life between the ivory tower n reality

Does incentive work?

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:51:26 PDT

Incentive works if it motivates people. But would it? People are motivated to do something if they know this: "If I do this, I will get what I want." Managers often get it wrong by telling their employees: "If you do this, we will give you what we want to give you." Managers should stop assuming that they know what their employees want.

Product knowledge

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 01:09:56 PDT

The recently held computer and consumer IT exhibition COMEX 2009 made record sales in its history with S$63 mil of goods sold. Indeed it's a popular event packed with people. I came back with two nothing in hand and two disappointments.First is the item which I was looking for, Panasonic Lumix LX3, is not on display. In fact Panasonic did not participate for whatever reason.The second

Raising a sick child

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 08:27:12 PDT

The way corporations is managed today is akin to raising a sick child -- with TLC (tender loving care). The logic is simple, if corporations cannot survive beyond tomorrow, all the talks about long term visions and values are as good as thrash. It is not an easy task to manage a corporation that is constantly pressured to deliver short term results.It is similar in raising a sick child. What if

Getting back into hardcore KM

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 19:48:34 PDT

Not that I have ever left KM completely. But my friends over at iKMS would probably suspect that I have abandoned them for a fatter job elsewhere. Anyway, I am back.While trying to revive some old memory, I stumbled upon this article by Jan Torsilieri and Chuck Lucier of Booz-Allen & Hamilton titled: Steal This Idea and decided to quickly steal it. I am probably the n-th person who do so, as the

A KM role with CPA Australia (Singapore Div)

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 18:31:42 PDT

I have just joined CPA Australia (Singapore Division) a week ago. CPAA is a not-for-profit professional accounting body, and one of the largest in the region. My role is to create more values for members through knowledge offers. What's really in the job remains to be explored. I am sure thrill with excitement over what lies ahead, which is not very clear yet at the moment.

The AWARE saga: Two Wrongs Do Not Make A Right

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 19:25:24 PDT

The debacle surrounding Aware is most unfortunate for a voluntary organization which has served an important role in our society.Some said the damage is done. If this is true, then both the old and new guards need to shoulder equal responsibilities. If Aware goes down, both the creator and the conqueror will have only themselves to blame.An issue that is in the center of the debate is about

My experience with KK Hospital

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:20:36 PDT

Over the next few days, I will be sharing an experience with the KK Women's and Children's Hospital that my family had a couple of years ago. One that is unforgettable but also one that we really don't want to keep in our memory. We simply can't.Why only talked about it after so long? Well, I will explain...

Procastination

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:12:31 PDT

A great post on procastination by Celine Roque on webworkerdaily.com

Protect the workers; put the greedy employers behind bar!

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:52:33 PDT

I read about this yesterday: http://business.asiaone.com/Business/News/Office/Story/A1Story20080515-65281.htmlAmid the disastrous cyclone in myanmar and earthquake in china, it makes me feel more angry reading about such human behavior!It is a classic case of the rich wants to get richer. Well well... rich and poor are relative terms aren't they? This is not the first time news about employers

The Dark May 13

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:53:28 PDT

The gigantic earthquake in Sichuan province on May 12 2008 in China may kill tens of thousands of people. The latest official death toll stands at 12,000, and still counting; the figure does not include the figure from the worst-hit Wenchuan county.Exactly ten years ago, on May 13 1998, racial riot, rumored to have been systematically orchestrated by powerful military men, erupted across

No Grain, Big Pain! Whose Pain?

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:54:27 PDT

Here's a commentary i sent to the editors in TIME magazine. It's not published; and i hope it's because it's not beautifully written, rather than due to its contents.On the article: NO GRAIN, BIG PAIN by Peter RitterAs a Malaysian, I feel unease reading the concluding remark made by the author in this article. The not-so-implicit conclusion is that Asia should be responsible for the food shortage

back to the blogosphere

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:54:58 PDT

i thought i would let myself settle down in the new work environment, complete my thesis before coming back to blog. FAT HOPE! i am busier than ever... my thesis is still hangin' in the air. At the meantime, i am working on a Competency Framework for knowledge management practitioner for the iKMS Society, together with Patrick Lambe of Straits Knowledge; and at work, there are two big projects

EKSPRESS Survey Concluded

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:55:53 PDT

A BIG thank you to all survey participants and everyone who's helped to shape, develope, review, revise, and administer the survey. The analysis will soon be completed and a copy of the results will be posted here. The donations will be made to the respective agencies soon.

Call for Participation-Details

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:56:29 PDT

If you are interested in improving the management of your knowledge workers, this study provides a good assessment of the personal preferences & the socio-cultural factors of the work force.We'll provide a detailed analysis of the "knowledge culture" in your comapny. This would help your company to be more efficient in managing both the knowledge & the knowledge workers.The research is supported

A Survey of Employees’ Knowledge Sharing Preferences (Call for Participation)

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:56:57 PDT

looking for more companies n individuals to participate in my survey: An assessment on the employees' knowledge sharing preferences.We are conducting a survey to assess the culture of knowledge sharing within firm. The key questions are WHY and WHY-DON'T people share knowledge at work. In our framework we hope to capture the personal preferences of the employees, the social interactions among

Fundamental Motives Profile: A precondition to KM

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 22:13:01 PDT

I quote this from Dinesh Tantri's Organic KM: KM & "Peripheral Vision": "Before sinking a million dollars into deploying a "workflow enabled collaborative KM system" it makes sense to bring in a business anthropologist to identify all cultural enablers and disablers in the organization. This is crucial because while a Social Network Analysis may bring to surface the disconnect between two groups,

Reality bites!

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Sun, 11 Jun 2006 02:45:42 PDT

Here's a comment to Dinesh, who shares the same interest in knowledge sharing as I do (see Organic KM: Is Social Software Necessary & Sufficient For KM?). Hi Dinesh, My original comments were longer, quote mainly from Edgar Schein's work talking about the 3 cultures at work. The way I see most of the modern firms is that the top managers have to report earnings every 3 months! They have to rely

Looking for participants for Knowledge Sharing Motivation survey

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:58:03 PDT

Knowledge sharing is not based on altruism - Richard Gayle's Weblog

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Wed, 26 Apr 2006 04:31:32 PDT

A Man with a Ph.D. - Richard Gayle's Weblog

Fundamental Motives and Motivation to Share Knowledge at Workplace

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Thu, 29 May 2008 19:58:41 PDT

The underlying motives behind human actions or behaviors are multifaceted, i.e. there are many fundamental motives that drive our behavior. In fact, there are 16 of them according to Steven Reiss of the Ohio State Univ. People differ in WHAT they desire, and HOW MUCH they desire for these 16 fundamental motives.Like any other motivated behaviors, knowledge sharing can be seen as a way to fulfill

my 1st post

noreply@blogger.com (awiefoong) — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 09:51:51 PDT

being the first of hopefully many more to come post, perhaps i want to lay down a few rules for myself...1. i'm not going to talk about my life here... ok maybe a little bit. but minimal.2. i need to sort out my motives, to be exact, the fundamental motives behind this blogging thingy. why do i blog; why don't i blog. i'm sure everyone has got their own, unique, reasons for doing this, or for