judemo

 

WHAT IS BEAUTY IF THE BRAIN IS EMPTY?….this slogan has been so popular to many people, used by contenders during competitions such as beauty pageants, and a slogan which “intellectually gifted people who are not showered with much of good looks”, may use as a defense mechanism sometimes..well, all  of these maybe true, but what’s important is the significance of having “knowledge and being knowledgeable”.

Knowledge is an asset– a valuable asset that could definitely make us win in any competition and makes us valuable people in the organization. However,the challenge is, are we able and willing to share it with others?

As community development practitioners whom most are not community development graduates, knowledge management is much of a benefit rather than a disadvantage. For one, doing community development work requires a lot of use of“common sense” in making sudden decisions. It is not taught in school but is embedded in our personal experience, a kind of a tacit knowledge. Hence, sharing of experiences with our other colleagues helps us for better implementation of our work. By sharing and exchanging our experiences through feed backing, we are able to draw best practices for doing community development work better. Moreover, we are able to make right decisions in the field without bothering our manager or supervisor for it would be very time consuming if we consult them on every decisions we make, hence, making us even more productive on our job. By sharing our experiences with other staff, “no same mistake” will be repeated.

People come and go within the organization. In our case, staff turn-over is a bit, a challenge for the organization especially in the case of doing community development work. As other staffs are leaving for reasons of resignation, termination, or even retirement, the organization has to capture their valuable expertise before they leave. This is very helpful also for the new staff who would be joining the organization in giving them the knowledge and expertise as well of how to do the job.

As much as some employees are willing to share the knowledge they have, some are hesitant in doing so. Maybe for some, they might be afraid that their errors will be penalized, hence, making them unwilling to share their “failures”. Some may be selfish enough of thinking that they are not paid for sharing it, since it’s not part of their normal job. Others may not have the “trust” which makes them unable to share or may even insist that they have no time to share.

“Knowledge is power” a phrase which was popularized by the late ’Ka Ernie Baron. Seemingly, it is safe to say that having no knowledge is having no power. Most often, people would hoard knowledge as a way to personal power. We sometimes feel that if we have the knowledge of something that others do not know, we feel dominant and powerful as compared to them. Moreover, we are not willing to share this knowledge to them because of the fear of losing our value to the organization and we may lose our competitive advantage. By this, knowledge as a power could be a barrier to knowledge management.  

“Knowledge sharing is empowerment”. When we individually have knowledge, we gain power which is only bounded among ourselves. As we share knowledge, we are giving others the power that was previously exclusive to us.  As we share our field experiences with our co-staff in the department, we are empowering them. Empowering, in the sense that they would have the freedom and capacity of taking actions of their own in their respective areas by learning from our experiences, from our best practices and even from our failures. Moreover, they are empowered in making on the spot decisions, able to weigh the pros and cons of such decisions on their own, and choosing the right thing to do without the need of still waiting for an immediate head to decide for them. Hence, helping our colleagues help themselves through knowledge sharing is empowerment, which is like winning any competition

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JD or Jollibee?, ..these food chains are the options we have for lunch during our Sunday classes. Restaurant/Food Chains  just like  Jollibee or JD perhaps, are said to be heavy users of Business Intelligence Software to make strategic decisions of what new products to add to their menus , which dishes to remove or phase out, or which underperforming stores to close, and even for negotiating with their food suppliers and identifying opportunities to improve inefficient processes. In some time perhaps, these organizations have been or could be in a situation of encouraging the more effective use of business intelligence tools in their company by implementing a rewards program or a punitive one.

Adding an element of competition as an incentive may possibly motivate the users to a more effective utilization of the system. For example, a performance dashboard could be implemented for all organization members involved with monthly incentive bonuses tied to performance metrics. Also, members could compare their performance to other team members. The implementation of this type of performance measurement and competition could significantly improve performance.

Company needs a reward system for their employees in the form of compensation, benefits, recognition and appreciation, however, the problem is, recognition and appreciation are often missed. Typically, when business owners think of reward programs, they put compensation at the top of the list. There is nothing wrong with this, since few people would be willing to work for free. However, the organization must consider also that the compensation plan (like considering an increase in salary) is aligned with the goals of the company. Recognition and appreciation are said to be amazing forms of reward systems because they are the low cost and high return ingredients. On the other hand, though it may be effective to some cases, I think a punitive program could not be as effective in encouraging a more effective use of B.I.  since people in the organization would be more resistant to the change when they would be subject to punishment.

