Immanuel Kant 1724-1804 Essay

Immanuel Kant was born on April 22, 1724 in Konigsberg, East Prussia. He was the son of a saddler. At age 8, he entered the Collegium Fredericianum, a Latin school, where he remained for 8 1/2 years and studied the classics. He then entered the University of Konigsberg in 1740 to study philosophy, mathematics, and physics. The death of his father halted his university career so he became a private tutor. In 1755, he returned to Konigsburg where he later resumed his studies. In 1756, he received a degree and was made a lecturer, and in 1770 he became a professor. Kant felt he had to adhere to a very strict schedule during his years as a professor. He would get up shortly before five in the morning and spent an hour drinking tea, smoking a pipe, and thinking over his day’s work. From six to seven he prepared his lecture, which would begin at seven or eight and lasted until nine or ten. After his lecture he would devote himself to writing until the midday meal. He always had company for his midday meal and it would always last several hours because he enjoyed conversation. After the meal he would take a walk for an hour or so and his evenings were devoted to reading and reflection. He would go to bed at ten o’clock. Besides his writings, he became famous for his schedule. Kant’s most striking character trait was probably his moral earnestness and his devotion to the idea of duty. He was a sociable man and was also kindly and benevolent. He was never rich but he was careful in money matters. He regularly assisted a number of poor people. He was a sincere and loyal friend and his conduct was marked by courtesy and respect for others. For 15 years after completing his doctorate he taught at the university where he lectured on science and math, but eventually he expanded his field to cover almost all branches of philosophy. Kant was an amazing orator and was internationally famous for his lectures. His main goal in philosophical courses was to stimulate his listeners to â€Å"stand on their own feet† as he put it. He was appointed to a regular chair of philosophy at the University at the age of 46 in 1770. He was made the professor of logics and metaphysics. He came into conflict with Prussia’s government due to his unorthodox religious teachings. In 1792, the King of Prussia, Frederick William II, forbade Kant to teach or write on religious teachings. He obeyed the king’s order until William II died. In 1798, the year following his retirement from the University, Kant published a summary of his religious views. He died on February 12, 1804. During his lifetime, Kant produced many writings. Scholars usually divide his literary career into two periods: the Pre-critical period and the Critical period. During the Pre-critical period, 1747 to 1781, he wrote many non-fictional works and criticisms. Some of them were â€Å"Thoughts on the True Estimation of Living Forces†, â€Å"On Fire†, â€Å"A New Explanation of the First Principles of Metaphysical Knowledge†, and â€Å"On the Forms and Principles of the Sensible and Intelligible World†. From 1770 to 1780, he mainly worked on preparing â€Å"The Critique of Pure Reason†. The Critical period lasted from 1781 to 1794. During this period, he wrote â€Å"The Critique of Pure Reason† in 1781, and â€Å"Foundation for the Metaphysics of Ethics† in 1785. Following the critical works, Kant published â€Å"Critique of Practical Reason†, â€Å"Critique of Judgment†, and â€Å"Religion within the Limits of Mere Reason†. Three main discussions of Kant are Duty, the Formula of the End, and the Kingdom of Ethics. Kant feels that we act morally when we do our duty, however it is important to distinguish between acting according to duty and acting from duty. Acting according to duty is when someone else has imposed the duty. This is an example of heteronymous will. An example of this is Adolf Eichmann, a German nazi general of WWII, who formulated the ‘final solution’. He said that according to Kant, he acted morally, since he was following orders, as it was his duty to do so. This is wrong because Kant says that we are only acting morally if we act from duty, as dictated by our innate reason. This is an example of autonomous will. Along with duty is the difference between the Categorical Imperative and the Hypothetical Imperative. Imperatives in general are commands that dictate a particular course of action, such as â€Å"you shall clean your room. † Hypothetical Imperatives are commands that depend on my preference for a particular end, and are stated in conditional form. The Categorical Imperative, Kant argues, are moral actions based on a â€Å"supreme principle of morality† which is objective, rational, freely chosen, and it is not conditional upon one’s preferences. Therefore the Categorical Imperative can be the only possible standard of moral obligation. An example of this is two grocers in a town are John and Joe. John wants to keep his trade, so he insists on selling the best goods, giving the best service, being friendly and polite, and offering value for money. Joe does the same, not to keep his trade, but because it is what he should do. According to Kant, even though the actions are the same, John is acting immorally, according to the Hypothetical Imperative, while Joe is acting morally, according to the Categorical Imperative. For Kant, the act is not important. As long as you are acting from duty and the motive is right, the act must be right. However, the Principles of Universalisability puts a twist on this. It states that if an action is applied to everyone, and everybody did what you were about to do, it became immoral or hypocritical, and then your act would be immoral. The Formula of the End deals with ends and means. Kant states that you must not treat people as means to your own end, but as ends in themselves. It would be similar to Christianity’s ‘Golden Rule’ except for the Universalisability Principle. The example of this is suicide. The ‘Golden Rule’ does not apply in this case, because when a person commits suicide, he does not treat others in ways he would want to be treated. He does not treat them at all, because he only treats himself. The Kingdom of Ethics states that human beings, because they are rational (use reason), possess inherent value. This means that they are ends in themselves. Their value is intrinsic, not instrumental. Kant feels that no rule of conduct, which applies to all human beings, can sanction actions favoring one person over another or agree to conduct where one person treats another as a means to an end. To do so is to demean oneself and the entire human race. Kant’s ethics are founded in and based on respect for persons. In following a certain course of moral action, regardless of inclination, a person is enacting a Kingdom of Ethics. Along with ethics is the idea of good will. Kant believes that it is wrong to intentionally break a promise that you have made with a person. He feels that good will is a pure duty outlook that disregards consequences entirely. He says that a good will is a wanting, which is informed by reason. It is a wanting which stems, not from inclination, but from duty. Kant says space and time are not concepts but that they are forms of intuition. He spends a lot of time showing the fallacies that arise from applying space and time to things that are not experienced. Kant agrees with David Hume in believing passion brings man morality. He feels that reason is only the comparing of ideas, and that reason will influence us away from our influences. The cultivation of reason is required for the purpose, and the purpose leads to happiness, therefore reason is compatible with happiness. Kant believed that reason connected us directly to things-in-themselves. He feels that we possess two sources of input that can serve as such datum. These are physical sensation and the sense of moral duty. Physical sensation starts an application of reason to experience, creating the perception of phenomenal objects. The supreme rational example of this is science. The sense of moral duty begins an application of reason that produces ethics and religion. The supreme rational example of this is the â€Å"Postulates of Practical Reason† the â€Å"Ideas† of God, freedom, and immortality, which to Kant are required as conditions of the Moral Law. Kant tries to demolish all the purely intellectual proofs of the existence of God. He makes it clear that he has other reasons for believing in God that he talks about later. God, freedom, and immortality are the three ideas of reason according to Kant. The differences between reality as seen in science, and reality as seen in morality and religion show that there are points to existence that are not revealed by either one alone. The two aspects are unequal. Magnitude and religion have a much more limited rational content, returning to many of the same questions over and over again. These include the ultimate questions about the meaning of life and existence, as well as the questions on how to live. Kant was led to characterize his system as transcendental idealism, so that we have a questioned representation of things, since our moral datum does not lead to direct knowledge of things that we are able to conceive, like God. This is because we do not have the real intuition that we have of physical objects. The reality shown by morality is a matter of faith for Kant. This is an inference from the Moral Law. This way, â€Å"transcendental idealism† is different form â€Å"subjective idealism† and â€Å"objective idealism†, since they both show certainties about the ultimate nature of things. The nature of things that we cannot know about concretely is revealed in science. Kant’s theory of empirical realism stresses that phenomena are undoubtedly mental contents. He feels that it is natural and easy to infer from this a â€Å"transcendental realism where â€Å"real† objects, which are not mental objects, are things we do not experience. At the age of 69, Kant wrote an essay on religion that is considered the boldest of all his writings. He said that churches have value only in that they assist the moral development of the race. He went on to say that when mere ceremonies usurp priority over moral excellence as a test of religion, religion has disappeared. He believed that the real church is a community of people, however scattered and divided, who are united by devotion to the common moral law. He thought the creed and ritual had replaced the good life and that instead of men being bound together by religion, they are divided into a thousand sects. He went on to say that a perversion is reached when the church becomes an instrument of the government and the clergy, whose function is to console and guide a harassed humanity with religious faith and hope and charity, are made the tools of political oppression. He said that miracles cannot prove a religion because we can never rely on the testimony which supports them, and that prayer is useless as it aims at a suspension of the natural laws that hold for all experience. A priori judgments are made outside of experience. â€Å"The sky is blue† is an a posteriori judgment (made on the basis of sensory experience). â€Å"I exist† is an a priori truth, which remains unchanged even if all of our senses are deceived. Analytic statements are true based only on the meanings of words. The only thing needed to determine truth is a dictionary. Synthetic statements cannot be judged like analytic statements. â€Å"My dog has black spots† is a synthetic statement. The truth cannot be determined since my dog is not known. The truth is not dependent on word meanings, but on if it corresponds with the world. Causality is applied to perception and concepts which are applicable to perception, Kant calls Categories. There are a total of twelve Categories. Kant says that the categories are patterns of understanding by which we examine structure and understand the things that we experience. Synthetic a priori judgments consist in applying the Categories to sensory information in space and time, or the â€Å"perceptual manifold. † Application of the Categories allows people to realize physical objects as capable of casual relations and interactions with other objects. Categories cannot be applied to knowledge or things that exist apart from space and time like things-in-themselves. Kant derives the Ideas from the possible forms of logical inference. When we assume that this potentially infinite series is given in its whole, an Idea is formed. Kant recognized three Ideas. The first is of the absolute unity of the thinking subject. The second is of the absolute unity of the order of the conditions of appearance. The third is of the absolute unity of the conditions of thought in general. The first Idea provides a subject matter of speculative psychology. The second is one of speculative cosmology, while the third is one of speculative theology. These are all metaphysical knowledge of matters of fact from synthetic a priori principles. Kant’s Ideas are really all about metaphysical paradoxes (Antimony of space and time) in its entirety, an unconditioned whole. Kant believes that all these matters are open to clarification and development. He also believes that the mind produces the world it knows. To understand â€Å"The Critique†, Kant’s logical system must be understood. He divides all judgments into analytic or synthetic judgments and a priori or a posteriori judgments. Judgments about empirical matters are synthetic, which can be denied without any contradiction. A priori judgments are free from experience. All analytic judgments are a priori. Therefore judgments are split up into three classes: analytic a priori, synthetic a posteriori, and synthetic a priori. One of his points made in â€Å"The Critique† is to show how synthetic a priori judgments occur in pure mathematics and natural science. Critique is not really a criticism, but a critical analysis where Kant is not attacking â€Å"pure reason† except to show its limitations. Rather he hopes to show its possibility and to exalt it above the impure knowledge which comes to us through the distorting channels of sense. He is trying to show that knowledge is not all derived from the senses. Kant distinguished between perceiving and thinking, which are from two distinct faculties of the mind, sense and understanding. There are three types of concepts. A posteriori concepts are taken from sense perception and are applicable to it, while Ideas are free of all sense perception. From Kant we know that every event must have a cause. This is possible only on the condition that objects must be subjected to the concepts of human understanding. He said that not all knowledge is gained through experience. It is possible to gain knowledge from sense-experience. That is that you can learn by seeing things that are not experienced but rather come from logic. â€Å"The Critique of Pure Reason†, published in 1781, is a synthesis of rationalism and empiricism. In order to understand Kant’s position and orthodox teachings, we must first understand the philosophical background that he was reacting to. There were two major historical movements in the early modern period of philosophy that had a significant impact on Kant: Empiricism and Rationalism. Kant argued that both the content and method of these philosophies contained serious flaws. A central problem for philosophers in both movements was determining how we can escape from within the confines of the human mind and the immediately knowable content of our thoughts to acquire knowledge of the world outside of us. The Empiricists sought to accomplish this through the senses and a posteriori reasoning. Empiricists such as John Locke argued that human knowledge originates in our sensations or experiences. Locke argued that the mind was a blank slate, or a â€Å"Tabula Rasa†, upon which our experiences writes and that experience teaches us everything. The Rationalists attempted to use a prori reasoning to build the necessary bridge. The Rationalists, principally Descartes, approached the problems of human knowledge from another angle. The Rationalists believed that the mind was the source of knowledge and that sense-data from our experiences only trigger the knowledge already in the mind. Kant’s answer to the two positions changed the face of philosophy. Both of these in themselves, he believed, gave a one-sided view of knowledge. Kant believed that there was more to knowledge then just experience. He believed that the mind gave us knowledge through the â€Å"categories†. That experience is going to trigger the knowledge or categories that are innate to all of us. So he would say that there is nothing that we could not know or learn because we already have the categories in the mind. Kant believed that nations would not really be civilized until all standing armies are abolished. He stated that standing armies cause states to try to outdo each other with the number of armed men each has. Because of the expense of the armies, peace becomes in the long run more oppressive than a short war; and standing armies are the cause of aggressive wars undertaken in order to get rid of this burden. Kant felt that much militarism was due to the expansion of Europe into America and Africa and Asia. He believed that if democracy was established and that everyone shared in political power, the spoils of international robbery would have to be subdivided as to constitute a resistible temptation. Kant said when those who must do the fighting have the right to decide between war and peace, history will no longer be written in blood. Many philosophers were influenced by prior philosophers. Berkeley was, for Kant, the characteristic â€Å"idealist† and an empiricist. Descartes, on the other hand, was a â€Å"realist† believing that objects exist separately from us. He also thought that we could only know their essences through â€Å"clear and distinct† innate ideas. This made him a â€Å"transcendental† realist. Kant’s thoughts were mainly influenced by the rationalism of Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz, Christian Wolff, and the empiricism of David Hume. The reason I chose Immanuel Kant to research is because not only of his philosophical views but also because of his interests in scientific issues. He was interested in virtually every aspect of human experience. While researching him I became impressed with his views on war, especially that if we allowed the people who have to do the fighting to make the decision about war, we would have peace. I agree that sometimes the government makes the decisions that doesn’t represent what the people want. I was also impressed with his views on religion, how the churches become instruments in the hands of the government and the clergy become tools of politics. Since Kant’s thought is truly the basis of modern philosophy, it is still a main point of departure for the 21st century.

