Organisations as complex adaptive systems : implications for the design of information systems

Today a paradigm shift in the field of organisation and management theories is no longer disputed and the need to switch from the Command-and-Control to the Leaming Organisation Paradigm (LOP) in the area of organisational theory is well understood. However, it is less well appreciated that learning organisations cannot operate effectively if supported by centralised databases and tailor-made application programs. LOP emphasises adaptability, flexibility, participation and learning. It is important to understand that the changes in organisational and management strategies will not on their own be able to produce the desired effects unless they are supported by appropriate changes in organisational culture, and by effective information systems. This research demonstrates that conventional information system strategies and development methods are no longer adequate. Information system strategies must respond to these needs of the LOP and incorporate new information systems that are capable of evolving, adapting and responding to the constantly changing business environment. The desired adaptability, flexibility and agility in information systems for LOP can be achieved by exploiting the technologies of the Internet, World Wide Web, intelligent agents and intranets. This research establishes that there is a need for synergy between organisational structures and organisational information systems. To obtain this desired synergy it is essential that new information systems be designed as an integral part of the learning organisational structure itself. Complexity theory provides a new set of metaphors and a host of concepts for the understanding of organisations as complex adaptive systems. This research introduces the principles of Complex Adaptive Systems and draws on their significance for designing the information systems needed to support the new generation of learning organisations. The search for new models of information system strategies for today's dynamic world of business points to the 'swarm models' observed in Nature

Human-Machine Interaction and Human Resource Management Perspective for Collaborative Robotics Implementation and Adoption

The shift towards human-robot collaboration (HRC) has the potential to increase productivity and sustainability, while reducing costs for the manufacturing industries. Indeed, it holds great potential for workplaces, allowing individuals to forsake repetitive or physically demanding jobs to focus on safer and more fulfilling ones. Still, integration of humans and machines in organizations presents great challenges to IS scholars due to the complexity of aligning digitalization and human resources. A knowledge gap does persist about organizational implications when it comes to implement collaborative robotics in the workplace and to support proper HRC. Thus, this paper aims to identify recommended human resources management (HRM) practices from previous research about human-robot interaction (HRI). As our results highlight that few studies attempted to fill the gap, a conceptual framework is proposed. It integrates HRM practices, technology adoption dimensions and main determinants of HRC, in the objective to support collaborative robotics implementation in organizations

Towards Agile Workforce – Case Study Research in Three Companies

Many companies today face a highly turbulent and volatile environment caused by intense foreign competition, rapid technological change, shorter product life-cycles, and customers demand- ing more customized products. Several strategies have been developed to deal with unpredictability in the environment. Agility and agile methods have been widely accepted as a new competitive concept in many countries, including Finland. However, the understanding of how to build agile organizations remains weak. The thesis provides initial empirical evidence to better understand essential elements of agile workforce and their relationship with organizational agility. More specifically, the research aims to understand and describe the concept of workforce agility in the selected case companies. The second goal is to discover the management practices, methods and tools that the case companies have adopted in order to enable and support the actions of an agile workforce. The thesis employs qualitative research methods with empirical approach doing semi- structured interviews in case study companies and conceptual approach using previous academic research. The case study companies are OP, DNA and Alma Media. The phenomenon of developing an agile workforce is rather new in large previously traditional organizations in Finland. Consequently, the study is exploratory by nature and aims to increase familiarity of the phenomenon in the Finnish context. The different cases were studied through interviews with managers that have been in a superior decision-making position and responsible for the change process, and managers or employees that have participated the implementation of the change process. Also, a HR specialist from Vincit was interviewed for her expertise on enterprise agility. According to the findings employees’ agile capabilities and attitudes towards agility are important factors when transforming towards enterprise agility. Findings show that companies that aim to make their organization more agile face two kinds of challenges. Firstly, companies must be able to arouse excitement and interest towards agility among employees. The second challenge concerns enabling agile work and managing the frustrations that arise. To deal with these challenges case companies employed similar practices, tools and methods that enable change management, change attitudes and culture, increase internal communication, knowledge sharing and cooperation; support empowerment and work organization, and promote new work methods and training

