Collaborative Knowledge Management Tools Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Collaborative Knowledge Management Tools - Essay Example For instance, a construction project management faced with an increasing case of problems and pressure such as costs, quantity, quality, labor among others, need proper project and design managers who would be analyzing large number of data when making crucial decision. It also focusses on integration, creation and dispersals of knowledge into the concerned society, where solution created is put forward by these collaborative techniques arising from proper management of technical knowhow or rather creativity (Dean, et al., 2010). Inter-connected problems which come from creative collaborative knowledge processes are captured and shared in such a way that they are managed sufficiently to achieve the desired aims and objectives. This means generally that whatever the objective of an operational firm, clinic or project, proper management of their used skills in a collaborative manner is no doubt necessary to ensure these objectives are achieved optimally (Antonino & Ronaldo, 2010). The management of a firm should embrace collaborative knowledge management tools in all levels of administration. This ensures that time and cost of decision making within the firm is saved and thus increases its profitability. It also enables easy flow of communication and skills among employees which results to improved productivity and work

Performance Management And Learning And Development Essay Example for Free

Performance Management And Learning And Development Essay Introduction In the 19th   century university was meant to be a theoretical theatre, while the factory was the place for formal training and learning. Education is broader in scope than training and it has a less specific application than training, as it is delivered in educational institutions. As a result, there has always been a tension between the needs of industry and the educational requirements of the individual, as society needs people who can contribute in a comprehensive way (Wilson, 2005). A century later, West moved beyond the factory and manufacturing as the basis for economic wealth have been achieved. Compared to earlier centuries now this century is able to demolish the   trading, political and economic   barriers, which hampered the progress in the old days. The arrival of mass media and technology is re-shaping our lives at a breathtaking speed; the concept of learning is now not a stagnant process, but in a flux and evolving every day (Beckett, 2000). The nature of work is changing with the knowledge economy in boom, giving rise to unparalleled demands for learning in work settings through consistent training. Enterprises need integrated approach to possess knowledge workers, which is the right prescription for businesses today. It is hard to create effective employment and training based policies which give high priority to education and training-both at a time. Countries like Korea and Singapore are seriously investing in their human resources, while the poor countries do not have sufficient funds to meet their growing needs. The overall goal of the global economy is provide opportunities to people and obtain productive work with dignity, which requires a framework to address worker and producer needs. To meet such requirements, the new millennium needs a shift from traditional approach and demands new human resources development and training policies. Learning and Training Learning can take place either in formal settings, such as school/university or in less formal organizational settings. Possessing knowledge is different from learning, as learning has limited value and is not a guarantee of being skillful, until   put to practice in real world. Wilson (2005) has defined learning as â€Å"a permanent change of knowledge, attitude or behaviour occurring as a result of formal education or training, or as a result of informal experiences. Learning, education and development are often muddled together, however   they carry specific meanings as explained below: Training = learning related to present job; Education = learning to prepare the individual but not related to a specific present or future job; Development = learning for growth of the individual but not related to a specific present or future job. It has been recognised by the enterprises that passive learning cannot not ensure an accurate developmental process necessary in the business world. The managers find it hard to believe, that, seminars and workshops can teach management. It is argued, that case methodology, lectures, discussions and theories are useful, but they never find its way into the corridors of business world. As a result, managers and educational theorists suggest experiential learning, which trains workers in work place more effectively. According to the Glossary of Training Terms (2005), training is â€Å"a planned process to modify attitude, knowledge or skill behaviour through learning experience to achieve effective performance in an activity or range of activities. Its purpose, in the work situation, is to develop the abilities of the individual and to satisfy the current and future needs of the organisation†. Rothwell (2003) mentioned that, training equips individuals and groups in an organisation to improve their work performance. However, training alone cannot alleviate a poor work, which may be due to the lack of rewards and incentives. Training is put into practice for a variety of reasons, such as orientation training for new workers or sending employees for special assignments and preparing employees to support critical activities (Wilkinson, 2005). The HRD equips people with necessary skills in three ways (McGoldrickand, 2001). .Individual Development   addresses broad areas and addresses, such as skill development, interpersonal skills, career development, etc.   Occupational /Group Development occurs among the groups through a team building programs. It also applies to specific occupational groups, such as implementation of new legislation. Organizational Development covers the whole organization. It can be defined as a â€Å"collection of planned change interventions, built on humanistic-democratic values, that seek to improve organizational effectiveness and employee well-being†(Wilson and John, 2005). The well-known examples are; the introduction of a customer care programs across the organization; and the introduction of total quality management, which requires all individuals and groups to become involved. Mumfords (1995) mentions that, an organization where people continually expand their capacity to create the results- truly invent patterns of thinking for collective learning. This process can be defined as following:   Personal mastery, ensuring individual motivation to learn; mental models, creating an openness to misconceptions;   shared vision, building long-term commitment in people; team learning, developing group skills like cooperation, communication and so forth;   systems thinking, which constitutes   integration with other disciplines the other four. All these disciplines are to be practiced together to create an impact and must be practiced by all the members of organization to work together. Each problem and dilemma is crisis and workers learn from crisis and difficulties together and try to development process, where all workers profit from each other’s experiences. Shift of Training in Knowledge Economy Drucker (1993) has mentioned that, Every few hundred years in western history there occurs a sharp transformation. Within a few short decades, society rearranges itself its world view; its basic values; its social and political structure; its arts; its key institutions. The shift   from industrial-based economies to enterprises   started 20 years ago, moving to market share and hierarchical management focusing on a knowledge   based economy. If the industrial economy was driven by cheap energy; today’s knowledge economy is driven by inexpensive microchips and knowledge management enabling businesses to take benefit of the new knowledge (Trask, 1996). The modern corporation is over and the postmodern corporation is different. Today companies may look the same from outside—but behind the faà §ade, everything is different. They are no longer connected to the boiler or routine machines, but now in the business of knowledge creation. The activity of knowledge-based organization is not producing machine or power toys, but producing and managing knowledge. The knowledge economy differs from the old one, as the new economy is ever-increasing in information intensity and packed with more knowledge, data, and ideas. Now knowledge resides in the magnetic strip, not the plastic. The knowledge-based economy has new rules and standards, which require new ways of living and working, business, which do not acquire knowledge workers, are destined to die.   Wolfensohn (1999) has mentioned that, the knowledge-based economy relies on ideas and applications of technology rather than physical strength, which was done on the exploitation of cheap labor. In this new economy knowledge is created, acquired, transmitted, and sold by individuals, enterprises, organizations, and communities for the promotion of economic development. In the industrial world, knowledge-based industries are growing fast, while labour market demands are also changing. The new technologies insist on highly skilled workers, diminishing demand for the low skilled workers.   One of the key factors that distinguish intelligent business enterprise of the 21st century is emphasis on knowledge and information. Knowledge management is an important means by which organizations can better manage information and knowledge. Knowledge management encompasses a range of concepts, ranging from management tasks to technological practices, all come under the umbrella of the management of knowledge (Gupta, 2003). The successful organizations are aggressive, fast paced and have the ability to create  Ã‚   knowledge to maximize organizational strategic success. In today’s world, knowledge is a resource, which is critical to an organization’s survival and success in the global economy.   As the nature of work is changing, knowledge is regarded as a primary resource-giving rise to the unprecedented demand for learning in the working environment. Enterprises need to offer this new learning at work and create knowledge workers, which have become inevitable part of the corporate world. The workplace has become a site of learning associated with development of the enterprise through contributing to production and innovation. Thus the development of the individuals by providing training to create new knowledge is the most wanted asset of the enterprises today. The knowledge economy has four basic features as described below (Trask, 1996). Knowledge developed and applied in new ways, especially through information revolution, which has provided not only new opportunities to access information, but it is also creating new opportunities for swift transfer of the knowledge speeding up the process of worldwide change. Today product cycles have become shorter due to growing demand for innovation. In 1990s, it would take six years from concept to production in the automobile industry; now it takes only two years. Worldwide trade is increasing with increased competitive demands on producers. The countries, which are able to assimilate into the world economy, will achieve higher economic growth. Small and medium-size enterprises in the service sector have become significant players, in terms of both economic growth and employment. In the industrialized countries the employment has risen, but the patterns of employment are changing. The employers have re-organized workers into fixed and variable categories, while the fixed workers are career-oriented, the variable have little career progression and low access to education and training. These trends show that labour markets are becoming ruthless in their treatment of un-skilled workers and these low skilled workers stand at an edge. As a result working poor have grown in number and those working are underpaid and forced to work in miserable working conditions. The speed of change in the knowledge economy depreciates much more quickly compared to the past. In order to compete effectively in this changing environment, organisation need to   upgrade their workers skills continuously. This rapid change in the knowledge economy is so swift that firms can no longer rely longer rely on fresh graduates. In order to meet such need, lifelong learning and training is crucial to enable workers to compete in the global economy. Formal education and training includes programs which are recognized by the    Universities and institutes and lead to approved certificates and degrees.   Non-formal education and training includes programs, which are not formally recognized by the national system, such as apprenticeship training programs and structured on-the-job training.   Informal education and training includes unstructured learning, which can take place almost anywhere, home, community   or workplace.   It includes unstructured on-the-job training, the most common form of workplace learning. This improvement in people’s ability will allow them to be not only useful for their organisation, but it will also enable them to function as a useful members of their communities.   