bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Estimating utilities from actual decisions in safety evaluation*
Authors: Barish Norman N. , Ehrenfeld Sylvain
Published: December 2019

This paper explores approaches for estimating utilities as revealed by past decisions. Some conceptual models are presented which have the potential for improving decision making in the evaluation of product or system safety by focusing on the use of the evaluator's past safety evaluations to measure his attitudes towards risk and uncertainty. These models provide a framework for empirically determining an evaluator's utility functions from his past decisions and reveal relationships among relevant elements in the evaluation process.
Effectiveness of dynamic value voting
Authors: Flood Merrill M.
Published: December 2019

This paper evaluates the effectiveness of ‘dynamic value voting’ when used by a group in making a sequence of decisions. The essential and novel characteristic of this group decision-making procedure is the use of ‘flotes’, a kind of currency that enables each group member to weight each of his votes in accordance with his estimate of the relative importance of the current decision in comparison with future decisions the group will be making. It is shown by computer simulation and mathematical analysis that groups do well using dynamic value voting when contrasted with results achieved using ordinary majority voting and related ordering procedures. The procedure is also suitable for use by an individual, or a group, for a multi-attribute decision application – where the flote allocations reflect anticipated changes in relative importance of individual attributes over time. Dynamic value voting has been used by groups interacting entirely by computer conferencing, with individual members geographically dispersed. The procedure is especially attractive for this type of modern communication and decision system.
Value conflicts and policy decision making: Analysis and resolution*
Authors: Tropman John E.
Published: December 2019

The value underpinnings of policy conflict and decision-making are generally recognized as important but given little attention. A perspective on policy-relevant value dimensions is presented which argues that values exist in juxtaposed sets. Emphasis upon one element in the set stresses the other value, causing value conflict and the need for adjustment. Policy makers need to take account of these value conflicts and devise strategies to overcome their potential negating effects. A list of ten strategies is suggested for optimizing policy impact in the fact of multiple and conflicting values.
The meaning of truth in the systems age*
Authors: van Gigch John P.
Published: December 2019

The meaning and search for truth are surveyed to reflect shifts in emphases and trends of the last four-hundred years. The contributions of the systems movement to the concept of truth are discussed. While notions of epistemology and of philosophy of science are involved, a pragmatic and down-to-earth approach to the meaning of truth is taken.
Multiple management: Magnifying your managerial skills, styles, strategies and situations
Authors: Smith August W.
Published: December 2019

Multiple Management examines the multiple roles of managers which require special skills, styles, and strategies in specific situations. By expanding your own managerial skills and learning how to use them in specific situations, you can develop additional managerial styles and alternative strategies which extend your own managerial career potential.
Will office automation provide the Theory Z organization?
Authors: Licker Paul S.
Published: December 2019

Theory ‘Z’ is a management philosophy which has some promise for Western business. Office automation may also provide a number of benefits. It is likely that office automation may enable firms to implement Theory Z and other alternative organizational styles relatively more easily than typical evolution. This paper explores aspects of Theory Z which are consistent with and easily implemented in typical office automation systems. The example of computer programming applications is used throughout to illustrate the difference between Theory Z and non-Theory-Z organizations. Office automation is seen as one aspect of an organizational development scheme including organizational study, career structure analysis, a redesign of performance evaluation and an analysis of the role of information in work design.
Management support through artificial intelligence*
Authors: Holsapple Clyde W. , Whinston Andrew B.
Published: December 2019

The principal applicability of artificial intelligence techniques to management lies within the context of decision support systems. These are systems that facilitate or enhance decision making activities. An extensive decision support system has the ability to draw upon various kinds of application specific knowledge in solving problems posed by a manager. This includes large volumes of empirical knowledge, a variety of modeling knowledge, and reasoning knowledge. All of these types of knowledge can be represented in the DSS's knowledge system and can be utilized by the DSS's problem processor in responding to requests stated in terms of the DSS's language system. Research in the DSS field is increasingly exploring ways in which AI techniques can be used in addressing such DSS implementation issues.
Introducing new manufacturing technology: Manpower problems and policies*
Authors: Schultz-Wild Rainer , Köhler Christoph
Published: December 2019

