Issues in American Electoral System

Issues in American Electoral System John Palenschat   WORST CASE SCENARIO RESEARCH AND REFLECTION PAPER Like many other Americans, the election of Donald Trump was one of the worst things I could imagine happening. Even now, I am puzzled as to why Donald Trump was elected because a majority of voters view him unfavorably (Pew, 2017). So just how did he get elected? The point of a democratic election is to represent the will of voters in choosing an executive. With so many dissatisfied with the results of the election, one must wonder if our current electoral system is fulfilling its stated purpose. Might there be something wrong with the way elections are held now? [G1][G2] I did some research and have come to several conclusions: namely, that our current system of First Past the Post consistently leads to elections for candidates that are generally unfavored by the majority of the population (Pew, 2016). I believe that the United States should, as an incremental reform, generally adopt ranked choice voting: in order to reduce vote splitting, voter disenfranchisement, and to reduce the negativity of campaigning. Right now, most elections in the United States utilize First Past the Post voting, which is a system of elections in which an individual voter has only one vote and is allowed to vote for only one candidate (Aceproject, 2017). This system has a big flaw. People may vote for a candidate that they may not necessarily prefer in order that they do not split the vote in favor of an opponent. In the 2000 Presidential election, Republican George W. Bush beat Democrat Al Gore by less than 600 votes in the decisive Florida election. Green Party candidate Ralph Nader received over 100,00 votes in Florida. [G3]While he may not have spoiled the election, surveys indicate that people who voted for Nader probably would have voted for Gore had they known how tight the race would be (Jones, 2004). This event has had serious consequences for the American people. For example, a Gore administration might not have invaded Iraq in 2003, which destabilized the region and cost US taxpayers over $2 Trillion dollars (Trotta, 2013). Modern voters are cognizant of the results of that election and have adjusted their votes accordingly. As a result, voters now do not necessarily vote for their first choice. There has to be a better way. As I looked for an alternative voting method to First Past the Post, I discovered a system called Ranked Choice voting (RCV). RCV is a system of elections in which electors rank the candidates in the order of their choice, by marking a 1 for their favorite, 2 for their second choice, 3 for their third choice and so on (FairVote Instant Runoff). Although there are other ways (perhaps even better!) of doing RCV, for the purposes of this paper, I will be specifically discussing the form known as Instant-Runoff voting as it appears to be the most feasible to implement in our current political situation. [G4][G5] In this system, if no candidate has a clear majority of first votes, the trailing candidate may be dropped and the first votes for the dropped candidate are eliminated. Then, the second choices of the voters who voted first for the dropped candidate are distributed to the remaining candidates. This process is repeated until a candidate has a clear majority of the vote.[G6] The main advantage of Ranked Choice Voting is that the eventual candidate chosen better represents the consensus of voters. As candidates are unlikely to earn the majority of votes in the first round of counting, candidates may moderate their rhetoric in an attempt to earn second place votes (Aceproject, 2017); The candidates may tamp down on their own campaigns negative ads in order to not alienate potential voters, and they would want to appeal to the greatest possible base. Since voting for a third party candidate in this system is less risky, a wider variety of interests would likely be represented. As an example, in the recent election, a person could safely cast their first vote for Jill Stein and their second for Sanders and so on without spoiling their vote and splitting the ticket for a more popular candidate that they might agree less with, such as Clinton. As voters would not be forced to vote for the lesser of two evils, one might expect to see a proliferation of more diverse third parties that better represent [G7]the constituents desires. I believe that if Ranked Choice Voting is adopted broadly across the United States, voters will feel more satisfied with the results of the election[8] At first, I though that RCV was just an academic exercise, thought up by some Poli-Sci grad student working on their thesis[G9], but I was surprised to learn that Ranked Choice Voting has already been put to effective use worldwide and has proven to be a reliable system for several decades now[10]. For example, it is used in such diverse races as parliamentary elections in Australia (Paul, Owen, 2013), presidential elections in Ireland (Citizens Information, 2016), and in municipal elections in Minneapolis and Saint Paul (City of Minneapolis). [G11] Recently, the State of Maine voted to adopt an Instant Runoff system for congressional, senatorial, and gubernatorial elections (Grabar, 2016). According to a study funded by Fairvote, an electoral reform advocacy group, citizens in cities that have adopted RCV report that campaigns are less negative, that the system is easily understandable, and that they believe that it should be adopted more widely (Tolbert, et al). As people realize that the current form of voting isnt the only choice available, I believe that voters will increasingly demand RCV from election committees.[G12] However, there are several legitimate issues with Ranked Choice Voting that need to be addressed; Jason McDaniels of San Francisco State University believes that increasing the complexity of voting is much more cognitively demanding than merely choosing a preference For some, this may seem like a small change, but for others, it could make the already daunting task of being an informed voter even more challenging. Decades of research show us that when voting is made more complex, it tends to lead to lower participation and more unequal outcomes. (McDaniels, 2016). However, studies taking place in Californian cities that have adopted RCV paint a different picture. Nearly 90% of those polled reported that they had an easy time understanding how their ballots worked (Tolbert, et al). Perhaps, pre-election day, a city or state could wage a concentrated, multimedia campaign to educate voters on the new system. A multifaceted approach utilizing TV news spots, radio jingles, and mailed remi nder cards could be particularly effective. Another possible issue with RCV is that confused voters may simply list their preference by order in which the candidates appear on the ballot, as has been the case in Australia. This problem could perhaps be solved by holding a random drawing each election to determine in which order the candidates are listed on the ballot (AEC, 2016). In conclusion, I believe that seriously examining the institutions of our society and critically deconstructing their use and origin will help to build a more perfect union. It is important to recognize that structural systems have a large impact on our daily life and to realize that they are not unchangeable. Due to the effects of the recent election, I am very cognizant of how our electoral system alienates the very people that it was created to represent. Rather than giving into resignation, I have researched the issue and have come up with at least a very general course of action that could be taken to avoid another divisive election. I hope that I have interested you in the topic of electoral reform and encourage you to research the topic yourself and come to your own conclusions.[13] An informed and active citizenship is the best guarantee for the continuation of the republican ideal. Work Cited FairVote (No publication date). Ranked Choice Voting / Instant Runoff. FairVote. http://www.fairvote.org/rcv#rcvbenefits. Accessed 19 February. 2017 Minneapolis Elections and Voter services (No publication date). Frequently Asked Questions about Ranked-Choice Voting. The city of Minneapolis.[G14] http://vote.minneapolismn.gov/rcv/what-is-rcv. Accessed 19 February. 2017 [G15] Paul, Owen (2013). How does Australias voting system work?. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/aug/14/how-does-australia-s-voting-system-work. Accessed 19 February 2017 McDaniels, Jason. (2016). What Ive found researching ranked-choice voting: It makes voting harder, lowers participation. Bangor Daily News. http://bangordailynews.com/2016/08/20/opinion/contributors/what-ive-found-researching-ranked-choice-voting-it-makes-voting-harder-lowers-participation/. Accessed 19 February. 2017 Aceproject. (No publication date) Advantages and disadvantages of first past the post. ACE Electoral Knowledge Network. http://aceproject.org/ace-en/topics/es/esd/esd01/esd01a/esd01a01. Accessed 20 February. 