In a modern economy, the production of goods and services still relies on workers despite machine revolution. The need is to develop learning and training strategies, which allow these workers to learn new skills for new working conditions. It is crucial for the organisation to prepare workers for this new environment, which requires a new mode of education and training ­. This lifelong learning framework encompasses learning throughout the life cycle, from early childhood to retirement. It includes formal, non-formal, and informal education and training. In traditional industries most jobs require employees to learn how to perform routine functions, which, for the most part, remain constant over time and most learning used to take place when a worker started a new job. In the knowledge economy, change is so rapid that workers constantly need to acquire new skills. Firms need workers who are willing and able to update their skills throughout their lifetimes. Enterprises and organisation need to respond to these needs by creating education and training systems that equip people with the appropriate skills. The new millennium main challenge is to be employable and contribute to the economic growth in the global economy. This novel approach has set new rules for education, training and strategies in the organisations. The reason is that training not only advances interests of the individuals and enterprises, but it also augments the economic development of the nations. These new skills formation leads to equity in employment and society at large and allow the enterprise to reap the fruit of this human resources development. Performance Management According to Bacal (2004) â€Å"performance management is about creating relationships and ensuring effective communication and focusing on what organizations, managers, and employees need to succeed.† It is a   strategic approach to manage the business and improve organisational effectiveness with existing capabilities. Performance management provides development specialists with an opportunity to be   innovative in influencing corporate strategy and contribute to the results. The goal of performance management is to ensure that the organization departments, teams, and employees are working in an optimum fashion to achieve the organization objective. At the end of twentieth century new performance management systems were born and cannibalizing the old systems, due to the presence of the technological expansions. Management in the twenty-first century faces the challenge of creating and re-creating effective performance systems and requires a unique understanding of this process. Performance management process is about professionalism and continuous learning and development. The overall goal of performance management is to ensure that the organization and all its subsystems departments, teams, employees are working together in an optimum fashion to achieve the results desired by the organization. According to Bacal (2004), performance management is based on the following beliefs. Optimism: Performance management is based on the belief that improvement is possible, and that the human and organizational conditions can be improved. Performance management is the view of the possibility that performance improvement is always there and change is possible as long as people are willing. A Pragmatic View: Performance management is keeping the optimistic view, but it does have realistic view of improvement, understanding the possibilities for improvement and recognizing the  Ã‚   barriers to success. Performance management addresses various threats in the system and try to solve it, rather than kill it A Balanced Approach: It is natural to resist change in any organisation as change means changing habits. Performance management design strategies, which are part of organizational decision-making processes to build greater support for the change. It capitalizes on the opportunity for further improvement and success. Leadership. Performance management is built on the ethical knowledge. The true leaders determine promote best practices in their organisation to further the success. Such practices require courage to bring change, yet adhering to professional ethics ensuring that the change is consistent with legal requirements. Performance management is meant to establish a shared understanding about what is to be achieved and how it is to be achieved for an organization. To improve performance, individuals need to have a common understanding about what performance (and success) in their jobs looks like. It can be a list of tasks, objectives, or results or it can also be a set of behaviors or both. These goals need to be defined clearly with the jobholder so that people know what they are working toward? And what is expected from them to increase the probability of success (Lance, 1999).   A continuous management process delivers clarity, support, feedback, and recognition to all staff. Performance Management Process Performance management process is a communication process between an employee and his or her immediate supervisor with established expectation and understanding. This process is not meant to threaten or intimidate employees into neither being more productive nor does it mean to attack the personality of the employees, but it is a broad set of tools used to optimize the success of each employee for the larger interest of the organisation. The smooth functioning of performance management depends on the developmental activity and management control. A developmental push is essential to motivate workers and let them concentrate on work and commitment towards their respective organisation. Performance Management process is meant to measure the employee performance. It involves the following steps (Handbook for the Core Performance Management, 2005). Performance planning The workers performance is recognized through employee performance plans. They are clearly told, what are the expectations? And what are the set standards. Thus it is essential to develop such standards, which are realistic and attainable. Individual at the level of induction stage clearly need understand their role in the organisation. Employee/Team Performance In many organizations, employees work together to achieve the organizational objectives. The difference between group performance and an individuals contribution is that, the group performance is measured aggregately, while an employees performance is measured individually. Monitoring performance After the assignment of job the progress of the workers are monitored by the manager/supervisor, to check how much they are really working. Employee development Mentoring is essential process of employee development, the example can be set either by showing a high performer or by leader/manager, which helps the employee to overcome the difficulties. A frank discussion is essential to focus on employee areas of excellence, identifying the barriers to performance. Multiple Source of Feed back It is a process, which provides employees with performance information to enhance managerial feedback. It includes comments from various sources, such as collogues, supervisor report and direct reports as well. Figure: 1.1 Performance Management Process Source: Handbook for the core performance management, 2005 Evaluating Evaluation is a two-way discussion in the form of written documentation to concentrate on employee areas of excellence, and identify the areas for improvement and further development needs. Stupak and Leitner (2001) warns that performance management measurement should not be punitive, but should be positive and should help the organisation, what the work do and what they should not and continue for organisation improvement. It should not be as a tool to punish the guilty, but emphasis should be on finding the right direction for the organisation. Linkage of Learning and Development and Performance Management The learning and development and performance management have been discussed separately earlier. Recent studies have shown, these processes are interrelated and are linked (Harrison, 2005). For example, in small firms, resources are stretched and workers have to switch roles, it becomes crucial to train and develop these workers, as they often have switch tasks. Following are the essential points in case of training in the small firm scenario: A well-focused induction program. Basic training in firm unique systems. A probation period to evaluate the performance. Post confirmation development for further development. Badger (2001) has mentioned that in a situation where products and processes can be easily imitated, the only source of competitive advantage is to stimulate employee to learn.   Organizations always seek to reduce cost increase efficiency and productivity. Today’s enterprises have started to evaluate learning and training programs to achieve higher performance from their workers, as they understand that learning and performance management are interrelated and inevitable to achieve competitive advantage. This competitive advantage can be achieved through the development of human resources by deploying a strategy to support its workers and enhance the organizational performance. The performance management process can positively develop the workforce self-esteem and keep them motivated, thereby giving them job satisfaction, to let them focus on the job. However its not mere training which can bring result, employee participation in decision making is essential as noticed by Peon and Ordas (2005), that organizations need to provide individuals with enough incentives and allow them to participate in the decision-making process to achieve higher performance. The ability of nations and organizations to enhance the standard of living of the growing population depends on sustained increase in the productivity of the systems. In the inter-dependent global economy, productivity is essential to maintain economic advantage for individuals and societies. People and institutions are inter-connected, and today countries have mutual interests in the game of higher productivity of other nations. A nation may gain short-term advantage from a lesser productive contributor, but in the long term lower productivity is a bad omen for all the nations. Conclusion According to Business Intelligence Board (2005), enterprises need to formally link learning and performance management process to measure the employee performance, as this can explain, weather learning has really resulted in higher performance. This link between learning and performance management is clear and the ultimate objective of learning management is to have an educated workforce, which can sustain the competitive advantage in the cutthroat corporate world. Learning and development are essentially related to performance management process, same as performance management process is not complete unless it embrace learning and development  Ã‚   to fill the skill gaps identified in the workers. Various amounts of efforts have been done to linkage learning with performance, Thomson and Mabey  (2001) mentions, many organisations failed to have higher performance from their workers, despite enormous amount of training. It has not yet yielded enough clear evidence of a direct link between learning and performance management. However, learning and development activity does consistently emerge as a crucial intervening factor. LD alone is not enough-it has to be an integral part of a cluster of appropriate HR strategies. Reference Thomson.A and Mabey.C, Changing Patterns of Management Development, Blackwell Publishing. Marchington, M. and A. Wilkinson (2005), Human Resource Management at Work, London, CIPD   Stupak.J and   Leitner.P (2001), Handbook of Public Quality Management, Marcel Dekker Publications Harrison R (2005), Learning and Development, 4th edition, London. Workplace Learning, Culture and Performance, London, IFTDO. Badger,B (2001),Organizational Learning: An Empirical Assessment of Process in Small U.K. Manufacturing Firms, Journal of Small Business Management, Vol. 39. Drucker.P (1993), The Practice of Management Quorum Books Business Intelligence Board, www.businessintelligence.com (2005) . Wilson, John.P (2005), Human Resource Development: Learning and Training for Individuals and Organizations, Kogan Page Limited. Rothwell.J (2003), What CEOs Expect from Corporate Training: Building Workplace Learning and Performance Initiatives That Advance Organizational Goals, Saranac Lake, NY, USA. Mumford.M (1995), Intercultural Sourcebook: Cross-cultural Training Methods, Intercultural Press Inc. Beckett.D (2001) Life, Work, and Learning: Practice and Postmodernity. Florence, KY, USA.   Trask.L (1996), Building New Skills for the Knowledge Economy,   Business Communications Review, Vol. 26.   Lance.Berger (1999), Compensation Handbook, McGraw-Hill Professional Book Group, USA. Glossary of Training Terms (2005) http://forum.bodybuilding.com/ Bacal.R (2004), How to Manage Performance. McGraw-Hill Companies, USA. McGoldrickand.J (2001),Understanding Human Resource Development: Philosophy Processes Practice, Routledge Publisher. Peon.J and Ordas (2005), The Learning Organization,   International Journal World Bank Staff (2003), Lifelong Learning in the Global Knowledge Economy: Challenges for Developing Countries, World Bank Publications.    James D. Wolfensohn (1999), World Bank Publications Gupta, Jatinder (2003), Creating Knowledge Based Organizations. Idea Group Publishing,USA. Handbook for the core performance management (2005) Ohio State University, USA.

