Analysis of Company Network Models

Analysis of Company Network Models CHAPTER 1 ABSTRACT The purpose of this exercise is to provide a detailed design document as per the requirements given in various formats by the Client NoBo Inc. The scope of this document includes at first explaining the requirements provided by the client, explaining the solution both from a top level view and detailed, also explained are the configuration steps, technologies used and scope of the future work and recommendations. We have used modular design approach for designing the network .The final outcome is a detailed document which will extensively assist in deploying and configuration stages of network for NoBo Designs. CHAPTER 2 INTRODUCTION 2.1 AIM: This project aims to analyse the various network models and design a network according to the clients requirements. 2.2 OBJECTIVES: All the Cisco network models: Campus network, Hierarchical network, Enterprise edge model have been reviewed. According to the client requirements the suitable network model has been identified and designed. Proper selection of the devices (Routers, Switches, Computers, cables) has been made to meet the service requirements. The cost for all the devices and equipments that are required has been estimated. Centralised internet connection has been provided for the branch sites from their respective headquarters. This provides high control on the data between the sites. IPsec is cond for data security while using the backup line when the main link goes down. Cisco IOS Firewall is also cond on the perimeter devices. The designed network has been cond on the simulator and all its functioning has been tested. 2.3 DISSERTATION STRUCTURE: CHAPTER 1: This chapter briefly discusses about the abstract of our project. CHAPTER 2: This chapter briefly explains the introduction of our project topic, reviewing all the objectives and ends with the conclusions of each and individual chapter in our dissertation. CHAPTER 3: This chapter explains the background of various network topologies, reviewing of all the concepts like routing, switching, IP addressing and ends with the discussion of the QOS, security issues. CHAPTER 4: This chapter introduces the requirements of network design, implementation, testing and ends with the explanation of all configurations. CHAPTER 5: This chapter briefly discusses about all the experimental results and ends with the analysis of the obtained results. CHAPTER 6: This chapter discusses the entire evaluation of our project and ends with the introduction of conclusions. CHAPTER 7: This chapter briefly discusses about the overall conclusions. CHAPTER 8: This chapter provides the recommendations and future work in our present topic. CHAPTER 3 LITERATURE REVIEW 3.1 Cisco Network Models: Network models may change due to the implementation of different technologies which are applicable to us. But the goal of each model is finally same which is convergence and achieving service integration. There are 6 different geographies available in an end-end network architecture which is briefly discussed below: ( Inc., C. S. (Mar2009, Roberts, E. (8/28/95). 3.2 Cisco Hierarchical model: It is an older model which is good for network scalability. The entire network is divided into 3 layers which are given below: Access layer: These devices are generally developed entirely in a network for the purpose of providing clients access to the network. In general it has been done by the switch port access. Distribution layer: In general, these devices are developed as aggregation points for access layer devices. These devices can be used for the dividing of workgroups or some other departments in the network environment. They can also provide WAN aggregation connectivity at various Cisco Network Models. Core layer: These devices are designed for the purpose of fast switching of packets and they should provide the redundant otherwise it results in loss of degradation of service at the time of network congestion or link failures. Finally these devices help in carrying the entire network traffic from one end to the other end. Finally this model provides good scalability and it supports the combination of SONA, other interactive services and these are applicable to any topology (LAN, WAN, MAN, VPN..) or other connectivity options which are applicable to us. The following diagram (3.1) shows us the Cisco Hierarchical model. 3.3 Campus Network Architecture: In last 10 years it has been developed rapidly and the no of services supported in this model are more. The basic structure of this model is just an extension of the previous model. It supports the implementation of various technologies in this model like QOS, MPLS VPN, IPSEC VPN, and HSRP and so on. It provides the network access to campus wide resources and provides layer 2 switching; layer 3 switching at the Access and Distribution respectively. Services in this model are switched from stateless to stateful and provide redundant devices to monitor all the events, connections in a network. Meeting of these requirements requires some changes in its basic model. The following (3.2) shows us the campus network architecture model.( Gilmer, B. (Nov2004) It provides the combination, multi- service environment which gives the sharing and connectivity of all the users who are working at the remote, branch sites. It requires the combination of both hardware and software devices for providing the services and applications to all the clients in a network architecture. SONA architecture helps an enterprise model to extend its services to the remote site under the consideration of good service levels. Cisco Unified Communications, security and so on can be offered at all the branch sites to overcome the problems of inadequate connectivity. The following diagram (3.3) shows the branch network architecture. It plays a major role in the deployment of any network. Now days, it is growing rapidly to implement more SONA functions. These additions of new functions like virtual servers, instant applications, dynamic change of network configurations and so on. Some resources will be added online to get the support of upcoming needs. This network architecture provides the info about on- demand services which provides dynamic network environment to all the users, consolidation of services while growing of various business applications provided by an adaptive network. Finally this network model reports more usage of our capital without any changes in its infrastructure. In general it has been developed for the purpose of higher level security features in network architecture. It has been done by the support of several server farms having different functionality from DMZ (demilitarized zone) functions like DNS, FTP, HTTP, Telnet and so on for all the users (internal/ external) to share various applications and services among partners and to get the access of internet applications. This network architecture is entirely different and it can make a new or it can break the all discussed Cisco versions. Based on the discussion of all the services like SONA, QOS, and transport services and so on which would mandatory in an end- end system? Based on the bandwidth requirements, their functions and providing QOS the WAN/ MAN has been designed. The functioning and geography plays a major role in deciding the method and speed connectivitys among various sites. The cost of total deployment of a network may vary and it is different from each other. If the connection exists between the sites is a traditional frame relay or if it is provided by a service provider. For example, by using MPLS this provides layer three connectivity between two ends. And it also varies by considering the distance between two sites. The convergence of various types of application over an IP network requires good connectivity, high security levels and providing of good services over the large WAN. The following fig (3.6) shows the WAN/ MAN architecture. (Israelsohn, J. (7/22/2004.) In this approach the overall network design and implementation is discussed with the adequate background. Modular Design Approach: The recipe for an efficient and robust network is to design the network taking into Consideration the various functionalities/requirement required by the network and placing that functionality into a module. Various modules might end up acting in independent physical devices or one physical device may contain all the modules, the idea is to visualize the various functionalities acting as independent unit. The part of the network which consists of hardware and configurations for the wide area networks is termed as the WAN module of the network. It should contain of the all routers, interfaces, cabling and configurations that belong to the Wide Area Networks. The module should be designed separate from the other modules. Similarly all the devices, interfaces and configurations that are involved in the virtual private network would be designed as one module. Some aspects of the design for which there are no pointers in the design documents are also discussed in the detail design section with details of the relevant choices. 