...competitively priced by reducing cost (implementing “platform” design across DaimlerChrysler) f. Was it really “a merger of equals”? What went wrong? (see table and reference #2 – Muller, 2001) Issues faced by DaimlerChrysler after 1998 merger: a. How to leverage “soft” assets, such as Intellectual Capital in the form of Knowledge Management? b. How to resolve cultural differences between Daimler and Chrysler c. How to convince executives, managers, and staff to be open and remain loyal d. How can knowledge management be used to smooth the merger process * See reference #4 (Robb, 2003) for similarities between related KM acquisitions and mergers e. Is there enough resources or reason to adopt Knowledge Management * See Table A for comparison of companies that adopted KM Transfer of resources and capabilities: a. Economies of Integration: reduce costs and improve quality b. Economies of scope: obtaining synergies from transfer of core competencies i. Chrysler – known for innovation in design and marketing knowledge ii. Daimler – has brand equity and state-of-the-art engineering in R&D iii. Sharing of distribution and sales networks to gain market share Lessons learned: a. There was definitely a need for...
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...orientation, socio-economic status, age, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, or other ideologies. It is the exploration of these differences in a safe, positive, and nurturing environment. It is about understanding each other and moving beyond simple tolerance to embracing and celebrating the rich dimensions of diversity contained within each individual (free dictionary). In order for a company to survive and prosper in an increasingly society, organizations must capitalize on employee diversity as a source of completive advantage. The debate over how to deal with diversity has become highly charged and politicized. Therefore, companies have to design a diversity training program to raise awareness, understanding for cross-cultural issues as well as for areas of sexual orientation, age, gender, ethnicity, race, religion and mental or physical disability. Analyzing Diversity The word diversity is not new to the American vernacular; it has been around for many years. However, the meaning of the word diversity continues to evolve as the United States changes its demographics. Merriam-Webster 3rd edition defines diversity as “the condition of being different or having differences”. Earlier research focused mainly on race and gender differences. Current research focuses on employee differences originating from ethnicity, culture, lifestyle, age, social status, educational background, and extending to physical and...
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...Emerging role of Knowledge Management with special reference to educational sector Chitranshi Verma Research Scholar & Faculty in Centre of Management Studies, G.S.College of Commerce & Economics,Jabalpur(chitranshi.verma@gmail.com) Purpose of the study: To find the effective use of new concepts like knowledge management in the education sector. Research Methodology: The study on this topic would mainly be conducted through the available secondary data. Globalization has brought in new opportunities to developing countries. Greater access to developed country markets and technology transfer hold out promises for improved productivity & higher living standards. It is a very positive force that has lifted the developing countries. With its advent various new concepts have emerged, one of them is knowledge management. Introduction- Knowledge Management (KM) comprises a range of strategies and practices used in an organization to identify, create, represent, distribute, and enable adoption of insights and experiences. Such insights and experiences comprise knowledge, either embodied in individuals or embedded in organizational processes or practice. Knowledge management is the process of transforming information and intellectual...
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...Applying Knowledge Management to Oil and Gas Industry Challenges Released October 2002 By Paige Leavitt (with contributions from Cynthia Raybourn and Cindy Hubert) The oil and gas industry has taken advantage of knowledge management (KM) developments for more than a decade. In that time, the industry has experienced rapid changes and so many mergers that a oneworded petroleum company name now seems like an oddity. Throughout the rapid advance of technology, an extension of offshore drilling, numerous acquisitions, the growing reliance on foreign oil sources, and a focus on environmental issues, KM initiatives have played a part in making operations more efficient and effective. For instance, when oil and gas companies have been faced with new technology, outsourcing, new partnerships, and government regulation, their KM teams have provided support through technology and knowledge transfer, as well as asset management. When business issues involved capacity management, cost reduction, and the environment, KM played a part through forecasting/scheduling and process and technique innovation. And to improve speed and convenience, KM initiatives have expanded to address point-of-sale technology adoption and procedure effectiveness. Undeniably, KM has been proven to increase stock market valuation, assist in growth through acquisition, lead to better-developed products, and encourage intelligent leadership for tenacious early adopters. Chevron's (now ChevronTexaco's) definition of...
