Modelling a macro-ergonomics approach to work systems design: An analysis of organizational context

This study proposes a systematic approach to model and examine the contextual effects of some key organizational factors on the functioning and utility of work practices. Whilst adopting a context-practice-performance conceptual framework, this study examines the relationship between leadership, organizational culture, and quality management practice. A survey was conducted amongst 66 respondents in 35 manufacturing companies in Hong Kong. Three complete mediation models and three partial mediation models were specified and estimated using structural equation modelling (LISREL 8.14). Results show that continuous-learning culture may promote the implementation of process management practices, and that transformational leaders tend to foster cultural changes towards continuous-learning. Results also suggest that the influence of transformational leadership on process management may be largely transmitted through a continuous-learning culture. This indicates that organizational culture may act as an effective mechanism for training overall and for leaders to induce organizational changes. Altogether, these findings suggest that the role of senior executives in promoting a continuous-learning culture could be important in leading a quality improvement programme. More theoretical and empirical work should be undertaken in applying the context-practices-performance framework to help integrate micro- and macro-ergonomics.     

Business Group Affiliation and R&D

This paper analyzes whether belonging to a business group enhances firms' propensity for and intensity of R&D based on the greater opportunities to finance and co-ordinate R&D strategies and internalize knowledge spillovers. Compared with the existing literature, this paper has the following novelties: (a) it examines how the organization and diversification of business groups influence the R&D investment of affiliated firms; (b) it analyzes the role of R&D spillovers among affiliated firms; and (c) it distinguishes between propensity for and intensity of R&D. We find that less diversified groups are more likely to centralize R&D, while in more diversified groups firms are more likely to be autonomous. We find that controlled companies are more likely to benefit from knowledge spillovers than firms at the head of the group. Finally, we find that R&D autonomy is significantly associated with both a higher propensity for and intensity of R&D in controlled companies.     

中国企业实施并行工程的若干特点,问题及解决方法

基于对我国实施并行工程的若干企业的实际案例调查，分析并总结了我国企业实行并行工程在组织形式，人员选拔，培训，绩效评价和奖酬谢方法等方面的一些作法，特点和存在的问题，并探讨了解决的措施。     

我国企业CIMS系统中技术与组织之间相互关系的实证研究

基于对我国ＣＩＭＳ实施企业的调查，研究了企业的适应ＣＩＭＳ中的技术要求而进行组织创新的四大方向：（１）组织结构纵向的扁平化；（２）组织结构横向的合工精简，（３）建立新的信息中心组织；（４）建立各种类型的跨部门团队。指出了ＣＩＭＳ技术适应企业组织的主要方式；（１）开发设计技术系统时充分考虑企业现有的组织管理状况；（２）开发设计技术系统时充分考虑企业今后经营管理和组织体制的改革方向，最后还分析总结了我     

Lessons from experienced guideline implementers: attend to many factors and use multiple strategies

BACKGROUND: Studies of clinical guideline implementation have focused almost entirely on changing individual clinician behavior with single intervention strategies and without much attention to the situational context. The goal of this project was to learn from clinic leaders, seasoned in the guideline implementation process, what contextual variables they viewed as important and whether implementation success could be expected if only a single implementation strategy was used. METHODS: In 1998, 12 people with extensive experience in leading clinical guideline implementation were identified who were thought to have particularly keen insight into the process. They were interviewed to generate variables they considered important, as well as strategies they considered effective when used appropriately. A modified nominal group/Delphi process was then used for rating these variables and strategies, and the reactions of international experts were obtained to add perspective to this information. RESULTS: Eighty-seven variables and 25 strategies were identified, clustering in 6 categories (ranked in order of importance by the panel): organizational capabilities for change, infrastructure for implementation, implementation strategies, medical group characteristics, guideline characteristics, and external environment. All six categories were considered to be important, key, or essential by the experienced implementers, although variables within a medical group that directly affect its ability to undertake planned change were rated as much more important than either guideline characteristics or the external environment. DISCUSSION: Although the opinions of those experienced in the process of guideline implementation are primarily of value for generating hypotheses, panel members believe that implementation efforts focusing on the individual physician with a single strategy are unlikely to be successful. Rather, implementation efforts must use multiple strategies that take account of multiple characteristics of the guideline, practice organization, and external environment.     

