Learning strategies

105 p.Libro ElectrónicoChanging technology, changing business models, changing workforce demographics and the rise of online, on-demand knowledge are challenging corporations’ approaches to workplace learning and training. Learning Strategies is a non-commercial, vendor-neutral collection of case studies from senior learning executives in global corporations and government agencies.Table of Contents Learning Strategies Elliott Masie 4 What Makes a Successful Learning Strategy? Nigel Paine, MASIE Learning Fellow 5 CIA’s Learning Strategy: Focusing Out on the Organization We Serve Bob Baker, Central Intelligence Agency 20 The Strategy of Managing Change Lisa Pedrogo, CNN 29 Building the Case for a Learning Strategy Ruben Bonales, Waste Management, Inc 42 Learning Strategy at Shell: 2 Parts, 3 Pathways & 3 Horizons Willem Manders, Shell 48 Putting the Strategy Back into a Learning Strategy Keith Dunbar, Defense Intelligence Agency 60 Making a Strategic Learning Portfolio the Heart of any Learning Strategy Terry M Farmer and Evan Ishida, Eaton Corporation 68 Setting Learning Strategy: Technology is Key When You Use it Well Mike Cuffe, Farmers Insurance Group 83 The Dynamic Strategy Relies on Insight -­‐ Not Planning Peter Hallard, Lloyds Banking Group 91 On Learning Strategies An Interview with Elliott Masi

Towards a Sympoietic Art Practice with Plants

At a time of crisis in human relationships with the natural world, this practice-as-research project comprises selected artworks and a written thesis investigating co-creativity with plants. The openly exploratory and speculative research scrutinises changes to plant-artist relationality as I develop a sympoietic art practice with plants, conceived as ethically accountable, co-creative ‘making-with’ plants, inspired by Haraway’s 'naturecultures' (2016). Sympoietic practice engages affirmatively with posthuman ethics of non-exploitative, egalitarian and ecologically situated practice, re-conceptualises plant-artist relations and makes way for accepting plants as agentially-active, co-expressive partners (Bennett, 2010, Marder, 2013). Manifestations of sympoietic art practice explored through co-creative processes of growing, making and walking with-plants contribute to the variegated nature of practice-as-research by reaching out in multiple directions to connect feminist and posthumanist theories (Barad, 2007, Braidotti, 2013, Alaimo, 2016) with artistic research (Schwab, 2018), poetic encounters, science and everyday life. In response to sympoietic concerns, temporary assemblages of interconnected events add participation, performativity and ecological awareness to the poetry and production of the artist-book. Sympoietic art processes have revealed multiple hindrances to my relationship with plants despite artistic closeness. The novel concept of ‘plant de-coherence’ arose directly from these insights. Plant de-coherence enriches the existing theory of 'plant blindness' (Wandersee and Schussler, 2001, 1999) by releasing fresh metaphors from quantum theory to explore and nuance an understanding of lively relational exchanges during the practical and conceptual transition between plants and humans in co-creative practice. The thesis exposes de-coherence effects in art processes and audience interfaces in the tangle of cultural filters through which plants are encountered: anthropomorphism, aesthetics, representation, symbolism, and commodification of plants. By working creatively with an understanding of de-coherence effects sympoietic art practitioners are empowered to transform its negative impacts and mediate cocreative worlding with plants which recognise co-dependence in a rapidly changing environment

Photonic low-cost sensors for in-line fluid monitoring. Design methodology

779 p.The paradigm of process monitoring has evolved in the last years, driven by a clear need for improving efficiency, quality and safety of processes and products. Sectors as manufacturing, energy, food and beverages, etc. are fostering the adoption of innovative methods for controlling their processes and products, in a non-destructive, in-place, reliable, fast, accurate and cost-efficient manner. Furthermore, the parameters requested by the industry for the quality assessment are evolving from basic magnitudes as pressures, temperatures, humidity, etc. to complete chemical and physical fingerprints of these products and processes. In this situation, techniques based on the UV/VIS/NIR light-matter interaction appear to be optimum candidates to face the request of the industry. Moreover, at this moment, when we are witnessing a technological revolution in the field of optoelectronic components, which are required for setting up these light-based analyzers.However, being able to integrate these optoelectronic components with the rest of subsystems (electronics, optics, mechanics, hydraulics, data processing, etc.) is not straightforward. The development of these multi-domain and heterogeneous sensor products meeting not just technological but also market objectives poses a considerable technical and organizational challenge for any company.In this context, a methodological hybrid and agile integration of photonic components within the rest of subsystems towards a sensor product development is presented as the main outcome of the thesis. The methodology has been validated in several industrial scenarios, being three of them included in this thesis, which covers from hydraulic fluid quality control to real-time monitoring of alcoholic beverage fermentation process

