Trends and Challenges in Human Resource Management Essay Example for Free

Trends and Challenges in Human Resource Management Essay a.Discuss how a complete performance management system differs from the use of annual performance appraisals. The performance management cycle begins with objective setting where the appraisee ought to be oriented about performance expectations for the given performance period. Throughout the period, performance is measured officially through the performance appraisal exercise, where the appraiser is given the chance to give performance feedback through an interview. The performance management system subsumes the performance appraisal process, and is meaningfully linked to rewards based on outcomes or results. Following all these, modifications are implemented to objectives and activities, including the drafting of an individual development plan for closing competency gaps (Clarke, Rogers, Miklos, 1996). The following section describes the different types of performance appraisal systems, which, as emphasized, is only one part of the performance management cycle. The following discusssion is being made to reiterate the idea that performance appraisal is but one part of performance management. Trait-focused appraisal systems. A trait-focused system concentrates on employees’ attributes such as their dependability, assertiveness, and friendliness. Though commonly used, trait focused performance appraisal instruments are not a good idea because they provide poor feedback and thus will not result in employee development and growth (Kingstrom Bass, 1981). For example, in a performance review meeting in which the supervisor tells an employee that she received low ratings on responsibility and friendliness, the employee is likely to become defensive. Furthermore, the employee will want specific examples the supervisor may not have available (Kingstrom Bass, 1981). Behaviour-focused performance appraisal systems. Behaviour-focused instruments focus on what an employee does. Instead of rating them on personal traits, a behaviour-focused instrument would rate him or her on specific behaviours. For example, in the case of a bank teller, some behaviours that may be rated on are as follows: â€Å"Knows customers’ names†, and â€Å"Thanks customer after each transaction.† The obvious advantage to a behaviour-focused system is the amount of specific feedback that can be given to each employee. Further, the focus on behaviour rather than traits does not only reduce employee defensiveness but reduces legal problems (Kingstrom Bass, 1981). From a legal perspective, courts are more interested in the due process afforded by a performance appraisal system that in its technical aspects. After reviewing 295 circuit court decision regarding performance appraisal, Werner Bolino (1997) concluded that performance appraisal systems are most likely to survive a legal challenge if they are based on job analysis, if raters receive training and written instructions, if employees are allowed to review results, and if ratings from multiple raters are consistent. Following the performance appraisal process is performance feedback. In organizational parlance, this is frequently referred to as performance discussions. Perhaps the most important use of performance evaluation data is to provide feedback to the employee and assess his or her strengths and weaknesses so that further training can be implemented. Although this feedback and training should be an ongoing process, the semi-annual evaluation might be the best time to formally discuss employee performance. Furthermore, holding a formal review interview places the organization on better legal ground in the event of a lawsuit (Field Holley, 1982). Normally, in most organizations a supervisor spends a few minutes with employees every six months to tell them about the scores they received during the most recent performance evaluation period. This process is probably the norm because most managers do not like to judge others; because of this dislike, they try to complete the evaluation process as quickly as possible (Field Holley, 1982).   Furthermore, seldom does evaluating employees benefit the supervisor. The best scenario is to hear no complaints, and the worst scenario is a lawsuit. In fact, one study demonstrated that dissatisfaction and a decrease in organizational commitment occurs even when an employee receives an evaluation that is â€Å"satisfactory† but not outstanding (Pearce Porter, 1986). Finally, in the â€Å"tell and sell† approach to performance appraisal interviews, a supervisor â€Å"tells† an employee everything she has done poorly and then â€Å"sells† her on the ways in which she can improve. This method, however, accomplishes little. There are certain techniques that will make the performance appraisal interview more effective, and these are discussed in the following sections. Both the supervisor and the employee must have time to prepare for the review interview. Both should be allowed at least 1 hour to prepare before an interview and at least 1 hour before the interview itself (Pearce Porter, 1986). The interview location should be a neutral place that ensures privacy and allows the supervisor and the employee to face one another without a desk between them as a communication barrier (Rhoads, 1997). Performance appraisal review interviews should be scheduled at least once every 6 months for most employees and more often for new employees. Review interviews are commonly scheduled 6 months after an employee begins working for the organization. It is important to note that while formal performance review interviews occur only twice a year, informal â€Å"progress checks† should be held throughout the year to provide feedback (Rhoads, 1997). While preparing for the interview, the supervisor