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1 – 10 of 196Michael Leyer, Alexander Richter and Melanie Steinhüser
The purpose of this paper is to reveal how information and communication technology (ICT) can empower shop floor workers in collaborative manufacturing environments.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to reveal how information and communication technology (ICT) can empower shop floor workers in collaborative manufacturing environments.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors gather data from a mobile maintenance department of a steel manufacturing company and apply the method of a scenario-based design. The authors use data from interviews, observations and company documents to create problem and activity scenarios. The authors also demonstrate the development of a worker-centric digital design in multiple demonstration and evaluation cycles.
Findings
The authors find that ICT can be used to ensure that empowerment is not only a concept, but can sustainably empower daily operations.
Research limitations/implications
The authors contribute to theory by showing how structural empowerment can be used as a guiding theoretical lens to design ICT for shop floor workers in collaborative manufacturing work environments. These implications are limited to findings from a single case study.
Practical implications
The results provide an overview of different empowerment dimensions, namely, the access to information, resources, support and opportunities, that can support employees in collaborative manufacturing environments.
Originality/value
This paper is first in suggesting a framework of how ICT designs can be used to empower shop floor workers in collaborative manufacturing environments.
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Alexander Richter, Alexander Stocker, Sebastian Müller and Gabriela Avram
The purpose of this paper is to provide both practice‐oriented researchers and practitioners with detailed insights into the social software goals and implementation strategies…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide both practice‐oriented researchers and practitioners with detailed insights into the social software goals and implementation strategies for corporate environments. Also, to illustrate the novelty and specificity of corporate social software (CSS) compared to other groupware or knowledge management systems.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper is grounded in the ongoing discussion on differences and commonalities of knowledge management and Enterprise 2.0 applications and motivated by the lack of scientific studies on this topic. The authors have therefore made a comprehensive study of social software adoption in corporate environments, performing a cross‐case analysis of 23 enterprises. The study was meant to enable researchers and practitioners to acquire a better understanding and appropriate related explanations of the relatively new phenomenon of CSS appropriation and use.
Findings
From the cross‐case analysis, six main goals of CSS adoption were derived and compared with the goals of knowledge management projects and initiatives. While some of the goals set for the introduction of CSS seem to coincide with those resulting from knowledge management studies (e.g. establishing networks of experts), others appear to be novel and specific for CSS (e.g. improving employee‐to‐employee communication).
Originality/value
By investigating 23 different cases (most of these case studies being documented by the authors), this paper presents one of the most comprehensive cross‐case analyses systematically exploring pursued goals and implementation approaches adopted for CSS. The contribution of the study is relevant for both research and practice and it is aimed to contribute to the ongoing scientific debate on social software in knowledge management and information systems research.
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Alexander Stocker and Johannes Müller
To measure the success of corporate social software (CSS), interviews, surveys, content and usage data analysis have been commonly used in practice. While interviews and surveys…
Abstract
Purpose
To measure the success of corporate social software (CSS), interviews, surveys, content and usage data analysis have been commonly used in practice. While interviews and surveys are only capable of making perceived use and benefits transparent, usage data analysis reveals many objective facts but does not allow insights into potential user-benefits. Hence, the purpose of this paper is to link both perspectives to advance CSS success measuring.
Design/methodology/approach
The research case is References+, a Corporate Social Software developed at Siemens to facilitate worldwide sharing of knowledge, experiences, and best practices since 2005. References+ currently has around 15,000 registered members located in more than 80 countries. This paper evaluates results from a user survey with nearly 1,500 responding employees and links all survey results to the corresponding participant’s data on platform use to generate additional insights.
Findings
The paper generates findings on how CSS is used in practice and how it is perceived by employees of a large-scale enterprise. Furthermore, it explores how a combination of subjective and objective evaluation methods can be applied to advance the state-of-the-art in measuring use and benefits. By linking CSS usage data to corresponding survey data, the paper provides results on what type of use of CSS may create what type of benefit.
Practical implications
This study encourages practitioners to take advantage of a variety of instruments for measuring the benefits of CSS. It generates numerous arguments for practitioners on how to make the benefit of CSS more transparent to financial-oriented decision-makers to successfully defend knowledge management projects against shrinking IT budgets.
Originality/value
This paper is one of the first attempts to explore the relationship between “perceived use” and “perceived benefits” measured by surveys and “factual use” measured by CSS usage statistics for knowledge management research. The findings of this paper may empower the role of user surveys in generating additional insights on use and benefits.
