Search results

1 – 10 of over 95000
Article
Publication date: 9 February 2024

Ravinder Singh

This paper aims to focus on solving the path optimization problem by modifying the probabilistic roadmap (PRM) technique as it suffers from the selection of the optimal number of…

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to focus on solving the path optimization problem by modifying the probabilistic roadmap (PRM) technique as it suffers from the selection of the optimal number of nodes and deploy in free space for reliable trajectory planning.

Design/methodology/approach

Traditional PRM is modified by developing a decision-making strategy for the selection of optimal nodes w.r.t. the complexity of the environment and deploying the optimal number of nodes outside the closed segment. Subsequently, the generated trajectory is made smoother by implementing the modified Bezier curve technique, which selects an optimal number of control points near the sharp turns for the reliable convergence of the trajectory that reduces the sum of the robot’s turning angles.

Findings

The proposed technique is compared with state-of-the-art techniques that show the reduction of computational load by 12.46%, the number of sharp turns by 100%, the number of collisions by 100% and increase the velocity parameter by 19.91%.

Originality/value

The proposed adaptive technique provides a better solution for autonomous navigation of unmanned ground vehicles, transportation, warehouse applications, etc.

Details

Robotic Intelligence and Automation, vol. 44 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2754-6969

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 September 2016

Paul Lamarche and Lara Maillet

Improving the performance of health care organizations is now perceived as essential in order to better address the needs of the populations and respect their ability to pay for…

Abstract

Purpose

Improving the performance of health care organizations is now perceived as essential in order to better address the needs of the populations and respect their ability to pay for the services. There is no consensus on what is performance. It is increasingly considered as the optimal execution of four functions that every organization must achieve in order to survive and develop: reach goals; adapt to its environment; produce goods or services and maintain values; and a satisfying organizational climate. There is also no consensus on strategies to improve this performance. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper intends to analyze the performance of primary health care organizations from the perspective of Kauffman’s model. It mainly aims to understand the often contradictory, paradoxical and unexpected results that emerge from studies on this topic.

Findings

To do so, the first section briefly presents Kauffman’s model and lays forward its principal components. The second section presents three studies on the performance of primary organizations and brings out the contradictory, paradoxical and unexpected results they obtained. The third section explains these results in the light of Kauffman’s model.

Originality/value

Kauffman’s model helps give meaning to the results of researches on performance of primary health care organizations that were qualified as paradoxical or unexpected. The performance of primary health care organizations then cannot be understood by only taking into account the characteristics of these organizations. The complexity of the environments in which they operate must simultaneously be taken into account. This paper brings original development of an integrated view of the performance of organizations, their own characteristics and those of the local environment in which they operated.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 30 no. 6
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 February 1991

Felix Geyer

Alienation will be viewed as a generic term for different kinds of information‐processing problems in human individuals, viewed as autopoietic, variable‐boundary systems. Applying…

Abstract

Alienation will be viewed as a generic term for different kinds of information‐processing problems in human individuals, viewed as autopoietic, variable‐boundary systems. Applying general systems theory (GST), especially second‐order cybernetics, to alienation theory not only results in a reconceptualisation and increased mutual comparability of existing (e.g. Marxist and psychoanalytic) theories of alienation, but also presents a rationale for subsuming several typical, modern, “information‐overload” problems in Western societies under the rubric of alienation theory. Such problems include those of selection and scanning, assimilation, flexibility, overchoice, and self‐realisation or self‐actualisation — problems which typically occur in complex and fast‐changing environments.

Details

Kybernetes, vol. 20 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0368-492X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 18 April 2016

Ulrich R. Orth, Jochen Wirtz and Amelia McKinney

Providing satisfying shopping experiences is a major goal in retail management because satisfaction guides re-patronage behavior. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that…

1545

Abstract

Purpose

Providing satisfying shopping experiences is a major goal in retail management because satisfaction guides re-patronage behavior. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate that the visual complexity of an environment’s interior design (i.e. the overall amount of visual information in an environment) influences the shopping experience by impairing customers’ information processing and self-regulation resources.

Design/methodology/approach

Two quasi-experimental field studies were conducted in two different cultural contexts (i.e. Germany and Singapore) to enhance the external validity and robustness of the findings.

Findings

Both studies provide evidence that an environment’s visual complexity impairs the shopping experience. Study 1 shows that visual complexity places a perceptual load on customers which mediates the complexity-experience relationship. Study 2 replicates this finding in a different setting and extends it by showing that load relates to lower self-control, which in turn, mars the experience. Furthermore, the negative effect of complexity on the experience is more pronounced with shoppers pursuing utilitarian rather than hedonic shopping goals.

Research limitations/implications

The findings in a supermarket context may not transfer to environments in which the visual design is an important component of the value proposition and where shopping goals are largely hedonic in nature.

Practical implications

The findings advance theory by showing that it is perceptual load and its outcome, reduced perceived self-control, which are largely responsible for the negative effect of visual complexity on the shopping experience. This finding should encourage managers to proactively manage and reduce the complexity of their service environments.

