Trust and conflict within virtual inter-organizational alliances: a framework for facilitating knowledge sharing

Trust and conflict are inherent issues of any organizational arrangement and central for knowledge sharing; yet they have received limited attention in the literature. In this paper, we undertake an investigation of both phenomena within the context of virtual alliances. A generic framework for understanding the dynamics of trust and conflict within the context of virtual inter-organizational arrangements is presented, followed by an examination of three distinct structural forms of virtual alliances, and strategies for generating trust and minimizing dysfunctional conflict. The paper concludes with an identification of avenues for further research.     

Understanding enterprise systems-enabled integration

A key touted benefit of enterprise systems (ES) is organizational integration of both business processes and data, which is expected to reduce processing time and increase control over operations. In our 3-year longitudinal case study of a phased ES implementation, we employed a grounded theory methodology to discover organizational effects of ES. As we coded and analyzed our field data, we observed many integration effects. Further analysis revealed underlying dimensions of ES-enabled integration. ES-enabled integration varied depending on the relationship between the integrated business units (similar plants, stages in a business process, or dissimilar functional areas) and on whether processes or data were integrated. Turning to the literature, we realized that Thompson's three types of interdependence, pooled, sequential, and reciprocal, captured the business relationships revealed in our data. Thus, we describe the salient characteristics of ES-enabled integration using Thompson's interdependence types applied to process and data integratio n. We also identify dimensions of differentiation between business units that contribute to integration problems. Viewing our field data through the lens of these salient characteristics and dimensions of differentiation provided theoretical explanations for observed integration problems. These findings also help managers understand and anticipate ES-enabled integration opportunities and problems.     

Integrated assessment and modelling: Overview and synthesis of salient dimensions

Integrated assessment and its inherent platform, integrated modelling, present an opportunity to synthesize diverse knowledge, data, methods and perspectives into an overarching framework to address complex environmental problems. However to be successful for assessment or decision making purposes, all salient dimensions of integrated modelling must be addressed with respect to its purpose and context. The key dimensions include: issues of concern; management options and governance arrangements; stakeholders; natural systems; human systems; spatial scales; temporal scales; disciplines; methods, models, tools and data; and sources and types of uncertainty. This paper aims to shed light on these ten dimensions, and how integration of the dimensions fits in the four main phases in the integrated assessment process: scoping, problem framing and formulation, assessing options, and communicating findings. We provide examples of participatory processes and modelling tools that can be used to achieve integration.     

Crisis Crowdsourcing Framework: Designing Strategic Configurations of Crowdsourcing for the Emergency Management Domain

Crowdsourcing is not a new practice but it is a concept that has gained substantial attention during recent disasters. Drawing from previous work in the crisis informatics, disaster sociology, and computer-supported cooperative work (CSCW) literature, this paper first explains recent conceptualizations of crowdsourcing and how crowdsourcing is a way of leveraging disaster convergence. The CSCW concept of “articulation work” is introduced as an interpretive frame for extracting the salient dimensions of “crisis crowdsourcing.” Then, a series of vignettes are presented to illustrate the evolution of crisis crowdsourcing that spontaneously emerged after the 2010 Haiti earthquake and evolved to more established forms of public engagement during crises. The best practices extracted from the vignettes clarified the efforts to formalize crisis crowdsourcing through the development of innovative interfaces designed to support the articulation work needed to facilitate spontaneous volunteer efforts. Extracting these best practices led to the development of a conceptual framework that unpacks the key dimensions of crisis crowdsourcing. The Crisis Crowdsourcing Framework is a systematic, problem-driven approach to determining the why, who, what, when, where, and how aspects of a crowdsourcing system. The framework also draws attention to the social, technological, organizational, and policy (STOP) interfaces that need to be designed to manage the articulation work involved with reducing the complexity of coordinating across these key dimensions. An example of how to apply the framework to design a crowdsourcing system is offered with a discussion on the implications for applying this framework as well as the limitations of this framework. Innovation is occurring at the social, technological, organizational, and policy interfaces enabling crowdsourcing to be operationalized and integrated into official products and services.     