Manufacturing industries face a new wave of modernization. Computer integrated manufacturing (CIM) can no longer be seen as only a ‘high tech’ experiment. Installing flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) becomes more and more an important strategy for improving productivity in batch production. The paper suggests that attention has to be paid not only to technological problems but also to an adequate manpower policy. Problems of work reorganization and labour savings have to be considered. For illustration the process of introducing a new developed FMS in a big West German metal manufacturing company is described and analysed. Because of the key role manpower still has to play in those highly complex systems, the focus is on the manpower approach regarding job design and work force structures. Experiences are quoted which suggest that – in order to ensure high flexibility, productivity, quality, and utilization times – a homogeneous job structure on a high level of skills might best fit computerized equipment.
A switch in time? The management of technical change in telecommunications in Europe
Authors: Dang-Nguyen Godefroy
Published: December 2019

The paper examines why the European telecommunications industry, having initiated the development of digital exchanges much earlier than the other competitors, has not benefitted from this early start. It is shown that telecommunications operators, the so-called PTTs, although ready to support their national champions, did not perceive well enough the differences but also the links between their usual procurement of equipment, and the new features of an R&D transaction. PTTs' bad management of the two simultaneous transactions with the suppliers explains the European failure.
The changing role of management in human service organizations
Authors: Schmid Hillel
Published: December 2019

The context of human service organizations is changing. Social agencies are facing changes in the political, economic, social and technological context which will affect the supply and demand for social services. The role of executives must also evolve to adjust to these changing conditions. This article suggests the direction this adjustment should take in the changing environment.
Maieutic systems design
Authors: Krauch Helmut
Published: December 2019

Socrates understood as ‘Maieutic’ the uncovering of hidden knowledge through a process of dialogue. During the last two decades, it was tried to integrate maieutic with procedures of social systems management. A synthesis of Maieutics and Systems Theory was attempted. A versatile method of systems analysis was developed, finding various applications in government institutions and industry. After some historical and methodological considerations, the idea of Maieutic Systems Analysis is presented and examples of application described.
Agriculture systems research – A new initiative*
Authors: Heller Stephen R. , Rawlins Stephen L.
Published: December 2019

Despite its enormous productivity, American agriculture is suffering serious economic problems. Many feel that these problems require better ways to bring science information and knowledge to bear on the solution of these problems. Computer facilitated simulation models and expert systems with their supporting databases represent one approach to accomplish this goal. But carrying out this new interdisciplinary research to deal with holistic systems is easier said than done. Some of the most complex biological systems exist in agriculture. This paper examines the question of what needs to be done, and suggests possible system research approaches for reaching the goal of solving the agriculture of today and the future.
In every sphere, bigger is no longer better: The emergence logic of the Second Industrial Revolution
Authors: Mitroff Ian I.
Published: December 2019

It is a truism to say that the economy has become global, i.e., that business interests of modern societies have become so interconnected and interdependent that it has become impossible to understand them in conventional economic terms. It is far less of a truism to specify more precisely the nature of this global interconnectedness. This article shows that the emerging ‘new rules’ of the global economy can only be understood in terms of a broader framework that takes paradox as its central ingredient. This paper argues that the management of all phenomena that are global is equivalent to the management of paradox. Paradox is thus seen to be more deeply and more central at the heart of management than has been specified previously.
Board decision making in human service organizations*
Authors: Schmid Hillel , Dodd Pamela , Tropman John E.
Published: December 2019

The board decision making process in two Human Service Organizations was examined through observational methods. Some important difficulties were seen in these processes. Among them were lack of decision, poor timing of decision, swayed focus, and unclear utilization of human energy. The possible reasons for these problems are explored, and some policy implications suggested.
Artificial Intelligence Endeavors in Japan
Authors: Ishikawa Akira
Published: December 2019

Past, present and some future efforts of Artificial Intelligence developments in Japan will be overviewed. Emphasis will be given to automatic translation, AI development tools, and expert systems (ES) available or under development in Japan. A particular AI development tool, SOGEN, will be illustrated and application areas shown, including diagnostic systems for Chinese medicine, trouble-shooting systems for electric appliances, and a new product development system. Finally, lessons learned from the use of AI will be summarized.
Thinking in Networks to Avoid the Pitfalls of Managerial Thinking
Authors: Probst Gilbert J.B. , Gomez Peter
Published: December 2019

Logical fallacies are continuously arising in business, particularly in approaching and dealing with complex problem situations. The logical fallacies described here – a result of our practical and consulting experience as well as a literature search – ask to be counteracted with a wholistic, integrated problem-solving method.
Cultural Models of International Borrowing
Authors: Maruyama Magoroh
Published: December 2019

International insolvency has reached a very serious level not only for developing countries but also for the financial institutions in creditor countries. We must realize that two basic assumptions of economics do not hold in some of the countries. They are: (1) investment for return; and (2) money as a universal instrument of transactions. Instead of them, other cultural principles are at work which are amplified and maintained by causal loops long after their historical origins have disappeared.
Philosophy and Management
Authors: van Peursen C.A.
Published: December 2019

