Organizational Knowledge Essay Example

Organizational Knowledge Essay We live in an information economy in which the major source of wealth and prosperity is the production and distribution of information and knowledge. An era in which the key economic resource is knowledge is startlingly different from an era in which the key resources were capital, raw materials, land and labor. Emerging service economy trend lead many organizations towards the information base strategies to face and fight with the current business competitions. In that case knowledge plays a major role in every organization. In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge. (Harvard Business Review) Therefore an organization? s most valuable assets are the people it employs. The ideas, experiences, expertise and knowledge contained in the mind of an individual may be worth more to an organization. In this case, Knowledge can be recognized as an important weapon for sustaining competitive advantage in organizations and many companies are beginning to manage organizational knowledge. Any organization that dynamically deals with a changing environment ought not only to process information efficiently but also create information and knowledge. (Lee Choi, 2003) 3 Organizational Knowledge It is often said that an organization? s most valuable assets are the people it employs. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Knowledge specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Knowledge specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Knowledge specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The ideas, experiences, expertise and knowledge contained in the mind of an individual may be worth more to an organization than can be quantified with respect to how that knowledge is applied each day to save time, reduce costs, and advance the organization? s initiatives. How can an organization capitalize on individual knowledge? How do individuals contribute to subunits or groups within the organization to build and perpetuate group knowledge? How does individual and group knowledge become organizational knowledge that can be captured, reused, and applied to achieve measurable positive effects for the organization? When might extraorganizational knowledge be used to further increase or enhance the capabilities of an organization? In line with the topic; Organizational knowledge, we have to explores these questions, first by defining each knowledge type, then by examining how knowledge moves through an organization and becomes valuable organizational intellectual capital. Defining Knowledge Knowledge is a cognitive, a spiritual, event that take place inside people? s heads. There are two primary definitions of the knowledge as the Tacit Knowledge and the Explicit Knowledge. In simply knowledge residing in the minds of employees that has not been documented is called tacit knowledge, whereas knowledge that has been documented is called explicit knowledge. Tacit Knowledge Tacit Knowledge can be defined as knowledge that has not yet been codified from the outside the individual? s mind. On another words, knowledge that comes from experience and is difficult or impossible to communicate. It is intangible and consists of knowledge which is difficult to express and to communicate to other people. Also it is more difficult to transmit than codified knowledge and hard to formalize due to belonged personal qualities. Examples for tacit knowledge are; Awareness Mental models Wisdom Skills Expertise Corporate memory 4 Explicit Knowledge Explicit knowledge, in contrast, is the knowledge that can be codified and is transmittable in formal systematic language. (Nonaka 1994) It consists of knowledge which can be expressed in symbols, and which can be communicated through these symbols to other people. Knowledge can reside in e-mail, unstructured documents, hand books, manuals can be listed under this category. Examples for explicit knowledge are; Databases, statistics, collections Books, publications, reports, documents, correspondence Photographs, diagrams, illustrations Computer code, expert systems, decision support systems Presentations, speeches, lectures Recorded experiences, stories Materials for education, teaching and training Laws, regulations, procedures, rules, policies Individual Knowledge Individual knowledge can be defined simply as knowledge possessed by the individual. This knowledge is most often tacit unless the individual possesses explicit knowledge that is not shared with anyone or any organization other than the individual. A private journal or private blog might be considered explicit individual knowledge. Individual knowledge can be acquired through experiences, and at times it can be acquired without language. When an individual is acquiring knowledge from observing another person? s actions, and once the individual applies his or her own experiences and background to what is learned it becomes individual knowledge. The creation of new „individual? knowledge derived from observation, imitation and practice is called socialization, or tacit to tacit knowledge sharing. Individual knowledge can certainly develop from explicit knowledge. What a person reads, for example, can contribute to new thoughts and ideas in the mind of the individual. This method of knowledge creation is referred to as internalization – turning explicit knowledge into 5 tacit knowledge. By reading or acquiring explicit knowledge, independent thought and analysis can develop into new, individual knowledge. An individual can make a greater contribution to the knowledge sharing and creation process by allowing their knowledge to be internalized by others or socializing their knowledge with others, which leads to the creation of group knowledge. Group Knowledge Group knowledge might be defined as individual knowledge that multiple individuals rely upon as truth, share and understand. Group knowledge is â€Å"broadcast information† (Correa da Silva Cullell, 56), but is not necessarily information shared „publicly? (i. e. â€Å"common knowledge†). Group knowledge can be generated and disseminated through socialization and often results in the transformation of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, or externalization. When groups come together and exchange ideas, â€Å"individual knowledge is synthesized to arrive at group knowledge, which eventually becomes routing at the organizational level. Thus, the transformation of individual knowledge into organizational routines leads to complex and embodied organizational knowledge. When group knowledge from several subunits or groups is combined and used to create new knowledge, the resulting tacit and explicit knowledge can be called organizational knowledge. 6 Important Dimensions of Knowledge Knowledge is a firm asset Knowledge is an intangible asset. Knowledge is not subject to the law of diminishing returns as physical assets, but its value increases as more people share it. Knowledge has different forms Knowledge can be either tacit or explicit (codified) Knowledge involves know-how, craft and skill Knowledge involves knowing how to follow procedures Knowledge has a location Knowledge is a cognitive event involving mental models and maps of individuals There is both a social and an individual basis of knowledge Knowledge is sticky, situated, and contextual Knowledge is situational Knowledge is conditional: Knowing when to apply a procedure is just as important as knowing the procedure Knowledge is related to context SOURCE: Laudon and Laudon, 2008. Management Information Systems Knowledge Creation New knowledge always begins with the individual. Making personal knowledge available to others is the central activity of the knowledge creating company. It takes place continuously and at all levels of the organization. Organizational knowledge creation may be explicated by the interchange between tacit and explicit knowledge. According to Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), â€Å"tacit knowledge is highly personal and hard to formalize, making it difficult to communicate or to share with others. Subjective insights, intuitions, and hunches fall into this category of knowledge†. On the other 7 hand, explicit knowledge is more easily transmitted as it is characteristically codified. As such, explicit knowledge is more easily processed and shared with others. According to the theory, the process of knowledge conversion proceeds through four different modes: 1. Socialization (the conversion of tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge) 2. Combination (the conversion of explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge) 3. Externalization (the conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge) and 4. Internalization (the conversion of explicit to tacit knowledge) Socialization During the socialization mode, tacit knowledge is transferred through interactions between individuals, which may also be accomplished in the absence of language; individuals may learn and gain a sense of competence by observing behavior modeled by others. For example, mentoring and apprenticeships instruct tacitly through observation, imitation, and practice. Combination The combination mode of knowledge conversion embodies the aggregation of multiple examples of explicit knowledge (Nonaka, 1994). Explicit knowledge may be exchanged during meetings or conferences in which a diversity of knowledge sources combines to shape a new and enhanced conception. Externalization The externalization mode of the knowledge conversion spiral references the translation of tacit knowledge into explicit. Metaphors are recommended as a way to facilitate this translation (Nonaka, 1994). Metaphors assist individuals in explaining concealed (i. e. , tacit) concepts that are otherwise difficult to articulate by assisting individuals in forming impressions based on â€Å"imagination and intuitive learning through symbols†. Internalization The conversion of explicit to tacit knowledge, i. e. , the internalization mode occurs through a series of iterations in which concepts become concrete and ultimately absorbed as an integral 8 belief or value. Where externalization utilizes metaphors to facilitate knowledge conversion, internalization represents an active process of learning. Nonaka (1994) describes this as â€Å"participants†¦.. sharing explicit knowledge that is gradually translated, through interaction and a process of trial-and-error, into different aspects of tacit knowledge. It is found most commonly at highly successful Japanese companies such as Honda, Canon, Matushita and Sharp are in focusing to the knowledge creation. Managers in these companies recognize that creating new knowledge is not simply a matter of mechanistically â€Å"Processing† objective information. The knowledge creation process The mutual exchange of tacit and explicit knowledge that describes the knowledge creation process is initiated at the level of the individual employee or organizational member. Because individuals are an integral component of this conversion process, their commitment to knowledge creation is critical. According to Nonaka (1994), knowledge creation may be activated when organizational members have freedom and sufficient purpose to pursue new knowledge. A continuous process of questioning and reconsidering existing premises by individual members of the organization fosters organizational knowledge creation† (Nonaka Takeuchi, 1995). Knowledge Management For hundreds of years, owners of family businesses have passed their commercial wisdom on to their children, master artificer have taught their trades to followers, and workers have exchanged their knowledge on the job. Therefore knowledge management is nothing new, but until the 1990s that managers were not talking about knowledge management. (Harvard Business Review) When the industrialized economies have shifted from natural resources to intellectual assets, managers have been constrained to censor the knowledge underlying their businesses and how that knowledge is used. At that same time rice of technological devices using; mainly computers has made it possible to codify, store, and share certain kind of knowledge more easily than ever. In current business environment, Knowledge management has become an important theme at many large business firms as managers realize that much of their firm? s value depends on firm? s ability to create and manage knowledge. (Laudon Laudon). Studies have found that a substantial part of a firm? s stock market value is related to its intangible assets, of which knowledge is one important component, along with brands, reputations, and unique business processes (Gu and Lev, 2001). Well executed knowledge-based projects have been known to produce extra ordinary returns on investment, although knowledge-based investments are difficult to measure (Blair and Wallman, 2001). Knowledge Management is the process of leveraging organizational knowledge to deliver longterm advantage to a business. This, in turn, requires technology to capture, codify, store, disseminate and reuse the knowledge. Any organization, before framing a strategy, should analyze the industry and should understand all relevant parameters of industry growth. This analysis would yield results on the industry parameters like growth/ recession buyer/supplier power leading to determining the attractiveness of competition. The competitor analysis would reveal the strategy adopted by the competitors and identify the possible future movements of the competitors and to predict the strategies that are likely to be adopted by them. An organization can gain competitive advantage and sustain it only if it is able to understand the needs of the customer and track the changes in the customer needs. In this context, the analysis of the needs of customer gains importance. An organization should assess the resources and capabilities, before formulating a strategy, since the resources and capabilities should aid the operationalization of the chosen strategy. The right combination of resources and capabilities in the context of a strategy can be discovered through the process of knowledge management. Knowledge Management Value Chain Knowledge management increases the ability of the organization to learn from its environment and to incorporate knowledge into its business processes. Knowledge value is very difficult to measure and it is extracted when knowledge is used. Knowledge sharing increases the value of knowledge with abundance. Knowledge management value chain is a sequence of intellectual tasks by which knowledge workers build their employer? s unique competitive advantage and social and environmental benefits. There are four main value adding steps in the knowledge 10 management value chain; each stage adds value to raw data and information as they are transformed into usable knowledge. Acquisition Storage Dissemination Application Figure 02: Knowledge Management value chain Knowledge acquisition Organizations acquire knowledge in a number of ways, depending on the type of knowledge they seek. In a way, organizations acquire knowledge by developing online expert networks so that employees can â€Å"find the expert† in the company who has the knowledge in his or her head. Other than that firms have to create new knowledge by discovering patterns in corporate data or by using knowledge work stations where engineers can discover new knowledge. A coherent and organized knowledge system also requires systematic data from the firm? transaction processing systems (sales, payments, inventory, customers etc. ), news feeds, industry reports, legal opinions, scientific research and government statistics as well. Knowledge storage Knowledge storage generally involves the creation of a database. Expert systems also help corporations preserve the knowledge that is acquired by incorporating that knowledge into organiza tional process and culture. Management must support the development of planned knowledge storage systems to update and store documents properly. 