should review the ratings she has assigned to the employee and the reasons for those ratings. This step is important because the quality of feedback given to employees will affect their satisfaction with the entire performance appraisal process (King, 1984). Meanwhile the employee should rate her own performance, using the same format as the supervisor. The employee also should write down specific reasons and examples that support the ratings she gives herself (King, 1984). At the outset of the interview, the supervisor should communicate the following: 1) the role of the performance appraisal – that making decisions about salary increases and terminations is not its sole purpose; 2) how the performance appraisal was conducted; and 3) how the evaluation process was accomplished. It is advisable that the supervisor also communicate her own feelings about the performance appraisal process (Kelly, 1984). The review process is probably best begun with the employee communicating her own ratings and her justification for those ratings. Research indicates that employees who are actively involved in the interview from the start will be more satisfied with the results. The supervisor then communicates his ratings and his reasons for them (King, 1984). At the conclusion of the interview, goals should be mutually set for future performance and behaviour, and both supervisor and employee should understand how these goals are met (Cederbloom, 1982). In summary, a performance management system encompasses the phases of performance planning, performance monitoring, performance feedback, and performance development. In performance planning, the goal of the superior is to ensure that all objectives, key performance indicators, and even resources for performance delivery are clear and understood. In performance monitoring, the supervisor aims to keep track of whether the employee is delivering in accordance with expectations. This is done through communication and progress tracking. The performance appraisal exercise is only one practice subsumed in this whole system, particularly under performance feedback giving. Finally, in the performance development phase, performance gaps are addressed through coaching, classsroom training, and other individual development initiatives. b.Discuss the advantages of managing turnover in organizations. Turnover has been linked with affective and continuance commitment. Each of the three distinct dimensions to organizational commitment: affective, continuance and normative commitment are defined (Meyer and Allen, 1997). 1)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Affective commitment – means an employee’s personal attachment and identification to the organization.   This results in a strong belief in an acceptance of the organization’s goals and values.   â€Å"Employees with a strong affective commitment continue employment with the organization because they want to do so† (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 5) 2)   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Continuance commitment – is a tendency to engage in consistent lines of activity based on the individual’s recognition of the â€Å"costs† associated with discontinuing the activity.  Ã‚   â€Å"Employees whose primary link to the organization is based on continuance commitment remain because they need to do so.† (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 5) 3)  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Normative commitment – provides that employees exhibit behaviours solely because they believe it is the right and moral thing to do. â€Å"Employees with a high level of normative commitment feel that they ought to remain with the organization.† (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 5) In their findings, Parà © and Tremblay provide that affective commitment and continuance commitment are negatively related to turnover intentions (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 6).   In addition to these two distinct types of commitment affecting turnover intention, their studies also points to the factor they call Organizational Citizenship Behaviour or OCB.   OCB is considered as a key element in organizational effectiveness.   OCB is defined as â€Å"an employee’s willingness to go above and beyond the prescribed roles which they have been assigned† (Parà © and Tremblay, 2000, p. 6, quoting from Organ 1990). Based on Parà © and Tremblay’s findings, the stronger the citizenship behaviour, the more likely they are to stay in their company.   In effect, those with high turnover intentions are not as committed as those who intend to stay long with the company. The Job Characteristics Model of Hackman and Oldham (1980) show that the job characteristics of skill variety, task identity, task significance, task autonomy, and feedback   are likewise linked to management of turnover. The five core job characteristics are in continuous interaction with individual differences that evoke three critical psychological states in an employee.   These three states are: 1) when the job is structured by skill variety, task identity and task significance this could lead employees to experience meaningfulness in their work. 2) The second state, task autonomy, which leads to feelings of responsibility for the outcomes of work. 3) The third and last state is feedback, which leads employees towards knowledge of the results of their work (Douthit 2000; Huber 2000). These three critical psychological states lead to a set of affective and personal outcomes:   high internal work motivation, high growth satisfaction, high general satisfaction, high work effectiveness, and low rate of absenteeism (Mohamed 2004; Donovan and Radosevich, 1998). These affective and personal outcomes are the results of en employee’s job characteristics.   