Business strategy in global environment Assignment

Business strategy in global environment - Assignment Example The competitors in this market are holding their ground; they are trying very hard to slice of some customers from Fastway’s customer base, but so far, no competitor has been successful in accomplishing this objective. Even though the current operations of the company are redundant, but still the company has been very successful in meeting its customers’ expectations with significant ease. Nevertheless, the company cannot keep operating like this for too long and it will have to take initiatives to improve its current processes. Moreover, the company needs to decide whether it would use its strong capital base to expand into new market or if it will continue to serve in its current market. In this regards a decisive action is needs from the company’s management. Introduction: Tough economic climate has made it imperative upon companies to improve their operation methods, restructure their cost structure and identify new market segments, which the company can serv e profitably. In this regards, if a company wants to ensure its survival, it should start its operations in the global arena. A company by initiating its operations in the international arena can expand its customer base and take advantage of the opportunities presented by globalization. To reap the benefits of globalization, the company needs to adopt a global strategy. ... Part 1: Strategic Choices and Options for the Company Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT) Matrix: Strength: The company was formed in 1983 in New Zealand, and is now the world’s largest franchise courier service company. The company’s management is renowned for coming up with exceptional company policies. Company’s internal structure, comprising of policies, procedures and staff is perfectly tailored to fit the requirements and expectations of local market. The company has a very strong organisational culture in place, which is perfect for handling any unprecedented circumstances in the company’s external and internal environment. The company is offering a product mix that is highly suitable to meet the needs of the local market. The company has strong brand equity in its local market. The company has strong infrastructure and is highly technology oriented; the company firmly supports innovation in its existing company processes. The comp any has a strong positioning statement to differentiate it from competitors operating in the market. The company has operational processes which enables it to deliver a package in a very quick time. This further leads to its name being synonymous to quick and timely delivery. The company has a strong capital base which allows it to maintain a large fleet in the marketplace. The company has a strong network of hubs, airplanes and trucks which allow it to offer fast track services. The company holds 50% of the market share of the parcels in the shipping industry. The company is firmly customer oriented and this fact is professed by means of its customer service.

Cause of action assignment Essay Example for Free

Cause of action assignment Essay Task A (1) ‘Duty of care’ means to exercise a degree of attention and caution to avoid negligence which would lead to harm. Duty of care in a childcare setting is keeping children and young people safe, protecting them not only from physical harm but also emotional and sexual harm. Working with children and young people need a significant amount of duty of care, the younger and more vulnerable the child the greater the duty of care because of a child’s limited ability to care for themselves. Good vigilance is needed to keep a child safe, for example to foresee and cope with potential dangers. This extends to respecting the rights, cultural beliefs and values of the parents and family. (2) Duty of care contributes to the safeguarding and protection aspects of a setting. An example would be carrying out risk assessments to prevent potential hazards which would then reduce the risk of harm to the children. A further example would be setting clear boundaries/ expectations by communicating with the children what is unacceptable behaviour. Consistent reinforcement of this may be necessary to discourage the children from repeating hazardous behaviour that could cause harm to themselves or others. Understanding of the signs of neglect/abuse if any signs/indicators of abuse or neglect were noticed they should be reported to the relevant third parties to protect the child. Making observations and assessing children help to check to see if individual children are progressing and developing at suitable rates, if not so then I would need to take relevant action with other parties such as parents or professionals Task B Example of potential conflict orDilemma | How to manage the risk| Where to get additional support| Risk taking – such as a child accidently slipping of a step of a climbing frame and the child’s parents asking for that equipment to be put away, this would conflict with all children’s opportunity to develop and learn | The risk would be managed by explaining that in order for children to learn to cope with risky situationsand acquire life and physical skills these small risks must be taken, in asafe environment. Also by filling ina risk assessment to minimize any risk | People such as my room supervisor, Manager or Ofsted, the EYFS may also be helpful | Confidentiality- such as if there was concerns we had about abuse of achild, in order to safeguard it mayoverride the families right to privacy .| It would be managed by only sharing the information with appropriateprofessionals to protect the right to privacy | I would share the information with Only my room supervisor/managerFor advice on what steps to take and Refer to the polices and procedures On safeguarding | Weather disturbance- such as it’s wet and cold outside but the children wantto have their outside play| Make sure a full risk assessment is completed (including all wet/slippy equipment is wiped down and large puddles are brushed away), all children have suitable clothing and shorten the length of time they’re outside for| Refer to the EYFS that states childrenShould have outside play and also Discuss wi th colleges | Task C The main points of a complaints procedure include ensuring complaints are handled in a way that protects the rights of individuals involved. Issues or concerns are encouraged to be resolved verbally as they arise. If a concern cannot be resolved immediately the person raising the concern should ask to speak with a manager, and a meeting can be arranged at a certain place and time. If satisfactory resolution still can’t be found, a written formal complaint can be raised. If the manager feels that the situation is a child protection allegation, they should inform the designated child protection officer. If any individual involved in the complaint has reason to believe a criminal offense has been committed then they will contact the police.

