'm Shifting Blog

I made a new blog and I thought of posting a message - 'm shifting blog. In view of this, I am writing to see my new blog is worthy of your kind support.

You may visit my new blog at: http://iquoth.org/blog

A heartfelt thank you for the kind support.

Hope, love, and peace!

Kind regards,

kailem

Practice Generalization Stage - Revisited

In the context of practice, I thought of generalization as a form (step, procedure, process, ways, means, pattern, structure, or reason) operated subjectively and objectively to produce certain outcome on a certain situation to support a conclusion (end), the premise. Subjective arises because it is invested by our meaning. Objective arises because it is tested against a certain setting and situation through our action, the tasks and/or activities. Just like any practice, the form can be improved, yet finding, transferring and/or adopting this form in other setting and situation would be useful NOT anymore. By reason of, it would become worthless because it will lost its value to produce the same results.

Moreover, generalization is not a sense of something applying to all because it only supports, serves, and/or affects certain conclusion based on certain setting and situation. Yet, it can offer two or more different form (extended and/or intermediate) to arrive at the same results - the construct is an ideal solution in solving complicated, complex, and chaotic problems.

Furthermore, generalization is more of knowledge (tacit) that we carry in our minds. It is transferred to others only when we made contact; articulate, code, and/or store it in certain media; and allow it to flow by sharing it with others - a crucial input - for mutual education and order.

What Makes Knowledge Management for Us?

In defining what makes knowledge management for us, we must value what "makes it" first. However, people don't know what "makes it" is. Think they came to believe that knowledge management is simply "having it all." Really it isn't. To illustrate this, have practice "A" with data. Edward Hampton viewed data something like this:

"Here the data is simply a point of reality. By itself, it has no meaning. Think of a dot or a point. What does the dot or point tell us. Nothing. Not until we are able to make a ‘line’, i.e. add another ‘point’ can pattern start to develop.”

As I view the above construct (pattern and/or line model), the data is transformed into information when we started to ask who, why, when, where, what, and how process; and see bits of thought forms. Then we tried to learn from this information, develop our understanding, know its meaning, and do the likely action, the practice "A". Often the data is developed and improved in practice "A," but when we use the data on practice "B", the data isn't useful anymore. By reason of, the data didn't fit with practice "B" - here the data stopped developing and improving; the data importance was over; and the data became worthless (lost its meaning) - not appropriate for practice "B".

Thus, knowledge management is not simply "having it all," such as: Managing knowledge, supervising knowledge, collecting knowledge, reinforcing knowledge, and/or likely action. By reason of, just like data, it is also a point of reality. By itself, it has no meaning. It tells us nothing, until we know its meaning and/or purpose - the premise.

The meaning of knowledge management can draw us to learn from it, understand it, and put it into practice. This includes sharing knowledge with others. The potential to have life of meaning and obtain wisdom from it can draw and encourage others, such as: Have focus, alignment, and etc. Another, it can keep knowledge management going and moving towards a new direction.

Moreover, What really makes knowledge management for us is to help us achieved the meaning. Here our empowerment to make a difference - a belief based on the meaning - drives knowledge management. Think right organization culture, effective communication, technology, leadership, management, special interest group, measuring the performance, and others are a mindset essentials only for knowledge management.

Further, you may read "People Who Changed the World" piece for Quoth - a knowledge management tool for strategic planning's meaning. Note the meaning is observed from the words of the Holy Father, John Paul II.

xxox: As for others who keep finding and/or knowing knowledge management meaning, the feeling of fear that others will steal your knowledge, in turn, it will be replaced by your joy while you're sharing what you have discovered with others. By reason of, others will come along to help, support, and/or guide you to find a new knowledge and achieve the meaning.

Modulation and Integration of Strategy

Some companies place themselves into a defective organizational architecture that fractures alignment down through goals, strategies, objectives, procedures, and activities. This type of condition could work passively and unremittingly against the achievement of a mission and/or vision.

The following are typical observation that could come out based on the above condition and/or difficulties:

• They initiate boundary and uncooperative problem.
• They evolve patterns of operation that favor their units' interests.
• They inhibit cooperation, collaboration, and sharing information.
• They waste talent and often stifle innovation and creativity.
• They inhibit team up to pursue mission-critical outcomes.
• They lack of confidence and/or trust in subordinates.
• They impose high communication costs.
• They design workflow for restructuring.
• They develop impervious boundaries.
• They lack instruction or feedback.
• They lean on others for direction.
• They foster internal competition.
• They avoid contact with others.
• They create dependency.

Moreover, the intention of combating this behavior is one of the key factors why the current phase of creativity and development of Quoth is made into existence. That is, Quoth aims to utilize the modulation and integration of strategy to:

• provide a systematic and transparent inventory and a framework for evaluation and refinement of strategy information;
• have a focus departmental and individual agendas that aligns purpose in the fundamental structure and natural processes of operation, makes clear priorities, and eliminates guessing about next move; and
• exclude caste system practices that promotes factionalism, tempts in-group members to serve their own social and political needs at the expense of the company, and promotes unequal gender role power, influence, or access to opportunity.

Note: Modulation of strategy is divided into a careful set of classes and interwoven with synthesis in a mainly top-down fashion in Quoth. While the integration of strategy proceeds in an order governed by pattern interdependencies, the continuous analysis and repair of failures, and commitment to detail, variety, experimentation, and wholeness of purpose.

Further, Quoth must help company and its people to synthesize their existing organizational structure into a coherent view with it, albeit a multi-layered view, in which modulates and integrates the strategy information.

The modulation and integration of strategy is the primary principles in aiming to solve the following existing organizational disorders:

• Caste System: The Anointed and the Untouchables
• The One-man Band: Clint Eastwood Rules
• Testosterone Poisoning: Men Will Be Boys
• Malorganization: Structural Arthritis
• Silos: Cultural & Structural

The Process

The process of Quoth is spiral in nature, which solution to the shortcomings in strategic planning will take shape as Quoth proceeds. Characteristically, it will take shape slowly, informed by our growing understanding of Quoth.

The essentials of the process are characterized as follows:

A. Initially, we intend to foster deeper understanding of the problem in our practice by defining our framework (theoretical, conceptual, and operational), process, and situation. Here we understand our current situation, what our needs and interest are all about, and what our practice competency level are and/or require.

