1. Analysis of the Knowledge Management at Tcs Using the Knowledge Management Value Chain Model.

1. Analysis of the knowledge management at TCS using the knowledge management value chain model. *Knowledge acquire -TCS has created communities of practices (CoPs) with an animator expert in an area of knowledge to gather best practice on different area of expertise using business case documenting problem and solution. -Then TCS tried to capture technology, processes and case studies called Process Asset Libraries. So their intent was more on capturing structure data in the first wave. In the implementation of Ultimatix, TCS tried to use captures of intelligent technics or knowledge work system meaning knowledge tools like wizard, templates for software productivity improvement, knowledge training modules and information on tools. *Â  Knowledge storage -Business cases with solutions. For example on mainframe around 1500 business cases. -Process Asset library permit exchanges of around 10000 documents on industry practices and 21000 services practices in six month during 2003. -Line of businesses, line of technology, and projectsTCS has disseminated knowledge by: -Customizing for each are of practice/technology, customer and industries. -Creating an initial training program and a continuous learning program for experience employees based on role and competence definition. -Encouraging people to move and go outside TCS to learn and bring back knowledge. -Using information letter per expert area and tip of day are used. *Marketing knowledge -To create business related document. It can be retrieved by searching similar business case. -To innovate and decide with a tool called TIP and IdeaStorm.The IdeaStorm process is in three steps one idea / question are submitted, people can brain storm on it and after vote. -Just ask process to get direct access to experts TCS has various Portals which permit a uniform access to knowledge. It can be accessed through queries or using taxonomies created by CoPs. Tools and activities were used for managing tacit knowledge: TCS h as created communities of practices (CoPs) with an animator expert in an area of knowledge to gather best practice on different area of expertise using business case documenting problem and solution. -Just ask process to get direct access to experts Encouraging people to move and go outside TCS to learn and bring back knowledge. -Using information letter per expert area and tip of day are used. Tools and acticities used for managing explicit knowledge: -Process Asset library permit exchanges of around 10000 documents on industry practices and 21000 services practices in six month during 2003. -To create business related document. It can be retrieved by searching similar business case. -To innovate and decide with a tool called TIP and IdeaStorm. The IdeaStorm process is in three steps one idea / question are submitted, people can brain storm on it and after vote. Then TCS tried to capture technology, processes and case studies called Process Asset Libraries. So their intent was more on capturing structure data in the first wave. -In the implementation of Ultimatix, TCS tried to use captures of intelligent technics or knowledge work system meaning knowledge tools like wizard, templates for software productivity improvement, knowledge training modules and information on tools LiveMeeting sessions during project for status meeting and after project lesson learned are recorded in the knowledge database 2.Some of the growth of knowledge management systems in TCS and how the sytems helped its business are listed as below KBASES AND GROUPWARE It is a knowledge repository in the corporate and branch servers accessible to all employees through the intranet. It contained wide range of information regarding processes, line of technology and the line of business. The groupware was a body which automated various in house systems such as training and many other functions. CLOSELY KNITS COMMUNITIES OF PRACTICES (COPS)Community of practices was a forum of organizational memor y where teams all over the organization at different times zones communicated and documented the best practices. PROCESS ASSET LIBRARIES (PALS) Process asset libraries was an information database related to technology, processes and case studies. These were made available to all development centers of TCS through the intranet. WEB-BASED ELECTRONIC KNOWLEDGE MANAGEMENT PORTAL (EKM) Knowledge was made globally available. The PAL library, and Kbases hosted on the intranet were merged with Ultimatix.Sub-portals of quality management system, software productivity improvement, training materials and tools information were shared and easily accessed via EKM. COP members widely shared and exchanges industry and service practices. INTEGRATED COMPETENCY AND LEARNING MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS (ICALMS) The system was deployed globally across all offices to promote a culture of learning and growth in the organization. Employees could enhance their skills in many areas. KNOWMAX Developed using Microsoft sharepoint portal server. It supported more than 60 knowledge assets and was accessible via Ultimatix to all TCS associates.Any associate could contribute their knowledge and information for sharing with employees. 3. Some collaboration tools which are need at TCS: IBM same time: client-server application on window that provide real-time, unified communications and collaboration for enterprise. IBM quick place: self-service for non-technical users to easily create a browser-accessible web-workspace to support a task, project. When TCS combine same time with quick place, it took easyly to exchange information on project, technlogy and preparation.Lotus: domino collaboration tools can provide multiple service: Thanks to use these tools, TCS can unprove collabaration among employees and collaboration of overseas and local office 4. Web 2. 0 tools help TCS to manage knowleadge and collaboration among it employees TCS used a wide variety of collaboration tools from taking on account arc hitectural aspects to the usage of Web 2. 0 tools. TCS's development centers have had a special attention to its architecture so that they could be divided into modules of a common area each with its own garden in order for the employees to have informal conversations during their breaks.Naturally TCS could also profit by the fact that many of those conversations were about their employees’ business problems. Propel sessions also brought together employees with similar interests so that they could balance their work and their life and hopefully integrate both as one. Aside from taking into account the employee's personal life TCS also implemented another methods to share knowledge. By recording all of their meetings with LiveMeeting application TCS could arrange a team where all the members knew what was discussed.Knowledge could also be shared directly from their experts by Knowledge Transition sessions and a Tip of the Day mail system. This way knowledge could flow from the ir experts to their beginner workers who in fact need to learn in order perform better for TCS. The implementation of Project Infinity brought alongside VOIP and video conference tools. Using these tools all TCS's branches could communicate and collaborate in realtime keeping focus to the same objective. However Project Infinity also brought along other tools such as Instant Messaging and a news broadcast system.Using these tools TCS could communicate in real time with all of TCS's offices in the world sharing data and knowledge other than using voice or video systems. TCS also used Web 2. 0 tools integrated in their own website such as a Just Ask system, a Blog Platform, TIP and MySite. As in one side The Just Ask system would directly be connected to TCS's business, on the other side The My site would be more related to one's personal life. 5. How do you think KM tools have changed some key operational processes at TCS, such as bidding for new projects, project development and imp lementation, customer service, and so on?TCS core business is to produce project in India to be delivered all around the world. TCS processes have been simplified and communication has been streamed with those KM tools. Three bricks are missing for a 100% effective knowledge sharing: -The collaboration inside a document. For example, during an offering, it is frequent that many people are working on the same document. -The search engine technology. Having Tera’s of document emphasize the need to have a good search engine in order to find relevant document. -The document life-cycle would permit to exclude outdated document.