Young Peoples Time Perspectives: From Youth to Adulthood

Young Peoples Time Perspectives: From Youth to Adulthood Summarise and critically evaluate the article (Brannen, J Nilsen, A 2002) â€Å"young peoples time perspectives focusing on; A) Its conceptual and theoretical framework and B) Its methodology and approach to evidence. The Author Brennan’s history includes her being a professor in Sociology for the University of London. She has written books and researched in on topics relating to gender and families with young people and children. She also co-edits, the International Journal of Social Research Methodology: theory and practice. The co-author history included Nilsen being a professor at the Department of Sociology, University of Bergen in Norway. She has researched in topic’s relating to women’s life course, biographical methods and time and environmental sociology. She is also the co-editor of the Journal of Psychology. The article under discussion examines three bodies of theory: individualization, the life course, and concepts of time. It cross-examines these theories with respect to the following questions: how young people speak about the future; the bearing of young peoples situations and time perspectives upon the way they envisage the transition to adulthood. Empirical d ata is taken from five different European countries and material from focus group discussions and interviews are conducted with young people taken from west-European countries, Britain and Norway. They analyzed variations in young peoples ways of thinking about their future lives, and propose, as a basis for further research, three ideal typical models. The concepts include Nowotneys concept of â€Å"extended present, which is the notion of planning for the future, which may be altered by the experiences of the present†. It is has been stated by Sennett 1998, that a shift from linear concept of time can mean people no longer try to predict the future and the notions of planning loses its meaning, Brannen and Nilsen have scrutinized all the theories and concepts mentioned. The purpose of their article was to begin to develop a language of description (Bernstein 1996) for representing and interpreting the nuances and diversity in young people’s orientation to adulthood which may be applied and modified in future research. They aimed to look at theories of life course processes and wanted to observe how young people think and speak about the future. The cross national study â€Å"young people’s orientation to the future reconciliation of employment and family life†, This initial cross-national analyses focus was on young peoples view’s of future in general and did not set out explicitly to examining the future in general, neither or their conceptualizations of time. There work related to another parallel study carried out with interviewing Norwegian men and women, (Nilsen, and Brannen 2002). The study method included 12 focus groups with three different groups for interviews; they tried to make each group as alike in terms of demographics as possible, however theory did not discuss what measures of precaution they took. The groups were divided by education and training levels, by occupational level, and by those in manual or while collar jobs. Questions about merging employment and family life were for most young people at the time of interview were hypothetical. The study was not concentrating on the issues such as time perspectives and theories linking to it, thus they were not able to examine methodically the interactions of gender, age and social class to the three models thinking about the future. The explicit focus of the study was on future reconciliation or employment and family responsibilities. Nilsen and Brannen were interested in gathering a qualitative approach. They did not however take into consideration the time scale was short and the research funding wa s low, there lack of planning and budgeting was thus seen. They explained further that is when the aim of when they decided to change it from a qualitative approach to an exploratory one. They employed focus groups ranging from 3-10 people. They do however agree to that fact that it is not justifiable, in which focus group methodology can generalize about young people to produce biographical material. They further stated that as well as focus groups, interviews were conducted with selected young people aged 18-30 however they did not provide evidence and document the findings in the article, which leads to questions of the purpose of such interviews. They talked about the theoretical perspectives including in the Individualisation theory (Beck 1992, 1994; Beck-Gernsheim, 1995; Giddens, 1991, 1994). This theory holds the idea that the processes remove structural separations of gender, social class and age. The assertion that individual choices become more important and the choice biography replaces the standard biography 1996. This theory has received much speculation, by Beck, Giddens 1994, Bauman 1998a, and Nowotney 1994. The â€Å"extended present† which takes account of â€Å"choice biography† and suggest it is untried as argued by Brannen and Nilsen that the way people pass through the transition to adulthood is prejudiced by their experiences of time. Brannen and Nilsen’s came to the conclusion of explaining there findings through proposing, three models. Brannen and Nilsen looked at three theories, 1) Individualization, 2) The life course 3) concepts of time. The models they obtained suggested a larger range in ways of thinking and planning for the future than the individualization theories. They attempted to apply theory to empirical data. They stated they were looking for a qualitative approach which then talked above exploratory, which leads the reader feeling a bit baffled. They compared the findings form both countries of Norway and England. They have put forward three models in the conclusions, model of Deferment, the model of Adaptability and the model of Predictability. There work carries no internal or external validity, when a test has content validity; the items on the test represent the entire range of possible items the test should cover. Individual test questions may be drawn from a large pool of items that cover a broad range of topics, however in Nilsen and Brannen study this was not the case. Brannen and Nilsen stated that young people were chosen as young people focus on time, a feature of social experience which has been ignored in empirical research. Brannen and Nilsen have put forward three ideal typical ways that