Dogs and cats are the most popular pets nowadays, with retail stores charging between one thousand and three thousand dollars at the cash register for pure-bred dogs. There are shelters to adopt dogs and you may not care if the dog is a mix-breed, but in all cases the pets are an investment in cost and time. They must be fed, taken to the vet, given shots, and in the case of dogs, washed or groomed. For this, we human owners get companionship and often some comic relief. There are basic questions involved when deciding on a pet and most of this article will deal with dogs. Cats are known for being low-maintenance pets: they clean themselves, dutifully do their business in the litter box, and they spend 80% of the day sleeping. The real activity in a household centers around the family dog.

Each breed has its own activity level, from the laid-back hound dog to very active breeds like the Jack Russell Terrier or the Pomeranian. Dogs are loyal to their owners, and they expect a fair amount of playtime with the family. They have emotions of their own and the training and psychology of the dog’s role should reflect this. They have temperaments common to the breed, but also may have traits that are individual. Higher mammals develop personalities to aid in survival; they have to establish a presence in the ranking of the food chain.

There are important points to consider when acquiring a dog. What size dog is appropriate for the space do you have? How much exercise can you give the dog? Where will the dog live? How much experience do you have with dogs? What do you plan to do with the dog? Remember that they were bred to fulfill certain roles such as herding, hunting, guarding, or killing rats. If your garden is very important to you, you might not want to get a terrier; almost all of them will dig. Dalmatians, pointers, and retrievers need hours of hard exercise – they were meant to go for miles and miles without tiring and they need to run.

North America’s most popular dog breed is the Golden Retriever. They have a sunny disposition, they love children, and they’re loyal and affectionate. Golden Retrievers are widely used as guide dogs for the blind. They were originally used as a soft-mouthed retriever for wild game hunting. They were developed in the 1800s in Britain, a mix of various sporting breeds – the wavy-coated Retriever, the yellow Tweed Water Spaniel, Irish Setter and the Bloodhound (to sharpen the breed’s scenting skills). The Golden Retriever was recognized as a pure breed by the English Kennel Club in 1913. To accommodate the needs of this treasured family pet, they should be kept in homes with a large yard or a country home with lots of room for outdoor exercise.

Boxers and Bulldogs are next in popularity. They are solid dogs, forty to fifty pounds in weight. Even though they love exercise, they can exist well as apartment pets; they’re extremely loving and playful, as are Chihuahuas, the smallest of breeds, weighing in at two to four pounds fully grown. They don’t require a lot of space and are ideal companions for adults in apartments and families with older children who can appreciate the fragility of the tiny Chihuahua. They come in long and short coat varieties, so they should be clad in sweater and booties when going for walks in cold temperatures.

Number five in popularity is the Maltese, one of the first of the purebreds to be exhibited at dog shows in North America. The Maltese dog is affectionate, intelligent and sturdy, and loves to romp and play – especially with children. This tiny breed measures up to 10 inches at the shoulder and they weigh up to seven pounds maximum. The Maltese dog has a gorgeous, long, pure-white, silky coat that hangs straight to the ground from a center part running from nose to tip of tail. Its expressive dark eyes and dark nose, lips and eye rims enhance the Maltese dog’s exquisite face. Grooming requirements for the Maltese are fairly intensive – the coat needs daily brushing to stay tangle-free and frequent bathing to keep it sparkling white, even if you choose to give it a shorter ‘pet’ trim. The Maltese dog is a great choice for elderly or disabled people, since its exercise needs are minimal. A similar situation exists in the Shih Tzu breed, good for city-dwellers – loving and playful. They also need frequents brushing.

One breed you don’t want in an apartment is the Labrador Retriever, the seventh most popular pet dog breed. They love the outdoors, especially the water…if you throw something in a pond or lake, they’ll gladly jump in and fetch it. If you leave the door open when you’re in the bath you may end up with a large bathing partner. They’re easy to train and have a high energy level, so they’re best for suburban or country homes.

Next is the Pug, a playful, mischievous, and intelligent companion who loves attention. Dogs are social animals, so you’ll find that all of them crave attention and play. The pug is a favorite breed of royalty since the sixteenth century. They were at first considered a breed from Holland but many breeds like Pugs, Chihuahuas, and Shih Tzus are now thought to originate in China. Pugs are great for apartments, as their exercise needs are minimal. They do tend to get overweight, so a controlled diet is a good idea.

The Pomeranian is the next most popular dog breed. They make good apartment dogs, and you couldn’t have a better watchdog. They have intense curiosity and keen senses; they’ll be glad to warn the owner of any noise near or far by going on alert and barking incessantly. They seek approval and attention and with their high metabolisms they can pack away the food without gaining an ounce.

Number ten in popularity is the Yorkshire Terrier, or “Yorkie”. It’s small, highly energetic, and clever. The Yorkie seems unaware of its small size – they are brave and eager for adventure, and can be aggressive towards strange dogs and small animals. The human must establish pack leadership to keep the Yorkie from taking over the house because the dog can become yappy, doing his best to tell you what HE wants YOU to do. As a cute dog, owners might let them get away with outrageous behavior that no dog should display. They need a lot of human attention and should be given proper boundaries. They are trainable, but can be difficult to housebreak. The Yorkie is an excellent watchdog. Owners should learn to give them some gentle leadership.

Domestic dogs are universally good-natured unless humans cause them to act in another fashion, and they want and deserve love. When looking for a family pet, research the different types of dogs so that when you meet the dog in person, you’ll have a better idea of some general traits that will match your family’s situation and needs. It’s fair to everybody involved, especially the pet who is dependant on you as a loving owner.

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Once the decision to divorce has been finalized, most people pass through the stages of grief associated with the loss of a loved one. While no two people experience the same journey, we all experience the stages, with some people skipping a stage while others repeat some of the stages. Those stages are Denial, Anger and Resentment, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. You will likely experience most or all of these stages. Google the stages of grief. Understand them. Anticipate them. Make them yours, and then let them go.

Push through the pain to understand your financial condition. It’s important for you to understand what that condition is, so you can be a helpful part of your legal team in looking after your best interests. No one knows better than you what is best for you, and to be a emotional wreck curled up in a fetal position won’t help your future.

