Thomas J. Housel

Information systems for crisis management: Lessons from Southern California Edison

This article describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an integrated voice-data-video information system for crisis management at Southern California Edison (SCE). It was developed for top managers to help prevent and control problems that might arise with their nuclear power generating station at San Onofre, California. The article describes some of the systems unique design features, and the lessons that SCE learned from implementation. It concludes by providing a generic set of prescriptions for the design and implementation of information systems for crisis management.

Reengineering Business Processes: A Complexity Theory Approach To Value Added

AbstractToday, there is no objective, countable way to measure value added by component processes before and after a reengineering effort and, therefore, no way to provide executives with return-based assurances. Objective value allocation among the component processes of a compound process cannot be gotten through existing approaches (e.g., generally accepted accounting practices, activity-based costing, economic value added, cost of quality, quality function deployment) (Drucker, 1993; Eccles, 1991; Johnson, 1992). These approaches focus on cost or various subjective assessments of value and cannot be used in return based financial ratios because they do not use comparably objective units of measurement (e.g., money). Using an extension of Kolomogorov’s Complexity Theory, this paper offers a solution to this problem. Specifically, this article proposes an approach to calculating return-on-investment at the component process level.

Knowledge valuation analysis: Applications for organizational intellectual capital

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of an analytic methodology (knowledge valuation analysis, i.e. KVA), based on complexity and information theory, that is capable of quantifying value creation by corporate intellectual capital. It aims to use a real‐world case to demonstrate this methodology within a consulting context.Design/methodology/approach – The fundamental assumptions and theoretical constructs underlying KVA are summarized. The history of the concept, a case application, limitations, and implications for the methodology are presented.Findings – Although well‐known financial analytic tools were used to justify IT investment proposals, none provided a satisfying result because none offered an unambiguous way to tie IT performance to value creation. KVA provided a means to count the amount of corporate knowledge, in equivalent units, required to produce the outputs of client core processes. This enabled stakeholders to assign revenue streams to IT, develop IT ROIs, and decid...

The Effects of Information and Cognitive Processes on Decision Making

Abstract This article examines the efficacy of a two-stage cognitive model of decision making within the context of loan decisions. A covariance structural analysis of the cognitive processes that loan officers and MBA students used to reach loan decisions was examined through measures designed to test the proposed two-stage processing model. The results indicated that, during the first stage of cognitive processing, conceptually-driven and data-driven perceptual biases caused different assessments of loan information. The results also indicated that judgments made during the second phase of processing significantly affected decision choice. The well documented conservatism bias was also evident in the results. The result was that experienced loan officers did not out-perform novice students on most of the loan decisions. The relative usefulness of the two-stage model is discussed and general suggestions for future decision making research are offered.

Effective Use of Collaborative IT Tools: Nature, Antecedents, and Consequences

A fundamental issue for IS academics and practitioners is how collaborative IT tools can be effectively used to improve group work. Collaborative IT tools are integrated sets of IT functionalities that facilitate communication and information sharing among interconnected entities. Integrating the literature on group support systems with recent work on IT capabilities, this paper introduces the construct of collaborative IT tools leveraging capability. It is defined as the ability of groups to effectively use a set of IT functionalities - workspace sharing, conferencing, file sharing, scheduling, chat, email - available in collaborative IT tools to facilitate group work. Collaborative IT tools leveraging capability is proposed to impact group performance. To enhance the groups effectiveness in leveraging collaborative IT tools, we propose a set of antecedents: customization of collaborative IT tools, the groups habit in using collaborative IT tools, the groups perceived usefulness and ease of use of collaborative IT tools, the group members trust, and environmental uncertainty. Data from 365 group managers support the studys structural model with the antecedents and outcomes of collaborative IT tools leveraging capability at different levels of environmental uncertainty. The paper discusses the studys contributions to understanding the nature of collaborative IT tools leveraging capability, its impact on group work, and how it can be enhanced to facilitate group work. Implications for enhancing group work with the aid of collaborative IT tools are also discussed.

An approach for identifying value in business processes

Many organizations are embarking upon knowledge management initiatives to enhance their competitiveness. While there has been a significant amount of multidisciplinary research in this area, the evidence from surveys of practitioners indicate that a large proportion of company projects focus on the implementation of technology‐based solutions without consideration of the structural and contextual issues. Many academic authors have presented a variety of different models for knowledge management but have often failed to relate these to the requirements of practitioners. This paper presents a model of knowledge management derived from a synthesis of current literature. The model emphasizes the need for knowledge evaluation within a knowledge management approach and describes, using a case study, how this might be achieved.

Conversational themes and attention focusing strategies: Predicting comprehension and recall

The specific purpose of this study was to examine the effects of conversational themes and attention focusing strategies on conversational comprehension and recall. A 2×2×2×2 between subjects factorial designs was used to test the research question with 247 participants. The results demonstrated that the unambiguous themes predicted conversational comprehensibility and recall accuracy. The results indicated that personal conversational information may be processed differently from content conversational information. Future conversational processing research should focus on discovering the reasons for the processing differences between content and personal conversational information.

The development of information services in France: The case of public videotex

This report offers a detailed examination of the French telephone monopolys, i.e. France Telecom, experiences developing and implementing their public videotex services (i.e. Teletel/Minitel). This study offers new insights about the reasons for the success of this videotex service when so many others have failed to meet initial expectations. The strategic, political, financial, and administrative underpinnings of this videotex service are examined with new data. This study offers countries and companies facing the challenge of implementing new information services a framework which will help ensure success.

The Role of Business Communications Practitioners in the Computer Age.

Computer technology has had a major impact on the business environment and, consequently, on business communication. While computers significantly increase productivity, ignoring human considerations in automating offices leads to employee resistance . As computer technology continues to change, it will undoubtedly have a major impact on patterns of communication within organizations. Because successful implementation of automation depends upon how well employees are prepared for the change, business communication practitioners and educators must develop programs which synthesize research, training, and evaluation to help businesses anticipate the effects these changes will have on communication patterns. In this way business communication practitioners can clarify the purposes, processes, and effects of computer automation for employees, and develop an educational curriculum which prepares employees and business students for the future business environment.

Human Capital valuation and return of investment on corporate education

This paper presents the Attitude, Skills, Knowledge, and Experience-Knowledge Value Added (ASKE-KVA) methodology developed from the designed Individual Technical Competence (ITC) of a value chain to assess changes in the Human Capital of a company. It is based on the Knowledge Value Added (KVA) method, which proposes the use of a proxy variable for measuring the flow of knowledge used in a key Process. This variable creates a relationship between the companys financial results and the resources used in each of the business processes. The KVA method uses an indicator that measures the result of knowledge per unit (K@m), which transforms costs and investments in the same unit. The ASKE-KVA methodology expands the previous concept, using fuzzy logic to measure the flow of knowledge associated with each ITC and, therefore, making it possible to obtain the return on investment of a particular business process.