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1 – 10 of 74Pedro Antunes, José A. Pino, Mathews Nkhoma and Nguyen Hoang Thuan
Business process modeling faces a difficult balance: on the one hand, organizations seek to enact, control and automate business processes through formal structures (procedures…
Abstract
Purpose
Business process modeling faces a difficult balance: on the one hand, organizations seek to enact, control and automate business processes through formal structures (procedures and rules). On the other hand, organizations also seek to embrace flexibility, change, innovation, value orientation, and dynamic capabilities, which require informal structures (unique user experiences). Addressing this difficulty, the authors propose the composite approach, which integrates formal and informal process structures. The composite approach adopts a socio-material conceptual lens, where both material and human agencies are supported.
Design/methodology/approach
The study follows a design science research methodology. An innovative artifact – the composite approach – is introduced. The composite approach is evaluated in an empirical experiment.
Findings
The experimental results show that the composite approach improves model understandability and situation understandability.
Research limitations/implications
This research explores the challenges and opportunities brought by adopting a socio-material conceptual lens to represent business processes.
Originality/value
The study contributes an innovative hybrid approach for modeling business processes, articulating coordination and contextual knowledge. The proposed approach can be used to improve model understandability and situation understandability. The study also extends the socio-material conceptual lens over process modeling with a theoretical framework integrating coordination and contextual knowledge.
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A new approach to meeting scheduling is proposed. The assumption is that neither open nor closed systems are usually appropriate concerning an organization’s employees meeting…
Abstract
A new approach to meeting scheduling is proposed. The assumption is that neither open nor closed systems are usually appropriate concerning an organization’s employees meeting time. A latitude model is put forward in which employees’ personal preferences are important. People may accept computer systems based on this model as more adequate scheduling tools than previous attempts. A prototype implementation is described.
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José Alberto Castañeda García, Juan Miguel Rey Pino, Zakaria Elkhwesky and Islam Elbayoumi Salem
The purpose of this study is to identify the core responsible leadership (RL) practices that are most relevant to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) restaurants…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to identify the core responsible leadership (RL) practices that are most relevant to small- and medium-sized enterprises (SME) restaurants. Furthermore, the authors adapt scales to measure these practices and conduct a pilot study to evaluate their impact on business performance in such establishments.
Design/methodology/approach
Exploratory sequential mixed methods are used to fulfill the research aims. In the first phase, a set of definitions and practices associated with RL are derived from a systematic literature review. Second, a projective method of data collection is applied, involving a panel of 16 experts. Third, a fuzzy cognitive map is developed, which captures the responses of 40 owners or general managers of SME restaurants.
Findings
Twenty-five practices are identified from the systematic literature review. The results show the five leadership practices that match the order of importance assigned by the experts: societal orientation, ethics, stakeholder involvement, power-sharing and environmental orientation. The relevance of those five practices is validated to explain SME restaurants’ financial performance and innovation performance.
Practical implications
Innovation is the key to advancing business sustainability and resilience, and the results identify the specific RL practices that enable improvements to be made in innovation performance among SME restaurants.
Originality/value
This paper identifies the RL practices that are particularly relevant to the tourism field (specifically, the restaurant industry), offers measurement scales for those practices and provides empirical evidence of the relationship between these RL practices and business performance in SME restaurants.
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Mauricio Pino Yancovic, Alvaro González Torres, Luis Ahumada Figueroa and Christopher Chapman
José M. Ponzoa, Andrés Gómez and Ramón Arilla
This study aims to develop a proprietary indicator to measure the digital presence of the institutions: the digital presence index.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to develop a proprietary indicator to measure the digital presence of the institutions: the digital presence index.
Design/methodology/approach
This research delves into how nonprofit institutions, specifically business interest associations (BIAs), have developed their internet presence by applying essential digital marketing techniques. To this end, and using big data mining tools, this study analyzes the tracking by internet users of 102 BIAs, with their respective websites in 36 countries in Europe and the USA. In addition, the presence and activity of the institutions included in this study on social networks are considered.
