Understanding workplace violence: The value of a systems perspective

Workplace violence is a leading form of occupational injury and fatality, but has received little attention from the ergonomics research community. The paper reports findings from the 2012 New Zealand Workplace Violence Survey, and examines the workplace violence experience of 86 New Zealand organisations and the perceptions of occupational health and safety professionals from a systems perspective. Over 50% of respondents reported violence cases in their organisation, with perpetrators evenly split between co-workers and external sources such as patients. Highest reported levels of violence were observed for agriculture, forestry and construction sectors. Highest risk factor ratings were reported for interpersonal and organisational factors, notably interpersonal communication, time pressure and workloads, with lowest ratings for environmental factors. A range of violence prevention measures were reported, although most organisations relied on single control measures, suggesting unmanaged violence risks were common among the sample.     

Is Formality in Knowledge Management Practices Related to the Size of Organizations? The Basque Case

This article's objectives are to analyze the trends related to knowledge management process in small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) and to compare these findings with the conclusions of other research studies designed for SMEs and to examine the level of formality in knowledge management processes according to the size of enterprise. As well, to propose a model suited to the characteristics of the small business. The information is collected from 22 Basque Country SMEs grouped into industrial clusters, through a survey that is conducted to identify the use of practices related to knowledge management. Results show that informal practices figure prominently in the day to day of the SME and that the knowledge management process is not standardized but that is performed by the collaborative work between people, among others. Besides, the size of the SME acts as a factor in regard to the level of formality in knowledge management process. This study helps SME managers understand where the organizational knowledge is found within organizations and, consequently, to not neglect the importance of people in keeping competitiveness high. The article provides new information on how firms located in a particular region of Spain perform in relation to knowledge management, and it could be considered a sort of benchmarking practice on the behavior of SME in managing knowledge, which will be useful for the organization when taking management decisions.     

中小民营企业信息化建设策略研究

企业信息化是一个复杂的系统工程,包含了管理观念更新、企业文化变革、业务流程重组／改善、信息技术基础设施建设等多方面的内容。由于民营企业在组织结构、管理模式、思维方式、运作流程上的不同特点,其企业信息化建设亟待针对性的信息化建设方法指导。从我国中小民营企业的信息化特征出发,分析了民营企业信息化障碍与相应的规避方法,进一步探讨了中小民营的企业信息化建设策略。     

Supplier development practice: Arising the problems of upstream delivery for a food distribution SME in the UK

The paper aims to emphasize on the impacts of the supplier development on reducing the defects in supplier quality for a food distribution small–medium sized enterprise (SME). An empirical study was conducted to measure the performance of the suppliers in three different key performance indicators of the outsourcing and supplier’s performance to arise the existing problems via information exchange, data collection and data analysis. It was found that supplier development through data and information exchange and better communication by any food distribution SME raises the problems more promptly. This can dramatically change the supplier’s behavior to improve the quality of the supplier’s service and products. It is suggested that more research is required to raise other key performance indicators and their related problems and to develop more improvement practices. Six sigma methodologies could be the potential good practices to be focused in future research studies. Supplier performance measurement, which encompasses data exchange and data collection, develops the systematic flow of information, which potentially improves the flow of goods and the whole food supply chain to address the final consumer satisfaction. The research took a novel approach in adopting some transport related key performance indicators of the food supply to the food distribution and retailing sector, which is almost a new approach in food industry.     

A genetic algorithm approach for SMEs bankruptcy prediction: Empirical evidence from Italy

Bankruptcy prediction is a topic, which affect the economic well being of all countries. Having an accurate company default prediction model, which can pick up on time the signs of financial distress, is vital for all firms, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These firms represent the backbone of the economy of every country. Therefore, they need a prediction model easily adaptable to their characteristics. For this purpose, this study explores and compares the potential of genetic algorithms (GAs) with those of logistic regression (LR) and support vector machine (SVM). GAs are applied to a large sample of 3.100 Italian manufacturing SMEs, three, two and one year prior to bankruptcy. The results indicate that GAs are a very effective and promising instrument in assessing the likelihood of SMEs bankruptcy compared with LR and SVM, especially in reducing Type II misclassification rate. Of particular interest, results show that GAs prediction accuracy rate increases when the model is applied according to size and geographical area, with a marked improvement in the smallest sized firms and in the firms operating in north Italy.     

Requirements engineering in small and medium enterprises

Little is known about requirements engineering practices in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). This paper summarises the results of a workshop on requirements engineering held with practitioners from 10 SMEs. The current state-of-the-practice, as reported by the practitioners, differs significantly, and so do their individual problems due to contextual issues (e.g., in-house vs. contract development, type of product). The participants were presented with a set of current requirements engineering principles, techniques, methods, and tools. Important concepts were motivated by small case studies and experiments which we employed as a vehicle for technology transfer. The design of these and their results are described, as well as the practitioner’s rating of the techniques and methods.     

