Search results for: organizational flexibility

Authors: Paul Lam, Chi Him Chan, Alan Tse

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Language laboratories have been widely used in language learning, starting in the middle of the last century as one of the earliest forms of educational technology. They are designed to assist students’ language learning with technological innovations. Traditional language laboratories provide individual workstations that allow students to access multimedia language resources. In this type of facility, students can train their listening and speaking abilities, and teachers can also assess the performance of an individual student. Although such a setting promotes a student-centered pedagogy by encouraging students to work at their own pace and according to their own needs, it still favours a traditional, behaviourist language learning pedagogy which focuses on repetitive drilling. The change of pedagogies poses challenges to both the teachers and the facilities. The peer-learning pedagogy advocates that language learning should focus on the social aspect, which emphasizes the importance of everyday communication in language learning. The self-access, individual workstation language laboratories may not be able to provide the flexibility for interaction in the new pedagogies. Modern advancement in technology is another factor that drove our language laboratory renovation. In particular, mobile and wireless technology enabled the use of smaller and more flexible devices, making possible much clever use of space. The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) renovated nine existing language laboratories to provide lighter and more advanced equipment, movable tables, and round desks. These facilities allow more flexibility and encourage students’ interaction. It is believed that the renovated language laboratories can serve different peer learning activities and thus support peer-learning pedagogies in language teaching and learning. A survey has been conducted to collect comments from the teachers who have used the renovated language laboratories and received forty-four response. The teachers’ comments reveal that they experienced different challenges in using the renovated language laboratories, and there is a need to provide guidance to teachers during the technological and pedagogical transition. For example, teachers need instruction on using the newly installed devices such as touch-monitor and visualizer. They also need advice on planning new teaching and learning activities. Nevertheless, teachers appreciated that the renovated language laboratories are flexible and provide more spaces for different learning activities.

Keywords: language laboratories, language learning, peer-learning, student interaction

Procedia PDF Downloads 90

Authors: Babar Rasheed

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The organizations are in continuous effort to increase their yield and to retain their associates, employees. Technology is considered an integral part of attaining apposite work practices, work environment, and employee engagement. Unconsciously, these advanced practices like work from home, personalized intra-network are disturbing employee work-life balance which ultimately increases psychological pressure on employees. The smart work practice is to develop business models and organizational practices with enhanced employee engagement, minimum trouncing of organization resources with persistent revenue and positive addition in global societies. Need of smart work practices comes from increasing employee turnover rate, global economic recession, unnecessary job pressure, increasing contingent workforce and advancement in technologies. Current practices are not enough elastic to tackle global changing work environment and organizational competitions. Current practices are causing many reciprocal problems among employee and organization mechanically. There is conscious understanding among business sectors smart work practices that will deal with new century challenges with addressing the concerns of relevant issues. It is aimed in this paper to endorse customized and smart work practice tools along knowledge framework to manage the growing concerns of employee engagement, use of technology, orgaization concerns and challenges for the business. This includes a Smart Management Information System to address necessary concerns of employees and combine with a framework to extract the best possible ways to allocate companies resources and re-align only required efforts to adopt the best possible strategy for controlling potential risks.

Keywords: employees engagement, management information system, psychological pressure, current and future HR practices

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Authors: Kunal Mankodi, Sudhir Pandey

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This study aims to assess the factors that play a role in setting up and running a social enterprise driven towards sustainability at the intersection of energy, environment, and poverty alleviation. According to the theory of sustainability-oriented innovation (SOI), conventional organisations adapt their processes to focus on sustainability-oriented innovations. On the other hand, social enterprises that are purpose-driven are also influenced by the context of innovation, which need due attention. This paper presents an account of innovation at Oorja - an Indian social enterprise operating with a farming-as-a-service business model. It aims to illustrate the contexts in which the innovative solutions were developed to work at an intersection between agriculture and clean energy, thereby allowing small farmers access to efficient solutions in the agriculture cycle. Primary data was collected through in-depth interviews, and secondary data was collected from company sources. The study finds that in the case of a social enterprise, the definition of innovation assumes a wider scope by going beyond the introduction of a new product/service. The context of innovation for social enterprise is affected by organisational factors such as organisation’s philosophical mindset, behaviour towards innovation, organisation’s capabilities, regulatory environment, and customer receptiveness. Additionally, the study also finds that the context of innovation for a social enterprise is affected by its organizational structure. A majority of these organizational factors are, in turn, affected by individual (Founder’s) factors such as the founder’s formative years, education, direct exposure to relevant issues, complementary skills of co-founders, and a common calling.

Keywords: context of innovation, social enterprise, sustainability oriented innovations, emerging markets, agriculture

Procedia PDF Downloads 112

Authors: Priyanka Botny Srinath, Alessandro Suglia, Mel McKendrick

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Background: Organizational cultural studies integrate sociology and anthropology, portraying man as a creator of symbols, languages, beliefs, and ideologies -essentially, a creator and manager of meaning. In our research, we leverage analytical measures to discern whether an organization embodies a singular culture or a myriad of subcultures. Fast-forward to 2023, our research thesis focuses on digitally measuring culture, coining it as the "Work Culture Quotient." This entails conceptually mapping common experiential patterns to provide executives insights into the digital organization journey, aiding in understanding their current position and identifying future steps. Objectives: Finding the new age skills that help in defining the culture; understand the implications of post-COVID effects; derive a digital framework for measuring skillsets. Method: We conducted two comprehensive Delphi studies to distill essential insights. Delphi 1: Through a thematic analysis of interviews with 20 high-level leaders representing companies across diverse regions -India, Japan, the US, Canada, Morocco, and Uganda- we identified 20 key skills critical for cultivating a robust organizational culture. The skills are -influence, self-confidence, optimism, empathy, leadership, collaboration and cooperation, developing others, commitment, innovativeness, leveraging diversity, change management, team capabilities, self-control, digital communication, emotional awareness, team bonding, communication, problem solving, adaptability, and trustworthiness. Delphi 2: Subject matter experts were asked to complete a questionnaire derived from the thematic analysis in stage 1 to formalise themes and draw consensus amongst experts on the most important workplace skills. Results: The thematic analysis resulted in 20 workplace employee skills being identified. These skills were all included in the Delphi round 2 questionnaire. From the outputs, we analysed the data using R Studio for arriving at agreement and consensus, we also used sum of squares method to compare various agreements to extract various themes with a threshold of 80% agreements. This yielded three themes at over 80% agreement (leadership, collaboration and cooperation, communication) and three further themes at over 60% agreement (commitment, empathy, trustworthiness). From this, we selected five questionnaires to be included in the primary data collection phase, and these will be paired with the digital footprints to provide a workplace culture quotient. Implications: The findings from these studies bear profound implications for decision-makers, revolutionizing their comprehension of organizational culture. Tackling the challenge of mapping the digital organization journey involves innovative methodologies that probe not only external landscapes but also internal cultural dynamics. This holistic approach furnishes decision-makers with a nuanced understanding of their organizational culture and visualizes pivotal skills for employee growth. This clarity enables informed choices resonating with the organization's unique cultural fabric. Anticipated outcomes transcend mere individual cultural measurements, aligning with organizational goals to unveil a comprehensive view of culture, exposing artifacts and depth. Armed with this profound understanding, decision-makers gain tangible evidence for informed decision-making, strategically leveraging cultural strengths to cultivate an environment conducive to growth, innovation, and enduring success, ultimately leading to measurable outcomes.

