bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
The inherent structure and dynamic of intelligent human organizations
Authors: Liang Thow Yick
Published: June 2021

As humankind ventures deeper into the intelligence era, a totally re-defined mindset is essential to ensure its continuity. With the emerging new environment, human organizations must behave as intelligent beings, in the same manner as biological entities are competing for survival in an ecological system. They must learn, self-organize, adapt, compete and evolve. Thus, human systems can no longer be like machine. Consequently, the structures and characteristics of the industrial era will have to be dismantled. This shift in paradigm requires all human organizations to re-design their structure and operations around intelligence. Therefore, to strategize for the future, the first initiative human organizations need to adopt is to establish an intelligent structure, and to nurture an orgmind and its collective intelligence. A significant component of the orgmind is an intelligence enhancer comprising three entities, namely, intelligence, knowledge structure and theory. These entities interact continuously among themselves, supported by at least one physical symbol system. Eventually, the accuracy and appropriateness of the language used helps to enhance the engagement of the interacting agents in organization. In this respect, the ability to learn continuously, to adapt quickly, and to evolve effectively, is sustained by the intelligence enhancer.
Information kiosks: Singapore users' experience
Authors: Tung Lai-Lai
Published: June 2021

Information kiosks are machines that can disseminate information, handle transactions or perform both functions. For the purpose of our study, these kiosks are classified into four different types of information kiosks with respect to the functions that they perform. These four types of kiosks are Basic Information kiosks, High Transactional kiosks, High Information Dissemination kiosks and High-End kiosks. A questionnaire survey on the general public was conducted to find out the public views on the information kiosks. Focus group interviews and pilot tests were carried out to ensure the survey was feasible and that the structure of the questionnaire was clear and proper. Generally, the results of our survey showed that older users and those with high positions tend to use less of information kiosks. The reasons cited by users of information kiosks: need to find out information or perform some transactions, for convenience and out of curiosity. On the other hand, non-users of information kiosks cited that they do not use the kiosks because of inconvenience and a lack of need to use them. Generally, transactional kiosks are found to be the most preferred kiosks due to convenience reasons. On the other hand, for Basic and High Information Dissemination kiosks, users actually prefer personalised services to them. Our results also showed that except for High-End kiosks, people's preference of information kiosks to personalised services is not related to the demographic variables but rather the types of functions the kiosks perform.
Mass customization – needs to go beyond technology
Authors: Kakati M.
Published: June 2021

In recent time, mass customization strategy is considered in some industries as those trends, if not taken up, that might make firms lose their markets to the competitors. Thus, managers concerned with strategic issues might adopt new technology as the only means of implementing this strategy. Often they might make an error in doing so. Mass customization is a completely discontinuous leap from mass production and requires a major paradigm shift and breakthrough thinking. Understanding customers is the starting point, not the dizzying possibilities of technology to produce variety that nobody wants. Mass customization requires careful preparation in every stage of the supply chain and also enriching buying experience of customers. Innovation, quality improvement, time, flexibility, and cost management in every stage are essential pre-requisite of mass customization program. This paper critically analyses some of the issues of mass customization program and suggests measures for successful implementation of a mass customization strategy.
E-management of supply chain: general models taxonomy
Authors: Chandra Charu , Kumar Sameer , Smirnov Alexander V.
Published: June 2021

The management of Supply Chain Systems is one of the major issues that a firm has to deal with in today's global economy. The purpose of this type of system is to transform incomplete information about the market and available resources into co-ordinated plans for production and replenishment of goods and services in the network formed by co-operating units. One of the goals of Internet-Based Management (e-management) is to facilitate transfer and sharing of data and knowledge in the context of supply chain structures. Knowledge-based modelling tools for supply chain management utilise reusable components and configure knowledge as needed, in order to assist users (agents) in decision-making. This paper discusses a generic development methodology for e-management and conceptual modelling of supply chains. For illustration, applications from the automotive industry have been utilised.
Web design skills and competencies: an empirical analysis
Authors: Sgobbi Francesca
Published: June 2021

The availability of proper human capital represents a key-factor in order to support the current fast pace of diffusion of Internet-based applications. The careful assessment of the skills and competencies required to manage and develop Internet technologies in different application domains represents a necessary step to solve the emerging skill shortage and skill gap problems. While most existing analyses of skill needs in information and communication technologies deal with broad professional categories, the paper focuses the attention on a specific professional figure, the Web designer. By resorting to an on-line questionnaire administered to a sample of Italian Web designers, the paper shows that jobholders recognise greater usefulness to organisational rather than technical knowledge domains. However, perceived skill gaps are larger in the case of technical skills and competencies. Moreover, specialisation paths are emerging.
Foreign investors' choices in China: going it alone or in partnership?
Authors: Yan Daniel , Warner Malcolm
Published: June 2021

