Water management strategies in urban Mexico: Limitations of the privatization debate

Water management provides a critical lens onto the development process. For the last several centuries, improvements in clean water and sanitation have contributed to better health and increased life expectancies. Currently, however, developing countries seem unable to make much progress in bringing these benefits of development to significant sectors of their citizens. Water coverage is incomplete and water is of uneven quality. Just as serious, however, are the environmental impacts of water extraction, untreated sewage disposal, and the depletion of water sources through excessive withdrawals and pollution. In this research report, we present a framework for the analysis of the social appropriation of water based upon the concept of the New Culture of Water. Using that framework, we review the Mexican water sector in light of a set of original case studies. Although privatization might have some role to play in improving the performance of certain functions of water management agencies, it has clearly not proved superior to the public agencies we review. More importantly, however, the privatization solution has proved incapable of tackling the very serious problems of environmental destruction and the over-exploitation of finite water sources that plague the country. Our review of water management in Mexico, therefore, sheds light on some of the contradictions of a development process that is far from sustainable.Water management; Mexico; New Culture of Water; Privatization

MSIS 2016 global competency model for graduate degree programs in information systems

[Extract] This document, “MSIS 2016: Global Competency Model for Graduate Degree Programs in Information Systems”, is the latest in the series of reports that provides guidance for degree programs in the Information Systems (IS) academic discipline. MSIS 2016 is the seventh collaborative effort between ACM and AIS (following IS’97, IS 2002, and IS 2010 at the undergraduate level; MSIS 2000 and MSIS 2006 at the graduate level; and CC 2005 as an integrative document).(undefined)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

The Strategic Supply Chain Management in the Digital Era, Tactical vs Strategic

The perspective of procurement and supply chain management is changing dramatically; traditionally, it was seen as a support function; however, the procurement function is receiving increased attention and investment as an essential contributor to the strategic success and a business enabler. While an end-to-end digital supply chain is an opportunity as it unleashes the next level of strategic growth and involves minimal investment in infrastructure, it is still a challenge to optimize and transform. Furthermore, the recent pandemics and geopolitical disruptions of Covid-19, the Ukraine-Russian war, Brexit and the US-China trade war; have structurally changed the global economy and revealed a new risk assessment that will result in the re-introduction of buffers, boundaries across industries and a partial return to regionalization with sort of de-globalization in which existing just-in-time getting replaced by just-in-case strategy

Broadening the Scope of Security Usability from the Individual to the Organizational : Participation and Interaction for Effective, Efficient, and Agile Authorization

Restrictions and permissions in information systems -- Authorization -- can cause problems for those interacting with the systems. Often, the problems materialize as an interference with the primary tasks, for example, when restrictions prevent the efficient completing of work and cause frustration. Conversely, the effectiveness can also be impacted when staff is forced to circumvent the measure to complete work -- typically sharing passwords among each other. This is the perspective of functional staff and the organization. There are further perspectives involved in the administration and development of the authorization measure. For instance, functional staff need to interact with policy makers who decide on the granting of additional permissions, and policy makers, in turn, interact with policy authors who actually implement changes. This thesis analyzes the diverse contexts in which authorization occurs, and systematically examines the problems that surround the different perspectives on authorization in organizational settings. Based on prior research and original research in secure agile development, eight principles to address the authorization problems are identified and explored through practical artifacts

The Mechanics of Enterprise Architecture Principles

Inspired by the city planning metaphor, enterprise architecture (EA) has gained considerable attention from academia and industry for systematically planning an IT landscape. Since EA is a relatively young discipline, a great deal of its work focuses on architecture representations (descriptive EA) that conceptualize the different architecture layers, their components, and relationships. Beside architecture representations, EA should comprise principles that guide architecture design and evolution toward predefined value and outcomes (prescriptive EA). However, research on EA principles is still very limited. Notwithstanding the increasing consensus regarding EA principles’ role and definition, the limited publications neither discuss what can be considered suitable principles, nor explain how they can be turned into effective means to achieve expected EA outcomes. This study seeks to strengthen EA’s extant theoretical core by investigating EA principles through a mixed methods research design comprising a literature review, an expert study, and three case studies. The first contribution of this study is that it sheds light on the ambiguous interpretation of EA principles in extant research by ontologically distinguishing between principles and nonprinciples, as well as deriving a set of suitable EA (meta-)principles. The second contribution connects the nascent academic discourse on EA principles to studies on EA value and outcomes. This study conceptualizes the “mechanics” of EA principles as a value-creation process, where EA principles shape the architecture design and guide its evolution and thereby realize EA outcomes. Consequently, this study brings EA’s underserved, prescriptive aspect to the fore and helps enrich its theoretical foundations