B. Then, we develop program and plan the action to reinforce and achieve the purpose. We develop the strategy as form of intervention.

C. Next we carry out the intervention to determine how successful the program and action has been. That is, during and around the time of intervention, relevant data are collected for outcome evaluation. This allows us to check the effects of the activities we intended to do, if they are aligned accordingly with the purpose. Note that, we may use several approach to generate data, such as observing the relevant factors and settings, interviewing people to discuss information, and analyzing documents.

D. Afterwards we meet better understanding of the strategy by reflecting on the result findings of the action. We may review the outcome we are pursuing; the emerging data collected; our evaluation, analysis, and interpretations; the plan of action we are using; our frameworks and processes to help us make sense of data; how well our actions are doing; and the people who are involved in the undertakings. These will lead us to better understanding on how we can achieve our purpose; allow us to become more effective at achieving our purpose; decide if the action is achieving what it is supposed to; devise ways of improving the action; and setup within the action some means for on-going monitoring and improvement.

E. Finally, in keeping up-to-date on the challenges facing us, we refine the strategy to improve the action until solution to the problem is achieved. The idea is to eliminate and close in upon the problem in our practice on which we are confronted with the refined strategy. In each “refine” the strategy is tested in our practice. The intended changes in the strategy reflect the evolution and redefinition of the strategy throughout the process.

Further, the process must be known and clarified based on certain condition. This is to ensure that the process could help us collaboratively agree on it and develop a coherent view for acceptance, understanding, compelling, empowerment, and/or likely action.

Practice Generalization Stage

The practice generalization stage uses dialectical process, which generates agreement out of disagreement. The purpose is to set standards, exchange accurate and adequate information, strive to understand what others’ issues, and use disagreement to identify where more information is needed. For example, people improve their understanding when they engage with issues. They educate each other within a process of participative, cooperative, and involvement inquiry. In other words, the stage is a process of mutual education.

Moreover, this stage process is of value. By reason of, it provides us with another way of obtaining accurate and reliable information. Scientifically, that is, it will allow us to test the strategy in the public arena – the strategy is described in a sufficient detail so that the strategy can be viewed, analyzed, and criticized by anyone who would like to question the strategic plan. In addition, it also helps us with the most practical and efficient approach to develop draft and finalized information. Like values - a person wants to identify and promote and those that will help him make the right decisions. To understand more what this valuing process is, consider the fundamental ideas described below.

One of the most common sets of activities in the statement gathering stage is the strategy formulation, wherein a person in a managing environment, whether it be office, school, home, or one’s workplace, wants to define and achieve his strategy, let say, as father in a family. Note that the father defines his strategy and specifies all his " father-related" roles and responsibilities on purpose, such as " head", "provider", “husband”, and “etc.” as dictated by or directed to support other strategies in the application. That is, he obtains and preserves the wholeness of an existing direction in striving to accomplish specific purpose. Then, the father strategy supported his family to achieve its goals and objectives. For example, the father strategy goal and objective is to address major problem facing the family like inadequate resources to provide them with their daily needs, and etc.

Observe, other fathers also define and achieve this same father strategy with different set of descriptive attributes or facets focusing on the same problem. Each of which results in a form shared by or adapted from other father strategy.

Then, the father strategy must be improved. Thus, the number of father strategies interconnected in the application is modeled into a base class of father strategies by originating and capturing the common and general attributes of these father strategies. This base class of father strategies will yield similar outcomes in similar situation once carried out properly and with passion by other fathers.

Next, in the event that a father wants to remodel and enhance the quality of his father strategy from an existing base class or derived class of father strategies, he can simply remodel his father strategy by means of inheritance. Another way is to use abstraction, encapsulation, polymorphism, and decomposition as modeling principles to remodel his father strategy.

Finally, much of a father’s work deals not only with his family, but with group, management, or organization as a whole in reality. Thus, a father can define and achieve more than one strategy and design them “Supervisor”, “Manager”, or “etc.” based on his given situation, position, or task.

Further, this stage could address the global issues of standards and the values that these imply, and translates the quality of strategy into definite pattern, accessible, workable, educational form, integrative, comprehensive, desirable, purposeful value, and advances.

Practice Organization Stage

The practice organization stage uses consensual process, which identifies agreement as foundation for further planning or decision-making. The purpose is to reach a mutually agreeable outcome, remove confusion, and put order. For example, people are willing to devote effort to achieve the same criteria, which gives them a common how to tasks and/or activities.

Moreover, the primary rule of this stage is this: As a person who defines a certain condition should look at it from the inside. He should be concerned with what it is composed of, how it works, and what he can contribute for the development of practice and/or strategy. As a person who operates on a certain condition to achieve direction should look at it from the outside and need to know anything about what is inside. He should be concerned only with what it is and what it does. He should look past the details and think solely in terms of the role that it plays at a higher level.

Furthermore, this stage requires internal consistency of data gathered that will be gathered in the practice gathering stage, which can be made possible by the use of database management systems. Like information are rearranged in a way that it makes the needed group categories. Or the same ideas of understanding are put into order for information patterns.

Further, this stage could create change in the application and reflect a conforming degree of control in a top-down fashion. Like it forms a geese, a group of web-footed water bird, swayed dramatically to a new direction when one goose have changed his course of direction. Of course, it is more factual if I used pigeon (a short-legged bird with compact body) instead of a goose in the analogy in the actual use when proceeds. The characteristic of the pigeon in the sky is more likely or unlikely will be followed by another pigeon in a group when the bird changed his direction. Also, in somewhat appropriate behavior, you may relate the behavior of the application to a buffalo, a large bovine mammal, joined a group and then lost his direction immediately when the leading buffalo of the group was killed by a buffalo hunter.

A further, this stage could make coordinated effort possible. Thus, it could influence us by its role. By reason of, it has the capacity to drive toward a variety of possible future. That is, it could give us a good chance of falling to the idea that the future is somewhat in linear progression.

This stage could help us to create the future.

