APA citation and zotero Essay Example for Free

APA citation and zotero Essay 1. A general â€Å"res earch s hows† type of statement that is supported by at least three different sources (e.g., three research articles) Zotero is an extension of Firefox web browser that enables users to save on books, article and other materials on which one is able to retrieve their citations (Morton, 2011; Vanhecke, 2008; Lewis, 2008)               2. A paraphrased sentence citing a single source with three to six authors Zotero retrieve and imports citation information from a number of sources such as newspaper, and commercial Web sites, and Web-based databases such as PubMed (Trinoskey, Brahmi, Gall, 2009, p. 225).                3. A subsequent sentence citing the same source as in Step 2 that correctly uses et al Air pollution is low in developed countries comapared to industrialised countries where it is high as evidenced by particular locations in Canada (Hystad et al, 2011, p. 1128).                4. A short quoted passage that is cited correctly. Make sure to include the page number and place the punctuation correctly He argues that, â€Å"Zotero’s note-taking feature is very practical. Users can enter small notes on a particular reference by simply typing in an input field. These notes are saved automatically and organized in conjunction with the citation information,† (Vanhecke, 2008, p. 275).                  5. A second quoted passage that is 40 words long or longer, which is formatted correctly as a block quote and cited correctly with the page number and punctuation placed correctly He explains how Zotero note taking works: Zotero’s note-taking feature is very practical. Users can enter small notes on a particular reference by simply typing in an input field. In addition, Zotero is integrated with Microsoft Word and other word processors and works in all computers formats (PC, Mac, and Linux). Features such as formatted citation export make it very simple for users to create a list of references in the perfect format desired for a manuscript or other use. Users can create a reference list by dragging and dropping citations, (Vanhecke, 2008 p. 275) References Hystad, P., Setton, E., Cervantes, A., Poplawski, K., Deschenes, S., Brauer, M., Demers, P. (2011). Creating National Air Pollution Models for Population Exposure Assessment in Canada. Environmental Health Perspectives, 119(8), 1128 Lewis, L. A. (2008). From the Front Lines: An Academic Librarian Reports on the Impact of APAs New Electronic References Guidelines. Reference User Services Quarterly, 48(2), 128-131. Morton, A. (2011). Digital Tools: Zotero and Omeka. Journal Of American History, 98(3), 952 Trinoskey, J., Brahmi, F. A., Gall, C. (2009). Zotero: A Product Review. Journal Of Electronic Resources In Medical Libraries, 6(3), 225. Vanhecke, T. E. (2008). Zotero. Journal Of The Medical Library Association, 96(3), 275 Source document

Effect of Gender Labels on Infants

Effect of Gender Labels on Infants INFANT PERCEIVED GENDER AND ADOLESCENTS’RATING Table of Contents (Jump to) INTRODUCTION LITERATURE REVIEW RECENT RESEARCHES METHOD PARTICIPANTS: DESIGN/LAYOUT: MATERIAL UTILIZED: PROCEDURE RESULTS DISCUSSION PART ONE: Psychological Observational Measure †¢ Name of the instrument/Scale/Measure/Inventory/Checklist: The research is available on the debate: Infant perceptions and adolescents’ ratings †¢ Behavior measured: Psychological research has been proposed. †¢ Author: †¢ Date of publication: 19.01.2014 †¢ Time of administration: 05:00 PM GST †¢ Population for which designed: Parents and minor children †¢ Method of Administration: Basic/ enlarged †¢ Source of Information: Website and journals/publications †¢ Number of items: INTRODUCTION, LITERATURE REVIEW, RECENT RESEARCHES, METHOD, PROCEDURE, RESULTS DISCUSSION. †¢ Permission required to use the measure: No †¢ If you need a permission-from whom: nil †¢ Source contact information (email): PART TWO: Research Proposal-Psychological Scale INTRODUCTION The term attachment is generally defined as an enduring affectional bond with a substantial intensity and durability. Dr. Bowlby in his research papers defines and describes attachment as a fundamental behavioral system which is substantially attached to predictable outcomes in keeping an individual in close proximity to one or a few significant others. (Dr.Bowlby, October 1994) Mc Clure Elin B in his psychological bulletin defines Infant perceived gender and adolescents ratings as a meta-analytic review in sex differences in facial expression processing and their development in infants, children and adolescents. Many researchers agree that gender role socialization begins and is adopted at a very early stage or infants birth. Most parents, at the time of birth of a child are interested in learning whether their newborn child is a boy or a girl and intentionally or not, this knowledge places with them a set of expectations about sex role appropriate traits. Empirical research suggests and marks carefully that these initial expectations, which form the very early and basis of gender schemas can have a significant effect on parents perceptions of and behaviour towards infants (McClure B, 2000). Gender statistics contributes a lot to adult, responsiveness towards the child and his own behaviour towards socializing and development of the childs sense of self. A self-fulfilling prophecy process is needed to attain a gender role socialization and a sex-typed behaviour and it is generally attained in connection with stereo-typed expectations(Darley and Fazio,1980).a prejudice and a preconceived gender based expectations process entitles the infant to ellicit an expected behaviour and further on reinforces this expected behaviour when it occurs and this is supposed to confirm parents initial expectations. (Bell