Successful knowledge management requires a knowledge culture: a case study

Culture is widely acknowledged to be a critical success factor in knowledge management (KM). This paper presents the case of KM implementation at MKS, an IT consulting firm based in India. Although the KM initiative at MKS had many of the hallmarks associated with successful KM projects, the initiative failed to get off the ground due to the absence of a ‘knowledge culture’ within the organisation. Subsequent interviews with MKS staff uncovered a range of cultural themes that appeared to impede the institutionalisation of KM at MKS. These cultural themes included:

• internal competitiveness among MKS staff resulting in ‘knowledge hoarding’,
• a lack of personal reward and incentive to engage in knowledge sharing,
• concerns over job security and the ‘devaluation’ of employees,
• stigma associated with the reliance on someone else's ideas,
• preference for a face-to-face mode of knowledge sharing over a tool-supported approach and
• doubts over the quality of knowledge shared by more junior staff.

     

Beyond Black and White: The Model Minority Myth and the Invisibility of Asian American Students

This study of diverse Asian American students at a racially integrated public high school illustrates that the achievement gap is a multi-racial problem that cannot be well understood solely in terms of the trajectories of Black and white students. Asian American students demonstrated a high academic profile on average, but faced difficulties and failure in ways rendered invisible by widespread acceptance of the “Model Minority Myth,” which says that Asians comprise the racial minority group that has “made it” in America through hard work and education, and therefore serve as a model for other racial minorities to follow. Findings point to policy implications for teachers, counselors, school staff, social services and government.     

Explicating factual and subjective science knowledge: knowledge as a mediator of news attention and attitudes

Communication scholars have conflicting views on the relationship between exposure to science news and knowledge, and its subsequent influence on attitudes. Such mixed sentiments could arise from the vague definition of knowledge. Therefore, this paper explicates science knowledge into factual knowledge and subjective knowledge. It also compares the mediating roles of both types of knowledge between news attention and public support for science and technology (S&T). A survey of 967 Singaporeans showed that news attention was positively related to both factual and subjective knowledge. The findings revealed a stronger relationship between subjective knowledge and news attention than factual knowledge and news attention. Additionally, factual knowledge was positively related to public support for S&T, but subjective knowledge was negatively related to public support for S&T. The contrasting directions of these associations demonstrate that factual and subjective knowledge are two distinct dimensions of knowledge. Practically, the findings can inform policymakers and communication practitioners about effective public education and engagement initiatives. This study also provided guidelines for newsmakers in news reporting about S&T.     

Youth in a global world: attitudes towards globalization and global citizenship among university students in Hong Kong

Despite the wealth of theoretical literature on globalization and global citizenship, empirical studies on the topic are lacking, especially in the context of pedagogical needs in relation to global citizenship education. In order to address this gap, a study was conducted in Hong Kong to investigate the attitudes of university students towards various dimensions of globalization and global citizenship. The initial results indicate that Hong Kong university students are generally quite aware of globalization's impact on the economy and personal consumption choices and that while there is considerable apathy towards international affairs, there is also a great interest in cross-cultural service learning opportunities that is not being met by the available programmes. Moreover, this study finds almost no association between age, gender, and religion and any of the measured dependent variables on attitudes towards globalization and global citizenship, the only exception being the factor of past intercultural experiences, where a significant difference in measured attitudes was found between respondents who had and respondents who had not participated in such experiences before. Explanations of the findings and the implications of findings for policy and future research are discussed.     

High school students' use of diagrams during reading

This study examines how high school students use diagrams and summaries during reading and the effects of such on comprehension. The roles of verbal and spatial ability are also examined. Seventy-four Year 7 (13-year-old) students each read a text presented on a computer screen. The text was presented one sentence at a time and subjects could call up a diagram or content-equivalent summary of the main ideas of the text at any time. Time to read the sentences and the adjunct aids was controlled by the subject and recorded by the computer. In addition, the computer kept a record of where in the text subjects made a text-to-aid move. After reading, the subjects completed a 10-minute filler task and then produced free recalls of the text. The free recalls were examined for the inclusion of details and main ideas. Path analyses showed a significant direct effect of verbal ability on the recall of details and main ideas as well as a significant indirect effect through time on diagram. Spatial ability was not found to have any effect on recall, either directly or indirectly. Analyses of text-to-diagram moves showed more inspections in the first few sentences followed by an essentially random inspection pattern. Instructional implications are discussed.     

