External knowledge and performance of offshore IT service providers in India : the mediating role of talent management

The global shortage of IT professionals has been identified as one of the most serious threats against the continued growth of offshore IT service providers (OSPs). As a result, talent management has become a key competitive strategy for OSPs. However, how talent management contributes towards the performance of OSPs remains poorly understood in relation to its interaction with knowledge. To examine this issue, we draw on a sample of 68 OSPs in India to test the effects of talent management and external knowledge on performance. The results confirm that both external knowledge and talent management are positively related to firm performance and that the latter has strong mediating effects on the relationship between external knowledge and firm performance. The results suggest that OSPs should consider talent management as a mechanism through which knowledge resources can be exploited to enhance firm performance. The managerial implications and limitations of the findings are also discussed.

An ontology-based learning resources management framework for exploratory e-learning

This paper presents an ontology-based conceptual framework for effectively managing exploratory e-learning resources. The proposed framework has five significant novel features including authentication of retrieved resources, automatic ontology-based query refinement, reuse-oriented management of retrieved resources, adaptive retrieval of learning resources based on the style and preference of individual learners, and synthesisation of retrieval and management activities for creating reusable learning repositories. The applicability of the framework is demonstrated using a sample fragment of an ontology developed in the database domain.

Multiple-criteria decision analysis for integrated catchment management

Implementation of integrated catchment management (ICM) is hampered by the lack of a conceptual framework for explaining how landowners select farming systems for their properties. Benefit–cost analysis (a procedure that estimates the costs and benefits of alternative actions or policies) has limitations in this regard, which might be overcome by using multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA). MCDA evaluates and ranks alternatives based on a landowner's preferences (weights) for multiple-criteria and the values of those criteria. A MCDA approach to ICM is superior to benefit–cost analysis which focuses only on the monetary benefits and costs, because it: 1) recognizes that human activities within a catchment are motivated by multiple and often competing criteria and/or constraints; 2) does not require monetary valuation of criteria; 3) allows trade-offs between criteria to be measured and evaluated; 4) explicitly considers how the spatial configuration of farming systems in a catchment influences the values of criteria; 5) is comprehensive, knowledge-based, and stakeholder oriented which greatly increases the likelihood of resolving catchment problems; and 6) allows consideration of the fairness and sustainability of land and water resource management decisions. A MCDA based on an additive, multiple-criteria utility function containing five economic and environmental criteria was used to score and rank five farming systems. The rankings were based on the average criteria weights for a sample of 20 farmers in a US catchment. The most profitable farming system was the lowest-ranked farming system. Three possible reasons for this result are evaluated. First, the MCDA method might cause respondents to express socially acceptable attitudes towards environmental criteria even when they are not important from a personal viewpoint. Second, the MCDA method could inflate the ranks of less profitable farming systems for the simple reason that it allows the respondent to assign non-zero weights to non-economic criteria. Third, the MCDA might provide a better framework for evaluating a landowner's selection of farming systems than the profit maximization model.

An autonomic management system for service oriented enterprise grid computing

Grid computing and service oriented architectures improve the way computational tasks are performed. Through this research a management system, utilising the autonomic characteristics of self discovery and negotiation, self configuration and self healing, was designed and implemented, ultimately removing the need for users to know the intricacies of these systems.

Management of service level agreement for service-oriented content adaptation platform

It is paramount to provide seamless and ubiquitous access to rich contents available online to interested users via a wide range of devices with varied characteristics. Recently, a service-oriented content adaptation scheme has emerged to address this content-device mismatch problem. In this scheme, content adaptation functions are provided as services by third-party providers. Clients pay for the consumed services and thus demand service quality. As such, negotiating for the QoS offers, assuring negotiated QoS levels and accuracy of adapted content version are essential. Any non-compliance should be handled and reported in real time. These issues elevate the management of service level agreement (SLA) as an important problem. This chapter presents prior work, important challenges, and a framework for managing SLA for service-oriented content adaptation platform.

Optimizing delivery of recovery-oriented online self-management strategies for bipolar disorder : a review

Self-management is emerging as a viable alternative to difficult-to-access psychosocial treatments for bipolar disorder (BD), and has particular relevance to recovery-related goals around empowerment and personal meaning. This review examines data and theory on BD self-management from a recovery-oriented perspective, with a particular focus on optimizing low-intensity delivery of self-management tools via the web.

