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1 – 10 of over 6000Femi Emmanuel Ayo, Olusegun Folorunso and Sakinat Oluwabukonla Folorunso
Over the past decade, the cost of product development has increased drastically, and this is due to the inability of most enterprises to locate suitable and optimal collaborators…
Abstract
Purpose
Over the past decade, the cost of product development has increased drastically, and this is due to the inability of most enterprises to locate suitable and optimal collaborators for knowledge sharing. Nevertheless, knowledge sharing is a mechanism that helps people find the best collaborators with relevant knowledge. Hence, a new approach for locating optimal collaborators with relevant knowledge is needed, which could help enterprise in reducing cost and time in a knowledge-sharing environment. The paper aims to discuss these issues.
Design/methodology/approach
One unique challenge in the domain of knowledge sharing is that collaborators do not possess the same number of events resident in the knowledge available for sharing. In this paper, the authors present a new approach for locating optimal collaborators in knowledge-sharing environment using the combinatorial algorithm (CA-KSE).
Findings
The proposed pattern-matching approach implemented in Java is considered efficient for solving the issue peculiar to collaboration in knowledge-sharing domain. The authors benchmarked the proposed approach with its semi-global pairwise alignment and global alignment counterparts through scores comparison and the receiver operating characteristic curve. The results obtained from the comparisons showed that CA-KSE is a perfect test having an area under curve of 0.9659, compared to the other approaches.
Research limitations/implications
The paper has proposed an efficient algorithm, which is considered better than related methods, for matching several collaborators (more than two) in KS environment. The method could be deployed in medical field for gene analysis, software organizations for distributed development and academics for knowledge sharing.
Originality/value
One sign of strength of this approach, compared to most sequence alignment approaches that can only match two collaborators at a time, is that it can match several collaborators at a faster rate.
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Looks at leadership from a relational perspective. This perspective focuses on the relationship that is created between a leader and a collaborator. We call this relationship a…
Abstract
Looks at leadership from a relational perspective. This perspective focuses on the relationship that is created between a leader and a collaborator. We call this relationship a partnership, and distinguish three types of partnerships: transactional, transformational, and transcendental. The type of partnership that the leader is able to create, determines the quality of the collaborator’s following behaviors, and demonstrates sets of values and behaviors that the leader shows in action. Transcendental leadership adds to the transformational one a service orientation, which solves the possible manipulative side of tranformational leaders.
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Marco Leite, António J. Baptista and António M.R. Ribeiro
The purpose of this paper is to highlight possible hidden risks when allocating multi-skilled human resources to teams working in a multi-project environment. Are allocation…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to highlight possible hidden risks when allocating multi-skilled human resources to teams working in a multi-project environment. Are allocation strategies maximizing the use of skills for each project, the only way to improve the chances of all projects being successful? What are the risks in this strategy? What are the available alternatives?
Design/methodology/approach
Simulation was used for different allocation strategies to evaluate, using two different metrics, the staffing of human resources in different projects. Three categories of companies were studied, and for each typology, virtual companies were created and several scenarios of collaborators, projects and tasks were simulated to evaluate the staffing process.
Findings
It is shown that for different simulations, different allocation strategies and metrics are possible for evaluation and that there is no golden rule of staffing in organizations with multiple projects and with multiple skills collaborators. The staffing is very much dependent on the context of the company.
Practical implications
The numerical method provides general managers with a useful tool to enable a better distribution of staff collaborators in teams handling multiple projects that require multi-skilled human resources. This method can also be used to evaluate training needs and hiring strategies, as it presents an overview of all human resources skills and motivations.
Originality/value
For academics, the methodology developed enables the study of characteristics of human resources, skills and motivations, which are interesting for team formation. To practitioners, the numerical method is a practical tool for staffing in multiple skills and multiple projects. This tool can also diagnose each company situation regarding current collaborators’ skills and motivations, serving as a tool for training and for hiring.
