How to Make a Review of Related Literature free essay sample

How to Make a Review of Related Literature Do not you know how to make a review of related literature? No panic! Make use of our guide and you are sure to create a qualitative review of related literature. What is a Review of Related Literature? A review of related literature is an integral part of theses or dissertations. It may also be a required part of proposals. The main purpose of a review of related literature is to analyze scientific works by other researchers that you used for investigation critically. How to Write the Introduction of a Review of Related Literature In order to make the Introduction elaborately, take the following steps: Identify the general topic of the sources under discussion. Thus, you will provide the context of your review of related literature; Discuss what was already presented about the topic of your paper: conflicts in a theory, conclusions, gaps in research and scholarship, etc. We will write a custom essay sample on How to Make a Review of Related Literature or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Explain why the literature used is worth reviewing. How to Write the Body of a Review of Related Literature When writing the Body, do the following: Group the sources according to their common dominators (approaches, objectives or any specific chronologies); Give the examples of how to sort out these groups. Use quotations, evidences, data, etc. They will make your review of related literature more valid. How to Write the Conclusion of a Review of Related Literature To make the Conclusion, do the following: Summarize the contributions of the literature sources made to the area of study you investigate. Maintain the central focus in the Introduction; Give a kind of insight into the relationship between the topic of your review and a larger study area (e. . a discipline, a scientific endeavor, etc. ) You can also read about a review of biblical literature and alternatives to book report on the blog of our site. A literature review is a body of text that aims to review the critical points of current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contributions to a particular topic. Literature revi ews are secondary sources, and as such, do not report any new or original experimental work. To make multimedia even more effective, many individuals add interaction, which means involving the user when he/she accessed the multimedia application (Payne,1993, p. 72-75). This aspect also provided a non-linear, user-defined constructivist environment. Multimedia was defined as a presentation or a program involving the use of multiple media data types such as audio, video, graphics, text, and images. Multimedia incorporated different media sources operating under computer control. A multimedia system was a computer capable of processing and displaying multiple media data types such as audio, video, graphics, text, and images. Such data types may reside on the same data storage device or may come from different source media such as CD-ROM and/or digital video disk (DVD). Programs were reviewed that facilitated multimedia implementation in educational settings. Commercial products provided a rich source of choices. Commercial Products Authoring programs used in this and other multimedia projects were Claris Home Page to create web pages, Microsoft Power Point to create presentations, and Microsoft Front Page to create web pages. Other programs widely used for multimedia authoring were HyperCard (a program that required some programming knowledge – largely used to create kiosks, and other instructional presentations), and Hyperstudio (a more user-friendly version of Hyper Card that worked very well with kindergarten through fifth grade students). HyperCard, Hyperstudio, Claris Home Page, Microsoft Front Page, and Microsoft Power Point supplied a rich environment in which to create multimedia projects. These programs were used in the implementation of this study due to their ease of use and versatility. All products referenced were available to be used by students and teachers to create projects incorporating linkages to text, scanned images, full motion video and audio clips. Programs were chosen based upon their ability to convey subject matter in non-linear presentations. Multimedia-related Terms Multimedia-related definitions were presented by Taeth, 2001. Multimedia was defined as human-computer interaction involving text, graphics, voice and video. Often, it also included concepts from hypertext. This term has come to be almost synonymous with CD-ROM in the personal computer world since the large amounts of data involved are currently best supplied on CD-ROM. Hypertext is a term coined by Ted Nelson around 1965 for a collection of documents (or nodes) containing cross-references or links, which with the aid of an interactive browser program, allowed the reader to move easily from one document to another. (See also hypermedia). Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) was a document format specified to be used by the World-Wide Web. Built on top of SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language), Tags were embedded in the text. A tag consists of a . Matched pairs of directives, like and , were used to delimit text which was to appear in a special place or style. Links to other documents were in the form: zoo where a, /a delimit an anchor, href introduced a hypertext reference which in this case is a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) (the thing in double quotes in the example). The text zoo was the label appearing on the link in the browser. Other common tags included for a new paragraph, for bold text, for an unnumbered list, for pre-formatted text, and , .. for headings.

Naturalistic Observation essays

Naturalistic Observation essays Abstract Naturalistic observation involves recording subjects naturally occurring behavior while they are in their natural environment. This experiment revolves around this type of observation. Specifically, it involves the observation of the various human dyads (male-female, male-male, female-female,) social interaction, within in a public environment. Focal points of observation included conversation space (distance between individuals heads,), and body language. All behaviors were observed in an unobtrusive manner. Introduction The acceptable distance for a conversation between adults is greatly affected by the cultural background of the participants and the gender of those involved (Hall, 1966, Reidhead, Good, Sommer, 1969). Previous work has shown that, observational studies in real life situations have found that individuals in Arab and Latin American countries, in general, stand significantly closer to one another during conversations than do Americans and Northern Europeans (e.g., Hall, 1966; Sanders, Hakky, Sommer, 1962). Based upon these former studies, observation was undergone in roughly the same manner, with a new hypothesis in mind. The hypothesis is that when engaged in conversation, male-female dyads make more of overt effort to appear interested in conversation. Since actual conversing was not overheard, and distance between individuals was virtually irrelevant, the significant variables in this study are measurements of specific types of body language, ones that connote interest, and attention. Method Participants Participants were a total of 30 separate dyads (10 male-female, 10 male-male, 10 female-female). All dyads were observed in public environments and as unobtrusively as possible. Al...