have been identified in and applied to new material. One of the models of deferment, they have presented a critical case of younger women consider adulthood in looser terms, than the women in the second group the model of adaptability. From their findings they did report that imposing a dichotomy upon peoples lives in terms of either the â€Å"choice biography† is too simplistic. Brannen and Nilsen did not agree with other researchers they argued looking at their own models that a greater array of though processes and planning for the future in comparison to Individualization thesis â€Å"choice Biography†. They proposed that there are many factors affecting time orientations; these include the opportunity structures of education and training w hich have influence for employment aspirations. They argue that the complex material of social, cultural and discursive resources available or not, to young people together with the way young people adjust themselves in time, lead to construction of their identities .Brannen and Nilsen focus was differing from the cross-national analyses published by Brannen et al 2002. In that study the focus was on examining the view of the future in general neither or their conceptualizations of time. This article presented draws on a separation of cases from Norwegian and British seeking to apply to theories in time .At the end of the study all participants should have been given a full debrief, it is not clear from their article if this was carried out or not. All study participants should be told about procedures and any potential risks he confidentiality must also be maintained. They explained that the life course is no longer so clearly gendered .They researched that the decline of unskilled and semi skilled jobs in Britain and Norway led to led to men holding adult responsibilities at the same time as pursuing their youth, however women expected to have a job first then go down the route of motherhood, Brannen et al 1997. They also found that youth as a period of preparation for adulthood is going through change (Furlong and Cartmet ). The sources the authors used included their own research areas and past research that they had carried out. (Brannen and Moss, Owen Wale 1997, also Brannen and Nilsen and Smithson 2002; Also from Nilsen’s 1998, and 1999 studies).This article appears to be an extension of the areas of attention brought forward from past research experiments. The rhetoric and style of the article seems to be quite informal and loosely structured. Although some areas of their experimental explanations are clear, other areas are quite unclear with regard to the methodology and gathering of data. As a reader one is not convinced of their findings as t hey are qualitative and can not draw generalization to the wider public. Cultural issues were not considered in the countries studied carried out in, it is difficult to generalize the findings from cross-national studies, as every country to some degree has their own cultural patterns in youth to adulthood. In total they reported five countries were studies however he results qualitative that they may have been, was not mentioned. Other countries studied were not talked about a great deal nor the results discussed. Their study held no concurrent validity, construct validity or any predictive validity, as no tests were employed The intended audience to receive the data and outcomes of this research can be interpreted as the government and large organizations, as their focus was orientations over time, this would be beneficial to know. Also Cross-national studies lead to practical implications. The observations made can lead to a comparison of the employment/ education levels along with areas that each of the countries studies .This information is useful in the knowing which country is economically developing, along with attitudes of the public. Bibliography: Brannen Nilsen 2002, a ‘Young Peoples Time Perspectives: From Youth to adulthood. 2002. Falmer 2000. Connecting children and family life in later childhood, Routledge D. C. Howell 2002. Statistical Methods for Psychology, 5th edition, Duxbury/Thomson Learning. Weiner, I., 2003. Handbook of Psychology. New York, NY: Wiley 1

My Educational Philosophy :: Philosophy of Education Teaching Essays

My Educational Philosophy Education is diverse. Due to the various natures of knowledge and students, it is difficult to place my educational philosophy in one category. Each student is unique; curriculums vary depending on many factors. I feel that many educational philosophies are beneficial to education. The nature of students reflects many things including heredity, home life, and society as a whole. Through my experiences working with Americorps/Energy Express, I learned children from lower income families tend to lose three months of education during the summer break. The students never regain these losses. While lower income children lose learning, children from higher income families gain a month of learning. This demonstrates the importance of home life in the nature and education of students. When teaching, one must always consider the aspects that may affect the students’ nature along with the nature of knowledge. Knowledge is both relative and absolute. Literature is an example of relative knowledge. Interpretation of books or poetry depend on the person reading the material, the place where the literature is read, and the time period in which the person is living. Science and mathematics are absolute. One plus one equals two regardless of the time, place, or person. Acquiring knowledge, whether absolute or relative, is the purpose of education. Public education is important to improving society and the future. Like Plato, I feel education gives people the ability to think critically instead of being blindly led by others. As a future teacher, I am idealistic in that I hope to encourage students to challenge themselves, I also hope to encourage students to continue learning throughout life, and prepare for college. To accomplish these goals, I will incorporate pragmatic methods like hands on activities through laboratory experiments and problem solving into my teaching. This also falls under experimentalism. The Socratic method of small group discussions, lecturing, and questioning will be used to help students acquire knowledge. Using many methods will help all students to understand the material presented. Discipline will play an important role in reaching my goals for the students. I plan to use pragmatic methods also in establishing rules.