This article argues that sino-foreign joint ventures (SFJVs) and wholly foreign-owned enterprises (WFOEs) have been influenced by a number of ongoing changes, for example, government policy toward foreign investment, indigenous management practices, human resource management practices and the nature of investment. In its overview of the longitudinal changes in these four areas, it suggests that foreign investors do not necessarily make an either WFOE or SFJV decision when considering their desirable mode of operation in China. Meanwhile, it argues that multinational corporations should take a dynamic approach to constantly re-position themselves as SFJVs in their business plans with respect to the mentioned areas, so as to achieve the best result as China enters the WTO. Finally, this analysis sets out a preliminary ‘Dynamic Positioning Model’ of these two modes of operation in China, which serves as a foundation on which further hypotheses can be built.
Development of Web-based knowledge management systems
Authors: Chou David C. , Lin Binshan
Published: June 2021

Knowledge management is a complex process that collects, stores, and distributes business intelligence for corporate operation and management. This paper discusses the implication of knowledge management, its process, bottlenecks, information technology integration, and development of a Web-based knowledge management system.
How to pay for knowledge: illustration within an IT planning context
Authors: Sahraoui Sofiane
Published: June 2021

With the advent of knowledge-intensive environments, organizations have become ever more dependent on their knowledge workforce to plan appropriately for their information technology resources. IT planning effectiveness will depend a great deal on harnessing the knowledge and skills of knowledge workers. This paper looks at a critical variable in determining the extent of utilization of such knowledge and skills, namely the formal reward system in the organization. Four attributes of the reward system; fairness, competency, group performance, and openness were tested for their indirect effect on IT planning effectiveness. Except for competency where the scale did not achieve external validity, the three other attributes of the reward system were found to have a significant impact on IT planning effectiveness by increasing the level of utilization of knowledge workers' knowledge and skills. Implications for the management of knowledge workers are provided in light of the results of the study.
Human resources management in the formulation and implementation of strategic alliances
Authors: Lajara Bartolomé Marco , Lillo Francisco García , Sabater Sempere Vicente
Published: June 2021

The aim of the present study is to synthesise the main aspects associated with human resources and their influence on the success or failure of strategic alliances. With this purpose, and starting from the strategic process of co-operation, we analysed the role played by such variables as the management and leadership system, the corporate culture or human resources practices in general in the formulation and implementation of an agreement. The study was carried out both from the perspective of the co-operating firm and from the alliance's point of view.
A knowledge directory for identifying experts and areas of expertise
Authors: Dooley Kevin J. , Corman Steven R. , McPhee Robert D.
Published: June 2021

Individuals in organizations often need to access knowledge that is outside their own area of expertise. Doing so requires “know-who” knowledge–knowledge of who knows what inside (or outside) the organization. This paper develops the concept of a knowledge directory, a database that can be searched via query. The knowledge directory returns a list of individuals rank ordered by the mutual affinity between their own areas of expertise and the content of the query. The technology behind the matching of person and query is centering resonance analysis, which develops a knowledge map, representing objects embedded in text as a network graph. We also present a way to analyze a collection of knowledge maps so that clusters of people who have similar expertise may be identified. We apply these techniques to a group of ten university faculty from the areas of industrial engineering, operations management, and supply chain management. Experiments attempting to match queries to specific faculty members are presented and discussed, and clustering techniques are used to show how the faculty aggregate into cliques of similar content and methodological expertise. Extensions of the method are discussed.
Strategic exploitation of information and communication technology in the healthcare sector
Authors: Liang Thow Yick
Published: June 2021

Among the various industrial sectors in Singapore, healthcare was the first to exploit broadband technology. In 1997, the Singapore General Hospital installed a broadband backbone even before the technology was generally viable. Today, the system supports the transmission of high-quality X-rays, CT- and MRI-scanned images, and electrocardiogram. And the latest decision is to supplement the existing facilities with wireless technology. This paper examines the strategic use of infocomm technology in the healthcare sector focusing on some recent technologies such as electronic data interchange, the Internet, e-commerce, broadband network and wireless technology. The patient-friendliness and the intelligence level of the entire healthcare sector are also analyzed. Besides, the strong coupling between human minds and artificial infocomm systems in healthcare may have stretched the interactions between the two systems into the nonlinear domain. The consequences may be a more innovative development of new infocomm systems and a more strategic exploitation of infocomm technology.
Global business and the dialectic: towards an ecological understanding
Authors: Singer Alan E.
Published: June 2021