11 Knowledge Dissemination Portal, e-mail, instant messaging and search engine technology have added to the existing technologies for sharing documents, data and graphics. Training programmes, informal networks and shared management experience communicated through a supportive culture help managers focus their attention on the important knowledge and information which is really important for their decisions and their work. Knowledge Application Knowledge that is not shared and applied to the practical problems facing firms and managers does not add business value. To provide a return on investment, organizational knowledge must become a systematic part of management decision making and become situated in decision support systems. An organizations can do this is to build online information databases that employees can access which works as an online knowledge bank. Other than this some knowledge management experts have suggest that organizations create â€Å"communities of practice†, which are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems or a passion about a topic and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in that area by interacting on an ongoing basis. Out of the four steps in knowledge management value chain, knowledge sharing is considered to be the most important one, and it is said â€Å"Knowledge sharing is the power† instead of â€Å"Knowledge is the Power†. In order to do this an organization must have a knowledge supporting culture, that management can support the knowledge creation and sharing. In line with that perfect human resource management is a prior functional area in an organization. Top management provides employees with a sense of direction by setting the standards for justifying the value of knowledge that is constantly being developed by the organization? members. Deciding which efforts to support and develop is a strategic task. (Harvard business review on Knowledge management, 2008) 12 Knowledge Applications in the Technological Aspect Business Problems ? ? ? Monitor service levels and costs Develop document access rules Management ? Document intensive business Fragmented information in legacy s ystems and manual processes ? ? ? Coordinate Documents and maintenance data Develop Document Access procedures Revise repair and maintenance procedures Organization Information systems Business solution ? ? Reduce time Reduse cost ? ? ? ? Implement oracle database Deploy laptops Technology Immediately access Equipment maintenance information Figure 03: Use of Technology in Knowledge Management Process The diagram shows how organizations can use technology in solving business problems and how an organization can reduce the time consumption and the cost by using information systems. These information systems would include transaction processing systems, management information systems, decision support systems, expert systems and intelligent systems etc. Knowledge Management Strategies There are mainly two types of knowledge management strategies. In some companies, the strategy centered on the computer. In that c knowledge is carefully codified and stored in databases, where it can be easily accessed and used by anyone in the company. This is called Codification Strategy. 13 Codification Strategy Codification strategy implies the theme; â€Å"people to documents†, pointing to develop an electronic document system that codifies, stores, disseminates, and allows reuse of knowledge. The companies that follow codification strategy rely on the† economics of reuse†. Once an organization invests in knowledge asset; they can reuse it many times. The reuse of knowledge saves work, reduces communication costs and allows a company to take on more projects. And the strategy focuses on generating large overall revenues. And also the organizations always think in the point of human resource management to hire new graduates who are suited to reuse knowledge and the implementation of solutions, to train people in groups and through computer based learning, to reward people for using and contributing to document databases. Earnest Young is an organization which uses this strategy as their knowledge management strategy. In other companies, knowledge is closely bounded to the person who developed it and is shared mainly through direct person to person contacts. In those companies main purpose of the computers is to help people to communicate knowledge, not to store it. This is called Personalization Strategy. Personalization Strategy And this strategy implies that â€Å"person to person† fact which points to develop networks for linking people so that tacit knowledge can be shared. In contrast to the codification strategy, the personalization strategy relies on the logic of â€Å"expert economics†. It focuses on maintaining high profit margins. But on the other hand the process of sharing deep knowledge is time consuming, expensive and slow. It can? t be made much efficient. The companies that applied this strategy as their knowledge management strategy; wish to hire people who like problem solving and can tolerate ambiguity and to reward people for directly sharing knowledge with others. Choosing the knowledge management strategy is not an arbitrary thing, it depends on the economics of the company, the way it serves its clients and the people it hires. Experts believe that the choice between codification and personalization is the central one facing virtually all 14 companies in the era of knowledge management. However an organization? s strategy for knowledge management reflects its competitive strategy; it creates value for customers; how that value support for customers; how that value supports an economic model and how the company? s people deliver on the value, because it is the leading fact and the base of all other functional areas in the organization for gaining the competitive advantage in the dynamic economy. Types of Knowledge Management systems in an Organization There are essentially three major types of knowledge management systems namely; enterprisewide knowledge management systems, knowledge work systems and intelligent techniques. Figure 3 shows the knowledge management system applications for each of these major categories. Enterprise-Wide Knowledge Management Systems Knowledge Work Systems Intelligent Techniques Structured knowledge systems Semi structured knowledge systems Knowledge network systems Computer aided design (CAD) Data mining 3 D Visualization Virtual reality -Neural networks Expert systems Intelligent Agents 1. Enterprise-wide knowledge management systems are general purpose firm wide efforts to collect, store, distribute and apply digital content and knowledge. They provide databases and tools for organizing and storing structured and unstructured documents and other knowledge objects for locating employees with expertise in a particular area including web based tools for collaboration and communication. Structu red knowledge systems: These systems perform the function of implementing the tagging, interface with corporate databases where the documents are stored and 15 reating an enterprise portal environment for employees to use when searching for corporate knowledge. Semi structured knowledge systems: These systems track, store and organize semi structured documents (folders, messages, proposals, e mails, slide presentations etc) Knowledge network systems: Knowledge network system addresses the problem that arises when the appropriate knowledge is tacit knowledge residing in the memory of expert individuals in the firm. Because such knowledge cannot be conveniently found, employees expend significant resources rediscovering knowledge. Knowledge network systems provide an online directory of corporate experts in well-defined knowledge domains and use communication technologies to make it easy for employees to find the appropriate expert in a company. 02. Knowledge work systems (KWS) are specialized systems built for professionals and other knowledge workers charged with discovering and creating new knowledge for an organization. The development of powerful networked work stations and software in the discovery of new knowledge has led to the creation of knowledge work systems. 03. Intelligent techniques have different objectives from a focus on discovering knowledge (through data mining and neural networks) to distilling knowledge (through expert systems and fuzzy logic) in the form of rules for a computer programme in order to discover optimal solutions for problems. Knowledge Portals Many organizations have integrated their content and document management capabilities with powerful portals and these will provide access to external sources of information, such as news feeds and research, as well as to internal knowledge resources along with capabilities for e mail, chat, discussion groups and video conferencing. Organizations are now using blogs, wikis and social book marking for internal use to facilitate the exchange of information between individuals and teams within organizations. 16 A learning Organization In more recent times, managers seem to be searching for new approaches to management. Fuelling this search is a range of new issues that modern managers face but that their historical counterparts did not. These issues include a concern about the competitive decline of western firms, the accelerating pace of technological change, the sophistication of customers, and an increasing emphasize on globalization. A new approach to management that is evolving to handle this new range of issues can e called as the learning organization approach. Organizational learning means the process of improving actions through better knowledge and understanding. Therefore under the organizational knowledge title organizational learning is another important fact which can be identified as a supportive term for the organizational knowledge. A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. Learning organizations emphasize systematic problem solving, experimentation, learning from their own experience and past history, transferring knowledge. These activities leading the organizations towards the fact of gaining competitive advantage by relying on the scientific method and data rather than assumptions, searching for and testing of new knowledge, reviewing their successes and failures, learning from others; specially from immediate environment, and spreading the knowledge throughout the organization quickly and efficiently. Actually the most important thing is that the using and sharing the knowledge which has collected. Otherwise there is no any created benefit from the knowledge to the organization, peculiarly learning from others and spreading the knowledge throughout the organization is become more important in this case. Learning occurs in two forms, those are single-loop and double-loop. Single loop learning asks a one dimensional question to expose one dimensional answer. Double loop learning takes an additional step or several additional steps. It might also ask why the current setting was chosen at the first place. In other words, it asks questions not only about objective facts but also reasons behind those facts. 17 A learning organization is focusing to create, acquire and transfer knowledge continuously from the environment and there by modify its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. This involves mainly three areas. An organization has to follow ongoing programmes, designed to produce incremental gains in knowledge. An example to indicate that an organization can import new ideas from outside and apply it to daily operations; a case study, General Electric’s impact program originally sent manufacturing managers to Japan to study factory innovations, such as quality circles and kanban cards, and then apply them in their own organizations. This program was one of the major reasons that General Electric recorded productivity gains averaging nearly 5 % over the last four years. (Harvard business review on Knowledge Management, 2008) Successful ongoing programmes also require an incentive system that favors risk taking. Employees must feel that the benefits of experimentation exceeds the costs; if not they will not participate. This is challenging for managers, since they must maintain accountability and control over experiments without stifling creativity by unduly penalizing employees for failures. Companies must learn from past experiences and should review their successes and failures, assess them systematically and record the lessons in a form that employees find open and accessible. 18 Learning and the Knowledge Management The knowledge continuum shows the process of transforming data in to knowledge and wisdom. The knowledge continuum In this continuous process organizations acquire knowledge throughout its life cycle. Therefore learning plays very important role in the knowledge management process. Its probably appropriate to develop some perspective regarding this stuff called knowledge, which there seems to be such a desire to manage, really is. Consider this as a basis for thought relating to the following diagram. ? ? ? ? A collection of data is not information. A collection of information is not knowledge. A collection of knowledge is not wisdom. A collection of wisdom is not truth. The idea is that information, knowledge, and wisdom are more than simply collections. Rather, the whole represents more than the sum of its parts and has a synergy of its own. 19 8 Average Time (Hours) 4 6 Learning curve 2 10 20 quantity 60 30 40 120 180 240 Figure 07 – Learning Curve 20 Conclusion Organizations can achieve competitive advantage by focusing their knowledge Management efforts in harnessing their assets and competences in their core areas of operation, which can be identified by the value chain analysis approach. An organization progressively discover that value creating activities change over a period of time, and helps to identify value-creating activities faster thereby providing a strategic direction. As organizations evolve into more effective and efficient knowledge creators and knowledge consumers, the effects of knowledge management efforts should be measurable as knowledge management itself requires an investment of time, resources and manpower. Perhaps organizations will continue to create their own frameworks for valuation or be able to rely on a common methodology for such measurement regardless of the type of organization doing the evaluating. On the other hand, any organization, before framing a strategy, should analyze the industry and should understand all relevant parameters of industry growth. This analysis would yield results on the industry parameters like growth/ recession buyer/supplier power leading to determining the attractiveness of competition. The competitor analysis would reveal the strategy adopted by the competitors and identify the possible future movements of the competitors and to predict the strategies that are likely to be adopted by them. An organization can gain competitive advantage and sustain it only if it is able to understand the needs of the customer and track the changes in the customer needs. In this context, the analysis of the needs of customer gains importance. An organization should assess the resources and capabilities, before formulating a strategy, since the resources and capabilities should aid the operationalization of the chosen strategy. The right combination of resources and capabilities in the context of a strategy can be discovered through the process of knowledge management. In short, today? s organizations act with the theme of â€Å"Knowledge sharing is the power† instead of â€Å"Knowledge is the Power†, in order gain competitive advantages, by keeping a knowledge supporting culture, that management can support the knowledge creation and sharing, maintaining a perfect human resource policy which lead to minimize the employee turnover for the purpose of securing organizational memory in the organization. Organizational Knowledge Essay Example Organizational Knowledge Essay We live in an