Internal Integration during Organizational Transition – A Supply Chain Perspective

Tighter internal supply chain integration has been posited to lead to several operational and performance benefits. In addition, it has also been seen to aid the elicitation of external integration. However, despite the potential benefits, achieving and maintaining tighter internal integration is a challenging task and demands considerable investments in time, money, and effort. Consequently, real, tight internal supply chain integration existing in real-life companies is rather rare than common. Although the phenomenon of internal integration has aroused large interest in the academia, a single, accepted, and generalizable definition and operationalization for the concept have been lacking. The definitions have varied from researcher to researcher which has also been visible in various ways of operationalizing the concept. In addition, the discussion concerning various employees’ skills as related to internal integration has been neglected by previous researches. On the other hand, most of the existing knowledge concerning internal integration has been gained through utilizing a quantitative research approach and methods, by studying stand-alone opinions of managers or directors, in charge of single departments across several companies. The qualitative methods and utilization of multiple perspectives have largely been neglected. Moreover, all of the previous researches can be regarded to be snapshots of their time; no longitudinal researches have been executed. The purpose of the research under scrutiny was to address both the theoretical and methodological gaps visible in the previous research literature. The research consequently aimed at answering the following research questions: How can the concept of internal integration be holistically defined, taking into account the different elements presented in previous research literature? How can (the level of) internal integration be holistically operationalized and analyzed, utilizing the new definition and taking into account the analyses models and approaches presented in previous research literature? Are the findings of the current research in line with the earlier findings or does it result in deviant and/or additional results? And, which skills are needed of different organization level employees in order to manage the internal supply chain successfully? While aiming at answering these questions, the research also aimed at answering three pragmatic research questions, directly discussing the operations of the case mill of the research: How do the case mill’s production planning, production, and warehousing and dispatch departments operate functionally and how and in which occasions and forms do they interact with one another? What is the current level (spring-autumn 2015) of internal integration existing between the case mill’s concerned departments? How does the current level of internal integration appear in the light of the mill’s future operating environment? The research was executed as a qualitative, longitudinal single case study research. A Finnish paper mill in a transformation process changing from one production mode to another acted as a case company of the research. The research studied the level of internal integration existing between case mill’s three departments – production planning, production, and warehousing and dispatch – through the opinions of three organization levels – upper level white-collars, lower lever white-collars, and blue-collars – and multiple respondents representing each of the concerned departments and employee groups, during three periods of time – in the old production mode and operating environment (2013-2014), during the mill’s transition from the old production mode to the new (2014-2015), and in the new production mode and operating environment (autumn 2015 onwards). The existing level of internal integration was researched and analyzed by utilizing a new definition and operationalization of the concept of internal integration created in the research under scrutiny, by utilizing four qualitative data collection methods – introduction discussions, a qualitative survey, consequent specifying interviews, and objective observations. The research was executed from the inside; operating within the case mill while still simultaneously maintaining a position of an external researcher. The research resulted in clear additions to the existing research literature. It provides a new, more holistic definition for the concept of internal integration. In addition, it also provides a new operationalization for the concept. Moreover, it starts the discussion of relevance of various organization level employees’ skills as related to the successful management of the internal supply chain. Moreover, by utilizing deviant and new research methods, it consequently also provides additional, new theoretical information. It, for example, emphasizes the importance of researching several departments and organization levels while aiming at analyzing the true level of internal integration as the opinions of different departments and organization levels – not to mention individuals – proved to differ. Thus utilizing a too narrow research perspective can result in faulty analyses. The deviant methods utilized in the research themselves also provide clear methodological contributions, in form of researching several departments, through the eyes of several organization levels and multiple respondents, during a longer period of time – longitudinally. Finally, from the case mill’s managerial perspective, the research provides the mill representatives with deep descriptions of the mill’s internal operations and analyses of its current and potential future level of internal integration, in addition to providing specific development suggestions.Sisäinen integraatio organisaation