A Deontic Analysis of Inter-Organizational Control Requirements

This research focuses on the design and verification of inter-organizational controls. Instead of looking at a documentary procedure, which is the flow of documents and data among the parties, the research examines the underlying deontic purpose of the procedure, the so-called deontic process, and identifies control requirements to secure this purpose. The vision of the research is a formal theory for streamlining bureaucracy in business and government procedures. Underpinning most inter-organizational procedures are deontic relations, which are about rights and obligations of the parties. When all parties trust each other, they are willing to fulfill their obligations and honor the counter parties’ rights; thus controls may not be needed. The challenge is in cases where trust may not be assumed. In these cases, the parties need to rely on explicit controls to reduce their exposure to the risk of opportunism. However, at present there is no analytic approach or technique to determine which controls are needed for a given contracting or governance situation. The research proposes a formal method for deriving inter-organizational control requirements based on static analysis of deontic relations and dynamic analysis of deontic changes. The formal method will take a deontic process model of an inter-organizational transaction and certain domain knowledge as inputs to automatically generate control requirements that a documentary procedure needs to satisfy in order to limit fraud potentials. The deliverables of the research include a formal representation namely Deontic Petri Nets that combine multiple modal logics and Petri nets for modeling deontic processes, a set of control principles that represent an initial formal theory on the relationships between deontic processes and documentary procedures, and a working prototype that uses model checking technique to identify fraud potentials in a deontic process and generate control requirements to limit them. Fourteen scenarios of two well-known international payment procedures -- cash in advance and documentary credit -- have been used to test the prototype. The results showed that all control requirements stipulated in these procedures could be derived automatically.

Accountability et confiance dans l'institution scolaire

Dans quelle mesure la montée de la reddition de comptes et de l’évaluation en éducation est-elle significative d’un déclin de la confiance de l’Etat, des administrateurs scolaires et des usagers dans la capacité des organisations scolaires à remplir correctement leurs missions ? N’est-elle pas également symptômatique d’une perte de confiance à l’égard des enseignants et de leur professionnalisme? Nous traiterons ces questions en proposant une réflexion à partir des théories de la confiance en sciences sociales. Nous distinguerons en particulier les théories qui s’interrogent sur les conditions de confiance dans les transactions économiques et celles qui raisonnent la confiance « politique » dans les institutions. Nous argumentons que les dispositifs d’accountability tendent surtout à réduire l’incertitude des clients/managers quant aux risques d’opportunisme et d’opacité des opérateurs scolaires. Il s’agit de favoriser la bonne marche « du marché » ou de « l’organisation productive » scolaire, au risque d’une perte d’autonomie professionnelle des enseignants et sans pour autant que l’Ecole ne redevienne une institution politique «digne de confiance ».

Accountability et confiance dans l'institution scolaire

Dans quelle mesure la montée de la reddition de comptes et de l’évaluation en éducation est-elle significative d’un déclin de la confiance de l’Etat, des administrateurs scolaires et des usagers dans la capacité des organisations scolaires à remplir correctement leurs missions ? N’est-elle pas également symptômatique d’une perte de confiance à l’égard des enseignants et de leur professionnalisme? Nous traiterons ces questions en proposant une réflexion à partir des théories de la confiance en sciences sociales. Nous distinguerons en particulier les théories qui s’interrogent sur les conditions de confiance dans les transactions économiques et celles qui raisonnent la confiance « politique » dans les institutions. Nous argumentons que les dispositifs d’accountability tendent surtout à réduire l’incertitude des clients/managers quant aux risques d’opportunisme et d’opacité des opérateurs scolaires. Il s’agit de favoriser la bonne marche « du marché » ou de « l’organisation productive » scolaire, au risque d’une perte d’autonomie professionnelle des enseignants et sans pour autant que l’Ecole ne redevienne une institution politique «digne de confiance ».

Untangling a Web of Lies: Exploring Automated Detection of Deception in Computer-Mediated Communication

Safeguarding organizations against opportunism and severe deception in computer-mediated communication (CMC) presents a major challenge to CIOs and IT managers. New insights into linguistic cues of deception derive from the speech acts innate to CMC. Applying automated text analysis to archival email exchanges in a CMC system as part of a reward program, we assess the ability of word use (micro-level), message development (macro-level), and intertextual exchange cues (meta-level) to detect severe deception by business partners. We empirically assess the predictive ability of our framework using an ordinal multilevel regression model. Results indicate that deceivers minimize the use of referencing and self-deprecation but include more superfluous descriptions and flattery. Deceitful channel partners also over structure their arguments and rapidly mimic the linguistic style of the account manager across dyadic e-mail exchanges. Thanks to its diagnostic value, the proposed framework can support firms’ decision-making and guide compliance monitoring system development.

