Euthanasia is the Best Option :: Euthanasia Physician Assisted Suicide

Euthanasia is the Best Option    Euthanasia is a very controversial topic. People argue as to whether or not a person who is terminally ill, or handicap, should have the right to die by euthanasia.   People say that dying by euthanasia is to die with dignity,  instead of living an artificial life on respirators and other life support machines. If a person is terminally ill, and there is nothing anyone can do for them, why should they have to suffer?   Not only do they suffer but their family does also.   They will watch as their condition gets worse, and then the vision in their head of the loved one who has finally died many months after they were diagnose as terminally ill, is a memory of a person lying there helpless, not able to feed themselves, get out of bed, or talk to you.    One notable euthanasia case would be Sue Rodrigous.   She had a disease known as Lou Gehrig's disease or ALS, which is a rare incurable disease of the nervous system. ALS gradually destroys the nerves that control the muscles.   The results of which are weakness, paralysis, and eventually death.   That is what Sue Rodrigous was suffering from for well over a year.   Knowing that her condition was only going to get worse, and eventually, after the pain and suffering, would result in death, Sue wanted to die. She wanted people to remember her as a lively healthy woman, not just a body lying helpless in a hospital bed. With that thought in mind, Sue went to court to fight for right to die by euthanasia. The courts did not agree with her though.    Dr. Jack Kevorkian, proposed the creation of a new medical specialist, the "obitiarist," who would assist terminally ill patients to take their own lives, subject to strict guidelines.    His patient also suffered from Lou Gehrig's disease.   She was in bad shape, struggling to hold her head up, could not talk, and had to communicate using a computer keyboard.   She was deteriorating quickly.   "She was very smart," he said, a note of sadness entering his voice.   Kevorkian built a machine called the "mercitron," a jumble of tubes and bottles that would allow patients with little mobility to inject themselves with a lethal cocktail of drugs.

Write about some of the ways Fitzgerald tells the story in chapter 1 of The Great Gatsby

Fitzgerald’s autobiographical first person means of telling the story in a way that takes the reader into his confidence by retelling a recollection of significant events. It is immdeiatly noticeable that Fitzgerald’s sentence structure is complex and his vocabulary sometimes obscure â€Å"only Gatsby, the man who gives this book its name was exempt from my reaction – Gatsby, who represented everything I was scornful of. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him† Fitzgerald asserts the idea that although Nick Caraway is the should narrator of this book, the story is about a much greater man – one whom the narrator is set to admire so much that the use of language to describe him gives Nick a new view on a set of people he once hated, so much so, he decides to write a book about him. Fitzgerald introduces Nick just returning to the Midwest after the civil war, he settles in the â€Å"west egg† but finds himself starting the story by visiting his cousin Daisy and Tom â€Å"the consoling proximity of millionaires† in the much more glamorous east egg, Fitzgerald is perhaps emphasising this was the norm for Nick having grown up with such people as a child. Fitzgerald begins the story with a generalisation of himself â€Å"I’ m inclined to reserve all judgements† separating himself from the likes of other judgemental upper class characters, which whom are given the most attention to. The likes of characters such as Daisy, Tom and Jordan are given almost choric voices â€Å"well you ought to see her she’s-â€Å" the characters constantly cutting each other off with ongoing information to the story such as rumours â€Å"he’s got some woman in new York† the idea of scandal and covered up rumours seems to dominate this chapter, although Jordan has only just met Nick, Fitzgerald does not hold back on writing Jordan so she already reveals a huge scandalous piece of gossip emphasising how these characters. Fitzgerald presents women in this chapter in a very unusual way â€Å"splendidly, luagiduly, their hands set lightly on their hips, the two young women proceeded us out on to a rosy coloured porch† the imagery of two young women leading them into this heavenly place emphasises them as delicate and beautiful â€Å"for a moment the last sunshine fell romantically upon her glowing face† the sensual imagery Tom uses to describe Jordan presents some type of respect Fitzgerald is able to see for women, however it is contrasted to a much lower view of women when Daisy states â€Å"that’s the best thing a woman can be in this world – a beautiful fool† where she expresses her opinion that a woman can only get by on looks and total ignorance to how a man should treat her. Some readers are irritated by nick caraway as a narrator, what is your view of Nick as a narrator? Fitzgerald’s interesting and intelligent use of such a character is in no way a mist ake, he would have been aware of the dangers from such an unusual means of narrating, however it works very well and makes this book the success it is. The use of Nick as more of a spector than an actual narrator involves us as readers and allows us to make up our own minds about the characters rather than having a central character as a narrator who may be in love with Daisy or hate Tom, whose language would then shape our own opinion of them. Nick is able to re-call past events in a very serious tone but yet at the same time his sensual and light-headedness description on small matters reflect pleasure onto the reader â€Å"I had two – finger bowels of champagne, and the scene had changed before my eyes into something significant, elemental and profound† commenting on small humorous parts of the story make the reader more able to relate as in our own lives we would notice such changes after a drink, Fitzgerald gives nick very realistic qualities here which means the story is more lifelike for the reader to enjoy. However, there are some aspects of the story in sensual description where Nick elevates his dramatic and in depth description that may not be so down to earth, but neither the less engage the reader in the very beautifully worded lines. â€Å"for a moment the last sunshine fell romantically upon her glowing face† the way in which women are presented through Nick’s eyes gain him a certain amount of respect for him as a narrator which will gain to the reader’s interest in his own characteristics, he is clearly a very passionate and respectable man in his romantic interests which in many ways erase from the reader’s mind any doubts they may of had at the start of his attitude to women when it is told he left a woman behind to move to the east egg. It is easy to suggest that without Nick’s descriptive detail and constant symbolism, the novel would have been a better less obscure portrayal of events, however without Nick’s ignorance and unfamiliarity to Gatsby at the start, Fitzgerald would have