Success and failure factors of shared services : an IS literature analysis

Organizations seeking improvements in their performance are increasingly exploring alternative models and approaches for providing support services; one such approach being Shared Services. Because of the possible consequential impact of Shared Services on organizations, and given that information systems (IS) is both an enabler of Shared Services (for other functional areas) as well as a promising area for Shared Services application, Shared Services is an important area for research in the IS field. Though Shared Services has been extensively adopted on the promise of economies of scale and scope, factors of Shared Services success (or failure) have received little research attention. This paper reports the distillation of success and failure factors of Shared Services from an IS perspective. Employing NVIVO and content analysis of 158 selected articles, 9 key success factors and 5 failure factors are identified, suggesting important implications for practice and further research.

Chaos or complex systems? Identifying factors influencing the success of international and NESB graduate research students in Engineering and Information Technology Fields

The paper explores the results an on-going research project to identify factors influencing the success of international and non-English speaking background (NESB) gradúate students in the fields of Engineering and IT at three Australian universities: the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), the University of Western Australia (UWA), and Curtin University (CU). While the larger study explores the influence of factors from both sides of the supervision equation (e.g., students and supervisors), this paper focusses primarily on the results of an online survey involving 227 international and/or NESB graduate students in the areas of Engineering and IT at the three universities. The study reveals cross-cultural differences in perceptions of student and supervisor roles, as well as differences in the understanding of the requirements of graduate study within the Australian Higher Education context. We argue that in order to assist international and NESB research students to overcome such culturally embedded challenges, it is important to develop a model which recognizes the complex interactions of factors from both sides of the supervision relationship, in order to understand this cohort‟s unique pedagogical needs and develop intercultural sensitivity within postgraduate research supervision.

Estimation on the mortality and disease burden attributed to selected risk factors in Shandong province [山东省主要危险因素的归因死亡和疾病负担分析]

Objective: To determine the major health related risk factors and provide evidence for policy-making,using health burden analysis on selected factors among general population from Shandong province. Methods: Based on data derived from the Third Death of Cause Sampling Survey in Shandong. Years of life lcrat(YLLs),yearS Iived with disability(YLDs)and disability-adjusted life years(DALYs) were calculated according to the GBD ethodology.Deaths and DALYs attributed to the selected risk factors were than estimated together with the PAF data from GBD 2001 study.The indirect method was employed to estimate the YLDs. Results: 51.09%of the total dearlls and 31.83%of the total DALYs from the Shandong population were resulted from the 19 selected risk factors.High blood pre.ure,smoking,low fruit and vegetable intake,aleohol consumption,indoor smoke from solid fuels,high cholesterol,urban air pollution, physical inactivity,overweight and obesity and unsafe injections in health care settings were identified as the top 10 risk faetors for mortality which together caused 50.21%of the total deaths.Alcohol use,smoking,high blood pressure,Low fruit and vegetable intake, indoor smoke from solid fuels, overweight and obesity,high cholesterol, physical inactivity,urban air pollution and iron-deficiency anemia were proved as the top 10 risk factors related to disease burden and were responsible for 29.04%of the total DALYs. Conclusion: Alcohol use.smoking and high blood pressure were determined as the major risk factors which influencing the health of residents in Shandong. The mortality and burden of disease could be reduced significantly if these major factors were effectively under control.

Assessment of operability and maintainability success factors in provision of extended constructability principles

The concept of constructability integrates individual construction functions and experiences through suitable and timely inputs into early stages of project planning and design. It aims to ease construction processes for a more effective and efficient achievement of overall project objectives. Similarly, the concepts of operability and maintainability integrate the functions and experiences of Operation and Maintenance (O&M) into project planning and design. Various studies suggested that these concepts have been implemented in isolation of each other and thus preventing optimum result in delivering infrastructure projects. This paper explores the integration of these three concepts in order to maximize the benefits of their implementation. It reviews the literature to identify the main O&M concerns, and assesses their association with constructability principles. This provides a structure to develop an extended constructability model that includes O&M concerns. It is anticipated that an extended constructability model that include O&M considerations can lead to a more efficient and effective delivery of infrastructure projects.

