Aligning Business Strategies and Project Management

Aligning Business Strategies and Project Management Project management has become very important topic all over the world. Literature shows that more than 30 companies fail to accomplish its project with success due to misalignment between business strategies and project management. Many companies face this problem of missing link of business strategies and project management. Alignment is necessary for getting competitive advantage and goals of its business. Top management also play important role in alignment of business strategies and Project management. Keywords: Business strategies, project management, alignment, project portfolio management Introduction: Project management has become very important and also serves as core function in many organizations. Projects are any temporary activities that have starting and finish point, it has performance parameters. Projects face triple constrains (1) time (2) budget and (3) performance. It was assumed that for attainment of organizational goals one has to meet triple constraints of time, budget and performance. Project management plays a vital role in achieving organizational goals and considered as backbone of organization. Project management is knowledge that meets the requirements of projects. Project management plays important role in accomplishing strategies, business goals and desired outcomes. Organizations link their projects with business strategies to achieve the goals and objectives. Strategies are activities that guide and direct the use of the resources to accomplish the organizations vision and goals and sustainable competitive advantage. Mostly these components comprising the strategies of the business like internal analysis, organizational structures, control systems have strong links to project management processes and activities. Project management includes project portfolio management (PPM). PPM is about how organizations controls its projects and align them with business strategies. Many organizations are working on numerous projects and they are conscious to get maximum return of their business. PPM also includes the maximization profit which is main objective of all organization. Basically projects are bases of any organization to build up business strategy and project management relation. When organizations link their projects to their business strategy, they are better able to accomplish their organizational goals. Companies should align their business strategy with the project management action to implement the strategies in the projects. Such alignments are difficult because the objectives of business strategy are sometime not clear and well-communicated with project management. Misalignment may cause an organization to missing goals, communication gap and missing link of business strategy and project management. The lack of alignment of business strategy to the project management leads to the project failure and has adverse effects on organization performance as well. . There is need of systemic approach to align the projects with business strategy. So important in managerial challenges involved that aligning project management and business strategy and encouraging individuals to participate in using emerging strategies to create new ideas and renew existing strategies. Literature indicates that some factors that helps in creating link between business strategy and project management if there is any gap between the bridge of business strategy and project management that should be filled to achieve high returns and competitive advantages. As literature shows that SPL elements such as spirit, strategy, organization, tools and processes that elements should be align between business strategies and project management and in depth understanding of factors that are missing and relationship of these factors with business strategies and project management. Portfolio management play important role in project management and business strategy linking. Implementation of strategies with formulation, receive less attention than formulation so there should be proper emphasis on the implementation as well as. Therefore, this paper examines the linkage between business strategy, project portfolio management, and business success to finish the gap between strategy formulation and implementation and linking them in a bridge. There is seen a lot of importance of project portfolio management in evaluating, prioritizing and selecting projects in line with business strategy. It is choosing the right projects and important part of strategic management in organizations. So there are a few studies exploring single aspects of the linkage between strategies, project portfolio management. Business strategy describes the way in which a firm decides to compete in the market compared to its competitors and close the gap of these strategies with project management. Project Management: Project management has become an important issue for many corporations worldwide. Many implementations of project management have been successful, while others have been considered as failure. Projects in any organization have clearly became a central activity in many companies and considered as a backbone of organization and its success means a lot for an organization to prevail in the competitive arena. A project can be defined as a planned set of interrelated tasks to be executed over a fixed period and within certain cost and other limitations. Project management is often termed as the science and art of organizing the different project phases which may be launch of new service, a marketing campaign, building a an entire new floor of a building or a wedding. According to Milosevic and Srivannaboon (2006), the essence of project management is to support the execution of an organizations competitive strategy to deliver a desired outcome. Project management is defined as management that supports the execution of an organizations competitive strategy to deliver a desired outcome. Six-step approach can be helpful course that avoids the worst storms: Step 1: Identify the project Step 2: Determine the desired outcome Step 3: Describe each of the projects component tasks Step 4: Identify the key players. Step 5: Determine a time lines for each project component. Step 6: Review, revise and reallocate. Successful initiation of projects and its execution mostly depends upon strategy. Many companies are suffering from misaligned projects and a lack of a systematic approach to align project management with the business strategy. When organizations link their projects to their business