Findings
This research serves as a basis for discussing the current gap between social reality and the digitalization of institutions. In this sense, conclusions are drawn on the importance of managerial profiles in decision-making on digitization and the necessary knowledge that, together with Web and social network managers, they must have to articulate the means and techniques that promote the internet presence of the organizations they manage.
Originality/value
Conclusions are drawn according to the geographical scope of the BIAs, and an argument is made about the difficulties of connection and loss of prominence of this type of institutions among their different target audiences, especially among the youngest and most digitized.
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Fermín Sánchez-Carracedo, Bàrbara Sureda Carbonell and Francisco Manuel Moreno-Pino
This paper aims to analyze the presence of sustainability in 16 Spanish higher education curricula in the fields of education and engineering.
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to analyze the presence of sustainability in 16 Spanish higher education curricula in the fields of education and engineering.
Design/methodology/approach
The methodology uses two instruments: sustainability map and sustainability presence map. These instruments enable analysis of the number of subjects that develop sustainability and the sustainability presence level in each curriculum; identification of what domain levels of the learning taxonomy sustainability is most developed; and analysis of whether a correlation exists between the sustainability presence and the number of subjects that develop sustainability in each curriculum.
Findings
A wide variety of subjects develop sustainability in a given degree, depending on the university. The presence of sustainability is more homogeneous in education degrees than in engineering degrees. Education degrees have a greater presence of sustainability in the lower domain levels of taxonomy, while in engineering degrees the lower levels of taxonomy have a lower presence of sustainability than the higher levels. Finally, a correlation appears to exist between the number of subjects that develop sustainability in the curriculum and the sustainability presence. However, engineering degrees seem to need fewer subjects than education degrees to achieve the same degree of sustainability presence.
Originality/value
This paper proposes a methodology to measure sustainability presence that can be applicable to the curricula of a higher education degree if the corresponding sustainability map is available. To the authors’ knowledge, this is the largest study yet conducted to analyze the presence of sustainability in different higher education curricula.
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Paloma Suárez-Brito, Patricia Esther Alonso-Galicia, Christian Fernando López-Orozco, José Carlos Vázquez-Parra and Edgar Omar López-Caudana
The objective of this proposal was to propose an educational innovation resource for the delivery of workshops with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and…
Abstract
Purpose
The objective of this proposal was to propose an educational innovation resource for the delivery of workshops with lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex and asexual (LGBTQIA) themes aimed at students in high school and middle school to promote complex thinking as a necessary competency for understanding their continuously changing environment.
Design/methodology/approach
Training for sexual and gender diversity challenges higher education institutions, some of which have bet on developing complex thinking to meet this need. Although not all universities have sufficient resources to create activities that foster relevant and diversity-sensitive competencies, some have implemented strategies ranging from modifying their curricula to designing specific classroom tasks that support student inclusion. In response to the challenges faced by higher education institutions (HEIs) to promote the acquisition of thinking skills for complexity, this paper proposes deploying a humanoid robot as an educational innovation tool in training initiatives that promote issues of sexual and gender diversity. The deployment model is described, considering design, delivery and evaluation. The value of this proposal lies in using humanoid robotics as a classroom resource within the framework of social robotics, considering its implications in the educational context to develop complex thinking competency and training for diversity in higher education students.
Findings
The data presented here highlight the importance of educational institutions integrating content into their plans, programs and activities (both curricular and extracurricular) that promote inclusion and sexual and gender diversity and attractive teaching strategies to reinforce this perspective. So, this proposal offers a support tool for implementing this content in everyday educational contexts where the objectives focus on triggering complex reasoning competencies.
Research limitations/implications
The varied responses and perceptions of students towards robotics and sexual diversity, as well as the lack of clear methods to assess educational outcomes, may compromise the effectiveness of the intervention.
Practical implications
The workshop proposed in this paper is configured as a series of iterations and repetitions in different educational fields, whether disciplinary (e.g. design or engineering) or transversal (e.g. entrepreneurship). The goal is to achieve educational strategies that generate a more significant impact at the institutional level. In this sense, the present proposal joins the actions implemented by other higher education institutions to make sexual and gender diversity visible to university students.
