Semantic Web Tools and Decision-Making

Semantic Web technologies are intertwined with decision-making processes. In this paper the general objectives of the semantic web tools are reviewed and characterized, as well as the categories of decision support tools, in order to establish an intersection of utility and use. We also elaborate on actual and foreseen possibilities for a deeper integration, considering the actual implementation, opportunities and constraints in the decision-making context.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Group support systems features and their contribution to technology strategy decision-making: A review and analysis

Collective decision-making processes require careful design considerations in organizations. On one hand, the inclusion of a greater number of actors contribute to a wider knowledge base, on the other, it can become a diffuse process and be distorted from the principles initially established. This paper observes a specific collective decision making process in organizations—technology strategy formulation—and, through a critical review of the literature, analyzes how the advances in features of group support systems support improvements in different stages of this process. This paper also discusses the implications of GSS appropriation in group dynamics.This research was supported by Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/ BD/ 33727/ 2009), within the framework of the MIT Portugal Program.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What’s in it for me? Enlightening motivation within a social network decision-making

This paper addresses the motivations by which people engage in social networking, according to the existing literature. Understanding these motivations allows firms to set processes to explore them, in order to establish and develop a decision support social network, supported by social network sites. Participating in social networks draws upon the interaction of intrinsic and extrinsic factors. On one hand, intrinsic factors refer to motivation embedded in the action itself (comes within the individual), rather than from external rewards such as money or recognition. On the other hand, extrinsic factors refer to the motivation coming outside the individual. Considering that solutions to problems are expected within a decision support social network, some potential problems are identified and addressed.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Exploring social network analysis techniques on decision support

Managers are increasingly concerned in making timely and correct decisions, using adaptable decision structures, processes and mechanisms. For this purpose, they resort to web discourse capture and analysis to obtain opinions that express different points of view, regarding organizational decision-making. Since communication and interaction among groups are very important in group decision, the exchanged and shared contents, as well as a social network analysis (SNA), can play an important role in this process. Understanding the interactions within a social network and how they can support decision-making is an important issue, representing the main motivation for this work. For the study presented in this paper, to understand how organizations can strategically use online communication as a decision support tool, we chose to use Facebook, where social actors gather around the same focus of interest or affinity (friends, co-workers, etc.) and, additionally, it is possible to create discussion groups for defining a problem, limit group members and context argument. In addition, we chose an ego-centric analysis focused on a single actor, instead of the network as a whole, to get a good picture of the “local” or his “neighbors” networks. The analyzed data were collected from Facebook and afterwards we applied SNA techniques in order to draw some conclusions.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

A Review of the Current Level of Support to Aid Decisions for Migrating to Cloud Computing

© 2016 Copyright held by the owner/author(s). Cloud computing provides an innovative delivery model that enables enterprises to reduce operational costs and improve flexibility and scalability. Organisations wishing to migrate their legacy systems to the cloud often need to go through a difficult and complicated decision-making process. This can be due to multiple factors including restructuring IT resources, the still evolving nature of the cloud environment, and the continuous expansion of the services offered. These have increased the requirement for tools and techniques to help the decision-making process for migration. Although significant contributions have been made in this area, there are still many aspects which require further support. This paper evaluates the existing level of support to aid the decision-making process. It examines the complexity of decisions, evaluates the current state of Decision Support Systems in respect of migrating to the cloud, and analyses three models that proposed support for the migration processes. This paper identifies the need for a coherent approach for supporting the whole decision-making process. Further, it explores possible new approaches for addressing the complex issues involved in decision-making for migrating to the cloud

Semantic web and decision support systems

Semantic Web technologies are intertwined with the decision-making process. In this paper the general objectives of the semantic web tools are reviewed and characterized, as well as the categories of decision support tools, in order to establish an intersection of utility and use. We also elaborate on actual and foreseen possibilities for a deeper integration, considering the actual implementation, opportunities and constraints within the context of decision-making. We conclude that a broader or generalized Semantic Web integration in the decision support community is still a work in progress and much remains to be done.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Organizational use of social media: The shift in communication, collaboration and decision-making