Practice Gathering Stage

The study under this domain is focused on our descriptive attribute information characteristically a follows:

• Personal - like profile, qualification summary, knowledge and skills, training, work experiences, references, resources, and others.
• Company - includes mission and vision, values, goals, profile, product, services, program, policies, standards, resources, campaign, news, directive order, reports, letters, instruction, memo, and publication.
• Strategic Planning - includes requirements, SWOT, analysis, general statement, tactics, and operation details. Moreover, it presents an adaptive, open, and reflective approach to develop strategy. A major benefit of this approach is speeding formulation time. In addition to speeding formulation time, proper goal and objective and class construction and reuse results in less time development, which translates to provide higher performance.

The domain collects this information for unified and harmonized interaction, linkage, binding, relationship, interchange, transmission, and/or acquirement of its descriptive attributes. The purpose is to enable us to talk about, understand, interpret, criticize, operate on, interview in, and fulfill some other cognitive or pragmatic goal.

Moreover, this stage will contribute to our formative information, which could add value and credibility to the natural developmental and functional works being done by us. It will help us to create a maintainable reputation and predictable behavior that could demonstrate our capacity and integrity to influence other behaviors and clear negative expectation. It will also help us to increase our development and functional work knowledge, capacity, and effectiveness; and clear existing blockages by forming our frameworks and processes.

Further, this stage is designed nothing more than a file containing our information. It subdivides our information into manageable files in which we can change and evolve in the course of development. This kind of settings holds a great deal of promise, for it can conceivably lighten difficult tasks and bring impossible information into the realm of possibilities.

In this view, this stage must provide space wherein it can create a place for new ideas and choice behavior. It must also adopt a process that balances development, collection, and presentation of strategy. Without this behavior, then it might destroy or damage fresh strategies and new beginnings to emerge and nurture in the future.

Practice Training Stage

Quoth, like most interesting new developments, builds on some old ideas, extends them, and puts them together in distinctive ways. The result is many-faceted and a clear step forward.

Moreover, Quoth presents some formidable obstacles to those who would like to understand what it's all about or begin trying it out. It introduces a new way of doing things that may seem strange at first, and it comes with an extensive terminology that can take some getting used to. The terminology will help in the end, but it's not always easy to learn.

That's where this stage comes in. It's designed to help a person become familiar with Quoth and get over the hurdle its terminology presents. In addition, it spells out some of the implications of Quoth and tries to give him a flavor of what formulating a strategy is really like. That is, it meets the need for simple how-to-do-it approach in developing strategy.

Furthermore, this stage is focused on teaching approaches. In effect, the question “how can this subject matter best be taught?” is raised. Strategic planning, in turn, can be done most effectively when we have some prior understanding.

Further, the practice training stage will involve establishing the Special Interest Group.

Perceived Benefits

In the Benefit piece, I said about talking more on this. Here the following are perceived benefits of having Quoth from instituting training, record keeping, human resource information, planning, organizing, directing (couching and/or counseling), controlling (knowing what direction and guidelines), and/or generalizing use of information characteristically as follows:

Training

• Acquire new or improve knowledge and skills.

Record Keeping

• Clarify and promote understanding of company practices.
• Provide human resource information and source of data for statistical purposes.
• Promote consistency and credibility – the roadmap for consistent, fair, and firm management.
• Provide direction and guideline information to know what the management wants to do in carrying out its objectives.
• Provide manager with reference information that applies his subordinate practices on a day-to-day basis. It gives the manager a quick reference guides to various information.
• A positive reminder to manager about the important needs for consistency – it will reinforce the manager’s day-to-day responsibility for supervising his employees fairly, firmly, and consistently and administering company performance standards.
• Provide the “newly promoted” manager with confidence on what he should expect on employees in their day-to-day work practices.
• Save much time for managers in getting answers to questions raised by employees on a day-to-day basis about what should be done and how to handle problems.
• Help creates a maintainable reputation and predictable behavior that could demonstrate capability and integrity to influence other behaviors.
• Provide new employees with their first employee education and orientation on what is expected of them in their new job in terms of on-the-job performance.

Human Resource Information

• Ensure that the company has the right number and kinds of employees capable of effectively and efficiently completing tasks that will help the company achieve its overall objectives.
• Provide an efficient new employee orientation management tool – the most practical and useful management communication tool in the induction and orientation of new employees.
• Provide an effective management recruiting tool – can be represented to prospective employees to provide a positive and persuasive image of the company.
• Attract desirable new employees in the employee recruiting process – project a favorable, positive image of the company and what the prospective employee may expect from the company.
• Help effective placement of jobs.
• Determine the degree of job market condition.
• Identify if the type of needed candidate are available.
• Measure how much the candidates know about his job.
• Hire those candidates who are best at formulating strategy.
• Develop and maintain contact for future human resources needs.
• Staff and promote those candidates who will most effectively implement strategy.
• Identify employees who are qualified for transfer, promotion, or upgrade selection. Thus, it could serve as basis for job evaluation.
• Use to acquire competent employees in terms of knowledge, skills, experiences, traits, and behavior.
• Identify vacant positions, its requirements, and its type for possible job application.

Planning

• Allow effective utilization of available resources.
• Develop uniformity of understanding and purposes.
• Promote public trust and confidence towards leaders.
• Save management substantial time and operating cost by avoiding the need for day-to-day, week-to-week spontaneous, lengthy “brainstorming” session to discuss and reach decisions about what should be done and how to handle problems.
• Help priority setting.
• Demonstrate stable situation.
• Delimit confusion and brand image.
• Begin to set in a sense of optimism.
• Enhance communication within company.
• Promote and enhance the development of work effectiveness and advancement.
• Improve morale.
• Improve educational practices.
• Simplify the tasks of practitioners.
• Enhance interest and pride in work.
• Advance knowledge in any applicable field of study.
• Provide employees with a sense of self-esteem and job security.
• Begin to feel more confident and get used of new way of doing things.
• Help shape, affect, and achieve desired attitude, program, and work functionality.
• Get things better immediately with smooth and harmonious adaptation to change.
• Improve condition spiritually, mentally, physically, emotionally, financially, and/or socially.
• Help increase work knowledge, capacity, and effectiveness to clear existing blockages by forming work frameworks and processes.