Social implications
The overall aim is to bring awareness, understanding and education to students with an inclusive, respectful and equitable perspective.
Originality/value
Social robotics is an innovative and attractive tool for young people at the higher education level. We consider our study a pioneer in the area.
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Araceli Almaraz Alvarado and Javier Vidal Olivares
The internationalization process in recent decades has been discussed from different approaches. In this chapter, we study the evolution of selected Latin American and Spanish…
Abstract
The internationalization process in recent decades has been discussed from different approaches. In this chapter, we study the evolution of selected Latin American and Spanish companies that have experienced a growing evolution from small or medium-sized enterprises to large corporations with participation in global markets and a strategic role played by the family organizations and small business groups. It is a study of multiple cases scope focused on two main lines of discussion. In one hand, the trajectories of internationalization and, and the other, the family firm organization and structure, correspondingly to sectorial aspects and the global situations that have encouraged the expansion of markets, the acquisitions of assets outside the countries of origin, and the outsourcing system. The group of companies selected to discuss the heterogeneity of the internationalization processes is based in case studies: Lojas Amerianas-Brazil, Crystal Lagoons-Chile, Despegar.com-Argentina, Sol-Meliá, Spain, Ferrovial, Spain, Talgo, Spain. Among the findings of this comparative study, the following stand out: (1) debates about the family business are alive, (2) multidimensional perspectives between countries are needed to understand not only internationalization but also the relevance of competitive learning, entrepreneurial vision evolution, and diversity of trajectories between sectors and companies, and finally (3) the importance of culture and immigration in business and family development from Small and Medium Enterprises (hereafter SME) to large businesses.
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Diego Armando Marín-Idárraga and José Manuel Hurtado González
By integrating the structural contingency and the organizational adaptation theories, this study analyzes the impact of the main variables of organizational structure on…
Abstract
Purpose
By integrating the structural contingency and the organizational adaptation theories, this study analyzes the impact of the main variables of organizational structure on convergent change. The authors also examine whether some contingency variables, such as the firm's size, age and sector, may help to explain differences in the relationship between organizational structure and convergent change.
Design/methodology/approach
This work was carried out through an explanatory and cross-sectional study. The hypotheses were tested through a multiple regression analysis.
Findings
This paper demonstrates that, in Bogota's SMEs, modifications in differentiation and formalization explain convergent change, and that centralization does not affect it. Furthermore, the authors find that the company's size explains these relationships, and that age and sector do not influence them.
Practical implications
The authors provide useful information in this work to guide managers and professionals on the implications of organizational structure and convergent change, more specifically on decisions regarding hierarchical arrangement, job division and processes redefinition.
Originality/value
This work provides empirical evidence with original data for a better understanding of the reality of Colombian SMEs in the Latin American context.
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This chapter covers the significant developments in subject access embodied in the Functional Requirements (FR) family of models, particularly the Functional Requirements for…
Abstract
Purpose
This chapter covers the significant developments in subject access embodied in the Functional Requirements (FR) family of models, particularly the Functional Requirements for Subject Authority Data (FRSAD) model.
Design/methodology/approach
A structured literature review was used to track the genesis of FRSAD. It builds on work by Pino Buizza and Mauro Guerrini who outlined a potential subject access model for FRBR. Tom Delsey, the author of Resource Description and Access (RDA), also examined the problem of adding subject access.
Findings
FRSAD seemed to generate little comment when it appeared in 2009, despite its subject model which departed from that in previous FR standards. FRSAD proposed a subject model based on “thema” and “nomen,” whereby the former, defined as “any entity used as the subject of a work,” was represented by the latter, defined as “any sign or sequence of signs.” It is suggested in this chapter that the linguistic classification theory underlying the PRECIS Indexing System might provide an alternative model for developing generic subject entities in FRSAD.
Originality/value
The FR family of models underpin RDA, the new cataloguing code intended to replace AACR2.Thus issues with FRSAD, which are still unresolved, continue to affect the new generation of cataloguing rules and their supporting models.