Knowledge-based organization

Knowledge-based organization Knowledge-based organization Introduction Most organisations in one way or another have embraced the notion that to operate effectively in todays economy, it is necessary to become a knowledge-based organization (Alvesson, 1993). But few truly understand what that means or how to carry out the changes required to bring it about. Perhaps the most common misunderstanding is the view that the more a companys products or services have knowledge at their core, the more the organization is, by definition, knowledge based. The knowledge-based society of the 21st century is characterized by knowledge generation as the primary source of wealth and social well-being. This economic development, facilitated by networked actions of a variety of global actors utilizing new information and communication technology (ICT) including Internet technologies, is fundamentally changing the rules of the game of performing in both private and public organisations. Accordingly, new concepts, frameworks, models and theories are required in order to increase our understanding of the principles of the creation and use of knowledge and information as a resource. This development both in theory and in practice is evident because, contrary to the traditional factors of production, knowledge and information are partly intangible in nature. It is therefore vital for organisations to provide a holistic view of contextual factors which have an impact on the creation, processing, storage, maintenance and use of information and know ledge as a resource. Moreover, organisations must know more about the means that affect processes related to knowledge and information. Knowledge-Based Organisation in Malaysia In the early 1980s, when the Japanese advances in the economy and began to make great impacts on the business state of affairs, knowledge work began to make headway to the workers levels. The Japanese enterprises show their way to knowledge work at the workers levels through such practices as QCC activities, 5S activities, Kaizen suggestion schemes and the like. These practices continue to contribute to improving productivity and competitiveness in production. By mid 1980s, Japan has overwhelmed other western companies and organisations with their low cost and high quality products by it techniques and quality tools. Malaysia as any other countries in the world is moving towards improving their information technology facilities and services. After achieving independence on 31 August 1957, Malaysia was basically a resource-based country and depending on the extraction of natural resources. The need to provide jobs for the local population then was one of the primary foci of the economic development plans. In order to compete with Japanese organisation success Malaysian government in the Malaysian Context of Industrial Development has emphasis learning in every national agenda. The Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI) Malaysia launched the First Industrial Master Plan, 1986-1995 (IMP1) in 1986 with the main focus is to rationalize the industrial growth process and the growth of manufacturing industry. The Malaysian Prime Minister first mooted Vision 2020 in 1991 and it is Malaysia national vision for the countrys continuing development into a developed nation (Ahmad Sarji Abdul Hamid, 1993). Even with the success of the IMP, the Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth recorded over the period 1992-1997 was below the expected level. The manufacturing-based industrialization strategy will only take the country into an industrial society and this will not be sufficient to achieve the post-industrial/advanced industrial society and a civil society as envisaged in the Vision 2020 (NITC, 1998). As Malaysia prepares to become a knowledge-based economy, new strategic focus calls for the nation to work towards the digital economy and a knowledge-based economy. The national response to this is the National IT Agenda (NITA) to direct the progress and the Multimedia Super Corridor (MDC, 1999) and its associated programs that aim to create the IT waves towards this new economy (NITC, 1998). Organisations will have to refocus their strategies to be globally competitive. The new competitive strategy will be knowledge-based, and organisations will have to be knowledge-focused. Even if production of tangible outputs is the core business, the competitive strategy will have to be knowledge-based. In other words, the competitiveness of an organisation will be its knowledge rather than is physical outputs. The proposition here is that managing and exploiting organisational knowledge or knowledge management is a strategic focus for organisation to achieve competitiveness, and the learning organisation is the outcome of this strategic process. Knowledge Management initiatives are developing in a wide variety of government sectors in varying countries around the world and this conference will provide and intergovernmental forum for the discussion of best practice in public sector knowledge management. A recent survey reveals that 73% of governments feel they have made mistakes in setting up their online systems and 56% say that the work has taken longer than expected. Nonetheless, 89% are not yet tired of implementing e-government. By placing individual services on-line, government departments could achieve cost savings of up to 25 percent. If departments collaborate to provide a one-stop shop for a handful of services-say, by creating a World Wide Web site where you apply for a drivers license, pay a traffic ticket, and make an appointment for an emission inspection-the figure raises to 45 percent. Getting departments to collaborate is the tricky part. What is Knowledge? Knowledge as we all know comes from a cycle that involves the transformation from data to information and to knowledge. Information if it is not interpreted accordingly will not be knowledge. Knowledge is an organised combination of data, assimilated with set of rules, procedures, and operations learnt through experience and practice and without meaning knowledge are just information or data (Bhatt, 2001). It is only through meaning that information finds life and becomes knowledge (Bhatt, 2000). McDermott describes six characteristics of knowledge that distinguish it from information (McDermott, 1999): 1. Knowledge is a human act. 2. Knowledge is the residue of thinking. 3. Knowledge is created in the present moment. 4. Knowledge belongs to communities. 