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Article
Publication date: 14 September 2018

Lars Andersen

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to solving the complexity problem as increased complexity is a main reason why projects fail to reach their goals, and it is unclear…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to contribute to solving the complexity problem as increased complexity is a main reason why projects fail to reach their goals, and it is unclear what complexity is.

Design/methodology/approach

Conceptual development integrating theories of materiality, teleology, and complexity, decision-making theory, communication theory, coordination theory, and qualitative, quantitative and participatory approaches are used in this paper.

Findings

To understand complexity, it is necessary to develop a material-systemic process approach and to distinguish structured from unstructured complexity. The social actors construct a complex material-systemic process between themselves and nature to handle unwieldy outer nature. The material-systemic approach reveals how materiel life-world arenas are developed through increased complexity and specialization. Handling complexity is possible by materiality in general and structural material in special, the interplay between inner time (planning) and outer time (production), and between human subjects and an underlying coordination mechanism. It is a systematic organizational blockade that reproduces internal complexity as unstructured and incomprehensible complexity.

Research limitations/implications

The practical models of organizing are tested to the highest degree in construction industry. It is a task to try and examine the models in other types of projects.

Originality/value

The paper offers a proposal to a theoretical solution to the complexity problem going back to the roots in Enlightenment and shows at the same time through practical models how increased complexity may be the most important productive force in future projects.

Details

International Journal of Managing Projects in Business, vol. 12 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1753-8378

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 25 March 2024

Marek Szelągowski and Justyna Berniak-Woźny

The aim of this paper is to identify the main challenges and limitations of current business process management (BPM) development directions noticed by researchers, as well as to…

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to identify the main challenges and limitations of current business process management (BPM) development directions noticed by researchers, as well as to define the areas of the main BPM paradigm shifts necessary for the BPM of tomorrow to meet the challenges posed by Industry 4.0 and the emerging Industry 5.0. This is extremely important from the perspective of eliminating the existing broadening gap between the considerations of academic researchers and the needs of business itself.

Design/methodology/approach

A systematic literature review was conducted on the basis of the resources of two digital databases: Web of Science (WoS) and SCOPUS. Based on the PRISMA protocol, the authors selected 29 papers published in the last decade that diagnosed the challenges and limitations of modern BPM and contained recommendations for its future development. The content of the articles was analyzed within four BPM core areas.

Findings

The authors of the selected articles most commonly point to the areas of organization (21 articles) and methods and information technology (IT) (22 articles) in the context of the challenges and limitations of current BPM and the directions of recommended future BPM development. This points to the prevalence among researchers of the perspective of Industry 4.0 – or focus on technological solutions and raising process efficiency, with the full exclusion or only the partial signalization of the influence of implementing new technologies on the stakeholders and in particular – employees, their roles and competencies – the key aspects of Industry 5.0.

Research limitations/implications

The proposal of BPM future development directions requires the extension of the BPM paradigm, taking into account its holistic nature, especially unpredictable, knowledge-intensive business processes requiring dynamic management, the need to integrate BPM with knowledge management (KM) and the requirements of Industry 5.0 in terms of organizational culture. The limitation is that the study is based on only two databases: WoS and SCOPUS and that the search has been narrowed down to publications in English only.

Practical implications

The proposal of BPM future development directions also requires the extension of the BPM paradigm, taking into account the specific challenges and limitations that managers encounter on a daily basis. The presented summaries of the challenges and limitations resulting from the literature review are accompanied by recommendations that are primarily dedicated to practitioners.

Social implications

The article indicates the area people and culture as one of the four core areas of BPM. It emphasizes the necessity to account to a greater degree for the influence of people, their knowledge, experience and engagement, as well as formal and informal communication, without which it is impossible to use the creativity, innovativeness and dynamism of the individual and the communities to create value in the course of business process execution.

Originality/value

To the authors' knowledge, this is the first systematic review of the literature on the limitations of modern BPM and its future in the context of Industry 4.0 and Industry 5.0.

Details

Business Process Management Journal, vol. 30 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1463-7154

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 19 December 2019

Sixing Chen, Jun Kang, Suchi Liu and Yifan Sun

This paper aims to build on the latest advances in cognitive computing techniques to systematically illustrate how unstructured data from users can offer significant value for…

1076

Abstract

Purpose

This paper aims to build on the latest advances in cognitive computing techniques to systematically illustrate how unstructured data from users can offer significant value for co-innovation.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper adopts a general overview approach to understand how unstructured data from users can be analyzed with cognitive computing techniques for innovation. The paper links the computerized techniques with marketing innovation problems with an integrated framework using dynamic capabilities and complexity theory.

Findings

The paper identifies a suite of methodologies for facilitating company co-innovation via engaging with customers and external data with cognitive computing technologies. It helps to expand marketing researchers and practitioners’ understanding of using unstructured data.

Research limitations/implications

This paper provides a conceptual framework that divides co-innovation process into three stages, ideas generation, ideas integration and ideas evaluation, and maps cognitive computing methodologies and technologies to each stage. This paper makes the theoretical contributions by developing propositions from both customer and firm perspectives.