The role of HR practices in knowledge intensive self-managed organizations : from management centricity towards human centricity

Today, many organizations are seeking to organize their operations more flexible and human centric manner than before. Old hierarchical models of organizing are no longer applicable when knowledge intensive services form a core business for many organizations. The role of competent workforce is essential in these organizations, and the role of customer come more and more significant because of co-value creation. A relative new attempt of organizing, a self-managed organization (SMO), responds the call of finding more human centric and dynamic forms of organizing. SMOs operate normally without any middle management and believe in shared power and shared leadership. They form social systems with evolutionary purpose. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the role of HR practices in knowledge intensive SMOs. The conducted research involved five narratives written CEOs or HR directors working at knowledge intensive firms. Narrators told a story on how the middle management duties are handled and what is the role of HR practices at their workplaces. The research analysis was conducted by using narrative analysis and analysis of narratives. The content of written narratives was under analysis. Study results were presented in a form of grand narrative, in which the essence of the content of five texts was summarized. Thematic analysis was then arranged to explore the correlation between strategic wellbeing and used HR practices in studied SMOs. The study material was organized in narrative specific categories under given themes. The used theoretical SHRM framework was general yet with variety of aspects due to the importance of various factors that affect the role of HR practices in knowledge intensive SMOs. As a conclusion, SMOs provide a prosperous setting for HR practices to bring out the strategic and managerial power embedded in these practices. SMOs are managed by employees collectively and employees lean on dynamic structures that build on HR practices and processes created and modified by very employees. Employee agency power is guided by variety of principles, models, duties, patterns, recommendations and so on. Unlike in traditional organizations where true agency power is granted for few individuals, used HR practices in SMOs directly affect work agency and work energy of employees. However, strategic power embedded in these practices is not fully understood nor it is expanded to cover customer work. Employees also handle many HR duties. The ideal future model of SHRM in SMOs that highlights the agency power of employees and customers, and the importance of strategic wellbeing is presented in the chapter of conclusions. The other significant findings were few. Firstly, there is no organization that is fully self-managed, becoming a SMO is more of a journey. Secondly, having unified overall organizational structure with dynamic structures, HR practices and processes, together with static structures – various teams – is challenging. HR as whole has a traditional status, and a model of organizing a SMO by Laloux, a teal organization, is thus commonly exploited. Thirdly, the dominance of management centricity and culture of dominance is spread all over the world and is taken as a proper form of organizing supported by conducted SHRM research and legislation. Yet, their dominance is collapsing whereas the number of SMOs most likely multiplies in the future because of the promising outcomes.Nykyään useat yritykset haluavat järjestää toimintansa joustavammalla, tehokkaammalla ja ihmisläheisemmällä tavalla kuin ennen. Vanhat hierarkkiset organisointimallit eivät ole enää toimivia, kun tietotyöhön ja asiantuntijuuteen perustuvat palvelut muodostavat ydinliiketoiminnan useissa yrityksissä. Työvoiman rooli on keskeinen, ja asiakkaan toimijuuden merkitys lisääntyy, kun arvoa luodaan yhdessä. Uudehko organisoitumisen muoto, itseohjautuva organisaatio, vastaa