bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The influence of the “organisation” on the logics of action‐pervading disciplinary decision making
Authors: Canning Mary , O'Dwyer Brendan
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This paper aims to advance understanding of the disciplinary decision‐making process underpinning the professional ethics machinery employed by professional accounting organisations, using elements of francophone organisational analysis to examine the influence of the key formal organisational components established by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland (ICAI) to administer its disciplinary decision‐making process up to December 1999.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses evidence gathered from a series of in‐depth interviews with members of the ICAI disciplinary and investigation committees.

Findings

Illuminates the internal tensions and conflicts permeating the disciplinary decision‐making process of the ICAI and the influence key organisational components have on resolving these conflicts through their encouragement of decision making driven by a preferred reasoning or logic of action.

Research limitations/implications

The evidence presented questions the public interest proclamations of the ICAI with respect to its disciplinary procedures pre‐December 1999. It further exposes the tensions between profession protection and society protection motives in the disciplinary decision making of accounting bodies.

Originality/value

This paper represents a first attempt at getting inside the disciplinary decision‐making process of a professional accounting body to examine the process using the voices of process participants.
Mediating between colonizer and colonized in the American empire
Authors: Cadiz Dyball Maria , Fong Chua Wai , Poullaos Chris
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The aim of the paper is to argue that accounting practices in colonial systems of government can help to construct the identity and “competency” of colonised communities.

Design/methodology/approach

The approach was a historical analysis of the colonial political and economic policies of the USA in the Philippines from 1898 to 1924. The role of accounting practices was demonstrated by focusing on the case of the Philippine National Bank from 1916 to 1924. The bank was created by a wholly‐Filipino Legislature when Americans were actively promoting “home rule” by the Filipinos as a prelude to independence. Using Weber's theoretical distinction between modern and traditional societies, primary documents on the bank and secondary references of the policies of the USA during the period of study were examined.

Findings

It was found that the Americans used controls over government moneys to express their modernity, efficiency and goodness, while the Filipinos resisted them to perpetuate traditional social arrangements in the context of a “modern” Philippine state. The controls “failed” under the stress of such tensions. The Americans concluded that the Filipinos were unable to manage government moneys “properly”, thus denying them their independence.

Research limitations/implications

Weber's theorization of traditional and modern societies should be applied to understand interactions between coloniser and colonised in cases other than the Philippines.

Originality/value

This paper will be valuable to academics and policy makers because it shows that accounting need not be an active agent by colonisers/administrators to appropriate spoils from its colony.
Evidence‐based implementation of evidence‐based guidelines
Authors: Doherty Steven
Published: July 2006

Purpose

There is evidence that some strategies for guideline implementation are more successful than others. This paper aims to describe the process of developing an evidence‐based guideline implementation strategy for use in rural emergency departments.

Design/methodology/approach

Participation in a nationally funded, research fellowship program involved attendance at workshops run by internationally renowned experts in the field of knowledge translation. Attendance at these workshops, associated reading and a literature review allowed those implementation strategies with the most supportive evidence of effectiveness to be determined.

Findings

A multi‐faceted implementation strategy was developed. This strategy involved the use of an implementation team as well as addressing issues surrounding individual clinicians, the “emergency department team”, the physical structure and processes of the ED and the culture of the department as a whole. Reminders, audit and feedback, education, the use of opinion leaders, and evidence‐based formatting of guidelines were all integral to the process.

Practical implications

It is postulated that an evidence‐based implementation strategy will lead to greater changes in clinician behaviour than other strategies used in quality improvement projects.

Originality/value

This is an important article as it describes the concept and development of evidence‐based interventions, which, if tailored to the individual hospital (as evidence‐based medicine is tailored to the individual patient), has the potential to improve compliance with clinical guidelines beyond that achieved with most QI projects.
Health‐care process improvement decisions: a systems perspective
Authors: Walley Paul , Silvester Kate , Mountford Shaun
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The paper seeks to investigate decision‐making processes within hospital improvement activity, to understand how performance measurement systems influence decisions and potentially lead to unsuccessful or unsustainable process changes.

Design/methodology/approach

A longitudinal study over a 33‐month period investigates key events, decisions and outcomes at one medium‐sized hospital in the UK. Process improvement events are monitored using process control methods and by direct observation. The authors took a systems perspective of the health‐care processes, ensuring that the impacts of decisions across the health‐care supply chain were appropriately interpreted.