They are defined as follows: High internal work motivation – this is the degree to which an employee is willing to work and to consider the organizational objectives as part of his or her own goals (Mohamed, 2004). High growth satisfaction – this is the achievement of the employee in overcoming challenges, succeeding and growing (Steers Black, 1994) High general satisfaction – this the feeling derived from the overall satisfaction with the work itself. â€Å"This type of satisfaction is reflected mainly in decreased rates of absenteeism among employees† (Steers Black, 1994). High work effectiveness – this refers to both the quality and quantity aspects of work performance (Hackman Oldham, 1980). Low rate of absenteeism. In other words, in managing retention and in effect managing these characteristics of the job, the organization shall have more motivated, more satisfied, more effective employees (Hackman Oldham, 1980). c.Examine contemporary safety and health management issues in the workplace. Workplace Safety: Information (2007) defines workplace safety as an environment encompassing all the factors that may have impact on the welfare of the employees in terms of safety working conditions and the health of laborers. Aspects that are given priorities are the hazards found in the surroundings, workplace areas, conditions and workplace process flowcharts. Other issues among employees regarding grooming, drug and alcohol abuse, absenteeism, horseplay and tardiness, violence and work output submissions are also covered. If there is one organization monitoring the activities of the safety in the workplace, it is the Occupational Safety and Health Organization (OSHA). OSHA is focusing on three goals as its cornerstones in regulating safety practices in organizations. First, it improves the safety and health of the workers, from the top management to the bottom, to make sure that there would be less accidents, hazards, injuries, illnesses, and fatalities that will occur in the companies. Second, it operates by making changes in the workplace culture to heighten the awareness of both the employer and its workers in committing its involvement in the health and safety of the company populace. Third, it assures the security of public confidence in maintaining the delivery of OSHA’s programs and services. Looking at the federal guidelines, OSHA’s proposed programs are less tough and are user-friendly for different companies (Guastello, 1993). However, a common query among organizations is that the benefits of behaviour modification programs, such as incentives may not have lasting effects or may diminish over time (Guastello, 1993). Many agree that safety programs using incentives can be found in an existing and well-rounded comprehensive safety program. Based on OSHA, there are four elements of an effective safety and health program such as management commitment and employee involvement; worksite analysis; hazard prevention and control; and safety and health training. In all these elements of incentive programs employees’ participation can be recognised.   First, a number of employees can be heads of safety committees, worksite analyses, accident investigations and safety suggestions. Second, by assigning among them a supervisor hazard prevention and control may be strengthened since peers will follow anti-hazard rules in their workspace.Third, employees can be seen in the active attendance and participation in safety meetings through quizzes, interactive role-playing and roundtable discussions. Giving the employees the chance to participate and be recognised in effective safety programs, they would feel that it is a privilege to be part of the core group of safety culture in the family. At the same time the myriad of manuals and guidelines provided discussing safety workplace incentives will still be very useful in keeping the employees aware of the controls and measures that the company is undertaking for the welfare of the workers in general (Walker, 2007). Reduction in the number of accidents has been shown to be possible with the strict implementation of workplace behaviour modifications (Lund Aaro, 2004). Using safety incentives is just one of the ends to the ways of improving population’s safety behaviours. By introducing a safety culture scheme in the organization, individual and group motivational factors for safe behaviour, risk justification, and optimism in workplace are deemed to show great improvement (Williamson et al., 1997). In one way or another, these factors are crucial and are influenced by the reward system such as incentives by recognising the individuals who are putting their best efforts to their work and doing their jobs in a safe manner. Safety incentive programs generally have two categories: (1) injury/illness-based incentive programs and (2) behaviour-based incentive programs (Hinze, 2002). Injury/illness-based incentive programs are based on the number of times that an illness or injury is incurred and such occurrence will be the criterion in rewarding workers and crew members. The programs go along with the assumption that: (1) facilities and equipment used are in good condition and do not cause any accidents; (2) employees are given proper training and work knowledge in administering the use of office equipment; and (3) accidents are usually the results of worker’s negligence or compromise on safety (Smith, 1997). Meanwhile, behaviour-based incentive programs observe the workers in such a way that their attitude towards work is assessed. Previous studies have identified the means of measuring worker’s behaviour as a means for recognising safety performance (Duff et al., 1993). Examples of activities of behaviour that can be rewarded are active participation in safety meetings and training sessions, ability