Just babbling...

nothing much to talk about. a few things that happen within this week. Quit my job at Marcus Evans on Monday and waiting to report in to the new company on the 3rd March. My grandma passed away and Im in Alor Setar for 3 days. Need to find means to finance my Paintball Marker fund and i be the crew for the team Gramaton Cleric-XODust alliance for CPCL. had a great brainstorming session with Layla and Samad at Envie changkat bukit bintang. so thats about it for now...

MMU Intern reporting in for duty

Rushing all the way to UOA Bangsar South from UOA Building Bangsar after realizing that they are two different building, I sprint on my scooter toward Kerinchi. I got an interview with the company GM at 3.30pm and the watch it ticking 3.55pm. OMG im f**ked. First impression matter and I already display a bad one, especially to a high ranking officer, who gonna determine if im good for it or not. I reach the receptionist at 4pm and being asked by the GM secretary to go to level 8 and sit in the waiting room. There my fate awaits, my heart was pounding, im sweating from the heat of the day, in my mind I was thinking how will the GM react to my incompetence and probably gonna throw me out of the building after he is done scolding me, my imagination is running wild with every worst possible scenario but yet im trying to keep calm and kept my finger crossed.

How it all start? Its June 2009, its the trimester where I should go for Industrial Training and all my course mate had done so and get their own respective placement in a company of their choosing. Well it all started early June when im suppose to sit for SIDC licensing examination so I can be a derivatives trader with CIMB. It was a requirement that will make it easier for me to get in, and while at it use it to complete as my Industrial Training programme as required by the university to graduate with a bachelor degree, and after three failed attempt ( and RM800 spent) I finally had to do what I pledge myself not to do… ask my father to help me out… what ever happen to being completely independent??? God help me… when will I ever be on my own two feet? (with that mean to be a total self reliance grown up man). Im still a boy not yet a man…

On Wednesday 8th June my father sms me to contact the GM asap. I called him in the evening after I reach home after going to Selayang to settle some utility bills. He set up an appointment for me around 3.30pm the next day, I thanked him and the call ended. I get my ass to complete the necessary paperwork which was gone after my previous computer hard drive crashed. I asked my dad to help me out the Friday of previous week, and my prayers got answered today, amen.

Back in the waiting room, the air conditioner chill helps calm me down. I put my resume and CV on the table if my interviewer wants to see it, wipe the sweat of my face with my handkerchief, and put up a confident face. The GM, Mr.DK*(name had been change to protect identity) walks into the room with another guy. Exchange hand shake, introduce each other, exchange some questions, and in 10 minutes it’s over. The GM had made arrangement for me to be in different department every few weeks for the next 14 weeks of my intern. For my first post will be the facilities management, the other guy in the room just now was the head of maintenance department Mr.RG* (name had been changed to protect Identity) which will be my first supervisor bring me to level 1 office floor. Show me around a little and designate me my cubicle which is going to be my workstation for the next few weeks. I start on the next day.

On Friday 10th June, I came in early, before 8am. Maintenance crews punch in at 8am while the rest of the staff at 9am. The first person I met on first day of job is Mr.TCH* (guys bear with me I need to protect the identity of people there) he open the office door for me since I don’t have the access tag. Sit at my workstation until Mr.RG show up. Around 8.30am he calls me up for the morning briefing, I introduce myself to the maintenance team and the briefing begins. After the briefing I went to Mr.RG room. He asked about my course im taking (oh yeah, all my course mate had a hard time explaining that to people) and whats my objective for coming here. After half an hour talking he show me around the new development vicinity nearby. Show me Sphere, the new shopping complex built by UOA at Bangsar South (actually the area is Kerinchi but for the township developed by UOA there its being brand as Bangsar South). I being assign to monitor the condition of the mall. To keep an eye on any defects and work done by the mall tenant contractor on behalf of my supervisor. The building is new so contractors are still doing renovation and my task is to make sure they follow the rules and regulation of renovation. That’s my first function. My second function is to assist the crew to write report on building defects. It come to mu understanding that they are not quite good in writing reports in English and its my task to collect, organize and write it nicely for Mr.RG. Office paperwork in short…

