Health is wealth: this is an adage that is forever true. We are living in an age where everyone lives life in the fast lane. People want to get everything done quickly and on the go. Unfortunately, this attitude is also being applied to our eating habits, which has given rise to fast foods, aka. junk foods.

Of course, junk foods are extremely tasty and offer you a palatable taste and quickly satiate your hunger. They are easily available and have the ability to suit a wide variety of taste buds. But, taste is not everything, and researchers have pointed out that a diet consisting primarily of junk food can lead to many health problems.

Avoiding junk food once you’re used to it can be very difficult, but certainly not impossible. There are many healthy alternatives to junk food that can satisfy your palate as well as provide the essential nutrients that are required for the smooth functioning of the body and mind.

Adopting a diet that is free of junk food brings about many benefits such as weight loss, stronger bones, better digestion, sharper memory and a healthy heart. So, ditch that urge for fast food and hop on to the healthy-eating bandwagon.

A knowledge repository is an online database that systematically captures, organizes, and categorizes knowledge-based information. Knowledge repositories are most often private databases that manage enterprise and proprietary information, but public repositories also exist to manage public domain intelligence. They are also referred to as  Digital Learning Repositories, Digital Object Repositories and Electronic Performance Support Systems.

OVERVIEW

Retaining and sharing corporate knowledge has become a critical objective for companies, regardless of their size and industry. The proliferation of digital resources such as online databases and corporate intranets enable training organizations to create and maintain knowledge repositories for the benefit of employees and customers alike.

Knowledge repositories help organizations connect people with information and expertise globally via online searchable libraries, discussion forums and other elements. They provide a central location to collect, contribute and share digital learning resources for use in instructional design and content development for both traditional and non-traditional learning environments. They have become an integral part of corporate-wide knowledge management programs and a valuable stimulant of social and informal learning activities.

Along with providing centralized hosting and access, repositories enable users to share digital objects or files while also allowing administrators to set permissions and controls for access to content, and to protect the integrity and intellectual property rights of content owners and creators. They also invite collaboration among facilitators and students.

Knowledge repositories have evolved from static archives of published documents; they are now dynamic online communities that facilitate search and navigation of relevant information within agile learning platforms. Along with being a vehicle for just-in-time learning, knowledge repositories also enable post-training support and assessment.

Numerous software providers serve the fast-growing marketplace for digital repositories. They include suppliers of learning content management systems (LCMS), Microsoft Corporation’s SharePoint collaboration tool, an open source content management package called Drupal, and Pearson Education’s Equella solution.

KEY FEATURES

There are several key features of effective digital knowledge repositories:

• Centralization. A wide variety of digital courseware, and content curated from multiple sources, can be housed in a central location where it can be tagged, shared and commented upon globally within one consistent interface.

• Content management. The breadth of learning content can include audio visual files, simulations, data, learning modules, articles, blogs, YouTube videos, best practices guidance, monitoring capabilities and contact information. Content is searchable by key words, learning outcomes, and other vehicles.

• Cost savings. Repositories can potentially reduce the cost of training and education by making affordable course materials accessible, reducing the need for classroom training and stimulating productive informal learning.

• Access control. By restricting individual content pieces via password authentication and other security functionality, curators can accomplish various goals. Access controls often involve safeguarding proprietary information and protecting intellectual property. Some, but not all, repositories employ digital rights management (DRM) to protect and monetize intellectual property in the market.

• Record management. Repositories can integrate with learning management systems to blend seamlessly into learning and talent management programs.

BEST PRACTICES

A variety of best practices are employed by training organizations to facilitate learning while also protecting proprietary information and intellectual property.

• Ensure quality over quantity. To protect and maintain the integrity of information contained in repositories, organizations often create a system of “stewards” — subject matter experts who accept responsibilities over specific areas or communities. Stewards often moderate posts, respond to questions and, when advisable, coach and mentor learners and host webinars.

• Provide oversight and control. To ensure that knowledge sharing objectives are established and executed, organizations can create a cross-functional committee of valued employees and training professionals. The panels are tasked with ensuring that repositories become a valued aspect of a holistic learning experience for intended internal and external audiences. That means making certain that the right people can acquire the right knowledge at the right time. Other priorities include gauging the effectiveness of e-learning modules created to teach important skills and modifying them, as needed.

• Protect intellectual property. Knowledge repositories are required to protect the integrity and relevance of IP. Organizations can do so most effectively by building copyright compliance and digital rights management (DRM) into systems so that administrators can track content usage. Most current repositories lack DRM capabilities, a major limitation that impacts content creators and other IP holders, and stunts the growth of the platforms.

Knowledge Management infrastructure reflects the long-term foundations for knowledge management. In an organizational context, knowledge management infrastructure includes five major components:

• organization culture
• organization structure
• organisation’s information technology infrastructure
• common knowledge, and
• physical environment (Becerra-Fernandez and Sabherwal, 2010).

Organization culture reflects the norms and beliefs that guide the behaviour of the organization’s members. It is an important enabler of knowledge management in organizations.

Attributes of enabling organizational culture include understanding the value of knowledge management practices, managing support for knowledge management at all levels, incentives that reward knowledge sharing, and encouragement of interaction for the creation and sharing of knowledge (Ambrect et al, 2001 as cited in Becerra-Fernandez and Sabherwal, 2010).

