com/homers_hector * http://www. adams-graphic-design-advertising-agency. com/point-of-purchase. html * http://www.aistriss. jp/old/lca/ci/activity/project/sc/report/030319_document/S2-1-Mont. pdf * http://www. eurelectric. org/Download/Download. aspx? DocumentID=2965 ANNEXTURE QUESTIONAIRE Name- Phone number- 1. Gender a)Male b)Female 2. Did you taste any energy drink before? (a)yes (b)no 3. Where did you come across an energy drink? (a)Television (b)Newspaper (c)Magazine (d)Promotion event 4. Which energy drink did you taste ? (a)Red bull (b)XXX (c) Clould 9 (d)Barn 5. Are you a regular consumer of energy drink? (a)yes (b)no 6. Have you tasted tzinga, the new launch ever? (a)yes (b)no 7. When did you first hear about tzinga? (a)promotion (b)friend (c)salesman 8. How much would you rate the flavour of Tzinga? (a) Excellent (b) Good (c) Average (d) Poor (e) Very poor 9. Would you say the design of the product Tzinga provides it an advantage when it comes to catching the eye of the customer? If Yes –How well? (a) Excellent (b) Good (c) Average (d) Poor (e) Very poor 10. How much would you rate the value aspect accordance to its price? (a) Excellent (b) Good (c) Average (d) Poor (e) Very poor 11. How would you rate tzinga in comparison to other energy drinks? (a) Excellent (b) Good (c) Average (d) Poor (e) Very poor.

Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning

Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning Interactive planning of Dutch infrastructural project A case-description of Mainport Schiphol and the A12 national expressway Interactive Planning of Sustainability 1. Introduction Since the beginning of the ‘90s, the implementation of new infrastructural projects in The Netherlands became increasingly problematic. Related environmental issues had a lot of societal attention. The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, responsible for maintaining a high quality of mobility in the Netherlands, identified three major problems with earlier attempts to solve the infrastructural problems; little social acceptance for new projects, procedures for realizing new projects took too long, and the proposed solutions were not really original and often ‘more of the same’. For solving these problems, this Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management proposed a change from top-down decision making to a more open and interactive form of policy making for planning, developing, and implementing new infrastructure (Enthoven and de Rooij, 1996). With interactive policy making, the main goal is to make more creative and effectiv e plans, by involving all stakeholders like citizens, (local and/or national) governments and experts. For this paper, 2 cases are selected, related to a Dutch infrastructure issue and dealt with on an interactive way; Mainport Schiphol near Amsterdam and the A12 national expressway near The Hague. The first one is selected because of its elaborated description in Susskind et al. (1999), its high degree of complexness and the fact the outcomes were fairly positive, the second one is selected also because of its suitable description in Glasbergen en Driessen (2005), but with a more straight-forward problem definition and its positive outcomes. Discussing these two Dutch cases, we will focus on four critical issues, related to interactive planning and often discussed in literature: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. Although more critical issues can be defined, like Roles op participants, Modes of evaluation and Use of outcomes by policy makers, only these four are chosen because of the fact that these are clearly discussed in the selec ted case-descriptions and these seemed to be crucial for the success of these cases. Chapter 2 will discuss each critical issue shortly. Chapter 3 will discuss the two cases in the light of the four different critical issues, and chapter 4 will give a conclusion. To structure this research the following research question is formulated: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? 2. Critical Issues This chapter will elaborate a bit more about what is actually meant with the four different critical issues: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. 2.1 Participant selection The question of which parties to involve is answered by a set of four considerations that should be taken into account when selecting the participants (De Bruijn et al., 2002). Firstly, parties with blocking power in the decision-making are important. Involving these parties in the process may keep them from using their blocking power in ways that are unforeseen. Secondly, parties with productive power should be part of the process. These parties will actually have to implement the decisions that are taken, and can influence the decision making with their control over the productive resources. Thirdly, parties that have an interest in the decision-making should be considered. These are parties that do not have substantial power in the decision making process (like blocking power or resources), but nevertheless are confronted with the outcomes of the group process and therefore can provide important information and moral considerations. Finally, this moral aspect of decision-making ca n by a reason to invite certain parties to join the process. Moral and ethical considerations can be important to embody the voice of those who are affected by the potential decision, but are not invited to the process for different reasons (De Bruin, 2002). 2.2 Power and access One of the key goals of interactive policy making is that it should reduce the influence of dominant elites and enable the less powerful groups to give input. Those parties or actors, who do not have access to formal decision-making processes or who cannot exert enough influence by the way of discussion and negotiation are more likely to initiate legal proceedings. Public’s ability to participate in decisions can be assessed according to three elements (as defined at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992): access to information, access to the decision-making process, and access to redress or change decision. These three elements will shortly be explained below. ‘Access to information’ can be seen as the first foundation of access and also one of the most passive forms of access seen from the perspective of the public. With access to information is meant the ability the public has to easily get access to forms of relevant information in which they are directly or indirectly involved, such as environmental impact assessments, reports from industries about their emissions etc. But one also can think about getting informed about potential relevant activities, which possibly can affect the public’s environment. ‘Access to the decision-making processes’ wants to give the public a more active role. Once this form of access is attained, one can even speak of a certain form of power. One must not focus on only the opportunity to provide input on specific subjects, but also the ability to influence more general decisions, such as the making of new laws or national policies. ‘Access to redress or change a certain decision’ is also related to a form of power, since the ability to change a certain decision gives a citizen the power to influence the decision-making process. This form of access can be translated into making judicial or administrative remedies accessible to the public, when officials fail to do their work in a proper manner (Mock et al., 2003). 