murrostilanteessa - Toimitusketjunäkökulma Yritysten sisäisten toimitusketjujen tiiviin integraation on esitetty johtavan useisiin toiminnallisiin ja tehokkuushyötyihin. Sen on myös nähty edesauttavan yritysten välisen ulkoisen integraation aikaansaamista. Tiiviin sisäisen integraation saavuttaminen ja ylläpito on kuitenkin haastava tehtävä, se vaatii yrityksiltä huomattavaa panostusta ajassa, rahassa ja vaivannäössä. Näin ollen, tiiviin integraation esiintyminen tosi elämän yrityksissä on ennemminkin harvinaista kuin yleistä. Vaikka sisäinen integraatio on herättänyt ilmiönä suurta kiinnostusta tiedemaailmassa, yksi yleinen, hyväksytty ja yleistettävissä oleva määritelmä sisäisen integraation käsitteelle on puuttunut, kuten myös yhtenäinen operationalisointi. Kukin tutkija on määritellyt käsitteen omalla tavallaan, erot määritelmissä ovat myös nähtävissä erilaisissa tavoissa operationalisoida ilmiötä. Sisäisessä toimitusketjussa toimivien ihmisten osaaminen sisäisen toimitusketjun toimivuuden osatekijänä ja vaikuttaja on lisäksi jäänyt tiedemaailmassa toistaiseksi vaille huomiota. Toisaalta, lähes kaikki sisäisestä integraatiosta olemassa oleva teoreettinen tieto on kerätty hyödyntämällä määrällisistä tutkimusotetta ja määrällisiä tutkimus- ja tiedonkeruumenetelmiä. Kyseiset tutkimukset ovat keskittyneet pääasiassa tutkimaan yksittäisten, eri yrityksiä edustavien, tietystä osastosta vastaavien päälliköiden tai johtajien mielipiteitä. Laadullista tutkimusotetta ja monipuolisempaa näkökulmaa asiaan on hyödynnetty vain harvoin. Lisäksi, kaikki olemassa olevat tutkimukset ovat kuvauksia sen hetkisestä tilanteesta, aiheeseen liittyvää pitkittäistutkimusta ei ole suoritettu. Tämän tutkimuksen tavoitteena oli pyrkiä täyttämään olemassa olevassa tieteellisessä kirjallisuudessa havaittuja sekä teoreettisia että metodologisia puutteita. Näin ollen tutkimus pyrki vastaamaan seuraaviin tutkimuskysymyksiin: Kuinka sisäisen integraation käsite voidaan määritellä kokonaisvaltaisemmin, ottamalla huomioon olemassa olevassa tutkimuskirjallisuudessa esitetyt sisäisen integraation osatekijät? Kuinka sisäinen integraatio (ja sen taso) voidaan kokonaisvaltaisesti operationalisoida ja analysoida, ottamalla huomioon luotu uusi määritelmä sisäiselle integraatiolle ja olemassa olevassa kirjallisuudessa esitetyt erilaiset sisäisen integraation analysointimallit? Ovatko tutkimuksen tulokset samansuuntaisia aiempien tutkimusten tulosten kanssa vai tuoko se esiin jotakin uutta ja/tai erilaista? Ja, millaista erilaista osaamista eri organisaatiotasojen henkilöstöltä vaaditaan, jotta sisäinen toimitusketju toimisi mahdollisimman hyvin? Pyrkiessään vastaamaan kyseisiin tutkimuskysymyksiin, tutkimus myös pyrki vastaamaan seuraaviin pragmaattisiin, suoraan tutkimuksen case –tehtaaseen liittyviin kysymyksiin: Miten tehtaan tuotannonsuunnittelu-, tuotanto- ja varasto ja lähetysosastot toimivat ja missä tilanteissa ja miten ne ovat vuorovaikutuksessa keskenään? Mikä on kyseisten osastojen välinen, tämän hetkinen integraation taso (kevät-syksy 2015)? Miten kyseinen taso näyttäytyy tehtaan tulevaisuuden toimintaympäristön valossa? Tutkimus toteutettiin laadullisena, yksitapauksisena pitkittäistapaustutkimuksena. Tutkimuksen kohteena toimi suomalainen, juuri tuotantosuuntaansa vaihtava paperitehdas. Tutkimus tarkasteli olemassa olevan sisäisen integraation tasoa tehtaan kolmen eri osaston välillä (tuotannonsuunnittelu, tuotanto ja varasto ja lähetys), kolmen eri organisaatiotason (ylemmät toimihenkilöt, alemmat toimihenkilöt ja työntekijät) ja useamman, kutakin osastoa ja organisaatiotasoa edustavan vastaajan mielipiteiden kautta, kolmena eri aikakautena (vanhassa tuotantosuunnassa ja toimintaympäristössä (2013-2014), murrosvaiheessa (2014-2015) ja uuden tuotantosuunnan ja toimintaympäristön mukaisessa toiminnassa (syksy 2015 eteenpäin)). Olemassa olevan sisäisen integraation tasoa tutkittiin ja analysointiin hyödyntämällä tutkimuksessa kehitettyjä uutta määritelmää ja operationalisointia sisäiselle integraatiolle, käyttäen neljää laadullista tiedonkeruumenetelmää – perehdytyskeskusteluja, laadullista kyselytutkimusta, sitä seuraavia tarkentavia haastatteluja sekä havainnointia. Tutkija toimi tutkimusta tehdessään tutkimuksen kohteena olleen tehtaan sisällä, säilyttäen kuitenkin koko ajan objektiivisen tutkijan aseman. Tutkimuksella aikaansaatiin selkeää teoreettista kontribuutiota. Tutkimuksen tuloksena syntyivät uusi, kokonaisvaltaisempi määritelmä ja operationalisointi sisäisen integraation käsitteelle. Tutkimus lisäksi aloittaa tieteellisen keskustelun henkilöstön osaamisen merkityksestä onnistuneessa sisäisen toimitusketjun johtamisessa. Tutkimus myös tuotti uutta teoreettista tietoa hyödyntämällä poikkeavia ja uusia tutkimusmenetelmiä. Tutkimus esimerkiksi painottaa useamman osaston ja eri organisaatiotason samanaikaisen tutkimisen tärkeyttä, mikäli halutaan todenmukaisia tuloksia sisäisen integraation tasosta. Tutkimus todistaa, että mielipiteet vaihtelevat organisaation eri osastojen ja tasojen, kuten myös yksittäisten yksilöiden välillä. Liian kapean fokuksen käyttäminen voi näin ollen johtaa vääriin analyyseihin. Tutkimuksessa hyväksikäytetyt, poikkeavat tutkimusmenetelmät toisaalta muodostavat metodologista kontribuutiota itsessään. Tutkimus tarkasteli useampaa osastoa, useamman organisaatiotason ja tiedonantajan kautta, pidempänä ajanjaksona – pitkittäistutkimuksena. Lopuksi, tutkimuskohteen näkökulmasta katsottuna, tutkimus antaa tehtaan edustajille syväkuvauksen tutkimuksessa tarkasteltujen kolmen osaston toiminnoista kolmena eri aikakautena, sekä analyysin kyseisten osastojen välisestä tämän hetkisestä (kevät-syksy 2015) että oletetusta tulevaisuuden sisäisen integraation tasosta ja ominaispiirteistä. Lisäksi tehtaalle annetaan yksilöityjä ja suoria kehittämisehdotuksia toimintojensa järkevöittämiseksi ja tehostamiseksi.Siirretty Doriast

