Deriving Information Requirements from Responsibility Models

This paper describes research in understanding the requirements for complex information systems that are constructed from one or more generic COTS systems. We argue that, in these cases, behavioural requirements are largely defined by the underlying system and that the goal of the requirements engineering process is to understand the information requirements of system stakeholders. We discuss this notion of information requirements and propose that an understanding of how a socio-technical system is structured in terms of responsibilities is an effective way of discovering this type of requirement. We introduce the idea of responsibility modelling and show, using an example drawn from the domain of emergency planning, how a responsibility model can be used to derive information requirements for a system that coordinates the multiple agencies dealing with an emergency

A pilot demonstration project of technology application from the aerospace industry to city management (four cities program)

The Four Cities Program has completed the first year of the planned two-year program. At the beginning of the first year, a variety of program initiation activities were accomplished. Contracts were negotiated; science and technology advisors were interviewed, selected and assigned; general indoctrination and integration of the advisors into city affairs occurred; technical needs were identified and related projects pursued; pilot projects for the second year were identified; inter-city coordination on technical problems began to emerge; and the general soundness of the four cities program seems to have been established. Above all, the inter-personal relationships between the advisors and their interfaces in city government appear to be functioning smoothly. The establishment of such mutual respect, trusts, and confidences are believed essential to the success of the program

Projects and innovation : the ambiguity of the literature and its implications

The strategic role of new product development and innovation makes design performance a central concern of managers. Project management therefore appears to be an adequate solution to the integration problems raised by these activities. Work such as that of Clark et Fujimoto (1991) has helped make heavyweight project management a dominant organizational model. In this article, we wish to question this tendency to equate projects and innovation. This tendency can, in fact, appear surprising inasmuch as Clark et Fujimoto indicate that their research does not take into account the question of advanced engineering or basic research. We therefore believe that it can lead to improper use of the project format to manage innovation. We feel that, in line with work on project classification a distinction should be drawn between the various design situations to which different types of projects will be suited. Qualitative research conducted at a European automobile manufacturer on Telematics services will allow us to identify the management methods suited to the most innovative projects, i.e. those for which neither technologies nor customer requirements are known at the start of the project (referred to by Atkinson et al. (2006) as “soft” projects) We will show how these situations shake up traditional project management models and will propose five management principles adapted to this new situation.innovation;Management de projet;Services;Télématique automobile

Innovation in Automative Telematics Services: Characteristics of the Field and Management Priciples

The growing role of innovation in the strategy of car manufacturers leads them to relentlessly look for new sources of differentiation. In this way Telematics, a suite of technologies centered on communications systems within cars, is expected to bolster the car industry by offering a new stream of revenues. This articles focuses on the impact of this technology on design organization. In the first part, we demonstrate that Telematics is a radical innovation for automotive industry. Therefore traditional design models, such as heavyweight project management, are unsuitable. Next, the paper studies the organization adopted by a european car manufacturer in the light of recent research on the management of innovation.Management de projet;Services;Télématique automobile;Développement de nouveaux produits;Gestion de l'innovation

The Relative Effects of Logistics, Coordination and Human Resource on Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief Mission Performance

Most studies on humanitarian aid and disaster relief (HADR) missions suggest that the quality of logistics, coordination and human resource management will affect their performance. However, studies in developing countries are mainly conceptual and lack the necessary empirical evidence to support these contentions. The current paper thereby aimed to fill this knowledge gap by statistically examining the effects of the abovementioned factors on such missions. Focusing on the Malaysian army due to its extensive experience in HADR operations, the paper opted for a quantitative approach to allow for a more objective analysis of the issues. The results show that there are other potential determinants of mission success which deserve due attention in future studies. They also suggest that human resource is not easily measured as a construct, and that this limitation in methodology must be overcome to derive more accurate conclusions regarding its effect on HADR mission performance.&nbsp

Hybrid Car Creates Hybrid Organization: Development of Toyota's First Prius Model and Limits that Traditional Development Organization at Toyota confronted