to give sound suggestions about the improvement of safety in the jobsite, proper use of personal equipment and other behaviour avoiding accidents (Geller, 1996). d.Also, include a discussion of future trends and challenges in HR management. Since the theories, approaches and practices for Human Resource Management can be traced back to Frederick Taylor’s Scientific Management, trends can be expected. Some of the recent trends that are being observed are moonlighting, human resource outsourcing, and two of Charles Handy’s organizational models – Shamrock and Federal, respectively. Moonlighting is when an employee holds dual or multiple jobs at the same time. Many employees become moonlighters if they salary they get from their primary job is not enough. Moonlighting has its advantages too. It can reduce the rate of turnovers in industries where work is routinary and it can also be a means for a company to retain their employees. The downside of moonlighting is that the company risks losing confidential information to competitors. It can also lead to absenteeism due to exhaustion and burnout from both jobs (Tett Meyer, 1993). Outsourcing is one of the latest additions to the trends in human resource management. An organization seeks out sub contractual employees for either product design or manufacturing from a third-party organization at a lower cost. Outsourcing is good for small to medium-sized organizations that are growth oriented since it can provide the owners free time to focus on developing strategies to gain competitive edge (Ulrich, 1997). It can also help transform the business by increasing the flexibility of the organization to meet the changing conditions, demands for products and services and technologies. It also makes the experts available for you. By outsourcing experts, you are able to improve your risk management and control over the business. Your credibility can also be improved since you do have the best in the field working for you. You also gain a network by associating your organization to the provider. Charles Handy’s organizational models are being practiced by enterprises depending on the nature of their industry (Armstrong, 2003). With these models, organizations can be flexible with their organizational structure in order to ensure their competitive edge. The Shamrock model or clover model consist of three main levels that represent a different type of organizational objectives: the core, the contractual fringe, and the flexible workforce. The core is basically the thinking part of the model. They are the ones that possess the most knowledge about the field and are the most paid. The contractual fringe is the part of the model that provides materials and service inputs to the core. The flexible workforce is responsible for the workload itself. Though these three workforces or parts need to be managed separately and differently, the organization has three different parts with varying responsibilities and expectations and yet work to achieve the same goal. In the Federal model, power is distributed and it is about building high commitment, professional organizations. The federal is a bit complex. It is decentralized but at the same time centralized when the situations calls for it. It is a system of small core organizations with much focused core competencies sustained by many resources available to them. It is also believed that in order to improve productivity a strong social agreement between the organization and the union and a good social welfare system is a must. Although more and more trends come to pass to keep up with the changes, more and more conflicting issues arise too. Selecting who to hire is becoming a more complex task. Training and developments are hard to keep up with since more technological improvements are made and competition is getting stiffer by the minute. Maintaining current employees is proving to be one of the top human resource managers’ problems, since more organizations try to outdo each other in regards to the compensation and benefits they offer to their would-be and existing employees. Diversity within the workplace is posing to be a relevant issue for the human resource department (Chen, 2007). Motivation and loyalty of employees is a perennial contemporary issue for the human resource manager. Mergers, acquisition, turnovers, and consolidation happen more often, and throughout all these, strategic human resource management is necessary to ensure continued delivery of objectives amidst turbulent change. References Armstrong, M. (2003). A handbook of human resource management practice. London: Kogan Page. Cederbloom, D. (1982). The performance appraisal interview: A review, implications, and suggestions. Academy of Management Review, 7, 219-227. Chen, A. (2007). The challenges of human resource management. Retrieved April 9, 2008 from http://ezinearticles.com. Clarke, D., Rogers, V. Miklos, S. (1996). Upward appraisal: Does it make a difference? Paper presented at the 11th annual meeting of the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, St. Louis, MO. Donovan, J.J. Radosevich, D. (1998). The moderating role of goal commitment on the goal difficulty–performance relationship: a meta-analytic review and critical re-analysis. Journal of applied psychology, 83, 308–15. Douthit, M.W., (2000). Job satisfaction returns to human and social capital. Journal of behavioral and applied management, 2000, 1(1), 67. Duff, A. R., Robertson, I. T., Cooper, M. D., Phillips, R. and United Kingdom Health Safety Executive (HSE). (1993). Improving safety on construction sites by changing personnel behaviour (HSE Contract Research Report No.51/ 1993). Field, H. S., Holley, W. H. (1982). The relationship of performance appraisal system characteristics to verdicts in selected employment