A framework for production rescheduling in sociotechnical manufacturing environments

No plan survives contact with reality. Despite the rich research base regarding handling uncertainty in production planning and control systems, there is an intellectual gap between theory and practice with regard to handling unforeseen events generated by internal and external factors, such as unforeseen machine downtimes and changes in demand. Motivated by longitudinal observations in two industrial settings and an analysis of the relevant literature, a framework for rescheduling decision-making in the face of unforeseen production events is proposed. In practical settings, the effectiveness of decisions depends on a set of situational factors. The findings of this research can be utilised further to provide guidelines for developing effective decision support principles and systems, addressing the needs of organisational decision-makers.     

Planning end-of-life care for patients with dementia: roles of families and health professionals

We examined families' end-of-life decision making and their interactions with health professionals. Twenty-eight family members of institutionalized dementia patients participated in four focus groups. We found that participating family members were not well prepared for their decision-making roles, and that they: 1) experienced substantial burdens and loss in caring for institutionalized elders; 2) had limited understanding of the natural progression of dementing conditions; 3) were uncomfortable in setting goals for their relatives' end-of-life care; 4) had little experience with death, and were ambivalent about the anticipated death of their relative; and (5) reported that they had little substantive communication with health professionals regarding end-of-life care planning. We concluded that many of the needs of such families could be addressed through improved application of the principles of advance care planning, including regular structured discussions, involvement of surrogate decision-makers, and anticipation of clinical decisions. Health professionals should take the lead in 'normalizing' the discussion of death.     

知识创新联盟合作伙伴选择研究

建立知识创新联盟是我国企业(尤其中小企业)快速提升自主创新能力的重要途径。而知识创新联盟合作伙伴选择的正确与否直接决定了联盟的持续创新能力。根据知识创新联盟的合作需要,分析了知识创新联盟合作伙伴选择需考虑的因素,并将其归结为多属性群决策问题。利用多属性群决策方法——VIKOR法对知识创新联盟合作伙伴进行选择,通过调节效用权重v来反映决策者的态度,并对VIKOR、TOPSIS和SAW方法进行了比较分析。     

基于多主体仿真的大群体应急决策风险致因分析

大群体应急决策风险来源众多，且对决策的影响不容忽视。本文从个体因素和群体因素两方面对大群体应急决策风险进行系统识别，并将各风险因素与两类群体效应（认知冲突和关系冲突）进行关联，建立大群体应急决策风险致因体系。在此基础上，设置由个体认可度、群体结构、沟通方式、决策策略和外部影响组成的仿真变量，然后基于观点动力学利用Netlogo工具建立大群体应急决策风险致因多主体仿真模型，最后通过案例模拟得出各风险因素致因机理的一般规律。仿真结果表明：控制高认可度决策主体的比例，增加聚集间交互，采取必要的预见性措施，对降低决策风险，提高决策共识速度，应对决策环境的高动态性具有积极作用。研究有助于掌握大群体应急决策风险因素的组成及其影响规律，为应急决策的策略引导提供参考和借鉴。     

Strategic planning in government-dependent businesses

As the role of government has expanded in various countries, standard distinctions between the public and private sectors have become blurred. This paper explores the special context within which strategic planning must take place in organizations with a very high dependence on government. Four types of government dependency are considered: ownership dependency (public enterprises); regulation dependency (private, regulated firms); input-dependency (e.g. non-profits dependent on state funding); and output-dependency (e.g. defence contractors who sell a considerable portion of their output to governments).Despite their seeming differences, all four types of government-dependent organizations (GDOs) experience five distinctive problems that seriously limit the relevance of traditional planning models (or what are often referred to as ‘rational, comprehensive models’). They are: fragmented strategic decision-making authority; heightened goal ambiguity; politicization of strategic decision-making; short-term orientation and internal bureaucratization.The concepts of strategy and strategic planning are as relevant to Government dependent organizations (GDOs) as they are to other kinds of firms, although the planning system has to be designed somewhat differently. Six tentative guidelines for designing the planning system in GDOs are presented in the paper: (1) plans must be ‘negotiated’ rather than ‘formulated’ in GDOs; (2) outsiders must be involved in the planning process; (3) socio-political issues must be integrated with technoeconomic tissues; (4) top management must play an active role in running the system, especially in managing interfaces with government; (5) the planning system should emphasize flexibility over discipline or rigor and (6) plans must be written up with the expectation that much of their contents could become public knowledge.The paper concludes with the view the GDOs may have a lot to learn from one another despite superficial differences in institutional status (public vs private) and nature of goals (for- profit vs not-for-profits).     

一种决策者判断一致性的聚类方法

对于产量为模糊区间数的生产计划群决策问题,考虑不同产品生产的优先度和决策者权重对决策者判断一致性度量的影响,给出了相对加权一致度的一种计算方法。当群决策的结果不一致时,提出了依据相对加权一致度对决策者进行聚类的方法,并给出了每一类决策者决策结果的综合方法。最后通过算例说明了方法的应用过程。     

Operations management – from Taylor to Toyota – and Beyond?