Causes of Corruption Essay

Many officials are motivated to participate in corrupt behavior because of the inherently selfish desire to have an unfair advantage over their peers. Through bribery, extortion, embezzlement, nepotism and other means, corruption can help dishonest people get ahead while the public pays the price. A corrupted politician may seek to sway a person’s opinions, actions, or decisions, reduce fees collected, speed up government grants, or change outcomes of legal processes. Through corruption, people seeking an unfair advantage may pay courts to vote in their favor or, as with police, customs units, and tax collectors, to disregard a penalty. Bribery may be paid to allow for otherwise unacceptable building and zoning permits, to sway school exam results or allow acceptance by an unqualified student into a school system. People in the private sector may pay off politicians so that they dismiss rules and regulations to protect employees in the workforce. Corruption motivated by an   unfair advantage may also occur in immigration, passport and visa offices in which unqualified individuals may be allowed an unfair advantage to obtain these important documents, at the expense of others. In order to obtain an unfair advantage, governments and government officials may apply any number of methods to abuse their power over the citizens. First, a politician may apply diplomatic, political, or financial pressure, for example trade embargoes. However such pressures may also work to effectively bully vulnerable citizens. Also, many countries are the recipients of development aid, which might cause politicians who seek an unfair advantage to earmark this funding towards their particular cause. The threat of reduced foreign aid, defense ties, arm deals, and gifts may help politicians to obtain an unfair advantage through corruption. Lack of Punitive Measures Thomas Hobbes, the great political philosopher, once said, â€Å"A man’s conscience and his judgment is the same thing; and as the judgment, so also the conscience, may be erroneous.† This idea that individuals cannot always rely on a working inner moral compass alone to guide them to virtue is at the heart of the next motivating factor for participating in corrupt behavior. When the legal agencies do not impose sanctions on parliamentarians and other government officials who have violated their public duties there is a lack of punitive measure for corrupt behavior. This is the case, for example when judges are in the pay of the ruling party or there are too few police officers to enforce the law. When there are not punitive measures to assure transparency, monitoring, and accountability through a working justice system, some people will participate in corrupt behavior simply because they can get away with it. Politicians and other individuals require a legal, monitoring system to assure that corruption will not occur in the planning and execution of public sector budgets. Social and internal control mechanisms are required for civil society and autonomous state auditing agencies. Without them or with only weak enforcement measures, people in power are more  likely to embezzle money from the national budget, sway votes or participate in other actions that will result in personal gain at the public’s expense. Lack of Transparency Transparency describes when there is free access by citizens to public information. When the rules, procedures, and objectives of the government are not available to the public, there is not budgetary and administrative oversight to balance the power of government officials, transparency is lacking and corruption can be bred. Without oversight and transparency of budget and rules, national resources may be plundered and power may be abused in favor of the corrupt official only. Further, when there are not public sector mechanisms that channel social preferences and specific complaints of the population to the agencies involved in those complaints, people of power will not serve their purpose of representing the populace, but have free reign to do as they please in the public sector. Lack of transparency creates opportunities for public officials to abuse their office for private gain. This closely relates to accountability, and weak accountability mechanisms tend to facilitate corruption. Where there is a lack of transparency and accountability corruption will flourish. Once corrupt bureaucrats realize that they can take advantage of regulations, they will produce more regulations and run the risk of becoming less transparent. Poor Incentive Structures Bad incentives, such as clerks not earning a living wage or not having job security might also encourage corrupt behavior such as supplementing income with bribes. Some people who do not have an incentive to perform their official duties, but actually