How Does Knowledge Management Influence Innovation and Competitiveness?

How does knowledge management influence innovation and competitiveness? The Authors Alberto Carneiro, Alberto Carneiro is Assistant Professor in the Polytechnic College at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Abstract Is concerned with human value management, examines the relationships between organizations’ competitiveness, innovation advancements, and knowledge management and presents a set of considerations regarding how these relationships affect strategic management and the formulation of competitive strategies. By considering how knowledge development is related with personal characteristics and personal development, this study review attempts to provide useful insights on the linkages between innovation and competitiveness. These considerations point out the importance of knowledge development and the role of knowledge management in order to assure competitiveness. This work proposes also a conceptual model, with special focus on the relationships between knowledge management, competitiveness, and innovation. The major factors are presented and directions for future research are suggested according to the proposed model. Introduction Management is increasingly aware that knowledge resources are essential to the development of their organizations. Nowadays, the knowledge and the information technology (IT) are critical success factors for strategic formulation. Critical success factors refer to those managerial and organizational constructs that need to be effectively addressed in order to further the likelihood of implementation success. Since industry attractiveness depends on those factors, strategies and their implementation should be supported by a set of informational data and a knowledge development process. Knowledge is becoming progressively more useful because management is taking into account the value of creativity, which enables the transformation of one form of knowledge to the next. The perception of the existing relationships among several systems elements leads to new interpretations and this means another knowledge level where a new perceived value is generated. This relationship indicates that the innovation highway depends on the knowledge evolution. On the other hand, all the technologies that are present in the activities of the chain value have to be articulated and assisted by an efficient knowledge level. Some of the knowledge involved in the use and improvement of technologies can be written down in detail in procedures manuals and use instructions. Others are tacitly transmitted and learned through practical knowledge. Moreover, the success of technological modifications needs to be supported by more clarified and enhanced knowledge. With but few exceptions, most firms have had difficulty in developing a viable strategic knowledge system. There are manifold reasons for this, but certainly a major one is the omnibus nature of the sources required. Knowledge may flow into the organization in a continuous but unsystematic manner, probably because the amount of information processing resources varies by level of management activity. The lack of specific system objectives inevitably led to a data bank of enormous magnitude. It is necessary to consider the structure of such a system and to implement it, in accordance with the organizational functions that use information to realize activities and to decide. Considering the need to increase managers’ concerns, this work sustains that a set of factors is dramatically useful to justify the relationship between innovation process, competitive advancements and a strategic knowledge management (KM). First, it presents a brief review of the relevant literature on the role of knowledge in the management processes. Second, and in a modelization perspective, we will discuss the relationships among these factors to suggest a better way to deal with human value, to improve KM, and to attain a higher level of competencies. Finally, this article discusses the implications of KM on innovation and competitiveness and presents suggestions for future research. Knowledge: an organizational asset What kind of knowledge should organizations develop? Organizations need to use adequate information to check the status of business activities as well as to make informed business decisions (Martin et al. , 1998). According to their tasks, managers must have the adequate information and the ability to analyze and evaluate alternatives in the light of the goal sought. This information comes from different internal and external sources and their credibility is crucial to provide an adequate knowledge (Joyce, 1993). Managers have to consider that the most valuable human attributes should be developed because they are one of the most important assets of many corporations. To do so, they need to adopt a new KM philosophy, based on search of information and innovative efforts. In this philosophy, managers should distinguish between different levels of knowledge. Initially, everybody can be aware of various facts and use data coming from those sources. This means that knowledge is reduced to a basic level, although each individual already has a professional understanding of his/her role in the organization. In the next phase, knowledge tends to specialization. The knowledge level and the fields of specialization will increasingly be taken as standards to measure the companies’ value of their assets. However, without being stimulated, it may stay in a static relation within functional areas, although tasks are performed in a qualified manner. If management is interested in knowledge development, it is necessary to consider that knowledge workers should be included in a dynamic process. This process demands the support of motivation, creativity and the ability to improve an intellectual and comprehensive vision of the relationship between the organization and its environment. Management should differentiate these levels, because the core of the decision-making process could be severely damaged if they were intended as similar. In fact, knowledge workers (strategists, engineers, technicians, researchers, etc. ) are able to offer insights in what concerns problems and/or new situations. In an upper level they can also contribute drastically to include more evident values into the company’s offering in order to generate the client’s preferences. Knowledge workers are the core intellectual competence of many firms. In fact, they dominate their expertise fields and, for example, they know how to optimise the systems software that is relevant to strategic decisions. Knowledge workers create most of the value in some industries. The benefits are immediately visible in some innovative industries, such as software, pharmaceutical, health care, financial services, communications, and consulting. That is, knowledge influences competitiveness. At this moment, it is necessary to underline a question: can knowledge be seen as a specific value for the organization or is management only using the employees’ brain capacities in a very innocent manner, because they are human resources? In the past, the returns on investment came predominantly from physical assets like physical products and equipment. Today, knowledge is the main source of another type of assets: intellectual assets. Knowledge levels can be an asset only if they are enhanced and efficiently used. Being so, managers must purposely organize, motivate and control the development of their knowledge workers. These ones are able to provide new solutions in the complex network of organization-client relationships. Owing to technologies, materials, and competitiveness, several industries find themselves in complex scenarios. Knowledge is not the solution, but, in the near future, the intellectual capital will be required to deal with this complexity, and to support innovation and creativity (Brooking, 1996). Usually and specially in the context of dynamic industries, higher knowledge levels live near a frequent dissatisfaction and the capacity of questioning what seems to be already understood. The need of search is one of the consequences. In various industries, the search activities can lead to new products and to innovative processes. Undoubtedly, the increasing complexity of research militates in favor of formal institutions like universities and government laboratories. Nevertheless, if KM is able to stimulate and support their commitment, individual innovators may have an important role in the changing process. Moreover, research activities in the business sector tend to be integrated within manufacturing firms (Mowery, 1983) and they can propose incremental innovation. Considering their missions and strategic objectives, organizations have to define what kind of knowledge will be more important to take care of. Managers should develop the ability to stimulate knowledge workers in order to obtain better effective levels in what concerns the analysis of target markets, technological innovations, and economic trends. Knowledge and information technology Data and information are used for a variety of purposes in organizations, namely for improving the possibility of increasing knowledge potential. Some information is simply data obtained from the database in its initial stage, which is mainly supported by internal documentation and tacit knowledge. Sophisticated or specific information is included in a management information system. Based on various subsystems of information, KM may use many combinations of factors in accordance with the database system and data that are provided by the users (DeSanctis and Gallupe, 1985). In general, firms’ search for information can be viewed as part of a process, through which an organization adapts to its external environment in order to survive and to become more competitive. Particularly, organizations look for information about specific activities, such as the purchase of new equipment and launching of new products, to obtain benefits of improved final decisions. Information requirements depend on the nature of each situation and on the need to formulate competitive strategies (Wetherbe, 1991). Building effective information systems is a very important challenge that managers are facing today, but it is necessary to pay attention to the need of comprehensive information systems architecture. A firm and its managers use a variety of approaches to combine, sort, and process the environmental data to produce timely and relevant information for forming, monitoring, evaluating, and modifying strategy. This variety should reach a high integration level in order to be possible to obtain a strategic information system. Knowledge professionals do have a decisive role in this integrative task. Summarizing, aggregating, comparing, or combining various sets of data collected in the environment and from competitors and customers produces other information sets, which are used, for example, to measure performance and report on the financial health of the organization. Knowledge workers are often exposed to incomplete information on new events and modifications, but they also have the option to search for additional information in order to update their knowledge levels (Ozanne et al. 1992; Burke, 1990). KM is also a question of cultural way of operating in the market. To enable this culture to prevail, IT is needed. Nowadays, IT is assuming a decisive role in KM and is one of the most important tools, which is used to decide, to fight competitors, and to catch target markets. In fact, adequate software can capture and distribute to knowledge workers all the useful information the company has stored over t ime. Taking this operation as a training process, knowledge workers can integrate several types of data and try to find new solutions for their problem tasks. This is true because they can use information about clients and competitors, technical databases, decision support systems, management models, successful