knowledge management: June 2008

Wednesday, June 25, 2008

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Knowledge management (pengurusan pengetahuan)

Pengurusan Pengetahuan (Knowledge Management) strategi penting dalam pengurusan sesebuah organisasi.

Oleh:

Zulkefli Abdul Rahman

Universiti Teknologi MARA Perak

Zulke796@perak.uitm.edu.my

Pengenalan

Agak sukar untuk mendefinisikan erti Pengurusan Pengetahuan atau ‘Knowledge Management” yang rata-rata telah menjadi bualan atau isu dalam perbincangan pengurusan, mesyuarat, seminar atau bengkel di dalam sesebuah organisasi. Pengurusan pengetahuan sudah tentunya bukan satu produk yang boleh digunakan semata-mata untuk memperbaiki sesebuah organisasi. Sebagai contoh Profesor Dr. Elias M. Awad (2007) memaklumkan di dalam bengkelnya, Presiden Hosni Mubarak sebelum berangkat pulang ke Mesir telah berpesan kepada pegawai-pegawai kedutaan Amerika Syarikat untuk disampaikan kepada Presiden George W. Bush bahawa demokrasi bukan satu produk yang boleh dibawa ke dalam Negara Iraq dan ia tidak boleh memperbaiki keadaan dalam sekelip mata. Ini menunjukkan perbezaan di antara sesebuah produk dengan sesuatu proses yang melibatkan banyak aspek pemahaman bahasa tabii, pembuktian teori, perancangan dan penyelesaian masalah, pembelajaran dan penglihatan dalam konteks pengurusan pengetahuan (Tecuci, 1998). Sebenarnya pengurusan pengetahuan telah diberikan perhatian sejak sekian lama dalam sejarah pengurusan manusia. Ilmuan Islam Abdel Rahman Ibn-Khaldun(1332-1406) merupakan salah seorang pemikir Islam yang diiktiraf oleh ahli-ahli sosiologi dalam perkembangan, pembangunan serta pemindahan pengetahuan seperti yang dihuraikan oleh Ritzer (1996). Sehubungan itu menurut intisari Surah Luqman ayat 27 (JAKIM, 2007), dalam era globalisasi ini, umat Islam perlu menyiapkan diri dengan ilmu pengetahuan. Ilmu bukan sahaja diperlukan untuk menguasai teknologi, bahkan untuk dijadikan benteng pertahanan diri dalam mengharungi pelbagai cabaran. Tanpa menguasai ilmu, umat Islam pastinya terus ketinggalan sedangkan dunia yang semakin maju menyediakan banyak peluang untuk dikejar oleh mereka yang benar-benar inginkan kecemerlangan.

Definisi-definisi Pengurusan Pengetahuan

Walaupun dalam perspektif Islam telah dinyatakan mengenai kepentingan ilmu pengetahuan dalam pembangunan masyarakat, namun pemikir-pemikir atau ahli-ahli pengurusan dari barat lebih dikenali dalam membincangkan isu pengurusan pengetahuan. Antara ahli-ahli teori pengurusan (management theorist) yang menyumbang dalam perkembangan pengurusan pengetahuan adalah seperti Peter F. Drucker, Paul Strassman dan Peter Senge dari Amerika Syarikat (Barclay, 2005). Perkembangan dalam bidang pengurusan bermula dengan kepentingan maklumat (information) di dalam sesebuah organisasi dan fokus mereka adalah kepada pembelajaran organisasi (Organizational learning) yang berterusan.