The manager of each function-based department holds private information about his or her respective department's fields of expertise and technological advances. Given this understanding, it may be advisable for the company's headquarters to delegate decision-making authority to the managers of these individual departments. However, if decision-making authority is delegated to individual departments or to the managers representing the interests of each of those departments, those departments may pursue their own interests even at the expense of the company's interests as a whole. By contract, the product manager does not have private information but is thinking about the new product under development as a whole and thus does not have a biased preference. The question then, is, what kind of governance structure will serve as the optimal solution? When each manager possesses a biased preference for his or her own department, it is important to consider the impact that the allocation of formal authority and the information flow within the organizational hierarchy has on the organizational capacity for innovation. This theme is developed and illustrated, using the case of development of Toyota's "Prius". In the case of Toyota Motor, too, this point has been an important issue for a long time when planning its development organization structure. The development of the world's first mass-produced hybrid vehicle, the Prius by Toyota is one of the most successful examples of innovative product development in recent years. However, it has been hardly studied as to how such architectural innovation was possible within the largest organization in Japan. This paper argues at length the development process of the Prius and transfiguration of Toyota's development organization structure from the viewpoint of organizational economics framework. Development of the first Prius model by Toyota set the stage for adoption of a new development organization structure : the term-limited implementation of the new "Big Room" approach, which did bring about lasting changes to Toyota's organizational framework for vehicle development. It will be noted that concept design, or in other words interdepartmental coordination, was more important in the initial phase of development (the first six months), and thus, the "Big Room" structure was the development organization structure of choice for implementation. By contrast, after the initial six months, work on the concept design of the product development had been almost completed and interdepartmental coordination had become less important to the company compared with advances in the technologies for the engine and other component systems. For that reason, the development organization was transitioned to a more decentralized structure of governance, the conventional “chief engineer” structure. The new development organization is a kind of hybrid organization, which lies between "centralization" and "decentralization". Furthermore, we touched upon the point that delay is costly in decision problems because it increases the lag upon which decisions are based, and evaluated the new development organization structure from that viewpoint, too. The arguments made in this paper will presumably be of value as generalized recommendations for the shape of the development organization within large established corporations.

Implications of transforming the Patient Record into a Knowledge Management System

In this paper I theorize about how transforming the interpretative scheme for what a patient record is might restructure a health care setting. The observations presented here were obtained when I during three years followed implications of constructing and computerizing a patient record at three different hospitals. The results were then analyzed and interpreted within a framework combining theories about knowledge management with concepts from structuration theory and cognitive theories about schema-use, representations and sense-making. The findings indicate that thinking about the patient record as a knowledge management system might start a horizontal and vertical movement, a movement of coordination and enhancement. I propose that what the employees want to achieve with the knowledge management system depends on what strategy they have for it.interpretative schemes; anesthesia patient record; knowledge management system; knowledge management; structuration theory

Information Flow to Front-line Employees

This research is a case study within a large bureaucracy; the physical plant operations of a Tier-one university in the United States. The organization of study received low scores for internal communication in their all-employee surveys in 2012 and 2014 and was cited for “lack of information flow to front-line employees” in a peer audit conducted in 2011. Root causes for these deficiencies are investigated through (1) Activity Theory analysis, (2) Leader-Member Exchange Theory and (3) linear regression analysis of all-employee survey data. No formal initiatives addressing internal communications had been initiated when this study was launched so the research was used to identify areas for improvement within the organization.Human Dimensions of Organization

Risk-Based Design of Socio-Cyber-Physical Systems

The aim of risk management of socio-cyber-physical systems at designing is the integral safety, which ensures their coexistence with their vicinity  throughout their life cycles. On the basis of present knowledge and experience, part of risks that threaten socio-cyber-physical systems shall be mitigated by preentive measures during their designing and manufacturing. Due to dynamic changes of the world, the conditions of socio-cyber-physical systems at operation change. If  changes exceed the socio-cyber-physical systems´ safety limits which were inserted into their designs, the accidents or  socio-cyber-physical sysems´ failures occur. The presented risk management plan is tool which ensures the prevention of such unaccepted situations and the safety.