Joseph KK Ho's work diary

In my enhancement of lecture notes on the subject of Research Methods in Information Technology, I identified some Internet links as useful to illustrate some of the concepts in the subject. Some of them are listed below: Example 1:   Visit the following Internet links to learn about the major items covered in report writings: • Proposal and report structures: (proposal): http://chris.golde.org/filecabinet/disspropose.html ; report format: http://dissertationguru.blogspot.com/2010/06/dissertation-report.html • Abstract: http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html • Executive summary:   http://www.ehow.com/how_16566_write-executive-summary.html Referencing: http://libweb.anglia.ac.uk/referencing/harvard.htm Example 2 What makes a good essay   Now go to: http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/general/essay/1.xml and learn what makes a good essay. Example 3 On presentation skills: 1. Watch the videos on presentation skil...

The first tutorial on Corporate Governance covers the following chapters of A.de Kluyver: Chapter 1-3. http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/introductory-notions-in-corporate.html http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/board-of-directors-in-corporate.html Related notes: Note 1 Note 2 Note 3 Related resources: (video) Lecture by Bob Tricker: Lecture 1, part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gp3yqeodua0 Lecture 1, part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Matd3gJxsqA&feature=relmfu Lecture 1, part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JA1e4xFCqU&feature=relmfu Lecture 1, part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDhnEXYkCdY&feature=relmfu Lecture 2, part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FpHtrT03Flw&feature=relmfu Lecture 2, part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NLnl9ps1OU&feature=relmfu Lecture 2, part 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Am-K_BXfi0&feature=relmfu Lecture 2, part 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nPiazgwUusE Lecture 2...

Centre Manager: Joe, quite a number of students submitted survey questionnaires for approval but have been rejected. From what they said, you told students that doing questionnaire survey will get higher marks for their assignment.. Me: I did not point a gun at their heads to choose questionnaire survey; if their chosen research topics and research questions require questionnaire survey, I will advise them to do so.. Centre Manager: the students did not know how to do questionnaire survey, and that processing of approval of survey questionniares takes 3 weeks.. Me: Both the UK lecturer and I have explained Research Methods to the class and I started to ask students to study for the subject of Independent Study last December (now is April). Quite a number of the students only start to work on their assignments in last minute.. Centre Manager: some students complained that the centre has double-standards; some students' application for questionnaire approval were successful whi...

The topic of Study Skills is covered in the subject of Research in Information Technology (NCC). I note the following resources in the Internet: Teamworking skills: http://www.kent.ac.uk/careers/sk/teamwork.htm Student-centered learning: http://cat.xula.edu/journals/?sort=year&category=The+Journal+of+Student+Centered+Learning Note-taking: http://learning.londonmet.ac.uk/TLTC/learnhigher/notemaker/ Reading skills: http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/reading/index.xml Literacy skills: http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/english ; writing skills: http://www.monash.edu.au/lls/llonline/writing/index.xml Report writing skills: Proposal and report structures: (proposal): http://chris.golde.org/filecabinet/disspropose.html ; report format: http://dissertationguru.blogspot.com/2010/06/dissertation-report.html Abstract: http://www.ece.cmu.edu/~koopman/essays/abstract.html Executive summary: http://www.ehow.com/how_16566_write-executive-summary.html Referencing: http://libweb.a...

The subject of Research in Information Technology in the NCC Postgraduate Dip programme covers the following main topic domains: Study skills Time management, presentation skills, teamworks and peer assessment, listening and note-taking, written coursework Research methods Literature review A review of Information Systems as a discipline Systems thinking in the subject domain of Information Systems Sociotechnical Systems Theory Soft Systems Methodology Management Information Systems and Information Technology Management Electronic Commerce Potential of Information Technology to create corporate sustainable competitive advantage My list of topics is slightly different from the course documents. The list of topic domains above does depict the nature and scope of study of the subject. References Facebook forum on IT management: https://www.facebook.com/josephho33#!/groups/316183782575/ Facebook forum on Systems Thinking: https://www.facebook.com/josephho33#!...

Question 1: What are the reasons for earning good salaries/ incomes? Professional competence + social networking + luck + genuine interest in your work + physical and mental health, etc... Question 2: What are the reasons for obtaining good results in your study, notably on finaly year dissertations? I believe the reasons are the same as question 1. Now then. Some students do not study Research methods, do not know how to do literature review, do not not know how to use elibrary, do not have the required writing skill and do not have time to conduct the research project; yet, they expect a pass by submitting reports of very low quality... In a recent case, a Master Degree student made an oral presentation for his final year project. He was barely able to read out notes with poor oral English. [The content of his presentation  was also very poor for a project presentation].. Every time, he encountered the word "perspective", he struggled to pronunciate it properly. ...

