Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons^™

Product Complexity: A Definition And Impacts On Operations, Mark A. Jacobs

Mark A. Jacobs

The difficulty for organizations arises because neither complexity nor its impacts on performance are well understood (Fisher & Ittner, 1999b). The mechanisms through which it affects cost, quality, delivery, and flexibility need to be explained (Ramdas, 2003). However, this cannot happen until complexity can be explained theoretically. But, to build theory there must first be a common understanding about the construct of interest (Wacker, 2004). Only then can researchers operationalize it and search for meaningful relationships. In light of this, I develop a definition of complexity below. A sampling of the operations management literature is then presented within the context …

Volume And Cost Implications Of Product Portfolio Complexity, Mark A. Jacobs

Mark A. Jacobs

Business leaders are concerned about the impacts of increasing levels of product portfolio complexity since many sense that complexity related costs such as order management, procurement, and inventory threaten to undermine operational efficiencies and consume profits. Even so, managers do not fully understand the extent and breadth of the impacts of product portfolio complexity. A more complete understanding of the operational effects of product portfolio complexity is lacking partially because researchers have not yet offered a robust theoretical perspective or studied it in a focused controlled way; until now. Herein, measures of product portfolio complexity are developed and related to …

How Cios Overcome The Competing Values Challenge: Irish Cios’ Perspectives, Harvey Enns, Dean B. Mcfarlin, Paul B. Sweeney

Paul B. Sweeney

Competing values are a fact of organizational life. However, there are gaps in our understanding about how these opposing beliefs hinder influence processes. This article draws on interview data to demonstrate how Irish Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are able to convince their colleagues to support new projects within their firms in the face of competing values. Focused interviews were used to explore the influence process and the competing values phenomenon, since this type of research is at an early stage and qualitative methods and analysis serve as a rich source of theory development. The data showed that the CIOs who …

Pricing And Product Mix Optimization In Freight Transportation, Michael F. Gorman

Michael F. Gorman

We propose improved pricing and market mix can improve the profitability of the freight transportation provider through the reduction of equipment repositioning costs. We hypothesize that because of complexities surrounding pricing and equipment repositioning costing, existing pricing strategies in freight transportation fail to fully consider these costs. We test this hypothesis in an applied setting in which Monte Carlo simulation captures the stochasticity of market conditions inherent in the problem. We use a heuristic to improve the nondifferentiable, discontinuous objective function. Our results from test cases show with high confidence that current prices are not optimal, as indicated by a …

Integrating Strategic And Tactical Rolling Stock Models With Cyclical Demand, Michael F. Gorman

Michael F. Gorman

In the transportation industry, companies position rolling stock where it is likely to be needed in the face of a pronounced weekly cyclical demand pattern in orders.

Strategic policies based on assumptions of repetition of cyclical weekly patterns set rolling stock targets; during tactical execution, a myriad dynamic influences cause deviations from strategically set targets. We find that optimal strategic plans do not agree with results of tactical modeling; strategic results are in fact suboptimal in many tactical situations. We discuss managerial implications of this finding and how the two modeling paradigms can be reconciled.

The Promises And Challenges Of Innovating Through Big Data And Analytics In Healthcare, Donald E. Wynn, Renée M. E. Pratt

Donald Wynn

In this article, we present the promises and challenges of big data and analytics (BD&A) in healthcare, informed by our observations of and interviews with healthcare providers in the US and European Union (EU). We then provide a set of recommendations for capitalizing on the extraordinary innovation opportunities available through big data.

Choosing Management Information Systems As A Major: Understanding The Smifactors For Mis, Thomas W. Ferratt, Stephen R. Hall, Jayesh Prasad, Donald E. Wynn

Donald Wynn

Given declining management information systems (MIS) enrollments at our university, we seek to understand our students‘ selection of a major. Prior studies have found that students choose a major based on a number of factors, with subject matter interest consistently being most important. We contribute to the literature by developing a deeper understanding of what is meant by subject matter interest, which we refer to as smiFactors, for MIS as a major and career. Based on a qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions completed by undergraduate business students, we confirm a number of smiFactors for MIS gleaned from recent studies …

Principles For Conducting Critical Realist Case Study Research In Information Systems, Donald E. Wynn, Clay K. Williams

Donald Wynn

Critical realism is emerging as a viable philosophical paradigm for conducting social science research, and has been proposed as an alternative to the more prevalent paradigms of positivism and interpretivism. Few papers, however, have offered clear guidance for applying this philosophy to actual research methodologies. Under critical realism, a causal explanation for a given phenomenon is inferred by explicitly identifying the means by which structural entities and contextual conditions interact to generate a given set of events. Consistent with this view of causality, we propose a set of methodological principles for conducting and evaluating critical realism-based explanatory case study research …