Like the coach on the sidelines, you are the one person responsible for guiding your team toward its goals. Your legal or accounting teams are your quarterbacks on the field, where they call plays and physically move the team. You call the shots, however. You send in the plays. You direct the Big Picture. Be involved and stay involved.

Make certain you don’t put yourself into a position where you accept an unfair divorce settlement knowingly. Most partners who just want to walk away and avoid a fight usually do so at their own future peril. As tough an enormous emotional challenge as this is, see it through.

Take a financial snapshot of yourself and your situation soon after separating from your spouse. Inventory everything you own. If possible, make a video of as many possessions as you can.

Avoid mistakes at all costs. Trying to undo mistakes after the fact, especially after considerable time has passed, can be very difficult. If you give short shrift to any of the following, you run the risk of getting less than you deserve.

Create an interim budget based on what expenses you personally will need to maintain. Call this your separation budget. This budget will serve you (and any attorney) well when you begin discussing transferring assets with child support, alimony or any transfer of possessions.

Determine the fixed expenses you’ll incur over the short term, which will contain housing, utilities, retirement, insurance payments or auto expenses. Make lists of expenses you’ll retain, expenses your ex will retain, and expenses that may need to be negotiated. Are there any assets that are at risk if the payments don’t get paid? If so, identify them along with how long the creditor will remain open to payment. You may wish to hire a Certified Divorce Financial Analysts who can thoroughly sort out your marital accumulations.

Understand the degree of liquidity of your assets, and how they relate to the current economic conditions in society. Some assets like real estate or automobile collections can be highly illiquid if market conditions are bad, or if you and your spouse disagree on a price for those assets.

Know the liquidity difference between retirement accounts versus brokerage accounts. Retirement accounts are somewhat illiquid, in that assets removed from them result in tax consequences, and if the withdrawal occurs before age 59 ½, an I.R.S. early withdrawal penalty.

Get a complete picture on how much cash is on hand. Make sure you include any accounts used for specific purposes (vacation, Christmas, etc).

Personal collections, which can include autos, guns and the like, can be somewhat illiquid, with valuations speculative.

When fashioning a wish list of what assets you want from the marriage, don’t take on too much illiquid assets unless you’re certain you can manage without being forced to sell those illiquid assets. If you get the house and he gets the cash, you could be at a disadvantage if you need to raise some cash in the future.

Assemble the marital assets according to cash flow from each. Here again, you may not want to assume assets that don’t produce cash flow.

If a particular asset should be sold, is the market good or not so good? In light of depressed 2009 economic conditions, one asset may be preferable to sell over another.

Be certain to identify all assets- Leave no stone unturned. Spouses have been known to conceal assets prior to or right after a marital separation. You (or your team) will need to be sleuths to be certain all assets are included. Some are hesitant to disclose a piece of art or jewelry, but if you’re forced to admit it exists and you lied to your attorney, it makes for messy relations.

On occasion a forensic accountant is hired to locate missing or hidden assets, and the costs are borne by the overall aggregate in most cases.

Be certain you have copies of tax returns. They provide the basis to begin the discovery process (most people are afraid to lie to the I.R.S.). You or your team will want to go back 5-7 on tax returns, looking for evidence of trusts, partnerships, private placements, real estate holdings, and the like.

For couple involved in a business, tax returns can expose a spouse trying to cook the books in his or her own best interest. A common ploy is to put a friend on the payroll and, for a fee, return the salary back to your spouse.

Get copies of checking and savings accounts, going back several years.. Reviewing statements can reveal the transfer of money or the payment for a now hidden asset. Income and/or capital gains will also appear on one’s past tax filings.

Brokerage accounts offer the same paper trail. Obtain copies of these statements going back at least 5 years.

Determine if there was ever an expense account connected with employment. Examine what was paid back and how it was categorized.

Companies often grant stock options to employees. These stock options are often listed with benefits statements from the employer. Make sure your side demands to know about any stock options and the potential value of them in the future.

Are there any children’s accounts? UGMA, UTMA, 529 plans (College Savings Accounts) or other accounts? Stock dividend reinvestment plans (DRIPS)? It’s wise to get copies of these account statements too, because assets can me moved around, or accounts can be liquidated and residual value returned to the parent. These accounts can be great places to park money until after the divorce.

If there were previous marriages between you two, and assets were owned before your marriage, they will likely be treated differently than marital assets. Your Financial Planner or Forensic Accountant can explain how each are treated.

Know your Insurance Policies

Home and vehicle insurance should be reviewed, and consider contacting your agent to request notice of any changes.

Life insurance annuities or other insurance contracts, including business-related 2nd to Die insurance policies or Buy-Sell agreements, should be examined. If you and/or your spouse have owned a business, be sure to explore all insurance policies.

Debt and Credit Issues

Retrieve copies of your credit report from each of the three national credit-reporting agencies. Federal law allows us all to receive one free credit file per reporting agency per year. Determine your FICO score(s) and scan each file for any unrecognizable account listed on each.

If it makes sense to do, consider placing locks or holds on credit files to prevent further credit being applied for. Speaking with a divorce lawyer on this one would make sense.

Close all joint accounts. Doing so early on in the separation and divorce process can get tricky. Closing them in most cases can be done just by yourself. If you close a joint bank account and remove cash, consider giving your spouse half, or less than half if you intend to reserve some cash for joint bills. As long as you retain, and spend the money fairly, you likely won’t get into hot water with the court. Some might be tempted to leave more than half in the account, being considerate that your spouse will use some of it for your half of expenses. Don’t assume this will happen. Many spouses will take the money, consider it all theirs, and then demand “your half”.

Your marital status at year’s end will determine how you file next year’s taxes. Whether you file married filing jointly or married filing separately can be determined by you and your spouse, or your attorneys, but in no case should be left out of your final written agreement.

Have a contingency in the final decree that should there be any penalties, interest or further taxes owed by either, that it be spelled out who pay, when they pay, and how they pay.

Retirement Accounts- Know the rules of the road

A Qualified Domestic Relations Order is a court order mandating that certain assets in a retirement account be transferred from one spouse’s account to the other. You need to fully understand the many tax ramifications and penalties associated with not using a QDRO or distributing from a retirement account.