Do high-involvement management practices enhance employees' innovative behavior?

This thesis studies the connection between High-Involvement Management (HIM) practices and employees' innovative behavior. Opportunity-enhancing, ability-enhancing, and motivation-enhancing HIM practices' connection to the probability for expressing innovative behavior is studied quantitatively using a probit regression and propensity score matching with an extensive set of control variables. Data is obtained from the Finnish MEADOW survey, which contains more than 1000 combined employer-employee observations. The main finding in the thesis is that opportunity-enhancing and ability-enhancing practices are associated with innovative behavior: In the scale of 0-10, a one-point increase in the aggregate score of the practices is associated with a statistically significant 3.4%-point and 1.3%-point average increase in the probability for innovative behavior for opportunity-enhancing and ability-enhancing practices, respectively. For motivation-enhancing practices, such association is not found. In addition, propensity score matching reveals that bundling the different practice types is associated with an increase in the probability for innovative behavior, but the association is smaller than the single practice types' combined association. Motivation-enhancing practices show slightly positive, yet insignificant association when not combined with other practices, while ability-enhancing practices show larger associations in magnitude when combined with other practices. The results are aligned with the vast majority of prior theoretical and empirical studies, and provide interesting future research topics, especially considering the effect of non-monetary incentives, which could not be investigated with the data used in the study, and the potential trade-off between productivity and innovativeness. Prior studies have suggested HIM practices to have a positive association with productivity, and it would be interesting to find out if productivity and innovativeness are complementary, substitutes, or independent of each other

