Cohesion or confusion? Towards a typology for organizational learning research

The study of organizational learning is no longer in its infancy. Since Cyert and March first introduced the notion in the early 1960s, a plethora of books and journal publications have presented their own interpretations of the meaning and significance of the term. Despite such endeavours, there is little common agreement about what organizational learning represents and how future research may build cumulatively upon the many diverse ideas articulated. The intention here is by no means to address these issues, which have been comprehensively examined elsewhere. The purpose is rather to compare and contrast approaches in order to analyse similarities and dissimilarities, together with research challenges, for each approach. This is achieved by presenting a comparative framework to categorize the literature according to (a) its prescriptive/explanatory bias and (b) in line with the level of analysis, examining whether there is a focus on the organization as a whole or upon individuals and their work communities instead. The review concludes by presenting some preliminary suggestions for cross-quadrant research. © Blackwell Publishing Ltd 2006.

Group perceptions of knowledge management

This paper reports preliminary results of a project investigating how staff in UK organisations perceive knowledge management in their organisation as a group. The group setting appears to be effective in surfacing opinions and enabling progress in both understanding and action to be made. Among the findings thus far are the importance of the knowledge champion role and the state of the “knowledge management life cycle” in each organisation, and continuing confusion between knowledge, information and mechanisms.

Divorcing romance, rights and radicalism:Beyond pro and anti in the lesbian and gay marriage debate

In this article about ‘For Better or Worse? Lesbian and Gay Marriage’ (Feminism & Psychology, 14[1]) we focus on the contributions to the special feature, the commentaries provided by Ellen Lewin (2004), Sheila Jeffreys (2004) and Sue Wise and Liz Stanley (2004), and on wider debates about lesbian and gay marriage and partnership recognition. We agree that ‘there is a lot of confusion/assumptions made about what “it” (i.e. “marriage”) is’ (Wise and Stanley, 2004: 333). Thus, when talking about same-sex partnership recognition we are concerned with civil marriage (or civil union, or civil partnership), and not religious marriage. Our emphasis is on the public not on the private sphere; we are less interested with the personal aspects of relationships (such as intimacy or commitment) than with their public function in, for instance, obtaining ‘rights and responsibilities’.

Women, anger, and aggression an interpretative phenomenological analysis

This study reports a qualitative phenomenological investigation of anger and anger-related aggression in the context of the lives of individual women. Semistructured interviews with five women are analyzed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. This inductive approach aims to capture the richness and complexity of the lived experience of emotional life. In particular, it draws attention to the context-dependent and relational dimension of angry feelings and aggressive behavior. Three analytic themes are presented here: the subjective experience of anger, which includes the perceptual confusion and bodily change felt by the women when angry, crying, and the presence of multiple emotions; the forms and contexts of aggression, paying particular attention to the range of aggressive strategies used; and anger as moral judgment, in particular perceptions of injustice and unfairness. The authors conclude by examining the analytic observations in light of phenomenological thinking.

Web based expert elicitation of uncertainties in environmental model inputs

When constructing and using environmental models, it is typical that many of the inputs to the models will not be known perfectly. In some cases, it will be possible to make observations, or occasionally physics-based uncertainty propagation, to ascertain the uncertainty on these inputs. However, such observations are often either not available or even possible, and another approach to characterising the uncertainty on the inputs must be sought. Even when observations are available, if the analysis is being carried out within a Bayesian framework then prior distributions will have to be specified. One option for gathering or at least estimating this information is to employ expert elicitation. Expert elicitation is well studied within statistics and psychology and involves the assessment of the beliefs of a group of experts about an uncertain quantity, (for example an input / parameter within a model), typically in terms of obtaining a probability distribution. One of the challenges in expert elicitation is to minimise the biases that might enter into the judgements made by the individual experts, and then to come to a consensus decision within the group of experts. Effort is made in the elicitation exercise to prevent biases clouding the judgements through well-devised questioning schemes. It is also important that, when reaching a consensus, the experts are exposed to the knowledge of the others in the group. Within the FP7 UncertWeb project (http://www.uncertweb.org/), there is a requirement to build a Webbased tool for expert elicitation. In this paper, we discuss some of the issues of building a Web-based elicitation system - both the technological aspects and the statistical and scientific issues. In particular, we demonstrate two tools: a Web-based system for the elicitation of continuous random variables and a system designed to elicit uncertainty about categorical random variables in the setting of landcover classification uncertainty. The first of these examples is a generic tool developed to elicit uncertainty about univariate continuous random variables. It is designed to be used within an application context and extends the existing SHELF method, adding a web interface and access to metadata. The tool is developed so that it can be readily integrated with environmental models exposed as web services. The second example was developed for the TREES-3 initiative which monitors tropical landcover change through ground-truthing at confluence points. It allows experts to validate the accuracy of automated landcover classifications using site-specific imagery and local knowledge. Experts may provide uncertainty information at various levels: from a general rating of their confidence in a site validation to a numerical ranking of the possible landcover types within a segment. A key challenge in the web based setting is the design of the user interface and the method of interacting between the problem owner and the problem experts. We show the workflow of the elicitation tool, and show how we can represent the final elicited distributions and confusion matrices using UncertML, ready for integration into uncertainty enabled workflows.We also show how the metadata associated with the elicitation exercise is captured and can be referenced from the elicited result, providing crucial lineage information and thus traceability in the decision making process.