Inserção de fornecedores locais como fonte de desempenhos em custos de transação e legitimidade: estudo de caso na cadeia produtiva do petróleo e gás do Rio Grande do Norte

The inclusion of local suppliers in production chains has considerable impact on its performance, but most notably in its main actors. The results of this process may be of different kinds and can be analyzed from economic or institutional approaches. This study aimed to verify the existence of different performances of Petrobras due to the inclusion of local suppliers in the oil and gas production chain in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, from the viewpoints of transaction costs and the Institutional Theory. In order to this, were made the characterization of the PROMINP, the description of its actions and results, the mapping of its institutional context of reference, and identification of results obtained by Petrobras in terms of transaction costs and legitimacy. The theoretical framework is based on authors dealing with industrial concentration, as like Marshall, Krugman, Porter and Schmitz, from the sociological perspective of neoinstitucional theory, as like DiMaggio and Powell and Scott and Meyer, and transaction costs, as like Williamson. This is a qualitative research, with data collection done by consulting secondary fonts and semi-structured interviews with nineteen actors of three groups, namely: actors involved in actions of the program, representatives of enterprises and representative of Petrobras. To analyze the content was used the Suchman s model (1995) for categories associated with strategies of legitimation and fourteen variables associated with the three variables assets specificity, bounded rationality and opportunism (Williamson, 1995, 1989) in the case of transaction costs. The results indicate that PROMINP has achieved its objectives by encouraging the increased participation of local companies in the oil and gas production chain, reflecting in the economic development of the state. The Redepetro/RN, fostered and built upon the interaction of the participants, is presented as a solution of continuity to the participation of enterprises in the chain, after the closure of the actions of the program. PROMINP demands responses to coercive, legislative and regulatory pressures of the organizational field, whose institutional context of reference is wide. From the point of view of legitimacy, through strategies to gain cognitive legitimacy and maintaining pragmatic legitimacy, Petrobras can manipulate the environment, ensuring the compliance of the constituents to their technical and institutional demands. Enterprises, in turn, respond to the demands through compliance with technical demands, mainly through the certification of processes, and cultural changes. There aren t clear gains related to the transaction costs, however, gains in legitimacy can be seen as a cumulative capital that can serve as a competitive differential that generates economic gains. In terms of theoretical findings, it was found that, due to its explanatory power for actions that are difficult to explain only in economic terms, Institutional Theory may be used as theoretical support concurrent with other theories. TCE model has limitations in explaining the program actions. In the case, it s emphasized that Petrobras doesn t seek only economic efficiency, but has in its mission the commitment to social development.