Findings

The research uncovers the ways in which measurement systems disguise failed decisions and encourage managers to take a low‐risk approach of “symptomatic relief” when trying to improve performance metrics. This prevents many managers from trying higher risk, sustainable process improvement changes. The behaviour of the health‐care system is not understood by many managers and this leads to poor analysis of problem situations.

Practical implications

Measurement using time‐series methodologies, such as statistical process control are vital for a better understanding of the systems impact of changes. Senior managers must also be aware of the behavioural influence of similar performance measurement systems that discourage sustainable improvement. There is a risk that such experiences will tarnish the reputation of performance management as a discipline.

Originality/value

Recommends process control measures as a way of creating an organization memory of how decisions affect performance – something that is currently lacking.
Population ecology, institutionalism and the internet
Authors: Gharavi Hosein , Roger
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This paper aims to contribute to the understanding of organisational transformation in light of major perturbatory change agents such as the internet. This is carried out through analysing the dynamics of change in the Australian tourist industry and travel agents in particular.

Design/methodology/approach

Population ecology posits that the macro environmental conditions that operate in an industry determine the limits within which industry members can operate. Institutionalism posits that management can make strategic choices. These two theories together suggest that while a major change event like the advent of the internet sets the conditions within which organisations operate, management still had “room to play” and make strategic choices. This paper views the advent of the internet through the filters of population ecology and institutionalism.

Findings

Change becomes a combination of setting macro boundaries influencing the overall direction of change and evolution follows by a micro‐level strategic differentiation amongst individual travel agents. Therefore, the dynamics of change is far more complex than mere determinism and/or strategic choice.

Originality/value

This paper has two distinct values. Firstly, its focus on the Australian travel agents brings a unique situation into perspective, where, the internet‐enabled change is analysed comprehensively and the complexities of an evolutionary change are discussed. Secondly, it proposes a novel approach to viewing change in the industry by combining two theoretical lenses thus addressing the dynamics of change comprehensively.
Subordinate expectations of leadership within a cleaned‐up bureaucracy
Authors: Jones Robert , Kriflik George
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of the paper is to present a theory of the leadership process within the substantive setting of a cleaned‐up bureaucracy.

Design/methodology/approach

Orthodox grounded theory is employed within the setting of a large public‐sector organization in an eastern state of Australia.

Findings

A leadership process model is presented which depicts a core social process within which subordinates' view of leadership is formed. Subordinates in cleaned‐up bureaucracies view leaders as people who service them, thus facilitating the movement of subordinates towards the minimization of their “attainment differences”. This view is far from the New Leadership notions of the charismatic, visionary, transformational leader or the captain‐like instrumental and authoritative leader.

Research limitations/implications

Findings are derived on the basis of a substantive case study of one cleaned‐up bureaucracy in a particular country. Further research needs to expand this base to encompass other organizations in a wider range of countries across different cultures.

Practical implications

The grounded theoretical model draws attention to the intermediation and brokering role of leaders below the top management team who need to find ways to accommodate within the unilateral dictates of the senior executive strategies designed to minimize the attainment differences of subordinates.

Originality/value

The paper responds to recent calls to situate leadership process research within specific organizational and change contexts. Not all organizational change involves movement away from existing structures, systems or principles. Rather, some change efforts involve movement within the framework of existing structures, systems or principles, in the sense that they are aimed at tightening up rather than breaking down these concepts. Thus, change efforts are often aimed at cleaning‐up bureaucracies so they can achieve their prime objectives more efficiently. The leadership literature is far less rich in analysing such situations, a deficiency which this paper is aimed at filling.
The fatal smirk
Authors: Jacobs Gabriele , Keegan Anne , Christe‐Zeyse Jochen , Seeberg Ilka , Runde Bernd
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The key to success and failure in change projects may lie not in groundbreaking events or heroic gestures but in the many seemingly meaningless acts and events that occur throughout all change projects. In order to gain a better understanding of factors leading to success in change projects, the purpose of this paper is to examine insider accounts of successful and unsuccessful change projects in a non‐business public context, namely the German police.

Design/methodology/approach

The research can be located in the exploratory, inductive research tradition and consistent with that we used in‐depth semi‐structured interviews to elicit the views of 92 high potential future managers as to what constitutes a(n) (un)successful project, and what factors lead to (un)successful project outcomes.