IRA Accounts.  Regular IRAs, Roth, rollovers etc. Know how these accounts are treated tax-wise. Removing assets often involves taxes and often penalties before age 59 ½ and 70 ½. 401(k)s and 403(b)s are most often the accounts that receive QDROs.

Taxes

If there are significant assets, consider an accountant to determine what tax obligations would be incurred selling any of your assets.

Knowing one asset incurs a much larger capital gain tax if sold rather than another asset may cause a decision to choose one asset over the other. If either of you were married previously, and one of you moved into your spouses home, and that home is sold, a capital gain calculation will be different than if you two bought the home together. Speak with your team to determine which tax filing status is more advantageous to you, and negotiate toward that end. Insert language that spells out exactly how an asset is to be sold, how the taxes are claimed or distributed, and how any taxes must be paid.

If you sold a home prior to 1997 and rolled that capital gain over to an existing home, and then sold that home, the old rules apply to determine the cost basis for the current capital gain amount. This would increase your gain and possibly influence when and how much you might sell the property.

After the Divorce process is completed

Credit, Debt and the New You

Begin by establishing your own credit file. Federal Law requires that each credit customer be allowed one free credit report from each of the three national credit-reporting agencies. You’ll want to request the file individually, but the reports will likely result in joint information. Requesting the report individually actually establishes an individual file.

If you have an inadequate amount of individual credit history, you’ll want to establish several accounts as soon as possible. Keep in mind that you only want credit cards that you’ll actually use, so don’t go crazy trying to accumulate credit cards.

Retrieve the budget you created during the early part of your divorce, and revise it based on your new circumstances. Make sure fixed costs appear there (housing, utilities, car payments, contractual payments, etc.) and include any new spending pertaining to your single needs.

If you don’t know where you’re going, any road will get you there

Be flexible. Your new life, especially if it includes raising children, will offer more surprises than expectations. Remember that while you personally endured the divorce, children suffered through an event too.

Attend to beneficiary concerns. You must name them as soon as possible, because if you don’t, and you die, your state will impose a will on your heirs (intestate) that can result in your wishes not going fulfilled. Wills, Trusts, retirement accounts, bank accounts and insurance contracts will need to be revised. Don’t put it off.

If you haven’t already, create a personal blueprint that lays out goals, wishes and aspirations you’ve developed over the years. Be sure to include the dreams and desires you may have developed in a marriage that didn’t allow them being fulfilled.

Remember, you’ll be happiest if you focus on the present moment and not allow yourself to keep one foot in the past and one foot in the future. Don’t straddle the present. Embrace it. Carpe Diem.

Technorati Tags: 2009, Beyond, Divorce, Finances

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Have you ever heard of a web weight reduction program before? Online weight reduction programs are engineered to help people, doubtless just like you, who want to lose weight. What it nice about online weight reduction programs is they are operated online, which is nice for those that have tight schedules that won’t let not let them to join domestically operated weight reduction programs.

If you have never joined an online weight reduction program before, you could be wondering if one is right for you. Better yet, you may be wondering if a web weight reduction program is worth the pricetag. In all truthfully, you’ll usually find that online weight reduction programs are definitely worth their costs, but it all depends. To make sure that your cash is wisely spent, you will want to make sure that you select the web weight reduction program that is ideal for you and your needs.

When finding a web weight reduction program that is more than worth the expenses, you may wish to inspect the features that you can access to. Features are also frequently known as membership benefits or membership benefits. The program features that you have access to plays a large part in figuring out whether or not the online weight reduction program that you want to join is worth the money. A couple of the many online weight reduction features or member advantages that you will want access to are revealed below.

One of the many features or membership benefits that would make a web weight reduction program easily worth the price is that of healthy eating tips. As you likely already know, eating healthily is an important part of any weight reduction plan. Many online weight reduction programs have eating healthily sections that include easy to make recipes for foods and drinks, as well as shopping tips and much more. As previously stated, eating healthily is an important part of shedding weight [*SCO], you need to look for a web weight reduction program that does have a healthy eating or a healthy foods section.

Another feature that would make a web weight reduction program more than worth the costs is that of an exercise program. It’s been declared that exercise and eating healthily are the two most crucial components of losing pounds. You should be able to find an online weight weight reduction program which has an exercise section for you to access. This section may outline workouts that you must try, that may be accompanied by photos, videos, or at least detailed directions. You will also find charts that outline how many calories are burned with common exercises, and much more.

One feature that you may not always think about, but one that is vital, is that of an online message boards or a community section. Community sections are typically made up of online notice boards. These sections frequently let you communicate with other online weight reduction program members or group leaders. This communication is nice as it may help to offer you incentive. You will even find a web weight reduction mate or partner to help on your journey.

Guaranteed results or free test periods are another sign that a web weight reduction program could be worth the money. Often times, many people are uncertain as to whether or not they should pay to join a web weight reduction program, as they don’t know for sure that they’re going to lose weight. A large number of online weight reduction programs give you the power to test out their programs free and then there are others that give you warranted results. With guarantees like these, online weight reduction programs are more then worth their costs.

The above mentioned points are some of many that may be able to help you decide whether or not joining an online weight reduction program is worth the pricetag. If you’re able to find a web weight reduction program with a free test period or perhaps only one with affordable membership rates, you may want to think about giving it a shot.

For additional info, go to Weight Mastery Guide for more weight reduction tips.

Technorati Tags: Loss, Money, Online, Programs, they, Weight, Worth

Moving Beyond “Knowledge for Knowledge’s sake”

Quick ± in 25 words or less, define knowledge management. Can’t do it? You’re not alone.

    There are an assortment of disciplines that have influenced the field of Knowledge Management (KM) thinking and praxis – the most prominent are philosophy, in defining knowledge; cognitive science (in understanding knowledge workers); social science (in understanding motivation, people, interactions, culture and environment); management science (in optimising operations and integrating them within the enterprise); information science (in building knowledge-related capabilities); knowledge engineering (in eliciting and codifying knowledge); artificial intelligence (in automating routine and knowledge-intensive work) and economics (in determining priorities). As a result, there are enormous working definitions of KM and emergent philosophies circulating in the literature and around corporations of the world.

            One cannot get a clear understanding and definition of what KM is without studying the various concepts of knowledge and information (including data), as well as the tacit, implicit, and explicit knowledge dimensions. Much of the still existing confusion that surrounds the topic of KM is based on the varied scholars’ interpretations and suggestions distinguishing the terms information and knowledge as well as the terms tacit, implicit, and explicit.