The Scottish Parliament in the 15th and 16th centuries

Earlier histories of the Scottish parliament have been somewhat constitutional in emphasis and have been exceedingly critical of what was understood to be parliament's subservience to the crown. Estimates by constitutional historians of the extreme weakness of parliament rested on an assessment of the constitutional system. The argument was that many of its features were not consistent with a reasonably strong parliament. Because the 'constitution' is apparently fragmented, with active roles played by bodies such as the lords of articles, the general council and the convention of estates, each apparently suggesting that parliament was inadequate, historians have sometimes failed to appreciate the positive role played by the estates in the conduct of national affairs. The thesis begins with a discussion of the reliability of the printed text of APS and proceeds to an examination of selected aspects of the work of parliament in a period from c 1424-c 1625. The belief of constitutional historians such as Rait that conditions In Scotland proved unfavourable to the interests and. effectiveness of parliament in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, is also examined. Chapter 1 concludes that APS is a less than reliable text, particularly for the reign of James I. Numerous statutes were excluded from the printed text and they are offered below for the first time. These statutes have been a useful addition to our understanding of the reign of James I. Chapter 2 analyses the motives behind the schemes for shire representation and concludes that neither constitutional theory nor political opportunism explains the support which James I and James VI gave to these measures. Both these monarchs were motivated by the realisation that their particular ambitions were dependent on winning the support of the estates whose ranks should include representatives from the shires. Chapter 3 examines the method of electing the lords of articles, the composition of this committee, and some aspects of its operation. The conclusion is that in the main the estates were the deciding force in the choice of the lords of articles. The committee's composition was more a reflection of a desire for a balance between representatives from north and south of the Forth and for the most important burghs and clergy to be selected than an attempt at electing government favourites. The articles did exercise a significant control over the items which came before parliament but this control was not absolute and applied to government as well as private legislation. Chapter 4 questions the traditional view that the general council and convention of estates were the same body. It is argued that they were two different institutions with different powers, but that they nevertheless worked within certain limits and were careful not to usurp the authority of parliament. Chapter 5 concedes that taxation was sometimes decided outside parliament; that the irregularity of taxation certainly weakened the bargaining power of the estates and that the latter did not appear to capitalise on these occasions when taxation was an issue. But the tendency was to ensure that, whether in or out of parliament, the decision to impose taxation was taken by a large number of each estate. The infrequency of taxation was a direct consequence of an unwillingness among the estates to agree to a regular taxation and their preference to ensure for the crown an alternative source of income. Moreover taxation was one issue, which more than any other, would be subject to contentious opposition by the estates, and could lead to the crown's defeat. Chapter 6 is concerned with ecclesiastical representation after the Reformation and the church's attitudes to the possibility of ministerial representation. Some ministers had doctrinal misgivings but the majority came to believe that the church's absence from parliament bad severely reduced. the influence of the church. That no agreement was forthcoming on a system of ministerial representation, particularly after 1597, is attributable to the estates' unwillingness to compromise and, not to the strength of opposition in the church. Chapter 7 examines the institutions which are sometime seen as 'rivals' of parliament and concludes that institutions such as the privy council were generally very careful in matters which needed the approval of parliament, and seemed aware of the greater authority of parliament. Chapter 8 which illustrates how parliament had the right to be consulted in all important matters of state, brings together the main points of the earlier chapters and offers further illustrations of the essential role which parliament played in the conduct of national affairs. Whether or not the system can be regarded as constitutionally sound, the estates in Scotland could observe parliament's day-to-day operation with some satisfaction. All in all, there is little convincing evidence that parliament was as weak as some historians would have us believe.

Inserção de fornecedores locais como fonte de desempenhos em custos de transação e legitimidade: estudo de caso na cadeia produtiva do petróleo e gás do Rio Grande do Norte

The inclusion of local suppliers in production chains has considerable impact on its performance, but most notably in its main actors. The results of this process may be of different kinds and can be analyzed from economic or institutional approaches. This study aimed to verify the existence of different performances of Petrobras due to the inclusion of local suppliers in the oil and gas production chain in the state of Rio Grande do Norte, from the viewpoints of transaction costs and the Institutional Theory. In order to this, were made the characterization of the PROMINP, the description of its actions and results, the mapping of its institutional context of reference, and identification of results obtained by Petrobras in terms of transaction costs and legitimacy. The theoretical framework is based on authors dealing with industrial concentration, as like Marshall, Krugman, Porter and Schmitz, from the sociological perspective of neoinstitucional theory, as like DiMaggio and Powell and Scott and Meyer, and transaction costs, as like Williamson. This is a qualitative research, with data collection done by consulting secondary fonts and semi-structured interviews with nineteen actors of three groups, namely: actors involved in actions of the program, representatives of enterprises and representative of Petrobras. To analyze the content was used the Suchman s model (1995) for categories associated with strategies of legitimation and fourteen variables associated with the three variables assets specificity, bounded rationality and opportunism (Williamson, 1995, 1989) in the case of transaction costs. The results indicate that PROMINP has achieved its objectives by encouraging the increased participation of local companies in the oil and gas production chain, reflecting in the economic development of the state. The Redepetro/RN, fostered and built upon the interaction of the participants, is presented as a solution of continuity to the participation of enterprises in the chain, after the closure of the actions of the program. PROMINP demands responses to coercive, legislative and regulatory pressures of the organizational field, whose institutional context of reference is wide. From the point of view of legitimacy, through strategies to gain cognitive legitimacy and maintaining pragmatic legitimacy, Petrobras can manipulate the environment, ensuring the compliance of the constituents to their technical and institutional demands. Enterprises, in turn, respond to the demands through compliance with technical demands, mainly through the certification of processes, and cultural changes. There aren t clear gains related to the transaction costs, however, gains in legitimacy can be seen as a cumulative capital that can serve as a competitive differential that generates economic gains. In terms of theoretical findings, it was found that, due to its explanatory power for actions that are difficult to explain only in economic terms, Institutional Theory may be used as theoretical support concurrent with other theories. TCE model has limitations in explaining the program actions. In the case, it s emphasized that Petrobras doesn t seek only economic efficiency, but has in its mission the commitment to social development.

