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This chapter outlines the successful development of a women’s initiative from a grass roots organization to a firmly established institution within our medical school. Championed by a group of dedicated women leaders, the mission of the Alliance for Women in Medicine and Science (AWIMS) is to provide a supportive forum to promote honest discussion and positive change in the realms of gender equity, career advancement, work-life balance, and community service, and to champion professional development and promotion of women in medicine and science. What started as an informal gathering within Southern Illinois University (SIU) School of Medicine’s Department of Medicine in 2015, led by Dr Vidhya Prakash, first morphed into a robust, vital organization called Women in Medicine that contributed meaningfully to SIU Medicine and to the community before it broadened its focus to women in medicine and science and expanded its reach to the entire SIU system. In January of 2018, the initiative was firmly institutionalized as AWIMS, an organization open to ALL members of the SIU community. AWIMS seeks to advance women’s rights through various initiatives. This chapter is co-authored by AWIMS director Dr Vidhya Prakash, and Dr Anne Scheer, a qualitative sociologist in the medical school’s Department of Population Science and Policy, who hopes to help tell the story of AWIMS and translate the Alliance’s successful development process into a narrative accessible to other professionals interested in creating innovations to promote women’s interests in traditionally male-dominated professional settings.

The purpose of this paper is to unpack the conflation between the silence and purported passivity of the Third World NGOs (TNGOs). Explaining the invisibility of their voices in the critical and post-development perspectives, it locates the inquiry in the context of the action of these TNGOs.

The paper follows the phronetic research approach, which involves a case study of a locally developed Indian NGO. It uses phronetic inquiry along with Ashis Nandy’s notion of “silent coping” as the conceptual framework. To explain the purported passivity of TNGOs in the texts under global circulation, the paper uses Walter Mignolo’s discussion on “texts in circulation”.

The uncertain nature of action – that it begets further action possibilities; precludes the prospect of visualizing such action spaces in the context of their generation. This emergent nature of local action spaces makes it difficult to capture them within the dominating global discursive structures, thereby creating local spaces of agency for the TNGO actors. Selective appropriation of artefacts and texts from the global circulation and the creation of alternate stake structures at the local level support the realization of such action spaces. Further, such local artefacts and texts do not travel into texts circulating globally, thereby rendering the TNGOs invisible and silent in the reading of global texts and leading to the TNGOs being framed as passive.

This paper locates the voices and acts of the TNGOs and highlights the mechanisms that enable them to silently cope with structures of discursive domination, thereby contributing to post-development studies and post-colonial organizational analysis.

The learning outcomes are to remember the overall context of global supply chain management from a stakeholder perspective, to understand the context of material handling movement in a mining industry, to apply the overall knowledge of linear programming in a supply chain context, to analyze the different constraints with flow of goods at different nodes in various location hubs and convert the same into the optimization problem and to evaluate carefully the different costs associated at different levels and then finding the optimal solution that minimizes the total cost.

This case proposes a mixed integer multi-echelon analytical model integrated with the scenario tree analysis. The integrated model is used to optimize the allocation of volumes at various stages of the supply chain of exporters of bulk materials like iron ore from Goa, India, to various countries in Asia. The scenario tree analysis is then used to evaluate decisions under certainty with demand as the stochastic parameter. The proposed integrated model has potential for collaboration in the supply chain and facilitating network design, inventory and transportation planning and policy analysis.

This course is suitable at the MBA level for the following courses: Operations Research (Focus/Session: Applications on Supply Chain Management), Supply Chain Management (Focus/Session: Global Supply Chain Management, Logistics Planning, Distribution Network), Logistics Management (Focus/Session: Transportation Planning) nd Operations Strategy (Focus/Session: Location Node Strategy).

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.

The primary objective of this article is to examine current procurement, inventory control and management practices in modern healthcare, with a particular focus on the procurement and management of surgical supplies in a prominent public, highly specialized healthcare sector.

