Media Resource Center Management in Higher Education: New Organizations for the Times

Changes in the organization of learning resources including language/learninglabs have occurred over the years. Surveys within higher education over the last tenyears indicate less local autonomy and more centralized control, either withinindividual colleges or within central media or library facilities. It is not clear whetherlibrary involvement is advantageous in all institutions. Factors affecting successfulintegration include the age, size, and traditions of the university, training and skills ofstaff and director, support of the central administration, and a clear mission for theuse of learning resources.An earlier version of this paper was presented for IALL at the Annual Conventionof the Association for Educational Communications and Technology in 1984 in Dallas,Texas

A Tactical Demand-Supply Planning Framework to manage ‎‎Complexity in Engineer-to-Order Environments: Insights from an in-‎‎depth ‎case study

The challenging demand-supply balancing in engineer-to-order (ETO) environments\ua0is often attributed to complexity. This study expands the understanding of managing\ua0complexity to obtain demand-supply balancing, focusing on the tactical planning\ua0logic of the order fulfilment process. An in-depth single case study was conducted\ua0and data describing the order fulfilment process at a construction company were\ua0collected and analysed. Findings suggest a tactical-level planning process framework,\ua0incorporating nine key decisions and three crucial activities, and their potential\ua0complexity-reducing and complexity-absorbing impact. The study contributes to the\ua0theoretical discussion of complexity in management practices, linking demandsupply\ua0balancing as a performance measure. The findings guide practitioners in ETO\ua0settings on anticipating potential medium-term consequences of key decisions on\ua0capacity. This emphasises the need of proper IT support to apply knowledge\ua0generated from previous projects and conduct comprehensive and robust scenariobased\ua0analyses

Balancing Demand and Supply in Complex Manufacturing Operations: Tactical-Level Planning Processes

By balancing medium-term demand and supply, tactical planning enables manufacturing firms to realize strategic, long-term business objectives. However, such balancing in engineer-to-order (ETO) and configured-to-order (CTO) operations, due to the constant pressure of substantial complexity (e.g., volatility, uncertainty, and ambiguity), induces frequent swings between over- and undercapacity and thus considerable financial losses. Manufacturers respond to such complexity by using planning processes that address the business’s needs and risks at various medium-term horizons, ranging from 3 months to 3 years. Because the importance of decision-making increases exponentially as the horizon shrinks, understanding the interaction between complexity and demand-supply balancing requires extending findings reported in the literature on operations and supply chain planning and control. Therefore, this thesis addresses complexity’s impact on planning medium-term demand-supply balancing on three horizons: the strategic– tactical interface, the tactical level, and the tactical–operational interface.To explore complexity’s impact on demand–supply balancing in planning processes, the thesis draws on five studies, the first two of which addressed customer order fulfillment in ETO operations. Whereas Study I, an in-depth single-case study, examined relevant tactical-level decisions, planning activities, and their interface with the complexity affecting demand–supply balancing at the strategic–tactical interface, Study II, an in-depth multiple-case study, revealed the cross-functional mechanisms of integration affecting those decisions and activities and their impact on complexity. Next, Study III, also an in-depth multiple-case study, investigated areas of uncertainty, information-processing needs (IPNs), and information-processing mechanisms (IPMs) within sales and operations planning in ETO operations. By contrast, Studies IV and V addressed material delivery schedules (MDSs) in CTO operations; whereas Study IV, another in-depth multiple-case study, identified complexity interactions causing MDS instability at the tactical–operational interface, Study V, a case study, quantitatively explained how several factors affect MDS instability.Compiling six papers based on those five studies, the thesis contributes to theory and practice by extending knowledge about relationships between complexity and demand–supply balancing within a medium-term horizon. Its theoretical contributions, in building upon and supporting the limited knowledge on tactical planning in complex manufacturing operations, consist of a detailed tactical-level planning framework, identifying IPNs generated by uncertainty, pinpointing causal and moderating factors of MDS instability, and balancing complexity-reducing and complexity-absorbing strategies, cross-functional integrative mechanisms, IPMs, and dimensions of planning process quality. Meanwhile, its practical contributions consist of concise yet holistic descriptions of relationships between complexity in context and in demand– supply balancing. Manufacturers can readily capitalize on those descriptions to develop and implement context-appropriate tactical-level planning processes that enable efficient, informed, and effective decision-making