Philosophizing is not what many politicians and managers think it is: to express some personal ideas on the state of matters. It is, on the contrary: starting to see unquestioned matters in a new, problematic way. Management needs philosophy in its search for hidden presuppositions. But philosophy needs the realistic input of management to see to it that its own rationality becomes less closed and more concrete. Examples of such a fruitful interaction are discussed: the role of inventiveness; the integration of cultural challenges within an extended policy; the discovery of the new multiform cultural context of today.
International Meta-Marketing: Strategic Judo, Foreign User Habits and Interactive Invention
Authors: Maruyama Magoroh
Published: December 2019

In order to compete with foreign firms in culturally diverse world market, one must go far beyond the usual concept of marketing and develop meta-marketing, which includes strategic judo, product adaptation for foreign user habits, and interactive invention. New selection criteria for the personnel are important.
Knowledge Engineering Management – Issues and Prospects*
Authors: Ishikawa Akira , Mieno Hiroshi , Tatsuta Rumi
Published: December 2019

In order to manage successfully a group of expert systems development, it is utmost important to manage a team of knowledge workers or engineers as effectively as possible. A mixed team consisting of both knowledge engineers and system engineers often need to be administered instead. In this paper, issues in relation to acquiring knowledge from experts, analyzing, representing and incorporating such knowledge into the expert systems, in particular, business expert systems will be identified and discussed, based on identifying a normal process of development of expert systems and an ordinary task of knowledge engineers. Our emphasis will be placed on how to successfully manage knowledge engineers as human resources as integral part of systems development, rather than the management of knowledge engineering process per se. Finally, approaches on how to resolve such issues will be explored with relevant illustrations available and a grand software in terms of wisdom bases (instead of knowledge bases) and wisdom management will be proposed.
The Concept of ‘Credit Privatization’: Possible Way of Entrepreneurship Renaissance in Czechoslovakia
Authors: Čuba František , Divila Emil
Published: December 2019

‘Slušovice, Czechoslovakia, is the last expected place of one of the most successful experiments of the socialist entrepreneurship. Agricultural agrocombine Slušovice is a community of several thousands of workers with absolutely atypical interest in up-to-date technologies’. The above characteristic of presumably the most up-to-date enterprise in Czechoslovakia before the November ‘velvet’ revolution (1989) was published in 1988 in an American magazine Genetic Engineering News. At approximately the same time, the Vienna TV called this Czechoslovak enterprise a capitalist oasis in the communist desert. Similar definitions of this dynamic enterprise could be found with respect to both its past and present. In this article, a leading member of the original Slušovice Agrocombine and of the present DAK MOVA Slušovice, the successor of its entrepreneurial tradition, and his expert partner from economic research, deal with a topical theme on possible way of transformation of the present state economy to the market basis. This concept resulted from a practical effort to develop an active entrepreneurial system in the Slušovice Agrocombine. Its potential value could have a wider social-economic application.
Cost-Benefit Analysis of Quality Circles: A Case Study
Authors: Shenkar Oded , Hattem Ezer , Globerson Shlomo
Published: December 2019

While various studies have examined the impact of quality circles on employees' attitudes and satisfaction, relatively little has been done with regard to quantifying the costs and benefits of such circles, and even less in terms of comparing improvement suggestions in such circles with those of an individual program. This study presents a cost-benefit analysis approach to the assessment of quality circles performance, and applies it to a large manufacturing organization. Results show that the program increased the effectiveness of improvement suggestions by 35% as compared to the individual suggestion structure. The program paid for itself within three years. Peak effectiveness was reached after two years of operations, followed by a significant drop, although still with benefits exceeding the cost accrued by the program maintenance.
The Informal Information Network in an Age of Advanced Telecommunications
Authors: MacDonald Stuart , Williams Christine
Published: December 2019

Modern telecommunications certainly provides unprecedented capability to transfer information, and just as certainly functions by means of information networks. There are, however, other sorts of information network which pre-date advanced telecommunications and which continue to play a role in the transfer of information. It is argued here that informal information networks which allow information exchange among individuals are still important and, in fact, make little use of advanced telecommunications. The value of information exchange by such means has long been recognised in high-technology industries. Evidence from those involved with cement admixture technology in the United Kingdom suggests that informal information networks are not confined to such information-intensive sectors.
SEER: A Divergent Methodology Applied to Forecasting the Future Roles of the Systems Analyst
Authors: Kendall Julie E. , Kendall Kenneth E. , Smithson Steve , Angell Ian O.
Published: December 2019

