Confucian principles in ICT Chinese practice: an exploratory model

The paper discusses culture, business culture and the influence of cultural values on managerial practice in general, and Information and Communications Technology (ICT) practice in particular. We argue that western ICT systems are based on optimization, underpinned by the positivism paradigm embedded in the western goal-seeking problem solving model. Eastern, in particular Chinese, ways of thinking, are based on a type of subjectivism that underlines a more intuitive, systemic way of viewing the world. The use of western-design ICT in an emergent business Chinese culture embedded in Confucian values reveals some misalignments. A model to explore these misalignments between ICT practice and Confucian Chinese business culture is advanced. Drawing from organizational theory models of national and business culture as premises, we propose a model containing a set of constructs to empirically investigate and confirm the processes involved in these misalignments

A bridge for two views: Checkland’s soft systems methodology and Maturana’s ontology of the observer

© 2019, © Operational Research Society 2019. Checkland and Maturana’s work aim to understand and to improve problematic situations in organisations and in our everyday life. Maturana’s phenomenological onto-epistemology (we are immersed in the praxis of living in an ontological multi-universe) seems to resonate with Soft Systems Methodology (SSM) interpretivist epistemology. We argue that this concurrence makes it possible to reflect and explore some of Maturana’s ideas (structural determinism/structural coupling/organisational closure) when they are grafted into the phases of the Checkland’s SSM seven-step process. This article aims to complement SSM by proposing a framework in which some key concepts from Maturana’s Ontology of the Observer (OoO) might enhance and expand the understanding of the SSM application process. An enriched and enhanced SSM process could have significant consequences in the Management Science/Operational Research (MS/OR) and Systems community practice. The framework proposed can have major social repercussions since it will incorporate the well-known influential OoO ideas into MS/OR practice

Echándonos la suerte (Cara o sello) en tiempos de pandemia

Poema de Alberto Paucar Cacere

EVALUATING DIAGNOSES , TREATMENT AND INFERENCE ACTIVITIES IN THE INFORMATION SYSTEMS PROFESSION

Information systems (IS) is a field that influnces and is influnced by the work of many different academics and practitioners. The influnce of IS to other areas of knowledge (i.e. management) has led some people to argu in favor and against the idea that IS has become a reference field of knowledge. Focusing on either knowledge elements or knowledge activities of a reference field leaves out consideration of relationships and interactions through time between both. \ Following Abbott´s sociology of professional knowledge, this paper proposes a triad of analytical categories: ˜Diagnoses´, ˜Treatments´ and ˜Inferences´ to examine and advance a more comprehensive understanding of the development of IS. Our analysis, based on a pilot survey of five IS journals, suggests that the key focus of IS activity has been on refining methodologies (treatments). The field has been less explicit and inclusive in generating and disseminating diagnoses and inferences. \ Those people working in the field can and should make available untapped stocks of knowledge in relation to these two elements whilst attempting to expand the jurisdiction (ownership) of IS over different problems. They can do so by relating more strongly methodologies to how IS problems can be defined and theorized upon. As this is work in progress, we propose a number of implications that we intend to explore in further research.

Health literacy concepts, themes, and research trends globally and in Latin America and the Caribbean: a bibliometric review

(1) Background: Health literacy (HL) debates have increased significantly in the last two decades. HL concepts/themes and models have achieved substantial development in the US and Europe. Although there have been some efforts to develop HL in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), these seem to be few and scattered. This paper reviews and discusses developments of HL concepts and themes globally and in LAC over the last two decades. (2) Purpose: This study aimed to identify the prevalent health literacy concepts/themes deployed globally and in LAC as reported in academic journals from 2005 to 2022. We looked into which fields of knowledge have been informing HL research over the last decades. (3) Methods: We conducted a structured search on the Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, PubMed, and SciELO databases to extract the textual data for bibliometric analysis. We analyzed the textual data with VOSviewer and Biblioshiny to better understand health literacy themes and strands currently being researched in the LAC region. We conducted the searches in two periods: the first in May 2023 and the second in October 2023. (4) Results: The bibliometric study highlighted five WoS categories informing most HL global studies: (i) public environmental occupational health; (ii) environmental sciences; (iii) health policy services; (iv) health care science services; and (v) communication. The two predominant categories in LAC are public environmental occupation health and health policy services. Journals hosting HL publications come from these WoS categories. Themes in HL publications can be organized into four thematic clusters: (i) analytical (research designs, analytic techniques, and criteria for examining HL data); (ii) psychometric (measurement properties of data collection tools); (iii) pragmatic (practical issues related to implementing HL programs); and (iv) well-being (effectiveness of HL programs on mental health and illness treatment). (5) Conclusions: There is expanding interest in health literacy among scholars. The number of publications has increased substantially, particularly over the last five years. These are dominated by the Global North. The metrics show that LAC and Africa are trailing in publications. There is an emerging focus on adult literacy, functional/low health literacy, and their effect on improving capabilities, comprehension, and communication regarding health-related topics

Predicting Students Progression Using Existing University Datasets: A Random Forest Application

This paper proposes the use of data available at Manchester Metropolitan University to assess the variables that can best predict student progression. We combine Virtual Learning Environment and MIS student records data sets and apply the Random Forest (RF) algorithm to ascertain which variables can best predict students’ progression (students satisfactorily completing one year and passing to the next or graduating). RF was deemed useful in this case because of the large amount of data available for analysis. The paper reports on the initial findings for data available in the period 2007-08. Results seem to indicate that variables such as students’ time of day usage, the last time students access the VLE and the number of document hits by staff, are the best predictors of student progression. The paper contributes to VLE evaluation and highlights the usefulness of a technique initially developed in the field of biology in an educational environment