A comparison of diagnostic related group length of stay outliers: motor vehicle crash versus penetrating injuries

The incidence and degree to which patients injured by motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) and penetrating wounds remain in the hospital beyond the diagnostic related group (DRG) mean length of stay (LOS) are compared. During a 12-month period, records for consecutive patients admitted to eight hospitals (including three trauma centers) were studied. Patients aged 13 or younger, staying less than 48 hours, or with major burns or only distal fractures were excluded. In that time, 2,914 patients were eligible. Twenty percent of injuries were penetrating; 27% were MVC injuries; and, 53% were blunt injuries from other causes. Patients injured in MVCs and with penetrating injuries were compared with respect to mean LOS, incidence of DRG outliers, number of hospital days beyond the DRG mean LOS, and demographic variables. Patients injured in MVCs had a greater proportion of DRG LOS outliers and higher mean numbers of DRG excess days than did patients with penetrating wounds (p less than 0.01, for both). Injuries were distributed among relatively more DRGs for MVC patients. The DRG scheme may lack sufficient attention to factors more likely to affect MVC patients, such as multiplicity of injuries, incidence of CNS injuries, ICU requirements, and older age. In structuring more appropriate reimbursement for trauma care, special attention must be paid to patients injured in MVCs.     

Research evaluation. Part I: productivity and citedness of a German medical research institution

An evaluation exercise was performed involving 313 papers of research staff (66 persons) of the Deutsche Rheuma-Forschungszentrum (DRFZ) published in 2004?C2008. The records and citations to them were retrieved from the Web of Science (Thomson Reuters) in March 2010. The authors compared productivity and citedness of ??group leaders?? vs. ??regular scientists??, of ??male scientists?? vs. ??female scientists?? using citation-based indexes. It was found that ??group leaders?? are more prolific and cited more often than ??regular scientists??, the same is true considering ??male?? vs. ??female scientists??. The greatest contrast is observed between ??female leaders?? and ??female regular scientists??. The above mentioned differences are significant in indexes related to the number of papers, while values of indexes characterizing the quality of papers (average citation rate per paper and similar indexes) are not substantially different among the groups compared. The mean value of percentile rank index for all the 313 papers is 58.5, which is significantly higher than the global mean value of about 50. This fact is evidence of a higher citation status, on average, of the publications from the DRFZ.     

Inertia and Change in the Early Years: Employment Relations in Young, High Technology Firms

This paper considers processes of organizational imprintingin a sample of 100 young, high technology companies. It examinesthe effects of a pair of initial conditions: the founders' modelsof the employment relation and their business strategies. Ouranalyses indicate that these two features were well alignedwhen the firms were founded. However, the alignment has deterioratedover time, due to changes in the distribution of employmentmodels. In particular, the ‘star’ model and ‘commitment’model are less stable than the ‘engineering’ modeland the ‘factory’ model. Despite their instability,these two blueprints for the employment relation have strongeffects in shaping the early evolution of these firms. In particular,firms that embark with these models have significantly higherrates of replacing the founder chief executive with a non-founderas well as higher rates of completing an initial public stockoffering. Some implications of these findings for future studiesof imprinting and inertia in organizations are discussed.     

"Power quality system," a new system of quality management for globalization: towards innovation and competitive advantages.

Knowledge Management (KM) addresses the critical issues of organizational adoption, survival and competence in the face of an increasingly changing environment. KM embodies organizational processes that seek a synergistic combination of the data and information processing capabilities of information and communication technologies (ICT), and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings to improve ICT In that role, knowledge management will improve quality management and avoid or minimize losses and weakness that usually come from poor performance as well as increase the competitive level of the company and its ability to survive in the global marketplace. To achieve quality, all parties including the clients, company consultants, contractors, entrepreneurs, suppliers, and the governing bodies (i.e., all involved stake-holders) need to collaborate and commit to achieving quality. The design based organizations in major business and construction companies have to be quality driven to support healthy growth in today's competitive market. In the march towards vision 2020 and globalization (i.e., the one world community) of many companies, their design based organizations need to have superior quality management and knowledge management to anticipate changes. The implementation of a quality system such as the ISO 9000 Standards, Total Quality Management, or Quality Function Deployment (QFD) focuses the company's resources towards achieving faster and better results in the global market with less cost. To anticipate the needs of the marketplace and clients as the world and technology change, a new system, which we call Power Quality System (PQS), has been designed. PQS is a combination of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the creative and innovative capacity of human beings to meet the challenges of the new world business and to develop high quality products.     