2017 Pew Research Center. (2017). Early public attitudes about Donald Trump. People-Press.org. http://www.people-press.org/2017/02/16/1-early-public-attitudes-about-donald-trump/ Accessed 22 February 2017. Pew Research Center. (2016). Voters evaluation of the campaigns. People-Press.org. http://www.people-press.org/2016/11/21/voters-evaluations-of-the-campaign/ Accessed 22 February 2017. Citizens information. (2016). Proportional Representation. The [G16]Republic of Ireland. http://www.citizensinformation.ie/en/government_in_ireland/elections_and_referenda/voting/proportional_representation.html. Accessed 22 February 2017. Grabar, Henry. (2016). Maine Just Voted for a Better Way to Vote. Slate.com. http://www.slate.com/articles/business/moneybox/2016/11/maine_just_passed_ranked_choice_voting_bravo.html. Accessed 22 February 2017. Tolbert, Caroline, et al. (No publication date). Ranked Choice Voting in Practice. Fairvote https://fairvote.app.box.com/v/APSA-Civility-Brief-2015. Accessed 22 February 2017 Trotta, Daniel. (2013). Iraq War cost US more than $2 trillion: study. Reuters.com http://www.reuters.com/article/us-iraq-war-anniversary-idUSBRE92D0PG20130314. Accessed 22 February 2017. AEC. (2016). Positions on the ballot paper, draw for the Senate and draw for the House of Representatives. Australian Elections Commission[G17]. http://www.aec.gov.au/Voting/ballot-draw.htm. Accessed 23 February 2017. Jones, Jeffrey. (2004). The Nader Factor. Gallup.com. http://www.gallup.com/poll/10798/nader-factor.aspx. Accessed 22 February 2017 [G1]Deleted:, [G2]Deleted:u [G3]Inserted: , [G4]Deleted:u [G5]Deleted:. [G6]Inserted: s [G7]Inserted: , [8]This is a strong point in favor. Think of all the recent turmoil after the election. If everyone was content with the outcome of the election (even if they didnt get their first pick), that would be a great motivation to change the voting system. You could probably expound more on this point, or why you believe it to be true. [G9]Inserted: , [10]This is another strong point. The best predictor for success is past success. Nice! [G11]Deleted:, [G12]Inserted: n [13]Your two most important paragraphs are the first, and the last. In the first, you tell your audience what youre going to say, and in the last, you tell your audience what youve said. The last sentence will likely stay with your reader. After you recap your essay in the last paragraph, leave them with a final deep thought or conclusive statement that sums up your argument and/or point. Or maybe something theatrically doomsday-ish. Perhaps, The election of Trump is a direct consequence of our current voting system; If we dont take a good, hard look at the way we currently push people into power, the consequences could get even worst. A bit much perhaps, but its your final punch to convince the reader that this is something they need to act on. [G14]Inserted: The c [G15]Deleted:C [G16]Inserted: The [G17]Inserted: s

Development of Breast Cancer Campaign

Development of Breast Cancer Campaign Explain the rationale for the poster and evaluate approaches to communicating a health message. Kartsonaki Christini-Olga Communication in the Helath Care Context INTRODUCTION The main goal of many campaigns is to give priority on increasing early detection and probable prevention of a disease (Jacobsen Jacobsen, 2011). Patient postponement of asking for medical help after discovering symptoms is an important factor that leads to late stage diagnosis. Low cancer awareness (including knowledge about cancer symptoms, fear of cancer development, risk factors, treatment effectiveness or early detection results) is cultivating risk for patient delay (MacDonald et al, 2004). Campaigns that focus on public cancer awareness had been associated with progress in raising awareness and establishing early diagnosis of cancer, but the long-term benefits were dubious. Absence of evidence regarding the effectiveness of interventions in an effort to promote cancer awareness is hindering development of policy and local action (Austoker et al., 2009). Knowledge of screening, screening uptake and self-checking behavior – for example breast checking (including breast s elf -examination) or testicular checking – may be considered to be important elements of cancer awareness. Breast cancer is the most frequently occurring type of cancer that imperils women in the Western world. It is estimated that today one out of nine women are affected by the disease. When it comes to age, the disease affects all age groups from 20 to 90 years. Chances a woman gets infected significantly increase with age, while the risk of developing the disease quadruples after menopause. Unfortunately, 25% of cases involve young women younger than 45 years (www.bcactionfund.org). One conjecture of the research findings in this paper is that well-established health campaigns may lead to positive results if they point to outcomes other than increased diagnoses. For example, intensifying fundraising options or enabling support groups for patients. Promoting early detection of chronic diseases that results in more effective, is associated with higher survival rates (Eyre, 2004) and inexpensive treatment at an early stage (Cohen, 2008), should be a significant public health field. CAMPAIGNS FOR BREAST CANCER Although efforts to increase awareness of breast cancer can be started about 1913, no ongoing organized efforts to increase breast cancer awareness existed until the mid-1970s, when a number of small advocacy groups began to publish information about treatment options and services (Lerner, 2002). The National Breast Cancer Awareness Month (NBCAM), as event were established in October 1985 and is a high –profile nationwide campaign (Catalano, 2003). Its’s primary goal is to encourage regular breast examination so that disease can be diagnosed at an early stage. Moreover breast cancer funding continues to be a priority area for the federal government (Jacobsen Jacobsen, 2011). An increasing number of voluntary organizations, governmental agencies, and private corporations have sponsored various events like â€Å"wear pink† bracelet that show encouragement and support for those affected by breast cancer. Media coverage of breast cancer has increased markedly in rec ent years, and October months have received substantially more coverage than other months. Free or reduced cost mammograms have been offered to low-income and uninsured women (MMWR, 2005). Other campaigns include interventions as public education programmes to increase cancer awareness (Blumenthal et al, 2005; Skinner, Arfken Waterman, 2000). Educational programmes delivered in small groups increase breast cancer knowledge and screening uptake and promoting message dissemination to others in the social network . Multimedia programmes have been created to promote cancer knowledge and self-checking using posters, leaflets and shower gel in workplaces, health clubs and leisure centers (McCullagh, Lewis, Warlow 2005). Although mass media health communication strategies can effectively promote health education, and influence health awareness, decisions and practices (Haider Kreps, 2004), interpersonal communication channels are regarded as highly influential to persuade people to change health related behaviors (Yanovitzky Blitz, 2000).All the above trials were heterogeneous in terms of nature of intervention, populations and outcomes measured and therefore there are limited evidence of effectiveness of interventions to promote cancer awareness. There are good evidence that Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the United States promotes diagnosis of breast cancer at an early stage (Catalano et al, 2003; Gabram et al, 2008). POSTER- METHODS The poster communication channel consists of the main message that is summed up in the phrase â€Å"why should your life be hanging by a thread†, which is being projected and filtered through a mixed cognitive and affective message strategy. A cognitive message strategy is using reason to present arguments or facts to an audience that require cognitive processing. The main purpose of a cognitive message strategy is to create an advertisement that will have an impact on people’s beliefs or knowledge and suggest potential benefits. In the specific case of the breast cancer poster, the product is the examination and the benefit is prevention and reduction of the risk of cancer manifestation. The intention of this strategy is to present the audience with rational pieces of information about a product or service and then to motivate them to develop a positive feeling about that product (Clow Baack, 2007, p.201). In the poster the cognitive message strategy can be located within the risk information that is being presented with a ratio in relation to the number of women who develop cancer during their lifetime in Greece. We found some evidence that tailored print information was more effective than general information; tailored information increased average cancer knowledge scores by about 11% compared with no information and 4% compared with general information (De Nooijer, Lechner, Candel de Vries, 2004). Tailored print information modified attitudes towards paying attention to and seeking help for symptoms only very modestly compared with no information (de Nooijer et al, 2004). The second part of the poster method is the affective message strategy. This kind of approach attempts to evoke feelings or emotions and identify them with the product. Affective strategies are causing emotions that lead the audience to act favorably towards the presented good or service and subsequently affect their reasoning process (Clow Baack, 2007 p.203). The breast cancer poster is making an attempt to elicit powerful