How to Brush Your Teeth Properly

How to Brush Your Teeth Properly Proper teeth brushing involves four things; a soft toothbrush, the correct angle of brushing, brushing in a pattern and brushing at least twice a day, after breakfast and before bedtime. Proper tools and ingredients to brushing your teeth properly is, a soft toothbrush and fluoride toothpaste. A soft tooth brush also makes it much easier to remove plaque below the gum line. This is where periodontal disease starts. Use a pea-sized amount of toothpaste that contains fluoride.Apply it to the soft brush. It might stop a cavity in its tracks and give you more resistance to future cavities. Angle the bristle of the brush along the gum line. At a 45 degree angle, apply firm pressure so the bristles slide under the gum line. Vibrate the brush while you use short back and forth circular motions. Brush two or three teeth at a time, then move to the next teeth. Tilt the brush so you can use the tip of the brush to brush the backs of your front teeth.It's fine t o brush any regular pattern you choose, but since the insides of your teeth get less attention you might want to start with the insides of the upper teeth then go to the insides of the lower teeth. Switch to the outsides of the upper teeth, then the lower teeth. Brush the chewing surfaces of the upper teeth then the lower teeth. End by gently brushing your tongue and the roof of your mouth. This removes germs and keeps you breath fresh. Properly brushing your teeth will simply keep the dentist away.Brushing your teeth is a preventive method to keep your mouth staying healthy, looking great, and having fresh berth throughout the day. Your mouth carries many different germs and sometimes bad breath. Brushing your teeth twice daily is about the best habit you can get in. There are other methods used to help aid brushing you teeth such as dental flossing and mouthwash. Those are other important roles that you should take when taking action of keeping your mouth healthy. So everyday, twi ce a day you shall take these simple steps into action when trying to brush your teeth.