Originality/value

This study is the first to show how the visual complexity of a retail environment influences a customer’s shopping experience. It offers novel insights into the underlying mechanism of perceptual load and self-control as process mediators of visual complexity on the shopping experience.

Details

Journal of Service Management, vol. 27 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1757-5818

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 26 February 2021

Hatice Akpinar and Didem Ozer-Caylan

This study aims to review and try to understand the importance of complexity management for maritime business to gain competitiveness in global business environment. The purpose…

1149

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to review and try to understand the importance of complexity management for maritime business to gain competitiveness in global business environment. The purpose of the study is to discuss and evaluate managing change and requirements of understanding the complexity management.

Design/methodology/approach

To find peer-reviewed journal publications, a large scientific database used by searching Web of Science and Scopus as the most relevant abstract and citation databases that provide peer-reviewed literature data for many different academic disciplines and selected papers evaluated from the maritime business context.

Findings

As a conceptual paper, the contribution of the study is to offer practical/required management applications with the help of six proposes for making better management decisions to confront future challenges to catch organizational competitiveness and success. With adaptation of complexity management, maritime stakeholders able to create an important core competency.

Research limitations/implications

The research has some limitations and further research into this area should be extended. This study is designed as a first step to provide an insight to the field and to understand the main views of the subject. Subsequently, complexity management in maritime business is a slightly deficient area of research, which offers remarkable research opportunities. First, it would be fruitful to collect qualitative data to examine the current issues and changing business environment of the maritime business. Second, it would be helpful develop quantitative models to offer practical solutions from the maritime stakeholders’ point of view according to loading/discharging/transportation requirements. Future studies should deepen the subject with the help of simulation models of operations or agent based applications of stakeholder problems or vessel/ship-owner management implementations to understand changing circumstances of new business environment for the sake of managing complexity.

Practical implications

As the core point of view in strategic management; “achieving and sustaining” competitive advantage in organizations always takes an important place in organizational survival. With the help mentioned proposes stakeholders of the system could understand the ways of dealing with the complexities of new business world which enhances organizational competitiveness.

Social implications

Maritime business could be defined as a social ecosystem which has it is own dynamics and customs. Socio-eco systems, like all complex systems, show unique non-linear dynamics in space and time which could be tough to define via classical quantitative methods. Organizations co-exist and co-evolve with their environment. It is possible that organizations effect their environment and gain some control over it while at the same time affected from environment and should steer the new trends.

Originality/value

The originality of the study lies in highlighting the importance of change management as a handler of complexity management for maritime business. The contribution of the paper is to indicate expected opportunities and challenges of smart changes for relevant readiness of maritime business for better management decisions, benefiting maritime business stakeholders by simultaneously enhancing effectiveness to confront future demands to achieve organizational competitiveness. With the help of proper complexity management lenses organizations could able to create their source of competitive advantage that represents capacity to align and enable required functions under tough contextual environment.

Details

Competitiveness Review: An International Business Journal , vol. 32 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1059-5422

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 24 March 2022

Shan Liu, Shiqian Guan, Qing Zhu and Chao Fang

This study aims to explore how relational and contractual governance affect crowdsourcer satisfaction under boundary conditions, including internal (i.e. task complexity) or…

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to explore how relational and contractual governance affect crowdsourcer satisfaction under boundary conditions, including internal (i.e. task complexity) or external (i.e. environmental complexity) factors.

Design/methodology/approach

We empirically validate the hypotheses using survey data collected from 255 crowdsourcers on a leading platform (i.e. Zhubajie.com). Partial least squares technique and hierarchical regression analysis are used to test the research model.

Findings

Both forms of governance mechanisms positively affect crowdsourcer satisfaction. Task complexity negatively moderates the linkage of relational governance and crowdsourcer satisfaction. However, environmental complexity weakens the positive effect of contractual governance but enhances the effect of relational governance on satisfaction.

Originality/value

This study deepens the current understanding of governance mechanism in crowdsourcing by discovering the effectiveness of contractual and relational governance. We also contribute to the governance and crowdsourcing literature by revealing the mechanisms of how governance takes effect under task and environmental complexities.

Details

Industrial Management & Data Systems, vol. 122 no. 4
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0263-5577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 12 October 2012

Wu Ci‐sheng and Zhao Shu‐ming

The purpose of this paper is to describe the complicated characteristics of the environment, the relationship between complicated organization and organizational transformation…

1908

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe the complicated characteristics of the environment, the relationship between complicated organization and organizational transformation, and the coupling domino effect between the complication of external environment and organizational complexity by making conceptual systematic analysis.

Design/methodology/approach

The relative stability and certainty of the organizational structure are being replaced by uncertainty and complexity. Organizational learning and its reform are becoming all the more important to gain organizational competitive advantage. This paper designs the system analysis method to discuss the complexity of organizational environment, the relationship between organizational complexity and organizational structure reform, and also the coupling effect of the complexity of external environment and that of the organization.