Environmental education in primary schools: a case study with plastic resources and recycling

This paper aims to examine teachers’ use of strategies and approaches in integrating Plastic Resources Education (PRE) into primary school life in order to overcome the challenges encountered during implementation to promote environmentally friendly practices. Case studies with eight Hong Kong teachers from PRE-participating primary schools were invited to take part in focus group interviews, to explicate their personal stories and experiences associated with the PRE implementation in primary schools. Based on the data collected from the teachers’ sharing, several challenges which are commonly reported in the previous literature, including lack of time, shortage of manpower, and insufficient pupil engagement were found. The teachers tackled the barriers by using different strategies to improve pupils’ involvement as well as getting support from the relevant stakeholders of school management and parents. The case studies provide crucial and relevant information which can be used as a reference for other schools to integrate PRE more efficiently to facilitate learning.     

网上语言学习与性别差异

网上语言学习作为一种时新学习趋势正在悄然兴起。在影响语言学习的各种因素中,性别差异毋庸置疑将被给予特别的重视。此研究从生理与认知差异的不同角度,分析了两性差别,并以分析这种差别对于网上语言学习所带来的对学习成果的影响为目的。此研究主要通过问卷调查的形式,样本来自50位大学在校学生和不同背景的社会在职人员。研究的结果表明性别差异的确在网上语言学习的质量方面起着重要的作用,并且对网上语言学习者和基于网上学习的研究者都有着重要的指导作用。　　Keywords:languagelearning;genderdiffer ence;web-basedlearning     

CAN ABILITY AND WORKING CONDITIONS EXPLAIN THE WAGE DIFFERENTIAL ACROSS INDUSTRIES AND FIRMS?

ＩＮＴＲＯＤＵＣＴＩＯＮＷｅｈａｖｅｎｏｔｉｃｅｄｔｈｅｗａｇｅｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎｔｉａｌｓａｃｒｏｓｓｉｎｄｕｓｔｒｉｅｓａｎｄｆｉｒｍｓｉｎｔｈｅｗｏｒｌｄ ,ａｎｄａｌｗａｙｓｅｘ ｐｌａｉｎｔｈｉｓｂｙｔｈｅｈｕｍａｎｃａｐｉｔａｌｔｈｅｏｒｙａｎｄｔｈｅｃｏｍｐｅｎｓａｔｉｎｇｗａｇｅｄｉｆｆｅｒｅｎｔｉａｌｓｂｅｃａｕｓｅｉｎｔｈｅｐｅｒｆｅｃｔｃｏｍｐｅｔｉｔｉｖｅｌａｂｏｕｒｍａｒｋｅｔｗｈｅｒｅｗｏｒｋｅｒｓａｃｃｅｐｔｊｏｂｓｃａｎｅｘｐｅｃｔｔｏｒｅｃｅｉｖｅｃｏｍｐｅｎｓａｔ…     

Rethinking the mission of internationalization of higher education in the Asia-Pacific region

This article adopts the critical theory approach to reflect and analyse the impacts of globalization on the internationalization process of higher education in the Asia-Pacific region. It argues that globalization forces many of the higher education institutions in the region to follow global practices and ideologies of the Anglo-American paradigm without developing their own unique systems and honouring the rich cultures of their own countries. While higher education institutions are indulging in internationalization in terms of marketization and economic pragmatism, they have to ask themselves, ‘What is missing in the process of internationalization?’ This article argues that internationalization of higher education contributes to building more than economically competitive and politically powerful states. It represents a commitment to the development of an internationalized curriculum where the pursuit of global citizenship, human harmony and a climate of global peace is of paramount importance.