Greenway hotel Case Study Essay

1.0 Introduction Greenway hotel is a hotel chain of Great Britain, and there are more than 60 hotels in Britain. Now, Greenway hotel has a new small hotel chain headquarters in Germany, so they want to keep the half of the new hotel and renamed as Greenway part of the hotel group, the other half to sell. In order to have a better understanding of the Multinational Resourcing, we analyzed the Greenway hotel employees choose way. Multinational Resourcing is A procurement strategy in which a business seeks to find the most cost efficient location for manufacturing a product, even if the location is in a foreign country. (Virolainen, V. M. 1998). Under Multinational Resourcing, there are several strategies may use onto business environment as company direction to become competitive among industries such as Parent Country Nationals (PCNs),Host Country Nationals (HCNs) and Adopt a Mixed (PCNs + HCNs). 2.0 Problem According to the article, because the new hotel is acquired, so many employees have left, so new hotels lack of employees in Germany. As is known to all, Greenway hotel is the hotel chain from the UK, so for the German business perspective, their lack of understanding of German information and business culture. Due to work in Germany, the hotel also has a problem which is the communication between employees, German employees speak German, but Britain’s staffs are using English, hence, it will be difficult to communicate between employees, and produce some problems. Finally, the new hotel requires four months later will be opened, so short time is also a  problem. These problems are the multinational companies outside their home countries to establish subsidiary possible problems, to solve these problems, the company can better development in countries outside of the home country. 3.0 Cause of problem Case study showed that the old employees have departed, 70% due to buy so now, Greenway hotel requires a lot of new employees, just can make the new hotel can normal operation. Second, because of the new hotel is not in home, so they are facing the new management problem, German and British business environment different, in order to attract more guests, new hotels can’t expose more British management mode. Third, due to the new employees have German and British, this will lead to the problem of language, make it difficult to manage the company. Finally, the head office for the time is short, this could lead to a new company open is not ready, it will affect the company’s reputation. 4.0 Recommendation 4.1 Lack of staff Lack of staff that is every multinational enterprises expand when encounter problems. By buying companies, some employees may leave, because the company is not stable, it will make the new staff to reduce, so the new hotel need to recruit more staff. New employees should be good for Chinese people, I believe, is preferred, although this can make the home staff less employment opportunities, but this will be conducive to the development of the new hotel. McDonald’s, for example, McDonald’s in entering a new country, would face a lack of staff. So, they will recruit new employees, such ability can let a subsidiary functioning normally. McDonald’s choice of employees have their own ideas, grass-roots staff they generally choose the host state employees, but the manager will choose home staff, not only conducive to management, also can make the subsidiary can develop faster. So the Greenway hotel should study the staffs choose way, so that we can better development in host countries. 4.2 lack of understanding of German information and business culture Due to Greenway hotel is a British company, the German problem and business culture is not understand. Therefore, the company  cannot be accepted by most customers in Germany, may also than other local hotel, and also will reduce the hotel’s profit. Greenway hotel should hire a part of the German employees, because they know a lot about the domestic market, so , the hotel will be faster accepted by customers. Second, Greenway hotel should find some employees to do market research before the opening, so as to better understand customers’ needs and preferences of Germany. Moreover, the hotels decorate those who can’t accord the British model, to apply to Germany. Like McDonald’s into other countries, for example, they will do market research, according to local custom to produce some suitable for local food, so that we can attract more guests. Second, their grassroots employees can choose host countries, but in front of the work to practice, so as not to not understand the workings of a McDonald’s. Greenway hotel can also use this way, it can be faster understand German problem and the commercial culture, let the new company can be faster to Greenway hotel group to make a profit. 4.3 The communication between staff Because we choose is mixed way to recruit staff, so the employee communication will appear problem. British workers are speaking English, but German workers speak German, so they produce very big problems of communicating. We can use two methods to solve this problem. First, let the staff to learn German, arrange the tutorial, as soon as possible so that we can solve the problem of language. Second, can only by UK employees, top management of the underlying managers choose to master English German, grass-roots staff all adopt the German employees, so you can avoid the problem of language, but this method is less multinationals own characteristic .Now most multinational companies will choose the first method, because it not only to the home country employee job opportunities, but also can cooperate with host country staff, formed a new service mode, so that we can better attract customers and gain  higher profits for the company. 4.4 Preparation time is short From the article, we know that Lincoln company gave only four months as a time to prepare, it is a challenge for the new company. First, they want to recruit employees, because employees 70% have left before. Second, they want  to solve the problem of communication between employees, such ability can let the staff could work together. Third, because the two countries cultures are different. For these problems, 4 months of preparation time is very short, so, in order to know how to solve these problems, for example, McDonald’s when they set up shop in China is mainly for host countries, so that we can reduce the time of the staff. Second, after the good employees, McDonald’s will be paid to staff training, let employees can adapt to the new job. Third, it has carried on the western food, Chinese fast food market survey, listened to the general public opinion. This survey is not common in China at that time. Fourth, to a large number of design novel and unique with the characteristics of McDonald’s advertising create a market in China, this is off the Chinese consumers’ appetite. Greenway hotel can also learn the McDonald’s to enter the Chinese way, hiring and training in Germany, and in training to send staff do market research in advance, and assign to Germany for a development strategy, so as to let the hotel to the development of better, still can save time to prepare. 5.0 Conclusion Along with the deepening of economic globalization and the vigorous development of tourism industry, the multinational hotel group covers more than half of global hotel. Transnational expansion is the inevitable choice of hotel enterprises to seek greater development, global expansion has become the new century hotel enterprise important tourism economic phenomenon. Traditional research in the field of international expansion of hotel enterprises based on the basis of economics and management, and based on the research of geography foundation is weak. Hotel enterprises transnational expansion means that break through the border of a country or region, into another country or region development, this is like a strong geographical spatial properties. Hotel international expansion has become a trend. The expansion of the hotel will produce a lot of problems. So, find the ice can better to solve these problems for hotel development in host countries, bring more profits and business opportunities. References 1. A survey of procurement strategy development in industrial companies. International Journal of Production Economics, 56, 677-688 2. http://wiki.mbalib.com/wiki/%E9%BA%A6%E5%BD%93%E5%8A%B3%E5%8 5%AC%E5%8F%B8 3. http://wiki.mbalib.com/wiki/%E9%BA%A6%E5%BD%93%E5%8A%B3%E5%8 5%AC%E5%8F%B8

Macroeconomics Environment of Business Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2750 words

Macroeconomics Environment of Business - Essay Example Moreover the population and area of India is much larger than the combined area of all countries under EU. On the other hand there is the example of USSR breaking up into 14 smaller countries. Ruble was the currency of a unified USSR, but now the newly formed countries have come out with their own currencies while still accepting Ruble. This system as working fine as well. In fact success of any unified currency depends largely upon the sincerity and integrity of member states. In the case of EU the member countries don’t have a history of fierce rivalry or enmity like between Israel and Palestine (or other gulf countries), India and Pakistan or the cold war between US and USSR. So far each member has displayed maturity and commitment towards the unification move, recognizing the potential of unity for all. Moreover these are early days and initial hiccups are bound to crop up. To think that there should’ve been multiple currencies only because there have been such an a rrangement in past means we’re not taking lessons from history. Think about the multiplicity of efforts and resources that are required to maintain two types of currencies simultaneously. Under such circumstances, if all 12 member countries use their own currency together with EMU, at times the chauvinistic feeling also crop up which may bring up the thought of putting one’s country’s currency over that of the unified currency (which in totality means nobody’s currency).

ARTICLE CRITIQUE - Applied Research Methods class for Public Admin

CRITIQUE - Applied Research Methods class for Public Admin - Article Example The results achieved gave evidence that a joint effort between experts and the community in the project brought forth 8efficiency in the technical arena. The article sheds light on the advantages gained when a community is involved in searching for solutions to particular problems rather than the technical aspect of using questionnaires (Hindy, & Rongfang, 2005). What is the argument of the article? In most cases, administration has frequently believed that decision making can only be achieved through expertise language. The involvement of the public is viewed to lack procedure and cannot deliver the expected results in the cause of problem definition. As a result, some of the community members believe that they should not take part in developing policies that can be implemented in resolving issues at stake. This assumption has limited the chances that a government can offer its citizens. The community is never given opportunity to participate in the crucial stages of defining problems but brought to center stage when policies derived are refined. The article highlights the importance of incorporating the locals at the early stages in problem definition to the final stage when policies are derived. The problem defined in the case study was transit problems. From the initial stage, the input of the citizens towards solutions that could be implemented to resolve transportation issues in the government. Regardless of language limitation faced, communal groups were reached not through questionnaires but by an interactive approach. They were allowed to communicate through their native language to give ideas that could be implemented to solve transportation problems. The technical team was also involved in the process of defining the problem as well as deriving policies. The findings of the author were very encouraging. The positive response of the community in defining the

Importance of Education Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Importance of Education - Essay Example Through their individual stories, Rodriguez and Rose confess how they manage to relieve themselves of discomfort in learning and struggle forward with passionate heart for studies the moment they came across instructors and academic settings which have altogether brought their mood to relish the learning experience. Both Rose and Rodriguez give account to how education has gradually shaped their immature attitude to adopt scholastic behavior upon deriving inspiration from educators who serve as their key models in the course of establishing the right habit and fascination to study. In the light of understanding â€Å"The Achievement of Desire†, Rodriguez attempts to make central the theme of invoking a comparative perception between his education at school and the degree of parental intervention that he expects to coincide with it. Rodriguez expresses that their family belongs to a working class and it is the state of his original culture and economy as being of Mexican descen t that prevents him at first to study English. However, since he becomes subjected to an interactive classroom environment facilitated by an articulate instructor, he gets accustomed to English as the medium of instruction and further loves reading to the extent that he locks himself away from all external cares at home. Apparently, the more that Rodriguez gets deeply engaged with curricular activities at school, the more that his parents get less involved in constituting his academic foundation despite the fact that he acquires a growing appreciation for the subjects. Because Rodriguez has found an ample sense of fulfillment in books and intellectual discourse in his class with an encouraging teacher, he comes to the realization that the lack of education of his hard-working parents forms a potential ground why whatever he learns at home occurs to have insignificant worth. As a consequence, he ends up with a student character who greatly looks up to the teaching figure of the forma l institution yet feels indifferent in communicating with his mother and his father, feeling embarrassed that they have not reached the same level of education that could have made his parents a non-academic community capable of enhancing his confidence over academic needs. On the other hand, one comprehends Rose in â€Å"I Just Wanna Be Average† as he acknowledges his confusion with the educational process of the vocational track and observes how other students like him are merely taking chances in passing their subjects, knowing that such status merely earns them an opportunity of landing a job with some economy of average value. Rose mentions particular names of batch-mates and faculty staff like Ted Richard, Dave Snyder, Ken Harvey, Brother Slattery, and Brother Clint with brief information in the process of his observation to determine how the system of education works and finds out that it is rather useless to study courses such as mathematics and physical science when students have very low inclination to these areas of learning especially if they cannot seem to designate connection of these subjects to the practical aspect of living. It turns out that unlike Rodriguez, Rose does not hold his parents accountable for the path he takes in education though they seem to have exhibited negligible attention on this matter for Rose admits in the story that they themselves fall short in

Company report Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Company report - Essay Example From manufacturing and installation of modern orbit presses till the repair, maintenance and troubleshooting of the presses as well. The Sizer is the innovation body of pellet manufacturing presses. The pellet manufacturing operations of the Sizer Ltd is competing with rivals, where the challenges are more enough to survive in industry. 1. Remit The boundary of this study is confined under management and financial factors to analyze. We will initially focus on the factors of SWOT analysis of the Sizer Ltd and the industrial factors facing by the firm. The Sizer Ltd dealing with two dimensions, first consists on the pellet manufacturing and supplying operations where the number of competitors are large whereas the Sizer is facilitating in three different large markets of the world. Next operation of this firm based on the engineering and technical support division, which provides the pellets manufacturing presses. In pellets presses industry, the Sizer is the global leader which innov ate this technology in mid-nineties. 2. Background of Sizer Ltd History of Sizer Ltd consists on the combination of engineering innovation as well as the quality manufacturing of pellets. A British pioneer engineer established Sizer Ltd in 1899 in Hull, England. The first ever pallet manufacturing press was designed by the Albert Sizer, son of Sizer’s founder with the name and style of Cuber. ... The basic robust designs rapidly improve to meet the market requirements of quality efficiency and the cost effectiveness and become the familiar Orbit Pellet Press. Simultaneously, Sizer providing the wide range of pallet presses and the spare parts with technical supports which includes the maintenance and installation of presses. The most selling press of Sizer, Orbit presses is the most efficient more for manufacturing of pallets, the main characteristics of Orbit is easy for installation and adaptable for bespoke applications. This use in diverse industries like manufacturing of animal feed, charcoal briquetting, biomass, malting and flour millings. It has capacity from 200kg / hour to 10000kg / hour range availability which depends on material and type of manufacturing. Year 2008, the industry of pellet producing was sacrificing for the impacts of recession, which shows in Figure 2 that lower quantity of pellet manufacturing stoves sold and installed whereas, only boilers sold out by the Sizer because of barrier of new entry in industry but the only capacity enhancement through the boilers. (See Figure 2) 3. Method and Tool of Analysis We choose the SWOT as best analysis tool to identify the strength, weaknesses, threads and weaknesses of Sizer Ltd and the competitors as well. SWOT Analysis is the more frequently and easily understandable tool to identify the international factors of the firms which exhibit all the internal and external factors to understand the current position of the firm and the market or industry, furthermore, it helps to create the strategies of future to more stabilize the firm and achieve the organizational goals by capturing the