1) Performance: A network to its end user is as good as how his/her applications perform. Following are few metrics to for measuring network performance. Responsiveness: The design should be such that it is par with the acceptable responsive time of all the business applications. Throughput: The rate of traffic passing through a given point in the network, it can be calculated in multiples of bits per second or packets per second. Utilization: utilization of resources is the most effective metric to calculate the congestion points in the network, aiding the network design to a great extent. 2) Availability: Network Availability is the key factor to a proper network design. Planning for continuous uptime is important for the business to carry out their activities without any interruptions. Following are a few points for availability: Device Fault tolerance: All the devices installed in the network should be of quality and reliable. Where ever possible redundant ports, modules and devices should be installed. Capacity Planning: A network design should consider adequate capacity planning, for example how many connections can a link handle in worst case scenarios. Link Redundancy: As per the business requirement at least all the important links and internet connectivity should be redundant. 3) Scalability: All the network modules should be designed as such that they should cater for future requirements as well as todays needs. Topology: The topology should be designed as such that it would require minimal configuration whenever any major or minor changes are required. Addressing: The network addressing should allow routing with minimum resources. For example by using route summarization and proper ip addressing scheme which would have minimal impact or no impact on the existing networks or subnets and routing mechanisms. Local Area Network Module: The local area network design primarily consists of dividing the various departmental requirements into logical network separations. At all the sites will create individual virtual area networks for all the departments. All the virtual area networks will use a class c /24 subnet mask, reason behind that is the IP addressing used for the internal networks is all private and hence no sub netting is required. All the Vlans at all the sites are local Vlans which means that they do not extend across the wan pipes. The departments at different sites might have similar names and functionality but its always recommended that the Vlans are kept to be local. The Virtual are network will divide the whole LAN into virtual boundaries allowing for broadcast control and provide for access-control using access-lists. A VLAN has been provisioned for the Server Network and wireless network at each site as well. The VLANS are local to the respective sites only and are class C /24 networks.DOT1q trunks have been placed between the layer 2 switches and the routers at each site. DHCP: The DHCP is Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol provides automatic IP addresses To the hosts on the TCP/Ip network [RFC 1531].It uses BOOTP known as bootstrap protocol. The DHCP server can be on the same or on a different network away from the host pcs. This is possible with the dhcp relay agent. When a client Pc boots, it searches for the server by sending broadcast packets on the network. When server gets theses broadcast packet it responds and sends a packet with an IP address to the client from the DHCP pool. The client can use the IP or can request for another IP instead. The client can hold this IP as according to the configuration in the DHCP server. The minimum duration for the client to hold the IP address is 8 days. After this period the clients has to make a new request for an IP address. This how , the DHCP usage in the network will reduce the intervention of the administrator from giving the IP addresses manually. NAT: For a Pc to connect to the internet and communicate with the other Pcs on the internet, it needs a public Ip address. One has to pay to have a public IP. It will be very expensive to have all Public IP addresses in a network. So, NAT provides a facility to convert the private IP address to the Public Ip which is on the interface of the device (router) that is directly connected to the internet via ISP. This saves money. Moreover it provides the additional security to the internal network By using the one public address. Following are the benefits that NAT provides: Preservation of IP address IP address and application privacy Easy management Routing Module: The routing module consists of the routing architecture at each site; it is the responsibility of the routers to forward packets to the correct destination. Routers by querying the routing table make the forwarding decision. 1) Static routes: At each site static routes have been placed at each head quarter sites. Static routes are the manual routes that are placed by the network administrator manually in the router and have to be taken out manually as well. At the headquarter site the static routes point to far end headquarter site or to the vpn subnet. 2) Default routes have been placed at all sites, Default routes are treated by the routers as a catch all. If there are no specific routes towards a given destination, the default route will be picked up and the packet would be forwarded out of that interface to which the default route belongs. Since the Internet has more than 100,000 routes , it would be infeasible to place all those routes into our routing table , so instead a default route has been placed at each headquarter to forward all the internet traffic towards the interface belonging to the ISP end. Since we are using the far end headquarter as back up to our internet connections at each site. A special type of default route has been added in each headquarter, if the internet link goes down, the floating route will come into the routing table and the original route will disappear. The floating route is nothing but a default route with a higher administrative distance. This is a feature of Cisco IOS, it originally takes the route with the lower AD and places that into the routing table, if that route is lost it would place the second default route with the higher administrative distance. 3) Routing Information Protocol: Routing information protocol version 2 has been used to propagate the Subnet routing between the sites. RIP is a distance vector routing protocol which advertises its routing tables to its neighbours and has a hop count of 15 , since our network has only five sites at the moment, RIP has been used for routing between the networks , the RIP version2 is the recent version of the rip ipv4 and it can carry variable length subnet masks . The RIP is adequate for our requirement. (http://www.ciscosystems.org/en/US/docs/internetworking/technology/handbook/Routing-Basics.html accessed on Dec 12 ,2009) RIP: As said earlier Routing Information Protocol is the only widely used distance vector protocol. It propagates the full routing table out to all participating interface in every 30 seconds. RIP works very well in smaller networks, but it is not scalable for large networks having slow WAN links or on networks with more than 15 routers installed. RIP version only supports class full routing, which essentially means that all devices in the network must have the same subnet mask. The reason: RIP version 1 does not propagate with subnet mask information. RIP version 2 supports classless routing, which is also called prefix routing and does send subnet mask in the route updates. (Chin-Fu Kuo; Ai-Chun Pang; Sheng-Kun Chan (Jan2009,) RIP Timers RIP has 3 different timers which regulate the performance: Route update timer: This timer sets the delay between the propagation of the full Routing table to all the neighbours: this would be normally 30 seconds. Route invalid timer If the router doesnt hear any updates for a particular router for 90 seconds it will declare that route invalid and will update all the neighbours to that the route has become invalid. Route flush timer : After the route has become invalid , another timer starts which is normally 240 seconds ,if the router doesnt hear anything about the said route , it will flush the route out of its routing table and will update the neighbour that I am going to remove this route from my routing . RIP Updates RIP being a distance-vector algorithm propagates full routing tables to neighbouring routers. The neighbouring routers then add the received routing updates with their respective local routing tables entries to accomplish the topology map. This is called routing by