Predicting evolutionary changes is perilous at best. Rather than choose a recognized method for convergence of ideas such as Delphi, we chose to develop a technique that emphasizes differences of opinion. We call this method SEER, which stands for Scenario Exploration, Elaboration, and Review. In this paper we examine four scenarios that might influence major changes in the roles of information systems analysts as we approach the twenty-first century. By elaborating on the four scenarios (overburdening the analyst, overbuilding systems, the myth of control, and the inflexible organization) it became apparent that the roles of the analyst will change. Although we explain how we constantly differ from one another, we conclude by identifying four underlying themes we have in common and by recognizing an ordered structure for these differences.
Prescriptive Model for Managing and Organising FMS and CIM Environment
Authors: Kakati M.
Published: December 2019

Today, we have many organizational models enjoying considerable success within its domain of applicability, but none seems to be appropriate for managing FMS and CIM environment, because they are not structured with flexible mode. In fact, they are lagging behind the strategic requirements of new technology. The model for managing FMS and CIM has to accommodate simultaneously the increasing number of success variables/goals which are often seemingly contradictory and noncom mensurable. Specifying structural properties that facilitate the simultaneous accomplishment of multiple success variables/goals would provide the basis for managing and organizing FMS and CIM environment. This article discusses a few success variables that the new model has to accommodate and the structural properties for their accomplishment. A prototype organizational model is also presented.
Anti-Monopoly Law to Prevent Dominance by one Theory in Academic Departments
Authors: Maruyama Magoroh
Published: December 2019

In the future the concept of equal opportunity and fair employment should be extended, not only to ethnic and gender equality, but also to equal opportunity for those holding different theories, methods and epistemologies. The present tendency for conceptual inbreeding among academics is not only counterproductive and counterevolutionary, but also contrary to human rights.
Supply Chain Methodology
Authors: Harland Christine , Williams Derek , Fitzgerald Lin
Published: December 2019

ESPRIT II CIM for multi supplier operations (CMSO) identified the need for companies to manage beyond their own boundary and beyond their immediate supplier and customer relationships. The importance of satisfying end customers needs was highlighted. No methods or approaches to help companies manage their chains were found, so a supply chain methodology was designed and developed. Its application in the automotive aftermarket in the UK and Spain highlighted reasons, previously not observed, for ineffectiveness and inefficiency of the supply chains studied. The results of the work are a guidebook, detailing the methodology, a case study book describing its application in detail, and a shell of a decision support system to support the future use of the methodology.
The Multi-Supplying Problem for the Automotive Supplier Industry
Authors: Bordone Domenico
Published: December 2019

The automotive market does not show a great variability of the demand for a certain model of car over a period of a year; at the same time the car manufacturer minimizes the effects of a reduced demand by offering a large number of optionals. The production system of a car manufacturer is almost inflexible, for the quantities and the daily production for a given model are usually stable. For an automotive components supplier the variations on the mix are actually variations on production volumes. A logistics department, when solving this production problem, looks mainly for a feasible solution – the stock and production capacities are checked. The global cost evaluation is roughly made while planning; two main things are controlled: the man-power allocation and the stock cost. A modification of the planning solutions based on the real total production cost for the company is unfeasible because a total cost-based methodology and tool are not available. Another problem that Magneti Marelli faces is that the finished product for the car manufacturer is more and more often a complete functional ‘system’. This requires a planning which involves different plants from different production divisions inside the company. A full integration inside the company and with the external suppliers is necessary to increase the service to the customer, minimizing the costs. The increasing of the level of service to the customer implies lead-time reduction and cost minimisation. Where many sub-suppliers must be interfaced, the lead-time reduction can be obtained with a stock as large as the flexibility of the customer demands. However, this strategy cannot satisfy the second objective, which is the reduction of costs. These constraints bring the car component supplier to look for an integrated production system where he and his supplier act like a single company.
Strategy with Sunk Costs
Authors: Singer Alan E.
Published: December 2019

The conceptual framework of Strategy-as-Rationality is applied to the strategic mystery of investment decisions involving sunk costs. The problem is isomorphic to that confronting a plurally-rational individual, who cannot be certain about the future but is reconsidering a partly-implemented personal plan. Normative, descriptive and prescriptive dimensions of this generic sunk cost problem are synthesized. The analyis is illustrated with reference to an unfinished hydroelectric scheme on the Danube river in Central Europe (Gabcikovo-Nagymarosz).
Towards a Strategy of Democracy, Political and Economic, in Russia*
Authors: Vanek J.
Published: December 2019

