Healthcare highways in your community

This abstract serves to introduce a 10 minute video in which I will discuss issues pertaining to the structure of the healthcare system in Quebec. At the same time I will review the concept of community within and around that system. The relationship and interplay between the two will be explored in the hope that the viewer might find resonance and meaning, and perhaps a springboard to further reflection and conversation. Many perceive a need for change in both the organizational systems as well as in the existing cultures within healthcare institutions, both in and outside of Quebec. Yet we often feel powerless to act. I will touch upon ideas on how we can make a difference using our individual influence to bring about the changes we seek. The concepts under discussion are abstract. In the hope of creating a greater degree of tangibility, I will offer a metaphor – namely the long-term detrimental effects brought about by the disruption, and in many cases destruction, of vibrant North American communities, caused by the building of highways straight through their hearts. I will suggest that though there may have been benefits to the society as a whole arising from the building of those highways, the adverse effects extended well beyond the individual communities involved. With this metaphor in mind, I will present the argument that the current structure of healthcare in Quebec, brought into effect in 2015, has resulted in over-bureaucratization and “decommunitization”, with a consequent diminution in the presence and role of culture, ultimately representing a loss for the community at large. Unintended deleterious societal effects arising from social system restructuring, are a phenomenon not unique to healthcare, nor to Quebec. It may take years for these consequences to become manifest, by which time they may prove difficult to reverse.

Beyond the Classroom

The growing dilemma of teacher job turnover has severely handicapped the fundamental responsibility of school districts to maintain a committed and stable instructional force. Using the lens of organizational systems theory, this chapter explores ways in which building leaders can actively increase job embeddedness of teachers and staff by constructing collaborative perspectives of teaching and learning. A systems approach where disciplines are integrated and community culture is respected can result in teachers being more engaged in school-wide pedagogy, feeling less isolated, and developing a convivial sense of fidelity which can lead to job satisfaction and commitment to remain.

Optimization of the task of forming a management system of hierarchical multilevel complex organizational systems

A hierarchical configuration procedure in the process of analyzing the functioning of organizational structures using algorithms for solving problems using discrete programming methods is considered in detail in this paper. On the basis of the research, the authors propose a methodology for the combined application of an initial approximation algorithm with certain properties and an algorithm for a recursive procedure for a directed search for the optimal hierarchy, which, in the future, solving the traveling salesman problem in a minimum time much more efficient than using the methods of dynamic programming of branches and boundaries.

Decision support in complex organizational systems using neural network technologies

In complex organizational systems in which there is asymmetry of information, an important element of effective work is equal access to objective statistics. Because of the benefits to one of the parties in such systems, key elements of effective management and making the right decisions, it is necessary to develop independent approaches. The developed approach makes it possible to assess risks in various situations and with various interactions within the system, and also allows you to recreate the missing information for decision-making from open statistical databases. The key element of the developed approach is the use of self-organizing Kohonen neural networks, which make it possible to classify objects based on the reconstructed information. The importance of the correct grouping of system objects makes it possible to recommend a management decision with greater accuracy. The developed approach allows you to reduce uncertainty (risk), and, as a result, reduce losses and maximize profits.

Methods, models and algorithms in security systems: machine learning, robotics, insurance, risks, control

The monograph examines topical issues of decision support and management in safety systems for fire and emergency situations through the use of innovative approaches and tools for operations research, artificial intelligence, robotics and management methods in organizational systems. The monograph is intended for faculty, researchers, graduate students (adjuncts) and doctoral students, as well as for undergraduates, students and listeners of educational organizations, all those who are interested in the problems of decision support and management in security systems.

“Black Swans” in Organizational Design of Russian Universities

Universities in Russia are experiencing a dynamic transformation of scientific and educational processes, their structures, and management systems. These changes occur at different rates and levels of transformation; they allow for both positive and negative transformation scenarios. A general trend to develop university’s management systems in the country – as well as in the whole world – lies in the managerialization, which poses risks for transforming a university. Following Mintzberg’s methodology for analyzing organizational systems and Taleb’s concept of “black swans”, the paper aimed to analyze degradation scenarios for developing university’s management systems and identify factors and conditions for these scenarios and their consequences for universities.

Management methods of organizational systems under risk and uncertainty for the purpose of ensuring economic security

The problems of managing organizational systems at the present stage have been established. The features of management and ensuring the economic security of business entities as open systems have been determined. The system of management and ensuring the economic security of organizational (socio-economic) systems in conditions of risk is considered. It has been proven that in a pandemic - conditions of uncertainty, statistical methods of risk assessment are inapplicable. A method of expertise in managing organizational (socio-economic) systems under conditions of uncertainty is proposed. An example of constructing scenarios under conditions of uncertainty is shown.

Organizational Learning from Hidden Improvisation

Research has identified improvisation as a creative and open activity that can be harnessed to encourage innovation and learning within the organization. In this paper, we present improvisation as a covert phenomenon, occurring in a climate of mistrust and fear of censure, and disconnected with wider organizational learning. Drawing on qualitative evidence of a UK Fire Service, we explore hidden improvisation, and identify the conditions and processes that can connect these local deviations to wider processes of learning. We show that whilst most improvisations remain hidden and contained to avoid wider scrutiny, certain conditions of frequency, connectedness, and scale escalate events to become more visible to supervisors and managers. The learning outcomes from these visible improvisations will then depend on management’s interpretation, evaluation, and translation of improvising behaviours. Dependent on prior relationships of trust and credibility, middle management perform a key brokering role in this process, connecting previously hidden improvisation to wider organizational systems and structures.