Business Commons^™

Mobile Communication And Data Gathering Software For Autistic Children And Their Caregivers, Gondy Leroy, Gianluca De Leo

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Positive design leads to positive change in our society. In most cases, discussions focus on those who receive the design. However, positive design may also have a positive, but often over-looked, effect on the designers themselves. Learning about difficulties others face and developing solutions is a benefit that can contribute to individual designers’ education and general sense of well-being. Having a broader understanding of alternative views and lifestyles makes one a better person. In addition, positive design may benefit the entire field of information science by improving its ability to renew itself and attract new, young talent.

Managing Project Portfolios, Martin Lockett, Bert De Reyck, Andrew Sloper

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

Portfolios are part of the bedrock of any financial services company. Yet, other industries are now starting to use a similar approach -not with stocks and bonds, but with business projects. Martin Lockett, Bert De Reyck and Andrew Sloper think it's a great idea, but only if it's done right.

Benefiting From Customer And Competitor Knowledge: A Market-Based Approach To Organisational Learning, Siu Loon Hoe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to review the organizational learning, market orientation and learning orientation concepts, highlight the importance of market knowledge to organizational learning and recommend ways in adopting a market‐based approach to organizational learning.Design/methodology/approachThe extant organizational learning and market orientation literature was reviewed, and the salient points on how adopting a market‐based approach to organizational learning promotes competitive advantage are discussed.FindingsOrganizational behavior scholars have devoted a lot attention on the factors and conditions affecting organizational learning. The end outcome, of course, is to improve organizational performance. Marketing scholars, on the other, focused on the effect of market …

An Empirical Investigation Of Factors Influencing Knowledge Management System Success, John F. Whitfield Jr.

Theses and Dissertations

Knowledge has been viewed as a critical component for organizations. Consequently, organizations implement Knowledge Management Systems (KMSs) to seek competitive advantages, but they may encounter mixed results. This research draws on previous information system and knowledge management system success-related literature and selects eight factors that are believed to be critical for the successful implementation of a KMS. These factors were derived through a literature search of current KMS success-related literature. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that could have a clear influence on the development and implementation of KMSs. The study presents the empirical examination of a …

A Case-Based Exploration Of Task/Technology Fit In A Knowledge Management Context, Michael W. Moseley

Theses and Dissertations

Task/Technology Fit (TTF) posits that as the intersection of the task domain and the capabilities of an information system (IS) increases in magnitude, the performance gains experienced by user through use of the IS will be positively impacted. While rooted in the traditional IS literature, this research proposes that TTF be extended to incorporate additional factors unique to the context of Knowledge Management (KM). Based upon the findings of this research, it is reasonable to conclude that when employing the TTF model to determine KMS fitness, additional factors other than the task requirements and KMS capabilities should be considered. This …

An Ontology Centric Architecture For Mediating Interactions In Semantic Web-Based E-Commerce Environments, Manoj Thomas

Theses and Dissertations

Information freely generated, widely distributed and openly interpreted is a rich source of creative energy in the digital age that we live in. As we move further into this irrevocable relationship with self-growing and actively proliferating information spaces, we are also finding ourselves overwhelmed, disheartened and powerless in the presence of so much information. We are at a point where, without domain familiarity or expert guidance, sifting through the copious volumes of information to find relevance quickly turns into a mundane task often requiring enormous patience. The realization of accomplishment soon turns into a matter of extensive cognitive load, serendipity …

Governance Structure Transforemation During Erp Implementations, Elise V. Strachan

Theses and Dissertations

The United States Air Force (USAF) has a number of initiatives underway to better support tomorrow’s Warfighter. As part of the Expeditionary Logistics for the 21st Century (eLog21) campaign, one of the most critical initiatives is the Expeditionary Combat Support System (ECSS). ECSS is the world’s largest enterprise resource planning (ERP) implementation and will completely transform USAF logistics operations. The benefits of an ERP include centrally-managed and integrated information sharing, while the many challenges include training future state operations and employing change management. An effective governance structure is essential in order for the USAF to realize the full benefits of …

Creating An Agent Based Framework To Maximize Information Utility, John M. Pecarina