 What is knowledge?

             Some authors appear to try to avoid the epistemological debate on the definition of knowledge by comparing data, information, and knowledge. However, von Krogh et al. (2000) or Kakabadse et al.’s (2003) understanding of knowledge as ‘justified true belief” goes back to Michael Polanyi’s original work (we know more than we can express) (Polanyi 1958), an epistemological position which is acknowledged to have grown out of Plato’s discourses (Meno, Phaedo and Theaetetus). This definition has been particularly adopted by Western philosophy (Nonaka and Takeuchi, 1995), which provides a comprehensive taxonomy of knowledge models, Plato’s concept was also debated from Aristotle, one of his students, throughout continental rationalism, as well as from German philosophy (Kant 1965; Marx 1976; Hegel 1977); British empiricism (Locke 1987) to twentieth-century philosophers (Dewey 1929; Sartre 1956; Habermas 1972; Tsoukas 1996; cited in Kakabdse et al. 2003, p. 77).

            The above discourse implies that knowledge itself is a very multifaceted concept with many different variations and definitions. Based on the fact that the nature of knowledge is widely acknowledged on differing epistemological stands taken from the individual contributors, but led ultimately to the following definition of ‘knowledge’:

            “Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experience, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluating and incorporating new experiences and information. It originates and is applied in the minds of knowers. In organisations it often becomes embedded, not only in documents or repositories but also in organisational routines, processes, practices and norms.” (Davenport and Prusak 2000, p. 5).

Knowledge: Tacit/Implicit/Explicit

            ‘Tacit’ knowledge is not expressible and can in no way be made directly explicit or in other words codified into rules and formulations (e.g. the way a project manager behaviourally interacts or communicates during a conflict-solving process). In other words it has to do with an individual’s aptitude for doing things or even cognitively thinking about things.

            ‘Implicit’ knowledge is expressible and by applying appropriate knowledge management practices it has the chance to be made explicit. Thus, implicit knowledge is then transferred into explicit knowledge in a direct way. This process of transferring can be observed through the propagation, application, the amalgamation or the interpretation of explicit knowledge. Interestingly, from time to time, the terms ‘tacit’ and ‘implicit’ are used interchangeably..

            ‘Explicit’ knowledge is expressed implicit knowledge. There is enough evidence from the literature as well as from practice, suggesting that the two terms ‘explicit knowledge’ and ‘information’ have exactly the same meaning. In other words, explicit knowledge should be regarded as implicit knowledge, which when expressed becomes information. However, whereas the management of knowledge is mostly understood as the management of the processes, which can support the conversion of employees’ individual knowledge into overall organisational implicit knowledge, the management of explicit knowledge is understood as the management of knowledge-objects typically held as information in the organisation’s information base or systems in form of data records or documents.

The history of KM

            Knowledge management (KM) is currently receiving significant attention, from both academics and practitioners, and is being addressed by broad range of academic literature and popular press. The study of human knowledge has been central subject matter of philosophy and epistemology since the ancient Greeks and western philosophers. Eastern philosophers, Tzu and Confucius in China and their contemporaries in India, have an equally long and well-documented tradition of emphasising knowledge and comprehension for the conduct of spiritual and secular life. The first attempts at KM, such as capture, storage and retrieval, began with the Cuneiform language in about 3000 BC.

            A number of management theorists have contributed to the evolution of KM, among them such notables as Peter Drucker, Paul Strassmann, and Peter Senge in the United States. Drucker and Strassmann have stressed the growing importance of information and explicit knowledge as organisational resources, and Senge has focused on the “learning organisation,” a cultural dimension of managing knowledge. Chris Argyris, Christoper Bartlett, and Dorothy Leonard-Barton of Harvard Business School have all examined diverse aspects of managing knowledge. In fact, Leonard-Barton’s well-known case study of Chaparral Steel, a company which has had an effective KM strategy in place since the mid-1970s, inspired the research documented in her Wellsprings of Knowledge. 

            The 1980s also saw the development of systems for managing knowledge that relied on work done in artificial intelligence and expert systems, giving us such concepts as “knowledge acquisition,” “knowledge engineering,” “knowledge-base systems, and computer-based ontologies. Knowledge management-related articles began appearing in journals like Sloan Management Review, Organisational Science, Harvard Business Review, and others, and the first books on organisational learning and knowledge management were published (for example, Senge’s The Fifth Discipline and Sakaiya’s The Knowledge Value Revolution).

            By 1990, a number of management consulting firms had begun in-house knowledge management programs, and several well known U.S., European, and Japanese firms had instituted focused knowledge management programs. Perhaps the most widely read work to date is Ikujiro Nonaka’s and Hirotaka Takeuchi’s The Knowledge-Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation (1995).

            By the mid-1990s, knowledge management initiatives were flourishing, thanks in part to the Internet. Knowledge management, which appears to offer a highly desirable alternative to failed TQM and business process re-engineering initiatives, has become big business for such major international consulting firms as Ernst & Young, Arthur Andersen, and Booz-Allen & Hamilton.

What is KM?

            Murray E. Jennex (2005) tells us that during a conversation he had with a fellow engineer, he made the comment that it was too bad we could not get back to the moon. Murrray, of course, agreed and expressed the desire that the government would allocate funds for it. His friend then surprised him by saying it was not money that was the issue but that what really prevents the US from getting back to the moon is that they do not remember how to build Saturn V rockets, Apollo capsules, and Lunar Modules. It seems after the end of the Apollo programme; management ordered all the plans put on microfiche and all but a few of the paper copies destroyed. This was done, however, when there was talk of going back to the moon and engineers went to retrieve the plans, the usable paper copies could be found, and everyone who knew how to build the rockets, capsules, and modules were either dead or retired. Additionally, when the younger engineers began to reverse engineer these components, they were stymied because they did not understand the technology from that time; technology had advanced so much that the engineers had not been taught some of the fundamental issues faced by engineers of that time. In other words, they had forgotten the knowledge from the experience of solving the problems that prevented moon flights.

            The above does in fact show that the space program is an example of failed KM. They attempted to store relevant knowledge but when it came time to retrieve it, it could not be retrieved and applied to the current decision- making activity due to media volatility and a lack of capturing the relevant context that makes the critical knowledge usable.