Findings

The qualitative approach adopted allows for the tracing of a range social behavioural issues identified by members of the organization as criteria to evaluate the success of projects – commitment of peers and superiors, satisfaction of members with the outcome. Identifying factors leading to project success, participants identified the following – clear communication of both positive and potentially negative outcomes, commitment of leaders, and changes in work conditions resulting from the project.

Research limitations/implications

Social and behavioural aspects of change projects, which are often relegated to a secondary position behind managerial and technical aspects, should be taken into account more often in (research on) change management projects.

Originality/value

The findings are based on research that explicitly integrates the mundane aspects, the daily mistakes and the routine obstacles facing those involved in change projects and suggests the value of incorporating such issues in (research on) change management projects given the spread of projects from a traditional engineering context to a variety of different contexts including, increasingly, non‐profit and governmental organizations.
A Machiavellian analysis of organisational change
Authors: McGuire David , Hutchings Kate
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to undertake a Machiavellian analysis of the determinants of organisational change. It aims to present a model of how power, leaders and teams, rewards and discipline, and roles, norms and values, serve as drivers, enablers or inhibitors of organisational change.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts the sixteenth century Machiavellian text The Prince as a lens through which to examine organisational change.

Findings

The paper concludes that Machiavellian thinking provides a valuable guide to the challenges and obstacles in negotiating organisational change and identifies the individual as occupying the central role in determining whether the change intervention will be accepted or rejected.

Originality/value

The longevity of Machiavellian thinking underlines the constancy of human behaviour and the relevance of age‐old thinking in understanding and negotiating change in a complex fast‐paced business environment.
Employee sensemaking in the transition to nomadic work
Authors: Bean Cynthia J. , Eisenberg Eric M.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the results of a qualitative study of employees' sensemaking as a social, communicative process during a major organizational transformation.

Design/methodology/approach

This case study describes a major transition in work mode, from traditional officing to nomadic work. Nomadic work is a radical new mode of work that emphasizes: worker mobility both at and away from the company facility; a paperless operation; and integrated technological platforms that enable knowledge work and flexible, project‐based organizing. Relying on participant observation and interviews, employee accounts were gathered of their experiences as told during the change implementation.

Findings

It was found that shocks noted in social interaction indicated that employee sensemaking was anchored by frames relying on identity, culture, or structure as the primary stabilizing discourse called into question. The findings suggest that employees used sensemaking to work out the tensions between social action and the systemic realities of organizational life.

Originality/value

The study contributes to the organizational literature by responding to the call for more research on social interaction during change implementation processes and on the implementation of new information technologies.
Between cultures: values, training and identity in a manufacturing firm
Authors: Scheeres Hermine , Rhodes Carl
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to critically scrutinize the use of training interventions as a means of implementing corporate culture change and to assess the implications of such programs for employee identity.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper uses empirical materials, observations and reflections from a two‐year ethnographic study in a manufacturing firm to discuss the organization's “core values” with specific attention directed to a particular organizational event – the running of a training program designed to educate the firms employees in the company's newly designed culture.

Findings

The contested interaction between formally articulated corporate culture and the workplace experience of the employees is shown to demonstrate how cultural change programs can work to suppress employee's dissent and dialogue whilst being articulated in a language of inclusiveness and involvement.

Practical implications

The paper provides a review of the complex and paradoxical implications of cultural change programs that would be of use to managers, management consultants and human resource development professionals involved in implementing cultural change.

Originality/value

The paper examines organizational culture through detailed ethnographic study with a particular focus on the problematics of how training is used as a technology for cultural change.
Silences, perinatal loss, and polyphony
Authors: Hazen Mary Ann
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the silences and silencing in the workplace and elsewhere related to women's experiences of perinatal loss.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative data from in‐depth interviews with 13 women who experienced perinatal losses between 1965 and 1999 are interpreted using Foucault's concepts of power/knowledge as pervasive in social relationships.

Findings

Women who experienced perinatal loss were physically divided from others in hospitals. Hospital practices changed over time. Knowledge about perinatal loss has been scientifically classified in medicine, psychology, and related fields. This knowledge has changed between 1965 and 1999. Perinatal loss is rarely mentioned in organizational and professional literatures outside of health care. In addition to experiencing silencing from others, women silenced themselves about their perinatal losses.