Three dimensions of group work: Cooperation,participation and autonomy at German workplaces

We have carried out a representative survey among more than 1,600 workers, salaried employees and civil servants in industry, services sector and public service asking about types of cooperation in the work process. We have been able to identify eight different work organizations which can be described by the three dimensions of cooperation, participation and autonomy. In all, 6.9% of German employees work according to the organizational principle of group work. However, it is possible to distinguish very different types of group work regarding the group members' opportunities for autonomy and participation.This article is based on a research report written by Matthias Kleinsschmidt and Ulrich Pekruhl: Kooperative Arbeitsstrkturen and Gruppenarbeit in Deutschland. Ergebnisse einer repräsentativien Beschäftigtenbefragung. IAT Strukturberichterstattung 01, Gelsenkirchen 1994.     

The design of information technology planning systems for varying organizational contexts

The conduct of IT planning processes has been a dominant managerial concern in organizations. Yet, current IT planning research offers little guidance on the types of planning actions and behaviour that are appropriate to organizational contexts. The motivation of this paper is to extend the existing literature by addressing the following major question: How should organizations design IT planning systems to manage the conduct of their IT planning processes? The paper seeks to address this question by (i) identifying key organizational forces that affect the IT planning processes, (ii) articulating some of the key dimensions of IT planning systems and (iii) elaborating upon propositions for linking designs of IT planning systems with organizational context. The concepts and the propositions are expected to provide significant guidance for further research and practice.     

ICT infrastructure for innovation: A case study of the enterprise service bus approach

In this paper we investigate the relationship between ICT infrastructure and innovation. In recent years the concept of the enterprise service bus has been introduced as an ICT architecture that supports strong integration of distributed components and services, but at the same time allows for adding or subtracting business partners at short notice. What are the organizational issues and challenges of this approach? Building on a case study from Norway we investigated this topic in the context of innovation of ICT based services. Our findings were analyzed at three levels; the bus as technical infrastructure, the bus as innovation infrastructure and the bus as organizational structure. We find that the bus as technical infrastructure supports innovation within a business unit, while the bus as innovation infrastructure facilitates the innovation of new business services. Further, we propose that a shared topology of these three levels is important to support the overall innovation process. As illustrated in our case, this also raises new challenges for the innovative corporation.     

Capacity utilization and machine sharing in a group technology based manufacturing system

Each cell in a group technology-based manufacturing system can be assumed as being comprised of two categories of machine types: (a) Dedicated to the cell, (b) Shared by other cells. The shared machine types constitute the major problem in the implementation of a cellular manufacturing system. This paper demonstrates, using a hypothetical case study, a mathematical programming formulation that exploits the existence of shared machine types in a cellular manufacturing system. Part transfer for the parts whose output levels are restricted by available capacity or shared machine types can be found which will minimize the material handling penalties.     

显著性物体检测研究综述

人类的视觉系统能够迅速地、有选择地从视觉场景中检测出感兴趣的目标或者具有显著特征的物体,并根据更高层次的视觉任务目的对它们进行处理和理解,从而实现相应的行为或决策.将人类这种选择性视觉注意机制引入到计算机视觉的信息处理中,可以有效地减少视觉计算所需处理的数据量、加速整个处理过程,并进一步方便更高层次视觉任务的处理,因而该方面的研究受到学术界的广泛关注并应用到计算机视觉的各个领域.首先简单介绍了视觉注意力研究的发展历程,然后综述了显著性物体检测的各种方法,包括传统的方法和基于深度学习的方法,并对这两大类的方法作了进一步的分类和小结.接着,介绍了现有的显著性物体检测的数据集,并详细描述了用于评价检测算法效果的多种评测方法和指标.此外,还探讨了显著性物体检测在不同领域的应用.最后,对显著性物体检测研究的发展趋势和方向进行了分析和总结.     