Saturday 11th June. Working on Saturday. For other staff the only work 5 days a week but for facilities staff its 6 days. Its because the new building is launching soon so they on full alert for any detail that requires immediate attention. Today I watch Mr.Fred* conduct fire fighting exercise with the Security department staff. The GM, Mr.DK was present. Afterward I participate with the Maintenance crew on fire alarm test, though I didn’t do much, juz checking the PA system in the ground floor lobby area. Mr.DK was there too. He asked me about how much allowance does my other course mate receive and I told him its up to the company, some of them receive as high as RM1k, some give around RM300 to RM400, and there are those who are not paid at all. He nod, and ask me to submit my details to Mr.RG on Monday. From the expression Mr.DK I stand a chance to get it, just not sure how much, perhaps he’s impressed that I show up today, who knows but thank god I decide to come to work today, even though according to Mr.RG I don’t have too. For me it’s a matter of honor. If the team show up, I need to come too, its work honor like what the Japanese practice, plus I get to know the crew a lot better. Those are a bunch of friendly whacky people, fun to be around with and im glad I got assign with them.

Team X-O-DUST: International Super Seven Championship 2009 3rd runner up.

As an introduction to team X-O-DUST, we are a relatively new Malaysian paintball team playing in the Division 4 Young Guns setup by a group of friends who are enthusiastic to the extreme sport of paintball.

Built from scratch, the team consist of Partly (Captain), Along (The Big Brother), Abg Hafiez (The Boss), Padil (Solid Snake), Bendi (MasterChief), Amirol (Front Dasher), Mann (Parem’s Twin), myself (Purple Heart) and our debutant “Acap the Kicapman”. Where we lack in financial means and experience we make it up with dedication, determination, perseverance and a can do attitude.

Despite had played only for half season of MY-NPL 2009, the team rise to climb the ranks. Starting with team first taste of battle during the MY-NPL first leg in February and positioning themselves 3rd from last in the league pointer, from that moment the flames of battle fury burns within their competitive spirits. With more proper training received from more senior players such as Bro Juan, Bro Kay and Bro Wei, the team manages to make a good impression in March MY-NPL second leg in Johor Bahru qualifying to quarter final and 5th position in the league. They do not stop there, with the recent participation in ISSC’09 an upgrade from quarter final to a place in semi final is within reach. But the team had to be content claiming 4th place victory.

With recent impressive performance showed, the team can proudly say that now they are in par with a more establish team such as Infedelz, JS, BPMB Espada, Shoot in Rage (SiR), Fiva Division. Not bad for an underdog team

It is our first of many victories to come. We will continue to improve our selves to be better then we were before. With better training, more stabile financial situation and with luck we had set our eyes on playing in the next level of the league, the Rookie Division 3, Novice Division 2, Amateur Division 1, and someday if destiny permits the team be playing in the Professional League in Malaysia and International Arena. Until then…GAME ON!!!

Dygta - Karna Ku Sayang Kamu

Seandainya, kau ada disini denganku
Mungkin ku tak sendiri
Bayanganmu, yang selalu menemaniku
Hiasi malam sepiku

Kuingin bersama dirimu
Ku tak akan pernah, berpaling darimu
Walau kini, kau jauh dariku
Kan slalu kunanti
Karna ku sayang kamu

Hati ini, selalu memanggil namamu
Dengarlah melatiku
Ku berjanji, hanyalah untukmu cintaku
Takkan pernah ada yg lain

Adakah rindu di hatimu
Seperti rindu yang kurasa
Sanggupkah kuterus terlena
Tanpamu disisiku, ku kan slalu menantimu

Seandainya, kau ada disini denganku
Mungkin ku tak sendiri
Bayanganmu, yang selalu menemaniku
Hiasi malam sepiku
Kuingin bersama dirimu

Ku tak akan pernah, berpaling darimu
Walau kini, kau jauh dariku
Kan slalu kunanti
Karna ku sayang kamu
Kan slalu kunanti
Karna ku sayang kamu

Ulasan: makna lagu ni berkaitan dengan apa yang dah berlaku. satu lagi sebab ialah anak-anak saudara aku asyik mengomel blog aku nih boring sangat, relak lah baru nak start blogging nih.