A Sense Of Urgency And John P Kotter Philosophy Essay

A Sense Of Urgency And John P Kotter Philosophy Essay John  P.  Kotter  is the Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus, at Harvard Business School. Kotter is an eminent and renowned author in the field of writing books regarding change in the organizations. John Kotter is internationally and extremely regarded as the speaker and a critical thinker on the topic of change and leadership. Kotter is also famous for his authentic opinions for bringing about change and has a distinguished place as an international business consultant. His latest book A Sense of Urgency in which he talked about eight steps to overcome and embrace change is a sequel of his previous work, Leading Change and Our Iceberg Is Melting The first step of the eight is a sense of urgency which is poorly handled by the most organization and consequently becomes the reason of organizational decline, so Kotter presents and suggests the gruesome guidelines to the organizations that how they would actually transform successfully. Kotters wide experience an d knowledge on affluent change have been proven time and again. The title of the book A Sense of Urgency is very appropriate with its subject matter. He discusses in his book the first step in bringing change in the organizations in detail. He identifies the single and enormous factor to a successful change, which also is regarded his number-one principle: creating a true sense of urgency. SUMMARY John Kotter in his book A Sense of Urgency tries to answer the most frequently asked question, What is the single biggest error people make when they try to change? In the course of his research and asking different managers about their experience, he landed on the finale, that at the groundwork of any effort to change you have to start with a sense of urgency. This can sometimes be mistaken for a false sense of urgency. Everyone looks like they are actively achieving the companys goal but really they are aggravated and forced. This can make it hard to keep your focus on the companys main objective. In this book, A Sense of Urgency the distinction between true urgency and false urgency will be discussed. To maintain urgency up, over a large period of time, urgency has to be re-created over and over again. Urgency basically always leads to triumph, which then leads to satisfaction. This satisfaction is for the most part obvious, after a company encounters a large grow and the captivating frame of mind is conspicuous. A triumph allows people to feel that the urgency is over and they become complacent with their work. But when a triumph has been made rejoice, it is hard to be provoked daily without ever feeling like you accomplished anything. Kotter stresses upon the fact of complacency in the organizations. In the beginning he somewhat accepts the reality that this complacency is actually a root cause of the downfall of any organization. As per his point of view, in this fast moving world everything is changing quickly and the people who do not want to cope with it, would soon tumble down. They have no perspectives of their own. Their sluggish behavior will soon hazardous for not only to them but their surroundings too. They always think that they are perfect and challenges are only being faced by others. It does not prove that the writer wants to implement a sudden change which would only occur in such a way that people make presentation on power point and lot of meetings being arranged and in the end no solution would be made. Kotter is not in the favor of false urgency. It usually brings frantic results which destructs the action of true urgency. The writer believes in a positive approach in life. He approves the time of all is well or everything is a mess has gone and the behavior to move forward and win is required. Political and social environment keeps on changing and what a single person can do is, to move ahead without having any repercussion of his past failures. Kotter presents different tactics by narrating anecdotal stories and detailed tool to make the book more pragmatic and useful. His tactics are: 1. Identification of the lack of right urgency. 2. Face the reality of change. 3. Patience in the crises. 4. being steadfast to overcome the ordeals in the way of change. Kotter deals with many problems and misunderstandings surrounding to the concept of urgency. In his opinion urgency itself is very necessary part to all businesses, not just who initiates to bring about change. Employees become oblivious to change possibilities, whether good or bad. He describes that every move towards urgency is not usually beneficial but only true urgency is productive in such cases. He uses times and again, a word right sense of urgency in his book. To maintain the right sense of urgency is a real job, not only to apply it and leave it without any endorsement. He promotes to work smartly not hastily; and the sense of profit and loss at the right time, because if the right decision is not taken at the right time, there is no use of such right decision. A real sense of urgency should amazingly be encouraging and spongy and does not mean to close the eyes when the trouble comes. It should be a stimulant which makes you ready to confront the projects and predicaments that would normally consume their work schedule. Only try to get away with complacency by saying, what we are doing is not longer what we will need in the future. Kotter refused to adopt the habit of complacency because in doing so organization becomes self centered and do not allow outer components of the business and this results in the downfall of the organization. Instead of suppressing the complacency, often a rapid and quick sense of urgency is seen which is also not in favor of organizational health. He further explains that whenever change occurs in any organization there is always a first group who do not accept crises pleasantly rather they are much concerned about the consequences of the change. On the other hand there is a second group whose attitude is rather supportive and encouraging to the management. They seem to avail every opportunity from the crises and try to reinvent the organization by making necessary changes in it. The idea of working well in the past hinders to bring about change. Urgency in this situation should be recreated over and over again. So to speak the truth, not only the employees of the organization but owners themselves are subject to the destruction of their businesses. The owners are sometimes obsessed with their continuous success and forget to see the new prospects. Consequently, it brings about catastrophic deterioration in the business from inside in the end. At this point Kotter seems confident enough to plead his case when he asserts on the managers and the employees to foresee the outcome beforehand. External aspects in the process of change are as important as internal issues, because management usually ignores the role of external pressure upon the internal environment of the organization. It is observed that whenever these external intrusions are not handled correctly the budget schedule of the organization get affected badly. So the act of complacency and false urgency are contradiction in terms of true urgency ANALYSIS Like any other book this book has both its strengths and weaknesses and each are intertwined with the other. In other words some of the books greatest strength can also be considered its greatest weakness. STRENGTHS The great organization of the book is flawless. The writing style is easy. He uses a very simple language which can be understood easily. He presents very significant issues to bring about change in an organization. The title page is extremely meaningful and appropriate to the subject matter. He spots the light over three main key issues to consider during organizational change initiatives i.e. urgency, complacency and false sense of urgency and describes them in detail. Kotter is a strong advocate of bringing change in an organizational culture because without being change, progress in this world is not feasible. He suggests that leaders should win the hearts and minds of their staff. To employ the right amount of urgency, one must presents a rational case for change as part of an overall approach to engage the hearts and emotions of the people within the organizations. Kotter seems to play with the words, for instance, the use of false urgency in the contrast of right urgency has made his work comprehensible, that even an ordinary reader can differentiate the distinction between the two. This book has made different managers able to know that urgency is that big of a problem in business who always thought of urgency in the sense of an emergency, not anything to do with business. This book really opened their eyes up to the notion of urgency in many ways. The people who strive to be the manager, that not only listens to their employees when they have suggestions, but actually takes them into consideration for further growth. All while paying close attention to the real anxieties and frustrations they have when rules and system just do not work for every position. Also, they will try to be that person that evokes a true sense of urgency everyday so that everyone around them feels that they have to spend their day getting as much productive work done as they possibly can. Each sub tactic contains a focused page and a half discussion of what they are and how leaders can implement the idea. This detail and its presentation is what really distinguishes the book and brings something new to discuss. Complacency is the crucial word he has used through and through in his book which means, A feeling of contentment and satisfaction, especially when coupled with an awareness of danger and trouble. It is not just a thought but a feeling. This feeling can bring catastrophic downfall in ones constant successful future. This feeling makes them lazy and lethargic and when they come to know about their decline, they hastily adopt the behavior of false urgency which is directly opposite to complacency, it turns over into arrogance. Consequently some radical steps should be taken. Kotter here tries to persuade his readers the significance of good communicative relationship between employer and employee. He thinks that a leader should play a role of a bridge between him and his workers. Meaningful communication with the employees and a critical feedback from the customers and their personal opinions should be welcomed WEAKNESSES The books main weak point is that it is not detailed in their examples. There are discussions of nondescript companies that reduce rather than support the messages. Most of the case stories do not have a conclusion the results companies were able to achieve. This makes the examples more fables that case studies. Initially the book does not distinguish that there are other approaches to change management and urgency. This discourages the reader the ability to place A Sense of Urgency in the background of the broader literature. This book does not recommend or provide any idea to its reader to enhance his knowledge regarding change. Secondly, there are less pragmatic solutions to be implemented in the organization for the desired change. Another aspect of the book that may fall prey to criticism in the area of tangible examples is once again modified to be used by the community of corporate organization and for businesses and not by other groups. Kotter provides various relevant tactics that can be broadly applied in the business organizations not in other educational institutes. Finally, there are some unexpected gaps in the book that by themselves do not weaken the book, but in total they certainly take away from its power. First the book does not recognize that there are other approaches to change management and urgency. This denies the reader the ability to put A Sense of Urgency in the context of the broader literature. This is really unfortunate as this book should replace some ideas and enhance others Kotter leaves that up to the reader rather than providing a recommendation. Second, the book has no index, which not only makes it tougher to use after the fact, but also is a silly omission. CONCLUSION This book is well worth reading if one has an interest in organizational change. This book would definitely motivate the team members of any organization and will instill a sense of urgency into their work to a certain degree. It is an easy read and full of helpful information. It is an excellent primer for anyone interested in learning how to encourage the proper sense of urgency by winning over the hearts and minds of their organization. With several tactical leadership approaches existing, leaders can properly create change and help their group feel at ease throughout their transform. By creating and maintaining a sense of urgency, communicating a clear path toward success, and integrating new patterns into the workers daily lives, leaders can efficiently bring about positive change. With the current economical crisis forcing firms and companies to either go down or up, the only way for these organizations to succeed is for leaders to hold change and become accustomed accordingly. People need to see leaders dealing with change so they can have someone to identify with. The book is especially relevant in the current recession. Now is the time to read the book and take action immediately while people still have a crisis that is disrupting the status quo. As an information-development organization, you may feel true urgency to improve the usability of you information or you may want to increase the efficiency of your operation to make you companys products more competitive. Be careful of complacently looking inward. The task is not to produce works of art but to support the companys products. Too often, writer become more interested in the technicalities of writing rather than focusing on customer needs so these are tools, not vain rights. More than ever, one must improve their good organization. Improvements that will be arranged now will be invaluable when the company is back to full steam ahead after the recession ends.

Jilting Of Granny Weatherall Essay -- essays research papers

The Jilting of Granny Weatherall In Katherine Ann Porter’s "The Jilting of Granny Weatherall," there are two prevalant themes. The first is self-pity. The second theme is the acceptance of her immenent demise. Both deal with the way people perceive their deaths and mortality in general. Granny Weatherall’s behavior is Porter’s tool for making these themes visible to the reader. The theme of self-pity is obvious and throughly explored early on. As a young lady, Granny Weatherall left at the alter on her wedding day . As a result, the pathetic woman feels sorry for herself for the rest of her life. She becomes a bitter old woman who is suspicious of everyone around her. This point is shown early in the story when the doctor is speaking to Cornelia in the hallway outside of Granny’s room. Granny exclaims "First off, go away and don’t whisper!" (p.1487) Granny was apparently under the impression that the two of them were speaking ill of her behind her back. Thoughts like these resulted from the trauma she suffered when the man she loved failed to show up on their wedding day. Granny Weatherall’s self-pity gives the reader a negative initial impression of a woman the author eventually expects us to miss. The ailing octogenarian is so incredibly annoying at the beginning of the story that one almost welcomes the idea of her passing. The second theme is the acceptance of immenint death. At first, Granny Weatherall could not accept the fact that ...