5. Knowledge circulates through communities in many ways. 6. New knowledge is created at the boundaries of old. In today competitive environment, organisations are competing which each other to achieve a high competitive advantage. In this era information is now considered as the most important assets in organisation. Information comes from knowledge and knowledge comes from the mind and experience of an individuals. Davenport and Prusak (1998) have provided the following definition of knowledge: Knowledge is a fluid mix of framed experiences, values, contextual information, and expert insight that provides a framework for evaluation and incorporating new experiences and information. If originates and is applied in the minds of knower. In organisations, it is often becomes embedded not only in documents of repositories but also in organizational routines, processes, practice, and norms. Knowledge management emphasizes on the inter-personal communication over the mere capture and storage of knowledge. Organizational intellectual assets and capital are the most priority aspects of the knowledge management efforts. Knowledge is the important elements in a value-chain. This value chain includes data, information, knowledge, wisdom, and the conceptualisation of knowledge management as a process of refinement, leveraging data and information to the more valuable level. These value-added elements can help organisations in problem solving and decision-making to improve performance and increase innovations. Innovation is an ongoing process in which organisations create problems, define them, and then develop new knowledge for their solution (Beveren, 2002). Knowledge Management Knowledge management is an emerging trend. This is because organisations have started to realize the importance of knowledge in order to achieve competitive advantage. Recent years have seen an explosive increase of interest in knowledge management. As well as a massive outpouring of books and articles on KM, many organizations have embarked upon their own KM programmes. A recent KPMG survey (KPMG, 1998) of 100 leading UK firms found that a staggering 43% of respondents were undertaking some kind of KM initiative. For an organisation to survive they must be able to move one step further from their competitors and would be able to differentiate themselves between other. Creating and sustaining a competitive advantage a one way of achieving goals. To coupe with these rapidly changing environments, organisations needs to know what are their corporate knowledge assets and manage these assets to sustain competitive advantage. Knowledge belongs to the family of progressively increasing corporate assets, like management systems, brand identity, customer information and corporate reputation (Pascarella, 1997). Knowledge is a person, highly personal asset and represents the collective expertise and efforts of networks and alliances. Knowledge management has becoming the most critical aspect in organisation to achieve competitive advantage. Nonaka (1991) stated that in an economy where the only certainty is uncertainty, the one sure source of lasting competitive advantage is knowledge. According to McCampbell (1999), to have a successful knowledge management projects, knowledge management was at least partially responsible for a major transformation of one large consulting firm and the transformation was all-embracing in terms of a marked improvement in financial result for the firm while engaged in knowledge management practices. Knowledge Management is multi-disciplinary approach and has now becoming very powerful concept. It is rapidly growing practice used as strategic tool for organisation to produce efficient and productive product and services. This concept helps organisations to seek and maximize value by helping people innovate and acclimatize in the face of change. As the world is moving towards a global knowledge economy, proper management and practice of knowledge can transform services and product and put value into it. As global competition based on knowledge intensive products or services swiftly increase, it is little wonder that organisations are seeking ways to harness knowledge through business strategies and knowledge management tools and techniques (Vandermerwe, 1997). Many organisations are already thriving in our increasingly knowledge-intensive world, often referred to as the new or knowledge economy. These organisations are achieving success by focusing on how knowledge can be used to deliver value to the organisation and its stakeholders. Knowledge management helps people prepare for an environment of constantly shifting demographics, industries, economies, and customer needs by ensuring that people have the expertise and information they need in order to properly assess business problems and opportunities. Knowledge Management is a process that helps organisations to find, select, organize, disseminate, and transfer important information and expertise necessary for activities such as problem solving, dynamic learning, strategic learning and decision-making (Gupta, Iyer and Aronson, 2000). Knowledge management caters the critical issues of organizational adaptation, survival and competence in face of increasingly discontinuous environmental change. Essentially, it embodies organizational processes that seek synergistic combination of data and information processing capacity of information technologies, and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings (Malhotra, 1998). Tacit and Explicit Knowledge There are two types of knowledge. Knowledge that cannot be articulated is called tacit knowledge. In organisations, tacit knowledge is the personal knowledge used by members to perform their work and make sense of their worlds (Choo, 2000). Tacit knowledge is also as important as explicit knowledge. The only problem that occurs is that tacit knowledge is hard to be explained and communicate. As Michael Polanyi the chemist-turned-philosopher who coined the term, put it, We know more than we can tell. Polanyi used the example of being able to recognize a persons face but being only vaguely able to describe how that is done. Contrast to tacit knowledge, explicit knowledge is the knowledge that has been articulated, capture in the form of text, tables, diagrams, product specifications and so on (Cortada, 2000). Explicit knowledge is also knowledge that is expressed formally using a system of symbols and can therefore be easily communicated and diffuse (Choo, 2000). This type of knowledge is the most recognized and captured by organisations. Most organisations concentrate more on explicit knowledge because it is