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The purpose of this paper is to elaborate on the concept of action by addressing actions and roles in the practice of action research, illustrated by dilemmas in an action research project on information systems development in public sector. The main ambition with action research is being able to solve organisational problems through intervention and to contribute to scientific knowledge. The main emphasis has so far been on the “research part”. Here the authors focus on the “action part” of action research to generate rigorous research, to solve local problems and to deal with evident dilemmas in action research.

This is a qualitative case study. The empirical illustrations of this paper originate from an action research project that focused the two e-service development initiatives analysed below. The analysis is structured using key aspects and phases proposed by Avison et al. (2001). As a result of the analysis, the concept of action is elaborated. The action elements action, actor, motive, space and time are analysed together with different roles. This goes beyond the existing action research literature.

The conclusions show that there is a need to understand actions and roles within action research projects – not separating action from research. Research is also seen as action. The practice of action research is also discussed as context-bounded interactive social action: action research as a recurrent, interactive and dynamic activity. It is also identified that the understanding of roles, actions and interaction can help handle dilemmas in action research.

The authors contribute to the body of knowledge concerning action research in the information systems research field and in general by exploring the need to study the concept of action (e.g. situations and elements), to be explicit concerning the different phases, roles and responsibilities and management of different dilemmas in action research. A limitation of this study is that the inter-organisational development character in this study adds an extra dimension into the practice of actions research only partially highlighted. Another limitation is focus on public agencies. However, this is not critical for the results on action elements and the action research dilemmas that are studied.

The understanding of roles, actions and interaction can solve the dilemmas and challenges linked to the practice of action research in the information systems field, but such understanding can help discover and handle dilemmas in action research.

The originality in this research is an illustration of and a perspective of action research as a context-bounded interactive social action: action research as a recurrent, interactive and dynamic activity. The value is that this knowledge can help handle dilemmas in action research.

The value and profitability of information services can be quantified by using modern management techniques to generate numerical data. In this approach, programme budgeting derived from management by objectives exercises is used as a basis for preparing cost‐activity and cost‐function analyses, whilst alternative costs for maintenance of the programme are derived by applying some basic critical examination, activity sampling and work study principles. By difference, cost‐related benefits are obtained for specific activities and functions. The procedure does not indicate the true value of units of information per se, but ranking of the benefits immediately highlights economic and uneconomic operations. Model analyses are described in detail, supported by a number of factual results. The dynamic nature of the system and its use as a management device are illustrated by a practical application in a real‐life change situation.

The aim of this paper is to present an empirical assessment and strategic planning for measuring the impact of total quality management (TQM) practices on small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and its effectiveness for business excellence. The authors investigate the present status of quality system in SMEs and find the thrust areas for TQM implementation in SMEs of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis. Also, it examines the effect of external environment on internal factors of SMEs by situation analysis. This study helps to develop a model for assessing the components of TQM in SMEs after identifying their weightage.

The qualitative and quantitative techniques have been used together for robust conclusions. The survey data has been collected through the properly designed questionnaire. After studying the present status of TQM in SMEs, situation analysis has been carried out for examining the effect of the external environment on internal factors of SMEs. The weightage of TQM critical success factors was calculated by pair-wise comparison method of analytical hierarchical process (AHP) analysis for framework development.

The study offers useful insights and guidelines for identification of the contribution of TQM critical factors in SMEs performance. It has been observed that the attribute understanding of customer need and its fulfillment ability has the highest priority, whereas supplier partnership and the ability to reduce waste having the least priority in SMEs. Validation study facilitates to channelize TQM initiatives, to improve environmental and operational performance.

The authors provide a comprehensive typology of TQM practices, and its performances on SMEs. This paper can increase the awareness of the significance of TQM strategy which could help managers of SMEs to have a better understanding of the benefits of implementing TQM and therefore unable patient satisfaction with their organizations.

The preponderance of studies that rely on self-report for both independent (e.g. stressors) and dependent (e.g. well-being) variables is often deplored, as it creates problems of common method variance, which may lead to inflated, or even spurious, correlations and predictions. It is sometimes suggested that alternative measures should yield more “objective” information on the phenomena under investigation. We discuss this issue with regard to: (a) observational measures of working conditions; (b) physiological measures of strain; and (c) event-based “self-observation” on a micro-level. We argue that these methods are not necessarily “objective.” Like self-report, they are influenced by a plethora of factors; and measurement artifacts can easily be produced. All this can make their interpretation quite difficult, and the conclusion that lack of convergence with self-report automatically invalidates self-report is not necessarily warranted. Especially with regard to physiological measures, one has to keep in mind that they refer to a different response level that follows its own laws and is only loosely coupled with psychological responses. Therefore, replacement is not a promising way to get more reliable estimates of stressor-strain relationships. We argue instead that each method contains both substantive and error variance, and that a combination of various methods seems more auspicious. After discussing advantages and pitfalls of observational, physiological, and self-observational measures, respectively, we report empirical examples from our own research on each of these methods, which are meant to illustrate both the advantages and the problems associated with them. They strengthen the overall conclusion that there is no “substitute” for self-report (which often is necessary to be able to interpret data from other methods, most notably physiological ones). They also illustrate that collecting such data is quite cumbersome, and that a number of conditions have to be carefully considered before using them, and we report some problems we encountered in this research. Altogether, we conclude that self-report measures, if carefully constructed, are better than their reputation, but that the optimal way is to complement them with other measures.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between information and coping from the experiences of young people coping with long term illness.

