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Article
Publication date: 12 June 2018

Alessandro Stefanini, Davide Aloini, Elisabetta Benevento, Riccardo Dulmin and Valeria Mininno

This paper aims to investigate the process performances in Emergency Departments (EDs) with a novel data-driven approach, permitting to discover the entire patient-flow, deploy…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to investigate the process performances in Emergency Departments (EDs) with a novel data-driven approach, permitting to discover the entire patient-flow, deploy the performances in term of time and resources on the activities and flows and identify process deviations and critical bottlenecks. Moreover, the use of this methodology in real time might dynamically provide a picture of the current situation inside the ED in term of waiting times, crowding, resources, etc., supporting the management of patient demand and resources in real time.

Design/methodology/approach

The proposed methodology exploits the process-mining techniques. Starting from the event data inside the hospital information systems, it permits automatically to extract the patient-flows, to evaluate the process performances, to detect process exceptions and to identify the deviations between the expected and the actual results.

Findings

The application of the proposed method to a real ED revealed being valuable to discover the actual patient-flow, measure the performances of each activity with respect to the predefined targets and compare different operating situations.

Practical implications

Starting from the results provided by this system, hospital managers may explore the root causes of deviations, identify areas for improvements and hypothesize improvement actions. Finally, process-mining outputs may provide useful information for creating simulation models to test and compare alternative ED operational scenarios.

Originality/value

This study responds to the need of novel approaches for monitoring and evaluating processes performances in the EDs. The novelty of this data-driven approach is the opportunity to timely connect performances, patient-flows and activities.

Details

Measuring Business Excellence, vol. 22 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1368-3047

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 13 December 2021

Davide Aloini, Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, Peter Gloor, Emanuele Guerrazzi and Alessandro Stefanini

The purpose of the research is to conduct an exploratory investigation of the material handling activities of an Italian logistics hub. Wearable sensors and other smart tools were…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of the research is to conduct an exploratory investigation of the material handling activities of an Italian logistics hub. Wearable sensors and other smart tools were used for collecting human and environmental features during working activities. These factors were correlated with workers' performance and well-being.

Design/methodology/approach

Human and environmental factors play an important role in operations management activities since they significantly influence employees' performance, well-being and safety. Surprisingly, empirical studies about the impact of such aspects on logistics operations are still very limited. Trying to fill this gap, the research empirically explores human and environmental factors affecting the performance of logistics workers exploiting smart tools.

Findings

Results suggest that human attitudes, interactions, emotions and environmental conditions remarkably influence workers' performance and well-being, however, showing different relationships depending on individual characteristics of each worker.

Practical implications

The authors' research opens up new avenues for profiling employees and adopting an individualized human resource management, providing managers with an operational system capable to potentially check and improve workers' well-being and performance.

Originality/value

The originality of the study comes from the in-depth exploration of human and environmental factors using body-worn sensors during work activities, by recording individual, collaborative and environmental data in real-time. To the best of the authors' knowledge, the current paper is the first time that such a detailed analysis has been carried out in real-world logistics operations.

Details

The TQM Journal, vol. 34 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1754-2731

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 11 September 2017

Grazia Antonacci, Andrea Fronzetti Colladon, Alessandro Stefanini and Peter Gloor

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors influencing the growth of healthcare virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) through a seven-year longitudinal study conducted…

1386

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to identify the factors influencing the growth of healthcare virtual communities of practice (VCoPs) through a seven-year longitudinal study conducted using metrics from social-network and semantic analysis. By studying online communication along the three dimensions of social interactions (connectivity, interactivity and language use), the authors aim to provide VCoP managers with valuable insights to improve the success of their communities.

Design/methodology/approach

Communications over a period of seven years (April 2008 to April 2015) and between 14,000 members of 16 different healthcare VCoPs coexisting on the same web platform were analysed. Multilevel regression models were used to reveal the main determinants of community growth over time. Independent variables were derived from social network and semantic analysis measures.

Findings

Results show that structural and content-based variables predict the growth of the community. Progressively, more people will join a community if its structure is more centralised, leaders are more dynamic (they rotate more) and the language used in the posts is less complex.

Research limitations/implications

The available data set included one Web platform and a limited number of control variables. To consolidate the findings of the present study, the experiment should be replicated on other healthcare VCoPs.

Originality/value

The study provides useful recommendations for setting up and nurturing the growth of professional communities, considering, at the same time, the interaction patterns among the community members, the dynamic evolution of these interactions and the use of language. New analytical tools are presented, together with the use of innovative interaction metrics, that can significantly influence community growth, such as rotating leadership.

Details

Journal of Knowledge Management, vol. 21 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1367-3270

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 2 October 2023

Morteza Ghobakhloo, Mantas Vilkas, Alessandro Stefanini, Andrius Grybauskas, Gediminas Marcinkevicius, Monika Petraite and Peiman Alipour Sarvari

Using a dynamic capabilities approach, the present study aims to identify and assess the effects of organizational determinants on capabilities underlying Industry 4.0 design…

Abstract

Purpose

Using a dynamic capabilities approach, the present study aims to identify and assess the effects of organizational determinants on capabilities underlying Industry 4.0 design principles, such as integration, virtualization, real-time, automation and servitization.

