People Centric Smart Cities

Smart Cities Project is been undertaken in mission mode by the Government of India. The endeavor is to plan and build / rebuild pollution free, eco friendly living spaces with the efficient means of Transportation, Communication, Governance, Health Services and other civic requirements. There is also an emphasis on giving identity to these cities based on its main economic activity. The aspects of peaceful and happy living with regard to values and universal common good of mankind does not come out clearly in the definition and other mission statements. This paper endeavors to highlight the importance of the Culture and Spirituality in creating the cities that will promote Peace, Harmony, Happiness and the Virtue of co-existence amongst the dwellers in keeping with the rich traditions and value systems inherited from the glorious past. It is emphasized that the Smart City be given the identity which is representative of its character, culture and the unique value that it offers. The quest to build smart cities from the standpoint of enhanced economic activity and operational efficiency with the use of High-end integrated technologies for automation, Artificial Intelligence and Internet of Things the importance of “Culture” as bedrock of “Smartness” has been subdued. It is proposed that the richness of Culture, strength of Spirituality and importance of Identity based on values and character be emphasized in planning and building smart cities. A framework to assess the contribution of a People Centered Smart City in its role as “Culture Transmitter” in influencing the growth, sustainability and wellbeing of inhabitants is also presented.

ALTERNATIVE ROUTES TO INNOVATION — THE EFFECTS OF CULTURAL AND STRUCTURAL FIT

A configurational approach to organizations assumes that structural and cultural characteristics must be in “fit” to produce the wanted outcome. With a focus on innovation, this study examines empirically to what extent innovative activities with a large, global telecom company are produced by an innovative culture, an innovative structure, as well as the fit between the two. Based on an extensive survey (N = 21064, response rate = 65) of employees in seven countries in Europe and Asia, data was aggregated to unit level as culture by nature is a collective phenomenon. The empirical analysis detected both the individual effects of culture strength and homogeneity, structure, as well as the fit between the two. The results indicate that an innovative culture and an organic structure indeed fosters innovation, but that, somewhat surprisingly, there are not effects of the fit between the two. Both practical and theoretical implications are discussed.

The Role of Culture and Needs in the Cycling Habits of Female Immigrants from a Driving-Oriented to a Cycling-Oriented Country

The enormous potential of cycling to make cities and regions more sustainable is often not realized. Given the evidence that women cycle less than men, this study looks into the cycling habits of female immigrants from driving-oriented to cycling-oriented countries in relation to the fulfillment of their needs and their immersion in their new culture. A survey measured existence, relatedness, and growth needs with Likert-type items and collected socioeconomic characteristics and travel habits of 570 female Polish immigrants who moved to established and developing cycling cultures. A hybrid bivariate ordered model captured the propensity toward habitual cycling in the adopted country and cycling intentions upon return to the home country in relation to the needs and the traits of the female immigrants. Model results suggest that the cycling habits of female immigrants are related to past travel habits, while future intentions of cycling are connected to tangible (e.g., distance) and emotional (e.g., income stigma) barriers. Relevantly, model results indicate a positive relation between cycling culture and cycling habits in terms of both culture strength and exposure, but also a negative relation between relatedness to the home country and future intentions of cycling. Lastly, model results show that cycling habits relate to the fulfillment of existence needs and even more of relatedness and growth needs. Accordingly, the key to promote cycling among female immigrants is not only to satisfy their functional needs, but also cater to their emotional and self-actualization needs.

The impact of strong and balanced organizational cultures on firm performance

Purpose This study aims to investigate the relationship between organizational culture and performance. It concerns the aspects of culture related to culture strength and unbalance and its impact on introvert and extrovert firm performance, controlling for business environment and size. Design/methodology/approach Based on the competing values model (CVM), culture strength is measured as the intensity of the culture values driving the company. The cultural unbalance is measured by the sum of absolute deviations of organizational members’ culture perceptions across the four archetypes (adhocracy, clan, hierarchy and market) imposed by CVM from the individual “average” shared cultural value. Evidence is drawn upon a sample of 1,305 employees of 114 Greek firms. Findings The findings indicate a strong positive relationship between culture strength and internal performance (innovation competence and human relations) as well as firm outcomes (profitability, growth and reputational assets). On the contrary, culture unbalance exerts a negative influence to market position, growth and innovation competence. Practical implications Understanding the nature of the association between culture strength, unbalance and firm performance would enable academics and practitioners to reflect critically on the core culture values which shape employee involvement and formulate leaders’ quality improvement decisions and actions, so as to achieve sustainable competitive advantage at the organizational level. Originality/value This research provides supporting empirical evidence for the culture–performance link by identifying the principle culture value characteristics (strength and unbalance), which exert both direct and interaction effects on the introvert and extrovert aspects of firm performance.