pay for their jobs with the understanding that they will make money through bribes. A lack of incentive also results when positions of power are granted as a result of favoritism and nepotism (See unit 1). Making people resist hard work. Incentives also come into the picture when salaries are so low that people cannot meet the basic living standards for food  and housing. As a result, people will often  take other jobs that cause absenteeism of  public officials, and often increase the  demand by government officials for bribes  and other paybacks in order to supply the  public  services. Problems with the law: Lawless and Over Regulated Governments Corruption can also be caused when there is excessive control and a sort of monopoly of power. In these circumstances, there again is not a level playing field, and decisions will always be made at the advantage of the group or person who dominates political control. As a result, ordinary citizen rights are lost and public resources are often plundered for the personal gain of the public officials. Poverty or scarcity of goods may also push people to live outside the law. Finally, corruption occurs when government officials resist government policies and programs. Introducing policies that allow for greater oversight would help to assure that power were balanced and no one person would be making all of the political decisions. When politicians resist this change they prevent political and cultural progress for their country, prohibit civic interests from being met, and allow the pattern of corruption to flourish. Dysfunctional Systems as a Cause for Corruption Instability in government may also catapult a nation and its leaders towards corruption. Among them, war, ethnic or religious conflict, economic hardship, and social inequalities may instigate corruption. Any circumstance that threatens a nation or its people either through identity or establishment may diminish the good governance practices of a nation. Even in less difficult times, the institutions and policies of government may undermine how well the government carries out its work. When institutions and policies are weak, individuals tend to take advantage of them. Therefore, poor governments are a product of sick institutions, or institutions that function poorly because of inadequate resources or bad  policies and procedures. As stated earlier, good governance refers to the provision of services that are responsive to citizen needs. When government services are not provided to citizens, either because they were deemed unnecessary, services providers demanded bribes or were lazy, or the services are provided in theory but are not readily available in practice without a bribe, people will aim to have their needs met illegally or unofficially. Likewise, when financial systems are outdated, they are more corruptible. System-Wide Allowances for Corrupt Behavior: Government may allow system wide corruption to spread by not institutionalizing and enforcing prevention mechanisms. For example: Overly complex procedures for obtaining public services allow government to covet the services to only the well-informed or well-connected elite, and not allowing the system to work for the poor. Lack of internal systems to assure relative transparency, monitoring and accountability in the design and execution of public policies. Lack of social control mechanisms aimed at preventing grand corruption schemes usually seen when the state’s policies are captured by vested interests. Lack of employee participation in and knowledge of the public institution’s decisionmaking criteria. Absence of results based management in public service delivery. An ineffective judicial sector (police, prosecutors, officers, and the judiciary.) Conclusion Problems in governance occur when a government is not only corrupt, but also when it is inefficient, unresponsive, or secretive. Essentially, when a government is ineffectual, it is considered to be corrupt. As this unit explained, corruption is fundamentally caused by low wages, poor incentive structures and inefficient systems. In addition, it is also caused by the desire for an unfair advantage, and the knowledge that one will not be caught or punished for corrupt behavior. Corruption is not just about ethics. It is also about how the government is set up and managed. Parliament and parliamentarians improve the way government works so that corrupt behavior is punishable and opportunities for corruption are limited through the laws. In order to fully rectify corruption in a society, it must first be thoroughly diagnosed. Unit three shows methods for diagnosing, measuring, and interpreting data on corruption. As the units thereafter will explain, this step will help to make focused and measurable changes and improvements to corruption when those mechanisms are enacted.