Carver, 1980) LITERATURE REVIEW Recent researches have explored and demonstrated sex-typed labels and effect of infant gender on adults assignment and created adult sex-typed infants. These research have explored vast subject population and children of varying ages. Children as a primary source of information, parents in one study, were asked to rate and describe their new-borns shortly after their birth. Although the infants were not discriminated and differentiated on objective measures, girls were rated as smaller, more soft, more fine-featured and inattentive as compared to boys or male infants. Culp et al, found out that parents react differently to their unfamiliar infants due to preconceived sex assumptions and supported the notion(through other researches included) that parents react differently towards their male and female infants. This research suggests that parents are inclined to perceive traits in an infant, in consistency with gender labels. Also Fagot, suggests that parents of toddlers reacted differently towards girls and boys behavior. Parents reacted more positively to girls as compared to boys when toddlers played with dolls and reacted more critically towards girls as compared to boys when toddlers were engaged in motor activity. As a group these researches suggest that adult responses coincide with culturally and socially assigned sex-stereotypes and supposedly gender labels which are independent of actual infant gender differences. These studies suggest that how expectations and gender labels assigned to the infant affect both the reactions and behaviour o f the adults. (Culp, Cook, S., Housley, 1983) RECENT RESEARCH Although researches have examined sex stereo-typing of infants by adults, parents in particular, few researches have explored childrens or adolescents sex-typing of infants. Stern and Karrekar studied the sex-biased perceptions and presumptions of infants who were labeled as either male or female and concluded that adults perceptions are rarely influenced by basic knowledge of infants sex. However, research also suggests that young children rate infants in a sex-typed fashion much more frequently than adults. None of the studies included in the review examination examined sex-stereotyping of infants by older children or adolescents. One study suggests that how sex-specified perceptions of infants change during the early adolescent period ranging from high school to middle school (junior-aged)ages. A number of studies have examined adolescents sex-stereotyping of older individuals in addition to adolescents sex-stereotyped perceptions of infants. Many researchers examined that sex ste reotyping increases between ages of 3 and 14. Some studies have suggested curvilinear relationship between age and sex stereotyping relative among younger subjects and adolescents using sex stereotypes less than other children. However most of these studies suggest a rise in sex stereotyping from pre-school through middle childhood, then showing a plateau, and then a decline and a decrease in adolescence. (Fagot, 1978) The main purpose of this study includes a systemmatic examination of infants perceived gender on adolescents ratings towards the infants. However, some studies suggest that differences in the ratings of perceived male or a perceived female infant are a function of actual gender differentiation of the said observer, Older women particularly mothers, often give more positive ratings as compared to other subjects and girls tend to rate infants more beautiful as compared to boys do. Participants(subject population) is selected and attributed to represent adolescent age period(aged from 12 to 14 years )old. In consistency with Haugh et al and other studies being reviewed here, it is expected that the act of labeling infants with sex-typed first names will elicit responses among all other learned attributes associated with gender-category labels. Such genderization or gender category labels such as male or female will elicit a broad set of associated attributes. The prediction is that adolescents will use sex-related cues (i, e name of infant) to make evaluations about the infants given the minimal information about the infants. The second hypothesis states that, regardless to the name assigned to the infant, the males and females will perceive the infants in a different manner. (Condry Condry, 1976) METHOD PARTICIPANTS: Thirty six junior high students(aged 12 to 14 years) attending a public school in west Covinia, California are used as participants. The students are part of leadership class and the said school is located in a predominantly middle-lower class section of the society. The informed consent is being taken by parents or legal guardians of the junior high students and incentive is being given so that the students are persuaded to give their informed consent papers duly signed by the parents or the legal guardian. DESIGN/LAYOUT: The part of the study may be considered as a 2(gender specification of the adolescent)times 3(multiplied by 3) infant name condition between -subject factorials design because there are two independent variables. The gender of the adolescents have the two decidedly levels, â€Å"male or a female. However, the infant name condition has three levels i,e,Laurie, Larry and the control condition.The dependant measures includes adolescents ratings of the infants through six bipolar adjectives. MATERIAL UTILIZED: A color image or a photograph of a 3-year old infant is used for the above mentioned assumptions or conditions.The image of the infant is photo copied on 21.6x 27.9 cm paper.Several se-typed bipolar adjectives are being attached with the photograph. The first name of the infant changes changes in each condition. In one condition the infant will be assigned a gender-typed version of his