Effecting and leading change in health care organizations

BACKGROUND: Understanding change is crucial to implementing quality improvement (QI) initiatives. Widespread change will be required to correct what many consider to be outmoded and deficient systems of care. This article summarizes the current literature--within both health care and the fields of business and management--regarding how change occurs at the individual and organizational levels. Part 1 focuses on changing clinician behavior, which is instrumental to any effort directed in the health care setting. Part 2 examines the culture of change. Part 3 addresses issues of leadership, along with the necessary steps to guide change in an organization. Part 4 summarizes key elements of change. Finally, Part 5 provides three case examples of QI initiatives reported in the recent literature to illustrate how the application of the knowledge of change management can assist in the successful implementation of QI programs. KEY ELEMENTS OF CHANGE: The knowledge base regarding successful change in health care organizations can be summarized in eight crucial strategies or principles: (1) develop a vision for change, (2) focus on the change process, (3) analyze which individuals in the organization must respond to the proposed change and what barriers exist, (4) build partnerships between physicians and the administration, (5) create a culture of continuous commitment to change, (6) ensure that change begins with leadership, (7) ensure that change is well communicated, and (8) build in accountability for change. CONCLUSION: A knowledge of change management can help leaders of QI programs in health care organizations successfully apply these concepts to bring about much-needed transformations in health care.     

Risk management in the automotive supply chain: an exploratory study in Brazil

The main objective of this study was to identify the main characteristics of risk management in the automotive supply chain in Brazil, considering companies in the first and second tiers. This objective was achieved through the proposition of three hypotheses that were tested based on a survey of 211 auto parts producers scattered throughout the country, from which 77 completed forms were received. This research enabled us to conclude that the risks perceived in tier 2 are higher than those observed in tier 1. Also, it was possible to verify that the performance of companies in tier 2 (higher risk) is lower than those in tier 1. Contrary to what was observed in the literature, this research could not find evidence to confirm that risk management tools are prioritized to reduce the risk of companies in the supply chain. Therefore, this research contributes to both theory and practice: this is the first study that performs an analysis of risk management in supply chains with tier 1 and 2 companies in the Brazilian automotive industry, becoming an important complement to recent studies on this topic. For practitioners and business executives who manage risks in automotive supply chains in Brazil, this paper shows the reality of the issue in first- and second-tier companies, which can provide them with important contexts for their decision making in the day-to-day business of the automotive sector.     

Links to commercial websites as a source of business information

Websites of China's top 100 information technology (IT) companies were examined. Link count to a company's website was found to correlate with the company's revenue, profit, and research and development expenses. This suggests that Web hyperlinks to commercial sites can be a business performance indicator and thus a source of business information. This information is useful for Web business intelligence and Web data mining. As a comparison to IT companies, China's top 100 privately owned companies were also studied. No relationship between link count and the business performance measure was found for these companies due probably to the heterogeneous nature of this group. Data collection issues for webometrics research were also explored in the study. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Service Innovativeness and Innovation Success in Technology-based Knowledge-Intensive Business Services: An Intellectual Capital Approach

This paper analyzes the influence of the three components of intellectual capital (human, social and organizational) and intensity in collaboration with clients on service innovativeness in knowledge-intensive business services (KIBS). It also includes a discussion on the impact of both service innovativeness and intensity in collaboration with clients on innovation success. An empirical study is conducted on a sample of companies belonging to two technology-based KIBS industries: software and R&D services. The results suggest that the positive effect of human capital on service innovativeness is moderated by intensity in collaboration with clients, being human capital enhanced by organizational and social capital. The effect of social capital on service innovativeness is partially mediated by human capital and also moderated by intensity in collaboration with clients. Finally, service innovativeness positively affects innovation success, while intensity in collaboration with clients has a higher effect.     