information economy in which the major source of wealth and prosperity is the production and distribution of information and knowledge. An era in which the key economic resource is knowledge is startlingly different from an era in which the key resources were capital, raw materials, land and labor. Emerging service economy trend lead many organizations towards the information base strategies to face and fight with the current business competitions. In that case knowledge plays a major role in every organization. In an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge. (Harvard Business Review) Therefore an organization? s most valuable assets are the people it employs. The ideas, experiences, expertise and knowledge contained in the mind of an individual may be worth more to an organization. In this case, Knowledge can be recognized as an important weapon for sustaining competitive advantage in organizations and many companies are beginning to manage organizational knowledge. Any organization that dynamically deals with a changing environment ought not only to process information efficiently but also create information and knowledge. (Lee Choi, 2003) 3 Organizational Knowledge It is often said that an organization? s most valuable assets are the people it employs. We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Knowledge specifically for you for only $16.38 $13.9/page Order now We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Knowledge specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer We will write a custom essay sample on Organizational Knowledge specifically for you FOR ONLY $16.38 $13.9/page Hire Writer The ideas, experiences, expertise and knowledge contained in the mind of an individual may be worth more to an organization than can be quantified with respect to how that knowledge is applied each day to save time, reduce costs, and advance the organization? s initiatives. How can an organization capitalize on individual knowledge? How do individuals contribute to subunits or groups within the organization to build and perpetuate group knowledge? How does individual and group knowledge become organizational knowledge that can be captured, reused, and applied to achieve measurable positive effects for the organization? When might extraorganizational knowledge be used to further increase or enhance the capabilities of an organization? In line with the topic; Organizational knowledge, we have to explores these questions, first by defining each knowledge type, then by examining how knowledge moves through an organization and becomes valuable organizational intellectual capital. Defining Knowledge Knowledge is a cognitive, a spiritual, event that take place inside people? s heads. There are two primary definitions of the knowledge as the Tacit Knowledge and the Explicit Knowledge. In simply knowledge residing in the minds of employees that has not been documented is called tacit knowledge, whereas knowledge that has been documented is called explicit knowledge. Tacit Knowledge Tacit Knowledge can be defined as knowledge that has not yet been codified from the outside the individual? s mind. On another words, knowledge that comes from experience and is difficult or impossible to communicate. It is intangible and consists of knowledge which is difficult to express and to communicate to other people. Also it is more difficult to transmit than codified knowledge and hard to formalize due to belonged personal qualities. Examples for tacit knowledge are; Awareness Mental models Wisdom Skills Expertise Corporate memory 4 Explicit Knowledge Explicit knowledge, in contrast, is the knowledge that can be codified and is transmittable in formal systematic language. (Nonaka 1994) It consists of knowledge which can be expressed in symbols, and which can be communicated through these symbols to other people. Knowledge can reside in e-mail, unstructured documents, hand books, manuals can be listed under this category. Examples for explicit knowledge are; Databases, statistics, collections Books, publications, reports, documents, correspondence Photographs, diagrams, illustrations Computer code, expert systems, decision support systems Presentations, speeches, lectures Recorded experiences, stories Materials for education, teaching and training Laws, regulations, procedures, rules, policies Individual Knowledge Individual knowledge can be defined simply as knowledge possessed by the individual. This knowledge is most often tacit unless the individual possesses explicit knowledge that is not shared with anyone or any organization other than the individual. A private journal or private blog might be considered explicit individual knowledge. Individual knowledge can be acquired through experiences, and at times it can be acquired without language. When an individual is acquiring knowledge from observing another person? s actions, and once the individual applies his or her own experiences and background to what is learned it becomes individual knowledge. The creation of new „individual? knowledge derived from observation, imitation and practice is called socialization, or tacit to tacit knowledge sharing. Individual knowledge can certainly develop from explicit knowledge. What a person reads, for example, can contribute to new thoughts and ideas in the mind of the individual. This method of knowledge creation is referred to as internalization – turning explicit knowledge into 5 tacit knowledge. By reading or acquiring explicit knowledge, independent thought and analysis can develop into new, individual knowledge. An individual can make a greater contribution to the knowledge sharing and creation process by allowing their knowledge to be internalized by others or socializing their knowledge with others, which leads to the creation of group knowledge. Group Knowledge Group knowledge might be defined as individual knowledge that multiple individuals rely upon as truth, share and understand. Group knowledge is â€Å"broadcast information† (Correa da Silva Cullell, 56), but is not necessarily information shared „publicly? (i. e. â€Å"common knowledge†). Group knowledge can be generated and disseminated through socialization and often results in the transformation of tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge, or externalization. When groups come together and exchange ideas, â€Å"individual knowledge is synthesized to arrive at group knowledge, which eventually becomes routing at the organizational level. Thus, the transformation of individual knowledge into organizational routines leads to complex and embodied organizational knowledge. When group knowledge from several subunits or groups is combined and used to create new knowledge, the resulting tacit and explicit knowledge can be called organizational knowledge. 6 Important Dimensions of Knowledge Knowledge is a firm asset Knowledge is an intangible asset. Knowledge is not subject to the law of diminishing returns as physical assets, but its value increases as more people share it. Knowledge has different forms Knowledge can be either tacit or explicit (codified) Knowledge involves know-how, craft and skill Knowledge involves knowing how to follow procedures Knowledge has a location Knowledge is a cognitive event involving mental models and maps of individuals There is both a social and an individual basis of knowledge Knowledge is sticky, situated, and contextual Knowledge is situational Knowledge is conditional: Knowing when to apply a procedure is just as important as knowing the procedure Knowledge is related to context SOURCE: Laudon and Laudon, 2008. Management Information Systems Knowledge Creation New knowledge always begins with the individual. Making personal knowledge available to others is the central activity of the knowledge creating company. It takes place continuously and at all levels of the organization. Organizational knowledge creation may be explicated by the interchange between tacit and explicit knowledge. According to Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995), â€Å"tacit knowledge is highly personal and hard to formalize, making it difficult to communicate or to share with others. Subjective insights, intuitions, and hunches fall into this category of knowledge†. On the other 7 hand, explicit knowledge is more easily transmitted as it is characteristically codified. As such, explicit knowledge is more easily processed and shared with others. According to the theory, the process of knowledge conversion proceeds through four different modes: 1. Socialization (the conversion of tacit knowledge to tacit knowledge) 2. Combination (the conversion of explicit knowledge to explicit knowledge) 3. Externalization (the conversion of tacit to explicit knowledge) and 4. Internalization (the conversion of explicit to tacit knowledge) Socialization During the socialization mode, tacit knowledge is transferred through interactions between individuals, which may also be accomplished in the absence of language; individuals may learn and gain a sense of competence by observing behavior modeled by others. For example, mentoring and apprenticeships instruct tacitly through observation, imitation, and practice. Combination The combination mode of knowledge conversion embodies the aggregation of multiple examples of explicit knowledge (Nonaka, 1994). Explicit knowledge may be exchanged during meetings or conferences in which a diversity of knowledge sources combines to shape a new and enhanced conception. Externalization The externalization mode of the knowledge conversion spiral references the translation of tacit knowledge into explicit. Metaphors are recommended as a way to facilitate this translation (Nonaka, 1994). Metaphors assist individuals in explaining concealed (i. e. , tacit) concepts that are otherwise difficult to articulate by assisting individuals in forming impressions based on â€Å"imagination and intuitive learning through symbols†. Internalization The conversion of explicit to tacit knowledge, i. e. , the internalization mode occurs through a series of iterations in which concepts become concrete and ultimately absorbed as an integral 8 belief or value. Where externalization utilizes metaphors to facilitate knowledge conversion, internalization represents an active process of learning. Nonaka (1994) describes this as â€Å"participants†¦.. sharing explicit knowledge that is gradually translated, through interaction and a process of trial-and-error, into different aspects of tacit knowledge. It is found most commonly at highly successful Japanese companies such as Honda, Canon, Matushita and Sharp are in focusing to the knowledge creation. Managers in these companies recognize that creating new knowledge is not simply a matter of mechanistically â€Å"Processing† objective information. The knowledge creation process The mutual exchange of tacit and explicit knowledge that describes the knowledge creation process is initiated at the level of the individual employee or organizational member. Because individuals are an integral component of this conversion process, their commitment to knowledge creation is critical. According to Nonaka (1994), knowledge creation may be activated when organizational members have freedom and sufficient purpose to pursue new knowledge. A continuous process of questioning and reconsidering existing premises by individual members of the organization fosters organizational knowledge creation† (Nonaka Takeuchi, 1995). Knowledge Management For hundreds of years, owners of family businesses have passed their commercial wisdom on to their children, master artificer have taught their trades to followers, and workers have exchanged their knowledge on the job. Therefore knowledge management is nothing new, but until the 1990s that managers were not talking about knowledge management. (Harvard Business Review) When the industrialized economies have shifted from natural resources to intellectual assets, managers have been constrained to censor the knowledge underlying their businesses and how that knowledge is used. At that same time rice of technological devices using; mainly computers has made it possible to codify, store, and share certain kind of knowledge more easily than ever. In current business environment, Knowledge management has become an important theme at many large business firms as managers realize that much of their firm? s value depends on firm? s ability to create and manage knowledge. (Laudon Laudon). Studies have found that a substantial part of a firm? s stock market value is related to its intangible assets, of which knowledge is one important component, along with brands, reputations, and unique business processes (Gu and Lev, 2001). Well executed knowledge-based projects have been known to produce extra ordinary returns on investment, although knowledge-based investments are difficult to measure (Blair and Wallman, 2001). Knowledge Management is the process of leveraging organizational knowledge to deliver longterm advantage to a business. This, in turn, requires technology to capture, codify, store, disseminate and reuse the knowledge. Any organization, before framing a strategy, should analyze the industry and should understand all relevant parameters of industry growth. This analysis would yield results on the industry parameters like growth/ recession buyer/supplier power leading to determining the attractiveness of competition. The competitor analysis would reveal the strategy adopted by the competitors and identify the possible future movements of the competitors and to predict the strategies that are likely to be adopted by them. An organization can gain competitive advantage and sustain it only if it is able to understand the needs of the customer and track the changes in the customer needs. In this context, the analysis of the needs of customer gains importance. An organization should assess the resources and capabilities, before formulating a strategy, since the resources and capabilities should aid the operationalization of the chosen strategy. The right combination of resources and capabilities in the context of a strategy can be discovered through the process of knowledge management. Knowledge Management Value Chain Knowledge management increases the ability of the organization to learn from its environment and to incorporate knowledge into its business processes. Knowledge value is very difficult to measure and it is extracted when knowledge is used. Knowledge sharing increases the value of knowledge with abundance. Knowledge management value chain is a sequence of intellectual tasks by which knowledge workers build their employer? s unique competitive advantage and social and environmental benefits. There are four main value adding steps in the knowledge 10 management value chain; each stage adds value to raw data and information as they are transformed into usable knowledge. Acquisition Storage Dissemination Application Figure 02: Knowledge Management value chain Knowledge acquisition Organizations acquire knowledge in a number of ways, depending on the type of knowledge they seek. In a way, organizations acquire knowledge by developing online expert networks so that employees can â€Å"find the expert† in the company who has the knowledge in his or her head. Other than that firms have to create new knowledge by discovering patterns in corporate data or by using knowledge work stations where engineers can discover new knowledge. A coherent and organized knowledge system also requires systematic data from the firm? transaction processing systems (sales, payments, inventory, customers etc. ), news feeds, industry reports, legal opinions, scientific research and government statistics as well. Knowledge storage Knowledge storage generally involves the creation of a database. Expert systems also help corporations preserve the knowledge that is acquired by incorporating that knowledge into organiza tional process and culture. Management must support the development of planned knowledge storage systems to update and store documents properly. 