emotions and generate positive attitudes and decisions. People subjected to the message become more prone to choose examination and reduce that way the risk of being affected by cancer. The word â€Å"life† in the message is very powerful and demonstrates the positive side of affective message strategy. Emotional advertising is used here in combination with framing of risk strategy (negative frame). Switching from positive to negative feelings leads to the establishment of a more substantial emotional framework in which the audience feels compelled to make a decision. The emotion that is usually associated with risk is anxiety (Joffe, 2003). Anxiety, worry and fear are generally perceived as the intermediate goal of many risk communication efforts and in particular, public health communications (Lynch de Chernatony, 2004). Although the primary target is preventative behaviour, the feelings of anxiety, worry and fear are considered to be an essential part of the motivation initiation process. In the poster this is being presented with help of the visuals. A woman that has lost her breast makes people think about what they have to lose and re-evaluate their health priorities. The poster uses moderate fear to induce a certain amount of stress to the audience, because an existing anxie ty level can influence the effect of the message. High fear has been proven to be the least effective leading to blocking of information and inhibition of action. Moderate fear is the most effective (Mc Guire, 1968). In order to develop an effective communication framework, the poster features an unknown woman. A celebrity may be likeable or attractive, but he or she may not be viewed as trustworthy. Trustworthiness is the degree of confidence or the level of acceptance the audience places in the spokesperson’s message. A trustworthy spokesperson helps people believe the message. Likeability and trustworthiness are highly related and in that sense, anonymity eliminates the risk of failing to deliver the message due to a bad selection of a celebrity. At this point, use of the principle of similarity is being made. An ordinary every-day woman is someone people can relate to. The audience is more inclined to be influenced by a message delivered by a person who is somehow familiar. To take this even further, the appearance of an average person, helps overcoming the obstacle of optimistic bias. The optimism bias (also known as unrealistic or comparative optimism) is a cognitive bias that causes a person to believe that they are less at risk of experiencing a negative event compared to others. Taylor and Brown (Joffe, 2003) assert that 95% of the population exhibit unrealistic optimism in relation to a range of risks (Weinstein Klein 1996). A certain amount of flexibility in accommodating the needs of participating community is important for ensuring intervention integrity and can ultimately influence the effectiveness of the intervention. It is important to design and implement an advertising process that will help both researchers and communities understand each other’s perspectives, minimize the barriers of access to the specific service (examination) and ensure that the goals and priorities of both parties are met. In the poster this criteria is met in the informational piece about free examinations in Aretaiio Hospital (Westmaas, Gil-Rivas Silver, 2006). The poster is based on the Health Belief Model (HBM), which was developed in the 1950’s to predict individual response to, and utilization of, screening and other preventive health services. Accordingly, the response and utilization of disease prevention programs will be predicated on an individual’s perceived seriousness of the disease, severity of the disease, perceived benefit of services and barriers to accessing such service (Airhihenbuwa Obregon, 2000). In general the HBM is a rational-cognitive model and assumes a rational decision-maker. Most adolescents, and many adults, do not seem to approach the breast-cancer issue from such a logical perspective, but seem quite capable of discounting risks and optimistically perceiving themselves as invulnerable to harm. (Freimuth, 1992, p.101).The HBM which has been widely used to frame research studies related to the prediction of health-related behaviours in relation to health belief patterns, was selected as the frame of reference for the current study of Greek women’s breast cancer screening behaviours (Becker, 1974). Women’s self-reported breast cancer knowledge, attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions of support, and the components of the HBM (perceived susceptibility, perceived benefits, cues to action, self-efficacy) were explored in this campaign (Sadler et al., 2007). The poster will be located on apartment billboards, n clinic waiting rooms, on pharmacy walls to maintain visual consistency (Clow Baack, 2007). Repeatedly seeing a specific image or visual display helps embed it in long-term memory. The final principle is to create an effective flow Except for the above poster, leaflets will be distributed at street events and the direct communication will be used due direct mailing to promote breast cancer screening, street promotion, outbound calls to women who signed application forms at the street promotions, small group educational sessions (Park et al., 2011).Therefore the interpersonal communication will be boosted with street promotions, direct mail-outs, and promotion of specialists’recommendations (Slater et al., 2005). Direct mail interventions may represent a more promising population-based strategy for promoting cancer screening including mammography. It is also a relatively efficient and inexpensive way to reach individuals in their homes, including people not typically exposed to mass media (Park et al., 2011). CONCLUSION More research is needed to evaluate the extent to which campaigns lead to cumulative increases in public awareness and year-round behavioral changes, to identify which types of awareness campaigns are most successful in achieving various well-defined outcomes, and to examine which segments of the population are most responsive to different types of awareness campaigns. REFERENCES Austoker, J., Bankhead, C., Forbes, LJL., Atkins, L., Martin, F., Robb, K., Wardle, J., Ramirez, AJ. (2009). Interventions to promote cancer awareness and early presentation: systematic review. British Journal of Cancer, 101, S31–S39 Becker, G. S. (1974). A Theory of Social Interactions. Journal of Political Economy, 82 (6), 1063-1093. Blumenthal, D.S., Fort, J.G., Ahmed, N.U., Semenya, K.A., Schreiber, G.B., Perry, S., Guillory, J. (2005). Impact of a two-city community cancer prevention intervention on African Americans. J Natl Med Assoc, 97, 1479–1488. Catalano, R., Winett, L., Wallack, L., Satariano, W. (2003). Evaluating a campaign to detect early stage breast tumors in the United States. European Journal of Epidemiology, 18, 545-550. Clow, KC. Baack, D. (2007). Executional Framework. Integrated Advertising, Promotion, and Marketing Communications. Third Edition. Pearson Education. 196-221 Cohen, J.T., Neumann, P.J., Weinstein, M.C. (2008). Does preventive care save money? Health economics and the presidential candidates. New England Journal of Medicine, 358, 661-663. De Nooijer, J., Lechner, L., Candel, M., de Vries, H. (2004). Short- and long-term effects of tailored information versus general information on determinants and intentions related to early detection of cancer. Prev, Med 38, 694–703 Eyre, H., Kahn, R., Robertson, RM., ACS/ADA/AHA Collaborative Working Committee. (2004). Preventing cancer, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes: a common agenda for the American Cancer Society, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Heart Association. Stroke, 35 1999-2010. Freimuth, V.S. (1992). Theoretical Foundations of AIDS Media Campaigns. In: Edgar, T., Fitzpatrick, M.A. and Freimuth, V.S., Eds., AIDS: A Communication Perspective, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Hillsdale, 91-110 Haider, M., Kreps, G.L (2004). Forty years of diffusion of innovation: Utility and value in public health. Journal of health communication, 9 3-11 Jacobsen, GD Jacobsen KH. (2011). Health Awareness Campaigns and Diagnosis Rates: Evidence from National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Journal of Health Economics, 30 55-61 Joffe, MM. (2003). A Case-Control Follow-up Study for Disease-Specific Mortality. Biometrics, 59,(1) 115–125 Lerner, BH. (2002). Breast cancer activism: past lessons, future directions. Nature Reviews Cancer, 2 225-230. Lynch,J. de Chernatony, L. (2004).The Power of Emotion: Brand Communication in Business-to-Business Markets. Journal of Brand Management, 11(5) 403–42 MacDonald, S., Macleod, U., Mitchell, E., Weller, D., Campbell, N., Mant, D. (2004). Factors Influencing Patient and Primary Care Delay in the Diagnosis of Cancer Project. Final report to the Department of Health: Glasgow, Scotland McCullagh, J., Lewis, G., Warlow, C. (2005). Promoting awareness and practice of testicular self-examination. Nurs Stand.,19, 41-9. Mc Guire I,E. (1968). The Origin of Newtons Doctrine of Essential Qualities. Centaurus, 12(4), 233–260 MMWR. (2005) National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, 54, 981. Park, K., Hyun Hong, W., Yeon Kye, S., Jung, J., Kim, G., Park, HG. (2011) Community-based intervention to promote breast cancer awareness and screening: The Korean experience. BMC, 11, 468 Skinner, C.S., Arfken, C.L., Waterman, B. (2000) Outcomes of the learn, share live breast cancer education program for older urban women. Am J Public Health, 90 1229–1234 Slater JS, Henly GA, Ha CN, Malone ME, Nyman JA, Diaz S, McGovern PG: Effect of direct mail as a population-based strategy to increase mammography use among low-income underinsured women ages 40 to 64 years. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2005, 14(10):2346-2352. Yanovitzky, I. Blitz, C.L. (2000). Effect of media coverage and physician advice on utilization of breast cancer screening by women 40 years and older. Journal of health communication, 5 117-134 Weinstein, N. D., Klein, W. M. (1996). Unrealistic optimism: Present and future. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 15, 1–8. Wellings K, Macdowall W: Evaluating mass media approaches to health promotion: a review of methods. Health Education 2000, 100(1):9. Westmaas, JL., Gil-Rivas, V., Cohen Silver, R. (2006) Designing and Implementing Interventions to Promote Health and Prevent Illness. Foundations of Health Psychology. INTERNET http://www.bcactionfund.org/ ΙΔÎ ¡ÃŽ ¥ÃŽÅ"ΑÎ ¤ÃŽÅ¸ÃŽ £ ΔÎ ¡ÃŽâ€˜ÃŽ £ÃŽâ€"ÃŽ £ ΚΑÎ ¤ÃŽâ€˜ ÃŽ ¤ÃŽÅ¸ÃŽ ¥ ΚΑÎ ¡ÃŽÅ¡ÃŽâ„¢ÃŽ ÃŽÅ¸ÃŽ ¥ ÃŽ ¤ÃŽÅ¸ÃŽ ¥ ÃŽÅ"ΑÎ £ÃŽ ¤ÃŽÅ¸ÃŽ ¥ 1