Reflection Paper Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Reflection Paper - Assignment Example Autonomy creates an element of directing one’s own life while purpose enhances the desire for persons to do things in service of something significant than ourselves (Pink, 26). More over, mastery enhances the desire of continually improving something that is important. It is imperative to note that, Pink points out that, the traditional carrot and stick method of motivation does not fit in the dynamic jobs of the 21st century. This method concentrates on the principle of rewarding the likable behaviour and punishing the dislikeable one. The carrot and stick method of motivation immensely assumes that the main drive, which powers human conduct, is the drive to counter to rewards and punishments the dynamic milieu (Pink, 26). This study reveals that this method failed to produce the projected results in most instances and this led to the discovery of a possible third drive for human conduct. However, the carrot and stick method proved to work well for typical tasks, which were less dynamic, highly controlled and unchallenging. These tasks involved straightforward processes and less lateral thinking. Pink’s model of addressing the aspect of motivation in the 21st century is such dynamic in the sense that it fits in all the dynamistic nature of the complex jobs. These jobs are interesting and self directed and cannot be attributed to the aspects of rigidity in the carrot and stick approach. In Pink’s perception, it is evident that, the traditional approach of reward can lead to less productivity if applied in the complex nature and the creativity aspects in the 21st century jobs. Pink attributes traditional approach to diminished intrinsic motivation, less creativity, short-term thinking, addiction, unethical conduct and lower performance (Pink, 26). On the other hand, Pink’s approach based on self-determination theory with three fundamental pillars of autonomy, purpose and mastery is capable of correlating maximally wit the dynamic

Deserving graduating senior Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Deserving graduating senior - Essay Example This is the major reason as to why I am applying for this particular scholarship program. Throughout my high school education I have worked hard and put all my efforts towards achieving excellent performance. I may not have been naturally smart when it comes to the book but my efforts and encouragement from parents and teachers were influential in the attainment of what I have so far achieved. My hard work, dedication and commitment towards excelling in my studies made me create a very special bond with my teachers which prove extremely beneficial. I am an inquisitive, proactive, and flexible learner; these qualities coupled with my great effort and cordial relations with my tutors perform well. I was thus able to post high GPA results and take college classes as a junior during my senior year of high school. In my college classes at the Pen State-Beaver Campus I posted above average grades as a junior student. I therefore intend to join the Kent University on graduation from college and pursue Aviation Science. It’s my intention to participate in the United State s Air Force ROTC program at college and enlist in the Air Force after graduating from college. Apart from my academic life at school and college, I am also am outgoing person; I actively participate in extracurricular activities. I have served as President for the Ski club, and Treasurer of the Freedom Fortune 500 club. Am an active of the Spanish club, Homecoming Court 2014 and Tech Team. When it comes to track and field events I have always committed myself to athletics and soccer serving as soccer captain for the high school team while at the same time maintaining a high GPA standing in my academics. These I believe are very important for physical, mental and psychological needs of my body which translate into good health as well as performance of the brain. I extend the same to my community where I voluntarily serve as Head Coach for the

Financial Analysis Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Financial Analysis - Essay Example The report is concluded with suitable conclusion about the strategic planning process in ExecHealth and recommendations given to ensure that ExecHealth can become successful in the proper incorporation of the strategic planning in the business. Strategic planning involves identifying a varying range of organization processes that should be implemented in the organization to set the direction for the organization and take decisions according to these future plans. The strategic planning process provides a map for the organization referring to how the organization can achieve its goals and objectives in its functioning in the future. The strategic planning process involves deciding the future direction of the business, development of proper organizational strategies for the business, making decisions related to these strategies and implementing these strategies and decisions in the working of the organization at all levels. The development and implementation of strategic planning is critical in the healthcare industry, especially in the evolving global economic perspective. Implementation of the strategic plan is the most critical and complex part involved in the strategic planning process. ExecHealth should focus extensively on different aspects of implementation of the strategic plan as devised by the club. Proper corporate planning would be much necessary for the successful implementation of the strategic plan (The Pennsylvania State University 2004: 4). The corporate planning process of ExecHealth should consider all the different factors like Human Resources of the organization, resources and capabilities of the organization, needs and demands of the corporate clients, the existing competition level in the market, The company should endure that it has a far sighted vision related to the implementation of the strategic plan and it does not lose sight of the ultimate

Drunk Driving Essay Example for Free

Drunk Driving Essay Driving while under the influence is a serious problem in our present society. According to National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) alcohol-related motor vehicle crashes kill someone every 31 minutes and injures someone every two minutes. (â€Å"Impaired Driving†) What should be a cause of concern is that the youths are most often involved in alcohol related driving accidents. Statistics shows that although young drivers make up only 14% of the US Population, youths aged 16-24 have been involved in 28% of the alcohol-related driving accidents. Despite these statistics however I believe that we still should not conclude that youths are most dangerous drivers and are the sole responsible for cases of drinking and drunk driving. I believe that the incidence of alcohol related accidents involving young drivers are aggravated by the fact that these drivers are not only relatively inexperienced drivers because of their young age but also because they have less tolerance for alcohol compared to an adult. It must be stressed however that drinking and the cases of drunk driving have been declining among young drivers. Studies show that drinking among the youth has been consistently dropping. Research shows that there is a downward trend of alcohol consumption among high school students according to a PRIDE Survey released Sept. 1999 which states that the proportion of both junior and senior high school students who have consumed any alcohol during the year has dropped again for the third year in a row. This is confirmed by in a study which declared that within a period of about 20 years, the proportion of American high school seniors who have ever consumed alcohol is down 13%; have consumed alcohol within the previous year is down 15%; have consumed alcohol within previous 30 days is down 27%; have recently consumed alcohol daily is down 67%; have binged is down 24%. (â€Å"Young Drivers and Alcohol†) Thus, my message for the youth of today is that the perception that more and more high school students are drinking and are driving even when drunk is without any substance and basis. Empirical research has proven these perceptions to be inaccurate. High school students who are not into drinking or driving while being under the influence of alcohol should not therefore be pressured into doing the same because such is not the norm in our present society but a mere deviance. The norm is still that young people are staying away from alcohol and that more and more young people do not drive when drunk. Although alcohol problems and drunk driving have been on a downward trend, the reality is that too many young people end up dead or seriously injured as a result of the incidence of drunk driving in our society. Countless lives have been lost and we expect thousands more to die if drunk driving will continue to be tolerated by our contemporary society. Increasing the period of imprisonment is I think a reactive solution as most people who are drunk no longer have the presence of mind to think of the possible penalty that will be meted against them when they are caught. A proactive solution to this problem is the conduct of awareness programs on the extent of this problem. People have to become aware that when they drink and drive they become a danger not only to themselves but to other people as well. There is a high probability that they could either get killed or kill an innocent civilian. The second step will be for the society as a whole to be vigilant and not to tolerate people who drink and drive. This can be done by means of social disapproval or pressuring a friend not to drink especially when he will drive. Friends and family members play a very important part in the success of this task since they are considered authority figures who may persuade a person not to drink or a person who is drunk not to drive. This message will not back in the sense that the youth will begin to think that drinking and drunk driving are the norms because I have established that such is not the case. Empirical research has shown that there is no scientific basis in the statement that more and more youth people are drinking alcohol and are drinking while being under the influence of alcohol. Not only did I establish that drinking and drunk driving are not social norms but I also established that people in our present society would rather stay away from such vices. Further, my message placed the responsibility for drinking and drunk driving not only to the person who is drunk but also to the families, relatives and friends of the person who is drunk. We cannot stop this problem by increasing the period of imprisonment, rather, every member of our society must be vigilant and take an active part in controlling this problem.