Organizing

• Relate component parts to one another and to the company objectives.
• Develop channels of promotions and transfer along lines determined by duties, responsibilities, job requirements, working conditions, and other interests.
• Connect formal relationship among those which are officially established and prescribed in the company manuals, charts, and job descriptions.
• Help effective management and utilization of available resources and manpower to produce results.
• Help in making decisions.
• Regulate activities in accordance to the general plans.
• Provide managers and employees with common ground for mutual understanding of the employees responsibilities in the workplace – reinforce the manager’s authority and responsibility to properly supervise employees.
• Align plans, resources, and requirements.

Directing (couching)

• Give credit.
• Give visibility.
• Build interaction.
• Keep confidence.
• Make aware of duties.
• Capitalize on strengths.
• Serve as a good role model.
• Orient company values and strategies.
• Provide feedback about job performance.
• Help shape company and its people direction.
• Help increase company and its people relationships.
• Promote sense of encouragement that renders work proactively.
• Collaborate company and its people learning that addresses issues
• Promote sense of encouragement that leads to a gain of energy and commitment
• Help the company and its people share a special bond with others that make their success just as important to one as his own might be.
• Explain reasons for decisions and procedures and give advance notice of changes whenever possible.
• Identify behavior or results that were desired, not up to, or up to exceeding standards. And that are highly regarded and often specific how to incorporate them in the future.
• Ask to work willingly and effectively for the achievement of designated goals.
• Provide information / feedback on operation for decision making.
• Communicate information requiring immediate action.
• Communicate information requiring future action.
• Communicate information that affects them.
• Have others understand your ideas.
• Answer complaints and criticism.
• Reprimand for work deficiency.
• Motivate and work for results.
• Communicate work progress.
• Stimulate desired action.
• Defend the status quo.
• Produce action.

Directing (counseling)

• Reassure insecurity.
• Protect from undue stress.
• Make performance expectations and priorities
• Make feel confident about ability to solve problems.
• Help promoting better employee-employer relationship
• Encourage when you are discouraged or about to undertake new and difficult situation.
• Provide information about the company and their role in the attainment of goals.
• Allow and send their dissatisfaction or concern about their jobs.
• Establish personal relationships wherein mutual trust is developed.
• Enhance the good image of the company and its people.
• Provide opportunities to have a say with everyone.
• Solicit feeling, ideas, and solutions.
• Give full attention to discussion.
• Help work out tough priorities.
• Allow and grieve over loss.
• Get the people together.
• Support taking risk.
• Let make decisions.
• Build self-esteem.

Controlling (knowing what direction and guidelines)

• Performance rating
• Decision making
• Operations
• Programs
• Functions
• Problems
• Contracts

Generalizing

• Prevent unnecessary creation or duplication of positions, work, and activities.
• Link all the proceeding functions of planning, organizing, directing, and controlling.
• Guide in establishing standards or work performance, simplifying work procedures, and improving methods and approaches.
• Spell out the thinking of the practitioners and their attitude towards personal, work, and program.

Further, they are based on the four practice stages below.


The practice stages are discussed in the next pieces.

Framework for Coping With The Demands of The Practice

A person typically copes with the demands of his/her practice (various goals and/or roles). Yet, he worries on how to deal and/or cope with the demands of his/her practice. By reason of, he knows that it requires very hard work - the pressures of the job - at maintaining an appropriate work/life balance. At this point, think that person will need to have a better look of all his skills sets, to learn to be an effective time manager - for instance - and particularly to prioritise, to learn to manage his self and emotions, and etc. Will he cope?

Here Quoth will use self-assessment, self-development, and work plan as framework of the knowledge management tool for strategic planning to help a person to develop and achieve the necessary areas of his/her practice.

You may click here for downloading a sample material (practice level) in MS Excel version. Note that Bain's Life Success Scale concepts from "Destination Success" book of Dwight Bain helps me to describe the sample material more by corresponding to some of his ideas.

The Practice

In the Historical Highlights piece, I showed Spiritual, Moral, Physical, Metal, Emotional, Personal, Relational, Occupational, Professional, Cultural, Environmental, Social, Financial, Political, and Reinforcement practice to help you have a dynamic view of Quoth. Here each practice were described (some were extracted from Wikipedia) in brief below based on my personal views - note that each practice could be described in many context because of their chance on multiple views. They will give you an opportunity to think about how you could do them.

Spiritual - May refer in this context to spirituality, a concern with matters of the spirit. Moreover, spirituality is man's attitude and actions based on his relationship with God and in accordance with his faith. This is a condition wherein man does not wish to offend God by doing wrong to himself and to other people. He tries avoiding unkind and unjust actions towards other people.

Moral - May refer in this context to moral values, a thing held to be right or wrong or desirable or undesirable. It is having a correct, honorable, and conscientious state of mind and attitude on acknowledging the right of others.

Physical - In this context, it Involves the use of the physical body in achieving goals.

Mental - May refer in this context to the collective aspects of intellect and consciousness which are manifest in some combination of thought, perception, emotion, will and imagination to make a choice, reflect on values, solve problems, etc.

Emotional - May refer in this context to emotional intelligence, an ability, capacity, or skill to perceive, assess, and manage the emotions of one's self, of others, and of groups.

Personal - May refer in this context to interests or goals, a state of affairs or a state of a concrete activity domain which a person is going/tends to improve, achieve, and/or obtain.

Relational - May refer in this context to position relating to others and the world, a development of the Self-Unself (SU), the Self-Others (SO), and the Self-World (SW).

Occupational - May refer in this context to occupation, a principal activity (job, employment, or calling) that earns money (regular wage or salary) for a person.

Professional - May refer in this context to a person in a profession, a certain types of skilled work requiring formal training/education, or in sports a sportsman/sportwoman doing sports for payment. It is a worker required to possess a large body of knowledge derived from extensive academic study (usually tertiary), with the training almost always formalized.

Cultural - May refer in this context to culture, a pattern of human activity and the symbolic structures that give such activity significance.

Environmental - May refer in this context to environmentalism, a concern for the preservation, restoration, or improvement of the natural environment, such as the conservation of natural resources, prevention of pollution, and certain land use actions.

Social - May refer in this context to relations between people (social relations), but more specifically a relation between individuals insofar as they belong to a group, a relation between groups of people, or a relation between an individual and a group of people. It is an ability of a person to interact effectively with others. It involves the skill of communication and good public relations regulated by social norms, between two or more people, with each having a social position and performing a social role.

