The choice of decision tools (RDM)

A lot of options for the decision tools were available to us in the RDM mini project. Our group chose those options about which we were more confident about. Some of the options were left out because of having little knowledge and understanding about them. Our rationale was that we wanted to be more confident about the decisions that we make by a sound implementation of the tools that we use. Also we wanted to make all the decisions in a timely manner. The time was limited to around 10 days. We wanted to solve the problem efficiently in the alotted time. I think we could have gone for more tools but to use them we had to spend time understanding those tools before being able to implement them. They would have helped us in our decision making but that is a choice we had to make in our decision making process. We chose to ue those tools which we felt confident with and I think this approach worked out well for us.      

: 24 Apr 2011 18:04 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Looking back at the the mini project (RDM)

Having read some literature on robust decision making and looking back at the mini project of RDM, I noticed bias in some areas of our decision making. These bias included the confirmation trap, overconfidence and anchoring. It is quite interesting for me that while making the decisions, I didn't notice those biases but now after carefully considering all parts of the decision making, I have realized the presence of bias in them. I think that bias is inadvertently always going to be present in all the decisions we make but it is very important to reflect on the decisions we make and be aware of the bias, so that we might not repeat the same mistake over again. Even in all the decisions we make in our daily life, it is important to keep on reflecting and realizing where bias was present in them, in order to improve the quality of our decision making.

: 24 Apr 2011 17:21 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Presentations (KBAM)

The presentations of KBAM went really good yesterday. All the teams came up with different ideas and looked at the problem in different ways. Some groups gave very specific and practical solutions. A lot of learning came out from those presentations. Prevously, I learnt a lot about knowledge and asset management from my groupwork and now the between group learning made me more aware about both the concepts. The whole experence of both presenting to the board of directors and then being a part of the board myself was very different and good. This experience was a very good preparation for the organizational circumestances and environment we'll be in a few months time. There is going to be a group of directors and leaders to which we'll have to present and justify our recommendations. So, it was a very good simulation of the real world and helped me feel and experience the situation I could be in after my degree.   

: 09 Apr 2011 22:16 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Tommorrow's presentations (KBAM)

The presentations that we are going to give tommorrow are going to be different from all the presentations that we have given so far. There is going to be a panel of Directors to which we are going to present to. There is also a time limit that we have to follow strictly. We also are expected to dress formally as we are going to be the consultants(depends on the choice of the groups). The situation is very similar to real life presentation environment. In our future organizations most of us will be expected to give presentations like this to the board, the leader and the colleagues. I think as the last presentation of the whole MBE together, it is very nice to get an opportunity to present in this way. It will hopefully prepare us well to give presentations in our future organizations.

: 07 Apr 2011 22:13 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Health and safety in Asset management (KBAM)

The presentation about situation awareness gave us a lot of knowledge about why an organization should manage its assets to ensure the health and safety of all the people of the organization. A lot of accidents can result if the organization doesn't take active measures to manage this aspect of the assets. This area of asset management is very important as the safety and well being of all the people of the organization comes above any business goals that the company has.

To ensure the health and safety of its people there are many steps that an organization can take. It needs to make all of its people aware of the potential accidents that can happen and train them about the precautionary measures. It can give safety equipment to all of its people, it can make its machinery safe for human use, it can install backup measures in case accidents happen. There are many ways to cover this area of asset management. The important thing is to clearly think about all the possible situations and scenarios which can lead to accidents and then think about the preventive measures to avoid them from happening. The leaders of the organization should specifically think about all of its assets in this way and implement the health and safety measures accordingly. 

: 07 Apr 2011 22:02 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Implementation of knowledge management (KBAM)

Knowledge mangement is a very broad topic. When I started researching on the topic I found so much information in the MBE website. I thought that it would take a lot of time. But as the time allocated for the working on the presentation was 40 hours, it was necessary not to go into too much detail. We as a group spent some time in the theoretical part and most of the time in the implementation. As things turned out, everything became fairly easy. KM is a very broad topic but after we spent time in the implementation for Waveriders everything about the topic started making sense and all the components of the theory started gelling together. I think that this is why we were not given any lectures about KM as a lot of extra time could have been spent on the theory but it would have made complete sense only after the implementation. For me it worked very well. The benefit of implementation of the theory was huge for me.   

