The impact of leadership and change management strategy on organizational culture and individual acceptance of change during a merger

This article reports a longitudinal study that examined mergers between three large multi-site public-sector organizations. Both qualitative and quantitative methods of analysis are used to examine the effect of leadership and change management strategies on acceptance of cultural change by individuals. Findings indicate that in many cases the change that occurs as a result of a merger is imposed on the leaders themselves, and it is often the pace of change that inhibits the successful re-engineering of the culture. In this respect, the success or otherwise of any merger hinges on individual perceptions about the manner in which the process is handled and the direction in which the culture is moved. Communication and a transparent change process are important, as this will often determine not only how a leader will be regarded, but who will be regarded as a leader. Leaders need to be competent and trained in the process of transforming organizations to ensure that individuals within the organization accept the changes prompted by a merger.

Formal considerations of rule-based messaging for Business Process Integration

In the last decade, with the expansion of organizational scope and the tendency for outsourcing, there has been an increasing need for Business Process Integration (BPI), understood as the sharing of data and applications among business processes. The research efforts and development paths in BPI pursued by many academic groups and system vendors, targeting heterogeneous system integration, continue to face several conceptual and technological challenges. This article begins with a brief review of major approaches and emerging standards to address BPI. Further, we introduce a rule-driven messaging approach to BPI, which is based on the harmonization of messages in order to compose a new, often cross-organizational process. We will then introduce the design of a temporal first order language (Harmonized Messaging Calculus) that provides the formal foundation for general rules governing the business process execution. Definitions of the language terms, formulae, safety, and expressiveness are introduced and considered in detail.

Data flow and validation in workflow modelling

A complete workflow specification requires careful integration of many different process characteristics. Decisions must be made as to the definitions of individual activities, their scope, the order of execution that maintains the overall business process logic, the rules governing the discipline of work list scheduling to performers, identification of time constraints and more. The goal of this paper is to address an important issue in workflows modelling and specification, which is data flow, its modelling, specification and validation. Researchers have neglected this dimension of process analysis for some time, mainly focussing on structural considerations with limited verification checks. In this paper, we identify and justify the importance of data modelling in overall workflows specification and verification. We illustrate and define several potential data flow problems that, if not detected prior to workflow deployment may prevent the process from correct execution, execute process on inconsistent data or even lead to process suspension. A discussion on essential requirements of the workflow data model in order to support data validation is also given..

A framework of issues in large process modeling projects

As process management projects have increased in size due to globalised and company-wide initiatives, a corresponding growth in the size of process modeling projects can be observed. Despite advances in languages, tools and methodologies, several aspects of these projects have been largely ignored by the academic community. This paper makes a first contribution to a potential research agenda in this field by defining the characteristics of large-scale process modeling projects and proposing a framework of related issues. These issues are derived from a semi -structured interview and six focus groups conducted in Australia, Germany and the USA with enterprise and modeling software vendors and customers. The focus groups confirm the existence of unresolved problems in business process modeling projects. The outcomes provide a research agenda which directs researchers into further studies in global process management, process model decomposition and the overall governance of process modeling projects. It is expected that this research agenda will provide guidance to researchers and practitioners by focusing on areas of high theoretical and practical relevance.

PARCERIA ENTRE UNIVERSIDADE E ENTIDADES EMPRESARIAIS NO GRANDE ABC PAULISTA: A INTEGRAÇÃO ENSINO-PESQUISA E A PRÁTICA EMPRESARIAL