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...Applying Knowledge Management to Oil and Gas Industry Challenges Released October 2002 By Paige Leavitt (with contributions from Cynthia Raybourn and Cindy Hubert) The oil and gas industry has taken advantage of knowledge management (KM) developments for more than a decade. In that time, the industry has experienced rapid changes and so many mergers that a oneworded petroleum company name now seems like an oddity. Throughout the rapid advance of technology, an extension of offshore drilling, numerous acquisitions, the growing reliance on foreign oil sources, and a focus on environmental issues, KM initiatives have played a part in making operations more efficient and effective. For instance, when oil and gas companies have been faced with new technology, outsourcing, new partnerships, and government regulation, their KM teams have provided support through technology and knowledge transfer, as well as asset management. When business issues involved capacity management, cost reduction, and the environment, KM played a part through forecasting/scheduling and process and technique innovation. And to improve speed and convenience, KM initiatives have expanded to address point-of-sale technology adoption and procedure effectiveness. Undeniably, KM has been proven to increase stock market valuation, assist in growth through acquisition, lead to better-developed products, and encourage intelligent leadership for tenacious early adopters. Chevron's (now ChevronTexaco's) definition of...
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...10 Incorporating Cross-cultural Communication in ELT: A Pedagogical Approach ■ Y. Suneetha Rajeev Gandhi Memorial College of Engineering & Technology, Nandyal G.M. Sundaravalli Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupathi ABSTRACT: Cross-cultural communication has become ever more significant through the globalization of markets, affairs of nation-states and technologies. Consequently, the cultural quotient (CQ) is becoming increasingly important, especially in the context of the changing dynamics of work culture around the world. This paper makes a case for the need to pay attention to intercultural communication and discusses some specific approaches and strategies in the teaching of intercultural communication in the classroom. These approaches include addressing issues like learning to honour one’s own culture and sharing it with others while developing a capacity to be open to other cultures. Other strategies include progressing from an ethnocentric to an ethno-relative state of understanding and acceptance of cultural differences and increasing one’s ability to communicate with non-native speakers. Specifically, classroom practices and strategies suggested include intercultural explorations, use of texts, films, short stories and other multi-media resources, contrastive case studies of cultures, group encounters and role plays. Introduction Sir Francis Bacon said that if a man was gracious and courteous to strangers, it showed that he was a citizen of the world, and...
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...9-603-062 REV. OCTOBER 29, 2002 DOROTHY LEONARD DAVID KIRON Managing Knowledge and Learning at NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Downsizing at NASA over the last decade through attrition and buyouts has resulted in an imbalance in NASA’s skill mix.1 — The President’s Management Agenda, Fiscal Year 2002 By the end of this decade, many of the most experienced scientists and engineers at NASA and JPL are going to retire. If we don’t have systems in place to retain more of what they know, our institution is going to suffer. — Jeanne Holm, Chief Knowledge Architect for NASA In the spring of 2002, Jeanne Holm, Chief Knowledge Architect for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and its Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), was giving a tour of JPL. Stopping at a viewing stage above JPL’s mission control center, Holm explained the growing need for knowledge management at NASA: Almost 40% of JPL’s science and engineering workforce is currently eligible for retirement. In just four years, half of NASA’s entire workforce will be eligible. Many of these people are the most experienced project managers—the people who worked on Apollo (the mission to the Moon) and built the first space shuttle. Yet, we have few programs designed to bring their wisdom into our institutional memory. In the past 10 years, the budgets on our missions have been radically reduced, missions have multiplied ten-fold, and our scientists and engineers have been pushed...