Findings

It is found that organizational learning, the ways of strategic reform, and the focal point must remain consistent under the complicated environment.

Research limitations/implications

The main limitation is how to construct the mathematical models describing complicated characteristics of the environment.

Practical implications

The paper contains very useful advice for human resource managers.

Originality/value

The paper focuses on the selection of learning patterns and strategic management of different organizational learning and the reform of organizational structure.

Article
Publication date: 1 March 2006

Andreas Größler, André Grübner and Peter M. Milling

Based on a conceptual framework of the linkages between strategic manufacturing goals and complexity, the purpose of this paper is to investigate adaptation processes in…

3453

Abstract

Purpose

Based on a conceptual framework of the linkages between strategic manufacturing goals and complexity, the purpose of this paper is to investigate adaptation processes in manufacturing firms to increasing external complexity.

Design/methodology/approach

Hypotheses are tested with statistical analyses (group comparisons and structural equation models) that are conducted with data from the third round of the International Manufacturing Strategy Survey.

Findings

The study shows that manufacturing firms face different degrees of complexity. Firms in a more complex environment tend to possess a more complex internal structure, as indicated by process configuration, than firms in a less complex environment. Also depending on the degree of complexity, different processes of adaptation to increases in external complexity are initiated by organisations.

Research limitations/implications

Research studies taking into account the dynamics of adaptation processes would be helpful in order to draw further conclusions, for instance, based on longitudinal analyses or simulation studies.

Practical implications

Depending on the level of complexity a firm has been confronted with in the past, different adaptation processes to further growing complexity can be initiated. Firms in high complexity environments have to re‐configure their strategic goals; firms in low complexity environments have to build‐up internal complexity to cope with demands from the outside.

Originality/value

The paper distinguishes between adaptation processes in low and high complexity environments and provides explanations for the differences.

Details

International Journal of Operations & Production Management, vol. 26 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0144-3577

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 3 January 2018

Ju Yeun Jang, Eunsoo Baek and Ho Jung Choo

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of a fashion store’s visual complexity on consumers’ behaviour. Considering environmental order and individuals’…

3581

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effect of a fashion store’s visual complexity on consumers’ behaviour. Considering environmental order and individuals’ sensation-seeking tendencies, the authors examine the effect of visually complex fashion stores on consumers in a more conclusive way to address the inconsistent effect found in the previous literature.

Design/methodology/approach

This study features a 3 (visual complexity level: low, medium, high) × 2 (environmental order condition: low, high) between subjects design, with individual sensation-seeking tendency included as a moderator. Using this design, an online survey was administered to 188 participants in South Korea.

Findings

The results indicate that there is a three-way interaction, where the interaction effect of visual complexity and environmental order is moderated by individuals’ sensation-seeking tendency. The effect of visual complexity on approach behaviours had an inverted U-shape in the low-order condition, while had a positive linear shape in the high-order condition, and the interaction effect was significant only for high-sensation seekers.

Practical implications

The findings assist practitioners in establishing strategies for visual merchandising and store design within fashion stores. It is suggested that retailers consider environmental order when organising a large amount of varied merchandise in a complex environment. Store managers must adjust the complexity and environmental order to meet the optimal stimulation level of their target consumers.

Originality/value

This study strengthens the literature on visual complexity by applying the concept to the retail environment. The results provide a significant contribution to the literature because they show how individual-level and store-level variables interact to influence consumer behaviour.

Details

International Journal of Retail & Distribution Management, vol. 46 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0959-0552

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 15 December 2023

Naz Bilgic and Genell Wells Ebbini

There is a growing interest in applying the principles of biophilic design to hotel lobbies to enhance positive user experiences. However, there is little empirical research in…

Abstract

Purpose

There is a growing interest in applying the principles of biophilic design to hotel lobbies to enhance positive user experiences. However, there is little empirical research in this area, particularly for abstract or indirect biophilic approaches. The current study analyzed the biophilic strategy of “organized complexity” (which entails structured hierarchical patterns) in a hotel lobby in relation to attention restoration outcomes.

Design/methodology/approach

A virtual reality approach was used to create three lobby designs, differing only in their degree of organized complexity. A between-subjects study was conducted with 91 participants, evaluating reactions to the lobby designs in terms of perceived attention restoration, perceived environmental complexity and environmental preferences.

Findings

A strong positive relationship was found between participants' perception of environmental complexity and feelings of restoration. However, no statistically significant correlation was found between restoration and the objective measures of organized complexity. This suggests that individual preferences or baseline responses may play a crucial role in the benefits associated with this aspect of biophilic design.

Originality/value

The findings suggest a novel possibility – that responses to organized complexity may not be universal but may instead depend on an individual’s background and personal preferences. While the study found that perceived complexity was associated with restoration, the objective features of the environment that incited these perceptions were different for different participants. This indicates that more research is needed into potentially relevant personal factors.

Details

Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2631-6862

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 95000