Living systems theory - a brief note

The living systems theory is a systems methodology that adopts the organizational metaphor of living systems to study complex organizations and changes in complex situations. (Pratt, Gordon, and Plamping, 2005). There are articles on living systems theory published in systems journals from time to time.

Reference
Pratt, J., Gordon, P. and Plamping, D. (2005) Working Whole Systems: Putting theory into practice in organisations, Radcliffe Publishing, Oxford.

On scientific management - a brief note

The main ideas of scientific managenment:

1. Workers and their jobs as the basic organization building blocks
2. Jobs are divided into simpler units as extensions of machine
3. Much managerial/ supervisory effort to ensure workers' compliance with instructions and operations stability
4. Supervisors absorb residual operational uncertainty and variabilities

Affiliated management concepts are (i) bureaucracy, (ii) machine metaphor in organization, (iii) Operational Research/ Management Science, (iv) industrial engineering (including work study), (v) business process re-engineering.

Some related concerns: (i) alienation, (ii) deskilling, (iii) mechanically paced motions, and (iv) demotivation. Also compare scientific management with human relation model and human resources model of management.

References

1. On Frederick Taylor: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Winslow_Taylor
2. Trist, E. (1983) "Article 5: A socio-technical critique of scientific management" in Lockett, M, and Spear, R. (editors) Organizations as Systems, The Open University Press, Milton Keynes.

Hospitality Operations Management - a brief note

The subject of Hospitality Operations Management (HOM) covers the following topics:

1. Hospitality operations characteristics
2. Product development in Hospitality Management
3. Pricing in Hospitality Management
4. Financial analysis/ Management Accounting analysis of hospitality operations
5. Hospitality operational performance appraisals

References

1. Brotherton, B. (editor) (2006) The International Hospitality Industry, Buterworth-Heinemann. Study Part 1: Structure and Characteristics.
2. Chathoth, P.K. (2007) "The impact of information technology on hotel operations, service management and transaction costs: A conceptual framework for full-service hotel firms", Hospitality Management 26, pp. 395-408.
3. Crick, A.P. and Spencer, A. (2011) "Hospitality quality: new directions and new challenges" Internationality Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 23(4), pp. 463-478.
4. Denton, G.A. and White, B. (2000) "Implementing a balanced-scorecard Approach to monitor Hotel  Operations" Cornell Hotel and Restaurant Administration Quarterly, February, pp. 94-107.
5. Jung, H.I. (2008) "WACC as the cornstone performance indicator" International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 20(6), pp. 700-710.
6. Lashley, C. and Taylor, S. (1998) "Hospitality retail operations types and styles in the management of human resources", Journal of Retailing and Customer Services Vol 5(3), pp. 153-165.
7. Ottenbacher, M.C. and Harrington, R.J. "The product innovation process of quick-service restaurant chains" International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 21(5), pp. 523-541.
8. Pavlatos, O. and Paggios, I. (2009) "A survey of factors influencing the cost system design in hotels", International Journal of  Hospitality Management 28, pp. 263-271.
9. Raab, C., Mayer, K., Shoemaker, S. and Ng. S. (2009) "Activity-based pricing: can it be applied in restaurants", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management 21(4), pp. 393-410.
10. Sainaghi, R. (2010) "Hotel performance: state of the art", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 22(7), pp. 920-952.
11. Sainaghi, R. (2011) "RevPAR determinants of individual hotels" International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 23(3), pp. 297-311.
12. Sanchez, M.A.M., Verdu, F.M and Soriano, D.R. (2008) "Different ways of measuring performance in the service industries: application in Spanish small  and medium-sized hotels", The Service Industries Journal Vol. 28(1), 27-36
13. Sigala, M. (2005) "Integrating customer relationship management in hotel operations: managerial and operational implications", Hospitality Management 24, pp. 391-413.
14. Wu, J., Tsai, H. and Zhou, Z. (2011) "Improving efficiency in international tourist hotels in Taipei using a non radical DEA model", International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 23(1), pp. 66-83.
15. Zhang, Z., Ye, Q., and Law, R. (2011) "Determinants of hotel room price" International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management Vol. 23(7), pp. 972-981.

Conducting quantitative analysis with Excel - a brief note

Both Engineering Management and Business Management students might conduct quantitative analysis; I want to identify 2 main functions in Excel that are very useful for these quantitative exercises, as there is a misconception that doing  more sophisticated statistical analysis (e.g for final year projects) requires specialized statistical analysis software such as SPSS. Apparently, for professional practices in commercial enterprises, I still recommend using specialized statistical analysis softwares.

