Integrating quantitative and qualitative forecasting approaches: organizational learning in an action research case

This article examines the integration of quantitative and judgmental forecasting, focusing on the implementation process and its impacts on the organization. To this end, the study is based on an action research case study in the cement industry. Empirical evidence highlights the critical change management issues that need to be dealt with to implement an integrated forecasting system. The implementation phase needs to be carried out carefully to gain acceptance within the organization and to provide the best results. In addition, the forecasting process and organization need to be aligned to allow a two-way flow of information from the periphery to the centre and vice versa to allow the integration of the two approaches. In this way, not only can forecasting accuracy be improved, but better knowledge and consensus within the organization can also be achieved.     

Operations management of new project development: innovation,efficient, effective aspects

The integration of distribution management systems (DMS) and feeder management systems (FMS) in China has become a trend in recent years, in addition to upgrading and rebuilding the existing energy management system and DMS. However, some management methods are different and contradictory, thus result in obstacles to innovation and effectiveness. Thus, firms still struggle to find effective process management that is associated with innovative project operations. In addition, there is no standard method to evaluate information technology (IT) projects, and at least 40% of IT projects realize no benefits. It is astonishing that none of the above-mentioned issues have been addressed or solved by previous literatures. In order to fill the vacancy, this paper first briefly introduces FMS and determines its critical success criteria, and then proposes suitable forms of organization for knowledge management. It also applies process management methods according to knowledge creation mode and maturity of the project. Finally, an analytic network process associated with benefits, opportunities, costs, and risks is constructed to compare the performance of different FMS projects with and without adopting the proposed methodology.     

基于结构成本的产业类型与组织际信息系统拓扑结构匹配研究

论文以网络拓扑结构概念应用于组织际信息系统(interorganizational information systems,IOS)的管理运作研究上,研究了组织际信息系统结构的拓扑类型,提出结构成本概念,构建了IOS运营成本模型,对不同拓扑结构所对应的运营成本进行量化与比较、优化,并进一步基于结构成本的组织际信息系统拓扑结构与产业类型匹配问题展开应用研究。结果表明企业维护其IOS在产业链中具有竞争优势的位置而支付的费用会带来其与产业链其他企业的交易成本减少,同样的企业为了追求更具优势的IOS结构位置而支付的费用也会带来企业的交易成本减少。论文的贡献:一方面,结构成本概念引入IOS拓扑结构时可分析IOS各拓扑结构的成本优势,对企业加入或构建何种结构形式的IOS具有重要指导意义,进而扩展到产业上的应用;另一方面,对组织际信息系统的理论依据做出一定的调整,扩充了现有理论体系。     

Technology credit rating system for funding SMEs

Technology evaluation has played a crucial role in selecting and supporting companies with innovative technology. Previous studies have focused on developing technology evaluation methods such as scorecard. However, technology credit rating is rarely applied, despite its convenient usage for technology financing. In this paper, we propose a technology credit rating system, called cross matrix, based on empirical data obtained from the technology scoring model and examine their properties. The proposed rating system is expected to provide valuable information for effective management of the technology credit fund.     

Computational experimentation on new organizational forms: Exploring behavior and performance of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Edge</Emphasis> organizations

