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Open Access
Article
Publication date: 16 March 2021

Tomi Rajala and Petra Kokko

This study examines unexplored horizontal accountability types between public, private and third sector actors within a hybrid organization. The case organization was applying a…

3023

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines unexplored horizontal accountability types between public, private and third sector actors within a hybrid organization. The case organization was applying a novel alliance model to generate service paths for heterogeneous clientele consuming cultural, educational, health and social services. It was first to do so in Finland.

Design/methodology/approach

This research is on a case study that used documents and interviews to examine the design of the horizontal accountability. The descriptive analysis focused on identifying what type of formal accountability system was designed (i.e. who is the account holder, and who is accountable and for what and why).

Findings

An imbalanced accountability system was identified because accountability obligations were unevenly distributed between public, private and third sector actors. The private sector was the most accountable for performance, and the third sector (i.e. voluntary sector) was the least accountable. As account holders, the public, private and third sector actors were judging their conduct as account providers. This created a biased horizontal accountability system. The hybrid's accountability system was dynamic because the contracts made to establish the hybrid included opportunities to change horizontal accountability if future changes to the external environment affect too drastically the potential to achieve the hybrid's goals.

Originality/value

Three new concepts are proposed for studying dysfunctional accountability systems: dynamic, biased and horizontally imbalanced accountability.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 35 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 4 March 2020

Marco Fioriti, Silvio Vaschetto, Sabrina Corpino and Giovanna Premoli

This paper aims to present the main results achieved in the frame of the TIVANO national-funded project which may anticipate, in a stepped approach, the evolution and the design…

1811

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to present the main results achieved in the frame of the TIVANO national-funded project which may anticipate, in a stepped approach, the evolution and the design of the enabling technologies needed for a hybrid/electric medium altitude long endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) to perform persistent intelligence surveillance reconnaissance (ISR) military operations.

Design/methodology/approach

Different architectures of hybrid-propulsion system are analyzed pointing out their operating modes to select the more suitable architecture for the reference aircraft. The selected architecture is further analyzed together with its electric power plant branch focusing on electric system architecture and the selected electric machine. A final comparison between the hybrid and standard propulsion is given at aircraft level.

Findings

The use of hybrid propulsion may lead to a reduction of the total aircraft mass and an increase in safety level. However, this result comes together with a reduced performance in climb phase.

Practical implications

This study can be used as a reference for similar studies and it provides a detailed description of propulsion operating modes, power management, electric system and machine architecture.

Originality/value

This study presents a novel application of hybrid propulsion focusing on a three tons class MALE UAV for ISR missions. It provides new operating modes of the propulsion system and a detailed electric architecture of its powertrain branch and machine. Some considerations on noise emissions and infra-red traceability of this propulsion, at aircraft level.

Details

Aircraft Engineering and Aerospace Technology, vol. 92 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1748-8842

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 10 February 2021

Tomi Rajala, Harri Laihonen and Petra Kokko

Fragmentation can inhibit joint goals and performance measures. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the level of fragmentation between public, private and third…

1916

Abstract

Purpose

Fragmentation can inhibit joint goals and performance measures. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the level of fragmentation between public, private and third sectors in a hybrid organization's performance management systems and the effects of this fragmentation to propose hypotheses and new research methods for future studies.

Design/methodology/approach

The inductive research design was based on a mixed method approach. As empirical data, a survey, interviews and documents were used in this case study examining a hybrid organization called Welfare Alliance.

Findings

The results showed low-level fragmentation in the performance management system of the hybrid. Although the level of fragmentation was low-level, it affected the hybrid's ability to implement joint performance goals and measures. Performance management practices suffered as a consequence.

Originality/value

As a theoretical contribution to research addressing performance management in hybrids, the study proposes new concepts and theoretical hypotheses concerning fragmented performance management systems in hybrids. These theoretical hypotheses propose how performance goals and measures can become fragmented because they isolate service production units and activities from each other. The proposed hypotheses for future studies also attempt to provide explanations for how fragmentation can spread from one management function to another (i.e. from goal setting to performance measurement).

Details

International Journal of Public Sector Management, vol. 34 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3558

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 3 December 2020

Yaxing Ren, Saqib Jamshed Rind and Lin Jiang

A standalone microgrid (MG) is able to use local renewable resources and reduce the loss in long distance transmission. But the single-phase device in a standalone MG can cause…

1955

Abstract

Purpose

A standalone microgrid (MG) is able to use local renewable resources and reduce the loss in long distance transmission. But the single-phase device in a standalone MG can cause the voltage unbalance condition and additional power loss that reduces the cycle life of battery. This paper proposes an energy management strategy for the battery/supercapacitor (SC) hybrid energy storage system (HESS) to improve the transient performance of bus voltage under unbalanced load condition in a standalone AC microgrid (MG).

