Two case studies on generating administrative process applications with AdminDSL

Some organizations end up reimplementing the same class of business process over and over: an "administrative process", which consists of managing a form through several states and involving various roles in the organization. This results in wasted time that could be dedicated to better understanding the process or dealing with the fine details that are specific to the process. Existing virtual office solutions require specific training and infrastructure andmay result in vendor lock-in. In this paper, we propose using a high-level domain-specific language (AdminDSL) to describe the administrative process and a separate code generator targeting a standard web framework. We have implemented the approach using Xtext, EGL and the Django web framework, and we illustrate it through two case studies: a synthetic examination process which illustrates the architecture of the generated code, and a real-world workplace survey process that identified several future avenues for improvement.

Reliability management of machine tool technology: a case study of current practice

Considerable attention has been given in the literature to identifying and describing the effective elements which positively affect the improvement of product reliability. These have been perceived by many as the 'state of the art' in the manufacturing industry. The applicability, diffusion and effectiveness of such methods and philosophies, as a means of systematically improving the reliability of a product, come in the main from case studies and single and infra-industry empirical studies. These studies have both been carried out within the wider context of quality assurance and management, and taking reliability as a discipline in its own right. However, it is somewhat of a surprise that there are no recently published findings or research studies on the adoption of these methods by the machine tool industry. This may lead one to construct several hypothesised paradigms: (a) that machine tool manufacturers compared to other industries, are slow to respond to propositions given in the literature by theorists or (b) this may indicate that a large proportion of the manufacturers make little use of the reliability improvement techniques as described in the literature, with the overall perception that they will not lead to any significant improvements? On the other hand, it is evident that hypothetical verification of the operational and engineering methods of reliability achievement and improvement adopted in the machine tool industry is less widely researched. Therefore, research into this area is needed in order to explore the 'state of the art' practice in the machine tool industry. This is in terms of the status, structure and activities of the operation of the reliability function. This paper outlines a research programme being conducted with the co-operation of a leading machine tool manufacturer, whose UK manufacturing plant produces in the main Vertical Machining Centres (VMCs) and is continuously undergoing incremental transitions in product reliability improvement.

The impact of the language barrier on the management of multinational companies : a case study and survey, based exploration of the impact of the language barrier on the strategies, policies and systems by which multinational companies manage their subsidaries

The thesis begins with a conceptual model of the way that language diversity affects the strategies, organisation and subsidiary control policies of multinational companies. The model is based solely on the researcher'’ personal experience of working in a variety of international management roles, but in Chapter 2 a wide-ranging review of related academic literature finds evidence to support the key ideas. The model is developed as a series of propositions which are tested in a comparative case study, refined and then re-tested in a global survey of multinational subsidiaries. The principal findings of the empirical phases of the thesis endorse the main tenets of the model: - That language difference between parent and subsidiary will impair communication, create mistrust and impede relationship development. - That subsequently the feelings of uncertainty, suspicion and mistrust will influence the decisions taken by the parent company. - They will have heightened sensitivity to language issues and will implement policies to manage language differences. - They will adopt low-risk strategies in host countries where they are concerned about language difference. - They will use organisational and manpower strategies to minimise the consequences and risks of the communications problems with the subsidiary. - As a consequence the level of integration and knowledge flow between parent and subsidiary will be curtailed. - They will adopt styles of control that depend least on their ability to communicate with their subsidiary. Although there is adequate support for all of the above conclusions, on some key points the evidence of the Case Studies and Survey is contradictory. The thesis, therefore, closes with an agenda for further research that would address these inconsistencies.