Financial - May refer in this context to activity of finance, an application of a set of techniques that individuals, businesses, and organizations use to manage and control their financial affairs, particularly the differences between income and expenditure and the risks of their investments.

Political - May refer in this context to politician, a person who influences the way a society is governed through an understanding of political power and group dynamics. It shapes the collective viewpoints by being opinionated, results-orientated, high in influence, building alliances, guiding others, being power conscious and persuasive.

Reinforcement - May refer in this context to any change demonstrating increases in behavior and/or another measure of its strength. Example: Development Program

Development Program - May refer in this context to a learning process that allows a person to understand and enhance his/her knowledge, skills, and abilities to build discipline expertise, enhance personal growth, and/or contribute to organisation development in meeting the needs of a given situation and/or adapting to the operational changes.

Seperately, I will describe each practice more in terms of their theoretical framework, conceptual framework, operational framework, and/or subject thought forms for better understanding. This includes identifying the criteria for measuring skills to further develop the practice.

Further, you may consider each and identify those practice that you should develop further on the next piece, "Framework for Coping From The Demands of the Practice."

Empowerment

In one of my occasional research, I read “The locus of control for empowerment is within the individual. Organization can do things to nurture, to spark, encourage, and reward – but the core remains that the individual has a personal need to feel that he or she makes a difference.” and I thought of my desire.

My desire is to reinforce my identity in the office - a choice of Quoth (behavior) patterns which I must work S.M.A.R.T. to improve and/or achieve.

I must persevere.

How do we see Quoth?

As a recognized FACILITATOR in building a foundation where diverse tongues and traditions could draw together to the vision, that is, we envision the works of the people shaping our direction for peace.

As a recognized PLAYER in providing organization development, facilitation, education, training, service, consultancy, and program.

As an ENCOURAGER in unifying and affirming our work’s purpose to create a new paradigm and embody a culture of peace.

Special Interest Group

Getting involved in emphasizing Quoth importance is of a participating nature. It is a state that conceives and constructs relationships between Quoth and different groups of people and organizations. The relationships could do things to nurture, spark, and increase Quoth awareness and understanding.

Thinking about a time when Quoth will be given a chance to identify and establish a special interest group to produce organization development, facilitation, education, training, service, and program, its members must be a range of consultants in public and private sectors, the group tasks would be:

• To feel that they make a difference.
• To interrelate current personal, work, and program activities.
• To develop ways of achieving a more coordinated approach.
• To review the skills and training requirements of those involved.
• To identify shortcomings within and the means of overcoming them.
• To establish a framework for current and future educational development.
• To determine the training needs of everyone who may not yet possess the skills and abilities required by the position he occupies.
• To recommend a program for action and delivery, and systems for monitoring and evaluation.
• Etc.

Moreover, the special interest group must acknowledge that better care for the means will not be achieved without the general public. Thus, the group must concern with the general public and cast its net as widely as possible in order to contribute to them. The group must touch them, and if possible draw them into partnership and encourage them to adopt Quoth in their practice.

At the outset, members of the special interest group must contribute information based in their own experiences and improvements. The group must identify range of knowledge and interests.

People Who Changed the World

In Relevance of the Study piece, I talked the about the nature of Quoth. That is to serve the purpose of communication - I believe the purpose of communication is found on better promises. Here I will talk about those people who changed the world.

During the early research and development stage of Quoth, it made me to think about those people who changed the world, and ask, what is their purpose? What represent their works? What proposition of their works relates to our past or current situations? Horizontally or vertically, what is the connection? These people who changed the world are many to mention, but I have listed some of them, namely as follow:

1. Henry Ford - Who revolutionized the manufacture of automobiles and thus eventually changed the lives of americans and of the world.
2. Wrigth Brothers (Orville and Wilbur) - Who invented the airplane.
3. William Gates II - Who dominate the computer world.
4. Philo T. Farnsworth - Inventor of television.
5. J.C.R. Licklider - Father of internet.
6. Edwin H. Armstrong - Radio inventor.
7. Thomas Alva Edison - Invented electric light and movies.
8. Samuel Morse - Inventor of telegraph.
9. Richard Woe - Inventor of rotary printing press.
10. Christian Schusele - His large canvass depicting Americans of the 19th century and had changed the world.
11. Edward Sorel - Similar canvass was printed depicting 20 Americans of the 20th century who also have changed the world.

Aware by the works of these people, my inquisitive outlook to understand things have guided and instructed me to search for answers and affirmation.

One day, the word "communication" struck me. It leads me to examine the communication infrastructure development history. In my research, I read about the birth of language and writing systems from c. 3000 B.C. to present discoveries and innovations. This includes pictographs, hieroglyphic, tortoise shell, oracle bones, papyrus roll, paper, book, printing press, libraries, computers, telegraph, photography, movies, telephone, magnetic recording, televisions, integrated circuits, micro chips, internet, and cell phone. Enlightened by these thoughts, I relate my research to some of these people I mentioned who changed the world. The relation leads me to notice that all their works seems relating, forming, and directing into something in which at that foremost stage is not clear to me.

My findings above have made me to submit myself more just to find the answer. When I consulted the moral theology, I found this from the Holy Father, John Paul II. "Learning this Trinitarian shape of Christian prayer and living it fully, above all in the liturgy, the summit and source of the Church's life, but also in personal experience is the secret of a truly vital Christianity, which has no reason to fear the future, because it returns continually to the sources and finds in them new life." (Novo millennio ineunte, 32) Blessed JOSEMARIA ESCRIVA Founder of Opus Dei, Bulletin No. 19, Manila. Note that the words of the Holy Father have inspired and guided me in fulfilling the essence of my endeavor ever since.

Again, The word "communication" struck me While ‘m doing progress in my research. This time, it made me to realize that those people who changed the world and the communication infrastructure development history are interwoven. And when I relate my understanding to the words of the Holy Father, it made me to see the connection. That is, the connection energizes the works of the people and serve the purpose of communication.

Having this finding, I thought about "in-between time." That is, the time after this realization and before the fulfillment of the words of the Holy Father. I may sound doctrinaire, but I believe the words of the Holy Father can only be achieved by means of connection. That is, the people need that ultimate and intimate sense of connection to make and achieve the results.

Currently, I am appreciating those people who changed the world. I believe, there is good to benefit from them with their works like increasing our connection and/or implementing of something new.

