Impacts of pandemic outbreaks on Healthcare Supply Chains: Lessons from Covid-19 in developing nations

Extended abstract submitted for the Faculty of Business and Law Research Day 2022

Organizational Justice, Project Performance, and the Mediating Effects of Key Success Factors

Projects are under constant pressure to improve performance, and research is needed to understand the characteristics of high-performing projects. Using the concept of organizational justice as a characteristic, we propose that the performance of projects in meeting success criteria is enhanced when there are procedures in place for the fair treatment of project team members; when resources are allocated fairly; and when the individuals interact in a way that is characterized by respect, propriety, and dignity. Structural equation analysis supports our proposition that the presence of organizational justice enhances project performance and valuable nuances in these relationships are discovered

Conditions of success for earned value analysis in projects

Earned Value Analysis (EVA) is a method that has gained traction in some business sectors to report project progress and help control performance. Yet the literature reports mixed results as to its effectiveness in helping deliver successful projects and, additionally, much of the previous studies on the topic is conceptual in nature focusing on the design of the EVA system. We therefore extend knowledge on EVA by analysing the impact of EVA on the levels of success of two projects that utilised the method. This is done through the prism of agency and organizational justice theories. A framework is proposed of EVA conditions of success, incorporating both design and operational aspects of the EVA system. The framework is used to develop testable propositions that can guide further research into the effects of EVA-based systems on the creation of agency-related characteristics in the project environment that are conducive to project success

Who shares wins? Understanding barriers to information sharing in managing supply chain risk.

Currently there is no universally accepted approach to supply chain risk management and assurance. To begin to shed more light on the practical operational challenges presented when considering supply chain risk mitigation through the sharing of information, this paper discusses the results of an empirical study conducted with manufacturing supply chain professionals. The study examines state-of-the-art challenges to managing risk in today's supply chains by reporting on data collected in 2021. To develop a rich picture of the challenges of information sharing in multi-tier supply chains, the authors adopted a qualitative research design. The authors conducted 14 interviews with supply chain professionals and ran two focus groups that were industry specific: one focused on the nuclear industry and the other on automotive. The study identifies contemporary practical challenges to information sharing in supply chains – specifically challenges related to data quality and the acceptance of sub-optimal normative supply chain practices, which have consequences for supplier assurance fatigue and supply chain transparency. The topical and contemporary study shows how an acceptance of the normative practices of a supply chain can have a cumulative effect on the likelihood of supply chain disruption due to shortcomings in approaches to information sharing. The notion of the acceptance of the status quo in this context has received limited research attention, and hence offers an extension to current discourse on supply chain risk and resilience

Conflict Management, Team Coordination, and Performance Within Multicultural Temporary Projects: Evidence From the Construction Industry

The purpose of our study is to enhance the understanding of relationships between conflict management style, team coordination, and performance in multicultural project team contexts. We investigate how conflict management can contribute to team effectiveness through the mediation of the level of team coordination by collecting data from 126 team leaders and supervisors and 378 members nested in different multicultural projects in the construction industry. Our results show that, contrary to the findings from prior research in other team contexts, an avoiding style of conflict management can have a positive impact on the performance of multicultural project teams

Leaders, conflict, and team coordination: a relational leadership approach in temporary organizations

This study explores how the level of relational leadership of team leaders influences team members’ conflict-handling style and team coordination in temporary organisations (TOs). Leaning upon Socio-Psychological and relational leadership theories, the research also evaluates how the cultural background of leaders moderates the nature of the association between relational leadership and project team performance. This contribution is unique by engaging with three moderating cultural groups while drawing on data from 126 teams in TOs using PLS path modelling. The results explain that relational leadership influences team members’ cooperative and conflict-avoiding styles, which are, in turn, positively associated with team coordination and team performance. The judicious and considered use of conflict-avoiding should be recognised as a thoughtful style in multicultural team contexts and as a consequence of relational leadership. Team coordination and performance, however, are related more to relational leadership with the sample of leaders from a specific within-nationality cultural background

Blockchain technology for enhancing swift-trust, collaboration and resilience within a humanitarian supply chain setting