solutions to competitive situations, and access to specialized sources of knowledge. Understanding, interpretation, and the use of IT may enable a possible competitive advantage to be identified and obtained. These three aspects cannot be done without specific and organized knowledge of the relationships among hardware, software, processes, and required results. In fact, some equipment replaces human command-and-control procedures, but knowledge advances have o be used to optimize this equipment utilization. Knowledge workers have adequate qualifications to communicate the information that is needed. Information sharing is a very usual practice. However, some of them avoid this communication flow, because they are not able to see the organization as a system, where the global objectives should be accepted as a common value. In some organizations, information sharing should be stimulated, because it is one of the most important tools of creativity and, moreover, intellectual assets, unlike physical assets, increase in value with use. Knowledge management: some guidelines Management has to analyze in the right time all the environmental elements because they affect the organization performance. Managers must intend to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies goal achievement. The main role of environmental analysis is to detect, monitor, and analyze those current and potential trends and events that will create opportunities or threats to the organization. A number of companies have developed effective means of learning about their environments and, most importantly, have implemented strategic decision systems which allow them to capitalize on opportunities and to defend themselves against threats. These analyses and systems are based on IT and KM. KM improves the conditions for strategic action by way of appreciating and treating problems and challenges by the company. Strategically, the success of most management decisions depends also on a competitive effort, which includes a deep knowledge of customers’ attitudes and an adequate analysis of the stronger competitors (Curren et al. 1992). This means that managers must learn: weaknesses, strengths and movements of their direct competitors; and how their customers perceive their products. Finally, all these findings should be integrated into a management information system. Managers should become aware that the great challenge is settled on the efforts to innovate, to exploit te chnological advances, competitors’ failures, industry opportunities, and the investment in knowledge processes and knowledge workers. In fact, knowledge and knowledge workers can be interpreted as a company’s intellectual capital, and also as a key factor to its sustainable development. According to Kao (1996), some companies are already able to carry out internal knowledge audits in order to quantify the innovative effort for competitive advantage. Most of the times, the intellectual capital is not well recognized and remains largely hidden from the view of financial analysts and executives alike. As a consequence, it is undermanaged. This means that its potential is not entirely used. Top management should focus their attention on these situations because the intellectual capitals of their companies and innovation infrastructure are one of the real sources of future competitiveness (Leonard-Barton, 1995). It is well known that managers have to face uncertainty, that is, they must make decisions under uncertain conditions, often before all the required data are in. Today, managers must be able to embed more knowledge-value in their decisions. Doing so, they will become much more prepared to come out with a new improved and even better alternative before their competitors. Knowledge workers may help in these situations. In fact, they are adequately able to deal with information and present hypotheses and proposals. Therefore, they can have an efficient role in the reduction of uncertainty. This point of view demands new directions of KM. To stimulate the development of creative skills, management should point out some directions to the most important knowledge workers: †¢to be able to define objectives of each task in a systemic network in order to share knowledge and available information with others; †¢to increase the level of individual commitment; †¢to be entirely aware of the amount of resources (equipment, software, materials, assistance) that they are going to need; and †¢to ask for answers, creativity, and innovative solutions. Management needs to show some interest in the intellectual capital, the crucial importance of creativity, the need to sustain a constant flow of innovation, and the new concept of learning organization. Competitiveness and knowledge management Knowledge and the formulation of competitive strategies The success of a strategy depends also on a co-ordinated resources management. Resources may be divided into two groups: physical resources (money, equipment, materials, facilities, and time) and conceptual resources (data, information, and knowledge). Managers have to decide how available resources will be distributed throughout their organizations. In fact, the organizational context calls for or demands certain decisions and results. Being a manner of finding a solution for a problem or formulating a strategy to achieve the objectives previously defined, every decision should be based on: an integrated set of information; the knowledge skills of human resources. In what concerns dynamic organizations, KM is a valuable strategic tool, because it can be a key resource for decision making, mainly for the formulation of alternative strategies. KM should be able to combine innovation efforts, updated IT, and knowledge development in order to achieve a set of capabilities to increase competitiveness. In fact, when this combination is adequately managed, the company can formulate competitive strategies, which integrate innovative products and new technological weapons to face its competitors. Management decision is a very complex process whose evolution integrates several stages. The first step in solving a decision problem is its formulation. In a practical perspective, defining its boundaries and critical components depends on information resources. The analysis of input data needs also a complete and updated understanding of several realities and the capability to find relationships among them. Further, the decisionmaker is able to predict the outcomes because they result from each available alternative. These stages are always based on data, which need to be organized in order to be useful; that is, every management decision must be supported by a set of information because of each situation, the context where it is occurring, and the organization objectives achievement. In a fast-changing environment, the competitive advantage of many companies is based on the decision to exploit, to develop the power of knowledge development. That is why some corporations try to provide opportunities for personal and professional development and are seeing that they should stimulate knowledge development to formulate competitive strategies. To find out and exploit opportunities, companies need to establish the main orientations of KM in order to enlarge their growing possibilities based on innovation and competitiveness. Managers know that it can be disastrous to enter or compete in an industry without being aware of changing critical success factors that define their target markets, since they play a significant role in determining the likelihood of implementation success or failure. If a firm is entirely aware of the vital importance of these factors, management decisions have to consider a complex background where the knowledge of the clients’ needs and preferences and the competitors’ strategies is decisively important. Practically, this means that a market orientation includes the concept of competitive orientation (Slater and Narver, 1994; Day, 1994, 1990). In this context, a company can decide its competitive advantage as a function of the capability to generate radical change in its processes and technologies and of the flexibility to adapt its resources to the strategic formulation. For example, if an organization decides to become a fast innovator, managers should co-ordinate the ability to formulate a competitive strategy and to build advantages against competitors. This ability depends on the capacity of speeding up creative operations to generate innovations (Page, 1993). These considerations are already known and well accepted, but we need to extract from them the logical consequences. A competitive decision should be based on a wide and quite firm support, which shall integrate the different relationships among several types of knowledge. As a consequence, a comprehensive knowledge is the vital ground where competitiveness should be built. Increasing competitiveness using knowledge benefits According to modern approaches, KM is already considered as a key factor in the organization’s performance, because it deals with different resources that can aid decision makers in many ways (Keen, 1991). Managers require complete and updated information and, according to their level of activity, they hope to rely on their knowledge workers. Nevertheless, this hope is useless if these experts are not effectively motivated to deepen continuously their levels of knowledge. Some companies know that the innovation effort and the adoption of new procedures and new technologies may increase competitiveness (Goel and Rich, 1997). This relationship seems to have the following reasons: †¢the innovators can be inventors if they are able to manage research and development function (Gilbert, 1995); †¢knowledge workers can perceive and deal with what target market accepts or expects as value; †¢knowledge development is a fruitful background where incremental innovation may be attempted; †¢if a company can use a knowledge-based competitive edge, it is able to defend itself against the aggressive movements of its competitors. The need for scientific and technical information flow within the firm is well recognised. Knowledge and information derived from data are required for competitive initiatives such as improving customer satisfaction, developing new products and markets, and providing faster response. The link between knowledge and systemic databases should be understood within the context of information resource management (McFadden and Hoffer, 1994). This means that effective decision making requires a rational selection of inter-related data and the possibility of these data being integrated into KM. This orientation can be applied in the strategic planning area, and it presents flexible capabilities. In fact, managers have the possibility of asking for more updated information, using pre-programmed models based on the integrative knowledge of previous situations, considering alternative solutions, and stimulating the construction of innovative proposals. A KM can lead managers to anticipate problems better and to experiment and innovate. Based on a good KM, managers are more able to analyse and evaluate environmental scenarios, and adequate response alternatives in the light of the global objective previously determined (Dutta and King, 1980). At this point, managers can desire to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies the achievement of global objectives. This means that they are deeply concerned with increasing competitiveness. A primary objective of this orientation in modern business organizations is to contribute to greater efficiency in achieving organizational objectives. To assure this contribution, researchers should reinforce their efforts to explore the relationship between the competitiveness optimisation and the KM optimisation, and also the effectiveness of a KM, which has not been entirely clarified. Innovation and knowledge management Can knowledge management support innovation? The innovative efforts include the search for, and the