Assessing The Emphasis On Information Security In The Systems Analysis And Design Course, William David Salisbury, Thomas W. Ferratt, Donald E. Wynn

Donald Wynn

Due to several recent highly publicized information breaches, information security has gained a higher profile. Hence, it is reasonable to expect that information security would receive an equally significant emphasis in the education of future systems professionals. A variety of security standards that various entities (e.g., NIST, COSO, ISACA-COBIT, ISO) have put forth emphasize the importance of information security from the very beginning of the system development lifecycle (SDLC) to avoid significant redesign in later phases. To determine the emphasis on security in typical systems analysis and design (SA&D) courses, we examine (1) to what extent security is emphasized in …

Irish Cios’ Influence On Technology Innovation And It-Business Alignment, Harvey Enns, Joseph J. Mcdonagh

Harvey Enns

Technology is the driving force behind many of today’s new products, services, and cost-cutting measures. However, there are gaps in our understanding about how technological innovation is fostered and nurtured in organizations. Part of the answer is to examine how Chief Information Officers (CIOs) exercise influence regarding technological innovation in organizations. This is particularly important since the CIO is the head of technology in organizations, an important source of technological innovation. This article draws on an established executive influence framework to demonstrate how Irish CIOs are able to solidify Information Technology’s (IT’s) contribution to technological innovation via relational means. Most …

Synergy And Its Limits In Managing Information Technology Professionals, Thomas W. Ferratt, Jayesh Prasad, Harvey Enns

Harvey Enns

We examine the effects of human resource management (HRM) practices (e.g., career development, social support, compensation, and security) on IT professionals‟ job search behavior. Job search is a relatively novel dependent variable in studies of voluntary withdrawal behavior, in general, and for IT professionals, in particular. From a universalistic perspective, HRM practices individually and in combination exhibit independently additive effects on job search behavior. Our study contrasts this perspective with configurational theory, hypothesizing that proposed idealtype configurations of HRM practices have synergistic effects on job search behavior. We contribute to the IT and broader HRM literature by theoretically explicating and …

How Cios Overcome The Competing Values Challenge: Irish Cios’ Perspectives, Harvey Enns, Dean B. Mcfarlin, Paul B. Sweeney

Harvey Enns

Competing values are a fact of organizational life. However, there are gaps in our understanding about how these opposing beliefs hinder influence processes. This article draws on interview data to demonstrate how Irish Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are able to convince their colleagues to support new projects within their firms in the face of competing values. Focused interviews were used to explore the influence process and the competing values phenomenon, since this type of research is at an early stage and qualitative methods and analysis serve as a rich source of theory development. The data showed that the CIOs who …

Assessing The Emphasis On Information Security In The Systems Analysis And Design Course, William David Salisbury, Thomas W. Ferratt, Donald E. Wynn

William D Salisbury PhD

Due to several recent highly publicized information breaches, information security has gained a higher profile. Hence, it is reasonable to expect that information security would receive an equally significant emphasis in the education of future systems professionals. A variety of security standards that various entities (e.g., NIST, COSO, ISACA-COBIT, ISO) have put forth emphasize the importance of information security from the very beginning of the system development lifecycle (SDLC) to avoid significant redesign in later phases. To determine the emphasis on security in typical systems analysis and design (SA&D) courses, we examine (1) to what extent security is emphasized in …

Assessing The Emphasis On Information Security In The Systems Analysis And Design Course, William David Salisbury, Thomas W. Ferratt, Donald E. Wynn

Thomas Ferratt

Due to several recent highly publicized information breaches, information security has gained a higher profile. Hence, it is reasonable to expect that information security would receive an equally significant emphasis in the education of future systems professionals. A variety of security standards that various entities (e.g., NIST, COSO, ISACA-COBIT, ISO) have put forth emphasize the importance of information security from the very beginning of the system development lifecycle (SDLC) to avoid significant redesign in later phases. To determine the emphasis on security in typical systems analysis and design (SA&D) courses, we examine (1) to what extent security is emphasized in …

Choosing Management Information Systems As A Major: Understanding The Smifactors For Mis, Thomas W. Ferratt, Stephen R. Hall, Jayesh Prasad, Donald E. Wynn

Thomas Ferratt

Given declining management information systems (MIS) enrollments at our university, we seek to understand our students‘ selection of a major. Prior studies have found that students choose a major based on a number of factors, with subject matter interest consistently being most important. We contribute to the literature by developing a deeper understanding of what is meant by subject matter interest, which we refer to as smiFactors, for MIS as a major and career. Based on a qualitative analysis of open-ended survey questions completed by undergraduate business students, we confirm a number of smiFactors for MIS gleaned from recent studies …

