Strategic capability development : a multi-level case study of the role of knowledge integration within product innovation

Capability development is at the heart of creating competitive advantage. This thesis intends to conceptualise Strategic Capability Development as a renewal of an organisation's existing capability in line with the requirements of the market. It followed and compared four product innovation projects within Iran Khodro Company (IKCO), an exemplar of capability development within the Iranian Auto industry. Findings show that the maturation of strategic capability at the organisational level has occurred through a sequence of product innovation projects and by dynamically shaping the learning and knowledge integration processes in accordance with emergence of the new structure within the industry. Accordingly, Strategic Capability Development is conceptualised in an interpretive model. Such findings are useful for development of an explanatory model and a practical capability development framework for managing learning and knowledge across different product innovation projects.

"But we’re already doing it!" Examining conceptual blurring between health promotion and palliative care

Over the past decade, an increasing number of palliative care service providers have attempted to integrate health promotion into their organisational practice. A key factor in the success of this endeavour has been the recognition by these providers of the conceptual ‘fit’ between two seemingly disparate approaches to health care. When informed of the elements of health promotion, palliative care professionals have expressed their recognition in their declaration: ‘But we’re already doing it!’ (Rosenberg 2007). Yet it appears that this association between the two suggests that health promotion in palliative care organisations is being understood in poorly defined ways. ‘Health promotion’ can be incorrectly assumed to be synonymous with ‘health education’; ‘death education’ can be understood to be synonymous with providing information about palliative care resources. Whilst these activities may be worthwhile within themselves, their presence in the activities of an organisation does not constitute the practice of health promoting palliative care (HPPC) (Kellehear 1999)...

Quantitative fit analysis of orthopedic bone plates : methods, criteria and approach

Studies on quantitative fit analysis of precontoured fracture fixation plates emerged within the last few years and therefore, there is a wide research gap in this area. Quantitative fit assessment facilitates the measure of the gap between a fracture fixation plate and the underlying bone, and specifies the required plate fit criteria. For clinically meaningful fit assessment outcome, it is necessary to establish the appropriate criteria and parameter. The present paper studies this subject and recommends using multiple fit criteria and the maximum distance between the plate and underlying bone as fit parameter for clinically relevant outcome. We also propose the development of a software tool for automatic plate positioning and fit assessment for the purpose of implant design validation and optimization in an effort to provide better fitting implant that can assist proper fracture healing. The fundamental specifications of the software are discussed.

The impacts of FOREX fluctuations on construction business performance : an organisational capabilities perspective

Construction projects are a high risk business activity. When undertaking projects in an international context, it is further complicated by the risk of fluctuations in the foreign exchange rates (FOREX). Construction business performance is affected by these fluctuations. They affect progress and cause delays, which in turn create problems for subcontractors, namely cost overruns, disputes, arbitration, total abandonment and litigation. FOREX fluctuations also cause the price of raw materials to increase, leading the cost overruns. Managing FOREX risk is critical and past research have focused on the need for adequate insurance, careful planning and management, and foreign exchange futures hedging to overcome issues that have been caused by the FOREX risk. Analysis of FOREX risk in international construction business usually focused only on issues at the project level. There is currently lack of understanding of Organisational Capabilities (OC) to manage the impacts of FOREX risk, which when examined, are seen in isolation. This paper attempts to bridge the gap by discussing the impacts of FOREX fluctuations on the international construction business. The focus is on the OC perspective and the need to develop OC framework to mitigate the risk in sustaining construction business performance.

The impact of organisational citizenship behaviour and non-material rewards on dimensions of employee burnout : evidence from the teaching profession

In this chapter, we examine the psychological impact that organisational citizenship behaviours (OCBs) have on individuals performing them. OCB is discretionary employee behaviour that is not systematically rewarded by employers, but that contributes to overall organisational effectiveness (Organ, 1988). In a sample of schoolteachers, we predicted that performing OCBs would differentially impact two dimensions of psychological burnout -personal accomplishment (PA} and emotional exhaustion (EE). Due to the volitional nature of OCB, there are theoretical reasons to suppose that OCB enhances PA. However, it is also possible that certain OCBs constitute increased workload, thereby contributing to a heightened sense of EE. In addition, given prior research showing that non-material rewards such as praise and recognition, lead to positive employee outcomes, we proposed that praise and recognition would strengthen the relationship between OCB and PA, and weaken the relationship between OCB and EE.

Organisational change in public organisations

This research applies a multidimensional model of publicness to the analysis of organisational change and in so doing enriches understanding of the public nature of organisations and how public characteristics facilitate change. Much of the prior literature describes public organisations as bureaucratic, with characteristics that are resistant to change, hierarchical structures that impede information flow, goals that are imposed and scrutinised by political authority and red tape that constrains decision-making. This dissertation instead reports a more complex picture and explains how public characteristics can also work in ways that enable organisational change.

An application of the Driver Behaviour Questionnaire in a large Australian organisational fleeting setting : can it predict crashes and demerit point loss?