An Annotation of Emily Dickinsons I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died Essay

An Annotation of Emily Dickinson's I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died Emily Dickinson's poem "I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died" is centralized on the events of death and is spoken through the voice of the dying person. The poem explores both the meaning of life and death through the speaker and the significant incidents at the time of near death that the speaker notices. Many of Dickinson's poems contain a theme of death that searches to find meaning and the ability to cope with the inevitable. This poem is no exception to this traditional Dickinson theme; however its unusual comparisons and language about death set it apart from how one would view a typically tragic event. I Heard a Fly Buzz When I Died by Emily Dickinson I heard a fly buzz - when I died - The Stillness in the Room Was like the Stillness in the Air - Between the Heaves of Storm - The Eyes around - had wrung them dry - And Breaths were gathering firm For that last Onset - when the King Be witnessed - in the Room - I willed my Keepsakes - Signed away What portion of me be Assignable - and then it was There interposed a Fly - With Blue - uncertain stumbling Buzz - Between the light - and me - And then the Windows failed - and then I could not see to see - In this first stanza, the scene of a deathbed is set. No specifics are given about the room, the dying speaker, or the people that wait in the room for an outcome. The fly is introduced and its significance is not explained as of yet. One detail that is heavily stressed is "stillness in the room." The word stillness is repeated and compared with the calm in a storm. This suggests two things: the motionlessness of death and the anticipation of something yet to come. The calm within t... ...y examined for the beauty and grace of God. In this poem, however, the fly is a messenger to the speaker. The fly's presence both comforts and informs the speaker about death and the appreciation of life. By choosing this creature, Dickinson portrays the beauty in every living thing: even the pesky fly has a purpose and a place on earth and in life. The poem also explains what the dying is experiencing, but it strays away from describing pain and fear and concentrates on how the speaker pays close attention to those that will continue to live. The speaker hopes to leaving something significant behind other than just material goods. She also notices that in the surreal moments before death, the stillness in the room encompasses everyone and everything, including even the air that fills the room. These elements work together to expose the beauty and serenity of death.

The United States in the Vietnam War Essay -- Essays Papers

The United States in the Vietnam War Many soldiers have been lost in the different wars that the United States has been involved. Although there have been many wars only one is unique from the others, it is known as the war that was never won or lost. The Vietnam War started out as a conflict but soon escalated into a full-fledged war. Many soldiers have been lost in the Vietnam War. The United States sent many soldiers into the jungles of Indochina trying to stop the spread of communism from the North Vietnamese. It all seems clear-cut, with the motives and sides easily seen but as the war lagged on, it seemed that the United States became involved, and essentially needed a draft. The United States involvement in the Vietnam War became greater as the drudgery of the war progressed. With more increased support it seemed as though the United States was making a difference, but many thought it was a lost cause. The United States became involved in the Vietnam War as early as the Geneva Accords in 1953. The Geneva accords basically stated that Vietnam was to hold elections to unify the country. These were drawn just after the Korean War. The French were initially involved and requested the support of the U.S. When the conflict began the U.S. sent in mostly ground troops and officers, it was a limited amount. "According to the terms of the Geneva Accords, Vietnam would hold national elections in 1956 to reunify the country"-Brigham, 1. The French and the British were both ready for the treaty to be signed and the conflict finally ended -Hess, 47. The Eisenhower administration used SEATO only as a way of stalling. They had basically, through the work on SEATO, created a whole new country out of the remains of the old Vietnam -Br... ...sed his popularity in office -Hess, 117. The United States had many fallen soldiers in the Vietnam War. Many people think that it was not the United States’ place to go into Vietnam and prevent the spread of communism from the North to South. Many French troops were stationed in the Jungles of Indochina and it was believed that they could take care of the crisis that was growing in Asia. What started out as a relief campaign, only sending minimal forces to Vietnam turned into a war with over 550,000 United States troops. The gradual introduction of troops to Vietnam, the Tet offensive, and Vietnamization were all major aspects of the war that the United States was drawn into. It is still considered by many as the war that no one has won, and maybe if the Eisenhower administration had not sent troops in initially, a lot of American soldier’s lives would be saved.

Capital Punishment Essay: Match Death with Death -- Argumentative Per

We Must Match Death with Death    For anyone living in Texas, it is common to hear about convicted criminals being sentenced to death. Is justice being served? When someone has committed a heinous murder, justice must prevail. But that ideal becomes harder to achieve as we scale the moral high ground and look all around, from behind the jail cell bars to the crushed life of the murdered victim. The following essay will focus on the proportionality of the death sentence as a form of punishment.       First of all, if there were no persons in the world, only things, there would be no values. There are values in the world only because there are persons: people who have not only desires , but also rationality and freedom. Something is valuable only relative to a human goal. Then, as the source of values, humans have dignity, which Immanuel Kant defines in his Foundations of the Metaphysics of Morals as something so valuable that nothing could transcend it in worth. It follows that to be human, to have dignity, one must value above all else those things which give you dignity. This means one must value absolutely the rationality, freedom, and autonomy of oneself, but also of other individuals. However; there are some crimes, some murders, committed with such violence and complete disregard for life, that we stop valuing the rationality, the freedom, and the autonomy of the murder so highly. The question is how much do we devalue the criminal?    Kant had some ideas about how to find out the proper level of punishment. First, guilt is a necessary condition for judicial punishment. That means that only the guilty may be punished. Second, guilt is a sufficient condition for punishment. All the guilty m... ...re severe than the death sentence, could a death sentence be an escape from a life sentence? However, if the goal were to give the most severe sentence wouldn't it be more accurate to find out what the criminal's idea of personal hell was? Severity is not the goal of punishment, rather retributivism and proportionality are. To give equal treatment to all, each person, guilty and not guilty, must be considered independently of utility, pity, and revenge. To accurately handle crime, the act and the actor must be understood. Once understood, a punishment ought to be meted out on the basis of whether or not it is proportional and appropriate to the crime at hand. Ultimately, the decision comes down to what a jury thinks is proportional. Because I think that there can be no other match than death for death, I believe that capital punishment is justified.      