New organizational forms are being conceived and proposed continually, but because many such organizations remain conceptual—and hence have no basis for empirical assessment—their putative advantages over extant organizational forms are difficult to evaluate. Moreover, many such organizational forms are proposed without solid grounding in our cannon of organization theory; hence understanding their various theoretical properties in terms of our familiar, archetypal forms remains difficult. This poses problems for the practitioner and researcher alike. The Edge represents one such, recent, conceptual organizational form, which lacks readily observable examples in practice, and the conceptualization of which is not rooted well in our established organization theory. Nonetheless, proponents of this new form argue its putative advantages over existing counterparts, with an emphasis upon complex, dynamic, equivocal environmental contexts; hence the appeal of this form in today’s organizational environment. The research described in this article employs methods and tools of computational experimentation to explore empirically the behavior and performance of Edge organizations, using the predominant and classic Hierarchy as a basis of comparison. We root our models of these competing forms firmly in Organization Theory, and we make our representations of organizational assumptions explicit via semi-formal models, which can be shared with other researchers. The results reveal insightful dynamic patterns and differential performance capabilities of Hierarchy and Edge organizations, and they elucidate theoretical ramifications for continued research along these lines, along with results amenable to practical application. This work also highlights the powerful role that computational experimentation can play as a complementary, bridging research method. Mark Nissen is Associate Professor of Information Systems and Management at the Naval Postgraduate School. His research focuses on dynamic knowledge and organization. He views work, technology and organization as an integrated design problem, and has concentrated recently on the phenomenology of knowledge flows. Mark’s publications span information systems, project management, organization studies, knowledge management and related fields. In 2000 he received the Menneken Faculty Award for Excellence in Scientific Research, the top research award available to faculty at the Naval Postgraduate School. In 2001 he received a prestigious Young Investigator Grant Award from the Office of Naval Research for work on knowledge-flow theory. In 2002–2003 he was Visiting Professor at Stanford, integrating knowledge-flow theory into agent-based tools for computational modeling. Before his information systems doctoral work at the University of Southern California, he acquired over a dozen years’ management experience in the aerospace and electronics industries.     

Information Management,Organization and Managerial Effectiveness

In this paper we argue that information management is not only about managing the information resources of an organization as an economic activity; it is also about the use that individuals make of their information inputs and outputs. The discussion centres on individual managers, particularly on how successful they are in converting information into effective action. The management of complexity is seen as the cornerstone of managerial activities; managers are always faced with the problem of matching their limited information-processing capacity to the much larger information space implied by their responsibilities and commitments. It is argued that managers can employ at least three possible strategies to achieve an adequate matching: they can make adjustments to the organization structure; they can design their organizational conversations; and they can aim at a good manager-to-task fit.     

Intra-organizational Networks and Performance: A Review

Intra-organizational network research had its first heyday during the empirical revolution in social sciences before World War II when it discovered the informal group within the formal organization. These studies comment on the classic sociological idea of bureaucracy being the optimal organization. Later relational interest within organizational studies gave way to comparative studies on the quantifiable formal features of organizations. There has been a resurgence in intra-organizational networks studies recently as the conviction grows that they are critical to organizational and individual performance. Along with methodological improvements, the theoretical emphasis has shifted from networks as a constraining force to a conceptualization that sees them as providing opportunities and finally, as social capital. Because of this shift it has become necessary not only to explain the differences between networks but also their outcomes, that is, their performance. It also implies that internal and external networks should no longer be treated separately.Research on differences between intra-organizational networks centers on the influence of the formal organization, organizational demography, technology and environment. Studies on outcomes deal with diffusion and adaptation of innovation; the utilization of human capital; recruitment, absenteeism and turnover; work stress and job satisfaction; equity; power; information efficiency; collective decision making; mobilization for and outcomes of conflicts; social control; profit and survival of firms and individual performance.Of all the difficulties that are associated with intra-organizational network research, problems of access to organizations and incomparability of research findings seem to be the most serious. Nevertheless, future research should concentrate on mechanisms that make networks productive, while taking into account the difficulties of measuring performance within organizations, such as the performance paradox and the halo-effect.     

Place and use of new technology in the teaching of mathematics: ICMI activities in the past 25 years

Looking back at the place of technology in the past ICMEs during the last decades and on the two ICMI studies devoted to technology, it is obvious that the role and use of technology has given rise to a diversity of points of view and attitudes across the world. The ICMEs and the two studies are places where researchers, teacher educators and practitioners meet. To what extent do they reflect the evolution of the trends of research and/or of integration of technology into real practice? The study will develop a general analysis of the theoretical frameworks, issues and wishes related to the use of technology in mathematics teaching from the proceedings of past ICMEs and of the two ICMI studies. Both a quantitative and a qualitative point of view will be adopted. From the great diversity of questions and approaches, the study attempts to formulate the main trends and their evolution over time within the ICMI community, as well as some pertinent issues for the coming years.     

