A review on Ecological Engineering based Engineering Management

Engineering achievements have improved the quality of human life, provided creature comforts, and expanded the human domain to unprecedented levels. When enjoying all these achievements, human beings are coming to realize that the more invasion of the nature, the more environmental problems. Under the context of sustainable development, it is certain that effective Engineering Management calls for an ecological concept. The basic claim of this paper is that Engineering Management should be based on Ecological Engineering, which is an essential requirement of effective Engineering Management. At the same time, Ecological Engineering shall serve as the base of Engineering Management, which is commanded by the characteristics of Ecological Engineering. To date, there are only scattered studies focused on Engineering Management using the ecological concept. Moreover, there is no systematic concept of Ecological Engineering based Engineering Management (EMEE). In this paper, a thorough review of EMEE is presented. Our goals are to clarify this concept, promote this promising thought, summarize past research, and identify issues for future research to create impacts on the practice of Engineering Management.     

A grounded theory research approach to building and testing TQM theory in operations management

Total quality management (TQM) has continued to develop as a strategic business improvement approach in organisations and within the Operations Management literature. Strategic TQM is a dynamic phenomenon, reflecting the complexity and technology development in the business environment. Therefore, this conception of TQM has led to significant challenges with regards to developing suitable models and research methodology where traditional, and normative research data, includes survey responses associated with deductive theory and testing. Such data, and its use, is often premised on cause and effect rationality and fails to supply deep rich data to address meanings, phenomena and complex socio-political events, which is a feature of strategic TQM.     

Ethics beyond the model: How social dynamics can interfere with ethical practice in operational research/management science

Responding to a call for more attention to be given to ethics within operational research, Marc Le Menestrel and Luk Van Wassenhove have recently outlined a perspective on the relationship between OR models and ethics that squarely ties ethical engagement to daily practice and, more specifically, to the manner in which a practitioner uses a model or other technique in a particular setting. They refer to this approach as “ethics beyond OR models”.This paper seeks to extend the debate on this topic by examining some of the difficulties of ethical action when it is defined in these terms. Specifically the paper seeks to show how the social dynamics that circumscribe much professional practice can easily override good intentions on the part of the people concerned. Ethical practice dictates that those involved in OR/MS practice should seriously contemplate their own involvement in the process of knowledge production and be fully aware of the wider ramifications of employing particular modelling techniques and other tools. However, this is not always easy since the complex social dynamics that surround an inquiry can surreptitiously undermine these intentions. In extreme cases, these processes can create an ethical trap that those involved may not be fully recognise until after the event.In exploring such a disjuncture between ethical intentionality and outcomes the paper re-examines and reflects upon a major consulting assignment which was led by the author and subsequently published through a leading journal and text.     

A technical note on “A fuzzy set approach for R&D portfolio selection using a real options valuation model” by Wang and Hwang (2007)

In this paper, three critical issues with the paper “A fuzzy set approach for R&D portfolio selection using a real options valuation model”, coauthored by Wang and Hwang and published in Omega 2007 are addressed. Shortcomings of the original work are highlighted and corrective measures to improve the approach are proposed.     

Integrating Behavioral Science with Human Factors to Address Process Safety

ABSTRACT

Applying the science of human factors to eliminate error across all aspects of process design, management, operation, and maintenance has been a focus in the process safety area for many years. Human error has been attributed as a major cause of many high profile catastrophic accidents around the world. These accidents have resulted in national and international attention, which has led to a focus on improving organizational capabilities, systems, and in many cases, governmental regulations around human factors. This article provides a review of the field of human factors highlighting various topics in the literature, and introduces governmental regulatory bodies currently engaging organizations in a scientific approach to human factors. Finally, the need for integrating behavioral science methodologies with human factors is addressed. This is done with specific focus on how Organizational Behavior Management methodologies can work in concert with human factors to optimize process safety.     

Building an integral metatheory of management

The increasing fragmentation of organization theory seems not to be responding to the challenges and complexities of organizations and society. This article contends that integral theory can make an important contribution to our discipline and presents a metatheory that integrates all previous organizational knowledge in an integral, balanced and non-marginalizing framework. Using metatriangulation techniques it reviews management and organization theories, classifies them according to their underlying paradigms and integrates them in a new metatheory. The resulting theory called “3D Management” maintains that there are 3 basic and irreducible dimensions of management: science, arts and ethics which refer respectively to the techno-economical, the aesthetic-emotional and the moral aspects of organizational reality. The fourth management dimension, the spiritual dimension, integrates the Big Three in an essential unit and strives for unity and meaning. An assessment of the theory and a concluding discussion of its contributions and potential applications is provided.     