first name Larry and in the control condition the name this infant will be used in place of his first name. PROCEDURE The procedure is very easy. Students will be tested in groups in three consecutive days. The parents or guardians are being informed the purpose of the study that how infants traits can be detected from their physical appearance. Twelve adolescents from the leadership class are assigned to each of the three gender-typed name conditions. Each group is tested on a separate given day. On each day the students are being told the importance of not telling other potential subjects the details of the underlying study and they are also told that they will be informed by the result and purpose of the study as soon as the research is compiled and completed. All students will be tested in the same classroom given the study carrels to block their views from one another. No distortion to be made. The instructions are given to each group of students in a loud and neutral tone. The students are being told that there are no wrong or right answers, however, the answers depend on their personal opinion. All questions be answered before the students start rating the answers. When the students are finished with their work, they are thanked for completing the contributing towards the research. RESULTS The six-bipolar adjectives will be rated by the adolescents in each condition of the independent variables.The result ranges from the values of 1-5.where 1 stands or means firm and 5 means soft.Scores on each of the bipolar adjective is analyzed.The maen and standard deviation of each condition of the independent variable is taken.The inferential statistics are performed in a two-way procedures between subjects ANOVA and Turkeys HSD are used to signify the groups differently. DISCUSSION The results will be restated in the light of above hypothesis. The results will be predicted and the generality of sex-stereotyped perceptions of infants are extended to the subject population of the adolescents. Results related to previous research and assessments with theoretical aspects of the introduction section will also be discussed. Limitations of the current research are being specified. One limitation is that we used one photograph of one particular infant more photographs of infants of various ages can be used in future research and evaluations. Finally the results and importance will be summarized. Bibliography Bell, N. J., Carver, W. (1980). A reevaluation of gender label effects: Expectant mothers’ responses to infants. Child Development. Bowlby, D. (October 1994). Adolescents perceptions of their attachment relationships with their mothers, fathers, and friends. Journal of Youth and Adolescence. Condry, J., Condry, S. (1976). Sex differences: A study of the eye of the beholder. Child Development. Culp, R. E., Cook, S., A., Housley, P. C. (1983). Sex Roles,. Fagot, B. I. (1978). The influences of sex of child on parental reactions to toddler children. Child development. McClure, B, E. (2000, May ). American Psycological Association. Retrieved from www.psycnet.apa.org: http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/bul/126/3/424/

La-La Land American Ignorance Essay -- Argumentative Persuasive Papers

La-La Land American Ignorance So tell me. Who is the prime minister of Britain? What did Koizumi just do to his cabinet? Do you even know what country he’s from? What was the reelected chancellor of Germany’s stance in his recent political campaign? What resolution did the U.N. Security Council pass in late September? Which country stopped the shipment of five million dollars of uranium 155 miles from Iraqi borders? Can you even point out the location of Baghdad on a world map? Where is Arafat’s headquarters located? Do you even know who Arafat is? What 39-year old Asian businessman took control of North Korea’s recently opened â€Å"special economic zone?† Why is Milosevic being tried at The Hague? Do you know what these things, these people, and these events, have to do with the United States? More specifically, do you know how they might affect you? It is no surprise that many Americans cannot answer these questions. In general, most of us aren’t interested in what happens in countries on the other side of the globe. We feel apathetic even to domestic events occurring in states other than our own. But that is the problem – the American public does not recognize the most basic knowledge about the current events of the world due to lack of interest. The average adult perhaps only realizes that bin Laden and al Qaeda are hiding somewhere inside or outside Afghanistan and that Saddam Hussein may have a stockpile of weapons of mass destruction hidden somewhere in Iraq. But this is about as far as their familiarity with foreign affairs extends – they may not even be able to point out Baghdad on a map or what territory Desert Storm covered. They probably cannot even identify the events that occurred at Tora Bora... ...lling our gigantic walk-in closets with more dresses from Gucci than there are days in a year than we are with North Korea’s militarization of its economy. We want to watch action movies all day long, eat Ben and Jerry’s ice cream right out of the half-gallon bucket, drive fancy BMW sports cars, booze up on Smirnoff Ice, shoot up more heroin, pay thousands for prostitutes, gamble fortunes away at the MGM Grand in Vegas, and enjoy all the pleasures of life. We care more for that than anything else in the world. And our government responds to that. The media bows to our wishes. And we grow ever more apathetic, ignoring the world around us. Sources cited: Epstein, Edward J. News From Nowhere: Television and the News, Vintage, New York NY. 1973, pp. 16; Pearson, David. â€Å"The Media and Government Deception.† Propaganda Review. Spring 1989, pp. 6-11.