The following is a list of blog notes on International Marketing (IM) : Introductory notes: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/introductory-agenda-on-international.html International trading environment: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/international-trading-environment-in.html Social & Cultural considerations: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/social-cultural-considerations-in.html International marketing research: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/international-marketing-research-in.html International marketing planning: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/international-marketing-planning-in.html International niche marketing for SMEs: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/international-niche-marketing-for-sme.html References: Facebook forum on global business: https://www.facebook.com/josephho33?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/277360354171/ Facebook forum on marketing: https://www.facebook.com/josephho33?ref=tn_tnmn#!/groups/282669242406/

It is the practice of this centre ask me to provide a briefing to new Accounting/ Business Admin students on how to prepare for course assignments. In this orientation briefing session , I cover the following blog notes: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2011/08/plagiarism-what-plagiarism.html http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2011/09/assignment-writing-some-advice.html http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2011/08/research-methods-in-dissertation-report.html http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2011/07/catwoe-analysis-on-dissertation-work.html http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2011/10/brief-note-on-harvard-referencing.html http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2011/11/on-value-of-university-e-library.html Students should find my facebook forum on Research Methods useful: https://www.facebook.com/josephho33?success=1#!/groups/194088197319308/

Over the last few days, I have evaluated some final year dissertation reports with very low quality. Basically, students produced final year dissertation reports with very weak knowledge of Research Methods, including poor literature review skill, dissertation writing skill, and theory-driven analysis skill. They are also not familiar with the university e-library. A few did not take initiatives to book project meetings with me (their supervisors).. The centre did organize workshops to teach Research Methods to these students, and a few of the workshop sessions were taught by me. Some students were not able to attend Research Methods workshops due to overseas business trips. Some maintain that some of the Research Methods skills have not been covered in Research Methods workshops.. At this point, I need to remind students doing final year projects that Research Methods is demanding subject, and that doing final year projects requires a certain level of intellectual skills.. Doing...

From what I know, there are reasons why students should not spare efforts to learn well in schools. I list the following viewpoints: You are part-time students; you do not have time to read books. You are advised by your teachers that you just carry out hypothesis-testing in your final year project and adapt ideas from 1 key refereed article. Do not try to use qualitative research methods as you will not be able to learn it as a part-time student. And then, the teacher will also not teach qualitative research methods nor research philosophies in Research Methods class. Students say that they are busy and they just want a pass. If the teachers are demanding, they are not good teachers and their teaching evaluation results will be poor. Students want to graduate within a brief period of time and they do not have time to study; they also have difficulties to read books (and academic journal articles) or write essays in English. When students say that they cannot understand what the...

I have come across the following Internet links as related to study for ACCA; they should be of use to Accounting students: ACCA P1 resource: http://opentuition.com/acca/p1/ ACCA P2 resource: http://opentuition.com/acca/p2/?fb_ref=.T471jd2xmpk.like&fb_source=message Study materials info: http://kaplan-publishing.kaplan.co.uk/acca-books/Pages/default.aspx ACCA past exam papers and subject info: http://www.accaglobal.com/en/student/qualification-resources/acca-qualification/acca-exams.html Quite a number of Accounting graduates would like to pursue for the professional exam route. The links above should be useful for beginners pursuing this path of professional development. References HK Accounting Standards: http://www.hkicpa.org.hk/en/standards-and-regulations/standards/financial-reporting/ ACCA P2 (video example): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZSSzr1vT2Nc&feature=relmfu

Some Independ Study (IS) students expressed concern that the centre has not approved their questionnaires which they need to conduct survey for doing IS assignments. The centre told me that some of the students' questionnaires have quality problems and some apparently have ethical problems in terms of intrusion of privacy, etc..  On the other side, students worry that, if their questionnaires are not approved in time, they cannot finish the assignment reports within the assignment deadlines. There are students who hold the view that, to avoid all these problems, they will only consider to do quantitative analysis using secondary  data (e.g. conducting multiple regression analysis using published corporate financial data). As a teacher, I would like students to learn Research Methods as a practical and critical skill. So, different stakeholders have different and conflicting concerns and all are unhappy with the problem-situation. In terms of soft systems ...

