Highly focused document retrieval in aerospace engineering : user interaction design and evaluation

Purpose – This paper seeks to describe the preliminary studies (on both users and data), the design and evaluation of the K-Search system for searching legacy documents in aerospace engineering. Real-world reports of jet engine maintenance challenge the current indexing practice, while real users’ tasks require retrieving the information in the proper context. K-Search is currently in use in Rolls-Royce plc and has evolved to include other tools for knowledge capture and management. Design/methodology/approach – Semantic Web techniques have been used to automatically extract information from the reports while maintaining the original context, allowing a more focused retrieval than with more traditional techniques. The paper combines semantic search with classical information retrieval to increase search effectiveness. An innovative user interface has been designed to take advantage of this hybrid search technique. The interface is designed to allow a flexible and personal approach to searching legacy data. Findings – The user evaluation showed that the system is effective and well received by users. It also shows that different people look at the same data in different ways and make different use of the same system depending on their individual needs, influenced by their job profile and personal attitude. Research limitations/implications – This study focuses on a specific case of an enterprise working in aerospace engineering. Although the findings are likely to be shared with other engineering domains (e.g. mechanical, electronic), the study does not expand the evaluation to different settings. Originality/value – The study shows how real context of use can provide new and unexpected challenges to researchers and how effective solutions can then be adopted and used in organizations.</p

The limits of process: On (re)reading Henri Bergson

This article offers a reading of the work of Henri Bergson as it pertains to organizations through the lens of ideas drawn from critical realism. It suggests an alternative to interpretations based on a stark division between process and realist perspectives. Much of the existing literature presents a rather partial view of Bergson’s work. A review suggests some interesting parallels with themes in critical realism, notably the emergence of mind. Critical realism has a focus on process at its heart, but is also concerned with how the products of such processes become stabilized and form the conditions for action. This suggests that attention might usefully be paid to the relationship between organizational action and the sedimented practices grouped under the heading of ‘routines’. More attention to Bergson’s account of the relationship between instinct, intuition and intelligence provides a link to the social character of thought, something which can be mapped on to Archer’s work on reflexivity and the ‘internal conversation’. This suggests that our analyses need to pay attention to both memory and history, to building and dwelling, rather than the one-sided focus found in some process theory accounts

Beyond the Circle of Life

It seems certain to me that I will die and stay dead. By “I”, I mean me, Greg Nixon, this person, this self-identity. I am so intertwined with the chiasmus of lives, bodies, ecosystems, symbolic intersubjectivity, and life on this particular planet that I cannot imagine this identity continuing alone without them. However, one may survive one’s life by believing in universal awareness, perfection, and the peace that passes all understanding. Perhaps, we bring this back with us to the Source from which we began, changing it, enriching it. Once we have lived – if we don’t choose the eternal silence of oblivion by life denial, vanity, indifference, or simple weariness – the Source learns and we awaken within it. Awareness, consciousness, is universal – it comes with the territory – so maybe you will be one of the few prepared to become unexpectedly enlightened after the loss of body and self. You may discover your own apotheosis – something you always were, but after a lifetime of primate experience, now much more. Since you are of the Source and since you have changed from life experience and yet retained the dream of ultimate awakening, plus you have brought those chaotic emotions and memories back to the Source with you (though no longer yours), your life & memories will have mattered. Those who awaken beyond the death of self will have changed Reality

Heuristics and biases in organizing : conceptual tools for examinations of cognitive biases in organizational routines

