Management Information Systems Commons^™

Managing For Flexibility: A Manufacturing Perspective, Ravi Kathuria

Business Faculty Articles and Research

This paper investigates managerial practices that are conducive to the management of flexibility. Using data from manufacturing plants in the United States, this paper identifies managerial practices that manufacturing managers strongly demonstrate in plants that place a high emphasis on flexibility. The results indicate that managers who pursue flexibility, emphatically engage in team building, employee empowerment, and other relationship oriented practices that generate enthusiasm among employees. These practices seemingly motivate workers to deal with the uncertainty and changes, in the form of product mix, customer delivery schedule, capacity adjustments, etc., that characterize manufacturing flexibility. Furthermore, workers are entrusted with the …

A Group Decision Support System Idea Consolidation Tool, Chittibabu Govindarajulu, Milan Aiken, Weigi Li

Journal of International Information Management

Manual consolidation of ideas generated in a Group Decision Support System meeting can be a lengthy, inaccurate, and dissatisfying process. The objective of this paper is to demonstrate how an automatic idea consolidation program can reduce the time needed by group members to aggregate comments, inaccuracies of these comment groupings, and dissatisfaction with the comment consolidation process. A case study comparing the program's results with those of two human subjects shows a time savings of 98.8%. Although the computer's comment groupings were not identical with those of the subjects, they were logically consistent.

Solver: A Productivity Tool Used In The Context Of Spreadsheet Analysis, Richard Lebsack

Journal of International Information Management

Computers can enhance the decision-making capability of a manager. This may involve software programs readily available for the personal computer or programs especially customized for a particular company's purposes. This article reviews examples of both and focuses on Solver, an add-on for Excel or 1-2-3 97. Solver enables a manager to manipulate available resources to meet productivity needs. This may involve a specific goal such as maximization of profit or minimization of cost. But it might also involve several goals that can be prioritized. Three models are presented and results from the program are illustrated. With this tool and a …

Use Of Gdss And Training Of Group Members To Improve Decision-Making: An Empirical Study, Edward T. Chen, Sumit Sicrar, Hsin-Ginn Hwang

Journal of International Information Management

Using Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS) to enhance group work has been emphasized in several GDSS studies. Despite the volume of accumulated research, little attention has been paid to investigating the member training effects on group performance. Member training includes group task management techniques, such as constructive attitudes toward group task and decision-making by consensus. This empirical study evaluated the effects of using a GDSS and member training on group performance. The experiment found that groups with member training had better decision quality and GDSS groups demonstrated better decision quality.

Internet In The Healthcare Industry: Infrastructure Issues, Binshan Lin, Chang-Tseh Hsieh

Journal of International Information Management

Health care has long been known as afield that embraces and exploits new information technology, and. this trend shows no signs of slowing down. The healthcare industry is likely to be one of the largest beneficiaries of the Internet technology. This paper addresses four critical infrastructure issues: technological infrastructure, intranet development, financial infrastructure, and quality concerns. Service opportunities and practical problems are discussed that will provide managerial implications in health care and future research opportunities.

Quality Function Deployment In Management Information Systems, Ephrem Eyob

Journal of International Information Management

This paper utilizes QFD concepts as a structured approach in integrating the customer's voice in the development of software and hardware products. QFD's emphasis is a team approach to problem solving by various functional areas of a company to develop information technology tools by improving communication, product development, and measurements of end products.

Expectations Of Job Responsibilities Of Recreation And Sports Managers, Jennifer Y. Mak

Management Faculty Research

The purpose of this study was to identify whether there were differences in the expectations of job responsibilities between different levels of recreation and sports managers towards the same post. The problem was divided into two sub-problems: (l) to determine the relationship in the perceived importance of entry-level managers' job responsibilities between entry-level managers and middle-level managers; and (2) to determine the relationship in the perceived importance of middle-level managers job responsibilities between middle-level managers and top-level managers. Several items were found to have significant difference in the perceptions among the subjects.