Design/methodology/approach

The SC has high power density and much more cycling times than battery and thus to be controlled to absorb the transient and unbalanced active power as well as the reactive power under unbalanced condition. Under the proposed energy management design, the battery only needs to generate balanced power to balance the steady state power demand. The energy management strategy for battery/SC HESS in a standalone AC MG is validated in simulation study using PSCAD/EMTDC.

Findings

The results show that the energy management strategy of HESS maintains the bus voltage and eliminates the unbalance condition under single-phase load. In addition, with the SC to absorb the reactive power and unbalanced active power, the unnecessary power loss in battery is reduced with shown less accumulate depth of discharge and higher average efficiency.

Originality/value

With this technology, the service life of the HESS can be extended and the total cost can be reduced.

Details

Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing and Special Equipment, vol. 1 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 2633-6596

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 15 December 2021

Giuseppe Grossi, Jarmo Vakkuri and Massimo Sargiacomo

Drawing upon theoretical insights on value creation perspectives, the authors aim to advance the understanding of performance and accountability in different hybrid organisations.

5741

Abstract

Purpose

Drawing upon theoretical insights on value creation perspectives, the authors aim to advance the understanding of performance and accountability in different hybrid organisations.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors conceptualise common theoretical origins of hybrid organisations and how they create and enact value, by reflecting on the Accounting, Auditing and Accountability Journal (AAAJ) special issue articles. Furthermore, the authors propose an agenda for future research into accounting, performance and accountability for hybrid organisations.

Findings

Hybrid organisations can be conceptualised through their approaches to value creation (mixing, compromising and legitimising). This article provides a more detailed understanding of accounting, performance and accountability changes in hybrid organisations.

Practical implications

This contribution also has relevant practical implications for actors, such as politicians, managers, professionals, auditors, controllers and accountants, encased in various hybrid organisations, policy contexts and multi-faceted interfaces between public, private and civil society.

Originality/value

Hybridity lenses reveal novel connections between different types of hybrid organisations and how they create and enact multiple values.

Details

Accounting, Auditing & Accountability Journal, vol. 35 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0951-3574

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 1 September 2020

Hyoung-Goo Kang and Byungsuk Han

The purpose of this study is to hypothesize that cognitive biases such as nostalgia, rosy retrospection, overconfidence, fading-affect bias and prospect theory affect how to serve…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to hypothesize that cognitive biases such as nostalgia, rosy retrospection, overconfidence, fading-affect bias and prospect theory affect how to serve in the military. The behaviors of those expecting military service and those who have completed the service differ significantly in evaluating the self and social value of the human capital during the military service. This difference corresponds to the predictions of the cognitive-bias literature. The authors test propositions in option framework. This study’s experimental design proposes a novel military system, a hybrid of conscription and voluntary systems. This study’s results are consistent with the hypothesis, option theory and behavioral economics literature.

Details

Journal of Derivatives and Quantitative Studies: 선물연구, vol. 28 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1229-988X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 13 February 2024

Tarig Zeinelabdeen Yousif Ahmed, Mawahib Eltayeb Ahmed, Quosay A. Ahmed and Asia Adlan Mohamed

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of countries has some of the highest electricity consumptions and carbon dioxide emissions per capita in the world. This poses a direct…

Abstract

Purpose

The Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) of countries has some of the highest electricity consumptions and carbon dioxide emissions per capita in the world. This poses a direct challenge to the GCC government’s ability to meet their CO2 reduction targets. In this review paper the current household electricity consumption situation in the GCC is reviewed.

Design/methodology/approach

Three scenarios for reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions are proposed and evaluated using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) as well as the political, economic, social, technical, legal and environmental (PESTLE) frameworks.

Findings

The first scenario found that using solar Photovoltaic (PV) or hybrid solar PV and wind system to power household lighting could save significant amounts of energy, based on lighting making up between 8% to 30% of electricity consumption in GCC households. The second scenario considers replacement of conventional appliances with energy-efficient ones that use around 20% less energy. The third scenario looks at influencing consumer behavior towards sustainable energy consumption.

Practical implications

Pilot trials of these scenarios are recommended for a number of households. Then the results and feedback could be used to launch the schemes GCC-wide.

Social implications

The proposed scenarios are designed to encourage responsible electricity consumption and production within households (SDG12).

Originality/value

All three proposals are found viable for policymakers to implement. However, to ensure successful implementation GCC Governments are recommended to review all the opportunities and challenges associated with these schemes as laid out in this paper.

Details

Arab Gulf Journal of Scientific Research, vol. ahead-of-print no. ahead-of-print
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1985-9899

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 14 February 2020

Rod Sheaff, Verdiana Morando, Naomi Chambers, Mark Exworthy, Ann Mahon, Richard Byng and Russell Mannion

Attempts to transform health systems have in many countries involved starting to pay healthcare providers through a DRG system, but that has involved managerial workarounds…

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Abstract

Purpose

Attempts to transform health systems have in many countries involved starting to pay healthcare providers through a DRG system, but that has involved managerial workarounds. Managerial workarounds have seldom been analysed. This paper does so by extending and modifying existing knowledge of the causes and character of clinical and IT workarounds, to produce a conceptualisation of the managerial workaround. It further develops and revises this conceptualisation by comparing the practical management, at both provider and purchaser levels, of hospital DRG payment systems in England, Germany and Italy.