Antara definisi-definisi Pengurusan Pengetahuan yang kerapkali digunapakai dalam perbincangan, persidangan dan rujukan ilmiah ialah:

“…Ianya merupakan satu disiplin yang mempromosikan pendekatan bagaimana mengenalpasti, mengurus dan berkongsi harta maklumat dalam sesebuah organisasi. Harta maklumat organisasi berbentuk pangkalan data, dokumen, polisi dan peraturan organisasi serta pakar-pakar dan pekerja-pekerja yang berpengetahuan dan berpengalaman.”(Gartner Group Inc. 1996)

“Pengurusan pengetahuan ialah segala kegiatan yang berstruktur untuk penambahbaikan sesebuah organisasi melalui perkongsian maklumat serta penggunaan maklumat yang betul. Penentu kejayaan organisasi dalam menguruskan maklumat mesti berasaskan kepada modal intelek yang merangkumi persaingan modal insan, modal berstruktur dan modal perhubungan.”(McShane and Glinow, 2006)

“Penjelasan mengenai pengurusan pengetahuan dapat difahami apabila membincangkan secara mendalam mengenai pengetahuan ‘tacit’ dan pengetahuan ‘explicit’. Kedua-dua bentuk pengetahuan ini adalah pengetahuan asas dalam diri manusia yang amat berguna apabila maklumat-maklumat dapat dikongsi bersama untuk bekerja dalam pasukan” (Nonaka, 1991)

“Pengurusan Pengetahuan adalah satu cara syarikat menjana operasi, berkomunikasi dan mengumpil harta-harta intelek yang menjadikan mereka muncul sebagai organisasi yang bersaing berasaskan sumber ekonomi maklumat”. (Harvard Business Review, 1998)

Perkembangan Konsep Pengurusan

Menurut Barclay (1997) perkembangan Pengurusan Pengetahuan giat di bincangkan oleh para akademia di Harvard Business School, Amerika Syarikat. Pada era 1970an terdapat ramai penyelidik yang menumpukan perhatian di dalam perkembangan pemindahan dan innovasi teknologi maklumat yang mencetuskan penyelidikan terperinci mengenai kefahaman pengetahuan (knowledge). Perkembangan ini berlarutan sehingga pertengahan 1980an di mana ahli-ahli pengurusan mengiktiraf kepentingan pengetahuan, penggunaannya serta persaingan yang wujud di kalangan profesional mengenai kaitan pengetahuan dengan pembangunan sesebuah organisasi. Malahan segala bentuk pembangunan individu atau organisasi adalah berasaskan kepada pengetahuan yang dibangunkan dalam sesuatu hasil pembangunan dan penyelidikan. Seterusnya era 1980an telah mewujudkan konsep baru seperti Perolehan Maklumat (Knowledge Acquisition), Pengetahuan Kejuruteraan (Knowledge Engineering) serta pengetahuan yang berasaskan system (Knowledge Base Systems).

Istilah Pengurusan Pengetahuan (Knowledge Management) seterusnya digunapakai di dalam Jurnal terbitan Harvard Business School pada tahun 1989 yang berjudul “Sloan Management Review of Organizational Science”. Manakala sebuah buku pertama mengenai Pengurusan Pengetahuan berjudul “The Knowledge Value Revolution” oleh Peter Senge dan Saikaya, telah diterbitkan juga oleh Harvard Business School Press, 1989.

Pada era 1990an beberapa firma perundingan pengurusan terutama dari Amerika Syarikat, Eropah dan Jepun, tumbuh seperti cendawan dan menganjurkan seminar Pengurusan Pengetahuan kepada beberapa organisasi perniagaan. Pada tahun 1991, satu artikel Pengurusan Pengetahuan yang bertajuk ‘Brainpower’ telah diterbitkan oleh Tom Stewart dalam majalah popular ‘Fortune’. Selepas terbitnya artikel itu, beberapa hasil penyelidikan dan penulisan terus membincangkan mengenai isu pengurusan pengetahuan dalam perkembangan individu, organisasi, masyarakat setempat dan masyarakat dunia. Artikel yang paling terkenal dan menjadi rujukan adalah hasil penyelidikan Ikujiro Nonaka dan Hirotaka Takeuci yang berjudul “The Knowledge Creating Company: How Japanese Companies Create the Dynamics of Innovation “(1991). Paling ketara sekali ialah penyelidikan Ikujiro Nonaka yang cuba merungkaikan semula pengertian pengurusan sebenarnya. Menurut Dr. Murray E. Jennex, Ketua Pengarang International Journal of Knowledge Management, dalam prakatanya (2005) beliau telah menunjukkan sebuah jadual mengenai senarai bahan rujukan untuk pengertian Pengurusan Pengetahuan dan mendapati hasil kerja dari Ikujiro Nonaka telah disenarai sebagai bahan rujukan yang paling banyak iaitu 41 kali rujukan dalam 101 kertaskerja dalam masa 7 tahun.