Ethical Perspective: the Role of Social Media in Recruitment and Selection Essay

Ethical Perspective: The Role of Social Media in Recruitment and Selection â€Å"A† is a Bangladeshi holding company that conducts its business all over the world. The company aims to be recognized as a global brand and is currently in the process of expanding its operation. To achieve its goal of global expansion, â€Å"A† is looking to hire new executives who are young, energetic and outgoing. The executives should have good communication skill as they will have to correspond with potential clients from all over the world. They should also possess a likeable personality as their work will be people-oriented. The executives should be technologically competent as they may have to communicate online. Mr. Rahim is a senior manager who wants to use social media as a tool to collect more information about the potential recruits. He argues that, as the candidates themselves shared the information on public, it will be completely legal and ethical to use that information in their recruitment and selection process. Look more:  google recruitment process essay As the candidates themselves shared their personal information on a public website, it would not be a breach of privacy to use that information either. He also argues that, when people are asked to share information in a job interview, they are more like to only share the information that make them look good and conceal the information that make them look bad. Thus, the information collected from their personal Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter accounts should help the company judge the candidate from an unbiased point of view. Mr.  Karim, another senior manager, is however against the use of social media to collect personal information. From his point of view, it will be an invasion of privacy to collect information from their social media accounts as the candidates intended their accounts for personal use. He also believes that the company should only use the information provided by the candidates themselves in the recruitment and selection process. He thinks that the data collected from social media sites are more likely to be biased as the candidates may not have been serious when posting them. He argues that although the potential recruits shared their personal information on a public website, they did not give them the permission to use it as a criterion to evaluate their job effectiveness. If this information relates to some aspect of a candidate’s background that could not be requested in an interview, such as age, cultural background, sexual orientation, etc, they could be contravening discrimination law. As the job requires good communicative skills, Mr.  Rahim believes that the company should look into the social media presence of their potential recruits. He argues, that if someone doesn’t have a social media account in this age, they are most likely to be backdated and quite incapable of working in a global company. Also, people who have more friends or followers in facebook and twitter are more likely to be outgoing. As the company is looking for outgoing people to join the organization, it should be a valid and reliable selection tool. Mr. Karim is strongly against this view. He argues that a person’s personality cannot be judged by looking at their social media profile. Just because someone has more friends or followers on social media sites, it cannot be said for certain that person has a more likeable personality. It will be unethical and discriminatory to exclude quality candidates just because they are not active on social media sites. Mr.  Rahim believes that people who post sexist, racist, homophobic remarks on facebook may damage the business reputation of â€Å"A†. Some international business partners of â€Å"A† may even stop doing business with them. So, â€Å"A† has every right to discriminate against employees who post controversial content on their social media accounts. People, who identify with extremist religious or political groups on social media sites, should not be selected as employees. Mr.  Karim argues people’s behavior on social media may not be a true reflection of their views. Just because someone appears sexist, racist or homophobic on social media, that doesn’t mean that that’s how they are in real life. Also, a person’s religious and political views are completely his own. It is certainly not ethical to judge a candidate simply based on what they do in their own time away from work. â€Å"A† cannot discriminate against potential candidates just because they shared their views strongly on social media sites.

Knowledge Managment Initiative Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Knowledge Managment Initiative - Assignment Example The new system allowed all employees to constantly gain detailed information on products and helped them to adequately solve the problem of resigning sales people due to lack of information and resulting commission. The product pricing and availability reports incorporated by cubes to boost system functionality were only available to the retail managers who worked to set the market policy, thereby creating a knowledge barrier and hindering development. Although ample training was provided to all the managers to gain sufficient knowledge of the online repository system, the rest of the employees’ learning and development was limited to 10-minute sessions per employee and minimal encouragement to learn the rest on their own time. Despite the high traffic of customers coming to the stores, the repository system’s usage did not increase accordingly. So even though, values, accessibility, and goals were set for all employees, the circle the of learning and organization came to a gradual halt.

Babylon under Hammurabis law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Babylon under Hammurabis law - Essay Example Babylonians started ruling over Sumer in 1900 BC. Hammurabi, the king of Babylon led his armies to occupy Mesopotamia and build an empire there. As the supreme ruler, Hammurabi established a set of rules of conduct for the Babylonians. The laws of Hammurabi were written in cuneiform and encrypted on stone, stating exactly how the Babylonian society was to behave. Lewis (pp.18) sates, â€Å"the code is engraved in cuneiform writing on a seven-foot tall black stone pillar†¦Ã¢â‚¬  This discussion is going to focus on the laws of Hammurabi concerning marriage, divorce, adultery, inheritance, and life in Babylon in general. According to Hammurabi’s code, marriage was considered a contract between a man and a woman. Marriages were organized by parents and other relatives for their children, with the bride-groom’s parents obligated to pay bride price to the girl’s family. This type of marriage arrangement sounds authoritative since the lovers did have any say in their own marriage. Parents were in complete control of their children’s lives and marriages were not based on love or mutual agreement on the part of the ones getting married. This is very unfair, since a person would be forced to marry a person they did not want for a partner. Divorce was handled very differently for men and women. Whereas men were allowed to divorce their wives at will, wives were only permitted to separate from their husbands on grounds of neglect or cruelty.