This paper summarizes some ten others (see References) and thus is difficult to abstract further. However, a descriptive parable may be useful. The Russian economy can be likened to one of the two-engine airplanes one flies these days from New York to Moscow. But this plane has only one (Western capitalist) engine being mounted in flight onto a Russian plane body. The argument of this paper is essentially that 1) this is an exceedingly risky situation; and 2) the second engine – a system of democratic economy, more suitable for the Russian plane body – should also be mounted where it belongs, not only to diminish the risk of a catastrophe, but also to make it possible for the Russian nation to compare the merits of the two engines. The body of the paper together with its ten supporting studies noted in the References provides an extensive collection of nuts and bolts for the operation.
Transdisciplinary Approach to a Theory of Performance in Organizations
Authors: Nilakant V.
Published: December 2019

This paper argues that attempts to build a theory of performance in organizations have largely been confined to individual disciplines of psychology, sociology, economics and organization theory. The paper highlights the inadequacies of the agency model of performance from organizational economics. The paper suggests that an integrated model of performance can be built by combining ideas from agency theory in economics and organization theory. The paper presents the first step towards such a model. It is shown that organizational activities can be classified as ‘operational’ or ‘facilitative’ based on the notion of interdependence. Implications of this model are discussed.
Self-Management and Development
Authors: Ifeka Caroline
Published: December 2019

In this essay I use my field experience in Asia and Africa to define and describe some foundations of successful self-management in the context of development. I describe some hitherto unreported success stories so as to illustrate how these foundations have been successfully put into practice. I also review instances of self-management failures, because these highlight conditions that may need to be settled before self-management can become self-sustaining. In conclusion, I suggest some consequences of an enhanced self-management capacity.
The Influence of Computer Usage on Employees and Managers' Satisfaction: Findings from the Australian Telecommunications
Authors: Zeffane Rachid
Published: December 2019

The impact of computer usage on job attitudes is an area of keen academic and professional interests. Despite much research scrutiny, it remains difficult to identify differences in end users' satisfaction that might be explained by variations in individual/job characteristics and patterns of computer usage. This article reports on the findings of a survey of 1300 employees from the Australian Telecommunications Industry and examines the impact of computer usage on job satisfaction. The results revealed that job satisfaction was positively influenced by the extent of computer usage, aspects of computer-related training and demographic characteristics such as tenure and job position. Further, consideration of different areas of usage for different sub-groups (based on job-status & tenure) revealed that the extent of use in different functional areas (by different sub-groups) tended to affect user satisfaction to a different degree. In particular, it was found that computer usage in more varied activities such as R&D tended to have a strong positive impact on satisfaction while usage in other areas had varying impacts on the above sub-groups (i.e., managers and non-managers). The results illuminate some of the human resource and training issues and challenges that organizations engaged in extensive computerization may need to address.
Transforming Corporate Culture in the US Telecommunications Industry: Notes on Social Engineering
Authors: Katz James E.
Published: December 2019

This article analyzes corporate culture transformation programs in the US telecommunications industry. It specifically looks at (1) why a massive investment in corporate culture transformation has been deemed necessary by top management, (2) ways corporate culture change programs have been implemented, and (3) some consequences of these programs for telecommunications workers and companies. The analysis is based primarily on ethnographic observations and interviews with workers and managers involved in corporate culture transformations. It also relies on the relevant literature, and corporate documents. The article concludes by suggesting what these programs portend for the international scene generally and Europe specifically. In addition, it discusses which approaches to corporate cultural change appear effective, and which appear counterproductive.
Firms, incomplete contracts, and organizational learning
Authors: Foss Nicolai J.
Published: December 2019

This explorative paper argues that the central problem of economic organization is adaptation to unforeseen contingencies. However, flexibility is a rather neglected issue in the theory of economic organization. This contrasts with much organization theory, in which the seeking and processing of information about the organization's key uncertainties is seen as a determinant of organizational form. The notion of incomplete contracts is argued to provide a means to bridging ideas from organizational economics and organization theory, particularly organizational learning. Incomplete contracts are not only important because they provide room for incentive problems, but more importantly because they allow firms to exploit processes of organizational learning that must always involve some unforeseen contingencies. Firms are seen as efficient institutional responses to learning processes that involve strongly complementary problem-solving activities.
Taylorism and quality control management in Brazil
Authors: Bär Fernando Luis , Fialho Francisco A.P.
Published: December 2019

