My deadly genius friend complained, “how can we think out of the box if the box still exist?”  If we still can see the box, then we are not creative enough yet, our mind is still bounded with the existence of the box..

Hm…bener juga ya, and I can not argue him at that time, kalah telak, 1-0

So, what should we do to be creative? He said, “..then you should think as if there were no box there”

Biarkan pikiran berkembang kemana-mana, liar, terbuka, open……our mind is like a parachute, only works if it is opened. Hm…this friend gave me new perspective then, I should learn a lot more

I’m delivering some subjects in People and Knowledge Management Interest Group at SBM. The class is usually consisted of 30-40 students, yep, this is a small class actually, but noisy enough. Take a look at the picture below:

Me, among my students in Introduction to Management Science and Business Class

Why noisy? yeah, it is because i deliver subjects in People Management Area.  Some subjects like Psychology and Organization Behaviour, Compensation Management, or Organization Theory are subjects which are better to deliver and teach by discussion. So we can imagine, this kids (18-20 yrs old) are still having abundant energy, and they use it to discuss some topics in a discussion group. It’s noisy but nice to see. They’re smart, young, having fresh and creative ideas which sometimes i never think of before. Actually by watching them discussing on something, I will get more knowledge for myself.  It is an exciting activity.

But, being a tutor for students whose age is not too far from mine is sometimes making me confused to decide my role in front of them. I’m 27 and they’re, let say, 20.  It means that I’m only 7 years older from my students! So I prefer to use personal approach to have their attention. It is more easy for me to treat them like my friend and I still can follow the topics of their ages,  I am not too old for them though.

But sometimes this approach also brings problems. If i am getting too close with my students, sometimes i don’t get their respect. They just see me as their usual friend. If this situation happened, I will try to change my role and will be more discipline with the rules we have agreed before . When it happened, they will come to me after the class and asking, “Kak Yudo, tadi kenapa sih galak gitu?” arghh….!

Yes, dealing with students is also like a stage performance, we have to be clear enough to choose which role we have to play based on the current condition of our students…and I’m still learning on it

The Effect of Appreciative Environment on Meaningful Performance

By:

Yudo Anggoro

Ida I Dewa Gede Raka

Department of Industrial Engineering

Bandung Institute of Technology

Abstract

The knowledge-based economy era started with the growing of numbers of knowledge workers. The knowledge workers are people with higher education level who ask for more self control when they are working. They work not only for earning their living, but it is more for doing something meaningful from their job (Raka, 2003).

Previously people thought that the individual internal condition made an important role in affecting the individual performance. But actually the environmental condition affects more significant in the individual performance. People need an appreciative environment, an environment which always supports people developing their abilities and actualizing themselves. The appreciative environment consists of appreciative leader, appreciative system, and appreciative community (Febriansyah, 2004). The appreciative environment affects the individual internal condition, such as self efficacy, competency, and freedom from fear. Having this internal condition, people will have a willingness to share their knowledge to others, and it will minimize the knowing-doing gap. And finally, people will able to do perform something that will bring meaning for them, an action that brings significant contribution not only for themselves, but also for their community.

This research examined the effect of appreciative environment to self-efficacy and freedom from fear. It also looked at the effect of self efficacy and competency to the knowing-doing gap, moderated by trust. It also examined the effect of competency and freedom from fear to the willingness to share knowledge, moderated by trust. Finally, it examined the effect of the knowing-doing gap and willingness to share knowledge to meaningful performance, moderated by shared-vision.The data of the research collected by questionnaires which was distributed to 2 state-owned companies and 5 private companies located in Jakarta, Bandung, and Bogor.

The result of this research indicated that meaningful performance affected positively by knowledge-sharing process and this positive effect will be strengthened by shared-vision. Meaningful performance also affected, but negatively, by the knowing-doing gap. The existence of shared-vision will decrease this negative effect. The sharing knowledge process affected positively by the combination of competency and selff efficacy, and this positive effect will increase when there is trust. The knowing-doing gap affected negatively by the combination of competency and freedom from fear. This negative effect will be increase with the existence of trust. The self efficacy itself affected positively by appreciative environment which consists of appreciative leader, appreciative system, and appreciative community. The freedom from fear also affected positively by appreciative environment.