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Alexander Stocker, Alexander Richter, Christian Kaiser and Selver Softic
Despite a growing demand for enterprise search from practice, little is known about its implementation from an academic perspective. As the few available practice-oriented…
Abstract
Purpose
Despite a growing demand for enterprise search from practice, little is known about its implementation from an academic perspective. As the few available practice-oriented investigations show, enterprise search user satisfaction is rather low. The purpose of this paper is therefore to explore user-centric barriers of enterprise search implementation in order to increase user satisfaction.
Design/methodology/approach
Results are built on a qualitative user study in an R & D organization. Findings are gained from think-aloud observations introduced by semi-structured interviews in which ten knowledge workers explore a newly implemented enterprise search tool.
Findings
Findings illustrate barriers that knowledge workers have to overcome when adopting enterprise search to find project-relevant documents. Implementation barriers relate to selection for keywords, search query formulation, availability and adequacy of metadata, relevance judging of search results, current search strategies, and overall perception of enterprise search usefulness.
Research limitations/implications
Limitations address the piloted enterprise search software, along with its specific configuration and scope, the chosen research approach of generating qualitative findings from a single case, and the size of the involved sample of engineers. Implications address measures to increase enterprise search adoption.
Practical implications
This study provides project managers with knowledge to take appropriate actions in the early phases of enterprise search implementation, and even prior to that, to raise the success of enterprise search projects. It contributes to a better understanding of enterprise search engine user needs and assists in concretizing user requirements.
Originality/value
While existing studies primarily focus on advancing the technical perspective of search in organizations, the author elaborate on the under-investigated social and organizational aspects. The author furthermore stress the importance of user-centered approaches for enterprise search adoption.
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Jiju Antony, Olivia McDermott, Daryl Powell and Michael Sony
This purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the current state of research on Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and Industry 4.0 and the key aspects of the relationships between…
Abstract
Purpose
This purpose of this study is to provide an overview of the current state of research on Lean Six Sigma (LSS) and Industry 4.0 and the key aspects of the relationships between them. The research analyses LSS's evolution and discusses the future role of LSS 4.0 in an increasingly digitalized world. We present the benefits and motivations of integrating LSS and Industry 4.0 as well as the critical success factors and challenges within this emerging area of research.
Design/methodology/approach
A systematic literature review methodology was established to identify, select and evaluate published research.
Findings
There is a synergistic nature between LSS and Industry 4.0. Companies having a strong LSS culture can ease the transition to Industry 4.0 while Industry 4.0 technologies can provide superior performance for companies who are using LSS methodology.
Research limitations/implications
One limitation of this research was that as this area is a nascent area, the researchers were limited in their literature review and research. A more comprehensive longitudinal study would yield more data. There is an opportunity for further study and analysis.
Practical implications
This study reviews the evolution of LSS and its integration with Industry 4.0. Organisations can use this study to understand the benefits and motivating factors for integrating LSS and Industry 4.0, the Critical Success Factors and challenges to such integration.
Originality/value
This is the first systematic literature review on LSS 4.0 and can provide insight for practitioners, organisations and future research directions.
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Janine Viol Hacker, Freimut Bodendorf and Pascal Lorenz
Enterprise social networks (ESN) are increasingly used by companies to reinforce collaboration and knowledge sharing. While prior research has investigated ESN use practices…
Abstract
Purpose
Enterprise social networks (ESN) are increasingly used by companies to reinforce collaboration and knowledge sharing. While prior research has investigated ESN use practices, little is known about potential user roles emerging on these platforms. Against this backdrop, this paper develops an ESN knowledge actor role framework.
Design/methodology/approach
The framework is constructed based on a systematic review of literature covering knowledge worker role typologies, user roles identified in public online social spaces as well as findings from ESN research.
Findings
The ESN knowledge actor role framework distinguishes eight contributing and two reading roles. It describes the associated participation behaviours and establishes metrics to identify the roles.
Research limitations/implications
Providing a notion of knowledge management-related roles in ESN, the framework enables a better understanding of knowledge processes and the involved actors. Moreover, the paper advances the field of ESN data analytics by designing a set of ESN metrics to characterise user behaviour.
Practical implications
Understanding ESN user roles, in particular regarding their knowledge contributions to the platform, can improve knowledge transparency in companies. The framework may usefully support the identification and management of critical knowledge resources and support decision-making in the areas of human resources management and knowledge management.
Originality/value
Providing a platform for knowledge-intensive interactions as well as record of user activities, ESN are well suited to observe and identify knowledge actor roles emerging in this context.