Dialectical tensions are very evident in almost all international business episodes, as well as in the perceptions and value-priorities of once-separated civilisations. It is regrettable indeed that these have hardly ever been mentioned in the mainstream business media, nor in professional education. At the same time, much has been communicated (and replicated) on subjects like business-ecology, product-ecology, knowledge-ecology and ecology-of-mind. Such ideas, together with the sciences of life and mind that support biotechnology and information technology, are all closely associated with the principle of dialectic (intuitively, historically and formally). Accordingly, much greater emphasis should be placed upon dialectical reasoning in contemporary strategic business analysis, not to mention political calculations.
Dialectics – a commentary to Singer: “Global business and the dialectic”
Authors: Sørensen Asger
Published: June 2021

Alan Singer makes a case for the relevance of dialectical reasoning and understanding in business strategy, politics and especially in ecology. He argues that dialectics is the optimal way to handle conceptually tensions, paradoxes, dilemmas and contradictions, and that dialectics has been ignored mainly as a result of “guilt by association”, i.e., because of its linkages to totalitarianism and anti-capitalism. He also makes a case for philosophy informing strategy, and this is what I will attempt to do in the following comments, first, by focusing on the concept of dialectics as seen from a philosophical point of view, second, by trying to show some of the tensions in the concept as employed by Singer, and finally by sketching some implications in relation to politics and strategy. In doing this, I will distinguish between various types of dialectics, which differ in relation to method and theory, epistemology and ontology, nature and culture, and theory and practice.
How plan delegation contributes to systemic failure
Authors: Busby J.S. , Hughes E.J.
Published: June 2021

Complex, engineered systems often require extensively planned behaviour on the part of operators and maintenance staff if such systems are to maintain their integrity. A study was undertaken to determine how the absence of planning on the part of operators imperilled such systems. The aim was to help future designers understand how, in effect, operators delegate planning to the system, and to help designers make systems robust to this delegation. An analysis was undertaken of 59 incidents in the offshore industry in an attempt to characterise both the aspect of system activity that operators failed to plan (for example its completeness) and the general processes they were engaged in at the time (for example system start-up). All the processes that were implicated in the failures were either changes in the state of the system, such as start-up and shut-down, or operations that could not be said to take place in a steady state: there were no cases involving routine, continual activity. This suggests that designers' risk analyses should concentrate on non steady-state behaviour in systems, and that these risk analyses would benefit from some kind of characterisation of how systems are vulnerable to plan delegation.
Playing the “cyber terrorism game” towards a semiotic definition
Authors: Hensgen Tobin , Desouza Kevin C. , Evaristo J. Roberto , Kraft George D.
Published: June 2021

The future of many terrorist related games or plans may well involve the cyber space. However, the literature on what needs to be in place to play the cyber terrorism game is scant. Most of the current attention given terrorism involves both probability and consequences related to the physical world. Focuses in “what-if” scenarios involve threats to the economy and the population from an enemy that has all the discretion in selecting the battlefield. This essay examines what cyber-terrorism means, the forms it may take and how it may occur, and safeguards that should be considered in preparation for cyber warfare through use of a semiotic model. To this end we draw from current theories involving semiotics, gaming, emergence, and complexity to ground our work.
Usefulness of instant messaging among young users: Social vs. work perspective
Authors: Huang Albert H. , Yen David C.
Published: June 2021

Instant messaging (IM) was introduced in 1996. In the past few years, the majority of IM users have been teenagers. As the young IM users gradually enter the workforce, it is likely that their familiarity with IM will increase its acceptance as a business application. Consequently, the potential impact of IM in the workplace has become an important organizational issue. This study investigated the usefulness of IM for both social and work-related uses from young users' perspectives. A survey of over 500 college-age IM users was conducted. The survey data were used to identify factors that were important to the usefulness of IM. The results showed that young users correlated different features of IM with different aspects of usefulness. The ability to facilitate friendship development and personalized communication was viewed as an important feature for the social use of IM; for work-related uses, information richness and information volume were deemed as more desirable features for IM. The findings can be used as a foundation for future studies using knowledge workers in the workplace.
The crucial roles of the artificial information systems web in intelligent human organizations
Authors: Yick Liang Thow
Published: June 2021