11 Knowledge Dissemination Portal, e-mail, instant messaging and search engine technology have added to the existing technologies for sharing documents, data and graphics. Training programmes, informal networks and shared management experience communicated through a supportive culture help managers focus their attention on the important knowledge and information which is really important for their decisions and their work. Knowledge Application Knowledge that is not shared and applied to the practical problems facing firms and managers does not add business value. To provide a return on investment, organizational knowledge must become a systematic part of management decision making and become situated in decision support systems. An organizations can do this is to build online information databases that employees can access which works as an online knowledge bank. Other than this some knowledge management experts have suggest that organizations create â€Å"communities of practice†, which are groups of people who share a concern, a set of problems or a passion about a topic and who deepen their knowledge and expertise in that area by interacting on an ongoing basis. Out of the four steps in knowledge management value chain, knowledge sharing is considered to be the most important one, and it is said â€Å"Knowledge sharing is the power† instead of â€Å"Knowledge is the Power†. In order to do this an organization must have a knowledge supporting culture, that management can support the knowledge creation and sharing. In line with that perfect human resource management is a prior functional area in an organization. Top management provides employees with a sense of direction by setting the standards for justifying the value of knowledge that is constantly being developed by the organization? members. Deciding which efforts to support and develop is a strategic task. (Harvard business review on Knowledge management, 2008) 12 Knowledge Applications in the Technological Aspect Business Problems ? ? ? Monitor service levels and costs Develop document access rules Management ? Document intensive business Fragmented information in legacy s ystems and manual processes ? ? ? Coordinate Documents and maintenance data Develop Document Access procedures Revise repair and maintenance procedures Organization Information systems Business solution ? ? Reduce time Reduse cost ? ? ? ? Implement oracle database Deploy laptops Technology Immediately access Equipment maintenance information Figure 03: Use of Technology in Knowledge Management Process The diagram shows how organizations can use technology in solving business problems and how an organization can reduce the time consumption and the cost by using information systems. These information systems would include transaction processing systems, management information systems, decision support systems, expert systems and intelligent systems etc. Knowledge Management Strategies There are mainly two types of knowledge management strategies. In some companies, the strategy centered on the computer. In that c knowledge is carefully codified and stored in databases, where it can be easily accessed and used by anyone in the company. This is called Codification Strategy. 13 Codification Strategy Codification strategy implies the theme; â€Å"people to documents†, pointing to develop an electronic document system that codifies, stores, disseminates, and allows reuse of knowledge. The companies that follow codification strategy rely on the† economics of reuse†. Once an organization invests in knowledge asset; they can reuse it many times. The reuse of knowledge saves work, reduces communication costs and allows a company to take on more projects. And the strategy focuses on generating large overall revenues. And also the organizations always think in the point of human resource management to hire new graduates who are suited to reuse knowledge and the implementation of solutions, to train people in groups and through computer based learning, to reward people for using and contributing to document databases. Earnest Young is an organization which uses this strategy as their knowledge management strategy. In other companies, knowledge is closely bounded to the person who developed it and is shared mainly through direct person to person contacts. In those companies main purpose of the computers is to help people to communicate knowledge, not to store it. This is called Personalization Strategy. Personalization Strategy And this strategy implies that â€Å"person to person† fact which points to develop networks for linking people so that tacit knowledge can be shared. In contrast to the codification strategy, the personalization strategy relies on the logic of â€Å"expert economics†. It focuses on maintaining high profit margins. But on the other hand the process of sharing deep knowledge is time consuming, expensive and slow. It can? t be made much efficient. The companies that applied this strategy as their knowledge management strategy; wish to hire people who like problem solving and can tolerate ambiguity and to reward people for directly sharing knowledge with others. Choosing the knowledge management strategy is not an arbitrary thing, it depends on the economics of the company, the way it serves its clients and the people it hires. Experts believe that the choice between codification and personalization is the central one facing virtually all 14 companies in the era of knowledge management. However an organization? s strategy for knowledge management reflects its competitive strategy; it creates value for customers; how that value support for customers; how that value supports an economic model and how the company? s people deliver on the value, because it is the leading fact and the base of all other functional areas in the organization for gaining the competitive advantage in the dynamic economy. Types of Knowledge Management systems in an Organization There are essentially three major types of knowledge management systems namely; enterprisewide knowledge management systems, knowledge work systems and intelligent techniques. Figure 3 shows the knowledge management system applications for each of these major categories. Enterprise-Wide Knowledge Management Systems Knowledge Work Systems Intelligent Techniques Structured knowledge systems Semi structured knowledge systems Knowledge network systems Computer aided design (CAD) Data mining 3 D Visualization Virtual reality -Neural networks Expert systems Intelligent Agents 1. Enterprise-wide knowledge management systems are general purpose firm wide efforts to collect, store, distribute and apply digital content and knowledge. They provide databases and tools for organizing and storing structured and unstructured documents and other knowledge objects for locating employees with expertise in a particular area including web based tools for collaboration and communication. Structu red knowledge systems: These systems perform the function of implementing the tagging, interface with corporate databases where the documents are stored and 15 reating an enterprise portal environment for employees to use when searching for corporate knowledge. Semi structured knowledge systems: These systems track, store and organize semi structured documents (folders, messages, proposals, e mails, slide presentations etc) Knowledge network systems: Knowledge network system addresses the problem that arises when the appropriate knowledge is tacit knowledge residing in the memory of expert individuals in the firm. Because such knowledge cannot be conveniently found, employees expend significant resources rediscovering knowledge. Knowledge network systems provide an online directory of corporate experts in well-defined knowledge domains and use communication technologies to make it easy for employees to find the appropriate expert in a company. 02. Knowledge work systems (KWS) are specialized systems built for professionals and other knowledge workers charged with discovering and creating new knowledge for an organization. The development of powerful networked work stations and software in the discovery of new knowledge has led to the creation of knowledge work systems. 03. Intelligent techniques have different objectives from a focus on discovering knowledge (through data mining and neural networks) to distilling knowledge (through expert systems and fuzzy logic) in the form of rules for a computer programme in order to discover optimal solutions for problems. Knowledge Portals Many organizations have integrated their content and document management capabilities with powerful portals and these will provide access to external sources of information, such as news feeds and research, as well as to internal knowledge resources along with capabilities for e mail, chat, discussion groups and video conferencing. Organizations are now using blogs, wikis and social book marking for internal use to facilitate the exchange of information between individuals and teams within organizations. 16 A learning Organization In more recent times, managers seem to be searching for new approaches to management. Fuelling this search is a range of new issues that modern managers face but that their historical counterparts did not. These issues include a concern about the competitive decline of western firms, the accelerating pace of technological change, the sophistication of customers, and an increasing emphasize on globalization. A new approach to management that is evolving to handle this new range of issues can e called as the learning organization approach. Organizational learning means the process of improving actions through better knowledge and understanding. Therefore under the organizational knowledge title organizational learning is another important fact which can be identified as a supportive term for the organizational knowledge. A learning organization is an organization skilled at creating, acquiring and transferring knowledge, and at modifying its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. Learning organizations emphasize systematic problem solving, experimentation, learning from their own experience and past history, transferring knowledge. These activities leading the organizations towards the fact of gaining competitive advantage by relying on the scientific method and data rather than assumptions, searching for and testing of new knowledge, reviewing their successes and failures, learning from others; specially from immediate environment, and spreading the knowledge throughout the organization quickly and efficiently. Actually the most important thing is that the using and sharing the knowledge which has collected. Otherwise there is no any created benefit from the knowledge to the organization, peculiarly learning from others and spreading the knowledge throughout the organization is become more important in this case. Learning occurs in two forms, those are single-loop and double-loop. Single loop learning asks a one dimensional question to expose one dimensional answer. Double loop learning takes an additional step or several additional steps. It might also ask why the current setting was chosen at the first place. In other words, it asks questions not only about objective facts but also reasons behind those facts. 17 A learning organization is focusing to create, acquire and transfer knowledge continuously from the environment and there by modify its behavior to reflect new knowledge and insights. This involves mainly three areas. An organization has to follow ongoing programmes, designed to produce incremental gains in knowledge. An example to indicate that an organization can import new ideas from outside and apply it to daily operations; a case study, General Electric’s impact program originally sent manufacturing managers to Japan to study factory innovations, such as quality circles and kanban cards, and then apply them in their own organizations. This program was one of the major reasons that General Electric recorded productivity gains averaging nearly 5 % over the last four years. (Harvard business review on Knowledge Management, 2008) Successful ongoing programmes also require an incentive system that favors risk taking. Employees must feel that the benefits of experimentation exceeds the costs; if not they will not participate. This is challenging for managers, since they must maintain accountability and control over experiments without stifling creativity by unduly penalizing employees for failures. Companies must learn from past experiences and should review their successes and failures, assess them systematically and record the lessons in a form that employees find open and accessible. 18 Learning and the Knowledge Management The knowledge continuum shows the process of transforming data in to knowledge and wisdom. The knowledge continuum In this continuous process organizations acquire knowledge throughout its life cycle. Therefore learning plays very important role in the knowledge management process. Its probably appropriate to develop some perspective regarding this stuff called knowledge, which there seems to be such a desire to manage, really is. Consider this as a basis for thought relating to the following diagram. ? ? ? ? A collection of data is not information. A collection of information is not knowledge. A collection of knowledge is not wisdom. A collection of wisdom is not truth. The idea is that information, knowledge, and wisdom are more than simply collections. Rather, the whole represents more than the sum of its parts and has a synergy of its own. 19 8 Average Time (Hours) 4 6 Learning curve 2 10 20 quantity 60 30 40 120 180 240 Figure 07 – Learning Curve 20 Conclusion Organizations can achieve competitive advantage by focusing their knowledge Management efforts in harnessing their assets and competences in their core areas of operation, which can be identified by the value chain analysis approach. An organization progressively discover that value creating activities change over a period of time, and helps to identify value-creating activities faster thereby providing a strategic direction. As organizations evolve into more effective and efficient knowledge creators and knowledge consumers, the effects of knowledge management efforts should be measurable as knowledge management itself requires an investment of time, resources and manpower. Perhaps organizations will continue to create their own frameworks for valuation or be able to rely on a common methodology for such measurement regardless of the type of organization doing the evaluating. On the other hand, any organization, before framing a strategy, should analyze the industry and should understand all relevant parameters of industry growth. This analysis would yield results on the industry parameters like growth/ recession buyer/supplier power leading to determining the attractiveness of competition. The competitor analysis would reveal the strategy adopted by the competitors and identify the possible future movements of the competitors and to predict the strategies that are likely to be adopted by them. An organization can gain competitive advantage and sustain it only if it is able to understand the needs of the customer and track the changes in the customer needs. In this context, the analysis of the needs of customer gains importance. An organization should assess the resources and capabilities, before formulating a strategy, since the resources and capabilities should aid the operationalization of the chosen strategy. The right combination of resources and capabilities in the context of a strategy can be discovered through the process of knowledge management. In short, today? s organizations act with the theme of â€Å"Knowledge sharing is the power† instead of â€Å"Knowledge is the Power†, in order gain competitive advantages, by keeping a knowledge supporting culture, that management can support the knowledge creation and sharing, maintaining a perfect human resource policy which lead to minimize the employee turnover for the purpose of securing organizational memory in the organization.