discovery, experimentation, and development of new technologies, new products and/or services, new production processes, and new organizational structures. The consequences of these efforts are sometimes seen as a raw material of information industry. New management philosophies are aware that information is the result of knowledge evolution and that a solid network between intellectual effort and technological innovations is enlarging. The innovative efforts are also the right consequence of the investment in knowledge and knowledge workers. If KM is positively influenced by the search of innovations, the investments in the development of new knowledge may propel companies into new business in more rewarding markets. To achieve better results, innovative efforts have to be strategically combined with a competitive orientation and its consequent movements. This combination depends vitally on the highest level of individual knowledge and on its technological basis. Many companies are taking into account that new technologies and management approaches are changing the traditional perspective of managing intellectual resources. According to some works (Harari, 1994; Nonaka, 1994; West, 1992), the organizations that are able to stimulate and to improve the knowledge of their human capital are much more prepared to face today’s rapid changes and to innovate in the domain where they decide to invest and to compete. Managers should recognise that the skills of human resources and the motivation level make possible creative suggestions, different proposals, and research activities to build up innovations. Due to the new insights of KM, a creative knowledge worker can contribute to face the problems that need new kinds of resolution, the situations that demand innovative approaches, and the relationships that can be discovered in the more and more complex markets where companies are operating. In old times, capital was the company’s most critical and scarcest resource and human attributes were used to contribute decisively to obtain the return of the company’s investment in equipment and plants. Presently, companies are trying to understand and to use a new logic of value, which is founded on its competencies, customers’ evaluation criteria, and competition. It should be underlined that the knowledge development in the fields of technological innovations, specialisation on business processes, and innovative products is the strongest source of competencies. Moreover, all competitive efforts, which come from competitors’ knowledge and innovations, dramatically affect the success of strategies (Gatignon and Robertson, 1993). Innovation should be viewed as a complex process, which involves a set of investment possibilities. In this investment perspective, knowledge has to be considered as a sort of capital. Owing to this reason, its development process is a managerial concern, because it can lead to the launching of a new product. The success of an innovative product is notoriously connected to research activities and changing orientation. On the other hand, these two elements depend on the development of knowledge levels and the innovative efforts of knowledge workers. Knowledge development How to intensify learning involvement One of the most important objectives of a competitive KM should be to increase frequently the different levels of knowledge. Increasing them implies: †¢to straiten the links among the latest advances of IT and the processes of gathering and process information; †¢to motivate knowledge development by recognising its importance in companies’ evolution; †¢to promote the acquisition of scientific culture, specially in the fields directly connected with the company’s main activities; †¢to invest in theoretical courses and practical training; †¢to intensify an effort to get updating in industry. According to the usual characteristics of all learning and experience curves, the knowledge level may grow exponentially if management is able to stimulate the conditions to learn more and to increase experience. Considering the power of these stimuli, which should be integrated into a global human resources policy, management has to define the adequate procedures to enlarge and to deepen knowledge development. Within a scenario of competitive imperatives of speed and considering the need to innovate constantly, learning will be the essential hedge against the possibility of negative consequences. Organizational learning should be seen as one of the most important responsibilities of top management. In fact, organizations may use the individuals’ learning activities and learn through them to create an organizational learning system, which provides the possibility of enhancing the capacity to generate new offering proposals (Coopey, 1995; Sinkula, 1994; Senge, 1990). Some authors consider that an organizational learning includes the ability to increase the understanding level from experience through analysis of problems, experimentation of solutions, and evaluation of results (McGill and Slocum, 1994; McGill et al. 1992). Organizations’ development needs to have the support of the positive changes in the education and training of the work force. This means that management should stimulate and organize this changing process. In general, there are two main ways that managers have to consider: 1. (1) updating efforts: scientific and technological knowledge is almost constantly changing and everybody in the organization should be conscious of the state-of-art of their fields of work; 2. 2) knowledge progresses have to be transformed in a more effective effort in order to obtain better production processes and more competitive technological advances. Learning involvement could be defined as a state of energy that a knowledge worker experiences in regard to an effort to increase his/her knowledge level (McQuarrie and Munson, 1987). A knowledge worker who is highly involved in learning is likely to expect more abilities to create and to suggest new ideas. A set of adequate information technologies should be foreseen. In fact, at any time during the learning process, errors or imprecision can occur. To avoid their negative consequences, KM should take into account the reliability of the information sources and also the data accuracy. These factors will affect positively the objectives’ achievement. Knowledge development as a strategic management instrument If management has a true strategic orientation, the knowledge development is a systematic, integrated, and planned approach to improve the effectiveness of intellectual capital of an enterprise (Edvinsson and Malone, 1998). It is designed to solve problems that adversely affect operating efficiency at all levels. Knowledge is one of the branches where development movements can occur to help managers in their decision-making process, to create new responses, and to enable a set of competitive reactions and/or pro-active proposals. In the last two decades, we have seen a knowledge explosion and a change of the labour force. In fact, knowledge workers are not directly involved in manual activities, but make up a greater proportion of the labour force than ever before. Many companies try to provide an internal environment for experiential learning in which knowledge workers become more and more involved in solving job-related problems. In a quickly changing environment, the organization’s flexibility is one of its key success factors. This flexibility should be strategically combined with knowledge workers’ adaptability and high-quality standards to obtain two types of competition tools: 1. (1) sustainable advantages against competitors; 2. (2) capability to offer to the target market new alternatives. Knowledge development is a sort of response to changes in the external environment and nternal situations. It can be adapted to solve problems that negatively affect operating efficiency, including the need to replace obsolete products by new ones. In what concerns knowledge development, the improvement of products (incremental innovation) and process innovation (radical innovation) should be integrated. The aim is to improve the horizo ntal flow of information, because this flow is a very important tool to understand the relationship between the organization, its clients and its competitors. To make better decisions, managers have the option to search for more accurate information. One of the most important sources is the knowledge development of their collaborators, because they have been adequately trained to find out what are the new advances of science and technology. Training and motivational measures can be used to leverage professional intellect, but human intellectual capabilities can not be managed as if it was the only goal. In fact, top managers must consider the critical knowledge bases, the intellectual skills, and also the accumulated experience that can be used to increase the organization performance and to support their strategic decisions. Most developments at enterprise level are not possible without changes in education and training of the human resources, namely the intellectual capital. In fact, this capital is focused on innovative effort, on the information about competitors, and on proactive strategic decisions (Prescott and Gibbons, 1993). In many important complex problems there simply are not enough empirical data to provide a basis for complete analysis. Many aspects of a decision process require personal judgement, that is, the presence of updated knowledge workers. The problem-solving capabilities of knowledge workers lie in education background, professional training, creativity, and motivation. Non-routine processes demand for more skilled workers, because innovative solutions should be found and adapted to market needs. Sometimes, an organization needs to assimilate competitors’ technologies, to imitate them, and, in a benchmarking perspective, to adapt them in order to obtain specific benefits (reduction of costs, faster capacity to satisfy their market needs). This strategic effort demands a sufficiently motivated intellectual capital. In fact, even people with exceptional talent will not be able to develop potential without the adequate motivation (Twining, 1991). Moreover, knowledge development should include an effort to integrate the intellectual power of the organization’s human resources. Skills that are integrated according to a systemic perspective are more effective than a set of disconnected and/or uncoordinated talents. The co-ordination of the various abilities and aptitudes may lead to a learning process with a holistic approach. Being so, knowledge workers can learn more, recall information more accurately and use all their resources to build up innovative solutions. Influence of KM on competitiveness and innovation The influence of KM on management decisions effectiveness should be considered to support and also provide insight into how knowledge workers can contribute to obtain better results. However, management must consider that knowledge is not a simple and unique entity. The commitment to generate new discoveries and a more demanding understanding is not enough. The organizations need to look for the knowledge that is able to add value. Value adding knowledge is very different to an information-mix. This mix can be important, but first it is necessary to find out how the markets perceive the presence of value. These considerations can be taken as a guideline for KM. There are perhaps an unlimited number of factors that can define management attitudes regarding the role of intellectual capital into organizations’ life. Some managers evaluate significantly this capital as a very important resource that should be used to obtain adequate profits. Therefore this capital should be constantly improved. As can be seen in Figure 1, a conceptual model of KM is proposed. It emphasises that innovation and competitiveness can be a function of the KM. This model takes into account numerous determinants (determinant factors) of