This study was conducted in three phases. In Phase 1, the study team interacted with various hospital management stakeholders, including the surgical hospital store, examined the current procurement process and identified challenges. Phase 2 focused on selecting items for a detailed study and collected the qualitative and quantitative details of the store department of the healthcare sector chosen. A detailed study analyzed revenue, output/demand, inventory levels, etc. In Phase 3, a decision-making framework is proposed, and inventory control systems are redesigned and demonstrated for the selected items.

It was observed that the demand for many surgical items had increased significantly over the years due to an increase in disposable/disposable items, while inventories fluctuated widely. Maximum inventory levels varied between 50 and 75%. Storage and availability were important issues for the hospital. It is assumed the hospital adopts the proposed inventory control system. In this case, the benefits can be a saving of 62% of the maximum inventory, 20% of the average stock in the system and optimal use of storage space, improving the performance and productivity of the hospital.

This study can help the healthcare sector administration to develop better systems for the procurement and delivery of common surgical items and efficient resource allocation. It can help provide adequate training to store staff. This study can help improve management/procurement policies, ordering and delivery systems, better service levels, and inventory control of items in the hospital business context. This study can serve as a pilot study to further investigate the overall hospital operations.

This study can help the healthcare sector administration develop better systems for procuring and delivering common surgical items and efficient resource allocation. It can help provide adequate training to store staff. This study can help improve management/procurement policies, ordering and delivery systems, better service levels and inventory control of items in the hospital business context. This study can serve as a pilot study to further investigate the overall hospital operations.

This study is an early attempt to develop a decision framework and inventory control system from the perspective of healthcare inventory management. The gaps identified in real hospital scenarios are investigated, and theoretically based-inventory management strategies are applied and proposed.

This case study is best suited for courses in career management, stress management, work–life management or science of well-being in organization behavior (OB) or human resources management (HRM). This case study is targeted at the MBA or executive development programs. The learning outcomes of this case study are as follows: to analyze the challenges in balancing Suraj Kumar’s (the protagonist) work–life balance situation and identifying the main causes of such a conflict. What are some strategies that could be used to address these issues? To develop a plan to balance work responsibilities with family and personal life. What specific actions could he take to achieve this balance? To design a training program for employees that addresses work–life balance issues. What topics would you cover in the training, and what methods would you use to deliver the content? To create a proposal for a flexible work arrangement program that an organization could offer to its employees. What would be the benefits of this program, and how would it be implemented and managed? To develop a business case for why an organization should prioritize work–life balance for its employees. What are the potential benefits of doing so, and how can the organization measure the impact of its efforts?

This case study discusses conflicts due to competitive priorities that people face in balancing the pressures, roles and responsibilities between their professional life (careers) and their personal life, and the trade-offs that they make across these multiple aspects of their lives. This case study revolves around Suraj Kumar, a successful consultant, who was offered a promotion as the executive director for the social sector. This promotion would require extensive travel and time away from his family. Kumar was struggling to balance his work responsibilities with his family life and his involvement with the Smile and Shine Foundation, which supports the education of children from economically weaker sections of society. He was reflecting on his past and present and trying to figure out how to prioritize his commitments while also achieving his personal and professional goals.

This research has shown that a case discussion and role-play can be effective for a less experienced audience. Instructors can provide multiple perspectives to stimulate reflection and debate. For executive MBA or executive development programs, a self-reflection exercise is recommended. Participants in these programs may have personal experience dealing with or may know others who have dealt with work–life balance issues, making self-reflection a valuable tool.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 6: Human resource management.

Collaboration methods are unique strategies that can help organizations hedge against external and internal supply chain risks without stressing their relationships with supply chain partners. However, selecting the most appropriate collaboration method from a given set of strategies is a multifaceted challenge. This paper aims to address this issue.

The decision maker's dilemma of fighting data uncertainty in input parameters to check the efficacy of a given collaboration or mitigation approach is tackled by the integration of Grey theory with the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) method. The proposed technique is applied and tested for an Indian diesel generator-set manufacturer to identify the most apposite set of sustainable collaboration strategies.

