Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods Commons^™

Examining The Benefits Of Project Management Professional (Pmp) Certification For Is Project Managers And Organizations, Robert C. Mahaney, Bertie M. Greer

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The project management professional (PMP) certification has gained a positive reputation among project managers as well as with HR managers and recruiters. However, the organizational benefits are untested. This paper examines the business value of PMP certification. The three questions this study investigates are, “What value does certification give project managers?” “What value does certification give organizations?” and “How can organizations encourage project managers to pursue certification?” Content analysis of transcripts from twenty-five structured interviews identified several reasons businesses should encourage their project managers to pursue PMP certification, but many of the benefits are not easily quantified.

Two Developing Countries With Two Different Economic Results: A Comparative Study Of Thailand & Morocco, Debora J. Gillard

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

After visiting Thailand in 1996 and Morocco in 2001, it was very evident that these two countries had many similarities. Both countries are ruled by monarchs, both are developing countries, and both have overcome many adversities. However, today we find these two countries are very different in their involvement in the global community and in their local economic development. This paper is a study of similarities and differences in the development of Thailand and Morocco which has resulted in the current economic status.

Review Of The Opnet It Guru Software, Jeng-Chung Victor Chen

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The OPNET IT GURU has been in existence for years and designed to be used for the industry and the academics. The simulation software is now in version 10.0 and equipped with abundant features such as: modeling network topology and traffic, application impact assessment, and server capacity planning. The features of modeling network topology and traffic are ideal for network engineers to experiment different kinds of scenarios before implementation of any networks, which in turn could cost the organizations less on the IT budget. The application impact assessment is useful when measuring the end-to-end time of the deployed or to-be-deployed …

Building Relationships That Last: Integrating Public Relations Into Web Design, Richard V. Mccarthy, Jay E. Aronson, Robert Petrausch

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

This paper explores the relationship between web site design, public relations strategy, and a consumer’s intention to return to a web site. This relationship is defined through a model that explores the influence of information satisfaction, particularly when the web site design is congruent with the consumer’s expectations. The public relations dimension extends the consumer web site design model by interjecting a long-term focus on relationship building that organizations will need to make electronic commerce a viable investment in information technology resources. This is significant because it recognizes the importance of developing loyalty and trust online.

Deciding On The Appropriateness Of B2b Reverse Auction Technology Adoption: An Ahp Approach Combined With Integer Programming, Tobias Schoenherr

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Although Business-to-Business online reverse auctions have emerged as a promising purchasing tool, no research has been found that provides a model to assess the reverse auction decision in a systematic way. This paper fills this gap by presenting an integrated approach, utilizing Analytic Hierarchy Process techniques and an Integer Programming Formulation, to decide whether Reverse Auction Technology (RAT) adoption is cost-effective and appropriate. The model developed is a practical decision support tool that allows for the consideration of both qualitative and quantitative decision factors, and for the adoption of multiple modes of RATs, which are contrasted to traditional purchasing.

A Genetic Algorithm Assisted Hybrid Approach To Web Information Integration, Jia-Lang Seng, Ming-Hsiung Ying

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

No abstract provided.

Studying The Value Of Information Sharing In E-Business Supply Chain Management, Aryya Gangopadhyay, Zhensen Huang

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The supply chain management of goods and services involves multiple trading partners such as raw-material suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and retailers. Every one of these trading partners need to determine their requirements, in terms of merchandise, and match them against availability, pricing, and cost of transportation. At every step of the supply chain economics information retrieval is a crucial and recurring process. In this paper we study information sharing as a strategy for improved decision making that can increase the profitability of the entire supply chain. We describe various different models for information sharing and illustrate the benefits of information sharing …

Improving Workflow In Home Healthcare Industry: A Case Study, Mohan Rao, Norma Teran, Michael Savard

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Home healthcare industry is facing increasing pressure to change business processes and manage information flow electronically. With the help of a case example, this paper describes how a web- based system could improve the workflow communication problems in home healthcare companies. Every department of the case company has its own software to assist in everyday operations but is unable to communicate with one another electronically. All documents necessary in the coordination of care have to move physically between departments. The proposed solution is a web-based electronic form management system that would improve regulatory compliance and operating efficiency.