rumor, In routing by rumour the peer believes the routing table of its neighbour blindly without doing any calculations itself. Rip uses hop count as its metric and if it finds that multiple path share the same cost to a particular destination it will start load-balancing between those links, however there is no unequal cost path load balancing as there is possible in case of EIGRP. Rip can be troublesome in many ways: Rip actually only sees the hop count as a true metric, it doesnt take care into consideration any other factors So if a network has two paths, the first only 1 hop away with 64 Kbps of bandwidth but a second path exists with 2 hops but each link having a bandwidth of 2 mbps , RIP will always prefer path no 1 because the hop count is less. Rip has a very crude metric and hence not a protocol of choice in many networks. Since RIP by default is classless and is a true distance vector protocol, it also carries with itself same issues as presented by the distance vector routing protocols, fixes have been added to RIP to counterattack such problems. Snort is an open source network based intrusion detection system, it can do traffic logging and intrusion detection analysis on the live traffic, snort is installed on a host and the interesting traffic is copied to it via the port mirroring or port spanning techniques, Snort can be also used inline on an Ethernet tap, it can work in conjunction with Ip tables to drop unwanted traffic. Inter-site Routing: The routing protocol RIP version 2 will propagate routes among all the sites, each Vlan will be advertised as a network in the routing protocol. Switching: The switches at each site carry all the virtual local area networks. 1) A DOT1q trunk has been placed between the switches and the routers at each site. The dot1q trunks carries all the Vlans from the switches to the routers, the routers act as the layer 3 gateway for all the Vlans present in the site, the layer 2 switches alone cannot act as the layer 3 gateways and hence they require some kind of layer 3 device. 2) All the other ports in the switches are either access ports or are trunks to other switches in the same sites. The access ports are the user ports, each access ports would belong to one or the other Vlans. The no of access ports in the building would decide the number and the model of the switches to be placed inside the access layer. Vlan: By Default all the ports on a layer 2 switch belong to the same broadcast domain. The broadcast domains are segregated at the router level, however there are requirements to segregate the broadcast domains in campus switching environments, hence the virtual local area networks are used. The numbers of Vlans in a switch are equal to the number of broadcast domains, the ports on the switch which belongs to a particular Vlan belongs to a certain broadcast domain of that Vlan. Devices in one Vlan cannot connect to other Vlans if there is no layer 3 connectivity provided. Trunking: Speaking of IEEE 802.1Q. There are two different trunking protocols in use on todays Cisco switches, ISL and IEEE 802.1Q, generally referred to as dot1q. There are three main differences between the two. First, ISL is a Cisco-proprietary trunking protocol, where dot1q is the industry standard. (Those of you new to Cisco testing should get used to the phrases Cisco-proprietary and industry standard.) If youre working in a multivendor environment, ISL may not be a good choice. And even though ISL is Ciscos own trunking protocol, some Cisco switches run only dot1q.ISL also encapsulates the entire frame, increasing the network overhead. A Dot1q only place a header on the frame, and in some circumstances, doesnt even do that. There is much less overhead with dot1q as compared to ISL. That leads to the third major difference, the way the protocols work with the native Vlan. The native Vlan is simply the default Vlan that switch ports are placed into if they are not expressly placed into another Vlan. On Cisco switches, the native Vlan is Vlan 1. (This can be changed.) If dot1q is running, frames that are going to be sent across the trunk line dont even have a header placed on them; the remote switch will assume that any frame that has no header is destined for the native Vlan. The problem with ISL is that doesnt understand what a native Vlan is. Every single frame will be encapsulated, regardless of the Vlan its destined for. Access ports: An access port is a port which does not carry any Vlan information, the port which is cond as a an access port, on that port the switch takes off the Vlan information and passes the frame on to the end device, end device be it a pc or a printer or something else has no information passed about the Vlan. A).routing: The routing table in a router is populated mainly in 3 ways. a) Connected routes: router places the networks belonging to all types of its live interfaces in the routing table such routes carry an administrative distance of 0 as they are most trusted routers, these routes are taken out of the routing table if the interface goes down. b) Static routes are routes place manually by the router administrator and carry an administrative distance of 1, these routes are the second most trusted by the router after the connected routes, since these are being added by the administrator themselves c) Third type of routes are installed by the routing protocols and carry administrative distances according to the type of the routing protocol. Wireless local area network Module: A Vlan has been provided at each site which acts as a wireless network, the wireless Vlan connects to wireless access points which provides wireless connectivity to the users. Wireless access points are placed at each floor at all the sites, all the wireless access points will be of Cisco Linksys brands. The wireless access points at each site will be WIFI carrying all a, b or g standard. (O. Elkeelany , M. M. M., J. Qaddour (5 Aug 2004) The wireless networks will use WPA2 key security mechanisms to protect the network from unauthorised access and attacks. Proper placements of the wireless access points can be done after a physical inspection of the sites. If a barrier wall or something else obstructs the coverage of the wifi access points at a floor another wifi access point will be required at the same floor. IP Addressing Module: WAN Ip addressing, all wan connections are point to point and use a /30 subnet mask A /30 subnet only allows for two actual hosts which fits for the wan connections. VLAN Ip addressing, all the Vlans including the wireless and the server Vlans are /24 networks All the future Vlans should be /24 as well, this would help to limit the layer3 broadcasts to only 254 hosts, /24 is being used because our Vlans are all based on class c private addressing and there are adequate addresses in the same class for our future needs as well so there is no actual requirement to subnet any further, sub netting further would actually make the design complex without any real benefits. The routers also have a trunk which comes from their respective site switches. The 1st valid address of the each Vlan belongs to the router acting as a gateway to the Vlans. These .1 addresses are required to be hardcoded inside the routers themselves. The host addressing is taken care by the dhcp protocol, each router as its site will act as a dhcp server for all the Vlans present in the same site. The router acting as a dhcp server would provide gateway information to the hosts in each Vlan as well as the dns servers to be used and the domain information as well. A separate list has been maintained for the hosts outside the dhcp scope, should there be a requirement that a host be provided a static Ip address, and the same Ip address should be added to the list of non dhcp addresses for each Vlan at each site. Server Farm Module: A special virtual area network is in place at every site for a special purpose, this vlan only has servers placed in it, this Vlan acts as a DMZ at all sites. The servers at various sites are placed in separate Vlans to protect them from the broadcasts created by the users in the site as well as blocking unauthorised access. If the requirement arises that a server should also be placed in another Vlan at same time, either 2 network cards should be attached to the same server and each placed in the respective Vlan, if the server is required to be attached to more than 2 Vlans, then the server should carry a special network card which could build trunks with the 2960 switches. The speed and duplex modes on all the server ports should be manually cond by the network engineers as there are chances of duplex mismatch in the auto mode. Unauthorised access can be blocked into the server farm via using IP access-lists feature of the Cisco IOS.