Peranan Modal Insan dalam Pengurusan Pengetahuan

Pengurusan Pengetahuan diangggap sebagai satu konsep dan instrumen untuk merealisasikan objektif sesebuah organisasi. Di dalam mengejar pencapaian tersebut, penjanaan ilmu pengetahuan merupakan proses berterusan yang signifikan bagi menentukan kejayaan pengurusan dalam organisasi (Mandle dan Winkler, 2007). Hasrat inilah yang mendorong kerajaan Malaysia untuk melaksanakan pelbagai usaha dalam meningkatkan tahap kecekapan, ketelusan dan keberkesanan system penyampaian perkhidmatan kerajaan (service delivery system). Menurut MAMPU (2006), usaha-usaha untuk meningkatkan system penyampaian perkhidmatan yang merentasi Agensi Kerajaan adalah untuk:

Mengurangkan kerenah Birokrasi

Penurunan dan perwakilan kuasa

Perkhidmatan kaunter

Pejabat Perkhidmatan Pelanggan

Pelaksanaan Standard MS ISO 9000

Pengukuran Prestasi

Memanfaatkan Penggunaan ICT

Jika dilihat secara menyeluruh, usaha-usaha itu memerlukan penggembelingan sumber tenaga manusia (modal insan) secara efektif dan melalui proses perancangan yang diatur dengan rapi. Lebih penting lagi, peranan pengurus, eksekutif dan kakitangan sokongan memainkan peranan penting dalam mempastikan keberkesanan perkhidmatan kerajaan. Komitmen kerajaan Malaysia dibuktikan dengan usaha melahirkan modal insan ulul albab berilmu, kompeten, kreatif, inovatif, mempunyai jati diri, berdisiplin dan mampu bersaing di pasaran kerja antarabangsa seiring dengan pelan induk Rancangan Malaysia Ke 9 (Mohamad Sofee Razak, 2007). Dalam konteks ini, pengurusan tidak boleh dipisahkan dari aspek kemanusiaan samada ilmu pengetahuan dan juga kemahiran. Oleh sebab itu kerajaan Malaysia telah menyediakan peruntukan sebanyak RM 4.1b kepada pembangunan modal insan dalam mengembangkan pembangunan pendidikan. Pembangunan modal insan menjadi dasar dalam memastikan program pendidikan diberikan kepada rakyat bermula dari peringkat pra sekolah hinggalah ke peringkat pengajian tinggi.

Pengurusan Pengetahuan adalah merupakan pendekatan kepada modal insan (Human Capital) kerana ia berperanan besar dalam menentukan prestasi sesebuah organisasi. Dalam konteks lebih luas lagi, modal insan mencorak hala tuju Negara ke arah wawasan yang disasarkan. Tanpa sumber manusia berkualiti sesebuah Negara akan lemah kerana ketiadaan faktor manusia yang menjadi pencetus kepada inisiatif baru dalam kegiatan sosioekonominya. Bagi menghasilkan sumber insan dinamik, ia memerlukan proses pengisian minda dengan ilmu pengetahuan. Sumber manusia yang berilmu pastinya menjadi rebutan organisasi dan juga syarikat kerana menganggap mereka (kakitangan berilmu) adalah aset berharga.