If one admits that knowledge is represented inside our minds by the use of language, it seems a good hypothesis to intend that cultural representation of the world can be perceived by the study of the etymology of the spoken words. Total Quality Management is being adopted all around the world as a miraculous medicine for all kind of organizational diseases, without taking into account the different cultural meanings of expressions like ‘work’, ‘worker’, ‘quality’, etc. In Latin languages, the word ‘work’ derives from ‘tripalium’, to torture with a kind of stick with three ladder pieces in the point. In a global world, without borders, competitiveness seems to be the key to survival, and the Japanese model of success is the leitmotif used for changing the production system all around. Cultural aspects inherent to each region are forgotten. This article tells about TQM implementation in Brazil signaling the similarities between Taylorism and the practical implementation of total quality programs.
Organizational work, Part I. The theory
Authors: Mackenzie Kenneth D.
Published: December 2019

This paper begins with a brief review of research on the nature of organizational work. While there are many proposed measures of properties of work, one cannot find a systematic and integrated set of concepts for describing and analyzing organizational work itself. Organizational work takes place within a larger context described by the ABCE model. Defining organizational work begins with defining the concept of a process. There are two, interdependent hierarchies of task processes. The first is a hierarchy of task process aggregation. The second is a hierarchy based on the type of process. An example is presented illustrating the interdependence of the two types of process hierarchies. Part II of this paper examines the distribution of work and Part III presents empirical results from 17 organizations.
Tailored logistics services in large multi-site operations
Authors: Negri Lionello
Published: December 2019

In the present scenario, logistics play a fundamental role in rationalizing manufacturing activities and business-to-business linkages. In this view, the paper focuses on the main topics dealing with: – the contribution of tailored logistics to develop advanced production systems based on multiple location and customer-supplier partnership; – the most significant factors to be considered for analyzing logistics network, with special reference to the freight transportation system; – the efficiency and quality grade which have to be achieved, aiming at assuring the customer full satisfaction; – the reference schema which can be applied in order to design, realize, and operate the logistics Quality System, considering the different constraints which occur in managing and improving the quality of production organizations; – the set of indicators which allow to assess logistics effectiveness, efficiency and quality performances and to evaluate the effects on manufacturing in relation to quality, costs, and serviceability.
Practices and technology transfer in Quality and Information Technology
Authors: Mereau Pierre , Labbé Eric
Published: December 2019

Successful application of quality concepts, methods and techniques is a key driver for enterprise efficiency and continuous improvement in today's competitive environment. The various levels of quality implementation (Quality Control, Quality Assurance, Quality Management, Total Quality Management) have been taken up at different rates by European industrial enterprises. However, although the trend is rapidly increasing, this concerns mainly large companies. Small and Medium Sized Enterprises (SMEs) have been lagging behind in quality up-take, often limited to quality control. Information Technology (IT) provides a powerful support for quality implementation, making some tasks easier and opening the door to new types of methods. Quality supported by information technology (“Quality and IT”) is an important issue, particularly in the context of the emerging Information Society, which needs to be addressed as a whole by integrating classical quality, IT characteristics and human operations. This issue has been investigated within the European Commission IT Programme in the area of Integration in Manufacturing. Important research results have been obtained in the last 3 years and a Working Group has been organised to promote Quality and IT and to disseminate research results for the benefit of industrial users, in particular of SMEs.
Leadership is a living system: learning leaders and organizations
Authors: Smith August W.
Published: December 2019

Leadership is a living system with many relationships and dynamic, changing elements. Leaders evolve, learn and develop new leadership practices and feedforward processes and performance and feedback processes in dynamic and reciprocal ways. The leadership system links resources, relationships and requirements to results, receivers and reviews to intervention, implementation, improvement, innovation and integration needs in an interactive overall leadership system. New “hybrid” learning leaders are needed to build and develop true learning organizations for the future.
Evaluating job applicants' perceptions of corporate career web sites
Authors: Lee In , Dehkordi-Vakil Farideh , Kaul Tej
Published: December 2019

This research uses the general theoretical frames of the technology acceptance model (TAM) and SERVQUAL to investigate the constructs that influence job applicants' perceptions of the career web site. We validate and refine the research model and instrument using survey data collected from 233 respondents about their perceptions of the corporate career web sites. Overall, the results show that perceived ease of use, perceived enjoyment, empathy, responsiveness, and reliability positively affect perceived usefulness. Intention to use was significantly influenced by perceived usefulness and attitude. Tangibility was not a significant factor in this model. The implications and limitations of this study are discussed.
Tampering dynamics: SD-SPC insight
Authors: Georgantzas Nicholas C. , Katsamakas Evangelos
Published: December 2019

