Formalising responsibility modelling for automatic analysis

Modelling the structure of social-technical systems as a basis for informing software system design is a difficult compromise. Formal methods struggle to capture the scale and complexity of the heterogeneous organisations that use technical systems. Conversely, informal approaches lack the rigour needed to inform the software design and construction process or enable automated analysis. We revisit the concept of responsibility modelling, which models social technical systems as a collection of actors who discharge their responsibilities, whilst using and producing resources in the process. Responsibility modelling is formalised as a structured approach for socio-technical system requirements specification and modelling, with well-defined semantics and support for automated structure and validity analysis. The effectiveness of the approach is demonstrated by two case studies of software engineering methodologies

Global integration without expatriates.

A paper provides a case study of a company that, while it has a fully international operation, makes no use at all of expatriates. The global activities of the giant retail clothing company Zara, and the way in which it adapts to cultural differences, are outlined. By exploring why the company does not use expatriates, and how it develops organizational learning without them, the example provides a challenge to many of the assumptions on which international staffing are basedCase studies; Retailing industry; Multinational corporations; Employment policies; Expatriate employees; Corporate planning; Multiculturalism & pluralism;

Application of shape grammar theory to underground rail station design and passenger evacuation

This paper outlines the development of a computer design environment that generates station ‘reference’ plans for analysis by designers at the project feasibility stage. The developed program uses the theoretical concept of shape grammar, based upon principles of recognition and replacement of a particular shape to enable the generation of station layouts. The developed novel shape grammar rules produce multiple plans of accurately sized infrastructure faster than by traditional means. A finite set of station infrastructure elements and a finite set of connection possibilities for them, directed by regulations and the logical processes of station usage, allows for increasingly complex composite shapes to be automatically produced, some of which are credible station layouts at ‘reference’ block plan level. The proposed method of generating shape grammar plans is aligned to London Underground standards, in particular to the Station Planning Standards and Guidelines 5th edition (SPSG5 2007) and the BS-7974 fire safety engineering process. Quantitative testing is via existing evacuation modelling software. The prototype system, named SGEvac, has both the scope and potential for redevelopment to any other country’s design legislation

Knowledge assimilation processes of rapidly internationalising firms: longitudinal case studies of Scottish SMEs

<p>Purpose – The accumulation of knowledge and learning by firms has been identified as being critical to their internationalisation. This paper aims to explore the knowledge assimilation processes of rapidly internationalising small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).</p> <p>Design/methodology/approach – This is a qualitative enquiry in two stages. First, four case studies were selected from firms that were participating in an internationalisation programme run by Scottish Enterprise, the regional development agency. Data collection involved semi-structured interviews with chief executive officers (CEOs) and programme providers, and archival data. Second, two focus groups were held with six CEOs participating in the programme.</p> <p>Findings – The findings indicate that knowledge sharing is important for rapidly internationalising SMEs and that firms adopted high levels of formality in assimilating knowledge. Two key aspects of formality were identified as important; formal planned events to share explicit and tacit knowledge and the codification of tacit to explicit knowledge. Knowledge may be assimilated less formally by the retention of tacit knowledge as tacit, while utilising elements of formality. The paper finds that learning for internationalisation can be transferred to support domestic growth.</p> <p>Practical implications – It is important for firms to develop appropriate knowledge assimilation processes within their management systems to support internationalisation. The CEO and management team need to take the lead in marshalling commitment to learning processes and in cultivating an organisational culture that is supportive of learning.</p> <p>Originality/value – This research contributes to international entrepreneurship by providing insights into the knowledge assimilation processes employed by rapidly internationalising SMEs to manage the tensions between the need for greater formality to be efficient at learning, and informality to enable speedy decision making.</p&gt

From statute to contract : regulating the employment relationship in the public sector.

The public sector in European countries has been swept up in general economic restructuring. This has had a marked impact on many aspects of industrial relations and personnel management in the public sector. In most countries, the growth of public employment has been slowed, while structures of bargaining, pay determination, job classification, career structures and so on have been the subject of reform projects. In Belgium, there is one constant which keeps turning up in all reform projects: doubt concerning the tenability of the principle of statutory employment. In the present work we will attempt to lay bare the core of the debate concerning the future of statutory employment.Employment;

Implementing Ethics for a Mobile App Deployment

This paper discusses the ethical dimensions of a research project in which we deployed a personal tracking app on the Apple App Store and collected data from users with whom we had little or no direct contact. We describe the in-app functionality we created for supporting consent and withdrawal, our approach to privacy, our navigation of a formal ethical review, and navigation of the Apple approval process. We highlight two key issues for deployment-based research. Firstly, that it involves addressing multiple, sometimes conflicting ethical principles and guidelines. Secondly, that research ethics are not readily separable from design, but the two are enmeshed. As such, we argue that in-action and situational perspectives on research ethics are relevant to deployment-based research, even where the technology is relatively mundane. We also argue that it is desirable to produce and share relevant design knowledge and embed in-action and situational approaches in design activities

Use of Interorganisational Systems: An Empirical Analysis

Electronic linkages between organisations enabled by interorganisational information systems (IOS) such as Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), Internet- based applications or cargo community systems are becoming increasingly important. Recently, many studies have examined the impact of electronic integration in logistics chains. However, there is a need to examine which factors on the perceived level of an interorganisational partnership are important for the management of information systems. We extend further the information processing model based on Galbraith [1] and Bensaou and Venkatraman [2] in a logistics network context. Their theoretical concept gives some explanations about a fit between information processing requirements, as determined in partnership design, and the information processing capabilities realised in information systems. This was further explored conducting a survey amongst German network organisations of freight forwarders in groupage service or contract logistics as a starting point because of their common usage of different interorganisational information systems. Surprisingly, our study shows only a slight influence of interorganisational tasks on the management of information systems. Moreover, our findings suggest that employment of IOS across firms observed is limited by structural factors (i.e. asset specificity) and nature of interorganisational relationship (i.e. trust, power). These factors are positively associated with satisfaction about information systems usage and performance. --interorganisational information systems,information processing model,co-operation,logistics networks,freight forwarder networks