Adoption of IS Development Methods Across Cultural Boundaries

In IS practice as well as in the literature, IS development methods are prominently espoused. IS development methods are used around the world and globalization of business stimulates their harmonization. To our knowledge, no empirical research has been reported regarding the effect of national cultures on the actual (non-)adoption of IS development methods, which is the focus of this research project. The study is based on Hofstedes well-known research (conducted within IBM), which has provided a conceptual foundation for cross-national research over the past two decades. Data encompassing approximately 40 countries were collected within one global consulting firm. The outcomes of this study are expected to have implications for how global organizations can introduce new development methods more effectively

Institutional barriers to the transnational transfer of safety and health practices

The study examines the barriers that impede the successful transfer of the parent's occupational safety and health (OSH) practices at the Malaysian subsidiaries of a of a U.K. MNC. The study examines the process of transfer, translation and corruption of management practices as they move across the national boundaries. The study applies a case study approach and is exploratory in nature. The quantitative and qualitative methods are used to analyze the data. Overall a total of 291 employees participated in the study. Out of the total, 159 participated in the survey questionnaires and 132 in the qualitative interviews. The findings indicate two key factors had influenced the transfer and adoption of practices at the subsidiaries: the stage of economic development and the normative, cultural-cognitive systems of the host country, specifically ethnic stratification. The contribution of the study is in applying institutional theory to produce understanding of processes in the cross national transfer of management practices. The study provides researchers better understanding in applying institutional theory in the transfer and adoption of management practices in MNCs. For the HR practitioners the study provides better understanding in managing rewards systems and training of management practices

Mechanical engineering design across cultures : a method of designing for cultures

Mechanical design is often based on formal methodologies such as Quality Function Deployment. Techniques to quantitatively account for attractability, sensory perception, and affective design have been successfully incorporated into these methods and are receiving growing acceptance across many industries. Although the adoption of these methods marks a large improvement for mechanical designers, more advances in design methodology are needed. Recently, mechanical design engineers have run into problems moving designs across cultural boundaries. As mechanical design engineers move forward with creating designs to be sold to culturally different and distinct groups of consumers, methods must be developed to aid in minimizing the number of people who are un-attracted to a product. This thesis proposes one potential method to address cultural factors in the design process. An extensive review of literature on subjects important to the development of techniques for incorporation of cultural considerations into mechanical engineering design methodologies is presented. Cultural methods used in other disciplines are surveyed. Practical advice on avoiding ethnocentrism in engineering design is given. An example of the method proposed in this thesis is developed. The shortcomings and strengths of the proposed method are discussed. The thesis concludes with potential future avenues of research

Customising software products in distributed software development a model for allocating customisation requirements across organisational boundaries

Requirements engineering plays a vital role in the software development process. While it is difficult to manage those requirements locally, it is even more difficult to communicate those requirements over organisational boundaries and to convey them to multiple distribution customers. This paper discusses the requirements of multiple distribution customers empirically in the context of customised software products. The main purpose is to understand the challenges of communicating and allocating customisation requirements across distributed organisational boundaries. We conducted an empirical survey with 19 practitioners, which confirmed that communicating customisation requirements in a DSD context is a significant challenge. We therefore propose a model for allocating customisation requirements between a local, customer-based agile team and a distributed development team that uses a traditional development approach. Our conjecture is that the model would reduce the challenge of communicating requirements across organisational boundaries, address customers’ requirements and provide a focus for future empirical studies

Towards a human resources management approach in supply chain management

Supply chain management (SCM) has grown as a discipline since the field attracted attention in the 1980s. However, it is observed that effective implementation of SCM is limited because the current focus is too task-based and information-centric. The concept is often conflated, in practice, with subcontractor management, where numerical flexibility is pertinent. At the same time, consideration of human resources management (HRM) in SCM has been limited. Strategic fit within supply chains tends to emphasise taskbased numerical flexibility, rather than genuine consideration and development of human resources. On the other hand, HRM has, until recently, rarely taken into account interorganisational characteristics that typify the construction industry. Therefore, this research intends to plug the gap by examining the use of human resources in construction supply chains, with a view of developing good practice for HRM in construction SCM. To achieve this, a two-phase research methodology comprising a scoping phase and case study phase will be ensued

Panel criteria and working methods

"This document sets out the assessment criteria and working methods of the main and sub-panels for the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. The deadline for submissions is 29 November 2013" -- front cover

Improved feeding and forages at a crossroads: Farming systems approaches for sustainable livestock development in East Africa