Does Baldrige Make A Business Case For Quality?, Mark L. Dean, Cynthia L. Tomovic

STEMPS Faculty Publications

The Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award (MBNQA) is a widely accepted model promoting quality management as a means to business success. However, because business results are themselves part of the model, the contribution of the approach-deployment elements to results cannot be determined. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) maintains a history of Baldrige applications and the results of their evaluations. Statistical analysis of these data could yield insight into whether the approach-deployment advocated by the Baldrige model actually produces excellent results. Although NIST does not currently allow access to the data, future empirical evaluation of the data could …

Measuring Online Students' Ability To Apply Programming Theory: Are Web Courses Really Working?, Kathryn A. Marold, Wayne Haga

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

As a response to troubling doubts about the success of Web-delivered courses that include problem solving and critical thinking skills, the authors gathered data from two online sections of the CIS Application Programming with Visual Basic course at Metropolitan State College of Denver over two semesters and compared it with the data from classroom sections. T-tests showed a significant difference in the means of student projects and tests that required application of theory learned. All sections of the course used the same syllabus and assignments and were taught by the same instructor. Internet students scored significantly lower in theory portions …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Internet Diffusion And Culture, Ravi Nath, N.R. Vasudeva Murthy

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

The unevenness in the diffusion rates of the Internet across nations is commonly referred to as the “digital divide.” Technological, economic and political factors are often mentioned as the primary contributing factors to this digital gap. However, there is sufficient evidence in support of the proposition that a nation’s culture also plays a role in how citizens adopt and use technology innovations. This paper examines the relationship between the cultural dimensions proposed by Hofstede and the Internet adoption rate of nations. Data from sixty-two countries are used to establish a regression model and the empirical results show that cultural traits …

The Impacts Of Conflicts On Requirements Uncertainty And Project Performance, Houn-Gee Chen, James J. Jiang, Jun-Cheng Chen, J T. Shim

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Conflict is a pervasive phenomenon that permeates information systems development and implementation. The literature has indicated that conflicts, due to their association with negative emotion, will negatively influence IS project development, even after controlling for the effects of conflict management and resolution; however, the negative emotional characteristic of conflict alone has a limited explanatory power of IS project success. The purpose of this study is to provide additional insight, by including requirement uncertainty as the mediator variable, of the impacts of conflicts on project performance. Surveys were sent to Taiwan’s top 1600 companies and the results support the hypotheses. The …

Development Of An It Balanced Scorecard, Theophilus B.A. Addo, Chee W. Chow, Kamal M. Haddad

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

There is a generally acknowledged dearth of metrics for effectively measuring organizational performance. This is particularly true of the IT function, whose contribution to a firm’s “bottom line” has been frequently called to question. This paper describes the development of a performance measurement tool called the Balanced Scorecard, which can be used to assess IT performance within the context of overall corporate strategy and financial performance. Data for the scorecard was obtained via a survey of senior IT executives in various organizations. The paper concludes with a set of guidelines for successfully implementing an IT Balanced Scorecard, as well as …

The Demand For Information Technology Knowledge And Skills: An Exploratory Investigation, Stuart D. Galup, Ronald Dattero, Jim J. Quan

Journal of International Technology and Information Management

Organizations are always in search of appropriate information technology knowledge and skills to carry out normal business operations. Such demand is directly impacted by the overall economic conditions. During stressful economic times, managers, facing tough budgetary pressure, are forced to examine more thoroughly what knowledge and skills are needed to survive. This paper investigates the desired information technology knowledge and skills that employers are searching for in these turbulent times. We examine the content of job advertisements for information technology professionals placed in an online job placement website over a 2 year period, 2001-2002.

Writing Reflective Case Studies For The Engineering Management Journal (Emj), Timothy Kotnour, Rafael Landaeta

Engineering Management & Systems Engineering Faculty Publications

This paper's intent is to help authors write reflective case studies for the Engineering Management Journal (EMJ). We offer a process to convert an applied research project with an organization to an EMJ manuscript. Writing a reflective case study is a process of abstracting experiences into approaches, processes, tools, challenges, and "lessons" for a broad audience of engineering managers. This paper serves as a guide for authors to write reflective case studies.