The first main function is Regression analysis; to use this function, you need to add in this function with "Analysis Tool Pak - VBA". Then, you will find this funcion  from "Data", then "Data Analysis"; then choose "Regression". You use this function to conduct multiple regression analysis.

The second function is Solver; you need add in this fucntion with "Solver add in". This function allows you to do linear  programming (solved with the simplex method). Again go to "Data", then "Data Analysis", then choose "Solver". See following exhibits:

Exhibit 1

Exhibit 2

In the case of linear programming, exhibit 3 and 4 below are provided for illustration (the figures are based on an example on simplex method from Lucey (2002):

Exhibit 3

Exhibit 4:

As to multiple regression analysis, the following exhibits are provided:

Exhibit 5

Exhibit 6:

Exhibit 7

Exhibit 8

Exhibit 9

Additional photos for illustration:

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

The main point is: Excel has a number of statistical and quantitative analysis functions that are in most cases sufficient to support students to conduct quantitative analysis in final year dissertation. The main challenge is to master the underlying quantitative techniques as the key steps involved in using Excel are quite simple and just take a few minutes (not to count the time spent on entering the raw data in Excel).

There are other quantitative/ statistical functions in Excel; I mainly use these two functions as major examples for illustration.

References

1. Lind, D.A., Marchal, W.G. and Mason, R.D. (2001) Statistical Techniques in Business & Economics, McGraw Hill. [Study Chapter 14: Multiple Regression and Correlation Analysis]
2. Lucey, T. (2002) Quantitative Techniques, Thomson. [Study Chapter 18: Linear Programming - Simplex method for maximising]

Industrial hazard and industrial safety - a brief note

As an Engineering Management topic, the following topics are covered:

1. Industrial hazard
2. Industrial accident
3. Occupational safety and health administration
4. Occupational Health and Safety Management System (OHSAS 18001)
5. Factories & Industrial Undertakings Ordinance (Hong Kong)
6. Occupational Safety & Health Ordinance (Hong Kong)

When studying the topic, try to consider the perspectives/ expectations from a few key stakeholders: the employers, the employees and the government. Also, you could study the topic from a failure model perspective.


References

1. Purpura, P.P. (2002) Security and Loss Prevention, Butterworth-Heinemann; study chapter 13: safety.
2. Tompkin, N.c (2006) A Manager's Guide  to OSHA, Thomson.

Business Systems Analysis and Design - a brief note

The subject of Business Systems Analysis and Design covers the following topic areas:

1. Types of Information Systems and related systems development methods
2. Role of Systems Analysts and professional competence required
3. Information systems methodologies, with special reference to the systems development life cycle
4. Systems thinking in Business Systems Analysis and Design
5. Project management concepts as appled in Information Systems development projects
6. On CASE tools and prototyping
7. On data-flow diagrams and UML notions: a brief review
8. On requirement specification techniques
9. On commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) software selection
10. Soft systems methodology (including the technique of rich picture building),  Rapid Application Development methodology (including the notion of JAD and SWAT team) for Business Systems Analysis and Design, and the spiral model.
11. On systems implementation strategies and software testing
12. On structured walkthrough in systems analysis

Reference
Hoffer, J.A. George, J.F. and Valacich, J.S. (2002) Modern Systems Analysis and Design, Prentice Hall.

On simulation as a research method - a brief note

Quite a number of engineering students conduct simulation without discussing simulation as a research method. It is definitely not enough just to describe how you carry out your simulation exercise in your dissertation project (many students did not even bother to state clearly that the simulation exercises were designed and carried out by themselves!). I provide some references for you to consider. At least, you should be aware that you need to study simulation as a research method if you are going to use it in your dissertation project. Try to pay attention to the discussion on simulation as a research method in terms of the techniques, methodologies and research philosophies involved. You need to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of simulation as a research method as well as how it has been employed in research works, especially those that are related to your dissertation topic area. For a start, you should study a textbook on research methods and learn what it says about simulation as a research method.

I used to teach simulation using a software called Arena for the Logistics students; you could take a look at the software functitonalities of Arena to gain some understanding of simulation tools. Also refer to Arena user manual for info: http://iiesl.utk.edu/Courses/IE406%20S07/Slides/Arena%20User's%20Guide.pdf

Try to do some internet search or e-library search to learn more about simulation as a research method so as to write an informed chapter on "Research Methods" for your dissertation report. You need to examine and justify your research methods in terms of Research Methods notions. Just to explain the steps involved in performing your simulation exercise is not good enough.