Towards the new generation of web knowledge

Purpose - As the web evolves its purpose and nature of its use are changing. The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether the web can provide for the competing stakeholders, who are similarly evolving and who increasingly see it as a significant part of their business. Design/methodology/approach - The paper adopts an exploratory and reviewing approach to the emerging trends and patterns emanating from the web's changing use and explores the underpinning technologies and tools that facilitate this use and access. It examines the future and potential of web-based knowledge management (KM) and reviews the emerging web trends, tools, and enabling technologies that will provide the infrastructure of the next generation web. Findings - The research carried out provides an independent framework for the capturing, accessing and distributing of web knowledge. This framework retains the semantic mark-up, a feature that we deem indispensable for the future of KM, employing web ontologies to structure organisational knowledge and semantic text processing for the extraction of knowledge from web sites. Practical implications - As a result it was possible to identify the implications of integrating the two aspects of web-based KM, namely the business-organisational-users' perspective and that of the enabling web technologies. Originality/value - The proposed framework accommodates the collaborative tools and services offered by Web 2.0, acknowledging the fact that knowledge-based systems are shared, dynamic, evolving resources, whose underlying knowledge model requires careful management due to its constant changing

Relationships Between and Among the Power of Self-Care Agency, Perceived Structural Empowerment and Psychological Empowerment in Nurse Managers in Acute Care Hospitals with Magnet Designation

Background: In today’s dramatically changing healthcare environment, the nurse manager’s role in an acute care hospital is critical to meet the increasing patient care demands and the goals of the organization. The literature provides consensus that optimal nurse manager role behaviors are essential to facilitate a successful unit based organizational structure that can sustain workplace success. These behaviors can be theoretically described as the result of a nurse manager’s ability as self-care agent to activate his or her power of self-care agency in order to engage in optimal role behaviors that will ultimately ensure that the goals of the organization are met (Orem, 1995). Little effort has been made to examine the innate self-care abilities of current nurse managers who must fulfill important managerial role behaviors. In addition, examination of relationships between nurse manager role behaviors and empowered workplace environments such as an organization with Magnet designation is very limited in nursing or healthcare literature. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between and among the power of self-care agency, perceived structural empowerment and psychological empowerment in nurse managers in acute care hospitals with Magnet designation. Methods: This descriptive correlational study examined the relationships between and among self-care agency, perceived structural empowerment and psychological empowerment in nurse managers who work in an acute care hospital with Magnet designation. Ninety-seven volunteers nurse managers responded to four measurement tools including the Exercise of Self-Care Agency scale, the Conditions of Work Effectiveness-II tool, the Psychological Empowerment Instrument and a Demographic Information form. Results: The Spearman rank correlation between self-care agency and perceived structural empowerment showed a moderate, positive correlation. The Spearman rank correlation between self-care agency and psychological empowerment showed a positive, but weak correlation. While there was a small, positive Spearman rank correlation between perceived structural empowerment and psychological empowerment, the result of a multiple regression to examine the relationship between self-care agency and the interaction between structural empowerment and psychological empowerment was not significant. Conclusions: Findings support correlational relationships between self-care agency and structural empowerment and between structural empowerment and psychological empowerment. The findings provide some evidence that in an environment with structural support which optimizes nurse manager’s self-care agency, these relationships may potentially play an important role in alleviating the impending shortage of nurse managers by increasing the likelihood of retaining current nurse managers. Implementing and maintaining strategies that will enhance and strengthen positive structural environmental resources in current acute care hospital systems may increase retention current managers and by extension, attract the most capable and motivated nurse managers from among the ranks of bedside nurses who aspire to fill nurse manager positions in the future. The relationship between self-care agency and psychological empowerment was very weak and may be a spurious relationship