2.3 Roles of facilitators The roles that a facilitator can play in group decision processes constitute of consistent packages of specific tasks within the group process combined with a more general ‘attitude’ towards the group members and the process. In literature, three major roles of a facilitator are commonly distinguished: a role as process architect or process manager, a mediating role and a convening role. As a process architect, the facilitator lays down the backbone of the group process. The process should be structured in such a way that all relevant insights from the participants will play a role in the process. Four core principles for designing a group process can be discriminated: openness, protection of core values, speed and substance (De Bruijn et al., 2002). These four ‘core elements of process design’ should be included and safeguarded in any process design in order to satisfy all the participants. The facilitator focuses on the process so that group members can focus on the substance and can suggest different ways of discussing problems, ensuring that all group members can freely express there comments and are free of any abuses of power or personal attack (Susskind et al., 1999). Especially in environmental issues, the interests, values and problem perceptions of different parties may often be far apart form each other. With such large contrasts of interest within the group, a facilitator often is faced with disputes and conflicts within the group process, that are hard to solve with mere changes in the structure of the process. In such case, the role of the facilitator can be very closely related with a mediating role in which the facilitator is mediating between parties, even to establish a general structure of the process. In addition, an external mediator can be asked to solve the conflicts. An external mediator is a neutral person that specializes in solving disputes between different participants in the group process, often using a variety of negotiation techniques and (psychological) methods of reframing problems and solutions (Acland, 1995). In a convening role, the facilitator has a say in which parties should be involved in the group process, and at what roles they will have. The convening role of a facilitator is sometimes not far apart from the role that a facilitator has as a process designer. Proper management of a group decisions process clearly has a very import influence on the effectiveness of that process. The facilitator can influence that process to quit a large extent. The consensus of all group members on the final decision depends for a large part on the level of agreement within the group with the approach that facilitators takes in structuring and managing the process. 2.4 Role of knowledge Knowledge is a crucial ingredient of interactive planning. However, the significance of the use of knowledge depends on one’s view. Over the years, the view on the role of knowledge has changed. The rational actor model has gradually been replaced by adaptive decision and learning strategies interacting with the environment. Before, planning would be perceived as proceeding in an orderly and linear fashion (Friend Hickling, 2005). Today some authors state that knowledge is a result of collective social processes. This implies that knowledge is a social construct, rather than an objective entity. In the new approach, linear progression of the process is seen as unrealistic. Instead, the uniqueness, ambiguity and unpredictability of real world processes are emphasized. With the recognition that planning is an interactive and communicative process, the notion of the interrelationship between expert and experiential knowledge has become more and more crucial. Interactive planning is now seen as ‘organized rituals’ where ‘deliberating participants’ listen to one another, search for new options and learn to find new ways of going on together (Khakee et al., 2000). 3. Case description For a complete description of each of the two cases, see appendix 1 and 2. This section will only discuss the previously mentioned four critical issues related to interactive policy making (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge), related to the experiences of these two cases. 3.1 Mainport Schiphol Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol will cause an increase of nuisances of noise, pollution, and safety). These two opposite interests caused a stalemate to occur since the 1950s. In the 1980s, one of the government authorities took the initiative to change the ‘common way of working’ and activated the policy network, to address the issues (Driessen, 1999). 3.1.1 Participant selection The most important actor in this case was the Dutch Government, who made the prefigured decision to expand the airport into an international hub. All other participants had to find their ‘win-win’ outcomes within this context of developmental growth. From the beginning, various government organisations have been involved in the development of Schiphol Airport. The main players are three ministries. The ministry of Transport and Public Works is by far the most important actor, responsible for the economic development of the airport as well as the abatement of noise nuisance. Second, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment is also involved, responsible for physical planning in The Netherlands and implementing policies regarding the rest of the environmental effects of the activities of the airline industries, namely air pollution, stench and hazard. Finally, the Ministry of Economic Affairs plays and important role, pursuing further economic development in the region of Schiphol (Driessen, 1999). Lower tiers of governments involved were the province of North Holland, responsible for environmental policy and planning for the region, and the municipalities surrounding the airport, both benefiting (by increased employment and tax-incomes) and enduring the aggravation (caused by noise, stench, air pollution, and other activities that degrade the environment) of having the airport close by. The municipality of Haarlemmermeer is a special case, because this municipality is authorized to create a land use plan for the airfield. Additionally, two enterprises play a crucial role: NV Luchthaven Schiphol (operating the airport and completely state owned) and KLM (the major Dutch carrier and partly owned by the state) (Driessen, 1999). Because the Ministry of Transport and Public Works occupied a pivotal position, being both responsible for the economic development of Schiphol and the abatement of noise nuisance, it was agreed that noise regulation would be regulated by the Aviation Act, which was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Nevertheless, little actions were made to reduce noise nuisance, because all participants believed that technical solutions would solve all noise-problems in the near future. Because no agreement could be made between these participants on how much the airport should be allowed to grow, or how to tackle the environmental problems, the Dutch government asked the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment to make an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. In the following process, a project group and a steering committee were established. The steering committee was comp osed out of all above-mentioned parties, while the project group contained all interest groups. Any party with interest in the case could join the project group (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it must be concluded that parties with blocking and productive power were strongly involved in the interactive planning process, by joining the steering committee. Other parties with interest were also involved, by joining the project group, but their influence was relatively small. If parties were involved, based on moral considerations, does not become clear from this case-description. 