Importance-Performance Evaluation Essay Example for Free

Importance-Performance Evaluation Essay 1. 0 Introduction Patronage of any product or service is a function of the satisfaction a consumer derives from its usage. In the case of hotels, patrons tend to equate good service to the facilities and amenities which make their stay as pleasurable and comfortable as can be desired for their money’s worth. It is, therefore, imperative that the hotel management carefully considers customer feedback in addressing hotel improvement initiatives. The purpose of this report is to undertake an Importance-Performance Evaluation of the City Hotel as commissioned by the Griffith University Hotel based from the ratings given by selected business and pleasure travelers on how important the existing hotel facilities were to them and the performance of these facilities in meeting their needs. Preliminary calculations were performed to find the means and standard deviations for each facility which aided in the identification of the five highest and five least most important facilities, as well as the facilities which garnered the five highest and five lowest performance ratings. A scatter plot was then drawn with benchmarks set to indicate acceptable levels of importance and performance. Statistical analysis using the t-test was also conducted to identify significant differences on the respondents’ perceived importance of each hotel facility. Findings revealed that the over-all mean of the importance and performance rating are 2. 83 and 3. 15, respectively. Facilities with the highest importance and performance ratings are in-room cable television and family restaurant, respectively. The two types of travelers differed significantly in their perception of the importance in eight of the 17 facilities evaluated. 2. 0 Research methods This paper made use of Importance-Performance Analysis (IPA) to identify hotel facilities which are performing well and those that need particular attention from management for improvement and to detect significant differences in the perceived importance of each facility. Utility of the IPA for use in this paper stems from the fact that results may be graphically displayed and interpreted on a two-dimensional grid, simultaneously indicating importance and performance dimensions of the hotel facilities being evaluated. The IPA method of assessment makes use of four sets of data, namely the means, standard deviations, scatter plot and the t-statistic. The t-test was performed using a 0. 05 level of significance. 3. 0 Results Figure 1. Importance – Performance Mean and SD and t-test Results Figure 1 displays the mean and standard deviation of each of the 17 facilities of the City Hotel as evaluated by its patrons, as well as the results of the t-test performed on the importance ratings given by the two types of travellers. As shown in Figure 1, the five most important hotel facilities are the in-room cable television, in-room broadband connection, a-la-carte restaurant, express check-out and the free daily newspaper; while the five least important facilities are the express check-in, valet parking, wireless broadband connection throughout hotel, mini-bar, and tennis courts. The over-all mean of the importance ratings is 2. 83. The facilities with the five highest performance ratings are the family restaurant, express check-out, tennis court, in-room broadband, and in-room pay movies. The five lowest performance ratings were given on the following facilities : wireless broadband connection throughout hotel, valet parking, in-room cable television, mini-bar and tour booking service. The over-all mean of the performance ratings is 3. 15. As expected of an IPA, the scatter plot in Figure 2 presents a visual of the importance and performance ratings. The plot also shows established benchmark standards indicative of acceptable levels of importance and performance. The sector defined by the quadrant at the top right indicates high importance and performance, where facilities are said to be performing well. Hotel facilities identified to be performing well include in-room broad connection, a-la-carte restaurant, swimming pool, express check-out, free daily newspaper and games room. On the other hand, the area covered by the quadrant at the top left portion of the plot signifies facilities of low importance but high performance, and are probably facilities which are being over-resourced like room service, family restaurant, tennis courts and in-room pay movies. Meanwhile, the quadrant at the bottom right portion represents facilities which are of high importance but were given low performance ratings. Such facilities are those that need attention from the management, namely the gymnasium and the in-room cable television. Finally, the quadrant at the bottom left portion of the plot contains the facilities with low importance and performance such as the wireless broadband connection throughout the hotel, mini-bar, express check-in, valet parking and tour booking service. These are the facilities with no real issue to focus attention on. Figure 2. Importance-Performance Scatter Plot Figure 3 next page represents the results of the t-test performed between business travelers and pleasure travelers to ascertain any significant differences in the means of their ratings on the perceived importance of each facility at 0. 05 level of significance. Results of the t-test revealed that there were significant differences in the importance ratings between the business and pleasure travelers in terms of the following facilities: in-room broadband connection, family restaurant, gymnasium, in-room pay movies, express check-in, free daily newspaper, games room and tour booking service. Variable Group P-value Significance (P0. 05) Business Pleasure in-room broadband connection 3. 29 3. 21 0. 01 Yes wireless broadband connection throughout hotel 2. 26 2. 23 0. 09 No room service 2. 64 2. 61 0. 07 No a-la-carte restaurant 2. 97 2. 93 0. 1 No family restaurant 2. 86 2. 88 0 Yes mini-bar 2. 2 2. 18 0. 42 No swimming pool 2. 92 2. 91 0. 22 No gymnasium 3. 01 2. 99 0. 02 Yes tennis courts 1. 94 1. 94 0. 15 No in-room pay movies 2. 95 2. 98 0 Yes in-room cable television (foxtel) 3. 8 3. 8 0. 46 No express check-in 2. 8 2. 84 0. 01 Yes express check-out 2. 86 2. 81 0. 05 No valet parking 2. 53 2. 49 0. 19 No free daily newspaper 2. 74 2. 69 0 Yes games room 2. 95 2. 99 0 Yes tour booking service 2. 84 2. 9 0. 02 Yes 4. 0 Conclusions In summary, the evaluation of the facilities of the City Hotel using IPA indicated that the three facilities with the highest importance and performance ratings and are considered as the strongest areas of service in the hotel are in-room broadband connection, a-la-carte restaurant and express-check-out. Management should see to it that these strengths should be well maintained and upgraded whenever possible. Meanwhile the weakest areas are the tour booking service and valet parking. Future improvement plans should include strategies to revitalize the said facilities in order to ensure continued patronage and possibly improve City Hotel’s share of the market. 5. 0 Recommendations Based from the findings and conclusions, the following recommendations are being forwarded : (1) Institute a check-out survey among the hotel guests on how the hotel can be of better service to its patrons particularly in the areas of tour booking service and valet parking. This way, management will be appraised of what measures to undertake to enhance customer satisfaction; (2) Review how the other hotels are delivering their tour booking and valet-parking services and take on initiatives which will make City Hotel’s facilities comparable or the best among its class; (3) Undertake an environmental scan on all facilities being offered by the City Hotel in order to single out problem areas, apply potent solutions and improve service on all facilities, prioritizing areas that need attention like the gymnasium and the in-room cable.