Cabaran dan Kejayaan Pengurusan Organisasi

Cabaran pengurusan organisasi berasaskan pengetahuan (Knolwledge based Organization) dalam zaman maklumat adalah satu isu yang berpanjangan. Pengurusan bukan hanya melibatkan faktor-faktor modal dalam aspek pengeluaran tetapi melibatkan perhubungan sesama manusia dalam sesebuah organisasi bagi mencapai objektif yang sama. Maksudnya ia bersangkutan dengan pengurusan ke atas golongan pekerja yang memikul beban tugas dan tanggungjawab yang diamanahkan. Bagi organisasi yang benar-benar menghargai pekerja-pekerjanya, mereka sedaya upaya akan cuba untuk memperkaya dan mencambahkan ilmu pengetahuan terkini yang perlu dimiliki oleh tenaga kerja dalam organisasi. Tindakan ini secara tidak langsung mencerminkan penghargaan terhadap nilai yang dimiliki oleh para pekerja dan sumbangan yang mampu dibalas kembali melalui pengetahuan yang dimiliki pekerja. Situasi begini memerlukan pengorbanan, khususnya daripada organisasi untuk menyuburkan budaya memperolehi ilmu pengetahuan. Ia boleh diperolehi dan dimiliki oleh para pekerja menerusi maklumat-maklumat yang disalurkan menerusi pendidikan secara formal (explicit knowledge) atau tidak formal (tacit knowledge) seperti yang dihujahkan oleh Ikujiro Nonaka (1991). Kejayaan menyempurnakan sesuatu projek dalam organisasi banyak bergantung kepada pendedahan yang dilalui oleh golongan pekerja . Ini kerana manusia dari masa ke semasa memerlukan input baru yang boleh membantu melicinkan lagi pekerjaan yang dilakukan. Sekaligus ia akan menguntungkan organisasi sekiranya ide sesuatu itu terbukti berkesan dalam aplikasi penggunaannya tidak kira bidang perniagaan, teknologi maklumat, kesihatan, kejuruteraan atau pun sektor awam.

Sebagai contoh membuktikan kejayaan pengurusan organisasi , kita lihat bagaimana syarikat-syarikat besar di Jepun melakukan anjakan paradigma selepas kejatuhan mereka pada perang Dunia Kedua (1941-1945). Syarikat Honda, Canon, Mitsubishi, Nissan dan beberapa lagi telah membuktikan kejayaan mereka dengan mengutamakan konsep keterikatan kepada organisasi (self of belonging) bertapak tanpa perlu di paksa-paksa. Para pekerja yang kaya dengan maklumat (information rich) akan beroleh pengetahuan yang memungkinkan mereka membuat keputusan dan tindakan dalam hal-hal yang bersangkutan dengan organisasi. Begitu juga perkembangan yang berlaku di Amerika Syarikat sepertimana kajian oleh Peter F. Drucker di era 40an hingga 80an sehinggalah beliau meninggal dunia (pada usia 95 tahun) pada 2005. Beliau telah membuat kajian dan menganalisa corak pengurusan klasik dan moden terutama kepada syarikat gergasi di Amerika Syarikat seperti General Motors dan IBM. Corak atau model pengurusan yang selalu di kaitkan dan menjadi hujah adalah corak pengurusan dan pentadbiran Penjajahan British di India, corak pengurusan organisasi dalam hospital dan bagaimana kejayaan kepimpinan sesebuah simfoni okestra. Penelitian Drucker terhadap ketiga-tiga corak pengurusan ini dikupas dengan jelas untuk memahami dan menghargai tentang pentingnya maklumat sebagai strategi kejayaan sesebuah organisasi.