strategy, they are better able to accomplish their organizational goals. Project strategy should be related to the projects goals and objectives in order to attain the preferred position in its competitive environment. Business Strategy: Strategy is defined by Patton White (2002) as a comprehensive set of actions or activities, which guide and direct the use of the firms resources to accomplish the organizations vision and goals and enable sustainable competitive advantage. Turning strategy into action to operationalize strategic objectives to achieve competitive advantage includes in the strategic management. Several scholars suggest that the success of project should be considered in the context of the achievement of the strategic goals of the organization (Dietrich Lehtonen, 2005; Kenny, 2006) and that organizations are better able to accomplish their goals when they link their projects to their business strategy. To ensure strategies are translated into actions they should be operational and includes some of the characteristics like structuring an organization to support successful performance and enabling success through the way in which the various resource areas like people, information, Finance, IT, etc. of an organization. Better implementation of strategic plans results in the better performance of sales growth, earnings growth, deposits growth, return on assets, return on equity, return on sales and return on total invested capital than those companies that do not implement their strategic plans. However, in any organization there are different levels of strategies presented by different level of a business which includes Corporate Strategy: It involves high level of strategic decision making and purpose of this strategy is to achieve the expectations of the stakeholders. Business Unit Strategy: The purpose of this strategy is to achieve the competitive advantage for the services and products which are produced and the decisions in this level is concerned with the choice of products, gaining competitive advantage, to meet the needs of the customers and create new opportunities. Operational Strategy: Its concerned with the coordination and improvement of resources which results in the effective and efficient implementation of the business unit level strategy. Implementation of strategies requires actions and completing tasks, and should focus on how to realize these strategies. Implementation must include attention to the following key points: Executing the work requires allocation of resources such as funds, people, and equipment. Organizational resources are limited. Implementation process requires project supportive organizational structure. A project selection and priority system to ensure strong linking between projects and the strategic plan. Managerial challenges involves aligning project management and business strategy which encourages individuals to participate in using emerging strategies to create new ideas and renew existing strategies. There is no such research regarding the framework for aligning project management and business strategy comprehensively. The literature has highlighted that there are many projects which have been executed without implementing the strategies as it has been formulated by executives in the corporations level without the involvement of the project manager. Aligning Business Strategy and Projects: Aligning the companys projects to maximize their contributions to strategic objectives takes a highly coordinated effort. Integration requires a process for prioritizing projects by their contribution to the strategic plan. The organizations to become more competitive, efficient and profitable they will need a business and project management experts working together to attain the business goals. Both, business and project management experts will work towards aligning projects with business strategy. Alignment of business strategy and project management is a major concern for any organization. Such alignments are challenging because the objectives of business strategy are not always clear or well-communicated or consistent with project management actions. Misalignment may cause an organization to miss goals and objectives. Understanding the alignment may be one of the major challenges to effective project management process. Alignment is not a onetime task but it is achieved through p rogression, which demands dominant leadership, top management support, efficient communication, collaborative work environment, trust, proper prioritization, technological setup and comprehensive knowledge about the operations of the business (Luftman, 2000). In order to achieve desired outputs from the selected projects organization should have the ability to build up competencies and then allocate those competences to the preferred projects. To help make sure the corporate projects are aligned to corporate strategy following can be kept in mind: Is the corporation committed to using project management strategically? In most companies, hundreds of projects are underway at any given time so there must be corporate commitment to the art and science of managing projects Is there a policy of formally preparing project charters? Since projects are the means by which corporate strategies are executed, it is critical that they be guided by the original corporate philosophy, strategy, and intent. Project charters are the instrument for doing this. Is there synergy between the business group and those responsible for project implementation? There needs to be early involvement by project implementation people. While this principle may seem sound, the practice of it presents a challenge. First, business planning people may prefer to plan without the help of perceived outsiders. Then, theres a good likelihood that the right project people might not be sitting about just waiting to brainstorm and analyze the early stages of a business proposal. The value for the organization to aligning projects with business strategy in a research by the Athabasca University was conducted in more than 60 organizations around the world and results showed that there were some benefits the organizations which include: Saved money and resources Increased profitability Retained customers Increased market share Prioritizing a project on the bases of its contribution to strategic achievement does not provide guarantee of project success but consistent allocation of resources is also a major task (Hrebiniak, 2006). A key point to make sure the alignment between project management and strategy included as: to carry out the appropriately chosen projects in an efficient