Green Activity Based Management (ABM) for Organisations

Green Activity Based Management (ABM) is a bottom-up approach for environmentally sustainable business process management. This approach extends Activity Based Costing (ABC) and Critical Path Method (CPM) principles for the purpose of capturing, measuring, modelling and reporting Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The Green ABM not only looks at GHG emissions but also considers cost and time as well. Thus, this provides a holistic picture of these inter-dependent dimensions to the organizational manager for decision making. Furthermore, this research shows that Green ABM can be used to minimise the costs associated with the timing of activities while keeping other business objectives in consideration

Groupwork Assessment Development (GAD): A framework for developing an effective group work assessment

Assessments that require students to work in a group are incorporated at different levels of tertiary education. The overarching purpose of group work is to develop collaborative ability which is a highly sought-after skill by employers around the world. Working in a group doesn’t always ensure that all members cooperate and collaborate effectively towards achieving a shared goal. Consequently, both the students and teachers could encounter challenges in progressing with the group work and therefore, receive negative experience. In the literature, several best practices have been identified as basic elements for cooperative learning that can mitigate some of the key challenges. This paper proposes Groupwork Assessment Development (GAD), a framework for designing and conducting group assessments that incorporates some of these best practices. The framework embeds strategies to guide teachers in designing the assessment and to prepare the students in undertaking the group work. At the core, the GAD framework emphasises on the constructive coherence between the three key areas of the curriculum: learning outcomes, assessments and learning activities. It provides a roadmap for a teacher in selecting a group task, designing the assessment with a set of learning activities and facilitating the group assessment with continuous monitoring and evaluation. The framework guides students through three distinct phases: Planning, Execution and Quality Assurance towards achieving the intended learning outcomes for the assessment. The authors have conducted an exploratory study to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the GAD framework in developing a group assessment. The study shows that GAD framework provides both cooperative and collaborative learning environment for students which results in a positive group work experience. The study also revealed that overall satisfaction of the teachers facilitating the group work has improved with the adaption of the GAD framework

A Framework for Multi-dimensional Business Process Optimization for GHG Emission Mitigation

Anthropogenic climate change is shaping up to be a major global challenge in its potential impacts to humanity. A major contributor to this is Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions from various sources, including industrial or organizational sector. Some organizational managers realizing the inevitability of government legislations or taxes want to take proactive measures to manage their own GHG emissions. The current emission measuring tools and guidelines are not aimed at measuring emissions of organisational processes. Hence these guidelines and tools do not allow emissions to be handled in a pragmatic manner alongside other business objectives such as cost, turnaround time and quality of production. Therefore, we propose a framework for multi-dimensional business process optimisation that would facilitate modelling, measuring, analysing and reporting GHG emissions. This framework, derived from the GHG Protocol, enables organizational management to optimize their business processes for GHG emission mitigation, alongside other vital business objectives

Multi-dimensional business process optimisation for greenhouse gas (GHG) emission management

Anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission from activities conducted within business organisations is a major contributor to climate change. A business process is a set of tasks and activities. At business process level, business objectives such as cost of production and time to market are managed and optimised by organisational middle level managers. At present, GHG emission related information is not available to facilitate decision making at process level to achieve GHG related objectives. For organisations to remain sustainable and decision making to be effective, managers need a holistic approach to manage and optimise GHG emissions together with other business objectives. Therefore, this research addresses the overarching knowledge gap in business process level GHG emission modelling, calculation, reporting, and optimising. The purpose of this thesis is to undertake a qualitative and quantitative examination of managing GHG emissions to achieve multi-dimensional business process optimisation while considering other process level objectives like cost and time, to support and empower organisational middle level managers in decision making. In the pursuit of finding a solution to this problem the researcher has created an artefact, “Green Multi-Objective Process Optimisation (Green MOPO) Framework”. This framework extends the boundaries of human and organisational capabilities to solve the real world research problem. The framework consists of four major stages, each sub-divided into steps. Each step provided guidance to compute relevant parameters to assist in achieving GHG emission related objectives alongside other process level objectives. The researcher investigated theories relating to each step and discovered gaps in knowledge that has to be addressed to complete each stage. By addressing these gaps six constituent artefacts were produced. o Current emission measuring tools and guidelines are not aimed at measuring emissions of organisational processes. Constituent Artefact-I assists to identify a business process and its different abstraction levels as activity, sub-process, process, and to apportion shared or overhead emissions, e.g. lighting and heating. o Constituent Artefact-II is a tool and a methodology named Green Activity Based Management (ABM) that allows GHG, time, cost modelling and further analysis, calculation, and reporting at different process levels. o Constituent Artefact-III is a set of formulas that allows GHG emissions to be calculated and consolidated at different business process abstraction levels identified by the first artefact. o Current reporting tools only offer top-down organisational level reporting summaries and are not adequately detailed for middle management to manage GHG emissions. Constituent Artefact-IV is an international standards based reporting tool that allows bottom-up reporting of GHG emissions, to provide a bird’s eye view of emissions and their sources. o Currently, there is no proper methodology to perform optimisation simultaneously for several dimensions including GHGs. To introduce such optimisation, possible process level changes need to be captured. The study first develops a taxonomy of business process element changes which then helps to derive a multi-objective mathematical model/formula that captures these changes. Constituent Artefact-V proposes selection criteria for an optimisation technique that can optimise the derived formula. The artefact compares and contrasts a set of multi-objective optimisation techniques to select one that best suits the application context. o Constituent Artefact-VI solves the multi-objective formula by applying the optimisation technique against the derived formula. This optimisation resulted in a set of optimal solutions. Using computer based simulation, the artefact relates the optimal solutions back to the business domain, and specifies what the optimisation parameters and their values are in a manner that is clearer and concise to business managers. This research employs the Design Science Research paradigm. In design science research, knowledge and understanding of the design problem and its solution is gained while building an artefact and during the application of that artefact. The research evaluates the main artefact, Green MOPO Framework against real-life business processes in the Polyethylene terephthalate (PET) package manufacturing sector. This type of manufacturing processes consumes a large quantity of energy and hence greatly contributes to GHG emissions. The thesis showcases that the main artefact is useful for the specific purpose it was built for and relates the performance to the intended use of the artefact. The thesis clearly pin points the contributions to the knowledgebase and to practice from the main artefact and its constituent artefacts. It shows how these artefacts add extensions to existing theories and provide new and innovative solutions. The study identified and demonstrated the implications of understanding GHG emission management at a business process level, which paves the way to continuous business process improvement and achievement of multi-dimensional business process optimisation and organisational sustainability. The threat from climate change is serious, growing and urgent. Hence, any contributions from this research will help the present generation to better respond to this major global challenge that shows no boundaries. Further, alongside contributions to research and practice, the limitations of this study opens up many important future research avenues

Towards formation of dynamic value chains to enhance competitiveness of commercial lighting industry

Purpose: This study aims to explore ways to enhance competitiveness of commercial lighting industry because of the growing digitally connected stakeholder community. Positive responses from stakeholders to recurring business interactions help build trust and formation of a community; value chains being one form of such trusted community. Because of the increasing trust, the effort to search right value chain partners diminishes, business interactions become less formal and transaction costs are reduced, thus increasing the competitiveness. Design/methodology/approach: In this research, a cross-sectional study of commercial lighting industry domain in Australia was carried out, focusing on two states: New South Wales and Victoria. Based on the findings, an approach and a supporting platform to enhance competitiveness of commercial lighting industry were synthesized. Findings Based on the findings from the study, formation of such value chains, namely, "Entrusted Circles" and its two types of formations, fully and partial, were observed. Their further growth was hindered by high transaction costs. To reduce this transaction cost, this paper proposes a platform to create dynamic value chains, among stakeholders of commercial lighting industry, making use of growing digital connectivity leading toward agile formation of Entrusted Circles to enhance competitiveness. Research limitations/implications This study focuses on the commercial lighting industry in Australia, which is not tested in any other domain to investigate its wider applicability. However, it is conceptually applicable to be used in industries with compliance and standard procedures. Originality/value This paper shows how to identify Entrusted Circles and build, support and sustain such relationships among value chain partners to successfully conduct business transactions in a dynamic value chain