A prospective study investigating the impact of school belonging factors on negative affect in adolescents

School belonging, measured as a unidimensional construct, is an important predictor of negative affective problems in adolescents, including depression and anxiety symptoms. A recent study found that one such measure, the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale, actually comprises three factors: Caring Relations, Acceptance, and Rejection. We explored the relations of these factors with negative affect in a sample of 504 Australian grade 7 and 8 students who completed the PSSM and Children’s Depression Inventory (CDI) at three time points. Each school belonging factor contributed to the prediction of negative affect in cross-sectional analyses. Scores on the Acceptance factor predicted subsequent negative affect for boys and girls, even controlling for prior negative affect. For girls, the Rejection factor was also significant in the prospective analysis. These findings have implications for the design of interventions and are further confirmation that school belonging should be considered a multidimensional construct.

Childbirth and the development of acute trauma symptoms : incidence and contributing factors

Background: Little is known about the relationship between women's birthing experiences and the development of trauma symptoms. This study aimed to determine the incidence of acute trauma symptoms and posttraumatic stress disorder in women as a result of their labor and birth experiences, and to identify factors that contributed to the women's psychological distress. Method: Using a prospective, longitudinal design, women in their last trimester of pregnancy were recruited from four public hospital antenatal clinics. Telephone interviews with 499 participants were conducted at 4 to 6 weeks postpartum to explore the medical and midwifery management of the birth, perceptions of intrapartum care, and the presence of trauma symptoms. Results: One in three women (33%) identified a traumatic birthing event and reported the presence of at least three trauma symptoms. Twenty-eight women (5.6%) met DSM-IV criteria for acute posttraumatic stress disorder. Antenatal variables did not contribute to the development of acute or chronic trauma symptoms. The level of obstetric intervention experienced during childbirth (β= 0.351, p < 0.0001)and the perception of inadequate intrapartum care (β= 0.319, p < 0.0001) during labor were consistently associated with the development of acute trauma symptoms. Conclusions: Posttraumatic stress disorder after childbirth is a poorly recognized phenomenon. Women who experienced both a high level of obstetric intervention and dissatisfaction with their intrapartum care were more likely to develop trauma symptoms than women who received a high level of obstetric intervention or women who perceived their care to be inadequate. These findings should prompt a serious review of intrusive obstetric intervention during labor and delivery, and the care provided to birthing women.

A comparison of the psychological, social, and legal factors contributing to speeding and drink driving behaviour