Free Essays on John Updikes Separating

There were many different aspects of John Updike’s â€Å"Separating† that I enjoyed. The focus on what a modern day family is like, the character development of Richard, and the reversal of male and female stereotypes to name a few. However, I decided to focus my paper on the three different conflicts Richard, the protagonist of the story, encounters. The first conflict is between Richard and his wife Joan. Their marriage has been falling apart and they don’t seem to even enjoy each other’s company anymore. The whole basis of the story is around this couple’s separation. It is never made clear the exact reason for the dissolution of the marriage. IT is hinted that Richard might have been having an affair. But, whatever the reason, it is made known that it is Richard’s decision to leave. After the blowout at the dinner table, where three out of the four children learn about the separation, Joan says that â€Å"it really wasn’t fair. It’s your idea, and you make it look as though I was kicking you out† (p 833). The second conflict is between Richard and his children. He is faced with the responsibility of telling his kids about his decision to leave. Him and his wife decide that its best to wait until school has ended and they were all home in one place. They had also decided to tell them one-by-one instead of in a large group because, as Joan puts it, â€Å"they’re each individuals, you know, not just some corporate obstacle to your freedom† (p 830). However, the plan falls apart when Richard starts crying uncontrollably during dinner. His younger son, John, asks his mother in the kitchen why his dad had been crying and she admits to the separation. The girls take the news fairly well and do not have any problems accepting it. John, on the other hand, makes a scene by eating a cigarette and lighting matches in his mother’s face. The oldest son Dickie was absent from dinner that night, so Richard was st... Free Essays on John Updike's Separating Free Essays on John Updike's Separating There were many different aspects of John Updike’s â€Å"Separating† that I enjoyed. The focus on what a modern day family is like, the character development of Richard, and the reversal of male and female stereotypes to name a few. However, I decided to focus my paper on the three different conflicts Richard, the protagonist of the story, encounters. The first conflict is between Richard and his wife Joan. Their marriage has been falling apart and they don’t seem to even enjoy each other’s company anymore. The whole basis of the story is around this couple’s separation. It is never made clear the exact reason for the dissolution of the marriage. IT is hinted that Richard might have been having an affair. But, whatever the reason, it is made known that it is Richard’s decision to leave. After the blowout at the dinner table, where three out of the four children learn about the separation, Joan says that â€Å"it really wasn’t fair. It’s your idea, and you make it look as though I was kicking you out† (p 833). The second conflict is between Richard and his children. He is faced with the responsibility of telling his kids about his decision to leave. Him and his wife decide that its best to wait until school has ended and they were all home in one place. They had also decided to tell them one-by-one instead of in a large group because, as Joan puts it, â€Å"they’re each individuals, you know, not just some corporate obstacle to your freedom† (p 830). However, the plan falls apart when Richard starts crying uncontrollably during dinner. His younger son, John, asks his mother in the kitchen why his dad had been crying and she admits to the separation. The girls take the news fairly well and do not have any problems accepting it. John, on the other hand, makes a scene by eating a cigarette and lighting matches in his mother’s face. The oldest son Dickie was absent from dinner that night, so Richard was st...