discrimination cases. Academy of Management Journal, 25, 392-406. Geller, E. (1996). The psychology of safety: How to improve behaviours and attitudes on the job, Pennsylvania: Chilton Book Company. Guastello, S. (1993). Do we really know how well our occupational accident programs work? Safety Science, 16, 445-463. Hackman, J.R. Oldham, G.R. (1980). Work design. Reading, Massachusetts, Addison–Wesley, 1980, 114–21. Hinze, J. (2002). Safety incentives: Do they reduce injuries? Practice Periodical on Structural Design and Construction, 7(2), 81-84. Kelly, C. M. (1984). Reasonable performance appraisals. Training: Development, 38(1), 79-82. King, P. (1984). Performance planning and appraisal. New York: McGraw-Hill. Kingstrom, P.O., Bass, A. R. (1981). A critical analysis of studies comparing behaviourally anchored rating scales (BARS) and other rating formats. Personnel Psychology, 34, 263-289. Lund, J. Aaro, L. (2004). Accident prevention: Presentation of a model placing emphasis on human, structural, and cultural factors. Safety Science, 42, 271–324. Meyer, J.P.    Allen, N.J. (1997). Commitment in the workplace. Sage Publications. Mohamed, A.H. (2004, May) Using the job characteristics model to compare patient care assignment methods of nurses, 10(3), 389-405. Parà ©, G. and Tremblay, M. (2000).   The measurement and antecedents of turnover intentions among IT professionals.   Scientific Series.   Ciprano.   September 2000. Pearce, J. L., Porter, L. W. (1986). Employee responses to formal performance appraisal feedback. Journal of Applied Psychology, 71, 211-218. Rhoads, C. (1997). A year-round schedule said to take sting out of performance reviews. American Banker, 162(28), 6. Smith, T.A. (1997) What’s wrong with safety incentives? Professional Safety, May, 44. Steers, R.M. Black, J.C. (1994). Organizational behavior, 5th ed. New York, Harper Collins. Tett, R. P., Meyer, J.P. (1993). Job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover: Path analyses based on meta analytic findings. Personel Psychology, 46, 259-293. Ulrich, D. (1997). Human resource champions: The next agenda for adding value and delivering results. Boston, Mass.:Harvard Business School Press. Walker, J. (2007). ABCs of safety incentives: Positive consequences to behaviour. Facility Safety Management. Retrieved April 10, 2008 from http:// www.fsmmag.com/Articles/2005/12/ABCs%20of%20Safety%20Incentives%20Positive%20Consequences%20to%20Behaviour.htm. Werner, J. M., Bolino, M. C. (1997). Explaining U.S. Courts of Appeals decisions involving performance appraisal: Accuracy, fairness, and validation. Personnel Psychology, 50(1), 1-24. Williamson, A., Feyer, A., Cairns, D. Biancotti, D. (1997). The development of a measure of safety climate: The role of safety perceptions and attitudes. Safety Science, 25(1-3), 15-27. Workplace Safety: Information. (2007). Workplace safety: Information and much more from Answers.com. Retrieved April 11, 2008 from http://www.answers.com/topic/workplace-safety?cat=biz-fin.

The Jobs of the National Riffle Association Essay example -- National

The Jobs of the NRA Today the National Rifle Association is the largest association that protects your second amendment rights. The NRA was created in 1871 for one primary reason. However what most people don’t know is that its intention has changed very much overtime. There have been many different presidents and spokespersons of the NRA over time, which has always been ready to defend your gun rights at all costs. Furthermore the basis of the NRA has changed with a growing and always changing government. The location of where the NRA is based primarily out of has changed much over time as well. Going into detail the NRA will be thoroughly explained giving knowledge of the history as well as there purpose through out the years to come. Two Union veterans Col. William C. Church and Gen. George Wingate created the National Rifle Association in 1871(1). The Primary reason they created it was to help soldiers with their marksmanship, because Col. Church and Gen. Wingate noticed that their troops had a major lack in their accuracy. Starting in 1873 the NRA would begin holding annual competitions at their range Creedmoor. Their purpose again started to expand quickly with the promotion of shooting in America’s youth. The NRA pushed for colleges and universities to start rifle clubs. Still today there are over a million youth involved in shooting competitions. In 1934 the NRA formed the Legislative Affairs Division that was in place to notify people of legislative facts about their second amendment rights. This only informed members of issues however if they wanted to do something about the issues in government they would have to take out action on their own. After time passed the NRA realized they would have to st ep up their game an... ...rvised. The NRA funds classes for firearm safety and conducts simnars around the United States and Canada insuring safety of women. The NRA is Americas longest stand civil rights organization. In the book Gun Crusaders by Scott Melzer he says â€Å"They Fear losing their guns, and they fear losing their freedoms.†(pg.1) This is what the NRA fights for, to keep your rights and freedoms from the government. Works Cited "A Brief History of NRA." A Brief History of NRA. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 April 2014. Melzer, Scott. Gun Crusaders: The NRA's Culture War. New York: New York UP, 2009. Print. "NRA | History." NRA | History. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 April 2014. "The NRA Speaks: 14 Quotes from Wayne LaPierre a Week after Sandy Hook tragedy." Gun Control Now USA. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 April 2014. "NRA|Contact Us." NRA|Contact Us. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 April 2014.