Personalizing this blog for myself

Hello everyone. As you might take a glimpse look at the previous posting you might notice it’s a bit kinda formal. That is because it’s initially meant for my Knowledge Networking subject I took last semester. Well its over and now I have the page for my self. So do drop by as there will be updates. Stay tuned…

week 6 puzzle from the journal Knowledge management and innovation: network and networking

Horizontal
2) IT-based tools
answer: networking
relationship between the user/ employee /stakeholder either its formal or informal means

3)Problem with IT-led knowledge management
answer:Overlapping
it a condition where the system, information or knowledge maybe redundant to the user

4) Problem in sharing tacit knowledge
answer: Codification

problem of codification of KM and the importance of tacit knowledge. attempt to codify tacit knowledge may result in knowledge that is useless, difficult to verify, insignificant, inaccurate, redundant to the wider audience and therefore cannot be easily be articulated or transferred in explicit form.
problem of exploitation and exploration. the building of network to formalized knowledge sharing may introduce rigidities into the system and reinforce existing organizational boundaries that make process of knowledge sharing and creation which is central to interactive innovation project more difficult.
problem of supply and demand of knowledge. Supply Driven approach focus on IT-based tools to build network for the supply of knowledge and information which will then, somehow miraculously be applied and used to develop innovative solution. Demand Driven approach tend to be more concerned with creation and application of knowledge attitude of multiple stakeholder there is more human networking centered and more relevant.

5) type of networking that act as a medium for the exchange of tacit knowledge
answer:face-to-face
face-to-face meeting allow employees to met up and discuss matter less formally and therefore break down the barrier of formality thus communication are more effective between people.


8)the characteristic of cognitive network model
answer: technology
in a cognitive network model technology is the driving force behind the changes applied. the system is implemented and people are expected to learn and innovate on their own.

Vertical
1) A social communication process
answer: networking
Business opportunities are created through networks of like-minded business people. There are several prominent business networking organizations that create models of networking activity that, when followed, allow the business person to build new business relationship and generate business opportunities at the same time.

6) the way to create new knowledge
answer: exploration
its a method of getting innovation through the participation of people in the production of new innovation and knowledge. unlike exploitation which collect the information and use the current information and knowledge, exploration creates new knowledge from other source which may sometime be unrelated but can prove to be useful in the creation of new knowledge.

7) the concern of demand-driven approach to KM
answer: application
Demand Driven approach tend to be more concerned with creation and application of knowledge attitude of multiple stakeholder there is more human networking centered and more relevant

9) the characteristic of community networking model
answer: collaboration
in the community networking model , trust and collaboration is the critical factor in the success of the model. unlike the cognitive networking model that emphasis technology, people are the main catalyst here.

Knowledge Management and Innovation: network and networking by Swan, Newell, Scarbrough and Hislop