3.1.2 Power and access The three different Governmental agencies (the ministry of Transport and Public Works, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs) with jurisdictional authority over airport expansion, had accepted the mandate for airport expansion, but each with more at stake than achieving this outcome. Interagency rivalry and power played a critical part in the positions the ministries adopted and the coalitions they build during negotiations. The creation of a project group composed of all interest groups and of a steering committee of essential power brokers gave much power to the steering committee alone. From the case description, it does not become clear that the members of the steering committee, who were eventually excluded from the decision-making, were those who could not benefit in a ‘win-win’ situation, or were simply not powerful enough to block or advance progress. Nevertheless, the exclusion of interests cannot lead t o a ‘win-win’ solution and has encountered difficulties building consensus and achieving compliance (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the three elements described in section 2.2, it must be concluded that ‘Access to information’ does not form an obstacle. Perhaps the overload on information and the opposed and contradicting information gave bigger problems. The public was given some access to the decision-making process when they joint the project group, by commenting the ideas of the steering committee. However, the steering committee made all final decisions, so there was certainly no access to redress or change a decision. 3.1.3 Roles of facilitator After the developed deadlock between the initially participants, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was made primary responsible for the task of making an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. The fact that this ministry had a strong affiliation with environmental issues raised initial suspicion among the other governmental bodies. They wondered whether this ministry would be able to take a neutral position in the ensuing discussions. However, their initial wariness soon gave way to a realistic attitude, and actively joined the process (Driessen, 1999). The Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment designed an organizational framework for the discussion whereby the coordinated approach would be given a concrete form by activating the policy network. With this, the ministry acquired a dual function in the project, because it was the convenor, chair and facilitator of the planning process, and had to secure the input of environmental interest in the decision-making (Driessen, 1999). In the initial stage, the strategy of the project leaders of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was to bring the various parties closer together by conducting investigations and exchanging information, assuming that this might contribute to a better understanding and more appreciation for each different standpoint. The was no need for a professional facilitator, because all information was being collected, analyzed, and disseminated in an orderly way, although a professional facilitator could have helped structuring the problem. At the end of this stage, the project leaders formulated a plan, which could not be released because of the rain of criticism it caused (Driessen, 1999). Because of this setback, the project leaders decided to recruit a professional facilitator, with the task not to increase the supply of information, but to let parties sought to digest what they had and to arrive at a decision. From the case-description, it does not become clear if this facilitator had staff support and whether he/she had analytical, problem solving skills. The approach taken by the facilitator was aimed at bringing the main bottlenecks to the fore, in order to reach agreements at least on key points. The approach was characterized by the creation of a strong interaction between the project group and the steering committee. The later reviewed the issues that the project group had pared down in size, and either approved the solutions offered by the project group or send them back to the project group for reconsideration (Driessen, 1999). After this process, the facilitator presented the choices made by the project group and the steering committee to the public. The central aim of this was, to gain social and political legitimacy; the plan was opened up to the public discussion and the reactions were taken into account in the final version. Unfortunately, the public was hardly informed about the process preceding the plan and therefore it was generally received with great suspicion. Adding to this, the public discussion did not proceeded in a coordinated fashion, but each government resorted to its own method of public discussion. At the same time of these public hearings, the facilitator had to focus on the steering committee, because each party could take criticism of the plan as a lever to reopen discussion on subjects already discussed. At the end, the facilitator wrote the final text of the plan, shaping the final agreements also including the difficult topics of a reduction of noise nuisance and hazard (Driessen , 1999). From this description of the facilitator, it becomes clear that the facilitator had both the role of process architect, and mediator. The facilitator designed the entire framework of decision-making and mediated when problems occurred. If the facilitator also had a convening role is unclear. Which stakeholders could join the steering committee was already decided before the facilitator got involved. How actually the project group was formed, stays unclear from this case-description. 3.1.4 Role of knowledge Especially in issues related to airfield, experts disagree on numerous crucial uncertainties. This makes the role of knowledge both important but not of the same tenor. Research plays a key role in these controversies. This relates to research on, for instance, the need to build a new airport or expand the existing one, it may concern the most desirable infrastructure in and around the airport, it may deal with the profitability of operation, it may investigate the economic impact of the airport, or it may consider possible negative effects on the environment. However, this research must never be judged as ‘objective’ and will always play a role in the conflict of interest, expressed in this case, in the frequency of requested ‘second opinions’ (Driessen, 1999). In the case of noise nuisance, it took long time to be acknowledged as a problem and to find a way of calculating the level of distress. In the mid-1960s, a system was developed to measure noise nuisance, but no agreement could be made on how it should be applied. For instance, there was discussion about how to determine the threshold value for maximum admissible noise nuisance. Furthermore, options differ on setting a specific norm for night flights. The disagreement revolves around the degree to which departing and arriving airplanes disturb the sleep of nearby residents, and whether such disruption is detrimental to public health. There was also uncertainty about, the rate air traffic would increase, and the degree to which technical developments in aeronautics could help reduce noise levels by changing the aircrafts design (Driessen, 1999). Therefore, as also stated in section 2.4, knowledge is very important in decision-making processes, but as these processes get more interaction with a broad scale of actors, knowledge becomes more a result of collective social processes and loses its objective entity. From this case-description, it does not become explicitly clear if the decisions were based on knowledge provided by ‘experts’ or that it was formed in an interactive learning process. Implicitly, one could state that the agreement on noise nuisances could only have been established, when such interactive knowledge development occurred. 