Samsung Key Drivers For Future Growth Management Essay

Samsung Key Drivers For Future Growth Management Essay The involvement of Samsung in electronic and mobile market needs them to survive within the industries for the next 20 years. In the other it means that Samsung have to set their key drivers that can allow them archive as well as a benchmark for the future growth. This key driver also is based on Samsung achievements and capabilities that they have now and then to continue with adding some more new keys to guide them to realize their vision and mission. The keys driver for Samsung future growth is also known as their sustainability in present towards the future. Focusing on Samsung Electronics, Samsung sustainability showed that their performance in surviving the industries and can be also as a benchmark to survive in the future. According to Nidomulu and Prahalad (2009) company that make sustainability a goal will achieve competitive advantage in the future , that mean rethinking business models as well as technologies, products and processes. In 2010, Samsung sustainability perform ance and plan focusing on talent management, integrity management, green management, social contribution, partners collaboration and products/services. For 2011 they set 9 material issues as a guidance to sustainability in future growth; (1) Creative Organizational Culture (2) Employee Health and Safety (3) Integrity Management (4) Increasing Social Contribution (5) Patent (6) Climate Change and Energy (7) Water Management (8) Mutual Growth (9) Supplier CSR(Corporate Social Responsibilities) based on Samsung Electronics Sustainability Report 2012. 4.1 Samsung Electronic 2011 Sustainability Plan For Talent Management plan in 2011, Samsung plan to, introduce telecommuting/ work at home scheme for married employees, increase percentage of female executive, set up idea proposal system at oversea research centers and hire new recruits with disabilities. Samsung plan on Integrity Management was to improve compliance program also related activities, declare compliance management and signing of the compliance agreement by employees. Instead of talent and integrity management Samsung also focus on Green Management plan which the plan to set 96% ratio of Eco-product development, set long/mid-term targets for water management, build a global environmental management system and support for outside country partners environment management system. In developing Social Contribution Samsung plan to introduce new regional social contribution based on global guidelines (Samsung Hope for Children) and to create tools in assessing impact of social contribution programs. Samsung needs a supporti ve partner in order to help them achieving their vision and sustain. Partner Collaboration plan for 2011 is to sign agreement for mutual growth as well as conducting monitor on progress in mutual growth and assess partner companies CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities). The last plan for products and services are to expand outside country service centers and have more subsidiaries company and receive Korea as well as international awards for their products and services. The plan of sustainability was create in 2010 and will be apply in 2011. Samsung key drivers are based on their stakeholder, environment and their threat. It now translate to 9 material issue to be more focusing on that particular factor that can drive them to sustainability in future growth. 4.2 Samsung Electronics Sustainability Reports 2012 Samsung Electronics Sustainability Reports 2012 is based on performance in 2011 and the plan that to be apply in 2012. Samsung rank in 73rd in the most sustainable corporation in the world. Samsung Electronics core business including of the manufacture and sales of digital media devices (mobile phone, digital TVs, refrigerators, air conditioners, monitors, printers and communication systems) and components (memory chips). Instead of Samsung headquarters in Korea they now have nine subsidiaries in certain region in the world which responsible in managing production and sales. Beside their successful in hardware manufacturing, Samsung is will become the new leader of the IT industry when they started strengthening theirs soft power capacity. As their vision to realize which includes achieving targeted sales of USD 400 billion, becoming one of the 10 most admired companies and one of the top 5 global brands and in the world. Samsung Electronics manages theirs businesses base to Samsung different types in technology, consumers and market in Device Solutions (DS) or Digital Media and Communications (DMC) division, consolidating their independent operating structure. Digital Media Communications is gathered into Consumer Electronics (CE) and IT and Mobile Communications (IM) divisions. The Consumer Electronics division is in charge of home appliances department and visual display business department. The IT and Mobile division is took charge of managing IT Solutions, wireless businesses, Network business, the Media Solution Center and digital imaging displays . This strategy gives changes which were made to the employment in hiring of soft power experts that become more value than before in the Smart era. They had announced their intention to do a technical shift by turn to a soft driven company and made a Software center to increase their software capacity until its on a right track with their world most wanted manufacturing. Shifts in the Device Solutions (DS) divi sion can also bringing extension of the organizations in charge of controller, software and solution development to make sure different teams. The extension of the software connected organizations was made to realize Samsung Electronics vision of creating experience and new value by merging Samsungs strength in hardware design together with an emotionally attracting user interface and optimized software. Samsung Electronics also enhanced the organization took charge of medical and bio device business then they expanded the Bio Lab at Samsung Technology Research Center into the Bio Research Center. They also appointed bio material experts to consolidate their research in the area and upgraded support for bio medical and bio similar research. Samsung Electronics Division Market Share (%) source Samsung Electronics Sustainability Report 2012 They plan to become IT industry restructuring due to the appearance of cross-sector industries and resumed global economic decline. Samsung Electronics plans to make the largest investment ever to tighten the competitiveness advantages of present businesses and set up the foundation of new businesses potential to drive Samsung especially in Electronics Industries growth in the future. In 2011, they invested KRW (Korean Won) 13 trillion in facility expansion for semiconductors manufacturer and KRW (Korean Won) 6.4 trillion in display panel manufacture (10% greater investment than originally planned). They also building R5 (new research center) which is now under construction in the Samsung Digital City (estimate completion 2013) the landmark of IT and RD will estimate have more than 23 thousand researchers. They also plan to combine more than 15 core component research centers including their memory, semiconductor and LSI research centers. The new center will give the foundation for t heir research and development in existing product and for the next-generation display technologies and the new non-memory semiconductors. For the future Samsung Electronics is on establishing a bio-business and medical. For medical industry they invest KRW (Korean Won) 1.2 trillion in expecting sales of KRW (Korean Won) 10 trillion by 2020.. They were also nurturing a bio-similar (bio medicine) and already developed a digital x-ray that using visual information processing and digital technologies in photo-taking. Quintiles (Samsung Electronic Subsidiaries) had established Samsung Bioepis in 2012 and Samsung Biologics in April 2011. In 2016, Samsung Bioepis will start global sales of Bio-similar products and manage international clinical testing. The bio-similar business capacity will consisting of product licensing, manufacture development, clinical testing, and sales capacity. For software development strategy they increase the number of software engineer in order to meet their software development capacity. In order to realize their vision and future growth Samsung has; (1) started the software development to produce more appropriated and smarter software for Samsung gadgets and devices. (2) Initiated the Media Solution Center in the Silicon Valley, America that specializes in software to build service development and capacity on content. (3) Operating training programs and recruiting talented software engineers to maximize their capacity.(4) created a new engaged employees group S to conduct core software experts in operating systems, smart TV software and mobile apps ( August 2011). (5) Created a special talent-based employing process for software (S workforce group) alternative of a more standardized process that exactly like to RD staff employing. Samsung created a new Software Academy (for short-term training) that has the ability to train for more than five thousand employees in order to achieve 50% of software training needs. 4.3 The Live Smart Product and Samsung Stakeholders People nowadays tend to the term Smart Work, new office working style using the mobile device and Internet. It is assist people to enlarge the scope of collaboration also to improved work productivity. They produce notebook of 50% thinner with transition between application and faster start-up (application of file storage between smart devices and PC). Eco-driver Printer function which saves toner usage with the same quality. The function of Eco-simulator can also save electricity and paper. The smart printing application is enables direct printing from mobile devices (smartphones and tablet PCs).In Smart Life even you are not at home Samsung give your chance to control your air conditioner, washing your cloth and even clean your house . All of Samsung appliance can save electricity and assist your in house job. Samsung Smart Robot Cleaner (based on vacuum technology) has cleaning efficiency of 93% with extended battery life by 30% it is equipped with on-board camera (for smart view function) also with the function of video conference. Samsung Smart Refrigerator assist people to manage food using the touch screen interface that connect to online store (Food Manager Application) Samsung Electronic Domestic and Overseas Workforce 2009-2011 (Source Samsung Sustainability Report 2012) Samsung actively reported their quarterly business results, Corporate Social Responsibilities CSR policies and achievements with their shareholders and investors. The Social Responsible Investment (SRI) companies always make a visit the Samsung Electronics Headquarter in Seoul Korea to discuss CSR issues that equivalent to the electronics industry. They discuss about environmental management targets, waste management and occupational safety issues. In 2011 customers inquiries increased dramatically on Samsung Electronics CSR. Samsung created online open communication platform (LiVE) for employees of all ranks. The LiVE platform allow all employees to post memos, give opinion and communicate among themselves in real time for fast responses/ NGO (Non-Government Organizational) always collecting information, conducting interviews with executive and make site visits to Samsung Electronics. Samsung Electronics has been actively responses to past various issues raised by NGO and always remain communicate with them. Sharing growth among large companies and SMEs (Small Medium Enterprise) was the Government South Korean policy focus in 2011. Samsung Electronics joined in a public-private dialogue by the Shared Growth Committee, be a member of Korea Business Council for Sustainable Development, and actively communicated their opinions on energy-related and climate policies. Samsung Electronics has made variety communication channels to collect opinions from their suppliers. Their supplier grievance and complaint ha ndling system allow them to state their problems and find solutions. They were also responding supplier opinions and collected through seminar and training sessions. 4.4 Samsung 9 Material Issues as Key Driver for Future Growth The previous three years, Samsung focus their sustainability six key performance area including talent management, integrity management, green management, social contribution, partners collaboration and products/services s. However, they have decided to comprise global issues that have the potential to affect their business activities as well as its overall competitiveness in order to gain relationship with their stakeholders. Nine key issues have been selected through the process; Creative Organizational Culture; Employee Health and Safety ; Integrity Management ;Increasing Social Contribution; Patent ;Climate Change and Energy ;Water Management ;Mutual Growth; Supplier CSR 4.4.1 Creative Organizational Structure The first key driver for future growth is the creative organizational structure it include the work life balance through work smart; establishing a work culture that encourages learning and development; talent-based recruiting of software and design experts; and diversity management (female employee disable employee, global diversity) in establishing a work culture that encourages learning and development Samsung electronics improving productivity by applying a flexible work schedule, effective time management as employee can arrive at work between 6.00 am and 1.00 pm. Through Creative Development Research Institute System, Samsung provide their employees with opportunities to attain creative new ideas which take professional incenses and all advantage of their talents towards that encourages taking risks. This system encourages Samsung employees to develop creative idea. During the system they are free from their core job and no penalty occurs if the employee not achieves the goals. The first product came from the institute is the eyecan for disable user substitute for pc mouse. Samsung aggressively hiring most talented software engineer in order to archive their goal and vision. In diversity management Samsung hiring more female worker due to flexible working for those whose have small child to take care. The flexible work allowed them to work at home. Beside that Samsung also establish in house child care facilities for their workers. Samsung show their concern on hiring the disable employee and for now they have 1,100 disable worker in the othe r hand Samsung help them to develop their carrier and give them opportunity to live in better business world and society Source Samsung sustainability report 2012 4.4.2 Employee Health and Safety To help employees monitor their health, Samsung Electronics provides annual health checks. Their employees have opportunities to get advice with health experts like doctors and nurses. The leading problem for employee is work stress that risk to personal health also business management. Samsung operating consultation centers, conducting meditation programs and yoga lessons, and volunteer activities to help their workers remain productive in a supportive working environment. Their effort is also in establishing Musculoskeletal Disorder Prevention Center, hiring full-time sports science experts teams, publishing a safety guide on non-work related activities and establishing Employee Health Research Center. The Employee Health Research Center is focusing on 4 areas of research including, analysis of new production processes as well as materials and epidemiology, toxicology of hazardous materials, the work environment ,with a vision of becoming an industry leading occupational health and environment research center. The role of Health Research Centre (Source Samsung Sustainability 2012) 4.4.3 Integrity Management Samsung Electronic integrity management focus on established compliance team towards for realizing their vision in expansion global market. In 2011, they have expanded their Global Legal Affairs Compliance Team from two hundred to two hundred seventy employee for more effective operation. The compliance program divides to 3 compliance awareness that is prevention, monitoring and follow-up. In prevention awareness it is include of employee education, compliance manual, compliance self-test system, operation of a help desk, sensing on laws and regulation and report. The monitoring process focusing on regular and non-regular monitoring by members of compliance organization units. The last component is the post management/ follow up that consist analysis of case of incompliance to identify improvement measures and employee training for prevention of recurrence. In order to establish on internal awareness compliance Samsung has to strengthen and developed the training program for existing and new employee. 4.4.4 Increasing Social Contribution The economic crisis nowadays result to the bigger gap between rich and poor, as well as the increasing unemployment rate, bringing high demand for more responsible capitalism. In the other point of view, the society is demanding the business sector to take action and responsibility for problems occur instead of depending on the government. Rely on that, Samsung Electronics believes that they must take responsible in remaining and improving the sustainability of local communities in within their area. Samsung Electronics has their own mechanize to increasing their fundamental contribution programs in volunteer activities and donations. One of their programs is Samsung Hope For Children that has been conducted in 30 countries with different 9 regions. The program focused on supporting education and good health of youth and children. As same also on Samsung subsidiaries in different countries managed various support programs including low-income youth health benefits, youth education su pport and job trainings, designed for needs of the children and youth of local communities. The other social contribution that has been conducted by Samsung Electronics in South Africa are employees volunteer program (employee sent to Sudan, Zambia), engineering academy, solar energy lantern and solar internet school. 4.4.5 Patent The patenting issues on technology now is major problem from preventing imitate of Samsung Electronics product. They have failed in defending their designed against Apple and have been sued in total USD 1 billion. In addition, as the competition in IT technology is ever emphasizing, while the intention of various IT technologies is in trend, the patent resists are bound to become aggressive. Besides that, the rapid technology innovation cycles that has increased patent competition. Samsung Electronics increased the strength of their workforce importantly and reorganized the patent related organization for purpose to protect their know-how in technology .To sustain in technology competition in 2010 the rapid decision making resulting in establishes the Intellectual Property Center (IP Center), that affiliated with the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology ( including hiring outside expert Samsung strategy on securing pattern issues is by partnerships. Samsung Electronics proved the huge strength of their patent protection portfolio by signing cross patent contracts which allow a broader cross use of patents with other global IT companies. They collaborate with Qualcomm (mobile phones), Rambus (entire semiconductor products), Sharp (LCD panel module) and in Kodak (camera technology), and in 2010, also followed by deals with Microsoft (MS) and IBM for the cross license of technologies of the mobile phone operation system. The same strategy also applied by Samsung in using pattern license of Google Android operating systems. From the partnership they also gain new innovative in production future technology. 4.4.6 Climate Change and Energy Concerning of Climate change has become one of the most important global issues. Climate change is already causing many people in daily lives with unexpected weather conditions, flooding and draughts, the function of greenhouse gas (GHG) management has become a key challenge for the global community due to reduce the impact on climate change. Samsung Electronic has establishing Climate Change Mitigation System EM 201 in 2009 They also established a greenhouse gas emission management system that can monitors direct and indirect emissions connected with all business activities including global partners, logistics, manufacturing, product use and workers work related travels. Samsung are carefully monitoring each source of Greenhouse Gas emissions and getting reductions to fulfill their corporate responsibility (CSR) in reducing climate change. Product energy efficiency improvement makes reduction average energy consumption of products by 40% and achieving 0.5 W of standby power by 2013. Supplier support is for the establishment of global suppliers GHG inventory system by offering training and expertise sharing to global suppliers. Implementation if energy management system and establishment of internal energy efficiency certification system subjected to all business sites in Korea. Incorporation of GHG reduction facilities is the reduction F-gas emission from the semiconductor and LCD manufacturing. Samsung Electronics low carbon product certification winner is on LED TV, Note PC and semiconductor Low Carbon Product Certification Winners (Source Samsung Electronics Sustainability Report 2102) 4.4.7 Water Management The other major factor and issue in this key driver in future growth is how Samsung can manage the water sources (Water Management). Samsung semiconductor manufacture is responsible on daily consumption 0f 7500- 15000 tons of pure water. As a leading semiconductor manufacturer, Samsung is now on high responsible in water management in order to maintain water resources. Samsung Electronics Water Management Resource policy recognizes the importance of water resources in the sustainability of business and society management, and provides to its protection as a responsible corporate citizen of worldwide community. According to Samsung Electronic Sustainability Report 2012, there are several of code conducts; (1) Strive to minimize water risk impact by our business activities. Analyze the impacts of our products, production activities and services make on water resources and minimize risks by identifying and implementing new technologies; (2) instill an awareness of the importance of water resources as a part of our corporate culture. Integrate the importance of water resource protection and sustainability management into the corporate culture and ensure responsible water resource management by employees with the highest consideration for the impact on local communities and the environment. (3) Proactively cooperate with public water policies. Proactive ly contribute to the establishment and implementation of water resource management policies by international institutes; the government and local authorities in line with relevant guidelines; (4) disclose our policies and activities on water resource management. Disclose company policies and activities related to water resource use to stakeholders including local communities in a transparent manner. 4.4.8 Mutual Growth Samsung Electronics expanding their support programs for outstanding 1st tier suppliers to become worldwide companies, and we start providing different support policies for 2nd and 3rd -tier companies to achieve shared growth. They developed key programs to support supplier shared growth including technological supports, training, also provision of support funds. They then strengthened communication and more carefully listened to their suppliers through an effort including a visit by top management to their suppliers. Samsung announced shared growth implementation policies; financial support programs for 1st and 2nd tier suppliers, support for 2nd tier supplier competitiveness building, increased trade opportunities, technology innovation contest, cultivation of global SMEs (Small Medium Enterprise) and incentives for 1st tier suppliers with good shared growth practice. According to Samsung Sustainability Report 2012 they also plan take different kind of shared growth promotion meas ures including co-development of core parts for boosting the competitiveness of suppliers, inclusion of shared growth performance indicators in performance assessments of our employees responsible for supplier collaboration and responsive adjustment of raw material price changes in supply contracts, free use of patented technologies, support for patent registration of new technology developed by suppliers. Shared growth management implementation plan focus on ; establish a supplier support fund ; elevated qualified 2nd and 3rd tier suppliers into 1st tier supplier ; cultivate global SMEs ; implement fast-track Temporary Supplier Registration Policy for SMEs with Innovative ideas or new technology. As for the share growth on expected benefits to suppliers is focusing on; funding for investment in facilities and R&D; access to greater supplier benefits, improved credibility in market; strengthened reputation as official partners of Samsung electronics; increased business opportunities for companies without prior business relationship; increased sales of supplier products with funding and technical support; more transparent and responsive communication between suppliers and Samsung 4.4.9 Supplier CSR (Corporate Social Responsibilities) Samsung Electronics is enduring by the EICC (Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalitions) basic code of conduct as a guideline for fulfilling their CSR (corporate social responsibility). They have provided the development of a CSR management structure by supplier companies and incorporated CSR activities as a part of their supplier evaluation criteria to further incentivize their participation in CSR activities. Samsung also applied a 3rd party validation program of supplier CSR activities. Developing Corporate Social Responsibilities activities is a part of supplier evaluation of Samsung Electronics. They have been managing annual supplier evaluations using criteria consisting technological competitiveness and other internal criteria to identify leading suppliers. In additional, the company has provided financial support and collaborative technology development opportunities. In 2011, Corporate Social Responsibilities achievements and activities have been a part of the evaluation cri teria previously; they increased their importance in the overall evaluation. The CSR activity evaluation criteria including 20 different areas covering the EICC (Electronic Industry Citizenship Coalitions) basic code of conduct, consisting a ban on environmental management , child labor and occupational health and safety.