Kesimpulan

Di dalam menyokong pengurusan pengetahuan sebagai strategi penting dalam pengurusan organisasi, ramai penyelidik yang terdiri daripada ahli-ahli akademik telah membuat penciptaan baru terhadap model pengurusan untuk dipraktiskan dalam organisasi. Suasana semasa di Malaysia juga tidak lari dari topik pengurusan pengetahuan sebagai persediaan terhadap pengurusan alaf baru seperti e-dagang, k-ekonomi, e-kerajaan dan lain-lain yang berasaskan kepada maklumat dan pengetahuan. Banyak organisasi yang inovatif telah mula melihat pengetahuan, kemahiran dan pengalaman pekerja menjadi nilai utama dalam perkhidmatan dan produk keluaran masing-masing. Begitu juga hasrat negara yang amat mementingkan soal perkhidmatan sistem penyampaian (service delivery system) kepada rakyat. Program pengetahuan pengurusan akan meningkatkan perkhidmatan pelanggan, penyelesaian masalah yang lebih pantas, penyesuaian terhadap perubahan pasaran dan seterusnya menjadi pemankin kepada pengetahuan korporat. Selain itu, pengurusan tertinggi perlu menyokong budaya belajar atau mengajar perkongsian maklumat serta tahu bagaimana untuk memandu ke hadapan, menggalakkan keceriaan, komitmen dan akauntabiliti dalam melaksanakan tugas untuk mencapai matlamat organisasi.

Rujukan

Argyris, Chris (1991), Teaching Smart People How To Learn, Boston : Harvard Business School Press.

Barclay, Rebecca O. (1997) What is knowledge management? , internet: http//www.media-acess.com/whatis.html, accessed November 16, 2007.

Drucker, Peter F. (1988), The Coming of the New Organization, Boston : Harvard Business School Press.

Elias, Awad (2007), “Managing Corporate Knowledge: The Hidden Secrets”, Knowledge Management Workshop, 13-15 Nov. 2007, Shah Alam: UiTM.

Harvard Business Review on Knowledge Management (1999), USA: Harvard Business School Press.

Intisari Tilawah Al Quran 2006, Putrajaya: JAKIM

Khoturi, Smith (2002), “Knowledge in Organizations”, Internet: http://www.ges.harvard.edu, accessed October 4, 2007.

Mandal, Heinz & Winkler, Katrin (2006), “Knowledge Management in The Organization”, internet: http://www.answers.com/topics, accessed October 4, 2007.

Mohamad Sobhee (2007), “Meningkatkan indeks literasi” Harian Metro, 27 Nov. 2007, Kuala Lumpur: NST Press.

Nik Zafri Abdul Majid (2000), “Pengenalan Kepada Pengurusan Pengetahuan”, internet: http://www.geocities.com/nikzafri/k.htm, accessed December 5, 2007

Nonaka, Ikujiro (1991), The Knowledge-Creating Company, Boston:Harvard Business School Press.

Ribiere, Vincent M. (2005), The Role of Organizational Trust in Knowledge Management: Tools & Technology Use & Success, USA: Idea Group Inc.

Ritzer, George (1996), Modern Sociological Theory, New York : Mc Graw Hill.

Shane, Mc & Glinow, (2006), Organizational Behavior, New York: Mc Graw Hill.

Tecuci, G. (1998), Building Intelligent Agents: An Apprenticeship Multi strategy Learning Theory, Methodology Tool and Case Studies: Academic Press.

Reading habit for future managers

Reading Habit For Our Future Managers.

Zulkefli Abdul Rahman

Faculty of Office Management and Technology

Universiti Teknologi MARA Perak

zulke796@perak.uitm.edu.my

Abstract

The objective of having a knowledgeable society seems to be a very challenging and exciting task in the character building among our children. Tremendous work and promotion have been geared towards improving the interest in reading nationwide, thus making reading habit another form of training and educating the society. The government is very much concerned with improving our society by allocating provision for educating children and to increase awareness among parents on the importance of reading as well as developing appropriate interests and support programs initiated by government or non-government organizations. Despite the mass electronic media with powerful influences on children’s social life, it is our responsibility when current generations are inheriting a technologically mediated world of work and leisure which is very much different from how most of us grew up.

Introduction

We urge all parents and educators to stress on the importance of reading because it is part of learning. In fact, developing literacy among students has always been one of the major goals of education. Research shows that children who love to read are likely to succeed in the classroom. It also shows children need practice in reading to become good readers. Reading should trigger the mind, causing one to relate things and formulate ideas. It should light the candles that remain unlit in one’s brain. It should be able by all means to effect some changes in one’s thinking and one’s attitude to the way one looks at things. As we lead our daily lives, we are all the time reading; reading symbols, reading signs, icons, reading people’s gestures, reading our and other people’s emotions and so forth.