never been able to create this sense of enigma around him that engages the reader about this unknown mysterious character. â€Å"He stretched out his arms in a curious way towards the water, and, far as I was from him, I could have sworn he was trembling†. Fitzgerald also uses such a character as he is able to connect more with Gatsby upon living in the same less glamorous egg; they are in many ways similar through their views on life, money and love – a realistic friendship. Scott Fitzgerald was interested in many ways to present Gatsby through Nick; he stated once how â€Å"symbolism can produce a kind of magical transformation in which the physical world might, through an act of imagination, come to assume the quality of ideal†. So at the end of the novel Nick no longer looks at the world through symbolism as he remarks â€Å"he must have looked up at a familiar sky through frightening lease and shivered as he found was grotesque thing a rose is and how raw the sunlight was upon the secrecy grass† Fitzgerald here uses this technique to cut Nick’s symbolic language on beautiful things, to mirror the down turn of events and keep in with the language to reflect the mood of gloom the reader may be feeling, again heightening the reader’s opinion of Nick, as he is many ways realistic when it comes to the language he uses to express events that aren’t so glamorous. The use of Nick as a narrator is without a doubt a genius idea from Fitzgerald. He was able to contrast the norm and expected narrator but yet at the same time engage the reader with it. The writer is kept realistic, with real romances such as his relationship with Jordan giving him his own story but yet still present Gatsby i n the intelligent and beautiful way Fitzgerald intended.

Dissertation Review Essay - 993 Words

Assignment 4 Dissertation Review By Gary Evan Mair An assignment submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for DISS-725 course as part of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Systems Graduate School of Computer and Information Sciences Nova Southeastern University DISS-725- The System Development Process Fall 2013 Professor: Dr. Yair Levy Due: December 10, 2013 2013 Title of the Dissertation: Responsibility Factors of Reducing Inefficiencies in Information System Processes and Their Role on Intention to Acquire Six Sigma Certification Author of the Dissertation: Sara Hejazi Major Professor/Advisor of the Dissertation: Dr. Yair Levy Year degree awarded: 2009 Institution †¦show more content†¦The third area of the paper used the GB’s perceived responsibility matrix to identify the contribution of each GB candidate and thereby use that to determine how motivated they would be to obtain GB certification. According to Sheehi (2011) the green belt candidate is said to differ from the Black Belt Candidate only by nature of being part time. Consequently they should possess the same level of knowledge and statistical skills as the Black Belt. Question: What evidence was presented to support the research and achieve the research goal? Answer: The literature review explains the challenges faced and the approach that was taken to mitigate the problem of a shortage of research in the required areas. Their literature suggested that as long as there was enough information in the high quality peer-reviewed journals, a study could be performed. Additionally the study was broadened by using lesser known journals that were still of a high quality. IS process studies were used to validate the findings and also to define key terms such as efficiency and process and how they tie together. Question: What research methodology used and who claims this methodology is valid ? Answer: The methodology used was a two phased approach based on the research of Straub (1989) and Levy (2006). The first phase consisted of a web based open ended questionnaire that was used to develop a theoretical framework for determining the GB candidatesShow MoreRelatedEssay on Klein Dissertation Reviews3503 Words   |  15 Pagesï » ¿ Running head: REVIEWS Dissertation Reviews: Hawkins and Heap Amanda Klein Liberty University Dissertation Reviews: Hawkins and Heap Hawkins, S. K. (2011). Economically disadvantaged students: A case study of resilient qualities that encourage academic success. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Liberty University, Lynchburg, VA. 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In 2006 Nag published his dissertation with the title â€Å"From common to uncommon knowledge: An investigation into the socio-cognitive foundations of inter-firm heterogeneity in the use of knowledge as a resource†. Gioia was the chair of the dissertation committee. The dissertation had t he same study population from the foundry industry with partially identical interviewees. In that dissertation more and less detailed sketches of the model in the current paperRead MoreCmp9500B Comprehensive Exam Solution1570 Words   |  7 Pagesresearch and organizing and making sense of research findings. In spite of the great importance of theory-building and theory testing within your field of specialization, there is no generally accepted conception of what a theory is. Because your dissertation must contribute to theory, you must have a clear understanding of the variety of conceptions of theory, types of theories, and ways of contributing to theory and be able to justify how, exactly, your study contributes to theory. Part 1 UsingRead MoreDatabase Research Essay869 Words   |  4 PagesIntroduction In order to obtain peer reviewed research articles related to the impact of the psychological contract on job satisfaction in community mental health care workers it is important to review research that has been completed in a variety of researchers and in different settings. The databases that were selected to locate peer reviewed articles for this paper where Academic Search Complete and ProQuest Psychology. Tutorials were available for each of these databases and ProQuest wasRead MoreUsing Three Search Techniques For A Comprehensive And Systematic Search856 Words   |  4 Pagessearch to be successful it is important to find the right key words or concepts required to retrieve the journal articles as journal articles are indexed and entered onto the databases using keywords (Aveyard, 2014). The keywords for this literature review derived from the research question and synonyms words (Schneider, Elliott, LoBiondo-Wood and Haber, 2004). The keywords identified and retrieved used a combination of the following keywords; CPR, cardiac arrest, cardiopulmonary resuscitat*, famil*Read MoreConstitutional Interpretation Essay1012 Words   |  5 Pagesa clear meaning- since language cannot be perfect and the framers did not intend to provide rules for all possible future circumstances - the condition for the exercise of judicial review do not exist. The second aspect of originalism is derived from reflection on the foundations of judicial review. Judicial review is an implication of the constitution, fairly read, but it is an implication with a definite from: judges should prefer the constitution to act that is incompatible with it. The

Sequence Analysis Free Essay Example, 1500 words