Digital Technologies Essay Temp Essay

‘Will the challenges emerging with digital knowledge contexts, for which digital literacy is being deployed, open new horizons for the human art of thinking and creating knowledge?’ (Belisle 2006, p.55). Reference: Harvard Style Knowledge can be interpreted in different ways where one scholar defines knowledge as a learnt education another interprets knowledge as intelligence. Knowledge is continuing a process commencing at birth. Belisle (2006) states Knowledge is much more than the transmitted or acquired information. It is the awareness and understanding of facts, truths or beliefs resulting from perception, learning and reasoning. A thorough knowledge is gained through education as well as real life experiences. Dependency on digital technology has increasingly changed the lives of individuals. In the modern era, knowledge is also gained from digital technologies such as computer, smartphones, televisions and the Internet. This essay will discuss the possibilities of digital technologies for knowledge and the negative impacts of the technologies by examining increased use of visual aids, access of information and by identifying if a dependency on digital technologies creates health issues and cultural an d social impacts as society replaces traditional technologies with digital. In the modern era, technology helps in creating, storing and managing of information digitally. A survey conducted in 2010 by Records management practices and arrangements reported that time and cost benefits in accessing archival information, the better security of information and improved compliance with legislation and procedures to ensure privacy is maintained (National Archives of Australia 2015). In the past, with the use of print media, people would spend time utilising mail, handbills and posters for immediate and focused distribution of their information. Today digital media gives us social media such as Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn or Twitter that connects people instantly and information is disseminated at low cost being judged and monitored on a ‘click’ basis. Effectively if it is available on the internet, it can be accessed and distributed by  keystroke with no actual physical labour. Obviously this lowers the cost of the information and enables distribu tion to a wider audience. Access to the abundance of information on the internet and speed at which any individual can access any information from any location has meant that the net generation and internet users prefer quick information and spend less time evaluating information. People tend to use data anywhere at anytime due to faster and easier access. Australian Bureau of Statistics (2012) published that 13.3 million people accessed data from home for such tasks as emails, doing research, browsing news and general interests and utilising online banking. They also used the ability of the internet to share material with diverse interest groups. Twitter in particular was viewed as useful for this purpose as it is global, responsive and provides a source of relevant links enabling people to publicise their blogs and to follow those of others using hash-tags (Lupton 2014, p.30). Modern data analysing, using photos and illustrations is a very efficient way in gaining knowledge in abundance. The use of digital technology is enabling the continual development of visual aids. This is magnified greatly using Windows, interfacing technology and other imaging tools, more so than contemporary books and papers. Visual information helps in the decision making process providing a definite interpretation of information. In the past, learning and teaching was primarily text-based reflecting traditional teaching based on cognitive or behavioural science (Sims, O’Leary, Cook & Butland 2002). It is now possible to support visual and multimedia formats on wireless devices at anytime to anyplace (Sims, O’Leary, Cook and Butland 2002). Visual images such as tables, graphs, photographs and maps can be presented in the form of a report. These visual images are used more in our everyday life as a teaching resource in school or a visual reference in a business presentation. Visual images make the written data and oral presentation easier to understand and assist in the decision making process. Good decisions are based on research, digital information and Records management contribute to making decisions based on fact. Timely decisions are facilitated by ready access to information. Understanding past decisions is  assisted by access to the digital data that originally supported the decision (National Archives Australia 2015). In the transition from literature to digital and from text to visual, an individual has to be aware that a dependency on digital technology can create issues. The internet is a bundle of information that allows the expression of ones’ self. This expression on a personal web page is likely to be a more considered controlled impression than one gained from an offline or public encounter. A web page can provide an emotional release enabling