3.2 A12 national expressway The ease of accessibility of The Hague depends to a large extent on the A12 national expressway. Its final 30 km stretch is marked by many access and exit ramps, and the intensity of traffic in this area has increased dramatically in recent decades. This is partly thanks to the enormous increase in the volume of vehicular traffic, and partly to the proliferation of new urban development locations around The Hague. Much of the traffic is ‘destination traffic’ which enters the city in the morning and leaves at night. As a result of the higher volumes, congestion became a big problem (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). 3.2.1 Participant selection The planning agency initially saw itself as the owner of the problem at stake and formulated a classical solution of road widening. This approach failed because of public resistance and of a budget problem at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. Because of this, the ministry stepped back, which un-deliberately created opportunities for other parties to take initiative. The government authorities of The Hague took the initiative to develop a new architecture for interaction among the different stakeholders. They organized a public dialog and a series of workshops involving local politicians and private businesses from the region, resulting in a new definition of the problem, focussing on the underutilization of existing capacity. The role of the planning agency changed from orchestrator of the infrastructure project to a partner in the wider regional consultation on issues of mobility and livability. They also made subsidies available to the business community , enabling them to work out individual, sometimes innovative, mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Before concluding the analysis of participant selection in this case, the fact that there were no objections to the planes made by this interactive planning-process is probably the best evidence that all relevant stakeholders were included in the process. Nevertheless, from the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it does not become clear how all relevant stakeholders were defined, if all parties with blocking and productive power were added to the process, or if parties with moral and ethical considerations were included. 3.2.2 Power and access This case can bee described as a restricted interactive process, because it was intended to promote the cooperation of public authorities with the private sector. Civic organizations and individual citizens were kept informed through a public relations center. The governmental authorities of The Hague decided which stakeholders were included in the process. Despite this fact, no opposition to this project did arise (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). The access to information was well looked after, in the form of the public relations center. They kept civic organizations and individual citizens informed about the plans and progress. More power was not given to the public in this case. 3.2.3 Roles of facilitator In order to link the government agencies (where the plans were developed), and the business community, a ‘godfather’ was appointed. This honour was given to the director of the public transport company in the region, and he served as a contact between the project and the private sector. He kept all relevant firms informed about the development of the project and called these firms to task with respect to their responsibilities for the region’s accessibility, by reminding them that they might be lagging behind other firms in the development of their mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). From the case-description, it must be concluded that the government authorities of The Hague acted as a convener, initially selecting the different stakeholders. Facilitating the process and mediating in conflicts were partly done by the ‘godfather’ and partly by the government authorities of The Hague. The precise division of responsibilities does not become clear from the case-description. 3.2.4 Role of knowledge According to this case-description, it was the government agencies of The Hague who decided what knowledge was used in the decision process. The only organization consulted for information was the planning agency, also participating in the planning process (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Although knowledge is crucial in interactive planning (see section 2.4), the role of knowledge in this case is not very big. This probably has two reasons. One is the relative simple problem at stake (congestion) and secondly the fact that all parties agreed on the content of the relevant knowledge. Nevertheless, the fact that only one party provided the relevant knowledge could potentially have caused major problems afterwards. 4. Conclusion This research started with the question: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? How each criterion added to the success of the case is described at the end of each subsection in chapter 3. Overall, it can be concluded that the success of interactive planning depends on the care each criterion is taken care of. If one of these criteria is neglected, it will be reflected in the outcomes. If, for example, participants are forgotten, power is not distributed evenly, facilitators are not adequate, or knowledge is not as objective as possible, the process will take much longer time and the change of good end-results and thus consensus will diminish. Both cases make clear that solutions were impossible to reach in the traditional way of policy making and that interactive policy mak ing contributed to good end results. Nevertheless, in future comparable processes, more attention should be given to the four discussed critical issues, and probably to the seven mentioned in the introduction. Only than, the rate of success of these kind of processes will increase. References Acland, A.F. 1995. Resolving Disputes without going to Court. London, Century Business Books. Bruijn, H. de, E. ten Heuvelhof and R.J. in ’t Veld. 2002. Process management: Why Project Management Fails in Complex decision making Processes. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Driessen, P. 1999. Activating a Policy Network; The Case of Mainport Schiphol. in Susskind et al., 1999, The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. Enthoven, G.M.W. and A. de Rooij. 1996. InfraLab; Impuls voor open planvorming en creativiteit.Bestuurskunde, Vol. 5, Issue 8, p. 1-8. Friend, J. and A. Hickling. 2004. Planning Under Pressure, The Strategic Choice Approach. Oxford, Buttorworth/Heinemann. Glasbergen, P. and P.J. Driessen. 2005. Interactive planning of infrastructure: the changing role of Dutch project management. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Vol. 23, p. 263-277. Khakee A., A. Barbanente and D. Borri. 2000. Expert and experimental knowledge in planning. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 51, No. 7, p. 776-788. Mock, G.A., W. Vanasselt, and E. Petkova. 2003. Rights and reality: Monitoring the public’s right to participate. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol. 9, p. 4-13. Suzzkind, L.S., S. McKearan and J. Thomas-Larmer. 1999. The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. London, SAGE Publications. Appendix 1 – Case sheet Mainport Schiphol (Driessen, 1999) 1. Position Initiative: several governmental ministries Time period: 1980-present Level of used policy process: regional/national Phase in policy process: in process 2. Background This case is about plans to expand Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and the disputes related to it. Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol Airport would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol Airport will caus Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning Barriers to Dutch Infrastructural Project Planning Interactive planning of Dutch infrastructural project A case-description of Mainport Schiphol and the A12 national expressway Interactive Planning of Sustainability 1. Introduction Since the beginning of the ‘90s, the implementation of new infrastructural projects in The Netherlands became increasingly problematic. Related environmental issues had a lot of societal attention. The Dutch Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management, responsible for maintaining a high quality of mobility in the Netherlands, identified three major problems with earlier attempts to solve the infrastructural problems; little social acceptance for new projects, procedures for realizing new projects took too long, and the proposed solutions were not really original and often ‘more of the same’. For solving these problems, this Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management proposed a change from top-down decision making to a more open and interactive form of policy making for planning, developing, and implementing new infrastructure (Enthoven and de Rooij, 1996). With interactive policy making, the main goal is to make more creative and effectiv e plans, by involving all stakeholders like citizens, (local and/or national) governments and experts. For this paper, 2 cases are selected, related to a Dutch infrastructure issue and dealt with on an interactive way; Mainport Schiphol near Amsterdam and the A12 national expressway near The Hague. The first one is selected because of its elaborated description in Susskind et al. (1999), its high degree of complexness and the fact the outcomes were fairly positive, the second one is selected also because of its suitable description in Glasbergen en Driessen (2005), but with a more straight-forward problem definition and its positive outcomes. Discussing these two Dutch cases, we will focus on four critical issues, related to interactive planning and often discussed in literature: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. Although more critical issues can be defined, like Roles op participants, Modes of evaluation and Use of outcomes by policy makers, only these four are chosen because of the fact that these are clearly discussed in the selec ted case-descriptions and these seemed to be crucial for the success of these cases. Chapter 2 will discuss each critical issue shortly. Chapter 3 will discuss the two cases in the light of the four different critical issues, and chapter 4 will give a conclusion. To structure this research the following research question is formulated: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? 2. Critical Issues This chapter will elaborate a bit more about what is actually meant with the four different critical issues: Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge. 2.1 Participant selection The question of which parties to involve is answered by a set of four considerations that should be taken into account when selecting the participants (De Bruijn et al., 2002). Firstly, parties with blocking power in the decision-making are important. Involving these parties in the process may keep them from using their blocking power in ways that are unforeseen. Secondly, parties with productive power should be part of the process. These parties will actually have to implement the decisions that are taken, and can influence the decision making with their control over the productive resources. Thirdly, parties that have an interest in the decision-making should be considered. These are parties that do not have substantial power in the decision making process (like blocking power or resources), but nevertheless are confronted with the outcomes of the group process and therefore can provide important information and moral considerations. Finally, this moral aspect of decision-making ca n by a reason to invite certain parties to join the process. Moral and ethical considerations can be important to embody the voice of those who are affected by the potential decision, but are not invited to the process for different reasons (De Bruin, 2002). 2.2 Power and access One of the key goals of interactive policy making is that it should reduce the influence of dominant elites and enable the less powerful groups to give input. Those parties or actors, who do not have access to formal decision-making processes or who cannot exert enough influence by the way of discussion and negotiation are more likely to initiate legal proceedings. Public’s ability to participate in decisions can be assessed according to three elements (as defined at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development in Rio de Janeiro in 1992): access to information, access to the decision-making process, and access to redress or change decision. These three elements will shortly be explained below. ‘Access to information’ can be seen as the first foundation of access and also one of the most passive forms of access seen from the perspective of the public. With access to information is meant the ability the public has to easily get access to forms of relevant information in which they are directly or indirectly involved, such as environmental impact assessments, reports from industries about their emissions etc. But one also can think about getting informed about potential relevant activities, which possibly can affect the public’s environment. ‘Access to the decision-making processes’ wants to give the public a more active role. Once this form of access is attained, one can even speak of a certain form of power. One must not focus on only the opportunity to provide input on specific subjects, but also the ability to influence more general decisions, such as the making of new laws or national policies. ‘Access to redress or change a certain decision’ is also related to a form of power, since the ability to change a certain decision gives a citizen the power to influence the decision-making process. This form of access can be translated into making judicial or administrative remedies accessible to the public, when officials fail to do their work in a proper manner (Mock et al., 2003). 2.3 Roles of facilitators The roles that a facilitator can play in group decision processes constitute of consistent packages of specific tasks within the group process combined with a more general ‘attitude’ towards the group members and the process. In literature, three major roles of a facilitator are commonly distinguished: a role as process architect or process manager, a mediating role and a convening role. As a process architect, the facilitator lays down the backbone of the group process. The process should be structured in such a way that all relevant insights from the participants will play a role in the process. Four core principles for designing a group process can be discriminated: openness, protection of core values, speed and substance (De Bruijn et al., 2002). These four ‘core elements of process design’ should be included and safeguarded in any process design in order to satisfy all the participants. The facilitator focuses on the process so that group members can focus on the substance and can suggest different ways of discussing problems, ensuring that all group members can freely express there comments and are free of any abuses of power or personal attack (Susskind et al., 1999). Especially in environmental issues, the interests, values and problem