Integrated data structures and business objects in ERP : tool development and evaluation in SAP ERP system

Enterprise-wide data is central for timely and effective planning of materials, activities, operations and resources; and execution of those plans across many functional areas. Today, widespread use of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems has exacerbated a need for integrated data and visualisation of such data over many functional applications. In this research, integrated data structures are implemented in an ERP system, through a set of business transactions with visual business objects. Visualisation of integrated data structures is illustrated using a make-to-stock business scenario. It is shown that existing data of ERP systems can be integrated using additional relationships to form a foundation for simultaneous and forward planning of many components. Various business objects of integrated data structure are visually represented using Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG), an XML based technology. SVG forms a software component within the selected ERP system with the capability to display business objects and their linkages. It is shown that the concept of data integration and visualisation enables data maintainability, flexibility and transparency for better planning of manufacturing processes. The paper concludes by describing key features of integrated data structures and visual business objects implemented in the selected ERP system

Groupwork Assessment Development (GAD) : a framework for developing an effective group work assessment

Assessments that require students to work in a group are incorporated at different levels of tertiary education. The overarching purpose of group work is to develop collaborative ability which is a highly sought-after skill by employers around the world. Working in a group doesn’t always ensure that all members cooperate and collaborate effectively towards achieving a shared goal. Consequently, both the students and teachers could encounter challenges in progressing with the group work and therefore, receive negative experience. In the literature, several best practices have been identified as basic elements for cooperative learning that can mitigate some of the key challenges. This paper proposes Groupwork Assessment Development (GAD), a framework for designing and conducting group assessments that incorporates some of these best practices. The framework embeds strategies to guide teachers in designing the assessment and to prepare the students in undertaking the group work. At the core, the GAD framework emphasises on the constructive coherence between the three key areas of the curriculum: learning outcomes, assessments and learning activities. It provides a roadmap for a teacher in selecting a group task, designing the assessment with a set of learning activities and facilitating the group assessment with continuous monitoring and evaluation. The framework guides students through three distinct phases: Planning, Execution and Quality Assurance towards achieving the intended learning outcomes for the assessment. The authors have conducted an exploratory study to evaluate the perceived effectiveness of the GAD framework in developing a group assessment. The study shows that GAD framework provides both cooperative and collaborative learning environment for students which results in a positive group work experience. The study also revealed that overall satisfaction of the teachers facilitating the group work has improved with the adaption of the GAD framework

Green activity based management (ABM) for organisations

Green Activity Based Management (ABM) is a bottom-up approach for environmentally sustainable business process management. This approach extends Activity Based Costing (ABC) and Critical Path Method (CPM) principles for the purpose of capturing, measuring, modelling and reporting Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions. The Green ABM not only looks at GHG emissions but also considers cost and time as well. Thus, this provides a holistic picture of these inter-dependent dimensions to the organizational manager for decision making. Furthermore, this research shows that Green ABM can be used to minimise the costs associated with the timing of activities while keeping other business objectives in consideration

Green activity based reporting for organizational business process management

Currently, Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emission calculations and reporting are mainly estimated at national, economic sector, and organisational levels. Broad brushed figures produced by high level calculations are not useful from organisational management’s perspective. Further, present emission calculating initiatives have over looked Business Processes, which are important aspects within organizations. A business process is a collection of tasks and activities. Organizations function as a set of business processes. To manage GHGs efficiently, management needs to know how much GHGs were produced by each business process. Presently, GHG emissions calculated at various levels are not traced back to their origins in business processes. To date, GHGs at business process level are not investigated in great depth to support further analysis. This research proposes a tool that follows a bottom-up approach for calculating and collating GHGs according to the scopes defined by the GHG Protocol