Reflective Practicee Essay

It is important to receive feedback on my practice as much as possible to ensure I am improving and developing within the role. I feel it is important to get feedback from the following people: Teacher: I try my up most to talk to the teacher after the lesson to discuss the progress of pupils whom I’ve been working with. There are times when I have expressed a concern on the seating arrangement within the classroom and other behavioural matters that I have felt need to be addressed, the teacher has often given further direction in where they want me to support in the room. I’m always really keen to receive feedback from the teacher about how they felt I worked with the pupils, how I could improve my role within the lesson, sometimes I have been encouraged to work with groups of pupils, therefore I have gone away and looked into different ways of delivering certain tasks and how certain pupils work better together. I’m not always given the learning objective ahead, which I feel is really important to receive so I am prepared and feeling confident to discuss the topic amongst the pupils, therefore I often try to discuss the next lesson with the teacher in advance to ensure I have an overview. Line Manager: I have been lucky to have been observed within lessons by my line manager to receive direct feedback on how I can improve my practice within my role. I have received some constructive feedback and some very encouraging positive praise. I have asked about several training courses to develop my understanding in certain areas and started some of my own independent reading in behaviour. My line manager is always very open and approachable; she has given me ideas for specific year groups which have really helped within lessons. I am always asking to be involved in any extracurricular clubs and keen to learn from others whilst at work. What is meant be reflective practice? Reflective practice means when we think about what we are doing, how we are doing it and whether we could change or improve it. A time to reflect on our own development, evaluate our strengths and weaknesses and look into opportunities, ideas to encourage further development and gain confidence in our profession. What is meant by National Occupational standards? These are National standards that are based on the roles and responsibilities of support staff in schools. Together with the guidance, they enable staff to manage the different stages of support staff recruitment, development and progression more effectively. Functions and requirements of your role Give one example for each of the following areas of the job role, of how personal reflection has impacted on your own practice. Supporting learning: I have worked with a small group within year 8, the lesson has a mixed of abilities, I aim to get round each pupil to ensure there is an understanding on the task set. On reflection I felt their wasn’t enough time given to each child throughout the lesson, it was with this feeling I spoke to the teacher and suggested groups of four at a table, so they would be able to discuss the exercise as a group and then work independently. This would allow both the teacher and I to talk to the groups at one time and encourage involvement from all throughout the lesson rather than going round individually. This has worked really well, each table works really well together and in reflection to the previous set up it has also developed the pupils social and communication skills. Promoting positive behaviour In a year 9 lesson I have been supporting a student with his numeracy; the student is often distracted by other things going on in the classroom and struggles to focus. I felt I was continuously calling him to sit down or to stop talking. In reflection to this reoccurring I decided to challenge him in completing the task under a time limit, I bought in a stop watch and also did the task beside him to see who could complete it first. His reaction was incredible; he completed all the work and expressed a really positive reaction to these small challenges. In response to this I asked the teacher if I could make a note in his planner to record how well he had done, in addition to this note I made sure I gave the pupil lots of positive praise, he responded to these comments really well and have since continued the small timed challenges. Developing Positive relationships Recently a year 7 pupil had left their previous school due to bullying; this was one of the first things she said to me on working with her in a lesson. I noticed she had a lack of confidence in talking to people, firstly being new to the school and secondly probably anxious from her previous school experience. In reflection to this at the end of the lesson I ensured the teacher was aware and suggested pairing her up with another pupil. In response to this each week we did ‘turning tables’ so the person sat on the right would move one space back each week, so the pupils would always be sat with someone different. I also encouraged this pupil alongside others to attend a new after school sports club I have started running. The new student showed up for the club and has been attending since, she has made some great new friends and familiar with other year groups which has in turn increased her confidence and enjoyment at school. Contribute to planning assessment and feedback Every morning I spend 15mins with a year 9 pupil who has cerebral palsy. I have worked with his phyiso and parents to assess his needs and put together an exercise plan that I assist him with each day. I have a record sheet of what we do each day and how he did with each exercise, I regularly liaise with the physio on how he is getting on, sometimes the physio will give me additional exercises to include. There have been occasions where the pupil hasn’t felt like doing it. In response to it I sometimes give him the opportunity to challenge himself to walking to different areas within the school, he reacts really well to praise and involvements which is something I include in the feedback I give to his family and physio. I also keep my line manager up to date with the pupils development to ensure other assistants are aware of his level of independence in movement so it can be encouraged within lesson too. Communication Communication is a major asset in my role at school, I am continuously talking to teachers, IT support, external companies and parents. I have recently been reflecting a lot on my communication around the children out of lesson. I have a lunchtime duty on our playing fields. I have often found myself standing there with another member of staff, listening to one another’s ideas on what works with certain year groups, however in reflection this should be happening in a dedicated time not whilst I have a responsibility as lunchtime. Therefore I have started to make a bigger effort in communicating with the children, encouraging positive behaviour and social skills. Key skills There are various key skills that I feel I could improve in, sometimes in a lesson I am lacking equipment due to handing it out regularly. Therefor I feel I need to encourage organisation for the pupils to ensure they bring their own equipment. I often reflect on my time keeping, I feel there is a big rush between and end of a lesson and getting to my lunchtime duty before the students. Therefore this may be something I discuss with my line manager about leaving a couple of minutes earlier before lunchtime. I am always reflecting on my job role description to ensure I am fulfing all my responsibilities. 4. Identify possible development opportunities available to you. Remember to consider formal and informal opportunities. Give evidence from your own practice. I am often reflecting on my own development and always keen to progress in my own learning. I made the decision to take this course (Level 2 Supporting teaching and learning in Schools) to increase my knowledge in the position of a Teaching Assistant. I feel I have really benefited from this and it has inspired me to continue on to level 3. I have a strong interest in working with families therefore I may look into a course more directed to this. I have hired out books from our local library to read into behaviour and social skills, this is an area which I have been allocated to at school, which I am really pleased about but I would like to get a bigger understanding so I can plan activities and feel confident in delivering. I have recently been assisting a music intervention group with specific SEND students. This has been a great 6 week project; I have taken the time to write up a report each week of the activities set and the reactions of each pupil. I received some outstanding feedback from the company and have recently been asked to represent the project in an open evening for them. I would like to look into these small projects more to help the development of children’s learning through creative subjects In school, I feel that it is a great opportunity to be able to talk to other members of staff about techniques/ styles of delivery for specific year groups. Sometimes there are groups of students that I feel unfamiliar with, but since speaking to other members of staff, I feel prepared to enter the lesson with their experience in my mind. 5. Why is CPD important? It is important to keep up to date with professional development to ensure to u are confident and familiar with the constant changes within education. There are often developments within schools and it is our role to be ready to adapt to these changes and encourage pupils with these variations. Some courses that are available to assist our role open up areas of discussion that you may not get the time for within school. There are areas of my job description that I have strengths and weaknesses in, therefore CPD is important to develop my own skills, knowledge and experience in all fields. Starting a self-review 6. What aspects of your job/role satisfy you the most? The biggest satisfaction for me is the rewarding feeling you get from assisting the development of a student’s progress within a subject or to help improve their behaviour etc. I find my role very satisfying by promoting a positive amount of encouragement for the pupils to believe in themselves as individuals, to prepare them with life skills and gradually develop their self-esteem. I feel this is a huge stepping stone to building a successful future. I enjoy having a variety of responsibility within my role; I like working with different year groups and understanding the range of learning styles. I like to learn from others, I feel within the classroom environment there is so much to observe and learn. I love being part of a team but also to work independently and put forward my own ideas to develop the children’s learning. 7. What aspects of your job/role have not been successful as you anticipated? I sometimes feel there isn’t enough time to discuss things with teachers before or after a lesson. I feel this is an important link to feedback on the pupils learning. I would like to focus on this area and seeing if I can build a stronger relationship with the teachers to ensure I get the chance to evaluate after the lesson I am supporting in and to gain a stronger understanding beforehand to ensure I am ready to assist pupils with confidence in the subject. I’ve also been a little disappointed that I haven’t received an official appraisal since I started my role. I have had opportunities to talk to my line manager about various things, but there has never been an allocated time to give me the change to discuss my development which is equally as important to me. 8. Are there any areas of you work you would like to improve? (2.3b) In reflection of my work so far I am really pleased with my development but always feel I could improve. Firstly I feel that I would benefit from a deeper knowledge in some subjects. For example I am frequently in a Spanish lesson, however I never had the option at school to study this language therefore my Spanish skills are minimal! I would like to look into learning Spanish to help my involvement within lessons. I am keen to re take my core subjects or study at a basic level to refresh my understanding of these subjects; it’s been surprising how much I’ve forgotten. I would also like to dedicate more time into talking to the subject teacher before the lesson to feel confident with the learning objective. At the end of the lesson I would also like to feedback on the pupils participation and understanding of the lesson and discuss how to go forward with any areas of concern. Sometimes I feel it is difficult to keep up with each lesson as my timetable frequently changes and therefore I have limited time to gather information of lessons that I am going to last minute. As a result of the above I would like to improve in planning and organisation to help me progress with other staff and add to the success of the school at every angle. 9. Describe the main aspects of appraisal (2.5/2.6) – An appraisal includes a self-assessment before the meeting with your line manager, this is normally a questionnaire that you rate it on a scale of 1- 10 to analyse how strong you think you are in each section, then as a result these point are discussed in a face to face setting with the line manager. It is allocated time to discuss the progress of you work within the school and personal strengths and weaknesses. This is also an opportunity to discuss the prospect of professional development, short and long term goals. An appraisal is professional organised meeting to agree on actions for going forward in areas that could be improved. 10. What should a school consider when agreeing development plans? In agreeing a development plan, a school needs to consider the amount of funding available for their staff development. The school need to consider the cost of equipment, training and resources, which will support staff to develop and carry out their role to their full potential. As a result of development plans moving forward with staff, there may need to be an agreement in that the staff will need to have their job role updated to reflect their responsibilities. If it was agreed that I was going to attend an external training programme during school hours, this would need to be considered in how the school can cover this absence. In turn the agreement would be looking at how my development could benefit the school in helping in other areas and using the skills learnt within school going forward. 11. When setting and agreeing targets, what is meant by SMART? S – Specific – Making sure that your target states exactly what is needed. M- Measurable – To make sure that you can measure whether the target has been reached A – Achievable – The target needs to be accessible and not too hard to achieve. R- Realistic – It is important to make sure the relevant resources and equipment are available to reach the target set T- Time Bound – There should always be a time set for reaching the target. This is to prevent putting it off to a later date 12. Identify ways in which your own knowledge, understanding and skills in literacy, numeracy and ICT impact on practice. There are times within a lesson where students will ask me to read out a question or to explain a question they don’t understand, it is important that I have the confidence to read it out and deliver an answer accurately. A lot of lessons involve using computers to write up work on or to use specific programmes linked to the subject. I am often asked by the pupils for help in saving their work, spellings and understanding of certain programmes. Fortunately I have worked with computers in previous work therefore I am at a level where I can encourage their ICT knowledge which will be helpful for them in the future. During maths lessons, students are not always allowed to use a calculator and therefore they need to practice other methods. I have learnt several teaching methods from being in these maths lessons to pass on to other year groups, but I am still refreshing my own mind with numeracy. Sometimes it’s a positive that I don’t know the answer as I get the teacher to go through it with me and the pupil to highlight that they are not alone in not knowing it and it makes the teacher aware that pupils require further information on certain tasks. What opportunities are available to you to improve own knowledge, understanding and skills in literacy, numeracy and ICT (unit 210-6.2) Sometimes during inset days our department runs workshops that cover the core subjects to update us with the syllabus of work that the children will be aiming for. The levels are constantly changing and each student is aiming for specific target grades. Therefore we receive a copy of the levels to understand what level the students are at. I have recently asked for a username to the maths programme the pupils use within school and for set homework – this cover all areas of numeracy and is a great resource to keep on top of the work. 14. – Table = To be completed? Understand the work of the team 15. Why is team work important in schools? It is important to support others within school because as a result of developing good working relationships it makes our role more effective. Team work allows us to share and discuss your own ideas and listen to others. It’s an opportunity to develop in all areas listening to others strengths and suggestions that could strengthen the team as a whole not just individually. Team work is also important in that within school it is important that the staffs are using the same guidelines and rules to ensure that the children are receiving the same response from all staff. Offering advice to the pupils should be the same as the next member of staff asked. Team work in schools is so important to keep the pupils feeling safe and confident in their learning environment. Positive working relationships will be witnessed by the pupils and therefore encourage them to mirror this within their lessons. What is the purpose and objective of the team in which you work? Our objective is to identify the needs of students and works to the best of our ability to support them. Our team is in place to support individual students, groups of pupils and general support within class groups. Our team is in place to offer social, emotional, intellectual, physical support to every pupil. Some pupils have individual programmes and difficulties that require one to one support, however everyone is treated equally. Our purpose is to encourage the development of each pupil throughout this stage of their life within secondary school and to motivate them for a positive future. What is your role and responsibilities and those of others in the team? My role and for others in my team includes a variety of duties and responsibilities within the school. On a daily basis we are to ensure we are aware of the needs of the children we are directly supporting and other pupils within a lesson, break and lunchtimes within school. During a lesson we need to be confident in supporting the teacher with each task set and encourage good behaviour and positive learning within the room. It is my responsibility to keep the students on track with their work and not to complete it for them. It is important at the beginning of the lesson to ensure the children have their equipment, books and planners out on the desk and bags under the table to be ready for the teacher to deliver the lesson. It our responsibility as a team to support the teacher in each exercise set for the pupils, liaising throughout the lesson with the progress or concernswithin the class. I also ensure I speak with the teacher about rewarding the students if they have responded well in completing the task or improved a skill that they have been struggling with. During break and lunch times each person within our team has an allocated area to supervise. We are responsible for ensuring that the pupils are behaving and engaging positively with others. If there is a problem within a break time we are linked up to the rest of our team and a support team to have immediate support in a situation. I am responsible for supporting individual programmes of physical stretching exercises which are in place by the statutory statement of Educational Need and consultation with parents and the physiotherapy team. I have a responsibility to complete an evaluation form each day which is a written up overview to record the support given in each lesson. I continuously liaise with the team and my management to ensure I am moving forward and progressing with the school in the right directio n. Why is it important to respect the skills and expertise of other practitioners? It is important to respect the skills and expertise of other staff as different staff bring different skills to the team. I would always seek advice from others when needed in order that the students are getting the best that the school can offer them. This can also help me develop in my role. Other people may have different skills, training and experience thatmay be able to help me on matters I am unsure about