Design/methodology/approach

We make a qualitative test of our initial assumptions about the antecedents, character and consequences of managerial workarounds by comparing them with a systematic comparison of case studies of the DRG hospital payment systems in England, Germany and Italy. The data collection through key informant interviews (N = 154), analysis of policy documents (N = 111) and an action learning set, began in 2010–12, with additional data collection from key informants and administrative documents continuing in 2018–19 to supplement and update our findings.

Findings

Managers in all three countries developed very similar workarounds to contain healthcare costs to payers. To weaken DRG incentives to increase hospital activity, managers agreed to lower DRG payments for episodes of care above an agreed case-load ‘ceiling' and reduced payments by less than the full DRG amounts when activity fell below an agreed ‘floor' volume.

Research limitations/implications

Empirically this study is limited to three OECD health systems, but since our findings come from both Bismarckian (social-insurance) and Beveridge (tax-financed) systems, they are likely to be more widely applicable. In many countries, DRGs coexist with non-DRG or pre-DRG systems, so these findings may also reflect a specific, perhaps transient, stage in DRG-system development. Probably there are also other kinds of managerial workaround, yet to be researched. Doing so would doubtlessly refine and nuance the conceptualisation of the ‘managerial workaround’ still further.

Practical implications

In the case of DRGs, the managerial workarounds were instances of ‘constructive deviance' which enabled payers to reduce the adverse financial consequences, for them, arising from DRG incentives. The understanding of apparent failures or part-failures to transform a health system can be made more nuanced, balanced and diagnostic by using the concept of the ‘managerial workaround'.

Social implications

Managerial workarounds also appear outside the health sector, so the present analysis of managerial workarounds may also have application to understanding attempts to transform such sectors as education, social care and environmental protection.

Originality/value

So far as we are aware, no other study presents and tests the concept of a ‘managerial workaround'. Pervasive, non-trivial managerial workarounds may be symptoms of mismatched policy objectives, or that existing health system structures cannot realise current policy objectives; but the workarounds themselves may also contain solutions to these problems.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 34 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 31 July 2018

Meike Rombach, Vera Bitsch, Eunkyung Kang and Francesco Ricchieri

The purpose of this paper is to investigate food bank actors’ knowledge of food insecurity in Germany and in Italy, as well as interactions between food bank actors and food bank…

2391

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate food bank actors’ knowledge of food insecurity in Germany and in Italy, as well as interactions between food bank actors and food bank users. The study builds on a knowledge framework from an educational context and applies it to food banks.

Design/methodology/approach

The study uses a qualitative research approach. In all, 22 in-depth interviews were recorded, transcribed and analyzed through inductive qualitative content analysis.

Findings

German and Italian food bank actors interviewed had at least situational knowledge on food insecurity. Some actors of the Italian food bank also showed procedural knowledge. Interactions between food bank personnel and users were affected by feelings of gratitude, shame, anger and disappointment.

Originality/value

The study explores food bank personnel’s knowledge on food insecurity, which appears to be a knowledge gap, even though many prior studies were dedicated to food banks and food insecurity. The study contributes to knowledge systematization to provide best practice recommendations for volunteer-user interaction, and suggests how food bank managers and volunteers’ knowledge can be improved.

Details

British Food Journal, vol. 120 no. 10
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0007-070X

Keywords

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 30 June 2021

Cemal Aktürk

Improving business processes provides companies with advantages in terms of efficiency and profitability, as well as competitiveness against other companies in the market…

1926

Abstract

Improving business processes provides companies with advantages in terms of efficiency and profitability, as well as competitiveness against other companies in the market. Companies that integrate business processes with enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems into digital platforms also have the opportunity to strengthen their weaknesses by recognizing disruptions and bottlenecks in inefficient business processes thanks to this digital transformation. Descriptive and bibliometric analyses were performed in this study for a systematic evaluation of studies on artificial intelligence (AI) in the ERP literature. The studies in which the keywords determined from the AI literature were firstly used together with ERP were investigated from the Scopus database. 837 publications meeting the search criteria were reached and a descriptive analysis of these publications was presented. Then, bibliometric analysis was performed using common author, common citation, and common keyword analysis methods for 296 publications in the article type. Tsinghua University and Obuda University have the most publications according to the results. The most commonly used AI keywords in the ERP studies were “genetic algorithm”, “fuzzy logic”, and “machine learning”. This study aims to guide future studies by providing a systematic and new perspective to researchers and experts working on ERP-AI.

Details

Journal of International Logistics and Trade, vol. 19 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1738-2122

Keywords

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