Within Australia, motor vehicle injury is the leading cause of hospital admissions and fatalities. Road crash data reveals that among the factors contributing to crashes in Queensland, speed and alcohol continue to be overrepresented. While alcohol is the number one contributing factor to fatal crashes, speeding also contributes to a high proportion of crashes. Research indicates that risky driving is an important contributor to road crashes. However, it has been debated whether all risky driving behaviours are similar enough to be explained by the same combination of factors. Further, road safety authorities have traditionally relied upon deterrence based countermeasures to reduce the incidence of illegal driving behaviours such as speeding and drink driving. However, more recent research has focussed on social factors to explain illegal driving behaviours. The purpose of this research was to examine and compare the psychological, legal, and social factors contributing to two illegal driving behaviours: exceeding the posted speed limit and driving when over the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) for the drivers licence type. Complementary theoretical perspectives were chosen to comprehensively examine these two behaviours including Akers’ social learning theory, Stafford and Warr’s expanded deterrence theory, and personality perspectives encompassing alcohol misuse, sensation seeking, and Type-A behaviour pattern. The program of research consisted of two phases: a preliminary pilot study, and the main quantitative phase. The preliminary pilot study was undertaken to inform the development of the quantitative study and to ensure the clarity of the theoretical constructs operationalised in this research. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 11 Queensland drivers recruited from Queensland Transport Licensing Centres and Queensland University of Technology (QUT). These interviews demonstrated that the majority of participants had engaged in at least one of the behaviours, or knew of someone who had. It was also found among these drivers that the social environment in which both behaviours operated, including family and friends, and the social rewards and punishments associated with the behaviours, are important in their decision making. The main quantitative phase of the research involved a cross-sectional survey of 547 Queensland licensed drivers. The aim of this study was to determine the relationship between speeding and drink driving and whether there were any similarities or differences in the factors that contribute to a driver’s decision to engage in one or the other. A comparison of the participants self-reported speeding and self-reported drink driving behaviour demonstrated that there was a weak positive association between these two behaviours. Further, participants reported engaging in more frequent speeding at both low (i.e., up to 10 kilometres per hour) and high (i.e., 10 kilometres per hour or more) levels, than engaging in drink driving behaviour. It was noted that those who indicated they drove when they may be over the legal limit for their licence type, more frequently exceeded the posted speed limit by 10 kilometres per hour or more than those who complied with the regulatory limits for drink driving. A series of regression analyses were conducted to investigate the factors that predict self-reported speeding, self-reported drink driving, and the preparedness to engage in both behaviours. In relation to self-reported speeding (n = 465), it was found that among the sociodemographic and person-related factors, younger drivers and those who score high on measures of sensation seeking were more likely to report exceeding the posted speed limit. In addition, among the legal and psychosocial factors it was observed that direct exposure to punishment (i.e., being detected by police), direct punishment avoidance (i.e., engaging in an illegal driving behaviour and not being detected by police), personal definitions (i.e., personal orientation or attitudes toward the behaviour), both the normative and behavioural dimensions of differential association (i.e., refers to both the orientation or attitude of their friends and family, as well as the behaviour of these individuals), and anticipated punishments were significant predictors of self-reported speeding. It was interesting to note that associating with significant others who held unfavourable definitions towards speeding (the normative dimension of differential association) and anticipating punishments from others were both significant predictors of a reduction in self-reported speeding. In relation to self-reported drink driving (n = 462), a logistic regression analysis indicated that there were a number of significant predictors which increased the likelihood of whether participants had driven in the last six months when they thought they may have been over the legal alcohol limit. These included: experiences of direct punishment avoidance; having a family member convicted of drink driving; higher levels of Type-A behaviour pattern; greater alcohol misuse (as measured by the AUDIT); and the normative dimension of differential association (i.e., associating with others who held favourable attitudes to drink driving). A final logistic regression analysis examined the predictors of whether the participants reported engaging in both drink driving and speeding versus those who reported engaging in only speeding (the more common of the two behaviours) (n = 465). It was found that experiences of punishment avoidance for speeding decreased the likelihood of engaging in both speeding and drink driving; whereas in the case of drink driving, direct punishment avoidance increased the likelihood of engaging in both behaviours. It was also noted that holding favourable personal definitions toward speeding and drink driving, as well as higher levels of on Type-A behaviour pattern, and greater alcohol misuse significantly increased the likelihood of engaging in both speeding and drink driving. This research has demonstrated that the compliance with the regulatory limits was much higher for drink driving than it was for speeding. It is acknowledged that while speed limits are a fundamental component of speed management practices in Australia, the countermeasures applied to both speeding and drink driving do not appear to elicit the same level of compliance across the driving population. Further, the findings suggest that while the principles underpinning the current regime of deterrence based countermeasures are sound, current enforcement practices are insufficient to force compliance among the driving population, particularly in the case of speeding. Future research should further examine the degree of overlap between speeding and drink driving behaviour and whether punishment avoidance experiences for a specific illegal driving behaviour serve to undermine the deterrent effect of countermeasures aimed at reducing the incidence of another illegal driving behaviour. Furthermore, future work should seek to understand the factors which predict engaging in speeding and drink driving behaviours at the same time. Speeding has shown itself to be a pervasive and persistent behaviour, hence it would be useful to examine why road safety authorities have been successful in convincing the majority of drivers of the dangers of drink driving, but not those associated with speeding. In conclusion, the challenge for road safety practitioners will be to convince drivers that speeding and drink driving are equally risky behaviours, with the ultimate goal to reduce the prevalence of both behaviours.

Prevalence of malnutrition risk and its relationship with risk factors of hospital re-admission in older adults

Background: Risk of malnutrition in older people continues to be a global problem. Malnutrition is often unrecognized and under-treated across health care settings and may result in undesirable health consequences, impaired recovery from illness and a poorer quality of life. Aim: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of malnutrition risk in a sample of older people at high risk of hospital re-admission. The association between risk factors of hospital re-admission and risk of malnutrition were also explored. Methods: One hundred and twenty five hospitalised patients aged 65 years and older at risk of hospital readmission (24% male, 76% female, mean age 77 ± 6 years) were recruited from a tertiary metropolitan hospital in Australia. The valid and reliable Malnutrition Screen Tool (MST) was employed to screen for malnutrition risk. It consists of two questions related to recent weight loss and appetite. Results: Prevalence of older adults at risk of malnutrition was 27.4%. Risk of malnutrition was not associated with age, gender and living arrangement. However, among risk factors of hospital readmission, lack of social support (χ2 = 4.18, N = 125, p = 0.028), and fair –poor self-rating of health (χ2 = 4.13, N = 125, p = 0.042) were statistically significant associated with risk of malnutrition. Conclusion: Risk of malnutrition in older people continues to be a concern in health care, and increasing psycho social support may help shed light on reducing risk of malnutrition.