Social Safety and Security

Social safety in social environments entails the sense of feeling safe with other people. Thus, social safety and security are very important to our life. Although research in this area has made significant progress in the past few years, there are still many social problems that require attention and further development in order to secure peace of mind. There is a very clear and accurate understanding and judgment of the overall situation of social security in the current and future period. This Special Issue focuses on a number of contemporary issues in social safety and security. The objective of this book is to rapidly disseminate the latest research and knowledge in this important area

Evaluating occupational health interventions : design, implementation, and effects

Background: Poor mental health, e.g. stress, anxiety, and depression, in the workplace is a challenge worldwide due to the individual suffering and its impact on sickness absence and productivity loss, causing societal costs. The World Health Organisation classifies stress as the health epidemic of the 21st century. Psychosocial working conditions, i.e., how work is organised and the social interplay at work, are health determinants. Thus, psychosocial hazards are one explanation for work-related mental ill-health. Interventions aiming to improve the psychosocial work environment are recommended. Still, there is a scarcity of studies evaluating occupational health interventions targeting psychosocial working conditions to prevent mental ill health. Also, the existing evidence of the effectiveness of such interventions is inconclusive. Implementation failure is described as one main obstacle to succeeding with these interventions. To tackle the global challenges of work-related stress, we need a better understanding of what can be done in the workplace to prevent employees from becoming ill due to workplace stressors. Aim: This thesis aims to contribute to knowledge on how stress-related ill health can be prevented in the workplace and develop our understanding of the design and implementation of occupational health interventions. Methods: This thesis comprises three papers that evaluate two occupational health interventions to improve the psychosocial work environment and mental health. The interventions were conducted within the human services (I) and construction industry (II & III), respectively. In study I, we applied an embedded mixed methods design to evaluate a participatory intervention to improve the psychosocial work environment and mental health (burnout and quality of sleep) within a municipality in Sweden. We utilised a controlled trial and a process evaluation exploring fidelity and participants’ reactions to the intervention activities, learning experiences, and changes in behaviours and work routines. We collected data through documentation, interviews and three waves of questionnaires. Differences in outcome variables (questionnaires) over time were calculated using t-tests for partially overlapping samples to handle partly different study populations at each time point caused by employee turnover and drop-out. We analysed the interview data by applying a thematic analysis. The second and third studies were conducted in a large Swedish construction company. In study II, we investigated the participants’ satisfaction with engaging in the co-creation process, perceived knowledge, and skill development through interviews. In total, eight men and four women participated. We applied a thematic analysis to analyse the data. In study III, we used a controlled trial to evaluate the potential effects of the co-created intervention on the psychosocial work environment and self-reported stress. We collected data on the outcomes with online questionnaires at baseline, 12, and 24 months. We also assessed adherence to the intervention and dose delivered (i.e., fidelity). Marginal means models adjusting for missing data patterns were applied to estimate potential differences in outcomes between groups over time. Findings: Neither of the interventions improved the long-term outcomes of burnout and stress, respectively. We found different effects of the municipality and construction industry interventions on the psychosocial working conditions. Within the municipality, we found detrimental effects of the intervention on social support from the manager, empowering leadership, control of work pacing, and role clarity. Within the construction industry, there was a noticeable improvement in role clarity for white-collar workers in the intervention group compared to the control group. The implementation fidelity, i.e., whether the intervention activities were delivered according to plan, was moderate in both projects. However, the process evaluation within the municipality project showed that the intervention activities led to few changes in attitudes, behaviours, and work routines. On the contrary, adherence to the construction industry intervention increased during the trial. The results of paper II showed that the co-creation participants reported increased learning about the psychosocial work environment and mental health. The respondents perceived the intervention and the implementation strategies as relevant and feasible. Thus, involving different stakeholders and allowing the organisation to decide the intervention activities and the implementation strategies seem to have enabled a good contextual fit. Conclusions: The program theory, i.e., intervention developed within the construction company, can potentially improve role clarity for white-collar workers. Three design principles stand out regarding their positive effect on the implementation: organisational capability and incentive systems to promote health, aligning the intervention with existing organisational objectives and practices and conducting a needs assessment. The co-creation process in the construction industry seems to have positively affected the above-mentioned design principles. Thus, co-creating occupational health interventions seems promising to improve the implementation