Professional ethics are principles that govern the behaviour of a person or group in a business environment. Like values, professional ethics provide rules on how a person should act towards other people and institutions in such an environment.

The Code is an example of a codified set of professional ethics for those who choose to enter the immigration advice profession.

Ethical principles

Ethical principles underpin all professional codes of conduct. Ethical principles may differ depending on the profession; for example, professional ethics that relate to medical practitioners will differ from those that relate to lawyers or real estate agents.

However, there are some universal ethical principles that apply across all professions, including:

• honesty
• trustworthiness
• loyalty
• respect for others
• adherence to the law
• doing good and avoiding harm to others
• accountability.

Codes of conduct

Professional codes of conduct draw on these professional ethical principles as the basis for prescribing required standards of behaviour for members of a profession. They also seek to set out the expectations that the profession and society have of its members.

The intention of codes of conduct is to provide guidelines for the minimum standard of appropriate behaviour in a professional context. Codes of conduct sit alongside the general law of the land and the personal values of members of the profession.

Professional codes of conduct provide benefits to:

• the public, as they build confidence in the profession’s trustworthiness
• clients, as they provide greater transparency and certainty about how their affairs will be handled
• members of the profession, as they provide a supporting framework for resisting pressure to act inappropriately, and for making acceptable decisions in what may be ‘grey areas’
• the profession as a whole, as they provide a common understanding of acceptable practice which builds collegiality and allows for fairer disciplinary procedures
• others dealing with the profession, as the profession will be seen as more reliable and easier to deal with.

Other contributors to professional ethics

Fiduciary duties

When an adviser agrees to assist a client, they agree to take on a level of responsibility for that person and their immigration matter. The client becomes dependent on the adviser in relation to that assistance. This is a fiduciary relationship between the fiduciary (the adviser) and a principal (the client). Even without a Code this fiduciary relationship means the adviser has certain obligations to their client.

Contractual obligations

When an adviser enters into a contract (or written agreement) with a client this creates legally binding obligations to perform the terms of the contract in a particular way. This includes a duty to act with diligence, due care and skill, and also implies obligations such as confidentiality and honesty, even if they are not specifically set out in the contract.

Many ethical issues are likely to stem from advisers’ relationships with clients. Most of these can be overcome by having clear terms in a written agreement about how certain matters will be dealt with, such as the sharing of confidential information, the use of interpreters, refunds and invoicing. More information on written agreements can be found in the code of conduct toolkit.

Other laws

As well as New Zealand immigration legislation, advisers should also be aware of other relevant laws that seek to regulate how service providers must behave. In New Zealand this could include the Consumer Guarantees Act 1993. Advisers operating outside of New Zealand should make sure that they are familiar with any equivalent legislation that governs the behaviour of service providers there.

Environment refers to the natural surroundings and conditions in which we live. Unfortunately, this Environment has come under serious threat. This threat is almost entirely due to human activities. These human activities have certainly caused serious damage to the Environment. Most noteworthy, this damage risks the survival of living things on Earth. Therefore, there is an urgent need to save the Environment.

Ways of Saving Environment

First of all, planting trees should be given massive attention. Above all, a tree is the source of oxygen. Unfortunately, due to construction, many trees have been cut down. This certainly reduces the amount of oxygen in the environment. Growing more trees means more oxygen. Hence, growing more trees would mean better life quality.

Similarly, people must give attention to forest conservation. Forests are vital for the Environment. However, deforestation certainly reduces the area of forests around the World. The government must launch programs to conserve the forests. The government must make harming forests a criminal offense.

Soil conservation is yet another important way to save the Environment. For this, there must be control of landslides, floods, and soil erosion . Furthermore, there should also be afforestation and tree plantation to conserve the soil. Also, terrace farming and using natural fertilizers are some more ways.

Waste management is a powerful way of protecting the environment. There must be proper disposal of wastes. Most noteworthy, this would help to keep the surroundings healthy. The government must ensure to clean the streets and other polluted land areas. Furthermore, there should be toilets in every house. Also, the government must provide enough public toilets.

Pollution is probably the biggest danger to the Environment. Smoke, dust, and harmful gases cause air pollution. These causes of air pollution come from industries and vehicles mostly. Furthermore, Chemicals and pesticides cause land and water pollution.

Saving Environment would certainly protect the animals. Extinction of many species will not take place due to saving Environment. Many endangered species would also increase in population.

The water level would rise. Damage to Environment has severely reduced the level of groundwater. Furthermore, there is a scarcity of clean drinking water around the World. Due to this, many people fell ill and die. Saving Environment would certainly avoid such problems.

In conclusion, Environment is a precious gift on this planet. Our Environment is facing a big danger. Saving Environment is the need of the hour. Probably, it is the biggest concern of Humanity right now. Any delay in this regard could be disastrous.

The importance of the girl child 

A recent news report revealed that not a single girl was born in 132 villages in Uttarkashi district in Uttarakhand in the previous three months. Census 2011 had indicated that the child sex ratio of girls to boys (0-6 years) had deteriorated to 919 girls per thousand boys from 927 girls per 1000 boys in 2001. The adverse sex ratio is the result of a patriarchal mindset due to which families do not want to give birth to a daughter and raise her to fulfil her potential.  How can we convince people of the importance of the girl child in India? How can we make everybody celebrate daughters?

