The Effect of Application Ambidexterity on Firm Agility

Firm agility is quickly becoming an essential capability for companies to effectively compete in hypercompetitiveenvironments. At the same time, firms are using applications that enable close integration coupled with an increased ability toreconfigure processes. Such applications should manifest a balance between integration and reconfigurability. This is theconcept of applications ambidexterity. The IS literature has selectively focused on either integration or reconfigurability. Byfocusing on only one characteristic we have been unable to understand the IT - agility relation. Research suggests thatintegration and reconfigurability alone cannot explain the true nature of the IT - agility relation. This conceptual paperattempts to understand the complementary effects of integration and reconfigurability on firm agility. It contributes to theliterature by theorizing the role of IT application ambidexterity on firm agility through the mediating variables of knowledgeexploration, knowledge exploitation and process adaptability

The Role of Information Technology in Firm Agility: An Electronic Integration Perspective

Organizational agility, defined as the ability of organizations to sense and respond to market opportunities and threats with speed and surprise, is quickly becoming the hallmark of companies that consistently emerge as leaders in hypercompetitive environments. While explaining the role of IT, this paper argues that in order to be agile firms must be electronically integrated internally (with organizational units) and externally (with partners, suppliers and customers). Such integration enables firms to capitalize on knowledge and competencies of their partners and allows them to be agile in sensing and responding to opportunities and threats. This paper uses the organizational integration model presented by Barki and Pinsonneault (2005) and focuses primarily on the role of IS in organizational integration. While exploring this relationship and the mediating effects of knowledge integration and core business process competencies, this paper contributes a complementary view of organizational agility

IT and Firm Agility: An Electronic Integration Perspective

Firms evolving in increasingly turbulent environments need to respond to market threats and opportunities with speed. At the same time, firms implement numerous information technologies (IT) in the hope of streamlining processes and providing managers with unfettered access to information from both within and outside the firm. While research shows how agility and IT contribute to firm performance, the relationship between these two constructs remains relatively unexplored. Using an electronic integration perspective, we develop a framework that addresses this issue. The framework suggests that IT applications affect the two components of agility (sensing and responding) through two types of integration (internal and external). The framework also explains the mediating roles of knowledge exploration, knowledge exploitation, and process coupling. Four propositions are developed and illustrated with different examples. Avenues for future research are developed

Towards Effective Training for Process and Maritime Industries

AbstractWith the development of technological innovation, many industries such as process and maritime industries constitute more complex automated systems, dedicated operating conditions, multilevel interconnections, as well as human-machine and human-human interactions. The actions and decisions made by operators and seafarers affect the safety and productivity of these systems. It is well known that around 60-80% of the accidents are attributed to human error (directly or indirectly). Generally, each operator or seafarer is must undergo training before starting their real jobs. In recent decades, emphasis on operator training has increased – resulting in advance training simulators with several features like immersivity, stereoscopic sounds, hydraulics, and even use of different odors. However, the design of training methodology can have a significant impact on the skill acquisition of trainees. The growth of integration of technology in existing systems as well as newer systems is much higher than that of improvement in training methods. Unfortunately, there are few studies linking the training needs and the real-world demands on operators, revealing a significant research gap to fulfill.In socio-complex systems, it is necessary to consider various aspects in the training methodology, which can facilitate the operators/seafarers to handle normal and abnormal scenarios adequately. This paper provides a background of current training methods through analyzing the process- and maritime industries as illustrative examples, highlighting the limitations associated with each of different perspectives (technical, psychological and organizational) to propose an training syllabus that allows for learning by experience and interaction with scenarios of different complexity. It consists of a three-stage hierarchy with increasing demands concerning technical and relational complexity and time pressure. The training is centered on handling real-time operations with increasing complexity starting from basic components of the process, advancing to real-time operations, and reaching high technical and relational complexity that needs to be handled in situations with limited time and uncertainty in data. The challenges that arise in team-working tasks are also considered in the conceptualization of the training syllabus. The proposed training syllabus includes training content, objectives and performance evaluation criteria. The systematic methodology of performance evaluation will allow practitioners to obtain transparent, unbiased and consistent certification of trainees

Forest Wood Consumption and Wood Shortage in Pakistan: Estimation and Projection through System Dynamics

Consumption rates of major forest products such as timber and firewood, place significant strain on wood stock and forest area in Pakistan. With the country's rising population, the consumption of these two major products is increasing because of the growing energy demand, and no alternative products are likely to replace wood consumption in the near future. We apply system dynamics modelling to an analysis of the forestry sector in Pakistan for novel insights into the drivers and future trajectories of wood consumption. The present research is based on time series macroeconomic data from 1990-2010 and projections to 2040 of wood supply, forest area, population growth, wood extraction, wood imports and different uses of wood in the country. The study reveals that there is no significant increase in area under forest, while consumption of firewood and timber has increased. The consumption of firewood is greater than timber consumption in Pakistan, both in percentage share and in total volume of wood consumption. The sustainable supply of wood is less than wood consumption, and with population growth this gap is increasing; wood supply from agricultural lands is a viable option to fill the gap. Keywords: Wood Consumption, Sustainable Wood Supply, Projected Wood Shortag

Distributed Situation Awareness in pilotage operations: Implications and Challenges

Pilotage is considered as the most critical leg of navigation and a complex operation in maritime domain. In this paper, we argue that Distributed Situation Awareness (DSA) is an important construct in pilotage as the information required to carry out operations is distributed between agents and artefacts. We identify the central themes from the theory of DSA which are useful in describing modern day complex socio-technical systems. Further, based on the central themes, we propose guidelines for evaluating bridge teams involved in pilotage operations

Seeking the best practices of assessment in maritime simulator training

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Solitary infantile myofibromatosis of the skull

This is the report of a 6 months old boy presenting with a firm, solitary mass on the temporal region, associated with lysis of local bone. Investigations lead to a diagnosis of infantile myofibromatosis (IM). Wide local excision was performed. At one year follow-up, no recurrence was noted