the relationships among various fields. The top portion of the model shows the most common factors that usually define management’s attitudes and deals with the following questions: †¢How important is intellectual capital? †¢How does management evaluate knowledge development? Is training one of the important aspects to be planned? †¢Is knowledge considered as a strategic tool? †¢Are managers prepared to motivate knowledge development? †¢Are managers able to stimulate the potential capacities of their knowledge workers? KM has to deal with two domains: 1. (1) personal characteristics of each knowledge worker; 2. (2) factors that affect personal development. The most common factors t hat affect initially the personal characteristics of a knowledge worker are education level, attitudes and values, innovativeness and creativity (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993; Allen et al. 1992; Mayo and Marks, 1990; Bearden et al. , 1986; Hirschman, 1980). Innovativeness is an important factor for supporting innovative efforts and it contributes also to define the personality. However, it is not enough to desire new products or new processes. In fact, an innovation that an enterprise presents into the market may be also due to the creativity of its knowledge workers. Personal development is directly related to professional experience. Any personal experience may be an information source and a learning situation. As a result from a personal or a managerial decision, training courses may contribute to reawaken previously acquired knowledge and to facilitate the access to a higher knowledge level. The development of each knowledge worker has its own dynamics, which is related with personal objectives. The more demanding the objectives are the more the learning efforts should be intensified. Nowadays, learning processes and knowledge updating procedures depend on information technology. Moreover, it has a decisive role on knowledge development because competitive advantage can only be maintained by the use of information for innovation (Huffman et al. 1990). Nowadays, managers have to decide whether they want to obtain better results from their knowledge workers or they prefer to lose the creative power that they possess in their minds and their professional experience. Managers’ attention must be focused on personal development. To obtain an effective knowledge level, investment in knowl edge development is needed. Managers should improve their ability to motivate knowledge workers to attain higher knowledge levels, because the arousal of this set of intellectual needs may be caused by external stimuli. Motivations should be intensified, because they should impel knowledge workers to increase their knowledge levels. This movement will be decisive in terms of innovation and can contribute to a stronger competitiveness. Even when no innovation is possible, an improved knowledge of the market and competitors can lead to more competitive movements. The technical capacities of a modern information technology will help this motivational scheme. Companies have to find ways to reach knowledge workers’ involvement. A person’s level of involvement plays a role in how much effort is used to learn new subjects or to deepen knowledge. Moreover, this involvement is an adequate condition for information sharing among knowledge workers. Adding IT, creativity and knowledge leads to a particularly potent combination. Managers can obtain impressive results in what concerns the companies’ abilities to innovate if they are able to develop the stimulation of innovative proposals through motivational methods and adequate rewards. The same can be said in what concerns key success factors: managers should practice frequently the stimulation of competitive efforts, provided through utilisation of both existing and new technologies. This conceptual model intends to interpret the relationship between KM, innovation, and competitiveness. It may contribute to an integrated understanding of the knowledge development process and its influences into the domains where management efforts should be focused. Conclusions This article intends to provide insights to a better understanding of KM in what concerns the possibility of influencing innovation and competitiveness. Its considerations provide considerable support for the importance of knowledge workers as a decisive contribution to the strategic enhancement. The implications for managers have been underlined. Regarding these implications, some concluding remarks can be made: †¢define methods for measuring the degree of KM effectiveness; †¢develop effective strategies for integrating innovative efforts, professional experience, skills, interactive capacities to create value for a company’s competitiveness; †¢determine the means to capture, transfer and leverage knowledge effectively; †¢let KM enter into strategic decisions concerning the profitability of intellectual assets. The suggested model also enables us to extend some of the frameworks for understanding managers’ evaluation criteria. This extension to traditional models of management strategic decisions is a direct result of the informational complexities in modern organizations. Consequently, these considerations intend to represent an important step forward in unravelling the KM as an efficient support for innovation and competitiveness relationships. Directions for further research Deepening the analysis of managers’ interest on knowledge is critical to understand how KM can contribute to improve strategies’ formulation. Future research should examine the differences among industries, and measure accurately the relative importance of the factors that affect personal characteristics and knowledge development. Because these relations are not fully investigated, we suggest additional studies concerning the industries where knowledge workers have a more defined and important role. Future research on managers’ attitudes facing the linkages between strategic management and human value may have to examine carefully the role of a KM orientation as an effort to support adequately successful strategies. This discussion contributes to a better understanding of the consequences of a management orientation, which is able to leverage knowledge advances. It is the task of management to improve the types of knowledge that best fit innovative efforts and competitive strategies. If this management orientation is well pursued, the organizations are likely to profit from knowledge development and from their human resources creativity. Figure 1Influence of KM on innovation and competitiveness References Allen, C. T, Machleit, K. A, Kleine, S. S (1992), â€Å"A comparison of attitudes and emotions as predictors of behavior at diverse levels of behavioral experience†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 18 pp. 493-504. Bearden, W. O, Calcich, S. E, Netemeyer, R. G, Teel, J. E (1986), â€Å"An exploratory investigation of consumer innovativeness and interpersonal influences†, in Lutz, R. J (Eds),Advances in Consumer Research, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, Vol. 13. Brooking, A (1996), Intellectual Capital: Core Asset for the Third Millennium Enterprise, International Thomson Business Press, London, . Burke, S. J (1990), â€Å"The effects of missing information on decision strategy selection†, in Goldberg, M. E, Gorn, G. , Pollay, R. W (Eds),Advances in Consumer Research, Association for Consumer Research, Provo, UT, Vol. 17 pp. 250-6. Coopey, J (1995), â€Å"The learning organization, power, politics and ideology†, Management Learning, Vol. 26 No. 2, pp. 193-213. Day, G. S (1990), Market Driven Strategy: Processes for Creating Value, The Free Press,, New York, NY, . DeSanctis, G, Gallupe, B (1985), â€Å"Group decision support systems: a new frontier†, Database, pp. 3-9. Dutta, B. K, King, W. R (1980), â€Å"A competitive scenario modelling system†, Management Science, Vol. 26 No. 3, . Eagly, A. H, Chaiken, S (1993), The Psychology of Attitudes, Harcourt Brace Janovich, Chicago, IL, . Edvinsson, L, Malone, M. S (1998), Intellectual Capital: Realizing your Company’s True Value by Finding its Hidden Brainpower, HarperBusiness, New York, NY, . Gilbert, J. T (1995), â€Å"Profiting from innovation: inventors and adopters†, IM, pp. 28-32. [Harari, O (1994), â€Å"The brain-based organization†, Management Review, Vol. 83 No. 6, pp. 57-60. Hirschman, E. C. (1980), â€Å"Consumer modernity, cognitive complexity, creativity and innovativeness†, in Bagozzi, R. P (Eds),Marketing in the 80’s: Changes and Challenges, American Marketing Association, Chicago, IL, pp. 135-9. Huffman, C. D. , Loken, B. , Ward, J (1990), â€Å"Knowledge and context effects on typicality and attitude judgements†, Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 17 pp. 355-60. Joyce, J (1993), â€Å"The industrial buyer’s use of information sources: an empirical investigation of source type and topic interrelationships†, AMA Winter Educators’ Proceedings, pp. 260-5. Kao, J. (1996), Jamming The Art and Discipline of Business Creativity, HarperBusiness, New York, NY. , . Keen, P. W. 1991), Every Manager’s Guide to Information Technology, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA. , . Leonard-Barton, D. (1995), Wellsprings of Knowledge: Building and Sustaining the Sources of Innovation, Harvard Business School Press, Boston, MA, . Martin, E. W, DeHayes, D. W, Hoffer, J. A. , Perkins, W. C (1998), Managing Information Technology: What Manage rs Need to Know, 3rd ed. , Prentice-Hall, New York, NY, . Mayo, M. A, Marks, L. J. (1990), â€Å"An empirical investigation of a general theory of marketing ethics†, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Vol. 18 pp. 163-71. McFadden, F. R, Hoffer, J. A (1994), Modern Database Management, The Benjamin/Cummings Publishing Company, Inc, Menlo Park, CA. , . McGill, M. E, Slocum, J. W. Jr (1994), The Smarter Organization: How to Build a Business that Learns and Adapts to Marketplace Needs, John Wiley & Sons, New York, NY. , . McGill, M. E, Slocum, J. W. Jr, Lei, D. T. (1992), â€Å"Management practices in learning organizations†, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 21 No. 1, pp. 5-17. McQuarrie, E. F. , Munson, J. M. (1987), â€Å"The Zaichkowsky personal involvement inventory: modification and extension†, in Wallendorf, M. Anderson, P. F. (Eds),Advances in Consumer Research, Vol. 14 pp. 36-40. Mowery, D (1983), â€Å"The relationships between intrafirm and contractual forms of industrial research in American manufacturing, 1900-1940†, Explorations in Economic History, Vol. 20 No. 4, pp. 351-74. Nonaka, I. (1994), â€Å"The dynamic theory of organizational knowledge creation†, Organizat ion Science, Vol. 5 No. 1, pp. 14-37. Ozanne, J. L, Brucks, M, Grewal, D (1992), â€Å"A study of information search behavior during the categorization of new products†, Journal of Consumer Research, Vol. 8 pp. 452-63. Page, A (1993), â€Å"Assessing new product development practices and performance: establishing crucial norms†, Journal of Product Innovation Management, Vol. 10 pp. 273-90. Prescott, J. E. , Gibbons, P. T (1993), â€Å"Global competitive intelligence: an overview†, in Prescott, J. E, Gibbons, P. T (Eds),Global Perspectives on Competitive Intelligence, Society of Competitive Intelligence Professionals, Alexandra, VA, . Senge, P. M (1990), â€Å"The leader’s new work†, Sloan Management Review, Vol. 32 No. 1, pp. 7-23. Sinkula, J. M (1994), â€Å"Market information processing and organizational learning†, Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58 No. 1, pp. 35-45. Slater, S. F. , Narver, J. C. (1994), â€Å"Does competitive environment moderate the market orientation-performance relationship? â€Å", Journal of Marketing, Vol. 58 pp. 46-55. Twining, J. E (1991), Strategies for Active Learning, Allyn & Bacon,, Needham Heights, MA. , . West, A (1992), Innovation Strategy, Prentice-Hall, Englewood Cliff, NJ, . Wetherbe, J. C (1991), â€Å"Executive information requirements: getting it right†, MIS Quarterly, pp. 51-65.