Keywords: leadership, cooperation, collaboration, teamwork, work culture

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Authors: Nurcihan Kiris

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Restricted sleep is common in young adults and adolescents. The results of a few objective studies of sleep deprivation on cognitive performance were not clarified. In particular, the effect of sleep deprivation on the cognitive functions associated with frontal lobe such as attention, executive functions, working memory is not well known. The aim of this study is to investigate the effect of partial sleep deprivation experimentally in adolescents on the cognitive tasks of frontal lobe including working memory, strategic thinking, simple attention, continuous attention, executive functions, and cognitive flexibility. Subjects of the study were recruited from voluntary students of Cukurova University. Eighteen adolescents underwent four consecutive nights of monitored sleep restriction (6–6.5 hr/night) and four nights of sleep extension (10–10.5 hr/night), in counterbalanced order, and separated by a washout period. Following each sleep period, cognitive performance was assessed, at a fixed morning time, using a computerized neuropsychological battery based on frontal lobe functions task, a timed test providing both accuracy and reaction time outcome measures. Only the spatial working memory performance of cognitive tasks was found to be statistically lower in a restricted sleep condition than the extended sleep condition. On the other hand, there was no significant difference in the performance of cognitive tasks evaluating simple attention, constant attention, executive functions, and cognitive flexibility. It is thought that especially the spatial working memory and strategic thinking skills of adolescents may be susceptible to sleep deprivation. On the other hand, adolescents are predicted to be optimally successful in ideal sleep conditions, especially in the circumstances requiring for the short term storage of visual information, processing of stored information, and strategic thinking. The findings of this study may also be associated with possible negative functional effects on the processing of academic social and emotional inputs in adolescents for partial sleep deprivation. Acknowledgment: This research was supported by Cukurova University Scientific Research Projects Unit.

Keywords: attention, cognitive functions, sleep deprivation, working memory

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Authors: Tommy Krieger, Klaus Gruendler

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We present a novel approach for measuring democracy, which enables a very detailed and sensitive index. This method is based on Support Vector Machines, a mathematical algorithm for pattern recognition. Our implementation evaluates 188 countries in the period between 1981 and 2011. The Support Vector Machines Democracy Index (SVMDI) is continuously on the 0-1-Interval and robust to variations in the numerical process parameters. The algorithm introduced here can be used for every concept of democracy without additional adjustments, and due to its flexibility it is also a valuable tool for comparison studies.

Keywords: democracy, democracy index, machine learning, support vector machines

Procedia PDF Downloads 349

Authors: Miraç Savaş Turhan, Ali Danişman

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Recently scholars of new institutional theory have used institutional logics perspective to explain the contradictory practices in modern western societies. Accordingly, distinct institutional logics are embedded in central institutions such as the market, state, democracy, family, and religion. They guide individual and organizational actors and constraint their behaviors in a particular organizational field. Through this perspective, actors are assumed to have a situated, embedded, boundedly intentional, and adaptive role against the structure in social, cultural and political context. On the other hand, over a decade, there is an emerging attempt focusing on the role of actors on creating, maintaining, and changing the institutions. Such attempts brought out the concept of institutional entrepreneurs to explain the role of individual actors in relation to institutions. Institutional entrepreneurs are individuals, groups of individuals, organizations or groups of organizations that are able to initiate some actions to build, maintain or change institutions. While recent studies on institutional logics perspective have attempted to explain roles of entrepreneurial actors who have resources and skills, little is known about the effects of multiple institutional logics on the ability of institutional entrepreneurs. In this study, we aim to find out that how multiple institutional logics affect the ability of institutional entrepreneurs during the process of institutional change. We examine this issue in the Turkish Education Field. While institutional logics were identified based on the previous studies in the education field, the actions taken by Turkish National Education Ministry from 2003 to 2013 was examined through content analysis The early results indicate that there are remarkable shift and contradictions in the ability of institutional entrepreneur in taking actions to change the field in relationship to balance of power shift among the carriers of institutional logics.

Keywords: institutional theory, institutional logics, institutional entrepreneurs, Turkish national education

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Authors: A. W. Fareezal, R. Rosazley, M. A. Izzati, M. Z. Shazana, I. Rushdan

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Kenaf cellulose CNT paper production was for lightweight, high strength and excellent flexibility electrical purposes. Aqueous dispersions of kenaf cellulose and varied weight percentage of CNT were combined with the assistance of PEI solution by using ultrasonic probe. The solution was dried using vacuum filter continued with air drying in condition room for 2 days. Circle shape conductive paper was characterized with Fourier transformed infrared (FTIR) spectra, scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and therma gravimetric analysis (TGA).