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...1.1 Aim The aim of this research is to discuss the statement ‘people working in teams always achieve their goals more efficiently and effectively than people working alone’. By relating academic research and the author’s personal observations to the theories of team development, team design, team effectiveness and motivation, this report will identify and analyse key factors that impact on team performance both positively and negatively to assist in drawing a conclusion as to the validity of the above statement. 1.2 Relevance With every day that goes by the world edges closer to a globalized economy; as the furious advancement of technology continues with unyielding pace, organisations are expanding at a rate that is phenomenal. These organisations have started to reach for every source of information from newspapers to academic journals, from discoveries to breakthroughs to find a way to feed their growing expansion even faster. And with that has come the subject of teams. Numerous articles have been published about the benefits of teams. Peters & Waterman, (1982) as cited in Castka et al.,(2001) refer to teamwork as a critical factor in the most successful of companies. Another author, Colenso, (2000) as cited in Castka et al., (2001), suggests that if teams are used effectively it can result in significant improvements to productivity, creativity and employee satisfaction. The results of this research allow readers to gain some insight into the critical issues that...
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...Knowledge Management Tools and Techniques Practitioners and Experts Evaluate KM Solutions This page intentionally left blank Knowledge Management Tools and Techniques Practitioners and Experts Evaluate KM Solutions Edited by Madanmohan Rao AMSTERDAM • BOSTON • HEIDELBERG • LONDON NEW YORK • OXFORD • PARIS • SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO • SINGAPORE • SYDNEY • TOKYO Butterworth-Heinemann is an imprint of Elsevier Elsevier Butterworth–Heinemann 200 Wheeler Road, Burlington, MA 01803, USA Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP, UK Copyright © 2005, Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher. Permissions may be sought directly from Elsevier’s Science & Technology Rights Department in Oxford, UK: phone: (+44) 1865 843830, fax: (+44) 1865 853333, e-mail: permissions@elsevier.com.uk. You may also complete your request on-line via the Elsevier homepage (http://elsevier.com), by selecting “Customer Support” and then “Obtaining Permissions.” Recognizing the importance of preserving what has been written, Elsevier prints its books on acid-free paper whenever possible. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Rao, Madanmohan. KM tools and techniques : practitioners and experts evaluate KM solutions / Madanmohan Rao. p. cm. Includes...
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...Essay Questions (Ch 9) 1. Identify and briefly discuss the four distinguishing characteristics of a mature (well-functioning) group. The distinguishing characteristics includes (1) a clear purpose and mission, (2) well-understood norms and standards of conduct (3) a high level of group cohesion (4) a flexible status structure. Stating the purpose in terms specific goals enhances productivity over and above any performance benefits achieved through individual goal setting. Behavioral norms for high performance and productivity set above organizational norms characterizes high performing work groups. Smaller groups tend to be more cohesive than large groups, and cohesion based on attraction results in effective control over members with respect to important performance norms. Successful resolution of authority issues within a group result in a well understood status structure. This contributes to group functioning. 2. Describe the five stages of Tuckman's Group Development Process. What individual and group issues are addressed in each stage? Forming Storming Norming Performing Adjourning Individual How do I What's my What do the How can I Whta's issues fit in? role here? Others expect best perform next? ...
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...Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning William R. King Katz Graduate School of Business, University of Pittsburgh wking115@yahoo.com For centuries, scientists, philosophers and intelligent laymen have been concerned about creating, acquiring, and communicating knowledge and improving the re-utilization of knowledge. However, it is only in the last 15–20 years or so that a distinct field called “knowledge management” (KM) has emerged. KM is based on the premise that, just as human beings are unable to draw on the full potential of their brains, organizations are generally not able to fully utilize the knowledge that they possess. Through KM, organizations seek to acquire or create potentially useful knowledge and to make it available to those who can use it at a time and place that is appropriate for them to achieve maximum effective usage in order to positively influence organizational performance. It is generally believed that if an organization can increase its effective knowledge utilization by only a small percentage, great benefits will result. Organizational learning (OL) is complementary to KM. An early view of OL was “encoding inferences from history into routines that guide behavior” (Levitt and March, 1988, p. 319). So, OL has to do with embedding what has been learned into the fabric of the organization. 1 The Basics of Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning To understand KM and OL, one must understand knowledge, KM...