Intensive Care by Echo Heron essays

Intensive Care by Echo Heron essays In this book Echo Heron offers an authentic and humorous look into the inner workings of a hospital and its staff. Some of the unbelievable stories she describes give her readers a sense of how exciting, strange and varied the field of medicine can be. Herons real life account of her experiences as a nurse helped me to understand how vital nurses are to our healthcare system. It showed me that nurses are the ones that spend the most one-on-one contact with patients that can be frustrated and rebellious but also grateful and kind. Nurses have to deal with angry and sometimes inconsolable families, and stubborn power-hungry physicians and hospital administration. Heron gave me a heartfelt truthful insight on the field of nursing and healthcare. The descriptions of her co-workers, physicians and other hospital staff gave me a view into the future when I become a doctor in that position. Although I do not plan on becoming a nurse, Herons book has opened my eyes to the ever-changing world that nurses work in. Personally, this book helped me to understand that nurses are very hard working and dedicated people. As a future doctor I hope that this book gives me a realistic way to base reactions and feelings towards nurses accurately. This book unveils many of the preconceptions that the general public has about nurses and their validity as medical professionals. Although I did not share many of those preconceptions I still learned a great deal of the pressure, stress, hard work, and dedication that these nurses have. I have a new found respect for nurses and the heart they put into their work. ...

Elephants essays

Elephants essays This paper is on design and ancestry of elephants. The elephant was created on the fifth day of creation and since then has been able to exist in every one of earths vegetation and climate zones (Groning, 1999). The taming of the elephant was first achieved in the valley of the Indus River, where around 3500 BC the first highly advanced Oriental civilization began to emerge. There is much uncertainty however on whether the first to tame the elephant were settled farmers or forest hunting people (Groning, 1999). At this time these enormous creatures were considered as sacred beings and mystical symbols by many natural religions and cults. The elephant was tamed and trained but never domesticated and even in captivity remained a wild animal (Groning, 1999). The oldest depiction of tame elephants are small seals found during excavations in the Indus River Valley and what today is Pakistan. The seals were found in the ruined city of Mohenjo-Daro and were usually found carved in soft steatite. Evidence that they were tame is found in that they were often drawn by feeding troughs or carrying saddle-blankets (Groning, 1999). The elephant was a well-known creature in the kingdom of the pharaohs, however it was not included in mythology or in every day life. The great pharaoh Thutmose III of 1400 BC hunted the elephant for its ivory. It was later found on an ancient Egyptian hieroglyph that there was a symbol of an elephant named Abu, which was found to be the explanation of the elephants tusk. The Romans derived the word ebur from this, and from the Latin we have the French word ivoire and the English word ivory (Groning, 1999). Elephants probably lived in the forests by the Yellow River during the Bronze Age and seem to have been tamed and used as a work animal during the Shang dynasty. The figure of elephants appears in many relief decorations on early ritual bronzes and also ...