Characters in Hamlet

Guide Your Hamlet final exam will be on Thursday of this week. You will need to study the of Lowing terms, Ideas, and themes. You will be expected to answer multiple choice questions, essay questions, a ND short answer questions. Shakespearian Drama What is the difference between a comedy, tragedy, and history? Define catharsis, hubris, and nemesis. What is the relationship between these words? What are the characteristics of a tragedy? Define dramatic irony and soliloquy. Discuss the importance of dialogue in the play. Act IWhat mood, or atmosphere, does Shakespeare establish in scene 1? Which details hell p create this mood? Analyze Hamlet's Interaction with Claudia In scene 2 and Aphelion's interaction with P loons In scene 3- How are these Interactions related and how are they dollars? Act II In the opening scene of Act II how does Polonium want Reynolds to check on Learner's conduct? What does this instruction suggest about Polonium's character. Aphelia tells Polonium what took place when Hamlet visited her. Explain why this pass age is an example of dramatic irony.In line 246 of scene 2, Hamlet says to Guilelessness, â€Å"Denmark a prison. † Explain that remark in the context of Hamlet's present situation, considering also the role of Restaurants and Gu Identities. The play discussed by Hamlet and the players tells the story of Papyrus seeking reeve GE on Pram. What are the parallels between this tale and Hamlet's own quest for revenge? At the end of Act II, Hamlet reveals his plan for testing Classis's guilt. Why might SSH Shakespeare have chosen to have him use a theatrical performance for this purpose? Act IllAnalyze Hamlet and Aphelion's relationship at the end of Act Ill Scene I – What conclusions can you draw from their interaction? Analyze the importance of Hamlet's soliloquy in Act Ill Scene 1 . What is Hamlet consist erring during this soliloquy? Consider the eloquence of his speech, the specific wording that he uses, hi s sufferin gs during his life, Hamlet's mental state, etc. How do the events In this act drive the plot forward? You will need to be able to put the major events of this Act In order. Act IV Hamlet sends two letters announcing his return to England. E to Horopito and one to Shakespeare have chosen to have him send the letter to Horopito even though it is not needed to advance the plot? Hamlet as already confided to his mother at the end of Act Ill that Restaurants and G elderliness have been assigned to lead him into a trap. What does it suggest about his character that he now appears eager to go with him? Claudia describes an elaborate scheme to kill Hamlet. What advantages does this SC hem have for both him and Alerter? Based on what has happened so far in the play, what disadvantage of the scheme? Act VWhy does Hamlet quarrel with Alerter at Aphelion's grave? What does this conflict Clara FYI about his feelings? As he is dying, Hamlet urges Horopito to stay alive and tells his story, why is this so imp rotator Hamlet? You will need to be able to put the major events of this Act in order. Miscellaneous Theme (idea that the author is trying to convey) – How are these themes shown in Hamlet? (Themes include: Revenge, Fate, and The Human Condition) You will need to look at specific quotations that we discussed in class – be able to discuss who said the quote and what the significance of the quote is. Characters in Hamlet Jose Cruz December 12, 2011 My English Research Paper Use general quote about betrayal (brainyquote. com) not from Hamlet. This quote from Shakespeares Hamlet includes two very important words; The words â€Å"Haste† and â€Å"revenge† not only deal with life but with many other literary works as well. In order to take revenge upon someone often means to get back at them or to inflict hurt or harm on them for an injury or wrong done to oneself.Such is the case in Hamlet where Betrayal (revenge) is the biggest and main conflict of the play because, King Hamlet was ruler of Denmark until his brother Claudius, murders him to become King and marry the Queen, Gertrude. That plot right there creates a whole lot of tension between Hamlet and the new King Claudius because Hamlet wishes to vengeance his fathers death. Therefore, In the play Hamlet, William Shakespeare exemplifies the impact of betrayal on family dynamics throught the use of conflict, dialogue, and irony. Shakesp eare uses conflict to show how the betrayal affects family dynamics. Now might I do it pat, now he is praying; And now I’ll do’t. And so he goes to heaven; And so am I revenged. That would be scann’d: A villain kills my father; and for that, I, his sole son, do this same villain sent To heaven† (3. 3. 1). One of the main conflicts of the play is that Hamlet feels betrayed on many levels by the King. (better explaination on this quote)King Claudius is the murderer of his father, King Hamlet. What Hamlet is saying in this quote is his father has died and he is asking for him to revenge him, so since a villain, (King Claudius) killed his father.Since he is King Hamlets only son, he feels he must take revenge upon his fathers death and kill King Claudius. â€Å"No place, indeed, should murder sanctuarize; Revenge should have no bounds† (4. 7. 13). A quote said by King Claudius; Then Laertes and Claudius conspire to murder Hamlet. Laertes and Hamlet both have a father to revenge is this play, Laertes wishes to take revenge upon Hamlet for his father was murdered by King Hamlet during a war. When Claudius later asks Laertes how far he would go to avenge his father, Laertes replies that he would slit Hamlet’s throat in the church (4. 7. 98).Through out most of the play, there is a build up of tension between Hamlet, Claudius, and Laertes. There are critics all around the world who put there two sense in about all different books. There are plenty of critics who write about what they think about the play Hamlet, and most of them can have very interesting write ups. Acritic named William Hazlitt and from reading his page, some say they have personally found his work very observing. â€Å"He is the prince of philosophical speculators; and because he cannot have his revenge perfect, according to the most refined idea his wish can form, he declines it altogether† (William Hazlitt).Hazlitt says that Hamlet cannot have the rev enge he wishes and intends to on the King, so he then scruples to trust the suggestions of the ghost. In the play, it reveals that the ghost is the spirit of King Hamlet and he is reaching out to Hamlet personally to seek revenge for his death and kill Claudius. Summarize how conflict is used as a technique by Shakespeare to demonstrate effects of betrayal on family dynamics. Shakespeare uses dialogue as his secondary to show the impact of betrayal.The term dialogue means to have a conversation between two or more persons. In the play, Hamlet is approached by the ghost of King Hamlet multiple times, and what the ghost is asking of his is to avenge his death. â€Å"In the darkness, the ghost speaks to Hamlet, claiming to be his father’s spirit, come to rouse Hamlet to revenge his death, a foul and most unnatural murder† (1. 5. 25). The most common conclusion is that the dialogue used to create the impression of a significant time lapse between Hamlet’s encounter with the ghost and the subsequent action. The interchange of question and answer, as a basis of dialogue, is fundamental to dramatic technique whenever it serves a purpose, becomes dialectic† (Levin, 227). The dramatic technique in Hamlet is all based upon the dialogue used in the play. The conversations between all the characters in Hamlet discusses betrayal and family dynamics. For example, when Claudius and Hamlet have a conversation, Hamlet tries to play it cool but inside all this tension is building up at any moment, he could strike on Claudius but he chooses not to and waits for the best moment.Everyone knows that betrayal is the main conflict of the play Hamlet. â€Å"So art thou to revenge, when thou shalt hear† (1. 5. 7). Here is when the plot of revenge is established and continues until the end of the play. Shakespeare uses irony as another technique to illustrate how family dynamics ae affected by betrayal. Irony is the expression of one’s meaning by using language that normally signifies the opposite, typically for humorous or emphatic effect (Dictionary). After Hamlet’s first meeting with the ghost, he decides to put on an antic disposition (1. 5. 172).He pretends to be mad but really he’s just trying to hide the fact that this behavior is a kind of a shield or protection against Claudius and the others who may try to pry out his secret and foil his revenge. (Rosenblum 731). Hamlet shows irony at this part of the play because he acts and speaks as if he’s mad and angry but really he’s just trying to keep a low profile. Critic Harry Levin says that the interplay between these preoccupations is the source of innumerable ironies, both conscious and unconscious, some of them attached to the hero’s viewpoint, other detached in a reminiscent overview (231).What Levin is saying is that Hamlet has no plan on what he should do to avenge his fathers’ death and how and when he should strike Clau dius to his death. Claudius begins his speech saying, â€Å"’Tis sweet and commendable in your nature, Hamlet, To give these mourning duties to your fatherâ€Å", but that he â€Å"must know your father lost a father, That father lost, lost his. †(1. 2. 87-89)   But he insults Hamlet, adding â€Å"’Tis unmanly grief. †(1. 2. 94). When Claudius says that it is â€Å"sweet and commendable† to give this duty, he’s praising Hamlet for something that will eventually kill him.Shakespeare is often considered on of the world’s greatest playwrights, and has a style to back it up. He writes with poetic diction using eloquent words and phrases. He uses irony to convey the impact of betrayal on family relationships The use of conflict, dialogue, and irony are used throughout the play Hamlet enabling Shakespeare to show the impact of revenge. Shakespeare uses conflict as his primary to express his characters’ reaction to betrayal. All t hroughout the play Shakespeare reates conflict between all the characters whether its between Hamlet and Claudius, or Laertes and Hamlet, etc.By doing so he shows betrayal and its results. As said in the second paragraph, the main conflict of the play is betrayal and this leads to the desire for revenge. Many characters are seeking revenge at someone, but the main character with this feeling is Hamlet, who wishes to avenge his father’s death caused by the new king, King Claudius. All of this conflict in the play is seen into the dialogue of the characters. Shakespeare uses dialogue as another method to show the impact of betrayal.He uses the conversations between those characters with vengeance on their minds to create moods throughout the play. Lastly, Shakespeare uses irony as his third to show the impact of betrayal. Take for example, when Claudius kneels to pray and Hamlet enters, this could’ve been Hamlets chance to kill Claudius, but he decides to spare him becau se then Claudius would not receive the tourturous afterlife Hamlet wishes upon him, instead he would go to heaven. That creates some sort of irony because Hamlet does the opposite of what he really wants to do. | |