Philosophy and Science Essay

Philosophy, science, art and religion are all major achievements of the human mind. Like science, philosophy calls for careful reasoning and exact language. The nature of philosopher and science are somewhat similar in that they have both relied on logical thinking and a quest for deeper truths regarding life and human nature. There have been great philosophers who have become scientists such as Copernicus and there have been scientists like Albert Einstein who have later become philosophers. Thus there is a subtle relationship between science and philosophy. In ancient times all fields of study including religion, science and art were accepted as parts of philosophy. Science particularly, has been considered very important in every philosophic system. But with the rapid advance of knowledge the sciences and the humanities separated from philosophy (Grolier, 1979). They developed their own methods of investigation and their own vocabularies. Philosophers in recent times tend to focus on general ideas common to different fields. Thus we find that natural philosophy took its root in scientific investigation and later evolved into modern science. Philosophy can be understood in either a popular way or a technical way. In the popular sense, any set of deeply held beliefs about man, nature, society and God is called a philosophy. Everyone who has wondered about the meaning of life and found an answer that satisfied him as his own philosophy. In its more technical sense, philosophy means a highly disciplined and reasonable method of criticizing fundamental beliefs to make them more clear and reliable. This method was first developed by the ancient Greeks in the 6th century B. C. Thales, Anaximander, Anaximenes, Pythagoras, and other learned men began to speculate about the underlying causes of natural phenomena like birth and death, rainfall and drought, the perfectly regular motions of the planets, the reach of fire toward the sky, and the fall of heavy objects toward the earth. In the world of today, science is regarded as an activity based on the experimental gathering of facts, the mathematical modeling of its results, and the framing of hypotheses. Philosophy on the other hand deals with unanswerable ultimate questions about ethics and metaphysics, the meaning of life, or the nature of truth. Today’s philosophers and scientists travel along different paths, it is interesting to note that science and philosophy have had a common background and history. Till the emergence of special scientific branches in the 19th and 20th centuries, ‘natural philosophy’ covered all scientific activity. Isaac Newton called himself a â€Å"natural philosopher†, and telescopes and air pumps used to be classified as â€Å"philosophical instruments†. Natural philosophy or â€Å"philosophia naturalis† referred to the exploration and analysis of all things under the sky including stones to human mental functions and the winds and the stars. The natural philosophy evolved into modern scientific thought through the years 1200 to 1700. This period includes the introduction of Aristotle’s works into the nascent universities to the establishment of stable scientific institutions such as the Royal Society or the Acadà ©mie des Sciences. Science as is kno wn today is   were characterized by experimentation, mathematical modeling, the publication of research results, and the sponsoring of scientific collaboration. Science is usually associated with acquisition of knowledge and more specifically science is connected to theoretical knowledge compared to practical knowledge. The word â€Å"science† has its roots from the word â€Å"Scientia† originally meaning knowledge (Ross, 1996). Modern dictionaries define science as â€Å"the observation, identification, description, experimental investigation, and theoretical explanation of phenomena through methodological activity, discipline, or study.† The true nature of science is best understood by focusing on its methodology. Fundamentally, then, science can be characterized as a method of obtaining reliable – though not infallible – knowledge about the universe around us. This knowledge includes both descriptions of what happens and explanations of why it happens. The knowledge is reliable because it is continually tested and retested – much of science is heavily interdependent, which means that any test of any scientific idea entails testing other, related ideas at the same time. The knowledge is not infallible; because at no point do scientists assume that they have arrived at a final, definitive truth. Science is mostly about natural processes and natural events. It involves both description and explanation. Description tells what has happened whereas explanation tells why it happened. According to Science, future