easy to understand and capture (Barlow, 2000). Both tacit and explicit knowledge are very important and critical to organizational information or knowledge management system development. It is just a matter of identify and captured it to make it as an valuable assets. TACIT EXPLICIT INDIVIDUAL DEPENDENT Personal Tacit Self-Motivated Creativity Know-How Know-What Know-Why INDIVIDUAL INDEPENDENT Cultural Tacit Organisational Tacit (e.g. Causal Ambiguity) Regulator Assets (Copyrights, Patents, Trademarks) There are three types of explicit knowledge resident in any organisation 1. Cognitive knowledge, 2. Advanced systems skills, and 3. Systems understanding. In Figure 1, Meso and Smith (2000) described cognitive knowledge, also termed know-what is the basic mastery of a discipline that professionals achieve through extensive training and certification (Quinn et al., 1996). Advanced skills or know-how refer to the ability to apply rules of a discipline to complex real-world problems (Quinn et al., 1996). Systems understanding, also termed know-why is the deep understanding of the web of cause-and-effect relationships underlying a discipline (Quinn et al., 1996; Nonaka, 1991). The creation of new knowledge comes from the ongoing innovations form learning organisations. Therefore, organizational learning occurs at the intersection of tacit and explicit knowledge during the interaction of the various employees, departments or teams in an organisation (Nonaka, 1991). Sustainable competitive advantage results from innovation. Innovation in turn results from the creation of new knowledge (Meso and Smith, 2000). Knowledge Creation It is process how organisation gathers internal and external information in one system. Knowledge creation refers to the ability of an organisation to develop novel and useful idea and solution (Marakas, 1999). Nonaka (1994) identifies four mechanisms for knowledge creation: 1. Socialisation whereby one individual shares tacit knowledge with other. Sharing of experiences through observation, imitation and practice; 2. Combination whereby one pieces of explicit knowledge is combined with other; 3. Externalisation whereby tacit knowledge is made explicit; and 4. Internalisation process of experiencing knowledge through an explicit source, where explicit knowledge is converted into tacit. Meanwhile Rovertson (2001) has identified four types of organisational knowledge: 1. Conscious, which is an individuals explicit knowledge; 2. Automatic, which is an individuals implicit knowledge; 3. Objectified, which is explicit, social knowledge, and 4. Collective, which is implicit, social knowledge. Knowledge Capture Knowledge can be captured inside and outside organisation. The captured knowledge then will be integrated within one system in organisation as a resource. The purpose of knowledge management is to integrate internal and external knowledge at all time in order to cope with environmental changes both within and outside the organisation, to solve existing problem as well as to innovate for business expansion. Beveren (2002) provides a model where information is acquired through the sensors and processed in the brain by using prior knowledge (see Figure 1). Where: Knowledge is the stock of conceptual tools and categories used by humans to create, collect and share information. During the processing of information, new knowledge can be acquired or created for future use, when more or new information is acquired and processed. Knowledge Dissemination Knowledge dissemination in corporate knowledge is involving with the activity to disseminate or distributes knowledge to members in organisation. Knowledge benefited to organisation if they can disseminate. Knowledge needs to distributed and shared if an organisation to leverage value from it (Bhatt, 2000). Beveren (2002) illustrates how knowledge is transformed into information within the brain to be communicated externally through language or demonstration (see Figure 2). Language in this model includes all forms of communication, such as written, verbal and body language. In this model, the prior knowledge contained in human brains is required for the creation of information, just as the creation of knowledge often requires the input of information through the sensors to the brain. The initial formation of prior knowledge has been a huge area of debate for many years and has been discussed from two opposed positions, the empiricists and the nativists. Organizational Learning 2.5.3 Knowledge Sharing The organisational creation of differential knowledge, at its central part, springs unpredictably and unknowingly from social interchanges between competent organisations. Thus the importance of organizational behaviour in adapting to change is self-evident. Unfortunately, our understanding of the processes of organizational change is quite limited. The basic facts of human cognition are that our brains have the capacity to establish an extremely large number of possible networks of connections, but only a small fraction of this potential can be realized. Indeed, the growth of knowledge and the possibility of innovation depend on the incompleteness of present connections (Loasby, 2000b). Knowledge sharing only takes place on a significant scale where organisations have organized themselves into communities of practice. These communities need to be integrated to the companys strategy and its organizational structure.The phenomenon of communities of practice is known under different names. The World Bank, for example, is leveraging global knowledge sharing to attain its goal of becoming a clearinghouse for expertise on sustainable development (Wah, 1999) and they are called thematic groups; in Hewlett Packard they are learning communities or learning networks; in Chevron they are called best practice teams, and in Xerox they are know as family groups (Denning, 2000). Many practitioners pf knowledge managementincreasingly see knowledge sharing as a better description of what they are about than knowledge management. Advantages of knowledge sharing as a term include its commonsense comprehensibility, along with a certain degree of inter-activity implicit in any sharing. Drawbacks of knowledge sharing include the possibility that even sharing is insufficiently interactive, and that it implies (falsely) that the existence of knowledge precedes the sharing process, thereby (wrongly) separating knowledge management from knowledge creation and innovation and research. Knowledge Exploitation Knowledge exploitation is one of the vital parts in corporate knowledge. Knowledge exploitation