Rhetoric or reality? Cross-sector policy implementation at the UK government Department for International Development

International development discourse emphasises collaboration, partnerships and cross-sectoral approaches, but to what extent is cross-sector policy implemented in practice? This article presents findings from research into cross-sector policy implementation at the Department for International Development (DFID) in the UK and Nepal. Discussion focuses on examining and explaining the contradictory nature of the data gathered and a possible model of cross-sectoral engagement is presented in response to the findings. In conclusion, DFID was found to have made some significant attempts to implement cross-sectoral policies but, for a number of reasons, DFID's cross-sector policies have not been fully implemented

Planning strategically, designing architecturally : a framework for digital library services

In an era of unprecedented technological innovation and evolving user expectations and information seeking behaviour, we are arguably now an online society, with digital services increasingly common and increasingly preferred. As a trusted information provider, libraries are in an advantageous position to respond, but this requires integrated strategic and enterprise architecture planning, for information technology (IT) has evolved from a support role to a strategic role, providing the core management systems, communication networks, and delivery channels of the modern library. Further, IT components do not function in isolation from one another, but are interdependent elements of distributed and multidimensional systems encompassing people, processes, and technologies, which must consider social, economic, legal, organisational, and ergonomic requirements and relationships, as well as being logically sound from a technical perspective. Strategic planning provides direction, while enterprise architecture strategically aligns and holistically integrates business and information system architectures. While challenging, such integrated planning should be regarded as an opportunity for the library to evolve as an enterprise in the digital age, or at minimum, to simply keep pace with societal change and alternative service providers. Without strategy, a library risks being directed by outside forces with independent motivations and inadequate understanding of its broader societal role. Without enterprise architecture, it risks technological disparity, redundancy, and obsolescence. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, this conceptual paper provides an integrated framework for strategic and architectural planning of digital library services. The concept of the library as an enterprise is also introduced

Impact of process protocol design on virtual team effectiveness

This dissertation examined the influence of action process dimensions on team decision performance, and attitudes toward team work environment and procedures given different degrees of collaborative technology affordance. Process models were used to provide context for understanding team behavior in the experimental task, and clarify understanding of process influence on team performance and attitudes. Two hundred-eight students completed the study comprising 52 four-member teams. The results showed that action process structure has a small but meaningful effect on decision performance, team climate, and procedural justice perceptions. Tests for interaction effects were mixed. Collaborative display structure supports process influence in the predicted direction on performance and climate outcomes, but this effect was not significant. However, display structure had a differential moderating effect on procedural justice outcomes. In addition, confirmatory factor analysis was performed to clarify relationships in the proposed model. The majority of indicators loaded significantly (11 of 13). However the majority of goodness of fit indicators, while approaching acceptability, did not meet established levels of fit. As such, refinements of the study design and sampling methods is suggested before the findings are generalized or substantiated

Modelling Inter-Organizational Business Processes Governance

Digital transformation requires decentralizing business process governance due to the increasing interdependencies of organizations and more complex business pipelines enabled by information technologies. We present a modelling approach to assist companies in their inter-organizational business process governance (IO-BPG). The results emerge from a design science research conducted with a major European telecommunications service provider. They include (1) the key domain attributes, (2) a domain-specific ontology, and (3) a BPMN extension instantiated in IO-BPG scenarios of Software-as-a-Service, covering structure, processes, and relational mechanisms. For theory, this paper extends the literature on business process governance with a modelling approach evaluated in one of the most regulated and dynamic economic sectors. For practice, our proposal may help appraise accountability, confidentiality, compliance, autonomy, authority, traceability, and collaboration configurations that are crucial to IO-BPG

Virtual teams: A literature review

In the competitive market, virtual teams represent a growing response to the need for fasting time-to-market, low-cost and rapid solutions to complex organizational problems. Virtual teams enable organizations to pool the talents and expertise of employees and non-employees by eliminating time and space barriers. Nowadays, companies are heavily investing in virtual team to enhance their performance and competitiveness. Despite virtual teams growing prevalence, relatively little is known about this new form of team. Hence the study offers an extensive literature review with definitions of virtual teams and a structured analysis of the present body of knowledge of virtual teams. First, we distinguish virtual teams from conventional teams, different types of virtual teams to identify where current knowledge applies. Second, we distinguish what is needed for effective virtual team considering the people, process and technology point of view and underlying characteristics of virtual teams and challenges they entail. Finally, we have identified and extended 12 key factors that need to be considered, and describes a methodology focused on supporting virtual team working, with a new approach that has not been specifically addressed in the existing literature and some guide line for future research extracted.Virtual team, Literature review, Effective virtual team,

An Adaptable Business Intelligence Model for Security Organizations

Business Intelligence (BI) shows prospect both in private and public sectors. It answers the questions of how things can be done and what result it holds. It was observed that most of the BI papers have centered on private sector with little or no attention to public sectors like security organizations. With security organizations representing the heart of any society, the need arises for a well-integrated model that could aid security personnel towards an effective security implementation of any society. The paper studied one of the existing and popularly used model in Information System and observed the need to integrate a feasibility study for an effective BI system in the security organization.In conclusion, the paper developed an adaptable model that could help security organizations create better decision system and provision of a data warehouse of information. Keywords: Business Intelligence, knowledge acquisition, Information and Communication Technology

Marketing Aspects of Technology Ventures

Cílem diplomové práce je analýza marketingových nástrojů použitých firmou XAX a následně vyhodnotit a navrhnout zvýšení jejich efektivity. Popis strategie společnosti a faktory ovlivňující budou identifikovány. Práce obsahuje návrhy a doporučení na zvýšení efektivity marketingových nástrojů dané firmy v oblasti High-tech odvětví.The aim of diploma thesis is to analyze marketing tools used in Company XAX and under this condition evaluate and purpose increase efficiency used tools. The current marketing strategy of the company is described and main influencing factors are identified. The thesis contains proposals and recommendations for tools usage in the field of High-tech marketing.

Towards a Standards-Based Cloud Service Manager

Migrating services to the cloud brings all the benefits of elasticity, scalability and cost-cutting. However, migrating services among different cloud infrastructures or outside of the cloud is not an obvious task. In addition, distributing services among multiple cloud providers, or on a hybrid installation requires a custom implementation effort that must be repeated at each infrastructure change. This situation raises the lock-in problem and discourages cloud adoption. Cloud computing open standards were designed to face this situation and to bring interoperability and portability to cloud environments. However, they target isolated resources, and do not take into account the notion of complete services. In this paper, we introduce an extension to OCCI, a cloud computing open standard, in order to support complete service definition and management automation. We support this proposal with an open-source framework for service management through compliant cloud infrastructures.Peer reviewe