Search results

The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether first level measures in the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) declaring a cause-effect relationship by design are composite indices of lower measures, and if they converge into a single factor as is traditionally accepted in the BSC literature.

This study reports results of a quantitative case study that focusses on an Ontario (Canada) community hospital that has been using the BSC.

The results of this study challenge the cause-effect assumption of the BSC, particularly in a cascading context, and suggest that a lack of attention of how composite indices of lower measures converge into a single higher level measure may be the reason for ineffective use of the BSC.

The BSC is a dynamic tool; as such there are several measures that have a very short history, thus limiting the observations available to be used in statistical models.

A key recommendation for practice that emerges from this study is the need to test if lower level metrics do merge naturally in the upper level measure of the BSC; if not, the upper level measure might not be linked to other measures rendering the BSC ineffective in the context of causality.

Although several studies have argued in favour of the cause-effect relationship of the BSC, none of those found in the literature have paid attention to the way in which first level measures are constructed. This may explain why certain measures are linked, while others are not, to those that are calculated as composite indices of several lower level indicators.

Claims are increasingly becoming a norm in construction projects and thus an area that is attracting interventions through researches. This paper aims to establish causes–effects relationship of claims in construction projects.

This is correlation study type of study that attempts to establish causes–effects relationship of claims in construction projects. Significant causes and effects of construction claims were determined using one-sample t-test. To establish the relationship, the significant causes and effects of construction claims were correlated using bivariate correlation analysis.

Among the significant causes, variations, change of scope of the project and delay in completion of works have high level of significant positive relationship with five to six other causes and positive relationship with multiple effects ranging from five to six. Besides, among significant effects, delay in completion and delivering of construction projects, poor contractual relationship among parties and extension of time have significant positive relationship with multiple causes.

The findings of this study are limited to causes-causes relationship and causes–effects relationship of claims in construction projects. This means effects–effects relationship was not covered that could be an important area to investigate as some of causes and effects are at times termed interchangeably.

With reference to previous studies which have focused on determining the causes and effects of construction claims, the findings of the current study have specific contribution on claims management as it divulges the causes of constructions claims that have multiplier effects to the project as a result of their linkage.

The paper unveils causes of claims with multiplier effects to construction projects for project participants to devise strategies to minimize and consequently eliminate them.

This paper aims to propose a framework for intangible asset management in business and industrial organizations. The proposed framework is applied to a case example company in the Stock Exchange of Thailand.

The proposed framework refines the strategy map concept in the balanced scorecard approach for use in intangible asset management. There are two phases, the top‐down phase involving a four‐step intangible asset identification process and the bottom‐up phase establishing the cause‐effect relationships between the intangible assets of the various functional departments in the organization and its financial performance.

Intangible assets belong to different functional departments. They must be carefully monitored and properly nurtured by the organization. Intangible assets depend not only on the type of functional departments but also the type of industries. To be competitive in today's knowledge economy, it is vital for business and industry to identify and locate the intangible assets in their functional departments and then establish how they contribute to the financial performance of the organization.

Understanding of the framework will lead to tangible benefits and competitive advantage once the intangible assets are brought under control, properly managed, and suitably funded.

The purpose of this paper is to identify prerequisites for sustaining effective cross‐functional integration as well as their temporal inter‐relationships. Once this type of information is known, a “cause‐effect‐cause” model is constructed to identify constraints and improve effectiveness.

A case research approach was used to explore the relationships between various prerequisites of integration and to understand “how” or “why” their presence may influence the success of sustaining integration. The study focused on 13 companies from the US aerospace defense industry which were in the process of implementing TQM programs.

Organizations which successfully attained “sustained” integration indicated that the reward/performance system based on cross‐functional or process objectives was the major driver behind: forcing employees to understand the organization's processes; providing dedicated time for employees to reflect on process improvement; ensuring employees are rewarded for process improvements; and increasing accountability for integration. These organizations believe that the employee's understanding of the strategic processes acted in conjunction with the process improvements rewards to improve the employees' understanding that cross‐functional relations play a critical role in success.

The findings provide a valuable linkage between the organizational constraints, integration and the organizational learning literature.

Study results suggest both a construct for measuring levels of organizational integration and a cause‐effect‐cause relationship to identify prerequisite constraints.

This is one of the few studies that examine 13 corporations to clarify both the prerequisites for sustaining integration and their temporal inter‐relationships. Additionally, a “cause‐effect‐cause” model based on the Theory of Constraints is used to identify prerequisite constraints.

Radio frequency identification (RFId) technology has a great potential to improve process efficiency and effectiveness. However, because of the variety of application areas and achievable benefits, structured assessment models are needed to support managers in the adoption decision. The purpose of this paper is to describe a structured method to support the evaluation of the benefits enabled by RFId technology in medical treatment support in the healthcare industry. The method, and its application to an Italian case study, are deeply illustrated so as to increase the knowledge available to decision makers.

The research underlying this paper has modelled the relationship between the technology and the performance driver of the target process, and then between the performance driver and the measurable key performance indicators of that process. This knowledge, focused on the healthcare industry but still quite general, has been formalised into 12 causal maps. Starting from these maps, a six-step procedure to prioritise the analysis, tailor the maps and adapt (or develop) analytical models to estimate the benefits is presented. The overall method and its application to an Italian case study are deeply illustrated so as to increase the open available knowledge to decision makers.