means making knowledge more active and relevant for the organisation in creating values. If an organisation did not find it easy to locate the right kind of knowledge, the organisation may find it difficult to sustain its competitive advantage (Ganesh 2001). There are certain indicators for an organisations ability to create, disseminate and apply knowledge. Demarest (1997) identified six key questions an organisation has to answer to participate in knowledge management effectively: 1. The culture, actions and beliefs of managers about the value, purpose and role of knowledge; 2. The creation, dissemination and use of knowledge within the organisation; 3. The kind of strategic and commercial benefits a organisation can expect by the use of effective knowledge management; 4. The maturity of knowledge systems in the organisations; 5. How a organisation organise for knowledge management; and 6. The role of information technology in the knowledge management program. Using Demarests model, McAdam (2000) in his research on A comparison of public and private sector perceptions and use of knowledge management found that in terms of knowledge construction, organisations recognised the need for both a scientific and a social construction of knowledge if the benefits of knowledge management were to be realised. Knowledge embodiment was found to be highly dependent on employee interchange, which must be recognised as a source of knowledge and key to the success of knowledge embodiment in organisations dissemination and use. Approaches to knowledge dissemination as part of a KM system were found to be mainly ad hoc. There was little systematic use of the more sophisticated methods available. The use/benefits of knowledge management within the organisations studied was based mainly on reduced costs, and improved quality and efficiency. Creating, managing and transferring knowledge is the top of agenda for a growing number of organisations in the Chase study. They believe knowledge management would improve performance and result such as improved decision making, increased responsiveness to customer, improved efficiency of people and processes, increased ability to innovate and improved products and services (Chase, 1997). Although organisations recognised the importance of creating, managing and transferring knowledge, the research findings also found that many of the organisations still have been unable to translate this competitive needs into strategies. Other conclusion from his study is that the best practice organisations are experiencing great difficulty in translating knowledge management theory into practice. Communities of Practice In todays organisations community of practice seems very important for employees to contribute and share their tacit and explicit knowledge for the organisation development. Community of practice can be define as a group of practitioners who share a common interest or passion in an area of competence and are willing to share the experiences of their practice. Community of practice can play an important role in leveraging knowledge in organisation. Gamble and Blackwell (2001) defined community of practice as collections of individuals bound by informal relationship who share a similar work role in a common context. They are groups that: 1. Come together voluntarily for a shared purpose; 2. Have members that identify themselves as part of the community; 3. Repeatedly engage in activities with other member s and communities; 4. Have interactions that last for an indeterminate period of time. An essential ingredient of knowledge sharing programs in large organisations is the community of practice. In undertaking knowledge sharing programs, most organisations have found sooner or later that the nurturing of knowledge-based communities of practice is a sine qua non to enabling significant knowledge sharing to take place. Such communities are typically based on the affinity created by common interests or experience, where practitioners face a common set of problems in a particular knowledge area, and have an interest in finding, or improving the effectiveness of, solutions to those problems (Denning, 2000). Launching and nurturing communities of practice for knowledge sharing programs can be accomplished in a variety of ways (Denning, 2000). 1. Endorsing informal communities that already exist. 2. Asking practitioners what issues they care about. 3. Instructing leaders to form communities. 4. Launching purely virtual communities. 5. Launching communities among the incorrigibles. Communities of practice can add value into organisations in several important ways: 1. Community of practice can help to drive strategy. 2. They can start new lines of business. 3. They can solve problems quickly. 4. They transfer best practice. 5. They develop professional skills. 6. They help companies recruit and retain talent. Organisational Culture Organizational culture is a critically important aspect for facilitating sharing, learning, and knowledge creation. It is not homogeneous and sometimes has subcultures (McDermontt and Odell, 2001). An open culture with incentives built around integrating individual skills and experiences into organizational knowledge will be more successful (Gupta, Iyer and Aronson, 2000). Goh (2002) argues that one cultural dimension critical to knowledge transfer is co-operation and collaboration. Recent research on co-operation in organisation may help increase organizational understanding of the dynamic knowledge transfer. Knowledge transfer requires the willingness of a group or individual to work with others and share knowledge to their mutual benefit. Without co-operations and collaboration culture knowledge transfer form individuals and groups will not be successful. Culture plays significant function in the success of knowledge management implementations. McDermontt and Odell (2001) used a definition of culture that helped to see its multiple levels (Figure3). Following Schein (1985), McDermontt and ODell defined culture as: The shared values, beliefs and practices of the people in the organisation. Culture is reflected in the visible aspects of the organisation, like its mission and espoused values. But culture exists on a deeper level as well, embedded in the way people act, what they expect of each other and how they make sense of each others actions. Finally, culture is rooted in the organisations core values and assumptions. Often these are not only unarticulated, but so taken-for granted that they are hard to articulate, invisible to organizational members. Because of these layers of