Silent Sanitation Crisis In South Asia

Around 178 million people in South Asia out of the 1.028 billion practice open defecation and are exposed to severe safety and health risks as well as adding to environmental pollution.Women and children bear the major brumt of the crisis.About 500000 children die every year due to disease related to poor sanitation and hygiene and many more fall seriously ill, compromisin their future potential and overburderning the halth services.In addition to death and disease burden and its subsquent costs on the national economy, poor sanitaion is polluting environment and compromising dignity the very essence of human beings.

To address this challenge and find collective solution of these undignified conditions, countries in South Asia gathered in Bangladesh in 2003 under the umbrella of South Asian conference on sanitaion. In the last eight years hundreds of high government officials relevant ministers, sector actors and civil society met three times in Dhaka, Islamabad and Delhi in 2003, 2006 and 2008 respectively to find common solutions.This year more than 400 people from across South Asia met in Colombo to review the sanitation situation and progress made against previous commitments. Three previous conference have made a range of political and financial commitments including adopting people centred, community led and gender sensetive and demand driven approach, elimination of open defecation and other unhygienic practices.

No doubts, this eight years grive by SACOSAN to turn the trend and achieve millenium development goals has achieved several successes including recognitions of access to safe drinking water and sanitations as a basic right, raising sanitation profile at the regional level, formulation of national policies, strategies and plans, increase in sanitation coverage, broadening partnership. However, there are several critical areas committed above but have not been rally translated into concrete actions. This indicates the failure of the governance system,its responsiveness to the people's demand and a system accountable to the people.With the current rate of progress, the sanitation will not be achieved until 2028 too little and too late. Following are theimportant governance challenges if addressed might expedite the progress and lift millions of South Asians from undignified conditions and put them on the path of development, poverty reduction and prosperity.

Despite political commitment for establishing performance monitoring system, indicators are yet to be deided against which information collected provides the guide for better decision making. Improving sanitation information system to avoid any statistical disprepancies is also an essential element of strengthening monitoring and accountability. Due to the unavailability of clearly defined national performance monitoring mechanism, keeping track of the difference between building and use of services is quite difficult, so is the difficulty in sustaning the services without robust minitoring and clearly defined operations and maintenance roles and responsibilities.

Prioritizing sanitation including increasing the finance for sanitation and their better utilization, has gained recognition. There has been some increase in sector financing but in comparision to other sector and magnitude of crisis, it is still inadequate. Better coordination, broad based alliance and partnership and clear institutional mechanisms are the other areas repeatedly promosed. Better institutional arrangement, which is able to coordinate the function and build a broas based alliance for sanitation movement, and programming is central to success.Despite the commitments ans institutional importance, countries in the region are still strugling to determine the clear institutional home of sanitation.In very first SACOSAN people centered approach was recognized as sanitation is not just building toilets but it is the use of facilities as well as behavioral change.Centrally designed and delivered programs run a risk of remaining non functional and lack of ownership by the community and thereby unsustainable.giving real meaning to participation is still an area which requires urgent action for going beyond words to meaning.This calls for a revamping of the institutional mechanism that will allow for proactive community participation.

Total sanitation has been delayed in South Asia by a lack of focus development and particularly on people centered sanitation programs.Improved governances is central to address the challenge.The South Asian people want to see a governance system where decisions are informed by evidence and institutions, and decision makers connect to the people, where information flows freely, the poor get response and justice and equity are made values. If these governance principles are followed it may offer a better future for the South Asian children.

Why Should We Manage Scope And Costumer Expectation?

In project management the term scope has two instinct uses they are project scope and product scope.The work that needs to be accomplished to deliver a product service or result with the specified features and functions is called project scope.The features and functions that characterize a product, service or result is called product scope.Scope management plan is one of the scope communications documents. The project scope management plan documents how the project scope will be defined, managed, controlled, verified and communicated to the project team and stakeholders. It also includes all works required to complete the project.