( Zhuo L , W. C., Lau FCM . (OCT 2003 ) Security Module: This is the most important module of the network design, as its name suggests it would cater for the network security, following are the security measures in place for the network designs. An integrated Cisco IOS firewall protects the perimeter interface (internet connection) from attacks from the outside world at both the headquarter sites; IOS firewall uses stateful inspection for the protocols listed in the firewall itself. As advised earlier the access to the server Vlan at each site is also controlled by the use of IP access-lists, only authorized IPs/networks and that too only on specific ports are allowed to traverse the DMZ(DEMILITARIZED ZONE). There are perimeter access-lists in place at the headquarter sites blocking most common and known attacks from the internet. The internet modules have been centrally designed to keep a tighter control and strict security. An additional measure of security can be placed at each site by adding an intrusion prevention system to each headquarter. A very effective intrusion detection engine is SNORT, being open source it can be installed in a very short period of time and is free. Further management Vlan can be secured by using port security and sticky Mac mechanisms. http://www.cisco.com/en/US/prod/collateral/vpndevc/ps5708/ps5710/ps1018/prod_qas09186a008010a40e.html The Cisco IOS firewall is an EAL4 certified solution and is a stateful firewall, it is integrated into Cisco router IOS, IOS is the best available routing, security and VoIP software around, and integrating a stateful firewall produces an economical yet flexible solution. It is the ideal solution for small offices, branch offices and wherever the need arises for an embedded firewall solution. The Cisco IOS firewall can be turned on and off in the desired manner on the desired interface in the Cisco router Cisco IOS firewall can be cond in basically two modes, Classic firewall also known as CBAC control based access control or the new configuration technique which is called Zone based policy firewall. The later one is used wherever the network is required to be divided into various zones for example a DMZ zone. The later configuration methodology will be carried on in the future as it caters for the changing needs of networks. WAN MODULE: The Wan connectivity for the NoBo designs has been designed taking in consideration of the following characteristics WAN connectivity: Head -quarters: All the head Quarters have been has been connected via an International leased line from service provider. All the branch-offices are connected to their headquarters via leased lines as well via service provider. Wide Area Network Back up The internet connectivity at both the remote and client sites can be used as a backup in case the primary WAN link is down; a separate site-to-site vpn link will be required to be cond between the two sites. The site to site vpn will use the IPSEC framework which would be only used if the floating routes that are present in the Cisco routers start pointing towards the vpn links in case of the wan link outage. This IPSec vpn back up link should be strictly used as a back up as the internet bandwidth is limited and the latency is high. Network Management mechanisms would notify everyone, if the primary wan link is down. If the requirement for the backup link for a branch site comes up, same methodology can be used, the branch can acquire its own internet connection and use it as a backup link to its respective head office. In that case changes in routing will also occur. IPSec: IPSec is a protocol contains set of features that protect the data which traverses from one location point to another. The location itself defines the type of VPN. The location could be anything such as pc on the internet, a small regional office, a home office or any corp. headquarters. A user on the go would always connect to a user to site vpn and all the others would be called a site to site vpn. The IPSec protocol works on layer 3 and above, like tcp/udp header and data and does not protect any layer 2 frames, a different kind of protection mechanism has to be deployed for the same and also is possible only in the controlled network. The encryption and IPSec are many times thought to be one and the same thing but they are different, IPSec is basically a suite of protocols and one of them does encryption. Following are the features of the IPSEC protocol suite. Data confidentiality Data integrity Data origin authentication<

Mydin Hypermarket Essay

How MYDIN grew from a small grocery shop till a Multi-Billion Ringgit Retail Chain MYDIN business activity is in retailing and wholesaling. The products range from food line, household, soft-lines and hard-lines items. Hard-line products include hardware, electrical, stationery, porcelain and toys. Whilst soft-line comprises of textiles and fabrics products. Food line includes confectionery, drinks and beverages, delicatessen and dairy products. In their early years of operations, MYDIN’s focus has always been in the non-food sector until they bought over the first supermarket in Selayang in 1997. Each of the branches has their own business category, based on the capacity of goods traded. The category comprises hypermarket, emporium, minimarket, convenience shop, franchise store and bazaar. Currently, MYDIN operates more than 90 outlets nationwide inclusive of 16 hypermarkets, 16 emporiums, 3 bazaars, 48 minimarkets (MyMydin), 8 convenience shops (MyMart) and 6 franchise outlets (Mydin Mart). Each of the hypermarkets is located in MYDIN Mall. Above all, MYDIN operates its business based on ‘Halal’ concepts and stresses on honesty, sincerity and good discipline in all aspects of its business. Company Vision MYDIN is the world’s leading distributor of competitive â€Å"Halal† goods and services Company Mission We aim to be the leading wholesale and retail company by providing the best value, wide assortment of goods and continuous excellence based on our business formula Source: http://www.mydin.com.my/mydin/about-mydin

The use of Web-Based Instruction - Free Essay Example

Sample details Pages: 24 Words: 7068 Downloads: 8 Date added: 2017/06/26 Category Statistics Essay Did you like this example? Nowadays the use of Web-Based Instruction (WBI) has significant impacts on every aspect of our lives. In the context of education industry more and more school and education institutions have come to realize the potential impact of using the WBI in the classroom as part of the learning environment. Despite the many challenges yet to be overcome, the advantages of WBI have been widely recognized. Don’t waste time! Our writers will create an original "The use of Web-Based Instruction" essay for you Create order Some of these major advantages include flexibility and broader accessibility (Lee, Cheung, Chen, 2005), improved students performance (Alavi, 1994), reflective evaluation of the learning experience (Hiltz, 1995), and higher computer self-efficacy (Piccoli, Ahmad, Ives, 2001). Academic institutions also benefit in terms of cost reductions and increasing revenues (SaadÃÆ'Â © and Bahli, 2005). The success of Web usage for learning is primarily due to its potential to integrate various types of media such as audio, video, graphics, animation and text and delivered in various forms. Statement of the problem: Schools are witnessing a profound increase in the use of multimedia presentations, video teleconferencing, and, more currently, Web-Based Instruction (WBI). WBI presents great potential for instructional improvement by providing ready access to information and allowing more interaction between teachers and learners (Hill, 1997). In order to meet the diverse needs of their teachers when integrating WBI into their subjects, most schools have adopted a few major brands of commercial course management software. Nowadays we have heard that information technologies are going to change school education especially in the way teachers teach and the way our students will learn. But most of us have seen little evidence to support the claim. In fact, teachers utilization of innovative technologies has remained low (Surry and Land, 2000). The integration of technology such as WBI into the classroom has remained low and educational technology use has been minimal, infrequent, and limited as an add-on rather than as indispensable to teaching and learning (Becker, 1991). Surry and Ely (2002) diagnosed, as a reason for this lack of utilization, which instructional designers had focused on developing. They added that there is no guarantee for diffusion of instructional technologies itself. While the diffusion and implementation of innovation is important. Rogers (1995) and Stockdill and Morehouse (1992) described, it is a complex process that is influenced by many factors. Technological superiority is only one of a number of factors that influence a persons decision about whether or not to adopt an innovation. A more complex interaction of