Girl Child Protection- the need for Beti Zindabad

The struggle of a girl child begins even before the day she is conceived. In India, female foeticide is a worrying practice, as cheap abortion technology allows households to exercise their preference for sons over daughters. She is ‘lucky’ if she is allowed to be born. Even after birth, the girl child faces discrimination and oppression. She is not provided with proper nutrition compared to her male siblings, her education is not given much importance and in many cases, parents prefer that their sons continue schooling, and want their daughters to stay at home and do household work.  After marriage, the trials faced by women do not end as she continues to face oppression and even violence in her marital home.
We, at ActionAid Association, launched Beti Zindabad –a nation-wide campaign to tackle the adverse sex ratio. The campaign has grown since its inception and come to address a wide variety of issues of violence against women, the need to recognize and celebrate women’s place in the world of work, and efforts to ensure women’s access to the property, including housing and agricultural land.
Through all our interventions at ActionAid Association, we seek to reach out to the women in the communities we work with.  We encourage them to take up positions of leadership in the family and the community. When we support the creation of collectives or community-based organisations in these communities or in our partner civil society we actively look for strong women community leaders and empower them to take up key positions in these groups.  Our allies and partners are encouraged to take pride in their daughters and value the contributions of the women in their communities. This can be seen through programmes like the Beti Utsav where communities celebrate the birth of a girl child amongst them.

The Government is also concerned with declining child sex ratio and in 2015 it launched ” Beti Bachao Beti Padhao” Scheme, to create awareness on the need to protect the girl child and focus on their education. We at ActionAid have welcomed this scheme and wish to support the government’s initiatives through our interventions. We seek to work with communities to celebrate the girl child and ensure the protection of the girl child.

How can we save girl children in India?

Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar, the architect of the Constitution of India has said, “I measure the progress of a community by the degree of progress which women have achieved.” A country that empowers women empowers every individual! We have to start with protecting the girl child, ensuring that her birth is greeted with joy and she receives all the care and love needed to grow to her full potential. As a woman, we need to work to ensure that she gets every opportunity to realise her potential. By celebrating, protecting and educating the girl child, we empower her. By empowering our daughters we empower their communities which means empowering the nation! We must start making significant steps in the following directions:

• Spread awareness and change mindsets to ensure that communities and families welcome and celebrate daughters.
• Education for all girl children.
• Create a safe environment for all women and support women’s resistance to violence.
• Mobilize society, private enterprise and the government to recognize and celebrate women in the world of work.
• Recognize, redistribute and reduce care work.
• Ensure decent work, fair and equal wages and a safe working environment for women.
• Ensure that women have access to the property, including house and land.

Why it is important to save and educate girls
In order to achieve true women empowerment, it is important that we begin with the girl children. This is because girls of today are the women of tomorrow. The role of social welfare organizations is critical here as it is not possible for the government to reach every nook and corner of the country. As the aware citizens, we can support organizations which work for the eradication of female infanticide and women empowerment. Donations to them serve two purposes: driving change in the society and providing  tax benefit to the donor.

Some yardsticks of women empowerment are:

• Helping women carve a positive self-image and increase their confidence level
• Enabling them to develop the ability to think critically.
• Ensuring that they have equal participation in decision making, whether it’s in the family or at the community level
• Providing economic independence to women

The mindset that a girl is a liability needs to be changed and this requires happening at the grass root level. While spreading awareness is critical, there is a need of stricter laws in place which deter people from resorting to female foeticide.

The role of education is extremely important here and goes a long way in empowering women. And the process of education has to begin early in life. More and more girl children need to be sent to school, provided quality and holistic education. Numerous benefits come with educating girls the right way. Educated girls are able to take the right decisions in life. For example, when an educated girl falls sick, she will have better understanding and awareness to avail proper healthcare services. At the same time, a society in which girls are educated will see less child marriages, decreased levels of poverty and heightened participation of women in socio-economic processes. Educating a girl has far-reaching impacts. It is rightly said that when a woman is educated, an entire generation benefits from it.

Conclusion
There is an urgent need to change this archaic mindset of the patriarchal Indian society which views girls as liabilities. It needs to be established that girls are in no way less than boys. When given the right chances to nurture their talent and skills, they have it in them to excel in different areas of life. It is therefore imperative that both government and non-government organizations work in cohesion to spread the message of saving and educating the girl child. You can donate online to NGOs to lend your support to this movement.

How to Set a Goal

First consider what you want to achieve, and then commit to it. Set SMART (specific, measureable, attainable, relevant and time-bound) goals that motivate you and write them down to make them feel tangible. Then plan the steps you must take to realize your goal, and cross off each one as you work through them.

Goal setting is a powerful process for thinking about your ideal future, and for motivating yourself to turn your vision of this future into reality.

The process of setting goals helps you choose where you want to go in life. By knowing precisely what you want to achieve, you know where you have to concentrate your efforts. You’ll also quickly spot the distractions that can, so easily, lead you astray.

Why Set Goals?

Top-level athletes, successful businesspeople and achievers in all fields all set goals. Setting goals gives you long-term vision and short-term motivation. It focuses your acquisition of knowledge, and helps you to organize your time and your resources so that you can make the most of your life.