A Critical Inquiry into the Value of Systems Thinking in the Time of COVID-19 Crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic offers an historic precedent to review and challenge the values of social, economic, environmental, and cultural belief systems. The concept of the “New Normal” and the experience of the global pandemic provide points of transition in thinking about our relationship to our planet and to each other. These include the fragility of contemporary economics, dependency on industrialized urban infrastructures, and reliance on top-down governance, vulnerability to climate disasters, dislocation from the natural world, societal inequalities, and the loss of cultural memory. The paper considers the potential role of systems thinking in attempting to manage societies’ responses to the pandemic. To provide the methodological context in which some systems thinking can be applied to alleviate the pandemic, we conduct a focused literature review of systemic frameworks, and using examples from Brazil and England, the paper questions the validity of existing disaster management systems and proposes an integrated critical systems approach. Reflecting on these experiences, questions of systems criticality are further developed and considered in relation to critical recovery from disasters and as integral critical systems (ICS) to interrogate the intention of systems. Finally, the paper reflects upon the value of systems and the values embedded in systems that may or may not promote equitable well-being in recovery from disasters such as COVID-19

Education for Sustainable Development: An Exploratory Survey of a Sample of Latin American Higher Education Institutions

Education for sustainable development (ESD) is defined as the knowledge and skills ‘needed to work and live in a way that safeguards environmental, social and economic wellbeing, both in the present and for future generations’. Skills for sustainable development include critical thinking, creative thinking, systems thinking and leadership. Over the last decades, there has been efforts across the world to embed ESD into the curriculum. In European Union (EU) countries, some higher education have made efforts to align education strategies with international and national ESD frameworks. A cursory review of the literature seems to indicate that dissemination and implementation of the international ESD frameworks in Latin America has been slow and sporadic. Although there are some signs to implement ESD into curricula of countries such as Brazil and Colombia, these practices have not been substantial or have not permeated higher education sustainable development strategies. This paper aims to explore the developments of ESD in Latin America. As a first step to explore these developments, it intends to survey and map the current ESD processes in eight higher education institutions of four Latin American Countries: Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru. The paper also aims to compare ESD developments with some leading EU higher education institutions in ESD with the view to develop a dialogue between the two regions. These will lead to strategies in which ESD processes can be adopted/adapted with benefits in both directions; it will also create, foster and develop mechanisms that will ensure a sustainable culture of ESD in higher education in both regions. Results of the exploratory survey of a sample of higher education institutions in Latin America are reported

Centro Cultural de Música Urbano Popular, folclórico para la ciudad de Juliaca

La presente investigación tendrá como principal contribución fomentar y difundir la producción musical de los artistas en la ciudad de Juliaca, que pese a ser conocida por su carácter emprendedor en la industria musical carece de lugares que sirvan como un espacio unificador, productor y articulador para el gremio artístico musical, lo que demuestra una falta de promoción cultural y artística por parte de las autoridades y el desentendimiento social hacia este gremio; problema que se devela a raíz de la experiencia propia y reafirmada por las encuestas e indagación realizada en la ciudad de Juliaca al entorno artístico musical conformado por: Interpretes, músicos, autores, compositores, Centros Musicales, Estudiantinas, Orquestas y Agrupaciones de distintos géneros musicales. En consecuencia, la problemática nos invita a realizar un anteproyecto que canalice toda la actividad cultural musical, dotando de servicios, ambientes culturales y espacios públicos que se presten para este fin. Entendiendo que el término Centro Cultural de Música es relativamente nuevo en el Perú y que no cuenta con normativa nacional a diferencia de los teatros y otras edificaciones relacionadas al entorno cultural. Teniendo en cuenta este punto la investigación se basará en el estudio de centros culturales, teatros y galerías destinadas a promover y dotar de servicios culturales. Asimismo, la incorporación de espacios públicos abiertos en una infraestructura cultural, que aparecerá como elemento potenciador para lograr una identidad social y colectiva en la población. La propuesta permitirá a partir de su arquitectura no solo una creación de espacios lógicos y funcionales, sino también permitir la interpretación de la arquitectura actual Juliaqueña a través del contraste arquitectónico.Tesi

Influencia del marketing relacional en la fidelización de los clientes asegurados en una institución médica rivada en Lima-2022

Dentro del mundo empresarial, el marketing relacional y la fidelización de los clientes, son variables muy importantes para una organización que quiere llegar al éxito, es por ello que en el presente estudio se busca determinar cuál es la influencia del marketing relacional en la fidelización de los clientes asegurados en una institución médica privada en Lima – 2022. La presente investigación fue del tipo aplicada, con diseño no experimental, descriptivo correlacional y de corte transversal. Además, se aplicó el estadígrafo de Spearman mediante el programa SPSS versión 25, para conseguir los resultados de los dos cuestionarios correspondientes a las variables de estudio. Los resultados alcanzados en la hipótesis general, permiten detallar que el coeficiente de correlación para ambas variables es de 0,116 y la significancia bilateral es de 0,000 lo que representa una correlación positiva media; se concluyó que de acuerdo a Rho de Spearman la significancia bilateral es de 0,000 siendo menor a 0.05 esto permite establecer que existe una influencia significativa del marketing relacional en la fidelización de los clientes asegurados en una institución privada en Lima – 2022