Consideraciones críticas sobre el prestigio y la diginidad personal y profesional de los bibliotecarios

Esta ponencia expone unas reflexiones sobre el prestigio y la dignidad profesional de la bibliotecología en el estado de Nuevo León, México. Analiza y critica: a) la falta de categorías profesionales en Nuevo León en contraste con la UNAM; menciona también como varios bibliotecologos del IMSS Nuevo Leon lucharon porque se tipificara en el contrato colectivo la categoria de Bibliotecologo Profesional y cuya lucha ganaron; b) las actitudes represoras y dictatoriales por parte de las mafias administrativas y academicas de las principales universidades que no permiten la superacion de las amplias mayorias de bibliotecologos y que censuran la libertad de expresion y pensamiento en Nuevo Leon; c) aboga porque los bibliotecologos deban tener mistica de servicio como si se tratara de un "apostolado" en contra del "monetarismo" o "mercenarismo" que en la actualidad mueve a los bibliotecologos nuevoleoneses. En el aspecto gremial critica la charlataneria y oportunimo demagogico de gremios como los de AMBAC de Nuevo Leon, que se aprovechan de las ineptitudes de los gobiernos en todos los niveles en materia bibliotecaria y utilizan las desgracias naturales apelando a sentimentalismos de la gente solo para salir en la foto y en la prensa, pero sin analizar, criticar ni denunciar las fallas estructurales de fondo del Estado mexicano y de los tres niveles de gobierno. ABSTRACT This paper analyses some reflections about the professional prestige and dignity of librarianship in the state of Nuevo Leon, Mexico. It analyses and criticises: a) the lack of professional categories for librarians with B.A.s or Masters degrees in Nuevo Leon, in contrast, for example with Mexico’s National Autonomous University (UNAM); it also assesses how several librarians with B.A. undergraduate degrees from the Mexican National Institute of Social Security (IMSS) the national health service system) in the Nuevo Leon state-wide fought to obtain a Professional B.A. Undergraduate Degre Librarian Labor Cagegory status to be signed and included in the labor IMSS union collective contract and how eventually they won; b) it also criticises the repressive and dictatorial attitudes on the side of the top managerial and academic mafias from the major Nuevo Leon universities who do not allow free and equal academic and professional development opportunities of the vast majorities of librarians with or without B.A. degrees and whom also censor their freedom of expression and thought in Nuevo Leon librarianship; c) it advocates for librarians to have an honest service mystique as if they were doing a sort of "apostleship" against the "monetarist" and "mercenarist" practices that currently practice librarians in Nuevo Leon state. As for the library guild activities, it criticises the demogogical charlatanism and opportunism of guilds such as AMBAC (standing from the Mexico-wide Mexican Library Association, Nuevo Leon chapter), where their leaders only take advantage of the ineptitudes of the three levels of the Mexican government (municipal, state, and federal) on library issues, and they use the natural disasters against libraries or librarians by appealing to people’s sentimentalisms just to appear themselves in the picture and in the press, but without analysing, criticising and denouncing the deep structural faults underneath the Mexican State, and from all the three levels of the Mexican governments.

Innovación tecnológica, oportunismo y acción colectiva en la concentración quesera de Tlaxco, Tlaxcala, México

Tlaxco es una pequeña cuenca lechera del centro de México. Concentra a los diferentes actores implicados en la cadena productiva de queso: ganaderos, recolectores de leche, queseros y comerciantes. Se estudió a través de la metodología de los Sistemas Agroalimentarios Localizados (SIAL) que permite un análisis multidisciplinario. La actividad quesera se desarrolló por la disponibilidad de leche, y los comerciantes han aprovechado la fama que ha ganado el queso a nivel regional. Los agentes se caracterizan por la pequeña escala en sus actividades y un bajo nivel tecnológico y económico; a pesar de eso, la quesería sigue desarrollándose, pero las relaciones son limitadas: las definen la falta de confianza, oportunismo e individualismo. El lugar de promover colectivamente la calidad, la competencia se basa exclusivamente en el precio. La falta de activación colectiva de la cuenca debilita a los actores e impide un uso óptimo de los recursos.   ABSTRACT Tlaxco, is a small dairy area ubicated in the central part of México. The different actors implicated in cheese value chain are concentrated in this zone: dairy farmers, milk collectors, cheese makers and sellers. The Local Agrifood System methodology has been applied to bring us a multidisciplinary point of view. Milk availability made possible cheese-making activity, and Tlaxco cheese enjoy a regional reputation. Actors are characterized by small scale activities and a low technological and economical level. Nevertheless. Cheese-making activities are still in development. But relationships are limited: their main characteristics are mistrust. Opportunism and individualism. Instead of promoting collectively product quality, competition is almost only based on price. The lack of collective activation in the area weakens actors and stops an optimal use of resources.