I am a person who likes to do shopping if and only if I have an “extra” out of my budget. I really love doing it when I am with someone whom I could ask opinions on the thing I would be planning to buy. Given my busy schedule in the office, I am constrained with a limited time to go to some shopping malls or stores where I could buy a thing. Oftentimes, I am hindered with the heavy traffic and congested roads in the city which eats a lot of my time, leaving me a much less time to look and select for something in the store. Sometimes, it makes me in a hurry to decide in buying something and gives me some regrets. It is good that through the internet, our way of shopping has transformed. These days, more and more people prefer online shopping than the traditional way.  There could be a lot of reasons why people “like” and love online shopping and I think, CONVENIENCE is what we like best about it, priceless and cannot be compensated for in any form especially for people who do not have time to make a trip to shopping malls or stores, those who do not have enough money for in store shopping and for those who are not willing to spend fuel and money for jeepney fares to go to the store. We can do shopping online “for minutes”, which could greatly save our time and avoid crowds unlike what we usually experience on the conventional way. We could do it at any time we want, in any day of the week, and we could even do it along performing other tasks. We can do our payment without falling in line on the cashier but only by pressing the keyboard of our computer or only by touching the screens of our gadgets. We could be enjoying the convenience of online shopping oftentimes, but there are cases that it may appear INCONVENIENT to us being the consumers. Sometimes, the time of waiting and the costs of shipping offset the convenience of purchasing from home. Some online companies also, do not have local stores for us to visit in cases of returns or exchanges and the time we enter our credit card numbers and other important information in making payments, our vulnerability to computer hackers is increased and may hinder transaction. The convenience and the inconvenience of doing online shopping leads me to think of what products I would be buying without second thought, what products to buy with hesitation and what I would never buy online. Books, computer games and tickets for travel are those that I would be willing to buy without second thought. I have tried getting a travel ticket online and it is really more of a convenience to me. I never had regret in buying, so I would love to be a repeat customer. I would never have a second thought in buying a book online if that book is a limited edition and is not available to our local bookstores and that I badly need it. As to buying computer games, I still don’t have an experience in buying it online but a friend of mine testified his contentment in buying the product. So, why not try?  Jewelries, electronic gadgets and bags are what I would try to think about to buy. Well, there would be no harm if I would consider buying it. However, what I would never consider in buying online are footwear, pants and shirts. In buying these products, I would want it to be fitted first before buying. It requires a touch for quality and comfort.  I do not want the inconvenience it could cause me for its return and exchange. Moreover, most clothing and footwear products usually look different online as compared to the actual. Oftentimes, their looks are quite deceiving. Shopping is shopping wherever it is-online or in store. In whatever way we want it to be, our    CONVENIENCE is what counts the most.

 

 

IF you are confronted by a signal no. 5 typhoon, with storm surges and extremely strong winds, would you not outsource shelter to secure your life? In the world of Information Technology, cyber hackings and attacks are like natural disasters to organizations that carries strong winds and storm surges. Faced with such disasters, organizations are confronted with the decision of whether or not to Outsource I.T. Security.

Several benefits are associated with outsourcing: cost saving and promotes efficiency, more resources when you outsource, adds value to your business, find people who have the talent and ski to handle the business and use them as an asset to your products. Things like application security, identity and access management and virtualization can be outsourced…firewall management, anti-malware, etc.

Should organizations outsource I.T. Security?well, try considering cost, due diligence and risk assessment as suggested by Phil Stewart…Large companies can afford in-house security team with the expertise and tools to defend themselves from disasters brought about by cyber war, however, small companies could not afford to do so..thus, I.T. outsourcing is done.…Hence, Organization should outsource I.T. security if … ”the organization is on operations-related function and does not handle governance, risk and compliance”

On the other side of the coin, there are issues involved when you turn-over security to an outside organization. If the organization needs help in handling trouble  in their business processes they can opt to outsource basic security functions [e.g. firewall] and let the service provider handle the trouble that comes in when it comes to performance demand..but for businesses with sensitive data and are under strict regulations, IT security can be a real concern because it has limitations of service level agreements and audit controls provided by the outsourcer…It’s best that companies with sensitive data keep data controls in house…Low supervision with man power in patching and firewall management …and Accountability and responsibility is sometimes overlooked.

To ensure however, that I.T security outsourcer would not exploit the openness of your systems and steal strategic and sensitive information, You should have a Legal boundary on which data you wish to outsource. Provide a security back-up for your data in case something happens out of control. You can also install programs in your outsourcer’s computer to keep track of all their incoming and outgoing activities. You may also plan out a strategy and work well with your outsourcer to ensure full command of the partnership. You state also what you want and what needs to be done with your outsourcing partner, know how to manage the potential fall out of the resources and earn how to compromise and deal with the challenges. Lastly, make sure that you choose the right outsourcing workers to do the job for you.

“Click the mouse to start the adventure, then  point the cursor into the “Back/Return or Undo” Icon whenever in trouble”

    —This has been my “slogan” when I engaged myself to the world of Romeo (Information Technology).

..THEN, the story begins..…I first met Romeo when he introduced me the desktop computer…my first encounter with him…Felt tensed at first for I was afraid to commit mistakes, and may make him “turn off” me..but later on, I felt comfortable with him…I was able to learn “clicking and clicking” ….coz I know, there is the back and undo button that would help me with my mistake…and the “getting to know stage” had its beginning…I have familiarized myself with  his word, his excel, his powerpoint and the like..

A year after familiarizing myself with the desktop computer that Romeo had introduced to me, here comes the floppy disk(a.k.a. diskette). Since Romeo is so much updated and fast changing, here comes another  thing- the removable disk (a.k.a USB device) as  well as the advent of other hardwares like laptops, netbook,ipad,etc..BUT, what I am more thankful  to Romeo is when he introduced me to  the network which made me explore more possibilities like the CRS, where I could easily update my enrollment data,   add /confirm subjects, view my grades, and also to get myself into friendster before (not already that famous and trending today), email, facebook (keeping in touch with people and even make me stay late at night), skype, and the latest is this blog post that you are reading…Indeed, Romeo had been so helpful in making me cope with the changes…be within the trend and be updated…and I know that he still has a lot more to offer  me in the coming days…