events may be predicted only based on knowledge of such events. The ancient Greeks formed the word ‘philosophy’ from ‘philos’ meaning ‘lover’ and ‘sophia’ meaning ‘wisdom’. A philosopher according to them was a person who devoted his lfie to the pursuit of knowledge for its own sake without regard for its practical uses. The kind of knowledge that interested Thales and other philosophers of the 6th century B.C. was knowledge of nature and its laws. Philosophy on the other hand deals with the fundamental nature of existence, of man and of man’s relationship to existence. Whereas science tries to take a microscopic perspective in problem solving, philosophy tends to take a macroscopic perspective in problem solving. In general, philosophy questions often are a series of â€Å"why-questions,† whereas science is often said to ask â€Å"how-questions.† In the words of Ayn Rand: â€Å"In the realm of cognition, the special sciences are the trees, but philosophy is th e soil which makes the forest possible.† (Ayn Rand in â€Å"Philosophy: Who Needs It†) Generally speaking philosophy is an attitude, an approach, or even a calling to answer or to ask or to comment upon certain peculiar kinds of questions. Science and philosophy have always supported each other. While philosophy utilizes scientific discoveries to give it strength and a basis for generalizations, science utilizes philosophy to get a world view and perceive things from the framework of universal principles. It is a well known fact that early scientific ideas came from philosophers. The atomic structure of things was first expressed by Democritus and later expanded on by Lucretius and Diderot. What was hypothetically conceived by them was declared a scientific fact two centuries later. The Cartesian reflux as it is known in science was proposed by philosophers to explain conservation of motion in the universe. Spinoza hypothesized determinism based on a general philosophical perception. The idea of the existence of molecules as complex particles consisting of atoms was developed in the works of the French philosopher Pierre Gassendi and also Russia’s Mikhail Lomonosov. The hypothesis of the cellular structure of animal and vegetable organisms, the idea of the development and universal connection of phenomena and the principle of the material unity of the world were all obtained through philosophical thought. Lenin as a philosopher formulated the principle of the inexhaustibility of matter which scientists consider as a firm methodological base (Spirkin, 1983). Just as science progressed through philosophical thought, philosophy was also enriched by science. The philosophical world view and methodology was impacted greatly with every major scientific discovery.   Philosophical theories, statements and conclusions are deduced on the basis of scientific facts. Moreover, philosophical propositions, principles, concepts and laws are discovered through the generalization of these facts. Euclidian geometry and the mechanics of Galileo and Newton are scientific discoveries that impacted human reasoning in a significant manner. Copernicus’ heliocentric system changed the whole conception of the structure of the universe and Darwin’s theory of evolution, changed the general perception of man’s position in nature. Mendeleyev’s table of chemical elements enhanced understanding the structure of matter. Einstein’s theory of relativity exposed the relationship between matter, motion, space and time. The theory of higher nervous activity evolved by Sechenov and Pavlov deepened the philosophers’ understanding of the material foundations of mental activity, of consciousness. The creation and development by Marx, Engels and Lenin of the science of the laws of development of human society contributed further to philosophy in the realm of natural and social vortex of events (Spirkin, 1983). The history of natural and social science shows that scientists, on several occasions have leaned on world-views and methodological principles, categories and logical systems evolved by philosophers in the process of their researches. All scientists who think in terms of theory have expressed their gratitude in their writings and in their speeches. Thus, we find that the connection between philosophy and science is mutual. But this statement is found to be debatable among experts. There is a strong argument among scientists and philosophers that the two disciplines of science and philosophy do not necessarily need each other for growth. But there are others who feel that science can be informed by philosophy. Philosophy is highly valued due to its interconnection with life. But then, there are others who argue that philosophy is based on vague theorizing and it should not have any link to science. However, it is significant to