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This small-scale qualitative case study aimed to investigate English language teachers’ perceptions of the impact of iPads in classrooms in ideal, actual and realistic terms. The study took place at the end of a five-year initiative that saw iPads introduced to English Language classrooms in a UAE Federal Institution. The investigation was carried out from a constructivist epistemology perspective using observations and interviews, analysed through the lens of the SAMR Model (Puentedura, 2010). While curriculum constraints limited the impact in this initiative, the device has the potential to engage students in collaborative tasks and assist in classroom management. A potential two-dimensional SAMR model is proposed, as are opportunities for further research.

ﺗﮭ د ف د را ﺳﺔ اﻟ ﺣﺎﻟ ﺔ اﻟﻧ وﻋﯾ ﺔ اﻟ ﻣ ﺻ ﻐرة ھذه إﻟ ﻰ اﻟﺑ ﺣ ث ﻓ ﻲ ﺗ ﺻ ورا ت ﻣﻌﻠ ﻣ ﻲ اﻟﻠ ﻐﺔ ا ﻹﻧ ﺟﻠﯾ زﯾ ﺔ ﺣول ﺗﺄﺛﯾ ر ا ﻷﺟﮭزة اﻟﻠ وﺣﯾ ﺔ ﻓ ﻲ اﻟﻔ ﺻ ول اﻟد ر ا ﺳ ﯾ ﺔ ﺑ ﺻ و ر ة ﻣﺛﺎﻟﯾ ﺔ و و اﻗ ﻌﯾ ﺔ و ﺣ ﻘﯾﻘﯾ ﺔ. و ﻗد ﺑﻧﯾ ت ھ ذه اﻟد ر ا ﺳ ﺔ ﻋ ﻠ ﻰ ﻣﻧ ظ و ر ﻧ ظ ر ﯾ ﺔ اﻟﻣﻌر ﻓﺔ اﻟ ﺑﻧﺎﺋﯾ ﺔ ﺑﺎ ﺳ ﺗ ﺧ دا م اﻟﻣ ﻼ ﺣ ظ ﺎ ت و اﻟﻣﻘﺎﺑ ﻼ ت ، وا ﻟﺗ ﻲ ﺗم ﺗ ﺣﻠﯾﻠ ﮭﺎ ﻣ ن ﺧﻼل ﻋد ﺳﺔ ﻧ ﻣوذ ج SAMR .(Puentedura, 2010) ( ﻓﺑﺎﻟ رﻏم ﻣ ن أ ن ﻗﯾ ود اﻟ ﻣﻧﺎ ھﺞ ﺣد ت ﻣ ن ﺗﺄﺛﯾ ر ا ﻷﺟﮭزة اﻟﻠ و ﺣ ﯾ ﺔ إ ﻻ أ ن ﻟ دﯾ ﮭﺎ اﻟ ﻘد ر ة ﻋ ﻠ ﻰ إ ﺷ ر ا ك اﻟط ﻼ ب ﻓ ﻲ اﻟﻣﮭﺎم اﻟ ﺗ ﻌﺎ و ﻧﯾ ﺔ و اﻟﻣ ﺳ ﺎ ﻋ دة ﻓ ﻲ إ دا ر ة اﻟ ﻔ ﺻ و ل اﻟد ر ا ﺳ ﯾ ﺔ. ﺗﻘﺗ ر ح ھ ذه اﻟد ر ا ﺳ ﺔ ﻧ ﻣو ذ ج SAMR ذو أﺑ ﻌﺎد ﺛﻧﺎﺋﯾﺔ، ﺑﺎ ﻹ ﺿ ﺎﻓﺔ إﻟ ﻰ ﻓ ر ص ﻹﺟرا ء ﻣزﯾد ﻣ ن اﻟﺑ ﺣو ث.

Adaptation to the requirements of digital economy is especially difficult for older workers, which is a challenge for today’s organizations due to workforce shrinking and ageing. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to investigate how it is possible to develop older employees’ potential in technology use in the business environment.

The authors examined how employees at various age perceive barriers during enterprise system (ES) adoption and use. This exploratory study is based on grounded theory and draws from the opinions of 187 Polish ES practitioners.

With age, emphasis on employees’ perception of mandatory ICT implementation projects is shifting from technology to people-related considerations. For older employees, job security and workload appear the most critical issues in such projects. Age-diverse collaboration appears necessary to address the problems posed by technology-related and demographic changes.

The findings imply that incorporating multiple stakeholder perspectives and age-related considerations into research on ICT adoption appears essential.

ICT adoption in the business environment can be successfully supported by age-balanced team building, cooperation between younger and older employees, and age-adjusted change management initiatives.

Supporting older employees during the implementation of mandatory business software should embrace reducing their negative attitudes to ICT-induced change by minimizing their perception of job insecurity.