Mary Shelly Essay

Compare the way Susan Hill and Mary Shelly Create tension in extracts from their novels â€Å"The Woman In Black† and â€Å"Frankenstein† Gothic Horror was born with the arrival of the book â€Å"Frankenstein† by the author Mary Shelly in 1816. This book fuelled the future wring of horror and changed the future of horror forever. The book â€Å"Frankenstein† came about after Mary had a horrific dream one night. Mary’s writing was influenced by many factors in her life. Her father used to take her along with him to demonstrations, showing that electricity had the potential to bring people back to life, also science was largely unknown about then, there were many endless possibilities and unanswered questions. She also visited a village of clockwork dolls, which she was very impressed by. All this and the hurt of the loss of her premature baby added to the birth of the most popular book of its century. The book â€Å"The Woman In Black† by Susan Hill was written about 150 years later. At this time science had progressed and many things that were once a mystery were now explained. There was less of the unknown; Yet Susan still managed to create this chilling tale. The extract from â€Å"Frankenstein† is set in a dreary basement, used as Victor Frankenstein’s laboratory. The very first line starts off with ‘It was on a dreary night of November†¦ ‘ which adds to the creepy atmosphere, because the night, darkness and cold weather of the November month are usually associated with bad scary things, like chilly weather and shadows in the dark. It then mentions that its one in the morning with heavy rain pattering against the pains, and his candle nearly burnt out, which tells you it was a barely lit room, with a dark chilling atmosphere in the middle of the night, when most are normally asleep, dreaming or having nightmares. This setting and atmosphere very much fits the gothic horror genre, leaving you with a very particular sense of tension. In â€Å"The Woman In Black† extract, we find out in the first small paragraph, is set in a small dilapidated graveyard, this is scary within its self because of a graveyards ossociation with death, ghosts and all things evil. The second paragraph starts with ‘In the greyness of the fading light’ again adding to the dark, gloomy atmosphere with a feeling of tension of what is to come. The language used in both extracts is very sophisticated and quite complex, as is typical to the gothic horror genre, but while they both use big words â€Å"Frankenstein† is much more old fashioned in wording, obviously due to the time it was written in. Whereas in â€Å"The Woman In Black† the language used is much more modern while still keeping to the more complex wording of the gothic horror genre. It’s the first time Victor meets his creation alive in the extract of â€Å"Frankenstein†. His reaction to the â€Å"monster† he has created very much sets up your opinion of it. The way he describes this creature clearly gives you the impression it is evil with its ‘watery eyes’ and ‘His shrivelled complexion’. In â€Å"The Woman In Black† her appearance is not described very much, the focus is more on the feelings she provokes within Arthur. He does however describe the look on her face as ‘as a desperate, yearning malevolence; it was as though she was searching for something she wanted, needed- must have, more then life itself, and which had been taken from her. ‘ Through Arthur’s thoughts and feelings being explained to you, you feel, or are supposed to feel, what he is feeling. I think the writer is very good at making you experience these dramatic emotions through the character Arthur Kipps, and I certainly was affected by how Arthur is affected when he sees the woman in black. â€Å"Frankenstein† was written at a time when science was new, strange, exciting, and threatening. Much was unexplained and seemed scary and illogical. Strange new ideas were being explored, some far fetched and some that just seemed far-fetched but were the start of vast new scientific knowledge. People began to travel all around the world and experience many new things, different social and cultural attitudes. All this obviously had a profound affect on Mary; she began questioning things and was very aware of the reality of the world around her. In her book it sends out the message of what would happen if people started playing â€Å"god† with life. She obviously felt strongly about this and maybe feared this is what was to come. â€Å"The Woman In Black† was written about 150 years later, in a much more developed time. When science was accepted and we are used to travel, we are less religious and life is very different. The paranormal is less unexplained and the unexplained scares people, this is why Susan has chosen the form of a ghost in her story, as it is more believable then a â€Å"monster† like Frankenstein’s creature, as we know that wouldn’t be possible knowing more about the way things work through science, yet a ghost is still unknown and unexplainable. Both extracts are very typical of the gothic horror genre. They both use complex language with big words and long flowing sentences, with only a few short ones for dramatic affect. They both tell a story about a â€Å"creature† and the unknown at the times they were written. I personally like the extract from â€Å"The Woman In Black† the best, as I can understand the more modern language and I can relate to the story line better because the paranormal is a lot more believable to me then the creation of a â€Å"creature† from dead parts. By Jemma Burke Show preview only The above preview is unformatted text This student written piece of work is one of many that can be found in our GCSE Mary Shelley section.

How Does Knowledge Management Influence Innovation and Competitiveness?

How does knowledge management influence innovation and competitiveness? The Authors Alberto Carneiro, Alberto Carneiro is Assistant Professor in the Polytechnic College at the University of Lisbon, Portugal. Abstract Is concerned with human value management, examines the relationships between organizations’ competitiveness, innovation advancements, and knowledge management and presents a set of considerations regarding how these relationships affect strategic management and the formulation of competitive strategies. By considering how knowledge development is related with personal characteristics and personal development, this study review attempts to provide useful insights on the linkages between innovation and competitiveness. These considerations point out the importance of knowledge development and the role of knowledge management in order to assure competitiveness. This work proposes also a conceptual model, with special focus on the relationships between knowledge management, competitiveness, and innovation. The major factors are presented and directions for future research are suggested according to the proposed model. Introduction Management is increasingly aware that knowledge resources are essential to the development of their organizations. Nowadays, the knowledge and the information technology (IT) are critical success factors for strategic formulation. Critical success factors refer to those managerial and organizational constructs that need to be effectively addressed in order to further the likelihood of implementation success. Since industry attractiveness depends on those factors, strategies and their implementation should be supported by a set of informational data and a knowledge development process. Knowledge is becoming progressively more useful because management is taking into account the value of creativity, which enables the transformation of one form of knowledge to the next. The perception of the existing relationships among several systems elements leads to new interpretations and this means another knowledge level where a new perceived value is generated. This relationship indicates that the innovation highway depends on the knowledge evolution. On the other hand, all the technologies that are present in the activities of the chain value have to be articulated and assisted by an efficient knowledge level. Some of the knowledge involved in the use and improvement of technologies can be written down in detail in procedures manuals and use instructions. Others are tacitly transmitted and learned through practical knowledge. Moreover, the success of technological modifications needs to be supported by more clarified and enhanced knowledge. With but few exceptions, most firms have had difficulty in developing a viable strategic knowledge system. There are manifold reasons for this, but certainly a major one is the omnibus nature of the sources required. Knowledge may flow into the organization in a continuous but unsystematic manner, probably because the amount of information processing resources varies by level of management activity. The lack of specific system objectives inevitably led to a data bank of enormous magnitude. It is necessary to consider the structure of such a system and to implement it, in accordance with the organizational functions that use information to realize activities and to decide. Considering the need to increase managers’ concerns, this work sustains that a set of factors is dramatically useful to justify the relationship between innovation process, competitive advancements and a strategic knowledge management (KM). First, it presents a brief review of the relevant literature on the role of knowledge in the management processes. Second, and in a modelization perspective, we will discuss the relationships among these factors to suggest a better way to deal with human value, to improve KM, and to attain a higher level of competencies. Finally, this article discusses the implications of KM on innovation and competitiveness and presents suggestions for future research. Knowledge: an organizational asset What kind of knowledge should organizations develop? Organizations need to use adequate information to check the status of business activities as well as to make informed business decisions (Martin et al. , 1998). According to their tasks, managers must have the adequate information and the ability to analyze and evaluate alternatives in the light of the goal sought. This information comes from different internal and external sources and their credibility is crucial to provide an adequate knowledge (Joyce, 1993). Managers have to consider that the most valuable human attributes should be developed because they are one of the most important assets of many corporations. To do so, they need to adopt a new KM philosophy, based on search of information and innovative efforts. In this philosophy, managers should distinguish between different levels of knowledge. Initially, everybody can be aware of various facts and use data coming from those sources. This means that knowledge is reduced to a basic level, although each individual already has a professional understanding of his/her role in the organization. In the next phase, knowledge tends to specialization. The knowledge level and the fields of specialization will increasingly be taken as standards to measure the companies’ value of their assets. However, without being stimulated, it may stay in a static relation within functional areas, although tasks are performed in a qualified manner. If management is interested in knowledge development, it is necessary to consider that knowledge workers should be included in a dynamic process. This process demands the support of motivation, creativity and the ability to improve an intellectual and comprehensive vision of the relationship between the organization and its environment. Management should differentiate these levels, because the core of the decision-making process could be severely damaged if they were intended as similar. In fact, knowledge workers (strategists, engineers, technicians, researchers, etc. ) are able to offer insights in what concerns problems and/or new situations. In an upper level they can also contribute drastically to include