Critical Action Learning Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Critical Action Learning - Essay Example In this paper, I will discuss the process of critical action learning to achieve enhanced understanding and potential resolution of the work based problem with strong focus on ethical issues and morality. The paper shows how critical action learning has been applied to enhance CSR in my organization. Key words: action, critical, ethical and learning Introduction In week one, I discussed the problem that our organization was facing in the implementation and practicing of the social responsibility. There was apathy in the employee participation on the issues that concerned corporate social responsibility. As a middle management manager, I was tasked with ensuring that corporate social responsibility was enhanced in our organization and that we could increase employee retention through the practices of CSR (Cox, Geotte, & Young, 2005). The following paper provides how action learning was used in our organization to address the issues relating to organizational management in relation to the top management, middle management and employees. The corporate social responsibility was the major issue discussed in the paper. ... al responsibility in a business organization is the process of social responsibility, policies, programs and observable outcomes in relation to the businesses social relationship. The CSR can lead to increased reputation for the business. The corporate social responsibility therefore implies to the social behavior of business towards it stakeholders (Heal, 2008). The stakeholders in this case refer to the community members. Companies that are socially responsible in making profits also contribute to some aspects of giving back to the community in the spheres of social development. According to Heal (2008), the corporate social responsibility is the concept in which companies integrate social and environmental concerns in the organizations’ operations and in their interactions with the community on voluntary basis. Our company needed to ensure the CSR was supported by all employees, as this could steer our company image forward, which translates to trust and more business. Acti on learning was incorporated to enhance the understanding and acceptance of the CSR in our organization (Ferrell & Ferrell, 2012). Action learning is an educational process in which people in an organization work together by tackling the problems affecting their organization and reflecting on their actions (Masquardit, 2004). In action learning, the learners acquire the understanding of the required ethics and practices through actions they engage in rather than being instructed. The results achieved in the daily actions serve as the motivations for increased participation. According to Masquardit (2004), action learning is a major factor in developing competence among individuals and teams in the problem solving and in the process of making decision in an organization. In my case of enhancing

Security Concerns in Cloud Computing Research Paper

Security Concerns in Cloud Computing - Research Paper Example For instance, information of an organization needs to be protected and is the ultimate responsibility of the board of director for which they are also liable. Likewise, transferring information on the cloud determines that it is not manageable by the organization anymore and any consequence or a breach of data occurring on the vendor side will be a prime threat to the organization. Therefore, information security is the part of due care and due diligence that is derived from the responsible employees of the organization. Cloud Deployment Models It is the prime responsibility of the organization to protect intellectual property and confidential information that may be related to customer personal information, trade secrets, patents etc. Breach of anyone of these classified information types cab result in a permanent loss of business and ultimately bankruptcy that may result in legal and regulatory compliance. Likewise, before making any strategy for transferring critical applications to the cloud, it is important to analyze deployment and service models of cloud computing. The correct choice needs to be made in order to align business requirements to the correct deployment and service model without any unnecessary risk. There are three service models for cloud computing i.e. infrastructure as a service, platform as a service and software as a service (Wilshusen, 2011). Infrastructure as a service (IaaS) is comprised of three components i.e. software, platform and infrastructure. Organizations only provide software and platform and infrastructure is provided by a third party cloud computing vendor. The second service models i.e. platform as a service (PaaS) also comprises of three components i.e. software, platform and infrastructure. Organizations only provide a software or application that will be executed on the third party or vendor’s platform and infrastructure. The third service model also includes the similar three components as mentioned before and called as software as a service (SaaS). Organizations only utilize services provided by the vendors in terms of applications that can be accessed by the Internet. All the three components i.e. software, platform and infrastructure are the property of the vendor (Wilshusen, 2011). In figure 1.1, cloud deployment models are demonstrated Figure 1.1 (Retreived from :Wilshusen, G. C. (2011). INFORMATION SECURITY: Additional guidance needed to address cloud computing concerns. GAO Reports, , 1.) Cloud Service Models After gaining the insight mechanisms of different deployment models of the cloud, the next important aspect is the service models. Cloud computing provides four service models for organizations to operate on. As shown in Fig 1.2, cloud service models are illustrated. Figure 1.2 (Retreived from :Wilshusen, G. C. (2011). INFORMATION SECURITY: Additional guidance needed to address cloud computing concerns. GAO Reports, , 1.) Organizations must choose the relevant client model, a s it will be proportional to the business or customer requirements and may differ from organization to organization and business types. The first service mode is called as the ‘Private Cloud’