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Ofer Bergman, Steve Whittaker and Yaron Frishman
State-of-the-art cloud applications are problematic for collaborative document management; their current design does not encourage active personal folder categorization. Cloud…
Abstract
Purpose
State-of-the-art cloud applications are problematic for collaborative document management; their current design does not encourage active personal folder categorization. Cloud applications such as Google Drive and Microsoft’s OneDrive store documents automatically, so at no point are users directed to categorize them by placing them in folders. To encourage active categorization and promote effective retrieval of cloud documents, the authors designed an add-on “nudge” called Personal Organizer which prompts Google Drive users to categorize by storing cloud documents in personal folders. The add-on prompt is triggered when users attempt to close uncategorized or unnamed documents. The purpose of this paper is to test whether using the Personal Organizer add-on leads participants to actively store their documents in folders that they personally created, and whether this promotes more successful and efficient retrieval.
Design/methodology/approach
To test the add-on, the authors conducted a pretest-manipulation-post-test intervention study with 34 participants lasting over three months. In both tests, participants were asked to retrieve personal documents taken from their own “Recents” list to improve ecological validity.
Findings
Using our add-on doubled the percentage of documents that were actively stored in folders. Additionally, using personally created folders substantially improved retrieval success while decreasing retrieval time.
Originality/value
Implementing our findings can improve document storage and retrieval for millions of users of collaborative cloud storage. The authors discuss broader theoretical implications concerning the role of active organization for retrieval in collaborative repositories, as well as design implications.
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Chiung-Lin Liu and Ming-Yu Lee
Supply chain resilience (SCR) is essential to the success of firms. However, very few studies have focused on the relationships between different types of integration, SCR and…
Abstract
Purpose
Supply chain resilience (SCR) is essential to the success of firms. However, very few studies have focused on the relationships between different types of integration, SCR and service performance from the perspective of third-party logistics providers (3PLs). The purpose of this paper is to develop and assesses a conceptual model for these relationships.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 161 3PLs in Taiwan were surveyed and their responses were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM/PLS).
Findings
The responses of respondents demonstrated that, of the three types of integration (internal integration, customer integration and logistics collaborator integration) used by 3PLs, internal integration had the greatest effect on SCR. Customer integration was found to have three fully mediating effects on the relationships between internal integration and service performance, between logistics collaborator integration and SCR, and between logistics collaborator integration and service performance.
Originality/value
This study provides useful information on how different types of integration manifest in the SCR and service performance of 3PLs.
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Attempts to address how organizations are responding to the growing complexities of global business, technology, and virtual organizations. Argues that organizations can…
Abstract
Attempts to address how organizations are responding to the growing complexities of global business, technology, and virtual organizations. Argues that organizations can co‐operate and compete at the same time in order to be more effective in the marketplace utilizing a relationship perspective. This is why we have integrated the concepts cooperation and effectiveness, to create the new “co‐opetive” terminology. An ecological collaborative value system (CVS) has been developed. The behaviour of the system is affected by the condition of its components, and the system components are affected by environmental conditions. CVS suggests that customers, suppliers, distributors, competitors, and other organizations are equal partners in the system. Argues that it is imperative for a successful alliance and relationship between the collaborators to communicate and cooperate in an atmosphere of frank debate, trust, interdependence, and mutual positive expectation so that the mutual benefits and interests may be achieved. This mechanism may enable each component of the system to monitor its performance and to adjust its operation to ensure uniform quality of its input‐output. In short, it may allow the system to learn, adapt and evolve.
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Federico P. Zasa, Roberto Verganti and Paola Bellis
Having a shared vision is crucial for innovation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of individual propensity to collaborate and innovate on the development of…
Abstract
Purpose
Having a shared vision is crucial for innovation. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of individual propensity to collaborate and innovate on the development of a shared vision.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors build a network in which each node represents the vision of one individual and link the network structure to individual propensity of collaboration and innovativeness. During organizational workshops in four multinational organizations, the authors collected individual visions in the form of images as well as text describing the approach to innovation from 85 employees.