The following are Independent Study tutorial 3 topics for Class A IS oral presentation overall feedbacks: http://josephkkhoworkdiary.blogspot.com/2012/04/is-oral-presentation-overall-assessment.html Pitfalls on e-library search: http://josephkkhoworkdiary.blogspot.com/2012/04/how-university-e-library-search-can-go.html Why dissertation plan does not work sometimes: http://josephkkhoworkdiary.blogspot.com/2012/03/why-dissertation-guidelines-and-project.html Some relevant topics on research methods that came up in Oral Presentation sessions: Focus group: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/01/focus-group-as-research-method.html On research design: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/01/designing-research-design-discussion.html Writing up the final report: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/01/writing-and-presenting-dissertation.html Reference Related blog notes on tutorial 2: http://josephkkhoworkdiary.blogspot.com/2012/03/independent-study-tutorial-2-topics.html

The following are the overall evaluation comments on IS oral presentations on April 14-15: Quite a number of students have still got difficulties to formulate dissertation objectives, research questions. Quite a number of students are still not skillful in literature review Some students have difficulties to formulate research design, notably on primary data gathering strategies Students still need to justify their research design (in terms of validity, reliability and feasibility, and relevance) and dissertation objectives (in terms of practical value and academic value) Some students are still not able to express ideas clearly. Many students find it difficult and time-consuming to do e-library search. Some students still have difficulties to employ multiple-regression analysis (and with Excel) A few students have very weak knowledge on the subject of Research Methods fundamentally. Quite a number of students are weak in theory-driven analysis skill. Some IS assignment top...

My Global Business Management (GBM) graduates have been having regular gathering with me; yesterday, they organized a dinner gathering to celebrate my birthday. They are busy and some look tired.. One of them is going to emigrate to Australia. The GBM class size has always been small. How would I describe them? They are my friends, my children (but one is older than me) and coachees; some of them are pursuing further study; others are not so academic.. This is the kind of teaching career I am pursuing... and then, at heart, I am a systems theorist.. and with my age, increasingly, I behave more like a mentor to students who are keen to learn and who know how to respect teachers and others.

In a dinner with my previous students, I came across the following issue: one Master Degree student told me that her course assignments require clear referencing while another Master Degree student in a different programme stated that her assignments do not require clear referencing. Both students express the value of doing and not doing so. Thus, we have a question with no obvious answers. Is it good practice for Master Degree students to have clear referencing in their assignment works? I think the endorsed practices on referncing by a specific study programme reflects a specific worldview on the education programme design in terms of the ideas of CATWOE in soft systems thinking. For the one that endorses the position of clear referencing is more academic in orientation [position 1] ; while the one that holds of the view of referencing being a trivial matter is more practical in orientation [position 2] . Let me give an illustration: if you read an academic article, clear ref...

Quite a number of students have difficulties to do university e-library search . There are many pitfalls in the process of university e-library search: Pitfall 1: do not know that the university e-library has refereed journal resources [due to unfamiliarity of the e-library interface for students as well as for some of the local tutors] Pitfall 2: do not know that the academic journal publishers' websites sometimes do not work and that students can be required to log in several times with their athens id and passwords [which lead to the incorrect conclusion that the elibrary does not have much free-of-charge content] Pitfall 3: are not happy with the e-library search engine performance (as it is not powerful) Pitfall 4: do not know what to search for as the dissertation theme has not been determined yet Pitfall 5: feel that the e-library searching is too time-consuming Pitfall 6: do not understand what the academic articles are talking about Pitfall 7: do not know how to ...

The following is a list of blog notes on International Human Resource Management (IHRM) : Impact of globalization: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/impacts-of-globalization-on.html Organizational drivers of globalization: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/organizational-drivers-of-globalization.html Technology impact: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/technology-impact-on-international-hrm.html Knowledge management: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/knowledge-transfer-in-international.html Global themes: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/global-themes-in-international-human.html International mobility: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/international-mobility-in-international.html International training and development: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/international-training-and-development.html International compensation: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/international-compensation-in.html Career issues: http://josephho33.blogspot.co...

In dissertation project works, universities sometimes require students to write project  progress reports. Very often, universities prepare progress report form and/or to-do checklist to explain what students need to write in their progress reports. However, on many occasions, students just attach their original dissertation proposals or semi-finished dissertation drafts into the form and just skip most of the tasks required or just copy and paste proposal ideas in the progress form boxes that are unrelated to the questions asked in the progress form. When you ask them why they do not know how to write progress reports, they would sometimes say that the progress reporting requirements are not clearly explained by the local tutor(s). More frustratingly, overseas university staff sometimes also echo students' complaints that the poor progress reporting was partly due to unclear instructions from local tutor(s). In all these cases I am involved in, I am that l...

Below is a list of blog notes on Marketing Management Introductory ideas: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/introductory-ideas-on-marketing.html Implications of the new economy: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/implications-of-new-economy-on.html Customer satisfaction and customer value: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/customer-satisfaction-and-value-in.html Market demand: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/studying-market-demand-in-marketing.html Market-oriented strategic planning: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/market-oriented-strategic-planning-in.html Environmental scanning: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/environmental-scanning-in-marketing.html Consumer buying behavior: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/consumer-buying-behavior-in-marketing.html Business buying behavior: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/business-buying-behavior-in-marketing.html The theme of Competition: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/competition...