The Rebellion Against Victorianism :: European Europe History

The Rebellion Against Victorianism The 1890's was in time for transformation for the English society. After Queen Victoria died the heart of the Victorian culture seemed to fade. England was beginning to experience economic competition from other states and a gradual decline from its former pinnacle of power. Politically, the Parliament experienced some fundamental power shifts after the turn of the century. This essay will address the climate of change in the English culture and its expressions. The changes occurred in two separate and distinct time periods. These time periods are the turn of the century from 1890's to World War II. The second period is WWII to 1970's. The new century brought about an end to the old and stuffy Victorian life-styles. The social stigmas of women and their behavior was challenged and change by the rise of feminism in 1910. Women began to protest against the system for women 's suffrage. One instance these "violent women" ran around in the city smashing store windows to get notoriety for their cause. Books such as the Odd Women, featured a fictional representation of "professional women". They were classified in two categories, both an attack on the social institution of marriage. The first of these new women were out only for fun. The second was the concept of an asexual being who did not need a man. These women owned their own flats and had various jobs usually secretarial in nature.. The book expressed an uncomfortable period of transformation. Working women were not completely accepted by English society at this time. The book portrayed different lives and how they coped with their situations.1 The male character was also in a state of change. This change brought about the term "new men". These new men were classified by a "sexual anarchy". This movement was predominantly a middle class, liberal expression. Many were young male artisans who were homosexual . The word homosexuality was created by an amendment to criminal law which had declared all acts of sodomy as illegal. Previous to this amendment the act of homosexuality was punishable by hanging. Doctors and scientist had seen homosexuality as a disease, thus the need developed for a "cure". Sexuality became all inclusive. There was a large aesthetic movement which was also inherent in this "new" culture. This movement classified art as being done for art's sake. Art was now being viewed as separate from society.

Crucial Role of Women in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman Essay

Crucial Role of Women in Death of a Salesman    In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, women play a crucial role in Willy’s life and in the lives of the other characters. While the roles themselves have not changed since the play was written, society’s opinion of these roles has changed greatly. When it was written, Miller’s representation of Linda was seen as a portrait of the ideal American wife. She was a nurturing wife and mother, loyal to her family, and almost overly supportive of her pitiful husband Willy. The other women in the play, however, were seen as â€Å"working women,† or women who care about money as opposed to emotional support. This view has almost spun 180 degrees since the feminist movement rocked society. Critics rethought the role of women in society and in marriage (Murphy and Abbotson 6), and concluded that the women in the play are much more complex and powerful than earlier interpretations had given them credit for. Not only are the women a recreation for the men in the play, they can be seen as heavily influential on the lives of the men with whom they come into contact. Willy’s entire pathetic life could have been turned around if only Linda had encouraged him to follow Ben to Alaska rather than insisting the couple cling to the seemingly safe life they had begun to build. The secretaries, who at first glance seem to exist merely to perform such menial tasks as typing, actually are able to block Biff's and Willy's entrance to the offices of the powerful men who could advance their careers. (Stanton 131) In addition to being far more powerful than early critics of the play recognized, the women in Death of a Salesman also are far more complex. Women are not simply good or bad - supportive wive... ...Works Cited and Consulted: Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman. Harold Bloom, ed. New York: Chelsea House, 1988. Miller, Arthur. Death of a Salesman. 50th Anniversary ed. New York: Penguin Books, 1999. Murphy, Brenda and Susan C. W. Abbotson. Understanding Death of a Salesman: A Student Handbook to Cases, Issues and Historical Documents. The Greenwood Press "Literature in Context" series, Claudia Durst Johnson, series editor. Westwood, CT, London: 1999. Stanton, Kay. "Women in Death of a Salesman" Readings on Death of a Salesman. Ed. Thomas Siebold. San Diego, CA: Greenhaven Press, 1999. 130-137. Guth, Hans P. and Gabriel L. Rico.   1993.   Discovering Literature.   "Tragedy and the Common Man" by Arthur Miller.   Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall. Oakley, J. Ronald. God's Country: America in the Fifties. New York: Dembner Books, 1990. 245.