The important of scope management:

Scope management becomes one of the key activities once the project has entered the execution stage. I did a lot of discussion with my friends and others experts regarding the appropriateness of the scope management process on various projects. Some of them complained that their customers have treated the scope management process with the certain degree of hostility and their management is convinced that the procedure contradicts the best practices of customers satisfactions.while it is practically impossible to provide everyone with a universal framework that would fit the needs of any projects and i believe that the principles discussed in this article are applicable to all ventures, large and small, simple and sophisticated.The only difference would be the degree of formality associated with this methodology. On a small endeavor all the principles discussed below can remain at the verbal level with probably one summary exchanged between the parties.On the other hand on a very complicated mega projects there would be a lot documentation, formal meetings and sometimes sophisticated negotiations accompanying every change request.Consequently here we are targeting somewhere in between projects with as assumption that an experienced project manager would be able to fine tune the degree of formality to the project where he is working.
Managing Scope and stakeholder Expectations
One of the project scooping that i knew very recently contained a very interesting phrase.The difference between disappointment and delight is not a maters of delivery but of how well delivery matches the client's expectations. Therefore controlling customer's expectation is one of the key success factors, especially once the project has left the planning stage behind and entered the execution phase.There are several reasons behind the necessity to limit the stakeholders expectations. First because no matters how good one is at capturing and documenting project scope, no matters how many times team has inspected and peer reviewed the project documents, there will always be omissions, mistakes and errors.Since nobody on the project team is perfect the customer should be psychologically ready to accept that certain imperfection will rear their heads as we progress through the execution stage.A straightforward communication of this simple fact should limit stakeholder's expectations in a healthy way.

People and the project customers in particular are not always logical.To make this clear we can consider a time in our life when we or our significant other has saved a coupon from a hotel or restaurant chain to obtain a significant discount at the said business only to discover upon arrival that the coupon was valid only at participating outlets.On one hand especially from a legal standpoint this situation is completely the customer's fault.After all, he or she was expected to read the entire documents and arrive at proper conclusions.On the other hand however did the chain do a particularly great job of managing customer's expectations?Probably not since it doesn't take an experienced psychologist to know that the vast majority of people have a short attention span when it comer to marketing media and trends to ignore the small font at the bottom or on the reverse side of the coupons.

So we should remember that being logically or even legally correct is not the same making the customers happy.Some of the project managers including the author of this article like to include a section to the project management documents to explicitly state the features that will be excluded from the project scope.

How Should The Project Manager Deal With Scope Creep?

Every project should have a set of deliverable an assigned budget and an expected closure time.There are agreed upon requirements and tasks to complete prior to the closure of project.These constitute the scope of the project. Any amount of variation in the scope of project can affect the schedule budget and in turn the success of project.

Scoping is the separation between what in included in and what is excluded from project. Scope creep occurs when the line is moved, usually outwards. Thus what was excluded is now included making a project in most cases larger.Scope creep is adding features and functionality without addressing the effects on time, costs, and resources or without customer approval.This phenomenon can occur when the scope of the project is not properly defined, documented and controlled.It is generally considered a negative occurrence that is to be avoided.

As my experience numbers of projects that failed due to the scope creep.We were not able to find out any formal statistics to refer to but we noted that majority of those projects failed due some form of scope creep.We should know one thing that a project may fail anytime it is over budget or does not meet the predetermined schedule deadline.

Scope creep can originate from:

• Poor implementation of change control.


• Incomplete gathering of requirements before the beginning of project execution.


• Insufficient involvement of critical stakeholder.


• Lack of support from the executive sponsor.

Scope creep can be classified as:

• Technical scope creep.


• Business scope creep.

The technical scope creep can show up when the project team wants to please the customers ans is not able to reject the customer's request for a change in the requirements during project execution.Gold plating is another reason which can cause technical scope creep. In this case the project team adds additional features and functionality that are not part of original requirements in order to please the customer.

The business scope creep occurs due to external forces that may be beyond the control of project manager.An example might be the continual changes in market trends which makes previously defined requirements .One can avoid scope creep by managing the scope of project effectively. There are a number of ways to control or avoid scope creep.They are as follows.

• Involve the costumer and the end users early in the project.


• Introduce a change control board team that would evaluate the risk of implementing the changes.


• Make sure to involve critical stakeholders throughout the project phases.