Thinking about "Quoth," it reminds me of the words of the Holy Father.

Success Factor

Quoth success may depend on the following factors:

1. Wide terms of references
2. Clear definition from the outset of the scope
3. A great deal of participation and hard work on the part of many organization and its people and consultant to make it happen
4. Seizing opportunities (international and other noteworthy occasions can be used to raise interest and support)

I will talk more on this.

Relevance of the Study

Quoth serves the purpose of communication. It will identify connection, character, and teacher between qualities or characteristics of facts and/or items of knowledge about the world which we live in.

I regard for those who get inspiration on this study.

Benefit

As Quoth proceeds, speed in formulating plan and action and flexibility in developing strategy in an agreeable harmonious interactive fashion are some of the first, most obvious, unpredictable, rapidly changing, stimulated, creative, innovative, and better benefit to achieve.

Moreover, burden sharing could be brought into a more and universal environment allowing insiders or outsiders to provide knowledge, solve hard look problems, and ask similar contribution from others. Note that without an application to promote issue linkage and mutual reciprocity, distrust and animosity can prevent us from collaboration and cooperation even when all would benefit from it.

I will talk more on this.

How can we match Quoth to reality or to actual practice?

Matching Quoth to reality or to actual practice is not what we could design or define. It's what we could get. We could get positive results if it gives us good feelings, otherwise we could get negative results if it gives us an unpleasant feelings about desirable outcome.

Conceptual Framework

In this study, the knowledge management tool adoption serves as the independent variable, while the validity and reliability of strategy is the dependent variable. The shortcomings and difficulties in strategic planning, which serve as the intervening variable, may affect the validity and reliability of strategy, but our better understanding and action could help us achieve the validity and reliability of our strategy.

Moreover, by adopting the knowledge management tool for achieving a purpose, one may assume that the validity and reliability of his strategy will lead him to improve his performance.

Furthermore, the knowledge management tool adoption offers exciting possibilities based on the following characteristics:

1. It is an “on-going” process.
2. Social order has a chance to emerge.
3. It can contribute towards the evolution of strategy to its final shapes and forms.
4. The knowledge management tool can prove critical when we have real responsibilities to meet.
5. With careful analysis, we can better respond to the uncertainty of people and/or company disorder.

The diagrammatic representation of the conceptual framework below shows the expected flow of relationship between variables.

Theoretical Framework

The occasional pieces in action research methodology maintained by Bob Dick shows they have been exploring the notion that action research generates a form of grounded theory: Theory grounded in experience.

In his view, an important purpose of action research is the development of understanding and action. Understanding which drives from action. Understanding which in turn informs action. Within each understanding and action cycle, the understanding develops further because, in each “act,” the growing understanding is tested in action. This development of understanding and action forms the grounded theory - its development observes well the intention of the earlier Glaser and Strauss work. However, the shortcomings and difficulties to foster deeper understanding could reflect in the outcome of the action. Thus, it is significant to foster deeper understanding of matters first by using the three dimensions of action research and grounded theory: epistemology (theoretical, conceptual, and operational framework), process, and situation for better outcome of the action. He uses these three dimensions to spell out his assumptions before he acts.

Moreover, he pointed out grounded theory tends to be different in at least two respects: First, grounded theory tends to be more about practice. By reason of, it can to some extent integrate the subjective and objective. Subjective arises because it is invested by our values and meanings. Objective arises because it is tested against reality through action. Second, grounded theory tends to be more general. By reason of, it can to some extent integrate the same elements of understanding operating on a given situation. That is, it is framed in a way that allows its generalizability to be used to produce similar outcomes in similar settings.

Further, the concepts, particular ideas, understanding, and principles of action research and grounded theory above are to be used in facilitating, influencing, and guiding the people in adopting Quoth.

Introduction

“The knowledge management tool is going to be the reality of our time.” That is how I would like to start this study pieces. I offer you this statement because I wish to persuade you to my creativity. The intention is to raise and suggest solution to a problem and invite you to think about the preliminary outcome of the study.

By any large, our thought or action in understanding and engaging of matters cannot be taken for granted. We must be systematic and specific on doing things to achieve our desired attitude, program, and functionality, but our shortcomings in strategic planning have brought us into unstable disposition to achieve our purpose. The premise is that, there is something fundamentally wrong with our method in viewing and taking matters efficiently with respect to the law, professional ethics, and human nature. That is, we fail to generate results that satisfy the true requirements and conditions placed upon us by ourselves and others. To resolve these problems, we must uncover and examine their theoretical and practical sources to identify corresponding solution.

There are many evidences of existence of our shortcomings in strategic planning. One of the evidence could arise in our lack of understanding on the process and planning language - the lack of understanding on the process and planning language of strategic planning brings about group strategy formulation difficulties. It is a situation wherein the possible numbers of participants to work on the same strategy could get in the way of group’s ability to work effectively. By reason of, that possible number of participants may not be ready to engage on group strategy formulation because of their lack of understanding on the process and planning language of strategic planning. That is, group strategy formulation requires collaborative and cooperative effort among participants who must be individually strategic. A further, many of our educational institutions do not offer strategic planning training. Or company and/or individuals in informal education, and training and/or professional institutions do offer strategic planning training only to people who can afford the course like those people in executive and managerial positions.

Another evidence of existence of our shortcomings in strategic planning is that the participants who collaborate and cooperate on the same strategy may not be working on it at the same time, so they may not be in the position to talk things over and keep each other informed about details of the plan. This difficulty may happen because collaboration and cooperation is impeded often by barriers of time.

Then within our belief, the problem arises because of uncertainty elements affecting or influencing our decision-making - the condition is influenced by our perspective, a view one thinks or takes of matters. The manifestation of our belief crisis explains why our behavior behaves positively or negatively in achieving favorable results.

Next we lack tools that assess our readiness and help us develop our skill sets and/or expertise to engage of matters. The lack of tools explains why we from time to time stop and remedy our situation, if not hinder us to achieve our goals and/or objectives. It is a condition wherein we always take to address and confront our avoidable concerns and/or issues of matters. This usually involves various driving forces, or major influences that affect our behavior negatively in achieving favorable results.