Research limitations/implications

Data were collected from interviews with women from the Great Lakes region of the USA. Further research should include a greater number of parents from a wider geographic area.

Practical implications

Dividing practices and silences collect a toll in depression, severed relationships, derailed careers, and missed opportunities for development. As people begin to speak with one another about perinatal loss, their voices contribute to a fully human work community and polyphonic organizations.

Originality/value

This paper makes a contribution to knowledge about perinatal loss and its impact on women's careers and grief in the workplace from a postmodern perspective.
RLCeffects in fine pitch anisotropic conductive film connections
Authors: Dou G. , Chan Y.C. , Morris J.E. , Whalley D.C.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The resistance, capacitance and inductance of anisotropic conductive film (ACF) connections determine their high frequency electrical characteristics. The presence of capacitance and inductance in the ACF joint contributes to time delays and cross‐talk noise as well as simultaneous switching noise within the circuit. The purpose of this paper is to establish an experimental method for estimating the capacitance and inductance of a typical ACF connection. This can help to provide a more detailed understanding of the high frequency performance of ACF assemblies.

Design/methodology/approach

Experiments on the transient response of an ACF joint were performed using a digital oscilloscope capable of achieving the required ns resolution. An equivalent circuit model is proposed in order to quantify the capacitance (C) and inductance (L) of a typical ACF connection and this model is fitted to the experimental data. The full model consisted of two resistors, an inductor, and a capacitor.

Findings

The capacitance and inductance of a typical ACF connection were estimated from the measured transient response using Kirchhoff's voltage law. The method for estimation ofR,L, andCfrom the transient response is discussed, as are theRLCeffects on the high frequency electrical characteristics of the ACF connection.

Research limitations/implications

There was decay time deviation between the calculation and the experiment. It may have resulted from the skin effect in the high frequency response and the adhesive surrounding joint as well. The main reason may be the capacitance zctric lost. Further research work will be done to determine more accurately the dielectric losses in anisotropic conductive adhesive (ACA) joint.

Originality/value

This paper presents a new method to characterise the high frequency properties of ACA interconnections and will be of use to engineers evaluating the performance of ACF materials in high frequency applications.
Modelling of microstructure and damage evolution in Sn‐Pb solder
Authors: Wei Y. , Chow C.L. , Fang H.E. , Lu W.Y. , Lim J.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This paper aims to present a viscoplastic constitutive model of Sn‐Pb solder taking into account the evolution of microstructure and damage growth in the material.

Design/methodology/approach

The microstructure evolution is represented by a parameter describing the coarsening of the phase size, and its resulting evolution equation is established from previous experimental data. The damage evolution is derived from the theory of damage mechanics within the framework of irreversible thermodynamics. Both a phase‐size parameter and a damage variable are included in the constitutive model.

Findings

The model is capable of simulating the effects of Sn‐Pb solder microstructure on mechanical behaviour for both bulk material and miniature specimens under monotonic tensile loading. It was found that the expected failure location determined using the phase‐size criterion is identical to that using the damage criterion, but differs from that determined using the von Mises stress criterion.

Originality/value

Microstructure and damage evolution are modelled for Sn‐Pb solder. Some simulation results are compared with the experimental data to provide the necessary validation of the damage/microstructure‐coupled constitutive model.
Theory and practice of total quality function deployment
Authors: Devadasan S.R. , Kathiravan N. , Thirunavukkarasu V.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This article seeks to propose a technique called total quality function deployment (TQFD) and to appraises its practicality by applying it to a traditional pump‐manufacturing environment.

Design/methodology/approach

The deficiencies of QFD techniques were studied. The theory of the TQFD technique was developed with the objective of overcoming these deficiencies. Two pump‐manufacturing companies were involved, while examining the practicality of TQFD technique.

Findings

A traditional pump‐manufacturing environment lacks knowledge of implanting techniques like QFD, which challenges the researchers to test‐implement, the techniques like TQFD. Yet the successful development of TQFD documents during the reported research project indicates the practical feasibility of TQFD implementation in pump‐manufacturing companies.

Research limitations/implications

The practicality of TQFD was tested by involving two pump‐manufacturing companies located in the city of Coimbatore in India. These two companies may not represent the global pump‐manufacturing environment. However, the pump‐manufacturing trend is uniformly showing sluggish growth at global level. Hence, the inferences drawn may considerably represent traditional pump‐manufacturing environment at the global level.