Big Data und Informationsverarbeitung in organisatorischen Entscheidungsprozessen

Data-centric approaches such as big data and related approaches from business intelligence and analytics (BI&A) have recently attracted major attention due to their promises of huge improvements in organizational performance based on new business insights and improved decision making. Incorporating data-centric approaches into organizational decision processes is challenging, even more so with big data, and it is not self-evident that the expected benefits will be realized. Previous studies have identified the lack of a research focus on the context of decision processes in data-centric approaches. By using a multiple case study approach, the paper investigates different types of BI&A-supported decision processes, and makes three major contributions. First, it shows how different facets of big data and information processing mechanism compositions are utilized in different types of BI&A-supported decision processes. Second, the paper contributes to information processing theory by providing new insights about organizational information processing mechanisms and their complementary relationship to data-centric mechanisms. Third, it demonstrates how information processing theory can be applied to assess the dynamics of mechanism composition across different types of decisions. Finally, the study’s implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Entwurf von Anwendungssystemen und Entwurf von Enterprise Services

Service oriented (re-)design aims at increasing the flexibility of application architecture. In contrast to traditional application design, functionality clusters are intended to be coarse-grained and loosely coupled. The question is whether this new design paradigm also leads to different types of applications: In traditional application design, applications either are integrated along organizational structure (process oriented), along information objects (information oriented), or according to certain reusable functionalities (functionality / channel oriented). In practice, corresponding enterprise service types can be observed. While information oriented and functionality / channel enterprise services are designed widely similar to their traditional application counterparts, process oriented enterprise services usually have higher granularity. Based on four case analyses, this paper presents design approaches, analyzes enterprise service design and compares enterprise service design to traditional application design. Since both design paradigms seem to lead to widely similar architectures, potential reasons are discussed.     

基于改进VGG16网络模型的花卉分类

为进一步提高花卉分类的准确率, 在对现有的VGG16网络模型进行研究的基础上, 提出一种基于视觉注意力机制的网络模型. 将SE视觉注意力模块嵌入到VGG16网络模型中, 实现了对花卉显著性区域特征的提取; 为有效防止梯度爆炸及梯度消失, 加快网络的训练和收敛的速度, 在各卷积层后加入BN层; 采用多损失函数融合的方式对新模型进行训练. 新模型能有效提取花卉的花蕊、花瓣等显著性区域, 放大了花卉的类间距离, 缩小了类内距离, 加快了网络的收敛, 进一步提高了花卉分类的准确率. 实验结果表明, 新模型在Oxford-102数据集上的分类准确率比未引入注意力前有较大提高, 与参考文献相比, 分类准确率也有较大的提高.     

The Dialectical Tensions in the Funding Infrastructure of Cyberinfrastructure

This article focuses on funding for cyberinfrastructure and how funding affects the cyberinfrastructure foundation laid, who completes the work, and what the outcomes of the funding are. By following qualitative procedures and thematic analysis, we identify five dialectical tensions across three difference levels of institutions, individuals, and ideologies in the funding infrastructure of cyberinfrastructure. Through an organizational communication lens, we define funding infrastructure as the communication arrangements of institutions, individuals, and ideologies that must be coordinated in order for cyberinfrastructure to be brought into existence. These communication arrangements include salient motivations of and financial compensations for individuals who engage in them. They also comprise explicit policies about funding, as well as implicit ideologies about science embedded in funding, as held by institutions involved in these communication arrangements.     

IT outsourcing as strategic partnering: the case of the UK Inland Revenue

The information systems (IS) literature, and the industry sectors confronted with information technology (IT) outsourcing, are beginning to perceive IT outsourcing as more than just a necessary organizational resource-acquisition venture. Instead organizations have begun to consider vendors as their partners, causing many companies to enter into more intricate deals that include both contractual and informal issues. In light of these developments, a growing concern with forming closer client–vendor relationships has evolved for both vendors and clients. This paper explores, in the context of a case study, three critical dimensions emerging from previous studies. These are: what is outsourced; the contract; and the relationship dimension. We also explore the process and management issues underlying these dimensions. The investigation is enabled through two analytical frameworks, one proven in previous research, one exploratory, but both specifically developed for IT outsourcing arrangements.     