Situational analysis was used as a methodological approach. It has roots in the Chicago Symbolic Interactionism School. Cartographic approaches enabled the analysis, mapping the complexities emerging from the data.

As the young people became more informed about their health conditions, and gained knowledge and understanding both about their illnesses, their own bodies and boundaries, their confidence and capacity to cope increased. Gaining confidence, the young people often wanted to share their knowledge – becoming information providers themselves. From the data, five positions on an information-coping trajectory were identified: information deficiency; feeling ill-informed; needing an injection of information; having information health; and becoming an information donor.

The research was limited to an analysis of 30 narratives. The paper contributes to information theory by mapping clearly the relationship between information and coping.

The study establishes a relationship between levels of information and knowledge and the ability to cope with illness.

The information theories in this study have originality and multi-disciplinary value in the management of health and illness, and information studies.

The purpose of this paper is to propose a combination of forecasting methods that enables a holistic understanding of a future situation, given certain influencing variables by a combination of real data and expert knowledge.

The proposal combines two well-known methods: first, system archetypes that correspond to generic structures, allowing us to handle model management issues, and second, system dynamics that offers technical support on a computational level to assess different scenarios or problem solutions.

The case study considers the situation of the mining industry in Chile and its related variables, including four different scenarios. Based on the proposed methodology, the results indicate that: first, the price of copper is paramount for the industry and its effects are not limited to company profits; second, a long period of downfall in copper prices could halt exploration and development projects.

Systemic archetypes are still a subject of research and their application in different fields of knowledge continues to increase to improve this simulation approach.

The case study illustrates the combination of a Vester matrix and initial system archetype models that are enriched using the system dynamics approach. Indeed, the case study aims to understand the consequences of different scenarios based on the problem-driven approach provided by Vester.

The goal of prospective studies of large-scale and complex situations is to model the real situation to obtain solutions that may enhance social welfare.

The proposed methodology contributes to the existing literature by integrating techniques such as the Vester matrix, system archetype modelling and system dynamics simulation, all of which were proposed previously in the literature as independent techniques.

Este artículo propone una combinación de métodos de pronósticos que permite una comprensión holística de una situación futura, dadas ciertas variables de influencia mediante una combinación de datos reales y conocimiento de expertos.

La propuesta combina dos métodos conocidos: (i) arquetipos de sistemas que corresponden a estructuras genéricas, lo que nos permite manejar los modelos, y (ii) la dinámica de sistemas que ofrece soporte técnico a nivel computacional para evaluar diferentes escenarios o soluciones de problemas.

El caso de estudio considera la situación de la industria minera en Chile y sus variables relacionadas, incluidos cuatro escenarios diferentes. Según la metodología propuesta, los resultados indican que i) el precio del cobre es primordial para la industria y sus efectos no se limitan a las ganancias de la empresa; ii) un largo período de caída en los precios del cobre podría detener los proyectos de exploración y desarrollo.

Los arquetipos sistémicos siguen siendo un tema de investigación y su aplicación en diferentes campos del conocimiento continúa aumentando para mejorar este enfoque de simulación.

El estudio de caso ilustra la combinación de una matriz de Vester y los modelos de arquetipos del sistema inicial que se enriquecen utilizando el enfoque de dinámica de sistemas. De hecho, el caso de estudio apunta a comprender las consecuencias de diferentes escenarios basados en el enfoque orientado a los problemas proporcionado por Vester.

El objetivo de los estudios prospectivos para situaciones de gran escala y complejas es modelar la situación real para obtener soluciones que puedan mejorar el bienestar social.

La metodología propuesta contribuye a la literatura existente mediante la integración de técnicas como la matriz de Vester, el modelado de arquetipos del sistema y la simulación de dinámica de sistemas, todo lo cual se propuso anteriormente en la literatura como técnicas independientes.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of soft systems methodology (SSM) and review the ways in which the methodology has been applied by managers and researchers to gain a broad understanding of library and information service (LIS) activity.

Seven detailed examples of the application of SSM to LIS activity show for each the aim, rationale for the use of SSM, operationalisation, findings and benefits of using SSM to understand problem situations.

Analysis of the application of SSM in LIS contexts demonstrates the extent of its efficacy in learning and understanding in “problem situations” and the resultant changes to LIS activities.

The paper draws together examples of studies which may prompt LIS professionals and researchers to consider the use of SSM in the management of LIS.

An in‐depth review of the processes and outcomes of the application of SSM to the understanding of LIS activity is provided.