Practical implications

Since TQFD documents are successfully developed, engineers can be trained to become TQFD coordinators. These engineers will transfer the voice of customers into the practical field by following the implementation procedure presented in the paper.

Originality/value

So far no researchers have reported the theory and practice of TQFD. Pump manufacturing companies lose their market share because of the failure to translate customers' vague languages into technical languages through the involvement of all personnel and holistic exploitation of resources of the organisation. TQFD is a very valuable technique to meet this imperative.
An integrated quality assurance information system for the design‐to‐order manufacturing environment
Authors: Nookabadi A.S. , Middle J.E.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

As one of the major goals in modern industry, quality assurance concerns the whole life cycle of both product and process covering all quality‐based functions. It is also clear that, in order to design and manufacture the right products for customers, there is a strong need for an information system to support all the quality‐based functions from the pre‐production stage through to post‐production. Despite the research studies on integrated quality systems (IQS) in recent years, there remains no model for the implementation of IQS. This study aims to address this issue.

Design/methodology/approach

In considering quality assurance as a system within an organisation which itself has other sub‐systems, and referring to the definitions of integration, it is clear that the concept of integration can be applied to this area. The objective of integrated quality assurance information system is to integrate all phases from initial identification to final realisation of requirements and customer expectations in order to achieve maximum effectiveness and full customer quality satisfaction.

Findings

In this paper a schematic model of those essential quality‐based functions that need to take place within any design‐to‐order manufacturing environment are presented. The model collects, distributes, co‐ordinates and analyses information and data throughout all the sub‐sections. To validate the model a prototype test has also been carried out.

Originality/value

This paper is one of the first to provide information and model on all the quality‐based functions from the pre‐production through to post‐production stage.
Wine's placebo effect
Authors: Priilaid David A.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

Through the use of both sight and blind‐based quality metrics, the purpose of this paper is to ascertain the extent to which the sighted appreciation of a wine's intrinsic merit is confounded by extrinsic cues such as price and region of origin.

Design/methodology/approach

Using a database of sighted and blind tastings of three red South African wines (Cabernet, Merlot and Shiraz) over the period 1993‐2001, a series of multiple linear regression models is developed to explain sighted quality ratings.

Findings

The meta‐model, with an adjusted R2 of 31 per cent, indicates three statistically significant explicatory factors, namely price, region, and intrinsic quality. The price cue alone explains 84 per cent of sighted quality assessments; the combined effect of both the region and price cue explains 95 per cent. This finding suggests that when quality is measured from a sighted perspective, area becomes a significant explicator, along with price. It is only once the cues of region and price have been factored into the meta‐model that intrinsic merit becomes relevant, and here, only to an extremely limited extent (5 per cent). The lack of correspondence between sighted and blind tasting scores, suggests that for sighted judgements – extrinsic cues appear to be masking the wine's intrinsic merit.

Originality/value

For the first time, blind and sighted tasting results are collated into one database and statistically interrogated. The findings show how we are deleteriously distracted by the apparent efficacy of extrinsic cues.
Consumers’ perception of wine packaging: a case study
Authors: Rocchi Benedetto
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to present the methodology adopted and the main results achieved by an exploratory study on consumers perception of wine packaging.

Design/methodology/approach

The research was designed to elicit the relevant dimensions through which consumers perceive and describe differences between bottles of wine. In order to allow respondents to freely express their perceptions without suggesting a priori descriptive category/dimensions a repertory grid (RGT) approach was followed. A sample of 30 consumers were asked to analyse differences across 11 bottles and to summarize them in descriptive bipolar constructs. The results were analysed performing a consensus procrustes analysis. An innovative feature of this study was the analysis of complete transcriptions of interviews to better understand the meaning assigned by consumers to descriptive constructs.

Findings

The attributes of bottles and labels represent the main factors underlying wine packaging perceptions. These characteristics are the very first “signal” perceived looking at bottles. Consumers use them to define more abstract “constructs” (as distinction or tradition) they use while assessing alternative products and choosing among them. From a methodological point of view, this study confirm the interest of combining RGT and content analysis as a tool for explorative research in marketing.