more evident values into the company’s offering in order to generate the client’s preferences. Knowledge workers are the core intellectual competence of many firms. In fact, they dominate their expertise fields and, for example, they know how to optimise the systems software that is relevant to strategic decisions. Knowledge workers create most of the value in some industries. The benefits are immediately visible in some innovative industries, such as software, pharmaceutical, health care, financial services, communications, and consulting. That is, knowledge influences competitiveness. At this moment, it is necessary to underline a question: can knowledge be seen as a specific value for the organization or is management only using the employees’ brain capacities in a very innocent manner, because they are human resources? In the past, the returns on investment came predominantly from physical assets like physical products and equipment. Today, knowledge is the main source of another type of assets: intellectual assets. Knowledge levels can be an asset only if they are enhanced and efficiently used. Being so, managers must purposely organize, motivate and control the development of their knowledge workers. These ones are able to provide new solutions in the complex network of organization-client relationships. Owing to technologies, materials, and competitiveness, several industries find themselves in complex scenarios. Knowledge is not the solution, but, in the near future, the intellectual capital will be required to deal with this complexity, and to support innovation and creativity (Brooking, 1996). Usually and specially in the context of dynamic industries, higher knowledge levels live near a frequent dissatisfaction and the capacity of questioning what seems to be already understood. The need of search is one of the consequences. In various industries, the search activities can lead to new products and to innovative processes. Undoubtedly, the increasing complexity of research militates in favor of formal institutions like universities and government laboratories. Nevertheless, if KM is able to stimulate and support their commitment, individual innovators may have an important role in the changing process. Moreover, research activities in the business sector tend to be integrated within manufacturing firms (Mowery, 1983) and they can propose incremental innovation. Considering their missions and strategic objectives, organizations have to define what kind of knowledge will be more important to take care of. Managers should develop the ability to stimulate knowledge workers in order to obtain better effective levels in what concerns the analysis of target markets, technological innovations, and economic trends. Knowledge and information technology Data and information are used for a variety of purposes in organizations, namely for improving the possibility of increasing knowledge potential. Some information is simply data obtained from the database in its initial stage, which is mainly supported by internal documentation and tacit knowledge. Sophisticated or specific information is included in a management information system. Based on various subsystems of information, KM may use many combinations of factors in accordance with the database system and data that are provided by the users (DeSanctis and Gallupe, 1985). In general, firms’ search for information can be viewed as part of a process, through which an organization adapts to its external environment in order to survive and to become more competitive. Particularly, organizations look for information about specific activities, such as the purchase of new equipment and launching of new products, to obtain benefits of improved final decisions. Information requirements depend on the nature of each situation and on the need to formulate competitive strategies (Wetherbe, 1991). Building effective information systems is a very important challenge that managers are facing today, but it is necessary to pay attention to the need of comprehensive information systems architecture. A firm and its managers use a variety of approaches to combine, sort, and process the environmental data to produce timely and relevant information for forming, monitoring, evaluating, and modifying strategy. This variety should reach a high integration level in order to be possible to obtain a strategic information system. Knowledge professionals do have a decisive role in this integrative task. Summarizing, aggregating, comparing, or combining various sets of data collected in the environment and from competitors and customers produces other information sets, which are used, for example, to measure performance and report on the financial health of the organization. Knowledge workers are often exposed to incomplete information on new events and modifications, but they also have the option to search for additional information in order to update their knowledge levels (Ozanne et al. 1992; Burke, 1990). KM is also a question of cultural way of operating in the market. To enable this culture to prevail, IT is needed. Nowadays, IT is assuming a decisive role in KM and is one of the most important tools, which is used to decide, to fight competitors, and to catch target markets. In fact, adequate software can capture and distribute to knowledge workers all the useful information the company has stored over t ime. Taking this operation as a training process, knowledge workers can integrate several types of data and try to find new solutions for their problem tasks. This is true because they can use information about clients and competitors, technical databases, decision support systems, management models, successful solutions to competitive situations, and access to specialized sources of knowledge. Understanding, interpretation, and the use of IT may enable a possible competitive advantage to be identified and obtained. These three aspects cannot be done without specific and organized knowledge of the relationships among hardware, software, processes, and required results. In fact, some equipment replaces human command-and-control procedures, but knowledge advances have o be used to optimize this equipment utilization. Knowledge workers have adequate qualifications to communicate the information that is needed. Information sharing is a very usual practice. However, some of them avoid this communication flow, because they are not able to see the organization as a system, where the global objectives should be accepted as a common value. In some organizations, information sharing should be stimulated, because it is one of the most important tools of creativity and, moreover, intellectual assets, unlike physical assets, increase in value with use. Knowledge management: some guidelines Management has to analyze in the right time all the environmental elements because they affect the organization performance. Managers must intend to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies goal achievement. The main role of environmental analysis is to detect, monitor, and analyze those current and potential trends and events that will create opportunities or threats to the organization. A number of companies have developed effective means of learning about their environments and, most importantly, have implemented strategic decision systems which allow them to capitalize on opportunities and to defend themselves against threats. These analyses and systems are based on IT and KM. KM improves the conditions for strategic action by way of appreciating and treating problems and challenges by the company. Strategically, the success of most management decisions depends also on a competitive effort, which includes a deep knowledge of customers’ attitudes and an adequate analysis of the stronger competitors (Curren et al. 1992). This means that managers must learn: weaknesses, strengths and movements of their direct competitors; and how their customers perceive their products. Finally, all these findings should be integrated into a management information system. Managers should become aware that the great challenge is settled on the efforts to innovate, to exploit te chnological advances, competitors’ failures, industry opportunities, and the investment in knowledge processes and knowledge workers. In fact, knowledge and knowledge workers can be interpreted as a company’s intellectual capital, and also as a key factor to its sustainable development. According to Kao (1996), some companies are already able to carry out internal knowledge audits in order to quantify the innovative effort for competitive advantage. Most of the times, the intellectual capital is not well recognized and remains largely hidden from the view of financial analysts and executives alike. As a consequence, it is undermanaged. This means that its potential is not entirely used. Top management should focus their attention on these situations because the intellectual capitals of their companies and innovation infrastructure are one of the real sources of future competitiveness (Leonard-Barton, 1995). It is well known that managers have to face uncertainty, that is, they must make decisions under uncertain conditions, often before all the required data are in. Today, managers must be able to embed more knowledge-value in their decisions. Doing so, they will become much more prepared to come out with a new improved and even better alternative before their competitors. Knowledge workers may help in these situations. In fact, they are adequately able to deal with information and present hypotheses and proposals. Therefore, they can have an efficient role in the reduction of uncertainty. This point of view demands new directions of KM. To stimulate the development of creative skills, management should point out some directions to the most important knowledge workers: †¢to be able to define objectives of each task in a systemic network in order to share knowledge and available information with others; †¢to increase the level of individual commitment; †¢to be entirely aware of the amount of resources (equipment, software, materials, assistance) that they are going to need; and †¢to ask for answers, creativity, and innovative solutions. Management needs to show some interest in the intellectual capital, the crucial importance of creativity, the need to sustain a constant flow of innovation, and the new concept of learning organization. Competitiveness and knowledge management Knowledge and the formulation of competitive strategies The success of a strategy depends also on a co-ordinated resources management. Resources may be divided into two groups: physical resources (money, equipment, materials, facilities, and time) and conceptual resources (data, information, and knowledge). Managers have to decide how available resources will be distributed throughout their organizations. In fact, the organizational context calls for or demands certain decisions and results. Being a manner of finding a solution for a problem or formulating a strategy to achieve the objectives previously defined, every decision should be based on: an integrated set of information; the knowledge skills of human resources. In what concerns dynamic organizations, KM is a valuable strategic tool, because it can be a key resource for decision making, mainly for the formulation of alternative strategies. KM should be able to combine innovation efforts, updated IT, and knowledge development in order to achieve a set of capabilities to increase competitiveness. In fact, when this combination is adequately managed, the company can formulate competitive strategies, which integrate innovative products and new technological weapons to face its competitors. Management decision is a very complex process whose evolution integrates several stages. The first step in solving a decision problem is its formulation. In a practical perspective, defining its boundaries and critical components depends on information resources. The analysis of input data needs also a complete and updated