The impact of the performance measurement systems in setting the 'direction' in the University of Warwick

This paper presents a case study examining the role of performance measurement systems in setting organizational ‘direction’. There is a growing concern in the existing literature to link the development of organizational ‘direction’ with performance measurement systems. Furthermore, the alignment between organizational ‘direction’, strategy and performance measurement is an area of increasing interest for both academics and practitioners. However, there is no adequate research recorded in the literature on the use of the performance measurement systems and the potential impact that performance measurement can have in setting the organizational ‘direction’. This study reports the findings of a case study from one of the leading academic institutions in the UK, the University of Warwick, presenting the main characteristics of its performance measurement system and attempting to explain the connection with setting the university’s ‘direction’.

Management information:design of a system for change identification

This thesis deals with the problem of Information Systems design for Corporate Management. It shows that the results of applying current approaches to Management Information Systems and Corporate Modelling fully justify a fresh look to the problem. The thesis develops an approach to design based on Cybernetic principles and theories. It looks at Management as an informational process and discusses the relevance of regulation theory to its practice. The work proceeds around the concept of change and its effects on the organization's stability and survival. The idea of looking at organizations as viable systems is discussed and a design to enhance survival capacity is developed. It takes Ashby's theory of adaptation and developments on ultra-stability as a theoretical framework and considering conditions for learning and foresight deduces that a design should include three basic components: A dynamic model of the organization- environment relationships; a method to spot significant changes in the value of the essential variables and in a certain set of parameters; and a Controller able to conceive and change the other two elements and to make choices among alternative policies. Further considerations of the conditions for rapid adaptation in organisms composed of many parts, and the law of Requisite Variety determine that successful adaptive behaviour requires certain functional organization. Beer's model of viable organizations is put in relation to Ashby's theory of adaptation and regulation. The use of the Ultra-stable system as abstract unit of analysis permits developing a rigorous taxonomy of change; it starts distinguishing between change with in behaviour and change of behaviour to complete the classification with organizational change. It relates these changes to the logical categories of learning connecting the topic of Information System design with that of organizational learning.

Integrated logistics and supply chain management:the state of practice in Ireland

The Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland were provided with aid to offset locational disadvantages in the run up to the Single European Market. Since then the Republic has emerged as the fastest growing member of the E.U. Success has not been underpinned by the transport system, suggesting that business has had to overcome locational disadvantages by strong performance elsewhere in the supply chain. The evidence indicates that there are Irish firms operating supply chain management techniques at a truly international standard. The problem is that there are so few in that category Meeting Ireland’s competitiveness challenge means closing the gap between the small group of large and foreign-owned firms, which display excellence in SCM, and the larger group of indigenous small and medium size businesses, which do not.