Assessing Factors Of National Security

Assessing Factors Of National Security Disclaimer: This work has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the work produced by our Law Essay Writing Service . You can view samples of our professional work here . Assessing Factors Of National Security National security is the necessity to maintain the endurance of the state through the use of political power, the exercise of diplomacy, economic and military. The idea developed mostly in the United States of America after World War II. Originally focusing on military might encompasses a broad range of facets all of which impose on the military or economic security of the nation and the values espoused by the national society. Therefore, in order to possess national security, a nation needs to possess environmental security, economic security and energy security etc. Security threats involve not only conventional foes such as other nation-states but also non-state actors such as violent non-state actors, narcotic cartels, multinational corporations and non-governmental organisations; some authorities include natural disasters and events causing severe environmental damage in this category. Measures taken to ensure national security include: us ing diplomacy to rally allies and isolate threats marshalling economic power to facilitate or compel cooperation maintaining effective armed forces implementing civil defense and emergency preparedness measures (including anti-terrorism legislation) ensuring the resilience and redundancy of critical infrastructure using intelligence services to detect and defeat or avoid threats and espionage, and to protect classified information using counterintelligence services or secret police to protect the nation from internal threats Slide 4 – Who defines national security? State/Government/group of elites determines the main objectives of security based on the nation’s sovereignty, integrity of the state and economic prosperity. As the source of political authority, the government defines security, and this definition generally encompasses the broader spectrum of values held dear by the majority. â€Å"Since the future racial peace in this country depends on how well the gove rnment handles the sensitive issues, it is suggested that the NSC shall be the body to look into the matter†. Slide 5 – Scope Slide 6 – Factors Of National Security Slide 7 – Economy Historically, conquest of nations have made conquerors rich through plunder, access to new resources and enlarged trade through controlling of the conquered nations’ economy. In today’s complex system of international trade, ‘ by multi-national agreements, mutual inter-dependence and availability of natural resources etc., the freedom to follow choice of policies to develop a nation’s economy in the manner desired, forms the essence of economic security. Economic security today forms, arguably, as important a part of national security as military security. Slide 8 – Military This is traditionally, the earliest recognised form of national security. Military security implies the capability of a nation to defend itself, and/or deter military aggr ession. Alternatively, military security implies the capability of a nation to enforce its policy choices by use of military force. The term â€Å"military security† is considered synonymous with â€Å"security† in much of its usage. One of the definitions of security given in the Dictionary of Military and Associated Terms, may be considered a definition of â€Å"military securityâ€Å": A condition that results from the establishment and maintenance of protective measures that ensure a state of inviolability from hostile acts or influences. Slide 9 – Politic The political aspect of security has been offered by Barry Buzan, Ole Wà ¦ver, Jaap de Wilde as an important component of national security. Political security is about the stability of the social order. Closely allied to military security and societal security, other components proposed in a framework for national security in their book â€Å"Security: a new framework for analysis†, it specifica lly addresses threats to sovereignty. System referent objects are defined, such as nation-states, nations, transnational groups of political importance including tribes, minorities, some religious organisations, systems of states such as the European Union and the United Nations, besides others. Diplomacy, negotiation and other interactions form the means of interacion between the objects.

Motivational Strategies Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Motivational Strategies - Essay Example Our goal is to be the leading company in our line of operation and to position our brand as the best in the market. Our main objective is to offer quality and value to our clients. What distinguishes us from our competitors is the ability to attract and retain the best talent around. This makes our brand outstanding among the many brands in the market. We do not only offer a place of work to our employee but what we offer is exciting careers full of challenges, growth and rewards. Our employees improve their ability every day through guidance, training, and knowledge diffusion through teamwork. According to Sarkis et al. (2010), knowledge diffusion is a learning process in which one learns through interaction with both people and the work he does. For this to be possible and effective, our Human Resource Management department believes that good and effective motivation strategies are paramount. To be effective in our motivation strategies we plan, design, update, implement, and evalu ate our motivation strategies every now and then. This makes sure that we always remain relevant to our employees in terms of the motivations we give them as well as determining what is best for our company. When choosing a motivation strategy it is wise to determine the approach, which will maximize employees’ job satisfaction while remaining corporate cost effective (Gaspar 2005). To achieve this we undertake both qualitative and quantitative research on our motivation strategies before implementing them. A key principle of motivation is that people are motivated to pursue and satisfy their needs. This shows that as peoples’ needs increase so will they become more and more motivate in order to satisfy (Berman et al, 2009). To be in line with this principle we conduct research to identify the needs of various categories of our people and incorporate our findings to our motivation strategy. We also understand the difference in the needs of various categories of our emp loyees and thus we do not apply the same motivation strategy to all the categories. There are two kinds of motivation strategies, which are intrinsic motivation strategy and extrinsic motivation strategy (Armstrong 2009). Intrinsic motivation strategy involves factors that influence people is to behave in a particular way like a sense of responsibility, autonomy, the scope of use and develop skills and abilities, interesting and challenging work and opportunities for career advancement. Extrinsic motivation strategy involves what I done to or for people in order to motivate them (Armstrong 2006). Purpose of motivational strategies Our motivational strategies purpose to encourage our people to put more effort in their work, with an objective of assisting the organization to achieve its goals. They also purpose to encourage to continually improving their skills and abilities which might make them earn promotions. This would enable the company to enjoy a pool of experienced and knowled geable employees. The strategies also aim to improve the productivity of the employees in their day to day activities thus increase the company’s output. They also purpose to make the employees to be proud of working in this company which in return increases the company’s ability to retain them The scope of these motivational strategies Intrinsic motivation strategies We give our employees opportunities to practice their abilities and interests in a challenging work environment. We offer our employees opportunities to advance their career through on-job training and mentorship and offer them room for growth and promotion. We offer our workers a sense of responsibility by giving them the chance to be in control of their own learning and improvements. Extrinsic motiva

Improving Waste Management Strategies for Small Livestock Farms Term Paper

Improving Waste Management Strategies for Small Livestock Farms - Term Paper Example The operations of CAFOs lead to production of wastes like manure, litter and the waste water from operations. They are known to have a high content of nitrogen, phosphorus, other metals and a host of harmful bacteria if not managed all these harmful substances can easily get into the environment. It is of importance that factors should put in place to prevent pollution from these small AFOs. The average size of farms has increased steadily over the last several years of this is due to the lucrative livestock industry, which has been known to yield high profits. Six major air pollutants have been identified as coming from AFOs areas or any animal housing areas, animal waste treatment areas they are known to highly contribute to the greenhouse gas emissions. They Include; ammonia nitrous oxide, methane, hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide. The best way to combat these in small farms is in the building of bio gas digesters, which provide cooking gases well as electricity and harness danger ous gases like methane preventing it from getting into the atmosphere (Ciravolo p 259). Though this has been known to be a capital intensive venture individuals, may form small organizations with a cooperative like to set up so that they can put the necessary infrastructure in place for the harnessing of these gases. This will also enable them to harness these gases in large scales, and this can lead to a viable economic return from its sales in the neighboring households. However, this is not a new approach and the stakeholders have to embrace technological means to ensure that they have the best approach to guarantee a clean environment as well as an effective conducive environment to coexist with other small scale farmers. Another major contributor is the odorous gases which lead to anaerobic degradation. Anaerobic degradation involves the decline of composite organic compounds to a range of odorous VFAs by bacteria that form acids. These bacteria alter VFAs to odorless methane a nd carbon dioxide. If these anaerobic components are in equilibrium, most redolent compounds are removed. The governments ought to recognize the status of small-scale livestock farmers and offer incentives to enable them to efficiently deal with waste management. This may be in the form of subsidies, or tax waivers for those who efficiently comply with the regulations put in place. Manure is a byproduct of the whole aspect of livestock production though it is normally viewed as a useful by-product mostly by the farmers. It still poses serious environmental problems if not utilized, applied or disposed in the right manner. Manure contains pathogens and bacteria from within the systems of these animals eliminated as waste products. These pose a big challenge to even the farmers themselves. Pathogens also pose a major challenge; it mainly gets its way to underground water percolation Percolating water provides the adequate mechanism for percolation of microorganisms through soil profil es. In inundated flow, water passes the soil filtering process thus; taking microorganisms with it through the soil profile the best way to address the pathogen problem is by carrying out process like air drying. Air drying is the process through which Animal wastes like manure is desiccated on sand beds basins or any other exposure to the

Leadership Theory Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Leadership Theory - Essay Example This means that Schultz had a preconceived idea that in the nature of his business, those people with the opportunity to lead others in their organization should have got people skills in order to become effective leaders. In its broader sense, Schultz was combining the basic principles of leadership from the point of view of trait and behavioral theories. The very proof is the thought that this can also be explained using the contingency point of view of leadership particularly the Fiedler model which particularly highlights the match between the leader’s style of interacting with subordinates on certain situation in order to achieve high group performance (Arrmandi, Oppedisano & Sherman 2003). This may also fall on implicit theories of leadership where there is emphasis on mental models that substantially includes the combined idea of traits and behaviors of a person (Schyns 2006). Starbucks’s nature of business requires effective group performance, which can only be obtained if there is a leader who according to Schultz has the potential for people skills. At Starbucks, it is about combination of different talents or skills in order to come up with product or service offerings that would place high value for customers. It requires manager in this case who is a leader that at some point could influence the people to maximize their creativity or potential to do well in performing their respective role in the organization. This must be achieved not because of the power of that manager to hire or fire people, but because of his or her people skills that would influence the subordinates. A strong will and loud voice may be integral parts of a boss, but an effective leader requires people skills (Williams & Denney 2010). Modern organizations applied the concept of team-based principle, where leaders’ leadership is assumed to be assigned (Appelbaum, Audet & Miller 2003). In fact, this is another reality at Starbucks. Leadership is assigned to those with