This paper sets out to review past and current research in operations management, and to explore current and future issues facing the area. It reviews the history of the area, and the patterns of research content and type. It reviews the evolution of lean production connecting the work of Taylor to its development at Toyota, and uses this to propose three key elements of operations management in the 1990s, namely, the core, interfaces and convergence. Current issues relating to research in operations management are explored and it is argued that there is a need for aggressive research agendas. Finally, possible future agendas for the area are explored.     

Integration of process planning and production planning and control in cellular manufacturing

Organisations willing to succeed in global competition have to integrate their internal and external processes. This especially includes planning and production control (PPC) processes. Optimised allocation of the production resources and quick response to demand changes result in lower cost and improvement of production performance. Practitioners and researchers have been trying to achieve these goals using production planning techniques. Although the results are significant, it seems necessary to integrate production operations in order to improve the production performance. The goals, information and decisions taken in production planning and control and process planning are often very different and difficult to integrate in Cellular Manufacturing (CM) environments. Designing an efficient PPC system and integrating it with process planning in a cellular environment is of the same importance. The following paper proposes first a comprehensive framework of integrated process planning and production planning and control in CM. Then, with respect to this framework and utilising the domain knowledge in the area of CM systems, an integrated model based on Integrated Definition Modeling Language is developed. The application of the models has been considered as a case study for a production system in electronics and telecommunication sector in a plant in Iran. The validity and completeness of the proposed model is tested by a panel of experts in the areas of production planning and control in CM environments.     

Looking at the IPO from the “top floor”: a literature review

This article aims to assess the current situation and the evolution of the literature on the role of top level decision-makers in initial public offerings. The article combines bibliometric and qualitative reviews of 147 articles published in 57 journals until 2015. Findings show that the debate on the role of top-level decision-makers in initial public offerings has followed an irregular pathway. Research attention has moved from studies on the actors and the dynamics of going public to a focus on the strategic implications of initial public offerings. The paper is a good starting point for future policy-making interventions designed to support top-level decision-making. By enhancing awareness of the strategic role of initial public offerings, we hope to improve the governance practices associated with them. The paper also sheds light on the importance of fostering the corporate transparency of top-level decision-making in firms going public, as an additional tool to increase investors’ trust and attract financial resources. Finally, the paper provides a comprehensive overview of the academic field, examining research trends and the evolutionary pattern. It also suggests future research avenues by identifying un(der)explored issues to advance knowledge on the topic.     

Decision-making,problem-solving and organizational learning

Problem-solving behavior is normally depicted within a decision-making approach. The maze has been advanced as a suitable abstract model for most kinds of decision-making and problem-solving activity. Rather than relate to managers as decision-makers—as those who primarily explore mazes—my proposal is to consider their role in maze-building. The paper discusses a number of deficiencies in current decision-making concepts, primarily those that neglect to account for goal setting and resetting. The paper then concludes with implications for the notion of organizational learning.     

Spatial Data Usage,Spatial Thinking and Spatial Knowledge Generation: The Case of Planning Practitioners in Arequipa,Peru

Spatial thinking and spatial knowledge generation in decision-making are still not mature fields of study in planning research, despite these being crucial elements in addressing the issues of the twenty-first-century city. This article contributes to their understanding by exploring their interrelationships with spatial data usage. Through storylines, it analyzes the arguments that planning practitioners offer in support of infrastructure-led decisions in Arequipa (Peru), before and after spatial data usage. The article concludes that spatial data usage improve spatial thinking to different extents, yet suggests aligning spatial data generation and the inclusion of GIS-based spatial analyses with the spatial knowledge needed by routine planning practice.     

多心理账户下的群体投资决策规则优化研究

从决策者有限理性角度,引入行为金融于群体投资决策系统,研究了多心理账户下群体投资决策规则优化问题。研究给出了群体投资决策系统诸多非标准金融实证异象行为的金融解释,并指出了决策者金字塔式心理账户结构;研究提出了各个心理账户下离散随机变量的信息度量方法,以行为证券组合理论为内核进行集成建模,揭示了多心理账户下群体投资决策规则的优化机理。     

The coordination of short-run decision-making with long-range planning

The dichotomy of short-run and long-run decision-making in economic enterprises has gained widespread acceptance, both in practice and in the related literature despite the inherent interdependence of these decisions. The problem addressed in this paper deals with the proper coordination of short- and long-run planning. Structuring the overall decision problem of the firm as a dynamic programming problem, we find that a natural decomposition into long- and short-range planning results. In this decomposition, all decisions which must be made in the first segment of the planning period are allocated to the short-run decision-makers and all subsequent decisions to the long-range planners. Though several formats have been suggested in the literature for linking short- and long-run plans, most notably the use of shadow prices and of targets or quotas, we find that from a conceptual viewpoint these are inadequate mechanisms and that the proper connection involves the dynamic programming return function.     

