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1 – 8 of 8It is generally accepted that new information technologies are an integral part of most forms of business initiatives. Evidence suggests that many of these innovations are…
Abstract
Purpose
It is generally accepted that new information technologies are an integral part of most forms of business initiatives. Evidence suggests that many of these innovations are ineffective and under‐utilised. The information systems/information technology (IS/IT) industry often does not seem to be capable of delivering what business clients expect. Owing to this “expectation gap” and various behavioural issues, business experts have a negative perception of the IS/IT function. It is proposed that a new way of alignment between IT and business is necessary The research aims to address two problems, namely, what factors are influencing business‐IT interface within organisations, and how the IT executive could contribute towards fusion fulfilling an organisational development (OD) role.
Design/methodology/approach
A triangular and qualitative research approach was followed, including a literature study, questionnaire and interview.
Findings
Results indicated a number of reasons leading to IT/business failure and also indicate how fusion can be created by fulfilling an OD role.
Research limitations/implications
Only companies in the Gauteng region, which is considered to be the economic heart of South Africa, have been included in the study. The small sample size might hinder the generalisation of the results and could be further extended.
Originality/value
The research indicates how a healthy business‐IT interface can be achieved through the fusion of the IT function and the rest of the business by integrating OD initiatives.
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Marc Schober and Manfred Kasper
This paper aims to show that simple geometry‐based hp‐algorithms using an explicit a posteriori error estimator are efficient in wave propagation computation of complex structures…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to show that simple geometry‐based hp‐algorithms using an explicit a posteriori error estimator are efficient in wave propagation computation of complex structures containing geometric singularities.
Design/methodology/approach
Four different hp‐algorithms are compared with common h‐ and p‐adaptation in electrostatic and time‐harmonic problems regarding efficiency in number of degrees of freedom and runtime. An explicit a posteriori error estimator in energy norm is used for adaptive algorithms.
Findings
Residual‐based error estimation is sufficient to control the adaptation process. A geometry‐based hp‐algorithm produces the smallest number of degrees of freedom and results in shortest runtime. Predicted error algorithms may choose inappropriate kind of refinement method depending on p‐enrichment threshold value. Achieving exponential error convergence is sensitive to the element‐wise decision on h‐refinement or p‐enrichment.
Research limitations/implications
Initial mesh size must be sufficiently small to confine influence of phase lag error.
Practical implications
Information on implementation of hp‐algorithm and use of explicit error estimator in electromagnetic wave propagation is provided.
Originality/value
The paper is a resource for developing efficient finite element software for high‐frequency electromagnetic field computation providing guaranteed error bound.
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Organizational culture has an impact on various activities in organizations, including project management (PM). The aim of the study is to answer the following research questions…
Abstract
Purpose
Organizational culture has an impact on various activities in organizations, including project management (PM). The aim of the study is to answer the following research questions: RQ1: what significance is attributed to organizational culture compared to the objective project characteristics when choosing the dominant PM methodology in organizations? RQ2: which type of organizational culture is preferred for successful implementation of different PM methodologies? RQ3: what kind (if any) of relationship exists between the dominant type of organizational culture in organizations and the dominant PM methodology?
Design/methodology/approach
The author surveyed 100 project managers working in the financial industry in Poland with the use of personal structured interviews. The competing values framework (CVF) concept authored by Cameron and Quinn was used.
Findings
Project managers find organizational culture more important than objective project characteristics when choosing the dominant PM methodology in an organization. Although statistical analysis revealed a significant relationship between the preferred type of organizational culture and PM methodology, there is no significant relationship between the existing type of organizational culture and the PM methodology which prevails in the company.
Research limitations/implications
Future research should investigate other industries and other typologies of organizational culture.
Practical implications
The paper provides recommendations for management practice on how to shape organizational culture in the context of successful PM with the application of different PM methodologies.
Originality/value
This study fills a gap in the theory of PM by identifying and empirically verifying the theoretical linkage between the type of organizational culture and PM methodology.