4 Email Newsletter Examples and How to Effectively Emulate Them

4 Email Newsletter Examples and How to Effectively Emulate Them Every business owner (or marketer) knows that email marketing is one of  the best marketing channels today when it comes to ROI (an average ROI of $38  for every $1 spent). Knowing this, you’ve probably already started your own email list and have worked to grow it. You know the best times to send an email, and have played around with different email marketing ideas  to effectively reach your subscribers. According to Jeff Bullas, not all emails are created the same. Top performing marketing departments have 2.5x more ROI  than the average. What makes those emails different from the average? It’s a mix of a few factors- such as engagement and personalization- that marketers put a lot of work into getting right. In 2015, increasing subscriber engagement  was the top initiative for marketers when it came to email marketing, while for 2017, personalization  was a top concern. Even if you are getting good results from your current email marketing campaigns, there are certainly things that you can try to do even better. Let’s take a look at some top email marketing examples to draw inspiration from. Tool Tip: Did you know integrates with leading email service providers, so you can manage entire marketing campaigns all on one calendar? See how you can get more organized. Table of Contents: Spotify Uber Buzzfeed Dominos Spotify As a business that is well-known for their success in reaching users with personalized content, you can learn a lot about email marketing from Spotify. Every year, Spotify creates an end-of-year playlist for each of their subscribers and sends an email informing them about it. The email contains user-specific data showing the their most-played songs, top artists/genres, the total time they've spent listening to music on the platform, as well as the days they are most active during the week. The email finishes off with a link to the playlist Spotify made for them. Needless to say, users love this end-of-year wrap up and demonstrate their giddiness by sharing their results with friends, online. Source: https://www.impactbnd.com/hs-fs/hubfs/spotify%202016%20email.png?t=1519345402521width=727height=5152name=spotify%202016%20email.png 4 Email Newsletter Examples and How to Effectively Emulate Them for Your Business by @shane_barker...What You Can Learn From Spotify: The power of personalized content. Something as basic as a personalized subject line can increase email opens by 26%. Furthermore, personalized emails can deliver 6x higher transaction rates  and 74% of marketers report that personalized emails increase engagement. 4 Ways Make Your Emails More Personalized With Spotify as your guide, here are some tips to create more personalized emails: Automate emails to take action after triggers. According to Campaign Monitor, automated customer journeys are about sending the right information at the right time. Doing so shows the customer that you are paying attention- a resource that is otherwise in short supply! By immediately taking action right after a customer interacts with your website, you are helping them to reconnect and remember you. Leverage dynamic content. Some email marketing software providers offer a dynamic content  feature, which allows you to determine which users get to see a specific block of content. Adidas did this during a campaign for their Originals series. Male subscribers were shown the menswear collection, and the women were shown the womenswear collection. By doing this, subscribers were exposed to products of the most relevance  to them. Source: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/assets/uploads/2016/02/Personalized-content-sections.gif Here's another version for women: Source: https://www.campaignmonitor.com/assets/uploads/2016/02/Personalized-content-sections.gif Integrate with other sources of data, such as your Facebook Insights data, CRM, or ecommerce platform. This allows you to create richer customer profiles that include things such as behavioral data and purchase history- not just demographics. Segment your email list. Personalization isn't just about delivering personalized content. It’s also about determining what content is most apt for a certain group (also known as targeting or segmentation). Targeted emails result in a 14.32% higher open rate  and 100% higher click rate than non-targeted emails. Marketers have noted that segmented campaigns have brought in 760% more revenue  than non-segmented campaigns. Segmented emails also increase customer retention, and lead to more engagement  and sales. Recommended Reading: The Best Way to Organize an Effective Email Marketing Strategy How to Segment Your List There are several ways to segment your email list; do what makes most sense for your business. For ecommerce shops, here are some ways to segment your email list: New customers Repeat customers Inactive customers (haven't purchased or interacted with the business in a long time) Product interest (by gender category or type of product frequently purchased) Demographics (gender, age, income) Website behavior. Research from Mailchimp shows that segmenting according to online behavior increased email clicks by almost 16% Lead magnet used to sign up What can you learn about #email #marketing from Spotify? Uber Uber often sends emails to alert subscribers of promotions, deals, and news. Whatever the message, their emails are always consistent with their minimalist branding. Part of Uber’s success lies in their strong brand consistency. For one, their emails are designed  simply. There aren't too many busy elements that will distract the reader from the email’s main goal. Having a lot of white space in an email campaign gives the reader a visual break and allows them to focus or zoom into where you want them to be paying attention. Uber’s content is straightforward for the people that skim emails, but they also have a longer version available for those that want to know more about what they're sharing. The short content complements a clear call-to-action  (CTA). Source: https://d3ukzap5f2wa8d.cloudfront.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/23074121/erica-guest-post.png Check out this email newsletter example from @uberWhat You Can Learn from Uber: Keep your email design simple and stay true to your branding. A simple design won’t distract from your CTA. Keep the CTA short and straightforward so that those that receive your emails will immediately take action. Recommended Reading: The Email Copywriting Process You Need to Get More Conversions 8 Ways to Optimize your CTA Use verbs or action-oriented text, and make sure it is interesting. Don't use boring, generic words like â€Å"submit†, â€Å"enter† or â€Å"click here†. Be specific  about the actions you want customers to take, such as â€Å"download the free ebook here!† versus just saying â€Å"download†. Make your CTA short. No one wants to read a long line of text. Campaign Monitor  says 2-3 words are good- try to keep it under 5 or 6. Ensure your CTA is seen. A simple and clean design will help highlight the CTA but you still have to ensure that it is seen. Make it large enough to get noticed but not too large that it would appear obnoxious. Try using a contrasting color to really make it pop. Use the first person. A study from Unbounce showed that changing the CTA from the second person to the first person resulted in a 90% increase  in click-through rate. Try changing â€Å"download your free guide† to â€Å"download my free guide†. Create a sense of urgency. Sales 101: People respond to scarcity and need to be told what to do next, so tell them to â€Å"get it now!†. Have at least two CTAs: one above the fold, and one at the bottom of the email. There will always be people that skim emails, so you want to be able to convert them, too. A/B test to determine which CTA practices work best for you. What can #email #marketers learn from Uber? Buzzfeed Buzzfeed is a company that strives to create content that people want to share. While they are best known for their kick-ass, quirky, and punchy content, their content scope is wide enough to also include some investigative journalism pieces. In an interview with Buzzfeed’s former director of newsletters, Dan Oshinsky, he shares that when he started out at Buzzfeed, it was difficult for readers to subscribe to Buzzfeed’s newsletter, and as a result, there weren’t many subscribers on their email list. To change that, they’ve worked hard to shine the spotlight on the value of opting in to their newsletters,   throughout their entire website. One of the ways they did this was by creating content specifically to promote newsletter signups, like the article, â€Å"19 cute ways the BuzzFeed Animals newsletter will ruin your day.† As a result, they’ve amassed over 1 million subscribers in a year. Although their strategy for getting  subscribers is commendable, what’s more commendable is how they've retained  their email subscribers. They do this through the use of interesting subject lines and preview text. This is important, as 69% of people report emails as spam  based on subject lines alone. Conversely, 35% of people decide to open emails based on subject lines alone. Source: https://dg0i88et9d9ko.cloudfront.net/sites/default/files/styles/inline_large/public/buzzfeed-email-example.png?itok=2BpFrWwX Check out this email newsletter example from @BuzzfeedThe aforementioned example involves a slightly weird subject line that will intrigue those who receive the email. Additionally, many of BuzzFeed’s emails are accompanied by interesting preview text related to the subject line. Sometimes, when they use questions as a subject line, these are followed up by answers. For direct commands, like in this next example, the preview text shows the next logical statement: Source: https://blog.hubspot.com/hs-fs/hub/53/file-363501538-png/Blog-Related_Images/buzzfeed_inbox.png?noresizet=1519429416527width=669name=buzzfeed_inbox.png What You Can Learn From Buzzfeed: Have short but interesting subject lines, since there are people that decide to open emails based on subject lines alone. You can follow this up with equally interesting or catchy preview text. Tool Tip: Test every subject line before you hit send with 's Email Subject Line Tester. 3 Ways to Improve Your Subject Lines Personalize them. As mentioned previously, a personalized subject line can increase email opens by 26%. Keep them short. 67% of all emails are opened on mobile devices. Although Mailchimp  found that there is no statistical link between email opens and subject line length, it is recommended that subject lines be 50 characters or less to make it easier for your recipients to read it on their mobile phones. Test subject lines. Many email service providers, such as Mailchimp and Campaign Monitor, provide easy access to A/B testing tools. Read ’s guide on how to write the best email subject lines  for more in-depth information on how to test your email subject lines. What can #email #marketers learn from Buzzfeed? Domino’s According to a Litmus survey, interactive emails are the top trend for email marketing in 2017. Interactive emails allow users to take action within an email that triggers an event within the same email. These interactions can surprise and delight the customers and can take the form of: Quizzes, polls, or surveys Dropdown or navigation within an email A photo gallery, carousel, or video Shopping carts Real-time news updates GIFs As for an example, Domino’s sent subscribers an interactive email to promote their new Italiano range. Making it more interactive made it more fun than just sending in a photo of all five pizzas. Additionally, it invited the users to engage with it. Source: https://www.impactbnd.com/hs-fs/hubfs/E8aFsMipSH.gif?t=1519518876495width=960name=E8aFsMipSH.gif Check out this email newsletter example from @dominosWhat You Can Learn From Domino’s: An interactive email is more fun than the standard fare and invites engagement from your recipients. Making an interactive email does not have to be complicated; you can start off with GIFs. Just make sure that whatever you do is tested across common email clients and is optimized for mobile! Recommended Reading: How to Make an Email Newsletter Your Customers Will Love 3 Ways to Increase Interactivity in Emails Incorporate surveys, polls and reviews. Some travel sites (like Expedia or Booking.com) will send a post-stay survey asking you how your room was. They’ll offer a few choices for you to rate the room, and when you click on the choice, they will ask more questions or direct you to an external website where you can fill out the survey. It’s better to capture survey results from within the email because once you start redirecting to another page, the customer may give up on responding. Combine rewards with your interactive content to motivate customers to open these emails. Send digital scratch,  peel, tear, or sliding cards connected to discounts or freebies. Companies like Zembula  can help you to incorporate interactive email content. This tactic encourages customers to engage with the email before they receive a discount. Include video. Video is expected to comprise 80% of all internet traffic by 2019. At the same time, people are tired of the clutter that too much content brings. Video, as when used in a website, also brings increased click-through rates and ROI when used in email. â€Å"The University of Minnesota has seen as much as a 40% increase in click-through rates  when they include a video in their email newsletters, and Wistia reports a staggering 55% increase!†, reports Colby Cavanaugh, SVP of Marketing for Emma.

Property Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Property - Essay Example ut of properties, such as the interlinking of rights and responsibilities, the dog-leg boundary at back, not much space for access to The Hollies at the back, lots of trees which are close to buildings, drains are running along rear elevation (wall) of building, the manhole covers are evident, and leaking water in approximate position of line of supply to the adjoining property. Although he is the sole owner of Ivy House, he did have a long-term girlfriend for fifteen (15) years, Miss Chandra, who lived with him in the said house. She gave up her council house tenancy at his request and put all her savings (including money inherited from her mother) into improving the Ivy House updating the standards and making it a valuable property. Mr. Crane has done or paid for basic maintenance ever since but did not introduce improvements to it. When Miss Chandra left him, she didn’t say anything about getting her money back. However, when the word got around that Mr. Crane is thinking of selling the house, he had a â€Å"visit† from her sons intimating that their mother wants a substantial share of the sale proceeds. Another concern of Mr. Crane also is with the present owner of the adjoining house, The Hollies, known as Mr. Johnson. There have been issues over access to the rear, parking and water supply. There is an extract of a deed regarding an easement. Finally, Mr. Crane’s concern is about his friend Mr. Brown. Mr. Crane allowed Mr. Brown to use the basement at Ivy House almost daily and for the last 6 years, for his artwork business. He signed a document at Mr. Brown’s request but is not sure if it means anything. He doesn’t have a copy of the said document. He remembers that he and Mr. Brown were the only ones who signed the said document and that Mr. Brown was to be able to use the basement for ten (10) years but has paid nothing for the arrangements. He wonders whether or not he should tell Mr. Brown that he is selling up as he is concerned of what Mr.

