DOES ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE MATTER? AN ADAPTIVE SIMULATION APPROACH FOR INVESTIGATING INFORMATION PROCESSING STRUCTURES IN ORGANIZATIONS

We adopt the view of organizations as information processing entities. As such, we propose that various exogenous and endogenous factors should affect the performance of organizations with respect to information processing tasks. We present a methodology for modeling organizational structures and for determining which organizational structures, if any, distinguish themselves given various constraints. Our methodology relies upon computer simulations that combine Monte Carlo methods and genetic algorithms to represent dynamic organizational operating environments and competition among firms, respectively.Information Systems Working Papers Serie

Police Organizational Performance In The State Of Florida:confirmatory Analysis Of The Relationship Of The Environment And Design Structure to Performance

To date, police organizations have not been rigorously analyzed by organizational scholars and most analysis of these organizations has been captured through a single construct. The purpose of this study is to develop confirmatory police organizational analysis by validating a multi-dimensional conceptual framework that explains the relationships among three constructs: environmental constraints, the design structures of police organizations, and organizational performance indicators. The modeling is deeply rooted in contingency theory, and the influence of isomorphism and institutional theory on the covariance structure model are investigated. One hundred and thirteen local police organizations from the State of Florida are included in this non-experimental, cross-sectional study to determine the direct effect of the environmental constraints on the performance of police organizations, the indirect effect of environmental constraints on the performance of police organizations via the organizational design structure of police organizations, and the direct affect of organizational design structure on performance of police organizations. For the first time, structural equation modeling and data envelopment analysis are used together to confirm the effects of the environment on police organization structure and performance. The results indicate that environmental social economic disparity indicators have a large positive effect on police resources and a medium effect on police efficiency. Propensity of crime indicators has a large negative effect on police resources, and population density has a small to medium negative effect on crime clearance. Structure has a much smaller effect on performance than the environment. The results of the efficiency analysis revealed unexpected findings. Three of the top five largest police organizations in the study scored maximum efficiency. The cause of this unexpected result is explained and confirmed in the covariance model. The study methodology and results enhances the understanding of the relationship among the constructs while subjecting environmental and police organizational data to two comprehensive analytical techniques. The policy implications and practical contributions of the study provide new knowledge and information to organizational management of police organizations. Furthermore, the study establishes a new approach to police organizational analysis and police services management research called Police Services Management Research (PSMR) that encompasses a variety of disciplines with a primary responsibility of theory building and the selection of theoretical framework

Charter School Leadership Teams: Exploring the Effects of Leadership Structures on School-Level Achievement

This quantitative study adds to previous research on school leadership effects on school performance. Utilizing existing school level data from Washington D.C. charter schools, this study explores the shift to distributed leadership structures and presence of emerging school-level leadership roles, including academic, behavior, and operational leaders. Then using organizational rosters to create new leadership variables, the study completes controlled multivariate regression modeling to explore the relationships between the presence or absence of these roles with school performance. Overall, the findings show that leadership predictors, despite having intuitive and theoretical links to school performance, had effects of less than 1% on the model’s ability to explain the 2019 school performance. This is likely because 75% of the variability was explained by control variables, including the best predictors of school performance—the prior year’s performance and reenrollment. Beyond the modeling statistics, the additional exploratory data analysis of tables correlating performance by ward and convergence of titles provide insights that could inform further research, policy, and practice in the charter school sector and in the education-reform movement

Effect of Leadership on Employee's Performance Mediated by Cultural Organization, Work Commitment and Motivation

Main mission of regional autonomy is intended to improve the quality of public services and the welfare of the community, creating efficiency and effectiveness of human resource management, as well as empowering and creating a space for people to participate actively in the development process. Therefore, it needs a leader who act can generate commitment, motivation and optimism in carrying out the work, foster an atmosphere of cooperation, and can affect the behavior of subordinates who have an impact on improving the performance of employees. This study aims to identify and assess the relevance of leadership on employee performance mediated by organizational culture, work commitment and work motivation as determinants of employee performance improvement. The sample used in this study was 160 respondents to the analysis unit employees in Food Security Council Keerom Papua Province. Data was collected by questionnaires followed by in-depth interviews. Quantitative Data Analysis using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the help of the program Analysis Moment Structures (AMOS). The results of this study indicate that, good leadership can improve employee performance, when considering the factors that come into play that organizational culture, work commitment and motivation work to DKP in Keerom Papua Province. Furthermore, the results of this study that the strengthening of organizational culture and high employee commitment can lead to increased motivation

Influence of the Servant Leadership, Organizational Culture and Employee Motivation on Work Performance