Dairy development provides substantial potential economic opportunities for smallholder farmers in East Africa, but productivity is constrained by the scarcity of quantity and quality feed. Ruminant livestock production is also associated with negative environmental impacts, including greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, air pollution, high water consumption, land-use change, and loss of biodiversity. Improved livestock feeding and forages have been highlighted as key entry point to sustainable intensification, increasing food security, and decreasing environmental trade-offs including GHG emission intensities. In this perspective article, we argue that farming systems approaches are essential to understand the multiple roles and impacts of forages in smallholder livelihoods. First, we outline the unique position of forages in crop-livestock systems and systemic obstacles to adoption that call for multidisciplinary thinking. Second, we discuss the importance of matching forage technologies with agroecological and socioeconomic contexts and niches, and systems agronomy that is required. Third, we demonstrate the usefulness of farming systems modeling to estimate multidimensional impacts of forages and for reducing agro-environmental trade-offs. We conclude that improved forages in East Africa are at a crossroads: if adopted by farmers at scale, they can be a cornerstone of pathways toward sustainable livestock systems in East Africa.</p

Contexts of diffusion: Adoption of research synthesis in Social Work and Women's Studies

Texts reveal the subjects of interest in research fields, and the values, beliefs, and practices of researchers. In this study, texts are examined through bibliometric mapping and topic modeling to provide a birds eye view of the social dynamics associated with the diffusion of research synthesis methods in the contexts of Social Work and Women's Studies. Research synthesis texts are especially revealing because the methods, which include meta-analysis and systematic review, are reliant on the availability of past research and data, sometimes idealized as objective, egalitarian approaches to research evaluation, fundamentally tied to past research practices, and performed with the goal informing future research and practice. This study highlights the co-influence of past and subsequent research within research fields; illustrates dynamics of the diffusion process; and provides insight into the cultural contexts of research in Social Work and Women's Studies. This study suggests the potential to further develop bibliometric mapping and topic modeling techniques to inform research problem selection and resource allocation.Comment: To appear in proceedings of the 2014 International Conference on Social Computing, Behavioral-Cultural Modeling, and Prediction (SBP2014

The Impact of Cultural Familiarity on Students’ Social Media Usage in Higher Education

Using social media (SM) in Higher education (HE) becomes unavoidable in the new teaching and learning pedagogy. The current generation of students creates their groups on SM for collaboration. However, SM can be a primary source of learning distraction due to its nature, which does not support structured learning. Hence, derived from the literature, this study proposes three learning customised system features, to be implemented on SM when used in Higher Education HE. Nevertheless, some psychological factors appear to have a stronger impact on students’ adoption of SM in learning than the proposed features. A Quantitative survey was conducted at a university in Uzbekistan to collect 52 undergraduate students’ perception of proposed SM learning customised features in Moodle. These features aim to provide localised, personalised, and privacy control self-management environment for collaboration in Moodle. These features could be significant in predicting students’ engagement with SM in HE. The data analysis showed a majority of positive feedback towards the proposed learning customised SM. However, the surveyed students’ engagement with these features was observed as minimal. The course leader initiated a semi-structured interview to investigate the reason. Although the students confirmed their acceptance of the learning customised features, their preferences to alternate SM, which is Telegram overridden their usage of the proposed learning customized SM, which is Twitter. The students avoided the Moodle integrated Twitter (which provided highly accepted features) and chose to use the Telegram as an external collaboration platform driven by their familiarity and social preferences with the Telegram since it is the popular SM in Uzbekistan. This study is part of an ongoing PhD research which involves deeper frame of learners’ cognitive usage of the learning management system. However, this paper exclusively discusses the cultural familiarity impact of student’s adoption of SM in HE

Reflecting on practice: negotiating challenges to ways of working

In this paper I explore some of the issues associated with teaching and researching in the context of dominant/non-dominant group relations. The paper stems from observations, experiences and challenges that I have encountered in researching with indigenous Australians including Aboriginal people from the mainland and Torres Strait Islander people, and teaching undergraduate and post-graduate subjects on cultural diversity. I suggest that guidelines for working in culturally sensitive ways across cultural boundaries are needed and should include issues of power that are implicit in processes of knowledge production (i.e., what we know, how we know, and on whose terms we know) and social identity construction. I also argue that the writing of indigenous authors in Australia, and other contexts, are important resources for promoting critical reflection because it serves to disrupt taken for granted ways of knowing. At a minimum, I suggest, these writings bring into focus the relationships between power and social identities. I focus on the tensions and challenges associated with negotiating the messages conveyed in Aboriginal authors’ writings about self-determination, colonisation and culturally sensitive and transformative practice and research. I locate the reflection within the broader literature base on indigenisation and the development of culturally sensitive psychology. I conclude that engaging in the explication of power associated with social identities in these contexts can be challenging but it is an important part of creating a culturally sensitive psychology