• Avoid gold plating and gain the ability to refuse changes in requirements with proper reasons and support


• In extreme cases stop the project so that the new additional requirements can be properly scoped and integrated rather than tacked on.

Here we need to make two additional points. They are explained as follows. We need to be careful not to confuse scope creep with progressive elaboration.Progressive elaboration means developing the product in steps and continuing by increments. For example during early strategic planning when information is less defined work packages may be decomposed to the milestone level.As more is known about the upcoming events in the near term they can be decomposed into activities.

Secondly we need to note that the idea of scope creep has evolved in scrum. The product catalog is dynamic and it changes throughout the software product development life cycle as long as the customer feels that those changes add value to the project and accept the responsibilities for them. At the same time every attempt is made to make sure that scope within each scrum sprint is strictly enforced. This evolution of scope creep in scrum does represent some interesting problems which are beyond the scope of this articles.

Decentralized Organization Structures Empower And Energize

Decentralization is the process of dispersing decision making governance closer to the people or citizen. It includes the dispersal of administration or governance in sectors like engineering, management, science, political science,economy, sociology etc.Decentralization is also possible in the dispersal of population and employment.The more decentralized a system is, the more it relies on lateral relationships and the less it can rely on command. In most branches of engineering and economic, decentralization is narrowly defined as the study of markets and interfaces between parts of a system.Decentralization also called departmentalization is the policy of delegating decision making authority down to the lower level in an organization.A decentralized organization shows fewer tiers in the organizational structure, wider span of control and a bottom to top flow of decision making and flow of ideas.

High performing organizations that are thriving in today's chaotic world are adapting and pioneering a wide variety of highly decentralized structures. They are giving up control of people so that people can control their own and the organization's destiny.As my experience management career i have given people high degree of autonomy. I have run even small organizations to the point of such inefficient decentralization that people are running their own show.There are some reasons, they are as follows.

• Every can see and manage their work as part of a whole, interconnected system, not a bunch part.
• People are trusted and treated as responsible,caring and committed adults which is they cab behave.
• A collection of small self contained teams or business units are many times more flexible and responsive at meeting threats and capitalizing on opportunities.
• Ownership, commitment, energy and passion levels are much higher.
• Everyone focuses on meeting customers.
• Bureaucratic committees become entrepreneurial teams.
• People have more control over their work.etc.

The fact is that when change falls it can almost always be treated to dysfunctional management.So before start the company institute, a company wide improvement program.Effective teams step back periodically to look in the mirror and review their progress. They look at what's working and what isn't.They adjust course accordingly.Strong team leader move beyond building a team of champions to building a championship team.

Embrace Diversity To Build Effective Team

A team comprises a group of people linked in common purpose. Teams are especially appropriate for conducting tasks that are high in complexity and have many interdependent sub-tasks.A group in itself does not necessarily constitute a team. Teams normally have members with complementary skills and generate synergy through a coordinated effort which allows each members to maximize their strengths and weaknesses.There are many types of diversity in the world and no one can understand all facts that the word diversity holds.By understanding the positive and negative impact on a group as an individual and in the groups people work and play with they can open their minds to the possibilities of what diverseness in an organizations, team ans individuals can achieve.The team therefore, avoids topics specific to any one religion in particular, opting instead to embrace the high moral standards associated with religion in genera. The team comprises a variety of professionals that work in a wide range of occupation.The team is stronger due to occupational diversity because of the different experience each team member offer.All of these diversity serves to enrich the team, by offering an array of unique experience,perspectives and insights that allows the team to operate effectively and to produce a more well rounded and diverse product as a result.

Turning a group into team is very challenging task that leaders face.We find ourselves leading groups of very diverse individuals in complex projects and tasks.A groups becomes a team when we treat them like a high level, high profile project.

Teams Outcomes Checklist:

1. What is our suitable size?
2. What skills do we need?
3. How does each contribute to our organization?
4. Are we really accountable?