Factors of process model comprehension : findings from a series of experiments

In order to make good decisions about the design of information systems, an essential skill is to understand process models of the business domain the system is intended to support. Yet, little knowledge to date has been established about the factors that affect how model users comprehend the content of process models. In this study, we use theories of semiotics and cognitive load to theorize how model and personal factors influence how model viewers comprehend the syntactical information of process models. We then report on a four-part series of experiments, in which we examined these factors. Our results show that additional semantical information impedes syntax comprehension, and that theoretical knowledge eases syntax comprehension. Modeling experience further contributes positively to comprehension efficiency, measured as the ratio of correct answers to the time taken to provide answers. We discuss implications for practice and research.

Project management deployment : the role of cultural factors

This paper investigates the role of cultural factors as possible partial explanation of the disparity in terms of project management deployment observed between various studied countries. The topic of culture has received increasing attention in the management literature in general during the last decades and in the project management literature in particular during the last few years. The globalization of businesses and worldwide Governmental/International organizations collaborations drives this interest in the national culture to increase more and more. Based on Hofstede national culture framework, the study hypothesizes and tests the impact of the culture and development of the country on the PM deployment. Seventy-four countries are selected to conduct a correlation and regression analysis between Hofstede’s national culture dimensions and the used PM deployment indicator. The results show the relations between various national culture dimensions and development indicator (GDP/Capita) on the project management deployment levels of the considered countries.

Internal and external motivation factors in virtual and collocated project environments : a principal component investigation

In this study, we explore motivation in collocated and virtual project teams. The literature on motivation in a project set.,ting reveals that motivation is closely linked to team performance. Based on this literature, we propose a set., of variables related to the three dimensions of ‘Nature of work’, ‘Rewards’, and ‘Communication’. Thirteen original variables in a sample size of 66 collocated and 66 virtual respondents are investigated using one tail t test and principal component analysis. We find that there are minimal differences between the two groups with respect to the above mentioned three dimensions. (p= .06; t=1.71). Further, a principal component analysis of the combined sample of collocated and virtual project environments reveals two factors- ‘Internal Motivating Factor’ related to work and work environment, and ‘External Motivating Factor’ related to the financial and non-financial rewards that explain 59.8% of the variance and comprehensively characterize motivation in collocated and virtual project environments. A ‘sense check’ of our interpretation of the results shows conformity with the theory and existing practice of project organization

Project management deployment : the role of cultural factors

This paper investigates the role of cultural factors as possible partial explanation of the disparity in terms of Project Management Deployment observed between various studied countries. The topic of culture has received increasing attention in the management literature in general during the last decades and in the Project Management literature in particular during the last few years. The globalization of businesses and worldwide Governmental / International organizations collaborations drives this interest in the national culture to increase more and more. Based on Hofstede national culture framework, the study hypothesizes and tests the impact of the culture and development of the country on the PM Deployment. 74 countries are selected to conduct a correlation and regression analysis between Hofstede’s national culture dimensions and the used PM Deployment indicator. The results show the relations between various national culture dimensions and development indicator (GDP/Capita) on the Project Management Deployment levels of the considered countries.

Risk factors for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection among children in Greenland

Objective To examine the risk factors for Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection (MTI) among Greenlandic children for the purpose of identifying those at highest risk of infection. Methods Between 2005 and 2007, 1797 Greenlandic schoolchildren in five different areas were tested for MTI with an interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) and a tuberculin skin test (TST). Parents or guardians were surveyed using a standardized self-administered questionnaire to obtain data on crowding in the household, parents’ educational level and the child’s health status. Demographic data for each child – i.e. parents’ place of birth, number of siblings, distance between siblings (next younger and next older), birth order and mother’s age when the child was born – were also extracted from a public registry. Logistic regression was used to check for associations between these variables and MTI, and all results were expressed as odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Children were considered to have MTI if they tested positive on both the IGRA assay and the TST. Findings The overall prevalence of MTI was 8.5% (152/1797). MTI was diagnosed in 26.7% of the children with a known TB contact, as opposed to 6.4% of the children without such contact. Overall, the MTI rate was higher among Inuit children (OR: 4.22; 95% CI: 1.55–11.5) and among children born less than one year after the birth of the next older sibling (OR: 2.48; 95% CI: 1.33–4.63). Self-reported TB contact modified the profile to include household crowding and low mother’s education. Children who had an older MTI-positive sibling were much more likely to test positive for MTI themselves (OR: 14.2; 95% CI: 5.75–35.0) than children without an infected older sibling. Conclusion Ethnicity, sibling relations, number of household residents and maternal level of education are factors associated with the risk of TB infection among children in Greenland. The strong household clustering of MTI suggests that family sources of exposure are important.