note that there is no such warning for philosophers to keep away from science. The specific sciences cannot and should not break their connections with true philosophy (Spirkin, 1983). Most scientists, especial those who work with theories would agree that creative activity is closely linked with philosophy and that without serious knowledge of philosophical culture the results of that activity cannot become theoretically effective. Scientists with a powerful theoretical grasp, have always accepted the significance of philosophy to the growth of science. Philosophy does not replace the specialised sciences and does not command them, but it does arm them with general principles of theoretical thinking, with a method of cognition and world-view. In this sense scientific philosophy legitimately holds one of the key positions in the system of the sciences. Truly scientific thought is philosophical to the core; just as truly philosophical thought is profoundly scientific, rooted in the sum-total of scientific achievements. Philosophical training gives the scientist a breadth and penetration, a wider scope in posing and resolving problems. Sometimes these qualities are brilliantly expressed, as in the work of Marx, particularly in his Capital, or in Einstein’s wide-ranging natural scientific conceptions. The interconnection between science and philosophy that has existed through the years has only grown stronger with time. It is impossible to achieve complete understanding of theories related to global problems without a broad grasp of inter-disciplinary and philosophical views. There are some people who argue that science has no need of philosophy. It is their contention that science is in itself philosophy. They hold that scientific knowledge is sufficient to provide answers to all problems including philosophical problems. But the â€Å"cunning† of philosophy lies in the fact that any form of contempt for it, any rejection of philosophy is in itself a kind of philosophy. It is as impossible to get rid of philosophy as it is to rid oneself of all convictions. Many scientists who have maintained the positions of crude empiricism and scorned philosophy have eventually fallen into mysticism. Absence of philosophical assumptions leads to intellectual narrowness. Science needs philosophy due to its diversified branches. As Science has become so ramified, no can today master any particular subject such as medicine or biology or mathematics. Scientists are trying to know as much as possible about as little as possible. This kind of specific specialization is both good and bad. Without narrow specialization there can be no progress in science and at the same time, such specialization must be constantly filled out by a broad inter-disciplinary approach, by the integrative power of philosophical reason. Narrow specialization has no breadth of vision and can thus lead to empiricism, to the endless description of particulars. While science requires researchers to look externally, philosophers tend to look both internally and externally – at the world around man and man’s place in that world. This wholesome perception provided by philosophical consciousness is reflective in its very essence. Philosophy is not only an abstract science. It also deals with moral principles, ethics, and conscience. Today, advances in science have brought many kinds of conflict to society. For example, there is the question regarding nuclear bomb. Is it wrong for a nation to acquire nuclear bomb? Only ethical thinking combined with scientific thinking can provide the right answer. Such questions as this one cannot be answered by science alone. While there are many examples showing that philosophical thought was behind many scientific discoveries, Bernal conceived that science was the starting point for philosophy; it was the very basis of philosophy. Marxist social theory emerged within this process. For Bernal, there was no philosophy, no social theory, and no knowledge independent of science. Science was the foundation of it all (Sheehan, 1985). As Bernal saw the transition to the future, scientific and socialist philosophical thinking played a key role.   For a long time, philosophers as diverse as David Hume, Karl Marx, and Edmund Husser felt that philosophy was â€Å"scientific.† But, Immanuel Kant (1724-1804) felt that there are some problems that science alone can deal with and others it couldn’t. Science and philosophy are both different paths taken by different people who desire to explore the truth. Scientists and philosophers can be considered as seekers of true knowledge. These two subjects differ today in the nature and methodology. Despite these differences, true scientific theories are based on philosophy and true philosophical statements have their foundation in science.