决策柔性的一般定义、模型与价值

许多学者和决策实践者认为,决策柔性应当具有价值.但这一直觉推测并未在一般的决策理论框架下得到的证实.文章的目的就是要从理论上证明这一推测.通过回顾关于柔性的文献,归纳出柔性的本质属性(范围和速度).进而在决策理论的一般框架下,给出了决策柔性的数学定义,建立了柔性决策模型,并指出了该模型与经典柔性决策模型之间的关系.最后,应用该模型,证明了"决策选项的价值随着决策(范围和(或)反应)柔性水平的提高而增加"这一基本结论.     

Flexible reasoning using sensible agent-based systems: A case study in job flow scheduling

Planning and control systems for highly dynamic and uncertain manufacturing environments require adaptive flexibility and decision-making capabilities. Modern distributed manufacturing systems assess the utility of planning and executing solutions for both system goals (e.g. minimize manufacturing production time for all parts or minimize WIP) and local goals (e.g. expedite part A production schedule or maximize machine X utilization). Sensible Agents have the ability to alter their autonomy levels to choose among a set of decision models in order to handle the differences between local and system goals. In this paper, Sensible Agents are applied to a production planning and control problem in the context of job shop scheduling and decision model theory. Sensible Agents provide for trade-off reasoning mechanisms among system and local utilities that are flexible and responsive to an agent's abilities, situational context and position in the organizational structure of the system.     

Urban management—Some models for policy making

Urban management has been the subject of much ‘integrative’ discussion and analysis, both in this country and abroad. Indeed, as the author suggests in this paper ‘the feeling is that there is a danger that planners might take on too broad a field and try to do too much’. This paper examines the notions of the planner's role within a ‘political’ decision-making process and examines a number of different models indicating their relevance, complexity and feasibility. By concentrating upon the relationship of the theories of planning with the political decision-making environment within which they are enacted, the author draws usefully upon the relevant literature and provides a comprehensive, persuasive, intelligent and, comprehensive view of the relevance of some theories and the irrelevance of others. This paper walks the narrow tight rope between the fallacious separation of policy formulation from policy implementation, whilst at the same time recognizing the distinction between these two aspects of the decision-making process. The author postulates a number of propositions relevant to a planning process of an optimal nature and, although treating some of the theory in a somewhat superficial manner, the analysis provides a useful addition to the body of planning knowledge. This paper pieces together a number of existing elements of planning theory within a theoretical and conceptual framework. This is an important contribution to planning theory, since it does not suggest that the planning process is merely a collection of techniques, but that it is a complex system for recognizing, regulating and ultimately reconciling human values.     

基于CI-TOPSIS的梯形直觉模糊多准则群决策分类方法

模糊群决策分类方法广泛应用于政治、经济与社会生活各个领域,可有效避免个人知识与经验局限性所导致的决策失误。针对信息不完备的多准则群决策问题,提出基于CI-TOPSIS的梯形直觉模糊多准则群决策分类方法。首先,给出梯形直觉模糊集及广义梯形直觉模糊几何聚类算子,兼顾考虑群决策中相应依赖属性与决策者的决策偏好。其次,给出基于离散Choquet积分的TOPSIS算子（CI-TOPSIS）,以此为基础,进一步给出基于CI-TOPSIS的梯形直觉模糊多准则群决策分类步骤,用于确定具有最大可信度群体一致案例比较信息集,并逐步引导决策者给出部分及全部方案的精确分类,充分考虑模糊决策环境下决策者偏好与案例比较信息的级别关系。最后,通过一个投资决策实例对所提出的多准则分类方法进行验证。实例分析表明：该方法克服了决策过程中信息的遗漏,充分保留了决策过程中信息的完备性,更适用于直觉模糊群决策环境下的决策实践,是一种非常有效和科学的方法,可应用推广到更多决策领域。本文所得结论,对于有效解决多人多投资方案的群决策问题,具有一定的借鉴意义。     

Selection of logistics service provider: An analytic network process (ANP) approach

This article presents a comprehensive methodology for the selection of a logistic service provider. The proposed methodology consists of two parts: (i) preliminary screening of the available providers, and (ii) analytic network process (ANP)-based final selection. The criteria, which are relevant in the selection of a provider, have been identified and used to construct an ANP model. Thereafter, the application of ANP for the final selection of a provider has been demonstrated through an illustrative example. The results of this example indicate that compatibility between the user and the provider companies is the most important determinant, which influences the final selection process. This approach also enables the decision-makers to better understand the complex relationships of the relevant attributes in the decision-making, which may subsequently improve the reliability of the decision.     

Can business learn from wargames?

The value of planning, particularly strategic planning, has long been recognized by both the military and business. Recently, the military has made significant contributions in the area of strategic decision making through the use of war games. Business managers may be able to expand their strategic decision-making judgment by employing the wargaming technology developed by the military. If the wargaming concept is embraced by business, it must serve, as it does in the military, as an aid to decision-making rather than as the decision itself.