25,772 research outputs found
A Morphology of Theories of Emergence
“Emergence” – the notion of novel, unpredictable and irreducible properties developing out of complex organisational entities – is itself a complex, multi-dimensional concept. To date there is no single, generally agreed upon “theory of emergence”, but instead a number of different approaches and perspectives. Neither is there a common conceptual or meta-theoretical framework by which to systematically identify, exemplify and compare different “theories”. Building upon earlier work done by sociologist Kenneth Bailey, this article presents a method for creating such a framework, and outlines the conditions for a collaborative effort in order to carry out such a task. A brief historical and theoretical background is given both to the concept of “emergence” and to the non-quantified modelling method General Morphological Analysis (GMA)
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Advancing the state of the art in the modelling and simulation of information systems evaluation
It is widely accepted that Information Systems Evaluation (ISE) is a powerful and useful technique
that can be used to assess IT/IS investments in an a-priori or a-posteriori sense. Traditional
approaches to ISE have tended to centre upon financial and management accounting frameworks,
seeking to reconcile tangible and intangible costs, benefits, risks and value factors. Such techniques,
however, do not provide the IS researcher or practitioner with further insight or appreciation of any
inherent and implicit inter-relationships, in the investment justification process. Thus, this paper
outlines and discusses via a taxonomy and resulting classification, alternative and complementary
approaches that can be applied to ISE from the fields of Artificial Intelligence (AI), Operational
Research (OR) and Management Science (MS). The paper subsequently concludes that such
approaches can be potentially used by researchers and practitioners in the field, as a basis for
carrying out further research in the field of applied ISE
Organizational energy: A behavioral analysis of human and organizational factors in manufacturing
This paper seeks to explore the behavior and embodied energy involved in the decision-making of information technology/information systems (IT/IS) investments using a case within a small- to medium-sized manufacturing firm. By analyzing decision making within a given case context, this paper describes the nature of the investment through the lens of behavioral economics, causality, input-output (IO) equilibrium, and the general notion of depletion of executive energy function. To explore the interplay between these elements, the authors structure the case context via a morphological field in order to construct a fuzzy cognitive map of decision-making relationships relating to the multidimensional and nonquantifiable problems of IT/IS investment evaluation. Noting the significance of inputs and outputs relating to the investment decision within the case, the authors assess these cognitive interrelationships through the lens of the Leontief IO energy equilibrium model. Subsequently, the authors suggest, through an embodied energy audit, that all such management decisions are susceptible to decision fatigue (so-called 'ego depletion'). The findings of this paper highlight pertinent cognitive and IO paths of the investment decision-making process that will allow others making similar types of investments to learn from and draw parallels from such processes
Some Ontological Principles for Designing Upper Level Lexical Resources
The purpose of this paper is to explore some semantic problems related to the
use of linguistic ontologies in information systems, and to suggest some
organizing principles aimed to solve such problems. The taxonomic structure of
current ontologies is unfortunately quite complicated and hard to understand,
especially for what concerns the upper levels. I will focus here on the problem
of ISA overloading, which I believe is the main responsible of these
difficulties. To this purpose, I will carefully analyze the ontological nature
of the categories used in current upper-level structures, considering the
necessity of splitting them according to more subtle distinctions or the
opportunity of excluding them because of their limited organizational role.Comment: 8 pages - gzipped postscript file - A4 forma
Innovative Service-Based Business Concepts for the Machine Tool Building Industry
Organised by: Cranfield UniversityDuring the last decade, machine tool building companies have been forced to put innovative offers on the
market. Due to the technical features of their products and the prevailing organizational structures in this
sector, especially product-service systems are a promising way of creating a unique selling point. In this
paper, potential new business concepts for machine tool builders will be presented which aim at fulfilling
basic customer needs like the increase in quality, flexibility, productivity and the reduction of lead times,
costs and risks. For the implementation of these product-service systems, practical examples are given.Mori Seiki – The Machine Tool Compan
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