Interact between acient Mesopotamia and theis enviroment Essay

Interact between acient Mesopotamia and theis enviroment - Essay Example The people believed in a repulsion between animals and humans. This is the reason why the trapper used a woman to seduce Enkidu so that when the animals noticed that Enkidu laid with a woman, they left him. Natural diet including both vegetarian and non-vegetarian diet was considered as the source of strength in the Mesopotamian civilization. â€Å"Enkidu ate grass in the hills with the gazelle and lurked with wild beasts at the water-holes† (26). Eating natural grass was considered as the source of strength as Enkidu was believed to have gained his strength from eating the wild grass of the hills with the gazelle. As Ninsun says to Gilgamesh, â€Å"He is the strongest of wild creatures, the stuff of Anu; born in the grass-lands and the wild hills reared him† (28). Likewise, when Enkidu entered Uruk, the people spoke of connections between his strength and the natural diet he consumed; â€Å"This is the one who was reared on the milk of wild beasts. His is the greatest strength† (29). The people of Uruk had a strong belief in the physical strength of animals in general and the bulls in particular which is why Gilgamesh’s strength is compared to that of a wild bull. Similarly, when Enkidu encounters Gilgamesh at the gate of the home where Gilgamesh is about to make love to the bride, the strength of both Gilgamesh and Enkidu is compared to the strength of bulls in these words, â€Å"†¦so they grappled, holding each other like bulls. They broke the doorposts and the walls shook, they snorted like bulls locked together† (29). When Gilgamesh throws Enkidu during the fight, Enkidu attributes the strength of Gilgamesh to the strength of his mother, â€Å"There is not another like you in the world. Ninsun, who is as strong as a wild ox in the byre, she was the mother who bore you†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (29). Concluding, the Mesopotamian civilization considered natural diet including grass and the milk of animals as the source of strength. Natural diet was probably

BP In The World Market Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

BP In The World Market - Essay Example Understanding all the relative dynamics enables one to make informed decisions regarding the amount of finances to invest, at what time to make the investment and at what time to pull out of the company. Timely decisions in this regard would go a long way in ensuring the safety and security of the respective investment. Most importantly, informed decisions in this regard would enable the investor to attain the primary goal of profiting from the respective business. It is against this background that this paper provides a share portfolio review. The company of choice pertains to the BP gas and oil company that has been stable in the financial share market over time. To enhance a coherent consideration, it begins by justifying the choice of the company. It then proceeds to an analysis of the performance of the invested shares and provides an informed judgment as to whether the performance was good. Finally, it presents the reasons that informed the investor with respect to keeping the shares in the company. The company has a broad consumer base comprising of various clients drawn from diverse economic backgrounds. These customers are scattered across the globe in 90 different countries. Its business segments include production, exploration, marketing and refining (BP, 2011). Through the respective segments, it has succeeded in providing fuel as well as fuel products employed for transportation, providing energy, heating and lighting. The relative retail brands have equally been important as a part of the company’s diversification plan.

Kingdom Building Term Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Kingdom Building - Term Paper Example As for what I do right now, I do feel that I am called to help the poor. That is my job. In my ministry, everyone is equal, for God â€Å"looketh on the heart.† God looks upon what is on the inside—not upon that which is on the outside. Thus, it is important that we realize that God judges differently than humans judge, humans who look upon outward appearances many times—forgetting that there is a person underneath the flesh and bones. People are not just flesh and bone, but we are also mind and spirit. The whole mind-body-spirit connection must be made. People who minister only to one part of the body will not see the complete picture. If someone is hungry, he is not going to want to listen to spiritual platitudes about how one should feed the hungry. That makes no sense. Therefore, my style of ministry oozes with common-sense, on-the-ground approaches that will help people be ministered to on all levels, not just one single level. This is important to recognize because, so many people stress the spiritual level. So many people push about being spiritual. Jesus, however, taught us not to be spiritual, but to have a common-sense approach. If I see a hungry man or woman, I am going to feed that person. If I see someone who needs water, I will give that person a glass of water. I’m not going to come up to them and shove a Bible tract in their face and say, â€Å"Are you ‘born again’?† ... If they do not fit in your ministry path, what kinds of people would need to serve along with you for successful ministry? This should be at least one page long. (275) I am a big encourager, and I like to see people do well. I would definitely have to work with other people who are encouraging, because without that form of encouragement, I don’t see myself or my parishioners succeeding. The people who attend my church should always feel welcome, and no one should be left out feeling they did not do a good job. It’s always a good idea to find some positive aspect about everything and everybody—it is never kind to speak ill of someone, even if they have faults. I know that sometimes gossip and fear-mongering can definitely ruin faith-based relationships and trust within a church. This is called lashon hara in Hebrew (literally, â€Å"the evil tongue†), which is the exact opposite of love.2 Speaking ill of someone is not only considered rude, but gossip is co ntagious. Once one person does it, it is tempting for someone else to want to â€Å"chime in,† and give their opinion. Soon, a molehill can be turned into a mountain with enough silver tongues spouting their opinions. In my ministry, another requirement would have to be working with people who are teachable individuals or people who are teachers themselves. People who are teachable are open to all kinds of learning. Similarly, teachers likewise might usually be the types of people who are open to learning of some sort. Thus, I have to work with people who are both encouragers and teachers, like myself. This gives me the ability to perfect my ministry to the point where people will come to rely on my consistency, as well as the steadfastness