Econometrix Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Econometrix - Assignment Example Test for Significance of Coefficient In order to test the significance of the coefficient, the following hypotheses have been drawn. Ho: The coefficient is equal to zero H1: The coefficient is greater than zero Test Statistics In order to test the significance of the coefficient of Age, t statistic is needed to be calculated. Formula In the given case, the estimated coefficient may be referred as ?Age = 0.043 while the Standard error for ?Age = 0.003. Therefore, Now for the given data set the t tabulated value had been found using the degree of freedom in the given case is 21600 – 3= 21597. The significance level for the test is 1%. The t critical value for the given data is found to be 2.326 (Allison, 1991). Decision Rule The Null hypothesis is rejected if t calculated is greater than t tabulated. Conclusion Since the t calculated value is greater than the t tabulated value i.e. 14.3333>2.326, hence the criteria suggests rejecting the null hypothesis. So it can be concluded t hat the coefficient value is not equal to zero. 1b. The equation required for the desired calculation is In the given case, Age= 30 years Size= 100 employees Therefore, the earnings calculated for the given age and size is equal to 7.337 pounds (Belsley, Kuh & Welsch, 2005). 1c) It depends as it sounds logical that a person with higher education would be earning greater than the one who has less education. Therefore, assuming that bigger organizations hire more educated people, it may be assumed that on average there is less probability that an organization employees older people. Omitting education in case if it is related to age was necessary to rule out the chances of error caused due to the correlation existing between age and education as an increase in age is termed to be negatively associated with education. Thus the model would have implied the issue of multicollinearity. When variables are extremely correlated, the variability explained exclusively by the single variables c an be minor despite the fact that the variation explicated by the variables brought together is great. (Wooldridge, 2012). d. Model 2 (2.430) (0.053) (0.285) The sample size is 83, while R2 is 0.036 1d) By and large, with an increase in sample size, the estimated values tend to be better predictor of the population parameters. Therefore, with each additional observation that is admitted in the sample, the amount of information increases and that additional information usually aids in providing better statistics. Thus if the model provides a better estimating results, the standard errors will be reduced. The model 1 has been framed using an extensively large size of sample while model 2 has eliminated the general public and has enlisted only a specified fragment of the whole population resulting in a decreased size of sample. This ultimately targets the standard errors as they are increased due to the declined size of the sample. This contemplates the information that larger samples will bring forth more accurate estimates of the coefficients’ in a regression analysis (Aiken & West, 1991). e) Hypothesis testing for model 1 Where k=3, N= 21600 while R2=0.025 (Aiken & West, 1991) Calculating the F statistic Let the level of significance be 0.05, the F critical value in that case will be 2.6. Since the F calculated value is less than the F critical, hence,

ALL STATE INSURANCE COMPANY Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

ALL STATE INSURANCE COMPANY - Essay Example That is why goals must, simultaneously with being challenging, be possible to reach. Unrealistic goals can only be counterproductive. How can goals serve as an unifying force in organizations? Having goals put in front of all people in the organization makes them all equal regardless of their particular position within the structure. Managers and regular employees alike, are challenged to meet certain expectations. Most importantly, the role of goal setting is to provide a challenge. Without a clear, specific and reachable goals organization members are more likely to a) work slower, b) perform poorly and c) lack interest in changing a) and b). If we compare model of goal setting offered in the textbook and one in place at Allstate Corporation we find that they are similar in many aspects. By placing the simplified version of the model developed by Locke and Latham side by side with the description of Allstate’s particular example, the first observation is that many key words from the former are clearly repeated in the latter. Allstate has been working on developing goals for decades now and it is clear that they came a long way in that regard. Key words, such are feedback, goal clarity, direction, rewards and satisfaction are integrated masterfully in Allstate’s goal setting program, making it very effective and, also, still innovative. Two components that contribute to this effectiveness are the fact that 40,000 employees of Allstate are evaluated in terms of performance on regular basis. This makes the challenge a constant in the process, not only a one time thing. The other interesting aspect comes from t he fact that company’s executives and managers draw a large portion of their compensation (25%) from Allstate’s Diversity Index. That way they are committed in implementation of the program. Allstate recognized the importance of mediators and moderators in goal setting schema and keeps making them accountable for programs success. Diversity Index

United States use of fossil fuel Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

United States use of fossil fuel - Research Paper Example The United States is considered amongst the largest consumers of fossil fuels, consuming 7.1 billion barrels/year of oil, 23.2 cubic feet/year of natural gas and 1.04 billion short tons/year of coal (Whitney, 2010, pg 20). The countries dependence on fossil fuel has increased over the years; with its total fossil fuel consumption increasing 20 fold in the last 4 decades.The high dependence of fossil fuels is clearly noticeable in the fossil fuel per capita consumption; that is the country consumes 20 to 30 times more fossil fuel per capita than developing nations. This high dependence on fossil fuels results in economic and environmental damage of the country. It is therefore needed that the United States adopt a reusable source of fuel that would lessen the strain on the environment and its economy. It is a well known fact that burning and consumption of fossil fuels results in release of harmful environment damaging substances. Fossil fuels mainly consist of petroleum, natural gas and coal. All three of which contribute to global warming by releasing greenhouse gases when combusted. These greenhouse gases further then contribute towards the global warming effect. Global warming is predicted to lead to other environmental disasters such as the sea level rising and major climate changes. Ultimately, the phenomenon is expected to lead the world into an ice age. The United States has established itself as one of the largest contributors towards making this phenomenon a reality. The United States expelled 6633.2 million metric tons of Carbon dioxide, which is the primary ingredient of global warming (US Environment Protection Agency, 2011, p. 2-5). The country’s economy is heavily based and dependent on fossil fuels. Though the country has its own fossil fuel reserves, it still to meet its large fuel requirements, imports fossil fuel from fossil fuel rich countries such as Saudi Arabia and Iraq becomes a necessity. This import of oil and its derivatives pus hes pressure on the economy. The high consumption of fossil fuels also poses indirect financial expenditures. Sea level rise and increase in destructive power of storms due to global warming, has put coastal cities such as New York, New Orleans and Miami in greater risk. It is estimated that damages could amount to $422 billion in the Atlantic and Gulf States between 2025 and 2100 (Environment America, 2009, p. 17). In a bid to avoid this catastrophic situation both environmentally and economically, it is essential that the United States slowly shifts its economy towards greener energy resources. The country already has installed several power plants that utilize renewable energy resources. As of 2010, renewable energy accounted for 11.4 percent of the electricity produced within the United States. The major sources of renewable fuel within the country are hydro, solar, wind, geothermal (Blackburn, 1987, p. 44). Most of these energy sources have already been developed within the cou ntry. Hydroelectric power contributes 66.8 percent of the total renewable energy and has iconic projects such as the Hoover dam and Grand Coulee dam under its belt. Solar energy plants installed within the Mojave Desert are capable of generating up to 354MW of power. The Solar Energy Generating Systems (SEGS) consists of nine solar power plants that were commissioned between 1984 and 1991. There are more solar plants being constructed in order to increase the amount of coverage by renewable sources; of which two are the Blythe Solar Power Project and Ivanpah Solar Power Facility. Wind power is a growing source of energy within the United States. The power generated by wind farm’s currently amounts to more than 35,159MW. These farms are mostly located within ranches of Texas. The idea of wind farms for renewable source of energy is gaining popularity and wind power is expected to cover 20% of US electricity by 2030. Geothermal source of energy is the fourth largest source of r enewable energy. Geothermal plants are mostly locat

Comparison and Contrast of three essays Essay Example for Free

Comparison and Contrast of three essays Essay We all know that education is one of the most important things in human life. A person needs to be educated in order to have a good future ahead of him. However, there are people who are less fortunate when it comes to education because they cannot afford to come to school. Today, learning is not a matter of gift to share but a wealth for some because they use education to gain money and not the aim of education for people. Because of these scenarios, some people hide their feelings of guilt and pity through text – some of them are Nock, Vetter, and Mitchell.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Nock’s perception of education in his article entitle â€Å"The Disadvantages of Being Educated† is opposite from the dictation of the society that education will lead to a better future. For Nock, education will lead to dissatisfaction of man. If a man is educated, he will search for more and would not be contented in what he has. He will continue to ask for more even if he has a good status in the society; he will seek for more fame and richness. Therefore, he would rather not be educated and live a simple and normal life rather than having a well-educated mind but not contented with everything.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Vetter’s perception of writing on the other hand in his article entitle â€Å"Bonehead Writing† is odd. He used to observe people who want to learn how to write a good text, letter, or even a good paragraph because he perceived that writing is innate and not something that can be learn for it is very hard especially for less fortunate and uneducated people. Once a person survived in a writing class, it is like surviving its life in the forest. For him, whether you take minutes, hours, or days of writing, it will still be senseless if you do not have the capability or the â€Å"gift† of writing.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the article of Mitchell, he showed the true meaning of hunger – not the hunger of stomach but the hunger of mind. Many of the people in America is illiterate, though it is a first world country, there are still people who are uneducated that are unable to read and write. This kind of situation made him feel uncomfortable because America is known for being the first world country. However, he focused his attention to the problem of educators because they are the one who took place and authority in teaching and educating the people preferably the students.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   These three authors of the said articles have different attack in their writing but their similarity is their purpose in their essay. All of them want to impose the needs and present situation of education not only in the United States but in the whole world as well. Nock relates his essay to the uneducated or less educated people because his attack is for educated people, it is a bias perception of the author towards the uneducated people can somehow help but not as always. Vetter’s attack focused on the needs of writing. He wants his readers to feel the incapacity of some people in writing. Through his ideas, his aim for change is not thoroughly established because he made the article too light to handle and because of this, readers would take it as an entertainment than being an educated article. On the other hand, Mitchell is the most serious writer of them all. Mitchell focused his full attention to the real situation of the world, though he wants to focus on America’s problem, it also relates to the problem of different countries. Mitchell’s attack towards the educators and other factors do not make a problematic argument because he delivers his perception and notion of hunger in a factual form.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As a whole, they delivered well what they want to utter to the readers. They are different attacks but their aim are similar from one another, one of them bought entertainment while educating the readers, one takes the situation in academic environment with a light scenario, and one is serious in what he state. All of them made a revelation of what is happening, but the problem is that they do not state the possible solutions to the problems they have encountered. Reference Name. (date). Title. Publisher