Integrating statistical process control (SPC) with the system dynamics (SD) modeling method gives process managers superior insight into the processes they must manage. This is what replicating Deming's funnel experiment through a SD model shows. SD allows looking at the experiment causally, as opposed to merely looking at coincidental, due to randomness, SPC charts. Looking under the hood, so to speak, one can see how circular, feedback-loop relations among variables in the funnel experiment produce tampering dynamics, as the distribution of control among deterministic feedback loops determines system behavior. Enhancing SPC with system dynamics can help detect, explain and prevent tampering with the processes that managers must manage.
The evolution of business ethics in Japan and Korea over the last decade
Authors: Choi Tae H. , Nakano Chiaki
Published: December 2019

Both Japan and Korea have suffered painful economic recession and a series of corporate misconducts and scandals over the last decade. In the meantime, people's interests in business ethics and corporate social responsibility have remarkably increased. This study examines (1) Japanese and Korean managers' perceptions of business ethics, (2) the similarities and differences between the two countries in comparison with the US, and (3) the evolution of business ethics over the ten-year period. The study reveals that Japanese and Korean companies have made remarkable progress in making systematic measures to establish corporate ethics, but the managers' perceptions of ethics in both countries have not changed significantly over the last decade. The study also shows that Korean managers' way of perceiving ethics is a specific mixture of those of the US and Japanese managers.
Globalization and the good corporation: Whither socially responsible investment?
Authors: Howell Robert
Published: December 2019

The strategy and experience of the Council for Socially Responsible Investment in New Zealand promoting socially and environmentally responsible investment (SRI) is described and discussed. Issues the Council has faced included public accessibility to good information, definitions of SRI, standards for good corporate responsibility, and climate change. Internationally there are no successful examples of strategic models used by government, business or civil society to make SRI mainstream by voluntary means. Research indicates that SRI internationally is in single percentage figures only. This is a particularly acute problem if the worst scenarios of climate change (for example) are to be avoided: a rapid shift (within perhaps, eight years) of public and private investment into a SRI framework is required. If the world is to avoid dangerous global warming, it is very unlikely that the strategy of a voluntary shift to an international SRI economy will achieve this, and even with a shift to a regulated economy the chances are not good.
Education and entrepreneurship: Drivers for sustainable development
Authors: Coman Adela
Published: December 2019

Education and entrepreneurship are the main enabling conditions for future change. Institutions of higher education should function as role-models of sustainability, with fairness in their own social policies and economic interactions. They should be active in the development of sustainable communities. Such practices are plainly in line with Humboldt's (c. 1870) traditional idea of the university as a change agent. Fortunately, there are already many examples. At the same time, we need a new type of entrepreneur: one who is the product of institutions where sustainability is taught and exercised. Many currently taught courses in “entrepreneurship” emphasize starting a small business; instead, they should emphasize transformational entrepreneurship: the type that changes the values and behavior of stakeholders and citizens.
ARENA mapping: An effective strategy focusing tool
Authors: Coman Alex
Published: December 2019

ARENA is a graphical tool designed to map the business environment. Like other managerial tools such as the Gant diagram and the Pareto diagram, the ARENA provides a concise single picture of the external actors influencing the organization's value that can be used for decision making. The paper presents the ARENA model and demonstrates its applications. Cases are described and the ARENA is compared to existing models.
Organizing ethics and entrepreneurship
Authors: Singer Alan E.
Published: December 2019

This paper sets out an organizing framework for the extensive contemporary literature on the ethics of entrepreneurship. It consists of (i) a set of bi-polar components (or false-choices) such as economic efficiency vs. social justice, (ii) a set of spanning-themes such as character, imagination and intention, and (iii) a set of topical themes such as poverty, property-rights and corruption that are variously associated with the ethics of entrepreneurship and with global capitalism in general. The framework particularly facilitates the placement of existing contributions relative to each other, thus consolidating progress in the area and potentially guiding future works.
On characteristics influencing consumer’s intention to use web-based self-service
Authors: Yang Ming-Hsien , Chen Jason C.H. , Wu Cheng-Hang , Chao Hung-Yi
Published: December 2019