Originality/value

Results seem to be a suitable basis for a survey on a representative sample directed to model the preferences about packaging features. Moreover, the analysis of preferences could be improved within a qualitative perspective, using laddering techniques of interview to elicit the hierarchical structure of motivation linking characteristics, attitudes consumers’ values.
Multiple informants and asymmetric interactions of mutual trust in dyadic business relationships
Authors: Svensson Göran
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The objective of this research is to describe and apply a method with which to measure and evaluate mutual trust in dyadic business relationships with both one‐to‐one and multiple informants, as well as symmetric and asymmetric interactions.

Design/methodology/approach

Application of the perceptual bi‐directionality method, i.e. the PBD‐method, is introduced in this context to measure and evaluate the relationship properties of mutual trust in the context of one‐to‐one and multiple informants, as well as the symmetric and asymmetric interactions, in dyadic business relationships.

Findings

The overall impression of the mutual trust in the studied relationships is that they are well balanced. It may erroneous, since there may be balance deficiencies between the various trust dimensions. The stepwise evaluation of a case example reveals that there are substantial differences between the various trust dimensions measured in the dyadic business relationship.

Research limitations/implications

It is argued that the measurement and evaluation of unidirectional trust issues is not enough in itself to understand the relationship properties of trust between two actors in dyadic business relationships, but that a bi‐directional approach should be applied in terms of the relationship properties of mutual trust. Furthermore, the approach of one‐to‐one key informants might also be insufficient. Instead multiple informants should be used in the measurement and evaluation of the relationship properties of mutual trust in dyadic business relationships and, symmetric, as well as asymmetric, interactions of mutual trust in dyadic contexts should be considered.

Practical implications

The PBD‐method is a formalised and structured method of how to measure and evaluate the mutuality of relationship properties in dyadic contexts. The outcome of the present research is also a set of generic mutuality measures that can be useful in different management and research applications.

Originality/value

The PBD‐method may be used to measure and evaluate multiple key informants' in asymmetric interactions of mutual relationship properties in dyadic contexts, instead of only matching one‐to‐one key informants in symmetric interactions.
Strategic typologies in the European telecommunications sector: a rejoinder to Turner
Authors: Curwen Peter
Published: July 2006

Purpose

To demonstrate that the strategic typology advanced by Turner in this journal for the European telecommunications sector is in need of further clarification.

Design/methodology/approach

The Turner sample is subjected to a number of tests specifically in the European mobile telecommunications sector.

Findings

The Turner typology is found to be imprecise in certain respects.

Originality/value

The paper addresses the issue of how to build appropriate typologies.
Posture and depth adjustable 3D body model for individual pattern making
Authors: Sook Cho Young , Komatsu Takuya , Takatera Masayuki , Inui Shigeru , Shimizu Yoshio , Park Hyejun
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This paper aims to describe the development of an interactive body model that can be altered to match individual body perimeter, postures and depth for the purpose of computerized pattern making.

Design/methodology/approach

Construction of the posture and depth adjustable body model requires the extraction of ten points, adjustment of coordinate points, linking of points by spline curves, control of section lengths and selectability of three hip types. Front to back depth of the model is adjusted by scaling ratio.

Findings

Good results were achieved in modelling back shapes, such as flat shape and stoop shape, and of modelling various hip shapes, such as flat shape and protruding shape. Also the presented body model is able to accurately simulate individual depth of bust, waist and hips. Silhouette comparison between the fully adjusted virtual body model and real body shapes shows an almost perfect match. A primary dialog for altering perimeter, length and depth, and a posture dialog for controlling back and hip shapes was developed.

Originality/value

By making fine adjustments to posture and depth, it is possible to make patterns which result in clothing that not only fits well, but also exhibits other desirable properties. This system could, therefore, be seen as a major step forward in pattern making.
An overview of smart technologies for clothing design and engineering
Authors: Lam Po Tang S. , Stylios G. K.
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The paper aims to provide an overview of the area of smart textiles.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper describes and discusses new and developing materials and technologies used in the textile industries.

Findings

Significant progress has been achieved in the area of technical textiles. Fibres, yarns, fabrics and other structures with added‐value functionality have been successfully developed for technical and/or high performance end‐uses. The basic building blocks are already in place in the field of smart textiles and clothing.