An analysis of the public/private interface in real estate joint ventures

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Architecture, 1992.Includes bibliographical references (leaves 47-50).by Terezia C. Nemeth.M.S

Exploring how complex solution-based capabilities (CSC) are developed and integrated in engineering companies

This paper explores how engineering companies develop and integrate solution-based capabilities for complex ‘one-off’ or small-batch production. Although there is extant literature on developing a standalone service, product and process capabilities, an integrated solution-based capability for effective execution of complex ‘design-build’ projects is currently underdeveloped. For such firms to be successful in delivering complex solutions, there is the need for organisational structured routines and processes which we conceptualise as complex solution-based capabilities (CSC). The study was based on a multiple case study using in-depth semi-structured interviews with managers and engineers. Primary data collected were complemented by documentary evidence, for triangulation and validity. The data were analysed using thematic analysis to develop a framework of CSC. The findings show that the case study companies have developed and integrated CSC through organisational routines and processes of make-to-concept approach, value creation, and strategic coordination. Implications and future research are discussed

INRA Water Resource Management Research and EducationNeeds Assessment Project

The Water Resources Research Needs Assessment team received funding in summer 2006 from the Inland Northwest Research Alliance (INRA) Water Resources Steering Committee to conduct a structured needs assessment study. The study was motivated by the desire to allow future INRA research and educational programs to meet better the needs of water resources managers in the five state INRA region

Governance of national spatial data infrastructures in Europe

The effective development and implementation of spatial data infrastructures (SDIs) requires governance in order to avoid gaps, duplications, contradictions and missed opportunities in the implementation of different SDI components. Appropriate governance instruments should be established to coordinate the activities and contributions of different stakeholders. This article reviews the governance of national SDIs in Europe before, during and after the adoption of the European INSPIRE Directive, which aimed to establish an infrastructure for spatial information in the European community. The analysis is based on a governance instruments approach as introduced by public administration researchers to analyse coordination and governance in the public sector. The study shows that the instruments-based approach is a useful tool for analysing governance in the context of SDIs and contributes to a better understanding of SDI governance. Evidence was found for the adoption and use of each of six sets of governance instruments in the governance of national SDIs in Europe: collective decision-making structures, strategic management, allocation of tasks and responsibilities, creation of markets, inter-organizational culture and knowledge management, and regulation and formalization of the infrastructure

An organizational basis for facilitating increased agricultural productivity in Central Province, Zambia

The focus of this research is the organizational basis of increased agricultural productivity. The study reviews both the organizational structure and the effectiveness of interorganizational relations of 18 organizations which comprise the agricultural support network in Central Province, Zambia;An examination of modified Aiken and Hage scales of centralization, formalization task routineness reveal the applicability of their use cross-culturally as well as the centralized nature of most Zambian organizations. The study reveal a corporate system of administrative arrangement with policy decisions and directives originating at the center;The study also reveals that most interorganizational linkages are mandated by law and many are fraught with conflict. The conflict results to a large degree from overlapping organizational domains, particularly between the marketing organizations. The study concludes many facilitators to effective interorganizational relations be the resolution of conflict. Conflict resolution was found to be best achieved through the participation of organizations in joint planning and joint implementation activities and by negotiating clear domains. It is concluded that conflict resolution and domain consensus can be facilitated through the creation of an inter-ministerial planning committee composed of organizational leaders as well as government and political leaders. Such a committee could clarify the division of labor in the agricultural support network and establish negotiated relationships based on domain consensus