Keywords: cellulose, CNT paper, PEI solution, electrical conductive paper

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Authors: Amy Y. Wang, Eko L. Yi

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Can vicarious experiences of workplace ostracism affect employees’ willingness to voice? Given the increasingly interdependent nature of the modern workplace in which employees rely on social interactions to fulfill organizational goals, workplace ostracism –the extent to which an individual perceives that he or she is ignored or excluded by others in the workplace– has garnered significant interest from scholars and practitioners alike. Extending beyond conventional studies that largely focus on the perspectives and outcomes of ostracized targets, we address the indirect effects of workplace ostracism on third-party employees embedded in the same social context. Using a social information processing approach, we propose that the ostracism of coworkers acts as political information that influences third-party employees in their decisions to engage in risky and discretionary behaviors such as employee voice. To make sense of and to navigate through experiences of workplace ostracism, we posit that both political understanding and political skill allow third party employees to minimize the risks and uncertainty of voicing. This conceptual model was tested by a study involving 154 supervisor-subordinate dyads of a publicly listed bio-technology firm located in Mainland China. Each supervisor and their direct subordinates composed of a work team; each team had a minimum of two subordinates and a maximum of four subordinates. Human resources used the master list to distribute the ID coded questionnaires to the matching names. All studied constructs were measured using existing scales proved effective in previous literature. Hypotheses were tested using Confirmatory Factor Analysis and Hierarchal Multiple Regression. All three hypotheses were supported which showed that employees were less likely to engage in voice behaviors when their coworkers reported having experienced ostracism in the workplace. Results also showed a significant three-way interaction between political understanding and political skill on the relationship between coworkers’ ostracism and employee voice, indicating that political savviness is a valuable resource in mitigating ostracism’s negative and indirect effects. Our results illustrated that an employee’s coworkers being ostracized indeed adversely impacted his or her own voice behavior. However, not all individuals reacted passively to the social context; rather, we found that politically savvy individuals – possessing both political understanding and political skill – and their voice behaviors were less impacted by ostracism in their work environment. At the same time, we found that having only political understanding or only political skill was significantly less effective in mitigating ostracism’s negative effects, suggesting a necessary duality of political knowledge and political skill in combatting ostracism. Organizational implications, recommendations, and future research ideas are also discussed.

Keywords: employee voice, organizational politics, social information processing, workplace ostracism

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Authors: Shariffah Dawood

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During the past decade, workplace bullying has attracted increasing attention from researchers internationally as it is reported to be a major social problem and has severe consequences towards the job satisfaction and health of victims and towards the organization. It is characterized by “systematic aggression or violence targeted towards one or more individuals by one individual or by a group, consists of repeated and enduring acts, and the target is or ends up in an inferior position from which it is difficult to defend oneself.” Despite the seriousness of workplace bullying, not all sectors have received the same degree of scholarly attention. Most studies have been undertaken in the public and private sectors, such as, in hospitals, universities, retail industry, local council, and restaurant kitchens. The nonprofit sector has received limited attention despite its significant economic and social role in the society. In order to understand the nature of workplace bullying in non-profit sector, this research explored 29 British nonprofit organizations through surveys and interviews. Despite the nonprofit sector’s emphasis on an egalitarianism ethos, their reputation to be the defenders of the most vulnerable/disadvantaged and the perception that they are protected from such negative behaviors in the workplace, the findings uncovered pertinent factors that make this sector highly vulnerable towards workplace bullying. Overall, the study identifies some organizational factors which need to be addressed in order to curb bullying in this sector: management commitment towards a zero-tolerance bullying policy; management training in areas such as conflict resolution, organizational changes, and maintenance of the commitment of a conscientious workforce. The researcher further recommends that the nonprofit organizations work towards improving relationships with voluntary board members and funding bodies. The researcher will also outline the second phase of the study, which aims to investigate bullying in the nonprofit sector across cultures (the USA, Malaysia and Japan), and implications for the research will be identified.

Keywords: nonprofit sector, workplace bullying, harassment, management, HRM

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Authors: Oscar Javier Montiel Mendez

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The link between knowledge-creativity-innovation-entrepreneurship is well established, and broadly emphasized the importance of national innovation systems (NIS) as an approach stresses that the flow of information and technology among people, organizations and institutions are key to its process. Understanding the linkages among the actors involved in innovation is relevant to NIS. Creativity is supposed to fuel NIS, mainly focusing on a personal, group or organizational level, leaving aside the fourth one, as a national system. It is suggested that NIS takes Creativity for granted, an ex-ante stage already solved through some mechanisms, like programs for nurturing it at elementary and secondary schools, universities, or public/organizational specific programs. Or worse, that the individual already has this competence, and that the elements of the NIS will communicate between in a way that will lead to the creation of S curves, with an impact on national systems/programs on entrepreneurship, clusters, and the economy. But creativity constantly appears at any time during NIS, being the key input. Under an initial, exploratory, focused and refined literature review, based on Csikszentmihalyi’s systemic model, Amabile's componential theory, Kaufman and Beghetto’s 4C model, and the OECD’s (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) NIS model (expanded), an NCS theoretical model is elaborated. Its suggested that its implementation could become a significant factor helping strengthen local, regional and national economies. The results also suggest that the establishment of a national creativity system (NCS), something that appears not been previously addressed, as a strategic/vital companion for a NIS, installing it not only as a national education strategy, but as its foundation, managing it and measuring its impact on NIS, entrepreneurship and the rest of the ecosystem, could make more effective public policies. Likewise, it should have a beneficial impact on the efforts of all the stakeholders involved and should help prevent some of the possible failures that NIS present.