social, economic, organizational, and individual factors influence which technologies are adopted and how much they are used after they have been adopted. As one of the major areas of diffusion of innovation study, instructional technologies have focused on the identification of the significant factors contributing to educational technology implementation. Most studies of this issue have been simply investigating factors or have confined the research scope to only examine either the psychological perspective of factors (Marcinkiewicz, 1994; McKinney, Sexton, Meyerson, 1999; Olech, 1997), or the external or environmental perspective of factors (Daugherty and Funke, 1998; Groves Zemel, 2000), disregarding other relevant variables. Daugherty and Funkes (1998) study focused only on the teachers perceived supports or incentives as factors influencing the use of Web-Based instruction. They surveyed school teachers and students involved in Web-Based instruction on the advantages, disadvantages, and general effectiveness of using the Internet as a teaching and learning tool. Teachers reported the lack of technical support, lack of software or adequate equipment, lack of teachers or administrative support, the amount of preparation time, and student resistance are barriers to use Web-Based instruction. According to Hamilton and Thompson (1992) in reality it is assumed that a person will be influenced by psychological and also environmental factors at the same time for a decision to adopt or utilize an innovation and Ely (1999) identified eight environmental conditions. His approach recognizes that the characteristics of adopters and the innovation are not the only factors influencing its diffusion. His research suggests that the environment such as supports and incentives in which the innovation is to be introduced can play an equally important role in determining a change efforts success. In the this study, the three categories of variables known to relate to the level of innovation use are identified based on the diffusion and innovation models. First, in the area of personal characteristics, previous experience and self-efficacy are selected as key variables. Second, complexity and relative advantage in this study are selected for the area of perceived attributes of innovation. Last, for the area of perception of influence and support from the environment, supports, and time are selected. To go beyond the single-equation approach using multiple regressions and address the associated limitations, structural equation modeling (SEM) will be used. Using this technique, indirect effects among variables are identified in the model that is specified from the literature and theories by the researcher. These indirect effects, when added to the direct effects in the model, allow the determination of total causal effects. Research Objective: Identifying the direct, indirect and total effects of the identified predictor variables (self-efficacy, relative advantage, complexity, computer experience, supports and time) on criterion variable (level of WBI use). Research Questions: What are the direct, indirect and total effects of the identified predictor variables (self-efficacy, relative advantage, complexity, computer experience, supports and time) on criterion variable (level of WBI use)? Purpose of the Study: The purpose of the study is to build a model to predict the level of diffusion and utilization of Web-Based Instruction in school. To test the model six independent variables (self-efficacy, relative advantage, complexity, computer experience, supports and time) from the three perspectives affecting the diffusion and utilization of WBI will be used. The selection of the variables is substantiated by empirical evidence from previous relevant innovation studies (Rogers, 1995; Ely, 1999). The result of this study would also be helpful to instructional designers. When it comes to successful educational program design, the consideration of the target audiences characteristics is essential to the analysis phase in most instructional design models. Because the predictor variables are susceptible to interventions such as training or staff development, the identification of the potential factors that are highly related to the integration of a new technology. Operational Definition: Predictor Variables: Six independent variables which are selected from the three perspectives affecting the diffusion and utilization of WBI. The variables are computer experience, self-efficacy, complexity, relative advantage, supports and time. Diffusion of Innovations: The adoption and utilization of Web as a teaching tool. Level of Use: Degree of integration of WBI that has been attained by teachers in order to attain existing instructional goals. Web-Based Instruction: A hypermedia-based instructional program which utilizes the attributes and resources of the World Wide Web to create a meaningful learning environment such as Blackboard and WebCT. Chapter II: Literature Review: The objective of the study is to identify factors affecting the likelihood of diffusion in educational setting is usually perceived from one of three major perspectives. The first of these is concerned with the characteristics of the adopter, such as computer experience and self-efficacy. The second perspective is focuses on the characteristics of the innovation itself. The third perspective focused on the characteristics of the environment in which the innovation is to be introduced. This approach highlights the importance of factors outside the innovation which can set the stage for its success or failure. The review will be focus on diffusion of innovation, relation to factors affecting the diffusion and implementation of Web-Based Instruction in an educational setting, informational technology diffusion models, model constructs and Web-Based Instruction (WBI). Diffusion of Innovation: Sanders and Morrison (2001) have identified three reasons why the study of diffusion theory is beneficial to the field of instructional technology. The first reason is most instructional technologists lack the knowledge of why their products are or are not adopted. They believe a study of diffusion theory could rectify this situation. Second, the field of instructional technology is often associated with the concept of innovations and they suggested that if instructional technologists understand the diffusion and diffusion of innovation theory. They will be more prepared to work effectively with potential adopters. The third reason is the studies of the diffusion theory could result in developing a systematic model of diffusion and diffusion for the instructional technology field. Everett Rogers is the most widely cited author in the area of general diffusion theory. Rogers (1995) theories form the basis of most studies related to diffusion. Rogers theories seem to be common elements of most diffusion theories. They are diffusion process, adopter categories, innovation attributes, and rate of diffusion. So the instructional technologists not only need to create well-designed products but need to ensure the diffusion of these products. The main concern of the diffusion of innovation research is how innovations are adopted and why innovations are adopted at different rates. The diffusion process outlined by Rogers (1995) has five steps knowledge, persuasion, decision, implementation, and confirmation. According to this theory, potential adopters of an innovation have to learn about an innovation and are persuaded to try it out before making a decision to adopt or reject the innovation. The adopters decide to either continue using the innovation or stop using it. This theory is very important because it shows that diffusion is not a momentary irrational act, but an ongoing process that can be studied, facilitated and supported. Factors Affecting Diffusion of Innovation: The experts in diffusion of innovation find that there is no single or a certain group of factors identified to explain the lack of use of Web-Based Instruction in school education. In this section, I will explore the factors have been examined and identified from many studies. The experts in educational technology have done numerous studies to find out the factors affecting the diffusion of Web-Based Instruction in school. Morris (2001) have found that the lack of technical support, lack of adequate equipment, amount of time required, student resistance or lack of computer skills, network problems and identified lack of teachers or administrative support are the barriers that teachers confronted when incorporating Web-Based instruction. From a survey of 557 teachers, Anderson, Varnhagen and Campbell (1998) also found that although most teachers believe that learning and communications technologies are essential to improving the quality of school education, many barriers were identified to realizing that capacity. They