ways organizations should make sure that have ability to do deliver the projects and programs. Top management plays a major role in projects alignment. Role of Management: Management is of central importance for the success of projects. Pinto and Slevin (1998) suggested that all the researchers agree that absence of support from management especially top management and by important stakeholder are most important among all other factors. Hacker and Doolen (2007) role of top management was studied in the perspectives of vision of the project and alignment of the scope with business strategy and project sponsorship and its impact on the triple constraint of the project i.e. cost, performance and cost. Researchers various different views about the extent of knowledge of senior managers should be in relation to project management. Some researchers suggest to the technical expertise and knowledge about the projects necessary for senior managers to develop and implement projects. Others felt that determine the line of control and to make available all relevant resources for project managers are the main functions of the senior management. There are different methods of how senior managers can be involved in the project management process. One of the approaches is not to interfere in which the project manager to all the rights of the planning to the implementation of projects. Responsibilities of project managers and executive managers is that project managers are primarily responsible for projects that are being implemented while the executives of the strategic alignment of business functions and projects with the organizations goals. Top managers should possess same skills and expertise as do the project managers Top management must carefully analyze which project should be prioritized in the allocation of resources. Resource allocation is one of the critical parts of the project management. These resources include financial, human and other resources necessary for the successful completion of the projects. Top management should carefully analyze which project should be prioritized in terms of resource allocation. Resources must be allocated to projects that are aligned with corporate strategies of the organization. More simple criteria for prioritizing compliance can be or should do projects should receive the highest priority, then the strategic projects, and then the other. With the start of the training programs, coaching and mentoring for project managers, top management can help build leadership skills, so that they can manage project activities responsibly and effectively. Problems of Alignment: Often projects fail to support business strategies and business goals it is due to the missing link, so that it should be align. Some processes factors that affect the business strategies and projects linking such as communication, top management support, competency of project manager are some of the major factors are the necessary ones to consider which solves or even creates hurdles in the alignment process. Business directors and top management are responsible for the three processes such as business planning, portfolio management and prioritizing projects while the project managers are responsible for the process of planning and executing the projects. Prioritizing projects Portfolio management Business planning Project Project portfolio management, business planning and support of business manager to the project manager while project manager is responsible to handling the projects. Choosing project from the AMCs projects and aligning that project with the business plans and top managers suggestions. When these processes are aligned the strategic elements like goals, objectives, vision, mission, values and norms feeds the portfolio element, the portfolio element feeds the project management element like strategies, organization processes, culture, and the project management element feeds projects and the teams execution of project. But in many cases, these processes are not aligned; as a result, organizations may fail to tie their projects either to their business strategy or to their portfolio, which may cause them to terminate the project or to continue executing projects that do not contribute to the organizations goals, thus wasting important organizational resources. Project Portfolio Management: The project portfolio is defined as a group of projects that compete for scarce resources and are conducted under the sponsorship or management of a particular organization. The three main well-known objectives of portfolio management are, the following: maximizing the value of the portfolio, linking the portfolio to the strategy and the continuous monitoring/assessment of the portfolio. Project portfolio selection is an important management task activity of the organization, the project team should consider all details carefully to enhance performance of organizational assets and customize them with the strategic objectives of the organization, although there are usually several projects available for selection than can be completed within the physical and financial limitations of fixed, so choices must be made to make up a suitable project. Management problems are related to the following factors, selecting, portfolio strategy and appropriate plans. The following reasons can be related with the difficulties on managing, and on selecting, the proper projects to the portfolio a) no relationship between project selection: projects entirely with the organizations strategic goals are not related to the impact on organization performance b) poor quality portfolios: organizations, generally, applicable to underdeveloped ideas for projects selected is not fair quality. To work on the building, d) scarce resources, lack of attention and executive skills, resources properly balance, often causing pressure to multitask ; f) Information overflow and lacking quality of information: Regardless of the quality and sophistication of the portfolio selection and decision tools, it is fundamental to obtain the proper information to make accurate decisions; g) Decision making based in power: Usually the decision is an exercise of power, whi ch means that there may be situations in organizations where decisions tend not to reflect the organizational future success. The portfolio management team is normally concerned and overwhelmed with issues like the prioritization of projects and the continuous distribution of personnel from the different projects to overcome the urgent crises. Although, most of the time, however, there are no resources available and when they were redistributed