culture, people can often act in ways inconsistent with the organisations articulated mission and values, but consistent with its underlying or core values. Following this definition, in an organisation with a knowledge sharing culture, people would share ideas and insights because they see it as natural, rather than something they are forced to do. They would expect it of each other and assume that sharing ideas is th e right thing to do. In order to achieve high level of collaborations and co-operations, there is a fundamental variable needed. It is a matter of trust. A high level of trust is therefore an essential condition for a willingness to cooperate. Trust belongs to the area of human factors in knowledge management. It is defined as expectations and acts that the members of the community direct to each other. In organisations trust supports and enables collaboration and knowledge sharing which are processes related to knowledge management. Collaboration and knowledge sharing are based on organizational culture and climate, which can either support or prevent them (Yoon, 2000). In order to overcome cultural barriers to sharing knowledge has more to do with how organisations design and implement their knowledge management effort than with changing the existing organizational culture (McDermontt and ODell, 2001). It involves balancing the visible and invisible dimensions of culture; visibly demonstrating the importance of sharing knowledge and building on the invisible core values. The companies we studied felt they are still learning how to do this effectively. McDermontt and ODell (2001) derive five critical aspects about aligning knowledge sharing with the organisation culture. 1. To create a knowledge sharing culture, make a visible connection between sharing knowledge and practical business goals, problems or results. 2. Match the overall style of your organisation rather than to directly copy the practices developed by other organisations. 3. Link sharing knowledge to widely held core values. By linking with core values of the organisation values, you make sharing knowledge consistent with peers expectations and managers considerations. 4. Human networks are one of the key vehicles for sharing knowledge. To build a sharing culture, enhance the networks that already exist. Enable them with tools, resources and legitimisation. 5. Recruit the support of people in your organisation who already share ideas and insights. Managers need to encourage and even pressure people to share their knowledge. Build sharing knowledge into routine performance appraisal. There must be a well-built culture of continuous improvement and learning, linked to problem seeking and problem solving and focused on specific values such as product quality and customer service. Employees are encouraged to gather relevant information and to use and share that information in problem solving and implementing innovative solutions and practices (Goh, 2002). Organisational Knowledge Structures Organisational knowledge structure is different than organisational culture and climate in at least two significant ways. The concept of knowledge structures deals with goals, cause-and-effect perspective, and other cognitive essentials. Furthermore knowledge structure is more clearly linked to an organisations plan for survival and more subject to change than an organisations culture, neither of which changes readily of provides specific strategies for action for an organisation (Lyles, 1992). In developing knowledge structures, there are three stages that individuals go through to reach agreement (Weick and Bougon, 1986): 1. Agreement on which concepts capture and abstract their joint experience; 2. Consensus on relations among these concepts, and; 3. Similarity of view on how these related concepts affects each party. Human resource is an important asset and within these resources lays the knowledge useful for organisations. In order to develop organizational knowledge the role of individual knowledge is very important. Organizational Change The organisations creation of differential knowledge, at its core, springs unpredictably and unknowingly from social interchanges between competent organisations. Thus the importance of organizational behaviour in a

Acceptance: Chinese & American Born Perspectives in Poetry

Kelvin Yee 10/21/12 Skyline College English 110 Paper #2 Acceptance: Chinese & American Born Chinese Perspectives in Poetry The United States is a place where people can have diverging views on how to describe the diverse nation. The country in fact does not have an official language because of the myriad of distinct ethnicities residing within the country. With all this diversity it is only natural for people to struggle with which cultural norm to follow. Of the many immigrants that have journeyed to the U. S. or a better life, Chinese immigrants perhaps have been discriminated against the most because at one point they were considered an alien incapable of assimilating which lead to laws preventing their immigration and naturalization during our nation’s not too distant history. From a Chinese perspective, appearance is everything and by default that means acceptance as well. Chinese immigrants often will develop opposing personas since the United States is predominantly an individualistic society whereas Chinese society is predominantly a collectivist culture.This imbalance in values has caused some Asian-Americans to become baffled over how to discover their true identity. While achieving acceptance while balancing multiple identities is not an easy feat to accomplish, authors Kitty Tsui and Laureen Mar have used poetry in similar and dissimilar ways to support people who are endeavoring to navigate through diverse and conflicting identities, through their poems: A Chinese Banquet and My Mother; Who Came From China, Where She Never Saw Snow. Both authors are activists that use poetry as well as other literary mediums to reach a broader audience.Tsui was born in Hong Kong and she is a lesbian with a loving partner so she is very familiar with longing for acceptance since she is a minority within a minority. Mar is of Chinese descent born in the United States at a time when discrimination against Chinese and Asians in general was still vastly prevalen t throughout the nation. The two authors use their intellect to enlighten as many people as they are able to reach with their literary works. The protagonist in Tsui’s poem is arguably modeled after her where she is striving to be accepted for being gay by her family.The protagonist attempts to come