Servant Leadership, Organizational Culture and Work Motivation is a very important variable that to Achieve the performance of employees / employee better. Performance is an aspect to measure the quality and quantity of individuals in an organization. Employee performance affects the achievement of organizational goals. The dynamics of working in organization need individuals who are effective and efficient in their work, both personal and team. The purpose of this study is: to analyze the effect of servant leadership to employee performance Mimika District Hospital, to analyze the influence of organizational culture on employee performance Mimika District Hospital, To analyze the effect of work motivation on employee performance Mimika District Hospital. This study uses a saturated or census sampling methods and the data used in this research is the primary data is in the form of a questionnaire. This study used a sample of as many as 198 people. The analysis technique used in this study is the technique of path analysis (path analysis) using the program Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) with the help of program Analysis Moment Structures (AMOS) and qualitative analysis using interactive methods .. Based on test validity and reliability by using factor analysis shows, the instruments used in the study are valid and reliable. The results Showed that (1) Effect of servant leadership to employee performance Mimika district hospitals have a significant effect, in the which the servant leadership Directly Contribute to or influenced by 1.6% on employee performance and influence indirectly because of his association with two other independent variables by 1.2% and by 2.5% job satisfaction. The influence of organizational culture on employee performance Mimika hospitals have a significant effect of the which contributes greatly to the performance of employees. The effect of work motivation on employee performance hospitals Mimika has a significant influence on employee performance Mimika district hospitals, where the higher work motivation will improve employee performance

Tasks, cognitive agents, and KB-DSS in workflow and process management

The purpose of this paper is to propose a nonparametric interest rate term structure model and investigate its implications on term structure dynamics and prices of interest rate derivative securities. The nonparametric spot interest rate process is estimated from the observed short-term interest rates following a robust estimation procedure and the market price of interest rate risk is estimated as implied from the historical term structure data. That is, instead of imposing a priori restrictions on the model, data are allowed to speak for themselves, and at the same time the model retains a parsimonious structure and the computational tractability. The model is implemented using historical Canadian interest rate term structure data. The parametric models with closed form solutions for bond and bond option prices, namely the Vasicek (1977) and CIR (1985) models, are also estimated for comparison purpose. The empirical results not only provide strong evidence that the traditional spot interest rate models and market prices of interest rate risk are severely misspecified but also suggest that different model specifications have significant impact on term structure dynamics and prices of interest rate derivative securities.

Light Water Sustainability Program: Optimizing Information Automation Using a New Method Based on System-Theoretic Process Analysis

This report describes the interim progress for research supporting the design and optimization of information automation systems for nuclear power plants. Much of the domestic nuclear fleet is currently focused on modernizing technologies and processes, including transitioning toward digitalization in the control room and elsewhere throughout the plant, along with a greater use of automation, artificial intelligence, robotics, and other emerging technologies. While there are significant opportunities to apply these technologies toward greater plant safety, efficiency, and overall cost-effectiveness, optimizing their design and avoiding potential safety and performance risks depends on ensuring that human-performance-related organizational and technical design issues are identified and addressed. This report describes modeling tools and techniques, based on sociotechnical system theory, to support these design goals and their application in the current research effort. The report is intended for senior nuclear energy stakeholders, including regulators, corporate management, and senior plant management. We have developed and employed a method to design an optimized information automation ecosystem (IAE) based on the systems-theoretic constructs underlying sociotechnical systems theory in general and the Systems-Theoretic Accident Modeling and Processes (STAMP) approach in particular. We argue that an IAE can be modeled as an interactive information control system whose behavior can be understood in terms of dynamic control and feedback relationships amongst the system’s technical and organizational components. Up to this point, we have employed a Causal Analysis based on STAMP (CAST) technique to examine a performance- and safety-related incident at an industry partner’s plant that involved the unintentional activation of an emergency diesel generator. This analysis provided insight into the behavior of the plant’s current information control structure within the context of a specific, significant event. Our ongoing analysis is focused on identifying near-term process improvements and longer-term design requirements for an optimized IAE system. The latter analyses will employ a second STAMP-derived technique, System-Theoretic Process Analysis (STPA). STPA is a useful modeling tool for generating and analyzing actual or potential information control structures. Finally, we have begun modeling plantwide organizational relationships and processes. Organizational system modeling will supplement our CAST and STPA findings and provide a basis for mapping out a plantwide information control architecture. CAST analysis findings indicate an important underlying contributor to the incident under investigation, and a significant risk to information automation system performance, was perceived schedule pressure, which exposed weaknesses in interdepartmental coordination between and within responsible plant organizations and challenged the resilience of established plant processes, until a human caused the initiating event. These findings are discussed in terms of their risk to overall system performance and their implications for information automation system resilience and brittleness. We present two preliminary information automation models. The proactive issue resolution model is a test case of an information automation concept with significant near-term potential for application and subsequent reduction in significant plant events. The IAE model is a more general representation of a broader, plantwide information automation system. From our results, we have generated a set of preliminary system-level requirements and safety constraints. These requirements will be further developed over the remainder of our project in collaboration with nuclear industry subject matter experts and specialists in the technical systems under consideration. Additionally, we will continue to pursue the system analyses initiated in the first part of our effort, with a particular emphasis on STPA as the main tool to identify weak or weakening ontrol structures that affect the resilience of organizations and programs. Our intent is to broaden the scope of the analysis from an individual use case to a related set of use cases (e.g., maintenance tasks, compliance tasks) with similar human-system performance challenges. This will enable more generalized findings to refine the Proactive Issue Resolution and IAE models, as well as their system-level requirements and safety constraints. We will use organizational system modeling analyses to supplement STPA findings and model development. We conclude the report with a set of summary recommendations and an initial draft list of system-level requirements and safety constraints for optimized information automation systems