An In-Depth Review of Star Reading Assessment Program

An In-Depth Review of Star Reading Assessment Program Star Reading is an online assessment program developed by Renaissance Learning for students typically in grades K-12. The program uses a combination of the cloze method and traditional reading comprehension passages to assess forty-six reading skills across eleven domains. The program is used to determine a student’s overall reading level as well as identify a students individual strengths and weaknesses. The program is designed to provide teachers with individual student data, quickly and accurately. It typically takes a student 10–15 minutes to complete an assessment, and reports are available immediately upon completion. The assessment consists of approximately thirty questions. Students are tested on foundational reading skills, literature components, reading informational text, and language. Students have one minute to answer each question before the program automatically moves them to the next question. The program is adaptive, so the difficulty will increase or decrease based on how a student performs. Features of Star Reading It is easy to set up and use. Star Reading is a Renaissance Learning program. This is important because if you have Accelerated Reader, Accelerated Math, or any of the other Star assessments, you only have to do the set up one time. Adding students and building classes is quick and easy. You can add a class of about twenty students and have them ready to be assessed in about 15 minutes.It correlates with Accelerated Reader. Many schools across the country use Accelerated Reader. To maximize the effect of Accelerated Reader, students should be limited to books that correlate to their specific Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD). Star Reading provides teachers with each student’s individual ZPD that can then be entered into the Accelerated Reader program to limit students to books that will not be too easy or too difficult for them to read.It is easy for students to use. The interface is plain and straightforward. This minimizes the chances for a student to be distracted. Student s have two choices when answering the multiple-choice-style questions. They can use their mouse and click on the correct choice, or they can use the A, B, C, D keys that correlate to the correct answer. Students are not locked into their answer until they click next or push the Enter key. Each question is on a one-minute timer. When a student has fifteen seconds remaining, a small clock will begin to flash at the top of the screen, letting them know that time is about to expire for that question. It provides teachers with a tool to easily screen and progress monitor students who need reading intervention. Star Reading comes with a screening and progress monitor tool that allows teachers to set goals and monitor a student’s progress as they move throughout the year. This easy-to-use feature allows teachers to quickly and accurately decide whether they need to change their approach with a particular student or continue doing what they are doing.It has an adaptable assessment bank. The program has an extensive assessment bank that allows students to be assessed multiple times without seeing the same question. In addition, the program adapts to the student as they answer questions. If a student is performing well, then the questions will increasingly become more difficult. If they are struggling, the questions will become easier. The program will eventually zero in on the student’s correct level. Useful Reports Star Reading is designed to provide teachers with useful information that will drive their instructional practices. It provides teachers with several useful reports designed to assist in targeting which students need intervention and what areas they need assistance in. Here are four key reports available through the program and a brief explanation of each: Diagnostic: This report provides the most information about an individual student. It offers information such as the student’s grade equivalent, percentile rank, estimated oral reading fluency, scaled score, instructional reading level, and zone of proximal development. It also provides tips to maximize that individual’s reading growth.Growth: This report shows the growth of a group of students over a specific period of time. This period of time is customizable from a few weeks to months, to even growth over the course of several years.Screening: This report provides teachers with a graph that details whether they are above or below their benchmark as they are assessed throughout the year. This report is useful because if students are falling below the mark, then the teacher needs to change their approach ​with that student.Summary: This report provides teachers with whole group test results for a specific test date or range. This is very useful for comparing mul tiple students at one time. Relevant Terminology Scaled Score (SS)  - The scaled score is figured based on the difficulty of the questions as well of the number of questions that were correct. Star Reading uses a scale range of 0–1400. This score can be used to compare students to each other as well as themselves over time.Percentile Rank (PR) - The percentile rank allows students to be compared to other students nationally that are in the same grade. For example, a student who scores in the 77th percentile scores better than 76% of students in their grade but lower than 23% of students in their grade.Grade Equivalent (GE) - The grade equivalent represents how a student performs compared to other students nationally. For example, a fifth-grade student who scores a grade equivalent of 8.3 scores as well as a student who is in the eighth grade and third month.Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) - This is the range of readability which a student should be required to select books. Reading in this range provides students with t he optimal opportunity to maximize reading growth. Books at this level are not too easy or too difficult for the student to read. ATOS  - A readability formula that uses average sentence length, average word length, vocabulary grade level, and the number of words to calculate the overall difficulty of a book. Overall Star Reading is a very good reading assessment program, especially if you already use the Accelerated Reader program. Its best features are that it is quick and easy to use for teachers and students, and reports can be generated in seconds. The assessment does rely too much on cloze reading passages. A truly accurate reading assessment would use a more balanced and comprehensive approach. However, Star is a great quick screening tool to identify struggling readers or individual reading strengths. There are better assessments available in terms of in-depth diagnostic assessments, but Star reading will give you a quick snapshot of where a student is at any given point.  Overall, we give this program 3.5 out of 5 stars, primarily because the assessment itself isn’t broad enough and there are times where consistency and accuracy are of concern.

Coca-Colas New Vending Machine Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

Coca-Colas New Vending Machine - Case Study Example I would recommend Coca-Cola to follow "price discrimination" strategy in such cases as: (1) different customer groups (lower prices for students and higher prices for business organizations); and (2) when a customer buys high quantities of a product. Pricing is a sensitive and complex decision area affecting sales, costs, and profits for both industrial and consumer goods. For consumers, price reductions and increases have symbolic meanings. A customer may associate a price reduction with a reduction in quality, the anticipation of new models, or even lower prices or poor market acceptance. Higher prices may indicate better quality, a good image, and good value (Das Narayandas 2000). Price discrimination is effective tool when it is applied to each individual consumer. For instance, if a buyer is willing to pay more for a product and receive exceptional quality, he/she should pay more. The second situation when Coca-Cola can follow price discrimination is when a customer buys products in large quantities. For instance, price reductions can be proposed to repeat customers and loyal customers. The third case when "price discrimination" is justified is when the company serves different customer groups.

A New Work Ethic Case 4.4 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

A New Work Ethic Case 4.4 - Essay Example As far as my experience is concerned, those with above attitude have failed to be a part of an organization for a long time as they have failed to score good in annual appraisal. In my experience I haven’t seen any thief from employee due to the culture of the society in which I live in and proper recording of the accounts where employees were thoroughly scrutinized. This culture also discouraged grouping which would hurt the business itself. I believe that employees, including me, have and will always believe that supervisors are paper-pushing functionaries who will get in the way as this is true. This discourages innovation on part of an employee and at times does not make them feel a part of an organization. Explain the implications of work ethic Sheehy describes for the future of American business. Work ethics is one of the key in any business success. In America, work ethics is more important and demanding due to its wider implications on the end beneficiary that is custo mer. First and foremost ingredient to work ethics is the hard work an employee puts into. Not only this but also a rewarding hard work which is worth every penny of the minute worked. Getting shortcuts and not making effort will not only result in downfall of the American businesses but also would result in dearth of employees on demand. Working hard just to Get big scores poisons a business environment and would get worst if that employee is given a major responsibility or is promoted up the hierarchy ladder. Explain whether it is more reasonable to expect workers, especially in a capitalist society, to be more devoted to their jobs, more concerned with quality and customer service, than Sheehy's coworkers were. Absolutely. In a capitalist society there is more thrust to be productive as capitalism brings in extra ordinary prosperity. Thus devotion to job is a must as it rewards virtue and punishes vice. More devoted to jobs, more fell employee will be paid as he/she would be seen as a resource which can not only retain but also bring in business. Sheehy’s co-workers would definitely fail in a capitalist society and would lose their jobs sooner rather than later (Thompson). A job like this depends on the customer services provided. Devotion to this job means to make a customer satisfied with the least of his requirements even and building a relationship with him which goes down to benefiting the business. Explain the reasoning behind employee theft. In frequent usage,  theft is the unlawful taking of another person's  personal belonging  with no prior permission of that person or any kind of approval.   Employee thief as a fact has been on a rise not only in developing world but also in the developed world which has been a huge strain on the businesses. Lack of maturity as an employee could be the first reason as most of them are teenagers. Some might be doing theft without any fear as most of them are from upper middle class and are not so wor ried about being getting fired. Peer pressure could be another reason where one would be treated well only if he/she will jell into the work ethics of the rest. Explain ways the culture of our capitalists society encourages attitudes like those Sheehy describes Corruption which is common in a capitalist

Priestleys main aim in the Inspector calls Essay Example for Free

Priestleys main aim in the Inspector calls Essay The play An Inspector Calls was written by John Boynton Priestley in the year 1946. The strange thing about this book is that the play was set in the year 1912. I believe that there was a very good reason why this play was set in the year 1912, because the character Mr Birling says to his son and his future son in law dont worry about all of the war scares because they are all bluff and that there wont be any wars; where as us, as the audience, no that there will be future wars for them, because we have passed 2 wars. This is called dramatic irony, because us as the audience no something that the characters dont. The characters in this play dont know that there will be a war; where as us as the audience do, because the play was written after the 2 wars (world wars). From investigation of the Inspector Goole, there were 5 characters who where affected. The affections may have been guilt, sympathy from this girl Eva Smith dieing (most probably to do with emotions), or even from the hope of the whole story getting out to the newspapers. These characters are Mr Arthur Birling, Miss Sheila Birling, Mrs Sybil Birling, Mr Eric Birling, and Mr Gerald Croft. Mr Arthur Birling is a self made man whose priority is to make money, Its my duty to keep labour cost down. Birling is cunning in a way, for he has welcomed Gerald Croft whose dad is a very successful business man, and if he has the Crofts as his family, then he has more change in gaining money by joining the 2 different companies as 1, for he doesnt have to lower the costs of products to gain more customers than the croft company. Mr Birling always thinks for himself, for he doesnt care for Eva Smith, but just wants his Knighthood. The funny thing about Mr Birling is that he thinks the whole world evolves around money and that anyone would accept it and take a bribe, Look, Inspector Id give thousands. I believe that Mr Birling represents Priestleys hatred towards businessmen who are only interested in the money going up. At the start of the play Sheila is very pleased with life. Sheilas response to the tragedy of Eva Smiths death is very sad and she has learned from her behaviour. She is upset for the death of Eva Smiths death, and takes blame for her death. She is very distressed by the girls suicide and thinks that her fathers behaviour was also unacceptable. When Sheila finds out the death of Eva Smith, she says she never meant to harm her, and knows her behaviour was very bad. Not only is Sheila prepared to admit her faults, but she also appears to be keen and anxious to change her behaviour in the future, Ill never, never do it again. Sheila remains calm and mature about the breaking up of her engagement with Gerald. From the inspector hoax, I believe that Sheila has learned her responsibilities to others and the less fortunate than herself.