Exhibit Advertisement Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Exhibit Advertisement - Essay Example At the other hand you will experience the unbelievably creative art works from Japan. The time that you will spend in our museum will be the time you will enjoy the treasures of Chinese calligraphy and painting at the best. This exhibition will include colossal bronze images of deities, fantastic ritual vessels, lively human figures, exquisite jades and spirited ceramic sculptures recurring the late phase of Sanxingdui culture (13th–11th century B.C.) to the Han dynasty (3rd century B.C.–3rd century A.D.). Also, we will display the most famous Chinese paper cuts, flower art, calligraphy, scroll paintings and ivory art form that have been the center of attraction of art lovers for decades. (Anonymous, 2002). Your visit to our museum’s Japanese art exhibition will be an unforgettable experience as you will be presented with an introduction to the Museums full range of Japanese art, from the Neolithic to the modern. It will highlight Buddhist and Shinto ritual objects, secular art in a wide variety of media, prints, screens and paintings Art is really important for the study of history because the objects formed up by man show us how humans were reacting to the world around them. When studying different art histories, we learn a lot of things about the cultures, social values, religions, languages, general philosophies and beliefs of the people with whom that art is related to. This exhibition will provide rare access to a previously unknown artistic and cultural tradition along with an opportunity to reexamine the early phases of Chinese and Japanese

Time Management Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

Time Management - Research Paper Example Notably, time is constant and scarce and hence this topic seeks to define the need and methods that help college students to develop effective strategies to manage their time for purposes of balancing the conflicting demands of study time, working hours, leisure time, and other endeavors that limit study time. In college education, time management is significant in revising for examinations, attending lectures, and participating in sporting activities. I chose this topic because traditional students always lack enough time to do everything they need in college. As such, this topic will inform the students on the need and methods of planning and controlling the amount of time spent on certain activities with an aim of increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of their academic pursuit. This topic is significant in that it informs the students on the benefits of proper time management as well as the academic problems. Proper time management in college may involve future planning, monitoring the allocation of available time, goal setting, and prioritizing tasks. Numerous tools, skills, and techniques will help the students to accomplish their goals and tasks within the set deadlines. Such methods may include goal setting, prioritizing tasks, monitoring the academic pursuit, creating a list, organizing a work schedule, and limiting procrastination. Through effective time management, college students will enjoy certain benefits that may include good performance, establishing conducive learning environment.

Biology news #4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Biology news #4 - Assignment Example Scientists have put forward that it is important to understand the genes on the Y chromosome as they decide the difference in which manner the cells in males and females read the information expressed by their respective genomes. Y chromosome has shown to shed genes over the course of time as it also depicts a shortening in its length. But analysis of the chromosome in 2012 showed that Y chromosome stabilized itself and loss of genes was stopped for the last 25 million years. Although the genetic make-up of Y chromosome is very difficult to decode, but scientists have found a solution to find the genes on Y chromosome by comparing the DNA to the X chromosome. An important gene on Y chromosome is SRY that determines the male gender and many others are associated with sperm production. Twelve genes on Y chromosome are unique in their characteristic as they are switched on in various cells of the body other than testis. These genes control the expression of various other genes and also the state of genome in other cells. Females have slightly different set of genes which are involved in high regulatory actions. The article brings forward a very significant aspect of the Y chromosome and the research carried out to understand the different genes on Y chromosomes is a step forward in understanding the molecular biology of the genders. However, I think that more research should be carried out to evaluate the ability of Y chromosome to regulate the sex-specific functions in males and exactly how they differ from the X chromosome. I think that understanding the Y chromosome related genes would also aid the scientists in improving their knowledge regarding the X-linked disease patterns and associations with Y

Transformation of work Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Transformation of work - Assignment Example Focus groups in both hotels were interviewed and, using the results of the survey, for each hotel there was made a conclusion concerning soft skill environment. Notwithstanding the awaited expectations, the results appeared to be completely different. All in all, the authors of the article agree that the traditional conception of â€Å"skill† has somehow changed and it is now associated not only with technical knowledge, but also with interpersonal communication abilities. They have brought a new notion and â€Å"strengthened the conceptual understanding of soft skills† (2013: 176) by showing how these skills perform in two cases. This is a considerable contribution to traditional sociology, service economy and even trade industry. The issue of skill nature is the subject of ongoing discussions in sociology of work in particular. This phenomenon was investigated and studied by a number of scientists. Traditional notion of skill was with the course of time complemented with additional shades, thus social or soft skills become recognized (Grugulis et al., 2004). They are treated in different ways. For instance, Bolton (2004) argues that emotion work can be skilled. According to her, soft skilled workers have enough scope for discretion and are able to deal with a variety of tasks. However, there is another point of view. Lloyd and Payne (2009) consider the idea of promoting soft skills inadequate and even dangerous. They argue that it is impossible to train the skills of social interaction, so soft skills cannot be regarded equal to technical ones. It is worthy of note that both aforementioned approaches have their drawbacks. The first, positive view has its exceptions. Being emotional or communicative is not enough for a work to be regarded as skilled. And on the other hand, the negative approach has its weak point. Technical skills which imply specific knowledge are simply

Social change Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social change Questions - Essay Example 2. During the â€Å"Battle of Seattle† in 1856, various aspects are shown to have reflected social movement: (1) emergence; (2) coalescence; (3) bureaucratization; and, (4) decline. The emergence of the social movement had resulted from the prevalent disagreement by the Indian natives on the new treatise imposed by the territorial legislature. There was an aspect of bureaucratization when the attackers [Indian Natives] fashioned an attack strategy, through the headship of Owhi and Lushi, which eventually led to a bloody battle. A decline was seen to have taken place as a result of the Indian Natives’ retreat from the war due to many wounded and killed soldiers. 3. While it did not play a major issue during the American Revolution, the conflict imperceptibly acted together with Religion. The ratification of Jefferson’s bill created for the establishment of â€Å"religious freedom† upheld equality in religious preferences, and which had likewise safeguarded freedom of religious worship; it had bestowed religious freedom to all regardless of their spiritual affiliations or if they believe in God or no. This has made the United States a fountain of freedom and equality. Also, the abolition of the primogeniture laws gradually freed Black Americans from aristocrats and the loyalists. It has brought egalitarianism to the nation and provided equal opportunity to all Americans. 4. The prime mission of the Homeland Security is to maintain security, safety and resistance against terroristic attacks. In order to widen service and spread safety and security upheavals throughout the entire nation, the roles are distributed to the different levels of the government: federal, state, local, et al. The identification of roles is determined by the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 that details and executes the functions or responsibilities of each level of the government. committed to protecting its

Biology news #4 Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Biology news #4 - Assignment Example Scientists have put forward that it is important to understand the genes on the Y chromosome as they decide the difference in which manner the cells in males and females read the information expressed by their respective genomes. Y chromosome has shown to shed genes over the course of time as it also depicts a shortening in its length. But analysis of the chromosome in 2012 showed that Y chromosome stabilized itself and loss of genes was stopped for the last 25 million years. Although the genetic make-up of Y chromosome is very difficult to decode, but scientists have found a solution to find the genes on Y chromosome by comparing the DNA to the X chromosome. An important gene on Y chromosome is SRY that determines the male gender and many others are associated with sperm production. Twelve genes on Y chromosome are unique in their characteristic as they are switched on in various cells of the body other than testis. These genes control the expression of various other genes and also the state of genome in other cells. Females have slightly different set of genes which are involved in high regulatory actions. The article brings forward a very significant aspect of the Y chromosome and the research carried out to understand the different genes on Y chromosomes is a step forward in understanding the molecular biology of the genders. However, I think that more research should be carried out to evaluate the ability of Y chromosome to regulate the sex-specific functions in males and exactly how they differ from the X chromosome. I think that understanding the Y chromosome related genes would also aid the scientists in improving their knowledge regarding the X-linked disease patterns and associations with Y

Social change Questions Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Social change Questions - Essay Example 2. During the â€Å"Battle of Seattle† in 1856, various aspects are shown to have reflected social movement: (1) emergence; (2) coalescence; (3) bureaucratization; and, (4) decline. The emergence of the social movement had resulted from the prevalent disagreement by the Indian natives on the new treatise imposed by the territorial legislature. There was an aspect of bureaucratization when the attackers [Indian Natives] fashioned an attack strategy, through the headship of Owhi and Lushi, which eventually led to a bloody battle. A decline was seen to have taken place as a result of the Indian Natives’ retreat from the war due to many wounded and killed soldiers. 3. While it did not play a major issue during the American Revolution, the conflict imperceptibly acted together with Religion. The ratification of Jefferson’s bill created for the establishment of â€Å"religious freedom† upheld equality in religious preferences, and which had likewise safeguarded freedom of religious worship; it had bestowed religious freedom to all regardless of their spiritual affiliations or if they believe in God or no. This has made the United States a fountain of freedom and equality. Also, the abolition of the primogeniture laws gradually freed Black Americans from aristocrats and the loyalists. It has brought egalitarianism to the nation and provided equal opportunity to all Americans. 4. The prime mission of the Homeland Security is to maintain security, safety and resistance against terroristic attacks. In order to widen service and spread safety and security upheavals throughout the entire nation, the roles are distributed to the different levels of the government: federal, state, local, et al. The identification of roles is determined by the Homeland Security Presidential Directive 7 that details and executes the functions or responsibilities of each level of the government. committed to protecting its