These heuristic approaches apply word matching and hash tables in their implementation unlike dynamic programming that are rigorous mathematical approaches. Computational biology attempts to compare nucleotide or protein sequence to analyze either their difference or similarities at the level of bases or amino acids. This information is gathered with the objective of inferring structural, functional and evolutionary relationship among the sequences being analyzed (Baxevanis and Oullette, 2001). Sequence alignment enables one to map residues (nucleotides or amino acids) of two or more sequences. There are two methods of sequence alignment, pairwise alignment and multiple alignments. Whereas pairwise alignments involve two sequences, multiple alignments involve more than two sequences. In sequence alignment, various alignments are made to cater for the differences between any two or more sequences being aligned. Residues which are aligned but not identical may represent substitution in the evolution path. In other cases regions of the sequences where they aligned with other sequences in the alignment but they have no common residues may represent insertion I the evolution process. Sequence alignments will represent regions that are highly identical (highly conserved) than other alignment regions. We will write a custom essay sample on Sequence Analysis or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/pageorder now These areas are suggestive of residues which may play crucial role to the structural and functional integrity of the expressed gene product either an RNA or protein. Materials and Methods Dynamic Programming Provided with two sequences AGQDEASY and AGCDEESW, an identity relation was used to construct a comparison matrix (1 if i=j, 0 otherwise). The dynamic programming method proceeded through three stages. Firstly, the two sequences were placed on two axes of a grid and the matrix filled to indicate the relationship between each residue in sequence 1 with all residues in sequence 2. Then, the comparison matrix is converted in to the ‘maximum match matrix’, which indicates the highest scoring path starting from a given residue. Here we start from the bottom right hand corner of the comparison matrix; the score in a particular grid point is added to the highest scoring box in the following row and column. Once this has been done, the highest scoring path can be extracted from the matrix, defining the alignment. Comparison Matrix A G Q D E A S Y A G C D E E S W Maximum match matrix A G Q D E A S Y A G C D E E S W Sequence and structure analysis Pairwise alignment of the provided two protein sequences was implemented using Blastp algorithm available at the NCBI websites (Altschul et al. , 1997).

Absurdity Between Kafka and Camus - 4307 Words

This paper seeks to compare and contrast the philosophical views of two great philosophers, namely Albert Camus and Franz Kafka. The works involved in this argument are Kafkas The Metamorphosis and Camus The Outsider. The chief concern of both writers is to find a kind of solution to the predicament of modern man and his conflict with machines and scientific theories. Death, freedom, truth and identity are themes to be studies here in the sense of absurdity. Kafka was born in Prague in 1883. On the Surface, it would seem that he led a very uninteresting life. He grew up in German-speaking Jewish family. His father was very oppressive towards him which made Kafka increasingly isolated. Kafka thought of writing as both a curse and a†¦show more content†¦Or is there some sort of transition to an afterlife? However, most philosophers are skeptical about these questions. Hereinafter, I will verify the conservative assumption that death is annihilation, or permanent nonexistence in relation to both, Camus and Kafka. In a universe suddenly divested of illusions and lights, man feels an alien, a stranger. His exile is without remedy since he is deprived of the memory of a lost home or the hope of a promised land. The divorce between man and his life, the actor and his setting, is properly the feeling of absurdity. To become god is merely to be free on this earth, not to serve an immortal being. Above all, it is drawing all the inferences from the painful independence. In a sense, The Outsider is a parable of Camus philosophy, with emphasis on what is required for freedom. Mersault, the hero of The Outsider, is not a person one would be apt to meet in reality. Mersault does not achieve the awakening of consciousness, yet he has lived his entire life in accordance with the morality of Camus’ philosophy. What is morality? And what are the qualities necessary for freedom, which Mersault manifested? First, the ruling trait of his character is his passion for the absolute truth. While in Mersault this takes the form of a truth of being and feeling, it is still the truth necessary to the conquest of the self and of the world. This passion is so profound that it obtains truth even whenShow MoreRelatedExistentialism And How This Philosophical Theory Has Developed Over The Years1443 Words   |  6 Pagesprecursors of this movement. Other major philosophers like Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre and Martin Heidegger also deny any association with the movement yet their work is pivotal in bringing this theory to the world. Writers like Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka also discuss this theme in their work, thus creating literary work on existentialism and developing this theory further. Existentialism taken up by Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, and Simone de Beauvoir in the 20th century in their literaryRead MoreThe Absurdity Of Existence Of The Book The Metamorphosis By Franz Kafka And The Stranger 1732 Words   |  7 PagesAdriana Ramirez Dr. Brueck English 148 4 May 2016 Final Paper The Absurdity of Existence In many twentieth century English literary works, but particularly in the two novellas, The Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka and The Stranger by Albert Camus, ideas of absurdity are employed to analyze human nature and discover the true meaning of life, and death. Through the questioning of societal boundaries, both of the authors implement philosophy into their writing through their separate and unique stylesRead MoreExistentialism in Literature and Science846 Words   |  3 Pagesscientific theories alike. The literary movement of existentialism is seen heavily in Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis and Albert Camus’ The Stranger. 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Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral (1935) and The Cocktail Party (1949) are some of the noteworthy poetic dramas of the period. A significant development which took place during the period between Word War I and World II is a decline in religious faith which according to Esslin â€Å"was masked until the end of the Second World war by the substitute religions of faith in progress, nationalism, and various totalitarian fallacies† (Pinter the PlaywrightRead Moreexistentialism Essay3317 Words   |  14 Pagesdepressing.) In The Myth of Sisyphus, Albert Camus (pronounced â€Å"Kam-moo†) (1913-1960) describes life as a kind of hopeless, endless, uphill labor. Hence, the only true problem is that of suicide. Yet, he rejects nihilism; for the human being must fight and never accept defeat. The problem is to be a saint without a God. The last judgment takes place everyday. The human being must do his best, try for what he can within the confinements of his situation. 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In this play of Ionesco we see that all the characters turn into rhinoceros – this tells us that gradually everyone is getting caught up by absurdity and meaninglessness. The theatre of the absurd disregards language as a means of communication as people thought that word failed to express the experience of the humans. In this play we see the same is portrayed in the incidents where we see that