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Implications For Brain Essay -- Chemis

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Implications For Brain Throughout the course of this semester we have examined numerous issues which have all had different implications for the brain = behavior argument. Some who have been skeptical of the validity of this idea have been swayed by observations that processes and behaviors they originally thought to have a cloudy neurobiological basis in fact have a sound biological and physiological underpinning. One such phenomenon which can help elucidate the ongoing brain = behavior debate is Post-Traumatic Stress disorder, or PTSD. Most people are familiar in some sense with the phenomenon of PTSD. This phenomenon has been renamed, reworked, and redefined numerous times over the past century. The approach to understanding PTSD and the more general notion of traumatic experience has been an interdisciplinary undertaking, involving the fields of medically oriented psychiatry, psychology, sociology, history, and even literature (1). The reason for this interdisciplinary approach is that the greater perception of the phenomenon is seen as having much more than a simple biological basis. It is seen as having multiple external influences. This view is a result of the often overwhelming sense that whatever biological mechanisms are present must be unintelligibly complex. However, there are certain aspects of PTSD which, upon examination, allow one an easy foray into the neurobiology of the disorder. Cathy Caruth, a leading trauma theorist, discusses the definition of PTSD: "While the precise definition of post-traumatic stress disorder is contested, most descriptions generally agree that there is a response, sometimes delayed, to an overwhelming event or events, which takes the form of rep... ... , by Cathy Caruth, a leading trauma theorist. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web3/ 2) Sensorimotor Psychotherapy: One Method for Processing Traumatic Memory," from Traumatology , by Pat Ogden and Kekuni Minton. http://www.fsu.edu/~trauma/v6i3/v6i3a3.html 3) Of One Blood , a novel by Pauline Hopkins. http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Rivers/ 4)"The Repression of War Experience" , by W.H.R. Rivers. http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Rivers/ 5) "The Neurophysiology of Dissociation and Chronic Disease," from Applied Psychophysiology and Biofeedback , by Robert C. Scaer. http://psychclassics.yorku.ca/Rivers/ 6) "Approaches to the Treatment of PTSD" , by Bessel A. van der Kolk and Onno van der Hart. http://www.trauma-pages.com/vanderk.htm 7) The Psychology of Fear and Stress , by J. Gray. http://serendip.brynmawr.edu/bb/neuro/neuro02/web3/

Absolutism And Democracy Essay

What form of government was most effective-democracy or absolutism- for the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe? During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries there were two forms of government. The two forms of government were democracy and absolutism. Both of these forms of government were effective in their own ways. Absolutism though was the most effective during this time. Absolutism is when the ruler has unlimited power. Many rulers had a democracy government but absolutism was more effective because the rulers had all the power and it was hard to take advantage of them rather than a democracy where many rulers can get over thrown by the people of that country. Machiavelli, who wrote The Prince, felt that the best way to rule was to be feared. He wrote in his book The Prince, â€Å"Men have less hesitation in offending a man who is loved than one who is feared, for love is held by a bond of obligation which, as men are wicked, is broken whenever personal advantage suggests it.† What he means by this is that if you rule by fear people are less likely to defy you than if you rule w ith love. This would be extremely helpful when running a country. King James I also believed that absolutism was the way to rule. He thought that kings were like Gods therefore he believed in Divine Right. Divine Right is the belief that kings get their authority from God. â€Å"The state of monarchy is the supremest thing upon earth; for kings are not only God’s lieutenants upon earth, and sit upon God’s throne, but even by God himself they are called gods†. What he means by this is that Kings have every right and power needed to rule. With Kings having every right to rule there would be no questions as to whether or not a King is fit to rule King Louis XIV believed in absolutism. He once stated â€Å"The head alone has the right to deliberate and decide, and the functions of all the other members consist only in carrying out the commands given to them. . . . The more you grant . . . (to the assembled people), the more it claims. . . . The interest of the state must come first.† King Louis XVI is saying that if a  country is ruled by a monarch it is more organized. He also says that people are greedy, so they are more interested in themselves and not the country. He says that Absolutism is the government that makes sure the country is taken care of. The interest of the state must come first, otherwise the entire country would collapse Even though absolutism was the most effective form of government during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries many philosophes believed in democracy. Democracy is when the people of the government have a say in what goes on in the government. One philosopher who believed in democracy was Voltaire. He believed that people’s freedoms are essential, especially the freedom of speech. He once wrote â€Å"I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. . . . The best government seems to be that in which all ranks of men are equally protected by laws. . . .† He is stating his belief in the right of free speech, and that democracy is best. While his beliefs are tempting to many people, if the government did as he believed, there would be nothing but chaos. At that point in time, the people’s minds were not as smart and reasonable. This type of government would end terribly. John Locke is another philosopher who believed in democracy. He wrote in Two Treatises on Government â€Å"Men being . . . by nature all free, equal, and independent, no one can be . . . subjected to the political power of another without his own consent. . . . To protect natural rights governments are established. . . . Since men hope to preserve their property by establishing a government, they will not want that government to destroy their objectives. When legislators try to destroy or take away the property of the people, or try to reduce them to slavery, they put themselves into a state of war with the people who can then refuse to obey laws.† If the governments did as Locke proposes there would be so many revolts about little thi ngs, that nothing would ever get done. Also when Locke states â€Å"no one can be subjected to the political power of another without his own consent† that is untrue. If the majority of a population votes for someone to be put into power, the smaller portion of the population that voted against that person will, in fact, become subjected to the political power of another without his own consent. Baron de Montesquieu wrote in The Spirit of Laws â€Å"Although the forms of state-monarchy, aristocracy, and democracy- were united in English government, the powers of government were separated from one another. There  can be no liberty where the executive, legislative, and judicial powers are united in one person or body of persons, because such concentration is bound to result in arbitrary despotism.† What Montesquieu is saying is that if there were separate powers, there would be liberty. That may be true, but with one absolute monarch the government would be more effective. Everything would get done faster. Both Absolute and Democratic forms of government were effective in their own ways, but Absolutism was the most effective during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe. Absolutism brought on faster solutions to problems. It also was in the best interest of the whole country, and kept the needs of the state first. It kept everything in order, and raised little questions from the people. Overall absolutism was the most suitable government for Europe at this time.

Culture Day Topic Essay

History of Judo was created by Jigoro Kano. He was a highly educated man; he was considered the founder of the modern Japanese education system. He wanted to preserve and combine the ancient martial traditions of Japan. One of the most important innovations was the emphasis of â€Å"randori†, or non-cooperative free sparring practice. The majority was based on pre-arranged sequences of attack and defense known as â€Å"kata†. For several years Kodokan Judo reigned supreme. Kudo was challenged by a man named Mataemon Tanabae. Maeda Mitsuyo Maeda became one of the greatest fighters in the history of Judo. Maeda retired without ever losing a fight. The Gracies, Maeda settled in Brazil and created an academy of â€Å"Jiu Jitsu†. One of his students was Carlos Gracie. After studying for several years he opened his own academy. He and Maeda created the â€Å"Gracie Challenge†, all challengers were welcome to compete in the challenge. The Gracie fighters were victorious against all kinds of fighters from different backgrounds. Several members of the Gracie family began to go to the US in the late 1980’s. The Gracies and their particular brand of fighting has had a major impact on martial arts today. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was very similar in many ways with to Judo and other systems of Japanese Jiu Jitsu. Judo was originally designed as a powerful system of self-defense. Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is divided into three categories: self-defense, free fighting competition, and sport grappling. The fighting strategy of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu is to make a physically smaller or weaker person be able to defend from a larger or stronger attacker. When applying BJJ (Brazilian Jiu Jitsu) techniques leverage is key. As leverage is the secret to the most use of force.

Edward R. Murrow essays

Edward R. Murrow essays If Edward R. Murrow and Fred Friendly sat down to watch the evening news in 2007, they would probably be very sorry to see what has become of their lead as newscasters. Except for a scanty few news magazines, such as 60 Minutes developed by See It Now alumni Don Hewitt, and political talk shows as Bill Moyers and Face the Nation, most of the TV news consists of sound bites, canned formats with bantering newscasters and rehashes of the same information ad nausea. In fact, the news often sounds like a soap opera, where people tune in to find out the next saga in someones life (or death). Many (most?) of todays TV viewers want to be entertained. Just look at all the reality shows that have become so popular. Instead, Murrow thoroughly covered a topic. This provided the viewers with a strong foundation on the subject. His viewpoint may have differed from some of the people watching the show, but he had the conviction to say what he believed. This raises another concern with todays news. The news media are now under greater constraints. For example, they do not have the ability to film the war in Iraq, as the Vietnam War was filmed. They do not have access to visualize imprisoned foreign nationals. He took responsibility for making sure that the public were shown what was happening in their country or by their country. No one can eliminate prejudices - just recognize them, Murrow said. (Ironically, today more of this recognition of prejudices comes from the comedians, such as Jon Stewart). Murrow would run through the different headlines for the day and then talk with the various reporters in the United States and overseas. These were professionally trained journalists, not men who just read the words put up in front of them. Then Murrow would do his closing essay and comment on some vital issue, continually being purposely controversial, so that the audience wou...