By setting sharp, clearly defined goals, you can measure and take pride in the achievement of those goals, and you’ll see forward progress in what might previously have seemed a long pointless grind. You will also raise your  self confidence, as you recognize your own ability and competence in achieving the goals that you’ve set.

Starting to Set Personal Goals

You set your goals on a number of levels:

• First you create your “big picture” of what you want to do with your life (or over, say, the next 10 years), and identify the large-scale goals that you want to achieve.
• Then, you break these down into the smaller and smaller targets that you must hit to reach your lifetime goals.
• Finally, once you have your plan, you start working on it to achieve these goals.

This is why we start the process of setting goals by looking at your lifetime goals. Then, we work down to the things that you can do in, say, the next five years, then next year, next month, next week, and today, to start moving towards them.

Step 1: Setting Lifetime Goals

The first step in setting personal goals is to consider what you want to achieve in your lifetime (or at least, by a significant and distant age in the future). Setting lifetime goals gives you the overall perspective that shapes all other aspects of your decision making.

To give a broad, balanced coverage of all important areas in your life, try to set goals in some of the following categories (or in other categories of your own, where these are important to you):

• Career – What level do you want to reach in your career, or what do you want to achieve?
• Financial – How much do you want to earn, by what stage? How is this related to your career goals?
• Education – Is there any knowledge you want to acquire in particular? What information and skills will you need to have in order to achieve other goals?
• Family – Do you want to be a parent? If so, how are you going to be a good parent? How do you want to be seen by a partner or by members of your extended family?
• Artistic – Do you want to achieve any artistic goals?
• Attitude – Is any part of your mindset holding you back? Is there any part of the way that you behave that upsets you? (If so, set a goal to improve your behavior or find a solution to the problem.)
• Physical – Are there any athletic goals that you want to achieve, or do you want good health deep into old age? What steps are you going to take to achieve this?
• Pleasure – How do you want to enjoy yourself? (You should ensure that some of your life is for you!)
• Public Service – Do you want to make the world a better place? If so, how?

Spend some time brainstorming  these things, and then select one or more goals in each category that best reflect what you want to do. Then consider trimming again so that you have a small number of really significant goals that you can focus on.

As you do this, make sure that the goals that you have set are ones that you genuinely want to achieve, not ones that your parents, family, or employers might want. (If you have a partner, you probably want to consider what he or she wants – however, make sure that you also remain true to yourself!

Step 2: Setting Smaller Goals

Once you have set your lifetime goals, set a five-year plan of smaller goals that you need to complete if you are to reach your lifetime plan.

Then create a one-year plan, six-month plan, and a one-month plan of progressively smaller goals that you should reach to achieve your lifetime goals. Each of these should be based on the previous plan.

Then create a daily  To_Do_List of things that you should do today to work towards your lifetime goals.

At an early stage, your smaller goals might be to read books and gather information on the achievement of your higher level goals. This will help you to improve the quality and realism of your goal setting.

Finally, review your plans, and make sure that they fit the way in which you want to live your life.

1. Learn something new

Memory strength is just like muscular strength. The more you use it, the stronger it gets. But you can’t lift the same size weight every day and expect to get stronger. You’ll need to keep your brain constantly challenged. Learning a new skill is an excellent way to strengthen your brain’s memory capacity.

There are many activities to choose from, but most importantly, you’ll need to find something that forces you out of your comfort zone and commands your full attention.

Here are some examples:

• learn a new instrument
• make pottery
• play mind games, like Sudoku or chess
• learn a new type of dance, like the tango
• learn a new language

2. Repeat and retrieve

Any time you learn a new piece of information, you’re more likely to mentally record that information if it’s repeated.

Repetition reinforces the connections we create between neurons. Repeat what you hear out loud. Try using it in a sentence. Write it down and read it aloud.

But the work doesn’t stop there. Research shows that simple repetition is an ineffective learning tool if used on its own. You’ll need to sit back down later and actively try to retrieve the information without looking at where you wrote it down. Testing yourself to retrieve the information is better than repeated studying. Practicing retrieval creates more long-term and meaningful learning experiences.

3. Try acronyms , abbreviations, and mnemonic

Mnemonic devices can be in the form of acronyms, abbreviations, songs, or rhymes.

Mnemonics have been tested  since the 1960s as an effective strategy for students. You’ve probably been taught a few mnemonic devices for remembering long lists. For example, the colors of the spectrum can be remembered with the name ROY G. BIV (Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue, Indigo, Violet).

4. “Group” or “Group” or “Chunk” information

Grouping or chunking refers to the process of dividing newly learned information into chunks to produce fewer, larger chunks of information. For example, you may have noticed that it’s much easier to remember a phone number if the 10 digits are grouped into three separate chunk

5. Construct a “mind palace”

The mind palace technique is often used by memory champions. In this ancient technique, you create a visual and complex place to store a set of memories.

Concentration and memory work together, but one does not lead to the other. To concentrate is to direct your mental powers, or efforts, towards a particular activity, subject, or problem. Memory is the ability to remember information, experiences, and people. There are some specific skills that can be learned to enhance both concentration and memory. Practicing these skills is likely to improve one’s success as a student.

Once something is stored in our brains, we never forget it. We may, however, have difficulty recalling the information. It is also possible that the information we are trying to recall was never stored. This program will help you understand the structure of memory and also suggest some skills you can use to try to improve your memory.