The following is a list of blog notes on Supply Chain Management (SCM) : Introductory ideas on SCM: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/introductory-ideas-on-supply-chain.html Logistics Network Configuration: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/logistics-network-configuration-in.html Inventory Management: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/inventory-management-in-supply-chain.html The value of information: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/value-of-information-in-supply-chain.html Supply chain integration: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/supply-chain-integration-in-supply.html Strategic Alliances: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/strategic-alliances-in-supply-chain.html Procurement and outsourcing strategies: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/procurement-and-outsourcing-strategies.html International Supply Chain Management: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/international-supply-chain-management.html Coordinated product and supply chain d...

The following is a list of blog notes on Human Resource Management (HRM) : Introductory ideas on HRM: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/introductory-ideas-on-human-resource.html Equal Opportunity and Diversity Management: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/equal-opportunity-and-diversity.html Personnel Planning and Recruitment: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/personnel-planning-and-recruitment-in.html Employee compensation: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/employee-compensation-in-human-resource.html Performance Management: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/performance-management-in-human.html Training and Development: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/training-development-in-human-resource.html Testing and selection employees: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/test-and-select-employees-in-human.html

The Easter holidays' entertainment is to write blog notes as a means of learning management subjects. In the old days, as secondary school student, I handwrote notes from textbooks; these days, I do much less handwriting and my handwriting is getting quite unreadable... Similarly, few students take notes in class; some of them take photos of lecture notes written on the whiteboard and then post them on some Internet forums for sharing with classmates. While writing notes can facilitate learning, typing notes as blog articles and then linking the key concepts in the articles with other internet resources, including youtube is also a stimulating learning experience. Besides, we learn more and memorize better when we can read and watch related study materials.. this is a tremendous benefit of learning in the digital social media ecosystem - we just need to be aware of its limitations as a learning environment.

The following is a list of blog notes as related to Corporate Governance : Introductory notions in Corporate Governance: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/introductory-notions-in-corporate.html Some external trends on Corporate Governance: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/some-relevant-external-trends-on.html Basic ideas on the Board of Directors: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/basic-ideas-as-related-to-board-of.html Board of Directors in Corporate Governance: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/board-of-directors-in-corporate.html Board of Directors' involvement in strategy development: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/board-of-directors-involvement-in.html On high-performance board: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/on-high-performance-board-in-corporate.html Compliance and risk management: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/compliance-and-risk-management-in.html CEO performance evaluation: http://josephho33.blogspot.com/2012/04/ceo-p...

The centre staff told me that a Master Degree student has just submitted a dissertation report to me for marking. However, I have never had project meeting with the student. Essentially, the student just submitted a report to me without ever arranging with the centre for a meeting with me as the student's supervisor. The student said that he/she has previously sent the dissertation report to me for comments. Indeed, I am willing to provide some brief feedbacks on student's dissertation reports via emails. However, email feedback is not intended to replace dissertation meetings. From time to time, there are students who are not keen to learn how to do dissertation reports, and do not respect the dissertation supervision system. The only contribution they have made is that they have paid the school fees; and they create hardships to the academic and administrative staffs by attempting to abuse the education system. I mention it here because from time to time, the centre h...

Now that the Global Business Management (GBM) programme I have taught from 2007 to 2011 has been closed as a result of the heart attack of the Centre's Principal in early 2011, I would provide a brief listing of all the teaching materials I have produced during this period of my teaching on the various subjects, namely, marketing management, international marketing, global business strategy, international human resource management, financial analysis, finance for management, and contemporary issues in Global Business Management. Indeed, I learned to use the facebook function of "group" from one of the GBM students. The following facebook links are only accessible to my facebook friends: Contemporary issues in GBM: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150241824722090.372205.713727089&type=3 Global Business Management Strategy B: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150234277957090.370023.713727089&type=3 ; also refer to: https://www.facebook.com/m...

Joining a tour is quite tiring, not relaxing. For me, the main purpose is to observe and learn, especially from the standpoint of a researcher. Let's call this field observation. My main tool to use is a camera. From the eyes of a researcher in tourism study, I took photos, made observations, including trying the local food and purchasing some souvenirs. In the process, I have had a brief and limited exposure to the local culture, this time in Seoul and Jeju . Due to my age, I am much less willing to carry heavy luggage in a tour trip. It takes a few days to organize and post my tour photos in my facebook - so you have to be patient to see my trip photos; I also need to do some editing work and the photo album should be available in a week's time. Meanwhile, I need to recover from this tiring trip. Like other tours I have joined, I learned a lot from the tour guide. Unlike other participants in the tour, I dislike negotiation of prices and tend to buy local stuff as a friend...