Theses and Dissertations

With increased reliance on communications to conduct military operations, information centric network management becomes vital. A Defense department study of information management for net-centric operations lists the need for tools for information triage (based on relevance, priority, and quality) to counter information overload, semi-automated mechanisms for assessment of quality and relevance of information, and advances to enhance cognition and information understanding in the context of missions [30]. Maximizing information utility to match mission objectives is a complex problem that requires a comprehensive solution in information classification, in scheduling, in resource allocation, and in QoS support. Of these research areas, the …

Identification Of Command And Control Information Requirements For The Cyberspace Domain, Brian D. Aschenbrenner

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to develop an information requirements analysis method that would provide the Director of Cyberspace Forces with the information required to support effective command and control of cyberspace. This research investigates the role of information in command and control, information in the traditional war fighting domains, cyberspace as a war fighting domain, and various methods of determining information requirements of organizations. This research produced an information requirements analysis method that is suitable for identifying the command and control information requirements of the Director of Cyberspace Forces.

Challenges Of It Work Force Development, Donald H. Hopkins Jr.

Management Information Systems Faculty Publications

The dynamics of the globally flat business environment have created some fundamental shifts in the staffing requirements of the IT market place. Many large companies are outsourcing IT development work, including off-shoring. As a result, such companies have eliminated apprenticeship programs that were feeder systems for higher level IT positions.

Category Management - It's Not Just For Big Retailers Anymore, James W. Hamister

Management Information Systems Faculty Publications

Modern consumer-goods retailers face enormous challenges, including competition from new formats, tight margins, product proliferation, and challenges managing supply chains that sometimes stretch around the world. These challenges are particularly acute for the small independent retailer. Can small retailers take advantage of the Category Management process and data management as a way to improve performance? This is a question that I've been tackling for to try to gain some insights into the competitive issues facing small businesses in the retail sector.

Perceptions Becoming Reality: Bridging The Market Knowledge Gap, Siu Loon Hoe

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

PurposeOrganizations constantly strive to learn about new market trends and ideas to stay ahead of the game. However, with an increased demand of market knowledge, how does the organization motivate employees to constantly acquire and disseminate market knowledge? The purpose of this paper is to highlight the perceived importance of market knowledge in promoting continuous employee acquisition and dissemination of customer and competitor knowledge.Design/methodology/approachThe perceived importance of market knowledge concept is highlighted and discussed.FindingsThe paper offers a view on how management could address the increased demand for market knowledge and how the development and learning team could provide further support …

R&D Project Scheduling When Activities May Fail, Bert De Reyck, Roel Leus

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

An R&D project typically consists of several stages. Due to technological risks, the project may have to be terminated before completion, each stage having a specific likelihood of success. In the project planning and scheduling literature, this technological uncertainty has typically been ignored and project plans are developed only for scenarios in which the project succeeds. In this paper we examine how to schedule projects in order to maximize their expected net present value when the project activities have a probability of failure and when an activity's failure leads to overall project termination. We formulate the problem, show that it …

The Development And Evaluation Of Software To Foster Professional Development In Educational Assessment, Morgan C. Benton

Dissertations

This dissertation sought to answer the question: Is it possible to build a software tool that will allow teachers to write better multiple-choice questions? The thesis proceeded from the finding that the quality of teaching is very influential in the amount that students learn. A basic premise of this research, then, is that improving teachers will improve learning. With this foundation, the next question became what area of teaching to improve. The literature on educational assessment indicated that teachers lack competence at effective assessment, particularly in the area of multiple-choice question generation. It is likely that improvement in this area …

User Evaluation Of The Performance Of Information Systems, Edward Mahinda

Dissertations

Information technologies (IT) are considered the primary survival factor for many organizations and the most critical success factor in businesses today. To justify the necessary investment in IT, user evaluation of information systems' performance in organizations is a key consideration. This research investigated a comprehensive and convenient means for end users to assess this performance.