Unlike many prior studies, the current research places age in the central role and discusses not only how it is possible to support older employees, but also how to leverage their potential in the process of ICT adoption and use in a mandatory setting.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the application of reliability engineering to oil and gas (O&G) pipeline systems with the aim of identifying means through which reliability engineering can be used to improve pipeline integrity, specifically with regard to man-made incidents (e.g. material/weld/equipment failure, corrosion, incorrect operation and excavation damages).

A literature review was carried out on the application of reliability tools to O&G pipeline systems and four case studies are presented as examples of how reliability engineering can help to improve pipeline integrity. The scope of the paper is narrowed to four stages of the pipeline life cycle; the decommissioning stage is not part of this research. A survey was also carried out using a questionnaire to check the level of application of reliability tools in the O&G industry.

Data from survey and literature show that a reliability-centred approach can be applied and will improve pipeline reliability where applied; however, there are several hindrances to the effective application of reliability tools, the current methods are time based and focus mainly on design against failure rather than design for reliability.

The tools identified do not cover the decommissioning of the pipeline system. Research validation sample size can be broadened to include more pipeline stakeholders/professionals. Pipeline integrity management systems are proprietary information and permission is required from stakeholders to do a detailed practical study.

This paper proposes the minimum applied reliability tools for application during the design, operation and maintenance phases targeted at the O&G industry. Critically, this paper provides a case for an integrated approach to applying reliability and maintenance tools that are required to reduce pipeline failure incidents in the O&G industry.

The purpose of this paper is to focus on an information technology (IT) deployment project in the specific field of agricultural cooperatives. It also aims to underline the importance of the IT implementation phase, but also the pre-implementation phase.

A four-year canonical action research project was conducted within a network of more than 300 agricultural cooperatives. Research was carried out both during the IT implementation and after deployment. Key information was gathered through unstructured and unofficial interviews, observations, field notes, meetings, focus groups, and documentary analysis.

Despite user resistance behavior, the findings show that information systems (IS) implementation may lead to unexpected results that extend beyond the tool’s initial objectives. Indeed, four hidden facets of the tool were revealed: inductor, symbol, pretext, and reference.

Although the research is limited to one single-case study, it puts the emphasis on in-depth research, vs cross-sectional data collection, to analyze the relationship between IT implementation initiatives and organizational intelligence. Furthermore, the authors argue that while IS literature has separately developed related theories (actor-network theory, competitive intelligence), the authors conceptualize a whole theoretic system interrelating the two above-stated theories.

The implication for IS practitioners is that, by focusing only on experiences that have occurred during IT implementation, one may disregard critical information, behaviors and knowledge from unforeseen effects that have occurred after implementation. In future IT projects, IS managers therefore need to capitalize on post-implementation knowledge, through sociology of translation and competitive intelligence, in order to anticipate potential diversions from the initial objectives. Finally, while most IT implementation methods tend naturally to manage resistance maximize users’ satisfaction and to reduce potential resistance, the authors support an alternative approach. It consists into enhancing resistance in order to anticipate and resolve latent resistance behaviors directly or indirectly related to the project.

Despite widespread literature on resistance, appropriation or acceptance during IT projects, there is little research that addresses the impact of IT projects on organizational intelligence, and the kind of behaviors that lead to its failure or success. In the case, the implemented IT tool revealed hidden structural and organizational roles, which were unanticipated by IT designers and managers.

Robotic process automation (RPA) has recently emerged as a technology focusing on the automation of repetitive, frequent, voluminous and rule-based tasks. Despite a few practical examples that document successful RPA deployments in organizations, evidence of its economic benefits has been mostly anecdotal. The purpose of this paper is to present a step-by-step method to RPA investment appraisal and a business case demonstrating how the steps can be applied to practice.

The methodology relies on design science research (DSR). The step-by-step method is a design artefact that builds on the mapping of processes and modelling of the associated costs. Due to the longitudinal nature of capital investments, modelling uses discounted cashflow and present value methods. Empirical grounding characteristic to DSR is achieved by field testing the artefact.

The step-by-step method is comprised of a preparatory step, three modelling steps and a concluding step. The modelling consists of compounding the interest rate, discounting the investment costs and establishing measures for comparison. These steps were applied to seven business processes to be automated by the case company, Estate Blend. The decision to deploy RPA was found to be trivial, not only based on the initial case data, but also based on multiple sensitivity analyses that showed how resistant RPA investments are to changing circumstances.

By following the provided step-by-step method, executives and managers can quantify the costs and benefits of RPA. The developed method enables any organization to directly compare investment alternatives against each other and against the probable status quo where many tasks in organizations are still carried out manually with little to no automation.