O Brasil situa-se, no início da década de 2010, dentro de um sistema econômico mundial que apresenta características de ampla globalização dos mercados e alta competitividade das organizações que compõe esse sistema, e que sinalizam a necessidade de profissionais que sejam agentes de mudança nesses contextos dinâmicos e repletos de desafios. Na maioria dos países, a maturidade do sistema de inovação está ligada ao investimento em Pesquisa e Desenvolvimento (P&D) e ao volume de geração de Propriedade Intelectual (PI). O Brasil, apesar de apresentar um Produto Interno Bruto (PIB) concentrado nos setores de agropecuária e de serviços, revela um nível de inovação gerado pelo setor produtivo e o seu consequente investimento em P&D muito baixos em comparação com a evolução desse mesmo PIB, denotando com isso que as empresas buscam, em seus países de origem, soluções já desenvolvidas e patenteadas para seu desenvolvimento ou procuram transferir a responsabilidade de produzir registros e patentes de inovações à academia. A integração da cultura acadêmica com a cultura empresarial é capaz de gerar benefícios mútuos, melhorando a competitividade do país; em outras palavras, é uma maneira de transformar o conhecimento em riqueza. Este trabalho relacionando os conceitos ensino-pesquisa e prática empresarial pretende estudar, sob o enfoque da realidade apresentada pelos Planos Estratégicos Regionais (PER) da Região do Grande ABC Paulista e das diretrizes do Plano Nacional de Pós-Graduação 2011-2020 (PNPG 2011-2020), o processo de integração do conhecimento científico existente entre as Entidades Empresariais (E-E) e as Universidades dessa mesma região. Através da metodologia de pesquisa de estudo de caso, analisaram-se as estratégias propostas pelas universidades e a prática do setor empresarial e as possíveis barreiras apontadas como restrições às interações entre eles. Nosso estudo enfocou a análise da relação entre esses dois atores e apontou as principais barreiras para a otimização dessa parceria, tais como o acesso a recursos, o aumento da competitividade via aumento da credibilidade na relação Universidade Empresa (U-E), o reconhecimento das realidades regionais e o latente descompasso entre o pensamento acadêmico e a realidade empresarial. Além disso, constatou-se a necessidade de uma mais ampla discussão, disseminação e implementação dos documentos setoriais, regionais e nacionais que regulam, esclarecem e fornecem bases estratégicas para o desenvolvimento da relação U-E, como forma de otimização do processo de transformação do conhecimento em riqueza social.

The dynamics of HRM systems in Indian BPO firms

This paper highlights the context within which business process outsourcing (BPO) has rapidly grown in India and the critical need to investigate the dynamics of human resource management (HRM) practices and systems in this sector. Using a mixed-method approach involving both in-depth interviews and self-completing questionnaires, we analyze the nature of HRM systems in BPO organizations operating in India. The analysis is based on a sample of 51 BPO companies, a majority of which are located near the capital of New Delhi. The results focus on the nature and structure of work and organization of Indian BPOs, as well as the strategic role played by HRM in such organizations. Furthermore, the findings highlight the way specific HRM practices such as recruitment, performance appraisal, training and development, and compensations are implemented. Our study suggests the existence of formal, structured, and rationalized HRM systems in Indian BPOs. A number of insights related to HRM policies and practices are shared by the HR managers interviewed shedding more light on the inner workings of the Indian BPO companies and their challenges. The analysis provides original and useful information to both academics and practitioners and opens avenues for future research on the nature of HRM systems and practices in the Indian BPO industry.

People management issues in Indian KPOs

Purpose: The business process outsourcing (BPO) industry in India is evolving rapidly, and one of the key characteristics of this industry is the emergence of high-end services offered by knowledge processing outsourcing (KPO) organizations. These organizations are set to grow at a tremendous pace. Given the people-intensive nature of this industry, efficient employee management is bound to play a critical role. The literature lacks studies offering insights into the HR challenges involved and the ways in which they are addressed by KPOs. The purpose of this paper is to attempt to fill this gap by presenting findings from an in-depth case study of a KPO organization. Design/methodology/ approach: To achieve the research objective we adopted an in-depth case study approach. The research setting was that of a KPO organization in India, which specialises in offering complex analytics, accounting and support services to the real estate and financial services industries. Findings: The results of this study highlight the differences in the nature of work characteristics in such organizations as compared to call centres. The study also highlights some of the key people management challenges that these organizations face like attracting and retaining talent. The case company adopts formal, structured, transparent and innovative human resource practices. The study also highlights that such enlightened human resource practices stand on the foundations laid by an open work environment and facilitative leadership. Research limitations/implications: One of the key limitations is that the analysis is based on primary data from a single case study and only 18 interviews. The analysis contributes to the fields of KPO, HRM and India and has key messages for policy makers. Originality/value: The literature on outsourcing has in general focused on call centres established in the developed world. However, the booming BPO industry in India is also beginning to offer high-end services, which are far above the typical call centres. These KPOs and their people management challenges are relatively unexplored territories in the literature. By conducting this study in an emerging market (India) and focusing on people-related challenges in KPOs, this study attempts to provide a fresh perspective to the extant BPO literature. © Emerald Group Publishing Limited.

Insights into the Indian call centre industry:can internal marketing help tackle high employee turnover?