Among the existing theories and models on the evaluation of information system performance based on intrinsic technological properties, the Web of System Performance (WOSP) model provides the most comprehensive basis for information system evaluation, and therefore merited further investigation. The research question was how well …

Complex Adaptive Systems Based Data Integration : Theory And Applications, Eliahu Rohn

Dissertations

Data Definition Languages (DDLs) have been created and used to represent data in programming languages and in database dictionaries. This representation includes descriptions in the form of data fields and relations in the form of a hierarchy, with the common exception of relational databases where relations are flat. Network computing created an environment that enables relatively easy and inexpensive exchange of data. What followed was the creation of new DDLs claiming better support for automatic data integration. It is uncertain from the literature if any real progress has been made toward achieving an ideal state or limit condition of automatic …

Leader Delegation And Trust In Global Software Teams, Suling Zhang

Dissertations

Virtual teams are an important work structure in global software development. The distributed team structure enables access to a diverse set of expertise which is often not available in one location, to a cheaper labor force, and to a potentially accelerated development process that uses a twenty-four hour work structure.

Many software teams are partially distributed, that is, part of the team is colocated. Such partially distributed global software teams are an important work structure in software development projects. However, little is known about what affects or improves team members’ motivation and job satisfaction in the partially distributed environment. This …

Taux : A System For Evaluating Sound Feedback In Navigational Tasks, Robert J. Lutz

Dissertations

This thesis presents the design and development of an evaluation system for generating audio displays that provide feedback to persons performing navigation tasks. It first develops the need for such a system by describing existing wayfinding solutions, investigating new electronic location-based methods that have the potential of changing these solutions and examining research conducted on relevant audio information representation techniques. An evaluation system that supports the manipulation of two basic classes of audio display is then described. Based on prior work on wayfinding with audio display, research questions are developed that investigate the viability of different audio displays. These are …

Mis 799 Capstone: 2008 Winter Cohort List, Raj Soin College Of Business, Wright State University

Master of Information Systems Capstone Executive Summary

Available for download is a list of the 2008 Winter Cohorts, complete with student names, project titles, and faculty advisor names.

Defining Information Systems As Work Systems: Implications For The Is Field, Steven Alter

Business Analytics and Information Systems

The lack of an agreed upon definition of information system is one of many obstacles troubling the academic information systems discipline. After listing a number of definitions of IS, this paper defines information system as a special case of work system as defined in Alter (1999a). This definition has many desirable characteristics: It is easy to understand; differentiates IS from IT; covers totally manual, partially automated, and totally automated information systems; links to a life cycle model that generates many insights about development and implementation problems; provides a simple guideline that helps in interpreting common IS/IT jargon; and has other …

Service System Fundamentals: Work System, Value Chain, And Life Cycle, Steven Alter

Business Analytics and Information Systems

Service systems produce all services of significance and scope, yet the concept of service system is not well articulated in the service literature. This paper presents three interrelated frameworks as a first cut at the fundamentals of service systems. These frameworks identify basic building blocks and organize important attributes and change processes that apply across all service systems. Although relevant regardless of whether a service system uses IT, the frameworks are also potentially useful in visualizing the realities of moving toward automated service architectures. This paper uses two examples, one largely manual and one highly automated, to illustrate the potential …

A Web Search Model For Strategic Decision Making, Shailaja Venkatsubramanyan, Stephen K. Kwan

Faculty Publications, Information Systems & Technology

Search services are now ubiquitously employed in satisfying the information needs of managers and business analysts involved in strategic decision making. In this paper, we propose a model of a user’s interaction with a search service in satisfying information needs and empirically evaluate the principal factors involved. Findings indicate that the information need type influences the search process more significantly than the specific search service being used. Consequently, managers and business analysts should pay particular attention to the types of information needs involved in a strategic decision.

The Impact Of Directionality In Predications On Text Mining, Gondy Leroy, Marcelo Fiszman, Thomas C. Rindflesch

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

The number of publications in biomedicine is increasing enormously each year. To help researchers digest the information in these documents, text mining tools are being developed that present co-occurrence relations between concepts. Statistical measures are used to mine interesting subsets of relations. We demonstrate how directionality of these relations affects interestingness. Support and confidence, simple data mining statistics, are used as proxies for interestingness metrics. We first built a test bed of 126,404 directional relations extracted from biomedical abstracts, which we represent as graphs containing a central starting concept and 2 rings of associated relations. We manipulated directionality in four …

Using Google Keyword Statistics To Explain Changes In Traffic To Internet Sites Related To Global Environmental Management, G. Kent Webb