Knowledge Management: Concepts, Practices and Effects

Knowledge Management: Concepts, Practices and Effects Abstract Today Information Technology is gaining new heights with greater leaps. This enables new age managers to develop newer tools to manage business better. IT has not only expedited the intra and inter organizational communication but also enabled us to manage a lot of data effectively. Knowledge management is emerging as a key management tool for the new century. Although it can be defined in a variety of ways, the process of organizing knowledge in order to get a sustainable development can be termed as Knowledge management. It consists of identification, representation, distribution, application and utilization of available knowledge to get improved performance. Knowledge Management in a company is carried out by systematically organizing the intellectual capital to achieve its business goals. The intellectual capital means the companys intangible assets which increase its valuation. The Core competencies of a company go together with the sustainable competitive advantage. This report explains the process of Knowledge Management to bring in Competitive advantage in the Indian IT industry. It also elaborates on the methods on how innovation can be encouraged in the company. Further, the challenges for KM like resistance to culture change and tacit knowledge sharing are discussed. In India companies have started taking knowledge management as an important aspect as it not only gives a good working culture but also improves the return on investments eventually. However, there is still a good scope of improvement in the field of Knowledge management for the Indian IT industry. The research uses questionnaires and interpretations from interviews to collect primary data .Though it gives a comprehensive analysis, it leaves a further scope for research in the field. CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION Knowledge Management is relatively new buzz in the corporate world. It is a tool developed to safeguard the organization from competition in future. Apparently, the physical assets and tangible capacities are not sufficient to sustain a competitive advantage in todays market place. What make difference in the long run are the intangible assets, such as Brands, Intellectual property, knowledge etc. These assets can not be bought but have to be created within organization, by the members of organization over a period of time. Aim The aim of this report is to identify and analyse the concepts and current practices of Knowledge management in order to recommend ways of propelling innovation and competitive advantage within the companies. Objective The Research Objective is to Get a comprehensive idea of the current Knowledge Management practises. Identify and analyse the challenges faced by the organizations in implementing Knowledge Management Know the ways of how companies can propel innovation and competitive advantage. Recommendations in order to improve the company culture. Suggest the methods to attain sustainable competitive advantage handling the challenges faced. Key Questions The guiding principal of my research is as follows How do companies integrate KM with their company policies? How change should be initiated? What are the levels of hierarchy? When the change does actually happen? Is KM just for innovation, competitive advantage or more? Are rewards and recognition the way to drive KM? What are the basic challenges for KM? Research Approach The research philosophy is Positivism Philosophy that involves working with an observable social reality. The emphasis is on highly structured methodology to facilitate replication, and the end product can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists. (Saunders, 2000) This research contains mainly qualitative data collection methods for both primary and secondary data. Primary data was obtained by interviewing the key people of some of the IT companies in India. Questionnaire was designed to get the views of the employees working in the IT industry. Questionnaires were also designed and used to obtain primary data. The response of these questionnaires is being used in order to obtain a particular result in the form of percentage. The secondary data has been collected through books, journals, websites, etc. All of the research methods will be discussed in further detail in the relevant chapter. Research Outcomes The key outcome of this research would be a perfect understanding of the knowledge management practises and to know how companies use it in India for competitive advantage and innovation. Thus using this knowledge the researcher expects to identify main problems in the current trends and evaluate solutions for them. Finally, it also determines the difference between being a multinational corporation (MNC) and small to medium enterprise (SME) with respect to knowledge management. CHAPTER 2: METHODOLOGY This chapter describes the research methodology adopted for the report. To start with, this report elaborates on the research philosophy Positivism, moving on towards the various stages of research like primary and secondary data collection methods. The reasons behind selecting the particular method are also explained in the report. 2.1 Approach This report includes both primary and secondary data collected from various sources. Secondary data refers to data already collected by someone else and primary data is collected for a specific purpose by the researcher (Saunders, 2000).The research philosophy is Positivism Philosophy that involves working with an observable social reality. The emphasis is on highly structured methodology to facilitate replication, and the end product can be law-like generalisations similar to those produced by the physical and natural scientists. (Saunders, 2000) 2.1.1 Research Strategy: This research is based on the quantitative research strategy which involves collection of data from various sources. It also proposes to collect some primary data through interviews and questionnaires from people from the IT industry in India. A survey is a method whereby a sample of subjects is drawn from a population and studied to make analysis about the population. The survey strategy enables the researcher to collect a large amount of data in a highly efficient way. 2.1.2 Sample Size: For the interviews there was no such constraint of number of questions. The interviewees were asked questions in order to know the KM practices in their organization. In case of the questionnaires due to restrictions of time and access, only 500 questionnaires were distributed to various IT company employees. The reason for distributing the questionnaires to the employees from all the levels and department was to get a clear idea of how employees take the concept of Knowledge management at their workplace. 2.2 Research Stages 2.2.1 Secondary Data Collection: The first stage of the research was a critical literature review to obtain the secondary data. Secondary data collected includes the information and concepts from books, journals and websites based on Knowledge management, Organisational behaviour, Knowledge Integration etc. The list of various sources referred can be viewed from the relevant chapter of the report. Access to the books and journals was through Coventry University Library and electronic library databases like FAME, Engineering Village2 etc. Case studies of various companies as mentioned in the appendices were analysed by the researcher in order to get the relevant information and to decide on certain concepts considering them as the evidences. 