Statnote 10: the two-way analysis of variance

The two-way design has been variously described as a matched-sample F-test, a simple within-subjects ANOVA, a one-way within-groups ANOVA, a simple correlated-groups ANOVA, and a one-factor repeated measures design! This confusion of terminology is likely to lead to problems in correctly identifying this analysis within commercially available software. The essential feature of the design is that each treatment is allocated by randomization to one experimental unit within each group or block. The block may be a plot of land, a single occasion in which the experiment was performed, or a human subject. The ‘blocking’ is designed to remove an aspect of the error variation and increase the ‘power’ of the experiment. If there is no significant source of variation associated with the ‘blocking’ then there is a disadvantage to the two-way design because there is a reduction in the DF of the error term compared with a fully randomised design thus reducing the ‘power’ of the analysis.

Product cipher negotiation with on-line evaluation for private communication over computer networks

A method is proposed to offer privacy in computer communications, using symmetric product block ciphers. The security protocol involved a cipher negotiation stage, in which two communicating parties select privately a cipher from a public cipher space. The cipher negotiation process includes an on-line cipher evaluation stage, in which the cryptographic strength of the proposed cipher is estimated. The cryptographic strength of the ciphers is measured by confusion and diffusion. A method is proposed to describe quantitatively these two properties. For the calculation of confusion and diffusion a number of parameters are defined, such as the confusion and diffusion matrices and the marginal diffusion. These parameters involve computationally intensive calculations that are performed off-line, before any communication takes place. Once they are calculated, they are used to obtain estimation equations, which are used for on-line, fast evaluation of the confusion and diffusion of the negotiated cipher. A technique proposed in this thesis describes how to calculate the parameters and how to use the results for fast estimation of confusion and diffusion for any cipher instance within the defined cipher space.

An investigation of the relationships between service quality, customer satisfaction, perceived value and behavioural intentions

Customer satisfaction and service quality are two important concepts in the marketing literature. However, there has been some confusion about the conceptualisation and measurement of these two concepts and the nature of the relationship between them. The primary objective of this research was to develop a more thorough understanding of these concepts, and a model that could help to explain the links between them and their relationships with post-purchase behaviour. A preliminary theoretical model was developed, based on an exhaustive review of the literature. Following exploratory research, the model was revised by incorporating "Perceived Value" and "Perceived Sacrifice" to help explain customer's post-purchase behaviour. A longitudinal survey was conducted in the context of the restaurant industry, and the data were analysed using structural equation modelling. The results provided evidence to support the main research hypotheses. However, the effect of "Normative Expectations" on "Encounter Quality" was insignificant, and "Perceived Value" had a direct effect on "Behavioural Intentions" despite expectations that such an effect would be mediated through "Customer Satisfaction". It was also found that "Normative Expectations" were relatively more stable than "Predictive Expectations". It is argued that the present research significantly contributes to the marketing literature, and in particular the role of perceived value in the formation of customers' post-purchase behaviour. Further research efforts in this area are warranted.

A comparative and longitudinal analysis of the evolving relationship between the environment and the strategy, structure and performance of selected organisations in the British carpet industry 1959-1986:a firms in sector perspective of organisational adaptation

Orthodox contingency theory links effective organisational performance to compatible relationships between the environment and organisation strategy and structure and assumes that organisations have the capacity to adapt as the environment changes. Recent contributions to the literature on organisation theory claim that the key to effective performance is effective adaptation which in turn requires the simultaneous reconciliation of efficiency and innovation which is afforded by an unique environment-organisation configuration. The literature on organisation theory recognises the continuing confusion caused by the fragmented and often conflicting results from cross-sectional studies. Although the case is made for longitudinal studies which comprehensively describe the evolving relationship between the environment and the organisation there is little to suggest how such studies should be executed in practice. Typically the choice is between the approaches of the historicised case study and statistical analysis of large populations which examine the relationship between environment and organisation strategy and/or structure and ignore the product-process relationship. This study combines the historicised case study and the multi-variable and ordinal scale approach of statistical analysis to construct an analytical framework which tracks and exposes the environment-organisation-performance relationship over time. The framework examines changes in the environment, strategy and structure and uniquely includes an assessment of the organisation's product-process relationship and its contribution to organisational efficiency and innovation. The analytical framework is applied to examine the evolving environment-organisation relationship of two organisations in the same industry over the same twenty-five year period to provide a sector perspective of organisational adaptation. The findings demonstrate the significance of the environment-organisation configuration to the scope and frequency of adaptation and suggest that the level of sector homogeneity may be linked to the level of product-process standardisation.