Keywords : Meaningful performance, the knowing-doing gap, knowledge sharing, shared-vision, self efficacy, competency, freedom from fear, trust, appreciative environment, appreciative leader, appreciative system, appreciative community.

Social Collaboration to Create Knowledge Based Society

By:

Yudo Anggoro

Jann Hidajat Tjakraatmadja

Agung Wicaksono

School of Business and Management

Bandung Institute of Technology

Abstract

This research focuses on how the approach of social collaboration can be used in maximizing value creation to develop knowledge-based society. Ethnography approach by using Social Network Analysis (SNA) and in-depth interview is used as a research approach in this research. Social system is a process which is difficult to manage because it involves many people with different purposes and roles in the society. The aim of social collaboration process is to build understanding among people and use this understanding to create solutions of a problem. This research offers the social collaboration approach among three entities; Academia, Business, and Government (ABG); as a process where ABG actors who have different purposes can share their knowledge for making decision to increase the value of the society, and therefore create a knowledge-based society. Knowledge-based society is recognized from the willingness of its people to share their knowledge. People who share their knowledge will get many advantages from this activity. The individual knowledge will be transformed into group or social knowledge, so that people can learn together from this process. This learning process can create more value to the society. The social collaboration through ethnography and knowledge sharing approach can be applied in any cases in the society which involve different entities with different interest and purpose. In this study, the social collaboration approach is applied to maximize the value creation in creative industries in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia. The creative industry is chosen because this industry focuses on value creation, creativity, and the acknowledgment of intellectual capacity; which are aligned with the aim of this research in maximizing value creation to develop knowledge-based society. In this research, creative industry represents the knowledge-based society, where each member of the society values knowledge as their main asset to gain competitive advantage.

Keywords: Social Collaboration, Value Creation, Knowledge-based society, Knowledge sharing

So, here is the situation, hopefully i will have my final thesis presentation at the end of January or in early February (aha..this thesis thing kinda makes me busy lately), and will be graduated in March 2009. The possibility for me to graduate in March is quite big, said my Professor. And now i am not only thinking about how to finish my thesis (with excellent grade, hopefully) buat also what i should do after my graduation. I am sure this kind of thing often happened to you.

So, this is my option :

1. Finishing my thesis, then pursuing my next degree. Which means it might take several months for me to take TOEFL and GMAT test, send application, apply for scholarship, and wait for the decision (sigh). Damn, deep in my heart i really want it. Taking PhD abroad,  and then going back here, contributing more to Indonesia and its people. It’s so f**kin challenging
2. The other option. Right after my graduation, I will join SBM as a full time tutor first (I’m a part timer here anyway), then next, go to no. 1. It’s moderately challenging for me. The idea of taking PhD is interesting, but to spend the rest of my life in this school is stiil not intriguing me.
3. Third option, working in an MNC as a professional, following their day-to-day (or even hour-to-hour) tight schedule, and build my career there, and someday (with God’s help) taking me to the top position in the organization. It’s also challenging. I mean I’ve been there when I was working at Citi and watching how hectic our life was there.  But (again), being an intellectual (my shallow definition of intellectual is having a PhD behind your name ) is still tempting for me.
4. Fourth option, stay here in my current company (Hey, I am also working now, check www.sygmacorp.com). And trying to develop this company to be more global (We’re still small though, but we have the capacity to be bigger and bigger, trust me! hehe). It’s a quite an interesting option, I mean I have prospective position here, but after that what can I do?
5. Fifth, getting married . ahh…that’s still not my option in 2009

Yeah. ..life is full of choice for sure, and whatever the options are, the choice is ours. Tell me your options then….

uhm..okay, I know that we are facing knowledge era now. My truly inspiring professor has already told me about this era since 2004.  And as usual, i just ignored everything what he said, hahaha

And today i was just startled when i realized that knowledge must be shared, not to be kept! My (again) truly inspiring friend presented her thesis about the importance of blogging in this era. Yeah…it kinda rings a bell in my head and then, as a result, here it is….something-what-so-called my personal blog.

How to use it? dunno, i’m still learning on it, especially to make it more interesting in appearance, hahaha (damn, my weakness, lacking of creativity). So i will be trying to tell my world to you all, and waiting for your story of your world

So, how does it look, my first post? haha