Storytelling and its contribution to organizational theory

The storytelling approach towards the knowledge sharing is explored in detail. The story telling can be used to elicit tacit knowledge and can be used to flow the knowledge about previous events in the organization and any other work related knowledge in an interesting and effective manner. Since emotions are attached to the stories, they narrate the much value to the listeners and the listeners tend to keep what they have heard. In this sense, organization memory is created by the anecdotes of the stories being told.The lessons learnt from the past experiences are label to the employees working now. It is also studied the negative stories have much impact on the listeners. The story telling has the potential to capture tacit knowledge and how it is done in the context of IBM is explained. Moreover, the story telling in the organizations can be enhanced by the use of IT tools like intranet, emails and other knowledge management systems which helps employees to create platform to shar e their stories and communicate the values of the organization.This values and the knowledge base of the organization helps to form the organization memory. Table of Contents Introduction Storytelling is one of the approaches towards knowledge capture and codification, the first phase of KM cycle. This is used to elicit tacit knowledge, towards creation of new knowledge and to organize the content in systematic manner. In knowledge capture phase, the distinction between the capture of existing knowledge and the creation of new knowledge has to be made. Mostly, only existing knowledge is set into the pattern, which only forms the explicit knowledge.There is huge pool of knowledge, which needs to be captured towards generating the new knowledge and that knowledge is mostly tacit in nature, which resides within the heads of knower. Every organization also has a memory. The embodiment of the organizational memory is the experience of its employees, tangible data and knowledge stores in the organization (Walsh and Unison, 1991). The value of knowledge is increased when it is transferred otherwise the uncultured knowledge is devalued and ignored with time. In today's fast-paced economy, an organization's knowledge base is quickly becoming its only sustainable competitive advantage.This competitive advantage is owned by utilizing the organizational knowledge, the individual skills, thoughts and ideas. So Tacit knowledge management is must to capture the experience and expertise of the individual in an organization and making it available to anyone who needs it. Once the tacit knowledge becomes explicit, it needs to be organized in a structured document that will enable multipurpose use. The KM tools help to create knowledge and then leverage it across multiple channels, including phone, email, discussion forums, Internet and any new channel that come online.Story telling is one of the best KM tools to capture tacit knowledge. Organizational story can be defined as pa st management actions, employee interactions or other key events that have occurred and that have been communicated informally (Swap et al, 2001). The stories provide a rich context making it interesting for the listeners and also remains in the conscious memory longer. Stories reinforce organizational learning and communicate common values. The core capabilities of an organization are built by critical skills of employees, management systems and organizational values.This capability can be transferred in formal and explicit way. However much knowledge articulacy knowledge with rich tacit dimensions is transferred internally through processes of colonization and initialization. Story telling is one such transfer mechanisms that can leverage the tacit knowledge of the organization. Literature Review The use of the stories and storytelling may provide a powerful practice as a part of efforts by individuals, groups or organizations to share what they know. It breaks away from the tradi tional means of communication and adds new dimension to the knowledge management tools.Deeding, in his article â€Å"Telling Tales† tries to convey hat the age-old practice of storytelling is an effective method to be used as knowledge management tools but the stories told should match the situation and conditions in the organization. Storyteller as a leader should influence the listeners and the story should have enough detail to be intelligible and credible. Different narrative patterns like Sparking Action, Communicating who you are, Transmitting value, Fostering collaboration and Taming the grapevine can be used.Snowman's article titled â€Å"The new simplicity-context, Narrative and Content† focuses on the need f knowledge management to go beyond the boundaries of using best practices into the realms of uncertainty. Since both the human behavior and system are complex, the cause and effect of the system and the interacting agents can't be separated; the contextual stimulation is needed to capture the knowledge. The decision making pattern is important. Narrative is emerging as one of the most exciting approaches to knowledge management.It involves going and finding a person to ask questions whenever faced with the new task or encounter a problem and get context-sensitive answers. In short, stories allow the communication of complex ideas in a simple, memorable form. Karakul Shaffer B Kali in his research on â€Å"Transfer knowledge Using Stories: A Malaysian University Case Study † attempts to explore the usage of knowledge-embedded stories in a Malaysian institute of higher learning and will consider the understanding of organization members concerning storytelling in the organization.It provides insights on the culture of storytelling as a method of knowledge transfer medium and explores the practicality of using stories in the organization and the employee's perception of the usage of stories to transfer knowledge. This case reveal s that story telling is regarded as an acceptable approach in knowledge transfer. Mostly gathering sessions in the university stimulated storytelling. The case also presented the factors that influence the KM storytelling.The factors are an extension of the existing knowledge transfer factors mentioned in