Relationship between quality‐management systems and organizational innovations

The purpose of this study is to ascertain whether there is any correlation between the implementation of quality‐management systems (QMSs) in manufacturing firms and the use of certain organizational innovations in those firms. A conceptual model of the relationships among the constructs of “organizational innovations” and “level of quality management” is proposed and tested. The study finds a correlation between the level of quality management in an organization and the implementation of procedural organizational innovations. Because the study is pioneering and exploratory in nature, the analysis is confined to the use of a limited number of organizational innovations in Spanish manufacturing firms. The findings will assist managers to make appropriate strategic decisions when implementing QMSs. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

Intelligent environmental management for SMEs in manufacturing

Currently environmental management is at the forefront of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), especially in certain sectors where its presence is mandatory in order to operate in business. Although SMEs in certain sectors are catching up on their larger counterparts in reducing their environmental impacts, which are mainly due to supply chain demands, statistics clearly show that the majority of manufacturing SMEs are not incorporating formal environmental management system (EMS) into their businesses. The treatment of SMEs as one homogenous group by research has led to a lack of providing real strategies and tools that SMEs can implement and use. Current strategies are fragmented and seen as piecemeal, requiring adaptation and application to a particular sector by SMEs. SMEs do not have the resources required to research all environmental aspects of their businesses, which is a fundamental part of an EMS. Irish EMS support initiatives have but provided grant assistance in contributing towards the fees of external environmental consultants. As a result the majority of SMEs must rely on the help and assistance of external environmental consultants to assist them in taking account of their environmental impacts. Recent research obtained data on the current practices and experiences of Irish SMEs in areas of manufacturing and environmental management. Results of which, compares with previous research carried out in other European countries, however their significance and weightings differ considerably. Responses obtained regarding waste minimisation, recycling and reuse were positive, however, Irish manufacturing SMEs are falling short of initiating formal environmental management systems and front of pipe technologies. The use of information technology in assisting SMEs manage their environmental impacts holds much potential in providing a complete holistic environmental information management system (EIMS), which is already implemented in larger companies. Initial research has identified and developed proven strategies, solutions and tools from ISO 14001 certified Engineering SMEs, which will be used to form an initial base for an EIMS.     

The relationship between organizational culture and the deployment of agile methods

Context

Systems development normally takes place in a specific organizational context, including organizational culture. Previous research has identified organizational culture as a factor that potentially affects the deployment systems development methods.

Objective

The purpose is to analyze the relationship between organizational culture and the post-adoption deployment of agile methods.

Method

This study is a theory development exercise. Based on the Competing Values Model of organizational culture, the paper proposes a number of hypotheses about the relationship between organizational culture and the deployment of agile methods.

Results

Inspired by the agile methods thirteen new hypotheses are introduced and discussed. They have interesting implications, when contrasted with ad hoc development and with traditional systems development methods.

Conclusion

Because of the conceptual richness of organizational culture and the ambiguity of the concept of agility the relationship between organizational culture and the deployment of agile systems development forms a rich and interesting research topic. Recognizing that the Competing Values Model represents just one view of organizational culture, the paper introduces a number of alternative conceptions and identifies several interesting paths for future research into the relationship between organizational culture and agile methods deployment.     

Paving the way for CRM success: The mediating role of knowledge management and organizational commitment

Customer relationship management (CRM) has become one of the most influential technologies in the world, and companies are increasingly implementing it to create value. However, despite significant investment in CRM technology infrastructure, empirical research offers inconsistent support for its positive impact on performance. This study develops and tests a research model analyzing the process through which CRM technology infrastructure translates into organizational performance, drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) and the knowledge-based view (KBV) of the firm. Based on an international sample of 125 hotels, the results suggest that organizational commitment and knowledge management fully mediate this process.     

Exploring the role of customer relationship management (CRM) systems in customer knowledge creation

This study explores how customer relationship management (CRM) systems support customer knowledge creation processes [48], including socialization, externalization, combination and internalization. CRM systems are categorized as collaborative, operational and analytical. An analysis of CRM applications in three organizations reveals that analytical systems strongly support the combination process. Collaborative systems provide the greatest support for externalization. Operational systems facilitate socialization with customers, while collaborative systems are used for socialization within an organization. Collaborative and analytical systems both support the internalization process by providing learning opportunities. Three-way interactions among CRM systems, types of customer knowledge, and knowledge creation processes are explored.     