2.2.2 Interviews: The second stage of the research was to interview some key people of various IT companies in India. Selection of these companies for the interview was done on the basis of how KM practices are being carried out there. These vary from the Market leaders to the new entrants in the IT industry. Many companies are such that they have been practising good KM processes since a long time, but a few have just started to get into it. This was done so because it gave researcher a clear idea of the current scenario in the Indian IT industry. Selecting the best companies alone would not have helped in introducing the scope of improvement for the research. The interviews were face to face interviews and the researcher has written down the important points from the session. The people who have been interviewed were mainly the Knowledge Management Executives in the companies. These were the people who knew exactly what processes are being practised in the company, so interviewing them was the best way to get the details about the KM practices in the companies. Their designations were like senior knowledge officers, Chief knowledge officers etc. Confidentiality was requested by the interviewees so company names are not mentioned anywhere. 2.2.3 Questionnaires: The final stage for primary data collection was through questionnaires. The questionnaires designed were distributed to the employees of junior level in the IT companies. It had just 10 questions but they were selected in such a way that the they would serve the main purpose of the survey to understand the current scenario in Indian IT industry among that class of employee by whom the KM practices are expected to follow. Questions selected were simple to answer so that the respondents are interested in answering till the end of the questionnaire. This also makes it possible to collect maximum responses. These questionnaires were not passed on to the management level or the KM people as the interviews were carried out with them. The researcher wanted to extract information from the employees in the Indian IT companies regarding their views about the Knowledge Management processes in their companies. This was also helpful in getting an overview of the facts about the how aware the Ind ian corporate world is in regards with knowledge management. CHAPTER 3: CRITICAL LITRATURE REVIEW 3.1 Introduction 3.1.1. What is knowledge? Definition of knowledge provided by Schulz (2001) beginning with the 1992 American Heritage Dictionary: ‘knowledge is what has been learned from experience or study. Knowledge is a broad concept that usually includes insights, interpretations, and information. Organizational knowledge refers to knowledge and information that all, part, or parts of the organization share, and that is frequently stored in standard operating procedures, routines, or rules. Today, knowledge has emerged and is accepted as the most critical resource available to an organization (Bartlett and Ghosal 1993, Davenport and Prusak 1995, Drucker 1993, Leonard-Barton 1992, Nonaka 1991, Nonaka and Takeuchi 1995, Nonaka et al. 2001, Stewart 1997 and 2001, Toffler 1990 and World Bank 1998). Knowledge can be defined as the understanding of a concept gained by education, experience or even by mere observation. To acquire knowledge means processing of information with the help of learning, communication, perception, reasoning and linking. It is the theoretical or practical understanding of information and facts which is obtained by correctly processing the raw data. Here arises the need to understand the difference between data, information and knowledge. Data is the collection of certain facts or values about a particular concept. Information is the processing done on data using relevant theory. The organization of data is nothing but information. The extraction of information on the basis of proper understanding is Knowledge. This can be further explained by considering an example of solving a quadratic equation. The variables are in the form of information, a value of the variable is data and the operation we carry out with them for calculating the answer is our knowledge. The following figure shows the DIKW (Data Information Knowledge Wisdom) hierarchy as stated by Clark, 2004. Figure 1: The DIKW hierarchy (Clark, 2004) Knowledge is generally personal, subjective and inherently local it is found â€Å"within the heads of employees† (www.ichnet.org/glossary.htm 2004) 3.1.2 Classification of Knowledge: Knowledge can be classified as: 1. Tacit Knowledge This type of knowledge is hard to formulate and communicate because it is gained by experience. Tacit knowledge is personnel and context specific. People carry tacit knowledge in their brain, thus it is not easy to share it. There is no systematic approach to store tacit knowledge as people are many times unaware of their tacit knowledge. However it is the most valuable form of knowledge as it is can be acquired only by experience and is not easily found written anywhere. 2. Explicit Knowledge Explicit knowledge is transmittable into a formal systematic language with the help of tacit knowledge. Thus, the codification of ones tacit knowledge results into explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge can be in the form of books, manuals, notes, documents etc. The definition of some phenomenon is the explicit part whereas the practical understanding behind the phenomenon is tacit. 3. Embedded Knowledge The knowledge contained in some kind of physical form is known as embedded knowledge. For example the design of an artefact gives us the basic idea of where it can be used. 3.1.3 Knowledge Management. Knowledge management is defined as the process of getting the right information to the right people at the right time, and helping people create knowledge and share and act upon information in ways that will measurably improve the performance of organization and its partners. This means providing access to information at the time people need it to make the best decisions possible for mission safety and success. According to Wally Block of The Intranet Journal, the following points make up the generalized term: Knowledge Management. Knowledge management is the way that organizations create, capture and reuse knowledge to achieve organizational objectives. Knowledge management can also be defined as a process with four parts that comprise a loop. Knowledge is created. This happens in the heads of people. Knowledge is captured. It is put on paper in a report, entered into a computer system of some kind or simply remembered. Knowledge is classified and modified. The classification can be the addition of keywords; it may be indexing. Modification can add context, background or other things that make it easier to reuse later. The test of this steps success is to determine how easily people in the organization will be able to find and use the knowledge when they need it. Knowledge is shared. When knowledge is shared and used, its modified by the folks who use it. This takes us back to knowledge creation. The process of organizing knowledge in order to get a sustainable development can be termed as Knowledge management. It consists of identification, representation, distribution, application and utilization of available knowledge to get improved performance. Knowledge Management in a company is carried out by systematically organizing the intellectual capital to achieve its business goals. The intellectual capital means the companys intangible assets which increase its valuation. 