Towards Learning Business Process Management Thinking

Business process management is indisputable an approach many organizations are aiming to adopt. While much emphasis is put on modeling business processes and designing information systems, the employees working in a process-oriented organization often struggle with these changes. Here, it is of major importance for organizations to take their employees with this change of mind towards process orientation to be successful. However, the question how an organization can support its employees in learning process-oriented thinking, remains open so far in the literature. Thus, this research-in-progress paper presents first results in trying to explore how employees can be supported. A rather new empirical method in this research field, namely a questionnaire experiment, is used. Based on a sample of 114 participants, we find empirical support for our hypotheses that learning in general matters with regard to process-oriented thinking. Organizations are better off when their employees learn process-oriented thinking by doing in comparison to provide documentations in order to actively promote learning

Les oiseaux de rivage hivernants (Aves, Charadrii) en Mauritanie: principales espèces et zones humides d'importance majeure

The analysis of the distribution wintering waders in Mauritania demonstrated that most of these birds (77 %) are distributed on the Atlantic coast. In fact, this is mainly along this coast that the habitat preferences of this group (sand, mudflats, and near wet grassland) are relatively well represented. Also, the main shorebird populations in Mauritania can be classified into three categories based on their geographical distribution method: Species whose distribution is spread all along the Atlantic coast; these waders seem to favor any latitude. The Mauritanian coast for these species represents continuity between their wintering grounds in Western Europe and those of West Africa. Populations whose distribution is restricted to the northern region of Mauritania; the southern limit of their wintering areas is for these populations. Populations confined mainly in the southern coastal areas the southeastern coast of Mauritania represents, consequently, the northward extension of the main areas of these populations winter in West Africa. From this point of view, the Mauritanian territory constitutes, along through the migration east – Atlantic, a transition zone between Western Europe and West Africa; the northern part of the country plays a role analogous to that of Western Europe, while its southern part is similar to West Africa. The dividing line between the two sectors is represented by the line up of Nouakchott-Nema.L'analyse de la distribution des limicoles hivernants en Mauritanie a montré que la plupart de ces oiseaux (77 %) sont répartie sur la côte Atlantique. En fait, principalement le long de cette côte que les préférences d'habitat de ce groupe (sable, vasières et près de : prairie humide) sont relativement bien représentés. En outre, les populations d'oiseaux de rivage principal en Mauritanie peuvent être classées en trois catégories selon leur mode de distribution géographique: espèces dont la répartition s'étend tout au long de la côte Atlantique; ces échassiers semblent privilégier toutes les latitudes. La côte Mauritanienne pour ces espèces représente la continuité entre leurs aires d'hivernage en Europe occidentale et celles de l'Afrique de l'Ouest. Les populations dont la distribution est restreintes à la région du Nord de la Mauritanie ; la limite Sud de leur aire d'hivernage est pour ces populations. Les populations principalement confinées dans les régions côtières du Sud, que la côte sud-est de la Mauritanie représente, par conséquent, l'extension vers le nord des zones principales de ces populations hivernent en Afrique de l'Ouest. A ce point de vue, le territoire Mauritanien constitue, au long de la migration dans l’Est– Atlantique, une zone de transition entre l'Europe occidentale et d'Afrique de l'Ouest ; la partie septentrionale du pays joue un rôle analogue à celui de l'Europe occidentale, tandis que sa partie méridionale est similaire à l'Afrique de l'Ouest. La ligne de démarcation entre les deux secteurs est représentée par la ligne de transition de Nouakchott à Nema.   &nbsp

Understanding the consequences of adopting the Internet of Things in small- and medium-sized enterprises

The implementation of IoT offers high potential for adapting existing business models but is a major challenge for SMEs. SMEs often have few resources for a systematic change of business models and rely on fewer employees who thus have to be treated more carefully but are also more flexible. For this reason, this paper focuses on how implementation of IoT affects the organizational and individual levels of SMEs. The findings from qualitative interviews show that IoT on an organizational level is primarily a driver for long-term changes in organizational structures, whereas introduction of IoT has a short- and medium-term impact on the process organization. At the individual level, IoT is very likely to lead to a higher stress and resistance level of employees and requires various competencies. This article contributes to strategic information systems management literature as it provides insights into which aspects SMEs should consider when implementing IoT

Scenario-based solutions for implementing an internet of things system at the organizational level in small- and medium-sized enterprises

BACKGROUND: Despite the great potential that technical solutions, based on the Internet of Things (IoT), offer for companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), companies are hesitant to implement such solutions. Reasons for this lie in the resulting far-reaching change, which particularly affects working activities and communication between employees and IoT objects in their environment. OBJECTIVE: Our objective is to investigate (1) how the implementation of an IoT solution, consisting of multiple objects, might be integrated into daily working activities; (2) what reactions might occur at the individual level; and (3) what structural conditions should be established at the organizational level. METHODS: We applied a scenario-based design. Specifically, we conducted interviews to develop personas and scenarios describing human-machine interactions during implementation of the IoT solution in an initial phase. RESULTS: Regarding changing work activities, we identified three structural conditions that facilitate the implementation of IoT in SMEs: (1) the development of a support unit that bundles communication and training activities as well as internal and external knowledge; (2) the planning of an appropriate testing and adoption phase that enables participation and feedback; and (3) the creation of an incentive structure that includes social reward, empowerment, and recognition. CONCLUSION: IoT gives employees enhanced access to resources, information, and feedback, supporting an efficient way of working. To successfully implement IoT solutions, companies, especially SMEs, must actively address organizational change and empower their employees to manage technological innovations at an early stage.</p