Decision knowledge sharing: flexible supply chains in KM context

Supply chain excellence has a real impact on business strategy. Building supply chains as flexible systems represents one of the most exciting opportunities to create value and one of the most challenging tasks for the policy makers. It requires integrated decision making amongst autonomous chain partners with effective decision knowledge sharing between them. The key to success lies in knowing which decision has more impact on the overall performance and this can be achieved by appropriate knowledge sharing. In this context, knowledge management (KM) can be used as an effective approach to achieve knowledge sharing and decision synchronisation in supply chains. Flexible supply chains (FSC_s) are more complex and involve multiple autonomous players with varying technical cultures (affects knowledge mindsets), managerial background (affects decision knowledge) and supply chain management (SCM) exposures (affects knowledge sharing attitudes). Thus there is a need to develop demo models that can encourage chain managers towards collaborative knowledge sharing in the supply chains. This paper presents the application of one such model based on decision knowledge sharing (DKS) for improved supply chain management. A simulation model of a flexible supply chain based on DKS framework is developed for demo purposes. The key results are highlighted along with industry implications. The cost based performance of DKS at different levels of flexibility is studied. Thus a careful analysis of the chain with a focus on collaborative decisions is useful to ensure success. This paper addresses this interesting and challenging domain.     

The influence of organizational identification on organizational knowledge management (KM)

Information technology (IT) outsourcing vendor organizations contain isolated business units whose creation and sustenance greatly facilitate business operations. But they also introduce important challenges for organizational knowledge management (KM). In this paper, based on 7 months of intensive field-work at India Inc., a leading Indian IT firm, we looked at how members’ identification with two organizations, their own and their client organization, influences their compliance with an organizational KM initiative. The findings show that members have difficulties in complying with the expectations of the organizational KM initiative owing to a stronger identification with their client organizations. At the same time, they comply readily with KM initiatives at the business unit level. The findings show that KM managers at India Inc. use the help of middle level managers in the business units in their efforts to improve members’ compliance with organizational KM. Theoretical and managerial implications of the study are discussed.     

知识管理过程对新产品开发绩效的影响研究

知识管理是高动荡外部环境下影响新产品开发成败的决定性因素,本文构建了知识管理过程对新产品开发绩效影响的理论模型,研究了知识管理的基本过程及其对新产品开发绩效的影响,并考察了产品创新性和环境动荡性的调节作用。利用来自中国十一个省市206个新产品开发项目的问卷调查数据进行实证分析。研究结果表明知识获取和知识整合对新产品开发绩效具有显著影响,环境动荡性正向调节知识获取、创造、整合与新产品开发绩效关系,而知识创造对新产品开发绩效的影响不显著,产品创新性对知识获取、创造、整合与新产品开发绩效之间关系的调节影响均不显著。     

Polarization: Concepts,Measurement, Estimation

We develop the measurement theory of polarization for the case in which income distributions can be described using density functions. The main theorem uniquely characterizes a class of polarization measures that fits into what we call the “identity‐alienation” framework, and simultanously satisfies a set of axioms. Second, we provide sample estimators of population polarization indices that can be used to compare polarization across time or entities. Distribution‐free statistical inference results are also used in order to ensure that the orderings of polarization across entities are not simply due to sampling noise. An illustration of the use of these tools using data from 21 countries shows that polarization and inequality orderings can often differ in practice.     

Producing Synergy: Innovation,IT, and Productivity

Bringing innovations to market is critical to industrial progress and economic growth. We explore the potential for information technology (IT) to enable innovations, and thus improve productivity. We hypothesize that a knowledge stock of process‐oriented research and development (R&D) increases total factor productivity growth by leveraging traditional forms of capital and labor, and further enhances the ability of IT capital to increase productivity. We estimate these relationships using two broad panels of U.S. industries covering the periods 1987–1998 and 1998–2005. The results indicate qualified support for a synergistic effect of R&D and IT investment in both periods.     

Romancing leadership: Past, present, and future

This paper presents a review of the romance of leadership and the social construction of leadership theory 25 years after it was originally introduced. We trace the development of this theoretical approach from the original formulation of the romance of leadership (RoL) theory as attributional bias through its emergence as a radical, unconventional approach that views leadership as a sensemaking activity that is primarily ‘in the eye of the beholder.’ We subsequently review research published in management and organizational psychology journals, book chapters and special issues of journals from 1985 to 2010. Three overall themes emerged from this review: 1) biases in (mis)attributions of leadership, including attributions for organizational success and failure; 2) follower-centered approaches, including the role of follower characteristics, perceptions, and motivations in interpreting leadership ratings; and 3) the social construction of leadership, including interfollower and social contagion processes, the role of crisis and uncertainty, and constructions and deconstructions of leadership and CEO celebrity in the media. Within each of these themes, we examine developments and summarize key findings. Our review concludes with recommendations for future theoretical and empirical work in this area.     