Knowledge Management Free Essays

Knowledge management in an organisation means to capture the knowledge that is critical to them, constantly improve it and make it available in the most effective manner to those who need it. There are two types of knowledge explicit and tacit. Explicit knowledge is a kind of knowledge that can be expressed in formed E. We will write a custom essay sample on Knowledge Management or any similar topic only for you Order Now g following a procedure. Tacit knowledge is influenced by emotions and beliefs E. g Respect, relationships. Bovis case study throws a light how knowledge management can be difficult for organisations operating globally. There is friction in transfer of knowledge due to cultural factors and sometimes even due to language barriers. Bovis model helps reduce these frictions. In his model group cohesion among members of the knowledge mnanagement team was promoted so that communication barriers are removed. There was weekly conference calls, also team meeting every 6 months in different geographic locations. To remove language barrier english was made as the base language and e-mail acted as a mechanism that communicated queries and solutions in a commom base vehicle. Hoarding of knowledge is a common practice which can lead to limitations to successful communication of knowledge between providers and seekers. Bovis model helps to mitigate these limitations through motivational tactics and linking employee usage to performance reviews. The success of the bovis model lies in the knowledge management team structure and the method he adopted to monitor the success of the knowledge management initiative. Bovis model shows how complex isuues associated with successful implementation of knowledge management in business can be dealt. How to cite Knowledge Management, Papers Knowledge management Free Essays string(40) " what happens between one’s ears\." Prussia core tenet of any organizational learning project is that without detecting and correcting errors in â€Å"what we know† and â€Å"how we learn,† an organization’s knowledge deteriorates, becomes obsolete, and can result in â€Å"bad† decisions. Because systematic attention to knowledge management is relatively recent, it is particularly important to detect these errors so that knowledge management does not become yet another management fad that promised much but delivered little. If we do not identify and try to resolve these errors, â€Å"what we know† about knowledge management may become little else but mythology. We will write a custom essay sample on Knowledge management or any similar topic only for you Order Now As a consequence, we will be faced with the ultimate knowledge irony: efforts to manage knowledge are themselves based upon faulty knowledge principles. The purpose of this article is to draw attention to a set of pervasive knowledge management errors. These reflections are based on the authors’ observing or partaking in over one hundred knowledge projects over the past five years or so. The focus is on fundamental errors, that is, errors that if left unredeemed inhibit genuine knowledge from being developed and leveraged. These are errors associated with he concept of knowledge itself: how knowledge is understood in organizational settings and how that understanding impedes knowledge management. Error l: Not Developing a Working Definition of Knowledge If knowledge is not something that is different from data or information, then there is nothing new or interesting in knowledge management. Yet many managers seem determinedly reluctant to distinguish between data and CALIFORNIA MANAGEMENT REVIEW VOLVO, NO. 3 SPRING 1998 265 The Eleven Deadliest Sins of Knowledge Management information on the one hand and knowledge on the other; and, more importantly, hey seem reluctant to consider the implications of these distinctions. The tendency to avoid grappling with what knowledge is should not be surprising. There is little in the education, training, or organizational experience of managers that prepares them for the deep-seated reflection and understanding required by the concept of knowledge. Moreover, this situation is exacerbated by some recent popular management literature that directly advocates not making distinctions between these concepts. The argument advanced by these authors is that contemplation of such extinctions distracts managers from the necessary task of managing,’ However, reflection upon concepts and the distinctions among and between them is the essence of the process of â€Å"knowing† or learning. This is a critical error. It contributes directly to all of the errors noted below. Also, avoidance of grappling with a working understanding of knowledge leads to a dysfunctional environment for knowledge work. Many executives have told us they were extremely reluctant to even use the knowledge word and that they felt the anti- knowledge culture of their organizations compelled them to do knowledge work by dealt. â€Å"We had to disguise our knowledge project within a data warehousing architecture plan† is a true and representative response. In fairness, firms have been assaulted, at least since the asses, with multitudes of theories and nostrums that have often proved to be of questionable value. This has made many executives skeptical, if not downright hostile, to new ideas and programs. Error 2: Envisaging Knowledge Stock to the Detriment of Knowledge Flow When knowledge is equated with information, it should not be a surprise to find it defined principally as a stock rather than as a flow. It is viewed as a thing or object that exists on its own, that can be captured, transmitted among individuals, and stored in multiple ways within the organization. Indisputably, this â€Å"stock† perspective tends to dominate organizations’ thinking about knowledge. This has come about in part because several early examples of knowledge â€Å"success† focus on articulated and documented stocks of knowledge such as Dhow’s work on patent values and Muckiness’s rapid-response system. The notion of flow, however, suggests a radically different conception of knowledge. It is in constant flux and change. It is central to day-to-day doing and being. Individuals create it and it is largely self-generating. Moreover, it connects, binds, and involves individuals. In short, it is inseparable from the individuals who develop, transmit, and leverage it. The prevalent view of knowledge as stock is grounded in large measure in the thrust of every educational system from grade school through university: learn the facts and regurgitate them as required in the relevant examination. 