Role of Knowledge Management in Improving Performance of Operations Departments

Role of Knowledge Management in Improving Performance of Operations Departments Introduction Knowledge is arguably the most important asset an organization has. Its good management is crucial if the organization is to succeed in a competitive environment. In the past, many organizations did not recognize this and few resources were dedicated to managing the knowledge that the organizations had.Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Role of Knowledge Management in Improving Performance of Operations Departments specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More However, this has changed in the course of the last decade and knowledge management (KM) has emerged as an important field that provides the rationale for managing knowledge in order to achieve the increased productivity of the organization. Baskerville and Alina (2006) note that knowledge management has become such an important concept that many executives today characterize their most important task as leveraging organizational knowledge (p.83). It has been recognized the KM plays a crucial role in the accomplishment of organizational goals and KM has therefore become one of the necessary tools for modern organizations. Against this background, this paper will set out to discuss the role that knowledge management plays in improving the performance of operations departments of an organization. The paper will demonstrate how KM strategies can help an organization to improve its performance and therefore remain competitive. Overview of Knowledge Management Knowledge is a justified personal belief and it is a mix of framed experiences, values, contextual information, and expert insights. It provides the framework through which new information or experience is evaluated or incorporated. Knowledge is a very important and strategic resource for an organization. However, it can only be utilized properly if an organization makes an effort to discovery patterns and rules where knowledge works. This can only be achieved through the proper m anagement of the knowledge; a task that is essential for a business to improve its efficiency and effectiveness in delivering of services and goods to its clients. Knowledge management is defined by King (2009, p.4) as the planning, organizing, motivating, and controlling of people, processes and systems in the organization to ensure that its knowledge-related assets are improved and effectively employed. KM aims to increase competition between organizations and increase the level of effective decision making. Management of the knowledge base is a very important issue and King (2009) proposes that for KM to be optimal, a large number of employees should be relied upon to contribute their knowledge. Relying on specialists to enter and manage the knowledge base greatly limits the effectiveness of KM Systems. Role of KM in Performance Improvement KM helps the organization to identify the factors which lead to superior performance and capitalize or make further improvements on these asp ects. Baskerville and Alina (2006) state that for many organizations, these factors include: organizational creativity, high quality of products and services offered by the organization, and enhanced effectiveness of operations.Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More The operations department can use KM to identify these factors and once this has been done, the department is able to make improvements on them and hence increase its productivity. KM plays a very important role in enabling the department to make the best use of organizational knowledge. This kind of knowledge is very beneficial since most of it is laboriously developed over a long duration of time through the trial and error method. Baskerville and Alina (2006) state that most organizations fail to make good use of this knowledge because they lack KM systems and therefore, the organization does not know what it knows. Decision making is one of the most important roles of management in any organization. The quality of decisions made often determines the future success of a business and with this consideration, many organization invest resources in measures to assist in the decision making process. KM plays a very major role in the decision making process of operations departments (King 2009). Normally, knowledge has a more critical function in decision making process than resource and data. KM helps to sort the knowledge and define it as accurate and non-accurate knowledge. The managers are then able to make the best decision since they can identify the contexts where the knowledge works by using KM. Increased productivity is a core goal for all organizations and for this to be achieved; the performance of each employee has to be optimal. KM assists in increasing employee performance since it increases the interaction between co-workers. There is therefore a higher level of kno wledge sharing among employees and this increases the chances of organizational goals being met. Employees are able to keep track of projects in progress and easily obtain the assistance of their peers though KM. As has been noted, the productivity of the operations department depends on the ability of the individuals who make up the departmental team. Therefore, the productivity of the department is dependent on the skills possessed by the employees. When some employees lack proper skills, the total output of the entire department is reduced. KM assists in ensuring that all employees possess the desired level of skills. This is achieved since KM assists in the sharing of knowledge between employees and at the same time the prevention of non-educated employees (Baskerville Alina 2006).Advertising We will write a custom research paper sample on Role of Knowledge Management in Improving Performance of Operations Departments specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More In an increasingly competitive market, innovation and creativity have become the defining characteristics of successful organizations. Big profitable organizations such as Microsoft and Wal-Mart are continuously looking for new ideas and innovations in order to stay ahead of their competition. Innovation has today become paramount to the growth of a company and in most cases it comes from individuals in the company. This innovation can then be utilized to advance the goals and objectives of an organization. Skinner (2007) asserts that the presence of innovation alone is not good enough; innovations must be disseminated and reach’ target users for uptake and utilization to be possible (p.53). KM assists in the innovation process of the department in a number of ways. To begin with, it increases knowledge sharing among employees which results in the generation of new ideas and innovations by the employees. KM also captures the reasons behind the adoption of disseminated innovation and the practitioners are therefore made aware of