it often produced negative effects on unexpected places in the project portfolio. Project Selection There are more than one hundred tools and techniques for project portfolio selection hence it is not difficult for organizations to select suitable tools. It is important to adapt or develop an appropriate framework to evaluate project proposals and select a project portfolio which is aligned with the corporate strategy. Recent literature focuses on approaches rather than tools and techniques. Common principles from these approaches can be described as followings: Firstly, they suggest dividing the project proposals into subsets (Englund Graham, 1999; Sommer 1999; Cooper et al., 2001a; Rădulescu1 Rădulescu 2001; and Crawford etal., 2006). Each project subset can be a group of projects which will share the same strategic buck as discussed by Cooper et al (2001a) or different categories of projects which have similar characteristics (Crawford et al., 2005, 2006). This will help the organization easily compare projects by same criteria or same tools and techniques. T his is similarly applicable to ensure the balance of the project portfolio. Framework by Englund Graham (1999) 4 steps producing interrelated outputs make this approach truly systematic. The 4 steps are described as follows: a. What the organization should do: Upon identified to lead the process, the team members start listing newly proposed and on-going projects. They, then, clarify or develop the expected goals of projects, taking into consideration of organizational strategies (vision, mission, objectives) and current as well as potential capabilities (either developed or acquired). It is advisable to classify projects into categories for the benefit of looking at projects from the view of big picture inclusive of out-of- the- box thinking, completeness, gaps, opportunities and compliance with strategy. Projects classified/organized into the strategic buckets (e.g. extent of product change: new- enhancement; and extent of process change: new incremental) enable the team focus efforts on selecting the best set of projects within the categories, which constitute the right and balance mix. In order to facility decision making process, a set of criteria with weight or score reflecting requirements of orga nizational objectives (e.g. market positioning, available capacity, etc.) should be determined, modified and agreed upon for comparison and choices of projects. b. What the organization can do: the team members critically screen and evaluate projects based on consolidation and analysis of current or historical data, as a result certain new projects will be eliminated and ongoing projects will be adjusted or terminated in respect of strategic priorities; availability of resources and technology challenges, etc. The authors describe the critical few with n screen subject to criteria sets agreed upon in step 1 e.g. screen 1- fit to goals; screen 2 market size, competence etc. c. Analyze and decide on projects: based on the comparison between resources available and resources required, projects are analyzed, prioritized and selected. The team should consider opportunity costs, project benefits before costs, return value when making decisions. With the sets of criteria agreed upon in step 1, the AHP (Analytical Hierarchy is recommended. Dedicated resources and contingencies should be committed to ensure the successful implementation of selected projects. Besides, communication loop should be developed and utilized to keep changes updated. d. Implement the plan: staffing and allocating committed resources for implementation selected projects. A database should be created for monitoring, reporting and sharing. The plan is used as a communication tool to help management team and those who are involved quickly respond to change and take corrective actions in terms of identifying new opportunities and leveraging resources. It can be interpreted that completion of the first 3 steps in this process reflects the achievement of the three goals determined in the project portfolio selection by Cooper (2005): step 1 with should representing project portfolio in alignment with strategy; step 2 with can representing portfolio value maximization using most effectively its resource and capability; step 3 analyze and decide representing right balance and mix of projects; and step 4 with implement belonging to the next phase of execution and management in project portfolio management. The 4 steps reveal a loop of continuous stages, which is recognized as systematic approach. Challenges in Project Portfolio Selection Organizations face many problems such as lack of information, unreliable data of cost, time to completion, availabilities of resource, and benefits of projects. Project proposals are randomly arriving, not at one time. This requires the model or process to be flexible so that organizations can select projects without waiting until annual planning meetings. In large organizations with many business units, each business unit has its own list of priority and preferences. Besides, project portfolio selection is not always rational but it is biased by human being factor such as lobbying. People resist when there is absence of strategy or vague strategy or they find difficulties in pursuing the strategies. Changes necessary for the aligning the projects with the strategy might win approval of all the members of the organization, but when it comes to implementation, no one will be ready to take the lead. Ten Reasons why Strategy Implementation Efforts Can Fail: 1. The so-called strategic plan is nothing more than a collection of budgets and vague directions that do not provide clear guidelines for action. 2. The strategy does not correspond to market realities because it has been developed by strategic planners with no grass roots input. 3. The strategy does not enjoy support from and commitment by the majority of employees and middle management because they do not feel consulted in the development of the strategy. 4. Middle management does not think the strategy is the right one, or does not feel it has the requisite skills to implement it, so it sabotages the implementation. 5. Insufficient top management time is spent on communicating about, selling the new strategic direction, and managing the organizational changes involved. 6. No provision is made for developing the new skills and competencies required by the employees successfully to make the transition and operate within the new strategic direction. 7. No provision is made for instituting the appropriate organizational systems for the selection, motivation and reward of people in accordance with the new strategy. 