Inadvertent leaks: exploration via agent-based dynamic network simulation

A significant volume of information leaks in organizations are inadvertent, a form of information spillage. Because the leakage of information is driven by the complex interaction of technology, social, and behavioral factors, we use a hybrid agent-based and dynamic network model, Construct, to simulate the flow of sensitive information in knowledge-driven organizations. Because interaction patterns often change when an organization is under stress, we simulate stress to the organization with effect-based (reliability and integrity) crisis scenarios. Using a virtual experiment, we vary the crisis scenarios, organization’s structure, IT connections, and pressure to separate personnel based on security ratings. Our experiment suggests that the organization’s structure, IT connections, separation pressure, and typical performance all influence how much an organization suffers from inadvertent leakage. In evaluating how organizations respond to crisis, organizations with stove-piped IT tend to clamp down on leakage in response to the crisis, while organizations with Mesh IT tend to have more leakage. Integrity crises tend to decrease leakage; while reliability crises tend to increase leakage in organizations, especially those with Mesh-based IT.     

组织内部员工信息安全胜任评价模型

针对内部员工信息安全胜任评价这一重要问题,在分析内部信息攻击行为的特点及全面总结胜任特征相关研究成果的基础上,构建了内部员工信息安全胜任特征评价指标体系,在此基础上提出了组织内部员工信息安全胜任特征评价模型。模型基于安全风险防范思想,将评价环节分为两个环节,综合考虑了决策者制定决策偏好和候选员工的个性优势,更实际地反映了候选员工间的差别。最后通过案例分析验证了该评价模型的有效性和实用性。     

基于MASIM的社会推理与计算系统

随着计算机和信息技术的发展,信息科学技术的研究越来越重视与社会科学的交叉,社会计算已成为国内外计算机及相关领域的最新研究热点.社会计算与社会智能研究的核心之一是社会因果关系推理和行为评判问题.基于认知和心理学理论,介绍一个社会推理计算模型MASIM以及基于MASIM的社会计算系统实例,并以此阐述建立社会推理机制和社会计算系统的若干技术方面.     

Tuning inventory policy parameters in a small chemical company

A project to improve inventory management in a small UK chemical company is described. A research group comprising university academics and company managers for logistics and information technology examined current practices and analysed a database of historical records of business operations of the company. Based on the analysis, a scheme to categorise stock and set ordering policies to optimise inventory costs was developed. Some comments are made on process issues and the learning that took place.     

Simulation modelling for problem understanding: a case study in the East Slovakia Coal Industry

This paper is about an intervention that was initially concerned with physical processes but which required consideration of information flows and culture. The investigation was intended to improve the processing strategy and operations of an organization in the East Slovakian Coal Industry. Simulation modelling was used to help the debate, and it helped reveal issues of misunderstanding within the organization and poor communication that led to misallocation of resources. New ways of approaching the process were proposed that would lead to significant reductions in coal waste.     

基于信息流的管理系统建模

管理系统是一个组织的核心部分,管理系统工作模式的优劣,将直接关系到整体工作结果的好坏.基于信息流分析方法,定义了管理系统的信息流要素和信息流关系,提出了用布尔矩阵表示实体间信息流关系的方法,结合管理系统运行模式,建立了三种不同工作方式的管理系统模型.     

Information and Understanding

A major difference in age between the head of an organization and his acknowledged heir and successor can contribute to a better awareness by all that there is merit in both the old and the new. On the other hand, it can be the cause of friction between the two, as one is loath to release the reins and the other strives to take them on. Further, one may believe that only he can run the company, whilst the other knows that he can do it better. In such circumstances, the decision was taken that the younger man should investigate the needs for management information in the organization, and he set about creating an information system for the future, primarily his own. As he did so, he uncovered many aspects of the operation of the company which could benefit from new procedures, and in particular identified an area of major conflict which he was able to resolve. The purpose of the study changed considerably over time, and what began as a review of information processing became a detailed analysis of the fundamental principles of the nature of the organization to provide understanding for the future development of the company.     

