The issue of design in managerial decision making

It is argued that the design of decisions is a process that in many ways is shaped by social factors such as identities, values, and influences. To be able to understand how these factors impact organizational decisions, the focus must be set on the management level. It is the management that shoulders the chief responsibility for designing collective actions, such as decisions. Our propositions indicate that the following measures must be taken in order to improve the quality of organizational decisions: 1. The identity of the people, involved in organizational decision making, affects the quality of decisions and should be taken into account in the design of decisions. 2. The decision maker or designer of decisions should engage the members of an organization to create a shared vision. 3. Getting the members of an organization to express and share common values should improve the decision making process. 4. Being able to socially influence the members of an organization, or other stakeholders involved, as well as letting them participate in the process, should improve the quality of decisions

A Theoretical Framework for Mobile Learning and E-Inclusion in Finland

Inclusion of people discontinuing their studies, so-called school drop-outs, represents a challenge in a modern information society, where numeracy, literacy and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) skills are needed in order to cope with everyday life. Several technology projects have been launched to explore the opportunities that mobile technologies bring about when tackling issues of social inclusion through mobile learning. Mobile devices are cheaper than for instance a Personal Computer (PC), and their affordance, usability and accessibility are such that they can potentially complement or even replace traditional computer technology. In this paper, a theoretical framework for mobile learning and e-inclusion is developed for people outside the conventional education system. The framework draws upon the fields of constructivist pedagogy, mobile learning objects and sociology. We also present data about the situation in Finland where we will use this theoretical framework to inform the design of mobile learning solutions for school drop-outs

A Conceptual Framework for Mobile Learning

Several technology projects have been launched to explore the opportunities that mobile technologies bring about when tackling issues of democratic participation and social inclusion through mobile learning. Mobile devices are cheaper than for instance a PC, and their affordance, usability and accessibility are such that they can potentially complement or even replace traditional computer technology. The importance of communication and collaboration features of mobile technologies has been stressed in the framework of ICT-mediated learning. In this paper, a theoretical framework for mobile learning and e-inclusion is developed for people outside the conventional education system. The framework draws upon the fields of pedagogy (constructivist learning in particular), mobile learning objects and sociology.Mobile Learning, Digital Divide, Constructivist Pedagogy, Forms Of Capital

The issue of design in managerial decision making: leadership and human resources perspectives

It is argued that the design of decisions is a process that in many ways is shaped by social factors such as identities, values, and influences. To be able to understand how these factors impact organizational decisions, the focus must be set on the management level. It is the management that shoulders the chief responsibility for designing collective actions, such as decisions. Our propositions indicate that the following measures must be taken in order to improve the quality of organizational decisions: 1. The identity of the people, involved in organizational decision making, affects the quality of decisions and should be taken into account in the design of decisions. 2. The decision maker or designer of decisions should engage the members of an organization to create a shared vision. 3. Getting the members of an organization to express and share common values should improve the decision making process. 4. Being able to socially influence the members of an organization, or other stakeholders involved, as well as letting them participate in the process, should improve the quality of decisions

A Constructivist Approach to Information Systems Teaching: A Case Study on a Design Course for Advanced-Level University Students

Constructivist educational methods have been used for decades especially in disciplines with a practical bent: medicine, architecture, engineering and technology. In this paper we examine how information systems design learning could be improved by constructivist methods. We focus on a single information systems design course, where the students, divided in groups, choose one from three alternative design assignments per group. The assignments are supposed to follow closely the process of a real-world design project, ending with a prototype and an evaluation of other groups\u27 prototypes. We witnessed the students\u27 dedication to their work and their appreciation of the fact that the assigned problem came close to a real-world problem, but also the time-consuming nature of teamwork and occasional problems with free riding. We used widely various electronic teaching tools but in the end we believe that the most significant further improvements will come from intensified peer support and instructor guidance to individual teams

Adoption of Mobile Communication Technology: An Empirical Study on Females Working in Elderly Care

The Finnish municipal open care service in Turku applied mobile communication technology in order to cut costs and increase the efficiency of its elderly care. The home help staff was given a number of Nokia Communicators for the purpose of ordering groceries for their elderly and disabled customers. In this paper we present and discuss our empirical findings of the adoption of mobile communication technology by an all-female population. The results contradict some assumptions generally made in literature about the impact of age and experience on technology adoption

E-inclusion in Finland and Italy in the light of statistical data.

When young people drop out of school they are in great danger of being marginalized in society. Immigrants are another group of people who for several reasons often find it difficult to become integrated into their new home country. In both cases some less formal way of learning might help these groups avoid social exclusion. Well thoughtout development and application of new advanced technologies would be likely to level the way for continued education, communication and democratic participation in society. The term e-inclusion refers to these electronic means and how they could be applied to hindering social exclusion. This study compares the situation of school drop-outs and immigrants in Finland and Italy in the light of statistical data. It paves the way for a European research and development project whose aim is to study problems of e-inclusion in Finland and Italy empirically as well as develop technological and pedagogical solutions to them.mobile learning; e-inclusion; disadvantage groups; immigrants; drop outs

Information Pluralism and Some Informative Modes of Ignorance

In this paper information concepts will be roughly divided into two categories: The cybernetic and the semiotic-pragmatic. They are further divided into three and four subcategories, respectively. The cybernetic conception of information, which comprises both the mathematical-statistic and the logical-semantic approaches, misses some aspects of information and knowing, that are important in economics and technology studies, among others. The semiotic-pragmatic approach presumes the existence of several modes of being of information, as well as connects certainty and ambiguity to information in a different way from how the cybernetic approach does. These two general approaches to information and knowing are strikingly different, especially in their analysis of ignorance or incomplete knowledge. None of the cybernetic conceptions, and only some conceptions within the semiotic-pragmatic approach, can vindicate the elusive intuition of the potential positive role of ignorance. This comparative, philosophical discussion of the modes of ignorance may be taken as a challenge for cybernetics and computational philosophy to make better sense of incomplete knowledge