8. No provision is made for creating a close fit or coherence between the business-level strategy and the various functional-level strategies that can operationalize it. 9. There are factions in the organization which disagree with the strategy because if implemented it would reduce their power and influence, so they sabotage it by deliberate actions or inactions. 10. No attempt is made to analyze the culture of the organization and identify Literature review examines four selected models that assist organizations in bridging the gap between organizational strategic objectives and project management: Model #1 Model of strategic project management is comprised of four main aspects of higher-level project management practices: 1. Strategic alignment of project: This practice refers to the extent to which an organization ensures that the projects it pursues are directly tied to the organizational strategy. This is very important in terms to see whether the project going to start is intact with the strategies of the organization for its successful implementation. 2. Project portfolio management. This practice refers to the identification of a project investment categorization scheme to assist the organization with prioritizing projects. Project portfolio management forms one of the building blocks in relating projects to strategy and can be considered as a key driver for aligning projects or programs to organizational objectives. It also helps in prioritizing and in the selection process of a project for its successful alignment. 3. Program management. The Project Management Institute (2004) defines the concept of program management as the centralized coordinated management of groups of projects to achieve the programs strategic objectives and benefits. Program management practices are inherent within the pursuit of strategic project management and are demonstrated as the management of groups of projects and the management of interactions between projects (portfolio coordination). 4. The business results of projects. Since projects are financial investments, organizations should estimate and measure project impacts on organizations from a business results perspective which may include return on investment, sales growth etc. Model #2: Project managers contribute to competitive advantage due to their skills in managing relationships and an organizational willingness to foster these skills and leverage them throughout the organization, and learn from them how to manage people and relationships across organizational functions and boundaries. Greens model of strategic project management is based on the constructs of competitive advantage, strategic capabilities and tacit knowledge management. Model #3: Model suggests that adopting strategic project management to select, manage and support multiple projects gives companies the best chance of moving the organization forward by keeping the company vibrant in the marketplace and returning maximum value for shareholders. Further, it identifies the following key characteristics of strategic project management: 1. Alignment of the following key business processes: strategic planning, strategic goal setting, and enterprise project management 2. Functions as a well-managed portfolio of investments as it: (a) allows for the most effective use of constrained resources; (b) ensures a high return on investment since projects are managed collectively; (c) it maintains alignment between the projects and the organizations short, medium and long term goals 3. A new management process embedded between strategic planning and project execution that manages project investments strategically and combines business planning and management with project management best practices Model #4: The term strategic project management as the management of those projects which are of critical importance to enable the organization as a whole to have competitive advantage There is a gap between aligning project management competencies to the selection of projects that will give organizations a competitive edge. Specifically, strategy is formulated at the senior management level and for it to be implemented; it should be broken down into discrete projects. Project management becomes a source of competitive advantage when an organization outperforms other companies through the experience and knowledge built up over time through managing projects. Also, project management yields competitive advantage through the actual selection and prioritization of projects that organizations engage in and secondly, through implementation and execution of the projects. Furthermore, project portfolio management is essential and the prioritization of projects should be based

Kantianism Essay

The thought of justifying means rather than ends seems to be more ethical in the long run, even if not more productive. As an officer we have trouble in this way of thinking for two reasons. First, we are in a profession in which our ends are what matters. We must produce the results that are needed, when they are needed, or we have failed to perform our duties. This means we have let down those in charge of us, as well as those whom we lead. Second, our means of doing things are also very important. We as officers must be moral in our decisions, for if we aren’t then we also fail to do our jobs. If we go about achieving a good end through bad means then we are no better than our enemies. Maxims are rules of law that we apply in our decision making to be considered rules of the Universe as a way of deciding if our actions are moral or immoral. One example of a maxim would be â€Å"I can use rob a bank or take money from people for financial gain†. When applying Kant’s rules we test it first to see if it can be generalized. This would end up as â€Å"anyone can use force to get what they want. This would not make sense in the long run because if everyone used force to get what they want then the world would be anarchic and full of chaos. Another example of a maxim would be â€Å"I won’t help this drowning person because they probably won’t pay me. † It almost makes sense to do this as doing something for little gain sometimes seems useless. However; if this were to be applied as a general rule then no one would ever get help unless the Samaritan deemed it profitable to them. Both of these show how decision making in Kantianism is the key factor in deciding what to do. There are both good and bad sides to Kantianism. First, as stated previously, we need to do things based on moral reasoning and not just end results. We can’t be officers who can go to the limit of Utilitarianism and allow for things such as an Omelas society. We do need to consider the good of the whole but we must do things that are moral by reason. We need to rationalize why and how we perform so that we can lead the way we’re supposed to. Kantianism is a good means for this and will allow officers to not only have good ends, but a good means of achieving them.