Dependence and uncertainty in broker strategies of research intermediaries

This study examines how a research intermediary can successfully manage collaboration among research partners, while mitigating resource dependence in multi-partner programs. For that purpose, two fundamentally different strategies are explored: tertius gaudens and tertius iungens. Previous literature has not addressed the possibility that the effective deployment of tertius broker strategies may be contingent on multiple factors. Using a qualitative in-depth case study, we contribute to the literature by showing that the effective development of the tertius broker strategies in our study context is contingent on partner type, business integration and product readiness.     

Toward re-engineering models and algorithms of facility layout

Models and algorithms are continuously being developed for the facility layout problem in various manufacturing settings. However, there could be practices and obstacles that weaken them and adversely impact the effectiveness of the layout. Thus, they should be obliterated in order to advance the layout problem. This paper suggests a set of guidelines that are directed at the process inherent in developing layout models, algorithms, expert systems, and software applications to assist in improving them and developing better layouts. Such guidelines are lacking in the literature of facility layout. Examples on the suitability and applicability of the suggested guidelines are given.     

A bibliometric analysis of operations research and management science

Bibliometric analysis is the quantitative study of bibliographic material. It provides a general picture of a research field that can be classified by papers, authors and journals. This paper presents a bibliometric overview of research published in operations research and management science in recent decades. The main objective of this study is to identify some of the most relevant research in this field and some of the newest trends according to the information found in the Web of Science database. Several classifications are made, including an analysis of the most influential journals, the two hundred most cited papers of all time and the most productive and influential authors. The results obtained are in accordance with the common wisdom, although some variations are found.     

A fuzzy set approach for R&D portfolio selection using a real options valuation model

Making R&D portfolio decision is difficult, because long lead times of R&D and market and technology dynamics lead to unavailable and unreliable collected data for portfolio management. The objective of this research is to develop a fuzzy R&D portfolio selection model to hedge against the R&D uncertainty. Fuzzy set theory is applied to model uncertain and flexible project information. Since traditional project valuation methods often underestimate the risky project, a fuzzy compound-options model is used to evaluate the value of each R&D project. The R&D portfolio selection problem is formulated as a fuzzy zero–one integer programming model that can handle both uncertain and flexible parameters to determine the optimal project portfolio. A new transformation method based on qualitative possibility theory is developed to convert the fuzzy portfolio selection model into a crisp mathematical model from the risk-averse perspective. The transformed model can be solved by an optimization technique. An example is used to illustrate the proposed approach. We conclude that the proposed approach can assist decision makers in selecting suitable R&D portfolios, while there is a lack of reliable project information.     

基于知识图谱与扎根分析的中国管理理论构建范式研究述评

基于知识图谱理论和扎根理论的方法指导,以中文社会科学引文检索数据库收录的1998~2019年期间,与中国管理研究以及理论构建相关的561篇施引文献和7108篇被引文献作为研究对象。通过运用Citespace V可视化软件,进行中国管理研究与理论构建的知识基础、研究热点和主题演进脉络等的可视化分析与研究;并进一步精选了116篇科技文献为样本数据进行三级扎根编码,构建中国管理理论的研究框架模型。研究表明:中国管理研究目前聚焦于理论构建范式的研究主题,构建中国管理理论要直面实践导向,扎根传统文化,实现实践与文化的融合,要采用多元科学方法论与方法,辩证地使用实证研究方法。     

The role of organismic integration theory in marketing science: A systematic review and research agenda

Researchers have repeatedly applied the same models/theories to predict consumer behaviour, whereas theories that have been extensively used to promote motivation are disregarded in marketing science. For instance, organismic integration theory (OIT) is a prominent theory of human motivation that provides a framework for categorizing customers’ regulatory styles into different forms of motivational regulations, which could be used in marketing as customers can be motivated to engage in behaviour for a diverse array of reasons. Therefore, we aim to enrich the field of marketing by reviewing extant knowledge on OIT, noting tensions and inconsistencies, and identifying important gaps with reference to how the constructs underpinned by OIT have been applied and what research themes, contexts, and methodologies have been carried out. With this aim in mind, we reviewed three decades of research between 1991 and 2020, outlined underdeveloped and emerging marketing issues, and set comprehensive research agendas (presented as testable propositions).     