 Why do we need KM?    

            Why do we need knowledge management? We need KM because we need a proper process to help organisations identify, capture, store, and retrieve critical knowledge. We need KM processes to help organisations deal with changing storage strategies. We need KM to help us deal with the transience of knowledge workers. We need KM processes to help organisations manage a glut of knowledge. Ultimately, we need KM to help organisations make sense of what they know, to know what they know, and to effectively use what they know. The whole point of knowledge management (KM) is to make sure that the knowledge present in an organisation is applied productively for the benefit of that organisation.

            An organisation’s emergency preparedness activities might involve collaborative efforts between various entities. A vital activity is responding to an actual crisis situation that hits one or more of the member organisations/entities. For some organisations, responding to a crisis situation in done within a consortium environment. Managing knowledge across the various entities involved in such efforts is critical. This includes having the right set of information that is timely, relevant, and is governed by an effective communication process given such organisational structures, and the need to manage knowledge in these environments through effective Knowledge Management Systems (KMS).

            KM efforts typically focus on organisational objectives such as improved performance, competitive advantage, innovation, the sharing of lessons learned, and continuous improvement of the organisation. KM efforts may overlap with Organisational Learning and may be distinguished from that by a greater focus on the management of knowledge as a strategic asset and a focus on encouraging the sharing of knowledge. KM efforts can help individuals and groups to share valuable organisational insights, to reduce redundant work, to avoid reinventing the wheel per se, to reduce training time for new employees, to retain intellectual capital as employees turnover in an organisation, and to adapt to changing environments and markets.

 Implications of Global cultural diversity on KM

            Global cultural diversity has profound implications for the effective design and implementation of knowledge management (KM) projects. Thus, the view on global cultural diversity recognises the existence of different organisational contexts and great care must be taken when making assumptions about patterns of organisational performance and innovations (Avgerou, 2002). For example, the wide gap in the availability and use of ICT across the world, and the influences ICT exerts on globalisation, raise questions about the feasibility and desirability of efforts to implement the development of ICT through the transfer of best practices from Western industrialised countries to developing countries, and whether organisations can utilise such ICT in accordance with the socio-cultural requirements of the contexts (Avgerou, 2002).

            Reliable research concludes that diversity and local context does matter, and that the global techniques employed in western industrialised countries should not be implemented mechanically in developing countries without consideration for the local context. Further, gender considerations have been shown to be of great importance in the successful adoption of ICT.

The Arab region Knowledge Evolution

            Recently, there have been a couple of noticeable groundbreaking models pursued by Dubai and Qatar to transubstantiate the region’s population into a ‘‘knowledge society.’’ Both of these initiatives deemed human development a central goal and targeted narrowing the knowledge gap between the Arab region and the rest of the world. At the latest Middle East World Economic Forum, held in Jordan in May 2007, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, launched an endowment of ten billion US dollars for an avant garde foundation called the ‘‘Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation’’ to promote knowledge in the region.

            The second major initiative occurred in Qatar, where the government gathered leading world university representatives into a center for knowledge-creation called ‘‘Education City,’’ which is headquarters for the ‘‘Qatar Foundation.’’ The main objective is to form the most powerful educational and research hub in the Middle East.

             One of these efforts may lead to Beit Elhikma II or may produce distinguished geniuses such as Averroes (ibn-Rushd) (1126-1198), who created the first domestic and exotic knowledge hybridisation model that is not only admired, but also accepted, by Western societies. Averroes published his commentaries on Aristotle based on the epistemic fundament that ‘‘knowledge is the conformity of the object and the intellect.’’ The comeback of the Arab mind in a systematic ‘‘brain gain’’ program is needed as happened in India.

            To align the intellectual capacities with new business requirements, the region must work on different fronts to invest in expatriates, to leverage its strategies to reverse the ‘‘brain drain’’ and to fill the knowledge gap at both intra- and inter-regional levels. To keep the momentum of the ‘‘Knowledge Society” paradigm, the sustainability of the paradigm needs uninterrupted diffusion and infusion of innovations and continuously relevant knowledge, which may need restructuring at the organisational level.

            The chimera of ‘‘epistemic sovereignty’’ is an outmoded self-centeredness that is not acceptable in the current globalised marketplace. More pointedly, epistemological pluralism is required for success in the realm of the ‘‘knowledge society’’. A ‘‘co-opetitive’’ relationship is considered crucial to build the ‘‘knowledge society’’. The Arab world can revert from the status of ‘‘knowledge entropy’’ to the former ‘‘golden age’’ of Islam – if the principles of modern knowledge are effectively leveraged and crossbred with traditions to result in a lucrative ‘‘knowmadism’’.

Knowledge transfer and social capital: the case of Corporate Egypt

            Most of the knowledge related initiatives in Egypt have been at the country and community levels with limited emphasis at the organisational level. According to the World Development report for Africa, Egypt needs to work fast in order to increase its knowledge base, to invest in educating the people about knowledge management, and to take advantage of the new technologies for acquiring and disseminating knowledge. The report emphasises the importance of (1) instituting policies that enable them to narrow the knowledge gaps that separate poor countries from rich countries; (2) promoting collaborations among the organisations—governments, multilateral institutions, nongovernmental organisations, and the private sector—in order to work together; and (3) nurturing a knowledge sharing culture.

            A study performed on 41 public/private organisations in Egypt using Hofstede’s (1980) cultural dimensions highlights the need for a change in network relationships and efforts to build the relational dimension of social capital. While the structural and cognitive dimensions are already in place, the insubstantiality of the relational dimension and the focus on individual achievement are curtailing members from sharing their expertise. It is apparent that the lack of trust in getting credit for the information they share makes it hard for them to volunteer their expertise unless instructed to do so and unless they feel the risk of not obeying commands.

            It was concluded that the initiative has to start at the top in order for knowledge workers to have confidence in the system and to be able to cross the cultural gap between a knowledge-hoarding and a knowledge-sharing environment. The initiative must define several processes in order to enable the cultural transition. The study showed that the development of social capital as an infrastructure for knowledge transfer is a critical facilitator of knowledge transfer within organisations. Combining members’ knowledge resources can lead to collaborative knowledge creation that has the potential to limit the economic and knowledge gaps that exist within Egyptian organisations.