Night World : The Chosen Chapter 7

By the time Rashel intercepted the girl, the truck was already braking to turn around. Someone was shouting, â€Å"She's out! We lost one!† â€Å"This way!† Rashel said, reaching toward the girl with one hand and gesturing with the other. Up close, she could see that the girl was small, with disheveled blond hair falling over her forehead. Her chest was heaving. Instead of looking grateful, she seemed terrified by Rashel's arrival. She stared at Rashel a moment, then she tried to dart away. Rashel snagged her in midlunge. ‘Tm your friend! Come on! We've got to go between streets, where the truck can't follow us.† The truck was finishing its turn. Headlights swept toward them. Rashel looped an arm around the girl's waist and took off at a dead run. The blond girl was carried along. She whimpered but she ran, too. Rashel was heading for the area between two of the warehouses. She knew that if there really were vampires in that truck, her only chance was to get herself and the blond girl to her car. The vampires could run much faster than any human. She'd picked these two warehouses because the chain-link fence behind them wasn't too high and had no barbed wire at the top. As they reached it, Rashel gave the girl a little shove. â€Å"Climb!† â€Å"I can't!† The girl was trembling and gasping. Rashel looked her over and realized that it was probably the literal truth. The girl didn't look as if she'd ever climbed anything in her life. She was wearing what seemed to be party clothes and high heels. Rashel saw the truck's headlights in the street and heard the engine slowing. â€Å"You have to!† she said. â€Å"Unless you want to go back with them.† She interlocked her fingers, making a step with her hands. â€Å"Here! Put your foot here and then just try to grab on when I bounce you up.† The girl looked too scared not to try. She put her foot in Rashel's hand-just as the headlights switched off. It was what Rashel had expected. The darkness was an advantage to the vampires; they could see much better in it than humans. They were going to follow on foot. Rashel took a breath, then heaved upward explosively as she exhaled. The blond girl went sailing toward the top of the fence with a shriek. A bare instant later, Rashel launched herself at the top of the fence, grabbed it, and swung her legs over. She dropped to the ground almost noiselessly and held her arms up to the blond girl. ‘Let go! I'll catch you.† The girl, who was clambering awkwardly over the top, looked over her shoulder. â€Å"I can't-â€Å" â€Å"Do it!† The girl dropped. Rashel broke her fall, set her on her feet, and grabbed her arm above the elbow. â€Å"Come on!† As they ran, Rashel scanned the buildings around them. She needed a corner, someplace where she could get the girl behind her and safe. She could defend a corner-if there weren't more than two or three vampires. â€Å"How many of them are there?† she asked the girl. â€Å"Huh?† The girl was gasping. â€Å"How-many-are-there?† â€Å"I don't know, and I can't run anymore!† The girl staggered to a halt and bent double, hands on her knees, trying to get her breath back. â€Å"My legs†¦ are just like jelly.† It was no use, Rashel realized in dismay. She couldn't expect this bit of blond fluff to out-sprint a vampire. But if they stopped here in the open, they were dead. She cast a desperate look around. Then she saw it. A Bostonian tradition-an abandoned car. In this city, if you got tired of your car you just junked it on the nearest embankment. Rashel blessed the unknown benefactor who'd left this one. Now, if only they could get in†¦. â€Å"This way!† She didn't wait for the girl to protest, but grabbed her and dragged her. â€Å"Come on, you can do it! Make it to that car and you don't have to run anymore.† The words seemed to inspire the girl into a last effort. They reached the car and Rashel saw that one of the back windows was broken out cleanly. â€Å"In!† The girl was small-boned and went through the window easily. Rashel dove after her. Then she shoved her down into the leg space in front of the seat and hissed, â€Å"Don't make a sound.† She lay tensely, listening. She barely had time to breathe twice before she heard footsteps. Soft footsteps, stealthy as a prowling tiger's. Vampire footsteps. Rashel held her breath and waited. Closer, closer†¦ Rashel could feel the other girl shaking. She watched the dark ceiling of the car and tried to plan a defense if they were caught. The footsteps were right outside now. She heard the grate of glass not ten feet from the car door. Just please don't let them have a werewolf with them, she thought. Vampires might see and hear better than humans, but a werewolf could sniff its prey out. It couldn't possibly miss the smell of humans in the car. Outside, the footsteps paused, and Rashel's heart sank. Eyes open, she silently put her hand on her sword. And then she heard the footsteps moving quickly-away. She listened as they faded, keeping utterly still. Then she kept still some more, while she counted to two hundred. Then, very carefully, she sat up and looked around. No sight or sound of vampires. â€Å"Can I please get up now?† came a small whimpering voice from the floor. â€Å"If you keep quiet,† Rashel whispered. â€Å"They still may be somewhere nearby. We're going to have to get to my car without them catching us.† â€Å"Anything, as long as I don't have to run,† the girl said plaintively, emerging from the floor more disheveled than ever. â€Å"Have you ever tried to run in four-inch heels?† â€Å"I never wear heels,† Rashel murmured, scanning up and down the street. â€Å"Okay, I'll get out first, then you come through.† She slid out the window feet-first. The girl stuck her head through. â€Å"Don't you ever use doors?† â€Å"Sh. Come on,† Rashel whispered. She led the way through the dark streets, moving from shadow to shadow. At least the girl could walk softly, she thought. And she had a sense of humor even in danger. That was rare. Rashel drew a breath of relief when they reached the narrow twisting alley where her Saturn was parked. They weren't safe yet, though. She wanted to get the blond girl out of Mission Hill. â€Å"Where do you live?