perceptions of different parties may often be far apart form each other. With such large contrasts of interest within the group, a facilitator often is faced with disputes and conflicts within the group process, that are hard to solve with mere changes in the structure of the process. In such case, the role of the facilitator can be very closely related with a mediating role in which the facilitator is mediating between parties, even to establish a general structure of the process. In addition, an external mediator can be asked to solve the conflicts. An external mediator is a neutral person that specializes in solving disputes between different participants in the group process, often using a variety of negotiation techniques and (psychological) methods of reframing problems and solutions (Acland, 1995). In a convening role, the facilitator has a say in which parties should be involved in the group process, and at what roles they will have. The convening role of a facilitator is sometimes not far apart from the role that a facilitator has as a process designer. Proper management of a group decisions process clearly has a very import influence on the effectiveness of that process. The facilitator can influence that process to quit a large extent. The consensus of all group members on the final decision depends for a large part on the level of agreement within the group with the approach that facilitators takes in structuring and managing the process. 2.4 Role of knowledge Knowledge is a crucial ingredient of interactive planning. However, the significance of the use of knowledge depends on one’s view. Over the years, the view on the role of knowledge has changed. The rational actor model has gradually been replaced by adaptive decision and learning strategies interacting with the environment. Before, planning would be perceived as proceeding in an orderly and linear fashion (Friend Hickling, 2005). Today some authors state that knowledge is a result of collective social processes. This implies that knowledge is a social construct, rather than an objective entity. In the new approach, linear progression of the process is seen as unrealistic. Instead, the uniqueness, ambiguity and unpredictability of real world processes are emphasized. With the recognition that planning is an interactive and communicative process, the notion of the interrelationship between expert and experiential knowledge has become more and more crucial. Interactive planning is now seen as ‘organized rituals’ where ‘deliberating participants’ listen to one another, search for new options and learn to find new ways of going on together (Khakee et al., 2000). 3. Case description For a complete description of each of the two cases, see appendix 1 and 2. This section will only discuss the previously mentioned four critical issues related to interactive policy making (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge), related to the experiences of these two cases. 3.1 Mainport Schiphol Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol will cause an increase of nuisances of noise, pollution, and safety). These two opposite interests caused a stalemate to occur since the 1950s. In the 1980s, one of the government authorities took the initiative to change the ‘common way of working’ and activated the policy network, to address the issues (Driessen, 1999). 3.1.1 Participant selection The most important actor in this case was the Dutch Government, who made the prefigured decision to expand the airport into an international hub. All other participants had to find their ‘win-win’ outcomes within this context of developmental growth. From the beginning, various government organisations have been involved in the development of Schiphol Airport. The main players are three ministries. The ministry of Transport and Public Works is by far the most important actor, responsible for the economic development of the airport as well as the abatement of noise nuisance. Second, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment is also involved, responsible for physical planning in The Netherlands and implementing policies regarding the rest of the environmental effects of the activities of the airline industries, namely air pollution, stench and hazard. Finally, the Ministry of Economic Affairs plays and important role, pursuing further economic development in the region of Schiphol (Driessen, 1999). Lower tiers of governments involved were the province of North Holland, responsible for environmental policy and planning for the region, and the municipalities surrounding the airport, both benefiting (by increased employment and tax-incomes) and enduring the aggravation (caused by noise, stench, air pollution, and other activities that degrade the environment) of having the airport close by. The municipality of Haarlemmermeer is a special case, because this municipality is authorized to create a land use plan for the airfield. Additionally, two enterprises play a crucial role: NV Luchthaven Schiphol (operating the airport and completely state owned) and KLM (the major Dutch carrier and partly owned by the state) (Driessen, 1999). Because the Ministry of Transport and Public Works occupied a pivotal position, being both responsible for the economic development of Schiphol and the abatement of noise nuisance, it was agreed that noise regulation would be regulated by the Aviation Act, which was under the responsibility of the Ministry of Transport and Public Works. Nevertheless, little actions were made to reduce noise nuisance, because all participants believed that technical solutions would solve all noise-problems in the near future. Because no agreement could be made between these participants on how much the airport should be allowed to grow, or how to tackle the environmental problems, the Dutch government asked the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment to make an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. In the following process, a project group and a steering committee were established. The steering committee was comp osed out of all above-mentioned parties, while the project group contained all interest groups. Any party with interest in the case could join the project group (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it must be concluded that parties with blocking and productive power were strongly involved in the interactive planning process, by joining the steering committee. Other parties with interest were also involved, by joining the project group, but their influence was relatively small. If parties were involved, based on moral considerations, does not become clear from this case-description. 3.1.2 Power and access The three different Governmental agencies (the ministry of Transport and Public Works, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs) with jurisdictional authority over airport expansion, had accepted the mandate for airport expansion, but each with more at stake than achieving this outcome. Interagency rivalry and power played a critical part in the positions the ministries adopted and the coalitions they build during negotiations. The creation of a project group composed of all interest groups and of a steering committee of essential power brokers gave much power to the steering committee alone. From the case description, it does not become clear that the members of the steering committee, who were eventually excluded from the decision-making, were those who could not benefit in a ‘win-win’ situation, or were simply not powerful enough to block or advance progress. Nevertheless, the exclusion of interests cannot lead t o a ‘win-win’ solution and has encountered difficulties building consensus and achieving compliance (Driessen, 1999). Based on the case-description and related to the three elements described in section 2.2, it must be concluded that ‘Access to information’ does not form an obstacle. Perhaps the overload on information and the opposed and contradicting information gave bigger problems. The public was given some access to the decision-making process when they joint the project group, by commenting the ideas of the steering committee. However, the steering committee made all final decisions, so there was certainly no access to redress or change a decision. 