 

Knowledge sharing / lessons learned / storytelling

 

            U.S. Army has installed knowledge sharing as a standard part of its work in both training and real duty in the form of its well known after-action reviews. No effort is considered complete until it has been reviewed and its lessons obtained, including the lessons learned from failures.

            During the U.S. military efforts in Bosnia, lessons learned were distributed on a frequent basis. Because such observations as, “avoid snow-covered roads with no vehicle tracks, as they are probably mined” were credited with saving lives, members of other cooperating armies frequently requested a copy of the latest “lessons learned.”

            Openness builds confidence and sharing stories openly builds confidence in employees and in the organisation as a whole. This openness also leads to the development of trust that can support innovation. This is done by individuals using stories to build confidence in themselves, the direction of their team or the future of the company. In these cases the moral of the story could be “We did it before and we can do it again”, or “Look how bright the future can be.”

            Companies can further develop the organisation and its employees if people are given the opportunity to reflect on both the positive and negative realities of their workplace. Learning from each others past mistakes or successes through stories can build awareness, skill and confidence. The “glory days” tales or “war stories” you hear informally or formally throughout a company present learning opportunities without having to actually go through the experience. This is what NASA did to convey the culture of excitement around advancing space exploration to a young generation.

            Texas Instruments is a company that is extremely serious about encouraging re-use of ideas and design by its engineers. To encourage this process Texas Instruments periodically holds a contest within the company to collect the best story based on “We didn’t build it here but we used it anyway.” Teams within Texas Instruments scramble to come up with the best story on design re-use. They then share the story with others at an awards dinner. The stories and the activities of the company serve to foster their knowledge-sharing culture. In a well known example, Texas Instruments has achieved $1.5 billion in additional wafer fabrication capacity as a result of their knowledge-sharing program.

 Knowledge work and knowledge workers

            Early literature on knowledge work tended to take a Taylorist view, separating ‘thinking’ and ‘doing’ and comparing it with the fundamentally different but more familiar, type of manual work or blue collar work (Drucker, 1999; Schultze, 2000). Task performance within knowledge work cannot be compared with the sequential prescribed performance of manual work, by claiming that knowledge work is the exact opposite. Contemporary concept of knowledge work integrates doing and thinking and involves an uninterrupted cycle of re-use and creation of knowledge, which can be compared to a process of learning by doing. It involves a large amount of tacit knowledge (Schultze, 2000).

             A knowledge worker in today’s workforce is an individual that is valued for their ability to interpret information within a specific subject area. They will often advance the overall understanding of that subject through focused analysis, design and/or development. They use research skills to define problems and to identify alternatives. The term was first coined by Peter Drucker (1959), as one who works primarily with information or one who develops and uses knowledge in the workplace. Toffler (1990) observed that typical knowledge workers (especially R&D scientists and engineers) in the age of knowledge economy must have some system at their disposal to create, process and enhance their own knowledge. In some cases they would also need to manage the knowledge of their co-workers. Knowledge workers engage in ‘’peer-to-peer’’ knowledge sharing across organisational and company boundaries, forming networks of expertise.

 Knowledge Management (KM) Strategy

            Two philosophies for managing knowledge have evolved over the past decade. Firstly, the codification or explicit-oriented approach, which aligns strategy with information management efforts, such as embedding knowledge in documents, which can be stored and reused. Secondly, the personalisation strategy or tacit-oriented KM style emphasises the human and hence more complex part of tacit or implicit knowledge. Attempts to externalise and transfer this type of knowledge are based on communication strategies, both faceto- face and technology supported, by facilitating informal networks.

            Traditionally, organisations tend to focus on the tangible part of knowledge, introducing information and communication systems to capture and document knowledge, even though these efforts might never have been explicitly termed a ‘KM strategy’ or aligned with organisational strategy. In recent years, however, KM researchers have realised that human KM is the challenge, which has revived the notion of social networks.

            Some other knowledge management strategies for companies include:

rewards (as a means of motivating for knowledge sharing) storytelling (as a means of transferring tacit knowledge) after action reviews knowledge mapping (a map of knowledge repositories within a company accessible by all) communities of practice best practice transfer collaborative technologies (groupware, etc) knowledge repositories (databases, etc) measuring and reporting intellectual capital (a way of making explicit knowledge for companies) social software (wikis, social bookmarking, blogs, etc)

 

 KM (CoPs) Strategy: A success story

            Communities of practice (CoPs) are designated networks of people who share information and knowledge. Community members exchange ideas, collaborate, and learn from one another in both face-to-face and virtual environments. For example:

            Caterpillar, Inc. is the world’s No. 1 producer of earthmoving machinery and a leading supplier of agricultural equipment. The organisation’s strategic driver for communities was just-in-time learning. In the past, Caterpillar employees attended in-class training on topics they might or might not find relevant to their daily jobs. By constrast, CoPs provide a platform through which employees can obtain timely answers to current issues or problems. Communities at Caterpillar are very narrowly focused in order to maintain a direct relationship between community activities and daily work. Communities are a way for Caterpillar employees to connect with the organisation’s global partners, customers, or teams in a virtual environment. Caterpillar currently has approximately 3,500 CoPs with about 40,000 unique participants. Approximately 7,000 Caterpillar dealers also participate in the organisation’s CoPs.

Knowledge management as “doing the right thing” (effectiveness) instead of “doing things right” (efficiency).

            The relatively stable and unchanging environment of the past allowed the luxury of predicting, pre-defining and pre-determining the future based on past data. Businesses could once define their business models, business practices and business value propositions – thereafter, the key challenge remained that of optimisation for increased efficiencies: of ‘doing things right’.

            However, changing customer trends, competitive products and services and changing societal and governmental pressures make the existing business models, business practices and business value propositions obsolete. Most of us are aware of the bloodbath in the desktop computer industry that eliminated many companies competing for business worldwide. However, some companies realised that the only performance outcomes that matter are the ones the customers really care about. They have been savoir-faire in tailoring and growing their customer value propositions around what the customers really needed rather than what they wanted to sell to customers. Dell has been an agile player that has been able to refine and play the game of ‘doing the right thing’ again and again, first in desktops and later in web hosting, printers, PDAs and storage. In the longer run, companies that can figure out the ‘next right thing’ and prepare well in advance to ride the next wave will be more effective in the longer run. However, it goes without saying that ‘doing the thing right’ also matters once you have figured out what the next cash cow will be.