Global Services Sourcing: Issues of Cost and Quality

Global Services Sourcing (GSS) is not an original concept. What is original about it is the media attention it seems to be getting. We have adopted the “then and now” philosophy in developing this report. We start by talking to the pioneers of global services sourcing, companies like General Electric, Nortel Networks and Citibank. The key learning from talking to these companies who have been sourcing their processes for more than a decade is that the long held view - “went for cost, stayed for quality” about moving processes outside the company (in some cases outside the country) is too simplistic. Rather we found that “went for cost and quality, stayed for continued quality at competitive costs” is more in line with the strategy that that these companies employed. Next, our in depth questionnaire tries to capture the “now” of the global services sourcing industry. Since the pioneers had shone the arc light on quality we developed specific quality related questions. The results validated the pioneers’ views: 67% of the respondents said that actual cost savings from services sourcing have been anywhere from 5% - 50% (onshore and/or offshored). 82% of the respondents said that going into the global services sourcing arrangement they look for quality of processes to increase by 2 – 10% (onshore and/or offshored). 70% of the respondents said that the quality of outsourced business processes has increased (quality increase of 5% -10%) or increased significantly (quality increase of 10% - 25%). The top three drivers of outsourcing were: cost savings, increasing capacity, ability to take advantage of offshore labor (through captive centers). The most difficult phase of outsourcing was transition or handoff of business processes from the company to its outsourcing partner. The top risk factors in outsourcing were: loss of institutional knowledge, poor communication with vendor, mismatch of firm cultures. Of the companies that are engaged in services sourcing, 79% of respondents were using an offshore based provider. Perhaps in a sign of maturing of global services sourcing 62% chose to offshore their services to at least one country in addition to India, the current offshoring destination of choice. As far as country risk factors, legal risks (laws comparable to international standards - data security, intellectual property rights) followed by political risks were identified as the top areas of concern. The lesson for countries competing for offshored business and FDI inflows in services is that the robustness and fairness of the legal system is a major factor for companies especially in the face of concerns about loss of institutional knowledge. The overall satisfaction level with outsourcing was high at 68% but a sizeable chunk of respondents – 26% were either unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with their outsourcing arrangements. Almost all of these unsatisfied firms have been outsourcing for 12 months or less, reinforcing the literature about thinking of outsourcing being a long term investment rather than a short term win

An analysis of business intelligence for improved public service delivery

The public sector can be described with different types of public policies and by the services the organisations deliver to citizens. Public sector organisations are implementing e-government projects as mechanisms to enhance public service delivery. However, public sector e-government projects in developing countries are highlighted as challenging. Awards of achievement for implementing e-government projects have been noted in the South African public sector. Business Intelligence (BI) for improved public service delivery has been identified as a key tool to improve decision-making processes. Implementing BI in organisations has been revealed as complex. The study of organisational factors that influence the initiative for successful BI implementation is suggested. For this reason, the research sets out to explore the implementation of BI in the public sector in South Africa. The research was conducted through two case studies. Data was collected by conducting semi-structured interviews and document collection with organisations that are implementing BI. A qualitative thematic analysis method was used to construct the major themes that emerged from the data. The research objectives were addressed by constructing three frameworks; to describe what organisational factors influence the BI initiative, the factors that influence the use of BI, and a framework describing the process of implementing BI in the public sector. The Design-Reality gap model was applied to identify risk in the BI projects. The study revealed that BI can be used as an enabler of change and improvement in public sector activities. Consolidating structures, systems and processes was identified as a precursor to implementing BI. However, the level of skills to use BI tools was highlighted as key factor in hindering BI use