If any of the above requirements are missed then we are working like a group than a team. Most of the organization need neutral,party to facilitate the problems solving sessions.They can ask about their individuals roles, purpose and objectives, ant they can see some of the potential interconnections.No number of a crew is praised for the rugged individuals of their rowing. Effective teams do not encourage superstars like others.They always look for ways to maximize their resources and build om each others strengths and diversity.On the surface i may seem easier to work with people of similar styles, thinking and background but diversity brings richness to a team.All the leaders and team members should have value,encourages and reward diversity. This means equal treatment and opportunity for people, ethic background, lifestyle and for both male and female.If our team doesn't have clear and measurable ground rules, we should hold a session to develop them.The ground rules can be used as basis for defining the team norms and expectations.The process uses personal values as the basis for the developing team ground rules.

Setting Ground Rules:
Before setting the ground rules we should be conscious about the following thins.

• Individual list values.
• Gain consensus on 3-5 values.
• We should discuss why each value is important.
• We should list how we can reinforce the value and what we should avoid.etc.

Respect is important on any team. It is needed to build loyalty and mutual trust.We can reinforce respect by seeking others input regarding decisions that may affect them.We should undermine respect when we change direction without giving others as explanations.

It is more manageable to set only a few ground rules at a time. when the team keeps its focuse on one or two areas the chances for success are greater.We should ask our team..what are the behaviors our team needs to focus on for the next time?The team ground rules cam be used for setting expectations on daily interactions.It is also effective for running better meetings and for project management.If our team is experimenting interpersonal conflict or lack of productivity, the chances are that ineffective leadership is playing a big role in the problems.We should not give up trying to turn our group into a real team.We should ask for help.It can often can be very helpful to get some leadership and team coaching.

Tips For Creating A Employee Performance Appraisal System

The performance appraisal system has become a necessity for the large as well as small organization these days.It is well known fact that organization can achieve their set targets only with positive contribution from their employees. In order to contribute in a positive way, the employee need to be dedicated and knowledgeable enough to deal with the increasing challenges of today's business world. Performance appraisal is the method of evaluating the performance of the employee in given period of time.The result of performance appraisal can show how useful a particular employee is to the progress of the organization. The need of performance appraisal system is mainly to find out the area of strengths and weaknesses of the employees. The performance appraisal system involves setting of performance standards which can play the comparison of the performance of all the employees. Performance appraisal strengths ans weaknesses can help employees conduct a reality check on themselves and improve the performance. Here i discuss the necessary tips for creating employee performance appraisal system. They are as follows.

1. In the first, the activities of top management should be involved in the process of creating employee performance appraisal system. Because Without top management's commitment and support, the program can't be succeeded.Top management establish strategic plans, identify the values, appoint the appropriate implementation team and mostly demonstrate the importance of performance management by being active participant i the process and use the appraisal results in management decisions.
2. In the second,required criteria should be establish for an ideal system.Generally we should consider the needs of the four stakeholder group of any appraisal system such as appraiser who must evaluate the performance,appraisees whose performance is being assessed, HR professional who must administer the system and at last top management group that lead the organization into the future.
3. In the third step, we should appoint the appropriate implementation team.The implementation team is responsible for accomplishing the tow major requirements for the successfull system. First they develop appropriate appraisal forms,policies and procedures.Second they assure a successful deployment.This task is a diagonal slice of both appraiser and appraisees from the different levels and function in the organization.
4. In the fourth step we should design form and get a lots of feedback on it. firstly.For it appraisal form is suitable that will attract each and everyone's attention. We should not believe anybody who tells us that the form is not important.Because they are wrong.If we are designing a new form internally it will assesses both behaviors and results.
5. In the fifth step,we should build our mission, values,vision and core competition into the form.The real objective of any performance management system is to make sure that the company's strategic plan, vision and values are communicated and achieved.Core competencies expected of all organization members should be included, described and assessed.If our mission statement is not clearly visible in the performance appraisal system,cynicism will result.
6. In this step we should assure on-going communication.We keep the development process visible through announcement and regular updates.We should use surveys, float trial blooms and request suggestions.
7. In the seventh step we should train all appraisers. Performance appraisal requires a multitude of skills, goal setting, developing people,confronting unacceptable performance,persuading, problem solving, planning etc.Unless appraisers training is universal and comprehensive, the program won't produce much.
8. In this step we should orient all appraisees.The program's purpose and procedures must be explained in advance and enthusiastically to everyone who will be affected by it.We should provide special skills training if the new performance management procedure requires self-appraisal.
9. In this step we should use all the results.If the results of performance appraisal are not visibly used in making promotion,development, transfer, salary, training, decision etc, people will realize that it's merely an exercise.
10. This is the last step.In this step we should monitor and revise the program.We should audit the quality of the appraisal, the extent to which the system is used, and the extent to which the original objectives have been met.We should provide the feedback to the management.
    