Good concentration will enhance memory. If we only practice skills that improve our memory but never look at factors that enhance concentration, our efforts will only be marginally successful. For this reason, tips for improving concentration will also be discussed.

Memory Basics

Creating conditions for better concentration is likely to improve the quality of your studying; however, it is also necessary to implement skills that will enhance your ability to remember the material you are studying.

Four skills that can improve memory:

• Organizational skills
• Using your body
• Using your brain
• Including time for recall

All living things including, plants, animals and human beings need water to live and to carry out different cellular activities.

Have you ever imagined a day without water?  

No, we have not and it is hard to imagine. We all use water for different kinds of day to day activities, such as cleaning, washing, bathing, cooking, drinking and other domestic and industrial uses.

Water is a precious, essential and an abiotic component of the ecosystem. Today we all are heading toward the scarcity of water, and this is mainly because of the lack of water conservation and pollution of water bodies. So, let us not waste a drop of water and start conserving water for further use.

Also read: Water

There are different methods used for conserving water, here let us learn about the rainwater harvesting system.

What is Rainwater harvesting?

Rainwater harvesting is the simple process or technology used to conserve Rainwater by collecting, storing, conveying and purifying of Rainwater that runs off from rooftops, parks, roads, open grounds, etc. for later use.

How to Harvest the Rainwater?

Rainwater harvesting systems consists of the following components:

• Catchment- Used to collect and store the captured Rainwater.
• Conveyance system – It is used to transport the harvested water from the catchment to the recharge zone.
• Flush- It is used to flush out the first spell of rain.
• Filter – Used for filtering the collected Rainwater and remove pollutants.
• Tanks and the recharge structures: Used to store the filtered water which is ready to use.

The process of rainwater harvesting involves the collection and the storage of rainwater with the help of artificially designed systems that run off naturally or man-made catchment areas like- the rooftop, compounds, rock surface, hill slopes, artificially repaired impervious or semi-pervious land surface.

Several factors play a vital role in the amount of water harvested. Some of these factors are:

• The quantum of runoff
• Features of the catchments
• Impact on the environment
• Availability of the technology
• The capacity of the storage tanks
• Types of the roof, its slope and its materials
• The frequency,  quantity  and the quality of the rainfall
•  The speed and ease with which the Rainwater penetrates through the subsoil to recharge the groundwater.

Why do we Harvest Rainwater?

The rainwater harvesting system is one of the best methods practised and followed to support the conservation of water. Today, scarcity of good quality water has become a significant cause of concern. However, Rainwater, which is pure and of good quality, can be used for irrigation, washing, cleaning, bathing, cooking and also for other livestock requirements.

Advantages of Rainwater Harvesting

The benefits of rainwater harvesting system are listed below.

• Less cost.
• Helps in reducing the water bill.
• Decreases the demand for water.
• Reduces the need for imported water.
• Promotes both water and energy conservation.
• Improves the quality and quantity of groundwater.
• Does not require a filtration system for landscape irrigation.
• This technology is relatively simple, easy to install and operate.
• It reduces soil erosion, stormwater runoff, flooding, and pollution of surface water with fertilizers, pesticides, metals and other sediments.
• It is an excellent source of water for landscape irrigation with no chemicals and dissolved salts and free from all minerals.

Every engineer understands the value of code knowledge management. I doubt many developers repeatedly say to themselves: “There’s too much documentation here.” Yet, most of the existing knowledge management tools do not answer our requirements, and we’re left with tedious, manual processes. As a result, documenting code has become like going to the gym. Once we’re into it, we understand the value, but it’s hard to get us up and running.

As a VP R&D who is co-founding a startup, and a tech lead at Guradicore just last year, I believe knowledge management is at the core of making good decisions and being productive. Here are four requirements I look for when shopping for a code knowledge management tool.

4 Code Knowledge Management Tool Requirements

1. Covers Multiple Use Cases

A good code knowledge management tool will single-handedly cover a wide span of use cases, from onboarding to code reviews to component installation. To do so, the tool should be able to include tutorials, algorithm explanations, information about why certain technologies were chosen, etc. If these different documentation formats are distributed between different tools, adoption will be scarce and usage will be non-efficient.

2. Available On-demand

Tools like Discord , Confluence and Notion are useful for managing discussions and projects. They can be used for looking back into why certain decisions were made. But a good documentation tool needs to be able to provide answers on-demand, without the digging (and the time that goes into it).

Developers need to be able to immediately find out what a code line means, why a decision was made, how to install a component, why files are divided the way they are, which research was done on the feature, etc. Trying to find out by retrieving lists from Jira or Confluence does not yield high-quality results. If getting the answers is too difficult or takes too much time, they will not use the tool and go back to asking others or move forward to the best of their understanding.

3. Answers the What and the Why

Today, most tools either explain what they did with the code, or why they did it. Code snippets, service contracts, in-line documentation – they all explain what happened in the code. Wikipedias, emails, chats – cover the why. But more often than not, this is not documented anywhere.

To really understand the code and how to use it, our engineers need to understand both what was done and why it took place. Blog posts are a good way to cover this, as they provide technical tutorials and explanations. But they are not scalable in large organizations, and they could also be difficult to find answers in, if they are not structured well. So, we need a tool that shows us the code, and the entire story behind developing it – from design through research and up to programming.