The paper addresses a growing new domain in the field of business process management by capitalizing on DSR and modelling-based approaches to RPA investment appraisal.

The paper aims to raise awareness in the industry of design automation tools, especially in early design phases, by demonstrating along a case study the seamless integration of a prototypically implemented optimization, supporting design space exploration in the early design phase and an in operational use product configurator, supporting the drafting and detailing of the solution predominantly in the later design phase.

Based on the comparison of modeled as-is and to-be processes of ascent assembly designs with and without design automation tools, an automation roadmap is developed. Using qualitative and quantitative assessments, the potentials and benefits, as well as acceptance and usage aspects, are evaluated.

Engineers tend to consider design automation for routine tasks. Yet, prototypical implementations support the communication and identification of the potential for the early stages of the design process to explore solution spaces. In this context, choosing from and interactively working with automatically generated alternative solutions emerged as a particular focus. Translators, enabling automatic downstream propagation of changes and thus ensuring consistency as to change management were also evaluated to be of major value.

A systematic validation of design automation in design practice is presented. For generalization, more case studies are needed. Further, the derivation of appropriate metrics needs to be investigated to normalize validation of design automation in future research.

Integration of design automation in early design phases has great potential for reducing costs in the market launch. Prototypical implementations are an important ingredient for potential evaluation of actual usage and acceptance before implementing a live system.

There is a lack of systematic validation of design automation tools supporting early design phases. In this context, this work contributes a systematically validated industrial case study. Early design-phases-support technology transfer is important because of high leverage potential.

Enterprise systems are commonly implemented by firms through outsourcing arrangements with software vendors. However, deriving benefits from these implementations has proved to be a challenge, and a great deal of variation has been observed in the extent of value generated for client and vendor firms. This research examines the role of co-specialization as a strategy to make the most out of outsourced enterprise systems. The authors develop hypotheses relating resource co-specialization with two indicators of success for implementation of enterprise software: (1) exchange success and (2) firm growth.

The hypotheses are tested using a unique panel data set of 175 firms adopting Advanced Planning and Scheduling (APS) software, a type of enterprise system used for managing manufacturing and logistics. The authors identify organizational factors that support co-specialization and then examine how co-specialization is associated with enterprise software implementation success, controlling for the endogenous choice to co-specialize.

The empirical results suggest that resource co-specialization is positively associated with implementation success and that the two resource co-specialization pathways that are examined complement each other in providing performance benefits.

This paper contributes to the research literature on outsourcing. The study also provides a new empirical test using a unique data set of 175 firms adopting APS Software.

Existing research evidence shows a fragmented understanding of the roles of first-line employees (FLEs) as essential factors for successful lean implementation in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), provoking recent calls for additional research on the identification of enablers and barriers for lean acceptance among workers. Therefore, this paper aims to identify related enablers and barriers to lean implementation among FLEs and determine future research avenues for improving the understanding of lean methodology implementation in SMEs.

Relying on a systematic literature review methodology, the authors aimed to synthesize and evaluate available peer-reviewed papers on the role of FLEs in lean implementation in SMEs. General descriptive and thematic analysis comprehensively depicted the selected research topic and identified the main themes within collected papers and potential future research questions.

The authors identified four main themes related to FLEs’ role in lean implementation: cultural change factors, employee characteristics, management involvement and lean job design. Within each theme, the authors present a comprehensive overview of FLE-related factors and associated enablers and barriers that should be considered for a successful lean implementation in SMEs.

The research outcomes are important to practicing managers in SMEs, helping them facilitate lean acceptance and enhance the likelihood of successful lean implementation.

The insights from this study present building blocks in developing a lean implementation model for SMEs that considers the FLEs’ role more comprehensively.

This paper aims to explore the impact of salespeople’s goal orientation and self-regulatory mode on their performance through sales ambidexterity and sales technology infusion (STI) using a sales technology ecosystem approach.

This paper adopts a qualitative methodology, through in-depth interviews with salespeople from a diverse range of industries, age profiles and contexts, to explore the narratives and original meanings related to their goal orientation, self-regulatory mode, ambidexterity, STI and performance.

Sceptics are salespeople who may fear or hesitate to fully use the sales technology, whereas enthusiasts are ambidextrous salespeople with high STI, who are more open to change and able to face uncertainty, regardless of the differences in their background in terms of industry, age and experience.

STI may be influenced by individual factors, such as the salesperson’s goal orientation and self-regulatory mode. Hence, sales organizations should try to foster and facilitate further STI and sales ambidexterity, which are key to achieving positive outcomes in today’s technology-intensive sales settings.

This paper extends the current literature on sales technology and sales ambidexterity within a sales technology ecosystem perspective and provides new insight on the combined impact of these variables on the salesperson’s performance.