Virtual team collaboration: building shared meaning, resolving breakdowns and creating translucence

Managing international teams with geographically distributed participants is a complex task. The risk of communication breakdowns increases due to cultural and organizational differences grounded in the geographical distribution of the participants. Such breakdowns indicate general misunderstandings and a lack of shared meaning between participants. In this paper, we address the complexity of building shared meaning. We examine the communication breakdowns that occurred in two globally distributed virtual teams by providing an analytical distinction of the organizational context as the foundation for building shared meaning at three levels. Also we investigate communication breakdowns that can be attributed to differences in lifeworld structures, organizational structures, and work process structures within a virtual team. We find that all communication breakdowns are manifested and experienced by the participants at the work process level; however, resolving breakdowns may require critical reflection at other levels. Where previous research argues that face-to-face interaction is an important variable for virtual team performance, our empirical observations reveal that communication breakdowns related to a lack of shared meaning at the lifeworld level often becomes more salient when the participants are co-located than when geographically distributed. Last, we argue that creating translucence in communication structures is essential for building shared meanings at all three levels.     

Information systems evaluation as an organizational institution – experience from a case study

Abstract.  Information systems evaluation has strong social and organizational dimensions while existing research focuses primarily on the formal and positivistic characteristics. We investigate the organizational roles of the key stakeholders within the particular evaluation context (orientation). We focus on four evaluation orientations: control, sense-making, learning and exploratory. Experience from a case study is used to analyse these concepts and relations. The case organization attempted to move from a state of an ad-hoc evaluation practice to a more business-driven one. New tools, processes, roles and responsibilities were developed during the attempt. We examine the behavioural and organizational integration aspects of evaluation during that journey.     

Forms and functions of feedback in CAI and CAL

Abstract The form and function of reinforcement is discussed with attention to the focus for feedback. The case studies of five junior schools provide data and field notes for a tentative analysis of the determinants of reinforcement including organizational factors and (especially) types of CAI or CAL applications.     

基于时间自动机的Web服务模型检测

传统的基于有限状态机的组合Web服务模型检测方法不能保证带有时间约束的组合Web服务的正确性.把组合Web服务看成多智能体系统,将带有时间约束的Web服务智能体建模为时间自动机,通过并发组合构成时间自动机网络,从而用时间自动机验证工具UPPAAL对组合Web服务的运行过程进行模拟,并验证其活性、安全性和死锁等性质.采用该方法对雇员出差安排组合Web服务进行建模和验证,结果表明,该组合Web服务存在死锁问题.最后通过分析死锁产生的路径,完善该组合Web服务的通信协议,从而消除了死锁.     

Real-time structured texture synthesis and editing using image-mesh analogies

We present a novel texture synthesis technique designed to reproduce at real-time frame-rates example texture images, with a special focus on patterns characterized by structural arrangements. Unlike current pixel-, patch- or texton-based schemes, that operate in image space, our approach is structural. We propose to assimilate texture images to corresponding 2D geometric meshes (called texture meshes). Our analysis mainly consists in generating automatically these meshes, while synthesis is then based on the creation of new vertex/polygon distributions matching some arrangement map. The output texture image is obtained by rasterizing the previously generated polygons using graphics hardware capabilities, which guarantees high speed performance. By operating in geometry space instead of image/pixel space, the proposed structural approach has a major advantage over current techniques: beyond pure texture reproduction, it allows us to define various tools, which allow users to further modify locally or globally and in real-time structural components of textures. By controlling the arrangement map, users can substitute new meshes in order to completely modify the structural appearance of input textures, yet maintaining a certain visual resemblance with the initial example image.     

IT infrastructure services as a requirement for e-learning system success

Evaluation of e-learning systems success is an essential process in managing and developing these types of systems. There are still arguments about the factors can be used to evaluate the success of e-learning systems. Inadequate attention has been paid to investigate the role of IT infrastructure services as a foundation to create the success of e-learning systems. The focus of this study is the role of IT infrastructure services in terms of the success of e-learning systems. A model is proposed which includes five constructs: IT infrastructure services; perceived usefulness; user satisfaction; customer value; and organizational value. A quantitative study was conducted at an Australian University, with survey responses from 110 Academic staff members and 720 students who use the e-learning system. The empirical study confirmed that an IT infrastructure services is a valid and reliable construct to measure e-learning systems success. In addition, this study provides evidence of the critical role of IT infrastructure services in the success of e-learning systems via its significant effect on perceived usefulness, user satisfaction, customer value, and organizational value.