identified nine factors as major or minor barriers. The greatest barrier identified was lack of funding. The second greatest barrier was lack of time to learn technologies. The others are classroom infrastructure, adequate computer hardware or connectivity, institutional incentives, knowledge about applying technology in teaching, access to software tools, lack of training and support, an d information about available technology. Pitman, Gosper and Rich (1999) examined teachers use of instructional technology in a school classroom. In this study, they limited instructional technology to internet-related technologies including e-mail and the World Wide Web. The study identified significant relationships between teaching style, perceived effectiveness of technology, perceived access to technology and perceived administrative support and the use of technology. Beggs (2000) have conducted the survey of 348 teachers. In this survey teachers at a school were asked about their self-perceived use of technology, factors influencing their use of technology, and barriers to the use of technology in the classroom. The factors are improved student learning, advantage over traditional teaching, equipment availability, increased student interest, ease of use, compatibility with discipline, time needed to learn, materials in discipline, compatibility with materials, training, administrative support, personal comfort and coll eague use. Rogers (2000) have conducted the study to examine barriers to technology diffusion through a structured interview conducted on the telephone or in-person. The barriers that he identified are need technical support staff, need release time and time for training, funds, and lack of sharing best practices across system. Through this through review, it seems that the factors emerge into three categories as like personal characteristics which include factors such as years of teaching, previous experience, teaching style, self-efficacy, and anxiety, innovation characteristics such as relative advantage, complexity, and compatibility, and environmental and social factors such as support and time. In the case of a factor of support, the factors like accessibility or availability, technical and administrative, workshop, and incentive may be grouped into a single factor as support. Refer to importance of considering both the person and the social environment as joint determinants of behavior, Surry and Farquhar (1997) described adopter based theories as opposite to developer-based theories. Developer-based theories are to increase diffusion by maximizing the efficiency, effectiveness and elegance of an innovation. They assume that the best way to bring about educational change is to create a system or product that is significantly superior to existing products or systems. In summary, this section focused on the studies conducted to find out the factors affecting the diffusion of instructional technology. Since these studies have not looked at the interactional effects of determinants on an adopters behavior so more attention seems to be needed on the interrelationships among identified variables. Innovation Diffusion Models: In contrast to the studies that focus on single factors or a list of factors, a few models have been developed and empirically studied to identify the interactional effects of variables on innovation usage. These models focused on the identification of the determinants of usage, such as attitudes, social influences, and facilitation conditions (Davis, Richard Paul, 1989; Mathieson, 1991). Theory of Reasoned Action: The Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA) was first proposed by Azjen and Fishbein (1975). The theory specified a causal relationship between individual behavioral intention and actual behavior. The components of TRA are behavioral intention, attitude, and subjective norm. TRA suggests behavioral intention depends on a persons attitude toward behavior and subjective norm. Behavioral intention measures a persons relative strength of intention to perform a behavior. Attitude is comprised of beliefs about the consequences of performing the behavior multiplied by his or her valuation of those consequences. Subjective norm is seen as a combination of perceived expectations from referent individuals or groups along with intentions to comply with these expectations. (Azjen and Fishbein, 1975). TRA became the basis for developing the following two models, Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). In fact, to account for conditions where individuals do not have complete control over their behavior, TPB extended TRA. Theory of Planned Behavior: Azjen and Madden (1986) modified TRA and generated a model named the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). The only difference between the TRA and TPB is the inclusion of perceived behavioral control. Perceived behavioral control reflects a persons ability to actually perform a behavior. It is influenced by the effects facilitating conditions and self-efficacy. Hoffman and Novak (1994) included ease of access, ease of use, price, knowledge, past experience, and skill to represent the perceived behavioral control in their study of hypermedia using TPB. Each of the determinants of intention, like attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control, is determined by underlying belief structures. These are referred to as attitudinal beliefs, normative beliefs, and control beliefs which are related to attitude, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control respectively. Technology Acceptance Model: Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was developed by Davis (1986) and introduced by Davis, et al. (1989). This model is an adaptation of the Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA). TAM contends two distinct constructs like perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use. Davis (1989) defined perceived usefulness as the degree to which an individual believes that using particular system would enhance his or her job performance and ease of use as the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would be free of physical and mental effort. This model is more specific and simple because it only provides two factors which are important determinants of innovation usage (Mathieson, 1991). These factors are specific, easy to understand, and can be manipulated through system design and implementation. In addition, they should also be generalizable across settings. Although it is a special case of the TRA, TAM excludes the influence of social and personal control factors on behavior, which is also identified as important factors in the previous research (Groves Zemel, 2000; Knutel, 1998). Components of the Study Model Constructs: The six predictor variables believed to be important in influencing the diffusion of innovation which has derived from the Rogers model and other relevant constructs from other models and other reviewed studies. Followed is the explanation of each of the six predictor variables and the criterion variable in more detail. Personal Characteristics: Computer Experience: Computer experience is defined as the extent to which adopters perceive previous computer experience and performance with internet connection as good. Also, it includes amounts of time using computer with internet connection in this study. The more positive experiences one has, the more confident one is in a similar innovation (Stone Henry, 2003). In other words, positive past experience with computers will increase ones confidence while negative experience will reduce it. This view is supported by Ertmer, Evenbeck, Cennamo and Lehman (1994), who found that although positive computer experience increased computer confidence, the actual amount of experience was not correlated with the confidence beliefs of students. This suggests that it is the quality, not the quantity, of experience is a critical factor in determining self-efficacy beliefs, which is one of the most important and popular variables in the diffusion and utilization of innovations studies. There have been numerous studies involving the experience and attitude-behavior relationship (Anderson, Varnhagen, Campbell, 1998; Christoph, Schoenfeld, Tansky, 1998; Daugherty Funke, 1998; Ellsworth, 1998; Groves Zemel, 2000; Hill, Stone Henry, 2003; Kao, Wedman, Placier, 1995). Bandura (1977) suggests that experience is likely to reduce anxieties and induce individuals to change their behavior. The information gained by performance accomplishments provides the most influential source of efficacy information (Bandura, Adams, Beyer, 1977 and Zimmerman, 2000). Hill, Smith, Mann (1987) provide evidence that experience with computer technology lead to a higher likelihood of technology adoption through changes in perceived self-efficacy. Self-efficacy: Self-efficacy, a key element in