There has been tremendous interest in blockchain technology (BT) (also known as distributed ledger technology) around the globe and across sectors. Following significant success in the financial sector, other sectors, such as humanitarian sector, have started deploying BT at various levels. Although the use of BT in the humanitarian sector is in its infancy, donors and government agencies are increasingly calling for building BT-enabled swift-trust and more collaborative relationships among various humanitarian actors in order to improve the transparency and traceability of disaster relief materials, information exchanges and flow of funds in disaster relief supply chains. Our study, which is informed by organizational information processing theory and relational view, proposes a theoretical model to understand how BT can influence operational supply chain transparency (OSTC) and swift-trust (ST) among actors engaged in disaster relief operations. Our model also shows how BT-enabled ST can further improve collaboration (CO) among actors engaged in disaster relief operations and enhance supply chain resilience. We formulated and tested six research hypotheses, using data gathered from international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with the help of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) database. We received 256 usable responses using a pre-tested survey based instrument designed for key informants. Our results confirm that our six hypotheses were supported. Our study offers significant and valid contributions to the literature on swift-trust, collaboration and supply chain resilience and BT/distributed ledger technology. We have also noted limitations of our study and have offered future research directions

Dynamic digital capabilities and supply chain resilience: The role of government effectiveness

Organizations in recent times are increasingly investing in building supply chain resilience following disruptions due to natural disasters, geo-political crises, and pandemics. Lack of government support has exacerbated disruptions in supply chains in some regions of the world. The influence of digitalization on social inclusion, government accountability, and creating a more open environment is well understood. Despite this, different countries have shown varying degrees of responsiveness during the pandemic resulting from the various COVID strains. The influence of government policies on the supply chain has not been examined in the literature so far and, hence, to address this research gap in existing literature, we examine the interaction effect of government support effectiveness i.e., tax credits, interest deferral, digital investment, soft loans on dynamic capabilities i.e., digital adaptabilities and digital agilities and on supply chain resilience, using a multi-method approach. To understand how digital adaptability and agility improve supply chain resilience, we conducted 13 semi-structured interviews. Additionally, we pretested our measurement instrument using qualitative semi-structured interviews to validate our hypothesized relationships. We collected data at one point in time using a survey-based instrument (N=203) to address our research questions. Based on data analyses of both qualitative and survey-based data, the findings indicate that digital adaptability is an important driver of digital agility. Furthermore, our results indicate that government effectiveness is crucial to enhancing supply chain resilience by enhancing digital adaptability and agility. Our research makes some useful contributions to the dynamic capability view by enhancing our theoretical understanding of the role of government in building digital capabilities in uncertain times to improve supply chain resilience. It bridges the research gaps between macro and micro perspectives, as desired by management scholars. Lastly, we noted our weaknesses and further offered multiple research directions that could help take our current study of ours to the next level

national bim digital platform for construction innovance project

INNOVance represents the first digital platform in the construction sector with BIM methodology on a national level. It's also a BIM library, a Common Data Environment (CDE) of BIM projects in a contract, for sharing work information, and a data exchange platform for the entire construction sector. The platform operates in accordance with the UNI 11337: 2009 standard and it is the origin of the UNI 11337: 2017 standard group. The project was formed within the research relating to the Competitive Call: Energy Efficiency, Industry 2015, promoted by the Ministry of Economic Development (MISE)

Bim as an enabler for digital transformation

Organisations all over the world are increasingly becoming digitally enabled, including infrastructure providers and are looking to use this new found a digital way of working to transform the organisation into a more lean, efficient and productive organisation. Digital transformation is not exclusively about digital technology but the fact that technology, which is digital, will enable the organisation to create greater informed decisions around there current and future challenges, objectives and strategy. While many organisations are currently going through a digital transformation process, there are challenges in demonstrating the value of such a transformation process to the broader organisation. This is partly due to the fact that for digital transformation to be successful it must encompass all of the organisation, including traditional business processes and functions that are not prone to change. Furthermore, it can be witnessed that digital transformation is not purely a technical solution but is also an organisational cultural change, one that allows for an agile approach to working and one that acknowledges failure in a positive perspective. A framework is proposed in this paper that utilises the BIM information management processes and adopts them into a digital transformation process. The framework aims to not look at BIM within individual lifecycle stages, but the full adoption of BIM between all the lifecycles stages. Furthermore, it will support the full organisational adoption of BIM within all organisational functions such as risk management, customer reengagement, fiscal management, resource management, ETC. finally, the framework will enable the culture to change requirements by providing a collaborative and transparent environment to digital transformation