Strengthening and Enriching Audit Practice

2012 ◽  
pp. 97-108
Author(s):  
Peter A. C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Network Visualization ◽  
Viable System Model ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Visualization Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Network Layers ◽  
The Face ◽  
Viable System

The audit profession has been facing reassessment and repositioning for the past decade. Enquiry has been an integral part of an audit; however, its reliability as a source of audit evidence is questioned. To legitimize enquiry in the face of audit complexity and ensure sufficiency, relevance, and reliability, the introduction of Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model (VSM) into theory and practice has been recommended by a number of authors. In this paper, a variant on previous VSM-based audit work is introduced to perfect auditing assessment of accountability and compliance. This variant is termed the “VSM/NVA variant” and is applicable when the VSM model is in use for an audit. This variant is based on application of Network Visualization Analysis (NVA) to a VSM-modeled organization. Using NVA, “decision leaders” can be identified and their socio-technical relevance to VSM systems explored. This paper shows how the concepts of decision leaders and their networks can enrich and clarify practical applications of audit theory and practice. The approach provides an enhanced real-world understanding of how various VSM systems and network layers of an organization coalesce, and how they relate to the aims of the VSM model at micro and macro levels.

Strengthening and Enriching Audit Practice

2011 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 15-25 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter A. C. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Theory And Practice ◽  
System Model ◽  
Network Visualization ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Visualization Analysis ◽  
The Past ◽  
Network Layers ◽  
The Face ◽  
Viable System ◽  
Number Of Authors

The audit profession has been facing reassessment and repositioning for the past decade. Enquiry has been an integral part of an audit; however, its reliability as a source of audit evidence is questioned. To legitimize enquiry in the face of audit complexity and ensure sufficiency, relevance, and reliability, the introduction of Stafford Beer’s Viable System Model (VSM) into theory and practice has been recommended by a number of authors. In this paper, a variant on previous VSM-based audit work is introduced to perfect auditing assessment of accountability and compliance. This variant is termed the “VSM/NVA variant” and is applicable when the VSM model is in use for an audit. This variant is based on application of Network Visualization Analysis (NVA) to a VSM-modeled organization. Using NVA, “decision leaders” can be identified and their socio-technical relevance to VSM systems explored. This paper shows how the concepts of decision leaders and their networks can enrich and clarify practical applications of audit theory and practice. The approach provides an enhanced real-world understanding of how various VSM systems and network layers of an organization coalesce, and how they relate to the aims of the VSM model at micro and macro levels.

Theoretical notes regarding the practical application of Stafford Beer’s viable system model

Kybernetes ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 262-272 ◽  
Author(s):  
Markus Orengo
Keyword(s):  
System Model ◽  
Practical Application ◽  
Viable System Model ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Early Adopters ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Diffusion Curve ◽  
Viable System ◽  
Societal Problems ◽  
Practical Implications

Purpose This paper aims to capture current difficulties with the practical application of the viable system model (VSM). On this basis, a set of suggestions toward a more effective application of the model is made. Design/methodology/approach The study is based on observations from practical applications of the VSM, systematically collected by the author. Findings The paper suggests that the VSM is currently stuck in the typical chasm of a bell-shaped diffusion curve. The paper makes six propositions to smoother pass from the early adopters to the early majority. Research limitations/implications The six findings imply various research efforts. Practical implications In contrast to frequent claims that VSM should be made accessible easily to a larger number of people, the paper suggests that a smaller number of better trained VSM experts support a larger number of managers with a more generic know how. Social implications A more focused but broader application of the VSM may lead to better societal organizations and therefore to a more efficient effective solution of societal problems. Originality/value The paper suggests to tighten the focus of the VSM to the very abstract topic of judging variety balances and at the same time to better connect the model with the suite of established methods and tools in management. This is a contrast to other attempts, which either simplify the VSM or extend it into a comprehensive methodology.

scholarly journals Audio and Visual Model for Real World Interaction

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (VI) ◽  
pp. 635-639
Author(s):  
Akarshak Bose
Keyword(s):  
Face Recognition ◽  
Real World ◽  
Voice Recognition ◽  
Recognition System ◽  
Full Information ◽  
Visual Model ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Face ◽  
Stored Information ◽  
Recognition Technique

: Communication with the proper information can be helpful for any person to carry out conversations. The proposed system is to help people to interact freely with full information about the past conversations with the person they are meeting. The device UPAL will identify the face and voice of the person and will store necessary details about the meeting, by recording the conversations or by taking inputs from the user. Next time when the user meets the same person, the device will fetch the information from the storage that can be used for a comfortable conversation. UPAL is made up of a Camera and microphone that will use the Face recognition technique and voice recognition system to collect the data. A mobile-based application will be provided to the user for viewing, editing the stored information. UPAL will ensure smart conversation by guiding and reminding the user.