liiketoimintaympäristöstä nousseeseen tarpeeseen ihmisläheisellä ja dynaamisella tavalla. Itseohjautuvissa organisaatioissa ei ole keskijohtoa. Nämä organisaatiot uskovat jaettuun valtaan ja johtajuuteen ja muodostavat sosiaalisia alati kehittyviä systeemejä. Tämän kvalitatiivisen tutkimuksen tarkoituksena oli valottaa HR-käytäntöjen roolia näissä itseohjautuvissa organisaatioissa. Tutkimus pohjasi viiteen itseohjautuvassa organisaatiossa työskentelevän joko toimitusjohtajan tai HR-johtajan kirjoittamaan narratiiviin. Kertojat pohtivat tekstissään, miten heidän kotiorganisaatiossaan korvattiin keskijohdon monet tehtävät ja mikä oli HR-käytäntöjen rooli. Analysoinnissa keskeistä oli narratiivien sisältö. Sisällöstä muodostettiin yksi yhteinen viiden tekstin keskeiseen sisältöön perustuva narratiivi. Lisäksi sisältöä analysoitiin ennalta muodostettujen strategiseen työhyvinvointiin linkittyvien teemojen mukaisesti. Teoreettinen strategiseen henkilöstöjohtamiseen keskittyvä viitekehys oli yleisluontoinen mutta laaja-alainen tutkittavaan ilmiöön liittyvien monien tekijöiden takia. Tutkimuksen mukaan ohjausvoima, joka HR-käytännöissä piilee, pääsee oikeuksiinsa itseohjautuvissa organisaatioissa. Työntekijät yhdessä ovat määräävässä asemassa itseohjautuvissa organisaatioissa, ja heidän toimintaansa ohjaavat dynaamiset rakenteet, yhteiset käytännöt, joita he itse luovat ja päivittävät. Työntekijän toimijuutta ohjaa monet periaatteet, mallit, toimintatavat, vastuut, suositukset jne. Toisin kuin hierarkkisissa johtajakeskeisissä organisaatioissa, joissa todellinen toimivalta on muutamilla, HR-käytännöt vaikuttavat siis välittömästi työntekijöiden energiaan ja toimijuuteen. HR-käytäntöjen strategista arvoa ei kuitenkaan täysin ymmärretä varsinkaan asiakastyössä. Työntekijät vastaavat myös HR-tehtävistä. Tutkielman johtopäätöksiä käsittelevässä luvussa esitetään strategisen henkilöstöjohtamisen ideaalinen malli itseohjautuvissa organisaatioissa. Mallissa korostuu asiakkaan ja työntekijän toimijuus ja strategisen hyvinvoinnin keskeinen rooli. Muita tärkeitä huomioita oli muutamia. Ensinnäkin mikään organisaatio ei ole täysin itseohjautuva, vaan itseorganisoituvaksi organisaatioksi tuleminen on taival. Toiseksi niin dynaamisten rakenteiden – HR-käytäntöjen toimivan kokonaisuuden – kuin mahdollistavien rakenteiden – erilaisten tiimien ja kokoonpanojen – yhdistäminen aiheuttaa haasteita itseohjautuvissa organisaatioissa. HR toimintona nähdään perinteisenä, ja Laloux’n teal-organisaatiomallia käytetään usein mallina organisoitumisessa. Kolmanneksi johtajakeskeisyys ja rationaalisuuden kulttuuri ovat itsestäänselvyyksiä, joita myös lainsäädäntö ja tehty tutkimus ovat ylläpitäneet. Niiden valta-asema on kuitenkin heikentymässä, kun taas lupaavien tulosten vuoksi itseohjautuvien organisaatioiden määrä tullee lisääntymään tulevaisuudessa

How Blockchain Facilitates the Transition toward Circular Economy in the Food Chain?

Food loss and waste are two of the many problems that modern society is facing. To date, among many solutions, the circular economy is the one prevailing. A successful transition toward a circular economy (CE) requires the food sector to overcome the challenges of today's complex food supply chains such as information asymmetry, poor cooperation among stakeholders, and concerns about food safety. Blockchain, a form of distributed ledger technology, has been progressively gaining traction in supply chains in areas like data management, certifying product provenance and tracking products. Despite its importance, knowledge around the potential of the blockchain technology in facilitating the transition towards a circular economy in the agri-food sector is fragmented. This review provides evidence-based insights into the blockchain implementations in the food supply chains and the implications for CE. Our findings indicated four major areas that blockchain could accelerate CE in the agri-food sector: improving data utility; supply chain management efficacy; enhanced eco-efficiency; and superior traceability