Purpose – Increasing turnover of frontline staff in call centres is detrimental to the delivery of quality service to customers. This paper aims to present the context for the rapid growth of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector in India, and to address a critical issue faced by call centre organisations in this sector – the high employee turnover. Design/methodology/approach – Following a triangulation approach, two separate empirical investigations are conducted to examine various aspects of high labour turnover rates in the call centre sector in India. Study one examines the research issue via 51 in-depth interviews in as many units. Study two reports results from a questionnaire survey with 204 frontline agents across 11 call centres regarding employee turnover. Findings – This research reveals a range of reasons – from monotonous work, stressful work environment, adverse working conditions, lack of career development opportunities; to better job opportunities elsewhere, which emerge as the key causes of increasing attrition rates in the Indian call centre industry. Research limitations/implications – The research suggests that there are several issues that need to be handled carefully by management of call centres in India to overcome the problem of increasing employee turnover, and that this also demands support from the Indian government. Originality/value – The contributions of this study untangle the issues underlying a key problem in the call centre industry, i.e. employee turnover in the Indian call centre industry context. Adopting an internal marketing approach, it provides useful information for both academics and practitioners and suggests internal marketing interventions, and avenues for future research to combat the problem of employee turnover.

Individual spirit at work and its relationship with employee work attitudes and organisational outcomes:An empirical examination in corporate Thailand

The purpose of this thesis is to conduct empirical research in corporate Thailand in order to (1) validate the Spirit at Work Scale (2) investigate the relationships between individual spirit at work and three employee work attitudinal variables (job satisfaction, organisational identification and psychological well-being) and three organisational outcomes (in-role performance, organisational citizenship behaviours (OCB), and turnover intentions) (3) further examine causal relations among these organisational behaviour variables with a longitudinal design (4) examine three employee work attitudes as mediator variables between individual spirit at work and three organisational outcomes and (5) explore the potential antecedents of organisational conditions that foster employee experienced individual spirit at work. The two pilot studies with 155 UK and 175, 715 Thai samples were conducted for validation testing of the main measure used in this study: Spirit at Work Scale (Kinjerski & Skrypnek, 2006a). The results of the two studies including discriminant validity analyses strongly provided supportive evidence that Spirit at Work Scale (SAWS) is a sound psychometric measure and also a distinct construct from the three work attitude constructs. The final model of SAWS contains a total of twelve items; a three factor structure (meaning in work, sense of community, and spiritual connection) in which the sub-factors loaded on higher order factors and also had very acceptable reliability. In line with these results it was decided to use the second-order of SAWS model for Thai samples in the main study and subsequent analysis. The 715 completed questionnaires were received from the first wave of data collection during July - August 2008 and the second wave was conducted again within the same organisations and 501 completed questionnaires were received during March - April 2009. Data were obtained through 49 organisations which were from three types of organisations within Thailand: public organisations, for-profit organisations, and notfor-profit organisations. Confirmatory factor analysis of all measures used in the study and hypothesised model were tested with structural equation modelling techniques. The results were greatly supportive for the direct structural model and partially supportive for the fully mediated model. Moreover, there were different findings across self report and supervisor rating on performance and OCB models. Additionally, the antecedent conditions that fostered employees experienced individual spirit at work and the implications of these findings for research and practice are discussed.

Municipal benchmarking:organisational learning and network performance in the public sector

The main purpose of this dissertation is to assess the relation between municipal benchmarking and organisational learning with a specific emphasis on benchlearning and performance within municipalities and between groups of municipalities in the building and housing sector in the Netherlands. The first and main conclusion is that this relation exists, but that the relative success of different approaches to dimensions of change and organisational learning are a key explanatory factor for differences in the success of benchlearning. Seven other important conclusions could be derived from the empirical research. First, a combination of interpretative approaches at the group level with a mixture of hierarchical and network strategies, positively influences benchlearning. Second, interaction among professionals at the inter-organisational level strengthens benchlearning. Third, stimulating supporting factors can be seen as a more important strategy to strengthen benchlearning than pulling down barriers. Fourth, in order to facilitate benchlearning, intrinsic motivation and communication skills matter, and are supported by a high level of cooperation (i.e., team work), a flat organisational structure and interactions between individuals. Fifth, benchlearning is facilitated by a strategy that is based on a balanced use of episodic (emergent) and systemic (deliberate) forms of power. Sixth, high levels of benchlearning will be facilitated by an analyser or prospector strategic stance. Prospectors and analysers reach a different learning outcome than defenders and reactors. Whereas analysers and prospectors are willing to change policies when it is perceived as necessary, the strategic stances of defenders and reactors result in narrow process improvements (i.e., single-loop learning). Seventh, performance improvement is influenced by functional perceptions towards performance, and these perceptions ultimately influence the elements adopted. This research shows that efforts aimed at benchlearning and ultimately improved service delivery, should be directed to a multi-level and multi-dimensional approach addressing the context, content and process of dimensions of change and organisational learning.