Synergy And Its Limits In Managing Information Technology Professionals, Thomas W. Ferratt, Jayesh Prasad, Harvey Enns

Thomas Ferratt

We examine the effects of human resource management (HRM) practices (e.g., career development, social support, compensation, and security) on IT professionals‟ job search behavior. Job search is a relatively novel dependent variable in studies of voluntary withdrawal behavior, in general, and for IT professionals, in particular. From a universalistic perspective, HRM practices individually and in combination exhibit independently additive effects on job search behavior. Our study contrasts this perspective with configurational theory, hypothesizing that proposed idealtype configurations of HRM practices have synergistic effects on job search behavior. We contribute to the IT and broader HRM literature by theoretically explicating and …

Effects Of An Integrated Electronic Health Record On An Academic Medical Center, Kenneth E. Koppenhaver Ii

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The debate about healthcare reform revolves around a triple aim of improving the health of populations, improving the patient experience, and reducing the cost of care. A major tool discussed in this debate has been the adoption of electronic health record (EHR) systems to record and guide care delivery. Due to low adoption rates and limited examples of success, the problem was a lack of understanding by healthcare organizations of how the EHR fundamentally changes an organization through the interactions of people, processes, and technology over time. The purpose of this case study was to explore the people, processes, and …

Assessing Information Technology And Business Alignment In Local City Government, Leslie Milbourne D'Anjou

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Top executives are interested in more transparent and formalized structures, applicable measurements, and clear justification of alignment. Limited or improper information technology governance (ITG) affects the business strategy that will ultimately influence the overall business alignment in local city government agencies (LCGAs). The problem addressed in this study was the lack of information regarding LCGAs IT/business strategic alignment maturity model (SAMM) level and the LCGAs' employment size. The purpose of this survey study was to evaluate 48 LCGA participants in the Southwestern part of the United States and compare their alignment perceptions with their cities' employment size. The theoretical framework …

Exploring Knowledge Management Models On Information Technology Projects, Alan Richard Foote

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

One way an organization manages the knowledge of its people is in information technology (IT) projects. Organizations develop IT projects for many socially responsible reasons, including improved health care services and better community services. IT projects do not always achieve the goals of the organization when the knowledge of the stakeholders is not managed for these objectives. For this study the purpose was to address the use of knowledge management (KM) in project management (PM) to improve the success of IT projects in achieving the organizational goals. The research questions were based on KM including its tools and techniques to …

Empirical Examination Of User Acceptance Of Enterprise Resource Planning Systems In The United States, Rohan Oldacre

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems are complex software packages that support an integrated real-time setting among the various business functions in an entire organization. ERP systems improve productivity, but only to the extent that employees accept and use the systems extensively to perform their duties. The leaders of many organizations have not been able to realize the expected benefits because of a lack of user acceptance. The purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional survey study was to examine the factors that influence user acceptance of ERP systems in the United States. Davis's technology acceptance model was the theoretical foundation used to …

Evaluating Federal Information Technology Program Success Based On Earned Value Management, Mae Moy

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite the use of earned value management (EVM) techniques to track development progress, federal information (IT) software programs continue to fail by not meeting identified business requirements. The purpose of this logistic regression study was to examine, using IT software data from federal agencies from 2011 to 2014, whether a relationship between schedule variance (SV), cost variance (CV), and actual cost (AC) could predict the success of IT software program, as operationalized by meeting the identified business requirements. The population of interest was 132 IT software programs developed between 2011 and 2014 for federal agencies. The sample source was an …

The Impact Of Transformational Leadership Style On The Success Of Global Virtual Teams, Shery Wojtara-Perry

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Organizations in the age of modern technology have a diverse workforce, who are spread around the globe, and the business leaders of the 21st century need to understand how best to manage, overcome new challenges, and know the various skills of team members to capitalize on their differences and unique skills. To allow those geographically dispersed workers to reach their full potential and facilitate team success. Global virtual teams (GVTs) operate in complex environments characterized by diverse cultural and organizational elements. The primary purpose of this correlational and nonexperimental quantitative research was to examine the impact of transformational leadership on …