Human organizations with human beings as interacting agents are complex adaptive systems. Such organizations continuously consume information, make decisions, and evolve with the changing environment. In this respect, all human organizations including businesses must enhance their collective intelligence in order to learn faster and compete more effectively. Thus, adopting an intelligent structure is vital to all businesses as the world moves deeper into the knowledge economy. The paradigmatic shift in thinking, structure, management and operation requires all intelligent human organizations to be designed around intelligence. An intelligent structure encompasses an orgmind, an intangible deep component, as well as a physical component. At the physical structure perspective, being able to identify, design and develop an artificial information systems network that synchronizes well with the orgmind is critical. The connectivity of the organization, and the manner in which it behaves, communicates and collaborates, depend on the effectiveness of its information systems network and its orgmind. The orgmind which is at least the collection of all the interacting human thinking systems must be fully aware of both the internal and external environments. Inevitably, in the new economy, intelligent human organizations must be equipped with a well-integrated intelligent information network which functions similarly to the nervous system in biological beings. This study examines the current status of artificial information systems and their networks in businesses with respect to the above concepts.
The emergence of cooperation and the case of the “Italian industrial district” as a socio-economic habitat
Authors: Mistri Maurizio
Published: June 2021

The aim of this paper is to offer an integrated analysis of the phenomenon of the industrial district, and the Italian one in particular. Certain competitive advantages exhibited by the industrial districts are identified in the structural coupling between economic dynamics and social dynamics. The emphasis is placed on the role of cooperation between agents. Several fundamental works on game theory have illustrated how a cooperative behavior can stem from a potentially conflictual situation. Game theory also suggests the factors that induce the players to adopt cooperative behavioral standards: these factors are very much in evidence in the industrial districts. Moreover, the role of the public operator is emphasized in the industrial districts, since his behavior reinforces the tendency to establish of cooperative patterns.
Data mining: Consumer privacy, ethical policy, and systems development practices
Authors: Cary Christina , Wen H. Joseph , Mahatanankoon Pruthikrai
Published: June 2021

The growing application of data mining to boost corporate profits is raising many ethical concerns especially with regards to privacy. The volume and type of personal information that is accessible to corporations these days is far greater than in the past. This causes many consumers to be greatly concerned about potential violations of their privacy by current data collection and data mining techniques and practices. The purpose of this study is to identify the ethical issues associated with data mining and the potential risks to a corporation that is believed to be operating in an unethical manner. The paper reviewed the relevant ethical policies and proposed ten data mining systems development practices that can be incorporated into a software development lifecycle to prevent these risks from materializing.
How can Internet help develop small poorly-communicated communities?
Authors: Jiménez Jaime , Coria-Olguín Sergio Rafael
Published: June 2021

Internet and e-mail have proved to be instrumental for the development of individuals and communities, provided they are properly used. Is it possible to benefit small communities with limited telephone resources? A solution is proposed to provide Internet and additional services to small towns' inhabitants in such a manner that the service is both self-sustainable and economically accessible to the user. The solution takes into account the telephone infrastructure constraints, the limitations in terms of computer literacy of the population, and the need to keep the service at an affordable cost for the user. It has been successfully proven as a pilot project in a small town of the state of Veracruz, México.
Strategic Planning Practices: Are they what they should be?
Authors: Katsioloudes Marios I. , Tymon Walter G.
Published: June 2021

This study extends research on strategic planning practices in nonprofit organizations by examining executive director perceptions of both actual and desired practices in their organizations. Fifty three (53) usable questionnaires returned from 150 randomly sampled church, museum, and human service directors were analyzed. Six factors of the strategic planning process (SPP) were assessed by the questionnaire: participation, organizing mechanisms, inputs and analysis, responsibilities for developing the plan, substantive elements in the resulting plan, and elements in promulgating the plan. The results indicated that although non-profits are engaged in strategic planning, the strategic planning process is not being used to the degree executive directors desire. Directors appeared to perceive the inputs and analyses in the SPP to be particularly deficient. In addition, the degree of perceived participation in the SPP appeared to be less than one might expect in nonprofits. Implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.
Comparing and choosing organizational structures: A multicriteria methodology
Authors: Biggiero Lucio , Laise Domenico
Published: June 2021