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M. Lukaniszyn and R. Unbehauen
The calculation of the leakage quasi‐stationary magnetic field of a three‐phase transformer with disk‐windings is presented in the paper. A mathematical model of the transformer…
Abstract
The calculation of the leakage quasi‐stationary magnetic field of a three‐phase transformer with disk‐windings is presented in the paper. A mathematical model of the transformer based on Maxwell's equations has been applied. Computational results of the short‐circuit reactance have been compared with analytical formulas according to Richter's formulas.
The purpose of this paper is to examine how responsible gambling policies are communicated and presented as a legitimation strategy to different stakeholders.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine how responsible gambling policies are communicated and presented as a legitimation strategy to different stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
This study is based primarily on 49 semi-structured interviews with internal and external stakeholders of Macao’s gambling industry in 2011. This study draws on Reast et al.’s (2012) legitimacy-seeking strategy framework.
Findings
The findings indicate that these organisations use construing and earning legitimacy strategies to ensure passive support and acquiescence from certain stakeholder groups, and they deploy bargaining and capturing legitimacy strategies to generate active support for this morally contested industry. As a means of attaining long-standing legitimacy in the industry, gambling operators engage symbolically rather than substantively in responsible gambling to minimise the legitimacy gap.
Research limitations/implications
The findings of the study pertain to a unique setting and might not be suitable for generalisation.
Practical implications
In the absence of stringent legal mechanisms and strong external stakeholder pressure, the 12th Five-Year Plan of the People’s Republic of China aims to transform Macao into a “World Centre of Tourism and Leisure”, and gambling companies may soon face much stronger pressures from the Chinese Government and the Macao Government.
Social/implications
Voluntary responsible gambling initiatives are liable to be used only in symbolic fashion, without offering genuine engagement or full commitment to the most vulnerable stakeholder group.
Originality/value
This study contributes to the literature on social and accounting literature by providing an in-depth case study of how organisations in the gambling industry use different communication strategies to shape and respond to controversial issues.
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Valery Gitis and Alexander Derendyaev
The purpose of this paper is to offer two Web-based platforms for systematic analysis of seismic processes. Both platforms are designed to analyze and forecast the state of the…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to offer two Web-based platforms for systematic analysis of seismic processes. Both platforms are designed to analyze and forecast the state of the environment and, in particular, the level of seismic hazard. The first platform analyzes the fields representing the properties of the seismic process; the second platform forecasts strong earthquakes. Earthquake forecasting is based on a new one-class classification method.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper suggests an approach to systematic forecasting of earthquakes and examines the results of tests. This approach is based on a new method of machine learning, called the method of the minimum area of alarm. The method allows to construct a forecast rule that optimizes the probability of detecting target earthquakes in a learning sample set, provided that the area of the alarm zone does not exceed a predetermined one.
Findings
The paper presents two platforms alongside the method of analysis. It was shown that these platforms can be used for systematic analysis of seismic process. By testing of the earthquake forecasting method in several regions, it was shown that the method of the minimum area of alarm has satisfactory forecast quality.
Originality/value
The described technology has two advantages: simplicity of configuration for a new problem area and a combination of interactive easy analysis supported by intuitive operations and a simplified user interface with a detailed, comprehensive analysis of spatio-temporal processes intended for specialists. The method of the minimum area of alarm solves the problem of one-class classification. The method is original. It uses in training the precedents of anomalous objects and statistically takes into account normal objects.
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The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of translation equivalence in extant research on translation in accounting: What is the equivalence that is expected of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the concept of translation equivalence in extant research on translation in accounting: What is the equivalence that is expected of translation, and how is it assumed to come into being? This paper presents a coherent, theoretically informed approach to how different views on equivalence are connected to the objective of international comparability in financial accounting and how related, often-underlying assumptions intertwine in this discussion.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes an interdisciplinary approach by utilizing equivalence theories from the discipline of translation studies. It canvasses two dichotomy-like approaches – natural versus directional equivalence and formal versus dynamic equivalence – to compose a theoretical framework within which to analyze 25 translation-related papers discussing accounting harmonization published from 1989 to 2018.
Findings
This paper presents evidence of theoretical contradictions likely to affect the development of translation research in accounting if they go unrecognized. Moreover, the analysis suggests that these contradictions are likely to originate in the assumptions of mainstream accounting research, which neglect both the constructed nature of equivalence and the socially constructed nature of accounting concepts.
Originality/value
Despite the significance of translation for the objective of international comparability, this paper is the first comprehensive theoretical approach to equivalence in accounting research. It responds to a recognized demand for studying equivalence and its limitations, challenges many of the expectations accounting research places on translation and discusses the possible origins of related assumptions.
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