Integration of business process management and knowledge management: state of the art,current research and future prospects

The integration of business process management (BPM) and knowledge management (KM) helps companies to improve temporal, qualitative and cost aspects of the provision of goods and services and to increase their innovative capacities. There are numerous publications in German and English that deal with the integration of both of these management approaches. By means of a comprehensive examination of this literature, the present article evaluates the state of knowledge and identifies additional research needs. More specifically, the volume of the publications examined is evaluated and classified by means of appropriate and carefully defined criteria. Moreover, the contents of the classes thus defined will be elucidated and then critically discussed. Finally, this article provides a general review of current approaches and their specific merits, and it will demonstrate the current deficits and spheres of activity in relation to the integration of BPM and KM.     

Master Production Rescheduling Policy in Capacity-Constrained Just-In-Time Make-To-Stock Environments

This paper describes a simulation experiment to evaluate the relative effectiveness of rescheduling policies in capacity-constrained, just-in-time (JIT) make-to-stock production environments. Three performance measures were analyzed: average finished goods inventory, total units of sales lost, and a measure of schedule instability. Among the three loading methods we studied (level loading, front loading, and back loading), none was superior across all three performance measures. Level loading was the most robust, while back loading had an interaction effect with forecasting model and capacity level. Time fence scenario was found not to be as significant a factor in system performance as reported by previous research. Once an acceptable time fence scenario is selected, attempts to optimize this factor do not appear to offer significant improvement. It was found that higher demand variation, larger forecast errors, and tight capacity lead to the degradation of system performance. Judicious use of slack capacity helps a system to incorporate the periodic schedule changes typical of JIT systems.     

Parental constructions of masculinity at the transition to parenthood: the division of parental leave among Austrian couples

Men and masculinity are considered a key factor in changing gender inequality at the transition to parenthood. Prior research on gendered division of parental leave concentrated on fathers’ perspectives. This paper includes perspectives of fathers and mothers who make use of parental leave in different ways and asks how masculinity is jointly constructed, how these constructions are linked to the use of parental leave, and if and how they are oriented towards hegemonic masculinity. The analysis is based on 44 qualitative interviews with 11 Austrian couples before and after birth when decisions concerning parental leave were made. Our case reconstructions reveal that parents considered parental leave a central element of masculinity as long as it suited fathers’ needs and circumstances permitted. The decisions for sharing parental leave were father-centred as both partners valued father’s leave higher than mother’s.     

The medium-term currency outlook

The article examines the experience of the major international currencies over the period since 1953 and assesses their prospects in the early 1980s. It summarizes the historical background, drawing a distinction between the Bretton Woods arrangement, when the world operated under a notional fixed exchange rate system, and the post 1971 experience which has involved a good deal of ‘dirty floating’ in the absence of any formal system. The paper focuses on the factors which influence exchange rate movements, and examines the practical uses of the analytical tools available, assessing the value, and possible misuse, of exchange rate forecasts in the decision-making process of the Long Range Planner. The author draws certain conclusions about economic policy and the international monetary system and offers some thoughts about the implications of the European Monetary System.     

Supervisionsausbildung als Lernende Organisation oder: Wie weit ist es nach Teplá?

People are changed by organisations and people change organisations. Supervisors are active with their consultancy work on this interface. Organisation is therefore a central topic and learning field which is handled on different levels (systemic-structural, personal-biographic, phenomenal) in the counsellingsupervision training, which the author has been practicing since 20 years. This is not done in a theoretical way but through a concrete approach.     

Modernisierung und Demokratisierung

Most social scientists agree that democracy is essentially a product of modernity: As soon as a society follows the path of modernization, especially by implementing economic reforms, a democratic transition seems inevitable. As the complexity of society increases, the demands on the governmental performance of the state rise. Accordingly, authoritarian developmental regimes will be replaced in the long term by liberal democracies. But the causes and mechanisms between modernization and democratization are still unclear. While most studies are based on functionalist concepts, this article explores the subject from a constitution theoretical perspective. The argument is developed in four steps: In the first step, I will discuss the contributions of Parsons and Luhmann to the explanation of democratization processes. In the second step, I will give an overview of recent non-functionalist concepts for the analysis of differentiation processes. In the third step, these concepts are used in order to investigate the relation between modernization and democratization on the case of South Korea (1979–1987). This empirical study focuses on structures of inequality in the social subsystems, the carriers and motives of pro-democratic protests, and finally the temporal patterns of interaction between the South Korean democratization movement and the authoritarian regime. In the fourth step, the explanatory potential of non-functional differentiation theories for the analysis of democratization processes will be discussed.     

Megakirchen als religiöse Organisationen: Ein dritter Gemeindetyp jenseits von Sekte und Kirche?

Due to the rapid growth and expansion of so-called Megachurches, the religious landscape of the United States has been changing greatly over the past decades. The term Megachurch usually refers to evangelical congregations which draw at least 2,000 attenders to their regular weekly services and often significantly more. Megachurches can be thought of as representing a novel form of congregation. This study explores their specific organizational features. It addresses the following questions: (1) How do Megachurches cope with the structural strains caused by their rapid growth? (2) What are the organizational factors which are contributing to their success? The investigation consists of two parts: First, we examine the growth doctrine of the Megachurches, which draws its legitimation from religious sources and has to be viewed in a larger context of churches and religious audiences in the United States. Second, we focus on the internal organization structures that reproduce the patterns of dynamic stability underlying this growth doctrine.     

A tight analysis of Brown-Baker-Katseff sequences for online strip packing

We study certain adversary sequences for online strip packing which were first designed and investigated by Brown, Baker and Katseff (Acta Inform. 18:207–225) and determine the optimal competitive ratio for packing such Brown-Baker-Katseff sequences online. As a byproduct of our result, we get a new lower bound of $\rho \ge 3/2+\sqrt{33}/6 \approx 2.457$ for the competitive ratio of online strip packing.     

现象学在中国

一随赫胥黎《天演论》和卢梭《民约通义》中译本1898年的出版,西方哲学的重要著作开始陆续被引入汉语世界,其中也包括许多现代西方哲学流派的著作,如意志主义和生命哲学以及实用主义和分析哲学等等。相比之下,现象学哲学在中国的译介和传播则开始得较迟,并且从总体上看是相对缓慢的。就当时东西方文化交流的历史而言,早在20和30年代期间,从邻国日本就有相当大一批年轻日本学者来到德国,跟随胡塞尔和海德格尔等人学习哲学,并因此而将现象学引入到日本,使它有可能在西田几多郎这样的东方思想家那里引起共鸣①。现象学成为日本西方思…