Keywords: national creativity system, national innovation system, entrepreneurship ecosystem, systemic creativity

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Authors: Thitima Plejai

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The practice in the operating room has been continually performed according to standards of services; however, undesirable incidents from surgical services are found such as surgical complications in the operating room. This participation action research aimed to develop practice guidelines for surgical safety management to reduce undesirable incidents from surgical services in the operating room of Songkhla Hospital. The target population was all 84 members of the multidisciplinary team who were involved in surgical services in the operating room consisting of 28 surgeons from five branches of surgery, 27 anesthetists and nurse anesthetists, and 29 surgical nurses. The data were collected through in-depth interviews, and non-participatory observations. The research instrument was tested by three experts, and the steps of the development consisted of four cycles, each consisting of assessment, planning, practice, practice reflection, and improvement until every step is practicable. The data were validated through triangulation research method, analyzed through content analysis and statistical analysis with number and percentage. The results of the development of practice guidelines surgical safety management to reduce undesirable incidents from surgical services could be concluded as follows. 1) The multidisciplinary team in surgery participated in the needs assessment for development of practice guidelines for surgical patient safety, and agreed on adapting the WHO Surgical Safety Checklists for use. 2) The WHO Surgical Safety Checklists was implemented, and meetings were held for the multidisciplinary team in surgery and the organizational risk committee to improve the practice guidelines to make them more practicable. 3) The multidisciplinary team consisting of surgeons from five branches of surgery, anesthetists, nurse anesthetists, surgical nurses, and the organizational risk committee announced policy on safety for surgical patients; the organizational risk committee designated the Surgical Safety Checklist as an instrument for surgical patient safety. The results of the safety management found that the surgical team members who could follow 100 percent of the guidelines were: professional nurses who checked patient identity and information before taking the patient to the operating room and kept complete records of data on the patients; surgical nurses who checked readiness of the patient before surgery; nurse anesthetists who assessed readiness before administering anesthetic drugs, and confirmed correctness of the patient; and circulating perioperative nurses who gave confirmation to the surgical team after completion of the surgery. The rates of undesirable incidents (surgical complications rates) before and after the implementation of the surgical safety management were 1.60 percent and 0.66 percent, respectively. The satisfaction of the surgery-related teams towards the use of the guidelines was 89 percent. The practice guidelines for surgical safety management to reduce undesirable incidents were taken as guidelines for surgical safety that the multidisciplinary team involved in the surgical process implemented correctly and in the same direction and clearly reduced undesirable incidents in surgical patients.

Keywords: practice guidelines, surgical safety management, reduce undesirable incidents, operating Room

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Authors: Xiaoming Zeng, Xiaozan Wang, Qinping Xu, Shaoxian Wang

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Research Purpose: In 2017, the high school physical education and health curriculum standard advocates modular teaching. This study aims to explore the impact of ‘sports module’ teaching on the physical quality of high school students. Research methods: 800 senior high school students (400 in the experimental group and 400 in the control group) were randomly divided into two groups. The experimental group carried out modular teaching of physical education, and the control group carried out conventional teaching mode for one semester. Before and after the experiment, the physical fitness of the subjects was tested, including vital capacity, 50 meters, standing long jump, sitting forward bending. Results: After the experiment, the vital capacity (t = -4.007, p < 0.01), 50 meters (t = 2.638, p < 0.01) and standing long jump (t = -4.067, p < 0.01) of the experimental group were significantly improved. High school sports modular teaching has special characteristics. It attaches great importance to the independent development of students' personality. Students can choose their favorite modules to develop various skills and actively participate in various sports activities in the classroom. The density and intensity of sports are greatly improved. Students' speed (50m run), cardiopulmonary endurance (vital capacity), sensitivity, and strength (standing long jump) scores are greatly improved and obviously improved in nature. But at the same time, it was found that the students' sitting forward flexion did not show significant improvement, which was caused by the lack of relevant equipment in school and the students' inattention to stretching after exercise or not doing regular exercise to promote flexibility. Conclusion: (1) ‘Sports module’ teaching can effectively improve the physical quality of high school students. It is mainly manifested in cardiopulmonary function, speed, and explosive power. (2) In the future, ‘sports module’ teaching should give full play to its advantages and add courses to improve students' flexibility.

Keywords: module teaching, physical quality, senior high school student, sports

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Authors: Shazia Almas, Jaffar Iqbal, Nazia Almas

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In most of the South Asian countries like Pakistan medical profession is one the most valued and respectful professions yet being a medical professional requires an enormous amount of responsibilities and work overload at the same time which possibly can be in contrast with family role of a doctor. Job and family are two primary spheres of a person's life no matter whatever the profession one adopts and the type of family one is running. There is a bi-directional relationship between job and family. The type and nature of work, time schedules, working shifts in medical profession are very demanding in the countries like Pakistan where number of patients is far more higher than the number of doctors available. The work life also have significant impact on family life and vice versa. Because of the sensitivity and interdependency of these relations, today’s overarching and competing demands remain dissatisfactory. The main objective of the current research is to investigate how interpersonal relationships affect work and work affects interpersonal relationships of medical professionals. In line with identifying these facts, the current study aimed to examine the predictive role of psychological capital (self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience), in organizational outcome (job satisfaction) and personal outcome (family satisfaction) amongst male and medical professionals. A total of 350 participants from public and private sector hospitals of Pakistan were recruited through simple random and stratified sampling techniques, with age ranges from 26-50 years. The questionnaire including established and certified self-report measures of Psychological Capital Questionnaire, Job Satisfaction, and Family Satisfaction were adopted to collect the data. The reliability and validity of mentioned instruments were established through Cronbach’s alpha and factor analyses (exploratory and confirmatory) respectively using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) by AMOS. The proposed hypotheses were tested using Pearson’s Correlation and Regression analyses for predicting effect whereas, t-Test was deployed to verify the difference between male and female health professionals. The results revealed that self-efficacy and optimism predicted job satisfaction while, self-efficacy, hope, and resilience predicted family satisfaction. Moreover, the results depicted significant gender differences in job satisfaction where females were higher on job satisfaction as compared to male medical professionals but no significant differences were observed in levels of family satisfaction between both genders. The study has implications for social, organizational and work policy designers. The study also paves for more researches with positive psychological approach to promote work-family harmony.

