Critical Thinking and Reasoning Short Report Order Instructions: Current events article critique
Instructions
In this short report, you will research a current event article (no older than 180 days) that addresses the importance of knowledge and knowledge management in placing the organization at a competitive advantage. Articles may be obtained from any newspaper, business reporting outlet (such as Newsweek, Wall Street Journal, FastTrack, Wired, or Inc.), business periodical, or a documented online, credible news outlet.
To successfully complete this assignment, a student must understand KM and strategic alignment as well as the trends impacting the selected industry. Students are encouraged to select a current event article discussing the organizations or industries in the Bank of Knowledge Assets.
Required Elements to include in the Current Event Article Critique:
•Discuss the highlights of the article and how it addresses the use of KM for competitive advantage;
•Describe the competitive pressures placed on this organization/industry.
Required Formatting of Paper:
•This report should be double spaced, 12-point font, and two to three pages in length excluding the title page and reference page;
•Title page with your name, the course name, the date, and instructor’s name.
•Include reference page;
•This paper is to be written in the third person. There should be no words in the paper such as “I and we;”
•Use APA formatting for in-text citations and reference page;
•Submit the paper in the Assignment Folder.
Hide Rubrics
Rubric Name: Written Assignment (15%)
Criteria
Outstanding
Superior
Good
Substandard
Failure
Critical Thinking/Reasoning
5.25 points
demonstrates a high degree of critical thinking, is consistent in accurately interpreting questions & material; provides solid assumptions, reasoning & claims; thorough analysis & evaluation with sound conclusions
4.46 points
shows good critical thinking; accurately interprets most questions & material; usually identifies relevant arguments/reasoning/claims; offers good analysis & evaluation with fairly sound conclusions
3.94 points
shows occasional critical thinking; questions & material is at times accurately interpreted; arguments/reasoning/claims are occasionally explained; offers fair analysis & evaluation with a conclusion
3.41 points
shows little critical thinking, misinterprets questions or material; ignores or superficially evaluates; justifies little and seldom explains reasoning; draw unwarranted conclusions
2.89 points
lacks critical thinking consistently offers biased interpretations; ignores or superficially evaluates; argues using poor reasoning, and/or unwarranted claims
Application of Concepts/Development
5.25 points
arguments or positions are well-supported with evidence from the readings/experience; ideas go beyond the course material and recognize implication and extensions of the material and concepts
4.46 points
arguments or positions are mostly supported by evidence from the readings and course content; ideas presented demonstrate student’s understanding of the material and concepts
3.94 points
arguments are more often based on opinion or unclear views than on position grounded in the readings of material or external sources of material
3.41 points
arguments are frequently illogical and unsubstantiated; student may resort to ad hominem attacks on the author instead of making meaningful application of the material
2.89 points
a meaningful attempt to explain or support ideas does not exist
Attention to Instructions
2.25 points
demonstrated full understanding of requirements; responded to each aspect of assignment
1.91 points
demonstrated understanding of requirements; missed one minor aspect of assignment
1.69 points
demonstrated some understanding of requirements; missed a key element or two minor aspects of assignment
1.46 points
failed to show a firm understanding of requirements; missed two key elements or several minor aspects of assignment
1.24 points
did not demonstrate understanding of assignment requirements
Clarity; including grammar
1.5 points
writing is clear and easy to follow; grammar and spelling are all correct; formatting gives a professional look and adds to readability
1.28 points
most ideas are presented clearly; occasional spelling and/or grammar issues
1.13 points
wordy; some points require rereading to understand fully; more than an occasional spelling and/or grammar
0.98 points
unclear and difficult to understand; frequent spelling and grammar issues
0.83 points
largely incomprehensible writing/poorly written in terms of mechanics and structure
Adherence to APA Style (6th ed.)
0.75 points
no APA style errors
0.64 points
attempts in-text citation and reference list but 1 or 2 APA style errors are present
0.56 points
attempts in-text citation and reference list; APA style errors are present; inconsistencies in citation usage can be found throughout the document
0.49 points
attempts either in-text citation or reference list but omits the other
0.41 points
no attempt at APA style
Overall Score
Outstanding
13.5 or more
Superior
12 or more
Good
10.5 or more
Substandard
9 or more
Failure
0 or more
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Critical Thinking and Reasoning Short Report Sample Answer
Knowledge Management
In the modern current times, industries in the bank of knowledge assets have found the importance of knowledge management. The industries have found out that these assets range from concepts (ideas), connections (relationships), and competencies (ability to execute) (Cao & ICWL, 2014). Therefore, knowledge management is a set of techniques, activities, and tools that help an organization to capture and disseminate resources, capabilities, information, perceptions, and wisdom. To make it simpler, knowledge management is the deliberate efforts to uncover and use data and knowledge assets, mostly tacit knowledge.