Transnational experience and high-performing entrepreneurs in emerging economies: Evidence from Vietnam

Do high-performing entrepreneurs in the technology sector in emerging economies have more, or different, transnational experience than the founders of high-performing non-technology businesses? Employing Vietnam as a case study, we find that they do; the founders of high-performing technology-oriented businesses are 15 times more likely to have transnational experience in the U.S. compared to their non-technology peers, and are 35 times more likely to be graduates of American universities compared to founders of high-performing, non-technology-oriented business. The founders of high-performing non-technology businesses are more ‘place-based’, as they have predominantly lived and studied in Vietnam. Our data and methods are comprised of a logistic regression analysis of the biographical details of Vietnam's 143 highest-performing entrepreneurs; the founders of the 76 Vietnam's (non-technology-based) companies with the highest market capitalizations and the 67 founders of Vietnam's highest performing technology-oriented companies, in terms of private equity fundraising, as of April 2020. The paper's theoretical contribution is the advance it makes in analytical explanations of why technology-based entrepreneurs have more transnational experience, especially in the U.S., than high-performing founders of businesses in other sectors; this helps extend theory on the relationship between social and human capital and entrepreneurial performance, specifically in the technology sector.     

Leadership in Innovators and Defenders: The Role of Cognitive Personality Styles

This research is based on a mixed strategic typology, combining innovators of Miller and Roth (1994, “A Taxonomy of Manufacturing Strategies,” Management Science, 40 (3), 285–304) and defenders of Miles et al. (1978, “Organizational Strategy, Structure and Process,” Academy of Management Review, 3, 546–562) and supported by the perception–evaluation personality model of Jung (1923, Psychological Types, London, Routledge & Kegan). Leadership model having five underlying constructs—group cohesion, intellectual flexibility, leader cognitive styles, leadership styles and leadership roles—is identified and studied. At first, respondent firms from various sectors are classified as innovators and defenders. Second, the constructs are empirically tested on them. Important findings suggest that innovators have intuitive-feeling leaders and defenders have sensing-thinking leaders, two of the four personality types proposed by Jung (1923). It has also been found that innovators are higher in the degree of intellectual adjustment; in the idea generation and nurturant phase leaders exhibit intuitive-feeling personality style; concept creators also exhibit the same. These findings may be used in organizations for leadership building, finding out best candidate job-fit and organization-fit during recruitment, and also for training and development of the leaders.     

Tenure and turnover of academics in six undergraduate programs in the United States

The mobility of faculty members in different undergraduate programs is influenced by different factors, and so inter-program variability can be expected in mobility rates. This study makes use of course catalogs for the collection of data related to the tenure and turnover of academics from six undergraduate programs in the United States. Included in the study are 34 universities ranked in the top 100 US universities according to USNews for which a minimum of 15 years of course catalogs are available. For the study, 1345 course catalogs were used to attain information about 19,353 faculty members. It was found that economics faculty members have the shortest average tenure and economics programs have the highest turnover among all six programs, while physics and chemistry are the least mobile programs. The other three programs—history, mathematics and political science—fall somewhere in between. Private and high ranking universities are less mobile than public and low ranking universities respectively. It is found that turnover rates fell and average tenures increased after the 1970s.     

Project Execution Capability, Organizational Know-how and Conglomerate Corporate Growth in Late Industrialization

In many successful late-industrializing countries in the 20thcentury, business groups with operating units in technologicallyunrelated industries have acted as the microeco-nomic agentof growth. This paper explores why this business form has characterizedcountries which industrialized ‘late’, and why thisform succeeded in the early phases of catching up whereas theadvanced-country conglomerate has had an undistinguished performance.The paper uses internal resource-base theories of the firm toexplore the significance of organizational knowledge and resultingincreasing returns in the group form which, even in mature marketsand especially in late industrialization, constitute a sustainablesource of competitiveness. In the case of late industrializationforeign technology acquisition capability became a necessarycondition for corporate success. In the best diversified businessgroups this capability was transformed into organizational knowhow that provided a key resource in the effectiveness of corporategrowth through diversification. The first two parts of the paperbriefly survey diversified industrial groups in historical contextsand then across a broad array of late-industrializing countries.Then the paper considers why diversification was not prevalentamong firms attempting to catch up in earlier historical periods,why the strategy of leading late industrializing firms was oneof diversification rather than specialization and why theirchosen diversification path was one involving technologist collyunrelated industries. This is followed by the core argumentof the paper about the transformation of technology acquisitioninto a competitive asset and illustrated with evidence fromSouth Korea. Finally, the paper analyzes why the behavior ofthe late industrializing group differs from that of the Americanconglomerate.