3.2. Knowledge Creation: According to Nonaka â€Å"the key to knowledge creation lies in the mobilization and conversion of tacit knowledge†. The process of Knowledge creation is done my transformation of tacit and explicit forms thus giving rise to four forms of transformations. This can be further explained with the help of the following diagram: Fig: Nonakas Spiral model. Source: Nonaka, I.   (1991)   The knowledge creating company. Harvard Business Review, 69, (Nov-Dec) Tacit to Tacit: Socialization Team meetings are held to share the experiences of the team members. This provides everyone to share their ideas and also solution of similar problem in the past can be used. Tacit to Explicit: Externalization This can be done by having question answer sessions. Here the senior employees are capable of solving the queries of their juniors. Explicit to Explicit: Combination Sharing of documents is the best example of this type of transformation. The case studies, notes etc can be exchanged in order to have a faster creation of knowledge. Explicit to Tacit: Internalization Internalization can be done by reading and understanding documents prepared by others. Extracting knowledge from an e-mail received from a colleague is the best example of this. 3.3 Knowledge Capture 3.4 Knowledge Sharing The World Bark (1998) identifies and discusses the most important decisions that an organization must make in establishing its knowledge management program. These are: Deciding with whom to share; deciding what to share; deciding how to share; and deciding to share. 3.5 Learning Organization: A Learning Organization is one in which people at all levels, individually and collectively, are continually increasing their capacity to produce results they really care about. The learning organization focuses on enhancing its systems (including people) to continually increase the organizations capacity for performance. The concept of learning organization can be better understood by considering the following points: Development An organization learns many important aspects of business, skills and technology during the process of learning. For an organization to grow in a competitive world, it is very important to never let the learning process end. 3.5.2 Levels of learning: Aligning learning with corporate priorities Designing learning for maximum impact Using e-business technologies to enable formal and informal interactions Obtaining recognition by the entire organization that learning is a critical enabler to success Community of Practice Ardichvili, Page and Wentling (2003) study community of practice at Caterpillar Inc and find that when employees view knowledge as a public good belonging to the whole organization, it flows easily. However, even when individuals give the highest priority to the interest of the organization and of their community, they tend to shy away from contributing knowledge out of fear of criticism or misleading the community members. Trust increases knowledge sharing. Essex (2000) discusses a study titled .Beyond knowledge Management: New ways to Work and Learn undertaken by the Conference Board in New York in early 2000. It says that management support and corporate culture, not technology, drive successful KM projects. CHANGE what draws people to share varies from organization to organization and matches the core values and other processes. Alignment with the current culture and a practical purpose to share is, specifically, what draws people most strongly to share knowledge. (Blue http://gbr.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/7/1/119) The concept of a community of practice (often abbreviated as CoP) refers to the process of social learning that occurs when people who have a common interest in some subject or problem collaborate over an extended period to share ideas, find solutions, and build innovations Communities of Action Communities of Circumstance Communities of Interest Communities of Position Communities of Purpose (Source: Shin and Bickel (2008) in Chris Kimble and Paul Hildreth (2008). Communities of Practice: Creating Learning Environments for Educators. Information Age Publishing) Obstacles Performance Management NECESSITY OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT A systematic capture, transfer, and use of internal and external know-how are a vital part of any business strategy. With no common processes for sharing information among employees, partners, and customers, limited information exchange will occur among suppliers and the engineering, manufacturing, and service functions. Consequently, the organization will experience ineffective design reuse, and product launch mistakes will be repeated. If there is no company standard expertise locator or people finder, then the inability to locate subject matter experts will result in lost opportunities, lost time, and being incapable of applying the right resources to significant problems. And with too many different systems, proposals, and pricing sheets, sales representatives cannot have access to information they need when they need it. This can prolong the sales cycle and lead to less-than-best sales solutions offered to the client With retirement and turnover, knowledge is walking out the door everyday. New hires do not have the benefit of past experiences and lessons learned, yet their time-to-competence needs to be compressed. Mergers and acquisitions result in two bodies of knowledge and expertise and two cultures that must assimilate quickly. Portals and e-business are drivers of knowledge management. People want information they can use and trust from a single point of access. Also, an often neglected point is that customers want access to your knowledge and to their business transactions with you. Another driving factor is e-learning. Firms now must know where and how knowledge is really being created and acquired. Knowledge management can set the framework for how learning fits into the overall picture of developing employees and making them productive. The key component of a good knowledge management system is the content itself. If the knowledge management system does not provide users with timely, accurate information, inform them of best practices, and link them to expertise, organizations will not realize the full value of their investment in the system. One of the key steps in the strategic design of knowledge management systems is identifying the information already in use within an organization.   Although, in theory, an effective knowledge management system is a central database of data, information, and knowledge contained within the organization, the act of actually creating, maintaining, and using such a central repository is a challenge in practical terms. One of the many benefits of knowledge management is the learning that occurs when a user takes a piece of information from one place, personally transforms it, and creates something new. Although the designers and developers of the knowledge management system can facilitate this type of learning by encouraging those who have the knowledge to capture it, and by designing a system that links end users to information that they might find helpful, neither the designers nor the developers could have planned or predicted such this particular act of learning. It happened informally, without the guidance of an instructor and without the suggestion of a designer.† (Carliner, section 1) Knowledge Management takes advantage of a companys information experience and expertise to serve customers better and respond quickly to changing marketing conditions. Successful companies build a corporate environment that fosters a desire for knowledge among their employees and that ensures its continual application, distribution and creation.   Less successful companies tend to take a top down approach: pushing knowledge to where it is needed.   