The rationality of judgment and decision-making processes has a long pedigree as a central topic in organization studies. Traditionally, organization studies have depicted human rationality as bounded and studied the relationship between boundedly rational individuals and the internal organizational environment. However, recent analyses of the bounded rationality concept suggest it is sometimes used imprecisely, which undermines those organizational theories that build upon it. Further, recent analyses propose the need for renewing the relationship between an individual’s bounded rationality and the structure of the internal organizational environment by using contemporary concepts such as heuristics, cognitive biases, and organizational routines. Consequently, the main research objective of this dissertation is to identify potential entry points of how to conceptually link heuristics and biases to such features of an internal organizational environment as organizational routines. I seek to achieve this main research objective by using a non-empirical research strategy, which means that I choose to service and refine academic tools instead of applying them in some empirical context. The main research objective is achieved through a cumulative effort that is presented in two parts. Part I introduces the academic tools that have helped me to create and achieve more detailed research objectives, which are discussed in Part II in the form of three essays. The three essays demonstrate the following findings. Essay 1 presents a taxonomy that clarifies the conceptual ambiguity related to bounded rationality and its three contemporary descendants: heuristics and biases (HB), natural decision making (NDM), and fast and frugal (FF) theories. Essay 2 presents a categorization of articles that demonstrates how the different antecedents of HB, NDM, and FF theories affect both the discipline and the level in which a specific theory is applied in management and organization studies. Essay 3 presents a model of the microfoundational dynamics of organizational routines, which creates possibilities for combining constructs related to HB theory with constructs related to organizational routines. The three essays contribute to the main research objective in the following ways. Essay 1 improves the construct clarity of bounded rationality and offers tools that scholars can use to map and reflect their own conceptualizations of bounded rationality. Essay 2 demonstrates specific mechanisms that link heuristics and biases to organizational-level phenomena and provides an initial version of a theory of organizational-level heuristics and biases. Essay 3 demonstrates how various structures retain different amounts of endogenous variance in organizational routines and provides a detailed analysis of the constructs that relate to the microfoundational view on routines. In aggregate, the contributions of Essays 1–3 demonstrate how the interaction between an individual’s decisions and mental models and organizational routines can either intensify or mitigate the effects of heuristics and biases.Päätöksenteon rationaalisuus on ollut pitkään keskeinen osa organisaatiotutkimusta. Perinteisesti organisaatiotutkimus on kuvannut ihmisen rationaalisuuden rajoittuneeksi ja keskittynyt tutkimaan rajoittuneesti rationaalisten yksilöiden ja sisäisen organisaatioympäristön välistä suhdetta. Viimeaikaiset rajoittuneesta rationaalisuudesta tehdyt tutkimukset osoittavat tämän käsitteen käytön olevan epätarkkaa, mikä heikentää rajoittuneen rationaalisuuden käsitettä hyödyntäviä teorioita. Lisäksi viimeaikaiset tutkimukset huomauttavat, että rajoittuneesti rationaalisten yksilöiden ja sisäisen organisaatioympäristön välistä suhdetta kuvaavaa tutkimusta olisi syytä uudistaa käyttämällä nykyaikaiselle organisaatiotutkimukselle olennaisia käsitteitä, kuten heuristiikat, kognitiiviset harhat ja organisaatioiden rutiinit. Edellä mainittuihin syihin nojaten väitöskirjani päätavoite on tunnistaa sellaisia yhtymäkohtia, jotka mahdollistavat heuristiikkojen ja kognitiivisten harhojen liittämisen käsitteellisesti osaksi sisäisen organisaatioympäristön, esimerkiksi rutiinien, tutkimusta. Pyrin saavuttamaan tämän päätavoitteen hyödyntämällä ei-empiiristä tutkimusstrategiaa. Toisin sanoen pyrin huoltamaan ja uudistamaan tutkimuksissa käytettäviä työkaluja sen sijaan, että käyttäisin niitä jossain tietyssä empiirisessä ympäristössä. Kirjan rakenteen osalta tutkimuksen päätavoite saavutetaan kahdessa osassa. Ensimmäinen osa esittelee ne tutkimuksissa käytetyt työkalut, jotka auttoivat minua luomaan tarkemmat tutkimustavoitteet. Keskustelen tarkemmista tavoitteista, ja vastaan niihin, tutkimuksen toisessa osassa, joka koostuu kolmesta esseestä. Esitän esseissä seuraavat tulokset: Ensimmäinen essee esittelee taksonomian, joka selventää alkuperäisen rajoittuneen rationaalisuuden ja sen kolmen nykyaikaisen muodon – HB-, NDM- ja FF-teorian – välillä vallitsevia käsitteellisiä epäselvyyksiä. Toisessa esseessä luokittelen tutkimusartikkelit kategorioihin, jotka havainnollistavat kuinka HB-, NDM- ja FF-teorioiden ennakko-olettamat vaikuttavat sekä siihen tieteenalaan että systeemiseen tasoon, jossa kutakin teoriaa on sovellettu organisaatiotutkimuksissa. Kolmannessa esseessä esitän mallin niistä mikrotason osatekijöistä, joista organisaatioiden rutiinit koostuvat. Malli auttaa yhdistämään organisaatioiden rutiinien osatekijöitä yksilöiden heuristiikkoihin ja kognitiivisiin harhoihin. Nämä tulokset edistävät sekä päätavoitteeseen vastaamista että muita tutkimuksia seuraavin tavoin: Ensimmäinen essee täsmentää rajoittuneen rationaalisuuden käsitettä ja tarjoaa työkaluja, joiden avulla muut tutkijat voivat pohtia ja kartoittaa omia käsityksiään rajoittuneesta rationaalisuudesta. Toinen essee sekä tarjoaa alustavan version organisaatiotason heuristiikkoja ja harhoja käsittelevästä teoriasta että havainnollistaa niitä mekanismeja, jotka liittävät heuristiikat ja harhat organisaatiotason ilmiöihin. Kolmas essee havainnollistaa kuinka erilaiset rakenteet säilyttävät eri määrän organisaation rutiinin synnyttämästä muutoksesta ja tarjoaa yksityiskohtaisen analyysin niistä käsitteistä, jotka liittyvät organisaatioiden rutiinien mikrotason tarkasteluun. Lopuksi, yhdistämällä esseiden sisältö, tämä väitöskirja havainnollistaa kuinka yksilön päätösten ja mentaalisten mallien suhde organisaation rutiineihin voi joko vahvistaa tai heikentää heuristiikkojen ja kognitiivisten harhojen vaikutuksia