To the extent an organizational structure is the outcome of an intentional and rational choice, such a choice is complex. A relevant aspect of such a complexity is the number of different and usually conflicting criteria employed by the decision maker. The application of traditional and pragmatic approaches implies the choice of one type of organizational structure through multiple assessing criteria. A multicriteria choice is involved even in a purely scientific approach: different organization theories suggest different criteria. The standard decision theory, based on the maxi-minimization of some utility function, cannot deal with multicriteriality. The task can be fulfilled in a rigorous and formal way by outranking methods, which are a branch of operations research. With an application to the problem of choosing the organizational structure, a tutorial example of outranking methods is discussed, addressing the larger theoretical framework where they can be placed and developed in management science.
A methodology for mining embedded knowledge from process maps
Authors: Tuggle Francis D. , Goldfinger Wendy E.
Published: June 2021

Knowledge management is concerned with identifying, capturing, storing, reusing, and distributing the key intellectual assets of an organization. While there are well-established procedures for productively manipulating knowledge in explicit forms (e.g., groupware, expert systems, the Internet), less well developed are procedures for making tacit knowledge explicit.

One form of tacit knowledge is that embedded in organizational processes. We present one methodology for mapping organizational processes and then using the resulting maps to extract knowledge about the organization implicit in those maps. From those process maps and the revelation of the embedded knowledge in them, valuable managerial insights can be mined.

We show that an understanding of an organization's central processes reveals a treasurehouse of knowledge with many benefits for the firm. In particular, we exhibit a case study of a marketing research firm, and we model its process for converting a client's often vaguely stated needs into information useful to the client.

From the revealed knowledge, managers can mine a rich set of insights providing opportunities that convey many prospective benefits: the firm can learn how to

• better serve its clients;

• more efficiently and effectively train its employees;

• more effectively design its business processes;

• fine-tune its strategy for conducting business in its marketplace; and,

• derive a set of guidelines on how best to manage its knowledge workers.

We conclude by sketching other possible arenas for knowledge exploitation in other phases of the firm's knowledge management chain: identification, storage, and distribution.
Logistics management in China: A case study of Haier
Authors: Chen Jason C.H. , Lin Binshan , Li Lingli , Chen Patty S.
Published: June 2021

Chinese businesses began with a weak foundation in the intense world trade environment, similar to the many other companies that grew from developing countries. How were these Chinese businesses able to compete with foreign competitors armed with strong capital structures and efficient communication networks? Haier is an excellent example of how Chinese companies have successfully adapted to and prospered in the global economy, using information technology as a strategic weapon to improve its competitive advantage and further to create collaborative advantage.

Haier's growth is miraculous: in less than two decades, it grew from a state-owned refrigerator factory into an innovative international giant. The company has become China's first global brand and the fifth largest appliance seller in the world. What are the secrets of Haier's success? Many researchers have conducted extensive studies on Haier's management and found the key is Management Information Systems such as e-Commerce and logistics systems that improve business operations between its suppliers, customers, and business partners. This article recounts the journey of Haier's achievements to excellence through its MIS, and provides analyses of the company's business model, the market chain management model.
The management of socio-technical systems using configuration modelling
Authors: Lock Simon
Published: June 2021

In this paper we describe a new approach and support tool for the modelling and analysis of socio-technical system configurations. This novel approach has been developed for use on systems composed of a wide variety of different components including social and organisational elements, in addition to the more traditional software and hardware aspects. Configuration models of such systems are lightweight and quick to construct and can help to promote understanding by the various stakeholders involved in system development, operation and evolution. These models also provide the data required for performing various useful forms of automated analysis. The results of such analysis can allow managers, administrators, developers and end users to investigate various efficiency, productivity and dependability attributes of the current configuration of a system. This can help support decisions about the evolution of a system by allowing the assessment of proposed changes such as the addition or removal of components, processes and structures. In this paper we utilise a real world case study in order to demonstrate and evaluate the utility of the described approach.
An empirical test of the impact of electronic commerce on organizations
Authors: Kreindler Michael L. , Maislish Roni , Wang Shouhong
Published: June 2021

There have been propositions in the electronic commerce literature that electronic commerce systems stimulate organizational changes. This empirical study evaluated the relationship between the transition to electronic commerce and the organizational change in firms. Forty-four companies are investigated. Six hypotheses were tested. The findings showed that the transition to electronic commerce resulted in organizational redesign and improvement in dealing with customers and suppliers, had positive effects on formal communication and information flows in the organizations, but had inconclusive impact on human performance in the organizations.
Emergent strategy development, abduction, and pragmatism: New lessons for corporations
Authors: Carr Adrian , Durant Rita , Downs Alexis
Published: June 2021