Sex steroid profiles in zebra finches : effects of reproductive state and domestication

The zebra finch is a common model organism in neuroscience, endocrinology, and ethology. Zebra finches are generally considered opportunistic breeders, but the extent of their opportunism depends on the predictability of their habitat. This plasticity in the timing of breeding raises the question of how domestication, a process that increases environmental predictability, has affected their reproductive physiology. Here, we compared circulating steroid levels in various "strains" of zebra finches. In Study 1, using radioimmunoassay, we examined circulating testosterone levels in several strains of zebra finches (males and females). Subjects were wild or captive (Captive Wild-Caught, Wild-Derived, or Domesticated). In Study 2, using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), we examined circulating sex steroid profiles in wild and domesticated zebra finches (males and females). In Study 1, circulating testosterone levels in males differed across strains. In Study 2, six steroids were detectable in plasma from wild zebra finches (pregnenolone, progesterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), testosterone, androsterone, and 5α-dihydrotestosterone (5α-DHT)). Only pregnenolone and progesterone levels changed across reproductive states in wild finches. Compared to wild zebra finches, domesticated zebra finches had elevated levels of circulating pregnenolone, progesterone, DHEA, testosterone, androstenedione, and androsterone. These data suggest that domestication has profoundly altered the endocrinology of this common model organism. These results have implications for interpreting studies of domesticated zebra finches, as well as studies of other domesticated species.

The significant role of third-party logistics (3pl) operators as fosterers of organizational performance in colombian companies

La eliminación de barreras entre países es una consecuencia que llega con la globalización y con los acuerdos de TLC firmados en los últimos años. Esto implica un crecimiento significativo del comercio exterior, lo cual se ve reflejado en un aumento de la complejidad de la cadena de suministro de las empresas. Debido a lo anterior, se hace necesaria la búsqueda de alternativas para obtener altos niveles de productividad y competitividad dentro de las empresas en Colombia, ya que el entorno se ha vuelto cada vez más complejo, saturado de competencia no sólo nacional, sino también internacional. Para mantenerse en una posición competitiva favorable, las compañías deben enfocarse en las actividades que le agregan valor a su negocio, por lo cual una de las alternativas que se están adoptando hoy en día es la tercerización de funciones logísticas a empresas especializadas en el manejo de estos servicios. Tales empresas son los Proveedores de servicios logísticos (LSP), quienes actúan como agentes externos a la organización al gestionar, controlar y proporcionar actividades logísticas en nombre de un contratante. Las actividades realizadas pueden incluir todas o parte de las actividades logísticas, pero como mínimo la gestión y ejecución del transporte y almacenamiento deben estar incluidos (Berglund, 2000). El propósito del documento es analizar el papel de los Operadores Logísticos de Tercer nivel (3PL) como promotores del desempeño organizacional en las empresas colombianas, con el fin de informar a las MIPYMES acerca de los beneficios que se obtienen al trabajar con LSP como un medio para mejorar la posición competitiva del país.

Early Modern Trading Networks in Europe. Cooperation and the case of Simon Ruiz.

In the early modern period, trade became a truly global phenomenon. The logistics, financial and organizational complexity associated with it increased in order to connect distant geographies and merchants from different backgrounds. How did these merchants prevent their partners from dishonesty in a time where formal institutions and legislation did not traverse these different worlds? This book studies the mechanisms and criteria of cooperation in early modern trading networks. It uses an interdisciplinary approach, through the case study of a Castilian long-distance merchant of the sixteenth century, Simon Ruiz, who traded within the limits of the Portuguese and Spanish overseas empires. Early Modern Trading Networks in Europe discusses the importance of reciprocity mechanisms, trust and reputation in the context of early modern business relations, using network analysis methodology, combining quantitative data with qualitative information. It considers how cooperation and prevention could simultaneously create a business relationship, and describes the mechanisms of control, policing and punishment used to avoid opportunism and deception among a group of business partners. Using bills of exchange and correspondence from Simon Ruiz’s private archive, it charts the evolution of this business network through time, debating which criteria should be included or excluded from business networks, as well as the emergence of standards. This book intends to put forward a new approach to early modern trade which focuses on individuals interacting in self-organized structures, rather than on states or empires. It shows how indirect reciprocity was much more frequent than direct reciprocity among early modern merchants and how informal norms, like ostracism or signaling, helped to prevent defection and deception in an effective way.