The findings are twofold: first, the knowledge represented by the causal maps; and second, the findings of the case study, which shows that efficiency benefits can cover the operative expenses of RFId adoption, but need to be integrated with effectiveness benefits in order to fully justify the investment costs.

The paper provides a contribution for both researchers and practitioners. As the former are concerned, the paper is a first attempt to fill the existing lack of structured approaches concerning the evaluation of potential benefits of RFId for product traceability within a healthcare facility. As for the latter, the presented method has been developed to practically support all those managers who are evaluating whether to adopt RFId technology in their organisation or not. This contribution has a relevant practicality, as it helps decision makers to address their decisions relying on a sound conceptual baseline, and on objective evaluations.

Drawing from boundary-spamming knowledge processes and knowledge-based theory, the purpose of this paper is to study enablers of the knowledge management (KM) process using robust multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) tools like interpretive structural modeling (ISM) and decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method.

Drawing on the knowledge-based view and through the detailed literature review among different KM success, eight enablers were identified. By using the ISM-DEMATEL approach, a systematic framework was designed, and further cause–effect relationship diagram visualized a causal relationship among the enablers.

The combined approach of ISM-DEMATEL showcase that “knowledge creation” and “knowledge capture” are essential enablers. These two identified enablers have considered being pillars for KM implementation. On the other side, knowledge organization, knowledge application are dependent enablers.

From a practical viewpoint, the findings of this research work enable the industry consultants to identify the most prominent driving enablers for KM implementation. Additionally, it provides a clue for the effective implementation of KM in a systematic approach.

The integrated method depending on the hierarchical model and cause–effect relationship between enablers of the KM process is a novel approach that opens a new research area in this domain. Moreover, this is the first-ever attempt to combine ISM along with DEMATEL to identify enablers of the KM process.

This study initially aims to identify the barriers to the big data analytics (BDA) initiative and further evaluates the barriers for knowing their interrelations and priority in improving the performance of manufacturing firms.

A total of 15 barriers to BDA adoption were identified through literature review and expert opinions. Data were collected from three types of industries: automotive, machine tools and electronics manufacturers in India. The grey-decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) method was employed to explore the cause–effect relationship amongst barriers. Further, the barrier's influences were outranked and cross-validated through analytic network process (ANP).

The results showed that “lack of data storage facility”, “lack of IT infrastructure”, “lack of organisational strategy” and “uncertain about benefits and long terms usage” were most common barriers to adopt BDA practices in all three industries.

The findings of the study can assist service providers, industrial managers and government organisations in understanding the barriers and subsequently evaluating interrelationships and ranks of barriers in the successful adoption of BDA in a manufacturing organisation context.

The paper is one of the initial efforts in evaluating the barriers to BDA in improving the performance of manufacturing firms in India.

Despite the wide research and discussion on international performance, innovation and digital resilience dimensions of enterprises, the investigation and understanding of their interrelations seem to be limited. The purpose of this study is to identify the influential factors affecting the mentioned dimensions, determine the causal relationships among these identified factors and finally evaluate their importance in an aggregated framework from the viewpoint of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

A hybrid methodology is used to achieve the objectives. First, the main factors of international performance, innovation and digital resilience are extracted by an in-depth review of the literature. These factors are then screened by expert opinions to localize them in accordance with the conditions of an emerging economy. Finally, the relationship and the importance of the factors are determined using an uncertain multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approach.

The findings reveal that there is a correlation between digital resilience and innovation, and both factors have an impact on the international performance of SMEs. The cause-or-effect nature of the factors belonging to each dimension is also determined. Among the effect factors, business model innovation (BMI), agility, product and organizational innovation are known as the most important factors. International knowledge, personal drivers and digital transformation are also determined to be the most important cause factors.

This study extends the literature both in methodological and practical directions. Practically, the study aggregates the factors in the mentioned dimensions and provides insights into their cause-and-effect interrelations. Methodologically, the study proposes an uncertain MCDM approach that has been rarely used in previous studies in this field.

Work-based research is the applied form of work-based learning (WBL) and has been described as the systematic and methodical process of investigating work-related “problems”. Such problems can either be associated with specific workplaces and domains of practice or may more broadly be described as practical, social or real-world in nature. However, the specific characteristics of work-related problems for organisations and society have yet to be explained, and inadequate problem definition, multiple and competing goals, and lack of agreement on cause-effect relationships have hampered understanding. The purpose of this paper is to examine the nature of work-related problems and provides examples from real-world contexts in Australia.

The paper provides models and examples of standard and non-standard work-related problems based on prior research and current practice.

Research paradigms view work-related problems as either definable and solvable or ill-defined, complex, difficult to describe and not easily rectified. The former view is concerned with “high ground problems” associated with traditional research methods; the latter with “lowland, messy, confusing problems” more frequently associated with the social sciences. Irrespective of orientation and definition, work-related problems have one thing in common: they are typically messy, constantly changing and complex, and many are co-produced and wicked.

Despite difficulties with identifying and isolating the various types of work-related problem, the paper establishes the importance of doing so for the practitioner. The definition and examination of work-related problems contribute to an evolving formulation of WBL and its application to private organisations, government agencies and work more generally.

Notes that to be effectively implemented, quality management has to be aligned with strategy and properly co‐ordinated. Develops a systems framework entitled congruence management business architecture. Notes that under this architecture an activity is the core entity for change and that every quality or related initiative will change, eliminate or create activities. Considers various quality management mechanisms under this architecture and considers various barriers. Suggests that the congruence management framework can help make quality management more effective.