School Climate in the School Choice Era: A Comparative Analysis of District-Run Public Schools and Charter Schools

Comparative analyses of district-run public schools and charter schools are limited to performance outcomes. There is a dearth of research on how the school-types vary on factors consequential to performance such as school climate. Public-private distinctions, such as in organizational autonomy, value orientations, funding structures, and management practices, could result in school climate dissimilarities between district-run public schools and charter schools. The aim of this dissertation is to assess the influence organizational factors have on school climate and determine if school-type affects school climate. Student and staff school climate survey data from the Miami-Dade school district were utilized for this dissertation. Structural equation modeling was employed to test theoretical models of students’ and staffs’ perceptions of school climate using data from 2001-2002 through 2015-2016 academic years. Within-between effects panel regression was utilized to test the effect of school-type on school climate constructs over time using data from 2005-2006 through 2015-2016 academic years. The structural equation results demonstrate that milieu, ecology, culture, and organizational structure influence students’ and staffs’ perceptions of their schools’ climates. Ecology has the strongest association with students’ perceptions of school climate. Job satisfaction, a part of milieu and culture, has the strongest association with staffs’ perceptions of school climate. The results indicate that the theoretical models of school climate employed by this study are sound. The within-between effects panel regression results demonstrate that characteristics inherent to school-type have a plausible influence on students’ perceptions of school climate, but not for staff. Charter school students rated their school climates more favorably than traditional public schools, but when other factors are controlled, traditional public schools and magnet schools had more favorable ratings. Public-sector values, collective bargaining, and school district oversight may be beneficial to schools’ climates. This dissertation underscores the impact management and funding structures have on school climate. The author recommends that the school climate concept and evaluations of schools’ organizational practices be incorporated into school improvement policies. The milieu, culture, ecology, and organizational structures of schools should be reviewed when assessing school quality

The relation between school leadership from a distributed perspective and teachers' organizational commitment: examining the source of the leadership function

Purpose: In this study the relationship between school leadership and teachers’ organizational commitment is examined by taking into account a distributed leadership perspective. The relation between teachers’ organizational commitment and contextual variables of teachers’ perceptions of the quality and the source of the supportive and supervisory leadership function, participative decision making, and cooperation within the leadership team are examined. Research Design: A survey was set up involving 1,522 teachers from 46 large secondary schools in Flanders (Belgium). Because the data in the present study have an inherent hierarchical structure, that is, teachers are nested into schools, hierarchical linear modeling techniques are applied. Findings: The analyses reveal that 9% of the variance in teachers’ organizational commitment is attributable to differences between schools. Teachers’ organizational commitment is mainly related to quality of the supportive leadership, cooperation within the leadership team, and participative decision making. Who performed the supportive leadership function plays only a marginally significant positive role. The quality of the supervisory leadership function and the role of the leadership team members in this function were not significantly related to teachers’ organizational commitment. Conclusions: The implications of the findings are that to promote teachers’ organizational commitment teachers should feel supported by their leadership team and that this leadership team should be characterized by group cohesion, role clarity, and goal orientedness. Recommendations for further research are provided

Organization of Multi-Agent Systems: An Overview

In complex, open, and heterogeneous environments, agents must be able to reorganize towards the most appropriate organizations to adapt unpredictable environment changes within Multi-Agent Systems (MAS). Types of reorganization can be seen from two different levels. The individual agents level (micro-level) in which an agent changes its behaviors and interactions with other agents to adapt its local environment. And the organizational level (macro-level) in which the whole system changes it structure by adding or removing agents. This chapter is dedicated to overview different aspects of what is called MAS Organization including its motivations, paradigms, models, and techniques adopted for statically or dynamically organizing agents in MAS.Comment: 12 page