Network Models for Organizations

Network Models for Organizations

Author: P. Ramos

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan

Published: 2011-10-31

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9780230320161

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

There is a tendency for companies to follow a traditional model and structure without giving much thought to whether this really suits their needs. In today's knowledge economy, managers must re-evaluate company structures to allow for more efficient and reactive organisations, and also make the most of crucial networking opportunities.


Enhancing Synergies in a Collaborative Environment

Enhancing Synergies in a Collaborative Environment

Author: Pablo Cortés

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2015-02-04

Total Pages: 370

ISBN-13: 3319140787

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume contains a selection of the best papers presented at the 8th International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Industrial Management, XX International Conference on Industrial Engineering and Operations Management, and International IIE Conference 2014, hosted by ADINGOR, ABEPRO and the IIE, whose mission is to promote links between researchers and practitioners from different branches, to enhance an interdisciplinary perspective of industrial engineering and management. The conference topics covered: operations research, modelling and simulation, computer and information systems, operations research, scheduling and sequencing, logistics, production and information systems, supply chain and logistics, transportation, lean management, production planning and control, production system design, reliability and maintenance, quality management, sustainability and eco-efficiency, marketing and consumer behavior, business administration and strategic management, economic and financial management, technological and organizational innovation, strategy and entrepreneurship, economics engineering, enterprise engineering, global operations and cultural factors, operations strategy and performance, management social responsibility, environment and sustainability. This book will be of interest to researchers and practitioners working in any of the fields mentioned above.


Working Knowledge

Working Knowledge

Author: Thomas H. Davenport

Publisher: Harvard Business Press

Published: 2000-04-26

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1422160688

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This influential book establishes the enduring vocabulary and concepts in the burgeoning field of knowledge management. It serves as the hands-on resource of choice for companies that recognize knowledge as the only sustainable source of competitive advantage going forward. Drawing from their work with more than thirty knowledge-rich firms, Davenport and Prusak--experienced consultants with a track record of success--examine how all types of companies can effectively understand, analyze, measure, and manage their intellectual assets, turning corporate wisdom into market value. They categorize knowledge work into four sequential activities--accessing, generating, embedding, and transferring--and look at the key skills, techniques, and processes of each. While they present a practical approach to cataloging and storing knowledge so that employees can easily leverage it throughout the firm, the authors caution readers on the limits of communications and information technology in managing intellectual capital.


The Economics of the Internet and E-commerce

The Economics of the Internet and E-commerce

Author: Michael R. Baye

Publisher: Elsevier

Published: 2002-10-31

Total Pages: 280

ISBN-13: 0762309717

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The first six chapters of the text examine four broad issues: the role of the Internet in fostering competition, its impact on price dispersion and on business-to-business transactions, and the importance of reputation and trust in the new economy. The last four chapters examine the impact of the Internet on the organization of firms, the efficiency of auctions in the Internet age, how consumers choose websites and acquire product information, and the growing problem of congestion on the Internet.


Benchmarking Water Services

Benchmarking Water Services

Author: Enrique Cabrera Jr

Publisher: IWA Publishing

Published: 2011-03-01

Total Pages: 185

ISBN-13: 1843391988

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Benchmarking has become a key tool in the water industry to promote and achieve performance targets for utilities. The use of this tool for performance improvement through systematic search and adaptation of leading practices, has expanded globally during the past decade. Many ongoing projects worldwide aim to address different needs and objectives, in varying contexts, with outstanding results and impact. Benchmarking Water Services provides valuable information to everyone interested in benchmarking in the water industry. The text is aimed at utilities considering joining a benchmarking project, experienced practitioners in charge of organizing a benchmarking exercise, consultants, regulators and researchers. The document is presented with a clear practice oriented approach and can be used as a how-to-benchmark guide presented from different perspectives (participants, organizers, supervising bodies). Readers will gain practical insight on real life benchmarking practices and will benefit from the experiences gained in some of the leading benchmarking projects of the water industry (including the IWA-WSAA benchmarking efforts, the European Benchmarking Co-operation and the several benchmarking projects carried out in Austria and Central Europe). The manual also presents the new IWA Benchmarking Framework, which aims to harmonize the terms used to describe benchmarking and performance indicators practices in the water industry, guaranteeing a more fluent and efficient communication. This Manual of Best Practice is edited by the IWA Specialist Group on Benchmarking and Performance Assessment, and co-published by AWWA and IWA Publishing. Praise for Benchmarking Water Services: "The continual trend of conceptual to specifics throughout the book provides for an educational experience each time the book is either casually perused or carefully studied." "The authors (Cabrera, Haskins and Fritiz) diligently pursue the focus of improvement." "Benchmarking Water Services is an in depth and practical ‘must have’ guide for any utility currently engaged in or planning to develop a benchmarking process" - Gregory M. Baird (2012) Benchmarking: An International Journal 19:2. More information about the book can be found on the Water Wiki in an article written by the author: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/TheNewIWABenchmarkingFramework A Spanish language version of this book is available as a free eBook: http://www.iwawaterwiki.org/xwiki/bin/view/Articles/eBookTitlesfromIWAPublishingFreetoDownload-Volume2#HBenchmarkingParaServiciosdeAgua