4. Fit For Beginners and Senior Engineers

Too often we think of documentation only for one audience: new developers. More specifically, when they’re onboarded to the company. As a result, we lack the right infrastructure for more senior developers. For example, when they work together on a new feature a service they’re not familiar with. Or when they have to gain observability into dependencies.

Therefore, good documentation needs to be usable and understandable for beginners, intermediate developers and our advanced developers who (think they’ve) seen everything. It should include beginner and advanced explanations, enable high-level and in-depth understanding, and enable integration into existing developer tools.

Several years on from the so called ‘war’ for talent, most organisations agree that having the biggest share of the right people is crucial when it comes to achieving a competitive edge.

Research completed by McKinsey & Company found that 86% of senior executives believe that talent is the single biggest contributor towards profitability and bottom line performance.  At the same time, over half of those same executives admitted that they do not spend enough time on key talent matters, including:

• How to recruit more of the right people
• How to identify potential stars and high performers within an organisation more accurately
• How to identify and develop leadership skills, behaviours and traits
• How to prepare for management and leadership succession
• How to prevent derailment and failure
• How to deal with the people implications of structural business change, growth and evolving customer expectations

IDENTIFYING WINNERS AND FUTURE POTENTIAL

Since our launch in 1993, Quo have been a global pioneer when it comes to helping organisations address the above challenges.  Blending applied psychology, commercial best practices and our core expertise in behavioural science, we have helped hundreds of organisations identify, develop and retain the right people at all levels, from front line colleagues and team managers to senior leaders and the next Chief Executive.

Over two decades we have developed a globally unique assessment approach (PfAM) which allows organisations to accurately project the likely career paths of their most talented people, significantly increasing internal succession numbers and reducing recruitment costs. 

We have pioneered the application of the Assessment for Development Centre, enabling large numbers of high potential colleagues to build on their core strengths and address development needs, while increasing future leader pools significantly. 

We have developed ground breaking screening and assessment tools, including psychometric assessment, innovative 360 degree evaluation, thinking styles, complexity exercises and 1:1 interview techniques.  Our global partnership with Hogan Assessments and the bespoke application of the Hogan Suite of psychometric questionnaires has played a significant role in helping organisations resource, screen and develop the right people, while planning with greater certainty for future succession.

Organisations including Warner Bros, Johnson & Johnson, Align Technology, Cancer Research UK and Berendsen PLC have worked with Quo to address their biggest talent challenges.  To arrange an initial consultation please contact us at the number listed above.

Recent research on the subject of talent and potential

• Internally appointed staff members are 3 times more likely to remain with the organisation (than external hires) according to research completed by Hogan Assessments
• In the next 10 years there will be a 25% increase in the demand for talent within the 35-45 age range.  At the same time, due to changing demographics in recent decades, the supply of talent within this age range will decrease by 15% (research by McKinsey & Company)
• The cost of losing top performing staff can equate to a financial sum up to 500 times greater than the cost of their replacement (in lost revenues)
• Staff who have taken up structured personal ’Development Plans’ have been twice as likely to remain with an organisation than those who have not

Contemporary Theories of Motivation

Early motivation theories were based on the assumptions and sometime these theories were not supported by strong evidence. Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is a good example of this approach. Therefore, alternative theories of motivation have been put forward over time.

 Self-determination theory

Self-determination theory of motivation and argues that people often seek control of their actions.

 Goal setting theory

Goal setting theory is based on the view that challenging objectives should aid and improve workplace performance. In this theory, it is assumed that an employee is committed to the firm’s goals and desires to make a positive contribution. It is important that the set goals are also perceived as achievable.

Self-efficacy theory

Self-efficacy theory is based upon an employee’s view about their ability to perform the tasks of their job role. This theory is also known as social learning theory or social cognitive theory.

If an employee has a high self-efficacy, then they will be more confident and have a greater chance of success. In more challenging situations, employees with a low self-efficacy will often have a reduction in their job performance levels.

According to the Albert Bandura, self-efficacy can be increased by four ways such as:

1.  Vicarious modeling
2. Enactive mastery
3. Arousal
4. Verbal persuasion

 Reinforcement theory

Reinforcement theory refers that to behavior or an attitude is a function of its outcomes or consequences. That is, the theory suggests that the outcomes of behaviour (positive or negative) will either reinforce (or modify if a negative outcome) ongoing behavior.

Equity theory

Equity theory is where employees compare their job inputs and outputs with others in the organisation – primarily in an attempt to reduce the perceived inequities.

If the employees find inequities they seek resolve them by:

• Changing the inputs
• Changing the outcomes
• Distorting perceptions of themselves
• Distorting perceptions of others
• Quitting their job

Expectancy theory

Expectancy theory is the tendency to act in a particular way based upon a preconceived expectation of the likely outcome.

What is recruitment?

Recruitment refers to the process of identifying, attracting, interviewing, selecting, hiring and onboarding employees. In other words, it involves everything from the identification of a staffing need to filling it.