3.1.3 Roles of facilitator After the developed deadlock between the initially participants, the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was made primary responsible for the task of making an integral plan for the Schiphol region, ensuring both economic development as well as environmental improvements. The fact that this ministry had a strong affiliation with environmental issues raised initial suspicion among the other governmental bodies. They wondered whether this ministry would be able to take a neutral position in the ensuing discussions. However, their initial wariness soon gave way to a realistic attitude, and actively joined the process (Driessen, 1999). The Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment designed an organizational framework for the discussion whereby the coordinated approach would be given a concrete form by activating the policy network. With this, the ministry acquired a dual function in the project, because it was the convenor, chair and facilitator of the planning process, and had to secure the input of environmental interest in the decision-making (Driessen, 1999). In the initial stage, the strategy of the project leaders of the Ministry of Housing, Physical Planning and Environment was to bring the various parties closer together by conducting investigations and exchanging information, assuming that this might contribute to a better understanding and more appreciation for each different standpoint. The was no need for a professional facilitator, because all information was being collected, analyzed, and disseminated in an orderly way, although a professional facilitator could have helped structuring the problem. At the end of this stage, the project leaders formulated a plan, which could not be released because of the rain of criticism it caused (Driessen, 1999). Because of this setback, the project leaders decided to recruit a professional facilitator, with the task not to increase the supply of information, but to let parties sought to digest what they had and to arrive at a decision. From the case-description, it does not become clear if this facilitator had staff support and whether he/she had analytical, problem solving skills. The approach taken by the facilitator was aimed at bringing the main bottlenecks to the fore, in order to reach agreements at least on key points. The approach was characterized by the creation of a strong interaction between the project group and the steering committee. The later reviewed the issues that the project group had pared down in size, and either approved the solutions offered by the project group or send them back to the project group for reconsideration (Driessen, 1999). After this process, the facilitator presented the choices made by the project group and the steering committee to the public. The central aim of this was, to gain social and political legitimacy; the plan was opened up to the public discussion and the reactions were taken into account in the final version. Unfortunately, the public was hardly informed about the process preceding the plan and therefore it was generally received with great suspicion. Adding to this, the public discussion did not proceeded in a coordinated fashion, but each government resorted to its own method of public discussion. At the same time of these public hearings, the facilitator had to focus on the steering committee, because each party could take criticism of the plan as a lever to reopen discussion on subjects already discussed. At the end, the facilitator wrote the final text of the plan, shaping the final agreements also including the difficult topics of a reduction of noise nuisance and hazard (Driessen , 1999). From this description of the facilitator, it becomes clear that the facilitator had both the role of process architect, and mediator. The facilitator designed the entire framework of decision-making and mediated when problems occurred. If the facilitator also had a convening role is unclear. Which stakeholders could join the steering committee was already decided before the facilitator got involved. How actually the project group was formed, stays unclear from this case-description. 3.1.4 Role of knowledge Especially in issues related to airfield, experts disagree on numerous crucial uncertainties. This makes the role of knowledge both important but not of the same tenor. Research plays a key role in these controversies. This relates to research on, for instance, the need to build a new airport or expand the existing one, it may concern the most desirable infrastructure in and around the airport, it may deal with the profitability of operation, it may investigate the economic impact of the airport, or it may consider possible negative effects on the environment. However, this research must never be judged as ‘objective’ and will always play a role in the conflict of interest, expressed in this case, in the frequency of requested ‘second opinions’ (Driessen, 1999). In the case of noise nuisance, it took long time to be acknowledged as a problem and to find a way of calculating the level of distress. In the mid-1960s, a system was developed to measure noise nuisance, but no agreement could be made on how it should be applied. For instance, there was discussion about how to determine the threshold value for maximum admissible noise nuisance. Furthermore, options differ on setting a specific norm for night flights. The disagreement revolves around the degree to which departing and arriving airplanes disturb the sleep of nearby residents, and whether such disruption is detrimental to public health. There was also uncertainty about, the rate air traffic would increase, and the degree to which technical developments in aeronautics could help reduce noise levels by changing the aircrafts design (Driessen, 1999). Therefore, as also stated in section 2.4, knowledge is very important in decision-making processes, but as these processes get more interaction with a broad scale of actors, knowledge becomes more a result of collective social processes and loses its objective entity. From this case-description, it does not become explicitly clear if the decisions were based on knowledge provided by ‘experts’ or that it was formed in an interactive learning process. Implicitly, one could state that the agreement on noise nuisances could only have been established, when such interactive knowledge development occurred. 3.2 A12 national expressway The ease of accessibility of The Hague depends to a large extent on the A12 national expressway. Its final 30 km stretch is marked by many access and exit ramps, and the intensity of traffic in this area has increased dramatically in recent decades. This is partly thanks to the enormous increase in the volume of vehicular traffic, and partly to the proliferation of new urban development locations around The Hague. Much of the traffic is ‘destination traffic’ which enters the city in the morning and leaves at night. As a result of the higher volumes, congestion became a big problem (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). 