Comparative Analysis: Successes And Failures Of St. Louis, Stephen Anane-Boakye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The St. Louis School District (SLSD) provided its students with a virtual education program (VEP) but abandoned it following a cut in federal funding, omitting an alternative pathway for students to complete their education. The problem addressed in this study was the effect of technology and management's decision to discontinue the VEP. The purpose of this qualitative study was to determine management's role and the effect of the technology in discontinuing the VEP. Dewey's theory of education and Koskela and Howell's theory of management established the theoretical foundation for the study. A purposeful sampling selection approach was used to recruit …

The Impact Of Transportation Infrastructure On Nigeria's Economic Developmeny, William A. Agbigbe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) described Nigeria's road networks as one of the poorest and deadliest transportation infrastructural systems in the world. Data from the UNDP and the World Bank (WB) show that Nigeria has suffered transportation infrastructure deficits; these data also illustrate Nigeria as one of the lowest indices in economic development in the last decade. This qualitative case study addressed the impact of a lack of investment in transportation infrastructure in the form of road networks on Nigeria's economic development. The purpose of the study was to understand the relationship between the investment in road networks and …

Exploring Factors Influencing Information Technology Portfolio Selection Process In Government-Funded Bioinformatics Projects, Braulio J. Cabral

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2012, the National Cancer Institute's (NCI) Board of Scientific Advisors (BSA) conducted a review of the Center for Biomedical Informatics and Information Technology's (CBIIT) bioinformatics program. The BSA suggested that the lack of a formal project selection process made it difficult to determine the alignment of projects with the mission of the organization. The problem addressed by this study was that CBIIT did not have an in-depth understanding of the project selection process and the factors influencing the process. The purpose of this study was to understand the project selection process at CBIIT. The research methodology was an exploratory …

Role Of Outsourcing In Stress And Job Satisfaction Of Information Technology Professionals, Janell Renee Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Information technology (IT) outsourcing poses a potential job loss threat to IT professionals, which can decrease job security, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment. The problem that this study addressed was the perceived role of IT outsourcing in the job stress, job dissatisfaction, and turnover intention of IT professionals. The purpose of this study was to explore how job-related stress, job dissatisfaction, and turnover intention within the IT profession are influenced by outsourcing as perceived by IT workers themselves. Phenomenology was the methodology used, and the person-environment fit theory formed the theoretical framework for this study. The research questions addressed outsourcing …

Innovation Difussion Of Smartphone In Nigeria, Olukunle Ariyo Iyanda

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Rapid diffusion and use of smartphones in Africa are challenging, given the state of its infrastructural facilities. The problem addressed was a lack of information on the adoption behavior and the sociodevelopmental effect of smartphone acceptance among rural and urban users in Nigeria. The purpose of this study was to examine the adoption behavior and the sociodevelopmental effect of smartphone acceptance among rural and urban residents. Research questions examined the relationship of performance expectancy, social influence, price value, and habit on adopters' intentions to use smartphones, continued use of smartphones, and the sociodevelopmental effect on smartphone users lives and standard …

The Role And Impact Of Cyber Security Mentoring, James O. Ellithorpe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business organizations are faced with an enormous challenge to improve cyber security, as breeches and lapses through firewalls are increasingly commonplace. The Chief Information Security Officer (CISO) and Information Technology (IT) staff are constantly challenged to identify and purge online and network structural weaknesses. The goal is to reduce overall business risk because unresolved risks are a constant concern to consumers who are uneasy about cyber security failures. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to examine the role and impact of Cyber Security Mentoring (CSM) from the perspectives of the workplace CISO, mentors, and protégés, who were randomly …

Effects Of Information Technology Risk Management And Institution Size On Financial Performance, Shaun D'Olene Kecia Barrett

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A negative relationship exists between unmanaged IT risk and financial performance of institutions of varying sizes. The purpose for this quantitative correlation study was to examine the relationship between IT risk management, institution size, and the financial performance of credit unions in Jamaica. Information Systems Audit and Control Association (ISACA) risk IT model provided the theoretical framework for the study. Audited financial statements and a web-based survey provided data for this study. One hundred and thirty employees from 13 credit unions in Jamaica participated in the study. Results of the multiple regression tests confirmed a statistically significant relationship between IT …

Challenges And Implications Of Implementing Strategic Intelligence Systems In Mexico, Hector De Jesus Rivera Ochoa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Business intelligence (BI) allows companies to make faster and better-informed decisions. Unfortunately, implementing BI systems in companies in developing countries is minimal. Limited and costly access to the technology, coupled with the cultural background affecting how people perceive BI, has restricted such implementations. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and describe the lived experiences of chief executive officers (CEOs) in northern Mexico to obtain insight into the challenges of implementing BI systems. Research questions focused on the reasons behind the lack of BI systems implementation and the challenges faced by these officers when implementing a new system. …