Organizational use of social media: The shift in communication, collaboration and decision-making Social media has driven organizational communication, collaboration and decision-making in recent times. This thesis focuses first on the popularity and widespread usage of social media like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn and how it has provided businesses with platforms to collaborate and communicate virtually. It then explores how organizations can implement social media for the purpose of external marketing and advertising, to connect to consumers and for the purpose of internal communications. For example, how can organizations tap the potential of social media and connect with consumers? Social media has provided organizations with opportunities for management of customer relationships, innovation, improved operations within the organization, and leadership. It has not only revolutionized internal communications, collaboration and decision-making in organizations, but it has also had a vast impact on almost all aspects of life. In the final sections of the thesis, some guidelines are discussed for organizations that decide to employ social media. The future of social media is rife with possibilities. The thesis concludes by demonstrating how tapping that potential for important corporate decisions will offer opportunities for businesses and will soon prove to be a transformative force by provoking a shift in communication, collaboration and decision-making

Twitter as a communications instrument to support the decision making process in UAE police

A thesis submitted to the University of Bedfordshire in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of PhilosophySocial media are increasingly becoming platforms of choice for communication among individuals and groups of the public, and hence organisations are interested in engaging with communities and the public through this form of media to gain intelligence from such engagements to support their decision making processes. Yet, organisations are missing on realising the potential value from using social media for this type of interaction and engagement, while paucity in research addressing practical ways to use social media communication in supporting decision making still persists. This research investigates and proposes a practical framework for using social media – specifically Twitter – as a communications instrument to support the decision making process in police organisations. The research design is based on developing and evaluating a proof of concept representing engagements between the United Arab Emirates (UAE) police as a case study of police organisations with communities and members of the public in the UAE. The proof of concept is designed based on comparing and contrasting current practices by the UAE police with models, trends, and practices discussed in related literature. The research uses the Grounded Theory methodology to guide sampling, data collection, and analysis. The contribution of the research is to both theory and practice. The research addresses a gap in the body of knowledge for a framework that guides the development of models, policies, and practices for the use of social media as a communication instrument to support decision making in governmental organisations, specifically the police. In addition, the framework offers practical insights to policy makers into using different social media to engage with the public in communication, interactions, and knowledge sharing, with the aim of supporting decision making

The enhancement of traditional decision-making with a decision support system.

MBA University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban 2013.Decision-making is a crucial part of management which is evident at all levels. Strategic decisions are taken by management and are vital to the functioning of the organization. It was important to gauge the current ability to make decisions and discover the shortfalls. Due to the amount of information, speed, and the immense amount of pressure to make good decisions, a new technological system to aid in this plight was found. This was in the form of a Decision Support System. This study investigated whether or not having a decision-making tool at the finger-tips of the managers would provide benefits, such as timely information, which could then be used for decision-making and could result in enhanced employee productivity at Toyota South Africa Assembly Hall Maintenance Department. It was not sufficient just to show the benefits of a new system. The system needed to be accepted first in order to obtain the maximum benefit of the system. The Technology Acceptance Model was used to find the relationships between the perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and the attitude of the users toward the use of the DSS. To obtain the information from the future senior management of the Department, questionnaires were issued of which 79% were returned answered. The information was examined and analysed with Pearson’s correlation, linear regression and literature comparisons, which found that perceived usefulness of the system plays a much greater role than the perceived ease of use in the acceptance of a system. To facilitate an improvement in the decision-making ability, it was recommended that a decision support system should be designed and installed as a long term investment. Further research needs to be undertaken to gain correct knowledge to originate a conceptual design and to bring this into operation. The design of the system was not evaluated and this proved to be a limitation to the study. However, to use the questionnaire to evaluate the design would have made the questionnaire more complicated and this would have been likely to have lowered the response rate, which would have jeopardized the study