            One central measure of organisational effectiveness is the creation and continuance of a measurable competitive advantage. Many broad initiatives such as efficiency, core competency advancement, actualisation of customer-centric products and services, and limitation of the fixed costs of doing business can help to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage within the marketplace. Thus, the effective management of knowledge understandably has the capacity to deeply impact the way a firm does business from the minor details of daily operations to the broadest strategic decision-making processes. 

Organisational Learning/Learning Organisation

            Argyris (1977) defines organisational learning (OL) as the process of “detection and correction of errors.” In his view organisations learn through individuals acting as agents for them: “The individuals’ learning activities, in turn, are facilitated or inhibited by an ecological system of factors that may be called an organisational learning system”.

            Huber (1991) considers four constructs as integrally linked to OL: knowledge acquisition, information distribution, information interpretation, and organisational memory. He clarifies that learning need not be conscious or intentional. Further, learning does not always increase the learner’s effectiveness, or even potential effectiveness. Moreover, learning need not result in observable changes in behaviour.

            Moreover, by taking the view of the organisation as a learning system, Senge contributed meaningful new insights. In his highly cited publication ‘The Fifth Discipline’ (1990) he argues that the organisations that will truly excel in the future will be the ones that discover how to tap people’s commitment and capacity to learn at all levels within an organisation. Senge believes that the ‘five component technologies’ are converging to create learning organisations: Personal Master – Shared Vision – Team Learning – Mental Models – Systems Thinking

            In his work ‘Disciplines of Organisational Learning: Contributions and Critiques’, Easterby-Smith (1997) argues against most scholars’ attempts to create a single framework for understanding and explaining the management of OL. By reviewing the most meaningful literature in the field he identified the following six disciplinary perspectives: psychology and organisational development, sociology, management science, strategy, production management, as well as cultural anthropology.

            Ang & Joseph (1996) contrast Organisational Learning and Learning Organisation in terms of process versus structure. They define OL as the ability of an organisation to gain insight and understanding from experience through experimentation, observation, analysis, and a willingness to examine both successes and failures. However, the managers’ role in the Learning Organisation, Senge (1990) argues, is that of a designer, teacher, and steward who can build shared vision and challenge prevailing mental models. He/she is responsible for building organisations where people are continually expanding their capabilities to shape their future — that is, leaders are responsible for learning.

Implementation of KM: The Xerox Case

            Xerox was set out to be as educated as possible about knowledge management (KM). The organisation has spent considerable financial resources and time to codify the collective knowledge through its research, consortium work, and sponsorship of research.

            During a study on its representative’s behaviour, Xerox noticed that most of the causes of breakdowns in the machines they sold couldn’t be found in any of the firm’s record of cases.
However representatives, thanks to their own knowledge and the knowledge they shared among each other during lunch breaks, were able to solve those problems.

            The solution, called Eureka project, was the creation of: An electronic database, in which they stored best practices, ideas and solutions; an intranet for representatives to make knowledge accessible to the whole company and facilitate the information sharing.

            The validity of the KM Eureka project’s implementation is strictly linked to the economic resources that it succeeds in recovering and saving up. In that perspective, the project Eureka made the Xerox Corporation save about the 5-10% on the job developed from the representatives and about $10 million on the cost of pieces or replaced machines.

Poor Knowledge Management can kill

            On September 30, 1999, a nuclear criticality accident occurred at a uranium processing plant operated by JCO Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as JCO) in Tokai village, Ibaraki Prefecture. A solution of enriched uranium in an amount several times more than the specified mass limit had been poured directly into a precipitation tank bypassing a dissolution tank and buffer column intended to avoid criticality. This action was in contravention of the legally approved criticality control measures. Three JCO plant workers were exposed to high levels of radiation in the accident. This has resulted in the death of two of the workers making this an unprecedented nuclear accident in Japan which has developed nuclear energy for peaceful purposes.

            Except for what are sometimes called ‘Act of God’, any problems arising at a nuclear plant originate in some way in human error. However, unless there is a sufficient set of vulnerability causal factors and one or more triggering causal factors, neither an instance of human error nor a consequential event occurs. Based on the systemic analysis of the criticality accident, it was proved that its root cause was inappropriate knowledge management – combination of (1) inadequate risk awareness by the top management and (2) “kaizen” (production improvement) drives.

Conclusion

            Today’s more balanced view of KM is therefore a combination of managing explicit information resources as well as managing the working environment and people so that tacit knowledge is more readily developed, shared and exploited. KM is well beyond the “fad” stage – from previous surveys that showed two thirds of senior managers regarded KM as a fad, today it is recognised as fundamental and a contributor of value. It does add value to an organisation’s bottom line, and though difficult to prove directly, new measuring instruments have helped stakeholders identify the sources of value more clearly.

            KM becomes more pervasive, a knowledge ‘lens’ and KM perspective are being applied to wide range of management and business processes. Total quality management, customer relationship management and risk management are examples of where such approaches have given stakeholders new insights and methods improves through the fusion of existing methods with good KM practice.

            KM was very much a practitioner led discipline and only belatedly has the academic community caught up. However, there are now several business schools with active programmes of research. We are constantly learning more about KM in different contexts. KM is also considered a side-show until it is fully integrated into the strategic planning and decision processes of an organisation, which means the explicit recognition of knowledge, and KM in the corporate strategy and a clear articulation of its contribution to the business bottom line (including non-financial objectives).

            Both the literature on organisational learning and knowledge management has been growing over the past years. While OL primarily aims to identify the underlying processes of learning by clarifying critical issues like the content, agents and levels of learning, KM takes a proactive role of explicitly providing guidelines for active intervention into the organisation’s knowledge base. Both perspectives have their merits. OL provides a theoretical framework for analysing changes in the organisational knowledge base. This framework can be used to hypothesise and explain cognitive and behavioural changes within organisations over time. KM serves as a manager’s framework for improving the OL’s potential. By guiding managerial intervention into the organisation’s knowledge base, KM serves as a management tool of one of the most critical resources of organisational success.