A multilevel trust management framework for service oriented environment

In service-oriented computing applications, trust management systems are emerging as a promising technology to improve the e-commerce consumers and provider's relationship. Both consumers and providers need to evaluate the trust levels of potential partners before engaging in interactions. The accuracy of trust evaluation greatly affects the success rate of the interaction. This paper addresses the threats and challenges that can compromise the reliability of the current trust management system. This paper studies and examines the importance of the trust factors of the trust management framework, specifically in dealing with malicious feedback ratings from e-commerce users. To improve the reliability of the trust management systems, an approach that addresses feedback-related vulnerabilities is paramount. A multilevel trust management system computes trust by combining different types of information. Using this combination, we introduce a multilevel framework for a new interactive trust management to improve the correctness in estimate of trust information.

Service level agreement management framework for utility-oriented computing platforms

With the increasing popularity of utility-oriented computing where the resources are traded as services, efficient management of quality of service (QoS) has become increasingly significant to both service consumers and service providers. In the context of distributed multimedia content adaptation deployment on service-oriented computing, how to ensure the stringent QoS requirements of the content adaptation is a significant and immediate challenge. However, QoS guarantees in the distributed multimedia content adaptation deployment on service-oriented platform context have not been accorded the attention it deserves. In this paper, we address this problem. We formulate the SLA management for distributed multimedia content adaptation deployment on service-oriented computing as an integer programming problem. We propose an SLA management framework that enables the service provider to determine deliverable QoS before settling SLA with potential service consumers to optimize QoS guarantees. We analyzed the performance of the proposed strategy under various conditions in terms of the SLA success rate, rejection rate and impact of the resource data errors on potential violation of the agreed upon SLA. We also compared the proposed SLA management framework with a baseline approach in which the distributed multimedia content adaptation is deployed on a service-oriented platform without SLA consideration. The results of the experiments show that the proposed SLA management framework substantially outperforms the baseline approach confirming that SLA management is a core requirement for the deployment of distributed multimedia content adaptation on service-oriented systems.

Integrated management system:the experiences of three Australian organisations

Purpose – Management systems and standards have become a key part of the organisation's lifeline and a prerequisite for survival in the twenty-first century. Systems for quality environmental and occupational health and safety (OHS) now form the three main pillars of the organisation, the fourth one being financial accounting. In light of the increasing pressure and demands from different stakeholders, it is becoming necessary for organisations to adopt the different systems/standards. However, to achieve the benefits from the implementation and subsequently maintenance of these systems it is only a practical and logical step that the existing management systems/standards be integrated into a single system.

Design/methodology/approach – This paper presents the experiences of three Australian-based organisations that have successfully undertaken the integration of their management systems/standards. Data for this paper were collected through in-depth interviews conducted with the managers responsible for quality, environment and OHS systems.

Findings – The interviews revealed a number of quantifiable and unquantifiable benefits experienced by the companies from operating one integrated system, such as saving of dollars, better utilisation of resources and improved communication across the organisation, to name a few. However, for the benefits to be realized it is essential that organisations are aware of the challenges and obstacles accompanying integration of systems/standards. If these challenges are not addressed early in the process they can delay the completion of the integration process.

Originality/value – Recommendations for other organisations contemplating integrating their management system include: obtaining commitment from the top management; having adequate resources to integrate the systems; having communication and training across the organisation in aspects of integration; and, last but not the least, having integrated audits. Implementation of these recommendations may vary from one organisation to another; however, it would result in lesser resistance for the organisations following them.

Organizational change in the public sector: augmenting the demand control model to predict employee outcomes under New Public Management

This study identifies the environmental and personal characteristics that predict employee outcomes within an Australian public sector organization that had, under New Public Management (NPM), implemented a variety of practices traditionally found in the private sector. These are more results-oriented, and their adoption can be accompanied by increased strain for employees. The current investigation was guided by two complementary theories, the Demand Control Support (DCS) model and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, and sought to examine the benefits of building on the DCS to include both situation-specific stressors and internal coping resources. Survey responses from 1,155 employees were analysed. The hierarchical regression analyses indicated that both external and employee-centred variables made significant contributions to variations in psychological health, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The external resources, work based support and, to a lesser extent, job control, predicted relatively large proportions of the variance in the target variables. The situation-specific stressors, particularly those involving harmful management practices (e.g., insufficient time to do job as well as you would like, lack of recognition for good work), made significant contributions to the outcome measures and generally supported the process of augmenting the generic components of the DCS with more situation-specific variables. In terms of internal resources, problem and emotion-based coping improved the capacity of the model to predict psychological health. The results suggest that the impact of NPM can be ameliorated by incorporating the dimensions of the augmented DCS and coping resources into the change programme.

