A method to analyse the alignment of core values in collaborative networked organisations

Since collaborative networked organisations are usually formed by independent and heterogeneous entities, it is natural that each member holds his own set of values, and that conflicts among partners might emerge because of some misalignment of values. In contrast, it is often stated in literature that the alignment between the value systems of members involved in collaborative processes is a prerequisite for successful co-working. As a result, the issue of core value alignment in collaborative networks started to attract attention. However, methods to analyse such alignment are lacking mainly because the concept of 'alignment' in this context is still ill defined and shows a multifaceted nature. As a contribution to the area, this article introduces an approach based on causal models and graph theory for the analysis of core value alignment in collaborative networks. The potential application of the approach is then discussed in the virtual organisations' breeding environment context.

Elements of a methodology to assess the alignment of core-values in collaborative networks

Collaborative networks are typically formed by heterogeneous and autonomous entities, and thus it is natural that each member has its own set of core-values. Since these values somehow drive the behaviour of the involved entities, the ability to quickly identify partners with compatible or common core-values represents an important element for the success of collaborative networks. However, tools to assess or measure the level of alignment of core-values are lacking. Since the concept of 'alignment' in this context is still ill-defined and shows a multifaceted nature, three perspectives are discussed. The first one uses a causal maps approach in order to capture, structure, and represent the influence relationships among core-values. This representation provides the basis to measure the alignment in terms of the structural similarity and influence among value systems. The second perspective considers the compatibility and incompatibility among core-values in order to define the alignment level. Under this perspective we propose a fuzzy inference system to estimate the alignment level, since this approach allows dealing with variables that are vaguely defined, and whose inter-relationships are difficult to define. Another advantage provided by this method is the possibility to incorporate expert human judgment in the definition of the alignment level. The last perspective uses a belief Bayesian network method, and was selected in order to assess the alignment level based on members' past behaviour. An example of application is presented where the details of each method are discussed.

A Service Integration Platform for Collaborative Networks

Integrated manufacturing constitutes a complex system made of heterogeneous information and control subsystems. Those subsystems are not designed to the cooperation. Typically each subsystem automates specific processes, and establishes closed application domains, therefore it is very difficult to integrate it with other subsystems in order to respond to the needed process dynamics. Furthermore, to cope with ever growing marketcompetition and demands, it is necessary for manufacturing/enterprise systems to increase their responsiveness based on up-to-date knowledge and in-time data gathered from the diverse information and control systems. These have created new challenges for manufacturing sector, and even bigger challenges for collaborative manufacturing. The growing complexity of the information and communication technologies when coping with innovative business services based on collaborative contributions from multiple stakeholders, requires novel and multidisciplinary approaches. Service orientation is a strategic approach to deal with such complexity, and various stakeholders' information systems. Services or more precisely the autonomous computational agents implementing the services, provide an architectural pattern able to cope with the needs of integrated and distributed collaborative solutions. This paper proposes a service-oriented framework, aiming to support a virtual organizations breeding environment that is the basis for establishing short or long term goal-oriented virtual organizations. The notion of integrated business services, where customers receive some value developed through the contribution from a network of companies is a key element.

Deep crustal structure across a young passive margin from wide-angle and reflection seismic data (The Sardinia Experiment) - I. Gulf of Lion's margin

The conjugate margins system of the Gulf of Lion and West Sardinia (GLWS) represents a unique natural laboratory for addressing fundamental questions about rifting due to its landlocked situation, its youth, its thick sedimentary layers, including prominent palaeo-marker such as the MSC event, and the amount of available data and multidisciplinary studies. The main goals of the SARDINIA experiment, were to (i) investigate the deep structure of the entire system within the two conjugate margins: the Gulf of Lion and West Sardinia, (ii) characterize the nature of the crust, and (iii) define the geometry of the basin and provide important constrains on its genesis. This paper presents the results of P-wave velocity modelling on three coincident near-vertical reflection multi-channel seismic (MCS) and wide-angle seismic profiles acquired in the Gulf of Lion, to a depth of 35 km. A companion paper [part II Afilhado et al., 2015] addresses the results of two other SARDINIA profiles located on the oriental conjugate West Sardinian margin. Forward wide-angle modelling of both data sets confirms that the margin is characterised by three distinct domains following the onshore unthinned, 33 km-thick continental crust domain: Domain I is bounded by two necking zones, where the crust thins respectively from 30 to 20 and from 20 to 7 km over a width of about 170 km; the outermost necking is imprinted by the well-known T-reflector at its crustal base; Domain II is characterised by a 7 km-thick crust with anomalous velocities ranging from 6 to 7.5 km/s; it represents the transition between the thinned continental crust (Domain I) and a very thin (only 4-5 km) "atypical" oceanic crust (Domain III). In Domain II, the hypothesis of the presence of exhumed mantle is falsified by our results: this domain may likely consist of a thin exhumed lower continental crust overlying a heterogeneous, intruded lower layer. Moreover, despite the difference in their magnetic signatures, Domains II and III present the very similar seismic velocities profiles, and we discuss the possibility of a connection between these two different domains.

Deep crustal structure across a young passive margin from wide-angle and reflection seismic data (The Sardinia Experiment) - II. Sardinia's margin

Geophysical data acquired on the conjugate margins system of the Gulf of Lion and West Sardinia (GLWS) is unique in its ability to address fundamental questions about rifting (i.e. crustal thinning, the nature of the continent-ocean transition zone, the style of rifting and subsequent evolution, and the connection between deep and surface processes). While the Gulf of Lion (GoL) was the site of several deep seismic experiments, which occurred before the SARDINIA Experiment (ESP and ECORS Experiments in 1981 and 1988 respectively), the crustal structure of the West Sardinia margin remains unknown. This paper describes the first modeling of wide-angle and near-vertical reflection multi-channel seismic (MCS) profiles crossing the West Sardinia margin, in the Mediterranean Sea. The profiles were acquired, together with the exact conjugate of the profiles crossing the GoL, during the SARDINIA experiment in December 2006 with the French R/V L'Atalante. Forward wide-angle modeling of both data sets (wide-angle and multi-channel seismic) confirms that the margin is characterized by three distinct domains following the onshore unthinned, 26 km-thick continental crust : Domain V, where the crust thins from 26 to 6 km in a width of about 75 km; Domain IV where the basement is characterized by high velocity gradients and lower crustal seismic velocities from 6.8 to 7.25 km/s, which are atypical for either crustal or upper mantle material, and Domain III composed of "atypical" oceanic crust.The structure observed on the West Sardinian margin presents a distribution of seismic velocities that is symmetrical with those observed on the Gulf of Lion's side, except for the dimension of each domain and with respect to the initiation of seafloor spreading. This result does not support the hypothesis of simple shear mechanism operating along a lithospheric detachment during the formation of the Liguro-Provencal basin.