literatures, which do influence KM storytelling. Walter Swap, Dorothy Leonard, Mimi Shields and Lisa Abram in their research â€Å"Using Mentoring and Storytelling to transfer knowledge in the Workplace† explains that the knowledge with rich tacit dimensions is transferred informally through processes of colonization and naturalization. They have focuses on two transfer mechanisms mentoring and storytelling.Most stories told informally in organizations are negative. Therefore managers interested in how knowledge accrues in the organization cannot ignore these important transmitters. Stories that dramatist or illustrate managerial systems, values, norms are more likely to be believed and acted upon than mere statements of policies and norms. Finally, the use of information technologies can enhance the story telling. The effect of verbal storytelling can be enhanced through the use of multimedia.Consistent with the elaboration effect, seeing and hearing the storyteller can add weight and detail to the story as can visual about the environment in which the story occurred. Story-telling-a technique to capture tacit knowledge In KM, the knowledge capture and creation may be done by the individuals who work for the organization or a group within that organization, by all members of a community of practice (COP), or by a dedicated COP individual.So the creation, capture and the codification of the information is done at the personal level while performing activities at Job. Within the firm, individuals share perceptions and Jointly interpret information events and experiences (Cohen and Leviathan, 1990) and at some point, knowledge acquisition extends beyond the individuals and is coded into corporate memory (Napkin, 1995; Spencer, 1996; Monika and Takeouts, 1995). Unless knowledge is embedded into corporate memory, the firm cannot leverage the knowledge held by individual members of the organization.Knowledge acquisition from individuals or groups can be characterized as the transfer and transformation of valuable expertise from a knowledge source (human expert, documents) to a knowledge repository (organizational memory, facts and rules). Explicit knowledge is already well described but we need to abstract and summarize this content. Tacit knowledge capturing needs various techniques of which story telling is the one. Stories involve the detailed narrative of management actions and decision-making styles, employee activities and interaction and other events within the division that are communicated informally within the organization.A story can be defined as telling of a happening or a connected series of happenings whether true or fi ctitious (Deeding, 2001). This involved the group interaction and collaboration for story telling. The SEC' model developed by Knock and Takeouts also supports that story telling or narratives can be used to bring out tacit knowledge. Fig 1 :SEC Model by Monika and Takeouts Here, colonization process is involve which emphasizes the tacit knowledge exchange through Joint activities such as gathering, spending time together, informal talks and living and working in the same environment rather than through written or verbal instructions.The process of transferring one's ideas or images directly to colleagues or subordinates means to share personal knowledge and create commonplace or Baa. During extrapolation process, an individual commits to the group and thus becomes one with the group. The individuals' intentions and ideas merge and become integrated with the group's mental world. This involves the expressing of ideas or images as communicable manner such as metaphors, analogies, eve nt description or narratives. A number of conditions must be in place, however, in order to ensure that storytelling in its various enacted forms creates value in a particular organization.Sole and Wilson (2002) argue that although all stories are narratives, not all narratives are good knowledge-sharing stories. As an example, they cite movies, which tell stories designed primarily to entertain and therefore need not necessarily be authentic-?or even believable. In contrast, in organizational storytelling, stories are often used to promote knowledge sharing, inform, and/or prompt a change in behavior, as well as communicate the organizational culture and create a sense of belonging.In order to achieve these organizational objectives, knowledge-sharing stories need to be authentic, believable, and compelling. Stories need to evoke some type of response, and, above all, they need to be concise Deeding, 2001), so that the moral of the story or the organizational lesson to be learned c an be easily understood, remembered, and acted upon. In other words, organizational stories should have an impact: they should prevent similar mistakes from being repeated, or they should promote organizational learning and adoption of best practices stemming from the collective organizational memory.Deeding (2001) describes the power of a springboard story, knowledge that has been captured in the form of a brief story that has the ability to create a strong impact on its audience. He outlines a number of key elements required to use stories to encapsulate valuable knowledge, such as: The explicit story should be relatively brief and detailed Just enough that the audience can understand it. The story must be intelligible to the specific audience so that they are â€Å"hooked.The story should be inherently interesting. The story should spring the listener to a new level of understanding. The story should have a happy ending. The story should embody the change message. The change mes sage should be implicit. The listeners should be encouraged to identify with the protagonist. The story should ell with a specific individual or organization. The protagonist should be prototypical of the organization's main business. Other things being equal, true is better than invented.One should test, test, and test again Story telling and KM processes involved in context of MM. IBM has leverage on the power of story telling at the daily work place to enhance the employees' performance. IBM has a four-stage storytelling approach. 