266 VOLVO 40, NO. 3 This orientation is in turn reflected in and reinforced by the pervasive information genealogy approach to the management of data and information: capture, store, retrieve, and transmit. Although organizations obviously need to manage their data and information using these technology-centered models, knowledge is a substantially different thing and thus needs different models. The implications for how organizations approach all facets of knowledge management are profound. In many firms, knowledge simply becomes another object to be managed. It is viewed as something separate from the organizational processes that help generate and nurture it. Not surprisingly, therefore, managers all too often do not see themselves s part of the knowledge process, but rather see it as happening outside of them. Error 3: Viewing Knowledge as Existing Predominantly Outside the Heads of Individuals Implicit in the observations above is that any discussion of knowledge is meaningless in the absence of a â€Å"knower,† Knowledge is what a knower knows; there is no knowledge without someone knowing it. Knowledge therefore must be viewed as originating â€Å"between the ears† of individuals. Taken literally, the need for a knower raises profound questions as to whether and how knowledge can exist outside the heads of individuals. Although knowledge can be represented in and often embedded in organizational processes, routines, and networks, and sometimes in document repositories, it cannot truly originate outside the heads of individuals. A Nor is it ever complete outside of an individual. In this view, knowledge is shaped by (among other things) one’s initial stock of knowledge, what goes on inside one’s head (that is, how one reasons), and the inflow of new stimuli (such as new data and information). Flow, therefore, is also central to what happens between one’s ears. You read "Knowledge management" in category "Papers" Yet organizations seem to view knowledge as if it has a life of its own. They dub strikingly mundane databases as â€Å"knowledge bases,† they talk of search engines as if they were human brains, and they extol executive expert systems as if the human mind were incidental to their construction and use. This attempt to dress up decades old technologies and concepts in new â€Å"knowledge† clothing is one of the more serious distractions faced by knowledge advocates. In conjunction with an emphasis upon knowledge as stock, this error reinforces organizational tendencies to manage and massage ever more complex and interconnected databases and to construct even more elaborate information structures. This would not be so bad except that it shifts the focus of knowledge and knowledge work away from individuals?without whom knowledge can be neither generated, transmitted, nor used. VOLVO 40, NO, 3 267 The Eleven Deadliest Sins of Knowledge Management Error 4: Not Understanding that a Fundamental Intermediate Purpose of Managing Knowledge Is to Create Shared Context If knowledge exists ultimately within individuals, and it is individuals participating simultaneously in multiple group processes who make and execute key decisions, then a fundamental purpose of â€Å"managing knowledge† must be to build some degree of shared context. Shared context† means a shared understanding of an organization’s external and internal worlds and how these worlds are connected. Shared context is dynamic: knowledge as flow implies that any shared understanding is likely to change over time, and sometimes may do so suddenly. In the absence of shared context, individuals’ differing perspectives, beliefs, assumptions, and views of the future are most likely to collide and thus immobile decision making. Yet many organizations still appear so caught up in the model of knowledge as stock that explicating, challenging, and aligning distinct views receives little systematic attention. In short, individuals’ understanding of the world around them?perhaps the most critical link between knowledge and decision making?is ignored. This error obviously stems from a â€Å"stock† view of knowledge, but its roots lie deep in the prevailing cultures of most organizations. Establishing, challenging, and aligning shared context requires decision makers to engage in open, honest, supportive (and yet critical), and reflective dialogue. ‘ However, knowledge is a direct outcome of experiences, reflection, and dialogue?three activities that use up that most precious managerial asset: namely, time. Few firms feel they can afford to budget directly for these activities, yet little knowledge is ever developed without them. A disregard for shared context means that the generation, transmission, and use of knowledge is not seen as an activity that brings individuals to deeper understanding through dialogue. As a result, information remains simply a pattern of disjointed and ill-structured data points or events. Without such dialogue the path from information to knowledge is difficult to traverse. Error 5: Paying Little Heed to the Role and Importance of Tacit Knowledge A â€Å"head centered† (or perhaps, more accurately, an embodied) view recognizes the central role of tacit knowledge in shaping and influencing explicit knowledge. Tacit knowledge entails a body of perspectives (e. G. , our view of customers is framed by our firm’s experience in North America), perceptions (customers seem disinclined to try our new product), beliefs (investment in new technology will lead to breakthrough new products that will create new customer needs), and values (do what is right for the customer). Tacit knowledge is the means by which explicit knowledge is captured, assimilated, created, and disseminated. 268 VOLVO. 40, NO. Yet in spite of the emphasis upon tacit knowledge in both traditional epistemology and the recent knowledge management literature, organizations seem especially reluctant to grapple with its management. One unfortunate consequence is that in redoubling their commitment to managing explicit knowledge, organizations discover to th eir dismay that their efforts are thwarted by the very phenomenon they choose to downplay or ignore. As more emphasis is placed upon refining and extending customer satisfaction surveys, managers’ perceptions, projections, and values intervene to preclude any genuinely new insights into customers’ behavior. The most profound reason for this error is that managers simply do not understand the nature of tacit knowledge, its attributes, or its consequences. Thus, although they admit it is â€Å"there,† they fear it is inaccessible and impossible to influence. Thus, their own tacit knowledge about knowledge serves to limit their understanding of the real nature of knowledge?both tacit and explicit. If this error persists, the development and leveraging of explicit knowledge is largely stifled. Consider the following case. One organization considered its extensive services to be the dominant reason its customers continued to do more business with it. In in-depth interviews