An introductory reading on simulation, which is easy to read is:
Morris, C. (2003) "Chapter 21: Cutting down on queues" Quantitative Approaches in Business Studies, Prentice Hall.


Basic information (based  on Sheikh et al., 2008, Chapter 1):

1. Definition: the process of designing a model of a real system and conducting experiments with this model for the purpose of either understanding the behavior of the system or of evauating various strategies for the operation of the system
2. Three forms of models
• A scale model of the real system
• A physical model in different physical system to the real one
• A set of mathematical equations and logical relationship
3. Reasons for doing simulation
• Enables experimentation
• Allows for time control
• Enables affordable training
4. Main considerations in simulation planning
• Time-flow handling
• Behavior of the system: deterministic or stochastic; discrete or continuous change
• Change handling
• Other considerations: the objectives of the study, expected results

Related note

Extracted pages from Arena user guide [download the doc to study the details]

Note 1

Note 2:

Note 3:

Note 4:

Note 5:

Note 6

Note 7

Note 8

Note 9

Note 10

Note 11

References

1. Sheikh, A.E., Ajeeli, A.T.A. and Abu-Taieh, E.M. (2008) Simulation and Modeling: Current Technologies and Applications, IGI Publishing.
2. Berends, P. and Romme, G. (1999) "Simulation as a Research Tool in Management Studies", European Management Journal Vol. 17(6), pp. 576-583.
3. Hollocks, B.W. (2001) "Discrete-event simulation: an inquiry into user practice" Simulation Practice and Theory 8, pp. 451-471.
4. Perera, T. and Liyanage, K. (2000) "Methodology  for rapid identification and collection of input data in the simulation of manufacturing systems", Simulation and Theory 7, pp. 645-656.

On outsourcing - a brief note

Both Information Systems and Business Management students can examine the topic of outsourcing in their dissertation project work. This could be related to business process outsourcing, Information Systems outsourcing. You can also focus on a more specific concern in outsourcing, such as contract management, outsourcing risk evaluation, outsourcing challenges facing small-and-medium-sized companies, or offshore outsourcing (re: offshoring), etc.. You should be able to find relevant articles via Internet search and in various refereed journals and books found in library or e-library. There is a refereed journal called Strategic Outsourcing, published by Emerald.

References

1. Ho, W. and Dey, P.K. (2011) "Research paper: Strategic sourcing: a combined QFD and AHP approach in manufacturing", Supply Chain Management 16/6, pp. 446-461.
2. Brown, P. (2010) "The power of HR outsourcing", Strategic HR Review Vol. 9(6), pp. 27-32.
3. Weidenbaum, M. (2005) "Outsourcing: pros and cons", Business Horizons 48, pp. 311-315.

On the value of university e-library

When you enroll on a unversity degree programme, you should be assigned with an ID and a password to access university e-library. This facility is very useful because you can access all the refereed journals and e-books via Internet-access to the e-library. The problems are:

a. you may be reluctant to read academic articles and somehow also believe that they are not useful or only useful for doing assignments/ dissertation reports.
b. you are not able to find useful articles (especially via the e-library search engine) or believe that the e-library does not have much resource (as many of the articles need to be paid for by you in order to download; this may be due to some flaw in the system authentication process. I suggest to log out and then log in again for another try).

The e-library is very important for you to do literature review and learn literature review skill. If you are not able to learn this skill of literature review, you miss a very important research skill that is very useful for your long-term career development and job performance support. And if your university does not subscribe useful refereed journals for you to access, you should send a email to the university head and ask him/her for a refund of your school fee.

Over the years, in the academic world, the main academic publishers have launched quite a number of academic journals; there is just an explosion in academic publications in various business/ engineering subjects. Let's say, if we are talking about 4 main academic publishers and, for a particular subject you are interested in, there are 4 journals per publisher. Now, each journal publishes 5 issues each year with 6 articles (as an estimate). The total number of articles per year would be 489. Apparently, you will not be just interested in 1 subject. Assume you need to be briefed on 4 subjects most of the time, the total number of articles you need to read from the academic sources are 1920 articles. This is a very conservative estimate.

Do not write off these academic articles as not practical; some are of little practical value, but many do. If you are unaware of all these ideas and findings from these sources, you can become uncompetitive.