1 . Anecdotal elicitation through interviews, observation and story circles 2. Anecdotal deconstruction to analyses cultural issues, ways of working, values, rules and beliefs to lied the story's key messages 3. Intervention / communication design with a story constructed or enhanced 4.Story deployment Story telling workshops can be run to elicit the knowledge and cultural values of an organization as well as both its best and inhibitors to sharing and identifies business issues. Values, rules and beliefs of organization were identified. Storytelling provides the platform to the employees to share experiences and build social capital and networks and most importantly it achieves agreement among the participants The knowledge management framework developed by Olivia and Lieder (2001 a) is based n the view of organizations as â€Å"knowledge systems†.According to this view, organization consists of four knowledge processes Creation Storage / Retrieval Transfer Application Here in case of MM, knowledge creation process takes place by the creation of anecdotes, which are captured as tacit knowledge, and they are stored in a repository and aligned with communities, processes and subject areas. This shows the knowledge storage process.Then the knowledge transfer takes place through support discussion forums (lunch and learn), databases, intellectual capital, management systems (training), document management systems, bulletin boa rds, inline chats, portals (community kick-off days) and intranets. Ultimately, the people who make communities do the knowledge application process. The effective communities have valuable stories. Practice of dedicated Story Telling Sessions The practice of dedicated story telling sessions in some organizations have proved the increased level of knowledge exchange among employees.For example, NASA, Deducted and Malaysian university have Km initiative in form of story telling sessions. The ITEMS (Information Services and Media Services) Department has its own storytelling sessions. There are two storytelling session ITEMS Sharing Session- It involves the staffs from whole ITEMS department and it is conducted once a week to share the stories on the problems encountered and the solutions. Toolbox Session-alt only involves the units in ITEMS department. It gathers the support unit employees to share their stories on the problems raised.They have one program to stimulate KM storytellin g called Buddy program. In Buddy program, two employees from different department are paired together to work as a single department. Junior staff is paired with senior academic acting as mentor. Conclusion Stories are powerful conveyors of meaning and tacit knowledge and been in use from ancient times. It helps to share knowledge with context and emotion. It triggers the listeners to respond with other stories building new understanding.Stories can capture and hold the attention increasing the likelihood of hearing and listening. Story telling is very valuable in story telling network. Any organization has a set of its memories embedded from the time of its inception. These memories are the skills and knowledge of its employees while in an organization over the years of operation. So, the organizational memory has its role on forming the knowledge base of the organization. Employees can use the organization memory to learn and improve the effectiveness of their work.Employee's know ledge can be stored and then information and knowledge can be shared by KM. Organizational memory is one of intangible assets of one organization; it stores past experiences and knowledge, supports organization strategy and improves organization effectiveness. Accordingly, it is important to establishment and development of organizational memory for KM. Organizational culture can be stored by story, and it is one of retention facilities of organizational memory.The idea, spirit, and culture of organizations can be passed down by storytelling. Through storytelling, organization members emotionally connect to their organization and then identify their organization. Storytelling can store organizational culture, convey experience and knowledge, and improve acquisition, retention, and maintenance of process of organizational memory management. Organization value and spirit can be conveyed effectively by storytelling.

Ethnography Essay

The late night diner is one of the many staples of urban areas – they act as beacons to all those with no place better to be. Whether the bar has long since closed, or staying home just isn’t an option any more, 24 hour eateries are the place to be when all else fails. I recently made an educational trip to a 24 hour IHOP for some middle of the night hash-browns and ethnographic field notes. I was escorted to one of the largest tables in the room by a tired looking but albeit enthusiastic young man, and was surprised by how many people were actually there. It was three in the morning, so I’d half expected to not see a soul, but there were always at least four tables being served. Among the clientele was a couple; a group of hoodlums whom I could only guess had been band geeks in another life; and, my personal favorite, a group of middle aged drunken sushi connoisseurs. Being seated closest to the sushi lovers, I got to eavesdrop on their conversations – and creepily bond with them, unbeknownst to them. Unsurprisingly, almost everyone in the room was varying shades of inebriated. The conversation was fairly educational in the sense that they were all very proud of their sexual endeavors and had decided to meticulously compare notes. They were surprisingly comfortable with themselves, as well as those within ear shot. It was sort of a contagious comfortable-ness – there was almost a community in the grungy little IHOP. Every one there had probably been kicked out of somewhere else because of closing time, or discontentment – all of us came together not only for diner eggs and pancakes, but for a place to be. Closing time had become the great equalizer, bringing people from all walks of life – from star crossed lovers to raucous sushi lovers – into their local IHOP, more for a place to be than anything else. Many forces were at work in that IHOP. The waiters were trying to make as much as they could off of tips, iHop stayed open late to facilitate all those who just weren’t ready to go home yet during the witching hour, and the establishment’s patrons