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...ASSIGNMENT OF CROSS CULTURAL MANAGEMENT SUBMITTED TO:- Dr.(cdr) SATISH SETH SIR SUBMITTED BY:- VENKATESH KUMAR PGDM 6-A ROLL NO-60 Q1. What is meant by the term culture? In what way can measuring attitudes about the following help to differentiate between cultures: centralized or decentralized decision making, safety or risk, individual or group rewards, high or low organizational loyalty, cooperation or competition? Use these attitudes to compare the United States, Germany, and Japan. Based on your comparisons, what conclusions can you draw regarding the impact of culture on behavior? Ans:- culture is defined as the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization. Culture is the acquired knowledge that people use to interpret experience and generate social behavior. This knowledge forms values, creates attitudes, and influences behavior (Hodges, 2005). Centralized versus decentralized cultures are different in which the top managers or leaders make all the important decisions in a centralized culture and in a decentralized culture, the decisions are made throughout the levels. Safety and risk in some cultures are frowned upon because the...
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...Lead and Develop Center of Excellence. He is located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA and can be reached at steve@strategicleadershipcollaborative.com. Abstract Purpose – The purpose of the paper is to conduct a global literature review and develop a viewpoint on the most critical success factors required to develop a global leadership mindset. Design/methodology/approach – The paper takes the form of a global literature review and the author's viewpoint. Findings – Global leadership development must be driven by an organization's global business strategy. Having “global” experiences at work does not guarantee effective global leadership. The acquisition of a true global mindset enables leadership effectiveness in a global capacity. As cultural and business complexity increase so does the demand for a global mindset, almost exponentially given the intersect of this complex environment. Practical implications – Methods for global leadership development include examination, education, experience and exposure. Originality/value – The paper provides a fresh perspective. Journal: Industrial and Commercial Training Volume: 42; Number: 1; Year: 2010; pp 310Copyright © Emerald Group Publishing Limited ISSN: 0019-7858. Effective global leadership requires a global mindset by Dr. Stephen L. Cohen True or false? Effective global leadership requires …: • • • • • • … having lived in more than one country. … having traveled to other countries. … speaking more than one language...
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...increase in the number of qualitative studies that include participant observation as a way to collect information. Qualitative methods of data collection, such as interviewing, observation, and document analysis, have been included under the umbrella term of "ethnographic methods" in recent years Aspects of observation discussed herein include various definitions of participant observation, some history of its use, the purposes for which such observation is used, the stances or roles of the observer, and additional information about when, what, and how to observe It is also a structured type of research strategy. It is a widely used methodology in many disciplines, particularly, cultural anthropology. Its aim is to gain a close and intimate familiarity with a given group of individuals (such cultural group, or a particular community) and their practices through an intensive involvement with people in their natural environment, usually over an extended period of time. Observation methods are useful to anthropologists in a variety of ways. They provide researchers with ways to check for nonverbal expression of feelings, determine who interacts with whom, grasp how participants communicate with each other, and check for how much time is spent on various activities. Participant observation allows researchers to check definitions of terms that participants use in interviews, observe events that informants may be unable or unwilling to share Espinal 2 when doing...
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...Essay #1 - What are the four fields of anthropology and how do they relate to each other and to history, sociology, political science, philosophy and psychology. The four fields are: Physical Anthropology, Archaeology, Linguistic Anthropology, Cultural Anthropology or Ethnology. Anthropology is the study of humankind which can entail uniqueness, racial division, physical characteristics, geographical division and social relations of his or her environment. Anthropologist tries to discover if there are structural similarities and all four subfields bridge the gap between the knowledge and the human race. Physical anthropology is the human adaptation or alteration comes from this research for example genetics and forensics. Archaeologists seek and examine artifacts whether it is trash, historic or prehistoric. Linguistic anthropology is how language is used and acquired in a social network of humans historically from caveman’s to modern language today. Cultural anthropology or ethnology is the study of progressive culture throughout the world. Political Science relates to anthropology is tremendous as modern research is racial divide, customs and habits of man which has helped us the real background and development of the primitive man or woman. The behavior of man is biased by his racial origin and surroundings in which he or she resides. Sociology is the study of human culture or societal relations which relates to our four subfields of anthropology as sociology is part of...
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