An Introduction to Soft Systems Methodology

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-31
Keyword(s):  
Systems Thinking ◽  
Real World ◽  
Conceptual Modeling ◽  
Soft Systems Methodology ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Organizational Analysis ◽  
Systems Methodology ◽  
Soft Systems ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
Soft Systems Thinking

Soft systems methodology (SSM) is the outcome of a real-world action research program that uses the idea of systems to improve poorly defined, so-called soft problem areas. Theory and practice of SSM arouse interest and encourage discussions from various backgrounds by academics and practitioners. In order to introduce SSM for use in the real world, this chapter begins with different definitions and methodologies of systems thinking. Then, SSM defines the seven technical analysis steps, including the soft systems thinking and the necessary techniques such as rich picture, CATWOE analysis, root definition, and conceptual modeling. SSM has organizational analysis and practical applications in the industry sector that are reviewed and classified.

The Effective Interview

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melinda Blackman
Keyword(s):  
Human Resource ◽  
Structured Interview ◽  
Employment Interview ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Human Resource Professionals ◽  
The Past ◽  
Interview Format ◽  
The Face ◽  
New Research

The face of the employment interview has been gradually transforming over the past fifty years with the culmination of new research, theory, and practices. Now more than ever, researchers and human resource professionals are demanding interview formats that accurately and reliably predict a plethora of criteria in addition to the job candidate's skill set. No longer is the implementation of the traditional structured interview format sufficient for screening applicants. The effective interview is on its way to being transformed into a multifaceted instrument that aims to surpass the predictive precision of standardized selection tests. This article outlines the impetus of research, theory, and practice that spurred on the interview's transformation and the long-term payoff which employers are receiving from the changes. It gives a glimpse of where the employment interview is headed in the upcoming decade and the factors that make today's employment interview so effective.

Xenophon'sCyropaediaand military reform in Sparta

2006 ◽  
Vol 126 ◽  
pp. 47-65 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Christesen
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Constitutional Theory ◽  
Trained Group ◽  
Military Reform ◽  
The Real ◽  
The Past ◽  
Fictional Narrative ◽  
The Face ◽  
Historical Basis ◽  
Special Relevance

AbstractXenophon'sCyropaediacan be read as a proto-novel, a biography, or as an essay on leadership or constitutional theory. This article argues that theCyropaediacan and should also be read as a pamphlet on practical military reform with special relevance to the Spartan state.The inclusion of a series of proposals for the reform of the Spartan army in theCyropaediahas not heretofore been recognized because Xenophon presented those proposals in the guise of a reform of the Persian army undertaken by Cyrus. There was no historical basis for this part of theCyropaedia, and there is no trace of a major military reform in either the Greek or the Persian tradition about Cyrus as it existed before Xenophon. Cyrus' military reform was thus an authorial invention that presumably served some important narrative purpose.Xenophon inserted a military reform into theCyropaediaas a way of presenting a proposal for the restructuring of the Spartan army. When Xenophon wrote theCyropaedia, the Spartans were struggling desperately to maintain their position in the face of a powerful Boeotian army. The Boeotians could put many more hoplites into the field and had a large cavalry force that they were using to excellent effect. The obvious response on the part of the Spartans was to take whatever measures were necessary to increase the number of men in their phalanx and to assemble a sizeable, highly trained group of horsemen. The programme of military reform enacted by Cyrus in theCyropaediaproduces just this result. If implemented in Sparta, this programme would have involved the wholesale addition of non-Spartiates to the Spartan phalanx and the conversion of the Spartanhomoioiinto an all-cavalry force.Xenophon thus used Cyrus' army in theCyropaediato show what a revamped Spartan military might look like. The use of fictional narrative to explore ideas with immediate application to the real world has long been recognized as an integral part of theCyropaedia.This aspect of theCyropaediahas in the past been explored largely in regard to Xenophon's thinking about leadership and ethics, but it can and should be extended to include military reform in Sparta.

scholarly journals Give Us a Break! A Sceptical Review of Contemporary Discourses of Lifelong Learning

2008 ◽  
Vol 7 (4) ◽  
pp. 414-424 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sharon Gewirtz
Keyword(s):  
Young Children ◽  
Lifelong Learning ◽  
Doctoral Students ◽  
Real World ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Learning Society ◽  
The Past ◽  
Potential Risks ◽  
1960S And 1970S ◽  
The 1960S