with many of these customers, however, service was ranked as only the fifth or sixth most important purchase criterion. Yet, key members of the management team not only refused to believe the interview findings, they steadfastly refused to entertain the possibility that their long-held semi-tacit assumption might be wrong. Error 6: Disentangling Knowledge from Its Uses Knowledge is about imbuing data and information with decision- and action-relevant meaning. This is the vital role of human intervention. Information about customers becomes knowledge when decision makers determine how to take advantage of the information. In this way, knowledge is inseparable from thinking and acting (see Error 7). Yet many organizations disconnect knowledge from its uses. A major manifestation of this error is that so-called knowledge initiatives, projects, and programs become ends in themselves. Data warehousing, customer satisfaction surveys, and industry scenarios degenerate respectively into technological challenges, management games, and clashes among proponents of different scenario methodologies. Their relevance for decisions and actions gets lost in the turmoil spawned by debates about appropriate data structures, best survey designs, and alternative techniques for imagining specific industry futures. This error arises directly from a number of decisively false assumptions in the way many organizations approach knowledge management. First, access to information is not equivalent to insight, value, or utility. Examples of managers recognizing in retrospect how they should have derived insight from particular data and information are legend in every company. Second, the value of data 269 ND information is often anything but obvious. Sometimes it is only after considerable discussion and dialogue that the decision relevance and usefulness of data and information becomes evident. Discerning the appropriate marketing strategy responses to new requests of key customers often requires extensive analysis and detailed projections of the forces shaping customers’ behaviors. Third, a common tendency to firmly segregate knowledge users (â€Å"decision makers†) from many of those involved in generating knowledge further serves to separate knowledge from its potential uses. The universal use of the term â€Å"knowledge worker,† s distinct from workers who presumably don’t have or use knowledge, is a prime indicator of how common this sort of error is. A recent survey by Mark Fruit on how knowledge is understood and valued at Toshiba points out the fatuousness of these labels. ‘ A critical implication of this error is that the knowledge efforts of many organizations are misdirected. In short, they frequently commit extensive resources and time to refining and perfecting data and information at the expense of deriving decision and action implications. This tendency is vividly manifest in the extraordinary lengths to which many organizations go to ensure that their customer surveys meet every statistical standard, that unbiased questions are posed, and that the data collection process does not influence the results. Only later is it discovered that the data generated is not terribly helpful in many critical marketing decisions and actions (such as the design of new products, changes to current marketing strategy, or development of rapid responses to the actions of competitors). Error 7: Downplaying Thinking and Reasoning Knowledge generation and use at the level of individuals and groups is a never- ending work-in-progress. At its core, however, getting to different states of knowledge development requires some form of reasoning. For example, a sequence of observations about how customers use a product may lead to insights about desired product modifications, potential new customer solutions, or ways in which existing products might be better customized to specific customers’ needs. Explicating thinking and reasoning processes is especially critical in the case of explicit knowledge. Yet it is always a shock to observe how little attention is paid by allegedly well- managed organizations to their modes of reasoning: the nature of the analytics inherent in points of view or arguments; the assumptions underlying particular models and metaphors; or the relationship between a mode of reasoning and its â€Å"logical† outcomes and consequences. Organizations are thus often unaware why changes occur in a particular stock of explicit knowledge. Hence, they are unable to test the rationales for or validity of such changes. While there are many organizational causes of this error (e. . , an organization’s culture does not tolerate articulation and consideration of conflicts in reasoning), the dominance and pervasiveness of tacit knowledge is one of its 270 principal direct sources. Managers’ deeply held, widely shared, and largely untested perceptions of and assumptions about customers’ changing behaviors overwhelm data describing customers†™ responses to a competitor’s new product introduction. The following words might be heard: â€Å"Customers will quickly see how inferior the competitor’s product is to ours. As soon as they do, they will return to our fold. What goes undeveloped and untested is a set of alternative explanations of the documented customer behaviors and their implications for the organization’s marketing strategy. The obvious implication is that both tacit and explicit knowledge solidify and ossify. Unless distinct modes of reasoning?such as alternative explanations of customers’ responses to a competitor’s new product introduction?are articulated and assessed, radical disjuncture in knowledge content or breakthroughs in insight are considerably less likely to emerge. In short, unless the â€Å"frames†? points of view embodied in perceptions, beliefs, assumptions, and projections about the future? are broken by challenging prevailing modes of thinking and reasoning, knowledge generation and use will be severely restricted. Error 8: Focusing on the Past and the Present and Not the Future If the intent of knowledge is to inform and influence decision making, then its focus must be on the future. Although we cannot know the future, every strategy, decision, and action is, by definition, premised upon some view of the future. Knowledge, as distinguished from raw data and information, can create a shared context for organizational members to address the future. Yet in most organizations, knowledge is still predominantly used for understanding past and present change. The implications of such change for future decision making and action receive only secondary attention at best. A Although some organizations are becoming more enforceable in developing â€Å"memories of the future† through the use of scenarios and other techniques,’ it is still the rare organization that explicitly makes discussing the future the driving focus of its knowledge work. Of course, it hardly needs to be noted that database and information management generally devote little explicit attention to consideration of the future. A number of causes for this error warrant particular attention. First is the greater comfort and ease with which individuals are able to collect data and generate information