4th Gospel Revision Notes

(18) (ii) Consider critically the extent to which subjectivism poses problems for these concepts. 12) (Total for Question 4(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Analyse the contribution made by emotivism to debates about ethical language. (18) (ii) To what extent do the problems of ethical language remain unsolved? (12) (Total for Question 4(b) = 30 marks) New Testament EITHER 17 (a) (i) Examine the religious significance of either the teachings of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God (Luke’s Gospel) or the teaching of the Prologue (Fourth Gospel). (18) (ii) To what extent are these teachings important for an understanding of the gospel? (12) (Total for Question 17(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) ‘The gospel was written to reveal the nature of Jesus as the Christ. ’ Examine this claim regarding the purpose of either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. (18) (ii) To what extent may other purposes for the gospel be equally important? (12) (Total for Question 17(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 18 (a) (i) With reference to either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel, examine the reasons why the religious and political authorities put Jesus to death. (18) (ii) To what extent was Pilate responsible for the death of Jesus? (12) (Total for Question 18(a) = 30 marks) OR b) (i) Examine the significance of the religious symbolism contained within the crucifixion narrative of either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. (18) (ii) To what extent does the resurrection narrative add to an understanding of the rest of the gospel? (12) (Total for Question 18(b) = 30 marks) Ethics EITHER 3 (a) (i) Analyse the important features of either Deontology or Virtue Ethic s. (18) (ii) Consider critically how effective the selected theory may be as a guideline for moral living. (12) (Total for Question 3(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Examine the key ideas of Natural Moral Law. 18) (ii) To what extent do critiques of the link between religion and morality undermine the value of Natural Moral Law? (12) (Total for Question 3(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 4 (a) (i) Examine key ideas associated with either justice or law and punishment. (18) (ii) Evaluate the view that objectivity and relativism pose problems for the concept selected in part (i). (12) (Total for Question 4(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Examine the problems which scholars have identified regarding the use and meaning of ethical language. (18) (ii) To what extent may these problems be solved? 12) (Total for Question 4(b) = 30 marks) New Testament EITHER 17 (a) (i) Either examine the important features of Luke’s presentation of Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God or examine the key ideas of t he Prologue (Fourth Gospel). (18) (ii) Evaluate the claim that this teaching/these ideas are crucial to the meaning of the gospel. (12) (Total for Question 17(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) ‘A careful reading of the gospel reveals the purpose the author had for writing it. ’ Examine this claim with reference to either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. 18) (ii) Evaluate the view that knowing the purpose of the gospel does not add to our understanding of its meaning. (12) (Total for Question 17(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 18 (a) (i) ‘It was the religious officials who were responsible for Jesus’ death; the political authorities had nothing to do with it. ’ Examine this claim with reference to either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. (18) (ii) Evaluate the view that conflict was crucial to the ministry of Jesus. (12) (Total for Question 18(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Analyse three examples of religious symbolism in the crucifixion narrative of eith er Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. 18) (ii) Evaluate the claim that the resurrection adds little to our understanding of the ministry of Jesus. (12) (Total for Question 18(b) = 30 marks) Ethics EITHER 3 (a) (i) Examine the important concepts of two critiques of the link between religion and morality (18) (ii) To what extent do these critiques succeed in weakening the link between religion and morality? (12) (Total for Question 3(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Analyse the key features of either Natural Moral Law or Virtue Ethics. (18) (ii) Evaluate the extent to which the selected theory can withstand criticism. (12) (Total for Question 3(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 4 (a) (i) Examine central ideas relating to justice and law and punishment. (18) (ii) To what extent does objectivity pose challenges for imposing punishment? (12) (Total for Question 4(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Analyse two problems raised by the use and meaning of ethical language. (18) (ii) Evaluate the view that these problems cannot be solved. (12) (Total for Question 4(b) = 30 marks) New Testament EITHER 17 (a) (i) Examine the key religious concepts of either the teachings of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God (Luke’s Gospel) or the teaching of the Prologue (Fourth Gospel). 18) (ii) Evaluate the claim that these teachings lay down the primary themes of the gospel. (12) (Total for Question 17(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) ‘The Gospel was written to make clear the identity of Jesus. ’ Examine this claim regarding the purpose of either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. (18) (ii) Evaluate the claim that there are also other important purposes for the gospel. (12) (Total for Question 17(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 18 (a) (i) With reference to either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel, examine the [pic][? ] |'(*,. /@AGJKY[^_pqrs†¹ Zâ€Å" ¤?  ¬iaiaiaiaiaiOAa ·a ·?  ·aâ„ ¢? A†¦? {†¦A{A{A{†¦g†¦? u†°OJ[? ]QJ[? ]U[pic]^J[? ]mHnHu[pic]h? †ºOJ[? ]QJ[? ]contribution of both the religious and political authorities to the death of Jesus. (18) (ii) Consider critically the claim that it was Pilate who was responsible for the death of Jesus, not the Jewish leaders. (12) (Total for Question 18(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) ‘The religious symbolism of the crucifixion narrative is vital to understanding the whole gospel. ’ Examine the meaning of this claim. (18) (ii) To what extent does the resurrection narrative enhance that understanding? (12) (Total for Question 18(b) = 30 marks) 4th Gospel Revision Notes (18) (ii) Consider critically the extent to which subjectivism poses problems for these concepts. 12) (Total for Question 4(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Analyse the contribution made by emotivism to debates about ethical language. (18) (ii) To what extent do the problems of ethical language remain unsolved? (12) (Total for Question 4(b) = 30 marks) New Testament EITHER 17 (a) (i) Examine the religious significance of either the teachings of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God (Luke’s Gospel) or the teaching of the Prologue (Fourth Gospel). (18) (ii) To what extent are these teachings important for an understanding of the gospel? (12) (Total for Question 17(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) ‘The gospel was written to reveal the nature of Jesus as the Christ. ’ Examine this claim regarding the purpose of either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. (18) (ii) To what extent may other purposes for the gospel be equally important? (12) (Total for Question 17(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 18 (a) (i) With reference to either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel, examine the reasons why the religious and political authorities put Jesus to death. (18) (ii) To what extent was Pilate responsible for the death of Jesus? (12) (Total for Question 18(a) = 30 marks) OR b) (i) Examine the significance of the religious symbolism contained within the crucifixion narrative of either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. (18) (ii) To what extent does the resurrection narrative add to an understanding of the rest of the gospel? (12) (Total for Question 18(b) = 30 marks) Ethics EITHER 3 (a) (i) Analyse the important features of either Deontology or Virtue Ethic s. (18) (ii) Consider critically how effective the selected theory may be as a guideline for moral living. (12) (Total for Question 3(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Examine the key ideas of Natural Moral Law. 18) (ii) To what extent do critiques of the link between religion and morality undermine the value of Natural Moral Law? (12) (Total for Question 3(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 4 (a) (i) Examine key ideas associated with either justice or law and punishment. (18) (ii) Evaluate the view that objectivity and relativism pose problems for the concept selected in part (i). (12) (Total for Question 4(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Examine the problems which scholars have identified regarding the use and meaning of ethical language. (18) (ii) To what extent may these problems be solved? 12) (Total for Question 4(b) = 30 marks) New Testament EITHER 17 (a) (i) Either examine the important features of Luke’s presentation of Jesus’ teaching on the Kingdom of God or examine the key ideas of t he Prologue (Fourth Gospel). (18) (ii) Evaluate the claim that this teaching/these ideas are crucial to the meaning of the gospel. (12) (Total for Question 17(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) ‘A careful reading of the gospel reveals the purpose the author had for writing it. ’ Examine this claim with reference to either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. 18) (ii) Evaluate the view that knowing the purpose of the gospel does not add to our understanding of its meaning. (12) (Total for Question 17(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 18 (a) (i) ‘It was the religious officials who were responsible for Jesus’ death; the political authorities had nothing to do with it. ’ Examine this claim with reference to either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. (18) (ii) Evaluate the view that conflict was crucial to the ministry of Jesus. (12) (Total for Question 18(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Analyse three examples of religious symbolism in the crucifixion narrative of eith er Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. 18) (ii) Evaluate the claim that the resurrection adds little to our understanding of the ministry of Jesus. (12) (Total for Question 18(b) = 30 marks) Ethics EITHER 3 (a) (i) Examine the important concepts of two critiques of the link between religion and morality (18) (ii) To what extent do these critiques succeed in weakening the link between religion and morality? (12) (Total for Question 3(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Analyse the key features of either Natural Moral Law or Virtue Ethics. (18) (ii) Evaluate the extent to which the selected theory can withstand criticism. (12) (Total for Question 3(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 4 (a) (i) Examine central ideas relating to justice and law and punishment. (18) (ii) To what extent does objectivity pose challenges for imposing punishment? (12) (Total for Question 4(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) Analyse two problems raised by the use and meaning of ethical language. (18) (ii) Evaluate the view that these problems cannot be solved. (12) (Total for Question 4(b) = 30 marks) New Testament EITHER 17 (a) (i) Examine the key religious concepts of either the teachings of Jesus concerning the Kingdom of God (Luke’s Gospel) or the teaching of the Prologue (Fourth Gospel). 18) (ii) Evaluate the claim that these teachings lay down the primary themes of the gospel. (12) (Total for Question 17(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) ‘The Gospel was written to make clear the identity of Jesus. ’ Examine this claim regarding the purpose of either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel. (18) (ii) Evaluate the claim that there are also other important purposes for the gospel. (12) (Total for Question 17(b) = 30 marks) EITHER 18 (a) (i) With reference to either Luke’s Gospel or the Fourth Gospel, examine the [pic][? ] |'(*,. /@AGJKY[^_pqrs†¹ Zâ€Å" ¤?  ¬iaiaiaiaiaiOAa ·a ·?  ·aâ„ ¢? A†¦? {†¦A{A{A{†¦g†¦? u†°OJ[? ]QJ[? ]U[pic]^J[? ]mHnHu[pic]h? †ºOJ[? ]QJ[? ]contribution of both the religious and political authorities to the death of Jesus. (18) (ii) Consider critically the claim that it was Pilate who was responsible for the death of Jesus, not the Jewish leaders. (12) (Total for Question 18(a) = 30 marks) OR (b) (i) ‘The religious symbolism of the crucifixion narrative is vital to understanding the whole gospel. ’ Examine the meaning of this claim. (18) (ii) To what extent does the resurrection narrative enhance that understanding? (12) (Total for Question 18(b) = 30 marks)