Information, Communication and Organizational Behavior

Information is a key ingredient for decision making in organizations. Gathering, interpreting and sharing information requires an interdependent network of individuals, each one influencing and being influenced by the information. The thesis consists of three articles that study production, interpretation and transmission of information in various types of organizations and in different contexts. The first paper focuses on communication and decision making in heterogeneous partnerships. The paper explores the efficiency and viability of partnerships where partners are different in terms of their outside options and expertise. It analyses why heterogeneous partnerships exist only in certain types of industries. The second paper studies managerial overconfidence and its implication for the followers and organizational performance. The paper shows why overconfident managers are able to elicit a higher commitment from their followers and peers, compared to managers who are not overconfident. In addition, the paper shows how a manager’s reputational concern leads to escalation of commitment, i.e., continuing a failed course of action. The third paper studies inter-temporal transmission of information via documentation in a principal-agent setting. This paper provides an explanation for the extensive use of documents in organizations and its effects on decision making and performance of organizations

Maintenance Optimization and Inspection Planning of Wind Energy Assets: Models, Methods and Strategies

Designing cost-effective inspection and maintenance programmes for wind energy farms is a complex task involving a high degree of uncertainty due to diversity of assets and their corresponding damage mechanisms and failure modes, weather-dependent transport conditions, unpredictable spare parts demand, insufficient space or poor accessibility for maintenance and repair, limited availability of resources in terms of equipment and skilled manpower, etc. In recent years, maintenance optimization has attracted the attention of many researchers and practitioners from various sectors of the wind energy industry, including manufacturers, component suppliers, maintenance contractors and others. In this paper, we propose a conceptual classification framework for the available literature on maintenance policy optimization and inspection planning of wind energy systems and structures (turbines, foundations, power cables and electrical substations). The developed framework addresses a wide range of theoretical and practical issues, including the models, methods, and the strategies employed to optimise maintenance decisions and inspection procedures in wind farms. The literature published to date on the subject of this article is critically reviewed and several research gaps are identified. Moreover, the available studies are systematically classified using different criteria and some research directions of potential interest to operational researchers are highlighted

Reliable Centered Maintenance (RCM) Reliable and Risk Centered Maintenance (RRCM) in Offshore Wind Farms (Case Study- Sweden)

Wind power, as a source of renewable energy, is growing very fast. Especially so, is consideration given to offshore wind farms where expansion is due in part to limited social and visual impact, reduced noise effect of turbines, and at the same time higher production of offshore wind turbines. Maintenance is always a considerable and costly part of the wind power investment, especially for offshore projects, but it could not improve as fast as the increasing wind industry in the world. The operation and maintenance management of wind farms should have always a reliable and structured planning to have an economical investment. At the beginning of the growth of wind industry, companies tried to transfer responsibilities of the failure and loss of production to the insurance companies, but it cannot be continued any more. These days even the insurance companies ask about regular inspection or condition monitoring. In other words, they ask for a reliable strategy for operation and maintenance. Both preventative and corrective maintenance are used in offshore wind farms. Preventive maintenance is usually performed at the first sign of failure, and in so doing it helps reduce costs associated from lost production. Having a perfect preventive maintenance program is not easy and it usually needs more inspection and online monitoring. To select a suitable strategy, data should be gathered from different stakeholders who are involved in the project. The stakeholders could be turbine designers, construction companies, transportation companies, operation staff, etc. The reason is that each group has the data which could help to define a reliable strategy of maintenance. Reliability includes measurements, e.g., failure rate, repair time, and availability. Reliability is the ability of components or system to perform their function under given operational condition and for a predicted period of time. However always preventive maintenance especially for offshore wind farm is faced with uncertainty due to bad weather, access difficulty, and logistic limitation. Reliability Centered Maintenance (RCM) is a systematic qualitative technique that balances preventive and corrective maintenance. It chooses the right preventive maintenance activities for the right component at the right time to reach the most cost efficient solution. This research points out that RCM, as an experienced methodology in other industries, could be a good method for scheduled preventive maintenance in offshore wind power for purposes of lowering cost while improving reliability and safety. RCM implementation is always facing with uncertainty. Engaged uncertainty to RCM is known as Reliability and Risk Centered Maintenance RRCM and it could lead maintenance process to an optimal preventive schedule with minimum uncertainty