Banduras social learning theory (1977), refers to ones belief in ones capability to use Internet in this study. Self-efficacy has been found to influence the decision to use computers (Hill, Smith and Mann, 1987). Bandura (1997) defined perceived self-efficacy as personal judgments of ones capabilities to organize and execute subjects of action to attain designated goals, and he sought to assess its level, generality and strength across activities and contexts. Zhang and Espinoza (1998) found that comfort or anxiety about computers perceived by students predicted their confidence levels about computers and the confidence level is a significant predictor in deciding their desirability of learning technology skills. In addition, from the findings in his qualitative study Zollinhofer (1998) supported that teachers who have low self-efficacy are susceptible to cyber anxiety which can increase resistance to learning new technologies. According to Banduras (1977) self-efficacy theory, judgments of self-efficacy are based on several kinds of information including performance accomplishments, vicarious experiences, verbal persuasion, and emotional arousal. Venkatesh and Davis (1994) theorize that perceptions about a new systems usefulness and a new systems ease of use influences and are anchored on an individuals general computer self-efficacy. From this evidence, it can be hypothesized that self-efficacy influences perceived relative advantage and ease of use of innovation, and also influences utilization of an innovation through those two intervening variables. Perceived attributes of innovation: Rogers (1995), Wolfe (1994), and Farguhar and Surry (1994) identified perceived by potential adopters, relative advantage, compatibility, complexity, trialability, and observability as five main attributes of an innovation as important factors in determining the rate of diffusion. According to Rogers theory, potential adopters of an innovation have to learn about an innovation and are persuaded to try it out before making a decision to adopt or reject the innovation. This five attributes are frequently cited as playing a key role in the perceptions of adopters in regard to the implementation of instructional innovations. For this study, although perceived attributes compatibility, observability and trialability could contribute to some extent in diffusion process but only relative advantage and complexity which distinguished by Vinson (1996) and Moskal, Martin, and Foshee (1997) are included. This is because they have the strongest influence from Rogers five attributes. Relative Advantage: Relative advantage is defined as the degree to which an innovation of WBI as an instructional technology in this study is perceived as being better than the technology it supersedes and other solutions being considered (Rogers, 1995). The degree of relative advantage is often expressed as economic profitability, social prestige, or other benefits. The degree of use is expected to be increased by the teacherss perceived relative advantage of WBI. Rogers generalized from previous research that the relative advantage of an innovation, as perceived by members of a social system, is positively related to its rate of diffusion. In their study, Venkatesh and Davis (1994) tested the effect of self-efficacy on the perceived ease of use construct using two different information technologies, E-mail and Gopher. They found that the perceptions about a new systems ease of use are anchored on a persons general computer self-efficacy. Complexity: Complexity is defined as the degree to which the WBI as an instructional technology is perceived as difficult to understand and use (Rogers, 1995). It is similar to the ease of use construct used by Davis, Bagozzi, Warshaw (1989). They define it as the degree to which an individual believes that using a particular system would be free of physical and mental effort. In their study they find a positive correlation between perceived ease of use and behavioral intentions. They found ease of use to be a strong determinant of use. It is expected that the more complex WBI appears to teachers, the less they will use it. An innovation which is perceived as being difficult to use will meet with greater resistance to its use and diffusion than those which are considered as easy to learn. Hence, another generalization drawn by Rogers was that the complexity of an innovation, as perceived by members of a social system, is negatively related to its rate of diffusion. Then, who perceives an innovation as being more or less difficult? The findings (Ghaith Yaghi, 1997; Guskey, 1988) indicate that more efficacious teachers considered an innovation as less difficult to implement. Perception of influence and support from the environment: Groves and Zemel (2000) from their study has been identified that environment as a category of influencing factors on diffusion and utilization of innovation. Ely (1999) proposed eight environmental condition dissatisfaction with the status quo, existence of knowledge and skills, availability of resources, availability of time, existence of rewards or incentives for participation, expectation and encouragement of participation, commitment by stakeholders involved, and evidence of leadership. A few studies have been conducted to determine the best predictors among the eight conditions using stepwise multiple regression analysis. Ravitz (1999) found out availability of resources, availability of time, existence of rewards or incentives, commitment, and leadership are the most important determinants related to the implementation of innovation. In another pure survey study, Daugherty and Flunke (1998) reported the barriers confronted by teachers when incorporating Web-Based instruction a re lack of technical support, lack of software or adequate equipment; amount of time required and lack of teachers or administrative support. From reviewing the related studies, supports and time were selected as key variables for this study. Supports: Groves Zemel (2000) found out that the supports like training available on how to use, information or materials available, and administrative support were rated as very important factors influencing use of instructional technologies in teaching. Morris (2001) found out that lack of technical support, lack of adequate equipment or software, and lack of teachers or administrative support are the barriers teachers confronted when incorporating distance education. Farquhar and Surry (1994) proposed organizational factors with the adopters individual factors as influential factors which affect the diffusion and utilization of the instructional product. They asserted that inappropriate environmental support can often be an important hindrance factor of successful innovation diffusion. The teachers training and other resources to use and learn the WBI technology can be effective and productive by lessen teachers perceived level of complexity to use or learn WBI as an instructional technology. Time: Seminoff and Wepner (1997) discovered that of the 77 respondents in their study on instructional-based projects, 64% indicated that release time for preparation of technology-based projects was not being provided. In the survey study about factors influencing the use of technology and perceived barriers to use of technology, Groves Zemel (2000) found that teachers perceived time needed to learn as an important factor in influencing use of technology. Plater (1995) indicates that managing teachers time is the single most important asset of the school. In the past teachers had only a few time-related issues, including meeting classes, keeping office hours, and attending teachers meetings. Plater goes on to say that schools must recognize teachers time as valuable resource and begin to think about departmental needs and prepare individual teachers to meet these needs. While teachers training should be part of the overall preparation for WBI, teachers training can only be effective and productive if there is adequate preparation time to incorporate what has been learned in training. In the present study time is defined as perceived available time needed to learn and use WBI as an instructional technology. The more available time teachers perceive, the less complex they perceive to learn and use WBI as an instructional technology. Level of Use: Level of using Web-Based Instruction is a dependent variable for this study. Moersch (1995) proposed a conceptual framework that measures levels of technology use. In this framework, seven distinguished implementation levels teachers can demonstrate. According to Moersch (1995), as a teacher progresses from one level to the next, a series of changes to the instructional curriculum is observed. The instructional focus shifts from being teacher-centered to being learner-centered. Computer technology is used as a tool that supports and