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The institution of food and cookery exhibitions and the dissemination of practical knowledge with respect to cookery by means of lectures and demonstrations are excellent things…
Abstract
The institution of food and cookery exhibitions and the dissemination of practical knowledge with respect to cookery by means of lectures and demonstrations are excellent things in their way. But while it is important that better and more scientific attention should be generally given to the preparation of food for the table, it must be admitted to be at least equally important to insure that the food before it comes into the hands of the expert cook shall be free from adulteration, and as far as possible from impurity,—that it should be, in fact, of the quality expected. Protection up to a certain point and in certain directions is afforded to the consumer by penal enactments, and hitherto the general public have been disposed to believe that those enactments are in their nature and in their application such as to guarantee a fairly general supply of articles of tolerable quality. The adulteration laws, however, while absolutely necessary for the purpose of holding many forms of fraud in check, and particularly for keeping them within certain bounds, cannot afford any guarantees of superior, or even of good, quality. Except in rare instances, even those who control the supply of articles of food to large public and private establishments fail to take steps to assure themselves that the nature and quality of the goods supplied to them are what they are represented to be. The sophisticator and adulterator are always with us. The temptations to undersell and to misrepresent seem to be so strong that firms and individuals from whom far better things might reasonably be expected fall away from the right path with deplorable facility, and seek to save themselves, should they by chance be brought to book, by forms of quibbling and wriggling which are in themselves sufficient to show the moral rottenness which can be brought about by an insatiable lust for gain. There is, unfortunately, cheating to be met with at every turn, and it behoves at least those who control the purchase and the cooking of food on the large scale to do what they can to insure the supply to them of articles which have not been tampered with, and which are in all respects of proper quality, both by insisting on being furnished with sufficiently authoritative guarantees by the vendors, and by themselves causing the application of reasonably frequent scientific checks upon the quality of the goods.
OUR fifty‐ninth volume is opened by this issue of the Library World, which has survived longer than any other independent library periodical. Some reflections, which may indeed…
Abstract
OUR fifty‐ninth volume is opened by this issue of the Library World, which has survived longer than any other independent library periodical. Some reflections, which may indeed seem repetitive, seem to be natural in the circumstances. We have a sense of gratitude to the number of readers, who as writers and subscribers have sustained us so long and will we trust continue to do so. From the first we have adhered closely to the thesis that our business was with the conduct of libraries and the activities, even personal ones, of librarians but not with their private affairs. We have endeavoured to initiate and to describe methods many of which are now commonplace in their acceptance. Thus J. D. Brown our founder and first Editor published in this his series on charging systems; Louis Stanley Jast his serial on his own cataloguing methods; Dr. E. A. Baker made known his views on the annotation of books; J. D. Stewart and Berwick Sayers wrote for those pages their study, afterwards published as the book The Card Catalogue—these are a few examples. The lighter forms of librarianship writing may be said to have been initiated in this country in our pages, for example the reports of the Pseudonyms' meetings which, it must be confessed, have a vague relation only to what actually took place at them; and the over‐thirty years' serial, Letters on Our Affairs, initiated in 1913 by one who became a world famous librarian, established, especially in its first decade, this style of critical writing which has had so many imitators.
To provide a selective bibliography for researchers and graduate students who have an interest in induction processes applied to the electromagnetic processing of materials.
Abstract
Purpose
To provide a selective bibliography for researchers and graduate students who have an interest in induction processes applied to the electromagnetic processing of materials.
Design/methodology/approach
The objective is to provide references that identify seminal, early work, and references that represent the current state of the art. References are listed in categories that cover the broad range of induction modeling and application issues.
Findings
A brief overview of the key areas in induction processing of materials is provided, but greater emphasis and space is devoted to the references provided.
Research limitations/implications
The middle years of each topic area are not covered.
Practical implications
A very comprehensive coverage of material is provided to those with an interest in induction processing of materials.
Originality/value
This paper fulfils an identified information/resources need.
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Gives a bibliographical review of the error estimates and adaptive finite element methods from the theoretical as well as the application point of view. The bibliography at the…
Abstract
Gives a bibliographical review of the error estimates and adaptive finite element methods from the theoretical as well as the application point of view. The bibliography at the end contains 2,177 references to papers, conference proceedings and theses/dissertations dealing with the subjects that were published in 1990‐2000.
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Merve Engin, Sinan Sönmez and Öznur Özden
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influences of coating colours and their contents on the fundamental properties of base papers and also evaluate these results in…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influences of coating colours and their contents on the fundamental properties of base papers and also evaluate these results in terms of mechanical and wood-free papers.
Design/methodology/approach
A design research approach has been based on the application of various coating colours and analysis of mechanical and optical tests results of the coated mechanical and wood-free base papers.
Findings
This study is confirmed that the coating colours can be easily applied to the surface of the papers. The experimental data have revealed that significant improvements exist in the values of tear resistance (strength), brightness and opacity of the mechanical base papers, especially by the application of the coating colours including kaolin pigment. The results show that mechanical papers can also be used in areas with high brightness expectations by applying coating colour.
Originality/value
The originality of this work is based on understanding and comparing the effects of applying similar coating formulations on mechanical and wood-free base papers.
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