This paper proceeds from the widespread assumption – apparently, a truism – that the longevity of corporations is very much beholden to the success in their processes of strategic planning and the manner in which they learn from, and adapt to, those processes. The predominant strategic paradigm used in corporations, that of the rational planning school, assumes that language is transparent and time is linear. Such assumptions don't hold up in a complex world. Emergent strategy [8,50,63] has the potential to address the current challenges of organizations by shifting the language and talk about strategizing. Rather than talk about the challenges faced by top managers [14,25], emergent strategizing, for example, talks of “communicative interaction” and “focusing attention on what [is] going on now” [64, p. 158]. Mintzberg's disdain for the divination techniques of the Delphi Oracle [51, p. 238] notwithstanding, we suggest that characteristics of the Delphic Oracle [52] mirror many of those of both emergence and strategy and, therefore, may offer insight into the effective development of emergent strategies at lower and middle levels of the organization. Our method for understanding emergence is abduction, as developed by Charles Franklin Peirce and the pragmatists. A playful reinterpretation of the Delphic Oracle can provide a way to imagine the roles of organizational actors in strategic emergence.
The learning organisation and the innovative organisation
Authors: Ng Pak Tee
Published: June 2021

Nowadays, many organisations launch initiatives with lofty aims to develop themselves into “learning organisations” and “innovative organisations”. This article reviews the literature on the concepts of “learning organisation” and “innovative organisation” and argues that the innovative organisation can be developed from the foundation of the learning organisation. The five disciplines of learning organisation are fundamental to effective innovation. The spirit of innovation is an exercise in personal mastery. Thinking out of the box is an exercise in challenging mental models. To develop a truly innovative organisation, people should share the same vision for innovation. They should work closely and find synergy in teams because a team is more powerful than the sum of the individuals. Systems thinking allows the organisation to innovate in the areas where the highest payoff can be reaped and develop the platform to sustain innovation.
Organization/business, management, people and complexity – an approach to their integration
Authors: Draman Rexford H.
Published: June 2021

Like a growing number of individuals, the author believes that business is facing the same bifurcation point physics was facing before the development of quantum mechanics – trying to fit a Newtonian explanation onto a non-Newtonian problem. Given that perspective business needs a system-based model not more research and development on its Newtonian practices and beliefs. The focus of this paper focuses is on the development of such a framework. This paper draws on science to identify the necessary requirements for a living system and converts that into a three-entity framework. Through the conversion of this living-system framework the necessary requirements for a living business system are identified. With that, an assortment of currently available system-based business tools and techniques that fulfill most of the requirements of a living business system, are introduced. An approach to implementing these tools and techniques as well as remaining open for the incorporation of other systems-based practices is presented.
The social dynamics of diverse and closed networks
Authors: Ng Desmond
Published: June 2021

Inherent to the dynamics of social networks is a paradoxical trade-off between closed networks that promote cooperation and efficiency and diverse networks that are flexible to new resources and ideas. Since actors cannot simultaneously maximize both facets of a network, this has created a sharp debate on the social capital performance of closed and diverse network relationships. Research on this social capital debate has often focused on these described network affects without explaining the origins and dynamics of network performance. This paper advances a cognitive diversity approach that is based upon the subjective and alert behaviors of Austrian entrepreneurs. These are key causal drivers to this paper's theoretical model of social dynamics and performance of closed and diverse networks. Such network behavior is subsequently modeled as a Complex Adaptive system. Using agent-based simulation, an agent-based model of entrepreneurship and social network dynamics is constructed to test the relationships described by the proposed theoretical model. The simulation results support the described hypothesized relationships. These findings also suggest the benefits of closed and diverse networks are logically distinct and, thus, should not be viewed as an either-or phenomenon. Agent-based simulation results show entrepreneurs can construct a balanced network of closed and diverse networks to optimize the benefits of both networks.
Intelligence strategy: the evolutionary and co-evolutionary dynamics of intelligent human organizations and their interacting agents
Authors: Liang Thow Yick
Published: June 2021