Depending on the size of an organization, recruitment is the responsibility of a range of workers. Larger organizations may have entire teams of recruiters, while others only a single recruiter. In small outfits, the hiring manager may be responsible for recruiting. In addition, many organizations outsource recruiting to outside firms. Companies almost always recruit candidates for new positions via advertisements, job boards, social media sites, and others. Many companies utilise recruiting software to more effectively and efficiently source top candidates. Regardless, recruitment typically works in conjunction with, or as a part of Human Resources.

What is recruiting in HRM?

Human Resource Management, otherwise known as HRM or HR for short, is the function of people management within an organization. HR is responsible for facilitating the overall goals of the organization through effective administration of human capital — focusing on employees as the company’s most important asset.

Recruitment is the first step in building an organization’s human capital. At a high level, the goals are to locate and hire the best candidates, on time, and on budget.

What does recruitment involve?

While the recruitment process is unique to each organization, there are 15 essential steps of the hiring process. We’ve listed them here, but for a detailed exploration of these steps, check out our page on Hiring processing steps

• Identify the hiring need
• Devise a recruitment plan
• Write a job description
• Advertise the position
• Recruit the position
• Review applications
• Phone Interview/Initial Screening
• Interviews
• Applicant Assessment
• Background Check
• Decision
• Reference Check
• Job offer
• Hiring
• Onboarding.

Types of recruiting

There are several types of recruiting. Here’s an overview:

Internal Recruiting: internal recruiting involves filling vacancies with existing employees from within an organization.

Retained Recruiting: When organization hire a recruiting firm, there are several ways to do so; retained recruiting is a common one. When an organization retains a recruiting firm to fill a vacancy, they pay an upfront fee to fill the position. The firm is responsible for finding candidates until the position is filled. The organization also agrees to work exclusively with the firm. Companies cannot, in other words, hire multiple recruiting firms to fill the same position.

Contingency Recruiting: like retained recruiting, contingency recruiting requires an outside firm. Unlike retained recruiting, there is no upfront fee with contingency. Instead, the recruitment company receives payment only when the clients they represent are hired by an organization.

Staffing Recruiting: staffing recruiters work for staffing agencies. Staffing recruiting matches qualified applicants with qualified job openings. Moreover, staffing agencies typically focus on short-term or temporary employment positions.

Outplacement Recruiting: outplacement is typically an employer-sponsored benefit which helps former employees transition into new jobs. Outplacement recruiting is designed to provide displaced employees with the resources to find new positions or careers.

Reverse Recruiting: refers to the process whereby an employee is encouraged to seek employment with a different organization that offers a better fit for their skill set. We offer Reverse recruiting days to help workers with this process. At our Reverse Recruiting Days we review resumes, conduct mock interviews, and offer deep dives into specific job roles.

Definition: The Selection is a process of picking the right candidate with prerequisite qualifications and capabilities to fill the jobs in the organization.

The selection process is quite lengthy and complex as it involves a series of steps before making the final selection. The procedure of selection may vary from industry to industry, company to company and even from department to department. Every organization designs its selection process, keeping in mind the urgency of hiring people and the prerequisites for the job vacancy.

Selection Process

The selection procedure comprises of following systematic steps:

1. Preliminary Interview: The preliminary interview is also called as a screening interview wherein those candidates are eliminated from the further selection process who do not meet the minimum eligibility criteria as required by the organization.Here, the individuals are checked for their academic qualifications, skill sets, family backgrounds and their interest in working with the firm. The preliminary interview is less formal and is basically done to weed out the unsuitable candidates very much before proceeding with a full-fledged selection process.
2. Receiving Applications: Once the individual qualifies the preliminary interview he is required to fill in the application form in the prescribed format. This application contains the candidate data such as age, qualification, experience, etc. This information helps the interviewer to get the fair idea about the candidate and formulate questions to get more information about him.
3. Screening Applications: Once the applications are received, these are screened by the screening committee, who then prepare a list of those applicants whom they find suitable for the interviews. The shortlisting criteria could be the age, sex, qualification, experience of an individual. Once the list is prepared, the qualified candidates are called for the interview either through a registered mail or e-mails.
4. Employment Tests: In order to check the mental ability and skill set of an individual, several tests are conducted. Such as intelligence tests, aptitude tests, interest tests, psychological tests, personality tests, etc. These tests are conducted to judge the suitability of the candidate for the job.
5. Employment Interview: The one on one session with the candidate is conducted to gain more insights about him. Here, the interviewer asks questions from the applicant to discover more about him and to give him the accurate picture of the kind of a job he is required to perform.Also, the briefing of certain organizational policies is done, which is crucial in the performance of the job. Through an interview, it is easier for the employer to understand the candidate’s expectations from the job and also his communication skills along with the confidence level can be checked at this stage.
6. Checking References: The firms usually ask for the references from the candidate to cross check the authenticity of the information provided by him. These references could be from the education institute from where the candidate has completed his studies or from his previous employment where he was formerly engaged. These references are checked to know the conduct and behavior of an individual and also his potential of learning new jobs.
7. Medical Examination: Here the physical and mental fitness of the candidate are checked to ensure that he is capable of performing the job. In some organizations, the medical examination is done at the very beginning of the selection process while in some cases it is done after the final selection.Thus, this stage is not rigid and can take place anywhere in the process. The medical examination is an important step in the selection process as it helps in ascertaining the applicant’s physical ability to fulfill the job requirements.
8. Final Selection: Finally, the candidate who qualifies all the rounds of a selection process is given the appointment letter to join the firm.