Three things to note at this point: (a) try to learn how to do literature review, not just for the sake of doing assignments or dissertation reports, but for the sake of your own professional development; literature review skill is an important research skill that can be employed in your work setting with much practical value (b) try to find out how to access e-library after you have graduated from the university. As a professional, you need to have a convenient way to access e-library. As a university graduate, you probably are required to spend an annual fee in order to access your university e-library; (c) do not just rely on  the e-library search engine for searching; browse through the academic journals and develop the interest to read academic journal articles as a leisure reading; these articles are entertaining  and intellectually stimulating. For a start, you can access a major academic journal publisher via your e-library account and see what journals are published by this publisher; then you browse through the content of a journal published by it that you find interesting.

Quite a number of my students find academic journal articles difficult to read; you need to keep trying as there is a learning curve for that. The reward of reading academic journal articles is tremendous from a professional development perspective. There are many brilliant people around the world, spending lots of time, to elaborate on their concrete findings in these journals. Many of these findings and ideas are very stimulating and can inform you in your immediate works and career development.

On time and money in professional development

On education system design flaw:

1. When you have money (fully employed), you do not have time to study;
2. When you have time to study (unemployed), you have no money;
3. When you have money, unversities want you to study;
4. When you have no money, you are not their customers (ie cannot study at the universities).

This then becomes a problem in personal professional development, which can deteriorate over time when you grow old End result: you still need to learn how to do self-learning (that is the original goal of the education system) [Most comfortable and enjoyable learning takes place in leisure time]. 

Effective learning needs not be expensive; very often, it is free of charge (e.g. useful information can be accessed in public libraries and the internet). It all starts with your mindset and viewpoints on continuous professional development. On this point, the message from the education market (which tells you that education is mainly a profitable personal investment) can be quite misleading, from my observation. This does not mean that it is a bad idea to take up tertiary education, but just aiming at getting a recognized certificate (and trying to beat the education system with all sorts of cheating) is a bad profesional development strategy.

Business Process Re-engineering - a brief note

Students in Information Systems very often choose the topic area of Business Process Re-engineering (BPR) in their dissertation work. There are numerous books and journals related to BPR; you need to be aware of the classical works as well as more contemporary publications on BPR. You could use BPR as a theoretical perspective to evaluate information systems (IS) project or use BPR as the methodology to guide an (IS) project. I provide some references here. You need to do Internet search as well library (and e-library) search in order to do a proper literature review. A major refereed journal is Business Process Management published by Emerald.


Based on Day "A Framework for Business Process Reengineering": the three main components of BPR are:

1. BPR principles
2. BPR process
3. BPR methods and tools

Some tips on BPR practices can be grouped into two categories:

1. Strategic management: e.g.:
• Targeting of dramatic improvements as well as relentlessly pursuing ongoing incremental change
• Quick completion of projects, while acknowledging the need to go slow at times, in order to go faster in the long term
2. Process design, implementation and outcomes: e.g.:
• Best people chosen for design teams, with sufficient time away from everyday responsibilities to think creatively about improving processes.
• Strong customer orientation
• Encouragement of multi-skilled team work

References

1. Attaran,  M. (2004) "Exploring the relationship between information technology and business process reengineering", Information & Management, 41, pp. 585-596.
2. Coulson-Thomas, C. (editor) Business Process Re-engineering, Kogan Page.
3. Day, M. "A Framework for Business Process Reengineering" A working paper from the Chartered Institute of Purchasing and Supply, UK.
4. El Sawy, O.A. (2001) Redesigning Enterprise Processes for e-Business, McGraw-Hill.

Basic notes:
BPR: the fundamental rethinking and redesign of business processes to achieve dramatic improvements in critical, contemporary measures of performance, such as cost, quality, service, and speed.

Critical areas in BPR
* Process-based: an obsessive commitment to add value for customers; to look at the business from the outside in; concentrateon the end-to-end management of the processes which serve those customers.
* Fundamental rethink: adopt a zero-based approach to the redesign of key processes
* Radical improvement: to achievee dramatic leaps in performance.
* Integrated change: to deliver a balanced and holistic solution for which the relevant systems, people and training have been put in place.


Examples of IT capabilities:
* Geographical: IT can transfer information with rapidity and ease across large distances
* Informational: IT can bring vast amounts of detailed information into a process
* Analytical: IT can bring complex analytical methods to bear on a process
* Sequential: IT can enable changes in the sequence of tasks in a process, often allowing multiple tasks to be worked on simultaneously.

Failure models and failure studies - a brief note for dissertation works

From time to time, some students raise the concern whether they could study a project failure case as their final year dissertation topic. I can assure that this is very legitimate to do so. Nevertheless,  you need to do proper literature review for that. For example, there is a falure model based on systems thinking from Fortune and Peters (1995). Another  reference from these writers are Fortune and Peters (2005). Studies of failure of various kinds have been conducted over time by many others, see, for examples, Huang et al. (2003) and Naquin and Kurtzberg (2004). From my experience, students' main problems are (a) to find the relevant references, especially if they do not have access to e-library resources, and (b) to study and understand what these references are talking about.