Magical Realism in Gabriel Garcia Marqezs A Very Old Man with Enormous

Characteristics of Magical Realism in Gabriel Garcia Marqez's A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings The controversy surrounding Magical Realism makes the classification of what is and what is not Magical Realism very difficult. Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a famous Latin American author, has written many pieces of what is generally conceived to be Magical Realism. Marqez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" fulfills every characteristic of Magical Realism.. "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" includes many aspects, which may be described as magical. In the story, an old man with a very poor set of wings is found and kept as a pet for several years. These wings were described by the doctor in the story as "...so natural on that completely human organism that he couldn't understand why other men didn't have them, too" (528). The fact that the old man had wings in the first place seems very acceptable to the characters, and this nonchalance is conveyed to the reader. Marquez also adds to the story the tale of the lady spider. The lady spider has the body of a tarantula and the head of a young girl. She was transformed to this state after sneaking out of her parents home to attend a dance. Witches, wizards, and spells are not used to transform her, simply lightning. The lady spider takes away the old man's mobs of spectators leaving him more ordinary in that he is still around even after his fifteen minutes of fame are over. Another example of magic is the overabundance of crabs. An infestation one can accept easily enough. However, an infestation of crabs so severe the stench alone makes the infant very ill is much more nonrealistic. The use of numbers also seems magical in a sense. The story takes place on the third day of r... ...sailor who remembers his past as a human and is adjusting to his fate as a angel. The angel makes many mistakes with his miracles. However, the family that houses him, though they treat him as inferior, does have a turn of fate because of his existence. The angel brings them wealth when they charge admission to view him. For this family of three, life takes a better turn after giving the old man a chicken coop in which to sleep. Marquez's "A Very Old Man with Enormous Wings" fulfills every characteristic of Magical Realism. His short story contains magic that exists in a realistic background. One can easily see why Marquez is such a forerunner in the field of Magical Realism. Works Cited Garcia Marqez, Gabriel: "A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings." The Norton Introduction of Literature. Ed. Jerome Beaty. N.Y.: W.W.Norton and Company, 1996. 525-529.

Things They Carried Essay: A Cultural Studies Approach to Enemies

A Cultural Studies Approach to "Enemies" in The Things They Carried Two men who fight over a jackknife in "Enemies", a chapter in Tim O'Brien's work, The Things They Carried. A cultural studies approach to "Enemies" allows the reader to look much deeper into the meaning of the events that unfold in "Enemies". The fight over the knife could very well reflect the events occurring in society during that time. In short, "Enemies" is about two men, Lee Strunk and Dave Jensen, who are battling not only in a war but with each other. They were viciously fighting about a missing jackknife. A question that the reader might ask themselves is, why were they fighting over a jackknife? Did it have some special sentimental meaning? These questions cannot be answered; they can only be left to wonder. Vietnam was a very mentally and physically strenuous war to fight. At any given point any soldier could snap. That is exactly what happen...