out to her mother â€Å"but she will not listen, she shakes her head. † (Tsui 613) This avoidance can become very problematic due to the conflicting societal teachings and will only perpetuate the alienation. When there is disapproval in Chinese families often a distance will start to build as children and parents start alienating one another. This largely stems from Chinese children being taught not to question authority while Western society is teaching almost the exact opposite.The main character in Mar’s poem is a Chinese immigrant mother that succumbs to a cycle of monotonous despair without even realizing it. The mother appears to be content doing the same job day in and day out for relatively low wages as she has been sewing sleeves onto ski jackets over and over again for twenty four years. She must work to support her family and because â€Å"she earns money by each piece, on a good day, thirty dollars† (Mar 533), thirty dollars that could easily be ten if she slows the pace.Being an immigrant with limited knowledge of the English language, she is not left with many options in terms of rising above her socioeconomic class but she cannot afford to slow down to take English lessons. Like many immigrants the mother gets caught in a catch 22 and over time loses sight of the goal of providing a better future for her and her family after all, she could have stayed in China to do this job. Both poems emphasize the struggles that someone goes through while both being and feeling like an outsider which only illustrates how important it is to bring conflicting viewpoints into equilibrium.Tsui’s poem illustrates the narrator grappli ng with her own persona as well as the persona her family would like her to portray. In contrast the struggle in Mar’s poem is about the inner workings of the intricate interactions between society and the immigrant population in America. These issues are deeply philosophical as there are many cultural dimensions rooted within them. These two distinguished poets have gone to great lengths to not only alert us to mounting issues in our society but they give us a map to navigate these turbulent waters as well.The struggles presented in the poems are not merely that of being an outsider because they have a fervent underlying clash of cultures that exists within them. Take Tsui’s poem for example, she asserts that you should allow your individuality to shine through but at the same time be respectful of the differing societal views. The first evidence of this notion is established early on in her poem where the reader discovers the narrator’s individuality flourishi ng in the form of fashion because the reader is specifically informed that the narrator is dressed differently from the rest of the female attendees of the family function.The narrator could have easily chosen to cause a raucous or simply refuse to attend the family function because her partner was not welcome at the event. Instead of pursuing either of these two scenarios she attends and â€Å"[sucks] on shrimp and squab† (Tsui 613) minding her own business while daydreaming of acceptance. This decision is very significant because the narrator demonstrates that she is still able to be respectful of the traditions of her family and culture while still allowing her individuality to thrive as much as possible given the circumstances.Through all of this she is still very conscious of not only her perceived image but her family’s image as well. In contrast Mar’s poem proclaims that you should not go against tradition in the slightest bit, but instead encourages peop le to follow tradition with one key factor to keep in mind; do not overwork yourself until you lose sight of why you are working so hard in the first place. Chinese society places great value in a strong work ethic but the mother keeps working without questioning authority, also something Chinese society teaches, which can be viewed as either a positive or negative Chinese trait to have.The mother ends up being overworked with a seemingly low prospect of climbing to a higher socioeconomic class without even realizing the disparity in the working conditions compared to the typical working conditions of native born Americans. Mar points out that many immigrants get taken advantage of because they are unfamiliar with what is proper and what is downright unscrupulous in hopes of Chinese immigrants realizing that virtues that are prized in Chinese culture may become a point of exploitation in cultures with dissimilar values.Not only have these renowned poets given us instruments to aid u s as we traverse challenging obstacles in multicultural lives, but they have done it in such manner that a reader of the poem can’t help but marvel at how they have used certain literary tools to reiterate their point without creating a feeling of alienation. Throughout both poems, both poets have given us subtle clues that are not immediately apparent but after careful reflection provide the reader with a revelation about the society that we live in.Tsui’s use of repetition is meant to have the reader believe that the family function is fairly casual despite initial evidence to the contrary. Very early on the speaker in the poem uses an oxymoron stating that â€Å"it was not a very formal affair but all the women over twelve wore long gowns and a corsage, except for me. † (Tsui 612) Clearly the event itself was a formal affair; otherwise the women over twelve would not have been in long gowns with a corsage. They could have simply been in a casual dress or pant s for that matter. It was not a very formal affair† is repeated several times during the course of the poem in an attempt to create a feeling of casualness. This casualness is a key concept that is further developed by the lack of punctuation in the entirety of the poem. Making the poem have a casual atmosphere is yet another way to show respect while still inserting individuality because she is able to soothe a stressful topic. For traditional Chinese families having a gay child is a very serious matter.In general Chinese society value sons more than daughters because the sons will continue the family name and it is assumed that sons will care for the parents in their old age. Since multiple cultures are working against Tsui it is only natural that she would endeavor to frame the issue in a softened manner. She points this out as not only a remedy for coming out but also as a guide to manage any tense situation in which there is are significant disadvantages. Mar utilizes a l iterary device known as enjambment to aid in emphasizing the irony in her