Environmental management system auditing within Australasian companies

Reviews the literature on environmental management auditing, and surveys 132 ISO 14001 certified organizations in Australia and in New Zealand. Identifies the main reason for internal environmental audit, and the most frequent actions that result from the audit process, such as formation of a preventive plan. Looks at review procedures by top management, and the frequency of audit. Reveals the length of time an audit takes and the method of documentation adopted, by different industries. Notes six major findings and recommends sharing the findings of audits with employees and  suppliers so that improvements can be identified and implemented.

Pieces of silver : examples of the economic impact and management of the silver gull (Larus novaehollandiae) in Melbourne, Australia

Like a number of gull species, the silver gull Larus novaehollandiae has expanded its population in response to human food subsidy. The major anthropogenic food source is food waste at rubbish tips. Other sources of human food waste are also exploited. Many problems result from the activities of these birds, including human health and safety, economic impacts, and effects on the conservation of other species. My study examines aspects of the economic impacts of the silver gull on the human community of the Greater Melbourne Area comprising approximately 4065 km2 (1569 square miles). My data collection method involves identifying sites where problems have been experienced and completing questionnaires during face to face interviews with the managers of those sites. Data collected at this early stage of the study demonstrate that there are significant, quantifiable economic impacts associated with the superabundance of the silver gull in this area. Other impacts, such as reduced amenity and potential health hazards are equally real but more difficult to quantify. Costs include damage to structures and products, damage prevention measures, and loss of production. Information about the costs of these problems will be presented to the relevant landfill management authorities to encourage them to consider alternative means of disposing of putrescible waste, rather than by open landfill disposal, because even current best practice management of open landfill sites (rubbish tips) provides ample opportunity for silver gulls and certain other bird species to exploit this food source. Controlling access by the silver gull to food at rubbish tips would be an important first step in managing the population of this species.

Object-oriented security modelling for healthcare

With the convergence of paper to electronic, the health industry is relying more on technology to maintain and update the well-being of patients. This reliance on technology requires an acute level of protection from unwanted technological disasters and/or human threats. Research shows insufficiencies with the implementation and use of security controls; as well as current analysis methods lacking the techniques to analyse technical and social aspects of security. The aim of this paper is to introduce an information security evaluation methodology for health information systems based on UML.

Analysis of stamping production data with view towards quality management

A quality analysis trial was undertaken at Ford Geelong Stamping Plant on a press line that was fitted with standard press sensors to measure press and binder force over the stamping cycle for each panel. The quality of randomly sampled panels was measured by obtaining the panel thicknesses at five points, for 135 panels in total. These points were chosen such that they exhibited different forming modes. This paper analyses the input force data and the output quality data from the trial to determine any potential relationships. The analysis of the production data was performed using statistical correlation techniques to determine initial potential relationships between input and output variables. An Active Shape Model was used to extract features when identifying the major sources of variation within the input data. However, the initial analysis of the data elicited no direct relationship between the input variables measured and the panel thicknesses. This result is significant as the data collected is from a standard sensor configuration found in many press lines through-out the world. The reason for the lack of a direct relationship is believed to come from the lack of sensitivity in the force measurements which are not able to identify small changes in the process, whereas gross geometric variations have in previous studies shown an obvious relationship with changes in the force press profile. This means that existing force sensors require augmentation by additional sensors if a detailed automatic quality control system for the press lines based on input sensors alone.

The conceptualisation of operational risk management models

Operational risk is evolving as a specialist field of risk management that must be practiced within all organisations, but currently has a particular relevance to banks. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision has circulated a consultative paper which, if adopted by nation-state bank supervisors, will impose an operational risk capital charge on banks as part of a new Capital Accord. The definition of operational risk is wide-ranging and creates some unique issues related to the development of appropriate risk management models. This paper conceptualises two distinct operational risk management models; being a predictive model that will result in a known outcome upon its implementation, and a pre-emptive operational risk management model which prepares an organisation in the event that a future risk occurrence results in a disruption to critical business operations.