Keywords: family satisfaction, job satisfaction, medical professionals, psychological capital

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Authors: Parth Shah

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The author examines the recent trend where business organizations are significantly reducing their developmental cycle times to stay competitive in today’s global marketspace. The author proposes a rapid systems engineering framework to address late design changes and allow for flexibility (i.e. to react to unexpected or late changes and its impacts) during the product development cycle using a Systems Engineering approach. A System Engineering approach is crucial in today’s product development to deliver complex products into the marketplace. Design changes can occur due to shortened timelines and also based on initial consumer feedback once a product or service is in the marketplace. The ability to react to change and address customer expectations in a responsive and cost-efficient manner is crucial for any organization to succeed. Past literature, research, and methods such as concurrent development, simultaneous engineering, knowledge management, component sharing, rapid product integration, tailored systems engineering processes, and studies on reducing product development cycles all suggest a research gap exist in specifically addressing late design changes due to the shortening of life cycle environments in increasingly competitive markets. The author’s research suggests that 1) product development cycles time scales are now measured in months instead of years, 2) more and more products have interdepended systems and environments that are fast-paced and resource critical, 3) product obsolesce is higher and more organizations are releasing products and services frequently, and 4) increasingly competitive markets are leading to customization based on consumer feedback. The author will quantify effectiveness with respect to success factors such as time-to-market, return-of-investment, life cycle time and flexibility in late design changes by complexity of product or service, number of late changes and ability to react and reduce late design changes.

Keywords: product development, rapid systems engineering, scalability, systems engineering, systems integration, systems life cycle

Procedia PDF Downloads 189

Authors: Wegene Demeke

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Background: The demand for healthcare services is growing in developing and developed countries. Information and communication technology is used to facilitate healthcare services. In the case of developing countries, implementing telemedicine is aimed at providing healthcare for people living in remote areas where health service is not accessible. The implementations of telemedicine in developing countries are unsuccessful. For example, the recent study indicates that 90% of telemedicine projects are abandoned or failed in developing countries. Several researchers reported the technological challenges as the main factor for the non-adoption of telemedicine. However, this research reports the health professionals’ perspectives arising from technical, social and organizational factors that are considered as key elements for the setting and running of telemedicine in Ethiopia. The importance and significance of telemedicine for healthcare is growing. For example, the use of telemedicine in the current pandemic situation becomes an essential strategic element in providing healthcare services in developed countries. Method: Qualitative and quantitative exploratory research methods used to collect data to find factors affecting the adoption of Information and communication technologies for telemedicine use. The survey was distributed using emails and Google forms. The email addresses were collected from personal contact and publicly available websites in Ethiopia. The thematic analysis used to build the barriers and facilitators factors for establishing telemedicine services. A survey questionnaire with open-and-close questions was used to collect data from 175 health professionals. Outcome: The result of this research will contribute to building the key barriers and facilitators factors of telemedicine from the health professional perspectives in developing countries. The thematic analysis provides barriers and facilitators factors arising from technical, organizational, and social sources.

Keywords: telemedicine, ICT, developing country, Ethiopia, health service

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Authors: Braden M. Li, Inhwan Kim, Jesse S. Jur

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One of the fundamental challenges in the electronic textile (e-textile) industry is the mismatch in compliance between the rigid electronic components integrated onto soft textile platforms. To address these problems, various printing technologies using conductive inks have been explored in an effort to improve the electromechanical performance without sacrificing the innate properties of the printed textile. However, current printing methods deposit densely layered coatings onto textile surfaces with low through-plane wetting resulting in poor electromechanical properties. This work presents an inkjet printing technique in conjunction with unique Kirigami cut designs to address these issues for printed smart textiles. By utilizing particle free reactive silver inks, our inkjet process produces conformal and micron thick silver coatings that surround individual fibers of the printed smart textile. This results in a highly conductive (0.63 Ω sq-1) printed e-textile while also maintaining the innate properties of the textile material including stretchability, flexibility, breathability and fabric hand. Kirigami is the Japanese art of paper cutting. By utilizing periodic cut designs, Kirigami imparts enhanced flexibility and delocalization of stress concentrations. Kirigami cut design parameters (i.e., cut spacing and length) were correlated to both the mechanical and electromechanical properties of the printed textiles. We demonstrate that designs using a higher cut-out ratio exponentially softens the textile substrate. Thus, our designs achieve a 30x improvement in the overall stretchability, 1000x decrease in elastic modulus, and minimal resistance change over strain regimes of 100-200% when compared to uncut designs. We also show minimal resistance change of our Kirigami inspired printed devices after being stretched to 100% for 1000 cycles. Lastly, we demonstrate a Kirigami-inspired electrocardiogram (ECG) monitoring system that improves stretchability without sacrificing signal acquisition performance. Overall this study suggests fundamental parameters affecting the performance of e-textiles and their scalability in the wearable technology industry

Keywords: kirigami, inkjet printing, flexible electronics, reactive silver ink

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Authors: Aderonke Olaitan Adesina

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Background: The paradigm shift to knowledge, as the key to organizational innovation and competitive advantage, has made the management of knowledge resources in organizations a mandate. A key component of the knowledge management (KM) cycle is knowledge creation, which is researched to be the result of the interaction between explicit and tacit knowledge. An effective knowledge creation process requires the use of the right model. The SECI (Socialisation, Externalisation, Combination, and Internalisation) model, proposed in 1995, is attested to be a preferred model of choice for knowledge creation activities. The model has, however, been criticized by researchers, who raise their concern, especially about its sequential nature. Therefore, this paper reviews extant literature on the practical application of each mode of the SECI model, from 1995 to date, with a view to ascertaining the relevance in modern-day KM practice. The study will establish the trends of use, with regards to the location and industry of use, and the interconnectedness of the modes. The main research question is, for organizational knowledge creation activities, is the SECI model indeed linear and sequential? In other words, does the model need to be reviewed in today’s KM practice? The review will generate a compendium of the usage of the SECI modes and propose a framework of use, based on the strength weaknesses opportunities and threats (SWOT) findings of the study. Method: This study will employ the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) methodology to investigate the usage and SWOT of the modes, in order to ascertain the success, or otherwise, of the sequential application of the modes in practice from 1995 to 2019. To achieve the purpose, four databases will be explored to search for open access, peer-reviewed articles from 1995 to 2019. The year 1995 is chosen as the baseline because it was the year the first paper on the SECI model was published. The study will appraise relevant peer-reviewed articles under the search terms: SECI (or its synonym, knowledge creation theory), socialization, externalization, combination, and internalization in the title, abstract, or keywords list. This review will include only empirical studies of knowledge management initiatives in which the SECI model and its modes were used. Findings: It is expected that the study will highlight the practical relevance of each mode of the SECI model, the linearity or not of the model, the SWOT in each mode. Concluding Statement: Organisations can, from the analysis, determine the modes of emphasis for their knowledge creation activities. It is expected that the study will support decision making in the choice of the SECI model as a strategy for the management of organizational knowledge resources, and in appropriating the SECI model, or its remodeled version, as a theoretical framework in future KM research.