poem.By having her thoughts flow in a continuous manner the reader does not have an opportunity to immediately pick up on the irony since there is no break between her thoughts. This writing style allows suspense of the poet’s point to build up, creating an epiphany upon reflection of the poem at the end. This style of writing allows the author to blend thoughts together that individually would not be very substantial but when combined, form a very profound and thought provoking literary work.Had Mar chosen to use an alternate style of writing she would have likely had to delve much deeper in her selection of words in order to convey her point with such an impact. Most rational people regardless of their cultural background would choose to portray their mother in a positive light. The narrator of Mar’s poem describes her mother as having hair as â€Å"coarse and wiry, [and] black as burnt scrub. † (Mar 532) No one would intentionally depict their mother in such a horrible fashion unless there was something amiss however; the little details like this are not immediately processed with the enjambment.Further analysis reveals additional evidence to suggest something is irrational. All the Chinese dialects are tonal languages like most Asian languages. Due to the pronouncing of certain tones in many Chinese dialects, many Westerners have viewed some of the dialects as being harsh and abrasive when in fact from the perspective of a native speaker, the dialogue is nothing more than a normal conversation. Mar specifically choses to have the narrator, a native speaker, describe Toisan Wah, a Chinese dialect, as being harsh.Obviously this suggests that there is some dissatisfaction of the current situation just as the fact that the mother has immigrated to America for twenty four years, but the speaker in the poem specifically points out that English is the mother’s se cond language suggests additional discontent. After twenty four years it shouldn’t be necessary to explicitly communicate this detail despite being a fact. On the surface of these two poems a reader can get wealth of information to guide through balancing multiple diverging identities but it is perhaps after careful analysis that you can appreciate the true implications of the poems.Both Tsui and Mar are activists but being that they come from a Chinese cultural background, though slightly differing views, they know how to express their opinions without being overbearing. Chinese culture is a high-context society meaning that there is a lot of emphasis put on the meanings of not what is said but rather what is implied whether it is in the form of writing style or nonverbal cues during physical interactions. A considerable wealth of knowledge can be lost without delving deeper to read in between the lines of our intricately elaborate network of intertwined cultures.With global ization and acculturation happening at an increasingly unwavering rate, these two poets have prompted us to take heed not to lose sight of our culture, the very essence of our identities, in a robust but diplomatic approach to gain acceptance. Works Cited Mar, Laureen. â€Å"My Mother; Who Came from China, Where She Never Saw Snow. † Barnet, Sylvan, William Burto and William E. Cain. A Little Literature. New York: Longman, 2007. 532-533. Poem. Tsui, Kitty. â€Å"A Chinese Banquet. † Barnet, Sylvan, William Burto and William E. Cain. A Little Literature. New York: Longman, 2007. 612-614. Poem.

Overpopulation

â€Å"Human population is growing like never before. We are now adding one billion people to the planet every 12 years. That's about 220,000 per day. † Overpopulation is one of the worst problems the world is facing today because we’re running out of resources; it’s increasing poverty and increasing pollution. At this rate of population growth, Overpopulation is excessive population of an area to the point of overcrowding, depletion of natural resources, or environmental deterioration.A huge problem that comes with overpopulation is depleting resources. As the population is now, â€Å"one out of every seven people alive, go to bed hungry. † and â€Å"About one billion people lack access to sufficient water for consumption, agriculture and sanitation. † As our population grows those statistics are going to get worst and worst and so will our quality of living. The air quality is also decreasing. â€Å"Childhood asthma rates have risen dramatically i n the past 20 years†. The more people there are the pollution and waste.Many other vital resources are decreasing such as: oil, gas, and other fuel. There are many different causes of overpopulation but one of the main ones is a decline in death rate and an incline in birth rate. If the number of children born each year equals the number of adults that die, then the population will stabilize but since our medicine has become so advanced and because of other factors people are living longer and more children are being born. It is all way out of proportion. Another cause is religious beliefs.Some religions believe that procreation is essential and therefore families have as many children as they feel they could care for. One more cause is the lack of knowledge. Facts about reproduction, protection and birth control are lacking (especially among young adults). Right now overpopulation doesn’t seem like a big problem but if it stays on the path that it is on it will be a hu ge problem that our great grandchildren will be forced to face head on. Resources could become scarce which could also lead to conflict between countries and possibly war.The amount of pollution could increase so much it could cause serious environmental destruction. Also the cost of living will go up which will cause unemployment, which will lead to more poverty! Natural habitats will disappear along with the millions of species living within them just to provide more living space for humans. The whole world could become one hugely populated, poverty-stricken, resource less, polluted city if nothing is done. There are ways people can help stabilize the world’s population.One is to better educate people about this global problem and also about reproduction. â€Å"Imparting sex education to young kids at elementary level should be must. † Also, tax benefits should be given to married couples that have single or two children. Raising awareness about the effects of overpo pulation could help lead to ZPG (zero population growth). ZPG is the main goal and if we all come together more aware we can little by little help save the world. Overpopulation is a global problem; lets start treating it like one.