Information technology (IT) brings unforeseeable impacts and challenges on service industries. This is because IT creates endless possibilities for them to revolutionize their service delivery process. For example, interactive voice response systems, interactive kiosks, the Internet, and multimedia DVDs all become new channels that allow companies to directly communicate with consumers. Facing pressure of mounting labor costs, most enterprises rush to adopt technologies to improve their operational efficiency and service quality. The consumer’s intention to use the web-based self service (WBSS) becomes a key factor to determine if the WBSS will be successful. In this study we adopted the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) as the research framework and conducted an empirical study to examine what effects that WBSS characteristics such as response time, responsiveness, and customized control may have on the consumers’ intention to use the WBSS. The result shows that the customized control characteristic directly affects the consumers’ intention to use the WBSS. It suggests that companies need to enhance the flexibility of the WBSS in the service delivery process so that the consumer can increase the intention to use the WBSS.
Modeling investor sentiment and overconfidence in an agent-based stock market
Authors: Lovric Milan , Kaymak Uzay , Spronk Jaap
Published: December 2019

Agent-based stock markets as bottom-up models of financial markets allow us to study the link between individual investor behavior and aggregate market phenomena, and as such are a useful tool for investigating the implications of behavioral finance and investor psychology. In this paper we want to disentangle between the effects of investor sentiment and investor overconfidence. While investor optimism or pessimism influences the expectations of future returns, overconfidence is related to the precision of those expectations and is modeled as miscalibration. In an artificial stock market based on the LLS model, we find that more optimistic investors create more pronounced booms and crashes in the market, when compared to the unbiased efficient market believers of the original model. In the case of extreme optimism, the optimistic investors end up dominating the market, while in the case of extreme pessimism, the market reduces to the benchmark model of rational informed investors. The overconfidence of investors is found to exacerbate the effects of investor sentiment.
Possibilistic risk management and counterfactual probabilities
Authors: Whalen T. , Taylor T. , Cohen M. , Smolarski J.
Published: December 2019

Possibility theory is applied to assessing the relative risk associated with very rare, high-consequence hazards. The probability of rare negative events has to be estimated from a few past occurrences that are spread over long exposure periods, with countermeasures added in response to each event to attempt to guard against recurrence. Traditional risk assessments based on conditional probability and statistical expected value are very sensitive to the uncertainty associated with rare events. A new measure of possibility for events whose probability is not well measurably different from zero is proposed and illustrated in the context of possible release of hazardous material from a high containment research laboratory and in the context of large insurance company failures. Strategies for managing and reducing risk that do not depend on well-measured probabilities are discussed.
Marketing activities management in SMEs: An exploratory study
Authors: Fu Yan-Kai
Published: December 2019

For many years, marketing activities management was mostly found in marketing textbooks or in articles focusing on large organizations in Western contexts. However, it is becoming apparent that the basic principles and practices that apply in one specific surrounding may not necessarily be relevant and applicable in another. To fill this gap, this paper examines marketing activities in Eastern business environments. In addition, no published study has examined whether an employee's involvement in marketing activities management is affected by that employee's level within the general hierarchy of marketing managers, and existing scales lack measures for constructs in marketing activities management that are of interest in this study. To provide appropriate scales for small and medium enterprises (SMEs), a questionnaire was devised to measures sales (channel) managers' degree of participation in marketing activities. The research results indicate that sales (channel) managers at all hierarchical levels participate in executing various aspects of marketing activities management. The degree of involvement, however, varies significantly by the level of the sales (channel) manager. The study concludes with managerial implications of the findings and suggestions for future research.
Growth and evolution of high-technology business incubation in China
Authors: Chandra Aruna , Chao Chia-An
Published: December 2019

The business incubator is an innovative organizational entity, with origins in the United States, designed to provide a supportive environment for new ventures. This innovation was adopted by Chinese government in the late eighties as part of a plan to address market failure in innovation and to win the global game of technological competition. The successful diffusion and subsequent reinvention of this innovation in China has resulted in one of the most successful business incubation movements in Asia that is second only to the United States in the number of business incubators. Chinese incubator models initially tended to be monolithic in form due to the heavy influence of government as innovation gatekeeper guiding their creation and operation; however local demands, such as the need to attract well educated overseas Chinese students back to the homeland, have led to indigenous incubation approaches within these broad parameters as manifested in the second generation of incubation approaches. This contribution traces the growth and evolution of the two phases of business incubator growth in China, taking into consideration determinants of incubator success, along with the role of government, and the macro-environment for new venture creation. Related incubator level dimensions are discussed followed by the various indigenous genres of incubators that have evolved in China in response to local needs. The study includes a critical assessment of the successes and the challenges that lay ahead of the incubator movement in China. Policy and managerial implications are put forth at the conclusion of the study.