Computational and mathematical organization theory: Perspective and directions

Computational and mathematical organization theory is an interdisciplinary scientific area whose research members focus on developing and testing organizational theory using formal models. The community shares a theoretical view of organizations as collections of processes and intelligent adaptive agents that are task oriented, socially situated, technologically bound, and continuously changing. Behavior within the organization is seen to affect and be affected by the organization's, position in the external environment. The community also shares a methodological orientation toward the use of formal models for developing and testing theory. These models are both computational (e.g., simulation, emulation, expert systems, computer-assisted numerical analysis) and mathematical (e.g., formal logic, matrix algebra, network analysis, discrete and continuous equations). Much of the research in this area falls into four areas: organizational design, organizational learning, organizations and information technology, and organizational evolution and change. Historically, much of the work in this area has been focused on the issue how should organizations be designed. The work in this subarea is cumulative and tied to other subfields within organization theory more generally. The second most developed area is organizational learning. This research, however, is more tied to the work in psychology, cognitive science, and artificial intelligence than to general organization theory. Currently there is increased activity in the subareas of organizations and information technology and organizational evolution and change. Advances in these areas may be made possible by combining network analysis techniques with an information processing approach to organizations. Formal approaches are particularly valuable to all of these areas given the complex adaptive nature of the organizational agents and the complex dynamic nature of the environment faced by these agents and the organizations.This paper was previously presented at the 1995 Informs meeting in Los Angeles, CA.     

A survey of knowledge-based systems research in decision sciences (1980–1995)

Research in knowledge-based systems (KBS) has become an important area of inquiry within decision sciences. In this paper, we present the results of an extensive survey of research papers published on this topic. We determined frequency counts of papers and we also performed a content analysis of the papers we surveyed. The results indicate that there are a large number of studies informing us of the design and development issues relating to KBS. However, there seems to be less research examining issues relating to the management and impact of KBS on individuals and organisations. We summarise our key findings and identify avenues for future research.     

Understanding variations in hospital costs: An economics perspective

This article provides a review of factors that cause hospital costs to vary. Examples of public policy issues and strategic management issues related to hospital cost variations are presented. Two commonly used theoretical perspectives for studying costs, microeconomic theory and industrial organization theory, are briefly reviewed. The article concludes with suggestions for future research including the application of a different theoretical perspective, X-efficiency Theory.     

Quality management systems from the perspective of organization of complex systems

The aim of this model is to analyse quality management systems from the standpoint of the organization of complex systems introduced by Robert Rosen. The concept that an organized system, under certain conditions, can be modelled as a living system introduces unsuspected tools to analyse its behaviour. The model is oriented towards the understanding of the implications of modifications introduced in laboratories working with a quality organization following the ISO/IEC 17025 standard.This standard establishes management and technical requirements concerning the documental organization, control of the management and technical records, personnel, equipments, test or calibration methods, etc. The objective of the quality system implementation is to assure the quality of the product, the special consideration being the customer’s satisfaction with all aspects of the service the laboratory offers.The improper use of the quality system tools has an impact on the laboratory activity. The perception of this fact can be negligible at the moment it happens. The model allows us to realize that this alteration always has a negative impact on the customer and it specially affects the continuous improvement that the laboratory must implement.     

Coordination mechanisms of supply chain systems

Supply chain management (SCM) has become an important management paradigm. As supply chain members are often separate and independent economic entities, a key issue in SCM is to develop mechanisms that can align their objectives and coordinate their activities so as to optimize system performance. In this paper, we provide a review of coordination mechanisms of supply chain systems in a framework that is based on supply chain decision structure and nature of demand. This framework highlights the behavioral aspects and information need in the coordination of a supply chain. The identification of these issues points out several directions of future research in this area.