Keywords: combination, externalisation, internalisation, knowledge management, SECI model, socialisation

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Authors: Sagar Jitendra Mahendrakar

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Integrating quality assurance (QA) practices into DevOps culture has become increasingly important in modern software development environments. Collaboration, automation and continuous feedback characterize the seamless integration of DevOps development and operations teams to achieve rapid and reliable software delivery. In this context, quality assurance plays a key role in ensuring that software products meet the highest quality, performance and reliability standards throughout the development life cycle. This brief explores key principles, challenges, and best practices related to quality assurance in a DevOps culture. This emphasizes the importance of quality transfer in the development process, as quality control processes are integrated in every step of the DevOps process. Automation is the cornerstone of DevOps quality assurance, enabling continuous testing, integration and deployment and providing rapid feedback for early problem identification and resolution. In addition, the summary addresses the cultural and organizational challenges of implementing quality assurance in DevOps, emphasizing the need to foster collaboration, break down silos, and promote a culture of continuous improvement. It also discusses the importance of toolchain integration and capability development to support effective QA practices in DevOps environments. Moreover, the abstract discusses the cultural and organizational challenges in implementing QA within DevOps, emphasizing the need for fostering collaboration, breaking down silos, and nurturing a culture of continuous improvement. It also addresses the importance of toolchain integration and skills development to support effective QA practices within DevOps environments. Overall, this collection works at the intersection of QA and DevOps culture, providing insights into how organizations can use DevOps principles to improve software quality, accelerate delivery, and meet the changing demands of today's dynamic software. landscape.

Keywords: quality engineer, devops, automation, tool

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Authors: Ali Bagherinia

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Efficient task scheduling method can meet users' requirements, and improve the resource utilization, then increase the overall performance of the cloud computing environment. Cloud computing has new features, such as flexibility, virtualization and etc., in this paper we propose a two levels task scheduling method based on load balancing in cloud computing. This task scheduling method meet user's requirements and get high resource utilization, that simulation results in CloudSim simulator prove this.

Keywords: cloud computing, task scheduling, virtualization, SLA

Procedia PDF Downloads 381

Authors: Stephanie Gracelyn Rahaman, Chew Yin Teng, Manjit Singh Sandhu

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Corporate scandals have made stakeholders apprehensive of large companies and expect greater transparency in CSR matters. However, companies find it challenging to strategically communicate CSR to intended stakeholders and in the process may fall short on maximizing on CSR efforts. Given that stakeholders have the ability to either reward good companies or take legal action or boycott against corporate brands who do not act socially responsible, companies must create shared understanding of their CSR activities. As a result, communication has become a strategy for many companies to demonstrate CSR engagement and to minimize stakeholder skepticism. The main objective of this research is to examine the types of CSR communication strategies and predictors that guide CSR communication strategies. Employing Morsing & Schultz’s guide on CSR communication strategies, the study integrates stakeholder and institutional theory to develop a conceptual framework. The conceptual framework hypothesized that stakeholder (instrumental and normative) and institutional (regulatory environment, nature of business, mimetic intention, CSR focus and corporate objectives) dimensions would drive CSR communication strategies. Preliminary findings from semi-structured interviews in Malaysia are consistent with the conceptual model in that stakeholder and institutional expectations guide CSR communication strategies. Findings show that most companies use two-way communication strategies. Companies that identified employees, the public or customers as key stakeholders have started to embrace social media to be in-sync with new trends of communication. This is especially with the Gen Y which is their priority. Some companies creatively use multiple communication channels because they recognize different stakeholders favor different communication channels. Therefore, it appears that companies use two-way communication strategies to complement the perceived limitation of one-way communication strategies as some companies prefer a more interactive platform to strategically engage stakeholders in CSR communication. In addition to stakeholders, institutional expectations also play a vital role in influencing CSR communication. Due to industry peer pressures, corporate objectives (attract international investors and customers), companies may be more driven to excel in social performance. For these reasons companies tend to go beyond the basic mandatory requirement, excel in CSR activities and be known as companies that champion CSR. In conclusion, companies use more two-way than one-way communication and companies use a combination of one and two-way communication to target different stakeholders resulting from stakeholder and institutional dimensions. Finally, in order to find out if the conceptual framework actually fits the Malaysian context, companies’ responses for expected organizational outcomes from communicating CSR were gathered from the interview transcripts. Thereafter, findings are presented to show some of the key organizational outcomes (visibility and brand recognition, portray responsible image, attract prospective employees, positive word-of-mouth, etc.) that companies in Malaysia expect from CSR communication. Based on these findings the conceptual framework has been refined to show the new identified organizational outcomes.

Keywords: CSR communication, CSR communication strategies, stakeholder theory, institutional theory, conceptual framework, Malaysia