Before the inventions of the alphabets and books, people read the language of birds, the imprints of wild animals left on the ground, the threatening looks of clouds, the signs in the sky, the earthquake, the behavior of insects or fish, etc. Ancient Egyptians read pictures that symbolized sounds or maybe ideas. The Incas or Aztecs read more or less similar symbols and astrologers have always been reading the shape and the movement of stars. American Red Indians read the smoke puffs that rose from the mountains and if negotiations failed they had to be ready for war. Famous magicians or fortune tellers would read the lines on your palms and tell you that you would be laughing all the way to the bank. The South African Bushmen read broken twigs and dried animal droppings to stalk their preys. For the Muslims, the first words the angel Jabril (Gabrielle) ever said to prophet Muhammad (pbuh) was "Iqra (read)",(Sura ‘Alaq, Holy Quran 96:1-5). It can rightly be said that a Muslim's mandate has been to read then to expand the thought and to be educated (Ahmad Deedat, 1993). But unfortunately Wajeeda Al-Huwaider (Arab News) questioned this, “What is the excuse for such ignorance and illiteracy among a people whose first revealed religious command was “Read”? This shows reading should be a habit in social practice and it is a cultivated skill that requires both interest and insight.

But today, TV is the mass social educator on social life, people’s worldviews, consumer behavior and the shaping of public sentiment. In Australia (Luke, 1996) 99% of all households own a TV set and 72% of all TV households own a VCR. Clearly, everyone is exposed to TV’s version of social reality. Television takes up more of children’s time than any other activity except sleeping. Again in his findings, by age 18, the average viewer has watched some 14,000 hours of TV and yet during the same time has spent only 12,000 hours in classrooms in front of teachers and texts.

Childhood and Youth Culture

Long before children enter school, most have already been socialized into play, social values, behaviors, attitudes and linguistic which are partly shaped by the video games. This is the new generations. It is not for those who are forty something and fifty something who are still assimilating the internet into their jobs as it evolves. According to Lowell Monke (2005), as the computer has amplified our youth’s ability to virtually go anywhere at any time, it has also eroded their sense of belonging anywhere, any time, to anybody, or for any reason. He said when he was growing up in rural Iowa, he certainly lacked so many things but always and in many ways felt belonged. He knew their farm where the snowdrifts would be in the morning after blizzard, where and when the warmest and the coolest spots where he played with the spider, and knew about worms by hands on experience by digging in the soil, watching the worms retreat into its hole and of course feeling them wiggle in the hand. Children today, can anytime find information about worms on the internet. However, the computer can only teach the student about worms and only through abstracts symbols of images and text on the screen.

Experts argued that the fast moving, hyper-competitive nature of our society is seriously damaging children’s mental and emotional well being. They suggested that junk food, computer games and even constant testing in schools were directly responsible for the well documented escalation in childhood depression. Certainly children growing up today are subject to increasing containment and surveillance, and the tyranny of consumer and moral choice (Libby Brooks, 2007). There is no doubt that children’s access to media where sex and violence has vastly increased. Young people are using technology to make music and learn and connect with friends across the globe. Look at the characters in Street Fighters, World Wrestling Federation (WWF) and many more super hero characters, either from video games (PS2 or 3, X box) or movies, that have become children’s idol today.

Importance of Reading

Reading is critical if you want to succeed in a professional career. Be it teachers, lecturers, accountants, surveyors, engineers or even entertainers. There is no doubt in the world of IT, everybody now is supposed to know about computers. Again reading is more important today to make one an informed citizen and to succeed in one’s chosen career. This has been true for a long time. But now, in today’s information technology world, it is difficult to be employed if you are not a pretty good reader with computer knowledge. Research also shows that adults who can barely read are more likely to live in poverty. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, U.S, children in families with income below the poverty line are less likely to read than children in families which incomes are at or above the poverty line. Thirty eight percent of children in families in poverty read everyday in 1999, down from 46 percent in 1996, compared with 58 percent of children in families at or above the poverty line, down from 61 percent in 1996. This shows that reading can reduce the disparities between the rich and poor by promoting reading among the lower income neighborhoods. Furthermore, if you don’t have the reading skills that allow you to choose what you want to do for a living, you will be forced to work for whatever employer. But a person who reads well has almost unlimited opportunities for career and personal growth.