were filling many societal expectations. All of these worked together to create a very different aesthetic than one would see in the daylight. People were more uninhibited because of the late hour and whatever they’d been a part of earlier, yet certain societal standards and ideals were being held up – while others, such as quietness, were generally thrown to the wind. Meanwhile, my incredibly exhausted waiter worked to be as professional as possible while exerting the least amount of work possible – granted, that isn’t necessarily that different from the daytime. This reflected the corporate values of IHOP that were at play. It caters to a very specific demographic – the less wealthy, and very hungry. IHOP is also one of the only places in its suburban zip code that offers 24-hour service. Which, I admittedly found surprising – I would have assumed there would be more places to go in the middle of the night, but realized very early into my pre-dawn adventure that there wasn’t much for one to do past midnight. This proves not only that nothing good happens after 2am, but also that nothing interesting will happen either. IHOP was the only place with its doors open after last call, after the kitchens had closed, and after the kids still couldn’t head home but had to something anyways. It’s interesting how so few places were there for the people who weren’t ready to head home for the night – and how many people stubbornly refused to go home. All the factors played together to set the scene for a bad Romantic Comedy (which undoubtedly could have been playing itself out in the corner booth, where the very young and very passionate couple were paying more attention to themselves than to their pancakes. All of the behaviors in the restaurant came together to form a cultural idea of the late night scene that one might get from the movies. People were far more uninhibited whether from lack of sleep, or intoxication, but they all still played their roles in the scene. There was a delicate balance between outlandish behavior and the rules of interaction between wait-staff and customers at play. Multiple expectations came together to form a very unique dynamic. It is worth saying that people were in the IHOP at that ungodly hour to be seen. They at least subconsciously knew that they were performers in very large scale production, and decided to stay out because of their role in social norms. They chose not to hide away in their homes until dawn, because someone needed to uphold the night owl character. Mumford argues in What is a City? That the city requires and creates drama, unlike the suburbs – which is interesting in regards to the very slim options one has in the suburbs past midnight beyond just going home. The percent of the population who want drama and tension (which in this sense are played out through late night excursions) is far lower in the suburbs, not because of the difference between structures in the city and the suburbs but because of the difference in mindset between these two areas (which also yielded the different structures). The characters in the story at hand are therefore outliers, in a sense. They seek out an experience that one generally only sees –though is not exclusively- in the city, and have a more unique experience because of it. There was a surprising amount of diversity in the demographics that night (really, no matter what tax bracket you’re in, you’re not going to find a place open in Aurora at 3am beyond Wal-Mart and the very occasional late night eatery), which created even more forces at play in the room. With every now demographic came a new set of ideas that were being prescribed to and upheld. Many sponsors played into the behavior of the performers. Societies’ concept of morality is a very large factor here. Many of the patrons had ducked in to iHop as a way to pass the time while sobering up and moving on with their life – which was caused by society’s laws and idea of moral behavior. While having a night out, they also were influenced not only by their preconceived notion of behavior that one is to have in the night, but also by the behavior that is not acceptable in society generally. Being overly drunk in public is generally frowned upon, as well as driving under the influence, which explains why many people ducked in to the restaurant – it was the best place to go so their night out wouldn’t have to end, but so they could also start to sober up. A variety of laws are in place that work to discourage public intoxication and bad behavior that might happen during intoxication, but there are at the same time a plethora of ideas at play constructed by the media about youth and the role of alcohol and late nights into the youth culture. It all plays into an equilibrium between two different sets of expectations and guidelines for behavior. The economy is also a sponsor of the performance. It is in the economy’s best interest that every performer takes on the role of the consumer, and consumerism is marketed from every angle possible so that every person will feel the need to participate. The need to stay out and continue the adventure is an idea partly concocted by the economy and media to influence people to connect the idea of leading an interesting life with products and experiences that can be profited off of. By staying open all night, IHOP offers an experience to a select group of customers, who for whatever reason need to stay up late and have eggs and coffee. Performers, for a variety of reasons, all take part in consumerism as a means to the experience of staying out late, or getting away from something. The late night patronage of IHOP is indicative of much larger forces and ideas that influence society as a whole. Customers from all walks of life participate in a late night performance that reveals influences from the economy and society as a whole. Each performer has a different reason for being there but plays into the greater whole of societal norms and expectations. A suburban 24 hour restaurant seems at first like an unlikely place for big ideas to be at play – especially when the place is sort of dead, and the customers look worn-out and inebriated, but every component of the large whole has meaning in its own way – and is essential for the bigger picture to exist.