One of the current event articles about knowledge management is in the Knowledge Management and E-Learning: An International Journal (KM&EL) published on December 2014. The article finds out that, for instance, World Bank is able to create value through suppliers, employees and financial, organizational, and physical manipulation. The article asserts that knowledge management makes industries in the bank of knowledge assets to have a competitive advantage. One of the reasons behind this is because knowledge management brings about the realization of organizational efficiency (Cao & ICWL, 2014). Industries in the bank of knowledge assets have a competitive advantage in that they have become speedy and response-oriented. Knowledge management is making these organizations to have organized data to make their operations run smoothly. The organization, according to Cao & ICWL (2014), uses knowledge management to organize information, provide accurate data, and also give useful information tailored to meet organization’s need in a timely manner. Knowledge management in these current days is making organizations to recycle and re-use knowledge rather than reinvent the wheel.
The article describes that industries in the bank of knowledge assets have a competitive advantage through knowledge management as they can maximize their organizational potential. The article gives an example of a 3M Company that usually learns from its mistakes and uses those mistakes to transform the weaknesses into profitable products. In maximizing organizational potential, knowledge management makes a company to preserve memory, leading to overall effectiveness and efficiency in an organization. Potential is also maximized as the respective companies are able to combat the impacts of staff turnover. In addition, critical knowledge retention through knowledge capturing is aided and transfer of knowledge between staff is facilitated. The ability of knowledge management helping organizations manage intellectual capital is another dimension indicated by the article to make organizations have competitive advantage. These organizations, as Cao & ICWL (2014) assert, are operating in the absence of middlemen as they are using specialists who directly discipline their performance using organized feedbacks from customers, headquarters, and colleagues. The organizations are now evaluating their workers based on their ability to deliver good results rather than on the competencies in executing their jobs. Therefore, organizations are in constant motion of recycling and reusing knowledge, as well as utilizing the shared experiences and knowledge.
There are some competitive pressures placed on this organization as the article describes it. One of the pressures is security. Organizations in the bank of knowledge assets are finding it hard to provide optimum security to sensitive information in KM. Information sources of many organizations such as World Bank are prone to phishing. This makes customers to lose trust on the companies to which they are loyal. Another competitive pressure facing this industry is getting people motivated. In this era of technology, knowledge management assumes that people can be made to share, learn, and above all have a common culture using technology (Cao & ICWL, 2014). This is not true as the lack of drive to share the knowledge makes it hard to streamline KM. Another pressure facing the industry is keeping up with technology. The industry is finding it a challenge to dispense information, as well as transferring it faster and effectively. From the time they were discovered, knowledge management tools have been affected by incompleteness, that is, it has not been able to address the matters of agility, responsiveness, and smartness.
Measuring knowledge is another challenge facing the industry in the bank of knowledge assets. The article provides that knowledge is not the usual phenomena that can be quantified easily. This is because knowledge is very complex as it is mainly deducted from human interrelationships as well as experiences. The organizations, as the article demonstrates, are focusing on results and efforts rather than shared purpose. KM has been applauded for allowing others to become voices of power in companies (Cao & ICWL, 2014). This tendency has brought in the pressure of overcoming shared leadership as giving voices of power to workers in an organization can result to internal conflicts. Even with the modern era of information technology, knowledge management is pressured with the challenge of keeping data accurately. This is because there are constant battles within an organization since not all employees welcome the idea of keeping data current by removing old and wrong concepts (Cao & ICWL, 2014). The last pressure engulfing the industry is determining the exact place for knowledge management in the organization. The article provides that most companies are confused whether knowledge management should be under human resource, communications, or information technology.
Critical Thinking and Reasoning Short Report Reference
Cao, Y., & ICWL. (2014). New horizons in web based learning: ICWL 2014 international workshops,SPeL, PRASAE, IWMPL, OBIE, and KMEL, FET, Tallinn, Estonia, August 14 – 17 ; revised selected papers. Cham [u.a.: Springer