Tailoring concurrent engineering to small companies

This thesis presents the findings of a four year collaborative programme betvveen Middlesex University and Rimmer Brothers, a small medical device manufacturer. During this time the author and other associates have introduced to the company a new approach to product design based on the principles of Concurrent Engineering (CE). A review of CE case studies reveals how its usage is mainly confmed to large organisations, despite offering universally applicable advantages. In applying such ideas to a company of only ~50 employees, it has become clear that a number of 'environmental factors' including culture, product complexity and available resources influences the implementation and success of CE schemes. Most notably, resource shortages diminish the effects of lead time compression. Use of a modified implementation for the development of several new products has yieldedcost reductions approaching 50% - results comparable with large companies. This demonstrates that if due consideration is given to these factors, then CE can be seen to be a powerful and effective tool in any size of organisation

Opportunities in the energy sector of South Africa : an exploratory study of entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship, characterised by small to medium enterprises, are considered fundamental contributors to employment in an economy. Two core constituents form the broader concept of entrepreneurship; the individual and the opportunity, and it is the action/s of the individual in response to or on the opportunity, for economic benefit, that is then defined as an entrepreneur. Individuals have been the primary focus of academic enquiry into entrepreneurship, however more recently opportunities have been explored. It is broadly accepted that opportunities are either created or identified by the individual and that influential factors, both external (context-specific) and internal (agent-specific), impact the formation and/or evolution of these opportunities. Perhaps more importantly is the fit or nexus between the two constituents and also the narratives or temporal elements relevant to the induvial that play a vital role. In a qualitative, exploratory study of nine entrepreneurs, and their respective businesses which operate in the South African energy industry, the formation of the businesses was considered in terms of the individual, the context and the fit. It became apparent that opportunities in this specific industry were discovered by individuals, created for the most part by an external factor (policy and regulation) a renewable energy programme called REIPPP. It is suggested that opportunities are mostly industry specific and that they are always created by some factor (context or individual). The narrative or formative influences over time, of the individual, position the individual either to discover previously created opportunities or create them altogether. A theoretical model on opportunities is put forward which considers the results of the research and literature deliberated.Mini Dissertation (MBA)--University of Pretoria, 2018.zk2019Gordon Institute of Business Science (GIBS)MB

Shifting from Management to Leadership: A Procurement Model Adaptation to Project Management

abstract: The construction industry is performing poorly regarding project management and service delivery. On average, global projects are over-budget, delayed, and met with unsatisfactory results according to buyers. To mitigate poor performance, the project management career path has been heavily researched and continually developed over the last century. Despite the published advances in project management approaches and tools, project performance continues to suffer. This research seeks to conduct an exploratory analysis of current project management and other approaches and determine how they affect project performance. Through a detailed literature search, the researcher identified a procurement model that is more heavily documented as high performing than all other approaches. The researcher proposed that this model may be a solution to assist project managers with the delivery of high performing services. The model is called the Best Value Approach (BVA). The BVA focuses on leadership, non-technical communication, quality assurance, and transparent project execution. To test the effectiveness of its practices, the researcher modified and adapted the BVA into a project management approach and tested it on a large-scale government project. During the case study test, the researcher observed that there were two primary project management roles in the supply chain; the buyer’s and vendor’s project managers. The case study resulted in the large government organization receiving more work and increased their satisfaction of the work received by 22 percent from the previous year. To further test the project management adapted BVA, the researcher conducted a classroom case-study in which students learned and implemented the BVA practices on real-time, small-scale industry projects. Results include cost savings of $100,000 for 10 companies over 24 projects, cost avoidance of over$4.5M, and a 9.8/10 customer satisfaction [in terms of the companies’ satisfaction with the deliverables produced on each project]. These results suggest that the BVA practices may effectively improve the performance of project delivery, and may be a viable new project management approach to train future project managers. Out of the two project manager roles, it is proposed that the buyer’s project manager may receive the most benefit. Additional research is needed on the other approaches to compare quantitative project performance, and run repeated testing on the potential new project management approach.Dissertation/ThesisDoctoral Dissertation Construction Management 201

Understanding why complex projects overrun: developing a framework for identifying and managing risks

Despite a growing wealth of experience and knowledge concerning projects they experience cost overruns. Answering a call from leading academics for new research perspectives on projects, this thesis examines project cost overruns using a systemic modelling perspective and a case study design. The findings suggest that feedback dynamics involving loss of client trust; delay triggers such as design changes; and contextual conditions such as human resource policies, form a complex system that can induce overruns

National Educators' Workshop. Update 92: Standard Experiments in Engineering Materials Science and Technology

This document contains a collection of experiments presented and demonstrated at the workshop. The experiments related to the nature and properties of engineering materials and provided information to assist in teaching about materials in the education community