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Authors: Waleed Omri

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With the growth of the small business sector in emerging markets, developing a better understanding of what drives 'day-to-day' entrepreneurial activities has become an important issue for academicians and practitioners. Innovation, as an entrepreneurial behavior, revolves around individuals who creatively engage in new organizational efforts. In a similar vein, the innovation behaviors and processes at the organizational member level are central to any corporate entrepreneurship strategy. Despite the broadly acknowledged importance of entrepreneurship and innovation at the individual level in the establishment of successful ventures, the literature lacks evidence on how entrepreneurs can effectively harness their skills and knowledge in the workplace. The existing literature illustrates that religion can impact the day-to-day work behavior of entrepreneurs, managers, and employees. Religious beliefs and practices could affect daily entrepreneurial activities by fostering mental abilities and traits such as creativity, intelligence, and self-efficacy. In the present study, we define religious capital as a set of personal and intangible resources, skills, and competencies that emanate from an individual’s religious values, beliefs, practices, and experiences and may be used to increase the quality of economic activities. Religious beliefs and practices give individuals a religious satisfaction, which can lead them to perform better in the workplace. In addition, religious ethics and practices have been linked to various positive employee outcomes in terms of organizational change, job satisfaction, and entrepreneurial intensity. As investigations of their consequences beyond direct task performance are still scarce, we explore if religious capital plays a role in entrepreneurs’ innovative behavior. In sum, this study explores the determinants of individual entrepreneurial behavior by investigating the relationship between religious capital and entrepreneurs’ innovative behavior in the context of small businesses. To further explain and clarify the religious capital-innovative behavior link, the present study proposes a model to examine the mediating role of entrepreneurial creativity. We use both Islamic work ethics (IWE) and Islamic religious practices (IRP) to measure Islamic religious capital. We use structural equation modeling with a robust maximum likelihood estimation to analyze data gathered from 289 Tunisian small businesses and to explore the relationships among the above-described variables. In line with the theory of planned behavior, only religious work ethics are found to increase the innovative behavior of small businesses’ owner-managers. Our findings also clearly demonstrate that the connection between religious capital-related variables and innovative behavior is better understood if the influence of entrepreneurial creativity, as a mediating variable of the aforementioned relationship, is taken into account. By incorporating both religious capital and entrepreneurial creativity into the innovative behavior analysis, this study provides several important practical implications for promoting innovation process in small businesses.

Keywords: entrepreneurial behavior, small business, religion, creativity

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Authors: Mohammed Alassim

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In 2014, a UN survey stated that: "The greatest challenge to the adoption of whole-of government, which fundamentally rests on increased collaboration, is resistance to change among government actors". Change management has experienced both theoretically and practically many transformation over the years. When organizations have to implement radical changes, they have to encounter a plethora of issues which leads to ineffective or inefficient implementation of change in most cases. 70% of change projects fail because of human issues. It has been cited that” most studies still show a 60-70% failure rate for organizational change projects — a statistic that has stayed constant from the 1970’s to the present.”. E-government involves not just technical change but cultural, policy, social and organizational evolution. Managing change and overcoming resistance to change is seen as crucial in the success of E-government projects. Resistance can be from different levels in the organization (top management, middle management or employees at operational levels). There can be many reasons for resistance including fear of change and insecurity, lack of knowledge and absence of commitment from management to implement the change. The purpose of this study is to conduct in-depth research to understand the process of change and to identify the critical factors that have led to resistance from employees at different levels (top management, Middle management and operational employees) during e-government initiatives in the public sector in Saudi Arabia. The study is based on qualitative and empirical research methods conducted in the public sector in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. This research will use triangulation in data method (interview, group discussion and document review). This research will contribute significantly to knowledge in this field and will identify the measures that can be taken to reduce resistance to change, Upon analysis recommendations or model will be offered which can enable decision makers in public sector in Saudi Arabia how to plan, implement and evaluate change in e-government initiatives via change management strategy.

Keywords: change management, e-government, managing change, resistance to change

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Authors: Dieter Veldsman, Theo Heyns Veldsman

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The knowledge economy demands an organisation that is flexible, adaptable and able to navigate the ever-changing environment. This fast-paced environment has however resulted in an organizational landscape that battles to engage employees, retain top talent and create meaningful work for its members. In the knowledge economy, the concept of organizational identity has become an important consideration as organisations aim to create a compelling and inviting narrative for all stakeholders across the business value chain. Values are often seen as the behavioural framework that informs organisational culture, yet often values are perceived to be inauthentic and misaligned with the true character or identity of the organisation and how it is perceived by different role players. This paper focuses on exploring the relationship between organisational identity and value systems by focusing on a case study within a multi-national organisation within South Africa. The paper evaluates the implementation of mixed methods OD approach that gathered collaborative inputs of more than 4500 employees who participated in crafting the newly established values system post a retrenchment process. The paper will evaluate the relationship between the newly crafted value system and the identity of the organisation as described by various internal and external stakeholders in order to explore potential alignment, dissonance and key insights into understanding the relationship between organisational identity and values. The case study will be reported from the perspective of an OD consultant who supported the transformation process over a period of 8 months and aims to provide key insights into values and identity alignment within knowledge economy organisations. From a practical perspective, the paper provides insights into how values are created, perceived and lived within organisations and the impact on employee engagement and culture.

Keywords: culture, organisational development, organisational identity, values

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Authors: Fernando Martín-Espejo, Christophe Crombez

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This paper presents a political-economic analysis of the reforms introduced during the coronavirus crisis at the EU level with a special emphasis on the recovery fund Next Generation EU (NGEU). It also introduces a spatial model to evaluate whether the governmental features of the recovery fund can be framed inside the community method. Particularly, by evaluating the brake clause in the NGEU legislation, this paper analyses theoretically the political and legislative implications of the introduction of flexibility clauses in the EU decision-making process.

Keywords: EU, legislative procedures, spatial model, coronavirus

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Authors: Bae Doobyong, Yoo Jaejun, Park Ilgyu, Choi Seowon, Oh Chang Kook

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Variation of slip coefficient in slip-critical connections of curved plates. This paper presents the results of analytical investigations of slip coefficients in slip-critical bolted connections of curved plates. It may depend on the contact stress distribution at interface and the flexibility of spliced plate. Non-linear FEM analyses have been made to simulate the behavior of bolted connections of curved plates with various radiuses of curvature and thicknesses.