Websites Vs. Apps: A Comparison of Consumer Acceptance of Apparel Mass-Customization Across Channels

After 20 years of industrial practice, consumers now can shop for mass-customized apparel in various channels including websites and smart device applications (apps). Online apparel mass-customization (OAMC), which provides platforms and convenience for customers to communicate with retailers effectively, provides retailers with a growing opportunity in today’s evolving omni-channel environment. Meanwhile, product value and experiential value delivered to consumers will help increase customer satisfaction and lower the return rate. However, little is known about consumers’ beliefs, attitudes, and purchase intentions of mass-customized apparels when using different channels. Two studies were intended to fill the research gap. Study 1 is an exploratory, qualitative study with a focus on analyzing feedback from consumers who have had real experiences of purchasing online mass-customized apparel. Study 2 presents a comprehensive attempt to examine the factors that impact consumers’ attitude toward using OAMC and the willingness to purchase online mass-customized apparel (through an experiment) with the technology acceptance model applied as a theoretical foundation. An online self-administered questionnaire was utilized to collect participants’ responses including OAMC evaluations of usefulness, enjoyment, ease of use, choice variety, risks, attitude, and willingness to purchase after practicing OAMC in the experiment. A total of 388 responses were collected from a southeastern University in the United States. Factor analyses were conducted to test and confirm the measurement model with results showing that the reliability and validities were well achieved. Hypothesized relationships and moderating effects were tested using a structural equation modeling approach. Research results indicated that the proposed hypotheses were partially supported. A positive attitude predicted willingness to purchase. Ease of use, enjoyment, and choice variety significantly influenced customers’ attitude. Usefulness and risks did not influence attitude in this research model. The moderation effects of online mass-customization channels, consumers’ level of fashion involvement, and consumers’ need for uniqueness were tested separately through multi-group comparisons. The results showed that there was no significant difference among consumers with different levels of fashion involvement, or different levels of need for uniqueness, or consumers who shop online mass-customized apparel in different channels. Theoretical and practical implications were provided based on research findings

Examining the Return on Investment of Test and Evaluation

This research examined the return on investment of Department of Defense test and evaluation. The thesis analyzed the return on investment of the cost avoidance achieved if an issue discovered late in the program had been discovered and corrected during developmental test and evaluation. The methodology utilized two case study examples from the Joint Primary Training Aircraft System to calculate the potential cost avoidance and the potential return on investment if the program had discovered and corrected the issues during developmental test and evaluation. The result of one case was a 9,260% return on investment. The other case results ranged from a -24% to a 153% return on investment. Both cases illustrated the potential return on investment but no statistically significant conclusions can be obtained from the results. Based on the literature s discussion on the value of identifying problems as early as possible and the potential return on investment from these two cases, further research is essential. This research resulted in proposing multiple recommendations to enhance the acquisition process in an attempt to preserve the long term affordability and long term national defense strategy

Developing structures for health and growth for Northgate Free Methodist Church in Batavia, New York

https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsdissertations/1138/thumbnail.jp

Immigration Detention As An Obstacle To Decarceration

Criminal legal reform and measures to reduce carceral populations have received increasing media and public policy attention nationwide. These efforts have mainly ignored a parallel development: the consistent rise in the use of immigration detention over the last decade. This Article bridges that gap by arguing that ongoing efforts to decarcerate states and localities may be foiled by immigration detention. This argument relies on three different descriptive claims. First, much scholarly work has shown the extent to which vested interests have hampered criminal legal reform; these same interests could look to immigration detention as an alternative protection. Second, the extent to which both the criminal and immigration systems have intertwined has primed us for expanding the use of jails and prisons as tools of immigration control. Third, there is empirical evidence showing a causal connection between empty jail bed space and rising immigration detention at the local level. The Article then argues that if decarceration efforts are premised on the condemnation of the extensive use of carceral institutions, they are incomplete without including measures to address immigration detention. In addition, scholars interested in the effects of incarceration need to account for immigration detention and incarceration together as confinement, because not doing so will skew studies on the impact of decarceration