understanding of several realities and the capability to find relationships among them. Further, the decisionmaker is able to predict the outcomes because they result from each available alternative. These stages are always based on data, which need to be organized in order to be useful; that is, every management decision must be supported by a set of information because of each situation, the context where it is occurring, and the organization objectives achievement. In a fast-changing environment, the competitive advantage of many companies is based on the decision to exploit, to develop the power of knowledge development. That is why some corporations try to provide opportunities for personal and professional development and are seeing that they should stimulate knowledge development to formulate competitive strategies. To find out and exploit opportunities, companies need to establish the main orientations of KM in order to enlarge their growing possibilities based on innovation and competitiveness. Managers know that it can be disastrous to enter or compete in an industry without being aware of changing critical success factors that define their target markets, since they play a significant role in determining the likelihood of implementation success or failure. If a firm is entirely aware of the vital importance of these factors, management decisions have to consider a complex background where the knowledge of the clients’ needs and preferences and the competitors’ strategies is decisively important. Practically, this means that a market orientation includes the concept of competitive orientation (Slater and Narver, 1994; Day, 1994, 1990). In this context, a company can decide its competitive advantage as a function of the capability to generate radical change in its processes and technologies and of the flexibility to adapt its resources to the strategic formulation. For example, if an organization decides to become a fast innovator, managers should co-ordinate the ability to formulate a competitive strategy and to build advantages against competitors. This ability depends on the capacity of speeding up creative operations to generate innovations (Page, 1993). These considerations are already known and well accepted, but we need to extract from them the logical consequences. A competitive decision should be based on a wide and quite firm support, which shall integrate the different relationships among several types of knowledge. As a consequence, a comprehensive knowledge is the vital ground where competitiveness should be built. Increasing competitiveness using knowledge benefits According to modern approaches, KM is already considered as a key factor in the organization’s performance, because it deals with different resources that can aid decision makers in many ways (Keen, 1991). Managers require complete and updated information and, according to their level of activity, they hope to rely on their knowledge workers. Nevertheless, this hope is useless if these experts are not effectively motivated to deepen continuously their levels of knowledge. Some companies know that the innovation effort and the adoption of new procedures and new technologies may increase competitiveness (Goel and Rich, 1997). This relationship seems to have the following reasons: †¢the innovators can be inventors if they are able to manage research and development function (Gilbert, 1995); †¢knowledge workers can perceive and deal with what target market accepts or expects as value; †¢knowledge development is a fruitful background where incremental innovation may be attempted; †¢if a company can use a knowledge-based competitive edge, it is able to defend itself against the aggressive movements of its competitors. The need for scientific and technical information flow within the firm is well recognised. Knowledge and information derived from data are required for competitive initiatives such as improving customer satisfaction, developing new products and markets, and providing faster response. The link between knowledge and systemic databases should be understood within the context of information resource management (McFadden and Hoffer, 1994). This means that effective decision making requires a rational selection of inter-related data and the possibility of these data being integrated into KM. This orientation can be applied in the strategic planning area, and it presents flexible capabilities. In fact, managers have the possibility of asking for more updated information, using pre-programmed models based on the integrative knowledge of previous situations, considering alternative solutions, and stimulating the construction of innovative proposals. A KM can lead managers to anticipate problems better and to experiment and innovate. Based on a good KM, managers are more able to analyse and evaluate environmental scenarios, and adequate response alternatives in the light of the global objective previously determined (Dutta and King, 1980). At this point, managers can desire to come to the best solution by selecting the alternative that best satisfies the achievement of global objectives. This means that they are deeply concerned with increasing competitiveness. A primary objective of this orientation in modern business organizations is to contribute to greater efficiency in achieving organizational objectives. To assure this contribution, researchers should reinforce their efforts to explore the relationship between the competitiveness optimisation and the KM optimisation, and also the effectiveness of a KM, which has not been entirely clarified. Innovation and knowledge management Can knowledge management support innovation? The innovative efforts include the search for, and the discovery, experimentation, and development of new technologies, new products and/or services, new production processes, and new organizational structures. The consequences of these efforts are sometimes seen as a raw material of information industry. New management philosophies are aware that information is the result of knowledge evolution and that a solid network between intellectual effort and technological innovations is enlarging. The innovative efforts are also the right consequence of the investment in knowledge and knowledge workers. If KM is positively influenced by the search of innovations, the investments in the development of new knowledge may propel companies into new business in more rewarding markets. To achieve better results, innovative efforts have to be strategically combined with a competitive orientation and its consequent movements. This combination depends vitally on the highest level of individual knowledge and on its technological basis. Many companies are taking into account that new technologies and management approaches are changing the traditional perspective of managing intellectual resources. According to some works (Harari, 1994; Nonaka, 1994; West, 1992), the organizations that are able to stimulate and to improve the knowledge of their human capital are much more prepared to face today’s rapid changes and to innovate in the domain where they decide to invest and to compete. Managers should recognise that the skills of human resources and the motivation level make possible creative suggestions, different proposals, and research activities to build up innovations. Due to the new insights of KM, a creative knowledge worker can contribute to face the problems that need new kinds of resolution, the situations that demand innovative approaches, and the relationships that can be discovered in the more and more complex markets where companies are operating. In old times, capital was the company’s most critical and scarcest resource and human attributes were used to contribute decisively to obtain the return of the company’s investment in equipment and plants. Presently, companies are trying to understand and to use a new logic of value, which is founded on its competencies, customers’ evaluation criteria, and competition. It should be underlined that the knowledge development in the fields of technological innovations, specialisation on business processes, and innovative products is the strongest source of competencies. Moreover, all competitive efforts, which come from competitors’ knowledge and innovations, dramatically affect the success of strategies (Gatignon and Robertson, 1993). Innovation should be viewed as a complex process, which involves a set of investment possibilities. In this investment perspective, knowledge has to be considered as a sort of capital. Owing to this reason, its development process is a managerial concern, because it can lead to the launching of a new product. The success of an innovative product is notoriously connected to research activities and changing orientation. On the other hand, these two elements depend on the development of knowledge levels and the innovative efforts of knowledge workers. Knowledge development How to intensify learning involvement One of the most important objectives of a competitive KM should be to increase frequently the different levels of knowledge. Increasing them implies: †¢to straiten the links among the latest advances of IT and the processes of gathering and process information; †¢to motivate knowledge development by recognising its importance in companies’ evolution; †¢to promote the acquisition of scientific culture, specially in the fields directly connected with the company’s main activities; †¢to invest in theoretical courses and practical training; †¢to intensify an effort to get updating in industry. According to the usual characteristics of all learning and experience curves, the knowledge level may grow exponentially if management is able to stimulate the conditions to learn more and to increase experience. Considering the power of these stimuli, which should be integrated into a global human resources policy, management has to define the adequate procedures to enlarge and to deepen knowledge development. Within a scenario of competitive imperatives of speed and considering the need to innovate constantly, learning will be the essential hedge against the possibility of negative consequences. Organizational learning should be seen as one of the most important responsibilities of top management. In fact, organizations may use the individuals’ learning activities and learn through them to create an organizational learning system, which provides the possibility of enhancing the capacity to generate new offering proposals (Coopey, 1995; Sinkula, 1994; Senge, 1990). Some authors consider that an organizational learning includes the ability to increase the understanding level from experience through analysis of problems, experimentation of solutions, and evaluation of results (McGill and Slocum, 1994; McGill et al. 1992). Organizations’ development needs to have the support of the positive changes in the education and training of the work force. This means that management should stimulate and organize this changing process. In general, there are two main ways that managers have to consider: 1. (1) updating efforts: scientific and technological knowledge is almost constantly changing and everybody in the organization should be conscious of the state-of-art of their fields of work; 2. 