Environmental improvement initiatives in the coal mining industry: maximisation of the triple bottom line

Abstract

Mining is an economically important industry, which faces several environmental and social challenges. Other than operational improvement activities, mining companies are increasingly paying attention to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and maximise social welfare to satisfy multiple stakeholders and the rise of corporate social responsible initiatives. Based on a case study analysis of coal mining companies we develop a triple bottom line (TBL) initiatives framework that provides a starting point for mining companies to develop a strategic approach to environmental improvement initiatives that can positively impact all elements of the TBL. We highlight four types of process and offset-based initiatives that are available to mining companies to reduce their GHGs, each having differential effects on elements of the TBL. Our findings suggest the importance of company-wide strategies of looking at initiatives through all rather than individual elements of the TBL. Such a strategy would provide an appropriate estimate of the costs and benefits of the initiatives and results in a balanced approach that takes care of operational improvement, reduces GHGs and improves the social welfare of people engaged in mining operations and wider society.     

Supporting collaboration in humanitarian supply chains – insights from a design science project

Abstract

The growing number of large-scale relief operations and humanitarian aid initiatives is stretching the resources – financial, material and human – of humanitarian actors to their limits. Challenges to collaborate both within international humanitarian organizations, and among their direct and indirect supply chain partners often contribute to the inefficient use of resources, or ineffective operations. In this research, we discuss collaboration in humanitarian supply chains, and analyze causes of their dysfunctional operations. Furthermore, we develop an experiential learning approach that can sensitize humanitarian supply chain actors to causes of information distortion. The simulation approach was implemented in the field and instructional design cycles yielded insights into how staff apply their learnings under the specific conditions of humanitarian relief work.     

Participatory Action Research in Affordable Housing Partnerships: Collaborative Rationality,or Sleeping with the Growth Machine?

Abstract

Participatory Action Research (PAR) emphasizes working with communities to develop questions that are relevant to their needs, then co-generating research to answer these questions. Typically, PAR focuses on empowering marginalized communities. Transforming Housing is a community–university collaborative partnership based in Melbourne Australia, with researchers asking developers, government, investors and community housing providers what they need to know in order to provide more and better affordable housing, then collectively generating ideas. After three years, this article takes a reflective practice lens to examine both possibilities and pitfalls arising from PAR with the rich and powerful. The article concludes that collaborate research on affordable housing can lead to outcomes intellectually honest, sustainable beyond political cycles and capable of effecting positive change at both the local and the metropolitan scales. However, this form of collaborative research can be easily derailed by politics, and does not address underlying structural inequalities.     

The impact of learning opportunities and decision authority on occupational health

In an investigation of 418 employees in the Norwegian Postal Service, employees with high learning opportunities and high decision authority were found to be better off on psychological functioning, health and organizational outcome variables than employees with low scores on these variables. Decision authority and learning opportunities had specific and independent impact on subjective health, psychological functioning, coping style and organizational outcome variables. There were, however, also interaction effects between demands, learning opportunities, and decision authority on subjective health. Learning opportunities and decision authority were operationalized with a questionnaire, supplemented with questions on the opportunities to learn skills beyond the present job situation. It is suggested that this is a particularly important dimension for coping with the present day rapid changes in working life, where the objective for many workers will be to broaden their repertoire and competence to increase their flexibility in the labour market.     

Do makerspaces represent scalable production models of community-based redistributed manufacturing?

Abstract

This research explores the development of local community-based ‘makerspaces’ as potential scalable forms of redistributed manufacturing (RDM). Makerspaces are rapidly emerging in post-industrial economies and have been identified as a catalyst of local regeneration in urban areas. However, their role in local production systems is limited. There is a gap in the literature, with respect to the evolution of makerspaces and their productive contribution. The purpose of this paper therefore is to identify, classify and examine the different types of makerspaces. Our focus is on the implementation characteristics that enable industrial production activity to take place. First, we used Leximancer (to identify from the literature) three types of makerspace. Second, we then identify five RDM implementation characteristics. The characteristics were integrated together to form the RDM-makerspace implementation model. Third, case studies were purposively selected to test and advance this model. They were subsequently classified as a Type 1 (educational), Type 2 (design) or Type 3 (production) makerspace. Only one of the case studies was classified as a fully evolved Type 3 production space. The findings concur with the literature that makerspaces tend to be primarily Type 1 or Type 2. Finally, the contribution to local production theory is emphasized.     