Journal Of Actuarial Practice - Volume 11 (2004) - Contents And Masthead

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Contents

Editorial Policy: Topics suitable for this journal include AIDS, annuity products, asset-liability matching, cash-flow testing, casualty rate making, credibility theory, credit insurance, disability insurance, expense analysis, experience studies, FASB issues, financial reporting, group insurance, health insurance, individual risk taking, insurance regulations, international issues, investments, liability insurance, loss reserves, marketing, pensions, pricing issues, product development, reinsurance, reserving issues, risk-based capital, risk theory, social insurance, solvency issues, taxation, valuation issues, and workers' compensation

Review Process

Editor - Colin Ramsay, University of Nebraska

Associate Editors: Robert Brown, University of Waterloo ○ Cecil Bykerk, Mutual of Omaha ○ Ruy Cardoso, …

The Actuarial Value Of Life Insurance Backdating, James M. Carson, Krzysztof Ostaszewski

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Backdating is a common (and legal) practice in the U.S. whereby a life insurance contract bears a policy date that is prior to the actual application date. This practice often results in the opportunity for some insureds to reduce the annual premium paid. Using cash flow projections and U.S. mortality, lapse, and interest rate data, we provide a model of the actuarial value of term life insurance backdating. Results indicate that the benefits to the applicant of backdating a term life insurance policy increase as the applicant age (and hence premium) increases. Increasing mortality, lapse, and interest rates, as well …

Decision Tree Analysis Of Terminated Life Insurance Policies, Robert Keng Heong Lian, Yuan Wu, Hian Chye Koh

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

Statistical methods such as regression and survival analysis have traditionally been used to investigate the factors affecting the duration of terminated life insurance policies. This study explores a different approach: it uses a more recently developed data mining technique called decision trees. By sequentially partitioning the data to maximize differences in the dependent variable (duration in this study), the decision trees technique is good at identifying data segments with significant differences in the dependent variable. This identification can be useful when a company is trying to understand the factors driving or associated with the termination of life insurance policies. Decision …

Rapid Calculation Of The Price Of Guaranteed Minimum Death Benefit Ratchet Options Embedded In Annuities, Eric R. Ulm

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper presents a new method of obtaining quick and accurate values and deltas for discrete look back options using Taylor series expansions. This method is applied to the case of ratchet guaranteed minimum death benefits attached to annuity contracts, and the method is extended to include annuities where a fixed fund is attached to the variable account. Finally, both the speed and the accuracy of the method are compared to Monte Carlo simulation and the exact analytic solution. The Taylor expansion method is shown to be faster and, in most cases, more accurate than the alternative methods.

Approximating The Bias And Variance Of Chain Ladder Estimates Under A Compound Poisson Model, Janagan Yogaranpan, Sue Clarke, Shauna Ferris, John Pollard

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

We consider the problem of estimating the outstanding claims produced by a homogeneous general insurance portfolio. The specific model considered in this paper is one where the number of claims in any loss period follows a Poisson distribution, settlement delays follow the same multinomial distribution, and settlements are single lump sums that are independent identically distributed random variables. Simulations using this model reveal that the development ratios and the outstanding claims estimates produced using the chain ladder method are positively biased. We obtain approximate formulas for the biases using Taylor series expansions of the random variables about their means. The …

Product Innovation In Financial Services: A Survey, Christopher O'Brien

Journal of Actuarial Practice (1993–2006)

This paper considers product innovation in insurance and other financial services, an area where actuaries have an important role. It considers the proposition that there is no unique formula for success and that what works well in one situation may not work well in another. It first examines the sources of ideas for new products and, in particular, the role played by consumers, which is generally regarded as weak. It then looks at how ideas are implemented, with particular importance attributed to cross-functional teams and the formality of the product development process. Then it considers how success is measured (with …

Positive Psychological Capital: Beyond Human And Social Capital, Fred Luthans, Kyle W. Luthans, Brett C. Luthans

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

With the rising recognition of human resources as a competitive advantage in today’s global economy, human capital and, more recently, social capital are being touted in both theory, research, and practice. To date, however, positive psychological capital has been virtually ignored by both business academics and practitioners. “Who I am” is every bit as important as “what I know” and “who I know.” By eschewing a preoccupation with personal shortcomings and dysfunctions and focusing instead on personal strengths and good qualities, today’s leaders and their associates can develop confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience, thereby improving both individual and organizational performance.

Human, Social, And Now Positive Psychological Capital Management: Investing In People For Competitive Advantage, Fred Luthans, Carolyn M. Youssef

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

There is growing evidence that human resources are crucial to organizational success, and may offer the best return on investment for sustainable competitive advantage. Jeffery Pfeffer’s extensive work, summarized in his book The Human Equation, discusses substantially supported but unfortunate findings that only about half of today’s organizations and their managers believe that human resources really do matter. Moreover, only half of those organizations act upon their beliefs beyond paying lip service to this vital resource. Few organizations have adopted high performance work practices, such as 360-degree feedback, pay-for-performance, self-managed teams, employee empowerment, and other human-oriented initiatives. Furthermore, Pfeffer shows …