Organizing for Global Competition

Global information technology (i.e., computer hardware, software, and data communications shared across country boundaries) can support the multinational firm as it seeks to coordinate global operations, diffuse innovations worldwide, or provide integrated service to a global corporate customer. The current study uses information processing theory as the basis for examining alternative organizational designs for information technology in a globally competing firm. Mail survey data gathered from information technology managers in 109 multinationals provide evidence that multinational firms use different and distinct ways of organizing their global information technology activities. The survey data also reveal that in nearly half of the organizations, the way information technology activities are organized is inconsistent with the way the organization is reportedly structured. A follow-up interview-based study sought explanations for these misfits. Several contingency variables were identified that may shed some light to the misfits. These included factors from both the firm's internal and external environments.     

Linear programming approach to solve interval-valued matrix games

Matrix game theory is concerned with how two players make decisions when they are faced with known exact payoffs. The aim of this paper is to develop a simple and an effective linear programming method for solving matrix games in which the payoffs are expressed with intervals. Because the payoffs of the matrix game are intervals, the value of the matrix game is an interval as well. Based on the definition of the value for matrix games, the value of the matrix game may be regarded as a function of values in the payoff intervals, which is proven to be non-decreasing. A pair of auxiliary linear programming models is formulated to obtain the upper bound and the lower bound of the value of the interval-valued matrix game by using the upper bounds and the lower bounds of the payoff intervals, respectively. By the duality theorem of linear programming, it is proven that two players have the identical interval-type value of the interval-valued matrix game. Also it is proven that the linear programming models and method proposed in this paper extend those of the classical matrix games. The linear programming method proposed in this paper is demonstrated with a real investment decision example and compared with other similar methods to show the validity, applicability and superiority.     

REQUIREMENTS PLANNING FOR CONTROL OF INFORMATION RESOURCES

Producing reports assembled from files, records, and raw data is a major function of the computer in modern organizations. Transaction processing, records management, file organization, and data-base management are aspects of the information production function that have received a good deal of attention. But planning, scheduling, and controlling the production of information products have been neglected. For complex applications involving assembly of reports from multilevel information sources, the requirements planning model is suggested as an effective alternative to present methods. Thus, our suggestion is that the computer be used to plan, schedule, and control computer production of information products. Presently available material requirements planning software may be employed with minor modifications that depend on the given information system characteristics. In this paper an example of requirements planning as applied to production of information in a satellite control system is presented.     

HRD research and practice: Strengths,weaknesses, opportunities and threats

Since academics in business schools teach others about management it might be expected that these schools and their parent universities would make considerable use of this in-house expertise in managing their own activities. There is little evidence that this takes place. This paper examines why this might be so - putting forward nine hypotheses. While some of the hypotheses seem to have limited explanatory power, others, principally those concerned with the motivational structures within universities, seem to provide more plausible explanations.     

The Career Advancement Prospects of Managers and Professionals: Are MIS Employees Unique?

The present study examined the career advancement prospects of MIS and non-MIS employees, as well as the relationships of career advancement prospects with job performance evaluations, job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and organizational commitment for MIS and non-MIS professionals and managers. Participants included 134 MIS professionals and managers and 397 non-MIS professionals and managers of a large communications company. The results provided no evidence that MIS employees experience more restricted career advancement prospects than non-MIS employees. In addition, job performance evaluations generally had positive effects on career advancement prospects; career advancement prospects had a number of positive effects on job satisfaction, career satisfaction, and organizational commitment; and job satisfaction and career satisfaction had positive effects on organizational commitment. These findings are related to prior research, suggestions for future research are offered, and implications for the management of MIS employees are identified.     

The role of self-determination theory in marketing science: An integrative review and agenda for research

The marketing literature is replete with the repeated use of traditional theories of behaviour, such as ‘the consumer decision model,’ the ‘theory of buyer behaviour,’ the ‘theory of reasoned action,’ the ‘theory of planned behaviour,’ and ‘the model of goal-directed behaviour.’ The conclusions and criticisms that are drawn from these theories stem from the many ways in which these theories are applied, which reduces the efficiency of these approaches in the sense of predictability and generalizability across different cultures. Moreover, these theories have minimal influence on autonomously motivated behaviours. Despite these limitations, marketing scientists have overwhelmingly applied these theories to predict consumer intention and behaviour. However, theories that are actually capable of explaining consumers' motivations have been surprisingly ignored in the marketing literature; for instance, ‘self-determination theory’ (SDT) is a leading theory of human motivation that has been proven effective at identifying the contingencies that affect motivation and behaviour. Therefore, the goal is to review the marketing research in which SDT is used. To this end, we review all empirical studies published on the subject over a 20-year period. Several clusters of research are identified in which SDT appears to be more promising in addressing marketing problems. Finally, we provide directions for future research in greater detail.