The results showed that when a firm is bidding for different horizontal collaboration strategies across its supply chain system technology and resource-sharing-centered collaboration strategies are the prominent option. In the case of the company's vertical collaboration deployment, the focus should be kept on information sharing to achieve impactful collaboration. The outcome of the analysis helped the Indian manufacturer to adopt transparent order and production information sharing with its regional distributors and core suppliers within its supply chain.

This study demonstrates from a methodological perspective the successful application of the Grey-TOPSIS approach that effectively captures data uncertainty. It also integrates sustainability parameters in collaboration strategy criteria selections.

Drawing upon research on the initiatives of Canadian mining companies, this paper examines private efforts in the mining sector to promote acceptable standards of corporate social responsibility (CSR). This paper asks how important emerging global CSR norms have been in influencing the adoption of CSR policies. Sustainable development is a universally accepted principle of environmental protection, and serves as an important indicator of the influence of global CSR norms on mining companies. Most mining companies have embraced the concept of sustainable development to frame their CSR policies. Emerging global CSR norms have thereby set the macro‐level context in which CSR policies have been adopted and evolved at the micro level.

This study aims to describe the fundamentals of teaching risk management in a classroom setting, with an emphasis on the learning interface between higher education and the workplace environment for business management students.

The study reviews literature that uses spreadsheets to visualize and model risk and uncertainty. Using six distinct case-based activities (CBAs), the study illustrates the practical applications of software like Palisade @RISK in risk management education. It helps to close the gap between theory and practice. The software assists in estimating the likelihood of a risk event and the impact or repercussions it will have if it occurs. This technique of risk analysis makes it possible to identify the risks that need the most active control.

@RISK can be used to create models that produce results to demonstrate every potential scenario outcome. When faced with a choice or analysis that involves uncertainty, @RISK can be utilized to enhance the perspective of what the future might contain.

The insights from this study can be used to develop critical thinking, independent thinking, problem-solving and other important skills in learners. Further, educators can apply Bloom’s taxonomy and the problem-solving taxonomy to help students make informed decisions in risky situations.

Digital transformation (DT) innovation is a monumental contribution that has had a profound effect on several worldwide industries. The aim of this research is to evaluate the current and future trends in DT specifically focusing in construction industry.

This study adopts a qualitative analysis approach grounded on descriptive and bibliometric analyses. In total, 283 papers from Scopus between January 2015 and April 2023 were retrieved in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) review methodology. This study examines the publishing trends, most productive nation, university, publications and authors. Keyword co-occurrence analysis and thematic evolution were analyzed through Vosviewer and Biblioshiny.

The results illustrate a growing desire to use digital technologies in the construction industry, which shows the topic's power and expanding popularity. This research reveals various emerging themes based on technology usage in construction sector. Out of 14 themes, occupational health and safety, mass customization, virtual reality and artificial intelligence were identified as isolated themes. Further, this study elaborates the difficulties encountered by the construction industry while employing digital technologies and examines the interrelationships among various keywords in DT and reveals the paradoxes and hotspots.

This research adds to the body of literature as it identifies the research areas and gaps in the existing DT domain in construction industry. The integration of technology in this sector has an intense positive future vision as various subareas have immense potential for technology application.

This paper aims to propose a machine learning approach-based power theft detection using Garra Rufa Fish (GRF) optimization. Here, the analyzing of power theft is an important part to reduce the financial loss and protect the electricity from fraudulent users.

In this section, a new method is implemented to reduce the power theft in transmission lines and utility grids. The detection of power theft using smart meter with reliable manner can be achieved by the help of GRF algorithm.

The loss of power due to non-technical loss is small by using this proposed algorithm. It provides some benefits like increased predicting capacity, less complexity, high speed and high reliable output. The result is analyzed using MATLAB/Simulink platform. The result is compared with an existing method. According to the comparison result, the proposed method provides the good performance than existing method.

The proposed method gives good results of comparison than those of the other techniques and has an ability to overcome the associated problems.