extends students understanding of the pertinent concepts, processes and themes involved when using databases, telecommunications, multimedia, spreadsheets, and graphing applications. Traditional verbal activities are gradually replaced by authentic hands-on inquiry related to a problem issue or theme. Heavy reliance on textbook and sequential instructional materials is replaced by use of extensive and diversified resources determined by the problem areas under discussion. Traditional evaluation practices are supplanted by multiple assessment strategies that utilize portfolios, open-ended questions, self-analysis, and peer review. To measure the level of innovation use, in addition to above levels of innovation use which are used to measure the degree to which an adopter integrates the innovation into practice, a number of studies (Cartas, 1998; Lin Jeffres, 1998; Jaber, 1997; Wallace, 1998) in the studies of diffusion and utilization of instructional technologies have used three different categories of questions to measure the usage level the frequency of technology use, the amount of hours in using a technology and the number of programs or functions used. Since it seemed that levels of use studies (Moersch, 1995; Reiber Welliver, 1989) dealt with questions pertaining to the specific aspects of computer technologies to measure the levels of technology, the present study created the questions including the three categories of questions pertaining to WBI use. Web-Based Instruction (WBI): WBI is defined as an innovative approach for delivering instruction to a remote audience using the World Wide Web as the instructional delivery system (Khan, 1997). Web-Based learning environments use the resources of the Web to create a context in which learning is supported and fostered. Web-Based Instruction is growing faster than any other instructional technology (Crossman, 1997). More and more school teachers are using WBI as an integral part of instructional activities. School cannot work in isolation and must respond to societal change (Innovation in Distance Education (IDE), 1997). WBI offers medium for school education to accommodate the information age and a networked world. From the survey research of school teachers, Morris (2001) identified a few benefits. First, students gain knowledge on how to use numerous technology-based applications such as e-mail, PowerPoint, and HTML. In fact, those are considered essential skills for todays workforce. Secondly, students tend to become independent learners, are more motivated to explore related topics on their own, and develop critical thinking skills. This can be interpreted in terms of promoting interaction for learning among teachers and learners. Summary: A number of studies have been performed to identify factors affecting the likelihood of diffusion of instructional technology in educational setting. Most of the studies have based their theoretical foundation on Rogers diffusion model. However, they have mostly reported the influencing factors based on the regression-based approach, not focusing on the interactional relationship among the factors. Recently, there have been a few models developed and empirically studied to find out the interactional effects of variable on innovation usage. Among those models, the three models (Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA), Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), and Technology Acceptance Model (TAM)) seem to be of importance and related to the present study. Based on the results of these models and other studies, the identified six factors seemed to be usually perceived from one of three major perspectives: adopter, innovation, and condition. This chapter was dedicated to a discussion of research related to diffusion predictors in terms of those six factors are Computer Experience, Self-efficacy, Complexity, Relative Advantage, Supports and Time. The criterion variable is level of WBI use. Methodology: The focus of the present study is WBI use by school teachers. Specifically, this study examines six factors in terms of their direct and indirect relationships to Web-Based Instruction (WBI) use among the teachers of school. To accomplish the goals of this study the model will be tested with data collected from a sample of teachers. The survey method, which had been the most commonly used method of data gathering in diffusion research studies, will be used. This chapter includes the sections describing participants, study variables and hypotheses, measurement instrument, and research procedures for conducting the current study. To test whether the study model is consistent with the data, structural equation modeling (SEM) approach is used and the following hypotheses refer to each relationship among the six variables in the model. The hypotheses are described from the perspective of the variables relationships to each other. In other words, they describe whether a variable is positively related to another variable or the effect of a variable is mediated by another variable or other variables. Populations and samples: Population for this study is secondary school teachers. The sample will be selected using a random sampling method. For this study 250 secondary school teachers will be selected as a respondent. Muller (1996) recommended a sample of at the very least 120 or preferably 240 respondents as a minimum sample required for SEM analysis. Analysis of the Data: This study is designed to build a model that would predict the level of diffusion and utilization with regard to technology use by school teachers. The data will analyzed using the scores obtained from the questionnaires. Descriptive statistics, such as frequency distributions, means, standard deviations, and percentages will be used to describe data using a SPSS program. Inferential statistics in the form of hypotheses testing will be used to test the hypothesized study model using a technique called Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). SEM can be used to test theories of causal relationships among variables (Gall, Borg, Gall, 1996). The standard SEM analysis steps are used from Tate (1998). The step was Model Specification Based on theory, experience, and the literature, the researcher specified the hypothesized model consisting of a network of direct causal links among the variables. The second was Model Identification The identification of a model refers to the question of whether there is sufficient information to allow estimation of all of the model parameters. T-rule was used for model identification. The third step was Confirmatory Factor Analysis for all latent variables with multiple indicators was conducted. Then, SEM for the Full Study Model was evaluated, including an assessment of the fit of the model to the data. 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Emotional Intelligence and Self Awareness Essay - 1042 Words

INTRODUCTION In a dynamic economic where change seems very pivotal as we move into the twenty-first century. Acquiring self-development and being self-aware as a manager is very essential in the business environment in order to stand out of a large crowd also gaining competitive advantage in the work place, one needs to continuously develop new learnings in becoming a â€Å"knowledge worker† in his or her organisation (Telford, 2006). The higher the level of education of a manager the better the salary he receives .it is very vital at this point to examine the usefulness of self-awareness and self-development and how it adds value to an organisations success also how it creates competitive advantage for an effective manager in the business†¦show more content†¦Self-awareness practice theoretically takes an individual beyond his or her present context; by reflecting on their performance they gain a greater influence towards the nature of present experience. Self-analysis is very emancipatory because it contributes to the development of person knowledge (dekeyster et al, 2008). Self-awareness has three components that stand useful for an effective manager which are Component Explanation Emotional awareness Self-assessment Self confidence THE IMPORTANTCE OF SELF AWARENESS TO MANAGERIAL EFFECTIVENESS OF A MANAGER In becoming an effective manager for my future career self-awareness wound enhance my ability to identify myself constantly in order to manage myself and order individual in the organisation, it we help me identify area of success and areas of growth in knowing my strength and weakness that seeks for improvement as a manager it will help me to be more effective in performing my job as a manager, self-analysis will aid me as a manage in decision process in knowing where am heading to and why in order to achieve my goals; self-awareness gives me effective possibilities for understanding my own emotional dynamics. 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