Lastly within our expectation and hope-for-results, the problem arises because of strategic planning deficiency. It is a situation wherein the plan is not producing the intended results. The following questions of Harris, Hank M., Eight Problems With Your Firm's Strategic Plan, might be helpful in confirming, explaining, and understanding more some risks with this problem.

1. Does our process produce a plan that's "real?" I have seen many planning efforts involving a facilitator who knows nothing about the industry (for example, a generic management consultant) or one who knows too much (a former practitioner). For lack of a better approach, these facilitators run everyone through an academic model. The result is a hyperbole-laden mission statement and a dozen loftily written goals. Nowhere in the process did the participants adequately ask themselves how to gain a competitive advantage or produce results in the market. They have a strategic plan, but they have no strategy.

2. Is our plan "strategic?" Two issues are involved. First, did you use a model that lends itself to a strategic plan--not to be confused with a business plan, a marketing plan, or a five-year financial projection? Second, did you deal with strategic issues? Many planning teams wind up discussing operational issues if the facilitator does not remain vigilant.

3. Do we have adequate external focus? Firms that have never been through the process often produce plans that are internally focused. Good strategy is externally focused. If your plan drives towards markets, clients, alliances, acquisitions, etc., you're probably in good shape. If it focuses more on "reengineering your core processes" or housekeeping issues, get ready for your staff to start sending you Dilbert cartoons.

4. Do we make sufficient use of outsiders? You definitely want to use some outside participants or facilitators. Many firms boast of doing strategic planning all by themselves, but that approach is flawed. Surgeons do not operate on themselves or their family, and lawyers maintain that "he who represents himself has a fool for a client." The dynamics are the same in a good planning process.

5. Does our plan really work for the organization? For it to work, the plan must be effectively communicated and sold inside the organization. In working with senior management planning teams, I have occasionally asked them to write down their firm's mission from memory. Often this request produces a chuckle and then a realization. After all, if senior managers don't know their firm's mission, how can it possibly mean anything downstream? Similarly, the plan must become part of the firm's collective conscience. It must really drive behavior. Involve people, refer to the plan at meetings, and promote it. If you go through all the work to develop a plan and then let everyone forget it, you have wasted company time and resources.

6. Is our plan actionable? Occasionally, the top people dream up a lot of ideas, commit them to paper, and call the exercise strategic planning--even though no actions or measures of progress are put in place. Without specific assignments to individuals, due dates, and measurable objectives, the plan may be little more than a wish list. Obviously, no strategy is worth much until it's implemented. The plan needs to be translated into measurable components and discrete individual activities.

7. Is anybody doing anything? Someone has to follow up to ensure that people execute the plan. People say they will work on strategic initiatives, but then go back to their everyday roles and spend all of their time on "real work." After all, it's more immediate, tangible, and within their comfort zone. I'm not advocating management by embarrassment, but there must be enough follow-up, rewards, and consequences to put teeth into the actions. If nothing else, the process should enable you to get more done than you would have otherwise.

8. Are we getting lost in executing tactics, but missing the big picture? At the other end of the spectrum, some firms (especially engineering firms) get things done, but the group becomes so absorbed in tactics that they lose sight of the overall goal or strategy. Strategic planning is just the framework for strategic thinking. To be effective, your planning team must regularly reengage the process and reassess the quality and viability of the overall strategy. The best strategy usually evolves. It doesn't just happen over a partners' weekend.

Needlessly, we spend so much time passing through this thought or action on which we repeat the same behavior over and over. We usually failed to realize that such impositions does not accomplish what we think we really want to accomplish and may even be making matters worse, if not trapped in unsuccessful behavior, wasted time - the most careful observation of this behavior and what are known as absence of order behavior, which I intend to emphasize is disorder. The following seventeen basic syndromes of organizational disorders of Albrecht, Karl, 17 Basic Syndromes of Dysfunction: The Power of Minds at Work: Organizational Intelligence in Action, 2002, might be helpful in explaining and understanding more some certain risks of this behavior.

1. ADD: Attention Deficit Disorder. Senior management cannot seem to focus on any one primary goal, strategy, or problem long enough to gain momentum in solving it. Typically, the CEO or the top team will hop around from one new preoccupation to another, often reacting to some recent event, such as a hot new trend, a key move by a competitor, or a change in the marketplace. A variation of this syndrome, the "too many irons in the fire" syndrome, involves a whole raft of programs, or "initiatives," most of which squander resources and dilute the focus of attention.

2. Anarchy: When the Bosses Won't Lead. A weak, divided, or distracted executive team fails to provide the clear sense of direction, momentum, and goal focus needed by the extended management team. A war between the CEO and the board, or a major battle among the members of the top team can leave the organization without a rudder. Lacking a clear focus and a set of meaningful priorities, people begin to scatter their efforts into activities of their own choosing. Without a sense of higher purpose, unit leaders put their own priorities and political agendas above the success of the enterprise.

3. Anemia: Only the Deadwood Survives. After a series of economic shocks, downsizings, layoffs, palace wars, and purges, the talented people have long since left for better pastures, leaving the losers and misfits lodged in the woodwork. They have more at stake in staying put, so they outlast the more talented employees. When conditions start to improve, the organization typically lacks the talent, energy, and dynamism needed to capitalize on better times.

4. Caste System: The Anointed and the Untouchables. Some organizations have an informal, "shadow" structure based on certain aspects of social or professional status, which everybody knows about and most people avoid talking about. Military headquarters organizations, for example, tend to have three distinct camps: officers, enlisted people (or, as the British call them "other ranks"), and civilian staff. Hospitals tend to have very rigid caste systems, with doctors at the top of the heap, nurses in the next lower caste, and non-medical people toward the bottom. Universities and other academic or research organizations tend to have very clearly defined categories of status, usually based on tenure or standing in one's field. These castes never appear on the organization chart, but they dominate collective behavior every day. Caste categories usually set up de facto boundaries, promote factionalism, and tempt the in-group members to serve their own social and political needs at the expense of the organization and to the detriment of the lower castes.

5. Civil War: The Contest of Ideologies. The organization disintegrates into two or more mega-camps, each promoting a particular proposition, value system, business ideology, or local hero. The split can originate from the very top level, or it can express profound differences between subcultures, e.g. engineering and marketing, nursing and administration, or the editorial culture and the business offices. In some cases, the dynamic tension between ideologies can work to the benefit of the enterprise; in other cases it can cripple the whole operation.