In the knowledge economy, the human minds are the most vital center of analysis. They are the complex adaptive systems capable of processing information, establishing knowledge structure, conceptualizing idea, and making decision. The intrinsic intelligence of the individual minds, as well as the organizational/collective intelligence, drives the dynamic of all human systems. Primarily, the local self-enrichment processes of the interacting agents are autopoietic. In addition, global forces are also present in all human organizations. The global forces are constructive only if they support the elementary processes. The global forces originate from the orgmind of the organization. A complex relationship exists between the interacting agents and their systems. Traditionally, the decision-making dynamic of the human thinking systems has been dealt with in economics concepts such as the “economic” man that focuses on perfect rational decision, and Herbert Simon's “administrative” man that incorporates the idea of bounded rationality. In this study, the dynamic of an “intelligent” person is introduced. An intelligent person does not concentrate on optimality at all times. Instead, such a person adopts the intelligence strategy. An intelligent person is mindful and contributes continuously towards the collective intelligence of the system. The mindset of an intelligent person encompasses continual fast learning, longer-term survival, exploitation of the butterfly effect, and co-evolution with his/her system. In this respect, an intelligent person is a rather dissimilar interacting agent.
People Capability Maturity Model and Human Resource Management Systems: Do they benefit each other?
Authors: Türetken Oktay , Demirörs Onur
Published: June 2021

In this research, the degree of support of Human Resource Management System (HRMS) Suite of Oracle Applications ERP System for People Capability Maturity Model (P-CMM) is examined. The analysis is carried out through key practices of each key process area in P-CMM Levels. Each key process area (KPA) in second and third levels is mapped to the functionality provided by the HRMS. While the degree of support for Level 3 is not significantly different from the one provided for Level 2, the degree of support for each key process area in two levels shows considerable variation. The results of the analysis for the key process areas in second and third levels show that, despite some lack of functionalities in some of the key process areas, the HRMS provides utilities and functionalities that will facilitate and support the performance of most of the key process areas in second and third levels. However, the support for fundamental team processes is relatively limited and there is an opportunity for these systems to extend their functionalities towards these processes.
Usability of Web-based systems – A comparison of two interaction approaches
Authors: Huang Albert H. , Post Gerald V.
Published: June 2021

This paper reports an empirical study that evaluated the usability of two interaction approaches used by Web-based application software. Data was collected using 107 subjects. Each participant performed the same tasks on both systems: a user-driven, form-based system and a system-driven interview-based system. The data were analyzed using factor analysis and structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques. The results showed that most users regarded the interview-based approach as a more desirable feature for a complex system. In addition, the derived usability model was useful in identifying the strengths and weaknesses of business-system Web sites such as tax-preparation sites. Additionally, the resulting usability model indicated that the reputation of the software application and its producer, the ease of use of the software, and software support were important determinants in the selection of Web-based software. By contrast, visual presentation styles and graphics were unimportant factors.
Transforming the firm for the digital era: An organizational effort towards an E-culture
Authors: Llopis Juan , Gonzalez M. Reyes , Gasco Jose L.
Published: June 2021

This paper analyses a successful cultural change experience within a large organization, Telefonica Group, a firm with a staff of over 148 000 people and whose volume of customers worldwide overcomes one hundred million, which allows it to maintain a clear leadership position in the Spanish-speaking telecommunications sector. Telefonica has passed from an informatic culture to an informational culture and is currently consolidating an E-culture that will enable it to become a true E-company. With the aim of keeping its leadership position, Telefonica designed Programa Lider.es (Leader Program.es), the main objective of which was the evolution of its business model towards E-business, a transformation that would make it possible to take advantage of the possibilities offered by new technologies and the Internet and create value by participating in businesses related to the digital era. The implementation of this program was not easy. This paper analyses the pillars that underpinned the whole process, the organizational support structure that was created with this purpose and the different stages the process went through. Finally, a summary of the positive points detected, the mistakes made and the lessons learnt is provided at the end of the paper.
Performance appraisal across organizational life cycles
Authors: Chen Hai-Ming , Kuo Tung-Sheng
Published: June 2021

This paper develops a framework of performance appraisal across organizational life cycles. In building the framework, the theoretical foundations, including competitive status and organizational strategies in organizational life cycles are discussed first. Furthermore, the key processes regarding performance appraisal, including the needed employee behaviors, performance criteria, performance ambiguity, and appraisal methods, are reviewed. In each stage of organizational life cycles, these elements will be gone through so that the appropriate strategy of performance appraisal may be decided.
Appropriating electronic billing systems: Adaptive structuration theory analysis
Authors: Schwieger Dana , Melcher Arlyn , Ranganathan Chandrasekaran , Wen H. Joseph
Published: June 2021