about the past and the present. Creating explicit projections unavoidably entails making Judgments about the future. The strong natural tendency to avoid the personal, political, and organizational risks associated with exposing one’s thinking and reasoning about the future often conspire to stop development of â€Å"future knowledge† right in its tracks. Second is the common misunderstanding of knowledge and the future: the goal is not to know the future, rather it is to know what projections of the future inform management’s 271 thinking about its strategies and actions. Third is a failure to recognize that alternative projections of the future enlighten our understanding of the present. Moreover, what we take to be knowledge about the present may be largely illusion. As a consequence, the value of our knowledge efforts for decision makers may be far less than we presume. Error 9: Failing to Recognize the Importance of Experimentation Experiments are a crucial source of the data and information necessary for the invigoration of knowledge, and in most respects, the creation of new knowledge. Experiments include trying new approaches to analysis, initiating pilot projects, doing things on a trial-and-error basis, and allowing individuals to assume additional tasks and responsibilities. Customer experiments might include directly involving customers in specific stages of product development, asking and supporting customers to use the product in different ways, and testing new ways to deliver solutions to specific customer segments. Although experiments are a naturally occurring phenomenon in every organizational setting, few organizations explicitly seek to continually create and leverage experiments for knowledge purposes. Indeed, a failure to recognize the potential experimental value of ongoing activities is all too evident in most organizations. For example, many firms now document their â€Å"best raciest† as a means of encapsulating knowledge at work and disseminate such descriptions and results to a wide range of potential internal users. However, such documentation also tends to suppress any inclination to track and monitor improvements and innovations in each best practice as it is applied and enhanced by various user groups. The use of technology tends to result in standardized approaches to collecting and structuring data and to transferring information. This tendency is reinforced by command-and-control, hierarchy-driven organizational cultures that specify precisely what individuals can (and cannot) do. The result is an emphasis on exploitation over exploration. ‘ Organizations invest time and resources in improving current modes of data gathering, enhancing the efficiency of IT, calibrating information structures, and involving more individuals in information and knowledge routines. One consequence of this is an emphasis on simply refining and sharpening what we already know. What is downplayed, and often dismissed entirely, is the willingness to explore: to do new things, to do old things in new ways, and to learn from both these activities. Distinctly new knowledge stems from experimenting. 272 Error 10: Substituting Technological Contact for Human Interface The veritable explosion of information and communication technologies has created the means to capture and transmit data and information at rates and speeds that were unimaginable merely a few years ago. Data warehousing, search engines, groupware, and newly emerging client-server systems are only the tip of the iceberg. Information technology budgets continue to escalate, vendors are sprouting up like mushrooms, IT professionals are increasingly assuming knowledge titles, and many knowledge projects quite rightly depend upon intensive technology use. There is outspread tendency to validate significant investment in IT by reference to its contribution to developing and leveraging knowledge in new and effective ways. Unfortunately, one pivotal error underlying some uses of IT severely limits its potential contribution to organizational knowledge: technological contact is equated with face-to-face dialogue. Although IT is a wonderful facilitator of data and information transmission and distribution, it can never substitute for the rich interactivity, communication, and learning that is inherent in dialogue. Knowledge is primarily a function and consequence of the meeting and interaction of minds. Human intervention remains the only source of knowledge generation. This in turn has produced immense frustration on the part of executives. One result of this frustration is further investment in IT, which without the requisite change in the understanding of knowledge, in turn only leads to further frustration and disappointment. Error 1 1 : Seeking to Develop Direct Measures of Knowledge A reasonable and sensible question now being raised by many concerned senior managers is: How will we know if our efforts to manage knowledge produce satisfactory results? Or, stated differently, where is the pay-off to knowledge projects? Regrettably, it seems that an increasing number of organizations seek to measure knowledge directly rather than by its outcomes, activities, and consequences. Thus, they emphasize the scope, depth, number, and quality of databases; the numbers of individuals, units, and departments connected technologically; the number of requests or â€Å"hits† pertaining to intranets, key knowledge sources, and information pools; and the number, variety, and extensiveness of knowledge projects or initiatives. Yet a moment’s reflection will convince even the most diehard metric devotee that such indicators do not provide any sense of an organization’s stock or low of knowledge or its contribution to decision making and organizational performance. However, some firms have developed â€Å"proxies† for showing the outcomes or consequences of knowledge-based activities. These metrics include patents, new products developed and introduced, customer retention, and process 273 The Eleven Deadliest Sins o f Knowledge Management innovation. Yet it seems fair to suggest that in their thirst for metrics and measures, an embarrassing number of organizations still put the measurement cart before the knowledge horse. This vain pursuit of metrics reinforces many of the errors How to cite Knowledge management, Papers

Job Satisfaction and Emotion in Workplace