Supporting management and maintenance of manufacturing knowledge in design automation systems

Many companies base their business strategy on customized products. To enable a high level of product adaptation in an engineer-to-order approach companies invest time and resources to develop design automation systems. Initially, when implementing a design automation system, the focus is on successfully developing a system that generates design variants based on different customer specifications (i.e. the execution of system embedded knowledge and system output). However, in the long run, two important aspects are the management and maintenance of the knowledge that governs the designs. Further, the increasing emphasis on deploying a holistic view of a product’s properties and functions implies an increasing number of life-cycle requirements. The knowledge to adapt the product to fulfil these requirements should also be used and consequently incorporated into the knowledge-base, allowing for correct decisions to be made. In a system for automated variant design, the implications on the product of these life-cycle requirements have to be expressed as algorithms, production rules and/or computational statements to be intertwined with the design calculations. The number of requirements can be significantly large, and the knowledge scattered over different application systems used for the realisation of the design automation system. This makes it difficult to manage and maintain the system as the product life-cycle environment changes and evolves.In this article, the focus is on the requirements related to manufacturing. For that, an approach for the modelling of manufacturing requirements, supporting both knowledge execution and information management, in systems for automated variant design is introduced. The approach has been applied and refined when developing a design automation system in cooperation with a company to demonstrate and verify the approach’s usability.     

A quantitative and qualitative study of the link between business process management and digital innovation

The information revolution leaves its mark on businesses, resulting in organizations looking for digital innovation (DI) to apply to their business processes and anticipate competitors. Since the interplay between business process management (BPM) and DI has been underdeveloped, this mixed-methods article investigates the strength and nature of the relationship. We supplement the findings of an international survey (stage 1) with explanations from an expert panel (stage 2) to generalize a positive yet moderate link because of manifold contextual factors affecting strategic decision-making. We extend the technology–organization–environment (TOE) framework and profile organizations along their digital process innovation (DPI) mastery in a readiness matrix.     

The relation between BPM culture,BPM methods,and process performance: Evidence from quantitative field studies

Business process management (BPM) research conceptualizes BPM culture as a type of organizational culture that supports BPM. No quantitative fieldwork has so far examined how such a supporting role manifests itself. We study the relationship between BPM culture, BPM methods, and process performance empirically. Our analysis of multiple survey data sets from a total of 581 practitioners of multiple industries suggests that BPM methods indirectly contribute to process performance by establishing a BPM culture. This finding updates the prevalent assumption that the correct application of methods yields direct performance benefits. We discuss several implications for theory and practice.     

The relationships between organizational and individual variables to on-the-job driver accidents and accident-free kilometres

Highway fatalities are the leading cause of fatal work injuries in the US, accounting for approximately 1 in 4 of the 5900 job-related deaths during 2001. The present study focused on the contribution of organizational factors and driver behaviours to on-the-job driving accidents in a large Western Canadian corporation. A structural equation modelling (SEM) approach was used which allows researchers to test a complex set of relationships within a global theoretical framework. A number of scales were used to assess organizational support, driver errors, and driver behaviours. The sample of professional drivers that participated allowed the recording of on-the-job accidents and accident-free kilometres from their personnel files. The pattern of relationships in the fitted model, after controlling for exposure and social desirability, provides insight into the role of organizational support, planning, environment adaptations, fatigue, speed, errors and moving citations to on-the-job accidents and accident-free kilometres. For example, organizational support affected the capacity to plan. Time to plan work-related driving was found to predict accidents, fatigue and adaptations to the environment. Other interesting model paths, SEM limitations, future research and recommendations are elaborated.     

Macroergonomics: analysis and design of work systems

Attending to the larger system components such as organizational design and management is not novel for ergonomists. In Europe, there has been a strong tradition to investigate ergonomic problems within a holistic, systems context. "Macroergonomics" builds upon this tradition by providing specific methods and tools that yield large-scale results. It is believed that meaningful and large-scale results are needed in today's competitive and turbulent work environments. Macroergonomics is defined, its history is uncovered and focus is given to a key methodology, macroergonomic analysis and design. Case studies are used to validate the method and illustrate that performance results in the 60-90% range can be expected.     

Managing information systems for effectiveness and humanity: Applying research on organizational behavior

A key problem of managers is determining how to manage their professionals for both effectiveness and humanity. Discussion begins by taking a close look at the nature of the problem, to sort out its causes; then it is turned around and viewed as an opportunity. Drawing on recent research in organizational behavior, several strategies for change are recommended. The concept of a psychological contract is introduced as a new perspective of the relationship between the organization and its employees. This suggests that, within , the only way to achieve long-term effectiveness is by managing with a sense of humanity toward employees.     

Conceptualizing organizational innovation: The case of the Brazilian software industry

This paper presents and tests a conceptual model that explains the innovation practices and innovation outcomes in Brazilian software firms. In terms of internal and external innovation capabilities, the ability to manage the relationship between people and their organizational contexts plays an important role in organizational innovation. Based on these results, we propose that the disparities between software firms in building organizational innovation can be attributed, in part, to differences in their internal capabilities. The paper aims at encouraging and supporting managers to develop internal capabilities as a means of effectively leveraging the internally and externally distributed knowledge essential to innovation development.     