As the title suggests this Literature discuss about the importance of network and networking for innovation. It covers journals done by others before; how organization organize their pool of knowledge, the method of networking base on case study and the problem arise from networks explained. It emphasizes the difference between IT and Information System from Human relationship networking in conducting business.
According to this paper, it argues that these insights appear to be relatively poor understanding of the existing knowledge management (KM) literature. Thus, the contribution of the KM literature to date in terms of understanding innovation has been limited by a rather narrow focus on IT-based tools and systems, premised on a cognitive information process of KM. These IT-based tools and systems create the structural network but, as the cases below will demonstrate, do not necessarily encourage the social networking process so necessary for communication and sense making. This paper also highlight the over emphasis on IT and disregard of human involvement in the network.
This paper also discusses the limit and the contrast between two case lead in the discussion which is:
(1) The cognitive network model; and
(2) The community networking model
From what we know about knowledge management is that it is a process of production, distribution and consumption of knowledge and knowledge products. It can also be defined as harnessing the intellectual and social capital of individuals in order to improve organization learning capabilities, recognizing that knowledge, and not simply information, is the primary source of an organization innovative potential (Marshall 1997)
As the global economy and the way we run organization change to the age of globalization we now able to see that organization structure are getting more horizontally, bureaucratization, decentralization, and coordination through increasing use of information and communication technologies (ICT). However as businesses are stretched across time and space, reorganizing along process or product line, and restructured around virtual teams, they lose opportunity for innovation through casual face-to-face sharing of knowledge and learning induced by proximity learning.
The researcher found that from the learning literature had emphasized people management issue, such as selection, motivation and reward, trust, organizational development and culture. On the other had the researcher found that KM literature paid little attention to those issues instead focus more on IT and information system (IS) to create network structures, which can link together individuals distributed across time zone and distance.
The researcher took two companies for their case study. The first one is Ebank and the second one is Brightco. Ebank follows the approach of Cognitive Network Model while Brightco follows the Community Network Model .
To begin with let’s start with Ebank. They are one of Europe largest investor in IT and located in 70 country worldwide. In 1996 they start an innovative project called “vision 2000”. Its purpose is to create a world-wide communication infrastructure using intranet technology across countries and in addition the top management thinks that resources were being wasted because different units and departments failed to learn from one another. The project was launched led by the corporate IT group and funded centrally. The pilot involve mostly technical It specialist from different business units world-wide and was focused on creating a corporate intranet infrastructure which would allow far-flung business unit to connect, this pilot highlight the benefits of intranet for knowledge sharing and persuaded them to develop their own intranet, resourced with local funds and people which means everybody develop their own system. The result of developing intranet technology to increase knowledge sharing across the functional and geographical boundaries within banks was not achieved. Instead the outcome turn out to be not standardize and unrelated intranet projects causing people within the organization not learning anything from each other. Lack of recognition of the need for creating some shared understanding through active involvement were the culprit. Moreover there was an assumption that as long as the network infrastructure were in place people will learn by themselves. There were too much emphasis on technology that they forgotten the human involvement.
For the case of Brightco they are one of the world largest manufacturers and service provider of specialist material handling equipments with its headquarters in Sweden. Half of it business are in service rather than manufacturing. They launch a project called Sales service Support Project (SSP) in respond to a corporate study of business processes which pointed to a need to improve co-ordination and communication across Brightco. So basically Brightco is implementing its own Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) with the help of Intsoft, to design, organize the team and implement the network. Once the infrastructure was in place they send a the team from the project to travel to sites to deliver initial training. Though it is time consuming but the end result was stakeholder know how to use and utilized the system. For example, an email site which emerge initially informally for “frequently asked questions” provide an important network for user at local sites to learn from one another about implementation problems in other sites. Brightco were at least successful in implementing a common business information system which is being used by most of its European division.
This are the case illustrate several fundamental problem with IT-driven approaches which are considered. First they assume that all, or most, relevant knowledge in an organization can be made explicit and codified. Second, they are underpinned by a partial view of KM, focusing more on processes of exploitation then on processes of exploration, third they are supply driven- assuming that if information is widely available it will be applied in new ways to develop innovation.
The first problem; assumption that knowledge can be made codified, explicit knowledge which will typically be more value to innovation process (Grant 1996, Hall 1993) Yet Tacit Knowledge is knowledge which cannot be communicated, understood or used without “knowing subject” (popper 1972, Lam 1998) . Attempt to codify tacit knowledge may only produce knowledge which is useless, difficult to verify, trivial, redundant, irrelevant to a wider audience, politically naïve, and inaccurate.
The second problem; problem of exploitation versus exploration, most of the IT-driven approaches has been on increasing efficiency by exploitation of existing knowledge rather than on encouraging more explorative processes.
The third problem; problem if supply and demand of knowledge. Supply demand approach focus on using IT-based tools to build network for the supply of knowledge and information which will then, somehow miraculously be applied and used to develop innovative solutions. Demand driven approach tend to be more concerned with the creation and application of knowledge in innovation projects. The motivation and attitude of multiple stakeholder are seen as crucial and consequently there is an emphasis with human networking process which can encourage sharing and use of knowledge which is relevant for innovation.
As for conclusion here two contrasting view of KM process.
Cognitive network model (Ebank)
· Knowledge for innovation is equal to objectively defined concept and facts
· Knowledge can be codified and transferred through networks: information system have a crucial role
· Gains from KM include exploitation through the recycling of existing knowledge
· The primary function of KM is to codify, capture and transfer knowledge through networks.
· Critical success factor is technology
· The dominant metaphors are the human memory and the jigsaw
Community network model (Brightco)
· Knowledge for innovation is socially constructed and based on experience
· Much knowledge is tacit and is shared and made sense of through active networking within and between occupational group and teams
· Gains from KM include exploration through the sharing and synthesis of knowledge among different social group and communities
· The primary function of KM is to encourage knowledge sharing through networking
· The critical success factor is trust and collaboration
· The dominant metaphor factor are the human community and the kaleidoscope
The conclusions from the research done by the researchers are that the community network model is more effective in creating a learning organization.