Industrial operators widely recognised preventative maintenance extends the life of assets, increases productivity, improves overall efficiency and reduces maintenance costs, with a significant margin on a run-to-failure maintenance approach..

But proper preventative maintenance is difficult to achieve, because it involves putting the seemingly non-urgent things before the fires that need to be fought in everyday production.

Today, we’ll take a look at a time-honoured tool in the business world,the Time Management Matrix, to show how it can help industrial operators move towards a preventative maintenance The good news is, It’s surprisingly simple.

Definition of Job Analysis

Mathis and Jackson (1999) view job analysis as a systematic way to gather and analyze information about the content and human requirements of jobs and the context in which jobs are performed.

Dessier (2005) defines job analysis as the procedure through which job analyst determines the duties of different positions of an’ organization and the characteristics of the people to hire them.

Dale Yoder (1983) defines job analysis as “a process in which jobs are studied to determine what tasks and responsibilities they include their relationships to other jobs, the conditions under which work is performed, and the personnel capabilities required for satisfactory performance.”

In the opinion of Strauss and Sayles (1977), job analysis consists of two parts, a statement of work to be done (Job description) and the skills and knowledge which must be possessed by anyone filling the job (Job Specification)”.

According to Gary Dessler, “Job analysis is the procedure for determining the duties and skills requirements of a job and the kind of person who should be hired for it.”

According to Edwin B. Flippo, “Job Analysis is the process of studying and collecting information relating to the operation and responsibilities of a specific job.”

“Job analysis is a systematic way to gather and analyze information about the content and the human requirements of jobs and the context in which jobs are performed.” – Decenzo and Robbins.

Job analysis involves collecting data about the performance of the job in an organization.

However, this definition is probably too simplistic when all of the different types of information that must be collected are considered.

For example, the data collected should clearly describe exactly what is required to perform a specific job.

This should include the:

• Knowledge: Knowledge is defined as the degree to which a job holder must know specific technical material.
• Skill: Skill is defined as adequate performance on tasks requiring tools, equipment, and machinery.
• Abilities: Abilities refers to the physical and material capabilities needed to perform tasks not requiring the use of tools, equipment, and machinery. Further, where the job is completed must be considered.

So the types of information to be collected by a job analysis are shown below:

• Work activities.
• Work-oriented activities.
• Machines, tools, equipment, and work aids are used.
• Job-related tangible and intangible.
• Work performance.
• Job context.
• Personal requirement.

So. job analysis is the process of determining and reporting pertinent information relating to the nature of a specific job. It is the determination of the tasks that comprise the job and the skills, knowledge, abilities, and responsibilities required of the holder for successful job performance.

The end product of a job analysis is a written description of the actual requirements of the job.

Learning organisation is the one that has developed the capacity to continuously learn, adapt, and change”. — B. P. Robbins and M. Coulter

Organisations operate in the dynamic environment. There are continuous innovations in information and computer technologies. Markets are global and customers are spread worldwide. Though the world has become global, customers all over the world are not the same. They are guided by their country’s culture, attitudes and beliefs.

In order to be successful, organisations should learn and respond to changes quickly. They learn about effectively challenging conventional wisdom, manage the organisation’s knowledge base and make the desired changes. All organisational members take active part in identifying and resolving work- related issues. In a learning organisation, employees practice knowledge management.

They continuously acquire, share and apply new knowledge in making decisions. In today’s world of competition, organisations that learn and apply new concepts have edge over competitors. “All organisations learn, whether they consciously choose to or not — it is a fundamental requirement for their sustained existence”.

Learning organisations:

a. Learn from experience

b. Adopt continuous development programmes.

c. Solve problems through systematic techniques

d. Transfer knowledge throughout the organisation through formal training programmes.

e. Create space and formal mechanism for people to think, ask questions, reflect and learn, encourage them to challenge the existing way of working and suggest improvements.

It “provides a healthy environment for natural learning.” It identifies individual needs, develops skills of people through training, reviews organisational policies and learns from experiences of its members. It makes use of experiences of managers to meet its strategies needs. Learning organisations are associated with internal renewal of the organisation in the face of competitive environment.

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The existence of human lifestyles on the planet is not possible with out the equal participation of both women and men. They are similarly responsible for the survival of the human race on this planet. They are also accountable for the development and growth of a nation. However, the lifestyles of the girl is for greater essential than men. Because with out her we can’t consider our lifestyles.

Girl toddler is a blessing. There are some societies where gender discrimination exits until today. Uneducated and illiterate people do not recognise that girls are similarly essential for the social equilibrium. In many societies it’s far observed that ladies enjoy much less rights compared to guys. People’s attitude has grown so terrible that they started out to differentiate among little children. Girls were understood as fabric or stranger man or woman but no longer as a daughter of own residence. Such sort of human beings are satisfied and have a good time the delivery of a son whilst they’re blessed with a daughter, the complete house is in silence or grief. They even mourn for the delivery of a female child. Many cases have been located in our united states of america that the newly born female infant has been dumped in an unwanted and stranger location. Also, from time to time they have been admitted to the orphanage, although their mother and father still exist on earth.

We can’t deny the value of a lady toddler, she plays her position within the form of a mother, wife, daughter or sister. Government is taking strict measures to do away with the crime towards women.