From industrial safety to corporate health management

Occupational health and safety is one of the most important topics of ergonomics. In many countries the practical issues are addressed in worker protection laws or rules and most companies have some sort of occupational health and safety system. As with many other ergonomics approaches, such activities are often necessary because of legal requirements. Such efforts are often viewed by management as primarily cost intensive. To change this image, it would be helpful to have a more positive, management-oriented approach. Corporate health management as a module of an integrated management system can fulfil this goal.     

图形条码技术在中小企业ERP中的应用

介绍了图形条码技术的基本原理和应用领域,阐明了条码辨读的全过程。根据中小企业ERP建设中遇到的数据问题,指出了该技术与ERP系统集成过程中,在解决采购、生产、销售、库存各环节间存在的问题。同时说明了条码技术在ERP系统引入的必要性。     

基于岗位的高职计算机网络技术专业层次化人才培养

根据中小企业网络工作流程和技能的要求,设计对应的课程体系、教学方案和考核方式,将流程阶段化、课程内容单元化,使学生在掌握主干知识的基础上有机会选择符合自身特点的课程单元,进而为实现网络应用人才的层次化培养提供可实施方案。     

Cost effectiveness of ergonomic redesign of electronic motherboard

A case study to illustrate the cost effectiveness of ergonomic redesign of electronic motherboard was presented. The factory was running at a loss due to the high costs of rejects and poor quality and productivity. Subjective assessments and direct observations were made on the factory. Investigation revealed that due to motherboard design errors, the machine had difficulty in placing integrated circuits onto the pads, the operators had much difficulty in manual soldering certain components and much unproductive manual cleaning (MC) was required. Consequently, there were high rejects and occupational health and safety (OHS) problems, such as, boredom and work discomfort. Also, much labour and machine costs were spent on repairs. The motherboard was redesigned to correct the design errors, to allow more components to be machine soldered and to reduce MC. This eliminated rejects, reduced repairs, saved US dollars 581495/year and improved operators' OHS. The customer also saved US dollars 142105/year on loss of business.     

A process-focused decision framework for analyzing the business value potential of IT investments

A key consideration during investment decision making is the overall business value potential of an information technology (IT) solution. The complexity of the contemporary IT landscape is increasing. As information systems and technologies become more advanced and interconnected, they often impact multiple business processes in the organization. This in turn increases the complexity of IT investment decisions. This paper describes a decision framework for considering investments in information technologies that impact multiple business processes in the organization. The decision framework is illustrated via a case study of a small business that invested in mobile and wireless computing. The microcosm of the small business serves to illustrate some aspects of the business value derived from information technology investments that are often challenging to isolate in more complex organizational environments. The decision framework can support managers to analyze the overall business value returns arising from the ‘ripple effect’ of an IT investment on core and ancillary business processes. In the decision framework, the business value ripple effect is analyzed via a vertical dimension that emanates from core business processes to ancillary processes, and a horizontal dimension that extends over time.

Worker productivity, and occupational health and safety issues in selected industries

The main objective of this research was to identify factors that affected worker productivity, occupational health and safety in selected industries in a developing country. Fifty production managers participated in the study. Fifty-four percent of the managers reported hot environmental conditions, 28% a noisy environment, and 26% a lack of resources and facilities. Managers received worker complaints of fatigue, back pain, upper-body pain, hand and wrist pain and headaches. Management (88%) acknowledged not having knowledge or access to ergonomics information. Ninety-four percent of the companies did not carry out ergonomic assessments. A significant correlation (p<0.01) was found among productivity indicators and health and organizational attributes. Lack of skills in ergonomics and training, communication and resources are believed to be some of the factors contributing to the poor ergonomic conditions and consequent loss of worker productivity and reduced health and safety in these industries.     

基于SaaS模式的现代物流管理系统的设计

针对当前中小型物流企业信息化存在的问题,分析了中小型物流企业构建基于SaaS模式的现代物流管理系统优势,并提出基于SaaS模式的现代物流管理总体结构,以及现代物流管理数据存储方案与设计思路。     

Implementation programme of the Swedish ordinance concerning work postures and working movements

Ergonomically-rclated occupational injuries have been increasingly recognized in Sweden. The official injury statistics show that ergonomically-related injuries accounted for about 20% of all reported occupational injuries (ISA 1985). On 1 January 1984 an ordinance concerning work postures and working movements was passed. It was built upon and is a complement to the Work Environment Act of 1978. There are in Sweden about 400 labour inspectors in 19 regional Labour Inspectorates, to ensure among other things that rules concerning the occupational environment are complied with at the workplace level. Sweden has a working population of about 4 million people. To implement the above-mentioned ordinance, a 2-year implementation programme was set up. The labour inspectors first identified major areas with severe non-ergonomic working conditions, in all areas of work. Six typical work situations were then selected and the inspectors were asked to pay special attention to them, and to intensify their efforts on these work situations, during a 10-month period. Eighteen months after the ordinance came into effect, the implementation programme and the labour inspectorate input was evaluated. The preliminary results showed an overall increase in ergonomic awareness. The ordinance was distributed in about 120000 copies, and the labour inspectors found it to be a useful tool in their work. Citations concerning ergonomics had increased considerably during this period.