6. Despotism: Fear & Trembling. A tyrannical CEO or an overall ideology of oppression coming from the top causes people to engage in avoidance behavior at the expense of goal-seeking behavior. A few episodes in which people get axed for disagreeing with the chief, or for questioning the lack of ethics and leadership, and everybody soon learns: keep your head down and don't draw attention to yourself.

7. Fat, Dumb, and Happy: If It Ain't Broke... Management guru Peter Drucker once observed, "Whom the gods would destroy, they first grant forty years of business success." Even in the face of an imminent threat to the basic business model, the executives cannot muster a sense of concern, and cannot come to consensus on the need to reinvent the business.

8. General Depression: Nothing to Believe In. Sometimes things get really bad, such as during an economic downturn or a rough period for the enterprise, and senior management utterly fails to create and maintain any kind of empathic contact with the rank and file. Feeling abandoned and vulnerable, the front line people sink into a state of discouragement, low morale, and diminished commitment.

9. Geriatric Leadership: Retired on the Job. When a CEO has had his or her day, either for reasons of physical health, psychological arthritis, or personal obsolescence, he or she may hang on to the helm too long, refusing to bring in new blood, new ideas, and new talent. This syndrome can extend to the whole top team, whose members may have grown old together, committed to an obsolete ideology which once made the enterprise successful, but which now threatens to sink it.

10. The Looney CEO: Crazy Makes Crazy. When the chief's behavior goes beyond the merely colorful and verges on the maladjusted, the people in the inner circle start behaving in their own crazy ways, in reaction to the lack of an integrated personality at the top. This begins to look like a kind of syndicated craziness to the people down through the ranks, who find themselves perpetually baffled, bemused, and frustrated by the increasing lack of coherence in executive decisions and actions.

11. Malorganization: Structural Arthritis. A defective organizational architecture works passively and unremittingly against the achievement of the mission. Departmental boundaries that don't align with the natural processes of the operation or its work flow, conflicting responsibilities and competitive missions, and unnatural subdivisions of critical mission areas impose high communication costs, inhibit collaboration, and foster internal competition.

12. The Monopoly Mentality: Our Divine Right. When an organization has long enjoyed a dominant position in its environment, either because of a natural monopoly or a circumstantial upper hand, its leaders tend to think like monopolists. Unable or unwilling to think in competitive terms, and unable to innovate or even reinvent the business model, they become sitting ducks for invading competitors who want their piece of the pie.

13. The One-man Band: Clint Eastwood Rules. A "cowboy" type of CEO, who feels no need or responsibility to share his or her master plan with subordinates, keeps everybody in the organization guessing about the next move. This creates dependency and learned incapacity on the part of virtually all leaders down through the hierarchy, and renders them reactive rather than potentially proactive.

14. The Rat Race: They Keep Moving the Cheese. The culture of the enterprise, either by design or by the style of a particular industry or business sector, burns out its most talented people. A prevailing notion that one must sacrifice his or her personal well being in order to get ahead, possibly in pursuit of big financial rewards, definitely creates a goal focus, but at the expense of cooperation, esprit de corps, and individual humanity. A reduction in the commissions or other elements of the financial cheese creates a sense of victimization and resentment, not a sense of shared fate.

15. Silos: Cultural & Structural. The organization disintegrates into a group of isolated camps, each defined by the desire of its chieftains to achieve a favored position with the royal court, i.e. senior management and the kingmakers at the top. With little incentive to cooperate, collaborate, share information, or team up to pursue mission-critical outcomes, the various silos develop impervious boundaries. Local warlords tend to serve their individual, parochial agendas, and evolve patterns of operating that favor their units' suboptimal interests at the expense of the interests of the enterprise. These silo patterns tend to create fracture lines down through the organization, polarizing the people who have to interact across them.

16. Testosterone Poisoning: Men Will Be Boys. In male-dominated industries or organizational cultures such as military units, law enforcement agencies, and primary industries, the rewards for aggressive, competitive, and domineering behaviors far outweigh the rewards for collaboration, creativity, and sensitivity to abstract social values. In non-"coed" organizations, i.e. those with fewer than about 40% females in key roles, executives, managers and male co-workers tend to assign females to culturally stereotyped roles with little power, influence, or access to opportunity. This gender-caste system wastes talent and often stifles innovation and creativity.

17. The Welfare State: Why Work Hard? Organizations that have no natural threats to their existence, such as government agencies, universities, and publicly funded operations, typically evolve into cultures of complacency. In a typical government agency, it's more important not to be wrong than it is to be right. Lots of people have "no-go" power, i.e. the power to veto or passively oppose innovation, but very few people have "go" power, or the capacity to originate and champion initiatives. Welfare cultures tend to syndicate blame and accountability just as they syndicate authority: you can't take risks, but if anything goes wrong you get to blame the system.

Moreover, the question, how can we achieve the validity and reliability of strategy with these shortcomings and difficulties in strategic planning, however, remain unanswered. Thus, the intention of combating these shortcomings and difficulties in strategic planning is the key factors why the current phase of creativity and development of the study is made into existence.

Historical Highlights

More than 7 years ago, my perspective to see, think, and take of matters have changed. This leads me into writing. This leads and guides me to fill up the essence of this endeavor. Moreover, I am not a writer, but I will aspire to improve my knowledge and skills to writing and be a good writer.

Further, Quoth has been developed since November 2000. It has benefited greatly from comments, suggestions, supports, and encouragement offered by family and close friends.

The building blocks below presents the scope of the study.

About the Blog

The purpose of the blog is to articulate the study in terms of its purpose, value, and direction.

In view of this, the blog is seeking an outside opinion to see how the essence of the study purpose, value, and direction can be understood easily and supported actively by soliciting positive story of accomplishments, suggestion for improvements, questions, concerns, and/or general comments. The objective is to ensure people reflect on the best of "what is" and/or "what could be" of the study and understand the unique conditions, interpretations, assumptions, and/or concerns upon which judgments are made.

Moreover, the blog answers the big questions about why the study exists, how the study seeks to benefit the global communities, where the study is going, and why the study is going there.

Further, the blog needs empowerment from people to embrace the value and reap the potential benefits of developing, sustaining, improving, and delivering study prototype.