The Impact of Service-Oriented Architecture on Business Networkability

Increased networking among firms has become a competitive necessity in many industries and the ability to efficiently establish, operate and dissolve business relationships has become a competitive advantage. The degree of this networkability is influenced by several factors, such as organizational structure, business processes, people and culture, but also information systems. In fact, current technological developments aim at the efficient and flexible orchestration of standardized modules, referred to as services. Past research has analyzed networkability primarily qualitatively without providing a specific perspective on the concept of service-oriented architecture (SOA) which has only emerged on a broad scale since the beginning of this century. This paper is a first attempt to investigate the impact of SOA on the notion of business networkability. It is assumed that the ability to flexibly link business services among business partners also positively influences the firm’s networkability. Empirical evidence will be provided from the financial industry which is currently undergoing a strong vertical disintegration. The results show a moderate, but nevertheless significant impact

A virtual-community-centric model for coordination in the South African public sector

Organizations face challenges constantly owing to limited resources. As such, to take advantage of new opportunities and to mitigate possible risks they look for new ways to collaborate, by sharing knowledge and competencies. Coordination among partners is critical in order to achieve success. The segmented South African public sector is no different. Driven by the desire to ensure proper service delivery in this sector, various government bodies and service providers play different roles towards the attainment of common goals. This is easier said than done, given the complexity of the distributed nature of the environment. Heterogeneity, autonomy, and the increasing need to collaborate provoke the need to develop an integrative and dynamic coordination support service system in the SA public sector. Thus, the research looks to theories/concepts and existing coordination practices to ground the process of development. To inform the design of the proposed artefact the research employs an interdisciplinary approach championed by coordination theory to review coordination-related theories and concepts. The effort accounts for coordination constructs that characterize and transform the problem and solution spaces. Thus, requirements are explicit towards identifying coordination breakdowns and their resolution. Furthermore, how coordination in a distributed environment is supported in practice is considered from a socio-technical perspective in an effort to account holistically for coordination support. Examining existing solutions identified shortcomings that, if addressed, can help to improve the solutions for coordination, which are often rigidly and narrowly defined. The research argues that introducing a mediating technological artefact conceived from a virtual community and service lenses can serve as a solution to the problem. By adopting a design-science research paradigm, the research develops a model as a primary artefact to support coordination from a collaboration standpoint. The suggestions from theory and practice and the unique case requirement identified through a novel case analysis framework form the basis of the model design. The proposed model support operation calls for an architecture which employs a design pattern that divides a complex whole into smaller, simpler parts, with the aim of reducing the system complexity. Four fundamental functions of the supporting architecture are introduced and discussed as they would support the operation and activities of the proposed collaboration lifecycle model geared towards streamlining coordination in a distributed environment. As part of the model development knowledge contributions are made in several ways. Firstly, an analytical instrument is presented that can be used by an enterprise architect or business analyst to study the coordination status quo of a collaborative activity in a distributed environment. Secondly, a lifecycle model is presented as meta-process model with activities that are geared towards streamlining the coordination of dynamic collaborative activities or projects. Thirdly, an architecture that will enable the technical virtual community-centric, context-aware environment that hosts the process-based operations is offered. Finally, the validation tool that represents the applied contribution to the research that promises possible adaptation for similar circumstances is presented. The artefacts contribute towards a design theory in IS research for the development and improvement of coordination support services in a distributed environment such as the South African public sector

The Living Environmental Education

This open access book is designed and written to bridge the gap on the critical issues identified in environmental education programs in Asian countries. The world and its environments are changing rapidly, and the public may have difficulty keeping up and understanding how these changes will affect our way of life. The authors discuss various topics and case studies from an Asian perspective, but the content, messaging, and lessons learned need not be limited to Asian cultures. Each chapter provides a summary of the intensive research that has been performed on pro-environmental behaviors, the experience of people working in industry and at home, and their philosophies that guide them in their daily lives. We highlight humanity’s potential to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by understanding better the environmental psychology, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability and stewardship protection elements that contribute to responsible environmental citizenship. The content of the chapters in this book includes a discussion of the crucial issues, plans, and evaluations for sustainability theories, practices, and actions with a proposed management structure for maximizing the cultural, social, and ecological diversity of Asian experiences compared to other theories and cultures internationally. We intend that the data in this book will provide a comprehensive guide for students, professors, practitioners, and entrepreneurs of environmental education and its related disciplines using case studies that demonstrate the relationship between the social and behavioral sciences and environmental leadership and sustainability