Adaptive/predictive scheduling: review and a general framework

Abstract

Abstract. Effective production scheduling can have a dramatic impact on manufacturing productivity. In modern automated manufacturing systems, the ability to revise and adjust the schedule can help reduce indirect costs which comprise a large portion of manufacturing costs in those systems. The objective of the research discussed here has been to study the feasibility of automatically scheduling multi-machine complexes and adjusting the schedule on a real-time basis by a unified computer system. We arc investigating selective real-time schedule adaptation by distinguishing between schedule generation and regeneration tasks (which might not be cost-effective) from schedule adaptation/recovery tasks (basically, causing less cosily disruption of the original plans). The article describes our general framework for automatic adaptive/predictive scheduling that includes five main functions: scheduler; monitor;comparator; resolvcr; recovery adaptor. Some experimental results demonstrating the effectiveness of the framework are discussed.     

The Impact of Authority Relations and Feedback Delivery Method on Performance

ABSTRACT

The proliferation of technology has been changing feedback delivery methods in organizations. However, the effectiveness of feedback delivery methods can vary depending on social dynamics (e.g., authority relations) in the organization. The current study was designed to examine the impact of authority relations and feedback delivery methods on performance. A total of 120 participants were recruited to work on a simulated cell-phone assembly task and were exposed to one of the four feedback conditions: (a) authority figure with face-to-face feedback, (b) authority figure with e-mail feedback, (c) non-authority figure with face-to-face feedback, and (d) non-authority figure with e-mail feedback. Results showed that while both feedback delivery methods resulted in high performance with the presence of an authority figure, only face-to-face feedback resulted in high performance with a non-authority figure. Practical considerations for effective feedback delivery methods in relation to authority figures are also discussed.     

Social media led co-creation of knowledge in developing societies: SME’s roles in the adoption,use and appropriation of smartphones in South Asia

Abstract

Social media supports the creative economy through its involvement in the adoption and appropriation of new innovation and accelerates economic growth. The current paper expands on this notion by identifying and analyzing the interaction between social media-based communities and small and medium enterprises (SMEs), as it examines how social media contributes to the knowledge co-creation and supports the adoption, use and appropriation of smartphones in South Asian countries, which are inhabited by approximately 1.6 billion people. The findings obtained through virtual ethnography (VE) provide insights into the dynamics and kinetics of knowledge co-creation and how that benefits large multinationals, small local businesses and consumers in developing societies. As such, we advance the knowledge management scholarship by presenting a holistic model of co-creation of knowledge involving multiple stakeholders.     

Can you have your cake and eat it? Investigating trade-offs in the implementation of green initiatives

Abstract

Is it possible for manufacturing or service businesses that pursue green initiatives to ‘have it both ways’? In the words of some researchers in the corporate sustainability field, the answer is ‘no’. According to those authors, executives who attempt to implement a green agenda in their firms will encounter tensions/trade-offs at various levels and in different forms. Assessment of these trade-offs is a critical issue in the formulation and implementation of corporate sustainability strategies. Similarly, some authors in the operations management field affirm that, due to the limitations of all manufacturing and service systems, trade-offs in their operations are inevitable. In order to provide insights into these important issues, our paper investigates potential trade-offs in the implementation of a green initiative in a SME that manufactures cleaning products. The results show that there is a trade-off between the green initiative pursued by the SME and its overall production costs. Interestingly, once other problems were resolved, this trade-off did not stop the SME from implementing the green initiative. Important implications for practitioners and researchers are discussed, and opportunities for future investigations are outlined.     