Let’s look at Walt Disney. Most people know who Walt Disney was. Seth Sherwood a journalist in Tio Alecc wrote Walt Disney created Mickey Mouse, made lots of movies and build Disneyland. He accomplished a lot in his life, and he was a very wealthy man. But most people do not know that he said this; “There is more treasure in BOOKS than in all the pirates loot on Treasure Island and, best of all, you can enjoy these riches every day of your life.”(Walt Disney)

In a world of distractions, like television, movies, music and video games, this important skill is sometimes neglected. We can’t let this happen. Both adults and children need to take the responsibility and help children develop the habit of reading every day. It requires a little discipline at first but it will give magnificent benefits in the long run. Children who read well do better in other subjects and in all aspects of schooling and beyond. As the world becomes more complex, reading is increasingly important for children trying to find their place in it. That is why almost all nations in the world have set up programs for reading. According to the AAP (American Association of Pediatrics), reading is a significant aid in brain development and encourages a solidifying, emotional bond between parent and child. The AAP recommends initiating a daily routine of reading for infants as well as older children. However, their records reveal that only 50% of parents read to their children every day.

A report from Chicago Sun-Times, an estimated 880 million of the world’s adults cannot read or write and more than 120 million children lack access to education. To acknowledge the importance of literacy and reading in the lives of the children, The Chicago Sun – Times Newspaper In Education program has partnered with Macy’s Gives and the Chicago Public Library to produce a special eight-page educational section inside the newspaper daily. And again according to the U.S Department of education, reading to young children promotes language acquisition and correlates with literacy development and later on with achievement in reading comprehension and overall success in school. The percentage of young children being read aloud to daily by a family member is one indicator of how well young children are prepared for school. This is why the Singapore government is worried with the USSR (Uninterrupted Sustained Silent Reading) or the ERP (Extensive Reading Program) programs which are supposed to be a success in enhancing students’ habit of reading (Anthony Seow, 1999).

4.0 Initiatives to Promote Reading

The need to inculcate the reading habit among Malaysian youths has prompted the Government to incorporate reading activities in any youth related programmes. Malaysia Youth and Sports Minister Datuk Azalina Othman Said (2004) stressed that adopting a book lifetime will incorporate reading in daily life. This will contribute to mental growth and maturity which are necessary for future leaders of the country. “Physical activities such as sports give us personal satisfaction and a sense of peace that we have given our best to win in a competition. Reading provides us with a refuge that contributes as a getaway to knowledge. Young people should be taught to read as there is so much to gain from it,” she said at an outlet in One Utama, Kuala Lumpur. In June 2004, The Education Ministry cooperated with The Housing and Local Government Ministry, Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry, Arts, Culture and Heritage Ministry and Information Ministry to promote the interest in reading. It’s minister, Datuk Hishamuddin Tun Hussein said the Housing and Local Government Ministry would provide space for the community halls whereas the Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry would help with the cost of imported books. The Arts, Culture and heritage Ministry would study the aspect on developing reading culture and The Information Ministry would be involved in the broadcasting of campaigns through the media such as the radio and television. Apart from that, Malaysian Chinese Association (MCA) leaders are leading by example by reading books in “car, bed and office” to promote the reading habit, party president Datuk Seri Ong Ka Ting said. MCA was emphasizing the need to read at least one book a month as part of its Life-long Learning Campaign. He explained that the campaign was meant to benefit all Malaysians and not exclusively for the Chinese community only. Malaysians needed to practice life-long learning to arm themselves with the necessary knowledge in the globalization era.