Over the past 40 years a whole cluster of discourses centred on the ideas of the learning society and lifelong learning has emerged. These discourses have moved from being theoretical and aspirational to become increasingly embedded in international and national policies and professional practices. This article raises some concerns about what happens when the aspirational discourses which abounded in the 1960s and 1970s are translated into real-world practice and policies. The article begins with a brief review of the range of discourses bound up in the theory and practice of the learning society, and some of the sociological explanations for the proliferation of learning society and lifelong learning discourses. It then goes on to ask some questions about the potential risks of specific manifestations of these totalising approaches to education, focusing in particular on threats to ‘learning-rich’ and ‘learning-free’ spaces. In the spirit of lifelong learning, the author develops her arguments by drawing on some reflections on her own experiences as a worker (specifically as a supervisor of doctoral students) and as a parent of young children.

scholarly journals An Evaluation Framework for Privacy-Preserving Record Linkage

2014 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dinusha Vatsalan ◽  
Peter Christen ◽  
Christine M. O'Keefe ◽  
Vassilios S. Verykios
Keyword(s):  
Real World ◽  
Record Linkage ◽  
Comparative Evaluation ◽  
Privacy Preserving ◽  
Evaluation Framework ◽  
Sensitive Information ◽  
The Past ◽  
Large Databases ◽  
Linkage Quality ◽  
The Face

Privacy-preserving record linkage (PPRL) addresses the problem of identifying matching records from different databases that correspond to the same real-world entities using quasi-identifying attributes (in the absence of unique entity identifiers), while preserving privacy of these entities. Privacy is being preserved by not revealing any information that could be used to infer the actual values about the records that are not reconciled to the same entity (non-matches), and any confidential or sensitive information (that is not agreed upon by the data custodians) about the records that were reconciled to the same entity (matches) during or after the linkage process. The PPRL process often involves three main challenges, which are scalability to large databases, high linkage quality in the presence of data quality errors, and sufficient privacy guarantees. While many solutions have been developed for the PPRL problem over the past two decades, an evaluation and comparison framework of PPRL solutions with standard numerical measures defined for all three properties (scalability, linkage quality, and privacy) of PPRL has so far not been presented in the literature. We propose a general framework with normalized measures to practically evaluate and compare PPRL solutions in the face of linkage attack methods that are based on an external global dataset. We conducted experiments of several existing PPRL solutions on real-world databases using our proposed evaluation framework, and the results show that our framework provides an extensive and comparative evaluation of PPRL solutions in terms of the three properties.

Just Nationalism: The Future of an Illusion

1996 ◽  
Vol 22 ◽  
pp. 345-363
Author(s):  
Andrew Levine
Keyword(s):  
Political Philosophy ◽  
Recent Work ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
The Other ◽  
The Past ◽  
Other Hand ◽  
The World ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Face ◽  
The One

Until quite recently, political philosophers routinely ignored nationalism. Nowadays, the topic is very much on the philosophical agenda. In the past, when philosophers did discuss nationalism, it was usually to denigrate it. Today, nationalism elicits generally favorable treatment. I confess to a deep ambivalence about this turn of events. On the one hand, much of what has emerged in recent work on nationalism appears to be on the mark. On the other hand, the anti- or extra-nationalist outlook that used to pervade political philosophy seems as sound today as it ever was, and perhaps even more urgent in the face of truly horrendous eruptions of nationalist hostilities in many parts of the world. What follows is an effort to grapple with this ambivalence. My aim will be to identify what is defensible in the nationalist idea and then to reflect on the flaws inherent in even the most defensible aspects of nationalist theory and practice.

A Graduate Curriculum in Emergency Public Health

2010 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 213-216
Author(s):  
Steven J. Rottman ◽  
Kimberley I. Shoaf ◽  
Samuel J. Stratton
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Graduate Education ◽  
Theory And Practice ◽  
Health Impacts ◽  
Practical Applications ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Past ◽  
Graduate Curriculum ◽  
Health Practitioners ◽  
Public Health Practitioners

AbstractThe increase in adverse health impacts of disasters has raised awareness of the need for education in the field of emergency public health. In the past, most traditional models of graduate education in schools of public health have not incorporated the theory and practice of disaster public health into their curricula. This paper describes the development of a curriculum in emergency public health within a US masters program in public health, and provides a description of the courses that comprise an area of specialization in the field. The interdisciplinary nature of the faculty, close ties with public health practitioners, and practical applications of the nine courses in this program are highlighted. The curriculum is presented as one model that can be used to meet the educational needs of professionals who will assume the responsibility for planning for and responding to the public health impacts of mass-populations disasters.

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