Knowledge Management Essay Example for Free

Knowledge Management Essay The concept of treating organizational knowledge as a valuable asset to leading organizations has been popularized by leading management and organization theorists. Organizations are being advised that in order to remain competitive, they must efficiently and effectively create, locate, capture, and share their organizations knowledge and expertise, and have the ability to use that knowledge on specific problems and opportunities. Firms are showing a tremendous interest in implementing knowledge management processes and technologies, and are even beginning to adopt knowledge management as part of their overall business strategy. Although knowledge management is becoming widely accepted, few organizations today are fully capable of developing and leveraging critical organizational knowledge to improve their performance. Many organizations have become so complex that their knowledge is fragmented, difficult to locate and share, and therefore redundant, inconsistent or not used at all. In todays environment of rapid change and technological discontinuity, even knowledge and expertise that can be shared is often quickly made obsolete. However, while many people call for effectively managing knowledge, almost no research has been done regarding how to do it. What is Knowledge? Knowledge is commonly distinguished from data and information. Data represents observations or facts out of context, and therefore not directly meaningful. Information is derived from placing data within some meaningful context, often in the form of a message. Knowledge is what we come to believe and value based upon the meaningfully organized information (messages) one gains through experience, communication or inference. Knowledge can be viewed both as a thing to be stored and manipulated and also as a process of simultaneously knowing and acting that is, applying expertise. In order to succeed in todays business world, organizations need to manage knowledge both as an object and as a process. Knowledge can be tacit or explicit. Tacit knowledge is subconsciously understood and applied, difficult to articulate, developed from direct  experience and action, and usually shared through highly interactive conversation, story-telling and shared experience. Explicit knowledge on the other hand, can be more precisely articulated. Therefore, although more conceptual, it can be more easily codified, documented, transferred or shared. Explicit knowledge is playing an increasingly large role in organizations, and it is considered by some to be the most important factor of production in the knowledge economy. Imagine an organization without procedure manuals, product literature, or computer software. Knowledge may be of several types, each of which may be made explicit. Knowledge about something is called declarative knowledge. A shared, explicit understanding of concepts, categories, and descriptors lays the foundation for effective communication and knowledge sharing in organizations. Knowledge of how something works or is performed is called procedural knowledge. Shared explicit procedural knowledge lays a foundation for efficiently coordinated action in organizations. Knowledge why something occurs is called causal knowledge. Shared explicit causal knowledge, often in the form of organizational stories, enables organizations to coordinate strategy for achieving goals or outcomes. Knowledge also may range from general to specific. General knowledge is broad and independent of particular events. Specific knowledge, in contrast, is context-specific. General knowledge can be more easily and meaningfully codified and exchanged, especially among different knowledge or practice communities. Codifying specific knowledge in order for it to be meaningful across an organization requires its context to be described along with the focal knowledge. This requires explicitly defining contextual categories and relationships that are meaningful across knowledge communities. Implementing Knowledge Effective performance and growth in knowledge-intensive organizations requires integrating and sharing highly distributed knowledge. Although tacit knowledge develops through observing action, it is more easily exchanged, distributed, or combined among communities of practice by being  made explicit. However, explicating tacit knowledge so it can be efficiently and effectively shared and reused is one of the least understood aspects of knowledge management. Even so, deciding which explicit knowledge an organization should use can affect competitive performance. Knowledge may be naturally tacit or it might appear that way because it hasnt been articulated yet, most likely because of social issues. Articulating particular types of knowledge may not be culturally legitimate, because challenging what the organization knows may not be socially or politically correct, or the organization may be unable to see beyond its customary habits and practices. Also, making private knowledge public and accessible may result in a redistribution of power that may be upsetting or rebelled upon in particular organizational cultures. Knowledge also may remain unarticulated because of intellectual constraints in cases where organizations have no formal language or model in order to articulate it. Potentially explicable knowledge that has not been articulated displays a lost opportunity to efficiently share and disperse that knowledge. If competitors have articulated the integration of similar knowledge, then they may obtain a competitive advantage. However, knowledge that is naturally inarticulable that organizations attempt to make explicit may result in the knowledge being lost, and performance suffering. Articulable knowledge that has been made explicit represents an opportunity that has been taken advantage of. Organizations often do not challenge the way knowledge is stored, treated or passed on. However, managers should not blindly accept the apparent tacitness of knowledge. Mrs. Fields Cookies, for example was able to develop a knowledge process (baking cookies) to a level high enough to be explicated and articulated in a recipe that produces cookies of consistently high quality. The cookies are apparently supposed to be almost as good as those originally baked by Debbie Fields herself. The famous chef Ray Kroc was extremely successful in articulating and routinizing the process of cooking a hamburger to produce a consistent, if not gourmet, level of quality. Although explicit knowledge represents only a part of the intellectual part of an organization, it plays a crucial role in the overall knowledge strategy of the organization. Its management requires frameworks and well-considered architectures. Knowledge processing can be put into two broad classes: integrative and interactive, each dealing with different knowledge management objectives. Together, these methods provide a broad set of knowledge processing capabilities. They support well-structured bases for managing explicit knowledge while at the same time involving tacit knowledge. Integrative applications use a sequential flow of explicit knowledge into and out of the central base. Producers and consumers interact with this repository rather than with each other directly. The repository becomes the primary means of knowledge exchange, providing a place for members of a knowledge community to contribute their knowledge and views. The primary focus tends to be on the repository and the explicit knowledge it contains, rather than on the contributors, users, or the tacit knowledge they may have. Integrative applications vary in the extent to which knowledge producers and consumers come from the same knowledge community. At one extreme, which is called electronic publishing, the consumers (readers) neither directly engage in the same work nor belong to the same practice community as the producers (authors). Once published, the content tends to be stable, and those few updates that may be required are expected to originate with authors. The consumer accepts the content as it is, and active feedback or modification by the user is not anticipated. For example, the organization may produce a periodic newsletter, or the human resources department may publish its policies or a directory of employee skills and experience. On the other extreme, the producers and consumers are members of the same practice community or organizational unit. While still using a sequential flow, the repository provides a means to integrate and build on their collective knowledge. These are labeled integrated knowledge bases. A best-practices database is the most common application. Practices are  collected, integrated and shared among people confronting similar problems. Regarding the organizational roles for managing integrative applications, acquisition requires knowledge creators, finders, and collectors. Capturing verbal knowledge requires interviewers and transcribers. Documenting observed experiences requires organizational reporters. Surfacing and interpreting deeply held cultural and social knowledge may require corporate anthropologists. Refining requires analysts, interpreters, abstractors, classifiers, editors, and integrators. A librarian or knowledge curator must manage the repository. Others must take responsibility for access, distribution and presentation. Finally, organizations may need people to train users to critically interpret, evaluate and adapt knowledge to new contexts. Interactive applications are focused primarily on supporting interaction among people who hold tacit knowledge. In contrast to integrative applications, the repository is a result of interaction and collaboration rather than the primary focus of the application. Its content is dynamic and evolving. Interactive applications vary by the level of expertise between producers and consumers and the degree of structure placed upon their interaction. Where formal training or knowledge transfer is the objective, the interaction tends to be primarily between instructor and student, or expert and novice, and structured around a discrete problem, assignment or lesson plan. These applications are referred to as distributed learning. In contrast, interaction among those performing common practices or tasks tends to be more ad hoc or emergent. These applications are referred to as forums. They may take the form of a knowledge brokerage an electronic discussion space where people may either search for knowledge (e.g., Does anyone know) or advertise their expertise. The most interactive forums support ongoing, collaborative discussions. The producers and consumers comprise the same group of people, continually responding to and building on each individuals additions to the discussion. The flow continually loops  back from presentation to acquisition. With the appropriate structuring and indexing of the content, a knowledge repository can be developed. A standard categorization scheme for indexing contributions provides the ability to reapply that knowledge across the enterprise. Interactive applications play a major role in supporting integrative business procedures. For example, a forum can be linked to an electronic publishing application for editors to discuss the quality of the contributions, or to offer a place for readers to react to and discuss the publication. Best practice databases typically require some degree of forum interaction, so that those attempting to adopt a practice have an opportunity to discuss its reapplication with its creators. Knowledge Management and Factors Affecting IT Effective use of information technology to communicate knowledge requires an organization to share a common perspective from where the information can be analyzed. The more that communicators share similar knowledge, background and experience, the more effectively knowledge can be communicated via electronically mediated channels. At one extreme, the dissemination of explicit, factual knowledge within a workplace that possess a high level of shared contextual knowledge can be accomplished through access to a central center of data. However, when a common perspective is not present, or the knowledge exchanged is less explicit, or the community is loosely tied together, then more interactive modes such as electronic mail or discussion databases are appropriate. When the perspective is not well shared and knowledge is primarily tacit, communication and narrated experience is best supported with the most interactive modes such as video conferencing or face-to-face conversation. Cultural, People and Organizational Issues Effective knowledge management has to tackle cultural, people and organizational issues first, as these things cannot be solved by purchasing an off-the-shelf product. Conflicts, ambitions and inter-organizational  politics are strong factors of the knowledge management process. The key to a successful knowledge management implementation is a culture that encourages the creation and sharing of knowledge, and processes  ­ technology, in order to handle these problems effectively. Unfortunately, most performance systems and processes do not reward  ­ adequately or maybe at all  ­the sharing and reuse of knowledge. If the culture of the organization does not reward knowledge sharing, then knowledge management is no going to be successful. Employees need strong incentives to participate in such schemes; otherwise they tend to feel that information is being squeezed out of them. If employees see this as an invasion of privacy, it certainly will not work. A company that is going to succeed at knowledge management will need a culture of confidence, trust, mutual respect and mutual support which encourages the application of knowledge, and a willingness to share power through shared information. Sharing knowledge will only be successful when a market  ­demand and supply ­ for knowledge is created. Eventually, the shared knowledge base will lead to the erosion of private power bases, as high-quality information becomes available online. While technology can only be an enabler and not a driver, some solutions, can influence organizational culture and help to bring about the necessary changes. In particular, if a technology solution provides quality information in a shared knowledge base that is fast and easy to access, people will want to participate. For example, at Motorola, a knowledge management system piloted by one group of users was provided on a read-only basis to everyone. Soon everyone demanded the ability to participate in full. In conclusion, one can see how understanding and utilizing knowledge management can lead to success in an organization. Developing effective methods of knowledge retrieval, analysis and dissemination will yield great benefits to any organization.