Design/methodology/approach

PLS-SEM enables a two-stage hierarchical latent variable reflective-formative model which was used for assessing the effect of organizational determinants on Industry 4.0 design principles. Five hundred six manufacturing companies constitute the effective sample, representing a population of manufacturing companies in an industrialized country.

Findings

The findings reveal that Industry 4.0 design principles extensively depend on digitalization resource availability. At the same time, companies that possess digitalization and change management capabilities tend to devote more resources to digitalization. Finally, the paper reveals that networking and partnership capability is the critical enabler for change management and digitalization capabilities.

Practical implications

The paper provides empirical evidence that the successful development of Industry 4.0 design principles and their underlying integration, virtualization, real-time, automation and servitization capabilities are resource dependent, requiring significant upfront investment and continuous resource allocation. Further, the study implies that companies with networking and partnership, change management and digitalization capabilities tend to allocate more resources for Industry 4.0 transformation.

Originality/value

Exclusively focusing on empirical research that reported applied insights into determinants of Industry 4.0 design principles, the study offers unique implications for promoting Industry 4.0 digital transformation among manufacturing companies.

Details

Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, vol. 34 no. 7
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-038X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 May 2020

Alessandro Stefanini, Davide Aloini and Peter Gloor

This study investigates the relationships between team dynamics and performance in healthcare operations. Specifically, it explores, through wearable sensors, how team…

1680

Abstract

Purpose

This study investigates the relationships between team dynamics and performance in healthcare operations. Specifically, it explores, through wearable sensors, how team coordination mechanisms can influence the likelihood of surgical glitches during routine surgery.

Design/methodology/approach

Breast surgeries of a large Italian university hospital were monitored using Sociometric Badges – wearable sensors developed at MIT Media Lab – for collecting objective and systematic measures of individual and group behaviors in real time. Data retrieved were used to analyze team coordination mechanisms, as it evolved in the real settings, and finally to test the research hypotheses.

Findings

Findings highlight that a relevant portion of glitches in routine surgery is caused by improper team coordination practices. In particular, results show that the likelihood of glitches decreases when practitioners adopt implicit coordination mechanisms rather than explicit ones. In addition, team cohesion appears to be positively related with the surgical performance.

Originality/value

For the first time, direct, objective and real time measurements of team behaviors have enabled an in-depth evaluation of the team coordination mechanisms in surgery and the impact on surgical glitches. From a methodological perspective, this research also represents an early attempt to investigate coordination behaviors in dynamic and complex operating environments using wearable sensor tools.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 40 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 January 2020

Alessandro Arcobasso

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief answer to the following questions: in the arena for State and non-State actors, who and how may guarantee the balance between…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a brief answer to the following questions: in the arena for State and non-State actors, who and how may guarantee the balance between democracy, State and market? How can the citizens’ economic well-being be prioritized, in terms of national security?

Design/methodology/approach

Adapting both the link analysis approach and the order of Pierce’s inference stages, the author illustrates the state of the art, some economic indices and Italy’s need for countermeasures.

Findings

Starting from the notion of “social sustainability of the political decisions,” given by the author, the paper highlights the opportunity to rethink the concept of political warfare, in view of a productive fabric characterized by both a high number of small and medium-sized enterprises and the pervasiveness of mafia-type organizations. At the end, the author shares some proposal in the fields of Public Law and Social Marketing and a broader definition of the above-mentioned concept.

Originality/value

This study shows the link between security studies, people’s perception of grey areas and polarization of opinions and wealth, giving the reader a bottom-up input to the comprehension of the contemporary complexity.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 June 2022

Norita Ahmad and Arief M. Zulkifli

This study aims to provide a systematic review about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impacts on happiness. It intends to serve as a platform for further research as it is…

2305

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to provide a systematic review about the Internet of Things (IoT) and its impacts on happiness. It intends to serve as a platform for further research as it is sparse in in-depth analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

This systematic review initially observed 2,501 literary articles through the ScienceDirect and WorldCat search engines before narrowing it down to 72 articles based on subject matter relevance in the abstract and keywords. Accounting for duplicates between search engines, the count was reduced to 66 articles. To finally narrow down all the literature used in this systematic review, 66 articles were given a critical readthrough. The count was finally reduced to 53 total articles used in this systematic review.

Findings

This paper necessitates the claim that IoT will likely impact many aspects of our everyday lives. Through the literature observed, it was found that IoT will have some significant and positive impacts on people's welfare and lives. The unprecedented nature of IoTs impacts on society should warrant further research moving forward.

Research limitations/implications

While the literature presented in this systematic review shows that IoT can positively impact the perceived or explicit happiness of people, the amount of literature found to supplement this argument is still on the lower end. They also necessitate the need for both greater depth and variety in this field of research.

Practical implications

Since technology is already a pervasive element of most people’s contemporary lives, it stands to reason that the most important factors to consider will be in how we might benefit from IoT or, more notably, how IoT can enhance our levels of happiness. A significant implication is its ability to reduce the gap in happiness levels between urban and rural areas.

Originality/value

Currently, the literature directly tackling the quantification of IoTs perceived influence on happiness has yet to be truly discussed broadly. This systematic review serves as a starting point for further discussion in the subject matter. In addition, this paper may lead to a better understanding of the IoT technology and how we can best advance and adapt it to the benefits of the society.

Details

Digital Transformation and Society, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2755-0761

Keywords

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