Besides creating an environment that encourages knowledge pull, successful companies excel in applying, distributing, and creating knowledge.   (Hauschild, 2001) Companies link all their information together and build models that improve processes, product and customer relations.   Such companies understand that true knowledge management requires them to develop ways of making workers aware of those links and goes beyond infrastructure to touch almost every aspect of business. COMPONENTS OF KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT SYSTEM â€Å"The key component of a good knowledge management system is the content itself. If the knowledge management system does not provide users with timely, accurate information, inform them of best practices, and link them to expertise, organizations will not realize the full value of their investment in the system. One of the key steps in the strategic design of knowledge management systems is identifying the information already in use within an organization.   Although, in theory, an effective knowledge management system is a central database of data, information, and knowledge contained within the organization, the act of actually creating, maintaining, and using such a central repository is a challenge in practical terms. One of the many benefits of knowledge management is the learning that occurs when a user takes a piece of information from one place, personally transforms it, and creates something new. Although the designers and developers of the knowledge management system can facilitate this type of learning by encouraging those who have the knowledge to capture it, and by designing a system that links end users to information that they might find helpful, neither the designers nor the developers could have planned or predicted such this particular act of learning. It happened informally, without the guidance of an instructor and without the suggestion of a designer.† Knowledge Management takes advantage of a companys information experience and expertise to serve customers better and respond quickly to changing marketing conditions. Successful companies build a corporate environment that fosters a desire for knowledge among their employees and that ensures its continual application, distribution and creation.   Less successful companies tend to take a top down approach: pushing knowledge to where it is needed.   Besides creating an environment that encourages knowledge pull, successful companies excel in applying, distributing, and creating knowledge. Companies link all their information together and build models that improve processes, product and customer relations.   Such companies understand that true knowledge management requires them to develop ways of making workers aware of those links and goes beyond infrastructure to touch almost every aspect of business. ENTERPRISE KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT Enterprise knowledge management entails formally managing knowledge resources in order to facilitate access and reuse of knowledge, typically by using advanced information technology. KM is formal in that knowledge is classified and categorized according to a prespecified—but evolving—ontology into structured and semi structured data and knowledge bases. The overriding purpose of enterprise KM is to make knowledge accessible and reusable to the enterprise. Knowledge resources vary for particular industries and applications, but they generally include manuals, letters, summaries of responses to clients, news, customer information, competitor intelligence, and knowledge derived from work processes. A wide range of technologies are being used to implement KM systems: e-mail; databases and data warehouses; group support systems; browsers and search engines; intranets and internets; expert and knowledge-based systems; and intelligent agents. In artificial intelligence, knowledge bases are generated for consumption by so-called expert and knowledge-based systems, where computers use rule inference to answer user questions. Although knowledge acquisition for computer intervening is still important, most recent KM developments make knowledge available for direct human consumption or develop software that processes that knowledge. Historically, KM has been aimed at a single group—managers—through what has been generally referred to as an executive information system. An EIS contains a portfolio of tools such as drill-down access to databases, news source alerts, and other information— all aimed at supporting managerial decision making. More recently, however, KM systems are increasingly designed for entire organizations. If executives need access to information and knowledge, their employees are also likely to have an interest in and need for that information. In addition, KM technology is ideally suited for non management groups—such as customer support, where customer service requests and their solutions can be codified and entered into a database available to all customer service representatives. IMPLEMENTING KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT As organizations store an increasing amount of information and knowledge in data and knowledge warehouses and in data and knowledge bases, they are attempting to manage that knowledge in more efficient ways. Historically, organizational knowledge has been stored on paper and in peoples minds. Unfortunately, paper has limited accessibility and is difficult to update. And when people leave, they take most of their knowledge with them, so reuse is not always feasible. Thus, firms have moved to data and knowledge warehouses and to data and knowledge bases to improve accessibility, updatability, and achievability of data and knowledge. Data warehouses In many companies, one of the first KM tools is a data warehouse. A data warehouse acts as a central storage area—a warehouse—for an organizations transaction data. Data warehouses differ from traditional transaction databases in that they are designed to support decision making rather than simply efficiently capturing transaction data. Typically, data warehouses contain multiple years of transaction databases stored in the same database. Data warehouses are not updated on a transaction-by-transaction basis. Instead, the entire database is updated periodically. The size of data warehouses can be substantial. A leading bank in US has a 560-Gbyte data warehouse, for example, and MasterCard On-Line is a 1.2- Tbyte database available to member companies for a fee. With all the data accessible in one place, relationships between data elements can be more effectively explored. Users can browse the data or establish queries, though this type of analysis generally results only in knowledge for particular individuals. An alternative approach is to use a process called knowledge discovery to determine whether there is additional knowledge hidden in the data. Knowledge warehouses Rather than the kind of quantitative data typical of data warehouses, knowledge warehouses are aimed more at qualitative data. KM systems generate knowledge from a wide range of databases including Lotus Notes databases, data warehouses, work processes, news articles, external databases, Web pages (both internal and external), and people. Thus, knowledge warehouses are likely to be virtual warehouses where the knowledge is dispersed across a number of servers. In some cases, a Web browser can be used as an interface to a relational database. For example, Ford Research and Development uses a browsable Oracle database. The database contains manuals and design rules, specifications, and requirements. A