Using the Business Process Execution Language for Managing Scientific Processes

This paper describes the use of the Business Process Execution Language for Web Services (BPEL4WS/BPEL) for managing scientific workflows. This work is result of our attempt to adopt Service Oriented Architecture in order to perform Web services – based simulation of metal vapor lasers. Scientific workflows can be more demanding in their requirements than business processes. In the context of addressing these requirements, the features of the BPEL4WS specification are discussed, which is widely regarded as the de-facto standard for orchestrating Web services for business workflows. A typical use case of calculation the electric field potential and intensity distributions is discussed as an example of building a BPEL process to perform distributed simulation constructed by loosely-coupled services.

A New Charging and Billing Model and Architecture for the Ubiquitous Consumer Wireless World

In a Ubiquitous Consumer Wireless World (UCWW) environment the provision, administration and management of the authentication, authorization and accounting (AAA) policies and business services are provided by third-party AAA service providers (3P-AAA-SPs) who are independent of the wireless access network providers (ANPs). In this environment the consumer can freely choose any suitable ANP, based on his/her own preferences. This new AAA infrastructural arrangement necessitates assessing the impact and re-thinking the design, structure and location of ‘charging and billing’ (C&B) functions and services. This paper addresses C&B issues in UCWW, proposing potential architectural solutions for C&B realization. Implementation approaches of these novel solutions together with a software testbed for validation and performance evaluation are addressed.

Inter-Laboratory Evaluation of a Next-Generation Sequencing Panel for Acute Myeloid Leukemia

INTRODUCTION: Acute myeloid leukemia (AML) is a heterogeneous clonal disorder often associated with dismal overall survival. The clinical diversity of AML is reflected in the range of recurrent somatic mutations in several genes, many of which have a prognostic and therapeutic value. Targeted next-generation sequencing (NGS) of these genes has the potential for translation into clinical practice. In order to assess this potential, an inter-laboratory evaluation of a commercially available AML gene panel across three diagnostic centres in the UK and Ireland was performed.

METHODS: DNA from six AML patient samples was distributed to each centre and processed using a standardised workflow, including a common sequencing platform, sequencing chips and bioinformatics pipeline. A duplicate sample in each centre was run to assess inter- and intra-laboratory performance.

RESULTS: An average sample read depth of 2725X (range 629-5600) was achieved using six samples per chip, with some variability observed in the depth of coverage generated for individual samples and between centres. A total of 16 somatic mutations were detected in the six AML samples, with a mean of 2.7 mutations per sample (range 1-4) representing nine genes on the panel. 15/16 mutations were identified by all three centres. Allelic frequencies of the mutations ranged from 5.6 to 53.3 % (median 44.4 %), with a high level of concordance of these frequencies between centres, for mutations detected.

CONCLUSION: In this inter-laboratory comparison, a high concordance, reproducibility and robustness was demonstrated using a commercially available NGS AML gene panel and platform.

Un aporte a la comprensión de las estrategias emergentes en las organizaciones a través del concepto de improvisación y la metáfora musical

Este trabajo se inscribe en uno de los grandes campos de los estudios organizacionales: la estrategia. La perspectiva clásica en este campo promovió la idea de que proyectarse hacia el futuro implica diseñar un plan (una serie de acciones deliberadas). Avances posteriores mostraron que la estrategia podía ser comprendida de otras formas. Sin embargo, la evolución del campo privilegió en alguna medida la mirada clásica estableciendo, por ejemplo, múltiples modelos para ‘formular’ una estrategia, pero dejando en segundo lugar la manera en la que esta puede ‘emerger’. El propósito de esta investigación es, entonces, aportar al actual nivel de comprensión respecto a las estrategias emergentes en las organizaciones. Para hacerlo, se consideró un concepto opuesto —aunque complementario— al de ‘planeación’ y, de hecho, muy cercano en su naturaleza a ese tipo de estrategias: la improvisación. Dado que este se ha nutrido de valiosos aportes del mundo de la música, se acudió al saber propio de este dominio, recurriendo al uso de ‘la metáfora’ como recurso teórico para entenderlo y alcanzar el objetivo propuesto. Los resultados muestran que 1) las estrategias deliberadas y las emergentes coexisten y se complementan, 2) la improvisación está siempre presente en el contexto organizacional, 3) existe una mayor intensidad de la improvisación en el ‘como’ de la estrategia que en el ‘qué’ y, en oposición a la idea convencional al respecto, 4) se requiere cierta preparación para poder improvisar de manera adecuada.