Faculty Publications, Information Systems & Technology

Google recently provided a keyword statistics tool to support its “AdWords” program that conducts a deep evaluation of individual web sites. It provides detailed information on the keywords in the site and an index of monthly and average statistics for these keywords over the past year for users of the Google search engine. The data is intended to help with the design of internet sites and to support bidding for keywords that when purchased become AdWords that draw traffic through the sponsored links of Google search. This paper describes an analysis of the traffic, keywords, and search rank results for …

Upgrade Tracking System From Paper To Digital For Brazilian Parcel/Post Delivery Company, Sennex Express, Keith Walter Witzel

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this project was to aid in the development of improved service of an existing small package and document delivery service in Belém, Brazil. This company, Sennex, makes its deliveries by bicycle and motorcycle due to extreme traffic congestion in the city. In order to keep a leading edge on the competition, this project after stating existing conditions, proposes using a barcode tracking system comparable to that used by American companies such as UPS and FedEx.

Developing Data Mart Using Extraction, Transformation And Loading, Senthil Murugan Lakshmanan

Theses Digitization Project

This project is organized to develop the sales data mart for the purpose of reporting data. Data warehouses support online analytical processing applications by gathering the data from various kinds of source information in a multidimensional format. Developing this strategic information can be done with the ETL, which means Extract, Transform and Loading. ETL functions reshape the relevant data from source systems into useful information to be stored in the data warehouse or data marts. The successful deployment of the sales data mart allowed the creation of a user interface that permits users to make strategic decisions. The reports can …

Racial/Ethnic Differences In Exposure To Environmental Volatile Organic Compounds In The U.S. General Population: The National Health And Nutrition Examination Survey 1999–2000, Y. S. Lin, Alberto Coustasse, W. H. Ho, K. Singh, A. Arif

Management Faculty Research

Background: Exposure to volatile organic compounds (VOCs) has been associated with many health disorders. A better understanding of unequal health risk from exposure to environmental VOCs is critical to the elimination of health disparities.

Objective: The goal of this study was to investigate racial/ethnic differentials in exposure to airborne VOCs within a national sample of the U.S. population and assessed socio-demographic determinants that may contribute to these racial differences.

Methods: We used data from a stratified sample of 576 participants (aged 20–59 years) who provided personal air samples for VOC measurements in the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) …

An Empirical Investigation On Customer’S Privacy Perceptions, Trust And Security Awareness In E-Commerce Environment, Anil Gurung, Xin Luo, M. K. Raja

Management Information Systems Faculty Research

Privacy concerns of the users have been listed as one of the hindrances in the growth of e-commerce. Understanding the consequences of privacy and its relationship with risk perceptions may help in finding solutions to this problem. Internet users may use different strategies to protect their privacy so that they can become confident in taking part in e-commerce. In this study, we investigate how users can lower their risk perceptions in the context of e-commerce. The relationships among privacy, risk, trust and internet security measures are empirically investigated to predict the behavioral intention to take part in e-commerce. Theoretical contributions …

A Decision Model For Contracting Helpdesk Services, Meg C. Murray, Joy Young

Faculty Articles

Contractual helpdesk services, also known as call center outsourcing is a growing industry. Helpdesk solutions, which offer customer service to consumers who have an issue, problem or concern, are an integral part of many organizations' wider service function. For smaller companies, outsourcing helpdesk services is becoming more and more popular given the technical expertise and high investment costs required to develop, implement and maintain the infrastructure needed to support these services. Contracting for helpdesk services helps to alleviate smaller companies from concerns with technical issues, retaining employees dedicated to continuous research on the value proposition of emerging products or services, …

Sensemaking In Information Systems: Toward A Sensemaking Inquiring System, James Parrish

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Complexity and uncertainty have long been problems for organizations of all types. Organizational members do not do a very good job of dealing with the complexity and uncertainty as research shows that when faced with complex situations humans often turn to the same sources of information repeatedly (a practice that will eventually betray them), and/or reduce the amount of scanning that they do (Weick 1995; Boyd and Fulk 1996). Organizations often turn to information systems to help them deal with the complexity, but they often take a techno-centric view of knowledge that does not incorporate the human qualities needed for …