Capitalism Essay -- essays research papers

By definition, Capitalism is an economic system controlled chiefly by individuals and private companies instead of by the government. In this system, individuals and companies own and direct most of the resources used to produce goods and services, including land and other natural resources labor, and â€Å"capital†. â€Å"Capital† includes factories and equipment and sometimes the money used in businesses (Friedman, 5). Capitalism stresses private economic decisions. People are free to decide how they will earn and spend their income. Companies may choose which goods and services to produce and how much to charge for them. They also compete with one another to sell products. Nations whose economies are based on capitalism include the United States, Germany, Canada, and Japan. Although a private individual or group of individuals may control their income and a large section of an economy, the government can control some aspects of the economy in every nation. Capitalism is some times called Free enterprise, despite its limits established by the government. Many organizations and businesses flourish from the existence of capitalism. Non-profit organizations prosper from capitalism such as: The Roman Catholic Church. As one of the largest and most common religions in the world, the Roman Catholic faith is sustained through capitalism, for it is a capitalist organization. It can be considered a Capitalist organization in the fact that income is freely given in return for nothing. One’s religion can definitely influence their economic decisions, lifestyle and social status. The Roman Catholic Church believes that capitalism can become a type of injustice. For example, some people in capitalist nations can afford many luxuries. But at the same time, others lack adequate food, housing, and other needs. This unequal distribution of wealth results largely from capitalism’s emphasis on individuality. The Catholic Church cites examples of inequality as incorrect. However, the church and other religious denominations thrive from others’ prosperity and income. Capitalism is a definite social justice issue. One reason why people do not necessarily feel obligated to help others less fortunate than him or herself is because the economy focuses on individualism, which leads to greed and hoarding. Another reason why capitalism is a social justice issue is that it deprives certain... ...ject to all kinds of taxation and regulation. Today in our society, we need government's permission to drive, to work, to open and to run a business, and even to own and hold property. The government is no longer our servant; it became our master. The government, once established to ban the use of force among men, now is the greatest aggressor of all. In the name of helping the needy, it assaults the productive and strips them of their rights and property. But if productive Americans have no rights then no American has them either. America, born as a free country, has been transfigured into a welfare state, where the needs of some became a blank check on the fortunes of others (Tate, 44,45). But we are still in time to regain our rights if only we understand better their meaning, their value and their power. If Americans are to be the free again, and America is to remain the greatest nation on Earth, we must hold sacred our individual rights to "Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness." America was founded on the noblest of ideals: the right of every individual to his life. America will only live as long as its ideals live in our hearts and in our minds (kronen, 102).

Knowledge Management: PETRONAS

Introduction Today, oil and gas companies around the world are not just professional organizations who specialize in mechanical drilling and extraction processes. Increased oil demands and the need for improved productivity have forced these organizations into new methods and knowledge intensive approaches. For instance information technology has now become very much an integral part of the oil exploration and oil extraction business. The collaboration between multi disciplinary teams has become a norm. Real-time information communication from remote reservoirs, and processing of such data in a collaborative environment that involves multiple teams and vendor locations has become an essential part of the business decision making process. In other words, a knowledge based approach underlies the critical business decisions in oil majors. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 284). As an oil and gas extraction company of the world, with presence in more than 30 countries across the world, PETRONAS is one of the Oil Majors. Being an increasingly competitive sector, skilled staff are always on demand in the Oil and Gas industry. This implies that organizations have to defend against attrition and be armed with effective knowledge management practices that manage vital information about processes, best practices and information about field experts and tacit knowledge about the entire operational processes. Effective knowledge management process is at the heart of business competitiveness and success. Knowledge Management Knowledge is a multidimensional and heterogeneous entity. Proper storage, classification and retrieval of knowledge is critical for innovation, cost control and hence the competitiveness of any industry. Particularly, for knowledge intensive firms such as PETRONAS, where high skilled engineering processes are involved, there is a need for ‘integrated operations’ between various knowledge areas. Ultimately, improving the production optimization process is at the heart of all knowledge management practices in PETRONAS. One of the important areas that lack coordination in the Oil and gas sector in general is the working of the reservoir engineers, the production engineers and the process engineers at the facilities. This implies that operation decisions are not always made in consultation with the onshore engineers. In other words this leads to what is known as the fragmented approach. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz) 2009, pg 285 Integrated Operations (Process facility and reservoir sensors and Collaboration among vendors and operators) (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 285) Information technology has now penetrated every area of the production and process control aspects of the Oil and Gas companies. However, most of these IT tools are specialized and lack the integration that makes it difficult to access relevant data for purposes of production analysis and optimization. It is necessary that all the three major divisions (reservoir management, production management and process management) exchange real-time data. A shared information space might be the answer to the problems as it promotes better access to real-time data and integration of the various processes, which is the key to achieving production optimization. (Jemielniak & Kociatkievicz, 2009, pg 284) Knowledge Management in PETRONAS Knowledge management practices are very recent at PETRONAS. As the Knowledge Management manager, Miss Murni Shariff, disclosed in a recent interview, only in 2006 the company seriously focused on KM practices. Prior to that KM was mostly restricted to content and information management. (KMTalk, 2009) There are two types of knowledge namely tacit knowledge and explicit knowledge. Explicit knowledge, as the name suggests, refers to knowledge that could be easily documented. This type of knowledge is gained by reading, observation and discussion. For instance, documented guides about a program or the operational features of a product are examples of explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge, on the other hand, is more implicit and it is not easy to document it and consequently much harder to share. Tacit knowledge is developed over a period of time when an individual gains insights and details about the various functions in the organization. (MMU, 2006) Currently, PETRONAS is focusing on all efforts towards transferring this tacit knowledge of its staff and making it accessible for future reference and for new workers. Achieving this tacit knowledge sharing pertaining to the various complex processes within the organizations is crucial for the company to reduce costs and become competitive. As Stephen Birell, marketing director of Vardus, a KM company focusing on the Oil and gas sector states, â€Å"The way the industry can drive down cost is by attacking the areas of huge cost which are facilities and drilling. And if everyone follows best practice and shares their learning, you won’t have people making the same mistakes twice. And that ultimately saves money.† (Chowdury, 2006) Three issues are the main motivating factors for the implementation of KM practices across the organization. These are 1) aging workforce- With more than three and half decades since its institution many of the technical staff members at PETRONAS are nearing their retirement age and this mass retirement would drastically impact upon the performance unless swift knowledge management policies are in place to capture the tacit knowledge of these experienced older workforce. 2) The global oil industry is very competitive placing a high premium for the experienced and knowledgeable workforce. High attrition rate at PETRONAS is one big problem as competitors are luring skilled staff. In this context the issue of Trust becomes foremost. The following 5 C’s are recognized as trust factors among knowledge intensive workers. These are a) Competence, b) Commitment, c) Conflict, d) Communication and e) Caring. Of these commitment is foremost and it is the responsibility of the team leade r or the manager to ensure that commitment to the organization and its values are developed naturally as a response to the motivation and example shown by the leader. (Ralston, 2007) Finally, increasing international operations also implies international competition and in this scenario an effective KM plan is indispensible for the organization to smoothly manage and coordinate the international operations. KM makes it possible to simply follow the ‘PETRONAS way’ of transferring knowledge across the different organizations. (KMtalk, 2009) Initially, the main focus was on technology and in removing the hindrances in sharing knowledge stored in varied database formats. However, more than the technical problems it is the problem associated with human acceptance that is currently a pressing issue. In other words, promoting effective change management is the key to implementing KM practices. At PETRONAS new initiatives were implemented to promote better change management. Communities of Practice A new, ‘Communities of practice’ (CoP) initiative was implemented with the idea of starting an effective KM program across the entire organization to better facilitate transfer of information between the various divisions in a swift and effective manner. Currently, there are over 50 CoP’s with each Cop having 30 members. A leader or a champion is chosen among each CoP team based on their performance criteria. The CoP’s were provided with a basic structural framework with which they can implement KM solutions and promote group-wide collaborative values. Regular monitoring of the CoP operations and impact of the same are undertaken. These leaders are also encouraged to share success stories on online CoP newsletter. To encourage enthusiastic participation from the staff, the Knowledge management team is also currently promoting a rewards system wherein the reports from the various Cop’s would be reviewed and the best performing team recognized and awarded (Murni Shariff, 2008) This CoP approach at PETRONAS has shown significant positive results so far with effective information exchange between various operating units already visible across the organization. This would also significantly improve the training for younger generation staff as they fast replace the retiring older generation. A simple online tool that was designed to evaluate the penetration of the CoP based KM practices has confirmed these positive improvements. ( Murni Shariff, 2008) Conclusion Knowledge management practices are critical to the continued competitive growth of any organization. In simple terms it facilitates effective reuse of organizational resources which is tantamount to considerable cost savings. Particularly, in a knowledge intensive and high-tech organization such as PETRONAS, KM practices help to promote better collaboration between multidisciplinary teams. This could help avoid millions of dollars in costs by helping workers avoid unnecessary delays and repetitive mistakes. The current KM practices involving Communities of practice concepts are showing good acceptance among the staff which is important for effective change management. As more and more staff members are encouraged to participate in KM activities, more intensive KM practices and collaborative platforms could be established. This would help in realizing organization wide process integration and overall business alignment. However, regular knowledge auditing is the key to understand the flow of knowledge within the organization and to ascertain areas where improvements could be effected by increasing knowledge sharing. Continued management support is the key as even a small amount of time and resources spent on good KM practices would definitely translate to considerable productivity gains in the longer run. References Dariusz Jemielniak & Jerzy Kociatkievicz, (2009), Handbook of research on Knowledge intensive organizations, Pub by Information Science Reference. Faith Ralston, (2007), How to manage four types of Knowledge Workers- Play Your Best Hand, Adams Media. U.S.A KMtalk, (2009) Knowledge Management in PETRONAS : Interview with Murni Shariff, viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Murni Shariff, (2008), PETRONAS : Engaging Knowledge Worker Communities to Stimulate Innovation and Build Corporate Capability, Viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Naguib Chowdhury, (2006), Knowledge Management Implementation in PETRONAS: A Case Study, Viewed Jan 23rd 2012, Manchester Metropolitan University, (2006) Introduction to Knowledge Management, viewed Jan 24th 2012,