References

1. Fortune, J. and Peters, G. (1995) Learning from failure - the systems approach, Wiley.
2. Fortune, J. and Peters, G. (2005) Information Systems: achieving success by avoiding failure, Wiley.
3. Huang, J., Makoju, E., Newell, S., and Galliers, R.D. (2003) "Opportunities to learn from 'failure' with electronic commerce: a case study of electronic banking", Journal of Information Technology 18, 17-26.
4. Naquin, C.E. and Kurtzberg, T.R. (2004) "Human reactions to technological failure: How accidents rooted in technology vs human error influence judgments of organizational accountability", Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes 93, 129-141.

Financial control - a brief note

Engineering management students need to have some basic skills in financial control. I want to highlight the following topics for you to study:

1. Financial statements, especially on balance sheet and profit and loss account (or income statement)
2. Financial ratio analysis

You need to learn the financial management skill to evaulate the finanical health of a compnay using financial information released in financial portals, see bochk.com website. In your analysis, try to review the various financial statement items and come up with an overall assessment of the financial health of a company. A trend analysis of these fiancial figures is also useful. When doing more detailed case studies, you may be required to do benchmarking of the financial health of the company under review with another company of similar profile.

Law of contract features - a brief note

Students of Engineering Management need to have knowledge in law of contract. I want to emphasize the following 4 features in law of contract:

1. an offer
2. an acceptance
3. consideration
4. intention to be legally bound

Besides the principles and definitions as related  to these 4 features, you need to study the relevant law cases. These law cases help you to have a more concrete understanding of these 4 features.

Michael Porter's theories and strategic management accounting

Some students, in their study of strategic managemen accounting, spend much effort in their assignments on explaining Michael Porter's value chain model and 5-Force model without discussing the implications on stratategic management accounting (SMA) practices. This reflects insufficient literature review effort. Below, I provide a diagram to indicate the issues and concerns that need to be discussed when using Porter's theories. The point is clear: do not just explain Porter's theories in SMA studies. There are specific SMA references you need to study to learn the subject of SMA.

From my assessment of students' work, I have the impression that some students' understanding of Porter's theories is quite shallow; Porter's works take verious much effort to learn and you have to be patient and sincere when learning Porter's theories as they are quite sophisticated.

Terrorism in business study

Some of my students have adopted this topic in assignment works and in dissertation reports. The topic of terrorism appears to be a key contemporary business topic. There are books, journal articles and youtube videos on this topic. For those of you who are interested in this topic, consider Lutz and Lutz (2004).



References

1. Ackoff, R.L. and Strumpfer, J.P. (2003) "Notes and insights: Terrorism: A systemic veiw" Systems Research and Behavioural Science 20, pp. 287-294.
2. Feichinger, G. Hartl, R.F., Kort. P.M. and Novak, A.J. (2001) "Terrorism control in the tourism industry", Journal of optimization theory and applications, Vol. 108(2), pp. 283-296.
3. Lutz, J.M. and Lutz, B.J. (2004) Global Terrorism, Routledge.
4. Nitsch, V. and Schumacher, D. (2004) "Terrorism and international trade: an empirical investigation", European Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 20, pp. 423-433.
5. Weidenbaum, M. (2001) "The role of business in fighting terrorism", Business Horizons, May-June, pp. 6-12.

Technological forecasting - a brief note

Some of my Engineering and IT mgt students have adopted dissertation topics that involve technological forecasting efforts, see technology forecasting. In this case, you need to be aware of the relevant literature. The academic journal of Technological Forecasting and Social Change is highly relevant  for your literature review. Other  related works could be Touhill et al (2008),  Dodgson (2003), which is on technological innovation, Carayannnis (2001), which deals with the topic of technological learning, and Brauun (2004), which examines technology assessment. Besides, I suggest you to take a look at the technology acceptance model.



References

1. Braun, E. (2004) Technology in context, Routledge
2. Carayannis, E.G. (2001) Strategic management of technological learning, CRC Press.
3. Dodgson, M. (2003) The management of technological innovation, Oxford University Press.
4. On technological innovation system: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_innovation_system
5. Touhill, C.J., Touhill, G.J. and O'Rriordan, T.A. (2008) Commercialization of innovative technologies, Wiley.