Predicting divorce in non-divorced and divorce applicant couples based on early maladaptive schemas, communication skills and communication patterns

Background: Communication skills, communication patterns, and maladaptive schemas are all key predictors of divorce, and each has been examined separately in numerous studies. However, no research has been conducted to investigate the combined effect of these three factors on divorce applicant couples and non-divorced couples. Aims: The purpose of this study was to predict divorce based on early maladaptive schemas, communication skills, and communication patterns in non-divorced and divorce applicant couples who went to pre-divorce counseling centers. Methods: The descriptive method was used to conduct the research (causal-comparative). The statistical population of the study included 400 divorce applicants from Tehran's District 4 in Iran. During the first half of 2021, family courts referred these samples to pre-divorce counseling centers. In addition, 400 non-divorced couples were selected as the control group. The study instruments included the Young Schema Questionnaire (FS-QS), the  Queen Dam Communication Skills (CSTR), and the Communication Patterns (CPQ), which were developed in 1998 , 2004, and 1991, respectively. The responses of the study samples to these questionnaires were analyzed using MANOVA and Logistic Regression tests . Results: The results of regression analysis showed that 53 to 70% of the variance of divorce is explained by initial maladaptive schemas, 45 to 61% by communication skills and 17 to 22% of divorce by communication patterns. Divorce-seeking couples' communication skills are weaker than normal couples, and communication patterns of withdrawal-expectation and mutual avoidance in divorce-seeking couples are higher than normal couples. The schemes of divorced couples were lower than normal couples in only the first two incompatible schemes of distrust and inadequate self-control, and the average of the other 13 schemes is higher. Conclusion: According to the findings, consultation, the development of communication skills and patterns, and schema therapy may all aid in the reduction of divorce cases

Democratic versus elite governance for project selection decisions in executive committees

Executive committees make critical decisions regarding project selection in different ways. In a committee operating under a democratic governance structure, all members have the right to vote, but the majority of voters ultimately decide which projects to undertake. Alternatively, in a committee operating under an elite governance structure, the decision is made only by a restricted number of voters. Therefore, in an elite governance, there are decision makers or “elite” members, and non-decision makers or “common” members. In this article, we study how committee members under either a democratic or elite governance structure interact and communicate information to each other, and ultimately make a decision about a project with uncertain revenues. We find that the efficient committee governance structure, i.e., the one that maximizes the expected surplus of the committee, can be determined by focusing on one specific communication between elite and common committee members. Further, we establish a sufficient condition on the revenues distribution for each governance structure to be efficient. Finally, when this sufficient condition on the revenues distribution does not hold, we find that governance efficiency depends on the probability of the decision makers to learn the true value of the revenues being sufficiently high or the one of the non-decision makers being sufficiently low or both these two conditions

Governance of collective entrepreneurship

This paper studies optimal allocation of control rights in collective organizations where members are heterogeneous across their opportunity costs and knowledgeability (expertise). Three results are established. First, members’ heterogeneity is costly as it makes communication coarse and hampers decision making. Second, efficient allocation of control rights entails granting the decision rights to the members who are more (less) inclined to implement projects when the market is (not) ripe with profitable projects. This result, however, requires that members with the control rights are highly knowledgeable. Third, governance structure determines who bears the cost of heterogeneity, whereas the market determines who benefits from it. Members shouldering the costs should be compensated to be willing to join the collective organization. Governance structure and the market are therefore intertwined. Consequently, efficient allocation of control rights might not be viable. One implication is that it is unlikely that junior members have decision authority in heterogeneous partnerships. Another implication is that the viability of collective entrepreneurships is problematic in many settings