Practical implications

This paper can be used for companies to engage consumers and external data for co-innovation activities by strategically select appropriate cognitive computing techniques to analyze unstructured data for better insights.

Originality/value

Given the lack of systematic discussion regarding what is possible from using cognitive computing to analyze unstructured data for co-innovation. This paper makes first attempt to summarize how unstructured data can be analyzed with cognitive computing techniques. This paper also integrates complexity theory to the framework from a novel perspective.

Details

European Journal of Marketing, vol. 54 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0309-0566

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 December 2003

Nitaya Wongpinunwatana

The primary objective of this research is to investigate the impact of task complexity on users’ performance in the context of using computer‐based technologies with auditing…

Abstract

The primary objective of this research is to investigate the impact of task complexity on users’ performance in the context of using computer‐based technologies with auditing tasks. A laboratory experiment was performed with 121 undergraduate auditing students. The task complexity is defined in form of structured and unstructured tasks. The dependent variables were accuracy in solving problem and certainty of the correctness of solution. The results suggested that the effect of task complexity on accuracy in solving problems was significant for structured tasks. In addition, the significant effect was also found on certainty of the correctness of solution for structured tasks. The findings suggest the strategy for improving user performance in solving problem and certainty of the correctness of solutions toward a given task by giving users a structured task to perform. In addition, the findings also suggest the need for research on how to benefit from using computer‐based technologies in the context of solving structured task.

Details

Managerial Auditing Journal, vol. 18 no. 9
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0268-6902

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 14 December 2015

Roopinder Oberoi

The transformations in the existing forms of governmentality and power regimes are deeply rooted within the political economy of advanced neoliberalism, having profound…

Abstract

The transformations in the existing forms of governmentality and power regimes are deeply rooted within the political economy of advanced neoliberalism, having profound implications in the governance matrix. The new rationalities and instrumentalities of governance involve ‘governing without government’ (Rhodes, 1996) following the delegitimisation and deconstruction of the Keynesian Welfare State and the gradual enactment of what Jessop (2002) calls the Schumpeterian Competition State. This chapter throws open the play field for competing standpoints on governing the mega corporates. Various theorists consider that there is emptiness within the existing global regulatory armoury concerning the operational activities of TNCs. The convolution of ‘steering’ in this poly-centred, globalised societies with its innate uncertainty makes it tricky to keep an eye on the fix of ‘who actually steers whom’ and ‘with what means’. There also appears to be huge disinclination to spot systemic technical description of the evolving modern institutional structure of economic regulation in a composite and practical manner. Thus, the complexity of international issues, their overlapping nature and the turmoil within the arena in which they surface defy tidy theorizing about effective supervision.

This brings in the wider questions dealt with in the chapter – Is globalisation then a product of material conditions of fundamental technical and economic change or is it collective construct of an artifact of the means we have preferred to arrange political and economic activity? The new reflexive, self-regulatory and horizontal spaces of governance are getting modelled following the logic of competitive market relations whereby multiple formally equal actors (acting or aspiring to act as sources of authority) consult, trade and compete over the deployment of various instruments of authority both intrinsically and in their relations with each other (Shamir, 2008). The chapter also looks into these messy and fluid intersections to situate the key actors at the heart of processes of ‘rearticulation’ and ‘recalibration’ of different modes of governance which operates through a somewhat fuzzy amalgamation of the terrain by corporates, state hierarchy and networks all calibrating and competing to pull off the finest probable’s in metagovernance landscape. Unambiguously, this chapter seeks to elaborate on an institutional-discursive conceptualization of governance while stitching in and out of the complex terrain a weave of governances for modern leviathan – the global corporates.

Open Access
Article
Publication date: 28 June 2021

Johnna Capitano, Vipanchi Mishra, Priyatharsini Selvarathinam, Amy Collins and Andrew Crossett

This study aims to examine the effects of occupational characteristics on the length of time required to socialize newcomers. The authors examine task mastery, role clarity and…

1532

Abstract

Purpose

This study aims to examine the effects of occupational characteristics on the length of time required to socialize newcomers. The authors examine task mastery, role clarity and social acceptance as indicators of socialization.

Design/methodology/approach

To test the hypotheses, the authors used occupational data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and survey data of subject matter experts in 35 occupations.

Findings

Findings show that occupational differences account for a significant variance in the time needed to socialize newcomers. Across occupations, it takes longer to achieve task mastery than role clarity or social acceptance. Occupational complexity increases the time it takes for newcomers to attain task mastery, role clarity and social acceptance. Additionally, unstructured work and decision-making freedom increase the time it takes for newcomers to attain role clarity.

Originality/value

This study provides both theoretical and empirical guidance on the duration of the organizational socialization period. The study also provides empirical support for prior propositions that different types of newcomer learning occur at different rates.

Details

Organization Management Journal, vol. 19 no. 3
Type: Research Article
ISSN:

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 16 January 2017

Victor Bloch, Avital Bechar and Amir Degani

The purpose of this paper is to describe a methodology for characterization of the robot environment to help solve such problem as designing an optimal agricultural robot for a…

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to describe a methodology for characterization of the robot environment to help solve such problem as designing an optimal agricultural robot for a specific agricultural task.