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If you want to know how to double $1500 rapidly and easily, you desire to focus on purchasing items cheaply and marketing them for twice as much. One direction to do that is to start a flower business enterprise.

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Isando city is located in the Gauteng province in South Africa. Among the many attractions in Isando the most famous one are the reserves game as well as the natives culture, the heritage sites, the wide beaches, surfing, the narrow trains, the desert trails with the beautiful mountain view, shopping, the gold and diamond mine and the sunny and warm climate which is spread through out all year long.

Isando hotels are offering a variety of hospitality options from the cheap one and two stars hotels and up to the luxury five star hotels. When looking for accommodation in Isando one should consider staying at the Don Johannesburg Int’l located on Electron Avenue in Isando. The hotel is a part of the famous Don Suite Hotels brand and offers a great place for those who seek a comfortable and enjoyable place in Isando.

Conveniently located minutes away from Johannesburg’s busiest Airport, the Don ORTIA, one of Johannesburg Hotels, provides first class accommodation at an economy fare. The 2-bedroom suites have 2 bathrooms for you and your partners’ convenience.

Transportation in Isando

The closest transportation source to Isando is the OR Tambo International airport of South Africa. The airport is located about five kilometers from Isando and host domestic and international airlines in it. The main city of Johannesburg is located about twenty kilometers from Isando and can easily be accessed by trains, public busses or taxis. In the neighborhood of Isando you can find some great restaurants and bars as well as some of the finest Isando hotels.

Attractions:

Johanseburg Botanic Garden

There are three hundred and sixty five acres of gardens that are well taken care of and in high quality of maintenance. This botanic garden is located on peaceful shores of the Emmarentia Dam and within the city borders. It is easily accessed from the north suburbs of Johannesburg. The rose garden has more than four thousands five hundred species of roses. The Shakespeare garden contains species that were mention on the Bards play written by the famous artist. The water garden contains fountains and terraced ponds and finally the Herb Garden which is dedicated to the traditional African medicines. The garden is opening free of charge and open from six in the morning till six in the late afternoon.

Sterkfontein Caves

Many very important archeological were made in the Sterkfontein Caves including at least one hominid skull (Australopithecus africanus) from over two and half million years ago. The archeologicals keeps on working their and the visitors can see the site within the caves. An information center is also available. The site is open daily on the periods February to December except Mondays from nine in the morning till four in the afternoon. Guided tours are also available at the Sterkfontein Caves.
If the Sterkefontein Caves are your last attraction of the day you can rest at one of the Isando Hotels and continue your next day tour afterwards

Apartheid Museum

This is a modern museum that takes his visitors through series of areas know as spaces that document the full story of the apartheid, from the Afrikaner nationalism in the 1940’s and 50’s, the segregation between and whites and blacks, the rise of the black consciences, the first democratic election of the country and in 1944 and the new constitution. It is exciting and vivid of old pictures, hundred of television footage, exebitions of passbooks and armored vehicles used by the apartheid government to suppress demonstrations in the townships.

Isando is great location where you can continue to explore the rest of Johannesburg but if your tour of day ends here and you wish to look for accommodation in Isando there are some great places to stay. Among all Isando Hotels steacking out is the Don Johannesburg Intl which offer a prefect place to spend the night in.

Don Johannesburg Intl

The hotel is located near by the International airport of Johannesburg, only 5 minutes by car/taxi. The hotel offers a complimentary shuttle service from the airport to the hotel. The Front desk is very efficient, helpful and willing to solve any problems that guests may have. All rooms are large and with kitchen in them. It is good place to stay two to three nights before or after touring Johannesburg and going back or to different locations in South Africa.

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Hunting the right hound

Hound dog breeds. In true mixed breeds, the dog’s ancestry is next to impossible to predict, although many people can’t help but try to guess. Sporting dog breeds. Kid-Friendly Dog Breeds. A vet or a dog breeder can suggest other possibilities.

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Terrier breeds are diverse, and some of them are listed here:Airedale Terrier, American Staffordshire Terrier, Australian Terrier, Bedlington Terrier, Border Terrier, Bull Terrier, Cairn Terrier, Dandie Dinmont Terrier, Glen of Imaal Terrier, Irish Terrier, Kerry Blue Terrier, Lakeland Terrier, Manchester Terrier, Miniature Bull Terrier, Miniature Schnauzer, Norfolk Terrier, Norwich Terrier, Parson Russell Terrier, Scottish Terrier, Sealyham Terrier, Skye Terrier, Smooth Fox Terrier, Soft Coated Wheaten Terrier, Staffordshire Bull Terrier, Welsh Terrier, West Highland White Terrier, Wire Fox Terrier.

Because they’re all related, all of the 400 or so breeds are capable of interbreeding. Combining the taut muscles and compact power of the bulldog with the tenacity and aggressiveness of the terrier, some controversial bull terrier breeds have been involved in some highly publicized biting incidents, several involving small children.

A diverse group skilled in a number of disciplines, most working breeds are robust, intelligent and headstrong, often unsuitable for apprentice owners. Some breeds were even bred to finish the job themselves. Without the right training, some working dogs can be difficult to handle, even dangerous. Children and dogs make potentially blissful partners, but choosing a dog that actually likes to play with children is your best bet in orchestrating a match made in heaven.

Rare is the country where dogs of mixed and usually unknown heritage do not outnumber their blue-blood, purebred relations. When these dogs bite, they don’t let go. Skilled owners in training are what they need.

The Anatomy of a Canine

Most dogs are able to detect scents and tastes that are beyond human perception, but some breeds have especially acute sensory skills. It serves many functions from tasting to keeping the animal cool.

Many canids, both wild and domestic, can scan their environment for sounds using one ear at a time. Pricked Ears. The fur can be puffed up to trap warm air in cold weather or held closely against the skin to release heat on warm days. Staying Cool. All dog paws are the same, although there are variations in shape depending on the breed’s digital bones.

Four toe pads and claws are located below the toes on the underside of a dog’s paw. But an absence of sweat glands on the canid’s skin forces it to rely on other means. In temperate weather, canids simply breathe in through their noses to stay cool:Nasal glands secrete fluid, and its evaporation within their nasal chambers creates a cooling effect. Wolves have remarkably thick, two-layered coats to protect them from extreme weather.

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