Hiring,Managing, Motivating Remote Sales Team For Peak Performance

First of all to study about anything, to know the meaning of that thing is very important. So before starting study about above topic, first we know its meaning. Let's start.
Hiring:Choosing the right team members.
Let's face it even though when managed well, some salespeople are not cut out for working remotely and they need the intention that comes with being based in an office.Someone can be the best structured, remote environment.
As my knowledge, the sales interview process focuses solely on obvious questions such as how much business can we close with very little attention paid to how do we function in a remote environment? This is a particularly important line of questioning when establishing a presence in a new market or country.Asking a few simple question may help to ascertain the followings:

• What experience do we have in working remotely?
• What do we like best about it?
• How do we build relationship with co-worker from a remote location?
• Do we mind in participating in calls at unusual times to accommodate time zone differences with other remote co-workers?
• What support do we feel we need from our manager or company in order to be successful in a remote environment?

Beyond assessing a salesperson's ability to work remotely it is also heard many discussions about whether it is better to respond someone, remote office or whether hiring locally will achieve greater success.As my experience i have seen in both cases, but there are pluses and minuses for each strategy and much of it boils down to the available candidates, their particular skill sets and the corporate culture of the hiring company.

Hiring locally.

Hiring locally should provide us immediate access to the market in which we want to sell.However hiring locally means the LSP(local salesperson) will need to integrate the new hire into the company and quickly.Most LSP have thankfully gotten beyond providing a computer and assuming that's enough to get selling.Fortunately most LSP routinely train their remote salesperson on why their service offering is unique and why buyers in the new market should buy from them over another company.A new hiring absolutely needs to know this in order to be successful, so training is essential. It is also critical that other personnel are aware that this new salesperson exists so they are not surprised when the salesperson asks for support.

Establishing expectations.

Some questions LSP should be asking themselves in order to determine whether they are prepared for the challenges of managing remote salesperson.

• Is it really a sales position or do we expect them to do their own marketing and deal with business, legal and taxation issues that crop up?
• Is our compensation plan in line with comparable position in the target market?
• Do we plan to make regular visits to our remote staff and bring them to head quarter for strategy and business meetings?
• What is our plan for making our remote salesperson's feel a part of the overall team?

Training.
Training for salesperson coming from outside the localization industry is well understood.Process, technology and linguistic issues etc all need to be covered.However no matter how experienced the newly recruited salesperson might be, they still need to understand what makes their new company unique.More to the point since they are selling an intangible service, they are selling production teams within the company.Knowing the members of these teams can help the salesperson present the company much more defectively.
Support and Motivation.
A strong sales team start with strong leadership, particularly a strong sales manager.They communicate using all available channels.Communicating with remote employees has never been easier.Conference calls,web casts, text messaging and of course our industry's notorious over sue of email all offer opportunities for easy communication.The best of the best avoided the dreaded round robin team conference calls, but other had highly structured calls with a particular focus, success, challenges, solutions and knowledge sharing brainstorming answers to arduous questions, sharing wins and how they were achieved, feedback from clients about service offerings, pricing etc.

They made themselves available and were responsive.Most of the manager are extremely busy people but responsiveness is critical, not only in establishing trust with the team, but also for the sake of the clients.they can give up to date information about company developments.It can be discouraging to hear news through the grapevine or worse from sources external to the company again.It is incumbent upon salesperson to stay informed, but this happen more than once where executives told some, but not all staff about important news.

Conclusion:

Hiring, training, supporting and motivating a remote sales team takes significant investment on the part of the local salesperson but is a necessary part of expanding our reach to win business.