Mencius :: essays research papers

Mencius believes that it is our nature and mind that determine what we are. It is our fate that governs our fortunes and determines our lease on life. Fate was originally a patent to a fief-holder, given by the Son of Heaven as Heaven's deputy to a feudatory. In extended usage it became our lot in life - the fate ordained by heaven. While people guard their minds and determine their conduct, they cannot determine their fate, which is in Heaven's hands. So, Mencius believed that though all humans are innately good, the realization of that good comes with self-cultivation and self-knowledge. Hsun-tzu could not accept Mencius idealistic view of human nature, nor did he believe that Heaven was the sole arbiter of human behavior. He believed that the importance of humankind in the universe is equal to but different from the importance of Heaven and Earth: "Heaven has its seasons, Earth has its riches and man has his culture. This is what is meant by the Trinity." Humanity's fun ction is to utilize the resources of Heaven and Earth to create its own culture. This can be done through the strength acquired from social organization. However, because the social organization needs to be regulated, lest it break down, and because "desires are many, but things are few", Hsun-tzu taught that people need to be restricted and guided by rules and morality. In my view of these two philosophers, I feel that Mencius' views are much more common in most religious traditions today. Mencius beliefs are a lot like Christianity, which is the religion that I am most familiar with. He believes that Heaven is a moral force whose mandate is to be respected and followed by human beings. We follow Heaven's mandate by knowing and nourishing our human nature.

La Civilisation Ma Mere

Driss Chraibi was bon in El Jadida (formerly Mazagan, French Morocco), a town near Casablanca. His father was a tea merchant, who perceived Western education as a means to modern Morocco. Chraibi attended Koranic school as a young boy. When the family moved to Casablanca, Chraibi continued his studies at the French Lycee. At age of nineteen he went to France planning study chemical engineering and neuropsychiatry. After abandoning his studies, he traveled throughout Europe and Israel. Chraibi settled in France with his first wife and children, and eventually devoted himself in 1952 to literature and journalism. In 1954 Chraibi began writing for the National Radio and Television Broadcasting System. In 1978 he married Sheena McCalliion. From his first marriage he had five children. Chaibi taught in Canada for a year after his second divorce but returned then to France. Chraibi's works have been translated into English, Arabic, Italian, German, and Russian. Chraibi remained in France until his death. He died on April 2, 2007, in the village of Crest, where he had lived since the mid-1980s. His body was brought back to Morocco and buried in in the Cimetiere des Chouhada in Casablanca. As a novelist Chraibi made his debut with Le Passe simple (The Simple Past), which was published in 1954, two years before Morocco gained its independence. The book arose much controversy because of the inflammable political situation in the North Africa. Chraibi was criticized as a traitor to the Arab world and French conservatives saw that the book revealed the reason for French presence in Morocco. The protagonist in the novel is a young man, Driss, who revolts against his tyrannical Moslem father. The father banishes Driss from the home and Driss begins his wandering on the streets. Finally he returns to home only to find that his mother has committed suicide in his absence. The novel ends with Driss's departure for France. Driss is an outsider in his own country, oppressed by his family and the feudal, religious traditions. Chraibi was so disturbed by critics, that he publicly rejected the novel in 1957, but later regretted his action. The book was banned in Morocco until 1977. Chraibi's next novel, Les Boucs (1955, The Butts), was set among the Arab immigrants living in poverty in France. One of the characters was based apparently on Francois Mauriac; the narrator is an Algerian writer, whose hopes to find understanding among his countrymen is hindered by their illiteracy. The book was ahead of its time – Chraibi was the first North African writer to examine the issue of migrant workers, before the subject became an issue of widespread debate. L'ane (1956) was a tragic story of a rural barber, Moussa, who finds his prophetic mission and death in changing Morocco. Succession ouverte (1962) continued the story of Ferdi Driss, who returns to Morocco for his father's funeral. Driss has spent sixteen years in France, but now re-establishes his relations with his mother and brothers. Gradually Driss realizes how old family values have given way to the ideas of the West. â€Å"Remember, Driss? Would any of us have dared to start dinner before he got back, whether it was after midnight or dawn? You remember, don't you? â€Å"< Un ami viedra vous voir (1967) was set in the modern bourgeois Paris. La civilization, ma mere (1972) was about the self-realization of a housewife in Morocco shortly before and during World War II. The protagonist is a cloistered Arab mother, who becomes a symbol of Third World liberation. Arab feminists have acknowledged Chraibi ‘s sympathetic portraits of women with respect.