new innovations and the relative advantages that they offer. Skinner (2007) reveals that previous experiences as articulated in the KM system will inform users current practices. In addition to this, they will integrate their existing knowledge as they adopt and implement new innovations. Many organizations are faced with the need to improve their organizational performance so that they can acquire greater benefits and better cope with the changes they constantly face. A chief consideration in KM is that the best outcomes can be achieved if the organization is engaged in a continuous learning process. This means that the efficiency and effectiveness of the operations department can only be guaranteed if the members of the department are willing to learn before, during and after activities. Chen and An-Pin (2006) suggests that KM enhances the learning process of the individual through the provision of the ne cessary information. It then focuses on knowledge flows and the process of creation, organization, and retrieval of knowledge. The capability of workers is enhanced since their core competencies are supported by KM. By using staff knowledge, the department is able to improve its processes and therefore operate in the most efficient and effective way. Businesses are constantly seeking ways to decrease their operational costs and therefore increase their profit margins. KM offers a good way of achieving this by helping to get rid of some of the activities that previously cost the organization. Some KM systems automate tasks previously performed manually such as the training of new staff members therefore decreasing the costs associated with such actions (Chen An-Pin 2006).Advertising Looking for research paper on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More In a company that has a high number of new employees either due to high rate of employee turnover or business growth that necessitates hiring new employees, such a KM assists greatly in keeping training costs manageable. The KM also makes sure that knowledge transfer takes place in a seamless manner and the new employees are able to gain the necessary knowledge to work efficiently in the shortest time possible. Profitable growth strategies can only be achieved by understanding the needs of the customers and responding appropriately to them. Many organizations therefore invest significant resources in an attempt to increase the knowledge of their managers on the key drivers of customer satisfaction. Chen and An-Pin (2006) highlights that when business leaders have an expanded knowledge of the key drivers of customer satisfaction and business process excellence, the can engage in strategies that expand their consumer base and hence increase the companys profitability. The relationship that the organization has with its customer base is also important and organizations seek ways to improve these relations. KM helps to achieve these goals by assisting in the development of customer relationships and therefore increasing shareholder equity. A common reality for most organization is that key staff can leave at any time. The loss of such key personnel is normally accompanied by a loss of knowledge which is of critical use to the organization. Shaw and Baker (2003) states that this knowledge erosion which is caused by people leaving the organization or even changing jobs within it can be damaging to the organization since knowledge plays a crucial role in decision making and running the organization. KM can help deal with this by enabling a department to have a memory that goes beyond the people in it. This knowledge is archived and remains with the specific department even if the key staff is lost. Discussion While many organizations acknowledge the importance of KM, many of them do not know how to go about implementing it. Razi and Abdul-Karim (2010) reveal that contemporary organizations have spent billions of dollars in the implementation of KM and from this, only marginal improvements have been attained with failure rates at the implementation stage ranging up to 70%. The risks of failure during KM implementations are therefore high and if an organization is to reap the benefits of KM, ways of mitigating these risks need to be looked at. Research indicates that there is a relationship between workers and successful KM implementation and as such, organizations need to determine the individual members responsible for KM implementation. These members are responsible for the creation, promotion and identification of knowledge in the organization and their role in KM is crucial. Having a KM system in place is a good move but it is not enough; there also needs to be a metric for measuring the relative success of KM strategies. Chen (2008) suggest s that performance evaluation should be an integral part of the KM plan of any company. Such performance evaluation will help the department to better understand its KM level and offer a basis to improve its KM. Conclusion Knowledge management has emerged as a potent way of increasing the efficiency of an organization. It helps organizations to accomplish their objectives and remain profitable in an increasingly competitive market. This paper set out to discuss the role that knowledge management plays in improving the performance of operations departments in an organization. The paper began by describing what KM is and its relative significance in organizational growth. The paper has demonstrated how a lack of KM can seriously hinder operational departments. It has revealed that for knowledge to be of optimal use, it has to be shared among various parties in the organization. The development of skills and professional qualification in the companys staff can also be assisted by KM. W hile some organizations may have questions as to whether it is worthwhile to invest in KM, this paper has demonstrated that here are numerous benefits that the operations department can get from KM implementation. References Baskerville, R Alina, D 2006, â€Å"The theoretical foundations of knowledge management†, Knowledge Management Research Practice, 4(1): 83–105. Chen, M An-Pin, C 2006, â€Å"Knowledge management performance evaluation: a decade review from 1995 to 2004†, Journal of Information Science, 32 (1): 17–38. King, WR 2009, Knowledge Management and Organizational Learning, Springer, Boston. Chen, R 2008, An Evaluation Method for Enterprise Knowledge Management Performance Based on Linguistic Variable, International Seminar on Business and Information Management, Shandong, China Razi, M Abdul-Karim, N 2010, An Instrument to Assess Organizational Readiness to Implement Knowledge Management Process, Proceedings Knowledge Management 5th Intern ational Conference, Georgia. Shaw, D Baker, B 2003, â€Å"Achieving closure through knowledge management strategy. Electronic Journal on Knowledge Management, 1(2): 197-204. Skinner, K 2007, â€Å"Developing a tool to measure knowledge exchange outcomes†, The Canadian Journal of Program Evaluation, 22(1): 49–73.