3.2.1 Participant selection The planning agency initially saw itself as the owner of the problem at stake and formulated a classical solution of road widening. This approach failed because of public resistance and of a budget problem at the Ministry of Transport, Public Works and Water Management. Because of this, the ministry stepped back, which un-deliberately created opportunities for other parties to take initiative. The government authorities of The Hague took the initiative to develop a new architecture for interaction among the different stakeholders. They organized a public dialog and a series of workshops involving local politicians and private businesses from the region, resulting in a new definition of the problem, focussing on the underutilization of existing capacity. The role of the planning agency changed from orchestrator of the infrastructure project to a partner in the wider regional consultation on issues of mobility and livability. They also made subsidies available to the business community , enabling them to work out individual, sometimes innovative, mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Before concluding the analysis of participant selection in this case, the fact that there were no objections to the planes made by this interactive planning-process is probably the best evidence that all relevant stakeholders were included in the process. Nevertheless, from the case-description and related to the four considerations described in section 2.1, it does not become clear how all relevant stakeholders were defined, if all parties with blocking and productive power were added to the process, or if parties with moral and ethical considerations were included. 3.2.2 Power and access This case can bee described as a restricted interactive process, because it was intended to promote the cooperation of public authorities with the private sector. Civic organizations and individual citizens were kept informed through a public relations center. The governmental authorities of The Hague decided which stakeholders were included in the process. Despite this fact, no opposition to this project did arise (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). The access to information was well looked after, in the form of the public relations center. They kept civic organizations and individual citizens informed about the plans and progress. More power was not given to the public in this case. 3.2.3 Roles of facilitator In order to link the government agencies (where the plans were developed), and the business community, a ‘godfather’ was appointed. This honour was given to the director of the public transport company in the region, and he served as a contact between the project and the private sector. He kept all relevant firms informed about the development of the project and called these firms to task with respect to their responsibilities for the region’s accessibility, by reminding them that they might be lagging behind other firms in the development of their mobility plans (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). From the case-description, it must be concluded that the government authorities of The Hague acted as a convener, initially selecting the different stakeholders. Facilitating the process and mediating in conflicts were partly done by the ‘godfather’ and partly by the government authorities of The Hague. The precise division of responsibilities does not become clear from the case-description. 3.2.4 Role of knowledge According to this case-description, it was the government agencies of The Hague who decided what knowledge was used in the decision process. The only organization consulted for information was the planning agency, also participating in the planning process (Glasbergen and Driessen, 2005). Although knowledge is crucial in interactive planning (see section 2.4), the role of knowledge in this case is not very big. This probably has two reasons. One is the relative simple problem at stake (congestion) and secondly the fact that all parties agreed on the content of the relevant knowledge. Nevertheless, the fact that only one party provided the relevant knowledge could potentially have caused major problems afterwards. 4. Conclusion This research started with the question: How do the four critical issues (Participant selection, Power and Access, Roles of facilitators, and Use of knowledge) contribute to the rate of success of 2 infrastructural cases in The Netherlands (the Schiphol case and the A12 national expressway)? How each criterion added to the success of the case is described at the end of each subsection in chapter 3. Overall, it can be concluded that the success of interactive planning depends on the care each criterion is taken care of. If one of these criteria is neglected, it will be reflected in the outcomes. If, for example, participants are forgotten, power is not distributed evenly, facilitators are not adequate, or knowledge is not as objective as possible, the process will take much longer time and the change of good end-results and thus consensus will diminish. Both cases make clear that solutions were impossible to reach in the traditional way of policy making and that interactive policy mak ing contributed to good end results. Nevertheless, in future comparable processes, more attention should be given to the four discussed critical issues, and probably to the seven mentioned in the introduction. Only than, the rate of success of these kind of processes will increase. References Acland, A.F. 1995. Resolving Disputes without going to Court. London, Century Business Books. Bruijn, H. de, E. ten Heuvelhof and R.J. in ’t Veld. 2002. Process management: Why Project Management Fails in Complex decision making Processes. Dordrecht, Kluwer Academic Publishers. Driessen, P. 1999. Activating a Policy Network; The Case of Mainport Schiphol. in Susskind et al., 1999, The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. Enthoven, G.M.W. and A. de Rooij. 1996. InfraLab; Impuls voor open planvorming en creativiteit.Bestuurskunde, Vol. 5, Issue 8, p. 1-8. Friend, J. and A. Hickling. 2004. Planning Under Pressure, The Strategic Choice Approach. Oxford, Buttorworth/Heinemann. Glasbergen, P. and P.J. Driessen. 2005. Interactive planning of infrastructure: the changing role of Dutch project management. Environment and Planning C: Government and Policy, Vol. 23, p. 263-277. Khakee A., A. Barbanente and D. Borri. 2000. Expert and experimental knowledge in planning. The Journal of the Operational Research Society, Vol. 51, No. 7, p. 776-788. Mock, G.A., W. Vanasselt, and E. Petkova. 2003. Rights and reality: Monitoring the public’s right to participate. International Journal of Occupational and Environmental Health, Vol. 9, p. 4-13. Suzzkind, L.S., S. McKearan and J. Thomas-Larmer. 1999. The Consensus Building Handbook: A Comprehensive Guide to Reaching Agreement. London, SAGE Publications. Appendix 1 – Case sheet Mainport Schiphol (Driessen, 1999) 1. Position Initiative: several governmental ministries Time period: 1980-present Level of used policy process: regional/national Phase in policy process: in process 2. Background This case is about plans to expand Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport and the disputes related to it. Schiphol Airport is situated in a highly urbanized area, and deals with national, continental and intercontinental air traffic. Although its presence is causing many ‘stress’ on its environmental surroundings, the Dutch government wants it to expand, so it can act as a hub for continental and intercontinental air traffic. With this expansion there are two interests at stake: on national level an economic one (because an enlarged Schiphol Airport would increase economic activities), and on regional level an environmental one (because a bigger Schiphol Airport will caus