Organizational Memory Studies

This paper provides an overview and discussion of the rapidly growing literature on organizational memory studies (OMS). We define OMS as an inquiry into the ways that remembering and forgetting shape, and are shaped by, organizations and organizing processes. The contribution of this article is threefold. We briefly review what we understand by organizational memory and explore some key debates and points of contestation in the field. Second, we identify four different perspectives that have been developed in OMS (functional, interpretive, critical and performative) and expand upon each perspective by showcasing articles published over the past decade. In particular, we examine four papers previously published in Organization Studies to show the distinctiveness of each perspective. Finally, we identify a number of areas for future research to facilitate the future development of OMS

Implementing Disruptive Technologies: What Have We Learned?

Rich research opportunities lie ahead for scholars interested in building a theory to explain why and how some organizations succeed while others fail in implementing disruptive technologies. As a complex socio-technical process, implementing disruptive technologies represents an endeavor fraught with challenges. Leaders need tools to assess whether implementing a potentially disruptive technology will succeed or fail; planners need a road map to navigate the implementation’s potential stepping-stones and stumbling blocks. Disruptive technology implementation scholarship is rich, has eclectic roots and conflicting findings, but lacks a success theory. To advance such a theory and guide scholars and practitioners, we conducted a structured and systematic literature review, and examined 139 empirical articles published between 1983 and 2020 in leading management and information systems journals. We focused our attention on answering two questions: How do incumbent organizations implement disruptive technologies successfully? How does the implementation of disruptive digital technologies differ from the implementation of other disruptive technologies? We employed a mixed-method approach using three criteria: technological category, challenges to successful implementation, and degree of implementation success. We identified strategic and technical implementation challenges, developed a technology implementation framework, and advanced propositions that together provide a current disruptive technology implementation success theory pending further testing

Semantic discovery and reuse of business process patterns

Patterns currently play an important role in modern information systems (IS) development and their use has mainly been restricted to the design and implementation phases of the development lifecycle. Given the increasing significance of business modelling in IS development, patterns have the potential of providing a viable solution for promoting reusability of recurrent generalized models in the very early stages of development. As a statement of research-in-progress this paper focuses on business process patterns and proposes an initial methodological framework for the discovery and reuse of business process patterns within the IS development lifecycle. The framework borrows ideas from the domain engineering literature and proposes the use of semantics to drive both the discovery of patterns as well as their reuse

Knowledge management, codification and tacit knowledge

Introduction. This article returns to a theme addressed in Vol. 8(1) October 2002 of the journal: knowledge management and the problem of managing tacit knowledge. Method. The article is primarily a review and analysis of the literature associated with the management of knowledge. In particular, it focuses on the works of a group of economists who have studied the transformation of knowledge into information through the process of codification and the knowledge transaction topography they have developed to describe this process. Analysis. The article explores the theoretical and philosophical antecedents of the economists' views. It uses this as a basis for examining the dominant views of knowledge that appear in much of the literature on knowledge management and for performing a critical evaluation of their work. Results. The results of the analysis centre upon the question of when is it appropriate to codify knowledge. They present a basic summary of the costs and benefits of codification before looking in more detail at its desirability. Conclusions. The conclusions concern the implications of the above for knowledge management and the management of tacit knowledge. They deal with the nature of knowledge management, some of the reasons why knowledge management projects fail to achieve their expectations and the potential problems of codification as a strategy for knowledge management

Amphíbio: seafront narrations, memory and urban identity

The preservation of port heritage is of paramount importance for coastal cities and countries, particularly in the Mediterranean region. However, with an aging population and shifting societal norms coupled with evolving sea routes, the traditions once centered around waterfronts, specifically port cities, are gradually eroding. This thesis aims to reassess human interaction with urban seafronts, exploring the potential for a novel museological approach that can facilitate the observation of cultural phenomena while preserving the collective memory and even providing a sanctuary within an Object Oriented Ontology framework