Design/methodology/approach

Defining and characterizing a task is a crucial step in the optimization of a task-specific robot. It is especially difficult in the agricultural domain because of the complexity and unstructured nature of the environment. In this research, trees are modeled from orchards and are used as the robot working environment, the geometrical features of an agricultural task are investigated and a method for designing an optimal agricultural robot is developed. Using this method, a simplified characteristic environment, representing the actual environment, is developed and used.

Findings

Case studies showing that the optimal robot, which is designed based on the characteristic environment, is similar to the optimal robot, which is designed based on the actual environment (less than 4 per cent error), is presented, while the optimization run time is significantly shorter (up to 22 times) when using the characteristic environment.

Originality/value

This paper proposes a new concept for solving the robot task-based optimization by the analysis of the task environment and characterizing it by a simpler artificial task environment. The methodology decreases the time of the optimal robot design, allowing to take into account more details in an acceptable time.

Details

Industrial Robot: An International Journal, vol. 44 no. 1
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 0143-991X

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 1 April 2003

Steve McKenna and Julia Richardson

This paper investigates the managerial life and experiences of a group of service leaders in one region of the New Zealand health service. Through a complexity map methodology…

Abstract

This paper investigates the managerial life and experiences of a group of service leaders in one region of the New Zealand health service. Through a complexity map methodology, creative interviewing, participant storytelling and presentation of their experiential narratives, the paper seeks to investigate how service leaders make sense of their complexity. First, the paper outlines the New Zealand health service context. Second, the paper introduces the sample of managers involved in the study. Third, the methodological framework of the study is outlined. Fourth, the data collected are described in the context of Gabriel's “tropes of story work”. Fifth, the concept of “narrative thought” is introduced to interpret the use of attributions by health service managers as a means of fulfilling their needs and desires. The paper concludes by suggesting that through narrative sense‐making managers are able to maintain a strong sense of self and identity even in stressful, pressurised, difficult and complex circumstances.

Details

Journal of Health Organization and Management, vol. 17 no. 2
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1477-7266

Keywords

Article
Publication date: 21 September 2012

Jaffar Ahmad Alalwan and Heinz Roland Weistroffer

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive literature review of enterprise content management (ECM) research, a conceptual framework of areas of concern regarding…

3825

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive literature review of enterprise content management (ECM) research, a conceptual framework of areas of concern regarding ECM, and an agenda for future ECM research, based on the review and conceptual framework.

Design/methodology/approach

To gain an understanding of the ECM literature, a structured research approach is adopted, consisting of two phases. The first phase consists of identifying the relevant ECM research papers. In the second phase, the analysis phase, the current ECM research is categorized based on three structural pillars: system component dimensions, system lifecycle, and strategic managerial aspects.

Findings

After a review and classification of 91 ECM publications, it is found that ECM involves several sophisticated and interacting technical, social, organizational, and business aspects. The current ECM literature can be grouped around three main pillars: the first pillar consists of the four ECM component dimensions (tools, strategy, process, and people). The second pillar is the enterprise system lifecycle (adoption, acquisition, evolution, and evaluation). The final pillar is the strategic managerial aspect (change management, and management commitment). Based on the review and a proposed conceptual framework, an agenda for future research around the aforementioned three pillars is suggested.

Originality/value

There is a lack of ECM meta‐analysis research that explains the current state of the field. This paper contributes to information systems research by describing and classifying the published literature in ECM and by pointing out the gaps where further research is most needed. Furthermore, the paper provides a framework that may provide a conceptual structure for future studies.

Details

Journal of Enterprise Information Management, vol. 25 no. 5
Type: Research Article
ISSN: 1741-0398

Keywords

Book part
Publication date: 18 July 2022

Maryam Saeed and Noman Arshed

Background: Insurance was discovered many centuries before Christ (BC). In the second and third millennia BC, Chinese and Babylonian traders traded risks. Insurance is now the…

Abstract

Background: Insurance was discovered many centuries before Christ (BC). In the second and third millennia BC, Chinese and Babylonian traders traded risks. Insurance is now the backbone of the economy, but penetration is low in developing countries. Big data, internet of things (IoT), and InsurTech have recently ushered in the fourth industrial revolution in insurance.

Objective: This study examines the Indian challenges and solutions of using Big Data Analytics (BDA).

methodology: A SLR was used to extract themes/variables related to challenges and solutions in adopting BDA in the Indian insurance sector. Google Scholar was searched for relevant literature using keywords. Inclusion and exclusion criteria were used to filter the studies.

Findings: This study identified several barriers to BDA adoption in the Indian insurance industry. Policymakers could use the suggestions to improve insurance service delivery.

Practical implication: Insurers can understand the challenges, and accordingly, they can adopt the proposed solution in this study to enhance the insurance penetration in India.

Details

Big Data Analytics in the Insurance Market
Type: Book
ISBN: 978-1-80262-638-4

Keywords

1 – 10 of over 6000