Recognition And Development Of Hope For South African Organizational Leaders, Fred Luthans, René Van Wyk, Fred Walumbwa

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The significant challenges faced by South Africa at present are well known. How to deal with the problems from a political and economic perspective abound, but taking a psychological approach has been neglected. This paper proposes a positive approach to South African organizational leadership based on the psychological capacity of hope. After giving a brief background on the context surrounding South African organizations, the theory, research, and application of hope relevant to organizational leadership in the “Rainbow Nation” are presented and analyzed. Such an overlooked positive approach represented by hopeful organizational leaders seems needed at this juncture of South Africa’s …

Unlocking The Mask: A Look At The Process By Which Authentic Leaders Impact Follower Attitudes And Behaviors, Bruce Avolio, William L. Gardner, Fred Walumbwa, Fred Luthans, Douglas R. May

Department of Management: Faculty Publications

The conceptual and empirical links between authentic leadership and follower attitudes, behaviors, and performance outcomes have not been fully developed. Although we have a number of articles developing the theory of authentic leadership and testing propositions that will appear in a forthcoming special issue of The Leadership Quarterly (Vol. 16, Issue 3, 2005), the focus of this article is to provide some of the initial foundation work for the broader theoretical framework of how authentic leaders influence follower attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Here, we draw from positive organizational behavior, trust, hope, emotion, identification, and identity theories to describe the processes …

The Mediating Role Of Organizational Learning Between Absorptive Capacity And Performance In Companies Employing Enterprise Resource Planning Software, Edith Galy

Theses and Dissertations - UTB/UTPA

This dissertation focuses on the acquisition of information systems technology and how the acquisition of information systems (IS) can improve the performance of a firm. The central purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to the literature that explains the success of IS projects. It addresses the organizational processes that contribute to the successful implementation of IS, and explains why some organizations achieve financial returns and strategic advantages from their IS efforts while others do not.

The population in this dissertation consists of top level IS executives in the US or Canada employed in firms who have implemented enterprise resource …

A Real-Time Data Set For Macroeconomists: Does The Data Vintage Matter?, Dean D. Croushore, Tom Stark

Economics Faculty Publications

This paper uses a real-time data set to analyze data revisions and to test the robustness of published econometric results. The data set consists of vintages, or snapshots, of the major macroeconomic data available at quarterly intervals in real time. The paper illustrates why such data may matter, examines the properties of several of the variables in the data set across vintages, and examines key empirical papers in macroeconomics, investigating their robustness to different vintages.

It Competency And Firm Performance: Is Organizational Learning A Missing Link?, Michael J. Tippins, Ravipreet S. Sohi

Department of Marketing: Faculty Publications

Many companies have developed strategies that include investing heavily in information technology (IT) in order to enhance their performance. Yet, this investment pays off for some companies but not others. This study proposes that organization teaming plays a significant role in determining the outcomes of IT. Drawing from resource theory and IT literature, the authors develop the concept of IT competency. Using structural equations modeling with data collected from managers in 271 manufacturing firms, they show that organizational learning plays a significant role in mediating the effects of IT competency on firm performance.

Fisheries Occasional Publication No. 8 - Department Of Fisheries Stakeholder Survey 2002, Tara Baharthah, Neil R. Sumner

Fisheries Occasional Publications

A telephone survey of Department of Fisheries' stakeholders was conducted in November 2002 in order to evaluate their perception of the Department's management of commercial and recreational fishing, pearling and aquaculture, and fish and fish habitat protection. The survey also assessed satisfaction with the level of service provided to stakeholders and their involvement in the decision making process.

The sample comprised of 149 interviews - 40 representing the commercial fishing sector, 40 representing the recreational fishing sector, 40 representing fish and fish habitat protection, and 29 representing aquaculture and pearling.

In general, the stakeholders gave positive responses regarding the Department …

Fisheries Occasional Publications No. 4 - Research Project Assessment - A Decision Framework, W. J. Fletcher, J. W. Penn, H. G. Brayford

Fisheries Occasional Publications

Determining the relative priority for research proposals within an agency such as the Department of Fisheries, particularly when they are from different program areas, is a difficult task to achieve effectively. Traditionally within the Department, this task has been completed by a sub-group of the executive who have used their combined understanding of the broader issues and their experience of what has been done before and what is most likely to succeed. Such a system, while it has produced satisfactory outcomes, suffers from a lack of transparency and may be at longer-term risk when personnel changes occur and corporate knowledge …