Importance of fairness in humanitarian relief distribution

Abstract

This article is inspired by some of the challenges faced by non-governmental organizations in the distribution of humanitarian relief to vulnerable rural communities. A major concern of these organizations is to warrant that relief is distributed in an impartial and transparent way, which gives rise to the notion of fairness. This article thus discusses the importance of fairness in relief distribution and how it can be defined, especially in a context where delivery of vital items must be ensured periodically. We also propose some performance indicators to measure fairness, which can be useful to organizations that are held accountable for the impartiality of their decisions. Finally, an empirical study of an academic case, inspired by a rural aid distribution problem, is used to analyse how different mathematical formulations may contribute in helping crisis managers integrate fairness or equity in their decisions.     

Towards sustainability by aligning operational programmes and sustainable performance measures

Abstract

In the last decades, sustainable concerns have increasingly gained importance to organizational survival, and Lean/Six Sigma approaches are becoming more and more outstanding in order to improve sustainability performance. This article aims to evaluate the degree of importance of sustainable performance measures of Brazilian organizations and to propose guidelines to achieve sustainability by aligning these measures with operational improvement programmes. Multiple data collection methods were applied as theoretical literature review, questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews with industry professionals and academic researchers. The findings show that it is the corporate responsibility to focus their efforts on both operational improvement programmes and sustainable initiatives in order to achieve better environmental protection, corporate reputation, quality management, cost performance and suppliers relations, as they are considered to be more important on organizational sustainability.     

Planning Your Way to Job Growth

This paper examines the impact of comprehensive community planning on job growth in a US setting. Comprehensive planning is carried out in many communities, usually at the city or county level. Analyzing county-level data from the state of Georgia collected using a survey of planning professionals, we find that several aspects of planning and the subsequent implementation of the plan can have large impacts on job growth. We find that zoning standards increase job growth, but that it makes little difference how strict those zoning standards are. The largest increases in job growth can be captured simply by consistently following the adopted plan. This is likely due to the signal sent by following the plan that the local government can be trusted to keep other promises made in the process of attracting new businesses. Finally, the most innovative comprehensive plans were associated with lower job growth, at least within our 5-year post-plan study period, perhaps because already struggling communities pass innovative plans in hopes of correcting their shortcomings. The lesson our research holds for planners is that following the plan is likely more important for its success related to economic development than the particular features in the plan.     

Best Practices and Policy Transfer in Spatial Planning

Abstract

Numerous European programs and initiatives have been instrumental in identifying a large and increasing number of examples of best practice (or good practice) in the field of spatial planning. In fact, there is now a profligacy of best practice, which means that many researchers and policy-makers are often confronted with too much information when trying to identify examples of policy and practice in other places. The identification and dissemination of best practices has become a growing industry in many areas of European policy, including spatial planning and urban environmental issues. In many cases, an underlying assumption of best practices is that they are equally applicable and effective in another setting, and that the development and dissemination of best practice will help to lead to improvements in policy and practice in other countries, regions or cities. However, the reality is that best practices have a more limited role in policy-making processes: other influences are frequently more important. The value of exchanging European best practices is limited since there are huge differences in the economic, political or social situation between countries in the European Union. This is particularly true when considering the transfer of best practices between ‘new’ and ‘old’ member states, where the social and economic situation, as well as the institutional frameworks, are often very different in ‘borrowing’ and ‘lending’ countries.     

Planning reform beyond planning: the debate on an integrated Environment and Planning Act in the Netherlands

Land-use plans serve a dual function. On the one hand, they are programmes for future development, plans for action. On the other hand, they have a regulative function in relation to construction and land use. This paper investigates how the interplay between these functions is playing a role in the current debate about the new integrated Environment and Planning Act (Omgevingswet) in the Netherlands. Initially, the government proposed abolishing local land-use plans and replacing them with a system of by-laws. However, this proposal did not survive the debate on this bill. This paper will shed light on the relationships between planning and regulation by analysing that debate.     