Information Resource Management In Emergency Room Medicine: A Case Study, Karmen Seavey

Presidential Scholars Theses (1990 – 2006)

The emergency room is one of the fastest-paced, intense places a person can find. Because many of the cases in the ER involve life-or-death decisions, accurate data in a useful format is critical for immediate access of necessary information. Over the last several years, this simple fact has sparked major interest in emergency room information resource management. While traditional paper methods are still widely used, the electronic capabilities provided by information technology are revolutionizing the way emergency rooms and trauma centers function.

An ideal state-of-the-art emergency department is integrated with the rest of the healthcare enterprise for access to all …

An Optimal Procedure For The Resource-Constrained Project Scheduling Problem With Discounted Cash Flows And Generalized Precedence Relations, Bert De Reyck, Willy Herroelen

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

In this paper, we consider the resource-constrained project scheduling problem (RCPSP) with discounted cash flows and generalized precedence relations (RCPSPDC-GPR). The RCPSPDC-GPR extends the RCPSP to (a) arbitrary minimal and maximal time lags between the starting and completion times of activities and (b) the non-regular objective function of maximizing the net present value of the project with positive and/or negative cash flows associated with the activities. To the best of our knowledge, the literature on the RCPSPDC-GPR is completely void. We present a depth-first branch-and-bound algorithm in which the nodes in the search tree represent the original project network extended …

Western Australian Fisheries - Key Achievements 1997-1998, Fisheries Western Australia

Fisheries Published Reports

The WA fishing community can look back at the past year with considerable satisfaction.

Close partnership arrangements between Government, industry, the community and Fisheries Western Australia have both consolidated and advanced the State's position at the forefront of sustainable management of marine environments and fish resources.

Together, commercial fishing and recreational fishing make 􀁚 annual $1.5 billion contribution to the Western Australian economy. Through a carefully balanced portfolio of policies and initiatives the Coalition is making sure that both sectors continue to prosper, while at the same time ensuring that future generations inherit a marine environment which we are all …

Focus On The Future Agriculture Western Australia's Strategic Directions 1998 - 2008, Agriculture Western Australia

Reports

Strong growth in global demand combined with productivity gains, product innovation and sustainability improvements throughout the 1990s enable Western Australia agriculture to look to the 21st century with confidence.

This optimistic outlook is largely the result of innovation across the agricultural industries based on research, development and extension - activities in which Agriculture Western Australia continues to be the State's leading provider.

Focus on the Future is ambitious, and sends a unequivocal message about our strategic directions and the rationale guiding the agency in allocating resources to those areas which offer the biggest benefits to the Western Australian agriculture, food …

Western Australian Agriculture - Key Achievements 1997-1998, Department Of Primary Industry And Fisheries, Western Australia

Farm Systems and Economics published reports

During the past year the agriculture sector continued to be one of the most innovative and significant contributors to the Western Australian economy. In 1996/97 the value of agricultural exports reached $4.6 billion, having doubled in five years.

Not only does agriculture contribute directly to the State's financial position but farm expenditure is estimated to have a three-fold multiplier effect, thereby having a wide impact on the social well-being of Western Australians.

Increasingly, international trade is being linked to environmental performance. Accordingly, the Government has cemented sustainable farming as a cornerstone of the industry's and Agriculture WA's activities, thereby ensuring …

Northern Agriculture Integrated Management Strategy - Sub-Region Strategies And Action Plans, Agriculture Western Australia

Natural resources published reports

Greenough Sub-region

Moore River Sub-region

West Midlands Sub-region

Yarra Yarra Sub-region

The strategies and action plans contained in this document have been developed by members of the community, local industry and government agencies, representing the four sub-regions of the Northern Agricultural Region. Sub-regional strategy development has occurred due to community and agency recognition of the importance of protecting, enhancing and developing the region's valuable natural resource base.

Work began on this process with a two-day regional workshop in October 1996 and following this, numerous sub-regional meetings were held over a period of one year.

The summary of this planning work …