In Uganda, initiatives by its government were quite successful in promoting the habits of reading. Among the effective programs was the Tent reading. Students cluster around a table searching for just the right book to read. Once they find one, they settle back under the giant tent, enjoying an extended period of reading for pleasure. This is all part of the Reading Tent, a project organized by the Reading Association of Uganda (RAU) to promote reading throughout the country. Each Reading Tent lasts three days and involves a number of activities aimed at creating a reading culture among young people. Here are some of the key components.

In the new millennium, according to the International Education Association (IEA) on Civic Education Study; nearly all countries, students who display more civic knowledge come from homes that have more books. These students also and aspire to higher levels of education themselves. That means reading should become a habit as proclaimed by Horace Mann, an American Educator (1796 – 1859), “Habit is a cable; we weave a thread of it each day and at last, we cannot break it.” A very good example is a young girl (Afiqah) in Ipoh. It was reported that in Utusan Malaysia (22 Dec 2007) newspaper, that she has read about 2,200 books comprising of academic, fiction and non-fiction as well as novels or story books, by the age of 11 years old. And now she still keeps to this habit and tries to achieve 3,500 units by the end of 2007.

Employees of the Future

Computers are fast becoming integrated into nearly every aspect of daily living, from school to work, to banking and shopping, to paying taxes and even voting. They provide access to a wide range of information without a trip to the library. They convey messages in place of the post office or telephone and they compete with the newspapers, radio and television in providing entertainment and news of the day. Not only are computers changing the way goods and services are manufactured, distributed and purchased but they are also changing the skills workers need to be productive and earn a living. Almost every job today requires at least some knowledge of the computer and for an increasing number of jobs, productivity is related to an individual’s level of computer expertise. In forecasting the future. Tapscott (1997) said that we bring in the children because of the demographic revolution intersecting with technology revolution, there is a huge opportunity to listen to the kids. If you are a CEO you have got to find a way to get these kids into your company. My web site was developed by teenagers. One of them is 15 and his own site gets 20 million page views a month. These kids can tell us a lot about what kinds of firms we need to create and how we can interact with markets and customers. And when they come to us, we’re not going to be able to treat them the way we did to traditional employees, they have got much greater mobility and they are going to have a share in the wealth they create. We are going to treat them as investors in the intellectual capital rather than the way we treat labor today, which is as a variable cost on balance sheets. So this is going to lead to some big changes in the whole way we manage employees and there are going to be big changes in terms of stock options and things like that. In accordance with that, Meg Mitchell (2000) added that today’s school children are growing up with paramount access to technology and are poised to march in to the new millennium with the laptop in tow and computer knowledge firmly ensconced in their little heads. And over the next couple of decades, they will start changing the workforce.

Conclusion

Thomas Edison was a great inventor but a lousy prognosticator. This was the comment by Lowell Monke (2005 ) when he presented his paper. When Thomas Edison proclaimed in 1922 that the motion picture would replace textbooks in schools, he began a long string of spectacularly wrong predictions regarding the capacity of various technologies to revolutionize teaching. To date none of them, from film to television have lived up to the hype. Even the computer, which is now a standard feature of most classrooms, has not been able to show a consistent record of improving education. This shows that computer is only a tool for the children and yet reading is a habit that can enhance analytic skills. To the question whether we have lost our reading culture does not arise here because there is still no research to show that reading has declined. Instead, the local publishing industry is booming and record shows that our local writers can earns up to RM 150,000 a year by a single novel on royalty (Abdullah Hassan, 2005). In addition, look at author J.K Rowling, the richest writer in the world, who has sold an estimated 300 million copies of the Harry Porters’ final book called Harry Porter and the Deathly Hallows worldwide. In fact, this is a positive impact of ICT towards the book industry. However, as parents, educators or policy makers, we are convinced to encourage children to discover who they are and what kind of world they must live. Concerning programs related to reading, it is time for us to support formal reading activities in schools to increase pupils’ desire to read and develop a life-long love of reading.