Adaptive structuration theory (AST) provides a conceptual change model that helps capture the longitudinal change process. This paper proposes a modified AST model which provides a theoretical framework that explains the appropriation process of medical electronic billing systems (MEBS). In recent years, MEBS has become a critical tool for supporting health care services. The appropriation of MEBS in a medical center involves a great deal of change, which, if not carefully considered, could result in failure. Using a case study approach, this research identifies appropriation issues when planning and evaluating MEBS usage in medical centers.
Growth of international franchising through E-commerce
Authors: Alkadi Ihssan , Alkadi Ghassan , Zhu Zhiwei
Published: June 2021

Since the beginning of the Internet, electronic commerce (E-commerce) has grown rapidly. The rapid development of information technology has brought many business opportunities for companies doing business in a global market. This paper discusses the issues that affect a company's business operations in a global market.
Improving on-time service delivery: The case of project as product
Authors: Budd Charlene Spoede , Cooper Marjorie J.
Published: June 2021

For many service companies – e.g., construction companies, advertising agencies, market research companies, software developers, and many others – each product is a complete project contracted with and completed for customers. To be competitive, these types of companies must deliver their projects on time and with a high degree of reliability to maintain customer satisfaction. For this reason, the successful managing of projects, including cycle time reduction and the full-scope delivery of the final product, are key competitive advantages and contribute to the notion of logistics service quality. This study contrasts the performance of two differing approaches to managing projects: the traditional Critical Path Method as it has customarily been implemented and the newer Critical Chain Method, including its behavioral components as well as its scheduling differentiators. The findings show that Critical Chain, properly implemented, offers a significant time-saving advantage over the Critical Path Method.
Learning from experience: A structured methodology based on TOC
Authors: Schragenheim Eli , Passal Avner
Published: June 2021

This paper presents a structured methodology for learning from experience. It uses the Thinking Processes of the Theory of Constraints with some changes. The objective of the methodology is to learn from single events to identify flawed mental models, update them and fix the processes and norms that have been based on the flawed model. The methodology as such could be used as a managerial control mechanism, especially at times of change, to keep the organization on the right direction pointed by the top management.
Knowledge Organization design: A diagnostic tool
Authors: Laise Domenico , Migliarese Piero , Verteramo Saverino
Published: June 2021

The design of a Knowledge Organization has to exhibit congruence between the human and the technological dimensions. In this paper we propose a methodology that diagnoses the failures found within an organizational design of a Knowledge Organization due to an absence of equilibrium between these different dimensions. We argue that this disequilibrium stems from the absence of knowledge intensive relations linking the agents of an organization. For this reason we have investigated the minimal set of conditions necessary for the existence of knowledge intensive organizational relations, that is for the existence of a Knowledge Organization. In order to illustrate the features and the implications of the proposed methodology we apply it to the diagnosis of two cases.
Relevance lost: the rise and fall of activity-based costing
Authors: Geri Nitza , Ronen Boaz
Published: June 2021

In the debate between marginal decision-making and full absorbance that has been going on since the nineteenth century, activity-based costing/management (ABC/M) appeared as a promising decision support tool which answers the criticism leveled against traditional cost accounting. This paper describes the strengths and weaknesses of ABC/M from a global value creation perspective, in an effort to explain why it failed to live up to its promise and why not too many companies retained it beyond a short pilot period. The paper suggests the global decision-making methodology (GDM), as an effective alternative to costing methods, which improves the quality of decisions and enhances organization value. The paper illustrates its implementation by presenting a case study of a large international financial services organization that abandoned the ABC/M system it had been using for seven years in favor of GDM. The ABC/M system was transformed to a throughput focused “light ABC” system that supports GDM. The article describes the circumstances that led the organization to adopt GDM, and provides general guidelines for its implementation.
Using reflective argument to design human systems
Authors: Metcalfe Mike
Published: June 2021

This paper presents an argument centered approach to defining new large projects which focuses on the fundamental of human social activity, thinking and dialogue. Specifically, the approach makes explicit certain pragmatic attributes of both argumentation theory and reflective thinking; it can therefore be seen as an extension of Ulrich's boundary critique and Mason and Mitroff's surfacing strategic assumptions approaches. The paper identifies these attributes of argumentation theory and reflective thinking which are then used to enhance small and large group project development discussions. This is done to support the argument that these attributes are pragmatic. The dialectic of argument and the a priori of participants are seen as significant resources which allow avoidance of the pretence of an idealistic search and quantitative evaluation of all issues and options when designing large organizational projects.