The New Organizational Wealth

The New Organizational Wealth

Author: Karl Erik Sveiby

Publisher: Berrett-Koehler Publishers

Published: 1997

Total Pages: 252

ISBN-13: 9781576750148

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Sveiby offers practical advice on how to manage knowledge companies - such as accounting firms, management consulting firms, advertising agencies and computer consultants - and their employees


Observations on Modernity

Observations on Modernity

Author: Niklas Luhmann

Publisher: Stanford University Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 150

ISBN-13: 9780804732352

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This collection of five essays by Germany’s most prominent and influential social thinker both links Luhmann’s social theory to the question “What is modern about modernity?” and shows the origins and context of his theory. In the introductory essay, “Modernity in Contemporary Society,” Luhmann develops the thesis that the modern epistemological situation can be seen as the consequence of a radical change in social macrostructures that he calls “social differentiation,” thereby designating the juxtaposition of and interaction between a growing number of social subsystems without any hierarchical structure. “European Rationality” defines rationality as the capacity to see the difference between systems and their environment as a unity. Luhmann argues that, in a world characterized by contingency, rationality tends to become coextensive with imagination, a view that challenges their classical binary opposition and opens up the possibility of seeing modern rationality as a paradox. In the third essay, “Contingency as Modern Society’s Defining Attribute,” Luhmann develops a further and probably even more important paradox: that the generalization of contingency or cognitive uncertainty is precisely what provides stability within modern societies. In the process, he argues that medieval and early modern theology can be seen as a “preadaptive advance” through which Western thinking prepared itself for the modern epistemological situation. In “Describing the Future,” Luhmann claims that neither the traditional hope of learning from history nor the complementary hope of cognitively anticipating the future can be maintained, and that the classical concept of the future should be replaced by the notion of risk, defined as juxtaposing the expectation of realizing certain projects and the awareness that such projects might fail. The book concludes with “The Ecology of Ignorance,” in which Luhmann outlines prospective research areas “for sponsors who have yet to be identified.”


International Community Psychology

International Community Psychology

Author: Stephanie Reich

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2007-07-03

Total Pages: 461

ISBN-13: 0387495002

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This is the first in-depth guide to global community psychology research and practice, history and development, theories and innovations, presented in one field-defining volume. This book will serve to promote international collaboration, enhance theory utilization and development, identify biases and barriers in the field, accrue critical mass for a discipline that is often marginalized, and to minimize the pervasive US-centric view of the field.


Two to Tango

Two to Tango

Author: Eduardo Fernández-Arias

Publisher: Inter-American Development Bank

Published: 2016-06-17

Total Pages: 363

ISBN-13: 1597822590

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

It takes two to tango. Strong public-private collaboration is key for discovering and implementing effective productive development policies to bring out the best in existing economic activities and to foster economic transformation. The 25 Latin American cases analyzed in this volume show how and why many public and private partners are dancing smoothly while others stumble or follow different drummers. This book is a resource for designing institutions to make public-private interaction a win-win strategy.


The Paradox of Social Order

The Paradox of Social Order

Author:

Publisher: Transaction Publishers

Published:

Total Pages: 172

ISBN-13: 9780202369853

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This volume focuses on strengthening the foundations of the social sciences with hypotheses that challenge commonly held rational choice theories drawn from economics. In contrast to the rational choice theories of Becker, Hayek, Popper, and others, Moessinger argues that the stability of social structures ultimately results from a linkage of non-rational individual conduct (interpersonal imbalances, confusion of minds, etc.) with social order and hence, that a larger role for psychology is essential for the study of the social sciences. This work is an attempt at cross-fertilization of disciplines. Both of these fields are now limited, fragmented, and scattered. In the social sciences we often have to be content with a few pieces (hypotheses, theories) of a provisional construction, pieces that will be quickly modified or replaced. In this precarious situation for the social sciences, what we can do better, what we must try to do better, is to differentiate and generalize our hypotheses and integrate them into the best-established network of knowledge in order to ensure that they continue to develop. In other words, we have to articulate and systematize the social sciences, in particular to reunite sociology and psychology. Social order emerges from non-rational individual behavior (which social order, in turn, upholds). To express it positively, social order and individual non-rationality together make up a whole. The author holds that metaphors such as "machine" or "organism" are no longer adequate. Social order can no longer be conceived in terms of a dualistic framework. Social order is not some magical equilibrium that is justified by the satisfactions it produces--to all, to the most capable, or only to those in power, depending upon the justification. Nor can social order be considered either the product of either an invisible hand or of an omnipresent secretary who balances everyone's account. This work is an effort to move beyond the polarities and dualities that limit the theory and research of social science as a whole. Pierre Moessinger is professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Geneva, Switzerland and the Department of Psychology at the University of Fribourg. He has published in English-language journals in several fields and is the editor of New Ideas in Psychology.