Labour Market Policies: Welfare,Incomes, Employment

The — in some ways innovative — objective of this paper is the study of the dynamics of the disequilibria provoked by the emergence of involuntary unemployment in the labour market, and the role of the economic policy authorities (through welfare, incomes and employment policies), with the aim of discovering if there is an explicit or implicit consistency between the role of these authorities, their actions and the pursuit of maximum employment (or elimination of the disequilibria). We seek to show, in other words, whether the actions of the government authorities conform to their accepted meaning (the aim of reducing the disequilibria) or whether, on the contrary, it may not be possible to put forward a different interpretation, if sociopolitical variables are introduced into the analysis, thus placing in the foreground different and alternative objecties such as “conflict control” and/or the reaching of a consensus between the different social partners. The paper therefore begins by analysing separately the historical-theoretical characteristics of the individual policies considered — welfare, incomes and employment — in their evolution (with particular reference to the last two decades), and then attempts an interpretative key in synthesis, by resorting to a specific model derived from the theories of disequilibria.     

Covid-19: agnotology,inequality, and leadership

ABSTRACT

I use the concept of agnotology to examine the way in which the UK government diverted the public gaze from lack of equipment and hidden privatization by claiming to ‘follow the science’ and so adopt the ‘strategy’ of herd immunity. This has resulted in excess deaths, hospitalization and life-changing injury. The global experience of Covid-19 has emphasized existing inequalities, anger, and the challenge of ‘leadership’ in such threatening times. I briefly look at the role of HR as we work through the long-lasting effects of the pandemic on individuals and ‘civilization’.     

Patient care: past, present, and future

The 40 years since St Christopher's Hospice opened has witnessed a burgeoning international interest in palliative care. Its key characteristics comprise a focus on the whole-person (physical, psychological, social, and spiritual), patient-centeredness (partnership with and empowerment of the patient and family), openness and honesty in communication, an acceptance of the inevitability of death coupled with improvement in the quality of life, multi-professional teamwork integrated with community (volunteer) involvement. Although much has been achieved, much remains to be done. Both in resource-poor countries and in more wealthy ones, the scope of palliative care has changed. Initially in the United Kingdom, palliative care was mostly limited to cancer patients but now strenuous efforts are being made to extend coverage to other patient groups, e.g., those with end-stage heart disease or renal failure. In India, with a dearth of chronic care facilities, palliative care services increasingly embrace those with chronic disability as well as progressive end-stage disease. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the devastating impact of AIDS is having a major impact on the development and delivery of palliative care. To maximize the benefits of limited financial and other resources, a strategic approach is necessary. The World Health Organization emphasizes three essential foundation measures: health service policy, public awareness and professional education, and drug availability. However, at the end of the day, if we are truly to honor Cicely Saunders, palliative care must remain a movement with momentum, combining creative charisma with inevitable bureaucratic routinization.     

Hirer, hiree, beware: new hiring trends

What are the three hiring trends that trouble both human resources people and top management? From the "exploding job offer," to new hires who renege on their acceptances, to "front loading," these trends are predicted to continue, so where does this leave you in the salary negotiation process? From communicating often to interviewing more carefully, some suggestions are explored to help physician executives address these disturbing trends. There's still a sub rosa theory that only undesirable candidates back out of an offer. But that's no longer true and that attitude may make you short-handed!     

Organizational Discourse: Domains,Debates, and Directions

Interest in the analysis of organizational discourse has expanded rapidly over the last two decades. In this article, we reflect critically on organizational discourse analysis as an approach to the study of organizations and management, highlighting both its strengths and areas of challenge. We begin with an explanation of the nature of organizational discourse analysis and outline some of the more significant contributions made to date. We then discuss existing classifications of approaches to the study of organizational discourse and suggest that they fall into two main categories: classifications by level of analysis and classifications by type of method. We argue that both of these approaches are inherently problematic and present an alternative way to understand the varieties of approaches to the analysis of organizational discourse based on within domain and across domain characterizations. We conclude with a discussion of the challenges that remain in the development of organizational discourse as an area of study and point to some of the opportunities for important and unique contributions to our understanding of organizations and management that this family of methods brings.