Women and technology: A review of training initiatives

Abstract

This paper considers the entry of women into technological areas of work, their subsequent career progression and return to work after a career break. It considers the development of those training programmes and related initiatives which have attempted to encourage girls and young women to enter non-traditional areas of work, and others which help women return to work after a career break. It emphasizes that such training needs to address the psychological and social issues which arise, as well as provide for new technical knowledge and skills. In doing so it reviews some of the courses which are currently available and comments on their apparent success. In its concluding problems it refers to the on-going problem of funding such training and of providing a supportive database.     

Surfacing important but invisible issues in American companies in Japan

This paper explores cross-cultural conflict between Americans and Japanese working together in Japan. Drawing on participant observation, this study develops and pilot tests an application for facilitating group dialogue around organizational conflict, based on Arnold Mindell’s Process Work model of group facilitation. The model proposes several major concepts: (1) rank awareness and how people in authority use their authority; (2) roles and polarities, including primary and secondary identities; and (3) how the marginalization of views can spawn conflict. The application of this model to several conflicts between Americans and Japanese suggest three sources of conflict that often stem from unvoiced cultural assumptions. First, the case findings here suggest that the freedom to speak up is often taken for granted by Americans, but not by Japanese. Second, Japanese are more aware and constrained by social norms than are Americans. Third, Americans in positions of authority in this case are relatively unaware of how the way they use their authority impacts the Japanese around them.     

Changing Conceptions of Employee Compensation

Abstract

This paper reviews and discusses many differing forms of incentive compensation systems that are being used in today's organizations. The review traces the roots of bonus compensation from individual piece-work plans through the adoption of organization-wide gainsharing plans to the growing recognition of open-book management. Reasons for the shift in units of analysis from the individual employee to the work team or organization as a whole are discussed. Explanations are also given for why many companies are beginning to concentrate on outcomes rather than process measures as indicators of organizational success. Lastly, suggestions for enhancing the research agenda and bridging the gap between science and practice are provided for the scientists and practitioners of organizational behavior management.     

The dynamics of policy change

This paper is concerned with policy adaptation and policy design in the public sector. The author commences with examples from UK experience relating to policy, initially using the local authority structure plans as an illustration. He then develops three assertions: that (1) turbulence undermines policy; (2) complexity undermines policy and (3) responsiveness undermines policy. Subsequently he discusses ways in which policy development may make a positive contribution to public planning, taking account of these realities.     

Exploring the Effects of Cultural Variables in the Implementation of Behavior-Based Safety in Two Organizations

Abstract

The present case study examines how culture can influence behavior-based safety in different organizational settings and how behavior-based safety can impact different organizational cultures. Behavior-based safety processes implemented in two culturally diverse work settings are described. Specifically, despite identical implementation plans, similarities and differences in the actual implementation of the two behavior-based safety processes are presented with an emphasis on the effects of employee-driven decisions. Data on both implementations and outcome measures are provided. The results are discussed with respect to the potential impact of specific cultural variables.     

Youth Master Plans as Potential Roadmaps to Creating Child- and Youth-friendly Cities

Communities across the globe are focusing on the needs of young people and their families in an effort to create child- and youth-friendly cities. In an attempt to become more child and youth friendly, over 40 communities in the United States have developed youth master plans (YMPs), as of 2009; however, our understanding of these plans is limited. To broaden this understanding, this research employed a multiple-methods approach, including an online questionnaire, plan analysis and semi-structured interviews with key community informants. Findings show that YMPs often focus on collaboration among community entities and youth participation, yet include only general normative statements regarding the physical environment. Furthermore, urban planners do not typically take the lead in development of YMPs, and, in some cases, are not involved at all. To inform and improve future YMPs, this paper recommends greater focus on the physical environment, particularly in relation to safety, access to nature and sustainable transportation.