The development of chemical exposure limits for the workplace

The thesis examines and explains the development of occupational exposure limits (OELs) as a means of preventing work related disease and ill health. The research focuses on the USA and UK and sets the work within a certain historical and social context. A subsidiary aim of the thesis is to identify any short comings in OELs and the methods by which they are set and suggest alternatives. The research framework uses Thomas Kuhn's idea of science progressing by means of paradigms which he describes at one point, `lq ... universally recognised scientific achievements that for a time provide model problems and solutions to a community of practitioners. KUHN (1970). Once learned individuals in the community, `lq ... are committed to the same rules and standards for scientific practice. Ibid. Kuhn's ideas are adapted by combining them with a view of industrial hygiene as an applied science-based profession having many of the qualities of non-scientific professions. The great advantage of this approach to OELs is that it keeps the analysis grounded in the behaviour and priorities of the groups which have forged, propounded, used, benefited from, and defended, them. The development and use of OELs on a larger scale is shown to be connected to the growth of a new profession in the USA; industrial hygiene, with the assistance of another new profession; industrial toxicology. The origins of these professions, particularly industrial hygiene, are traced. By examining the growth of the professions and the writings of key individuals it is possible to show how technical, economic and social factors became embedded in the OEL paradigm which industrial hygienists and toxicologists forged. The origin, mission and needs of these professions and their clients made such influences almost inevitable. The use of the OEL paradigm in practice is examined by an analysis of the process of the American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists, Threshold Limit Value (ACGIH, TLV) Committee via the Minutes from 1962-1984. A similar approach is taken with the development of OELs in the UK. Although the form and definition of TLVs has encouraged the belief that they are health-based OELs the conclusion is that they, and most other OELs, are, and always have been, reasonably practicable limits: the degree of risk posed by a substance is weighed against the feasibility and cost of controlling exposure to that substance. The confusion over the status of TLVs and other OELs is seen to be a confusion at the heart of the OEL paradigm and the historical perspective explains why this should be. The paradigm has prevented the creation of truly health-based and, conversely, truly reasonably practicable OELs. In the final part of the thesis the analysis of the development of OELs is set in a contemporary context and a proposal for a two-stage, two-committee procedure for producing sets of OELs is put forward. This approach is set within an alternative OEL paradigm. The advantages, benefits and likely obstacles to these proposals are discussed.

Accessibility indices and linked trips: a case study of the elderly

The confusion over the concept of accessibility in transport planning and the deficiencies of existing accessibility indices are examined by developing a conceptual framework of accessibility with a fundamental distinction being drawn between the, often conflicting, theoretical and practical dimensions. The theoretical validity of alternative indices is assessed with reference to the problems and assumptions implicit in defining, measuring, valuing and aggregating the variables and components comprising accessibility. The major deficiencies of existing indices are identified as the inability of indices to take account of the potential to link trips between more than one activity location and the level of assumptions implicit in valuing and aggregating accessibility information. In this context, it is argued that accessibility information is more appropriately expressed on a comparative basis in the form of a profile rather than as a composite single-unit index and that the present confines of accessibility measurement must be extended in line with current developments in disaggregate travel and activity modelling. The sensitivity of accessibility levels to the use of alternative value judgements, alternative forms and levels of aggregation and the inclusion of information on the potential to link trips is examined by undertaking a case study. Accessibility profiles are developed for 23 zones in the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham showing the accessibility of the elderly to post offices and grocers. In a practical context, the profiles assist in identifying areas and individuals with relatively poor accessibility. The incidence and nature of linked trip-making and its significance and implications for accessibility measurement are explored further by analysing the results of a survey of the elderly's travel patterns. It is concluded that future accessibility analysis should be undertaken at a disaggregate level, taking account of the potential opportunity available from nonhome as well as home origins.