† she said, as she started the engine. When there was no answer, she turned. The girl was staring at her with open uneasiness. â€Å"Uh, how come you're dressed like that? And who are you, anyway? I mean, I'm glad you saved me-but I don't understand anything.† Rashel hesitated. She needed information from this girl, and that was going to take time-and trust. With sudden decision she unwound her scarf, one-handed, until her face was exposed. â€Å"Like I said, I'm a friend. But first just tell me: do you know what kind of people had you in that truck?† The girl turned away. She was already shivering with cold; now she shivered harder. â€Å"They weren't people. They were†¦ ugh.† â€Å"Then you do know. Well, I'm one of the people that hunts down that kind of people.† The girl looked from Rashel's face to the sheathed sword that rested between them. Her jaw dropped. â€Å"Oh, my God! You're Buffy the Vampire Slayer!† â€Å"Huh? Oh.† Rashel had missed the movie. â€Å"Right. Actually, you can call me Rashel. And you're†¦ ?† â€Å"Daphne Childs. And I live in Somerville, but I don't want to go home.† â€Å"Well, that's fine, because I want to talk to you. Let's find a Dunkin' Donuts.† Rashel found one outside of Boston, a safe one she knew had no Night World connections. She pulled a coat on over her black ninja outfit and lent Daphne a spare sweater from the trunk of her car. Then they went inside and ordered jelly sticks and hot chocolate. â€Å"Now,† Rashel said. â€Å"Tell me what happened. How did you end up in that truck?† Daphne cupped her hands around her hot chocolate. â€Å"It was all so horrible†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"I know.† Rashel tried to make her voice soothing. She hadn't had much practice at it. â€Å"Try to tell me anyway. Start at the beginning.† â€Å"Okay, well, it started at the Crypt.† â€Å"Uh, as in ‘Tales from the†¦'? Or as in the Old Burial Ground?† â€Å"As in the club on Prentiss Street. It's this underground club, and I mean really underground. I mean, nobody seems to know about it except the people who go there, and they're all our age. Sixteen or seventeen. I never see any adults, not even DJs.† â€Å"Go on.† Rashel was listening intently. The Night People had clubs, usually carefully hidden from humans. Could Daphne have wandered into one? â€Å"Well. It's extremely and seriously cool-or at least that's what I thought. They have some amazing music. I mean, it's beyond doom, it's beyond goth, it's sort of like void rock. Just listening to it makes you go all weird and bodiless. And the whole place is decorated like this post-apocalypse wasteland. Or maybe like the underworld†¦.† Daphne stared off into the distance. Her eyes, a very deep cornflower blue under heavy lashes, looked wistful and almost hypnotized. Rashel poked her and chocolate slopped onto the table. â€Å"Reminisce about it later. What kind of people were in the club? Vampires?† â€Å"Oh, no.† Daphne looked shocked. â€Å"Just regular kids. I know some from my school. And there's lots of runaways, I guess. Street kids, you know.† Rashel blinked. â€Å"Runaways†¦Ã¢â‚¬  â€Å"Yeah. They're mostly very cool, except the ones who do drugs. Those are spooky.† An illegal club full of runaway kids, some of whom would probably do anything for drugs. Rashel could feel her skin tingling. I think I've stumbled onto something big. â€Å"Anyway,† Daphne was going on, â€Å"I'd been going there for about three weeks, you know, whenever I could get away from home-â€Å" â€Å"You didn't tell your parents about it,† Rashel guessed flatly. â€Å"Are you joking? It's not a place you tell parents about. Anyway, my family doesn't care where I go. I've got four sisters and two brothers and my mom and my step-dad are getting divorced†¦ they don't even notice when I'm gone.† â€Å"Go on,† Rashel said grimly. â€Å"Well, there was this guy.† Daphne's cornflower eyes looked wistful again. â€Å"This guy who was really gorgeous, and really mysterious, and really just-just different from anybody I ever met. And I thought he was maybe interested in me, because I saw him looking at me once or twice, so I sort of joined the girls who were always hanging around him. We used to talk about weird things.† â€Å"Like?† â€Å"Oh, like surrendering yourself to the darkness and stuff. It was like the music, you know-we were all really into death. Like what would be the most horrible way to die, what would be the most awful torture you could live through, what you look like when you're in your grave. Stuff like that.† â€Å"For God's sake, why?† Rashel couldn't disguise her revulsion. â€Å"I don't know.† All at once, Daphne looked small and sad. â€Å"I guess because most of us felt life was pretty rotten. So you kind of face things, you know, to try to get used to them. You probably don't understand,† she added, grimacing. Rashel did understand. With a sudden shock, she understood completely. These kids were scared and depressed and worried about the future. They had to do something to deaden the pain†¦ even if that meant embracing pain. They escaped one darkness by going into another. And am I any different? I mean, this obsession I've got with vampires†¦ it's not exactly what you'd call normal and healthy. I spend my whole life dealing with death. â€Å"I'm sorry,† she said, and her voice came out more gentle than when she'd been trying to soothe Daphne before. Awkwardly, she patted the other girl's arm once. â€Å"I shouldn't have yelled. And I do understand, actually. Please go on.† â€Å"Well.† Daphne still looked defensive. â€Å"Some of the girls would write poetry about dying†¦ and some of them would prick themselves with pins and lick the blood off. They said they were vampires, you know. Just pretending.† She glanced warily at Rashel. Rashel simply nodded. â€Å"And so I talked the same way, and did the same stuff. And this guy Quinn just seemed to love it-hey, look out!† Daphne jerked back to avoid a wave of hot chocolate. Rashel's sudden movement had knocked her cup over. Oh, God, what is wrong with me? Rashel thought. She said, â€Å"Sorry,† through her teeth, grabbing for a wad of napkins. She should have been expecting it. She had been expecting it; she knew that Quinn must be involved in this. But somehow the mention of his name had knocked the props from under her. She hadn't been able to control her reaction. â€Å"So,† she said, still through her teeth, â€Å"the gorgeous mysterious guy was named Quinn.† â€Å"Yeah.† Daphne wiped chocolate off her arm. â€Å"And I was starting to think he really liked me. He told me to come to the club last Sunday and to meet him alone in the parking lot.† â€Å"And you did.