: 07 Apr 2011 02:32 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Personal knowledge management (KBAM)

Since the MBE program has started I have gained so much knowledge about so many things. Previously I had no background of any business related studies. Since I've come I have gained new knowledge about how to run and manage an organization, people management, group studies, EFQM, Deming, self assessment, culture and so many different things. Managing all this knowledge is extremely important to get the maximum benefits out of it. If it is not managed properly it will go in the back of the mind and with time it will be forgotten. One way to restore the knowledge and make it part of ourself is to implement the knowledge. This is exactly how the MBE works. We personally experience and implement the knowledge through simulation, presentation, group study etc. At apersonal level, in my opinion, this is the bet way to manage and retain our knowledge. And so I'll practice implementing whatever knowledge that I have gained and keep up this habit.    

: 07 Apr 2011 02:13 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Knowledge management and blogs (KBAM)

While doing work on knowledge management, I found out that a lot of techniques can be used to get the knowledge from the people in the organization. One of the ways is to use blogs. Blogs can be used to capture people's ideas, give them a medium to share their knowledge and get them into the habit of thinking and learning. Effective use of blogs can help the organization come up with new and innovative ideas which could solve its existing problems and improve the way it does business. The culture plays a very important role for effective use of blogs. The culture should be such that it promotes the sharing of knowledge, remove inhibitions that people have in sharing ideas and values their ideas. 

This is very similar to the blogs we have in MBE. They have got us in the habit of thinking and learning from our daily reflections and they have helped us to share our knowledge with others. One of my colleagues told me that he is going to use the system of blogs in his organization, which is a very good idea. From the benefits that I have seen from using blogs myself, I am thinking that it'll be a good idea to use blogs in my organization. The only problem that I have is that a lot of people in my organization are not familiar with using computers. The options that I have is to train them or develop something manual, similar to blogs.        

: 05 Apr 2011 20:59 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Situation awareness (KBAM)

We saw a lot of accidents in the presentation about situation awareness. The reasons for those accidents were also pointed out. We also brainstormed the possible reasons for those accidents. Any organization should take active measures to avoid those accidents from happening. In October we are going to join an organization and it is our responsibility to take active measures to prevent any kind of accidents from happening. We have a number of methods to do this at our desposal. 

Personally, I think that I need to manage myself before I can think about managing my organization. Most of the time in my daily activities I am not aware of the situation around me. I am most of the time on autopilot, just thinking in my mind. Specially while I'm driving I always take it as a routine. As i do it everyday (before i came to UK), everything kas become so routine that I lose my focus. I have to be more active and more aware in doing whatever I do. I have to practice doing things with focus. I have to start this habit of being more aware of the situation because I am going to be responsible for not only myself but also all the people of my organization in the future. Before I can manage my organization and all the people, I have to learn to manage myself.   

: 05 Apr 2011 15:06 |  Comments (0) |  Close comments |  Report a problem

Development of people and technology for knowledge management (KBAM)

For knowledge management it is important to work on both the development of people and the development of technology.  For the development of people the culture of the organization needs to be changed so that it support knowledge sharing, team work and motivation of people to take part in the knowledge development process.The technology that can be used includes data stores, networks, internet, data mining etc. After the appropriate technology has been installed, it is necessary to educate and train the employees to use that technology. For technology without people appropriately using it has no value. It is people who make the technology useful or of no use. Also from an article I got to know that the effort required in the development of people is very huge as compared to the development of technology. It pointed out  that 70% of the effort need to be expended in people, 10% in technology and 20% in process. So it all comes down to people in the end. The development and training of the people and the culture of the organization plays an extremely important role in effective knowledge management. It further strengthens the idea that people are the most important part of an organization and efforts need to be made to develop and nurture them. They need to be cared for and their capabilities need to be harnessed. This is the key to the success of an organization. 

: 02 Apr 2011 00:48 |  Comments (1) |  Close comments |  Report a problem