Findings
The study maps individual visions for innovation as a cognitive network. The authors find that individual propensity to innovate or collaborate is related to different network centrality. Innovators, individuals who see innovation as an opportunity to change and grow, are located at the center of the cognitive network. Collaborators, who see innovation as an opportunity to collaborate, have a higher closeness centrality inside a cluster.
Research limitations/implications
This paper analyses visions as a network linking recent research in psychology with the managerial longing for a more thorough investigation of group cognition. The study contributes to literature on shared vision creation, suggesting the role which innovators and collaborators can occupy in the process.
Originality/value
This paper proposes how an approach based on a cognitive network can inform innovation management. The findings suggest that visions of innovators summarize the visions of a group, helping the development of an overall shared vision. Collaborators on the other hand are representative of specific clusters and can help developing radical visions.
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Mário Franco and Joana Almeida
This paper aims to understand the association between organisational learning and leadership styles in the healthcare context.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to understand the association between organisational learning and leadership styles in the healthcare context.
Design/methodology/approach
A qualitative approach was applied in two continuous care units in the same Portuguese healthcare organisation (single case study). Data were obtained from a survey of 28 collaborators and an interview with its manager‐leader/general director. Documental analysis was also used.
Findings
The findings attested to the central role of organisational learning and leadership in organisational performance/effectiveness within healthcare organisations. Different levels of performance were identified in the organisation selected. The practical implications of findings are also discussed.
Research limitations/implications
The study of a single case has been analysed, with the consequent disadvantage of not considering generalisation. For this reason, further research should be carried out to detect structural and cultural differences in healthcare organisations. On the other hand, most of the writing on organisational learning and leadership is conceptual, so this empirical study was important.
Originality/value
Despite the vast quantity of studies in the domain of leadership and organisational learning, very little work associates these two topics. Taking into account the relevance of these research topics for healthcare organisations, the findings give additional support to the argument that leadership plays an important role in instilling organisational learning in the healthcare sector.
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Wei Zhou, David Heesom, Panagiotis Georgakis and Joseph H.M. Tah
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the CSCW in collaborative 4D modelling and its user interface (UI)/interaction designs for prototyping. Four-dimensional (4D) modelling…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to clarify the CSCW in collaborative 4D modelling and its user interface (UI)/interaction designs for prototyping. Four-dimensional (4D) modelling technology has potentials to integrate geographically dispersed planners to achieve collaborative construction planning. However, applying this technology in teamwork remains a challenge in computer-supported collaborative work (CSCW).
Design/methodology/approach
The research adopted user-centred design (UCD) methodology to investigate a usable 4D collaboration prototype through analysis, design and usability testing. By applying CSCW theories, it first clarified the meaning of 4D CSCW to formulate design propositions as design target. By leveraging UCD theories, subsequently, the first-stage research sought an optimal standalone 4D modelling prototype following a parallel design approach. At the second stage, it further investigated into a collaborative 4D modelling prototype using an iterative design. It adopted collaborative task analysis into the UI/interaction design extension for a collaborative prototype based on results obtained from the first stage. The final usability testing was performed on the collaborative prototype to evaluate the designed CSCW and UI in a controlled geographically dispersed teamwork situation.
Findings
The test results and user feedback verified their usability. It also disclosed design weaknesses in collaborators’ awareness and smooth tasks’ transitions for further enhancement.
Originality/value
The combination of CSCW and UCD theories is practical for designing collaborative 4D modelling. It can also benefit designs for collaborative modelling in other dimensions like cost analysis, sustainable design, facility management, etc. in building information modelling.
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This paper presents a methodology for the development of a new tool for the formation of a virtual enterprise. The formation phase mainly deals with inviting potential…
Abstract
This paper presents a methodology for the development of a new tool for the formation of a virtual enterprise. The formation phase mainly deals with inviting potential collaborators to virtual enterprise, and developing a supply chain; supply chain development is done collaboratively by all the collaborating enterprises. The methodology for realizing a new e‐commerce tool is primarily aimed at satisfying the needs of small‐to‐medium‐sized enterprises, and has the following features: Web‐based; inexpensive; supports collaboration; and increases pipeline visibility and demand visibility.
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