Gender Equality In Australia Is Fiction Sociology Essay

Gender Equality In Australia Is Fiction Sociology Essay Gender equality linked with women remains a contemporary issue in Australia. The debate over gender roles is not about what men or women should or should not be doing- its about people having freedom of choice to act constructively in society, and to have their contribution to society respected and recognised. (Linden, 1996) Even though Australia was one of the first countries that watch over women rights, now days it seems that they have stop searching for that equality, like if they frozen and other countries like Norway, Finland and Sweden have pass them in the development of female role in society. Australia, along with New Zealand, was highlighted as leaders in closing the gender gap. Based on the W.E.Fs benchmarking tool (2010), the Gender Gap Index (G.G.I.), Australia achieved a rank of 23, out of 115 countries. Perhaps unsurprisingly the Report has prompted considerable debate in Australia as to the status of women and, in particular, their economic well-being. Whilst many women have benefited from access to education and health, persistent barriers continue to hinder womens economic opportunities and political empowerment within the Australian context. At a time when other countries are integrating gender into the policy development process and adopting programs to monitor womens labour market outcomes Australia appears to be moving in the opposite direction. In Preston and Barns (2009) words, when compared to the 1970s and 1980s it is apparent that the climate within which gender equality is pursued today has significantly chilled. More women are still working in women area  jobs, such as teaching and nursing. Engineering and computering attracts 25% male student applications, and only 5% females (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2006). Despite years of legislation and changing social attitudes, the  opportunity  for females to achieve at the highest levels of many professions and occupations seems to be very challenging. The gap between men and women earings has fallen over the years. Pay equitity is about providing equal remuneration for work of equal value. That means paying men and women equally for work that is of equal skill and responsibility, and is performed under comparable conditions. Ensuring that all workers have the same access to benefits, superannuation, allowances and other disectionary payments. Women have to find their equal place in political life throughout the world. It was in 1893 that New Zeland became the first country in the world to legislate for the right for women to vote in free elections, Australia followed in 1902. It was until 1918 that the United States and Great Britain approved this legislation (Oldfield, 1992). Before these time women were not considered important enough or intelligent enough to exercise this power. It was felt that their husbands, fathers or brothers no matter how ignorant they were, had a much better understanding and ability to decide on issues of the date. It was a long and hard battle for women to achieve this legislation, but when women from all areas of society united to demand their rights, law-makers could not deny it any more. With the vote came gradual recognition of womens rights as full members of society. Legal protection was slow and unreliable to begin with, because the laws were debated and passed by men, who as a group were not necessarily interested in the injustice made to women. According to (Linden, 1996) custody of children in divorces became commonly awarded to women, and most unlikely to all, moves were made to ensure they would be paid the same amount as men for doing the same work; this particular point is still a big issue now days. During the Second World War, women were required to take  on jobs  that were previously occupied by men. Women worked in factories and drove buses; and upon the mens return from war, many women refused to relinquish this new found freedom Prit says (2008). In order to make women to go back to their housework and let the men to occupy their jobs wages for women went from 90 per cent of men rate to 75 per cent, a rate fixed in the 1950s by the Arbitration Court (Graig, Lewins, White, 2003) arguing that men have a bigger responsibility with his children and wife so they should received a higher wage. Through this what the government wanted was to established the Australian way of life that is that women stay at home in the suburbs taking care of the children and cook while the man of the house go to work . In the 1960s according to Prit (2008) was when feminist campaigns began to ask for equal pay, equal  opportunities, anti-discrimination, child and maternity welfare, divorce laws and childcare. They also demanded freedom of choice for women, not only for education and  employment, but for marriage, contraception and abortion. The Feminist Movement shocked many older, conservative womens organizations, such as the Country Womens Association. The feminist movement continued to grow and in 1969 there was an important case The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union Others v Meat and Allied Trades Federation of Australia Others. Before this time womens wages are set substantially lower than that of their male equivalent. The introduction of equal pay is prompted by a number of factors, including the ILO Convention on Equal Pay, increasing female employment, and the abolition of the Basic Wage in 1967. The 1969 decision grants equal pay for equal work, The Commonwealth Conciliation and Arbitration Commission rules, however, that equal pay is not applicable where the work in question is essentially or usually performed by females but is work upon which male employees may also be employed. By the time of the 1972 equal pay case, figures are produced to show that only 18 per cent of women workers have benefited as a result of the 1969 decision (Fair Work Australia, 2010). As Australian society moved towards an acceptance of gender equality, it was important that political and legislative policies reflected that change. There have been legislations passed, such as the 1984 Commonwealth Sex Discrimination Act, that have shaped equality for women. The Act came after Australia signed the United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. It says that it is illegal to discriminate people because of their sex, maritial status, pregnancy, sexual harassment, and family responsibilities (Equal Opportunity Commission, 2010). The 1990s saw an increase in women holding high profile leadership positions, with Jennie George becoming the first woman to be appointed President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions and Carla Zampatti the first woman appointed as Chair of SBS (Australian Government, 2010). At the turn of the century, the ageing population dilemma and the need for skilled labour was high on political agendas, and is almost certainly one of the most powerful forces forging the way for Australian women now, with a new found focus on barriers to work for women; focusing on the need for appropriate childcare options in order to facilitate workforce participation, the concentration of policy in lowering effective tax rates for working women and the increased bounty of government payments for working families. A survey of the Inter-Parliamentarian Union in 1993 showed that women held just 10 per cent of the worlds parliamentary seats. What made this figure even more warring was that five years earlier it had been almost half again as high, at 14.6 per cent. The Australian Labour Party was the first Australian party to establish a quota for women. On 27 September 1994 it voted to commit at least 35 per cent of winnable seats to women by 2002. The business of how a candidate actually gets up is something that is rarely gone into in detail. Parties say that candidates should be committed, knowledgeable, and have voter appeal (Linden, 1996). In the Forty-First Parliament of Australia (2004-2007) there were 23 female senators and 38 women in the House of Representatives. On 24 June 2010,  Julia Gillard  became the first woman to lead one of the major political parties at the federal level as Leader of the Australian Labor Party, as well as the first female Prime Minister of Australia (Australian Government, 2010).In politics matter, women have little by little gone further, they made the way up to the top. They have earned the respect of people and governments, and have proved that they can handle a mens job. But these equality seeking have some sacrifices, women are putting apart their other important role as mothers to grow as professionals. The report findings highlight the challenge for women to maintain a work life balance and it found that women are still doing the majority of the child rearing and housework. Women with children employed full-time spend on average 78 hours a week in paid and unpaid work while full-time men with children spend only 74 hours a week according to NATSEM University of Canberra (2009). The differences can be found in the amount of time men pitch in to help with the kids and housework. Full-time women with children spend 15 hours per week doing the cooking and cleaning compared with only six hours per week for men. For a part-time mother the reality is even harsher a part-time woman averages 74 hours a week in paid and unpaid work, 23 hours are spent with the kids and 20 hours on the housework, while part-time men with children work 58 hours in paid and u npaid work, and 14 hours of that is spent with the kids and nine hours is dedicated to the housework (NATSEM University of Canberra, 2009). So its little wonder really that the report made by NATSEM in 2009 found that half of employed women feel rushed or pressed for time compared with only a third of employed men. Not surprisingly women are choosing education and career and then maybe baby, which has seen an increase in the age of first time mothers to 29 . Fertility has declined considerably since the Baby Boomer generation; however, more recently there has been a slight improvement in total fertility rising to 1.9 children in 2007 from 3.5 children per woman in the Baby Boomer generation. Regardless of the advances in equal opportunity in the workplace 22 per cent of pregnant working women said they faced a workplace difficulty in relation to their pregnancy and some said they had missed out on training, development and promotion. The report found that once the baby is born women are taking all the paid leave available to them and they are even resorting to taking unpaid leave. Results show that over half of professi onal women took paid maternity leave compared with just eight per cent of elementary clerical, sales and services workers. And 76 per cent of public sector women having babies took paid maternity leave, in contrast to 25 per cent of women in the private sector. In  conclusion, prior to the 1960s females only received 54 per cent the wages males earned. Although women are allowed to equal wages today, on average women only receive According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006), 84 per cent of what men earn . Women are less likely to be promoted, receive bonuses and not often expected to fulfill the requirements to be employed in a stereotypical male job. The historical conflict about social differentiations and varying levels of power and authority between males and females has come to a point where co-operation between the two genders would be favorable. Equality of  opportunity   can be better achieved though support and focus on unity rather than differences. Australia play a leading role in promoting women`s increase participation. There is still progress to be made to achieve equal outcomes and opportunities for men and women. Gender equality and the rights contained within legislation rely on the overall legal system, as well as cultural attitudes for execution and enforcement. However, gaps do exist in the treatment of legislation, and in the way by which it is enforced. Taking concrete action to advance human rights and support opportunity and choice require a combined effort across the entire of government, in addition to the important constant role of specialist human rights monitoring and complaints mechanisms.