This study reports on the utilisation of the Manchester Driver Behaviour Questionnaire (DBQ) to examine the self-reported driving behaviours of a large sample of Australian fleet drivers (N = 3414). Surveys were completed by employees before they commenced a one day safety workshop intervention. Factor analysis techniques identified a three factor solution similar to previous research, which was comprised of: (a) errors, (b) highway-code violations and (c) aggressive driving violations. Two items traditionally related with highway-code violations were found to be associated with aggressive driving behaviours among the current sample. Multivariate analyses revealed that exposure to the road, errors and self-reported offences predicted crashes at work in the last 12 months, while gender, highway violations and crashes predicted offences incurred while at work. Importantly, those who received more fines at work were at an increased risk of crashing the work vehicle. However, overall, the DBQ demonstrated limited efficacy at predicting these two outcomes. This paper outlines the major findings of the study in regards to identifying and predicting aberrant driving behaviours and also highlights implications regarding the future utilisation of the DBQ within fleet settings.

Measuring patient flow variations : a cross-organisational process mining approach

Variations that exist in the treatment of patients (with similar symptoms) across different hospitals do substantially impact the quality and costs of healthcare. Consequently, it is important to understand the similarities and differences between the practices across different hospitals. This paper presents a case study on the application of process mining techniques to measure and quantify the differences in the treatment of patients presenting with chest pain symptoms across four South Australian hospitals. Our case study focuses on cross-organisational benchmarking of processes and their performance. Techniques such as clustering, process discovery, performance analysis, and scientific workflows were applied to facilitate such comparative analyses. Lessons learned in overcoming unique challenges in cross-organisational process mining, such as ensuring population comparability, data granularity comparability, and experimental repeatability are also presented.

Design innovation catalyst tools to facilitate organisational change

Organisations have recently looked to design to become more customer oriented and co-create a new kind of value and service offering. This requires changes in the organisation mindset, involving the entire company, innovation processes and often its business model. One tool that has been successful in facilitating this has been Osterwalder and Pigneur (2010) ‘Business Model Canvas’ and more importantly the design process that supports the use of this tool. The aim of this paper is to explore the role design tools play in the translation and facilitation process of innovation in firms. Six ‘Design Innovation Catalysts’ (Wrigley, 2013) were interviewed in regards to their approach and use of design tools in order to better facilitate innovation. Results highlight the value of tools expands beyond their intended use to include; facilitation of communicating, permission to think creatively, and learning and teaching through visualisation. Findings from this research build upon the role of the Design Innovation Catalyst and provide additional implications for organisations.

Organisational factors that drive fundraising effectiveness in Australian health charities

This research sought to explore organisational factors that drive successful fundraising. Drawing on Strategic Management theory, this qualitative study examined the key intraorganisational factors that organisations develop to be effective at fundraising within the context of extraorganisational factors that can affect fundraising effectiveness. In this way, it helps build a fundraising effectiveness theory. The findings from this study afford leaders of nonprofits an opportunity to reflect on their reasons for pursuing fundraising as an income stream, their level of understanding of fundraising, the degree of investment they are willing to make and the critical leadership required by the CEO.

Enterprise resource planning or enterprise resource plotting? Technological, organisational and inter-organisational aspects of enterprise resource planning package adoption and diffusion

Those in organisations tend to adopt new technologies as a way to improve their functions, reduce cost and attain best practices. Thus, technology promoters (or vendors) work along those lines in order to convince adopters to invest in those technologies and develop their own organisations profit in return. The possible resultant ‘conflicts of interest’ makes the study of reasons behind IT diffusion and adoption an interesting subject. In this paper we look at IT diffusion and adoption in terms of technology (system features), organisational aspects (firm level characteristics) and inter-organisational aspects (market dynamics) in order to see who might be the real beneficiaries of technology adoption. We use ERP packages as an example of an innovation that has been widely diffused and adopted for the last 10 years. We believe that our findings can be useful to those adopting ERP packages as it gives them a wider view of the situation.

CRM packaged software : a study of organisational experiences

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) packaged software has become a key contributor to attempts at aligning business and IT strategies in recent years. Throughout the 1990s there was, in many organisations strategies, a shift from the need to manage transactions and toward relationship management. Where Enterprise Resource Planning packages dominated the management of transactions era, CRM packages lead in regard to relationships. At present, balanced views of CRM packages are scantly presented instead relying on vendor rhetoric. This paper uses case study research to analyse some of the issues associated with CRM packages. These issues include the limitations of CRM packages, the need for a relationship orientation and the problems of a dominant management perspective of CRM. It is suggested that these issues could be more readily accommodated by organisational detachment from beliefs in IT as utopia, consideration of prior IS theory and practice and a more informed approach to CRM package selection.

Organisational culture, change readiness and retention : a human services perspective

The Third Sector is experiencing unprecedented change as nonprofit organisations pursue their mission, organisational excellence and sustainability. This research collected data from employees of Australian nonprofit human service organisations. Instruments to measure organisational culture and change readiness were validated. The relationships between perceptions of organisational cultures, change readiness, job satisfaction and intentions to leave were explored. Findings indicate flexible organisational cultures influence employee attitudes more positively than control cultures. It identified that leaders have a significant role to play in developing and fostering change readiness and job satisfaction. This improves employees' adaptation to change, increases staff retention and organisational sustainability.