Question: Discuss about the Job Satisfaction and Emotion in Workplace. Answer: Discussion on the Purpose of the Article This article Workplace Emotions: The Role of Supervision and Leadership by Bono et al. (2007), addressed the role of business managers and leaders on emotional experience of their employees. Topic addressed by authors was, ways of association of the supervisors and way of transformation of employees emotions in different situations (with coworkers and colleagues). Moreover, emotional links between organizational leadership and their followers has also been discussed in the report. In addition to this, effect of the leadership that buffers its employees from the regulation of negative emotions is also contained in it. Even though it is believed that, supervisors are responsible for its employees bad moods and their mood swings at work place, but according to the authors of chosen article, primarily there are two reasons for this. The purpose of the chosen article review is to check whether there is any effect of leaders and supervisors on emotions and stress of employees at workplace. Chosen article also tried to determine the effect of employees emotional regulation and stress on their job satisfaction (Bono et al. 2007). Since performances of employees are evaluated by supervisors therefore it can be considered as a cause that increases the level of anxiety of employees at workplace. On the other hand it is observed that need for autonomy at workplace by individual employees is also a reason for their stress. Due to different constraints of leadership this need is not fulfilled. The authors reviewed Gross, Richards John (2006) and derived the following hypotheses. 1. For each and every individual, emotional regulation is negatively associated with job satisfaction. 2. Moreover, regulation of emotion is positively associated with experienced stress at work place. Again by reviewing the John and Gross (2004), Fitness (2000), authors assessed two theories. This two theories are self determination theory and goal self concordance model. These theories states, when an employee regulates their feeling, then it are possible that they have feeling of depersonalization and separation from themselves. Authors also suggested that, managers in transformational leadership can provide much more social support to their employees. Identification and Brief Description on the Research Methods In order to support their theories, authors collected data from the workers of a health care facility. Data is collected using experience sampling method and paper survey method. In this method two types of data were collected, one is survey data and other is experience sampling data. Paper Survey was done to collect two types of data in a two week time period. One is survey data and another is experience sampling data (Miner, Glomb and Hulin 2005). In this process 79% of employees affirmed to attend an information session related to this topic. The employees were given a PDA in which they have to respond twice in a day in the week days for ten days. Each time they have to respond according to their level of stress and job satisfaction at work place. The leadership behaviours of supervisors are measured by using a 20 item multifactor leadership questionnaire. The results of this survey mainly addressed points like job satisfaction, work status and interactions, affective emotional experience and stress. Moreover, it is argued by Glas and Einarsen (2006) that, the leadership has an ongoing influence on enthusiasm and optimism of employees. At the end authors discussed different limitation. Such as, they do not have a proper sample size in order to divide them in subgroups for detailed research. Moreover the authors assumed the work environment as standard. Therefore the results of the survey may vary if the environment is supportive or abusive (Fitness 2000). Key theme addressed by authors in the chosen journal Author in the chosen article tried to check whether the emotional regulation co varies with the level of stress of employees (Gross, Richards and John 2006). Authors presented a table based on the result of the survey. After analyzing results of the survey, authors found that, leadership, managers and supervisors has a powerful role controlling the emotions of employees of an organization (Brief and Weiss 2002). In the journal authors examined the link between employees affective experience, direct effect transformational leadership behaviour on employees. Moreover, the association between emotional regulation and stress at workplace are also argued in the journal. The authors had addressed in the article are such as emotional regulation of individual has link with the job satisfaction in negative way (Sy, Ct and Saavedra 2005). The second issue that the author tried to put in front of readers is if the supervisor is engaged with the transformational leadership behavior weakly then the relationship between the job satisfaction and the emotional regulation is weaker. Discussion on the Practical implication of the journal Transformational leadership challenge devotees with an alluring vision and attach that vision to a methodology for its accomplishment. The practical implications of this journal article can be stated as, if all the conditions like positive influence of leaders, supervisors on employees, standard and positive work environment at the work place then employees of an organization can work efficiently and without stress (Brief and Weiss 2002). This will help any organization to achieve its desired efficiency in its business processes. They draw in and spur adherents to relate to the association's objectives and qualities. John and Gross (2004), presented the definition of the transformational leadership as a particular style of leadership in which the leader work along with the employees for recognizing the required change as well as creating vision for guiding the change. The main drawback of the article that the author failed to analyze the information accurately as the information gath ering was done from only one organization (Glas and Einarsen 2006). The article has strongly presented the information of the emotional regulation and transformational leadership (Bono et al. 2007). The selection of the participants was bad as the chosen participants were from only one organization. The selection of data to be gathered was good. Both the data survey and experience sampling assisted the author to identify the required stress and job satisfaction data along with memory stress and affective experience. The article successfully described the role of the managers in establishing the employee mood. References Bono, J.E., Foldes, H.J., Vinson, G. and Muros, J.P., 2007. Workplace emotions: the role of supervision and leadership.Journal of Applied Psychology,92(5), p.1357. Brief, A.P. and Weiss, H.M., 2002. Organizational behavior: Affect in the workplace.Annual review of psychology,53(1), pp.279-307. Fitness, J., 2000. Anger in the workplace: An emotion script approach to anger episodes between workers and their superiors, co-workers and subordinates.Journal of organizational behavior,21(2), pp.147-162. Glas, L. and Einarsen, S., 2006. Experienced affects in leadersubordinate relationships.Scandinavian Journal of Management,22(1), pp.49-73. Gross, J.J., Richards, J.M. and John, O.P., 2006. Emotion regulation in everyday life.Emotion regulation in couples and families: Pathways to dysfunction and health,2006, pp.13-35. John, O.P. and Gross, J.J., 2004. Healthy and unhealthy emotion regulation: Personality processes, individual differences, and life span development.Journal of personality,72(6), pp.1301-1334. Miner, A., Glomb, T. and Hulin, C., 2005. Experience sampling mood and its correlates at work.Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology,78(2), pp.171-193. Sy, T., Ct, S. and Saavedra, R., 2005. The contagious leader: impact of the leader's mood on the mood of group members, group affective tone, and group processes.Journal of applied psychology,90(2), p.295.