The Effects Of Child Abuse And Neglect Affect A Child s...

My research question was â€Å"How might the impact of child abuse and neglect affect a child’s growth and development?† †¢ Act of child abuse and neglect results in a child’s harms, including physical, emotional, exploitation or death (S6) †¢ Children are some of the most vulnerable members of our society, because of dependence on others to get their needs met (S6) †¢ Child abuse and neglect is one of Australia’s biggest and most misunderstood social problems. Despite being under-reported, Australian authorities confirmed 40,844 children were abused or neglected in one year alone*. †¢ That’s one child every 13 minutes suffering physical, sexual, emotional abuse or neglect, often by someone they know and should be able to trust; most often in their own home. Thousands of more cases go unreported, and the number of children and young people in out-of-home care is increasing. What is considered child abuse and neglect? (300 words) (S1) (S5) Child abuse and neglect are caused by any types of intentional behaviour by caregivers, adults, adolescents that occur over time and may cause a risk of physical, psychological or emotional injury to a child or young person (S2) (S1) (S5) There are different types of child abuse and neglect including physical, emotional, sexual abuse, physical or emotional neglect. Other forms of child maltreatment include parental mentally illness, incarceration, substance dependence, parental separation or divorce, domestic violence (S7) Neglect isShow MoreRelatedEffects Of Maltreatment On Brain Development And Its Consequences1150 Words   |  5 Pages Effects of Maltreatment on Brain Development and its Consequences Abuse and neglect is , unfortunately, not an unusual occurrence in the lives of young children. The maltreatment that they experience often have harmful long-term effects that depend on many factors. These factors are dependent on the age of the infant/child at the time of the occurrence, the question of whether the abuse was a single event or a ritual norm, and the relationship with and the identity of the abuser, as well as whetherRead MoreIt Is General Knowledge That Being Abused As A Child Will1332 Words   |  6 Pagesabused as a child will leave lasting impressions on them even into their adult life. The severity of the abuse does change how much of an impression was made, but, nonetheless, abuse leaves nothing but negative results. It will affect how children handle issues and communicate with others. It will likely worsen their grades in school and, if the child’s relationship with their parents is still bad, they will continue into a downward spiral later on in life . People who have experienced abuse as childrenRead MoreChild Abuse : Developmental Effects For Adolescents1653 Words   |  7 PagesChild Abuse: Developmental Effects for Adolescents Taylor Gowen Psych 210 Human Growth and Development Professor Lou Bacon Great Bay Community College Introduction - Adolescence is defined as the bridge between childhood and adulthood, which begins at the age of 12 and ends around the age of 18 (Scannapieco Connell-Carrick, 2005). Adolescence is a time where a lot of changing and transformation occurs throughout the body. At this time, adolescence experience physical, emotionalRead More Child Abuse and Neglect1102 Words   |  5 Pageswondered what effects abuse can have on a child? The effects abuse can have on a child is very serious. Children can obtain serious problems from child abuse. They can develop social problems, depression, and anxiety. There are four types of abuse: physical abuse, sexual abuse, emotional abuse, and neglect. 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These outrageously large numbers reveal the extent to which child abuse and neglect impact society; however, they do not acknowledge the effect abuse can have on a child’s life and the repercussions that may occur in both the individual’s childhoodRead MoreThe Effect of Child Abuse on The Emotional Development of the Infant1229 Words   |  5 PagesThe Effect of Child Abuse on the Emotional Development of the Infant to Five Years Old in the United States A Review of the Literature Child abuse is one of the most serious issues in the United States today. Child abuse is the physical, emotional/ psychological or sexual maltreatment of a minor. Neglecting a child is another type of abuse, and includes malnutrition, abandonment, and/or inadequate care of a child’s safety. Additionally, any neglectful act can lead to physical or emotional harmRead MoreChild Neglect Is An Unfortunate Reality For Children1297 Words   |  6 Pagesbehavioral development. The most critical integral aspect in this regard is the child’s relationship with his or her parents in the formative years. However, that is not always the case. Neglect-the maltreatment related to the failure to provide needed, age-appropriate care-has a power capability of comprising a child’s development. Child neglect is an unfortunate reality for children in our community. In addition, not only does it negatively impact the child, its repercussions affect people aroundRead MoreChildren Suffer Under The Pressures Of Poverty1617 Words   |  7 PagesChildren Suffer Under the Pressures of Poverty Throughout history Poverty has been a problem that affects the world. There are multiple dimensions that are the result from living at or below the poverty level. Children suffer under the pressures of poverty, they are helpless victims. Poverty does not cause Child Abuse or neglect but it does contribute or exasperates an already dire situation. 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