This Holiday Season, Thank a Trucker!ÂÂ

This Holiday Season, Thank a Trucker!   As you sit down to enjoy some much-deserved time off this holiday season, remember there are a few industries, like trucking, that never take a break. While you’re with your family and friends, there’s a whole fleet of long-haul drivers who won’t get the chance to be home for the holidays. Here are three things not to forget:Santa Didn’t Deliver Your Gifts- a Trucker DidIt’s easy to forget where our goods come from and how they get to us. But almost anything you’ve ever bought- food, clothes, toys, electronics- were probably trucked in to your local stores. We’d have very little if it weren’t for truckers.Truckers Can Be Highway AngelsTruckers know how to survive on the road, and they are often seen helping others reach their destinations safely. Whether that means helping to change a tire or pulling off a roadside rescue, truckers frequently put others’ safety first.Truckers  Make Our Lives EasierWe wouldn’t sur vive a minute driving long-hauls, showering in rest stops, and spending so little time at home with our families. It’s not a job for everyone. And while some do truly enjoy being on the road, it’s still a sacrifice they make to keep our economy flowing.This holiday season, be sure to raise a glass to all the men and women who spend their time driving our groceries and gifts around.3 Reasons to Thank a Trucker

spectrophotometery essays

spectrophotometery essays The purpose of this lab experiment is to understand the uses of spectrophotometry. This experiment concentrates on the uses of the spectrophotometer, and using this instrument to specifically determine the absorption spectrum of a cobalt chloride solution, a galactose solution, and to determine an unknown concentration of a galactose solution. Modern biologists frequently use the measurement of light absorption to determine concentration of chemicals. The technique is called spectrophotometry. However, why is light absorbed? Light may be simply scattered by particles, but this is extremely important to the measurement of truly absorbed light. Light is the part of electromagnetic radiation to which the human eye is sensitive. Light is energy, and when absorbed by a chemical it results in a change in energy levels of the chemical. The energy of light depends on its wavelengths. Longer wavelengths, such as infrared, have less energy than shorter wavelengths, such as ultraviolet. A molecule will absorb light energy when a wavelength exactly matches the energy difference between two energy states of the molecule. A spectrophotometer makes use of the transmission of light through a specific solution to determine the concentration of a solute within a solution. It is based on a simple design of passing light of a known wavelength through a sample and measuring the amount of light energy that is transmitted. The design of a single beam spectrophotometer involves a light source, a prism, a sample holder, and a photocell. Connected to each are the appropriate electrical or mechanical to control the illuminating intensity, the wavelengths, and for conversion of energy received to readable data that can be recorded, which is known as a voltage fluctuation. This voltage fluctuation is displayed digitally and recorded for further analysis. The whole idea of spectrophotometery determining the concentration of a compound is ba...

I need a reaction peper for an environmental science class of one page Essay

I need a reaction peper for an environmental science class of one page - Essay Example The study of Dr. Hayes on the effects of Atrazine in frogs is a corollary on an accurate prediction of what could happen on humans. He takes on an almost renegade approach as he goes against the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and drug companies for the banning of Atrazine. This herbicide which is used for 80 million lbs. a year in the United States, as he has illustrated, was already banned in many other countries. The primary findings that he proposes are the effects of Atrazine on frogs in different ecological areas including creating controlled groups. He concluded that the frogs exposed have increase in hormonal imbalance and chemically castrating frogs same as how other chemicals cause tumors in rats. Male frogs are actually growing eggs in their testes and they are taking a longer time to metamorphose. This is significant because this can also happen to humans as we drink the very same water exposed to Atrazine. It is undeniable that these same effects already exist in o ur system and this has a generational effect. I ardently believe that in the largeer scale of things, â€Å"it is better to err on the side of caution.† To the end of his talk, Prof. Hayes insisted that it is still the people who now have the power to stop this and in this case time is of the essence.

Whole Foods are Cause Related and not Strategic Philanthropy Case Study

Whole Foods are Cause Related and not Strategic Philanthropy - Case Study Example The company also started selling its own private labels that included its everyday value, whole Market, and whole kitchen that helped their customers to cut their budget (Ferrell 526). The company puts into consideration all their stakeholder's health and well-being. Its mission statement emphasizes the need for them providing the highest quality natural and organic products. It believes that satisfying their customers and employees creates wealth for shareholders. It allows free sampling to their customer that enables the customers to try their products. The employees treat their customers as the part of their families, and this attracts them. The company also uses social media to strengthen their relationship with their clients. After the company had made some mistakes, it resolved to rectify by hiring Health Eating Specialists who began posting information on its website to educate consumers on healthy eating habits. The company also allows the employees to form unions if they wis h to have one (Ferrell 527). The laws require all companies to provide quality foods to their customers, whole foods ensures that it gives their customers high-quality products. The company labels those foods that are genetically modified though this is not required by law, and this indicates their commitment to their customer health; in turn, this has led to the company gaining the trust of their clients. By providing high-quality products, the company attracts more customers, and this leads to its growth. The company pays better wages and working conditions for their workers, which ensures high performance (Ferrell 529). The decision to investing in solar installation is ethical since it allows the company to reduce its environmental impact. Solar energy installation prevents 1650 tons of carbon dioxide from being emitted into the atmosphere. Solar is a renewable source of energy, and this ensures that there is a clean supply of energy all the time (Ferrell 532).