2) knowledge progresses have to be transformed in a more effective effort in order to obtain better production processes and more competitive technological advances. Learning involvement could be defined as a state of energy that a knowledge worker experiences in regard to an effort to increase his/her knowledge level (McQuarrie and Munson, 1987). A knowledge worker who is highly involved in learning is likely to expect more abilities to create and to suggest new ideas. A set of adequate information technologies should be foreseen. In fact, at any time during the learning process, errors or imprecision can occur. To avoid their negative consequences, KM should take into account the reliability of the information sources and also the data accuracy. These factors will affect positively the objectives’ achievement. Knowledge development as a strategic management instrument If management has a true strategic orientation, the knowledge development is a systematic, integrated, and planned approach to improve the effectiveness of intellectual capital of an enterprise (Edvinsson and Malone, 1998). It is designed to solve problems that adversely affect operating efficiency at all levels. Knowledge is one of the branches where development movements can occur to help managers in their decision-making process, to create new responses, and to enable a set of competitive reactions and/or pro-active proposals. In the last two decades, we have seen a knowledge explosion and a change of the labour force. In fact, knowledge workers are not directly involved in manual activities, but make up a greater proportion of the labour force than ever before. Many companies try to provide an internal environment for experiential learning in which knowledge workers become more and more involved in solving job-related problems. In a quickly changing environment, the organization’s flexibility is one of its key success factors. This flexibility should be strategically combined with knowledge workers’ adaptability and high-quality standards to obtain two types of competition tools: 1. (1) sustainable advantages against competitors; 2. (2) capability to offer to the target market new alternatives. Knowledge development is a sort of response to changes in the external environment and nternal situations. It can be adapted to solve problems that negatively affect operating efficiency, including the need to replace obsolete products by new ones. In what concerns knowledge development, the improvement of products (incremental innovation) and process innovation (radical innovation) should be integrated. The aim is to improve the horizo ntal flow of information, because this flow is a very important tool to understand the relationship between the organization, its clients and its competitors. To make better decisions, managers have the option to search for more accurate information. One of the most important sources is the knowledge development of their collaborators, because they have been adequately trained to find out what are the new advances of science and technology. Training and motivational measures can be used to leverage professional intellect, but human intellectual capabilities can not be managed as if it was the only goal. In fact, top managers must consider the critical knowledge bases, the intellectual skills, and also the accumulated experience that can be used to increase the organization performance and to support their strategic decisions. Most developments at enterprise level are not possible without changes in education and training of the human resources, namely the intellectual capital. In fact, this capital is focused on innovative effort, on the information about competitors, and on proactive strategic decisions (Prescott and Gibbons, 1993). In many important complex problems there simply are not enough empirical data to provide a basis for complete analysis. Many aspects of a decision process require personal judgement, that is, the presence of updated knowledge workers. The problem-solving capabilities of knowledge workers lie in education background, professional training, creativity, and motivation. Non-routine processes demand for more skilled workers, because innovative solutions should be found and adapted to market needs. Sometimes, an organization needs to assimilate competitors’ technologies, to imitate them, and, in a benchmarking perspective, to adapt them in order to obtain specific benefits (reduction of costs, faster capacity to satisfy their market needs). This strategic effort demands a sufficiently motivated intellectual capital. In fact, even people with exceptional talent will not be able to develop potential without the adequate motivation (Twining, 1991). Moreover, knowledge development should include an effort to integrate the intellectual power of the organization’s human resources. Skills that are integrated according to a systemic perspective are more effective than a set of disconnected and/or uncoordinated talents. The co-ordination of the various abilities and aptitudes may lead to a learning process with a holistic approach. Being so, knowledge workers can learn more, recall information more accurately and use all their resources to build up innovative solutions. Influence of KM on competitiveness and innovation The influence of KM on management decisions effectiveness should be considered to support and also provide insight into how knowledge workers can contribute to obtain better results. However, management must consider that knowledge is not a simple and unique entity. The commitment to generate new discoveries and a more demanding understanding is not enough. The organizations need to look for the knowledge that is able to add value. Value adding knowledge is very different to an information-mix. This mix can be important, but first it is necessary to find out how the markets perceive the presence of value. These considerations can be taken as a guideline for KM. There are perhaps an unlimited number of factors that can define management attitudes regarding the role of intellectual capital into organizations’ life. Some managers evaluate significantly this capital as a very important resource that should be used to obtain adequate profits. Therefore this capital should be constantly improved. As can be seen in Figure 1, a conceptual model of KM is proposed. It emphasises that innovation and competitiveness can be a function of the KM. This model takes into account numerous determinants (determinant factors) of the relationships among various fields. The top portion of the model shows the most common factors that usually define management’s attitudes and deals with the following questions: †¢How important is intellectual capital? †¢How does management evaluate knowledge development? Is training one of the important aspects to be planned? †¢Is knowledge considered as a strategic tool? †¢Are managers prepared to motivate knowledge development? †¢Are managers able to stimulate the potential capacities of their knowledge workers? KM has to deal with two domains: 1. (1) personal characteristics of each knowledge worker; 2. (2) factors that affect personal development. The most common factors t hat affect initially the personal characteristics of a knowledge worker are education level, attitudes and values, innovativeness and creativity (Eagly and Chaiken, 1993; Allen et al. 1992; Mayo and Marks, 1990; Bearden et al. , 1986; Hirschman, 1980). Innovativeness is an important factor for supporting innovative efforts and it contributes also to define the personality. However, it is not enough to desire new products or new processes. In fact, an innovation that an enterprise presents into the market may be also due to the creativity of its knowledge workers. Personal development is directly related to professional experience. Any personal experience may be an information source and a learning situation. As a result from a personal or a managerial decision, training courses may contribute to reawaken previously acquired knowledge and to facilitate the access to a higher knowledge level. The development of each knowledge worker has its own dynamics, which is related with personal objectives. The more demanding the objectives are the more the learning efforts should be intensified. Nowadays, learning processes and knowledge updating procedures depend on information technology. Moreover, it has a decisive role on knowledge development because competitive advantage can only be maintained by the use of information for innovation (Huffman et al. 1990). Nowadays, managers have to decide whether they want to obtain better results from their knowledge workers or they prefer to lose the creative power that they possess in their minds and their professional experience. Managers’ attention must be focused on personal development. To obtain an effective knowledge level, investment in knowl edge development is needed. Managers should improve their ability to motivate knowledge workers to attain higher knowledge levels, because the arousal of this set of intellectual needs may be caused by external stimuli. Motivations should be intensified, because they should impel knowledge workers to increase their knowledge levels. This movement will be decisive in terms of innovation and can contribute to a stronger competitiveness. Even when no innovation is possible, an improved knowledge of the market and competitors can lead to more competitive movements. The technical capacities of a modern information technology will help this motivational scheme. Companies have to find ways to reach knowledge workers’ involvement. A person’s level of involvement plays a role in how much effort is used to learn new subjects or to deepen knowledge. Moreover, this involvement is an adequate condition for information sharing among knowledge workers. Adding IT, creativity and knowledge leads to a particularly potent combination. Managers can obtain impressive results in what concerns the companies’ abilities to innovate if they are able to develop the stimulation of innovative proposals through motivational methods and adequate rewards. The same can be said in what concerns key success factors: managers should practice frequently the stimulation of competitive efforts, provided through utilisation of both existing and new technologies. This conceptual model intends to interpret the relationship between KM, innovation, and competitiveness. It may contribute to an integrated understanding of the knowledge development process and its influences into the domains where management efforts should be focused. Conclusions This article intends to provide insights to a better understanding of KM in what concerns the possibility of influencing innovation and competitiveness. Its considerations provide considerable support for the importance of knowledge workers as a decisive contribution to the strategic enhancement. The implications for managers have been underlined. Regarding these implications, some concluding remarks can be made: †¢define methods for measuring the degree of KM effectiveness; †¢develop effective strategies for integrating innovative efforts, professional experience, skills, interactive capacities to create value for a company’s competitiveness; †¢determine the means to capture, transfer and leverage knowledge effectively; †¢let KM enter into strategic decisions concerning the profitability of intellectual assets. The suggested model also enables us to extend some of the frameworks for understanding managers’ evaluation criteria. This extension to traditional models of management strategic decisions is a direct result of the informational complexities in modern organizations. Consequently, these considerations intend to represent an important step forward in unravelling the KM as an efficient support for innovation and competitiveness relationships. Directions for further research Deepening the analysis of managers’ interest on knowledge is critical to understand how KM can contribute to improve strategies’ formulation. Future research should examine the differences among industries, and measure accurately the relative importance of the factors that affect personal characteristics and knowledge development. Because these relations are not fully investigated, we suggest additional studies concerning the industries where knowledge workers have a more defined and important role. Future research on managers’ attitudes facing the linkages between strategic management and human value may have to examine carefully the role of a KM orientation as an effort to support adequately successful strategies. This discussion contributes to a better understanding of the consequences of a management orientation, which is able to leverage knowledge advances. 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