Perceptions and use of electronic media: Testing the relationship between organizational interpretation differences and media richness

How do managers perceive and use media? Media richness theory (MRT) appears to provide persuasive answers to this, but does it work when electronic media is used? Surveys of Japanese managers showed that the perceptions of media, including electronic media, did not contradict MRT. But, even so, the use of rich media was found to be influenced more strongly by whether the media was traditional or electronic, with respect to organizational interpretation of its environment. The perception and use of electronic media may not correspond, though they have generally been assumed to do so.     

Social relationship and its role in knowledge management systems usage

The KMS has been widely implemented in organizations. However, its availability does not guarantee that employees have been willing to spend time and effort using it. We explored the use of KMS with emphasis on social relationship. Specifically, social capital theory was employed to establish the social relationship construct and its three dimensions: tie strength, shared norms, and trust. By studying a company that had implemented a KMS, we explored the dimensions of social relationship and its importance in the use of a KMS by employees. A theoretical framework was used to depict the antecedents of employee's usage behavior. Implications for both researchers and practitioners are discussed, especially for companies expecting to exploit knowledge sharing in the Chinese business environment.     

ERP systems adoption: An exploratory study of the organizational factors and impacts of ERP success

We examined the relationships between the success of ERP system adoption, extent of business process improvement (BPI), and organizational performance and investigated the associations between the outcomes of these initiatives and such organizational factors as strategic intent, senior management support, and the status of the IT function within a company. A correlation analysis of 96 firms was made to test our hypothesis that the strategic intent to use ERP was closely related to the success of BPI, ERP, and organizational performance. The results also demonstrated that CEO-IT distance may have little direct bearing on the outcomes of ERP and BPI initiatives. A closer CEO-IT reporting relationship, however, was found to be associated with higher levels of senior management support for both types of enterprise projects. This empirical evidence reinforced the long-held assumption that organization-level benefits, BPI, and ERP success were closely related; and that these relationships were subject to the influence of the organizational variables.     

Information management and organizational processes: an approach through soft systems methodology

Abstract. This paper explores an approach to understanding information provision in organizations which is built around soft systems methodology (SSM). It also, from recent research in both industry and the National Health Service, derives a sense-making framework for work of this kind. A view of the fundamental nature of information systems is presented. This is compatible with SSM, and uses of SSM in information-focused studies are illustrated. These cover the rethinking of the Manufacturing Function in the Shell Group and a number of studies in the NHS concerned with the information implications of current changes. Out of this work, in order to make sense of disparate experiences, a framework is derived which captures three necessary domains (conceptual, organizational, technological) whose interaction defines an organization's response to its information provision.     

Knowledge management systems and organizational knowledge processing challenges: A field experiment

This paper investigates the appropriateness of knowledge management system (KMS) designs for different organizational knowledge processing challenges. Building on the theory of task-technology fit (TTF), we argue that different KMS designs are more effective for different knowledge tasks. An exploratory field experiment was conducted in the context of Internet-based knowledge sharing services to provide empirical support for our hypotheses. The results of our experiment show that a KMS designed to support the goal GENERATE is more appropriate for divergent type knowledge problems because of its affordances for iterative brainstorming processes. Conversely, for convergent type knowledge processing challenges, a KMS with the goal CHOOSE that supports the ability to clarify and to analyze is more effective.     

From data to knowledge: The interaction between data management systems in educational institutions and the delivery of quality education

No school is an island; it is a part of a continuum or a pipeline of institutions which together form an educational pipeline through which groups of students pass. To turn a body of data into useful information for knowledge-based decision-making at any level, data must be collected, organised, analysed and reflected upon. The purpose of this paper is to discuss how schools and other educational institutions can not only collect better data but learn how to transform that data so that the information held within can be effectively shared among all stakeholders. This process will help to ensure that the school and the entire education system provide a more seamless and effective educational pipeline for students, and ultimately improve the quality of education delivered in the country as a whole.     

Using linguistic preferences and grey relational analysis to evaluate the environmental knowledge management capacity

This study proposes a combined fuzzy grey relational analysis method based to deal with study objective. This study objective is aimed to present a perception approach to deal with supplier evaluation of environmental knowledge management capacities (EKMC) with uncertainty and lack of information. The ranking of best supplier might be a key strategic direction of other suppliers prior to EKMC. The solving procedure is as follows, (i) the weights of criteria and alternatives are described both in qualitative and quantitative information using fuzzy set theory; (ii) using a grey relational analysis to result the ranking order for all alternatives; (iii) an empirical study of supplier ranking problem in EKMC are used to resolve with this proposed approach and the result indicates that optimal supplier is with higher protection of the environmental knowledge from inappropriate or illegal use or theft (C7) and from the best alternative supplier to study its criteria ranking.     

信息系统项目管理的知识管理实施及评价

在基于知识管理的信息系统项目管理模式前提下,结合信息系统项目管理中的知识管理实践,集中研究信息系统项目管理的知识管理实施和评价方法,以用于指导信息系统项目管理的知识管理成功实施,进而提高信息系统建设的成功率。