Keywords: slip coefficient, curved plates, slip-critical bolted connection, radius of curvature

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Authors: Carolyn Hatch, Laurent Simon

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Urban mobility and the transportation industry are undergoing a transformation, shifting from an auto production-consumption model that has dominated since the early 20th century towards new forms of personal and shared multi-modality [1]. This is shaped by key forces such as climate change, which has induced a shift in production and consumption patterns and efforts to decarbonize and improve transport services through, for instance, the integration of vehicle automation, electrification and mobility sharing [2]. Advanced innovation practices and platforms for experimentation and validation of new mobility products and services that are increasingly complex and multi-stakeholder-oriented are shaping this new world of mobility. Transportation hubs – such as airports - are emblematic of these disruptive forces playing out in the mobility industry. Airports are emerging as the core of innovation ecosystems on and around contemporary mobility issues, and increasingly recognized as complex public/private nodes operating in many societal dimensions [3,4]. These include urban development, sustainability transitions, digital experimentation, customer experience, infrastructure development and data exploitation (for instance, airports generate massive and often untapped data flows, with significant potential for use, commercialization and social benefit). Yet airport innovation practices have not been well documented in the innovation literature. This paper addresses this gap by proposing a model of airport innovation that aims to equip airport stakeholders to respond to these new and complex innovation needs in practice. The methodology involves: 1 – a literature review bringing together key research and theory on airport innovation management, open innovation and innovation ecosystems in order to evaluate airport practices through an innovation lens; 2 – an international benchmarking of leading airports and their innovation practices, including such examples as Aéroports de Paris, Schipol in Amsterdam, Changi in Singapore, and others; and 3 – semi-structured interviews with airport managers on key aspects of organizational practice, facilitated through a close partnership with the Airport Council International (ACI), a major stakeholder in this research project. Preliminary results find that the most successful airports are those that have shifted to a multi-stakeholder, platform ecosystem model of innovation. The recent entrance of new actors in airports (Google, Amazon, Accor, Vinci, Airbnb and others) have forced the opening of organizational boundaries to share and exchange knowledge with a broader set of ecosystem players. This has also led to new forms of governance and intermediation by airport actors to connect complex, highly distributed knowledge, along with new kinds of inter-organizational collaboration, co-creation and collective ideation processes. Leading airports in the case study have demonstrated a unique capacity to force traditionally siloed activities to “think together”, “explore together” and “act together”, to share data, contribute expertise and pioneer new governance approaches and collaborative practices. In so doing, they have successfully integrated these many disruptive change pathways and forced their implementation and coordination towards innovative mobility outcomes, with positive societal, environmental and economic impacts. This research has implications for: 1 - innovation theory, 2 - urban and transport policy, and 3 - organizational practice - within the mobility industry and across the economy.

Keywords: airport management, ecosystem, innovation, mobility, platform, transport hubs

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Authors: Jihene Jebeniani

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We proposed an approach combining both the techniques of experimental economy and the flexibility of discrete choice models in order to test the loss aversion. Our main objective was to test the loss aversion of the Cumulative Prospect Theory (CPT). We developed an experimental laboratory in the context of the financial investments that aimed to analyze the attitude towards the risk of the investors. The study uses the lotteries and is basing on econometric modeling. The estimated model was the ordered probit.

Keywords: risk aversion, behavioral finance, experimental economic, lotteries, cumulative prospect theory

Procedia PDF Downloads 452

Authors: Bahar Ayberk

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The study was conducted to determine the relationship between physical fitness and academic performance among university students. A far-famed saying ‘Sound mind in a sound body’ referring to the potential quality of increased physical fitness in the intellectual development of individuals seems to be endorsed. There is a growing body of literature the impact of physical fitness on academic achievement, especially in elementary and middle-school aged children. Even though there are numerous positive effects related to being physically active and physical fitness, their effect on academic achievement is not very much clear for university students. The subjects for this study included 25 students (20 female and 5 male) enrolled in Yeditepe University, Physiotherapy and Rehabilitation Department of Health Science Faculty. All participants filled in a questionnaire about their socio-demographic status, general health status, and physical activity status. Health-related physical fitness testing, included several core components: 1) body composition evaluation (body mass index, waist-to-hip ratio), 2) cardiovascular endurance evaluation (queen’s college step test), 3) muscle strength and endurance evaluation (sit-up test, push-up test), 4) flexibility evaluation (sit and reach test). Academic performance evaluation was based on student’s Cumulative Grade Point Average (CGPA). The prevalence of the subjects participating physical activity was found to be 40% (n = 10). CGPA scores were significantly higher among students having regular physical activity when we compared the students having regular physical activities or not (respectively 2,71 ± 0.46, 3.02 ± 0.28 scores, p = 0.076). The result of the study also revealed that there is positive correlation relationship between sit-up, push up and academic performance points (CGPA) (r = 0.43, p ≤ 0.05 ) and negative correlation relationship between cardiovascular endurance parameter (Queen's College Step Test) and academic performance points (CGPA) (r = -0.47, p ≤ 0.05). In conclusion, the findings confirmed that physical fitness level was generally associated with academic performance in the study group. Cardiovascular endurance and muscle strength and endurance were associated with student’s CGPA, whereas body composition and flexibility were unrelated to CGPA.

Keywords: academic performance, health-related physical fitness, physical activity, physical fitness testing

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Authors: Carlos Joel Tchawouo Mbiada

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At the back of the apartheid era, South Africa embarked on a democratic drive of all its institution underpinned by a social justice perspective to eradicate past injustices. These democratic values based on fundamental human rights and equality informed all rights enshrined in the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996. This means that all rights are therefore infused by social justice perspective and labour rights are no exception. Labour law is therefore regulated to the extent that it is viewed as too rigid. Hence a call for more flexibility to enhance investment and boost job creation. This view articulated by the Free Market Foundation fell on deaf ears as the opponents believe in what is termed regulated flexibility which affords greater protection to vulnerable workers while promoting business opportunities and investment. The question that this paper seeks to examine is to what extent the regulation of labour law will go to protect employees. This question is prompted by the recent Constitutional Court’s judgment of National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa v Trenstar which barred the employer from employing labour replacement in response to the strike action by its employees. The question whether employers may use replacement labour and have recourse to lock-outs in response to strike action is considered in the context of the dichotomy between the Free market foundation and social justice perspectives which are at loggerheads in the South African collective bargaining process. With the current unemployment rate soaring constantly, the aftermath of the Covid 19 pandemic, the effects of the war in Ukraine and lately the financial burden of load shedding on companies to run their businesses, this paper argues for a policy shift toward deregulation or a lesser state and judiciary intervention. This initiative will relieve the burden on companies to run a viable business while at the same time protecting existing jobs.

Keywords: labour law, replacement labour, right to strike, free market foundation perspective, social justice perspective

Procedia PDF Downloads 79