Development of visual evoked responses to tritan,red-green and luminance stimuli in human infants

The principal aim of this work was to investigate the development of the S-cone colour-opponent pathway in human infants aged 4 weeks to 6 months. This was achieved by recording transient visual evoked responses to pattern-onset stimuli along a tritanopic confusion axis (tritan stimuli) at and around the adult isoluminant match. For comparison, visual evoked responses to red-green and luminance-modulated stimuli were recorded from the same infants at the same ages. Evoked responses were also recorded from colour-normal adults for comparison with those of the infants. The transient VEP allowed observation of response morphology as luminance differences were introduced to the chromatic stimuli. In this way, an estimate of isoluminance was possible in infants. Estimated isoluminant points for a group of six infants aged 6 to 10 weeks closely approximated the adult isoluminant match. This finding has implications for the use of photometric isoluminance in infant work, and suggests that photopic spectral sensitivity is similar in infants and adults. Abnormalities of the visual evoked responses to tritan, red-green and luminance-modulated stimuli in an infant with cystic fibrosis are reported. The results suggest abnormal function of the retino-striate visual pathway in this infant, and it is argued that these may be secondary to his illness, although data from more infants with cystic fibrosis are needed to clarify this further. A group of nine healthy infants demonstrated evoked responses to tritan stimuli by 4 to 10 weeks and to red-green stimuli by 6 to 11 weeks post-term age. Responses to luminance-modulated stimuli were present in all nine infants at the earliest age tested, namely 4 weeks post-term. The slightly earlier age of onset of evoked responses to tritan stimuli than for red-green may be explained by the relatively lower cone contrast afforded by red-green stimuli. Latency of the evoked response to both types of chromatic stimuli and to luminance-modulated stimuli decreased with age at a similar rate, suggesting that the visual pathways transmitting luminance and chromatic information mature at similar rates in young infants.

Challenges and limitations of intercultural training for inpatriates in German multinationals:a case study

Despite the increasing popularity of research on intercultural preparation and its effectiveness, research on training for inpatriates has not been developed with the same level of rigour as research on training for expatriates. Furthermore, research on intercultural training hardly ever includes the aspect of preparing for the corporate culture of a company. For expatriates coming from headquarters’ national culture and equipped with a good knowledge of headquarters’ corporate culture, it might be sufficient to address only the national culture of the location abroad. But can the same be said for inpatriates coming from a foreign subsidiary? Therefore the qualitative research of my thesis was aimed at finding out if intercultural training programmes that address only the national culture of the host country are sufficient to prepare inpatriates for working at headquarters. A case study using a German multinational company has been conducted in order to find out what kind of problems and irritations inpatriates at the company’s headquarters perceive at work. In order to determine whether the findings are related to the national or the corporate culture, Hall’s and Hofstede’s approaches to culture were used. The interview analysis produced the following conclusion: Although the researched company promotes standardised worldwide corporate guidelines, there are many differences between headquarters and subsidiaries regarding the interpretation and realisation of these guidelines. These differences cause irritation, confusion and problems for the inpatriates. Therefore an effective intercultural preparation for inpatriates should be tailor-made and take into account the aspect of corporate culture, as well as the specific roles and functions of inpatriates.

The dynamics and control of a remotely piloted plan-symmetric helicopter

Prior to the development of a production standard control system for ML Aviation's plan-symmetric remotely piloted helicopter system, SPRITE, optimum solutions to technical requirements had yet to be found for some aspects of the work. This thesis describes an industrial project where solutions to real problems have been provided within strict timescale constraints. Use has been made of published material wherever appropriate, new solutions have been contributed where none existed previously. A lack of clearly defined user requirements from potential Remotely Piloted Air Vehicle (RPAV) system users is identified, A simulation package is defined to enable the RPAV designer to progress with air vehicle and control system design, development and evaluation studies and to assist the user to investigate his applications. The theoretical basis of this simulation package is developed including Co-axial Contra-rotating Twin Rotor (CCTR), six degrees of freedom motion, fuselage aerodynamics and sensor and control system models. A compatible system of equations is derived for modelling a miniature plan-symmetric helicopter. Rigorous searches revealed a lack of CCTR models, based on closed form expressions to obviate integration along the rotor blade, for stabilisation and navigation studies through simulation. An economic CCTR simulation model is developed and validated by comparison with published work and practical tests. Confusion in published work between attitude and Euler angles is clarified. The implementation of package is discussed. dynamic adjustment of assessment. the theory into a high integrity software Use is made of a novel technique basing the integration time step size on error Simulation output for control system stability verification, cross coupling of motion between control channels and air vehicle response to demands and horizontal wind gusts studies are presented. Contra-Rotating Twin Rotor Flight Control System Remotely Piloted Plan-Symmetric Helicopter Simulation Six Degrees of Freedom Motion ( i i)