artistic ability to be incorporated in its layout. Chatrooms are a form of communication that gives the opportunity to speak to someone in a different country without the cost of long distance phone charges. It is instant and not like the olden times where an individual had to wait for mail to be delivered. Technology makes it easy to communicate when we wish and disengage at will. Educational websites offer phenomenal information covering a wide range of topics that vary from completing assignments to studying ones ancestry. People depend on the web when dealing with emotions. Some simply use the web to replace a paper diary recording their thoughts and responses or seeking to rationalise experiences through the web. Physiological changes have been seen in the more impressionable, such as children, who may overuse technology and exhibit changes that mimic changes scene in high stress states, such as high heart rates, fast paced breathing and hyperacute hearing and vision (Rowan 2010). It has been suggested playing violent video games leads to increased aggression and reduced empathy suggesting these games may desensitise children to violence (Rowan 2010). People have a tendency to retain the information that supports their ideas or viewpoint. Having access to technology that enables access to pages of information creates a situation where people search only for collaborating information and promote misinformation supporting their beliefs irrespective of social impacts. As we search the Internet we need t o be aware of its perils such as identity theft and fraud but the biggest effect is cultural and social effects. Family and friends can find themselves competing with digital technologies for time and attention. Time spent with an ipad, tablet or computer is a  minute lost that could have been spent interacting with the world around them whether it be a friend, family, or peers and react to extra senses such as articulation in voice or body language both which can be lost in the digital world. Face to face contact has become a thing of the past. People maybe not spending as much time as they used to or could be together. Properly used technology helps us advance both as an individual and a civilization but improperly used, it can alienate us from each other and even hinder our physical and psychological development. Emotional distress, alienation and loss of privacy can all be experienced if, for example, intimate images are spread perhaps virally beyond the intended recipient or depiction in texts of individuals who may be targeted by their peers for social and emotional abuse because of the wide distribution of information whether visual or text (Ives 2012, p.46-47). This sort of unsocial interaction could have a widespread effect on children at school and work colleagues, the lasting psychological effects could be carried into future generations. This may lead to suicides, charges and withdrawal from society. The advancement of digital technology has become the centre of our information behaviours with the amount of available information online surpasses anything previously known and many of us have this information at our fingertips. So the challenge is to apply our thinking to this available information, our awareness and understanding of facts, truths and beliefs resulting from perception, learning and reasoning and the result is knowledge. Social media and database archives never before have been more connected to the modern world. Socially a lot of people benefit from the virtual world, and some people are suffering because of it. Digital mainframe and archives are helping to preserve our knowledge for future generations, but in the event of a web crash or system error, it also shows how fragile this digital age is. This basic process of turning information into knowledge has not changed but now is made more difficult by the sheer volume of information or data to access. References Australian Bureau of Statistics 2012, How Australia accesses and uses the Internet, cat no. 1301.0, ABS, viewed on 02 February 2015, Belisle, C 2006, ‘Literacy and the Digital Knowledge Revolution’ in A Martin &D Madigan (eds.), Digital literacies for Learning, Facet, London, pp. 51-67. Ives. EA 2012 iGeneration: The Social Cognitive Effects of Digital Technology on Teenagers, viewed 25 January 2015, Lupton, D 2014, ‘Feeling Better Connected’: Academics’ Use of Social Media. News and Media Research Centre, University of Canberra, p.30. National Archives of Australia 2015, Benefits of digital information and records, viewed 01 February 2015, Rowan, C 2010, ‘Unplug-Don’t Drug: A Critical Look at the Influence of Technology on Child Behaviour With an Alternative Way of Responding Other Than Evaluation and Drugging’, Ethical Human Psychology and Psychiatry, vol. 12, no.1, pp. 60-68. Sims. E, O’Leary. R, Cook. J & Butland. G 2002, Visual Literacy: What is it and do we need it to use Learning Technologies effectively, Learning Technology Support Service, University of Bristol, United Kingdom, viewed 05 February 2015,

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