Botnets Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Botnets - Essay Example Botnets come under the category of such inventions and become a source of much distress for the computer user. Botnets pose different kinds of threats like denial of service, spamming, click fraud etc. Several techniques and mechanisms have been adapted to enhance the security measures of networks and avoid any damage by botnets. ‘Bot’ is defined as a single computer that possesses the malicious program to make it a part of a wider network of similar computer systems, which is known as ‘Botnet’. Botnets are defined as an autonomous set of programs that perform functions without the aid of any user. They are either controlled by one system or multiple systems, which are known as the botmaster. A distributed nature of botnets involves a set of distributed computers that communicate with each other over the internet and perform some tasks together (Banday et al, 2009). The communication between the bots and the botmaster can be a direct link but such communication can make the botmaster identifiable in the network. Therefore, such direct links are not used. On the contrary, command languages and control protocols (C&C) are used to manage the bots remotely (Banday et al, 2009). These set of programs were initially developed to automate tasks on a set of machines to minimize the need of the presence of a person and to enhance communication and resource sharing. But the concept of their usage changed drastically when they started being used for malicious purposes. Botnets started being developed for the purpose of financial gains and recognition. The hacker’s scale of goodness of a botnet is the degree of damage that it is able to cause. Intruders and spammers can install the software (required for intrusion) in a number of ways. The user might not even be aware of the vulnerability of his system and may become a bot in the network of similarly compromised computers. The first step in this unpleasant activity is the identification of a computer on the

John Locke Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

John Locke - Essay Example After graduating from this school, in 1652, he started attending Oxford University. It was here that he got his formal knowledge of Latin, logic and metaphysics. Though he completed his BA from the Oxford University in 1656, he did not leave the school. He started teaching at the hallowed institution for a span of 3-4 years, first as a lecturer of Greek and from 1658, the year Oliver Cromwell died and the unrest began that was to lead to the Restoration of the King in 1660, onwards as a lecturer of rhetoric. In 1663, Locke decided to pursue medicine and gave up his profession as a teacher. What is interesting to note is the fact that although he completed a philosophical education at Oxford, Locke declined the offer of a permanent academic position in order to avoid committing himself to a religious order. It was during this time of Locke's life, when the ideas of Robert Boyle and Descartes started to have an impact on him and he began to apply their theories to his philosophical und erstandings and treatises. It was during the same time, that Locke met one of his most important friends, Lord Anthony Ashley Cooper (who would later adopt the title of Earl of Shaftsbury physician become one of the Lord Proprietors of the Carolina Colonies.). Lord Ashley employed Locke as his personal physician but very soon, Locke would go on to serve him as a secretary, political researcher, and political advisor. It was by his a It was by his association with Lord Ashley that Locke was connected to Charles II, the King of England. When Charles II formed a colony in America, he gave Locke the duty of writing up a constitution. Later on, this constitution, more famously known as the Carolina Constitution and would be used by America's Founding Fathers as a model for their Constitution. In the year of 1674, Lord Ashley got involved in a conspiracy against Charles II's brother. Though Locke was in France then due to health reasons, even he was accused of being one of the co-conspirators. Even after Locke returned to England after five years, he was forced to flee to Holland in 1683, one year after the death of Lord Ashley. Though many term this to be a self-imposed exile, it cannot be refuted that Locke's life was seriously in danger. During his stay in Holland, Locke formed friendship with many other exiled English revolutionaries who were biding their time to topple the English government. Finally, in the Glor ious Revolution of 1688, the English revolutionaries led by the William of Orange toppled the government and Princess Mary donned the crown. Locke was made the Comissionary of Appeal in 1689 and published a "Letter Concerning Toleration". In 1690, he authored the controversial papers "Two Treatise of Government" and "An Essay Concerning Human Understanding". He wrote large works about the economy and in 1692, he assisted in restoring the board of trade where he served as an influential member until 1700. His book "Some Thoughts Concerning Education" was published in 1693. In 1704, he passed away in his residence in Oates of Essey where he had lived since 1691. The fundamental ideas of Locke's philosophy are presented in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1690). According to Locke all our ideas be it simple or complex, are derived from experience. The consequence of this empiricist approach means that the scope of knowledge gets acutely limited in its dimension. However, Locke tried to overcome this lack by suggesting that a proper application of our cognitive