Alan Eardley

A model for improving the role of IT in BPR

Purpose – Extensive literature on business process management suggests that organisations could enhance their overall performance by adopting a process view of business. However, there is a lack of empirical research in this field. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the understanding of the process view and process maturity levels in a transition economy and to test the impact of process orientation maturity level on organisational performance.Design/methodology/approach – Empirical investigation combined an exploratory‐confirmatory approach using factor analysis and structural equation modelling.Findings – The investigation confirms the impact of business process orientation on organisational performance in a transition economy. The link is even stronger than in the original investigation. The results show that business process orientation leads to better non‐financial performance and indirectly to better financial performance.Practical implications – The research confirms that business process ...

ALTAR: achieving learning through action research

This paper describes a collaborative action research (AR) study that took place between a U.K. university and a large U.K. manufacturing organisation, Britvic Soft Drinks Ltd. The ALTAR (Achieving Learning Through Action Research) project involved a number of AR cycles involving participants at different levels of the collaborating organisation. Britvic was already in the process of adopting knowledge management (KM) software but it was recognised that they could better exploit KM technologies by undertaking the AR project described in the paper. The project involved developing academic theory into practical concepts that influenced actions in the organisation and fed back into the academic research. The ALTAR approach and findings are described in this paper and conclusions are drawn about the AR study and its implications for AR, KM and for the future study of organisational learning through AR. The conclusions of the work are of practical use to managers in a variety of organisations and will inform academic research into cognate disciplines using the AR process.

Studying the Energy Consumption in Mobile Devices

Abstract In the last few years, it is noticed that mobile smart devices are becoming very essential component of our daily life. The smart phones can do a variety of very useful jobs. In addition to make calls, they can be used to create and share multimedia files, run very useful applications and do data processing. But those devices suffer from some limitations including limited storage and processing capacity and short battery life time due to energy drain which is noticed to be increased when running applications that require intensive computations on the mobile devices. In this paper, the literature is searched for related work, and the power consumption is measured experimentally for different components of two common brands of smart phones, namely, Galaxy Note3 and Sony Xperia Z2. The measurements are done using applications that measures the power consumed in each component of the phone. The obtained results are presented to get more accurate understanding of how these components participate to the overall power consumption of the smart phone. Also, this work can be used in the future to propose better techniques to reduce the energy consumption by the smart phones.

Knowledge Management for Primary Healthcare Services

This chapter looks at some of the issues of knowledge management in the UK’s National Health Service and in healthcare in general. An examination of some of the concepts of knowledge and of knowledge management is carried out, including knowledge management tools, systems, and strategies. The characteristics of healthcare organizations are examined and it is concluded that the National Health Service relies on knowledge and would benefit from the effective application of knowledge management. A number of knowledge management initiatives (i.e. the National Electronic Library for Health and the Map of Medicine) are examined. The current approach to knowledge management in the National Health Service is reviewed and recommendations are made for promoting “best practice” in the organization.

Predicting the relationships between virtual enterprises and agility in supply chains

Develop an aggregated research schema for VE, ASC, and SC collaboration.Propose a conceptual model for the relationship between VE and ASC.Explore drivers and enablers of agility.Provide rich empirical evidence on impact of VE on ASC.Present theoretical insights and practical implications for managers. In the recent advanced information communications and technology (ICT) era, collaborating virtually and temporarily in supply chains (SCs) to receive mutual benefits such as agility while sharing resources and information becomes an important strategy for enterprises that seek to increase their competitiveness and to optimise their processes and resource usage. As a dynamic and temporary form of alliance from the resource perspective, virtual enterprises (VEs) may contribute network resource heterogeneity and sustain competitive advantage. In addition, agility is suggested as a rare, valuable, network resource that is difficult to imitate and that cannot easily be substituted by other attributes.Although many researchers have investigated VEs and their agility, the research pays less attention to the relationship between VEs and agility in complex SC situations. This paper therefore investigates the relationship between VE and agility in SCs (ASCs) and explores drivers and enablers of agility and outcomes. To clarify the relationships between factors a structural equation model (SEM) is adopted to examine the model fit according to the measurement variables and supporting hypotheses. The results provide rich empirical evidence of the beneficial impact of VEs on ASCs, and theoretical and managerial insights that can be used to strengthen the drivers, enablers and capabilities to enhance the effectiveness of VE collaboration in ASCs in a global and dynamic context. Also, the analysis results can aid a decision maker which ones of the factors are the important ones that he or she should devote more resources and efforts on.

The discharge planning dilemma in the UK NHS: the role of knowledge management

This paper describes a research project that investigates and evaluates the role of Knowledge Management (KM) in discharge planning (DP) within the UK National Health Service (NHS). KM has been promoted in the NHS for a little more than 13 years. The paper shows that the popular press frequently reports problems associated with DP and examines some more reliable sources, concluding that more research into the phenomenon is needed. The factors that contribute to inadequate DP are summarised as conclusions to the paper. This is therefore an extract from a wider research project into the use of KM in DP, which is aimed at suggesting some causes, indicating some possible solutions and producing a KM framework to guide the DP and decision-making process. The paper indicates the current status of the research, which is continuing. It is hoped that this paper highlights the problem, summarises the research to date and stimulates further discussion of this important topic. Further publications will disseminate the developed solution.

The Limits to DSS: Supporting Vision, Creativity and Future Thinking

ABSTRACT This paper explores the limits of decision support systems (DSS) using a case study of fashion purchasing to elicit the range of needs for which support might be required. In particular, it highlights the extent to which issues such as vision, creativity and future thinking are management problems for which systems would be useful. The paper looks at the attributes of vision and relates components of a vision—based decision to the development and use of DSS. Vision is defined, and its constituents, foresight, culture, change and strategic intent, discussed. The needs of senior decision makers and the drawbacks of DSS in supporting vision—based decisions are analysed. Management techniques suitable as model bases for such DSS are briefly examined. Some are useful for assessing the impact and importance of future developments, yet, currently available development techniques are more suitable for planning than for supporting of vision—based decisions. An example taken from the fashion industry illus...

A Knowledge based Decision Making Tool to Support Cloud Migration Decision Making

Cloud computing represents a paradigm shift in the way that IT services are delivered within enterprises. Cloud computing promises to reduce the cost of computing services, provide on-demand computing resources and a pay per use model. However, there are numerous challenges for enterprises planning to migrate to a cloud computing environment as cloud computing impacts multiple aspects of enterprises and the implications of migration to the cloud vary between enterprises. This paper discusses the development of an holistic model to support strategic decision making for cloud computing migration. The proposed model uses a hybrid approach to support decision making, combining the analytical hierarchical approach (AHP) with Case Based Reasoning (CBR) to provide a knowledge based decision support model and takes into account five factors identified from the secondary research as covering all aspects of cloud migration decision making. The paper discusses the different phases of the model and describes the next stage of the research which will include the development of a prototype tool and use of the tool to evaluate the model in a real life context.