Doing blog research

Blogs and other online platforms for personal writing such as LiveJournal have been of interest to researchers across the social sciences and humanities for a decade now. Although growth in the uptake of blogging has stalled somewhat since the heyday of blogs in the early 2000s, blogging continues to be a major genre of Internet-based communication. Indeed, at the same time that mass participation has moved on to Facebook, Twitter, and other more recent communication phenomena, what has been left behind by the wave of mass adoption is a slightly smaller but all the more solidly established blogosphere of engaged and committed participants. Blogs are now an accepted part of institutional, group, and personal communications strategies (Bruns and Jacobs, 2006); in style and substance, they are situated between the more static information provided by conventional Websites and Webpages and the continuous newsfeeds provided through Facebook and Twitter updates. Blogs provide a vehicle for authors (and their commenters) to think through given topics in the space of a few hundred to a few thousand words – expanding, perhaps, on shorter tweets, and possibly leading to the publication of more fully formed texts elsewhere. Additionally, they are also a very flexible medium: they readily provide the functionality to include images, audio, video, and other additional materials – as well as the fundamental tool of blogging, the hyperlink itself. Indeed, the role of the link in blogs and blog posts should not be underestimated. Whatever the genre and topic that individual bloggers engage in, for the most part blogging is used to provide timely updates and commentary – and it is typical for such material to link both to relevant posts made by other bloggers, and to previous posts by the present author, both to background material which provides readers with further information about the blogger’s current topic, and to news stories and articles which the blogger found interesting or worthy of critique. Especially where bloggers are part of a larger community of authors sharing similar interests or views (and such communities are often indicated by the presence of yet another type of link – in blogrolls, often in a sidebar on the blog site, which list the blogger’s friends or favourites), then, the reciprocal writing and linking of posts often constitutes an asynchronous, distributed conversation that unfolds over the course of days, weeks, and months. Research into blogs is interesting for a variety of reasons, therefore. For one, a qualitative analysis of one or several blogs can reveal the cognitive and communicative processes through which individual bloggers define their online identity, position themselves in relation to fellow bloggers, frame particular themes, topics and stories, and engage with one another’s points of view. It may also shed light on how such processes may differ across different communities of interest, perhaps in correlation with the different societal framing and valorisation of specific areas of interest, with the socioeconomic backgrounds of individual bloggers, or with other external or internal factors. Such qualitative research now looks back on a decade-long history (for key collections, see Gurak, et al., 2004; Bruns and Jacobs, 2006; also see Walker Rettberg, 2008) and has recently shifted also to specifically investigate how blogging practices differ across different cultures (Russell and Echchaibi, 2009). Other studies have also investigated the practices and motivations of bloggers in specific countries from a sociological perspective, through large-scale surveys (e.g. Schmidt, 2009). Blogs have also been directly employed within both K-12 and higher education, across many disciplines, as tools for reflexive learning and discussion (Burgess, 2006).

Rebuilding housing after a disaster : factors for failure

Disasters, particularly those triggered by nature are often followed by a swift humanitarian relief response to address the resultant emergencies. These efforts are then transitioned through the medium recovery stage, eventually aimed at providing a long term post-disaster reconstruction solution. Emergency humanitarian relief focuses on responding to the immediate need for restoration of basic services, medical treatment and medical supplies, food and temporary shelter, and is a short term strenuous effort. Reconstruction of permanent houses, on the other hand, is a continuous process that often requires decades of effort to return a community to normality. Whilst emergency relief is generally perceived to be very effective, post-disaster housing reconstruction projects often fail to meet their set objectives. This paper outlines and discusses factors that contribute to the failure of post-disaster housing reconstruction projects and the subsequent immediate and long term negative impacts of failure on project outcomes.