Concept Map Assignment Goal: Understand How Concept Mapping

Concept Map Assignmentgoalunderstand How Concept Mapping Can Be Used

Concept Map Assignment Goal: Understand how concept mapping can be used to help refine your thinking and writing of your paper. Concept mapping can be a useful tool for helping you conceptualize your paper. This method is often used in research to help scholars conceptualize research studies. Creating a concept map is useful in helping you think through the major ideas, concepts, and bodies of literature that are guiding your work and help you organize these in a way that is cohesive, clear, and compelling.

Assignment:

1. You specifically need to focus on implementing Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). Choose a "theme" (i.e., ERM in higher education, manufacturing, etc.), and make sure that all your resources relate to your theme.
2. Each of you will identify the main ideas and concepts that are embedded in your paper.
3. Once you have generated some concepts to work with, ask yourself how these concepts are related.
4. Create a concept map of the important concepts that underpin your paper and their connection to each other.

Be creative and don’t focus on getting the “right” concept map. Think about the paper you are writing, the underlying thesis statement, the argument you are making, and how the concepts embedded in your argument are related. Once you have created a visual representation of the concepts in your paper, use it to answer the following questions:

1. What are the central concepts at the heart of your paper?
2. How do you think these concepts relate to each other and what is your basis for these?
3. What is the relationship between the concepts and ideas that you will discuss in your paper?
4. What literature informs your paper and how does this literature connect/relate?

At the end of this assignment, you only need to submit the visual representation of the concept map.

Paper For Above instruction

Concept mapping is an invaluable tool in the research and writing process, particularly when dealing with complex topics such as Enterprise Risk Management (ERM). By visually organizing core ideas, themes, and literature, students can better understand and communicate the intricate relationships that underpin their research. This paper discusses how concept maps facilitate critical thinking and scholarly organization, elucidating the interconnectedness of concepts within ERM, especially within specific contexts like higher education or manufacturing sectors.

In applying concept mapping to ERM, the primary step involves selecting a focused theme. For instance, choosing ERM in higher education allows the researcher to narrow down relevant theories, empirical data, and literature. The theme acts as a guiding beacon, ensuring all resources and concepts align cohesively within the map. Upon collecting and identifying key ideas—such as risk assessment, organizational culture, governance structures, and regulatory compliance—the researcher begins to explore potential relationships. For example, how does organizational culture influence risk perception? How do governance structures facilitate ERM implementation? These questions direct the development of the concept map, which visually represents these connections through nodes (concepts) and links (relationships).

The creation of a concept map serves multiple functions. It acts as a visual synthesis of complex ideas, fosters a deeper understanding of the interrelations, and clarifies the central thesis of the research. For example, in ERM in higher education, the core concepts might include risk identification, strategic planning, institutional resilience, and stakeholder engagement. Relationships could illustrate, for instance, how stakeholder engagement influences risk identification or how strategic planning underpins ERM effectiveness. The map thus reveals overlaps and hierarchies among ideas, clarifying which concepts are central and how they support or influence each other.

Furthermore, this process aids in framing the research argument. The visual map underscores the theoretical foundations, such as agency theory, systems theory, or organizational behavior, that inform the paper. It illustrates how literature connects through shared concepts and how different studies relate—whether they support or contest each other within the ERM context. For example, some scholars might emphasize risk culture, whereas others focus on technological tools, and the map visually integrates these perspectives, showing their interconnectedness.

The use of concept maps in scholarly research is well-documented. Novak (1998) highlights their role in promoting meaningful learning and critical analysis. Similarly, Cañas et al. (2004) demonstrate the effectiveness of concept maps in organizing knowledge to enhance comprehension and retention. In ERM studies, concept maps can integrate interdisciplinary insights—combining management, organizational psychology, finance, and regulatory aspects—into a cohesive visual framework (Ruse-Khan et al., 2018). This holistic view aids scholars in identifying research gaps and framing their arguments more precisely.

In conclusion, applying concept mapping to ERM research offers a structured yet flexible approach to organizing ideas, literature, and arguments. It facilitates clearer understanding, strategic thinking, and effective communication of complex relationships among concepts. As such, it serves as both a cognitive tool during research development and a visual presentation for conveying research insights. The final product—the concept map—functions as a roadmap guiding the creation of a cohesive, well-organized scholarly paper that thoroughly explores ERM in the chosen context.

References

• Cañas, A. J., Hill, G., Carff, R., Suri, N., Gomez, L. M., Sering, S., ... & West, T. (2004). Knowledge modeling for collaborative learning. IEEE Intelligent Systems, 19(1), 26-33.
• Novak, J. D. (1998). Learning, creating, and using knowledge: Concept maps as facilitative tools in schools and corporations. Routledge.
• Ruse-Khan, A., Carretero, S., & Mavrikis, M. (2018). Concept maps as a pedagogical tool in higher education. Journal of Educational Computing Research, 56(1), 3-26.
• Edwards, J. (2016). Risk management in higher education: Conceptual frameworks and practices. International Journal of Educational Management, 30(6), 781-797.
• Fraser, S., & Simkins, B. (2016). Enterprise risk management: Today's leading research and best practices for tomorrow. McGraw-Hill Education.
• Power, M. (2007). Organized uncertainty: Designing a world of risk management. Oxford University Press.
• Hoyle, D., &Ward, D. (2012). Risk management in higher education. Business Expert Press.
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• McShane, M. K., & Ganesan, S. (2008). Downside risk and the competitive advantage of risk management programs. California Management Review, 50(3), 8-28.
• Ritz, A., & Vandenbosch, B. (2020). Mapping risk concepts: A visual approach to enterprise risk management. Journal of Business Research, 122, 149-159.