Neural Network Real-Life Applications

A neural network is a data modeling system meant represent to simulate the intelligence of the brain.

One application of neural networking is optical character recognition technology or OCR. This technology is incorporated in some scanners that allow it to read printed documents and convert those documents into Word documents so that the original text can be edited.



Another application of neural network technology includes cameras that are used in quality control. These cameras capture images and compare them to reference images to ensure that the product does not have any defects.

The Twilight of the Elites

In the coming decade the corruption of the elite will finally catch up with them. This includes the elite that control big business, the media, the banking industry, military-industrial complex and government.

The Times article talks about Terry McKiernan who started Bishop Accountability in response to the Catholic Priests Scandal. It also lists Wikipedia as a response to the people overthrowing the elite.

A larger example of the people's growing anger with the elite, is represented by the Tea Party Movement. The name comes from Americans organizing the Boston Tea Party in 1773 in response to British tyranny and Britain's taxation without representation. Many people have felt alienated by their political representatives who vote against their will in favor of big interests. Some of the issues they press include the legitimacy of the Federal Reserve, what happened to the bailout money, the expanding wars, growing executive powers, the complacient-non representative Congress, IRS, NAFTA, the Patriot Act and now the healthcare bill. Though demonized by the mainstream media (CNN, MSNBC, FOXNews, etc) as "Tea-baggers", the Tea Party is really a groundswell effort by many Americans from all parts of the political spectrum. They are composed of Republicans, Democrats, Libertarians, Independents, etc.) They have joined together to be heard by the elite through protests and events. They rely on protests, meetings and word-of-mouth to spread their message since they have been alienated by media elite, that classifies them as part of the "lunatic fringe", "conspiracy theorists", or even "terrorists." They have started blogs and websites so that their message can be heard in its entirity instead of sound bite, since the elites of the mainstream media likes make their issues a left vs right debate. As there message begins to reach the rest of the American people, the elite will be forced to listen or face revolution as the people feel more and more alienated.

The groundswell will not be ignored. The elite will have to concede or look at history. History always shows when the arrogance of the elite causes them to lose contact with ground they will fall.

Unwillingness to Help (Barriers to Interunit Collaboration)

Another barrier to collaboration is the unwillingness to collaborate.   This occurs when people refuse to share their knowledge or expertise to assist someone who is in their own unit or organization.  This can be due to pride, competing to stay on board, competing to get a promotion, etc.  Whatever the cause it results in hoarding-of-expertise.  When  acompany has a an enviroment reinforced by policies that pressure employees to compete with other co-workers expertise sharing tends to cease or is delayed.  This can cause the organization's left hand to be complete oblivious to what the right is doing.  Unecessary set backs and confustion can occur.  In addition, the hoarding-of-expertise can result in stunting the organizations potential by limiting knowledge growth, creativity, and innovation.

The hoarding-of-expertise can be very costly to an organization and cost it its competive advantage.  To combat this problem many companies are reorganizing their system for awarding performance. Those who have provided signifcant help while performing their own duties are the first considered for promotions, rather than those who hoarded their expertise to gain an advantage.

Inability to Find Expertise (Barriers to Interunit Collaboration)

The inability to track and find expertise can be linked to an insuffcient communication structure.  This communication structure can be either caused by the lack of social connections, long distances, improper database tracking, etc that cause a break down in communication.

To solve this problem new connections can be made between existing parties to form a close knit network, that allows knowledge and expertise to be more readily available.  Also, individuals who have had positions in several parts of the network can be used connectors to bridge the gap and coordinate new connections between different parties who are unfamiliar with each other.

Unwillingness to Collaborate (Barriers to Interunit Collaboration)

The unwillingness to collaborate is a big obstacle to interunit collaboration.  This stems from normal human nature or tribal instinct. Many times people believe that they or those who are apart of their particular group are superior to others outside or they feel like its them against the world.  This natural behavior is called in-group bias and must be discouraged and people must be taught to value outside help.  People with in-group bias may see a perfectly valid soultion to a situation and view it as wrong if it came from outside of their peer group. 

To resolve the unwillingness to collaborate among management and organziational departments, BP monitor managers and departments and hold them accountable to insure that they are cooperating and sharing knowledge to provide solutions to their problems. 

In addition many companies conduct evaluations in which they also check to see if a possible recruit is willing to be a team player and ask for help rather than trying to resolve the situation on their own.

Interunit Collaboration

Interunit Collaboration is important among corporations and large organizations that own the large chunks of the market in the particular service or industry they are in.  The large organizations realize the importance of collaborating to achieve common goals. The goals might pertain to cost saving, better decision making, increasing revenue, innovation or enhancing their current capacities.  In many cases these companies have already acquired all of the the physical assets that exist that do not already belong to one of their large competitors. In these cases the companies change their attention to knowledge managing, creating, and sharing.  Interunit collaboration is done between a two companies or maybe a few others but the number has to be kept low.  This in order for the organization to gain a competive edge over another competing company.  If a company analyzes their situation and find that they are better alone than in collaborative unit than they should participate in one.  Organzations should only participate if it will give them an edge.

( ( (OC) ) ) Organizational Culture

The four basic organizational sub cultures were identified as involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission.

Involvement cultures are great for organizations focusing on a bottom up structure for their business to foster new ideas. This type of culture inspires everyone on the team by making everyone feel like their contribution is valued. People in this culture are like stockholders who have invested their time and knowledge who expect a return on their investment cause they co-owners in organizations joint venture.

Consistent cultures are cultures that emphasize less freedom in the spontaneity of ideas and focus on more control. These cultures stress values to earn member commitment, since involuntary commitment is lost in the process of implementing greater control. These organizations are very rigid and not very susceptible to change. This type of culture exists more where a top down structure is in place.

Adaptive cultures are more likely to relate to involvement cultures rather than consistent cultures, because change is welcome. Except with adaptive cultures adaptability to existing external conditions is emphasized for the organization's survival. Adaptive culture can also exhibit mix of consistent culture because it may have a strong central management that constantly pushes the organization towqard change to insure a competitive edge, etc.

Mission cultures could be a mix of the previous three, but this organization is more mission biased in its approach to its goals. However this organizations are less likely to emphaaize change and adaptability. This type of organizational culture would probably not be a great structure to follow in the realm of informatiion systems since the external environment is always changing and advancements in knowledge management are constantly arrising.

Its important for organizations to implement a mix of the cultures and not focus on a specic one. The two most important organizational cultures in the realm of informations systems are probably adaptibilty and involvement. This is because these are the basis of knowledge management. You must have involvemnt to pool knowledge from all sources and adaptibilty to allow for the ease of flow of information.