† Oh, I am going to kill him so dead, Rashel thought. â€Å"Sure. I dressed up†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Daphne looked down at her bedraggled outfit. â€Å"Well, this did look terrific once. So I met him and we went to his car. And then he told me that he'd chosen me. I was so happy I almost fainted. I thought he meant for his girlfriend. And then†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Daphne trailed off again. For the first time since she'd begun the story, she looked frightened. â€Å"Then he asked me if I really wanted to surrender to the darkness. He made it sound so romantic.† â€Å"I bet,† Rashel said. She rested her head on her hand. She could see it all now, and it was the perfect scam. Quinn checked the girls out, discovered which would be missed and which wouldn't. He kidnapped them from the parking lot so that no one saw them, no one even connected them with the Crypt. Who would notice or care that certain girls stopped showing up? Girls would always be coming and going. And there had been nothing in the newspaper because the daylight world didn't realize that girls were being taken. There probably wasn't even a struggle during the abduction, because these girls were willing to go-in the beginning. â€Å"It must have been a shock,† Rashel said dryly, â€Å"to find out that there really was a darkness to surrender to.† â€Å"Uh, yeah. Yeah, it was. But I didn't actually find that out then. I just said, sure, I wanted to. I mean, I'd have said the same thing if he asked me did I really want to watch Lawrence Welk reruns with him. He was that gorgeous. And he was looking at me in this totally soulful way, and I thought he was going to kiss me. And then†¦ I fell asleep.† Daphne frowned at her paper cup. â€Å"No, you didn't.† â€Å"I did. I know it sounds crazy, but I fell asleep and when I woke up I was in this place, this little office in this warehouse. And I was on this iron cot with this pathetic lumpy mattress, and I was chained down. I had chains on my ankles, just like people in jail. And Quinn was gone, and there were two other girls chained to other cots.† Without warning, Daphne began to cry. Rashel handed her a napkin, feeling uncomfortable. â€Å"Were the girls from the Crypt, too?† Daphne sniffed. â€Å"I don't know. They might have been. But they wouldn't talk to me. They were, like, in a trance. They just lay there and stared at the ceiling.† â€Å"But you weren't in a trance,† Rashel said thoughtfully. â€Å"Somehow you woke up from the mind control. You must be resistant like me.† â€Å"I don't know anything about mind control. But I was so scared I pretended to be like the other girls when this guy came to bring us food and take us to the bathroom. I just stared straight ahead like them. I thought maybe that way I would get a chance to escape.† â€Å"Smart girl,† Rashel said. â€Å"And the guy-was it Quinn?† â€Å"No. I never saw Quinn again. It was this blond guy named Ivan from the club; I called him Ivan the Terrible. And there was a girl who brought us food sometimes-I don't know her name, but I used to see her at the club, too. They were like Quinn; they each had their own little group, you know.† At least two others besides Quinn, Rashel thought. Probably more. â€Å"They didn't hurt us or anything, and the office was heated, and the food was okay-but I was so scared,† Daphne said. â€Å"I didn't understand what was going on at all. I didn't know where Quinn was, or how I'd gotten there, or what they were going to do with us.† She swallowed. Rashel didn't understand that last either. What were the vampires doing with the girls in the warehouse? Obviously not killing them out of hand. â€Å"And then last night†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Daphne's voice wobbled and she stopped to breathe. â€Å"Last night Ivan brought this new girl in. He carried her in and put her on a cot. And†¦ and†¦ then he bit her. He bit her on the neck. But it wasn't a game.† The cornflower-blue eyes stared into the distance, wide with remembered horror. â€Å"He really bit her. And blood came out and he drank it. And when he lifted his head up I saw his teeth.† She started to hyperventilate. â€Å"It's okay. You're safe now,† Rashel said. â€Å"I didn't know! I didn't know those things were real! I thought it was all just†¦Ã¢â‚¬  Daphne shook her head. â€Å"I didn't know,† she said softly. â€Å"Okay. I know it's a big shock. But you've been dealing with it really well. You managed to get away from the truck, didn't you? Tell me about the truck.† â€Å"Well-that was tonight. I could tell day from night by looking at this little window high up. Ivan and the girl came and took the chains off us and made us all get in the truck. And then I was really scared-I didn't know where they were taking us, but I heard something about a boat. And I knew wherever it was, I didn't want to go.† â€Å"I think you're right about that.† Daphne took another breath. â€Å"So I watched the way Ivan shut the door of the truck. He was in back with us. And when he was looking the other way, I sort of jumped at the door and got it open. And then I just fell out. And then I ran-I didn't know which way to go, but I knew I had to get away from them. And then I saw you. And†¦ I guess you saved my life.† She considered. â€Å"Uh, I don't know if I remembered to say thank you.† Rashel made a gesture of dismissal. â€Å"No problem. You saved yourself, really.† She frowned, staring at a drop of chocolate on the plastic table without seeing it. â€Å"Well. I am grateful. Whatever they were going to do to me, I think it must have been pretty awful.† A pause, then she said, â€Å"Uh, Rashel? Do you know what they were going to do to me?† â€Å"Hm? Oh.† Rashel nodded slowly, looking up from the table. â€Å"Yes, I think so.†

Homelessness Is A Serious Problem - 896 Words

Everyone deserves a decent home. A Shelter that provides safety and security. It is a fundamental human need, however, not everyone gets to have a home. Homelessness is a serious problem throughout the world. With an average of 643,067 people experiencing homelessness in America daily, there is now believed to be at least 1.6 million homeless people in America alone according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development s 5th Annual Homeless Assessment Report. (Henry, 2015) Homelessness is a major problem because it damages the capability of a person to provide for themselves. Through loss of skills, they develop an inability to think about employment because they are too busy worrying about housing. There is also an ever increasing amount of homeless individuals becoming ill everyday thanks to the exposure of a variety of diseases. 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