Practical implications

As progress in science and engineering research advances, and as the gap between designers and scientists narrows, the area of smart clothing is likely to keep on expanding for the foreseeable future. Growth is predicted to occur in two distinct directions: performance‐driven smart clothing and fashion‐driven smart clothing. There are challenges that have to be addressed.

Originality/value

The paper provides information of value to those interested in the future directions of the textile industry.
Discussing reflecting model of yarn
Authors: Liu Jihong , Yamaura Itsuo , Gao Weidong
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This paper deals with the reflecting rays of yarn.

Design/methodology/approach

The modeling, assuming that the fibers are arranged around the surface of elliptic yarn and reflecting rays of yarn are consisted of reflecting rays of fibers, is established using mathematical method. We can get a distributional curve of reflecting rays by this method.

Findings

It was found that because resolution was an important parameter in measurement equipment, the result of modeling must be filtered. It gives fundamental theory for selecting resolution and we also provide other useful value for selecting equipment of image processing. Resolution is an important parameter for measurement equipment. We have provided the minimum resolution for yarn. When we do image processing for yarn, we can get correct information of yarn by image processing with the minimum resolution and over.

Research limitations/implications

The result using different measurement equipment does not show the same result, therefore, the model must be filtered according to resolution.

Orginality/value

Although previous researches have used the reflecting property of yarn, little work that analyzed the reflecting model of yarn and the relationship between resolution and reflecting property has been achieved. We present a method of analyzing reflection of yarn.
A document for document's sake
Authors: Forbes‐Pitt Katherine
Published: July 2006

Purpose

Anecdotal evidence about electronic document management systems implies that they sound good, but implementation is difficult. This paper seeks to utilise the assertions of Hughes and King that the document is a social artefact and to ask what this might mean for electronic document management systems.

Design/methodology/approach

After analysing the layers of information contained in documents, the study argues that documents are “wrapping” for content that ensures the provision of social knowledge required for interpretation of the document's content.

Findings

Some information systems writers argue that the need for social knowledge in a task negates the possibility of the automation of it. So it can be argued that the “electronic document” is an oxymoron; that only part of what we know to be a document can be provided electronically. The paper concludes that greater success might be achieved by discarding the idea of electronically delivering documents and instead focusing on the delivery of content.

Originality/value

The article explores the fundamental nature of electronic systems and the resulting implications for the form and structure of electronic objects within such systems – a significant issue, which is transferable to the record‐keeping arena.
Managing Electronic Records
Authors: Barry Rick
Published: July 2006

Purpose

This article aims to review the bookManaging Electronic Recordsedited by Julie McLeod and Catherine Hare.

Design/methodology/approach

The book is evaluated in the context of other related titles, the authors' and editors' aims for the text, the needs of professionals in the field and the reviewer's views on required content.

Findings

The reviewer concludes that the book is one of the very best collections on electronic records to have been published.

Originality/value

The article reviews this book within the context of other titles, thereby informing readers of the broader range of resources in this challenging area.
Working against ourselves: decision making in a small rural school district
Authors: Patterson Jean A. , Koenigs Andrew , Mohn Gordon , Rasmussen Cheryl
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine decision making and resource allocation in a small, rural district in a Midwestern state of the USA during a time of economic retrenchment.

Design/methodology/approach

Qualitative case study methods were used, including focus groups and personal interviews with current and former district administrators, Board of Education members, teachers, parents, and other members of the communities the district serves. Organizational archetypes were used as an analytic framework to reveal the deeper cultural values and preferences influencing board and superintendent decisions.

Findings

Underlying historical patterns of decision making were found that were not aligned with constituents' preferences. District leaders refused to consider information that did not fit with their own beliefs and a crisis of leadership occurred, which resulted in the ousting of the superintendent and a majority of school board members. These patterns of decision making furthermore advantaged one group of constituents and disadvantaged another.

Originality/value

This study illustrates the potential of archetypes as an analytic framework for understanding organizational decision making. Revealing tacit patterns of decision making can help organizations recognize and change patterns that are dysfunctional and have negative outcomes.
Economic efficiency in supermarkets: evidences in Spain
Authors: Sellers‐Rubio Ricardo , Mas‐Ruiz Francisco
Published: July 2006

Purpose

To estimate the economic efficiency of supermarket chains in the Spanish retailing industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The methodology applied is based on the non‐parametric technique of data envelopment analysis. The empirical application is carried out on a sample of 100 supermarket chains between 1995 and 2001.