Enhancing stakeholder collaboration in risk sensitive urban planning

The impact of climate change poses serious challenges to sustainable urban development, with people experiencing frequent extreme events such as floods, landslides, heat waves and storms. One of the explanations for the increasing risks and impacts is that the development activities of the countries and disaster risk reduction decision-making processes occur in silos, conducted by different agencies, institutions and other actors with differing priorities, perspectives, and time horizons. Therefore, a multi-agency approach to risk-sensitive urban planning (RSUP) has been recognised as being paramount for building resilience against climate change. Emerging economies struggle more than developed countries to manage urban development by mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR) and climate change adaptation (CCA), as well as managing the negative impact of disasters. Thus, this study investigates the inter-organisational changes required for enhancing multi-agency collaboration when considering the impact of climate-induced risks as a key element in urban planning in the emerging economies context, taking Sri Lanka as a case study. The study adopted a case study strategy consisting of 20 semi-structured interviews from national and local level experts and 77 document reviews covering policies, laws, urban plans, national documents, and reports, followed by thematic analysis. As a result, the study identified the barriers and enablers for enhancing stakeholder collaboration in RSUP under five themes: administrative environment, working culture, information and knowledge sharing, organisational capacity, and collaboration process. Furthermore, the study used causal loop diagrams (CLD) as a way of capturing and externalising how various practices and interventions can be propagated through the organisational systems to create conditions that influence the implementation of RSUP. This system modelling approach allows policymakers to see the interrelationships and feedback loops that may not be apparent in traditional linear cause-and-effect thinking and, therefore, will help to identify leverage points in the system to create a positive transformation and impact regarding RSUP. This system analysis helped to identify the key policy changes required for facilitating stakeholder collaboration, including the establishment of mandated collaboration procedures with a clear definition of stakeholders’ roles and responsibilities, the need for power sharing among key stakeholders, and a requirement for continuous collaborative policy evaluations and updates. The study also investigated a suitable collaborative governance arrangement that is conducive to RSUP. The study shows that a hybrid of hierarchy and network structures with neutral leadership, a balanced top-down and bottom-up approach, and decentralisation alongside necessary powers is a suitable collaborative governance arrangement for supporting RSUP.Moreover, this study developed an inter-organisational collaboration maturity grid that will allow organisations to define a pathway to transform their collaboration maturity and to measure it as they transform their practices. Finally, based on the above outcomes, the study developed a framework that contributes to enhancing stakeholder collaboration in RSUP to support the creation of resilient and sustainable cities and human settlements. Keywords: risk-sensitive urban planning; stakeholder collaboration; climate change; disaster risk reduction; system thinking; maturity grid

The Living Environmental Education

This open access book is designed and written to bridge the gap on the critical issues identified in environmental education programs in Asian countries. The world and its environments are changing rapidly, and the public may have difficulty keeping up and understanding how these changes will affect our way of life. The authors discuss various topics and case studies from an Asian perspective, but the content, messaging, and lessons learned need not be limited to Asian cultures. Each chapter provides a summary of the intensive research that has been performed on pro-environmental behaviors, the experience of people working in industry and at home, and their philosophies that guide them in their daily lives. We highlight humanity’s potential to contribute to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by understanding better the environmental psychology, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability and stewardship protection elements that contribute to responsible environmental citizenship. The content of the chapters in this book includes a discussion of the crucial issues, plans, and evaluations for sustainability theories, practices, and actions with a proposed management structure for maximizing the cultural, social, and ecological diversity of Asian experiences compared to other theories and cultures internationally. We intend that the data in this book will provide a comprehensive guide for students, professors, practitioners, and entrepreneurs of environmental education and its related disciplines using case studies that demonstrate the relationship between the social and behavioral sciences and environmental leadership and sustainability

Collecting Institutions in the Network Society

Collecting Institutions in the Network Society is a multidisciplinary study examining present practices and policies of collecting institutions (museums, galleries, libraries and archives) in their use and development of digital technologies, within the context of wider socio-technical change. It investigates whether existing service paradigms are best suited to future digital delivery of services in the emergent Network Society. It uses an interpretive methodological approach creating a body of phenomenological evidence enabling comparison between the organisational context, internal practices, histories and policies of collecting institutions, and the wider socio-technical impact of the Internet. Literature reviews provide evidence from the ‘outer world’ of Internet developments and impact to establish four Generic Drivers of Internet Change. For the ‘inner world’ of collecting institutions, organisational context and research and development on innovation are examined to analyse various perspectives on common approaches to service policy and practice. Additionally, textual analysis of institutional mission statements and policy documents is used to establish the degree of common purpose across collecting institutions and the preparedness of practitioners and policymakers to deal with rapid socio-technical change. The evidence is synthesised to define an Institutional Paradigm describing the present operational processes and practices of collecting institutions. This is compared with the four Generic Drivers to define opportunities and challenges that collecting institutions face in exploiting the Internet. This synthesis demonstrates that the siloised and fragmented nature of the Institutional Paradigm creates significant barriers to effective exploitation. Evidence from the textual analysis is used to develop a Shared Mission Statement for all collecting institutions as the foundation of a strategic digital future. The study proposes a radically new service paradigm (the Digital Knowledge Ecology) enabling collecting institutions to achieve maximum user value in their delivery of digital services, and concludes with proposals for actions to build a collective strategy