Findings

The results reveal high levels of economic inefficiency in the Spanish retailing sector.

Research limitations/implications

The generalisation of the conclusions of the study to the whole sector should be made with caution, given the fact that only one of the players in the channel of distribution has been analysed.

Practical implications

Efficiency analysis facilitates the management of the intermediaries themselves at a horizontal level, allowing the realisation of “benchmarking” analysis. Producers can also identify the efficient retailers, what could be useful for vertical relationships in the channel.

Originality/value

For the first time, this study analyses the economic efficiency of the intermediaries in the Spanish retailing sector.
Back from the grave
Authors: Greenyer Andrew
Published: July 2006

Purpose

To review the role of modelled data in target marketing, in the light of several years of widespread denigration of modelled information over specific attributes.

Design/methodology/approach

Key recent factors, influences and statistics on the availability and use of specific/personal marketing data are reviewed, noting the increasing restrictions due to public dataset withdrawal, privacy legislation and so on. Channel proliferation and change in the balance of spend between prospecting and developing existing customers are noted. All are then related to the revival of need for modelled data.

Findings

While the demand for volumes of individual consumer marketing data continues to rise, the availability and useability of that data is in decline. Modelled attributes are becoming the only way to fill the gap.

Originality/value

This paper demonstrates that the widespread criticism of modelled data ignores the increasing need for such information to meet the inexorable trend away from mass advertising and towards direct marketing techniques.
Introduction: Taking complexity seriously in IS research
Authors: Jacucci Edoardo , Hanseth Ole , Lyytinen Kalle
Published: July 2006

Purpose

To give an overview of the papers contained in this Special Issue.

Design/methodology/approach

Looks at how each of the papers reflects the theme of the Special Issue, “Complexity and IT design and evolution”.

Findings

The collection of papers in this Special Issue addresses complexity, drawing on multi‐faceted, multi‐theoretical lines of inquiry.

Originality/value

Frameworks from complexity science, institutional theory, social science, philosophy, and recent thinking in science and technology studies (STS) are used as theoretical lenses to conceptualize and analyze complexity in IS and to offer ways to mitigate it.
Toward a complexity theory of information systems development
Authors: Benbya Hind , McKelvey Bill
Published: July 2006

Purpose

Existing literature acknowledges information systems development (ISD) to be a complex activity. This complexity is magnified by the continuous changes in user requirements due to changing organizational needs in changing external competitive environments. Research findings show that, if this increasing complexity is not managed appropriately, information systems fail. The paper thus aims to portray the sources of complexity related to ISD and to suggest the use of complexity theory as a frame of reference, analyzing its implications on information system design and development to deal with the emergent nature of IS.

Design/methodology/approach

Conceptual analysis and review of relevant literature.

Findings

This article provides a conceptual model explaining how top‐down “official” and bottom‐up “emergent” co‐evolutionary adaptations of information systems design with changing user requirements will result in more effective system design and operation. At the heart of this model are seven first principles of adaptive success drawn from foundational biological and social science theory: adaptive tension, requisite complexity, change rate, modular design, positive feedback, causal intricacy, and coordination rhythm. These principles, translated into the ISD context, outline how IS professionals can use them to better enable the co‐evolutionary adaptation of ISD projects to changing stakeholder interests and broader environmental changes.

Originality/value

This paper considers and recognizes the different sources of complexity related to ISD before suggesting how they could be better dealt with. It develops a framework for change to deal with the emergent nature of ISD and enable more expeditious co‐evolutionary adaptation.
Information out of information: on the self‐referential dynamics of information growth
Authors: Kallinikos Jannis
Published: July 2006

Purpose

The paper seeks to develop a theory of information processes that invokes three major explanatory factors to account for the escalating patterns of information growth that have been taking place over the last decades.

Design/methodology/approach

Conceptual analysis and review of relevant theories.

Findings

First, information is claimed to have a dual value as a description of a reference domain and a relationship that such a description may have or develop with already available descriptions within that domain or across reference domains. Second, the intrinsic combinability of technologically mediated information is substantially strengthened by the interoperable character of contemporary information infrastructures. Finally, information growth dynamics are intimately connected with the perishable and disposable character of information.

Originality/value

The paper presents a novel theory of information growth dynamics.